No i didn't RTFA, but one of my biggest concerns has always been remote central management in the enterprise structure. IT can't always make "house calls" to each and every computer, there has to be ways of remotely accessing, configuring and maintaining the systems and I haven't seen much that supports OSX. Even with Linux there are tools that allow you to do that, and most all central configuration tools are Windows based.
LanDesk is a cross platform solution. There are also management extensions available that allows you to integrate Mac workstations into your existing Microsoft SMS 2003 environment if thats whats being used: http://www.quest.com/quest-management-xtensions-fo r-sms/
I'm sure there are more out there. Just look. Most of these tools have been available for the last several years.
Shameless wikipedia article says that they already do: HD Radio stations must pay royalties each year to iBiquity, plus the costs paid by the manufacturers of the transmitters which are then passed along to the stations that buy them.
iBiquity receives royalties for the hardware used to send out the HD Radio signal. This royalty has nothing to do with the copyrighted works being transmitted over HD Radio equipment.
Ah, the old chestnut: I love something and thing it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, so when The Man comes down against it - it must be a conspiracy.
I find it far more likely that as the reputation of Wikipedia spreads, so does awareness of it's deep and systemic shortcomings and problems. (As well as the weakness of arguments in favor of it.)
I should have used a ";-)" or a "sarcasm" tag at the end of that line. It a crude attempt at a joke more than anything else. I wholeheartedly doubt that any of those companies are lobbying schools or our government for Wikipedia to be banned.
The reason given was that Wikipedia (being user created and edited) did not represent a credible or reliable source of information for schools.
I swear, Funk and Wagnall's, Britannica, and World Book must be stepping up with the lobby money. This isn't the first time I've read about the "inaccuracy" of Wikipedia recently.
Regardless of whether the information is accurate or not, Wikipedia is an excellent source because many times it has references listed a student can use as a basis for his/her own research. Teachers should not allow any type of encyclopedia to be used as a source, since, its supposed to be generalized knowledge on a subject. In fact, a great feature of Wikipedia is that editors have the ability to post a warning on an article stating that it needs to be cleaned up or that references need to be found to support the article.
Banning Wikipedia doesn't accomplish much. Encyclopedias, even in their paper form, have never been the most accurate sources for information. Compare a World Book article to a Britannica article on the same subject, and there will be notable differences. It all depends on the author, and the sources used to write the article.
I've found entries in Wikipedia on topics I have not found anywhere else, and many times followed an external link to a site that has more information on the topic. It would be a shame to take that ability away from students.
I work in higher ed too. A dean sent me a couple emails, on the weekend, becuase he was having problems with something. He used the term "alot" several times in his email.
This guy is well known around the world. And he is very highly regarded inside and outside of his field. So although "alot" irks me to no end, I understand that some people just have it wired in their head that way and there is no turning back. It's kinda like a cigarette addiction, I guess. It feels good to some.
I could shit on you or him for using "alot", but I realize that use of "alot" has nothing to do with over-all intellegence or capability.
Keep on truckin'.
Thanks for not shitting on me. I appreciate it. I've noticed that a lot of the grammar Nazis usually post as cowards (including the three who replied to my comment), so, I don't even see their corrections. I guess grammar is important, but not important enough to loose karma.
That being said, I do know that "alot" is not a correct usage. I also know the difference between "lose" or "loose". When you're typing fast, those things tend to pop up. I preview before posting, but most times its to check for HTML and URL's. In this case, I was just careless in checking my grammar and spelling before posting. I'm not too concerned with impressing the Slashdot community with impeccable grammar. Most of the time, I just hope my writing is clear enough so that it can be understood. I write e-mails, reports, and memorandums on a daily basis, and I spend a lot more time checking grammar and spelling in those documents than I do here.
As a person who works in higher ed, I hate the fact that lots of new things are announced around the WWDC during the summer. The demand is there from the customers (professors, students), but not enough testing time. I know the world doesn't revolve around higher-ed, but its still a pain.
With a release date of October, I'll have many months to test and play around with things before rolling it out. And since we only buy computers in the July/August timeframe, I won't be taken by surprise when they come with Leopard pre-installed. Heck, they'll be at 10.5.1 or 10.5.2 by Fall 2008.
