We solve the problematic OpenOffice => M$ Office conversions by keeping a couple boxes around with M$ Office on it. Other then that all the computers use OO for internal use, and the M$ box for a quick double check before sending it out. It almost doesn't matter though because we can export documents as PDFs or web pages -- which are readable across every platform.
Yes Europe is less stringent then the US, although Europe is not nearly as loose as Asia. Of course if the US or Europe were third world countries hurting for $$$ (in any form, including research dollars) they might rethink their positions.
The difference between east and west culture and the ramifications for the world have been in the news for a long time. For instance, the traditional religions in Asia have absolutely no problems with cloning or experimentation on embryos (which is basically verboten in western countries), so the majority of work in that field is in China or other countries which accept the future for what it is. The global marketplace is shrinking, and as we become more and more interconnected cultural differences will no doubt become more and more of an issue.
Well keep in mind that there are a lot of dumb users out there who might see:
Eminen -- Lose Yourself.mp3
And if the file was.exe that is what would be displayed under Windoze in some scenarios, thus allowing the virus to be exploited. Some of it was actually software developed by the RIAA to sniff P2P networks for computers running without patches to common security holes, and they would then exploit the computers.
The RIAA and MPAA has been, for some time, putting MP3s and MPGs on Kazaa and other P2P networks that are basically white noise (usually created from the first 10 seconds of the song or something). Some of them carry viruses, and there was a slashdot post a while back about the RIAA actively developing viruses and other "Anti-piracy" tools. I guess they figured that fighting back would mean admitting to piracy they weren't worried about things like the countersuit.
It's human nature to maximize what you can get for yourself. It's just a shame that the goverment (which is supposed to be a buffer between human greed and society) was perverted a long time ago and is now helping organizations and corporations like the RIAA and the BIB (or whatever it's called)
So you're saying that moving a business from Windows to Linux will take time, dedication, and training. Well, If time is money, and training costs money, that means that there will be a pretty big initial cost to train their staff.
To truly move people off of windows will involve having the people who are using windows learn how to do what they did in windows under Linux. Some of this won't take much time and people can probably figure out in a day (i.e. how to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office, or how to operate the start menu in KDE). Some of it will take much more time (i.e. having people who can set up linux boxen).
However, I think that when you consider the cost per user of Microsoft, and that learning a new set of skills is mostly a one time cost, and that most people could become familiar enough with linux to work on an already set up system in a day or two (which is what 3/4s of people do with windows anyways), I don't think it's really that big of a cost.
Part of my complaint involves Windows users as well. People need to learn to use computers as computers. To give you an example, my mom can't find any file if she doesn't save it in the My Documents directory of windows -- so she has hundreds of files in a single directory. If she learned that directories are a tree structure, and spent time learning about how they are organized, when she saved a file in the default directory a program offered (i.e. C:\Program Files\Company\Software Name\Stuff) I wouldn't get a phone call from her asking where her files went.
They don't need to transport it back to earth. If you consider that the gravity on mars is a third of that on earth, and that it has lots of minerals, mining could be used to build space ships and interstellar probes, which could be sent off more easily then earth based space ships (again, less gravity = less fuel needed per kilogram). Also, Robert Zubrin pointed out in his book A Case for Mars some easy way to create rocket fuel from martian resources. Other thing is that it's possible to use the gravity of mars and earth as a sling shot -- one of the reasons a trip to mars takes 2 years to get there from earth and a trip back takes 6 months. So if we could set up a small factory there it would be a great thing.
The vast bulk of the Linux world doesn't even recognize the truth of what you're saying. Whenever someone complains about Linux useability, they are told that "all you need to do is [poorly-documented two hours of time-suck here], and anyway you're just a M$ troll you swine".
I think it's actually mostly frustration with Windows users and others. Many projects are well documented, but people still come on list servs asking the question that is on page 1. So, if I'm giving my time to help out newbies, it bothers me to no end that people are wasting my time because they had no desire to read the manual. Because, Windows and Linux aren't the same operating system.
