Not trying to be inflammatory, but review your economics.
Market rates by definition are what an employer will pay, and what an employee will work for. If someone will work for less, then that is the market rate.
Today's union artificially inflates wages by restricting the labor supply. The whole point is to obtain higher than market wages. Monopolize the market, and you can artificially inflate the price. I personally know folks who are payed $80+K/year to push brooms and take frequent naps. There is nothing you can say to me that will convince me that many unions (not all) create a class of overpaid and under skilled future unemployed.
I live in the heart of union country. If they were paying true market wages, the auto industry wouldn't be swimming in red ink and moving plants overseas. I was sick listening to the UAW workers complain that they were being asked to contribute $20 a month for their health care. They had no desire to understand the business or the economic situation of the Big Three. They simply wanted to prop up their bloated status quo.
I am also a union member. Our union creates an environment where some are overpaid, and some are underpaid. It is difficult to attract IT talent because of the union pay scale. For IT, it is decidedly below market rates.
Your last two paragraphs I agree with. New union shops only sprout up due to poor work environment, or slick "snake oil" union reps looking for some dumb new dues payers. The latter usually doesn't last too many years. . .
Yes, but how much time did you spend learning to support those boxes? I've slowly been getter better at Linux support over the last five or six years, and I still find it annoying. Every time I come across a new problem, it seems like hours of Googling are in my immediate future.
If a dozen Windows boxes consume that much time, you're doing it wrong. Just like in my environment, a few Linux boxes can eat a lot of my time, because I'm doing it wrong.
Definitely. Each definitely is better in different situations. Sometimes, they are nearly equal in utility, and cost is a legitimate consideration then.
My boss provided me with a quote from a previous employee that makes me chuckle every time I think about it: "Linux is only free if your time has no value."
Is it was legal to ship alcohol into New York now? Swedenburg v. Kelly? Or is that just wine? Or have they already quashed direct shipments? Its a bit of a drive from where I am.
At any rate, name your adult beverage of choice. Maybe some postal codes need some testing. . .
Understood. I have around 12GB myself, with many un-ripped CD's and only a 2G iPod mini.
But we're talking about 160GB. How many CD's did you have to rip to get that 15GB? What's 10x that number? Now multiply that by generally at least $10 a CD. Since he's talking about Toronto, I'm guessing it's more than that.
I'm not saying folks haven't already made the investment, I'm just saying there is an investment. I tried to convey that I was not accusing him of piracy, just that they were getting a shitload of money out of him one way or another, unless he was pirating. Bitching about how much it costs to fill a 160G iPod is wasted breath, unless you're into cheap/free classical or indie music.
I'm just using myself as the only example I really truly "know". My arguments largely still stand though.
Macs aren't terribly more expensive, but they are more expensive. I have seen folks decide between machines based on around $50. It only takes one application/peripheral to monkey wrench sometimes. Say, for example, Office 2007, or Bioshock. Yes, the learning curve may be small, but it is non-zero. That is important to many more people than it probably should be. It is also the same reason why some folks still run Windows 98.
As someone who purchases and supports Macs, I don't want one. Every other time I have to get involved, it's because something doesn't "just work". Every time I have to open a terminal and run some Linux command line to fix something in OSX, I curse that bullshit tag line. I still think Macs are great in certain situations. Being in a corporate Windows network is not one of them. Being in a single PC house is sometimes one of them. Oddly enough, I think OS X is better the more technically savvy you are, which is not Apple's marketing strategy. For the completely clueless, Windows (with regular rebuilding) and basic Linux can easily compete.
It took me a while to convince my art director that I didn't hate Macs. He was just accustomed to all non-Mac folks hating Macs. Back in the MacOS days, they largely did "just work", well, with supported stuff. With OS X, I don't buy the pretentious bullshit anymore. In some ways, OS X is no better than the Linux it came from.
I don't remember the version (around the Windows switch), but WP lost me (and my family) when they changed all the damn keyboard shortcuts. I knew lots of folks who had the keyboard overlays with the functions on them. Suddenly, they were all useless.
If I had to take the time to relearn, I could learn whatever software I wanted, and I was pissed at WP.
I heard they switched them back, but I was already gone by then.
2007 did a good job of bringing some features to the front. I've found multiple useful things that I never knew existed that are more prominent now.
The ribbon works when you get used to it. Until then, keyboard shortcuts! They pretty much all still work.
Oddly enough, interoperability is a more difficult argument than ever, thanks to the new formats. Despite group policy restrictions and format converter installs, I still got many calls saying "why can't I/they open this" when we started our rollout.
Exactly why I put it in quotes. However, Macs can be expensive, and many applications/peripherals are still Windows only.
Don't confuse "no research skills" with "no desire/time to learn a new OS". Windows is generally still the safe choice. I don't run Linux on the main machine at home, because I get tired of researching EVERYTHING. At some point, I just want to use my machine without fighting so damn much with it.
