Try opening a Microsoft Publisher* document from Office 2000 in Microsoft Publisher 2003. It usually crashes the whole application, and always fails to open it. Not tried in Microsoft Office 2007 yet.
For the article, I'd suggest just keeping one copy of Microsoft Office 2003/2007 on one machine just in case of problems, and teach your users how to convert between MS Office and OpenOffice. I don't honestly have many problems with OpenOffice aside from margins going a little weird once from MS Word.
I wish I'd never said anything in the first place now. 47 people have wasted their time replying to my comment. That probably took about 5 minutes each, add on the time it took me to come up with that joke, say about 12 minutes, so thats 12 + 47 * 5, hmm... either 247 minutes (4 hours, 7 minutes) or in Windows, 295 (4 hours, 55 minutes)
I'm all confused. Maybe I should try it with Excel, I mean, that can't have any calculation bugs in it right?
Sorry, my mistake. As I've mentioned above, I misread your * as a ^. Obviously you didn't spot my mistake either, so you see how I could've easily made the same error. Since I also put (x^y) and you didn't notice, I'm not convinced you were paying much attention! I did ask you to explain but you've just kinda said the same thing again. Luckily someone else noticed what I'd misread.
I've tried this in Microsoft Windows 7, and the same thing happens but I'm not convinced this is a 'bug' as such.
As someone else has mentioned, and as detailed on Wikipedia, this appears to be by design of Microsoft, that the 'Standard' mode in calc.exe is the same as that of a cheap handheld calculator, i.e. working left to right. The fact this doesn't occur in scientific mode proves to me that this was to avoid confusion by some users.
I can't imagine Microsoft deliberately wrote two different ways to calculate an expression for the two modes by accident. Still, it's interesting to see Ubuntu's standard GUI calculator (sorry, unsure which calc app it is) works this out in the correct order of operations.
Personally, I found it more annoying that there's no square root in scientific mode in pre-7... but I guess if you're using scientific mode, you'd remember to just use x^0.5 instead!
Sorry, my mistake. I misread your * as a ^. They look very similar at high resolutions! I think I may need a better font/increase zoom size/stop using Win 7 beta/wear my glasses. Apologies for misreading your post, but hopefully you can see why I was confused! Now I understand the problem, classic operation order problem.
You're right. In XP, the result in 10, and 7 in scientific mode. Just tried this in Microsoft Windows 7, and the result is exactly the same.
Presumably standard mode is for those people who hit equals between every operation so they don't get it in the wrong order, like, as you say; cheap handheld calculators.
Still, doesn't Windows 7 Calculator look pretty... that's gotta make it better than XP?:o)
I don't understand what is meant to happen, and at the very least there is no x^y in standard mode! In scientific mode, using the x^y button, (i.e. 3 + 2 x^y 2 =) gives the answer '7'.
Care to explain a little more of expected and actual results, or at least provide an explanation or preferably a url?
I have the same model of drive as you, the ST31000333AS, and mine's 1TB too. My firmware version is only SD15; so I'm quite worried now, though mine seems fine too.
I'd backup, and get in contact with Seagate just to check.
This won't be too useful to you then, I'm pretty sure this 'new technology' requires some sort of lighting system, and I doubt any of us will be keen on that.
I recently had a PC lose network connectivity due to an automatic update installing a new Rhine II network driver. It broke the network driver and I ended up being called out to fix it. Not that I mind, but it is a real inconvenience if Microsoft can't even get driver updates working right on Windows Update.
I'd probably say it's way more likely its a bad network driver in Windows. Network support in Linux does seem to be a lot better. It's doubtful MTU or anything similar is going to make this much of a difference, but drivers can cause major trouble.
The students didn't have a problem with trying it; it was the staff who didn't want to know. Some even thought that trying to offer alternatives would be a problem to them. Surely it's easier to learn something alternative and new when younger? Thats why they teach languages at a young age isn't it?
Most of the students I saw using Linux and OpenOffice and Firefox had *no* problem at all, some even found it easier; but none complained that it wasn't enough like Microsoft, most just got on with it. It's the staff who are the problem.
What benchmarking software are you using? Every benchmark tool I've tried just crashes Windows 7, including PC Mark and others. Can't actually benchmark it at all.
Very true. I was thinking more making the os read-only to remove the need of re-installation. Can't really do that in Windows. Anything else isn't as important comparatively, since reinstalling a whole PC; or even just re-imaging one can mean one person in a class doesn't get a PC for an hour just because some sod has decided to be a pain.
