I had a piano advertised for sale on Craigslist. I received a 'certified' check from a UK postal service (I'm in California) for more than the amount I was asking along with instructions to 'just have FedEx pick up the piano for delivery' and please send them a check for the excess payment.
This gave me a good laugh on several levels. They must have been really desperate...
It looks like this eager and well intentioned group of people is trying to do it all but perhaps is best at developing the software and hardware. Perhaps they should focus on that and leave sales and distribution to people who are experts with these much different skills.
I have two Dell laptops (one new and one a few years old) where I've installed Ubuntu. Not only did everything (wireless, display, wifi, etc.) 'just work' but also sleep and hibernate... ymmv but I'm very happy. (BTW, to answer your question about battery life, it seems to be as good or better but I haven't done any formal testing.)
The US wiring systems all have fuses or breakers to limit current also (most commonly 15 or 20 amps). The fuses are in a central box rather than in the socket which protects the entire circuit from the entrance to the socket. I've often wondered if the UK wiring system has central fuses in addition to those in the socket... this would be useful if there is a short in the lead before it gets into the socket.
The UK wiring does have 2 pin appliances (double insulated) just like the rest of the world... they use a plastic 'ground/earth' pin to open the shutter.
Also, I've often wondered why the UK plugs use such massive contact pins... it seems like these should be able to handle 200 amps, not just the 13 that they are fused for... it would be nice to have smaller, lighter plugs.
The Apple authorized applications are unlikely allow you to use your phone on another network, or with VOIP, or ringtones, or any thing that might compete with the profits of Apple or ATT.
With the iPhone, you don't really own it, you are just buying the right to send more money to Steve and his buddies.
I guess I should assume that you are naive about CMS (instead of just being a jerk) so I will point you to a few resources you can use to learn about CMS and compare features with your beloved Sharepoint.
You should reference one of the CMS comparison web sites (Google search for 'CMS compare') such as cmsreview.com or cmsmatrix.org
As an example from your comments, you can search for 'versioning' or version control and find about 50 CMS packages with this feature (or you could just use Google docs which allows simultaneous multiple user edits... far advanced above Sharepoint's primitive versioning). I won't list them all here but you can look them up yourself. If you want to compare any of Sharepoint's many wonderful features, you can also use these sites to find software with the same features.
Just off the top of my head, Gmail has infinitely better searching, filing, and retrieval... it also has a better shared calendar. It also has a very nice shared edit update of documents with Google Docs.
If you haven't heard of Xforms, Microsoft loves you.
As for Sharepoint, if you can't find a better way to share documents, you are truly lost.
I have been able to avoid Outlook until recently when I started working for a large organization that uses Outlook and Sharepoint. Outlook is a very basic email and calendar program with lousy search and absolutely primitive web access (I can only access my Inbox on the web, not any of my filed emails... how pathetic). Sharepoint is a complete waste of time. Just about any free CMS is better than Sharepoint.
Infopath is a just Microsoft vendor lock-in on Xforms.
If Outlook, Sharepoint, and Infopath are 'state of the art' corporate standards, it only reinforces my view of the utter cluelessness of corporate IT.
Being a somewhat technical person he knew he needed Flash and how to install it from the repository. The average clueless newbie running this machine will browse to a Flash website and get a message that they need to install Flash along with a button to press to install it... same result... they get Flash. This is also the same way that IE on Windows works to install Flash the last time I used IE.
I think you've missed the point of the OLPC. It's not about a 'low cost linux laptop'. It's a computer designed for group work (mesh network), rugged to take abuse, daylight viewable screen, and educational software.
"It's an education project, not a laptop project."
-- Nicholas Negroponte
If you want a cheap laptop, buy the Asus or Dell for $400+. If you want an educational computer designed for kids, buy the OLPC.
I especially like his simple list of suggestions to Microsoft to fix severe usability problems such as: 'If it takes four presses on the More button just to see everything in the Start menu -- and you provide no direct way to get to the first page from the last -- you need to redesign.'
And... '...over all, it's a shame that such bloated, baffling software runs a phone whose hardware is so close to perfect.'
Security on internal flights in Papua New Guinea is light (there is none)... however, when you get OFF the airplane in the Highlands, they check to make sure you haven't brought any guns or liquor.
I think you missed the point that all of the other platforms are confined to their own userspaces whereas this new platform is ONE(open)API that can be used across all platforms.
The basic OS install is only part of the problem with XP. Even if the XP install and update took the same time as Ubuntu install (it never has in my experience), it still takes many more hours to install all the additional software (and their patches) such as anti-virus, firewall, office suite, graphics, etc. The last time I rebuilt my daughter's WinXP that had been overtaken by malware, it took more than a day.
With Ubuntu, everything installs at once (and you don't need antivirus)and you're ready to go.
