IBM is the largest reseller of Microsoft products and has the largest Microsoft-oriented consulting group in the World. When IBM then looks for an alternative to Windows, pay attention and take notes. That IBM chose Linux to fill that role (less a choice than a recognition of the facts) speaks volume. Especially because IBM didn't invent Linux and doesn't own it and can't buy it.
Complaints of low wages usually come from higher-paid workers in modern countries. In Cambodia, for example, those well-publicized Nike sweat house jobs are highly sought after by Cambodians looking for work. But US workers wouldn't want to work there, no doubt. I know I wouldn't.
How can you compete against cheap labor? Quality. What if quality difference is minor? Legislation!
We have an Apex DVD player. Since we do not have broadcast TV, cable or satellite (by choice) we rely on VHS and DVD for our entertainment. We subscribe to Netflix and keep the rotation pretty constant. IOWs, we use the heck out of our DVD player and have for more than 2 years.
In fact, my only complaint is that the Apex is slow to respond on startup.
Slashdot was (not at the expense of _is_) extremely influential in the beginning of widespread Open Source adoption among technologists and future-technologists -- Slashdot helped the up-coming generation of developers, admins and destined tech-management types to understand and appreciate Open Source. When I was in my late teens (early/mid 80's) Microsoft was cool, Apple was a religion and IBM was the "Big Brother" Monopoly. Since, oh, the late 90's the tide changed so that Microsoft is the "Big [DRM] Brother" Monoploy, IBM is cool and Apple is a religion (some things don't change). Slashdot was pivotal for this generational mindshift. Face it, the real victory with Open Source/Linux isn't measured by server installations or stock market capitalization alone; the compelling trend is the number of developers adopting the Free platform. Stunning, because a major component of business technology decisions is available talent pool. This is one reason VB/ASP, inherently brain-damaged, were so popularly implemented; better technology existed but there was no end of available developers (hence, Balmer's love of developers).
Groklaw provides a different purpose. FOSS is no longer in its infancy or adolescense. Proprietary software can not reasonably claim that FOSS is insecure, under-performing, amatuerish, or unproven. Proprietary software is on the defensive on those fronts; the technological hurdles have been jumped. Proprietary software has shifted to fight for its survival and relevancy based on fears of litigation and regulation. IP infringement worries, singled out in 2002's Halloween document (IIRC), was the biggest concern on business leaders' minds so we have SCO vs. IBM (which is a legal case primarily to give pretext to SCO slandering Linux and its developers in public). Not a coincidence. To counter this broadside, as proprietary software vendors must have hoped, the loosely banded FOSS community would have to pay for serious legal representation which it had no structure to begin to afford; akin to Walmart suing Joe And Betty's Corner Mart and Bovine Rendering Plant -- no contest.
What happened was two-fold, and I bet proprietary software antagonists behind SCO vs IBM were caught off-guard. First, IBM didn't do the less expensive alternative and settle with or buy out SCO, but chose to fight this fight. Also, Redhat didn't sit this one out in order to protect its necessary profit margins, choosing instead to answer SCO's slander and FUD with its own suit. Businesses don't like to litigate when it is cheaper to settle, thus the surprise.
Second, the community didn't just flock to Slashdot and bitch about how SCO sux, nor did it mount DDoS attacks against SCO (which would have brought the wrath of public condemnation against it, as SCO must have hoped, since they obviously had prepared Press Releases for such an occasion; the DDoS attacks SCO did experience were not community based, and, in fact, the community worked to stave off such attacks). Nor did the community just rely upon RMS (notably silent, BTW), ESR, Bruce Perens and many other FOSS heavy weights to answer SCO's charges (though their input is important). What happened was unexpected and in the truest spirit of Open Source: a beneficiary of Open Source development offered her special skills to solve a threat against the community which earned her appreciation. Groklaw was born: Open Source, community-based legal research and analysis, lead by Pamela Jones. She has donated her expert skills, time, sweat, and resources. Moreover, others who appreciate FOSS have donated their expertise, time, resources, as well bring clarity to the fuzzy fog of FUD from SCO and others who would destroy Free and Open Source Software. The community has accepted her as the maintainer of this project, much as it accepts the maintainers of technical projects. As a result the legal briefs and backgrounds along with the quotes from all parties in the press and media are available for public scrutiny. Indeed, this resource
I commonly lookup directions with Google and keep the map pages open (I like Yahoo maps best). I'll keep my laptop on standby and refer to it as necessary. How is that different from a map book of similar size?
