Often a small business can consolidate the Web services it needs into one or two Linux servers. It can meet its basic office computing needs with mature open source applications such as OpenOffice.org, GIMP, and a Firefox browser. But can a small business run entirely on open source software alone? When Jim Nanney started his Coast Grocery business (www.coastgrocery.com), where residents of the Mississippi Gulf Coast can order groceries online for delivery, he set out to do just that. In part, he just wanted to see if he could rely solely on open source software. But he also figured that cost savings of at least $10,000 by not buying commercial software could help make his small business profitable a lot faster.

To allow customers to order groceries online, Jim selected the open source e-commerce software called osCommerce (www.oscommerce.com). The osCommerce software is built with the PHP Web scripting language and uses a MySQL database. Jim runs the software from a Linux system with an Apache Web server. On the office side of the business, Jim relies entirely on Fedora Linux systems. He uses OpenOffice.org Writer for documents, GIMP and Inkscape for logos and other artwork, and GnuCash for accounting. For Web browsing, Firefox is used. So far, there has been no need to purchase any commercial software.

Here are some of the advantages that Jim has derived from his all–open source business:

• Community support—The communities surrounding osCommerce and Fedora have been very helpful. With active forums and 24-hour IRC channels, it has been easier to get help with those projects than with any proprietary software. Also unlike proprietary software, participants are generally quite knowledgeable and often include the developers of the software themselves.

• Long-term security—Jim disputes conventional wisdom that betting your business on proprietary software is safer than relying on open source. If a software company goes out of business, the small business could go down, too. But with open source, you have the code, so you could always pay someone to update the code when necessary or fix it yourself.

• Easier improvements—By doing some of his own PHP programming, Jim had a lot of flexibility related to adding features. In some cases, he could take existing code and modify it to suit his needs. To create a special shopping list feature, he found it easiest to write code from scratch. In the process of using the software, when he found exploitable bugs, he submitted the code fixes back to the project.

• No compatibility problems—On those occasions where he needed to provide information to others, compatibility has not been a problem. When he makes business cards, door hangers, or other printed material, he saves his artwork to PDF or SVG formats to send to a commercial printer. Regular documents can be exported to Word, Excel, or other common formats.

For businesses starting on a shoestring, in many cases open source software can offer both the cost savings and flexibility needed to help the business survive during the difficult start-up period. Later, it can help those same businesses thrive, because open source solutions can often be easily scaled up as the business grows.

Source of Information : Linux Bible 2008 Edition

Technology means fast evolution of parts and this includes introduction of new parts and peripherals that are far better than initially offered parts. Hence, the issue of knowing when to buy and when to wait is something most seasoned computer buyers normally get used to. Observe and you will see that people normally wait a month to a year before they consider buying a new computer part of an entire PC for that matter.

Why is that? For one, the value of a certain computer part depreciates fast. Unlike the traditional depreciation methods of assets, computers depreciate faster. For example, if a car depreciates according to the number of years, computers and parts may as well be seen to depreciate faster in a couple of months. You can see the price discrepancies and how the demand for them increases over time. There is simply a big difference.

PC parts come in all shapes and sizes and while that is true, you can bet that a new PC only retains its overall value for a couple of days. The next thing you know a new part like a video card or memory chip will be available in the market possessing higher value and demand. That is how fast the technological evolution process takes place.

Hence, the wise PC buyer would normally buy one after a couple of months when he notices a significant drop in prices. It may be a hard task especially for the enthusiastic PC buyer but you can just imagine at how much savings he can get by waiting just a little bit.

Under normal circumstances, it would be silly to give a new product with improved features and a strikingly new design the same product name as the previous version, but we’ve come to learn Microsoft’s marketing department is hardly normal. In short, consider this as the Wireless Laser Desktop 6500 if you may, Microsoft took an already awesome wireless keyboard and wireless laser mouse set and made it even better.

As a side note, it’s somewhat unfortunate that I had go through two sets of the Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 v2 to get to play with this - both of which suffered hardware malfunctions after 12 months of pretty intensive use (FPS gaming) - but I guess this is a good opportunity brag about the three-year warranty and no-questions-asked support reps at Microsoft.

With all the attention that’s placed on product packaging these days, Microsoft Hardware has really shined with their widespread adoption of clamshell packaging. Compared to the previous version where you could just fit a hand on the window, even ogre hands can get in there now. Sure you can read all the reviews about comfort and fit but nothing beats trying it out for yourself.

As the name suggests, the keyboard and mouse both use wireless 2.4GHz for connectivity. Having just played with the Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 for a couple days which uses Bluetooth for connectivity, I can now safely say traditional wireless beats Bluetooth for ease-of-configuration, range and performance. (And I say that having experienced countless unnecessary deaths in Team Fortress 2.)

Whereas a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse took a good few minutes to connect and configure with software, wireless is as simple as pretty a button on the transceiver and a button on the mouse. Bluetooth range lasted me no more than 2 meters for any practical use, where as wireless is at least double that. Speaking as an avid online FPS gamer, Bluetooth had a small but impacting delay and jitter in online games whereas wireless is as instant as wired and smooth as butter.

Admittedly I was skeptical to find that Microsoft replaced the older transceiver base which had a long cable that could sit away from your PC case with a self-contained USB dongle, mostly because I don’t think the thick metal box otherwise known as the computer case is the best thing to stick a transceiver behind, but that’s not the case. Having used both variants, I notice no performance degradation with the new dongle.

One reason they’ve switched to these dongles is so that you can place the dongle underneath the mouse and take it with you. I’m not sure how other users of that PC might feel when they discover that the mouse is missing and they can’t use the keyboard either, but it’s a neat idea to give laptop users the choice.

