I think most Slashdotters are too young to remember the lamest plot gimmick in the history of TV. A reminder to Star Trek fans that you don't need fancy pseudo-science to resurect people!
I never met a Brit with two hearts. Perhaps I wasn't looking closely enough.
Speaking of aliens with funny accents, it always struck me as weird that on Farscape the humans mostly had American accents, and the aliens mostly had Aussie accents. Makes you wonder what's going on down there...
It's a police box. Not a phone booth. Big difference.
Come to think of it, for a series about a "Time Lord", DW has suprisingly few stories with traditional time travel elements -- changing the past, paradoxes, etc. In fact, the closest I can remember them coming to that sort of thing is when they have The Doctor meet a past or future version of himself. And even then they treat them as two characters, not two versions of one character.
Somebody has to point out that the Windows infrastructure is such an unholy mess, Microsoft might have just botched the change they made for EU compliance. The Registry is full of undocumented features and all those programs and libraries have weird dependencies that boggle the mind.
Sometimes Microsoft screws people over as part of some evil conspiracy. But people tend to underestimate how often they do it because they don't know how not to.
Isn't the point of a word processor document that you might want to print it out?
That's the original purpose of a word processor document. But people use word processor files for all kinds of tasks. Like sharing information, which might include a video clip. This kind of feature has been pretty standard in all Microsoft Office apps for a long time now.
New movies are to be delivered via satellite which, I'm sure, will bring up security issues of its own.
Not unless you consider improved security an issue. The need to distribute film canisters has always been a big security hole. In the pre-DVD era, that was where most pirate prints came from -- projectionists "borrowing" the official print between shows. A satellite feed can be encrypted so that not even projectionists can access it between shows. Perhaps somebody will find a hole in the encryption -- but after the DVD CSS fiasco, I imagine distributors will be very careful.
Spare me the straw man arguments. I never condemned use of contractors as such. I specifically said there are times when they make sense. But most contractors I've seen are not hired for the purposes you describe.
Then you can use a terminal server to connect, and have a speed that wouldn't be possible with a single workstation.
That's one way. But there are better ways.
I don't know a lot about modeling software -- but if it uses an X GUI than you should be able to run it remotely without going through a terminal server. You'd need a good network and a good local workstation, but no more so than you'd need to run a terminal server. Indeed, I think the network overhead would be rather less.
Tell this guy to take his "subsidized rates" and shove 'em.
This is the part that has me scratching my head. This boss is either an incredible idiot, or there's some factor we don't know about. He's just not in any position to make that kind of demand unless there's some kind of employment contract in play.
If there is such a contract, the guy needs a labor lawyer, stat. But if the boss's logic is "I need this, therefore you owe it to me," the obvious answer is, "Fuck you. It's two weeks notice and I'm out of here." A fair, responsible employer deserves better than that (basically, one should stick around for a reasonable period to help find and train the new guy). But that's not this company. They've been mismanaging their human resources, and don't want to take responsibility for it. They're no reason an ex-employee should make any sacrifice to help them out.
...then you should be trying to get away from terminal servers as well. The only justification I can see for using a terminal server is to have a centrally-managed Windows desktop. People do use terminal servers in a Unix/Linux evironment, but it's never made sense to me. There are better ways to share resources.
Actually, job shops that resell contractors services get really huge commissions. They're not on the books at commissions, of course. They sell the services at one rate, then pay the contractor at a much lower rate. They do have to cover all the payroll taxes out of that. And some jobs shops share with their contractors in the form of nice benefit packages. Though not all of them.
Anyway, saying "It's cheaper" doesn't really answer any questions. Employers don't hand out fat benefit packages and perqs because they're nice people. They do it to retain employees whom they consider important to the long-term future of the company. Contractors are presumably less important to that future -- even if their contracts last for years at a time. In effect, contractors are permanent employees, but ones whose loyalty is not considered important.
So employers might save a little in costs (though many contractors actually cost more), but lose a lot in having pseudo-employees who, by tacit agreement, have no personal investment in the job.
Which is probably what always bothered me more than anything about being a contractor. It's important to my sense of self-worth that I do a good work for whoever's covering my paycheck. When, "we don't give it a shit, and neither should you" is built into your job arrangement, it just plain sucks.
