But Paramount cry poor. Their executives must be living out of dumpsters on their own lot. Well, let's we the public make a deal:
1. The public shall stop downloading torrents so long as 2. The studios make them available online immediately without DRM for a reasonable price AND I MEAN REASONABLE.. $400M suggests you're milking it * 3. The public backlash is being fueled by hatred at the erosion of fair use rights. Like the Sono Bono Copyright Extension act which has stopped works owned by filthy rich corporations from entering the public domain. So if Congress repeals that glutinous piece of legislation (and Disney cedes the rights to Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh to the public domain) then we'll have a deal. ** 4. And stop bribing politicians too. Lobbyists who exchange cash or favours or "donations" should go to jail as the people who receive them.
To the other posters ranting about monopoly comments: was referring to Microsoft's Anti-trust suit. Never said they had a monopoly on games. Straw man called.
> A 512 MB Microsoft branded Memory Unit goes for $29.99 at BestBuy.com. A 2 GB third party Memory Unit from Datel goes for $39.99
And remember that any attempt to circumvent locking out third-party memory is a heinous violation of the DMCA and will leave *you* the crimino-consumer liable for a big fine or jail.
Meanwhile the Feds looked at Microsoft's Monopoly and decided it all soft, fluffy and harmless.
There's a lot Lou Gerstner did at IBM that wasn't well known, like his raiding the pension funds and decimating the product line (DB2 anyone?). The business press is fawning of Gerstner (these are after all the same people who praise Madden and the Wall Street investment banks after all), but if you look at Amazon's review of his book you'll find many comments that tell the parts he left out in Gerstner's masturbatory little book:
"It is strangely ironic that, after doing his best to suppress all negative communication within IBM, it should be the reader feedback on amazon.com that alerts Gerstner to what the world at large really thinks of him. Ever since 1994 the newsreading public has been conned into a set of beliefs about IBM and Gerstner, simply through IBM's vice-like control of all media that wanted a share of IBM's ad spending. It is bizarre that he expects us to read through a critical employee e-mail on pages 81-82 of his book, when he admits that he couldn't even spare the time to reply to it himself.
Gerstner was the IBM CEO with a worse revenue record than John Akers, the man he replaced. The only way Gerstner could find to grow revenue was by buying firms like Lotus. He turned what was a fantastic company to work for into a an ordinary one. He writes in the book that he transformed the company into a firm where the most able got the most rewards. In fact he converted it into a firm where the most aggressive individuals, like Gerstner, win through. He destroyed IBM's employee benefits schemes across the world, claiming they were unaffordable at the time of IBM's darkest hour. Perhaps they were at that time, but Gerstner's greatest sin was that he never returned any of the benefits to the employees when business improved, except through a silly bonus scheme that in my experience never motivated anyone. The result is that IBM has become a company that people still want to have on their CV, but those who join in mid-career almost never stay more than two years.
Gerstner groped around and never really found the right idea for growing revenue. His shift to services meant that he took his eye off all the products in the IBM catalogue, and IBM architectures have become an irrelevance in a world now dominated by Windows, TCP/IP, Linux, Solaris and Oracle. He used the AS/400 as a cash cow when a very aggressive pricing scheme could have seen the system create the market that Windows NT instead built. Gerstner has said the Internet saved IBM, but frankly it did a lot more for rivals like Microsoft and Sun.
There's a part of me that makes me think this book is one huge, ironic joke -- the guy only pretends to be unaware of the impact of his decisions on others. He boasts about a turnaround that never was and advocates management behaviour that no-one should accept.
That would be fine if it were confined to the pages of this book. But unfortunately the impact of Gerstner is written large across the lives of many, many individuals who crossed his path, both inside and outside IBM. The blight cast over their lives means that, when they get the chance, they usually don't recommend IBM products. Gerstner just doesn't understand that.
These pages on amazon ought to be required reading for anyone foolish enough to think they want a career in IBM. "
Having used MySQL in an enterprise computing environment, I reckon even Oracle's worst enemies would also urge the EU To Approve Oracle's MySQL Takeover.;-)
Many people wiped their more expensive copy of Vista with XP. Microsoft only allowed some customers to do this "legally". Does Microsoft consider the other XP Downgraders to be pirates?
