Several viruses avoid detection by not running as processes, the are merely threads. The can also run as interupts. Either way they don't show up in the task manager. I often have to deal with people who have set up there own small business network, and thes people get all kinds of funny things. Yes, that's largely due to bad practices (employees surfing porn, etc.), but it happens.
Doesn't have to. Restrict local admin rights and set up blocks and logs on the firewall. Then again, could always get mature users too. I don't have such locks (but I easily could), and I don't need them. My users are there to do their jobs.
No you don't have to "pay to play". You simply need to have a system that works, without making excuses for it's failures.
There's that mythical linux 286 that can stream full screen video at 1280x1024 res at 30fps and relay it with a USB web-cam again. I hear it even runs without the power cord.
I can retrain someone to use Linux (KDE) in half an hour. Training them to use OpenOffice instead of Word can take longer, but most people can pick it up on their own in a couple days. It's just not that different from a user's point of view.
Yeah.... this is why we can't get the sales staff to change their practices to take better advantage of the tools they already have, even though the "difference" would be minimal and yeild greater results.
If you're talking about a mom'n'pop with 5 users, that's one thing, but I'm talking about Inc.s in the high 6 figure to low 7 figure dollar a year range. Those are small to medium buisnesses.
The point was that they don't need more power, they already have enough. They shouldn't be forced to get more power to run software bloated with features they'll never use.
And the old super heavy luggables that masquaraded as laptops with tiny screens and few interfaces simply aren't going to cut it when the sales force demos to a client. Nor can you cram a DVI-out PCI-E video card into a P1.
Even when you CAN retro fit the upgrade, to spend the cost on the hardware, plus calculate my time for training, and their time for training, and factor in the lost productivity during that, as well as the overall slow-down from the change.... yeah, it's a hell of a lot cheaper to spend $1400 and get a stacked Core2Duo 3.16GHz with 3GB of RAM, moster hard drive AND an included 22" widescreen LCD, not to mention an OS and Office suite they already know.
See, when I first started as an on-staffer (rather than consultant), I was like you. I thought, why not go to pricewatch and get the cheapest everything, I can assemble it, and we can save a few hundred. That was without even having to train any of the other staff on anything new. But the simple act of going to multiple places to buy stuff made it too expensive (purhcasing and recieving dept's costs), not to mention ANY potential issue with ANYthing at all, took longer and more money to deal with. Going to an OEM was cheaper, even if it appeared more expensive.
I take it you have a tin foil hat, you are paranoid. There was nothing in my comment that even comes close to suggesting anything of the sort.
I understand these things. I am far from paranoid, but I AM a student of history, and I know what has happened, and also study a bit of psychology and anthropology as well. Humans are predictable, history follows cicular patterns, and wise sages have already warned us about all these dangers and nobody listens to them and we fall right down that well, time and time again. It's really not that hard to see if you choose to open your eyes and look.
I simply said that there is no good reason I shouldn't be able to find a file simply by knowing what folder it's in, and not need to know what actual drive it's on. That's pretty much what MS is trying to do with the "virtual folders" or whatever they called it that was supposed to be in Vista. The ability to mount a drive or partition anywhere in the file tree is handy, and I'm sure MS would be doing that if they weren't stuck trying to be backwards compatible with the older DOS based versions.
This is my point about that, a location is a location, virtual or not. I can move things around just as much as you can. Do the paths change for me? Sometimes, but it's never a problem either. Even in the rare case where an application expects something somewhere, I can edit that. You talk about not wanting to have to know a "location", a folder or directory IS a location, regardless of whehter it's virtual or tied to a disc, you still have to know it. So it's really no different, you just want to think that it is.
(and for network paths, it's always worked like that, I can move a share anywhere and users have no idea, it just works for them, they don't even know drive letters, they know share names)
Not all websites are critical. For critical websites, a small business should be using a third party hosting solution with 24/7 techs, not hosting it themselves. The one I was talking about is used by a local school for inter-office E-mail and scheduling AV resources. In the event the host computer goes down, it can be hosted on another machine in minutes. Plenty robust for theirneeds, and leaves more money for actually teaching kids. That IS what schools do. For most small non-profits, $2000 is a significant portion of the annual budget. It's money that isn't being spent accomplishing the goal.
If a web-site is worth having, it's worth running on a box that isn't USED as a desktop. Doesn't mean you have to dedicated it, double it up. Make it the file/print server, make it the DHCP or DNS box, make it the FTP server, etc. That's why that extranet/intranet/FTP server I mentioned has those things, they all are related in function, and run off of one app. None of it is exactly "mission critical" like the file or mail sever, but close enough that it's worth mirroring the drives and dedicating the box to server-type functions only.
We are a FOR proft, but we are a TINY company that was bought 2 years ago for 3 million dollars, and we are on the rocks right now with the economy like it is, because we are a niche market. We DO have large company problems though, like a world-wide customer base and manufacturing issues to deal with.
Speaking of which..... now that I think about the shop.... we have a Hendricks 5-axis router (cost well into the 6 figures), it's run by a desktop PC. For something that expensive, and that important, you'd think that the OEM would have used Linux on the white-box they supplied. They didn't. It was initially 95. Never had any problems with it. Now it's on 2K Pro, still no problems. Had it for years.
So shoplifting makes me a better shopper? You seem to have no respect for the law, perhaps that's why you are paranoid enough to see "big brother" where he doesn't exist. Are you perhaps an anarchist? Running a business illegaly is not running it well - just ask Arthur Anderson. Competion leads to innovation. By stifling the competition, MS has likely reduced the advancement of these "wonderfull toys".
