The FIOS installation went great and yes, they ripped out the copper. No problem with that. My telephone line used to be noisy and now isn't. The Internet throughput speed was as advertised, but with a gotcha. The 15MB transfer rate was only possible when I was transferring megabytes of data within a single socket connection (like FTP). Connection set-up time sucked. There must be some sort of proxy slowing down the set-up of each TCP socket. On web pages with lots of small objects, there is a lot of latency followed by bursts of speed. Page load time on sites like CNN was similar to the Comcast 4MB speed, but it looked way more jerky. I write off the lack of a clean internet pipe to the connection vs connectionless oriented telco switch mentality. I gave FIOS an honest 30 day shakedown, but canceled the service. The tipping point for me was the way Verizon operates its FTP server. Timeouts galore. Very unreliable. I could live with the bandwidth characteristics but not the way they operate the ISP services that come with it. I'm glad that I have a choice of broadband to the home. Comcast cable or Verizon FIOS. For now, Verizon is not ready for my business. It was polite about canceling my service and the bill it sent me, and leaving my voice phone on FIOS for the same basic rate. Who knows, maybe some day... The FIOS box is still in the basement and has a cable TV tap. When Verizon comes calling with a package that includes a lower price for TV service, I'll be ready to talk to them again.
Germany tried this in the early 80's, as networks became available to corporations. The Deutsche Bundespost Telekom wanted to charge per email message. The network operator I worked for just declared the email system to be a fancy file transfer application, and got away without paying the tax. This time, with SMS, the telco is the operator, and is more than happy to collect a tax in exchange for monopoly rights.
There are other "application stack" vendors that need a BI solution too. IBM has lots of BI parts, but not really a BI solution. SAP has a data warehouse that is almost enterprise ready, but its BI functions are weak. Oracle has chosen to run with Siebel analytics for a while. Microsoft has made their choice. Second tier software vendors, like HP/BEA, Sun/Seebeyond, Tibco, and WebMethods still need better BI. The BI vendors choices those in need include Business Objects, Cognos, Microstrategy, and maybe SAS Institute. MS bought cheap. It will be good for their mid-market customers, but it won't add anything to MS's high-end reputation. Will we see the rest of the BI dominos fall?
The home networking scene is a mess! There are overlapping wireless frequencies everywhere and plenty of security holes. Linksys has done well, but so much more is possible. How about for starters; whole-property roaming coverage, media server hooked to my stereo, backup storage, a bot system to handle my chores, multi-channel video capture, an inbound VPN listener for access into my home network while out and about, and a personal Web server. I welcome cisco into my home if it can give me these things - and it can. However, I am a consumer and demand much from my sources of technology - including transparency.
Excellent point. Work laptops are frequently used for personal along with business purposes. My company has no rights to my personal email, at least I sure hope not! If they don't like me using their PC for personal use, I'm happy to use my personal PC for business purposes. A browser and a VPN shim is all I really need. -aggles
We are pretty sure something is going on with the climate. We are pretty sure human activity is part of the equasion, but are also sure there are other factors in play, such as the sun. We have little to no idea if the change can be slowed or reversed, nor do we know the impact of trying. But, we do know that our way of life is being threatened by a limited supply of energy and a whole bunch of developing countries that will be competing for what is left.
The best legacy we can leave our next generations is to find a new energy source. One that is cheap, and, as a bonus, does not cause more climate change. The problems with flooding, changes in growing patterns, more snow, less rain and so forth will be dealt with when the problems come. Insurance companies will stop insuring flood plains and people will gradually move. Predictive analysis and scenario thinking is good, and it should be part of public policy going forward, but is better to embrace change and work to adapt than try to revert to stone age ways of life.,p> A threat of stone age livig may come in 10 generations, but that is their problem to face, not ours. We don't blame the people of the 1400's for catching the plague - it just happened. The same will go for us - our grand-grand-grand-grand kids won't blame us for not acting - they will think we were just part of the evolution of humankind, and go on to solve the problems of their time.
Hopefully, the question of Linux or Windows will be solved by then.
I'm going to use Google desktop, and I'm not giving Google my data. The tool makes me more productive. If my IT department wants me to stop using it, they can convince my boss to lower his expectations of what I'll do. IT won't do that, and I won't stop doing what ever I can to get around IT's edicts. No HIPAA data here - so I'm not doing anything against the law, phew! Really, people want to use what ever tools makes their job easier, and have some fun. Its a tough problem. -aggles
It is hard to argue that the government should have the tools to protect the homeland against mass murder terrorists, and the tools they request "may" help - but, many suspect that the government is using terror as an excuse to do mass spying.
