AOL was ment to get get non-tech savvy people on the internet. It was very successful in doing that, good or bad it gave people that barely knew how to double click a chance to get on the Internet. Kudos to AOL for giving the Internet an easier to use interface. But now that people are getting more and more tech savvy AOL is moving into antiquity. I personally do not like AOL but AOL gave the 60 year old grandparent the ability to send email and 'surf' the web by providing a single starting point. AOL was a big help in fueling the internet and should be recognized for its pros. It's kind of like when people die, dead and dying people always seem to be recognized a little bit more positivly then they were in life. The jerk that owed you $30 in life becomes, magically, an OK guy at the funeral. Go fig. My $21.54 cents.
Doh! Flashbacks to my BBS days where we had DOORS to the internet. Ack! Lynx go away! Lynx go away! Ahhh I have to flush my eyes!!!
Shared Memory Constraints in Beowulf Culster
on
Ask Donald Becker
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Is there a movement in the Beowulf community to develop an effective thread system that can operate over multiple machines?
First the sky will grown dark and the angels of heaven will come down and take on mortal females as mates.
The abominations that come forth shall kill the monthers and slay Bill Gates, for they shall hate him.
Then the moon shall be struck asunder and from within the evil beast shall emerge and crush the SUN.
With heavy hoves the beast shall grive over Bill and he shall rise from death and feed upon the entrails of the mothers.
Then a legion of angels dress in plaid shall blow 256 trumpets and pour 1024 bowls and strike the abominations with many plagues, locusts, frogs, and trial lawyers. The abominations will seek death and find it but death shall deny them by using a teleport disc and all who see this shall say in awe UNREAL.
And the people that worshipped the SUN shall be forced from their homes and flee to the icy desterts of the world. There taking what gold they have they shall fashion themselves a new god, and his name when given utterance shall be Tux.
Then the great Hierophant Linus shall lead these people to do battle with the beast and they shall for a second time strike dead the beasts favored and the beast shall grow angry and crush the children of Tux.
The beast shall burn the cities in the ash of cheap pr0n and shall cause woe to all who lack his mark of DRM. And he shall exhault his only child Guccianie and they shall live in a moutain made of glass at the sumit and they, the innocent of the world will cry in pain, PENTHOUSE.
God shall see the beast perform 512 wicked deeds and grow angry. He shall gather the whores and the gold of the world and set it before the beast. The beast with two heads, that of an ass and that of a packaderm, shall gorge upon the paradise God has placed before them.
The beast will look upon itself with green eyes and attack itself feeding upon it's own flesh until it dies for it as grown jelious of itself.
Then from the ashes of suffering a hero will emerge and rally the innocent to take action. But when the climatic battle begins the leader will betray them and run off with their 401k investments.
The world will be in woe and God shall utter "Fuck It" and blow the whole universe up.
The End
NOW GO TO BED BILLY I'M SURE YOU WILL NOT HAVE NIGHTMARES AFTER A STORY LIKE THAT!
"The capitalists owned everything in the world, and everyone else was their slave. They owned all the land, all the houses, all the factories, and all the money. If anyone disobeyed them they could throw him into prison, or they could take his job away and starve him to death. When any ordinary person spoke to a capitalist he had to cringe and bow to him, and take off his cap and address him as 'Sir' "
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
Very true. I think as we discuss this it becomes more and more apprent that the major problem with higher education is a constant and abusive increase in the cost of education. The amount of money in the economy is vanishing quickly. Those who are "wealth" are more or less living on credit. There are very few people that are wealthy. Case in point is Bill Gates. He's "WORTH" billions but in reality his liquid assests are in the mid millions last I heard. If Microsoft tanked half his fortune might vanish (I don't know how much he has divested from MS so don't take my quote as fact on this one, I am guessing on this.)
Try asking the United Way where their dontations go... You would be suprised where some of their money goes! Next time they want your money ask them if you can itemize your donation. Be prepared for a run-around.
P.S I agree 110% with the ed reqs. Why is it so expensive? I can only guess that it is so high to filter out those who aren't willing to put the damn near million dollars to get the higher education (masters, phd, MD, etc..)
Another question why is the mal prac insurance so high? Hmmm must get rid of trial lawyers...
Did you become a medical practicioner for the money or because you feel a need to help other? All I hear is you complaining about money. Money. Money. Can't you see that even the logical mind-set of people is about money. I said get rid of the pocket-book doctors? Your very post indicates you are a pocket book doctor. Did I say all doctors were pocket-book doctors? No. But I can see where your self esteem sits in the fact you would automatically put your self in their catagory. I rest my case.
Perhaps employers are just tired of mediocre people. Perhaps this is the dawn of the era of Skill Labor. If you have no skills that are rare and unique your lifestyle will reflect this. Much like ancient times where the artisans were the weathly and the laborers are the poor. Perhaps values are shifting again based on this concept.
