If you have a big radical plan, though, you have to be able to back it up with more than just hopes an dreams. Jobs was able to do this at Apple because he had a concrete vision of what the end product would be and a deep understanding of the technology. Netflix didn't!! There was no thought out plan, no preparation, no understanding that they would have to take a hit for this to work.
The idea of breaking off streaming is a good one. The problem was in the execution. They needed to have deals in place with all of the major studios to be able to stream new releases at or before they are released to the rental market. They just didn't have this piece in place. Today, the only way to get new movies from Netflix is via Rentals and the majority of their customers are interested in Movies, not TV shows. Thus the mass exodus to Blockbuster.
I'm not sure why Netflix management couldn't understand that the signing of major studio deals for streaming woud be a pre-requisite before implementing this strategy. Perhaps they were under the impression that the majority of their users would stick with the streaming service simply because they have "more" movies. People don't want more movies, they want "new" movies.
If the Netflix board is looking for management advice, give me a call... I'm certain that I can make better decisions than your current team...
I just got my HP touchpad from the firesale that HP held. In my opinion, it is the one tablet that could have challenged the iPad. It just needed to be sold at or near cost to gain a presence. WebOS, after the latest update, is a very capable OS. But HP hired a software guy for a hardware company. And so, they aborted a product that could have had a lot of success.
Not only does a company have to have management who is willing to take chances, it also needs the right management to continue to be innovative. The slow destruction of HP is proof of that.
The news outlets will continue to the Apple news cycle until the election next year. After all, there isn't anything interesting going on in the world... It's not like we aren't at war or anything.... Hey wait....
I see a lot of complaining about the lack of newer Sci-Fi and Fantasy books in the list. This can be easily explained. It's not specifically because the older authors and series are more well known, though that is definitely part of it. The reason is simply that this was a NPR poll. If you stop for a second, you would realize that NPR's audience trends towards an older demographic. As such, they are more likely to select authors that they have enjoyed over the years. When you get older, you tend to have less time to read (unless you are and avid reader and make time) and are more likely to select books based on proven authors.
Personally, I read a lot of Sci-Fi and fantasy when in university. I went to the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, NB, Canada and they had one of the largest Sci-Fi collections in Canada, if not the Northeast (ranked 10th in the world in 2009). I even got to read the special collection books as I worked as a temp in the library to make some money. It was cool having access and it is only recently, with the development of the kindle and the amazon bookstore, that I've gotten back into reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy as I now have access to more interesting stories than the popular Vampire/Magic/Star (Trek/Wars) that lined the shelves in most book stores.
In my opinion workplace ergonomics do not go far enough. Most are concerned about physical injury but do not include the worker's general well being. Most new office towers now include methods to provide natural lighting, but old buildings can be more like dungeons. Luckily, I work in an office building in an area with windows, though tinted, which let's in natural light.
The other issue that I have with office environments is the lack of fresh air. There is nothing like being able to open a window to get a fresh breeze during the summer. Granted, the reasons for not having windows that open includes increased efficiency in heating, cooling, filtering (allergens, etc). So some may say that this provides a better work environment. In my opinion, I'd rather have fresh air...
Something else to remember is that much of the video processing used to be handled by the CPU, which gave Apple an advantage even though it was more expensive. Over the last 5 years this has shifted to the GPU. GPU processing was evening the playing field between the Mac and the PC and may have been one of the factors that influenced the switchover to the intel platform.
Both my Brother-in-Law and I have purchased several laptops (dv6, dm4t) within the last year from HP and have had no problems with them. There are some complaints in the reviews about the touchpad interface, but they must have been resolved as we've never experienced those issues. I've never bought a HP desktop, so I cannot comment on those. In typical slashdot style, I always build my own desktops.
We use HP workstations and HP blade servers at work and they are very reliable. HP is still the standard for laser printers. However, I prefer Epson over HP for ink jet printers as Epson tends to use less ink, which reduces cost.
I would have no reservations about recommending a HP product to friends and family. Much like the IBM PC division, the HP PC division will live on, either as a division of HP or of another company.
