So I told the school to upgrade...
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Ben
Oct 27, 2008, 1:13:52 PM10/27/08
to NYIT Programmers
I quit smoking. So I've been pissy lately. I logged in to check my
email on mymail.nyit.edu. I got pissed at the shitty system they have
for webmail. I looked up a bunch of names on the NYIT Directory, and
emailed away...
See, that's a reason why NYIT should upgrade. Gmail has that "Drunk
email filter" thing that asks you math questions to prevent drunk
mailing. They wouldn't have gotten this email if they upgraded to a
system with something like that, as "Nicotine-less filter" for me.
Here's the email:
To webm...@nyit.edu , bs...@nyit.edu , tel...@nyit.edu ,
acru...@nyit.edu , bmar...@nyit.edu , mdem...@nyit.edu ,
nbo...@nyit.edu , bbo...@nyit.edu , st...@nyit.edu
Sorry for the mass mail, but I couldn't really figure out who to email
about the webmail system.
NYIT needs to upgrade, both servers and webmail.
iris% bash
bash-2.05$ uname -r
5.9
bash-2.05$ uname -a
SunOS iris 5.9 Generic_118558-30 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-280R
bash-2.05$
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(operating_system)#Versions
(This essentially says NYIT hasn't upgraded the systems since 2002,
running Solaris 9)
A lot of new, great things have happening in the world of computer
technology since 2002. And since we have Technology in our name...
Use Zimbra. The current webmail system is bulky, outdated and painful
to use compared to modern day email. Additionally, you should put
somewhere on the site instructions to connect a client app to mymail,
such as outlook and mail.app.
But yes, please look into Zimbra. There are free solutions as well as
paid solutions. NYU uses Zimbra, and their students/alumni are very
happy with it.
http://www.zimbra.com/
Or at least see if the current webmail client has updates available to
make it much more productive. AJAX would make my life great, as well
as new browser support (Safari 3, Firefox 3, both of which have issues
using the current webmail app)
Zimbra offers a lot beyond simple email management, such as advanced
calendaring, widgets, extensibility, AJAX, document collaboration and
much more. It has a serious development team to continue the product's
growth. It has major corporate backing (Yahoo) as well as many large
companies providing Zimbra Services and Hosting.
Something needs to be done with the webmail system. Even moving to
something like Google apps for your domain. There are many free/low
cost solutions that would be better than the current webmail system. I
can't think of a reason to not migrate to a new system as soon as
possible. It would increase productivity among students as well as
faculty. It's 2008, soon to be 2009, and it seems as though NYIT
doesn't even utilize any of the major computing systems developed in
the last 5 years. Move out of 2002. Upgrade. Please. It's cost
beneficial to upgrade, its time beneficial, and it makes everyone
happy. The only people who don't upgrade are the people who are afraid
of learning a new system, or putting in the up front time which will
actually reduce their time down the road.
Thanks for reading this, it's something I wanted to say for a long
time. NYIT just needs to get on par with the rest of the technology
world in every aspect, not just the ones that look pretty to
prospective students. High schools use more advanced webmail systems
and server setups than NYIT.
Ben Zajac
email on mymail.nyit.edu. I got pissed at the shitty system they have
for webmail. I looked up a bunch of names on the NYIT Directory, and
emailed away...
See, that's a reason why NYIT should upgrade. Gmail has that "Drunk
email filter" thing that asks you math questions to prevent drunk
mailing. They wouldn't have gotten this email if they upgraded to a
system with something like that, as "Nicotine-less filter" for me.
Here's the email:
To webm...@nyit.edu , bs...@nyit.edu , tel...@nyit.edu ,
acru...@nyit.edu , bmar...@nyit.edu , mdem...@nyit.edu ,
nbo...@nyit.edu , bbo...@nyit.edu , st...@nyit.edu
Sorry for the mass mail, but I couldn't really figure out who to email
about the webmail system.
NYIT needs to upgrade, both servers and webmail.
iris% bash
bash-2.05$ uname -r
5.9
bash-2.05$ uname -a
SunOS iris 5.9 Generic_118558-30 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-280R
bash-2.05$
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(operating_system)#Versions
(This essentially says NYIT hasn't upgraded the systems since 2002,
running Solaris 9)
A lot of new, great things have happening in the world of computer
technology since 2002. And since we have Technology in our name...
