Microsoft:
OS Kernel, GUI, web browser. networking
- been around a while, and they have secured entry points
Linux:
OS Kernel, GUI (X), Frontend to GUI (KDE, Gnome, etc), web browser (Mozilla, Konqeror), networking (Samba)
Fine- now lets add to Linux: SSH client, graphics libraries, multiple shells, web servers, mail clients, chat clients, etc.
So what's been updated in Linux? Well probably many non-critical security updates, followed by updates to many applications most users don't need or run. Probably 3 of those updates are to Apache2 (which keeps coming out with Patches).
This is silly- Combine office and hundreds of applications into Windows and watch the updates fly.
The open source also means that we catch these bugs and fix them, because people can find out how to exploit them. With M$ it's usually not as simple- so they just patch what they feel is a threat.
I have no doubt that North Korea is an abusive dictatorship or that we should all be worried. Nonetheless, the second something goes wrong, the rest of the world will be on it. I don't see N. Korea making a war anytime soon. They know they're a prime target for US attack, so they protect themselves. Send a nuke our way and it will be an entirely different story.
The reality that you must realize is that every country is able to run itself as it chooses to govern within its own borders. Period. You can sanction someone to pressure them (cut off trade for example), but can not push them around like a younger brother. The US has become a strong economic leader, but don't get cocky about it. The US is in a good position with strong allies to the north and south with water all around- but again, this is just fortune.
North Korea within its borders can do what it wants. Bush has the nukes- and apparently they are doing the same thing: 'bush has the nukes and has been invading countries like a fat man on cake- we should be ready and protect ourselves'. Until one of those gets fired anywhere outside of North Korea, or until the environmental impact harms others- we can't say anything.
While the western world sure does like democracy and freedom and commercialization, that doesn't mean the rest of the world gives a damn what we think.
The reality is that the US is the largest holder of nuclear weapons in the world right now. The US is then the one telling everyone else to disarm their weapons? Not only that, but the US has just invaded TWO (read: TWO) countries in the past TWO YEARS, with eyes set on a third (Iran)- each of the two invaded showed no evidence of having nuclear weapons of any kind, and really posed a minimal threat overall towards the US (in comparison to the retailiation).
So can you blame them for hanging on to some weapons? Either the whole world disarms at once (creating well... peace) or nobody's going to do it... especially with a president who lies to his entire country to further his personal agenda.
N. Korea is its own country governed by its own laws and operating its own military. Until it uses these weapons against another country, we can't say a thing.
We all know the power of nukes- nobody will blindly send a nuke unless the US is dumb enough to go in there- oh crap- we're screwed!
The reality is that Microsoft runs a business. If you could compile your own OS and Office suite from source, you wouldn't have to buy it unless you care about licenses.
It's also hard (impossible) to support what may be many different forks and patches to the same code.
Sure some people may make modifications, but you ultimately want one product as a commercial business looking to make money. Easy to support, easy to maintain, and easy to profit from.
OSS works in the UNIX world because people have a common goal and most OSS software isn't out to make money directly.
[sarcasm]
BUt don't forget the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow'- should the early happen to stop revolving on its axis those lighthouse beacons will come in _real_ handy [/sarcasm]
Realistically- that theory was proven impossible a LONG time before that movie... Made watching it that much less interesting.
Microsoft bought RAV some time ago- who made a fine Windows and Linux AV program. They also made RAV for most all of the UNIX mail programs such as qmail, courier, sendmail, postfix, etc.
Was sad to see it go... apparently it was also to include its technology, but if you ask me, it was more to get it out of the antivirus mail server market.
This is nothing new-- Microsoft buys anyone who has something to offer them or their competititors... yippie
You have it right on the head. I do consulting as a part of my job for busienss and individuals. Anyone who I don't know, or who knows one of my clients or whatnot falls under this category. They get charged by the hour or flat-rate (quoted price) for specific tasks- usually the first. Your job is to make sure it works as expected when you leave and after a reboot. Always restart the machine and test that it loads as expected and what you want to work works fine. That way they can't say you didn't fix it. At that point, your obligation is done. They can screw it up all the want (and at least you know how to fix it).
