How about their iPod? Their digital camera? Their scanner? The latest and greatest gadget that does who-knows-what?"
At work? Why?
At work. Yes. Its a PHB!
Honestly what planet do you live on? Are you under some impression that the adoption of linux is slowing down or has stopped? If so where did you get that impression.
I live on planet Earth, thanks. I'm under the impression that the growth of Linux is ever increasing.
I do, however, have a great deal of exposure to extremely non-technically people. Please remember that I am simply expressing an opinion based on my own personal experiences.
OK, this is pretty true but at the same time as divorcing MS you need to keep one thing in mind, and one thing alone:
Is it simple enough for a PHB to understand and use?
You know the sort of questions you'll get. Of course, here we are assuming you're not using Linux as a multi-user server system and are instead running it in as a single-user "desktop" machine system. The real issue is that Linux is ready, but everyone else isn't.
Ease of installation and availability of software is a big one.
Can the PHB "Hotsync" with their Handspring / Blackberry? Can they just download some software and install it themselves? How about their iPod? Their digital camera? Their scanner? The latest and greatest gadget that does who-knows-what?
I'm afraid that even downloading and installing Firefox on a Linux desktop would be too much for a PHB. Until is it pretty much exactly the same as Microsoft Windows you will have a hard time getting anywhere with a PHB.
Take another user group as an example: designers. Lots of designers will only use Macromedia software. Big problem.
In summary, Linux is already (and has been for a long time) ready as a desktop. It just needs the support of hardware manufacturers, software vendors, and hence their nifty little pre-packaged yummy installers / drivers.
Until hardware and software vendors put the same time and money into developing solutions for Linux as well as Microsoft Windows, it just isn't going to get the recognition it deserves. It could just take one big player to get the ball rolling though; who knows what the future will hold? I love Linux, and would never use Microsoft software at home (I've been through Windows from version 3 up to Xp so I have a experience of both systems) but until "the whole gang" gets "with it", then those who are "technically challenged" won't be able top be part of it.
Sure. Yes. Pay 24k. Uh-hu. OK. Let me get my PayPal account set up. Ah, I have a buyer...
"Leave the money in a brown paper bag STOP Wear a false mustache and a pink carnation STOP Make sure the bills are unmarked STOP Either that, or five copies of that wonderful Microsoft Windows XP will do STOP thank you Mr Ballmer STOP"
I couldn't agree more. Spend that $50 and get a hardware RAID controller; especially with a 500Mhz processor! Don't get me wrong; I've used Linux software RAID in the past and it performed very well. I didn't have the luxury of being able to spend any money though. Everything I did was from "scrap".
And don't forget, just because you have RAID it doesn't mean you don't have to back up your data!
You also don't say what sort of drives or motherboard you have. Most motherboards have 2 IDE controllers (4 devices). Some of the newer boards also have SATA, but you're not going to have 8 ports there either. Heck, if you get a decent mobo it will have a RAID controller built in. Of course, a decent mobo wouldn't support of 500Mhz CPU;-)
Another issue is the power and requirements; I trust you have sufficient power and cooling?
From the limited information available, I see thing you can do with these 8 drives is to split them across 2 machines, each with 4 drives in, identical configs. Configure the Software RAID-5 across 3 drives, with 1 hot spare. One machine can be used to backup the other machine.
I tried getting people to use a wiki (TikiWiki) at our place, but it soon got killed off.
1.) It was classified as over complicated - it had more than 4 options, a login requirement (for security and personalisation).
2.) The example styles included did not have a grey option.
3.) Thirdly, and perhaps more importantly not only was it Open Source, but I had it implemented in under a day whereas all the other (more important) people had spent several months trying to get something implemented and used.
4.) Nearly forgot - the name.
PHB: "What the f*** is a Wiki? We can't have something called that."
Sometimes it really sucks to know Dilbert is real...
Because in Windows, while you have to install all the drivers yourself, doing so is easy.
