Obivousness isn't a criteria when determining whether something is copyrightable. You're thinking of patents.
Copyrights protect expression, not ideas. For example, I could write a story about a whiny kid living on some backward planet who hooks up with a wizard, a rogue, his rogue's hirsute buddy, a hot chick, and go destroy an evil empire lead by a big tall evil guy in a mask. As long as my expression of this general idea was original, I wouldn't be infringing George Lucas's copyright on Star Wars.
Oh yay, another bloated piece of crapware from Symantec.
Norton Antivirus used to be good, back in the 90s. Since then it's bloated into a resource-sucking hog that frequently causes system instability, and just as bad, misses virus/worm infections. The whole Symantec Norton Internet Security Suite is just awful. I have worked on several PCs that were running poorly, had networking issues, and were just plain painful to use, largely due to NIS.
The fix was easy: blow away NIS. Install everything related to it -- NAV, Live Update, the firewall, etc. Then replace it with single-purpose apps that work well for a single task (sounds Unixish, huh?)
For antivirus I've had good results with AVG (free.grisoft.com) and Avast (www.avast.com).
For taking care of spyware I load both Spybot Search & Destroy and Lavasoft Ad-Aware. I also use the hosts file from mvps.org.
For a software firewall in most cases XP's built-in firewall is fine, but Windows boxes should be behind a NAT router at least.
But the single easiest way to prevent malware from getting onto Windows boxes it to break people of the Internet Explorer and Outlook Express habit. I've converted several people over to Firefox and Thunderbird. While not perfect, they aren't the built-in rootkits that IE and OE are.
Re:Market Opportunity for Macs and Linux
on
Buy Vista or Else
·
· Score: 0
Player right, there is definitely a market opportunity for non-MS OSes.
I've made two converts from Windows to Mac during the past year. I didn't do it by coming across as a wild-eyed zealot, but rather by (a) showing them the general look and feel of the system, and (b) explaining how due to OS-X's design it's extremely stable and free of viruses and other kinds of malware.
My first convert was my brother, who needed a laptop, checked out my G4 iBook, and wound up getting a 12" PowerBook. The second was someone whose home LAN I've done some work on and needed a new computer to replace a 5 year old Gateway which died. He got a Mac Mini for his kids' use so they can do their schoolwork. Security was one of the big selling points for him, since I'd cleaned a ton of spyware and a root kit off his other two PCs.
BS.
Certainly SOME people are misusing their weapons. However, for the majority of people who are honest folks, exercising their right to keep and bear arms is the only thing that stands between them and losing what little they have left. A gun and the will to use it can enable a homeowner or businessman to defend himself and his property against a pack of thugs. Confronted with an armed citizen, most such groups will move on to easier pickings.
Or would you rather have a lone shop owner try to protect his stuff with harsh language and a baseball bat? How would you propose a woman defend herself or her children against a man intent on doing them bodily harm?
Denying good people the RKBA and making them rely on weapons requiring strength tilts the balance in favor of bad guys who often operate in gangs, or often possess greater strength than their intended victims. It has been repeatedly proven that guns level the playing field for the physically weak.
...assuming of course that the Mac available now do what you need and will continue to do so for a reasonable time.
I've been using Linux seriously since 2000, before that used DOS and Windows, and before that used a Mac Plus. In December I bought a 12" G4 iBook when my old Compaq Presario 710US laptop started having problems keeping the battery charged.
I've been very impressed with the iBook. It's fast enough for what I use it for -- email, web, light office stuff, logging into servers and routers. The keyboard is pretty good for a laptop, although I wish it had regular up and down keys that didn't require you to press the fn key and arrow keys simultaneously.
Configuring the Airport Extreme card was a piece of cake. Reception of the signal from my Netgear 802.11g WAP is excellent.
OS-X is extremely nice and has been stable, and the peripherals that I've plugged in work with little effort. E.g., I needed to download the software for my Epson USB scanner but other than that it didn't require tweaking.
