You're right on the money. But, there are other features that your shop might not use that others will require, so this is not a comprehensive list.
Frankly, a good deal of your list can be done easily or has already been done in various different OSS apps. But there is no single app that has them all and none with good scheduling capabilities or APIs to allow for further expansion of the systems capabilities.
Regardless, the list you have provided clearly demonstrates part of the reason why there is as yet no such OSS app. Simply, it's a really big job. Furthermore, it's not something that most programmers might want or need, it's what corporations need. And that's the kicker.
Most OSS programmers do it to scratch their particular itch or enjoy providing a solution for the masses, the fame or whatever. It's what interests them so they do it. On the other hand, building a huge beast of an app that doesn't really interest them and will only be used by corporations doesn't really draw a crowd of developers willing to work for free.
When it comes to selling to clients such as these, the product must provide much more than the client "absolutely needs". That is one of Exchange's selling points. It is "so extensible" that it can do anything. It doesn't matter that most places don't use half the features that it has. They perceive it to be important to have the features in case they need them in the future.
Sure, Exchange can be used as a voicemail server where you can listen to your voicemail from Outlook and there are even a few places that do this but, most never will. But, they all like the idea and hope to implement it one day therefore, their groupware server must be capable of doing it and, Exchange is.
I would guess that 98% of Exchange shops use it only for email and scheduling. Most probably don't even use the public folders. But they all bought it with some pipedream of using it as an all encompassing enterprise level meail server, voicemail server, document management system, coffee warmer and back massager.
In the end, if your product can't do all that, they'll buy Exchange.
There has been plenty of call for an open source groupware application like Exchange and as yet there are still none. My appologies to the folks at PHP-Groupware but, even though this is often cited as a solution, it simply isn't an adequate solution especially for a medium or large enterprise.
Frankly, I had always thought that the Sendmail folks would be the one to deliver. They have certainly nailed down the mail side and I feel that they could do a great job integrating calendaring and other groupware features, most importantly a programming interface to make it an extensible solution like Exchange or Notes. Unfortunately, as of yet, they have not indicated that they are pursuing this.
OSS is still out in the cold when it comes to an OSS Groupware application that scales.
Do you really think that that they are paying the Chinese to take "toxic waste" as well as paying to ship it to them? If that were the case, it would be far cheaper to ship the equipment halfway, as in , dump it in the middle of the Pacific.
Would you not think it more likely that the Chinese companies are paying for, not toxic waste but, used equipment. Which these companies then canibalize for parts, hoping to resell said parts for a profit? Their probably paying the shipping too.
Furthermore, the recycling companies that take this equipment in the US are doing basically the same thing with the equipment. But, in the US the government has laws restricting the methods that can be used. These environmental laws not only keep our environment relatively safe, they also raise the cost of the recycled parts considerably which makes it hard for the american recyclers to compete with the Chinese ones. Not to mention that the Chinese labor laws also give them a significant profit advantage over the US. This is a major reason why so few US companies do this recycling but, there are probably many in places such as China
From an environmental standpoint, the things shown in this article are atrocious. The same is true from a human rights standpoint. But, this is definitely not a situation forced upon them by the US. The only people that can really beleive that are the same people that feel that gun manufacturers are responsible for murders.
2. Even if it could be done why all the trouble for a crappy scanner. Do yourself a favor, go to eBay and search for "barcode scanner" find one you like and spend $20.
3. Just so you know, CCD scanners are Ok. Laser scanners are far more accurate but, they cost a bit more. Oh, don't forget a splitter for your keyboard cable, if it doesn't come with one.
You are missing the point. One of the design goals of the KDE desktop is to, out of the box, look and feel similar enough to Windows that Windows users (the most users on the planet) will be able to use it immediately and possibly win them over after they have had a chance to see how much more it can do. In order to meet this goal, the default configuration is intentionally setup to look and feel like Windows. In the case of KDE 3.1 the target is Windows XP. By default KDE 3.1 looks similar enough to Windows XP to not frighten of the typical Windows user. Furthermore, it is a matter of taste which is very subjective but, many people very much like the Windows XPish interface.
Regardless of your taste though, KDE's appearance is infinitely configurable. You can make it look like ANYTHING you want Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Mac OS8, OS X, Solaris CDE, Motif, or any of a few hundred cool and bizarre looks that you have never dreamed of. You can change the colors, fonts, icons, textures, backgrounds, whatever. Or if you don't want any hassle, you can simple download one or more of hundreds of themes that others have already compiled. You might be interested in Mosfet's Liquid which is an OS X mimic, though not so much to draw an Apple lawsuit.
