I work 40 to 45 hours a week on light weeks, and 55 to 60 during crunch time, unless I'm onsite somewhere, in which case I go gangbusters. 55 to 60 is a lot of time if you want to have any remnant of a weekend, left, and that's important.
What's more, I like my job. Therefore I take initiative, get paid more, and get promoted. That's not being a tool, but it is making sure I'm worth more to the company than what I'm getting paid, which is what gets you ahead.
The problem is, I'm competing against people who have nothing better to do than work, who will work for 80 hours a week because they have no interest in becoming a well-rounded person, just a cog in a machine.
Then you're not a very good competitor, or you're playing the wrong game. I'm an engineer because I love it, I'm good at it, and it pays good money. If you don't like what you do, don't expect the company to pick you first for a promotion. Consider finding another job that you actually like.
Your other option is to move to Europe. I hear they're closer to your ideals over there. Less work, more slack time. 4 weeks vacation to start.
Re:beware of the "understanding friend" method.
on
Best Way to Manage Geeks?
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
I want explicit instructions for what you want me to do. If I didn't do something it's because you didn't ask me to.
We have names for employees like you - hourly wage earners. Someone who comes in at 7:30, punches the clock, does exactly as they're told, and goes home after they have 8 hours in, and is never expected to give anything more.
Honestly, there's very little use for those employees in an IT environment. I would make sure an employee with such an attitude was at the bottom of the pay scale, and would be constantly turned down for promotion, because it's obvious they have no motivation to better themselves.
On the other hand, someone who shows initiative - takes responsibility for things and does things before I ask - they're valuable, and paid accordingly. They're going to get the best reviews, and are first up for promotion.
I can micromanage my employees, but I really don't have the time. You would be of very little use to my organization.
If you want to find a boss like you describe, I've seen many of them overseeing assembly lines for the big 3 automakers.
It's not like these guys are going around spraying sperm all over the planet getting women pregnant who don't want to be, or who don't want to raise a child... the whole point is that the women want a baby.
You do realize that the fertility clinic is the one who profits from this, right? Where are they supposed to get the sperm? Ever think of that?
I've got news for you... in the US, people donate blood for beer money too, and they don't give a second thought where it goes. I see this as no different. The only people who go to sperm banks are women who are stable enough to provide a good home life to raise a child, but couldn't get pregnant otherwise. There's nothing wrong with that.
I'm ignorant - didn't know about that one, but that's where you put the.com people who don't want to pick a country or their.com.cc is already taken.:)
Besides, who controls.int? The US right? So it doesn't really matter.
I don't think it matters. If Joe Freedomnik lives in China today, his server is probably already censored. If he lives outside of China, his server is probably censored inside of China anyway. Countries already practice this.
I like the idea, earlier in the thread, about each country running their own root server(s) (no "." servers anymore) and each country manually maintains its list of other countries' root servers. It seems that would solve the problem, letting each country be as restrictive or freedom-loving as it wants.
If it were any other nation, the US government would be on the side of those calling for it to surrender control to an international body.
Did you just figure this out? It is about control. There's no reason any country's going to give it up once it has control (no matter who the "good guys" or "bad guys" are). It's just reality. From my perspective as an Evil Foriegner(tm), I figure it could be worse if another country had control, or another agency, so leave it with the US. That doesn't mean that'll be the best thing 20 or 50 years from now, but hey... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
This shows how clueless politicians are when they talk about "control of the internet". The technology is available to everyone. Any country can setup a network based on TCP/IP technology, could setup their own root servers, and regulate ISPs in their country to use those root servers for their DNS's. Several countries could even get together and create a completely alternate network cut off from "the one true internet" as well. There exist all manners of segregating the current network, just look at the great firewall of China.
All this is about is who controls the main.com etc., domain names. I realize that some countries' domains are probably not under their control, and that seems unnecessary.
If we really wanted to fix the whole issue without trying to figure out whose dick is bigger, you go to something like this:
1) Make sure every country code is managed only by that country, and give them control of all root servers for that country.
2) Create a.com.nn domain in every country code (nn) - in many cases this is already done.
