I have over 50 VMs - every major version of RH, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, DOS (not so much anymore), Windows (back to Win 95, but mostly Win98 and newer).
I use these for testing installation of various packages that I build/release for industry. That, plus multimedia will guarantee many more TB's of disk storage for me.
I have found the reliability to be a factor in any drive > 1TB from any manufacturer. They all suck. I have had drives from WD, Seagarbage, DeathStars all fail if > 1TB. I am just putting together bigger disk farms using 1 TB drives. SATA is fine for what I need, I don't run more than a couple of VMs at once, I just need access to them occasionally.
I have been developing software for ~15 years having been employed with only 4 companies, but 3 of those were consulting companies and as such I have worked at dozens of companies. Some at CMM levels (above 1) and some ISO and some with aboslutely no process.
It's been my experience that most companies that want process improvement view it as a way to protect the company. Management's view of process has a primary goal of documenting everything. Management theorizes that if this occurs, then employees can be swapped, let go, hired with minimal interruption to the company's profits.
Management's secondary goal is to gain consistency for their product. This is a very distant secondary goal compared to the primary goal.
Unfortunately for Management, Engineers by their nature aren't stupid. They recognize what's happening when there is a "process initiative" started at a company. It's an effort to lessen the impact of any one individual's contribution to the company as a whole. In order for a process improvement program (PIP) to gain wide acceptance at a company, the Management of a company has to show its employees that they are valued and will continue to be valued and demonstrate to them that this faith is justified by deeds and not just words. Otherwise it truly is just a mechanism that accelerates the outsourcing of labor. Of course, often Management finds out too late that individual contributions do matter, not all Engineers are created equal, some are more "equal" than others. But by then it's too late, they've left and started their own company to compete against them. (Thus starting the entire process over again - Matrix style).
Consumers of products from process-based companies, generally win, either through better quality and lower cost, or just lower cost (because the labor was outsourced). It's difficult for the consumer to know which occurred.
Always remember a quote from someone famous: "The ideal company has 0 employees".
The other irony WRT to "process improvement" that I have experienced, first hand is that Management is often exempted from it. That's usually a bad omen.
Company 1 CEO: "Hey we're losing money. Let's find someone to buy us. No one wants to buy us. Let's merge with someone else"
Company 2 CEO: "Hey we're losing money. Let's find someone to buy us. No one wants to buy us. Let's merge with someone else"
CEO 1 to CEO 2:
Yes let's merge our two losing companies. At least then we can make sure that we secure Golden Parachutes for senior management,
make boatloads of money for our lawyers and fuck all the shareholders, fuck all the "little" employees, all in one step.
"but they do require people-time to keep them matching production."
Not really. Not if the production machine is a virtual machine. Clone it, and depending on how your DB is set up (separate machine or same machine) point the cloned vm towards a different DB and you are up and running in minutes.
Actually, Steve Jobs probably would allow malware, if someone paid Apple for those rights. He has shown as much contempt for Apple end-users as Bill Gates has for Windows end-users. The difference between the two is that in Apple's case Apple controls the machine and the user's experience, In Window's case Microsoft doesn't give a crap about the quality of their software so they leave it to the end-user to decide who controls their machine - either the malware writer's or themselves.
Personally If I had to choose to live in a world only with Microsoft and Apple, I would choose Microsoft because at least with them, I have the freedom to choose. With Apple there is no choice - it's their rules, or the highway.
I use Linux when I can, and Microsoft when I have to. And will start using stone tablets before I ever use or develop for any Apple product. You can "take them words" all the way to Bill Gates' bank accounts...
What is the definition of a sport? One possible definition: (must meet all guidelines)
1) Participants must exert enough physical activity to sweat
2) Participants must be able to directly affect the outcome of another participant
So, Golf isn't a sport - doesn't meet #2. Darts isn't a sport - doesn't meet #1, etc. etc.
That's not to say that these games don't require a great deal of skill, they do, but that's not enough to call them a sport.
"Because of the wonderful things it does".. Seriously
I use a a variety of operating systems at home and at my job (software developer).