I don't believe they will loose a lot of sales because of this announcement. A lot of students are getting Macs at the back-to-school time of year specifically because of Leopard- they are getting them because of the total package and the "it just works" mentality. That's not going to change despite the delay. And for those who were going to wait, they now have to make the choice continuing until the October release or biting the bullet and getting a new computer before then.
I'm sure many are cursing up a storm because of this, but at the same time, I bet a lot of support folks like myself are breathing a sigh of relief. Besides, we now know EXACTLY when it will be released (October), not just a general esitmate (like Spring 2007). That's ALOT coming from Apple.
Oh please. You have no understanding of how Apple Care works.
1. I have never spoken with anyone located outside of the United States during AppleCare's normal business hours. Ever. I just had to call last week, and got someone speaking English, and during our conversation, it sound like they were located on the West Coast. I think one time I called after normal hours and was routed to Ireleand. But never to India. I don't even think they have a call center in India any longer.
2. AppleCare provides on site support for all customers with desktops. For laptops, you have the option of going to an Apple Authorized service center (which includes an Apple Store, if you have one) or mailing your laptop into Apple. No one is forcing you to wait in line at the Apple Store behind grandma.
3. Since this entire article is about Mac OS X Server, it would be good to note the extended service plans Apple offers under AppleCare for Mac OS X Server, which provides different levels of enterprise type support for Mac OS X Server products. A small or medium size business could subscribe to this service if needed.
I guess this is something that varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I remember getting warranty service on computers with OS/2 and 3.1 on computers originally loaded with DOS only, and on Windows 95 computers that originally had DOS/3.11.
A couple of manufacturers had diagnostics CD-ROM's and floppies that were OS independent that ran basic tests on the hardware and could report back error codes to someone you were on the phone with.
Perhaps I was just lucky. Its too bad they couldn't just supply their own diagnostics "live disk" that could test hardware.
So, if you want your warranty honored, suck it up and install Windows. You would have known this if you had read the fine print when you bought the damn thing. If you want a Linux notebook, then buy a Linux notebook. Talk about a sense of entitlement...
As a computer user for over 20 years now, this always hasn't been the case. It's only been within the last several years, as manufacturers have to deal with millions of users with viruses and spyware calling technical support thinking they have a hardware problem, that warranties have been changed so that only specific operating systems are covered.
I have worked on several laptops in the past that needed warranty service that had operating systems that differed from the original. If you are computer user, who has purchased a computer several years ago, you wouldn't think you would have to see if this is covered in the fine print!
That being said, part of the problem is that this laptop in question was an HP/Compaq bought at Best Buy. The warranty differs on the consumer line of products in comparison to purchasing a "business oriented" line of computers, ie, a HP Compaq NC6400 laptop or a Dell OptiPlex desktop. For these models, its accepted that the workstation may not receive the same operating system that shipped with it. Consumers should keep that in mind when looking for their next workstation from a big manufacturer such as Dell or HP.
If I were an author (or a musician, or someone selling anything else on Amazon), I wouldn't care too much about the Amazon rankings. I have been shopping at Amazon since it opened, and have never bothered looking at any of the "Top Ranked" for suggestions.
What definitely gets more customers looking is the "Other customers that purchased also purchased..." feature. I know many times something of interest has popped up using this feature, especially with books, movies, and music.
Spending $10k to bump up a ranking that not too many care about seems to be a misdirected waste of resources.
Mod parent up!!! Amen, brother. User education can prevent many of these problems. A combination of AntiVirus/Malware, and a good network configuration can prevent the rest.
Limiting usage like this just makes an employee dislike their job that much more, and just as you said, unhappy workers are not nearly as productive as happy ones.
Another reason, that isn't documented here, that people would want to block external communications (AIM, GMail, whatever) would be legal requirements to document any communication with a client. This would especially include banks, security companies, etc. I know that financial institutions are required to archive all email communication forever, literally. Morgan Stanley got into huge trouble because they didn't. In order to control the flow of information, most banks just block external email services so the content is easier to control.
What stops an employee from doing this outside business hours? They could easily contact them at home with their personal account, or even using a blackberry or other smartphone, if they have that device configured to check mail.
I'm not sure how much this new legislation will prevent communication from being "lost" in the future any more than in the past. There have been laws on the books for several decades in regards to record keeping and keeping "paper trails" yet, there are always missing documents when some type of scandal or investigation causes the s$%t to hit the fan.
If someone's goal is to communicate in a secretive or malicious manner, its going to be done regardless of whether you can access gmail.com at work or not.