Because someone has supplied you with a package and done all the hard work for you. It is just as easy to use Linux packages when they are available. Difference here is that when you buy your UberMega USB Clangifier, regardless of the OS you are using you still have to pay for the company to develop windows-only drivers. It would be nice to see manufacturers providing both "without Microsoft tax" and "with Microsoft tax" products, giving the consumer a better choice.
It's easy to say that I should buy hardware more carefully
A good point and it would be lovely to just close your eyes and buy anything, wishfully thinking that it will "JustWork" when you get home. I just hope no-one out there with Microsoft Windows 98, ME or NT bought Doom III. I think You'll also find that Microsoft provide an HCL for a reason...
I'm sure I could learn how to do it, but I already spend 50+ hours a week fighting with computers at work
Didn't see a problem with Konqueror 3.3.0. I had a look at all the files in the pretty gallery and ran the cgi thing for about 15 minutes before getting bored of watching random stuff.
Top marks KDE team. r0x0r
Gaelon 1.3.15 survived for the 15 minutes of the cgi thing I could be bothered with again, but died on the gallery stuff.
Bad Gnome. sux0r
Yes, I know 1.3.15 is oooold. I don't update my Gnome stuff for a reason. Seems I have another reason now.
OK, maybe now I'm going a little off-topic, but just for fun a tried setting "prefer HTML" and checked through some mail. Everything worked as expected; HTML/Plain e-mails rendered as HTML, HTML only rendered as HTML and Plain only rendered as plain. No links to click; everything automatic.
Note that I ticked BOTH boxes - "prefer HTML" and "allow external links".
So it doesn't have to annoy you any more:)
especially as Slack is basically a one-man distro.
More like at least a 3 man distro:
http://www.slackware.com/about/
I have been using Slackware for years, and personally prefer KDE over Gnome. Heck, I prefer it over Windows too but lately I have been finding myself liking many things about Mac OS X's Aqua GUI.
Maybe I've got too addicted to my KDE themes? Perhaps its the nice integration? I do really like Konqueror as well. Oooh. And the Kontrol Kenter. And Kmail. And KDM.
My biggest complaint is handling of text vs HTML messages. I can set it to prefer text to HTML, and then it will require me to click a link before it will render HTML or it will let me prefer HTML to text. It won't let me prefer text to HTML while still rendering HTML only email.
Thats one of the things like about kmail, as i hate HTML mail.
Another thing I like is the quick and easy status filtering, the automatic spell checking, the "view source" actually showing me the source in a nice window, and the way the whole look-and-feel can be changed to the way I like it.
I tried thunderbird and just didn't like it. Guess I've been using KMail too long.
Wow. The article really gives a whole new meaning to FUD.
two companies that have completed the switch from Linux back to Windows cited recently.
Personal care products maker Combe Inc., of White Plains, N.Y., developed and administered its Web sites with an ISP running a Linux-Oracle platform about nine years ago and started the switch back to Windows two years ago.
I guess 2 years ago is recent... but it gets worse...
"There was a limit set up within the program that said you can only order 'x' amount of products within one transaction," Roy said. "When one of our guests went over the limit, it crashed the whole store. We then had to manually identify the erroneous credit card charges."
Um. Is it me or does that sound like it has nothing to do with the operating system?
I'd guess this is the second company See how cool and uber their website is now? Many of the categories in their "shop" are just empty, and transactions have been limited to 20 of any one item. So, I ordered 20 of everything....
Opps! An error has occured on the site. If this problem persists, please contact the site administrator.
If you are getting this error at CHECKOUT, please check your Order History to see if the order went through before trying to place the order again.
If the order went through, we have successfully recorded your purchase although you will not receive a confirmation letter with liability release. Please download a hard copy by clicking here.
You should know by now that you need to wait for SP1 for SP2...
Re:'Flaws' Not that big of a deal
on
Latest SP2 News
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Yes - agreed - to be exact; "With Service Pack 2, Microsoft introduces a new security feature which warns users before executing files that originate from an untrusted location (zone) such as the Internet. There are two flaws in the implementation of this feature:
1. It doesn't work 2. It doesn't work
Now, I know technically speaking this is just one flaw, but it was such a big one I thought it was worth mentioning twice.
