An Example of a Short Sited Administration
on
New NASA Budget Woes
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
NASA is in a budget crunch. They are going to NOT service the Hubble because its' successor (James Webb) will be up in 4-5 years. But wait, mysteriously, NASA is in a budget crunch and will kill James Webb due to budget priorities.
Or We will send enough troops to beat the Flintstone army, but not enough to keep Bedrock safe and orderly untill we can install a new government in Bedrock.
For the campaign to work, people whom would be considering Linux would have to change their minds. In the SMB space, 50% of those responsible for IT policy (aka. the owners) likely don't have a clue. The "Get The Facts" campaign is likely raising the noticeability of Linux more than anything else.
The SMB space (especially the S part) often consists of small offices (20) that have grown organically from a workgroup configuration. The migration is often to a single MS-SBS server at the instance of a rent-a-tech. Rent-a-tech'r'us (TM) recommends MS-SBS because the smb staff is comfortable with the MS interface to do simple things (Like backup; add/disable users).
Without Rent-a-Tech'r'us, many SMB operators would not get the benefits of using a server to increase Knowledge flow within the organization. Such SMB operators don't know what a NOS is, or care.
To Conclude: 1) Many SMB operators do not know what a NOS is. 2)The Get The Facts campaign has informed them, and informed them about Linux. 3)Keep up the Good work Microsoft;)
Comparing a linux mail server with exchange is bit like comparing 1 grape with a bag of grapes. A more appropriate comparison would be comparing an Exchange server with an Open-Exchange server (Eg: Webserver & Serverlet Engine & Database & LDAP & SMTP mail & IMAP mail - all on the same server)
Personally, I suspect that if your Exchange server users only used mail, and not the contacts/scheduling/groupware features, it would be much more efficient on a #users to processor power scale. Not that anyone would do it since the exchange server includes some number of licences for Outlook...
All I want for my Christmas is Open-exchange to be easy to install on CentOS;) and I'm Jewish!
With the continued spread of high speed internet, Linux and other FOSS products will have higher rates of adoption. Microsoft and the BSA will complain about the anti-competative behavior of such products & demand compensatin for missing revenue.
Step1) Use Sysdiff to create MSI files of the application to be installed/removed. Step2) Use Group Policy to apply the template to your workstations (In active directory)
You can use sysdiff/snap and/diff to create installation packages for the applications.
You then use group policy to apply/remove the packages to your workstation-guinea-pig and workstation groups at the appropriate times.
Get a case before you start. It will be more fun that way.
Mostly it's the drinks, not the food that's the problem. (Soups and ice cream being the exception.)
The only problem I've had so far (crosses fingers, touches wood, sticks fork in electrical ouch) with food and keyboards was a laptop with a drinking problem.
One rum and coke and it was out perminantly. And it wasn't even advertized as a lightweight.
I claim my office has a cool MS program. You copy it from your office. (No way, my office is legit - use an extra license from your office.) You have your kids use it for school. Your school is pressured to license it from MS. Offices everywhere buy MS product because "That's what everyone knows."
If I remember correctly, Caldera bought out the UNIX part of SCO, but there was a line called Non-Stop which became Tarentella.
I seem to remember Compaq pushing Non-stop for data centers. It was reputed to be good for failover/redundancy (Think Vinca, no Legato, no EMC Co-standby server for windows) on Alpha/UNIX.
And when they said NON-STOP, They meant it! We are talking about true five-nines uptime. (I remember some surveys where this was reported, although I doubted that so many actually used the product)
One caveat, this was a while ago, and systems not in my league.
I love economic theory, especially at the basic level where it is so wrong. You have just failed to take reality into consideration.
If a *China* can make TVs, Computers, etc... cheaper than in the US due to low wages - then in theory wages should rise in a *China* to the point where it becomes less profitable to make *widgets" there. In reality, things like TVs, Computers, etc... are often made in countries like China because there are no worker protections, environmental laws that will be enforced,....
