They want encryption keys, but I dare say that not ONE of the investigators (or government officials) can point to a single connection between the recent stuff in London and encrypted information. They keep demanding solutions to problems that don't exist - that's why this stuff keeps happening. If they'd try to solve the problems that DO exist, they might get somehwere- WITHOUT becoming a police state.
I guess that depends on what you're doing...things can easily still "get done," but one has to wonder about the negative influence that these distractions might be having- not just on the end results, but on the overall well-being of those involved (think "stress").
Now, we have people like Bill Gates, who fancies himself as some kind of sociological genius. To wit: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has tried to make the case that however overwhelmed workers may feel, they are actually suffering from "information underload." The problem, he says, is that today's software doesn't do an adequate job of filtering information and presenting it in more useful ways.
This is part of the problem, not the solution. At the end of the day, humans are still human, and as such, there are limitations. I tend to favor the other side of the fence, where you're not forcing people to deal with more information (no matter how it's packaged), but encouraging people to maximize conditions which lead to good productiivty. Stress and overload are not where it 's at. I remember reading a few years ago about a company that completely unplugged their e-mail system, and productivity shot through the roof.
If Bush can get away with the eggregious and stupid post-hoc fallacy that he uses to justify the extension of the Patriot Act, our freedom is in more trouble than we realize. Americans themselves have to be accountable before they have the ability to hold anyone else to that standard.
While it might definitely be worthwhile to tell if people are coming BACK to your site, it would also be very valuable to look at individual sessions, and devise some more generalized conclusions from that. If you see a lot of sesions where the home page and maybe one other page are accessed (with no purchase), it's a sure bet you've got a problem. On the other hand, it would seem that if you have someone who navigates quickly to the catalog, selects and purchases an item, it could very well be a repeat customer.
I'm not sure that long-term data is that important (that require persistent cookies or other explicit ways of identifying individual users)...there seems to be a lot you can understand just by looking at what transpired during each session.
They don't have to. They've filed software 3000 patents last year, some of them on bone headed, obvious things. Once they realize they're really in trouble, they'll start using those patents.
Maybe, but there is a phenomenon called, "won the battle, lost the war." I remember reading once about this small group that took on McDonald's, publishing some very unflattering information about the food they serve. McDonald's tried to shut them down, and they were succeeding- but this cost them so much public acrimony that McDonald's had no choice but to back off. Being big doesn't mean that you always get your way. Ultimately, the final arbiters are the people you rely on for your revenue.
Now, I visit sites like/. when I'm working on a hard problem and need to concentrate on it. These interruptions break my flow of concentration. Breaking the flow of concentration costs me twenty to thirty minutes of refocusing time. This impacts productivity.
I've found that breaking the flow of concentration to be very productive on occasion...sometimes difficult problems elude a reasonably responsive solution, so stepping aside to something less mind-numbing for a few minutes can provide a surprisingly refreshing look at the problem.
WhenI read stuff like this, I keep thinking "procrastination." I also remember several college acquaintances who would get things done on time, but since they always waited until the last possible minute, it was either crap, or work that was er, borrowed heavily, from other sources. This, in turn, has occasionally made me me wonder how many people with college degrees have actually earned them. Putting in the time may get you the paper, but it says nothing of the degree of integrity/quality exercised along the way.
without sacrificing any of the more complex (and powerful) capabilities that Linux posesses
This is what I find rather ironic. The very nature of complexity implies that we should know a little bit about what we're doing before we actually do it. I don't believe there is anything that will step in and understand this stuff for you, on Windows, Linux, or any other operating system. You can make the process less cumbersome, but if you don't understand the consequences, you're still in the same boat.
First and foremost, we are looking to understand some of the scenarios like why customers are considering Linux, and making sure we have the right offerings for the marketplace.
Sorry...you can't compete with freedom, since everything Microsoft does is exactly the opposite- DRM, rediculous EULAs, closed, proprietary source code, not to even mention the licensing costs. The customer is at their mercy.
What is it about non-disclosure that doesn't work? If I sign an agreement that says I will not divulge any information to a competitor, isn't that enough? If I'm bound by an agreement to forego any employment in my field for a period of time to pacify my previous employer, what's to say that I won't set up a backroom meeting to discuss the latest "sports scores" so that I can continue making my mortgage payments?
I'm wondering if anti-competes are more about scaring people into staying than they are about ensuring that people don't divulge sensitive information.
In my area (midwest), a lot of the positions requiring a CS degree are hiring for these same kinds of positions- at least as far as the J2EE stuf f is concerned. I'm not sure what they're thinking- I seriously doubt that a J2EE installation is going to be the site of a "next great enlightenment" where something technically obscure and marginally useful is going to be discovered.
laser printer usually spit out about 500-1000 pages of "error" text before the job got cancelled by an operator.
um...wow. I didn't know what kind of scale you were talking, but that's um, BIG.
