MacOS X Server (in an earlier incarnation) was the first Unix I used on my desktop. It got me really aware that there were Unixes with good GUIs. Unfortunately, Linux lags WAY behind in the seamless integration that even buggy betas of Rhapsody had.
I came to Linux from MacOS X and I suspect a lot of other people will too.
Be patient little penguins. MacOS X is no threat to Linux.
The point that a lot of the comments have missed is really, really simple: it's not about the Linux community, or whether Linux is a trend or whatever.
Cowpland's job is to make money FOR THE STOCKHOLDERS. You know, "increase shareholder value by doing Cool Stuff." Right out of Cryptonomicon.
In my opinion, it's right for finance mags, which focus on long-term investment value, to question the long-term value of large investments in Linux. Such magazines are, by their nature, conservative.
The upside is that most companies won't have to -- as long as they have an X-based or command line Unix program, it's not a big deal to ship a Linux product too.
I gave up 12k pre-IPO lottery tickets in a Linux firm recently. I think I really did the best thing for myself. The best advice I could possibly offer is to treat any stock options as though they WERE lottery tickets: they are not money, only potential money. I was told that I was giving up 3.5 million in stock options at Linuxcare. We may see, we may not.
The taxes of stock options are tricky. IANATA. For those in the bay area (silicon valley), there is an upcoming course on stock options for employees (a one-day thing) offered by UCSC Extension. Click here
> seriously, this doesn't seem to be "david > bowie opens a bank", but "some bank hires > david bowie's image to promote a new online > bank". personally, i wouldn't trust the > former, as he doesn't have the expertise in > the banking field. still, it's a marketing > coup.
Given how well the average bank performs, perhaps a lack of experience isn't as great a detriment as it might seem.:)
Seriously though, anyone who has done a lot of handling of money, as Bowie has done, and especially those who have suffered at the hands of others financially, as Bowie has, tend to educate themselves in self-defense. We don't really know HOW much he knows; it may well be more than we think.
Anyhow, I'm for the concept myself.
I tend to think that online brokerages will replace online banks (as brokerages give better service and many of the same features) and not the reverse as some people claim.
I have already proposed that we boycott DVDs while this suit is pending. It'll likely have more of a negative effect on their sales than the DeCSS software would.;) _Deirdre (thanks for all the supportive notes everyone!)
One of the most amusing assertions from the plaintiff's lawyers was that DeCSS could only be used for copying -- of course, we use cp for copying, not DeCSS.;)
This doesn't work for domains where the payment has been made in the past and a renewal is about to come due though. For example, though I may wish to renew deirdre.net, it's not yet due and therefore shows no information.
Also, as Network Solutions is now requiring payment-on-registration for nearly everyone, this is somewhat less useful than it used to be.
Last year, I found two web tax sites and filed my taxes over the web. This required the then-current Netscape. For tax planning, well, we're not there yet. But for tax filing, I did it on Linux last year. _Deirdre
You know, people laughed at me in August when I said VA's IPO was going to be hotter than Red Hat's. Even I didn't know how much: I was off by a factor of 2 on the limit orders. Waaaah.
Anyhow, congratulations to ALL the people at VA. Have yourselves a party. A quiet party.
Confession: I was a scientologist for years. I am no longer (and haven't been in many years).
The reason I am no longer has more to do with the organization than the beliefs, though the two are intertwined. Scapegoating as doctrine, for example.
Methinks that if the scns want their doctrine taken more seriously, they'll have to loosen the death grip on it and let others practice it freely. There's something weird about using the courts to protect *doctrine* -- it's so anti-1st amendment.
Then again, doing so would be contrary to their doctrine. So, ever doomed to be a fringe cult.
The Alan Cox example is a micro-fork, which is also, say, my version of BidWatcher (it has some stuff I added and submitted patches for, but they're not folded into the release).
What the article concerned was forking on a larger scale.
