The idea of using the misspelled words will not work for someone using a screen reader.
The above example would read something like: "sev en tee one mess tea h are ree"
Try reading it out loud and see if it makes any sense to you. Jumbled together from a poor computer generated voice it might sound like: "73 messy tea area"
I can't say I have a solution, just that this one might not work well.
Just like the so-called 'fancy radio buttons' article from last week, this is yet another useless solution to an already solved problem.
Simple solution: A list of links. Generally a bulleted list.
The problem with both this multilink thing, and the fancy form buttons, is that they are NOT accessible to anyone using a screen-reader, older browsers, lynx, and sometimes keyboard navigation.
I can't see the code in action, but my guess is that you need a mouse, and to be able to 'see' the menu in order for it to work.
With most of the work I am doing recently, I have to make my sites and web applications as accessible as possible to individuals with disabilities.
Yeah, I used to be one of those people who didn't care, but with only a small change in coding style, and decent markup, making an accessible site really is not that hard.
"Mr. Crow is the ****." said Lead Designer Biff Cleszinski, "I mean seriously, who'd want to **** with an undead space clown with a giant codpiece, a hat made of human flesh and spiky blades of death on the end of each finger. He's the perfect villain, and makes the Skaarj queen look like a lovable little kitten."
OH HELL YEAH! Sign me up!
In other news:
Jay: "First you take a run at La Fours with a sock full of quarters. I'd do it, but I pulled my back at humping your mom last night. Neetch. Okay, you clock him on his headpiece and knock his ass out cold. That's when phase two kicks in. I attack the structure Wolvie Berzerk style, and knock out the fuckin' pin and bickety bam, the motherfucker is rubble. Hence, no game show."
I recently did a quick scan in my neighborhood. My AP was the only secure one that I found within the area of my house. I only searched around my immediate property. (What... I had go outside to do this, and we all know the sun is evil.) In this time I found 2-3 different unsecured networks.
Basically, if I was a regular wardriver, I would use the open networks, and not waste my time trying to get into the one secure one.
If you get the chance, check around you, chances are someone has an open AP. Even the simplest security settings on your own AP would probably be enough to keep 99.9% of the people off your network.
UO RICE is an encryption remover for UO clients. You need to remove client encryption if you want to play on Wolfpack or UOX freeshards. It generates a COPY of your client with encryption removed. In the end you have two clients after running it. Use the UO-RICE generated one for playing on freeshards, the original one to play on OSI shards. You don't have to run it everytime you wan't to play on freeshards. Just run it once per OSI patch. Very easy to use, no configuration !
There is no link to the client, since that is software owned and copyrighted by EA. RunUO is not about warez, you still need to supply your own copy of the client.
If this means you need to go purchase a boxed item, so be it. There are some third party clients out there (mostly in alpha and beta phases). However, I think some of them need copies of the original art and music files that are installed by the UO client to work.
You can have your free speech all you want, I don't care.
However, I also have the right to not have to listen to what you say, or in this case, are trying to sell.
My choice is to tell you I don't want to hear it. Here I am using my Freedom of Speech (in a nice way) to say "SHUT IT!" by adding my number to the Do Not Call list.
No, JSP and PHP are in the same category. PHP is great... if you like security holes and unmaintainable code.
Being able to recognize and prevent security holes are the mark of a decent and seasoned programmer. Javas hides this from the novice programmer.
As for unmaintainable code, this can happen with *ANY* language. Again, preventing this is the mark of an experienced programmer.
Both Java and PHP have cross platform issues no matter how you slice it. Again, the familiarity with the language keeps these down. You are not the only one who has written cross platform applications and had them run on a variety of platforms. I have built PHP apps that run well anywhere you put them. I have also seen Java apps that won't run anywhere but on the platform they were developed on. This is really a stupid point all around!
As for the library issues, PHP suffers from the same, so does Perl. CPAN has some crappy and nearly useless libs in there. Again, a stupid point.
In the end it comes down to programmer preference. I like PHP, you like Java, in the end, does it really F**ing matter what you use, as long as it gets the job done?
