Amen to that. I work "Level 1" for a content management software company. Our level one is composed of former sysadmins, DBA's and coders. We are paid fairly well, and have what I consider to be a pretty good gig. Of course our customers are spending at least 6 figures on our software, many of them in the 7 figures, and we use our support as one of our big selling points.
That being said, it is frequently necessary to get very simple with our customers. Many experienced sysadmins have a habit of skipping the documentation (I know that I did), and as such will skip simple, yet critical, steps. It is very important, for the sake of a good customer experience, to not have these people feel like we are patronizing them, but to still check the basics.
A large number of mail providers arbitrarily block any mail originating from net blocks identified as being used by "consumer" ISP's for dynamically assigned IP addresses. It's kind of lame, but also very effective at stopping large amounts of spam. Use your ISP's mail server as a smart host, or (if you don't trust the clue level of your ISP) one of the many SMTP relay services out there, I believe DynDns does one.
Ahh, you're making a point. I thought you were actually looking for that information, my bad. You're right, it is definitely non-obvious for the average individual looking to buy a PC that you have the option to get it without Windows.
For the record, Dell does sell Linux on servers, workstations and (allegedly) their N series desktops. However, it appears that you can only get Optiplex and Dimensions in their N series without an OS, not with Linux installed, at least from what I can determine on their somewhat mysterious website. They do move a pretty decent number of Linux servers.
Yeah, apparently these clowns have never heard of the idea of a custom install. KDE too big? Use FVWM, Enlightenment, or one of the others that claim to be lighter weight. Too many options in the kernel? Compile your own. You can get a Linux install on just about anything, for christ sakes they use Linux in embedded devices. BEGIN rant And is anyone else sick an tired of hearing about these mythical $100 laptops? First off, they're not even going to be $100, so stop calling them the $100 laptop. Second, how stupid is it to believe that someone without electricity is going to sit there with a frickin' foot pedal, hand crank (or any other half assed contraption for generatinf power that they can come up with) and surf the web? I like their idea of how the users will get Internet access, "Don't worry, it'll work itself out". It just seems like there are sooooooo many gaps in this plan, and they still figure that it'll roll in 2007? I call major bullshit. END rant I feel better now.
No, typically no money changes hands at peering points. Peering is the mutual agreement between two networks to share traffic. Typically this is because the the two networks believe that they will exchange traffic on more or less equal levels (in the case of ISP peering) or one of the networks wants easy access to something the other network has (as is the case with content providers such as the BBC peering with an ISP, the ISP's subscribers get access to the BBC content without having to go through transit routes that the ISP has to pay for).
It's not a patch, there is no patch. You can, however, get the update for Microsofts security tools which will remove it. Or, you can run one of the removal tools from the anti-virus vendors.
A different license would not have helped here. When someone owns the copyright to a piece of code the have the ability to relicense that code at any time. That which has been released under a certain license will remain released under that license, but future modifications to that code will not be.
Google has virtually zero reputation as a software provider in the enterprise. Sure there is the Google search appliance, and you likely can't get fired for buying that. However, you should sure as hell could get fired for rolling out the Google OS to all your desktops, only to have it never come out of Beta and eventually be written off as an unsuccessful venture.
Before co-locating with a super cheap provider, be sure to check into their background if you want mail delivered consistently. Find out what IP blocks the provider has and look them up on various RBL's to see if you are going to have issues. Looks like Infolink (owner of ServerPronto) has had some issues in the past.
Oversimplifying the issue does nothing for the discussion. Just because there is a flaw doesn't mean they've shipped "crap software". Bugs happen, end of story.
Now, that being said, three months without a fix and/or mitigation technique is a problem. That is how the discussion should be framed, or its just going to come across as a bunch of teeth nashing by knee jerk idiots.
"It sounds very silly to me. It looks like the idea that shopping centers should pay to cabs or mass transit because people are using cabs and busses to get into stores... Sure, customers will have cheaper tickets and cheaper cabs but... does it make a sense?"
