Bill's constantly worrying that somewhere, somehow, there are windows users experiencing Linux and that the scales are falling from their eyes...
But when it comes down to how seriously the Gates camp really takes its open-source rivals, the message is now they've started to sit up and take notice: "Do we lie awake at night and worry? You know Microsoft, it's the paranoid company. If someone buys just one copy of something else, we worry," Tipp said.
Yep... I sure hope they keep missing their sleep... they'll start making more mistakes...
"But despite MS's big head start in user base, if Open Source can get the same tasks done easier and cheaper than Windows then Window's market share will decrease in response."
what do you mean "if"??? They've done it... it's just the general public has been brainwashed into being afraid of Linux cos it's the "unknown" and not from that nice "safe" Microsoft, and for some reason, there is an awful lot of FUD flying around to make sure they remain afraid.
When they actually do get to experience a Linux desktop, they soon come around. Knoppix, it's the best way to show them that linux can run on their own box and can do the vast majority of the users tasks.
of course the fun comes when you've got signed and unsigned integers mixed in there and you've forgotten what's what and you're using an untyped language...
I would recommend sending the programmers of those MicroVote machines on a proper programming course...
I've got bad news for you AC... Graphic artists have some of the largest data sets going... and we were producing hyperlinked parts catalogues on CDs as our main output... very data intensive.
I knew ms-windows files were starting to bloat in size, but 300GB for a small office of just 10 users???
I was network admin for a small Tech Authorship company that had some 50 machines (15 of which were Macs for the graphic artists) and we made do with just 30GB total for file serving. All data that had been finished with and the customer had signed off on was rigorously archived off onto both tape and archive quality CDR. We upgraded the server some 6 months before I left and splashed out for an extra 30GB, but we were still rigorous in our archiving system. That server was running Novell Netware 4, just kept on a running and a running... never ever gave me any problems.
"(As a side node, the MTBF is an utterly useless bit of information. It is determined by e.g. running 10,000 disks for 10 hours, with one disk failing. That is one dead disk in 100,000 hours of operation, so MTBF is 100,000. It's a bit like saying that if one woman can make a child in 9 months, 9 women can make a child in 1 month. Reality just doesn't work like that.)"
I've got some bad new for you... no one can afford to determine MTBF that way anymore especially with very short "time-to-market" and the lack of product to actually test... it's all based on the design of the assembly and the use of statistically valid historical data on individual components and assembly methods used to create that assembly.
It's possible to design failure right out for the "designed" life of the component leaving purely random things left such as cosmic rays just happening to strike the firmware chip and messing up the drive control software etc., but the bean counters keep messing things up by using the lowest priced supplier and also changing the engineers design to make it cheaper on components and assembly methods.
Outsourcing your assembly line to the lowest priced labour may look great on your initial bottom line for a couple of quarters, but those chickens will come home to roost as your support side caves in under the warranty repairs and your company's rep for quality goes down the tubes.
Problem is most of those execs who cut corners etc. are never around when those chickens do come home... they've got themselves headhunted into another position and company on the strength of those initial savings...
"Personally, I have experience with Linksys, Belken and Netgear NAT routers. I'll be sticking with my Duron based $250 Linux box and iptables:) So what if it uses 50+ kilowatt hours of power a month;)"
1) you paid too much... a second hand P100 for $20 or free would do the job very well
2) the power is coming out in heat... which is fine for me in winter as it also heats my room up... works as a low output space heater...:)
The big question here is how are they going to replace the firmware on each item??? With a free replacement policy and put large announcements in the press??? The whole thing must be as public as possible and completely free to the user.
"Amazon (eBay?) did the same sort of thing. "We rewrote the privacy policy recently" (Oh, and in doing so, we reset your privacy settings. You now will get spam from us. To change it, visit blahdeblah.com). They never proactively told anyone, until it was found out and published."
Sounds like they've been taking lesons from Microsoft's EULAs for Passport or MSN...
