***The Mac guys will say to use a Mac, and the Linux guys will say to use Linux. And then the Windows guys will complain about bias.***
You've sort of bracketed the right answer there. Almost all malware attacks today are aimed at Windows users. Using Windows pretty much mandates using a virus checker that will need to be attended to. And a firewall and/or NAT router is pretty much mandatory with Windows. The specifications say minimal maintenance. So Windows is probably the wrong OS for this application.
So -- Linux or Mac -- whichever the guy who is setting things up with is more comfortable with. I've never found Macs to be especially easy, natural, or intuitive despite undending claims to the contrary. So, I'd probably go with Linux -- probably using Xfce which seems to be evolving as simpler but adequate user interface alternative to GNOME and KDE. Someone who is Mac compatible would probably go with a Mac.
Browser? They are all baffling to the uninitiated.
You bet they do. I'm nearing 70 and my prebyopia (limited ability to bend the eye's lens) is much less advanced than most of my contemporaries. Still, though I'm sitting about 50cm from the monitor because that's the closest I can focus this year. I have to wear reading glasses to read books except in really bright light because my arms just won't stretch far enough any more.
The problem is that most geeks and web designers are young and fairly unconscious. They design screens that the elderly can't possibly read at the intended resolution and are difficult to cope with when font sizes are increased. They'll probably figure out that wasn't such a great idea in a few decades (presbyopia often sets in as early as age 45). But that won't help the folks they have unecessarily inconvenienced. And, BTW, not all vision problems in the elderly can be fully corrected with glasses.
***Both Picassa and Google Earth are wine implementations done by Google. This has always been an extremely bad idea.***
No and No.
Picassa uses the Windows code base and the wine library and runs acceptably. Google Earth uses the Qt and GL libraries and runs acceptably on some machines. On others it crashes. On this particular machine, it not only crashes during initialization, it takes the X-windows session with it when it leaves.
I don't know about you, but when I run an application, I want it to do things. I care about how it is implemented only if it affects my use of the application. In this particular case, I kind of wish Google had used wine with the Linux version of Google Earth. If they had, it might work.
***Do a lot of people actually listen to streaming audio from Web radio stations? I would think I'm more likely to hear what I want by listening to my own mp3 collection, than by relying on someone else's idea of the perfect mix.***
Probably not. Definitely not if Verizon is their ISP. I can rarely hold a stream for as much as hour without restarting using either WIndows or Linux. But it is important to those looking for programming that is not available locally. E.g. expatriates desiring programming from home.
But I don't think the Sound Exchange rates will be that much of a problem. One of two things will happen.
Either the rates will turn out not to be all that cataclysmic, stations will pay them, Internet Radio will survive and the executives at Sound Exchange will be buying yachts with their bonuses.
or
The rates really are cataclysmic. Operations like Public Radio will quit streaming affected music. The rest of the operations will simply pack up and move someplace offshore where rates are either more reasonable or nonexistent. Sound Exchange will then take legal action, lose, end up with no revenue from Internet Radio and Internet Music Radio in the US will be dead.
Seems kind of dumb. But frankly, I'm more worried about the US balance of trade, excessive use of hydrocarbons, lying politicians (Many Democrats and virtually all Republicans except Ron Paul), nuclear proliferation, the collapsing US healthcare system, etc, etc, etc to much care whether the the US Internet radio business is handed over to a bunch of foreigners. Congress could stop this nonsense in 24 hours if they so desired. They haven't chosen to.
***I usually just manually edit my registry when I need to change something like that, and thus have never had need to write a script or program to do it for me. However, it seems like a couple hours work to come up with a small utility that can toggle the settings on/off. It seems to me that the ISP, Microsoft, or an interested third party could easily provide such a tool.***
I don't do NT based Windows because I am one of the small number of Geeks who is humble enough to admit that I'm too damn dumb to deal with that immense pile of peculiarities, security flaws, undocumented code, race conditions and gotchas. But Windows 9 had a.REG file that sets Registry entries dynamically when it is invoked from the command lineor by double clicking in Windows Explorer. I imagine that it is still there in Vista. There are probably some UAC warnings if you try to run a.REG file, but once they are ignored, it should work.
