If you are using Windows, just go grab Excel Viewer. Even with OpenOffice on my computer, it's an invalueable little tool, especially since it's very quick to load. Same with Word Viewer.
Ack. I can't stand that song, but that's just me. I guess it's all a matter of taste though. Right now Winamp is playing "Haddaway - What is Love?", so flame away.
Wasn't there some Cadillacs that blinked the brake lights really fast when the brakes were pressed hard? I remember reading about it, but maybe it never actually made it into a production vehicle. Still not a bad idea as long as they wouldn't be confused with the blinkers/hazard lights.
I've found optical mice don't respond well to the shiny, fake-wood of most computer desks. Especially if it's dark or black. They also don't respond well to bare skin. Hence I still use the mousepad at times. It's also less noisy, I don't have to listen the mouse scraping over the desk all the time.
The motherboard does have built in RAID, but can you use the encryption with it? If I'm going to go to such trouble to secure my data, I definently want to have some protection against drive crashes. I guess if you can hook up more than one disk to the encryption, you can use software RAID as in Windows 2000, etc. but hardware RAID would be nice.
You can always make backups, but you'd have to encrypt those, and if the encryption is not as good as the original then that's a problem. And if the backups aren't encrypted, that's just plain stupid.
Well one solution would be to have a second key, and when this key is plugged into the computer, it orders the computer to destroy all the data. Hence, it is just a blank disk. "Gee, I don't know what went wrong, are you sure your boys didn't drop it?"
Even more clever would be a key that destroys the sensitive stuff, but leaves the OS and other stuff on the drive alone. You could throw a bunch of pr0n on there or something like that so they'll think that is what you are hiding.
The real problem is how to make the second key's operation seemless. They may get suspicious if there is a long pause while the computer seeks out and destroys the sensitive data.
Lets see if I follow this: So if they got one of the keys, and opened a package, and it unlocked 200MB in the 1000MB encrypted file, and the rest of the 800MB is just empty space. But we know that 800MB is not empty, it's the stuff taken up by the other packages with the other keys.
So what if the bad guys suspected something, and assuming they can get write access, try to copy some 800MB file into the space? Wouldn't it run out of room, or some other funny stuff happen (like the space suddenly expands to 1800MB), that might make them suspicious?
Re:Other technologies go obsolete too, So what?
on
Software Archaeology
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· Score: 1
Why not? Just about and DVD reader can read a CD-ROM. While CD-only readers may fade to a memory, I bet you'll still be able to get a DVD reader in 10 years. And if the next big leap in also backwards compatible with DVD, then it will probably read CDs too.
I can imagine in 50 years we may be using some CD-sized optical disk format that is incredibly advanced, and the readers will be able to read all the old formats all the way back to DVDs and CDs.
How long do you expect the hardware to last? The density of transistors on a current microchip, or the density of the data on a modern hard drive is just incredible, not to mention RAM chips. I wonder long until it breaks down to an unusable state? And then there are the problems with the moving parts. How long could you store a hard disk until it will no longer spin up due to it seizing up?
While they won't run too well on a 386, they will run just dandy on an old PII. And if the Dragon chip is indeed as powerful as PII, then they will run just fine on the Dragon.
All CD drives I have seen only spin at 1X for playing standard audio CDs. But for a Data CD they like to spin up to the high speeds where you get the most wear, heat, and noise.
I actually have never seen a CD heat crack in a CD drive, but I have seen it in car stereos, and many car stereos are actually repackaged CD-Rom drives with a fancy interface. So it could be a concern, especially if they try to package the next version in a tiny case.
Lets look at Windows version numbers: Windows 3.0 Windows 3.11 (upgrade $$) Windows 4.0 (95) Windows 4.0-4.09 (95OSR2/OSR2.1/OSR2.5, upgrade not available to Windows 4.0 people) Windows 4.1 (98, upgrade $$) Windows 4.1? (98SE, not free upgrade from 98=$$) Windows 4.9 (ME, upgrade $$)
Then you have NT NT 3.51 NT 4.0 ($$) NT 5.0 (2000, $$$$) NT 5.1 (XP, upgrade costs $$)
So in the Microsoft world, once you bought the original Windows 95, you were entitled to free upgrades all the way to ME. Once you bought Windows 2000, you were entitled to XP for free? Well maybe you think so, but the fact is Apple is not the only company that charges money for.x "bug fix" releases.
