I love it when someone with the nick "CrocketAndTubbs" says something like, "It just goes to show that some people will watch anything no matter how bad it is."
I really laughed my ass off after reading that post.
Oh, and to stay on topic, I agree with the grandparent. Just like every "new" Star Trek show, it started out slow and cheesy. Once the characters were well defined and the show found it's legs, it's really improved. This season Enterprise has started to come into its own with good writing, relatable characters, and good acting. If TNG, DS9, and Voyager showed us anything, it was that the next two or three seasons of Enterprise would have been some really good "living room" SciFi.
Too bad Paramount can't stand by one of their own shows.
Maybe they'll put Miami Vice in Enterprise's time slot. lol
Actually, Novell did similar work for Mozilla (well, actually for Firefox) in the NLD development. Firefox under NLD actually utilizes the CUPS printer list and settings - a vast improvement over the older "just-dump-postscript-to-lpr-and-use-the-default-p rinter" option. Additionally, Firefox under NLD will take it's proxy settings from the GNOME user proxy settings. I believe both features have already been contributed back to the community already.
I've been using beta versions of NLD for several months now, and I have been very impressed with the work that Novell has put into intergrating the desktop components. This was a big sore spot for Linux on the desktop, and NLD is an excellent first step. There may still be a lot of work to be done, but kudos to Novell for realizing the issues and beginning to adddress them.
The wife & I took my three-going-on-thirty year old to see it opening night. Mind you, my daughter is very well-behaved in movies and has recently sat quietly through (and enjoyed) Finding Nemo, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, and every IMAX science/nature film at our local theater. Additionally, much to my constant concern, she tends to have "no fear" in almost every aspect of her life - heights, noises, surprises, acrobatics, insects, nothing seems to faze her. She also typically understands and deals with the occasional dark scene in a film. The first scene of Finding Nemo, where Nemo's mother and siblings are devoured by the barracuda, the fight scenes in Shrek/Shrek 2, the darker adult-oriented content of Shark Tale were all no issue.
That said, she was very upset by The Incredibles. She did not like some of the content early on, simply averting her eyes. By the climactic battle scene in the end, she was almost in tears - she quickly begged my wife to take her home. We left the theater and she told us, "That was a bad movie. I didn't like it, it was too scary." She futher elaborated on the specific scenes and characters she disliked (and why), but enumerating those in this post would make it a spoiler!
If Ebert & Roper claimed it was not a kids movie, I would tend to agree with them. The grim material such as on-screen deaths, rotting corpses, and torture are far too dark for young children. Additionally, due to the advances in special effects, the fight scenes have been much more intense than previous animated features. Finally, there are far too many "jump-out-from-behind-you-in-a-dark-corridor" type scenes; regular movie-going adults expect that sort of thing, but to children it can be a very novel, very real, and very startling concept.
I don't wish to cast about generalizations and dispersions, but this film is probably best targeted at teens and adults. Children under 10 (IMHO) will most likely be frightened by parts, but, of course, use your best judgement as a parent.
Now, all that negativity aside, my wife and I loved the film - and intend to purchase the DVD when released. Perhaps our daughter will watch it with us again in several more years -- and maybe even enjoy it!
My company uses standard Dell product lines for laptops and desktops, and we discovered, for example, X driver issues with the stock video card. As another example, all of our laptops use the Centrino technology -- and until recently that was a driver problem as well. Those were examples that anyone might run into. Finally, in any industry there is going to be specialized hardware for certain applications - barcode readers in retail sales, check readers in banking, calibration or diagnostic devices in automotive repair, or CAD/CAM input devices in engineering, architecture, and design.
My point there was that it will require a shift in the thinking of the IHVs. They are building with only Windows in mind, and Linux drivers are often reverse engineered by a third party -- which often takes far too long.
I have recently had the opportunity to participate in a Linux Desktop feasibility study at a major corporation. Speaking from my personal experience, this article hits on a few good points -- but apparently was focused more on the home use desktop that the corporate environment.
What I've found is that the important things for general-purpose corporate users are these:
Driver support - One of the biggest problems has always been, as the article mentioned, driver support. It's terrible that after over a decade of this being one of Linux's biggest issues (overall), in this day and age we still have some problems with "mainstream" hardware support. That's going to take desktop Linux moving from early adopters to leading edge stage.
Slim down, stable apps - For a corporate user, there's very few apps that most IT departments want everywhere. Those few programs should be highly stable, integrated, well-tested, interoperable, and easy to use. For most users, those applications are an Office suite (OpenOffice and/or MS Office via CXOffice), e-mail program (Evolution or Outlook/Lotus Notes via CXOffice), web browser (Mozilla and/or IE via CXOffice), and file and print - usually provided by the OS or UI (KDE or Gnome). Naturally, every user has additional apps they need, but these were the core.