I'm afraid I can't tell you precisely where your problem is but, it is definitely your configuration that is causing that delay. I have an old PII 300 with a super slow hard drive and KDE 3.0, 2.2 prior to that, Konsole opens in less than 2 seconds with both versions.
One very common linux misconfiguration that causes 30 second delays in everything you do is DNS. Most Linux tasks will perform a DNS lookup at some point or another, even Konsole verifies the local system name upon startup. Most people don't have their own DNS server with their hostname on it so, local configuration is important.
Look in the file/etc/host.conf it should look like this: order hosts,bind
Then look in/etc/hosts it should *at least* have this: 127.0.0.1 yourservername localhost
If your system isn't configured in this way, you have likely found the problem with your application startup speed.
Dude, you gatta get a Dell.
on
CD Copy Stopper
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
You are so right it scares the crap out of me.
These things ARE coming to pass because the general population *is* voting with it's wallet. MOst people buying CD players and CDs have no clue what copy protection or digital rights management is. If you try to explain it to them they still don't get it. What they do get is that, I buy this great CD player and these CDs and I can listen to the latest cool tunes. Their not thrilled with the cost of the CDs but, "hey, what are you gonna do?". "Dude, you gotta get the latest Brittney Spears CD it is SO sweat and did you see that shot of here on the back of the cover?"
Like a dear in the headlights, most people don't even know that they are being screwed, much less care.
Steve Jobs is making the biggest mistake he has yet. Apple sales would explode if Jobs ported OS X to the Intel platform.
Granted, it may indeed threaten Mac hardware sales but, he could test the waters with less optimized Intel version. That way you could get a great OS on Intel but, if you wanted to see *really* fast, you should buy the Mac.
I'm certain that OS X on Intel would fly off the shelves faster than Apple could stamp out the CDs and Microsoft would crap all over themselves. Everybody wins.
Well, I've been admiring the new iMac?, eMac?, the really cool looking single unit with the flat screen, for some time. I've also been lusting over the really nice looking Aqua interface. Anyway, the other day I had the opportunity to drive one of these machines for a day.
I started out with great excitement and anticipation. OS X presented me with various music and video applications which, I naturally couldn't resist trying. The picture was good and the sound from the little clear globe shaped speakers blew me away. Literally, they almost knocked me out of my chair, as the volume was set too high at first. I still marvel at the quality of the sound that comes out of these small speakers.
After a few minutes I tired of the quicktime sample movies and decided it was time to get to work. It suddenly became far more difficult for me to use this Mac. I found that there were a plethora of multimedia and surfing apps presented to me by the desktop but getting to the root of the file system and finding an xterm were much harder. It took me a fair bit of time to figure out how to get at these apps and several other productivity apps that I needed. It seemed as if Apple had intentionally hidden these apps, perhaps to keep it simple for less advanced users.
After about 30 minutes I also found that the *so cool* looking flat panel monitor was just too mall. The actual display area seems like about 14", I'm not sure what it really is. I am sure though that it is too small for extended use when you are trying to get work done.
All in all, I found my experience with this slick little Mac to be surprisingly cumbersome. I had expected the much touted, dead simple ease of use that Apple is famous for and I didn't feel that I experienced it. And, with the small screen I came to realize that I could never use this machine for an extended period of time.
Don't get me wrong, I still think that the Mac with OS X is fine. There's no doubt it's the coolest looking computer yet. I also know that with OS X it can probably do anything a Linux or Windows box can.
But, in the end I feel that I'm better off with Linux KDE and Mosfet's Liquid theme mimicing the Aqua interface. The simple fact is that this setup is just as capable, if not more so, than OS X and the difference in cost between a great Linux box and this cool Mac is mind boggling. Sorry dudes, no offense meant.
What is this guy up to? When you look at the pictures and the price, it seems like a really cool simulator/mockup. But, digging a little deeper and looking at the list of items that are *actually* being auctioned off, there are a lot of things missing.
Not included are a few panels, headphones, TV sets, *the actual framework* that all this mounts on. One wonders why. Basically all your getting for $15,000 is some very nice looking skins. They're non functional and a lot of assembly/construction will be required.