The allure of ***Cloud*** (insert fireworks) surprises and doesn't surprise me. Seems like any tech concept you can put in simple allegorical terms that can be understood by the technically illiterate investors (and tech journalists at Wired) is a surefire recipe for success. Here... let me try:
"Mountain(TM) Computing! The Problem: computing resources are spread too thin across the enterprise. Solution: With Mountain(TM) computing we marshal them for access at the peak. Intel and Microsoft are excited about Mountain(TM) computing."
But after installing Visio it tells me (which included SP3) it says "Oh hey, you need to download some new content." Why isn't that in the SP, I wonder? Well I click download and it's a small addon just a few hundred K. Weird I wonder. Why didn't they just include it? I didn't even need the function. But when I click download it tells me to install WGA. I tried half a dozen times without installing WGA and it wouldn't let me...
In the end I was able to get around it without installing Bill's Viralware. Eat that, Microsoft.
The ACS has a sweetheart deal negotiated with a clueless former government. Any computer professional coming to Oz needs to pay the ACS $$$ to write them a letter saying "The applicant is a programmer who can get work here." The ACS has a monopoly on this. No other organization is allowed to write these letters. And on migrating the applicant has to become a member of the ACS.
I know one programmer who migrated under this scheme. Second year he kept his ACS membership fee and instead he and his family rented a beach house for a week with the money. Much better value was his conclusion.
The ACS (Australian Computing Society) is considered a joke by the majority of computer professionals. A few of years ago (it may have changed) it was run by a lawyer and a recruiter. They approached Helen Coonan - the minister responsible - with the idea that every computer professional should be registered with the ACS *BY LAW* just like Doctors. Coonan being a politician didn't know any better and endorsed the idea.
"The Australian" - a national broadsheet newspaper - ran the story and there was an outcry from computer professionals who wanted nothing to do with the ACS. They had enough letters they took a whole page and made the story bigger, and more the next week. But being a Rupert Murdoch publication, on the third week they paid for a half-page ad and in the newspaper, a sympathetic editorial appeared and the criticism stopped.
The ACS does nothing. It's nothing like the ACM or IEEE which gives something of value for their members. The ACS does nothing other than sell you an annual membership. The only people who join are n00bs who think it makes them pros. One such n00b who couldn't find a job called the ACS for help. They were amazed that someone would even bother to call them. They eventually added professional indemnity insurance (which some real unions/professional associations do) but the $10K a year coverage they offered is so low it doesn't meet contractors requirements.
And here the ACS is again. They can't sell to the people, so they sell to gullible politicians. But unless they can convince Rudd to pay for it with stimulus money, their plan is doomed because there is no way people will pay for it out of their own pocket. (Yeah, same thing, but you know what I mean.)
The Government can't copyright its work. Unless New York wishes to claim it's not really part of the government, in which case good luck collecting local taxes. The MTA's so-called public servants who dreamed this timetable skirmish up really should be sacked for wasting taxpayers money in the pursuit of inferior service.
"Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise."
The intent of the section is to place in the public domain all work of the United States Government, which is defined in 17 U.S.C. 101 as work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties. In most cases, contractors are not employees.
I've been in Japan at election time and the campaigning system is archaic. The local candidate drives around in a car of supporters waving enthusiastically at people in the street, with loudspeakers blaring (if the candidate was Mr. Tanaka): "I am Tanaka! I am Tanaka! Please vote for me. Thank you very much. I am Tanaka! I am Tanaka! Please vote for me. Thank you very much" ad infinitum. That's all the policy you'll ever hear. I was with a friend who waved back at one of these annoying vans. I asked "So who was that?" Their response: "I dunno."
Until recently there's only been one viable party, the LDP. They're old and boring and so archaic its ridiculous. In theory it's a democracy, but seats are usually handed from father to son. These spoiled boys are known as "Boku-chans" (ie. Brats). They still have public elections, but the LDP always wins so they're more a formality. They're generally from filthy rich families and completely out of touch with ordinary Japanese. They make stupid chauvinist comments and go "whaaaaaat?"
