Even though it's what the OP asked about specifically, keeping your stuff from getting stolen isn't the only (or even the best) reason to have a security system. When your partner comes home with your kids knowing that the house is locked down and the alarm hasn't been tripped is incredibly reassuring.
But what happens to all of the servers that fail to start up in time to process payroll? It's late? You pay overtime through the nose for th SysAdmins that have to come in and work 24 hour days to bring the machines online? Seriously, I'm not saying it's a bad idea but I would say that this scenario is probably more like 15 days on 15 days off. You have to build in time on the front end to make sure the machines are up and running in a stable configuration, and probably time on the back end to apply patches and perform metrics on the machines to make sure they are running properly for next month. I'm not sure that this would save anyone any money in the long run because of the load on their staff during spin-up.
I can assure that the average temperature underground is not anywhere near 55 degrees in some places. Here in Arizona, our caves are a steamy 80 degrees year round. This was a shock to me coming from the east coast of the US where caves are always close to a chilly 55 degrees. I know that this gasoline temperature fight has been going on for quite some time here because the gasoline is close to 80 degrees when it comes out of the pump.
The point is that no one would complain about Microsoft refusing to sell a computer without Windows on it. If Apple was strong-arming Dell,HP and whichever other manufacturers do this to install OS X on their machines I think people would have the same complaints.
Ummm, no offense intended but you don't need a 'second computer' or 'broadband' to get your hands on an operating system. What in the world do you think people did in the 'olden days' when they bought computers which came with no operating system OR modem.
Are you implying that an electric guitar or electric bass guitar is somehow able to have a more distinctive or 'personal' sound than a saxophone, trumpet, violin, piano...etc. I sincerely don't mean this to offend but I sincerely think you must be joking or severely misinformed/uneducated about classical instrumentation. I would guess that there are FAR more people in this world that could pick out a particular make/model of violin or piano than could a guitar. Throw personal affectation into the equation and I don't think we're even talking the same order of magnitude.
You know what's interesting? I also have the 3rd Edition of Jackson and it's the one book I've been thinking about while reading this whole article. I took electrodynamics in 1998 so you can guess which version I have. I remember my professors reluctantly switching to the 3rd edition after waiting many, many years for some mistakes to be corrected in the 2nd edition. That book brings back some of my most painful memories of grad school!
I'm sure people will flame for this, especially hard core IT types, but at some level the reason that users forget passwords lies with IT/Security types themselves. Forcing users to remember passwords on multiple, disparate systems that each have unique restraints (No passwords that have been used in the last X changes, 3 different character classifications, passwords must be X characters long, that must be changed every X days) almost forces users to write down their passwords somewhere that they can retrieve them easiy. The problem is further compounded when the users is locked out after only a very few attempts. I understand the reasoning behind every rule but it is unreasonable, in my opinion, to force some sort of data entry clerk or analyst to remember logins for 4 different, often times rarely used, accounts that all have different security parameters. If you can't provide single sign on for your users and you have DOD grade requirements, then I think you lose the justification for being upset when they forget their passwords.
I live in Arizona and let me tell you I know what you are talking about. I do, however, ride my bike to work 10 months out of the year (I skip july and august when it's over 110). I don't know if I'm just lucky but I have always been able to find a gym within a mile of my office, wherever I have worked. I bike the 10 miles each day to the gym as fast as I can and shower at the gym. Three days a week I add weight training before my shower at the gym. The mile or so I have left to work I just relax and get ready for my day. Works out pretty well for me and I've been doing it for quite a few years but I'm definitely a pattern kind of guy...I like the same routine every day. I guess my point is that it is different for everyone but I bet if you try hard enough you can find some way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine.
Honestly, the reason that I started was because I have a full size pickup truck (for my weekend activities) and I couldn't justify the wastefulness of driving it back and forth to work. Now I can't imagine not having my bike ride in the morning and afternoon.
I would also add that 'podcasts' have made my days even more wonderful as my mp3 player is full of new content every day and I am always looking forward to my favorite 'shows' on my way to and from work.
