GNU is Not Unix

Convincing Your Superiors to GPL the Code? 139

Posted by Cliff from the why-not? dept.
jakobgrimstveit asks: "At work I've been developing an intranet/extranet portal framework in PHP based on many other peoples work, including quite a few PEAR modules. I've always wanted to release the coding framework as GPL and publish it on SourceForge, and my boss has - impressively enough - not been too negative about this. This has been going around in the organization for quite a while now, and finally the reply from the company's president was (not surprisingly): 'Why should we do so?' I now have the task of writing a document listing the main reasons for GPLing the code, and this is where I turn to the highly competent Slashdot crowd: How do I convince my bosses to GPL the code I've written? I assume many other developers have the same problems trying to convince their bosses to open up their code."
Toys

Creating a Clever Home? 116

Posted by Cliff from the building-a-better-home-through-hardware dept.
eKto1 asks: "We've recently purchased an older, dated home which we are in the process of gutting and restructuring. While there are no walls, we are obviously running the standard Cat5, and speaker cable to each and every room, however we would also like to modernize the house even more by making it intelligent, as in 'Smart'. I'd like to install touch screens in the majority of the rooms, to control things such as media (separate audio and video to each wall unit), lighting, temperature, etc. For those of you on Slashdot who have done this, what has your experience been? Are there guides for doing this easily and effectively, without having to sell the farm? Is there a way to allow distributed content to head units while keeping servers down to one or 2 units?"
Education

Introducing a Child to Constructive Computer Use? 131

Posted by Cliff from the educating-while-they're-young dept.
trevorgensch asks: "I have a young boy, about 6 years old, who is starting to take an interest in the computer I seem to spend too much time at lately. Lots of Slashdot readers out there must have had experiences with their young child wanting to learn more. I am all for it! But where to start? He has had a bit of experience with the Internet and children's sites and official sites of Pixar and Disney movies, but he wants more. Any pointers?"
Mars

The Mathematics of a Trip to Mars? 373

Posted by Cliff from the shouldn't-it-be-more-complex-than-this dept.
hakonhaugnes wonders: "Since trips to Mars seems commonplace (NASA has sent one every 26 months), I thought it made sense to try to understand how the interplanetary trajectory is calculated. NASA's page is deploringly void of intricate details. I found this excellent page, but it still left me feeling that I was missing something. Surely the calculus must go beyond two bodies (mars/earth)? (It seems there are commercial MATLAB scripts available but at $150 it went beyond the defensible to satisfy my curiosity). Are there any curious Slashdot readers with the usual great insight into how to calculate a trip to Mars?"
Databases

Improving Database Performance? 95

Posted by Cliff from the lead-foot-meet-database-gas-pedal dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "An acquaintance of mine runs a fair sized web community. Having nearly 280,000 users in a single MySQL database with about 12 mirrors accessing it, performance has become an big issue. I was wondering what practical methods could be used to lessen the load and decrease user query times. Funds are limited, so he'd rather not pay for a commercial database system at this time."
Graphics

Making Lab Quality Digital Photos? 41

Posted by Cliff from the what's-the-secret dept.
photoFinished asks: How do most photo labs produce their digital prints? It seems to me that there should be a machine that uses an LCD to create a virtual negative to expose standard photo paper to, resulting in a standard-type photograph as the end result. However, since just about every CVS, Walgreens and other pharmacy advertises the ability to produce prints from your digital photos, I'm wondering if there's a quality difference between the various stores? I can produce a 4x6 on a $100 name-brand ink jet that appears virtually identical to a lab print when you look at it behind glass, the only difference is a light reduction in the smooth/glossiness you get from a regular print. Does anyone have information on the methods used by the various chain pharmacies produce their prints? I'd hate to think that the $0.40 I'm paying for each 4x6 is actually nothing more then the result of an expensive ink jet printer. Sorry if this is one of those 'you should try google' type of questions, but I couldn't find the answers I was looking for."
Windows

How to Avoid IE-Specific WWW Development? 100

Posted by Cliff from the avoiding-developer-lock-in dept.
IE-less asks: "Can any Slashdot readers help me gather evidence to support the notion that developing an IE-specific WWW site is a bad thing? A state-level US-gov't organization we are contracted with (hence the anonymity) is about to embark on converting a Citrix-based application to a browser-based application, but in order to do so will make it IE Only. Our repeated screams of, 'No! Consider the standards!' have fallen on deaf ears. One of the few things we have found that helps is the Department of Homeland Security's recommendation that people switch browsers (look for 'Use another browser') care of the Get Firefox site. That's the sort of comment that makes people pay attention. The departments in question do not care about monopolies, non-Windows users, closed source expenses, etc. They will pay attention, though, to statements from powerful sources...such as the aforementioned. Anyone else find anything that works?"
Data Storage

