Slashdot Mirror
Technology Spending On The Rise
securitas writes "After the technology industry's so-called nuclear winter that has resulted in thousands of lost jobs over the last three years, the New York Times' Steve Lohr reports that technology spending is finally increasing (Google / mirror). Much of the investment in hardware and software is spurred by the natural corporate replacement cycle, but the positive change offers a glimmer of hope for techies everywhere. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano says that IBM plans 'to add 10,000 workers in fields of emerging demand over the next year.' Based on IBM's current Linux advertising campaign and market projections, this will probably mean hiring staff who are knowledgeable about Linux and open source software. Is this just a blip as some analysts believe, or is it the beginnings of a resurgence for the technology sector?"
After over a year out of work I managed to snag a job a few months ago with a good company. What I see starting to happen is some strengthening of the hardware market. Since most Slashdotters are software people, I don't know how far that will lag hardware. But it is certain that once people start upgrading their old boxes, sooner or later they will need new applications to run on them.
I know there seems to be a little pickup in helpdesk and support IT around here, I think it may be related to machine lifespans. If the average company upgraded most of their desktops in 99 out of y2k paranoia, how long before they all start dying and need replacements?
Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!
whats the next killer app?
..I dont think so!
wireless? With the FCC
I think this decade is going to be where the price of tech drops and more people will gain access to it.. but we won't have anything cool.
Following decade I think we'll have new advances in pharmaceuticals and cancer medication. Also, maybe you'll see China emerge (if they dont implode or suffer some war or rebellion) as a sort of new Korea.
beyond that who knows? flying cars? faster than light travel?
Seems to be mostly organic growth, but IT, from my perspective (outsourcing company) is making a comeback. We're actually hiring people now, which is a shock. And in numbers. Foreign workers don't seem to be too big of a problem right now because of the knowledge/service gap, and Canadians aren't taking US jobs because of the relative dollar. Things actually are looking good right now. Of course, this is one man's perspective.
Sorry, sorry. That's just the government cheese talking.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Personally, I think the last tech boom was simply all about the hype. People got excited. They blew money. We prospered :)
It took the last few years for everyone to catch a breather and realize that amidst all the hype, there might actually be something in all this hype...
My father (an economist in his day...) thinks that the job market by this summer will be much better than it is now... supposedly the US growth is around 7% of GDB in the *last quarter*
[translation: 'off the charts']
not an expert opinion, but he predicted the bust a year ahead...
Don't get your hopes up... but don't lose hope...
This is just the market in action. Companies hire folks when they need them and release them when they cant afford them anymore. Every other industry operates the same, its just new to us :) In a few short years, there will be a recession of jobs in the technology industry and the whole cycle will repeat itself
flying cars? faster than light travel?
Computers fast enough to run Java without flinching?
The unofficial
but I welcome our new Technology Spending Overlords.
- - - If the sun is a star, why can't I see it at night?
to hire 10,000 new employees. The important question is what country will these 10,000 new employees be in, if you know what I mean,
I'm sure many people will flame over this but I think the economy is generaly on it's way up anyways. A lot of the early warning signs have started to show up (Real estate is at a 60 year high, manufacturing is showing vastly increased earnings etc.) I've often been suprised that many people blame the current administration for the downturn in the economy when to signifigantly change the path of the economy takes at least 3 years of work, in my opinion this is just the initial effects of the current economy plan coming in to action.
:-)
Flame if you want but remember, getting the economy to work has never been a set in stone progress... maybe Bush's plan really will work
This is not a sig
However, in the real world, it doesn't quite work that way, especially when you're talking about industries that require skilled workers. For one, it takes effort to seek out qualified workers, so companies will only do this if they really need more workers and they think that they will continue to do this in the future. For another, firing employees damages goodwill, so companies are rightly reluctant to do it when not necessary.
If companies really operated like you suggest, there would be a constant stream of hirings and firings of engineers and middle managers from week-to-week, as demand and earnings projections change.
God damn it, what about me and my MCSE that I bought from the guy down the street? Why won't IBM hire me for 200K/year + perks?
I think it's more about cycles. The pendulum swinging back the other way. I hope (and I'm pretty certain) it will never swing back as far as it did during the boom, but it seems that it would swing back to a point of stasis. After the bubble burst there was this huge vacuum. Now, hopefully, the void will begin to fill again. However, I think we have to just face the fact that things will never be where they were with so many people employed in the tech sector. A lot of jobs are being outsourced overseas, but I also think that a lot of the jobs lost will just never return. Sad but true.
I guess the best we can hope for is that new technologies or "the next big thing", whatever that's going to be, comes along soon and creates even more jobs.
Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
Wake up people.
Hardware is almost completely put together by machines - no jobs for humans at all.
Software is rapidly becoming more and more self repairing and remote or centrally managed - no jobs there. And open source is free, that's a hobby not a job.
How exactly does corporate spending mean jobs again? Oh yea, it doesn't.
And don't forget the new business mantra "We're hiring, just no Americans, we're not stupid".
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
I think IT is still "where its at", its just that this time around it will be without all the bogus hype. Think about in the early days of the car industry, when there were hundreds of auto companies. The economy just couldn't sustain it and they fell apart.
I have to laugh when people act as though software jobs will never return. We just have to learn what niche of software we fit into. Software QA, management, and specialized programming jobs will continue to be available, and I think they will grow tremendously. Its natural to be pessimistic, but I think there is much reason to be optimistic if you are a kickass techie, so this new should come without surprise.
[FromTheMorning]
I'm starting the full RHCE and Comp/Tia cert course and am curious where I shoud really take it. I've dabbled in linux for a couple of years, and my real fascination is with system/network security and administration. I am really just fishing here for direction in coursework and what I should really be aiming for in terms of knowlege base. I am running an SGI IP22 with Debian/GNU and its becooming more and more of an obsession with me. Ideas?
BTW, I have a freind who happens to be a patent and contract lawyer,and he says unless SCO has bribed the judges or has some other illegal hold on them, SCO hs no chance.
Stupid Humans.....
Seriously, there should be a lemma or something on Moore's Law that states that because of bureacracy and the pile up of data the business world will always buy technology on a cycle. Seriously. Monitors get old, keyboards get too mungy, your data storage needs an upgrade. Most corps, for upkeep reasons, buy machines in bulk. They probably waited longer this time (due to the recession and all) but still that was three years. That seems to be they average.
No one should be surprised by this. Likewise, no one should be surprised when the computer buying cools down in a year or so. Why? Because you only need so many PCs.
What is music when you despise all sound?
Shit don't stay good forever.
If you're one of the boo-birds that dismisses every indication of improvement, you're an idiot.
If you're one of the optimists that ignored every indication of the "dotcom's" impending collapse, you were an idiot.
Stuff has been bad. Stuff is getting better.
But it is certain that once people start upgrading their old boxes, sooner or later they will need new applications to run on them.
Why?
KFG
Weither proprietary or open source, the vast amount of programming jobs revolve around custom applications (or customizing applications) for corporations. People have been thinking like you have for at least twenty yars and the amount of programming work has only increased.
Right before I went to college I saw an ad in a compter magazine for a program called "The Last One" meant to replace programmers everywhere. I still got a CS degree, and lo and behold!! There were still jobs, just as there are, now and will be for some time. Even nanotech will not change the need for programming jobs.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
More IT activity doesn't do us any good when much of it is shipped off to India by shortsighted and unethical management.
The last company I worked for sent IT jobs to India to increase management bonuses. So much for an upturn.
Unless you propose the historical cycle is broken, that is what always happens. Put differently, people purchase boxes with new capabilities or more processing power, and they usually want new applications to take advantage of those features. People buying new boxes to run their old applications faster does occur sometimes, but isn't the historical norm.
I think there's chinks in most of the other big company's armour because they each have a 'religious' ball and chain holding them back:
"Only in their dreams can men truly be free 'twas always thus, and always thus will be."
--Tom Schulman
you hear is the record federal deficits sucking the capital out of the economy and stunting growth. See the 80's for historical precedent. And the 90's for what happens when the deficits are covered. I wouldn't bet on any recovery with the current policies in effect.
