Err.. you dial a different gate address and go to a different world. This feature alone makes the Stargate concept workable for a long time. Remember the days, before the great long story arcs, when next weeks episode of Stargate was going to be of some new place we haven't seen before with people and cool technology? (another reason to like Farscape too)
Even if Stargate only kept what it has with the worlds already shown to us it could conceivably 'milk' a couple of years worth of series just with these worlds / ideas. Let alone the idea of revealing the Stargate to the rest of the world and seeing what happens. Wouldn't that peak your interest?
On the point of 'can't easily change the.. cast' you are absolutely correct. Look what happened when they removed Grissom from CSI.
All things considered, I believe Ben B to be a decent enough replacement for Richard D.A. Just understand that some people can't be replaced - or at least not easily - and move on.
Is this just more Y2K doomsaying, or do you think there's a serious problem here?
If you are working in the mainframe world then this will cause you some serious pain until it is worked out exactly how you should deal with it. To give you an idea: Our solution (sorry, abrev version and I don't run this side of it - I only hear about it) is to turn everything off for an hour to avoid the issue altogether. Multiply that by several LPARs and x number of midrange (read: Java) boxes and it starts to add up. Not to mention the cost of having a 'special job' done at 3am by your outsourcer.
For those who are wondering, yes: we do have many other bits and pieces to address to handle the daylight savings problem. Even with the forward jump we still need to pay careful attention - time changing can cause lots of problems (especially when database entries and processing timestamps are affected). Yes, we do power down for an hour on the jump forward - just to avoid the issue altogether.
You need to make sure that you do select the right 'output' type. I had a couple in the kitchen and dining room.. and they simply didn't throw enough light (single lights, in the middle of the room, medium (4x4/5) sized rooms). Due to the level of brightness (even though it was rated the same as the incands they replaces) we found that we couldn't read or see properly. We moved these to the hallway and (small 2x3ish) bathroom in the new place.. and it's excellent - just the light needed.. for the small area (it does help that it bounces off of the walls within 1m around the light).
I didn't know about these differences when we first bought them to replace our incands.. but it is the first thing I check now. Unfortunately, due to brand differences, in many cases it is a matter of try one.. see if it suits.. and if it doesn't use it in a smaller room / different situation.
I do not watch TV anymore. I rarely go to the cinema. However, when I have turned the TV on I find the same thing as a few years ago when I stopped watching: The ads are blared at you at the highest volume. I can't stand this and so don't watch TV.
As for movies.. I really hate the situation where I am paying $15 to watch a movie.. and they ram 30 mins of advertising down your throat. Worse still, they show most of the good parts of the movies coming up.
For example.. A while back (Fantastic 4 I think was on) they showed the preview for Sky High. The kids learnt about the school. They were tested, and one kid failed. One kid was bullied but had no powers. He found that he did have powers and was just like his super father. All of this in.. 3? 4? minutes. Wonderful. The entire movie condensed into a few minutes - and they do this for all the movies they can! I did not see Hellboy on the big screen due to this.
Congratulations. Welcome back to reality. I 'retired' from mudding 5 years ago once I realised how much of a time drain it was. Even playing sinple player PC games has a purpose - you can finish them and feel a sense of satisfaction afterwards. When games go on forever.. you literally have to slog through them to 'keep up' and continue playing.
I logged my main char in after 1 year's idle time.. and died within 15 minutes. I then realised it would take me over an hour to 'restore' my character (you lose spells when you die, for example) and I simply ressurected and logged out.
My main char, who was once a "feared PK" is now (probably, guessing here) a 'middle of the range oldbie'. After the game changed a few times in the 3 years I was away I realised it would take me.. 1 - 2 hours to reconfigure my aliases, setup my char with the correct equipment and establish myself (min time here). Then would I have to relearn the old areas, learn the new areas added to the game and then I would have to come to terms with the rest of the changes (combat changed significantly, and there was another skill Cut). On considering this, I logged out (2 years, 96 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes and 1 second ago) and haven't returned. Perhaps some time in the future I'll log again as myself and chat to people who are still around. Until then.. I have better things to do.