Most of those things, and better, are available to contractors too. I have a friend who is a long term contractor. His agency provides him the ability to put up to $25K/yr into 401K and other retirement plans, he can get tuition reimbursement with far less restrictions than most regular employers, he has his choice of a couple of nationwide high-quality/good-value health/dental insurance plans, he can get up to $10K of reimbursed business expenses (computers, DSL, software, books, etc) plus very good short/long-term disability.
They're available to some contractors. You usually get health benefit, but even that's not a given.
To be fair to the job shops that I've worked through, most of them have provided decent basic benefits. But nothing like the kind you describe, and certainly not as good as the benefits received by the regular employees I worked with. The agency you describe is unusually generous, either for a job shop or a regular employer.
Most contractors are "employees of other firms". There are all kinds of bureaucratic issues involved in hiring a self-employed contractor, so companies prefer to have a contractor be employed by a job shop, who acts as "employer of record".
When I worked at the contracting job I described, my EoR was a services company. I met with my nominal supervisor in that company precisely once, to fill out the paperwork. Thereafter, I had contact with them only over the phone or, snail mail, or email, when I submitted a time card, got insurance forms, arranged a vacation, or did other HR stuff. Everything else I did at that company was an interaction with employees of the main company: my original application for the job, my interviews, all the day-to-day stuff you do when you work for somebody. I was an employee of the services firm on paper -- but on paper only. And that's pretty typical.
A lot of lawsuits actually do start that way. But any contractor will tell you these people have a legitimate beef.
There are legitimate reasons to use contractors. Like when you temporarily need a few extra people at crunch time. Or there's a specialized task that it makes sense to outsource.
But a lot of contractors are doing jobs that are really part of the permanent organizational structure, often working side by side with permanent employees who do the same work. Technically, they're temporary people who work for themselves or for a "job shop". But their contracts are often extended for years, and the person who supervises them and decides they ongoing future works for the company, not the job shop.
I've never quite understood why companies "hire" so many non-employees. My best guess is that inept managers can't figure out how to justify the head count they need to get the job done, but somehow manage to get "temporary" funding for contractors.
Being that kind of long-term contractor can be maddening. There may be campus facilities, like a gym, that you're not allowed to use. There will certainly be bennies -- matched 401Ks, stock options, tuition reimbursements -- that you won't be eligible for. And then there are the intangibles...
I once worked for a year as a contractor helping clean up a doc set. (The guy who replaced me in this "temporary" job is still there -- 6 years later!) My work helped earn my writing team an award for "improved documentation." Some of the improvements cited were done at my initiative. But because I was a contractor, I wasn't even invited to the ceremony.
A lawyer who helps defend people against this kind of abuse is not "slimy". He's simply helping people defend their rights.
Slashdot Mirror
I think most Slashdotters are too young to remember the lamest plot gimmick in the history of TV. A reminder to Star Trek fans that you don't need fancy pseudo-science to resurect people!
That kind of defeats the ultimate purpose of alarm clocks -- which is to get you to work on time.
Perhaps you should consider the paint-peeling alarm that John Varley describes in Millenium.
"If you need an alarm clock, you're in a stupid pissant job. You need to get your act together!"
"This is nothing new..."
Speaking of aliens with funny accents, it always struck me as weird that on Farscape the humans mostly had American accents, and the aliens mostly had Aussie accents. Makes you wonder what's going on down there...
Never mind James Bond. What about Batman? Not to mention Jack Ryan, who's been played by three people , if you count 7of9's ex.
Forgive me for not getting a reference to a movie I saw once, 15 years ago. Especially in this context!
People just have to have their conspiracy theories, even when they're a much simpler explanation.
Come to think of it, for a series about a "Time Lord", DW has suprisingly few stories with traditional time travel elements -- changing the past, paradoxes, etc. In fact, the closest I can remember them coming to that sort of thing is when they have The Doctor meet a past or future version of himself. And even then they treat them as two characters, not two versions of one character.
Sometimes Microsoft screws people over as part of some evil conspiracy. But people tend to underestimate how often they do it because they don't know how not to.
