Apologies if this has been mentioned (I did look through the comments)

But can anyone explain how it was really 30 seconds? The GPS ping isn't a stop watch and has no clue what the vehicle is doing. it just does a check in every 30 seconds. So if the 1st ping hit say 5 seconds before he left then he was moving for only 25 seconds instead of 30 thereby increasing his rate of travel. The odds are 1 in 30 that he left within 1 second of the first ping.

I setup a home server (print, file, ftp, smtp, on-demand packet sniffing, etc) on a 2GB MSI Wind Nettop. This is a barebones PC and uses only 35Watts peak. With HDD, RAM, etc total cost was $350.00

The coolest part is the "server" spends most of its time asleep (S3). When someone in the house needs to print, access files, etc they have an icon that sends a magic packet to wake the server. The server will then stay on as long as needed (based on CPU Util + 10 minutes) and then go back to sleep. Be doing this for 2+ years (old higher watt computer previously) and this solution works great for us.

-Joe

Exactly, Microsoft is pulling all the marketing stops out (same thing they did with Vista). What's the point? What's the real RTO on Win 7? If I have a computer that performs all of the features I need it to do why would I upgrade?

11 Years ago my father bought a $6,000 top of the line Gateway with Windows 98 and it was a blazing fast. 4 years later it was a paperweight but will the same be said of today's average machines? I still have 4 - 5 year old PCs in production use with no problems. They're fast enough and when they die I'll replace them with $300 models. Intel lost, the CPU has outclassed every app that most businesses/users need and now it's MS's turn. They are trying to justify this new OS for which very few people have any real need. XP looks dated? Who cares? Show me one truly useful thing Vista/Win 7 can do they cannot be done with XP.

-Joe

These threads always devolve to Symantec bashing but what I would find curious is how many of you actually have seen the latest edition? I despised NAV for years and having worked for Symantec I always used SAV (now SEP) because it was a lighter client with comparable detection.

Today almost the reverse is true. While SEP incorporates much more than AV/Spyware/Firewall it has become even more intrusive with the ability to provide all sorts of corporate level protection. NAV, on the other hand, is totally streamlined. I installed Norton 360 v3 the other day on a 5 year old computer. It took ~60 seconds to install. That's from the time I started the executable to the time of the optional restart. Boot-up had no increase in lag and the interface was completely non-intrusive. Of course if those are the only reasons you run AV then why bother?

The thing to ask yourself, remember all the controversy over the ribbon? It never went away, people got bored and accepted it but how many mothers, grandmothers, non-computer college students, etc find the ribbon more useful? The dozens of people I've seen use the computer LESS with vista\o2k7 and now I get call on "how to print" or even "how to change fonts". I never got that with o2k3. I'm pushing OO not because it's better but because non computer people like menus. A ribbon for firefox will just do more to drive the non-geeks away.

-Joe

Sir,

As a non-programmer but serious interface tweaker, Thank you!

Other people were driven way by Microsoft by the crappy software they produced I've been driven away because of their insistence to remove my ability to customize with their latest round of crapware (Office 2007, vista/w2k8, exchange, sql, etc.)

Have whatever defaults you want but don't force them down users' throats. I finally over came the last forced default in FF recently using KeyConfig to remove the default FF shortcuts which are... Hard Coded! D'oh!

-Joe

SNL (Saturday Night Live) made this joke in the third season over 20 years ago (I believe it was for a 3 bladed razor).

I love that all you suckers have fallen for the advertising and are convinced it makes a difference. That keeps the price of the single blade razors I sue dirt cheap. Thanks!

It just doesn't look natural. Time and again scientists, engineers or artists design a more efficient process or item and yet it never penetrates beyond a small group of fanatics. The segway just looks awkward. For comparison consider the Pontiac Aztec (generally considered to be the ugliest car of the last 25 years) It could be practical, have tons of space, and it is still ugly. Same reason we are not all living in geodesic (sp?) domes.

