I've been in your shoes, and lived your argument and don't really disagree with you at all. That said, I made a conscious security decision not to install insecure crap I couldn't otherwise afford; and instead I used Ubuntu and its ecosystem. This has been a terrific investment of mine.
OK, I'm not a webdesigner, but close enough. I used to do technical illustration, and I've tried to make a business long ago with Photoshop lithography, which turned out to be a terrible business model that only served Adobe's purposes. But now I develop CMS's using Drupal and LAMP, and I've saved projects by being able to deliver solutions overnight using available open-source tools, as opposed to being faced with budget approval and an acquisition period of $1000+ of 'software tools I need to finish the job', plus get myself paid too. This is why I trained myself to use GIMP, because just doing the job, as opposed to getting approval to buy a tool, is simply so nice.
I had a client that only knew MS Office/Excel and Outlook email for project management (laugh, I know); and I was stumped trying to answer the questions I was responsible for. Without budget approval for anything, I installed Drupal on a rented hosted VPS, imported the flat 2d spreadsheets, and gave proper database reporting the next day once they allowed me to do that. This extended the project several months for me, when otherwise I was basically on the way out the door for not answering what they wanted to know, using the tools they gave me; and no way would I get a budget or even time to use anything else. This is one example of what I mean when I say my investment paid off.
Yes, I've owned mine for a month and concur. Check out the 2nd from the left thumbnailed-video at the very bottom of the page at http://swipe.nokia.com/ and dig on the one-handed GUI demo. Yes, the whole OS really is that smooth to use, and when the 1st service pack came out the Swipe keyboard became available too, (I swear Microsoft paid Nokia to BURY this OS & GUI).
The forums at maemo.org are very active with fanboys still modding their linux N900s and discussing things like installing Fennec (that's firefox mobile) to the N9 too. That's what I did and I am in phone browser heaven with the combo of n9 OS swipe gestures along with Firefox mobiles (which amazingly do not conflict, because the N9 swipe is 'from the edge in' while firefox works with a left swipe that did not start at the edge) So yeah, firefox tabs, bookmarks, etc.
I bought mine so I could reduce the wear and tear on my N900. Slashdotters enable Dev-mode in N9 settings, then VNC is right there ready to use over USB or wifi without a password (which you can tweak further) but this means you can use your regular PC keyboard to set passwords into the browser, etc.). Haven't got copy/paste to work over VNC in this way yet though, whereas normally that works for me.
To use a car analogy, I figure this thing is like knowing to buy a 1963 Corvette off the showroom floor new and just taking care of it. And the thing is just a solid little brick by the way, (but not big, svelte). Oh Nokia gives you a rubber skin kind of carrying case and I really like the grip it provides, so I guess ultra-svelte is not interesting for me. The OS with SSH, PGP keys, VNC etc. is just great.
This is why I try to get my colleagues, many of which are 'normal users' in a volunteer charity website for example, to use Passpack. I try to teach them to use strong unique passwords for each site they register with; while actually only having to remember about two passwords (and using copy/paste). But also a feature of Passpack (like other similar services, I imagine) is being able to share passwords among a workgroup, in case the server admin gets hit by a bus for example. This solution is the best I've found so far for this common problem.
Have you tried SparkleShare for DropBox-like integration? It looks like, and works like dropbox. In terms of a GUI it is really hard now to think of any difference with DropBox; I can't. I wrote more about it in another comment here: http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2621608&cid=38704028
Try the free open-source SparkleShare software and roll your your own cloud 100%. That would trump any cloud provider option if this is your concern, since all the disks and PCs are under your ownership and control. (Although you are correct in your technical arguments, for sure. I also like SpiderOak.)
