Two Western Digital Drives (One a 20gb, one a 120gb) - the 20gb developed a lot of bad sectors about 2 years into its life, and the 120 is OK, for now - although I have only had it for a year.
Three Seagate drives, of various sizes - all still working, oldest is about 6 years old, youngest is 6 months old.
Three Maxtor drives, (one was a quantum fireball, which was taken over by maxtor about the time I got the drive) - all still working, including the 700mb fireball. I have found them to be faster and quieter than Western Digital Drives, and also more reliable and so that is why I prefere Maxtor drives over Western Digital Ones.
One IBM/Hitachi drive - died after about a month, replacement died about 6 months after that.
One Fujitsu drive - lasted a couple of years before complete failure.
Of course this is only a few drives but my experiences have shown Seagate and Maxtor to be better than Western Digital.
What brand of hard drive should I choose in future? IBM?
IBM stopped making hard drives after the death star mess, I would reccomend Western Digital if you want to avoid seagate - although I have a seagate in my MythTV box and it works with no problems.
When buying hard drives Seagate has always been my first choice, with Maxtor coming it second and Western Digital third. While this merger should mean the best of Seagate and Maxtor combined, it also means that there is a reduction in the number of brands that I consider acceptable, now only being Seagate and Western Digital. If Seagate was to start producing dodgy drives then that only leaves one real competitor, that I will use. I would then be forced into Western Digital, rather than now when I have a choice between two brands if one starts making less reliable drives.
I know that Hitachi, Samsung and others make hard drives, but I have had very bad experiences with both Hitachi and Samsung and so I refuse to use them. This merger just reduces the choice of companies that I trust - in other words, I have had a hard drive from and it has outlived its warranty, amoung other things.
And you said you were qualified to operate a computer! You'd better have mine." I pass my computer card calendar over, flipping it to page one - "ENTROPY"..........I like it. "Now, you give the cretin an excuse then what do you do?"
"Kill them off?"
"YES!" (He certainly has a fixation) "Then what?"
"Hang up?"
"NO! Then they'll call you back when the problem recurs. Your job is to make them FEAR calling you. How can you work when people are calling? So, you make them pay for calling in the first place. What would you do?"
"Delete their files?"
"Yeah, it's a start, but then they may call back when they get new files. You want them NEVER to call back. What could you do?"
"Swear at them?"
"No. I can see we'll have to demonstrate. Have you got a metal ballpoint?"
"Yes"
"See that wallsocket over there. Take the refill out of the pen and poke in into the wallsocket."
No, Microsoft is using the old Mac processors in their console. Apple has decided to move to Intel now, and so PowerPC will be phased out of Macs (eventually, when they get some Intel macs on the market).
If you have a decent firewall (even the built in windows one could be considered OK) then I do not think you will have a problem with any problems, as the firewall should stop the worms infecting through any exploits and as you are posting to slashdot I assume you will not be opening any suspious attachements.
Quite a lot of time I make a first draft of a document, save it and print it out. Then I go and edit it and then save this as another copy, the finial version. If it automatically saved then it would end up with the draft not being a draft but half way between draft and finial (I only save every five minutes or so).
For a media centre it does not seem to have very many features, even if it is meant to be simple.
Here is what I use on my MythTV box that are not available for this: - Watching live TV - Scheduling recording of live TV - Web interface to access information - Weather - Games - News feeds - Advert detection
These are all things I use on a daily basis and I think that they should be included in any media centre, and Apple's offering barely meets any of those.
This is a bad sign for the gaming industry if a medical site is beginning to take the anti-gaming studies this seriously.
While you may agree or disagree with the studies I think this site is right: leave it up to the parents to decide whether a game is suitable for their children. If they don't want their children to play games then fine, and that is their decision. It is not like this is being forced upon everyone.
One thing that I have seen some people use in business is shared mailboxes, which Thunderbird does not really support. I know you can set up a IMAP account and access it from various clients, however whereas the average slashdot reader would have no problem setting this up, some businesses (small ones in particular) might stuggle if they have used exchange/outlook.
I use Thunderbird as my mail client on my desktop and I think it is great, however it is lacking one big feature: calendar. I know there is Sunbird however it is (IMO) complete rubbish. Outlook may be lacking in some areas, however until thunderbird gets a decent calendar (as well as calendar sharing, todo lists etc) then it will not be suitable for the majority of businesses running Outlook.
