Not reasonable? I agree. Some government agencies like public schools are required to keep certain documents a loooooooooong time. We have to keep student transcripts for 100 years. Yes, file cabinets sit in an office taking up valuable space holding paper transcripts until long after most of the people are gone from the planet. The way things are going I don't see it getting better, I see more and more of these types of rules coming.
Even so, I wouldn't think they can do much about the people that don't make backups and have a hard drive failure. Or is it in the law somewhere that you have to make backups of your data? Forget company policy, I'm talking about those places like schools, small businesses, etc. that don't make it mandatory to make backups. IANAL so I don't know the law, but I can guarantee that a majority of people don't back up their data and that includes email. I have to ask them where their backup is when a hard drive crashes or the machine somehow gets wiped out. Fortunately most of them save their normal documents on the server but not email.
It almost looks like we're going back to keeping records on paper instead of electronically for archives as the last section of the article suggests. I know it makes sense to keep business related email but you know not everyone is or will, even with new laws. I just don't see this becoming a strict law any time soon because of the cost to make it work. Even the article shows how confusing this whole mess will be before it gets better.
An arrogant dickhead? I love it when someone who disagrees with me starts using foul language. And this from someone who posts anonymously.
The computer team wasn't my idea, it's a very common thing in high schools that want their interested kids to learn more what than the standard curriculum teaches. In Michigan, a computer component is mandated by the state for every student as part of their graduation requirements. The kids are learning lots of things, not just how to type letters. The kids that want to experiment with things like this have to have my ok that it won't affect our network or they can't do it. That's all. I don't refuse based on ignorance or insecurity, in fact I have never refused a request like this because we take appropriate precautions. And our network has *never* been down due to a virus.
Arrogance is not a word people that know me use to describe me unless they're complaining about the rules. Unlike you, I don't need someone to tell me how good I am. I know what my capabilities are and are not. I have a lot of respect for people more knowledgable than me, and there are a lot of them. My abilities do not affect the curriculum or school policies. Those are set by a group of educators, administrators and I have a very small amount of input on the technical policies aspect. We don't rule by dictatorship, we rule by committee. Sometimes that's frustrating to me but that's how schools are. I tend to err on the cautious side, sometimes people don't like that. But I get heat from hundreds of people if the network goes down for any reason. Deal with pressure like that on a daily basis and then come whining to me.
If someone steals a mouse ball or damages a system for any reason we don't fix it for 6 weeks. We also replace broken or damaged (missing mouse balls) mice with optical mice. Administrative decision, not mine. This policy has almost stopped all computer vandalism. When an administrator shuts down a whole lab for a week and kids have to come in during lunch or before or after school to type and research, it makes them really angry at the kid(s) who did it. And we have the backing of our parents for these policies. Peer pressure works far better than all the rules in the world when kids mess things up.
Say what you want, you have the right to your opinion. But please base it on facts, not anti-establishment, rebellious fluff.
"2. There are far easier ways to get a pension and health benefits."
True, but I never said it was easy to become a politician. Some people are naturals though and that's one of the draws nowadays. Where else can you serve one term and get an automatic pension AND not have to pay into the social security system?
"3. A lot of people just don't understand the political process."
Ignorance is not a defense.
"4. The Florida ballot was confusing and broke Florida law. The Democrat had to be printed right below the Republican, not third."
C'mon, anyone that has seen a copy of it and can read can figure that out. That's a cop-out. If it had been the other way around you wouldn't say a word about it, would you?
"5. The liberals started screwing things up? Care to back that vague charge up, or continue trolling?"
I don't troll, thank you very much. How about the welfare state they drove our poor and lower class into for one? How about teaching kids in school how to masturbate instead of teaching them abstinance? Liberal programs. Too many to list. The generational dependancy of our welfare system is not debatable, it's fact. I don't believe the welfare system was designed to keep people on it, but it sure did a job on our poor, especially inner city residents. Look, there are many reasons for these things. It would take a book to list them all. Republicans have a hand in it too, but not like the Democrats do.
"6. Oh please. Do you really think that Clinton cheating on his wife was so shocking to the American people? Half of our marrages end in divorce."
No, that's the problem. People consider divorce as an easy way out of a marriage that probably should not have happened to begin with. Over the last 10 years or so personal responsibility has taken a real hit. Remember when pre-marital pregnancy was looked down upon? We had far fewer teenage pregnancies then than we do now. Today it's almost a badge of honor in our high schools and it's really starting to turn my stomach. The fact that Clinton had an affair should surprise no one, but the way he and Hillary bend over backwards to justify thier wrong-doings (I didn't say illegal) is very frustrating to those of us that are trying to explain to our kids why they got away with something we say is wrong. They're not the only ones, they've just done so much of it it's easy to pick on them.
"7. It still is an honor to serve."
For some, sure. But for most it's a power trip.
