Andy Peters [apeters@noao.edu]

Replies to Robert Bruce Thompson on Cookies

Robert:

I’ve been reading your comments about cookies on Jerry Pournelle’s web site. I agree with you - cookies are, at their best, an annoyance. At their worst... ? And using a browser’s cookie-control features isn’t much help.

What’s it do? Several really neat things.

First, it has smart cookie control. When enabled, it checks pages for cookies and pops up a dialog asking you if you’d like to kill all cookies for a domain, allow all cookies for a domain, or selectively allow or kill individual cookies. Refer fields can also be blocked.

It also blocks ads and ad graphics. It looks for certain strings in URLs and if it matches an ad, the ad is never downloaded. You can also drag ad (or other annoying) images to an "ad trashcan" which adds the URL of that ad to the list of blocked locations. You can also kill script-based popups. You can stop animated GIFs from spinning, too.

There’s also a "firewall" feature, which allows you to control TCP and UDP access to and from your computer. This is very handy, especially if you suspect that someone is doing low-level network attacks. When inbound packets arrive, the dialog pops up and asks if you’d like to restrict or allow communication from the remote server. It looks at all ports, not just common ones like http and ftp and such. There’s an outbound control, too, which honestly I don’t find to be very useful.

There’s a handy statistics window, and the new version (v3) will have a "dashboard" feature which shows the number of open ports, what’s going on where, etc. v3 will also allow you to control ActiveX stuff.

The software is available for a free 30-day evaluation and costs $29 for the regular (not timed) version. DISCLAIMER: No, I don’t work for them, but they did send me a very nice sweatshirt for helping to track down bugs. Sorry if this sounds like an ad, but this little program actually works.

best,

-andy

------------------------------------------

"In the beginning, there was darkness. And it was without form, and void.

And there was also me!"

Robert Peters [rjpeters@integrityonline15.com]

Dr. Pournelle,

A few weeks back I e-mailed you notice of a website telling the story of an intrepid soul who had removed IE4 from his Win98 by surgery. I wrote that I had not replicated his experiment. I have now and report success. The basic technique is to remove three Win98 files and replacing them with their Win95 equivalents (ComDlg32.dll, Shell32.dll from c:\windows\system and Explorer.exe from c:\windows).

Because Shane Brooks (the originator of this technique) has stringent hardware limitations, he goes on to wipe out superfluous sections of the C:\Windows directory tree and Windows Registry. I have removed the directory tree but not the Registry entries. Since then I have loaded and run Netscape Communicator 4.04 and QuickTime 3.02 with complete success. Mr. Brooks reports good results with his applications though Win98 Notepad and Wordpad did not work. I took him at his word and replaced the ‘pads with the Win95 counterparts.

For owners of Win98 and Win95 CD’s I think Mr. Brooks technique works quite well. He is also offering de-installation batch files for test.

David B. Dutton [ddutton@trib.com]

Dr. Pournelle,

I recently purchased an AMD K6-2 350 MHz chip, and FIC PA2013 motherboard and a STB Velocity 4400 AGP. You've probably done this already, but after I flash upgraded the video cards bios to ver 1.1 and downloaded both the last drivers AND the vision 3.01 software everything works great.

I will say that the installation routine needs much work. It failed to install the drivers correctly, and hung my display up. After I reinstalled WIN98, I first installed the drivers, then the vision 3.01 software. I haven't had any problems since.

The one thing I've learned from alternate chips (I owned one Intel, an 8086) is that it pays to check the web site for compatible motherboards. Twice now I've seen good deals on motherboards that weren't compatible with the CPU I wanted to run.

Thanks for your time,

Eric Pobirs [nbrazil@ix.netcom.com]

Jerry P.

U.S. Robotics

I noted your displeasure with the U.S. Robotics Home Page. I also was appalled by the site but less so since the updated modem, the same as yours, and works much faster than before. I use Net Medic to watch my downloads and find that I get peaks of pages in the 70's. Assuming that Net Medic is really measuring this, it is significantly better. The Windows Y2K update even downloaded in a single session, after about 6 failed attempts. I also use Vramdir although I haven't run any tests to see if it really improves performance. I would be interested to hear any opinions on that program.

