I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. I think Disney may feel they really can't afford to take too many really big chances with Pixar movies; they are REALLY expensive to produce, and take an awfully long time to perfect.
I saw a preview for some cheezy Fox CG movie coming out soon (can't remember the name) and it reminded me just of how much of a risk Disney & Pixar *do* take compared to their competitors. The CG wasn't even in the same league of the CG in MI. Kids may not notice this; Parents will.
....
I thought MI was a really topical film; did anyone else notice the Rolling Blackouts headline on the newspaper (obviously a recent addition to the film), or the parallels with Anthrax investigations (when "decontaminating" clothes & buildings from children)? I derived a really useful moral from the story--things are never really as scary or as bad as they might seem. Yeah, this sounds simplistic but it's a nice dose of comfort these days.:)
This is a little off the subject, but check into Novell's NDS eDirectory combined with their ZENworks 3.2 package. This is a great way to make desktop administration MUCH easier and cheaper. eDir does everything AD purports to do, with these added benefits:
It is cross-platform (eDir can be hosted by 2K/NT/Linux/Netware/Solaris/AIX - Netware is no longer needed at all)
It is much "lighter" than ADS
It does not require you to rip and replace anything - it overlays on top
With the right tools, it will synchronize accounts across disaparate, far-flung servers
it is totally extensible & has very well-documented APIs & lots of really cool LDAP/XML tools for it
and it goes without saying it's much more secure than ADS & easier to set up because of it's maturity. (They're on version 8.5)
ZENworks does:
Policy management based on context, user, group, schedules, whatever you want
application deployment (make an image of a single app configured the way you want and push it out)
workstation image deployment (even unattended at night - WoL)
software/hardware inventory DB w/ ODBC & JDBC connectors
... and it'll work with Win95 all the way through WinXP.
Cool, eh? I've used this stuff for a few years and it actually does what it says it's supposed to do!
No, I don't work for Novell - I just think their technology is stunning, but their marketing sucks. I want to see this stuff succeed... I'm tired of great technologies dying because no one gives a damn. (Although Linux finally looks to have enough of its own momentum to stick around a very long time, I'm thinking back to dead things like OS/2 which were years ahead of their time.)
Should anyone need someone to help set it up, contact me.:) (or check out my website at http://www.bdpnetworks.com)
Trend's system has a few quirks and bugs in it (like Norton and McAfee) but it seems much more capable and easier to set up than them both. I really like the single "autopcc" program (OfficeScan, the component that scans workstations in a LAN environment) that pushes out software AND updates signature files regardless of PC OS platform.
Their server-based & e-mail protection is also excellent; signature files are updated automatically and transparently (as they should be) and there is a really neat web-based (IIS-based) console that pulls it all together. They also offer the "InterScan VirusWall" product which does a virus-stripping proxy that handles http, ftp & smtp sessions.
And they're really quick to issue new signatures if there's a sudden outbreak...
I really like the GroupWise client - but, alas, Outlook is much prettier than GroupWise, even though the GW client is more functional in some ways.
Outlook is a HUGE hog - I've done some testing and it generally takes up twice as much RAM as the GroupWise 32-bit client. But again, Outlook is prettier... I usually turn off that button bar anyways, and then it looks strangely like GroupWise.
You have a great point about making things look "improved" on the surface; MS seems to be the only company to have mastered this. GroupWise 6 would probably sell like hotcakes if it had some sort of futuro-retro interface.
Actually, Novell GroupWise is an excellent product and has been since version 5.2 (released several years ago). It is too bad more people haven't had more hands-on experience with it as the "geek set" would probably really appreciate it.
It is very efficient compared to Exchange, very scalable and extremely reliable. Plus, the agents that make up the system are cross-platform, available for Netware, NT, UNIX, etc.
The WebAccess is excellent--far better than Outlook Web Access.
The back-end is completely encrypted and compressed...
... and it does everything Exchange does (+ a REAL document management system) and everything you can get Notes to do (with some work) right out of the box!
