@AC 11:13 Re: MS blocked the use of Open Stanards...
"List something - anything - that happened within the last five years"
UK gov policy on open standards. The consultation is happening right now and MS are one of the proprietary companies lobbying to have it changed to terms that would exclude open source. The online consultation is here: http://consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards/
If you have any interest in the matter, please go and reply to the consultation, whether you are an open source advocate or a proprietary evangelist. UK gov needs to hear all voices, not just the voices of a few large companies.
The price of licenses for the suite of Rational tools, LotusNotes, AIX, the multiple WebSphere products, etc suggests otherwise.
IBM makes money from service, hardware and software sales. Each of those is used as a channel for the other two: you got in the door selling services? Sell them hardware and software too! You go in the door selling a single license of WebSphere App Server? Sell them services to learn how to use it, some hardware to run it on and a few copies of Rational Software Architect to build stuff on it!
IBM is a complex beast and has a business model that is a lot more complex than "oh they just sell services". Software may not make up the biggest part of their revenue but it is still essential to the way they operate: a lot of smaller companies and individuals deal with IBM for the first time through software either directly or indirectly. And in that space open source is essential to them: the vast majority of Java / JEE developers get their first view of IBM by using Eclipse. Some will stay on the open source product, others will move to the Rational suite and become bona fide customers.
So the comparison with IBM is not that far fetched.
As usual, you have to read the small print: the Linux options are nowhere to be seen when you go to the shopping site and the reason is to be found in the notes on the detailed tech specs: "Linux available 2nd calendar quarter 2012 (CQ2'12)"
Having said this, it looks like a very nice machine for its target audience. Granted, it's got the same downside as any other all-in-one in the sense that the screen is non-replaceable but for customers for whom desk space is at a premium and who would otherwise be tempted by an iMac, it looks like a good alternative. A good compromise between a desktop/tower design and other all-in-one designs methinks.
For those saying "it's not as upgradable as X" or "not as cheap as Y" or "not as slick looking as Z", you are probably right. Just remember that very few people have a single requirement in mind when buying a computer so a design that provides a good compromise between several conflicting requirements is usually a winner.
Finally, it's an HP. Good news for some, bad news for others. My (limited) experience with HP hardware is that their consumer stuff is crap while their business/professional offering is a bit dull but is solid and works very well.
This is exactly why the first batch of boards are aimed at developers so that they can iron out the production issues and get developers to fiddle with them, build software, see what works and what doesn't, basically get them to a large audience. The education versions (which will come in a case and with a manual) are planned for the end of the year IIRC.
Also, as it's a Linux box, you have a massive choice of languages to tinker with, including LOGO and Scratch. Once they get the basics of programming in those languages, they can move to other more complex languages. Experience so far seems to show that kids are indeed interested: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1022
The posture is part of it but if you have a really wonky chair, your body will automatically compensate for the wonkyness and adopt a weird (and possibly painful) posture. I had one yesterday that looked fine but was subtly out of kilter and my back started aching after 15 minutes. Swapping for another one (same model, less wonky) immediately relieved the pain. So a good chair is one that enables you to adopt a good posture and can also survive an office environment many years without breaking. Such chairs are not cheap but well worth the investment.
What this doesn't say is how many of those downloads of old versions are done knowingly because devs are working with legacy code that only supports Tomcat v3.1.4.1.5 RC1 and nothing else? Or because the company policy mandates a particular version of a product irrespective of whether it has security holes or not?
If you believe that the diacritics in French are used to mark emphasis then you don't know very much French I'm afraid. Having said this, you are right that diacritics are not strictly necessary to understand French, but that rule varies from one language to the next. Some are easier to deal with when diacritics are removed than others.
I'd suggest you actually try LibreOffice 3.5 on some of your VBA-heavy documents. They've done a lot of work on VBA compatibility recently and even have specialised unit tests for it. And they will be a lot more receptive that OO.o (or MS for that matter) when you file a bug.
Did you actually read TFA? They added a lot of unit test framework code as well as individual unit tests, in order to make it possible to refactor untested and brittle legacy code.