3) Give every.com domain holder the option to move their domain name under the country code of their choice. In cases where there are conflicting names, give it to the first of the two who registered it.
4) Blow away the.com domain, the same with other non-country code domains.
Then, every country has their own little "piece" of the internet, so to speak, and can regulate it into oblivion if they like.
Come to think of it, as long as countries have control of their country code root servers (if such a thing exists), then we're practically there. There's no reason why the US can't keep control of.com. I guess it just means that the root servers should be segregated by country. Would that be so bad?
An unintended side effect might be that it might respark the true electronic hacker culture that has rather deteriorated over the last couple of decades. It used to be someone would build a radio or some electronic device from scratch based on ICs, capacitors, etc. Now some geeks think they're cool because they can attach a few IDE cables, insert some memory, and claim to have "built" a computer. Nonsense... that's not building a computer. This change in culture is why Radio Shack now sells things like cell phones, wireless phones, computers, and stereos and resistors and capacitors gets a few square feet of shelf space in the back.
Look, the guys at radio shack already look at me like they're about to call the FBI when I go in to purchase 10 resistors and a few capacitors, along with a couple DB9 connectors to make an RS232 terminator. That's on top of the fact that the guy didn't even know he carried that stuff. He says to me, "looks like someone's building a HAM radio". Ya, no kidding. What he's really wondering is if I'm building a bomb to take out a few city blocks.
So anyway, now if it's illegal to build a device to record video, but a bunch of "electronics hackers" start going out to do it, am I going to be lumped in with them too? Are they going to be raiding surplus electronics stores with stashes of old camcorders tucked away on shelves in the back? Is anyone who tinkers with fundamental electronic components going to be on a government watch list? (Is that why radio shack asks for your phone number when you buy batteries?)
This is some scary stuff. Americans are so concerned about the right to bear arms, but I really think that if you ever plan to overthrow the government in the future, electronic components for communications and such are going to be just as important as bullets and grenades.
I don't know if you've ever tried to stop electromagnetic radiation, but shielding is quite difficult if the EM field is strong and you have to have any holes or extruding devices (like sensors) in your equipment.
I've recently dealt with an EM noise problem. The sensor was completely enclosed except for a 1 to 2" lense, the cable was shielded and grounded at the electrical panel end only, and I was getting very serious EM noise induced in my signal, either from some lights near the sensor, or from some 480V 3 phase power lines in the area. After trying to move all cables at least 2 feet from the power lines, making sure grounding was OK, and even swapping the sensor with another, we decided to move the whole thing further away from the lights, and that seemed to solve the problem.
So, I think that without military grade hardened electronics, someone could build an EMP gun that would take out your little creation.
It's only unauthorized if you put it up her butt. - in computer terms that is called a Backdoor Trojan/Virus of some sort.
If both you and she get tested first (and it comes back negative), then there's no virus threat, and the Trojan is unnecessary.
Oh, this is such a bad thread...
Re:OK, that's obvious on the surface...
on
The H-1B Swindle
·
· Score: 1
Now wages plummet because employers can establish below-cost-of-living jobs and H-1B visa holders will snap them up, as many are only in the US for the short haul and could care less about Social Security, schools, infrastructure, etc.
I'm a "foreigner" working at the US company. I don't live in the US, I live in Canada and just commute every day. I use comparatively few US services, but, like an H1B holder, I pay social security, medicare, and more taxes to the US federal and state governments than the average US person paid my salary because I have no deductions (like a mortgage) in the US.
I am also not cheap - I'm one of the most experienced engineers in the office and I'm paid accordingly. In fact, I was hired in just out of university at a very good salary by US standards.
The reason for me to apply in the US in the first place was that $1 US was worth about $1.50 or $1.60 Canadian when I started, now it's about $1.15. So now I just stay because I actually like the job (and the raises almost made up for the drop in the dollar).
So from my point of view, you're talking out of your ass.
During the 70s such raises would have been useless given the extreme inflation occurring year after year.
What's your point? That we should get 13% pay raises every year now because cost of living increased that much back in the 70's?
