Typically, unattended installs are fine (more than fine to the extent you can fix the "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" idiocy), but opting to remove applications using a custom setup won't get rid of the SFC-managed folders which, despite being empty, serve as a painful reminder that you don't control your system.
As far as "cold starts," keep in mind that 90% of IE loads into memory when Windows boots up, whereas very little of (e.g.) Firefox is loaded into memory.
I'd even go so far as to suggest that the 90% of IE you're referring to makes up 25% of what gets loaded *after* the Windows desktop appears -- another apparent speed boost, this one disguising the fact that OS is still loading in the background.
As others have noted, the technologies used in the media are never printed on the packaging.
To offer a single example, I've been in the habit of buying Maxell CDs. Why? Because the name has some history to it (so it must be good), and most everything else found on the shelf of a typical store looks strangely cheap by comparison.
For a Windows system, I doubt you'll find a CD burning utility reporting anything more than something like disc capacity. When I first started using cdrecord, it took me some time to figure out why the heck the name Pro Disc Technology kept showing up on my screen. Seems my Maxell CDs are Pro Disc CDs.
Mabye the folks at Pro Disc are shy, or maybe Maxell does make CDs, but not the ones being sold under the Maxell brand.
Reverse-engineering in the United States is now "legal for stuff, except
stuff doing digital rights management," or DRM, he said. "So what has been
happening is folks like Microsoft have been putting DRM into everything. DRM has
been put into places you wouldn't think would make a whole lot of sense, like
the document format being wrapped in DRM stuff...Under the sheets, the major
justification is to make reverse-engineering illegal."
Bill Gates, on the other hand, offers a very different (albeit
hardly suprising) point of view in a recent NY
Times article.
``Over the years, our industry has tried many approaches to come to grips with the heterogeneity of software,'' Gates said, ``But the solution that has proven consistently effective -- and the one that yields the greatest success for developers today -- is a strong commitment to interoperability.''
Microsoft is also facing competition from Linux and other software that can be copied and modified freely. Proponents of such software say its flexible distribution makes it easier to design to work with other software.
Gates argued, however, that open source software encourages the proliferation of different software systems, making it harder to integrate them with other proprietary systems.
Many Microsoft products already work with other non-Microsoft products, and the company will build more interoperability into the design of its products, Gates said.
So, there you have it. Things are fine, and getting better.
The best part of subscribing to Slashdot is watching CmdrTaco post multiple duplicates in a row...
Actually, what's even better is getting a chance to re-read a great article. Sort of like a good book.
Ok, well, maybe not.
Re:Waiting for the script templates or tools....
on
Hacking OpenOffice
·
· Score: 1
Most of my friends are in "the business" and all but a few think that script-specific software sucks. Most defer to Final Draft because everyone else uses it (echoes of Microsoft Word). It seems the goal, like that of selecting an email client, is finding which sucks less, and hoping you don't have interoperability problems.
Not exactly OO, but LaTeX is fairly trivial to pick up, and a quick search came up with this page. Might be worth a look, especially for anyone tired of dicking around with WYSIWYG pointing and clicking.
Not at all. But it does bring into question the motivation/appropriateness of overstating features, or otherwise presenting them in a manner that is somewhere between misleading and uninformative.
No one has a problem with enthusiasm. But without context, statements like "Such and such is a great new feature!" are of no value to anyone but marketing departments.
Yes, Windows can be run "headless", can be administered remotely, can be fixed with built-in recovery tools, and can be deployed using standard MS tools. But in the context of what exactly is possible and what isn't, especially when compared with the standard toolset of a typical Linux system, those features don't add up to much.
"the best bang/buck for your average guy is putting two to four 160GB or 250GB drives in RAID 1 or 5"
I recently picked up two 300GB Seagates from Fry's. The price IIRC $139 each, which would make the per GB cost less than 50 cents.
Also, anyone considering the benefits of 2-4 drives in a RAID array may not want to underestimate the heat generated. Not to mention that if any/all the drives start to develop eletronic whines, you'll have a storage system usable only if (a) you're deaf; or (b) you have a basement.
"Pretty much, I browse a few groups, but with perlmonks and other major discussion groups going to forums..."
And what does the forum content on perl monks have that comp.lang.perl.misc, for example, doesn't?
We seem to agree that the "forums" approach in all but a few rare cases is somewhere between embarassing and woefully inadequate, but I don't agree that with their smattering of content and animated gifs, their "popularity" is indicative of any trend.
Usenet is alive and well and will continue to be. Forums will always suck. Between the two are mailing lists, and only to the extent where one has access to to archived content (ideally downloadable in mbox format) so one can process/search/read that content as one prefers.
