Actually, no. It's x of 9 questions -- the number of questions asked is also random and if you get one wrong, you have to start over. If I was better at math I'd be able to tell you the actual probability...
I was on a site this weekend (I'd link to it if I could remember) where the author of the blog had several images of himself in various poses and facial expressions. To post a comment, the captcha "puzzle" required you to click on x out of 9 thumbnails that matched the questions: "angry Bob" (image of Bob filled with rage), "happy Bob" (big shit-eating grin), "flying Bob" (arms spread out like wings) etc.
It seems surprisingly effective, although I can't say I know much about the state of OCR technology right now and if/how this could be defeated.
Like I've said before, until the Web-based e-mail applications out there provide a simple and reliable migration path, your average e-mail user is not going to want to part ways with years of archived mail that have in Outlook Express, that -- as far as they know -- is "in the inbox and can't get out". Hell, why do you think Gmail started providing POP3 access?
By Wikipedia's account, Academy Town seems more like the next Berkeley or Stanford to me: strong academic history, plenty of space and amenities, lots of young talent, good facilities, huge natural surroundings (check out arial photo). And it sounds like there was quite a bit of "rule bending" there (better rations, cottages instead of apartment blocks) during the Soviet era. It may not match Silicon Valleys' economic might, but it may surpass it in terms of creativity and innovation.
Good luck with that -- migrating from Groupwise to Exchange was fun enough, with lots of tools that make it "seamless" *cough*. Again, $wonderWebAppName completely fails to understand the real issues with new technology adoption in the Real World(tm): data migration.
Seriously, for all the Web-based e-mail/office applications, I'm surprised at how little effort or thought is put towards migrating legacy data. SugarCRM and Gmail at least have some import capabilities (Outlook contacts in CSV format) but what about all of your old mail, calendar items, to-do/task lists, Excel macros, and Access databases? Every time one of my colleagues suggests yet-another-Web-based AJAX office suite, I shake my head and wonder how they expect existing organizations and individuals to switch without some sort of well-planned migration strategy?
Look, I'm not expecting some nifty migration wizard to automagically convert my existing data to $shinyWebbyOfficeSuite (I've been through enough Novell to Microsoft migrations to know that never works) but I'd like to see one of these would-be Office alternatives make a concerted effort to bring me on board besides marketing and hype.
"Win a free zebra! Fill out this online survey now!"
random click... random click... random click... [submit]
Seriously, and telephone surveys are even worse -- they call at supper time and ask long-winded, multiple choice questions while you're trying to eat Taco Bell and watch Family Guy.
I launch most of my applications by using run in Windows XP, specifically by using the Windows Key + R keyboard sequence, followed by the executable name + ENTER.
firefox ENTER mstsc ENTER mmc ENTER outlook ENTER etc.
However, I'm not sure how some apps work but others do not. I checked the environment variables but didn't see any entries for any of the non-Microsoft ones that worked (like FireFox, as I'm assuming the MS apps would work "automatically" by default). Anyone know how this works?
Sure, it's nice to tell a client that Some Company X is behind Commodity Office Software Y, but in all likelihood, are you really going to contact them directly and pay for it? Why would you, when you can get answers much more quickly by using Google, ExpertExchange, mailing lists, forums, books, etc. No, the problem is all of the 3rd-party applications that use MS Office functionality for document assembly, mailing, contact sychronization, you name it. Perhaps you could move some light-use departments (basic word processing requirements), but you'd be hardpressed to find a manager somewhere who doesn't have some sort of "mission critical" Excel macro that might not work in Star/Open Office.
MSDE is not just used for local development -- its used as a local database for many Windows applications (Sony Acid Pro 5 comes to mind). I personally know of two legal applications we support that will not work under Vista if this is the case with MSDE 2000/2005.
When my clients throw out their old machines, I scoop them up and usually turn them into some sort of dev server, usually with Ubuntu or Debian, so I can play with Asterisk, iptables configs, etc. but I think they could go to a better cause.
We get about 2-3 machines a week and while they might not be great for the latest version of Office and games, they could be great Surf/email boxes. Problem is, I've yet to find a distro that is:
* fairly straightforward to install (I don't want to dedicate my life to this but I don't mind compiling a driver or two)
* supports a good range of older hardware
* is lightweight and easy on the resources
I've tried Ubuntu with KDE and Gnome but both of them were really sluggish on a Celeron 450 with 128 MB of PC100 RAM. Most of these boxes will be of similar age/power so I'd like to get something that runs fairly well and stable: it doesn't have to be a screamer, nor does it need alot of bells and whistles.