You don't get much chance of down-time in a school during the day, and one PC being off can make the difference between a happy class and a nightmare of a day.
In my experience (I worked in a school for 7 years and went to the same one for 5 years; and worked in a primary school for about 18 months), the only reason they use Microsoft is out of habit. That's what they're used to, what the staff are used to, and what the IT Technicians are used to. If anything breaks, there's Microsoft to blame.
Fact is, most of the time, all they use is a Word Processor and a Web Browser. Occasionally using presentation software, and maybe some spreadsheeting and database software. Have a guess what most of the staff are used to; and how much trouble they have with MS Access for teaching GCSE. Serious problems come up with the less experienced staff just with Microsoft's software. Now imagine trying to suggest using something new.
There's no reason they couldn't use Linux aside from the installation and support; switching from OpenOffice to Microsoft Office really isn't much different than going from Windows to Mac. I finally managed to convince them to have a couple of Ubuntu machines that the students had no problems with using, I wanted the students to have an experience of all operating systems; surely that's the idea of being at a school? Experiencing as much as possible? Most of the staff wouldn't even try. Some would, but most wouldn't. Some even wanted Windows 95 back.
Microsoft configuration just isn't cut out to be used in schools, it's hard to tie down the operating system as much as the staff really want it, Linux would be a god-send, but I can't see it happening any time soon. It'd save a lot of money and effort overall, and a lot of time if the staff were able, and the governors were willing. Most IT Techs aren't even trained and get the job because they know someone on the inside; or like me; proved themselves when they worked there. Not for the will of trying to change, but getting a school to do anything is damn near impossible.
Oh, the reason I left? The pay and conditions were terrible; most things just weren't working right, security was a joke, almost daily re-installs in some of the rooms, and no-one was interested in doing anything about it.
You're running the risk of infecting other people without decent antivirus software y'know. I do know how you feel, on-access stuff does seem to slow down systems a lot.
Sounds like you need a decent snapshot system to save re-installing, mind you by the time you come to use it, all the old software needs updating anyway. I'd stick to *nix boxes.
Still, that site *is* good for testing little files you're slightly suspicious of, rather than being unsure. Hell, I use it sometimes just cos I'm wondering what exactly is in some viruses, and what antivirus packages detect it, and what they think it is. I'm not a sponsor of virustotal.com or anything, I just think it's kinda cool and useful.
So you've never downloaded a file you've been slightly suspicious of? Even just a Word Document from someone you're not sure you should trust? Rather than losing out, or chancing one virus scanner to get it right, surely it's better to scan it with something than nothing?
Hell, it scans it with 38 virus scanners (a-squared, AhnLab-V3, AntiVir, Authentium, Avast, AVG, BitDefender, CAT-QuickHeal, ClamAV, Comodo, DrWeb, eSafe, eTrust-Vet, F-Prot, F-Secure, Fortinet, GData, Ikarus, K7AntiVirus, Kaspersky, McAfee, McAfee+Artemis, Microsoft, NOD32, Norman, Panda, PCTools, Prevx1, Rising, SecureWeb-Gateway, Sophos, Sunbelt, Symantec, TheHacker, TrendMicro, VBA32, ViRobot, and VirusBuster), for free, which you're probably not willing to run on one PC all at the same time; and I wouldn't suggest installing all those at the same time either.
Why not try the site, and consider the reasons why it might be useful, rather than complaining? Maybe you're trying to be funny, in which case I think you've missed the point of humour.
ClamAV, but no live scanning. AVG is what I recommend for most customers; it's pretty decent but not amazing.
For testing individual files; I highly recommend trying Virus Total. Upload a single file and they'll test it with a LOAD of different antivirus programs. Worth it for those small files you don't trust.
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I'm pretty sure anything that uses a semiconductor to switch power to itself draws power constantly, unless they found some way to get around that.
I know its pretty new technology, but how about a mains power switch?
they never turn off their computers
I have a Seagate drive and scared that if I reboot, I'll lose all my data, you insensitive clod!
Try opening a Microsoft Publisher* document from Office 2000 in Microsoft Publisher 2003. It usually crashes the whole application, and always fails to open it. Not tried in Microsoft Office 2007 yet.
