However, if you are looking at a largely-technophobic constituency you might run into the "if it's open-source then it's insecure" mentality, and no matter how many times you explain it you aren't going to sink in with some of them.
No, you're going to run into the "what does source mean in this context? and what makes it open? secure? secure from what?" mentality. I swear, from the way people here talk you'd think the entire population of the US read slashdot. The average voter/citizen has almost no interest in comparing an operating system that they don't understand with an operating system they've never heard of. A large percentage of them probably have never heard of the term "operating system". They still don't quite get the idea of e-mail, though they might be able to use it if it's set up for them. Linux isn't even a blip on their radar, and the idea of modifiable "source code" is totally beyond them. It has nothing to do with intelligence or education, it's simply that they just don't get involved in that sort of thing, and a campaign that used it as its main focus would probably fail.
Now, I liked George H.W. Bush but.. 'Read my lips.. no new taxes".. exactly
The problem I had with that wasn't that he broke his campaign promise, but that he then tried to weasel it out by blaming Congress.
If you listen to his entire speech, however, you realize that his "read my lips" remarks were meant to be aimed at a hypothetical Congress who would come to him demanding new taxes.
Yes, I'm off-topic, go ahead and mod me. I can spare the karma.
Problem is City Councils are responsible for a miniscule percentage of the taxes people pay. The majority go to the federal and state governments, and sometimes the county.
How do I make that concept accessible and interesting to 40,000 citizens?"
You can't.
Be vague. Find out how much the city spent on open-source server software, figure out how much they can save, then write in your campaign literature: "An IT professional, recently did an analysis of the city's computer infrastructure, and found that it was wasting . As a member of the council, will be able to help eliminate this kind of wasteful spending." For small municipal elections, you can usually win by drowning out the other candidates with enough colorful, interesting ads.
I wouldn't try to replace all the workstation software; it would just be too costly and inefficient in the end.
For imacs it's worth it just for the monitor. Macintosh makes the most beautiful monitors I've ever seen, and even their old clunky imac had a really beautiful display.
A surprising sign of how quickly opinion is changing came last week. A blue-ribbon panel of technology experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences said lawmakers should consider ending Microsoft's and other software companies' special protection from product liability lawsuits, which have long forced makers of cars, medical devices and just about everything else to pay closer attention to the safety of their wares.
Now THIS is what could really get them; forget about breaking them up, this could obliterate them totally. They could probably beat most lawsuits with enough lawyers, but they'd run up such a huge tab doing so that it could easily threaten the survival of the company. Look at what happened to Dow Corning.
I think the main problem is cooling; you can jam everything into a surprisingly small volume, you just run into heating problems. What I don't understand is why don't they make laptop-sized desktops? Just make a notebook computer without a monitor; small footprint and it should be relatively cheap (considering that the display is one of the most expensive components in a laptop).
most folks complaining about it will be using a clone of it in 6 months.
Actually, most folks complaining about it will stick with their ugly beige monstrosities. I'm fairly certain most people blasting its appearance are just rabidly anti-mac.
- Are subject to a LOT of peer pressure in respect of the technology/clothes/whatever they own.
Whoa, you lost me. That was the thing I loved about college, the whole silly peer pressure thing mostly disappeared. I went to a couple different schools (had a tendency to transfer), and it was the same for all of them.
There is no distinction between selling operating systems in Korea, Alaska, Florida, or California.
Of course there is. They're in different languages, they're in different locations, they're being sold on a market that has different dynamics, different laws, a different base of consumers. Monopolies usually are restricted to a single country; besides Microsoft I can't think of any others off the top of my head. Or are you actually saying a company can't be a monopoly unless they totally and unfairly dominate the market for that product in the entire WORLD?
Unfortunately there isn't that much really enjoyable work. I've heard people here complain about that a lot, how they don't understand people who work in IT but don't have a deep love for computers. What are the options though? There just aren't that many ways to enjoy yourself, and I doubt those people would be happier in something like marketing or accounting. For a lot of people I bet it's the least objectionable job.
Re:Having worked with both...
on
Apache 2.0 vs. IIS
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Try having the web server go down DAILY. This is an e-commerce site we're talking about here. When I left this particular job, it would be dicey to show prospective employers that site, because on more than one occasion when it came time to see that particular site it might be 404.
How can the web server be "down" if it's still serving the 404 page?
If you have a problem with linux, you can post on usenet and get an answer in a short while. Of course, you can do the same exact thing with windows problems. Linux tech support isn't "better", it's about the same.
Not really; China only just edges out India population-wise. The former has about 1.27 billion, the latter about 1.02 billion. Plus India has a better higher education system, and slightly better technical resources.
Slashdot Mirror
If anyone's interested, I've correctly measured the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
It's 1 AU.
What a novel definition of the word "easy" you must have...
However, if you are looking at a largely-technophobic constituency you might run into the "if it's open-source then it's insecure" mentality, and no matter how many times you explain it you aren't going to sink in with some of them.
