The only thing that slashdot MAY have done wrong was to NOT post OTHER game sites that do this.
What Microsoft did was shitty. Using the 'but everyone does it' excuse is childish and immature. If you can't demonstrate the actually quality of your product in pre-release, then DON'T DEMONSTRATE YOUR PRODUCT.
If you look at the new images, there is a SEVERE difference in the quality of the image between the 'REAL' post, and the DOCTORED post is dramatically different. So, why aren't the doctored images 'false advertising?.
and why they don't go after WinCE devices (isn't there pocket-access? How much more 'handheld and transaction' can you GET?!?!?!), or my web-enabled mobile phone, or, or, or....
I think you can approach micropayments and click-thru ads from a straight cost-persective..
Micropayment/click-thru add schemes have to pay for the bandwidth that they use to display them. If you get a micro-payment for each click, but you only get a click after displaying some graphic 1000 times at 10k/graphic, then you're not recooping the bandwidth that your spending to send the graphic... now, if the image uses the vendors bandwidth (remote image tag), the micropayment might be more cost effective.
I called the 888 number for their Customer Service Center, 13:15EST, and there was no answer.
I'm guessing if you're using 'em, your SOL.
It's a shame that, if a company is going to fail, they don't do it gracefully.... you'd think that was the LEAST they could do, esp. if they were mis-managed... but, I guess if they were mis-managed, the wouldn't terminate gracefully...
The scary thing is.... once you actually SEE HDTV, in your home, with the shows you watch, you don't want to watch anything else. It's all crap. Even DirecTV (of course, DTV quality RULES over cable) can't carry a torch.. (unless you get HD-DTV...)
Hell, even RETRANSMISSION of NON-HD shows (4:3) is better than without it.
And, did I mention the dolby digital 5.1 audio stream on that HD signal...
This thing will NEVER be usable in a corporate environment (i.e.- TRUELY replace 4.7x) until it has LDAP support built in! Sure, it'll be great for home use, but w/out LDAP searches in the mail client, it'll still have to run NS 4.7x!)
Trying to live an Open-protocol Life in a Closed-Protocol world (read Exchange)!
Don't non-compete clauses apply if you quit the company? Fine. stop working (don't quit, just stop doing work). Eventually they will fire you, which should void the non-compete clause.
Yes? No?
As far as compensation goes, I say a valid compensation would be 100% of your salary at termination for the duration of the non-compete clause.
Jon says that customers might not have been 'harmed' by a Microsoft monopoly. It got me to thinking... What exactly IS the definition of harmed?
Obviously, I'm not PHYSICALLY harmed by an operating system (with the possible exception of STRESS).
Am I harmed by an OS that doens't have any competition? I don't know. If you assume that Windows is the ideal operating system, and that, if there was a competitor, they would be equal in quality, price, and features, then NO, I guess I'm not harmed.
Conversly, was I harmed by a telco that charged me $0.25/minute for a 'local toll call'? As soon as the opened up the 'local toll call' business, I found out that I could pay $0.10/minute. Wow, I was being harmed, and I didn't even know it.
So, from the fact that I don't have limited CHOICES, and that Microsoft is trying to LIMIT my choices (I couldn't buy a PC w/out Windows until this trial came up), I would say that until there IS competition, you will never know to what extent you are being harmed by a monopoly. Necessity drives innovation and competition drives necessity. Without them, I think I am DEFINATELY being HARMED.
I bought RH7 and Mandrake 7.2 in the same day, at the same time, at the same store. Why? Because I wanted to see the installer AND I wanted to support the people who are trying to commercialize LINUX. As a matter of fact, I've purchased EVERY distro I've run, with the acception of 6.2. (rh 5.2, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0)
And, because it's the best way I can think of to contribute, not being a C/C++ coder.
People need to ask themselves, honestly, what have *I* given back to the 'cause'?
Whenever I submitted a project to get funding based on 'productivity gains', they tell me that that 'productivity is an "intangible cost"', and therefore it cannot be used.