I run a 650-user WAN and am also the primary GroupWise administrator... I (alone) spend about 5-10% of my time doing ANY maintenance on our GroupWise system, which has about 20 post offices. It is that good. (Most of the maintenance I do is preventive). We have had GroupWise servers in the field with uptimes of 200+ days or more.
You know, I modded at level 3 and still wasn't impressed by many of the comments... mostly people whining about how it's "old crappy technology."
You Linux zealots consider yourselves "open-minded" and "worldly" about computer technology, and bash "ancient" OSes like OS/2 and AmigaOS. Like others point out, many of the same people who criticize Microsoft for spreading FUD about Linux have never used any of the non-MS OSes they themselves criticize as being "not as good as Linux."
While Linux is a great operating system in a myriad of ways, it is not yet the end-all OS that solves every problem that people like to say it is. Right now, it is most useful for people that have lots of time to spend "tweaking" their computer. Yes, it's stable and yes, it's fast, but it's not nearly the "complete experience" OS/2 was (is).
I ran OS/2 for years; mainly because I was constantly searching for a way to multitask my BBS on my 386sx-16. I ran OS/2 2.0 with 6 megs of RAM and was able to multitask beautifully--the system was more stable than ANY OS I have used since then (Linux is coming close to meeting these stability levels, but you still need to throw far more hardware at it.) But the greatest thing about OS/2 that is often overlooked was it's phenomenal GUI -the WorkPlace Shell. Everything was (is) an object; everything interacted with everything else. Everything was DESIGNED from the ground-up to be consistent and logical; things simply FLOWED from one place to another effortlessly. Programs written to take advantage of the WPS were SO unique in their design that I haven't seen anything on any other OS come close to their usability. You didn't launch monolithic applications or worry about file associations; everything just smoothly blended together... hard to explain to someone who HASN'T USED IT!
Instead of calling up antiquated library routines from DLLs, you could invoke methods from objects... the objects were all "self-aware." IBM was smart in choosing REXX as the scripting language to tie this together; completely backwards-compatible with the DOS batch language and a cinch to program in (and cross-platform). VB can't come close; even Perl/Python are more complex syntactically. Everything was really well thought-out.
Linux is a well-built kernal, but it can't match OS/2 for speed simply because it has heftier requirements. And you're at the mercy of your chosen distribution for "everything else." OS/2 did it right YEARS before any of the other OSes really got rolling - Windows 2000 FINALLY addresses some of the usability issues that OS/2 fixed a decade ago.
I think it would be really cool if more people tried more "ancient" OSes to see what things we could learn from them. I think the Linux development community could learn a lot from them...
I'm babbling... I think I need some more caffeine.
Each square centimetre of this memory system is a closed unit containing a metal oxide material on which data are recorded, and a reader made of a fibre optic tip suspended above the material in a lubricant.
Hmm, recording data on metal oxide (read: magnetic) using fiber optics? (read: light)... Where's the magnetic read/write head? Yes, there's MO, but this sounds very fishy...
...Does anyone else remember the "infinite" compression algorithm many years back? A company claimed to be able to use the algorithm to "recompress" almost any type of data an infinite number of times, until any file could occupy 2K. I suspect they fooled dozens of non-technical types before they closed up shop and fled the country...
Re:Novell's not going anywhere anytime soon...
on
Is Novell Doomed?
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· Score: 1
Your post is inaccurate on two counts...
1) Why do you say NetWare is NOT cool and cutting edge? For the record, NetWare 5.1 is a modern, 32-bit pre-emptive multiply-threaded SMP OS that outperforms any other file server in the world.*note 1* It's built from the ground up to be a server, something other OSes can't claim. The built-in multi-protocol router can do anything linux can do (including NAT.. it supports IPX, AppleTalk, SNA, etc. out of the box with good, consistent monitoring tools). It has a blazingly-fast JVM built-in. It comes with Netscape Enterprise Server, ships with an SSL key (no need to get one from VeriSign), is bundled with IBM WebSphere (okay, not the greatest, but a good way to develop sites) & has a really cool built-in web-based management tool (Portal) that continues to run even if the rest of the server (incl. Netscape Enterprise Server) has ABENDed (crashed) due to a fault (normally, the server will work around ABENDs as much as possible). That seems pretty modern to me. NetWare costs a little more from the start, but the cost of implementation is lower and return on investment is higher than with NT or Linux (as a file server--kinda like the difference between a Geo and a BMW).
