I agree. Windows should just boot up quickly, and be instant on from sleep. I think this is a minimum requirement. I think in the bad old days, the it was good to have the windows logo sitting there for multiple minutes for branding purposes, unlike the MS DOS days when one did not even know what the OS was a the diagnostics and loading were done in seconds.
Agreed. Linux (and *nix) distros usually display an animated start screen like Windows and Mac OS X do, but for diagnostic purposes you can just hit a key and see the startup messages going behind the scenes. (IIRC that's possible with OS X - - isn't it?) I wish Windows offered the ability to show what was happening during the enumeration/boot process so users could pin down booting bottlenecks.
Anyone who has spent any amount of time on support forums or has dealt with Geek Squad is familiar with the "reformat-and-reinstall" advice inept "techs" constantly recommend.
Considering the "reformat-and-reinstall" mantra that has gone on for years, and the generally true rule of thumb that "upgrades" are best done as clean installs, I nominate "Windows Reloaded" for the product name for the next Windows.;-)
Check out Scribus -- it's a F/OSS desktop publishing program. From the Scribus web site:
Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of "press-ready" output and new approaches to page layout. Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.
However, a major essential feature it's missing is import filters to migrate away from other publishing programs - especially that crap Microsoft Publisher so many people have locked themselves into. However, there are free services to convert the files to free oneself from the grip of Microsoft Publisher.
In an economy like this, if your job provides your living expenses PLUS savings and discretionary spending, you keep your job even if it sucks or you have an asshat for a boss.
FTCATBOTA (From The Comments At The Bottom Of The Article)
You WILL get better gas mileage at 60 mph (or even better, 55 mph) than at 95 mph. There isn't even an argument there.
It depends on the type of vehicle. My car gets 28-29mpg at 60mph, and peaks at almost 34mpg at 93mph. My truck (which is unfortunately my daily driver due to work requirements - can't haul much computer stuff in my car) on the other hand peaks at 17mpg at around 40mph. I get 16mpg combined in the truck, and 23mpg combined with a performance EPROM in the car, or 27mpg combined with the stock PROM (well, when I put it on the road - I didn't even register it this year). I wish I could tune the truck to do better but unfortunately it's an old beater with TBI, so short of having the whole intake and valvetrain swapped out and going with a carb (unfortunately not legal due to emission laws) there is not much I can do to improve the truck.
UAC was, by Microsoft admission, designed to be as annoying as possible. This was a HUGE mistake, because that is precisely how, aside from security holes inherent to Windows' architecture, that spyware got to be so ubiquitous. I have clients who by their own admission will click "yes" to every damn dialog just to get them out of the way and get back to work. One of them said they'll keep having us come back to clean up their computers rather than change their behavior. I know I should be glad for the repeat revenue, but it's damn annoying when I know it could have been designed a lot better.
Why couldn't UAC either:
1. Elevate the user's privileges globally for a period of time, like sudo on *nix, or the analogous mechanism in Apple's OS X desktop environment?
2. Elevate the privileges of that process for a period of time?
3. Just inform the user "You must log in as Administrator to perform that task." and then disable UAC while logged in as Administrator (hey, that would be just like *nix! No nagging "are you sure" B.S. when root!)
4. Ditch backwards compatibility, relegating it (backwards compatibility) to a VirtualPC-sandboxed WinXP environment?
Nagios is expecially helpful in a smaller environment where you have limited personnel; as long as nagios is up and running you can have it email, page, or text you so that you know there's an issue without having to have personnel monitoring it all manually - and it provides a decent log via the web interface.
My main point is this: if this book is as good as the reviewer indicates, it should be very well worth buying if you need a F/OSS server monitoring solution.
Nagios is great but even version 3 is by no means easy to configure. Like all too many F/OSS projects, the documentation is lacking or even incorrect in spots, and supplied examples barely scratch the surface of what the application can do.
I've been running it and it's great - I have it monitoring a bunch of servers (email, hosting, backup, file, etc.) with custom scripts and it works great -- once it's configured.
Seriously - until a few weeks ago I never noticed it had a mail client. I just use Opera to verify sites. I never checked to see what other features the browser had. I'd run it long enough to see that menus, etc. rendered correctly and then shut it down and go right back to Firefox.
I mean, really. With all the great open source mail clients out there, why would I need a mail client from Opera?
Well it has enough torque on just the primaries to toast the tires. It just isn't as strong in mid range speeds (2500 to 4500rpm), and peters out around 5500rpm or so, whereas in normal mode it will happily visit the 7020rpm rev limiter (I had a custom prom burned for mine with a 7200rpm limiter).
GM already did that in a car where cutting back the car's performance makes a difference - a "valet" key limited the 1990-1995 ZR-1 Corvette to 225bhp or so, by shutting off the secondary intake runners and secondary fuel injectors.
Who's going to notice the difference in a Ford Focus? Limited power or not, 0 to 60 still takes about eight weeks. Traction control? Can a Focus actually break traction on dry ground?
In those 8 years, Windows has hardly evolved. Honestly, Windows Vista doesn't add too much groundbreaking stuff to Windows XP, the only real technological novelty is the graphics.
