Great posts. I have even got one better... wife and I spent 5 years cruising the Pacific on a 32-foot sailboat we built ourselves. Left in 1980 with one kid (girl, 2-1/2) and came back in 1985 with two kids (boy was born in Mexico). My wife cooked on a kerosine stove while often strapped in next to it to stay in place. We did have solar panels and a (home made) wind generator plus ham radio. The kids absolutely thrived on it and I loved it. The adventure that pretty much became the focal point of our lives. You can absolutely live without the Internet... or even a great deal of civilization... and survive.
It was pretty easy, I must admit. I also lived without satellite radio, cable television, fuel injection on my cars, carbon fiber bicycles and cell phones. So maybe the 18 years since all of that stuff was invented have been less spartan but I can't say I've noticed that there is much negativity. In fact, it's much better.
This, I think, is the crux of the problem. Inevitably, someone will want WiFi access from their smart-phone and will finagle a way to do it. There are secure - and separate - networks in NSA and CIA which rely on clearances and job security and even they have problems with people abusing the system; how do you suppose Berkeley is going to do?
The point might be that your customers may look at the systems you sold them as "fully supported platforms" just a few years ago and discover that they are suddenly *not* what you told them they were. And they may look at other platforms. Especially customers who over-bought into Oracle.
One of my pals has regularly shopped the thrift stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.) looking for albums of the music he has downloaded. His theory is that as long as he has the album with the music - regardless of the format - he's covered.
I think he's probably right, actually. Although it might cost hims some legal fees to get RIAA off his ass if they choose to land on him.
Don't put all your servers in one co-location site. Spread them around. If one goes down the others will still provide service (but probably slower service). I know this is a more expensive option but if you're getting substantial income from your site then you need to make sure than no single site that gets seized will disrupt that income.
and bought 5 acres in Patagonia, AZ as well as 5 acres on Whidbey Island, WA. And just in case the Cascadia fault line breaks I have property on the eastern side of the Cascades as well. All I have left to worry about is an asteroid strike, an eruption of Mt. Rainier or Yellowstone, and the impending energy crisis.
because I do the IT work for several small companies and a couple of municipalities. I'm not sure where the notion that consultants are incompetent comes from; if we all were lncompetent we wouldn't keep our clients. The only time I see a functioning network is usually when I've just fixed it. Often I get a call from a new client and have to fix their network when I've *never* seen it work. Many times these networks were set up by someone's cousin or nephew who *really knows computers good". As far as qualifications go I'm a EE from back in the days when vacuum tube theory was all the rage. I became a computer guy when we started using Intel 4004 chips as controller for the heavy equipment the company I worked for was building and just kept on learning new tricks.
My problem is usually with incompetent staff who have been hired on as clerical help and simply promoted up some invisible ladder. As an example, I handled the Internet connections for a local hospital in return for a closet where I could put my ISP servers (in one rack). A new IT boss sent me a letter dated the 15th ( which I got the 20th) telling me I had to have my bear out by the first of the next month (but telling me I had "30 days". I had to find a new location, arrange a feed, and set up a parallel system (with a second router) until everything could be moved so it took me until the 2nd of the next month to finally wheel my Cisco 7004 router out the door. That night the moron called me to see why his Internet connection went down. It turned out he hadn't made arrangements for his new feed yet.
The "one pc" comment was aimed at people who might use a terminal to connect to a central computer for their work. Kind of like what we do with the "cloud"... which MS is now touting big-time. Gates thought everyone should have their own complete computer with all their applications and data on it. Everything from MS, of course. This may be before almost everyone's time.:P
Microsoft has never been an innovator... despite what they'd have us think. Their first product was a re-write of BASIC for IMSAI and DOS was "borrowed" from Seattle Computing. MS has either bought or outright stolen every product they've ever sold. What would make anyone believe that an MS executive could be a leader?
go to the cloud. I'm a unix greybeard and have set up entire ISPs using Linux and Unix and right now my blog is sitting on a Bluehost box running Linux. Why would I co-locate a server and pay bandwidth charges and then worry about back-ups and hardware failures when I can do it for $6 a month at a hosting service?
For you the question is even more pertinent since you are clearly not competent to even decide on an operating system.
Once your web site is actually getting the kind of attention think it will then you can hire engineers and administrators and move the site to your own machine. But here's a hint: Don't put it on Windows!
Have a dual network. One wired to a desktop that's secure and then a WiFi system for the mobile devices that's open to the Internet and institute some serious penalties for screwing it up. Then let the chips fall where they may on the "open" side.
Maybe for people who thought AOL was the Internet
on
When AIM Was Our Facebook
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Why is this on/.? For people who thought (like "Good Morning America") that AOL was synonymous with "Internet" it might be appropriate but for the rest of us (and the early adopters of Slashdot) it was IRC and ICQ. We laughed at AOL and most of us tried to get any friends off of it as quickly as possible. Some of us even started local ISPs just so they could actually get onto the Internet. This sort of article might be appropriate for the New Yorker or Wall Street Journal but for Slashdot it's drivel.
can be intercepted and decoded given enough time and/or money. It was once trivial to intercept cell calls (I could do it using off-the-shelf amateur radio equipment). It's become more difficult with digitized signals but I suspect that the technology to demodulate them is not beyond even former Soviet Bloc states. You don't need access to the cell company's hardware, either. These things are, after all, radios.
Slashdot Mirror
Great posts. I have even got one better... wife and I spent 5 years cruising the Pacific on a 32-foot sailboat we built ourselves. Left in 1980 with one kid (girl, 2-1/2) and came back in 1985 with two kids (boy was born in Mexico). My wife cooked on a kerosine stove while often strapped in next to it to stay in place. We did have solar panels and a (home made) wind generator plus ham radio. The kids absolutely thrived on it and I loved it. The adventure that pretty much became the focal point of our lives. You can absolutely live without the Internet... or even a great deal of civilization... and survive.
