gmac

"MS policy is very American, its BUT THIS because we say so. Not \hey how about buying this ... its quite nice and we did a lot of work on it' " I don't know if youv'e seen any of the MS ads on UK tv (if I remember correctly you live in France) they are going the humour route. Accountant type wanders in to party, is told by techie nerd type (looks like booger from revenge of the nerds) they are celebrating finishing updating servers but does so in techie language, sees blank look, says we just saved company $2 million. accountant smiles is given beer and joins in party. How effective it is? but they are putting their name in front of people, its not the techie types who make the buying decision but the execs who might wonder why they don't use microsoft which is the only system he's heard of. "MS just dont get it. Whenever they knock linux outside of the states it just ends up with more people supporting it." So long as they keep mentioning it. The best thing thats happened to linux is microsofts new licensing policy. The lets piss off all our customers and make them really feel like cash cows approach to marketing. I don't think the french are any more anti American than they are anti german or anti English but if you expect them to be then you find evidence that they are. For instance they can't be bothered to learn English, how rude! (irony, irony) I remember a friend of my wifes, who was visiting us, having been told that the scots don't like the English almost got thrown out a pub, the barmaid asked him several times to repeat his order and he got stroppy. The fact the pub was crowded and noisy and he had a broad london accent that was hard to follow had nothing to do with it, the busy barmaid with queues of people was trying to wind him up by pretending she couldn't understand him and he got stroppy about it. I've had similar experiences in english pubs but I accept that I talk funny and the accent can be hard to understand, I don't assume people are being deliberately offensive. I've stayed in Chamonix and witnessed the I'll just speak loudly in English approach to communicating in a foreign language. I can understand why they get pissed off with foreigners. I'm ashamed to say I caught myself falling in to the same trap I'm not convinced europeans are smarter, have a look at what the Germans are buying. Another thing, we eat big macs as well don't we? yeugh!! bring back chips with nippy sauce.

"Anyway... linux is not for everybody. It requires that people is willing to learn. But a pre-set linux distro can do a lot more than a pre-set windows anytime of the day " You do need to learn about windows. Like how do you stop the damn thing crashing and what do you do if it does. There are loads of it consultants out there earning a living out of windows because people don't bother learning, or think the help button has the phone number for the computer RAC. I work in an office where they do things on a spreadsheet and then use a calculator to add up and check the figures. What's SUSE like? I'm at the point where i need to make a decision about where I go next. The only thing I'm sure of is that its linux rather than windows. I work from home will shortly need to give serious thought to a server, I will have to keep windows for some apps but so long as i can save stuff to a different hard drive I can live with that. One of the appeals about linux is that comparatively speaking its cheap enough to switch around. Unfortunately I only have one computer at present so I can't play aound as much as I would otherwise. I like this forum and know I can get a lot of help if I need it, on the other hand I beginning to suspect that mandrake is like french cars. Really good ideas, brilliant engineering but if anything goes wrong they don't want to know, and once they've done the interesting bit they just throw the rest together. Now I just want something boring and dependable. Mind you I still fancy a citroen C5 but I just know it will cost me a fortune as everything but the engine and suspension fall off it. My next car is a nissan, boring but reliable. Ban company car drivers that's what I say. Sorry I digress. Some of the posts make me wary of red hat. I'm a long way from being an expert in this stuff but I do want to know whats going on under the bonnet as it were. (thats hood to any americans) So how does suse compare with mandrake pros & cons.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/1...18/1628217&tid= Hope the link works Just in case anyone os wondering if this is only about software patents. http://www.guardian.co.uk/microsoft/Story/...1063776,00.html If you think you can't patent vegetables think again.

Interesting dichotomy. Its O.K. for SCO to protect to protect their rights but not the free software software foundation to do the same. cos theyr'e a bunch of commies!! I like the response pity it didn't get published in Forbes.

TIF format seems even smaller. I have been looking at two options one called scansoft the other scan to disc that are commercially available data management systems designes to interact with other databases. The more I look at it the more I come to the concluscion that i can probably do a lot of this myself, its just the time it takes. I do not want to turn in to a systems expert and quite frankly I don't understand the differences between the different formats. I need to keep the image not just the information on the documents. In the industry I work in a lot of the software packages available are quite frankly a rip off. Just how big a rip off I realise due to footering about with linux which has enhanced my natural disposition to shop around anyway. Its also made me realise that a little experimentation on my part saves rather a lot of money and will give me a more reliable system. To give you an example one scanning option recommend and supplies a multi page scanner that they retail for £1200. A few minutes on the manifactirers website and you can buy the same scanner for £450. I don't mind companies making a profit but thats a rip off. It makes me suspect the software is also a comparable rip off. Actually its windows based so it probable is. Had a look at the webpage you suggested thanks.

Thanks for that. I've discovered that i can use so to scan to tif file format, but it still looks as if pdf is the best compromise. Do youy knpw of any way to compress them. Some of the files I want to keep are pretty large easily filling an ordinary cd.

