There is one reason why Microsoft might wait years, and only then sue a Linux distributor - precedence. It's the same principle patent trolls often use:
they first attack the smaller companies that can't accept the risk of a lawsuit
the smaller companies settle
then the troll attacks a larger company and attempts to strengthen their position by pointing to the settling companies and saying "See all these people who settled because they thought there was something to our suit"
IANAL, but the United States legal system works on case law and precedent; each success at intimidating the small fish strengthens their position, especially if the small fish are forced as part of the settlement to acknowledge what Microsoft claims is their IP.
(gender independent) Most specialists tend to measure new people by their own yardsticks: network engineers often will judge people by their network knowledge, C programmers by knowledge of C, OS specialists by knowledge of their particular OS. What does that mean to you? It means occasionally in your first contact with existing personnel, they will treat you as an inferior.
How to cope? Simple: recognize that you are going to have to "suck it up" and accept the attitude at first; taking the "first hit" is your job, since you are coming into an existing social setting. You overcome this by two means. First, respect their skill concerning their yardstick; this doesn't mean sucking up, but it does mean don't waste their time, make sure you give them adequate up front notice if it's something they need to expend time upon, and NEVER ASK THE SAME QUESTION TWICE. Most people tolerate answering a question once - if they have to repeat themselves, you lose respect. Second, demonstrate you have expertise also where YOU need to be respected, even if it's not in their area.
I'm a generalist in our company, and through those methods I eventually developed excellent relations with different specialist groups (network group in one company, and senior developer group in another). They always appreciated when I asked them in advance their take on upcoming issues impacting their area, and they knew I wouldn't waste their time with redundant explanations.
(gender independent) Humor is a great ice breaker, but can get you into trouble on the wrong topics. The safest way to use it is to make a joke where you are a member of the group being made fun of. For example, I'm on the heavy side (even after losing 100 pounds or so), so I'll occasionally make a joke about my weight; it tells my coworkers I can laugh at myself, and I'm not terribly thin skinned. Be prepared to have other people start telling you similar jokes, so make sure you stick to humor that you wouldn't be offended by if coming from others.
(male to female) One important key is to make sure you treat everyone relatively the same. For example, I often ask coworkers to lunch off campus, both male and female. It would be difficult to single such invitations as harassment to a specific person because this is a demonstrated pattern of behavior. Even so, when dealing with women I only ask one on one women I've known for a long time, and who my wife and I have both socialized with. For new female employees, I'll invite them as part of a group. The group is your friend - it shows you are not singling a specific person out for possibly untoward purposes. Also, after a while you need to recognize the ball is in the other person's court: if the invitations aren't reciprocated or accepted, just stop asking.
(female to male) In many workplaces, women interested in programming, systems, and other technical pursuits are not just cool, but also somewhat unusual. Keep in mind that some "initial interest" might not be sexual or romantic in nature, but rather more of a fascination with what others may see as an unusual juxtaposition of gender and skill. I'm not saying to write off any and all interest as innocuous, but at least stay open to the possibility.
(both) Stereotypical geek social insensitivity can easily breed potential misunderstandings with feedback; in general, try not to take criticism personally. Here's an example from my own career (not my best moment, but it makes the point: when taking a new job as a MIS at a small company, a consultant shows me about the infrastructure, including the Novell login scripts. I look at them, and say "Ewww, this sucks - this should be this, that should be that, blah blah blah"; all the while the consultant's silence is getting louder and louder. When I'm done, he tells me "I wrote those scripts". I look at him, and say "Well, you may be a nice guy, but these scripts still suck". Not my best moment, and certainly socially stupid, but there was no malice behind the comments, and he understood that (eventually). Expect that kind of ineptness from your male colleagues, and try not to take it as a personal attack.
I am seeing a lot of posts about how the person in question should have wiped her drive in a better way. The judge didn't sanction her through default judgement because she wiped her hard drive (regardless of how obviously or subtly she did it); the hard drive wiping is merely a manifestation of the real reason - interfering with his order to preserve her hard drive for evidence (and most likely honking off the judge in the process).
A judge in the U. S. judicial system is the closest thing to an absolute dictator Americans have; it's NOT a good idea to flaunt their instructions or orders. It wouldn't matter if she used DBaN, had electromagnets in the doors, or played games with the power leads; the point is that once the judge ordered the disk to be copied for evidentiary purposes, she was supposed to turn the hard disk over. She didn't just passively obstruct the order by failing to give up the hard disk, she willingly and deliberately performed actions to prevent the order from taking place. IANAL, but I stronly suspect the reason the judge went for the "nuclear option" was because of the willing and deliberate nature of her obstruction.
There may be a better way to set a judge totally against me than lack of respect for him and the entire judicial institution he represents, but darned if I can think of one offhand.