"8. The world is laughing at us because we can't get our head out of our ass and realize we have bigger problems then whether gays can marry or whether Kerry is an optimist. Let's worry about the bigger issues here, folks."
Unfortunately, this *is* a big problem as it will determine how our country ends up after the debates and legal fallout happens. Yes there are other things we need to worry about as well, but don't discount these two topics. If the leader of our country is not an optimist, the moral of our country will fall. History shows this. Look at the difference between Gerald Ford & Jimmy Carter and the way our country and military moral skyrocketed when Reagan took over. Then Bush #1 screwed up and Clinton, well, I'll leave that alone given the number of execs in lawsuits, a recession that Greenspan said was turned around by the Bush #2 tax cuts, etc. We have the greatest country in the world but we're screwing it up big time.
Thank you for the polite debate. I enjoyed it very much. I don't care much for the "troll" tag though. I try to make my comments based on facts, not flubber.
Why does the US has such fools in positions of power?"
Because the government of, by and for the people is not that way. Hasn't been since the mid 1960's. Maybe earlier but that was before my time. We don't elect people anymore, the lobbyists and large contributors do. Then they do what those people want, not what we, the common citizens want. We are powerless to change it because half the people in our country don't have a clue what's going on because they're too self-centered to look around and open their eyes. Another fourth can't hit the right lever or punch the correct hole because they can't read a simple printed card.
It's sad really. I love my country but I feel like such a minority as a conservative. Since the liberals started screwing things up in the late 60's it's slowly been spinning out of control. I fear it's only going to get worse now that the Clintons have lowered the morals bar so far the typical American can't even get under it if they work at it. There was a time when it was an honor to serve the American people in congress. Now it's just a means of acquiring power and an easy retirement and guaranteed health benefits.
I feel bad that people all over the world are laughing at us, but we brought it on ourselves.
Senator Hatch has a propensity for standing up for something that he has an interest in, even if it will adversely affect countless others. His attempt at protecting the song writer in particular (because he is one as well?) through a bill that would drastically affect the entire entertainment industry is just one example. I'm too lazy to figure out how to put a link in here so you can look it up on Google like I did.
"Meaning none of your students is competent to work at a multimedia firm where Mac is the platform of choice?"
No, hardly any means a low percentage. When you look at the total number of jobs, the number of those requiring Mac is very low.
And not having Linux machines around because there is no "educational software" for them is incorrect as well."
No it's not, you're talking about higher ed software, not K-12. And more specifically, K-5 where Apple still rules in most districts. Apple had hundreds of lower elementary titles under it's belt before the PC side ever thought about it seriously. Most vendors wised up and made them available for both, as is evidenced by the multitude of dual platform CDs I have. But the number of titles for Linux is so low I can't convince anyone to look at them. I have several CDs with elementary software on them but there are only a handful that are good enough to use.
I am trying to put a Linux machine out for general use, but the software just isn't there for the schools yet aside from the office packages. I have tested Open Office and Star Office, and they are just not compatible enough with the MS documents and powerpoints that we tried them with to justify using them. There is no high end DreamWeaver, PhotoShop, AutoCad, iMovie, etc. equivalent program for linux and linux doesn't connect to Novell 6 right now. This was a year long test, not a one day thing. I want to move MS out of our district, but I still don't have enough ammunition to do it.
We don't have outbreaks like that because we educate our users and I have a darned good firewall, anti-virus protection and Outlook is forbidden in our district. Students use ISD web-mail only, all others are blocked. On top of that, our ISD is our email provider and they also scan and eliminate most infected emails. We patch our desktops frequently and don't use MS server software.
It's really not that hard to keep viri out of your system if you want to.
"Also, we toyed with the idea of GIVING laptops to the students..."
You might be surprised to learn that some schools in Maine were given a grant to give all 7th grade students a laptop a couple of years ago. This program which purchased Apple laptops is being reported as a huge success.
In their infinite *cough* wisdom *cough*, the state of Michigan is giving low income schools money to purchase laptops for all 6th graders as a 4 year project. Their plan is to make sure all students 6-12 have portable computing devices from now on. If it weren't for the budget crunch they were going to have all of our schools do this. Fortunately, our school district didn't have low enough scores for this support nightmare. Yes, the manufacturer would be supporting them, hardware and software, but the first line of support *will* be school techs.
"If they do this, fight for the right to demonstrate that you are not doing damage to the computer or its existing OS"
Obviously you don't understand... schools aren't a place for you to experiment with Linux, they are a place to learn the computer (and other) skills you need so you can get along in the world when you graduate. Any school that would let kids bring bootable CDs in to use is just asking for trouble. School techs are not idiots, most of us use Linux at home or even in our offices for certain things. We are probably more tech savvy than a lot of business techs because our knowledge base has to be more diverse because of our environments.