The reason that I am still supporting XP (and probably will for at least several more years
is because of the recent "Windows 7 phone home every 6 months or I stop working" BS WAT patch
When I inform customers of this they immediately say "XP for now, but make sure we can port to
linux/Mac on the next upgrade cycle". IT departments/Companies that I talk to are not taking kindly
to Win 7 because of WAT. I am currently working on 3 projects: one app with enhanced features(still on XP), 2 in an
upgrade cycle and am supporting XP, Debian, RHEL. I suspect they will move to Linux early and only want XP as
as backup, in case the rest of their system has a problem
For my personal use, I use various flavors of Linux for everything except for I keep one XP OS VM (Workstation)
for running Adobe Photoshop CS2 for my photography hobby. Over the last 3 years I have migrated everything
else to Linux, or I live without. I don't do on-line banking because of the IE/ActiveX bullshit that banks pull
I once worked with a sales guy and he once told me that every 2 years, he "accidently" dropped his laptop while on the road just so that he could get a newer model. The company we worked for was very cheap and that was the only way to get an upgrade. At that time, I was using a laptop that was 5 years old, so I guess he knew how to work the system and I didn't....
1) Go out and do a volume purchase of the cheapest Dell system that meets your needs.
2) Remove hard drives
3) Sell hard drives on ebay to offset (reduce) cost of systems
4) Use as thin clients
5) Look for new job, after you got fired when the company you work for realized that thin clients suck and you had to go back and purchase hard drives for all of the systems
Otherwise they may have problems with the Mayan calendar, as it is resetting. Hopefully they get the TZDATA correct. Unlike Ubuntu which seems to update TZDATA continually every week. Seriously does someone know WTF they doing for TZDATA, or is someone, somewhere always changing what timezone the people want to be in?
I guess the LCD manufacturers have finally figured out how to dump all of the outdated crap 10.1" LCD screens that manufacturers have warehouses full of and still get people to pay top dollar for them - and sell 2 at a time.
"Ants with longer legs would pass the nest on the way home, and ones with shorter legs came up... well... short"
I could understand how one might lengthen legs (e.g. miniature stilts), but how did the scientist shorten their legs? OMG - they cut Kenny's legs off!!!
Observe that the material is not actually fastened to the wall, rather is is anchored to the top of the wall and the bottom of the wall (look at the piece of angle iron in the demo)
This angle iron also distributes the force across the material, without it, it would just rip out where it was anchored, such as if just screws were used to attach it. I would bet that that piece of angle iron is pretty well tightened...
If it were truly fastened as wallpaper, then it may prevent the wall from shattering, however the wall would still collapse where the material stopped unless anchored (as in the demo). Hence, instead of pieces of a wall falling on you, the entire wall would just fall on you, probably killing you...
And yes, the rest of the structure would still collapse on you as well.
This is probably an advance, however it probably would require new structural building techniques, as well as additional steel anchors/angle iron for it to be truly effective. Not something joe public could ever afford, but I am sure governments could "find" the money.....
I do not like Firefox "phoning home" anymore than I like Microsoft "phoning home". I do not care if it's open source or not. I am here to tell Mozilla to STOP phoning home. I don't care what it's for or however good the intentions are... This combined with the apparent complete lack of concern for bugs and stability of Firefox 3.5.x and the apparent desire to just keep pumping out more versions and features, instead of actually releasing a quality version, is making me definitely consider alternatives. It appears that as the Mozilla organization grows in size, it's becoming similar to Microsoft.. This can't be a good thing.
And the cut-n-paste has been broken since v3.0 - are they ever going to fix it? - Or just keep putting out newer versions that the more newer it is, the more it crashes.
This doesn't sound like a winning situation for either party, here's why:
1) You don't have an IP and you don't have customers, so what the megacorp is buying is your services. Basically, they are hiring you and giving you a job. If this is the case, The purchase price relects future potential (as a competitor). Considering the money for future potential, you are most probably going to be on the losing end of the deal.
