FREE COMPUTER SOLUTIONS

Microsoft Windows

2011-02-14T13:00:00.003+05:30

Summary

Windows is a series of lowest common denominator operating systems intended for businesses that consider only initial purchase price and ignore total cost of ownership, reliability, downtime, security, productivity, or other factors.

“Technically, Windows NT Server 4.0 is no match for any UNIX operating system, not even the non-commercial BSDs [FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD] or Linux.” —Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX

William Neukom, Microsoft’s senior vice president for law and corporate affairs, told U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson on December 15, 1997, “Windows 95 puts users back with the Flintstones in terms of operating system function.”

Microsoft has been running a series of television commercials claiming that Windows 2000 is reliable and that it can be left unattended for days at a time without human intervention. Windows 2000 is in fact still less reliable and stable than the least reliable version of UNIX (even the free ones), and will require a full time maintenance and administration staff, as well as at least a part time staff or independent consultants for recurring repair work.

Microsoft has been running a series of television commercials claiming that Windows 2000 is secure and immune from hacker and virus attacks. Windows 2000 is in fact still less secure than the least secure version of UNIX (even the free ones), and the Windows family of operating systems (including Windows 2000) is subject to the greatest number of viruses of any operating system family (more than 10,000 as many viruses as the UNIX family of operating systems).

Microsoft has been running a series of television commercials claiming that Windows 2000 can easily connect to other systems and that it is easy to merge operations on separate Windows 2000 systems. Windows 2000 is in fact unable to connect to any other operating system unless the other operating system provides the connectivity (UNIX, NetWare, and the Macintosh provide the ability to connect to Windows). Merging multiple Windows 2000 systems (even just two Windows 2000 systems) is a difficult and time consuming process subject to errors and loss of data. Some businesses have been unable to get a new Windows 2000 system to correctly run their business, even after more than a year of direct Microsoft support.

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Microsoft Windows (Continues.)

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Hardware Supported:

* Windows 2000: Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentium

* Windows NT: Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentiumw3 (note: Windows NT 3.51 was ported to DEC Alpha, SGI MIPS, and IBM/Motorola PowerPC, but is no longer supportede54; Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition was ported to DEC Alpha, but is no longer supported)

* Windows 98: Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentiumw9, 486DX

* Windows 95: Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentiumw9, 80486

* Windows 3.1: Intel 80486, 80386, 80286

Maximum Number of Processors: 8 (Windows 2000 Advanced Server only)

Number of bits: partial 64 for Windows 2000; 32 for Windows NTw43; 24 for Windows 3.1

“Digital UNIX continues to dominate the 64-bit arena, leaving HP-UX and IRIX to contest the second position, followed closely by AIX. Solaris and NT trail significantly behind. Support for 64-bit processes [and] for large amounts of physical memory are still missing from NT. NT runs on 64-bit Alpha hardware and offers 64-bit files and file systems but has yet to address the key 64-bit requirement to support large amounts of physical memory for enhancing database performance.” —D.H. Brown Associates

Kernel: proprietary (microkernel in Windows 2000 and Windows XP)

POSIX: partially supported (Windows NT only)

Peripherals: “Many PC peripherals work with NT, many don’t. See the HCL for a list of devices that are certified to work.” —Kristian Elof Sørensen

File Systems Supported:

Windows 2000

* preferred file system: NTFS (NRWF)

* file systems read/write: SMB (RW) (see SMB and firewalls)

* file systems read only and can write through optional software: ISO 9660 (joliet)

Windows NT

* preferred file system: NTFS (NRWF)

* file systems read only and can write through optional software: ISO 9660 (joliet)

Windows 98

* preferred file system: FAT32 (NRWF)

* file systems can read/write: VFAT (RW), FAT (RW)

* file systems read only and can write through optional software: ISO 9660 (Rw), ECD (R), CD (Rw), DVD-Video (R), DVD-ROM (R)

Windows 95

* preferred file system: FAT32 (NRWF), VFAT (NRWF)

* file systems can read/write: FAT (RW)

* file systems read only and can write through optional software: ISO 9660 (Rw), ECD (R), CD (Rw)

Windows 3.1

* preferred file system: FAT (NRWF)

Other Systems Emulated:

Graphics Engine:

Text Command Shell: DOS command line

User Interface (graphic):

Graphic Command Shell: Explorer

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Microsoft Windows (Continues)

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Special topics

* further reading: books on Windows

* Should I switch to Windows 98?

* What are the alternatives to Windows?

See also:

* Windows XP

* Windows ME (Millenium Edition)

* Windows 2000

* Windows NT

* Windows 98

* Windows 95

* Windows 3.1

Intended purpose

Server/mainframe: Microsoft intends Windows NT or Windows 2000 for server use

Desktop/workstation: Microsoft intends Windows 2000 Professional for workstation use and Windows 98 for desktop use

Handheld: Microsoft intends Windows CE for handheld use

Real time: not appropriate

Kind of OS: proprietary

Release Date:

Current Version:

Cost:

* Windows 2000 Advanced Server: $3,999

* Windows 2000 Server: $999

* Windows 2000 Professional: $319w50

* Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition: $3,999

* Windows NT Server 4.0 (standard): $1,129

* Windows NT Server 4.0 (academic): $679

* Windows 98: $209

* Windows 95: $109

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Microsoft Windows (Continues..)

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Windows 3.1

screen shot of Windows 3.1

Internet Services:

ftp://ftp.eng.auburn.edu/pub/doug/ “bootp-DH2.x” free, patched CMU BOOTP-DD2.4.x server from Doug Hughes of auburn.edu. Supports DHCP, even for Win95 clients. Adds the patches from the Samba mailing list to support PCNFS and Win95 simultaneously. For SunOS 4.x, Solaris 2.x, Linux, and NetBSD servers.


Market share as of January 2002	Defacements = about 30,000 between April 2000 and February 2002
Microsoft software runs about a quarter of Web servers, but is the target of the majority of successful Web defacement attacks. —Los Angeles Times, February 13, 2002

Internet Explorer

One of the major features of Windows 98 is a closer merger of Microsoft’s operating system and web browser. This isn’t done for any technological reasons or for the convenience of the customer (many customers find the blurring between the graphic command shell and web browser to be confusing), but instead serves the interests of Microsoft by extending their operating system monopoly into the Internet.