There are talks at my employer as well of limiting 3rd party mail usage (along with IM and other services) not just because of security, but because they want (or "need") to monitor all outgoing/incoming messages.
It's really depressing how limited our access to the Internet has become. Its mostly done to "boost" productivity or "prevent" litigation. Security concerns are now adding to that situation. I see a point in the not-so-distant future where businesses and corporations will be so worried about authorized usage and security issues that there will be not be any user desktops/laptops even connected with Internet access, just back end servers (such as Exchange).
Sad. Just sad. And there isn't much that can be done to reverse the trend.
From doing a quick read, it sounds like there are concerns on how much protection GPLv3 actually provides. Does this mean that developers will continue to release software under the GPLv2 until this gets straightened out. Is this an option for Novell, or, has their cross-licensed software already been released under GPLv3?
If you by AMD or Intel retail processors that come with the CPU fan, it comes with correct amount of thermal compound on the heat sink. Only when you manually scrape that goo off, or, you are using OEM cpu/heat sink combinations do you need thermal grease.
There could be more to this statement than just a disclosure of the ban to the public. I'm guessing that although there are over 15,000 computers being used in the DOT, they are in many different offices across the country, being managed by many different people. In many cases, there are regional "federal buildings" with several different departments enclosed in one building (DOT, FBI, HUD, IRS etc) that are maintained by one IT group (I had a friend working in this type of situation). So, while the DOT might be banning this software because of incompatibility, other federal departments might not be. This bulletin makes sure those support people know that just because one office down the hall might be Vista ready, they (the DOT), are not. In addition, maintenance contracts with Microsoft may specify that certain upgrades are available for use already (they may have received licenses of Vista and Office 2007), and this might be clarification that despite those licenses being available and delivered, that they shouldn't be rolled out yet.
It looks like your "trickle down" effect might be working internally inside the government as well. The article states the FAA made a similar declaration. Other government agencies might follow suit if interoperability is important (then again this is the government;-) ). Most likely, however, this will be delayed revenue, rather than lost revenue for Microsoft.
Tried to install it on my machine and it won't. I'm guessing it's broken. I'll try it when I don't have to buy a whole new computer just to install it. Anyone who praises OSX (which can't won't install on 90% of the computers being used today without hacks) is hereby banned from discussing any compatibility issues with Vista.
Did you actually read my post, I know it was long? The main article discusses using OS X on a Mac in comparison to Windows Vista on a Wintel box. I did not attempt to install Mac OS X on a non-Apple wintel box. I have an iMac Core Duo for that use, along with running XP with Boot Camp. On the GX 270, I have both Vista Business and Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn Herd 4) running.
I tried not to compare the performance of the two operating systems, because, I had them running on unlike machines. I did discuss the performance vs. effects that are dependent on the hardware, and I discussed Vista vs XP advantages and disadvantages.
Thanks for taking the time to read my entire post, and give a clear, concsise, constructive response.
MSDNAA? Is that the new MS anti-piracy division? Kinda like the MS equivelent of the MPAA or RIAA? I had to ask ^_~
Ha! Thankfully, no, its not a new anti-piracy division at Microsoft. Its the MSDN Academic Alliance http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/default. aspx, and it allows faculty and students a limited number of licenses for many of Microsoft's products for teaching and other acadmemic uses. I work for IT at a University, so I did my testing on a University owned computer with one of the Windows Vista Business licenses we received from this subscription, as to not violate any of the terms of our subscription. Its a great product to have though, since you also get Beta releases and such. Pretty neat, in my opinion.
My day job is supporting Macintosh computers. However, due to the ever changing IT market, I always to stay up to date on what's going on with Windows and Linux. It's in my best interest to be cross platform, especially when I need to explain to a Windows user how to do a specific procedure on the Mac, and vice versa. I have been a Windows user much longer (3.1) than I have been a Macintosh (didn't get involved with Macs until circa OS 7.6.1) user, so I've seen my fair share of kernel, UI, graphics, and other changes on both platforms over the years.
I was excited to hear that our Windows Vista (Business) Licenses had arrived via our MSDNAA account at work. So, I grabbed a license for testing and went at it. I wanted to leave my Mac alone and not try to force a Vista boot with Boot Camp + hacking. My original test box was:
Install went perfect. After installation was complete, there were three or four Windows security updates awaiting me. After installing those, I started to play around. Unfortunately, my computer scored a 1.0 on the performance scale, mostly because of the video card. I was also disappointed that Aero was not supported on my video card as well, so all I had was the "Windows Vista Basic" theme available to me, without any of the new eye candy I was looking to see.