No matter how easy we make it, running linux will involve a fundamentally different skill set then running Windows. And migrating to Linux will involve reading some manuals, practicing, and possibly even lessons.
Bosses are idiots. I got hired at a company 2 years ago and put in charge of a Windows 2k server which had never had a single update in its entire life and was sitting naked on the net. I went to my boss and demanded that the following be put in place if I were to still work there:
A firewall of some sort
A system of backups (Wouldn't you know they stored all the information on the server?)
A security audit where updates were done and we looked for loop holes
Long story short I was back in the unemployed line within 24 hours, and I was told a few months later that the companys servers got hit on a catstrophic level when I bumped into a guy who worked in the office across the hall.
So, one of the reasons that the pictures are so good is that the images don't have to be blown up as much because the surface area is larger
How does this honestly work. What if I have a sensor 1 foot x 1 foot, with 4 pixels. Is it going to produce a better image than a 4 megapixel Sony consumer cam?
That is an extreme case so probably not. But the film (or the CCD) has a certain resolution over a certain size. So when you blow it up and increase the area of the print increases you decrease the resolution of the print.
There are a certain number of pixels per print, ok? If you measure them in dots per inch, when you double the area you half the dpi. The Spirit's sensor is bigger then a normal camera so you could convert it to some other resolution.
I can tell you that if you had a 1 foot x 1 foot camera that was 1 Mega pixel, that the pictures woudl be amazing. Of course, perhaps I am wrong that 1 Megapixel == x dpi no matter what the size of the "film". But the thing I don't understand is why the article said that the greater area of the CCD chip made a difference if you can't convert 1 Megapixel into x dpi.
"I'd like to add that, if you've ever seen a blown up 35mm picture to an 8x10 or larger, if you look closely you can see the grains of film."
Depends on the film, Kodak Technipan will still look amazing at 8x10. Consumer 400 ASA films will be quite bad though.
Well yes, there are a number of variables involved. The more money you're willing to pay for film the better the quality. And there are a bunch of variables that change the size of the grain in the film thus increasing quality. Like film speed.
"if you look at a picture that is blown up from a 3"x5" sheet of film"
I've never heard of 3x5 sheet film; most large format photographers use 4x5 film.
Sorry that was probably a typo. Years ago I used to fool around with photography and I don't quite remember all the details.:-D
Resolution in cameras (both digital and film) is really determined by optics.
I'd like to add that, if you've ever seen a blown up 35mm picture to an 8x10 or larger, if you look closely you can see the grains of film. However, if you look at a picture that is blown up from a 3"x5" sheet of film, it will look amazing. The article says that although the CCD is 1M Pixel its CCD area is much larger then a standard digital camera. That's something most people seem to have overlooked.
So, one of the reasons that the pictures are so good is that the images don't have to be blown up as much because the surface area is larger. This is effectivly upping the Megapixels of the camera, although they also say that the more megapixels the less sensitive the individual pixels are to light. So this gives spirit a definite advantage: the CCD is more sensitive then, say, the 5+ Mega pixel camera it may be equivalent to when you take into account the area of the CCD, but it is more sensitive.
All the main actors have not aged well and it would be very shitty to not have Mark Hammil reprise his role as Luke Skywalker or Harrison Ford play Han Solo.
Unless, of course, the next trilogy is set far into the future relative to Episode 6.
But that should mean that there is no truth to the OPs original suggestion of putting it behind the rear view mirror, right? If it can be read by the system you've been gotten.
and hold it near the rearview mirror when I approach a tollplaza. I can still use the EZ-Pass lane, it's faster and more convenient than paying cash, and there's none of this tracking business to worry about.
EZPass uses RFID -- Radio Frequency Identification. The point is you're still being tagged unless you put it in an anti static bag or farraday cage. Your trick blocks any cameras from taking pictures of your EZ Pass, yes, but don't you think the cameras at many toll booths grab your license plate as well?
