The IT industry is shifting away from Microsoft

The Inquirer ^ | Sunday 28 December 2003 | Charlie Demerjian

[Varmint Al]

My FR IE 6.X screens have again started carrying each paragraph out to the right as one line, as far as it goes such that I have to scroll to the right to read the whole paragraph--a long ways if it's a long paragraph.

Maybe this will help. I have seen your problem even with Win 98 SE. What causes it for me is a LARGE picture on the page. It makes the default page size very large and all of the paragraphs are of equal size, thus the horizontal scrolling requirement.

The Cure: I just right click on the Large picture and select Zoom Out. That fixes the problem.

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[Quix]

WELLLLLLLL, I SUCCEEDED IN DOING AS YOU SAID.

NO EFFECT.

The problem is NOT with the list of programs in the START menu list.

It is in the list of programs listing ALL THE SOFTWARE PROGRAMS I HAVE ON THE COMPUTER. Evidently I have exceeded some limit. Is there any way to scroll THAT list?

[Quix]

It happens on all FR threads whether there's a pic or not.

Will see if I can do what you say anyway.

MUCH APPRECIATE YOUR SUGGESTION.

Blessings, to you and yours this Season.

[Quix]

Welllllllllll, the need to scroll right to read all the paragraphs is now fixed on this thread and I haven't done anything to fix it. Sheesh.

THANKS ALL.

[RiflemanSharpe]

We just ditched our linux and unix servers where I work. We run straight Microsoft on all severs and workstations.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Reinstall XP over itself.

[Quix]

THE MUST-SCROLL-TO-RIGHT-TO-READ-WHOLE-PARAGRAPH

PROBLEM IS STILL THERE

in the COMMENTS listing of the FR threads I've had to/from me. I switched to full and brief and back again--the problem is still there.

Going to find a big pic in that listing and do as you suggested. I feel a bit skeptical at this point, though. Will let you know.

Any other ideas?

[Quix]

The first bunch of pics I came to were the last update on LOGAN'S pics on the prayer thread for Logan et al.

I right click on the first pic and there was no ZOOM OUT OPTION that came up at all. I tried various ways to find such an option to no avail. Sigh.

[Quix]

O fun, yuk! Sigh.

Thanks.

[Quix]

I hate reinstalling XP because of having to go through all the registration stuff again. Any way around that?

[CyberCowboy777]

There are billions invested in VB apps that will not be easy converted to Java, MS Domain controllers are known and reworks are expensive and MS (SQL, VB & .net) stalwarts still exist in IS groups everywhere.

Moves from MS to open source are relatively easy for Banks, Credit Unions, other financial institutions and governments - they ARE NOT entrenched in MS - many never ran core apps or systems on pure MS systems. Many corporations are still running Novell and/or AS/400 systems.

I work for these folks, Banks to Fortune 500 corporations. I have seen more than one city and county system.

The moves are good for all of us, but do not expect the Red Sea to part and the corporate world to follow Penguin Moses to the promised land.

[CyberCowboy777]

You have to admit Netware missed the boat by jumping the gun with IPX/SPX. That has to be one of the dumbest moves I have seen, business does not need developers willing to jump ahead of standards - it makes life difficult and/or expensive.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I hate reinstalling XP because of having to go through all the registration stuff again. Any way around that?

Nothing legal.

That's the choice you make when you choose to run Microsoft products. If the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, then it is the right decision for you.

The advantage of open source is that there are no licensing issues. To me, that is a tremendous advantage. That does not mean I expect it to be for you, but I bet someday it might be because (some) open source is approaching the ease of use of Microsoft.

You ought to try Knoppix.

If you have a serial modem (not a WinModem) it will find and configure that, as well as all your other hardware, and it does it without being installed. It runs from virtual memory, so it does not disturb your present system in any way.

I have found it to be a great rescue disk for laptops that have crashed. You can bootup in Knoppix while connected to a network, then copy all the user's data to a network drive.

[Quix]

Knoppix won't mess up XP any more than it already is?

Sounds like I should try it.

Thanks.

[Joe_October]

.... people switching to Apple ....

Let's assume for a moment that we all wanted to switch. Apple couldn't even make the hardware to take over the market.

[Rocketman]

actually netware only offered IPX in the begining they literally jumped the gun while the standards board was meeting -- after the standard 802.1 was announced netware had to backtrack and make to offer 802.1 compatibility -- then a year or two down the line in response to a rapid loss of market share Netware added TCP/IP in their next version and then again in aother later edition added apple talk and who can forget the latest netware news that they are adding Linux next. (lotta history there)

[GregoryFul]

On the other hand, most *businesses* are run by people who know that paying $80 grand per year to a programmer is a far larger cost than paying $1,000 to purchase a software tool. So if that software tool makes their programmer more efficient than 3 programmers who don't have that tool, then who is running the more efficient business: the company that hires 3 programmers and requires them to use "free" software tools, or the firm that hires 1 programmer and pays the $1,000 for the software tool?!

I've been working in the software industry for 25 years, for a large company that you would think might consider the facts as you state. They don't.

In the past, I've seen programmers use prehistoric line editors to enter and edit source code, for want of a few bucks to buy a decent programmers' editor or IDE. The manager had no idea how much it cost to keep his programmers hobbled by this technology.

For many years, and even now, 1st level managers refuse to buy CASE or CM tools for their charges, astonishingly letting them try to deal with the immense complexity of software designs and development issues by using the back of an envelope.

In my IT department, apparently I've become known as the "tool man" by my frequent badgering of management to acquire and employ power tools to improve the productivity and quality of code production by staff programmers. I've had some success, and apparently have earned a dismissive nickname for my efforts. Clearly, this company's management doesn't have a clue.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

There are billions invested in VB apps that will not be easy converted...

Yes, but VB is based on a pre-Internet programming model that cannot be extended (that's why VB6 has been around so long), and its power and uses are extremely limited. A lot of those apps ARE going to have to be replaced simply because they are proving inadquate.

.NET is fine, but anything you write in it requires annual per-seat licensing fees to Microsoft.

That's a good deal for Microsoft, but I am not sure that all businesses measure their success in terms of how much of their profits are channelled to Bill Gates.

[CyberCowboy777]

VB apps will continue to be used for years to come, .net will be used and ASP will fill the voids.

For better or for worse (for worse usually) MS has the edge and no Penguin Messiah is calling us up to heaven.

Things will diversify, things will change - but at a pace that makes economic sense; trashing a 3 year old system that has cost you millions does not make sense.

You will see organizations that are not entrenched in MS moving toward systems like Linux. That is what the authors of rabid Linux pieces do not tell you - that they are already running Sun, Novell, UNIX or AS/400 as the core.

Slowly MS entrenched organization will experiment and move toward systems that allow for more flexibility.

That is reality, anyone who tells you different is selling something or has an agenda.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

For better or for worse (for worse usually) MS has the edge and no Penguin Messiah is calling us up to heaven.

WTF said that?