Personally I don't apply for jobs that say things like "Salary history required to apply". They can take a hike. And if they want to know what I expect I say that salary is negotiable (which ougt to go w/o saying but it is a nice way to put it).
I do apply for those positions (well, not now, I'm working) but I pointedly omit any salary information. Just like I pointedly omit the "word" copy of my resume (they can have text or html).
I know the woman in question and you're right. She's a fascinating person. The web site may have changed to suit her mood (rather than by hate mail); she's rather mercurial. Still, your post is very touching.
Some corrections: he didn't send the email to everyone in the company. He sent it to a group of people both inside and out of the company from his company email account. Those people sent it further along and one of those sent it to her; another of those sent it to me (mine might have been 3rd generation rather than 2nd). I also received a copy forwarded from her.
While prompt action of censure and reprimand would have worked, because the company delayed their actions, they eventually fired him.
PS - anyone who thinks MLM is fat obviously prefers dating corpses. She's underweight.
I met my sweetie in the planning of Windows Refund Day. If you want to impress a geek gal, try having a Very Cool Event (tm). I recommend looking over the SVLUG's past event list for ideas. Hint: Windows 2000 is slated to be released practically on the anniversary of Windows Refund Day!
Oh, and then Rick Moen charmed me with his masculine wiles and I moved, changed jobs, etc. We're all happy now.
I also replied via email, but my general rule of thumb is: go for it, learn more. You don't have to commit to marriage yet.:) Silly introverts always wanting to put the cart before the horse.:) (see my post about Deirdre's Law of Relationships)
I should also say that, when I was married five months, my husband suddenly died of a stroke. You never know how long you have with someone; make what time you have count.
I don't see what you're so worried about; you could get run over by a bus before her next attack. I'm not trying to be a pessimist, just pointing out that you're focused worrying about her (which is sweet) but not even considering that you might not make it that long.
I could just be rude and say, "Well, what do you EXPECT from trailer trash?" (According to the author's bio, he lives in a trailer)
But I won't.:)
Regardless of whether or not it was an attempt to be serious or humorous, what this guy doesn't know about women would fill volumes. He thinks he has a clue about their motivations, but he doesn't. He may not even understand his wife's motivations. Logic suggests that if most spouses were aware of their spouse's motivations and acted accordingly, the divorce rate would be signficantly lower.
I think this wasn't just a lame attempt at humor, but the real views of the author. While the idea of "relate to a real" woman is a good point, most male geeks I know do NOT spend time in clubs the way the author did. Most of them have geek jobs in pre-IPO companies and work hard and long hours. As geek companies tend to be overwhelmingly male, the chances of socializing with women is limited.
As the author's socialization seemed to revolve around the kind of places where extroverts hang out, and as most geeks are not extroverts, I'm reminded of a rule of mine:
Deirdre's Rule of Relationships: Extroverts bond ionically; Introverts bond covalently
By which I mean that introverts tend to have fewer, but deeper, relationships with specific people. For extroverts, they're more interested in having certain roles filled and the bonds are shallower. I think the differences in socialization between introverts and extroverts is different enough that it's caused us introverts lots of grief:
"You care too much" - yeah, introverts DO. So? It's a feature, not a bug.
"Geez, it was just a date" - if they ask you out, 80% chance they're already 1/2way in love.
"I feel closed in" - introverts seem to want a more complete experience than extroverts do.
But if any guy *I* dated wrote a piece like this, it would be all over in a heartbeat. This doesn't mean that he couldn't write something, but geez. Then again, any guy I date (like my SO, Rick Moen) would not only be a geek and be proud to be a geek, but also be secure enough in his masculinity to date a geek woman who knew more than he did in some area.:) I'm sure Rick would acknowledge that I'm a better coder, but I defer to his superior network-fu!
PS - Besides, Pamela Anderson wouldn't visit a guy in a trailer. Anymore.
