Like eliminating bugs from software programs, it takes time to weed the cranks out of the system -- and, in a fast-moving case like Boston, the cranks went viral, as all the false IDs and dead ends indicated.

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Compaq, HP, and IBM have inked partnership agreements with all the major distributions, but managing multiple documentation sets, utilities, and installation packages for essentially the same operating system kernel may weed out some distributions over time.

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Employers, too, have sought help from these providers: as unemployment numbers rise, the number of applications received for each posted position increases, and it can be a full time job to simply weed through the submitted resumes looking for potential first-round interviewees.

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