Some cycles are routine enough to be usable any time.
The simple fact that there is a growing population as well as a growing government in the US indicates there will be at least some sort of spending to accomodate these people.
Further, the growth of government and associated functions (e.g. financial, medical, personal records accessable for Patriot Act requires more technology) indicates added spending.
The backbreaker is how to make predictions which show growth in one venue (business IT spending) when, on the other hand, so much is being exported overseas, resulting in fewer workers earning higher salaries and fewer total workers contributing proportionally to the tax base.
Bottom line?
Just because some companies are buying more stuff does not necessarily extrapolate to a better life for the worker bees.
In fact, evidence would suggest the typical worker in a civilized country is at greater risk of financial ruin and more likely to be unemployed or underemployed in order for the companies to internalize profit by pillaging the world.
Cynical? You bet!
Its not as much of a battle as it is an impending massacre. :P
Is that the president has much less effect on the economy than most people think, ask any economist. However people seem to give them sole credit or blame for it. In reality while their policies can have an effect, the economy is far larger than any one person, even the president, can control. That's actually the problem really. If the economy was completely in the control of one person, we could prevent downturns. However it isn't, it's a force of its own.
I think that both Clinton and Bish have had rather little impact on teh economy because there hasn't been much for them to do. We don't have a huge disaster on our hands like the great depression, just a downturn. This downturn is no huge supprise as it followed a huge, and artificial growth period. Well Clinton wasn't responsible for the growth or the stop of that grown. It happened because of unwarranted euphoria over the Internet and lots of silly investments to that end. When the bubble broke, it went down. Nothing Clinton could have done to prevent it. Then Bush took office while things were already deflating. 9/11 happened and shook confidence, pushing things down much faster. Again, nothing he could do about it. Now things are turning around, and beginning a natural up cycle. While it's posible that Bush's refunds and the like may have helped a bit, I think they are secondary and we'd see this upturn all the same.
Share those accounts:c om
http://www.bugmenot.com/view.php?url=www.nytimes.
many jobs have been automated over the past 300 years. New things to do have kept popping up. Over the past 300 years, more & more "common people" could be well fed, housed, and be educated. Things aren't perfect yet, but why couldn't technology give people new ways to create wealth?
IBM CEO Sam Palmisano says that IBM plans 'to add 10,000 workers in fields of emerging demand over the next year
Of course he failed to mention that those jobs would be in India.
We're going to upgrade a bunch of computers at work. For what we do we have a schizo set of OS's and applications (a lot home grown). For me, I've settled for MacOS X as I can run my X11 and Motif based programs, MS Office suite, Adobe suite, OpenGL and Apple apps on one platform.
/. during this time in my AC days.
I also need web browsing, e-mail, video, PostScript editing (I use the GPL set of apps in the GMT package), images (via Gimp and Photoshop), word processing (MS Word, Open Office sometimes has problems with files that I need to work on), edit capabilities in PDF files, PowerPoint, Excel, and somethings that I cannot think of right now.
I helped introduce Linux into my workplace. I first started with MkLinux and RedHat 5.x. I was first introduced to
I need to convince the powers to be that the best use of $$'s would be to get a G5 PowerMac; I can do all my work on one platform. The powers to be hate Mac's for no logical reason except that they historically hate some people, that are no longer with our group, that supported Macs.
I think that I'll get my G5 because cost will not be an issue. Either get me two computers or one Mac to do all the things that I need to do. The powers to be also have a hard-on for some of the latest technologies. SATA, USB2.0 (high speed), PCI-X, 1394, etc... I got my three button mouse ready (actually a five button mouse) for my X11 apps.
It read: And Mr. Palmisano took the unusual step of saying that I.B.M. planned to add 10,000 workers in fields of emerging demand over the next year.
I think they meant: And Mr. Palmisano took the unusual step of saying that I.B.M. planned to add 10,000 workers in fields of emerging nations over the next year. Still not clear on why IBM needs field workers...
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
The market was flooded and then came the obvious bloodletting. It has started to come back slowly but will not reach the levels it once was. I've know 5 programmers that have all been fired, re-hired, fired and most have been re-hired agained. It seems it's all about short term specialization rather than long term stability.
MMORPG Fan? Prove your worth!
keep your cliches straight, especially if you are going to over use them to that extent. "Powers to be" doesn't even fucking make sense.
Or is that too cynical? Here in Sweden the government takes in about half of BNP, which probably gives the local goverment a larger influence on the country's economy than in the US.
(And, yes, I know -- "too cynical is a contradiction in terms" -- but it seems to fit here.)
Karma: Excellent (My Karma? I wish...:-( )
>>But it is certain that once people start upgrading their old boxes, sooner or later they will need new applications to run on them.
.BOMB, most companies dont do that. Just wait.. in a few years many, many companies will use it. My reason is that they'll hire competant Linux 'users' that will get open-source software in and cut the companies bottom line. And that's good for everybody.
KFG>Why?
Because most companies run Windows. You have an engrained outsourced techs (what I do) reccomend Windows on everything because it breaks down. That equals more money for us. Also, people need the newest version of XYZ program (Office for example). To run Office 2003 on Win95 equlivalent hardware is asking for a mutiny.
And since Linux has grown much since the
What company do you work for ? Just curious.
Yes, but they will be in India (the majority of them anyways).
Linux has given IBM flexibility to deliver on multiple platforms. I heard the IBM 10,000 new hires figure about 2 weeks ago - my first thought was most of these bodies will be used to convert IBM clients to Websphere (running on Linux) here in the U.S. This means sales, PMs, design, engineers, support, you name it. And I'm hearing this from folks who IBM is selling to.
Offshore hiring usually has centered around software development projects and outsourcing of support desks (as opposed to direct server/middleware sales to US corporations)
I thought Intel was the one who last proclaimed moving a couple thousand US jobs to another country...
So, Slashdot, where should our money be? What stocks look good for the next tech boom, and who will be the next dot-com-bust?
I'm admittedly in a weird niche (compressed video consulting and training), but the demand for my services has been ramping up nicely since February, and just blasting off in the last month. I expect to bill more Q4 of this year than I billed in all of 2002.
And it isn't just one client. It's coming from a lot of different directions, from a lot of different companies and industries. And nice, juicy, interesting jobs too. It was like the outsourcing switch just got turned on.
Of course, independent consultants like me are often a good six months ahead of the rest of the economy. When things get tight, consultants get cut first, and when things are looking up, consultants get hired before full-time employees, since if things turn out to be not THAT up, we're easier to get rid of.
My video compression blog
Microsoft is dead, all hail the true kings of order.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I've often been suprised that many people blame the current administration for the downturn in the economy when to signifigantly change the path of the economy takes at least 3 years of work, in my opinion this is just the initial effects of the current economy plan coming in to action.
While I agree with the several year lag time theory, it actually works against the idea that recent positive developments have anything to do with the current administration's policies. Bush et all will have been setting policy for three years starting in January, and it's arguable that the first of their changes didn't hit the books until six months after that, and the lions share of them much later, even into this year.
Tweet, tweet.
You mean someone invented PowerPoint to C compiler? Cool. PHBs needed that for a while.
. . . people purchase boxes with new capabilities or more processing power, and they usually want new applications to take advantage of those features.
Why?
People buying new boxes to run their old applications faster does occur sometimes, but isn't the historical norm.
Why?
I have not proposed anything. It is not unreasonable, however, to question both historical norms and historical behaviours and assuming historical norms might well get one into trouble.
So, since we're having a bit of trouble over low level questions let me aim one slightly higher above the horizon.
What feature of the new systems (other than speed) do you see as opening support for new apps that answer some need of business?
One can also ask ( and bear in mind that this is a different question) what app do you see business perceiving some need for that the new machines allow that the old ones didn't?
One thing that seems apparent to me is that one of the possible attributes of a new app over an old from the business point of view is that it takes fewer people to implement and maintain than the old one. In the context of jobs newer more powerful machines with better apps may well mean fewer jobs for people.