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Application Programs:

Security:

“As Windows users are being plagued by computer viruses, spam, buggy software, and Web pop-up ads, some are questioning why the Redmond, Wash.-based software behemoth has failed to integrate security and repair features that could make computers less prone to problems.

“ ‘Microsoft has added lots of bells and whistles to Windows to protect their operating system franchise over the years, but when it comes to Windows security and reliability, they’ve done comparitively little until recently,’ said Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a Bethesda, Md.-based computer security and training organization.

“ ‘It’s like they are selling faster cars with more powerful engines but leaving off the seat belts and air bags — all those critical things that make customers safe when using their products,’ he added.

“Microsoft’s critics say the reason the company isn’t eager to add security features is simple: Doing so wouldn’t help it fend off competitors whose products could undermine the spread of Windows.

“ ‘You would think there would be money to be made in Microsoft having some kind of more effective antiviral program of their own,’ said Andrew Gavil, an antitrust expert and law professor at Howard University. ‘But virus programs don’t present any threat to their operating system monopoly.’ ” —Los Angeles Times, “Microsoft Runs Into Bundling Dilemma”, March 27, 2004

Microsoft falsely claimed that it would make security a company-wide priority in its much publicized 2002 “trustworthy computing initiaitve”. Since then, Microsoft Windows (all versions) has become even more vulnerable to viruses and other internet attacks. Security is a purposely false and misleading marketing slogan at Microsoft.

“Ironically, some experts say, product bundling is partly to blame for Windows’ security woes.

“Lee A. Hollaar, a computer science professor at University of Utah, said the widespread proliferation of the Melissa computer virus stemmed from the tight integration of Microsoft’s Outlook e-mail program with its writing application, Word.

‘The Melissa virus exists only because Microsoft expanded Word documents to contain functions that let it access the Outlook address book’, Hollaar said.

“Similarly, he explained, when the Internet Explorer Web browser was folded into the operating system, it exposed Windows to greater security risks from the Net.’ ” —Los Angeles Times, “Microsoft Runs Into Bundling Dilemma”, March 27, 2004

Other:

“NT, even in its Enterprise Edition incarnation, trails in virtually every area except PC interoperability. As a comparatively new system targeting broader market requirements, NT simply lacks the functional depth of UNIX today.” —D.H. Brown Associates

“You may have noticed that a new TV ad for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer e-mail program uses the musical theme of the ‘Confutatis Maledictis’ from Mozart’s Requiem. ‘Where do you want to go today?’ is the cheery line on the screen. Meanwhile, the chorus sings ‘Confutatis maledictis, flammis acribus addictis,’ which means, ‘The damned and accursed are convicted to flames of hell.’ ” —Gary Pavek

“Windows 95 is an ‘edifice of bailing wire, chewing gum and prayer.’ ” — The New York Times, August 2, 1995

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Switching from Windows 95 to Windows 98

Opinion

The big question of the moment about Windows 98 is “Should I switch to Windows 98?”

The answer is “maybe”. The easiest answer is: if you buy a new Wintel computer, get it with Windows 98, but if your existing system is stable and working, don’t mess with it.

Windows 98 offers a large number of minor improvements over Windows 95, including the addition of several more features that were available on the Macintosh in the mid and late 1980s. Windows 98 major feature is that it blurs the distinction between the operating system and the web browser, furthering Microsoft’s own monopolistic goals of eliminiating Netscape, but by moving some important operating system functionality to the web browser, Windows 98 actually runs approximately 5-20% slower than Windows 95 on the same hardware. Windows 98 also includes numerous attempts at fixes of some of the worst problems in Windows 95, but more than 5,000 known bugs from Windows 95 still exist in Windows 98, because Microsoft views bug fixes as unprofitable.

As one example, Windows 98 now supports multiple monitors. Multiple monitors is a gimmick for typical home and business use, but is an essential requirement for professional content creation. For page layout, pre-press, illustration, animation, and other graphics work it is common to have all the software tools on one screen and the artwork in progress on a screen by itself. For video and music it is common to have one complete monitor for each source and destination in use (which in a complex project could easily include several sources). The addition of this feature is an example of Microsoft closing the gap between Windows and Macintosh. The Macintosh had the ability to support multiple monitors back in 1987. And this feature highlights the Microsoft approach to closing the gap, because the version available in 1987 on the Macintosh is still superior to that newly available with Windows 98. On the Macintosh, there is no limit (other than user hardware purchases) on the number of monitors, each monitor can be of a different size (14", 17", 21", 25", etc.), can be of a different resolution (72 ppi, 75 ppi, 150 ppi, etc.), and can be of a different color depth (16, 256, thousands, millions of colors). Additionally, the resolution and color depth of any one (or all) of the monitors can be changed on the fly without rebooting. And the Macintosh supports on the fly changing of the ordering of the monitors, changing the monitor that has the menu bar, and changing which monitor windows open into.

The downside is that the release of Windows 98 set new records for the most technical support calls in a single day. Windows 98 was released with more than 10,000 known bugs and is so bug-filled that it crashed during Microsoft’s official televised introduction. Many individuals and businesses have found it so trouble-filled that they have given up on attempts to install it and returned to Windows 95. These widespread reliability problems have spawned humor, such as the error list shown on the Windows 98 page.

Bill Gates, when questioned about the more than 10,000 bugs Microsoft acknowledged existed in Windows 98, claimed “There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed.…The reason we come up with new versions is not to fix bugs.…It’s the stupidest reason to buy a new version I ever heard.”

Microsoft took the approach that it was only profitable for them to fix bugs that affected a large number of users.

The result is that if your computer is a mainstream model with only simple and mainstream hardware and you only use a few select mainstream programs, Windows 98 will work with no trouble at all. Windows 98 should also work fine (at least initially) when pre-installed on a new computer.

The more your own work or your choice of hardware or software deviates from the mainstream, the more likely that Windows 98 will present all kinds of problems and that you will probably need to pay for hours or days of expensive professional tech support to get it running.

If your business is still using Windows 3.1 or MS-DOS, then the reasons that caused you to avoid Windows 95 apply even more strongly for avoiding Windows 98.