If the work includes a lot of sitting around (ie: installing WinXP SP2 on three machines- setting them up and drinking coffee for 45 minutes), I'll sometimes charge less or give a good deal or underestimate time if I'm not in a rush... Usually this is if they are good company or if I kinda know them or can relate to them so we sit and chat while it happens. Good hospitality = good mood = good deal.
Now there is family, friends, and neighbours, and the occasional friends of friends. These are really all free. In the end Karma works for you and you end up even in the end. There are people who will invite you to dinner, give you a few beers for your time, neighbours who will help you lift couches up flights of stairs, and the whole deal. My neighbour sees our 3-car driveway not plowed (our service hadn't come) and decided to clean 3/4 of a foot of snow off our driveway while he was doing his... And for 45 minutes of my time I'm going to charge this guy? Hell no.
Even if they have the impression that you're a genius, it means they'll recommend you to their friends or co-workers or businesses which you can then charge... But you don't want to accept money. If it's a buddy, simple words like 'you get the first round of drinks' works wonders- it undervalues your time at $3-5, but it's the gesture that counts... or have them get dinner.
So the rule? Family, friends, neighbours, family friends are usually free unless you're pretty distanced from them (greater the distance and if it's a lot of work (half day for example) then charge a little bit). Businesses, people you don't know, friends of friends of friends- charge them.
PS: Be careful throwing out prices. I've had some people come to me due to increased separation saying 'but you charged by brother-in-law XXX and us XXX'=- Nobody appreciates that. Set your rates. If you want to bring them down for someone, discount as a courtesy or say 'special price of...' so that they know it's just because you like them. It's easy to bring a price down, but not to bring it up. A prohibitive price will weed out those who are unqualified and a waste of your time anyway.
What we need to do is send away our greenhouse gasses, CO2 emissions, and other 'harmfuls', hence cleaning up earth in the process. While we're at it, we can ship our garbage out there too...
"it's also good to know that all those bombs that we paid so much for didn't go to waste."
You kidding me? Where are the WMD's? We were promised WMDs! The US was attacking because Bush felt they may attack the US... sure enough, there was nothing...
Afganistan was for Osama, but also for WMDs... at least they had a backup plan in that case... but again- no Osama captured (and videos to prove it) and no WMDs...
Seems pretty wasteful to me... To Quote Homer Simpson: "You tried your best and you failed miserably... the lesson is, never try.".
Officially, the folks who invaded were British because Canada didn't exist. Fine- Agree with that argument.
HOWEVER, it was these people who became Canadian as opposed to a 'British Colony'. So in theory the forefathers of what is no Canadian (and hence the Canadian ideals and culture) stems from those people.
True, but the US loves to cut off trade. In the end, they import from Canada more than the Export to Canada in terms of dollars and volume... so it ultimately hurts the US more than Canada... but Of course the US puts trying to force other countries to do things over the wellbeing and comfort of their own citizens. Funny how that works out?
As much as we are our own country, we also need to work in cooperation with our allies (pretty much everyone) and neighbours.
But it's okay- someone will come in in about 3.5 years and undo all the mistakes (so pretty much the previous 8 years).
Nova Scotia (the Atlantic Canadian Province) is about 40 years behind the times with pretty much everything. Pictou is a small town in Nova Scotia. We're not talking about something in the middle of a big city here.
This is a matter of use of public resources and facilities. It's been the age old argument about lighting a christmas tree for the city. It excludes people and makes the many other religions feel left out. It's about being fair to all religions. Nowdays it's not a Christmas tree but a holiday tree or something along those lines... They light candles as well for the jews, and do various other things for many other major religions, without leaving out those not recognized.
This Pastor is perfectly welcome to put on his own show in a private theatre. He's welcome to invite people and preach all he wants...
At the expense of tax-payer paid facilities, it should not be biased... that doesn't represent the views of many Canadians.
When travelling to the US and back to Canada, I've actually found many less questions going down to the US than coming back up. Coming back up they ask questions non-stop.
I don't really fit what you'd call a 'high-risk profile', so I've never had too many bad experiences. Nonetheless the only questions with a car full of mid-20 year olds was "where are you going and for how long". On the way back up the endless questions about firearms and whatnot...
This is supposed to be a fairly open border though... the entire point is that if we all check people coming in overseas (and Mexico), then they shouldn't get much trouble moving around in North America. This is how it's always worked, and better for both countries.