I ponder, is information obtained through spying be tainted for use in anything but terrorism? Should we the people amend the law to exclude any information obtained through spy technology in use of any case except terrorism. Should the spyware be used to catch you downloading music? Porn? Kiddy Porn? How about harrassing someone? How about plotting a theft? A murder? Talking dirty on IM to your friends? Where should the line be drawn?
Does the constitution state that the government has the right to spy on everyone. Isn't there some phrase about people having the right to not incriminate themselves? The laws have twisted human rights to water them down.
I applaud the university system in fighting back on this one. There is a revolution in our future - the only question is does it start here, or will it take another 10 to 30 years. This generation of college kids don't seem to care. Hopefully the US revolution starts next November, when a change of water at the federal level can start things moving peacefully. We the people already decided - last november - to make the supreme court lean heavy to the conservative side - and some balance in the other two branches of government will be required.
Windows and viruses have been around long enough that the network folks should have figured out how to protect themselves by now. Those that get their laptops screwed up can get them fixed over and over and over until they learn not to screw them up. Corporate images suck. The P in PC stands for personal, and each employee should be able to configure their PC with the OS and tools that make them a productive citizen. I'm not talking about shared workstations like you find in a call center - but the system that YOU use to do YOUR job. My IT department would not allow me to have Google desktop or the Delorme map utility, or my screen capture utility, or Skype. We are not supposed to use AOL/IM while inside the firewall. Fark em. I wiped my corporate image clean within an hour after they gave it to me. Yes, its my responsibility to not screw up their network, but its also their responsibility to protect themselves from the likes of me. Those who run the hotels and other public access points have a lot to teach the corporate IT folks who spend more time making up rules than figuring out how to deploy something that works. There, I feel better... -aggles
Knowing why someone bailed can be difficult, but just knowing where they bailed can be quite useful. By looking at those points, testing a few theories by changing things, then looking at the results - you can frequently improve conversion quite a bit. Surveys are also useful - even if you only get a few takers. If you want to see what folks are actually doing - look at Tealeaf or Business Signatures. What really amazes me about this thread is how many/.ers don't have a clue about what cookies do. You only get tracked across the domains that are owned by the same organization. People from LLBean or Google for that matter, don't see what you are doing on Slashdot. From what I've seen, most users of Web analytics tools roll up statistics, and may add segmentation, but rarely get down to the personal level. If they do - they are risking their reputation and better make sure their customers are OK with it. Those that delete their cookies are just making it harder for the web content developers to understand what is not optimal about their site.
The nature of work has changed. Its much more task oriented. Maintain service levels, reduce the time of provisioning, meet your quota, etc. The internet has increased productivity a whole lot - let's say 50% improvement. So what if we waste 20% of the day doing personal surfing. That still gives you 30% productivity improvement in a world where management are often still idiots and as productive as they were 20 years ago. Also - the point of multi-tasking is not taken into account. I'm now listening to a staff meeting, taking notes, and writing a reply. -aggles
Sorry you had to go through the extra probing line, wearing your military uniform and all. When I recently saw another military man go through the same thing, my thoughts were, "serves you right". Your boss (the commander in chief) continues to create the environment that makes the rest of us go through the hassle - it is only fair that the "company employees" are subject to the same hassle.
Mod this guy up! The dead and injured are casualties of the war, and need to be morned. I suspect shock is also felt in Iraq after every bombing. The long effects of terror will impact us all. Lots of new G8 rules and restrictions, that will have no impact on the next attack, but impact our lives under the guise of the government "doing something". Score 1 for the terrorists. Damn...
There is so much technology that is only used by the elite, it will take a decade or so to trickle down to the masses. There are enough lego parts - now, innovation is just a boring matter of putting them together. Then, there is the patents. It takes money to fight off the patent whores. -aggles
>>Skype doesn't use any standard protocols, so it's useless for communicating with most VoIP users.
Oh, is that why it works so well? Last week, a co-worker was flying back on SAS airlines from Stockholm, subscribed to WIFI on-route, and we had a 45 minute Skype conversation that was amazingly clear except for all the jet engine noise. It just works.