Actually, its worse than you think. This approach is not designed to make tickets and cabs (internet access) more affordable. It is designed to give the owners of the cabs and busses (ISP's) greater revenue.
It's just you. Trusted computing is a god concept in general and has some impressive capabilities. The issue, as usual, comes with the implementation. I am in favor of an open implementation of trusted computing, but things like the fomer palladium do concern me.
I am leaving a similar situation for the exact reasons specified in the article, okay close. If management is used to this arrangement they will never see the need to modify it. With my departure, there are serious modifications being made to our MIS structure, and this will likely increase substantially more so after my departure. Time to head out and find somewhere that you feel is a better oppurtunity.
What's wrong with the industry is a constant drive towards thinner margins caused by a market environment that rewards those who compete on price, at the expense of other things. One of the things that has been stripped out to lower costs is good service. If, however, you are willing to pay a bit more, you can get service put back in.
It's not nearly as offensive as you think, it almost makes more sense. Why should someone have to pay for good service if they don't care whether they get good service?
It's called escrow, and there are companies doing it. I believe eBay purchased on of the online escrow companies a couplfe years ago. There are, of course, fees involved. But if you are doing a significant transaction it is well worth it.
"...If fees increase so will volume of transactions..."
???
I'm sorry, I missed the leap of logic which allowed you to make this statement. Tytpically speaking as the cost of a given thing increases the likelihood that someone will do that particular thing decreases, all else being equal. Care to enlighten me?
Slashdot Mirror
Amen to that. I work "Level 1" for a content management software company. Our level one is composed of former sysadmins, DBA's and coders. We are paid fairly well, and have what I consider to be a pretty good gig. Of course our customers are spending at least 6 figures on our software, many of them in the 7 figures, and we use our support as one of our big selling points.
That being said, it is frequently necessary to get very simple with our customers. Many experienced sysadmins have a habit of skipping the documentation (I know that I did), and as such will skip simple, yet critical, steps. It is very important, for the sake of a good customer experience, to not have these people feel like we are patronizing them, but to still check the basics.
A large number of mail providers arbitrarily block any mail originating from net blocks identified as being used by "consumer" ISP's for dynamically assigned IP addresses. It's kind of lame, but also very effective at stopping large amounts of spam. Use your ISP's mail server as a smart host, or (if you don't trust the clue level of your ISP) one of the many SMTP relay services out there, I believe DynDns does one.
Ahh, you're making a point. I thought you were actually looking for that information, my bad. You're right, it is definitely non-obvious for the average individual looking to buy a PC that you have the option to get it without Windows.
Search for Dell N Series
For the record, Dell does sell Linux on servers, workstations and (allegedly) their N series desktops. However, it appears that you can only get Optiplex and Dimensions in their N series without an OS, not with Linux installed, at least from what I can determine on their somewhat mysterious website. They do move a pretty decent number of Linux servers.
When someone wants you to accept their complete bullshit idea, you will frequently hear them say "Think outside the box".
Yeah, apparently these clowns have never heard of the idea of a custom install. KDE too big? Use FVWM, Enlightenment, or one of the others that claim to be lighter weight. Too many options in the kernel? Compile your own. You can get a Linux install on just about anything, for christ sakes they use Linux in embedded devices.
BEGIN rant
And is anyone else sick an tired of hearing about these mythical $100 laptops? First off, they're not even going to be $100, so stop calling them the $100 laptop. Second, how stupid is it to believe that someone without electricity is going to sit there with a frickin' foot pedal, hand crank (or any other half assed contraption for generatinf power that they can come up with) and surf the web? I like their idea of how the users will get Internet access, "Don't worry, it'll work itself out". It just seems like there are sooooooo many gaps in this plan, and they still figure that it'll roll in 2007? I call major bullshit.