2) NetWare is no longer Novell's key strategical platform, if you've been paying attention. They're betting the house on NDS-enabled Net services that are no longer dependant on Netware. A large chunk of their product line is now based on Java (run anywhere), and you can host NDS replicas on Netware, NT, Linux, Solaris, and Tru64 UNIX. (Click here for a 60-day trial copy!)
Disclaimer: I have never worked for Novell, so my comments are based on my experience with their software and what I perceive them to be doing. I'm a CNE & MCSE (though I don't generally admit the last part) who was a big fan of OS/2, and is also a fan of Linux & the Open Source movement (though you guys have to get off your "high moral horses" and make some software that the average user can USE! Damn, gonna get flamed for that one.)
*note 1* - as far as "serving files," on one processor. Novell has (stupidly) not yet released their version of Netware that will scale file serving threads past one CPU - up until now, it hasn't been that big of a deal, because Netware can drastically outperform NT & ( & somewhat outperform Linux) in file serving on a single CPU. Netware 6 (in beta) will fix this.
Novell's not going anywhere anytime soon...
on
Is Novell Doomed?
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· Score: 5
It's bad form to assume someone/something is "down and out" just because you haven't heard anything from them. I would suggest going to their website (www.novell.com) to research them yourself before making blanket assumptions.
Novell has $1Billion in the bank and no debt (and has been debt-free for quite some time), which is better than most of the dotcoms you hear about every day.
Novell has an HUGE installed base that is generally very happy with their products. Because their products are so technically good, they generally run for YEARS and don't require a constant schedule of patching/upgrading/paying more money for them, which actually works against Novell (in comparison to MS) for revenue.
Most of their current product line is cutting-edge, and often is technically superior to ANY alternatives (including Linux/Open Sourced ones!). Their BorderManager product (cache/proxy/auth/rev. proxy/etc.) is excellent. Their GroupWise product (multi-platform Groupware) has been top-notch for years, and I prefer it to Exchange (duh!), Notes, and POP/IMAP-based systems. Netware 5+ (5.1 was released about a YEAR ago--5 has been around for almost 2.5 years) supports the NCP protocol via PureIP (not encapsulated NetBIOS like SMB) and does it with amazing elegance and grace (using SLP to "find" the NDS tree, then walking the tree for information about resources, rather than using broadcasts). And NDS (renamed "eDirectory"), the jewel in their crown, is beautiful. (They're practically GIVING AWAY NDS for Linux, by the way... It'd be really nice to start MANAGING all of those Linux boxes without having to use NIS...)
Smartly, they're putting more of their focus on developing products that leverage NDS (including the ones listed above). Check out stuff like ZENworks (best desktop management software available anywhere), NetPublisher, SingleSignOn, and all of their public/private key infrastructure technology. Additionally, they're porting practically everything (management tools & back-end server components) to Java (remember Java?) as Netware 5 runs Java faster than just about anything.
Their problems have always been (and continue to be) twofold:
1) They lack the mindshare that "exciting" companies have. Even when they are technically innovative, no one thinks of them first because they're still stuck thinking that they only make "old fileservers." Every time MS forces users to upgrade or releases a patch to fix yet another security hole, their mindshare increases. Novell doesn't have those problems (not as many), and so they tend to fade into the background...
2) Novell has always targeted their products toward the "geeks." Their technology is always really cool and cutting-edge, but it is often too complex to easily explain to CIOs/CFOs and other cheif decision makers who rely on traderags and full-page ads to make their choices. I've been working with NDS for about 5 years--5 years ago, it was very difficult to convey to people what a directory WAS, let alone how NDS could save a company tons of money and time. It's hard to capture that technology into a short blurb or advertisement. So the geeks continue to love Novell products, and the CIOs/CFOs continue to steamroll over Novell's stuff with MS's stuff...
