If my memory serves, you need to sign up for
Passport to received updates for XP. Maybe
I am being too cynical, but isn't this just
a little too convenient for Microsoft to have something that essentially requires ALL XP
users to comply and sign up for Passport or
their machines could be "taken over" just by
connecting to the Internet?
There is a conferencing system called Placeware that we use at Nova Southeastern University that does just this thing. In fact, one of my professors there runs a poll every week during our on-line sessions to see how everyone is doing on their projects.
Send my $10K from bountyquest to some legal defense fund for high-school kids who get branded as "dangerous" just because they happen to know more about computers than their teachers.
Just about every doctor in my local hospital uses a Palm Pilot to keep track of patient information. The hospital system here in Greenville, SC. issues them to all residents and interns (Palm IIIxe currently) for use in charting. They use special software that allows them to automatically update computer patient charts.
Security concerns aside, this is a really great idea because it allows multiple people to at least read a record (i believe they have a check-out mechanism to prevent more than one person from writing to the chart at a time).
I am assuming, for a moment, that your CIO is running Windows on that box. There is a product named PC-DACS that is really tough to crack. It encrypts the disc and does an on-the-fly patch into the BIOS (similar to EasyBIOS). You cannot read the drive without entering the password. If you try to use a floppy, you still can't do it. It actually encrypts it down to the FAT level, so you can't use FDISK to change the partition type and read the drive again.
I do not work for whoever it is who make that product. We use it where I work, and it is quite powerful.
There is at least one recorded incident in the very early days of the US Congress. I do not remember the names or exact dates, but the story is quite memorable and goes something like this...
There was a longstanding debate running in the Congress, with each side having a particularly outspoken proponent. As could be predicted, eventually the Congressman losing the debate resorted to off-topic insults while attempting to maintain a sense of decorum.
"I would suspect that my distinguished collegue would eventually either be hanged or die of a terrible disease"
to which came the reply
"That, good sir, depends on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
This is another example of a Motorola innovation which has the potential to revolutionise information access. Think about the history here for a moment, good people: One thing that allowed the PalmPilot to be small and inexpensive was the fact that the Dragonball had integrated support for the touch screen and serial port. The rumoured colour Palm in the works is in part due to the new version of the Dragonball which supports colour. With a chip that supports multiple wireless protocols out of the box, we have the potential for newer devices to help make information more readily accessible no matter where you are.
For the naysayers who ask "Why do we need this?" I would like to point out, simply, that anyplace that a connection needs to be made on a circuit board is a potential point of failure as well as a potential trap and source for RFI. By placing more functionality on the chip itself, these problems are less likely to occur. Also, faster data access is possible (this is why on-chip cache is such a good idea).
Personally, I am quite excited by this new development and I see this trend in multi-function chips which offer nearly complete systems in one small package a better use of resources than the massive PIII which still needs significant support chips to integrate into anything. Also, what is the usual result with more powerful (=CPU speed/MIPS) chips being released? Software bloat. This trend in truly increased functionality steers away from that and instead allows designers to focus on product innovation.
The unit I have is not upgradable. The only thing that opens on the unit is the battery compartment.:-(
I hope that the good folks at Palm Computing/3COM will reconsider this and make it more like the IIIx, which if my memory serves has 4 MB of RAM and an open expansion slot in the rear.
I have to agree that the metering is not, IMHO, a good idea, however, you CAN look up an address in the address book and add it. The shortcut is/L for LOOKUP. You tap the name and then the ADD button, and presto! the address is in the TO field.
I really want to keep this unit, but I'll have to give it back when the field trial is done so they can get the not-really-production units out of circulation before the real units go out.
Slashdot Mirror
If my memory serves, you need to sign up for Passport to received updates for XP. Maybe I am being too cynical, but isn't this just a little too convenient for Microsoft to have something that essentially requires ALL XP users to comply and sign up for Passport or their machines could be "taken over" just by connecting to the Internet?
Send my $10K from bountyquest to some legal defense fund for high-school kids who get branded as "dangerous" just because they happen to know more about computers than their teachers.
Security concerns aside, this is a really great idea because it allows multiple people to at least read a record (i believe they have a check-out mechanism to prevent more than one person from writing to the chart at a time).
I am assuming, for a moment, that your CIO is running Windows on that box. There is a product named PC-DACS that is really tough to crack. It encrypts the disc and does an on-the-fly patch into the BIOS (similar to EasyBIOS). You cannot read the drive without entering the password. If you try to use a floppy, you still can't do it. It actually encrypts it down to the FAT level, so you can't use FDISK to change the partition type and read the drive again. I do not work for whoever it is who make that product. We use it where I work, and it is quite powerful.
That won't work. MS-FDISK cannot recognise Linux partitions and cannot remove them if on an extended partition.
There is at least one recorded incident in the very early days of the US Congress. I do not remember the names or exact dates, but the story is quite memorable and goes something like this...
There was a longstanding debate running in the Congress, with each side having a particularly outspoken proponent. As could be predicted, eventually the Congressman losing the debate resorted to off-topic insults while attempting to maintain a sense of decorum.
"I would suspect that my distinguished collegue would eventually either be hanged or die of a terrible disease"
to which came the reply
"That, good sir, depends on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."
For the naysayers who ask "Why do we need this?" I would like to point out, simply, that anyplace that a connection needs to be made on a circuit board is a potential point of failure as well as a potential trap and source for RFI. By placing more functionality on the chip itself, these problems are less likely to occur. Also, faster data access is possible (this is why on-chip cache is such a good idea).
Personally, I am quite excited by this new development and I see this trend in multi-function chips which offer nearly complete systems in one small package a better use of resources than the massive PIII which still needs significant support chips to integrate into anything. Also, what is the usual result with more powerful (=CPU speed/MIPS) chips being released? Software bloat. This trend in truly increased functionality steers away from that and instead allows designers to focus on product innovation.
The only thing that opens on the unit is
the battery compartment.
I hope that
the good folks at Palm Computing/3COM will
reconsider this and make it more like the
IIIx, which if my memory serves has 4 MB of RAM and an open expansion slot in the rear.
And boy is it ever! Are there programming tools for the HP-48gx for Linux?
I really want to keep this unit, but I'll have to give it back when the field trial is done so they can get the not-really-production units out of circulation before the real units go out.
-Q