If average inflation over the past 20 years has been between 2 and 5 percent (and I agree this year is bad, but the numbers from the article are talking about last year, where CPI was more like 3.x% even including gas and food).
Besides, if EVERYONE got a 4% raise, that would build in inflation of at least 4%, and probably higher. That's not good for the economy. Since we're talking about IT people only here... even if the average raise in IT was 4%, and inflation is 4%, then you have to wonder, has the average IT person actually produced anything more this year over last year to earn a bigger raise? I mean, are there some big reasons why IT people are more productive all of a sudden? Does the average (including new guys out of college, less the old guys who just retired) Joe IT guy produce more now? I doubt it.
What I want to know is, what are the raises like for the top 10% of IT people.
4% is more than the consumer price index, even including energy, rose in 2004. A 4% raise is more than a cost-of-living raise. It's not much more, especially this year with gas prices skyrocketing, but inflation has been very low recently. That translates into smaller raises. Compare it with the real numbers.
Get over it the rest of the world has -never- liked us unless we were giving them foreign aid.
Just so everyone is on the same page, here are the relative numbers on how much foreign aid various countries give, in absolute dollars and as a percentage of GNP:
With the exception of Canada, the countries mentioned have a tremendous advanage regarding broadband penetration, and that is relative population density.
As has been pointed out many times before, Canada is actually more "urban" than the US. Something like 3/4 of Canadians live in cities whereas about 2/3 of Americans do, or something like that. Yes, queue jokes about huddling together for warmth, etc., but the facts are there. It helps that only 20% of Canadian land is "habitable" (meaning you can grow crops on it), which is the type of land typically settled on hundreds of years ago. So, Canada has an easier time hitting more of its population with broadband due to population density.
Also, Canada has certain government initiatives to get broadband access to the more remote parts of Canada, such as the far north. Canada has always been on the leading edge of communications technology, and is actively trying to stay that way. The first commercial communications satellite was Canadian owned, as was the first national coast to coast microwave telephone network. This is all because the politicians realized from the start that the only thing stopping the small relatively isolated colonies that became Canada from being absorbed by the US was to overcome the vast communication and transportation obstacles that separated them. Those ideas continue today.
Yes, we do a lot of integration work, and every hardware manufacturer provides some kind of IDE or DLL or sample code and it's all MS compatible only. There is no way we could, or would even want, to switch away from MS, and our customers would freak out if we gave them something they're not used to. In this industry, nobody ever got fired for spec'ing MS, because EVERY customer we've dealt with uses MS.
Ultimately, all monolithic, and particularly authoritarian human endeavors FAIL! Microsoft seems to be amongst that group, and I question if they can escape it easily.
Yeah, that whole apollo program was a complete failure wasn't it? Or the manhattan project? Or building any modern skyscraper? Or any serious engineering project of our time? They all fail miserably, don't they.
What is the alternative to authoritarian human endeavors? There were several X-prize contenders that tried to use a more open-source, everybody pitches in, communism type approach, and they were all bested by Burt Rutan.
And stop calling Microsoft a failure. It's the opposite of failure, obviously. Are you just trying to troll?
My spidey sense is definitely tingling on this one. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and pictures don't count anymore. He needs to get a large group of other archeologists in there to verify this before I'll put any weight in his claim.
It would be a cool find, of course, but I just don't buy it (yet).
I say Australia, Canada(-PQ), the U.K., and the U.S. get together and have one internet, and everyone else can have their own frickin' internet. I'm tired of all those non-English articles being returned by google anyway - get them off my internet.:)
I don't see a weakening need for control system integrators any time soon. By definition, an integrator will have to write some kind of code. That code is customized to the application.
There has always been, and will always be, some kind of custom application out there. Someone, somewhere, will always be building a one-of-a-kind machine to do some unique task, and it will be automated using software. Someone has to write that software.
Furthermore, the better integrators all have an electrical engineering background, not software. EE's write more reliable, but less efficient code - that's why they're a good choice for writing control systems. But they have little interest in security (because they have little knowledge of it).