I am a technology director in a K-12 school and I can promise you there won't be ANY users on our systems booting up with a Knoppix disk thanks to BIOS passwords and lock-down hardware and software. There are no good educational reasons to do so on the classroom or lab workstations. However, we have a handful of machines that are not protected that only computer team kids can use to do individual projects on. These are the only machines the kids can experiment with (with my permission) and they have to have a classroom assignment or be in an independant study program to do so. The rest are off limits for experimentation. And suggesting that you would do what you mentioned on a lab machine just to prove a point is dumb. We already know Windows is not the best system out there. There's nothing wrong with having an old system laying around for things like that, but that machine should not be connected to the network. Maybe you have lots of time on your hands, but I know I don't have time to sit and babysit someone that's playing around with something that could potentially bring our network down. Sorry, not happening. Play at home.
School computers are not yours to do whatever you want. They are property of the institution, paid for by taxpayer money to be used by EVERY student and staff member, not just for those who want to do whatever they want. The script kiddies and jerks are the reason they are locked down and firewalled. We don't allow program or zipped downloads either. This may sound harsh, but since we started with these policies our downtime on workstations is down to almost none and productivity is high.
Go to work for a school system some time and maybe you'll see what I mean. Coming from business and retail into a school system really opened my eyes. Altough I'm a certified (or is that certifiable?) tech and network administrator and have been building and maintaining PCs and designing, building and maintaining networks for almost 15 years, I need to keep up with things to help me stay one or two steps ahead of the kids that want to damage our systems. As much as people think we might be too strict, the vast majority of our kids and staff appreciate what we do.
Having said all of that, we standardized on PCs with Windows about 7 years ago and phased out the Macs because the quality of the PPC was crap, and the cost was not justifiable. Couple that with the fact that at the time hardly anyone in business used Macs, it made no sense to continue buying them. I almost regret supporting that decision because when Apple came out with OS/X I wished they had done so 7 years ago. I would never have supported the decision to go to Windows. I would actually love to switch our entire district to Linux but the software is not there yet. It's not arguable, it's the truth. The Linux world still can not compete with the Mac/Windows world for educational software. I've checked out lots of them. As much as I'd love to get rid of Windows in our schools I can't justify it financially yet. The handful of new Macs we have now were purchased for video purposes and they are great. Nothing on the PC side comes close.
"any library that was smart applied to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation"
Except that when the support period runs out, they won't even talk to you. Plus, they didn't ship the library I support any original disks or images to reload the dozens of games and other programs that came with them in case you had to reload it. So when the pre-loaded NT 4.0 finally crashes we have no way to rebuild the machines as they were shipped. I know we could Ghost them, but we shouldn't have to. The disks and/or images should have come with them.
Nothing is truly free when it comes from Gates and sometimes it costs you more than it's worth.
There *is* an audible difference if you have a good ear. I have had the pleasure of listening to a tube hifi that a friend has, and compared to my solid states his sounds 10x better. Tubes do require maintenance but it's worth it. Analog devices will always sound warmer and richer. Silid state always sterilizes the sound no matter how hard you try to keep it original.
I am also a musician and can tell you first hand there is a very big difference in the quality of the sound between a tube and solid state amp.
Those that say otherwise either don't care enough to compare or don't have an ear capable of telling the difference.
"No attempt to tell you that you should create users."
Not true. Part of the initial install allows you to create additional users.
"apt-get doesn't work if you don't pay. You don't just pay for their Click-N-Run gui, you must pay to use apt-get itself."
Again, not true. Lindows.com does not charge (nor can they) for apt-get access. I use apt-get without any trouble at all. Linspire uses Debian as the core so apt-get DOES work. I know because I have used it.
Their CNR warehouse is apt-get on steroids and you have to pay for it. But it *does* put things in menus, runs all the install for you, there is no better installation for software aside from loading from CDs.
I REALLY wish people would get their facts straight before they spout off here. Lindows/Linspire is designed to get Windows users away from Micro$oft. It's not, nor has it ever been designed for regular Linux users. Yes, I use the $. So what.
Last fall I drove a 24' class C motorhome with a Ford 460 to a car show about three hours from me at 70-75 mph all the way on the highway and still got 6 mpg with that. Our school busses get 6-8, so I really think the 2 mpg Hummer referenced earlier is bunk.
When I was in high school back in 1980, there were a few files on the IBM mainframe that were of naked women done in ascii. They took up three or four sheets of greenbar paper when you printed them out. If you held them back several feet they actually looked pretty good.
"happen to use the most popular operating system and browser in the world?"
Actually that's not an accurate statement. Most widely used because it comes on almost every system built, but certainly not the most popular unless you're using a negative context. Most people that use IE are because they don't know how to use anything else, can't because of work restrictions or are too lazy to download and install one of several others without the problems.
"*hint* what if they are in the middle of a software upgrade?"