If that's so, then lost productivity because of a down 'down system' also is 'intangible', and therefore has no affect on 'cost'.
That is true, but as soon as you give your email address to ANYONE, you're at the identical risk you are pointing out. Ever been to Bluemountain.com, or hallmark.com? Someone you know decides to send you a 'free' card, and voila, your email is compromised.
There are certain risks with your information, and as soon as you give that information to ANYONE, you are subject to their sensiblities.
That was in 25-user bundles, new users (no upgrades)... I image there are volume discounts... my previous employer got Exchange 5.5 down to $37/mailbox at 150,000 user volumes...
Of course, $35 is the current rate for Exchange 5.5.
Meanwhile, Sendmail.com's advanced server (SMTP/POP3/IMAP4) is $3/user (500user minimum).
Ok. First off, Outlook is the client. Not the mail server. The mail server is called Exchange. Try not to mix the two. I can use Outlook against MANY back ends, including HP's Openmail, (almost) any IMAP/POP3 server, or no backend at all.
Second, you site three 'benefits' to Exchange:
Fast: Define fast. The Exchange/Outlook RPC is great over a 100MB network, but try it over a dial-up line, or some line with a high latency. They performance goes right now the crapper, because the protocol is very 'chatty'. The client and server communicate back and for repeatedly to get a task done. IMAP/POP3 are infinately better in adverse environments, because their protocol is 'batch' oriented. A couple of commands, and you have data streaming to the client. Another example is over that same high-latency connection, try forwarding a message with an attachment. The attachment has to be uploaded to the server before you can COMPOSE YOUR MESSAGE. On the server side alone, every internet message has to be 'decoded' into MAPI body parts for storage in the database. If it pukes on a body-part, it'll crash your information store. the IMAP servers do/can parse the messages based on MIME body parts, but that is only when necessary. Exchange parses EVERY internet message, and at a lower level that the MIME body parts.
Second, you site 'scalability'. I ran a 7000 mailbox UofW POP3 server on a dual 166Mhz Solaris box with 256MB of RAM. The concurancy was about 25%, and the server ran with a load-average of about 1.2. My previous employer is having trouble running 2500 users on a quad PII-450 with 1GB of RAM at a 50% concurency. How is that scalability?
Third, you mention 'workgroup features'. True, Exchange includes a fairly decent calendar service, this discussion is about e-mail. If you want to talk about workgroup functions, we can do that... (btw, voting is a client function, as it the task management. There is no true 'workflow' in that because there is no central process tracking the work. It's all source-routing/message updates.)
You also said that Qmail is technically correct, but it's not going to do my company's productivity any good. This may be true. But talk to me when your company starts to interact with OTHER companies, and tell me how well Exchange does. Internet software is designed for interoperability, and when you're dealing with other companies, THAT'S what will make your company productive.
As for security, I'll leave that to the rest of these guys. I already like the comment about the 5 days w/out mail due to the I Love You virus.
...that you all seem to love to hate, maybe I can toss a different opinion into the mix, rather than all the 'bail, they're idiots' advice that seems to be common...
Have you discussed your dissatisfaction with your management? Have you come up with any ideas that might help the company get over this 'hump'?
Everyone seems to think that Managers are these 'super-people' that can conquer any problem, if they only put their mind to it... when in reality, they are just guys/gals like anyone else, trying to leverage their experience and ideas to keep a company moving... there is no 'magic forumla' to running a company. It is also a lot easier to find fault, than provide solutions.... The most important thing is that, without a doubt, everything these people do is with the purist of intentions: keep/grow the business. They may not make the same choices you would, but their heart is usually in the right place...
As for what to do, rather than discuss this with a VERY large group of STRANGERS, discuss it with your management. See what kind of people they REALLY are. See if they really want to make things good/better. Then make your decision.
I run Linux. Tell me a program (or programs) that come CLOSE to the functionality of Netscape for both Web and Mail that has all of the compliance, alleged robustness, and features of IE.
Here's the requirements:
- Full HTML4 (ins. the rest of the alphabet soup here) compliance.
- Plugin capabilities (Shockwave, Acrobat, etc.)