The folks that I think would like it, I tell to look at a Mac. The very few folks I think can handle it, without returning to me pitchfork and torch in hand, I point at Linux.
So you were planning on spending ~$35-40K to fill it up at current iTunes prices? Or were you planning on using one of the other iPod services?
Or did you buy it fully expecting to go home and download a pile of copyrighted material. . .
Just because you purchased it does not give you the "right" to fill it up. Yes, I understand that you can load video and such on it, and aren't necessarily loading it with illicitly obtained material. My point is just that it would be costly to fill up such a large drive solely with music in a legal manner.
Most large corporations are drug kicking and screaming into OS changes anyway. I witnessed legendary foot dragging in the NT4 to 2K, W2K to XP, then again to XP SP2, and fully expect even worse with Vista. As you point out, it really just isn't needed. End of support life or application incompatibility are generally the driving forces.
What I do run into constantly are home users who don't want Vista, but bought a new machine and had "no choice". Those are the people who might be lining up for the decimation.
A good friend who runs a home user/small business shop reports that Vista is doing wonders for him. As he can still build desktops and load them with XP, he's suddenly doing well on hardware again. Many of his customers willingly pay extra (vs. store bought) to not have Vista.
So what you're saying is never click on links in anything, and never visit new pages?
I don't run an ad-blocker, and I don't frequent any sites that engage in such activities, but I get very tired of cleaning up after a Google search lands me on one of those bastards.
I will grant you that many folks use an ad-blocker when just ignoring the damn things would suffice.
Remember that in many IT fields, W-2 employees are basically paid for their ability to fix broken things in a hurry. I've always said that if a break/fix person has a lot to do, they probably didn't do something correctly in the past.
For construction, and most other jobs, contract outsourcing along the lines of what you're talking about would likely benefit everyone involved, and increase productivity.
My current (W-2) employer has told me to my face that they would rather pay me to sit in my chair "just in case" than let me be at home on call. I typically use the time to learn new skills. It probably is related to the television aversion to broadcasting, well, nothing (literally, not figuratively).
Anyway, I agree with you that pay for performance is almost always preferable, but many a youngster these days thinks they are being paid for their time, not for their production. Personal accountability really seems like an afterthought these days.
While I haven't seen an XP OEM agreement (out of the retail chains these days), I believe the highest price I've heard for a physical media was around $7. It's to cover the cost of the media plus shipping and handling.
Nothing substantial, but it still really cheeses the consumer.
You may be right though about the free copy. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
The curve was shortened drastically for me by using keyboard shortcuts. Most of the keyboard commands still work, and it saves you from digging through the menus. . . er, ribbon. . . to find stuff.
Watch your file formats too. Microsoft did some damage to themselves on the compatibility front. . .
They usually charge extra for the disk anymore. They now like to use a separate partition on the HDD to store the restore image. It's frequently accessible via a boot menu.
I've never gotten a good answer about what's supposed to be done when the HDD dies out of warranty.
Depending on your make/model or bitchiness level, many of the OEM's will ship you a disk. . . for a price.
Most of the folks from Windsor I've ever known come to the US for their health care. They also bemoan the high taxes regularly, especially the smokers.
For urgent issues (or unfortunately non-urgent issues) you can always visit an ER and never pay. Multitudes do it every day, thanks to EMTLA.
Socialism sure sounds nice. Too bad it doesn't generally work in practice.
I remember being surprised once by turning over a bottle of J&J baby wash and seeing a statement akin to: "Johnson & Johnson does not manufacture any generic brands." They were basically saying "anyone who says we made their product is a liar". It's possible that they don't, but I share your skepticism.
They have a 2M/2M cable modem if you ask. It's only $400 a month! Hurry, supplies are limited!
Looking to put in some 5M Ethernet drops to replace our T1's, at a measly $700ish a month each.
Down is cheap, up is very expensive with them.
The rumor mill is that AT&T fiber is coming to town, and Buckeye already has their response waiting. A little competition would be a great thing around here.
It works on certain displays. Especially on some older notebook LCD's, it drives me nuts until I turn it on.
I've found that if characters look really blocky and broken up on your display, turning ClearType on helps. Otherwise, no need for it. Most recent displays seem fine without it.
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Not trying to be inflammatory, but review your economics.
Market rates by definition are what an employer will pay, and what an employee will work for. If someone will work for less, then that is the market rate.
Today's union artificially inflates wages by restricting the labor supply. The whole point is to obtain higher than market wages. Monopolize the market, and you can artificially inflate the price. I personally know folks who are payed $80+K/year to push brooms and take frequent naps. There is nothing you can say to me that will convince me that many unions (not all) create a class of overpaid and under skilled future unemployed.
