Don't forget to make (honest) suggestions on how to improve efficiency. Even though the new boss might not go for your suggestions, it will prove to him that you are a valuable worker who is always seeking the most cost-efficient and optimum solution.
Could you perhaps benefit from server virtualization which could potentially consolidate a number of servers - thereby reducing power and cooling costs? Or would it be possible to eliminate some niche systems which have high maintenance costs and which are really not used? Could key systems benefit greatly from upgrades even though the upgrade is somewhat costly? (new products are presumably better/smarter). What was (in your opinion) the five biggest neglects of his predecessor?
Think of this guy as a career opportunity - instead of a problem you have to work around.
I suggest you take the task very seriously and try to find indexes on the internet from Gartner, Accenture, Cap Gemini, KMPG, or other major analyst/business consulting companies. Just using their names and logos in your reports/suggestions will get you a long way!
After you have collected some reports, try to think of ways in which you can demonstrate your effectiveness. If you are in fact not very efficient, the boss is right in wanting that information - right? If you are in fact very efficient, you should have no problem with him discovering that - right?
You could make performance-indexes for the amount of users you serve (for each type of service like mail, security, infrastructure, etc.) and for the amount of servers you maintain. With any luck you should be able to prove that you serve a high numbers of users, a large amount of data, and maintain a high number of servers... compared to whatever general indexes you dug out of the reports we started out with.
Just imagine if all those license fees, the cost of downtime for malware attacks, the cost of license following, the cost of unnecessary servers due to lack of scalability, etc., ad nauseum, had been diverted to open source development. Microsoft would be out of business now. You have a very good point indeed - put it probably proves something other than what you expected.
Commercial software companies like Microsoft have spent a lot more resources on shaping their products into finished stand-alone packages that actually WORK... without the requiring the user to read five or six 800-pages O'Reiley books about advanced protocols or client/server APIs. So precisely because these companies HAVE spent their license fees on development that appeals to their customers, they are dominating the marketplace. And precisely because F/OSS development is (was) not driven by the needs of end-customers and consumers, the products were too advanced to use, understand, install, upgrade, etc.
Don't get me wrong here - I am a big F/OSS fan. But please observe that all the truly successfully F/OSS products nowadays are backed by big companies with commercial interests in them. Most (if not all) Linux distros that are appealing to normal end-users are from big companies with a lot of cash. And many (many, like in MANY!) non-OS products in the F/OSS category are being used commercially and is backed by companies with commercial interests in them (MySQL is its own company - HP, IBM, Novell, Sun contributes to a lot of end-user stuff both with development and cash).
Commercial software and license fees are not evil. Only their terms of use *CAN* be "evil" or at least "non-free" (as in "non-freedom).
And we would certainly not mind making Bill the richest guy in the world if he had just delivered his software with free (as in "freedom", NOT as in "beer") licenses - right?
As I recall it (but please note that I am not 100% certain) it has not.
I seem to remember that a lot of the "lesser crimes" (such as traffic offenses etc.) are solved, while the more serious crimes (robbery, murder, grand theft auto, etc) are virtually unchanged - and in some areas significantly higher than before cameras were installed.
Criminals simply seem to adjust to the new rules of the game. While authorities are all but drowning in the sheer mass of information and video they are collecting.
The data in question (for newcomers: we are talking about using cellphones rather than loads of new and expensive tech.stuff) is collected regardless of your subscription type or related services. No data service is required, and no data traffic is generated from your phone. You don't even need a modern phone. Even the oldest brick-style-Motorola phones are tracked this way.
When your cellphone is turned on, it is constantly in contact with at least 2 and probably 3 or 4 base stations (antenna). Your phone does this in order to constantly be ready utilize the best and most efficient base station to service you. When you move around, your phone connects to other base stations and determines the signal quality between you and each base. If it needs to shift you from one base to another (because you have moved), it performs a seamless "handover" operation from your current primary base station to which-ever station provides the best signal quality at that time.
Your provider logs this information. Each base station logs all connections with all devices, including devices which are only in secondary connection with that base. It also logs all the cell information (the broadcast area of the base station is devided into geographical cells which is actually why we call them "cell phones"), the signal strength, the SIM id and the EMEI id.
It is an extensive set of data, yes, but it is only clear-text, so tracking literally millions of devices is a trivial task. And given a modern 1U "Pizza Box Server" with sufficient RAM you can cross-reference the log files from multiple base stations, and actually map out where a device has been. This information can put the device (and thereby presumably its owner) on a map with a precision of 5-150 meters in approx 30 second intervals.