The whole thing about strangers sending you multimedia gives me the creeps. I'm assuming you have to accept the file first but until the novelty wears off (and it might take a while), people are going to accept random files from strangers 9 times out of 10. Maybe not/. readers, but "people" -- you know who I'm talking about. Who's to say some deviant bastard isn't going to craft some sort of dormant malware and spread it across a bus station, restaurant, or campus in the future?
The real value of Vista and Office 2007 includes new collaboration services. This means new back end servers. Most estimates place the back end support cost at $2,000 per user, but I used a range of $1,000-$2,000 for my calculations. Why get Office 2007 if not new SharePoint and Exchange servers? Can you run both on one box? Didn't think so.
Just like those collaborative features in Office XP and Office 2003 that nobody used? And if nobody's using them, then why upgrade your backend servers? If your organization is so inclined to pay for support for your servers, wouldn't the (ridiculously high) "$2000 per user" already be an operational cost being incurred?
The author is fishing for click-throughs with an unqualified, speculative cost "analysis".
Strange times indeed when the stock market analysts hope a new Microsoft operating system will counteract the declining housing market, but that's the hope of some for next fall. If your company plans to play the Vista game, start cooking your books now.
I estimate each Vista user will cost your company between $3,250 and $5,000. That's each and every Vista user. Money will go to Microsoft for Vista and Office 2007, to hardware vendors for new PCs and components, and possibly a few bucks to Apple for those users jumping to a Mac. After all, if Apple's higher cost has been the factor keeping your company from trying a Mac, that factor just washed away.
Why $3,250-$5,000? Here's my calculation. Feel free to tell me what your company has budgeted, and whether you believe your own numbers.
New PCs will cost $1,500-$2,000. Darn few existing corporate PCs will have the video horsepower needed to run Aero, Vista's primary upgrade inducement. You need 256MB of video RAM to run Aero properly, no matter what Microsoft's marketing says. I don't know of any motherboard-based video chip sets that include 256MB of RAM. Upgrade? While in the PC, add memory: Vista needs a minimum of 1GB of RAM. The hardware cost of the RAM may be less than your labor costs getting that installed in every PC. If your exiting PCs can take full advantage of Vista, I'm happy for you. I don't believe you, but I hope your upgrade goes well.
Depending on your volume purchasing agreements, new copies of Vista and Office will total between $750 and $1,000. After all, your company always buys the "professional" packages, right? And they have to be installed, right? If you're getting a much cheaper quote on both packages installed and tested, let me know.
The real value of Vista and Office 2007 includes new collaboration services. This means new back end servers. Most estimates place the back end support cost at $2,000 per user, but I used a range of $1,000-$2,000 for my calculations. Why get Office 2007 if not new SharePoint and Exchange servers? Can you run both on one box? Didn't think so.
Document your objections now, because next year the vice presidents will blame IT for their busted budget. But the housing market appreciates you taking up the slack.
James E. Gaskin writes books (16 so far), articles and jokes about technology and real life from his home office in the Dallas area. Gaskin has been helping small and medium sized businesses use technology intelligently since 1986. Write him at mailto: james.gaskin@itworld.com.
Maybe the problem with Netflix is good old classification. For some reason, the movie industry feels compelled to call everything "Action" "Drama" or "Comedy" -- add some tagging, use the Dewey Decimal System, I don't care, but make an effort at some descriptive categorization and see if that increases repeat buys.
I just can't trust a user rating without reading their anecdotal description -- I want to know why something was rated only 2 stars before I pass judgement. Maybe Sally was a first-time buyer and decided to rate everything she rented as 1-star because they double-billed her credit card. Who knows? And Personally, I never rate stuff. I just don't care and can't be bothered; I'm sure I'm not alone either.
The software security experts always say, "never trust user data" -- maybe this applies to recommendations as much as SQL injections.
