AC - do your homework. While burning Arab Oil does, indeed happen in the US, we're buring a much lower percentage of Arab Oil than pretty much every other nation on Earth other than Russia and Britain. The US has a huge domestic supply - and then there's Britain and Russia.
If Saudi and Kuwait disappeared off the face of the Earth tomorrow, not only would there be a resounding cheer from the direction of Israel, but the US would go on with other supplies of Oil. Perhaps there'd be a nasty price spike, as all commodities would react to such a drop in total output, but the actual affect on total output would be rather insignificant in the long run.
Therefore, free software must now look pretty appealing (but don't expect them to spend money on services and support).
Hardware's a given. It wears out, depreciates, etc. Software - the legal environment overwhelmingly favors the software company. So who wants to get bent over? So go the free software route, and then you end up having to hire a geek. And I don't care who you are - the fact is, when you have someone put together a system like a database or a web server, you either double your cost to make sure procedures and processes are fully documented, or you soon have a situation on your hands where you have one person in the world holding the keys to the server, and you either bend over for that person, or you have to try to find someone else who can decipher what he did, and try to continue running things. These guys tend to put themselves into situations that make them unreplacable.
5) Not providing cross-platform solutions, when better, and cheaper solutions exist that ARE cross-platform.
6) Responding to a problem with - "crap, I have no frickin clue what's wrong". And then not having the slightest idea even how to proceed troubleshooting or researching the issue.
7) allowing a broken network infrastructure to persist for YEARS (fucked up DNS, bad routing, etc). Never doing jack squat about it. Even realizing that it's costing the company tens of thousands in lost productivity as people try to figure out why they can map a drive one day, and not the next.
Perhaps the CFO would like to go back to the days of hiring a room full of clerks with mechanical calculators and handwritten ledgers to balance the books?
Are you kidding? The number of people one has underneath one is something akin to penis length in the business world.
yes, it would be nice if all us slashdot computer geeks could sit around here in a nice big circle jerk and justify why companies should be spending billions to keep us employed. The fact is - they did just fine without us before computers were invented, and then they fished around for 15 or so years before the "mythical productivity increase" happened, and then we got them over the Y2K hump. Now we're not needed anymore, at least not on the scale we were needed back in the 90's, so we'll be cast off.
"Tech people" like to think of technology as a steadily advancing tide the pushes humanity forward, and lifts us all up to some dreamed-of high-tech society. While that may be true - you're forgetting who runs this world. The real world. It's the almighty buck, and the almighty buck doesn't give a crap about flying cars and moonbases.
It was nice that most of us were stripped of any wealth via the stock market crash prior to joining the ranks of the unemployed.
My brother-in-law worked a Hawk antiaircraft missile battery for the US Marines. He had stories about using the radar to knock seagulls out of the sky. They'd basically cook from the inside out, and be dead before they hit the ground.
He had stories from other marines who had tried the same trick on humans with similar results.
What I was saying is that Kennedy's fraud was better than Nixon's fraud in the 60's. That was not so when Nixon finally got to be president (and Kennedy was dead).
So you discount the hundreds of eyewitness accounts of people who SAW an object resembling a missle climb through the air to intercept TWA 800? Amazing!
within the framework of the Conspiracy - the whole Monica Lewinsky thing was a side-show. Not just to divert the attention of the populace and press, but to convince people like you that the ones in office were bumbling fools.
The fact is, they are - well, more like puppets anyway.
Yes, well, now that CEO's are responsible for the quality of financial data in their reports, I'm sure that CEO's who make a stink will get the axe, and the others who don't will be greatful at the huge salaries they're given, to take the risk that someday, they're going to have to take that one way midnight flight on their lear jet to the Cayman Islands.
You can live like a fucking KING for the rest of your life in Mexico for $15 million. And you probably won't even have to learn to speak Spanish.
I don't fear my employer, but I do fear my government. I don't fear that top 1% because they have no power over me, but I do fear my senator. I don't fear people who make more money than I, but I do fear the people who write the laws, control the cops and own the armies.
The problem is, the top 1% don't fear your senator, the people who make more money than you do not fear the people who write the laws, control the cops and own the armies.
I have a friend (a very thoughtful friend) who is declining to have children because he and his wife refuse to bring children into the future that they see coming
Slashdot Mirror
stretch marks from pregnancy - now THAT lasts forever! :)
AC - do your homework. While burning Arab Oil does, indeed happen in the US, we're buring a much lower percentage of Arab Oil than pretty much every other nation on Earth other than Russia and Britain. The US has a huge domestic supply - and then there's Britain and Russia.
If Saudi and Kuwait disappeared off the face of the Earth tomorrow, not only would there be a resounding cheer from the direction of Israel, but the US would go on with other supplies of Oil. Perhaps there'd be a nasty price spike, as all commodities would react to such a drop in total output, but the actual affect on total output would be rather insignificant in the long run.
