I have knows two people that used them, both said that MSN completely sucked. They block (among others) port 25, and connectivity was poor at best. Of course, much of this depends on your location, as they outsource.
FYI, there are feature requests already to add SPA to Mozilla in Bugzilla. I don't know if it will ever happen though - people complain that they don't want to use MS Outlook as their client due to security holes, yet they want the other clients to use Microsoft's security mechanism. You can't always have it both ways.
Fortunately, ISP's are plentiful and users have a choice if it bothers them.
It's one of those posts that might be funny with sarcasm or it might be real. Can you install Gentoo in 7 minutes? With a modern desktop?
I am only asking. I've never used it. I am quite sure you could get the OS on there in that amount of time, but whether it would be good for desktop use is another argument that I don't claim to know the answer to.
> Can you adjust the timing chain in your car? Rebuild the fuel injectors? Replace the rings? Drop the transmission and replace the clutch? No? Then why the hell are you driving a car?
Uhh, if you adjust the timing chain, you are probably gonna cause some serious damage to your engine. Adjusting the timing is different that adjusting the timing chain (or belt).
Nobody rebuilds fuel injectors, they replace them.
Rings are not hard to replace, just quite a bit of labor.
Replacing the clutch is pretty easy.
All of your examples could be completed by someone with some basic mechanical ability and a good manual. Linux asks nothing more.
Dude, you didn't catch my sarcasm. jeesus. seems like everytime i am sarcastic and don't specifically say I am, people take it too seriously. form now on it's tags.
I agree that there is a fine line between advertising and journalism, but I don't see a problem with this being on/.. It is supposed to be news that the tech community may be interested in. This doesn't mean that each individual is interested, but as a whole the community might be.
Seeing as how carpal tunnel is becoming an increasingly larger issue, I know I am at least interested in what future keyboards may look like, and I consider it somewhat interested.
If one continues your arguement, then you would say that magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics are all advertisements for new products. That is simply not true. When I read these periodicals, I like to see what may be in the future, and how much they will cost. Advertisements are just trying to sell you a product, new thing slike this are just being written about because they are interesting to some people, and are a "new idea".
the article was just creeping when I viewed it. In case it get's completed/.'d, here's a text copy: (and a picture)
UD researchers develop revolutionary computer interface technology
Sept. 27, 2002--University of Delaware researchers have developed a revolutionary computer interface technology that promises to put the bite on the traditional mouse and mechanical keyboard.
"We have developed a technology that goes well beyond the mouse and mechanical keyboard," John Elias, UD professor of electrical and computer engineering, said.
Elias and Wayne Westerman, UD visiting assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, have been working on the new interface for about five years and are now marketing their iGesture product through a company called FingerWorks.
The project started as a doctoral thesis by Westerman, who was then a UD graduate student working with Elias.
The FingerWorks name fits because the technology uses a touch pad and a range of finger motions to communicate commands and keys to the computer. To open a file, you rotate your hand as if opening a jar; to zoom or de-zoom, you expand or contract your hand.
Elias said the communication power of their system is "thousands of times greater" than that of a mouse, which uses just a single moving point as the main input. Using this new technology, two human hands provide 10 points of contact, with a wide range of motion for each, thus providing thousands of different patterns, each of which can mean something different to the computer.
While much about the computer has changed over the last three decades-greater power, faster speeds, more memory-what has not changed is the user interface.
"For what it was invented for, the mouse does a good job," Elias said. "People accept the mouse and the mechanical keyboard because that's the way it is. But there are limitations in terms of information flow. There is so much power in the computer, and so much power in the human, but the present situation results in a communications bottleneck between the two."
Elias and Westerman have a better idea. "I believe we are on the verge of changing the way people interact with computers," Elias said. "Imagine trying to communicate with another human being using just a mouse and a keyboard. It works, but it is slow and tedious.
"This is not just a little step in improving the mouse, this is the first step in a new way of communicating with the computer through gestures and the movements of your hands. This is, after all, one of the ways humans interact."
Elias said he could envision in the next 10 years "a very complex gestural language between man and machine."
The system is a multi-touch, zero force technology, Elias said, meaning the gestures and movements use all the fingers in a light and subtle manner.
Because of that, the system has a second major advantage over the mouse and mechanical keyboard because it can greatly reduce stress injuries such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome attributed to traditional computer work.