I will counter with one point. I wonder if your friend can't make a living as a professional musician or can't make a comfortable, easy, well-to-do, etc. living as a musician. I am a sometimes musician, though I would never consider myself a true talent. I wouldn't dream of trying to make a living as a musician but that is mostly because it isn't my passion. I'm not an 'artist' and I'm not willing to sacrifice my comfortable lifestyle for the 'art' of music. I wonder if the argument is really that people feel like they should be able to make a living as musicians or that people feel like they should be able to make a killing as a musician. No one ever argues that painters or sculpters should be able to make a living doing their art yet some of them are so passionate about what they do that they don't care and they will sacrifice everything else for it. That's passion. I'm not saying I don't think people SHOULD be able to make a comfortable living making music but I think sometimes people forget that music is art and sometimes it's just hard to be successful as an artist and have a comfortable living. I know an awful lot of people that play just for the sheer high of the performance and don't give a darn about whether or not they ever make a dime doing it. Would they be happy to make a ton of money doing it? Sure, but I'm not sure any of them would be willing to surrender their 'art' for a bigger paycheck. Just my two cents.
Chris
P.S. Check out my friend's website, http://toddlorenz.com/, you can listen to his music for free.
I think the ITMS is a great way for kids to get the music they want and I'm glad that at least there are avenues to get the music legally. For me, I think the best way to pay for music is the same way I pay for television and internet connectivity. I subscribe to Rhapsody which, though not perfect, is a great tool for me. I can listen to all my music at work, at home, at my friends houses...basically anywhere I can get on the internet for one monthly fee. People have no problem paying this way for cable television and for internet connectivity and I see the future of music distribution being subscription services. Granted my media bills are astronomical and sometimes hard to believe but I consume a great deal of media so I feel like it's money well spent. I can even fill my ipod with music which I have payed for by recording the songs while they're playing in much the same way that I can record my cable or radio to tape. Just my $.02.
Try talking to someone who has grown up in India if you think that they have a 'modern and effective economy and government'. Just because they have a tiny minority of their citizenry that have achieved great personal wealth and a small economic center in several large cities that provide a modern standard of living doesn't mean they have their problems solved. Most of the population still lives in desperate poverty and endures hardships similar to those in Africa. Find an Indian and ask them if they have an effective government and I think your eyes will be opened.
Ummmm, belts...pulleys? Why couldn't you just have the foot pedal generate the DC and plug it right into the existing power port of the laptop? Am I missing something here? Isn't a simple cord with two wires a lot easier to manager than a framework with belts and pulleys?
Ummm, I know you're an AC... but I'll bite. Tempe isn't just another city. Arizona State University fills Tempe to the brim. They know technology at ASU and I wouldn't be surprised if they're the first 'major' city to roll this out successfuly. This being said...Tempe is hardly a 'major' city. Good job ASU!
I'll also chime in with a positive for Powweb. I host 5 domains through powweb (in combination with zoneedit) and have been nothing but pleased. The best part, in my opinion, about them is that they are so easy going about letting users install software on their own. They don't provide mambo (a cms) but you can find instructions in their forums for installing it yourself. While they don't offer shell access (not many do anymore at this price point) they don't seem to have a problem with people using php shell-emulation type scripts to manage their sites. Give them a test drive; I don't think you'll be unhappy. Also, you can search the web for promo codes; there are almost always viable codes that allow you to get additional discounts when you sign up.
Well I have never worked anywhere that didn't have a t least one machine (database server, GIS server, file server, etc) that wouldn't grind the company to a halt if it went down. If it was just one office where this was the case I would say bad IT design...but it really seems like even with all the talk about redundancy and fail over people(companies) just don't want to spend the capital up front to have redundant systems available. I would argue also that you don't have to have a single server available for all N employees...there is no reason not to buy 10 lower end servers and make one server host for N/10 users. This also gives you the added security of being able to load balance users over to the other servers if one goes down. You still have a lot fewer machines to keep patched/upgraded and now you've added some failover.
