I don't see what the big deal is. Acrobat files have been password-protectable for years. It's also difficult to cut and paste or edit an Acrobat file from Office-type applications, because Acrobat files are basically graphics files. It works. I and my collegues have been using it forever.
I've never been an Office user, partly because it doesn't meet these needs. I don't know why people even buy Office, except to open Office files that others have sent. Office sucks. Just say no!
Delaware has always been very, um, freewheeling when it comes to business regulation, so over the years it has gotten the reputation as a haven for sleazy operators. For many people, a Delaware incorporation is a red flag. "Oh, I see, a Delaware corporation. Well, it figures..."
I don't think I'd want a Delaware address for my online business.
I don't know if this is still true, but in Vermont you weren't required to have auto insurance as long as you had a clean driving record. I guess that was proof enough that you didn't need it, and therefore shouldn't be required to have it!
Don't tax value added activity! We want to encourage it as much as possible -- we want everyone who sees an opportunity to add value to be able to just do it! That *is* the economy! Don't destroy it!
It's fun to see Amazon try and talk about how difficult it would be to implement taxes for all states, when it's already doing it for Target and Toys 'R Us."
Well, that may be, but we ought to be thankful Amazon is fighting for free commerce. Complex taxation would tilt the playing field in favor of the big players. So in a sense they're doing the rest of us a favor, which they don't have to. Amazon can afford all this extra software and programming, and/or services that provide the tax tables. The mom and pop clicks and mortar stores might not be able to. This stupid intestate taxation and the complexity it brings will only decrease the number of players and reduce competition in the ecommerce business. The ultimate sad result might be that no one but huge players can afford to compete, and small players will be forced to become Amazon or Yahoo Store "partners."
They were popular because they weren't pretentious, they were self-confident, and they knew how to talk to somebody without scaring or boring the shit out of them. Which none of us geeks quite had a handle on yet . ..
Exactly! People with the necessary skills will succeed socially, no matter what their other interests are. Social incompetence is just that -- incompetence.
One of the first signs of incompetence in any area is a failure to recognize one's own incompetence. In my experience, "nerds" usually have an incredibly inflated opinion of their own intelligence and ability. They love to think they're smarter or superior in some way, and that this sets them apart and explains away their being misfits. But if anything, this is probably just a defense mechanism, or wishful thinking.
Ever notice how none of the nerds ever get the highest grades or SAT scores, or get into top tier universities?
I know plenty of people from my high school years who were top athletes, straight-A, all-AP students, got at least 1450 on their SAT, attended an Ivy League level university, and went on to illustrious careers in *science and technology* that would make most Slashdot nose-pickers bow down in worship.
The bottom line is that winners are winners, and losers are just losers. So quit kidding yourselves.
A good place to look is the IBM store on Ebay. They sell overstocks, refurbs, or whatever with a full factory warranty and everything. Most of the models are a year or two old, but the latest ones turn up there too. The discount is substantial -- not much more than what you'd pay for a private party sale on a used machine. Of course, you don't need the Windows software that comes with the machine, but with the great discount you're getting it doesn't matter. You might even be able to sell it.
I'm not sure exactly how IBM's warranties are attatched to the hardware and software -- whether not using the supplied software affects the hardware warranty. Frankly, I just choose to live dangerously, and I don't care. The cheaper machine is enough for me.
Perhaps the best reason to buy a Thinkpad is that they're so well regarded they're practically a cult machine, almost to the degree of Apple products. So there are plenty of websites devoted to installing Linux on Thinkpads. There's Thinkpad specific software so all the little buttons work, etc. It's well-trodden territory. But the hot tip is to buy a T, A, or X Series, and not an R. The R uses some cheaper hardware for things like the modem, and AFAIK, drivers aren't available yet.
Oracle, Linux, and Solaris...
on
The Faded Sun
·
· Score: 1
One thing which *hasn't* helped Sun is Oracle embracing Linux. Oracle was always a major driver of server sales for Sun, partly because of the belief that Solaris is Oracle's native platform -- being developed on Solaris, etc. Whether this really matters in a technical sense is academic. But with Oracle downplaying Solaris and talking up Linux so much these days, it has to be hurting Sun's sales.
The McDonald's case is always held up as an example of abuse of the courts, a miscarriage of justice, whatever. But I happen to think their coffee *was* too damned hot, and that they *were* negligent in serving it that way.
Good coffee should never hit boiling temperature anyway.
You must not be a sailor, because if you were you'd know that salt buildup is the major everyday maintenance issue for sailboats. The chemical presence of the salt itself has a corrosive and bleaching effect, plus, it magnifies the effect of UV radiation. This causes paint and gelcoat surfaces to fade and break down, and it *really* causes sails to deteriorate. Sails are washed whenever it's convenient, and it's usually inconvenient. The bigger the sail, the more inconvenient it is! As far as the rest of the boat goes, sailors are constantly washing everything down with fresh water, whenever it's available.