This has also been the historical norm for sufficiently large quantities of "history."
Do you propose a new historical norm?
KFG
people are about to buy less powerful boxes that are easier to manage, and show a significantly lower TCO.
count on it.
... hi bingo
Computers fast enough to run Java without flinching
come on lets try to be realistic, this isn't science fiction
First off, China has pegged its currency to the US currency and still subsidizes housing. I don't see that happening in the United States. They can't have their cake and eat it too. China's a threat right now.
As for India, you can be sure that the overall poor services rendered and lack of accountability will start stinging companies hard. Go look on www.theinquirer.net and search for HP on the quality of customer service outsourced to India. You can't save a sinking ship when so many people live in poverty like India. In fact, by your implied logic it will only increase the differences between the haves and the have-nots.
I will clear the conscience of anyone who wants to mod the parent down: you are not accepting the viewpoint of the parent, you are simply removing a weakly-worded argument from the view of most.
We already knew your opinion Darl.
You got it all wrong
Perhaps a bit tongue in cheek there, but my upgrades have usually been due to the software I already "owned" which would run annoyingly slow (once it was forced due to hardware breakdown). Heck, I got my first CD-ROM because programs stopped coming on floppies. Of course, an anecdote or two from a single person doesn't qualify as a national trend - still, I bet I'm not the only one whose upgrading is forced by software.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
.. but I'm not sure how relevent it is to this article. I'm an artist, not an IT dude. So why am I even posting? Well, I've noticed a trend in recent weeks. There's a lot more 'gotta have' deals floating around. Just today I purchased an upgrade for Lightwave. They're about to release version 8. By pre-purchasing it, I'm getting another piece of software for free (made by another company, it's sort of like After Effects, costing around $1400...) and I'm getting a free subscription to a magazine that normally costs $100.
In recent weeks, I've also noticed that DVD prices have gone down significantly. Both the Hulk and Matrix Rebloated were $15. I bought another DVD player for the house for $40. I bought a good DVD burner for under $200, whereas months ago it would have been $300-400. I got a cell phone for $150 where not long before it was a $300 item.
I think what has happened is prices down the board have gone down. Your hard earned dollar buys you more stuff. If this trend continues, I think we can expect more positive growth. It's hard to spend $500 on something that has questionable usefulness, but when it's $200, then it starts getting down to the "I can afford to experiment this" range.
"Derp de derp."
Darl? My name is Jorge, gringo. And why the fuck did I cross the border if that fuckhead Dubya is sending all the good jobs to India? Oil is good to run my brother Sergio's piece of shit El Camino, but we need jobs! Do you understand? Dubya?
Perhaps a bit tongue in cheek there, but my upgrades have usually been due to the software I already "owned" which would run annoyingly slow ...
Yes, I think the grandparent poster has it backwards. I buy new hardware because of software I already own. Or, in other cases, I buy new hardware because of software I would like to own. I don't go out and buy hardware and then go out and see what I can run on it. That doesn't make sense at all. I buy hardware to satisfy a need, not to create a need.
"Is this just a blip as some analysts believe, or is it the beginnings of a resurgence for the technology sector?"
Have you Meta Analyzed lately?
Re: The Economy
by Anonymous_Analyst on Thursday, October 30 ,@8:32 AM
I think this is just a blip.
Rating: Insightful.
This rating is Unfair/Fair
Give me more money, you bastard.
May your seed bear fruit in the belly of your woman.
Love,
Neal. (not the coyboy)
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
What feature of the new systems (other than speed) do you see as opening support for new apps that answer some need of business?
Massive amounts of data storage capacity for the buck. Storage capacity growth has been increasing at greater than Moore's Law rates, and at the same time we have been accumulating 800 MB of data per every man woman and child on the face of the Earth every year. The need to manage all of this with software is a staggering business need, and will lead to lots of new software development.
Another area in computer hardware that has been increasing at ridiculous rates is network bandwidth. This has been increasing faster than even storage capacity. The problem with taking advantage of this has been entrenched industrial concerns. Eventually, although maybe not this business cycle bandwidth growth will trigger ANOTHER software revolution where people will truly become walking network nodes. When that happens most offices will totally disappear.
The fact is I think we haven't seen anything yet, and the Internet boom was just the first and weakest wave of what is yet to come.
If PCs were all there were to it, that would be true. Real services are still needed out there. Many people are STILL running on paper. Paperless billing, records keeping and research are relativly new and cost effective. Not everyone has gone there yet. There's still plenty of growth space in real services, though the M$ Outlook will make you superman is tapped out.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I for one would really like to hear what the venerable Dr. Samir Gupta would have to say on this matter.
Since we're talking about "historical norm" (depending on it for our survival even). Were's the "historical norm" for OSS?
I think we should be very skeptical about a sustainable, long-term high-tech upturn.
Every time corporations spend more money someone, somewhere along the line has a job and more jobs are being created.
Do you think just because you make a statement, we are to immediately believe it?
Wake up! It isn't happening! It won't happen!
Supply and demand works for people too. In time, human labor will be irrelevant for production. This is the inevitable result of technological progress. Now, you may want to believe there is something else over the rainbow, some new work that revolutionizes work... go for it.
But with every new advancement, we are driven a little further away from the basics of living, having a house, raising a family, and enjoying life. So what if it takes an army to power the next virtual reality world which will take the world by storm. It doesn't mean its a good idea!
There are too many people on this planet, and far more than are necessary to do any kind of work, now or in the future. We can either redefine how wealth is created and distributed, or allow supply and demand to take its course.
Internationalism has been an abject failure for the western world. We have witnessed the near total destruction of our way of life in a mere half century and it is progressing faster than anyone can believe. We must make haste if we are going to give a future to our children.
I don't read or respond to AC posts
Away overseas. The republican administration doesn't seem to care either. Our trade balance is terrible also . IT industry is turning out to be like the TV and other manufacturing industries going overseas by countries that target the US . I see the handwriting on the wall.
Warren Buffet has commented on the IT situation and has said that there should be a tax on companies that send jobs overseas.
It always seems to come down to benefits of cheaper labor making goods less expensive which does help an economy out by making it more competitive . I get kind of confused by it all.
"I think what has happened is prices down the board have gone down. Your hard earned dollar buys you more stuff. If this trend continues, I think we can expect more positive growth. It's hard to spend $500 on something that has questionable usefulness, but when it's $200, then it starts getting down to the "I can afford to experiment this" range."
Welcome to the benifits of outsourcing. Now as long as the people who presently have jobs continue to get paid at present day levels. Then it will be a "more bang for the buck". The two woes are less people with jobs, and pay rates going down.
I notice that jobs for embedded programming close to hardware are picking up in the Toronto area. ATI even invited me to a job faire at a pub -- In Ottawa, oops! (I'll go to the one at their HQ in Markham, but I doubt there's beer. *sigh*)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Yes, but the problem with IBM and their new Linux jobs is that most managers are trying to get by with hiring Linux personel at the same costs as Windoze personel. Trust me, I know (don't ask, can't tell)...
The problem with Linux becoming mainstream is that Linux (and as a result *NIX) knowledge is starting to become more widespread and therefore less of a commodity...
I think you will start to see more Linux positions, but they will be paying much less than before...
Of course, as always it is my opinion that the real good ppl will still be paid highly, they will just have to take on more jobs or more demanding positions...
Massive amounts of data storage capacity for the buck. Storage capacity growth has been increasing at greater than Moore's Law rates, and at the same time we have been accumulating 800 MB of data per every man woman and child on the face of the Earth every year. The need to manage all of this with software is a staggering business need, and will lead to lots of new software development.
The vast majority of that data is untouched, and will remain untouched, by business. No business has any interest in storing a duplicate copy of every book on your shelf or a duplicate copy of every CD you own (on a one to one basis).
Only a few megs per person is a business concern.That's still a lot of data.