But, when Ricochet was more than a San Diego/Denver operation, I *did* enjoy maintaining IM conversations while driving the 5 in Orange County...so shoot me.
Not good enough. I lost my uncle at 54. He had his first bypass when he was 45 (around 1987). Quintuple. Went to the doctor because he "felt a little tired" and they didn't let him leave. (He told everyone he was going on a cruise...). Thing is he, my dad, mom and grandparents all quit smoking at the same time in the mid-seventies. But he picked it back up 5 years later.
After the sucessful surgery he went to the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, TX. Re-learned how to live, eat, exercise and not to smoke. Within a year he was smoking again.
In 1989 he had bypass in the leg arteries. Yes, your arteries can harden there, too. Very painful and he took longer to recover. Went back to the Cooper Clinic. Started smoking again sometime after.
In 1995 he had a heart attack. Made it to the hospital and was put in ICU. Second bypass (triple, at least). Went to Cooper Clinic, start psycho-therapy. Started smoking again. Couldn't quit.
In 1996 he had a massive heart attack. Woke up (somehow) and drove from the ranch where he lived to a small town hospital 45 miles away. Opened and shut three gates on the way out. Strong man. He was airlifted 300 miles to a major hospital and was so close to death he looked dead. Pulled through. Another bypass (heart).
Strong man, but not stronger than nicotine.
Three months later he was still in the hospital. My new bride and I made a special stop on our honeymoon to see him. He was on a heart transplant list. His doctors released him two days before we arrived. We had 48 hours of happiness together. As we were packing to visit the ranch where he lived he collapsed. My wife, a Registered Nurse, performed CPR until the ambulance came. He died sometime that day and they pulled the life support that evening.
54. A life cut short because he could not overcome nicotine addiction.
Turns out that the physicians and he had an understanding before we arrived: a transplant would only delay the inevitable, for he could not stop smoking. They released him knowing he would die. But why die in a hospital? He wanted to see my wife outside. He really wanted to show her the ranch. We buried him on our honeymoon.
Would be more impressive if it came from crunchie-stomping Forbes. But, Forbes doesn't represent corporate leadership -- it is run by has-beens who report trends after they've taken off. Article like "Microsoft at the Tipover Point" will be seen as anti-MS/pro-Linux FUD, but the reasoning seems factually based and is persuasively presented. Analysts like Didio, Enderle, or even lightweights like Dvorak (haven't read him since he bemoaned the advent of large capacity -- 10 GB at the time, IIRC -- hard drives) won't pick up on this... until the MS PR ATM machine runs out of $20 bills.
The price war tacit can't win against FOSS. Price wars are based on outlasting your opponent's reserves. $50 billion in the bank isn't enough to wait out a software methodology based on Free.
If you've been to Starbucks or Borders Books in Southern CA or South Texas, you very well may have seen me.
I recommend Borders -- especially if you ever need a reference book while working...just walk over and get one, bring it back, sip Latte, work/surf, and enjoy.
The only problem I've had was the onset of Christmas music prior to Thanksgiving weekend (!).
Very true. People don't understand NET WEALTH. One of those people is my wife who frets that we don't save anything (except empty computer boxes, but that's a different story) month to month. Every once-in-a-while (usually after being awakened at 2 AM by a woman caught up in anxiety) I fire up Quicken and show her our balance sheet. Now, while we do owe $330,000 on our house its value appraises, conservatively, at 500,000. That's thanks to the housing market in Southern California. She thinks $330,000 debt. Our balance sheet says over $170,000 net worth.
Of course, that's on paper and the housing market could crash (but a "crash" is a drop from the latest high appraisal, so I think even then we'd be safe) and wipe us out, or communist insurgents could take power and outlaw private ownership of property nullifying our investment (but I doubt Howard Dean has a real chance in 2004 -- just kidding). Regardless, real estate has been the best financial investment I've ever made.