Function over form rarely works and without a sudden artistic shift to the accepted (think Sideburns or bellbottoms) I doubt IT will ever win a wider audience.

Although I would question the validity of a billion dollar scam (as another user points out most plans get free minutes and if you exceed your quota by 15 seconds or 1 minutes, wow...) Perhaps it is a cross billing issue between providers?

I HATE that stupid message. It will be the second reason I can't wait to dump Verizon Wireless this fall when my contract expires. Yes I have the "You may press * to bypass this message" at the start of my greeting (yes, it is * for Verizon) but nobody else does this so it is always an insulting guessing game. But just like we sheep consumer blithely accept more and more advertising shoved down our throats so goes the message. I can't wait for the day when I get the verbal instructions on how to use the numeric keypad, (You may now leave a numeric message. To leave a 1, press the 1 key, etc.)

Gosh, helpful Verizon... Maybe society is really becoming so mentally limited this type of stuff is needed.

-Joe

go look at norton 360 v3. It installed in less than 90 seconds and has almost 0 impact on system performance on my father-in-laws very messy XP workstation with 512MB of RAM (about 4 year old pc)

Norton has come ALONG way in the last 2 years.

disclaimer: I no longer work for Symantec but I do still own some of their stock

It seems every company seeks the holy grail of integrated software. One interface to do everything and time and again the general public ignores these "advances" (anyone remember GEOS?)

Why? Let's look at the latest massively successful "product", Twitter. Summary of twitter: Send 140 Characters to the world. Wow. Stunningly complex (from the user's perspective), huh?

What made Google so successful was doing one thing and doing it well. Wave holds 0 interest for me (disclaimer: neither does twitter but at least I get it). Another integrated communication method to take all my avenues of communication and point it to one. Oof. Sorry. If there is one thing we have too much of these days is communications. At least having to use separate programs or channels slows it down just a little. Who wants more mail, more IMs or more anything?

-Joe

I don't use IE or Chrome or Opera or any other browser because Firefox is the only one that works the way I want to work. Remember the days when software worked for you instead of you working for it? FF lets me customize every last bit and piece and as long as it is comparable (ie 3 seconds instead of 1) then I am more than happy and will be unlikely to switch.

I am sure there are plenty of users who take all the defaults and learn to work within the constraints of IE or etc. but I betcha a majority of \. readers like to set things just so.

-Joe

I doubt it. Many people (including myself) run the same config and \. loads almost instantly for me every time.

There is a limitation of that analysis. I've run XP since it was released without AV or AS or A anything and I have NEVER gotten infected (I came close once when one of my kids downloaded some *.mp3.vbs files and as I clicked on it I realized what I had done and yanked the cord).

If my mom and your mom and everyone's mom and dads and sisters and brothers starting running ubuntu where do you think all the viruses would be then? (and no Viri is NOT the plural of virus!).

Viruses go where they can easily infect many people. That's not Ubuntu today... I would recommend we all get off our high horses and stop worrying about the OS and start getting our moms and dads and everyone to practice safe computing. My father-in-law, who owns a gun and trusts no one, blindly clicks on every link and opens every mail regardless of the sender. We have to redirect our mistrust from our physical neighbors and turn it on our digital friends (get off my virtual lawn!).

-Joe

bias: I use to work for Symantec 3 years ago.

I always love this one. I was at Symantec for almost 7 years. I never even saw Norton products. Yes they use to be crap (have gotten aLOT better recently but I still don't run them) but Symantec has a huge stake in the Enterprise networks. I guess most people who bother to respond think their network of 500 users is big. This past year as a consultant working with Symantec products the average network I was in was 70,000+ seats.

John Thompson was smart. 9 years ago he realized the consumer AV space was going to get crowded. The merger with Veritas took longer than was hoped for but now things are going gang busters and most of the Symantec partners have more work than they now what to do with. Sym has dozens of key pieces of software all over the security spectrum. You may not like Norton but don't count them out.