"If I have an employees with different vision abilities, what am I supposed to do? Train each one on where this file is, how to get to it, and how to change it? Or do I pay someone to write >an app that enables users to change the >resolution through a GUI?"
Well in the end, to get some "real" vison helper software/equipment for windows is in the range of *thousands* dollars each. I've been helping setup a local disability computer lab and their bills for their special software is quite big. A text-to-speach program was like $1,500+ per copy... you can buy several computers for that price! I'm glad I'm not footing the bill.. (and they would combine several products together). So Each machine had like $10k worth of stuff on it.
For about the price they paid for the software for the lab, they could have hired someone to create some software. Well, a little exageration.If you have a large number of computers, this could make a big difference.
"So, if somebody wants to give me a 10 or 20 thousand for my downtime" Yeah. But you would pay about that price (or perhaps more) to get the software anyway..
Add in the way the economy is going, you could probably get someone on the cheap. Or get ahold of a grad student or something
Reguardless, I have found a number of open-source disability-helping programs out there for linux that are of course, free. True, not as "good" as the "real" stuff (yet) but they do exist.
I have heard on numerous email lists that there are people who are using linux exclusively and are entirely blind. So it is indeed possiable.
From what I know, there is a LAW requiring you to have A phone line active in order to call emergency services (911). If you have 2 lines, then they can take their time getting the 2nd running, but if the first line is gone,they have to get it back up FAST. Although virtually everyone that has phone services pays to use it for other things (call friends,etc). I think it is actually possiable to get a phone line for next to nothing (like in cents) or even actually for nothing that *only* works for 911.
So anyway, why not get a ISDN line? True its not as "fast" as dsl/cable etc but it *is* a phone line. You can make voice calls (and a lot of other dandy things) over a ISDN line. To cut to the chase, if you have that as your *only* line (no "normal' phone lines) then they would be required to keep the line going. This would be a 7 days a week, not "bussiness" hours, for this could get into deep legal problems with liability (life endangerment) and whatnot. Could be a quite interesting situation ^_^.
for example, a t1 with internet connection is about 1 grand. True they got much bigger (I don't know what though).
so once agin estamating...
1.5 megabits up and down..
1500 kbits/sec * 60 = 90,000 kbits/min *60 =5,400,000 kbits/hour.
8 bits in one byte..
5400000 kbits *1000= 5400000000 bits/8 = 675000000. then / 1024 = 659179 (rounded) kbytes/hour or/1024 643 meg an hour (ignoring overhead,etc).
so 1,000/226=$4.42 a gig. This is of course, assuming the bandwith its maxed 24/7, no overhead,etc.
So true, they don't pay DIRECTLY per meg a month, but they do in the end. In some ways, its worse for the bandwith that wasn't used for a time period (like at night) gets flushed down the toilet.
True, they got much more bandwith and discount and probably pay in "burts", but it still costs a LOT. The ads definetly don't cover their costs.
I just kinda feel sorry for them. Everybody hates them but there's little they can do.
Well think about it...
they are letting people download a bunch of files for free...
true, they got advertising, but considering the crap prices of advertising for the web..
The cheapest I've found from a shared hosting deal is $5 usd per gig over your limit. True, they get a discount, but its still a lot..
So, to round things out.. 133meg/1000 = 7.51..
or just round down to 7= there's some overhead ya know..
so they pay 5 dollars for every 7 people that download.. and the rate to per user to ad click is WAY higher then 100 views per click (and its probably MUCH worse for fileplanet). Not to mention, each ad click is at best 5-cents.. if they got an exclusive and on a shockwave, maybe 20.. Do that math, they are STILL not making any money from this..
5*14=$70 cost for 20 cents back?...
Mutliply that by THOUSANDS, and you got a big problem..
I think they should get a distributed network-type of thing.. A cross between swarmcast (with a proper client) and a special download utility. You know, that shows all those perdy graphs and a "karma" remembering that is in perportion to the account "level". The free accounts have to wait everyonce in a while when the "karma" hits a limit (to prevent leetchers), while the paying members get priority access and no limits..
This would cut down their bandwith usage by a LOT, give everyone faster transfer speeds and they would be able to put up more files!
Its a bit insane but think about it..
This would ideally be applied to jxtra (www.jxta.org) - suns peer to peer protcal layor (different things can be put ontop, like a web browser, a IM message,file sharing, etc).
Have the a key/checksum on the file itself. Then to authenticate, connect to the p2p network. Each host would have their own UNIQUE key. The longer a machine is up the more trust. Nearby machines get the key as well.