PS: I am still waiting for Microsoft to come out with firmware chips to insert into my computer that will offer fast startups, like my Palm Pilot or any of the palmtops etc. that run WinCE. Any comments? Stick with Windows 98. It has its bugs but a new set of bugs is refreshing at times as I was bored with the old Windows 95 bugs anyway.

Jerry—

Have you tried the "Power Management" applet in the control panel? The one that came with my version of Win 98 allows me to say "Never" to standby mode, as well as set power off times for the hard drives and the monitor.

You can even set up schemes or use defaults, such as "Always On". I believe this will solve your problems. (I’m using Win98 on an AMD k6-2 300MHz / MSI board system and have had none of the problems you’ve described....)

You know, I really wonder about PC power consumption. I have an eval APC Smart-UPS 1000/Net under my desk right now. It has a set of LEDs to indicate the percentage of load. The first one indicates 17%, or 170 VA. Just for the heck of it, I tried connecting a lamp to the UPS. With the UPS driving a 100 watt light bulb, none of the LEDs illuminated. With a 150 watt bulb, the first LED flickered on. Because a light bulb is a purely resistive load, VA equals watts, so that indicator LED is pretty accurate.

Right now, I have two computers connected to that UPS. One is a Dell XPS-M200s 200 MHz Pentium with 64 MB, three hard drives, and a 15" monitor. The other is a Pentium II/300 with 128MB, one hard drive, and a 17" monitor. There are also a modem and a couple sets of speakers. With all of that, the second UPS indicator LED (33%, I think) still hasn’t come on.

So it seems to me that even with the monitor powered up, a typical PC consumes about the same or less power than a light bulb. Given that a monitor is subject to the same thermal stress damage that frequent power on/off cycles cause, it seems to me that having the computer put the monitor to sleep frequently is a bad idea.

Jerry,

I suspect the problems you’re experiencing have more to do with the video drivers than with non-Intel CPUs. I’ve seen this behavior on genuine Intel Pentiums as well. The solutions seem to be, in order of desirability:

Update your video drivers frequently, avoid fancy screen savers (I always just use blank screen. Boring maybe, but hey), and/or turn off power management. Of course, the most reliable solution is the least desirable.

But now that I think about it, screen savers in general are sore spots. I’ve seen many a mysterious problem go away when replaced with Blank Screen. After Dark is notorious for causing problems, for instance.

Eric Pobirs [nbrazil@ix.netcom.com]

That news.com article said a lot without saying much of anything. A recent Infoworld piece was a bit more positive, suggesting that the technology was developed long before the mass market was equipped to understand why it was useful.

Now that online purchasing is becoming commonplace (I’ve met one person who bought his first computer recently after reading an article about Amazon.com.) and advertising is proving to be a failure for all but that slice of the web aligned with existing media, the conceptual barrier has been reduced a bit. Revolutions don’t happen that often in real life. I think micropayments have to wait until they look like only a minor innovation to the automated wallets now being offered. (If you haven’t seen these, what they do is go beyond just storing your credit card numbers by also automatically entering name and address info without using the paranoia inspiring cookie.)

What makes me really wonder about this report is Compaq’s reluctance to say with who they’re making the tentative deal. If it were one of the big credit card companies, that could really make all the difference in gaining acceptance at every tier: banks, sellers, and users. Who is this mysterious partner, dammit!

Something for you to keep in mind, when you get back to Linette:

I had an email exchange with a friend in the US, who installed Linux on a 400Mhz Intel machine from Compaq. Him also having several 200Mhz Sun UltraSparc machine, he was understandably anxious to prove that Linux on a nice Intel might outrun even a world-class Solaris server.

He found out, however, that the machine’s thruput was way below expectations as a server. After much debating and much emailing over the Atlantic and back, we finally decided to check automatic power management.

Sure enough, the Compaq machine had a feature built-in in its firmware to reduce CPU speed if there was no interaction with the machine from keyboard or mouse. Since he was only loging in from the network and the machine was a server with no keyboard/monitor attached, no keyboard/mouse interaction could happen and the firmware thought it should slow down the machine.

After disabling this default behavior the Bogomips (a Linux CPU speed measurement needed for timer / loop calibration) went from 40 to over 400! thus outrunning the UltraSparc server by 45%.