Who said it had to be even remotely plausible anyway? It's meant to provide a good Friday chuckle and it definitely succeeds at doing that. Or did you leave your sense of humour at the door this morning?
I don't care if it's old and implausible, it made me laugh and that's all I needed from it. Thank you Simon!
The same Grateful Dead whom I saw live in 1989? They sounded rather fine when I saw them and seemed to rather enjoy playing concerts in massive arenas.
Totally agree with you. However, keeping customers informed through a number of channels (blog, Twitter, etc) should be a good way to reduce the numbers of customer calls, shouldn't it? So why can't large companies do this properly? I would wager that's because they didn't spend the money having a disaster handling plan and when sh1t happens, it's complete panic. It could be as simple to have a named member of staff in PR tasked with sending regular updates during an outage to ensure that fewer customers pick up the phone.
Like the N9? I've got one: very nice handset! You can't find it in the UK but you can order it on Expansys and they will ship you one from continental Europe (mine came from Germany).
Having said this, that's probably the last Nokia handset I will ever own.
"Does the word "origin" hint that Facebook could be developing a site intended for users who want to build up family trees or track down long-lost relatives?"
I read an article recently that an interview of someone at FB saying that's exactly what they want to do. If I could remember where I read that, I'd post a link but unfortunately I can't.
Thanks for the advice, I'll probably get myself a copy! On the same subject, Pragmatic Programmers also have an interesting title: http://pragprog.com/book/bhgwad/web-design-for-developers
"CSI Luton and a new episode twist: one where they don't have to call in the kebab fat spatter analyst or rely on a shell-suit arse print to identify the culprit"
"You must draw a line under a failure and honestly admitting your limits is actually good for your case since it shows honesty."
Absolutely right! I've done a few tech interviews where we decided who to hire based on how the candidates reacted to questions they didn't know the answer to. We always had some try to wing it and come up with obvious rubbish answers; and some admit immediately they didn't know the answer and ask questions in order to work it out. Guess who we hired.
I've had mine done several times by several CV companies too and the price you pay has no relation to how good the result is. The last one actually took the time to meet me, understand what I could do and what I wanted to do. Most importantly, every time he suggested a modification, he also took the time to explain why and discuss the rationale. The end result is a much improved CV and best of all I know why it's better and how to do it again. As you would expect that guy was not the most expensive and I didn't find him through ads but via word of mouth.
Same rules apply to recruiters: if they are not ready to meet you to understand who you are and what you can do, nor are they ready to discuss feedback with you, they are the type of recruiters who just throw candidates at jobs and see what sticks. The really good ones do their homework and make sure that they send the right candidate to the right job. Run away from the former and make sure you keep the latter in your phone book and updated on your situation.
The TouchPad is a very nice fondleslab indeed and you can install a minimal version of Ubuntu on it. But that's Ubuntu running within webOS, not on its own. I've been meaning to try it out for several weeks but haven't quite got round to it yet.
Exactly. 13" is a great screen size for a lightweight laptop that you can take anywhere: it fits in a large handbag or a small backpack and is very usable. 15" starts getting too large to easily carry around. This is exactly why I went from 15" to 13" when I replaced my laptop. If I want a large screen, I use the desktop.
I don't know what version was on that CD but recent releases will give you the option to either download package updates as you install or to do it later. So I suggest you try again.
Irrespective of whether you like Unity or not, I think its effect will be the same as all disruptive technology: get the incumbents to re-think what they've been doing for so long.
From my point of view, the Linux desktop has (visually) stagnated for several years. KDE has always looked like Windows but with a funny icon instead of the Start menu; while GNOME 2 looks like Windows but with a second panel on top because we didn't have enough space to put everything we wanted in the bottom panel. And neither of them is very good at being efficient for the user out of the box. Prior to any customisation, you typically need 3 clicks in GNOME 2 to start an application (Applications menu -> Category sub-menu -> app you want to run). Both have the potential to be customised in a way that is very efficient for a particular user but are just very average on first use.