You've probably already seen/read about this but the best project going for thin client computing is the Linux Terminal Server Project, http://www.ltsp.org/. There is an even more brain dead solution, which I have been using at home and also in my dad's office, at http://www.k12ltsp.org/ which is a version of the LTSP designed especially for schools (hence the K12, Kindergarten - 12th grade in the US). They have great instructions and have packaged everything in an easy to use distro that really takes all the guesswork out of it. Most of the time I use an old Pentium with no hard disk and whatever floppy drive came with it (I'm too cheap to put boot roms in the network cards) to boot over the network. Give it a look see!
I know you're an anonymous coward but I just have to do it. You realize that you're upset by someone who makes less than $5000 (US) in an entire year not having to pay income tax. Think about that for a minute really intensely. Or perhaps you're talking about a married couple that makes less than $8000 in an entire year. Couple of kids maybe? Add another $4000 or $5000 bucks a year. Can you even imagine trying to raise a family in a normal American city on $12,000 a year? And you begrudge them not having to pay any income tax. Reminds me of my uncle who made roughly a million dollars one of the last years he was alive. He was sitting complaining to my dad about having to pay $100,000 in taxes and how unfair it was. My dad and I both looked at him in shock and said something along the lines of, "You only had to pay 10% in taxes?". He just couldn't understand why we didn't sympathize with him.
Actually, I think the exact opposite is true. Check eBay, the biggest difference between a mac and pc is that in 2/3 years I can sell the mac for a large percentage of what I paid for it. I only have to lay out a large lump sum of cash for my first mac (imac whatever) and after that it's just an 'upgrade fee' to get a brand new machine and sell off the old one. Have you ever tried to sell a 3 year old Dell? How about even a 2 year old Dell. There is just no one willing to pay anything for a used PC. I say if you have a PC the cheap upgrade path is to change out parts piece by piece until you have a new machine with the latest and greatest. If you have a Mac, the cheap upgrade path is to sell your old box to someone who is happy being a year behind the curve (or two or three of 10 like some people I know) and buy a new one (or a newer one from someone else participating in the same game). Just different strokes for different folks.
For the record, I don't disagree that it is wrong to distribute copyrighted music. I understand that if I do so I am in violation of copyright law. In fact, I don't share copyrighted music. I just get riled when I hear someone say something that sounds like they have a right to make money from their art. I agree 100% that you have the right to try and make money from your art but no one owes you anything. I am only against legislation like that proposed in this article and legislation that proposed to make it a criminal offense to violate copyright law rather than a civil one. No one should go to jail for sharing music or books or reprints of paintings. That's what fines and civil courts are for.
On that note...if your music was good enough that people wanted to hear it you would quickly recoup your costs in producing it. No one ever guaranteed you the right to make money from making music. No one guaranteed the fine artists in Europe four hundred years ago any money but they suffered for their ART. Music is ART. It is not business. Go ahead and stop making music if you are only doing it for the money. I guarantee you that there are plenty of artists milling around who would spend all the money they have to play in a dingy bar just for applause and the appreciation of true fans. If you can't make a living making music then it's not my problem or the problem of our government. Get a real job and suffer for your art in your spare time. Can't afford a studio to mix your album? Then release an album that you mixed yourself. Some of the greatest music ever recorded has come out of garages and spare bedrooms. Are the paintings that Picasso made on burlap sacks any less quality than the ones that were made on a fine canvas? I say get over yourself. Remember the good old days when band put together tapes of their music and gave them away at concerts? Encouraged their fans to share them with friends so more people would come see them play? That is what music is about. To hell with the RIAA and to hell with greedy 'musicians' that feel like they are owed something.
Surely this is a joke. I mean...come one. I have had two Chevy's (a car and a truck) that hit 300,000 miles without anything more than regular maintenance. Most of them highway miles btw. Funny post though.
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Even though it's what the OP asked about specifically, keeping your stuff from getting stolen isn't the only (or even the best) reason to have a security system. When your partner comes home with your kids knowing that the house is locked down and the alarm hasn't been tripped is incredibly reassuring.