I don’t know how many people out there are running their Linux/Unix servers at less than feasible speed because of this stupid default configuration, however I called some of my clients and have so far found 6 major servers (just today) that were running at 10% or so of speed.

So, be careful with Linette!

Greetings from Israel

CheesmanB@stentor.ca

Jerry:

Sorry, I’ve lost your instructions for formatting mail (11f at the end of the subject line?) and can’t seem to locate them on your site.

Regarding those who complain about your site, keep the faith! There’re a lot of us out here who are thoroughly enjoying it.

We are all Private Ryan

Dr. Pournelle,

Since you are planning on building a system using the Intel Celeron CPU, I thought I would share some of my experience. The Celeron 300A CPU with the Abit BH6 motherboard provide a wonderful price/performance combination. I recently upgraded a Pentium II 233MHz processor to the Celeron 300A. It performed flawlessly at 66MHz FSB so I overclocked the bus to 100MHz using the Soft Menu BIOS settings. This motherboard is jumperless and setting the parameters in the BIOS is simple and intuitive. I experienced a few crashes so I increased the CPU voltage from 2.00V to 2.05V. It has been crash free since and now I am enjoying 450MHz for $140 (CPU and heat sink/fan). The CPU has remained fairly cool as well.

Two other things on a different subject. I was unable to find your email address looking in the obvious places (Home page, Mail page). I finally got it from the header of a letter you posted. It may be helpful to others if it were prominently displayed. Unless, of course, you want to discourage the casual email. The second thing was a small problem on the subscription page using a credit card. I initially clicked the circle next to Discover card in error. When I clicked on the correct one (VISA) the Dicover option remained checked. I couldn't figure out a way to deselect it and was forced to re enter all the information.

Enoyed Starswarm and look forward to the new Jannissaries novel.

Dear Jerry,

I have been following your column for many years now (so many I won’t embarrass you or myself by mentioning it again!) and had started because I needed to learn about computers and couldn’t afford to buy one at the time, so I had to live vicariously through Chaos Manor.

I now have two (!) computers networked together, but still need to read your column. Thank God you decided to forge ahead on your own.

I’ve been reading with interest about the power management problems that you, and everyone else, seem to have. Chuckling to myself in arrogance as I, computer maven that I am, did not share these problems.

Well…spoke too soon!

I have had lots of problems over the last two days! I don’t use screen savers (crash, crash, crash) and had relied on power management to turn off my monitors. Now I’ve discovered that my custom setting (turn off monitors, don’t spin down disks or go on standby) can not, and will not be saved. Oh sure, it looks as if it’s saved, until I go back to the sleeping baby and have to wake it from a deep, deep slumber. Sure enough, check power settings, and I’m back to "Home Office" mode. I’ve checked the BIOS setting and it’s set to "User Defined", but "User Defined" isn’t sticking!

Now my wife’s machine doesn’t share these problems, and she doesn’t read your column either. Have you ever heard of computers suffering from Sympathy Pains (I suffered them when my wife went into labor)?

Looks as if I’m going to use a blank screen saver and fire my power management.

Never weaken!

Admin [glowther@dircon.co.uk]

Hi Jerry,

Greetings from England.

First let me say how pleased I was to see your web-site after Byte paper edition’s demise. I will re-investigate to see if there is a way to convert small amounts of Sterling to $US cost efficiently...

Meanwhile, You wrote in your column:

"Well, the STB 4400 and the WinChip don’t love each other. Or something is wrong. I can’t even shut the system down most of the time. It runs all right when up, but shut down hangs, and requires a power down. This is more annoying than anything else but still..."

I will take a stab at this one. When Windows 95 doesn’t close properly it can be due to it not being able to find the floppy disk properly (the process will take up to one or two minutes to time-out) and can appear to be a hang if you’re impatient (read human) or sometimes it just hangs anyway. The floppy disk /can/ be affected by video changes on your system. Something to do with IRQ 2 and IRQ 9 (cascade). If the video has takes IRQ 9 I would suspect this. Video cards seem to grab all available IRQs I have noticed - up to three if they’re available. First port of call should be Control Panel to see if IRQ 9 is used by the video card. If so then maybe a later video driver (if available) might fix it.