But, what is he going to do with things like the framework? It sounds to me like he is dissatisfied with version 1.0 and is dumping the skins so that he can start version 2.0. Sorry pal, for $15,000 I expect the entire rig, as well as some support for putting it back together after shipping.
I also love Slashdot linked sites that have hit counters. Let's you see how bad a Slashdotting the site can take. Obviously, eBay is unaffected by a paltry Slashdotting.
Unfortunately for this guy, his Special Shuttle Web Page couldn't handle 17,000 hits and it's completely slashdotted.
Where does this guy get off quoting that 10 million people tried to download Episode two in the first weekend? That's a mighty bold statement. I'd like to see Chernin back it up with some facts or supporting evidence. How did he log or track all these attempts? How does he know that 4 million were successful.
It is in fact Some Wild Ass Guess (SWAG). He like the rest of the RIAA droids pull these numbers out of their ass and Congress is accepting them at face value. It's pure bull!
It's as ridiculous as it would be for Linus to stand up and say that 5 billion people attempted to install Linux and 3 billion were successful, making his operating system the most widely used in the world. How would he possibly know?
The last article from the Washington Post, because they are about to require registration??
Registration never stopped you from posting all the New York Times (Free Registration required blah blah blah.) articles. This, inspite of the fact that people were complaining heavily about it.
After looking over their site it looks like they are in the same boat as many other large institutions, most especially large universities. That is, they have and support just about everything. There did not appear to be a preference for any particular platform.
I did find the policy banning XP until further notice rather interesting/ammusing, but this was only until they had a chance to evaluate it and any effect it may or may not have on their network. It rather reminds me of Netware administrators banning Windows 95 when it was first released.
Choose any of the larger distributions you wish. Red Hat, Suse, whatever.
Use KDE. Windows users freeze the second they see Gnome.
Guest accounts and multiuser environments are what Linux is all about.
As far as locking down the desktop, Linux and KDE are infinitely configurable so this won't be a problem. Alternatively, if you are just using guest accounts, let them change what they want then have the logout script clean out their home directory. That way every time a new guest logs in, It's a brand new desktop.
Debian over Red Hat? VI over Emacs? Gnome over KDE????
These are the worst representations from the open source community. Didn't anyone tell the people of the EU that they are free and they do have a choice. Don't they know that they can choose from the much better options and the Open Source software is all about the freedom of choice? Those poor oppressed bastards are suffering under the worst of open source and they say they like it.
As a report discussing the pros and cons as well as the adaptation of OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE, where else would they get their data? You think that they should have gotten their report from Bill Gates?
As for the input being from voluntary users; you think they should have rounded up a few thousand people off the street, at gun point, and asked their opinioin? You're not making sense.
It is an excellent report, regardless of your stand on open source. It would have been better if they could have had a larger sampling but, this is not always possible due to time or budgetary constraints.
They certainly seem like better solutions, at first glance. But, when you look more closely they are just as problematic.
These wireless relay stations would suffer greatly form weather interference. Antarctic storms have horendous winds, insane cold and lots of snow and ice. Additionally, how would you power such relay stations, solar? I doubt that this would be effective as batteries are going to have serious issues at -100F.
The cable solution is no good either. The movement or flow of the ice will destroy the cable before the project is completed. They are talking about laying the cable on top of the ice. This will be covered by several feet of ice in the first few months. This tightly locks the cable to the flowing ice which would of course be disasterous. What happens when a crevass opens up or an existing one shifts? Also, hanging the cables on poles is no good either. Wind will be a major problem, not to mention the weight of ice forming on the suspended cable.
When all the present options are closely examined, satellite is the best alternative. The up front costs are high but, so is the $250Million to install this fibre. But, beyond the initial investment there is far less on going cost. Maintenance will be ngligable in comparison to cable. Atmospheric interruptions will be less than wireless. Satellite can also be installed/launched much more rapidly than this project has any hope of completion.
I've yet to see a fibre optic cable of any kind that could survive any significant stretching. These guys are talking stretching on a glacial scale. There's just no way they will be able to overcome this.
Now, as an earlier post mentioned, running the cable to a coastal area or an island beyond the serious ice and relaying the signal via wireless is a lot more feasible. Of course the reliability will still be an issue as storms of antarctic proportion will impede even the best radio/microwave/laser setups.
In the end, I suspect that they will simply have to put up another satellite.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, Here's the right one.
http://shells.open-network.net
This is his site.
You're right on the money. But, there are other features that your shop might not use that others will require, so this is not a comprehensive list.