That's another point... anyone can write programs on a computer. I was writing programs at the age of 15 and 16, one of which was used to manage inventory data at a relative's business. The database and GUI tools available today would allow a 15 year old to easily do the same thing with SQL and VB. If it has a security flaw, who would you hold accountable for that?
Your analogy is flawed. Big companies produce power and make cars because it is an economy of scale, but I can still go buy a generator (even an automated self-switch model or a solar powered sytem) for my house, or I can hire a guy in his garage to take a stock car and modify it for me. I can even build a dune buggy in my garage from the ground up and drive it to work - street legal. The guy in the next cube over actually does that. He didn't have to be licensed to build that car either. In fact, the same guy built his own gas generator out of an old Honda car engine and an A/C generator. It's legal and he didn't need a license. In fact, I could hire him to build me one too.
So no, I don't think I'm a dinosaur. A single programmer won't be writing the latest and greatest spreadsheet software, but there are a lot of things out there waiting to be programmed and automated.
While this may actually be feasible for shrink wrapped software that sells a million copies and has a team of expensive testers going over it button by button, this would completely destroy custom programming.
I write software that is usually only run on one or two computers at one location, and it's constantly modified to add features, fix bugs, etc. Our company and our customers can't afford to pay triple the cost for the stringent software testing that a huge Micro$oft type place would have, so a law making the programmers personally liable would make all custom software prohibitively expensive.
We do sell our code with a 1 year warrantee, so we agree to fix all bugs that come up within the first year. However, the agreement is not a guarantee. If there is a bug, we agree to fix it, but we're not going to compensate the customer for lost production or expenses.
There is software in this world (I'm thinking the QNX kernel here) that actually comes with a guarantee that it works as documented. The company (QSSL) has liability insurance just in case. Of course, that makes QNX licenses more expensive than they would otherwise be.
Most software comes with a disclaimer. Microsoft tells you that the user accepts the liability for any bugs. Even though nobody reads that disclaimer, it still exists. Right now you have a choice - you could hire someone to write code and give you a guarantee (expensive), or you could just buy something off the shelf (cheap) that would probably work ok most of the time. The article is talking about removing that choice.
No, it isn't the same. You've deprived the barber of his/her time. Theft of someone's time is considered theft, especially if it is time they would normally get paid for. In the case of copying music digitally, neither the owner nor the author is affected AT ALL whether or not you copy the music, unless you copied it INSTEAD of buying it.
Copying copyrighted works IS illegal, but it is NOT theft.
Let's say we had a machine where someone could come to my driveway, scan my truck, and make an exact duplicate. THEY ARE NOT STEALING MY TRUCK. They are, however, stealing the design of the truck, which would most likely be illegal. It still isn't theft, it's some kind of intellectual property crime against GM.
However, if someone comes to my driveway and takes my truck, they are then guilty of theft, which is a crime against ME, not GM.
Therefore, if you copy some intellectual property for personal use (not to resell) then it's less of a crime than stealing something because you're not depriving anyone of something that they paid money for. If you copy some copyrighted material to sell to others, then you're definitely infringing on their livelihood, and most would consider that closer to theft of intellectual property.
Now, now... anti-depressants don't actually make you happy... they just make the depression subside a bit so you can get moving again and make yourself happy. Taking anti-depressants is like if you have a hole in your boat and you're sinking, the drugs are like pumping out the bilge. It doesn't fix the problem, but it will keep you afloat until you can get to a safe harbour and repair the damage.
I get paid a flat rate by the hour, so yes, I get paid to take a call at 2 am.
The other thing is that my cell phone is required to be on at all times, and within earshot. (This isn't enforced too terribly, but you do get sh*t if you're caught not answering.) Then, if they call my number and I don't answer, then they call the main office number, and it goes to our call center, where they will ask for me, and the call center will call my cell phone again, and finally call my home number. They have my home number because the company I work for gave it to them, and I had no friggin' clue that they were going to use it like this.
I'm tempted to change my home number, but they could just look up the new one off of the cell phone bill every month.
But, I do love the work (the stuff during the day anyway) which is why I put up with all the bad stuff about it.