So Unity and GNOME 3 ask the question: can't we really do any better than that? Can we create something that is efficient and easy to use out of the box? Neither of them has all the answers but now that the status quo has been questioned, I hope we will see a lot of innovation in this space in the next few years from Unity, GNOME 3 and KDE (and possibly others). Hopefully, the end result will be a Linux desktop that is more productive for users out of the box.
In practice, this is exactly why I like Unity: I can't be asked to customise my desktop, I just want to use my computer rather than tinker with it and all in all I am more productive with Unity than I ever was with GNOME 2. Of course, a non-scientific sample of 1 doesn't make a statistic but I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I, for one, welcome our shiny desktop UI overlords.
I've had one of those for a month and it is a great little machine: it runs Ubuntu 11.10 flawlessly (and with a lot more spare SSD than Windows) and is very light compared to my old T42. The keyboard is not quite as comfortable than the T42 but still very good so that I can touch type on it. I quite like the physical on/off switch for the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios, which can extend battery life a little. I also took the SIM card out of my Vodafone 3G dongle, slotted it in the 3G compartment and 5 minutes later I was online with no hanging dongle on the side. The combination of Core i5, 8GB RAM and SSD means that it flies: less than 10 seconds to boot up, most applications open instantly (Firefox, LibreOffice, etc.), it is generally very responsive and doesn't shy from decent work (~1 1/2 hour to compile LibreOffice from source over 8 threads).
In practice, the only disappointing things are the ones pointed out in the article: the poor battery life, which is mitigated by the fact that it charges back to full capacity very quickly (~30 minutes in my experience); and the flap on the side that hides the headset + powered USB ports.
So if you need to be away from a wall socket for more than 1 or 2 hours at a time, this is not the machine for you. If you don't mind plugging it in regularly, it's a great lightweight laptop that packs a decent punch.
"The upgrade work was not that difficult in the end, especially as I wasn't in an externally-imposed panic. Do it before it does you!"
Well, that's the case for most things really: doing them in panic mode usually means 10 times the effort and 100 times the stress. Makes me think I need to look at IPv6 for my home office at some point.
If you were right then the Moneo system that has been around in France for several years would not be the success it is. A typical use is to pay at parking metres in the street: no need for loose change and more practical than a full chip+pin transaction (or the phone system you can find in some areas of London for that matter). Any situation where you have automated payment systems that deal with small amount would benefit from it. Paying in shops is more debatable.
Seems a bit like re-inventing the wheel (again!). if the future is HTML5 and related tech, that's exactly what webOS does: you use HTML5 to create apps.
Off the top of my head, LO supports SVG out of the box both in Draw and Writer, it has more filters for weird and wonderful data formats and a lot less cobwebs inside as the developers have been hard at work cleaning the code and removing old legacy stuff.
"So, how are they going to lure win users and enterprises when the (unfortunately ubiquitous) Office is incompatible with LO?"
By fixing the bugs? You can help them get there quicker by providing simple test case documents that exhibit specific bugs. One bug per test case document and keep it as lightweight as possible. If you can also provide screen shots to explain why the LO behaviour is not the expected one.
By doing that, it will help the developers gather the information they need to fix the bugs and will also enable them to write unit tests that ensure those bugs don't creep back in a later release.
You don't need to be a developer to help you favourite FLOSS project!
For those who didn't even check what the web site looked like before commenting, I'll point out that most of the information is about creating and packaging apps, what tools to use, etc. which is exactly the right information to put in front of potential developers. Money is not mentioned at all, it is only alluded to in the "publish" section by the fact that you have sub-sections for commercial as well as open source software. So when it comes to publishing, it's your choice whether you ask for money to download your app or not.
To come back to the article, having a vetting process for apps published that way, either commercial or open source, is not necessarily bad as long as the criteria are open. The main strength but also the main weakness of Linux apps is that you just have so many of them. Choice is good but more often than not when you have 10 apps that do the same thing, 8 of them are crap or no longer supported, one is average and one is great and quite often you don't know which is which until you've tried them all out. So if some sort of vetting, especially around support, can increase the overall quality, it can't be bad.