No, you're going to run into the "what does source mean in this context? and what makes it open? secure? secure from what?" mentality. I swear, from the way people here talk you'd think the entire population of the US read slashdot. The average voter/citizen has almost no interest in comparing an operating system that they don't understand with an operating system they've never heard of. A large percentage of them probably have never heard of the term "operating system". They still don't quite get the idea of e-mail, though they might be able to use it if it's set up for them. Linux isn't even a blip on their radar, and the idea of modifiable "source code" is totally beyond them. It has nothing to do with intelligence or education, it's simply that they just don't get involved in that sort of thing, and a campaign that used it as its main focus would probably fail.
Now, I liked George H.W. Bush but.. 'Read my lips.. no new taxes".. exactly
The problem I had with that wasn't that he broke his campaign promise, but that he then tried to weasel it out by blaming Congress.
If you listen to his entire speech, however, you realize that his "read my lips" remarks were meant to be aimed at a hypothetical Congress who would come to him demanding new taxes.
Yes, I'm off-topic, go ahead and mod me. I can spare the karma.
Problem is City Councils are responsible for a miniscule percentage of the taxes people pay. The majority go to the federal and state governments, and sometimes the county.
How do I make that concept accessible and interesting to 40,000 citizens?"
You can't.
Be vague. Find out how much the city spent on open-source server software, figure out how much they can save, then write in your campaign literature: "An IT professional, recently did an analysis of the city's computer infrastructure, and found that it was wasting . As a member of the council, will be able to help eliminate this kind of wasteful spending." For small municipal elections, you can usually win by drowning out the other candidates with enough colorful, interesting ads.
I wouldn't try to replace all the workstation software; it would just be too costly and inefficient in the end.
No, just more successful.
Only if you define success in terms of money.
For imacs it's worth it just for the monitor. Macintosh makes the most beautiful monitors I've ever seen, and even their old clunky imac had a really beautiful display.
A surprising sign of how quickly opinion is changing came last week. A blue-ribbon panel of technology experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences said lawmakers should consider ending Microsoft's and other software companies' special protection from product liability lawsuits, which have long forced makers of cars, medical devices and just about everything else to pay closer attention to the safety of their wares.
Now THIS is what could really get them; forget about breaking them up, this could obliterate them totally. They could probably beat most lawsuits with enough lawyers, but they'd run up such a huge tab doing so that it could easily threaten the survival of the company. Look at what happened to Dow Corning.
I think the main problem is cooling; you can jam everything into a surprisingly small volume, you just run into heating problems. What I don't understand is why don't they make laptop-sized desktops? Just make a notebook computer without a monitor; small footprint and it should be relatively cheap (considering that the display is one of the most expensive components in a laptop).
There's 40 hours in a day now? Now I have to buy a new watch....
most folks complaining about it will be using a clone of it in 6 months.
Actually, most folks complaining about it will stick with their ugly beige monstrosities. I'm fairly certain most people blasting its appearance are just rabidly anti-mac.
That is a gross misuse of the word "culture".
Most of the whistleblowers seem to prefer posting on bulletin boards; don't think that would be threatened by this.
- Are subject to a LOT of peer pressure in respect of the technology/clothes/whatever they own.
Whoa, you lost me. That was the thing I loved about college, the whole silly peer pressure thing mostly disappeared. I went to a couple different schools (had a tendency to transfer), and it was the same for all of them.
College students these days ARE teeny boppers. I swear, most of them seem to see college as just an extension of high school...
Why on earth would a supposedly tech-savvy site misuse a term like that? I seriously thought they were referring to wardrobe-sized computers...
There is no distinction between selling operating systems in Korea, Alaska, Florida, or California.
Of course there is. They're in different languages, they're in different locations, they're being sold on a market that has different dynamics, different laws, a different base of consumers. Monopolies usually are restricted to a single country; besides Microsoft I can't think of any others off the top of my head. Or are you actually saying a company can't be a monopoly unless they totally and unfairly dominate the market for that product in the entire WORLD?
Unfortunately there isn't that much really enjoyable work. I've heard people here complain about that a lot, how they don't understand people who work in IT but don't have a deep love for computers. What are the options though? There just aren't that many ways to enjoy yourself, and I doubt those people would be happier in something like marketing or accounting. For a lot of people I bet it's the least objectionable job.
Try having the web server go down DAILY. This is an e-commerce site we're talking about here. When I left this particular job, it would be dicey to show prospective employers that site, because on more than one occasion when it came time to see that particular site it might be 404.
How can the web server be "down" if it's still serving the 404 page?
Uhhh...you don't understand why people need to work?
Don't you know? Everyone who's poor is automatically lazy, whoever has money earned it through hard work. Haven't you read slashdot before?
It's just a coincidence that all those lazy poor people live in third world countries.
If you have a problem with linux, you can post on usenet and get an answer in a short while. Of course, you can do the same exact thing with windows problems. Linux tech support isn't "better", it's about the same.
jeez...i cant read a single fickn story on slashdot without the commies pushing their agenda... You tried...you lost...get over it
Yes, any suggestion that maybe money shouldn't dominate our culture and lives MUST be a call for Communist rebellion. Give me a break.
Not really; China only just edges out India population-wise. The former has about 1.27 billion, the latter about 1.02 billion. Plus India has a better higher education system, and slightly better technical resources.