Here's the easiest way to "eliminate" IE for 99% of users:
1) Set Mozilla as the default browser. (Just make sure it doesn't also take over GIF, JPEG, etc. files as well... mine did that here at home and I can't seem to wrench it back from Moz using Tools/Folder Options, but that's another story.)
2) Remove IE from the start menu and quick launch bar.
3) Profit!
Now, it's true that "iexplore.exe" will still be around somewhere, and if people really want to use IE, they can find it. But you know what -- if they're that hell-bent on using IE, let them use it. Most of your employees, however, will be just as happy with Mozilla as their default browser, so you shouldn't hear many complaints.
You forgot to point out that Sun's current browser standard is Netscape 4.7 (at least internally, which I assume is what you're talking about.) It has been for years, though Netscape 6 and 7 are also available if you know where to look.
There are many, many internal applications at Sun that are written for Netscape 4.7 and don't work in NS6/NS7 (don't ask me how, but it's true. It boggles my mind, too.) So yes, Sun has 40,000 employees still using the broken, non-standards-compliant Netscape 4.7 as their primary browser, and they've been trying to "transition" away from it for over 2 years now.
"as I realize 99% of us geeks already use [Mozilla]."
Sorry kid, but where I come from, 99% of people use Outlook and/or Exchange. Exchange or not, Outlook 2000 and XP are very capable email clients, and the easy calendar/contact integration and Palm synchronization make them the real winners. (By the way, there is a patch for Outlook 2000 that disallows opening of any harmful attachments. This comes standard with Outlook XP. I switched from Eudora two years ago and I've never even been able to open a virus-laden attachment, let alone send one, as it asks for confirmation when a program tries to automatically send something.) I browse the web using Mozilla (I'm using it right now), but Outlook wins hands-down on email.
If you want to standardize, standardize on the server side, not the client. Most organizations I have worked at standardized on IMAP (whether they did so through Exchange or another IMAP server.) IMAP has the advantage of keeping everyone's email on the server so people can access it through the web, at multiple computers, etc. The disadvantage, of course, is disk space -- you're going to need at least 10MB per account, and preferably 25MB or more, which quickly adds up. Plus, you're going to need to find a reliable way to back that up, and tape drives are expensive.
My recommendation is to standardize on IMAP, set up some webmail, and have some HOWTOs for several email clients. This being a college, you're going to find that most everyone will be using Outlook Express. Include HOWTOs for Mozilla, OE, Outlook, and whatever you choose as your webmail solution (there will be people who use the webmail exclusively.) As long as you set the standard on the server side, I don't think it's necessary to set a standard client -- just a recommended one. If you want that to be Mozilla, so be it, but understand that not everyone is going to want to use it.
"I don't have an Australian Drivers licence, and my local video store requires *australian* photo ID."
I have no idea what the government options are in Australia, but here in the U.S., if you don't have a drivers license, you can get a government ID card. (California information)
One of the main reasons for getting an ID card is exactly the reason that you stated above -- so you can do business with stores/companies that require a valid government ID. (In the U.S., you can also use a military ID instead of a drivers license.) Perhaps Australia has something similar...
Overall, a good article, and it draws some interesting parallels. However, I found one piece of the article to be very disappointing...
"The question is: How do all those lovely entertainment-seeking kids weaned on 'Harry Potter' grow up to become thieves? Surely, they know that stealing copyrighted songs and movies is akin to shoplifting sweaters at the Gap."
How can an author who is obviously intelligent enough to write an otherwise-interesting article sneak that in? Making a copy of music is NOT the same as stealing the original. Now, if I went to the Gap, bought one sweater, and then used my home cloning machine to make 50 more and ship them off to people on the Internet for free... that would be a fair comparison. However, "pirating" music (ugh, I despise that term) is not equivalent to stealing a physical good. If I steal one Gap sweater, that's one less sweater that the Gap has to sell... but if I make a perfect bit-by-bit copy of a CD and hand it to a friend, the original is still completely intact and able to be sold, used, or traded.
It's disappointing that the author fell into the RIAA's trap on that point. However, the rest of the article is quite good. Good weekend reading...
...I had a dream that I was walking down the street and playing a new kind of interactive game. I had a game console that looked similar to the older Game Boy Advance (with the screen in the middle and my hands on either side.) As I moved the screen up and down and side to side, I was able to see different parts of the larger "view" (sort of like looking at a 60" TV 4 inches at a time.) Various gestures I made (flipping my wrist a specific way; tilting the console) corresponded to killing enemies on the screen. There were buttons under my thumbs, but they mostly corresponded to "zoom in" [pan arrows] and other features that were a bit harder to emulate with motion.
This seems like very similar technology. I've often wondered if that dream (which was one of those very realistic dreams) would come true. Now it seems like the backbone is being laid for it. Will the Game Boy of 2005-2006 use this technology? I, for one, wouldn't be surprised.
You're not interested in "freedom" per se. You're interested in not having to pay $500+ for professional-level audio software. You're also interested in having the open-source community do a lot of work (100,000+ lines of code doesn't come out of nowhere) just so you can get a free version of ProTools.
Don't spout off about "Freedom" when you make it quite clear that you're only interested in getting a professional-level product free of charge.
when the service provider decides to stop providing it, the device becomes useless.
"How is this any different from Windows XP? (I'm specifically thinking of product activation here)"
Actually, product activation resets itself after 6 months. That is, if you install and activate XP, and then do it again on a different computer after 6 months have passed, it won't complain.