I quite like Unity. Having been running one laptop with 10.10 and one with 11.04/11.10 for a few weeks, I've been able to compare them side by side and I don't think I will miss the old desktop. Yes, Unity still has a few rough edges but it's getting there. What I really like about Unity are the keyboard shortcuts. When it comes to the applications I use all the time, I just add them to the launcher and I can start them through a simple key combo, quicker than what I could do with the old Gnome 2.x desktop. I know that you could customise the desktop to your heart content but making things easier out of the box is good. The only thing missing (or that I haven't found yet) is the ability to re-order the items in the launcher.
I haven't extensively tried out the lenses in the new dash but first impression is that it should enable me to find stuff a lot quicker than the old file system would.
Among other changes, I've noted a couple of interesting things when going through the system settings:
There is a new "online accounts" setting where you can define online services a la webOS; it only has Google so far and it doesn't seem to do anything useful but anybody who has used a webOS device will see where that is going;
There is a new colour profile setting where you can add colour profiles for your peripherals such as webcams and printers: that's probably the first step to a full colour managed desktop, which will be great for anybody working in photography.
Other points to note is that Firefox 7.0 is lightning fast to start and Thunderbird is so much more responsive than Evolution, it makes a real difference. I'm also running the x64 version, which so far seems to be just as stable as the x86 version.
Generally a good stable release compared to 11.04. And as the next one will be an LTS, I would expect the trend to continue. At the end of the day, I think Ubuntu did the right thing in bringing Unity in 11.04. It felt a bit premature at the time but it's only once you have real users that you can start getting real bugs fixed so releasing Unity two cycles prior to the next LTS was the right way to iron out bugs out in time for 12.04.
Well actually low fat diet for lunch and low carb diet for dinner (or the other way around) is exactly how the Montignac diet works: it's based on the principle that fats are stored more easily when they are combined with carbs so making sure you don't eat them at the same time will make you lose weight while alternating low fat meals with low carb ones will ensure that you have a balanced diet with no deficiencies.
Having said this, I agree with you in that the key is "backed at executive level." Same for Agile, it only works if it's done properly and backed by the execs.
Here's the page on the subject from out-law: http://www.out-law.com/page-10510
Note that paragraph: "An exception exists where the cookie is "strictly necessary" for the provision of a service "explicitly requested" by the user – so cookies can take a user from a product page to a checkout without the need for consent. Other cookies will require prior consent, though."
I read this as saying that cookies used to keep a user session alive once the user has logged in are covered by the exception and don't require consent because the fact that you've logged in is an explicit request for the service. Same for a cookie that keeps shopping cart details: the fact that you've added an item to your basket is an explicit request for the service.
Power failure in the building, go up to the sales department and find out that none of the sales staff computers are connected to the UPS backed sockets but the Christmas tree is: nice blinking lights!
I've got a 64GB PATA (IDE) SSD in my good old trusty T42 and it works wonders! I'm not completely sure which model it is anymore but I think it's that one: http://www.kingspec.com/solid-state-disk-products/ssd-25pata-mlcs.htm
And the result is that my home T42 running Ubuntu is a lot faster than my work T410 running XP despite being 6 years older!
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Re: I'll just stick with LibreOffice
Well except that AFAIK LibreOffice are considering multi-licensing their code GPL + Apache to enable more sharing between both projects.
@madra Re: I used to use open office
Do you mean a mobile version like the Android and HTML5 ports currently being built? http://lxnews.or/2011/10/17/libreoffice-mobile-and-web/
All of them
I've worked in places where you had all of those problems at the same time. Including too little process and too much process.
@AC 11:13 Re: MS blocked the use of Open Stanards...
"List something - anything - that happened within the last five years"
UK gov policy on open standards. The consultation is happening right now and MS are one of the proprietary companies lobbying to have it changed to terms that would exclude open source. The online consultation is here: http://consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards/
If you have any interest in the matter, please go and reply to the consultation, whether you are an open source advocate or a proprietary evangelist. UK gov needs to hear all voices, not just the voices of a few large companies.
Re: matt assay - another fail
The price of licenses for the suite of Rational tools, LotusNotes, AIX, the multiple WebSphere products, etc suggests otherwise.