I went to the MS site and considered downloading the new search tool. There was a whole list of "partners" offering plug-ins to the search tool so I could index other types of files. I have enough trouble trusting MS - now they are asking me to trust all the plug-in vendors to not abuse me. No thanks MS! I'll stick with my Google Desktop search.
Anyone can create a business - but to be successful, someone has to buy the product. History is littered with great products that failed to survive, because nobody plunked down money to keep the company alive. Buyers are increasingly less willing to acquire products from start-ups, because long term support is a real question. The start up may be bought - they may choose to do something else - they may just go away. If the product doesn't provide a return on the investment required within a very short time, its just not worth the risk. Building a better mouse trap doesn't guarantee that people will beat a path to your door.
Just because you know it a piece of code is spying on you doesn't stop it from being spyware. James Bond was still a spy, even when Goldfinger knew who he was. The threat comes to others who may use the machine without knowing the spyware is running. Companies buy Comscore information and actually believe it represents normal people. No wonder so many Web sites suck -aggles
Simon says: "Ice melts on its exposed edges. So break it up into smaller pieces and it melts faster" - RIGHT - so why are we allowing ice breakers in the Arctic? Won't that help it break up and melt much faster?
If its clear tonight (like it is here in New Hampshire) - you owe it to yourself to check this out. Like kulakovich points out, find Pleiades (up and to the right of Orion). You will be looking south, and almost straight up. Move your eyes down and to the left, there is a bright star/planet that appears a bit red. Go in a straight line to the right from there - and there are two stars. The first one is almost directly under Pleiades. The next one to the right is the Machholz planet. It looks fuzzy to your naked eye. With a cheap pair of binocs, you get the treat.
Hopefully someone from Commair reads/. and will not be able to resist spilling the beans. This sounds like a lawsuit in the making. It was not weather related - it was someone trying to either save a buck by writing crappy software or having poor operational procedures. This is a Sarbanes-Oxley event - and hopefully, the truth will come out about what happened, and why the backup procedures were either not-in-place or did not work. I don't want to see them go bankrupt, but they should be held accountable.
Good for the Chinese. Courage to communicate in spite of government's attitude is a positive sign from a country coming out of the dark ages. Now, how about some Iraqi blogs? For all the funds being pumped in there, one would think the Iraqis would have something to say. I'm tired of hearing everything about what is really happening there, third hand. Just so they use a language that can be translated by services such as http://www.worldlingo.com/
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The FIOS installation went great and yes, they ripped out the copper. No problem with that. My telephone line used to be noisy and now isn't. The Internet throughput speed was as advertised, but with a gotcha. The 15MB transfer rate was only possible when I was transferring megabytes of data within a single socket connection (like FTP). Connection set-up time sucked. There must be some sort of proxy slowing down the set-up of each TCP socket. On web pages with lots of small objects, there is a lot of latency followed by bursts of speed. Page load time on sites like CNN was similar to the Comcast 4MB speed, but it looked way more jerky. I write off the lack of a clean internet pipe to the connection vs connectionless oriented telco switch mentality. I gave FIOS an honest 30 day shakedown, but canceled the service. The tipping point for me was the way Verizon operates its FTP server. Timeouts galore. Very unreliable. I could live with the bandwidth characteristics but not the way they operate the ISP services that come with it. I'm glad that I have a choice of broadband to the home. Comcast cable or Verizon FIOS. For now, Verizon is not ready for my business. It was polite about canceling my service and the bill it sent me, and leaving my voice phone on FIOS for the same basic rate. Who knows, maybe some day... The FIOS box is still in the basement and has a cable TV tap. When Verizon comes calling with a package that includes a lower price for TV service, I'll be ready to talk to them again.
Germany tried this in the early 80's, as networks became available to corporations. The Deutsche Bundespost Telekom wanted to charge per email message. The network operator I worked for just declared the email system to be a fancy file transfer application, and got away without paying the tax. This time, with SMS, the telco is the operator, and is more than happy to collect a tax in exchange for monopoly rights.
There are other "application stack" vendors that need a BI solution too. IBM has lots of BI parts, but not really a BI solution. SAP has a data warehouse that is almost enterprise ready, but its BI functions are weak. Oracle has chosen to run with Siebel analytics for a while. Microsoft has made their choice. Second tier software vendors, like HP/BEA, Sun/Seebeyond, Tibco, and WebMethods still need better BI. The BI vendors choices those in need include Business Objects, Cognos, Microstrategy, and maybe SAS Institute. MS bought cheap. It will be good for their mid-market customers, but it won't add anything to MS's high-end reputation. Will we see the rest of the BI dominos fall?