Like I have been saying what my age group needs is a good depression. Maybe their entire warped moral structure will change and they'll actually grow up. I can only hope.
Perhaps instead of complaining they only have a 41 inch big screen TV instead of a 61 inch they'll actually be thankful they HAVE A TV.
Perhaps instead of running out to a club hyped up on X and pot they might actually be forced to confront reality and THINK about important things instead of hiding from reality in superficial relationships.
Perhaps the children will toughen up and not whine and cry when people don't like them as they desperately try to litigate a perfect world that will never exist. You FAT, YOUR UGLY, AND PEOPLE AREN'T ALWAYS GOING TO LIKE YOU FOR -WHO YOU ARE-, GET OVER IT. YOUR SHORT NOT VERTICALLY CHALLENGED. DEAL WITH IT.
Perhaps trial lawyers won't be millionaires on average and people that love JUSTICE will be the only ones left practicing law.
Perhaps pocket book doctors will vanish left only with doctors that are in it to help people.
Perhaps when all those trial lawyers are gone insurance rates would drop and medical professionals can focus on saving lives and not red tape.
Perhaps they'll develop some self-esteem and grow a unique and self-identifying personality instead of rebelling by looking exactly like ANOTHER group of people rebelling.
Perhaps people will value each other on important things instead of the superficial things they can't afford anymore.
Perhaps trite and watered down sitcoms will become readily seen as crap and perhaps they'll learn to read and write re-developing an interest in real literature. Maybe, just maybe when a teacher asks a class "Who is your favorite Author" Steven King won't come out of their mouths 19 out of 20 times (And I was a teacher btw and have asked this question). Maybe names like Milton or Ambrose Pierce might pop up. They might even start reading from he PG archives more!
Perhaps people will once again gather in a park on a warm summer day and philosophize about life and all that is around them.
Perhaps we can avoid "A Brave New World" and dodge the "Orwellian" society.
Take the source code and add tons of comments in it with you name and the date you encrypted it. The using your encryption, code the source and post it to the newsgroups and mail out CDROMs with the code to 100 news magazines. Quietly leak the code to a few key people. Watch as MS implements it into Windows XP 2004 SP4 claiming they invented it and pounce on them claiming massive damages. There you now own MS and can rule the world WITH YOUR FLAMING FINGER OF ABSOLUTE ULTRA MEGA SUPER CHAMPIONSHIP TURBO ENHANCED EDITION FINGER OF STEEL COPPER IRON SILVER SODIUM MEGA DEATH!!! MUAHAHAHAHHAHA!!
MSN isn't my ISP. I am a consultant and MSN is easly accessable from client to client. Chill. I haven't had ISP service in 3 years. The joys of working for large clients is they always have internet access. I used to use mail.com but their filtering was terrible. Too much junk mail.
"Nice rant.:-) There's just one thing I have issues with:
Here is a real solid fact: Based on the number of attempts and system penetration MS products are 20% more likely to be hacked and infected than Linux. This is a basic arithmetic case of market share. If 60% of the targets are red and the other 40% are blue. Red is 20% more likely to be targeted than blue. It's that simple. MS products might be 20% more likely to be infected than Linux just based on the rollout numbers, but experience repeatedly shows that MS products in the real world are infected much more often than that.
Now, that 20% difference you speak of may be limited only to exploitation of bugs, but to limit your comparison only to that is the same sort of mistake you accuse the authors of the paper of. You can't just limit yourself to exploitation of bugs, you have to include exploitation of design flaws as well, and that is where Microsoft products typically fall on their face"
--------------------
You are correct in your analysis I was sticking with only the fundamental math of a 20% targeted increase. But with 20% more activity attempting to compromise your product just about ANY product can be found to have flaws. Linux has had it's fair share of design flaws over the decades. I was there when the first distros came out and I was hosting some of them on an old 9600 baud BBS. Trust me, Linux has had MORE than it's fair share of design flaws. The true advantage linux has had is a slower growth rate allowing all the bugs to be corrected before moving forward. Based on my best guesstimates Linux as a whole OS gets 100 to 300 TIMES (Based on # of users testing with GOOD feedback) more testing hours than MS.
P.S. Thank you for the constructive criticisim, it's sooo rare here. Criticism is NOT A DIRTY WORD. One should always be critical of information presented. Bad information is worse than no information. Later!
Because we have a limited understanding on gravity. The most likely theory I have heard is that there is a Graviton emmission. We still do not no if it is a wave or particle or both. That's all I know.
But the SLA is only as good as the ability for them to back it. What can say Redhat throw at an SLA to meet it's commitment versus MS? MS has a multi-billion dollar company with billions of dollars worth of resources to meet the agreed SLA terms. What can Red Hat throw around to meet an SLA? Concerning the SLA warrently thing, SLA are warrantys based on concept. The SLA says what they will and won't cover. Same with a warranty but in legality and SLA is a specific contract while a warranty has an implied SLA inside it. You correct in that they differ but Apples and Oranges are still fruit:)
"With a development like this, we could shoot entire boy bands into space and make the world a better place."