First of all, I can't believe anyone with a brain would try to use an open database during a software upgrade. I know ours won't let anyone log in during the upgrade process. I can't believe how lame this whole discussion is. Even though I *really* don't like some of Ashcroft's decisions, he's still better than the former by far. Anyway...
B A C K U P
Hasn't anyone thought about this??? Good grief. I NEVER work on a live database. We ALWAYS work from backups no matter what we're doing with them. I'm stunned that an excuse like this would even be spoken by someone in IT. "Oh yeah, it'll crash my system if I make that BACKUP/export that information... so I don't make backups or do exports...". Backup, export, whatever. If the system is that unstable whoever's running it should have a backup every hour or a darned good alternative job plan when it does crash.
I'm sorry I sound pissy, but it just irritates me to no end when people don't use simple common sense.
"Second although he may be wrong about the pricing for Click-N-Run he's right that in the end its a bit of a scam. If you don't keep paying the fee you are not allowed to use many the apps anymore. Most users who sign up for Click-N-Run and then stop paying because they don't need it anymore end up finding out the hard way."
Actually, if you decide to stop paying for CNR you *can* still use the programs and you *can* still download the programs you have already downloaded if you have to reformat or whatever. For example, if you have downloaded the Gimp v2, then you can re-download it as many times as you want even if you discontinue your CNR subscription. The system keeps track of what you have downloaded using CNR in case you ever need to again, even if you stop subscribing. Oh, and I have used apt-get with Lindows successfully.
I am a lifetime member/Insider and will support the company as long as I can. I believe in what they're doing, and after having tried over a dozen different distros it's still the best for me.
Look, not everyone is going to like any particular company, but at least tell the truth about it. If you don't know the truth, please keep quiet because spreading false information always makes a person look like an dork.
"It's just to make the techies feel better about their precious Linux/Unix systems. Forgetting that a whole lot of the IT industry makes money thanks to MS' (not always stable and reliable) software. What is there to support if nothing fails?"
Actually I have to disagree with your statement. I don't believe the comment was to make "techies" feel good, I read it as a way to open people's eyes about the importance of installing windows patches and updating their virus protection (assuming they have one installed) as well as using common sense to avoid most of the problems in the first place like not opening attachments unless they know what they are, not clicking on the "unsubscribe" link on spam, etc. Oh wait - I forgot, we're talking about the ordinary folk here that haven't a clue. If nothing ever fails (impossible due to the human factor) then maybe we'll all be a lot more productive at whatever we're working on.
Here's my take on how most people see it. If you're never bothered by spam or a virus, you won't do anything to protect yourself. If, however, you have been burned by a virus or you're tired of seeing 200 spams a day selling v iagr@ or advertising your sister's porn pics then you tend to try to combat it the best way you know how. Unfortunately, most of the crap gets through even the best spam filters because the programmers just don't seem to be able to write filters to catch it. But that's not even the main problem. We as consumers are not fighting it hard enough. We are not voicing our hatred of spam loud enough to 1) our ISPs, 2) the people that govern the Internet protocols and 3) yes, our congressional staff - they write the laws and they have the power to enforce them. The problem is that we, as Americans, aren't voicing our issues to them loudly enough because they aren't listening. Can the Spam isn't working.
I'm not going to get on the use your vote bandwagon (ok, maybe I am), but I will say this - if you don't vote and you don't communicate with your representatives, shut up and don't complain to anyone about what's going on. As one of my representatives told me in person, one person's phone call or email might not get heard, but 1,000 will.
As far as the statement about M$ having enabled businesses to succeed, with all due respect, that's laughable and it's simply not true. It doesn't matter who has done or would have made the programs, businesses would have used whatever was available. Remember the pre-Microsoft days when Word Perfect and Lotus ruled the business world? Those were superior products and Microsoft had to be compatible to *them*, not the other way around. And the new version of Corel's Word Perfect suite just plain rocks! Remember, it's not the better product that has won the market share, it's the better marketing machine. That's not arguable or disputable, it's fact. Only the narrow-minded Windows zealots will continue to argue that to death.
I'm not going to explain it to those of you that don't know or don't believe me. Some of us have been around a lot longer than others here and we've seen the destructive path that Microsoft has been blazing for the last 12-15 years. Do the research and find out yourself like the rest of us have. I'd bet that half of the Windows users here have never used a DOS prompt or used Debug to low-level format an MFM hard drive. Anyway, what Microsoft *has* done by virtue of their sloppy programming departments is opened our computers up to countless problems concerning security, lost work time due to crashes and virus issues, and has cost our (and others) economy billions upon billions of dollars and who knows how many lost man-hours because of their incompetence. Yet the justice departments (yes, that's plural) of the last two administrations have not done anything substantial to stop the horrific practices that cause these problems. They certainly would any other corporate entity, but not Microsoft. It has nothing to do with politics, Microsoft has given about the same amount of money to both parties. It has to do
You don't really think McAfee and Symantec will go out of business if M$ includes anti-virus with their operating system, do you? I certainly won't use theirs, and if it's anything like we have right now, their patches will need patches and it'll still be full of holes.
