So the downloads increased more than thousandfold when you made it free. In other words, most of the people who downloaded the free version would never have done so if it wasn't free. Likewise, most of the people who downloaded a pirated version would never have got it if they had to pay.
If the goal is distribution of product, then goal is achieved far better through free versions...
if the goal is distribution of product for sakes of making money, well obviously downloads of paying customers.
I can't speak for OP, but i'd rather have 100 people spending $1 on an app they liked rather than the glory of thousands of downloads when free.
Even if it was $0.01... it's similiar to a tip, it's a sign that someone appreciated the work you did.
Reading the referencing articles and Microsoft's sites...
They're not refusing to fix it.
They said they're investigating and there's no plans to release an immediate fix.
At best, this could summary could be stretched to "urgent 0day attack vector that Microsoft hasn't released a fix for".
I wish there was a way to rate articles as flamebait.
Somedays Slashdot is just like playing the "Telephone Game".
sigh!
The memory requirements did NOT change. How SP3 utilizes that memory did change.
XP SP3 consumes more memory due to redesign of a few services implemented.
BUT...
a.) It's a fraction (as in no more than 32MB from what I recall on an out of the box default install.)
b.) overall system speed is better on SP3.
XP/SP1/SP2/SP3 all have the same hardware requirements.
You can choose to have a fraction of more memory available, or a faster system.
If that extra 32MB of memory usage is killing you, I think you have larger issues. That's not enough memory to run anything useful. I'd say it's a good trade off, a bit more memory for better performance.
Also, if you are that dead set about getting all your performance, you should install SP3 (for faster tweak) and then disabling a few nonessential services.
Doing that, you will run roughly the same free memory as you did on SP2, with the speed benefits of SP3.
Working as a system builder who did fresh installs of SP2/SP3 on machines on a daily basis (unfortuately!) I can confirm this.
SP3 itself did not lower your system performance.
You might want to do a fresh install of windows xp with sp3 slipstreamed. that will bypass your performance issues you feel exist.
a lot, you just need to look at the OTHER phones, not the coolest shiniest toys.
But if you want a highend phone for under $200, yes you need a contract.
If you want a basic phone and no contract that's doable.
Not directed at you, just generally..
But who would step up and pay for the higher tiered service unless they were told/force to by their ISP?
If you want to download/upload hundreds of gigs a month, sure go for it, but be prepared to pay several hundred dollars for that.
Nothing is unlimited, but when it comes to the internet people think that suddenly this is the exception to the case.
Unlimited for $50/month? You believed that?
I got a bridge to sell you then lets talk.
But, is that a legal use for your internet connection?
If convenience is more important wouldnt it make more sense to get a PVR of some sort instead of downloading files from the internet?
having worked for an ISP a few years ago, high bandwidth users do cost more than they bring in.
Now, you may say that bandwidth is cheap, but the infrastructure sure isn't.
Getting more bandwidth is fairly cheap. Getting core routers, deploying it to the curb via cable plants or dslam upgrades are were the majority of the cost go.
Sadly the majority of the content on P2P networks are "not legal". Why would an ISP host content that is illegal?
Look at the top files on your BT site. Now, tell me which percentage of those are "legal".
Bad analogy time, that's like the cops handing out guns because the lineups at the arm dealers are too long.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/12/04/1518221/Hunting-the-Mythical-Bandwidth-Hog#
Keep in mind when buying a laser printer that you need to factor in the price of Fusers & Imaging Drums. A lot of the cheap ones have limited cycles and are worth half the cost of the unit to replace.
HP or Brother would be my recommendation.. BUT not their lowest end. The HP P2xx series are where you should start looking.
elephant in the room... what if I want to run XP Pro?
my only option if I don't already have a legitimate copy is to pirate it, given that you can no longer purchase it.
(granted I could still buy Vista with downgrade licence... but I don't want to pay for something I will never use)
You can still buy Windows XP OEM from computer builders. You cannot go into a big retail box store and grab it, no. But to me, that's like saying you cannot goto your corner drugstore and grab a book that came out 2 years ago.
For that, you would goto a book store.
I think the same idea applies here..