Make sure you "forget" to give them space suits, air, food, etc. You would be amazed at how sneak those boy bands can be at making come backs (Mark Wahlberg comes to mind as do the Monkiees)
With an object that goes through t the ionosphere you would get a constant stream of free electrons surging through the damn thing. Throw a power station at the base and BOOM. Free electricity. The only question I have is if we pull down electrons in the upper atmosphere would there be an impact?
Depends on how you want to go about an SLA. You can negotiate SLAs through MS directly if you have a large enough account (United Defense last I heard directly negotiates their SLAs with MS) and smaller companies tend to use local vendors. An SLA really is nothing more than a contracted warrenty that says what is covered and what is not covered. If you move into an apartment and the electic is cover but the heat isn't that is an SLA. The service agreed to is paid electric, unpaided heat. Same with printers. Toner is covered, paper feed wheels are not. You just have to check around.
OK Here is the shattered remains of this pathetic TCO. Warning STRONG language later on as I was getting very pissed at the half assed job they did. This is a rant about the TCO NOT LINUX. Keep that in mind.
First of all this thing is 8 pages? The last 15 or so TCOs I've had to read through have been in the area of 70 to 400 pages in length. This looks like something a 10 year old would write in highschool. But I digress. Here we go:
1 - Executive Summary Who are these numerous executives? (I had coffee with Elvis)
How many is many? Many people have Aids but MOST people do not. (I eat a lot of food compared to a starving Ethiopian)
Survey Participants? Who are they? How do I know you didn't make this shit up? Where is your work sited information? The least you could do is say Client - A, and Client - B if there was a NDA issue.
2 - Methodology Ok so their WHOLE concept of this TCO factors ONLY web servers? This should be titled as TCO of LINUX WEB SERVERS. Holy Shit I'd fire these guys if they were my consulting shop.
One or two processors in the machines? How do I know the majority of the MS or Solaris machines are not Single versus Dual on the Linux Boxes? Where is my node breakdown summary?
"External" support hardware and software were excluded?! Holy Fuck! Ahem! I consider hardware and software compatibility pretty fucking important. The NIC performance is crucial! If I have to alter my NIC choices based on driver availability that can totally skew a cost per MB in a TCO. The difference, for example, in a web server using Intel and 3Com NICs amounted to $1500 dollars when placed into a Proliant server doing SQL after boiling the TCO numbers. BIG difference if I have to have 100-200 of those.
All prices are based on retail!? What moron pays retail for a corporate purchase on Mid to Large sized companies!? Mother of God are these guys scamming their clients? I get a bulk discount on orders greater than 20 from 3Com. Used to level the playing field? Ahem this is a COST analysis! Enterprise discounts are not irrelevant THEY ARE CRUCIAL! Case in point if Intel gives my 20% off on an order of 2000 NIC cards and 3Com gives me 25% off and Linux won't support the 3Com card (for the sake of argument) THAT IS RELIVANT TO THE TCO!
3 - Cost Breakdown
Software purchase costs per processing unit? Ahem where is the implementation costs, maintenance costs, or as I like to put HOW COULD THESE DOLTS COMPLETELY IGNORE THE SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE!?
Paragraph 3, line 4 "beyond the purchase of the software", ahem DOES LINUX INSTALLS AND CONFIGURES ITSELF!!?? FUCK DUDE I'M SWITCHING NOW! They cover this later; I'll bitch about it when I get there.
CALs are primarily used only in Intranets unless your are running remote services like Outlook's Mail program. But authenticated services are NOT being specified on both systems, only MS. Are we running software here besides Apache and IIS comparisons? Now we have a whole separate TCO on just the application alone! God this TCO is a mess.
Also there is no lie in the last paragraph, the new terms from MS are terrible.
No lie here, Linux is cheaper cost wise for the software. Too bad like in automobiles labor is the major cost. Even then the data is terrible at best.
3.2 - Hardware Cost Breakdown Wow Linux only beat out MS by about $1000 bucks? I'd rather pay the $1000 bucks and write that off as application compatibility, hardware compatibility, and more importantly I actually have the MAJORITY of hardware vendors writing drivers NOW for Microsoft. Don't tell me "But that is changing" TCOs are a static snapshot, "What-Ifs" are not allowed, otherwise they become Cost Projection Reports.
Concerning their benchmark concept per processing unit how do we know we have the same data going across? Where are these number coming from? I have yet to see any concrete data. I get the results but how was the data collected? Was the test based on identical web pages? Was it base on client side or server sides scripts? WHERE IS THIS DATA COMING FROM? When I play cards and my friend says he has a full house he's gotta show me the cards. SHOW ME THE DATA!