The company markets both stand-alone touch pads and touch pads built into nonmechanical keyboards. In the keyboards, the keys overlap the touch pad so the operator does not have to move his hands when switching between typing and using the mouse. Rather, everything can be done in a smoother flow of hand motions.
Elias explained the touch pad acts like a video camera, recording the objects touching its surface. An embedded microprocessor then applies an algorithmic process to convert those touches into commands understood by the computer.
"To observers watching somebody use multi-touch, it looks a little like magic," Elias said, illustrating his point on a computer in Evans Hall. "People see lots of things happening on the computer screen but very little hand motion is observed."
He said the system has been designed so the gestures used make sense for the operation being performed. For instance, you cut text with a pinch and paste it with a flick.
Eventually, he said, the computer password could be a gesture known only to the user.
Elias said people often think that speech recognition systems will become the ultimate user interface. "Voice commands are good for many things but terrible for other things," Elias said, adding he believes there are inherent problems with a speech-only interface.
"If you want to test this claim, you can do so with a perfect speech recognition system-another human being," Elias said. "Put somebody in front of your computer and try to do your work by issuing voice commands to him. You'll quickly find that many common tasks are difficult to do using speech, even though your 'computer interface' understands you perfectly."
Using hand and finger motion to input commands is, for many tasks, much more effective than trying to explain what you want to do in words, he said.
The system is being used at several work stations in Evans Hall and the reaction is largely favorable. It is something of a challenge for some workers, Elias said, because it is like learning a new language.
Susan Foster, UD vice president of information technologies, said she is impressed with the interface and plans to adopt it for use at several computer sites around campus.
"The device is the result of new thinking about the 'bandwidth' that constrains the physical interaction between operator and computer," Foster said. "It capitalizes on human gestures, which are easy to understand and execute. Once learned, like other motor skills, they are readily retained. The assistive qualities of the device also make it quite useful for those with limitations on upper extremity use."
The plug-and-play device, which requires no special software, should be of particular interest to programmers, graphic designers and editors, Foster said, and she is recommending they consider making use of a new technology that was "born and bred at UD and under continuing development here."
The University of Delaware is an equity partner in FingerWorks.
I would just go for one of the thousands of web hosts that give you some sort of SSL package. Unless you need your very own certificate, they are definately the way to go for the small business because the host purchases the stuff and just charges you a small fee.
If this is not acceptable for your situation, then I am afraid you have to bite the bullet and front the money.
But don't get lost in the middle - remember the whole reason you are using SSL is for security. Whether the certificate comes directly from you or your webhost doesn't really matter as long as it is secure. That's why I would recommend that you let them pay for it and disperse the cost among their users.
If you think the whole thing is silly, run a source-based distro and compare it to an identical system with another distro with the same software.
There is quite a noticable difference in the bigger packages like KDE, Gnome, X, etc. just because it is optimized for your hardware.
Agreed, it more than most people want to do, but there really is a difference. The question is whether a noticable speed increase is worth it. TO most it simply is not. (Espcially on supder-duper fast modern hardware).
I tend to disagree with your line of thinking. For a big company like Microsoft, or even a smaller one like RedHat, then some customers might expect this. But, you need to think about the smaller companies.
If I have a linux distrobution, and I want to have a decent webserver with great uptime, the cheapest solution is probably not to host my own servers. One can select between a myriad of online hosts that already have the generators, UPS, backup systems, redundancy, and a fat pipe. So, clearly, if they are not running their own distro to serve web pages, I don't think it's a good deal.
While it may be expected of large companies to 'prove themselves', in a situation like this it would likely just cost more and deter from actually improving the distro and paying the workers.
Slashdot Mirror
Also a new Business Week article here.
Good to see a rational post.
It is these damn people who never update a damn thing that spreads these viruses. Unfortunately, this seems to include the majority of home PC users.
Remember: all computer programs need maintenance, no one is immune! Using a fringe OS buys you some time, but vulnerabilities come with popularity.
I have knows two people that used them, both said that MSN completely sucked. They block (among others) port 25, and connectivity was poor at best. Of course, much of this depends on your location, as they outsource.
FYI, there are feature requests already to add SPA to Mozilla in Bugzilla. I don't know if it will ever happen though - people complain that they don't want to use MS Outlook as their client due to security holes, yet they want the other clients to use Microsoft's security mechanism. You can't always have it both ways.