Interoperability - Of course, any corporation of a significant size cannot afford to migrate every desktop at once. One big requirement of a Linux desktop is that it must have the ability to seamlessly interoperate with the existing infrastructure and systems. That means using existing directories (AD or eDir), accessing file shares, exchanging documents, and enabling user collaboration (e.g. IM, shared meeting spaces, etc.).
There are plenty of more issues and requirements, but those were the big ones. Also, along those lines, I expect a big advance in Linux on the corporate desktop from one of the big vendors very soon -- the existing capabilities appear to be creating "the perfect storm" for just such a release.
That's only given the Ximian Evolution side of the equation. Don't forget that with the SuSE acquistion, there's a powerful opportunity to integrate with SuSE Linux OpenExchange, and provide a front-to-back e-mail solution that is MS Exchange compatible - with the overt virus concerns that comes from the MS implementation.
That would be a powerful combination that I'd love to see from Novell.
I think you entirely missed the point of my post. I was not really attempting to throw stones at Red Hat, I was trying to say more that I was encouraged by Novell. Red Hat was founded around Free Software - it's no surprise that they are still heavily involved in Linux development.
Novell, on the other hand, had built a (at one time) very successful business around proprietary software. It's a huge culture shift for them. Not they were ever the "evil empire" type of company, but they were certainly not making money on Free Software.
I have so much more to say about this, actually, that I can't say in a public forum. Suffice to say, I never had the opportunity to work with Novell in it's former heyday, but today they are one of the most accomdating, ethical, and sensible companies I have ever dealt with. They have a true understanding of what "customer service" means, and it reflects very well on them. Additionally - only from personal experience, mind you - I could could say all the opposite things about my experiences with Red Hat. (If you'd more insights about this, privately, please feel free to e-mail at the address above.)
So, here's what I'm getting at - I, personally, have decided to business with Novell instead of Red Hat, for reasons that have nothing to do with Free Software ideology. That said, I was very concerned about Novell's level of commitment to Free Software, but their recent actions have quelled those fears. I appreciate Red Hat's work, their staff, and the company's contribution to Free Software - but that was never really in question.
One more thing (really a side note) - your list of kernel developers piqued my interest. I never realized that Jeff Garzik was working at Red Hat or was coding kernels. I read your list, and went, "Hey! I know Jeff Garzik! He's at Red Hat? Cool!" I went to college with Jeff at Georgia Tech back in the 90's, and I always wondered what he was up to. He was such a brilliant coder and SA, I'm glad to see he's doing well for himself. In fact, at one point, we did a really great Star Wars parody. Heh heh heh... those were the days, being just a number (gtd543a, gt2357a, etc.) Thanks for that trip down memory lane!
I'm so very pleased by this news. My biggest concern from Novell's acquistion of SuSE and Ximian was whether or not they would continue to support Free Software. With other major Linux vendors (well, vendor) seemingly moving more and more toward closing their software, and locking users into their products, it's refreshing to see Novell opening more software up and supporting community projects.
We've seen it now with their support of OpenSWAN, the open-sourcing of YaST and iFolder, and the continuing free releases of SuSE 9.1.
As I said, I'm very pleased to see this, and I suspect we'll see even more support of the open source and free software community from the reborn phoenix that is Novell.
I used to have toy from Mattel back around 1983 or so that worked on this same concept - it was called a LightStick or some such. It was a long black paddle with a row of leds on the front, and a keyboard on the back. You just typed in a message, and wave the stick wildly back and forth in the air.
As I recall the problem was, waving this thing around wildly was very taxing on the arms, and the message was sometimes unclear and difficult to read - especially after fatigue set it.
Hopefully Nokia thought about this, and has made it a little less straining to use.
You're correct - my apologies. I should not have made such a generalization, but unfortunately, at least in my area, this is the case.
I have a good friend who is a senior leader at my internet provider. At my ISP, most of the level 1 tech support staff are students at the local college. Due to the economic conditions where I live, and the demand in certain specific businesses (banking and finanical services), most well-trained, well-educated technology professionals have better options available to them than internet help desk. We have a shortage of qualified people in companies that have the means to hire the best, so we end up with most of the upper and mid tiers.
Add to this the fact that level 1 help desk tends to be lower-paying, and the hours can be rough, as it requires 24x7 staffing. The average age of these people is under 30, and most do not have a high-tech background.
As a side note, this is also why so many of these jobs are being sent from my region in the US to offshore support centers in third world countries. We can pay the same or less money, cover the same hours, and have far more qualified staff.
That is a serious dilemma, but as you stated, I was incorrect in painting with such a broad brush just for a laugh. I'm well aware that there are plenty of intelligent, educated, motivated people who work tech support. And I also know from personal experience that there are plenty of very helpful folks in tech support that have saved me in a bind.
Actually, Slashdotters are very diverse crowd, many of us are healthcare professionals, work in healthcare IT, and as a sampling of the general population, deal with many health challenges ourselves.
