One thing that could be done is to forcibly remove any software installed on the machines (using things like SMS or LANDesk) that shouldn't be on there... including any IM tools that they want to block. Once you remove them, keep a log/audit of which apps are running on which machines on a daily basis and those who continue to install software that is banned should be passed on to management.
With MSN Messenger literally embedded in Windows XP, that may be a bit hard unless if you create a policy that not only hides the program but also restricts access to the application's folder and executables to the domain administrator or equivalent account if you are in an NT4/AD/NDS environment.
Just some thoughts... though I really don't know how useful they are:)
Not any more with "USB On-The-Go" which does not require a host to create a link over USB. Of course, you would need a USB chip that understands USB-OTG... that would eliminate the need of a host.
I also have the Supermicro 750A case and I like it's build quality as well, but the one thing that I hate about it is the tiny opening to route all of the drive cables through. It's not much of a problem if you use rounded cables for everything... but I have several SCSI cables, two IDE cables (both rounded) and a floppy cable that have to fit through that relatively small opening.
The Addtronics versions of the case, the 7890-series IIRC, are nearly identical to the Supermicro 750A case (Addtronics is the OEM for the Supermicro case, I think). The Addtronics cases use drive rails (as well as the old version of the Supermicro 750) and should still be avaliable from some online resellers. I don't remember of the Addtronics version have a removable motherboard tray or not.
Or if you aren't into eMachine computers, Gateway has something similar (M500 w/ 15.2" widescreen) with a P4, 512MB of RAM, 40GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW and integrated 802.11b/Modem/Ethernet, dunno about FireWire for a little bit more.
Of course, a laptop isn't quite as portable as a PDA nor does it have an instant boot up that a Zaurus or any other PDA has. The C700 (IIRC) clamshell Zaurus is a nice cross between a tiny laptop, a clamshell Jornada/Psion, and the regular Zaurus. Too bad it's even more expensive than the 5600:(
Using RAID, be it RAID 1 or 5, shouldn't really be a replacement for routine backups but rather a safeguard in case a drive does fail... though may be good enough to defer a purchase of a tape drive or a CD/DVD burner.
Dual P4's is definitely overkill... if you really want to go with dual processors, take a look at getting dual Socket 370 P3 Tualatin processors and a compatible motherboard. That should provide more than enough processing power for e-mail, mailing lists, DNS, FTP, file sharing, web and database serving, etc.
As another person mentioned, the Blade 2000 and the PowerMac G5 are marketed towards completely different markets, even though a Blade 2000 system would probably lose to the PowerMac G5 in performance.
A better comparison would be the PowerMac G5 versus the not-yet-released Blade 2500 workstation which uses a scaled down version of the US-III processor (the US-IIIi, which eliminates the external 8MB cache for an on-die 1MB cache IIRC) and is capable of dual processors. The Reg has some info on the workstation and it seems to start at around $3000 (the same price as the high-end system listed at the Apple Store before additional options).
Of course, being a stripped down US-III, the US-IIIi probably won't be breaking any benchmark numbers compared to the 1.2GHz US-III or 2GHz 970/G5.
I think Sun would be even more scared when Apple releases a server based on the G5 processor, which would compete directly against the new dual US-IIIi servers... mostly since Java, Apache and Oracle run on Mac OS X as well as Solaris and Linux.
I haven't stepped foot into a big-chain music store ever since a local Tower Records shop closed their doors. The biggest reason why is that I can get fairly good prices from online retailers (Amazon or Django's) and they tend to have more titles and number of each title in stock than the local Tower ever did.
The only reason why I ever went into a Tower Records store was to check out their import and techno selection, which can be decent at times... but most of the stuff was insanely priced. It seemed that import singles there were cheaper than buying them from Amazon's UK site. Even regular titles at Tower were insanely priced compared to online sites or a local/regional all-purpose store. Why would I spend $15-18 on a CD that I could get two for around $25 at Amazon or Django's and not have to pay shipping?
As others have stated, the $600 is the cost for the media and maintenance for 5 seats, which also includes the rights to connect to their groupware and enterprise server without requiring an existing client access license. The cost for five client access licenses for OpenExchange server is $249, per this page.
They could be following what Microsoft, SCO and Sun are doing with their products to get more money on the license/support side of things. For example, the free-binary version of Solaris 9 allows you to run it on a machine with 1 CPU and have to pay more to be able to run it on 2 CPU machine (even more as you scale up to 4, 16, 32, etc.). I'm not sure if there are any memory limitations set with each processor count level for Solaris.