In fact, one friend bought a 4-plex unit as a commercial real estate investment last year for about 400,000. She just received an offer for over 700,000 on the units -- after expenses she'd clear $300,000 (but before taxes).
Of course, past performance is not a guarantee of future results; investing is risky -- you could loose all your principal; contact your taz advisor before making any investment decisions. IANALBIRGl (yadda yadda yadda, But I Read Groklaw).
The project I'm currently on just signed a contract with a certain dedicated hosting company offering RedHat Enterprise Server (kinda narrows the selections, eh?) for 10 unit server farm. We're committed to Linux heavily. Never looked back.
Most of our business partners happen to be Windows-based or Sun-centered. Not even they have brought up our heavy reliance on Linux as an issue during due diligence.
I have yet had any business executive question the use of Linux due to legal issues on any project where I've recommended it.
More telling, I have not heard or overhead any discussion of moving to or staying with SCO UNIX. I have not heard any coversation devoid of laughter that had even a passing reference to SCOSource licensing. Nor have I heard anyone suggest moving to AIX/Solaris/*BSD/Windows "until the fog clears."
Linux is ascending; SCO dropped off the charts years and years ago.
AC is a Welshman, He's an IP thief; AC copied UNIX, And stole our SMP.
I went to AC's house, AC wasn't home; AC copied UNIX, And made a NUMA clone.
I went to AC's house, AC was in bed; I grep'ed through his source code, And beat about his head.
AC is a Welshman, Linux is a sham; AC copied UNIX, And stole our grep and man. I went to AC's house, AC was away; I stuffed CVS with trojans, And filled his logs with clay.
AC is a Welshman, AC was a cheat; AC copied UNIX, And stole our SMP.
I went to AC's house, AC did prepare; I grab his cat and traceroute He kicked me you-know-where.
*Derived without authorization from Mother Goose's "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a Thief" Nursery Rhyme
Good point. NeXT's original Cube came with a WORM drive and no floppy in 1989. That's a "recordable" CDROM drive, I guess. (What the H-E-double-toothpicks is a recordable CDROM access system, anyway?)
Saddam's capture also has nothing to do with returning my overdue library books (2 weeks late!) but what's your point?
Saddam was flaunting terms of armistice after Gulf War I, acting as if he believed he had WMDs. Looks like he didn't, and that he didn't is due to the deceit of his scientists, who lead him on to thinking they were carrying out his orders to pursue WMD development. A few years of continued indecision by the "United Nations" (ironic designation if there ever was one) lead by the complicit French and insidious Germans could have given enough time to expose the scientists' scheme and allow Saddam to replace them with willing scientists.
Remember, there was no doubt in the UN that Saddam did in fact HAVE WMD -- just that the French lead opposition to the ENFORCEMENT of UN resolutions was hearlded under the banner that Saddam was beginning to comply with their distruction after years of resistance! That we didn't find the WMDs which even the French assumed he had is truly immaterial -- he was willing to pursue them and proved time and time again he would use them.
Terrorism: he paid a bounty to Palestinian families of suicide bombers. He was a funding source of international terrorism. Maybe unrelated to 9/11 directly, but still an International Terror sponsor with an agenda to obtain WMDs.
America safer: We are. The world recognizes that we are resolute in our determination to take the war to the terrorists. Also, we gave weight to the UN's heretofore meaningless resolutions.
War on Terrorism: It wasn't just anti-NY or even just anti-US terrorism that Bush declared our enemy. (I'm sure you'd be yelling the other direction had he limited the battle to our enemies alone; am I not right?) It was terrorism. The Middle East is a hot-bed of terrorism with the leaders (politico-religious) inciting the common people to acts of terrorism teaching hate at every turn. Having a foothold in the Middle East in strategically positioned Iraq is a critical move to bring the war to the source of the terror.
Did you notice that we have control of two borders of Iran (Afghanistan and Iraq)? Did you notice how easily the Iranians caved in on the production of weapons grade uranium? Think that is a coincidence?
Think it is a coincidence that the third Saudi Cleric came out denouncing militaristic Islam?
Slashdot Mirror
Why are you in the extortion business?
