Dude, it's just email. Google supports 40,000,000 users with just a few ragged old PCs and 4 techs. Oh wait, you're running exchange server, yes that explains it...
He probably did that, made a fancy OpenOffice Presenter Slide-show with budget calculations and projections made in OpenOffice Calc, and handed out executive overviews made with Openoffice Writer. After he finished doing all of this, only 5 of his 10 managers bothered to show up and 2 left during the presentation saying "Oh this is all IT stuff".
After giving the data to management, they just said, with blank stares, "So what do you recommend we do?". To which he said, "We can put in a Linux server for $500 which will do what we need, however I need additional training and time to configure it to be safe and reliable, or we need $120k for more Micro$oft licenses and dozens of servers". We already know the response he got from management...
Just switch over to Postfix on the backend. It can be setup to automatically archive, comb, compress old messages and delete them after a specified period of time or move them to some tapes, whatever. Your users won't even notice it if you just make the exchange server a relay host...
I disagree! With just a few simple apps you can do everything exchange does and more.
Email-Postfix
Calendar-iCal + LDAP
Meeting requests-iCal
Tasks-iCal
Synchronization-Webdav or SyncML
Publishing Calendars-Webdav(Caldav) or SyncML
Sharing/Editing the same calendar-Webdav(GroupDav) or SyncML
Webmail-Many choices, some with calendars, AJAX, etc
Blackberry-Funambol, SyncML
I mean seriously, what else do you need? Encryption? Got it. There are tons of more features with clients like Evolution and Thunderbird including desktop integration.
Techs are dead weight and can be outsourced
on
Tech Vs. Business?
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· Score: 1
Business people view IT workers as dead weight that can be outsourced. In their eyes, you're just another code-monkey and they could do your job but they don't have the time to take a 15-min seminar that will teach them how to be an IT Guru.
Essentially, they have no respect for you, want to get rid of you, and think you can be replaced at any time. Welcome to the world of IT.
It's not hype. Surveying a planet, particle colliders that could accidentally create a black hole(JUST JOKING!), and putting up a space station actually ARE cool! If we spent our money on NASA rather a missile-defense-system, we'd have flying cars by now, electric cars, great batteries, etc. You could go to the moon for a few thousand dollars, mars for a few million, and probably fusion power by now. But NOOOO, we have to spend our money on defending Arab oil reserves, nuclear missile silos, and flying a president out to aircraft carriers so he can watch a famous musician perform for the troops.
Ever try to excavate through ice and rock? You need a drilling platform, not a "bunker-buster" journey-to-the-center-of-Mars capsule. Also, have you ever tried to transmit data through ice and rock? It may work with your Wifi through a 6" concrete wall, but go down a few meters and it gets really tricky.
That's nonsense. Lack of field-specific knowledge is a valid complaint. Only people who lack knowledge think it's ok to manage more knowledgeable people. A manager is not just a time-sheet filler in an engineering company. They are a decision maker, mentor, and guide. That's their job! Very simple! Managing is not filling out MS-Project diagrams and handing them to the BOD. Ok?
Re:I don't know if I fully agree with that
on
Fire Your IT Boss
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· Score: 1
I completely disagree! I've worked for people who knew my job better than me(pros) and people who have no clue what I do(lackeys). The pros helped me along and made my job easy. It was a joy to work for them. If they lacked management skills, it didn't matter because the work all got done and was perfect. When working for lackeys, I always got vague descriptions of what needed to be done and then blamed/shamed when the work wasn't perfect. Honestly, MBA's have no business in IT. Too many companies hire MBA's with a little IT experience to run their shops and it is always a bad experience for the workers. I would argue that you need Masters of Technology to run IT shops, people who have a little management training or business acumen and TONS of IT experience. Get the lackeys out and put the pros where they belong. I know it doesn't fit your good 'ole boy network busniess model but it certainly works for the majority of us. Send the MBA who can make Excel spreadsheets over to accounting and keep his @ss out of the programming department. Get it?
Or "Can you explain the End User License Agreement to me?"
"What's the telephone number for tech support? What level of service can I expect?"(they might have anticipated this one)
"Where's the manual?"
"What's the upgrade path going to be in the future? What will be the total cost of ownership?"
"How much will it cost to have it customized?"
"What encryption standards are supported?"
"What standardized protocols/file formats does it support out of the box?"
"How much ram does Internet Exploder 8 use?"
"How many threads does Internet Exploder 8 open?"
Yeah you know Micro$oft could actually include a manual with their OS, I mean after you've paid the $400 or whatever it costs... They could document their systems and make it accessible to their users... They could offer toll-free tech support to the people who paid the $400 for the OS.
Face it, Microsoft is not about producing operating systems... They are an Indian monopoly bent on having back-doors into the PCs of every computer on the planet. They want to maintain their power and Vista does exactly that.
They could just give me $6.2mil and I'd fix the damn OS so everybody likes it and it runs well... but NOOOO, that's completely against their policy of not hiring qualified programmers from the US and retaining them.