IBM makes money from service, hardware and software sales. Each of those is used as a channel for the other two: you got in the door selling services? Sell them hardware and software too! You go in the door selling a single license of WebSphere App Server? Sell them services to learn how to use it, some hardware to run it on and a few copies of Rational Software Architect to build stuff on it!
IBM is a complex beast and has a business model that is a lot more complex than "oh they just sell services". Software may not make up the biggest part of their revenue but it is still essential to the way they operate: a lot of smaller companies and individuals deal with IBM for the first time through software either directly or indirectly. And in that space open source is essential to them: the vast majority of Java / JEE developers get their first view of IBM by using Eclipse. Some will stay on the open source product, others will move to the Rational suite and become bona fide customers.
So the comparison with IBM is not that far fetched.
Linux: Q2 2012
As usual, you have to read the small print: the Linux options are nowhere to be seen when you go to the shopping site and the reason is to be found in the notes on the detailed tech specs: "Linux available 2nd calendar quarter 2012 (CQ2'12)"
Having said this, it looks like a very nice machine for its target audience. Granted, it's got the same downside as any other all-in-one in the sense that the screen is non-replaceable but for customers for whom desk space is at a premium and who would otherwise be tempted by an iMac, it looks like a good alternative. A good compromise between a desktop/tower design and other all-in-one designs methinks.
For those saying "it's not as upgradable as X" or "not as cheap as Y" or "not as slick looking as Z", you are probably right. Just remember that very few people have a single requirement in mind when buying a computer so a design that provides a good compromise between several conflicting requirements is usually a winner.
Finally, it's an HP. Good news for some, bad news for others. My (limited) experience with HP hardware is that their consumer stuff is crap while their business/professional offering is a bit dull but is solid and works very well.
Interesting toy anyway!
Re: It's an admirable project to be sure...
This is exactly why the first batch of boards are aimed at developers so that they can iron out the production issues and get developers to fiddle with them, build software, see what works and what doesn't, basically get them to a large audience. The education versions (which will come in a case and with a manual) are planned for the end of the year IIRC.
Also, as it's a Linux box, you have a massive choice of languages to tinker with, including LOGO and Scratch. Once they get the basics of programming in those languages, they can move to other more complex languages. Experience so far seems to show that kids are indeed interested: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1022
Re: Plan B
Yes, it's called MeeGo and it works very well on my N9.
Re: £700 for a decent chair
The posture is part of it but if you have a really wonky chair, your body will automatically compensate for the wonkyness and adopt a weird (and possibly painful) posture. I had one yesterday that looked fine but was subtly out of kilter and my back started aching after 15 minutes. Swapping for another one (same model, less wonky) immediately relieved the pain. So a good chair is one that enables you to adopt a good posture and can also survive an office environment many years without breaking. Such chairs are not cheap but well worth the investment.
What this doesn't say is how many of those downloads of old versions are done knowingly because devs are working with legacy code that only supports Tomcat v3.1.4.1.5 RC1 and nothing else? Or because the company policy mandates a particular version of a product irrespective of whether it has security holes or not?
Re: 7 bit US-ASCII - Grrr!
If you believe that the diacritics in French are used to mark emphasis then you don't know very much French I'm afraid. Having said this, you are right that diacritics are not strictly necessary to understand French, but that rule varies from one language to the next. Some are easier to deal with when diacritics are removed than others.
Re: @ madra
Indeed. First rule of logo design: make sure it works in black and white too!
@Ian Yates
I'd suggest you actually try LibreOffice 3.5 on some of your VBA-heavy documents. They've done a lot of work on VBA compatibility recently and even have specialised unit tests for it. And they will be a lot more receptive that OO.o (or MS for that matter) when you file a bug.
@JDX
Did you actually read TFA? They added a lot of unit test framework code as well as individual unit tests, in order to make it possible to refactor untested and brittle legacy code.
I had to google Yammer as I had no idea what it was!
@Mike JVX
Who said it had to be even remotely plausible anyway? It's meant to provide a good Friday chuckle and it definitely succeeds at doing that. Or did you leave your sense of humour at the door this morning?
