I don't think that they're pursing the all mighty dollar. I have contacted them serveral times with hopes of getting them to do some security work for various clients of mine. All had the potential for very nice paychecks at the end. They refused the work, very politly tho. SO I think you might be a bit off base. But I could be wrong.
As a administrator I am very concerned with the security of my network. So it's no great surprise that I try to do as much research as I can in what little off time I have. Your website is on of the first I hit for NT security issues. For the Novell side I head over the Nomad Mobile Research Centre. It would seem that l0pht is geared more toward the NT side and NMRC more the NDS side. I always get the feeling that both l0pht and NMRC are in a sort of information share relationship. What other groups do you work with on a regular basis?
I do agree that mindstorms are meant to be learnt by playing with, but at the same time a little referance material is a good thing. I know that I would need help with the programming aspect of it as I'm not a programmer, but a networking geek. Ask me to config a router or set up a server, no problem, but I've always had a hard time with code.
Brings to mind the saying " the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys." In my case - it's true! Although legos are still the best.
With color it will help make my meeting go faster as I play IR Battleship with another person. Although the PHB's don't like it when we yell 'You sunk my battleship you TWIT!"
While the inet is decentralized, there are some ways to make it inaccessable to the majority of the population. IF they were to hack into hub routers for the major backbones and redirect the traffic, can you imagine what havok that would produce?
Most harmful of all is the message that Microsoft's companies have conveyed to every geeks with the potential to smacked in the it professionals industry. Through its conduct toward Netscape, Novell, Compaq, Red Hat, and others, Microsoft has demonstrated that it will use its prodigious market power and immense nerds to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could intensify competition against one of Microsoft's intense products. Microsoft's past success in hurting such hackers and stifling innovation deters investment in technologies and coders that exhibit the potential to thwack Microsoft. The ultimate result is that some innovations that would truly blast consumers never occur for the sole reason that they do not screw with Microsoft's people
Ok so this guy loses 25k gambling. First rule of gambling: Never bet over your head.
If you can only afford to lose 10 bucks..then take ten bucks w/ you to the casino. DUH!
But it just seems like another case of pointing the finger to say that 'Look! It's not my fault that (insert affliction here)! (Insert Cause which is allegedly related)help/conditioned me to do this! It's not my fault!'
Come on kids.... face the music and take responsiblity for your own actions. No one held a gun to your head to bet 25k. YOu did it. YOu can't tell me that it never once passed in this guys mind that he might not be able to afford it.
Whilst some/. readers seem bent on flaming Katz's article, I think some may have missed the point. As a parent (those who read my rant about geek profiling will remember my now 8 week old son), I don't know if I would want to have a choice of how my next child would turn out. I think it's great watching my son grow into his own UNIQUE person. Unique - that's what I'm getting at. If we start choosing what our babies would be like - would we not then end up with a world where everyone is (more or less) like everyone else? Nah.. no thanks. Sure right now the world is imperfect, people are different and we make mistakes. But think how boring life would be if we were like everyone else.
M2 Technical Industries. Sure I own the damn thing. Yeah its a really lame name. But... I didn't pay a damn dime to some think tank to come up with it and it serves the purpose.
M2 comes from my last name, which starts with a M and my partners last name which starts with.... you guessed it, an M. Technical Industries is a clear an obvious play of L0pht Heavy Industries. Yeah I'm lame....
Tell ya what. I'm the father of a 7 week old baby boy. Now with myself being a 'second generation' it professional (both my mother and father were programmers during the punch card era). Does this mean that my son will be singled out because the first day he was home from the hospital, he was on my lap as I was putting the finishing touches on a pc? I wonder if he'll be subject to profiling because I'll encourge him to think for hisself and to question everything. Will he be labeled as a threat because I have taught him to be an individual, and not a sheeple?
If so... I'm moving to a remote island somewhere where seashells are legal currency. The hell with a country like that!
I've always worked salary, and I actually prefer it. Here's the way I look at it:
1. With salaray, I know exactly how much I'm getting every pay check. This is a great help in balancing the budget. I don't have to worry about the 'I missed a days work, I'm out of vacation days, so I'll be short x amount this paycheck' headache.
2. While I do miss out on overtime, I've always got compensated in other ways. With this company, I get a yearly bonus, which is more than what the hourly employee's get, due to the fact that I don't get overtime. With companies in the past, I have gotten comp. Time. I actually prefer comp time, as it can give me 'added' vacation days.
I think I may be in the minority here, as I'm not a coder, but a systems administrator/engineer. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that with my choosen branch of IT/IS, I may work more hours than my app dev/programming conterparts, but it's always been made up to me on the back end.
