We have about 40 of them, 17" and 20" mixed and they are more than fast enough for office use. MS Office for macs is not however...
>and don't work that well for people that have good screens.
The iMac screens are good enough for office use. I agree the 17" is a bit small but the 20" is great. My exprience is that in an office environment you need screen real state and speed not effects or calibrated colors. If you work with graphics (in an office) and need better precision, simply get a Mac Pro.
>Also they force you to get a bigger screen if you want a better video, faster cpu, or bigger HD. I fully agree. This old and still very strange policy is one thing I don't like with Apple.
Apples problem getting in to the office market has less to do with hw and more with sw and more importantly Apple own lack of interest in getting into this market.
Apart from the obvious DV/audio/video usage where FW outperformes USB? Hmm, and how would I else use my non-externally powered FW drives? The measly 500mA in a USB port sux. I'd take FW over USB in any situation.
Full CDs will stay until there is an online alternative just as expensive.
The record industry has itself to blame for us, the audience, beeing more and more geared towards individual songs rather than albums* and thus making music into just one of those small commodities like a mobile phone call or a pack of chewing gum. Some people argue that that all started with "guest producers" versions, remixes and putting cheap-to-make singles versions of songs on the CDs instead of complete albums written as a whole.
Removing the physical CDs would be the final signal to the customers saying "If you don't want our album (that we've infact stopped making anyway) atleast buy one measly song, we even charge you just one dollar".
If artists stopped or are incapable of thinking in terms of albums why do we still have full CDs at all? And why will we still have them for awhile, at least until the industry finds a way to sell us something we are prepaired to pay $20 for.
Since:
A) making a physical CD costs almost the same if your putting on one song or twenty.
B) you need a certain turnaround from each CD sale to finance your boat... eh, business. A full CD that sells for $15-$20 is much better economy than making a CD-single that only flogs $3-5 from a customer.
So again; Full CDs will stay until there's an online - read 'cheaper for the industry' - alternative just as expensive for the buyers.
*Yes we've had a song based music scene before the 60's and 70's arrival of albums but that was so far back that most people in the industry have forgotten all about it. They simply do not know how to stay alive in that kind of a eco(nomical)system.
We've been using FirstClass since mid 90's and it has evolved from a BBS system to a groupware solution. I run the systems on a university department with about 700-800 students and 40 in the staff. We also run the distance learning for a different department thru the web interface.
Why you should try it:
You get mail, conferencing, common and individual: calendars, documents, adressbooks, a webserver that can be used as a publishing system, etc etc.
Check it out on ahref=http://www.firstclass.com/rel=url2html-9100h ttp://www.firstclass.com/> A someone else said there even is a fully working tryout system for you to install on your Win/OS-X/Linux server. It is VERY reliable which is cruical if you run a groupware system. The underlaying systems - how files are stored and how messages are handled within the system - are very similar to Exchange Server. The major difference from Exchange is that with FC you have LDAP instead of AD sync nor do you get Microsoft Office documents integration.
It also scales nicely from 2:) users and up. The largest system I've heard about has 450.000 users .
And why shouldn't you run FC?
Very important, First Class does not sync calendars or adressbooks with anything outside it. Of course you have import and export but not sync. They offer directory integration over LDAP but I haven't looked into the details on how and what part of a User entry they support. Syncronisation of calendars, contacts, and of course the directory are important factors when designing your office system.
A lot of water seems to run under the bridges on the company 'formerly known as' Soft Arc. FC used to be a Mac only server with great integration of the Mac UI on the client. Not anymore. The Mac knowledgeables has vanished, it seems, so has the urge to do anything new that is not based on Windows UI and Win standards. This means that new features always comes on the Windows version of the server first and maybe they migrate them to Mac. This despite that Open Text repetedly states that they are commited to all three platforms. Since a year or two they offer a unix version of the server but the marketing dept. rarely, if ever, talks about it. The Mac client has poor placement of windows and buttons so many times you must scroll a few pixels within a window just to see an OK button. Sad.
Maybe I'm just bitter but it seems to me that the Open Text bean counters has laid out the path for the development of the system. By offering a product below par on non-windows platforms they might hope that we will all migrate to Windows servers. The beans counters also has changed the licensing so that you cannot upgrade directly from say 6 > 8, yo must buy the intermediate upgrades aswell.
