"it is a layer between the hierarchical file system (HFS) and the user, which provides a radically new way to store and retrieve documents"
The only things that are radically new is that a) it is open source b) it is aimed at individuals.
Commercial EDMS (Electronic Document Management Systems) vendors have been doing this for years - companies like Documentum and Filenet. Like newdocms, they combine the filesystem and a database of attributes for file storage and retrieveal. Documentum itself has gotten very sophisticated; it can read the text of the document and, using an XML taxononmy of your choice, auto-file the document in the appropriate place. Likewise searches can be performed on both user-supplied attributes, computer-generated taxonomic values, or the text of the document itself. Companies like pharmaceutical manufacturers, with millions of complex documents, simply couldn't function without it. And it works with multimedia files as well, actually reading the close-captioning on movie clips to perform it's auto-tagging and auto-filing operations.
That said, it is a great accomplishment, and a welcome addition to this KDE user. While I have worked with EDMS systems off and on for the past 5 years, I could never actually afford one myself, and none of the current EDMS vendors that I'm aware of support Linux.
As work begins on version 1.1, I suggest taking a look at the features available with the commercial EDMS products for ideas - especially for things they haven't thought of!
Not much of a PM if he doesn't understand the value of experience. Your C++ and C experience should be directly applicable, for the most part.
That's what I thought too. You'd be surprised at how many Java PM's I've met that think that C++ experience brings with it "bad practices". This even after I swore I never really used multiple-inheritance or operator overloading, lol.
Why don't you take advantage of the stuff you've already learned?
Well, I think I do. I just like to learn more. It's just a lifestyle/workstyle choice. I get bored, I suppose, with things I've mastered.
The jobs were advertised at a lower scale, but the technology was something I wanted to learn. The sticky point is that they ask for salary history; I give it to them, then they're skeptical that I really want to make less money. I have to convince them that the trade off is worth it to me.
While I agree that there are many firms out there with a youth obsession, I think that there is more going on with the issue of programming as a "young person's game".
I'm 42, and am happily coding everday. And I'm not working on legacy systems, I'm doing work on relatively cool Web applications (server-side Java, JSP's, et. al.). I've even contributed to a new Linux-based app, and some routines for mobile devices.
The trick for me was to realize that much of the apparent age-bias is really old-fashioned economics and fast-changing technology. Why pay an older programmer more, simply because he's been doing it longer? My 17+ years of programming do not translate into 17+ years of experience and concomitant salary as it would in many other fields. Let's face it, Java - for instance - hasn't been around that long, and so my X number of years of COBOL, C, C++, etc., simply don't matter to a Java project manager. Sure, having done OOP for a few years prior to working with Java have helped me hit the ground running, but it doesn't mean I should expect to start at the top end of the salary grade (which I've found many older programmers are expecting).
What does this mean in a practical sense? Every 3 years or so I've had to start back down near the bottom. My salary has rollercoasted accordingly. I went from Mainframes -> VAX -> Unix -> OS/2 -> Windows and now Linux. Each time I broke from one and started the next, I made it clear to my new employer that I realized I was starting anew, and salary was adjusted (downward) to reflect that. The good news is that as you gain more experience, you learn new technologies more quickly. It doesn't take long to reach, and pass, your previous high salary.
Many people want a steadily increasing salary, or have a lifestyle that demands it. As for myself, I love coding, I love learning new things, and I make that my priority.
My advice to the older programmer who wants to keep programming: simplify your life. Reduce your financial commitments so that you can afford occasional salary dips. Then follow the technology. Learn it, master it, and when the time comes, chuck it and move on.
The big problem is the increasing scrutiny that we will all fall under. And the fact that we are moving towards a war under the vaguest of terms. Hate to do it, but I'm gonna have to drop a quote:
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power... Power is not a means; it is an end...not power over things, but over men...In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement...There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother... Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever. " - George Orwell
Slashdot Mirror
"it is a layer between the hierarchical file system (HFS) and the user, which provides a radically new way to store and retrieve documents"
The only things that are radically new is that a) it is open source b) it is aimed at individuals.
