As a former sysadmin for 12 yrs, I have to divide what I understand about what's best from the realities of the real world.
You and I both know that Ubuntu is a far superior operating system on so many levels. It's more secure, it's way faster, it runs on more platforms, you can modify it entirely to your liking, it comes with 'real' software, it's free and it's evolving 2x per year.
For the average user, however, the reality is that many are petrified of their computers. All they know is that it's really bad to screw up and that they will never figure out how to make them run right if they do. They never open manuals or read help files. That is the reality out there - lets' get used to it.
With that said, Lucid Lynx is, arguably, the most user-friendly operating system I have ever used. Coupled with incredible speed, lighting installation and simple interface, it truly stands out for its polish. There's more: getting apps, for the 'newbie' is just a click, a search and a one-click install. Try doing that with a licenced Microsoft Product. You'll be futzing with licence keys and compatibility issues for hours.
Obviously, Linux Mint and others are very polished too, while also taking a run at combining proprietary software with non-proprietary software.
In short, Dell's right: if you're new to computing, install Ubuntu. If you have legacy MS apps, bend over!!
The concept of building a dwelling stems from need. Depending on the region of the planet, the needs of the dweller differ enormously. For some, it's shelter from the elements. For others, it could be insects and animals and/or other humans.
Materials should be based, once again, on regional availability.
For the eco-friendly, homes have been built from many materials: earth, tires, bales of hay and a large variety of other materials. The availability of the materials should dictate the construction technique. Because of this large range of source materials, it will be very difficult to produce one difinitive design.
It might be best to settle for regional designs for various 'zones' of the world and work from there.
As to building dwellings from railway cars, they are, by their very nature, inefficient thermally and narrow ergonomically. You'd spend more time retrofitting them than building from scratch.
This is going to sound sexist - but please read on
on
Women Dropping Out of IT
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Women are not just dropping out of IT, they are also changing the face of many other professions - in ways that were not imagined at the time of Women's Liberation. Take, for example, Veterenarians. What was once a male dominated field now has a vast majority of females entering it.
But wait - Veterenarians are noticing something interesting: Males work very, very long hours - sometimes 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM and have a huge client base. Women, on the other hand, tend to work very short hours because they combine their careers with child-reasing. As a result, it can take 4-5 female to produce the same work as one male in the field. Also, inherently, salaries are much, much different.
So, rather than screaming sexist or gender inequality, let's look at how women have been able to have a life balance that is, possibly, better than men's.
The IT field is particularly nasty if you want to balance your home and work life. As so many of you know, tending a server farm or managing a transaction-intensive web site can mean hours and hours of work at any time of the day or night. It's not a wonder that women have seen the light about what amounts to a shit job (regardless of the pay).
This is not new.
Here's an excerpt from Toronto Computer Leasing Inquire (Wiki):
"On January 1, 1998, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto and its six lower-tier cities (Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, East York and York) were amalgamated into the single "megacity" of Toronto. In one of the new city's first official acts of business, computer equipment was leased for city councillors' offices from MFP Financial Services, at a value of $1,093,731. City staff have not been able to produce any documentation to prove that this contract was awarded through proper procedures.
In May, 1999, the city issued a Request For Quotations for its new computer acquisition needs. MFP was one of the bidders, and was awarded the contract in July of that year. MFP was contracted to provide $43 million of computer equipment to the city on a three-year lease agreement. However, the final lease agreement was not signed until after the 90-day price guarantee had expired.
That fall, the city sold its owned computer equipment to MFP, and then leased it back as well.
Over the duration of the agreement, the city paid $85 million to MFP, rather than the original $43 million approved by city council. As well, many of the equipment schedules were for five-year leases rather than three. Some of these leases were later restructured to extend the lease terms even further, resulting in additional costs.
In December of that year, the city acquired 10,000 Oracle database licenses, again through an MFP lease. This turned out to be a serious overestimate of the city's actual needs.
These issues came to light in late 2001, after an investigation by Toronto city councillors David Miller and Bas Balkissoon. In February, 2002, the Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry was established by city council. The commissioner of the inquiry is Madam Justice Denise Bellamy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice."
The Monadnock is the tallest commercial building in the world with masonry load-bearing walls. It was built in Chicago in 1891. You can't build any higher than that without girders because the masonry would crumble. The same with Windows: when your core architechture has inherent design limitations, you make it any better other than to patch the outside. Until Microsoft re-designs its O/S, it will continue to have much, much larger security issues that other BSD/Unlix/Linux designs. It's Darninian: consider that some 80% of the internet, which holds much of the world's commerce is NOT built on Microsoft.