With the ability of programmers to charge true (as opposed to artificial) market rates, programmers overseas is probably one of the best real world examples of market competition. The only problem then becomes a (sometime) lack of IP protection. I know of at least one project where the foreign programmers took the code at 90% completed, and made their own project from it. (The big one was propitary and classified, as I recall.)
So the theory is great. It's just that in the real world - it does not hold up for making computers(TVs or other widgets) due to lack of labor rights or environmental rights.
AV will bog down disk access. However, *if* it reads the file to memory, then this will not be as big a hit. A RAID array would help, but is prob. out of the league of most users.
Otherwise good comment. (I assume you meant raid array, and not a mirror anyway.)
The market for this is everyone who uses an agressive anti-virus program. The AV will run on one prcessor, what you are doing on the other.
It's a sad case that as malware becomes more previlent, hardware vendors win. Really, you can be productive with (for example) Win2K on a 1GHz machine and 256MB, in an office. Now add the wait as every file is scanned on access for viruses (per corporate policy), and the machine somehow becomes "too slow."
OH well. I guess it's time to put all productivity applications on a Server & run them remotely. Again;-(
This should be old news to Slashdot readers. We all know that Office is the cash cow that leverages windows across the enterprise. Or SMB.
Really, most new Microsoft "lines" have failed miserably: Passport, MSNBC,... It's just that since they do so much badly that it all gets integrated into their OS/Office/Back-office. That's when people stop buying competing programs.
Besides, most companies are afraid to compete with Microsoft: Just look at MacAdobeMedia. They were formed explicitly because of fear. Most companies that are competing with MS started in an area that Microsoft moved into (Skype).
Q:What do you call a clumsy 800lb gorilla? A: Sir (or an 800lb gorilla)
I am collecting a bunch of older hardware that I no longer have a use for due to the inclusion of everything on the motherboard. I have been finding that I, and my clients, do not use everything when it's new. Eventually, most stuff does get used.
Further, unless you are rebuying good modern *everything* every few years - the on board stuff is probably as good as what you are using.
What am I talking about integrated on the motherboard:
On board USB: I avoided USB stuff like the plague for several years. Mostly a question of having legacy equipment around. Now that the drivers have been stable (for a long time), all the slots get used. If I need a faster USB (due to a newer spec, or I want to do faster data xfer) I can use a PCI slot. Your two year old USB 1.1 card is slower than my onboard USB2.0 ports anyhow. By a lot.
Firewire: This was not really used in the PC world. Except for video transfer. Now it's also good for data transfer for portable/external hard disks. This may be the least used included item, but worth it for video. Since the HDTV cable boxes are going to have to have a firewire port, I imagine that everyone will be happy that the manufacturer put them in. Now about those ieee1394 800/400 converter cables...
Ethernet Port: Yes: Almost always needed, it costs the manufacturer what $2 to add? Yes there are better cards than the cheapo NICs, but if you buy a real server it will have a Gb and a 10/100 NIC anyhow.
RAID: OK, I wish more manufacturers included it. But it is not used enough except for fanboys. If you really set up a server, you need hardware raid and not this pissant software *&(*& However, if you just want data redundancy it's nice. I like the fact that many SATA raid sets seem to be floating around. Most likely item not to be on a new motherboard with the kitchen sink included.
Sound: I don't give a *&( about sound for some machines, and for others, basic sound is good enough. Worth $2. It's good enough. I only need one machine with a good sampler, everything else can be crap. Most computers don't really need good sound anyhow.
Onboard Video: I use it, but it's not good enough for anything graphics intense. Consider this a "For business" feature. Despite the fact that modern on board graphics processors are faster than my entire pile of ancient ATI all in wonders combined. Also, this is the item most likely to be left off a motherboard, after raid.