I had quite a bit of luck when I was using a fee-based service: had a steady flow of dates, dated for several months on a few occasions, and met my present girlfriend. With the fee-based service, you had to buy credits to send messages (instant or mail) but 'smiles' were free. You'd log in and either find responses to the few emails you sent out the day before or at least a couple of new 'smiles' to pursue. It was easy-peasy.
When I tried a free site, my response rate dropped to about 1% compared to about 50% on the fee-based site -- it was a complete waste of time. Why? It turns out the women were bombarded with hundreds of mail a day (compared to 5-10 with the fee-based services). A few of my prior-dates-now-chat-buddies and I talked about this and confirmed it -- they just couldn't keep up with all the mail, most of it being half-assed attempts to get them into bed or have webcam sex.
My conclusion? Since the service was fee-based, and each message costs you money, you have to think twice about sending pictures of your wee-wee to "IWANTHOTSEX69" and the "LONELYHOUSEWIFEWHOJUSTWANTSATTENTION" and "IM18ANDGIGGLY" types are much less likely to dominate the population.
I rarely keep up on gaming technology, but when its "time" (and it's time: there are a couple of new games out there I want to play), I always feel like I'm going to get ripped off because the new flux-capacitor-super-alpha-double-barrel-acronym-a cronym 3D rendering technology is coming out next week and the card I just bought will self destruct in 5...4...3...2...
I recently pulled out my Windows 98 Celeron 300A with 128MB PC100 RAM, and 5400rpm 6GB drive, booted it up, and cracked open Netscape 4. You know what I found? Not much.
This machine has been sitting in a box for about 5 years, and as far as the time signatures are concerned, that rebuild was only about 7 months in. Office 2000 ran fine. Everything worked great -- I couldn't notice any difference with performance from my current Athlon machine when it comes to simple word processing and Web browsing. If I was ignorant to hotfixes and security, I'd be using this machine without any problems for many more years to come. A simple reinstall of the OS -- as long as the disk is still healthy -- can stretch out the lifespan of any old machine, as long as you stick with the software of time, which isn't that much different than what Aunt June uses today.
Why wouldn't they pursue the same arrangement that's been made with The New York Times? AFAIK, all the NYT articles are indexed by google while maintaining the restricted access for visitors. I think they do it by GoogleBot's IP/subnet.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, no. It's x of 9 questions -- the number of questions asked is also random and if you get one wrong, you have to start over. If I was better at math I'd be able to tell you the actual probability...
I was on a site this weekend (I'd link to it if I could remember) where the author of the blog had several images of himself in various poses and facial expressions. To post a comment, the captcha "puzzle" required you to click on x out of 9 thumbnails that matched the questions: "angry Bob" (image of Bob filled with rage), "happy Bob" (big shit-eating grin), "flying Bob" (arms spread out like wings) etc.
It seems surprisingly effective, although I can't say I know much about the state of OCR technology right now and if/how this could be defeated.
Answer: alot.
Like I've said before, until the Web-based e-mail applications out there provide a simple and reliable migration path, your average e-mail user is not going to want to part ways with years of archived mail that have in Outlook Express, that -- as far as they know -- is "in the inbox and can't get out". Hell, why do you think Gmail started providing POP3 access?
By Wikipedia's account, Academy Town seems more like the next Berkeley or Stanford to me: strong academic history, plenty of space and amenities, lots of young talent, good facilities, huge natural surroundings (check out arial photo). And it sounds like there was quite a bit of "rule bending" there (better rations, cottages instead of apartment blocks) during the Soviet era. It may not match Silicon Valleys' economic might, but it may surpass it in terms of creativity and innovation.
there's no problem. IT helpdesk would have to call you back in the first place for there to be any concern.
I added deb unstable to my sources.list, ran apt-get install tzdata, re-ran tzconfig, chose my TZ, and voila! it worked.
Good luck with that -- migrating from Groupwise to Exchange was fun enough, with lots of tools that make it "seamless" *cough*. Again, $wonderWebAppName completely fails to understand the real issues with new technology adoption in the Real World(tm): data migration.
Seriously, for all the Web-based e-mail/office applications, I'm surprised at how little effort or thought is put towards migrating legacy data. SugarCRM and Gmail at least have some import capabilities (Outlook contacts in CSV format) but what about all of your old mail, calendar items, to-do/task lists, Excel macros, and Access databases? Every time one of my colleagues suggests yet-another-Web-based AJAX office suite, I shake my head and wonder how they expect existing organizations and individuals to switch without some sort of well-planned migration strategy?