2) Once you are absorbed by the borg, I mean megacorp, you are done. You lose all ability to make choices for yourselves. You have lost control to choose your own destiny and there is a 99% chance you will end up leaving and just starting another company all over again. - This may not be a bad thing, just a pain and you will get tired of doing this after the 1st couple of times.
3) Be very careful of any thing that you sign - especially if it limits your ability to quit, any non-compete agreements, any thing that limits your ability to work for another company (or a new company). Trade secrets - if you do leave, you may not be able to pursue new ideas, if the megacorp is already doing that. - This you probably won't find out until you have joined them - by then it will be too late.
4) In the unlikely event that the amount of money would "set you up for life", then GO FOR IT. Live off of the interest and enjoy yourselves. Life is too short to be spent entirely in front of a computer screen and keyboard - seriously dude, enjoy life - it's wayyyyyyyy tooooo short.....
Slashdot Mirror
I run multiple virtual machines with multple OS's. Windows and *Nix variants. How is this going to work (or not work) with secure boot?
Note: "simplified coding" != solving complex problems simply
"There is no silver bullet that results in good code. Good code is the result of being written by a good programmer - regardless of the language used"
So, what you're really saying is that the electron is a.... wavicle?
... simple enough....
example of wavicle math:
0.5particle + 0.5wave = 1 wavicle
0.5particle + -0.5wave = antimatter
-0.5partcile + -.5wave = antimatter
0.99particle +0.1wave = particle
0.1particle+0.99wave = wave
Intuitively Obvious To The Casual Observer...
I have over 50 VMs - every major version of RH, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, DOS (not so much anymore), Windows (back to Win 95, but mostly Win98 and newer). I use these for testing installation of various packages that I build/release for industry. That, plus multimedia will guarantee many more TB's of disk storage for me. I have found the reliability to be a factor in any drive > 1TB from any manufacturer. They all suck. I have had drives from WD, Seagarbage, DeathStars all fail if > 1TB. I am just putting together bigger disk farms using 1 TB drives. SATA is fine for what I need, I don't run more than a couple of VMs at once, I just need access to them occasionally.
I have been developing software for ~15 years having been employed with only 4 companies, but 3 of those were consulting companies and as such I have worked at dozens of companies. Some at CMM levels (above 1) and some ISO and some with aboslutely no process.
It's been my experience that most companies that want process improvement view it as a way to protect the company. Management's view of process has a primary goal of documenting everything. Management theorizes that if this occurs, then employees can be swapped, let go, hired with minimal interruption to the company's profits.
Management's secondary goal is to gain consistency for their product. This is a very distant secondary goal compared to the primary goal.
Unfortunately for Management, Engineers by their nature aren't stupid. They recognize what's happening when there is a "process initiative" started at a company. It's an effort to lessen the impact of any one individual's contribution to the company as a whole. In order for a process improvement program (PIP) to gain wide acceptance at a company, the Management of a company has to show its employees that they are valued and will continue to be valued and demonstrate to them that this faith is justified by deeds and not just words. Otherwise it truly is just a mechanism that accelerates the outsourcing of labor. Of course, often Management finds out too late that individual contributions do matter, not all Engineers are created equal, some are more "equal" than others. But by then it's too late, they've left and started their own company to compete against them. (Thus starting the entire process over again - Matrix style).
Consumers of products from process-based companies, generally win, either through better quality and lower cost, or just lower cost (because the labor was outsourced). It's difficult for the consumer to know which occurred.
Always remember a quote from someone famous: "The ideal company has 0 employees".
The other irony WRT to "process improvement" that I have experienced, first hand is that Management is often exempted from it. That's usually a bad omen.
Company 1 CEO: "Hey we're losing money. Let's find someone to buy us. No one wants to buy us. Let's merge with someone else"
Company 2 CEO: "Hey we're losing money. Let's find someone to buy us. No one wants to buy us. Let's merge with someone else"
CEO 1 to CEO 2:
Yes let's merge our two losing companies. At least then we can make sure that we secure Golden Parachutes for senior management,
make boatloads of money for our lawyers and fuck all the shareholders, fuck all the "little" employees, all in one step.