It was pretty easy, I must admit. I also lived without satellite radio, cable television, fuel injection on my cars, carbon fiber bicycles and cell phones. So maybe the 18 years since all of that stuff was invented have been less spartan but I can't say I've noticed that there is much negativity. In fact, it's much better.
Get a grip!
This, I think, is the crux of the problem. Inevitably, someone will want WiFi access from their smart-phone and will finagle a way to do it. There are secure - and separate - networks in NSA and CIA which rely on clearances and job security and even they have problems with people abusing the system; how do you suppose Berkeley is going to do?
And who pays for this?
Apparently the girls there will fall in love with anything!
The point might be that your customers may look at the systems you sold them as "fully supported platforms" just a few years ago and discover that they are suddenly *not* what you told them they were. And they may look at other platforms. Especially customers who over-bought into Oracle.
One of my pals has regularly shopped the thrift stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.) looking for albums of the music he has downloaded. His theory is that as long as he has the album with the music - regardless of the format - he's covered.
I think he's probably right, actually. Although it might cost hims some legal fees to get RIAA off his ass if they choose to land on him.
Don't put all your servers in one co-location site. Spread them around. If one goes down the others will still provide service (but probably slower service). I know this is a more expensive option but if you're getting substantial income from your site then you need to make sure than no single site that gets seized will disrupt that income.
and bought 5 acres in Patagonia, AZ as well as 5 acres on Whidbey Island, WA. And just in case the Cascadia fault line breaks I have property on the eastern side of the Cascades as well. All I have left to worry about is an asteroid strike, an eruption of Mt. Rainier or Yellowstone, and the impending energy crisis.
"Let me guess, you always find things in the last place you look, too?"
Yeah... do you keep looking?
Microsoft will break this one, too.
because I do the IT work for several small companies and a couple of municipalities. I'm not sure where the notion that consultants are incompetent comes from; if we all were lncompetent we wouldn't keep our clients. The only time I see a functioning network is usually when I've just fixed it. Often I get a call from a new client and have to fix their network when I've *never* seen it work. Many times these networks were set up by someone's cousin or nephew who *really knows computers good". As far as qualifications go I'm a EE from back in the days when vacuum tube theory was all the rage. I became a computer guy when we started using Intel 4004 chips as controller for the heavy equipment the company I worked for was building and just kept on learning new tricks.
My problem is usually with incompetent staff who have been hired on as clerical help and simply promoted up some invisible ladder. As an example, I handled the Internet connections for a local hospital in return for a closet where I could put my ISP servers (in one rack). A new IT boss sent me a letter dated the 15th ( which I got the 20th) telling me I had to have my bear out by the first of the next month (but telling me I had "30 days". I had to find a new location, arrange a feed, and set up a parallel system (with a second router) until everything could be moved so it took me until the 2nd of the next month to finally wheel my Cisco 7004 router out the door. That night the moron called me to see why his Internet connection went down. It turned out he hadn't made arrangements for his new feed yet.
The "one pc" comment was aimed at people who might use a terminal to connect to a central computer for their work. Kind of like what we do with the "cloud"... which MS is now touting big-time. Gates thought everyone should have their own complete computer with all their applications and data on it. Everything from MS, of course. This may be before almost everyone's time. :P
who thought the Internet was a passing fad and "one person, one pc" was mantra.
is find somewhere to dispose of all the zillions of "blue goo" sheets.
Microsoft has never been an innovator... despite what they'd have us think. Their first product was a re-write of BASIC for IMSAI and DOS was "borrowed" from Seattle Computing. MS has either bought or outright stolen every product they've ever sold. What would make anyone believe that an MS executive could be a leader?
that Xerox PARC didn't sue them for copying look-and-feel, the mouse, and ethernet.
go to the cloud. I'm a unix greybeard and have set up entire ISPs using Linux and Unix and right now my blog is sitting on a Bluehost box running Linux. Why would I co-locate a server and pay bandwidth charges and then worry about back-ups and hardware failures when I can do it for $6 a month at a hosting service?
For you the question is even more pertinent since you are clearly not competent to even decide on an operating system.
Once your web site is actually getting the kind of attention think it will then you can hire engineers and administrators and move the site to your own machine. But here's a hint: Don't put it on Windows!
by time zones. Camping never did say whether that was 6pm standard time, daylight time or sun time. So let the eruptions and volcanic fun commence!
Have a dual network. One wired to a desktop that's secure and then a WiFi system for the mobile devices that's open to the Internet and institute some serious penalties for screwing it up. Then let the chips fall where they may on the "open" side.
Why is this on /.? For people who thought (like "Good Morning America") that AOL was synonymous with "Internet" it might be appropriate but for the rest of us (and the early adopters of Slashdot) it was IRC and ICQ. We laughed at AOL and most of us tried to get any friends off of it as quickly as possible. Some of us even started local ISPs just so they could actually get onto the Internet. This sort of article might be appropriate for the New Yorker or Wall Street Journal but for Slashdot it's drivel.
Actually, I think they've pulled the orgy in the dildo shop.
Unfortunately, if the world doesn't value science or scientists then demand will go down; right along with your salary.
can be intercepted and decoded given enough time and/or money. It was once trivial to intercept cell calls (I could do it using off-the-shelf amateur radio equipment). It's become more difficult with digitized signals but I suspect that the technology to demodulate them is not beyond even former Soviet Bloc states. You don't need access to the cell company's hardware, either. These things are, after all, radios.
1993. I wonder if I have anything left of all those distributions I tried back in the day.
What's really scary is that I remember it!