Frankly, a good deal of your list can be done easily or has already been done in various different OSS apps. But there is no single app that has them all and none with good scheduling capabilities or APIs to allow for further expansion of the systems capabilities.
Regardless, the list you have provided clearly demonstrates part of the reason why there is as yet no such OSS app. Simply, it's a really big job. Furthermore, it's not something that most programmers might want or need, it's what corporations need. And that's the kicker.
Most OSS programmers do it to scratch their particular itch or enjoy providing a solution for the masses, the fame or whatever. It's what interests them so they do it. On the other hand, building a huge beast of an app that doesn't really interest them and will only be used by corporations doesn't really draw a crowd of developers willing to work for free.
When it comes to selling to clients such as these, the product must provide much more than the client "absolutely needs". That is one of Exchange's selling points. It is "so extensible" that it can do anything. It doesn't matter that most places don't use half the features that it has. They perceive it to be important to have the features in case they need them in the future.
Sure, Exchange can be used as a voicemail server where you can listen to your voicemail from Outlook and there are even a few places that do this but, most never will. But, they all like the idea and hope to implement it one day therefore, their groupware server must be capable of doing it and, Exchange is.
I would guess that 98% of Exchange shops use it only for email and scheduling. Most probably don't even use the public folders. But they all bought it with some pipedream of using it as an all encompassing enterprise level meail server, voicemail server, document management system, coffee warmer and back massager.
In the end, if your product can't do all that, they'll buy Exchange.
There has been plenty of call for an open source groupware application like Exchange and as yet there are still none. My appologies to the folks at PHP-Groupware but, even though this is often cited as a solution, it simply isn't an adequate solution especially for a medium or large enterprise.
Frankly, I had always thought that the Sendmail folks would be the one to deliver. They have certainly nailed down the mail side and I feel that they could do a great job integrating calendaring and other groupware features, most importantly a programming interface to make it an extensible solution like Exchange or Notes. Unfortunately, as of yet, they have not indicated that they are pursuing this.
OSS is still out in the cold when it comes to an OSS Groupware application that scales.
Do you really think that that they are paying the Chinese to take "toxic waste" as well as paying to ship it to them? If that were the case, it would be far cheaper to ship the equipment halfway, as in , dump it in the middle of the Pacific.
Would you not think it more likely that the Chinese companies are paying for, not toxic waste but, used equipment. Which these companies then canibalize for parts, hoping to resell said parts for a profit? Their probably paying the shipping too.
Furthermore, the recycling companies that take this equipment in the US are doing basically the same thing with the equipment. But, in the US the government has laws restricting the methods that can be used. These environmental laws not only keep our environment relatively safe, they also raise the cost of the recycled parts considerably which makes it hard for the american recyclers to compete with the Chinese ones. Not to mention that the Chinese labor laws also give them a significant profit advantage over the US. This is a major reason why so few US companies do this recycling but, there are probably many in places such as China
From an environmental standpoint, the things shown in this article are atrocious. The same is true from a human rights standpoint. But, this is definitely not a situation forced upon them by the US. The only people that can really beleive that are the same people that feel that gun manufacturers are responsible for murders.
1. It can't be done with an optical Mouse.
2. Even if it could be done why all the trouble for a crappy scanner. Do yourself a favor, go to eBay and search for "barcode scanner" find one you like and spend $20.
3. Just so you know, CCD scanners are Ok. Laser scanners are far more accurate but, they cost a bit more. Oh, don't forget a splitter for your keyboard cable, if it doesn't come with one.
You are missing the point. One of the design goals of the KDE desktop is to, out of the box, look and feel similar enough to Windows that Windows users (the most users on the planet) will be able to use it immediately and possibly win them over after they have had a chance to see how much more it can do. In order to meet this goal, the default configuration is intentionally setup to look and feel like Windows. In the case of KDE 3.1 the target is Windows XP. By default KDE 3.1 looks similar enough to Windows XP to not frighten of the typical Windows user. Furthermore, it is a matter of taste which is very subjective but, many people very much like the Windows XPish interface.
Regardless of your taste though, KDE's appearance is infinitely configurable. You can make it look like ANYTHING you want Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, Mac OS8, OS X, Solaris CDE, Motif, or any of a few hundred cool and bizarre looks that you have never dreamed of. You can change the colors, fonts, icons, textures, backgrounds, whatever. Or if you don't want any hassle, you can simple download one or more of hundreds of themes that others have already compiled. You might be interested in Mosfet's Liquid which is an OS X mimic, though not so much to draw an Apple lawsuit.