Windows Server (standard) versus Windows Advanced Server (nee Enterprise Edition for Windows Server 2003) does the same: 4 processor and 4GB memory limit for standard and 8CPU and 32GB memory limit for Advanced Server/Enterprise Edition. Want more processors and memory? Gotta pay more for Datacenter Edition (which is only available by OEM).
Another plus side is that older laptops or older small-form factor desktops will probably have better driver support under Linux or *BSD (not always the case though).
For me, I have a dual P3-500 (which I'm actually thinking of pulling out the 2nd CPU to reduce power usage and heat production) with a 3Ware RAID controller acting has a Samba file server, MP3/Ogg streaming server, and thinking about using it has a VPN server if I go WiFi. Sure, it takes a longer time to compile a kernel or re-compile the base system... but I don't do that more than once or twice a month. Heck, I wouldn't even notice if it were even a PII-300!
One option I'm looking at for a small form-factor system is to get an older , used Dell OptiPlex GX100 in a super-small desktop case (slimline CD-ROM, single HD and one PCI slot with built-in video and NIC). That would be more than enough for a VPN/FireWall system plus some for a small workgroup!
Yeah, it's Compaq, but an older Gen 1 or Gen 2 iPaq desktop with a P3-500 or Celeron 433 would also work, though you are limited to the integrated ports (single NIC), no PCI slots and at max, one desktop drive and one laptop hard drive or CD-ROM. I've got a Gen 1 at home running my mail/web/DNS server. (If heat is an issue, a Coppermine P3 500MHz will run cooler than an equivalent non-Coppermine Celeron 433/466MHz due to the Coppermine being made with a more efficient core and process).
It looks like a drain pipe for dumping excess water from the ground so that the land doesn't end up turning into a lake if/when it rains a lot. That's my guess.
It's a hackish solution and probably not the most optimal way of doing it, but for the code used on my website, I detect the browser and make a loose check to see if the browser is version 5.0 and up or Opera, or not. If the former is true, set the image extension to ".png", else, set the image extension to ".gif" (I don't have any JPEGs since the only images I have are buttons or basic images that all fit into 216 colors).
Although PHP is available for many other web servers and is capable running as a standalone scripting engine, the PHP Project under the Apache Software Foundation umbrella (as stated on the front page of php.net).
I'm not sure when the change took place though.
So it make some sense putting it under the Apache section, though putting it under the Developers section as well as Apache, and PHP would have been a better choice.
Japan has their own version of the RIAA called JASRAC, who has been actively encouraging Japanese labels and distributors to use copy protection on their crippled unCD releases.
I'm not sure if or what Japan's version of the MPAA is.
Regarding GIF images, I think it's okay to create, modify and distribute GIF images iff (if and only if) the vendor of the program used to create the GIF holds a valid license to the GIF patent.
I believe this is the reason why The GIMP does not include support for writing out to GIF by default (yet it can still view GIF images). A plugin to allow for GIF saving/export is available as a separate download.
So if a GIF was created from Microsoft Paint or Photo Editor, it ought to be fine since Microsoft, most likely, has paid their licensing dues. The same may not be said about Joe Schmoe's image editing program that allows for saving images in GIF format.
That's my understand of it... but I could be wrong.
The AltiVec engine (which is also available in the 970 though I'm not sure if IBM can call it that or not) is like MMX/SSE/SSE2 where it can process chucks or multiple chunks of data that can be larger than 64-bit (AltiVec and SSE can handle 128-bit, not sure about SSE2).
32-bit and 64-bitness of a processor generally means how much memory it can address and the size of the registers.
That may be the case, but the other issue is what kind of 3D acceleration can't the integrated graphics do and how much more memory bandwidth will it soak up compared to if the processor were to handle much, if not all, of the processing.
Most if the 3D-capable integrated graphics chips are really meant for mostly 2D graphics with some, and I mean some, 3D... maybe enough to render 3D Window screensavers, handle basic shapes and transitions. But I doubt if they can handle lighting or transformations at anywhere the speed that a 1.8Ghz Celeron can do.
Where this could come into play are corporate desktops that have 2+ GHz P4 or Celeron's using Intel's Extreme Graphics integrated video (which is a wee bit better than the poor i740/i81x stuff).
Also, look at some of the eMachines and el cheapo systems that have decent processors (1.6+ GHz is fast in most cases) but use integrated graphic too.
ZDesk has an article a couple of months ago with Opera stating that they will not release a Windows CE port of the browser:
"But we don't want Microsoft to win in this space, so we will never do a Windows CE port."
