"The only option at this point is to begin militant action against our failed government institution."
Isn't voting for Libertarian Bob Barr an option?
Well, if civil liberties are your priority, then I don't know if Bob Barr is your guy. Consider:
His support for the Patriot Act, his attacks on reproductive rights of women, his support for a constitutional ban on the rights of gay couples to marry, his support for banning adoption of children by gay parents, his restriction of freedom of speech and expression with respect to the US flag, his redefinition of habeas corpus to exclude death row appealates, his opposition to medical marijuana programs...
Bob Barr seems much more like an ideological conservative than a true libertarian to me.
Not in my experience. I replaced the 1.8" Hitachi Travelstar in my X40 with a 1.8" SSD. By the specs, the new SSD has an access time of 0.1 ms compared to > 20 ms for the mechanical drive. Additionally, sequential I/O speeds for the entire address space of the SSD are 2-3X that of the Travelstar's fastest zone. What has this meant in terms of real world performance? Boot time from 2.5 mins on the mechanical to less than 30 seconds on the SSD. Firefox launches in a second. I got this drive for the performance. The reduced heat, noise, and power consumption are the icing on the cake. My entire system went from sluggish to snappy. This single upgrade made my 3 year old laptop seem like a brand new machine. The drive wasn't cheap, but it has been worth every penny.
I'm not sure why anyone should care very much. Anyone can install OpenOffice for free, so I'm not sure what's gained by actually having it execute online.
Hi, sysadmin here. The reason I care? Installing and maintaining one application server is far less hassle than installing and maintaining the app on dozens/hundreds of workstations.
Wrong. All electronics recycling is FREE at the ACCRC. That means, if you bring your old computer and monitor to this facility, and you are a resident of California, you pay nothing.
Furthermore, the refurbished computers that are granted by ACCRC to nonprofits and needy individuals are granted free of cost. Zero. No dollars.
If the recipient is not happy with the free computer they received, they can return it for no charge. Again, it's free at the ACCRC.
There's no mandatory recycling fee either for disposing or receiving a recycled computer. There is a recycling fee assessed to the purchase of new monitors by a reseller. You basically pay your recycling fee when you buy your monitor. This is similar to car batteries. That said, if you don't buy a new monitor, and instead say receive a free monitor from an organization like ACCRC, you pay nothing.
Re:The editor of Forbes would agree...
on
MIT's SAT Math Error
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
What is with the assumption that a college education is little more than vocational training? If you want to land a well paying job, go to tech school -- learn a trade. There are a ton of well paying jobs in health care for those who are focused. But if you want to develop skills in critical thinking, communication, and analysis, consider college. I cherish my 4 years of university education. It exposed me to a wide breadth of knowledge and ideas. It helped me to become the well rounded and resourceful thinker I am today. It's helped me to understand general problems within specific contexts, and to approach those problems independently with original solutions. To me, that's more important than picking up "entry level" skills for a job in any industry.
There's nothing wrong with getting an education. It's one of the best investments you'll ever make.
I think the point is is that the equipment being used is old discarded hardware. New fast computers cost money. This organization is reusing this old hardware and keeping it out of a landfill.
But Red Hat didn't remove their "personal" distro, they just renamed it "Fedora Core". They've provided a fairly robust infrastructure for supporting it.
And even though the product that pays the bills retains the name "Red Hat", it's as Open Source as any distro you can find. That's why I can download distro's like CentOS and WhiteBox that are exact clones of RHEL developed almost exclusively from the SRPM's released openly by the RHEL project.
If anyone in the OSS community is annoyed by the reoganization, it's probably because it is a little confusing. But this is it in a nutshell:
One product is a cutting edge distro for all of us to enjoy using and developing.
One product is the stable branch of an older version of the community disto that's packaged and sold with support to big corporations who gain from chosing the software.
There's nothing wrong with selling OSS. Consider RMS:
"Many people believe that the spirit of the GNU project is that you should not charge money for distributing copies of software, or that you should charge as little as possible -- just enough to cover cost.