XP is still available, however it may not be available at your favourite shopping location or as an option on the exact computer you want. That's life sadly.
Or, like you say, you can purchase Windows Vista Ultimate/Windows Vista Business, you get free downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional.
There is no one program that will fix/repair/prevent all anti{virus,spyware} issues.
There is no silver bullet. If you get an infected computer in a repair shop:
you pull the drive, put in a clean PC and run SEVERAL av programs until nothing is found. then you hope its clean.
We're loaded with dark fiber at the moment (laid during the DotCom bubble) that, if it were actually lit up, would give us more than enough capacity to be competitive on the world scene. But it's kept dark because certain large corporations make more money by inducing artificial scarcity (kinda like the music industry, but that's a story for another day.)
the equipment that the fibre plugs into isnt cheap... hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit. Redundancy is nice too:)
That only applies to watching a DRM movie/multimedia/tv out applications.
Playing solitaire, running microsoft word/google apps, playing a flash game, replying to email will NOT give the "degraded experience".
IF you actually have vista and use it on a daily basis (big if), i'd love to see how you think DRM stuff inside vista is causing problems, UNLESS you're actually using a drm laden audio/video file?
And even then, its a big if.
How many people who bash vista have used it for more than 5 minutes?
There is a shortage for Competent skilled and experienced IT workers that will accept a very low wage.
THAT is the real shortage. I know of several IT guys that were making a paltry $23.50 an hour that have been offered several IT jobs at $12.95 or $18.95 an hour and told the recruiter it was an insult.
They make more selling insurance and working as a drywaller than in IT.
my first question is - why are those rates paltry?
What makes them worth their current amount of money in the first place?
Not to troll, just everyone thinks they deserve more money, yet how do they justify it. Do they have training? degrees? etc
$13/hr is more than min wage and say is $19/hr
raw bandwidth cost is only PART of the solution. I won't comment on how much transit actually costs, but you need to guarantee connectivity via SLA, have people available 24/7, have redundant connections, etc.
The cost of the routers that handle it is part of the equation as well. Cisco Routing gear is NOT cheap. We're talking list price of $80,000 for an OC12 linecard.... which can support 620mbit of bandwidth routing. Smaller ISPs have millions of dollars of equipment. People who can support that are not cheap either, Cisco certified engineers command a hefty salary.
Bandwidth is cheap...er than it was a few years ago. But expecting LAN speeds on the internet for $40/month is a bit unrealistic.
Another point of contention - to those to who look at Sweden or other countries. They are HEAVILY subsidized by the govt so of course their internet is cheap. So is post secondary education. But guess what, they also pay zillions of dollars more in taxes, not to mention their country is laid out differently so they dont need to run 40 billion miles of cables, only 1 billion etc....
Pick and choose your priorities. Especially since there are places in North America where poverty is rampant and education is a low priority.... Should we make cheap(er) internet more important? You can get faster network connectivity if you need to, but hey this isn't mcdonalds. you get what you pay for.
When you pay for T1 (or similiar) connectivity, you usually get a SLA and it includes bandwidth and premium network.
You don't have to go through 2 installs to get it working.... you only need to go through 2 installs if you buy the upgrade version instead of the full version (retail or oem).
If you're buying new hardware components(upgrading), you qualify to buy the oem copy from a legit computer store. there's 2 forms of oem copies, oem/bastardized copies that you get from Dell/HP/IBM, and then the copies that get installed on "whitebox" systems that your local computer store custom builds for you instead of buying off the shelf at officedepot/bestbuy etc.
How this got moddded as insightful... wow....
Speaking as somebody who's been doing that sort of stuff as awhile....
This guy gives all wannabe computer consultants a bad rep.
1.) NEVER EVER TEST ON A CLIENT'S SYSTEM
- You should test on your own equipment to see how hard the controller is to setup etc. CLient's systems are handsoff.
Preferably you pre-setup the raid controller and initialize the raid controller ahead of time. Doesn't waste your time onsite, and if you want to make extra cash, you can bill client for it while you working on other projects.
2.) Whitebox OEM copies of XP are different than HP/Dell/IBM copies. They're the same OS, but the licensing is different.That's one of the reasons those systems are cheaper than a regular whitebox system - Microsoft gives them a special copy of Windows, without the media and the license that states you only get a recovery cd preloaded, not a full copy.
