Too bad we can't mod the article (-1, Flamebait). I like Linux, but it can't do all the jobs in every situation. Besides, if someone doesn't want to use something, what makes you think you have the right to make them use it?
The question should have been asked: "What operating systems are governments considering for the desktops of the typical employee?"
Boiled down, Slashdot is not the place to be asking this question. Once you have compiled the list by asking the decision-makers, THEN you can tell Slashdot your results. THEN you can let Slashdot readers evangelise to their local governments for their favourite operating system, WHATEVER that may be.
The question that was asked is too biased to get an answer that is worth more than a fart in church.
My Palm device has far exceeded my expectations. It's still going strong and never fails to give me the entertainment I desire. I expect it to give me faithful service until the day I die.
I discovered the usefulness of it, oh twenty years ago or so when I was maybe 10. Intuitive, never had to read the manual.
"...In the original 16-bit version, the response was: "Nothing happens." In a later 32-bit version, this was amended to: "Twice as much nothing happens."
If "Nothing happens" in a 16-bit program, then in the 32-bit version, it should be "65536 times as much nothing happens."
"...I can drive my car anywhere without Chrysler being able to tell me not to..."
And, I suppose, you will drive your car on two different highways. At the same time. And make a copy of your car for your friends, too. Or did you buy a car, make a copy of it, and return the original to the dealer within the "3-day window"?
I can sympathize with the license agreement restricting the copying of software, but to restrict the transfer of said license is downright stupid. Even if it's an "OEM" license. That's like saying I can't take the V10 out of my Viper and put it in a Ford Escort. Or at least try.
IMHO, I don't see how fan-induced vibration can cause a head to go crashing into the platter. It's just not significant enough to do this. A good swift kick on the other hand can certainly do some damage. A good swift kick on your computer can, too.
That's not to say that fan vibration is not a problem. It indeed may be. The vibration, though small, won't have enough displacement to crash a head, but it could be enough to induce excess wear on the bearings in the drive. This in turn could cause the platters (or the head) to wobble or bind, eventually leading to seek errors, even a head crash. (Think: if the platter's wobbling, the data's physically not where it should be.)
But no, fan vibration won't directly cause a head crash.
Probably the best solution is to look for a smooth-running fan and shock mount it.
One of my customers had an office set up in a tiny little house. 802.11a reception was crappy at best, even when the AP was directly the other side of the wall from the laptop. We concluded there were two things going against us: plaster and lead-based paint. (Plaster often is mixed with sand as an aggregate.)
Eventually the company moved to larger, more open offices with sheetrock walls and only one layer of modern latex paint and everything is much better.
It's amazing how many people lately seem to be consulting Slashdot for qualified legal advice.
I hope that you realize submitting your own site to Slashdot will be more effective in bringing it down than an infinite number of lawyers in an infinite number of courts in an infinite number of years could ever hope to do.
Hmm... think I'll post a question to Slashdot: "What is users' experience using online forums for obtaining legal advice? Is the wild speculation of random, ill-educated, bug-eyed computer junkies a valid substitute for a consultation with an attorney? And most importantly, is Slashdot considered 'permissible evidence' in court?"
There's a number of posts which claim that mailing yourself a sealed copy of whatever you want to timestamp is valid, will hold up in court, bla bla bla.
Can anyone cite a court case in which such evidence was either accepted, rejected, or challenged?
"Sounds good to me" is not the way courts work. They work first on law, secondly on precedent, and thirdly on whether or not the question is valid or can be compromised. If the law does not explicitly say that a sealed, postmarked envelope is a valid timestamp, then it is up to the courts to decide if it is or not; once decided, that decision stands until a higher court overturns it.
Cite precedent or law and I'll believe it.
P.S. -- You can probably mail yourself an UNSEALED envelope, then when you need to, you can "backdate" something. Anyone know how the USPS handles unsealed mail?
Our shop has two IT employees, myself and my boss. We provide tech support and consulting services to a number of small businesses in the local area. We probably have about 200 customers, of which maybe 50 are regular callers.
So the ratio? Two IT techs for somewhere around 500 users. At least, that's what I'm guessing.