From what I have seen most adult oriented snail mail SPAM is usually marked "Private" or "Confidential".
Before any of you get all worked up, let me explain. When I recently moved, the previous owners were on just about every damn mailing list on the planet. I get 3-5 mail order catalogs a day. Some of them adult oriented. These are generally the ones in the envelope or wrapper marked as stated above.
Aw crap, now I really screwed that up. I was reading over the posts and mentally merged the commands for lilo and a copy. Then on top of it I came up with an argument for something not even mention in the post. Too much allergery medication I guess. My bad... sorry.
There have actually been many times I have had to change extension on files, usually due to someone else sending me something in completely the wrong format. Being a web developer by trade I am always getting.gif/.jpg files with a.bmp extension, and the file still being in a bmp format. The best ones I get are.doc where it should be.html <rant>Word is NOT an HTML editor, and a web site is not a word doc.</rant>
So you have learned to type using a mouse. Good for you, I am sure that is much faster and simpler than using a keyboard.
What if you have extensions in Windows turned off, as in the default Windows setting? Are you sure you named the file correctly? Seeing that is rather difficult to change the extension with that setting.
Hell even when using the explorer interface, I type in the path name, why, I can type it faster than it takes windows to read the disk and render the directory structure. Seems a hell of a lot easier (not to mention faster) than waiting for the GUI to catch up.
Have you ever tried living on beans and rice for 6 months at a time? You need money to live on while you build the "next big thing". Without drawing some form of a paycheck, how do you expect to pay for the electricity to run the computers, rent to house the computers, ISP to download the stuff you need?
When you look at the costs, the hardware and the software are the cheap items on the list. The rest is lawyers, accountants, insurance, rent/lease/mortgage, electricity, phones, salaries (even if minimum wage), and taxes.
Having created two companies so far, I can tell you that you WILL WANT TO talk to at least a lawyer and an accountant. Not to mention any fees that you will have to pay the government for creating a legal company.
Believe me, it is easy to come up with the idea. It is harder to try and continue to work on something for free when you have no job. Yes there may be those out there who can mooch off the parents until they can get onto their feet. Then there are the ones who have to pay the bills just to continue to have somewhere to live.
The other part of the problem is trying to break into the market. Yes, there are cheap forms of advertisement (word of mouth). Grantes it is not impossible, but right now in this economy, it is hard enough to find a job for yourself. What makes you think there will be someone out there that will want to hire a newly formed company with NO track record and unproven software/services?
What is it with people? Be they educated or uneducated in terms of schooling, politics, or their chosen occupation.
It continues to amaze me that people with NO COMMON SENSE get put into high ranking positions. Yes they may be book smart, but when it comes to actually thinking about something (aka thinking outside the box) they just can't do it.
These are the people more likely to make snap decisions without wieghing the pros and cons and actually thinking about the impact of their decision might be. Most of them never even do any research about the decisions they are making. Hell whenever I buy a new car, computer, home product, I spend my time looking around to see if the item is any good at all. Will it last, are there better products out there, are the items that will accomplish the intended goal better than others.
Obviously the people who decide to implement crap like these voting machines without doing their research are going to get what they deserve.
Hell look at all the problems with these machines. Has there been one test of these machines yet that has actually yielded correct or even close to correct results yet. If so I would like to hear about it.
The kicker is that they were full time employees of the company. There were a few good coders in the group overseas, but it seems like the ones that were put on the "least sensitive" project couldn't code a Hello World! example.
I have no idea what the pay rate was. But, when they send three guys over to be trained to replace the work of one person (me) you know they could not have been making too much overall.
The problem as I see it seems to be a difference in how people think. Most of the people that I find are good coders are very logical thinkers. They spend the time to research the problem, and can think outside the box. The people that can't seem to code very well, have trouble thinking about logical patterns and 'consequences'.
By 'consequences' I am refering to the concept that if action A is done it will interact with action Z. However if action B is done it will affect action Y. I am sure some of you understand this even though I am being very loose in my description.