Only fools will trust Microsoft with keeping viri away from their systems.
Re:Hang in there?...fP?
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The other thing I've seen over the years is the switch from 3Com NICs, built-in and cards, to Intel. In fact, in our Gateway machines the Intel is the default adapter now. If I want a 3Com NIC it costs more. Since I've never been able to see a difference in performance on our network I just take the Intel chipset and we haven't had a bad one in the three or four years they've been coming this way.
I guess people finally got sick of being asked...
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· Score: 5, Insightful
...to pay for tech support like us. Schools like ours keep losing funding because of idiotic over-spending by our legislators on stupid things and we get funding cuts when we can hardly stay above water as it is. They mandate technology in our schools but won't increase our funding to cover it. Typical government idiots.
That said, we have been buying 3Com almost exclusively for the last 9 years but now I'm ticked off. I won't pay for basic tech support that they're now charging for because I don't feel that I should have to given the prices they charge for hardware *and* the fact that I won't call unless there's really a problem. If I worked for a for-profit business there'd be no problem but I don't and I have to watch what I spend even more closely.
Even firmware updates for the 4400 are no longer free (there were three released this year alone) and it's really getting irritating so we finally decided to switch to HP for all of our network switches for now and see how that goes. I have had good luck with HP in the past and I know lots of people who use it and love it.
You're missing my point - a high school radio station is a class, just like any other vocational class. It doesn't matter if it's only received inside the building or if it's available to the public. It's a teaching station, a learning experience so when the kids go out in the real world they have a clue what they're doing. Unlike most people at NPR stations...
It doesn't matter how interesting the high school radio station is. What matters is that the students are learning the trade. My high school (I graduated in 1981) has had a broadcasting station for about 30 years. It has helped many students interested in radio and tv production and the local community which also houses Central Michigan University. Not exactly a small market although nothing like NY or LA.
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It almost looks like we're going back to keeping records on paper instead of electronically for archives as the last section of the article suggests. I know it makes sense to keep business related email but you know not everyone is or will, even with new laws. I just don't see this becoming a strict law any time soon because of the cost to make it work. Even the article shows how confusing this whole mess will be before it gets better.
The computer team wasn't my idea, it's a very common thing in high schools that want their interested kids to learn more what than the standard curriculum teaches. In Michigan, a computer component is mandated by the state for every student as part of their graduation requirements. The kids are learning lots of things, not just how to type letters. The kids that want to experiment with things like this have to have my ok that it won't affect our network or they can't do it. That's all. I don't refuse based on ignorance or insecurity, in fact I have never refused a request like this because we take appropriate precautions. And our network has *never* been down due to a virus.
Arrogance is not a word people that know me use to describe me unless they're complaining about the rules. Unlike you, I don't need someone to tell me how good I am. I know what my capabilities are and are not. I have a lot of respect for people more knowledgable than me, and there are a lot of them. My abilities do not affect the curriculum or school policies. Those are set by a group of educators, administrators and I have a very small amount of input on the technical policies aspect. We don't rule by dictatorship, we rule by committee. Sometimes that's frustrating to me but that's how schools are. I tend to err on the cautious side, sometimes people don't like that. But I get heat from hundreds of people if the network goes down for any reason. Deal with pressure like that on a daily basis and then come whining to me.
If someone steals a mouse ball or damages a system for any reason we don't fix it for 6 weeks. We also replace broken or damaged (missing mouse balls) mice with optical mice. Administrative decision, not mine. This policy has almost stopped all computer vandalism. When an administrator shuts down a whole lab for a week and kids have to come in during lunch or before or after school to type and research, it makes them really angry at the kid(s) who did it. And we have the backing of our parents for these policies. Peer pressure works far better than all the rules in the world when kids mess things up.
Say what you want, you have the right to your opinion. But please base it on facts, not anti-establishment, rebellious fluff.
"2. There are far easier ways to get a pension and health benefits."
True, but I never said it was easy to become a politician. Some people are naturals though and that's one of the draws nowadays. Where else can you serve one term and get an automatic pension AND not have to pay into the social security system?
"3. A lot of people just don't understand the political process."
Ignorance is not a defense.
"4. The Florida ballot was confusing and broke Florida law. The Democrat had to be printed right below the Republican, not third."
C'mon, anyone that has seen a copy of it and can read can figure that out. That's a cop-out. If it had been the other way around you wouldn't say a word about it, would you?
"5. The liberals started screwing things up? Care to back that vague charge up, or continue trolling?"