We've seen this show before.
When I was young I had to walk 5 miles to/from school, uphill in both directions and going into the wind and snow each way, every day.
"but they do require people-time to keep them matching production."
Not really. Not if the production machine is a virtual machine. Clone it, and depending on how your DB is set up (separate machine or same machine) point the cloned vm towards a different DB and you are up and running in minutes.
"Of course, with the advent of .NET....well, now you're only as good as Microsoft is."
.NET is not the only interpreted language here....Give me freakin' break!
I am sorry to say that
"Of course, with the advent of java....well, now you're only as good as Sun/Oracle was/is"
Of course, with the advent of <insert interpreted language here>....well, now you're only as good as <insert language originator's name here>
If your going to condemn something, condemn all interpreted languages and not just the ones that are in vogue today to criticise.
Motorola EXOR bus
VLB (Vesa Local Bus)
ISA -don't forget, it started out as an 8 bit bus
When are they going to finally get to the SAAAD (Spooky Action At A Distance) interface and be done with it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_at_a_distance_(physics)
Actually, Steve Jobs probably would allow malware, if someone paid Apple for those rights. He has shown as much contempt for Apple end-users as Bill Gates has for Windows end-users. The difference between the two is that in Apple's case Apple controls the machine and the user's experience, In Window's case Microsoft doesn't give a crap about the quality of their software so they leave it to the end-user to decide who controls their machine - either the malware writer's or themselves.
Personally If I had to choose to live in a world only with Microsoft and Apple, I would choose Microsoft because at least with them, I have the freedom to choose. With Apple there is no choice - it's their rules, or the highway.
I use Linux when I can, and Microsoft when I have to. And will start using stone tablets before I ever use or develop for any Apple product. You can "take them words" all the way to Bill Gates' bank accounts...
The "lost" Ghost Whisperer episode.
"Go into the light and everything will be well"
There, the entire series summed up - short and simple
For now.....
...or until you don't pay your electric bill
What is the definition of a sport? One possible definition: (must meet all guidelines)
1) Participants must exert enough physical activity to sweat
2) Participants must be able to directly affect the outcome of another participant
So, Golf isn't a sport - doesn't meet #2. Darts isn't a sport - doesn't meet #1, etc. etc.
That's not to say that these games don't require a great deal of skill, they do, but that's not enough to call them a sport.
can be.
"Because of the wonderful things it does".. Seriously
I use a a variety of operating systems at home and at my job (software developer).
The reason that I am still supporting XP (and probably will for at least several more years
is because of the recent "Windows 7 phone home every 6 months or I stop working" BS WAT patch
When I inform customers of this they immediately say "XP for now, but make sure we can port to
linux/Mac on the next upgrade cycle". IT departments/Companies that I talk to are not taking kindly
to Win 7 because of WAT. I am currently working on 3 projects: one app with enhanced features(still on XP), 2 in an
upgrade cycle and am supporting XP, Debian, RHEL. I suspect they will move to Linux early and only want XP as
as backup, in case the rest of their system has a problem
For my personal use, I use various flavors of Linux for everything except for I keep one XP OS VM (Workstation)
for running Adobe Photoshop CS2 for my photography hobby. Over the last 3 years I have migrated everything
else to Linux, or I live without. I don't do on-line banking because of the IE/ActiveX bullshit that banks pull
On a related note,
I once worked with a sales guy and he once told me that every 2 years, he "accidently" dropped his laptop while on the road just so that he could get a newer model. The company we worked for was very cheap and that was the only way to get an upgrade. At that time, I was using a laptop that was 5 years old, so I guess he knew how to work the system and I didn't....
1) Go out and do a volume purchase of the cheapest Dell system that meets your needs.
2) Remove hard drives
3) Sell hard drives on ebay to offset (reduce) cost of systems
4) Use as thin clients
5) Look for new job, after you got fired when the company you work for realized that thin clients suck and you had to go back and purchase hard drives for all of the systems
Otherwise they may have problems with the Mayan calendar, as it is resetting. Hopefully they get the TZDATA correct. Unlike Ubuntu which seems to update TZDATA continually every week. Seriously does someone know WTF they doing for TZDATA, or is someone, somewhere always changing what timezone the people want to be in?