Also, there are plenty of ways to get around activation if you really want to (and install SP1 as well.) You can also use Windows 2000 if you want to get around activation completely.:P
Before you get upset and say "The UK is no longer allowing open-source!", consider this:
Apache is not licensed under the GPL.
Perl is not licensed under the GPL.
PHP is not licensed under the GPL.
MySQL is dual-licensed (i.e. you can buy it with a non-GPL license.)
Few (if any) Java technologies are licensed under the GPL.
(Obvious) FreeBSD is not licensed under the GPL.
From the list above, you can see that some of the most popular open-source technologies are not GPL. "Recommending against the GPL" does not mean "Recommending against open source."
Some background:.LA has been around for several years. Here is one of the initial announcements, dated February 2001.
I have a client who bought one of the initial.LA domain names. He paid $150 to the then-registrar of.LA domains for 5 years of service.
Last December, he got a notice stating that the contract between Laos (the official holder of.LA) and the domain registration company had expired. The letter said, in part, "On 11 December 2002 ICANN announced its decision to re-delegate the ccTLD.la to the Lao Government, specifically the Lao National Internet Committee (LANIC). DotLA and Sterling were not aware that this change was being contemplated by ICANN or IANA, and we were not contacted by ICANN/IANA for our comments either before or after ICANN made its decision."
The letter goes on to explain that ICANN changed the official name servers for.LA to an as-yet-unnamed company. My client's domain name continued to work, but he knew he was borrowing time.
Suddenly, Dreamhost (the current.LA registrar) waltzed in and paid a handsome sum of money to become the official.LA registrar. Of course, they chose not to honor my client's 5-year registration, and demanded that he pay MORE money or have his domain name cease to work.
This has been a frustrating 6 months. My client has since registered a.biz domain, which is controlled by ICANN and not by any specific company. This means that there is no "official" registrar for.biz domains, and that there aren't going to be any disputes over who owns the TLD.
After the $150 that has been wasted by my client for a "5-year" registration, what's to say that Dreamhost won't also get into a dispute and dump.LA completely? At that point, all current.LA domain name holders would be in the same position as my client -- forced to change their web address because the company can't get it together, and losing money in the process.
.LA is a mess. I would not recommend registering a.LA domain until the whole mess stabilizes a bit.
"Anyone got ideas for what to do with an old GBA?"
Boy, one would think the Slashdot editors had never heard of eBay.:P
You aren't looking in the right places.
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PHP Cookbook
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I'm pretty sure this is a troll (I mean,.NET support?), but since it's had a large amount of "Insightful" mods, I figured I would point out at least one misconception.
The parent poster complains about "consistant (sp) database integration" as one of the main problems with PHP. This is usually a problem noted only by those who haven't used PHP in serious development. Sure, if you're writing a 20-line script that you know is only going to use MySQL, then who cares what database connection statements you're using. However, if you're writing anything that needs to be more serious and portable, check out one of PHP's database abstraction libraries: ADOdb or Pear DB. Both of these libraries will let you abstract out database functions so that they aren't tied to one specific database.
Personally, I prefer ADOdb. Not only is it faster than Pear DB, but there's also a C port to speed it up even more. ADOdb also has more capabilities, and its author hangs out in their forums and is extremely helpful with user questions.
You have to change your mindset a bit to code with ADOdb or Pear DB, but it's worth the bit of extra learning curve to gain portability. Since ADOdb can generate insert/update SQL and also generate HTML tables, I find that I'm faster coding with it than I ever was with mysql_query()... and I can switch to Postgres or Microsoft SQL Server at any time without really thinking about my database code.
I hope this helps those of you who are still stuck with mysql_query() or similar. <plug>Also, we're a web hosting company that supports PHP 4.3.x, ADOdb and Pear DB, and we will answer your PHP questions as part of your web hosting package.</plug>
No, PDF is open...
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PHP Cookbook
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· Score: 4, Informative
The actual document specification for PDF is open. Adobe just happened to not only create the format, but also make the most popular PDF reader and writer (the Acrobat series.) There are, however, free alternatives such as Ghostscript that generate great PDFs from a Postscript file (which you can generate from any program in Windows just by checking the "Print to File" box on a Postscript printer.)
If you're interested in generating PDFs from PHP, there are a myriad of options available by searching Google. Some web hosting companies also support generating PDFs from PHP, which makes generating PDFs a cinch.
"What I REALLY want is AIM to automatically log all conversations..."
Er, Trillian does this. It also supports the ICQ and IRC protocols, though its IRC support is limited. (AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo support all work great out of the box.)
You can also use Trillian's built-in 128-bit encryption (as several others have pointed out.)
To add my own specific little plug for Trillian, I like that I can have three AIM accounts signed on at one time (and pick which one I want to use to send messages to others.) This is great.
Trillian works in Windows and also in Linux with the help of WINE.
The Handspring Treo 300 ($199 at Amazon.com) can do SSH via Top Gun SSH. It also has the benefit of using the Sprint PCS network, which is much larger than the T-Mobile network and runs at 128K instead of 19.2K. (The difference is huge.)
The really cool thing about the Treo is that you can hook it up via a USB cable to your laptop and get Internet access anywhere you have a Sprint PCS connection. This means that you can be on the Internet pretty much anywhere without worrying about wireless hotspots. (Treo Central has more information on this.)
I'd pick the Treo 300 over the Sidekick any time. It's cheaper, works on a network that has much greater coverage, and can run any applications that run on Palm OS. With the laptop connector, it's a no-brainer.