There are many high quality operating systems available for existing Intel-based hardware, including excellent commercial operating systems such as OS/2, NeXTSTEP, or Solaris, as well as excellent free operating systems such as LINUX, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. For those still using MS-DOS, IBM has released an updated and improved version called PC-DOS-2000.

For those considering the purchase of new computers, the Macintosh line includes both high end graphics machines and a new consumer model, the iMac, which is actually up to two times faster than any Pentium II computer.

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Alternatives to Windows

Opinion

“Microsoft enjoyed its great success not because it had great software but because people were stuck with it. Market domination, not innovation, drove the company’s success,” wrote James Wallace in the book “Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace”, John Wiley & Sons, September 1997.

“The future of Windows is threatened less by the superiority of its competition than the inferiority of Windows, which results from Microsoft’s misplaced priorities. Microsoft’s design decisions are driven more by its attempt to protect its desktop monopoly than by technical excellence.” —Nicholas Petreley, “The new Unix alters NT’s orbit”

1.1 MB QuickTime movie of Bill Gates explaining his criteria for selecting the best operating system.

“Windows machines have advantages, too, such as more configuration options, cheaper up front cost, availability of software, snappier response on window controls, cheaper components, more peripherals.” —Why Monopolies Are Bad, by Jeff Adkins

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Commentary: Quite simply, Windows guarantees more work for the M.I.S. departments — because it computers require far more technical support to do the same work. And when the M.I.S. departments make computer recommendations to management, they tend to look out for their own job security over the best interests of the business. The same reason that many retail stores also push Wintel machines — it guarantees more work for their highly profitable service departments.

In addition to Mac OS X (which combines the ease of use and professional content creation capabilities of the Macintosh with the power, reliability, and speed of the NeXT version of UNIX), BeOS, NetWare, and OS/2 Warp Server, any of the many free and commercial versions of UNIX offer a better high end operating system than Windows NT. See John Kirch’s article “Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX” at http://www.unix-vs-nt.org/.

Serious commercial UNIXs include: AIX, Digital UNIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Macintosh OS X, Mac OS X Server, Rhapsody, and Solaris.

Leading free UNIXs include: FreeBSD, GNU Hurd, LINUX, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.

And in the server arena, the leader (in number of installations) is still NetWare.

Study after study has shown that Macintoshes are less expensive to support and maintain than Wintel machines. Wintel computers typically cost four to 10 times as much in support costs. Even Intel’s own internal study showed that it was costing them four times as much to support Windows machines as it did to support their Macintoshes (yes, Intel used Macintoshes for mission critical work — and since that study they have been expanding their use of Macintoshes).

Independent studies over the years continually show that worker productivity is substantially higher on Macintoshes than on Wintel computers. And the difference is greatest in the creative fields (pre-press, illustration, digital photography, 2-D and 3-D animation, 3-D modelling and rendering, film special effects, broadcast video editting, CD-ROM production, multi-media, music composition and performance, sound editting, and web site production), where the Macintosh is the most prevalent computer (even more than the high end graphics work stations — and Macintosh OS X (formerly Rhapsody) brings the Macintosh to the high end graphics work stations). Macintosh OS X is numerically the most used form of See also: http://www.unix-vs-nt.org/, John Kirch’s article “Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX”

Ethics: Bill Gates is a longtime member of the Augusta National Golf Club, the official site of the Masters Golf Tournament. The Augusta National Golf Club refuses to allow any women join their club and for decades refused to allow Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities to join, only relenting in 1990 to allow a few token Black members when facing criminal charges for Civil Rights violations. The only reason that Microsoft hires women and minorities is because of tough federal Civil Rights laws. If you are a woman, Black, Hispanic, Asian, or a member of any other minority group, remember that Bill Gates and Microsoft hate you and only take your money becuase they are forced to by law.

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Macintosh

2011-02-14T12:26:00.001+05:30

Summary

Macintosh OS X, 9, OS 8, OS 7, and OS 6 are desktop operating systems made by Apple Computer that run on Motorola/IBM PowerPC and Motorola 680x0.

IMac

See also:

System X
System X Server
Rhapsody
System 9-9.2
System 8.0-8.6
System 7.0-7.6
System 1.0-6.0.8

Intended purpose

Server/mainframe: small to medium scale servers (with special software)

Desktop/workstation: general desktop and content creation workstations

Handheld: not appropriate

Real time: not appropriate

“After two decades of supplying boring beige boxes, PC makers have begun to add a bit of color and style to their lines, following the runaway success of Apple’s iMac line, a candy-colored machine designed for consumers that was not simply a repackaged business box. Industrial design isn’t the only selling point. A fundamental shift in computing has occurred. For business users and consumers alike, what matters is being connected to the Web, not the raw processing power of the desktop computer. The most intriguing new technologies aren’t spreadsheets or word-processing programs, or the latest updates to Windows. Digital photography, digital music, desktop video editing, and high speed internet access are where the action is. A top-flight desktop computer or notebook is nice to have, but what makes that technology really rock is all the gear that goes with it. Computer manufacturers have altered their product lines in recognition of that trend. Apple’s top-end consumer model, the iMac DV Special Edition, comes with a stellar sound system, high-speed FireWire ports for transferring video, and the company’s iMovie software for editing movies. The most expensive notebook models now rival desktop machines for speed and versatility. Except for Apple’s eye-catching iBook, however, most notebooks are designed for business users.” —Fortune Technology Guide

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Kind of OS: proprietary

Release Date:

Current Version: 9.2 and X (10.1) NOTE: Mac OS X is not the same as traditional Macintosh, lacking the famous ease of use

Cost: System X: $129; System 7.6 through 9: $99; System 7.5.5 and earlier: free

Hardware Supported:

System X: IBM/Motorola PowerPC G3/G4
System X Server: IBM/Motorola PowerPC G3/G4
System 9.2: IBM/Motorola PowerPC
System 9.1: IBM/Motorola PowerPC
System 9: IBM/Motorola PowerPC
System 8.6: IBM/Motorola PowerPC
System 8.5: IBM/Motorola PowerPC
System 8: IBM/Motorola PowerPC, Motorola 68040
System 7.6: IBM/Motorola PowerPC, Motorola 68040, 68030
System 7.0-7.5.5: IBM/Motorola PowerPC, Motorola 68040, 68030, 68020, 68000
System 1.0-6.0.8: Motorola 68040, 68030, 68020, 68000

680x0 assembly language is discussed in the assembly language section.