OK, so systems aren't "managed." We don't write policies and procedures. We don't give reports to upper management. Most of our users are fairly unconcerned about internal security. We don't give training on individual programs; our focus is networking, however we do support other software when we need to where we can. In that sense, our workload per user is fairly light.
Unless you have a really valid reason for using 12:00 AM when referring to midnight, you should really consider using 11:59 PM or 12:01 AM to relieve ambiguity and prevent confusion.
Yes, it stands to reason that if 12:01 AM means one minute after midnight that 12:00 AM would be midnight, but people are stupid and seem to think it means noon. Even if they do figure it out, they will wonder, "12:00 AM Dec 18, is that one minute before 12:01 AM on Dec 18, or one minute after 11:59 PM on Dec 18?"
An even better solution is to adopt 24-hour time: use 0000 for midnight and 2359 for the last minute of the day. That way, people can grumble about having to learn to tell (metric?) time all over again.
Once and for all, let it be known that 12:00 AM, midnight, 0000 hours, is the first minute, the beginning of the day, not the end!!! Scream it from the mountaintops! Let it descend to the plain! May it echo across the valleys througout the land!
It's really stupid, when you think about it, to have the first hour of the day be named twelve. "The first shall be last and the last shall be first."
Slashdot Mirror
April Fool's! isn't for a while yet.
Too bad we can't mod the article (-1, Flamebait). I like Linux, but it can't do all the jobs in every situation. Besides, if someone doesn't want to use something, what makes you think you have the right to make them use it?
The question should have been asked: "What operating systems are governments considering for the desktops of the typical employee?"
Boiled down, Slashdot is not the place to be asking this question. Once you have compiled the list by asking the decision-makers, THEN you can tell Slashdot your results. THEN you can let Slashdot readers evangelise to their local governments for their favourite operating system, WHATEVER that may be.
The question that was asked is too biased to get an answer that is worth more than a fart in church.
My Palm device has far exceeded my expectations. It's still going strong and never fails to give me the entertainment I desire. I expect it to give me faithful service until the day I die.
I discovered the usefulness of it, oh twenty years ago or so when I was maybe 10. Intuitive, never had to read the manual.
What? You said Palm OS?
"...In the original 16-bit version, the response was: "Nothing happens." In a later 32-bit version, this was amended to: "Twice as much nothing happens."
If "Nothing happens" in a 16-bit program, then in the 32-bit version, it should be "65536 times as much nothing happens."
As I understand it, Microsoft's Automatic Updates utility was originally called the Critical Update Notification Tool. They quickly changed this one.
"...I'm lucky if I screw in a light bulb..."
That brings to mind the old joke:
Q: How many flies does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Only two, but how'd they get in there in the first place?
"...I can drive my car anywhere without Chrysler being able to tell me not to..."
And, I suppose, you will drive your car on two different highways. At the same time. And make a copy of your car for your friends, too. Or did you buy a car, make a copy of it, and return the original to the dealer within the "3-day window"?
I can sympathize with the license agreement restricting the copying of software, but to restrict the transfer of said license is downright stupid. Even if it's an "OEM" license. That's like saying I can't take the V10 out of my Viper and put it in a Ford Escort. Or at least try.
IMHO, I don't see how fan-induced vibration can cause a head to go crashing into the platter. It's just not significant enough to do this. A good swift kick on the other hand can certainly do some damage. A good swift kick on your computer can, too.
That's not to say that fan vibration is not a problem. It indeed may be. The vibration, though small, won't have enough displacement to crash a head, but it could be enough to induce excess wear on the bearings in the drive. This in turn could cause the platters (or the head) to wobble or bind, eventually leading to seek errors, even a head crash. (Think: if the platter's wobbling, the data's physically not where it should be.)
But no, fan vibration won't directly cause a head crash.
Probably the best solution is to look for a smooth-running fan and shock mount it.
One of my customers had an office set up in a tiny little house. 802.11a reception was crappy at best, even when the AP was directly the other side of the wall from the laptop. We concluded there were two things going against us: plaster and lead-based paint. (Plaster often is mixed with sand as an aggregate.)
Eventually the company moved to larger, more open offices with sheetrock walls and only one layer of modern latex paint and everything is much better.