Yeah, because everyone can afford to shell out for a new version of Microsoft windows (plus having to also pay to update half their applications as they are also so old they no longer work).
Then, despite having upgraded to the "latest and greatest", they are still in *exactly* the same position they were in before and get 0wned within moments.
Why do Microsoft always have to be so aggressive? Why can't they let people do what they want to do? If I want to run Linux, just let me run Linux... or Mac OS X. Do Microsoft need more money? Do they need to take over the world? Why not just take a chill pill and concentrate on core business? No one likes bullies. Best thing Microsoft can do? Back down. Not only back down, but actively support and develop Open Source products. OpenMicrosoft for the developing countries anyone? What makes Christmas so great? Its the giving. Come on Microsoft - give a little.
A large variety of useful applications are simply not available from Microsoft (so there goes windowsupdate).
Windowsupdate will get me new software if I happen to *only ever* use Microsoft software. Even this its useless.
This is what I had to do to get Microsoft Office for ONE computer:
Telephone 4 different suppliers for quotes. Find out that there are loads of different versions. Have a meeting about which one we can afford Get Supplies to raise a purchase order Get the directors to sign off the spend Place the order Get told they don't have any in stock, and so go to the second supplier Re-do the purchase order Place the order Wait 4 days for the software to arrive Find that you need "administrator" access to load the software Schedule IT Support to come and install the software for me Reboot several times, meaning I have to stop all my other work Find that we also need to update the software as it is riddled with bugs Get IT Support in again to provide the software updates Reboot multiple times again (good, it works)
Next topic: configuration My biggest complaint against Windows on the desktop is the extreme absurdity of some types of configuration. My Windows workstation is my work machine, and so it has to do things like run IIS with Perl.
Well... Installing IIS turned out to be a real pain. Again we had to go through the whole procedure of getting IT in, finding the CD, rebooting, etc, etc.
Configuring the thing was also hard. It requires Perl, but that doesn't come with Windows, so I had to go and get Active State Perl. Of course, I can't do anything as a user, so yet again I have to schedule IT to come and work on my PC.
My point? Windows on the desktop is a freaking toy until a user can do everything they need to without having to get IT in and use Administrator privileges.
This includes installing software, configuring the machine, and running applications.
Incidentally, Windows crashes at least once a day, sometimes more. I've lost count of the number of times it has gone down because it has to be rebooted by IT.
Linux crashes? Can't say I've noticed any. I checked the uptime on our DNS server and it was 253 days.
And the Windows GUI is still freakishly slow, and everything is freakishly huge with hideous colours. I run at 1024x768 on Windows, 1600x1200 on Linux, and still the Linux desktop is more responsive, and everything is more intuitive.
One last little whine: I have approximately 10% success rate with software that can allegedly be installed without Administrator privileges.
More often than not there is no indication that some has gone wrong, it just doesn't work.
And I'm really freakin sick of you Windows junkies telling me that Windows is so easy that anyone can use it.
5. The single file mentioned in 1. can't grow above 16 Gb with the standard edition of Microsoft Exchange. (See also 2.)
Of course, I haven't used OpenExchange yet so I can't really comment on that. I tried hunting round for a few reviews, but didn't come up with much. Here they are anyway:
There is a mention of a "downside" being "lack of a spellchecker in the web client", but of course modern browsers like Konqueror have this built-in anyway.
There is also mention of the web client not being as "feature rich" or "refined" as Microsoft Exchange's, but without any actual qualifications.
Basically, from the reviews everything seems great apart from the backup aspect. This is only a downside because their is apparently little guidance given.
Slashdot Mirror
At work? Why?
At work. Yes. Its a PHB!
Honestly what planet do you live on? Are you under some impression that the adoption of linux is slowing down or has stopped? If so where did you get that impression.
I live on planet Earth, thanks. I'm under the impression that the growth of Linux is ever increasing.
I do, however, have a great deal of exposure to extremely non-technically people. Please remember that I am simply expressing an opinion based on my own personal experiences.
OK, this is pretty true but at the same time as divorcing MS you need to keep one thing in mind, and one thing alone: Is it simple enough for a PHB to understand and use?