3.3 - Support Oh God I loved this part:
"Support Costs Were Those Fees Paid To Consulting Providers or Product Vendors...." "Many administrators were taking advantage of mailing lists, free news groups, support,..."
Hmmm how many of those groups will mail me monthly CDs like TechNet for a fee? I wonder if that added to the cost? WE DON'T KNOW THEY STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN US ANY DATA. WE ARE SHORT ON BRENT SPENER (Did I get his name right? I'm not a Trekkie) JUST RESULTS. Did your result of 42 come from 40+2 or 21x2 or WHAT!? They say $46,360 for MS. I have been consulting 8 years and have NEVER seen an administrative expenditure like that. Show me the data! Are we looking at 1000 Linux Workstations for every 4000 NT based systems? Right there the admin costs should be x4 as much. No data, no trust. Tell me where that 46k went and then I'll listen.
Oh how about this one,"... for the purpose of this survey administrators...." Ok so my NT guy that handles my SQL server, Exchange, and 4 other servers is only going to be counted for the web part. Hmmm... Wouldn't that deflate the number of Web specific servers per admin? WE DON'T KNOW! GUESS WHAT? STILL NO DATA! If the 1 Linux admin handles 10 web servers, but all he does is handle 10 web servers that is going to drastically skew results of the MS web guys all share duties on 5 other types of server which is the case.
How about bullet #2 "... System automation tasks... had not been written yet for Linux..." Is this guy drunk?! Holy try going to one of hundreds of scripting pages for Linux you dolt!
4 - Soft Costs "... Difficult to assign values to..." Let me think, WRONG. I can roughly estimate over 3 years what those costs are by taking fixed costs and subtracting budget expenditures for the year and I can write THE WHOLE GOD DAMN THING OFF as a soft costs and estimates. That is how you in part determine the next year's budget. The more years you factor in the better the estimate. There is a reason TCOs I read are at least 30 pages long. I accept nothing less.
4.1 - Security No arguments save one, The reason Linux SEEMS more secure than MS is that is hasn't been as critical of a target. I remember some Linux admins (back when Slashdot was just starting) making the claim that Linux was IMMUNE to viruses. No, people just haven't been writing Linux based viruses. Same with hacks in general. Here is a real solid fact: Based on the number of attempts and system penetration MS products are 20% more likely to be hacked and infected than Linux. This is a basic arithmetic case of market share. If 60% of the targets are red and the other 40% are blue. Red is 20% more likely to be targeted than blue. It's that simple.
4.2 Availability Holy this doesn't even get a page?! If I do 4 billion dollar of transaction a week this had better fucking be at least 30 pages long with in-depth up-time analysis including MTF ratings and severity analysis. This is a glaring example of RFG's TOTAL AND COMPLETE LACK OF CREDEBILITY. If I am Amazon or Barnes and Noble if my site isn't up I have no business. How they could blow over this is... is... beyond comprehension.
4.3 Scalability One word, Datacenter.
From a cpu standpoint MS leads, note the fact they kind of gloss over this section. Damn near a page for software costs with some statistics but virtually nothing here. This fucking piece of trash looks more like a poorly disguised outsourcing bid from some half-assed Linux shop. With the advent of cheap blade servers and AMD's entry into SMP this should have been a 60 to 100 page section! What about support RAID systems, Fibre Channel links, high speed switching systems, clustering, FUCK THE LIST JUST KEEPS GOING ON AND ON AND ON....
These people have NO FUCKING clue how to do a TCO. NONE. ZERO. ZIP. My 14 year old non-techie niece could do a better cost analysis.
I am not going to even bother on the rest of this crap. I have only one thing to say in my summary:
IF RFG IS WORKING FOR YOU, FIND BETTER. THE HOMELESS GUY DOWN THE STREET MIGHT EVEN BE BETTER.
Suggestion to web sites that quote this: Give Linux a real chance to succeed Bullshit like this doesn't help.
Wow there's an objective, non-biased report. Nothing like fair objective reporting on how linux is better from Linux Today. I guess those performance reports on Windows XP from Microsoft.com must be just as unbiased right?
I get all my data from the Gartner Group. I have my TCOs done in house using Gartner's TCO standards. Linux has NEVER been cheaper. Ever. Due largely in part to one simple factor: SLA (Service Level Agreement). Red Hat won't give me an SLA even close to MS. I will post again after I tear this "Unbiased" TCO part and post the conviently missing facts in detail. I'll be back....