Sir, I am calling you on that lie. Microsoft HAS innovated a LOT in Windows XP. Why, I've noticed that they have invented lots of new ways to consume RAM without providing useful functionality, hundreds of new ways to annoy the user [Continue | Cancel], slow down networking by 90% (DRM), and obfuscate the GUI by splitting apart somewhat-neatly-laid-out control panels we had in Win2K/XP/2K3 into a playskool-like, designed-by-fisher-price layout of incomplete web pages. How DARE you tell us that Microsoft does not innovate?
Thomson Reuters, thank you for filing this suit as it brought Zotero to my attention. I have been looking for cross-platform software with this functionality and Zotero supports more platforms than your crappy product. Thank you again for filing this suit as I would not have discovered this package without this negative PR.
a 350 can also be a 32 valve Lotus-designed mercury Marine-built engine whose outside dimensions is as large as a rat motor, that found its way into 9,939 production Corvettes. =)
- Downloading F/OSS software?
- hulu.com?
- Various TV networks?
- Netflix?
- VOIP?
Face it: (IMHO) Comcast is afraid of streaming video sites, and are using P2P as an excuse to curb competition. They do not want to happen to them what happened to land line telephone companies when cellular and VOIP took off.
"Microsoft has said that it plans to remove a lot of the standard apps from Windows 7 in order to make the new OS 'cleaner.' Among the apps for the chop are Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker, which will no longer be included with the operating system as standard. Instead, equivalent versions of the apps will be available from a repository as optional free downloads, much like the Linux distributions have done for years."
Seriously, would it kill them to modularize the operating system? A bare Linux install can still be under 100MB today (actually it can be under 4MB with a suite of command line tools), and well under one gig with an office suite and a full desktop environment. Vista clocks in at what (guesses), 8GB for an OS install? (I haven't checked the footprint of the bare OS since the beta releases so I may be wrong on the footprint)
Also, what happened with the clean break Windows 7 was to bring? Wasn't it going to be the total rewrite which was promised for Vista -- either that, or a SaaS model?
I think that it would do Microsoft a lot of good to do what Apple did and can backwards compatibility, leaving a compatibility layer to run in a sandbox like a VirtualPC instance, or worst case, a WINE-like environment. They can resolve the security issues that come with backwards compatibility and probably improve performance quite a bit.
Lastly, what about DRM? Is DRM going to still choke performance, or are they going to stop pandering to the studios and drop the DRM which does not curb professional pirates but only hinders legitimate fair use?
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Agreed. Linux (and *nix) distros usually display an animated start screen like Windows and Mac OS X do, but for diagnostic purposes you can just hit a key and see the startup messages going behind the scenes. (IIRC that's possible with OS X - - isn't it?) I wish Windows offered the ability to show what was happening during the enumeration/boot process so users could pin down booting bottlenecks.
Maybe it means Steve Ballmer grew a goatee?
With the current value of our dollar, they won't care to lose your patronage. :(
Anyone who has spent any amount of time on support forums or has dealt with Geek Squad is familiar with the "reformat-and-reinstall" advice inept "techs" constantly recommend.
Considering the "reformat-and-reinstall" mantra that has gone on for years, and the generally true rule of thumb that "upgrades" are best done as clean installs, I nominate "Windows Reloaded" for the product name for the next Windows. ;-)
Check out Scribus -- it's a F/OSS desktop publishing program. From the Scribus web site:
However, a major essential feature it's missing is import filters to migrate away from other publishing programs - especially that crap Microsoft Publisher so many people have locked themselves into. However, there are free services to convert the files to free oneself from the grip of Microsoft Publisher.
In an economy like this, if your job provides your living expenses PLUS savings and discretionary spending, you keep your job even if it sucks or you have an asshat for a boss.
FTCATBOTA (From The Comments At The Bottom Of The Article)
It depends on the type of vehicle. My car gets 28-29mpg at 60mph, and peaks at almost 34mpg at 93mph. My truck (which is unfortunately my daily driver due to work requirements - can't haul much computer stuff in my car) on the other hand peaks at 17mpg at around 40mph. I get 16mpg combined in the truck, and 23mpg combined with a performance EPROM in the car, or 27mpg combined with the stock PROM (well, when I put it on the road - I didn't even register it this year). I wish I could tune the truck to do better but unfortunately it's an old beater with TBI, so short of having the whole intake and valvetrain swapped out and going with a carb (unfortunately not legal due to emission laws) there is not much I can do to improve the truck.
H1-B fraud? Shell companies? Fake degrees? You mean it really does come down to cheap labor?
I'm shocked. SHOCKED!
Well, not that shocked.
UAC was, by Microsoft admission, designed to be as annoying as possible. This was a HUGE mistake, because that is precisely how, aside from security holes inherent to Windows' architecture, that spyware got to be so ubiquitous. I have clients who by their own admission will click "yes" to every damn dialog just to get them out of the way and get back to work. One of them said they'll keep having us come back to clean up their computers rather than change their behavior. I know I should be glad for the repeat revenue, but it's damn annoying when I know it could have been designed a lot better.