I don't troll, thank you very much. How about the welfare state they drove our poor and lower class into for one? How about teaching kids in school how to masturbate instead of teaching them abstinance? Liberal programs. Too many to list. The generational dependancy of our welfare system is not debatable, it's fact. I don't believe the welfare system was designed to keep people on it, but it sure did a job on our poor, especially inner city residents. Look, there are many reasons for these things. It would take a book to list them all. Republicans have a hand in it too, but not like the Democrats do.
"6. Oh please. Do you really think that Clinton cheating on his wife was so shocking to the American people? Half of our marrages end in divorce."
No, that's the problem. People consider divorce as an easy way out of a marriage that probably should not have happened to begin with. Over the last 10 years or so personal responsibility has taken a real hit. Remember when pre-marital pregnancy was looked down upon? We had far fewer teenage pregnancies then than we do now. Today it's almost a badge of honor in our high schools and it's really starting to turn my stomach. The fact that Clinton had an affair should surprise no one, but the way he and Hillary bend over backwards to justify thier wrong-doings (I didn't say illegal) is very frustrating to those of us that are trying to explain to our kids why they got away with something we say is wrong. They're not the only ones, they've just done so much of it it's easy to pick on them.
"7. It still is an honor to serve."
For some, sure. But for most it's a power trip.
"8. The world is laughing at us because we can't get our head out of our ass and realize we have bigger problems then whether gays can marry or whether Kerry is an optimist. Let's worry about the bigger issues here, folks."
Unfortunately, this *is* a big problem as it will determine how our country ends up after the debates and legal fallout happens. Yes there are other things we need to worry about as well, but don't discount these two topics. If the leader of our country is not an optimist, the moral of our country will fall. History shows this. Look at the difference between Gerald Ford & Jimmy Carter and the way our country and military moral skyrocketed when Reagan took over. Then Bush #1 screwed up and Clinton, well, I'll leave that alone given the number of execs in lawsuits, a recession that Greenspan said was turned around by the Bush #2 tax cuts, etc. We have the greatest country in the world but we're screwing it up big time.
Thank you for the polite debate. I enjoyed it very much. I don't care much for the "troll" tag though. I try to make my comments based on facts, not flubber.
Because the government of, by and for the people is not that way. Hasn't been since the mid 1960's. Maybe earlier but that was before my time. We don't elect people anymore, the lobbyists and large contributors do. Then they do what those people want, not what we, the common citizens want. We are powerless to change it because half the people in our country don't have a clue what's going on because they're too self-centered to look around and open their eyes. Another fourth can't hit the right lever or punch the correct hole because they can't read a simple printed card.
It's sad really. I love my country but I feel like such a minority as a conservative. Since the liberals started screwing things up in the late 60's it's slowly been spinning out of control. I fear it's only going to get worse now that the Clintons have lowered the morals bar so far the typical American can't even get under it if they work at it. There was a time when it was an honor to serve the American people in congress. Now it's just a means of acquiring power and an easy retirement and guaranteed health benefits.
I feel bad that people all over the world are laughing at us, but we brought it on ourselves.
No, hardly any means a low percentage. When you look at the total number of jobs, the number of those requiring Mac is very low.
And not having Linux machines around because there is no "educational software" for them is incorrect as well."
No it's not, you're talking about higher ed software, not K-12. And more specifically, K-5 where Apple still rules in most districts. Apple had hundreds of lower elementary titles under it's belt before the PC side ever thought about it seriously. Most vendors wised up and made them available for both, as is evidenced by the multitude of dual platform CDs I have. But the number of titles for Linux is so low I can't convince anyone to look at them. I have several CDs with elementary software on them but there are only a handful that are good enough to use.
I am trying to put a Linux machine out for general use, but the software just isn't there for the schools yet aside from the office packages. I have tested Open Office and Star Office, and they are just not compatible enough with the MS documents and powerpoints that we tried them with to justify using them. There is no high end DreamWeaver, PhotoShop, AutoCad, iMovie, etc. equivalent program for linux and linux doesn't connect to Novell 6 right now. This was a year long test, not a one day thing. I want to move MS out of our district, but I still don't have enough ammunition to do it.
We don't have outbreaks like that because we educate our users and I have a darned good firewall, anti-virus protection and Outlook is forbidden in our district. Students use ISD web-mail only, all others are blocked. On top of that, our ISD is our email provider and they also scan and eliminate most infected emails. We patch our desktops frequently and don't use MS server software.
It's really not that hard to keep viri out of your system if you want to.
You might be surprised to learn that some schools in Maine were given a grant to give all 7th grade students a laptop a couple of years ago. This program which purchased Apple laptops is being reported as a huge success.
In their infinite *cough* wisdom *cough*, the state of Michigan is giving low income schools money to purchase laptops for all 6th graders as a 4 year project. Their plan is to make sure all students 6-12 have portable computing devices from now on. If it weren't for the budget crunch they were going to have all of our schools do this. Fortunately, our school district didn't have low enough scores for this support nightmare. Yes, the manufacturer would be supporting them, hardware and software, but the first line of support *will* be school techs.