Congratulations on finding reality. I hope that you can look back at your time and realise what skills you have improved, how it has helped you and changed you for the better. Good luck on your final exams, I hope you succeed in getting a job that you enjoy.
What happens when TV and radio are able to be streamed down to the public.. and every man and his dog decide to download TV / Radio? BitTorrent only works due to many people uploading.. in the case of streaming it would be one way all of the time: Wouldn't the TV stations collapse? Unless better streaming technology is put in place to allow 100% utilisation of bandwidth (BT-Strsam anyone?) then they could be digging a rather large hole for themselves? Could they?
In other news, when will TV be available 'online' in Germany? You can put this into effect now if you wanted to. Just spread the word (email) of the online radio stations you have paid for and watch them be slashdotted to death to the point where they admit that they can't handle the whole nation streaming from them. Nip it in the bud before they start collecting a tax for TV transmissions that they can't service.
Large mainframe (ZOS / OS390) systems are still written in COBOL (or COBOL generators like DELTA). Yes, I work for one of several organisations that still has mainframes (and still will in 10 years time). It happens to be the best language for the tasks we have.
Some stats... We run 97% of our transactions on the mainframe and 3% on the midrange (Java, webMethods, WebSphere, etc). At this time they both cost about the same to run. The difference is that the mainframe is processing _millions_ of transactions, the midrange isn't.
Until such time as newer languages can compete at the mainframe level we will continue to have new applications written in COBOL.
However, all of these projects are for (as far as I know) government departments and you won't see the source anywhere outside their mainframes. For those who want to be scared: our current systems interface with each other and the web in much the same way as the new "cool" technologies do. Google "CICS web interface" for more information. They do update the COBOL language too. It has changed since 1959 and is actually acceptable for the tasks it is currently used for in the mainframe world. Can't wait for the COBOL plugin for Eclipse.
This tool is going to be exceptionly useful for the code that is on the net.. regardless of what it is. Although.. searching for JCL right now is interesting enough as it is:)
According to the latest news, modchippers will face up to 3 years in jail plus fines for modchipping from January 2007. So, my fellow Australians: Chip while you can! From the article linked above:
"The AUSFTA also requires that Australia implement new laws on mod-chips that will likely be much more in favour of banning mod-chips. Those laws are currently the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry."
This is why I am currently replaying Secret of Mana. It really is a pity that some games are not available around the world (even 15 years after release).
Do. Not. Under. Any. Circumstances. Use. Methmethods. Actually, that is a misnomer. It implies that you can use webMethods and that you can actually get it to work (without spending excessive amounts of cash getting it functioning - let alone processing a few million transactions).
Do not go LOTUS if you do not have Lotus programmers available. We used to have a team to support our Domino servers and Lotus Notes applications. It is a right pain to do *anything* now. Basically it is: 'Do it yourself. If you need server access then don't do it'. Lovely. Really excellent. Consider what support staff you will need BEFORE implementing a solution - and don't fire (sorry: downsize) all of the support staff.
Service Desk and RT3 are very comparable. Service Desk does have 'a better front end' - but you can do more with RT3 (and RT3 is cheaper). I can't comment on CA support for Service Desk but I will say that they take a hard line in some areas (eg: We will not do that / fix that or address that) as you would expect from a large company (even if you do have a support contract with them).
You CAN customise ServiceDesk (as you definitely can with RT3) - but any front end changes you make in the future you will use when you upgrade. CA ServiceDesk 6 is nearly at the end of it's support cycle. You'll be looking at version 11 at least.
Bottom Line: If all you want is a ticket tracking tool then either will do. Small company? Going on the cheap? Go RT3. Large company, *need* corporate level support, product must be up? Both Best Practical and CA have support - but CA is more recognised and your management is more likely to go with them - especially if you already have CA products and can get a 'discount'.