SparkleShare is essentially a DropBox clone in terms of a GUI, which extends to recovering older versions with a right-click. It looks like DropBox, and it works like DropBox too. But it is just a scripted GIT environment. In fact if you already have a GIT Repo hosted on a server (or service) somewhere, SparkleShare is easily configured to wrk with it. Here's how you start from scratch, assuming you already have PGP keys shared with the server:
At the server, create a new, empty GIT repository: git init --bare NEWREPOSITORY.git At the workstation:
Normally, you might use something like the following commands to work with GIT. (these are not necessary if you use SparkleShare)
git clone ssh://user@example.com:port/home/user/NEWREPOSITORY.git cd NEWREPOSITORY.git git clone ssh://user@example.com:port/home/user/NEWREPOSITORY.git The SparkleShare config:
In real-life, those directions aren't so hard are they? But let me tell you now in real-life, I formatted this nicely in html and slashdot has been torturing me for 20 minutes as I tried to submit it well. Plain text option worked best, eventually.
That clip was amusing. What I found even more amusing was clicking one of the YouTube thumbnail videos off to the right side of that page, which lead me to the CSI gem below.
Never seen the show myself but it seems to be a clip where one of the agents is quoted as saying:
I'll go make a GUI interface using Visual Basic. See if I can track an IP address. [to find a killer]
Somebody got paid how much to write that? I can only believe some screen-writer slipped that in as an Easter egg for those with a clue. But for all I know, the medical shows are equal in this regard.
I've got nothing against the merits expressed here for using django for php, or even python, but I use Drupal professionally for many years and here's my points for using it.
There is using php, and then again there is using an open-source framework/api like Drupal. Just like you can write your own javascript, or instead learn to use jQuery for much greater efficiency and power. Except not only is the well-travelled road made smooth for you, but you get your own security team as a result of using Drupal, and you need that. Just use best practices and learn to apply updates to stay fresh; sort of like windowsupdate.
Authentication, roles, permissions etc. Why write your own and reinvent the wheel, even if you just bought a nice book that says you can?
Jobs. Seriously go look, on www.dice.com, www.authenticjobs.com You might start with a little website now, but like learning to develop a little something in linux, the sky is the limit. The Documentum corporation (for example) is not going to deny access of their 'advanced' software to you, and you will not be denied whatever documentation exists either. Jump in! Compared to wordpress this is wonderful. Name some big budget wordpress projects, because I'd like to know about them. I'll list a few Drupal projects here:
Sony/BMG (artist sites, movie sites, etc.) Warner Bros whitehouse.gov congress.gov economist.com onion.com nasa.tv (actually I think they broke the URL for that) aol and yahoo have used it for their corporate and research sites respectively (research.yahoo.com) and many, many more
Yeah! Lana is freaking James Bond! Anna Chapman, Natalie Portman, and all the others are just silly bit actresses while Lana's got the infiltration plus hardware shots to prove her mettle with The Power. And Reuters takes note. Dig on those photos!
Absolutely! Why did they abandon their Linux/QT development ship and Go Windows? Talk about terrible, terrible management. I couldn't agree with you more, and love my N900 so much I wanted to make certain to buy the last o' the Nokia linux phones (new) while I still could. For one thing, I know a flash media trick using the N900 I dare not publicize over the slashdots, which endear it to me so. And I'm still uncertain I can replicate this particular feat using the N9, but suspect an N9 UPnP work-around may be possible given further time and effort.
A big reason I bought the Heavy Duty (gorgeous) Solid Plastic N9 w/ Gorrila Glass is so I could keep the N900 (relatively) at home so it lasts forever as the wonderful client device that it is. I have not (yet) been able to fully encrypt the N900 as I do on all my other linux note/net-books
To better clarify my earlier post, and what I mean about having to add the swipe keyboard yourself (thanks Microsoft!) check out this blog post: http://everythingn9.com/advanced-keyboard-functions-nokia-n9. Having done so, this OS really can be used one-handed if so desired, with minimal strain if any (once practiced).
If only the kids were paying attention to these developments.
My N9 arrived from Switzerland and I think it is just freaking beautiful, and Microsoft really did a number on Nokia to muzzle this thing. Like:
The main website for the N9 is http://swipe.nokia.com/ Okay, so you're saying 'swipe, yeah I've heard of that. so what?' Man, if only Microsoft wasn't paying Nokia so hard to put a muzzle on it. Check out the videos at the bottom of that page, particularly the 2nd thumbnail'd from the left, at the very bottom. Dig on the one-handed swipe GUI. So now maybe you're thinking, 'well okay, if the one-handed GUI carries over through out the rest of the OS maybe...'