Google's efforts in this area are admirable, but I see no reason why anyone should hold their breath expecting a revolutionary interface for what is and always will be a text medium. Put another way, the pithy phrase "All email clients suck, but mutt sucks less." sums it up nicely.
If you don't have a good usenet feed, or aren't maintaining your own archives, you can at any time download a huge amount of content (both archived and current) from news.gmane.org (?), and "browse" it as you see fit, all without resorting to Google's or anyone else's interface. That should cover 90% of anyone's needs. Google IMHO is more appropriate for what is covered with the dust of history.
A bit off-topic, but I have to admit I am a big fan of htmlhelp aka CHM files. At least in principle.
The idea that one can "compress" a bazillion html files into a single indexed file (single or double paned window) that is easily both indexed and easily searchable file seems, at least to me, the cat's meow.
Not sure what you mean by the MSDN format. The so-called MSDN menu you can add at compile time, but as far the "features/standards" promulgated by Microsoft for the designing of CHM files, I think they're mostly rubbish.
Imagine-a-beowulf-in-soviet-russia-old-people-in -k orea-sharks-with lasers-640K-is-good-enough-but-is-it-digitally-sig ned jokes!
Gotta be worth something, right?
Ok, maybe not.
Re:LOL, "familiarize new users"
on
Grokking Knoppix
·
· Score: 1
If you're saying that you don't have time to learn the basics of the operating system you're running because you're too smart, educated and busy, I'd suggest you read a primer or have a friend show you the basics. Hardly much of an investment.
On the other hand, if you do understand the basics, but can't be bothered trying to learn all the commmands available to you or remember their respective options, well, let me introduce to the "man" and "apropos" commands.
Slashdot Mirror
The same applies even more so for dogs. A dog would camp out by the feeder.
Typically, unattended installs are fine (more than fine to the extent you can fix the "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" idiocy), but opting to remove applications using a custom setup won't get rid of the SFC-managed folders which, despite being empty, serve as a painful reminder that you don't control your system.
Err, I'll bet you're not into the "performing arts" either.
I'd even go so far as to suggest that the 90% of IE you're referring to makes up 25% of what gets loaded *after* the Windows desktop appears -- another apparent speed boost, this one disguising the fact that OS is still loading in the background.
Stay out of real-life endeavors.
Problems solved.
Well, then who are you?
That's what the PARs are for.
As others have noted, the technologies used in the media are never printed on the packaging.
To offer a single example, I've been in the habit of buying Maxell CDs. Why? Because the name has some history to it (so it must be good), and most everything else found on the shelf of a typical store looks strangely cheap by comparison.
For a Windows system, I doubt you'll find a CD burning utility reporting anything more than something like disc capacity. When I first started using cdrecord, it took me some time to figure out why the heck the name Pro Disc Technology kept showing up on my screen. Seems my Maxell CDs are Pro Disc CDs.
Mabye the folks at Pro Disc are shy, or maybe Maxell does make CDs, but not the ones being sold under the Maxell brand.
Go figure.
Err, it seems the correct spelling of "alluded" eluded you entirely and left us readers with the illusion of a coherent thought.
Gosling offers a bit of insight when he says:
Reverse-engineering in the United States is now "legal for stuff, except stuff doing digital rights management," or DRM, he said. "So what has been happening is folks like Microsoft have been putting DRM into everything. DRM has been put into places you wouldn't think would make a whole lot of sense, like the document format being wrapped in DRM stuff...Under the sheets, the major justification is to make reverse-engineering illegal."
Bill Gates, on the other hand, offers a very different (albeit hardly suprising) point of view in a recent NY Times article.
``Over the years, our industry has tried many approaches to come to grips with the heterogeneity of software,'' Gates said, ``But the solution that has proven consistently effective -- and the one that yields the greatest success for developers today -- is a strong commitment to interoperability.''
Microsoft is also facing competition from Linux and other software that can be copied and modified freely. Proponents of such software say its flexible distribution makes it easier to design to work with other software.
Gates argued, however, that open source software encourages the proliferation of different software systems, making it harder to integrate them with other proprietary systems.
Many Microsoft products already work with other non-Microsoft products, and the company will build more interoperability into the design of its products, Gates said.
So, there you have it. Things are fine, and getting better.
Frankly, I haven't used my ISP's email regularly since 1999 or so. Instead, I've used yahoo ...
Geezus. Can it be that I've been wrestling with filtering out variations of those lame-assed Do You Yahoo!? advertising footers for that many years?
The best part of subscribing to Slashdot is watching CmdrTaco post multiple duplicates in a row...
Actually, what's even better is getting a chance to re-read a great article. Sort of like a good book.
Ok, well, maybe not.