There is no reason why the gui can't blend a handful of separate applications into a seemless, completely integrated user experience. What is needed is some open design guides so that applications can share each other's data.
Yes, I agree, open design guidelines -- if adhered to -- would be a wonderful thing, allowing people to create their own "integration suite" (if you will) based on completely modular components. Complete personalization for everyone, right?
Unfortunately, these guidelines don't exist and won't in the foreseeable future. (Even if a consortium got together, think of how long adoption would take -- CSS 2 has been out for a long time, and yet it still is not 100% implemented by all browsers). And, even if they did exist, there would need to be standard libraries created for a number of different languages so that they could be seamlessly integrated into applications (sort of like Perls Exporter module). Which could be done, but you're adding more time onto it. Although, perhaps since CSS involved creating code to render style sheets in a browser and this only involves creating libraries / modules it could be a lot faster.
"The world doens't need a huge integrated app that tries to do aeverything under the sun. "
The Linux paradigm is changing, for better or for worse. There are now users who demand a single app that is completely integrated. This is who is being targeted companys like Ximian and Sun -- who are trying to draw users away from Linux. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I would bet money the *BSD stay unapologetically about the original Unix philosophy for a long time to come.
Unfortunately, there's no way to get at the calendaring without taking the whole lot. And the calendaring doesn't seem to work anyway... it doesn't give me a popup when a meeting is due. Which makes it pretty useless:-(
Give me 30 minutes to an hour in the code and I could create a pop up notification for whatever calender you use. Give me another couple hours I'll make it look pretty with a nice GUI, etc. That's the beauty of open source -- if the functionality isn't there you can hire someone. Give me an email at dan AT mathjunkies DOT com if you're interested in discussing a project like that.
I don't pretend to understand the intricacies of Evolution and why it may be impossible to run on Windows, but I think that if it were possible, it would be a large boon to the project.
I would conjecture it's mostly about resources. Most open source projects are very poorly funded -- the new programmer as starving artist paradigm. So, it probably comes down to the fact that, yes, the GTK toolkit has been ported over to windows, yes, there are windows users who would be more likely to migrate if a windows build were available, but, no, it isn't worth squandering the meager resources available to Evolution.
With that said, since Novell now owns Ximian it is possible things may change. I think that would be great, but at the same time, I have to wonder if the money spent on Windows wouldn't be better spent improving Evolution and making it blow Outlook out of the water.
"I don't seem to have much luck with mail clients recently - Mozilla (1.4) often barfs when I get japanese spam - really annoying because I have to delete my Inbox and my POP3 spool:-(, before that, an earlier version of Evolution took all my mail and made it unreadable:-(("
I would report the errors you're seeing as bugs. Japanese Spam should be displayed without any problems, although many times I wish I knew enough japanese to redirect it to/dev/null. But I should mention that this may be an encoding issue.
"Most CEOs won't like hearing that their books are being balanced in software not guaranteed to work."
What software is guaranteed to work?
If you buy software from, say, Microsoft or Intuit, there is a company who is saying "Buy this software because we guarantee it will work." Some even have money back guarantees, some try to weasel out of them, but all can be sued if something bad happens. This puts the minds of CEOs and other business leaders at ease because it means that somebody's ass is on the line, or at least that you covered your bases by using a well known or respected company. (Why do you think people buy Solaris when there are many cheaper alternatives?) And, of course, if you buy it and it doesn't work (i.e. on your machine) you can return it.
The GNU Public License, the BSD License, and just about every variation and incarnation of open source licenses states very clearly that the software is not guaranteed or warranteed in any ways. So, basically, you use it at your own risk. This makes business people very leery about using it. Now, many people like myself would argue that problems arise much less frequently then with closed source company bought software, but they do arise. Like, for instance, when the newest version of Mandrake Linux, version 9.2 came out with a bug that destroys certain CD Rom drives.