Anyway: looks like a minor party will finally succeed in booting the LDP out of power at the next electon. About time.
"Thomson Course Technology" are extremely good. They have the highst editorial standard I've seen. Books like "Shaders for Game Programmers and Artists" by Sebastien St-Laurent are extremely well done and IMHO the best in the field.
O'Reilly is good ole' reliable but he does tend to fatten his books out to ridiculous sizes. Why say in one paragraph what you can say in ten pages? It makes them slow going for learners, but that aside we should congratulate him for raising the bar for all publishers.
Bad:
Wordware and Charles River have put out some shockers over the years. These seem to have included many books written by the "give a kid some money to go away and write a book for us." These are rambling monologs to nowhere in particular. I remember one they did on character animation where the author where he didn't discuss the most commonly used formats because they were "too hard" (why else would I buy his book!?) and another which told the reader to buy some particular company's SDK (sure, but what if you don't want to?) Some of their other books have just been copied straight from a technical specs with minimal explanation. Occasionally they do a good one though: Frank Luna's books on shaders and 3d programming are good.
We should also flame Elsevier, McGraw Hill, Wiley and publishers of textbooks. We see far too many textbooks with typos, errors, problems without solutions ("sold separately"), overpriced US editions and the way they rip off students by bring out new editions with superficial changes. The same with their academic books which seem to have very poor editorial control. For all the money these publishers make they should do a better job, to say nothing of their overpriced academic journals.
Question is: Is it possible to do your own PC-Based Biotech startup, the same way people (used to) do their own IT startup? Without having to get into bed with Big Pharma (because we all know how that ends up!)
IT jobs are harder to find, so while there may still be reasonable paying IT jobs, they are fewer and farther between. Biology/Biochemists aren't paid well either. They have to work for big pharma or as a research assistant at the local university (both pay poorly). But I wasn't suggesting you switch to Biology! Instead keep your IT skills, but learn Bioinformatics.
> I'm having trouble coming up with a goal where biological chemicals are the answer.
Proteins are the language of cells. Many diseases have a basis in this messaging going wrong. You could e.g. create a protein molecule that seeks out incorrectly operating cells and patches their DNA, or simply finds the errant protein and binds with it or even changes it.
In practice if you did design an uberdrug on your PC you'd get a lab to make it for you, but for the amateur home chemist this is an awesome book: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514921/
I'm glad someone has the balls to say it: Universities are still pumping out IT graduates into an already crowded job market. It's like these kids have shown up to the California Gold Rush after all the gold has gone. IT has well and truly jumped the shark. There will still be jobs, but not enough to support the hordes of unemployed IT people out there. The parties over. Sorry you didn't score, but it's time to go home anyway.
But fear not, because Uncle CuteSteveJobs has a backup plan for you: Biotech. Bioinformatics is a new are and lets even little old you try and crack the genetic code. Hunt through DNA. Discover proteins. Build new drugs, all on your PC. Open source your discoveries, or sell out to Big Pharma.
You'll need to learn a bit of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics. Take heart: It's said Bioinformatics is closer to IT than it is to either of the former. Think of it as learning another language. That.NET isn't exactly cutting it these days, is it?
You'll be curing people and doing far more to help the world. And it's a lot more useful than doing another useless social networking website. Let me help you get started:
2. File > Fetch by ID > PDB=1BGX [Fetch]...wait... Actions > Atoms & Bonds > Show Only...rotate with mouse...
3. That molecule is a polymerase. It can run down a DNA chain, unzip it, and build a protein as it goes. Yes, a little protein nanomachine? How cool is that? And to think you wanted to write web sites instead. C'mon. Try doing something useful!;)
The SONY readers can show PDF files which is great, but those screens are too damned small. You might as well carry around a Netbook. The good news is Amazon have finally backed off their proprietary+DRM stupidity and allowed PDF on Kindles' too:
Now they should go the next step and give you an oyster fork so you can pry out their BigBrotheresque Wireless connection which from the 1984 debacle we've seen has more cons than pros.