I still don't know that I'd classify the java/c++ stuff a walk in the park - depending on how deeply the problem is buried, it can take a fair amount of effort to track down the cause.
or have JCL spit out a bunch of random nonsense because you didn't allocate the correct blocksize for your file you'll hate your job too.
That's all it takes to hate your job? Ever get an error compiling a C++ app using templates, or a highly abstracted java class with an error generated somewhere, causing a problem somewhere else? These don't exactly put the joy *into* programming.
I've always been interested in doing things the "right way", but the only place you can get that, it seems, is, well, if you happen to be working with other people that practice these methods.
Windows doesn't need to reboot to check/repair disks.
Huh? Just last night I was having a terrible problem with a game that kept freezing my XP system. I opened a DOS prompt and typed 'chkdsk/F', and to my dismay it said that it required "exclusive use" of the HD, and asked if I wanted to schedule this check for the next reboot.
...it's something that you'd only see in America- the world's #1 throw-away culture.
I take issue with the notion that it's a "cost-effective" alternative. When you factor in the cost of the pollution it will create, effects on health and the environment, I think the cost will be much greater than people realize.
There is goodness in diversity. The sheer fact is that the way someone chooses to do something (like the INANE bookmarks menu in Konqueror) might drive a user nuts. Fortunately (due to the diversity that abounds) there are enough good, competeting alternatives that I can easily find something that I find more palatable.
There are many dynamics associated with the diversity that we see...so the next distro isn't going to hit it big...so what? Think about the social aspects- it could be perfect for a small group of individuals that would like to focus on something that interests them without the politics and headaches that sometimes characterize the larger, more formalized development efforts.
Agreed...John Q. Public is a problem, but since Circuit City bombed with their version of DRM (mostly because I suspect it was too annoying), there might be hope. There might actually be a tipping point, beyond which average consumers will seek alternatives, or simply go without. I hope the latter is what ultimately manifests- I don't think there's any message quite like a large number of people saying, "we're not interested."
No matter what happens, I hope consumers see the light and stop embracing methods that involve copyright infringement/piracy - it's a no-win situation. Much more can be accomplished much quicker if people just stop consuming the offending products until what's being offered is more suitable.
Slashdot Mirror
They want encryption keys, but I dare say that not ONE of the investigators (or government officials) can point to a single connection between the recent stuff in London and encrypted information. They keep demanding solutions to problems that don't exist - that's why this stuff keeps happening. If they'd try to solve the problems that DO exist, they might get somehwere- WITHOUT becoming a police state.
I guess that depends on what you're doing...things can easily still "get done," but one has to wonder about the negative influence that these distractions might be having- not just on the end results, but on the overall well-being of those involved (think "stress").
Now, we have people like Bill Gates, who fancies himself as some kind of sociological genius. To wit:
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has tried to make the case that however overwhelmed workers may feel, they are actually suffering from "information underload." The problem, he says, is that today's software doesn't do an adequate job of filtering information and presenting it in more useful ways.
This is part of the problem, not the solution. At the end of the day, humans are still human, and as such, there are limitations. I tend to favor the other side of the fence, where you're not forcing people to deal with more information (no matter how it's packaged), but encouraging people to maximize conditions which lead to good productiivty. Stress and overload are not where it
's at. I remember reading a few years ago about a company that completely unplugged their e-mail system, and productivity shot through the roof.
If Bush can get away with the eggregious and stupid post-hoc fallacy that he uses to justify the extension of the Patriot Act, our freedom is in more trouble than we realize. Americans themselves have to be accountable before they have the ability to hold anyone else to that standard.
While it might definitely be worthwhile to tell if people are coming BACK to your site, it would also be very valuable to look at individual sessions, and devise some more generalized conclusions from that. If you see a lot of sesions where the home page and maybe one other page are accessed (with no purchase), it's a sure bet you've got a problem. On the other hand, it would seem that if you have someone who navigates quickly to the catalog, selects and purchases an item, it could very well be a repeat customer.
I'm not sure that long-term data is that important (that require persistent cookies or other explicit ways of identifying individual users)...there seems to be a lot you can understand just by looking at what transpired during each session.
I think they're all just selling stuff to each other.
They don't have to. They've filed software 3000 patents last year, some of them on bone headed, obvious things. Once they realize they're really in trouble, they'll start using those patents.
Maybe, but there is a phenomenon called, "won the battle, lost the war." I remember reading once about this small group that took on McDonald's, publishing some very unflattering information about the food they serve. McDonald's tried to shut them down, and they were succeeding- but this cost them so much public acrimony that McDonald's had no choice but to back off. Being big doesn't mean that you always get your way. Ultimately, the final arbiters are the people you rely on for your revenue.
Now, I visit sites like /. when I'm working on a hard problem and need to concentrate on it. These interruptions break my flow of concentration. Breaking the flow of concentration costs me twenty to thirty minutes of refocusing time. This impacts productivity.
