Very True -- this kind of action is unlike them, which is probably more of a sign of trickery than actual progress. If releasing a press statement that says they're studying linux to make their own stuff better and hang a "linux research" sign on the broom closet, I wouldn't be shocked.
It's also very unlike them to show (valuable) source code. If they did release their own flavor of linux, they'd have to show the source *And* they'd be in competition with themselves. I have a distinct feeling that they're studying Linux's methodologies and underlying structures for comparison, and tooting their own horn about it in the process.
This isn't the first time MS has been the last guy to the party -- they totally blew it on the internet, and they're totally blowing it on Linux/OSS stuff now. I agree --.NET and win 2k3 speaks volumes about how they're stepping up to either compete with Linux or make it look as unattractive as possible.
I would love to see a version of office for linux, if MS became that desperate:) You have no idea how much I want to drag a word doc into mozilla and email it, and vice versa.
this is what they should have done in the first place. The best way to win customers is to earn them -- show them that your product is better than the competition.
You'd think, with billions of dollars, a standing army of support personnel, and a solid customer base, they'd focus on making their products better and more reliable rather than trying to push their monopoly around. I hope some excellent upgrades and fixes to MS software come out of this.
Ok, let's say I get mono and suddenly my attendance is 0%, I'm failing all my tests, and this system raises every red flag it can. The guidance counsellor, instead of, say, asking somebody if i'm sick, tries to call me down to the front office, where I promptly don't show up.
I wouldn't be concerned that people are/are not tracking students. You're tracked by your credit card purchases, your web usage, etc. However, I would be concerned that school officials will use this system as a crutch and eventually ignore the student interaction part of their jobs and let the computer "figure it out".
What happens when they tell the computer to automatically unenroll students that have 0 attendance for one month (again my mono example)? Or if the system is set to put you into remedial classes if your test scores are low because you're a bad test taker?
Yes and no. Java's OO structure (IMHO) is much clearer and strictly defined. Java also runs on micro-devices (what this review is about) whereas Python does not.
There are those people that will also argue that Java's performance benchmarks can also beat out Python.
Python's a great language, and I've been impressed with it, but then again, C# is much the same. Java is the king of that hill, and it will take some serious work to knock it off.
I'm quite partial to the "animal style" burgers myself -- grilled onions are the way to go. Personally, I eat at In and Out at least once a week, but then again, I also excersize every day.
Now, if they would only expand into other states -- Imagine how well an In and Out would do on the las vegas strip.
Well, guiness has 155 calories per 12 oz, whereas coors light has 100 calories, and michelob light has 135. Granted, I agree that I would rather stab my own eyes out with rusty nails than drink coors light, but if you're looking to lose weight, you have to cut the excesses where you can.
This is a perfect way to start. There are two ways to reduce your un-healthiness: 1. Excercise 2. Eat well. Because of your long hours and potential lack of motivation, exercise may not be possible for you. So, change your diet!
1. Soda/Pop is terrible. It's like drinking liquid sugarcane that transforms into belly fat almost instantly (when you don't exercise.) If you can't live without caffiene, they have caffienated water available.
2. Watch what you snack on. I know that when I code, I get cravings to buy every candy bar in the store across the street and eat it. One way I get around this is drinking TONS of water -- if your stomach is full of water, you won't want to snack.
3. Bring a semi-healthy lunch to work. Don't go out to eat with everyone else when they do a mass exodus to {Wendy's, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.}. Even if your lunch is bringing a frozen microwave burrito from home, it's still 100 times better than eating a double-double from In and Out.
4. Switch to Light beer (Ugh). Yes, I know, it sucks, but it will save you in the long run in two ways: 1. light beer has half of the calories of regular beer, and 2. usually light beers are domestics, so they tend to cost less at bars and the store than pricey (yet oh so tasty) imported beers.
5. Exercise. What I've found personally is that you can eat buckets of crisco all day but if you run marathons when you get home, you'll burn all that fat off. If you really want to eat and drink whatever you want, go home and run around the block.
I would have to say that this is more true than you know.
I recently built a large and complex website with some very tricky and technical systems supporting it. It was my design, and my code that put it together. It came together nicely, but when minor cosmetic changes were necessary, the client no longer wanted to pay our price for service.
So the client outsourced the work to India. What he asked them to do was not brain surgery, it was changing HTML code. They didn't design anything spectacular, and I can spot errors all throughout their code.
So, in the end, when innovation and design was needed, the work was still done here, in face-to-face meetings. But when grunt cookie-cutter code was required, it got shipped to a cheaper location.
This is not to say that there are not top-notch designers and innovators in India or abroad; there are, very much. However, there is work in the US that cannot or will not be outsourced: face-to-face time, collaborative efforts, or innovative ideas. No one knows and manipulates american culture and politics better than americans.