Commercial EDMS (Electronic Document Management Systems) vendors have been doing this for years - companies like Documentum and Filenet. Like newdocms, they combine the filesystem and a database of attributes for file storage and retrieveal. Documentum itself has gotten very sophisticated; it can read the text of the document and, using an XML taxononmy of your choice, auto-file the document in the appropriate place. Likewise searches can be performed on both user-supplied attributes, computer-generated taxonomic values, or the text of the document itself. Companies like pharmaceutical manufacturers, with millions of complex documents, simply couldn't function without it. And it works with multimedia files as well, actually reading the close-captioning on movie clips to perform it's auto-tagging and auto-filing operations.
That said, it is a great accomplishment, and a welcome addition to this KDE user. While I have worked with EDMS systems off and on for the past 5 years, I could never actually afford one myself, and none of the current EDMS vendors that I'm aware of support Linux.
As work begins on version 1.1, I suggest taking a look at the features available with the commercial EDMS products for ideas - especially for things they haven't thought of!
Good work!
Not much of a PM if he doesn't understand the value of experience. Your C++ and C experience should be directly applicable, for the most part.
That's what I thought too. You'd be surprised at how many Java PM's I've met that think that C++ experience brings with it "bad practices". This even after I swore I never really used multiple-inheritance or operator overloading, lol.
Why don't you take advantage of the stuff you've already learned?
Well, I think I do. I just like to learn more. It's just a lifestyle/workstyle choice. I get bored, I suppose, with things I've mastered.
The jobs were advertised at a lower scale, but the technology was something I wanted to learn. The sticky point is that they ask for salary history; I give it to them, then they're skeptical that I really want to make less money. I have to convince them that the trade off is worth it to me.
While I agree that there are many firms out there with a youth obsession, I think that there is more going on with the issue of programming as a "young person's game".
I'm 42, and am happily coding everday. And I'm not working on legacy systems, I'm doing work on relatively cool Web applications (server-side Java, JSP's, et. al.). I've even contributed to a new Linux-based app, and some routines for mobile devices.
The trick for me was to realize that much of the apparent age-bias is really old-fashioned economics and fast-changing technology. Why pay an older programmer more, simply because he's been doing it longer? My 17+ years of programming do not translate into 17+ years of experience and concomitant salary as it would in many other fields. Let's face it, Java - for instance - hasn't been around that long, and so my X number of years of COBOL, C, C++, etc., simply don't matter to a Java project manager. Sure, having done OOP for a few years prior to working with Java have helped me hit the ground running, but it doesn't mean I should expect to start at the top end of the salary grade (which I've found many older programmers are expecting).
What does this mean in a practical sense? Every 3 years or so I've had to start back down near the bottom. My salary has rollercoasted accordingly. I went from Mainframes -> VAX -> Unix -> OS/2 -> Windows and now Linux. Each time I broke from one and started the next, I made it clear to my new employer that I realized I was starting anew, and salary was adjusted (downward) to reflect that. The good news is that as you gain more experience, you learn new technologies more quickly. It doesn't take long to reach, and pass, your previous high salary.
Many people want a steadily increasing salary, or have a lifestyle that demands it. As for myself, I love coding, I love learning new things, and I make that my priority.
My advice to the older programmer who wants to keep programming: simplify your life. Reduce your financial commitments so that you can afford occasional salary dips. Then follow the technology. Learn it, master it, and when the time comes, chuck it and move on.
The big problem is the increasing scrutiny that we will all fall under. And the fact that we are moving towards a war under the vaguest of terms. Hate to do it, but I'm gonna have to drop a quote:
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power... Power is not a means; it is an end...not power over things, but over men...In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement...There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother... Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever. " - George Orwell
"Joe Sixpack doesn't want to download Open Office"
That's not true. After a six-pack Joe will do anything. You're thinking of Johnny Lunchpail or Peter Punchclock.
Hth!
Khawaga
Mandrake's site features an informative Business Cases page, which includes one article in particular that might provide some insight.