I think that there is a balance between having lots of empathy and being caring and getting on with life and not letting everything 'get' to you. Take, for example, a paramedic. If they had a ton of empathy when somebody lost an arm, they might be so freaked out that they would not staunch the flow of blood and save the person's life.
You sometimes need to be callous to move forward.
China sends spies to work in IT departments of all major political parties. It is a great way to steal complete lists of contributors/donors/supporters and, thereby, have complete knowledge of who the major movers and shakers are. Keep your eyes and ears peeled and be very, very careful.
It is long overdue that, when you pay a handsome sum for a product that includes a proprietary O/S and the company produces massive crap like this, they should be a) held accountable b) provide full recompense for the incredible amount of lost time that issues like this cause.
I have long advocated that, if you must have patent legislation, there should be a consumer side to it. You can't have it two ways. You can't make money by being proprietary while at the same time not being accountable for your errors.
Any moron that designs software that has control between the brake pedal and the brake caliper should be taken out and shot. These are not fly-by-wire F22-Raptors we`re talking about - these are road vehicles.
They will be purchased by idiots who want to save money by not paying the goons at the dealer to maintain the vehicle.
Any software design that does not factor in human nature is bound to cause terrible tragedy. It`s a wonder that it hasn`t happened sooner.
If wikipedia is to be believed, our organ of vision works as follows: "Humans normally have three kinds of cones. The first responds most to light of long wavelengths, peaking in the yellow region; this type is designated L for long. The second type responds most to light of medium-wavelength, peaking at green, and is abbreviated M for medium. The third type responds most to short-wavelength light, of a violet color, and is designated S for short. The three types have peak wavelengths near 564–580 nm, 534–545 nm, and 420–440 nm, respectively.[7][8] The difference in the signals received from the three cone types allows the brain to perceive all possible colors, through the opponent process of color vision."
So, if we use sensors in three wavelengths to sense colours, why should we require four colour producing devices?? It's just hype.
When you consider the long-term effects of high sugar, high fat, high cholesterol offerings with no healthy alternatives, they should be considered poison, not meals.
After reading many accounts of former astronauts and others involved in the space program, to go to the moon without computers automatically monitoring the spacecraft was not only foolish, it was complete and utter folly. Gene Cernan states emphatically that he, and many others, came close to perishing a number of times during the program.
If we want to explore the moon and other places, let do it sensibly: we should be sending robotic 'crews' up to explore, stake out and set up living quarters for humans who would follow. It would achieve two things: make the whole process so much safer and really move robotic science forward significantly. The resultant benefist for humanity back on earth would be of a similar scale to those of the space programs of the 60's.
As to Neil Armstrong, he himself was nearly killed by a simulator that ran out of attitude fuel. A computerized system would have noticed the problem immediately and averted disaster.
When I asked an old mentor how he made his millions, he said: "There are two ways to make money: outsmart the other guy or do it the way 80% of us do it - outwork him."
Any smart parent knows that no university gives a rat's ass about Junior's marks in grade 7. Encouraging children when they work hard will always produce better results than telling them that they are smart and rewarding high scores.
The next attempt will be the land speed records for getting to youtube to see brains spread across the desert. Fortunately, not a lot of brains will be involved.
is that all the problems with China seem to be one way. We don't hear of Chinese complaining about melamine in products from Western countries. It always seems to be about hacking, cheating, deception, malfaisance, obfuscation, corruption and blackmail.
Heck, even Dell is pulling out.
So, because the Chinese persist in behaving badly it's time for internet war. Let's band together and shut 'em down. Close off internet to China and see how they like it - after all, the TLD's are controlled by the U.S. As to messaging etc. they can phone and fax.
Sorry for such a rant but there has got to be a consequence for the level and voracity of the issues and problems that emanate from China - especially when the government there is never responsible.
I install Firefox on every machine I set up and then add AdBlockPlus and Ghostery. It's amazing what these two block. Mind you, they are not perfect and sometimes you have to allow some code to get through with Ghostery or the site does not work. Lastly, of course, you should use Linux. That helps a lot...
Thanks Ian - for defending my point of view (I think!). Being blond, I have been blessed with genetics that allow me to go through life bereft of worry because I am without the ability to understand the deep thoughts that intelligent people have! I am just concerned about the outcome of turning this gene on and the consequences therein. Let me also state for the record that I am NOT an adherent to "Intelligent Design".
No other species on the planet has the combination of brain size, bipedal physique and leisure time (as a result) that Homo Sapiens does. These evolutionary advantages have caused us to evolve and to gain insights into our environment.