On the other hand I hear of people getting stopped all the time and having to unload their cars, I hear of bags being searched, I hear of people not being allowed in for their DUI chargers (It's a criminal offense in Canada).
Nonetheless, the "Wow- it's so easy to get across the Canadian border with a smile" myth I'm sure happens, but no more than anywhere else.
"As a Canadian, I just want to assure you that we do indeed refer to ourselves as being Canuckistani"
Since when are we called Canuckistani? I've lived in Toronto for over 20 years, and Halifax for over four. I have never even heard that 'word' in common speech, news, tv, print, jokes, etc. Never once. So since when is this something we refer to ourselves as?
Maybe you heard the word 'canuck' which is pretty common, especially on the parody-news shows such as 'this hour has 22 minutes' and 'royal canadian air farce', but Canuckistani?
This man/woman does not speak for the 32 million Canadians. Apparently nobody I know (through a quick poll) has heard of it either. Avoid the generalization. 'WE' do not use that term.
So I'm a guy in my 20's and every once in a while I'll go somewhere that I want attention (like a furniture store for example) and of course no salesperson will attend to me.
Problem solved. Go up to a salesperson and say "Hi- do you accept cash?" They'll perk up very quickly and won't leave you alone for the rest of the visit (especially if they're comissioned). Who walks into a place with $700+ couches with a wad of cash? Or an AV store with audio/video equipment starting at $300-$500.
You'll never be left alone again- they'll abandon most other customers. If you're there with hundreds or thousands in cash, you're probably looking to mkae a purchase.
I guess I was thinking of the many cases that have actually been won that waste ever-so-much time. Of which could include the McDonalds "oh crap- I didn't realize the coffee in the cup was hot when I was holding it in a paper cup, so I would have never known to have been careful not to spill it on myself", Michael Jackson spending a few months in court for what should be a simple trial, etc.
There are legit civil cases which have much more merit.
I did mistake the filing for actually being brought into court however.
You do have some good points, and I agree with most of them... It's a stereotype that the US legal system allows people to sue for way too many things.
Only In America...
That's about all I have to say.
Why is it that the courts actually consider cases like these that make absolutely no sense, while people who commit actual crimes have trouble getting court dates. Nice legal system.
---
On another note, the spamee never did any blocking. The ISP does the blocking... so technically, the spamee didn't really do anything but state that he received Spam.
Blackberry does _NOT_ use the cell system to check mail constantly.
This is what Make's Blackberry's mail system so unique. Blackberry's PUSH mail to the handheld. When you receive mail, the handheld is notified and picks it up. This is not a regular check by the handheld device.
Note that if you don't have the handheld integrated into an Exchange or Notes server, or if you don't forward mail to the blackberry e-mail address, BB offers a 'POP' probe which will pop into your mail server and check mail every 10 minutes. This works, but the mail is still not pulled by the handheld, but then pushed to the handheld upon the server checking.
You seem to forget that the enterprise users which fund development on big machines are usually the ones that supporting the entire projects you use.
Between the kernel, your latest DBMS, etc, lots of companies fund the dollars to these projects (or the man hours).
The Scientific Atlanta boxes are great. I have a HDTV Scientific Atlanta box from my cable company.
Personally, I just can't give up a two-tuner digital cable box. Integrating the PVR and the digital box in one really is key- and that can only happen by the vendor of your cable provider's network.
There was a big uproar about terminating seeds and how they will be the doom of society as a whole as we mess with nature. It was my understanding that they were still doing that, but I guess not.
It's a monopoly- does anyone else see that? Why aren't they getting the same rapp Microsoft is? One company who is requiring all future purchases come from them, and only really one provider of these seeds.
Then again, what ever happened to real food- with moderate but reasonable yeilds?
Slashdot Mirror
Cripes- why does this same statement come up.
Microsoft:
OS Kernel, GUI, web browser. networking
- been around a while, and they have secured entry points
Linux:
OS Kernel, GUI (X), Frontend to GUI (KDE, Gnome, etc), web browser (Mozilla, Konqeror), networking (Samba)
Fine- now lets add to Linux: SSH client, graphics libraries, multiple shells, web servers, mail clients, chat clients, etc.