Of course it could be something entirely different. :)

I vote for an (alt)mail section to discuss things other than computers. Anyone who quotes Adams, either John or John Q., can't be all bad. Supposedly Congress has the power to declare war. You wouldn't know it by the last 40 years or so. If they (Congress) were as interested in upholding their mandate as in the sex lives of the Executive Branch of government, I would have more respect for the lot. The discussion seems to be whether or not to modify the nuke missiles to take HE or to wait or something. Is this a serious discussion or a ploy to get sympathy for new Pentagon spending? Where are our elected representatives in this discussion?

I just kill the power management in Windows 98 and leave the Bios to do its thing. But then I have a Pentium anyway. With the Windows 98 PM working and the Bios in gear, it just locked totally.

Hi...

I’ve moved lots of Eudora users around and have found the easiest way to do this is to:

The second step is more important on Windows 9x machines because of registry considerations, but I’ve done it on Windows 3.x machines out of paranoia. :)

This has worked well for Eudora Pro 3.x and 4.x along with Eudora Light versions since 1.5.4.

Brig C. McCoy - Automation Consultant

Clark E. Myers [ClarkEMyers@email.msn.com]

RE: I get mail from News Dispatcher; getting Outlook to sort it for me

This one is easy, if I understand the question. The issue is that the rule process uses the e-mail address rather than the alias which is displayed as From. Therefore the e-mail address must be available (from the contacts list to associate with the alias) or supplied. In many cases the alias displayed in From is one to many e-mail addresses (and all the other possible mappings) so something must be done by you the user to implement rules for each distinct e-mail address, that is watch e-mail addresses and aliases and such. I think this is a reasonable procedure given that I might have lots of friends using the same alias (it might be their real name of course mail from several Betty Smiths - in fact I don't get enough mail from Betty as it is) and I may want mail from only one Nguyen to go into an e.g. Wednesday Night Poker mailbox.

For instance I first create a folder, say Tipworld for PCWorld's tips. I put it under the existing Inbox folder for convenience. When mail from Tipworld arrives in the existing Inbox which is the highest level I open the Inbox then I highlight the message which shows as from Tipworld then click Organize in the toolbar to get the Ways to Organize Inbox window. In the Ways to Organize Inbox window I first fill in the Move message selected below to Tipworld (newly created folder) in the (dropdown menu) dialog box. Then before moving I create a rule to move new message from the author OF THE SELECTED MESSAGE (displayed as e-mail address) into the Tipworld folder. Then I click create rule, then I click Move then I am done for Tipworld messages in that category. One reason to use this example is that there are many Tipworld mailers depending on the subscription list I can get Bug of the Day or Virus of the Day or many other subjects. These all display the alias Tipworld but do NOT all originate from the same e-mail address. Therefore I must either create a new rule when a new mailing from a different Tipworld arrives, or view the header for the different e-mail addresses which all alias as Tipworld and create rules typing the in the various e-mail addresses.

Cutting and pasting seems to work too, there may be some highlight and drag ways to do it also, I don't know, and have not tried all possible ways to do it most efficiently. As I note below, Outlook works best for me if I use it regularly and go along with a do it as you go along way of using it rather than sitting down to create abstract rules and implement them.

This is not a bad way to do things. It does I think suppose that the Outlook user is using Outlook regularly for everything and doing things regularly in Outlook rather than planning (on pencil and paper) and setting things up.

This reminds me of the very real difference between Word and WordPerfect in the old days. Word was designed for the person sitting at the keyboard to control the document, try this try that and see how it goes. WordPerfect was much better for an office with a secretary keyboarding and working from marked paper copy. Similarly, Outlook assumes the daily user has full personal power to try things and see how it goes. Managing a boss's mail as an office assistant and implementing rules based on instructions is much more difficult and tedious. The point is I think that starting out with rules and trying to enter them as rules is made more difficult than it has to be, and doing things as they come naturally (after being as thoroughly brainwashed as the Manchurian Candidate) is made easy.

This is long enough more on autoreply later.

Jerry P.

U.S. Robotics

I noted your displeasure with the U.S. Robotics Home Page. I also was appalled by the site but less so since the updated modem, the same as yours, and works much faster than before. I use Net Medic to watch my downloads and find that I get peaks of pages in the 70's. Assuming that Net Medic is really measuring this, it is significantly better. The Windows Y2K update even downloaded in a single session, after about 6 failed attempts. I also use Vramdir although I haven't run any tests to see if it really improves performance. I would be interested to hear any opinions on that program.