Now, back to sails. In fact, it's more expensive to use sail power than diesel, because sails are expensive, and only last so long. Most round-the-world cruising types find that sails last about 18 months when used continuously, and that's assuming they aren't destroyed by a sudden storm. So when the cost of replacement is figured in (thousands to tens of thousands of dollars), and spread over time, it's actually cheaper to run the boat on diesel power.
As a beginning programmer and long time technical writer, I've read all the basic Java Programming books looking for the silver bullet. This one's by far the most readable, and the most useful for a beginning Java programmer without previous programming experience.
I think Sun will continue to lose, both marketshare, overall sales, stock value, everything. They do a lot of neat stuff, but the one that pays the bills is getting hammered by cheap Intel/Linux solutions. There's less and less need for enterprise class servers these days as the cheap stuff gets more powerful, and that business will go to companies offering the best service -- probably IBM. Since IBM is best able to continue Sun's work on this front, IBM is a natural buyer to step in at the last minute to save Sun's ass. Not to mention that IBM is already as big a Java player as Sun itself, and could benefit from Sun's talent. How soon will this happen? I'd say give it a couple of years, maybe three...
That's the whole reason behind banning VPNs, etc. They just want to be able to charge you extra for a "business" account. They figure plenty of telecommuters work for large companies who have already afforded sophisticated IT, so they'll have plenty of money to pony up to support their telecommuters. It's not uncommon to see static IP or "business" accounts sell for 2-3 times as much as standard. This really sucks for freelancers and contractors, because it comes right out of their own pockets, not The Corporation's. But if it's any comfort, Earthlink in the US sells static IP accounts for $10-20 more than standard, so they're not as bad as most.
Cheaper than paying tellers, or handling cash!
on
The Future of Money
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· Score: 1
Why should banks charge you for debit cards, or electronic routing of payments? Their whole business is runs on databases anyway, so the marginal cost of adding this functionality is virtually nil. In fact it saves money. It costs them a lot to hire tellers, and handle cash, which must be counted, packaged, shipped, and stored. So the more they can encourage you to *not* use cash, the better it is for them.
Unfortunately, they've also discovered they can get away with charging service fees at ATMs. So this is a double whammy of profit for them, and a double whammy ripoff for you. They replace the teller with a cheaper machine, then charge you for the "priveledge" of using it.
Here's a secret, though -- when you need cash, just go to a grocery store and use your ATM to buy something you need anyway, and get some extra cash back. It doesn't cost you anything extra. If you didn't need anything, then you at least get a soda or something for your $1.50, instead of nothing at the ATM!
I don't understand why people patronize traditional banks at all. Mine has no regular locations for customer services -- I make my deposits through the mail or electronically, make payments with checks or debit card, and manage the account either online or by phone -- all for free. They even pay interest, and rebate up to 4 ATM charges a month. It's FDIC insured and everything. I don't understand why people waste their time "going to the bank." And I certainly don't understand why banks waste all that money on high street real estate.
Naturally, SBC and its ilk would rather keep all of this business for themselves, rather than just get a little piece of everyone's. In the latter scenario, they're assuming the risk of keeping everyone's networks up, but only getting a little piece of the action. In the former scenario, they're only responisible for a fraction of the network, but getting a huge markup on it. So it's technically more profitable, which looks better on a balance sheet.
If the salary for the job in question is over $150k, there are even greater ramifications of this. They can do a financial background check in addition to what appears on your credit report, and anything they find can be reported to the credit agencies, and appear on your report *forever.* That's right, not 7 years, or 10 years as with bankruptcy, but forever.
The moral of the story is that in this age of high profile corportate corruption, etc., companies, ehareholders, and government agencies are doing whatever they can to protect themselves. In the wake of the Rafael Perez and Rodney King scandals, the LAPD even insists on a completely clean credit record for its recruits. A bankruptcy or other credit faux pas means no job.
Credit checks for job applicants are par for the course these days, becoming more of an issue as you go up the pay scale. However, it sounds like you already have the job, so why worry? They want this information to cover their asses if something ever does go wrong -- with you, with the company, whatever. This is standard HR practice these days. Investors/owners would consider not doing it to be mismanagement, so they do it.
This guy is a loser, a vandal, and a criminal. While I don't condone how the government treated him on certain occasions (though not others), I don't see why he should be held up as some kind of celebrity, martyr, or whatever. If anything, he's pathetic. I simply don't get Slashdot's fascination with this guy.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't see what the big deal is. Acrobat files have been password-protectable for years. It's also difficult to cut and paste or edit an Acrobat file from Office-type applications, because Acrobat files are basically graphics files. It works. I and my collegues have been using it forever.