So what's been updated in Linux? Well probably many non-critical security updates, followed by updates to many applications most users don't need or run. Probably 3 of those updates are to Apache2 (which keeps coming out with Patches).
This is silly- Combine office and hundreds of applications into Windows and watch the updates fly.
The open source also means that we catch these bugs and fix them, because people can find out how to exploit them. With M$ it's usually not as simple- so they just patch what they feel is a threat.
-M
Oh right- I forgot... Iraq was used as an excuse and coverup for never actually finding Osama.. and having him produce videos afterwards to prove it.
-M
Afganistan and Iraq.
- While Afganistan was for a group of people: 'Afganistan is harbouring terrorists and we`re going in to flush them out'.
-M
I have no doubt that North Korea is an abusive dictatorship or that we should all be worried. Nonetheless, the second something goes wrong, the rest of the world will be on it. I don't see N. Korea making a war anytime soon. They know they're a prime target for US attack, so they protect themselves. Send a nuke our way and it will be an entirely different story.
The reality that you must realize is that every country is able to run itself as it chooses to govern within its own borders. Period. You can sanction someone to pressure them (cut off trade for example), but can not push them around like a younger brother. The US has become a strong economic leader, but don't get cocky about it. The US is in a good position with strong allies to the north and south with water all around- but again, this is just fortune.
North Korea within its borders can do what it wants. Bush has the nukes- and apparently they are doing the same thing: 'bush has the nukes and has been invading countries like a fat man on cake- we should be ready and protect ourselves'. Until one of those gets fired anywhere outside of North Korea, or until the environmental impact harms others- we can't say anything.
While the western world sure does like democracy and freedom and commercialization, that doesn't mean the rest of the world gives a damn what we think.
-M
The reality is that the US is the largest holder of nuclear weapons in the world right now. The US is then the one telling everyone else to disarm their weapons? Not only that, but the US has just invaded TWO (read: TWO) countries in the past TWO YEARS, with eyes set on a third (Iran)- each of the two invaded showed no evidence of having nuclear weapons of any kind, and really posed a minimal threat overall towards the US (in comparison to the retailiation).
So can you blame them for hanging on to some weapons? Either the whole world disarms at once (creating well... peace) or nobody's going to do it... especially with a president who lies to his entire country to further his personal agenda.
N. Korea is its own country governed by its own laws and operating its own military. Until it uses these weapons against another country, we can't say a thing.
We all know the power of nukes- nobody will blindly send a nuke unless the US is dumb enough to go in there- oh crap- we're screwed!
-M
The reality is that Microsoft runs a business. If you could compile your own OS and Office suite from source, you wouldn't have to buy it unless you care about licenses.
It's also hard (impossible) to support what may be many different forks and patches to the same code.
Sure some people may make modifications, but you ultimately want one product as a commercial business looking to make money. Easy to support, easy to maintain, and easy to profit from.
OSS works in the UNIX world because people have a common goal and most OSS software isn't out to make money directly.
-M
[sarcasm]
BUt don't forget the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow'- should the early happen to stop revolving on its axis those lighthouse beacons will come in _real_ handy
[/sarcasm]
Realistically- that theory was proven impossible a LONG time before that movie... Made watching it that much less interesting.
-M
Microsoft bought RAV some time ago- who made a fine Windows and Linux AV program. They also made RAV for most all of the UNIX mail programs such as qmail, courier, sendmail, postfix, etc.
Was sad to see it go... apparently it was also to include its technology, but if you ask me, it was more to get it out of the antivirus mail server market.
This is nothing new-- Microsoft buys anyone who has something to offer them or their competititors... yippie
-M
You have it right on the head. I do consulting as a part of my job for busienss and individuals. Anyone who I don't know, or who knows one of my clients or whatnot falls under this category. They get charged by the hour or flat-rate (quoted price) for specific tasks- usually the first. Your job is to make sure it works as expected when you leave and after a reboot. Always restart the machine and test that it loads as expected and what you want to work works fine. That way they can't say you didn't fix it. At that point, your obligation is done. They can screw it up all the want (and at least you know how to fix it).