I need to be able to scan large numbers of documents. Ideally I want a format that can be switched between windows and linux. It also needs to be a format that most people would be able to open. PDF files seemed to be ideal in that i can save in linux or windows and also most people would be able to read them as a common format, however they are large. I know I can scan to ms word, however I don't have microsoft office on my computer and my scanner won't save to star office writer but uses the picture format as a default which means that I can't save it as a starwriter document. The problem is the scanner software I think rather than so. At this point I am using a lexmark scanner printer which is not compatable with Linux, which i didn't realise at the time. I have kodak photoeditor which came with the printer which allows me to save as a tiff file which is considerably smaller than pdf. Unfortunately so does not read this file format. my computer is dual booted with win98 and mandrake so i can experiment with linux and i can save from the windows to mandrake without any problem. Actually I haven't tried going the other way yet. I have adobe reader rather than the full blown application. I will have to get a multi page scanner at some poinmt but not yet. Two questions. Is there any open source pdf writer that works on both winows and linux. I can find several alternatives to adobe but they don't seem to apply to linux? I have a md box set that came with the adobe reader but not the full suite. What make of scanner do you find works best with Linux? I haven't had a chance to try sane yet because of the scanner. Lexmark say they have no intention of producing drivers for linux. Any suggestions? If the above seems kind of rambling and incoherent it probably is. I shouldn't do this when I'm tired.

On a related note I came across this article in guardian.co.uk Now theres an aspect of this I hadn't thought about. Is Microsoft's licence actually enforceable in the U.K or the rest of Europe come to that? "UK licensed to Bill Saturday July 19, 2003 The Guardian US violations of UK sovereignty are both more ubiquitous and far more widespread than David Leigh and Richard Norton-Taylor suggest in their excellent piece (We are now a client state, Comment, July 17). Every copy of Microsoft Windows, every copy of MS Office World and every Dell computer invoice carry demands, imposed on Microsoft and Dell by the US government, that the UK user or UK purchaser observes US criminal law (The US Export Control Act) here in the UK. Users are prohibited from taking their copies of the above to various countries disapproved of by the US and in some cases from taking software out of the UK. In relation to earlier violations of sovereignty using the same export law, Margaret Thatcher wrote to Paddy Ashdown on November 11 1988 saying: "You will no doubt recall that, in his letter of July 3 1985, Michael Havers (the attorney general) warned that, although US claims to extraterritorial jurisdiction are offensive, it is only realistic to recognise that we cannot in practice compel the US to stop making such claims and seeking to enforce them." If Maggie had to tolerate violations of UK sovereignty, what chance has Tony Blair got? To reinforce this, the MoD had to get US permission to move its two US-manufactured supercomputers from Bracknell to Exeter. Soon the MoD will have to get US licences to have officials enter its Whitehall offices. Kevin Cahill Exeter, Devon "

There are some contradictory goings on just now. Recently in the UK Mattel and hasbro were fined for operating a price fixing cartel as have three retail chains. They were (mattel & Hasbro) also fined for curtailing supplies to retailers tat wouldnt seel at their retail price. Several european car manufactures have also been fined for anti competitive practice and ordered to break up the dealer network in the uk and supply anybody thats wants their cars. As a result car prices have been plummeting in the UK (hooray). Yet if you look at computer software price fixing is rampant. Also being unable to purchase a computer without windows should also be illegal In a very real sense its part of a larger conflict about who determines how we live with large companies having more say than perhaps they should. Industry is competitive the companies currently devoting their energies to patents are forgetting they need to keep ahead by innovation, not by stifling competition but by matching it. The best tactic microsoft could adopt would be to drop their prices and compete fairly. The best defence is a good offence all these compsanies are doing is building a castle and pulling up the drawbridge in the hope the nasty rivals will go away. Ultimately they will fail by antagonising their client base and will go under bleating it was unfair competition. What price microsoft shares ten years from now? On the other hand I think Mandrake et al need to start thinking about why people like windows and pinch the best of the marketing ideas. If the above doesn't make a lot of sense its due in large part to special offers in the Asda/walmart wines and spirits section. "In this day, the lingering effects of a mediocre German worker with serious family issues (Marx) are extracting a heavy toll on personal liberty, everywhere. " Actually he was a son of the German middle classes. Engels was a racist but don't mention that to a socialist.

"With copyright, same ideas can still be expressed - but in a different form. Convergence and coincidence of creation/invention is allowed if each party comes up with the same idea in their different forms. In the world of art, everybody can draw a dog on his/her own - we all know what a dog looks like, but still each of us will come up with our unique style and shape of drawing. So copyright would probably be appropriate to protect your own drawing while others are still allowed to draw the same object in a different manner. "By the same token, one can see if programming code/algorithm is patentable, then it will also prevent others to create and develop because it controls ideas - whatever variable names/expression/programming language you use you can still violate a patent." Thats a lovely summing up of a cpmplex issue. With Microsoft et al its about stifling competition at any cost. The potential knock on effect is potentially horrendous.