Pocket PC is a branch of the Windows CE codeset, so it probably implies that Opera will not be releasing a browser for Pocket PC PDAs, which is a shame:(
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One thing that could be done is to forcibly remove any software installed on the machines (using things like SMS or LANDesk) that shouldn't be on there... including any IM tools that they want to block. Once you remove them, keep a log/audit of which apps are running on which machines on a daily basis and those who continue to install software that is banned should be passed on to management.
:)
With MSN Messenger literally embedded in Windows XP, that may be a bit hard unless if you create a policy that not only hides the program but also restricts access to the application's folder and executables to the domain administrator or equivalent account if you are in an NT4/AD/NDS environment.
Just some thoughts... though I really don't know how useful they are
I also have the Supermicro 750A case and I like it's build quality as well, but the one thing that I hate about it is the tiny opening to route all of the drive cables through. It's not much of a problem if you use rounded cables for everything... but I have several SCSI cables, two IDE cables (both rounded) and a floppy cable that have to fit through that relatively small opening.
The Addtronics versions of the case, the 7890-series IIRC, are nearly identical to the Supermicro 750A case (Addtronics is the OEM for the Supermicro case, I think). The Addtronics cases use drive rails (as well as the old version of the Supermicro 750) and should still be avaliable from some online resellers. I don't remember of the Addtronics version have a removable motherboard tray or not.
http://dansdata.com/altindex.html
I understand the reference from "Office Space", but I though it was "white collar" instead of "white colo[u]r".
Shouldn't color be collar?
Or if you aren't into eMachine computers, Gateway has something similar (M500 w/ 15.2" widescreen) with a P4, 512MB of RAM, 40GB hard drive, DVD/CD-RW and integrated 802.11b/Modem/Ethernet, dunno about FireWire for a little bit more.
:(
Of course, a laptop isn't quite as portable as a PDA nor does it have an instant boot up that a Zaurus or any other PDA has. The C700 (IIRC) clamshell Zaurus is a nice cross between a tiny laptop, a clamshell Jornada/Psion, and the regular Zaurus. Too bad it's even more expensive than the 5600
Using RAID, be it RAID 1 or 5, shouldn't really be a replacement for routine backups but rather a safeguard in case a drive does fail... though may be good enough to defer a purchase of a tape drive or a CD/DVD burner.
Dual P4's is definitely overkill... if you really want to go with dual processors, take a look at getting dual Socket 370 P3 Tualatin processors and a compatible motherboard. That should provide more than enough processing power for e-mail, mailing lists, DNS, FTP, file sharing, web and database serving, etc.
As another person mentioned, the Blade 2000 and the PowerMac G5 are marketed towards completely different markets, even though a Blade 2000 system would probably lose to the PowerMac G5 in performance.
A better comparison would be the PowerMac G5 versus the not-yet-released Blade 2500 workstation which uses a scaled down version of the US-III processor (the US-IIIi, which eliminates the external 8MB cache for an on-die 1MB cache IIRC) and is capable of dual processors. The Reg has some info on the workstation and it seems to start at around $3000 (the same price as the high-end system listed at the Apple Store before additional options).
Of course, being a stripped down US-III, the US-IIIi probably won't be breaking any benchmark numbers compared to the 1.2GHz US-III or 2GHz 970/G5.
I think Sun would be even more scared when Apple releases a server based on the G5 processor, which would compete directly against the new dual US-IIIi servers... mostly since Java, Apache and Oracle run on Mac OS X as well as Solaris and Linux.
I haven't stepped foot into a big-chain music store ever since a local Tower Records shop closed their doors. The biggest reason why is that I can get fairly good prices from online retailers (Amazon or Django's) and they tend to have more titles and number of each title in stock than the local Tower ever did.
The only reason why I ever went into a Tower Records store was to check out their import and techno selection, which can be decent at times... but most of the stuff was insanely priced. It seemed that import singles there were cheaper than buying them from Amazon's UK site. Even regular titles at Tower were insanely priced compared to online sites or a local/regional all-purpose store. Why would I spend $15-18 on a CD that I could get two for around $25 at Amazon or Django's and not have to pay shipping?
Anway... enough of my rambling.
Here's a clip where Scott McNealy mentioned that Sun had already paid a large pile of money for the rights to use System V in Solaris.
As others have stated, the $600 is the cost for the media and maintenance for 5 seats, which also includes the rights to connect to their groupware and enterprise server without requiring an existing client access license. The cost for five client access licenses for OpenExchange server is $249, per this page.