Of the 52 reviews 3 of them are rated two stars and the rest have been given one. Does he want all of these removing? Has he considered that his book is actually not very good?
One thing that seems to be in most of the more sensible reviews is that the writing is bad, maybe instead of having a fit he should consider that these people are right and his book is awfull.
An unknown malicious programmer must have done it all!
The thing is they purchased this off another company and so it would have been in their accounts that it was there, and in a company that large a purchase like this should have had to be approved by management.
That is fine and great - but not all software is always available from the default repositories.
Then you either have to:
Find a repository that has the package you are looking for, add it to apt or download the.repo file for yum (I have never used emerge, so it might be better.)
Find an RPM/DEB that contains the package, and then hope all the dependencies are met for the package or can be found through yum/apt/emerge. Install the file, either using the command line or some package manager (which is just like installing on windows, so not much problem to the general public.
If you cannot find it in a repository or you cannot find a package for it then you must compile from source, after getting the source obviously. Now some people might say there is a package available for most packages then while that is true sometimes you need certain compile time options of the dependency to make the package work, and if the available package is not compiled in this way then you have to compile it.
Some people also do not want to just randomly install software - they like to see screenshots and information first. This means that potentially you have to visit the programs website, see if it meets your need then try it find it on the package manager. If not then if the website has an RPM/DEB available then you download it and install, but if only source is available then you have to find a package.
What (some) windows users are used to doing is visiting the website and then downloading the file from the same place and running it, whether this is harder or not linux needs to have something like this for every package. The distribution problem adds to this, now instead of maybe having to choose between Win2000/xp and 95/98/me (which is not hard) they have to find a package for their distro, and if the website has an RPM that they can download surely you can imagine how frustrating it is for the user to then find it does not work on their distro.
I am not saying that windows has it's problems installing software, but people are used to the problems with windows and unwilling to change something they see as working for something else with its own set of problems that they will not understand.
I run linux on half my machines and so that is obviously without subscription (although some distributions might try it) and the other half run windows.
If Microsoft forces (for example) Vista into a subscription only model then I will stick with XP on the machines I have (I wasn't planning to upgrade anyway), and not buy any new licences. In other words I would move to linux if the need for a new machine was great enough, and stick to what I have at the moment.
The average home users machine gets so bogged down with spyware that they replace their machines fairly often, or pay to have it repaired. This means that buying a new machine/paying money every year might be common practice for some people. Plus if it is moved to a hosted solution it might be harder to get spyware on them (but this is Microsoft...) and so a saving will be made with the reduction of costs due to paying people to remove spyware.
The only problem might be work needing software that only runs on windows, but I am provided with remote desktop to my windows desktop anyway so I do not need windows at home to work.
I think that the stress testing in Ars technica's iPod nano review should be done on the video iPod as well. I clicked that link expecting to see an ipod getting run over and all I get is it being pulled to pieces.
In the UK all the games ratings that are done by the BBFC (Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Manhunt are the ones that spring to mind) are enforced by law. Does this stop me walking into a shop and buying a game that is rated too high for me? No. I have got games that I should be too young to buy, and I know that several other people I know do it as well. Quite a few parents are even happy to help out if the shops won't see games to minors.
Since not all games are violent enough to earn a rating by the BBFC that also might have a rating by the ELSPA, PEGI and I think I have even seen some with ERSB ratings on them. Most shops won't sell those to people under the recommended age. Does it stop me buying them? No.
I think that at th end of the day if someone wants to buy a game which by law (or recomendation) they cannot buy then they will still get it. There will always be shops that will sell to obviously underage people. There will also be copying of games from someone who might be old enough to buy and there will still be downloading off the internet. I think that all the restrictions will do is cause a bit of grief for minors trying to buy them, and anyone that wants one will still be able to get ahold of one.
Slashdot Mirror
Well my experience (at home) has been this:
Two Western Digital Drives (One a 20gb, one a 120gb) - the 20gb developed a lot of bad sectors about 2 years into its life, and the 120 is OK, for now - although I have only had it for a year.
Three Seagate drives, of various sizes - all still working, oldest is about 6 years old, youngest is 6 months old.
