Recent Activity

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  Mark and Kim's Website Discussion

  Mark, I'm not sure we're so far apart here.

  My comment on the Mac hackers should not be construed as a belief that the Mac is impervious.  We both acknowledge the existence, and probable growth, of Mac hacks.  The DNS example is certainly not the first, although it is severe; Mac attacks have been with us, in low numbers, just like attacks on Linux and other less-prevalent OSes.  I wonder if there's any OS that has not been penetrated: BeOS, perhaps?

  I agree that Vista works on new, robust hardware.  I guess Microsoft is in a weakened position, after the antitrust difficulties, and does not compel hardware standards.  The issue with cheap, inadequate machines sullying Vista's reputation is unfortunate for Microsoft (and I don't easily find sympathy for them).  However, the OS has been bought by many who installed it on their existing hardware, which met Microsoft's requirements, and still proved to be a disappointment.  It runs slower on adequate (e.g., 1 GHz, 1 GB) machines than XP did, and one year after its introduction there are still compatibility issues with some applications and devices.  True, Microsoft doesn't run the ISV's development shops and can't force them to update their software, and it probably did what it could to incent them; nonetheless it disappointed many customers who have actually reverted to XP.  I wonder if the high price tag on the Vista upgrade packages was intended to discourage upgrades...

  My household (three laptops, one desktop, most of recent vintage) all run Vista, and I'm reasonably pleased (after the one-year wait for SP1).  I acknowledge each of the virtues you named; it's a joy to be able to create a new folder in Windows Explorer with a right-click.  I find that Vista is still troublesome now and then, but it's certainly successful on a well-configured machine.

  Posted 20 Aug 08 in est567

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  Frank, Frank, and Alli

  Frank,

  I liked your sites: both of them.  I will need to investigate the Google facility, because it gives a nice, clean look to your pages.

  (I had trouble with the Meebo link on the Pageflakes site.)

  - Frank S

  Posted 20 Aug 08 in est567

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  Website Links

  I also flipped out yesterday, when I thought I lost all the tabs with that hard-earned content.  Pageflakes is somewhat flaky (I spent some time reading the entire nine pages of complaints on their site).  Experience like this does not inspire confidence.  Remember the first rule about using computers: back up early and often.

  Nonetheless, my site can be found at: http://www.pageflakes.com/FrankSappell and I hope you have a chance to visit.

  Posted 19 Aug 08 in est567

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  Introduce Yourself

  Hi, all, I'm Frank Sappell.  I'm a former I.T. exec for a bank. I'd like to work behind the scenes to facilitate teachers' use of technology.  I think we all learned how demanding this can be, and how easy it is to distract from the educational objective.

  Posted 19 Aug 08 in est567