To conclude: Not everything gets used at first, but eventually most of it will be. Also, after a few years (the life of a good motherboard) the items included on the kitchen-sink motherboard are prob. better than your old kit anyhow. For example, within ten percent, a NIC is a NIC is a NIC (with few exceptions). Your good NIC from a few years ago is not likely faster than the onboard version. As a second example, your two year old USB card is slower than the on-board USB2 slots.
So you will not use everthing now, but you may eventually. Also, often what is on the motherboard is as fast as your old kit - if not faster. If you use the integrated motherboard, you save the extra cost of the kitchen sink items by sparing the two minutes it would take to install each item of your old kit.
Here, in DC, it's not cool enough to get benefits by using a P4 as a heater. Instead, we get to worry about excess costs for air conditioning 3/4ths of the year.
Yes, the computing may replace a heater - we just don't use heaters in the summer.
I looked at the Vex Robotics Product page, and it looks like an erector set. (OK, there is a micro switch.) I see nothing about processors for brains (aside from the Lego Mindstorms).
So is this just a big erector kit, with kids making their own mini-butter-bots (TM - just like battle bots, but nothing gets damaged.)?
Lemme see: Not sure about XML, looked at http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-02-1998/jw-0 2-miko.html "For example, because XML is a dialect of SGML, the content could potentially go directly into a publishable book format, provided it had the correct DTD..."
Subset of SGML: check Used to define data & can be extended without breaking standard: Check Used for OpenOfficeDocuments: Check ( http://xml.openoffice.org/ )
My point is that MS word documents will open in explorer as long as the correct software is loaded on the computer. To whit, I just spent two hours watching people open word documents from a collaboration site in Explorer. If they did not want to open them in Explorer, they had to save them to disk, and then open them. At Home, where I only have OpenOffice, the documents will be opened with Open Office because explorer does not have hooks to use the Open Office program to display the word documents.
Just because you can open a document in Explorer does not mean that the document is not in a propitary format.
If this were a straight XML format, any XML compatable program would be able to open the files nad print them (aka render them) properly. However, it's more likely a "word viewer" type program that "reads" the XML/propritary output from word.
Hint #1: You need a license to use it. If it were proper XML, you would not need one (at lease from M$)
Hint #2: They opened the document with Exploder. Aside from the fact that you can open.pdf files in Exploder, as long as you have Reader - You can also open Word Documents in Exploder as long as you have Word loaded.
Hint #3: They have been working on this for almost two years. That's about as long as they have been working on obscuficating XML for Word 2003 files;)
So does the license say "no linux development allowed" or what?
If you have a process that locks an account when it is not logged into sucessfully more than n times.
The arguement for having strong passwords almost always goes: "There are 200,000 words in the english language. A computer can test all of those words within seconds: Therefore it is necessary to have strong passwords."
Then we get recommendations on how to make a password secure (and yet, it's not to use a secure ID token with it). To avoid a brute force attack make the minimum size of passwords over 7. (No, wait, computers are now faster - make that over 8, 9, 10,...) We are not supposed to use words in the dictionary, because even if we put @ for a - leet dictionaries have this combination. Insert numbers. No use two words combined with a number. No use the first letter from each word in a pass phrase...
I'll Pass. My users get locked out for 15 minutes if they do not log in correctly three times within a few minutes. Now instead of being able to check all the words in the english language in minutes, it takes only. ((200,000 / 3) * 15 minutes * 1/60* 1/24 ~= 694 days. Have fun;)
Disclaimer: This is not true for the Admin account, which cannot be locked out.
I see three issues with converting to OO. The first issue is Access, the second is Macros, and the third being external program that rely on office for output. Segmenting users is the key here.
Your user base is one part students, one part teachers, and one part administration. Each group has different needs.
Students: Students often do not use the advanced features of modern text editors. The students are also less likely to make use of pre-existing macros than other groups. (This may not be true of all students, as some teachers may have pre-made macros for specific lessons.) With the little use of pre-existing Macros, you might be able to get Open-Office in the school door. At least on the Student-used computers.