However, most of my colleagues would not be able to do this. They have lived in the mainframe world (think COBOL, DB2, OS/390, TSO, REXX, JCL etc) for years. They'd probably be able to make excellent suggestions along the lines of processing the data and reporting with SAS or COBOL.. but that's the mainframe.
So, to answer your question: yes, we do exist. Most of 'us' however, are barely able to use Excel.. let along something as 'complicated' as pulling data from several sources and creating a report (even by hand).
To answer your question from the mainframe side (go on, let's assume this problem was on the old iron): Sure. We've solved it a million times, know how to make it effecient (or not) and can chew through this kind of problem easily. We do it every day. Next!
(for those who are interested.. in the mainframe world this data would be coming in from several sources: a large database, eg: DB2, MQ, VSAM files, flat files or routed in via from an external source through an number of input paths (and most likely then stored in MQ.. Hey, it's what it is for) and stored. Batch processing would then clean up and/or massage the data and store it in a form to be used (most likely in DB2, VSAM or a flatfile) and then the data is wholescale processed by a program (Cobol, Delta, Assembler) or SAS. Furthermore, for those who care, the mainframe has a linux partition running (alongside ZOS) and is capble of lots of useful functions.)
One of my hard drives just failed:( 80GB worth of stuff gone. Yes, most of it from the net.. but around 10GB was 'personal' stuff I can't replace. Ouch. My new hard drive arrives in 4 days. *Sigh*
I've purchased my favourite CD at least 4 or 5 times at least: Once for me, Once for girlfriend, once when it got destroyed by girlfriend's sister, once to replace scratched copy of the CD and also... the DVD containing most of the songs as video clips. This DVD was stolen with my PS2. Now I can't find that DVD anywhere.
Bottom line: Easy to destroy or lose. More money for the RIAA. Easy question: What happens when CDs are phased out? Music on DVD only?
You can't do this in Australia without paying Tesltra to enable 'callerid'.
Telstra sucks. They charge $3 if you want to enable a 'service' - Make your phone number silent (hidden). They charge $3 (for landlines, or package this cost) - To allow you to see incoming caller numbers. If you don't pay this fee then callerid is disabled for all incoming calls.
So, let's count the cost here. If I want to have a phone that is hidden that can use callerids then I need to pay $3 per month.. and then another $3 to hide it. Wonderful. And they call this a 'service'.
My guess is that they charge $3 for for silenced numbers due to the number of phone calls you don't receive if people don't know your number. I can only dream that they are charging people to receive information which is part of every phone call anyway because they can block it and charge you to receive it. I wonder how many mobile phone users would be annoyed if they added a $3 charge every month just to 'be able to receive calledid!'.
1) Craft a single spam from every single domain GODADDY has. 2) Make a complain about every single spam. 3) Watch GoDaddy take down thousands of websites 4) Watch GoDaddy get sued to oblivion in a class action suit 5) Profit!
Seriously, what happens when they pull thousands of customers sites offline and demand extortion money to reinstate them? Would banks put up with this? Government sites? Perhaps send fake spam from these sites, watch GoDaddy take them down and let someone bigger than the rest of us with very deep pockets, a very long memory and lots of hate to burn crusade on your behalf.
Yes, you are correct. The 'critical update' is downloaded and installed automatically if you have set automatic updates to do this.
The problem is that whenever you reboot the application calls home and the program is updated by microsoft when they feel like it. Not good as this 'critical update' is not critical at all - at least not to the user. Unlike any other 'critical' fix they push to everyone over Automatic Updates, this program has no purpose in regard to security, does not help YOU at all in terms of securing your computer, and is only there to spy on you. The 'execute arbitrary code' is when they update this product to do more than just 'check your system' and see if it is legit - this should only need to be done once.. but they do it every boot it seems. What information would you like it to send to microsoft today?
