1. Games hard to come by. Most stores don't carry the games I would want to play. I tossed my PC thre months ago for osX and haven't bought a game since. Not distracted. 2. Quicksilver. My hands never leave the keyboard. 3. UNIX/Customizability. Its so tailored to my needs now its like it knows me. 4. Sweet UI. I don't get sick of being on it. 5. Stability/Security. Not a single virus, trojan or hack attempt. Thank you NSA lockdown guide at NSA.gov 6. Relative dearth of freeware. Very little to screw around with unless you want to pay.
The Bureau has the same issues proprietary trading firms have (mixed strategy hedge funds). They could have done this for a few million using the same meta-architecture used by these funds.
I have a tiny, tiny bit of experience working with some of these folks and I'm not surprised it got this screwed up.
Studies have shown a dog with a good bark scares away most would-be attackers. There have also been studies showing dog companionship actually lowers the blood pressure of seniors.
My company sells the equipment used in recycling electronic scrap and I can tell you for a fact there are over a hundred firms involved in recycling electronic scrap and making money doing it.
You can check out a typical system for electronic scrap recycling at: http://www.rossmach.com
One sad fact is this domestic industry's biggest threat is competition from low-wage labor shops in asia who will buy the material loose in sea containers.
Consider the export of dollars and US debt when you calculate our balance of trade. It puts an entirely different spin on the issue.
When the US borrows, it does so not just against its future output, but against the world's existing and future consumption of dollars and US debt as a store of value, as a measure of risk, and as a black-market acceptable currency.
It's that inherent value (meta-stored value if you will) of our currency that makes it acceptable for us to borrow in excess of our own capacity; and to claim we are a NET exporter IMHO.
The best programmers can produce results in environments where there is both complexity (in the scope of work to be done and in the business case for the projects); and ambiguity (a lack of direction and not readily apparent resources).
This means you're looking for exceptionally bright, resourceful and highly internally motivated invididuals.
What questions do I use to identify them?
1. What's the hairiest most difficult development effort you've worked on, and why was it so?
2. Give me some examples of times you've had to make your own way through development and how did you go about it?
3. What's the most complex piece of software you've written and what made it complex in your assessment?
4. How do you produce results in an environment where your only resource is you - and how do you feel about having to deliver in that kind of environment.
I suspect AOL will soon acquire a consumer operating system - they haven't any choice now. Could be MacOS/X, BEOS or a Linux platform... but regardless they need to guarantee distribution across hardware.
Here's what I recommend... they can have their non-compete - but in exchange for x months severance. In a pinch you can make it optional... eg. they can either enforce the non-compete and pay the serverance - or - skip the severance and set you free.
It's services like these that watch our comments and others, I've read, can be hired to try to identify us. Sure would be nice to have a Yahoo/AOL/Raging Bull posting proxy.
http://www.ewatch.com/services.html
http://www.hiredinsight.com
Gotta admire their finesse
on
OS X on x86?
·
· Score: 1
Apple has been ripped for not open-sourcing the MacOS, for not opening their hardware spec, for not porting to the PC, but look at the business model...
While all the PC vendors are killing themselves trying to squeeze margins from manufacturing, Apple maintains some of the highest margins in the business, and huge cashflows without major marketshare.
Fact is, they probably will port to the intel chipset, but the only reason would be increased margins, not lower prices for consumers... and to their credit.
COM and COM+ are sweet distributed computing models, but a big chunk of the financial and large transactional industries (our clients) are using CORBA/EJB/C++ for their systems.
I'm not saying there isn't still a big demand for COM/Visual C/VB developers out there... but the dev teams with bigtime projects seems to favor Java and CORBA.
Upshot... I think MSFT is in for a very rough ride if they don't open their eyes, and I'm perfectly happy running W2k on my desktop.
http://www.roytalman.com
I can tell you from personal experience that if you're unsuccessful at contracting it gets MUCH tougher to go back to full-time employment at many firms.
Many firms don't understand that not everyone migrates to contracting for non-monetary reasons, and as a result your loyalty can be suspect down the road.
Ultimately there is work out there if you bring something unique to the table... but I thought knowing this might help out.
I believe it's a sign of the importance of information and technology that a business might have use for both a CIO and CTO.