Actually, we encourage people who redistribute free software to charge as much as they wish or can." - Richard Stallman
Red Hat employs developers who not only use OSS, but contribute a great deal of it back to the community for all of us to enjoy -- even those of us who don't run Red Hat distributions personally. Again, RMS:
"Red Hat's contributing to the GNU project by hiring people to write on the GNU desktop, Gnome, which is a very useful contribution."
Open source is the foundation for Red Hat's business model. Everything they release is available for you and I to use in anything we want. In fact, they acquire other software and release it under the GPL. And so what if they've learned how to create a profitable business using and developing OSS? Good for them. Everybody wins.
what Redhat in effect is doing is creating a division between Redhat and the Fedora project much like the division between Redhat and SuSE.
Not exactly. Fedora is essentially the groundwork for future editions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Yes, they are different distros, but the division is not that significant. Structurally, they are very much the same.
If you don't mind re-installing your OS every 6-12 mos, go with FC. It's always going to have the latest features.
If you're looking for something with about 5 years of official support go with RHEL or an RHEL clone. For the type of service you're describing, you're probably fine with the present capabilities for some time to come.
Microsoft is no doubt capable of making great software (VERY talented people working there). But they see no need to. Why spend money making MS Paint as good as Photoshop or implementing a 3D version of that same solataire we've played since 3.1, when the managers simply can't justify it from the time sheets to the balance sheets?
Well, there are mutual funds dedicated to investing in socially conscious/socially responsible corporations. Your bank/investment advisor can probably give you some more information.
Because the defining purpose of any public corporation is to maximize profit for the shareholders, then by definition all public corporations behave unethically.
I submit that a corporation can behave ethically, and still maximize profit. Ethical behavior does not preclude the possibility of maximizing profit.
No, most tech companies don't pay dividends, rather they reinvest their profits (would they ever see them) into R&D. Most tech shareholders bank on the speculation that the share value will increase as the company grows very quickly.
Paying a dividend is usally something only mature companies do when growth slows down. Microsoft is one of the few tech companies that pays a large dividend.
The defining purpose of a public corporation isn't to maximize profit by any means necessary. We live in a society of laws and regulation. So no, not all corporations necessarily engage in unethitcal activity in pursuit of profit.
Microsoft is great at one thing; making money. Unfortunately, being good at making money doesn't necessarily mean they have to be good at making software (at least considering how they've gone about it).
We use Fedora for both our dedicated servers (to be leased/rented to clients) and for internal use. We theoretically offer FreeBSD installs as well, but no one has ever taken us up on that offer (I wonder why)...
Yeah, Fedora is great: cutting edge features along side the familiar Red Hat environment. But I would have a hard time implementing it in a "stable" role with its 6 month product cycle and all. It's great for my laptop and at home, but we have a little under two dozen odd machines in the data center and around the ranch. I just don't have the hours in the day to maintain those upgrades two times a year.
RHEL is seemingly the way to go if you want the high end service and support that comes with its high price tag. No doubt, the support it top notch, but my.org doesn't have that kind of cash. Fortunately, we've found a couple of great alternatives.
White Box Linux and CentOS are effectively the poor man's RHEL. Built from Red Hat source, and blessed by the GPL, they're both testament to the fact that free speech can still mean free beer if you're willing to corral the liability square in your own corner (in other words, I'm the support, and if I screw it up, my ass is on the line).
For someone who's been around as long as you have (#810), I have to believe you're being sarcastic.
I think my point was, in reply the parent, that the mere suggestion of "Windows v. Linux" topic, the relevent topic of the article is bound to get lost in the ensuing battle royale between human and orc.
As it turns out, the X Window System (also called X, but never X Windows), which is the foundation for most GUI subsystems found in modern UNIX (unices?), Linux and the BSD's included, was also the result of an academic project, namely the Athena project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Slashdot Mirror
"The only option at this point is to begin militant action against our failed government institution."
Isn't voting for Libertarian Bob Barr an option?