So, to authenticate the program goes and finds a bunch of random machines, asks what their keys are and what the key is for the package file. Then, you check the machines keys with other machines to make sure they can be "trusted". This would be a cross between the gpg signing "web" and p2p networking.
So the machines that have been on longer can be trusted more. This is to prevent a machine at the isp to generate new keys on the spot (or use the same one over and over again). It would have to be around for a resonable amount of time (24 hours?).
So each time you check package x, at random a series of "hosts" are asked what their checksums are for package x. For the paranoid, could add some route/different isp checking as well. Let say it asks 20 machines. If all match, then odds are pretty good its correct. Also, each host's key would have to be unique and "trusted". Then you can go out onto 100's (even more?) of hosts to check.
True, (in theory) it would be possiable to fiter for those specific requests, generate a seperate key for a bunch of ip's RANDOMLY and have them authenticate with each other, but that would be quite difficult. In order to do that, they would essentially have your connection severed from the net, with no direct path and on a "virtual" network, in which case your screwed anyway.
It isn't the most efficent way, but probably about as secure as you could get. Well, without being the govenment itself ^_^.
what they mean by "non-apple hardware" is by one of the mac clones. Power Computing, UMAX,etc. They are non-apple hardware - true BUT they have apple ROM'S. THIS is what allows them to run mac-os. The new-world-mac's (essentially anything translucient, imac,g3,g4) use software roms. The roms are in the system folder. So it boots up with a mini-rom, loads the microkernel, loads the rom into ram,etc..
I have setup mac-on-linux before..
if you have an "old" biege mac, then either it will automaticly find your hardware roms (not that common) or use an app inside macos and save the rom to a file. If you have a new-world mac, then you can load the macos "soft-rom". I tried using the soft on a "old" mac, and it didn't work. Downloading the hardware rom to a file did.
So it WOULD be possiable (in theory) to use it on a non-apple powerppc machine (like a briq) using the software rom but I'm not sure how mac on linux works in relation to the hardware. Even then, it would be illegal,etc..
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"If I have an employees with different vision abilities, what am I supposed to do? Train each one on where this file is, how to get to it, and how to change it? Or do I pay someone to write >an app that enables users to change the >resolution through a GUI?"
Well in the end, to get some "real" vison helper software/equipment for windows is in the range of *thousands* dollars each. I've been helping setup a local disability computer lab and their bills for their special software is quite big. A text-to-speach program was like $1,500+ per copy... you can buy several computers for that price! I'm glad I'm not footing the bill.. (and they would combine several products together). So Each machine had like $10k worth of stuff on it.
For about the price they paid for the software for the lab, they could have hired someone to create some software. Well, a little exageration.If you have a large number of computers, this could make a big difference.
"So, if somebody wants to give me a 10 or 20 thousand for my downtime"
Yeah. But you would pay about that price (or perhaps more) to get the software anyway..
Add in the way the economy is going, you could probably get someone on the cheap. Or get ahold of a grad student or something
Reguardless, I have found a number of open-source disability-helping programs out there for linux that are of course, free. True, not as "good" as the "real" stuff (yet) but they do exist.
I have heard on numerous email lists that there are people who are using linux exclusively and are entirely blind. So it is indeed possiable.
Apple Support :No, thats "Can I interest you in applecare? its $300 a year with an extra warranty and support? "
(everytime I call, I get bombarded them asking me to get it).
Hold on a second and let me explain...
From what I know, there is a LAW requiring you to have A phone line active in order to call emergency services (911). If you have 2 lines, then they can take their time getting the 2nd running, but if the first line is gone,they have to get it back up FAST. Although virtually everyone that has phone services pays to use it for other things (call friends,etc). I think it is actually possiable to get a phone line for next to nothing (like in cents) or even actually for nothing that *only* works for 911.
So anyway, why not get a ISDN line? True its not as "fast" as dsl/cable etc but it *is* a phone line. You can make voice calls (and a lot of other dandy things) over a ISDN line. To cut to the chase, if you have that as your *only* line (no "normal' phone lines) then they would be required to keep the line going. This would be a 7 days a week, not "bussiness" hours, for this could get into deep legal problems with liability (life endangerment) and whatnot. Could be a quite interesting situation ^_^.
True but still, it costs a pretty penny...
/8 = 675000000. then / 1024 = 659179 (rounded) kbytes/hour or /1024 643 meg an hour (ignoring overhead,etc).
for example, a t1 with internet connection is about 1 grand. True they got much bigger (I don't know what though).
so once agin estamating...