Three Maxtor drives, (one was a quantum fireball, which was taken over by maxtor about the time I got the drive) - all still working, including the 700mb fireball. I have found them to be faster and quieter than Western Digital Drives, and also more reliable and so that is why I prefere Maxtor drives over Western Digital Ones.
One IBM/Hitachi drive - died after about a month, replacement died about 6 months after that.
One Fujitsu drive - lasted a couple of years before complete failure.
Of course this is only a few drives but my experiences have shown Seagate and Maxtor to be better than Western Digital.
No alternative really, but at there are good points to Seagate, mainly the five year warranty on all new drives.
What brand of hard drive should I choose in future? IBM?
IBM stopped making hard drives after the death star mess, I would reccomend Western Digital if you want to avoid seagate - although I have a seagate in my MythTV box and it works with no problems.
When buying hard drives Seagate has always been my first choice, with Maxtor coming it second and Western Digital third. While this merger should mean the best of Seagate and Maxtor combined, it also means that there is a reduction in the number of brands that I consider acceptable, now only being Seagate and Western Digital. If Seagate was to start producing dodgy drives then that only leaves one real competitor, that I will use. I would then be forced into Western Digital, rather than now when I have a choice between two brands if one starts making less reliable drives.
I know that Hitachi, Samsung and others make hard drives, but I have had very bad experiences with both Hitachi and Samsung and so I refuse to use them. This merger just reduces the choice of companies that I trust - in other words, I have had a hard drive from and it has outlived its warranty, amoung other things.
If they do that then people will just save the images to their own (or a cracked) server and send phishing attacks with the images on there.
...at people doing this and so that is why he is endorsing this change.
If you read the article carefully you will see that the $20000 bid was part of:
a bidding war over an appearance in a Penny Arcade comic
And you said you were qualified to operate a computer! You'd better have mine." I pass my computer card calendar over, flipping it to page one - "ENTROPY"....... ...I like it. "Now, you give the cretin an excuse then what do you do?"
"Kill them off?"
"YES!" (He certainly has a fixation) "Then what?"
"Hang up?"
"NO! Then they'll call you back when the problem recurs. Your job is to make them FEAR calling you. How can you work when people are calling? So, you make them pay for calling in the first place. What would you do?"
"Delete their files?"
"Yeah, it's a start, but then they may call back when they get new files. You want them NEVER to call back. What could you do?"
"Swear at them?"
"No. I can see we'll have to demonstrate. Have you got a metal ballpoint?"
"Yes"
"See that wallsocket over there. Take the refill out of the pen and poke in into the wallsocket."
"But it's live!"
"Would I really make you do it if it were live?"
"Oh" >fiddle< >fiddle< >BZZZZZZZEEEEERT!< >THUD!<
The Bastard System Manager from Hell #1 http://bofh.ntk.net/Bastard4.html
No, Microsoft is using the old Mac processors in their console. Apple has decided to move to Intel now, and so PowerPC will be phased out of Macs (eventually, when they get some Intel macs on the market).
If you have a decent firewall (even the built in windows one could be considered OK) then I do not think you will have a problem with any problems, as the firewall should stop the worms infecting through any exploits and as you are posting to slashdot I assume you will not be opening any suspious attachements.
Quite a lot of time I make a first draft of a document, save it and print it out. Then I go and edit it and then save this as another copy, the finial version. If it automatically saved then it would end up with the draft not being a draft but half way between draft and finial (I only save every five minutes or so).
For a media centre it does not seem to have very many features, even if it is meant to be simple.
Here is what I use on my MythTV box that are not available for this:
- Watching live TV
- Scheduling recording of live TV
- Web interface to access information
- Weather
- Games
- News feeds
- Advert detection
These are all things I use on a daily basis and I think that they should be included in any media centre, and Apple's offering barely meets any of those.
This is a bad sign for the gaming industry if a medical site is beginning to take the anti-gaming studies this seriously.
While you may agree or disagree with the studies I think this site is right: leave it up to the parents to decide whether a game is suitable for their children. If they don't want their children to play games then fine, and that is their decision. It is not like this is being forced upon everyone.
One thing that I have seen some people use in business is shared mailboxes, which Thunderbird does not really support. I know you can set up a IMAP account and access it from various clients, however whereas the average slashdot reader would have no problem setting this up, some businesses (small ones in particular) might stuggle if they have used exchange/outlook.