Even with all of that said, they'll be around for a while... I was once concerned, but realize there will always be a market for their technology.
(What the hell is up with this micro-sized editor window?)
Slashdot Mirror
I saw the movie and really enjoyed it. I think Disney may feel they really can't afford to take too many really big chances with Pixar movies; they are REALLY expensive to produce, and take an awfully long time to perfect.
:)
I saw a preview for some cheezy Fox CG movie coming out soon (can't remember the name) and it reminded me just of how much of a risk Disney & Pixar *do* take compared to their competitors. The CG wasn't even in the same league of the CG in MI. Kids may not notice this; Parents will.
....
I thought MI was a really topical film; did anyone else notice the Rolling Blackouts headline on the newspaper (obviously a recent addition to the film), or the parallels with Anthrax investigations (when "decontaminating" clothes & buildings from children)? I derived a really useful moral from the story--things are never really as scary or as bad as they might seem. Yeah, this sounds simplistic but it's a nice dose of comfort these days.
This is a little off the subject, but check into Novell's NDS eDirectory combined with their ZENworks 3.2 package. This is a great way to make desktop administration MUCH easier and cheaper. eDir does everything AD purports to do, with these added benefits:
It is cross-platform (eDir can be hosted by 2K/NT/Linux/Netware/Solaris/AIX - Netware is no longer needed at all)
It is much "lighter" than ADS
It does not require you to rip and replace anything - it overlays on top
With the right tools, it will synchronize accounts across disaparate, far-flung servers
it is totally extensible & has very well-documented APIs & lots of really cool LDAP/XML tools for it
and it goes without saying it's much more secure than ADS & easier to set up because of it's maturity. (They're on version 8.5)
ZENworks does:
Policy management based on context, user, group, schedules, whatever you want
application deployment (make an image of a single app configured the way you want and push it out)
workstation image deployment (even unattended at night - WoL)
software/hardware inventory DB w/ ODBC & JDBC connectors
... and it'll work with Win95 all the way through WinXP.
http://www.novell.com/nds
http://www.novell.com/zenworks
Cool, eh? I've used this stuff for a few years and it actually does what it says it's supposed to do! No, I don't work for Novell - I just think their technology is stunning, but their marketing sucks. I want to see this stuff succeed... I'm tired of great technologies dying because no one gives a damn. (Although Linux finally looks to have enough of its own momentum to stick around a very long time, I'm thinking back to dead things like OS/2 which were years ahead of their time.)
Should anyone need someone to help set it up, contact me. :) (or check out my website at http://www.bdpnetworks.com)
I second that recommendation...
Trend's system has a few quirks and bugs in it (like Norton and McAfee) but it seems much more capable and easier to set up than them both. I really like the single "autopcc" program (OfficeScan, the component that scans workstations in a LAN environment) that pushes out software AND updates signature files regardless of PC OS platform.
Their server-based & e-mail protection is also excellent; signature files are updated automatically and transparently (as they should be) and there is a really neat web-based (IIS-based) console that pulls it all together. They also offer the "InterScan VirusWall" product which does a virus-stripping proxy that handles http, ftp & smtp sessions.
And they're really quick to issue new signatures if there's a sudden outbreak...
Oh - I should also note that you can use Outlook against a GroupWise backend nowadays.
I really like the GroupWise client - but, alas, Outlook is much prettier than GroupWise, even though the GW client is more functional in some ways.
Outlook is a HUGE hog - I've done some testing and it generally takes up twice as much RAM as the GroupWise 32-bit client. But again, Outlook is prettier... I usually turn off that button bar anyways, and then it looks strangely like GroupWise.
You have a great point about making things look "improved" on the surface; MS seems to be the only company to have mastered this. GroupWise 6 would probably sell like hotcakes if it had some sort of futuro-retro interface.
Actually, Novell GroupWise is an excellent product and has been since version 5.2 (released several years ago). It is too bad more people haven't had more hands-on experience with it as the "geek set" would probably really appreciate it.