To to original poster: I've taken schizophrenia suppressing medications for it's dopamine suppression effects to help quell migraines. One thing on them - the side effects can be brutal. Make certain your your sister stays on the medication, unless their MD changes the treatment plan. Also, read about your sister's medications and look for side effects. If you're involved in your sister's treatment, be sure to let your doctors know about any negative manifestions. Some of these effects can be permanent - most concerning to me was the chance for tardive dyskinesia, involuntary muscle movements and twitches. It seems that a lifetime of very obvious, constant nervous tics could be almost as bad as the mental problems.
The best advice I can give is to read as much as you can find. Here is a link to the Medscape Schizophrenia Resource Center (free registration required). I've found Medscape to be a very helpful site for healthcare information, and the resource centers have tons of useful information. Since these articles are targeted at doctors, you may need to read with a medical dictionary handy at first, but the information is as up-to-date you will find. It has proven invaluable to me.
I wish you the best of luck - chronic health problems - mental or physical - are difficult for patient, family, and friends. I'll be certain to keep you and your family in my prayers.
The stupidest tech support answer I've ever run into was during the height of the virus/worm scares in February.
My cable modem connection had stopped work. Given my ISPs track record, this was unremarkable, but after it continued for 2 days, I decided to call the tech support number. After supplying my ID number, the support person told me that my connection was intentionally shut off because I was broadcasting a widely-circulated Windows virus. I promptly informed the tech support person that I did not use the Windows operating system on any of my computers, and that I could not possibly have the virus I was accused of having.
The support rep immediately told me that I had the virus, and that they would not turn my connection back on until I jumped through their anti-virus hoops. I argued for almost 10 minutes with this neophyte that I could not use their Windows anti-virus on my Linux systems, and that even if I could, it would not do a damn bit of good. Did it matter? Of course not.
Finally, in order to get my connection back on, I agreed to perform their anti-virus tricks "to the best of my ability", and install Windows just so I could "remove the virus" from my system. The rep actually thought this was an excellent resolution to the problem, but for some reason didn't believe I would actually do it (could have been my vehement renouncements against the entirety of Microsoft's products). After another 5 minutes of cajoling, I convinced her to turn my connection back on so I could get the anti-virus tools, and access Windows Update.
I was, however, given a stern warning that if I was found to persist in operating with this virus, I would have my account revoked, and my services cancelled. I submissively agreed, and thanked the rep for her time and patience. I haven't heard anything since, and I never did actually install Windows or use the anti-virus crap.
What do you expect for minimum wage, a script, and a bunch of college kids majoring in business?
I've been using an Omnirax Commander desk for about 7 years now, and I absolutely love it. It's very convienent to have the 19" racks built into the desk, along with a slide-out keyboard drawer, and space for up to four 21" CRT monitors on the desk.
A few things to consider:
Rack equipment (cases, accessories, etc.) is much more expensive. It is typically a 10-20% over equivalent, non-racked equipment, but tends to be more industrial, durable, business-class gear.
The desk itself was also very expensive. When I purchased it from Mars (a large music chain store) in 1997, it cost me ~$1700. It has, however, proved to be worth every penny, and I've moved it four times with me now.
There are issues to keep in mind with racks that aren't such a big issue in a non-rack environment. These include cable management, power/network distribution, KVM distribtion, and related problems. Some examples include problems with where to plug the keyboard and mouse into a rack setup - the front or back - and how long do your cables need to be.
If you think about it, and do your research, rack-mount equipment is the way to go. It is certainly more expensive, but the extra money will buy you reusability and longer life.
Are the real logisitics of this being considered?
on
Listen to the Sky
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Why cellphones? I mean, really, what's the value of having people call in to hear wind whistling around, balloons rustling (latex/plastic rubbing together), and cellphones ringing.
Why not use higher-fidelity equipment, and make a recording available for download afterwards? I think the quality and value of that model would be much more attractive.
Additionally, there will be issues with either 1) there being too few cellphones to meet the demand, and no one being able to get on them and listen, or 2) there will be too many cellphones, necessary to meed the demand, that will occupy all the access points/lines at the cell tower sites, and interfere with each other due to ambient RF from the phones being packed so close.
I hope these folks are bright enough to have considered and addressed these issues.
There are some examples of good marketing in the Linux arena, but the only one I saw mentioned in the article was StarOffice. StarOffice is an excellent example, but I've come across a few others as we've implemented Linux desktops in our organization.
CrossOver Office - CodeWeavers has done a great job providing extra features, good support, and overall added value to the wine product that make it worth price. In fact, I liked it so much at work, I shelled out $$$ at home to buy a copy.