So in the end, it seems like the cultural differences and life experiences between coders has a major impact on how they code. Yes the programers in India might have degrees up the wazoo, but do the understand what they are doing. Being book smart is one thing, being able to understand and use the techonology is another.
Oh yay... 1000 lines of code an hour for pennies on the dollar. Big friggin deal.
I have seen this type of practice implemented at other companies before. The task get shipped over to Inda, Isreal, or wherever. Simple tasks mind you. Such as implement the error handling on the submission from this HTML form using Java. We send full specs as to what is allowed for the submission.
The code we get back is 10 times longer than needed, won't compile, and when fixed to compile is not even logically correct against the spec. Now it has to be fixed to accept the correct submission parameters. Mind you someone just spent more time debugging and fixing the code to get it to work than it would have taken to write the thing from scratch. On average, we threw out 90% of the code that we sent back to us and wound up writing it ourselves.
Just where are the savings? The business execs didn't see a problem with it, all they saw was they has twice the workforce for half the money. Too bad that section of the workforce created more work for everyone else.
Note: I am not trying to bust on any programmers from India orIsreal (I have known a few that were amazing code jockeys).
Sad to see that it is rather difficult to set things like this us. Reading through some of the comments there seems to be an overwhelming amount bashing going on regarding the skills of the author.
Ok, I admit I know nothing about the author, OpenOffice, and setting up ODBC on Linux. Other than what I have read about it. I have not had to do anything like this for any of my projects, but I may soon. The author needs to be cut some slack. This is just an example of the trouble he went through. Sure he may/may not be intimately familiar with all the packages and tools, but things like this need to be ironed out.
This can be seen as more of a reason for standardizing the directory structure of Linux. Sure there are some 'standards' imposed by the various distro's but just about all of them are radically different. Not to mention where things get tossed by default when doing a compile from source. Ok, so Microsoft writes the rules for their OS, then everyone including themselves break it, but there seems to be more companies following these standards rather than not.
--- If these thoughts seems rambling, that's because they are. My mind can't make up it's whether it is coming or going.
About a month ago, my ABIT KT7-RAID board decided to blow some caps. Nice loud popping sound and instant power cut.
I looked around to try and replace it seeing the machine has been rock stable, and still my most used computer of the bunch. Quess what, the board is so far out of date, being only a few years old, that the CPU and memory used on it will not function in the current motherboards on the market. So a board upgrade is out of the question. Hence the limited life span of a computer and components.
What to do? I checked e-Bay but the KT7-RAID boards were going for $50+ a piece. Instead I opted to get some replacement caps and try fixing the board myself. Total cost of parts ~$1.50! I got them from an electronics supplier online. The 'Shack' does not carry the correct size and ratings. I already have the soldering irons and tools to do this work from some minor case modding, so no extra layout of funds there.
About an hour of work, since I was going slow and taking my time. One recommendation, if you try doing it yourself, that bulb solder remover from the 'Shack' is crap. Get the spring loaded one.
Now the board is rock stable, and I just saved myself at least $48.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible in any way if you try to do the same and screw it up!
I don't know about most schools/colleges, seeing that I have not been in one for years now. Not like I even do anything associated with my degree anymore.
My wife is taking night classes and they still use floppies to save their information. Sure it is a small spreadsheet (note: they are NOT using M$ Excel), but where else are you going to save your work so you can hand it in to the professor?
Hell, people have enough problems even trying to figure out how to use a cd-rom drive? What makes you think they will know how to burn a CD, especially if the school is using some burning software the user is unfamiliar with?
Reading through these comments all I see is a whiny buch of children screaming "my daddy can beat up your daddy." Send them home, we deserve it, its the only way to get a green card, fsck you, fsck me. Grow up!
As an America born/bred/schooled worker in the tech industry, I have seen both sides of the coin. There are alot of American workers who are very good at what they do, and there are alot that suck. Same thing goes for the H1B holders, alot of them are great, alot of them suck.