But what happens to all of the servers that fail to start up in time to process payroll? It's late? You pay overtime through the nose for th SysAdmins that have to come in and work 24 hour days to bring the machines online? Seriously, I'm not saying it's a bad idea but I would say that this scenario is probably more like 15 days on 15 days off. You have to build in time on the front end to make sure the machines are up and running in a stable configuration, and probably time on the back end to apply patches and perform metrics on the machines to make sure they are running properly for next month. I'm not sure that this would save anyone any money in the long run because of the load on their staff during spin-up.
I can assure that the average temperature underground is not anywhere near 55 degrees in some places. Here in Arizona, our caves are a steamy 80 degrees year round. This was a shock to me coming from the east coast of the US where caves are always close to a chilly 55 degrees. I know that this gasoline temperature fight has been going on for quite some time here because the gasoline is close to 80 degrees when it comes out of the pump.
Ironically, here in Phoenix, AZ I take the bus in the summer and ride my bike in the winter. This world is a strange place, isn't it.
The point is that no one would complain about Microsoft refusing to sell a computer without Windows on it. If Apple was strong-arming Dell,HP and whichever other manufacturers do this to install OS X on their machines I think people would have the same complaints.
Ummm, no offense intended but you don't need a 'second computer' or 'broadband' to get your hands on an operating system. What in the world do you think people did in the 'olden days' when they bought computers which came with no operating system OR modem.
Are you implying that an electric guitar or electric bass guitar is somehow able to have a more distinctive or 'personal' sound than a saxophone, trumpet, violin, piano...etc. I sincerely don't mean this to offend but I sincerely think you must be joking or severely misinformed/uneducated about classical instrumentation. I would guess that there are FAR more people in this world that could pick out a particular make/model of violin or piano than could a guitar. Throw personal affectation into the equation and I don't think we're even talking the same order of magnitude.
You know what's interesting? I also have the 3rd Edition of Jackson and it's the one book I've been thinking about while reading this whole article. I took electrodynamics in 1998 so you can guess which version I have. I remember my professors reluctantly switching to the 3rd edition after waiting many, many years for some mistakes to be corrected in the 2nd edition. That book brings back some of my most painful memories of grad school!
If you think there is any chance that you will ever learn Astronomy without understanding thermodynamics I feel very sorry for you.
I'm sure people will flame for this, especially hard core IT types, but at some level the reason that users forget passwords lies with IT/Security types themselves. Forcing users to remember passwords on multiple, disparate systems that each have unique restraints (No passwords that have been used in the last X changes, 3 different character classifications, passwords must be X characters long, that must be changed every X days) almost forces users to write down their passwords somewhere that they can retrieve them easiy. The problem is further compounded when the users is locked out after only a very few attempts. I understand the reasoning behind every rule but it is unreasonable, in my opinion, to force some sort of data entry clerk or analyst to remember logins for 4 different, often times rarely used, accounts that all have different security parameters. If you can't provide single sign on for your users and you have DOD grade requirements, then I think you lose the justification for being upset when they forget their passwords.
Just my humble opinion,
Chris
I live in Arizona and let me tell you I know what you are talking about. I do, however, ride my bike to work 10 months out of the year (I skip july and august when it's over 110). I don't know if I'm just lucky but I have always been able to find a gym within a mile of my office, wherever I have worked. I bike the 10 miles each day to the gym as fast as I can and shower at the gym. Three days a week I add weight training before my shower at the gym. The mile or so I have left to work I just relax and get ready for my day. Works out pretty well for me and I've been doing it for quite a few years but I'm definitely a pattern kind of guy...I like the same routine every day. I guess my point is that it is different for everyone but I bet if you try hard enough you can find some way to incorporate exercise into your daily routine.
Honestly, the reason that I started was because I have a full size pickup truck (for my weekend activities) and I couldn't justify the wastefulness of driving it back and forth to work. Now I can't imagine not having my bike ride in the morning and afternoon.