Now, if that were a Microsoft product, a class action lawsuit would undoubtly be brought to bear on the company, and Microsoft would do something to appease big corporate customers. (Imagine Windows XP eating CDRoms when it came out. Now imagine a pissed off Gateway, Dell, Compaq/HP, etc. sending in a pack of flesh eating lawyers without due compensation.)
BTW. Most CEOs are too busy throwing parties on their 10 million yatchs to worry about software.
Funny. I don't own a single yacht never mind 10 million, and I am a CEO. I also know many fellow CEOs who do not spend all of their time partying on 10 million yachts. See, it's sort of like this. People like me work our asses off for the company. Our life is the company. We also generally own a relatively large percentage of our companies. So when our company does well, we do well. And that's the way it should be. Otherwise, why else would I be willing to stay up working till 12:09 in the morning, and know I have to get up bright and early tomorrow morning?
The other thing people forget, is that there is no backup for the owner of a company. There is no unemployment insurance. I pay for my own medical insurance. And if the guy working for me screws up I do his job or I get in trouble-- because I can't say, oops, sorry, my subordinate screwed up. So we face intense pressure, risk, and work hard. Why shouldn't we be compensated?
Slashdot Mirror
We solve the problematic OpenOffice => M$ Office conversions by keeping a couple boxes around with M$ Office on it. Other then that all the computers use OO for internal use, and the M$ box for a quick double check before sending it out. It almost doesn't matter though because we can export documents as PDFs or web pages -- which are readable across every platform.
Yes Europe is less stringent then the US, although Europe is not nearly as loose as Asia. Of course if the US or Europe were third world countries hurting for $$$ (in any form, including research dollars) they might rethink their positions.
The difference between east and west culture and the ramifications for the world have been in the news for a long time. For instance, the traditional religions in Asia have absolutely no problems with cloning or experimentation on embryos (which is basically verboten in western countries), so the majority of work in that field is in China or other countries which accept the future for what it is. The global marketplace is shrinking, and as we become more and more interconnected cultural differences will no doubt become more and more of an issue.
Well keep in mind that there are a lot of dumb users out there who might see:
Eminen -- Lose Yourself.mp3
And if the file was .exe that is what would be displayed under Windoze in some scenarios, thus allowing the virus to be exploited. Some of it was actually software developed by the RIAA to sniff P2P networks for computers running without patches to common security holes, and they would then exploit the computers.
The same way you put a virus in other files. When the file is read the virus is run and installs itself on your computer.
The RIAA and MPAA has been, for some time, putting MP3s and MPGs on Kazaa and other P2P networks that are basically white noise (usually created from the first 10 seconds of the song or something). Some of them carry viruses, and there was a slashdot post a while back about the RIAA actively developing viruses and other "Anti-piracy" tools. I guess they figured that fighting back would mean admitting to piracy they weren't worried about things like the countersuit.
It's human nature to maximize what you can get for yourself. It's just a shame that the goverment (which is supposed to be a buffer between human greed and society) was perverted a long time ago and is now helping organizations and corporations like the RIAA and the BIB (or whatever it's called)
It's not really kind. The name and number are on the response letters.
But I can't make fun of SCO if I allow myself to notice that!
"My telephone number is or email". Nice to know SCO's crack defense team proofreads their extortion letters.
To truly move people off of windows will involve having the people who are using windows learn how to do what they did in windows under Linux. Some of this won't take much time and people can probably figure out in a day (i.e. how to use OpenOffice instead of MS Office, or how to operate the start menu in KDE). Some of it will take much more time (i.e. having people who can set up linux boxen).
However, I think that when you consider the cost per user of Microsoft, and that learning a new set of skills is mostly a one time cost, and that most people could become familiar enough with linux to work on an already set up system in a day or two (which is what 3/4s of people do with windows anyways), I don't think it's really that big of a cost.