What's sad about Microsoft is that they've long stopped innovating... if they ever did.
The Microsoft Store is a ripoff of the Apple Store. The Zune is a ripoff of the iPod (or a turd... I'm not sure). Bing and Live before is a ripoff of Google.
They don't create anything any more. They just copy others and wonder why it doesn't work. (Indeed copying others and doing enough versions seemed to work for them. It just doesn't work any longer.)
Even Windows is a ripoff of Windows, and since XP that's been on a downward trend as more apps more to the web. They killed off Windows as a gaming platform with their idiot decision to restrict DirectX10 to Vista. Vista. Vista. Vista....
(Bill Gates wakes up in a cold sweat. "Oh Melissa I've had the most horrible dream...")
> iPrimus, Netforce, Webshield, Nelson Bay Online, OMNIconnect, Tech2U, Highway1
Hah hah. I live in Oz and apart from Primus I've never heard of any of these. All the big ones like TPG, Telstra, Optus, AAPT have been left out. Primus is way down the list anyway.
I can't wait for the next election. Now the Ruddcash handouts have stopped (paid for with a $40B loan from China) maybe the dopey mums n' dads who so greedily lapped them up will think twice about voting for Rudd.
Slashdot Mirror
Ars recently had a story about how Paramount was using Star Trek as an example of how piracy is out of control.
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/11/paramount-pictures-over-five-million-copies-of-star-trek-stolen.ars
Poor darlings. They only grossed $400M... at the box office alone.
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=startrek11.htm
But Paramount cry poor. Their executives must be living out of dumpsters on their own lot. Well, let's we the public make a deal:
1. The public shall stop downloading torrents so long as
2. The studios make them available online immediately without DRM for a reasonable price AND I MEAN REASONABLE.. $400M suggests you're milking it *
3. The public backlash is being fueled by hatred at the erosion of fair use rights. Like the Sono Bono Copyright Extension act which has stopped works owned by filthy rich corporations from entering the public domain. So if Congress repeals that glutinous piece of legislation (and Disney cedes the rights to Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh to the public domain) then we'll have a deal. **
4. And stop bribing politicians too. Lobbyists who exchange cash or favours or "donations" should go to jail as the people who receive them.
* = and don't pull any of your Hollywood Accounting scams to try and "tell us you made a loss" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting )
** = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
I always look at my Bezos before I flush.
> Engineers Tell How Feedback Shaped Windows 7
If feedback was truly used Bill Gates wouldn't be able to sit down right now.
I stand corrected. I heard Lexmark was using the DMCA to shut down third-party suppliers. Didn't realise it blew up in their face:
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2005/02/4636.ars
To the other posters ranting about monopoly comments: was referring to Microsoft's Anti-trust suit. Never said they had a monopoly on games. Straw man called.
And remember that any attempt to circumvent locking out third-party memory is a heinous violation of the DMCA and will leave *you* the crimino-consumer liable for a big fine or jail.
Meanwhile the Feds looked at Microsoft's Monopoly and decided it all soft, fluffy and harmless.
Where's my Hope and Change?
> Biden was one of only four Senators invited to a champagne reception with Jack Valenti for his work on the DMCA
http://techliberation.com/2008/08/25/biden-on-tech-policy/
http://www.amazon.com/Elephants-Dance-Inside-Historic-Turnaround/product-reviews/B00009NDAF/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_2?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addTwoStar
Many like these:
"It is strangely ironic that, after doing his best to suppress all negative communication within IBM, it should be the reader feedback on amazon.com that alerts Gerstner to what the world at large really thinks of him. Ever since 1994 the newsreading public has been conned into a set of beliefs about IBM and Gerstner, simply through IBM's vice-like control of all media that wanted a share of IBM's ad spending. It is bizarre that he expects us to read through a critical employee e-mail on pages 81-82 of his book, when he admits that he couldn't even spare the time to reply to it himself.