The home networking scene is a mess! There are overlapping wireless frequencies everywhere and plenty of security holes. Linksys has done well, but so much more is possible. How about for starters; whole-property roaming coverage, media server hooked to my stereo, backup storage, a bot system to handle my chores, multi-channel video capture, an inbound VPN listener for access into my home network while out and about, and a personal Web server. I welcome cisco into my home if it can give me these things - and it can. However, I am a consumer and demand much from my sources of technology - including transparency.
Excellent point. Work laptops are frequently used for personal along with business purposes. My company has no rights to my personal email, at least I sure hope not! If they don't like me using their PC for personal use, I'm happy to use my personal PC for business purposes. A browser and a VPN shim is all I really need. -aggles
The best legacy we can leave our next generations is to find a new energy source. One that is cheap, and, as a bonus, does not cause more climate change. The problems with flooding, changes in growing patterns, more snow, less rain and so forth will be dealt with when the problems come. Insurance companies will stop insuring flood plains and people will gradually move. Predictive analysis and scenario thinking is good, and it should be part of public policy going forward, but is better to embrace change and work to adapt than try to revert to stone age ways of life.,p> A threat of stone age livig may come in 10 generations, but that is their problem to face, not ours. We don't blame the people of the 1400's for catching the plague - it just happened. The same will go for us - our grand-grand-grand-grand kids won't blame us for not acting - they will think we were just part of the evolution of humankind, and go on to solve the problems of their time.
Hopefully, the question of Linux or Windows will be solved by then.
I'm going to use Google desktop, and I'm not giving Google my data. The tool makes me more productive. If my IT department wants me to stop using it, they can convince my boss to lower his expectations of what I'll do. IT won't do that, and I won't stop doing what ever I can to get around IT's edicts. No HIPAA data here - so I'm not doing anything against the law, phew! Really, people want to use what ever tools makes their job easier, and have some fun. Its a tough problem. -aggles
That is a risk - and unfortunately, as you suggest - very high risk.
I ponder, is information obtained through spying be tainted for use in anything but terrorism? Should we the people amend the law to exclude any information obtained through spy technology in use of any case except terrorism. Should the spyware be used to catch you downloading music? Porn? Kiddy Porn? How about harrassing someone? How about plotting a theft? A murder? Talking dirty on IM to your friends? Where should the line be drawn?
Does the constitution state that the government has the right to spy on everyone. Isn't there some phrase about people having the right to not incriminate themselves? The laws have twisted human rights to water them down.
I applaud the university system in fighting back on this one. There is a revolution in our future - the only question is does it start here, or will it take another 10 to 30 years. This generation of college kids don't seem to care. Hopefully the US revolution starts next November, when a change of water at the federal level can start things moving peacefully. We the people already decided - last november - to make the supreme court lean heavy to the conservative side - and some balance in the other two branches of government will be required.
Windows and viruses have been around long enough that the network folks should have figured out how to protect themselves by now. Those that get their laptops screwed up can get them fixed over and over and over until they learn not to screw them up. Corporate images suck. The P in PC stands for personal, and each employee should be able to configure their PC with the OS and tools that make them a productive citizen. I'm not talking about shared workstations like you find in a call center - but the system that YOU use to do YOUR job. My IT department would not allow me to have Google desktop or the Delorme map utility, or my screen capture utility, or Skype. We are not supposed to use AOL/IM while inside the firewall. Fark em. I wiped my corporate image clean within an hour after they gave it to me. Yes, its my responsibility to not screw up their network, but its also their responsibility to protect themselves from the likes of me. Those who run the hotels and other public access points have a lot to teach the corporate IT folks who spend more time making up rules than figuring out how to deploy something that works. There, I feel better... -aggles
Knowing why someone bailed can be difficult, but just knowing where they bailed can be quite useful. By looking at those points, testing a few theories by changing things, then looking at the results - you can frequently improve conversion quite a bit. Surveys are also useful - even if you only get a few takers. If you want to see what folks are actually doing - look at Tealeaf or Business Signatures. What really amazes me about this thread is how many /.ers don't have a clue about what cookies do. You only get tracked across the domains that are owned by the same organization. People from LLBean or Google for that matter, don't see what you are doing on Slashdot. From what I've seen, most users of Web analytics tools roll up statistics, and may add segmentation, but rarely get down to the personal level. If they do - they are risking their reputation and better make sure their customers are OK with it. Those that delete their cookies are just making it harder for the web content developers to understand what is not optimal about their site.