As one of the co-lead developers in our department I had to attempt to train my replacements. Yes, that right, replacements, they could hire 3 H1B holders for what I was making, and I was already making below market value for the area and technology. The only problem is, they couldn't do the job. Between all three of them they couldn't even turn on the computer, and they were college-level graduates in ComSci. This, of course, came after we let go one of the best developers, also working under H1B, who got it done, and did it right the first time around with no fuss.
Personally, I have nothing against most of the people here under H1B Visas. The problem I have is with the idiots who are doing the hiring. Most of them are not hiring the competent workers, they are firing them and trying to get a bunch of cheap ass labor to take the place. Its hard enough for me to even get an interview since I am an American worker because they automatically assume I want way to much money. Yes, I have been told this to my face by interviewers.
As for the problem with the rest of the H1B holders, are the ones that work in a 'system'. Nothing more than indentured servitude if you asked me. They get fired from one place, they get put into another, no questions asked.
Oh yeah, for the commenters crying xenophobia, I have only one retort. Patriotism, where is yours?
Alright, thats enough incoherent rambling from yet another chump for now.
Years ago at a previous company, I was a senior developer on a team that wrote software for the OEMs and VARs to cut down on their support calls. We worked with Packard-Bell, Dell, and a few others to see what the most common problems and resolutions were.
I can't remember what the exact numbers were, but at least 30% were stupid user errors. About 20% was hardware issues, i.e. sub-par crap that was always failing. The rest was miscellaneous issues.
So this leaves us with about 50% remaining. It was about 2/3 of those cases resulted in the "format and restore" process. This was by far the most common resolution to be given out. The rest was to uninstall and re-install the problem software. The most common... AOL. Go figure.
Of course the reason the "format and restore" problem was the most dominant was that the end-user had a "computer guy" come take a look at it first. This "computer guy" usually a friend of theirs who knew just enought to be dangerous, but not enough to know what he was doing. Basically the machine was too screwed up for the tech to diagnose the issue because someone decided to muck with the damn thing before calling for support, or reading the manuals that came with the computer in the first place.
Slashdot Mirror
Drat, just missed out on the 5 number UID by only 3000+. I knew I should have registered earlier.
The idea of using the misspelled words will not work for someone using a screen reader.
The above example would read something like:
"sev en tee one mess tea h are ree"
Try reading it out loud and see if it makes any sense to you. Jumbled together from a poor computer generated voice it might sound like:
"73 messy tea area"
I can't say I have a solution, just that this one might not work well.
Just like the so-called 'fancy radio buttons' article from last week, this is yet another useless solution to an already solved problem.
Simple solution:
A list of links. Generally a bulleted list.
The problem with both this multilink thing, and the fancy form buttons, is that they are NOT accessible to anyone using a screen-reader, older browsers, lynx, and sometimes keyboard navigation.
I can't see the code in action, but my guess is that you need a mouse, and to be able to 'see' the menu in order for it to work.
With most of the work I am doing recently, I have to make my sites and web applications as accessible as possible to individuals with disabilities.
Yeah, I used to be one of those people who didn't care, but with only a small change in coding style, and decent markup, making an accessible site really is not that hard.
Most of us have probably run into the problem where you don't use the inkjet printer for a while, so the ink dries in the print nozzles.
Next to impossible to clean, and when possible, a serious pain in the ass. Not to mention you tend to waste a ton of ink.
Say the office closes for a week. Bam, now you have a very expensive paperweight. Unless of course, you can either clean, or replace the print heads.
How expensive do you think this will be?
No thanks, I think I will stick with a slower, but generally more durable, and better print quality color laser.
In other news:
Provide a path of least resistance.
I recently did a quick scan in my neighborhood. My AP was the only secure one that I found within the area of my house. I only searched around my immediate property. (What... I had go outside to do this, and we all know the sun is evil.) In this time I found 2-3 different unsecured networks.
Basically, if I was a regular wardriver, I would use the open networks, and not waste my time trying to get into the one secure one.
If you get the chance, check around you, chances are someone has an open AP. Even the simplest security settings on your own AP would probably be enough to keep 99.9% of the people off your network.
Yes, but if IE7 is compliant, it will throw out all the current hacks and render the page properly.
