You don't need cat6 to run gigabit. Save yourself some money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable#Category_5e

You mean like a device where there is a stream that I can join and listen with others? Would be kind of neat if I didn't have to send out any data to join the stream though.

And am I the only person that sees radio as a public forum?

True, true. I find that, in the absence of a proper floor plan, a digital camera and a fire escape plan will do the job.

To add my two cents...

1) A physical network diagram is always step one. Don't worry about which port connects where, but do worry about which server connects to which switch.

2) Never underestimate the value of a spreadsheet documenting your subnets. List each subnet and all of the corresponding information (VLAN ID, which router serves as the gateway, description if for instance it's the Accounting department). Then do a sheet for each subnet and breakout all of the static IP addresses for each subnet (printers, switches, routers, servers, etc).

3) Make a list of all of your vendors, support accounts and logins, etc.

4) Go back, make a copy of the physical layout, then add services to all of the servers and try to document the general flow of traffic in/out/around the network (easier said than done, but priceless once it's on paper).

5) Then start documenting the systems and services. Start first with simple documentation. It's more valuable to have a little bit about everything than everything about a single server. Concentrate on documenting in detail the systems that make the least sense, like the one-off FTP server that's NAT'ed different from everything else because of the company that Marketing uses to do their graphics. Think of the ones that would be the hardest to troubleshoot when they quit working. Then move to the obvious.

Call a local VAR or small IT services company and get some outside assistance. Check their references to see if they do good documentation. A lot of them spend a lot of time doing complex project work for small IT departments so documentation generally precedes a good reputation. Management should sign off on it because it's an obvious decision. Despite what others may say, only rarely will they see it as an opportunity to bring in someone cheaper once the job is done because it shows that you're a "company" man.

I'd be willing to wager that Palm is a bigger blip on their radar than Yahoo. Nobody is going to take the place of MySpace or Facebook (Google already tried), and it's not very likely that anyone will displace Google as the choice for finding everything else. Frankly, today's Yahoo is yesterday's AOL. And ask Time/Warner how that turned out.

Meanwhile the iPhone is becoming a legitimate threat to the Windows Mobile user base. In walks Palm with a highly anticipated new OS and hardware. It could be a pretty cheap gamble with potential for a massive payoff.

They're not happy until you're not happy.

Fixed that for you. Now what were you saying?

But, and this is a serious question, if those companies paid 15% (just pulled that out of my ass) instead of 3% (that one too), wouldn't that create an opportunity to lower taxes on individuals?

Then wouldn't that lead to more money in "our" wallets and potentially counter the negative effect of lower Wall Street earnings because I'd have more to invest.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's useless AND stupid. By no means am I defending this as a great idea, but converting from lossless to MP3 takes a decent amount of processing. Nothing the average PC can't handle, but if you're copying hundreds of files you would certainly notice.

Perhaps the idea is not to be able to store the lossless files on an MP3 player that has no use for the extra data. Instead, when I copy the file to my MP3 player, rather than process the file into another format, I can just trim out the "mp3" part of the file and write that to the device. Now I have a lossless audio file to store on my high-capacity computer, with easy, low overhead access to a compressed version for my low-capacity portable device.

So I wouldn't go so far as to say it's useless AND stupid. More like somewhat useful and not exactly genius.

And don't forget, France could make their flags out of it for the next time someone invades! Kidding, calm down. Goodbye karma, hello 'troll' mods.

I almost agree with you. But I would argue that if you've had complete and total success with all flavors of Linux package managers, then you haven't been using Linux very long. Much like any random Windows install, when it works it's great. But frankly when it doesn't work, I'd rather be dealing with a Windows box.

I will give linux the upper hand with "updates" though. It is nice to be able to update all of my software (assuming it was installed with the package manager) with one command or click versus only being able to update the OS. But let's be fair, Windows software installs that require a reboot are relatively rare and are more likely the fault of the developer. Windows updates requiring a reboot on the other hand...on that we can agree.

I'm not intimately familiar with the inner workings of an internal combustion engine either, and have zero experience with combustible engines. But it is nice knowing that my Toyota and my wife's Hyundai get the same result regardless of which variety of unleaded gasoline we put in the tank.