Okay, to do that, you have to wait for the Over the Air update (or use another way) to install the PR1.1, i.e. the first service pack for the OS since the phone was released. Then 'swipe' is fully installed, and you can also access control-keys, up/down arrows, etc. And it is freaking awesome! And being a linux guy of course I installed the devel extras which gets me the busybox terminal, and oh man what a gorgeous phone/client.
Today I was playing with the calendar and daily alarms; gorgeous! The included browser is fast and I'm a web-dev and really appreciate the perspective it brings to understanding modern mobile html5/touch browsers (that pops-up.flv videos in the media player but now.swf files).
I am certain Microsoft paid Nokia to *bury* the one-handed swipe GUI so deep as to obfuscate it completely. But I also think the Good Work of the Nokia linux team refuses to be buried so. At any rate, I give the N9 the coolest, most-positive thumbs-up review. And it does linux. (Oh, and who needs a million apps if I can bash script & ssh all over the place?)
This is sort of off-topic since TFA is about Google's monopoly power (in Europe), and Google is after all legally enjoying its Dutch Sandwich, but I'm also in favor of the EU keeping more of Google's free lunch to pay EU debts.
Urban Dictionary describes a Dutch Sandwich as follows:
A legal tax dodge also called the Double Irish. Profits are sent to Ireland which has a high tax rate. But, Ireland doesn't tax some payments made to other EU states, so the money is sent to a shell in the Netherlands. The Dutch have very low tax laws, so it is home free. The money is then routed to an Irish-owned subsidiary in Bermuda which is why it is called Double Irish. The corporation has only paid 0.2% of taxes in this process. What a deal!
And like every other I.T. project it is behind schedule. Probably way over budget too, but who knows?
At least Mark Zuckerberg is helping out in the free sector, showing everyone how well it can be done. If nothing else his company sets the bar for us all to see.
You mean that if I learn QT, my skills can build a simple NAS doing something incredible like SparkleShare/GIT, and a mobile interface for my cheap Nokia?
Disclaimer: I have a Nokia N900 which isn't precisely cheap, but still, I can develop a cheap, simple NAS and extend it to cheap mobile devices with relative ease? Wow.
I've owned a Canon s95 for a year, and that's the precursor to the s100, and I give it a solid thumbs-up for these reasons off the top of my head:
- Affordable in that once paid for, you don't need more accessories, mostly. Well okay I bought an eye-fi card and love the wireless workflow it brings. - blue-jeans pocket-able - on 'Automatic' every photo 'works' and looks good. Great for n00b owners with little time - nice manual controls for when you have more time to play and learn.
Note the s100 has better image stability and zoom than the s95 but I am still amazed at how well mine does, even under street lights. I enjoy setting zoom maxed out and try photos that should not develop, but do. As a web developer I really enjoy the videocamera, and will probably buy a s100 not because I need a new camera, but because the s95 is so nice, I'd like another one like it for a 2 camera video recording setup (with the eye-fi wireless transfers).
Sure I'm feeding the AC trolls here, but I'll reason that once Gaddafi gave up his nukes everything turned around for the better, as far as he was concerned. It wasn't until his people turned against him, and he chose to fight them, that things turned out badly for him.
Slashdot Mirror
I've been in your shoes, and lived your argument and don't really disagree with you at all. That said, I made a conscious security decision not to install insecure crap I couldn't otherwise afford; and instead I used Ubuntu and its ecosystem. This has been a terrific investment of mine.
OK, I'm not a webdesigner, but close enough. I used to do technical illustration, and I've tried to make a business long ago with Photoshop lithography, which turned out to be a terrible business model that only served Adobe's purposes. But now I develop CMS's using Drupal and LAMP, and I've saved projects by being able to deliver solutions overnight using available open-source tools, as opposed to being faced with budget approval and an acquisition period of $1000+ of 'software tools I need to finish the job', plus get myself paid too. This is why I trained myself to use GIMP, because just doing the job, as opposed to getting approval to buy a tool, is simply so nice.