Slashdot Mirror
AOL was ment to get get non-tech savvy people on the internet. It was very successful in doing that, good or bad it gave people that barely knew how to double click a chance to get on the Internet. Kudos to AOL for giving the Internet an easier to use interface. But now that people are getting more and more tech savvy AOL is moving into antiquity. I personally do not like AOL but AOL gave the 60 year old grandparent the ability to send email and 'surf' the web by providing a single starting point. AOL was a big help in fueling the internet and should be recognized for its pros. It's kind of like when people die, dead and dying people always seem to be recognized a little bit more positivly then they were in life. The jerk that owed you $30 in life becomes, magically, an OK guy at the funeral. Go fig. My $21.54 cents.
Doh! Flashbacks to my BBS days where we had DOORS to the internet. Ack! Lynx go away! Lynx go away! Ahhh I have to flush my eyes!!!
Is there a movement in the Beowulf community to develop an effective thread system that can operate over multiple machines?
Lets arrest the entire patent office staff, they have obviously gone mad and need to be stopped before they grant Time-Warner the patent on breathing.
Correct it was a typo.
First the sky will grown dark and the angels of heaven will come down and take on mortal females as mates.
The abominations that come forth shall kill the monthers and slay Bill Gates, for they shall hate him.
Then the moon shall be struck asunder and from within the evil beast shall emerge and crush the SUN.
With heavy hoves the beast shall grive over Bill and he shall rise from death and feed upon the entrails of the mothers.
Then a legion of angels dress in plaid shall blow 256 trumpets and pour 1024 bowls and strike the abominations with many plagues, locusts, frogs, and trial lawyers. The abominations will seek death and find it but death shall deny them by using a teleport disc and all who see this shall say in awe UNREAL.
And the people that worshipped the SUN shall be forced from their homes and flee to the icy desterts of the world. There taking what gold they have they shall fashion themselves a new god, and his name when given utterance shall be Tux.
Then the great Hierophant Linus shall lead these people to do battle with the beast and they shall for a second time strike dead the beasts favored and the beast shall grow angry and crush the children of Tux.
The beast shall burn the cities in the ash of cheap pr0n and shall cause woe to all who lack his mark of DRM. And he shall exhault his only child Guccianie and they shall live in a moutain made of glass at the sumit and they, the innocent of the world will cry in pain, PENTHOUSE.
God shall see the beast perform 512 wicked deeds and grow angry. He shall gather the whores and the gold of the world and set it before the beast. The beast with two heads, that of an ass and that of a packaderm, shall gorge upon the paradise God has placed before them.
The beast will look upon itself with green eyes and attack itself feeding upon it's own flesh until it dies for it as grown jelious of itself.
Then from the ashes of suffering a hero will emerge and rally the innocent to take action. But when the climatic battle begins the leader will betray them and run off with their 401k investments.
The world will be in woe and God shall utter "Fuck It" and blow the whole universe up.
The End
NOW GO TO BED BILLY I'M SURE YOU WILL NOT HAVE NIGHTMARES AFTER A STORY LIKE THAT!
"The capitalists owned everything in the world, and everyone else was their slave. They owned all the land, all the houses, all the factories, and all the money. If anyone disobeyed them they could throw him into prison, or they could take his job away and starve him to death. When any ordinary person spoke to a capitalist he had to cringe and bow to him, and take off his cap and address him as 'Sir' "
--Orwell 1984 p. 73
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the
Republic is destroyed."
--U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
Very true. I think as we discuss this it becomes more and more apprent that the major problem with higher education is a constant and abusive increase in the cost of education. The amount of money in the economy is vanishing quickly. Those who are "wealth" are more or less living on credit. There are very few people that are wealthy. Case in point is Bill Gates. He's "WORTH" billions but in reality his liquid assests are in the mid millions last I heard. If Microsoft tanked half his fortune might vanish (I don't know how much he has divested from MS so don't take my quote as fact on this one, I am guessing on this.)
Try asking the United Way where their dontations go... You would be suprised where some of their money goes! Next time they want your money ask them if you can itemize your donation. Be prepared for a run-around.
P.S I agree 110% with the ed reqs. Why is it so expensive? I can only guess that it is so high to filter out those who aren't willing to put the damn near million dollars to get the higher education (masters, phd, MD, etc..)
Another question why is the mal prac insurance so high? Hmmm must get rid of trial lawyers...
Did you become a medical practicioner for the money or because you feel a need to help other? All I hear is you complaining about money. Money. Money. Can't you see that even the logical mind-set of people is about money. I said get rid of the pocket-book doctors? Your very post indicates you are a pocket book doctor. Did I say all doctors were pocket-book doctors? No. But I can see where your self esteem sits in the fact you would automatically put your self in their catagory. I rest my case.
Perhaps employers are just tired of mediocre people. Perhaps this is the dawn of the era of Skill Labor. If you have no skills that are rare and unique your lifestyle will reflect this. Much like ancient times where the artisans were the weathly and the laborers are the poor. Perhaps values are shifting again based on this concept.