PS: I am still waiting for Microsoft to come out with firmware chips to insert into my computer that will offer fast startups, like my Palm Pilot or any of the palmtops etc. that run WinCE. Any comments? Stick with Windows 98. It has its bugs but a new set of bugs is refreshing at times as I was bored with the old Windows 95 bugs anyway.

2 January, 1999

Jerry,

I just skimmed through Talin’s adventures getting Linux running on the nifty Sony Vaio subnotebook. At the end one though occured to me. It was cool that he could get it to work, I guess. But he spent many, many hours in the process (and he is very knowledgeable about Linux), and in the end he had a computer with which he could e-mail, surf the web, do some word processing, etc. Funny, I could just take it out of the box, and I would have a computer with which I could e-mail, surf the web, do some word processing, etc. I could even run some epidemiology software designed by the CDC that won’t run on Linux. Like many, I sometimes get very powerful "I HATE Microsoft!" feelings (as you must when running Outlook). Nevertheless, there is something to be said for having a "good enough" OS and applications software that doesn’t require hours of fiddling to make it work. I’ve done the Linux thing and decided it’s probably a great server OS, but doesn’t do anything for me. In the meanwhile I’m putting my spare time into learning VB and VBA so that I can bend the MS Office applications to my will.

Hoping that the end of the millenium is joyous and prosperous for you and yours, best regards,

David Cefai [davcefai@keyworld.net]

Dear Jerry,

I have played with Linux for a couple of weeks, the objective being to build a cheap file/modem server. The software I used was the S.u.S.e distribution. This was installed on an IBM PR200+ PC with 32MB RAM and a 257MB drive dedicated to Linux.

Installation: Easy.

XFree86 Configuration: reasonably straightforward Samba: Once I understood the instructions - no real problems DSMSDOS: (access to Drivespace compressed drives): gave up, at least for the time.

Dial Up: DISASTER! nothing worked, all the literature seems to point in different directions. You need to modify an incredible number of configuration files.

Pause for reflection......

Conclusion: Do I really want to commit myself to a system where every little step you take is fraught with pitfalls, is documented incoherently and requires an inordinate expenditure of time and effort? It’s a great toy, does not crash much more often than Windows does. and lets you learn a lot - about Linux.

It made me realise that Microsoft, for all its faults - and who doesn’t have them? - knows how to write operating systems. Of course if a company took over Linux and packaged it decently it could be a rival to Windows. But then the same Linux Evangelists would be piling abuse on this notional company and looking for an alternative OS.

Dr. Pournelle,

Outlook offers two choices under the File menu item; Exit, and Exit and Log Off. It is IMPERATIVE that you chose the latter if you want to avoid bugs and have your changes result in the effects you are after.

Of course, as this is the case, I wonder why they include the first choice?

I only regret my economies.

A few comments on your recent travails with Outlook.

You don’t have to reboot your system after applying a rule change in Outlook 97, 98, or 2000. Rule changes take effect immediately. If they do not on your system, you are having some sort of odd difficulty with the operating system or your Outlook setup. To verify this, I just created a rule, and then tested it without exiting Outlook, much less rebooting. It worked just fine, so something else is causing your problem.

Yes, Outlook does expect an entry from Outlook Contacts if you make a rule using the ‘From people or distribution list’ flag. Here’s the rule I use for filtering ZDNN TipWorld mail:

With tipworld in the sender’s address

Move it to the TipWorld folder

Null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane and empty of meaning for all time.

I’m not sure how you set up your auto-reply rule, but the easiest way to do it is by using the Out of the Office Assistant, located on the Tools menu in Outlook 2000 - assuming you’ve installed the Assistant, that is. It’s an add-in for Outlook, stupid though that may be, and you have to explicity install it off the CD-ROMs I sent you.

The Out of the Office Assistant allows one to create an auto-reply rule and have it take effect instantly. I don’t know why your other rule didn’t do so, but I just tested it with the Assistant, and it worked just fine.

Another example of Microsoft ‘hiding’ very useful features from the end-user.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane and empty of meaning for all time.