Well, if civil liberties are your priority, then I don't know if Bob Barr is your guy. Consider:
His support for the Patriot Act, his attacks on reproductive rights of women, his support for a constitutional ban on the rights of gay couples to marry, his support for banning adoption of children by gay parents, his restriction of freedom of speech and expression with respect to the US flag, his redefinition of habeas corpus to exclude death row appealates, his opposition to medical marijuana programs...
Bob Barr seems much more like an ideological conservative than a true libertarian to me.
Bob Barr on the Issues
That's because it uses an Oracle backend. They're working on replacing that component, and soon Sat will be opened. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070130-8737.html
Most of the benefits of SSDs are hype.
Not in my experience. I replaced the 1.8" Hitachi Travelstar in my X40 with a 1.8" SSD. By the specs, the new SSD has an access time of 0.1 ms compared to > 20 ms for the mechanical drive. Additionally, sequential I/O speeds for the entire address space of the SSD are 2-3X that of the Travelstar's fastest zone. What has this meant in terms of real world performance? Boot time from 2.5 mins on the mechanical to less than 30 seconds on the SSD. Firefox launches in a second. I got this drive for the performance. The reduced heat, noise, and power consumption are the icing on the cake. My entire system went from sluggish to snappy. This single upgrade made my 3 year old laptop seem like a brand new machine. The drive wasn't cheap, but it has been worth every penny.
I'm not sure why anyone should care very much. Anyone can install OpenOffice for free, so I'm not sure what's gained by actually having it execute online.
Hi, sysadmin here. The reason I care? Installing and maintaining one application server is far less hassle than installing and maintaining the app on dozens/hundreds of workstations.
Wrong. All electronics recycling is FREE at the ACCRC. That means, if you bring your old computer and monitor to this facility, and you are a resident of California, you pay nothing.
Furthermore, the refurbished computers that are granted by ACCRC to nonprofits and needy individuals are granted free of cost. Zero. No dollars.
If the recipient is not happy with the free computer they received, they can return it for no charge. Again, it's free at the ACCRC.
There's no mandatory recycling fee either for disposing or receiving a recycled computer. There is a recycling fee assessed to the purchase of new monitors by a reseller. You basically pay your recycling fee when you buy your monitor. This is similar to car batteries. That said, if you don't buy a new monitor, and instead say receive a free monitor from an organization like ACCRC, you pay nothing.
I know you're kidding, but as a matter of fact, it is supported under Linux by a couple different drivers.
A good review of the 2900 XT under LinuxIn fact, you have options.
Using the proprietary driver
Using the open source driver
What is with the assumption that a college education is little more than vocational training? If you want to land a well paying job, go to tech school -- learn a trade. There are a ton of well paying jobs in health care for those who are focused. But if you want to develop skills in critical thinking, communication, and analysis, consider college. I cherish my 4 years of university education. It exposed me to a wide breadth of knowledge and ideas. It helped me to become the well rounded and resourceful thinker I am today. It's helped me to understand general problems within specific contexts, and to approach those problems independently with original solutions. To me, that's more important than picking up "entry level" skills for a job in any industry. There's nothing wrong with getting an education. It's one of the best investments you'll ever make.
I think the point is is that the equipment being used is old discarded hardware. New fast computers cost money. This organization is reusing this old hardware and keeping it out of a landfill.
That's the beauty of the vegetable oil: it's free. In fact, restaurants pay to have the stuff hauled away.
The ACCRC is a charity based in Berkeley, California. It is not affiliated with with the University of California at Berkeley.
More info and pics on the new Lenovo's.
No Track Point?
But Red Hat didn't remove their "personal" distro, they just renamed it "Fedora Core". They've provided a fairly robust infrastructure for supporting it.
And even though the product that pays the bills retains the name "Red Hat", it's as Open Source as any distro you can find. That's why I can download distro's like CentOS and WhiteBox that are exact clones of RHEL developed almost exclusively from the SRPM's released openly by the RHEL project.
If anyone in the OSS community is annoyed by the reoganization, it's probably because it is a little confusing. But this is it in a nutshell:
One product is a cutting edge distro for all of us to enjoy using and developing.
One product is the stable branch of an older version of the community disto that's packaged and sold with support to big corporations who gain from chosing the software.