The study does posit that most people sort as part of task management, rather than to increase search efficiency. When I receive a new message I review it. If it doesn't require action on my part, then I file it in the appropriate folder (ie projects, etc.). If it does require action, then it stays in my inbox until the task is completed, then it gets filed.
If I just left everything in my inbox, then I would be a less efficient worker as I would never be able to keep all of my pending tasks straight. So, while filing email into folders may not increase search efficiency, it does improve my overall productivity, which is more important to both the company and my career.
Love or hate him, you have to admit that Jobs knew how to make tech cool, and just for that he deserves respect. My parents were visiting last spring and I took my mother shopping. While we were in the mall we stopped at the Apple store and started playing with the iPad. She had a lot of fun with it. The point is that Jobs had the capability to understand what needed to be done to make tech easy to use and accessible. In that way, he was a genius.
Unfortunately, we are going to see his company, Apple, stagnate and become just another tech company without him at the helm.
I'm not sure that I agree with the extrapolation that 70% of patched systems "let" the infections through. The article talks about drive-by automated attacks but seems to mix in statistics for more general attacks. As long as the system is fully patched, there are no zero-day exploits, and there is no physical access, then the system should be safe. My thought is that the remaining 70% is due to user activity, rather than a fully patched system being exploitable.
We know that global warming is happening. We also know that it has happened in the past.
I think that we can agree that human activity is contributing to it.
The big questions are:
What are the causes of global warming? I don't think that it is settled that human activity is the SOLE cause. There is still more science to do on this.
How much of an effect can a change in human activity have in solving global warming? Is it enough?
Is it worth putting our society (democracy) in jeopardy over it as it puts us in a distinct disadvantage over non-democratic countries, such as China. This can and, in some ways, has lead to international power shifts.
In my opinion, most debates today are concerned with these questions and not whether global warming is actually occurring.
I am on the east coast and drive the Interstate back and forth to work. Because of the high traffic volume around Boston during rush hour, its actually more dangerous to the drivers for the poilice to be patrolling. Every time a car sees the poilice, they slow down, even if they are doing the speed limit. This invariably has a domino effect, with some poor driver 40 cars back having to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of them that just stopped, sometimes successful, sometimes not.
Some people would argue that the problem is drivers driving too close together, but unless you drive here you just do not understand the shear volume of traffic.
By the way, If you run into a Moose at even 55 MPH and you are a goner... Your only hope at that point is to be in a SUV or truck and catch the Moose in the body. In fact, if you are going to run into a moose and you cant avoid it, you are better off hitting the gas as it raises your hood. You just might get lucky and hit it in the belly instead of it going through your windshield.
I'm sorry to hear about your sister, but I doubt that speed was the primary factor. My guess is that neither your sister nor the driver were concentrating on what they were doing. People, not necessarily your sister, have a tendency to stroll across highways, especially at tourist stops, like they are crossing the street in a city. They expect a car to stop on a dime. That doesn't excuse the driver at all, but speed usually isn't the only cause.
My father likes to recount the time a truck driver was going down the highway and hit an ambulance with its lights on parked off to the side of the highway. On the other side of the road was a fire truck with it's lights on. He had a dog in the car and stated that he was being distracted and didn't see the ambulance.
The point is that most accidents are caused by drivers doing something else other than driving. It's true that speed lowers your reaction time. But a distracted driver will get into an accident no matter what speed they are traveling. That's why most jurisdictions ban talking on the phone unless you are using bluetooth.
It depends. According to California Amazon has a "presence" in California which means that they are required to tax residents of California for their purchases. Purchases for out of state would not be taxed. However, I believe that California is stretching their "presence" argument to the breaking point.
That being said, most states have "use" laws that require tax payers to pay taxes on out of state purchases. Massachusetts has a section on the state tax form where you are required to list all out of state purchases. Purchases over a certain dollar amount (I believe it's over $1000) are then taxed. To cover everything else, you pay a flat amount, (i.e. $65).