Windows NT = Genesis (or was this when Hell was created?)
Windows 2000 = Windows NT SP5
Windows XP = Windows 2000 SP5
Windows Vista = Windows XP SP4
Windows 7 = Vista SP3
Windows 8 = Windows 7 SP3
-or just-
" Microsoft X SP20.. "
Wouldn't it just be easier to just keep track of them by absolute Service Pack Number - rather then having to remember names?
I guess the LCD manufacturers have finally figured out how to dump all of the outdated crap 10.1" LCD screens that manufacturers have warehouses full of and still get people to pay top dollar for them - and sell 2 at a time.
Dumb public, they'll buy anything.
"Ants with longer legs would pass the nest on the way home, and ones with shorter legs came up... well... short"
I could understand how one might lengthen legs (e.g. miniature stilts), but how did the scientist shorten their legs? OMG - they cut Kenny's legs off!!!
That demonstration is very misleading.
Observe that the material is not actually fastened to the wall, rather is is anchored to the top of the wall and the bottom of the wall (look at the piece of angle iron in the demo)
This angle iron also distributes the force across the material, without it, it would just rip out where it was anchored, such as if just screws were used to attach it. I would bet that that piece of angle iron is pretty well tightened...
If it were truly fastened as wallpaper, then it may prevent the wall from shattering, however the wall would still collapse where the material stopped unless anchored (as in the demo). Hence, instead of pieces of a wall falling on you, the entire wall would just fall on you, probably killing you...
And yes, the rest of the structure would still collapse on you as well.
This is probably an advance, however it probably would require new structural building techniques, as well as additional steel anchors/angle iron for it to be truly effective. Not something joe public could ever afford, but I am sure governments could "find" the money.....
I do not like Firefox "phoning home" anymore than I like Microsoft "phoning home". I do not care if it's open source or not. I am here to tell Mozilla to STOP phoning home. I don't care what it's for or however good the intentions are... This combined with the apparent complete lack of concern for bugs and stability of Firefox 3.5.x and the apparent desire to just keep pumping out more versions and features, instead of actually releasing a quality version, is making me definitely consider alternatives. It appears that as the Mozilla organization grows in size, it's becoming similar to Microsoft.. This can't be a good thing. And the cut-n-paste has been broken since v3.0 - are they ever going to fix it? - Or just keep putting out newer versions that the more newer it is, the more it crashes.
I have friends that have gone through this...
This doesn't sound like a winning situation for either party, here's why:
1) You don't have an IP and you don't have customers, so what the megacorp is buying is your services. Basically, they are hiring you and giving you a job. If this is the case, The purchase price relects future potential (as a competitor). Considering the money for future potential, you are most probably going to be on the losing end of the deal.
2) Once you are absorbed by the borg, I mean megacorp, you are done. You lose all ability to make choices for yourselves. You have lost control to choose your own destiny and there is a 99% chance you will end up leaving and just starting another company all over again. - This may not be a bad thing, just a pain and you will get tired of doing this after the 1st couple of times.
3) Be very careful of any thing that you sign - especially if it limits your ability to quit, any non-compete agreements, any thing that limits your ability to work for another company (or a new company). Trade secrets - if you do leave, you may not be able to pursue new ideas, if the megacorp is already doing that. - This you probably won't find out until you have joined them - by then it will be too late.
4) In the unlikely event that the amount of money would "set you up for life", then GO FOR IT. Live off of the interest and enjoy yourselves. Life is too short to be spent entirely in front of a computer screen and keyboard - seriously dude, enjoy life - it's wayyyyyyyy tooooo short.....
That's funny, my firewall (and hosts file) is constantly denying access to the following programs:
* Windows Update
* Adobe Flash
* Firefox updates
* Misc firefox plugins
* Antivirus
* and many others, etc....