Yes, there are a few who are coding. My work is primarily in user space apps and, frankly, after coding all day, I rarely wish to spend my nights coding (oh yeah, and I'm in grad school...). Fortunately, I'm now getting time to do some coding both at work and after-hours and have produced a few things. I think magiknit (which I *desperately* need to update) is probably the only thing I've submitted to freshmeat though.
Anyway, last night's work, such as it was, can be seen at http://www.magiknit.org/cgi-bin/yarncalc.py. Kinda dull and boring if you don't knit but really handy if you knit (or spin and knit). And yes, there are guys that do that kind of stuff, though they're about as rare as female kernel hackers.:) Which kinda surprises me because spinning wheels are straight physics. Very cool.
I personally have zero interest in kernel coding, though I did hang in there for a while on the UUSBD project. I've helped track down bugs in apps like kwm as well.
My company has a policy: I get to use open source. Hey, I even get to write open source software *while I work*. Of course, as a coder, that's really great!
Because it IS primarily about issues relating to women. This doesn't mean that men are excluded from contributing but I've noticed the percentage of men on Linuxchix has seemed to decrease over time. I suspect it went up today, but I'm also reasonably sure that'll change.
There are men who are sincerely interested in issues of sex, gender and also gender bias and I suspect those sorts of men will stick around.
And then there's of course the transgendered and transsexual crowd, who are also welcome for their unique perspectives on gender and sex.
Slashdot Mirror
MacOS X Server (in an earlier incarnation) was the first Unix I used on my desktop. It got me really aware that there were Unixes with good GUIs. Unfortunately, Linux lags WAY behind in the seamless integration that even buggy betas of Rhapsody had.
I came to Linux from MacOS X and I suspect a lot of other people will too.
Be patient little penguins. MacOS X is no threat to Linux.
_Deirdre
The point that a lot of the comments have missed is really, really simple: it's not about the Linux community, or whether Linux is a trend or whatever.
Cowpland's job is to make money FOR THE STOCKHOLDERS. You know, "increase shareholder value by doing Cool Stuff." Right out of Cryptonomicon.
In my opinion, it's right for finance mags, which focus on long-term investment value, to question the long-term value of large investments in Linux. Such magazines are, by their nature, conservative.
The upside is that most companies won't have to -- as long as they have an X-based or command line Unix program, it's not a big deal to ship a Linux product too.
_Deirdre
The taxes of stock options are tricky. IANATA. For those in the bay area (silicon valley), there is an upcoming course on stock options for employees (a one-day thing) offered by UCSC Extension. Click here
I'll tell you what you're missing: PALM has filed for an IPO.
Graffiti was used before the Palm Pilot anyway: It was a purchasable add-on for both the Newton and the Sony MagicLink.
_Deirdre
> seriously, this doesn't seem to be "david
:)
> bowie opens a bank", but "some bank hires
> david bowie's image to promote a new online
> bank". personally, i wouldn't trust the
> former, as he doesn't have the expertise in
> the banking field. still, it's a marketing
> coup.
Given how well the average bank performs, perhaps a lack of experience isn't as great a detriment as it might seem.
Seriously though, anyone who has done a lot of handling of money, as Bowie has done, and especially those who have suffered at the hands of others financially, as Bowie has, tend to educate themselves in self-defense. We don't really know HOW much he knows; it may well be more than we think.
Anyhow, I'm for the concept myself.
I tend to think that online brokerages will replace online banks (as brokerages give better service and many of the same features) and not the reverse as some people claim.
_Deirdre
I have already proposed that we boycott DVDs while this suit is pending. It'll likely have more of a negative effect on their sales than the DeCSS software would. ;) _Deirdre (thanks for all the supportive notes everyone!)
One of the most amusing assertions from the plaintiff's lawyers was that DeCSS could only be used for copying -- of course, we use cp for copying, not DeCSS. ;)
_Deirdre
...it can be a misappropriation of trade secrets if they had no access to any trade secrets when they were in fact reverse engineering the encryption.