Or at least that is what one would hope for.
I believe UORice should fit the bill in this instance.
UORice
Info straight from the site:
What is UO-RICE ?
UO RICE is an encryption remover for UO clients.
You need to remove client encryption if you want to play on Wolfpack or UOX freeshards.
It generates a COPY of your client with encryption removed.
In the end you have two clients after running it.
Use the UO-RICE generated one for playing on freeshards, the original one to play on OSI shards.
You don't have to run it everytime you wan't to play on freeshards.
Just run it once per OSI patch.
Very easy to use, no configuration !
There is no link to the client, since that is software owned and copyrighted by EA. RunUO is not about warez, you still need to supply your own copy of the client.
If this means you need to go purchase a boxed item, so be it. There are some third party clients out there (mostly in alpha and beta phases). However, I think some of them need copies of the original art and music files that are installed by the UO client to work.
Obligatory MSU link:
$1,000,000 NVIDIA Make Something Unreal Contest
Hey, I wear a black belt, a black leather belt. It is the only color belt that goes with my all black outfit.
Hey a guy has got to do something to scare and itimidate the other coworkers away so I can read slashdot.
You can have your free speech all you want, I don't care.
However, I also have the right to not have to listen to what you say, or in this case, are trying to sell.
My choice is to tell you I don't want to hear it. Here I am using my Freedom of Speech (in a nice way) to say "SHUT IT!" by adding my number to the Do Not Call list.
Being able to recognize and prevent security holes are the mark of a decent and seasoned programmer. Javas hides this from the novice programmer.
As for unmaintainable code, this can happen with *ANY* language. Again, preventing this is the mark of an experienced programmer.
Both Java and PHP have cross platform issues no matter how you slice it. Again, the familiarity with the language keeps these down. You are not the only one who has written cross platform applications and had them run on a variety of platforms. I have built PHP apps that run well anywhere you put them. I have also seen Java apps that won't run anywhere but on the platform they were developed on. This is really a stupid point all around!
As for the library issues, PHP suffers from the same, so does Perl. CPAN has some crappy and nearly useless libs in there. Again, a stupid point.
In the end it comes down to programmer preference. I like PHP, you like Java, in the end, does it really F**ing matter what you use, as long as it gets the job done?
From what I have seen most adult oriented snail mail SPAM is usually marked "Private" or "Confidential".
Before any of you get all worked up, let me explain. When I recently moved, the previous owners were on just about every damn mailing list on the planet. I get 3-5 mail order catalogs a day. Some of them adult oriented. These are generally the ones in the envelope or wrapper marked as stated above.
Aw crap, now I really screwed that up. I was reading over the posts and mentally merged the commands for lilo and a copy. Then on top of it I came up with an argument for something not even mention in the post. Too much allergery medication I guess. My bad... sorry.
.gif/.jpg files with a .bmp extension, and the file still being in a bmp format. The best ones I get are .doc where it should be .html <rant>Word is NOT an HTML editor, and a web site is not a word doc.</rant>
There have actually been many times I have had to change extension on files, usually due to someone else sending me something in completely the wrong format. Being a web developer by trade I am always getting
So you have learned to type using a mouse. Good for you, I am sure that is much faster and simpler than using a keyboard.
What if you have extensions in Windows turned off, as in the default Windows setting? Are you sure you named the file correctly? Seeing that is rather difficult to change the extension with that setting.
Hell even when using the explorer interface, I type in the path name, why, I can type it faster than it takes windows to read the disk and render the directory structure. Seems a hell of a lot easier (not to mention faster) than waiting for the GUI to catch up.
Why do you need finance?
Have you ever tried living on beans and rice for 6 months at a time? You need money to live on while you build the "next big thing". Without drawing some form of a paycheck, how do you expect to pay for the electricity to run the computers, rent to house the computers, ISP to download the stuff you need?
When you look at the costs, the hardware and the software are the cheap items on the list. The rest is lawyers, accountants, insurance, rent/lease/mortgage, electricity, phones, salaries (even if minimum wage), and taxes.
