From: PhilHill [#10] 22 Jun 2009 To: Hello, Helldesk? (QUBIT) [#1] 22 Jun 2009
quote:
According to our sources, ET will be shut down in a week or two.
Sad thing to contemplate, however not at all surprising. If it's true.
ET did more to peak my interest in computers than any other single factor. I learned a lot there, about tech and people.
But, life goes on....
From: masinick [#11] 22 Jun 2009 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#2] 22 Jun 2009
KG, not too surprised to find you in a place with Geeks - (we have been in a couple forums together dating all the way back to those 2001 days).
I'll miss a few of the guys there, but it was a time for change; that forum software since 2005 was terrible. The change should have improved it, instead, that sunk it, but it was a slow leak that took four years to completely go under.
Good people there; I am sure that some will emerge elsewhere.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#13] 22 Jun 2009 To: masinick [#11] 22 Jun 2009
The original message board software, (Progress was it?) certainly did have more than its fair share of bugs. But, it was functional enough. Certainly much better stuff than what they changed to, and much better suited to the task at hand. But, it was old and decrepit, as well as prohibitively expensive, so what's a mother to do? Of course, the stuff they changed to wasn't cheap, either.
We'll see what happens. The front line people have talent, even if Z-D management doesn't, so they should do alright.
From: masinick [#14] 22 Jun 2009 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#13] 22 Jun 2009
I don't know why these places don't just use one of the many FREE CMS you can get today. John Fish seems to use Beehive just fine at Newbies Linux. Many sites I visit use phpBB with good success. There are plenty of other alternatives too. Not sure why they use these commercial monstrosities, unless it is to apply so many bug bots and advertisers. Clearly that did not work. Places like this get a LOT more traffic!
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#15] 22 Jun 2009 To: masinick [#14] 22 Jun 2009
I suspect that like most corporations, they want to have somebody to sue when things go wrong. Gives them a helluva hammer to get things done with.
Of course, for the kind of money some of these sites apparently make, you'd think they could hire a full-time geek to take care of their IT needs, rather than jobbing it all out all over hell's creation and losing control of it.
Speaking of money, that's another things that's more difficult to do with many of the F/OSS packages out there. They're just not designed for commercial endeavors - managing ads, traffic and the many varieties of spying companies like to do just isn't part of the F/OSS ethos.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#17] 23 Jun 2009 To: fixrman [#16] 23 Jun 2009
You're right, it was Prospero. But, that link leads to a site the never mentions Prospero and calls itself "Mzinga", which according to them is an unpronounceable and stupid-sounding Swahili word that means "Beehive". Is that Prospero, trying to be cool by using obscure foreign words that nobody's ever heard before so they can underhandedly steal the name of a good message board software package?
From: Talon8Ya [#19] 23 Jun 2009 To: Hello, Helldesk? (QUBIT) [#1] 23 Jun 2009
It really sucks.
That is where I met Jim, KG and Nate, Fixer, Burns, Doc, John Fish and so many others that eventually spawned into the offshoot forums.
The thing about it all too is that there is and was so much info there. Some of us had huge post totals rivaling only Brownie but were all so active in the tech discussions that it really helped me find info fast and if I did not know something or needed advice I could ask and tons of people either knew the answer or could point the way to it.
Then the forum migration to it's new software slowed that a bit and then the forum reset hurt it a bit more. It was not as easy to browse or respond but we still did.
I am sad to see it go.
I am actually even more upset to see Jim let go as well. Through all the yrs he kept that place an area that was informational and still let you connect with others on things other than tech all in balance. Not always popular but a great job over all.
Ziff is really losing an asset there as well.
Loyd and his non-stop digging led to some great info and advice as well as hands on that many other sites still don't do they just re-hash.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#22] 23 Jun 2009 To: worsel [#21] 24 Jun 2009
I'm forgiving Canonical because they were original with it, but anybody else does it they're just trying to ride their coattails. And even with Canonical I'm not happy about their choosing that name. Even after all this time it still sounds silly to me. It sounds like baby talk or something. Then, to make it worse, they use that babyshit brown theme. Everytime I look at a default Ubuntu install I think "Didz u buntu in yer widow diaper?" <grin>
From: Aurora [#23] 23 Jun 2009 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#22] 23 Jun 2009
Shuttleworth is South African so I can understand his using a word from a language that comes from his area. It would be like an Australian company choosing an Aboriginal word for their product. It's kind of classy. But, for an American company trying to be PC by picking a Swahili word because it may be cool is pathetic. (fail)
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#28] 25 Jun 2009 To: NateHoy [#27] 25 Jun 2009
Not here, I don't think, but she was a regular at Newbie's Linux for a while. She moved from Oregon to (I think) Minnesota, and I'm not sure what she's up to these days.
From: Talon8Ya [#29] 26 Jun 2009 To: NateHoy [#25] 26 Jun 2009
Like KG said he passed away.
It was a real shock. In fact he was giving me advice on one of my cats that he was getting from his daughter who was a vet or vet tech I think and all the sudden he disappeared. I did not find out he died for a long time.