Having used the iBook for a couple of months now I am _sold_ on Apple's line of computers. I continue to use and love Linux, but my next desktop may very well be a Mac.
I've been a happy user of ofoto.com for a couple years now. They have a Windows app you can download onto your PC for uploading photos to them, but it isn't required. They have a browser-based upload that works fine with Mozilla on Linux.
I like the fact that I can pick out the pics I want printed, upload them, then get them mailed to me and they arrive usually in about 5 days. Ofoto's prices are quite reasonable.
Ofoto.com is the main reason I never felt the need for a photo printer at home.
I am not affiliated with ofoto.com in any way, I'm just a satisfied customer.
I use an REI Big Byte laptop backpack. It's comfortable, protects the laptop well, and designed so that it can be used as a regular backpack. It cost $60.
Personally, I have my doubts that the city could pull it off competently. Governments can sometimes drive innovation by the private sector or academia, with the best example being the Internet. However, government attempts at putting similar programs in place are almost invariably plagued by poor implementation, shoddy work, and cost overrruns.
I have a Compaq 710US laptop that also comes without a "legacy" serial port. This was a problem for me since I'm a field systems engineer for an ISP, and periodically need to login to switches and routers through an RS232 port.
I found a way around this by getting a USB to RS232 serial adapter made by Inland. It plugs into one of my USB ports and the other end has a DB9-male connector on it.
It was ~$50 at Microcenter, but if you look around a bit you can probably get them cheaper. Aside from Inland, Belkin and a few others make them.
Slashdot Mirror
Obivousness isn't a criteria when determining whether something is copyrightable. You're thinking of patents.
Copyrights protect expression, not ideas. For example, I could write a story about a whiny kid living on some backward planet who hooks up with a wizard, a rogue, his rogue's hirsute buddy, a hot chick, and go destroy an evil empire lead by a big tall evil guy in a mask. As long as my expression of this general idea was original, I wouldn't be infringing George Lucas's copyright on Star Wars.
I've heard of the power of the pussy, but this is ridiculous.
This is like selling someone a house, then charging them annual rent for the locks.
Oh yay, another bloated piece of crapware from Symantec.
Norton Antivirus used to be good, back in the 90s. Since then it's bloated into a resource-sucking hog that frequently causes system instability, and just as bad, misses virus/worm infections. The whole Symantec Norton Internet Security Suite is just awful. I have worked on several PCs that were running poorly, had networking issues, and were just plain painful to use, largely due to NIS.
The fix was easy: blow away NIS. Install everything related to it -- NAV, Live Update, the firewall, etc. Then replace it with single-purpose apps that work well for a single task (sounds Unixish, huh?)
For antivirus I've had good results with AVG (free.grisoft.com) and Avast (www.avast.com).
For taking care of spyware I load both Spybot Search & Destroy and Lavasoft Ad-Aware. I also use the hosts file from mvps.org.
For a software firewall in most cases XP's built-in firewall is fine, but Windows boxes should be behind a NAT router at least.
But the single easiest way to prevent malware from getting onto Windows boxes it to break people of the Internet Explorer and Outlook Express habit. I've converted several people over to Firefox and Thunderbird. While not perfect, they aren't the built-in rootkits that IE and OE are.
Player right, there is definitely a market opportunity for non-MS OSes.
I've made two converts from Windows to Mac during the past year. I didn't do it by coming across as a wild-eyed zealot, but rather by (a) showing them the general look and feel of the system, and (b) explaining how due to OS-X's design it's extremely stable and free of viruses and other kinds of malware.
My first convert was my brother, who needed a laptop, checked out my G4 iBook, and wound up getting a 12" PowerBook. The second was someone whose home LAN I've done some work on and needed a new computer to replace a 5 year old Gateway which died. He got a Mac Mini for his kids' use so they can do their schoolwork. Security was one of the big selling points for him, since I'd cleaned a ton of spyware and a root kit off his other two PCs.