Gerstner was the IBM CEO with a worse revenue record than John Akers, the man he replaced. The only way Gerstner could find to grow revenue was by buying firms like Lotus. He turned what was a fantastic company to work for into a an ordinary one. He writes in the book that he transformed the company into a firm where the most able got the most rewards. In fact he converted it into a firm where the most aggressive individuals, like Gerstner, win through. He destroyed IBM's employee benefits schemes across the world, claiming they were unaffordable at the time of IBM's darkest hour. Perhaps they were at that time, but Gerstner's greatest sin was that he never returned any of the benefits to the employees when business improved, except through a silly bonus scheme that in my experience never motivated anyone. The result is that IBM has become a company that people still want to have on their CV, but those who join in mid-career almost never stay more than two years.
Gerstner groped around and never really found the right idea for growing revenue. His shift to services meant that he took his eye off all the products in the IBM catalogue, and IBM architectures have become an irrelevance in a world now dominated by Windows, TCP/IP, Linux, Solaris and Oracle. He used the AS/400 as a cash cow when a very aggressive pricing scheme could have seen the system create the market that Windows NT instead built. Gerstner has said the Internet saved IBM, but frankly it did a lot more for rivals like Microsoft and Sun.
There's a part of me that makes me think this book is one huge, ironic joke -- the guy only pretends to be unaware of the impact of his decisions on others. He boasts about a turnaround that never was and advocates management behaviour that no-one should accept.
That would be fine if it were confined to the pages of this book. But unfortunately the impact of Gerstner is written large across the lives of many, many individuals who crossed his path, both inside and outside IBM. The blight cast over their lives means that, when they get the chance, they usually don't recommend IBM products. Gerstner just doesn't understand that.
These pages on amazon ought to be required reading for anyone foolish enough to think they want a career in IBM. "
Having used MySQL in an enterprise computing environment, I reckon even Oracle's worst enemies would also urge the EU To Approve Oracle's MySQL Takeover. ;-)
Many people wiped their more expensive copy of Vista with XP. Microsoft only allowed some customers to do this "legally". Does Microsoft consider the other XP Downgraders to be pirates?
... rhymes with Cloud Wanking.
The allure of ***Cloud*** (insert fireworks) surprises and doesn't surprise me. Seems like any tech concept you can put in simple allegorical terms that can be understood by the technically illiterate investors (and tech journalists at Wired) is a surefire recipe for success. Here... let me try:
"Mountain(TM) Computing! The Problem: computing resources are spread too thin across the enterprise. Solution: With Mountain(TM) computing we marshal them for access at the peak. Intel and Microsoft are excited about Mountain(TM) computing."
Also see: Push, Web 2.0.
Everything legit. Legit Windows. Legit Visio. Legit Office. Legit *everything*. ok?
But after installing Visio it tells me (which included SP3) it says "Oh hey, you need to download some new content." Why isn't that in the SP, I wonder? Well I click download and it's a small addon just a few hundred K. Weird I wonder. Why didn't they just include it? I didn't even need the function. But when I click download it tells me to install WGA. I tried half a dozen times without installing WGA and it wouldn't let me...
In the end I was able to get around it without installing Bill's Viralware. Eat that, Microsoft.
The ACS has a sweetheart deal negotiated with a clueless former government. Any computer professional coming to Oz needs to pay the ACS $$$ to write them a letter saying "The applicant is a programmer who can get work here." The ACS has a monopoly on this. No other organization is allowed to write these letters. And on migrating the applicant has to become a member of the ACS.
I know one programmer who migrated under this scheme. Second year he kept his ACS membership fee and instead he and his family rented a beach house for a week with the money. Much better value was his conclusion.
The ACS (Australian Computing Society) is considered a joke by the majority of computer professionals. A few of years ago (it may have changed) it was run by a lawyer and a recruiter. They approached Helen Coonan - the minister responsible - with the idea that every computer professional should be registered with the ACS *BY LAW* just like Doctors. Coonan being a politician didn't know any better and endorsed the idea.