Portable, Wireless File Server for the Car? 23

Posted by Cliff from the your-files-as-mobile-as-you-are dept.
Kerhop wonders: "I'm looking to implement an off-site file storage location but want it to be convenient for me to access with the right security credentials by placing a portable file server in my car that has at 802.11b ability and is battery powered (but also recharged via cigarette lighter adapter). I've found the Sony FSV-PGX1. I am curious, though -- what solutions have others found?"
Entertainment

PCs in the Living Room? 78

Posted by Cliff from the comfortable-and-portable-yet-unobtrusive dept.
mwebert asks: "OK. I figure a large number of my fellow Slashdot readers have encountered this same scenario, so please respond. Right now, we keep our Dell Inspiron notebook on the corner of our coffee table in the center of our living room, accessing our home wireless network, and allowing the user to see the TV and multitask their little heart out. (Yay, IMDB!) That said, sitting on the edge of the couch (or worse, the floor) is getting old fast. Of course, I could get a true desk, but I don't want it to face the wall or corner, and I don't want it to turn the decor of my living room into a dentist's office reception area. I'm looking for a handsome (yet unobtrusive and functional) rolling workstation, preferably with a shelf/drawer or two. I've checked out http://www.anthro.com/ - but their offerings look pretty utilitarian, don't they? Any other ideas?"
Education

Best Language for Beginner Programmers? 448

Posted by Cliff from the what-do-you-start-them-off-with dept.
jahardman asks: "I work at a High School that has recently seen a decline in the number of students that want to take our entry level-programming course in Visual Basic. We have been toying with the idea of having the introduction course be in PHP or Ruby on Rails; but are not convinced that they lead well into higher level languages. Does anyone out there have suggestions as to what would be a better language to start students with? Ideally one that might be more 'enticing' as well?"
Editorial

Pros and Cons of Tech Offshoring? 120

Posted by Cliff from the bane-or-boon dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "There's an interesting analysis of tech offshoring at the moment posted on Membox. It looks at the pros and cons of the practice in two separate articles. Since this is a big issue in tech at the moment, it's good to see the arguments on each side given so clearly. What effect do Slashdot readers think offshoring is having on the industry?"
Businesses

Failure Rate of PC Manufacturers? 75

Posted by Cliff from the stuff-that-would-be-nice-to-know dept.
The ever-popular Anonymous Coward asks: "Hello. We are conducting a write-up for our clients, however we cannot seem to locate any published failure rate of PC manufacturers. Google does bring up past PC Magazine articles - but nothing recent. Does Slashdot know of a way to find this information, as this strikes me as valuable information for the computer buyer. We sell many PC's (B3 VAR) and have done for the last 5 years. We can and will produce our failure rate info - why aren't the big companies doing so?"
Handhelds

Best PDA for College? 115

Posted by Cliff from the yet-another-thing-to-carry-in-your-backpack dept.
andyic3 asks: "College starts in a month. I've been searching for a very simple, tiny, modern PDA for storing due dates on. I've looked at the REX 6000, but it's too simple. I've looked at PocketPC's, but can't seem to find anything smaller than the old iPaq H1910. I've looked at Palm solutions, but can't find anything there. What's the best PDA for this application?"
Programming

What are the Next Programming Models? 540

Posted by Cliff from the code-for-the-next-generation dept.
jg21 writes "In this opinion piece, Simeon Simeonov contemplates what truly new programming models have emerged recently, and nominates two: RIAs and what he calls 'composite applications' (i.e. using Java, .NET or any other programming language). He notes that Microsoft will be trying to achieve RIAs in Avalon, but that it's late out of the gate. He also cites David Heinemeier Hansson's Ruby on Rails project as showing great promise. 'As both a technologist and an investor I'm excited about the future,' Simeonov concludes. It's a thoughtful piece, infectious in its quiet enthusiasm. But what new models are missing from his essay?"
Communications