Heck, I'm pretty hazy on the distant past, but I think you had to shell out some money to go from Windows 3.1 to 3.11, but I may be wrong.
My question is, how do they treat the drives? I would imagine after a while, especially with all the spin-ups, the cheapo 52X CD drive is just going to crap out. I've seen CD drives that were toasted due to games like Diablo II, how is this going to be any different?
Other problem is heat. I've used Knoppix in a 52x drive, and after a couple of hours the CD was really hot. A heat crack in the CD, and Grandma is not going to be able to check her email.
I guess more dust could get in, not to mention cats, kids, etc.
Some cases though are designed with airflow in mind, and when you have the case open it screws up that airflow and temperatures can actually increase. Though I haven't seen increases of more than a couple of degrees, YMMV.
Some people also like the noisy harddisk drives because they can hear when read/writes are taking place along with seeing the blinking LED. I really don't care too much for them myself. I can't hear the drives over all the fans anyway.
Why choose that graphics card when there are silent ones, like the ones in this article? Also, if graphics performance is not to terribly important, there are cheap fanless ones like many of the Radeon 9000s.
I still prefer to make the computer as noisy as it needs to be, locate the box in a closet or another room, and run the cables out to the mouse/keyboard/monitor. Problem solved.
One of those cheap OEM systems that is not designed to dissipate the heat generated by the CPU they stuck in there running at 100%?
I've been impressed by the quiteness of many of those OEM systems, until I figured out they assume the CPU won't be maxed for very long and go from there.
You should check out Opera's browser. It has a magnifying feature that can magnify any webpage from 20% to 1000%. Anytime I can't see what's going on, I just bump it up and I can see again. It works pretty smooth too, on graphics, text, even flash.
I don't get it. Why turn on the TV? The shows are obnoxious, the ads are really obnoxious. I may not like reading in total silence, but I'll put on something that won't constantly distract and annoy me, like my mp3s or CDs.
By the way, I don't think I've turned on my TV in months now. There is no reason for me to.
On most services, the RIAA has to initiate a download before they can nab your IP address. Thus they actually have to download atleast some of the file. I suppose with some like WinMX if they IM you and you respond they also have your IP address.
Being that they actually have to download, I wonder if they share files too? I tend to whack the leechers who que up, so if they aren't sharing they'll never download from me.
Check out the version numbers of Windows. Start with Windows 3.0, then Windows 3.1/3.11 which was not a free upgrade. Windows 95 is actually Windows 4.0. Windows 98 is Windows 4.1. Windows ME is Windows 4.9 (don't ask).
On the NT side of things, you have NT 3.51, NT 4, NT 5 (Windows 2000), and Nt 5.1 (Windows XP). Yet the "upgrade" to XP from 2000 is not free either. That also explains why XP just seems like 2000 with an ugly interface tacked on, rather than an actual upgrade.
Recently I got a Win95 OSR2 Box to the 49.71 day limit. I even used it during that time. No heavy use, just Opera 5, Some old ICQ, Photoshop LE, Winamp, an old old old parallel port scanner (hence the Photoshop). The computer is an old HP Vectra, 100Mhz and 24MB of ram. Very slow, but very stable.
Funny thing is that the 95 box actually has had longer uptime than any of my Win2000 machines, though that's because the 2000 machines get rebooted because of my tinkering, and Windows update. Or some game will occasionally bring the whole system down too.
I think the parent is referring to some rather expensive commercial Windows software, not the OS. Perhaps MS Office, Photoshop, or other expensize packages he would have to repurchase if he got a Mac.
Though technically, according to the EULA he couldn't install most of those packages on more than one computer, so if he bought a Windows laptop and installed all of his desktop software on it he would be a software pirate (harrr).
So if he wants to stay legit, it really wouldn't matter what he got, assuming the software he runs is available for the Mac.
The problems with Macs is that they are so expensive. A bottom of the line eMac is what, $800? That's too much for most people. That's too much for me too when I look at what I can put together out of parts on pricewatch.com for $800.
I know people will say that Macs are worth it and so on and so forth, and what a $1000 Mac can do etc. I know that. But most people simply do not see it that way. They just buy what is cheaper.
