There's one born every minute

You have a small business with 20 people using computers. Let’s have a look at some pricing.

Basic server with Mandriva Linux 2009.1: $1100.00

Cost per seat: $55.00

Includes office software & a virus scanner. (No virus scanner is actually required).

Basic server with MS-Windows 2008 (5 CALs): $3500.00

CALs apear to be about $200 a seat (Edu would be about $45), so...

15 more CALs for the above: $3000.00

Nett: $6500.00

Cost per seat: $325

Does not include any office software or virus scanner; you could, if you enjoy constant naysaying, try installing OpenOffice for free.

A PC for each seat is $502, plus screen ($180). These workstations do not require a virus scanner, but each instance (user) running on an MS-Windows 2008 server does. The workstations can be set up to run MS-Windows XP (guessing that an OEM version could still be grabbed for about $150, Vista would be a bit breathless, don’t know about MS-Windows 7), so would require a virus scanner each, but there is no real point in so doing.

The kicker?

In this town, since the final one of the 3 various Linux-aware dudes left last year, local suppliers have been encouraging the use of MS-Windows 2008 with virtualisation (haven’t explored the cost of that yet).

The virtualisation is needed because services are not as well separated as they are on any Unix (such as Linux) & as they have been for decades. Given that MS-Windows NT was a VMS (Mica) clone (with mil-spec security), that’s pretty bad.

Comments

new life for an old (FTX) PSU, improved life for one human

the LEDs on this 5m strip happen to emit light centred on a red that does unexpectedly helpful things to (and surprisingly deeply within) a human routinely exposed to it. it has been soldered to a Molex connector, plugged into a TFX power supply from a (retired: the MoBo is cactus) Small Form Factor PC, the assorted PSU connectors (and loose end from the strip) have been taped over. the LED strip cost $10.24 including postage, the rest cost $0, the PSU is running at 12½% of capacity, consumes less power than a laptop plug-pack despite running a fan. trial runs begin today.

every-application-is-part-of-a-toolkit at work

I have a LibreOffice Impress slideshow that I wish to turn into a narrated video. 1. export the slideshow as PNG images (if that is partially broken — as at now — at higher resolutions, Export Directly as PDF then use ‘pdftoppm’ (from the poppler-utils package) to do the same). 2. write a small C program (63 lines including comments) to display those images one at a time, writing a config file entry for Imagination (default transition: ‘cross fade’) based on when the image-viewer application (‘display,’ from the GraphicsMagick suite) is closed on each one; run that, read each image aloud, then close each image in turn. 3. run ‘Imagination’ over the config file to produce a silent MP4 video with the correct timings. 4. run ‘Audacity’ to record speech while using ‘SMPlayer’ to display the silent video, then export that recording as a WAV file. 4a. optionally, use ‘TiMIDIty’ to convert a non-copyright-encumbered MIDI tune to WAV, then import that and blend it with the speech (as a quiet b...

boundaries

pushing the actual boundaries of the physical (not extremes, the boundaries themselves) can often remove barriers not otherwise perceived. one can then often resolve an issue itself, rather than merely stonewalling at the physical consequences of the issue.

Plantagenet Penguinista

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