You'll have to ask Microsoft why they hav a suddern desire to switch everything to XML, I have no idea. The current proprietry format is actually pretty clever, it has to be when you consider what can go in there (just about anything).
I'm guessing that Microsoft are viewing this as start of a transition to XML. As I understand the current format, if you copy and paste a CorelDraw drawing into Word at the moment, its Corel, not Microsoft who decide what goes into that section of the Word document. In this case, there is no way for Microsoft to XMLise this part of the document. I've no idea how they're gonna do it unless the dump binary (Base64 encoded?) into the XML. They also need to store the object ID so the Word knows which legacy app this chunk of binary came from.
Of course they're gonna put object IDs in there. How else is OLE going to work? One of the strengths of Windows is you can embed virtually any application in any other using OLE. Word has been doing this since the Windows 3.1 days, so they're not going to stop doing it now. And they're not gonna break backwards compatibility just so their XML looks nice.
Actually, Microsoft would give a lot of power in the hands of Linus: a few touches here and there and it would be update nightmare for Microsoft to make sure that their interface runs on every new release of the kernel.....
I don't recall Linus being particularly anti-microsoft (or anti anyone really). He gives the impression he would just be happy that somebody is using his work
Banks have a reputation for being extremely conservative and set in their ways when it somes to changing software, and I'm surprised that a bank would make such a wholesale switch like this, especially to a platform no other bank has really used before. Still, good luck to them, it will be interesting to see who successfull the project will be.
Not wanting to start another debate on Linux on the desktop, I won't mention that the plan to throw away all the Windows desktops and replace them with Linux sounds a little over ambitious, not least because of the cost of retraining staff.
Mark
A popular debate on/. is whether or not Linux is ready for desktop. My view on that is that it depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it, but thats a long debate that I don't really want to go into.
For me, Windows is easy, it has drivers for everything, it runs industry standard packages (Word etc.), you can play games, and my mum knows how to use it.
I could be wrong on this one (I'm no physicist), but I was under the impression that alpha particles were unable to penetrate skin (because they're too big), whereas beta particles and gamma rays can. If this is right, any power device containing a beta emitter would need to be lead lined.
An alpha particle needs to come into contact with live cells to cause damage, so you'd have to swallow the emitter or stick it in youe eye before it did any damage.
Its all down to personal choice really. I prefer FreeBSD to Linux because I like the ports system, I like the cleaness and I've had some bad experiences with Linux in the past.
It all comes down to what you like in the end really, I duel boot Windows 2000 and FreeBSD 4.7, both of which I prefer to Linux, but thats me. If you're interested, I would suggest you give FreeBSD a try - you might like it.
Lotus Notes (I guess the current successor to Agenda) will run on Linux under Wine. I'm not really sure if this is a good thing or not. I think anyone who has used Notes will be equally unsure.
That doesn't sound all that technologically possible. I know controllers for the newer consoles are fairly sophisticated devices (even the N64 one was), but I doubt very much you could get access to the relevant internal systems of the console via the USB port. At I can't thing of any possible ligitimate (in the eyes of the console manufacturer) reason for doing so, so why would they allow this?
I use Mozilla ahead of Internet Explorer for all applications except XML/XSL. I have to give Microsoft credit on this one, it is infiniately better than Mozilla in this area at the moment.
Yeah, exactly. We're talking servers here. No one in their right mind install this on their server, and even if it somehow got on your server, would you actually let anyone sit at a Windows server that runs the network (or whatever) and work on their spreadsheet? It would never get run.
Neither Windows nor Linux is more secure - thats like which lock is more secure - neither if you don't fit them properly, and both if you do. Its totally dependent on who set it up and how. The question should probably be about which operating system is more easily secured.
I'm gonna make myself unpopular here and say FreeBSD, because of cvsup and ports, but to be honest, the answer probably is the OS you know best is the one thats easiest to secure.
I don't think those prodcts would have been at the same stage in the development cycle. It seems to me to be one of the better aspects of 3dfx that they kept going with the new products. Not to do so would have left them completely dead in the water had they stayed in business.
I would have been interesting to see how products like Mojo would have compared with the likes of GeForce 4s and the new Radeons when they all came to market.
Whats the point? Some moderator is only gonna mod me down anyway. There really is no point commenting becauseunless you're gonna say 'Linux is ready for the desktop' you'll get modded down.
Ever used a Windows box? TCP/IP has very little to do with mail performance. Exchange is slow because its big an bloaty, not because its running on Windows. An interesting experiment would be to run a unix mail system on a windows/linux duel boot box and compare performace in each O/S. Probably the UNIX system would win, due to thread / process optimisations (Windows has fast threads / slow processes, Linix has slow threads (pthreads, anyway) and quick processes).
I think prison sentences is a better way to put people off. Lock up the company directors, they'll love that.
IIRC, the japanese courts system is a bit different to western ones as well. A far higher proportion of cases that go to court result in convictions, for example.
Slashdot Mirror
You'll have to ask Microsoft why they hav a suddern desire to switch everything to XML, I have no idea. The current proprietry format is actually pretty clever, it has to be when you consider what can go in there (just about anything).