I would also add that 'podcasts' have made my days even more wonderful as my mp3 player is full of new content every day and I am always looking forward to my favorite 'shows' on my way to and from work.
Why not run linux on the Mac Mini?
http://www.sowerbutts.com/linux-mac-mini/
I will counter with one point. I wonder if your friend can't make a living as a professional musician or can't make a comfortable, easy, well-to-do, etc. living as a musician. I am a sometimes musician, though I would never consider myself a true talent. I wouldn't dream of trying to make a living as a musician but that is mostly because it isn't my passion. I'm not an 'artist' and I'm not willing to sacrifice my comfortable lifestyle for the 'art' of music. I wonder if the argument is really that people feel like they should be able to make a living as musicians or that people feel like they should be able to make a killing as a musician. No one ever argues that painters or sculpters should be able to make a living doing their art yet some of them are so passionate about what they do that they don't care and they will sacrifice everything else for it. That's passion. I'm not saying I don't think people SHOULD be able to make a comfortable living making music but I think sometimes people forget that music is art and sometimes it's just hard to be successful as an artist and have a comfortable living. I know an awful lot of people that play just for the sheer high of the performance and don't give a darn about whether or not they ever make a dime doing it. Would they be happy to make a ton of money doing it? Sure, but I'm not sure any of them would be willing to surrender their 'art' for a bigger paycheck. Just my two cents.
Chris
P.S. Check out my friend's website, http://toddlorenz.com/, you can listen to his music for free.
I think the ITMS is a great way for kids to get the music they want and I'm glad that at least there are avenues to get the music legally. For me, I think the best way to pay for music is the same way I pay for television and internet connectivity. I subscribe to Rhapsody which, though not perfect, is a great tool for me. I can listen to all my music at work, at home, at my friends houses...basically anywhere I can get on the internet for one monthly fee. People have no problem paying this way for cable television and for internet connectivity and I see the future of music distribution being subscription services. Granted my media bills are astronomical and sometimes hard to believe but I consume a great deal of media so I feel like it's money well spent. I can even fill my ipod with music which I have payed for by recording the songs while they're playing in much the same way that I can record my cable or radio to tape. Just my $.02.
Try talking to someone who has grown up in India if you think that they have a 'modern and effective economy and government'. Just because they have a tiny minority of their citizenry that have achieved great personal wealth and a small economic center in several large cities that provide a modern standard of living doesn't mean they have their problems solved. Most of the population still lives in desperate poverty and endures hardships similar to those in Africa. Find an Indian and ask them if they have an effective government and I think your eyes will be opened.
Ummmm, belts...pulleys? Why couldn't you just have the foot pedal generate the DC and plug it right into the existing power port of the laptop? Am I missing something here? Isn't a simple cord with two wires a lot easier to manager than a framework with belts and pulleys?
Chris
Ummm, I know you're an AC ... but I'll bite. Tempe isn't just another city. Arizona State University fills Tempe to the brim. They know technology at ASU and I wouldn't be surprised if they're the first 'major' city to roll this out successfuly. This being said...Tempe is hardly a 'major' city. Good job ASU!
Chris
I'll also chime in with a positive for Powweb. I host 5 domains through powweb (in combination with zoneedit) and have been nothing but pleased. The best part, in my opinion, about them is that they are so easy going about letting users install software on their own. They don't provide mambo (a cms) but you can find instructions in their forums for installing it yourself. While they don't offer shell access (not many do anymore at this price point) they don't seem to have a problem with people using php shell-emulation type scripts to manage their sites. Give them a test drive; I don't think you'll be unhappy. Also, you can search the web for promo codes; there are almost always viable codes that allow you to get additional discounts when you sign up.
Well I have never worked anywhere that didn't have a t least one machine (database server, GIS server, file server, etc) that wouldn't grind the company to a halt if it went down. If it was just one office where this was the case I would say bad IT design...but it really seems like even with all the talk about redundancy and fail over people(companies) just don't want to spend the capital up front to have redundant systems available. I would argue also that you don't have to have a single server available for all N employees...there is no reason not to buy 10 lower end servers and make one server host for N/10 users. This also gives you the added security of being able to load balance users over to the other servers if one goes down. You still have a lot fewer machines to keep patched/upgraded and now you've added some failover.