Maximum Number of Processors: 4

Number of bits: 32

Memory map:

Mac Plus memory map
Mac Plus video memory locations
Mac Plus sound memory locations

Kernel: proprietary for Mac OS 9 and earlier; BSD UNIX (MACH microkernel) for Mac OS X

POSIX: not supported by Mac OS 9 and earlier: supported by Mac OS X

Peripherals: “all current Mac hardware, some graphics equipment, and some PC PCI cards” —Kristian Elof Sørensen

File Systems Supported: HFS+, HFS, MFS (dropped in Mac OS 9), Pro-DOS, FAT, FAT32, VFAT, SMB, ISO 9660, hybrid, CD-i, Video CD, Enhanced CD, Kodak PhotoDisk, audio CD, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-R/W, DVD-RAM

Other Systems Emulated: PowerPC only: MS-DOS (with third party Virtual PC), Windows 3.1 (with third party Virtual PC), Windows 95 (with third party Virtual PC or SoftWindows95), Windows 98 (with third party Virtual PC or SoftWindows98), Windows ME (with third party Virtual PC), Windows NT (with third party Virtual PC), Windows 2000 (with third party Virtual PC), Windows XP (with third party Virtual PC), Red Hat Linux (with third party Virtual PC) — see related software

Graphics Engine: QuickDraw for Mac OS 9 and earlier; Quartz for Mac OS X

Text Command Shell: none (although AppleScript provides some text command line capabilities)

User Interface (graphic): Macintosh ToolBox for Mac OS 9 and earlier; Aqua for Mac OS X

Graphic Command Shell: Finder

“On an innovative system like the Macintosh, programs don’t look quite the way they do on other systems. For example, instead of carrying out a sequence of steps in a predetermined order, your program is driven primarily by user actions (such as clicking and typing) whose order cannot be predicted.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-4

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Macintosh (Continues.)

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Macintosh System 8

Screen shot of Finder

Internet Services:

http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP “Internet Software Consortium DHCP Server, Client, and Relay agent” freely redistributable tools: source builds on most Unix platforms, Mac, NeXTStep, and Rhapsody.

Application Programs:

PageMaker was created for the Apple Macintosh in 1985 by Aldus.

In 1987 Thomas and John Knoll created the program Display, which eventually became PhotoShop. The program ran on the Apple Macintosh.

Adobe released the first version of Illustrator in 1987, running on the Apple Macintosh.

Mathematica was developed on the Macintosh in 1986.

In February of 1990, Adobe released the first version of the program PhotoShop (for the Apple Macintosh).

Security:

other:

“Macs have many advantages: ease of use, integration of OS and hardware, reliability, overall lower cost of ownership over the life of the machine, and, of course, style.” —Why Monopolies Are Bad, by Jeff Adkins

“That Macintosh computers have so many advantages over PCs running Windows 95 should come as no surprise. While Microsoft has spent years trying to imitate the interface and duplicate the features pioneered on the Macintosh in the 1980s, Apple has taken the Macintosh to the next generation of personal computing. This next generation of personal computing, based on RISC processors and component software, means that Macintosh computers bring you more advanced features than PCs running Windows 95, and that those features are easier to use on Macintosh systems.

A 10-year head start is only one reason why Macintosh computers have the edge on PCs running Windows 95. The other reason is that Apple is the only major personal computer company to craft both the hardware and operating system software—together. That makes it easier for Macintosh users to start using new features.” — Apple Computer

After numerous requests for specific recommendations, OSdata.com now includes recommended systems for different kinds of content creation. See each individual web page for the recommendations for each field of content creation.

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Ease of Use:

Ease of Use: The Macintosh iBook is easy enough for even a blonde model to use.

Organization of Macintosh operating system

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Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-10

“The routines available for use in Macintosh programs are divided according to function, into what are in most cases called “managers” of the feature they support. … Most are part of either the Operating System or the User Interface Toolbox and are in the Macintosh ROM.

“The Operating System is at the lowest level; it does basic tasks such as input and putput, memory management, and interrupt handling. The User Interface Toolbox is a level above the Operating System; it helps you implement the standard Macintosh user interface in your application. The Toolbox calls the Operating System to do low-level operations. …

“RAM-based software is available as well. In most cases this software performs specialized operations (such as floating-point arithmetic) that aren’t integral to the user interface but may be useful to some applications.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-9

“The Macintosh User Interface Toolbox provides a simple means of constructing application programs that conform to the standard Macintosh user interface. By offering a common set of routines that every application calls to implement the user interface, the Toolbox not only ensures familiarity and consistency for the user but also helps reduce the application’s code size and development time. At the same time, it allows a great deal of flexibility: An application can use its own code instead of a Toolbox call wherever appropriate, and can define its own types of windows, menus, controls, and desk accessories.

“Figure 2 [below] shows the various parts of the Toolbox in rough order of their relative level. There are many interconnections between these parts; the higher ones often call those at the lower levels.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-9

“To keep the data of an application separate from its code, making the data easier to modify and easier to share among applications, the [Macintosh User Interface] Toolbox includes the Resource Manager. The Resource Manager lets you, for example, store menus separetly from your code so that they can be edited or translated without requiring recompilation of the code. It also allows you to get standard data, such as the I-beam pointer for inserting text, from a shared system file. When you call other parts of the Toolbox that need access to the data, they call the Resource Manager. Although most applications never need to call the Resource Manager directly, an understanding of the concepts behind it is essential because they’re basic to so many other operations.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-9

“Graphics are an important part of every Macintosh application. All graphic operations on the Macintosh are performed by QuickDraw. To draw something on the screen, you’ll often call one of the other parts of the [Macintosh User Interface] Toolbox, but it will in turn call QuickDraw. You’ll also call QuickDraw directly, usually to draw inside a window, or just to set up constructs like rectangles that you’ll need when making other Toolbox calls. QuickDraw’s underlying concepts, like those of the Resource Manager, are important for you to understand.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-11

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“Graphics include text as well as pictures. To draw text, QuickDraw calls the Font Manager, which does the background work necessary to make a variety of character fonts available in various sizes and styles. Unless your application includes a font menu, you need to know only a minimal amount about the Font Manager.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-11^b4b