Yes, we use TRIM - a product from Tower Software. They suck so badly I'm not going to link to them. The interface is horrible. The system can easily go down for 4 hours on a random afternoon - leaving everyone without their documents which are locked up by TRIM. Getting documents in and out is a pain in the ass. There is no transparent interface from Windows Explorer. Converting documents into TRIM is a pain in the ass. There is no easy way in, no easy way out.
Let's start on the interface. It should be added to the hall of shame. It's quite possibly worse than Lotus Notes. One particular problem is that 'Tower' have not got the hang of using virtual displays of information. Eg: Some 'file names' inside TRIM can be more than 150 characters - and that is before the actual file name is put on. Ever tried viewing 200 characters of filename on a screen? Fun stuff. They can't even display a file virtually or use a system like Gmail's tagging. It really gets fun when your 'search results' come back with 100 documents.. all with 150+ character names and you need one of them. Yes, you CAN spend all day scrolling around. It's lot of fun.
To sum up: Don't use TRIM (Tower Software) The interface is horrible The cost is prohibitive (even for government depts the licencing is damn horrible. It's so bad we won't be upgrading in the near future) Transitioning into and out of TRIM is a pain in the ass, and the software does NOT help Trying to use TRIM from (for example) Windows Explorer is a right pain Trying to use TRIM with, for example, Notes can be an exercise in futility, pain and frustration Special note: If you need to you can 'unhook' TRIM from Windows. (Here's how it works: You hit File>Save and this box pops up asking you to save the document in TRIM. Regardless of the type of document you are writing. Regardless of the state of the document. Can cause all sorts of wonderful problems with your PC, none the which of least is that Office programs start saving into temporary files instead of the actual file location.. this is a serious pain in the ass if you are locked out of your local temporary folder and can't even open the temporary files to get your document back).
I'm sure that there is something better out there. Slashdot, feel free to tell us what it is because everything I've seen so far makes it just so much better to have a file server and Deal With It.
Slashdot Mirror
Err.. you dial a different gate address and go to a different world. This feature alone makes the Stargate concept workable for a long time. Remember the days, before the great long story arcs, when next weeks episode of Stargate was going to be of some new place we haven't seen before with people and cool technology? (another reason to like Farscape too)
Even if Stargate only kept what it has with the worlds already shown to us it could conceivably 'milk' a couple of years worth of series just with these worlds / ideas. Let alone the idea of revealing the Stargate to the rest of the world and seeing what happens. Wouldn't that peak your interest?
On the point of 'can't easily change the.. cast' you are absolutely correct. Look what happened when they removed Grissom from CSI.
All things considered, I believe Ben B to be a decent enough replacement for Richard D.A. Just understand that some people can't be replaced - or at least not easily - and move on.
If you are working in the mainframe world then this will cause you some serious pain until it is worked out exactly how you should deal with it. To give you an idea: Our solution (sorry, abrev version and I don't run this side of it - I only hear about it) is to turn everything off for an hour to avoid the issue altogether. Multiply that by several LPARs and x number of midrange (read: Java) boxes and it starts to add up. Not to mention the cost of having a 'special job' done at 3am by your outsourcer.
For those who are wondering, yes: we do have many other bits and pieces to address to handle the daylight savings problem. Even with the forward jump we still need to pay careful attention - time changing can cause lots of problems (especially when database entries and processing timestamps are affected). Yes, we do power down for an hour on the jump forward - just to avoid the issue altogether.
You need to make sure that you do select the right 'output' type. I had a couple in the kitchen and dining room.. and they simply didn't throw enough light (single lights, in the middle of the room, medium (4x4/5) sized rooms). Due to the level of brightness (even though it was rated the same as the incands they replaces) we found that we couldn't read or see properly. We moved these to the hallway and (small 2x3ish) bathroom in the new place.. and it's excellent - just the light needed.. for the small area (it does help that it bounces off of the walls within 1m around the light).