Look, I'm not expecting some nifty migration wizard to automagically convert my existing data to $shinyWebbyOfficeSuite (I've been through enough Novell to Microsoft migrations to know that never works) but I'd like to see one of these would-be Office alternatives make a concerted effort to bring me on board besides marketing and hype.
Let me enlighten you on the process...
"Win a free zebra! Fill out this online survey now!"
random click... random click... random click...
[submit]
Seriously, and telephone surveys are even worse -- they call at supper time and ask long-winded, multiple choice questions while you're trying to eat Taco Bell and watch Family Guy.
I launch most of my applications by using run in Windows XP, specifically by using the Windows Key + R keyboard sequence, followed by the executable name + ENTER.
firefox ENTER
mstsc ENTER
mmc ENTER
outlook ENTER
etc.
However, I'm not sure how some apps work but others do not. I checked the environment variables but didn't see any entries for any of the non-Microsoft ones that worked (like FireFox, as I'm assuming the MS apps would work "automatically" by default). Anyone know how this works?
Sure, it's nice to tell a client that Some Company X is behind Commodity Office Software Y, but in all likelihood, are you really going to contact them directly and pay for it? Why would you, when you can get answers much more quickly by using Google, ExpertExchange, mailing lists, forums, books, etc. No, the problem is all of the 3rd-party applications that use MS Office functionality for document assembly, mailing, contact sychronization, you name it. Perhaps you could move some light-use departments (basic word processing requirements), but you'd be hardpressed to find a manager somewhere who doesn't have some sort of "mission critical" Excel macro that might not work in Star/Open Office.
Nobody Cares About The Operating System (TM).
bah, try TurboRisk. Freeware. Blazing fast.
MSDE is not just used for local development -- its used as a local database for many Windows applications (Sony Acid Pro 5 comes to mind). I personally know of two legal applications we support that will not work under Vista if this is the case with MSDE 2000/2005.
And of course there's no copyright infringement on any of those musak'ed ringtones you're peddling in your sig?
When my clients throw out their old machines, I scoop them up and usually turn them into some sort of dev server, usually with Ubuntu or Debian, so I can play with Asterisk, iptables configs, etc. but I think they could go to a better cause. We get about 2-3 machines a week and while they might not be great for the latest version of Office and games, they could be great Surf/email boxes. Problem is, I've yet to find a distro that is:
* fairly straightforward to install (I don't want to dedicate my life to this but I don't mind compiling a driver or two)
* supports a good range of older hardware
* is lightweight and easy on the resources
I've tried Ubuntu with KDE and Gnome but both of them were really sluggish on a Celeron 450 with 128 MB of PC100 RAM. Most of these boxes will be of similar age/power so I'd like to get something that runs fairly well and stable: it doesn't have to be a screamer, nor does it need alot of bells and whistles.
The whole thing about strangers sending you multimedia gives me the creeps. I'm assuming you have to accept the file first but until the novelty wears off (and it might take a while), people are going to accept random files from strangers 9 times out of 10. Maybe not /. readers, but "people" -- you know who I'm talking about.
Who's to say some deviant bastard isn't going to craft some sort of dormant malware and spread it across a bus station, restaurant, or campus in the future?
The author is fishing for click-throughs with an unqualified, speculative cost "analysis".
Nothing to see here, move along.
Strange times indeed when the stock market analysts hope a new Microsoft operating system will counteract the declining housing market, but that's the hope of some for next fall. If your company plans to play the Vista game, start cooking your books now.
.com.
I estimate each Vista user will cost your company between $3,250 and $5,000. That's each and every Vista user. Money will go to Microsoft for Vista and Office 2007, to hardware vendors for new PCs and components, and possibly a few bucks to Apple for those users jumping to a Mac. After all, if Apple's higher cost has been the factor keeping your company from trying a Mac, that factor just washed away.
Why $3,250-$5,000? Here's my calculation. Feel free to tell me what your company has budgeted, and whether you believe your own numbers.