-IMAP/SMTP/POP3/LDAP/MIME/SMIME based mail program
Someone needs to write a decent browser. All I want is something that supports HTML4, XHTML, CSS, SSL, etc. and *doesn't fall over every 2 fsking minutes*. Currently only IE does this. Sad but true. If it wasn't for VMWare I'd have to boot into Windows to browse!
I have to ask this... WHY do you want to view HTML4, XHTML, CSS, and the rest of the alphabet soup? How does CSS add to the CONTENT of the web? How does HTML4 add to the content of the web? I think people get so engrossed in the technology that they forget the important thing about the web.... The content. Graphic designers and Marketing people want special tools for layout because they want their web sites to be a mirror of the rest of their marketing literature. Graphic Designers don't want to be limited about the way their pages look either..
The CONTENT is more important than the style. I don't go to a website because they don't have CSS. The reason I wouldn't go to a website because there is no useful information.
The notiable feature of the web is the EASY, QUICK distribution of information. It's what made the web a 'killer app', and when people get caught up in dumb things like browser wars, and blocking content BECAUSE of a browser, then I guess it's time to find a new technology because this one is corrupt.
My home theater (Denon Pro-Logic AMP, B&W Fronts/center, non-descript rears) were really nice... Until I put in a MK Powered subwoofer with volume and 'crossover adjustment'.
Suddenly, there's a basement to my movies that the bookshelves wouldn't acknowledge. I get lots of really cool 'ooos' and 'ahs' when people hear it.
Slashdot Mirror
I mean.. Verisign TRUSTED that the person was really from Microsoft...
What more do you want?
The only thing that slashdot MAY have done wrong was to NOT post OTHER game sites that do this.
What Microsoft did was shitty. Using the 'but everyone does it' excuse is childish and immature. If you can't demonstrate the actually quality of your product in pre-release, then DON'T DEMONSTRATE YOUR PRODUCT.
If you look at the new images, there is a SEVERE difference in the quality of the image between the 'REAL' post, and the DOCTORED post is dramatically different. So, why aren't the doctored images 'false advertising?.
and why they don't go after WinCE devices (isn't there pocket-access? How much more 'handheld and transaction' can you GET?!?!?!), or my web-enabled mobile phone, or, or, or....
I think you can approach micropayments and click-thru ads from a straight cost-persective..
Micropayment/click-thru add schemes have to pay for the bandwidth that they use to display them. If you get a micro-payment for each click, but you only get a click after displaying some graphic 1000 times at 10k/graphic, then you're not recooping the bandwidth that your spending to send the graphic... now, if the image uses the vendors bandwidth (remote image tag), the micropayment might be more cost effective.
I called the 888 number for their Customer Service Center, 13:15EST, and there was no answer.
I'm guessing if you're using 'em, your SOL.
It's a shame that, if a company is going to fail, they don't do it gracefully.... you'd think that was the LEAST they could do, esp. if they were mis-managed... but, I guess if they were mis-managed, the wouldn't terminate gracefully...
What ever happened to the mini-disc, what was wrong with that? It was small, it was recordable...
...it was proprietary.....
Does smaller CD's also mean smaller cups of coffee?
I'm thinking espresso...
Great. I lost the '<' in my command. I guess 'Plain Old Text' just ain't what it used to be.
If you're new to Unix, I think that orabidoo means:
/mnt/dvd/VOB_FILE_NAME | extract_mpeg2 | mpeg2dec -
qrpff 153 2 8 105 225
Hey, it's one less process!
The scary thing is.... once you actually SEE HDTV, in your home, with the shows you watch, you don't want to watch anything else. It's all crap. Even DirecTV (of course, DTV quality RULES over cable) can't carry a torch.. (unless you get HD-DTV...)
Hell, even RETRANSMISSION of NON-HD shows (4:3) is better than without it.
And, did I mention the dolby digital 5.1 audio stream on that HD signal...