It seems that a lot of people replying to this thread haven't checked out color laser prices in the past couple of years. It used to be that the HP 4500 series was over $2000. However, that's no longer the case.
I picked up an HP Color Laserjet 4500 about a year ago for $600. This awesome printer had less than 10,000 pages on it. One $89 JetDirect 10bT Ethernet card later, I have a fantastic network printer that will last me for many years. I do a lot of prepress, brochures, etc. and the thing has already paid for itself just in printing out work for my clients (I charge them about half of what the local printer charges, and I've made plenty of money from that.)
I admit that $600 for a printer with less than 10,000 pages is a great deal, but there are some on eBay that are coming down under $800. (Note: Don't have one shipped... buy locally if at ALL possible. These things are HEAVY.)
If you're interested in a new color laser, the little Laserjet 1500L printers offer great bang for the buck. They're more unobtrusive than the giant 4500 series, but they have the same great laser quality starting at around $800. PC Connection has good prices for these as well, especially if you open an account with them.
If you want a brand-new giant color laser, try the Color Laserjet 4600. Yes, these are in the $2000 range, but if you're printing hundreds of pages per day, they are a good value.
I would never buy an inkjet again for a business. Yes, you can get an inkjet printer for $100, but those cartridges are a killer ($30 and they last perhaps 150 pages.) My color toner cartridges are $125, but they last for six thousand pages. The black toner cartridges are cheaper and go for 10,000 pages or more. At 11,000 pages, I've only ever had to replace one cyan cartridge, and I routinely do runs of a few hundred pages each. I'll never go back to the treadmill of inkjet cartridge upgrades.
For a church, I'd say the 1100 and 2500 series ($1200 or less) will work out great. Good luck on finding a printer that works well for you!
I have to admit that I'm a bit confused by this. First of all, it's a two-sentence statement in a chat room, so there is very little information to go on.
My question is, does this mean that end users will have to upgrade their OS to receive a new browser version? If this is the case, that's a huge blow to web developers. There are still a lot of things that IE6 supports poorly or not at all: transparent PNGs, CSS2, etc. I'm not seeing any indication that Microsoft is concerned about the continuing development of their browser AT ALL.
IE6 has really stagnated, and since Microsoft and AOL settled, I firmly believe that AOL will stop paying developers to work on Mozilla/Netscape. If both IE and Mozilla stagnate, the people who lose are developers whose platform is a web browser. I'm concerned that the stagnation of both browsers may stifle the innovation of developers who wish to deploy applications to standards-compliant web browsers instead of to a specific platform. (This means that those of you who don't use Windows should be VERY concerned, because if web browsers stagnate now, developers will continue to develop for a single platform instead of to a standards-compliant web browser platform. Microsoft doesn't seem to be interested in extending IE's functionality -- instead, the company seems to be pushing developers to make IE plugins, which creates lock-in.)
The Web has only been around for 10 years, and has only really taken off in the last 6. I don't think browser innovation is at its "zenith", and I certainly don't believe that DRM is the only thing left to add to browsers. It concerns me that Microsoft (or at least that Microsoft spokesperson) seems to think this is the case.
DirecTiVo as low as $199 / Standalone from $249...
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ReplayTV and TiVo Compared
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I just thought I should point out that most of the people who are quoting you $400 for a TiVo unit are quoting you the retail price for a standalone TiVo. Now what savvy Slashdot shopper actually pays retail?:P
The HDVR2 DirecTiVo is $199 if you're a current DirecTV subscriber. Just call DirecTV at 1-800-DIRECTV and request it. That's $199 installed, I might add.
If you're not a current DirecTV subscriber, you can get an HDVR2, a dual LNB dish, and have the whole damn thing installed for $219. Check American Satellite for more.
If you want to stick with digital cable (bleh, why?!) and wish for a standalone TiVo, all you have to do is go to TiVo.com and click on the Buy TiVo link. There you'll see 80GB TiVos for $249. (Note that the DirecTV TiVos can record more programs on an 80GB drive than the standalone TiVos set at Best quality, so don't let that affect your buying decision.)
Finally, if you're interested in video extraction, you can hack the TiVo. If you're not interested in hacking your TiVo, just do what I did: I set up an ATI All-In-Wonder card and hooked it up to the second input of my TiVo. I then used the "Save to VCR" function to archive shows. With a CD burner, I can burn to VCD... if you have a DVD burner, you can burn direct to DVD. "Save to VCR" comes with your TiVo, works well, and doesn't require hacking your TiVo. It makes archiving video a cinch.
When it's all said and done, you could buy two standalone TiVos for less than what you're paying, or opt for the DirecTV option and pay LESS for a TiVo, installation, and 6-8 months of DirecTV service... and you don't have to do any more work other than clicking a couple buttons on American Satellite's website. When you look at it this way, building your own doesn't make much sense!
You know, it's pretty funny that something that Microsoft has been trying to move away from for several years (lack of a true multi-user system) is something Michael is touting as a "feature." Since when is it a "feature" to take away something that is not only more secure, but also the default in the latest version of every OS (from Windows XP to Mac OS X)?
Michael says "[T]here's less need to share computers and have multi-user accounts with all that overhead and complexity." I don't buy it, Michael. If this is the case, why aren't we still seeing Windows 98's one-user system? XP comes with a really slick multi-user interface that allows people to easily change passwords, set computer accounts as Limited or Administrator, and even has the ability to switch users and keep multiple users logged on at the same time. Ironically, in this case, Microsoft is the one giving choice to users, where a Linux vendor is taking it away. (And if you say it's unfair to compare Lindows to Windows XP, I say that if someone's going to buy a new computer, they're either going to get Lindows or an XP box, so it's very fair to compare it.)