Most of my friends are in "the business" and all but a few think that script-specific software sucks. Most defer to Final Draft because everyone else uses it (echoes of Microsoft Word). It seems the goal, like that of selecting an email client, is finding which sucks less, and hoping you don't have interoperability problems.
Not exactly OO, but LaTeX is fairly trivial to pick up, and a quick search came up with this page. Might be worth a look, especially for anyone tired of dicking around with WYSIWYG pointing and clicking.
I think Google and the folks that showed up stand to do well.
Only one in six users of internet search engines can tell the difference between unbiased search results and paid advertisements, a new survey finds.
Article here.
"(If you read this post very carefully, you'll notice that if you remove all the buzzwords, what remains is hogwash. Literally.)"
Shit. Glad you told me. I was going to send you money for your idea.
Not at all. But it does bring into question the motivation/appropriateness of overstating features, or otherwise presenting them in a manner that is somewhere between misleading and uninformative.
No one has a problem with enthusiasm. But without context, statements like "Such and such is a great new feature!" are of no value to anyone but marketing departments.
Yes, Windows can be run "headless", can be administered remotely, can be fixed with built-in recovery tools, and can be deployed using standard MS tools. But in the context of what exactly is possible and what isn't, especially when compared with the standard toolset of a typical Linux system, those features don't add up to much.
"the best bang/buck for your average guy is putting two to four 160GB or 250GB drives in RAID 1 or 5"
I recently picked up two 300GB Seagates from Fry's. The price IIRC $139 each, which would make the per GB cost less than 50 cents.
Also, anyone considering the benefits of 2-4 drives in a RAID array may not want to underestimate the heat generated. Not to mention that if any/all the drives start to develop eletronic whines, you'll have a storage system usable only if (a) you're deaf; or (b) you have a basement.
"Anyway, you can run GUI-less windows servers on 2003 today. And even if you do choose to use the GUI shell for administering a Windows server ..."
This deserves a "Why does every MS apologist insist that Windows can be run without a GUI?"
Or, more accurately, "Why does every MS apologist insist that their half-dozen Resource Kit utilities adds up to Remote Administration Without a GUI?"
And last but not least ...
There's the old joke about a guy named Mark being chased through a cemetary's grounds while taking a shortcut late one night.
The "Mark! Mark! Mark!" behind him turns out to be from a dog with a cleft-palate.
"Pretty much, I browse a few groups, but with perlmonks and other major discussion groups going to forums ..."
And what does the forum content on perl monks have that comp.lang.perl.misc, for example, doesn't?
We seem to agree that the "forums" approach in all but a few rare cases is somewhere between embarassing and woefully inadequate, but I don't agree that with their smattering of content and animated gifs, their "popularity" is indicative of any trend.
Usenet is alive and well and will continue to be. Forums will always suck. Between the two are mailing lists, and only to the extent where one has access to to archived content (ideally downloadable in mbox format) so one can process/search/read that content as one prefers.
Google's efforts in this area are admirable, but I see no reason why anyone should hold their breath expecting a revolutionary interface for what is and always will be a text medium. Put another way, the pithy phrase "All email clients suck, but mutt sucks less." sums it up nicely.
If you don't have a good usenet feed, or aren't maintaining your own archives, you can at any time download a huge amount of content (both archived and current) from news.gmane.org (?), and "browse" it as you see fit, all without resorting to Google's or anyone else's interface. That should cover 90% of anyone's needs. Google IMHO is more appropriate for what is covered with the dust of history.
A bit off-topic, but I have to admit I am a big fan of htmlhelp aka CHM files. At least in principle.
The idea that one can "compress" a bazillion html files into a single indexed file (single or double paned window) that is easily both indexed and easily searchable file seems, at least to me, the cat's meow.
Not sure what you mean by the MSDN format. The so-called MSDN menu you can add at compile time, but as far the "features/standards" promulgated by Microsoft for the designing of CHM files, I think they're mostly rubbish.
"Seldom has a new cpu made me feel so tingly inside."
Just be careful. Eating too much asparagus tends to produce nasty byproducts when tingling.
"Are we still going to be having this debate in 20 years?"
Well, I'd guess less than 15 years at the most.
Yeah, but what about the jokes?
n -k orea-sharks-with lasers-640K-is-good-enough-but-is-it-digitally-sig ned jokes!
Imagine-a-beowulf-in-soviet-russia-old-people-i
Gotta be worth something, right?
Ok, maybe not.
If you're saying that you don't have time to learn the basics of the operating system you're running because you're too smart, educated and busy, I'd suggest you read a primer or have a friend show you the basics. Hardly much of an investment.
On the other hand, if you do understand the basics, but can't be bothered trying to learn all the commmands available to you or remember their respective options, well, let me introduce to the "man" and "apropos" commands.
Next excuse?