Like I have been saying what my age group needs is a good depression. Maybe their entire warped moral structure will change and they'll actually grow up. I can only hope.
Perhaps instead of complaining they only have a 41 inch big screen TV instead of a 61 inch they'll actually be thankful they HAVE A TV.
Perhaps instead of running out to a club hyped up on X and pot they might actually be forced to confront reality and THINK about important things instead of hiding from reality in superficial relationships.
Perhaps the children will toughen up and not whine and cry when people don't like them as they desperately try to litigate a perfect world that will never exist. You FAT, YOUR UGLY, AND PEOPLE AREN'T ALWAYS GOING TO LIKE YOU FOR -WHO YOU ARE-, GET OVER IT. YOUR SHORT NOT VERTICALLY CHALLENGED. DEAL WITH IT.
Perhaps trial lawyers won't be millionaires on average and people that love JUSTICE will be the only ones left practicing law.
Perhaps pocket book doctors will vanish left only with doctors that are in it to help people.
Perhaps when all those trial lawyers are gone insurance rates would drop and medical professionals can focus on saving lives and not red tape.
Perhaps they'll develop some self-esteem and grow a unique and self-identifying personality instead of rebelling by looking exactly like ANOTHER group of people rebelling.
Perhaps people will value each other on important things instead of the superficial things they can't afford anymore.
Perhaps trite and watered down sitcoms will become readily seen as crap and perhaps they'll learn to read and write re-developing an interest in real literature. Maybe, just maybe when a teacher asks a class "Who is your favorite Author" Steven King won't come out of their mouths 19 out of 20 times (And I was a teacher btw and have asked this question). Maybe names like Milton or Ambrose Pierce might pop up. They might even start reading from he PG archives more!
Perhaps people will once again gather in a park on a warm summer day and philosophize about life and all that is around them.
Perhaps we can avoid "A Brave New World" and dodge the "Orwellian" society.
Perhaps... perhaps not...
Two words:
Holy Shit
Here is what you do:
Take the source code and add tons of comments in it with you name and the date you encrypted it. The using your encryption, code the source and post it to the newsgroups and mail out CDROMs with the code to 100 news magazines. Quietly leak the code to a few key people. Watch as MS implements it into Windows XP 2004 SP4 claiming they invented it and pounce on them claiming massive damages. There you now own MS and can rule the world WITH YOUR FLAMING FINGER OF ABSOLUTE ULTRA MEGA SUPER CHAMPIONSHIP TURBO ENHANCED EDITION FINGER OF STEEL COPPER IRON SILVER SODIUM MEGA DEATH!!! MUAHAHAHAHHAHA!!
Oh wait they never pay their damages...
MSN isn't my ISP. I am a consultant and MSN is easly accessable from client to client. Chill. I haven't had ISP service in 3 years. The joys of working for large clients is they always have internet access. I used to use mail.com but their filtering was terrible. Too much junk mail.
"Nice rant. :-)
There's just one thing I have issues with:
Here is a real solid fact: Based on the number of attempts and system penetration MS products are 20% more likely to be hacked and infected than Linux. This is a basic arithmetic case of market share. If 60% of the targets are red and the other 40% are blue. Red is 20% more likely to be targeted than blue. It's that simple.
MS products might be 20% more likely to be infected than Linux just based on the rollout numbers, but experience repeatedly shows that MS products in the real world are infected much more often than that.
Now, that 20% difference you speak of may be limited only to exploitation of bugs, but to limit your comparison only to that is the same sort of mistake you accuse the authors of the paper of. You can't just limit yourself to exploitation of bugs, you have to include exploitation of design flaws as well, and that is where Microsoft products typically fall on their face"
--------------------
You are correct in your analysis I was sticking with only the fundamental math of a 20% targeted increase. But with 20% more activity attempting to compromise your product just about ANY product can be found to have flaws. Linux has had it's fair share of design flaws over the decades. I was there when the first distros came out and I was hosting some of them on an old 9600 baud BBS. Trust me, Linux has had MORE than it's fair share of design flaws. The true advantage linux has had is a slower growth rate allowing all the bugs to be corrected before moving forward. Based on my best guesstimates Linux as a whole OS gets 100 to 300 TIMES (Based on # of users testing with GOOD feedback) more testing hours than MS.
P.S. Thank you for the constructive criticisim, it's sooo rare here. Criticism is NOT A DIRTY WORD. One should always be critical of information presented. Bad information is worse than no information. Later!
Because we have a limited understanding on gravity. The most likely theory I have heard is that there is a Graviton emmission. We still do not no if it is a wave or particle or both. That's all I know.