New PCs will cost $1,500-$2,000. Darn few existing corporate PCs will have the video horsepower needed to run Aero, Vista's primary upgrade inducement. You need 256MB of video RAM to run Aero properly, no matter what Microsoft's marketing says. I don't know of any motherboard-based video chip sets that include 256MB of RAM. Upgrade? While in the PC, add memory: Vista needs a minimum of 1GB of RAM. The hardware cost of the RAM may be less than your labor costs getting that installed in every PC. If your exiting PCs can take full advantage of Vista, I'm happy for you. I don't believe you, but I hope your upgrade goes well.
Depending on your volume purchasing agreements, new copies of Vista and Office will total between $750 and $1,000. After all, your company always buys the "professional" packages, right? And they have to be installed, right? If you're getting a much cheaper quote on both packages installed and tested, let me know.
The real value of Vista and Office 2007 includes new collaboration services. This means new back end servers. Most estimates place the back end support cost at $2,000 per user, but I used a range of $1,000-$2,000 for my calculations. Why get Office 2007 if not new SharePoint and Exchange servers? Can you run both on one box? Didn't think so.
Document your objections now, because next year the vice presidents will blame IT for their busted budget. But the housing market appreciates you taking up the slack. James E. Gaskin writes books (16 so far), articles and jokes about technology and real life from his home office in the Dallas area. Gaskin has been helping small and medium sized businesses use technology intelligently since 1986. Write him at mailto: james.gaskin@itworld
Maybe the problem with Netflix is good old classification. For some reason, the movie industry feels compelled to call everything "Action" "Drama" or "Comedy" -- add some tagging, use the Dewey Decimal System, I don't care, but make an effort at some descriptive categorization and see if that increases repeat buys.
I just can't trust a user rating without reading their anecdotal description -- I want to know why something was rated only 2 stars before I pass judgement. Maybe Sally was a first-time buyer and decided to rate everything she rented as 1-star because they double-billed her credit card. Who knows? And Personally, I never rate stuff. I just don't care and can't be bothered; I'm sure I'm not alone either.
The software security experts always say, "never trust user data" -- maybe this applies to recommendations as much as SQL injections.
I had quite a bit of luck when I was using a fee-based service: had a steady flow of dates, dated for several months on a few occasions, and met my present girlfriend. With the fee-based service, you had to buy credits to send messages (instant or mail) but 'smiles' were free. You'd log in and either find responses to the few emails you sent out the day before or at least a couple of new 'smiles' to pursue. It was easy-peasy.
When I tried a free site, my response rate dropped to about 1% compared to about 50% on the fee-based site -- it was a complete waste of time. Why? It turns out the women were bombarded with hundreds of mail a day (compared to 5-10 with the fee-based services). A few of my prior-dates-now-chat-buddies and I talked about this and confirmed it -- they just couldn't keep up with all the mail, most of it being half-assed attempts to get them into bed or have webcam sex.
My conclusion? Since the service was fee-based, and each message costs you money, you have to think twice about sending pictures of your wee-wee to "IWANTHOTSEX69" and the "LONELYHOUSEWIFEWHOJUSTWANTSATTENTION" and "IM18ANDGIGGLY" types are much less likely to dominate the population.
I rarely keep up on gaming technology, but when its "time" (and it's time: there are a couple of new games out there I want to play), I always feel like I'm going to get ripped off because the new flux-capacitor-super-alpha-double-barrel-acronym-a cronym 3D rendering technology is coming out next week and the card I just bought will self destruct in 5...4...3...2...
I recently pulled out my Windows 98 Celeron 300A with 128MB PC100 RAM, and 5400rpm 6GB drive, booted it up, and cracked open Netscape 4. You know what I found? Not much.
This machine has been sitting in a box for about 5 years, and as far as the time signatures are concerned, that rebuild was only about 7 months in. Office 2000 ran fine. Everything worked great -- I couldn't notice any difference with performance from my current Athlon machine when it comes to simple word processing and Web browsing. If I was ignorant to hotfixes and security, I'd be using this machine without any problems for many more years to come.
A simple reinstall of the OS -- as long as the disk is still healthy -- can stretch out the lifespan of any old machine, as long as you stick with the software of time, which isn't that much different than what Aunt June uses today.
Why wouldn't they pursue the same arrangement that's been made with The New York Times? AFAIK, all the NYT articles are indexed by google while maintaining the restricted access for visitors. I think they do it by GoogleBot's IP/subnet.
Just use lynx from the shell.