Part of my complaint involves Windows users as well. People need to learn to use computers as computers. To give you an example, my mom can't find any file if she doesn't save it in the My Documents directory of windows -- so she has hundreds of files in a single directory. If she learned that directories are a tree structure, and spent time learning about how they are organized, when she saved a file in the default directory a program offered (i.e. C:\Program Files\Company\Software Name\Stuff) I wouldn't get a phone call from her asking where her files went.
They don't need to transport it back to earth. If you consider that the gravity on mars is a third of that on earth, and that it has lots of minerals, mining could be used to build space ships and interstellar probes, which could be sent off more easily then earth based space ships (again, less gravity = less fuel needed per kilogram). Also, Robert Zubrin pointed out in his book A Case for Mars some easy way to create rocket fuel from martian resources. Other thing is that it's possible to use the gravity of mars and earth as a sling shot -- one of the reasons a trip to mars takes 2 years to get there from earth and a trip back takes 6 months. So if we could set up a small factory there it would be a great thing.
I think it's actually mostly frustration with Windows users and others. Many projects are well documented, but people still come on list servs asking the question that is on page 1. So, if I'm giving my time to help out newbies, it bothers me to no end that people are wasting my time because they had no desire to read the manual. Because, Windows and Linux aren't the same operating system.
No matter how easy we make it, running linux will involve a fundamentally different skill set then running Windows. And migrating to Linux will involve reading some manuals, practicing, and possibly even lessons.
Bosses are idiots. I got hired at a company 2 years ago and put in charge of a Windows 2k server which had never had a single update in its entire life and was sitting naked on the net. I went to my boss and demanded that the following be put in place if I were to still work there:
Long story short I was back in the unemployed line within 24 hours, and I was told a few months later that the companys servers got hit on a catstrophic level when I bumped into a guy who worked in the office across the hall.
That is an extreme case so probably not. But the film (or the CCD) has a certain resolution over a certain size. So when you blow it up and increase the area of the print increases you decrease the resolution of the print.
There are a certain number of pixels per print, ok? If you measure them in dots per inch, when you double the area you half the dpi. The Spirit's sensor is bigger then a normal camera so you could convert it to some other resolution.
I can tell you that if you had a 1 foot x 1 foot camera that was 1 Mega pixel, that the pictures woudl be amazing. Of course, perhaps I am wrong that 1 Megapixel == x dpi no matter what the size of the "film". But the thing I don't understand is why the article said that the greater area of the CCD chip made a difference if you can't convert 1 Megapixel into x dpi.
Well yes, there are a number of variables involved. The more money you're willing to pay for film the better the quality. And there are a bunch of variables that change the size of the grain in the film thus increasing quality. Like film speed.
Sorry that was probably a typo. Years ago I used to fool around with photography and I don't quite remember all the details. :-D
I'd like to add that, if you've ever seen a blown up 35mm picture to an 8x10 or larger, if you look closely you can see the grains of film. However, if you look at a picture that is blown up from a 3"x5" sheet of film, it will look amazing. The article says that although the CCD is 1M Pixel its CCD area is much larger then a standard digital camera. That's something most people seem to have overlooked.
So, one of the reasons that the pictures are so good is that the images don't have to be blown up as much because the surface area is larger. This is effectivly upping the Megapixels of the camera, although they also say that the more megapixels the less sensitive the individual pixels are to light. So this gives spirit a definite advantage: the CCD is more sensitive then, say, the 5+ Mega pixel camera it may be equivalent to when you take into account the area of the CCD, but it is more sensitive.
Unless, of course, the next trilogy is set far into the future relative to Episode 6.
But that should mean that there is no truth to the OPs original suggestion of putting it behind the rear view mirror, right? If it can be read by the system you've been gotten.
EZPass uses RFID -- Radio Frequency Identification. The point is you're still being tagged unless you put it in an anti static bag or farraday cage. Your trick blocks any cameras from taking pictures of your EZ Pass, yes, but don't you think the cameras at many toll booths grab your license plate as well?
