What happens when some smart ones start emailing photos to their teachers along with a message saying "here are the photos you demanded not to tank my grades" and BCCing the FBI?
That's the kind of scary crap you get when you don't consider intent when deciding on guilt.
4 heaped tea spoons of instant espresso mixed with half a cup of boiling water. Repeat on the hour every hour.
This isn't sufficient to keep me awake in meetings. Caffeine is rubbish, any effect is has is psychosomatic at best. Fortunately these days I *run* meetings and generally manage to keep them to 15 minutes or less. Anyone who can't get to the point and make a decision inside 15 minutes isn't worth employing anyway.
However look at the application list before you dismiss this from the other Linux users you support (parents etc). It includes a lot of name brand software which Ubuntu doesnt.
I'm happiest supporting people on Ubuntu/Kubuntu because that's what I run. If I can now also give them *easy* access to the software they know by name, without me having to intervene to do the messing around with wine or whatever, this can only be a good thing.
It looks a bit like Qtopia... but very much more slick than the version I have on my Zaurus. To be honest I was happy enough with that, this new version should cause some envy.
Slightly off topic, but on the subject of small media devices, the Penny Arcade comments on the iPhone/Zune are worth a look as they can pretty well be considered trendsetters for the market of people willing to spend lots of money on things that go beep:
I had hoped that there at CES I would have an opportunity to use the Zune's social features - its "higher brain functions," as I put it - but I was only there Thursday, after the place had largely thinned out. Near the Microsoft booth I was happy to see many devices speaking wirelessly - so many I had to scroll! - until I realized that they were named after genres, and were (in fact) the display units, which added greatly to my shame.
[snip some context]
The iPhone has the hardware to make file sharing possible, though I doubt their arrangements with license holders allow for it. Even so, I'm not sure they would investigate this. My experience argues aggressively against it.
Maybe such things would work better with an open platform, so that lots of device manufacturers can implement it. Certainly in Europe the density even of iPods isn't high enough to make sharing interesting... but mp3 playing cell phones and other mp3 players of all types are probably at greater than 1 per person by now. Can't think of any better place to start working on a system than an open cell phone platform.
Last night I fired up Red Alert after looking through a big collection of classic games from long gone companies.
The on line game mode no longer works. Westwood on line no longer is it seems.
If a once-great gaming giant can cut off service... why does anyone think that Valve won't in the future? Except that then instead of not being able to play on line you won't be able to play at all.
It's hard to tell people that they should say no to Steam now when they won't feel the effects for another 10-15 years. Heck, even then it won't feel like a disaster... but it's pretty sad to lose a part of the past when there is no good *technical* reason, just a business one.
You start by cutting a cheque to the estates of a thousand dead musicians who influenced you, hundreds of instrument designers who developed the tools, and society for giving you enough free time to create music.
If it costs nothing to copy, why shouldn't it be free?
Heck no it's a bad thing - If I'm away from the office I can only pick up meeting invites on a cellular link - if they are 2mb each there's an upper limit on how many I can be invited to!
I am a manager with a masters degree in engineering. My charge rate is well past $180/hour.
I spend about 1 hour a day telling other members of staff how things work in Excel. That's Excel 97 by the way, which we have had deployed for over 6 years.
Retraining costs only apply if your staff are trained in the first place. In the world where *everyone* puts "Office expert" on their CV almost no one is trained - at least not to a high enough standard to do anything beyond typing a letter.
With the interface also changing in the next version of Word this cost is even more fictional than ever - but it was never legitimate in the first place.
I can play games on Linux with Cedega perfectly well. Right now I am playing WoW with no issues.
So, if it works on Linux under a limited user account... why isn't it possible on Windows? Perhaps they need to start up some kind of emulation project... they would call it Beer since Cider and Wine are taken;)
Oh, and when putting machines out for testing you have a good opportunity to help manipulate the users.
Make the test machines pretty spiffy. Get some flat panel displays for example, if you haven't already got them deployed. Draw lots for who gets the 'first upgrades' rather than allocating it out like it's work.
Properly set up (if your office is anything like mine just set the default screensaver to the 3D matrix one and make them dual screen machines) you will get huge enthusiasm for 'the upgrade' rather than bitching about how everything is now insignificantly different.
Can't Linux clients participate in an active directory domain? It's probably not a bad idea to migrate in small stages, get people used (including the admin staff!) to each chunk before you move on.
Stage 1: Open Office, Firefox on the desktop. Stage 2: Start migrating storage to a Samba server. Stage 3: Set up your terminal server and provide clients on the Windows desktops. Only add new apps to the terminal server from this point on (so people start using it). Stage 4: Get a couple of Linux machines out into each department for testing and gather feedback on what else users think they need. Stage 5: Address problems (in writing, with sign off) brought up at stage 4. Stage 6: Retire Windows machines slowly. Stage 7: Test and deploy a Linux based PDC.