What do you expect from a system designed by a mortician?
No, he didn't. G-dubya pronounces it Nuke-yu-lar.
For more insight, see this.
The Tillamook County Creamery Association's cheese factory gives free tours. You get to sample all manner of dairy products, too.
It's in Tillamook, Oregon on the Oregon Coast.
Go to Cascade Networks. They claim to have experience with Pelco stuff. They sell it too, I guess.
Leave something out, it costs more: low-salt and sugar-free foods, exotic dancers, Microsoft Windows...
Yes, we see it everywhere.
It's amazing how many people lately seem to be consulting Slashdot for qualified legal advice.
I hope that you realize submitting your own site to Slashdot will be more effective in bringing it down than an infinite number of lawyers in an infinite number of courts in an infinite number of years could ever hope to do.
Hmm... think I'll post a question to Slashdot: "What is users' experience using online forums for obtaining legal advice? Is the wild speculation of random, ill-educated, bug-eyed computer junkies a valid substitute for a consultation with an attorney? And most importantly, is Slashdot considered 'permissible evidence' in court?"
The slashcode spell checker and redundant article blocker.
I don't like Quicktime. However, I don't like it less than I don't like Windows Media Player, so go Quicktime!
There's a number of posts which claim that mailing yourself a sealed copy of whatever you want to timestamp is valid, will hold up in court, bla bla bla.
Can anyone cite a court case in which such evidence was either accepted, rejected, or challenged?
"Sounds good to me" is not the way courts work. They work first on law, secondly on precedent, and thirdly on whether or not the question is valid or can be compromised. If the law does not explicitly say that a sealed, postmarked envelope is a valid timestamp, then it is up to the courts to decide if it is or not; once decided, that decision stands until a higher court overturns it.
Cite precedent or law and I'll believe it.
P.S. -- You can probably mail yourself an UNSEALED envelope, then when you need to, you can "backdate" something. Anyone know how the USPS handles unsealed mail?
In drug or child pr0n cases, digital data is often used as evidence against the defendant(s).
Our shop has two IT employees, myself and my boss. We provide tech support and consulting services to a number of small businesses in the local area. We probably have about 200 customers, of which maybe 50 are regular callers.
So the ratio? Two IT techs for somewhere around 500 users. At least, that's what I'm guessing.
OK, so systems aren't "managed." We don't write policies and procedures. We don't give reports to upper management. Most of our users are fairly unconcerned about internal security. We don't give training on individual programs; our focus is networking, however we do support other software when we need to where we can. In that sense, our workload per user is fairly light.
Attention programmers,
Unless you have a really valid reason for using 12:00 AM when referring to midnight, you should really consider using 11:59 PM or 12:01 AM to relieve ambiguity and prevent confusion.
Yes, it stands to reason that if 12:01 AM means one minute after midnight that 12:00 AM would be midnight, but people are stupid and seem to think it means noon. Even if they do figure it out, they will wonder, "12:00 AM Dec 18, is that one minute before 12:01 AM on Dec 18, or one minute after 11:59 PM on Dec 18?"
An even better solution is to adopt 24-hour time: use 0000 for midnight and 2359 for the last minute of the day. That way, people can grumble about having to learn to tell (metric?) time all over again.
Once and for all, let it be known that 12:00 AM, midnight, 0000 hours, is the first minute, the beginning of the day, not the end!!! Scream it from the mountaintops! Let it descend to the plain! May it echo across the valleys througout the land!
It's really stupid, when you think about it, to have the first hour of the day be named twelve. "The first shall be last and the last shall be first."
Well, my boss just went out and bought himself a house. No mansion by any means, just an ordinary place in a quiet neighborhood. Yup, I've seen it.
Since ours is a small company (I'm the only full-time employee), I'm really not expecting much of a Christmas bonus this year.
Ah, well, it's worth it, knowing his kids won't be playing next to a busy highway anymore. That's had me worried.
I think he has no clue what a bobble-head doll is, thanks be to God!
Check out EndRun Techonologies. Stratum 1 time servers using either GPS or CDMA sources. Sorry, they don't have WWV ones.
How long will it be before we see www.hotstuds.kids.us?