Sharks with freakin's laser beams!
It doesn't sound stupid. It sounds Scottish. "Aye laddie, check out me MacBook."
BS. Certainly SOME people are misusing their weapons. However, for the majority of people who are honest folks, exercising their right to keep and bear arms is the only thing that stands between them and losing what little they have left. A gun and the will to use it can enable a homeowner or businessman to defend himself and his property against a pack of thugs. Confronted with an armed citizen, most such groups will move on to easier pickings. Or would you rather have a lone shop owner try to protect his stuff with harsh language and a baseball bat? How would you propose a woman defend herself or her children against a man intent on doing them bodily harm? Denying good people the RKBA and making them rely on weapons requiring strength tilts the balance in favor of bad guys who often operate in gangs, or often possess greater strength than their intended victims. It has been repeatedly proven that guns level the playing field for the physically weak.
it'll probably have the file extension ".gay". (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
...assuming of course that the Mac available now do what you need and will continue to do so for a reasonable time.
I've been using Linux seriously since 2000, before that used DOS and Windows, and before that used a Mac Plus. In December I bought a 12" G4 iBook when my old Compaq Presario 710US laptop started having problems keeping the battery charged.
I've been very impressed with the iBook. It's fast enough for what I use it for -- email, web, light office stuff, logging into servers and routers. The keyboard is pretty good for a laptop, although I wish it had regular up and down keys that didn't require you to press the fn key and arrow keys simultaneously.
Configuring the Airport Extreme card was a piece of cake. Reception of the signal from my Netgear 802.11g WAP is excellent.
OS-X is extremely nice and has been stable, and the peripherals that I've plugged in work with little effort. E.g., I needed to download the software for my Epson USB scanner but other than that it didn't require tweaking.
Having used the iBook for a couple of months now I am _sold_ on Apple's line of computers. I continue to use and love Linux, but my next desktop may very well be a Mac.
I've been a happy user of ofoto.com for a couple years now. They have a Windows app you can download onto your PC for uploading photos to them, but it isn't required. They have a browser-based upload that works fine with Mozilla on Linux.
I like the fact that I can pick out the pics I want printed, upload them, then get them mailed to me and they arrive usually in about 5 days. Ofoto's prices are quite reasonable.
Ofoto.com is the main reason I never felt the need for a photo printer at home.
I am not affiliated with ofoto.com in any way, I'm just a satisfied customer.
All Your White House Are Belong To Us!
....
In A.D. 2004 Re-election was beginning:
John Kerry: What happen?
Theresa Heinz-Kerry: Somebody set up us the re-election.
John Edwards: We get signal.
John Kerry: What!
John Edwards: CNN turn on.
John Kerry: It's You!!
Bush: How are you gentlemen!!
Bush: ALL YOUR WHITE HOUSE ARE BELONG TO US
Bush: You are on the way to unemployment.
John Kerry: What you say!!
Bush: You have no chance to survive make your time.
Bush: Ha Ha Ha Ha
I use an REI Big Byte laptop backpack. It's comfortable, protects the laptop well, and designed so that it can be used as a regular backpack. It cost $60.
Personally, I have my doubts that the city could pull it off competently. Governments can sometimes drive innovation by the private sector or academia, with the best example being the Internet. However, government attempts at putting similar programs in place are almost invariably plagued by poor implementation, shoddy work, and cost overrruns.
~Especially~ Philly's government.
I have a Compaq 710US laptop that also comes without a "legacy" serial port. This was a problem for me since I'm a field systems engineer for an ISP, and periodically need to login to switches and routers through an RS232 port.
I found a way around this by getting a USB to RS232 serial adapter made by Inland. It plugs into one of my USB ports and the other end has a DB9-male connector on it.
It was ~$50 at Microcenter, but if you look around a bit you can probably get them cheaper. Aside from Inland, Belkin and a few others make them.