Administrators: The Administrators ARE likely to use documents with extensive macros, Access Databases, and 3rd party programs that expect MS office for output. You are not likely to get Open-office in the door if any of these conditions exist. Accept it as part of your migration plan. "Yes we need to keep MS office in certain places, but we will free $$ by using OO in all the student lab computers."
Teachers: The Teachers are mid-way between the students and the administration in terms of advanced MSO use. Much of what the teachers deal with is not complex, and does not have Macros. A few of the power-user-teachers will have more advanced use, and many may have Access. Additionally, the teachers will need to be able to open the student documents so compatibility is key. I would suggest that the Teachers computers have MSO and OO. If the OO-Base (2.x) program is more compatible with Access (Not likely considering the formula conversion in spreadsheets), many of the teachers who have grading databases may be able to use only OO. I would not count on it. Teachers should be assumed to have both office suites.
In this way, you will not alienate anyone who really wants MSO. Administrators stay with what they like, and perhaps need. Teachers use two systems: MSO, and occasionally OO if a document really does not format well. (With luck, the teachers will spend most of their time in OO; use it at home to save money on their next hardware update cycle.) Students, who probably use >50% of licences have their license cost dropped. (OK, it's academic pricing - but it's still a cost.)
Most importantly, you need to do a survey (at least preliminary) to see how MSO is used. Some users from each group can prob. be switched to it, and some likely cannot. If someone cannot be switched, do not force the issue.
Ummm, I have personally considered the difficulty of Linux printer sharing a show-stopper in Linux. CUPS has made great improvement over the past few years, but the ability to browse to a shared printer in the windows "domain / AD" - click on it, and have it installed... That's great shit that my clients love.
File and printer sharing is simple in Windows (Well it was prexpsp2):
For Home networks: 1)Run the network configuration wizard to turn on file/print sharing. 2)No I don't need a f*(king configuration disk, I can actually remember the settings, or write them down like I should. 3)Go to the printer control panel 4)Right click on the printer and select sharing 5)...
Personally I have a Brother MFP with a autofeeder on the scanner/fax. Works great in Windows... It's just the Linux drivers that are crippled (as of 6 mo's ago.)
1) This is a retread of devices with WinCE(pocketPC); XPembedded. (I beleive that both have some of the same code-base)
2)This is a thin ploy to keep people from using Linux on their thin client devices: NCD; MaxSpeed; Wyse; etc.. have generally made their thin clients in two versions a) LinuxOS and b) MicrosoftOS. Generally, both come with RDP (and all the native Microsoft Technologies that go with it... such as printing) and a web-browser. If you get the Linux Version - you generally also get ICA (a premium item on the MS version); X; 5250 emulation; a little other junk.
2a) The real key here is that if you purchase the MS-OS thin-client, you historically get a client license for the "current" version of Terminal Server: In 97-8 if you bought a WinCE Thin-Client you got a NT4 TS-cal. Now you get a Win2k3TS-Cal.
So lets see:
Option1) Buy Thin-client with MS-OS and not have to buy TS-cal. Have to pay on upgrade of TS-server for new CAL. Have vendor lock-in on Thin-device. Not be able to upgrade RDP client b/c, well it has not happened in six years yet, you think it's going to change now? Not have any other window-manager-clients other than RDP (and perhaps ICA for a few bucks more).
Option2) Buy a Linux based Thin-client-device. Have more emulation options out of the box (RDP; ICA; 5250; X, etc...)- And have to buy TS-CALs. Be able to re-use/re-sell devices when you are done because they can have all their clients updated.
This Moench version of XP is just to keep people from seeding a crapload of nano-itx / Linux machines on the market.
Slashdot Mirror
NASA is in a budget crunch. They are going to NOT service the Hubble because its' successor (James Webb) will be up in 4-5 years. But wait, mysteriously, NASA is in a budget crunch and will kill James Webb due to budget priorities.
Or We will send enough troops to beat the Flintstone army, but not enough to keep Bedrock safe and orderly untill we can install a new government in Bedrock.