Aha -- I figured that this kind of production was still being done on desktops, but I wasn't sure if those desktops were PCs or Macs.
I was under the impression that large-scale image (movie?) rendering was being done in a distributed fashion, but I guess this kind of speed machine makes for a viable competitor. Are there programs for distributed rendering available for machines like this? Or are desktop macs used just for the design, and the production left to different systems?
I'm not a Mac'er, but I was curious -- This thing is obviously fast because of the impressive hardware, but what good is that speed? I know that graphics apps were at one time huge on Macs, and needed this kind of horsepower. What do you run on Macs nowadays that needs this speed?
I misstated the point I was trying to get across, then, because I believe we're saying the same thing. My point was that anything that is free in the corporate world is treated like the plague because it rarely has support, or accountability behind it.
You're very right -- I never said that support contracts don't outweigh software costs for corporate clients. But free software rarely, if ever, has organized and consistent support that can be held liable for failures and training.
If SuSE gave the maintenance away for free, many decision-makers would stay away from it because they ask themselves "why is this free?". Pricing that maintenance at $500 is genius because it's that same maintenance, and the decision maker does not balk at the fact that it's free.
I didn't state my opinion entirely clear, then: your assessment was what I was trying to get across. Corporations figure that anything free has no value because they're not paying anything for it.
Corporate users and decision-makers are particularly averse to "free" things, because of the perception that things that are free come with some sort of gimmick, trick, or legal gotcha.
Offering the same product to them at a sizeable price tag (it looks like the OS itself is $99, whereas the maintenance add-on is $500 more) gives the illusion of value, or addition, or more importantly, accountability.
In the corporate world, it's all about who you can blame when the shit hits the fan. If your whole windows network goes down, and your group loses 5 days of work time, you can say "microsoft is to blame! sue them!" and your boss doesn't fire you. If your whole *nix network goes down, and you downloaded the OS for free, you have no one to blame, and you get a pink slip.
The most important piece of the SuSE corporate invasion is the fact that decision-makers now have someone to call or point the finger at when something goes wrong.
You can build another virtual machine that runs on a different platform (Windows) and have the high-level operations of the virtual machine stay the same. So, therefore, the interface that the (potentially attacking) user sees is independent of both the OS and its hardware.
Simply because they built it on linux first doesn't mean they won't make a VM for another platform, much like Java does. I have a feeling that they're trying to get it right on Linux before they build another VM.
If a shopkeeper allows a 13 year old to buy a pornographic game or a game about serial murder, then it's not the game (its developer or publisher) that needs to be looked at.
True. And in the same sense, if the kid is out with $50 to spend on these types of things instead of doing homework, participating in sports, or spending time with their parents, then it's not just the shopkeeper, but also the parents that need to be looked at.
If parents don't want this stuff getting into their kids' hands, maybe they should get off their own asses and spend some time with their kids.
Very true. I agree that all products have their lifecycles, and NT 4 is most definitely near the end of its cycle.
However, support for NT4 is dropped on June 30th, NOT March 26th. They should still support their products with something better than a half-assed work around.
How can we trust that Win 2003 support will end 4 years after its release, and not when they come across a "really difficult" problem that may require some thought and work?
But saying that Iraq is a "retarded 11 year old kid" denotes innocence.
This "retarded 11 year old" has a sniper rifle on top of a building picking off civilians. I'd have no problem bragging about taking that bastard out.
The outcome of that conflict effects YOU too. If I were the one with a chemical/biological/nuclear weapon pointed at me (and you would be in that situation if Saddam were allowed to continue unchecked), I'd sure as hell hype it up as if the outcome were in question.
Well, it is part of the contract that the software is not theirs until paid for in full. It is thereby our software, and we can disable it or add backdoors as we please.
But thanks for the info, I will check out the case law on this and see if there's something that can help my company circumvent this problem...
Yes and no--yes, I like the idea of having something disable even without my manipulation, but no, there are more tricks that clients like to use, specifically, other developers.
A fun little thing they like to do is to hire other developers to come in and mess with things in your code, like turn off expiration mechanisms. They pay another developer to find it, and turn it off. This way, the only thing they've paid for is the time of the second developer.
I guess I should qualify my use of backdoors--backdoors that only you, as a developer, know exist. If the client has no idea that you have backdoors, or what those backdoors are, they can't hire someone to get rid of them.
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Very True -- this kind of action is unlike them, which is probably more of a sign of trickery than actual progress. If releasing a press statement that says they're studying linux to make their own stuff better and hang a "linux research" sign on the broom closet, I wouldn't be shocked.