There's nothing wrong with selling OSS. Consider RMS:
"Many people believe that the spirit of the GNU project is that you should not charge money for distributing copies of software, or that you should charge as little as possible -- just enough to cover cost.
Actually, we encourage people who redistribute free software to charge as much as they wish or can." - Richard Stallman
Red Hat employs developers who not only use OSS, but contribute a great deal of it back to the community for all of us to enjoy -- even those of us who don't run Red Hat distributions personally. Again, RMS:
"Red Hat's contributing to the GNU project by hiring people to write on the GNU desktop, Gnome, which is a very useful contribution."
Why was the parent modded troll?
Open source is the foundation for Red Hat's business model. Everything they release is available for you and I to use in anything we want. In fact, they acquire other software and release it under the GPL. And so what if they've learned how to create a profitable business using and developing OSS? Good for them. Everybody wins.
what Redhat in effect is doing is creating a division between Redhat and the Fedora project much like the division between Redhat and SuSE.
Not exactly. Fedora is essentially the groundwork for future editions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Yes, they are different distros, but the division is not that significant. Structurally, they are very much the same.
If you don't mind re-installing your OS every 6-12 mos, go with FC. It's always going to have the latest features. If you're looking for something with about 5 years of official support go with RHEL or an RHEL clone. For the type of service you're describing, you're probably fine with the present capabilities for some time to come.
Oh, I agree with you. And that was my point.
Microsoft is no doubt capable of making great software (VERY talented people working there). But they see no need to. Why spend money making MS Paint as good as Photoshop or implementing a 3D version of that same solataire we've played since 3.1, when the managers simply can't justify it from the time sheets to the balance sheets?
Well, there are mutual funds dedicated to investing in socially conscious/socially responsible corporations. Your bank/investment advisor can probably give you some more information.
But here's a directory worth looking at
Interestingly, one of the pioneers of the movement is US VP Candidate Peter Camejo.
The general idea is to invest in companies with good track records in the areas of human rights, labor, business ethics, the environment, etc.
I guess you missed the Microsoft Antitrust Trial that was in all the papers the last few years?
No, this was your original point (nice try):
Because the defining purpose of any public corporation is to maximize profit for the shareholders, then by definition all public corporations behave unethically.
I submit that a corporation can behave ethically, and still maximize profit. Ethical behavior does not preclude the possibility of maximizing profit.
No, most tech companies don't pay dividends, rather they reinvest their profits (would they ever see them) into R&D. Most tech shareholders bank on the speculation that the share value will increase as the company grows very quickly.
Paying a dividend is usally something only mature companies do when growth slows down. Microsoft is one of the few tech companies that pays a large dividend.
The defining purpose of a public corporation isn't to maximize profit by any means necessary. We live in a society of laws and regulation. So no, not all corporations necessarily engage in unethitcal activity in pursuit of profit.
Microsoft is great at one thing; making money. Unfortunately, being good at making money doesn't necessarily mean they have to be good at making software (at least considering how they've gone about it).
Yeah, Fedora is great: cutting edge features along side the familiar Red Hat environment. But I would have a hard time implementing it in a "stable" role with its 6 month product cycle and all. It's great for my laptop and at home, but we have a little under two dozen odd machines in the data center and around the ranch. I just don't have the hours in the day to maintain those upgrades two times a year.
RHEL is seemingly the way to go if you want the high end service and support that comes with its high price tag. No doubt, the support it top notch, but my .org doesn't have that kind of cash. Fortunately, we've found a couple of great alternatives.
White Box Linux and CentOS are effectively the poor man's RHEL. Built from Red Hat source, and blessed by the GPL, they're both testament to the fact that free speech can still mean free beer if you're willing to corral the liability square in your own corner (in other words, I'm the support, and if I screw it up, my ass is on the line).
For someone who's been around as long as you have (#810), I have to believe you're being sarcastic.
I think my point was, in reply the parent, that the mere suggestion of "Windows v. Linux" topic, the relevent topic of the article is bound to get lost in the ensuing battle royale between human and orc.