***Why? If their existing system follows the appropriate standards, why should they have to test someone else's future product to check compatibility?***
Why? Because the problem could have been on their end. Just running Linux doesn't mean that your installation is error free. It just puts the odds in any problem with Microsoft on your side.
If it is indeed a simple fix, they should probably patch their end, track their effort in doing so, bill Microsoft at a reasonable rate , then, when Microsoft doesn't pay, take the case to their local small claims court equivalent. This could be a lot of fun -- David vs Goliath. Swedish ISP Shuts Down Microsoft in The EU, etc.
***Yea so they can collect 4-5 more days worth of interest on YOUR money.
Paypal is milking the users much the same way a bank will. Hmmm wonder why they're not required to obey the same rules as a bank does?***
Shutting down Accounts Payable is the sort of thing that companies that are in serious financial difficulties sometimes do in their final days as they try to hold their house of cards together. I have trouble believing that PayPal could be in that sort of diffuculty. But these ARE troubled times financially and it's unclear who is holding vast amounts of dubious paper backed by shakey US housing loans.
***It couldn't have happened to a 'nicer' company.***
I agree 113.763%. PayPal gives me the creeps. How any sane person can be comfortable dealing with an unregulated bank eludes me. Personally, I simply won't deal with PayPal unless and until they submit themselves to effective external regulation.
That said, It seems to me like this particular problem is something that could affect any on-line 'bank' -- even a reputable one. It's sort of analagous to having your brick and motar bank shut down by flood, fire, earthquake, riots, power failure.
***They just linked 4 motherboards together. My cat could do that.***
Sure and Fluffy could probably mount a jet engine on a bicycle too. But could she make either the motherboard farm or the jetsicle actually do anything non-lethal? For more than 15 seconds?
I think it's an impressive accomplishment and worth noting. Doesn't look like it would fit in any of my suitcases though. Not without dissassembly at any rate.
**This is the government - and the FBI. Somehow I can't believe it actually works as smoothly as that.***
Good point. These are the same guys who can't even get the data in their data base to their agents. The Virtual Case File system has been described as "a train wreck in slow motion". http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,664 45,00.html
I reckon this stuff would be scary -- especially in the hands of the "We don't need no Stinking Warrants" George W Bush Justice Department -- but we can all have a reasonable expectation that it probably doesn't work worth a damn.
***It's not only not breach of contract, but the terms are clearly spelled out. If the users wanted a hard cap, rather than these terms, they should've found a different service provider.***
And how is one to do that? An American has -- if he/she is -- lucky a choice of three service providers. One, count them one, cable provider. One telephone provider. And one satellite provider with -- for technical reasons -- less capability. Many folks have fewer. American consumers have essentially no leverage. You take what you are given and act grateful. The idea of binding contracts providing control may be fine in the fantasy land that the American Enterprise Institute and the Republican Party live in. But that's not where real people live. If you want competition to prevail, you need... duh.. competitors. Haven't got them now. Aren't likely to get them. And even with competition, results often seem imperfect. Explain, for example, why competition has failed to make America's cellular phone service the best in the world.
Note that most (all?) states have Public Utility Commissions that are supposed to make the monopoly providers (cable/telephone) behave. Mostly the PUCs look to me to be gutless and ineffective. But they are probably the appropriate place to complain if one doesn't like service caps that are not documented. Since this is an area where the PUCs can act tough without actually having to take on a tough issue, it is remotely possible that some of them might actually take some action.
***I got stopped at 2330 hrs one day in Keene, near the college when one of my headlights had failed.***
California has (or at least used to have) something called a fixit ticket for things like burned out lights. You had to fix the problem and get a police officer to sign off on the fix. Then you mailed the ticket in. As long as you met the time limits, there was no fine.
**The MPAA and RIAA are so caught in the whole "auugh, evil pirates are copying our content and causing us billions!" hysteria, that, well, they'd rather shoot themselves in the foot than let the spec have any place where someone could record/rip their precious content.***
Well, of course they are. Their only asset is the content they control. They fear that if they do not protect it, it will become public domain either legally or de facto. Then they will own nothing that anyone wants and will have to face the terrible spectre of working for a living.