Ximian Desktop 2 - This one is true for two reasons (IMHO) - first, it provides a seamless desktop interface for my corporate users, and second, I'm a Gnome bigot. ^_^ Ximian/Novell has done an excellent job of adding features and value to the out-of-the-box Gnome system, at least for those of us who need the uniformity and features offered by XD2. Also, the promise of future Ximian/SuSE integration with the Novell product line is very enticing.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux - For a corporate Linux distro, Red Hat has done a great job of sales and marketing. I know a lot of people are upset about Red Hat Linux (last incarnated as Red Hat Linux 9) being end-of-lifed, but for a business computing platform, RHEL is a great start.
WineX - Transgaming offers another great enhancement to wine - good transition of gaming from the Windows platform. Transgaming isn't doing a great job of marketing, but the product features make it worth the purchase.
Those are just the few I've interacted with recently. IBM, Sun, JBoss, and Novell are doing a very good job of supporting, marketing, and selling their Linux-based server products. So there are more and more success stories out there.
But, like the article communicates, we need a lot more to get the momentum going on Linux for the masses. Hopefully, large organizations will follow IBM's lead, and small, open-source based project will look to CodeWeavers as excellent examples. We need more of those guys!
Of course, just like anyone else on here, I can only share my experiences with the family business, and my insights and recommendations.
My grandfather founded an industrial diamond business in the mid-1960's, just him and his brother. (Industrial diamonds are just a very specialized industrial abrasive, used for polishing, grinding, lapping, and other abrasive uses. It's mostly a chemical, mechanical, and industrial engineering-based firm) It was started with just two employees in NYC, and when it was sold to DuPont in 1994 (and eventually to GE's SuperAbrasives division) it had just under hundred employees based in South Florida. As the company grew, the key employees were family members. Just like in your situation, my grandfather's wife was one of the first employees - doing bookkeeping and billing - followed much later by his children, my father and aunt. My mother was actually an employee at the business when she met (and eventually married) my father. By the time the business had grown to ~60 employees, every divison was headed by a family, and several more worked at the lower levels (including my cousin and I, who worked doing data entry and network administration during high school).
There were a ton of pitfalls associated with having family members work with and for you, and my family learned as we went. Sometimes work problems strained family relations, even to point where my Aunt was fired just to keep peace in the family. Now, ten years after the original family business was sold, my father has started a new family diamond abrasives business, and learned from the lessons of the previous company. His current wife (my mother passed away in 1998), my brother, and I all work at the family business. (I manage the IT department remotely right now, but plan to move back to South Florida in the next several years, as the business grows.)
Here are the key things that I observed my family learned over the years:
Keep work and home life separate - My father and mother had a very interesting relationship. At work, my father was the VP/Director of Operations for the company, and my mother was the Office Manager. She worked for him. At home, as in most marriages, she was the boss. But, there were very clear boundaries between home and work life, and respecting these divisions kept everyone happier and sane. There was no talk or little talk of work at the dinner table, and there was no talk of family life or family problems in the boardroom.
Have a set of published rules that apply to everyone - One of the key things that kept our family busniess together was a set of corporate standards that applied to everyone, famly or not. These standards dealt with dress code, vacation time, sick time, tardiness, and other standard HR policies.
Show favoritism - As a corollary to the last rule, it's important to have an even set of rules, but occasionally, it's important to break them in private for family members. Family members want to know that they have a little bit of edge because they're on the inside track - and that's okay. It keeps them happy, and prevents Thanksgiving dinner from turning into a corporate affair. It's important, however, that this doesn't become a habit, and that your other employees don't get wind of it - it should be a quiet, special exception.
Honesty is of utmost importance - While as a manager, I espouse being honest and forthright with all of your staff members, this is even more important with family. Be up front and open with your relatives. The last thing you want to have happen is for issues to circulate through the "back channels", and have it impact your relationship outside the office.
Don't involve other family members - Don't share your business life, gripes, problems, or issues with family members that aren't a part of the business. This applies to siblings, parents, children, or anyone else. Don't gossip about the poor performan
The current Bank of America is the result of legacy BofA's 1999 acquistion by NationsBank. The new organization is headquartered in Charlotte, NC - the second largest banking center in the US, behind NYC.
Bank of America has a several major points of presence across the US, including TX, CA, points in the great plains, and now in NY and New England, as a result of the recently announced merger with Fleet.
BofA, or any other North Carolina bank can hardly be considered "some southern outfit" - many of the top banks, brokerage firms, and other financial services companies in the US are headquartered there, or have major offices in there. Bank of America, Wachovia (formerly First Union National Bank), BB&T, First Charter, TIAA CREF, and Compass Group all have major presences or headquarters here. Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO, and Citigroup are all adding sizable operations to the Charlotte area.
Any way you look at it, by fake-slapping Bank of America, SCO sends a message to that entire sector - an industry that is very risk adverse. Essentially saying "BOO!" to that bunch of scared children in our legal department.
Why is everyone attacking Novell for this? Why are you all claiming they are in bed with SCO for offering enterprise customers what we have been asking for?