Michael continues by saying "There are some key areas of hardware support which no desktop has today which users consistently bring up including: USB wireless support, Plug & Play USB drives (flash, hard drive and CD/RW), firewire and ACPI (power management for laptops)."
Which is, of course, bullshit. Both Windows 2000 and XP (especially XP) have great support for all of the above. Even Windows ME (which is probably one of the worst versions of Windows ever) has built-in support for USB drives. In fact, even Mandrake and Red Hat automatically pop up a dekstop icon when you plug in a USB drive. Who are you kidding, Michael?
Of course, then he has to spout off about Microsoft Office pricing: "...Microsoft Word costing $349 and Microsoft Office priced at $399."
Michael, I don't know where you're buying your software, but I picked up my copy of Microsoft Office for $180. That includes Publisher, Word, Excel, and Outlook. Want Powerpoint? Buy Pro; it's $100 more. Sure, Microsoft may have bad business practices, but 4 programs I use often (most of them daily) for $180? That's $45 each. Windows XP Home from the same site (or many others) is $86.95, and I picked up my fully legitimate copy of XP Pro for $125. Wait... so, Michael, explain to me why Windows XP Home (fully licensed for as long as you own your PC) is $86.95, and Lindows is $99.00 for one year of access?
Look, I'm no Microsoft zealot, and I administer a ton of Linux servers (just read my/. journal.) But this guy is a slimeball. I completely agree on the cost-effectiveness of Linux on Web/database servers, where Microsoft's product is $725. But his version of Linux for the home user is not only less secure than Windows XP (and he can't find a good reason for that, other than that earlier versions of Windows had the same crappy security), but it's more expensive than Windows XP Home!
I fully support Linux, and I think it's caused Microsoft to really have to make better products. Lindows, however, is a joke, and it makes the community look bad with its lax security and nickel-and-diming of the average consumer. I feel sorry for anyone whose sole experience with Linux is Lindows.
"The iTunes Music Service files are 128 kbps AAC (reportedly better than 128 kbps MP3)..."
You would think that with so many audio engineers using Apple exclusively, Apple would have offered higher-quality music downloads. I don't care if it's better than a 128K MP3... 128K MP3s sound incredibly bad on any decently nice speakers. (For reference, try playing some classical music at 128K, and then play the CD, on any decent speakers. You'd be amazed at the poor quality of the MP3.)
If I'm going to be paying for music, I'd like it to at least sound as good as a CD! I will say that even on my nice floorstanding speakers, I can't hear much difference between a 256K+ MP3 and a CD. So why not rip the audio at a higher bitrate?
I've been begging for a low-cost download option for songs for a while now, but I'd like to feel like I got a better-quality track for the same price. My reference point is a CD (and soon, it will hopefully be DVD-Audio or a similar 5.1/6.1 format.) Those with the cheap $10 speakers aren't going to notice the difference anyway, but those of us with $1000+ sets hooked up to our home audio jukebox computers sure are.
...with your DirecTiVo. It lets you hook up your TiVo to an Ethernet connection and download updates through that. Check it out.
The cost ($70) is probably less than two months of POTS service. If that's the only reason you have a landline, I'd say buying a TurboNET is the way to go.
I have a Handspring Treo that I really get a kick out of. It works as a regular (although larger) flip phone when I need a phone, and as a PDA when I need a PDA. Today I was waiting at the salon to get my hair done, and while I was waiting, I was surfing Google and trying to find a good software package for one of my clients.
The Treo has AIM/Yahoo/MSN support thanks to VeriChat, which I highly recommend. I also use Top Gun SSH to SSH into my servers from anywhere.
Treo Central is the hookup for new software, and is also a good site for ringtones (if you're into them -- I like the wide selection of ringtones that come by default.)
Also, PalmNet lets you connect your Treo to your laptop and get 10K/sec Internet access wherever you can find a Sprint PCS connection.
All in all, if you need more than just a phone, the Treo is a winner. If you want just a phone, get just a phone... but even my boyfriend, who has one of those LG phones that you get for free with Verizon, gets jealous of me surfing around the Internet, playing games, and chatting when we're waiting in line for something.
The Treo is $149 right now. If you are a current Sprint PCS customer and you sign another 1-year Advantage agreement, you may be able to receive a service credit. I got a $200 credit [4 1/2 months free] just for signing up for another year, but I had to negotiate heavily.
Just because something is hard to set up doesn't mean it has to be hard to use. Most computers are hard to set up, but people use Windows and Macs because they are easy to use.
If I were in the market for a home media center, I'd want anyone who sat down on the couch to be able to use it. Usability problems such as this, although minor, prevent other people from being comfortable using the system. In the end, it doesn't matter who set it up, but who is able to use it easily... and this product doesn't quite cut it for usability.
I run a small business as well, and though it didn't make an incredible amount last year, I had a lot of startup expenses. If you say you don't have any business expenses, you aren't looking hard enough.
Did you perform upgrades to your computer? Is your computer used by you for business purposes? Write the upgrades off! Last year, I wrote off a bunch of stuff, including an Adobe Photoshop 7.0 upgrade, a RAM upgrade, and several other things. I already have a hard drive upgrade to write off for this year.