This thing will NEVER be usable in a corporate environment (i.e.- TRUELY replace 4.7x) until it has LDAP support built in! Sure, it'll be great for home use, but w/out LDAP searches in the mail client, it'll still have to run NS 4.7x!)
Trying to live an Open-protocol Life in a Closed-Protocol world (read Exchange)!
Don't non-compete clauses apply if you quit the company? Fine. stop working (don't quit, just stop doing work). Eventually they will fire you, which should void the non-compete clause.
Yes? No?
As far as compensation goes, I say a valid compensation would be 100% of your salary at termination for the duration of the non-compete clause.
Obviously, I'm not PHYSICALLY harmed by an operating system (with the possible exception of STRESS).
Am I harmed by an OS that doens't have any competition? I don't know. If you assume that Windows is the ideal operating system, and that, if there was a competitor, they would be equal in quality, price, and features, then NO, I guess I'm not harmed.
Conversly, was I harmed by a telco that charged me $0.25/minute for a 'local toll call'? As soon as the opened up the 'local toll call' business, I found out that I could pay $0.10/minute. Wow, I was being harmed, and I didn't even know it.
So, from the fact that I don't have limited CHOICES, and that Microsoft is trying to LIMIT my choices (I couldn't buy a PC w/out Windows until this trial came up), I would say that until there IS competition, you will never know to what extent you are being harmed by a monopoly. Necessity drives innovation and competition drives necessity. Without them, I think I am DEFINATELY being HARMED.
I bought RH7 and Mandrake 7.2 in the same day, at the same time, at the same store. Why? Because I wanted to see the installer AND I wanted to support the people who are trying to commercialize LINUX. As a matter of fact, I've purchased EVERY distro I've run, with the acception of 6.2. (rh 5.2, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0)
And, because it's the best way I can think of to contribute, not being a C/C++ coder.
People need to ask themselves, honestly, what have *I* given back to the 'cause'?
...to replace 9 major copper power distribution cables with 3 smaller ones...
So, we'll only need to have 3 cables break before Detroit will lose power...
There's something to be said for redundancy and multiple paths...
Whenever I submitted a project to get funding based on 'productivity gains', they tell me that that 'productivity is an "intangible cost"', and therefore it cannot be used.
If that's so, then lost productivity because of a down 'down system' also is 'intangible', and therefore has no affect on 'cost'.
Hey, it's THEIR rules...
That is true, but as soon as you give your email address to ANYONE, you're at the identical risk you are pointing out. Ever been to Bluemountain.com, or hallmark.com? Someone you know decides to send you a 'free' card, and voila, your email is compromised.
There are certain risks with your information, and as soon as you give that information to ANYONE, you are subject to their sensiblities.
An email address that no one knows is nothing...
That was in 25-user bundles, new users (no upgrades)... I image there are volume discounts... my previous employer got Exchange 5.5 down to $37/mailbox at 150,000 user volumes...
Of course, $35 is the current rate for Exchange 5.5.
Meanwhile, Sendmail.com's advanced server (SMTP/POP3/IMAP4) is $3/user (500user minimum).
Ok. First off, Outlook is the client. Not the mail server. The mail server is called Exchange. Try not to mix the two. I can use Outlook against MANY back ends, including HP's Openmail, (almost) any IMAP/POP3 server, or no backend at all.
Second, you site three 'benefits' to Exchange:
Fast: Define fast. The Exchange/Outlook RPC is great over a 100MB network, but try it over a dial-up line, or some line with a high latency. They performance goes right now the crapper, because the protocol is very 'chatty'. The client and server communicate back and for repeatedly to get a task done. IMAP/POP3 are infinately better in adverse environments, because their protocol is 'batch' oriented. A couple of commands, and you have data streaming to the client. Another example is over that same high-latency connection, try forwarding a message with an attachment. The attachment has to be uploaded to the server before you can COMPOSE YOUR MESSAGE. On the server side alone, every internet message has to be 'decoded' into MAPI body parts for storage in the database. If it pukes on a body-part, it'll crash your information store. the IMAP servers do/can parse the messages based on MIME body parts, but that is only when necessary. Exchange parses EVERY internet message, and at a lower level that the MIME body parts.