I can only speak for my large enterprise (Fortune 50, 70,000+ employees, billons of US$ in revenue, etc.), but our biggest obstacle to buying Linux was our legal department, demanding "I can get indemnity from everyone else, why can't someone offer me indemntiy for Linux?"
Large organizations (particularly ones that have large sums of other people's money to protect) only have one issue here - it's not open source politics, it's not SCO's pump and dump, and it's not who's right or wrong - it's risk mitigation. It's a question of how much money are we going to lose if SCO is right, and who is going to protect us from this?
I, for one, am glad to see Novell offering the opportunity for real Linux indemnity - goodness knows, I've asked everyone in the industry for it.
The issue here is one of enforcement. What's to stop the dishonest from forging e-mail headers and the rest, to fine a company or individual out of existance?
There's a huge issue with the volume of spam potentially involved. In the case of "fraudulent spam", who's going to investigate it, since the burden is on the sender?
Not that I'm defending spammers, I think the law is a good idea, but if the execution is flawed, it could be short-lived.
You make an excellent point, but that is still a real risk on a system similar to my home system. I use Time Warner's RoadRunner Cable Modem service, and have hundreds of people on my subnet.
In fact, a good percentage of attacks in general against my systems have been from "local" machines.
Besides, what better way to get back at that neighbor that pissed you off - run up their fines!
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I know this is flamebait, but I can't resist.
I love it when someone with the nick "CrocketAndTubbs" says something like, "It just goes to show that some people will watch anything no matter how bad it is."
I really laughed my ass off after reading that post.
Oh, and to stay on topic, I agree with the grandparent. Just like every "new" Star Trek show, it started out slow and cheesy. Once the characters were well defined and the show found it's legs, it's really improved. This season Enterprise has started to come into its own with good writing, relatable characters, and good acting. If TNG, DS9, and Voyager showed us anything, it was that the next two or three seasons of Enterprise would have been some really good "living room" SciFi.
Too bad Paramount can't stand by one of their own shows.
Maybe they'll put Miami Vice in Enterprise's time slot. lol
Actually, Novell did similar work for Mozilla (well, actually for Firefox) in the NLD development. Firefox under NLD actually utilizes the CUPS printer list and settings - a vast improvement over the older "just-dump-postscript-to-lpr-and-use-the-default-p rinter" option. Additionally, Firefox under NLD will take it's proxy settings from the GNOME user proxy settings. I believe both features have already been contributed back to the community already.
I've been using beta versions of NLD for several months now, and I have been very impressed with the work that Novell has put into intergrating the desktop components. This was a big sore spot for Linux on the desktop, and NLD is an excellent first step. There may still be a lot of work to be done, but kudos to Novell for realizing the issues and beginning to adddress them.
The wife & I took my three-going-on-thirty year old to see it opening night. Mind you, my daughter is very well-behaved in movies and has recently sat quietly through (and enjoyed) Finding Nemo, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, and every IMAX science/nature film at our local theater. Additionally, much to my constant concern, she tends to have "no fear" in almost every aspect of her life - heights, noises, surprises, acrobatics, insects, nothing seems to faze her. She also typically understands and deals with the occasional dark scene in a film. The first scene of Finding Nemo, where Nemo's mother and siblings are devoured by the barracuda, the fight scenes in Shrek/Shrek 2, the darker adult-oriented content of Shark Tale were all no issue.
That said, she was very upset by The Incredibles. She did not like some of the content early on, simply averting her eyes. By the climactic battle scene in the end, she was almost in tears - she quickly begged my wife to take her home. We left the theater and she told us, "That was a bad movie. I didn't like it, it was too scary." She futher elaborated on the specific scenes and characters she disliked (and why), but enumerating those in this post would make it a spoiler!
If Ebert & Roper claimed it was not a kids movie, I would tend to agree with them. The grim material such as on-screen deaths, rotting corpses, and torture are far too dark for young children. Additionally, due to the advances in special effects, the fight scenes have been much more intense than previous animated features. Finally, there are far too many "jump-out-from-behind-you-in-a-dark-corridor" type scenes; regular movie-going adults expect that sort of thing, but to children it can be a very novel, very real, and very startling concept.
I don't wish to cast about generalizations and dispersions, but this film is probably best targeted at teens and adults. Children under 10 (IMHO) will most likely be frightened by parts, but, of course, use your best judgement as a parent.
Now, all that negativity aside, my wife and I loved the film - and intend to purchase the DVD when released. Perhaps our daughter will watch it with us again in several more years -- and maybe even enjoy it!
My company uses standard Dell product lines for laptops and desktops, and we discovered, for example, X driver issues with the stock video card. As another example, all of our laptops use the Centrino technology -- and until recently that was a driver problem as well. Those were examples that anyone might run into. Finally, in any industry there is going to be specialized hardware for certain applications - barcode readers in retail sales, check readers in banking, calibration or diagnostic devices in automotive repair, or CAD/CAM input devices in engineering, architecture, and design.
