Windows XP Pro License: $127 Office XP Pro License: $297 Key numbers that never require activation: priceless
Open office.org (WTF do they insist on adding.org? that sounds horrible) is a good product for the general user. It does 80% of the things that Office does. The problem in my environment is that other 20%.. we have to do things in Office that Open Office JUST CAN'T DO. We need application integration. Some of our custom apps are written to integrate with Word and that integration doesn't function. Asking for OOo intergration? Not gonna happen.
Secondly, the power users of Word are going to miss some features (most of them on the "who the hell uses THAT?" feature list). Yes, people use some of those obnoxious features. I've actually had people scream at me for not installing Clippy.
So while OOo caters to a good percentage of Office users, it's the annoyances and the useless features that limit its deployment.
Microsoft puts itself in a catch-22 with this one.
Microsoft released a patch, yes. There are two people who wouldn't install it: those who don't have a clue about being a sysadmin (MCSE) and those who know MS's history of distributing broken patches.
The first group (mostly made of MCSE-only admins) are either too ignorant to install patches timely or are too stupid to know that your SQL server has no need to be internet-accesible. IIRC the only way to get slammer was to have your unpatched SQL server live to the world, something that anyone even slightly security concious wouldn't have done. Unfortunately, MS markets themselves as the easy delpoyment/any idiot can admin. So, they market themselves to idiots, then blame the idiots for not taking care of their servers. Umm... sure.
Secondly is the smart group who knows better than to deploy ANY MS patch without testing it. Having a patch 2 months before the worm hits is fine and good, but often times testing a patch takes that long. In the case of slammer these are the guys who know to keep their SQL servers behind the firewall. Slammer was mostly due to group #1. In the case of IIS and other internet services, however, a patch may not be deployed in a timely manner.
Combine MS's past of releasing broken patches with their careful marketing to idiots and you see how easily this crap happens.
When XM/Sirius debuted, they were around $300 for a receiver. Pile on top of that the monthly fee, and you have a really expensive way to listen to the radio. Initially most folks didn't want to invest in what could become a paperweight if the service failed.
Both XM and Sirius now have a cute little portable receiver for under $100. Starting to get tempting. I can bring satellite radio with me everywhere I have an aux in port. Less than $100 and I can listen anywhere? Starting to interest me.
So Sirius and XM, how can you get me as a customer? Let me pay for one year of service and give me the receiver free. Cell phone companies do it, you should too. I would gladly pay you for a full year of service and a receiver. After a year, if I don't like the service, I don't feel so bad about it.
Last night one of the local news stations basically gave Qwest the credit for inventing VoIP. They made it sound like Qwest is some amazing visionary company, ignoring the likes of Vonage who offer the same service for cheaper.
I'm glad to see that Vonage and Qwest are now competing, should be an interesting fight and (hopefully) a win for the consumers.
First, as I repeatedly say, this isnt an organization choosing "Linux". This is an org choosing IBM, who is intelligently exploiting a free product in order to sell their product.
You can't be farther from the truth. In fact, some of these workstations are Dell. I've seen them with my own eyes, and in fact ran top on one of them *drool*.
The NWS's AWIPS product has always run on HP-UX. A couple years ago they had started looking into linux because they'd get a free OS for cheap hardware, a definite advantage. They've been running linux and HP-UX side by side for a good year now, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that AWIPS finally supported linux. Once the support came through for AWIPS on linux, they abandoned HP-UX.
This was a move a long time coming, and I'm glad they went through with it. So no, they are not sheep, and you are an idiot.
A local radio station coined the term gawker slowdown. It's amazing to me how many of these things you'll see on the road. Traffic literally backed up for miles because of people stopping to stare at even the smallest of accidents.
Accordign to that radio station, the only accepable instance of a gawker slowdown is a care fire (carbeque). Something about a car engolfed in flames requires a gawk.
Open Source: buy the developers pizza and beer to encourage them to get moving on a feature. Most likely it will get done quickly.
Any large software company: buy a copy of the software to encourage them to get moving on a feature. Their hands are usually tied in that respect. They'd have to go to their manager and have meetings about whether or not it's a prioirty. They analyze the cost of programming it, and maybe it'll get worked on. In MS terms it will get a half-assed effort if you're lucky.
Putting linux on a girl's computer without her consent is a bad rap for the open source movement. Educate her, yes, but forcing her to switch after she said no is bad karma.
It has come to my attention (via today's Star Tribune) that you are proposing an e-mail tax as a possible solution to curbing unsolicited e-mail (SPAM). As an e-mail administrator, I'd like to explain to you why this is a fruitless effort and, in general, a really bad idea.
Let's start with how e-mail works. E-mail is transmitted from one e-mail server to another e-mail server. On server A, the e-mail server software opens a connection to server B. There's some handshaking between the two servers, the mail is sent, error checked, and then the connection is closed. My question is of a technical nature. HOW can you tax that? There's no magical central server. In order to impose a tax, you'd have to impliment code in every e-mail server package to report to a central server. Sounds good in theory, but do you know how many THOUSANDS of e-mail server software packages are out there? Way too many to impliment.