So what's your point? Most contractors have to work through job shops.
But what's the point? Why expend all that effort on obfuscating code when there are languages with obfuscation already built in?
Spare me the straw man arguments. I never condemned use of contractors as such. I specifically said there are times when they make sense. But most contractors I've seen are not hired for the purposes you describe.
I don't know a lot about modeling software -- but if it uses an X GUI than you should be able to run it remotely without going through a terminal server. You'd need a good network and a good local workstation, but no more so than you'd need to run a terminal server. Indeed, I think the network overhead would be rather less.
If there is such a contract, the guy needs a labor lawyer, stat. But if the boss's logic is "I need this, therefore you owe it to me," the obvious answer is, "Fuck you. It's two weeks notice and I'm out of here." A fair, responsible employer deserves better than that (basically, one should stick around for a reasonable period to help find and train the new guy). But that's not this company. They've been mismanaging their human resources, and don't want to take responsibility for it. They're no reason an ex-employee should make any sacrifice to help them out.
...then you should be trying to get away from terminal servers as well. The only justification I can see for using a terminal server is to have a centrally-managed Windows desktop. People do use terminal servers in a Unix/Linux evironment, but it's never made sense to me. There are better ways to share resources.
Anyway, saying "It's cheaper" doesn't really answer any questions. Employers don't hand out fat benefit packages and perqs because they're nice people. They do it to retain employees whom they consider important to the long-term future of the company. Contractors are presumably less important to that future -- even if their contracts last for years at a time. In effect, contractors are permanent employees, but ones whose loyalty is not considered important.
So employers might save a little in costs (though many contractors actually cost more), but lose a lot in having pseudo-employees who, by tacit agreement, have no personal investment in the job.
Which is probably what always bothered me more than anything about being a contractor. It's important to my sense of self-worth that I do a good work for whoever's covering my paycheck. When, "we don't give it a shit, and neither should you" is built into your job arrangement, it just plain sucks.
To be fair to the job shops that I've worked through, most of them have provided decent basic benefits. But nothing like the kind you describe, and certainly not as good as the benefits received by the regular employees I worked with. The agency you describe is unusually generous, either for a job shop or a regular employer.
When I worked at the contracting job I described, my EoR was a services company. I met with my nominal supervisor in that company precisely once, to fill out the paperwork. Thereafter, I had contact with them only over the phone or, snail mail, or email, when I submitted a time card, got insurance forms, arranged a vacation, or did other HR stuff. Everything else I did at that company was an interaction with employees of the main company: my original application for the job, my interviews, all the day-to-day stuff you do when you work for somebody. I was an employee of the services firm on paper -- but on paper only. And that's pretty typical.
Thanks for helping clear up the mystery. Yet another example of how companies do stupid things because it looks good on the books.
There are legitimate reasons to use contractors. Like when you temporarily need a few extra people at crunch time. Or there's a specialized task that it makes sense to outsource.
But a lot of contractors are doing jobs that are really part of the permanent organizational structure, often working side by side with permanent employees who do the same work. Technically, they're temporary people who work for themselves or for a "job shop". But their contracts are often extended for years, and the person who supervises them and decides they ongoing future works for the company, not the job shop.
I've never quite understood why companies "hire" so many non-employees. My best guess is that inept managers can't figure out how to justify the head count they need to get the job done, but somehow manage to get "temporary" funding for contractors.
Being that kind of long-term contractor can be maddening. There may be campus facilities, like a gym, that you're not allowed to use. There will certainly be bennies -- matched 401Ks, stock options, tuition reimbursements -- that you won't be eligible for. And then there are the intangibles...
I once worked for a year as a contractor helping clean up a doc set. (The guy who replaced me in this "temporary" job is still there -- 6 years later!) My work helped earn my writing team an award for "improved documentation." Some of the improvements cited were done at my initiative. But because I was a contractor, I wasn't even invited to the ceremony.
A lawyer who helps defend people against this kind of abuse is not "slimy". He's simply helping people defend their rights.
Well, if not me, somebody else experienced documenting SDKs. Technical communication is a specialized skill.
I'm assuming you're not a writer yourself, or don't already have one on staff. You didn't actually say.