.NET and win 2k3 speaks volumes about how they're stepping up to either compete with Linux or make it look as unattractive as possible.
:) You have no idea how much I want to drag a word doc into mozilla and email it, and vice versa.
It's also very unlike them to show (valuable) source code. If they did release their own flavor of linux, they'd have to show the source *And* they'd be in competition with themselves. I have a distinct feeling that they're studying Linux's methodologies and underlying structures for comparison, and tooting their own horn about it in the process.
This isn't the first time MS has been the last guy to the party -- they totally blew it on the internet, and they're totally blowing it on Linux/OSS stuff now. I agree --
I would love to see a version of office for linux, if MS became that desperate
this is what they should have done in the first place. The best way to win customers is to earn them -- show them that your product is better than the competition. You'd think, with billions of dollars, a standing army of support personnel, and a solid customer base, they'd focus on making their products better and more reliable rather than trying to push their monopoly around. I hope some excellent upgrades and fixes to MS software come out of this.
that the stock symbol for SCO has "COX" in it.
The answer is none more. None more up.
Ok, let's say I get mono and suddenly my attendance is 0%, I'm failing all my tests, and this system raises every red flag it can. The guidance counsellor, instead of, say, asking somebody if i'm sick, tries to call me down to the front office, where I promptly don't show up.
I wouldn't be concerned that people are/are not tracking students. You're tracked by your credit card purchases, your web usage, etc. However, I would be concerned that school officials will use this system as a crutch and eventually ignore the student interaction part of their jobs and let the computer "figure it out".
What happens when they tell the computer to automatically unenroll students that have 0 attendance for one month (again my mono example)? Or if the system is set to put you into remedial classes if your test scores are low because you're a bad test taker?
Yes and no. Java's OO structure (IMHO) is much clearer and strictly defined. Java also runs on micro-devices (what this review is about) whereas Python does not. There are those people that will also argue that Java's performance benchmarks can also beat out Python. Python's a great language, and I've been impressed with it, but then again, C# is much the same. Java is the king of that hill, and it will take some serious work to knock it off.
I'm quite partial to the "animal style" burgers myself -- grilled onions are the way to go. Personally, I eat at In and Out at least once a week, but then again, I also excersize every day.
Now, if they would only expand into other states -- Imagine how well an In and Out would do on the las vegas strip.
Well, guiness has 155 calories per 12 oz, whereas coors light has 100 calories, and michelob light has 135. Granted, I agree that I would rather stab my own eyes out with rusty nails than drink coors light, but if you're looking to lose weight, you have to cut the excesses where you can.
This is a perfect way to start. There are two ways to reduce your un-healthiness: 1. Excercise 2. Eat well. Because of your long hours and potential lack of motivation, exercise may not be possible for you. So, change your diet!
1. Soda/Pop is terrible. It's like drinking liquid sugarcane that transforms into belly fat almost instantly (when you don't exercise.) If you can't live without caffiene, they have caffienated water available.
2. Watch what you snack on. I know that when I code, I get cravings to buy every candy bar in the store across the street and eat it. One way I get around this is drinking TONS of water -- if your stomach is full of water, you won't want to snack.
3. Bring a semi-healthy lunch to work. Don't go out to eat with everyone else when they do a mass exodus to {Wendy's, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.}. Even if your lunch is bringing a frozen microwave burrito from home, it's still 100 times better than eating a double-double from In and Out.
4. Switch to Light beer (Ugh). Yes, I know, it sucks, but it will save you in the long run in two ways: 1. light beer has half of the calories of regular beer, and 2. usually light beers are domestics, so they tend to cost less at bars and the store than pricey (yet oh so tasty) imported beers.
5. Exercise. What I've found personally is that you can eat buckets of crisco all day but if you run marathons when you get home, you'll burn all that fat off. If you really want to eat and drink whatever you want, go home and run around the block.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
I would have to say that this is more true than you know.
I recently built a large and complex website with some very tricky and technical systems supporting it. It was my design, and my code that put it together. It came together nicely, but when minor cosmetic changes were necessary, the client no longer wanted to pay our price for service.
So the client outsourced the work to India. What he asked them to do was not brain surgery, it was changing HTML code. They didn't design anything spectacular, and I can spot errors all throughout their code.
So, in the end, when innovation and design was needed, the work was still done here, in face-to-face meetings. But when grunt cookie-cutter code was required, it got shipped to a cheaper location.
This is not to say that there are not top-notch designers and innovators in India or abroad; there are, very much. However, there is work in the US that cannot or will not be outsourced: face-to-face time, collaborative efforts, or innovative ideas. No one knows and manipulates american culture and politics better than americans.