As a practical matter I see companies like CDW, Comdisco and UAL charging their CIO's with strategic directions for technology and information. The CTO's appear to be participating in that vision, but primarily executing on it.
The fact is, so many businesses are building systems and applications that already exist there is a real need for someone far enough away from the 'programming' side of things... who can step back and say, 'let's partner or purchase' and not build. Many good wheels out there do not need to be re-invented. In my mind that is a CIO. She's the same person who might say, "hey we've got this terrific IT capability, can we turn it into a profit center".
I'm not saying a CTO can't or won't do these things... but I can't tell you how many times I've heard those folks say, "I could build that, why buy it" where that decision is bad business.
If your company is successfull its unlikely you won't soon find yourself consumed by managerial tasks.
Secondarily, there remains a surplus of managers in tech, and a shortage of good programming/technical talent. Point being - your true value may be in your approach to projects and the things you create
Why can't the record companies simply reverse auction an artists music and ditch the copyright?
Example: Metallica releases more crap music and the bidding starts at $10,000,000. As more distributors or fans sign on to buy -- or as more time passes, the price drops.
Begin flaming........... now.
2000 is NOT an improvement over NT4 for everyone.
If you're an org or bus without a full-time sys admin you can forget about administering W2K with the same ease provided by NT4.
W2K has added so many features (and buried a good number of them) that there's a gaping whole in the easy-to-use server market.
For the businesses with full-time sys admins Win2k has become so bloated with features ease-of-use issues died with NT 4.0... might as well take advantage of Linux's cost benefits.
For businesses without on-staff techies, you're screwed. Win2k is 50x harder to install and configure correctly [ I know ] and you're going to burn more cash and time gettting it right.
For high tech recruiters (one of which I play CIO for) it means we can finally collect fees for Windows Sys Admins... they'll finally have to know something of value.
And dare I say it, but for Apple and Novell -- the ease-of-use segment is open again if you'd care to chase that market... but do offer internet application services with decent performance of don't bother.
Slashdot Mirror
Bob - i need someone to show me around Akihabara in November. Any interest? Can we work something out?
1. Games hard to come by. Most stores don't carry the games I would want to play. I tossed my PC thre months ago for osX and haven't bought a game since. Not distracted.
2. Quicksilver. My hands never leave the keyboard.
3. UNIX/Customizability. Its so tailored to my needs now its like it knows me.
4. Sweet UI. I don't get sick of being on it.
5. Stability/Security. Not a single virus, trojan or hack attempt. Thank you NSA lockdown guide at NSA.gov
6. Relative dearth of freeware. Very little to screw around with unless you want to pay.
The Bureau has the same issues proprietary trading firms have (mixed strategy hedge funds). They could have done this for a few million using the same meta-architecture used by these funds.
I have a tiny, tiny bit of experience working with some of these folks and I'm not surprised it got this screwed up.
Studies have shown a dog with a good bark scares away most would-be attackers. There have also been studies showing dog companionship actually lowers the blood pressure of seniors.
My company sells the equipment used in recycling electronic scrap and I can tell you for a fact there are over a hundred firms involved in recycling electronic scrap and making money doing it.
You can check out a typical system for electronic scrap recycling at: http://www.rossmach.com
One sad fact is this domestic industry's biggest threat is competition from low-wage labor shops in asia who will buy the material loose in sea containers.
Consider the export of dollars and US debt when you calculate our balance of trade. It puts an entirely different spin on the issue.
When the US borrows, it does so not just against its future output, but against the world's existing and future consumption of dollars and US debt as a store of value, as a measure of risk, and as a black-market acceptable currency.
It's that inherent value (meta-stored value if you will) of our currency that makes it acceptable for us to borrow in excess of our own capacity; and to claim we are a NET exporter IMHO.
The best programmers can produce results in environments where there is both complexity (in the scope of work to be done and in the business case for the projects); and ambiguity (a lack of direction and not readily apparent resources).
This means you're looking for exceptionally bright, resourceful and highly internally motivated invididuals.
What questions do I use to identify them?
1. What's the hairiest most difficult development effort you've worked on, and why was it so?
2. Give me some examples of times you've had to make your own way through development and how did you go about it?
3. What's the most complex piece of software you've written and what made it complex in your assessment?
4. How do you produce results in an environment where your only resource is you - and how do you feel about having to deliver in that kind of environment.
