I doubt if you have ever worked in or used a corporate help desk, but they tend to be very specific about what software/configurations they are willing to support.
I have actually worked in a corporate help desk environment, as recently as 2 weeks ago. We attempted to minimize losses from spyware/adware damage and also allow users the most freedom with their software selection. Admittedly, we were stuck using some Microsoft technology( mostly on the server side), but we actively encouraged users to switch to Firefox or Safari(for the apple users). Although many sites didn't render correctly in Firefox, having 5000+ users we could often times persuade the content providers to make simple modifications. In my understanding, a help desk is there to help the users accomplish their goals in a fast, efficient manner, not dictate what technologies they must use.
basically you would retain the linux functionality, but add all of Apple's productivity applications. You would also find that day to day operations are a little more intuitive.
I have been a long time Mac user at home, and have operated an in-home computer repair service for about 5 years. With the exception of hooking up a scanner for a 90 year old woman I have never been called upon to fix a macintosh problem that I couldn't get the user to solve themselves with a simple question or two (ie: it is plugged in, did you turn it on, is it connected to a phone line). Every day that I spend in the field further reinforces my decision to use Apple hardware. I can say that from my experience you will not wake up one day feeling that "The novelty of the pretty eye-candy has worn off now. "
That's a good idea for a single user, or small close knit group. If you have a large group, sooner or later someone will 'let the cat out of the bag' and tell these outside orgs that you'all are using firefox; Then they'll blame any problems on the 'bad browser' and refuse to help until you start using the 'right browser'.
I doubt that the outside orgs will have anything to do with the troubleshooting process. They would probably only hear good things. Having an attitude like this is what keeps Microsoft in business, too many people assume that if they use anything other than a Microsoft product that they will be chastised by the computing public.
Keep in mind that his numbers were based of of the number of USPA members, not off of the number of jumps. As a lowball figure I would say that each member does about 20 jumps per year and you'll also have to add the thousands of non-members who do tandem jumps or AFF.
The chance of losing ones life while skydiving is actually much lower that he had calculated.
The article states that this technology could be used to allow for faster recognition technologies, but can this be used to create a computer in the more typical sense?
I find this to be an extremely interesting and inventive process, but from the article I can't really decide if it has, or ever will have the ability to make something that isn't just a repeated pattern. Does anyone else know a little more about this technology?
unfortunately when it comes to defining "good looking" and "stylish" the only measure we really ever can have is popular belief, you anonymous coward:)
I'd say that the insight comes from the fact the he recognized a strong parallel between the system that IBM is developing and the transmission of nervous signals in the human body. This would also indicate that he was aware of the idea that at some point in time computing technology would develop into something quite similar to the human neural network, but I could be missing it too...
Even that statement doesn't explicitly mention disassembly during scheduled maintenance.
However, one can reasonably conclude a brick in the middle would need some disassembly to make it physically accessible.
Maybe the bricks will be so cheap that they won't need to be replaced, they can just be abandoned in the middle:)
well at least allow him to remove any cube without having to remove all mirrors of a specific drive. The physical design will probably require some optimization. If you wanted to mirror each drive to four others you could have four stacks, each rotated slightly in their arrangements, then a service tech could remove all of the drives leading up to a certain drive without interrupting the data flow(or really an entire stack). The data center would simply have to make a chart detailing the order to remove the drives in, the tech would just have to choose the correct stack.
Although there are some services that a pay as you go system makes sense for, I think that for MMOs it is unnecessary. The subscription price of around $15 per month is not an outrageous charge and given my varied play time I would not want to be subjected to a pay as you go system. During school or other busy times I find that I can only play an hour or so a week, if at all, but during free times I've been known to pull 16 hour play sessions. If I were charged hourly for the long play sessions I wouldn't feel as if I was getting my money's worth. Maybe adding a pay as you go as on option would be enticing to some users, but it would probably be along the lines of $2 per hour, so you wouldn't really save anything
I wonder if a mask would make the software cosider the photograph to be compromised? If so, do you think that the lizard man will ever be able to use one of these kiosks?