Yes, Apple's strength is both the design and the supply chain. The design is being copied, as we knew it would. However, supply chain is also Amazon's forte. The other thing that Apple has going for it is iTunes store, which provides content updates and keeps the iPad, iPod, and iPhone relevant. In order for amazon to succeed it needs to replicate this integation.
Amazon is one of the few companies that has the necessary infrastructure and resources to succeed. Will they? Only time will tell... But I wouldn't be so quick to write them off...
I also used to travel with all of my camera gear. I've since learned that having too many gadgets with me eats up too much time. Between charging, cleaning, packing for side trips, editing, etc. I always felt rushed.
I've sinced pared my travel kit down to two cameras, Canon 40D and S95, one lens, 17-40 f4L, and a light 4.5lbs HP DM4T 13" widescreen laptop. I leave all of the rest of my gear at home. The Canon S95, which gives me DSLR like results and which has HD video, is pocketable and is great for taking to the bar or restaurant.
I find that most of my travel photos are either of scenes, which can be captured by multiple images and then stitched, or people. Very rarely am I taking pictures of animals or objects in the distance where a long zoom would be required. Then again, I like getting close to scenes, people, objects, etc. when I am on vacation. I also have time to do so.
The story has since been updated and seems now to be more of a disagreement of whether a HDMI to Displayport thing-a-ma-jig is a cable vs an adapter. If it is considered a cable, then it falls outside of the HDMI specs. If it is considered an adapter, the specification "contemplates" such a product and thus it would be legal. This sounds like a typical story written on a slow news day. It's just a tempest in a teapot...
Cables are not going to be recalled, the world is not going to end (at least not until 2012), and those who rushed out to buy cables on speculation are not going to make a fortune.... (grin)
We had our share of rataries here in Massachusettes. One of the most notorious ones, with the excpetion of the one to Cape Cod, was the Drum Hill rotary near Lowell. There were at least 3 to 5 rear end collisions a day. People would watch traffic while sitting behind a car that hadn't left yet. To do this they would have to look over their shoulder. If the car in front moved a foot, they would lose sight of the car. As soon as a break would come, they would hit the gas, running into the car in front of them, driven by a "cautious driver", that hadn't left the intersection, but had just inched forward.
As part of the route-3 construction project, all of the route-3 bridges were replaced and the rotary was turned into a series of stop-light intersections. While carrying more traffic, it is now much safer. In fact, I believe that Massachusetts has been going the other way, getting rid of all of the rotaries. Rotaries are fine for bedroom community type roads where you get minimal traffic. However, as another poster pointed out, they rapidly collapse under high traffic load.
CUDA is nice because it is supported by a lot of video editing and encoding programs and speeds up video processing. However, you are not limited, with a desktop system, to either/or. You can install graphics cards from both vendors. In fact my desktop system has a high end Nvidia card for gaming and video processing, conneced to dual monitors, and a low end ATI video card for HDI output to my HD TV.
I love the fact that it has taken over 15 years to get fiber rolled out to select communities in the US.
In the mid-90's I had Fiber to the Curb with a coax cable. The local phone company, NBTel (Now Aliant), rolled out an experimental fiber optic network called Vibe. It was nice having 1.5Mb up and down at a time when mose people were lucky to get 256K DSL. When I moved to the Boston area a few years later, I went from having a decent Internet connection to having to use Comcast.
I keep hoping that FIOS will be delivered to my city, but at this point Verizon has deployed it to the suburbs, ignoring the cities. So I'm not holding my breath. I'm just going to have to move as I doubt that deployment will happen within the next 5 years.
Given the environment and the job title, I'm guessing that you will be responsible for both servers and the network. I would start out by hiring a local network consultant to review your LAN/WAN requirements and suggest a packaged solution. Given the small number of devices, this should take no more than a few hours consulting time. Meanwhile, I would start taking OS classes (Microsoft, Unix, etc.) and/or perhaps a BootCamp.
While it is cool to learn networking, if you are in charge of the servers you will need to understand how to configure, administer, back-up, and recover these systems. Since the network won't change much once configured, you are better off focussing on the server side. Once you understand the server side, you can then start playing with networking. Honestly, with the size of your network, you aren't going to get heavily into network engineering.