Did you purchase books to better your business knowledge? Deduct them! O'Reilly books count too!
Did you travel to a client site? That's 36 cents per mile in your pocket, bud. I travel to client sites 4-5 times a week, so I deduct several thousand miles a year.
Did you purchase servers? A router or switch? How about a printer or a scanner? Those are all business expenses.
How about your phone bill? DSL or cable modem? Cell phone? If you use them for business, these are all deductible.
Did you take a client out to eat or send a client a gift? That's tax-deductible too.
Did you donate to the EFF or even to Goodwill? Deduct it!
This is why you go to an accountant -- because it's never jut a bunch of zeroes. If your business didn't make much money and you didn't either, you're entitled to a refund. Spend the $50 or so to talk to a real person about your business, and take the time to document gas mileage, computer purchases, and monthly bills you can write off. In fact, if you have a room in your house that serves as an office (and only as an office), you can write off a percentage of your rent or mortgage every single month.
If you didn't know this stuff, it's certainly time to take your money and go straight to a tax preparer. My dad's assistant does tax returns for a living, so I always get her to do mine... but if you don't have a relative who can do them, go find someone who can! A good accountant is invaluable and will teach you the tricks of tax deductions (some of which I have outlined above.) Never underestimate how much money a professional can save you in the long run.
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Here's the easiest way to "eliminate" IE for 99% of users:
1) Set Mozilla as the default browser. (Just make sure it doesn't also take over GIF, JPEG, etc. files as well... mine did that here at home and I can't seem to wrench it back from Moz using Tools/Folder Options, but that's another story.)
2) Remove IE from the start menu and quick launch bar.
3) Profit!
Now, it's true that "iexplore.exe" will still be around somewhere, and if people really want to use IE, they can find it. But you know what -- if they're that hell-bent on using IE, let them use it. Most of your employees, however, will be just as happy with Mozilla as their default browser, so you shouldn't hear many complaints.
You forgot to point out that Sun's current browser standard is Netscape 4.7 (at least internally, which I assume is what you're talking about.) It has been for years, though Netscape 6 and 7 are also available if you know where to look.
There are many, many internal applications at Sun that are written for Netscape 4.7 and don't work in NS6/NS7 (don't ask me how, but it's true. It boggles my mind, too.) So yes, Sun has 40,000 employees still using the broken, non-standards-compliant Netscape 4.7 as their primary browser, and they've been trying to "transition" away from it for over 2 years now.
"as I realize 99% of us geeks already use [Mozilla]."
Sorry kid, but where I come from, 99% of people use Outlook and/or Exchange. Exchange or not, Outlook 2000 and XP are very capable email clients, and the easy calendar/contact integration and Palm synchronization make them the real winners. (By the way, there is a patch for Outlook 2000 that disallows opening of any harmful attachments. This comes standard with Outlook XP. I switched from Eudora two years ago and I've never even been able to open a virus-laden attachment, let alone send one, as it asks for confirmation when a program tries to automatically send something.) I browse the web using Mozilla (I'm using it right now), but Outlook wins hands-down on email.
If you want to standardize, standardize on the server side, not the client. Most organizations I have worked at standardized on IMAP (whether they did so through Exchange or another IMAP server.) IMAP has the advantage of keeping everyone's email on the server so people can access it through the web, at multiple computers, etc. The disadvantage, of course, is disk space -- you're going to need at least 10MB per account, and preferably 25MB or more, which quickly adds up. Plus, you're going to need to find a reliable way to back that up, and tape drives are expensive.
My recommendation is to standardize on IMAP, set up some webmail, and have some HOWTOs for several email clients. This being a college, you're going to find that most everyone will be using Outlook Express. Include HOWTOs for Mozilla, OE, Outlook, and whatever you choose as your webmail solution (there will be people who use the webmail exclusively.) As long as you set the standard on the server side, I don't think it's necessary to set a standard client -- just a recommended one. If you want that to be Mozilla, so be it, but understand that not everyone is going to want to use it.
"I don't have an Australian Drivers licence, and my local video store requires *australian* photo ID."
I have no idea what the government options are in Australia, but here in the U.S., if you don't have a drivers license, you can get a government ID card. (California information)
One of the main reasons for getting an ID card is exactly the reason that you stated above -- so you can do business with stores/companies that require a valid government ID. (In the U.S., you can also use a military ID instead of a drivers license.) Perhaps Australia has something similar...
Overall, a good article, and it draws some interesting parallels. However, I found one piece of the article to be very disappointing...
"The question is: How do all those lovely entertainment-seeking kids weaned on 'Harry Potter' grow up to become thieves? Surely, they know that stealing copyrighted songs and movies is akin to shoplifting sweaters at the Gap."
How can an author who is obviously intelligent enough to write an otherwise-interesting article sneak that in? Making a copy of music is NOT the same as stealing the original. Now, if I went to the Gap, bought one sweater, and then used my home cloning machine to make 50 more and ship them off to people on the Internet for free... that would be a fair comparison. However, "pirating" music (ugh, I despise that term) is not equivalent to stealing a physical good. If I steal one Gap sweater, that's one less sweater that the Gap has to sell... but if I make a perfect bit-by-bit copy of a CD and hand it to a friend, the original is still completely intact and able to be sold, used, or traded.
It's disappointing that the author fell into the RIAA's trap on that point. However, the rest of the article is quite good. Good weekend reading...