Continued use after the conditions have changed is assumed to mean consent to the terms... and they don't proactively tell you of the change at all... just a change of the terms on their web page with no fanfare at all. It's up to you to check them regularly.
Microsoft may wish to update or change the terms, conditions, and notices for the.NET Passport Services from time to time to reflect changes in the Services, changes in the laws affecting the Services, or for other good reasons. You understand that Microsoft reserves the right to make these changes and that you are responsible for regularly reviewing these terms, conditions, and notices. Continued access to or use of the.NET Passport Services after any such change shall constitute your consent to such change. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any new features that change or improve the.NET Passport Services shall be subject to the Terms of Use, as modified from time to time."
skip the matrix... just go with "Bulletproof Monk"... You can check your brain in at the door with the knowledge that your sense of disbelief won't be strained... there's stock baddies in the shape of good old fashioned Nazis... a cute chick (Jaime King) who's inexplicably rich... a streetwise pick-pocket cum movie projectionist (Seann William Scott) who pays homage to Kung Fu classic films... good soundtrack... weird/impossible Kung Fu moves...
and
Chow-Yun Fat... not to mention Victoria Smurfit looking downright bodaciously evil...
"Unfortuantaly it doesn't do everything and I can't buy music through it," why on earth would you want to buy your musice through it??? it does what it's supposed to do... nothing more, nothing less... if you want to purchase music online then just fire Konq up... and make sure xmms is set as your default player... that's ALL you need to do... why complicate a program with bloat when most people will not be using that feature??? KISS
"Only a few rocketeers alive today were lucky enough to actually witness the event of a Saturn V lifting off into space."
Last time I looked the final launch of a Saturn V was in November 1973 (40th Anniversary coming up. Embarassing one possibly). I'm 46 and I witnessed a launch back in 1971... so you don't have to be that old to have seen one...
"I guess I need more bandwidth in case of a terrorism attack so I can reload CNN faster."
Carefull what you wish for... you may get it...
It wouldn't surprise me if they slip through an act that gives them the power to order ISPs to block all requests for "non-essential" websites in time of crisis so that only government approved sites can be accessed. And that they must immediately and transparently mirror those specified sites.
Of course there then comes the question of just what and who gets to be on the "essential" list...
"Get ready for lots more laws of the sort that little old ladies approve of."
Especially when little old ladies come equiped with wireless enabled personal webcams that continuously transmit back to base what they're looking at...
With hordes of Camera equipped "Little Old Ladies" patrolling our streets it'll soon be safe for normal people to safely go about their day to day business again...
Slashdot Mirror
Yep... I sure hope they keep missing their sleep... they'll start making more mistakes...
what do you mean "if"??? They've done it... it's just the general public has been brainwashed into being afraid of Linux cos it's the "unknown" and not from that nice "safe" Microsoft, and for some reason, there is an awful lot of FUD flying around to make sure they remain afraid.
When they actually do get to experience a Linux desktop, they soon come around. Knoppix, it's the best way to show them that linux can run on their own box and can do the vast majority of the users tasks.
I would recommend sending the programmers of those MicroVote machines on a proper programming course...
I've got bad news for you AC... Graphic artists have some of the largest data sets going... and we were producing hyperlinked parts catalogues on CDs as our main output... very data intensive.
I was network admin for a small Tech Authorship company that had some 50 machines (15 of which were Macs for the graphic artists) and we made do with just 30GB total for file serving. All data that had been finished with and the customer had signed off on was rigorously archived off onto both tape and archive quality CDR. We upgraded the server some 6 months before I left and splashed out for an extra 30GB, but we were still rigorous in our archiving system. That server was running Novell Netware 4, just kept on a running and a running... never ever gave me any problems.
I've got some bad new for you... no one can afford to determine MTBF that way anymore especially with very short "time-to-market" and the lack of product to actually test... it's all based on the design of the assembly and the use of statistically valid historical data on individual components and assembly methods used to create that assembly.