They could be following what Microsoft, SCO and Sun are doing with their products to get more money on the license/support side of things. For example, the free-binary version of Solaris 9 allows you to run it on a machine with 1 CPU and have to pay more to be able to run it on 2 CPU machine (even more as you scale up to 4, 16, 32, etc.). I'm not sure if there are any memory limitations set with each processor count level for Solaris.
Windows Server (standard) versus Windows Advanced Server (nee Enterprise Edition for Windows Server 2003) does the same: 4 processor and 4GB memory limit for standard and 8CPU and 32GB memory limit for Advanced Server/Enterprise Edition. Want more processors and memory? Gotta pay more for Datacenter Edition (which is only available by OEM).
SCO's UnixWare is the same thing IIRC.
Another plus side is that older laptops or older small-form factor desktops will probably have better driver support under Linux or *BSD (not always the case though).
For me, I have a dual P3-500 (which I'm actually thinking of pulling out the 2nd CPU to reduce power usage and heat production) with a 3Ware RAID controller acting has a Samba file server, MP3/Ogg streaming server, and thinking about using it has a VPN server if I go WiFi. Sure, it takes a longer time to compile a kernel or re-compile the base system... but I don't do that more than once or twice a month. Heck, I wouldn't even notice if it were even a PII-300!
One option I'm looking at for a small form-factor system is to get an older , used Dell OptiPlex GX100 in a super-small desktop case (slimline CD-ROM, single HD and one PCI slot with built-in video and NIC). That would be more than enough for a VPN/FireWall system plus some for a small workgroup!
Yeah, it's Compaq, but an older Gen 1 or Gen 2 iPaq desktop with a P3-500 or Celeron 433 would also work, though you are limited to the integrated ports (single NIC), no PCI slots and at max, one desktop drive and one laptop hard drive or CD-ROM. I've got a Gen 1 at home running my mail/web/DNS server. (If heat is an issue, a Coppermine P3 500MHz will run cooler than an equivalent non-Coppermine Celeron 433/466MHz due to the Coppermine being made with a more efficient core and process).
... and it's ruining the world of (game/graphics) benchmarketing too! Oh wait, it was ruined and rather useless in the first place.
It looks like a drain pipe for dumping excess water from the ground so that the land doesn't end up turning into a lake if/when it rains a lot. That's my guess.
It's a hackish solution and probably not the most optimal way of doing it, but for the code used on my website, I detect the browser and make a loose check to see if the browser is version 5.0 and up or Opera, or not. If the former is true, set the image extension to ".png", else, set the image extension to ".gif" (I don't have any JPEGs since the only images I have are buttons or basic images that all fit into 216 colors).
So it make some sense putting it under the Apache section, though putting it under the Developers section as well as Apache, and PHP would have been a better choice.
I'm not sure if or what Japan's version of the MPAA is.
Regarding GIF images, I think it's okay to create, modify and distribute GIF images iff (if and only if) the vendor of the program used to create the GIF holds a valid license to the GIF patent.
I believe this is the reason why The GIMP does not include support for writing out to GIF by default (yet it can still view GIF images). A plugin to allow for GIF saving/export is available as a separate download.
So if a GIF was created from Microsoft Paint or Photo Editor, it ought to be fine since Microsoft, most likely, has paid their licensing dues. The same may not be said about Joe Schmoe's image editing program that allows for saving images in GIF format.
That's my understand of it... but I could be wrong.
The AltiVec engine (which is also available in the 970 though I'm not sure if IBM can call it that or not) is like MMX/SSE/SSE2 where it can process chucks or multiple chunks of data that can be larger than 64-bit (AltiVec and SSE can handle 128-bit, not sure about SSE2).
32-bit and 64-bitness of a processor generally means how much memory it can address and the size of the registers.
That may be the case, but the other issue is what kind of 3D acceleration can't the integrated graphics do and how much more memory bandwidth will it soak up compared to if the processor were to handle much, if not all, of the processing.
Most if the 3D-capable integrated graphics chips are really meant for mostly 2D graphics with some, and I mean some, 3D... maybe enough to render 3D Window screensavers, handle basic shapes and transitions. But I doubt if they can handle lighting or transformations at anywhere the speed that a 1.8Ghz Celeron can do.
Where this could come into play are corporate desktops that have 2+ GHz P4 or Celeron's using Intel's Extreme Graphics integrated video (which is a wee bit better than the poor i740/i81x stuff).
Also, look at some of the eMachines and el cheapo systems that have decent processors (1.6+ GHz is fast in most cases) but use integrated graphic too.
The game may not have been good, but it does have a fair amount of good music tracks (ie: the final tower song is really nice).