...I had a dream that I was walking down the street and playing a new kind of interactive game. I had a game console that looked similar to the older Game Boy Advance (with the screen in the middle and my hands on either side.) As I moved the screen up and down and side to side, I was able to see different parts of the larger "view" (sort of like looking at a 60" TV 4 inches at a time.) Various gestures I made (flipping my wrist a specific way; tilting the console) corresponded to killing enemies on the screen. There were buttons under my thumbs, but they mostly corresponded to "zoom in" [pan arrows] and other features that were a bit harder to emulate with motion.
This seems like very similar technology. I've often wondered if that dream (which was one of those very realistic dreams) would come true. Now it seems like the backbone is being laid for it. Will the Game Boy of 2005-2006 use this technology? I, for one, wouldn't be surprised.
You're not interested in "freedom" per se. You're interested in not having to pay $500+ for professional-level audio software. You're also interested in having the open-source community do a lot of work (100,000+ lines of code doesn't come out of nowhere) just so you can get a free version of ProTools.
Don't spout off about "Freedom" when you make it quite clear that you're only interested in getting a professional-level product free of charge.
"How is this any different from Windows XP? (I'm specifically thinking of product activation here)"
Actually, product activation resets itself after 6 months. That is, if you install and activate XP, and then do it again on a different computer after 6 months have passed, it won't complain.
Also, there are plenty of ways to get around activation if you really want to (and install SP1 as well.) You can also use Windows 2000 if you want to get around activation completely.
From the list above, you can see that some of the most popular open-source technologies are not GPL. "Recommending against the GPL" does not mean "Recommending against open source."
Just something to keep in mind...
Some background:
I have a client who bought one of the initial
Last December, he got a notice stating that the contract between Laos (the official holder of
The letter goes on to explain that ICANN changed the official name servers for
Suddenly, Dreamhost (the current
This has been a frustrating 6 months. My client has since registered a
After the $150 that has been wasted by my client for a "5-year" registration, what's to say that Dreamhost won't also get into a dispute and dump
.LA is a mess. I would not recommend registering a .LA domain until the whole mess stabilizes a bit.
"Anyone got ideas for what to do with an old GBA?"
:P
Boy, one would think the Slashdot editors had never heard of eBay.
I'm pretty sure this is a troll (I mean, .NET support?), but since it's had a large amount of "Insightful" mods, I figured I would point out at least one misconception.
The parent poster complains about "consistant (sp) database integration" as one of the main problems with PHP. This is usually a problem noted only by those who haven't used PHP in serious development. Sure, if you're writing a 20-line script that you know is only going to use MySQL, then who cares what database connection statements you're using. However, if you're writing anything that needs to be more serious and portable, check out one of PHP's database abstraction libraries: ADOdb or Pear DB. Both of these libraries will let you abstract out database functions so that they aren't tied to one specific database.
Personally, I prefer ADOdb. Not only is it faster than Pear DB, but there's also a C port to speed it up even more. ADOdb also has more capabilities, and its author hangs out in their forums and is extremely helpful with user questions.
You have to change your mindset a bit to code with ADOdb or Pear DB, but it's worth the bit of extra learning curve to gain portability. Since ADOdb can generate insert/update SQL and also generate HTML tables, I find that I'm faster coding with it than I ever was with mysql_query()... and I can switch to Postgres or Microsoft SQL Server at any time without really thinking about my database code.
I hope this helps those of you who are still stuck with mysql_query() or similar. <plug>Also, we're a web hosting company that supports PHP 4.3.x, ADOdb and Pear DB, and we will answer your PHP questions as part of your web hosting package.</plug>
The actual document specification for PDF is open. Adobe just happened to not only create the format, but also make the most popular PDF reader and writer (the Acrobat series.) There are, however, free alternatives such as Ghostscript that generate great PDFs from a Postscript file (which you can generate from any program in Windows just by checking the "Print to File" box on a Postscript printer.)
If you're interested in generating PDFs from PHP, there are a myriad of options available by searching Google. Some web hosting companies also support generating PDFs from PHP, which makes generating PDFs a cinch.
HTH!
"What I REALLY want is AIM to automatically log all conversations..."
Er, Trillian does this. It also supports the ICQ and IRC protocols, though its IRC support is limited. (AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo support all work great out of the box.)
You can also use Trillian's built-in 128-bit encryption (as several others have pointed out.)
To add my own specific little plug for Trillian, I like that I can have three AIM accounts signed on at one time (and pick which one I want to use to send messages to others.) This is great.
Trillian works in Windows and also in Linux with the help of WINE.
Several anonymous cowards have already pointed this out, but I thought I'd point it out at +2:
The name of the company is Vector Capital (as in venture capital.) Please update the article.
Thanks.
The Handspring Treo 300 ($199 at Amazon.com) can do SSH via Top Gun SSH. It also has the benefit of using the Sprint PCS network, which is much larger than the T-Mobile network and runs at 128K instead of 19.2K. (The difference is huge.)
The really cool thing about the Treo is that you can hook it up via a USB cable to your laptop and get Internet access anywhere you have a Sprint PCS connection. This means that you can be on the Internet pretty much anywhere without worrying about wireless hotspots. (Treo Central has more information on this.)
I'd pick the Treo 300 over the Sidekick any time. It's cheaper, works on a network that has much greater coverage, and can run any applications that run on Palm OS. With the laptop connector, it's a no-brainer.
It seems that a lot of people replying to this thread haven't checked out color laser prices in the past couple of years. It used to be that the HP 4500 series was over $2000. However, that's no longer the case.