I really wanted to see what Vista had to offer, so I didn't want to settle for the reduced package. This is significant though. Microsoft wonders why they haven't seen to many upgrades to Vista yet- well this is one of them. A large amount of users with existing computers will not see the biggest UI improvement that Aero has to offer. This is different in comparison to Mac OS X 10.4, where, except for not being able to run a few screen savers, and not getting a few fancy effects here and there, your experience is pretty much the same visually, from a G3 iBook, right on through to the newest Mac Pro. Sure, there are applications that need core image, but, for the basic OS X install set, your experience is pretty much the same right on down the line.
Getting back to Vista... I decided to upgrade the computer as much as I could to get the full Vista experience, so I bumped myself up to 3GB of RAM, a 250GB 7200/16MB Cache hard disk, and, a GeForce FX 5200 128MB video card (best I can get for a low profile card w/bracket for this Dell). This brought my performance rating up to a 2.5, again, with the video card being the weak point.
Now I was getting Aero in all of its glory. Despite my video card being the bottom of the barrel for Vista/Aero, I haven't had any performance issues with any of the special effects (all of them are turned on). The only thing I'm kind of peeved about is the lack of NVidia support for this class of video card. NVidia has newer drivers out, however, but I had to use beta drivers from November for this card, because it looks like NVidia is in the process of dropping support for it. Despite being beta drivers, I haven't had any BSOD's or issues with them, and they are still faster than the default Microsoft drivers.
As for applications on Vista, its a mixed bag. Most things installed and worked OK. All my typical Internet applications and plugins (Firefox, Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Sun Java JRE, etc) worked without a hitch- even Gaim/GTK worked. Divx and RealPlayer are giving me issues where Windows has to switch out of Aero mode when they are running. It's kind of weird... the screen goes black for two seconds, and then comes back in Windows Vista "basic" mode. When you close the application, the reverse occurs, and you are back to Aero, with transparencies etc. VLC won't show most movies, just a bunch of changing colors in its window. iTunes worked OK for me, but I don't have my library saved on this computer. Office 2003 worked as well.
Although they may hold on to the enterprise market, why even bother with Norton AntiVirus or Internet Security when you can get Avast AntiVirus Personal edition for free! http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html/
No, I don't work for them, or own stock. They've even updated it for Vista. The cost? Register for a free serial number every 14 months.
Comodo firewall http://www.comodo.com/ is nice free step up for those who think they need something more than Windows firewall.
In the year 2007, there is really no need for a consumer to pay for a product from Symantec/Norton, McAfee, or any other security software vendor that has been fleecing us for the last several years.
Wow, they're still using the outpost.com domain. That was a great online store. I purchased many a parts there, before they got sold to Fry's. Most of my low cost pentium and celeron computers i built were from parts purchased from there and egghead auctions. Oh the memories...:-)
Slashdot Mirror
There are many applications and platforms out there that do this, including:
Apple Remote Desktop
LANDesk Management Suite
Casper Management Software
LanDesk is a cross platform solution. There are also management extensions available that allows you to integrate Mac workstations into your existing Microsoft SMS 2003 environment if thats whats being used: http://www.quest.com/quest-management-xtensions-f
I'm sure there are more out there. Just look. Most of these tools have been available for the last several years.
iBiquity receives royalties for the hardware used to send out the HD Radio signal. This royalty has nothing to do with the copyrighted works being transmitted over HD Radio equipment.
I should have used a ";-)" or a "sarcasm" tag at the end of that line. It a crude attempt at a joke more than anything else. I wholeheartedly doubt that any of those companies are lobbying schools or our government for Wikipedia to be banned.
I swear, Funk and Wagnall's, Britannica, and World Book must be stepping up with the lobby money. This isn't the first time I've read about the "inaccuracy" of Wikipedia recently.
Regardless of whether the information is accurate or not, Wikipedia is an excellent source because many times it has references listed a student can use as a basis for his/her own research. Teachers should not allow any type of encyclopedia to be used as a source, since, its supposed to be generalized knowledge on a subject. In fact, a great feature of Wikipedia is that editors have the ability to post a warning on an article stating that it needs to be cleaned up or that references need to be found to support the article.