I'm guessing that Microsoft are viewing this as start of a transition to XML. As I understand the current format, if you copy and paste a CorelDraw drawing into Word at the moment, its Corel, not Microsoft who decide what goes into that section of the Word document. In this case, there is no way for Microsoft to XMLise this part of the document. I've no idea how they're gonna do it unless the dump binary (Base64 encoded?) into the XML. They also need to store the object ID so the Word knows which legacy app this chunk of binary came from.
Of course they're gonna put object IDs in there. How else is OLE going to work? One of the strengths of Windows is you can embed virtually any application in any other using OLE. Word has been doing this since the Windows 3.1 days, so they're not going to stop doing it now. And they're not gonna break backwards compatibility just so their XML looks nice.
Actually, Microsoft would give a lot of power in the hands of Linus: a few touches here and there and it would be update nightmare for Microsoft to make sure that their interface runs on every new release of the kernel.....
I don't recall Linus being particularly anti-microsoft (or anti anyone really). He gives the impression he would just be happy that somebody is using his work
Banks have a reputation for being extremely conservative and set in their ways when it somes to changing software, and I'm surprised that a bank would make such a wholesale switch like this, especially to a platform no other bank has really used before. Still, good luck to them, it will be interesting to see who successfull the project will be. Not wanting to start another debate on Linux on the desktop, I won't mention that the plan to throw away all the Windows desktops and replace them with Linux sounds a little over ambitious, not least because of the cost of retraining staff. Mark
A popular debate on /. is whether or not Linux is ready for desktop. My view on that is that it depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it, but thats a long debate that I don't really want to go into.
For me, Windows is easy, it has drivers for everything, it runs industry standard packages (Word etc.), you can play games, and my mum knows how to use it.
I could be wrong on this one (I'm no physicist), but I was under the impression that alpha particles were unable to penetrate skin (because they're too big), whereas beta particles and gamma rays can. If this is right, any power device containing a beta emitter would need to be lead lined.
An alpha particle needs to come into contact with live cells to cause damage, so you'd have to swallow the emitter or stick it in youe eye before it did any damage.
Its all down to personal choice really. I prefer FreeBSD to Linux because I like the ports system, I like the cleaness and I've had some bad experiences with Linux in the past.
It all comes down to what you like in the end really, I duel boot Windows 2000 and FreeBSD 4.7, both of which I prefer to Linux, but thats me. If you're interested, I would suggest you give FreeBSD a try - you might like it.
Moee info: http://www.cantwellscash.com/ [cantwellscash.com]
That site is funded by the Washington State Republican party. Just a thought, but wouldn't you expect it to be a bit paritsan?
Lotus Notes (I guess the current successor to Agenda) will run on Linux under Wine. I'm not really sure if this is a good thing or not. I think anyone who has used Notes will be equally unsure.
The passport client is a web browser. Works great in any mozila powered browser on any operating system, including Windows, Linux, AIX or whatever.
Not if they're British.
That doesn't sound all that technologically possible. I know controllers for the newer consoles are fairly sophisticated devices (even the N64 one was), but I doubt very much you could get access to the relevant internal systems of the console via the USB port. At I can't thing of any possible ligitimate (in the eyes of the console manufacturer) reason for doing so, so why would they allow this?
I use Mozilla ahead of Internet Explorer for all applications except XML/XSL. I have to give Microsoft credit on this one, it is infiniately better than Mozilla in this area at the moment.
And also for using Microsoft Word to create his website. There are far better tools out there, he needs to learn to use them.
Yeah, exactly. We're talking servers here. No one in their right mind install this on their server, and even if it somehow got on your server, would you actually let anyone sit at a Windows server that runs the network (or whatever) and work on their spreadsheet? It would never get run.
Neither Windows nor Linux is more secure - thats like which lock is more secure - neither if you don't fit them properly, and both if you do. Its totally dependent on who set it up and how. The question should probably be about which operating system is more easily secured.
I'm gonna make myself unpopular here and say FreeBSD, because of cvsup and ports, but to be honest, the answer probably is the OS you know best is the one thats easiest to secure.
I don't think those prodcts would have been at the same stage in the development cycle. It seems to me to be one of the better aspects of 3dfx that they kept going with the new products. Not to do so would have left them completely dead in the water had they stayed in business.
I would have been interesting to see how products like Mojo would have compared with the likes of GeForce 4s and the new Radeons when they all came to market.
Whats the point? Some moderator is only gonna mod me down anyway. There really is no point commenting becauseunless you're gonna say 'Linux is ready for the desktop' you'll get modded down.
We don't have parking lots in England. They're called car parks.
Ever used a Windows box? TCP/IP has very little to do with mail performance. Exchange is slow because its big an bloaty, not because its running on Windows. An interesting experiment would be to run a unix mail system on a windows/linux duel boot box and compare performace in each O/S. Probably the UNIX system would win, due to thread / process optimisations (Windows has fast threads / slow processes, Linix has slow threads (pthreads, anyway) and quick processes).
Why is Windows bashing insightful and Linux bashing flamebait?
I think prison sentences is a better way to put people off. Lock up the company directors, they'll love that.
IIRC, the japanese courts system is a bit different to western ones as well. A far higher proportion of cases that go to court result in convictions, for example.