I didn't know about these differences when we first bought them to replace our incands.. but it is the first thing I check now. Unfortunately, due to brand differences, in many cases it is a matter of try one.. see if it suits.. and if it doesn't use it in a smaller room / different situation.
I do not watch TV anymore. I rarely go to the cinema. However, when I have turned the TV on I find the same thing as a few years ago when I stopped watching: The ads are blared at you at the highest volume. I can't stand this and so don't watch TV.
As for movies.. I really hate the situation where I am paying $15 to watch a movie.. and they ram 30 mins of advertising down your throat. Worse still, they show most of the good parts of the movies coming up.
For example..
A while back (Fantastic 4 I think was on) they showed the preview for Sky High. The kids learnt about the school. They were tested, and one kid failed. One kid was bullied but had no powers. He found that he did have powers and was just like his super father.
All of this in.. 3? 4? minutes. Wonderful. The entire movie condensed into a few minutes - and they do this for all the movies they can! I did not see Hellboy on the big screen due to this.
Oh well.
.. and please don't mod this post funny.
Congratulations.
Welcome back to reality.
I 'retired' from mudding 5 years ago once I realised how much of a time drain it was. Even playing sinple player PC games has a purpose - you can finish them and feel a sense of satisfaction afterwards. When games go on forever.. you literally have to slog through them to 'keep up' and continue playing.
I logged my main char in after 1 year's idle time.. and died within 15 minutes. I then realised it would take me over an hour to 'restore' my character (you lose spells when you die, for example) and I simply ressurected and logged out.
My main char, who was once a "feared PK" is now (probably, guessing here) a 'middle of the range oldbie'. After the game changed a few times in the 3 years I was away I realised it would take me.. 1 - 2 hours to reconfigure my aliases, setup my char with the correct equipment and establish myself (min time here). Then would I have to relearn the old areas, learn the new areas added to the game and then I would have to come to terms with the rest of the changes (combat changed significantly, and there was another skill Cut). On considering this, I logged out (2 years, 96 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes and 1 second ago) and haven't returned. Perhaps some time in the future I'll log again as myself and chat to people who are still around. Until then.. I have better things to do.
Congratulations on finding reality. I hope that you can look back at your time and realise what skills you have improved, how it has helped you and changed you for the better. Good luck on your final exams, I hope you succeed in getting a job that you enjoy.
I've known people to flunk university for MUDding. Nothing new here, except that it's happening to significantly more people these days, move along..
What happens when TV and radio are able to be streamed down to the public.. and every man and his dog decide to download TV / Radio? BitTorrent only works due to many people uploading.. in the case of streaming it would be one way all of the time: Wouldn't the TV stations collapse? Unless better streaming technology is put in place to allow 100% utilisation of bandwidth (BT-Strsam anyone?) then they could be digging a rather large hole for themselves? Could they?
In other news, when will TV be available 'online' in Germany?
You can put this into effect now if you wanted to. Just spread the word (email) of the online radio stations you have paid for and watch them be slashdotted to death to the point where they admit that they can't handle the whole nation streaming from them. Nip it in the bud before they start collecting a tax for TV transmissions that they can't service.
Large mainframe (ZOS / OS390) systems are still written in COBOL (or COBOL generators like DELTA).
:)
Yes, I work for one of several organisations that still has mainframes (and still will in 10 years time). It happens to be the best language for the tasks we have.
Some stats...
We run 97% of our transactions on the mainframe and 3% on the midrange (Java, webMethods, WebSphere, etc). At this time they both cost about the same to run. The difference is that the mainframe is processing _millions_ of transactions, the midrange isn't.
Until such time as newer languages can compete at the mainframe level we will continue to have new applications written in COBOL.
However, all of these projects are for (as far as I know) government departments and you won't see the source anywhere outside their mainframes. For those who want to be scared: our current systems interface with each other and the web in much the same way as the new "cool" technologies do. Google "CICS web interface" for more information. They do update the COBOL language too. It has changed since 1959 and is actually acceptable for the tasks it is currently used for in the mainframe world. Can't wait for the COBOL plugin for Eclipse.