If she had used DBaN to wipe her disk at the very first contact by the RIAA, before this even went to court, I suspect she would not have been hit near as hard by the judge, if at all. Now, her best shot is probably to hope a higher court can rule the action was disproportionate, given the typically weak state of the RIAA's case when actually brought to trial. Unfortunantly, she's now got to overcome any judge's reluctance to give a break to someone who in their eyes has no respect for their position or institution.
1. I've not had a desire for USB devices on my personal PC until recently; silly, but true. The Longview takes care of keyboard and mouse, and the Terk takes care of the sound. I've only had a USB CD burner (Plextor) for home in the past 2 months (been using it at work on the portable for a couple years now), and a USB hard drive in the past month.
2. When I first put this together, I took at face value the USB cable limit of 5m; I had no real incentive to dig deeper, since at that time I had nothing I wanted to run on USB.
3. Inertia; last I looked at it was almost 3 years ago.
Of course, now that you have prodded me a bit, I did a quick Google and found at least one device to push USB over CAT5 for 100' for roughly a buck or two a foot (one is at http://www.networktechinc.com/usbc5.html. Looks like it's time to run another cable!
I have a bit of hearing loss, and the noise a computer makes tends to garble any kind of conversation. I tried for years to get a relatively quiet yet powerful computer, and finally decided to physically move the bloody computer away from my ears.
I purchased a Cybex Longview from http://home.hiwaay.net/~redwood/kvm/, put my machine in a room off of my garage, and ran some STP between it and the recreation room. Unshielded is supposed to work, but the line ran past some flourescent lighting, so I became paranoid and bought Shielded Twisted Pair cabling.
That took care of the KVM (1280 x 1024 works just fine on my 22" screen). For sound, I use a Terk product that transmits audio signals over phone lines, and ran a dedicated phone cord for this. There's a bit of hiss if I crank up the volume when nothing's playing, but if a game or other program is actually feeding the system, it's fine. The Terk feeds a 2.1 Klipsch speaker set.
I stayed away from wireless solutions because my Siemens 2.4GHz phone system had / caused problems with most transmitter arrangements; this included the Terk wireless sound transmitter, as well as an older Turtle Beach sound transmitter set. After all, I am running a STP cable already, so running a dedicated phone cord isn't a big deal.
Overall, it works great; the only noise I pick up is a bit of hiss if I don't keep the speaker volume low, and that goes away when I actually play music or games.
There are a couple flaws. The biggest pain is when I need to swap CDs in the machine; Virtual CD programs can help here, but if you are making ISOs or burning disks, it's time to do a few laps about the house. The other pain is when I want to use USB; then I have to run into the other room to load / install the device. Also, you better be using a DB-15 video connection; I know of no inexpensive KVM extender that can handle DVI (I am looking, but most appear to be too near the $1000 mark for my taste).
Total pricing was about $250 for the Longview, $50 for the cabling, and about $75ish for the Terk box. Sounds expensive, but A) it's still in the high end water cooling price range, and B) it is truly silent, with no dangers of liquid leaks. I've been using this setup for over 3 years now, and feel my money's been well spent.
Depends upon the expertise of the people that are going to write and maintain this. I would personally go one of two routes: JPSoft's 4NT, or else Python.
4NT is an enhanced Windows batch language, with features to do things like write / read INI files, control loops, and most of the things needed for "real" programming. It's very mature (I first used it when a 386SX was a relatively mainstream machine), and it's easy to pull information from the OS with it, as well as interact with individual program windows. Check http://www.jpsoft.com/ for further details; at $70 it's pretty cheap, and about 5 times faster than normal Windows CMD batch language.
The other alternative is Python; it's more powerful, and allows you to call C libraries if you really need heavy lifting. It's more sophisticated, and still relatively legible.
I've used both to write automation routines in a hospital environment, and I can say both are very reliable and robust. Make your choice based upon the expertise of who will maintain the scripts - JPSoft's product for those more comfortable with Windows batch style languages, Python for more programmer types. For people who would not have a clue for either one, go Python.
Years ago, I found myself almost overwhelmed with requests to perform computer work, at least until I set the following schedule:
1. Standard rate: $60/hour cash plus asshole tax. With tax, my rates have varied between $60 to $200 an hour.
If I am working on the cash rate, I give a written estimate of the hours needed in writing, along with a very specific layout of what is involved, including the hardware budget.
For prices of hardware equipment, I specify the client purchases it, and I use NewEgg and a local supplier when possible for pricing. I never say "2 NICs and a switch" in an estimate; rather, I say "2 Intel model this and that gigabit NICs" and "a Netgear model such and such gigabit switch". If the client insists on using what I consider old POS equipment, I explain the value of using quality equipment up front; if I can't convince the client, I either boost my tax rate or walk away.