Another highlight of this keyboard is the “Windows Vista Aero-inspired” border which wraps around the whole device. To be perfectly honest, it’s a nice touch but nothing to brag about since it’s pretty much a thin layer of colored plastic.

Personally I imagined it to be more like frosted glass but as you can see it’s pretty much see-through. Whoever invents a material where you can control the effect like pixel shaders will be very rich.

The multimedia keys have also got a visual makeover with transparent buttons. Compared to the previous v2’s layout, v3 features more streamlined buttons which is better organized and less intrusive.

The function keys have also been redesigned with smaller individual buttons that are equally spaced between each other. This is a change I don’t welcome where it seems like they’ve change it for the sake of change. I say this because in the previous version, and on most keyboards, function keys are grouped in sets of fours (F1-F4). This is useful because I’ve grown use to the habit of finding buttons by which set they are in and where they are in the set, for example F5 is the first of the second set, F12 is the last of the last set. I’ve been taking a few guesses at where they are with moderate accuracy, but nothing beats knowing what button it is before pressing it.

The rest of the keyboard remains pretty much identical the previous version. The keys are fairly soft and quiet whilst at the same time keeping the “desktop keyboard” tactile feel. It’s also good knowing the keyboard is ergonomically approved whilst it is still aesthetically pleasing (no ugly divide). Like the previous version, the rubbery palm rest remains and is in my opinion adds a lot to the comfort.

The mouse on the other hand is radically different from the previous version. At first sight it might seem like it was designed by a person who had just discovered curves, but you’d be surprised just how easily your hands rest and grip on it.

Besides the normal things you expect out of a mouse like clicking and moving which it does well, I can’t help myself but comment on the scroll wheel and how Microsoft continues to baffle me why they’re making it harder and harder to use. The scroll wheel is now thinner than a female celebrity on a mission and the middle-click is becoming almost a balancing puzzle in itself - balance a little too far left or right activates the horizontal scroll instead. Bring back the old tactile broad scrolls with an obvious middle-click please.

Finally some quick notes about the battery life. Both the keyboard and mouse use two AA batteries (included). Obviously it’s difficult to give a firm evaluation of the battery life without prolonged use but from experiences using the previous version, the mouse lasts around 2-3 months with very intensive use and the keyboard around 4-5 months with pretty intensive use too. Battery indicators on both will let you know when to prepare a fresh set of batteries before it passes away.

Update: Forgot to mention the software, and you’ll see why. The keyboard and mouse uses the common Microsoft IntelliType and IntelliPoint drivers respectively. New driver updates come out as often as Al Qaeda videos which is acceptable since it does what it needs to do fairly well. Besides the obvious it allows you to customize all of the non-standard keys on the keyboard and every button on the mouse as well as check the health of the battery (which always appears green).

At a retail of US$99.95 (and US$78 on Amazon), this is not a desktop set you’d buy for your average beige box. If you don’t like wires but is concerned about performance and range, then I’d recommend you avoid Bluetooth for the time being. The Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 v3 is a stylish and functional desktop set with plenty of useful features. If you already have a v2 it’s probably not worth upgrading to but if you’re in the market for a new work or gaming desktop set without the premium tax then definitely have a look at this.

One of the hardest things to decide on is when to format your computer. When you format your PC this means permanently erasing all files that are on the computer including system and program files. Of course, before that is done, it is presumed that the files have been properly backed up or burned so that they can be restored from a CD perhaps once the entire format process has been done.

Formatting a hard drive is perhaps the easiest way out when you encounter a lot of problems with your computer. Ordinarily, it is the last resort since having to re-install that usual operating system and the programs you use have to be done one by one. Overall it would seem like a lot of work but there are some cases where you just have to re-install everything from scratch. This results normally when:

1. You Have a Virus
2. You Encounter a System Crash
3. You change Hard Disk Drives
4. You bought a new PC

One thing you can look forward to though is that you have a completely new system to which you have done away with the crash and virus issues. For sure that is quite a load off. The process may take you about an hour or so but give it some time, normally days, and you will find that you have a good as new computer in your hands.

So when you decide to reformat you computer, rest assured the whole effort is worth the wait. Just make sure you make a list of programs notes for reference in case you get lost once your PC is up and about.

If you haven’t noticed…it has been very quiet here. It is because we have been fighting with a performance issue within the new Remote Control LAN edition beta. For almost three months we have been combing through the code and updating the most performance intensive sections. In some cases we used assembly language to eek out every bit of speed we could.

Many of you have signed up for the beta, and your input has been tremendously helpful. It has been almost a month since we posted a beta for download, and this was because we needed to re-write a major section of the agent to get the performance we were looking for. I will tell you right now…it was worth the trouble.

This one particular Vista machine would show about 15% constant CPU time…and sluggish response on the remote side. After our changes:

Yep. Zero. Now…this is a decent system. Our old laptop from 1999 with Windows XP…still shows about 8%, but still very snappy.

This means we can start moving forward. We have overshot our original release date by many months, so this means to get a final version out soon we will need to cut back on proposed features.

Next Wednesday, October 1st, we will be releasing a major beta. It will be near a production level release. It will have all of the current features of 2.8, plus:

-It will be Vista, 2008, and x64 Compatible

-Users will have the ability to show a “An Administrator is connected” window at all times

-Users will be able to request for permission before connecting

I know some of you will be disappointed that many of the features shown before will not make it into this release - not to worry. Part of our team will still be moving forward at full pace to get those finished. In the meantime we can get a 3.0 out soon that will allow customers to connect to their 2008, and Vista machines.

If you are not a member of the beta program, or we missed your last request to be a member (Sorry)…send an email to support@intelliadmin.com and just put beta in the subject.