If the work includes a lot of sitting around (ie: installing WinXP SP2 on three machines- setting them up and drinking coffee for 45 minutes), I'll sometimes charge less or give a good deal or underestimate time if I'm not in a rush... Usually this is if they are good company or if I kinda know them or can relate to them so we sit and chat while it happens. Good hospitality = good mood = good deal.
Now there is family, friends, and neighbours, and the occasional friends of friends. These are really all free. In the end Karma works for you and you end up even in the end. There are people who will invite you to dinner, give you a few beers for your time, neighbours who will help you lift couches up flights of stairs, and the whole deal. My neighbour sees our 3-car driveway not plowed (our service hadn't come) and decided to clean 3/4 of a foot of snow off our driveway while he was doing his... And for 45 minutes of my time I'm going to charge this guy? Hell no.
Even if they have the impression that you're a genius, it means they'll recommend you to their friends or co-workers or businesses which you can then charge... But you don't want to accept money. If it's a buddy, simple words like 'you get the first round of drinks' works wonders- it undervalues your time at $3-5, but it's the gesture that counts... or have them get dinner.
So the rule? Family, friends, neighbours, family friends are usually free unless you're pretty distanced from them (greater the distance and if it's a lot of work (half day for example) then charge a little bit). Businesses, people you don't know, friends of friends of friends- charge them.
PS: Be careful throwing out prices. I've had some people come to me due to increased separation saying 'but you charged by brother-in-law XXX and us XXX'=- Nobody appreciates that. Set your rates. If you want to bring them down for someone, discount as a courtesy or say 'special price of...' so that they know it's just because you like them. It's easy to bring a price down, but not to bring it up. A prohibitive price will weed out those who are unqualified and a waste of your time anyway.
-M
What we need to do is send away our greenhouse gasses, CO2 emissions, and other 'harmfuls', hence cleaning up earth in the process. While we're at it, we can ship our garbage out there too...
[sarcasm]
-M
Ahhh classic.
Well it doesn't matter how reasonable the next person is... that's the system. Create a mess before you leave and someone else will clean it up.
It's all relative though.
Not at all- I was more agreeing with your sarcasm :)
"it's also good to know that all those bombs that we paid so much for didn't go to waste."
You kidding me? Where are the WMD's? We were promised WMDs! The US was attacking because Bush felt they may attack the US... sure enough, there was nothing...
Afganistan was for Osama, but also for WMDs... at least they had a backup plan in that case... but again- no Osama captured (and videos to prove it) and no WMDs...
Seems pretty wasteful to me... To Quote Homer Simpson: "You tried your best and you failed miserably... the lesson is, never try.".
-M
Officially, the folks who invaded were British because Canada didn't exist. Fine- Agree with that argument.
HOWEVER, it was these people who became Canadian as opposed to a 'British Colony'. So in theory the forefathers of what is no Canadian (and hence the Canadian ideals and culture) stems from those people.
-M
True, but the US loves to cut off trade. In the end, they import from Canada more than the Export to Canada in terms of dollars and volume... so it ultimately hurts the US more than Canada... but Of course the US puts trying to force other countries to do things over the wellbeing and comfort of their own citizens. Funny how that works out?
As much as we are our own country, we also need to work in cooperation with our allies (pretty much everyone) and neighbours.
But it's okay- someone will come in in about 3.5 years and undo all the mistakes (so pretty much the previous 8 years).
-M
Nova Scotia (the Atlantic Canadian Province) is about 40 years behind the times with pretty much everything. Pictou is a small town in Nova Scotia. We're not talking about something in the middle of a big city here.
This is a matter of use of public resources and facilities. It's been the age old argument about lighting a christmas tree for the city. It excludes people and makes the many other religions feel left out. It's about being fair to all religions. Nowdays it's not a Christmas tree but a holiday tree or something along those lines... They light candles as well for the jews, and do various other things for many other major religions, without leaving out those not recognized.
This Pastor is perfectly welcome to put on his own show in a private theatre. He's welcome to invite people and preach all he wants...
At the expense of tax-payer paid facilities, it should not be biased... that doesn't represent the views of many Canadians.
-M
When travelling to the US and back to Canada, I've actually found many less questions going down to the US than coming back up. Coming back up they ask questions non-stop.