The technology to handle this amount of data (indeed any amount of data) is already known, although poorly implimented.That's a market issue, not a computing one. A proper implimentation would requiring the hiring of more well educated people, but fewer people overall than is now required. Business resents a dependence on education ("training" is not education. A dog may be trained. A dog can't perform analytical logic), but will resort to it, however reluctantly, when it shows significant financial advantage.
You can always pray for more XML "technology." Yeah, that'll create a lot of jobs for awhile. Pointless and annoying jobs, but jobs nonetheless. (Type "Hello World" in Kword and save as raw XML. Count how many pages of text and files it takes. Virtually all of that text is redundant, but must be stored and "managed").
Eventually, although maybe not this business cycle bandwidth growth will trigger ANOTHER software revolution where people will truly become walking network nodes. When that happens most offices will totally disappear.
And in what way will this increase IT jobs? Remember the context of this discussion is IT jobs.
It will also require a social revolution. Social revolutions happen slowly. Much of our social structure today is medieval and completely out of step with our technology, and even how we want to live, and yet it persists.
As an example, phone tech support can now be outsourced to anywhere in the world, and yet most people doing such support must travel to an office to perform their tasks even though the technology could just as easily support their jobs from their homes.
Most jobs aren't really about performing tasks. They are about hierarchical control. The people who wield the control like it that way. For some reason that escapes me so do the controled.
The boss also likes his fancy office in the fancy building with the fancy receptionist. Wall Street isn't about to turn into a gathering of little cottages with English gardens within our lifetimes.
KFG
Supposedly by about 11% in this last quarter. I imagine some of that is going to new equipment. I hope the trend continues.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
I think there will ALWAYS be demand for IT in the US. Even if there is thousands of jobs being moved over seas, there will always be demand for some sort of programmers and System administrators. The difference will be that those that are highered for the higher paying jobs will be found in certain Niche markets.
Are we keeping these jobs or just borrowing them like last time?
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
If profitability and increasing shareholder value is #1 priority, then it is too optimistic to expect most of those new tech jobs to be based in the USA.
What good is it if the tech sector improves while further reducing IT jobs here by moving most new/existing jobs overseas (at least for us non-millionaire techies with mortgages in USA)?
I'd like to be wrong about this but this is probably one of those "reality" != "what I want" scenarios.
... So maybe *now* its time to finish that career change/degree, now that everybody's done taking their profits? Gah. It'll only be the 2nd time I've been through that. No, I am *not* in any hurry this time around.
C|N>K
"I've come not to expect such in the general populace, but lack of inquisitiveness isn't a really good geek trait.
You might wish to look into pool cleaning technologies. They seem to stay fairly stable and are based on buying and applying commercial products, rather than thinking."
And I see you're demonstrating the legendary geek trait of poor social skills. You may want to take a job that minimizes human contact. Like disarming explosives in the Middle East. Don't forget to wear your "Kick Me" T-shirt
....get used to the slump. It's permanent. Jobs are readily available at Frys and Target, however.
Is this just a blip as some analysts believe, or is it the beginnings of a resurgence for the technology sector?
Yes, it's a blip. Anyone who's taken an econ class will know that investments is one of the most volitale aspects of a country's GDP. Why? Well because the good are durable so instead of a nice, smooth pattern of investment because computers are falling apart left and right, after a while people just upgrade EVERYTYING all at once (this applies to production machinery as well as computer, though computers must be upgraded more often).
So what does this mean? The survivors of the dot com boom are upgrading their computer equipment. Expect a dip within 1-1.5 years with layoffs until the number of job offerings / positions reaches a stable number (probably a little higher than it's been in the past few years, but it'll still dip). Then (probably in a nother 3 years) the same process will repeat.
Just like your shampoo bottle... wash, rinse, repeat.
Microsoft is the only company making software for consumers.
Unless you show me a specific pivotal moment, I say that it's just a number; granted maybe a higher number.
There are immense forces in play from all sides. Everyone in tech who wants bigger / faster / stronger tech. All the corporate cyclical suits. The war and the need for a smarter battle mind. The incumbant US political party, which needs to create prosperity and the challengers who pray for failures.
Make no mistake, the economy will grow as humans evolve further. The forces of this world will ensure a random and volitile ascention. This number is just a single point.
SCO: 800-726-8649
Verisign: 800-361-8319, 888-642-9675
Diebold: 800-433-VOTE (8683)
1) After an all to brief stumble, the rise of the machines begins again.
2) Wooohooo!! Time to break out the Nerf Guns!
A difficult decision for anyone.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
After an 18 month period with almost zero good positions in the area matching my skill set, I've suddenly had 6 interviews in the last 45 days with contacts for more this week. From my very limited subjective experience things are definitely beginning to heat up again.
Not at the same pace, mind you - most companies after having been scared away from IT are just realizing that doing business requires the technology to stay competitive. They aren't hiring at the trumped up rates of a few years ago, but they are at least acknowleding the need and beginning to take steps to fill roles.
Any spoon would be too big.
This 3rd quarter GDP boom is all George W. Bush's fault .... wait a sec ... the GDP boom is probably a good thing .... George W. Bush had nothing to do with it!
On a serious note folks, when things were not looking very good I heard a lot of people on Slashdot (and everywhere else) placing the blame squarely on Bush. Now that things are looking better, and if they continue to get better, will the same people give him any credit? I highly doubt it, but it will be entertaining to see how they can justify not giving him credit for a good economy when they could justify giving him grief for a bad one.
I personally belive that the president doesn't have all the much control over the economy. Don't get me wrong, he has some degree of control, but not much as many people would like to believe.
Thats some cart-before-horse logic there.
Something you might want to think about.
One of the arguments for Linux adoption is that upgrading isn't as necessary as in the Windows world. now here you are outlining hope that people will upgarde their computers. Saying the process is cyclic is as useful as pointing out that the sun burning out is part of a cyclic process. The inbetween will hurt a lot of people. And not the nice kind of hurt either.
IIRC, half of the 10,000 employees IBM was talking about would be in India.
I wish I could find the link, but I'm pretty sure that is what I read.
"Teachers leave us kids alone
Things are looking pretty good in Software too. Over a year ago I had to take a job in Michigan because there was nothing here in Seattle -- even though my skills are current and I have tons of experience. I worked there for a year and then came home (even though I could have stayed there). I really didn't want to spend another winter near the Great Lakes.
In the last two weeks I have had three interviews (two in one day) and I have another interview tomorrow. I have people calling me saying things like "We found your resume in our database and we were wondering if you could send us an updated copy?"
I would say things are looking up...
- -
Are you an SF Fan? Are you a Tru-Fan?
I propose the historical cycle is broken.
Funny, the article forgot to mention that the 10,000 jobs they are talking about, are going to INDIA.
stupid fsck'ing indians taking all our jobs...
I don't see the US IT industry getting any better unless pakistan nuke's india, or at least part of it like.. bangalor or mumbei.
Agreed.
Coporate America is selling out American's future by outsourcing our jobs overseas, and handing over our technological edge to the ass-end of the planet (india)
maybe Unions weren't such a dumb idea?
The above was posted as example, not literal.
"Social Skills" is a broad set of behaviours. It is not simply "being nice." Indeed, always being nice would actually be evidence of poor social skills, although a better class of poor social skills than always being nasty. They'll both see you prematurely dead (as our social skills effect our survival), but the latter somewhat sooner than the former in most cases.
If I misconstrued your original post and came off as snotty without cause, and review suggests I certainly may well have, I apologize.
Even people with good social skills make mistakes.
KFG
If I don't get a job soon, that's it for me :(:(:( I'll have to leave the tech field and go into manual labour or something :(
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
A minor statistical blip does not a recovery make. The globa economy continues to eat it's young.....
Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
I don't know about your market but here, in the SOHO market, over spending is going up. I can't tell you how many times I've lost bids because my price is too low.
... it definatly wasn't "better" ... instead of a simple network storage device they used a whole server :(
... WAAAAAY up.
Example - a small office wants a network. They want to share files and printers. They want a central location for files that can be backed up easily and taken off site. They have the PCs and will never have more then 5 at the site, currently they have 3 -- two with XP home and one with Windows 98.