And please note: This is not science fiction. This is normal, everyday-life. This information IS tracked (and has been for some years), and in many cases IS turned over to the authorities.
Turning on your cellphone, is as close to giving your cell provider an active GPS beacon. And they love it - trust me - they plan to bombard you with geo-specific MMS commercials, or sell the information to 3rd parties, as soon as possible.
I will leave it up to yourself to determine the extent of potential abuse for this information. But it is happening right now, it is not a freaky science fiction movie.:-)
Store it on the SIM card of the citizens cellphone and remove the OFF switch from the phone (force companies to only manufacture/import cellphones without OFF switches). Make the phone send an SMS to the nearest police station with the text "ARREST ME PLS" if the users neglects to charge it.
In that way, the existing cellphone network can be extended to tracking all citizens 24/7 using their SIM and EMEI id's (no need for upgrades anywhere except logfile data storage), no matter where they go. It even works without setting up new RFID scanners and without buying fancy new tech from contracting companies.
How many places do you think such a system is already in place? Do you always carry your cellphone with your without thinking about it? Do you ever turn it off?
(Hint: several hundred western cities in both the US and EU have near-similar systems for "polulation movement research" which they claim only saves anonymous data. Yeah right!)
Please note, that while the UK has one of the worlds most comprehensive use of surveillance (especially in the London area) it has *NOT* reduced crime rates. That is a simple statistical fact.
I think surveillance creates a sense of false security for many less-informed people. So they demand more surveillance. The government is only happy to provide it. So are the companies contracted to implement the necessary technology. That is why the use of surveillance is increasing - even though there is clear proof it does not prevent crime (or terrorism for that matter!).
I think the "Dispair inc" poster with the group or parachuters says it all: "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups". We did. Cameras on every corner and multiple RFIDs on every citizen appears to be the result.
I think this would work great in the United States. I just hope this will finally help us cut down on exploitation of children.
Ok, let me guess... you are definitely NOT a Catholic priest... right?
True. Your information suggests an average for NOK 12733,33 (2174,85 USD) a month for Norway. After taxes that is.
So the average after-tax salary per month for a Norwegian single is 2174,85 USD including health care, a modest pension plan, free education for his/her children, and a bunch of other typical Scandinavian social services.
I have no idea if the Wiki article you refer to is giving numbers including or exluding taxes. The word "tax" is simply absent from the article - as it also is from all the document it refers to as sources of information.
Are the numbers in the Wiki including or exluding taxes? And is 2174,85 USD a month after taxes and including "scandinavion-style" social services good or bad compared to the US?
We use a progressive-tax system as well, with multiple "stages": the Bottom-bracket tax, Middle-bracket tax and Top-bracket tax. The more you earn the more you pay - up to a maximum of 69%.
According to my information, average wages in Scandinavia and Northern Europe are way higher than in the US.
A junior programmer (fresh out of school) gets around 75K USD (before taxes) A seasoned programmer gets around 100K USD (before taxes) A senior programmer with management or product responsibilities gets around 120-150K USD (before taxes)
In order for any comparison to work, please remember that although the taxes here are high, you should compare this wage to a theoretical contract in the US which includes full-coverage free healthcare, a social security plan, a modest pension plan, and free education for your children (including a guaranteed state scholarship up to 8 years).
The numbers get a little more interesting when you consider the minimum wage (which emplyers actially follow) of 32K USD a year. Even waitresses and the spanish-speaking guy sweeping the floor at the local train station actually gets a decent pay... along with all the benefits mentioned above.
* I pay an average of 46,7% taxes * There is a 25% VAT (sales tax) on absolutely everything (including all food) * The inflation in Denmark is low, currently approx. 2% (which is pretty good) * There is a good surplus on our trade balance * Prices for real estate are above world average with our capital being the nr. 2 most expensive city on the planet
Yet, my purchase power as a Danish citizen is (statistically speaking) great - one of the best in the European Union.
There are disadvantages as well; this is not a fairytale. But in light of these facts I find it reasonable to conclude, that focusing on a specific tax percentage without seeing the bigger picture is pure nonsense.
weicco, I think his point is that an IT organization that uses 11 Kb of rubbish-style HTML code generated in MS Word to write "Down for scheduled maintenance" on a web page is likely to treat their server security issues with the same "professionalism".:-)
- Jesper
Re:Lots of linux stories on the front page
on
Hardening Linux
·
· Score: 1
True.