But the SLA is only as good as the ability for them to back it. What can say Redhat throw at an SLA to meet it's commitment versus MS? MS has a multi-billion dollar company with billions of dollars worth of resources to meet the agreed SLA terms. What can Red Hat throw around to meet an SLA? Concerning the SLA warrently thing, SLA are warrantys based on concept. The SLA says what they will and won't cover. Same with a warranty but in legality and SLA is a specific contract while a warranty has an implied SLA inside it. You correct in that they differ but Apples and Oranges are still fruit :)
"With a development like this, we could shoot entire boy bands into space and make the world a better place."
Make sure you "forget" to give them space suits, air, food, etc. You would be amazed at how sneak those boy bands can be at making come backs (Mark Wahlberg comes to mind as do the Monkiees)
Here we come... walking down the street....
With an object that goes through t the ionosphere you would get a constant stream of free electrons surging through the damn thing. Throw a power station at the base and BOOM. Free electricity. The only question I have is if we pull down electrons in the upper atmosphere would there be an impact?
Earlier in my post I said:
"I will post again after I tear this "Unbiased" TCO part and post the conviently missing facts in detail. I'll be back...."
This leads me to say one thing:
READ.
Depends on how you want to go about an SLA. You can negotiate SLAs through MS directly if you have a large enough account (United Defense last I heard directly negotiates their SLAs with MS) and smaller companies tend to use local vendors. An SLA really is nothing more than a contracted warrenty that says what is covered and what is not covered. If you move into an apartment and the electic is cover but the heat isn't that is an SLA. The service agreed to is paid electric, unpaided heat. Same with printers. Toner is covered, paper feed wheels are not. You just have to check around.
OK Here is the shattered remains of this pathetic TCO. Warning STRONG language later on as I was getting very pissed at the half assed job they did. This is a rant about the TCO NOT LINUX. Keep that in mind.
..."
... is... beyond comprehension.
First of all this thing is 8 pages? The last 15 or so TCOs I've had to read through have been in the area of 70 to 400 pages in length. This looks like something a 10 year old would write in highschool. But I digress. Here we go:
1 - Executive Summary
Who are these numerous executives? (I had coffee with Elvis)
How many is many? Many people have Aids but MOST people do not. (I eat a lot of food compared to a starving Ethiopian)
Survey Participants? Who are they? How do I know you didn't make this shit up? Where is your work sited information? The least you could do is say Client - A, and Client - B if there was a NDA issue.
2 - Methodology
Ok so their WHOLE concept of this TCO factors ONLY web servers? This should be titled as TCO of LINUX WEB SERVERS. Holy Shit I'd fire these guys if they were my consulting shop.
One or two processors in the machines? How do I know the majority of the MS or Solaris machines are not Single versus Dual on the Linux Boxes? Where is my node breakdown summary?
"External" support hardware and software were excluded?! Holy Fuck! Ahem! I consider hardware and software compatibility pretty fucking important. The NIC performance is crucial! If I have to alter my NIC choices based on driver availability that can totally skew a cost per MB in a TCO. The difference, for example, in a web server using Intel and 3Com NICs amounted to $1500 dollars when placed into a Proliant server doing SQL after boiling the TCO numbers. BIG difference if I have to have 100-200 of those.
All prices are based on retail!? What moron pays retail for a corporate purchase on Mid to Large sized companies!? Mother of God are these guys scamming their clients? I get a bulk discount on orders greater than 20 from 3Com. Used to level the playing field? Ahem this is a COST analysis! Enterprise discounts are not irrelevant THEY ARE CRUCIAL! Case in point if Intel gives my 20% off on an order of 2000 NIC cards and 3Com gives me 25% off and Linux won't support the 3Com card (for the sake of argument) THAT IS RELIVANT TO THE TCO!
3 - Cost Breakdown
Software purchase costs per processing unit? Ahem where is the implementation costs, maintenance costs, or as I like to put HOW COULD THESE DOLTS COMPLETELY IGNORE THE SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE!?
Paragraph 3, line 4 "beyond the purchase of the software", ahem DOES LINUX INSTALLS AND CONFIGURES ITSELF!!?? FUCK DUDE I'M SWITCHING NOW! They cover this later; I'll bitch about it when I get there.
CALs are primarily used only in Intranets unless your are running remote services like Outlook's Mail program. But authenticated services are NOT being specified on both systems, only MS. Are we running software here besides Apache and IIS comparisons? Now we have a whole separate TCO on just the application alone! God this TCO is a mess.
Also there is no lie in the last paragraph, the new terms from MS are terrible.
No lie here, Linux is cheaper cost wise for the software. Too bad like in automobiles labor is the major cost. Even then the data is terrible at best.
3.2 - Hardware Cost Breakdown
Wow Linux only beat out MS by about $1000 bucks? I'd rather pay the $1000 bucks and write that off as application compatibility, hardware compatibility, and more importantly I actually have the MAJORITY of hardware vendors writing drivers NOW for Microsoft. Don't tell me "But that is changing" TCOs are a static snapshot, "What-Ifs" are not allowed, otherwise they become Cost Projection Reports.