Now, let's look at spammers. Spam is already sent with forged information, usually bounced off servers overseas. Look at the headers of some of the spam you've received lately. You'll porbably see.jp and.il domains listed as relay servers. Japan and Italy? How are you going to tax that?
Ok, now let's out the two together. My mom who uses e-mail legitimately would be taxed for each message sent. Spammers who send millions of messages a day could use a server package that doesn't report to your magical metering server, bounces messages off servers in Japan, and is then received by my mom. That's right, my mom gets taxed for no reason and the spammer goes about his business untaxed. E-mail tax is unenforceable and easily avoided. Please don't punish innocent netizens with a rediculous measure that won't work.
the concept is cool, but there's one thing that doesn't make any sense.. HOW DO THEY KNOW IF YOU'VE DIED????
According to the FAQ on the site, you need to leave some kind of documentation in a place where someone will find it after you've died. That person is then responsible to contact them and have the e-mails sent. Dumb question: If you have to leave a note behind anyway, why use the e-mail service? Why not write letters in envelopes and store them in the same safe place you'll store this document?
Sounds more like a ploy to take money from the naive. Too bad I didn't think of this.
A language was needed for "business" programmers. C++ was too complex and too picky for mere mortals to code in, and BASIC, well, why would you write a business app in a language that screams "I'm for beginners!"?
COBOL was born to give non-programmers a language that was easy to code and easy to read. It was a dumb idea from the start, and look where we are today....
The above post is off topic and should be moderated as such. However, in the past "cheaper at Amazon" posts have been modded as trolls and flamebait. Now a post that it's cheaper at bn.com gets modded UP. Either way, it's an offtopic post.
Does this have anything to do with the size of the rider? If you continually fall off your Segway, maybe it's just a sign to GET OFF AND WALK for awhile.
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MS Select customers actually get good deals.
.org? that sounds horrible) is a good product for the general user. It does 80% of the things that Office does. The problem in my environment is that other 20%.. we have to do things in Office that Open Office JUST CAN'T DO. We need application integration. Some of our custom apps are written to integrate with Word and that integration doesn't function. Asking for OOo intergration? Not gonna happen.
Windows XP Pro License: $127
Office XP Pro License: $297
Key numbers that never require activation: priceless
Open office.org (WTF do they insist on adding
Secondly, the power users of Word are going to miss some features (most of them on the "who the hell uses THAT?" feature list). Yes, people use some of those obnoxious features. I've actually had people scream at me for not installing Clippy.
So while OOo caters to a good percentage of Office users, it's the annoyances and the useless features that limit its deployment.
Those who can, do. Those who can't post to Slashdot.
Those who can't post to Slashdot use AOL.
Microsoft puts itself in a catch-22 with this one.
Microsoft released a patch, yes. There are two people who wouldn't install it: those who don't have a clue about being a sysadmin (MCSE) and those who know MS's history of distributing broken patches.
The first group (mostly made of MCSE-only admins) are either too ignorant to install patches timely or are too stupid to know that your SQL server has no need to be internet-accesible. IIRC the only way to get slammer was to have your unpatched SQL server live to the world, something that anyone even slightly security concious wouldn't have done. Unfortunately, MS markets themselves as the easy delpoyment/any idiot can admin. So, they market themselves to idiots, then blame the idiots for not taking care of their servers. Umm... sure.
Secondly is the smart group who knows better than to deploy ANY MS patch without testing it. Having a patch 2 months before the worm hits is fine and good, but often times testing a patch takes that long. In the case of slammer these are the guys who know to keep their SQL servers behind the firewall. Slammer was mostly due to group #1. In the case of IIS and other internet services, however, a patch may not be deployed in a timely manner.
Combine MS's past of releasing broken patches with their careful marketing to idiots and you see how easily this crap happens.
I want a free receiver with my paid subscription.
When XM/Sirius debuted, they were around $300 for a receiver. Pile on top of that the monthly fee, and you have a really expensive way to listen to the radio. Initially most folks didn't want to invest in what could become a paperweight if the service failed.
Both XM and Sirius now have a cute little portable receiver for under $100. Starting to get tempting. I can bring satellite radio with me everywhere I have an aux in port. Less than $100 and I can listen anywhere? Starting to interest me.
So Sirius and XM, how can you get me as a customer? Let me pay for one year of service and give me the receiver free. Cell phone companies do it, you should too. I would gladly pay you for a full year of service and a receiver. After a year, if I don't like the service, I don't feel so bad about it.
You're one of those people who tries to outlaw cool things because they might be used for terrorism, aren't you?
VoIP is here, it works, and it's cheap. May as well get on board.
Qwest is milking this for all its worth.
Last night one of the local news stations basically gave Qwest the credit for inventing VoIP. They made it sound like Qwest is some amazing visionary company, ignoring the likes of Vonage who offer the same service for cheaper.
I'm glad to see that Vonage and Qwest are now competing, should be an interesting fight and (hopefully) a win for the consumers.
First, as I repeatedly say, this isnt an organization choosing "Linux". This is an org choosing IBM, who is intelligently exploiting a free product in order to sell their product.