Slashdot Mirror
I work 40 to 45 hours a week on light weeks, and 55 to 60 during crunch time, unless I'm onsite somewhere, in which case I go gangbusters. 55 to 60 is a lot of time if you want to have any remnant of a weekend, left, and that's important.
What's more, I like my job. Therefore I take initiative, get paid more, and get promoted. That's not being a tool, but it is making sure I'm worth more to the company than what I'm getting paid, which is what gets you ahead.
The problem is, I'm competing against people who have nothing better to do than work, who will work for 80 hours a week because they have no interest in becoming a well-rounded person, just a cog in a machine.
Then you're not a very good competitor, or you're playing the wrong game. I'm an engineer because I love it, I'm good at it, and it pays good money. If you don't like what you do, don't expect the company to pick you first for a promotion. Consider finding another job that you actually like.
Your other option is to move to Europe. I hear they're closer to your ideals over there. Less work, more slack time. 4 weeks vacation to start.
I want explicit instructions for what you want me to do. If I didn't do something it's because you didn't ask me to.
We have names for employees like you - hourly wage earners. Someone who comes in at 7:30, punches the clock, does exactly as they're told, and goes home after they have 8 hours in, and is never expected to give anything more.
Honestly, there's very little use for those employees in an IT environment. I would make sure an employee with such an attitude was at the bottom of the pay scale, and would be constantly turned down for promotion, because it's obvious they have no motivation to better themselves.
On the other hand, someone who shows initiative - takes responsibility for things and does things before I ask - they're valuable, and paid accordingly. They're going to get the best reviews, and are first up for promotion.
I can micromanage my employees, but I really don't have the time. You would be of very little use to my organization.
If you want to find a boss like you describe, I've seen many of them overseeing assembly lines for the big 3 automakers.
It's not like these guys are going around spraying sperm all over the planet getting women pregnant who don't want to be, or who don't want to raise a child... the whole point is that the women want a baby.
You do realize that the fertility clinic is the one who profits from this, right? Where are they supposed to get the sperm? Ever think of that?
I've got news for you... in the US, people donate blood for beer money too, and they don't give a second thought where it goes. I see this as no different. The only people who go to sperm banks are women who are stable enough to provide a good home life to raise a child, but couldn't get pregnant otherwise. There's nothing wrong with that.
I'm ignorant - didn't know about that one, but that's where you put the .com people who don't want to pick a country or their .com.cc is already taken. :)
.int? The US right? So it doesn't really matter.
Besides, who controls
I don't think it matters. If Joe Freedomnik lives in China today, his server is probably already censored. If he lives outside of China, his server is probably censored inside of China anyway. Countries already practice this.
I like the idea, earlier in the thread, about each country running their own root server(s) (no "." servers anymore) and each country manually maintains its list of other countries' root servers. It seems that would solve the problem, letting each country be as restrictive or freedom-loving as it wants.
If it were any other nation, the US government would be on the side of those calling for it to surrender control to an international body.
Did you just figure this out? It is about control. There's no reason any country's going to give it up once it has control (no matter who the "good guys" or "bad guys" are). It's just reality. From my perspective as an Evil Foriegner(tm), I figure it could be worse if another country had control, or another agency, so leave it with the US. That doesn't mean that'll be the best thing 20 or 50 years from now, but hey... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
This shows how clueless politicians are when they talk about "control of the internet". The technology is available to everyone. Any country can setup a network based on TCP/IP technology, could setup their own root servers, and regulate ISPs in their country to use those root servers for their DNS's. Several countries could even get together and create a completely alternate network cut off from "the one true internet" as well. There exist all manners of segregating the current network, just look at the great firewall of China.
.com etc., domain names. I realize that some countries' domains are probably not under their control, and that seems unnecessary.
.com.nn domain in every country code (nn) - in many cases this is already done.
.com domain holder the option to move their domain name under the country code of their choice. In cases where there are conflicting names, give it to the first of the two who registered it.
.com domain, the same with other non-country code domains.
.com. I guess it just means that the root servers should be segregated by country. Would that be so bad?