Duh!
For the campaign to work, people whom would be considering Linux would have to change their minds. In the SMB space, 50% of those responsible for IT policy (aka. the owners) likely don't have a clue. The "Get The Facts" campaign is likely raising the noticeability of Linux more than anything else.
The SMB space (especially the S part) often consists of small offices (20) that have grown organically from a workgroup configuration. The migration is often to a single MS-SBS server at the instance of a rent-a-tech. Rent-a-tech'r'us (TM) recommends MS-SBS because the smb staff is comfortable with the MS interface to do simple things (Like backup; add/disable users).
Without Rent-a-Tech'r'us, many SMB operators would not get the benefits of using a server to increase Knowledge flow within the organization. Such SMB operators don't know what a NOS is, or care.
To Conclude: 1) Many SMB operators do not know what a NOS is. 2)The Get The Facts campaign has informed them, and informed them about Linux. 3)Keep up the Good work Microsoft;)
Why should we have to pay them for an anti-virus product? (or need one?)
Comparing a linux mail server with exchange is bit like comparing 1 grape with a bag of grapes. A more appropriate comparison would be comparing an Exchange server with an Open-Exchange server (Eg: Webserver & Serverlet Engine & Database & LDAP & SMTP mail & IMAP mail - all on the same server)
Personally, I suspect that if your Exchange server users only used mail, and not the contacts/scheduling/groupware features, it would be much more efficient on a #users to processor power scale. Not that anyone would do it since the exchange server includes some number of licences for Outlook...
All I want for my Christmas is Open-exchange to be easy to install on CentOS;) and I'm Jewish!
Exactly. We are talking about Microsoft here;)
With the continued spread of high speed internet, Linux and other FOSS products will have higher rates of adoption. Microsoft and the BSA will complain about the anti-competative behavior of such products & demand compensatin for missing revenue.
In many IT things, there is an 80% rule: ...
1)About 80% of Security is people and policy
2)About 80% of Knowledge Management is people and policy.
3)
Lots of research has shown that 80% of stolen "confidential information" is done by personel who work for the company.
Just remember, Tech is ~20% of the solution. Bad management is about 80% of the problem;)
This is the way MS suggests in 2K:
/snap and /diff to create installation packages for the applications.
Step1) Use Sysdiff to create MSI files of the application to be installed/removed.
Step2) Use Group Policy to apply the template to your workstations (In active directory)
You can use sysdiff
You then use group policy to apply/remove the packages to your workstation-guinea-pig and workstation groups at the appropriate times.
Get a case before you start. It will be more fun that way.
Mostly it's the drinks, not the food that's the problem. (Soups and ice cream being the exception.)
The only problem I've had so far (crosses fingers, touches wood, sticks fork in electrical ouch) with food and keyboards was a laptop with a drinking problem.
One rum and coke and it was out perminantly. And it wasn't even advertized as a lightweight.
I claim my office has a cool MS program.
You copy it from your office.
(No way, my office is legit - use an extra license from your office.)
You have your kids use it for school.
Your school is pressured to license it from MS.
Offices everywhere buy MS product because "That's what everyone knows."
Or not.
If I remember correctly, Caldera bought out the UNIX part of SCO, but there was a line called Non-Stop which became Tarentella.
I seem to remember Compaq pushing Non-stop for data centers. It was reputed to be good for failover/redundancy (Think Vinca, no Legato, no EMC Co-standby server for windows) on Alpha/UNIX.
And when they said NON-STOP, They meant it! We are talking about true five-nines uptime. (I remember some surveys where this was reported, although I doubted that so many actually used the product)
One caveat, this was a while ago, and systems not in my league.
I love economic theory, especially at the basic level where it is so wrong. You have just failed to take reality into consideration.
....