I'll stick with working salary for the immediate future, as I do enjoy the steady paycheck (ref point 1) and the comp time is good for me.
Personally, I think this trial couldn't have happened to a more deserving company. But it also has given me pause to think on a thing or two.
1. Could this open up Microsoft to not only class action lawsuits but other lawsuits from companies claiming that the monopoly has damaged them so that it need compensation to recup the damages it has suffered. If so.. and these lawsuits become rampant, could we possibly see Microsoft file for reorganization? With MS stock now being part of the Dow Jones.. how would that effect our economy, in a time where the slighest rumor of interest rate hikes send investors in to a frenzy?
2. Could we be seeing the end of MS as the "Big Blue" of the 90's possibly passing the torch to AOL? If so, could this set precedent that AOL might be accused of having an unfair monopoly with it's aquisition of COmpuserve, and basically squashing the other ISP (should it ever come to that?).
Want to know what I'm sick of? Meeting people and when they ask me what I do and I tell them I'm a IT professional (can't tell them what I do in more specific terms, otherwise they get confused). Then, almost immediately they say: "Oh wow, that must be a great job! Working with technology, and such." My reply; "Trade you jobs for a day." It seems the world has an over glamorized view of the tech industry. People seem to envision us as: a)Smart people who can sit back and relax most of the day while getting paid nicely for it or b)People who are working to make star trek a reality.
Umm I think that about as far from the truth about the average tech as you can get. 60 hour weeks, screaming idiots who don't have the slightest idea about technology wondering why can't we give them a Network that doesn't crash. Why? Cause they're the moron who wanted to ditch the unix/linux/novell server in favor of NT because they saw a neat little commercial on TV during ally mcbeal or some such tv show, and totally diregarded the conclusive evidence that there are better ways to go then a pure NT network.
Then they wonder why I can't keep the help desk fully staffed with people when the usual call begins with: "Why in the hell can't you people give me the answer I want to hear? Why can't you people fix the problem? I don't want to hear excuses I want it fixed. No, I won't do what you tell me, get a tech over hear now. What do you mean I did something wrong? It can't be my fault. All you help desk people are the same! YOU SUCK!"
I'm glad some on is finally giving a decent account of a day in the life of the Tech.
I like where it's going, I like what it could be in the future, yup, I just like it! Now... if I could just get embedded linux installed into my wife, life would be great!
While I respect your opinion that the Matrix was a horrible movie, I must disagree. The plot was unbelielable, and rightly so. Most files of the sci-fi realm are unbelievable, by todays standards. That's the appeal of them. They allow us to practice escapeism and let our imaginations wander. But along the lines of unbelievable/unrealistic plots, we must not fail to include the Star Wars series, the Star Trek series, Terminator series, Event Horizon (which still disturbs me), Aliens and just about any other sci-fi flick. If we judge by our current level of technology and understanding, sure these things are impossible, just like submarines were unbelieveable in Jules Vernes time. One of the great things (getting back on topic here) about the Matrix, I think, is that it's one of the few technology movies that revolves around computers that didn't make me laugh until I cried (referance The Net and Hackers. I think the reason for this was they didn't dwell so much on the technology for sake of technology aspect of the movie, but more on the technology as it impacts society aspect. Unbelieveable? Sure Entertaining? Damn Straight it is Can't wait to see what the next one is like. . . . . .
But maybe all of the crazy conspiracy theorists aren't so crazy after all. As time goes on, I'm seeing that what was dismissed as a "absurd" notion is/was indeed fact. Which leads me to believe the slogan I saw: "1984: We're behind schedule (NSA)." But then again, maybe I'm just a ploy to make you think that what is real isn't. Which would make what isn't real..real...
Now that big brother seems to be raising his ugly head in other parts of the world, it leads me to ponder a "work-around" to him. Off Shore banking has helped people shelter thier money from taxes, garnishments etc. Now will we start seeing off shore web hosting where for a nominal fee you can set up a web site hosted in a independant country free of the laws that govern web hosting in your country? If that is the case, will we start to see country A trying to regulate country B's web content? Or will Country A start to tighten it's hold on it's population? Which begs the question of when will someone come out with a way to circumvent the restrictions on websites? Makes my head hurt.
Slashdot Mirror
Wait! Netscape didn't invent the internet! Al Gore did!
Geez - here we go with another "let's spin history to suit our point of view" article. I would give my left arm for a totally objective point of view.