All this is about is who controls the main
If we really wanted to fix the whole issue without trying to figure out whose dick is bigger, you go to something like this:
1) Make sure every country code is managed only by that country, and give them control of all root servers for that country.
2) Create a
3) Give every
4) Blow away the
Then, every country has their own little "piece" of the internet, so to speak, and can regulate it into oblivion if they like.
Come to think of it, as long as countries have control of their country code root servers (if such a thing exists), then we're practically there. There's no reason why the US can't keep control of
Heh, someone set up their username as Suck-Big-Balls. Nice.
An unintended side effect might be that it might respark the true electronic hacker culture that has rather deteriorated over the last couple of decades. It used to be someone would build a radio or some electronic device from scratch based on ICs, capacitors, etc. Now some geeks think they're cool because they can attach a few IDE cables, insert some memory, and claim to have "built" a computer. Nonsense... that's not building a computer. This change in culture is why Radio Shack now sells things like cell phones, wireless phones, computers, and stereos and resistors and capacitors gets a few square feet of shelf space in the back.
Look, the guys at radio shack already look at me like they're about to call the FBI when I go in to purchase 10 resistors and a few capacitors, along with a couple DB9 connectors to make an RS232 terminator. That's on top of the fact that the guy didn't even know he carried that stuff. He says to me, "looks like someone's building a HAM radio". Ya, no kidding. What he's really wondering is if I'm building a bomb to take out a few city blocks.
So anyway, now if it's illegal to build a device to record video, but a bunch of "electronics hackers" start going out to do it, am I going to be lumped in with them too? Are they going to be raiding surplus electronics stores with stashes of old camcorders tucked away on shelves in the back? Is anyone who tinkers with fundamental electronic components going to be on a government watch list? (Is that why radio shack asks for your phone number when you buy batteries?)
This is some scary stuff. Americans are so concerned about the right to bear arms, but I really think that if you ever plan to overthrow the government in the future, electronic components for communications and such are going to be just as important as bullets and grenades.
I don't know if you've ever tried to stop electromagnetic radiation, but shielding is quite difficult if the EM field is strong and you have to have any holes or extruding devices (like sensors) in your equipment.
I've recently dealt with an EM noise problem. The sensor was completely enclosed except for a 1 to 2" lense, the cable was shielded and grounded at the electrical panel end only, and I was getting very serious EM noise induced in my signal, either from some lights near the sensor, or from some 480V 3 phase power lines in the area. After trying to move all cables at least 2 feet from the power lines, making sure grounding was OK, and even swapping the sensor with another, we decided to move the whole thing further away from the lights, and that seemed to solve the problem.
So, I think that without military grade hardened electronics, someone could build an EMP gun that would take out your little creation.
It's only unauthorized if you put it up her butt. - in computer terms that is called a Backdoor Trojan/Virus of some sort.
If both you and she get tested first (and it comes back negative), then there's no virus threat, and the Trojan is unnecessary.
Oh, this is such a bad thread...
Now wages plummet because employers can establish below-cost-of-living jobs and H-1B visa holders will snap them up, as many are only in the US for the short haul and could care less about Social Security, schools, infrastructure, etc.
I'm a "foreigner" working at the US company. I don't live in the US, I live in Canada and just commute every day. I use comparatively few US services, but, like an H1B holder, I pay social security, medicare, and more taxes to the US federal and state governments than the average US person paid my salary because I have no deductions (like a mortgage) in the US.
I am also not cheap - I'm one of the most experienced engineers in the office and I'm paid accordingly. In fact, I was hired in just out of university at a very good salary by US standards.
The reason for me to apply in the US in the first place was that $1 US was worth about $1.50 or $1.60 Canadian when I started, now it's about $1.15. So now I just stay because I actually like the job (and the raises almost made up for the drop in the dollar).
So from my point of view, you're talking out of your ass.
During the 70s such raises would have been useless given the extreme inflation occurring year after year.
What's your point? That we should get 13% pay raises every year now because cost of living increased that much back in the 70's?