Now, while we do have sympathy, empathy and healing, we also have opression, violence, murder and wholesale slaughter/massacre (Rwanda, Srebrenica). The fact that we are capable of both indicates an inherent Darwinism within our own species.
Could you substantiate that? I'm interested in your reasoning. With respect, I would disagree and I provide one simple example: Lions have manes. The reason is to protect the neck. It makes sense to protect a delicate area in an animal that is a predator and will be involved in life and death struggles.
I notice that Microsoft has been working more and more closely with Linux - having the SAMBA team come on their campus (for example) and then coming up with variations on NTFS in Windows 7 afterward. We will see more of this: Microsoft learning and studying its competition then putting into place strategies that will create a further divide between the closed and open source worlds (despite all the rhetoric out there to the contrary). This is fully in line with Sun Tsu's "The Art of War" - essentially: "Know thine enemy."
That said, the likelyhood of Microsoft going head-to-head in an IP war with Linux would be very damaging to Microsoft. The net result might be that the USPO would be brought into the fray and the USPO prior art decisions questioned. Microsoft stands to lose a lot more than it might gain if it engages in this level of conflict.
Lastly, with the recent revelation of high acceptance of iPhone usage at Microsoft, they might end up in fratricide!
Slashdot Mirror
You and I both know that Ubuntu is a far superior operating system on so many levels. It's more secure, it's way faster, it runs on more platforms, you can modify it entirely to your liking, it comes with 'real' software, it's free and it's evolving 2x per year.
For the average user, however, the reality is that many are petrified of their computers. All they know is that it's really bad to screw up and that they will never figure out how to make them run right if they do. They never open manuals or read help files. That is the reality out there - lets' get used to it.
With that said, Lucid Lynx is, arguably, the most user-friendly operating system I have ever used. Coupled with incredible speed, lighting installation and simple interface, it truly stands out for its polish. There's more: getting apps, for the 'newbie' is just a click, a search and a one-click install. Try doing that with a licenced Microsoft Product. You'll be futzing with licence keys and compatibility issues for hours.
Obviously, Linux Mint and others are very polished too, while also taking a run at combining proprietary software with non-proprietary software.
In short, Dell's right: if you're new to computing, install Ubuntu. If you have legacy MS apps, bend over!!
Now, if we could just convince the majors everywhere to set up their entire systems of unused numbers as honeypots, we'd all be better off.
Materials should be based, once again, on regional availability.
For the eco-friendly, homes have been built from many materials: earth, tires, bales of hay and a large variety of other materials. The availability of the materials should dictate the construction technique. Because of this large range of source materials, it will be very difficult to produce one difinitive design.
It might be best to settle for regional designs for various 'zones' of the world and work from there.
As to building dwellings from railway cars, they are, by their very nature, inefficient thermally and narrow ergonomically. You'd spend more time retrofitting them than building from scratch.
But wait - Veterenarians are noticing something interesting: Males work very, very long hours - sometimes 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM and have a huge client base. Women, on the other hand, tend to work very short hours because they combine their careers with child-reasing. As a result, it can take 4-5 female to produce the same work as one male in the field. Also, inherently, salaries are much, much different.
So, rather than screaming sexist or gender inequality, let's look at how women have been able to have a life balance that is, possibly, better than men's.
The IT field is particularly nasty if you want to balance your home and work life. As so many of you know, tending a server farm or managing a transaction-intensive web site can mean hours and hours of work at any time of the day or night. It's not a wonder that women have seen the light about what amounts to a shit job (regardless of the pay).
C'mon, Hollywood, it's long past time for it.
This is not new. Here's an excerpt from Toronto Computer Leasing Inquire (Wiki): "On January 1, 1998, the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto and its six lower-tier cities (Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, East York and York) were amalgamated into the single "megacity" of Toronto. In one of the new city's first official acts of business, computer equipment was leased for city councillors' offices from MFP Financial Services, at a value of $1,093,731. City staff have not been able to produce any documentation to prove that this contract was awarded through proper procedures. In May, 1999, the city issued a Request For Quotations for its new computer acquisition needs. MFP was one of the bidders, and was awarded the contract in July of that year. MFP was contracted to provide $43 million of computer equipment to the city on a three-year lease agreement. However, the final lease agreement was not signed until after the 90-day price guarantee had expired. That fall, the city sold its owned computer equipment to MFP, and then leased it back as well. Over the duration of the agreement, the city paid $85 million to MFP, rather than the original $43 million approved by city council. As well, many of the equipment schedules were for five-year leases rather than three. Some of these leases were later restructured to extend the lease terms even further, resulting in additional costs. In December of that year, the city acquired 10,000 Oracle database licenses, again through an MFP lease. This turned out to be a serious overestimate of the city's actual needs. These issues came to light in late 2001, after an investigation by Toronto city councillors David Miller and Bas Balkissoon. In February, 2002, the Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry was established by city council. The commissioner of the inquiry is Madam Justice Denise Bellamy of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice."