END rant
I feel better now.
Holy crap am I jealous that you could have 100 CPU's maxxed for a week and not notice.
And holy crap it's lame that that makes me as jealous as it does.
A chocolate tort would be nice, with a good cup of coffee, hmmmm....
No, typically no money changes hands at peering points. Peering is the mutual agreement between two networks to share traffic. Typically this is because the the two networks believe that they will exchange traffic on more or less equal levels (in the case of ISP peering) or one of the networks wants easy access to something the other network has (as is the case with content providers such as the BBC peering with an ISP, the ISP's subscribers get access to the BBC content without having to go through transit routes that the ISP has to pay for).
It's not a patch, there is no patch. You can, however, get the update for Microsofts security tools which will remove it. Or, you can run one of the removal tools from the anti-virus vendors.
i p
ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/f-force.z
Either that, or like the Y2K crisis it was never that big of a deal to begin with.
A different license would not have helped here. When someone owns the copyright to a piece of code the have the ability to relicense that code at any time. That which has been released under a certain license will remain released under that license, but future modifications to that code will not be.
Corporations don't see Internet Explorer as a seperate entity from Windows. They turn on the computer and it's there.
Nice try, but bad analogy.
Google has virtually zero reputation as a software provider in the enterprise. Sure there is the Google search appliance, and you likely can't get fired for buying that. However, you should sure as hell could get fired for rolling out the Google OS to all your desktops, only to have it never come out of Beta and eventually be written off as an unsuccessful venture.
Before co-locating with a super cheap provider, be sure to check into their background if you want mail delivered consistently. Find out what IP blocks the provider has and look them up on various RBL's to see if you are going to have issues. Looks like Infolink (owner of ServerPronto) has had some issues in the past.
Oversimplifying the issue does nothing for the discussion. Just because there is a flaw doesn't mean they've shipped "crap software". Bugs happen, end of story.
Now, that being said, three months without a fix and/or mitigation technique is a problem. That is how the discussion should be framed, or its just going to come across as a bunch of teeth nashing by knee jerk idiots.
"It sounds very silly to me. It looks like the idea that shopping centers should pay to cabs or mass transit because people are using cabs and busses to get into stores... Sure, customers will have cheaper tickets and cheaper cabs but... does it make a sense?"
Actually, its worse than you think. This approach is not designed to make tickets and cabs (internet access) more affordable. It is designed to give the owners of the cabs and busses (ISP's) greater revenue.
I'm sure you're girlfriend is proud.
It's just you. Trusted computing is a god concept in general and has some impressive capabilities. The issue, as usual, comes with the implementation. I am in favor of an open implementation of trusted computing, but things like the fomer palladium do concern me.
I am leaving a similar situation for the exact reasons specified in the article, okay close. If management is used to this arrangement they will never see the need to modify it. With my departure, there are serious modifications being made to our MIS structure, and this will likely increase substantially more so after my departure. Time to head out and find somewhere that you feel is a better oppurtunity.
What's wrong with the industry is a constant drive towards thinner margins caused by a market environment that rewards those who compete on price, at the expense of other things. One of the things that has been stripped out to lower costs is good service. If, however, you are willing to pay a bit more, you can get service put back in.
It's not nearly as offensive as you think, it almost makes more sense. Why should someone have to pay for good service if they don't care whether they get good service?
It's called escrow, and there are companies doing it. I believe eBay purchased on of the online escrow companies a couplfe years ago. There are, of course, fees involved. But if you are doing a significant transaction it is well worth it.
Uh, no.
FTFLink
"In British English billion has traditionally meant a million million."
If you're going to use a citation to support your argument, use one that supports it.
"...If fees increase so will volume of transactions..."
???
I'm sorry, I missed the leap of logic which allowed you to make this statement. Tytpically speaking as the cost of a given thing increases the likelihood that someone will do that particular thing decreases, all else being equal. Care to enlighten me?