Sanely Moving from Word to the Web? 547

Posted by Cliff from the tag-soup dept.
FooAtWFU asks: "I have a job for a web site (no link for you, Slashdot hordes!). A lot of it is systems administration and development, but I have to routinely post content which comes from a myriad of other sources. Usually they are from academic users, come in Word format, and ultimately need to be posted in HTML. The problem is that Word has all sorts of tricks up its sleeve to throw off the font, layout, size, and so forth. To achieve any sort of visual consistency on the site these various formatting tags all need to be scrubbed, but even using other office suites with better HTML export (OpenOffice.Org) to do the dirty work, it's often easier to recreate the formatting by hand from a plain-text version than it is to clean up a sea of messy tags. Does anyone have any advice (or magical tools) to help me deal with this sort of tedious cleanup?"
Communications

Pro-Active VoIP Management Solutions? 30

Posted by Cliff from the simulate-the-problems-before-your-users-find-them dept.
Adeptus_Luminati asks: "I've been running a 1000 user Mitel VoIP phone (to the desk) network which encompasses 20 buildings glued together by our Telco's _private_ fibre backbone (no Internet involved here). Once in a while we have voice quality degradation issues caused by excess latency, jitter, bandwidth saturation, QoS mis-configurations, and so forth. I've been using Ixia Chariot software to simulate VoIP calls over the WAN between our various offices and collect data of the problems, but this is only useful AFTER the problem is reported by our users, and after I am lucky enough to be around and catch the problem happening in real time; otherwise, I have no way of proving to our Telco that there IS a problem. What solutions have other network admins come up with to pro-actively manage similar private VoIP networks?"
Communications

Best Way to Handle Email for a Small Domain? 126

Posted by Cliff from the looking-for-options dept.
CorkBobbingInTheSeaOfLife asks: "Our company just had its bi-annual email crisis/outage, so my boss wants to try something new -- to give me the 'opportunity' to figure out and implement a better way to host our small domain's email. We've changed hosts a few times, but whether we spend a little money or a lot none have been as reliable as we've liked -- companies fold, get blacklisted by AOL, and so forth. Is there a way to be smart about this, without hiring a dedicated email server pro? Do reliable email hosts actually exist? Should we run 'email appliance' software (such as ClarkConnect or E-Smith) on our own server? I'd appreciate any tips here - hell hath no fury like people without email, and I am very afraid..."
GNU is Not Unix

A Linux Users Group for Professionals? 59

Posted by Cliff from the beyond-hobbyism dept.
ir0b0t asks: "I'm a lawyer in a solo divorce practice in Missoula, Montana. I have migrated my office to OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird but want to do more Open Source, yet I have issues that come up nearly every day. The problems I encounter are often unique to running a small law practice. Coders sometimes give me blank looks when I describe what I need. Other lawyers tend to automatically use proprietary solutions and show little interest in Open Source alternatives. I want to eventually use only Open Source code in my office. I am willing to do my homework. Are there others like me out there? Is there a Linux Users Group or other online forum for professionals like me who want more Open Source solutions for our work? Thanks."
The Almighty Buck

Establishing an IT Budget for a Small Business? 226

Posted by Cliff from the show-me-tha-money dept.
tirthas asks: "I am the Information Manager of a small (20 person) architecture firm and have recently been asked by my employer to prepare a technology spending budget. While I have a good handle on what I would like to spend vs. what I must spend, I am having some difficulty establishing a justifiable budgeting method. I have seen examples of 'per employee' methods and 'percentage of revenue' methods, but the dollars and percentages vary widely. What methods do you use to establish your departmental/company-wide budgets, what are your monetary amounts or percentages, and what successes or failures did you have in establishing your budgets?"
Programming

AJAX, Echo, .NET - What Impact Have They Had? 106

Posted by Cliff from the will-the-browser-ever-trump-the-desktop dept.
BjB asks: "We've talked about platform neutral frameworks for years, but with the recent story about AJAX threatening the desktop, it made me think about the hype around two frameworks that were supposed to bring applications to the browser: Microsoft .NET and the Java competitor Echo framework. Both technologies boast that you can write a desktop application that can also easily be exported as an identical web-based application. I know a lot of developers hailed the .NET framework as a major innovation and jumped on board. The Echo framework was the counter-attack that leveled the field. Now, over two years later, I don't think I've ever seen anything that leverages either one? Was this a short lived battle with nobody reaping the rewards, or has it actually made some in-roads?"

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