I'm afraid I can't tell you precisely where your problem is but, it is definitely your configuration that is causing that delay. I have an old PII 300 with a super slow hard drive and KDE 3.0, 2.2 prior to that, Konsole opens in less than 2 seconds with both versions.
/etc/host.conf it should look like this:
/etc/hosts it should *at least* have this:
One very common linux misconfiguration that causes 30 second delays in everything you do is DNS. Most Linux tasks will perform a DNS lookup at some point or another, even Konsole verifies the local system name upon startup. Most people don't have their own DNS server with their hostname on it so, local configuration is important.
Look in the file
order hosts,bind
Then look in
127.0.0.1 yourservername localhost
If your system isn't configured in this way, you have likely found the problem with your application startup speed.
I'm hoping for some further advances in stability and speed. I'm sick of Konq segfaults from clicking back a few times.
None the less, KDE 3.1 looks sexy!
Ya Baby. Ya!
Here. Try this for a start.
You are so right it scares the crap out of me.
These things ARE coming to pass because the general population *is* voting with it's wallet. MOst people buying CD players and CDs have no clue what copy protection or digital rights management is. If you try to explain it to them they still don't get it. What they do get is that, I buy this great CD player and these CDs and I can listen to the latest cool tunes. Their not thrilled with the cost of the CDs but, "hey, what are you gonna do?". "Dude, you gotta get the latest Brittney Spears CD it is SO sweat and did you see that shot of here on the back of the cover?"
Like a dear in the headlights, most people don't even know that they are being screwed, much less care.
Steve Jobs is making the biggest mistake he has yet. Apple sales would explode if Jobs ported OS X to the Intel platform.
Granted, it may indeed threaten Mac hardware sales but, he could test the waters with less optimized Intel version. That way you could get a great OS on Intel but, if you wanted to see *really* fast, you should buy the Mac.
I'm certain that OS X on Intel would fly off the shelves faster than Apple could stamp out the CDs and Microsoft would crap all over themselves. Everybody wins.
Well, I've been admiring the new iMac?, eMac?, the really cool looking single unit with the flat screen, for some time. I've also been lusting over the really nice looking Aqua interface. Anyway, the other day I had the opportunity to drive one of these machines for a day.
I started out with great excitement and anticipation. OS X presented me with various music and video applications which, I naturally couldn't resist trying. The picture was good and the sound from the little clear globe shaped speakers blew me away. Literally, they almost knocked me out of my chair, as the volume was set too high at first. I still marvel at the quality of the sound that comes out of these small speakers.
After a few minutes I tired of the quicktime sample movies and decided it was time to get to work. It suddenly became far more difficult for me to use this Mac. I found that there were a plethora of multimedia and surfing apps presented to me by the desktop but getting to the root of the file system and finding an xterm were much harder. It took me a fair bit of time to figure out how to get at these apps and several other productivity apps that I needed. It seemed as if Apple had intentionally hidden these apps, perhaps to keep it simple for less advanced users.
After about 30 minutes I also found that the *so cool* looking flat panel monitor was just too mall. The actual display area seems like about 14", I'm not sure what it really is. I am sure though that it is too small for extended use when you are trying to get work done.
All in all, I found my experience with this slick little Mac to be surprisingly cumbersome. I had expected the much touted, dead simple ease of use that Apple is famous for and I didn't feel that I experienced it. And, with the small screen I came to realize that I could never use this machine for an extended period of time.
Don't get me wrong, I still think that the Mac with OS X is fine. There's no doubt it's the coolest looking computer yet. I also know that with OS X it can probably do anything a Linux or Windows box can.
But, in the end I feel that I'm better off with Linux KDE and Mosfet's Liquid theme mimicing the Aqua interface. The simple fact is that this setup is just as capable, if not more so, than OS X and the difference in cost between a great Linux box and this cool Mac is mind boggling. Sorry dudes, no offense meant.
What is this guy up to? When you look at the pictures and the price, it seems like a really cool simulator/mockup. But, digging a little deeper and looking at the list of items that are *actually* being auctioned off, there are a lot of things missing.
Not included are a few panels, headphones, TV sets, *the actual framework* that all this mounts on. One wonders why. Basically all your getting for $15,000 is some very nice looking skins. They're non functional and a lot of assembly/construction will be required.