Fortunately, ISP's are plentiful and users have a choice if it bothers them.
Nah. If it were marketing, it would be on 11x17" paper in full color on the expensive color laser printer.
Shouldn't this be fixed before the problem arises as we will have the ability to address more and more memory?
we might have something better than html to post in as well.
we can only hope!
So you have time to wait and uninstall/reinstall win2k 4 times, but you don't have time to build a computer?
just kidding.
It's one of those posts that might be funny with sarcasm or it might be real. Can you install Gentoo in 7 minutes? With a modern desktop?
I am only asking. I've never used it. I am quite sure you could get the OS on there in that amount of time, but whether it would be good for desktop use is another argument that I don't claim to know the answer to.
> Can you adjust the timing chain in your car? Rebuild the fuel injectors? Replace the rings? Drop the transmission and replace the clutch? No? Then why the hell are you driving a car?
Uhh, if you adjust the timing chain, you are probably gonna cause some serious damage to your engine. Adjusting the timing is different that adjusting the timing chain (or belt).
Nobody rebuilds fuel injectors, they replace them.
Rings are not hard to replace, just quite a bit of labor.
Replacing the clutch is pretty easy.
All of your examples could be completed by someone with some basic mechanical ability and a good manual. Linux asks nothing more.
[]
[] *
Lord, I hope not. I think that whole show is about as annoying as watching elephants trying to wear high-heels.
Dude, you didn't catch my sarcasm. jeesus. seems like everytime i am sarcastic and don't specifically say I am, people take it too seriously. form now on it's tags.
NITPICKERS:
I hereby would like to acknowledge that I used the wrong "their" in the above statement. "There" should be "Their". Please excuse me.
I got a copy of their (not very good) picture before there server started smoking:
Keyboard Picture
(Apologies to my university's bandwidth).
I agree that there is a fine line between advertising and journalism, but I don't see a problem with this being on /.. It is supposed to be news that the tech community may be interested in. This doesn't mean that each individual is interested, but as a whole the community might be.
Seeing as how carpal tunnel is becoming an increasingly larger issue, I know I am at least interested in what future keyboards may look like, and I consider it somewhat interested.
If one continues your arguement, then you would say that magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics are all advertisements for new products. That is simply not true. When I read these periodicals, I like to see what may be in the future, and how much they will cost. Advertisements are just trying to sell you a product, new thing slike this are just being written about because they are interesting to some people, and are a "new idea".
the article was just creeping when I viewed it. In case it get's completed /.'d, here's a text copy: (and a picture)
UD researchers develop revolutionary computer interface technology Sept. 27, 2002--University of Delaware researchers have developed a revolutionary computer interface technology that promises to put the bite on the traditional mouse and mechanical keyboard.
"We have developed a technology that goes well beyond the mouse and mechanical keyboard," John Elias, UD professor of electrical and computer engineering, said.
Elias and Wayne Westerman, UD visiting assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, have been working on the new interface for about five years and are now marketing their iGesture product through a company called FingerWorks.
The project started as a doctoral thesis by Westerman, who was then a UD graduate student working with Elias.
The FingerWorks name fits because the technology uses a touch pad and a range of finger motions to communicate commands and keys to the computer. To open a file, you rotate your hand as if opening a jar; to zoom or de-zoom, you expand or contract your hand.
Elias said the communication power of their system is "thousands of times greater" than that of a mouse, which uses just a single moving point as the main input. Using this new technology, two human hands provide 10 points of contact, with a wide range of motion for each, thus providing thousands of different patterns, each of which can mean something different to the computer.
While much about the computer has changed over the last three decades-greater power, faster speeds, more memory-what has not changed is the user interface.
"For what it was invented for, the mouse does a good job," Elias said. "People accept the mouse and the mechanical keyboard because that's the way it is. But there are limitations in terms of information flow. There is so much power in the computer, and so much power in the human, but the present situation results in a communications bottleneck between the two."
Elias and Westerman have a better idea. "I believe we are on the verge of changing the way people interact with computers," Elias said. "Imagine trying to communicate with another human being using just a mouse and a keyboard. It works, but it is slow and tedious.
"This is not just a little step in improving the mouse, this is the first step in a new way of communicating with the computer through gestures and the movements of your hands. This is, after all, one of the ways humans interact."
Elias said he could envision in the next 10 years "a very complex gestural language between man and machine."