Use Zimbra. The current webmail system is bulky, outdated and painful
to use compared to modern day email. Additionally, you should put
somewhere on the site instructions to connect a client app to mymail,
such as outlook and mail.app.
But yes, please look into Zimbra. There are free solutions as well as
paid solutions. NYU uses Zimbra, and their students/alumni are very
happy with it.
http://www.zimbra.com/
Or at least see if the current webmail client has updates available to
make it much more productive. AJAX would make my life great, as well
as new browser support (Safari 3, Firefox 3, both of which have issues
using the current webmail app)
Zimbra offers a lot beyond simple email management, such as advanced
calendaring, widgets, extensibility, AJAX, document collaboration and
much more. It has a serious development team to continue the product's
growth. It has major corporate backing (Yahoo) as well as many large
companies providing Zimbra Services and Hosting.
Something needs to be done with the webmail system. Even moving to
something like Google apps for your domain. There are many free/low
cost solutions that would be better than the current webmail system. I
can't think of a reason to not migrate to a new system as soon as
possible. It would increase productivity among students as well as
faculty. It's 2008, soon to be 2009, and it seems as though NYIT
doesn't even utilize any of the major computing systems developed in
the last 5 years. Move out of 2002. Upgrade. Please. It's cost
beneficial to upgrade, its time beneficial, and it makes everyone
happy. The only people who don't upgrade are the people who are afraid
of learning a new system, or putting in the up front time which will
actually reduce their time down the road.
Thanks for reading this, it's something I wanted to say for a long
time. NYIT just needs to get on par with the rest of the technology
world in every aspect, not just the ones that look pretty to
prospective students. High schools use more advanced webmail systems
and server setups than NYIT.
Ben Zajac
Ben
Oct 29, 2008, 11:20:41 AM10/29/08
to NYIT Programmers
I Got a response:
Mr. Zajac,
I am pleased to report that we are working on some changes to the
student email system at NYIT and there will be a formal announcement
shortly. If you are interested in participating in a 'sneak preview',
I can move your account to the new service. All that I ask is that you
use the service and provide feedback. Let me know...
Regards,
Brian Maroldo
Director of Systems & Networks
Office of Information Technology and Infrastructure
New York Institute of Technology
P: 516.686.7449
F: 516.686.1134
On Oct 27, 1:13 pm, Ben <b...@greenzer.com> wrote:
> I quit smoking. So I've been pissy lately. I logged in to check my
> email on mymail.nyit.edu. I got pissed at the shitty system they have
> for webmail. I looked up a bunch of names on the NYIT Directory, and
> emailed away...
>
> See, that's a reason why NYIT should upgrade. Gmail has that "Drunk
> email filter" thing that asks you math questions to prevent drunk
> mailing. They wouldn't have gotten this email if they upgraded to a
> system with something like that, as "Nicotine-less filter" for me.
>
> Here's the email:
>
> To webmas...@nyit.edu , bs...@nyit.edu , tele...@nyit.edu ,
> acrui...@nyit.edu , bmaro...@nyit.edu , mdema...@nyit.edu ,
> nbo...@nyit.edu , bbon...@nyit.edu , s...@nyit.edu
Mr. Zajac,
I am pleased to report that we are working on some changes to the
student email system at NYIT and there will be a formal announcement
shortly. If you are interested in participating in a 'sneak preview',
I can move your account to the new service. All that I ask is that you
use the service and provide feedback. Let me know...
Regards,
Brian Maroldo
Director of Systems & Networks
Office of Information Technology and Infrastructure
New York Institute of Technology
P: 516.686.7449
F: 516.686.1134
On Oct 27, 1:13 pm, Ben <b...@greenzer.com> wrote:
> I quit smoking. So I've been pissy lately. I logged in to check my
> email on mymail.nyit.edu. I got pissed at the shitty system they have
> for webmail. I looked up a bunch of names on the NYIT Directory, and
> emailed away...
>
> See, that's a reason why NYIT should upgrade. Gmail has that "Drunk
> email filter" thing that asks you math questions to prevent drunk
> mailing. They wouldn't have gotten this email if they upgraded to a
> system with something like that, as "Nicotine-less filter" for me.
>
> Here's the email:
>
> acrui...@nyit.edu , bmaro...@nyit.edu , mdema...@nyit.edu ,
> nbo...@nyit.edu , bbon...@nyit.edu , s...@nyit.edu
Jonathan Kraska
Oct 29, 2008, 11:23:16 AM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
Ben Zajac
Oct 29, 2008, 11:26:35 AM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
We can only hope!