If a *China* can make TVs, Computers, etc... cheaper than in the US due to low wages - then in theory wages should rise in a *China* to the point where it becomes less profitable to make *widgets" there. In reality, things like TVs, Computers, etc... are often made in countries like China because there are no worker protections, environmental laws that will be enforced,
With the ability of programmers to charge true (as opposed to artificial) market rates, programmers overseas is probably one of the best real world examples of market competition. The only problem then becomes a (sometime) lack of IP protection. I know of at least one project where the foreign programmers took the code at 90% completed, and made their own project from it. (The big one was propitary and classified, as I recall.)
So the theory is great. It's just that in the real world - it does not hold up for making computers(TVs or other widgets) due to lack of labor rights or environmental rights.
AV will bog down disk access. However, *if* it reads the file to memory, then this will not be as big a hit. A RAID array would help, but is prob. out of the league of most users.
Otherwise good comment. (I assume you meant raid array, and not a mirror anyway.)
The market for this is everyone who uses an agressive anti-virus program. The AV will run on one prcessor, what you are doing on the other.
It's a sad case that as malware becomes more previlent, hardware vendors win. Really, you can be productive with (for example) Win2K on a 1GHz machine and 256MB, in an office. Now add the wait as every file is scanned on access for viruses (per corporate policy), and the machine somehow becomes "too slow."
OH well. I guess it's time to put all productivity applications on a Server & run them remotely. Again;-(
This should be old news to Slashdot readers. We all know that Office is the cash cow that leverages windows across the enterprise. Or SMB.
... It's just that since they do so much badly that it all gets integrated into their OS/Office/Back-office. That's when people stop buying competing programs.
Really, most new Microsoft "lines" have failed miserably: Passport, MSNBC,
Besides, most companies are afraid to compete with Microsoft: Just look at MacAdobeMedia. They were formed explicitly because of fear. Most companies that are competing with MS started in an area that Microsoft moved into (Skype).
Q:What do you call a clumsy 800lb gorilla?
A: Sir (or an 800lb gorilla)
I am collecting a bunch of older hardware that I no longer have a use for due to the inclusion of everything on the motherboard. I have been finding that I, and my clients, do not use everything when it's new. Eventually, most stuff does get used.
Further, unless you are rebuying good modern *everything* every few years - the on board stuff is probably as good as what you are using.
What am I talking about integrated on the motherboard:
On board USB:
I avoided USB stuff like the plague for several years. Mostly a question of having legacy equipment around. Now that the drivers have been stable (for a long time), all the slots get used.
If I need a faster USB (due to a newer spec, or I want to do faster data xfer) I can use a PCI slot.
Your two year old USB 1.1 card is slower than my onboard USB2.0 ports anyhow. By a lot.
Firewire:
This was not really used in the PC world. Except for video transfer. Now it's also good for data transfer for portable/external hard disks. This may be the least used included item, but worth it for video. Since the HDTV cable boxes are going to have to have a firewire port, I imagine that everyone will be happy that the manufacturer put them in. Now about those ieee1394 800/400 converter cables...
Ethernet Port:
Yes: Almost always needed, it costs the manufacturer what $2 to add? Yes there are better cards than the cheapo NICs, but if you buy a real server it will have a Gb and a 10/100 NIC anyhow.
RAID:
OK, I wish more manufacturers included it. But it is not used enough except for fanboys. If you really set up a server, you need hardware raid and not this pissant software *&(*& However, if you just want data redundancy it's nice. I like the fact that many SATA raid sets seem to be floating around. Most likely item not to be on a new motherboard with the kitchen sink included.
Sound:
I don't give a *&( about sound for some machines, and for others, basic sound is good enough. Worth $2. It's good enough. I only need one machine with a good sampler, everything else can be crap. Most computers don't really need good sound anyhow.
Onboard Video:
I use it, but it's not good enough for anything graphics intense. Consider this a "For business" feature. Despite the fact that modern on board graphics processors are faster than my entire pile of ancient ATI all in wonders combined. Also, this is the item most likely to be left off a motherboard, after raid.