The idea of an MMO football game was one of the things that I thought would come about when I saw the first story about EA licensing on Slashdot, I think that this would be a really great idea if implemented well. People could actually create a player and give that player certain physical characteristics, then take that character from high school to college and then try to go pro. Stats at creation time could be things like height, weight, sex, and BMI. Players would have to trade off weight for strength and speed, but could enhance these characteristics through excercise and play time. It would also be nice if they created a coaching/scouting feature and allowed players to also choose a role behind the lines.
These are basically both methods of gaining more control over the GPS system in the event of a terrorist attack. I guess if there is some irony there I'm just failing to see it.
If it isn't much of a factor then why bother with licensing whatsoever?
I'm not saying that licensing is not a factor when it comes to game sales, but I am saying that in a football game having real players is interesting, but not necessary.
A game that doesn't have to use part of its development budget for licensing will have more money to spend on making game play better and producing strong content, so it is still possible that a company can produce a high quality game that produces a profit.
I'm certainly not trying to say that having real NFL players won't drive sales, but I don't see game companies that already have a lot of development time invested in next year's product stopping production because they will not be able to include those players.
What do you mean competition doesn't have to exist. All this means is that other companies are going to have to work to make a far superior product to remain active in the market. Granted, the mindless mass will probably purchase EA titles so that they get to play as real NFL players, but to assume that because EA has an advantage that other companies are going to stop making a product is just silly. Hopefully some good will come out of this and many of the ideas that people have been asking for in football games(a football MMO, first person football, etc.) will be implemented by a company that will need to get the "scoop" on EA. I hear from many people who are sick of the poor quality of game play and would gladly support a company that creates a revolutionary game regardless of recognizable celebrities.
I just wanted to let you know that on the west coast of Florida(Tampa/Sarasota) teens like Nextel even more than sprint. The direct connect feature doesn't use minutes and is a quicker way to get ahold of someone than have to (gasp!) dial their number and wait for them to answer.
I've actually noticed that almost anyone who has to keep in touch with a large number of people on a budget is switching to Nextel, it's true that they are a little more pricey, but the direct connect saves the users from overage charges.
I can only assume that as more people make the switch Nextel will become a more attractive option.
When needing a little extra cash I do in-home computer repair, but also find myself building decks, docks, and various other things for people that don't know how. I also often end up working a few nights a week at a bar because I like the atmosphere of it all.
It's not that I don't believe that a rock solid system should be behind the election results. I was merely pointing out the fact that no one had mentioned anything about the possibility of Bush simply leading the vote by that much. If you look over the information used in this study there are many places for error.
Granted, there were some issues with miscounting of ballots, but what if the errors were not as serious as this model claims.
Just like anyone else I'd like a fair election, but it seemed that all of the comments for this story were based on the assumption that Bush did not take the votes that he is recorded as having.
While the research used statistical analysis based on past elections and demographics, how else do you verify that a paperless voting system is working properly?"
I find it really strange that no one had mentioned the possibility that more people simply voted for Bush this time around. You have to admit Kerry was a pretty poor choice to run against Bush. I think that Clark would've had a shot at winning, and Dean too for that matter. Kerry was just too similar to Bush were it counted and too indecisive everywhere else. Just my opinion though...
I know that/. is a place where the more technically savvy among us like to congregate, but we should at least be open to the idea that Bush just won, and although I do agree that there needs to be some type of paper trail I don't think that there was any more vote tampering this election than in previous ones.
I hope that your post is just missing a ";-) " Tons of people use their iPods just for listening to music...that is after all what they do...I'm sure a few people buy them as a fashion statement, just like people buy alienware...but the iPod has to be the best mp3 player on the market. And decidig to integrate the hardware with a software that (gasp!) actually works is an amazing idea that no one else has seemed to follow. I have used and owned many other music players and can tell you that the iPod beats them all hands down. BTW, that creative product looks like a really poor imitation of the iPod...just look at the case and the software!