I picked up an HP Color Laserjet 4500 about a year ago for $600. This awesome printer had less than 10,000 pages on it. One $89 JetDirect 10bT Ethernet card later, I have a fantastic network printer that will last me for many years. I do a lot of prepress, brochures, etc. and the thing has already paid for itself just in printing out work for my clients (I charge them about half of what the local printer charges, and I've made plenty of money from that.)
I admit that $600 for a printer with less than 10,000 pages is a great deal, but there are some on eBay that are coming down under $800. (Note: Don't have one shipped... buy locally if at ALL possible. These things are HEAVY.)
If you're interested in a new color laser, the little Laserjet 1500L printers offer great bang for the buck. They're more unobtrusive than the giant 4500 series, but they have the same great laser quality starting at around $800. PC Connection has good prices for these as well, especially if you open an account with them.
If you want a brand-new giant color laser, try the Color Laserjet 4600. Yes, these are in the $2000 range, but if you're printing hundreds of pages per day, they are a good value.
I would never buy an inkjet again for a business. Yes, you can get an inkjet printer for $100, but those cartridges are a killer ($30 and they last perhaps 150 pages.) My color toner cartridges are $125, but they last for six thousand pages. The black toner cartridges are cheaper and go for 10,000 pages or more. At 11,000 pages, I've only ever had to replace one cyan cartridge, and I routinely do runs of a few hundred pages each. I'll never go back to the treadmill of inkjet cartridge upgrades.
For a church, I'd say the 1100 and 2500 series ($1200 or less) will work out great. Good luck on finding a printer that works well for you!
I have to admit that I'm a bit confused by this. First of all, it's a two-sentence statement in a chat room, so there is very little information to go on.
My question is, does this mean that end users will have to upgrade their OS to receive a new browser version? If this is the case, that's a huge blow to web developers. There are still a lot of things that IE6 supports poorly or not at all: transparent PNGs, CSS2, etc. I'm not seeing any indication that Microsoft is concerned about the continuing development of their browser AT ALL.
IE6 has really stagnated, and since Microsoft and AOL settled, I firmly believe that AOL will stop paying developers to work on Mozilla/Netscape. If both IE and Mozilla stagnate, the people who lose are developers whose platform is a web browser. I'm concerned that the stagnation of both browsers may stifle the innovation of developers who wish to deploy applications to standards-compliant web browsers instead of to a specific platform. (This means that those of you who don't use Windows should be VERY concerned, because if web browsers stagnate now, developers will continue to develop for a single platform instead of to a standards-compliant web browser platform. Microsoft doesn't seem to be interested in extending IE's functionality -- instead, the company seems to be pushing developers to make IE plugins, which creates lock-in.)
The Web has only been around for 10 years, and has only really taken off in the last 6. I don't think browser innovation is at its "zenith", and I certainly don't believe that DRM is the only thing left to add to browsers. It concerns me that Microsoft (or at least that Microsoft spokesperson) seems to think this is the case.
I just thought I should point out that most of the people who are quoting you $400 for a TiVo unit are quoting you the retail price for a standalone TiVo. Now what savvy Slashdot shopper actually pays retail? :P
The HDVR2 DirecTiVo is $199 if you're a current DirecTV subscriber. Just call DirecTV at 1-800-DIRECTV and request it. That's $199 installed, I might add.
If you're not a current DirecTV subscriber, you can get an HDVR2, a dual LNB dish, and have the whole damn thing installed for $219. Check American Satellite for more.
If you want to stick with digital cable (bleh, why?!) and wish for a standalone TiVo, all you have to do is go to TiVo.com and click on the Buy TiVo link. There you'll see 80GB TiVos for $249. (Note that the DirecTV TiVos can record more programs on an 80GB drive than the standalone TiVos set at Best quality, so don't let that affect your buying decision.)
Finally, if you're interested in video extraction, you can hack the TiVo. If you're not interested in hacking your TiVo, just do what I did: I set up an ATI All-In-Wonder card and hooked it up to the second input of my TiVo. I then used the "Save to VCR" function to archive shows. With a CD burner, I can burn to VCD... if you have a DVD burner, you can burn direct to DVD. "Save to VCR" comes with your TiVo, works well, and doesn't require hacking your TiVo. It makes archiving video a cinch.
When it's all said and done, you could buy two standalone TiVos for less than what you're paying, or opt for the DirecTV option and pay LESS for a TiVo, installation, and 6-8 months of DirecTV service... and you don't have to do any more work other than clicking a couple buttons on American Satellite's website. When you look at it this way, building your own doesn't make much sense!
You know, it's pretty funny that something that Microsoft has been trying to move away from for several years (lack of a true multi-user system) is something Michael is touting as a "feature." Since when is it a "feature" to take away something that is not only more secure, but also the default in the latest version of every OS (from Windows XP to Mac OS X)?
/. journal.) But this guy is a slimeball. I completely agree on the cost-effectiveness of Linux on Web/database servers, where Microsoft's product is $725. But his version of Linux for the home user is not only less secure than Windows XP (and he can't find a good reason for that, other than that earlier versions of Windows had the same crappy security), but it's more expensive than Windows XP Home!
Michael says "[T]here's less need to share computers and have multi-user accounts with all that overhead and complexity." I don't buy it, Michael. If this is the case, why aren't we still seeing Windows 98's one-user system? XP comes with a really slick multi-user interface that allows people to easily change passwords, set computer accounts as Limited or Administrator, and even has the ability to switch users and keep multiple users logged on at the same time. Ironically, in this case, Microsoft is the one giving choice to users, where a Linux vendor is taking it away. (And if you say it's unfair to compare Lindows to Windows XP, I say that if someone's going to buy a new computer, they're either going to get Lindows or an XP box, so it's very fair to compare it.)