This will let you reduce your risk exposure as each step in itself is not that expensive and pretty easy to back out of. It'll set your users expectations, ensure service is continuous, and keep down the risk of everything blowing up at once and souring people permanently on open source solutions.
Your Mac will run Linux rather well, including 3D support for ATI cards. You can keep OS X open in a MOL window in order to get work done if you need it:)
The SMART PIG is used to check on gas pipes. It saves a fortune on using the old, dumb pigs that they used to have to force through the pipes to inspect/clean them prior to the invention of Magnetic Flux Leakage techniques.
There is a pretty good SMART PIG display at the Manchester Sci/Tech museum (free) with an actual 80's vintage inspection unit donated by British Gas.
That would bring me back to this stinking, shitty, damp, miserable, yob infested, backwards, cold, poor, tacky, cretin filled swamp. Can they drop me off half way please?
Um, things don't stand still. Right now OS X isn't as good an option for a lot of people.
The biggest thing is that the vast majority of Linux targeted desktop software (of which there is a vast range, even if you just restrict us to high quality and Free) either doesn't work or is horribly clunky. Apple have made no updates to their X server in 4 years and it really shows. It's better than running on top of Cygwin but really not very much and *that means it's not UNIX, it's a pretty, closed bauble that effectively hides all of the good bits*.
So, for the applications I and many other want to run OS X is graphically inconsistent, cut and paste doesn't work right (thanks to the buggy apple X server), and porting to OS X is always an afterthought because there is no convenient way to do a good job.
If you don't believe me go and look at every OO.o release thread and see the Apple users asking for a better native port. Even die hard Apple fans hate how bad the integration is. In the mean time Linux has graphically caught up, application wise is only missing much, and is free. Why bother to switch at this point?
When I first got my powerbook OS X was a pretty decent improvement over Linux. A few things were more advanced (especially with the nice hardware support) and I could see why people were defecting in large numbers.
In my experience this has now switched around. There have been no big upgrades (except Beryl) but there have been so many little ones it makes my head hurt. Kubuntu 6.10 on a powerbook looks *better* than the latest release of OS X. All the hardware is supported (including the shut-the-lid-and-it-goes-to-sleep-in-0.5-seconds suspend mode). We have more (useful) 3D effects (blur behind transparency is GODLIKE), more desktop widgets, better support for fonts.
There is better support for advanced networking, connectivity, roaming. There is better support for media, both video aand audio. Hell, there is even better support for the iPod than there is in OS X. The desktop (even with integrated KDE/Gnome) looks more consistent and with window shading, katapult app launcher, better virtual desktop support, sensible ways to organise windows and all of the rest of the features is miles ahead of where it was in 2002.
Up until now there has been no need for a big leap. The incremental improvements have given us the desktop Linux we wanted so badly back in 2002. I'm excited to see what the next generation of innovation will bring (a break from the me-too Windows/OSX style desktops) but Linux today is already cutting edge.
We have an ~100mb limit so that *users do not use mailboxes to store vast quantities of data*. If you have 2gb of data, it should be on a shared server!
Personally I would like to see a system that kept attachments only for a week and then stripped messages to text only - those could be kept forever as a useful archive. But 8 copies of different and non config controlled bid spec documents? That's only going to cost you money and lots and lots of pain.
I don't have a TV license. I regularly get threatening letters from the collections agency asking me to turn myself in for my heinous crime.
They got so bad at one point that I actually wrote to them refusing to partake in any further correspondence until they sent me a civil letter. They wrote back - with a threat about how large the fine will be when they haul me in.
The fun part? I don't have a television. But I'm not telling them that until they ask politely. Yes, it's probably stupid and it's certainly obstinate but I refuse to be intimidated.
Now, of course, with them making a move like this I actually feel like I might *want* to give them money. It's a pretty cool thing to do and I'm proud of the BBC for being forward looking and generally a great service. So that's what this is all about folks. They are just trying to shame me into paying up. The worked out what my buttons were and pushed them. As soon as I hand over the cash, the whole thing will go away. It's a freaking trap I tell you.
Fortunately for all of you I'm holding out for them to switch to ogg for their radio streams before I buy a TV license. You should be safe to enjoy this content for another couple of decades. My present to all of you!/tinfoilhat
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What happens when some smart ones start emailing photos to their teachers along with a message saying "here are the photos you demanded not to tank my grades" and BCCing the FBI?
That's the kind of scary crap you get when you don't consider intent when deciding on guilt.
My normal morning brew:
4 heaped tea spoons of instant espresso mixed with half a cup of boiling water. Repeat on the hour every hour.
This isn't sufficient to keep me awake in meetings. Caffeine is rubbish, any effect is has is psychosomatic at best. Fortunately these days I *run* meetings and generally manage to keep them to 15 minutes or less. Anyone who can't get to the point and make a decision inside 15 minutes isn't worth employing anyway.