Concerning their benchmark concept per processing unit how do we know we have the same data going across? Where are these number coming from? I have yet to see any concrete data. I get the results but how was the data collected? Was the test based on identical web pages? Was it base on client side or server sides scripts? WHERE IS THIS DATA COMING FROM? When I play cards and my friend says he has a full house he's gotta show me the cards. SHOW ME THE DATA!
3.3 - Support
Oh God I loved this part:
"Support Costs Were Those Fees Paid To Consulting Providers or Product Vendors...." "Many administrators were taking advantage of mailing lists, free news groups, support,
Hmmm how many of those groups will mail me monthly CDs like TechNet for a fee? I wonder if that added to the cost? WE DON'T KNOW THEY STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN US ANY DATA. WE ARE SHORT ON BRENT SPENER (Did I get his name right? I'm not a Trekkie) JUST RESULTS. Did your result of 42 come from 40+2 or 21x2 or WHAT!? They say $46,360 for MS. I have been consulting 8 years and have NEVER seen an administrative expenditure like that. Show me the data! Are we looking at 1000 Linux Workstations for every 4000 NT based systems? Right there the admin costs should be x4 as much. No data, no trust. Tell me where that 46k went and then I'll listen.
Oh how about this one,"... for the purpose of this survey administrators...."
Ok so my NT guy that handles my SQL server, Exchange, and 4 other servers is only going to be counted for the web part. Hmmm... Wouldn't that deflate the number of Web specific servers per admin? WE DON'T KNOW! GUESS WHAT? STILL NO DATA! If the 1 Linux admin handles 10 web servers, but all he does is handle 10 web servers that is going to drastically skew results of the MS web guys all share duties on 5 other types of server which is the case.
How about bullet #2 "... System automation tasks... had not been written yet for Linux..." Is this guy drunk?! Holy try going to one of hundreds of scripting pages for Linux you dolt!
4 - Soft Costs
"... Difficult to assign values to..."
Let me think, WRONG. I can roughly estimate over 3 years what those costs are by taking fixed costs and subtracting budget expenditures for the year and I can write THE WHOLE GOD DAMN THING OFF as a soft costs and estimates. That is how you in part determine the next year's budget. The more years you factor in the better the estimate. There is a reason TCOs I read are at least 30 pages long. I accept nothing less.
4.1 - Security
No arguments save one, The reason Linux SEEMS more secure than MS is that is hasn't been as critical of a target. I remember some Linux admins (back when Slashdot was just starting) making the claim that Linux was IMMUNE to viruses. No, people just haven't been writing Linux based viruses. Same with hacks in general. Here is a real solid fact:
Based on the number of attempts and system penetration MS products are 20% more likely to be hacked and infected than Linux. This is a basic arithmetic case of market share. If 60% of the targets are red and the other 40% are blue. Red is 20% more likely to be targeted than blue. It's that simple.
4.2 Availability
Holy this doesn't even get a page?! If I do 4 billion dollar of transaction a week this had better fucking be at least 30 pages long with in-depth up-time analysis including MTF ratings and severity analysis. This is a glaring example of RFG's TOTAL AND COMPLETE LACK OF CREDEBILITY. If I am Amazon or Barnes and Noble if my site isn't up I have no business. How they could blow over this is
4.3 Scalability
One word, Datacenter.
From a cpu standpoint MS leads, note the fact they kind of gloss over this section. Damn near a page for software costs with some statistics but virtually nothing here. This fucking piece of trash looks more like a poorly disguised outsourcing bid from some half-assed Linux shop. With the advent of cheap blade servers and AMD's entry into SMP this should have been a 60 to 100 page section! What about support RAID systems, Fibre Channel links, high speed switching systems, clustering, FUCK THE LIST JUST KEEPS GOING ON AND ON AND ON....
These people have NO FUCKING clue how to do a TCO. NONE. ZERO. ZIP. My 14 year old non-techie niece could do a better cost analysis.
I am not going to even bother on the rest of this crap. I have only one thing to say in my summary:
IF RFG IS WORKING FOR YOU, FIND BETTER. THE HOMELESS GUY DOWN THE STREET MIGHT EVEN BE BETTER.
Suggestion to web sites that quote this: Give Linux a real chance to succeed Bullshit like this doesn't help.
Wow there's an objective, non-biased report. Nothing like fair objective reporting on how linux is better from Linux Today. I guess those performance reports on Windows XP from Microsoft.com must be just as unbiased right?
I get all my data from the Gartner Group. I have my TCOs done in house using Gartner's TCO standards. Linux has NEVER been cheaper. Ever. Due largely in part to one simple factor: SLA (Service Level Agreement). Red Hat won't give me an SLA even close to MS. I will post again after I tear this "Unbiased" TCO part and post the conviently missing facts in detail. I'll be back....