But, what is he going to do with things like the framework? It sounds to me like he is dissatisfied with version 1.0 and is dumping the skins so that he can start version 2.0. Sorry pal, for $15,000 I expect the entire rig, as well as some support for putting it back together after shipping.
I also love Slashdot linked sites that have hit counters. Let's you see how bad a Slashdotting the site can take. Obviously, eBay is unaffected by a paltry Slashdotting.
Unfortunately for this guy, his Special Shuttle Web Page couldn't handle 17,000 hits and it's completely slashdotted.
Where does this guy get off quoting that 10 million people tried to download Episode two in the first weekend? That's a mighty bold statement. I'd like to see Chernin back it up with some facts or supporting evidence. How did he log or track all these attempts? How does he know that 4 million were successful.
It is in fact Some Wild Ass Guess (SWAG). He like the rest of the RIAA droids pull these numbers out of their ass and Congress is accepting them at face value. It's pure bull!
It's as ridiculous as it would be for Linus to stand up and say that 5 billion people attempted to install Linux and 3 billion were successful, making his operating system the most widely used in the world. How would he possibly know?
The last article from the Washington Post, because they are about to require registration??
Registration never stopped you from posting all the New York Times (Free Registration required blah blah blah.) articles. This, inspite of the fact that people were complaining heavily about it.
Nuff said.
After looking over their site it looks like they are in the same boat as many other large institutions, most especially large universities. That is, they have and support just about everything. There did not appear to be a preference for any particular platform.
I did find the policy banning XP until further notice rather interesting/ammusing, but this was only until they had a chance to evaluate it and any effect it may or may not have on their network. It rather reminds me of Netware administrators banning Windows 95 when it was first released.
But these are EASY questions.
Choose any of the larger distributions you wish. Red Hat, Suse, whatever.
Use KDE. Windows users freeze the second they see Gnome.
Guest accounts and multiuser environments are what Linux is all about.
As far as locking down the desktop, Linux and KDE are infinitely configurable so this won't be a problem. Alternatively, if you are just using guest accounts, let them change what they want then have the logout script clean out their home directory. That way every time a new guest logs in, It's a brand new desktop.
They all suck hard.
Debian over Red Hat?
VI over Emacs?
Gnome over KDE????
These are the worst representations from the open source community. Didn't anyone tell the people of the EU that they are free and they do have a choice. Don't they know that they can choose from the much better options and the Open Source software is all about the freedom of choice? Those poor oppressed bastards are suffering under the worst of open source and they say they like it.
As a report discussing the pros and cons as well as the adaptation of OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE, where else would they get their data? You think that they should have gotten their report from Bill Gates?
As for the input being from voluntary users; you think they should have rounded up a few thousand people off the street, at gun point, and asked their opinioin? You're not making sense.
It is an excellent report, regardless of your stand on open source. It would have been better if they could have had a larger sampling but, this is not always possible due to time or budgetary constraints.
They certainly seem like better solutions, at first glance. But, when you look more closely they are just as problematic.
These wireless relay stations would suffer greatly form weather interference. Antarctic storms have horendous winds, insane cold and lots of snow and ice. Additionally, how would you power such relay stations, solar? I doubt that this would be effective as batteries are going to have serious issues at -100F.
The cable solution is no good either. The movement or flow of the ice will destroy the cable before the project is completed. They are talking about laying the cable on top of the ice. This will be covered by several feet of ice in the first few months. This tightly locks the cable to the flowing ice which would of course be disasterous. What happens when a crevass opens up or an existing one shifts? Also, hanging the cables on poles is no good either. Wind will be a major problem, not to mention the weight of ice forming on the suspended cable.
When all the present options are closely examined, satellite is the best alternative. The up front costs are high but, so is the $250Million to install this fibre. But, beyond the initial investment there is far less on going cost. Maintenance will be ngligable in comparison to cable. Atmospheric interruptions will be less than wireless. Satellite can also be installed/launched much more rapidly than this project has any hope of completion.
I've yet to see a fibre optic cable of any kind that could survive any significant stretching. These guys are talking stretching on a glacial scale. There's just no way they will be able to overcome this.
Now, as an earlier post mentioned, running the cable to a coastal area or an island beyond the serious ice and relaying the signal via wireless is a lot more feasible. Of course the reliability will still be an issue as storms of antarctic proportion will impede even the best radio/microwave/laser setups.
In the end, I suspect that they will simply have to put up another satellite.