For the article, I'd suggest just keeping one copy of Microsoft Office 2003/2007 on one machine just in case of problems, and teach your users how to convert between MS Office and OpenOffice. I don't honestly have many problems with OpenOffice aside from margins going a little weird once from MS Word.
* Never used it myself. Used to work in a school.
I wish I'd never said anything in the first place now. 47 people have wasted their time replying to my comment. That probably took about 5 minutes each, add on the time it took me to come up with that joke, say about 12 minutes, so thats 12 + 47 * 5, hmm... either 247 minutes (4 hours, 7 minutes) or in Windows, 295 (4 hours, 55 minutes)
I'm all confused. Maybe I should try it with Excel, I mean, that can't have any calculation bugs in it right?
Sorry, my mistake. As I've mentioned above, I misread your * as a ^. Obviously you didn't spot my mistake either, so you see how I could've easily made the same error. Since I also put (x^y) and you didn't notice, I'm not convinced you were paying much attention! I did ask you to explain but you've just kinda said the same thing again. Luckily someone else noticed what I'd misread.
I've tried this in Microsoft Windows 7, and the same thing happens but I'm not convinced this is a 'bug' as such.
As someone else has mentioned, and as detailed on Wikipedia, this appears to be by design of Microsoft, that the 'Standard' mode in calc.exe is the same as that of a cheap handheld calculator, i.e. working left to right. The fact this doesn't occur in scientific mode proves to me that this was to avoid confusion by some users.
I can't imagine Microsoft deliberately wrote two different ways to calculate an expression for the two modes by accident. Still, it's interesting to see Ubuntu's standard GUI calculator (sorry, unsure which calc app it is) works this out in the correct order of operations.
Personally, I found it more annoying that there's no square root in scientific mode in pre-7... but I guess if you're using scientific mode, you'd remember to just use x^0.5 instead!
Sorry, my mistake. I misread your * as a ^. They look very similar at high resolutions! I think I may need a better font/increase zoom size/stop using Win 7 beta/wear my glasses. Apologies for misreading your post, but hopefully you can see why I was confused! Now I understand the problem, classic operation order problem.
:o)
You're right. In XP, the result in 10, and 7 in scientific mode. Just tried this in Microsoft Windows 7, and the result is exactly the same.
Presumably standard mode is for those people who hit equals between every operation so they don't get it in the wrong order, like, as you say; cheap handheld calculators.
Still, doesn't Windows 7 Calculator look pretty... that's gotta make it better than XP?
I don't understand what is meant to happen, and at the very least there is no x^y in standard mode! In scientific mode, using the x^y button, (i.e. 3 + 2 x^y 2 =) gives the answer '7'.
Care to explain a little more of expected and actual results, or at least provide an explanation or preferably a url?
Seems so, Windows 7, build 7000 (Calc.exe says version 6.1) says 3+2^2=7.
Presumably it was saying 25 before?
You forgot to mention, they've upgraded calc!! :o)
I have the same model of drive as you, the ST31000333AS, and mine's 1TB too. My firmware version is only SD15; so I'm quite worried now, though mine seems fine too.
I'd backup, and get in contact with Seagate just to check.
This won't be too useful to you then, I'm pretty sure this 'new technology' requires some sort of lighting system, and I doubt any of us will be keen on that.
I recently had a PC lose network connectivity due to an automatic update installing a new Rhine II network driver. It broke the network driver and I ended up being called out to fix it. Not that I mind, but it is a real inconvenience if Microsoft can't even get driver updates working right on Windows Update.
XP x64 has two major advantages.
1. It's user base is small so viruses tend not to target it.
2. It's user base is small so MS doesn't deploy WGA on it.
You forgot the most important one:
3. No manufacturers make drivers for XP 64, so your network won't work anyway.
Easy, send it back like this guy requested ;o)
I'd probably say it's way more likely its a bad network driver in Windows. Network support in Linux does seem to be a lot better. It's doubtful MTU or anything similar is going to make this much of a difference, but drivers can cause major trouble.
"Saying that Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders."
he wrote adware. yes, he is a complete jerk. he worked for a corporation that did evil things.
What evil things? Did you read the article, or ignore the comment you replied to?
Are you new here? Advertising is EVIL!
The students didn't have a problem with trying it; it was the staff who didn't want to know. Some even thought that trying to offer alternatives would be a problem to them. Surely it's easier to learn something alternative and new when younger? Thats why they teach languages at a young age isn't it?