If average inflation over the past 20 years has been between 2 and 5 percent (and I agree this year is bad, but the numbers from the article are talking about last year, where CPI was more like 3.x% even including gas and food).
Besides, if EVERYONE got a 4% raise, that would build in inflation of at least 4%, and probably higher. That's not good for the economy. Since we're talking about IT people only here... even if the average raise in IT was 4%, and inflation is 4%, then you have to wonder, has the average IT person actually produced anything more this year over last year to earn a bigger raise? I mean, are there some big reasons why IT people are more productive all of a sudden? Does the average (including new guys out of college, less the old guys who just retired) Joe IT guy produce more now? I doubt it.
What I want to know is, what are the raises like for the top 10% of IT people.
4% is more than the consumer price index, even including energy, rose in 2004. A 4% raise is more than a cost-of-living raise. It's not much more, especially this year with gas prices skyrocketing, but inflation has been very low recently. That translates into smaller raises. Compare it with the real numbers.
Get over it the rest of the world has -never- liked us unless we were giving them foreign aid.
Just so everyone is on the same page, here are the relative numbers on how much foreign aid various countries give, in absolute dollars and as a percentage of GNP:
Chart
With the exception of Canada, the countries mentioned have a tremendous advanage regarding broadband penetration, and that is relative population density.
As has been pointed out many times before, Canada is actually more "urban" than the US. Something like 3/4 of Canadians live in cities whereas about 2/3 of Americans do, or something like that. Yes, queue jokes about huddling together for warmth, etc., but the facts are there. It helps that only 20% of Canadian land is "habitable" (meaning you can grow crops on it), which is the type of land typically settled on hundreds of years ago. So, Canada has an easier time hitting more of its population with broadband due to population density.
Also, Canada has certain government initiatives to get broadband access to the more remote parts of Canada, such as the far north. Canada has always been on the leading edge of communications technology, and is actively trying to stay that way. The first commercial communications satellite was Canadian owned, as was the first national coast to coast microwave telephone network. This is all because the politicians realized from the start that the only thing stopping the small relatively isolated colonies that became Canada from being absorbed by the US was to overcome the vast communication and transportation obstacles that separated them. Those ideas continue today.
Yes, we do a lot of integration work, and every hardware manufacturer provides some kind of IDE or DLL or sample code and it's all MS compatible only. There is no way we could, or would even want, to switch away from MS, and our customers would freak out if we gave them something they're not used to. In this industry, nobody ever got fired for spec'ing MS, because EVERY customer we've dealt with uses MS.
Ultimately, all monolithic, and particularly authoritarian human endeavors FAIL! Microsoft seems to be amongst that group, and I question if they can escape it easily.
Yeah, that whole apollo program was a complete failure wasn't it? Or the manhattan project? Or building any modern skyscraper? Or any serious engineering project of our time? They all fail miserably, don't they.
What is the alternative to authoritarian human endeavors? There were several X-prize contenders that tried to use a more open-source, everybody pitches in, communism type approach, and they were all bested by Burt Rutan.
And stop calling Microsoft a failure. It's the opposite of failure, obviously. Are you just trying to troll?
My spidey sense is definitely tingling on this one. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and pictures don't count anymore. He needs to get a large group of other archeologists in there to verify this before I'll put any weight in his claim.
It would be a cool find, of course, but I just don't buy it (yet).
I say Australia, Canada(-PQ), the U.K., and the U.S. get together and have one internet, and everyone else can have their own frickin' internet. I'm tired of all those non-English articles being returned by google anyway - get them off my internet. :)
Would that make everyone happy?
I don't see a weakening need for control system integrators any time soon. By definition, an integrator will have to write some kind of code. That code is customized to the application.
There has always been, and will always be, some kind of custom application out there. Someone, somewhere, will always be building a one-of-a-kind machine to do some unique task, and it will be automated using software. Someone has to write that software.
Furthermore, the better integrators all have an electrical engineering background, not software. EE's write more reliable, but less efficient code - that's why they're a good choice for writing control systems. But they have little interest in security (because they have little knowledge of it).