You've probably already seen/read about this but the best project going for thin client computing is the Linux Terminal Server Project, http://www.ltsp.org/. There is an even more brain dead solution, which I have been using at home and also in my dad's office, at http://www.k12ltsp.org/ which is a version of the LTSP designed especially for schools (hence the K12, Kindergarten - 12th grade in the US). They have great instructions and have packaged everything in an easy to use distro that really takes all the guesswork out of it. Most of the time I use an old Pentium with no hard disk and whatever floppy drive came with it (I'm too cheap to put boot roms in the network cards) to boot over the network. Give it a look see!
Chris
I know you're an anonymous coward but I just have to do it. You realize that you're upset by someone who makes less than $5000 (US) in an entire year not having to pay income tax. Think about that for a minute really intensely. Or perhaps you're talking about a married couple that makes less than $8000 in an entire year. Couple of kids maybe? Add another $4000 or $5000 bucks a year. Can you even imagine trying to raise a family in a normal American city on $12,000 a year? And you begrudge them not having to pay any income tax. Reminds me of my uncle who made roughly a million dollars one of the last years he was alive. He was sitting complaining to my dad about having to pay $100,000 in taxes and how unfair it was. My dad and I both looked at him in shock and said something along the lines of, "You only had to pay 10% in taxes?". He just couldn't understand why we didn't sympathize with him.
~Chris
Actually, I think the exact opposite is true. Check eBay, the biggest difference between a mac and pc is that in 2/3 years I can sell the mac for a large percentage of what I paid for it. I only have to lay out a large lump sum of cash for my first mac (imac whatever) and after that it's just an 'upgrade fee' to get a brand new machine and sell off the old one. Have you ever tried to sell a 3 year old Dell? How about even a 2 year old Dell. There is just no one willing to pay anything for a used PC. I say if you have a PC the cheap upgrade path is to change out parts piece by piece until you have a new machine with the latest and greatest. If you have a Mac, the cheap upgrade path is to sell your old box to someone who is happy being a year behind the curve (or two or three of 10 like some people I know) and buy a new one (or a newer one from someone else participating in the same game). Just different strokes for different folks.
Chris
For the record, I don't disagree that it is wrong to distribute copyrighted music. I understand that if I do so I am in violation of copyright law. In fact, I don't share copyrighted music. I just get riled when I hear someone say something that sounds like they have a right to make money from their art. I agree 100% that you have the right to try and make money from your art but no one owes you anything. I am only against legislation like that proposed in this article and legislation that proposed to make it a criminal offense to violate copyright law rather than a civil one. No one should go to jail for sharing music or books or reprints of paintings. That's what fines and civil courts are for.
On that note...if your music was good enough that people wanted to hear it you would quickly recoup your costs in producing it. No one ever guaranteed you the right to make money from making music. No one guaranteed the fine artists in Europe four hundred years ago any money but they suffered for their ART. Music is ART. It is not business. Go ahead and stop making music if you are only doing it for the money. I guarantee you that there are plenty of artists milling around who would spend all the money they have to play in a dingy bar just for applause and the appreciation of true fans. If you can't make a living making music then it's not my problem or the problem of our government. Get a real job and suffer for your art in your spare time. Can't afford a studio to mix your album? Then release an album that you mixed yourself. Some of the greatest music ever recorded has come out of garages and spare bedrooms. Are the paintings that Picasso made on burlap sacks any less quality than the ones that were made on a fine canvas? I say get over yourself. Remember the good old days when band put together tapes of their music and gave them away at concerts? Encouraged their fans to share them with friends so more people would come see them play? That is what music is about. To hell with the RIAA and to hell with greedy 'musicians' that feel like they are owed something.
Surely this is a joke. I mean...come one. I have had two Chevy's (a car and a truck) that hit 300,000 miles without anything more than regular maintenance. Most of them highway miles btw. Funny post though.