Michael continues by saying "There are some key areas of hardware support which no desktop has today which users consistently bring up including: USB wireless support, Plug & Play USB drives (flash, hard drive and CD/RW), firewire and ACPI (power management for laptops)."
Which is, of course, bullshit. Both Windows 2000 and XP (especially XP) have great support for all of the above. Even Windows ME (which is probably one of the worst versions of Windows ever) has built-in support for USB drives. In fact, even Mandrake and Red Hat automatically pop up a dekstop icon when you plug in a USB drive. Who are you kidding, Michael?
Of course, then he has to spout off about Microsoft Office pricing: "...Microsoft Word costing $349 and Microsoft Office priced at $399."
Michael, I don't know where you're buying your software, but I picked up my copy of Microsoft Office for $180. That includes Publisher, Word, Excel, and Outlook. Want Powerpoint? Buy Pro; it's $100 more. Sure, Microsoft may have bad business practices, but 4 programs I use often (most of them daily) for $180? That's $45 each. Windows XP Home from the same site (or many others) is $86.95, and I picked up my fully legitimate copy of XP Pro for $125. Wait... so, Michael, explain to me why Windows XP Home (fully licensed for as long as you own your PC) is $86.95, and Lindows is $99.00 for one year of access?
Look, I'm no Microsoft zealot, and I administer a ton of Linux servers (just read my
I fully support Linux, and I think it's caused Microsoft to really have to make better products. Lindows, however, is a joke, and it makes the community look bad with its lax security and nickel-and-diming of the average consumer. I feel sorry for anyone whose sole experience with Linux is Lindows.
"The iTunes Music Service files are 128 kbps AAC (reportedly better than 128 kbps MP3)..."
You would think that with so many audio engineers using Apple exclusively, Apple would have offered higher-quality music downloads. I don't care if it's better than a 128K MP3... 128K MP3s sound incredibly bad on any decently nice speakers. (For reference, try playing some classical music at 128K, and then play the CD, on any decent speakers. You'd be amazed at the poor quality of the MP3.)
If I'm going to be paying for music, I'd like it to at least sound as good as a CD! I will say that even on my nice floorstanding speakers, I can't hear much difference between a 256K+ MP3 and a CD. So why not rip the audio at a higher bitrate?
I've been begging for a low-cost download option for songs for a while now, but I'd like to feel like I got a better-quality track for the same price. My reference point is a CD (and soon, it will hopefully be DVD-Audio or a similar 5.1/6.1 format.) Those with the cheap $10 speakers aren't going to notice the difference anyway, but those of us with $1000+ sets hooked up to our home audio jukebox computers sure are.
...with your DirecTiVo. It lets you hook up your TiVo to an Ethernet connection and download updates through that. Check it out.
The cost ($70) is probably less than two months of POTS service. If that's the only reason you have a landline, I'd say buying a TurboNET is the way to go.
I have a Handspring Treo that I really get a kick out of. It works as a regular (although larger) flip phone when I need a phone, and as a PDA when I need a PDA. Today I was waiting at the salon to get my hair done, and while I was waiting, I was surfing Google and trying to find a good software package for one of my clients.
The Treo has AIM/Yahoo/MSN support thanks to VeriChat, which I highly recommend. I also use Top Gun SSH to SSH into my servers from anywhere.
Treo Central is the hookup for new software, and is also a good site for ringtones (if you're into them -- I like the wide selection of ringtones that come by default.)
Also, PalmNet lets you connect your Treo to your laptop and get 10K/sec Internet access wherever you can find a Sprint PCS connection.
All in all, if you need more than just a phone, the Treo is a winner. If you want just a phone, get just a phone... but even my boyfriend, who has one of those LG phones that you get for free with Verizon, gets jealous of me surfing around the Internet, playing games, and chatting when we're waiting in line for something.
The Treo is $149 right now. If you are a current Sprint PCS customer and you sign another 1-year Advantage agreement, you may be able to receive a service credit. I got a $200 credit [4 1/2 months free] just for signing up for another year, but I had to negotiate heavily.
Hope this helps...
Just because something is hard to set up doesn't mean it has to be hard to use. Most computers are hard to set up, but people use Windows and Macs because they are easy to use.
If I were in the market for a home media center, I'd want anyone who sat down on the couch to be able to use it. Usability problems such as this, although minor, prevent other people from being comfortable using the system. In the end, it doesn't matter who set it up, but who is able to use it easily... and this product doesn't quite cut it for usability.
This is why you go to an accountant -- because it's never jut a bunch of zeroes. If your business didn't make much money and you didn't either, you're entitled to a refund. Spend the $50 or so to talk to a real person about your business, and take the time to document gas mileage, computer purchases, and monthly bills you can write off. In fact, if you have a room in your house that serves as an office (and only as an office), you can write off a percentage of your rent or mortgage every single month.
If you didn't know this stuff, it's certainly time to take your money and go straight to a tax preparer. My dad's assistant does tax returns for a living, so I always get her to do mine... but if you don't have a relative who can do them, go find someone who can! A good accountant is invaluable and will teach you the tricks of tax deductions (some of which I have outlined above.) Never underestimate how much money a professional can save you in the long run.