Why couldn't UAC either:
1. Elevate the user's privileges globally for a period of time, like sudo on *nix, or the analogous mechanism in Apple's OS X desktop environment?
2. Elevate the privileges of that process for a period of time?
3. Just inform the user "You must log in as Administrator to perform that task." and then disable UAC while logged in as Administrator (hey, that would be just like *nix! No nagging "are you sure" B.S. when root!)
4. Ditch backwards compatibility, relegating it (backwards compatibility) to a VirtualPC-sandboxed WinXP environment?
Ooops. submitted to early.
Nagios is expecially helpful in a smaller environment where you have limited personnel; as long as nagios is up and running you can have it email, page, or text you so that you know there's an issue without having to have personnel monitoring it all manually - and it provides a decent log via the web interface.
My main point is this: if this book is as good as the reviewer indicates, it should be very well worth buying if you need a F/OSS server monitoring solution.
Nagios is great but even version 3 is by no means easy to configure. Like all too many F/OSS projects, the documentation is lacking or even incorrect in spots, and supplied examples barely scratch the surface of what the application can do.
I've been running it and it's great - I have it monitoring a bunch of servers (email, hosting, backup, file, etc.) with custom scripts and it works great -- once it's configured.
Opera has a mail client? Who knew?
Seriously - until a few weeks ago I never noticed it had a mail client. I just use Opera to verify sites. I never checked to see what other features the browser had. I'd run it long enough to see that menus, etc. rendered correctly and then shut it down and go right back to Firefox.
I mean, really. With all the great open source mail clients out there, why would I need a mail client from Opera?
Amigas, SGI Workstations, etc. with VIVO?
ATI TV?
Pinnacle capture cards?
They all predate Tivo.
I like Buffalo because:
Bypassing copy protection is STILL legal even under the DMCA for the purpose of interoperability.
Neat. I didn't know that. When I hear or read "Ford Focus" I think "Ford Escort replacement."
Well it has enough torque on just the primaries to toast the tires. It just isn't as strong in mid range speeds (2500 to 4500rpm), and peters out around 5500rpm or so, whereas in normal mode it will happily visit the 7020rpm rev limiter (I had a custom prom burned for mine with a 7200rpm limiter).
GM already did that in a car where cutting back the car's performance makes a difference - a
"valet" key limited the 1990-1995 ZR-1 Corvette to 225bhp or so, by shutting off the secondary intake runners and secondary fuel injectors.
Who's going to notice the difference in a Ford Focus? Limited power or not, 0 to 60 still takes about eight weeks. Traction control? Can a Focus actually break traction on dry ground?
It is as much as mixing buttons and drop menus into a toolbar and calling it a "ribbon" is innovating. It's marketing spin.
Sir, I am calling you on that lie. Microsoft HAS innovated a LOT in Windows XP. Why, I've noticed that they have invented lots of new ways to consume RAM without providing useful functionality, hundreds of new ways to annoy the user [Continue | Cancel], slow down networking by 90% (DRM), and obfuscate the GUI by splitting apart somewhat-neatly-laid-out control panels we had in Win2K/XP/2K3 into a playskool-like, designed-by-fisher-price layout of incomplete web pages. How DARE you tell us that Microsoft does not innovate?
(I kid, I kid)
Question: why don't you go the F/OSS route and use ClamAV?
Thomson Reuters, thank you for filing this suit as it brought Zotero to my attention. I have been looking for cross-platform software with this functionality and Zotero supports more platforms than your crappy product. Thank you again for filing this suit as I would not have discovered this package without this negative PR.
Streisand effect wins again!
a 350 can also be a 32 valve Lotus-designed mercury Marine-built engine whose outside dimensions is as large as a rat motor, that found its way into 9,939 production Corvettes. =)
Uh, let's see:
- Downloading F/OSS software?
- hulu.com?
- Various TV networks?
- Netflix?
- VOIP?
Face it: (IMHO) Comcast is afraid of streaming video sites, and are using P2P as an excuse to curb competition. They do not want to happen to them what happened to land line telephone companies when cellular and VOIP took off.
I corrected some typos:
Seriously, would it kill them to modularize the operating system? A bare Linux install can still be under 100MB today (actually it can be under 4MB with a suite of command line tools), and well under one gig with an office suite and a full desktop environment. Vista clocks in at what (guesses), 8GB for an OS install? (I haven't checked the footprint of the bare OS since the beta releases so I may be wrong on the footprint)
Also, what happened with the clean break Windows 7 was to bring? Wasn't it going to be the total rewrite which was promised for Vista -- either that, or a SaaS model?
I think that it would do Microsoft a lot of good to do what Apple did and can backwards compatibility, leaving a compatibility layer to run in a sandbox like a VirtualPC instance, or worst case, a WINE-like environment. They can resolve the security issues that come with backwards compatibility and probably improve performance quite a bit.
Lastly, what about DRM? Is DRM going to still choke performance, or are they going to stop pandering to the studios and drop the DRM which does not curb professional pirates but only hinders legitimate fair use?