I live in the heart of union country. If they were paying true market wages, the auto industry wouldn't be swimming in red ink and moving plants overseas. I was sick listening to the UAW workers complain that they were being asked to contribute $20 a month for their health care. They had no desire to understand the business or the economic situation of the Big Three. They simply wanted to prop up their bloated status quo.
I am also a union member. Our union creates an environment where some are overpaid, and some are underpaid. It is difficult to attract IT talent because of the union pay scale. For IT, it is decidedly below market rates.
Your last two paragraphs I agree with. New union shops only sprout up due to poor work environment, or slick "snake oil" union reps looking for some dumb new dues payers. The latter usually doesn't last too many years. . .
I know very few people waiting for one format to win. I could count them on one hand that's missing a couple of fingers.
/. majority were commercially significant at the scale we're looking at, then few would know who Microsoft was.
I know almost no one who's really interested in either format, or purchasing all their movies AGAIN. . . I know I'm not.
If a
What a wonderful synopsis of Apple's marketing strategy and hardcore fanbase!
Thank you for that bit of levity in this overly dramatic discussion. Almost made me spit take my coffee.
Wish my mod points hadn't expired without reading anything worth modding. . .
Yes, but how much time did you spend learning to support those boxes? I've slowly been getter better at Linux support over the last five or six years, and I still find it annoying. Every time I come across a new problem, it seems like hours of Googling are in my immediate future.
If a dozen Windows boxes consume that much time, you're doing it wrong. Just like in my environment, a few Linux boxes can eat a lot of my time, because I'm doing it wrong.
Definitely. Each definitely is better in different situations. Sometimes, they are nearly equal in utility, and cost is a legitimate consideration then.
My boss provided me with a quote from a previous employee that makes me chuckle every time I think about it:
"Linux is only free if your time has no value."
Is it was legal to ship alcohol into New York now? Swedenburg v. Kelly? Or is that just wine? Or have they already quashed direct shipments? Its a bit of a drive from where I am.
At any rate, name your adult beverage of choice. Maybe some postal codes need some testing. . .
Exactly. When you have the keyboard shortcuts memorized, what genius wants to take a hand off the keyboard to reach for the mouse. . .
In a program where typing is the whole damn point?
Understood. I have around 12GB myself, with many un-ripped CD's and only a 2G iPod mini.
But we're talking about 160GB. How many CD's did you have to rip to get that 15GB? What's 10x that number? Now multiply that by generally at least $10 a CD. Since he's talking about Toronto, I'm guessing it's more than that.
I'm not saying folks haven't already made the investment, I'm just saying there is an investment. I tried to convey that I was not accusing him of piracy, just that they were getting a shitload of money out of him one way or another, unless he was pirating. Bitching about how much it costs to fill a 160G iPod is wasted breath, unless you're into cheap/free classical or indie music.
I'm just using myself as the only example I really truly "know". My arguments largely still stand though.
Macs aren't terribly more expensive, but they are more expensive. I have seen folks decide between machines based on around $50. It only takes one application/peripheral to monkey wrench sometimes. Say, for example, Office 2007, or Bioshock. Yes, the learning curve may be small, but it is non-zero. That is important to many more people than it probably should be. It is also the same reason why some folks still run Windows 98.
As someone who purchases and supports Macs, I don't want one. Every other time I have to get involved, it's because something doesn't "just work". Every time I have to open a terminal and run some Linux command line to fix something in OSX, I curse that bullshit tag line. I still think Macs are great in certain situations. Being in a corporate Windows network is not one of them. Being in a single PC house is sometimes one of them. Oddly enough, I think OS X is better the more technically savvy you are, which is not Apple's marketing strategy. For the completely clueless, Windows (with regular rebuilding) and basic Linux can easily compete.
It took me a while to convince my art director that I didn't hate Macs. He was just accustomed to all non-Mac folks hating Macs. Back in the MacOS days, they largely did "just work", well, with supported stuff. With OS X, I don't buy the pretentious bullshit anymore. In some ways, OS X is no better than the Linux it came from.
I don't remember the version (around the Windows switch), but WP lost me (and my family) when they changed all the damn keyboard shortcuts. I knew lots of folks who had the keyboard overlays with the functions on them. Suddenly, they were all useless.
If I had to take the time to relearn, I could learn whatever software I wanted, and I was pissed at WP.
I heard they switched them back, but I was already gone by then.
2007 did a good job of bringing some features to the front. I've found multiple useful things that I never knew existed that are more prominent now.
The ribbon works when you get used to it. Until then, keyboard shortcuts! They pretty much all still work.
Oddly enough, interoperability is a more difficult argument than ever, thanks to the new formats. Despite group policy restrictions and format converter installs, I still got many calls saying "why can't I/they open this" when we started our rollout.
Exactly why I put it in quotes. However, Macs can be expensive, and many applications/peripherals are still Windows only.