Slashdot Mirror
I have actually worked in a corporate help desk environment, as recently as 2 weeks ago.
We attempted to minimize losses from spyware/adware damage and also allow users the most freedom with their software selection. Admittedly, we were stuck using some Microsoft technology( mostly on the server side), but we actively encouraged users to switch to Firefox or Safari(for the apple users).
Although many sites didn't render correctly in Firefox, having 5000+ users we could often times persuade the content providers to make simple modifications.
In my understanding, a help desk is there to help the users accomplish their goals in a fast, efficient manner, not dictate what technologies they must use.
basically you would retain the linux functionality, but add all of Apple's productivity applications. You would also find that day to day operations are a little more intuitive.
I have been a long time Mac user at home, and have operated an in-home computer repair service for about 5 years. With the exception of hooking up a scanner for a 90 year old woman I have never been called upon to fix a macintosh problem that I couldn't get the user to solve themselves with a simple question or two (ie: it is plugged in, did you turn it on, is it connected to a phone line). Every day that I spend in the field further reinforces my decision to use Apple hardware.
I can say that from my experience you will not wake up one day feeling that "The novelty of the pretty eye-candy has worn off now. "
I doubt that the outside orgs will have anything to do with the troubleshooting process. They would probably only hear good things.
Having an attitude like this is what keeps Microsoft in business, too many people assume that if they use anything other than a Microsoft product that they will be chastised by the computing public.
Keep in mind that his numbers were based of of the number of USPA members, not off of the number of jumps. As a lowball figure I would say that each member does about 20 jumps per year and you'll also have to add the thousands of non-members who do tandem jumps or AFF.
The chance of losing ones life while skydiving is actually much lower that he had calculated.
Tron!
I find this to be an extremely interesting and inventive process, but from the article I can't really decide if it has, or ever will have the ability to make something that isn't just a repeated pattern. Does anyone else know a little more about this technology?
unfortunately when it comes to defining "good looking" and "stylish" the only measure we really ever can have is popular belief, you anonymous coward :)
Actually, what if you had a bunch of stacks like libraries do, then to get to any cube you could just crank all of the other stacks to one side.
I was waiting for someone to mention a beowulf cluster :) it seems to come up in every article
I'd say that the insight comes from the fact the he recognized a strong parallel between the system that IBM is developing and the transmission of nervous signals in the human body.
This would also indicate that he was aware of the idea that at some point in time computing technology would develop into something quite similar to the human neural network, but I could be missing it too...
However, one can reasonably conclude a brick in the middle would need some disassembly to make it physically accessible.
Maybe the bricks will be so cheap that they won't need to be replaced, they can just be abandoned in the middle :)
well at least allow him to remove any cube without having to remove all mirrors of a specific drive.
The physical design will probably require some optimization. If you wanted to mirror each drive to four others you could have four stacks, each rotated slightly in their arrangements, then a service tech could remove all of the drives leading up to a certain drive without interrupting the data flow(or really an entire stack). The data center would simply have to make a chart detailing the order to remove the drives in, the tech would just have to choose the correct stack.
Although there are some services that a pay as you go system makes sense for, I think that for MMOs it is unnecessary. The subscription price of around $15 per month is not an outrageous charge and given my varied play time I would not want to be subjected to a pay as you go system.
During school or other busy times I find that I can only play an hour or so a week, if at all, but during free times I've been known to pull 16 hour play sessions.
If I were charged hourly for the long play sessions I wouldn't feel as if I was getting my money's worth.
Maybe adding a pay as you go as on option would be enticing to some users, but it would probably be along the lines of $2 per hour, so you wouldn't really save anything
I wonder if a mask would make the software cosider the photograph to be compromised?
If so, do you think that the lizard man will ever be able to use one of these kiosks?