It is very efficient compared to Exchange, very scalable and extremely reliable. Plus, the agents that make up the system are cross-platform, available for Netware, NT, UNIX, etc.
The WebAccess is excellent--far better than Outlook Web Access.
The back-end is completely encrypted and compressed...
... and it does everything Exchange does (+ a REAL document management system) and everything you can get Notes to do (with some work) right out of the box!
I run a 650-user WAN and am also the primary GroupWise administrator... I (alone) spend about 5-10% of my time doing ANY maintenance on our GroupWise system, which has about 20 post offices. It is that good. (Most of the maintenance I do is preventive). We have had GroupWise servers in the field with uptimes of 200+ days or more.
You Linux zealots consider yourselves "open-minded" and "worldly" about computer technology, and bash "ancient" OSes like OS/2 and AmigaOS. Like others point out, many of the same people who criticize Microsoft for spreading FUD about Linux have never used any of the non-MS OSes they themselves criticize as being "not as good as Linux."
While Linux is a great operating system in a myriad of ways, it is not yet the end-all OS that solves every problem that people like to say it is. Right now, it is most useful for people that have lots of time to spend "tweaking" their computer. Yes, it's stable and yes, it's fast, but it's not nearly the "complete experience" OS/2 was (is).
I ran OS/2 for years; mainly because I was constantly searching for a way to multitask my BBS on my 386sx-16. I ran OS/2 2.0 with 6 megs of RAM and was able to multitask beautifully--the system was more stable than ANY OS I have used since then (Linux is coming close to meeting these stability levels, but you still need to throw far more hardware at it.) But the greatest thing about OS/2 that is often overlooked was it's phenomenal GUI -the WorkPlace Shell. Everything was (is) an object; everything interacted with everything else. Everything was DESIGNED from the ground-up to be consistent and logical; things simply FLOWED from one place to another effortlessly. Programs written to take advantage of the WPS were SO unique in their design that I haven't seen anything on any other OS come close to their usability. You didn't launch monolithic applications or worry about file associations; everything just smoothly blended together... hard to explain to someone who HASN'T USED IT!
Instead of calling up antiquated library routines from DLLs, you could invoke methods from objects... the objects were all "self-aware." IBM was smart in choosing REXX as the scripting language to tie this together; completely backwards-compatible with the DOS batch language and a cinch to program in (and cross-platform). VB can't come close; even Perl/Python are more complex syntactically. Everything was really well thought-out.
Linux is a well-built kernal, but it can't match OS/2 for speed simply because it has heftier requirements. And you're at the mercy of your chosen distribution for "everything else." OS/2 did it right YEARS before any of the other OSes really got rolling - Windows 2000 FINALLY addresses some of the usability issues that OS/2 fixed a decade ago.
I think it would be really cool if more people tried more "ancient" OSes to see what things we could learn from them. I think the Linux development community could learn a lot from them...
I'm babbling... I think I need some more caffeine.
Hmm, recording data on metal oxide (read: magnetic) using fiber optics? (read: light)... Where's the magnetic read/write head? Yes, there's MO, but this sounds very fishy...
...Does anyone else remember the "infinite" compression algorithm many years back? A company claimed to be able to use the algorithm to "recompress" almost any type of data an infinite number of times, until any file could occupy 2K. I suspect they fooled dozens of non-technical types before they closed up shop and fled the country...
1) Why do you say NetWare is NOT cool and cutting edge? For the record, NetWare 5.1 is a modern, 32-bit pre-emptive multiply-threaded SMP OS that outperforms any other file server in the world.*note 1* It's built from the ground up to be a server, something other OSes can't claim. The built-in multi-protocol router can do anything linux can do (including NAT.. it supports IPX, AppleTalk, SNA, etc. out of the box with good, consistent monitoring tools). It has a blazingly-fast JVM built-in. It comes with Netscape Enterprise Server, ships with an SSL key (no need to get one from VeriSign), is bundled with IBM WebSphere (okay, not the greatest, but a good way to develop sites) & has a really cool built-in web-based management tool (Portal) that continues to run even if the rest of the server (incl. Netscape Enterprise Server) has ABENDed (crashed) due to a fault (normally, the server will work around ABENDs as much as possible). That seems pretty modern to me. NetWare costs a little more from the start, but the cost of implementation is lower and return on investment is higher than with NT or Linux (as a file server--kinda like the difference between a Geo and a BMW).