Having created two companies so far, I can tell you that you WILL WANT TO talk to at least a lawyer and an accountant. Not to mention any fees that you will have to pay the government for creating a legal company.
Believe me, it is easy to come up with the idea. It is harder to try and continue to work on something for free when you have no job. Yes there may be those out there who can mooch off the parents until they can get onto their feet. Then there are the ones who have to pay the bills just to continue to have somewhere to live.
The other part of the problem is trying to break into the market. Yes, there are cheap forms of advertisement (word of mouth). Grantes it is not impossible, but right now in this economy, it is hard enough to find a job for yourself. What makes you think there will be someone out there that will want to hire a newly formed company with NO track record and unproven software/services?
What is it with people? Be they educated or uneducated in terms of schooling, politics, or their chosen occupation.
It continues to amaze me that people with NO COMMON SENSE get put into high ranking positions. Yes they may be book smart, but when it comes to actually thinking about something (aka thinking outside the box) they just can't do it.
These are the people more likely to make snap decisions without wieghing the pros and cons and actually thinking about the impact of their decision might be. Most of them never even do any research about the decisions they are making. Hell whenever I buy a new car, computer, home product, I spend my time looking around to see if the item is any good at all. Will it last, are there better products out there, are the items that will accomplish the intended goal better than others.
Obviously the people who decide to implement crap like these voting machines without doing their research are going to get what they deserve.
Hell look at all the problems with these machines. Has there been one test of these machines yet that has actually yielded correct or even close to correct results yet. If so I would like to hear about it.
The kicker is that they were full time employees of the company. There were a few good coders in the group overseas, but it seems like the ones that were put on the "least sensitive" project couldn't code a Hello World! example.
I have no idea what the pay rate was. But, when they send three guys over to be trained to replace the work of one person (me) you know they could not have been making too much overall.
The problem as I see it seems to be a difference in how people think. Most of the people that I find are good coders are very logical thinkers. They spend the time to research the problem, and can think outside the box. The people that can't seem to code very well, have trouble thinking about logical patterns and 'consequences'.
By 'consequences' I am refering to the concept that if action A is done it will interact with action Z. However if action B is done it will affect action Y. I am sure some of you understand this even though I am being very loose in my description.
So in the end, it seems like the cultural differences and life experiences between coders has a major impact on how they code. Yes the programers in India might have degrees up the wazoo, but do the understand what they are doing. Being book smart is one thing, being able to understand and use the techonology is another.
I fully agree with the *MORON* comment.
Oh yay... 1000 lines of code an hour for pennies on the dollar. Big friggin deal.
I have seen this type of practice implemented at other companies before. The task get shipped over to Inda, Isreal, or wherever. Simple tasks mind you. Such as implement the error handling on the submission from this HTML form using Java. We send full specs as to what is allowed for the submission.
The code we get back is 10 times longer than needed, won't compile, and when fixed to compile is not even logically correct against the spec. Now it has to be fixed to accept the correct submission parameters. Mind you someone just spent more time debugging and fixing the code to get it to work than it would have taken to write the thing from scratch. On average, we threw out 90% of the code that we sent back to us and wound up writing it ourselves.
Just where are the savings? The business execs didn't see a problem with it, all they saw was they has twice the workforce for half the money. Too bad that section of the workforce created more work for everyone else.
Note: I am not trying to bust on any programmers from India orIsreal (I have known a few that were amazing code jockeys).
Sad to see that it is rather difficult to set things like this us. Reading through some of the comments there seems to be an overwhelming amount bashing going on regarding the skills of the author.
/may not be intimately familiar with all the packages and tools, but
Ok, I admit I know nothing about the author, OpenOffice, and setting up ODBC on Linux. Other than what I have read about it. I have not had to do anything like this for any of my projects, but I may soon. The author needs to be cut some slack. This is just an example of the trouble he went through. Sure he may
things like this need to be ironed out.