IBM is the largest reseller of Microsoft products and has the largest Microsoft-oriented consulting group in the World. When IBM then looks for an alternative to Windows, pay attention and take notes. That IBM chose Linux to fill that role (less a choice than a recognition of the facts) speaks volume. Especially because IBM didn't invent Linux and doesn't own it and can't buy it.
Unfortunately, I do ;)
:)
TV is a time sink. I have Slashdot and Groklaw already....
Complaints of low wages usually come from higher-paid workers in modern countries. In Cambodia, for example, those well-publicized Nike sweat house jobs are highly sought after by Cambodians looking for work. But US workers wouldn't want to work there, no doubt. I know I wouldn't. How can you compete against cheap labor? Quality. What if quality difference is minor? Legislation!
We have an Apex DVD player. Since we do not have broadcast TV, cable or satellite (by choice) we rely on VHS and DVD for our entertainment. We subscribe to Netflix and keep the rotation pretty constant. IOWs, we use the heck out of our DVD player and have for more than 2 years.
In fact, my only complaint is that the Apex is slow to respond on startup.
Other than that, it's great.
Slashdot was (not at the expense of _is_) extremely influential in the beginning of widespread Open Source adoption among technologists and future-technologists -- Slashdot helped the up-coming generation of developers, admins and destined tech-management types to understand and appreciate Open Source. When I was in my late teens (early/mid 80's) Microsoft was cool, Apple was a religion and IBM was the "Big Brother" Monopoly. Since, oh, the late 90's the tide changed so that Microsoft is the "Big [DRM] Brother" Monoploy, IBM is cool and Apple is a religion (some things don't change). Slashdot was pivotal for this generational mindshift. Face it, the real victory with Open Source/Linux isn't measured by server installations or stock market capitalization alone; the compelling trend is the number of developers adopting the Free platform. Stunning, because a major component of business technology decisions is available talent pool. This is one reason VB/ASP, inherently brain-damaged, were so popularly implemented; better technology existed but there was no end of available developers (hence, Balmer's love of developers).
Groklaw provides a different purpose. FOSS is no longer in its infancy or adolescense. Proprietary software can not reasonably claim that FOSS is insecure, under-performing, amatuerish, or unproven. Proprietary software is on the defensive on those fronts; the technological hurdles have been jumped. Proprietary software has shifted to fight for its survival and relevancy based on fears of litigation and regulation. IP infringement worries, singled out in 2002's Halloween document (IIRC), was the biggest concern on business leaders' minds so we have SCO vs. IBM (which is a legal case primarily to give pretext to SCO slandering Linux and its developers in public). Not a coincidence. To counter this broadside, as proprietary software vendors must have hoped, the loosely banded FOSS community would have to pay for serious legal representation which it had no structure to begin to afford; akin to Walmart suing Joe And Betty's Corner Mart and Bovine Rendering Plant -- no contest.
What happened was two-fold, and I bet proprietary software antagonists behind SCO vs IBM were caught off-guard. First, IBM didn't do the less expensive alternative and settle with or buy out SCO, but chose to fight this fight. Also, Redhat didn't sit this one out in order to protect its necessary profit margins, choosing instead to answer SCO's slander and FUD with its own suit. Businesses don't like to litigate when it is cheaper to settle, thus the surprise.
Second, the community didn't just flock to Slashdot and bitch about how SCO sux, nor did it mount DDoS attacks against SCO (which would have brought the wrath of public condemnation against it, as SCO must have hoped, since they obviously had prepared Press Releases for such an occasion; the DDoS attacks SCO did experience were not community based, and, in fact, the community worked to stave off such attacks). Nor did the community just rely upon RMS (notably silent, BTW), ESR, Bruce Perens and many other FOSS heavy weights to answer SCO's charges (though their input is important). What happened was unexpected and in the truest spirit of Open Source: a beneficiary of Open Source development offered her special skills to solve a threat against the community which earned her appreciation. Groklaw was born: Open Source, community-based legal research and analysis, lead by Pamela Jones. She has donated her expert skills, time, sweat, and resources. Moreover, others who appreciate FOSS have donated their expertise, time, resources, as well bring clarity to the fuzzy fog of FUD from SCO and others who would destroy Free and Open Source Software. The community has accepted her as the maintainer of this project, much as it accepts the maintainers of technical projects. As a result the legal briefs and backgrounds along with the quotes from all parties in the press and media are available for public scrutiny. Indeed, this resource
Someone alert George Noory and Art Bell. Perhaps another web development team will take their celestial cue...
keep the map pages open (I like Yahoo maps
best). I'll keep my laptop on standby and
refer to it as necessary. How is that
different from a map book of similar size?