“An application decides what to do from moment to moment by examining input from the user in the form of mouse and keyboard actions. It learns of such actions by repeatedly calling the Toolbox Event Manager (which in turn calls another, lower-level Event Manager in the Operating System). The Toolbox Event Manager also reports occurences within the application that may require a response, such as when a window that was overlapped becomes exposed and needs to be redrawn.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-11

“All information presented by a standard Macintosh application appears in windows. [NOTE: information also can appear in the menu bar and can be audio.] To create windows, activate them, move them, resize them, or close them, you’ll call the Window Manager It keeps track of overlapping windows, so you can manipulate windows without concern for how they overlap. For example, the Window Manager tells the Toolbox Event Manager when to inform your application that a window has to be redrawn. Also, when the user presses the mouse button, you call the Window Manager to learn which part of which window it was pressed in, or whether it was pressed in the menu bar or a desk accessory.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-11

“Any window may contain controls, such as buttons, check boxes, and scroll bars. You can create and manipulate controls with the Control Manager. When you learn from the Window Manager that the user pressed the mouse button inside a window containing controls, you call the Control Manager to find out which control it was pressed in, if any.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-11

“A common place for the user to press the mouse button is, of course, in the menu bar. You set up menus in the menu bar by calling the Menu Manager. When the user gives a commadn, either from a menu with the mouse or from the leyboard with the Command key, you call the Menu Manager to find out which command was given.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-12

“To accept text typed by the user and allow the standard editing capabilities, including cutting and pasting text within a document via the Clipboard, your application should call TextEdit. TextEdit also handles basic formatting sych as word wraparound and justification. You can use it just to display text if you like.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-12

“When an application needs more information from the user about a command, it presents a dialog box. In case of errors or potentially dangerous situations, it alerts the user with a box containing a message or with sound from the Macintosh’s speakers (or both). To create and present dialogs and alerts, and find out the user’s responses to them, you call the Dialog Manager.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-12

“Every Macintosh application should support the use of desk accessories. The user opens desk accessories through the Apple menu, which you set up by calling the Menu Manager. When you learn that the user has pressed the mouse button in a desk accessory, you pass that information on to the accessory by calling the Desk Manager. The Desk Manager also includes routines that you must call to ensure that desk accessories work properly.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-11

“You can use TextEdit to implement the standard text editing capability of cutting and pasting via the Clipboard in your application. To allow the use of the Clipboard for cutting and pasting text or graphics between your application and another application or a desk accessory, you need to call the Scrap Manager.” —Inside Macintosh, Volume I, page I-12

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Eferences

References within this web site

(for your convenience, look for this symbol marking passages about Macintosh)

Cost
Hardware Supported
Hardware-Software Integration
Installation and Set-up
File Systems Supported
Speed
Ease of Use
Release Date
Hardware (Physical) Layer of an Operating System
Memory
Memory Maps
Resource Manager
Cut and Paste
Graphics Engine
Font Management
User Interface
Event Management
Windows
Controls
Menus
TextEdit
Dialog Boxes
Alerts
Desk Accessories
System X
System X Server
Rhapsody
System 9
System 8
System 7
System 1.0-6.0.8
Music (includes list of professional musicians who use the Macintosh)

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LINUX

2011-02-14T10:41:00.001+05:30

Summary

LINUX is a free UNIX-like operating system that runs on Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentium, Intel 80x86, Motorola/IBM PowerPC, Motorola 680x0, Sun SPARC, SGI MIPS, DEC Alpha, HP PA-RISC, DEC VAX, ARM, API 1000+, and CL-PS7110.

Linux is named for Linus Torvalds, a Finnish engineering student who created the original kernel. Linus didn’t want to use Windows and searched for an inexpensive alternative that would run on low cost IBM PC clones. The GNU open source project was progressing very slowly because of political infighting and an attempt to make the same operating system run the same on numerous processors. Linus received permission to use MINIX as the foundation for his own efforts. MINIX was a small version of UNIX created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum to provide college students with a working version of UNIX with no AT&T owned source code. Linus opened a web site on his university student account and started posting free copies of his source code. During the early days of the project, Linus was posting updated versions several times a day, which directly contradicted the commercial approach of only releasing new versions on an infrequent basis after extensive testing. With the help of a growing number of volunteers (literally tens of thousands), Linus quickly replaced all of MINIX with new all new source code. As Linux caught on in popularity (because it allowed college students and hobbyists to experiment with very cheap Intel hardware), other groups of volunteers ported Linux to a wide variety of additional processors. The success of Linux proved the viability of open source software projects and Linus’s approach of rapid and continual incremental updates proved to be an effective method for harnessing volunteer effort and an excellent method for widespread testing on a wide variety of hardware.

“Linux has achieved a measure of success. In only a few years, the program has evolved from a hacker’s toy into software that is, at least in part, technically superior to Windows NT.” —Stephen Morley, “Revenge of the hackers”, The Economist, July 11th - 17th, 1998 [NOTE: Linux has advanced substantially since this article was published, now surpassing Windows 2000 in every way except user interface and installation, both of which are being addressed by the KDE and Gnome projects.]

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LINUX (Continues)

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Intended purpose

Server/mainframe: one of the most popular small and medium scale server systems

Desktop/workstation: Can be used as a general desktop system, more appropriate as a workstation system for those familiar with UNIX or those who want to tinker with their OS as a hobby — this is changing rapidly and with either KDE or GNOME, Linux can be used by an increasing number of general computing users.

Handheld: experimental and hobbyist only

Real time: not appropriate

Kind of OS: open source UNIX^†

“Linux is a free (GPL Licensed), from scratch operating system based heavily on the POSIX and UNIX APIs. It supports both 32 and 64 bit hardware and provides a stable multiuser internet ready operating system. Linux itself is not UNIX, although many people call it that and you would be very hard pushed to tell the difference. This is because the UNIX trademark has a cost and is specific to systems that meet a complex set of X/Open standards.”