Aha -- I figured that this kind of production was still being done on desktops, but I wasn't sure if those desktops were PCs or Macs.
I was under the impression that large-scale image (movie?) rendering was being done in a distributed fashion, but I guess this kind of speed machine makes for a viable competitor. Are there programs for distributed rendering available for machines like this? Or are desktop macs used just for the design, and the production left to different systems?
I'm not a Mac'er, but I was curious -- This thing is obviously fast because of the impressive hardware, but what good is that speed? I know that graphics apps were at one time huge on Macs, and needed this kind of horsepower. What do you run on Macs nowadays that needs this speed?
Please tell me where this is happening so I can get a job there -- I'm a young programmer (24) and nobody is fscking hiring me!
I misstated the point I was trying to get across, then, because I believe we're saying the same thing. My point was that anything that is free in the corporate world is treated like the plague because it rarely has support, or accountability behind it.
You're very right -- I never said that support contracts don't outweigh software costs for corporate clients. But free software rarely, if ever, has organized and consistent support that can be held liable for failures and training.
If SuSE gave the maintenance away for free, many decision-makers would stay away from it because they ask themselves "why is this free?". Pricing that maintenance at $500 is genius because it's that same maintenance, and the decision maker does not balk at the fact that it's free.
I didn't state my opinion entirely clear, then: your assessment was what I was trying to get across. Corporations figure that anything free has no value because they're not paying anything for it.
You said it in a much clearer manner than I did.
Well, to a certain extent, you're right.
Corporate users and decision-makers are particularly averse to "free" things, because of the perception that things that are free come with some sort of gimmick, trick, or legal gotcha.
Offering the same product to them at a sizeable price tag (it looks like the OS itself is $99, whereas the maintenance add-on is $500 more) gives the illusion of value, or addition, or more importantly, accountability.
In the corporate world, it's all about who you can blame when the shit hits the fan. If your whole windows network goes down, and your group loses 5 days of work time, you can say "microsoft is to blame! sue them!" and your boss doesn't fire you. If your whole *nix network goes down, and you downloaded the OS for free, you have no one to blame, and you get a pink slip.
The most important piece of the SuSE corporate invasion is the fact that decision-makers now have someone to call or point the finger at when something goes wrong.
You can build another virtual machine that runs on a different platform (Windows) and have the high-level operations of the virtual machine stay the same. So, therefore, the interface that the (potentially attacking) user sees is independent of both the OS and its hardware.
Simply because they built it on linux first doesn't mean they won't make a VM for another platform, much like Java does. I have a feeling that they're trying to get it right on Linux before they build another VM.
If a shopkeeper allows a 13 year old to buy a pornographic game or a game about serial murder, then it's not the game (its developer or publisher) that needs to be looked at.
True. And in the same sense, if the kid is out with $50 to spend on these types of things instead of doing homework, participating in sports, or spending time with their parents, then it's not just the shopkeeper, but also the parents that need to be looked at.
If parents don't want this stuff getting into their kids' hands, maybe they should get off their own asses and spend some time with their kids.
Or would you miss the comet by 965.6083312166016 kilometers? Gah!
Very true. I agree that all products have their lifecycles, and NT 4 is most definitely near the end of its cycle.
However, support for NT4 is dropped on June 30th, NOT March 26th. They should still support their products with something better than a half-assed work around.
How can we trust that Win 2003 support will end 4 years after its release, and not when they come across a "really difficult" problem that may require some thought and work?
But saying that Iraq is a "retarded 11 year old kid" denotes innocence.
This "retarded 11 year old" has a sniper rifle on top of a building picking off civilians. I'd have no problem bragging about taking that bastard out.
The outcome of that conflict effects YOU too. If I were the one with a chemical/biological/nuclear weapon pointed at me (and you would be in that situation if Saddam were allowed to continue unchecked), I'd sure as hell hype it up as if the outcome were in question.
do more than just science books. That way she could rewrite history!
yuk yuk
That's where my DVD collection went!
Well, it is part of the contract that the software is not theirs until paid for in full. It is thereby our software, and we can disable it or add backdoors as we please. But thanks for the info, I will check out the case law on this and see if there's something that can help my company circumvent this problem...
Yes and no--yes, I like the idea of having something disable even without my manipulation, but no, there are more tricks that clients like to use, specifically, other developers.
A fun little thing they like to do is to hire other developers to come in and mess with things in your code, like turn off expiration mechanisms. They pay another developer to find it, and turn it off. This way, the only thing they've paid for is the time of the second developer.
I guess I should qualify my use of backdoors--backdoors that only you, as a developer, know exist. If the client has no idea that you have backdoors, or what those backdoors are, they can't hire someone to get rid of them.