I had a client that only knew MS Office/Excel and Outlook email for project management (laugh, I know); and I was stumped trying to answer the questions I was responsible for. Without budget approval for anything, I installed Drupal on a rented hosted VPS, imported the flat 2d spreadsheets, and gave proper database reporting the next day once they allowed me to do that. This extended the project several months for me, when otherwise I was basically on the way out the door for not answering what they wanted to know, using the tools they gave me; and no way would I get a budget or even time to use anything else. This is one example of what I mean when I say my investment paid off.
Yes, I've owned mine for a month and concur. Check out the 2nd from the left thumbnailed-video at the very bottom of the page at http://swipe.nokia.com/ and dig on the one-handed GUI demo. Yes, the whole OS really is that smooth to use, and when the 1st service pack came out the Swipe keyboard became available too, (I swear Microsoft paid Nokia to BURY this OS & GUI).
The forums at maemo.org are very active with fanboys still modding their linux N900s and discussing things like installing Fennec (that's firefox mobile) to the N9 too. That's what I did and I am in phone browser heaven with the combo of n9 OS swipe gestures along with Firefox mobiles (which amazingly do not conflict, because the N9 swipe is 'from the edge in' while firefox works with a left swipe that did not start at the edge) So yeah, firefox tabs, bookmarks, etc.
I bought mine so I could reduce the wear and tear on my N900. Slashdotters enable Dev-mode in N9 settings, then VNC is right there ready to use over USB or wifi without a password (which you can tweak further) but this means you can use your regular PC keyboard to set passwords into the browser, etc.). Haven't got copy/paste to work over VNC in this way yet though, whereas normally that works for me.
To use a car analogy, I figure this thing is like knowing to buy a 1963 Corvette off the showroom floor new and just taking care of it. And the thing is just a solid little brick by the way, (but not big, svelte). Oh Nokia gives you a rubber skin kind of carrying case and I really like the grip it provides, so I guess ultra-svelte is not interesting for me. The OS with SSH, PGP keys, VNC etc. is just great.
This is why I try to get my colleagues, many of which are 'normal users' in a volunteer charity website for example, to use Passpack. I try to teach them to use strong unique passwords for each site they register with; while actually only having to remember about two passwords (and using copy/paste). But also a feature of Passpack (like other similar services, I imagine) is being able to share passwords among a workgroup, in case the server admin gets hit by a bus for example. This solution is the best I've found so far for this common problem.
Have you tried SparkleShare for DropBox-like integration? It looks like, and works like dropbox. In terms of a GUI it is really hard now to think of any difference with DropBox; I can't. I wrote more about it in another comment here: http://apple.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2621608&cid=38704028
This is a corrected section of text, just to be clear. The last line has been corrected.
...Normally, you might use something like the following commands to work with GIT. (these are not necessary if you use SparkleShare)
git clone ssh://user@example.com:port/home/user/NEWREPOSITORY.git
cd NEWREPOSITORY.git
git pull -v
Try the free open-source SparkleShare software and roll your your own cloud 100%. That would trump any cloud provider option if this is your concern, since all the disks and PCs are under your ownership and control. (Although you are correct in your technical arguments, for sure. I also like SpiderOak.)
SparkleShare is essentially a DropBox clone in terms of a GUI, which extends to recovering older versions with a right-click. It looks like DropBox, and it works like DropBox too. But it is just a scripted GIT environment. In fact if you already have a GIT Repo hosted on a server (or service) somewhere, SparkleShare is easily configured to wrk with it. Here's how you start from scratch, assuming you already have PGP keys shared with the server:
At the server, create a new, empty GIT repository:
git init --bare NEWREPOSITORY.git
At the workstation:
Normally, you might use something like the following commands to work with GIT. (these are not necessary if you use SparkleShare)
git clone ssh://user@example.com:port/home/user/NEWREPOSITORY.git
cd NEWREPOSITORY.git
git clone ssh://user@example.com:port/home/user/NEWREPOSITORY.git
The SparkleShare config:
Add Hosted Project...