1.5 megabits up and down..
1500 kbits/sec * 60 = 90,000 kbits/min *60 =5,400,000 kbits/hour.
8 bits in one byte..
5400000 kbits *1000= 5400000000 bits
643*12=7716 meg/day. 7716*30=231,480 meg/avgmonth.
231,480/1024=226 gig/month
so 1,000/226=$4.42 a gig. This is of course, assuming the bandwith its maxed 24/7, no overhead,etc.
So true, they don't pay DIRECTLY per meg a month, but they do in the end. In some ways, its worse for the bandwith that wasn't used for a time period (like at night) gets flushed down the toilet.
True, they got much more bandwith and discount and probably pay in "burts", but it still costs a LOT. The ads definetly don't cover their costs.
I just kinda feel sorry for them. Everybody hates them but there's little they can do.
Well think about it...
/1000 = 7.51..
they are letting people download a bunch of files for free...
true, they got advertising, but considering the crap prices of advertising for the web..
The cheapest I've found from a shared hosting deal is $5 usd per gig over your limit. True, they get a discount, but its still a lot..
So, to round things out.. 133meg
or just round down to 7= there's some overhead ya know..
so they pay 5 dollars for every 7 people that download.. and the rate to per user to ad click is WAY higher then 100 views per click (and its probably MUCH worse for fileplanet). Not to mention, each ad click is at best 5-cents.. if they got an exclusive and on a shockwave, maybe 20.. Do that math, they are STILL not making any money from this..
5*14=$70 cost for 20 cents back?...
Mutliply that by THOUSANDS, and you got a big problem..
I think they should get a distributed network-type of thing.. A cross between swarmcast (with a proper client) and a special download utility. You know, that shows all those perdy graphs and a "karma" remembering that is in perportion to the account "level". The free accounts have to wait everyonce in a while when the "karma" hits a limit (to prevent leetchers), while the paying members get priority access and no limits..
This would cut down their bandwith usage by a LOT, give everyone faster transfer speeds and they would be able to put up more files!
Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?..
Its a bit insane but think about it..
This would ideally be applied to jxtra (www.jxta.org) - suns peer to peer protcal layor (different things can be put ontop, like a web browser, a IM message,file sharing, etc).
Have the a key/checksum on the file itself. Then to authenticate, connect to the p2p network. Each host would have their own UNIQUE key. The longer a machine is up the more trust. Nearby machines get the key as well.
So, to authenticate the program goes and finds a bunch of random machines, asks what their keys are and what the key is for the package file. Then, you check the machines keys with other machines to make sure they can be "trusted". This would be a cross between the gpg signing "web" and p2p networking.
So the machines that have been on longer can be trusted more. This is to prevent a machine at the isp to generate new keys on the spot (or use the same one over and over again). It would have to be around for a resonable amount of time (24 hours?).
So each time you check package x, at random a series of "hosts" are asked what their checksums are for package x. For the paranoid, could add some route/different isp checking as well. Let say it asks 20 machines. If all match, then odds are pretty good its correct. Also, each host's key would have to be unique and "trusted". Then you can go out onto 100's (even more?) of hosts to check.
True, (in theory) it would be possiable to fiter for those specific requests, generate a seperate key for a bunch of ip's RANDOMLY and have them authenticate with each other, but that would be quite difficult. In order to do that, they would essentially have your connection severed from the net, with no direct path and on a "virtual" network, in which case your screwed anyway.
It isn't the most efficent way, but probably about as secure as you could get. Well, without being the govenment itself ^_^.
well - not exactly..
what they mean by "non-apple hardware" is by one of the mac clones. Power Computing, UMAX,etc. They are non-apple hardware - true BUT they have apple ROM'S. THIS is what allows them to run mac-os. The new-world-mac's (essentially anything translucient, imac,g3,g4) use software roms. The roms are in the system folder. So it boots up with a mini-rom, loads the microkernel, loads the rom into ram,etc..
I have setup mac-on-linux before..
if you have an "old" biege mac, then either it will automaticly find your hardware roms (not that common) or use an app inside macos and save the rom to a file. If you have a new-world mac, then you can load the macos "soft-rom". I tried using the soft on a "old" mac, and it didn't work. Downloading the hardware rom to a file did.
So it WOULD be possiable (in theory) to use it on a non-apple powerppc machine (like a briq) using the software rom but I'm not sure how mac on linux works in relation to the hardware. Even then, it would be illegal,etc..