Tech stuff: We use a dedicated 2xG4 2GB XServe with the database on a small 60 GB drive with a similar mirror drive. The mirroring takes care of failures on the main drive during normal use but since our database is only about 5-6 GB it takes less than 20 minutes to do a full backup. Because of this and since our system is also our main mail system we backup every 12 hours. It would be impossible to do any work without it.
The FC system itself has failed only due to outside problems like power failure, network trouble so despite the backup frenzy I'm pretty relaxed with leaving it over the summer vacation weeks etc. It's just that WHEN problem occurs, and they will, I want to be able to have it back up again within an hour./Per Mattsson
Oh yes, the operators do this continously mostly together with traffic measurements as a part of "quality of service" jobs. Customers movements are the basis for where to place antennas/stations. If several of your customers are commuting along a certain road or a trainline then you probably should place antennas along this road to serve them.
In Sweden we often have had cases where the phone operators have helped to narrow down the location of the phone of a lost person say in a forrest or similar. Without this help that person would have never been found. Not anyone can get this service from the phone operators nor can they track individuals withotu the police asking them to. Atleast that's how it's been up untill now.
Telia-Sonera [http://www.teliasonera.com/ even has a "Buddy service" where two phoneowners can agree on beeing able to track the location of each other. I have helped a friend of mine to hide a cash-phone inside his motorcycle so if it ever get stolen he can simply check where thats phone is > that's probably where his Harley is.
It's however something completely different if you as an employee or spouse (!) are unaware of that you and your phone are beeing tracked.
This is just stupid.
You are meant to look at the screen not the computer - if you know what to do with it that is...
OTOH when will we see the first "ratcomputer", and I mean a real one not the frequently/.ed HL2 with fake-rust-and-too-many-phony-fan-knobs.
May be dip a G5 in salt and acid and weld a couple of rusty cutterwheels on the side?
Slashdot Mirror
Ops, should have been:
> That's simply not having unions.
BS.
> That's simply not having unions. BS.
>The I-macs have laptop parts
We have about 40 of them, 17" and 20" mixed and they are more than fast enough for office use. MS Office for macs is not however...
>and don't work that well for people that have good screens.
The iMac screens are good enough for office use. I agree the 17" is a bit small but the 20" is great. My exprience is that in an office environment you need screen real state and speed not effects or calibrated colors. If you work with graphics (in an office) and need better precision, simply get a Mac Pro.
>Also they force you to get a bigger screen if you want a better video, faster cpu, or bigger HD.
I fully agree. This old and still very strange policy is one thing I don't like with Apple.
Apples problem getting in to the office market has less to do with hw and more with sw and more importantly Apple own lack of interest in getting into this market.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, finally someone with insight ...
After seeing Google showing ambitions on being the the new M$, are the new Apple Cube going to be a Borg Cube then?
/Per
Apart from the obvious DV/audio/video usage where FW outperformes USB? Hmm, and how would I else use my non-externally powered FW drives? The measly 500mA in a USB port sux. I'd take FW over USB in any situation.
Full CDs will stay until there is an online alternative just as expensive.
The record industry has itself to blame for us, the audience, beeing more and more geared towards individual songs rather than albums* and thus making music into just one of those small commodities like a mobile phone call or a pack of chewing gum. Some people argue that that all started with "guest producers" versions, remixes and putting cheap-to-make singles versions of songs on the CDs instead of complete albums written as a whole.
Removing the physical CDs would be the final signal to the customers saying "If you don't want our album (that we've infact stopped making anyway) atleast buy one measly song, we even charge you just one dollar".
If artists stopped or are incapable of thinking in terms of albums why do we still have full CDs at all? And why will we still have them for awhile, at least until the industry finds a way to sell us something we are prepaired to pay $20 for.
Since:
A) making a physical CD costs almost the same if your putting on one song or twenty.
B) you need a certain turnaround from each CD sale to finance your boat... eh, business. A full CD that sells for $15-$20 is much better economy than making a CD-single that only flogs $3-5 from a customer.
So again; Full CDs will stay until there's an online - read 'cheaper for the industry' - alternative just as expensive for the buyers.
*Yes we've had a song based music scene before the 60's and 70's arrival of albums but that was so far back that most people in the industry have forgotten all about it. They simply do not know how to stay alive in that kind of a eco(nomical)system.