One big problem with the concept of Intellectual Property is the fantasy that you can sell IP and still own it completely. That's not likely to work in the long run, but we apparently have to spend a few painful decades proving it.
***once you add up the costs of the REQUIRED USB Optical Drive, adding the IDE drive, its not so far to the mac mini -- which certainly has better graphics performance. if you get a used mac mini -- price should be within range.***
Also look at the Acer-Power 1000 which is in the mac-mini size range (about 1500cc vs about 1200cc).. It's cheap, comes with Windows(some folks like or need it) and runs Linux.
***In modern society, we have a thing called "decency."...***
Well, we don't actually. We did sorta four decades ago. It had its pluses and minuses. It was nice to be able to let your kids watch network programming without too much risk of having to explain homosexuality to an eight year old or having your six year old inform you that her first grade teacher is a bitch.
But those days are gone and their demise is not the fault of the Internet in any way shape or form. IMO, the enemy is us, not our institutions.
===
It is kind of refreshing to see someplace other than the US experimenting with something that is probably a really bad idea.
***International treaty establishes the prior claim and trumps any later claim by J&J***
Very likely not.
From the NY Times version of the story. "The company entered into an agreement with the American Red Cross in 1895. The agreement acknowledged Johnson & Johnson's exclusive right to the red cross as a "trademark for chemical, surgical and pharmaceutical goods of every description," according to the lawsuit."
If the Red Cross ever had exclusive rights to the trademark in the US (It's not clear that they did), they appear to have voluntarily given them up. The lawsuit specifically addresses only products that compete with J&J. Looks to me like a clear violation of both the letter and intent of Trademark law. This seems not to be a case of J&J going after the Red Cross in order to add a few bucks to its bottom line. It looks to be a case of J&J protecting its century old shared trademark from overt, gratuitous infringing actions by the Red Cross.
Note also that J&J suggested arbitration. The Red Cross said no.
***Ginko also isn't a "bank" in the usual term of the word; it's not regulated or insured in any way and isn't impacted by any of the legal requirements of real world financial institutions. Quite frankly; you're an idiot if you trust them with your money.***
***Once my Laser printer cancer is found I'm going to sue the pants off of Microsoft.***
Best check the EULA that you clicked thorough without reading. Not only is Microsoft not liable, your estate will owe Microsoft a substantial annual payment for the software you would have purchased during the years that you failed to live because of your carelessness and lack of foresight in contracting cancer.
***IIS has had some problems in the past, but these days it's pretty good. ***
All depends on what you think the error discovery/removal rates are. If you believe that IIS has a rather small number of serious defects and they have mostly been found and corrected, then there may be no reason not to use IIS. On the other hand, many products -- Windows for example -- appear to have a near infinite number of problems and no realistic hope of ever resolving them all. If IIS is one of those and if Apache has fewer serious defects, then choosing IIS over Apache may well be a bad idea.
***That is what other countries do and what the USA does itself when helping to supervise elections in other countries.***
Indeed. And one of the few things the Bush administration has attempted that was non-trivial and wasn't hoplessly botched was the supervision of reasonably free and fair elections in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think the used voting machines in either country.
There's a thought. How about we round up all the voting machines in the US, and ship them off to someone we don't like -- Iran or Cuba or Myanmar or Darfur? Two birds with one stone as it were.
***The summary is misleading, Geothermal power plants already exist***
The article mentions that in fact. I think they meant the first geothermal plant using deliberately injected water as opposed to heated water/steam that occurs naturally.
***Why, yet again, is the responsibility for something this important (like the rebuilding of Iraq for example) being entrusted to a private company? Corporations by their very nature don't give a damn about anything that doesn't affect their ability to make money.***
Now, now. If you check Thomas Ricks, "Fiasco", or Seymour Hersh's "Chain of Command", you'll find that most of the cataclysmic mistakes in the reconstruction of Iraq were not made by the military or by private companies. They were made by unqualified and utterly incompetent Republican apparatchiks sucked into the government by Bush, Cheney, et al. There may be a lot of good reasons for watching over private companies. But the fundamental fault in both cases is putting decisions that should be made by experienced, non-partisan professionals in the hands of inexperienced idealouges.