But, when Ricochet was more than a San Diego/Denver operation, I *did* enjoy maintaining IM conversations while driving the 5 in Orange County...so shoot me.
Not good enough. I lost my uncle at 54. He had his first bypass when he was 45 (around 1987). Quintuple. Went to the doctor because he "felt a little tired" and they didn't let him leave. (He told everyone he was going on a cruise...). Thing is he, my dad, mom and grandparents all quit smoking at the same time in the mid-seventies. But he picked it back up 5 years later.
After the sucessful surgery he went to the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, TX. Re-learned how to live, eat, exercise and not to smoke. Within a year he was smoking again.
In 1989 he had bypass in the leg arteries. Yes, your arteries can harden there, too. Very painful and he took longer to recover. Went back to the Cooper Clinic. Started smoking again sometime after.
In 1995 he had a heart attack. Made it to the hospital and was put in ICU. Second bypass (triple, at least). Went to Cooper Clinic, start psycho-therapy. Started smoking again. Couldn't quit.
In 1996 he had a massive heart attack. Woke up (somehow) and drove from the ranch where he lived to a small town hospital 45 miles away. Opened and shut three gates on the way out. Strong man. He was airlifted 300 miles to a major hospital and was so close to death he looked dead. Pulled through. Another bypass (heart).
Strong man, but not stronger than nicotine.
Three months later he was still in the hospital. My new bride and I made a special stop on our honeymoon to see him. He was on a heart transplant list. His doctors released him two days before we arrived. We had 48 hours of happiness together. As we were packing to visit the ranch where he lived he collapsed. My wife, a Registered Nurse, performed CPR until the ambulance came. He died sometime that day and they pulled the life support that evening.
54. A life cut short because he could not overcome nicotine addiction.
Turns out that the physicians and he had an understanding before we arrived: a transplant would only delay the inevitable, for he could not stop smoking. They released him knowing he would die. But why die in a hospital? He wanted to see my wife outside. He really wanted to show her the ranch. We buried him on our honeymoon.
Damn nicotine.
[sorry, you struck a nerve]
The price war tacit can't win against FOSS. Price wars are based on outlasting your opponent's reserves. $50 billion in the bank isn't enough to wait out a software methodology based on Free.
Ok, so I haven't shaved today, either, but I did write up a little Cool Use For Perl on PerlMonks called Expresso Login.
If you've been to Starbucks or Borders Books in Southern CA or South Texas, you very well may have seen me.
I recommend Borders -- especially if you ever need a reference book while working...just walk over and get one, bring it back, sip Latte, work/surf, and enjoy.
The only problem I've had was the onset of Christmas music prior to Thanksgiving weekend (!).
- I wonder if the format will be in XML?
Putting byte-code in an overwhelmingly verbose text-oriented format? I'd expect such a suggestion from CPU manufacturers, but few others.Very true. People don't understand NET WEALTH. One of those people is my wife who frets that we don't save anything (except empty computer boxes, but that's a different story) month to month. Every once-in-a-while (usually after being awakened at 2 AM by a woman caught up in anxiety) I fire up Quicken and show her our balance sheet. Now, while we do owe $330,000 on our house its value appraises, conservatively, at 500,000. That's thanks to the housing market in Southern California. She thinks $330,000 debt. Our balance sheet says over $170,000 net worth.
Of course, that's on paper and the housing market could crash (but a "crash" is a drop from the latest high appraisal, so I think even then we'd be safe) and wipe us out, or communist insurgents could take power and outlaw private ownership of property nullifying our investment (but I doubt Howard Dean has a real chance in 2004 -- just kidding). Regardless, real estate has been the best financial investment I've ever made.