This can be seen as more of a reason for standardizing the directory structure of Linux. Sure there are some 'standards' imposed by the various distro's but just about all of them are radically different. Not to mention where things get tossed by default when doing a compile from source. Ok, so Microsoft writes the rules for their OS, then everyone including themselves break it, but there seems to be more companies following these standards rather than not.
---
If these thoughts seems rambling, that's because they are. My mind can't make up it's whether it is coming or going.
About a month ago, my ABIT KT7-RAID board decided to blow some caps. Nice loud popping sound and instant power cut.
I looked around to try and replace it seeing the machine has been rock stable, and still my most used computer of the bunch. Quess what, the board is so far out of date, being only a few years old, that the CPU and memory used on it will not function in the current motherboards on the market. So a board upgrade is out of the question.
Hence the limited life span of a computer and components.
What to do? I checked e-Bay but the KT7-RAID boards were going for $50+ a piece. Instead I opted to get some replacement caps and try fixing the board myself. Total cost of parts ~$1.50! I got them from an electronics supplier online. The 'Shack' does not carry the correct size and ratings. I already have the soldering irons and tools to do this work from some minor case modding, so no extra layout of funds there.
About an hour of work, since I was going slow and taking my time. One recommendation, if you try doing it yourself, that bulb solder remover from the 'Shack' is crap. Get the spring loaded one.
Now the board is rock stable, and I just saved myself at least $48.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible in any way if you try to do the same and screw it up!
I don't know about most schools/colleges, seeing that I have not been in one for years now. Not like I even do anything associated with my degree anymore.
My wife is taking night classes and they still use floppies to save their information. Sure it is a small spreadsheet (note: they are NOT using M$ Excel), but where else are you going to save your work so you can hand it in to the professor?
Hell, people have enough problems even trying to figure out how to use a cd-rom drive? What makes you think they will know how to burn a CD, especially if the school is using some burning software the user is unfamiliar with?
As an America born/bred/schooled worker in the tech industry, I have seen both sides of the coin. There are alot of American workers who are very good at what they do, and there are alot that suck. Same thing goes for the H1B holders, alot of them are great, alot of them suck.
As one of the co-lead developers in our department I had to attempt to train my replacements. Yes, that right, replacements, they could hire 3 H1B holders for what I was making, and I was already making below market value for the area and technology. The only problem is, they couldn't do the job. Between all three of them they couldn't even turn on the computer, and they were college-level graduates in ComSci. This, of course, came after we let go one of the best developers, also working under H1B, who got it done, and did it right the first time around with no fuss.
Personally, I have nothing against most of the people here under H1B Visas. The problem I have is with the idiots who are doing the hiring. Most of them are not hiring the competent workers, they are firing them and trying to get a bunch of cheap ass labor to take the place. Its hard enough for me to even get an interview since I am an American worker because they automatically assume I want way to much money. Yes, I have been told this to my face by interviewers.
As for the problem with the rest of the H1B holders, are the ones that work in a 'system'. Nothing more than indentured servitude if you asked me. They get fired from one place, they get put into another, no questions asked.
Oh yeah, for the commenters crying xenophobia, I have only one retort. Patriotism, where is yours?
Alright, thats enough incoherent rambling from yet another chump for now.
Years ago at a previous company, I was a senior developer on a team that wrote software for the OEMs and VARs to cut down on their support calls. We worked with Packard-Bell, Dell, and a few others to see what the most common problems and resolutions were.
I can't remember what the exact numbers were, but at least 30% were stupid user errors. About 20% was hardware issues, i.e. sub-par crap that was always failing. The rest was miscellaneous issues.
So this leaves us with about 50% remaining. It was about 2/3 of those cases resulted in the "format and restore" process. This was by far the most common resolution to be given out. The rest was to uninstall and re-install the problem software. The most common... AOL. Go figure.
Of course the reason the "format and restore" problem was the most dominant was that the end-user had a "computer guy" come take a look at it first. This "computer guy" usually a friend of theirs who knew just enought to be dangerous, but not enough to know what he was doing. Basically the machine was too screwed up for the tech to diagnose the issue because someone decided to muck with the damn thing before calling for support, or reading the manuals that came with the computer in the first place.