3.).... ugh.... makes my brain hurt. i don't want to continue on.
It actually has nothing to do with Microsoft sorry to say:(
User bought a proprietary hardware box, got a guy who thought he knew what he was doing.
I wonder how long the client was down/unable to use or access files because of this guys lack of knowledge and foreplanning?
I personally would have recommended a Linux machine from the start, BUT it could be done on a windows 98/2k/xp machine just as well if the person implementing it knew anything.
Please, i hope you dont call yourself a computer guy. You give a bad rep to everybody in the industry:(
Funny thing, earlier this spring I was in the Futureshop (basicly the same as Bestbuy) and overheard some teens in the listening area listening to the music and seeing what tracks are on the cds... while quite nonchalently talking about what tracks they were gonna download later that night. I also noted that they left the store without buying anything...
I wonder which is more likely, for them to buy the music they had an interest in via itunes/other legit place, or to use P2P program?
I think it's fairly obvious, if you enjoy something then the person who gave you that enjoyment should be compensated. Meh. My 2 cents.
It all depends on your hardware. The Intel 865/875 and higher chipset are the only ones (i'm familiar with anyway) that support native SATA - meaning the motherboard itself treats the builtin SATA controller as a standard IDE controller and passes it straight through to the OS. Meaning XP sees any devices attached to it without any problems.
The next generation of MBs with SATA are suppose to have native controller as well.... someday. The VIA and SIS chipsets do not have builtin SATA - if you look at the motherboard, you will see a silicon image or promise technologies chip somewhere on the board. Unfortunately, until the other manufacturers build SATA directly into the chipset, you will need to do the F6 install the driver... or doing it via ghost is one way of doing it, but kinda roundabout. Generally, installing the drivers off a floppy disk has worked on various promise based SATA controllers i've used on motherboards. Haven't used any boards with SI controller though.... as always in the tech world, YMMV.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll be the guy who says $368,640/TB/YR :)
So the downloads increased more than thousandfold when you made it free. In other words, most of the people who downloaded the free version would never have done so if it wasn't free. Likewise, most of the people who downloaded a pirated version would never have got it if they had to pay.
If the goal is distribution of product, then goal is achieved far better through free versions... if the goal is distribution of product for sakes of making money, well obviously downloads of paying customers. I can't speak for OP, but i'd rather have 100 people spending $1 on an app they liked rather than the glory of thousands of downloads when free. Even if it was $0.01... it's similiar to a tip, it's a sign that someone appreciated the work you did.
Reading the referencing articles and Microsoft's sites... They're not refusing to fix it. They said they're investigating and there's no plans to release an immediate fix. At best, this could summary could be stretched to "urgent 0day attack vector that Microsoft hasn't released a fix for". I wish there was a way to rate articles as flamebait. Somedays Slashdot is just like playing the "Telephone Game". sigh!
The memory requirements did NOT change. How SP3 utilizes that memory did change. XP SP3 consumes more memory due to redesign of a few services implemented. BUT... a.) It's a fraction (as in no more than 32MB from what I recall on an out of the box default install.) b.) overall system speed is better on SP3. XP/SP1/SP2/SP3 all have the same hardware requirements. You can choose to have a fraction of more memory available, or a faster system. If that extra 32MB of memory usage is killing you, I think you have larger issues. That's not enough memory to run anything useful. I'd say it's a good trade off, a bit more memory for better performance. Also, if you are that dead set about getting all your performance, you should install SP3 (for faster tweak) and then disabling a few nonessential services. Doing that, you will run roughly the same free memory as you did on SP2, with the speed benefits of SP3. Working as a system builder who did fresh installs of SP2/SP3 on machines on a daily basis (unfortuately!) I can confirm this. SP3 itself did not lower your system performance. You might want to do a fresh install of windows xp with sp3 slipstreamed. that will bypass your performance issues you feel exist.
What American phones have no contracts?
a lot, you just need to look at the OTHER phones, not the coolest shiniest toys. But if you want a highend phone for under $200, yes you need a contract. If you want a basic phone and no contract that's doable.