In fact, one friend bought a 4-plex unit as a commercial real estate investment last year for about 400,000. She just received an offer for over 700,000 on the units -- after expenses she'd clear $300,000 (but before taxes).
Of course, past performance is not a guarantee of future results; investing is risky -- you could loose all your principal; contact your taz advisor before making any investment decisions. IANALBIRGl (yadda yadda yadda, But I Read Groklaw).
The project I'm currently on just signed a contract with a certain dedicated hosting company offering RedHat Enterprise Server (kinda narrows the selections, eh?) for 10 unit server farm. We're committed to Linux heavily. Never looked back. Most of our business partners happen to be Windows-based or Sun-centered. Not even they have brought up our heavy reliance on Linux as an issue during due diligence. I have yet had any business executive question the use of Linux due to legal issues on any project where I've recommended it. More telling, I have not heard or overhead any discussion of moving to or staying with SCO UNIX. I have not heard any coversation devoid of laughter that had even a passing reference to SCOSource licensing. Nor have I heard anyone suggest moving to AIX/Solaris/*BSD/Windows "until the fog clears." Linux is ascending; SCO dropped off the charts years and years ago.
And I didn't know Ted Kaczynski was even eligible for early release...
And I'm not referring to the Nigerians.
- Darl "Bill Gates" McBrideand
Kevin "Mini-Mc" McBride*Derived without authorization from Mother Goose's "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a Thief" Nursery Rhyme
Good point. NeXT's original Cube came with a WORM drive and no floppy in 1989. That's a "recordable" CDROM drive, I guess. (What the H-E-double-toothpicks is a recordable CDROM access system, anyway?)
if (&HumanLogicCheck("This sentence is not true.")) {
- die "You can never get here";
else {- die "You can never get here";
}btw, wwwtp is what's wrong with this picture
I'll take solid-state solution, thankyouverymuchsir
GNU Hurd, anyone?
Slashdot editing and spellchecking?
[RT: If your UID is > 100k you should click the link]
And the biggest Vaporware of 2003 (drum roll, please):
Me? I'm still waiting for the LinuxOne IPO.
Saddam's capture also has nothing to do with returning my overdue library books (2 weeks late!) but what's your point?
Saddam was flaunting terms of armistice after Gulf War I, acting as if he believed he had WMDs. Looks like he didn't, and that he didn't is due to the deceit of his scientists, who lead him on to thinking they were carrying out his orders to pursue WMD development. A few years of continued indecision by the "United Nations" (ironic designation if there ever was one) lead by the complicit French and insidious Germans could have given enough time to expose the scientists' scheme and allow Saddam to replace them with willing scientists.
Remember, there was no doubt in the UN that Saddam did in fact HAVE WMD -- just that the French lead opposition to the ENFORCEMENT of UN resolutions was hearlded under the banner that Saddam was beginning to comply with their distruction after years of resistance! That we didn't find the WMDs which even the French assumed he had is truly immaterial -- he was willing to pursue them and proved time and time again he would use them.
Terrorism: he paid a bounty to Palestinian families of suicide bombers. He was a funding source of international terrorism. Maybe unrelated to 9/11 directly, but still an International Terror sponsor with an agenda to obtain WMDs.
America safer:
We are. The world recognizes that we are resolute in our determination to take the war to the terrorists. Also, we gave weight to the UN's heretofore meaningless resolutions.
War on Terrorism:
It wasn't just anti-NY or even just anti-US terrorism that Bush declared our enemy. (I'm sure you'd be yelling the other direction had he limited the battle to our enemies alone; am I not right?) It was terrorism. The Middle East is a hot-bed of terrorism with the leaders (politico-religious) inciting the common people to acts of terrorism teaching hate at every turn. Having a foothold in the Middle East in strategically positioned Iraq is a critical move to bring the war to the source of the terror.
Did you notice that we have control of two borders of Iran (Afghanistan and Iraq)? Did you notice how easily the Iranians caved in on the production of weapons grade uranium? Think that is a coincidence?
Think it is a coincidence that the third Saudi Cleric came out denouncing militaristic Islam?
Instant accessory to a felony -- "We have documented evidence that you drove or rode with the suspect..."