I don't think that they're pursing the all mighty dollar. I have contacted them serveral times with hopes of getting them to do some security work for various clients of mine. All had the potential for very nice paychecks at the end. They refused the work, very politly tho. SO I think you might be a bit off base. But I could be wrong.
As a administrator I am very concerned with the security of my network. So it's no great surprise that I try to do as much research as I can in what little off time I have. Your website is on of the first I hit for NT security issues. For the Novell side I head over the Nomad Mobile Research Centre. It would seem that l0pht is geared more toward the NT side and NMRC more the NDS side. I always get the feeling that both l0pht and NMRC are in a sort of information share relationship. What other groups do you work with on a regular basis?
I do agree that mindstorms are meant to be learnt by playing with, but at the same time a little referance material is a good thing.
I know that I would need help with the programming aspect of it as I'm not a programmer, but a networking geek. Ask me to config a router or set up a server, no problem, but I've always had a hard time with code.
Get Cye and hookit up with the Xybernaut MA 4. Now that's fun! Instant waitress during for the between frag world breaks!
How about this:
Get Lego Mindstorms then load it up on a xybernaut MA IV. Then get the voice commands to work on the robot. Too Cool.
Brings to mind the saying " the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys." In my case - it's true! Although legos are still the best.
With color it will help make my meeting go faster as I play IR Battleship with another person. Although the PHB's don't like it when we yell 'You sunk my battleship you TWIT!"
While the inet is decentralized, there are some ways to make it inaccessable to the majority of the population. IF they were to hack into hub routers for the major backbones and redirect the traffic, can you imagine what havok that would produce?
Most harmful of all is the message that Microsoft's companies have conveyed to every geeks with the potential to smacked in the it professionals industry. Through its conduct toward Netscape, Novell, Compaq, Red Hat, and others, Microsoft has demonstrated that it will use its prodigious market power and immense nerds to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could intensify competition against one of Microsoft's intense products. Microsoft's past success in hurting such hackers and stifling innovation deters investment in technologies and coders that exhibit the potential to thwack Microsoft. The ultimate result is that some innovations that would truly blast consumers never occur for the sole reason that they do not screw with Microsoft's people
Ok so this guy loses 25k gambling. First rule of gambling: Never bet over your head.
If you can only afford to lose 10 bucks..then take ten bucks w/ you to the casino. DUH!
But it just seems like another case of pointing the finger to say that 'Look! It's not my fault that (insert affliction here)! (Insert Cause which is allegedly related)help/conditioned me to do this! It's not my fault!'
Come on kids.... face the music and take responsiblity for your own actions. No one held a gun to your head to bet 25k. YOu did it. YOu can't tell me that it never once passed in this guys mind that he might not be able to afford it.
Whilst some /. readers seem bent on flaming Katz's article, I think some may have missed the point.
As a parent (those who read my rant about geek profiling will remember my now 8 week old son), I don't know if I would want to have a choice of how my next child would turn out. I think it's great watching my son grow into his own UNIQUE person.
Unique - that's what I'm getting at. If we start choosing what our babies would be like - would we not then end up with a world where everyone is (more or less) like everyone else?
Nah.. no thanks. Sure right now the world is imperfect, people are different and we make mistakes. But think how boring life would be if we were like everyone else.
M2 Technical Industries. Sure I own the damn thing. Yeah its a really lame name. But... I didn't pay a damn dime to some think tank to come up with it and it serves the purpose.
M2 comes from my last name, which starts with a M and my partners last name which starts with.... you guessed it, an M. Technical Industries is a clear an obvious play of L0pht Heavy Industries. Yeah I'm lame....
Tell ya what. I'm the father of a 7 week old baby boy. Now with myself being a 'second generation' it professional (both my mother and father were programmers during the punch card era). Does this mean that my son will be singled out because the first day he was home from the hospital, he was on my lap as I was putting the finishing touches on a pc? I wonder if he'll be subject to profiling because I'll encourge him to think for hisself and to question everything. Will he be labeled as a threat because I have taught him to be an individual, and not a sheeple?
If so... I'm moving to a remote island somewhere where seashells are legal currency. The hell with a country like that!
I've always worked salary, and I actually prefer it. Here's the way I look at it:
1. With salaray, I know exactly how much I'm getting every pay check. This is a great help in balancing the budget. I don't have to worry about the 'I missed a days work, I'm out of vacation days, so I'll be short x amount this paycheck' headache.
2. While I do miss out on overtime, I've always got compensated in other ways. With this company, I get a yearly bonus, which is more than what the hourly employee's get, due to the fact that I don't get overtime. With companies in the past, I have gotten comp. Time. I actually prefer comp time, as it can give me 'added' vacation days.