I'm completely convinced the company is run by nuts and the developers are squirrels, chasing the nuts around and trying to get a cut. And when they find out they won't get a cut, they get cut, and the nuts bust a nut over the cut.
The truth about Macs:
Mac is all about image. The customers are people who buy into that image. As long as it looks fabulous and the reps assure them it is "the best", they'll buy anything. These are the same people that drive BMWs, wear Nike shoes, and have Calvin Klein underwear. They pay $3000 for a sleek laptop when they could have the same thing but not so sleek for $700. What's really gonna get their panties in a bunch is when they find out they're running a Linux mod without all the cool free stuff... lol
You can't support products which don't work in the first place... Anybody knowledgeable enough to support Vista would destroy Micro$oft's reputation with the answers.
Q."Why is it so slow?"
A."Because our back-door spy program is monitoring everything you do"
Q. "Why doesn't my device work with Vista?"
A. "Because the manufacturer hasn't paid us $20,000 for a device driver which we'll outsource to India for $50, costing your friends their jobs."
Q."How does Vista compare to Linux?"
A."Linux is superior in all aspects. You can run a virtualized XP with your favorite game and it will still run faster than Vista."
As a teacher(physics and math), I can prove it quite easily. The higher salary attracts more people to become teachers. More people means more choices for the schools. More choices mean more qualified people will get chosen and placed appropriately.
Another major consideration in education is class size. The smaller the class, the easier it is for the teacher to grade, monitor, and control. Of course, to do this you need more teachers, hence more money.
Finally, you need decent materials for your students. The money you spend has a diminishing return after a certain point, but if your kids don't have books, paper and pencils, you're not adequately funded.
Now can you see that increased school funding improves the quality of education? As for IT, I personally use it to reduce the redundant grading and waste of paper. My school violently opposes me...
I use both and I can tell you that Linux is more widely supported. You wouldn't see much difference between BSD and Linux if you're building a router, DNS server, etc, but when you start getting fancy, BSD becomes cumbersome. Imagine a laptop which runs Quake, webcam, chat with MSN, skype, etc, plus all the usual office junk and multimedia features(Linux wins here). Or try a server with some LAMPP, streaming audio/video, and some funky LDAP authentication backend. Linux is usually a lot eaiser to get running.
Slashdot Mirror
Dude, it's just email. Google supports 40,000,000 users with just a few ragged old PCs and 4 techs. Oh wait, you're running exchange server, yes that explains it...
He probably did that, made a fancy OpenOffice Presenter Slide-show with budget calculations and projections made in OpenOffice Calc, and handed out executive overviews made with Openoffice Writer. After he finished doing all of this, only 5 of his 10 managers bothered to show up and 2 left during the presentation saying "Oh this is all IT stuff".
After giving the data to management, they just said, with blank stares, "So what do you recommend we do?". To which he said, "We can put in a Linux server for $500 which will do what we need, however I need additional training and time to configure it to be safe and reliable, or we need $120k for more Micro$oft licenses and dozens of servers". We already know the response he got from management...
Just switch over to Postfix on the backend. It can be setup to automatically archive, comb, compress old messages and delete them after a specified period of time or move them to some tapes, whatever. Your users won't even notice it if you just make the exchange server a relay host...
I disagree! With just a few simple apps you can do everything exchange does and more.
Email-Postfix
Calendar-iCal + LDAP
Meeting requests-iCal
Tasks-iCal
Synchronization-Webdav or SyncML
Publishing Calendars-Webdav(Caldav) or SyncML
Sharing/Editing the same calendar-Webdav(GroupDav) or SyncML
Webmail-Many choices, some with calendars, AJAX, etc
Blackberry-Funambol, SyncML I mean seriously, what else do you need? Encryption? Got it. There are tons of more features with clients like Evolution and Thunderbird including desktop integration.
Sort of like baby milk?
Would you wear a spacesuit that says "Made in China"?
I tried that but it's not working, eh? You hoser!
Business people view IT workers as dead weight that can be outsourced. In their eyes, you're just another code-monkey and they could do your job but they don't have the time to take a 15-min seminar that will teach them how to be an IT Guru.
Essentially, they have no respect for you, want to get rid of you, and think you can be replaced at any time. Welcome to the world of IT.
It's not hype. Surveying a planet, particle colliders that could accidentally create a black hole(JUST JOKING!), and putting up a space station actually ARE cool! If we spent our money on NASA rather a missile-defense-system, we'd have flying cars by now, electric cars, great batteries, etc. You could go to the moon for a few thousand dollars, mars for a few million, and probably fusion power by now. But NOOOO, we have to spend our money on defending Arab oil reserves, nuclear missile silos, and flying a president out to aircraft carriers so he can watch a famous musician perform for the troops.
Yeah that's about 0.001865385 Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailouts.