Most of the students I saw using Linux and OpenOffice and Firefox had *no* problem at all, some even found it easier; but none complained that it wasn't enough like Microsoft, most just got on with it. It's the staff who are the problem.
What benchmarking software are you using? Every benchmark tool I've tried just crashes Windows 7, including PC Mark and others. Can't actually benchmark it at all.
Very true. I was thinking more making the os read-only to remove the need of re-installation. Can't really do that in Windows. Anything else isn't as important comparatively, since reinstalling a whole PC; or even just re-imaging one can mean one person in a class doesn't get a PC for an hour just because some sod has decided to be a pain.
You don't get much chance of down-time in a school during the day, and one PC being off can make the difference between a happy class and a nightmare of a day.
WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior
Citation needed.
In my experience (I worked in a school for 7 years and went to the same one for 5 years; and worked in a primary school for about 18 months), the only reason they use Microsoft is out of habit. That's what they're used to, what the staff are used to, and what the IT Technicians are used to. If anything breaks, there's Microsoft to blame.
Fact is, most of the time, all they use is a Word Processor and a Web Browser. Occasionally using presentation software, and maybe some spreadsheeting and database software. Have a guess what most of the staff are used to; and how much trouble they have with MS Access for teaching GCSE. Serious problems come up with the less experienced staff just with Microsoft's software. Now imagine trying to suggest using something new.
There's no reason they couldn't use Linux aside from the installation and support; switching from OpenOffice to Microsoft Office really isn't much different than going from Windows to Mac. I finally managed to convince them to have a couple of Ubuntu machines that the students had no problems with using, I wanted the students to have an experience of all operating systems; surely that's the idea of being at a school? Experiencing as much as possible? Most of the staff wouldn't even try. Some would, but most wouldn't. Some even wanted Windows 95 back.
Microsoft configuration just isn't cut out to be used in schools, it's hard to tie down the operating system as much as the staff really want it, Linux would be a god-send, but I can't see it happening any time soon. It'd save a lot of money and effort overall, and a lot of time if the staff were able, and the governors were willing. Most IT Techs aren't even trained and get the job because they know someone on the inside; or like me; proved themselves when they worked there. Not for the will of trying to change, but getting a school to do anything is damn near impossible.
Oh, the reason I left? The pay and conditions were terrible; most things just weren't working right, security was a joke, almost daily re-installs in some of the rooms, and no-one was interested in doing anything about it.
You're running the risk of infecting other people without decent antivirus software y'know. I do know how you feel, on-access stuff does seem to slow down systems a lot.
Sounds like you need a decent snapshot system to save re-installing, mind you by the time you come to use it, all the old software needs updating anyway. I'd stick to *nix boxes.
Still, that site *is* good for testing little files you're slightly suspicious of, rather than being unsure. Hell, I use it sometimes just cos I'm wondering what exactly is in some viruses, and what antivirus packages detect it, and what they think it is. I'm not a sponsor of virustotal.com or anything, I just think it's kinda cool and useful.
So you've never downloaded a file you've been slightly suspicious of? Even just a Word Document from someone you're not sure you should trust? Rather than losing out, or chancing one virus scanner to get it right, surely it's better to scan it with something than nothing?
Hell, it scans it with 38 virus scanners (a-squared, AhnLab-V3, AntiVir, Authentium, Avast, AVG, BitDefender, CAT-QuickHeal, ClamAV, Comodo, DrWeb, eSafe, eTrust-Vet, F-Prot, F-Secure, Fortinet, GData, Ikarus, K7AntiVirus, Kaspersky, McAfee, McAfee+Artemis, Microsoft, NOD32, Norman, Panda, PCTools, Prevx1, Rising, SecureWeb-Gateway, Sophos, Sunbelt, Symantec, TheHacker, TrendMicro, VBA32, ViRobot, and VirusBuster), for free, which you're probably not willing to run on one PC all at the same time; and I wouldn't suggest installing all those at the same time either.
Why not try the site, and consider the reasons why it might be useful, rather than complaining? Maybe you're trying to be funny, in which case I think you've missed the point of humour.
ClamAV, but no live scanning. AVG is what I recommend for most customers; it's pretty decent but not amazing.
For testing individual files; I highly recommend trying Virus Total. Upload a single file and they'll test it with a LOAD of different antivirus programs. Worth it for those small files you don't trust.