“Unix is a trademark that was transferred by Novell Unixware (the result of Novell’s purchase of AT&T Bell Lab’s Unix group) to the non-profit X/Open Company, Ltd, and is now apparently owned by ‘The Open Group’ (the result of a merger between X/Open and OSF). To get their permission to call a product ‘Unix’, The Open Group requires one to pass a number of validation suites that check conformance of APIs, commands and utilities, and the C compiler.” — Steve Byan^e56 (See also:

http://www.opengroup.org/testing/checklist/u98brand.html

“The “holy war” of computing these days — Microsoft’s Windows NT Server vs. UNIX — is, strangely enough, being upstaged by a johnny-come-lately called Linux. And while UNIX-clone Linux’s emerging popularity gives small businesses another attractive alternative when plotting their network operating system (NOS) strategies, it also adds confusion to an already muddled issue.” — Jim Carr

“Technically, Windows NT Server 4.0 is no match for any UNIX operating system, not even the non-commercial BSDs [FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD] or Linux.” —John Kirch.

Release Date: First version released on September 17, 1991.

Current Version: 2.6.4

Cost: free

“For the most cost-conscious customer, Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, or OpenBSD would be the obvious choices. They cost nothing, yet they are just as stable and offer as much functionality as, if not more than, the commercial UNIX operating systems.” —“Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX”

“Linux can be downloaded for free over the Internet or obtained inexpensively with support and documentation from a number of commercial vendors. This makes it an attractive product for companies trying to reduce the cost of licensing and managing OSes.” —R. Scott Raynovich and Polly Sprenger, “Linux legitimacy rallies NT skeptics”, LAN Times, 17 August 1998

“Randy Kessell, manager of technical analysis for a Southwestern Bell operation center, notes that because Linux allows his company to do more remote network administration and software loads than was possible with either Microsoft or NetWare products, it has driven down their network management costs.” —Ann Harrison, “In LINUX We…”, Software Magazine, Cover Story, September 1998

Hardware Supported: Intel/Cyrix/AMD Pentium, 80486, 80386, 80286 (partial port), 8086 (partial port), IBM/Motorola PowerPC, IBM RS/6000, Motorola 68060, 68040, 68030, 68020, 68000, Sun SPARC, Sun SPARC64 (Ultra), SGI MIPS, DEC Alpha, HP-PA RISC, ARM, API 1000+, CL-PS7110

680x0 assembly language is discussed in the assembly language section.

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LINUX (Continues..)

2011-02-14T10:39:00.007+05:30

Graphic Command Shell:

Disabled support:

Internet Services:

“Linux uses internet and industry standard components and protocols giving a system with complete network integration. The operating system can act as a server for most major file serving protocols, and provide all the major internet applications.”^w25

“Yesterday’s college students learned their UNIX expertise on Linux and FreeBSD. Today they’re working in IT departments, and many of them are openly hostile to both Microsoft and Windows NT. As a result, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and other forms of UNIX are finding their way into IT departments, both overtly and on the sly. “For example, are you sure that’s an NT server you’re connecting to at work? IS employees in many corporations have secretly installed UNIX servers that provide native NT services. Why take such a risk? Linux and FreeBSD are free, as is SAMBA, the software that provides NT services. So the IS department saves money. And managers are unlikely to find out UNIX is behind the scenes because fewer people will complain about server downtime. “Fewer people will complain because the servers are more stable than Windows NT. Linux, FreeBSD, and BSDI UNIX outperform Windows NT by a wide margin on limited hardware, and under some circumstances can perform as well or better than NT on the best hardware. Once behind in scalability features, UNIX on Intel is catching up and may soon surpass NT in the number of processors it can use, and how it uses them.” —Nicholas Petreley (editor-in-chief of NC World and columnist for InfoWorld and NT World Japan), “The new UNIX alters NT’s orbit: The re-emergence of UNIX threatens to modify the future direction of NT”, NC World, April 1998

“Since these operating systems [Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD] are free for use even in commercial environments, many ISPs run on Linux or FreeBSD. Linux is the most popular and will run on a wide range hardware: Sun, Intel, DEC Alpha, PowerPC, PowerMac, etc. Paul Krill’s recent articles in InfoWorld (Linux picking up steam and Linux supporters rally around freeware OS) focus on the ever increasing support of major vendors and future plans for added functionality, i.e. support for Intel’s 64-bit Merced processor. Currently, Linux is perhaps the fastest growing operating system on the market. For more information, see Linux Resources or Red Hat Software.” —“Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX”

“Meanwhile, Windows NT already loses on many more competitive issues. Linux, FreeBSD, and other forms of Unix can be configured as a firewall right out of the box. Windows NT cannot. Free Unix operating systems have built-in features like IP masquerading. Windows NT doesn’t even do basic IP filtering without additional software.” —Nicholas Petreley, “The new Unix alters NT’s orbit”, NC World

Businesses and organizations with servers powered by Linux: 1st-Netcard.com, Deja News, Etoys, free-dvd.org.lu (SuSE/Linux), Google.com, HomeStore.com, LinuxSucks.org, MP3.com, Napster.com (Red Hat), NetBroadcaster.com, NetWare, PayPal.com, PlanetofMusic.com, Rackspace, Real.com, Red Hat (Red Hat Secure Linux), royal.gov.uk (the British Royal Family), Slashdot.org, Yahoo.com (also uses FreeBSD)

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LINUX (Continues.)

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Maximum Number of Processors:

Number of bits: 32 or 64 (depending on the processor used)

Kernel: LINUX

“The Linux kernel was originally written by Linus Torvalds (hence the name “Linux”), and it maintained by a team of developers. The kernel itself is released under the GPL (GNU Public License).” —Rich Steiner (See also: http://www.linuxhq.org

Some versions of LINUX use the MACH kernel. These include: MkLinux (PowerPC), Intel MkLinux, and HP/PA MkLinux.

POSIX: compatible

Peripherals: “most PC hardware” —Kristian Elof Sørensen

John Kirch: “Ease of configuration and being able to configure a server without causing downtime is yet another aspect of functionality: ‘Some versions of UNIX (Linux, for example) support loadable device modules. This means you can boot Linux and reconfigure its support for hardware and software on the fly. For example, you can boot Linux without support for the SCSI card you have installed. You simply load support for that SCSI card when you need to access one or more of the SCSI-connected devices, such as an optical disk for backup. You can unload the SCSI driver when you’re finished. You can also freely load and unload support for sound cards, network cards — even file systems such as HPFS, FAT, VFAT, and others (an NTFS driver is in the works).“—Nicholas Petreley, The new UNIX alters NT’s orbit: The re-emergence of UNIX threatens to modify the future direction of NT, NC World, April 1998.”

