but pretty 1337 with COBOL and JCL, if such a thing is possible.
Not with COBOL, but it's perfectly possible to do all sorts of arcane things with JCL if you're willing to take the time to learn how. Can't say I particularly recommend it, though...
And no it's not there yet, even with Suse, Redhat, Mandrake, etc.
Yes it is, for the market you describe. 90% of the market does little more than browse the internet and a bit of word-processing/spreadsheet work.
These are catered for very well by Mozilla (a far superior product to IE) and OpenOffice.org.
I think I hear somebody calling out "and installing it?"
Well, hear this: One: If my wife, a militant non-geek can install a working copy of RedHat (and she can), then just about anyone should be able to, believe me. Two: How many people actually install the OS for themselves in that 90% fraction you mentioned? I would bet in most cases it was set up at the shop: presumably by someone who knows what they are doing. That same person should have no difficulty in adapting his/her talents to a Linux install.
We haven't talked to a single user who has said they're using [open source] because it's better.'
Well they could try talking to me. OSS may not be better in every respect, but it suits me very well for the combo of scientific, graphics and office stuff that I do.
And I can install it without having to reboot the machine 139 times while standing on my head, holding my nose and whistling the Marseillaise simultaneously. You would think MS might have done something about that constant-reboot thing by now. It's such a waste of my time that I call this a bug, but it seems to be entrenched.
And the scary thing is, people seem to just accept it as normal...
One of the main things that bothers me about the retinal scan (this is not my area of expertise) is how they conduct the scan. Given how delicate eyes are by comparison with most other organs in the body, these guys would have to have a pretty damn good line of evidence to support any claim that the equipment is not dangerous, and furthermore cannot be made dangerous either wilfully or otherwise.
There's no way I'm letting anybody fool around with my eyesight, thank you very much. And I, for one, won't be prepared to accept the line that "It's perfectly safe because I tell you so".
signing up to administer hundreds (or thosands?) of users on Exchange email while helping develop roll-outs of the latest MS technologies
The real monopoly here is not entirely due to MS trading practices (nefarious as they are) but the monopoly of individuals' headspace.
I find it kind of scary to hear so many people bitch and moan about the crappiness if MS software but who stop listening as soon as you offer them an alternative.
Or, MS just uses the same "Allow requested popups" option that Opera has.
Or have a preference, like Mozilla for sites allowed to send popups. There are few sites where I'm prepared to put up with popups, and only if I feel that I really want to buy something. The "allow requested popups" feature in Opera is not that useful to me, since 99% of sites don't warn you that's what they're going to do, so you have no way of distinguishing between a popup that has been requested or otherwise.
And last but not least: posting this as an Anonymous Coward doesn't add to your credibility on this subject;-)
Personally, I am beginning to doubt the wisdom of permitting AC posts on Slashdot at all. The incidence of trolls on this forum is getting to the point where I believe that more value would be gained if posts were only accepted from logged-in posters.
This wouldn't cut down the number of junk accounts, but it would slow down the crapflood.
I have Cobol Binaries that still work unchanged, 30 years later. They get written once, then forgotten because they just work.
I've seen a number of high-profile sites where 30-year-old binaries are still in use too; in some cases the source code was lost years ago, and the things were only maintainable by directly editing the object code.
It's not much fun to do that with COBOL compiler output, but it's do-able and saves a lot of time.
Yes, I'm that old. Want to make something of it?:-D
The other advantage of non-mainframe systems is that you don't have to pay a premium to the dwindling number of people who have both the skills and the interest to work on them.
True. Which is why, I suppose, Microsoft used to market a COBOL compiler many years ago (1990, I think I last saw it).
Governments, small businesses, developing countries, and people who don't want to or can't afford to spend $500 on Windows/Office will continue to eat away at MS desktop sale
I'd like to believe this, but I think I might have a higher regard for the pursuasive power of MS' corporate lunches and other kickbacks.
From where I sit, I can name several Government departments here in Australia who have recently signed deals with Microsoft against the advice of their own IT staff.
OK, so I might have an overdeveloped cynicism gland, but MS's efforts at lubricating the wheels have been pretty much successful. With money behind them, their products don't have to stand on their merits.
Using the term hacker is not vague to the general public.
It's also not vague to a great many employers. Back in the early '80s when the first 8086 clones first came out, these machines (and the kind of person who could now afford to buy them) were regarded as a serious security threat at the aerospace firm I was consulting for at the time.
I was contracted to write a suite of "utilities" to self-propagate from intruders' computers and to do as much damage as possible on the way. This was some time before the term "virus" came into common parlance in this context, but viruses are what these programs were, by any of the current definitions.
My point is that the snotty-nosed sociopathic teenager image of virus writers is only part of the story.
Though having said this, I don't know of anyone who uses viruses in "self-defence" like this anymore, since the divide between the mainframe and desktop computer market is no longer so clearly defined.
Apsfilter has been the default UI on Slackware for years. Takes 5 minutes to setup printers (even over networks).
CUPS is fine if it works out of the box. If it doesn't do that, you can be stuck without a working printer for a long time while you ramble through woefully inadequate documentation.
No. It's perfectly common for legal firms to engage in fishing trips like this.
Without wishing to appear xenophobic, this litigous behaviour is an aspect of American culture that I find unattractive, but unfortunately most of the "western" world seems to be following in the US's footsteps with an unhealthy alacrity.
Its funny that we even need justification in the first place to preserve the planet.