_Deirdre
This doesn't work for domains where the payment has been made in the past and a renewal is about to come due though. For example, though I may wish to renew deirdre.net, it's not yet due and therefore shows no information.
Also, as Network Solutions is now requiring payment-on-registration for nearly everyone, this is somewhat less useful than it used to be.
_Deirdre
linuxpants.com
Last year, I found two web tax sites and filed my taxes over the web. This required the then-current Netscape. For tax planning, well, we're not there yet. But for tax filing, I did it on Linux last year. _Deirdre
You know, people laughed at me in August when I said VA's IPO was going to be hotter than Red Hat's. Even I didn't know how much: I was off by a factor of 2 on the limit orders. Waaaah.
:P
Anyhow, congratulations to ALL the people at VA.
Have yourselves a party. A quiet party.
And to all the people who laughed,
_Deirdre
Confession: I was a scientologist for years. I am no longer (and haven't been in many years).
The reason I am no longer has more to do with the organization than the beliefs, though the two are intertwined. Scapegoating as doctrine, for example.
Methinks that if the scns want their doctrine taken more seriously, they'll have to loosen the death grip on it and let others practice it freely. There's something weird about using the courts to protect *doctrine* -- it's so anti-1st amendment.
Then again, doing so would be contrary to their doctrine. So, ever doomed to be a fringe cult.
_Deirdre
The Alan Cox example is a micro-fork, which is also, say, my version of BidWatcher (it has some stuff I added and submitted patches for, but they're not folded into the release).
What the article concerned was forking on a larger scale.
_Deirdre
Personally I don't apply for jobs that say things like "Salary history required to apply". They can take a hike. And if they want to know what I expect I say that salary is negotiable (which ougt to go w/o saying but it is a nice way to put it).
I do apply for those positions (well, not now, I'm working) but I pointedly omit any salary information. Just like I pointedly omit the "word" copy of my resume (they can have text or html).
_Deirdre
I know the woman in question and you're right. She's a fascinating person. The web site may have changed to suit her mood (rather than by hate mail); she's rather mercurial. Still, your post is very touching.
Some corrections: he didn't send the email to everyone in the company. He sent it to a group of people both inside and out of the company from his company email account. Those people sent it further along and one of those sent it to her; another of those sent it to me (mine might have been 3rd generation rather than 2nd). I also received a copy forwarded from her.
While prompt action of censure and reprimand would have worked, because the company delayed their actions, they eventually fired him.
PS - anyone who thinks MLM is fat obviously prefers dating corpses. She's underweight.
_Deirdre
Exactly. People can be complete liars online. I too had one of those "relationships." It ended badly, but life goes on.
That said, people can be liars in person too.
_Deirdre
I met my sweetie in the planning of Windows Refund Day. If you want to impress a geek gal, try having a Very Cool Event (tm). I recommend looking over the SVLUG's past event list for ideas. Hint: Windows 2000 is slated to be released practically on the anniversary of Windows Refund Day!
Oh, and then Rick Moen charmed me with his masculine wiles and I moved, changed jobs, etc. We're all happy now.
_Deirdre
I was hacking a python script to monitor the web site in the interpreter.
:)
Script goes:
from urllib import *
a = urlopen('http://usvms.gpo.gov/')
print a.info()
...and I got back...
Server: Netscape-Enterprise/3.6 SP2
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 19:48:59 GMT
Content-type: text/html
Last-modified: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 21:25:12 GMT
Content-length: 3192
Accept-ranges: bytes
Connection: close
Hmmm, seems like a y2k problem to me!
_Deirdre
I'm reminded of the line from Tom Lehrer (about his friend Hen3ry): "He was always giving helpful advice to people who were happier than he was."
Oh, and you're wrong about the lovelorn girl angle: http://www.chickmagnet.org
_Deirdre
I also replied via email, but my general rule of thumb is: go for it, learn more. You don't have to commit to marriage yet. :) Silly introverts always wanting to put the cart before the horse. :) (see my post about Deirdre's Law of Relationships)
I should also say that, when I was married five months, my husband suddenly died of a stroke. You never know how long you have with someone; make what time you have count.