My bid? $3000. This was cost of the cable, running, the router, a network storage device and a cdrw installed in one machine for the backups.
The winning bid? $12,000. Other bids? $15,000 and $22,000.
I know the 15k and 22k bids included some insane server setup situation. The 12k bid had a setup not far from mine
So in this case, spending went up
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
I call this troll.
What feature of the new systems (other than speed) do you see as opening support for new apps that answer some need of business?
:( ) so I can't give you concrete predictions. However, I can say that new capabilities will mean a business would upgrade hardware, install new software, hire workers, etc.
Businesses use technology as a competitive advantage. It isn't just speed, time, and labour that matters. Things like new capabilities are far more important. I haven't worked in the industry in a couple of years (unemployed
One thing that seems apparent to me is that one of the possible attributes of a new app over an old from the business point of view is that it takes fewer people to implement and maintain than the old one. In the context of jobs newer more powerful machines with better apps may well mean fewer jobs for people.
That is true! Many people, both the tech crowd as well as others, do lose jobs. However, that is not always the case. Technology also creates new capabilities, which creates jobs. A shipping firm may purchase computer systems that enable it to track its fleet and shipments via GPS (I know this is already being done so I'm not saying this is new; it's just an example). Previously, they woudln't have had that capability but now they would. This may result in creation of jobs. They may be able to increase their volume by 20% and improve customer service by ensuring that packages aren't lost (or even if they were, that the problem is corrected).
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
if they spend money for something, someone is getting that money, hence the job.
that said, what do you propose we do? hmmm?
If people in america want the way of life back, stop buying stuff made overseas, pay more for the merchindise, and pay more taxes to properly educate our people.
But most people froth at the mouth when you mention anything that may require them to spend more money. They would rather we had a generation of ignorant squaters then pay another nickel for gas.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
- Most jobs aren't really about performing tasks. They are about hierarchical control. The people who wield the control like it that way. For some reason that escapes me so do the controled.
Brilliant comment. Anyone who does brainwork, can do it from just about anywhere. I got sick of the heirarchy, saved my pennies, and bailed on that system just this year. I never hated my work - but I often hated my working environment. This year has been such an amazing experience - one in which I love both my work and the environment. Anyone who gets the chance - try it out.What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
rich during gold rushes: The guy selling shovels.
Important lession.
I tried to be one of those guys, but when people where giving Millions to someone who wanted to sell dogfood ove the internet, I could get a damn meeting with a VC.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
As per an article in Economic Times today, IBM India's Linux Competnecy (or Development) Center's staff strength will go up from current 700 to 1000.
Sorry, no link, i read it in the dead-tree version of the newspaper.
Is Bush bringing back the Draft? Salon is saying so.
That has never been true. 2/3 of the jobs in the US are in small companies (less than 500 employees).
"Shit yeah"
End of Line.
Businesses use technology as a competitive advantage.
Indeed, but it must actually be a competitive advantage to confer competitive advantage. Businesses are notoriously poor at understanding this point or selecting the right technolgies.
Although this often creates jobs to support their mistakes (such as investing heavily in Object Oriented database products or Microsoft platforms when superiour free ones are available. My knowledge of vi and mathmatics confers a tremendous competitive advantage to me over my competitors who must support MS Office) such jobs do not last. May I point to your own unemployment status?
Skyscrapers proped up on cinder blocks do not stand long, no matter how impressive they look when new.
Which also brings up the issue of whether we are going to consider building such skyscrapers as desirable jobs, and then rebuilding them when they fall. Is this the creation of wealth? Less stitches more riches?
However, I can say that new capabilities will mean a business would upgrade hardware, install new software, hire workers, etc.
Well, as has already been pointed out it usually works the other way around. People want apps that their hardware won't run so they have to invest in new hardware. We are speaking in the context of companies that are investing in new hardware, but as yet no apps. This strongly suggests this is simply a maintainence issue, not a true upgrade issue, except, perhaps, to increase the speed of their current apps.
However, that is not always the case. Technology also creates new capabilities, which creates jobs.
Yes, but usually fewer jobs overall. They are also typically transfer jobs. In the context of this discussion we're talking about IT jobs, not the delivery jobs you posit.
In the past year have you even applied for a job with UPS, or are you waiting for another good IT job to open up?
If a new technology created more shipping jobs ( not likely actually. A 20% increase in shipping from one company often simply means another transfer of jobs from a competitor, not an increase in overall jobs, and requires a 20% increase in items to be shipped. Without that increase the added efficiency is used to reduce jobs, which is what happens when everyone aquires the "advantage") and as a result you could never get a job in IT again but could work in the warehouse as a "hand" would you consder that a good thing?
There's a lot more to the question of jobs than just the question of jobs.
Indeed, there's even the question of jobs.
Now that's a long thread.
KFG
My wife is still buying machines to try to get one that doesn't crash all the time. She doesn't want to learn anything other than MS Office. Needless to say anything she has had has slowed down and crashes often. The newest machine a P4 at 2.4 Ghz crashes reliably by selecting print from any application (web, spreadsheet, document, etc)
A stable easy to learn and use desktop OS and productivity suite could be the end of the upgrade cycle.
The truth shall set you free!
"If I misconstrued your original post and came off as snotty without cause, and review suggests I certainly may well have, I apologize."
Apology accepted.
I am unsure you can find beer anywhere in Markham. Myself, I had trouble finding any food there... just businesses and businesses without end.
If you have a few hundred PCs, upgrades are incredibly expensive to put into the field. It is better to wait until a PC is 'retired' and then upgrade the user to a current mode commodity PC.
In Investment banking, the upgrade cycle is two years but the machine would just be moved to the support or development people for another couple of years rather than being junked.
One solution is thin clients, but this moves the power requirement onto blade servers, which whilst nice (it centralises most hardware and software support issues), do not have the commodity advatnage when it comes to price.
The thing is that the economy has been crap, so companies have waited before they upgrade. However that three year cycle is now stretched past four years and substantial numbers of companies are now under-invested in IT.
See my journal, I write things there
And I deny it. However crude or offensive my thoughts may be they are my thoughts honestly expressed.
.
.
The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer. I am surprised, as well as delighted, when this happens, it is such a rare use he would make of me, as if he were acquainted with the tool . .
I take it for granted, when I am invited to lecture anywhere-for I have had a little experience in that business-that there is a desire to hear what I think on some subject, though I may be the greatest fool in the country, and not that I should say pleasant things merely, or such as the audience will assent to; and I resolve, accordingly, that I will give them a strong dose of myself. .
So now I would say something similar to you, my readers. Since you are my readers, and I have not been much of a traveler, I will not talk about people a thousand miles off, but come as near home as I can. As the time is short I will leave out all the flattery, and retain all the criticism.
- Thoreau - Life Without Principle
KFG
Machiavelli stated, in The Discourses I believe, that the time it is most dangerous for the powers that be is not during repression but during relief from repression. It seemed that the decimation of the baby boomer generation had been a repressive era particularly for technologists -- primarily due to the sexual dynamics surrounding engineering professions in the era of sexual liberation and women's liberation. The end of female boomer fertility was a time when the primary source of a lot of that oppression, misled sexual power of young women combined with testosterone overload of youthful males, was being relieved and the thumbscrews were being loosened on the techs. What I didn't expect was what happened: a whipsaw pumping up the techs and then popping their bubble. Machiavelli didn't really have much to say about this weird circumstance. What is interesting is that it does make a kind of perverse sense to do that to the folks that might start getting some of their standing back after a lifetime of disenfranchisement -- keeps them discombobulated. Then there is the problem of what to do for an encore if you can't keep the thumbscrews tied down after the whipsaw. If it worked once then why not try it again? Hopefully you can keep whipsawing until the boomer tech males are near retirement and unable and/or unwilling to do anything about their lifetime of displacement and disenfranchisement from their culture, fertility, territories and wealth. The outsourcing craze and H-1b craze are a part of this but I think the global elites may have to really pump things up again if at all possible, and try to whipsaw everyone again to avert Machiavelli's Rule again. If that is the case then theForesight Exchange claim REBOOM is in for a quick rise soon.