No. What's really wanted by governments both in the US and here in Australia is a good line of flummery to justify not ratifying an arrangement to which they have already agreed.
Most individuals (one hopes) believe that reducing pollution is a Good Thing(tm). However, in countries where the big dollars control government policy, the real push is to keep burning the candle at both ends until there's nothing left to save.
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Not with COBOL, but it's perfectly possible to do all sorts of arcane things with JCL if you're willing to take the time to learn how. Can't say I particularly recommend it, though...
Yes it is, for the market you describe. 90% of the market does little more than browse the internet and a bit of word-processing/spreadsheet work.
These are catered for very well by Mozilla (a far superior product to IE) and OpenOffice.org.
I think I hear somebody calling out "and installing it?"
Well, hear this:
One: If my wife, a militant non-geek can install a working copy of RedHat (and she can), then just about anyone should be able to, believe me.
Two: How many people actually install the OS for themselves in that 90% fraction you mentioned? I would bet in most cases it was set up at the shop: presumably by someone who knows what they are doing. That same person should have no difficulty in adapting his/her talents to a Linux install.
Well they could try talking to me. OSS may not be better in every respect, but it suits me very well for the combo of scientific, graphics and office stuff that I do.
And I can install it without having to reboot the machine 139 times while standing on my head, holding my nose and whistling the Marseillaise simultaneously. You would think MS might have done something about that constant-reboot thing by now. It's such a waste of my time that I call this a bug, but it seems to be entrenched.
And the scary thing is, people seem to just accept it as normal...
Yuck, they can keep it.
We don't have the DMCA (quite) here in Australia. So what I want to know is: where can I get one of these cameras in Perth?
There's no way I'm letting anybody fool around with my eyesight, thank you very much. And I, for one, won't be prepared to accept the line that "It's perfectly safe because I tell you so".
The real monopoly here is not entirely due to MS trading practices (nefarious as they are) but the monopoly of individuals' headspace.
I find it kind of scary to hear so many people bitch and moan about the crappiness if MS software but who stop listening as soon as you offer them an alternative.
The icon is enough for me, though. I prefer programs to work as quietly as possible.
Or have a preference, like Mozilla for sites allowed to send popups. There are few sites where I'm prepared to put up with popups, and only if I feel that I really want to buy something. The "allow requested popups" feature in Opera is not that useful to me, since 99% of sites don't warn you that's what they're going to do, so you have no way of distinguishing between a popup that has been requested or otherwise.
To me, anyone who takes home a bloated paycheck belongs to the category of them not us. :-)
Personally, I am beginning to doubt the wisdom of permitting AC posts on Slashdot at all. The incidence of trolls on this forum is getting to the point where I believe that more value would be gained if posts were only accepted from logged-in posters.
This wouldn't cut down the number of junk accounts, but it would slow down the crapflood.
So I should find a spammer and spear him with a pitchfork?
You think you're joking, but that would be just damn cool :-)
I've seen a number of high-profile sites where 30-year-old binaries are still in use too; in some cases the source code was lost years ago, and the things were only maintainable by directly editing the object code.
It's not much fun to do that with COBOL compiler output, but it's do-able and saves a lot of time.
Yes, I'm that old. Want to make something of it? :-D
True. Which is why, I suppose, Microsoft used to market a COBOL compiler many years ago (1990, I think I last saw it).
Looks like they've revived the project...
Looks like your printer is a bit more upmarket than mine. My hp deskjet works perfectly with apsfilter. Did you build your ijs drivers from source?
I'd like to believe this, but I think I might have a higher regard for the pursuasive power of MS' corporate lunches and other kickbacks.
From where I sit, I can name several Government departments here in Australia who have recently signed deals with Microsoft against the advice of their own IT staff.
OK, so I might have an overdeveloped cynicism gland, but MS's efforts at lubricating the wheels have been pretty much successful. With money behind them, their products don't have to stand on their merits.
It's also not vague to a great many employers. Back in the early '80s when the first 8086 clones first came out, these machines (and the kind of person who could now afford to buy them) were regarded as a serious security threat at the aerospace firm I was consulting for at the time.
I was contracted to write a suite of "utilities" to self-propagate from intruders' computers and to do as much damage as possible on the way. This was some time before the term "virus" came into common parlance in this context, but viruses are what these programs were, by any of the current definitions.
My point is that the snotty-nosed sociopathic teenager image of virus writers is only part of the story.
Though having said this, I don't know of anyone who uses viruses in "self-defence" like this anymore, since the divide between the mainframe and desktop computer market is no longer so clearly defined.
CUPS is fine if it works out of the box. If it doesn't do that, you can be stuck without a working printer for a long time while you ramble through woefully inadequate documentation.
No. It's perfectly common for legal firms to engage in fishing trips like this.
Without wishing to appear xenophobic, this litigous behaviour is an aspect of American culture that I find unattractive, but unfortunately most of the "western" world seems to be following in the US's footsteps with an unhealthy alacrity.
Analyse with anal eyes, and all you'll get is hindsight...
Honest, it's true. Yech.
Maybe Slashdot needs something like this, oh wait...
All it takes is remembering to keep your trap shut.
No. What's really wanted by governments both in the US and here in Australia is a good line of flummery to justify not ratifying an arrangement to which they have already agreed.
Most individuals (one hopes) believe that reducing pollution is a Good Thing(tm). However, in countries where the big dollars control government policy, the real push is to keep burning the candle at both ends until there's nothing left to save.
So where's their argument?