I am well aware of the logical fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc; I wasn’t denying that you’d observed the behavior you’d described, but rather was attempting to offer an alternative explanation. Also, impossibilium nulla obligatio est.

Another maxim I’ve found useful is in dubiis non est agendum. More to the point, I assume that you never proceed invita Minerva, ut aiunt. Quite the contrary; that is why your observations are so useful.

Ispsa scientia potestas est, of course, and I do bear in mind that ira furor brevis est. Like yourself, I also believe that labor omnia vincit, and navigare necesse est. Nemo nascitur artifex, and therefore much experimentation is required.

Though it might seem a bit trite, nihil est miserum nisi cum putes, as Boethius tells us. Horace pointed out that nil agit exemplum, litem quod lite resolvit, and, as you so rightly put it, there is nulla regula sine exceptione.

At the same time, taking an attitude of odi profanum vulgus et arceo has its own pitfalls, chief amongst them the fact that saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas.

Fugit irreparabile tempus, though, and I’m sure by now you’ll agree that it is sat sapienti. So, sine ira et studio, I tell myself that suos cuique mos, and vitiis nemo sine nascitur.

As Cicero was wont to say, accipere quam facere praestat injuriam. So I offer this with no rancor, and trust that, though consuetudinis magna vis est, you will accept it in the spirit in which I write, cum grano salis.

Perhaps you will print this; de gustibus non est disputandum. Juvenal tells us that difficile est saturam non scribere, so what can I say but dum spiro, spero?

Roland Dobbins <rdobbins@hawaii.rr.com> // 808.351.6110 voice

Null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane and empty of meaning for all time.

Chuck Waggoner [waggoner@gis.net]

Jerry:

I happen to know "the joker who designed those plastic rings that hold six-packs of soft drinks and beer". He was from a suburb of the Windy City and worked for Dow Chemical at the time. I can relate that he is a teetotaler who never imagined the untoward consequences that later surfaced. Also, he never profited from the invention; as with most working in R&;D for giant corporations during that era, the rights belonged to his employer, in exchange for a regular paycheck.

From: Jim Griebel (jgri@ earthlink.net)

"Apparently Outlook is inconsistent . . . "

You can say that again. The other night I spent a couple of hours trying to make Outlook 97 connect to the Internet to get mail, something that would be nice when I'm on trips. It ultimately dialed, after fierce resistance, but refused to admit any mail was waiting. I gave up at that point. It's the company's laptop and they'd be upset if I smashed it. At points the help, especially the help offered by that idiotic paper clip, was actively misleading. I get the feeling it's possible to do rules in Outlook 97 just like the ones in Outlook Express (accessed via "Inbox Assistant"), but couldn't test it and the help said firmly that auto-reply only worked on a Genuine Microsoft Exchange Server. Competition for Microsoft is indeed a sound idea.

If you haven't done it already (or even if you have) _please_ give that paper clip an onion.

Moshe Bar wrote in with a pointer to a pageful of Unix horror stories, many of them centering around doing rm -rf * from the root directory, which erases the entire file system. Of course the first command-line option everbody uses for rm is -f, because otherwise it wants you to confirm EVERY file. Now I looked at the code for rm, and it doesn't seem to be that hard to make it warn you if you're going to blow away multiple files. Matter of fact I'm nobody's C whiz and I did that -- it now asks if you really want to do that and asks twice if you're in the root directory when you're doing it. Total programming time (not counting figuring out where all the header files ought to be) about 1.5 hours. Not exhaustively tested, YMMV, etc., but -- Why hasn't anybody else ever done this? Is somebody out there giving points for taking dumb risks?

This explains why I'm more optimistic about Linux on the desktop than the fellow who wrote in and said it was impossible. I think that many of the problems and pitfalls aren't that hard to fix, if anybody really wants to fix them. Given a focused effort by a company willing to devote money and time and a viable desktop competitor for Windows could be on the market in a year or so. This means spending some money, though, and I get the feeling that some companies embracing Open Source are doing so because it looks like a huge pool of free programming talent. What are the legal implications of Joe Blow working as a programmer for Company X by day and as (in effect) a programmer for Company Y by night? I have a feeling we're going to find out.