Yes, I agree, open design guidelines -- if adhered to -- would be a wonderful thing, allowing people to create their own "integration suite" (if you will) based on completely modular components. Complete personalization for everyone, right?
Unfortunately, these guidelines don't exist and won't in the foreseeable future. (Even if a consortium got together, think of how long adoption would take -- CSS 2 has been out for a long time, and yet it still is not 100% implemented by all browsers). And, even if they did exist, there would need to be standard libraries created for a number of different languages so that they could be seamlessly integrated into applications (sort of like Perls Exporter module). Which could be done, but you're adding more time onto it. Although, perhaps since CSS involved creating code to render style sheets in a browser and this only involves creating libraries / modules it could be a lot faster.
The Linux paradigm is changing, for better or for worse. There are now users who demand a single app that is completely integrated. This is who is being targeted companys like Ximian and Sun -- who are trying to draw users away from Linux. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I would bet money the *BSD stay unapologetically about the original Unix philosophy for a long time to come.
Give me 30 minutes to an hour in the code and I could create a pop up notification for whatever calender you use. Give me another couple hours I'll make it look pretty with a nice GUI, etc. That's the beauty of open source -- if the functionality isn't there you can hire someone. Give me an email at dan AT mathjunkies DOT com if you're interested in discussing a project like that.
I would conjecture it's mostly about resources. Most open source projects are very poorly funded -- the new programmer as starving artist paradigm. So, it probably comes down to the fact that, yes, the GTK toolkit has been ported over to windows, yes, there are windows users who would be more likely to migrate if a windows build were available, but, no, it isn't worth squandering the meager resources available to Evolution.
With that said, since Novell now owns Ximian it is possible things may change. I think that would be great, but at the same time, I have to wonder if the money spent on Windows wouldn't be better spent improving Evolution and making it blow Outlook out of the water.
I would report the errors you're seeing as bugs. Japanese Spam should be displayed without any problems, although many times I wish I knew enough japanese to redirect it to /dev/null. But I should mention that this may be an encoding issue.
-DanIf you buy software from, say, Microsoft or Intuit, there is a company who is saying "Buy this software because we guarantee it will work." Some even have money back guarantees, some try to weasel out of them, but all can be sued if something bad happens. This puts the minds of CEOs and other business leaders at ease because it means that somebody's ass is on the line, or at least that you covered your bases by using a well known or respected company. (Why do you think people buy Solaris when there are many cheaper alternatives?) And, of course, if you buy it and it doesn't work (i.e. on your machine) you can return it.
The GNU Public License, the BSD License, and just about every variation and incarnation of open source licenses states very clearly that the software is not guaranteed or warranteed in any ways. So, basically, you use it at your own risk. This makes business people very leery about using it. Now, many people like myself would argue that problems arise much less frequently then with closed source company bought software, but they do arise. Like, for instance, when the newest version of Mandrake Linux, version 9.2 came out with a bug that destroys certain CD Rom drives.
Now, if that were a Microsoft product, a class action lawsuit would undoubtly be brought to bear on the company, and Microsoft would do something to appease big corporate customers. (Imagine Windows XP eating CDRoms when it came out. Now imagine a pissed off Gateway, Dell, Compaq/HP, etc. sending in a pack of flesh eating lawyers without due compensation.)
Funny. I don't own a single yacht never mind 10 million, and I am a CEO. I also know many fellow CEOs who do not spend all of their time partying on 10 million yachts. See, it's sort of like this. People like me work our asses off for the company. Our life is the company. We also generally own a relatively large percentage of our companies. So when our company does well, we do well. And that's the way it should be. Otherwise, why else would I be willing to stay up working till 12:09 in the morning, and know I have to get up bright and early tomorrow morning?
The other thing people forget, is that there is no backup for the owner of a company. There is no unemployment insurance. I pay for my own medical insurance. And if the guy working for me screws up I do his job or I get in trouble-- because I can't say, oops, sorry, my subordinate screwed up. So we face intense pressure, risk, and work hard. Why shouldn't we be compensated?