100% completely wrong. Please dont spread mistruth like this on slashdot, how did you get modded up?! That disturbs me.
Not directed at you, just generally.. But who would step up and pay for the higher tiered service unless they were told/force to by their ISP? If you want to download/upload hundreds of gigs a month, sure go for it, but be prepared to pay several hundred dollars for that. Nothing is unlimited, but when it comes to the internet people think that suddenly this is the exception to the case. Unlimited for $50/month? You believed that? I got a bridge to sell you then lets talk.
But, is that a legal use for your internet connection? If convenience is more important wouldnt it make more sense to get a PVR of some sort instead of downloading files from the internet?
having worked for an ISP a few years ago, high bandwidth users do cost more than they bring in. Now, you may say that bandwidth is cheap, but the infrastructure sure isn't. Getting more bandwidth is fairly cheap. Getting core routers, deploying it to the curb via cable plants or dslam upgrades are were the majority of the cost go.
Sadly the majority of the content on P2P networks are "not legal". Why would an ISP host content that is illegal? Look at the top files on your BT site. Now, tell me which percentage of those are "legal". Bad analogy time, that's like the cops handing out guns because the lineups at the arm dealers are too long. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/12/04/1518221/Hunting-the-Mythical-Bandwidth-Hog#
Keep in mind when buying a laser printer that you need to factor in the price of Fusers & Imaging Drums. A lot of the cheap ones have limited cycles and are worth half the cost of the unit to replace. HP or Brother would be my recommendation.. BUT not their lowest end. The HP P2xx series are where you should start looking.
elephant in the room... what if I want to run XP Pro? my only option if I don't already have a legitimate copy is to pirate it, given that you can no longer purchase it. (granted I could still buy Vista with downgrade licence... but I don't want to pay for something I will never use)
You can still buy Windows XP OEM from computer builders. You cannot go into a big retail box store and grab it, no. But to me, that's like saying you cannot goto your corner drugstore and grab a book that came out 2 years ago. For that, you would goto a book store. I think the same idea applies here.. XP is still available, however it may not be available at your favourite shopping location or as an option on the exact computer you want. That's life sadly. Or, like you say, you can purchase Windows Vista Ultimate/Windows Vista Business, you get free downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional.
So true... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Locked_Preinstallation The key is slipstreamed into the "recovery disk" media and locked to the BIOS inside the unit.
There is no one program that will fix/repair/prevent all anti{virus,spyware} issues. There is no silver bullet. If you get an infected computer in a repair shop: you pull the drive, put in a clean PC and run SEVERAL av programs until nothing is found. then you hope its clean.
oops cancelling bad mod DOH. :|
Who's dumb idea was it to give me modding privs?
We're loaded with dark fiber at the moment (laid during the DotCom bubble) that, if it were actually lit up, would give us more than enough capacity to be competitive on the world scene. But it's kept dark because certain large corporations make more money by inducing artificial scarcity (kinda like the music industry, but that's a story for another day.)
the equipment that the fibre plugs into isnt cheap... hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit. Redundancy is nice too :)
That only applies to watching a DRM movie/multimedia/tv out applications. Playing solitaire, running microsoft word/google apps, playing a flash game, replying to email will NOT give the "degraded experience". IF you actually have vista and use it on a daily basis (big if), i'd love to see how you think DRM stuff inside vista is causing problems, UNLESS you're actually using a drm laden audio/video file? And even then, its a big if. How many people who bash vista have used it for more than 5 minutes?
There is a shortage for Competent skilled and experienced IT workers that will accept a very low wage.
THAT is the real shortage. I know of several IT guys that were making a paltry $23.50 an hour that have been offered several IT jobs at $12.95 or $18.95 an hour and told the recruiter it was an insult.