Of course it only works in bloody cold, damp England!
The Monadnock is the tallest commercial building in the world with masonry load-bearing walls. It was built in Chicago in 1891. You can't build any higher than that without girders because the masonry would crumble. The same with Windows: when your core architechture has inherent design limitations, you make it any better other than to patch the outside. Until Microsoft re-designs its O/S, it will continue to have much, much larger security issues that other BSD/Unlix/Linux designs. It's Darninian: consider that some 80% of the internet, which holds much of the world's commerce is NOT built on Microsoft.
I think that there is a balance between having lots of empathy and being caring and getting on with life and not letting everything 'get' to you. Take, for example, a paramedic. If they had a ton of empathy when somebody lost an arm, they might be so freaked out that they would not staunch the flow of blood and save the person's life. You sometimes need to be callous to move forward.
China sends spies to work in IT departments of all major political parties. It is a great way to steal complete lists of contributors/donors/supporters and, thereby, have complete knowledge of who the major movers and shakers are. Keep your eyes and ears peeled and be very, very careful.
I have long advocated that, if you must have patent legislation, there should be a consumer side to it. You can't have it two ways. You can't make money by being proprietary while at the same time not being accountable for your errors.
They will be purchased by idiots who want to save money by not paying the goons at the dealer to maintain the vehicle.
Any software design that does not factor in human nature is bound to cause terrible tragedy. It`s a wonder that it hasn`t happened sooner.
So, if we use sensors in three wavelengths to sense colours, why should we require four colour producing devices?? It's just hype.
When you consider the long-term effects of high sugar, high fat, high cholesterol offerings with no healthy alternatives, they should be considered poison, not meals.
If we want to explore the moon and other places, let do it sensibly: we should be sending robotic 'crews' up to explore, stake out and set up living quarters for humans who would follow. It would achieve two things: make the whole process so much safer and really move robotic science forward significantly. The resultant benefist for humanity back on earth would be of a similar scale to those of the space programs of the 60's.
As to Neil Armstrong, he himself was nearly killed by a simulator that ran out of attitude fuel. A computerized system would have noticed the problem immediately and averted disaster.
I haven't been able to find the Linux version anywhere.
Any smart parent knows that no university gives a rat's ass about Junior's marks in grade 7. Encouraging children when they work hard will always produce better results than telling them that they are smart and rewarding high scores.
Put out a government tender for software development.
The next attempt will be the land speed records for getting to youtube to see brains spread across the desert. Fortunately, not a lot of brains will be involved.
Heck, even Dell is pulling out.
So, because the Chinese persist in behaving badly it's time for internet war. Let's band together and shut 'em down. Close off internet to China and see how they like it - after all, the TLD's are controlled by the U.S. As to messaging etc. they can phone and fax.
Sorry for such a rant but there has got to be a consequence for the level and voracity of the issues and problems that emanate from China - especially when the government there is never responsible.
I install Firefox on every machine I set up and then add AdBlockPlus and Ghostery. It's amazing what these two block. Mind you, they are not perfect and sometimes you have to allow some code to get through with Ghostery or the site does not work. Lastly, of course, you should use Linux. That helps a lot...
Thanks Ian - for defending my point of view (I think!). Being blond, I have been blessed with genetics that allow me to go through life bereft of worry because I am without the ability to understand the deep thoughts that intelligent people have! I am just concerned about the outcome of turning this gene on and the consequences therein. Let me also state for the record that I am NOT an adherent to "Intelligent Design".
Now, while we do have sympathy, empathy and healing, we also have opression, violence, murder and wholesale slaughter/massacre (Rwanda, Srebrenica). The fact that we are capable of both indicates an inherent Darwinism within our own species.
Could you substantiate that? I'm interested in your reasoning. With respect, I would disagree and I provide one simple example: Lions have manes. The reason is to protect the neck. It makes sense to protect a delicate area in an animal that is a predator and will be involved in life and death struggles.
That said, the likelyhood of Microsoft going head-to-head in an IP war with Linux would be very damaging to Microsoft. The net result might be that the USPO would be brought into the fray and the USPO prior art decisions questioned. Microsoft stands to lose a lot more than it might gain if it engages in this level of conflict.
Lastly, with the recent revelation of high acceptance of iPhone usage at Microsoft, they might end up in fratricide!