Obviously you don't understand... schools aren't a place for you to experiment with Linux, they are a place to learn the computer (and other) skills you need so you can get along in the world when you graduate. Any school that would let kids bring bootable CDs in to use is just asking for trouble. School techs are not idiots, most of us use Linux at home or even in our offices for certain things. We are probably more tech savvy than a lot of business techs because our knowledge base has to be more diverse because of our environments.
I am a technology director in a K-12 school and I can promise you there won't be ANY users on our systems booting up with a Knoppix disk thanks to BIOS passwords and lock-down hardware and software. There are no good educational reasons to do so on the classroom or lab workstations. However, we have a handful of machines that are not protected that only computer team kids can use to do individual projects on. These are the only machines the kids can experiment with (with my permission) and they have to have a classroom assignment or be in an independant study program to do so. The rest are off limits for experimentation. And suggesting that you would do what you mentioned on a lab machine just to prove a point is dumb. We already know Windows is not the best system out there. There's nothing wrong with having an old system laying around for things like that, but that machine should not be connected to the network. Maybe you have lots of time on your hands, but I know I don't have time to sit and babysit someone that's playing around with something that could potentially bring our network down. Sorry, not happening. Play at home.
School computers are not yours to do whatever you want. They are property of the institution, paid for by taxpayer money to be used by EVERY student and staff member, not just for those who want to do whatever they want. The script kiddies and jerks are the reason they are locked down and firewalled. We don't allow program or zipped downloads either. This may sound harsh, but since we started with these policies our downtime on workstations is down to almost none and productivity is high.
Go to work for a school system some time and maybe you'll see what I mean. Coming from business and retail into a school system really opened my eyes. Altough I'm a certified (or is that certifiable?) tech and network administrator and have been building and maintaining PCs and designing, building and maintaining networks for almost 15 years, I need to keep up with things to help me stay one or two steps ahead of the kids that want to damage our systems. As much as people think we might be too strict, the vast majority of our kids and staff appreciate what we do.
Having said all of that, we standardized on PCs with Windows about 7 years ago and phased out the Macs because the quality of the PPC was crap, and the cost was not justifiable. Couple that with the fact that at the time hardly anyone in business used Macs, it made no sense to continue buying them. I almost regret supporting that decision because when Apple came out with OS/X I wished they had done so 7 years ago. I would never have supported the decision to go to Windows. I would actually love to switch our entire district to Linux but the software is not there yet. It's not arguable, it's the truth. The Linux world still can not compete with the Mac/Windows world for educational software. I've checked out lots of them. As much as I'd love to get rid of Windows in our schools I can't justify it financially yet. The handful of new Macs we have now were purchased for video purposes and they are great. Nothing on the PC side comes close.
Except that when the support period runs out, they won't even talk to you. Plus, they didn't ship the library I support any original disks or images to reload the dozens of games and other programs that came with them in case you had to reload it. So when the pre-loaded NT 4.0 finally crashes we have no way to rebuild the machines as they were shipped. I know we could Ghost them, but we shouldn't have to. The disks and/or images should have come with them.
Nothing is truly free when it comes from Gates and sometimes it costs you more than it's worth.
I am also a musician and can tell you first hand there is a very big difference in the quality of the sound between a tube and solid state amp.
Those that say otherwise either don't care enough to compare or don't have an ear capable of telling the difference.
Not true. Part of the initial install allows you to create additional users.
"apt-get doesn't work if you don't pay. You don't just pay for their Click-N-Run gui, you must pay to use apt-get itself."
Again, not true. Lindows.com does not charge (nor can they) for apt-get access. I use apt-get without any trouble at all. Linspire uses Debian as the core so apt-get DOES work. I know because I have used it.
Their CNR warehouse is apt-get on steroids and you have to pay for it. But it *does* put things in menus, runs all the install for you, there is no better installation for software aside from loading from CDs.
I REALLY wish people would get their facts straight before they spout off here. Lindows/Linspire is designed to get Windows users away from Micro$oft. It's not, nor has it ever been designed for regular Linux users. Yes, I use the $. So what.
Speelling errers are anoyying.
When I was in high school back in 1980, there were a few files on the IBM mainframe that were of naked women done in ascii. They took up three or four sheets of greenbar paper when you printed them out. If you held them back several feet they actually looked pretty good.
Actually that's not an accurate statement. Most widely used because it comes on almost every system built, but certainly not the most popular unless you're using a negative context. Most people that use IE are because they don't know how to use anything else, can't because of work restrictions or are too lazy to download and install one of several others without the problems.
Registration should be required for posting...
First of all, I can't believe anyone with a brain would try to use an open database during a software upgrade. I know ours won't let anyone log in during the upgrade process. I can't believe how lame this whole discussion is. Even though I *really* don't like some of Ashcroft's decisions, he's still better than the former by far. Anyway...