The nature of work has changed. Its much more task oriented. Maintain service levels, reduce the time of provisioning, meet your quota, etc. The internet has increased productivity a whole lot - let's say 50% improvement. So what if we waste 20% of the day doing personal surfing. That still gives you 30% productivity improvement in a world where management are often still idiots and as productive as they were 20 years ago. Also - the point of multi-tasking is not taken into account. I'm now listening to a staff meeting, taking notes, and writing a reply. -aggles
Sorry you had to go through the extra probing line, wearing your military uniform and all. When I recently saw another military man go through the same thing, my thoughts were, "serves you right". Your boss (the commander in chief) continues to create the environment that makes the rest of us go through the hassle - it is only fair that the "company employees" are subject to the same hassle.
Mod this guy up! The dead and injured are casualties of the war, and need to be morned. I suspect shock is also felt in Iraq after every bombing. The long effects of terror will impact us all. Lots of new G8 rules and restrictions, that will have no impact on the next attack, but impact our lives under the guise of the government "doing something". Score 1 for the terrorists. Damn...
There is so much technology that is only used by the elite, it will take a decade or so to trickle down to the masses. There are enough lego parts - now, innovation is just a boring matter of putting them together. Then, there is the patents. It takes money to fight off the patent whores. -aggles
>>Skype doesn't use any standard protocols, so it's useless for communicating with most VoIP users. Oh, is that why it works so well? Last week, a co-worker was flying back on SAS airlines from Stockholm, subscribed to WIFI on-route, and we had a 45 minute Skype conversation that was amazingly clear except for all the jet engine noise. It just works.
One of the factors that helped Zero Knowledge become defunct was their funding from the CIA. Can you say "conflict of interest"?
I went to the MS site and considered downloading the new search tool. There was a whole list of "partners" offering plug-ins to the search tool so I could index other types of files. I have enough trouble trusting MS - now they are asking me to trust all the plug-in vendors to not abuse me. No thanks MS! I'll stick with my Google Desktop search.
Anyone can create a business - but to be successful, someone has to buy the product. History is littered with great products that failed to survive, because nobody plunked down money to keep the company alive. Buyers are increasingly less willing to acquire products from start-ups, because long term support is a real question. The start up may be bought - they may choose to do something else - they may just go away. If the product doesn't provide a return on the investment required within a very short time, its just not worth the risk. Building a better mouse trap doesn't guarantee that people will beat a path to your door.
Just because you know it a piece of code is spying on you doesn't stop it from being spyware. James Bond was still a spy, even when Goldfinger knew who he was. The threat comes to others who may use the machine without knowing the spyware is running. Companies buy Comscore information and actually believe it represents normal people. No wonder so many Web sites suck -aggles
Simon says: "Ice melts on its exposed edges. So break it up into smaller pieces and it melts faster" - RIGHT - so why are we allowing ice breakers in the Arctic? Won't that help it break up and melt much faster?
If its clear tonight (like it is here in New Hampshire) - you owe it to yourself to check this out. Like kulakovich points out, find Pleiades (up and to the right of Orion). You will be looking south, and almost straight up. Move your eyes down and to the left, there is a bright star/planet that appears a bit red. Go in a straight line to the right from there - and there are two stars. The first one is almost directly under Pleiades. The next one to the right is the Machholz planet. It looks fuzzy to your naked eye. With a cheap pair of binocs, you get the treat.
Hopefully someone from Commair reads /. and will not be able to resist spilling the beans. This sounds like a lawsuit in the making. It was not weather related - it was someone trying to either save a buck by writing crappy software or having poor operational procedures. This is a Sarbanes-Oxley event - and hopefully, the truth will come out about what happened, and why the backup procedures were either not-in-place or did not work. I don't want to see them go bankrupt, but they should be held accountable.
Good for the Chinese. Courage to communicate in spite of government's attitude is a positive sign from a country coming out of the dark ages. Now, how about some Iraqi blogs? For all the funds being pumped in there, one would think the Iraqis would have something to say. I'm tired of hearing everything about what is really happening there, third hand. Just so they use a language that can be translated by services such as http://www.worldlingo.com/
Wasn't it porn that drove the need for more bandwidth and color graphics terminals? Don't shun a basic force that moves technology forward. -aggles