I've never been an Office user, partly because it doesn't meet these needs. I don't know why people even buy Office, except to open Office files that others have sent. Office sucks. Just say no!
Delaware has always been very, um, freewheeling when it comes to business regulation, so over the years it has gotten the reputation as a haven for sleazy operators. For many people, a Delaware incorporation is a red flag. "Oh, I see, a Delaware corporation. Well, it figures..."
I don't think I'd want a Delaware address for my online business.
I don't know if this is still true, but in Vermont you weren't required to have auto insurance as long as you had a clean driving record. I guess that was proof enough that you didn't need it, and therefore shouldn't be required to have it!
Don't forget Blacksburg's greatest asset of all -- Slashdot's darling, Congressman Rick Boucher!
Hey man, they're like, givin' in to the pigs...
Don't tax value added activity! We want to encourage it as much as possible -- we want everyone who sees an opportunity to add value to be able to just do it! That *is* the economy! Don't destroy it!
It's fun to see Amazon try and talk about how difficult it would be to implement taxes for all states, when it's already doing it for Target and Toys 'R Us."
Well, that may be, but we ought to be thankful Amazon is fighting for free commerce. Complex taxation would tilt the playing field in favor of the big players. So in a sense they're doing the rest of us a favor, which they don't have to. Amazon can afford all this extra software and programming, and/or services that provide the tax tables. The mom and pop clicks and mortar stores might not be able to. This stupid intestate taxation and the complexity it brings will only decrease the number of players and reduce competition in the ecommerce business. The ultimate sad result might be that no one but huge players can afford to compete, and small players will be forced to become Amazon or Yahoo Store "partners."
They were popular because they weren't pretentious, they were self-confident, and they knew how to talk to somebody without scaring or boring the shit out of them. Which none of us geeks quite had a handle on yet . . .
Exactly! People with the necessary skills will succeed socially, no matter what their other interests are. Social incompetence is just that -- incompetence.
...for example, Daniel Goleman's book.
One of the first signs of incompetence in any area is a failure to recognize one's own incompetence. In my experience, "nerds" usually have an incredibly inflated opinion of their own intelligence and ability. They love to think they're smarter or superior in some way, and that this sets them apart and explains away their being misfits. But if anything, this is probably just a defense mechanism, or wishful thinking.
Ever notice how none of the nerds ever get the highest grades or SAT scores, or get into top tier universities?
I know plenty of people from my high school years who were top athletes, straight-A, all-AP students, got at least 1450 on their SAT, attended an Ivy League level university, and went on to illustrious careers in *science and technology* that would make most Slashdot nose-pickers bow down in worship.
The bottom line is that winners are winners, and losers are just losers. So quit kidding yourselves.
A good place to look is the IBM store on Ebay. They sell overstocks, refurbs, or whatever with a full factory warranty and everything. Most of the models are a year or two old, but the latest ones turn up there too. The discount is substantial -- not much more than what you'd pay for a private party sale on a used machine. Of course, you don't need the Windows software that comes with the machine, but with the great discount you're getting it doesn't matter. You might even be able to sell it.
I'm not sure exactly how IBM's warranties are attatched to the hardware and software -- whether not using the supplied software affects the hardware warranty. Frankly, I just choose to live dangerously, and I don't care. The cheaper machine is enough for me.
Perhaps the best reason to buy a Thinkpad is that they're so well regarded they're practically a cult machine, almost to the degree of Apple products. So there are plenty of websites devoted to installing Linux on Thinkpads. There's Thinkpad specific software so all the little buttons work, etc. It's well-trodden territory. But the hot tip is to buy a T, A, or X Series, and not an R. The R uses some cheaper hardware for things like the modem, and AFAIK, drivers aren't available yet.
One thing which *hasn't* helped Sun is Oracle embracing Linux. Oracle was always a major driver of server sales for Sun, partly because of the belief that Solaris is Oracle's native platform -- being developed on Solaris, etc. Whether this really matters in a technical sense is academic. But with Oracle downplaying Solaris and talking up Linux so much these days, it has to be hurting Sun's sales.
The McDonald's case is always held up as an example of abuse of the courts, a miscarriage of justice, whatever. But I happen to think their coffee *was* too damned hot, and that they *were* negligent in serving it that way.
Good coffee should never hit boiling temperature anyway.
You must not be a sailor, because if you were you'd know that salt buildup is the major everyday maintenance issue for sailboats. The chemical presence of the salt itself has a corrosive and bleaching effect, plus, it magnifies the effect of UV radiation. This causes paint and gelcoat surfaces to fade and break down, and it *really* causes sails to deteriorate. Sails are washed whenever it's convenient, and it's usually inconvenient. The bigger the sail, the more inconvenient it is! As far as the rest of the boat goes, sailors are constantly washing everything down with fresh water, whenever it's available.