This tool is going to be exceptionly useful for the code that is on the net.. regardless of what it is. Although.. searching for JCL right now is interesting enough as it is
This is why I am currently replaying Secret of Mana. It really is a pity that some games are not available around the world (even 15 years after release).
Do. Not. Under. Any. Circumstances. Use. Methmethods.
Actually, that is a misnomer. It implies that you can use webMethods and that you can actually get it to work (without spending excessive amounts of cash getting it functioning - let alone processing a few million transactions).
Do not go LOTUS if you do not have Lotus programmers available.
We used to have a team to support our Domino servers and Lotus Notes applications. It is a right pain to do *anything* now. Basically it is: 'Do it yourself. If you need server access then don't do it'. Lovely. Really excellent. Consider what support staff you will need BEFORE implementing a solution - and don't fire (sorry: downsize) all of the support staff.
Service Desk and RT3 are very comparable. Service Desk does have 'a better front end' - but you can do more with RT3 (and RT3 is cheaper). I can't comment on CA support for Service Desk but I will say that they take a hard line in some areas (eg: We will not do that / fix that or address that) as you would expect from a large company (even if you do have a support contract with them).
You CAN customise ServiceDesk (as you definitely can with RT3) - but any front end changes you make in the future you will use when you upgrade. CA ServiceDesk 6 is nearly at the end of it's support cycle. You'll be looking at version 11 at least.
Bottom Line: If all you want is a ticket tracking tool then either will do. Small company? Going on the cheap? Go RT3. Large company, *need* corporate level support, product must be up? Both Best Practical and CA have support - but CA is more recognised and your management is more likely to go with them - especially if you already have CA products and can get a 'discount'.
She is VERY good friends with his money..
Ahh, no, 'new hard drive' is correct.
You think I should get 2 and RAID?
However, most of my colleagues would not be able to do this. They have lived in the mainframe world (think COBOL, DB2, OS/390, TSO, REXX, JCL etc) for years. They'd probably be able to make excellent suggestions along the lines of processing the data and reporting with SAS or COBOL.. but that's the mainframe.
So, to answer your question: yes, we do exist. Most of 'us' however, are barely able to use Excel.. let along something as 'complicated' as pulling data from several sources and creating a report (even by hand).
To answer your question from the mainframe side (go on, let's assume this problem was on the old iron): Sure. We've solved it a million times, know how to make it effecient (or not) and can chew through this kind of problem easily. We do it every day. Next!
(for those who are interested.. in the mainframe world this data would be coming in from several sources: a large database, eg: DB2, MQ, VSAM files, flat files or routed in via from an external source through an number of input paths (and most likely then stored in MQ.. Hey, it's what it is for) and stored. Batch processing would then clean up and/or massage the data and store it in a form to be used (most likely in DB2, VSAM or a flatfile) and then the data is wholescale processed by a program (Cobol, Delta, Assembler) or SAS. Furthermore, for those who care, the mainframe has a linux partition running (alongside ZOS) and is capble of lots of useful functions.)
One of my hard drives just failed :(
80GB worth of stuff gone.
Yes, most of it from the net.. but around 10GB was 'personal' stuff I can't replace.
Ouch.
My new hard drive arrives in 4 days.
*Sigh*
I've purchased my favourite CD at least 4 or 5 times at least:
Once for me, Once for girlfriend, once when it got destroyed by girlfriend's sister, once to replace scratched copy of the CD and also... the DVD containing most of the songs as video clips. This DVD was stolen with my PS2. Now I can't find that DVD anywhere.
Bottom line: Easy to destroy or lose. More money for the RIAA.
Easy question: What happens when CDs are phased out? Music on DVD only?
Don't send the head.. send the ass
You can't do this in Australia without paying Tesltra to enable 'callerid'.
