I tried PIMs, Outliners, Wikis, HTML servers, etc, etc, etc. Dozens of things. I finally wrote a Python script that does what I need pretty well. Has a list of tasks ordered by date. One click date updating, an associated text box that I can cut and paste into, and a launch pad for computer operations related to the task. Functionally much like the Windows 3.1 Cardfile program, but more capable and doesn't need 16 bit OLE that hasn't worked in any OS since Windows 98 in order to launch operations.
As Shakespeare would have it:
GLENDOWER. I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
HOTSPUR. Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?
The Tempest
***Crash head-on with another vehicle in a 1989 Honda CRX and you are DEAD.***
No, I'm 98% sure that the CRX was unibody construction with crumple zones just like modern cars. Not as safe probably although it actually did pretty well in NHTSA safety testing. Cars have improved some. But not as much as you seem to think.
***but you are putting out hundreds of times more CO2 and other pollutants for every litre you burn than modern cars.***
I doubt it. CO2 in particular should be almost directly proportional to Miles per Gallon. The CRX almost certainly emitted less than your modern car, not more. Other pollutants, probably a bit worse than today's cars. Modern cars have some improvements like On Board Vapor Recovery, but the CRX would surely have had the biggies -- PCV, catalytic converter, EGR.
***Comcast sucks, but it is the only choice for many of us. Competition doesn't work if there isn't any.***
Correct. And even if one has DSL or FIOS, it is probably with a telephone company that is losing customers as they drop landlines and is probably going to provide deteriorating service in the future as they try to maintain the same size network with less revenue.
I've been out of the game for a number of years, but I'm inclined to agree. I think that building your own PCs really makes sense only if you are buying really small quantities or have really unusual requirements.
That said, I was never very impressed with Dell. I imagine that there are still other vendors out there, perhaps one of them has machines that better fit the OP's needs and perhaps come with less garbageware and/or lower pricing. I always had good luck with Acer.
But the OP said he's government. Has he no purchasing rules, schedules, etc to comply with?
You'd win the bet. Wolf is a conservative congressman from Northern Virginia.
Here's a summary of his general viewpoint from Wikipedia: Wolf has a variety of ratings from advocacy groups. The National Rifle Association gives him a B+ and the American Civil Liberties Union gives him a 0%. Some other rankings include 0% from Clean Air Flow Energy, 100% from National Right to Life, 0% from the Human Rights Coalition, 17% from the National Educational Association, 5% from the League of Conservation Voters, 92% from the United States Border Control and 10% by the Alliance for Retired Americans. During the Bush administration, Wolf voted consistently the President's positions. For example, Wolf voted in favor of military action in Iraq in 2002. He also voted to make the Patriot Act permanent, opposed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants for wiretaps within the United States[citation needed], and supported the president in restricting congressional oversight for CIA interrogations.
Did I mention that this rather unlovable entity is a lawyer?
I found no evidence that Wolf has been authorized to speak for Congress in general.
For that matter, Hollerith cards were around long before EBCDIC -- which, as I recall -- appeared in general use as part of the OS/360 horror-show. Hollerith potentially allowed 80 characters per card. But anyone with half a brain settled for 72 data columns and eight sequencing columns (cols 73-80) that could be used to mechanically sort the deck back into order after it was dropped.
What should be in a fifth grade classroom. In most places, a computer for the teacher and a decent printer.
Beyond that, whatever the teacher wants and the school can afford. (Which may be nothing). Teachers run their classrooms pretty much whatever way they please. There are lots of reasons for that -- most of them good.
Great!!! I've always wanted a phone that won't work if I am jogging, riding a horse, skiing, walking on ice, sprain my ankle, having a gout attack, riding a bicycle, fleeing for my life,.... When can I expect to be able to buy this wonder?
If Microsoft or anyone else were capable of certifying a computer to be malware free, and being right about it, malware wouldn't be much of a problem, now would it?
***Why wouldn't they have set-aside a block of 4.2 billion addresses that mapped 1:1 with IPv4 addresses?... Also, eliminating NAT seems short-sighted***
Both excellent observations. Possibly that's why a lot of folks aren't anxious be first in line to implement a shiny new technology designed by people who didn't address those things.
I suspect the basic problem is that IPv6 looks like a huge bundle of grief to a lot of seasoned IT people. Frankly, the failure to make it interoperable with IPv4 and the lack of NAT would make me really, really nervous if I were managing a network and cared about my users.
I think plan B is to sit back and watch what happens to the early adopters. If they come back riddled with arrows, then you somehow contrive to keep your IPv4 working for a few more years while those who are young, brave, and have the strength of ten because of their pure hearts clear out most of the hostiles.
***and images are compressed to 10% original size.***
Hmmm! is the image compression programmable? I'm thinking in terms of 0.1% of the original size.