The two most likely answers for all of this kind of question are:
Because {X} don't want to.
Because {X} didn't contain enough individuals with the correct aptitude.
In this case (rarely enough) there is a plausible third answer:
Because finance directors know where the skeletons are buried and sales directors put them there in the first place.
But I'm still betting that nearly 100% of the reason is caused by the first two generic points.
However look at the application list before you dismiss this from the other Linux users you support (parents etc). It includes a lot of name brand software which Ubuntu doesnt.
I'm happiest supporting people on Ubuntu/Kubuntu because that's what I run. If I can now also give them *easy* access to the software they know by name, without me having to intervene to do the messing around with wine or whatever, this can only be a good thing.
The worst thing is the amount of time there is for your significant other to hear about the new iPhone and hide the credit cards before release day.
It looks a bit like Qtopia... but very much more slick than the version I have on my Zaurus. To be honest I was happy enough with that, this new version should cause some envy.
Slightly off topic, but on the subject of small media devices, the Penny Arcade comments on the iPhone/Zune are worth a look as they can pretty well be considered trendsetters for the market of people willing to spend lots of money on things that go beep:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2007/01/15
I had hoped that there at CES I would have an opportunity to use the Zune's social features - its "higher brain functions," as I put it - but I was only there Thursday, after the place had largely thinned out. Near the Microsoft booth I was happy to see many devices speaking wirelessly - so many I had to scroll! - until I realized that they were named after genres, and were (in fact) the display units, which added greatly to my shame.
[snip some context]
The iPhone has the hardware to make file sharing possible, though I doubt their arrangements with license holders allow for it. Even so, I'm not sure they would investigate this. My experience argues aggressively against it.
Maybe such things would work better with an open platform, so that lots of device manufacturers can implement it. Certainly in Europe the density even of iPods isn't high enough to make sharing interesting... but mp3 playing cell phones and other mp3 players of all types are probably at greater than 1 per person by now. Can't think of any better place to start working on a system than an open cell phone platform.
Last night I fired up Red Alert after looking through a big collection of classic games from long gone companies.
The on line game mode no longer works. Westwood on line no longer is it seems.
If a once-great gaming giant can cut off service... why does anyone think that Valve won't in the future? Except that then instead of not being able to play on line you won't be able to play at all.
It's hard to tell people that they should say no to Steam now when they won't feel the effects for another 10-15 years. Heck, even then it won't feel like a disaster... but it's pretty sad to lose a part of the past when there is no good *technical* reason, just a business one.
Solaris beats Linux hands down for porn hunting because of that nifty app it comes with, ddtrace.
You start by cutting a cheque to the estates of a thousand dead musicians who influenced you, hundreds of instrument designers who developed the tools, and society for giving you enough free time to create music.
If it costs nothing to copy, why shouldn't it be free?
Heck no it's a bad thing - If I'm away from the office I can only pick up meeting invites on a cellular link - if they are 2mb each there's an upper limit on how many I can be invited to!
That's renumeration for rights holders not for artists.
I am a manager with a masters degree in engineering. My charge rate is well past $180/hour.
I spend about 1 hour a day telling other members of staff how things work in Excel. That's Excel 97 by the way, which we have had deployed for over 6 years.
Retraining costs only apply if your staff are trained in the first place. In the world where *everyone* puts "Office expert" on their CV almost no one is trained - at least not to a high enough standard to do anything beyond typing a letter.
With the interface also changing in the next version of Word this cost is even more fictional than ever - but it was never legitimate in the first place.
I can play games on Linux with Cedega perfectly well. Right now I am playing WoW with no issues.
;)
So, if it works on Linux under a limited user account... why isn't it possible on Windows? Perhaps they need to start up some kind of emulation project... they would call it Beer since Cider and Wine are taken
Oh, and when putting machines out for testing you have a good opportunity to help manipulate the users.
Make the test machines pretty spiffy. Get some flat panel displays for example, if you haven't already got them deployed. Draw lots for who gets the 'first upgrades' rather than allocating it out like it's work.
Properly set up (if your office is anything like mine just set the default screensaver to the 3D matrix one and make them dual screen machines) you will get huge enthusiasm for 'the upgrade' rather than bitching about how everything is now insignificantly different.
Can't Linux clients participate in an active directory domain? It's probably not a bad idea to migrate in small stages, get people used (including the admin staff!) to each chunk before you move on.
Stage 1: Open Office, Firefox on the desktop.
Stage 2: Start migrating storage to a Samba server.
Stage 3: Set up your terminal server and provide clients on the Windows desktops. Only add new apps to the terminal server from this point on (so people start using it).
Stage 4: Get a couple of Linux machines out into each department for testing and gather feedback on what else users think they need.