You can't be farther from the truth. In fact, some of these workstations are Dell. I've seen them with my own eyes, and in fact ran top on one of them *drool*.
The NWS's AWIPS product has always run on HP-UX. A couple years ago they had started looking into linux because they'd get a free OS for cheap hardware, a definite advantage. They've been running linux and HP-UX side by side for a good year now, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that AWIPS finally supported linux. Once the support came through for AWIPS on linux, they abandoned HP-UX.
This was a move a long time coming, and I'm glad they went through with it. So no, they are not sheep, and you are an idiot.
I found it on Worstbuy's site Right here. It ships with XP Home installed. Does XP Home even run on a 64 bit processor?
A local radio station coined the term gawker slowdown. It's amazing to me how many of these things you'll see on the road. Traffic literally backed up for miles because of people stopping to stare at even the smallest of accidents.
Accordign to that radio station, the only accepable instance of a gawker slowdown is a care fire (carbeque). Something about a car engolfed in flames requires a gawk.
large corporations don't work that way.
Open Source: buy the developers pizza and beer to encourage them to get moving on a feature. Most likely it will get done quickly.
Any large software company: buy a copy of the software to encourage them to get moving on a feature. Their hands are usually tied in that respect. They'd have to go to their manager and have meetings about whether or not it's a prioirty. They analyze the cost of programming it, and maybe it'll get worked on. In MS terms it will get a half-assed effort if you're lucky.
The word is "intentional", as in "I was purposely breaking the law" as opposed to statutory, "I didn't know I was breaking the law".
Putting linux on a girl's computer without her consent is a bad rap for the open source movement. Educate her, yes, but forcing her to switch after she said no is bad karma.
Wait... we're talking about linux, right?
Clearly it should go to a once-a-year ice cream party for the whole Internet.
Shhh... then they'll impose a tax on ice cream parties!!
Here's the URL:
.jp and .il domains listed as relay servers. Japan and Italy? How are you going to tax that?
http://dayton.senate.gov/webform.html
And my letter to Mr. Dayton:
Mr. Dayton,
It has come to my attention (via today's Star Tribune) that you are proposing an e-mail tax as a possible solution to curbing unsolicited e-mail (SPAM). As an e-mail administrator, I'd like to explain to you why this is a fruitless effort and, in general, a really bad idea.
Let's start with how e-mail works. E-mail is transmitted from one e-mail server to another e-mail server. On server A, the e-mail server software opens a connection to server B. There's some handshaking between the two servers, the mail is sent, error checked, and then the connection is closed. My question is of a technical nature. HOW can you tax that? There's no magical central server. In order to impose a tax, you'd have to impliment code in every e-mail server package to report to a central server. Sounds good in theory, but do you know how many THOUSANDS of e-mail server software packages are out there? Way too many to impliment.
Now, let's look at spammers. Spam is already sent with forged information, usually bounced off servers overseas. Look at the headers of some of the spam you've received lately. You'll porbably see
Ok, now let's out the two together. My mom who uses e-mail legitimately would be taxed for each message sent. Spammers who send millions of messages a day could use a server package that doesn't report to your magical metering server, bounces messages off servers in Japan, and is then received by my mom. That's right, my mom gets taxed for no reason and the spammer goes about his business untaxed. E-mail tax is unenforceable and easily avoided. Please don't punish innocent netizens with a rediculous measure that won't work.
the concept is cool, but there's one thing that doesn't make any sense.. HOW DO THEY KNOW IF YOU'VE DIED????
According to the FAQ on the site, you need to leave some kind of documentation in a place where someone will find it after you've died. That person is then responsible to contact them and have the e-mails sent. Dumb question: If you have to leave a note behind anyway, why use the e-mail service? Why not write letters in envelopes and store them in the same safe place you'll store this document?
Sounds more like a ploy to take money from the naive. Too bad I didn't think of this.
the simple explanation:
A language was needed for "business" programmers. C++ was too complex and too picky for mere mortals to code in, and BASIC, well, why would you write a business app in a language that screams "I'm for beginners!"?
COBOL was born to give non-programmers a language that was easy to code and easy to read. It was a dumb idea from the start, and look where we are today....
Isn't that about 20 lines of C++?
If you're unable to distinguish a cartoon from the real thing, the real thing must REALLY suck.
Interesting.....
The above post is off topic and should be moderated as such. However, in the past "cheaper at Amazon" posts have been modded as trolls and flamebait. Now a post that it's cheaper at bn.com gets modded UP. Either way, it's an offtopic post.
Can we say "biased moderators" anybody?
So let me get this straight.... you had a DATE? With a real girl? You do realize this is Slashdot, right?
It's OK. I got my truck candle module to compile against it and I can release a patch.
Yes, but how many Volkswagons?
Will they be selling copies of linux for $699?
Does this have anything to do with the size of the rider? If you continually fall off your Segway, maybe it's just a sign to GET OFF AND WALK for awhile.
First I'm told my C64 can be be modded for broadband.
/me dusts off his Apple ][
Then an Amiga runs at 900Mhz.