I know, I know, that won't work because (expletive deleted) web page designers use images where anyone with a functioning brain would use a button or text. But I can dream, can't I.
Why not both? Because computer systems have become so ungodly complex that nobody can keep track of what they are doing. Distributed security is somewhat secure -- within the inadequate limits of our quite fragile software OSes. But it adds complexity. Complexity is why nothing works quite right.
Complexity is the enemy of usabiity. If you want high security, turn the PC off and buy a box of paper and a few pens. If you don't want to go to quite that extreme, disconnect the network cable and delete the flash drive drivers. If you want usability, start getting rid of complexity.
It's an intriguing idea. It WILL happen someday. And maybe now is the time.
As a retired school IT guy (in the last of my many IT lives), I have two questions.
First, how close is it to being completely indestructible? Because, let me tell you, K-12 education is every bit as harsh an operating environment as military service.
Second, can it realistically be secured by the school IT people? How hard is it to configure a few hundred of them? Can a bricked/jailbroken unit be ressurected/restored in less than a day? Thankfully, there is no camera and no USB port. Can they prevent the thing from accessing porn/malware at home then uploading it to the school network?
And make no mistake, there will be malware for these things. And they will be jailbroken. Are there tools for IT to make these essentially personal devices behave like controllable, educational tools?
***I think it is bad, as a matter of public policy, to allow trademarks on names.***
Not really. Where the name is a genuine product like, say Jenny Craig, trademarking offers some protection against folks marketing their own "Jenny Craig" weight loss products unrelated to the original. I don't see a public policy problem with that.
***I'm pretty sure in Newspeak, it would be referred to as HiCorn.***
More likely - 'synthetic honey' -- which wouldn't be all that inaccurate for the most common form of HFCS - HFCS-55. I doubt the stuff is good for you but the cancer and diabetes stuff is probably -- like most all pop-culture medical stuff and entirely too much "serious" medical advice -- pretty much unmitigated bullshit. Obesity? Well, yeah a six pack a day of drinks loaded with honey or its equivalent mix of fructose and dextrose(glucose) will probably put some pounds on the addicts.
***As long as you don't mind the possibility of spending a year in federal prison and a $10K fine for each of the several violations you'd be guilty of by using them, assuming you're in the U.S....***
Hogwash!!!. First of all, Wi-Fi is not an exclusive user of the bandwidth (look it up) and second, there is zero chance of being prosecuted. If you want to be persnickity about it, one can find legitimate devices that have some legitimate use and clobber Wi-Fi as a side affect -- RF lighting for example -- and turn them on during testing.
But that's not a great idea unless the neighboring areas are inhabited by folks who are OK with their wi-fi being killed during test periods.
First step is probably to talk to the school IT folks. Maybe they aren't wild about the idea of Wi-Fi in that classroom area anyway. Or maybe they can provide a list of devices that log on during test periods. Or, who knows? Anyway, they might have a simple answer.
I've always wondered that myself. Apparently if there were just one format and everyone used it, RSS would be usable for announcing and automatically downloading entities called 'podcasts' and 'blogs' which sort of resemble broadcasts and magazine articles respectively -- if there were just one format for those and everyone used it. However, since everyone makes up their own format for all this stuff and none of it works quite right, the principle purpose of RSS may well be to consume excess societal resources and to keep at least one class of riff-raff off the streets where they would impede traffic and probably make a nuisance of themselves.
Seriously, I think we are supposed to find out what stuff like RSS is good for by some form of divine revelation. Maybe we (you and I) ought to do more drugs and we'd just wake up some morning RSS capable.
Well, yes -- obviously.... assuming that no IT genius has a clever answer unknown to most of us.
The real question here, is how do you find a lawyer who is not going to end up billing one for a zillion hours while they learn the laws and customary practices applicable to this complex, narrow, and rather obscure situation?
I've become pretty leary of doing anything financial on line due to the constantly deteriorating security situation. But I will deal with Amazon, Google, and a few others. PayPal? No way. You'd have to be both stupid and crazy to deal with them. If ever there was a company that needed regulation...
Slashdot Mirror
I tried PIMs, Outliners, Wikis, HTML servers, etc, etc, etc. Dozens of things. I finally wrote a Python script that does what I need pretty well. Has a list of tasks ordered by date. One click date updating, an associated text box that I can cut and paste into, and a launch pad for computer operations related to the task. Functionally much like the Windows 3.1 Cardfile program, but more capable and doesn't need 16 bit OLE that hasn't worked in any OS since Windows 98 in order to launch operations.
Predicting is easy. It's being right that is hard
As Shakespeare would have it:
GLENDOWER. I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
HOTSPUR. Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?