I've found that breaking the flow of concentration to be very productive on occasion...sometimes difficult problems elude a reasonably responsive solution, so stepping aside to something less mind-numbing for a few minutes can provide a surprisingly refreshing look at the problem.
WhenI read stuff like this, I keep thinking "procrastination." I also remember several college acquaintances who would get things done on time, but since they always waited until the last possible minute, it was either crap, or work that was er, borrowed heavily, from other sources. This, in turn, has occasionally made me me wonder how many people with college degrees have actually earned them. Putting in the time may get you the paper, but it says nothing of the degree of integrity/quality exercised along the way.
without sacrificing any of the more complex (and powerful) capabilities that Linux posesses
This is what I find rather ironic. The very nature of complexity implies that we should know a little bit about what we're doing before we actually do it. I don't believe there is anything that will step in and understand this stuff for you, on Windows, Linux, or any other operating system. You can make the process less cumbersome, but if you don't understand the consequences, you're still in the same boat.
First and foremost, we are looking to understand some of the scenarios like why customers are considering Linux, and making sure we have the right offerings for the marketplace.
Sorry...you can't compete with freedom, since everything Microsoft does is exactly the opposite- DRM, rediculous EULAs, closed, proprietary source code, not to even mention the licensing costs. The customer is at their mercy.
He has LOTS of experience to draw on. The only thing he probably doesn't understand yet is that not all operating systems work like Windows.
What is it about non-disclosure that doesn't work? If I sign an agreement that says I will not divulge any information to a competitor, isn't that enough? If I'm bound by an agreement to forego any employment in my field for a period of time to pacify my previous employer, what's to say that I won't set up a backroom meeting to discuss the latest "sports scores" so that I can continue making my mortgage payments?
I'm wondering if anti-competes are more about scaring people into staying than they are about ensuring that people don't divulge sensitive information.
In the tech world, there isn't much that Microsoft *doesn't* compete with. So what does one do...flip burgers for a year?
A good CS program should teach you CS fundamentals, which will enable you to adapt to any "hot new technology" that emerges
It doesn't require a degree to adapt. It requires a level of motivation found in people who aren't just there to collect a paycheck.
In my area (midwest), a lot of the positions requiring a CS degree are hiring for these same kinds of positions- at least as far as the J2EE stuf f is concerned. I'm not sure what they're thinking- I seriously doubt that a J2EE installation is going to be the site of a "next great enlightenment" where something technically obscure and marginally useful is going to be discovered.
I hear your pain...if anyone is in need of castration, it's these guys.
laser printer usually spit out about 500-1000 pages of "error" text before the job got cancelled by an operator.
um...wow. I didn't know what kind of scale you were talking, but that's um, BIG.
I still don't know that I'd classify the java/c++ stuff a walk in the park - depending on how deeply the problem is buried, it can take a fair amount of effort to track down the cause.
or have JCL spit out a bunch of random nonsense because you didn't allocate the correct blocksize for your file you'll hate your job too.
That's all it takes to hate your job? Ever get an error compiling a C++ app using templates, or a highly abstracted java class with an error generated somewhere, causing a problem somewhere else? These don't exactly put the joy *into* programming.
How about some examples?
I've always been interested in doing things the "right way", but the only place you can get that, it seems, is, well, if you happen to be working with other people that practice these methods.
Windows doesn't need to reboot to check/repair disks.
/F', and to my dismay it said that it required "exclusive use" of the HD, and asked if I wanted to schedule this check for the next reboot.
Huh? Just last night I was having a terrible problem with a game that kept freezing my XP system. I opened a DOS prompt and typed 'chkdsk
Amazon taking a stand against Patent abuse.
Don't you mean IP whores?
I take issue with the notion that it's a "cost-effective" alternative. When you factor in the cost of the pollution it will create, effects on health and the environment, I think the cost will be much greater than people realize.
There is goodness in diversity. The sheer fact is that the way someone chooses to do something (like the INANE bookmarks menu in Konqueror) might drive a user nuts. Fortunately (due to the diversity that abounds) there are enough good, competeting alternatives that I can easily find something that I find more palatable.
There are many dynamics associated with the diversity that we see...so the next distro isn't going to hit it big...so what? Think about the social aspects- it could be perfect for a small group of individuals that would like to focus on something that interests them without the politics and headaches that sometimes characterize the larger, more formalized development efforts.
Agreed...John Q. Public is a problem, but since Circuit City bombed with their version of DRM (mostly because I suspect it was too annoying), there might be hope. There might actually be a tipping point, beyond which average consumers will seek alternatives, or simply go without. I hope the latter is what ultimately manifests- I don't think there's any message quite like a large number of people saying, "we're not interested."
No matter what happens, I hope consumers see the light and stop embracing methods that involve copyright infringement/piracy - it's a no-win situation. Much more can be accomplished much quicker if people just stop consuming the offending products until what's being offered is more suitable.