I think I may be in the minority here, as I'm not a coder, but a systems administrator/engineer. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that with my choosen branch of IT/IS, I may work more hours than my app dev/programming conterparts, but it's always been made up to me on the back end.
I'll stick with working salary for the immediate future, as I do enjoy the steady paycheck (ref point 1) and the comp time is good for me.
Of course your milage may vary.
Personally, I think this trial couldn't have happened to a more deserving company.
But it also has given me pause to think on a thing or two.
1. Could this open up Microsoft to not only class action lawsuits but other lawsuits from companies claiming that the monopoly has damaged them so that it need compensation to recup the damages it has suffered. If so.. and these lawsuits become rampant, could we possibly see Microsoft file for reorganization? With MS stock now being part of the Dow Jones.. how would that effect our economy, in a time where the slighest rumor of interest rate hikes send investors in to a frenzy?
2. Could we be seeing the end of MS as the "Big Blue" of the 90's possibly passing the torch to AOL? If so, could this set precedent that AOL might be accused of having an unfair monopoly with it's aquisition of COmpuserve, and basically squashing the other ISP (should it ever come to that?).
The hardware is great... it's just the damn internal logic errors in the current os!
Want to know what I'm sick of? Meeting people and when they ask me what I do and I tell them I'm a IT professional (can't tell them what I do in more specific terms, otherwise they get confused). Then, almost immediately they say: "Oh wow, that must be a great job! Working with technology, and such." My reply; "Trade you jobs for a day."
It seems the world has an over glamorized view of the tech industry. People seem to envision us as:
a)Smart people who can sit back and relax most of the day while getting paid nicely for it
or
b)People who are working to make star trek a reality.
Umm I think that about as far from the truth about the average tech as you can get. 60 hour weeks, screaming idiots who don't have the slightest idea about technology wondering why can't we give them a Network that doesn't crash. Why? Cause they're the moron who wanted to ditch the unix/linux/novell server in favor of NT because they saw a neat little commercial on TV during ally mcbeal or some such tv show, and totally diregarded the conclusive evidence that there are better ways to go then a pure NT network.
Then they wonder why I can't keep the help desk fully staffed with people when the usual call begins with: "Why in the hell can't you people give me the answer I want to hear? Why can't you people fix the problem? I don't want to hear excuses I want it fixed. No, I won't do what you tell me, get a tech over hear now. What do you mean I did something wrong? It can't be my fault. All you help desk people are the same! YOU SUCK!"
I'm glad some on is finally giving a decent account of a day in the life of the Tech.
/Rant
I like where it's going, I like what it could be in the future, yup, I just like it! Now... if I could just get embedded linux installed into my wife, life would be great!
While I respect your opinion that the Matrix was a horrible movie, I must disagree. The plot was unbelielable, and rightly so. Most files of the sci-fi realm are unbelievable, by todays standards. That's the appeal of them. They allow us to practice escapeism and let our imaginations wander. But along the lines of unbelievable/unrealistic plots, we must not fail to include the Star Wars series, the Star Trek series, Terminator series, Event Horizon (which still disturbs me), Aliens and just about any other sci-fi flick. If we judge by our current level of technology and understanding, sure these things are impossible, just like submarines were unbelieveable in Jules Vernes time. One of the great things (getting back on topic here) about the Matrix, I think, is that it's one of the few technology movies that revolves around computers that didn't make me laugh until I cried (referance The Net and Hackers. I think the reason for this was they didn't dwell so much on the technology for sake of technology aspect of the movie, but more on the technology as it impacts society aspect. Unbelieveable? Sure Entertaining? Damn Straight it is Can't wait to see what the next one is like. . . . . .
But maybe all of the crazy conspiracy theorists aren't so crazy after all. As time goes on, I'm seeing that what was dismissed as a "absurd" notion is/was indeed fact. Which leads me to believe the slogan I saw: "1984: We're behind schedule (NSA)." But then again, maybe I'm just a ploy to make you think that what is real isn't. Which would make what isn't real..real...
Now that big brother seems to be raising his ugly head in other parts of the world, it leads me to ponder a "work-around" to him. Off Shore banking has helped people shelter thier money from taxes, garnishments etc. Now will we start seeing off shore web hosting where for a nominal fee you can set up a web site hosted in a independant country free of the laws that govern web hosting in your country? If that is the case, will we start to see country A trying to regulate country B's web content? Or will Country A start to tighten it's hold on it's population? Which begs the question of when will someone come out with a way to circumvent the restrictions on websites? Makes my head hurt.