"The Australian" - a national broadsheet newspaper - ran the story and there was an outcry from computer professionals who wanted nothing to do with the ACS. They had enough letters they took a whole page and made the story bigger, and more the next week. But being a Rupert Murdoch publication, on the third week they paid for a half-page ad and in the newspaper, a sympathetic editorial appeared and the criticism stopped.
The ACS does nothing. It's nothing like the ACM or IEEE which gives something of value for their members. The ACS does nothing other than sell you an annual membership. The only people who join are n00bs who think it makes them pros. One such n00b who couldn't find a job called the ACS for help. They were amazed that someone would even bother to call them. They eventually added professional indemnity insurance (which some real unions/professional associations do) but the $10K a year coverage they offered is so low it doesn't meet contractors requirements.
And here the ACS is again. They can't sell to the people, so they sell to gullible politicians. But unless they can convince Rudd to pay for it with stimulus money, their plan is doomed because there is no way people will pay for it out of their own pocket. (Yeah, same thing, but you know what I mean.)
The Government can't copyright its work. Unless New York wishes to claim it's not really part of the government, in which case good luck collecting local taxes. The MTA's so-called public servants who dreamed this timetable skirmish up really should be sacked for wasting taxpayers money in the pursuit of inferior service.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_copyright_law :
"Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise."
The intent of the section is to place in the public domain all work of the United States Government, which is defined in 17 U.S.C. 101 as work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties. In most cases, contractors are not employees.
I've been in Japan at election time and the campaigning system is archaic. The local candidate drives around in a car of supporters waving enthusiastically at people in the street, with loudspeakers blaring (if the candidate was Mr. Tanaka): "I am Tanaka! I am Tanaka! Please vote for me. Thank you very much. I am Tanaka! I am Tanaka! Please vote for me. Thank you very much" ad infinitum. That's all the policy you'll ever hear. I was with a friend who waved back at one of these annoying vans. I asked "So who was that?" Their response: "I dunno."
Until recently there's only been one viable party, the LDP. They're old and boring and so archaic its ridiculous. In theory it's a democracy, but seats are usually handed from father to son. These spoiled boys are known as "Boku-chans" (ie. Brats). They still have public elections, but the LDP always wins so they're more a formality. They're generally from filthy rich families and completely out of touch with ordinary Japanese. They make stupid chauvinist comments and go "whaaaaaat?"
Anyway: looks like a minor party will finally succeed in booting the LDP out of power at the next electon. About time.
"brb lol!"
Good:
"Thomson Course Technology" are extremely good. They have the highst editorial standard I've seen. Books like "Shaders for Game Programmers and Artists" by Sebastien St-Laurent are extremely well done and IMHO the best in the field.
O'Reilly is good ole' reliable but he does tend to fatten his books out to ridiculous sizes. Why say in one paragraph what you can say in ten pages? It makes them slow going for learners, but that aside we should congratulate him for raising the bar for all publishers.
Bad:
Wordware and Charles River have put out some shockers over the years. These seem to have included many books written by the "give a kid some money to go away and write a book for us." These are rambling monologs to nowhere in particular. I remember one they did on character animation where the author where he didn't discuss the most commonly used formats because they were "too hard" (why else would I buy his book!?) and another which told the reader to buy some particular company's SDK (sure, but what if you don't want to?) Some of their other books have just been copied straight from a technical specs with minimal explanation. Occasionally they do a good one though: Frank Luna's books on shaders and 3d programming are good.
We should also flame Elsevier, McGraw Hill, Wiley and publishers of textbooks. We see far too many textbooks with typos, errors, problems without solutions ("sold separately"), overpriced US editions and the way they rip off students by bring out new editions with superficial changes. The same with their academic books which seem to have very poor editorial control. For all the money these publishers make they should do a better job, to say nothing of their overpriced academic journals.
Thanks for that useful link.
Question is: Is it possible to do your own PC-Based Biotech startup, the same way people (used to) do their own IT startup? Without having to get into bed with Big Pharma (because we all know how that ends up!)