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If you are using Windows, just go grab Excel Viewer. Even with OpenOffice on my computer, it's an invalueable little tool, especially since it's very quick to load. Same with Word Viewer.
Ack. I can't stand that song, but that's just me. I guess it's all a matter of taste though. Right now Winamp is playing "Haddaway - What is Love?", so flame away.
Wasn't there some Cadillacs that blinked the brake lights really fast when the brakes were pressed hard? I remember reading about it, but maybe it never actually made it into a production vehicle. Still not a bad idea as long as they wouldn't be confused with the blinkers/hazard lights.
I've found optical mice don't respond well to the shiny, fake-wood of most computer desks. Especially if it's dark or black. They also don't respond well to bare skin. Hence I still use the mousepad at times. It's also less noisy, I don't have to listen the mouse scraping over the desk all the time.
The motherboard does have built in RAID, but can you use the encryption with it? If I'm going to go to such trouble to secure my data, I definently want to have some protection against drive crashes. I guess if you can hook up more than one disk to the encryption, you can use software RAID as in Windows 2000, etc. but hardware RAID would be nice.
You can always make backups, but you'd have to encrypt those, and if the encryption is not as good as the original then that's a problem. And if the backups aren't encrypted, that's just plain stupid.
Well one solution would be to have a second key, and when this key is plugged into the computer, it orders the computer to destroy all the data. Hence, it is just a blank disk. "Gee, I don't know what went wrong, are you sure your boys didn't drop it?"
Even more clever would be a key that destroys the sensitive stuff, but leaves the OS and other stuff on the drive alone. You could throw a bunch of pr0n on there or something like that so they'll think that is what you are hiding.
The real problem is how to make the second key's operation seemless. They may get suspicious if there is a long pause while the computer seeks out and destroys the sensitive data.
Lets see if I follow this: So if they got one of the keys, and opened a package, and it unlocked 200MB in the 1000MB encrypted file, and the rest of the 800MB is just empty space. But we know that 800MB is not empty, it's the stuff taken up by the other packages with the other keys.
So what if the bad guys suspected something, and assuming they can get write access, try to copy some 800MB file into the space? Wouldn't it run out of room, or some other funny stuff happen (like the space suddenly expands to 1800MB), that might make them suspicious?
Why not? Just about and DVD reader can read a CD-ROM. While CD-only readers may fade to a memory, I bet you'll still be able to get a DVD reader in 10 years. And if the next big leap in also backwards compatible with DVD, then it will probably read CDs too.
I can imagine in 50 years we may be using some CD-sized optical disk format that is incredibly advanced, and the readers will be able to read all the old formats all the way back to DVDs and CDs.
How long do you expect the hardware to last? The density of transistors on a current microchip, or the density of the data on a modern hard drive is just incredible, not to mention RAM chips. I wonder long until it breaks down to an unusable state? And then there are the problems with the moving parts. How long could you store a hard disk until it will no longer spin up due to it seizing up?
While they won't run too well on a 386, they will run just dandy on an old PII. And if the Dragon chip is indeed as powerful as PII, then they will run just fine on the Dragon.
"The have $50BILLION in the bank and $32BILLION/yr in revenue. Who cares how they get it?"
Attitudes like that is one of the big problems with this country.
All CD drives I have seen only spin at 1X for playing standard audio CDs. But for a Data CD they like to spin up to the high speeds where you get the most wear, heat, and noise.
I actually have never seen a CD heat crack in a CD drive, but I have seen it in car stereos, and many car stereos are actually repackaged CD-Rom drives with a fancy interface. So it could be a concern, especially if they try to package the next version in a tiny case.
Lets look at Windows version numbers:
.x "bug fix" releases.
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.11 (upgrade $$)
Windows 4.0 (95)
Windows 4.0-4.09 (95OSR2/OSR2.1/OSR2.5, upgrade not available to Windows 4.0 people)
Windows 4.1 (98, upgrade $$)
Windows 4.1? (98SE, not free upgrade from 98=$$)
Windows 4.9 (ME, upgrade $$)
Then you have NT
NT 3.51
NT 4.0 ($$)
NT 5.0 (2000, $$$$)
NT 5.1 (XP, upgrade costs $$)
So in the Microsoft world, once you bought the original Windows 95, you were entitled to free upgrades all the way to ME. Once you bought Windows 2000, you were entitled to XP for free? Well maybe you think so, but the fact is Apple is not the only company that charges money for
Heck, I'm pretty hazy on the distant past, but I think you had to shell out some money to go from Windows 3.1 to 3.11, but I may be wrong.