I use Thunderbird as my mail client on my desktop and I think it is great, however it is lacking one big feature: calendar. I know there is Sunbird however it is (IMO) complete rubbish. Outlook may be lacking in some areas, however until thunderbird gets a decent calendar (as well as calendar sharing, todo lists etc) then it will not be suitable for the majority of businesses running Outlook.
Of the 52 reviews 3 of them are rated two stars and the rest have been given one. Does he want all of these removing? Has he considered that his book is actually not very good?
One thing that seems to be in most of the more sensible reviews is that the writing is bad, maybe instead of having a fit he should consider that these people are right and his book is awfull.
rename iPod $sys$ipod
And what is google groups exactly?
Usenet right on google, and it is searchable.
An unknown malicious programmer must have done it all!
The thing is they purchased this off another company and so it would have been in their accounts that it was there, and in a company that large a purchase like this should have had to be approved by management.
That is fine and great - but not all software is always available from the default repositories.
.repo file for yum (I have never used emerge, so it might be better.)
Then you either have to:
Find a repository that has the package you are looking for, add it to apt or download the
Find an RPM/DEB that contains the package, and then hope all the dependencies are met for the package or can be found through yum/apt/emerge. Install the file, either using the command line or some package manager (which is just like installing on windows, so not much problem to the general public.
If you cannot find it in a repository or you cannot find a package for it then you must compile from source, after getting the source obviously. Now some people might say there is a package available for most packages then while that is true sometimes you need certain compile time options of the dependency to make the package work, and if the available package is not compiled in this way then you have to compile it.
Some people also do not want to just randomly install software - they like to see screenshots and information first. This means that potentially you have to visit the programs website, see if it meets your need then try it find it on the package manager. If not then if the website has an RPM/DEB available then you download it and install, but if only source is available then you have to find a package.
What (some) windows users are used to doing is visiting the website and then downloading the file from the same place and running it, whether this is harder or not linux needs to have something like this for every package. The distribution problem adds to this, now instead of maybe having to choose between Win2000/xp and 95/98/me (which is not hard) they have to find a package for their distro, and if the website has an RPM that they can download surely you can imagine how frustrating it is for the user to then find it does not work on their distro.
I am not saying that windows has it's problems installing software, but people are used to the problems with windows and unwilling to change something they see as working for something else with its own set of problems that they will not understand.
But does it run linux?
I run linux on half my machines and so that is obviously without subscription (although some distributions might try it) and the other half run windows. If Microsoft forces (for example) Vista into a subscription only model then I will stick with XP on the machines I have (I wasn't planning to upgrade anyway), and not buy any new licences. In other words I would move to linux if the need for a new machine was great enough, and stick to what I have at the moment. The average home users machine gets so bogged down with spyware that they replace their machines fairly often, or pay to have it repaired. This means that buying a new machine/paying money every year might be common practice for some people. Plus if it is moved to a hosted solution it might be harder to get spyware on them (but this is Microsoft...) and so a saving will be made with the reduction of costs due to paying people to remove spyware. The only problem might be work needing software that only runs on windows, but I am provided with remote desktop to my windows desktop anyway so I do not need windows at home to work.
I think that the stress testing in Ars technica's iPod nano review should be done on the video iPod as well. I clicked that link expecting to see an ipod getting run over and all I get is it being pulled to pieces.
This is what I call a proper review.
Here is some more information about what the proposed shortage is causing people to do.
In the UK all the games ratings that are done by the BBFC (Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Manhunt are the ones that spring to mind) are enforced by law. Does this stop me walking into a shop and buying a game that is rated too high for me? No. I have got games that I should be too young to buy, and I know that several other people I know do it as well. Quite a few parents are even happy to help out if the shops won't see games to minors.
Since not all games are violent enough to earn a rating by the BBFC that also might have a rating by the ELSPA, PEGI and I think I have even seen some with ERSB ratings on them. Most shops won't sell those to people under the recommended age. Does it stop me buying them? No.
I think that at th end of the day if someone wants to buy a game which by law (or recomendation) they cannot buy then they will still get it. There will always be shops that will sell to obviously underage people. There will also be copying of games from someone who might be old enough to buy and there will still be downloading off the internet. I think that all the restrictions will do is cause a bit of grief for minors trying to buy them, and anyone that wants one will still be able to get ahold of one.