On 11/25/05, Shawn Tan wrote: > On Friday 25 November 2005 11:23, Xiaofan Chen wrote: > > Do not get me wrong. I like Linux and I like open source. However I do > > think that the free alternative is not that cheap after all in the coporate > > setup. > > hmmm... i think it depends on how you set it up.. if you have a thin-client > like setup (say harddiskless), with computers booting off the network, and > saving data on centralised file servers, and maybe doing work off central > compute clusters (which could be formed by the thin-clients themselves), it's > actually quite cheap in terms of deployment (you do not need to constantly > upgrade your PCs every 2-3 yrs).. and regular administration/maintenance > (easier to apply patches, updates.. do backups..) I think NC is dead. Not so sure about the US$100 notebook thingy. I think it is doomed to fail. PC rules! > > Nanyang Technology University of Singapore has a massive Exchange Server > > 60,000 or more). It is said to be much cheaper than SUN and Digital Unix > > based solution. > > hmm.. but cheaper than Linux??!! "Say It Isn't So!!" Not so sure here. One of my brother once worked for a company. The company was fined for not enough Office and Windows License. Then they moved to Linux and Open Office. All the unties and uncles complain a lot and they have to buy Windows and Office. Redhat and Novell Linux are both more expensive than Windows. A Dell Linux desktop will also be more expensive than a Dell PC. Linux Desktop is fine and I am using it, but only at home. Just to get MPLAB work under Linux will be long long time to wait. > > > Outlook is very convenient with the same organization. Between > > organization, it is not much useful. > > it is useful for spreading virii.. d: If the admins are doing the job, probably not. If Linux is as popular as Windows, then virus under Linux will be as many as Windows. Linux is good but do not blaim Windows too much. My XP is as stable as my Ubuntu Linux and I will say much more stable than my previous Redhat Linux 9 setup. > > > Web-based is the buzz word now. In the real world, I hate the web > > AJAX is the buzz word.. Again, AJAX is just another buzz word. JavaScript and dynamic HTML has long been there. The IT guys are just doing all these again and again --> creating buzz word without changing the underlying things. I am not an IT guy so I may be wrong here. > > > service thingy. After they move the AS400 terminal based ERP application > > to web-service, I need to spend 10 minutes on a 1minutes task originally > > Yeah.. the only good web-based software i've used that is comparable to local > software, is probably gmail.. but that's probably because of their massive > computational and communication resources.. i doubt that many other orgs > could build truly responsive web-apps.. Gmail is not any good. With my S$58 per month 2Mbps cable modem connection, it is still not really fast. In terms of purchasing power, US$1 = S$1 = Chinese RMB 1 = Euro 1. > > > I do not agree that "bottom-posting doesn't add complexity". To scroll > > to the bottom adds a bit of complexity involved. To leave two empty > > the whole point is to "not force anyone to scroll".. > > > lines waste bandwidth. Start from the empty line is the natural thing > > to do --> top posting adds less complexity. > I do not think interleaved reply (to cut into the middle of a sentense) like this is any of good. > it's unnatural to leave blank spaces at the top.. hence, it's silly for > clients to assume that everyone wants to top-post.. if they want to do that > by default, fine.. but at least give users an option to turn it off.. forcing > people to delete the few blank lines at the top for every single email is > silly, and painful on the user.. > That is what Gmail does --> leave two lines on top. I do not know how to turn it off yet. > cheers.. > > with metta, > shawn tan. By the way, I understand what "with meta" means. How many others know this? Regards, Xiaofan -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist