Off topic, but you can easily edit PDF as well. Adobe sells an editor, that is why they give the reader away for free. Not to mention that PDF is one of Mac OS X's native file formats.
If you are worried about people changing the contract then you best compare the original with the signed copy even if it originated in PDF format.
I worked on Bank of America's Firewall team back in 1999. I don't know what has changed since then but at the time they had a policy against the use of open source software because the lack of accountability. I recall this because I was on a project to develop a web based IP allocation program and couldn't use any open source software. Solaris, Stronghold (instead of Apache), and Sun's compilers instead of GCC.
Anyways, even if they have changed their mind on Open Source I am sure that mission critical systems are not running it.
Frankly, I do not understand why companies use Linux when BSD has a much more commercial friendly license and has the same, if not better, performance. But that's just my opinion.
There is already a surplus of qualified educated tech employees. Since there is more out of work tech workers than there are jobs anyone going to higher education seeking a tech related degree should think twice about entering a market where they will have no experience and a degree worth more as firewood than any chance of employment.
Maybe you should look into another area that has some growth potential.
The same way that Apple did it. Have a compatibility mode and then all new software is written without the bloated Win32 API. Later once it becomes outdated you abandon the compatibility mode. It could be a great time to move to 64 bit as well.
Who cares? KDE stinks, GNOME stinks. The reason is that XWindows STINKS. The only viable GUI running on a UNIX based system that I have seen is Mac OS X. Thank god they did not build their GUI on top of XWindows. IMHO the only way any GUI has a chance is the project is started from scratch rather than relying on something that I consider inheriently flawed (XWindows). Neither KDE or GNOME are GUIs they are Window managers and like Stephen King said in Christine "You can't polish a turd".
Microsoft should follow suit and use BSD as a kernel. It's better than Linux because of it's license allows for them to keep modifications closed source. This is very attractive to profit centric companies. With a strong Kernel and a excellent command line Microsoft could focus on the GUI.
IMHO Linux and other UNIX based operating systems, besides Mac OS X, suffers mainly from having a poor GUI Xwindows should be abandon.
Of course Apple beat them to the punch but Microsoft has never been afraid to copy good ideas from another company have they?
The MHZ war has been going on for soooo long that everyone just excepted that faster MHZ related to faster machines. Well, 64Bit computers are placing chip manufactures in a position where they have to market on a platform that declares that MHZ doesn't really matter.
I think the question is a bit naive though as everyone knows a hundred software tools to rate performance of CPUs rather than just relying on MHZ.
Couldn't there be some license problems here? For example wouldn't you expect to see some of the driver's licenses to state what type of operating system they are to be run on?
I think more companies would adopt Open Source under the BSD model rather than the GPL model. I can't understand why a business like Tivo would run Linux and have to release code when they could have written it using BSD and not had to release anything.
I know everyone here is going to argue the OPENness of the Open Source movement but for me it doesn't make sense in a capitalist society.
My main concern with the IT market is jobs. We tried damn the torpedoes full steam ahead and look where it got us. Me along with a bunch of qualified IT people searching with not much luck for a job any job. That's why I am focusing my job search hunt for IT positions in non-IT companies because I believe that IT as a product alone has failed.
The problem is that as we speak every semester is pumping out more and more computer science majors. The current IT market is already saturated with experienced programmers, network security engineers, and IT jobs in general. It's hard for the qualified people to land jobs because of the ton of unqualified applicants that companies have to weed through.
We all know that the market was loaded with unqualified people before the bust but demand was so high we took them in anyways in hopes that they could be trained, most were. This model just doesn't work anymore. The people that should have never been in IT in the first place should look for work elsewhere and anyone going after a computer science major now should think about switching before they enter a bloated marketplace.
I guess I am missing something but if I go out and buy a new Power Mac dual G5 running Mac OS X then how the heck does it run stuff complied for G4 (a Motorola chip)? It boggles my mind!
I would imagine that with a brand new chip that the binaries would not be compatible. Does this mean that ports of existing software has to be created to run on this new platform? If so, what about the people with G4s will they be out in the cold when new software is created?
Power of wireless ethernet now that would be awesome! Then people would really have to secure their access points or people could borrow power from their neibors! *lol*
From what I see SCO is ripe for the picking. I wonder how much each of us would have to pitch in to buy SCO out and GPL or BSD (my preference) their code licensing? Hmmm
At least with the current system gas stations and convience stores get a percentage off of the pay phone revenue. I wonder if they will get any part of the revenue from the WiFi? If not, what is to keep them from just saying hey get that thing out of here?
It doesn't change anything. Like you said you can get this now. I work in security and ANY system that a knowledgeable person can lay hands on they OWN it. As part of my job I do security audits and I have this little stickers that say "I OWN THIS" if I can get close enough to put a sticker on it then the statement is true. I doubt that will every change, but who knows what the future holds.
I am not saying that everyone that came in during that era are incompetent. I am just saying they are a large number and they are still trying to compete.
As a veteran of IT I was there when you had to have real skill to get involved. Also, being around during the boom I saw that attitude change and companies take on inexperienced employees because it was sooo hard to find employees in general. I worked on Bank of America's network security team and it was pretty much a training camp for unqualified employees. By the time they had some skills they realized that they could make more $ elsewhere so it was a never ending cycle. If your parents and their friend thought you were a computer guru and you went to a MCSE boot camp you could get a senior level IT job. Now all the while there was REAL growth in IT but we all know that there was a TON of FALSE growth due to the IPO scam that America fell into. Now I am having a hard time finding a job even though I DO have senior level skills because the market is flooded with all these Wannabes that had their ego built up by the over demand. These people need to go take their real jobs at Burger King and Home Depot so that the REAL IT people can get an interview.
It seems only fair that the most experienced / qualified people stay in the industry that they have those skills in and the least qualified get out of the industry. Anyone still in school taking Computer Science with lofty dreams of making it to the top is fooling themselves and they will find themselves working in a low paying / thankless job. Sorry guys you missed the boom and it is now a buyer's (employer's) market so chances with no experience you are out of luck.
My advice for would be Computer Science majors would be to switch majors to one that compliments a market where there is a demand for workers. I have investigated what that is, but may be forced to very soon. With that said there are a bunch of people that are going into Computer Science because it is their passion and not as a career path. For those I say fine just don't take enthusiasm for a false sense of job security because it does not exist.
We all know that KDE, GNOME, and enlignment suck. I know I open myself to be flamed by the zealots of those listed above but it's true. Linux makes a great server but I would never consider running it as my primary desktop because out of all the myriad of choices I have for desktop none of the provide what me, and I would say the masses, are looking for.
If I was in this theoretical position and had funding to make a working Linux desktop the first thing I would do would be dump XWindows completely. I'll point to a success story on that front that I am sure this post will be riddled with and that is Mac OS X. Mac OS X is successfully because it has BSD under the hood? No, it is successfully because of it's GUI. If OS X had KDE or GNOME, etc it would have bankrupted Apple by now.
Apple has proven that you can run a accepted desktop system on top of a Unix based system. Yes, I know they run on top of BSD but in all honesty BSD is so similar to Linux or any other Unix that that point is mute. It has a different license, a more commercial friendly license. Lets face facts some commercial involvement is required to make a desktop OS get off the ground. Until I can go to Comp USA and purchase the latest version of War Craft and similar products it won't be viable. Yes, some people will use it, those that can compile their own code, etc.. but that is not the masses.
Now, back to why XWindows sucks. To make this point I will make an comparison to a similar situation with a commercial OS. Microsoft Windows; The biggest barrier for innovation is that fact that it has to be backward compatible. You have to be able to run that DOS program from when you were in college. All these desktop packages are just another layer... OS (Linux), GUI (Xwindows), Desktop (KDE, etc). It's crap because I can never program something on the Desktop layer that fixes something on the Xwindows layer. I have never seen a user friendly desktop based upon XWindows. Solaris sucks, HP UNIX, IRIX, Linux, BSD, etc... Until I do I will hold with the fact that it is a failed attempt at a user interface and should be scraped.
I worked a 7 month contract with a not to be named Cellular phone company and it is clear WLNP is not ready for prime time. The joke around the office is that WLNP stands for Wireless Lusers not portable..
All these companies have to connect up and figure a way to make it work and believe me they are trying but it seems a difficult task at best.
Slashdot Mirror
Off topic, but you can easily edit PDF as well. Adobe sells an editor, that is why they give the reader away for free. Not to mention that PDF is one of Mac OS X's native file formats.
If you are worried about people changing the contract then you best compare the original with the signed copy even if it originated in PDF format.
I worked on Bank of America's Firewall team back in 1999. I don't know what has changed since then but at the time they had a policy against the use of open source software because the lack of accountability. I recall this because I was on a project to develop a web based IP allocation program and couldn't use any open source software. Solaris, Stronghold (instead of Apache), and Sun's compilers instead of GCC.
Anyways, even if they have changed their mind on Open Source I am sure that mission critical systems are not running it.
Frankly, I do not understand why companies use Linux when BSD has a much more commercial friendly license and has the same, if not better, performance. But that's just my opinion.
Nick Powers
There is already a surplus of qualified educated tech employees. Since there is more out of work tech workers than there are jobs anyone going to higher education seeking a tech related degree should think twice about entering a market where they will have no experience and a degree worth more as firewood than any chance of employment.
Maybe you should look into another area that has some growth potential.
Nick Powers
The same way that Apple did it. Have a compatibility mode and then all new software is written without the bloated Win32 API. Later once it becomes outdated you abandon the compatibility mode. It could be a great time to move to 64 bit as well.
Nick Powers
Who cares? KDE stinks, GNOME stinks. The reason is that XWindows STINKS. The only viable GUI running on a UNIX based system that I have seen is Mac OS X. Thank god they did not build their GUI on top of XWindows. IMHO the only way any GUI has a chance is the project is started from scratch rather than relying on something that I consider inheriently flawed (XWindows). Neither KDE or GNOME are GUIs they are Window managers and like Stephen King said in Christine "You can't polish a turd".
Nick Powers
Microsoft should follow suit and use BSD as a kernel. It's better than Linux because of it's license allows for them to keep modifications closed source. This is very attractive to profit centric companies. With a strong Kernel and a excellent command line Microsoft could focus on the GUI.
IMHO Linux and other UNIX based operating systems, besides Mac OS X, suffers mainly from having a poor GUI Xwindows should be abandon.
Of course Apple beat them to the punch but Microsoft has never been afraid to copy good ideas from another company have they?
Nick Powers
Most ISPs don't own their own fiber so it's just as much a farse to sue ISPs as it would be to sue the telco that does own the fiber.
Nick Powers
With the job shortages in the IT market I might just consider this / NOT. hmmmm
Nick Powers
The MHZ war has been going on for soooo long that everyone just excepted that faster MHZ related to faster machines. Well, 64Bit computers are placing chip manufactures in a position where they have to market on a platform that declares that MHZ doesn't really matter.
I think the question is a bit naive though as everyone knows a hundred software tools to rate performance of CPUs rather than just relying on MHZ.
Nick Powers
Couldn't there be some license problems here? For example wouldn't you expect to see some of the driver's licenses to state what type of operating system they are to be run on?
Nick Powers
I think more companies would adopt Open Source under the BSD model rather than the GPL model. I can't understand why a business like Tivo would run Linux and have to release code when they could have written it using BSD and not had to release anything.
I know everyone here is going to argue the OPENness of the Open Source movement but for me it doesn't make sense in a capitalist society.
My main concern with the IT market is jobs. We tried damn the torpedoes full steam ahead and look where it got us. Me along with a bunch of qualified IT people searching with not much luck for a job any job. That's why I am focusing my job search hunt for IT positions in non-IT companies because I believe that IT as a product alone has failed.
The problem is that as we speak every semester is pumping out more and more computer science majors. The current IT market is already saturated with experienced programmers, network security engineers, and IT jobs in general. It's hard for the qualified people to land jobs because of the ton of unqualified applicants that companies have to weed through.
We all know that the market was loaded with unqualified people before the bust but demand was so high we took them in anyways in hopes that they could be trained, most were. This model just doesn't work anymore. The people that should have never been in IT in the first place should look for work elsewhere and anyone going after a computer science major now should think about switching before they enter a bloated marketplace.
Nick Powers
Resume
I guess I am missing something but if I go out and buy a new Power Mac dual G5 running Mac OS X then how the heck does it run stuff complied for G4 (a Motorola chip)? It boggles my mind!
Nick Powers
The market is flooded with qualified people who can't find a job. Why would someone choose to enter a career that is so dismal?
Nick Powers
I would imagine that with a brand new chip that the binaries would not be compatible. Does this mean that ports of existing software has to be created to run on this new platform? If so, what about the people with G4s will they be out in the cold when new software is created?
Nick Powers
*yawn* need to wake the hell up *lol*
Nick
Power of wireless ethernet now that would be awesome! Then people would really have to secure their access points or people could borrow power from their neibors! *lol*
Nick
From what I see SCO is ripe for the picking. I wonder how much each of us would have to pitch in to buy SCO out and GPL or BSD (my preference) their code licensing? Hmmm
Nick Powers
At least with the current system gas stations and convience stores get a percentage off of the pay phone revenue. I wonder if they will get any part of the revenue from the WiFi? If not, what is to keep them from just saying hey get that thing out of here?
Nick Powers
It doesn't change anything. Like you said you can get this now. I work in security and ANY system that a knowledgeable person can lay hands on they OWN it. As part of my job I do security audits and I have this little stickers that say "I OWN THIS" if I can get close enough to put a sticker on it then the statement is true. I doubt that will every change, but who knows what the future holds.
Sure,
I am not saying that everyone that came in during that era are incompetent. I am just saying they are a large number and they are still trying to compete.
Nick Powers
As a veteran of IT I was there when you had to have real skill to get involved. Also, being around during the boom I saw that attitude change and companies take on inexperienced employees because it was sooo hard to find employees in general. I worked on Bank of America's network security team and it was pretty much a training camp for unqualified employees. By the time they had some skills they realized that they could make more $ elsewhere so it was a never ending cycle. If your parents and their friend thought you were a computer guru and you went to a MCSE boot camp you could get a senior level IT job. Now all the while there was REAL growth in IT but we all know that there was a TON of FALSE growth due to the IPO scam that America fell into. Now I am having a hard time finding a job even though I DO have senior level skills because the market is flooded with all these Wannabes that had their ego built up by the over demand. These people need to go take their real jobs at Burger King and Home Depot so that the REAL IT people can get an interview.
It seems only fair that the most experienced / qualified people stay in the industry that they have those skills in and the least qualified get out of the industry. Anyone still in school taking Computer Science with lofty dreams of making it to the top is fooling themselves and they will find themselves working in a low paying / thankless job. Sorry guys you missed the boom and it is now a buyer's (employer's) market so chances with no experience you are out of luck.
My advice for would be Computer Science majors would be to switch majors to one that compliments a market where there is a demand for workers. I have investigated what that is, but may be forced to very soon. With that said there are a bunch of people that are going into Computer Science because it is their passion and not as a career path. For those I say fine just don't take enthusiasm for a false sense of job security because it does not exist.
There ya go...
lol
Nick Powers
My Resume
We all know that KDE, GNOME, and enlignment suck. I know I open myself to be flamed by the zealots of those listed above but it's true. Linux makes a great server but I would never consider running it as my primary desktop because out of all the myriad of choices I have for desktop none of the provide what me, and I would say the masses, are looking for.
If I was in this theoretical position and had funding to make a working Linux desktop the first thing I would do would be dump XWindows completely. I'll point to a success story on that front that I am sure this post will be riddled with and that is Mac OS X. Mac OS X is successfully because it has BSD under the hood? No, it is successfully because of it's GUI. If OS X had KDE or GNOME, etc it would have bankrupted Apple by now.
Apple has proven that you can run a accepted desktop system on top of a Unix based system. Yes, I know they run on top of BSD but in all honesty BSD is so similar to Linux or any other Unix that that point is mute. It has a different license, a more commercial friendly license. Lets face facts some commercial involvement is required to make a desktop OS get off the ground. Until I can go to Comp USA and purchase the latest version of War Craft and similar products it won't be viable. Yes, some people will use it, those that can compile their own code, etc.. but that is not the masses.
Now, back to why XWindows sucks. To make this point I will make an comparison to a similar situation with a commercial OS. Microsoft Windows; The biggest barrier for innovation is that fact that it has to be backward compatible. You have to be able to run that DOS program from when you were in college. All these desktop packages are just another layer... OS (Linux), GUI (Xwindows), Desktop (KDE, etc). It's crap because I can never program something on the Desktop layer that fixes something on the Xwindows layer. I have never seen a user friendly desktop based upon XWindows. Solaris sucks, HP UNIX, IRIX, Linux, BSD, etc... Until I do I will hold with the fact that it is a failed attempt at a user interface and should be scraped.
That's my take... for what it's worth.
Nick Powers
I worked a 7 month contract with a not to be named Cellular phone company and it is clear WLNP is not ready for prime time. The joke around the office is that WLNP stands for Wireless Lusers not portable..
All these companies have to connect up and figure a way to make it work and believe me they are trying but it seems a difficult task at best.
Nick Powers