That's another point... anyone can write programs on a computer. I was writing programs at the age of 15 and 16, one of which was used to manage inventory data at a relative's business. The database and GUI tools available today would allow a 15 year old to easily do the same thing with SQL and VB. If it has a security flaw, who would you hold accountable for that?
Your analogy is flawed. Big companies produce power and make cars because it is an economy of scale, but I can still go buy a generator (even an automated self-switch model or a solar powered sytem) for my house, or I can hire a guy in his garage to take a stock car and modify it for me. I can even build a dune buggy in my garage from the ground up and drive it to work - street legal. The guy in the next cube over actually does that. He didn't have to be licensed to build that car either. In fact, the same guy built his own gas generator out of an old Honda car engine and an A/C generator. It's legal and he didn't need a license. In fact, I could hire him to build me one too.
So no, I don't think I'm a dinosaur. A single programmer won't be writing the latest and greatest spreadsheet software, but there are a lot of things out there waiting to be programmed and automated.
While this may actually be feasible for shrink wrapped software that sells a million copies and has a team of expensive testers going over it button by button, this would completely destroy custom programming.
I write software that is usually only run on one or two computers at one location, and it's constantly modified to add features, fix bugs, etc. Our company and our customers can't afford to pay triple the cost for the stringent software testing that a huge Micro$oft type place would have, so a law making the programmers personally liable would make all custom software prohibitively expensive.
We do sell our code with a 1 year warrantee, so we agree to fix all bugs that come up within the first year. However, the agreement is not a guarantee. If there is a bug, we agree to fix it, but we're not going to compensate the customer for lost production or expenses.
There is software in this world (I'm thinking the QNX kernel here) that actually comes with a guarantee that it works as documented. The company (QSSL) has liability insurance just in case. Of course, that makes QNX licenses more expensive than they would otherwise be.
Most software comes with a disclaimer. Microsoft tells you that the user accepts the liability for any bugs. Even though nobody reads that disclaimer, it still exists. Right now you have a choice - you could hire someone to write code and give you a guarantee (expensive), or you could just buy something off the shelf (cheap) that would probably work ok most of the time. The article is talking about removing that choice.
No, it isn't the same. You've deprived the barber of his/her time. Theft of someone's time is considered theft, especially if it is time they would normally get paid for. In the case of copying music digitally, neither the owner nor the author is affected AT ALL whether or not you copy the music, unless you copied it INSTEAD of buying it.
Copying copyrighted works IS illegal, but it is NOT theft.
Let's say we had a machine where someone could come to my driveway, scan my truck, and make an exact duplicate. THEY ARE NOT STEALING MY TRUCK. They are, however, stealing the design of the truck, which would most likely be illegal. It still isn't theft, it's some kind of intellectual property crime against GM.
However, if someone comes to my driveway and takes my truck, they are then guilty of theft, which is a crime against ME, not GM.
Therefore, if you copy some intellectual property for personal use (not to resell) then it's less of a crime than stealing something because you're not depriving anyone of something that they paid money for. If you copy some copyrighted material to sell to others, then you're definitely infringing on their livelihood, and most would consider that closer to theft of intellectual property.
Now, now... anti-depressants don't actually make you happy... they just make the depression subside a bit so you can get moving again and make yourself happy. Taking anti-depressants is like if you have a hole in your boat and you're sinking, the drugs are like pumping out the bilge. It doesn't fix the problem, but it will keep you afloat until you can get to a safe harbour and repair the damage.
:-)
But I'm sure you knew that already...
I get paid a flat rate by the hour, so yes, I get paid to take a call at 2 am.
The other thing is that my cell phone is required to be on at all times, and within earshot. (This isn't enforced too terribly, but you do get sh*t if you're caught not answering.) Then, if they call my number and I don't answer, then they call the main office number, and it goes to our call center, where they will ask for me, and the call center will call my cell phone again, and finally call my home number. They have my home number because the company I work for gave it to them, and I had no friggin' clue that they were going to use it like this.
I'm tempted to change my home number, but they could just look up the new one off of the cell phone bill every month.
But, I do love the work (the stuff during the day anyway) which is why I put up with all the bad stuff about it.