The Tempest
***Crash head-on with another vehicle in a 1989 Honda CRX and you are DEAD.***
No, I'm 98% sure that the CRX was unibody construction with crumple zones just like modern cars. Not as safe probably although it actually did pretty well in NHTSA safety testing. Cars have improved some. But not as much as you seem to think.
***but you are putting out hundreds of times more CO2 and other pollutants for every litre you burn than modern cars.***
I doubt it. CO2 in particular should be almost directly proportional to Miles per Gallon. The CRX almost certainly emitted less than your modern car, not more. Other pollutants, probably a bit worse than today's cars. Modern cars have some improvements like On Board Vapor Recovery, but the CRX would surely have had the biggies -- PCV, catalytic converter, EGR.
See -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CR-X
***DSL is shared, one hop further up the line than the cable customer.***
Sure, but hopefully it's a more balanced load because it is the average load from a much larger number of customers.
***Comcast sucks, but it is the only choice for many of us. Competition doesn't work if there isn't any.***
Correct. And even if one has DSL or FIOS, it is probably with a telephone company that is losing customers as they drop landlines and is probably going to provide deteriorating service in the future as they try to maintain the same size network with less revenue.
Ya know, many of us may be pretty much screwed.
I've been out of the game for a number of years, but I'm inclined to agree. I think that building your own PCs really makes sense only if you are buying really small quantities or have really unusual requirements.
That said, I was never very impressed with Dell. I imagine that there are still other vendors out there, perhaps one of them has machines that better fit the OP's needs and perhaps come with less garbageware and/or lower pricing. I always had good luck with Acer.
But the OP said he's government. Has he no purchasing rules, schedules, etc to comply with?
You'd win the bet. Wolf is a conservative congressman from Northern Virginia.
Here's a summary of his general viewpoint from Wikipedia: Wolf has a variety of ratings from advocacy groups. The National Rifle Association gives him a B+ and the American Civil Liberties Union gives him a 0%. Some other rankings include 0% from Clean Air Flow Energy, 100% from National Right to Life, 0% from the Human Rights Coalition, 17% from the National Educational Association, 5% from the League of Conservation Voters, 92% from the United States Border Control and 10% by the Alliance for Retired Americans. During the Bush administration, Wolf voted consistently the President's positions. For example, Wolf voted in favor of military action in Iraq in 2002. He also voted to make the Patriot Act permanent, opposed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants for wiretaps within the United States[citation needed], and supported the president in restricting congressional oversight for CIA interrogations.
Did I mention that this rather unlovable entity is a lawyer?
I found no evidence that Wolf has been authorized to speak for Congress in general.
For that matter, Hollerith cards were around long before EBCDIC -- which, as I recall -- appeared in general use as part of the OS/360 horror-show. Hollerith potentially allowed 80 characters per card. But anyone with half a brain settled for 72 data columns and eight sequencing columns (cols 73-80) that could be used to mechanically sort the deck back into order after it was dropped.
What should be in a fifth grade classroom. In most places, a computer for the teacher and a decent printer.
Beyond that, whatever the teacher wants and the school can afford. (Which may be nothing). Teachers run their classrooms pretty much whatever way they please. There are lots of reasons for that -- most of them good.
Great!!! I've always wanted a phone that won't work if I am jogging, riding a horse, skiing, walking on ice, sprain my ankle, having a gout attack, riding a bicycle, fleeing for my life, .... When can I expect to be able to buy this wonder?
If Microsoft or anyone else were capable of certifying a computer to be malware free, and being right about it, malware wouldn't be much of a problem, now would it?
File under "Dumb Ideas"
***Why wouldn't they have set-aside a block of 4.2 billion addresses that mapped 1:1 with IPv4 addresses? ... Also, eliminating NAT seems short-sighted***
Both excellent observations. Possibly that's why a lot of folks aren't anxious be first in line to implement a shiny new technology designed by people who didn't address those things.
I suspect the basic problem is that IPv6 looks like a huge bundle of grief to a lot of seasoned IT people. Frankly, the failure to make it interoperable with IPv4 and the lack of NAT would make me really, really nervous if I were managing a network and cared about my users.
I think plan B is to sit back and watch what happens to the early adopters. If they come back riddled with arrows, then you somehow contrive to keep your IPv4 working for a few more years while those who are young, brave, and have the strength of ten because of their pure hearts clear out most of the hostiles.
***and images are compressed to 10% original size.***
Hmmm! is the image compression programmable? I'm thinking in terms of 0.1% of the original size.
I know, I know, that won't work because (expletive deleted) web page designers use images where anyone with a functioning brain would use a button or text. But I can dream, can't I.
***Does this sound silly to anyone else?***
Well, I HAVE been wondering how one asks "What could possibly go wrong?" in German.