Banning Wikipedia doesn't accomplish much. Encyclopedias, even in their paper form, have never been the most accurate sources for information. Compare a World Book article to a Britannica article on the same subject, and there will be notable differences. It all depends on the author, and the sources used to write the article.
I've found entries in Wikipedia on topics I have not found anywhere else, and many times followed an external link to a site that has more information on the topic. It would be a shame to take that ability away from students.
Thanks for not shitting on me. I appreciate it. I've noticed that a lot of the grammar Nazis usually post as cowards (including the three who replied to my comment), so, I don't even see their corrections. I guess grammar is important, but not important enough to loose karma.
That being said, I do know that "alot" is not a correct usage. I also know the difference between "lose" or "loose". When you're typing fast, those things tend to pop up. I preview before posting, but most times its to check for HTML and URL's. In this case, I was just careless in checking my grammar and spelling before posting. I'm not too concerned with impressing the Slashdot community with impeccable grammar. Most of the time, I just hope my writing is clear enough so that it can be understood. I write e-mails, reports, and memorandums on a daily basis, and I spend a lot more time checking grammar and spelling in those documents than I do here.
Same kind??? Your math is a little off. 4 months (Leopard) does not equal 3 years (Vista).
As a person who works in higher ed, I hate the fact that lots of new things are announced around the WWDC during the summer. The demand is there from the customers (professors, students), but not enough testing time. I know the world doesn't revolve around higher-ed, but its still a pain.
With a release date of October, I'll have many months to test and play around with things before rolling it out. And since we only buy computers in the July/August timeframe, I won't be taken by surprise when they come with Leopard pre-installed. Heck, they'll be at 10.5.1 or 10.5.2 by Fall 2008.
I don't believe they will loose a lot of sales because of this announcement. A lot of students are getting Macs at the back-to-school time of year specifically because of Leopard- they are getting them because of the total package and the "it just works" mentality. That's not going to change despite the delay. And for those who were going to wait, they now have to make the choice continuing until the October release or biting the bullet and getting a new computer before then.
I'm sure many are cursing up a storm because of this, but at the same time, I bet a lot of support folks like myself are breathing a sigh of relief. Besides, we now know EXACTLY when it will be released (October), not just a general esitmate (like Spring 2007). That's ALOT coming from Apple.
Oh please. You have no understanding of how Apple Care works.
1. I have never spoken with anyone located outside of the United States during AppleCare's normal business hours. Ever. I just had to call last week, and got someone speaking English, and during our conversation, it sound like they were located on the West Coast. I think one time I called after normal hours and was routed to Ireleand. But never to India. I don't even think they have a call center in India any longer.
2. AppleCare provides on site support for all customers with desktops. For laptops, you have the option of going to an Apple Authorized service center (which includes an Apple Store, if you have one) or mailing your laptop into Apple. No one is forcing you to wait in line at the Apple Store behind grandma.
3. Since this entire article is about Mac OS X Server, it would be good to note the extended service plans Apple offers under AppleCare for Mac OS X Server, which provides different levels of enterprise type support for Mac OS X Server products. A small or medium size business could subscribe to this service if needed.
Thanks for trolling. Have a nice day.
I guess this is something that varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I remember getting warranty service on computers with OS/2 and 3.1 on computers originally loaded with DOS only, and on Windows 95 computers that originally had DOS/3.11.
A couple of manufacturers had diagnostics CD-ROM's and floppies that were OS independent that ran basic tests on the hardware and could report back error codes to someone you were on the phone with.
Perhaps I was just lucky. Its too bad they couldn't just supply their own diagnostics "live disk" that could test hardware.
As a computer user for over 20 years now, this always hasn't been the case. It's only been within the last several years, as manufacturers have to deal with millions of users with viruses and spyware calling technical support thinking they have a hardware problem, that warranties have been changed so that only specific operating systems are covered.
I have worked on several laptops in the past that needed warranty service that had operating systems that differed from the original. If you are computer user, who has purchased a computer several years ago, you wouldn't think you would have to see if this is covered in the fine print!
That being said, part of the problem is that this laptop in question was an HP/Compaq bought at Best Buy. The warranty differs on the consumer line of products in comparison to purchasing a "business oriented" line of computers, ie, a HP Compaq NC6400 laptop or a Dell OptiPlex desktop. For these models, its accepted that the workstation may not receive the same operating system that shipped with it. Consumers should keep that in mind when looking for their next workstation from a big manufacturer such as Dell or HP.