Stage 5: Address problems (in writing, with sign off) brought up at stage 4.
Stage 6: Retire Windows machines slowly.
Stage 7: Test and deploy a Linux based PDC.
This will let you reduce your risk exposure as each step in itself is not that expensive and pretty easy to back out of. It'll set your users expectations, ensure service is continuous, and keep down the risk of everything blowing up at once and souring people permanently on open source solutions.
Your Mac will run Linux rather well, including 3D support for ATI cards. You can keep OS X open in a MOL window in order to get work done if you need it :)
The SMART PIG is used to check on gas pipes. It saves a fortune on using the old, dumb pigs that they used to have to force through the pipes to inspect/clean them prior to the invention of Magnetic Flux Leakage techniques.
There is a pretty good SMART PIG display at the Manchester Sci/Tech museum (free) with an actual 80's vintage inspection unit donated by British Gas.
On how many you want! The answer is very different even for 1 or 20, let alone two million.
The RTAI mailing lists are a good place for this kind of question however, and handhelds.org has a lot of links to embedded Linux projects.
That would bring me back to this stinking, shitty, damp, miserable, yob infested, backwards, cold, poor, tacky, cretin filled swamp. Can they drop me off half way please?
Um, things don't stand still. Right now OS X isn't as good an option for a lot of people.
The biggest thing is that the vast majority of Linux targeted desktop software (of which there is a vast range, even if you just restrict us to high quality and Free) either doesn't work or is horribly clunky. Apple have made no updates to their X server in 4 years and it really shows. It's better than running on top of Cygwin but really not very much and *that means it's not UNIX, it's a pretty, closed bauble that effectively hides all of the good bits*.
So, for the applications I and many other want to run OS X is graphically inconsistent, cut and paste doesn't work right (thanks to the buggy apple X server), and porting to OS X is always an afterthought because there is no convenient way to do a good job.
If you don't believe me go and look at every OO.o release thread and see the Apple users asking for a better native port. Even die hard Apple fans hate how bad the integration is. In the mean time Linux has graphically caught up, application wise is only missing much, and is free. Why bother to switch at this point?
Katapult is better than run command in (some) cases because it also indexes media, documents and bookmarks. It is also very shiny.
When I first got my powerbook OS X was a pretty decent improvement over Linux. A few things were more advanced (especially with the nice hardware support) and I could see why people were defecting in large numbers.
In my experience this has now switched around. There have been no big upgrades (except Beryl) but there have been so many little ones it makes my head hurt. Kubuntu 6.10 on a powerbook looks *better* than the latest release of OS X. All the hardware is supported (including the shut-the-lid-and-it-goes-to-sleep-in-0.5-seconds suspend mode). We have more (useful) 3D effects (blur behind transparency is GODLIKE), more desktop widgets, better support for fonts.
There is better support for advanced networking, connectivity, roaming. There is better support for media, both video aand audio. Hell, there is even better support for the iPod than there is in OS X. The desktop (even with integrated KDE/Gnome) looks more consistent and with window shading, katapult app launcher, better virtual desktop support, sensible ways to organise windows and all of the rest of the features is miles ahead of where it was in 2002.
Up until now there has been no need for a big leap. The incremental improvements have given us the desktop Linux we wanted so badly back in 2002. I'm excited to see what the next generation of innovation will bring (a break from the me-too Windows/OSX style desktops) but Linux today is already cutting edge.
The real safety issue of airborne cellular use is having it rammed up your nostril by the disgruntled buy sitting next to you.
We have an ~100mb limit so that *users do not use mailboxes to store vast quantities of data*. If you have 2gb of data, it should be on a shared server!
Personally I would like to see a system that kept attachments only for a week and then stripped messages to text only - those could be kept forever as a useful archive. But 8 copies of different and non config controlled bid spec documents? That's only going to cost you money and lots and lots of pain.
I don't have a TV license. I regularly get threatening letters from the collections agency asking me to turn myself in for my heinous crime.
/tinfoilhat
They got so bad at one point that I actually wrote to them refusing to partake in any further correspondence until they sent me a civil letter. They wrote back - with a threat about how large the fine will be when they haul me in.
The fun part? I don't have a television. But I'm not telling them that until they ask politely. Yes, it's probably stupid and it's certainly obstinate but I refuse to be intimidated.
Now, of course, with them making a move like this I actually feel like I might *want* to give them money. It's a pretty cool thing to do and I'm proud of the BBC for being forward looking and generally a great service. So that's what this is all about folks. They are just trying to shame me into paying up. The worked out what my buttons were and pushed them. As soon as I hand over the cash, the whole thing will go away. It's a freaking trap I tell you.
Fortunately for all of you I'm holding out for them to switch to ogg for their radio streams before I buy a TV license. You should be safe to enjoy this content for another couple of decades. My present to all of you!