I'm not sure about Corel's effort -- their boxes are all based on the Intel StrongARM RISC processor, which means everything that is to run on them has to be ported. If I were Corel I'd be handing out developer systems like salted peanuts. But then a corporate effort that depends heavily on the Open Source community to do work for it risks running afoul of the politics in the OS community, some of which doesn't like Corel already for using KDE as its desktop instead of Gnome. KDE is (nearly) finished as Gnome isn't, but then KDE isn't wholly GPLed and Gnome is. Or else KDE wasn't and now is, but I'm afraid I get lost in the nuances of what's GPL and what isn't.

Server-wise Linux is a more viable competitor because server types are more likely to be gurus, and it's cheap, and maybe Linux + Samba = NT server. I think that might be a little optimistic, having spent a couple of days getting Samba to work at all myself. Certainly anybody who tries it has to know a whack of a lot about all three. Once it's working Samba does what it's advertised to do: Turns your Linux disk (or selected portions of it) into a mappable network drive for Windows. From Linux toward Windows all there seems to be is an FTP-like client that transfers files in FTP-like fashion. I haven't tried printing. Getting Samba to work is seriously non-trivial, though; the configuration file it installs by default is 261 lines long. Of course a lot of that is comments, but it has a _lot_ of options, and it says there most of them aren't even in that file . . . The changes I needed to make turned out to be minor, but finding out which ones was a bear.

It's possible to do a little Plug and Play configuration from Linux, thanks to some utilities written by Peter Fox at http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk. Probably won't work with everything, but it worked with the $20 Linksys Ethernet cards I bought to network the boxes just fine.

Another nice product is VNC, from ORL at http:/orl.co.uk, which allows you to export your Linux desktop over the network to a Windows box, or vice versa. It may export a Windows desktop from one Windows box to another, although I haven't tried that.

Y2K is a flame war, as sense-free as most flame wars. The part I find sourly amusing is that people who are predicting the Collapse of All Human Civilization are clearly really only preparing for a temporary crisis that will last six months or a year, after which everything is evidently supposed to start up again by magic.

You have to what? Outlook requires you to reboot the whole system to change your email filtering rules? And you still use this thing? It continues to amaze me how much Windows users have to put up with. I admit that on the whole its easier to get up and running than Linux, but rebooting to get a program (not the OS, a program!) to reload its parameters is totally crazy!

Admittedly I’m biased towards Linux, but I haven’t had to reboot either of my machines except for power outages since I upgraded the kernel the last time.

Also, I haven’t received anything from you about my subscription yet.

Just to let you know.

Main body subject: Hating Outlook, Feeling Better About Linux 11f

Chuck Waggoner [waggoner@gis.net]

For some time, there’s been a lot written in your mail, over whether upgrading to Win98 is worth it or not. There is at least one major improvement in Windows Explorer over Win95, that alone makes it worth the money to me. And because I’ve never once seen this improvement mentioned in any discussion of upgrading, it makes me wonder whether file management is something anybody spends time on these days.

In Win98, Explorer remembers different sort settings for each folder.

Like you, I once reveled in Norton Commander. Even through the Win3.11 days, Commander was on my screen as a sort of desktop, whenever I wasn’t actively using the computer. Only with Win98, have I happily accepted the new Explorer as a replacement—although I dearly wish a lot of the function key utilities of Commander were incorporated to reduce keystrokes and mouse clicks in performing simple operations. Nevertheless, Win98’s new ability to save each folder’s settings is a major advancement.

Early in my career, before computers were on anybody’s desktop, I was taught the value of keeping filing cabinets sorted, up-to-date, and knowing what’s in them. In fact, one boss insisted that we not only stay on top of filing, but adopt a system to peruse ALL the files in our drawers once every year, to be familiar with the contents and weed out irrelevant and outdated materials.

As with physical files, that certainly is possible with the work products created by our desktop computers, and it’s difficult to imagine not staying on top of it. After I finish any piece of work, I sort through the materials used to create it, which usually include intermediate steps and revisions. There’s never a better time to properly name those files and dispense with what’s not needed—while it’s still clear what they are.

I seldom see file management mentioned in relation to computer functioning, but it’s important enough to me that the Windows Explorer of Win98 IS my desktop.