If I were an author (or a musician, or someone selling anything else on Amazon), I wouldn't care too much about the Amazon rankings. I have been shopping at Amazon since it opened, and have never bothered looking at any of the "Top Ranked" for suggestions.
..." feature. I know many times something of interest has popped up using this feature, especially with books, movies, and music.
What definitely gets more customers looking is the "Other customers that purchased also purchased
Spending $10k to bump up a ranking that not too many care about seems to be a misdirected waste of resources.
Perhaps Bartleby and Loki should make a visit to a Viacom board meeting. Now that would be progress!
iFilm has been purchased by Google, and is now being sued for $1 billion by Viacom. Film at 11... (oh wait its copyrighted by Viacom, never mind!).
Mod parent up!!! Amen, brother. User education can prevent many of these problems. A combination of AntiVirus/Malware, and a good network configuration can prevent the rest.
Limiting usage like this just makes an employee dislike their job that much more, and just as you said, unhappy workers are not nearly as productive as happy ones.
What stops an employee from doing this outside business hours? They could easily contact them at home with their personal account, or even using a blackberry or other smartphone, if they have that device configured to check mail.
I'm not sure how much this new legislation will prevent communication from being "lost" in the future any more than in the past. There have been laws on the books for several decades in regards to record keeping and keeping "paper trails" yet, there are always missing documents when some type of scandal or investigation causes the s$%t to hit the fan.
If someone's goal is to communicate in a secretive or malicious manner, its going to be done regardless of whether you can access gmail.com at work or not.
There are talks at my employer as well of limiting 3rd party mail usage (along with IM and other services) not just because of security, but because they want (or "need") to monitor all outgoing/incoming messages.
It's really depressing how limited our access to the Internet has become. Its mostly done to "boost" productivity or "prevent" litigation. Security concerns are now adding to that situation. I see a point in the not-so-distant future where businesses and corporations will be so worried about authorized usage and security issues that there will be not be any user desktops/laptops even connected with Internet access, just back end servers (such as Exchange).
Sad. Just sad. And there isn't much that can be done to reverse the trend.
From doing a quick read, it sounds like there are concerns on how much protection GPLv3 actually provides. Does this mean that developers will continue to release software under the GPLv2 until this gets straightened out. Is this an option for Novell, or, has their cross-licensed software already been released under GPLv3?
There's actually a port of Novel Evolution out there for Mac OS X 10.4 http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfcontent/downloa
If more people showed interest perhaps we could get better support/development from Novell on the Mac version of Evolution.
If you by AMD or Intel retail processors that come with the CPU fan, it comes with correct amount of thermal compound on the heat sink. Only when you manually scrape that goo off, or, you are using OEM cpu/heat sink combinations do you need thermal grease.
There could be more to this statement than just a disclosure of the ban to the public. I'm guessing that although there are over 15,000 computers being used in the DOT, they are in many different offices across the country, being managed by many different people. In many cases, there are regional "federal buildings" with several different departments enclosed in one building (DOT, FBI, HUD, IRS etc) that are maintained by one IT group (I had a friend working in this type of situation). So, while the DOT might be banning this software because of incompatibility, other federal departments might not be. This bulletin makes sure those support people know that just because one office down the hall might be Vista ready, they (the DOT), are not. In addition, maintenance contracts with Microsoft may specify that certain upgrades are available for use already (they may have received licenses of Vista and Office 2007), and this might be clarification that despite those licenses being available and delivered, that they shouldn't be rolled out yet.
;-) ). Most likely, however, this will be delayed revenue, rather than lost revenue for Microsoft.
It looks like your "trickle down" effect might be working internally inside the government as well. The article states the FAA made a similar declaration. Other government agencies might follow suit if interoperability is important (then again this is the government
Did you actually read my post, I know it was long? The main article discusses using OS X on a Mac in comparison to Windows Vista on a Wintel box. I did not attempt to install Mac OS X on a non-Apple wintel box. I have an iMac Core Duo for that use, along with running XP with Boot Camp. On the GX 270, I have both Vista Business and Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn Herd 4) running.
I tried not to compare the performance of the two operating systems, because, I had them running on unlike machines. I did discuss the performance vs. effects that are dependent on the hardware, and I discussed Vista vs XP advantages and disadvantages.