Google tells me "Was koennte schief gehen?" but I wonder if that isn't a bit literal.
***you forget to factor in that the town HAS THE RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT.
go be a communist somewhere else.***
Well, no. Actually the town does not have the right to do whatever they want. Federal law says that they can not establish restrictions that would make it impossible to provide cell phone service in the town. See http://hosted-exchange.tmcnet.com/topics/mobility/articles/104066-long-island-town-passes-restrictive-cell-tower-law.htm
If the town hasn't given some serious thought to crafting their law such that cell service is possible, they are probably headed for court.
***why not both?***
Why not both? Because computer systems have become so ungodly complex that nobody can keep track of what they are doing. Distributed security is somewhat secure -- within the inadequate limits of our quite fragile software OSes. But it adds complexity. Complexity is why nothing works quite right.
Complexity is the enemy of usabiity. If you want high security, turn the PC off and buy a box of paper and a few pens. If you don't want to go to quite that extreme, disconnect the network cable and delete the flash drive drivers. If you want usability, start getting rid of complexity.
It's an intriguing idea. It WILL happen someday. And maybe now is the time.
As a retired school IT guy (in the last of my many IT lives), I have two questions.
First, how close is it to being completely indestructible? Because, let me tell you, K-12 education is every bit as harsh an operating environment as military service.
Second, can it realistically be secured by the school IT people? How hard is it to configure a few hundred of them? Can a bricked/jailbroken unit be ressurected/restored in less than a day? Thankfully, there is no camera and no USB port. Can they prevent the thing from accessing porn/malware at home then uploading it to the school network?
And make no mistake, there will be malware for these things. And they will be jailbroken. Are there tools for IT to make these essentially personal devices behave like controllable, educational tools?
***I think it is bad, as a matter of public policy, to allow trademarks on names.***
Not really. Where the name is a genuine product like, say Jenny Craig, trademarking offers some protection against folks marketing their own "Jenny Craig" weight loss products unrelated to the original. I don't see a public policy problem with that.
Isn't that slander (or libel -- I never could keep the two straight)?
Of course truth is a viable defense (in the US), so maybe you are OK.
***I'm pretty sure in Newspeak, it would be referred to as HiCorn.***
More likely - 'synthetic honey' -- which wouldn't be all that inaccurate for the most common form of HFCS - HFCS-55. I doubt the stuff is good for you but the cancer and diabetes stuff is probably -- like most all pop-culture medical stuff and entirely too much "serious" medical advice -- pretty much unmitigated bullshit. Obesity? Well, yeah a six pack a day of drinks loaded with honey or its equivalent mix of fructose and dextrose(glucose) will probably put some pounds on the addicts.
***As long as you don't mind the possibility of spending a year in federal prison and a $10K fine for each of the several violations you'd be guilty of by using them, assuming you're in the U.S....***
Hogwash!!!. First of all, Wi-Fi is not an exclusive user of the bandwidth (look it up) and second, there is zero chance of being prosecuted. If you want to be persnickity about it, one can find legitimate devices that have some legitimate use and clobber Wi-Fi as a side affect -- RF lighting for example -- and turn them on during testing.
But that's not a great idea unless the neighboring areas are inhabited by folks who are OK with their wi-fi being killed during test periods.
First step is probably to talk to the school IT folks. Maybe they aren't wild about the idea of Wi-Fi in that classroom area anyway. Or maybe they can provide a list of devices that log on during test periods. Or, who knows? Anyway, they might have a simple answer.
***I've always wondered what RSS is good for.***
I've always wondered that myself. Apparently if there were just one format and everyone used it, RSS would be usable for announcing and automatically downloading entities called 'podcasts' and 'blogs' which sort of resemble broadcasts and magazine articles respectively -- if there were just one format for those and everyone used it. However, since everyone makes up their own format for all this stuff and none of it works quite right, the principle purpose of RSS may well be to consume excess societal resources and to keep at least one class of riff-raff off the streets where they would impede traffic and probably make a nuisance of themselves.
Seriously, I think we are supposed to find out what stuff like RSS is good for by some form of divine revelation. Maybe we (you and I) ought to do more drugs and we'd just wake up some morning RSS capable.
***as many will presumably say: See a lawyer.***
Well, yes -- obviously. ... assuming that no IT genius has a clever answer unknown to most of us.
The real question here, is how do you find a lawyer who is not going to end up billing one for a zillion hours while they learn the laws and customary practices applicable to this complex, narrow, and rather obscure situation?
I've become pretty leary of doing anything financial on line due to the constantly deteriorating security situation. But I will deal with Amazon, Google, and a few others. PayPal? No way. You'd have to be both stupid and crazy to deal with them. If ever there was a company that needed regulation ...