Train security??? Where do they have train security? I've traveled on trains in France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Czech republic and never had any kind of security inspection.
I live is Switzerland and we don't have any noticeable train security. They may be some security cameras but the only 'security' I see are the conductors and they are usually friendly and just want to see your ticket. BTW, the trains are very safe, too. No terrorists and very few accidents.
eMusic.com offers 2 million DRM-free songs for less than 33 cents each. I don't know if these are the same 2 million songs as Amazon offers (I'm only halfway through the list now) but it's a much better deal...
Slashdot Mirror
This gave me a good laugh on several levels. They must have been really desperate...
It looks like this eager and well intentioned group of people is trying to do it all but perhaps is best at developing the software and hardware. Perhaps they should focus on that and leave sales and distribution to people who are experts with these much different skills.
I have two Dell laptops (one new and one a few years old) where I've installed Ubuntu. Not only did everything (wireless, display, wifi, etc.) 'just work' but also sleep and hibernate... ymmv but I'm very happy. (BTW, to answer your question about battery life, it seems to be as good or better but I haven't done any formal testing.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_falling Intelligent Falling explains it all.
The UK wiring does have 2 pin appliances (double insulated) just like the rest of the world... they use a plastic 'ground/earth' pin to open the shutter.
Also, I've often wondered why the UK plugs use such massive contact pins... it seems like these should be able to handle 200 amps, not just the 13 that they are fused for... it would be nice to have smaller, lighter plugs.
I can honestly say that I have all of these emotions every time I go through airport screening.
Yes, most of them have a built-in webcam. Only the inexpensive 'surf' models lack the webcam.
With the iPhone, you don't really own it, you are just buying the right to send more money to Steve and his buddies.
If you're using gMail, you have IMAP which you can use for online/offline access.
You insensitive clod... I don't even have an air conditioner.
You should reference one of the CMS comparison web sites (Google search for 'CMS compare') such as cmsreview.com or cmsmatrix.org
As an example from your comments, you can search for 'versioning' or version control and find about 50 CMS packages with this feature (or you could just use Google docs which allows simultaneous multiple user edits... far advanced above Sharepoint's primitive versioning). I won't list them all here but you can look them up yourself. If you want to compare any of Sharepoint's many wonderful features, you can also use these sites to find software with the same features.
If you haven't heard of Xforms, Microsoft loves you.
As for Sharepoint, if you can't find a better way to share documents, you are truly lost.
I have been able to avoid Outlook until recently when I started working for a large organization that uses Outlook and Sharepoint. Outlook is a very basic email and calendar program with lousy search and absolutely primitive web access (I can only access my Inbox on the web, not any of my filed emails... how pathetic). Sharepoint is a complete waste of time. Just about any free CMS is better than Sharepoint.
Infopath is a just Microsoft vendor lock-in on Xforms.
If Outlook, Sharepoint, and Infopath are 'state of the art' corporate standards, it only reinforces my view of the utter cluelessness of corporate IT.
Being a somewhat technical person he knew he needed Flash and how to install it from the repository. The average clueless newbie running this machine will browse to a Flash website and get a message that they need to install Flash along with a button to press to install it... same result... they get Flash. This is also the same way that IE on Windows works to install Flash the last time I used IE.
This is very basic biology.
"It's an education project, not a laptop project." -- Nicholas Negroponte
If you want a cheap laptop, buy the Asus or Dell for $400+. If you want an educational computer designed for kids, buy the OLPC.
- Incompatible browser (Firefox 2.0)
- I don't live in the US.
Two strikes and I'm out.
For a good review of the latest Windows Mobile version 6 on state of the art hardware, see the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/technology/personaltech/08pogue.html?ref=business
I especially like his simple list of suggestions to Microsoft to fix severe usability problems such as: 'If it takes four presses on the More button just to see everything in the Start menu -- and you provide no direct way to get to the first page from the last -- you need to redesign.'
And... '...over all, it's a shame that such bloated, baffling software runs a phone whose hardware is so close to perfect.'
Security on internal flights in Papua New Guinea is light (there is none)... however, when you get OFF the airplane in the Highlands, they check to make sure you haven't brought any guns or liquor.
the n800 isn't a phone
I think you missed the point that all of the other platforms are confined to their own userspaces whereas this new platform is ONE(open)API that can be used across all platforms.
Look at the Stirling engine projects.
With Ubuntu, everything installs at once (and you don't need antivirus)and you're ready to go.
I live is Switzerland and we don't have any noticeable train security. They may be some security cameras but the only 'security' I see are the conductors and they are usually friendly and just want to see your ticket. BTW, the trains are very safe, too. No terrorists and very few accidents.
eMusic.com offers 2 million DRM-free songs for less than 33 cents each. I don't know if these are the same 2 million songs as Amazon offers (I'm only halfway through the list now) but it's a much better deal...