To conclude:
Not everything gets used at first, but eventually most of it will be. Also, after a few years (the life of a good motherboard) the items included on the kitchen-sink motherboard are prob. better than your old kit anyhow. For example, within ten percent, a NIC is a NIC is a NIC (with few exceptions). Your good NIC from a few years ago is not likely faster than the onboard version. As a second example, your two year old USB card is slower than the on-board USB2 slots.
So you will not use everthing now, but you may eventually. Also, often what is on the motherboard is as fast as your old kit - if not faster. If you use the integrated motherboard, you save the extra cost of the kitchen sink items by sparing the two minutes it would take to install each item of your old kit.
Here, in DC, it's not cool enough to get benefits by using a P4 as a heater. Instead, we get to worry about excess costs for air conditioning 3/4ths of the year.
Yes, the computing may replace a heater - we just don't use heaters in the summer.
I looked at the Vex Robotics Product page, and it looks like an erector set. (OK, there is a micro switch.) I see nothing about processors for brains (aside from the Lego Mindstorms).
So is this just a big erector kit, with kids making their own mini-butter-bots (TM - just like battle bots, but nothing gets damaged.)?
Information Please;)
Lemme see: Not sure about XML, looked at http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-02-1998/jw-0 2-miko.html
"For example, because XML is a dialect of SGML, the content could potentially go directly into a publishable book format, provided it had the correct DTD..."
Subset of SGML: check
Used to define data & can be extended without breaking standard: Check
Used for OpenOfficeDocuments: Check ( http://xml.openoffice.org/ )
My point is that MS word documents will open in explorer as long as the correct software is loaded on the computer. To whit, I just spent two hours watching people open word documents from a collaboration site in Explorer. If they did not want to open them in Explorer, they had to save them to disk, and then open them. At Home, where I only have OpenOffice, the documents will be opened with Open Office because explorer does not have hooks to use the Open Office program to display the word documents.
Just because you can open a document in Explorer does not mean that the document is not in a propitary format.
Prob. XML-Word.
.pdf files in Exploder, as long as you have Reader - You can also open Word Documents in Exploder as long as you have Word loaded.
If this were a straight XML format, any XML compatable program would be able to open the files nad print them (aka render them) properly. However, it's more likely a "word viewer" type program that "reads" the XML/propritary output from word.
Hint #1: You need a license to use it. If it were proper XML, you would not need one (at lease from M$)
Hint #2: They opened the document with Exploder. Aside from the fact that you can open
Hint #3: They have been working on this for almost two years. That's about as long as they have been working on obscuficating XML for Word 2003 files;)
So does the license say "no linux development allowed" or what?
Just asking, after all my karma went positive and I have to do something about it.
If you have a process that locks an account when it is not logged into sucessfully more than n times.
...) We are not supposed to use words in the dictionary, because even if we put @ for a - leet dictionaries have this combination. Insert numbers. No use two words combined with a number. No use the first letter from each word in a pass phrase...
The arguement for having strong passwords almost always goes: "There are 200,000 words in the english language. A computer can test all of those words within seconds: Therefore it is necessary to have strong passwords."
Then we get recommendations on how to make a password secure (and yet, it's not to use a secure ID token with it). To avoid a brute force attack make the minimum size of passwords over 7. (No, wait, computers are now faster - make that over 8, 9, 10,
I'll Pass. My users get locked out for 15 minutes if they do not log in correctly three times within a few minutes. Now instead of being able to check all the words in the english language in minutes, it takes only. ((200,000 / 3) * 15 minutes * 1/60* 1/24 ~= 694 days. Have fun;)
Disclaimer: This is not true for the Admin account, which cannot be locked out.
I see three issues with converting to OO. The first issue is Access, the second is Macros, and the third being external program that rely on office for output. Segmenting users is the key here.
Your user base is one part students, one part teachers, and one part administration. Each group has different needs.