But I am sure those days don't have comments about "too many Linux stories" either. Right?
So we could say it is only fair to have that particular criticism on a day where there is also fact to back it up?:-)
- Jesper
Re:So what - we are all NAT'ed anyway?
on
Hardening Linux
·
· Score: 1
Fine. I will rephrase myself: "a NAT capable router". There.
My router has a lot of configuration options which are not NAT. In fact there are lots of uses for routers than don't use NAT schemes. There are also many ways to use NAT without the network device actually being a physical box we usually call a "router".
What is your point? If everybody except you is retarded, then why don't you enlighten us?
The tax rate percentage is irrelevant. What is relevant is how much money a taxpayes has in his/her pocket after paying taxes, and what he/she can buy with it. In short: purchase power.
I wouldn't mind paying 90% taxes if I lived in a country where my salary was a million USD for the same job I have today.
As it happens, I live in Denmark. Our average taxes are around 46% and on top of that we have a 25% VAT (sales tax). Does that mean I am poor? No! It means my salary and the entire economy around me has been adjusted to that level. My purchasing power is equal to (and in many cases greater than) most other people in other countries with a job just like mine.
And btw... even though we have a social system which gives us free healthcare, free education and better social security that doesn't mean we are a "highly-socialist" country. In fact I think our liberal prime minister would find your comment rather funny.
The fact that my ISP doesen't have (customers x downstream kb) capacity on their backbone is totally irrelevant.
What is relevant is how OFTEN they hit their maximum capacity, and for HOW LONG when it happens.
As long as I get the capacity I need and pay for, who cares if the total capacity is lower? No user actually uses their lines 100% 24/7 (unless they are software pirates in which case they deserve to have their connection terminated anyway).
Slashdot Mirror
Don't forget to make (honest) suggestions on how to improve efficiency. Even though the new boss might not go for your suggestions, it will prove to him that you are a valuable worker who is always seeking the most cost-efficient and optimum solution.
:-)
Could you perhaps benefit from server virtualization which could potentially consolidate a number of servers - thereby reducing power and cooling costs? Or would it be possible to eliminate some niche systems which have high maintenance costs and which are really not used? Could key systems benefit greatly from upgrades even though the upgrade is somewhat costly? (new products are presumably better/smarter). What was (in your opinion) the five biggest neglects of his predecessor?
Think of this guy as a career opportunity - instead of a problem you have to work around.
- Jesper
I suggest you take the task very seriously and try to find indexes on the internet from Gartner, Accenture, Cap Gemini, KMPG, or other major analyst/business consulting companies. Just using their names and logos in your reports/suggestions will get you a long way!
:-)
After you have collected some reports, try to think of ways in which you can demonstrate your effectiveness. If you are in fact not very efficient, the boss is right in wanting that information - right? If you are in fact very efficient, you should have no problem with him discovering that - right?
You could make performance-indexes for the amount of users you serve (for each type of service like mail, security, infrastructure, etc.) and for the amount of servers you maintain. With any luck you should be able to prove that you serve a high numbers of users, a large amount of data, and maintain a high number of servers... compared to whatever general indexes you dug out of the reports we started out with.
- Jesper
Commercial software companies like Microsoft have spent a lot more resources on shaping their products into finished stand-alone packages that actually WORK... without the requiring the user to read five or six 800-pages O'Reiley books about advanced protocols or client/server APIs. So precisely because these companies HAVE spent their license fees on development that appeals to their customers, they are dominating the marketplace. And precisely because F/OSS development is (was) not driven by the needs of end-customers and consumers, the products were too advanced to use, understand, install, upgrade, etc.
Don't get me wrong here - I am a big F/OSS fan. But please observe that all the truly successfully F/OSS products nowadays are backed by big companies with commercial interests in them. Most (if not all) Linux distros that are appealing to normal end-users are from big companies with a lot of cash. And many (many, like in MANY!) non-OS products in the F/OSS category are being used commercially and is backed by companies with commercial interests in them (MySQL is its own company - HP, IBM, Novell, Sun contributes to a lot of end-user stuff both with development and cash).
Commercial software and license fees are not evil. Only their terms of use *CAN* be "evil" or at least "non-free" (as in "non-freedom).
And we would certainly not mind making Bill the richest guy in the world if he had just delivered his software with free (as in "freedom", NOT as in "beer") licenses - right?