My question is, how do they treat the drives? I would imagine after a while, especially with all the spin-ups, the cheapo 52X CD drive is just going to crap out. I've seen CD drives that were toasted due to games like Diablo II, how is this going to be any different?
Other problem is heat. I've used Knoppix in a 52x drive, and after a couple of hours the CD was really hot. A heat crack in the CD, and Grandma is not going to be able to check her email.
I guess more dust could get in, not to mention cats, kids, etc.
Some cases though are designed with airflow in mind, and when you have the case open it screws up that airflow and temperatures can actually increase. Though I haven't seen increases of more than a couple of degrees, YMMV.
Some people also like the noisy harddisk drives because they can hear when read/writes are taking place along with seeing the blinking LED. I really don't care too much for them myself. I can't hear the drives over all the fans anyway.
Why choose that graphics card when there are silent ones, like the ones in this article? Also, if graphics performance is not to terribly important, there are cheap fanless ones like many of the Radeon 9000s.
I still prefer to make the computer as noisy as it needs to be, locate the box in a closet or another room, and run the cables out to the mouse/keyboard/monitor. Problem solved.
One of those cheap OEM systems that is not designed to dissipate the heat generated by the CPU they stuck in there running at 100%?
I've been impressed by the quiteness of many of those OEM systems, until I figured out they assume the CPU won't be maxed for very long and go from there.
You should check out Opera's browser. It has a magnifying feature that can magnify any webpage from 20% to 1000%. Anytime I can't see what's going on, I just bump it up and I can see again. It works pretty smooth too, on graphics, text, even flash.
I don't get it. Why turn on the TV? The shows are obnoxious, the ads are really obnoxious. I may not like reading in total silence, but I'll put on something that won't constantly distract and annoy me, like my mp3s or CDs.
By the way, I don't think I've turned on my TV in months now. There is no reason for me to.
On most services, the RIAA has to initiate a download before they can nab your IP address. Thus they actually have to download atleast some of the file. I suppose with some like WinMX if they IM you and you respond they also have your IP address.
Being that they actually have to download, I wonder if they share files too? I tend to whack the leechers who que up, so if they aren't sharing they'll never download from me.
I like how people point this out.
Check out the version numbers of Windows. Start with Windows 3.0, then Windows 3.1/3.11 which was not a free upgrade. Windows 95 is actually Windows 4.0. Windows 98 is Windows 4.1. Windows ME is Windows 4.9 (don't ask).
On the NT side of things, you have NT 3.51, NT 4, NT 5 (Windows 2000), and Nt 5.1 (Windows XP). Yet the "upgrade" to XP from 2000 is not free either. That also explains why XP just seems like 2000 with an ugly interface tacked on, rather than an actual upgrade.
Recently I got a Win95 OSR2 Box to the 49.71 day limit. I even used it during that time. No heavy use, just Opera 5, Some old ICQ, Photoshop LE, Winamp, an old old old parallel port scanner (hence the Photoshop). The computer is an old HP Vectra, 100Mhz and 24MB of ram. Very slow, but very stable.
Funny thing is that the 95 box actually has had longer uptime than any of my Win2000 machines, though that's because the 2000 machines get rebooted because of my tinkering, and Windows update. Or some game will occasionally bring the whole system down too.
I think the parent is referring to some rather expensive commercial Windows software, not the OS. Perhaps MS Office, Photoshop, or other expensize packages he would have to repurchase if he got a Mac.
Though technically, according to the EULA he couldn't install most of those packages on more than one computer, so if he bought a Windows laptop and installed all of his desktop software on it he would be a software pirate (harrr).
So if he wants to stay legit, it really wouldn't matter what he got, assuming the software he runs is available for the Mac.
The problems with Macs is that they are so expensive. A bottom of the line eMac is what, $800? That's too much for most people. That's too much for me too when I look at what I can put together out of parts on pricewatch.com for $800.
I know people will say that Macs are worth it and so on and so forth, and what a $1000 Mac can do etc. I know that. But most people simply do not see it that way. They just buy what is cheaper.