2) NetWare is no longer Novell's key strategical platform, if you've been paying attention. They're betting the house on NDS-enabled Net services that are no longer dependant on Netware. A large chunk of their product line is now based on Java (run anywhere), and you can host NDS replicas on Netware, NT, Linux, Solaris, and Tru64 UNIX. (Click here for a 60-day trial copy!)
Disclaimer: I have never worked for Novell, so my comments are based on my experience with their software and what I perceive them to be doing. I'm a CNE & MCSE (though I don't generally admit the last part) who was a big fan of OS/2, and is also a fan of Linux & the Open Source movement (though you guys have to get off your "high moral horses" and make some software that the average user can USE! Damn, gonna get flamed for that one.)
*note 1* - as far as "serving files," on one processor. Novell has (stupidly) not yet released their version of Netware that will scale file serving threads past one CPU - up until now, it hasn't been that big of a deal, because Netware can drastically outperform NT & ( & somewhat outperform Linux) in file serving on a single CPU. Netware 6 (in beta) will fix this.
Novell has $1Billion in the bank and no debt (and has been debt-free for quite some time), which is better than most of the dotcoms you hear about every day.
Novell has an HUGE installed base that is generally very happy with their products. Because their products are so technically good, they generally run for YEARS and don't require a constant schedule of patching/upgrading/paying more money for them, which actually works against Novell (in comparison to MS) for revenue.
Most of their current product line is cutting-edge, and often is technically superior to ANY alternatives (including Linux/Open Sourced ones!). Their BorderManager product (cache/proxy/auth/rev. proxy/etc.) is excellent. Their GroupWise product (multi-platform Groupware) has been top-notch for years, and I prefer it to Exchange (duh!), Notes, and POP/IMAP-based systems. Netware 5+ (5.1 was released about a YEAR ago--5 has been around for almost 2.5 years) supports the NCP protocol via PureIP (not encapsulated NetBIOS like SMB) and does it with amazing elegance and grace (using SLP to "find" the NDS tree, then walking the tree for information about resources, rather than using broadcasts). And NDS (renamed "eDirectory"), the jewel in their crown, is beautiful. (They're practically GIVING AWAY NDS for Linux, by the way... It'd be really nice to start MANAGING all of those Linux boxes without having to use NIS...)
Smartly, they're putting more of their focus on developing products that leverage NDS (including the ones listed above). Check out stuff like ZENworks (best desktop management software available anywhere), NetPublisher, SingleSignOn, and all of their public/private key infrastructure technology. Additionally, they're porting practically everything (management tools & back-end server components) to Java (remember Java?) as Netware 5 runs Java faster than just about anything.
Their problems have always been (and continue to be) twofold:
1) They lack the mindshare that "exciting" companies have. Even when they are technically innovative, no one thinks of them first because they're still stuck thinking that they only make "old fileservers." Every time MS forces users to upgrade or releases a patch to fix yet another security hole, their mindshare increases. Novell doesn't have those problems (not as many), and so they tend to fade into the background...
2) Novell has always targeted their products toward the "geeks." Their technology is always really cool and cutting-edge, but it is often too complex to easily explain to CIOs/CFOs and other cheif decision makers who rely on traderags and full-page ads to make their choices. I've been working with NDS for about 5 years--5 years ago, it was very difficult to convey to people what a directory WAS, let alone how NDS could save a company tons of money and time. It's hard to capture that technology into a short blurb or advertisement. So the geeks continue to love Novell products, and the CIOs/CFOs continue to steamroll over Novell's stuff with MS's stuff...
Even with all of that said, they'll be around for a while... I was once concerned, but realize there will always be a market for their technology.
(What the hell is up with this micro-sized editor window?)