Seastead this.
there isn't going to be one?
even if the corepirate nazi execrable agreed to take you hostage for a little monIE, it's not advisable to be anywhere near them, when the big flash occurs, as you wouldn't want to get any of that evile on you?
consult with/trust in yOUR creator... once you see the light, you'll know what to do/who to trust.
If you think computers are built by machine I got news for you, they ain't. They are built by Taiwanese and increasingly Chinese workers making dollars a day if they are lucky. It would be more expensive to go with an entirely automated assembly plant than to hire workers for those wages. Then companies like Dell pay workers minimum wage plus maybe 50% to do any necessary customizations. As to your doom and gloom pridictions about the fall of the western world, think about this: The number of hours of work needed for the average worker to provide the basic necessities has fallen by almost eight fold since the start of the twentieth century. While the gap from poorest to wealthiest has grown out of controll the poorest is much better off than even an average worker a hundred years ago.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
> Yes, I think the grandparent poster has it
> backwards.
That would make sense to *us*, but sadly I think the GP has it right - most IT purchasers are non-geeks, think family, non-geek friends and PHBs.
> I buy new hardware because of software I
> already own. Or, in other cases, I buy new
> hardware because of software I would like to
> own.
Agreed - but most of the non-geeks I know don't. They download the "app of the week", and wonder why it doesn't live up to the hype, and blame their hardware (it's always the hardware - PCs are designed to run software, so it *can't* be the software, nosirree! Gator wouldn't mess up my system! Why would Office make my PC crash? Why would anyone make software that broke my computer? etc etc)
This is where the serious fun begins.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Yelling "M1cr0$loth Su>Personally, I dont see any signs that companies are recovering, or spending more. If they ARE spending anything more, they are just giving raises to the people who havent been fired. In the last place I worked, ALL the competant people have been let go. Its funny, because I still have friends there in other departments, and I get to hear how nothing gets done anymore. Somewhat satisfying, but I would rather be gainfully employed, and not have the network/department I helped build slowly decay.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Have you been reading, and beliving, all that crap in Wired?
this is what you wanted?
the fraudulent capitollist hill puppets only eXPose their forked tongues when tolled to do so buy their phonIE ?pr? ?firm? stock markup FraUD script writers.
few did/said anything to prevent this whoreabull life0cide.
Indeed, but it must actually be a competitive advantage to confer competitive advantage. Businesses are notoriously poor at understanding this point or selecting the right technolgies.
:)
That is a moot point. Yes, businesses aren't perfect but they do the best that they can. If they aren't selecting the right technologies, who is?
You mention that MS products are more expensive but they are not. Look at it within the context of a business. The vast majority of hte applications are written for Windows. In fact, they are Windows-only. If you want an accounting solution, Windows offers the best choices. How about ERP or sales? Windows. And so forth. A lot of people don't realize that Linux (or other competitor) adoption is low, not because these OSes suck, but because they don't have the necessary applications. How many people realize that Linux will never be accepted by home users, for example, until games and other multimedia apps are available.
Which also brings up the issue of whether we are going to consider building such skyscrapers as desirable jobs, and then rebuilding them when they fall. Is this the creation of wealth? Less stitches more riches?
That's capitalism! Make a quick buck and ignore the future. That's how everyone acts, including the executives running the show. Don't get me wrong: I'm an anti-capitalist. But that's how the world works.
Well, as has already been pointed out it usually works the other way around. People want apps that their hardware won't run so they have to invest in new hardware.
Pointed out by who? Anyway, I was speaking about the general case. In the vast majority of cases IMO, the software and hardware go hand-in-hand. Organizations don't usually upgrade hardware just to increase speed (unless performance is a major bottleneck). My experience has been that companies upgrade hardware and software together (eg. new Windows+new hardware), often for reasons other than speed. The general philosophy of corporations is summed up as: if it works, just leave it alone.
Yes, but usually fewer jobs overall. They are also typically transfer jobs. In the context of this discussion we're talking about IT jobs, not the delivery jobs you posit.
I was actually talking about tech jobs and not shipping jobs (my wording wasn't very good). The shipping company will hire software developers, or maintainers, or some service provider, if they wanted to use a new computer-based tracking system. They just created some IT jobs.
Based on your opinions, you seem like a luddite. I'm not sure what your theory of jobs is.
Now that's a long thread.
The amazing thing is that you practically replied to everyone who posted
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
Nope. I expect you to believe it because its the truth.
You seem a little angry. Is there anything I can do to help?
[FromTheMorning]
"Sadly, it costs a lot of money to exercise free speech in America."
Really? How much have you paid to slashdot? seems you are exercising free speech (for FREE) quite often...
Small companies are the backbone of this country. There are more small companies then large companies and more people employed BY small companies then by large companies.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Face /.ers we're never going to see the demand for technology that we did before and during the bubble.
Fact is that most businesses will be able to make hardware go further using Linux and Open Source and software spending will IMHO eventually flatten out again.
The real test will be when MS's Licences come due in a year or two... then we'll see how much business is willing to spend of software, etc.
A good barometer to watch might be the sales of Office 2003... and NOT the sales included in new PCs but the sales to businesses and off the shelf.
These sales figures should give an indication of how strong of demand and/or a willingness there is to upgrade and spend money on software.
My guts says more and more businesses will be turning to OSS solutions quicker in the next 18 months in an effort to control costs and break out of the MS upgrade treadmill.
Submitted for your approval...
Not even Windows 95 would crash that often while performing such simple tasks as PRINTING.
Either your wife is especially stupid with computers or you've had an extraordinary string of bad luck.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I'll take my chances with supply and demand, thanks anyway.
The 20th century is littered with the wreckage of attempts to "redefine" wealth creation and distribution.
-ccm
Too much Law; not enough Order.
Install Windows 2000 Professional and Office 2000 Professional. Patch it up. Install AdSubtract or some other pop-up blocker, WinZip, McAfee. Create a regular ol' user that can't install software or make changes and let her log in as that guy.
That will be the smoothest, most solid machine you will ever see unless you are overheating the hardware or have another hardware problem. Runs fine on a PIII 1GHz, maybe sufficiently fine on a PII 300MHz box.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Know why VHS beat Beta? Porn.
... and the 'must have' entertainment over the past few years seems to be : incredible first person shooters for the guys, Lifetime Channel'esque Sims for the ladies, music, chat, and porn. Do you think that the XBox would have been nearly as strong a hit if Halo had been available on the PC? Does anybody actually think AOL caught on like wildfire because it was good?
Know why the Internet is the fastest growing technology in the history of man (first to 1M users, first to 10M users, etc..)? Porn.
Know why cable TV caught on, people paying for television when it was free (20+ years ago)? Porn.
Know why MS sold so many damn XBoxes? Halo. Not available on the PC.
I had a point in there somewhere but I lost it.
Want Linux to catch on as the must have technology? Release the 'must have' entertainment on Linux and if possible make Linux the only platform it is available on
You come up with the killer entertainment quad of multiplayer games for men, games for women, free music and movie downloads untraceable by the RIAA, and porn, IM too - available nowhere else but on Linux - and watch Linux overtake the existing platforms.
Hell right now it is questionable as to whether or not I am actually able (technologically or legally) on Linux to even watch DVD's that I bought in the store. It doesn't run Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, DAoC. I'm not aware of any P2P tools for Linux (doesn't mean there aren't any, just none that I am aware of), GAIM doesn't seem to cooperate with MSN/IM (anymore), and open source porn isn't all it is cracked up to be.
You want Linux to be the 'must have' OS? Find some haven country totally immune to copyright laws. Drop in the fattest pipe you have ever, ever seen. Start up the multimedia equivalent of the Gutenburg project and start ripping DVDs and CDs on the most insane scale you can imagine - every title ever produced totally clean and ready to download. Host a collection of porn that would make even Usenet obsolete. Insure that they can only be accessed via a Linux box and insure that they can't get busted. Come out with an IM that is only available on Linux. Make it user friendly, no pop-ups or ads, no spyware or malware, make it fast, and make it free. You do that and Linux will overtake Windows (etc.) as the home user desktop in less than 24 months.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Crap I forgot my disclaimer : I am posting this from a Linux desktop (Redhat 9.0).