Perhaps we should be seeking out civil servants with a few decade's experience in managing elections and seeing what they think about voting machines.
***
"Every single person working in the media today who experienced the dot-com bubble in 1999 to 2000 believes that we are going through the exact same process and can expect the exact same results--a bust."
The first sentence of the article and the first blatantly incorrect statement. Is it worth reading on?***
Well, actually, that's the high point of the article.
Personally, I can't see the implosion of Web2.0 as being the end of life as we know it. I'm not sure that labeling that first sentance as 'blatantly incorrect' shows a lot of insight however. There are a fair number of excesses associated with "Web 2.0" whatever the hell Web 2.0 is. There seems to be a good deal of money chasing a limited number of good investments of all sorts. Some of that liquidity has gone into 'Web 2.0'. With a near certainty, some of the operations that money has funded are going to fold when the cash runs out. I imagine that -- like the dot-com bubble -- a good deal of Web2.0 very likely will go away at some point with a series of loud bangs and a certain amount of noxious smoke.
You can't beat a good trackball ... But ...
on
Mouse or Trackball?
·
· Score: 1
My experience. You can't beat a good trackball. But even a mediocre mouse is better than a bad trackball. And most trackballs suck. It's not a matter of money. I once had a $10 generic trackball that was wonderful. Eventually, it simply wore out. I've since tried a few comparatively expensive trackballs. All of them turned out to be pretty awful..
So how do you spot a good trackball? Damned if I know. I'll know one when I see one. In the meantime, I use mice.
Slashdot Mirror
You've sort of bracketed the right answer there. Almost all malware attacks today are aimed at Windows users. Using Windows pretty much mandates using a virus checker that will need to be attended to. And a firewall and/or NAT router is pretty much mandatory with Windows. The specifications say minimal maintenance. So Windows is probably the wrong OS for this application.
So -- Linux or Mac -- whichever the guy who is setting things up with is more comfortable with. I've never found Macs to be especially easy, natural, or intuitive despite undending claims to the contrary. So, I'd probably go with Linux -- probably using Xfce which seems to be evolving as simpler but adequate user interface alternative to GNOME and KDE. Someone who is Mac compatible would probably go with a Mac.
Browser? They are all baffling to the uninitiated.
You bet they do. I'm nearing 70 and my prebyopia (limited ability to bend the eye's lens) is much less advanced than most of my contemporaries. Still, though I'm sitting about 50cm from the monitor because that's the closest I can focus this year. I have to wear reading glasses to read books except in really bright light because my arms just won't stretch far enough any more.
The problem is that most geeks and web designers are young and fairly unconscious. They design screens that the elderly can't possibly read at the intended resolution and are difficult to cope with when font sizes are increased. They'll probably figure out that wasn't such a great idea in a few decades (presbyopia often sets in as early as age 45). But that won't help the folks they have unecessarily inconvenienced. And, BTW, not all vision problems in the elderly can be fully corrected with glasses.
No and No.
Picassa uses the Windows code base and the wine library and runs acceptably. Google Earth uses the Qt and GL libraries and runs acceptably on some machines. On others it crashes. On this particular machine, it not only crashes during initialization, it takes the X-windows session with it when it leaves.
I don't know about you, but when I run an application, I want it to do things. I care about how it is implemented only if it affects my use of the application. In this particular case, I kind of wish Google had used wine with the Linux version of Google Earth. If they had, it might work.
Probably not. Definitely not if Verizon is their ISP. I can rarely hold a stream for as much as hour without restarting using either WIndows or Linux. But it is important to those looking for programming that is not available locally. E.g. expatriates desiring programming from home.
But I don't think the Sound Exchange rates will be that much of a problem. One of two things will happen.
Either the rates will turn out not to be all that cataclysmic, stations will pay them, Internet Radio will survive and the executives at Sound Exchange will be buying yachts with their bonuses.
or
The rates really are cataclysmic. Operations like Public Radio will quit streaming affected music. The rest of the operations will simply pack up and move someplace offshore where rates are either more reasonable or nonexistent. Sound Exchange will then take legal action, lose, end up with no revenue from Internet Radio and Internet Music Radio in the US will be dead.