You know the sort of questions you'll get. Of course, here we are assuming you're not using Linux as a multi-user server system and are instead running it in as a single-user "desktop" machine system. The real issue is that Linux is ready, but everyone else isn't.Ease of installation and availability of software is a big one.
Can the PHB "Hotsync" with their Handspring / Blackberry? Can they just download some software and install it themselves? How about their iPod? Their digital camera? Their scanner? The latest and greatest gadget that does who-knows-what?
I'm afraid that even downloading and installing Firefox on a Linux desktop would be too much for a PHB. Until is it pretty much exactly the same as Microsoft Windows you will have a hard time getting anywhere with a PHB.
Take another user group as an example: designers. Lots of designers will only use Macromedia software. Big problem.
In summary, Linux is already (and has been for a long time) ready as a desktop. It just needs the support of hardware manufacturers, software vendors, and hence their nifty little pre-packaged yummy installers / drivers.
Until hardware and software vendors put the same time and money into developing solutions for Linux as well as Microsoft Windows, it just isn't going to get the recognition it deserves. It could just take one big player to get the ball rolling though; who knows what the future will hold? I love Linux, and would never use Microsoft software at home (I've been through Windows from version 3 up to Xp so I have a experience of both systems) but until "the whole gang" gets "with it", then those who are "technically challenged" won't be able top be part of it.
Couldn't they just make any negative documents.. um.. disappear? :)
Sure. Yes. Pay 24k. Uh-hu. OK. Let me get my PayPal account set up. Ah, I have a buyer... "Leave the money in a brown paper bag STOP Wear a false mustache and a pink carnation STOP Make sure the bills are unmarked STOP Either that, or five copies of that wonderful Microsoft Windows XP will do STOP thank you Mr Ballmer STOP"
Um, a quick search shows a wide selection.
I couldn't agree more. Spend that $50 and get a hardware RAID controller; especially with a 500Mhz processor! Don't get me wrong; I've used Linux software RAID in the past and it performed very well. I didn't have the luxury of being able to spend any money though. Everything I did was from "scrap".
;-)
And don't forget, just because you have RAID it doesn't mean you don't have to back up your data!
You also don't say what sort of drives or motherboard you have. Most motherboards have 2 IDE controllers (4 devices). Some of the newer boards also have SATA, but you're not going to have 8 ports there either. Heck, if you get a decent mobo it will have a RAID controller built in. Of course, a decent mobo wouldn't support of 500Mhz CPU
Another issue is the power and requirements; I trust you have sufficient power and cooling?
From the limited information available, I see thing you can do with these 8 drives is to split them across 2 machines, each with 4 drives in, identical configs. Configure the Software RAID-5 across 3 drives, with 1 hot spare. One machine can be used to backup the other machine.
Or, you can backup everything to floppy disk
I tried getting people to use a wiki (TikiWiki) at our place, but it soon got killed off.
1.) It was classified as over complicated - it had more than 4 options, a login requirement (for security and personalisation).
2.) The example styles included did not have a grey option.
3.) Thirdly, and perhaps more importantly not only was it Open Source, but I had it implemented in under a day whereas all the other (more important) people had spent several months trying to get something implemented and used.
4.) Nearly forgot - the name.
PHB: "What the f*** is a Wiki? We can't have something called that."
Sometimes it really sucks to know Dilbert is real...
Because in Windows, while you have to install all the drivers yourself, doing so is easy.
;-)
Because someone has supplied you with a package and done all the hard work for you. It is just as easy to use Linux packages when they are available. Difference here is that when you buy your UberMega USB Clangifier, regardless of the OS you are using you still have to pay for the company to develop windows-only drivers. It would be nice to see manufacturers providing both "without Microsoft tax" and "with Microsoft tax" products, giving the consumer a better choice.
It's easy to say that I should buy hardware more carefully
A good point and it would be lovely to just close your eyes and buy anything, wishfully thinking that it will "JustWork" when you get home. I just hope no-one out there with Microsoft Windows 98, ME or NT bought Doom III. I think You'll also find that Microsoft provide an HCL for a reason...