If you are truly interested in the networking side vs the Server side, then you should focus on getting a CCNA/CCNP and finding a job in a bigger company. Then again, your company could be one of the few that is poised for explosive growth.
I have to disagree. USB peripherals were released around the same time as the iMac. Some of them were even for the Apple platform. However, the market for Apple products was small, even then. Living through it, my impression was that the iMac was released at the same time as USB devices began to flood the market. After all, if it was cause and effect we would have seen a flood of USB products 6 months to a year after the iMac was released instead of at the same time due to R&D lead times.
USB 1.0 was released in 1996 and USB 1.1 was released in 1998. It was the completion of the USB 1.1 spec that kicked off the generation of new USB peripherals and not the launch of the iMac, though the support of USB by Apple helped to sell more devices.
Oh, and anyone who thinks that PC users were perfectly happy with large, clunky, serial and parallel ports never had to work with them. USB was a godsend due to the automatic installation and configuration. No more fiddling with dip switches, com port settings, or slow parallel port speeds.
It's the last part of your statement that is the most important. Most IT Professionals can write excellent instruction manuals as they pay attention to the details, unlike a lot of book writers. However, they do not enjoy it. In fact, many IT Professionals find writing and documentation painfull and thus do not put in the effort.
I agree with you that individuals with other backgrounds may be able to do a better job, especially if they enjoy writing. However, I don't think that you have to be an arts major to fall into this category. I first took a business degree then went into computer science. A big part of the business degree was to write cases and present them. I find that this gives me a unique view and skill set required to present technical information in a clear and concise format, while being able to maintain an instruction set that doesn't drop to the level of a newbie. Then again, the majority of my technical writing is for an internal network team where a certain level of knowledge and skills are expected.
Slashdot Mirror
If you have a big radical plan, though, you have to be able to back it up with more than just hopes an dreams. Jobs was able to do this at Apple because he had a concrete vision of what the end product would be and a deep understanding of the technology. Netflix didn't!! There was no thought out plan, no preparation, no understanding that they would have to take a hit for this to work.
The idea of breaking off streaming is a good one. The problem was in the execution. They needed to have deals in place with all of the major studios to be able to stream new releases at or before they are released to the rental market. They just didn't have this piece in place. Today, the only way to get new movies from Netflix is via Rentals and the majority of their customers are interested in Movies, not TV shows. Thus the mass exodus to Blockbuster.
I'm not sure why Netflix management couldn't understand that the signing of major studio deals for streaming woud be a pre-requisite before implementing this strategy. Perhaps they were under the impression that the majority of their users would stick with the streaming service simply because they have "more" movies. People don't want more movies, they want "new" movies.
If the Netflix board is looking for management advice, give me a call... I'm certain that I can make better decisions than your current team...
I just got my HP touchpad from the firesale that HP held. In my opinion, it is the one tablet that could have challenged the iPad. It just needed to be sold at or near cost to gain a presence. WebOS, after the latest update, is a very capable OS. But HP hired a software guy for a hardware company. And so, they aborted a product that could have had a lot of success.
Not only does a company have to have management who is willing to take chances, it also needs the right management to continue to be innovative. The slow destruction of HP is proof of that.
The news outlets will continue to the Apple news cycle until the election next year. After all, there isn't anything interesting going on in the world... It's not like we aren't at war or anything.... Hey wait....
I see a lot of complaining about the lack of newer Sci-Fi and Fantasy books in the list. This can be easily explained. It's not specifically because the older authors and series are more well known, though that is definitely part of it. The reason is simply that this was a NPR poll. If you stop for a second, you would realize that NPR's audience trends towards an older demographic. As such, they are more likely to select authors that they have enjoyed over the years. When you get older, you tend to have less time to read (unless you are and avid reader and make time) and are more likely to select books based on proven authors.