I don't care if it's old and implausible, it made me laugh and that's all I needed from it. Thank you Simon!
Beer because that's what I'll be doing later on.
Good to see the EeePC girl is back, we missed her!
The same Grateful Dead whom I saw live in 1989? They sounded rather fine when I saw them and seemed to rather enjoy playing concerts in massive arenas.
Totally agree with you. However, keeping customers informed through a number of channels (blog, Twitter, etc) should be a good way to reduce the numbers of customer calls, shouldn't it? So why can't large companies do this properly? I would wager that's because they didn't spend the money having a disaster handling plan and when sh1t happens, it's complete panic. It could be as simple to have a named member of staff in PR tasked with sending regular updates during an outage to ensure that fewer customers pick up the phone.
> (I'd settle for an updated n900 though.)
Like the N9? I've got one: very nice handset! You can't find it in the UK but you can order it on Expansys and they will ship you one from continental Europe (mine came from Germany).
Having said this, that's probably the last Nokia handset I will ever own.
"Does the word "origin" hint that Facebook could be developing a site intended for users who want to build up family trees or track down long-lost relatives?"
I read an article recently that an interview of someone at FB saying that's exactly what they want to do. If I could remember where I read that, I'd post a link but unfortunately I can't.
This being Latin America, they probably had their popcorn with chilli rather than salted or sweet.
Thanks for the advice, I'll probably get myself a copy! On the same subject, Pragmatic Programmers also have an interesting title: http://pragprog.com/book/bhgwad/web-design-for-developers
Boot times
But why? My Lenovo X1 running Ubuntu 11.10 boots in less than 10 seconds so why would I want to boot another OS?
"CSI Luton and a new episode twist: one where they don't have to call in the kebab fat spatter analyst or rely on a shell-suit arse print to identify the culprit"
'nuff said...
"You must draw a line under a failure and honestly admitting your limits is actually good for your case since it shows honesty."
Absolutely right! I've done a few tech interviews where we decided who to hire based on how the candidates reacted to questions they didn't know the answer to. We always had some try to wing it and come up with obvious rubbish answers; and some admit immediately they didn't know the answer and ask questions in order to work it out. Guess who we hired.
I've had mine done several times by several CV companies too and the price you pay has no relation to how good the result is. The last one actually took the time to meet me, understand what I could do and what I wanted to do. Most importantly, every time he suggested a modification, he also took the time to explain why and discuss the rationale. The end result is a much improved CV and best of all I know why it's better and how to do it again. As you would expect that guy was not the most expensive and I didn't find him through ads but via word of mouth.
Same rules apply to recruiters: if they are not ready to meet you to understand who you are and what you can do, nor are they ready to discuss feedback with you, they are the type of recruiters who just throw candidates at jobs and see what sticks. The really good ones do their homework and make sure that they send the right candidate to the right job. Run away from the former and make sure you keep the latter in your phone book and updated on your situation.
The TouchPad is a very nice fondleslab indeed and you can install a minimal version of Ubuntu on it. But that's Ubuntu running within webOS, not on its own. I've been meaning to try it out for several weeks but haven't quite got round to it yet.
Exactly. 13" is a great screen size for a lightweight laptop that you can take anywhere: it fits in a large handbag or a small backpack and is very usable. 15" starts getting too large to easily carry around. This is exactly why I went from 15" to 13" when I replaced my laptop. If I want a large screen, I use the desktop.
I don't know what version was on that CD but recent releases will give you the option to either download package updates as you install or to do it later. So I suggest you try again.
Irrespective of whether you like Unity or not, I think its effect will be the same as all disruptive technology: get the incumbents to re-think what they've been doing for so long.
From my point of view, the Linux desktop has (visually) stagnated for several years. KDE has always looked like Windows but with a funny icon instead of the Start menu; while GNOME 2 looks like Windows but with a second panel on top because we didn't have enough space to put everything we wanted in the bottom panel. And neither of them is very good at being efficient for the user out of the box. Prior to any customisation, you typically need 3 clicks in GNOME 2 to start an application (Applications menu -> Category sub-menu -> app you want to run). Both have the potential to be customised in a way that is very efficient for a particular user but are just very average on first use.
So Unity and GNOME 3 ask the question: can't we really do any better than that? Can we create something that is efficient and easy to use out of the box? Neither of them has all the answers but now that the status quo has been questioned, I hope we will see a lot of innovation in this space in the next few years from Unity, GNOME 3 and KDE (and possibly others). Hopefully, the end result will be a Linux desktop that is more productive for users out of the box.
In practice, this is exactly why I like Unity: I can't be asked to customise my desktop, I just want to use my computer rather than tinker with it and all in all I am more productive with Unity than I ever was with GNOME 2. Of course, a non-scientific sample of 1 doesn't make a statistic but I'm sure I'm not the only one.
I, for one, welcome our shiny desktop UI overlords.
I've had one of those for a month and it is a great little machine: it runs Ubuntu 11.10 flawlessly (and with a lot more spare SSD than Windows) and is very light compared to my old T42. The keyboard is not quite as comfortable than the T42 but still very good so that I can touch type on it. I quite like the physical on/off switch for the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios, which can extend battery life a little. I also took the SIM card out of my Vodafone 3G dongle, slotted it in the 3G compartment and 5 minutes later I was online with no hanging dongle on the side. The combination of Core i5, 8GB RAM and SSD means that it flies: less than 10 seconds to boot up, most applications open instantly (Firefox, LibreOffice, etc.), it is generally very responsive and doesn't shy from decent work (~1 1/2 hour to compile LibreOffice from source over 8 threads).
In practice, the only disappointing things are the ones pointed out in the article: the poor battery life, which is mitigated by the fact that it charges back to full capacity very quickly (~30 minutes in my experience); and the flap on the side that hides the headset + powered USB ports.
So if you need to be away from a wall socket for more than 1 or 2 hours at a time, this is not the machine for you. If you don't mind plugging it in regularly, it's a great lightweight laptop that packs a decent punch.
"The upgrade work was not that difficult in the end, especially as I wasn't in an externally-imposed panic. Do it before it does you!"
Well, that's the case for most things really: doing them in panic mode usually means 10 times the effort and 100 times the stress. Makes me think I need to look at IPv6 for my home office at some point.
If you were right then the Moneo system that has been around in France for several years would not be the success it is. A typical use is to pay at parking metres in the street: no need for loose change and more practical than a full chip+pin transaction (or the phone system you can find in some areas of London for that matter). Any situation where you have automated payment systems that deal with small amount would benefit from it. Paying in shops is more debatable.
webOS?
Seems a bit like re-inventing the wheel (again!). if the future is HTML5 and related tech, that's exactly what webOS does: you use HTML5 to create apps.
Off the top of my head, LO supports SVG out of the box both in Draw and Writer, it has more filters for weird and wonderful data formats and a lot less cobwebs inside as the developers have been hard at work cleaning the code and removing old legacy stuff.
"So, how are they going to lure win users and enterprises when the (unfortunately ubiquitous) Office is incompatible with LO?"
By fixing the bugs? You can help them get there quicker by providing simple test case documents that exhibit specific bugs. One bug per test case document and keep it as lightweight as possible. If you can also provide screen shots to explain why the LO behaviour is not the expected one.
By doing that, it will help the developers gather the information they need to fix the bugs and will also enable them to write unit tests that ensure those bugs don't creep back in a later release.
You don't need to be a developer to help you favourite FLOSS project!
For those who didn't even check what the web site looked like before commenting, I'll point out that most of the information is about creating and packaging apps, what tools to use, etc. which is exactly the right information to put in front of potential developers. Money is not mentioned at all, it is only alluded to in the "publish" section by the fact that you have sub-sections for commercial as well as open source software. So when it comes to publishing, it's your choice whether you ask for money to download your app or not.
To come back to the article, having a vetting process for apps published that way, either commercial or open source, is not necessarily bad as long as the criteria are open. The main strength but also the main weakness of Linux apps is that you just have so many of them. Choice is good but more often than not when you have 10 apps that do the same thing, 8 of them are crap or no longer supported, one is average and one is great and quite often you don't know which is which until you've tried them all out. So if some sort of vetting, especially around support, can increase the overall quality, it can't be bad.