They make more selling insurance and working as a drywaller than in IT.
my first question is - why are those rates paltry? What makes them worth their current amount of money in the first place? Not to troll, just everyone thinks they deserve more money, yet how do they justify it. Do they have training? degrees? etc $13/hr is more than min wage and say is $19/hr
raw bandwidth cost is only PART of the solution. I won't comment on how much transit actually costs, but you need to guarantee connectivity via SLA, have people available 24/7, have redundant connections, etc. The cost of the routers that handle it is part of the equation as well. Cisco Routing gear is NOT cheap. We're talking list price of $80,000 for an OC12 linecard.... which can support 620mbit of bandwidth routing. Smaller ISPs have millions of dollars of equipment. People who can support that are not cheap either, Cisco certified engineers command a hefty salary. Bandwidth is cheap...er than it was a few years ago. But expecting LAN speeds on the internet for $40/month is a bit unrealistic. Another point of contention - to those to who look at Sweden or other countries. They are HEAVILY subsidized by the govt so of course their internet is cheap. So is post secondary education. But guess what, they also pay zillions of dollars more in taxes, not to mention their country is laid out differently so they dont need to run 40 billion miles of cables, only 1 billion etc.... Pick and choose your priorities. Especially since there are places in North America where poverty is rampant and education is a low priority.... Should we make cheap(er) internet more important? You can get faster network connectivity if you need to, but hey this isn't mcdonalds. you get what you pay for. When you pay for T1 (or similiar) connectivity, you usually get a SLA and it includes bandwidth and premium network.
You don't have to go through 2 installs to get it working.... you only need to go through 2 installs if you buy the upgrade version instead of the full version (retail or oem). If you're buying new hardware components(upgrading), you qualify to buy the oem copy from a legit computer store. there's 2 forms of oem copies, oem/bastardized copies that you get from Dell/HP/IBM, and then the copies that get installed on "whitebox" systems that your local computer store custom builds for you instead of buying off the shelf at officedepot/bestbuy etc. How this got moddded as insightful... wow....
This guy gives all wannabe computer consultants a bad rep.
1.) NEVER EVER TEST ON A CLIENT'S SYSTEM
- You should test on your own equipment to see how hard the controller is to setup etc. CLient's systems are handsoff. Preferably you pre-setup the raid controller and initialize the raid controller ahead of time. Doesn't waste your time onsite, and if you want to make extra cash, you can bill client for it while you working on other projects.
2.) Whitebox OEM copies of XP are different than HP/Dell/IBM copies. They're the same OS, but the licensing is different.That's one of the reasons those systems are cheaper than a regular whitebox system - Microsoft gives them a special copy of Windows, without the media and the license that states you only get a recovery cd preloaded, not a full copy.
3.)
It actually has nothing to do with Microsoft sorry to say :(
User bought a proprietary hardware box, got a guy who thought he knew what he was doing.
I wonder how long the client was down/unable to use or access files because of this guys lack of knowledge and foreplanning?
I personally would have recommended a Linux machine from the start, BUT it could be done on a windows 98/2k/xp machine just as well if the person implementing it knew anything.
Please, i hope you dont call yourself a computer guy. You give a bad rep to everybody in the industry :(
Funny thing, earlier this spring I was in the Futureshop (basicly the same as Bestbuy) and overheard some teens in the listening area listening to the music and seeing what tracks are on the cds... while quite nonchalently talking about what tracks they were gonna download later that night. I also noted that they left the store without buying anything... I wonder which is more likely, for them to buy the music they had an interest in via itunes/other legit place, or to use P2P program? I think it's fairly obvious, if you enjoy something then the person who gave you that enjoyment should be compensated. Meh. My 2 cents.
It all depends on your hardware. The Intel 865/875 and higher chipset are the only ones (i'm familiar with anyway) that support native SATA - meaning the motherboard itself treats the builtin SATA controller as a standard IDE controller and passes it straight through to the OS. Meaning XP sees any devices attached to it without any problems. The next generation of MBs with SATA are suppose to have native controller as well.... someday. The VIA and SIS chipsets do not have builtin SATA - if you look at the motherboard, you will see a silicon image or promise technologies chip somewhere on the board. Unfortunately, until the other manufacturers build SATA directly into the chipset, you will need to do the F6 install the driver... or doing it via ghost is one way of doing it, but kinda roundabout. Generally, installing the drivers off a floppy disk has worked on various promise based SATA controllers i've used on motherboards. Haven't used any boards with SI controller though.... as always in the tech world, YMMV.