The idea of an MMO football game was one of the things that I thought would come about when I saw the first story about EA licensing on Slashdot, I think that this would be a really great idea if implemented well.
People could actually create a player and give that player certain physical characteristics, then take that character from high school to college and then try to go pro.
Stats at creation time could be things like height, weight, sex, and BMI. Players would have to trade off weight for strength and speed, but could enhance these characteristics through excercise and play time.
It would also be nice if they created a coaching/scouting feature and allowed players to also choose a role behind the lines.
The military side of the GPS system will still be up in a situation such as this.
These are basically both methods of gaining more control over the GPS system in the event of a terrorist attack.
I guess if there is some irony there I'm just failing to see it.
I'm not saying that licensing is not a factor when it comes to game sales, but I am saying that in a football game having real players is interesting, but not necessary.
A game that doesn't have to use part of its development budget for licensing will have more money to spend on making game play better and producing strong content, so it is still possible that a company can produce a high quality game that produces a profit.
I'm certainly not trying to say that having real NFL players won't drive sales, but I don't see game companies that already have a lot of development time invested in next year's product stopping production because they will not be able to include those players.
What do you mean competition doesn't have to exist. All this means is that other companies are going to have to work to make a far superior product to remain active in the market. Granted, the mindless mass will probably purchase EA titles so that they get to play as real NFL players, but to assume that because EA has an advantage that other companies are going to stop making a product is just silly.
Hopefully some good will come out of this and many of the ideas that people have been asking for in football games(a football MMO, first person football, etc.) will be implemented by a company that will need to get the "scoop" on EA.
I hear from many people who are sick of the poor quality of game play and would gladly support a company that creates a revolutionary game regardless of recognizable celebrities.
I just wanted to let you know that on the west coast of Florida(Tampa/Sarasota) teens like Nextel even more than sprint. The direct connect feature doesn't use minutes and is a quicker way to get ahold of someone than have to (gasp!) dial their number and wait for them to answer.
I've actually noticed that almost anyone who has to keep in touch with a large number of people on a budget is switching to Nextel, it's true that they are a little more pricey, but the direct connect saves the users from overage charges.
I can only assume that as more people make the switch Nextel will become a more attractive option.
When needing a little extra cash I do in-home computer repair, but also find myself building decks, docks, and various other things for people that don't know how.
I also often end up working a few nights a week at a bar because I like the atmosphere of it all.
It's not that I don't believe that a rock solid system should be behind the election results. I was merely pointing out the fact that no one had mentioned anything about the possibility of Bush simply leading the vote by that much. If you look over the information used in this study there are many places for error.
Granted, there were some issues with miscounting of ballots, but what if the errors were not as serious as this model claims.
Just like anyone else I'd like a fair election, but it seemed that all of the comments for this story were based on the assumption that Bush did not take the votes that he is recorded as having.
I find it really strange that no one had mentioned the possibility that more people simply voted for Bush this time around. You have to admit Kerry was a pretty poor choice to run against Bush. I think that Clark would've had a shot at winning, and Dean too for that matter. Kerry was just too similar to Bush were it counted and too indecisive everywhere else. Just my opinion though...
I know that /. is a place where the more technically savvy among us like to congregate, but we should at least be open to the idea that Bush just won, and although I do agree that there needs to be some type of paper trail I don't think that there was any more vote tampering this election than in previous ones.
I hope that your post is just missing a " ;-) " Tons of people use their iPods just for listening to music...that is after all what they do...I'm sure a few people buy them as a fashion statement, just like people buy alienware...but the iPod has to be the best mp3 player on the market. And decidig to integrate the hardware with a software that (gasp!) actually works is an amazing idea that no one else has seemed to follow.
I have used and owned many other music players and can tell you that the iPod beats them all hands down.
BTW, that creative product looks like a really poor imitation of the iPod...just look at the case and the software!
Bejeweled!!! ...20 seconds of fill :)