Yes, while they're up there, we might ask them to do us a favor, and take some photos of Tranquility Base to throw off the Moon-landing-hoax idiots.
what, you mean burning cow poop isn't the main source of energy for this nation anymore?
Therefore, free software must now look pretty appealing (but don't expect them to spend money on services and support).
Hardware's a given. It wears out, depreciates, etc. Software - the legal environment overwhelmingly favors the software company. So who wants to get bent over?
So go the free software route, and then you end up having to hire a geek. And I don't care who you are - the fact is, when you have someone put together a system like a database or a web server, you either double your cost to make sure procedures and processes are fully documented, or you soon have a situation on your hands where you have one person in the world holding the keys to the server, and you either bend over for that person, or you have to try to find someone else who can decipher what he did, and try to continue running things. These guys tend to put themselves into situations that make them unreplacable.
5) Not providing cross-platform solutions, when better, and cheaper solutions exist that ARE cross-platform.
6) Responding to a problem with - "crap, I have no frickin clue what's wrong". And then not having the slightest idea even how to proceed troubleshooting or researching the issue.
7) allowing a broken network infrastructure to persist for YEARS (fucked up DNS, bad routing, etc). Never doing jack squat about it. Even realizing that it's costing the company tens of thousands in lost productivity as people try to figure out why they can map a drive one day, and not the next.
Perhaps the CFO would like to go back to the days of hiring a room full of clerks with mechanical calculators and handwritten ledgers to balance the books?
Are you kidding? The number of people one has underneath one is something akin to penis length in the business world.
yes, it would be nice if all us slashdot computer geeks could sit around here in a nice big circle jerk and justify why companies should be spending billions to keep us employed. The fact is - they did just fine without us before computers were invented, and then they fished around for 15 or so years before the "mythical productivity increase" happened, and then we got them over the Y2K hump. Now we're not needed anymore, at least not on the scale we were needed back in the 90's, so we'll be cast off.
"Tech people" like to think of technology as a steadily advancing tide the pushes humanity forward, and lifts us all up to some dreamed-of high-tech society.
While that may be true - you're forgetting who runs this world. The real world. It's the almighty buck, and the almighty buck doesn't give a crap about flying cars and moonbases.
It was nice that most of us were stripped of any wealth via the stock market crash prior to joining the ranks of the unemployed.
Certainly MS users understand this.
sure - but isn't it much more convenient to blame the economy, or piracy, than to blame one's own crappy products or policies?
My brother-in-law worked a Hawk antiaircraft missile battery for the US Marines. He had stories about using the radar to knock seagulls out of the sky. They'd basically cook from the inside out, and be dead before they hit the ground.
He had stories from other marines who had tried the same trick on humans with similar results.
Yes! Remember the name of the pimply-faced teenager who rented the DVD to you at blockbuster! They're part of the team too!
It's the fat ignorant slobs that mostly populate the country that I think would die.
and probably good eatin' too.
What I was saying is that Kennedy's fraud was better than Nixon's fraud in the 60's. That was not so when Nixon finally got to be president (and Kennedy was dead).
F-117, U-2, and SR-71 were all designed at Lockheed's Skunkworks facility in Palmdale, CA. Not Area 51.
The planes had not climbed to their full altitude yet.
at 7000-10000 feet, air masks are desirable, but not really necessary.
That's what they WANT you to think.
"that's no woman, that's a *man* in disguise, baby." -Austin Powers
So you discount the hundreds of eyewitness accounts of people who SAW an object resembling a missle climb through the air to intercept TWA 800? Amazing!
within the framework of the Conspiracy - the whole Monica Lewinsky thing was a side-show. Not just to divert the attention of the populace and press, but to convince people like you that the ones in office were bumbling fools.
The fact is, they are - well, more like puppets anyway.
Um, basically, Nixon's fraud wasn't good enough in 1960. It got better. Until he got caught tho -
The problem with non-capitalistic systems, is that they too utilize the inherent greed and selfishness of humans.
capitalism is fine and dandy as long as people don't abuse the system.
I guess you can say the same about dictatorships as well.
Yes, well, now that CEO's are responsible for the quality of financial data in their reports, I'm sure that CEO's who make a stink will get the axe, and the others who don't will be greatful at the huge salaries they're given, to take the risk that someday, they're going to have to take that one way midnight flight on their lear jet to the Cayman Islands.
You can live like a fucking KING for the rest of your life in Mexico for $15 million. And you probably won't even have to learn to speak Spanish.
I don't fear my employer, but I do fear my government. I don't fear that top 1% because they have no power over me, but I do fear my senator. I don't fear people who make more money than I, but I do fear the people who write the laws, control the cops and own the armies.
The problem is, the top 1% don't fear your senator, the people who make more money than you do not fear the people who write the laws, control the cops and own the armies.
I have a friend (a very thoughtful friend) who is declining to have children because he and his wife refuse to bring children into the future that they see coming
what are they going to eat?