Ever try to excavate through ice and rock? You need a drilling platform, not a "bunker-buster" journey-to-the-center-of-Mars capsule. Also, have you ever tried to transmit data through ice and rock? It may work with your Wifi through a 6" concrete wall, but go down a few meters and it gets really tricky.
That's nonsense. Lack of field-specific knowledge is a valid complaint. Only people who lack knowledge think it's ok to manage more knowledgeable people. A manager is not just a time-sheet filler in an engineering company. They are a decision maker, mentor, and guide. That's their job! Very simple! Managing is not filling out MS-Project diagrams and handing them to the BOD. Ok?
I completely disagree! I've worked for people who knew my job better than me(pros) and people who have no clue what I do(lackeys). The pros helped me along and made my job easy. It was a joy to work for them. If they lacked management skills, it didn't matter because the work all got done and was perfect. When working for lackeys, I always got vague descriptions of what needed to be done and then blamed/shamed when the work wasn't perfect. Honestly, MBA's have no business in IT. Too many companies hire MBA's with a little IT experience to run their shops and it is always a bad experience for the workers. I would argue that you need Masters of Technology to run IT shops, people who have a little management training or business acumen and TONS of IT experience. Get the lackeys out and put the pros where they belong. I know it doesn't fit your good 'ole boy network busniess model but it certainly works for the majority of us. Send the MBA who can make Excel spreadsheets over to accounting and keep his @ss out of the programming department. Get it?
When was the last time you saw a half-way sensible judge?
Or "Can you explain the End User License Agreement to me?"
"What's the telephone number for tech support? What level of service can I expect?"(they might have anticipated this one)
"Where's the manual?"
"What's the upgrade path going to be in the future? What will be the total cost of ownership?"
"How much will it cost to have it customized?"
"What encryption standards are supported?"
"What standardized protocols/file formats does it support out of the box?"
"How much ram does Internet Exploder 8 use?"
"How many threads does Internet Exploder 8 open?"
Don't forget sphincter relaxation techniques and reach-around methodology.
What really sucks is when you tell them you want the laptop but not the overpriced crappy OS and they say "Sorry, we can't sell it without Vista".
Yeah you know Micro$oft could actually include a manual with their OS, I mean after you've paid the $400 or whatever it costs... They could document their systems and make it accessible to their users... They could offer toll-free tech support to the people who paid the $400 for the OS.
Face it, Microsoft is not about producing operating systems... They are an Indian monopoly bent on having back-doors into the PCs of every computer on the planet. They want to maintain their power and Vista does exactly that.
They could just give me $6.2mil and I'd fix the damn OS so everybody likes it and it runs well... but NOOOO, that's completely against their policy of not hiring qualified programmers from the US and retaining them.
I'm completely convinced the company is run by nuts and the developers are squirrels, chasing the nuts around and trying to get a cut. And when they find out they won't get a cut, they get cut, and the nuts bust a nut over the cut.
The truth about Macs: Mac is all about image. The customers are people who buy into that image. As long as it looks fabulous and the reps assure them it is "the best", they'll buy anything. These are the same people that drive BMWs, wear Nike shoes, and have Calvin Klein underwear. They pay $3000 for a sleek laptop when they could have the same thing but not so sleek for $700. What's really gonna get their panties in a bunch is when they find out they're running a Linux mod without all the cool free stuff... lol
You can't support products which don't work in the first place... Anybody knowledgeable enough to support Vista would destroy Micro$oft's reputation with the answers.
Q."Why is it so slow?"
A."Because our back-door spy program is monitoring everything you do"
Q. "Why doesn't my device work with Vista?"
A. "Because the manufacturer hasn't paid us $20,000 for a device driver which we'll outsource to India for $50, costing your friends their jobs."
Q."How does Vista compare to Linux?"
A."Linux is superior in all aspects. You can run a virtualized XP with your favorite game and it will still run faster than Vista."
phbbbllltttt!!! Ass sayer
As a teacher(physics and math), I can prove it quite easily. The higher salary attracts more people to become teachers. More people means more choices for the schools. More choices mean more qualified people will get chosen and placed appropriately.
Another major consideration in education is class size. The smaller the class, the easier it is for the teacher to grade, monitor, and control. Of course, to do this you need more teachers, hence more money.
Finally, you need decent materials for your students. The money you spend has a diminishing return after a certain point, but if your kids don't have books, paper and pencils, you're not adequately funded.
Now can you see that increased school funding improves the quality of education? As for IT, I personally use it to reduce the redundant grading and waste of paper. My school violently opposes me...
This is typical performance for another "product from India".
I use both and I can tell you that Linux is more widely supported. You wouldn't see much difference between BSD and Linux if you're building a router, DNS server, etc, but when you start getting fancy, BSD becomes cumbersome. Imagine a laptop which runs Quake, webcam, chat with MSN, skype, etc, plus all the usual office junk and multimedia features(Linux wins here). Or try a server with some LAMPP, streaming audio/video, and some funky LDAP authentication backend. Linux is usually a lot eaiser to get running.