Personally, I read a lot of Sci-Fi and fantasy when in university. I went to the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, NB, Canada and they had one of the largest Sci-Fi collections in Canada, if not the Northeast (ranked 10th in the world in 2009). I even got to read the special collection books as I worked as a temp in the library to make some money. It was cool having access and it is only recently, with the development of the kindle and the amazon bookstore, that I've gotten back into reading Sci-Fi and Fantasy as I now have access to more interesting stories than the popular Vampire/Magic/Star (Trek/Wars) that lined the shelves in most book stores.
In my opinion workplace ergonomics do not go far enough. Most are concerned about physical injury but do not include the worker's general well being. Most new office towers now include methods to provide natural lighting, but old buildings can be more like dungeons. Luckily, I work in an office building in an area with windows, though tinted, which let's in natural light.
The other issue that I have with office environments is the lack of fresh air. There is nothing like being able to open a window to get a fresh breeze during the summer. Granted, the reasons for not having windows that open includes increased efficiency in heating, cooling, filtering (allergens, etc). So some may say that this provides a better work environment. In my opinion, I'd rather have fresh air...
Something else to remember is that much of the video processing used to be handled by the CPU, which gave Apple an advantage even though it was more expensive. Over the last 5 years this has shifted to the GPU. GPU processing was evening the playing field between the Mac and the PC and may have been one of the factors that influenced the switchover to the intel platform.
Both my Brother-in-Law and I have purchased several laptops (dv6, dm4t) within the last year from HP and have had no problems with them. There are some complaints in the reviews about the touchpad interface, but they must have been resolved as we've never experienced those issues. I've never bought a HP desktop, so I cannot comment on those. In typical slashdot style, I always build my own desktops.
We use HP workstations and HP blade servers at work and they are very reliable. HP is still the standard for laser printers. However, I prefer Epson over HP for ink jet printers as Epson tends to use less ink, which reduces cost.
I would have no reservations about recommending a HP product to friends and family. Much like the IBM PC division, the HP PC division will live on, either as a division of HP or of another company.
The study does posit that most people sort as part of task management, rather than to increase search efficiency. When I receive a new message I review it. If it doesn't require action on my part, then I file it in the appropriate folder (ie projects, etc.). If it does require action, then it stays in my inbox until the task is completed, then it gets filed.
If I just left everything in my inbox, then I would be a less efficient worker as I would never be able to keep all of my pending tasks straight. So, while filing email into folders may not increase search efficiency, it does improve my overall productivity, which is more important to both the company and my career.
Love or hate him, you have to admit that Jobs knew how to make tech cool, and just for that he deserves respect. My parents were visiting last spring and I took my mother shopping. While we were in the mall we stopped at the Apple store and started playing with the iPad. She had a lot of fun with it. The point is that Jobs had the capability to understand what needed to be done to make tech easy to use and accessible. In that way, he was a genius.
Unfortunately, we are going to see his company, Apple, stagnate and become just another tech company without him at the helm.
I'm not sure that I agree with the extrapolation that 70% of patched systems "let" the infections through. The article talks about drive-by automated attacks but seems to mix in statistics for more general attacks. As long as the system is fully patched, there are no zero-day exploits, and there is no physical access, then the system should be safe. My thought is that the remaining 70% is due to user activity, rather than a fully patched system being exploitable.
We know that global warming is happening. We also know that it has happened in the past.
I think that we can agree that human activity is contributing to it.
The big questions are:
What are the causes of global warming? I don't think that it is settled that human activity is the SOLE cause. There is still more science to do on this.
How much of an effect can a change in human activity have in solving global warming? Is it enough?
Is it worth putting our society (democracy) in jeopardy over it as it puts us in a distinct disadvantage over non-democratic countries, such as China. This can and, in some ways, has lead to international power shifts.
In my opinion, most debates today are concerned with these questions and not whether global warming is actually occurring.
I am on the east coast and drive the Interstate back and forth to work. Because of the high traffic volume around Boston during rush hour, its actually more dangerous to the drivers for the poilice to be patrolling. Every time a car sees the poilice, they slow down, even if they are doing the speed limit. This invariably has a domino effect, with some poor driver 40 cars back having to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of them that just stopped, sometimes successful, sometimes not.