Aaron Pelzer
Oct 29, 2008, 12:09:05 PM10/29/08
to NYIT Programmers
Wow you actually got a reasoonse! I am shocked. Eitther they have
changed their IT staff or I should have emailed them drunk.
Ben Zajac
Oct 29, 2008, 12:11:06 PM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
Nicotine-less. And I mass mailed like 30 people.
Jonathan Kraska
Oct 29, 2008, 12:17:20 PM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
Naw, Brian Maroldo is a good guy. Hes been around for a while and has set up space and databases for me on iris.nyit.edu on several occasions in the past.
They do have a new crew in charge of the website that i have a few choice words about though. I developed a whole content manageable system for the dean of students to handle new student orientation registration. http://orientation.jkraska.com/ the front end is nothing special, but the backend is really nice with lots of reporting features and configurations.... but hosting it on their main site, even on a subdomain was way over what they were willing to do for me. apparently iris.nyit.edu is on its way out, so they wouldnt even let me host it there like the rest my apps for NYIT.
the guy was like ZOMG ITS DRUPAL - OUR SERVER CANT SUPPORT DRUPAL!! - which is total bs - all i need is php and a mysql database
They do have a new crew in charge of the website that i have a few choice words about though. I developed a whole content manageable system for the dean of students to handle new student orientation registration. http://orientation.jkraska.com/ the front end is nothing special, but the backend is really nice with lots of reporting features and configurations.... but hosting it on their main site, even on a subdomain was way over what they were willing to do for me. apparently iris.nyit.edu is on its way out, so they wouldnt even let me host it there like the rest my apps for NYIT.
the guy was like ZOMG ITS DRUPAL - OUR SERVER CANT SUPPORT DRUPAL!! - which is total bs - all i need is php and a mysql database
Bryan Cockerham
Oct 29, 2008, 3:11:24 PM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
Anyone have any experience aliasing images?
Does imagemagick or GD allow me to put a logo with transparent bg onto a background color, and actually anti-alias between the color of the logo, and the color of the background?
-Bryan
Jonathan Kraska
Oct 29, 2008, 3:56:24 PM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
Do you actually need to anti alias an image, or are you just talking about preserving transparency on an image?
I dont know if its possible to anti-alias and image with jaggy egdges - i dont think even photoshop does that.
If you have a .png image with no background and want to merge it with another image that has a background, you can use imagemagick and it will preserve transparency. I think you can do it with GD library too but its more complex.
I'm not a huge fan of image magick because we coudnt get the php extension working at our shop and have to use it through command line, but it gets the job done
I write a little more later -
I dont know if its possible to anti-alias and image with jaggy egdges - i dont think even photoshop does that.
If you have a .png image with no background and want to merge it with another image that has a background, you can use imagemagick and it will preserve transparency. I think you can do it with GD library too but its more complex.
I'm not a huge fan of image magick because we coudnt get the php extension working at our shop and have to use it through command line, but it gets the job done
I write a little more later -
Ben Zajac
Oct 29, 2008, 3:53:47 PM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
Bryan Cockerham
Oct 29, 2008, 11:53:37 PM10/29/08
to nyit-pro...@googlegroups.com
imagealphablending would work, if I had an alpha layer in my image that was already anti-aliased. Kraska’s right. If the image is jagged to begin with, the anti-aliaser won’t know what to anti-alias.
Looks like it’s back to anti-aliasing myself. I’m using the original gifs as templates, and changing the color table within to get me new colors. Problem is, I need a nice algorithm for calculating the intermediary colors (ie. the colors between red and white, if I’m putting red on a white background). I’ve subjected myself to enough vector math to make Shitakova moan, mapping the rgb values to xyz axes, and finding the vector distance between the intermediary color given, and the primary color I’m swapping out.
It’s been fun, but it’s a little off. I think I have a new solution using reverse supersampling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersampling
If FF6600 is my primary color, FFFFFF is my background color, and FF9966 is my intermediary color (anti-aliased by photoshop in the original image), my coefficients for the intermediary color should be X*(FF6600)+Y*(FFFFFF) = FF9966. Once I arrive at these (X and Y), I can substitute using X*(New Color)+Y*(FFFFFF)= New Intermediary Color. Am I really about to use linear algebra to solve for two variables?
This would be an awesome problem for an ACM contest.
And I thought I sat through all those classes just to see Shitakova’s pretty face…
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