My point there was that it will require a shift in the thinking of the IHVs. They are building with only Windows in mind, and Linux drivers are often reverse engineered by a third party -- which often takes far too long.
What I've found is that the important things for general-purpose corporate users are these:
- Driver support - One of the biggest problems has always been, as the article mentioned, driver support. It's terrible that after over a decade of this being one of Linux's biggest issues (overall), in this day and age we still have some problems with "mainstream" hardware support. That's going to take desktop Linux moving from early adopters to leading edge stage.
- Slim down, stable apps - For a corporate user, there's very few apps that most IT departments want everywhere. Those few programs should be highly stable, integrated, well-tested, interoperable, and easy to use. For most users, those applications are an Office suite (OpenOffice and/or MS Office via CXOffice), e-mail program (Evolution or Outlook/Lotus Notes via CXOffice), web browser (Mozilla and/or IE via CXOffice), and file and print - usually provided by the OS or UI (KDE or Gnome). Naturally, every user has additional apps they need, but these were the core.
- Interoperability - Of course, any corporation of a significant size cannot afford to migrate every desktop at once. One big requirement of a Linux desktop is that it must have the ability to seamlessly interoperate with the existing infrastructure and systems. That means using existing directories (AD or eDir), accessing file shares, exchanging documents, and enabling user collaboration (e.g. IM, shared meeting spaces, etc.).
There are plenty of more issues and requirements, but those were the big ones. Also, along those lines, I expect a big advance in Linux on the corporate desktop from one of the big vendors very soon -- the existing capabilities appear to be creating "the perfect storm" for just such a release.As someone else on here stated, I always felt like Captain Sisko was mad at me that I hadn't invented his flying car yet.
Ah, TV nostalgia.
That's only given the Ximian Evolution side of the equation. Don't forget that with the SuSE acquistion, there's a powerful opportunity to integrate with SuSE Linux OpenExchange, and provide a front-to-back e-mail solution that is MS Exchange compatible - with the overt virus concerns that comes from the MS implementation.
That would be a powerful combination that I'd love to see from Novell.
I had this same problem. The solution is to use your ISP's SMTP server as a relay host. For example, in my Postfix main.cf, I have the line:
relayhost = smtp-server.carolina.rr.com
That fixed my problems not being able to send to AOL, Time Warner, the Easter Bunny, and the Jehovah's Witnesses.
And, with SquirrelMail (or any other free software webmail system) set up, I can check my mail from anywhere with a web browser.
It beats using Hotmail any day of the week.
I think you entirely missed the point of my post. I was not really attempting to throw stones at Red Hat, I was trying to say more that I was encouraged by Novell. Red Hat was founded around Free Software - it's no surprise that they are still heavily involved in Linux development.
... those were the days, being just a number (gtd543a, gt2357a, etc.) Thanks for that trip down memory lane!
Novell, on the other hand, had built a (at one time) very successful business around proprietary software. It's a huge culture shift for them. Not they were ever the "evil empire" type of company, but they were certainly not making money on Free Software.
I have so much more to say about this, actually, that I can't say in a public forum. Suffice to say, I never had the opportunity to work with Novell in it's former heyday, but today they are one of the most accomdating, ethical, and sensible companies I have ever dealt with. They have a true understanding of what "customer service" means, and it reflects very well on them. Additionally - only from personal experience, mind you - I could could say all the opposite things about my experiences with Red Hat. (If you'd more insights about this, privately, please feel free to e-mail at the address above.)
So, here's what I'm getting at - I, personally, have decided to business with Novell instead of Red Hat, for reasons that have nothing to do with Free Software ideology. That said, I was very concerned about Novell's level of commitment to Free Software, but their recent actions have quelled those fears. I appreciate Red Hat's work, their staff, and the company's contribution to Free Software - but that was never really in question.
One more thing (really a side note) - your list of kernel developers piqued my interest. I never realized that Jeff Garzik was working at Red Hat or was coding kernels. I read your list, and went, "Hey! I know Jeff Garzik! He's at Red Hat? Cool!" I went to college with Jeff at Georgia Tech back in the 90's, and I always wondered what he was up to. He was such a brilliant coder and SA, I'm glad to see he's doing well for himself. In fact, at one point, we did a really great Star Wars parody. Heh heh heh
I'm so very pleased by this news. My biggest concern from Novell's acquistion of SuSE and Ximian was whether or not they would continue to support Free Software. With other major Linux vendors (well, vendor) seemingly moving more and more toward closing their software, and locking users into their products, it's refreshing to see Novell opening more software up and supporting community projects.
We've seen it now with their support of OpenSWAN, the open-sourcing of YaST and iFolder, and the continuing free releases of SuSE 9.1.
As I said, I'm very pleased to see this, and I suspect we'll see even more support of the open source and free software community from the reborn phoenix that is Novell.