Telstra sucks.
They charge $3 if you want to enable a 'service' - Make your phone number silent (hidden).
They charge $3 (for landlines, or package this cost) - To allow you to see incoming caller numbers. If you don't pay this fee then callerid is disabled for all incoming calls.
So, let's count the cost here. If I want to have a phone that is hidden that can use callerids then I need to pay $3 per month.. and then another $3 to hide it. Wonderful. And they call this a 'service'.
My guess is that they charge $3 for for silenced numbers due to the number of phone calls you don't receive if people don't know your number. I can only dream that they are charging people to receive information which is part of every phone call anyway because they can block it and charge you to receive it. I wonder how many mobile phone users would be annoyed if they added a $3 charge every month just to 'be able to receive calledid!'.
1) Craft a single spam from every single domain GODADDY has.
2) Make a complain about every single spam.
3) Watch GoDaddy take down thousands of websites
4) Watch GoDaddy get sued to oblivion in a class action suit
5) Profit!
Seriously, what happens when they pull thousands of customers sites offline and demand extortion money to reinstate them? Would banks put up with this? Government sites? Perhaps send fake spam from these sites, watch GoDaddy take them down and let someone bigger than the rest of us with very deep pockets, a very long memory and lots of hate to burn crusade on your behalf.
Yes, you are correct. The 'critical update' is downloaded and installed automatically if you have set automatic updates to do this.
The problem is that whenever you reboot the application calls home and the program is updated by microsoft when they feel like it. Not good as this 'critical update' is not critical at all - at least not to the user. Unlike any other 'critical' fix they push to everyone over Automatic Updates, this program has no purpose in regard to security, does not help YOU at all in terms of securing your computer, and is only there to spy on you. The 'execute arbitrary code' is when they update this product to do more than just 'check your system' and see if it is legit - this should only need to be done once.. but they do it every boot it seems. What information would you like it to send to microsoft today?
That 'visual output' wasn't too bad in some spot.. and in some cases :P
Yes, we use TRIM - a product from Tower Software. They suck so badly I'm not going to link to them. The interface is horrible. The system can easily go down for 4 hours on a random afternoon - leaving everyone without their documents which are locked up by TRIM. Getting documents in and out is a pain in the ass. There is no transparent interface from Windows Explorer. Converting documents into TRIM is a pain in the ass. There is no easy way in, no easy way out.
Let's start on the interface. It should be added to the hall of shame. It's quite possibly worse than Lotus Notes. One particular problem is that 'Tower' have not got the hang of using virtual displays of information. Eg: Some 'file names' inside TRIM can be more than 150 characters - and that is before the actual file name is put on. Ever tried viewing 200 characters of filename on a screen? Fun stuff. They can't even display a file virtually or use a system like Gmail's tagging. It really gets fun when your 'search results' come back with 100 documents.. all with 150+ character names and you need one of them. Yes, you CAN spend all day scrolling around. It's lot of fun.
To sum up:
Don't use TRIM (Tower Software)
The interface is horrible
The cost is prohibitive (even for government depts the licencing is damn horrible. It's so bad we won't be upgrading in the near future)
Transitioning into and out of TRIM is a pain in the ass, and the software does NOT help
Trying to use TRIM from (for example) Windows Explorer is a right pain
Trying to use TRIM with, for example, Notes can be an exercise in futility, pain and frustration
Special note: If you need to you can 'unhook' TRIM from Windows. (Here's how it works: You hit File>Save and this box pops up asking you to save the document in TRIM. Regardless of the type of document you are writing. Regardless of the state of the document. Can cause all sorts of wonderful problems with your PC, none the which of least is that Office programs start saving into temporary files instead of the actual file location.. this is a serious pain in the ass if you are locked out of your local temporary folder and can't even open the temporary files to get your document back).
I'm sure that there is something better out there. Slashdot, feel free to tell us what it is because everything I've seen so far makes it just so much better to have a file server and Deal With It.