File Systems Supported:

preferred file system: ext2fs
file systems can read/write/format: ext2fs, extfs, FAT
file systems can read/write: FAT32, VFAT, FFS, coda, NFS, Minix, Xenix, UMSDOS, xiaf, SMB
file systems read only: NTFS, UFS, HPFS-2, HPFS, sysvfs, adfs, ROMFS
file systems read only and can write through optional software: ISO 9660, Commodore 1541/1581 (shareware at

http://www.npsnet.com/danf/software/

file systems can read/write/format through third party or optional software: HFS

Other Systems Emulated:

Graphics Engine: X Window

Text Command Shell: UNIX shells (default shell is bash)

“The properties of the command-line interface depend to some extend on the shell involved. Linux uses shells which tend to be close of (or derived from) UNIX shells. Typical shells are bash, tcsh, and zsh.” —Rich Steiner

User Interface (graphic): XWindows

“Linux uses the X windows system (usually) as a graphical interface, which gives it the capability to distribute displays over a network, and which allows for windowing on the desktop. The X window managers or environments each have their own names (like AfterStep, fvwm, twm, olvwm, Enlightenment, KDE, etc). The X server which is normally used in Linux is XFree86.” —Rich Steiner (See also: http://www.xfree86.org

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LINUX (Continues…)

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Application Programs:

“The existence of such alliances as mentioned in the article Andreessen Sees Mozilla-Linux Upset of Windows clearly shows that Linux is strengthening its presence in commercial environments. (For newcomers to this arena, Mozilla is the name of the Netscape/Communicator code and Marc Andreessen is Cofounder and Executive VP of Products at Netscape).” —“Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX”

“…Corel, which has already announced plans to build a Linux-based network computer, said it will next month post free Linux-based development tools to its Web site, joining a number of software companies supporting the Linux open source movement.” —Erich Luening, “Corel joins Linux fest”, CNET News.Com, 8 May 1998

“The very latest headlines [1998] indicate that Linux is well on its way into the major leagues: Informix, Oracle ready to port to Linux (PCWeek Online, 20 July 1998), Oracle to port database to Linux (PCWeek Online, 20 July 1998), and Netscape: Linux a top priority (CNET News.Com, 7 April 1998). … Also noteworthy is a new alliance between Sun Microsystems and Linux International (Slashdot: Sun Joins Linux International, 21 May 1998).” —“Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX”

“Tim Payne, director of database marketing at Oracle, says many of his company’s corporate customers have made large investments in Linux. When Oracle announced in July [1998] that it would be offering 24x7 support for Oracle8 on Linux, he says 300 customers called the next day asking about availability. ‘It’s reliable, it’s proven, it runs on commodity Intel boxes, and it’s a really low-cost alternative to NT,’ says Payne. ‘The fact that you are going to be able to get enterprise quality support from Oracle to deploy on the Linux platform will help customers adopt Linux.’ ” —Ann Harrison, “In LINUX We…”, Software Magazine, Cover Story, September 1998

Security:

Other:

“On March 7, 2003, The SCO Group filed suit against IBM, claiming it improperly inserted proprietary Unix code in the Linux kernel. The case has diverted the attention of the entire IT industry. As a service to [its] visitors, Linux Online has devoted a section of [its] news area to provide more information on SCO controversy.” See www.linux.org/news/sco/index.html.

“The suit has evolved into a full-blown controversy. SCO’s lawyers are threatening to make the case a test of the validity of the Free Software Foundation's General Public License (GPL), under which the Linux kernel and the GNU programs that make up the Linux operating system are distributed. Were SCO to prevail, it might hinder development of Linux and make the general public’s ability to obtain it difficult. It could also have an adverse effect on other Open Source projects which are developed and distributed in ways that are similar to the Linux model. Since SCO is threatening to charge exorbitant licensing fees for Linux, this would be a serious blow to developing nations particularly. Their fledgling IT industries rely on Linux to a great extent in their efforts to overcome a technological lag which contributes to the cycle of poverty. Though most experts in the Linux, Open Source, and Free Software communities believe SCO’s claims dubious, their evidence flimsy, and their chances for success slim, the case has managed to divert the attention of the entire IT industry. It has many in these communities understandably worried.”

“Historically, large corporations have steered clear of free software due to the unfounded assumption that anything free can’t be worthwhile. The recent trend among some corporations is to use these cost-effective operating systems. Hewlett-Packard used Linux instead of its own HP-UX operating system ‘to port the Carnegie Mellon Mach kernel to HP PA-RISC in order to use it for their imagery work’ (full story). Schlumberger chose Linux over SCO for its new point of sale computers (Linux Journal, November 1997, Issue 43, pp. 83-4). It is interesting to note that SunWorld On-Line gives Linux positive press in one of its articles, Linux lines up for the enterprise.” —“Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 versus UNIX”

“Yesterday’s college students learned their Unix expertise on Linux and FreeBSD. Today they’re working in IT departments, and many of them are openly hostile to both Microsoft and Windows NT. As a result, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and other forms of Unix are finding their way into IT departments, both overtly and on the sly.” —Nicholas Petreley, “The new Unix alters NT’s orbit”, NC World

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Improving web traffic (Continues……)

2011-02-14T09:37:00.002+05:30

Human reaction

Some of the top search engines now keep track of how long someone visits your web site.

If a human clicks on your link from the search engine and then a few seconds later comes back and tries another link, then the search engine will count that against your web site.

On the other hand, if someone clicks on the link to your website and spends several minutes reading before coming back, then the search engine will count that in your favor.

A handful of disappointed or thrilled visitors won’t make much of a difference on anything other than the most obscure keywords. The search engines track hundreds, thousands, or sometimes even millions of humans and watches for large scale trends.

This is one reason that actual content is so powerful. If large numbers of humans end up being happy with your website, then the search engines will slowly raise you up in the listings, possibly all the way to the number one listing.

What really works

Content

So, what does work?

Almost all of the successful websites get their high search engine placement and high web traffic by providing high quality fact-based text content.

My web sites are successful for exactly this reason. Wikipedia is near the top of the vast majority of searches for the same reason.

It is very boring and time consuming, but the time-proven method for generating lots of web traffic is to hire a skilled professional writer for a period of years.