- Jesper
Rent is usually not VAT'ed, simply because the product is not change - ie. no value is added. :-)
- Jesper
As I recall it (but please note that I am not 100% certain) it has not.
I seem to remember that a lot of the "lesser crimes" (such as traffic offenses etc.) are solved, while the more serious crimes (robbery, murder, grand theft auto, etc) are virtually unchanged - and in some areas significantly higher than before cameras were installed.
Criminals simply seem to adjust to the new rules of the game. While authorities are all but drowning in the sheer mass of information and video they are collecting.
- Jesper
Good input. Thanks for helping out and providing a little insight.
:-)
- Jesper
We are pretty close ... closer than you think.
;-)
Consider jumping to this post:
Re:Why go through all that trouble?.
There is a good explanation there
- Jesper
- Jesper
... along with the "butter flavored spread", which has never been close to anything remotely resembling actual butter?
Are you kidding?
:-)
The data in question (for newcomers: we are talking about using cellphones rather than loads of new and expensive tech.stuff) is collected regardless of your subscription type or related services. No data service is required, and no data traffic is generated from your phone. You don't even need a modern phone. Even the oldest brick-style-Motorola phones are tracked this way.
When your cellphone is turned on, it is constantly in contact with at least 2 and probably 3 or 4 base stations (antenna). Your phone does this in order to constantly be ready utilize the best and most efficient base station to service you. When you move around, your phone connects to other base stations and determines the signal quality between you and each base. If it needs to shift you from one base to another (because you have moved), it performs a seamless "handover" operation from your current primary base station to which-ever station provides the best signal quality at that time.
Your provider logs this information. Each base station logs all connections with all devices, including devices which are only in secondary connection with that base. It also logs all the cell information (the broadcast area of the base station is devided into geographical cells which is actually why we call them "cell phones"), the signal strength, the SIM id and the EMEI id.
It is an extensive set of data, yes, but it is only clear-text, so tracking literally millions of devices is a trivial task. And given a modern 1U "Pizza Box Server" with sufficient RAM you can cross-reference the log files from multiple base stations, and actually map out where a device has been. This information can put the device (and thereby presumably its owner) on a map with a precision of 5-150 meters in approx 30 second intervals.
And please note: This is not science fiction. This is normal, everyday-life. This information IS tracked (and has been for some years), and in many cases IS turned over to the authorities.
Turning on your cellphone, is as close to giving your cell provider an active GPS beacon. And they love it - trust me - they plan to bombard you with geo-specific MMS commercials, or sell the information to 3rd parties, as soon as possible.
I will leave it up to yourself to determine the extent of potential abuse for this information. But it is happening right now, it is not a freaky science fiction movie.
- Jesper
Why go through all that trouble?
Store it on the SIM card of the citizens cellphone and remove the OFF switch from the phone (force companies to only manufacture/import cellphones without OFF switches). Make the phone send an SMS to the nearest police station with the text "ARREST ME PLS" if the users neglects to charge it.
In that way, the existing cellphone network can be extended to tracking all citizens 24/7 using their SIM and EMEI id's (no need for upgrades anywhere except logfile data storage), no matter where they go. It even works without setting up new RFID scanners and without buying fancy new tech from contracting companies.
How many places do you think such a system is already in place? Do you always carry your cellphone with your without thinking about it? Do you ever turn it off?
(Hint: several hundred western cities in both the US and EU have near-similar systems for "polulation movement research" which they claim only saves anonymous data. Yeah right!)
- Jesper
Please note, that while the UK has one of the worlds most comprehensive use of surveillance (especially in the London area) it has *NOT* reduced crime rates. That is a simple statistical fact.
I think surveillance creates a sense of false security for many less-informed people. So they demand more surveillance. The government is only happy to provide it. So are the companies contracted to implement the necessary technology. That is why the use of surveillance is increasing - even though there is clear proof it does not prevent crime (or terrorism for that matter!).
I think the "Dispair inc" poster with the group or parachuters says it all: "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups". We did. Cameras on every corner and multiple RFIDs on every citizen appears to be the result.
- Jesper
Protection of State, and thereby The People, is *NOT* abuse!
- Chairman Mao
Ok, let me guess
True. Your information suggests an average for NOK 12733,33 (2174,85 USD) a month for Norway. After taxes that is.