I'm sure I could learn how to do it, but I already spend 50+ hours a week fighting with computers at work
And which OS is that you're fighting?
Wow. A "new" complier that enforces buffer size. Hello XP and welcome to 1997!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer_overflow
And of course we all know the other ways to update Firefox:
1. The long way:
edit, preferences, advanced, software update, check now.
or
2. The short way:
Just click the little red "update!" icon in the top, right corner.
Oh wait. There isn't one... yet.
Ran test on mine, coz I was bored.
Didn't see a problem with Konqueror 3.3.0. I had a look at all the files in the pretty gallery and ran the cgi thing for about 15 minutes before getting bored of watching random stuff.
Top marks KDE team. r0x0r
Gaelon 1.3.15 survived for the 15 minutes of the cgi thing I could be bothered with again, but died on the gallery stuff.
Bad Gnome. sux0r
Yes, I know 1.3.15 is oooold. I don't update my Gnome stuff for a reason. Seems I have another reason now.
OK, maybe now I'm going a little off-topic, but just for fun a tried setting "prefer HTML" and checked through some mail. Everything worked as expected; HTML/Plain e-mails rendered as HTML, HTML only rendered as HTML and Plain only rendered as plain. No links to click; everything automatic. Note that I ticked BOTH boxes - "prefer HTML" and "allow external links". So it doesn't have to annoy you any more :)
especially as Slack is basically a one-man distro.
More like at least a 3 man distro:
http://www.slackware.com/about/
I have been using Slackware for years, and personally prefer KDE over Gnome. Heck, I prefer it over Windows too but lately I have been finding myself liking many things about Mac OS X's Aqua GUI.
Maybe I've got too addicted to my KDE themes? Perhaps its the nice integration? I do really like Konqueror as well. Oooh. And the Kontrol Kenter. And Kmail. And KDM.
Sorry Gnome, but I won't miss you...
My biggest complaint is handling of text vs HTML messages. I can set it to prefer text to HTML, and then it will require me to click a link before it will render HTML or it will let me prefer HTML to text. It won't let me prefer text to HTML while still rendering HTML only email.
Thats one of the things like about kmail, as i hate HTML mail.
Another thing I like is the quick and easy status filtering, the automatic spell checking, the "view source" actually showing me the source in a nice window, and the way the whole look-and-feel can be changed to the way I like it.
I tried thunderbird and just didn't like it. Guess I've been using KMail too long.
Wow. The article really gives a whole new meaning to FUD.
two companies that have completed the switch from Linux back to Windows cited recently.
Personal care products maker Combe Inc., of White Plains, N.Y., developed and administered its Web sites with an ISP running a Linux-Oracle platform about nine years ago and started the switch back to Windows two years ago.
I guess 2 years ago is recent... but it gets worse...
"There was a limit set up within the program that said you can only order 'x' amount of products within one transaction," Roy said. "When one of our guests went over the limit, it crashed the whole store. We then had to manually identify the erroneous credit card charges."
Um. Is it me or does that sound like it has nothing to do with the operating system?
I'd guess this is the second company See how cool and uber their website is now? Many of the categories in their "shop" are just empty, and transactions have been limited to 20 of any one item. So, I ordered 20 of everything....
Opps! An error has occured on the site. If this problem persists, please contact the site administrator.
If you are getting this error at CHECKOUT, please check your Order History to see if the order went through before trying to place the order again.
If the order went through, we have successfully recorded your purchase although you will not receive a confirmation letter with liability release. Please download a hard copy by clicking here.
Phew. Good job its running on Windows now!
What is their uptime? Oh. 8 days.
You should know by now that you need to wait for SP1 for SP2...
Yes - agreed - to be exact; "With Service Pack 2, Microsoft introduces a new security feature which warns users before executing files that originate from an untrusted location (zone) such as the Internet. There are two flaws in the implementation of this feature:
1. It doesn't work
2. It doesn't work
Now, I know technically speaking this is just one flaw, but it was such a big one I thought it was worth mentioning twice.
(Thanks Red Dwarf!)