Typically I will eat the cost of excess time up to 20% of the hourly estimate (if I say 10 hours, I will work to 12 hours if needed for the cost of 10), at which time we need to discuss further options. If I finish early, the client only pays for the time worked, not the estimate (estimate 10 hours, work takes 6, client pays for 6).
I typically break down a job estimate into small stages; at the completion of each stage, the client must agree that the work performed is to their satisfaction. Once the client is satisfied a stage is complete and pays me for that stage, I then start on the next stage. Final payment is due within two weeks of job completion. Each stage is spec'd out to an amount I would not cry over losing if the client decides to stiff me.
For those people that balk at my cash rate (where ever asshole tax takes it), my standard response is "I am not trying to be competitive in the marketplace; rather, this is value I place on the leisure time I give up to fix your problem".
2. If I know you or work with you (and presumably like you), I will perform a _single_ computer related task in exchange for feeding me and my wife.
Meals have ranged from home cooked meals (preferred) to local BBQ joints, to a cafeteria blue plate special; nothing fancy required, but the effort must be made.
Single tasks have included things like "get my computer sound working", "make my computer play Blue's Clues again like it used to", and "please install AV software and a firewall on my new computer". I am not near as picky about things in writing, and often can find something surplus at home that does the trick, but the person feeding me pays for any hardware involved.
Slashdot Mirror
- they first attack the smaller companies that can't accept the risk of a lawsuit
- the smaller companies settle
- then the troll attacks a larger company and attempts to strengthen their position by pointing to the settling companies and saying "See all these people who settled because they thought there was something to our suit"
IANAL, but the United States legal system works on case law and precedent; each success at intimidating the small fish strengthens their position, especially if the small fish are forced as part of the settlement to acknowledge what Microsoft claims is their IP.How to cope? Simple: recognize that you are going to have to "suck it up" and accept the attitude at first; taking the "first hit" is your job, since you are coming into an existing social setting. You overcome this by two means. First, respect their skill concerning their yardstick; this doesn't mean sucking up, but it does mean don't waste their time, make sure you give them adequate up front notice if it's something they need to expend time upon, and NEVER ASK THE SAME QUESTION TWICE. Most people tolerate answering a question once - if they have to repeat themselves, you lose respect. Second, demonstrate you have expertise also where YOU need to be respected, even if it's not in their area.
I'm a generalist in our company, and through those methods I eventually developed excellent relations with different specialist groups (network group in one company, and senior developer group in another). They always appreciated when I asked them in advance their take on upcoming issues impacting their area, and they knew I wouldn't waste their time with redundant explanations.
I am seeing a lot of posts about how the person in question should have wiped her drive in a better way. The judge didn't sanction her through default judgement because she wiped her hard drive (regardless of how obviously or subtly she did it); the hard drive wiping is merely a manifestation of the real reason - interfering with his order to preserve her hard drive for evidence (and most likely honking off the judge in the process).
A judge in the U. S. judicial system is the closest thing to an absolute dictator Americans have; it's NOT a good idea to flaunt their instructions or orders. It wouldn't matter if she used DBaN, had electromagnets in the doors, or played games with the power leads; the point is that once the judge ordered the disk to be copied for evidentiary purposes, she was supposed to turn the hard disk over. She didn't just passively obstruct the order by failing to give up the hard disk, she willingly and deliberately performed actions to prevent the order from taking place. IANAL, but I stronly suspect the reason the judge went for the "nuclear option" was because of the willing and deliberate nature of her obstruction.
There may be a better way to set a judge totally against me than lack of respect for him and the entire judicial institution he represents, but darned if I can think of one offhand.
If she had used DBaN to wipe her disk at the very first contact by the RIAA, before this even went to court, I suspect she would not have been hit near as hard by the judge, if at all. Now, her best shot is probably to hope a higher court can rule the action was disproportionate, given the typically weak state of the RIAA's case when actually brought to trial. Unfortunantly, she's now got to overcome any judge's reluctance to give a break to someone who in their eyes has no respect for their position or institution.
Three reasons:
1. I've not had a desire for USB devices on my personal PC until recently; silly, but true. The Longview takes care of keyboard and mouse, and the Terk takes care of the sound. I've only had a USB CD burner (Plextor) for home in the past 2 months (been using it at work on the portable for a couple years now), and a USB hard drive in the past month.
2. When I first put this together, I took at face value the USB cable limit of 5m; I had no real incentive to dig deeper, since at that time I had nothing I wanted to run on USB.
3. Inertia; last I looked at it was almost 3 years ago.
Of course, now that you have prodded me a bit, I did a quick Google and found at least one device to push USB over CAT5 for 100' for roughly a buck or two a foot (one is at http://www.networktechinc.com/usbc5.html. Looks like it's time to run another cable!
*grin* - thanks for the prod!
I have a bit of hearing loss, and the noise a computer makes tends to garble any kind of conversation. I tried for years to get a relatively quiet yet powerful computer, and finally decided to physically move the bloody computer away from my ears.