IT jobs are harder to find, so while there may still be reasonable paying IT jobs, they are fewer and farther between. Biology/Biochemists aren't paid well either. They have to work for big pharma or as a research assistant at the local university (both pay poorly). But I wasn't suggesting you switch to Biology! Instead keep your IT skills, but learn Bioinformatics.
> I'm having trouble coming up with a goal where biological chemicals are the answer.
Proteins are the language of cells. Many diseases have a basis in this messaging going wrong. You could e.g. create a protein molecule that seeks out incorrectly operating cells and patches their DNA, or simply finds the errant protein and binds with it or even changes it.
There are tools for designing molecules on your PC:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_Design_software
In practice if you did design an uberdrug on your PC you'd get a lab to make it for you, but for the amateur home chemist this is an awesome book:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514921/
I'm glad someone has the balls to say it: Universities are still pumping out IT graduates into an already crowded job market. It's like these kids have shown up to the California Gold Rush after all the gold has gone. IT has well and truly jumped the shark. There will still be jobs, but not enough to support the hordes of unemployed IT people out there. The parties over. Sorry you didn't score, but it's time to go home anyway.
But fear not, because Uncle CuteSteveJobs has a backup plan for you: Biotech. Bioinformatics is a new are and lets even little old you try and crack the genetic code. Hunt through DNA. Discover proteins. Build new drugs, all on your PC. Open source your discoveries, or sell out to Big Pharma.
You'll need to learn a bit of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics. Take heart: It's said Bioinformatics is closer to IT than it is to either of the former. Think of it as learning another language. That .NET isn't exactly cutting it these days, is it?
You'll be curing people and doing far more to help the world. And it's a lot more useful than doing another useless social networking website. Let me help you get started:
1. Download Chimera (It's free!)
https://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/cgi-bin/chimera-get.py?file=win32/chimera-1.3-win32.exe
2. File > Fetch by ID > PDB=1BGX [Fetch] ...wait... Actions > Atoms & Bonds > Show Only ...rotate with mouse...
3. That molecule is a polymerase. It can run down a DNA chain, unzip it, and build a protein as it goes. Yes, a little protein nanomachine? How cool is that? And to think you wanted to write web sites instead. C'mon. Try doing something useful! ;)
1. It only takes a minute to lose it. 2. Once it's gone, it's gone forever. Oh Microsoft. I knew I should have stayed with my old search browser...
The SONY readers can show PDF files which is great, but those screens are too damned small. You might as well carry around a Netbook. The good news is Amazon have finally backed off their proprietary+DRM stupidity and allowed PDF on Kindles' too:
http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/amazon-kindle-dx-for-pdf-documents/8455/
Now they should go the next step and give you an oyster fork so you can pry out their BigBrotheresque Wireless connection which from the 1984 debacle we've seen has more cons than pros.
And so we see yet another terminally-ill industry smothering itself with a pillow.
What's sad about Microsoft is that they've long stopped innovating... if they ever did.
The Microsoft Store is a ripoff of the Apple Store.
The Zune is a ripoff of the iPod (or a turd... I'm not sure).
Bing and Live before is a ripoff of Google.
They don't create anything any more. They just copy others and wonder why it doesn't work. (Indeed copying others and doing enough versions seemed to work for them. It just doesn't work any longer.)
Even Windows is a ripoff of Windows, and since XP that's been on a downward trend as more apps more to the web. They killed off Windows as a gaming platform with their idiot decision to restrict DirectX10 to Vista. Vista. Vista. Vista....
(Bill Gates wakes up in a cold sweat. "Oh Melissa I've had the most horrible dream...")
> iPrimus, Netforce, Webshield, Nelson Bay Online, OMNIconnect, Tech2U, Highway1
Hah hah. I live in Oz and apart from Primus I've never heard of any of these. All the big ones like TPG, Telstra, Optus, AAPT have been left out. Primus is way down the list anyway.
I can't wait for the next election. Now the Ruddcash handouts have stopped (paid for with a $40B loan from China) maybe the dopey mums n' dads who so greedily lapped them up will think twice about voting for Rudd.