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
People are also sick of pouring hideously large amounts of money into technology that is deliberately designed to have a prematurely short useful service life too.
If you just do a search on your favorite job site (like Monster or Dice), you will see that they number of IT opportunities in the New York metro area increased dramatically over the past few months. Many of these opportunities are contract positions, which tells me that the companies are investing money in software development but are still causious to commit to permanent hires. However, this is a very good sign that the tide had turned. I also know a couple of IT people that were without jobs for a couple of years and just landed jobs. Let's hope the rising budget deficits, excessive outsourcing to India and rising medicare and war costs don't ruin the fragile recovery that is clearly beginning. One point about outsourcing. There's much noise about service jobs moving to India and Eastern Europe. A lot of people blame Bush administration or Congress. I think it's pretty silly to blame anyone. In the free-market economy no matter what regulations you enact, the companies will move to where they can make a better profit. Since the communication costs decreased so dramatically in the last four years, it's quite easy for many companies to employ people in India, where they have to pay less and where most people speak good English. It does not mean there will be no jobs left here. But it's fair to expect that many of the projects that are self-contained and can be oursources, will go overseas. I think (and hope) and the most qualified, senior people will still able to find decent jobs in the USA, since USA is the most stable place to do business and employ people.
n/c
I think it's a software problem. I've swapped out the motherboard for a diffrent model, swapped the CPU, video card, and memory. I haven't been able to track down the persistant random glitch killing the box. I do know the Active X required for one of the kids games has problems. The stuff not running Active X runs smoothly. Stuff running it is very choppy. I've spent way too much time and money trying to fix it without sucess. Time to go with a factory built box with a warranty. With homebuilt, it's sometimes impossible to isolate a fault to return the faulty component. For some reason, Windows 98 just doesn't like Asus boards with DDR memory and 3D AGP graphics cards. I haven't been able to narrow down the problem beyound that. I kept up with Windows update and McAffee. It doesn't matter if printing to a local or networked printer, the result is the same. Due to the price of Windows 2000 Pro and Office 2000 pro, that box is not getting another copy of Windows. It's going to become a Suse box. The wife is getting a new Del P4 2.66 Ghz with flatscreen 17 inch monitor. I will transplant Office 2000 to it for her. Maybe I can then show her OO and Suse is much better, even on the 9 month old hardware.
:-(
Sometimes I think hardware manufactures debug for a specific hardware configuration and homebuilders do not have that advantage. My ancient P200 laptop using EDO memory running Win 95 is MUCH more stable. But that is a factory packaged deal. I'm not going to risk updating the OS for fear of breaking something. The laptop simply works. I wish it had some sort of accelerated 3D graphics
The truth shall set you free!
Since America has the strongest military (aka Biggest Stick) in the world? Give us the good jobs or we will kill you all!!!!
Our employers are spending more on foreign manufactured goods! When they accidentally give money to a domestically owned company, it's squirreled away in an offshore account. Huzzah for the economy!
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
You're right about where the jobs are (internal apps). But even that area is bleeding jobs, just not as fast. Maybe in your company jobs have increased, but a few bright spots can't correct the glut of programmers. We have way too many people in the field and more entering every day on the promise of a "high paying IT career". As computing becomes de-mystified, programming becomes just another form of moderately skilled labor. Sure, the quality of all these new programmers may be less than even the average guy in the IT heyday, but we all should know by now that quality is not job #1 while the stock price is the end all and be all of success.
Free Mac Mini Yeah, it's
I mean you no disrespect, but while this makes for good jingo-ism, it simply makes no sense.
If as the conquerers we decided to take all of the oil in Iraq, then you could make the case that we are spilling blood for oil.
If we took their oil, what would that do to worldwide supply? OPEC would be totally undone because of the reserves in Iraq. In order to pay for the infrastructure rebuild we would need to flood the world markets with oil. After doing that, the bottom would drop out of the market - oil would be so cheap that there would be little profit in it.
We rid that country of a despot. We have freed the prisoners from the torture chambers and rape rooms. We have brought education on line that is far less biased - internationally authored new textbooks that don't deify Saddam. We have worked hard to both repair and modernize their electrical system, even while we are fighting with guerilla groups that can at best kill a few young men and women. When you decry the sacrifice of these people (and it is a major sacrifice each time one person dies in the name of our country) remember that the victory was won with astonishingly few casualties. The fact that we're 6 months into this process and only a few hundred have been lost is shocking - in a good way.
There are many today who make the case that we were wrong to take out Saddam (from power.) they argue that things are tough at home and we need to focus on our problems and not get involved in foreign wars.
This is the same thing that was said when Hitler came to power in Europe. We did nothing for the longest time, then we began the lend-lease program, then we finally got involved and unseated him from power - freeing those in the prison camps who were still living. Freeing those who cowered under the oppression of the previous regime. Through the Marshall plan, we then invested heavily - many decried too heavily - in rebuilding the countries that we had just finished bombing.
To my way of thinking, removing Saddam and then choosing the hard path - paying our dollars rather than waiting for the oil fields to start producing - is the right thing to do. It would have been easy to do nothing, or to destroy the government there and leave, or to simply do nothing until they can pay for repairs themselves.
I submit to you that the worls is a better place with the changes being made in Iraq than the way it was before.
All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.
Regards,
Anomaly
But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
Windows98 is your problem. No joke, a machine with nothing other than Windows98 and Office installed will blue screen on you running nothing more than Internet Explorer. We had the same issues you describe on a friend's machine, wiped it clean and installed Win2000 and it has been rock solid ever since.
:
I do stand behind your decision to buy a new box, however. Note that you are probably going to get WinXP home with that machine, or for another $75 WinXP Pro (I highly recommend the Pro version if you have to go XP.) I am a firm believer in the Dell hardware and have several of their machines (the 5 I use regularly are all Dell machines - two laptops, two servers and a new Dimension desktop.) They all run fine, but I am very picky about not installing lots of crap - something you may not have control over in your environment.
The hot setup
Watch www.fatwallet.com - the forums, the hot deals. What you are looking for is not a price mistake, but a good deal on a package.
Get a machine from Dell Small Business, the prices are better and they don't pre-install nearly as much crap as their Home machines.
If you don't want to run WinXP (want to run Linux eventually, or Win2000) get a PowerEdge 400sc from their server division - you can order those without OS and buy your own licenses elsewhere but they do come with drivers for both of those OSs.
Watch for a sale on the 18" LCD - I love mine.
Currently you are not particularly happy with the experience of a FrankenBox (one you put together from parts.) Remember that when you are contemplating downgrading every component with the intent to upgrade it with aftermarket hardware (bigger SATA drives, video card, audio card, etc.) The one exception would be the memory, bottom it out and order massive upgrades from www.crucial.com
All that seems really expensive and a lot of work, I would at least consider getting a copy of Win2000Pro - talk to whoever built the system for you see if he has a cheap OEM copy. Going from 98 to 2000 is going to make a world of difference and if it doesn't you are out the cost of the OS - talk to him and see if he will pre-agree to refund your money if it doesn't make things better.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
H1-b/L1 legislation basically allows major corporations to use a chance at a green card as a corporate perk(i.e. it is a corporate subsidy program according to the Nobel Prize Winner and Reagan Economics advisor Milton Friedman). The only presidential candidate that opposed H-1b expansion in 1998 was Dennis Kucinich.
There are some real systemic problems in the US(i.e. the tax structure more or less assures a substantial trade deficit, governmental budget deficit and export of capital). The current immigration/temporary worker visa policy is making this worse-basically assuring that those US citizens generating foreign exchange will face governmental subsidies to lower their wages--while US citizens in "protected" and "licensed" professions(i.e. lawyers, actuaries, accountants) have fewer such problems).