Yeah, because everyone can afford to shell out for a new version of Microsoft windows (plus having to also pay to update half their applications as they are also so old they no longer work).
Then, despite having upgraded to the "latest and greatest", they are still in *exactly* the same position they were in before and get 0wned within moments.
Also we need to make more fasionable versions of our tin-foil headwear...
Why do Microsoft always have to be so aggressive? Why can't they let people do what they want to do? If I want to run Linux, just let me run Linux... or Mac OS X. Do Microsoft need more money? Do they need to take over the world? Why not just take a chill pill and concentrate on core business? No one likes bullies. Best thing Microsoft can do? Back down. Not only back down, but actively support and develop Open Source products. OpenMicrosoft for the developing countries anyone? What makes Christmas so great? Its the giving. Come on Microsoft - give a little.
Even the pool playing robot in Silent Running missed its shot, and that was on board a pretty advanced spaceship.
I wonder if any other pool playing robots have faired better?
A large variety of useful applications are simply not available from Microsoft (so there goes windowsupdate).
Windowsupdate will get me new software if I happen to *only ever* use Microsoft software. Even this its useless.
This is what I had to do to get Microsoft Office for ONE computer:
Telephone 4 different suppliers for quotes.
Find out that there are loads of different versions.
Have a meeting about which one we can afford
Get Supplies to raise a purchase order
Get the directors to sign off the spend
Place the order
Get told they don't have any in stock, and so go to the second supplier
Re-do the purchase order
Place the order
Wait 4 days for the software to arrive
Find that you need "administrator" access to load the software
Schedule IT Support to come and install the software for me
Reboot several times, meaning I have to stop all my other work
Find that we also need to update the software as it is riddled with bugs
Get IT Support in again to provide the software updates
Reboot multiple times again
(good, it works)
Next topic: configuration
My biggest complaint against Windows on the desktop is the extreme absurdity of some types of configuration. My Windows workstation is my work machine, and so it has to do things like run IIS with Perl.
Well... Installing IIS turned out to be a real pain. Again we had to go through the whole procedure of getting IT in, finding the CD, rebooting, etc, etc.
Configuring the thing was also hard. It requires Perl, but that doesn't come with Windows, so I had to go and get Active State Perl. Of course, I can't do anything as a user, so yet again I have to schedule IT to come and work on my PC.
My point? Windows on the desktop is a freaking toy until a user can do everything they need to without having to get IT in and use Administrator privileges.
This includes installing software, configuring the machine, and running applications.
Incidentally, Windows crashes at least once a day, sometimes more. I've lost count of the number of times it has gone down because it has to be rebooted by IT.
Linux crashes? Can't say I've noticed any. I checked the uptime on our DNS server and it was 253 days.
And the Windows GUI is still freakishly slow, and everything is freakishly huge with hideous colours. I run at 1024x768 on Windows, 1600x1200 on Linux, and still the Linux desktop is more responsive, and everything is more intuitive.
One last little whine: I have approximately 10% success rate with software that can allegedly be installed without Administrator privileges.
More often than not there is no indication that some has gone wrong, it just doesn't work.
And I'm really freakin sick of you Windows junkies telling me that Windows is so easy that anyone can use it.
Indeed. And don't forget:
5. The single file mentioned in 1. can't grow above 16 Gb with the standard edition of Microsoft Exchange. (See also 2.)
Of course, I haven't used OpenExchange yet so I can't really comment on that. I tried hunting round for a few reviews, but didn't come up with much. Here they are anyway:
eweek
pcmag
OpenMag
There is a mention of a "downside" being "lack of a spellchecker in the web client", but of course modern browsers like Konqueror have this built-in anyway.
There is also mention of the web client not being as "feature rich" or "refined" as Microsoft Exchange's, but without any actual qualifications.
Basically, from the reviews everything seems great apart from the backup aspect. This is only a downside because their is apparently little guidance given.
NEVER open Windows in an airplane!
Mouse? I'm using a retinal control headset to control:
* A model airplane
* A real airplane
* A squadron of airplanes
* My robot arm in my nuclear establishment
BEEP!!
Stupid thing....