Content does not have to be written, although that is the most reliable path to success. If you believe that you have something new and unique to present using an unusual method, you may well be right. Chances are you are deluding yourself, but high quality unique content can and does reach the top of the search engines.

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Improving web traffic (Continues…..)

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Links

Modern search engines analyze which web sites are linking to your website.

Not all web site links are equal. One link from a very popular website is more valuable than a hundred links from obscure personal pages (although 100 links from obscure web pages is still a lot better than no incoming links at all).

There are bad incoming links. The search engines are pretty good at spotting “link farms” (web sites that exist just to give links to other web sites, usually for a fee).

Having a link from a link farm is really bad for your web site. The major search engines will immediately count these links against you and if you have enough links from link farms or even one link from a really notorious link farm you may find that your web site ends up getting banned.

It is a good idea to trade links with other websites that are related to your field. Sending out e-mails to people with popular websites is usually just going to create problems (you might get banned for being a spammer). But as you socialize and do business with other people who are in the same field with you, you can ask them in person if they might be willing to trade links with you.

Web rings aren’t as useful as they were in the 1990s, but placing yourself on a monitored web ring can be useful. Monitored means that a human actually approves each new web site added to the web ring.

Also, it can be useful to add one or two really good outgoing links to each of your web pages. The search engines will notice that you are linking to web sites that they already know are good websites and will give you a slight boost in ratings for this.

And, of course, make sure that your outgoing links stay current. The search egnines will downgrade you for having links that don’t work anymore. A skilled web master can create an automated web bot that can periodically check your outgoing links and let you know if any of them stop working.

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Improving web traffic (Continues….)

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Word count

Search engines now count every word on your web page. the search engines notice if you have certain words or phrases repeated and will consider those repeated words or phrases to be the main topic of your web page.

Words near the beginning of a web page generally get more credit than words near the end of the page.

Search engines have gotten fairly good at spotting keyword pollution. This is a technique where someone drops a whole lot of words into their web page just to trick search engines. You want to avoid doing anything close to this because even if your web page is honest, if the machine thinks you are using keyword pollution, then they will lower your ranking or even ban you from their search engines.

Headers

HTML includes six levels of headers. These were originally intended for use as outline subject titles. In practice, only the first three header levels (H1, H2, and H3) are worth using because of rendering issues.

If you use the well established non-fiction writing approach of creating an outline first, then you will want to translate your outline into HTML headers and preserve them in your final web page.

If the search engine recognizes that you have done real outlining (which is done by comoaring your headers to the text between the headers), then the search engine will give extra positive credit to the words in your headers, increasing your placement on keywords related to your web page.

Of course, if you just create a bunch of misleading headers, the search engines will spot that and assume that you are engaging in header pollution and downgrade or ban your web site.

Note that even if you don’t use an outline, you can still make use of headers by using them as headlines and subheads. Go through your web page and every three to five paragraphs create a high quality header that summarizes the topic of those paragraphs.

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Improving web traffic (Continues…)

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Flash

Web designers love Flash because it sets them free to do a lot of very cool art stuff.

Search engines usually ignore Flash pages and most humans actually dislike visiting Flash web pages.

Typically the only two people happy with a Flash presentation are the web designer and the web page owner. The general public tends to almost always shun and avoid Flash-based web sites.

Yes, there are special exceptions.

The Comedy Central television show “South Park” was originally created in Flash. If you are creating animated entertainment, such as a television show, then Flash may be a very appropriate tool.

Flash is also excellent for training “films”. In this case, you don’t actually want the general public visiting your web site. You might even have electronic barriers that securely keep the general public away from your corporate training site.

There are other specialty cases where Flash is the correct tool, but for the vast majority of web sites all Flash does is keep visitors away from your web site.

How search engines work

Titles

The first search engines only catalogued the titles of web pages. So, if your search included topics or keywords contained in an article but missing from the title, the search engines wouldn’t actually find the web page you wanted.

While search engines now catalogue entire web pages, the title remains an important part of the search process.

Search engines give more weight to the words in the title of an article than anywhere else on the web page. Because of this, it is important that you place the most likely keywords into your title.

But you do need to be careful about overloading your title with too many keywords.

Early search engines noticed that unworthy webpages often overloaded their titles with lots of keywords, often unrelated to the actual web page.

Search engines will donwgrade you for titles that are just long lists of keywords and for titles that include keywords that don’t appear anywhere else on your web page.

Also, many search engines will show your title in their results. A good title can help humans pick your web page out of the crowd, while a bad title (especially a keyword filled title) can drive away potential visitors.

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Improving web traffic (Continues..)

2011-02-14T09:34:00.007+05:30

Fancy web design

Web designers emphasize fancy web design simply because that is what they do best.

It is true that humans are primarily visual and that a well-designed look can make a good impression on visitors, especially if you have a commercial website.

But even the best design in the world is not going to bring anyone in. The search engines are effectively blind robots. The search engines never can see your design and can’t distinguish between the most beautiful artwork in the world and the ugliest, most garish web page oin the planet.

Summarizing: web design can make visitors feel better about spending money at your website, but web design can never create or bring in more web traffic.

While web design can’t help build traffic, it can drive traffic away.

The first problem is the classic “slow loading” web page. Most of the popular techniques for making a web page look really good also have the problem of making the web page very slow loading, especially on older computers using slow conenctions.

The designers tend not to notice the problem because they have very high speed connections and are using the fastest and newest cmputers available. And they often are viewing their own work from their hard drives rather than over the internet.

Some web designers can even get arrogant about driving away traffic for the sake of their artwork. I know one web developer who insists on making his web sites viewable only on computers that are connected to a large plasma display. While his artwork is very impressive, what good does it do to have a web site that less than 1% of the world can even see?

The fact of the matter is that the typical person has no patience for a web site that takes more than a few seconds to load. The old rule of thumb was that most of the web page had to load in less than a minute, but people don’t wait a minute anymore. You will be lucky to get more than a few seconds of patience.

The second problem is the ratio of actual human readable text content to total number of characters.

Most web pages with fancy design have 90% or more of the total number of characters in the web page being devoted to invisible commands to the web browser. This buries the real human readable content that the search engines are evaluating, making the search engines think that you have very little to say about the topic (keyword) at hand. So, they greatly downgrade your web page from the ranking a human viewer might give you.

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