So the average after-tax salary per month for a Norwegian single is 2174,85 USD including health care, a modest pension plan, free education for his/her children, and a bunch of other typical Scandinavian social services.
I have no idea if the Wiki article you refer to is giving numbers including or exluding taxes. The word "tax" is simply absent from the article - as it also is from all the document it refers to as sources of information.
Are the numbers in the Wiki including or exluding taxes? And is 2174,85 USD a month after taxes and including "scandinavion-style" social services good or bad compared to the US?
- Jesper
Sugar? You have sugar in the US?
;-)
I would have thought you only had "great tasting sugar-flavored carbon hydrate substitute" products...
- Jesper
"for the upper half of the income earners"?
We use a progressive-tax system as well, with multiple "stages": the Bottom-bracket tax, Middle-bracket tax and Top-bracket tax. The more you earn the more you pay - up to a maximum of 69%.
- Jesper
According to my information, average wages in Scandinavia and Northern Europe are way higher than in the US.
... along with all the benefits mentioned above.
A junior programmer (fresh out of school) gets around 75K USD (before taxes)
A seasoned programmer gets around 100K USD (before taxes)
A senior programmer with management or product responsibilities gets around 120-150K USD (before taxes)
In order for any comparison to work, please remember that although the taxes here are high, you should compare this wage to a theoretical contract in the US which includes full-coverage free healthcare, a social security plan, a modest pension plan, and free education for your children (including a guaranteed state scholarship up to 8 years).
The numbers get a little more interesting when you consider the minimum wage (which emplyers actially follow) of 32K USD a year. Even waitresses and the spanish-speaking guy sweeping the floor at the local train station actually gets a decent pay
- Jesper
Simplified like that, yeah, you are right.
However, here are the facts:
* I pay an average of 46,7% taxes
* There is a 25% VAT (sales tax) on absolutely everything (including all food)
* The inflation in Denmark is low, currently approx. 2% (which is pretty good)
* There is a good surplus on our trade balance
* Prices for real estate are above world average with our capital being the nr. 2 most expensive city on the planet
Yet, my purchase power as a Danish citizen is (statistically speaking) great - one of the best in the European Union.
There are disadvantages as well; this is not a fairytale. But in light of these facts I find it reasonable to conclude, that focusing on a specific tax percentage without seeing the bigger picture is pure nonsense.
- Jesper
Maybe you should try using Parallels. It uses fare more resources but should get the job done for you ...
... using 290 MB of memory to run a rootkit on a non-MS OS could be pretty cool ;-)
And hey
- Jesper
weicco, I think his point is that an IT organization that uses 11 Kb of rubbish-style HTML code generated in MS Word to write "Down for scheduled maintenance" on a web page is likely to treat their server security issues with the same "professionalism". :-)
- Jesper
True.
:-)
But I am sure those days don't have comments about "too many Linux stories" either. Right?
So we could say it is only fair to have that particular criticism on a day where there is also fact to back it up?
- Jesper
Fine. I will rephrase myself: "a NAT capable router". There.
My router has a lot of configuration options which are not NAT. In fact there are lots of uses for routers than don't use NAT schemes. There are also many ways to use NAT without the network device actually being a physical box we usually call a "router".
What is your point? If everybody except you is retarded, then why don't you enlighten us?
- Jesper
Totally OT, but still...:
The tax rate percentage is irrelevant. What is relevant is how much money a taxpayes has in his/her pocket after paying taxes, and what he/she can buy with it. In short: purchase power.
I wouldn't mind paying 90% taxes if I lived in a country where my salary was a million USD for the same job I have today.
As it happens, I live in Denmark. Our average taxes are around 46% and on top of that we have a 25% VAT (sales tax). Does that mean I am poor? No! It means my salary and the entire economy around me has been adjusted to that level. My purchasing power is equal to (and in many cases greater than) most other people in other countries with a job just like mine.
And btw... even though we have a social system which gives us free healthcare, free education and better social security that doesn't mean we are a "highly-socialist" country. In fact I think our liberal prime minister would find your comment rather funny.
- Jesper
The fact that my ISP doesen't have (customers x downstream kb) capacity on their backbone is totally irrelevant.
What is relevant is how OFTEN they hit their maximum capacity, and for HOW LONG when it happens.
As long as I get the capacity I need and pay for, who cares if the total capacity is lower? No user actually uses their lines 100% 24/7 (unless they are software pirates in which case they deserve to have their connection terminated anyway).
- Jesper