With Linux, the browser runs you!

You can verify the certificates used with DigiNotar... well.. site looks down... maybe when they are back up...

The choice to move from VHS to DVD was pretty easy. VHS movies were not all that cheap and while DVD was more expensive, sure, you got something that seemed to be more durable and the picture quality was better than most TVs being used to view them.

Blu-ray offers better picture and some extra software and potential integration features, but for just watching movies, you have a very expensive upgrade for most users who greatly expanded their movie collections with DVD.... in short, it offers very little difference for most and it's expensive.

Now... blu-ray is supposed to be even more durable than DVD... so maybe there could come a day when Blu-ray takes hold... but I doubt it. With the increase in streaming media (which is usually of a lesser quality, sometimes just on par with DVD or just a bit better), people are opting for convenience over quality.

Personally, I think Blu-ray is dead... and given how it all came about, I think justice has been served once more...

For those posting especially high values... Tawkon is NOT a true radiation detection application.

Sigh.... I do LIKE imaginative thinking. Something that is lost with most scientists... but please be careful with what you say.

Time is one of the LEAST understood concepts. I think we've let science fiction be our guide on our understanding of time.... and... cough... I think it's "time" for that to stop.

A few years ago I was given the task of creating a remote desktop environment for some contractors working with us. We used VNC (pretty popular). However, when the contractors went back to their home country (China), the solution failed miserably. The protocol was not fast or reliable enough.

We opted to switch to FreeNX (nomachine's GPL'd protocol).

It worked.

I then moved my entire desktop to the same scenario, where it has lived since about openSUSE 10.3 (I'm now at openSUSE 11.3).

I access my Windows boxes via rdp from my FreeNX'd openSUSE desktop. If Linux is your lightweight client, then the NX client resizes nicely and allows me to access my desktop from anywhere using just about any resolution and size of device (Windows isn't quite as forgiving... just fyi).

What DOESN'T work? Multimedia. And it sorta makes sense. Since what you have is a viewport into your remote desktop handling the complexities of variable bandwidth and latency (esp. WAN) is too difficult in general. So, for multimedia use, I recommend that be handled by the front end client (which means you need adequate horsepower on the thin client for that... which .... because of the mobile movement, isn't hard nowadays).

What is NICE about a remote desktop style environment is that it is more secure since the data resides with the real desktop, which isn't on the end user device. Protocols like NX, do have ways of allowing printers and sound and such to work (with warning about sync of audio/video, see above)... so there ARE some solutions provided for a truly integrated desktop (albeit, lessening the security of the system at the same time).

VDI, in general, isn't JUST a remote desktop though. It's the idea of a work space where icons and applications, etc. could be "running" on different pieces of equipment "somewhere" else. So... I don't have a true "VDI" experience, but if you consider that I do use my remote desktop as the launch point to other platforms and that many of my X11 client applications come from "somewhere" else... then IMHO, it proves the idea out regardless.

Long term, we're heading this direction anyhow. Already, people are moving to things like Google (gmail, etc) for handling things. People are using Amazon's EC2 when they need temporary servers. People are using smart phones (without regards to personal security). So, one could argue that VDI in concept is already happening around us and the need for "full" computers isn't as interesting anymore. Of course, this also means the end of the traditional desktop OS.... (e.g. the end of Windows). A true VDI is a presentation... an attempt at integrating highly disparate applications... applications that could be running on any backend SERVER OS.

Buying the ISS is cheap.. only about $1 million or so. But the U-Haul fees!! Sheesh.

Virtualbox IMHO is easy and pretty useful. And there's a GPL version of it. However, Oracle is now KNOWN (fact) for not being nice to any FOSS projects they own. Sure... the good news is we have GPL, the bad news is that unless a significant development community focuses on the GPL version, we can guess that Oracle's proprietary version will move away from the free one. Why? Because Oracle has stated publicly that they are only interested in high revenue production from their software acquisitions (and FOSS doesn't bring in the $$$$$$). Also, realize that Oracle has a VM from a prior acquisition (Virtual Iron) that they like to push.

So... Vbox... makes sense technically... might have a rocky road ahead??? Not sure.

Already, a lot of interesting features are ONLY in the Oracle proprietary version. And, knowing Oracle somewhat, I could see them pushing SOME of that down into the GPL version since they're drawing a lot of bad press right now... and then pulling the plug later when things have calmed down.

Other alternatives.

Well duh.... kvm. Yes... it's still maturing, but it's the way of the future and might be reasonable. It's just if the hypervisor platform has to be both a hypervisor AND a full function (e.g. 3d gaming) workstation... then there could be some issues. My guess is that kvm will be the one that solves this issues over time... but not sure.

And there's Xen... but unless something radical happens there, I think Xen is a choice TODAY and NOT for tomorrow. Again, not totally sure... but I think it's reasonable to assume that kvm becomes the best choice eventually... even if Xen might be the better choice today for some things.

If you're a Linux only person... then lxc shows great promise as a zone/container like thing. I prefer to look at the future without Windows personally :-)

One solution is rotating the screen (portrait mode).

But I hear another solution is buying an iPad... then nothing else will matter.

Oracle Linux is Unbreakable and better than Linux.

BUT Linux is bad mojo.... if you want a real OS and not a toy, use Oracle's Solaris.

Somehow they failed to add that last bit. Mixed messages from a VERY mixed up company.

Moving my IP address to 127.0.0.2 so we don't conflict. Do you think I should move it further down? What if everyone does this?

In C code:

            choice1="P";
            choice2="NP";

            if (choice1 != choice2)
                    yeahbaby++;

Submit that! Science, math, logic... it's just too easy

I have done what I believe to be identical installations on exact same hardware and in some cases Windows 7 consumes ALL of the memory all of the time and sometimes it doesn't. It's a mystery to me. I don't know what else to say. I realize that to Microsoft problems aren't problems unless they say they are problems.... but I really think there is some kind of problem here.

Leave the Texans alone... does NOBODY actually look at history anymore??

Oh, I forgot, we're supposed to rewrite it... :-)

I think Texas has the right idea. Let's not forget who we are or where we came from (i.e. history).

Oracle usually waits about a year before eliminating acquired personnel.

The 2000 sales people increase is foolish in my estimation for a company that is Oracle's size. Naturally it MUST be short term. Companies the size of Oracle generate sales revenue through channels, and not through direct sales.

I predict the end of Ellison in less than 3 years. And... it might lead to the death of Oracle in 5 years or so....

Probably NOT was Larry was thinking. I could be wrong...