>Fill those ports with cement! My computer has Bluetooth, so does my Ericsson phone with 512 MB storeage ...
nuff said
Urgh, I always forget to format messages on Slashdot.
the URL should be http://www.firstclass.com/
We've been using FirstClass since mid 90's and it has evolved from a BBS system to a groupware solution. I run the systems on a university department with about 700-800 students and 40 in the staff. We also run the distance learning for a different department thru the web interface. Why you should try it: You get mail, conferencing, common and individual: calendars, documents, adressbooks, a webserver that can be used as a publishing system, etc etc. Check it out on ahref=http://www.firstclass.com/rel=url2html-9100h ttp://www.firstclass.com/> A someone else said there even is a fully working tryout system for you to install on your Win/OS-X/Linux server. It is VERY reliable which is cruical if you run a groupware system. The underlaying systems - how files are stored and how messages are handled within the system - are very similar to Exchange Server. The major difference from Exchange is that with FC you have LDAP instead of AD sync nor do you get Microsoft Office documents integration.
It also scales nicely from 2 :) users and up. The largest system I've heard about has 450.000 users .
And why shouldn't you run FC?
Very important, First Class does not sync calendars or adressbooks with anything outside it. Of course you have import and export but not sync. They offer directory integration over LDAP but I haven't looked into the details on how and what part of a User entry they support. Syncronisation of calendars, contacts, and of course the directory are important factors when designing your office system.
A lot of water seems to run under the bridges on the company 'formerly known as' Soft Arc. FC used to be a Mac only server with great integration of the Mac UI on the client. Not anymore. The Mac knowledgeables has vanished, it seems, so has the urge to do anything new that is not based on Windows UI and Win standards. This means that new features always comes on the Windows version of the server first and maybe they migrate them to Mac. This despite that Open Text repetedly states that they are commited to all three platforms. Since a year or two they offer a unix version of the server but the marketing dept. rarely, if ever, talks about it. The Mac client has poor placement of windows and buttons so many times you must scroll a few pixels within a window just to see an OK button. Sad.
Maybe I'm just bitter but it seems to me that the Open Text bean counters has laid out the path for the development of the system. By offering a product below par on non-windows platforms they might hope that we will all migrate to Windows servers. The beans counters also has changed the licensing so that you cannot upgrade directly from say 6 > 8, yo must buy the intermediate upgrades aswell.
Tech stuff: We use a dedicated 2xG4 2GB XServe with the database on a small 60 GB drive with a similar mirror drive. The mirroring takes care of failures on the main drive during normal use but since our database is only about 5-6 GB it takes less than 20 minutes to do a full backup. Because of this and since our system is also our main mail system we backup every 12 hours. It would be impossible to do any work without it.
The FC system itself has failed only due to outside problems like power failure, network trouble so despite the backup frenzy I'm pretty relaxed with leaving it over the summer vacation weeks etc. It's just that WHEN problem occurs, and they will, I want to be able to have it back up again within an hour. /Per Mattsson
>it means that it has been around for a while
Oh yes, the operators do this continously mostly together with traffic measurements as a part of "quality of service" jobs. Customers movements are the basis for where to place antennas/stations. If several of your customers are commuting along a certain road or a trainline then you probably should place antennas along this road to serve them. In Sweden we often have had cases where the phone operators have helped to narrow down the location of the phone of a lost person say in a forrest or similar. Without this help that person would have never been found. Not anyone can get this service from the phone operators nor can they track individuals withotu the police asking them to. Atleast that's how it's been up untill now.
Telia-Sonera [http://www.teliasonera.com/ even has a "Buddy service" where two phoneowners can agree on beeing able to track the location of each other. I have helped a friend of mine to hide a cash-phone inside his motorcycle so if it ever get stolen he can simply check where thats phone is > that's probably where his Harley is.
It's however something completely different if you as an employee or spouse (!) are unaware of that you and your phone are beeing tracked.
This is just stupid. You are meant to look at the screen not the computer - if you know what to do with it that is... OTOH when will we see the first "ratcomputer", and I mean a real one not the frequently /.ed HL2 with fake-rust-and-too-many-phony-fan-knobs.
May be dip a G5 in salt and acid and weld a couple of rusty cutterwheels on the side?