Seems kind of dumb. But frankly, I'm more worried about the US balance of trade, excessive use of hydrocarbons, lying politicians (Many Democrats and virtually all Republicans except Ron Paul), nuclear proliferation, the collapsing US healthcare system, etc, etc, etc to much care whether the the US Internet radio business is handed over to a bunch of foreigners. Congress could stop this nonsense in 24 hours if they so desired. They haven't chosen to.
I don't do NT based Windows because I am one of the small number of Geeks who is humble enough to admit that I'm too damn dumb to deal with that immense pile of peculiarities, security flaws, undocumented code, race conditions and gotchas. But Windows 9 had a .REG file that sets Registry entries dynamically when it is invoked from the command lineor by double clicking in Windows Explorer. I imagine that it is still there in Vista. There are probably some UAC warnings if you try to run a .REG file, but once they are ignored, it should work.
Why? Because the problem could have been on their end. Just running Linux doesn't mean that your installation is error free. It just puts the odds in any problem with Microsoft on your side.
If it is indeed a simple fix, they should probably patch their end, track their effort in doing so, bill Microsoft at a reasonable rate , then, when Microsoft doesn't pay, take the case to their local small claims court equivalent. This could be a lot of fun -- David vs Goliath. Swedish ISP Shuts Down Microsoft in The EU, etc.
Shutting down Accounts Payable is the sort of thing that companies that are in serious financial difficulties sometimes do in their final days as they try to hold their house of cards together. I have trouble believing that PayPal could be in that sort of diffuculty. But these ARE troubled times financially and it's unclear who is holding vast amounts of dubious paper backed by shakey US housing loans.
You don't suppose ....
Naw, surely it's just a software glitch.
I agree 113.763%. PayPal gives me the creeps. How any sane person can be comfortable dealing with an unregulated bank eludes me. Personally, I simply won't deal with PayPal unless and until they submit themselves to effective external regulation.
That said, It seems to me like this particular problem is something that could affect any on-line 'bank' -- even a reputable one. It's sort of analagous to having your brick and motar bank shut down by flood, fire, earthquake, riots, power failure.
Sure and Fluffy could probably mount a jet engine on a bicycle too. But could she make either the motherboard farm or the jetsicle actually do anything non-lethal? For more than 15 seconds?
I think it's an impressive accomplishment and worth noting. Doesn't look like it would fit in any of my suitcases though. Not without dissassembly at any rate.
Good point. These are the same guys who can't even get the data in their data base to their agents. The Virtual Case File system has been described as "a train wreck in slow motion". http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,664 45,00.html
I reckon this stuff would be scary -- especially in the hands of the "We don't need no Stinking Warrants" George W Bush Justice Department -- but we can all have a reasonable expectation that it probably doesn't work worth a damn.
And how is one to do that? An American has -- if he/she is -- lucky a choice of three service providers. One, count them one, cable provider. One telephone provider. And one satellite provider with -- for technical reasons -- less capability. Many folks have fewer. American consumers have essentially no leverage. You take what you are given and act grateful. The idea of binding contracts providing control may be fine in the fantasy land that the American Enterprise Institute and the Republican Party live in. But that's not where real people live. If you want competition to prevail, you need ... duh .. competitors. Haven't got them now. Aren't likely to get them. And even with competition, results often seem imperfect. Explain, for example, why competition has failed to make America's cellular phone service the best in the world.
Note that most (all?) states have Public Utility Commissions that are supposed to make the monopoly providers (cable/telephone) behave. Mostly the PUCs look to me to be gutless and ineffective. But they are probably the appropriate place to complain if one doesn't like service caps that are not documented. Since this is an area where the PUCs can act tough without actually having to take on a tough issue, it is remotely possible that some of them might actually take some action.
California has (or at least used to have) something called a fixit ticket for things like burned out lights. You had to fix the problem and get a police officer to sign off on the fix. Then you mailed the ticket in. As long as you met the time limits, there was no fine.
I'd settle for comprehensible documentation.
I think it is fair to say that documentation is an area where both OSS and Microsoft suck. It's hard to say which is worse.
Well, of course they are. Their only asset is the content they control. They fear that if they do not protect it, it will become public domain either legally or de facto. Then they will own nothing that anyone wants and will have to face the terrible spectre of working for a living.