I don't really fit what you'd call a 'high-risk profile', so I've never had too many bad experiences. Nonetheless the only questions with a car full of mid-20 year olds was "where are you going and for how long". On the way back up the endless questions about firearms and whatnot...
This is supposed to be a fairly open border though... the entire point is that if we all check people coming in overseas (and Mexico), then they shouldn't get much trouble moving around in North America. This is how it's always worked, and better for both countries.
On the other hand I hear of people getting stopped all the time and having to unload their cars, I hear of bags being searched, I hear of people not being allowed in for their DUI chargers (It's a criminal offense in Canada).
Nonetheless, the "Wow- it's so easy to get across the Canadian border with a smile" myth I'm sure happens, but no more than anywhere else.
-M
"As a Canadian, I just want to assure you that we do indeed refer to ourselves as being Canuckistani"
Since when are we called Canuckistani? I've lived in Toronto for over 20 years, and Halifax for over four. I have never even heard that 'word' in common speech, news, tv, print, jokes, etc. Never once. So since when is this something we refer to ourselves as?
Maybe you heard the word 'canuck' which is pretty common, especially on the parody-news shows such as 'this hour has 22 minutes' and 'royal canadian air farce', but Canuckistani?
This man/woman does not speak for the 32 million Canadians. Apparently nobody I know (through a quick poll) has heard of it either. Avoid the generalization. 'WE' do not use that term.
-M
So I'm a guy in my 20's and every once in a while I'll go somewhere that I want attention (like a furniture store for example) and of course no salesperson will attend to me.
Problem solved. Go up to a salesperson and say "Hi- do you accept cash?" They'll perk up very quickly and won't leave you alone for the rest of the visit (especially if they're comissioned). Who walks into a place with $700+ couches with a wad of cash? Or an AV store with audio/video equipment starting at $300-$500.
You'll never be left alone again- they'll abandon most other customers. If you're there with hundreds or thousands in cash, you're probably looking to mkae a purchase.
-M
You win :)
>> messed up legal systems
Very true- there are some bad ones out there
>>
I guess I was thinking of the many cases that have actually been won that waste ever-so-much time. Of which could include the McDonalds "oh crap- I didn't realize the coffee in the cup was hot when I was holding it in a paper cup, so I would have never known to have been careful not to spill it on myself", Michael Jackson spending a few months in court for what should be a simple trial, etc.
There are legit civil cases which have much more merit.
I did mistake the filing for actually being brought into court however.
You do have some good points, and I agree with most of them... It's a stereotype that the US legal system allows people to sue for way too many things.
Only In America...
That's about all I have to say.
Why is it that the courts actually consider cases like these that make absolutely no sense, while people who commit actual crimes have trouble getting court dates. Nice legal system.
---
On another note, the spamee never did any blocking. The ISP does the blocking... so technically, the spamee didn't really do anything but state that he received Spam.
-M
Blackberry does _NOT_ use the cell system to check mail constantly.
This is what Make's Blackberry's mail system so unique. Blackberry's PUSH mail to the handheld. When you receive mail, the handheld is notified and picks it up. This is not a regular check by the handheld device.
Note that if you don't have the handheld integrated into an Exchange or Notes server, or if you don't forward mail to the blackberry e-mail address, BB offers a 'POP' probe which will pop into your mail server and check mail every 10 minutes. This works, but the mail is still not pulled by the handheld, but then pushed to the handheld upon the server checking.
-M
You seem to forget that the enterprise users which fund development on big machines are usually the ones that supporting the entire projects you use.
:)
Between the kernel, your latest DBMS, etc, lots of companies fund the dollars to these projects (or the man hours).
Nonetheless- write one
The Scientific Atlanta boxes are great. I have a HDTV Scientific Atlanta box from my cable company.
Personally, I just can't give up a two-tuner digital cable box. Integrating the PVR and the digital box in one really is key- and that can only happen by the vendor of your cable provider's network.
-M
There was a big uproar about terminating seeds and how they will be the doom of society as a whole as we mess with nature. It was my understanding that they were still doing that, but I guess not.
It's a monopoly- does anyone else see that? Why aren't they getting the same rapp Microsoft is? One company who is requiring all future purchases come from them, and only really one provider of these seeds.
Then again, what ever happened to real food- with moderate but reasonable yeilds?
-M