Don't confuse "no research skills" with "no desire/time to learn a new OS". Windows is generally still the safe choice. I don't run Linux on the main machine at home, because I get tired of researching EVERYTHING. At some point, I just want to use my machine without fighting so damn much with it.
The folks that I think would like it, I tell to look at a Mac. The very few folks I think can handle it, without returning to me pitchfork and torch in hand, I point at Linux.
So you were planning on spending ~$35-40K to fill it up at current iTunes prices? Or were you planning on using one of the other iPod services?
Or did you buy it fully expecting to go home and download a pile of copyrighted material. . .
Just because you purchased it does not give you the "right" to fill it up. Yes, I understand that you can load video and such on it, and aren't necessarily loading it with illicitly obtained material. My point is just that it would be costly to fill up such a large drive solely with music in a legal manner.
Most large corporations are drug kicking and screaming into OS changes anyway. I witnessed legendary foot dragging in the NT4 to 2K, W2K to XP, then again to XP SP2, and fully expect even worse with Vista. As you point out, it really just isn't needed. End of support life or application incompatibility are generally the driving forces.
What I do run into constantly are home users who don't want Vista, but bought a new machine and had "no choice". Those are the people who might be lining up for the decimation.
A good friend who runs a home user/small business shop reports that Vista is doing wonders for him. As he can still build desktops and load them with XP, he's suddenly doing well on hardware again. Many of his customers willingly pay extra (vs. store bought) to not have Vista.
So what you're saying is never click on links in anything, and never visit new pages?
I don't run an ad-blocker, and I don't frequent any sites that engage in such activities, but I get very tired of cleaning up after a Google search lands me on one of those bastards.
I will grant you that many folks use an ad-blocker when just ignoring the damn things would suffice.
Remember that in many IT fields, W-2 employees are basically paid for their ability to fix broken things in a hurry. I've always said that if a break/fix person has a lot to do, they probably didn't do something correctly in the past.
For construction, and most other jobs, contract outsourcing along the lines of what you're talking about would likely benefit everyone involved, and increase productivity.
My current (W-2) employer has told me to my face that they would rather pay me to sit in my chair "just in case" than let me be at home on call. I typically use the time to learn new skills. It probably is related to the television aversion to broadcasting, well, nothing (literally, not figuratively).
Anyway, I agree with you that pay for performance is almost always preferable, but many a youngster these days thinks they are being paid for their time, not for their production. Personal accountability really seems like an afterthought these days.
Cheers!
What drives me nuts is that most hiring folks don't realize this.
The last interview I was on, I talked about this, and professed my general disdain for "Alphabet Soup".
The IS manager's response, "Well, it is still important to me on a resume."
Didn't get called back for that one. . .
Hmmm. That's new.
At least they give you the option of making your own media now. I haven't seen that, but it's a nice development.
While I haven't seen an XP OEM agreement (out of the retail chains these days), I believe the highest price I've heard for a physical media was around $7. It's to cover the cost of the media plus shipping and handling.
Nothing substantial, but it still really cheeses the consumer.
You may be right though about the free copy. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
The curve was shortened drastically for me by using keyboard shortcuts. Most of the keyboard commands still work, and it saves you from digging through the menus. . . er, ribbon. . . to find stuff.
Watch your file formats too. Microsoft did some damage to themselves on the compatibility front. . .
They usually charge extra for the disk anymore. They now like to use a separate partition on the HDD to store the restore image. It's frequently accessible via a boot menu.
I've never gotten a good answer about what's supposed to be done when the HDD dies out of warranty.
Depending on your make/model or bitchiness level, many of the OEM's will ship you a disk. . . for a price.
Most of the folks from Windsor I've ever known come to the US for their health care. They also bemoan the high taxes regularly, especially the smokers.
For urgent issues (or unfortunately non-urgent issues) you can always visit an ER and never pay. Multitudes do it every day, thanks to EMTLA.
Socialism sure sounds nice. Too bad it doesn't generally work in practice.
I remember being surprised once by turning over a bottle of J&J baby wash and seeing a statement akin to: "Johnson & Johnson does not manufacture any generic brands." They were basically saying "anyone who says we made their product is a liar". It's possible that they don't, but I share your skepticism.
Buckeye is short on the up.
They have a 2M/2M cable modem if you ask. It's only $400 a month! Hurry, supplies are limited!
Looking to put in some 5M Ethernet drops to replace our T1's, at a measly $700ish a month each.
Down is cheap, up is very expensive with them.
The rumor mill is that AT&T fiber is coming to town, and Buckeye already has their response waiting. A little competition would be a great thing around here.
It works on certain displays. Especially on some older notebook LCD's, it drives me nuts until I turn it on.
I've found that if characters look really blocky and broken up on your display, turning ClearType on helps. Otherwise, no need for it. Most recent displays seem fine without it.