One big problem with the concept of Intellectual Property is the fantasy that you can sell IP and still own it completely. That's not likely to work in the long run, but we apparently have to spend a few painful decades proving it.
Also look at the Acer-Power 1000 which is in the mac-mini size range (about 1500cc vs about 1200cc).. It's cheap, comes with Windows(some folks like or need it) and runs Linux.
Well, we don't actually. We did sorta four decades ago. It had its pluses and minuses. It was nice to be able to let your kids watch network programming without too much risk of having to explain homosexuality to an eight year old or having your six year old inform you that her first grade teacher is a bitch.
But those days are gone and their demise is not the fault of the Internet in any way shape or form. IMO, the enemy is us, not our institutions.
===
It is kind of refreshing to see someplace other than the US experimenting with something that is probably a really bad idea.
Very likely not.
From the NY Times version of the story. "The company entered into an agreement with the American Red Cross in 1895. The agreement acknowledged Johnson & Johnson's exclusive right to the red cross as a "trademark for chemical, surgical and pharmaceutical goods of every description," according to the lawsuit."
If the Red Cross ever had exclusive rights to the trademark in the US (It's not clear that they did), they appear to have voluntarily given them up. The lawsuit specifically addresses only products that compete with J&J. Looks to me like a clear violation of both the letter and intent of Trademark law. This seems not to be a case of J&J going after the Red Cross in order to add a few bucks to its bottom line. It looks to be a case of J&J protecting its century old shared trademark from overt, gratuitous infringing actions by the Red Cross.
Note also that J&J suggested arbitration. The Red Cross said no.
Oh, I see. It's kind of like PayPal then?
Best check the EULA that you clicked thorough without reading. Not only is Microsoft not liable, your estate will owe Microsoft a substantial annual payment for the software you would have purchased during the years that you failed to live because of your carelessness and lack of foresight in contracting cancer.
All depends on what you think the error discovery/removal rates are. If you believe that IIS has a rather small number of serious defects and they have mostly been found and corrected, then there may be no reason not to use IIS. On the other hand, many products -- Windows for example -- appear to have a near infinite number of problems and no realistic hope of ever resolving them all. If IIS is one of those and if Apache has fewer serious defects, then choosing IIS over Apache may well be a bad idea.
Indeed. And one of the few things the Bush administration has attempted that was non-trivial and wasn't hoplessly botched was the supervision of reasonably free and fair elections in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't think the used voting machines in either country.
There's a thought. How about we round up all the voting machines in the US, and ship them off to someone we don't like -- Iran or Cuba or Myanmar or Darfur? Two birds with one stone as it were.
The article mentions that in fact. I think they meant the first geothermal plant using deliberately injected water as opposed to heated water/steam that occurs naturally.
Now, now. If you check Thomas Ricks, "Fiasco", or Seymour Hersh's "Chain of Command", you'll find that most of the cataclysmic mistakes in the reconstruction of Iraq were not made by the military or by private companies. They were made by unqualified and utterly incompetent Republican apparatchiks sucked into the government by Bush, Cheney, et al. There may be a lot of good reasons for watching over private companies. But the fundamental fault in both cases is putting decisions that should be made by experienced, non-partisan professionals in the hands of inexperienced idealouges.
Perhaps we should be seeking out civil servants with a few decade's experience in managing elections and seeing what they think about voting machines.
The first sentence of the article and the first blatantly incorrect statement. Is it worth reading on?***
Well, actually, that's the high point of the article.
Personally, I can't see the implosion of Web2.0 as being the end of life as we know it. I'm not sure that labeling that first sentance as 'blatantly incorrect' shows a lot of insight however. There are a fair number of excesses associated with "Web 2.0" whatever the hell Web 2.0 is. There seems to be a good deal of money chasing a limited number of good investments of all sorts. Some of that liquidity has gone into 'Web 2.0'. With a near certainty, some of the operations that money has funded are going to fold when the cash runs out. I imagine that -- like the dot-com bubble -- a good deal of Web2.0 very likely will go away at some point with a series of loud bangs and a certain amount of noxious smoke.
So how do you spot a good trackball? Damned if I know. I'll know one when I see one. In the meantime, I use mice.