I have no regard for "the law". I respect the Constitution. That is the ONLY valid law in this land. I obey other ones just because they either aren't technically illegal, or are just not worth the hassle of breaking, but just because a bill is passed does NOT make it good. Take a look into the process and riders and lobbying and back rubbing and deal brokering going on. It's a disgrace.
Not an Anarchist, that's not feasible. A Constitutionalist. The closest thing I've ever had to 'heros' are The Founders.
As for buisness, the name of the game is to out compete. Some can do it, some can't. However, after Jobs stole from Xerox and Bill decided to copy him, computers drove remarkably deeply into the potential market, expanding it to incredible levels, allowing costs to come down, which increased demand, which brought about more power, at yet cheaper costs, and allowed more features to be used, and the cycle continued. That's why a 468 used to cost $5000, and now I can buy the aforementioned Core2Duo system for $1400. THAT is because of M$ (who further spawned things when they helped IBM launch their PC, and what better idea than to guarentee sales for your own fledling company than by putting it in the contract? And when clone makers came out, they had to emulate, so you grab that too. It's smart buisness). Gripe about it all you want, Microsoft was pivotal in the creation of the PC market as we know it, and you have THEM to thank for your toys. And I think that pisses you off all the more. lol
I've moved the music collection four times as I added (larger) hardrives, but the pathname remains the same. Move your music files from C: to D:, fire up your player, load a playlist, and listen to the sweet sound of silence.
Well given that I go through Windows Explorer and double click on the mp3 which launches WinAMP (gasp!, shock! - yeah, I don't care for media player for anything but video, WinAMP is the only audio player I like), I can move that directory anywhere I like and it doesn't affect anything.
I know some shortcuts will follow paths too, not sure if it would work for that, but I never use folder shortcuts anyway....
Anyone who can't afford that 3Ghz P4.
I'm sure you could get one for $50 these days.
For a large business, yes that matters. For a small one, with less than a dozen computers, it doesn't. Extra hardware is an extra expense. How does adding yet another heat source help climate control? For a small company, having one persons desktop running the database solves the "data wrangling" problem nicely. Back-ups are created automatically on a daily basis (two backup files on two different PC,s for redundancy) and written to tape weekly - all automatically. The only effort required is for someone to swap the tape once a week.
Large buisnesses are HP, M$, GM, etc. Small buisnesses are in the sub 100 desktop range.
It's not adding a heat source, it's putting htem all in one small-ish room and only having to climate control that (more or less than the rest of the building).
That one person's desktop running a DB is great until they kick the plug, or spill something on it, or break the optical drive (and have to shut it down) or get hit with malware, etc. Great for your 5 node network, not for buisnesses that I refer to. (which ARE small buisnesses)
Yes, I find MS's blatant disregard for the law to be offensive. I find Bernie Madoff's disregard for law offensive also. People with morals find that kind of dishonesty offensive. I guess you don't?
If you equate any old law with moral (BECAUSE it's a law), then you are scary.
BTW, MS's suggested retail price for Server 2005 was $3000, the $1500 you quote is a "wholesale" price that small businesses and NPO's don't get.
You can go to CDW too you know. They aren't exclusive. And there was no Server 05. 03 and 08, and the license we bought was for 08, but I'm currently installing 03 (64 bit), and next year when we upgrade the App (which we get free because we bought the Software Assurance, 2 years free upgrades), then I'll jump up to 08 (also for free, because I already have hte license). Oh and we only bought 1, no bulk purchases of any kind.
-----Post Added-----
The problem here is that the law itself may or may not be offensive. Bloodspray's point is that, in his opinion, antitrust laws (or at least some anti-trust laws, such as the ones that have been leveled against Microsoft), prevent the effective management of a business, so that to run your business "the way it's supposed to be run" you have to break the law. I happen to disagree with him, and think that the laws in question are perfectly just. But you can't just say "it's illegal and therefore wrong," because the law can, in some cases, be wrong.
Right.... sort of. Don't misinterpret. I'm not saying that monopolies are great or that anti-trust laws are always bad. I'm speaking philosophically. The idea of competition is to win. The idea of a buisness is to grow and make all the money you can for your employees and investors. If you do it well enough, people cry foul.
And also, there is nothing wrong with leveraging your product. I don't HAVE to sell you something, I didn't force you to not install the competitors products, I just chose not to sell to you if you did so. It's a subtle point, but an important one.
-----Post Added-----
If you disagree with a law, that doesn't mean you can simply ignore it.
Technically it's your duty as a citizen to not follow bad law. If charged, the jury has the right to refuse to convict (not the same as a hung jury). That is SUPPOSED to be the last line of defence in the check and balance system (if it gets through both houses, the president and the supreme court).
That isn't to say that it actually happens today, but it SHOULD. Trouble is, people think "just because you disagree with the law doesn't mean you can ignore it". And THAT mentality is why I'm convinced that the 18th Amendment wouldn't be repealed if it were passed today.
-----Post Added-----
I think something is becoming clear, which could possibly explain the incredible differences in opinion we've got here. The Windows proponents say that Windows is superior for many tasks in a large company with a huge budget, and possibly a large number of tech-phobic users. The Linux proponents say that Linux is superior for some low budget operations, and some tech-savvy individuals. There is no inherent conflict here, and I think it illustrates a fundamental truth: No system can ever hope to serve everyone's needs, because everyone is different.
Agree with the last statement. But I only point out the "superiority of Windows" (if you wish to use that phrasing, I wouldn't, but hey...) because of the other side saying it sucks for everything, should NEVER be touched, the people who use it are evil idiots, and then fixating on tiny non-issues as if they were real, or even spreading falsehoods around.
