Monday - 2 October 2000
Shameless Request for Help. For those of you who do not believe in the power of positive thoughts, please skip this item. For everyone else, Dan Bowman is spreading the word about someone who could use all the good thoughts/positive Karma/prayers/choose any that apply that she can get. Remember, we are all God's children. So, let's help one that is hurting right now.
The link that binds us together starts here with an introduction by Al Hawkins, RN. From there it goes to the cocky bastard himself here. And finally, from there to the web log of a young lady by the name of Kaycee here. The only things I know about her is what she says in her logs. And from what I can see, she is very brave. And very tired. Now I don't presume to know what the Lord has in plan for her. But I think some prayers to help her get through whatever she needs to get through couldn't hurt. Some prayer for the strength to endure the unendurable. For some understanding of what can not be understood. For the courage to fight the good fight. And some peace for herself and her family.
Thanks for your support.
The Supremes. The Supreme Court is beginning their session today. One of the first decisions out of the gate is one that affirms that the government should not promote one religion over another. See the Los Angeles Times story here.
ICAAN See. Can You? InfoWorld's Brian Livingston talks about the ongoing Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voting taking place over the next two weeks. Why is this important? Well, follow the link ( here) and find out. For those who don't have the time, ICAAN controls the root servers. 'Nuff said.
Buy, Build or Partner? Three words which sometimes define the three harder questions a business must answer. What does it buy from others? What does it build itself? And when does it bring in partners? The New York Times tell us of the theories of one Ronald Coase. 1991 winner of the Nobel prize in Economics ( here).
At the core of Mr. Coase's theory is this notion: When a company tries to determine whether to farm out or instead produce goods or services on its own, market prices are not the sole factor. Rather, there are significant "transaction costs," in Mr. Coase's language, generated by the search for the right company to strike a supply agreement with, and the time and expense of cutting the deal. Those costs, he theorized, frequently determine whether or not a company will seek an outside supplier or service provider.
I have to get to work so I am out of here - Take care of each other - Aloha!
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Tuesday - 3 October 2000
Government Security. Given the information in the Los Angeles Times article here, that phrase may be an oxymoron. And yet, as one of the unnamed sources complains, how do you adhere to security measures, but still get your work done? A hard question. But one that needs to be answered. For now, read about the kind of security lapses that occur every day. Not the kind that gets the headlines, but perhaps no less damaging to national security when taken in total.
Global Warming. If you are interested in the global warming debate, the New York Times has an article on what's currently going on (see it here). Some scientists are taking the position that we can reduce some of the gases/particulates that may be causing environmental changes at no or little cost. And that we should do so where ever possible. Even if the answer to the main question, i.e., is there global warming, is not knowable yet.
This Day in History. Ten years ago today, the two Germanys were reunited. This after being separated for 45 years. See the story here.
Class night tonight, so lots of reading to do. Got'ta Go- Aloha!
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Hump Day Wednesday - 4 October 2000
.ASP If you just can't wait to see how .NET will work, you can get a pretty good taste by looking at the Application Service Providers (ASP). For example, personable.com will rent MS Office 2000 Standard Edition to you for $19.95/month. Is this the wave of the future? Perhaps for some. But it will require a major paradigm shift for this to be accepted by most people. On the plus side, you have access to a virtual office that follows you where ever you can get an Internet connection. You also have central administration of the applications. Meaning the ASP does the updates and patches. Not you. And of course, the rental can be less than the total cost of ownership.
On the downside, if you can't get a connection, you can't do anything. And if that connection is a 56K modem, try editing a Power Point presentation filled with transition effects, graphics, and sound. And since it's centrally controlled, the applications will be updated when and if they feel like it. Whether you want the update or not. And finally, security. What security? Is the connection secure? Is the server where the applications are secure? Are the files you create and store on their servers secure? You decide. As for me, no thanks. They can take my PC when they peel it from my cold, dead fingers.</.NYET>
I'm out of time and outta here (please send all your spare here, here. I need more here.) - Aloha!
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Thursday - 5 October 2000
Good Ideas Gone Bad. I think most people would agree that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, see it here) is a good idea. But sometimes, good ideas end up being implemented in bad ways [insert disclaimer here].
Locally, it seems that one or two lawyers make the bulk of
their filthy lucre fees by filing hundreds of suits
against small businesses. Businesses who can't afford
protracted legal battles. So they pay what amounts to
extortion. They would rather settle then take the time and
money to defend themselves. Even if they think they could
win.
On the other hand, one local business decided to go to court and let the chips fall where they may. And even though they won some of their points, they lost others. So the court is ordering these poor guys to pay this lawyer $140,000 in legal fees. Even though the plaintiff did not win all of their case, the restaurant must pay the lawyers' fees as if they did. Now, how fair is that? What kind of message does punishing people for things they did not do send to the public? And how does that help the disabled (the money is going to the lawyers, not the plaintiffs)? Sigh. Grumble. Grumble. Spit.
Back into the Breach. I asked our IT folks if they had any token-ring cards that were compatible with Linux. And they came up with a Olicom (Madge) 3118 ISA card. It is PnP compatible so I, hopefully, won't have to try to change IRQs and I/O ranges manually. They even had the patches needed, to include Linux support, on their web site (see it here).
So, the task for the day is to take out the IBM card, put in the Olicom. Get it working with Win98SE. Then boot into Linux. Patch the kernel. Compile it. And then see how far I get. I'll let you know how things go. But if you see a bright flash in the western sky, and the rumble of thunder...well, all I can say is duck and take cover!
Thank you to Daynoter Phil Hough who offered to send me some of his 'here.' The problem being that he didn't know how to package it up to ensure it makes it 'here' in one piece. But as we all know, if you ship 'here' to somewhere else, it transforms itself into 'there.' Unless, of course, you ship yourself with it. Then you and the 'here' would be 'here.' And not 'there.' Now where is that cat with the big smile on its face?
Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - 6 October 2000
It's Friday!
.NET, yet Again Dan Bricklin's site had a link to this site, which in a round-about way noted another negative relating to ASPs, and by extension, .NET. Most businesses don't last more than three years. And even though MS has lasted many more years than that. That does not mean some of MS's initiatives haven't been born, were trumpeted as the Next Big Thing, and then died a quiet death.
But what's the point you are trying to get to? you ask. Well, suppose you use an ASP/.NET. And after three years of creating and storing your most critical documents on their servers, they close-up shop overnight and leave town. What are you going to do? I hope that if you use such a service, that you are able to back-up your documents/presentations to your local drive. If not, run, don't walk, as fast as you can to another ASP.</.NYET!>
Duck and Take Cover. So did you see the bright flash that occurred yesterday afternoon? That was my PC after I applied 220-volts to the power supply. Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 is still networkless. I installed the new NIC. Booted into Windows98SE. Windows detected the card, automatically found the driver in one of the CABS. Configured everything and then went on its merry way. No problems. I did not have to do anything.
On the other hand, on the Linux front, I had to install the patch to the kernel. Compile the kernel. And then reboot. And nothing. No error messages. In fact, no messages at all. Nothing to tell me what is happening as Linux boots. Just Caldera's graphical boot screen. Which is completely blank. And, oh, by the way, no access either.
I decided to send a message to the Dell list to see if anyone was having the same problem. So far, no responses. As others have confirmed, Linux is getting close to being ready for prime time. But it will never make it here because it just doesn't work with token-ring. And the help resources to try to get you there are seriously out-dated (DMA? PCI? What is that?) and lacking in sufficient detail to be of any help (Linux 2.2? What is that?).
I hope you folks have a great weekend! - Aloha!
© 2000 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved.