Chris Johnston

Another semester of school is almost over, at least the class part is done. All I have to do now is write 4 exams over the course of the next two weeks. This means that over the next month, I will have the time to finally work on the php version of my website. I am hoping that this won’t take that long. One of php’s strengths is the fact that it is suppose to be easy to learn and fast, right? Hopefully that is true.

I finally got fedup with wires and decided to get myself a Wireless Access Point so that I could use my notebook wirelessly. The Access Point that I had wanted to buy was the Linksys WAP11 – a nice looking little AP to go with my Linksys wireless card. However, I couldn’t find a store that actually sold it. So, the hunt was on. I went into a store that specializes in refurbished computers and found a smaller unit manufactured by SMC — the SMC2655W Access Point. Nice little unit that has so far worked perfectly.The unit was a refurbished one, so I was able to save a few bucks on the total price. I brought it home and pluged it in. The reason that I went with an Access Point as opposed to a wireless router, which every store on the planet sells, is because I already have a router/firewall that I really like. All I needed was a way of connecting wirelessly to my already existing network. This is exactly what the an Access Point does. It basically works as a wireless switch — except that it has an IP address of its own.

The product lived up to its name of being plug-and-play. I plugged it into my network and was able to go online right away. However, this is not exactly the most secure way of having a wireless network. So I decided to turn on some of the security, namely WEP and MAC filtering. This took much longer then I had expected. This was do to the very poor documentation that came with the unit. The documentation did a minimal job of explaining each of the settings and left a lot to experimentation. (If all products are this bad, no wonder there are so many insecure wireless networks out there.)

Bottom line, the product is great, but the documentation is dismal. It is working though, and I can now work from anywhere in my apartment instead of being chained to my desk.

Web Link

Okay, this is very cool. The coolest computer on the planet is now shipping with a 20inch flat panel monitor and a 1.25 GHz processor.

All I gotta say is that I got to get me one of these.http://www.apple.com/imac/

This one is very deceptive. Like the Microsoft email virus, this one disguises itself as an email from PayPal telling you that your account will be terminated in 5 days. The email attachment asks for credit card information and then sends this to the virus’ creator.

I received this email this morning. Oddly enough, McAfee antivirus did not catch the virus when it came in. Doesn’t say much for their product.

For more details, visit the link below and never ever open attachments.http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-5107764.html?tag=nefd_top

“Sun Microsystems will release a free version of its Java application server next week, a move designed to encourage more developers to build programs on the software foundation.

Previously, Sun charged $2,000 per processor for the application server, which is used to run custom-written Java applications. It will continue to levy an extra charge for add-ons, such as administration and fail-over features.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company’s plan to make its application server freely downloadable without charge is an acknowledgement that basic Java server software is reaching commodity status, in which products are differentiated only by price, Schwartz said. “http://news.com.com/2100-7345_3-5107201.html?tag=nefd_top

Okay, you have all heard the news and the link below will take you to NewsForge where you can get all the details and even more links. Here is my take on the news and posted at www.mandrakeusers.org:

“I find this very interesting for several different reasons:

1. It creates a major player in the linux market with the capital and experience to really promote Linux. Let’s just hope that you can still download SuSe for free.

2. With IBM investing as much as they are into Novell, what will the future of Novell be? As one person commented on NewsForge, how far down the road will it be before we here that IBM has bought out Novell. IBM already has a very high stake in Linux and they are the one company, that if they invested some serious money into Linux, could give Microsoft a run for its money.

3. What will the future of KDE be like. You now have Novell, in essence, backing Gnome with the purchase of Ximian and investing money into it. Where does that leave KDE and it is strong enough to compete as a distributed open source project?

Personally I see this as nothing but good for Linux. It is about time that some major companies came on board and started to invest money and resources into this little OS. The future just got a lot more interesting.” http://www.newsforge.com/trends/03/11/04/1332252.shtml?tid=17&tid=20&tid=85

I find it very interesting to read the comments from people whenever anyone writes an article that challenges Linux or Open Source Software. Usually all the comments fall on one of two sides: either the person agrees with the article or they flame the author and complain about how completely stupid they are.

Why is this?I agree that Linux is, for the most part, more stable than Windows. However, I have a windows box where everything just works. I do not have this on Linux. In addition, I am beginning to question the validaty and economics behind free software. How long can people continue to create software that they do not get paid for?

Currently, there is a very interesting article up on NewsForge entitled Open Source Software economics. What I find most interesting are the comments. I truely believe that linux users take their little OS far to seriously. Personally, I thought the article made a lot of sense and raised some very interesting points. However, all the comments seem to do is to shoot the poor author down and point out all the ways in which he is wrong.

Here is a thought, Linux does not need zeolots, it needs users and developers. I am beginning to get the idea that Linux users really do feel that they are somehow superior then all those people who only use Windows and, therefore, their OS should only be for the elite. If you can’t hack the command line than there is no place for in Linux.

I agree that for many things Linux is a superior OS than Windows. However, windows did not get to where it is today by monopolistic business practices alone. Windows, for the most part, just works. It makes computing for the average person easy. They can install software, remove software, and use software all through a nice and easy GUI. And that is what people want.

On Linux, I try to install Flash and I end up completely killing Mozilla. Oh, and I could not install flash using a nice simple GUI either. I had to drop down to the command line. Actually, I don’t think a day goes by that I do not have to use the command line for something on Linux. This is not a sign of a mature user-friendly OS.

I am seriously beginning to think that the future of Linux will be reserved to servers and geeks. And this is a sad statement. There was a time when I too was a zealot, trying to convince everyone I knew of the superiority of Linux. These days I tend to keep my mouth shut and do most of my computing on windows. Why? Because it just works. Something, I am sad to say, I can not say about Linux.