Address:
ssh://user@example.com:port
Remote Path:
This document explains how to add a layer of encryption, (which also works to secure services like DropBox btw: https://github.com/hbons/SparkleShare/wiki/Encrypting-your-files-before-transfer
In real-life, those directions aren't so hard are they? But let me tell you now in real-life, I formatted this nicely in html and slashdot has been torturing me for 20 minutes as I tried to submit it well. Plain text option worked best, eventually.
That clip was amusing. What I found even more amusing was clicking one of the YouTube thumbnail videos off to the right side of that page, which lead me to the CSI gem below.
Never seen the show myself but it seems to be a clip where one of the agents is quoted as saying:
Somebody got paid how much to write that? I can only believe some screen-writer slipped that in as an Easter egg for those with a clue. But for all I know, the medical shows are equal in this regard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU&feature=related
He must be referring to the dark side of the Earth.
I've got nothing against the merits expressed here for using django for php, or even python, but I use Drupal professionally for many years and here's my points for using it.
There is using php, and then again there is using an open-source framework/api like Drupal. Just like you can write your own javascript, or instead learn to use jQuery for much greater efficiency and power. Except not only is the well-travelled road made smooth for you, but you get your own security team as a result of using Drupal, and you need that. Just use best practices and learn to apply updates to stay fresh; sort of like windowsupdate.
Authentication, roles, permissions etc. Why write your own and reinvent the wheel, even if you just bought a nice book that says you can?
Jobs. Seriously go look, on www.dice.com, www.authenticjobs.com You might start with a little website now, but like learning to develop a little something in linux, the sky is the limit. The Documentum corporation (for example) is not going to deny access of their 'advanced' software to you, and you will not be denied whatever documentation exists either. Jump in! Compared to wordpress this is wonderful. Name some big budget wordpress projects, because I'd like to know about them. I'll list a few Drupal projects here:
Sony/BMG (artist sites, movie sites, etc.)
Warner Bros
whitehouse.gov
congress.gov
economist.com
onion.com
nasa.tv (actually I think they broke the URL for that)
aol and yahoo have used it for their corporate and research sites respectively (research.yahoo.com)
and many, many more
Yeah! Lana is freaking James Bond! Anna Chapman, Natalie Portman, and all the others are just silly bit actresses while Lana's got the infiltration plus hardware shots to prove her mettle with The Power. And Reuters takes note. Dig on those photos!
I for one welcome our, ...oh wait, I don't have to do that nonsense!
You just had to mention "collocation", didn't you?
"In every cooler we tested, the pump noise was actually louder than the fans when the CPU was idling."
Clementine has this option. Under Preferences > Playback > Fading
Check ON 'Cross-fade when changing tracks automatically. Default between songs is 2000 ms and is adjustable.
Absolutely! Why did they abandon their Linux/QT development ship and Go Windows? Talk about terrible, terrible management. I couldn't agree with you more, and love my N900 so much I wanted to make certain to buy the last o' the Nokia linux phones (new) while I still could. For one thing, I know a flash media trick using the N900 I dare not publicize over the slashdots, which endear it to me so. And I'm still uncertain I can replicate this particular feat using the N9, but suspect an N9 UPnP work-around may be possible given further time and effort.
A big reason I bought the Heavy Duty (gorgeous) Solid Plastic N9 w/ Gorrila Glass is so I could keep the N900 (relatively) at home so it lasts forever as the wonderful client device that it is. I have not (yet) been able to fully encrypt the N900 as I do on all my other linux note/net-books
I am impressed by this series of N9 documents which encourages me to go mobile with It: http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/07/21/securing-the-nokia-n9
To better clarify my earlier post, and what I mean about having to add the swipe keyboard yourself (thanks Microsoft!) check out this blog post: http://everythingn9.com/advanced-keyboard-functions-nokia-n9. Having done so, this OS really can be used one-handed if so desired, with minimal strain if any (once practiced).