Some people would argue that the problem is drivers driving too close together, but unless you drive here you just do not understand the shear volume of traffic.
By the way, If you run into a Moose at even 55 MPH and you are a goner... Your only hope at that point is to be in a SUV or truck and catch the Moose in the body. In fact, if you are going to run into a moose and you cant avoid it, you are better off hitting the gas as it raises your hood. You just might get lucky and hit it in the belly instead of it going through your windshield.
I'm sorry to hear about your sister, but I doubt that speed was the primary factor. My guess is that neither your sister nor the driver were concentrating on what they were doing. People, not necessarily your sister, have a tendency to stroll across highways, especially at tourist stops, like they are crossing the street in a city. They expect a car to stop on a dime. That doesn't excuse the driver at all, but speed usually isn't the only cause.
My father likes to recount the time a truck driver was going down the highway and hit an ambulance with its lights on parked off to the side of the highway. On the other side of the road was a fire truck with it's lights on. He had a dog in the car and stated that he was being distracted and didn't see the ambulance.
The point is that most accidents are caused by drivers doing something else other than driving. It's true that speed lowers your reaction time. But a distracted driver will get into an accident no matter what speed they are traveling. That's why most jurisdictions ban talking on the phone unless you are using bluetooth.
David
... the kit includes a free pair of thermo insulated mitts, just pay for shipping and processing... (grin)
...cell phone users can be such jerks.
The magenet in the cell phones speaker is disrupting their moral center....
It depends. According to California Amazon has a "presence" in California which means that they are required to tax residents of California for their purchases. Purchases for out of state would not be taxed. However, I believe that California is stretching their "presence" argument to the breaking point.
That being said, most states have "use" laws that require tax payers to pay taxes on out of state purchases. Massachusetts has a section on the state tax form where you are required to list all out of state purchases. Purchases over a certain dollar amount (I believe it's over $1000) are then taxed. To cover everything else, you pay a flat amount, (i.e. $65).
David
Yes, Apple's strength is both the design and the supply chain. The design is being copied, as we knew it would. However, supply chain is also Amazon's forte. The other thing that Apple has going for it is iTunes store, which provides content updates and keeps the iPad, iPod, and iPhone relevant. In order for amazon to succeed it needs to replicate this integation.
Amazon is one of the few companies that has the necessary infrastructure and resources to succeed. Will they? Only time will tell... But I wouldn't be so quick to write them off...
David
I also used to travel with all of my camera gear. I've since learned that having too many gadgets with me eats up too much time. Between charging, cleaning, packing for side trips, editing, etc. I always felt rushed.
I've sinced pared my travel kit down to two cameras, Canon 40D and S95, one lens, 17-40 f4L, and a light 4.5lbs HP DM4T 13" widescreen laptop. I leave all of the rest of my gear at home. The Canon S95, which gives me DSLR like results and which has HD video, is pocketable and is great for taking to the bar or restaurant.
I find that most of my travel photos are either of scenes, which can be captured by multiple images and then stitched, or people. Very rarely am I taking pictures of animals or objects in the distance where a long zoom would be required. Then again, I like getting close to scenes, people, objects, etc. when I am on vacation. I also have time to do so.
David
The story has since been updated and seems now to be more of a disagreement of whether a HDMI to Displayport thing-a-ma-jig is a cable vs an adapter. If it is considered a cable, then it falls outside of the HDMI specs. If it is considered an adapter, the specification "contemplates" such a product and thus it would be legal. This sounds like a typical story written on a slow news day. It's just a tempest in a teapot...
Cables are not going to be recalled, the world is not going to end (at least not until 2012), and those who rushed out to buy cables on speculation are not going to make a fortune.... (grin)
David
We had our share of rataries here in Massachusettes. One of the most notorious ones, with the excpetion of the one to Cape Cod, was the Drum Hill rotary near Lowell. There were at least 3 to 5 rear end collisions a day. People would watch traffic while sitting behind a car that hadn't left yet. To do this they would have to look over their shoulder. If the car in front moved a foot, they would lose sight of the car. As soon as a break would come, they would hit the gas, running into the car in front of them, driven by a "cautious driver", that hadn't left the intersection, but had just inched forward.