I used to have toy from Mattel back around 1983 or so that worked on this same concept - it was called a LightStick or some such. It was a long black paddle with a row of leds on the front, and a keyboard on the back. You just typed in a message, and wave the stick wildly back and forth in the air.
As I recall the problem was, waving this thing around wildly was very taxing on the arms, and the message was sometimes unclear and difficult to read - especially after fatigue set it.
Hopefully Nokia thought about this, and has made it a little less straining to use.
You're correct - my apologies. I should not have made such a generalization, but unfortunately, at least in my area, this is the case.
I have a good friend who is a senior leader at my internet provider. At my ISP, most of the level 1 tech support staff are students at the local college. Due to the economic conditions where I live, and the demand in certain specific businesses (banking and finanical services), most well-trained, well-educated technology professionals have better options available to them than internet help desk. We have a shortage of qualified people in companies that have the means to hire the best, so we end up with most of the upper and mid tiers.
Add to this the fact that level 1 help desk tends to be lower-paying, and the hours can be rough, as it requires 24x7 staffing. The average age of these people is under 30, and most do not have a high-tech background.
As a side note, this is also why so many of these jobs are being sent from my region in the US to offshore support centers in third world countries. We can pay the same or less money, cover the same hours, and have far more qualified staff.
That is a serious dilemma, but as you stated, I was incorrect in painting with such a broad brush just for a laugh. I'm well aware that there are plenty of intelligent, educated, motivated people who work tech support. And I also know from personal experience that there are plenty of very helpful folks in tech support that have saved me in a bind.
Thanks for your hard work -- mea culpa!
Actually, Slashdotters are very diverse crowd, many of us are healthcare professionals, work in healthcare IT, and as a sampling of the general population, deal with many health challenges ourselves.
To to original poster: I've taken schizophrenia suppressing medications for it's dopamine suppression effects to help quell migraines. One thing on them - the side effects can be brutal. Make certain your your sister stays on the medication, unless their MD changes the treatment plan. Also, read about your sister's medications and look for side effects. If you're involved in your sister's treatment, be sure to let your doctors know about any negative manifestions. Some of these effects can be permanent - most concerning to me was the chance for tardive dyskinesia, involuntary muscle movements and twitches. It seems that a lifetime of very obvious, constant nervous tics could be almost as bad as the mental problems.
The best advice I can give is to read as much as you can find. Here is a link to the Medscape Schizophrenia Resource Center (free registration required). I've found Medscape to be a very helpful site for healthcare information, and the resource centers have tons of useful information. Since these articles are targeted at doctors, you may need to read with a medical dictionary handy at first, but the information is as up-to-date you will find. It has proven invaluable to me.
I wish you the best of luck - chronic health problems - mental or physical - are difficult for patient, family, and friends. I'll be certain to keep you and your family in my prayers.
The stupidest tech support answer I've ever run into was during the height of the virus/worm scares in February.
My cable modem connection had stopped work. Given my ISPs track record, this was unremarkable, but after it continued for 2 days, I decided to call the tech support number. After supplying my ID number, the support person told me that my connection was intentionally shut off because I was broadcasting a widely-circulated Windows virus. I promptly informed the tech support person that I did not use the Windows operating system on any of my computers, and that I could not possibly have the virus I was accused of having.
The support rep immediately told me that I had the virus, and that they would not turn my connection back on until I jumped through their anti-virus hoops. I argued for almost 10 minutes with this neophyte that I could not use their Windows anti-virus on my Linux systems, and that even if I could, it would not do a damn bit of good. Did it matter? Of course not.
Finally, in order to get my connection back on, I agreed to perform their anti-virus tricks "to the best of my ability", and install Windows just so I could "remove the virus" from my system. The rep actually thought this was an excellent resolution to the problem, but for some reason didn't believe I would actually do it (could have been my vehement renouncements against the entirety of Microsoft's products). After another 5 minutes of cajoling, I convinced her to turn my connection back on so I could get the anti-virus tools, and access Windows Update.
I was, however, given a stern warning that if I was found to persist in operating with this virus, I would have my account revoked, and my services cancelled. I submissively agreed, and thanked the rep for her time and patience. I haven't heard anything since, and I never did actually install Windows or use the anti-virus crap.
What do you expect for minimum wage, a script, and a bunch of college kids majoring in business?
A few things to consider:
If you think about it, and do your research, rack-mount equipment is the way to go. It is certainly more expensive, but the extra money will buy you reusability and longer life.
Why cellphones? I mean, really, what's the value of having people call in to hear wind whistling around, balloons rustling (latex/plastic rubbing together), and cellphones ringing.
Why not use higher-fidelity equipment, and make a recording available for download afterwards? I think the quality and value of that model would be much more attractive.