Scott Kitterman [Kitterma@erols.com]

As you may recall (I won’t feel bad it you don’t, there are a lot of people writing), I have written you several times and you’ve even published a few. I don’t recommend the discussion group idea. It may well do away with what attracts me to writing to you.

There are many places on the internet for random idiots (or geniuses) to spout opinion. Some are filtered, some are not. The beauty of writing to you and getting published on your site is that I have to write something good enough to make an impression on you to get it published. While I often disagree with you, you are a person I respect. Getting something published on your site or a considered private reply is an accomplishment.

If you switch over to a discussion group format, that sense of accomplishment may well be lost.

Dear Jerry,

Glad to hear you're alive and well after your recent misadventure.

I first discovered your science fiction (The Mote...) but then again stumbled across you in Byte (some 20 years ago?!!). I have followed your computing adventures since the early days. If it wasn't 3:30 in the morning I might be able to express some sense of my admiration and gratitude for your work in an intelligent manner, but that's not going to happen tonight, sorry!

The movie you saw long ago was "The Shop Around the Corner", with Jimmy Stewart in the Tom Hanks role, and Margaret Sullavan in the Meg Ryan role. It was directed by Ernst Lubitsch in 1940.

I haven’t seen "YGM" yet, but it’s definitely on my "must-see" list (your comments on it moved it a bit higher on that list).

Sincerely,

Calvin Dodge

--

MICROSOFT’S PLAN FOR YOUR COMPUTER:

"OSS (Open Source ™ software) poses a direct, short-term revenue and platform threat to Microsoft, particularly in server space."

"OSS projects have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market."

The answer, or some folks will do anything:

Jerry,

Some thoughts on Millicent, e-cash and other electronic payment instruments.

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but recently I’ve been working for an e-commerce company, Transactor Networks. (I’m pretty much done with the games industry, I think, but e-commerce isn’t where I want to be either.) The weird part about it is that though I’m in a different industry, but I’m still sitting at the same desk. (But that’s another story.)

One of the things I got from my new boss (Ted Goldstein, formerly of Sun Microsystems and one of the principle people behind the JavaWallet) was a complete tutorial about how credit cards really work.

One thing that I learned that is important to understand is that the ability to actually transfer funds from one person to another is only a small part of the function of a Visa or MasterCard. Another large part of it is the "chain of accountability", which is to say that if you get ripped off, you can call your bank, who calls Visa, who call’s the merchant’s bank, etc.

There is also the issue of "payment instrument customer care" which basically means that you can call Visa and find out what’s up with your card and someone will actually answer the phone.

Visa also deals with absorbing losses due to fraud. For small amounts, they don’t bother to investigate, since that would cost more than the amount involved, they just automatically refund your money if you’ve been ripped off. But if you cry wolf too many times, your card is canceled—even if your complaints were legit. The converse goes for the merchants. For larger sums, or chronic theft, they will of course pursue the matter very aggressively. As Bruce Schneier (author of _Applied Cryptography_) puts it, "it’s not important to detect every cheat. It’s important to detect every cheater."

The Visa logo is also a "trust mark" which means that if a merchant displays that mark, it implies certain things about the way that merchant does business. The analogy I like to use is this: You don’t go around wearing the arms of Sir Lancelot on your shield unless you a) like getting knocked on your ass a lot, or b) have the right to do so. Part of the function of VISA is to use their coercive powers as a vast megacorporation in order to insure that certain standards are met.

Chris Templer [templer@icon.co.za]

Dear Doc.,

I take it that you don't need to correspond with all the half-wits in the world so only answer if you have a mind to.

I have long been and avid sci-fi fan as opposed to Fantasy. Non Fiction such as your Step Further Out and your Strategy of Technology is also much appreciated.

So much for stroking your ego!

As I have just found you web site Chaos Manor excuse the no doubt late comment re one of your writings on a new name for the site.

The word "stochastic" springs to mind as a possible.....

The pictures on your page of your work areas/home give me some hope. I only have one computer with all the associated paraphernalia, 2 Hammond Organs (one in bits awaiting the mood), 2 tone cabinets for the Hammonds, 1 pipe organ under construction and a rather wild hi-fi setup cluttering up the joint. Along with all the junk required to build the Pipe Organ as well as a coffee table for my wife I started 3 years ago.

Thanks for the web site and links

Chris Templer