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Comment Re:Convenience costs money (Score 1) 492

by adam.dorsey (#27228643) Attached to: Office Depot Employee — "We Changed Prices Too"

It would probably be cheaper to give each new employee an allowance for a new computer and have them make the purchase directly.

But then everyone has a different machine from a different vendor, so a lot of your IT tips and tricks (standard images for all the machines, hot spares, emergency parts, etc.) go out the window, which means your support costs go up. If you're a small business, it's no big, but once you start getting into multiple hundreds of machines that need administered, shit can get nasty if each machine is just different enough to be a pain.
Image

When Servers Explode Screenshot-sm 142

Posted by samzenpus from the smash-it-up dept.
1sockchuck writes "Have you ever lost your patience with a server? We're not sure who was the first person to intentionally blow up a server, but plenty of others have followed in their footsteps, and many seem to have captured the event on video. The Gallery of Exploding Servers documents the sometimes incendiary relationship between man and machine. Those who prefer a kinder, gentler disposition may prefer the guide to Flying and Crashing Servers."

Comment Re:Apple prices (Score 2, Informative) 479

by adam.dorsey (#26856943) Attached to: Microsoft Sued Over Vista-To-XP Downgrade Fees

Dude, those ARE the FB-DIMM prices. FB-DIMM long ago stopped being more than a few dollars off from the normal DDR2 option.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134688
Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM ECC Fully Buffered DDR2 800 - $33.49 each, $66.98 total; GP quoted $67.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134862
Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM ECC Fully Buffered DDR2 800 - $156.99 each, $627.96 total; GP quoted $604.

FB-DIMM memory does not invalidate his argument in any way.
Privacy

Cambridge, Mass. Moves To Nix Security Cameras 366

Posted by timothy from the buncha-lefties dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Citing privacy concerns, the Cambridge, Mass. City Council has voted 9-0 to remove security cameras scattered throughout the city. 'Because of the slow erosion of our civil liberties since 9/11, it is important to raise questions regarding these cameras,' said Marjorie Decker, a Cambridge city councilor. Rather than citing privacy, WCBVTV is running the story under the headline 'City's Move To Nix Security Cams May Cost Thousands.'"
The Courts

RIAA Hearing Next Week Will Be Televised 291

Posted by kdawson from the light-of-day dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "One commentator labels it 'another fly in the RIAA's ointment.' In SONY BMG Music v. Tenenbaum, the Boston, Massachusetts, RIAA case in which the defendant is represented by Harvard law professor Charles Nesson and a group of his students, the Judge has ruled that the hearing scheduled for January 22nd will be televised over the Internet. The hearing will relate to Mr. Tenenbaum's counterclaims against the record companies and against the RIAA. In her 11-page opinion (PDF), District Judge Nancy Gertner labeled as 'curious' the record companies' opposition to televising the proceedings, since their professed reason for bringing the cases is deterrence, 'a strategy [which] effectively relies on the publicity arising from this litigation'."
The Internet

Germany Legislates For Mandatory Web Filters 309

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-got-a-finger-you-can-filter dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Germany's Minister for Families has announced a legislative initiative to force ISPs to implement a government-mandated block list (in English), which will be updated daily. The BKA (Germany's equivalent of the FBI) will be in charge of generating and maintaining the list. As usual, this is being brought in under the 'fight child porn' guise. The minister is quoted as saying: 'We must not water down the problem' in reply to being challenged that this law and technology could be used to censor other content. She then went on to say: 'I can't know what wishes and plans future governments will develop.' She has agreed the principle of the legislation with the interior minister and the technology minister, which in German coalition government terms means it's pretty much a done deal."
Windows

Submission + - Microsoft Postpones Windows 7 Public Beta Release (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
CWmike
CWmike writes: "Microsoft has postponed the roll-out of the Windows 7 public beta today, citing 'very heavy traffic' on its Web site. The company did not offer a new schedule for delivering the beta of its newest operating system. 'Due to very heavy traffic we're seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to Microsoft.com properties before we post the public Beta today,' a spokeswoman said in an instant message reply to earlier questions about Microsoft.com's performance. "We want to ensure customers have the best possible experience when downloading the Beta.""
Earth

Are Biofuels Still Economically Feasible? 186

Posted by samzenpus from the Mr.-Fusion dept.
thefickler writes "With falling gas prices, and the end of capitalism as we know it (otherwise known as the credit crisis), the biofuels industry is not looking as viable as it once was. Indeed biofuel production has fallen well short of expectations, with biofuel companies closing down or reducing production capacity. It appears that the industry's only hope is government support."
Security

Zimbra Desktop Vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle Attack 49

Posted by timothy from the imperfect-world dept.
tiffanydanica writes "For all the flack Mozilla gets about its new security warnings for https sites, at least it warns the user when a mismatch occurs. Sadly the new Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop (released in part to fix some security issues), doesn't bother validating the SSL certificate on the other side before sending along the username and password, making it vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack. This is certainly a step up from transmitting the information in the clear, since the attacker must switch from being passive to active, but with all of the DNS security problems, it would be fairly trivial for a malicious attacker to grab a large number of Yahoo! accounts (be it for phishing or spaming). Hopefully this issue will get fixed shortly, but for now Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop users may wish to use the webmail interface."
Mozilla

FireFox 3.1 Leaves IE in the Dust 435

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-just-want-fewer-beachballs dept.
Anonymous writes "Granted, FireFox 3.1 is just a beta and IE 8 is also in beta, but it looks like Microsoft has some ground to make up when it comes to browser performance. Given that Mozilla appears to be on a much faster cycle than Microsoft with this stuff, it's also possible that it could increase the gap even more before IE 8 is GA, no?"
Patents

MSM Noticing That Patent Gridlock Stunts Innovation 233

Posted by kdawson from the we-could-have-told-you-and-did dept.
trichard tips a column on the editorial page at that most traditional of mainstream media, the Wall Street Journal, arguing the point (obvious to this community for a decade) that the US patent system costs more than the value it delivers. The columnist is L. Gordon Crovitz and here is an excerpt: "New drugs require great specificity to earn a patent, whereas patents are often granted to broad, thus vague, innovations in software, communications, and other technologies. Ironically, the aggregate value of these technology patents is then wiped out through litigation costs. Our patent system [is] a disincentive at a time when we expect software and other technology companies to be the growth engine of the economy. Imagine how much more productive our information-driven economy would be if the patent system lived up to the intention of the Founders, by encouraging progress instead of suppressing it."
Space

Testing New Transistors In Space 54

Posted by samzenpus from the the-fantastic-transistors dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "Northwestern University researchers have developed new transistors which are currently tested on the International Space Station (ISS) to see how they react to cosmic radiation. These transistors, which are using a new kind of gate dielectric material called a self-assembled nanodielectric (SAND), are exposed to radiation outside the ISS since March 22, 2008, and will stay there for one year. According to the researchers, these new transistors could be used 'on long space missions since early experiments on Earth indicate that the transistors hold up well when exposed to radiation.'"

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