Thanks for taking the time to read my entire post, and give a clear, concsise, constructive response.
Ha! Thankfully, no, its not a new anti-piracy division at Microsoft. Its the MSDN Academic Alliance http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/default
My day job is supporting Macintosh computers. However, due to the ever changing IT market, I always to stay up to date on what's going on with Windows and Linux. It's in my best interest to be cross platform, especially when I need to explain to a Windows user how to do a specific procedure on the Mac, and vice versa. I have been a Windows user much longer (3.1) than I have been a Macintosh (didn't get involved with Macs until circa OS 7.6.1) user, so I've seen my fair share of kernel, UI, graphics, and other changes on both platforms over the years.
I was excited to hear that our Windows Vista (Business) Licenses had arrived via our MSDNAA account at work. So, I grabbed a license for testing and went at it. I wanted to leave my Mac alone and not try to force a Vista boot with Boot Camp + hacking. My original test box was:
Dell Optiplex GX270 P4 2.4 GHz, hyper-threading enabled.
1.25 GB DDR 400 RAM
80 GB HD (7200RPM/8MB Cache)
GeForce 4 MX 400 64MB Video Card (AGP 8x)
17" Flat Screen display
Install went perfect. After installation was complete, there were three or four Windows security updates awaiting me. After installing those, I started to play around. Unfortunately, my computer scored a 1.0 on the performance scale, mostly because of the video card. I was also disappointed that Aero was not supported on my video card as well, so all I had was the "Windows Vista Basic" theme available to me, without any of the new eye candy I was looking to see.
I really wanted to see what Vista had to offer, so I didn't want to settle for the reduced package. This is significant though. Microsoft wonders why they haven't seen to many upgrades to Vista yet- well this is one of them. A large amount of users with existing computers will not see the biggest UI improvement that Aero has to offer. This is different in comparison to Mac OS X 10.4, where, except for not being able to run a few screen savers, and not getting a few fancy effects here and there, your experience is pretty much the same visually, from a G3 iBook, right on through to the newest Mac Pro. Sure, there are applications that need core image, but, for the basic OS X install set, your experience is pretty much the same right on down the line.
Getting back to Vista... I decided to upgrade the computer as much as I could to get the full Vista experience, so I bumped myself up to 3GB of RAM, a 250GB 7200/16MB Cache hard disk, and, a GeForce FX 5200 128MB video card (best I can get for a low profile card w/bracket for this Dell). This brought my performance rating up to a 2.5, again, with the video card being the weak point.
Now I was getting Aero in all of its glory. Despite my video card being the bottom of the barrel for Vista/Aero, I haven't had any performance issues with any of the special effects (all of them are turned on). The only thing I'm kind of peeved about is the lack of NVidia support for this class of video card. NVidia has newer drivers out, however, but I had to use beta drivers from November for this card, because it looks like NVidia is in the process of dropping support for it. Despite being beta drivers, I haven't had any BSOD's or issues with them, and they are still faster than the default Microsoft drivers.
As for applications on Vista, its a mixed bag. Most things installed and worked OK. All my typical Internet applications and plugins (Firefox, Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Sun Java JRE, etc) worked without a hitch- even Gaim/GTK worked. Divx and RealPlayer are giving me issues where Windows has to switch out of Aero mode when they are running. It's kind of weird... the screen goes black for two seconds, and then comes back in Windows Vista "basic" mode. When you close the application, the reverse occurs, and you are back to Aero, with transparencies etc. VLC won't show most movies, just a bunch of changing colors in its window. iTunes worked OK for me, but I don't have my library saved on this computer. Office 2003 worked as well.
Although they may hold on to the enterprise market, why even bother with Norton AntiVirus or Internet Security when you can get Avast AntiVirus Personal edition for free! http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html/
No, I don't work for them, or own stock. They've even updated it for Vista. The cost? Register for a free serial number every 14 months.
Comodo firewall http://www.comodo.com/ is nice free step up for those who think they need something more than Windows firewall.
In the year 2007, there is really no need for a consumer to pay for a product from Symantec/Norton, McAfee, or any other security software vendor that has been fleecing us for the last several years.
Wow, they're still using the outpost.com domain. That was a great online store. I purchased many a parts there, before they got sold to Fry's. Most of my low cost pentium and celeron computers i built were from parts purchased from there and egghead auctions. Oh the memories... :-)