I've noticed two bugs so far with firefox 18 -- It is extremely slow to start up, and pages take about 30 seconds to come up after starting FF. The other issue is that foxyproxy no longer works.
It's funny how today's PCs continue to take architectural queues from earlier mainframe and minicomputer designs.
I don't get it. What do long lines have to do with how a home PC is designed? Or this a reference to the number of people who queue while waiting for windows to complete a task?
Another missed issue with streaming netflix programs is there is no support for closed captions, which some people rely on, and other like. I personally like captions when watching British programs, since they often use phrases I'm not familiar with.
Also, why pay $300 for a netflix TV when you can purchase PlayOn for $30, and stream a whole lot more, including netflix?
This is why I use NetFlix's blu-ray option. That way, I can watch a movie in blu-ray, but I don't have to shell out the cash. No extra expense as far as netflix account is concerned. I've only bought one blu-ray movie so far, and that was because I got a coupon from BestBuy specific to blu-ray movies, and had some reward zone certificates that made up the difference between it and a regular DVD.
I definitely appreciate the better audio quality available in blu-ray (I have a AV receiver that supports all the HD Audio formats).
I have Comcast for my internet provider, so I did a test using Stanford's speed testing system as well. Speakeasy reported:
10,759kbps down
1,766kbps up
Stanford reports:
running 10s outbound test (client-to-server [C2S]) . . . . . 1.78Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server-to-client [S2C]) . . . . . . 6.55Mb/s
So the up speed is virtually identical, but the downspeed is a bit slower. Although the routes between my house and Stanford may be a bit different between it and Speakeasy, I'm surprised at the rather large difference. These two tests were done within a minute of one another.
One final observation. Several slashdotters have commented on the apparent irony that a university with some of the smartest people in computer science screwed up this project so badly. In fact, the faculty and students in computer science are possibly the worst when it comes to practical real world business software expertise. Yes, they do impressive work in computing research, but nothing in the curriculum and academic world is adequate preparation for the problems of day-to-day mundane IT software.
Also, Stanford has a faculty senate, that the head of ITSS has to talk to and report to fairly often. They help set the technology direction, and they were a part of the "buy not build" decision that many now regret. Remember too that at the time the "buy not build" decision was made, the area was in the middle of the dot-com boom, so keeping employees who could write and maintain custom software was difficult at best.
As a Stanford employee working for ITSS, here's my 2c on this article.
1) It makes no mention of the Opensource software solutions in place that have saved the university hundreds of thousands of dollars (For example, implementing OpenLDAP as our directory service)
2) The account of outsourcing to India fails to mention the fact that they
(a) failed to meet their last deadline
(b) Recent deliveries had issues
(c) major security concerns about data
The article glosses over a lot of real issues, but that is understandable, given the source they talked to.
Slashdot Mirror
I've noticed two bugs so far with firefox 18 -- It is extremely slow to start up, and pages take about 30 seconds to come up after starting FF. The other issue is that foxyproxy no longer works.
It's funny how today's PCs continue to take architectural queues from earlier mainframe and minicomputer designs.
I don't get it. What do long lines have to do with how a home PC is designed? Or this a reference to the number of people who queue while waiting for windows to complete a task?
Britney Spears and other teen performers likely will live long enough to benefit from it.
Another missed issue with streaming netflix programs is there is no support for closed captions, which some people rely on, and other like. I personally like captions when watching British programs, since they often use phrases I'm not familiar with. Also, why pay $300 for a netflix TV when you can purchase PlayOn for $30, and stream a whole lot more, including netflix?
This is why I use NetFlix's blu-ray option. That way, I can watch a movie in blu-ray, but I don't have to shell out the cash. No extra expense as far as netflix account is concerned. I've only bought one blu-ray movie so far, and that was because I got a coupon from BestBuy specific to blu-ray movies, and had some reward zone certificates that made up the difference between it and a regular DVD. I definitely appreciate the better audio quality available in blu-ray (I have a AV receiver that supports all the HD Audio formats).
So with all the speculation about MS+YAHOO+AOL ending up one company, what will the name be?
Exactly. If I want home theater sound, I stream audio from my computer to my home theater in the living room. Works great.
I have Comcast for my internet provider, so I did a test using Stanford's speed testing system as well. Speakeasy reported: 10,759kbps down 1,766kbps up Stanford reports: running 10s outbound test (client-to-server [C2S]) . . . . . 1.78Mb/s running 10s inbound test (server-to-client [S2C]) . . . . . . 6.55Mb/s So the up speed is virtually identical, but the downspeed is a bit slower. Although the routes between my house and Stanford may be a bit different between it and Speakeasy, I'm surprised at the rather large difference. These two tests were done within a minute of one another.
One final observation. Several slashdotters have commented on the apparent irony that a university with some of the smartest people in computer science screwed up this project so badly. In fact, the faculty and students in computer science are possibly the worst when it comes to practical real world business software expertise. Yes, they do impressive work in computing research, but nothing in the curriculum and academic world is adequate preparation for the problems of day-to-day mundane IT software. Also, Stanford has a faculty senate, that the head of ITSS has to talk to and report to fairly often. They help set the technology direction, and they were a part of the "buy not build" decision that many now regret. Remember too that at the time the "buy not build" decision was made, the area was in the middle of the dot-com boom, so keeping employees who could write and maintain custom software was difficult at best.
As a Stanford employee working for ITSS, here's my 2c on this article. 1) It makes no mention of the Opensource software solutions in place that have saved the university hundreds of thousands of dollars (For example, implementing OpenLDAP as our directory service) 2) The account of outsourcing to India fails to mention the fact that they (a) failed to meet their last deadline (b) Recent deliveries had issues (c) major security concerns about data The article glosses over a lot of real issues, but that is understandable, given the source they talked to.