Its not just about software. Its what is patentable in general. There is a canadian agribusiness compny that has patented a variety of yellow pepper. One of the variaties grown commonly. They didn't "invent it" but in principle it is open to them to do this. On a more serious note one of the motivating factors behind genetically modified foods is so that the seed supplier can control the market by stopping farmers keeping their own seed from the current crop rather than buying afresh. As things stand a lot of everyday things are up for grabs and in principle can be patented even although there is no obvious progenitor. Another agribusiness has taken out a patent on basmati rice. The fact it has been grown for hundreds of years does'nt matter. nobody has patented the rights to that type of rice so it was open to them to do do. In this country someone took out a patent on chips with salt and vinegar (thats french fries to you yanks). The idea was to highlight how ridiculous the whole thing has become. The ironic thing about it is that some of the companies behind this are not averse to exploiting other peoples ideas and claiming them as their own. The whole thing is quite nasty and is not about fair comppetition butb more to try and stop it.

Thanks for the info. Yes it is under windows, original msdos name trickler.exe. Its only started fairly recently. I recently downloaded a pdf writer from pdfzone.com so maybe that is the connection. When used it links in to a sponsers web site. the programme itself is good. I've deleted it once (trickler that is) already but its reappearing. without that connection so I don't know. I wanted to know what it is. I still haven't mastered Mandrake to the point I need yet hence I'm still using windows. Maybe I should just shut myself away and not come out until I have.The more I come across things like this the more appealing linux gets. Its quite startling just how insecure my computer is. The link seems to be in to a porn site. These guys must be the best security hackers in the world. My firewall is stopping the connection.

This may be a bit of a cheek since strictly speaking its not about mandrake but does anyone know what this is. Its a microsoft programme that keeps trying to log on when I connect to the internet. When I open the file folder there is nothing in it. I delete it and it reappears so I suspect something is installing it on my computer. Any comments greatly appreciated.

Do you know of a similar fix for Star Office?

being a cheapskate the free bit appealed to me. I've been not replying to them since forever i thought this might persuade them i don't exist. does putting them in a spam folder do anything to cut the number or just eliminate the risk of viruses? They seem to piggy back or something. I download 30 e-mails and yet there are only 5 on the isp server. :? I have a vurus checker as well having learned painfully the perils of not having one. I've only just downloaded it so i'll give it a good try first. currently i use a webmail address for convenience though I am going to have to make security a major consideration fairly soon. maybe i should join a large company and let someone else bother.

My ISP recommended this site for a download programme to bounce back spam. It works, also has links to linux version. thought it might be of interest, personally I'm fed up with yoghurt adverts. tis free or you can pay a donation. From New Zealand no less www.mailwasher.net

Chris z you were right Have'nt tried again yet but i hope it works.Is there a mandrake for dummies anywhere?

good point I will check. I cheated and had it installed for me dual booted with windows. I need the computer and at present only have the one. I can't afford the risk of screwing it up while i learn from my mistakes. If i can suss out where I'm going wrong with this then I'm on my way to using mandrake full time :lol:

I go into kicker applications>archiving> there is no cd only drak.sinc and configuration. type in man xcdroast get reply no manual entry. Actually I've just reread the posts I shall footer about a bit more and try what chris Z later. Right now my wife wants me to go look at furniture. guilt is distracting me and spoiling my fun.

thanks guys I'm away to play. I'll let you know. its the basic stuff like this are causing me the most problems.

O.K. I thought this is embarrassing i can't keep asking stupid questions, so I splashed out and bought the difinitive manual cos i thought this would help me get to grips. I can't work out how to configure my cdrw or access my cd rom. they are there cos i get the message i don't have access rights. so i look up the manual and it says go in to root and open x-cd-roast and then tells me how to use this configure the cdrw. My stupid question of the week (actually its not stupid to me) is where is x-cd-roast and how do you open it? second question is how do you open the manual pages. it says type man. Where? I've tried the terminals all i get is a funny bleeping noise.

Try this one. Again hope it works http://www.euronet.nl/users/frankvw/IhateMS.html Actually I'm sure I got this off the forum somewhere.

www.guardian.co.uk/microsoft Hope the link works. Thought you guys might appreciate a different perspective from the US. You actually have some of the toughest anti trust laws in the world which should be able to stop microsoft cold. In the european courts they have lost a couple of cases for stealing copyright from other companies and don't seem out of the woods yet. Note the crack about the NHS. The UK gov sites have been a bit of a disaster

They seem to be in both but not functioning. I can go in to mandrake control centre in root, change permissions and everything seems ok but I can't access them either in root or user. Either they are incompatable with linux or I am doing something silly. Given my status as a genuine newbie that is probably the most likely. If I'm being honest don't know how to check that they are in the bios. They work ok in windows (I have it dual booted)

two questions. I have an aopen crw1232 cdrom rewriter and an atapi cdrom. Neither of these I can get working. Does anyone know if this is due to the hardware? Or it it just me. second question, Is the Mandrake Manual worth buying? I am a total novice to this and I am getting fed up trying to work out what I should be doing trawling through the help screens. I can manage the office apps etc I am having problems getting to grips with the system itself.I prefer to browse before buying but this is not feasible with mandake manual. If I could order it at a bookshop I wpould do so in preference to buying it over the internet. Generic linux manuals seem to be little help. I'm hooked but i need help with my habit.