I purchased a Cybex Longview from http://home.hiwaay.net/~redwood/kvm/, put my machine in a room off of my garage, and ran some STP between it and the recreation room. Unshielded is supposed to work, but the line ran past some flourescent lighting, so I became paranoid and bought Shielded Twisted Pair cabling.
That took care of the KVM (1280 x 1024 works just fine on my 22" screen). For sound, I use a Terk product that transmits audio signals over phone lines, and ran a dedicated phone cord for this. There's a bit of hiss if I crank up the volume when nothing's playing, but if a game or other program is actually feeding the system, it's fine. The Terk feeds a 2.1 Klipsch speaker set.
I stayed away from wireless solutions because my Siemens 2.4GHz phone system had / caused problems with most transmitter arrangements; this included the Terk wireless sound transmitter, as well as an older Turtle Beach sound transmitter set. After all, I am running a STP cable already, so running a dedicated phone cord isn't a big deal.
Overall, it works great; the only noise I pick up is a bit of hiss if I don't keep the speaker volume low, and that goes away when I actually play music or games.
There are a couple flaws. The biggest pain is when I need to swap CDs in the machine; Virtual CD programs can help here, but if you are making ISOs or burning disks, it's time to do a few laps about the house. The other pain is when I want to use USB; then I have to run into the other room to load / install the device. Also, you better be using a DB-15 video connection; I know of no inexpensive KVM extender that can handle DVI (I am looking, but most appear to be too near the $1000 mark for my taste).
Total pricing was about $250 for the Longview, $50 for the cabling, and about $75ish for the Terk box. Sounds expensive, but A) it's still in the high end water cooling price range, and B) it is truly silent, with no dangers of liquid leaks. I've been using this setup for over 3 years now, and feel my money's been well spent.
Depends upon the expertise of the people that are going to write and maintain this. I would personally go one of two routes: JPSoft's 4NT, or else Python.
4NT is an enhanced Windows batch language, with features to do things like write / read INI files, control loops, and most of the things needed for "real" programming. It's very mature (I first used it when a 386SX was a relatively mainstream machine), and it's easy to pull information from the OS with it, as well as interact with individual program windows. Check http://www.jpsoft.com/ for further details; at $70 it's pretty cheap, and about 5 times faster than normal Windows CMD batch language.
The other alternative is Python; it's more powerful, and allows you to call C libraries if you really need heavy lifting. It's more sophisticated, and still relatively legible.
I've used both to write automation routines in a hospital environment, and I can say both are very reliable and robust. Make your choice based upon the expertise of who will maintain the scripts - JPSoft's product for those more comfortable with Windows batch style languages, Python for more programmer types. For people who would not have a clue for either one, go Python.
Years ago, I found myself almost overwhelmed with requests to perform computer work, at least until I set the following schedule:
1. Standard rate: $60/hour cash plus asshole tax. With tax, my rates have varied between $60 to $200 an hour.
If I am working on the cash rate, I give a written estimate of the hours needed in writing, along with a very specific layout of what is involved, including the hardware budget.
For prices of hardware equipment, I specify the client purchases it, and I use NewEgg and a local supplier when possible for pricing. I never say "2 NICs and a switch" in an estimate; rather, I say "2 Intel model this and that gigabit NICs" and "a Netgear model such and such gigabit switch". If the client insists on using what I consider old POS equipment, I explain the value of using quality equipment up front; if I can't convince the client, I either boost my tax rate or walk away.
Typically I will eat the cost of excess time up to 20% of the hourly estimate (if I say 10 hours, I will work to 12 hours if needed for the cost of 10), at which time we need to discuss further options. If I finish early, the client only pays for the time worked, not the estimate (estimate 10 hours, work takes 6, client pays for 6).
I typically break down a job estimate into small stages; at the completion of each stage, the client must agree that the work performed is to their satisfaction. Once the client is satisfied a stage is complete and pays me for that stage, I then start on the next stage. Final payment is due within two weeks of job completion. Each stage is spec'd out to an amount I would not cry over losing if the client decides to stiff me.
For those people that balk at my cash rate (where ever asshole tax takes it), my standard response is "I am not trying to be competitive in the marketplace; rather, this is value I place on the leisure time I give up to fix your problem".
2. If I know you or work with you (and presumably like you), I will perform a _single_ computer related task in exchange for feeding me and my wife.
Meals have ranged from home cooked meals (preferred) to local BBQ joints, to a cafeteria blue plate special; nothing fancy required, but the effort must be made.
Single tasks have included things like "get my computer sound working", "make my computer play Blue's Clues again like it used to", and "please install AV software and a firewall on my new computer". I am not near as picky about things in writing, and often can find something surplus at home that does the trick, but the person feeding me pays for any hardware involved.
That's my system; hope it helps...