I suspect AOL will soon acquire a consumer operating system - they haven't any choice now. Could be MacOS/X, BEOS or a Linux platform... but regardless they need to guarantee distribution across hardware.
Here's what I recommend... they can have their non-compete - but in exchange for x months severance. In a pinch you can make it optional ... eg. they can either enforce the non-compete and pay the serverance - or - skip the severance and set you free.
http://www.ewatch.com/services.html
http://www.hiredinsight.com
Apple has been ripped for not open-sourcing the MacOS, for not opening their hardware spec, for not porting to the PC, but look at the business model...
While all the PC vendors are killing themselves trying to squeeze margins from manufacturing, Apple maintains some of the highest margins in the business, and huge cashflows without major marketshare.
Fact is, they probably will port to the intel chipset, but the only reason would be increased margins, not lower prices for consumers... and to their credit.
http://www.hiredinsight.com
The problem with Starcraft, Red Alert and others is the learning curve issue. There is no substitute for experience with these games.
Since you've got the attention of Slashdot now, I might suggest you request a late beta version of an RTS (real time strategy) game and use that.
Hired Insight
COM and COM+ are sweet distributed computing models, but a big chunk of the financial and large transactional industries (our clients) are using CORBA/EJB/C++ for their systems. I'm not saying there isn't still a big demand for COM/Visual C/VB developers out there... but the dev teams with bigtime projects seems to favor Java and CORBA. Upshot... I think MSFT is in for a very rough ride if they don't open their eyes, and I'm perfectly happy running W2k on my desktop. http://www.roytalman.com
I can tell you from personal experience that if you're unsuccessful at contracting it gets MUCH tougher to go back to full-time employment at many firms.
Many firms don't understand that not everyone migrates to contracting for non-monetary reasons, and as a result your loyalty can be suspect down the road.
Ultimately there is work out there if you bring something unique to the table... but I thought knowing this might help out.
ttp://www.roytalman.com
I believe it's a sign of the importance of information and technology that a business might have use for both a CIO and CTO.
... who can step back and say, 'let's partner or purchase' and not build. Many good wheels out there do not need to be re-invented. In my mind that is a CIO. She's the same person who might say, "hey we've got this terrific IT capability, can we turn it into a profit center".
As a practical matter I see companies like CDW, Comdisco and UAL charging their CIO's with strategic directions for technology and information. The CTO's appear to be participating in that vision, but primarily executing on it.
The fact is, so many businesses are building systems and applications that already exist there is a real need for someone far enough away from the 'programming' side of things
I'm not saying a CTO can't or won't do these things... but I can't tell you how many times I've heard those folks say, "I could build that, why buy it" where that decision is bad business.
http://www.hiredinsight.com
On my privacy.
The key question is what do you want?
If your company is successfull its unlikely you won't soon find yourself consumed by managerial tasks.
Secondarily, there remains a surplus of managers in tech, and a shortage of good programming/technical talent. Point being - your true value may be in your approach to projects and the things you create
Why can't the record companies simply reverse auction an artists music and ditch the copyright? Example: Metallica releases more crap music and the bidding starts at $10,000,000. As more distributors or fans sign on to buy -- or as more time passes, the price drops. Begin flaming........... now.
2000 is NOT an improvement over NT4 for everyone. If you're an org or bus without a full-time sys admin you can forget about administering W2K with the same ease provided by NT4. W2K has added so many features (and buried a good number of them) that there's a gaping whole in the easy-to-use server market.
For the businesses with full-time sys admins Win2k has become so bloated with features ease-of-use issues died with NT 4.0 ... might as well take advantage of Linux's cost benefits.
For businesses without on-staff techies, you're screwed. Win2k is 50x harder to install and configure correctly [ I know ] and you're going to burn more cash and time gettting it right.
For high tech recruiters (one of which I play CIO for) it means we can finally collect fees for Windows Sys Admins... they'll finally have to know something of value.
And dare I say it, but for Apple and Novell -- the ease-of-use segment is open again if you'd care to chase that market... but do offer internet application services with decent performance of don't bother.