I don't see what you're so worried about; you could get run over by a bus before her next attack. I'm not trying to be a pessimist, just pointing out that you're focused worrying about her (which is sweet) but not even considering that you might not make it that long.
_Deirdre
I could just be rude and say, "Well, what do you EXPECT from trailer trash?" (According to the author's bio, he lives in a trailer)
:)
:) I'm sure Rick would acknowledge that I'm a better coder, but I defer to his superior network-fu!
But I won't.
Regardless of whether or not it was an attempt to be serious or humorous, what this guy doesn't know about women would fill volumes. He thinks he has a clue about their motivations, but he doesn't. He may not even understand his wife's motivations. Logic suggests that if most spouses were aware of their spouse's motivations and acted accordingly, the divorce rate would be signficantly lower.
I think this wasn't just a lame attempt at humor, but the real views of the author. While the idea of "relate to a real" woman is a good point, most male geeks I know do NOT spend time in clubs the way the author did. Most of them have geek jobs in pre-IPO companies and work hard and long hours. As geek companies tend to be overwhelmingly male, the chances of socializing with women is limited.
As the author's socialization seemed to revolve around the kind of places where extroverts hang out, and as most geeks are not extroverts, I'm reminded of a rule of mine:
Deirdre's Rule of Relationships:
Extroverts bond ionically;
Introverts bond covalently
By which I mean that introverts tend to have fewer, but deeper, relationships with specific people. For extroverts, they're more interested in having certain roles filled and the bonds are shallower. I think the differences in socialization between introverts and extroverts is different enough that it's caused us introverts lots of grief:
"You care too much" - yeah, introverts DO. So? It's a feature, not a bug.
"Geez, it was just a date" - if they ask you out, 80% chance they're already 1/2way in love.
"I feel closed in" - introverts seem to want a more complete experience than extroverts do.
But if any guy *I* dated wrote a piece like this, it would be all over in a heartbeat. This doesn't mean that he couldn't write something, but geez. Then again, any guy I date (like my SO, Rick Moen) would not only be a geek and be proud to be a geek, but also be secure enough in his masculinity to date a geek woman who knew more than he did in some area.
PS - Besides, Pamela Anderson wouldn't visit a guy in a trailer. Anymore.
_Deirdre
Yes, there are a few who are coding. My work is primarily in user space apps and, frankly, after coding all day, I rarely wish to spend my nights coding (oh yeah, and I'm in grad school...). Fortunately, I'm now getting time to do some coding both at work and after-hours and have produced a few things. I think magiknit (which I *desperately* need to update) is probably the only thing I've submitted to freshmeat though.
:) Which kinda surprises me because spinning wheels are straight physics. Very cool.
Anyway, last night's work, such as it was, can be seen at http://www.magiknit.org/cgi-bin/yarncalc.py. Kinda dull and boring if you don't knit but really handy if you knit (or spin and knit). And yes, there are guys that do that kind of stuff, though they're about as rare as female kernel hackers.
I personally have zero interest in kernel coding, though I did hang in there for a while on the UUSBD project. I've helped track down bugs in apps like kwm as well.
_Deirdre
My company has a policy: I get to use open source. Hey, I even get to write open source software *while I work*. Of course, as a coder, that's really great!
_Deirdre
Because it IS primarily about issues relating to women. This doesn't mean that men are excluded from contributing but I've noticed the percentage of men on Linuxchix has seemed to decrease over time. I suspect it went up today, but I'm also reasonably sure that'll change.
There are men who are sincerely interested in issues of sex, gender and also gender bias and I suspect those sorts of men will stick around.
And then there's of course the transgendered and transsexual crowd, who are also welcome for their unique perspectives on gender and sex.
_Deirdre