Students: Students often do not use the advanced features of modern text editors. The students are also less likely to make use of pre-existing macros than other groups. (This may not be true of all students, as some teachers may have pre-made macros for specific lessons.) With the little use of pre-existing Macros, you might be able to get Open-Office in the school door. At least on the Student-used computers.
Administrators: The Administrators ARE likely to use documents with extensive macros, Access Databases, and 3rd party programs that expect MS office for output. You are not likely to get Open-office in the door if any of these conditions exist. Accept it as part of your migration plan. "Yes we need to keep MS office in certain places, but we will free $$ by using OO in all the student lab computers."
Teachers: The Teachers are mid-way between the students and the administration in terms of advanced MSO use. Much of what the teachers deal with is not complex, and does not have Macros. A few of the power-user-teachers will have more advanced use, and many may have Access. Additionally, the teachers will need to be able to open the student documents so compatibility is key. I would suggest that the Teachers computers have MSO and OO. If the OO-Base (2.x) program is more compatible with Access (Not likely considering the formula conversion in spreadsheets), many of the teachers who have grading databases may be able to use only OO. I would not count on it. Teachers should be assumed to have both office suites.
In this way, you will not alienate anyone who really wants MSO. Administrators stay with what they like, and perhaps need. Teachers use two systems: MSO, and occasionally OO if a document really does not format well. (With luck, the teachers will spend most of their time in OO; use it at home to save money on their next hardware update cycle.) Students, who probably use >50% of licences have their license cost dropped. (OK, it's academic pricing - but it's still a cost.)
Most importantly, you need to do a survey (at least preliminary) to see how MSO is used. Some users from each group can prob. be switched to it, and some likely cannot. If someone cannot be switched, do not force the issue.
Ummm, I have personally considered the difficulty of Linux printer sharing a show-stopper in Linux. CUPS has made great improvement over the past few years, but the ability to browse to a shared printer in the windows "domain / AD" - click on it, and have it installed... That's great shit that my clients love.
File and printer sharing is simple in Windows (Well it was prexpsp2):
For Home networks:
1)Run the network configuration wizard to turn on file/print sharing.
2)No I don't need a f*(king configuration disk, I can actually remember the settings, or write them down like I should.
3)Go to the printer control panel
4)Right click on the printer and select sharing
5)...
Personally I have a Brother MFP with a autofeeder on the scanner/fax. Works great in Windows... It's just the Linux drivers that are crippled (as of 6 mo's ago.)
Two comments:
1) This is a retread of devices with WinCE(pocketPC); XPembedded. (I beleive that both have some of the same code-base)
2)This is a thin ploy to keep people from using Linux on their thin client devices: NCD; MaxSpeed; Wyse; etc.. have generally made their thin clients in two versions a) LinuxOS and b) MicrosoftOS. Generally, both come with RDP (and all the native Microsoft Technologies that go with it... such as printing) and a web-browser. If you get the Linux Version - you generally also get ICA (a premium item on the MS version); X; 5250 emulation; a little other junk.
2a) The real key here is that if you purchase the MS-OS thin-client, you historically get a client license for the "current" version of Terminal Server: In 97-8 if you bought a WinCE Thin-Client you got a NT4 TS-cal. Now you get a Win2k3TS-Cal.
So lets see:
Option1) Buy Thin-client with MS-OS and not have to buy TS-cal. Have to pay on upgrade of TS-server for new CAL. Have vendor lock-in on Thin-device. Not be able to upgrade RDP client b/c, well it has not happened in six years yet, you think it's going to change now? Not have any other window-manager-clients other than RDP (and perhaps ICA for a few bucks more).
Option2) Buy a Linux based Thin-client-device. Have more emulation options out of the box (RDP; ICA; 5250; X, etc...)- And have to buy TS-CALs. Be able to re-use/re-sell devices when you are done because they can have all their clients updated.
This Moench version of XP is just to keep people from seeding a crapload of nano-itx / Linux machines on the market.