The system is a multi-touch, zero force technology, Elias said, meaning the gestures and movements use all the fingers in a light and subtle manner.
Because of that, the system has a second major advantage over the mouse and mechanical keyboard because it can greatly reduce stress injuries such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome attributed to traditional computer work.
The company markets both stand-alone touch pads and touch pads built into nonmechanical keyboards. In the keyboards, the keys overlap the touch pad so the operator does not have to move his hands when switching between typing and using the mouse. Rather, everything can be done in a smoother flow of hand motions.
Elias explained the touch pad acts like a video camera, recording the objects touching its surface. An embedded microprocessor then applies an algorithmic process to convert those touches into commands understood by the computer.
"To observers watching somebody use multi-touch, it looks a little like magic," Elias said, illustrating his point on a computer in Evans Hall. "People see lots of things happening on the computer screen but very little hand motion is observed."
He said the system has been designed so the gestures used make sense for the operation being performed. For instance, you cut text with a pinch and paste it with a flick.
Eventually, he said, the computer password could be a gesture known only to the user.
Elias said people often think that speech recognition systems will become the ultimate user interface. "Voice commands are good for many things but terrible for other things," Elias said, adding he believes there are inherent problems with a speech-only interface.
"If you want to test this claim, you can do so with a perfect speech recognition system-another human being," Elias said. "Put somebody in front of your computer and try to do your work by issuing voice commands to him. You'll quickly find that many common tasks are difficult to do using speech, even though your 'computer interface' understands you perfectly."
Using hand and finger motion to input commands is, for many tasks, much more effective than trying to explain what you want to do in words, he said.
The system is being used at several work stations in Evans Hall and the reaction is largely favorable. It is something of a challenge for some workers, Elias said, because it is like learning a new language.
Susan Foster, UD vice president of information technologies, said she is impressed with the interface and plans to adopt it for use at several computer sites around campus.
"The device is the result of new thinking about the 'bandwidth' that constrains the physical interaction between operator and computer," Foster said. "It capitalizes on human gestures, which are easy to understand and execute. Once learned, like other motor skills, they are readily retained. The assistive qualities of the device also make it quite useful for those with limitations on upper extremity use."
The plug-and-play device, which requires no special software, should be of particular interest to programmers, graphic designers and editors, Foster said, and she is recommending they consider making use of a new technology that was "born and bred at UD and under continuing development here."
The University of Delaware is an equity partner in FingerWorks.
All I want is one key.
Google is way too smart as a company to have such a crappy business be associated with them!
Search for SSL right here on our very own slashdot and you will find many relevant discussions, such as:
Implementing an SSL-Based Network
Web security, Privacy and Commerce
Why Are SSL Certificates So Expensive?
It is likely your question has been answered before here or elsewhere.
I just checked them out. Decent prices. Their prices are here for those who are interested.
I would just go for one of the thousands of web hosts that give you some sort of SSL package. Unless you need your very own certificate, they are definately the way to go for the small business because the host purchases the stuff and just charges you a small fee.
If this is not acceptable for your situation, then I am afraid you have to bite the bullet and front the money.
But don't get lost in the middle - remember the whole reason you are using SSL is for security. Whether the certificate comes directly from you or your webhost doesn't really matter as long as it is secure. That's why I would recommend that you let them pay for it and disperse the cost among their users.
If you think the whole thing is silly, run a source-based distro and compare it to an identical system with another distro with the same software.
There is quite a noticable difference in the bigger packages like KDE, Gnome, X, etc. just because it is optimized for your hardware.
Agreed, it more than most people want to do, but there really is a difference. The question is whether a noticable speed increase is worth it. TO most it simply is not. (Espcially on supder-duper fast modern hardware).
Translate: "I don't think it's a good deal" to "I don't think it's a BIG deal". Ooops.
I tend to disagree with your line of thinking. For a big company like Microsoft, or even a smaller one like RedHat, then some customers might expect this. But, you need to think about the smaller companies.
If I have a linux distrobution, and I want to have a decent webserver with great uptime, the cheapest solution is probably not to host my own servers. One can select between a myriad of online hosts that already have the generators, UPS, backup systems, redundancy, and a fat pipe. So, clearly, if they are not running their own distro to serve web pages, I don't think it's a good deal.
While it may be expected of large companies to 'prove themselves', in a situation like this it would likely just cost more and deter from actually improving the distro and paying the workers.