If only the kids were paying attention to these developments.
My N9 arrived from Switzerland and I think it is just freaking beautiful, and Microsoft really did a number on Nokia to muzzle this thing. Like:
The main website for the N9 is http://swipe.nokia.com/ Okay, so you're saying 'swipe, yeah I've heard of that. so what?' Man, if only Microsoft wasn't paying Nokia so hard to put a muzzle on it. Check out the videos at the bottom of that page, particularly the 2nd thumbnail'd from the left, at the very bottom. Dig on the one-handed swipe GUI. So now maybe you're thinking, 'well okay, if the one-handed GUI carries over through out the rest of the OS maybe...'
Okay, to do that, you have to wait for the Over the Air update (or use another way) to install the PR1.1, i.e. the first service pack for the OS since the phone was released. Then 'swipe' is fully installed, and you can also access control-keys, up/down arrows, etc. And it is freaking awesome! And being a linux guy of course I installed the devel extras which gets me the busybox terminal, and oh man what a gorgeous phone/client.
Today I was playing with the calendar and daily alarms; gorgeous! The included browser is fast and I'm a web-dev and really appreciate the perspective it brings to understanding modern mobile html5/touch browsers (that pops-up .flv videos in the media player but now .swf files).
I am certain Microsoft paid Nokia to *bury* the one-handed swipe GUI so deep as to obfuscate it completely. But I also think the Good Work of the Nokia linux team refuses to be buried so. At any rate, I give the N9 the coolest, most-positive thumbs-up review. And it does linux. (Oh, and who needs a million apps if I can bash script & ssh all over the place?)
If you were wondering what the Google boys have been drinking a lot of lately, maybe that's Red Bull.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alpha_Jet_-_Red_Bull_-_ILA2002.jpg
This is sort of off-topic since TFA is about Google's monopoly power (in Europe), and Google is after all legally enjoying its Dutch Sandwich, but I'm also in favor of the EU keeping more of Google's free lunch to pay EU debts.
Urban Dictionary describes a Dutch Sandwich as follows:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_Arrangement
Princess Celestia is plastic. Be thou not fooled! But hey, whatever smokes your shorts.
And like every other I.T. project it is behind schedule. Probably way over budget too, but who knows?
At least Mark Zuckerberg is helping out in the free sector, showing everyone how well it can be done. If nothing else his company sets the bar for us all to see.
You mean that if I learn QT, my skills can build a simple NAS doing something incredible like SparkleShare/GIT, and a mobile interface for my cheap Nokia?
Disclaimer: I have a Nokia N900 which isn't precisely cheap, but still, I can develop a cheap, simple NAS and extend it to cheap mobile devices with relative ease? Wow.
I've owned a Canon s95 for a year, and that's the precursor to the s100, and I give it a solid thumbs-up for these reasons off the top of my head:
- Affordable in that once paid for, you don't need more accessories, mostly. Well okay I bought an eye-fi card and love the wireless workflow it brings.
- blue-jeans pocket-able
- on 'Automatic' every photo 'works' and looks good. Great for n00b owners with little time
- nice manual controls for when you have more time to play and learn.
Note the s100 has better image stability and zoom than the s95 but I am still amazed at how well mine does, even under street lights. I enjoy setting zoom maxed out and try photos that should not develop, but do. As a web developer I really enjoy the videocamera, and will probably buy a s100 not because I need a new camera, but because the s95 is so nice, I'd like another one like it for a 2 camera video recording setup (with the eye-fi wireless transfers).
This also sort of explains why the US is the way it is, because everywhere else it seems GSM/HSPA works.
Posting only to un-do a faulty mod. But seriously I didn't click-slip, there's some bug than turned my intended mod into flamebait.
Sure I'm feeding the AC trolls here, but I'll reason that once Gaddafi gave up his nukes everything turned around for the better, as far as he was concerned. It wasn't until his people turned against him, and he chose to fight them, that things turned out badly for him.