It's possible to design failure right out for the "designed" life of the component leaving purely random things left such as cosmic rays just happening to strike the firmware chip and messing up the drive control software etc., but the bean counters keep messing things up by using the lowest priced supplier and also changing the engineers design to make it cheaper on components and assembly methods.
Outsourcing your assembly line to the lowest priced labour may look great on your initial bottom line for a couple of quarters, but those chickens will come home to roost as your support side caves in under the warranty repairs and your company's rep for quality goes down the tubes.
Problem is most of those execs who cut corners etc. are never around when those chickens do come home... they've got themselves headhunted into another position and company on the strength of those initial savings...
1) you paid too much... a second hand P100 for $20 or free would do the job very well
2) the power is coming out in heat... which is fine for me in winter as it also heats my room up... works as a low output space heater... :)
The big question here is how are they going to replace the firmware on each item??? With a free replacement policy and put large announcements in the press??? The whole thing must be as public as possible and completely free to the user.
(Oh, and in doing so, we reset your privacy settings. You now will get spam from us. To change it, visit blahdeblah.com). They never proactively told anyone, until it was found out and published."
Sounds like they've been taking lesons from Microsoft's EULAs for Passport or MSN...
Continued use after the conditions have changed is assumed to mean consent to the terms... and they don't proactively tell you of the change at all... just a change of the terms on their web page with no fanfare at all. It's up to you to check them regularly.
Passport Terms Of Use
skip the matrix... just go with "Bulletproof Monk"... You can check your brain in at the door with the knowledge that your sense of disbelief won't be strained... there's stock baddies in the shape of good old fashioned Nazis... a cute chick (Jaime King) who's inexplicably rich... a streetwise pick-pocket cum movie projectionist (Seann William Scott) who pays homage to Kung Fu classic films... good soundtrack... weird/impossible Kung Fu moves...
- and
Chow-Yun Fat... not to mention Victoria Smurfit looking downright bodaciously evil...Daddy, what's Microsoft Windows???
Have they warned those on the anti-Earth that it's coming round to point straight at them???
click on it... even more awesome... :)
The next crop of undergraduates... the current one just graduated and got far more expensive.
let's just hope the massive Police presence on the streets of Bristol this week prevents this from happening...
more likely they don't want to pay them a good wage, but would rather use the next crop of undergraduates cheaply.
Precisely... so write a browser plugin for it then... but don't mess with the program itself :)
strange... I get an "Unknown host www.n9nu.net" error for that.
"Unfortuantaly it doesn't do everything and I can't buy music through it," why on earth would you want to buy your musice through it??? it does what it's supposed to do... nothing more, nothing less... if you want to purchase music online then just fire Konq up... and make sure xmms is set as your default player... that's ALL you need to do... why complicate a program with bloat when most people will not be using that feature??? KISS
Must be cos everybody's busy torching each other in that Gun censorship thread... :)
Last time I looked the final launch of a Saturn V was in November 1973 (40th Anniversary coming up. Embarassing one possibly). I'm 46 and I witnessed a launch back in 1971... so you don't have to be that old to have seen one...
Carefull what you wish for... you may get it...
It wouldn't surprise me if they slip through an act that gives them the power to order ISPs to block all requests for "non-essential" websites in time of crisis so that only government approved sites can be accessed.
And that they must immediately and transparently mirror those specified sites.
Of course there then comes the question of just what and who gets to be on the "essential" list...
That's a bit like this one
Fog in Channel, Continent Cut Off
Especially when little old ladies come equiped with wireless enabled personal webcams that continuously transmit back to base what they're looking at...
With hordes of Camera equipped "Little Old Ladies" patrolling our streets it'll soon be safe for normal people to safely go about their day to day business again...
The Chinese Government is going to have a heck of a fight on their hands trying to keep the Triads out of the action...