Now, back to sails. In fact, it's more expensive to use sail power than diesel, because sails are expensive, and only last so long. Most round-the-world cruising types find that sails last about 18 months when used continuously, and that's assuming they aren't destroyed by a sudden storm. So when the cost of replacement is figured in (thousands to tens of thousands of dollars), and spread over time, it's actually cheaper to run the boat on diesel power.
As a beginning programmer and long time technical writer, I've read all the basic Java Programming books looking for the silver bullet. This one's by far the most readable, and the most useful for a beginning Java programmer without previous programming experience.
...by Samuel Florman. All young people interested in engineering or applied science of any kind should read this book.
I think Sun will continue to lose, both marketshare, overall sales, stock value, everything. They do a lot of neat stuff, but the one that pays the bills is getting hammered by cheap Intel/Linux solutions. There's less and less need for enterprise class servers these days as the cheap stuff gets more powerful, and that business will go to companies offering the best service -- probably IBM. Since IBM is best able to continue Sun's work on this front, IBM is a natural buyer to step in at the last minute to save Sun's ass. Not to mention that IBM is already as big a Java player as Sun itself, and could benefit from Sun's talent. How soon will this happen? I'd say give it a couple of years, maybe three...
Nyeah nyeah!
That's the whole reason behind banning VPNs, etc. They just want to be able to charge you extra for a "business" account. They figure plenty of telecommuters work for large companies who have already afforded sophisticated IT, so they'll have plenty of money to pony up to support their telecommuters. It's not uncommon to see static IP or "business" accounts sell for 2-3 times as much as standard. This really sucks for freelancers and contractors, because it comes right out of their own pockets, not The Corporation's. But if it's any comfort, Earthlink in the US sells static IP accounts for $10-20 more than standard, so they're not as bad as most.
Why should banks charge you for debit cards, or electronic routing of payments? Their whole business is runs on databases anyway, so the marginal cost of adding this functionality is virtually nil. In fact it saves money. It costs them a lot to hire tellers, and handle cash, which must be counted, packaged, shipped, and stored. So the more they can encourage you to *not* use cash, the better it is for them.
Unfortunately, they've also discovered they can get away with charging service fees at ATMs. So this is a double whammy of profit for them, and a double whammy ripoff for you. They replace the teller with a cheaper machine, then charge you for the "priveledge" of using it.
Here's a secret, though -- when you need cash, just go to a grocery store and use your ATM to buy something you need anyway, and get some extra cash back. It doesn't cost you anything extra. If you didn't need anything, then you at least get a soda or something for your $1.50, instead of nothing at the ATM!
I don't understand why people patronize traditional banks at all. Mine has no regular locations for customer services -- I make my deposits through the mail or electronically, make payments with checks or debit card, and manage the account either online or by phone -- all for free. They even pay interest, and rebate up to 4 ATM charges a month. It's FDIC insured and everything. I don't understand why people waste their time "going to the bank." And I certainly don't understand why banks waste all that money on high street real estate.
Naturally, SBC and its ilk would rather keep all of this business for themselves, rather than just get a little piece of everyone's. In the latter scenario, they're assuming the risk of keeping everyone's networks up, but only getting a little piece of the action. In the former scenario, they're only responisible for a fraction of the network, but getting a huge markup on it. So it's technically more profitable, which looks better on a balance sheet.
That SNL skit resonated because it's true. Hey, they don't call 'em "geeks" for nothing -- many technical people *are* socially retarded.
I too see a lot of this on Slashdot -- a lot of one-dimensional thinking, and serious immaturity.
How could you prove this? They can always say it was because of something else, or that they just liked the other candidate better.
If the salary for the job in question is over $150k, there are even greater ramifications of this. They can do a financial background check in addition to what appears on your credit report, and anything they find can be reported to the credit agencies, and appear on your report *forever.* That's right, not 7 years, or 10 years as with bankruptcy, but forever.
The moral of the story is that in this age of high profile corportate corruption, etc., companies, ehareholders, and government agencies are doing whatever they can to protect themselves. In the wake of the Rafael Perez and Rodney King scandals, the LAPD even insists on a completely clean credit record for its recruits. A bankruptcy or other credit faux pas means no job.
Credit checks for job applicants are par for the course these days, becoming more of an issue as you go up the pay scale. However, it sounds like you already have the job, so why worry? They want this information to cover their asses if something ever does go wrong -- with you, with the company, whatever. This is standard HR practice these days. Investors/owners would consider not doing it to be mismanagement, so they do it.
This guy is a loser, a vandal, and a criminal. While I don't condone how the government treated him on certain occasions (though not others), I don't see why he should be held up as some kind of celebrity, martyr, or whatever. If anything, he's pathetic. I simply don't get Slashdot's fascination with this guy.