HDMI
HDMI port and micro-SD expansion slot: nice! Anyway, I agree with DB2k, my TouchPad is more than enough for now :-)
Unity and other changes
I quite like Unity. Having been running one laptop with 10.10 and one with 11.04/11.10 for a few weeks, I've been able to compare them side by side and I don't think I will miss the old desktop. Yes, Unity still has a few rough edges but it's getting there. What I really like about Unity are the keyboard shortcuts. When it comes to the applications I use all the time, I just add them to the launcher and I can start them through a simple key combo, quicker than what I could do with the old Gnome 2.x desktop. I know that you could customise the desktop to your heart content but making things easier out of the box is good. The only thing missing (or that I haven't found yet) is the ability to re-order the items in the launcher.
I haven't extensively tried out the lenses in the new dash but first impression is that it should enable me to find stuff a lot quicker than the old file system would.
Among other changes, I've noted a couple of interesting things when going through the system settings:
There is a new "online accounts" setting where you can define online services a la webOS; it only has Google so far and it doesn't seem to do anything useful but anybody who has used a webOS device will see where that is going;
There is a new colour profile setting where you can add colour profiles for your peripherals such as webcams and printers: that's probably the first step to a full colour managed desktop, which will be great for anybody working in photography.
Other points to note is that Firefox 7.0 is lightning fast to start and Thunderbird is so much more responsive than Evolution, it makes a real difference. I'm also running the x64 version, which so far seems to be just as stable as the x86 version.
Generally a good stable release compared to 11.04. And as the next one will be an LTS, I would expect the trend to continue. At the end of the day, I think Ubuntu did the right thing in bringing Unity in 11.04. It felt a bit premature at the time but it's only once you have real users that you can start getting real bugs fixed so releasing Unity two cycles prior to the next LTS was the right way to iron out bugs out in time for 12.04.
Makes my choice simple
When I replace my N900, it will be an Android phone then.
@ArmanX
Well actually low fat diet for lunch and low carb diet for dinner (or the other way around) is exactly how the Montignac diet works: it's based on the principle that fats are stored more easily when they are combined with carbs so making sure you don't eat them at the same time will make you lose weight while alternating low fat meals with low carb ones will ensure that you have a balanced diet with no deficiencies.
Having said this, I agree with you in that the key is "backed at executive level." Same for Agile, it only works if it's done properly and backed by the execs.
Pandora
http://openpandora.org/
@Peter Gathercole
Indeed! That's exactly what my T42 is: ex-corporate machine doing sterling work with Ubuntu loaded on it :-)
Out-law
Here's the page on the subject from out-law: http://www.out-law.com/page-10510
Note that paragraph: "An exception exists where the cookie is "strictly necessary" for the provision of a service "explicitly requested" by the user – so cookies can take a user from a product page to a checkout without the need for consent. Other cookies will require prior consent, though."
I read this as saying that cookies used to keep a user session alive once the user has logged in are covered by the exception and don't require consent because the fact that you've logged in is an explicit request for the service. Same for a cookie that keeps shopping cart details: the fact that you've added an item to your basket is an explicit request for the service.
Power failure
Power failure in the building, go up to the sales department and find out that none of the sales staff computers are connected to the UPS backed sockets but the Christmas tree is: nice blinking lights!
Want!
Nuff said...
Chromium...
...as shipped in Ubuntu 10.10 runs it fine too.
PATA SSD
I've got a 64GB PATA (IDE) SSD in my good old trusty T42 and it works wonders! I'm not completely sure which model it is anymore but I think it's that one: http://www.kingspec.com/solid-state-disk-products/ssd-25pata-mlcs.htm
And the result is that my home T42 running Ubuntu is a lot faster than my work T410 running XP despite being 6 years older!
Any of the Ian M Banks
would be great! Or probably completely wasted by being put on the big screen.
@Nash: RTFA, it's about films that were NEVER made.
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