B A C K U P
Hasn't anyone thought about this??? Good grief. I NEVER work on a live database. We ALWAYS work from backups no matter what we're doing with them. I'm stunned that an excuse like this would even be spoken by someone in IT. "Oh yeah, it'll crash my system if I make that BACKUP/export that information... so I don't make backups or do exports...". Backup, export, whatever. If the system is that unstable whoever's running it should have a backup every hour or a darned good alternative job plan when it does crash.
I'm sorry I sound pissy, but it just irritates me to no end when people don't use simple common sense.
Actually, if you decide to stop paying for CNR you *can* still use the programs and you *can* still download the programs you have already downloaded if you have to reformat or whatever. For example, if you have downloaded the Gimp v2, then you can re-download it as many times as you want even if you discontinue your CNR subscription. The system keeps track of what you have downloaded using CNR in case you ever need to again, even if you stop subscribing. Oh, and I have used apt-get with Lindows successfully.
I am a lifetime member/Insider and will support the company as long as I can. I believe in what they're doing, and after having tried over a dozen different distros it's still the best for me.
Look, not everyone is going to like any particular company, but at least tell the truth about it. If you don't know the truth, please keep quiet because spreading false information always makes a person look like an dork.
Actually I have to disagree with your statement. I don't believe the comment was to make "techies" feel good, I read it as a way to open people's eyes about the importance of installing windows patches and updating their virus protection (assuming they have one installed) as well as using common sense to avoid most of the problems in the first place like not opening attachments unless they know what they are, not clicking on the "unsubscribe" link on spam, etc. Oh wait - I forgot, we're talking about the ordinary folk here that haven't a clue. If nothing ever fails (impossible due to the human factor) then maybe we'll all be a lot more productive at whatever we're working on.
Here's my take on how most people see it. If you're never bothered by spam or a virus, you won't do anything to protect yourself. If, however, you have been burned by a virus or you're tired of seeing 200 spams a day selling v iagr@ or advertising your sister's porn pics then you tend to try to combat it the best way you know how. Unfortunately, most of the crap gets through even the best spam filters because the programmers just don't seem to be able to write filters to catch it. But that's not even the main problem. We as consumers are not fighting it hard enough. We are not voicing our hatred of spam loud enough to 1) our ISPs, 2) the people that govern the Internet protocols and 3) yes, our congressional staff - they write the laws and they have the power to enforce them. The problem is that we, as Americans, aren't voicing our issues to them loudly enough because they aren't listening. Can the Spam isn't working.
I'm not going to get on the use your vote bandwagon (ok, maybe I am), but I will say this - if you don't vote and you don't communicate with your representatives, shut up and don't complain to anyone about what's going on. As one of my representatives told me in person, one person's phone call or email might not get heard, but 1,000 will.
As far as the statement about M$ having enabled businesses to succeed, with all due respect, that's laughable and it's simply not true. It doesn't matter who has done or would have made the programs, businesses would have used whatever was available. Remember the pre-Microsoft days when Word Perfect and Lotus ruled the business world? Those were superior products and Microsoft had to be compatible to *them*, not the other way around. And the new version of Corel's Word Perfect suite just plain rocks! Remember, it's not the better product that has won the market share, it's the better marketing machine. That's not arguable or disputable, it's fact. Only the narrow-minded Windows zealots will continue to argue that to death.
I'm not going to explain it to those of you that don't know or don't believe me. Some of us have been around a lot longer than others here and we've seen the destructive path that Microsoft has been blazing for the last 12-15 years. Do the research and find out yourself like the rest of us have. I'd bet that half of the Windows users here have never used a DOS prompt or used Debug to low-level format an MFM hard drive. Anyway, what Microsoft *has* done by virtue of their sloppy programming departments is opened our computers up to countless problems concerning security, lost work time due to crashes and virus issues, and has cost our (and others) economy billions upon billions of dollars and who knows how many lost man-hours because of their incompetence. Yet the justice departments (yes, that's plural) of the last two administrations have not done anything substantial to stop the horrific practices that cause these problems. They certainly would any other corporate entity, but not Microsoft. It has nothing to do with politics, Microsoft has given about the same amount of money to both parties. It has to do
Only fools will trust Microsoft with keeping viri away from their systems.
That said, we have been buying 3Com almost exclusively for the last 9 years but now I'm ticked off. I won't pay for basic tech support that they're now charging for because I don't feel that I should have to given the prices they charge for hardware *and* the fact that I won't call unless there's really a problem. If I worked for a for-profit business there'd be no problem but I don't and I have to watch what I spend even more closely.
Even firmware updates for the 4400 are no longer free (there were three released this year alone) and it's really getting irritating so we finally decided to switch to HP for all of our network switches for now and see how that goes. I have had good luck with HP in the past and I know lots of people who use it and love it.
Sorry 3Com, I just can't afford you anymore...