Second, you site 'scalability'. I ran a 7000 mailbox UofW POP3 server on a dual 166Mhz Solaris box with 256MB of RAM. The concurancy was about 25%, and the server ran with a load-average of about 1.2. My previous employer is having trouble running 2500 users on a quad PII-450 with 1GB of RAM at a 50% concurency. How is that scalability?
Third, you mention 'workgroup features'. True, Exchange includes a fairly decent calendar service, this discussion is about e-mail. If you want to talk about workgroup functions, we can do that... (btw, voting is a client function, as it the task management. There is no true 'workflow' in that because there is no central process tracking the work. It's all source-routing/message updates.)
You also said that Qmail is technically correct, but it's not going to do my company's productivity any good. This may be true. But talk to me when your company starts to interact with OTHER companies, and tell me how well Exchange does. Internet software is designed for interoperability, and when you're dealing with other companies, THAT'S what will make your company productive.
As for security, I'll leave that to the rest of these guys. I already like the comment about the 5 days w/out mail due to the I Love You virus.
And at only $87/user client access license (courtesy of Shopper.com), it's a STEAL...
(oh, plus Win2000)...
(oh, plus a machine with at LEAST 256-512MB RAM)...
(oh, plus a backup solution to backup the DB live)...
(oh, plus some sort of a firewall/gateway... you wouldn't want this DIRECTLY on the 'NET..!)
...that you all seem to love to hate, maybe I can toss a different opinion into the mix, rather than all the 'bail, they're idiots' advice that seems to be common...
Have you discussed your dissatisfaction with your management? Have you come up with any ideas that might help the company get over this 'hump'?
Everyone seems to think that Managers are these 'super-people' that can conquer any problem, if they only put their mind to it... when in reality, they are just guys/gals like anyone else, trying to leverage their experience and ideas to keep a company moving... there is no 'magic forumla' to running a company. It is also a lot easier to find fault, than provide solutions.... The most important thing is that, without a doubt, everything these people do is with the purist of intentions: keep/grow the business. They may not make the same choices you would, but their heart is usually in the right place...
As for what to do, rather than discuss this with a VERY large group of STRANGERS, discuss it with your management. See what kind of people they REALLY are. See if they really want to make things good/better. Then make your decision.
So. What do I run under Linux?
Help me out here... There IS no IE for Linux.
Ok. I'll bite.
I run Linux. Tell me a program (or programs) that come CLOSE to the functionality of Netscape for both Web and Mail that has all of the compliance, alleged robustness, and features of IE.
Here's the requirements:
- Full HTML4 (ins. the rest of the alphabet soup here) compliance.
- Plugin capabilities (Shockwave, Acrobat, etc.)
-IMAP/SMTP/POP3/LDAP/MIME/SMIME based mail program
So, if Netscape is 'so bad', what do I use.
I have to ask this... WHY do you want to view HTML4, XHTML, CSS, and the rest of the alphabet soup? How does CSS add to the CONTENT of the web? How does HTML4 add to the content of the web? I think people get so engrossed in the technology that they forget the important thing about the web.... The content. Graphic designers and Marketing people want special tools for layout because they want their web sites to be a mirror of the rest of their marketing literature. Graphic Designers don't want to be limited about the way their pages look either..
The CONTENT is more important than the style. I don't go to a website because they don't have CSS. The reason I wouldn't go to a website because there is no useful information.
The notiable feature of the web is the EASY, QUICK distribution of information. It's what made the web a 'killer app', and when people get caught up in dumb things like browser wars, and blocking content BECAUSE of a browser, then I guess it's time to find a new technology because this one is corrupt.
Powered Subwoofer.
My home theater (Denon Pro-Logic AMP, B&W Fronts/center, non-descript rears) were really nice... Until I put in a MK Powered subwoofer with volume and 'crossover adjustment'.
Suddenly, there's a basement to my movies that the bookshelves wouldn't acknowledge. I get lots of really cool 'ooos' and 'ahs' when people hear it.
Amazing!