Additionally, there will be issues with either 1) there being too few cellphones to meet the demand, and no one being able to get on them and listen, or 2) there will be too many cellphones, necessary to meed the demand, that will occupy all the access points/lines at the cell tower sites, and interfere with each other due to ambient RF from the phones being packed so close.
I hope these folks are bright enough to have considered and addressed these issues.
Those are just the few I've interacted with recently. IBM, Sun, JBoss, and Novell are doing a very good job of supporting, marketing, and selling their Linux-based server products. So there are more and more success stories out there.
But, like the article communicates, we need a lot more to get the momentum going on Linux for the masses. Hopefully, large organizations will follow IBM's lead, and small, open-source based project will look to CodeWeavers as excellent examples. We need more of those guys!
My grandfather founded an industrial diamond business in the mid-1960's, just him and his brother. (Industrial diamonds are just a very specialized industrial abrasive, used for polishing, grinding, lapping, and other abrasive uses. It's mostly a chemical, mechanical, and industrial engineering-based firm) It was started with just two employees in NYC, and when it was sold to DuPont in 1994 (and eventually to GE's SuperAbrasives division) it had just under hundred employees based in South Florida. As the company grew, the key employees were family members. Just like in your situation, my grandfather's wife was one of the first employees - doing bookkeeping and billing - followed much later by his children, my father and aunt. My mother was actually an employee at the business when she met (and eventually married) my father. By the time the business had grown to ~60 employees, every divison was headed by a family, and several more worked at the lower levels (including my cousin and I, who worked doing data entry and network administration during high school).
There were a ton of pitfalls associated with having family members work with and for you, and my family learned as we went. Sometimes work problems strained family relations, even to point where my Aunt was fired just to keep peace in the family. Now, ten years after the original family business was sold, my father has started a new family diamond abrasives business, and learned from the lessons of the previous company. His current wife (my mother passed away in 1998), my brother, and I all work at the family business. (I manage the IT department remotely right now, but plan to move back to South Florida in the next several years, as the business grows.)
Here are the key things that I observed my family learned over the years:
The current Bank of America is the result of legacy BofA's 1999 acquistion by NationsBank. The new organization is headquartered in Charlotte, NC - the second largest banking center in the US, behind NYC.
Bank of America has a several major points of presence across the US, including TX, CA, points in the great plains, and now in NY and New England, as a result of the recently announced merger with Fleet.
BofA, or any other North Carolina bank can hardly be considered "some southern outfit" - many of the top banks, brokerage firms, and other financial services companies in the US are headquartered there, or have major offices in there. Bank of America, Wachovia (formerly First Union National Bank), BB&T, First Charter, TIAA CREF, and Compass Group all have major presences or headquarters here. Deutsche Bank, ABN AMRO, and Citigroup are all adding sizable operations to the Charlotte area.
Any way you look at it, by fake-slapping Bank of America, SCO sends a message to that entire sector - an industry that is very risk adverse. Essentially saying "BOO!" to that bunch of scared children in our legal department.
I wonder who generates more traffic, google or slashdot... Google has far more traffic, I'm certain, but Slashdotters travel very specific links.
What's more dangerous to your bandwidth - top link on a google doodle or a slashdotting?
Why is everyone attacking Novell for this? Why are you all claiming they are in bed with SCO for offering enterprise customers what we have been asking for?
I can only speak for my large enterprise (Fortune 50, 70,000+ employees, billons of US$ in revenue, etc.), but our biggest obstacle to buying Linux was our legal department, demanding "I can get indemnity from everyone else, why can't someone offer me indemntiy for Linux?"
Large organizations (particularly ones that have large sums of other people's money to protect) only have one issue here - it's not open source politics, it's not SCO's pump and dump, and it's not who's right or wrong - it's risk mitigation. It's a question of how much money are we going to lose if SCO is right, and who is going to protect us from this?
I, for one, am glad to see Novell offering the opportunity for real Linux indemnity - goodness knows, I've asked everyone in the industry for it.
The issue here is one of enforcement. What's to stop the dishonest from forging e-mail headers and the rest, to fine a company or individual out of existance?
There's a huge issue with the volume of spam potentially involved. In the case of "fraudulent spam", who's going to investigate it, since the burden is on the sender?
Not that I'm defending spammers, I think the law is a good idea, but if the execution is flawed, it could be short-lived.
Woo hoo! Nerd chic!
I'm popular! People love me!
Can I leverage a TV show from this?
I think it's interesting that there is what appears to be a "core" part of the Fedora team focused on artwork.
This, alone, is an excellent move by RedHat to compete with Microsoft in a space they clearly lead the market - desktop UI.
As the Fedora site says, "Making things look pretty is the name of the game."
You make an excellent point, but that is still a real risk on a system similar to my home system. I use Time Warner's RoadRunner Cable Modem service, and have hundreds of people on my subnet.
In fact, a good percentage of attacks in general against my systems have been from "local" machines.
Besides, what better way to get back at that neighbor that pissed you off - run up their fines!