In the context of a political system that is for sale, reviving of an industry may not make much difference to the average tech worker.
What feature of the new systems (other than speed) do you see as opening support for new apps that answer some need of business?
... and those providing the levers should find good profits in it, as should local consultants to install and tune the tools.
Ask instead: What new features of business might be enabled by new apps (or new configurations of old apps) on current hardware?
As just one example, right now our economy is running with a contradiction on the centralization-decentralization axis. The advantage of capitalism over socialism seems to be based on the superior rationality of local control of operations, rather than having control as centralized as possible - in part because local human agents can respond to nuances which are simply invisible from the top of large pyramidal organizations. (This may be related to why, during the 90s boom, there were no net new jobs created by the Fortune 500 - the whole boom in terms of the job market was in smaller businesses.)
Still, it looks like the Wal-Mart model of the economy is winning over local businesses. How has Wal-Mart done that? Poor pay and benefits, sure, but K-Mart tried that too without the same results. The Wal-Mart difference is largely in its having long been aggressive in forcing its vendors to integrate their IT with its own.
If local businesses can be provided with IT capabilities to match Wal-Mart's, then with that part of the field level, they can compete based on their innate local advantage. There's a tremendous opportunity here - Wal-Mart's grabbed a huge share of the consumer-goods and grocery markets, much of which can be grabbed back with proper IT leverage
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
You DID propose a rinky-dink toy network. A robust, well-known name-brand fileserver with redundant power supplies and a hardware RAID5 controller, and an extended on-site maintenance & warranty agreement, plus an autoloader tape drive and decent backup software for automatic, unattended, scheduled backups is what makes a minimum acceptable business solution this day and age. It would be a *credible* solution. Yours sounds like a very amateur pile of pieces-parts slapped together. As to your "simple network storage device" for fileserver... anytime someone builds a network, you always must plan for support of future commercial software packages, and in business apps, nowadays thanks to the evil MacroShaft, that means SQL server. That means a Windblows server OS has to be in the picture somewhere. That also eliminates the home-flavor of OS on the workstations.
you are a moron. what you said makes no sense.
logic? what?
it looks like you just want to mod down the
parent for some reason. you're the one
with a nonsense argument.
if you want the parent modded down, just say so.
"poorly worded" it is not. what's the real reason?
you want to ship American jobs to India? then
just say it : "I want to ship American jobs
to India and people that disagree
with me should be modded down".
dont beat around the bush.
Yes, I remember that. They took out lots of expensive ads in the L.A. Times. I worked on word-processors at the time, and imagined how such a tool might put me out of a job: "Oh Last One, create a word-processor for me. It must support footnotes and have a spell-checker. And don't forget support for right-to-left languages like Arabic!"
The 12k bid had a setup not far from mine ... it definatly wasn't "better" ... instead of a simple network storage device they used a whole server :(
Without a server, how do you expect to maintain a centrally managed list of usernames, passwords and groups?
Also you definitely need to learn how to spell better. Maybe your lost bid was influenced by perception of inadequate professionalism?
Project Gutenberg is completely legit. It electronically publishes works that are out of copyright.
What you are proposing is outright copyright infringement.
I have to wonder who will pay for this 'fat pipe' you speak of, and how long the upstream will last.
"Hot lesbian witches! It's fucking genius!"
> A dog can't perform analytical logic
Maybe YOUR dog, but my dog contemplates algorithmic logic all the time!
-Project Gutenberg is completely legit. It electronically publishes works that are out of copyright.
/. thread) I guess this is going to be out of the question - but honestly what could it cost? $5M for a year seems overkill but I could see BlackHat.com (I made that up, no offense to whoever the real BlackHat.com) burning through that to get it done.
-What you are proposing is outright copyright infringement.
-I have to wonder who will pay for this 'fat pipe' you speak of, and how long the upstream will last.
Whoops, I should have been more clear on that one. You are totally correct in that the solution I proposed totally violates every known law and moral statute defined in just about every nation on the planet with regards to the distribution of digital content without proper licensure or authority. I may have been too subtle with my 'haven' clause.
In addition to needing to haven the MP3z, MPGz, AVIz and JPGz, someone was going to have to actually foot the bill for the hardware and a serious pipe. Given RedHat's recent announcement that they were dropping their standard (free) Linux as of version 9.0 (I think support and updates stop in April, read the other
I didn't say it was going to be legal, I just said it would work. You want Linux to overtake Microsoft as the preferred workstation - this will work if failure is not an option.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
Be aware that those 10,000 jobs are in the IBM India research center.
This is the third slashdot item I've read in the last few days that's based on old news from the Times.
Is there some special slashdot anti-NYT filter that won't accept stories newer than three days old?
This Like That - fun with words!
This is a stupid ranting of obscenity. I demand that you civilize your tongue - your ideas are yours freely to express. How you express them does matter!
I think "New Ideas from Dead Economists" is a very readable, juicy introduction to the history of the field. Good mix of cleanly presented theory, and biographical information. No particular ideological bent, which is a nice antidote to a lot of the other stuff going on out there. Think a mix of "Quicksilver" and a one of the better O'Reilly books - can't get much more hacker friendly than that!
2 4/ benwaggoner-20
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/04522805
Reading the Economist every week is also a great way to keep up to date on what's going on in the world, and in the world of money, with an nicely non US, non Dem v. Rep view of things. It's very classic Liberal - pro free trade, and pro civil rights.
My video compression blog
Why? I found it humourous...
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Sivaram Velauthapillai
Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places
...but just to the west of you there's an even bigger lake...
Liberty uber alles.
>The fact is I think we haven't seen anything yet, and the Internet boom was just the first and weakest wave of what is yet to come.
So the fact is that you _think_. Not what you think _about_. And the 'fact' you are thinking is cast in the future, so won't be a (real) fact until it does, in fact (clue), come to pass. At this stage it is better classed as a premonition...
Furthermore, your 'fact' discounts all waves that came before this wave. What you experienced was just another wave. A big one for sure, but just a wave...
My advice sailor: enjoy the ride and don't think so much about the wave height. Think about your boat instead.
It must be a compatibility issue with Intel P4's. It's a whole lot more stable on a P100 and PIII sytem than it is on the newer hardware. Thanks for the info. I was thinking it was a hardware problem that I couldn't isolate because Win 98 works much better (far from perfect) on a couple older machines that are not using P4's or AGP video cards. Too bad my hardware upgrade was such a stability downgrade. I knew something major was wrong as it was very unstable from day one. That was the reason for a CPU exchange, memory exchange, video card exchange, motherboard replacement (another model same brand) and lots of lost time. Time to chalk it up to learning by the school of hard knocks.
As I mentioned earlier, this box will probably become a hot Suse box. I can't seem to pay MS inflated retail prices for the OS when I have one of their OS'es with all patches and it still doesn't work properly. I would think 98 should be somewhat stable by now. I don't want to reward that poor performance. It's insult to injury. I'll just get the new OS at OEM prices on a new box instead of paying retail and going through chapter 2 of fussing and fixing. The TCO of do it yourself is way too high for MS products. I won't pirate 2000 pro. I'm also not going to pay $200-$300 for the full version either to get a new set of headaches to work out.
(I'm referring to all the latest MS viri were not 95, & 98, but 2000 and XP specific). I've been trying to avoid the latest bugs.
The truth shall set you free!
> Maybe I can then show her OO and Suse is much better, even on the 9 month old hardware.
:)
--Hey, with VNC you can have the best of both worlds.
--Also you should make sure you have the latest video drivers and DirectX installed, with me it made a slight difference with W98SE.
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
... it is a few here and a few there, with cheaper, workers with same skills being hired first, wherever they happen to be.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
As we know it is all the fault of the Jews at the end, as you have made abundantly clear in your postings in http://www/kuro5hin.org (check the diaries of this individual for a sample of great pearls of wisdom....).
How does software that does not exist self repair itself Batman?
Most software work is inhouse applications that do not exist or that need to be customized to fit specific needs....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You are obviously an adherent of the latter form of irrational prejudice.
Seastead this.