As part of the route-3 construction project, all of the route-3 bridges were replaced and the rotary was turned into a series of stop-light intersections. While carrying more traffic, it is now much safer. In fact, I believe that Massachusetts has been going the other way, getting rid of all of the rotaries. Rotaries are fine for bedroom community type roads where you get minimal traffic. However, as another poster pointed out, they rapidly collapse under high traffic load.
David
CUDA is nice because it is supported by a lot of video editing and encoding programs and speeds up video processing. However, you are not limited, with a desktop system, to either/or. You can install graphics cards from both vendors. In fact my desktop system has a high end Nvidia card for gaming and video processing, conneced to dual monitors, and a low end ATI video card for HDI output to my HD TV.
I love the fact that it has taken over 15 years to get fiber rolled out to select communities in the US.
In the mid-90's I had Fiber to the Curb with a coax cable. The local phone company, NBTel (Now Aliant), rolled out an experimental fiber optic network called Vibe. It was nice having 1.5Mb up and down at a time when mose people were lucky to get 256K DSL. When I moved to the Boston area a few years later, I went from having a decent Internet connection to having to use Comcast.
I keep hoping that FIOS will be delivered to my city, but at this point Verizon has deployed it to the suburbs, ignoring the cities. So I'm not holding my breath. I'm just going to have to move as I doubt that deployment will happen within the next 5 years.
David
Given the environment and the job title, I'm guessing that you will be responsible for both servers and the network. I would start out by hiring a local network consultant to review your LAN/WAN requirements and suggest a packaged solution. Given the small number of devices, this should take no more than a few hours consulting time. Meanwhile, I would start taking OS classes (Microsoft, Unix, etc.) and/or perhaps a BootCamp.
While it is cool to learn networking, if you are in charge of the servers you will need to understand how to configure, administer, back-up, and recover these systems. Since the network won't change much once configured, you are better off focussing on the server side. Once you understand the server side, you can then start playing with networking. Honestly, with the size of your network, you aren't going to get heavily into network engineering.
If you are truly interested in the networking side vs the Server side, then you should focus on getting a CCNA/CCNP and finding a job in a bigger company. Then again, your company could be one of the few that is poised for explosive growth.
Good Luck,
David
I have to disagree. USB peripherals were released around the same time as the iMac. Some of them were even for the Apple platform. However, the market for Apple products was small, even then. Living through it, my impression was that the iMac was released at the same time as USB devices began to flood the market. After all, if it was cause and effect we would have seen a flood of USB products 6 months to a year after the iMac was released instead of at the same time due to R&D lead times.
USB 1.0 was released in 1996 and USB 1.1 was released in 1998. It was the completion of the USB 1.1 spec that kicked off the generation of new USB peripherals and not the launch of the iMac, though the support of USB by Apple helped to sell more devices.
Oh, and anyone who thinks that PC users were perfectly happy with large, clunky, serial and parallel ports never had to work with them. USB was a godsend due to the automatic installation and configuration. No more fiddling with dip switches, com port settings, or slow parallel port speeds.
David
It's the last part of your statement that is the most important. Most IT Professionals can write excellent instruction manuals as they pay attention to the details, unlike a lot of book writers. However, they do not enjoy it. In fact, many IT Professionals find writing and documentation painfull and thus do not put in the effort.
I agree with you that individuals with other backgrounds may be able to do a better job, especially if they enjoy writing. However, I don't think that you have to be an arts major to fall into this category. I first took a business degree then went into computer science. A big part of the business degree was to write cases and present them. I find that this gives me a unique view and skill set required to present technical information in a clear and concise format, while being able to maintain an instruction set that doesn't drop to the level of a newbie. Then again, the majority of my technical writing is for an internal network team where a certain level of knowledge and skills are expected.
Thanks,
David