Simple, the salaried/exempt class. Except for some manual jobs (and I know janitors that have been shoehorned into exempt lately), companies do not pay workers for overtime. We're not talking about no time and a half, I mean none. 850 * 8 hours will always be cheaper to the management than 500 * 8 hours. They may not be as productive, but management will already have their bonuses and have bailed long before that matters.
I think I see a problem. A contract requires an exchange of value. The customer gives them money, but they give them a UnixWare license, which to anyone who has used it, has at best no value, at worst a negative one. Would it still be enforceable?
Actually, when Microsoft was taken to court for not following licensing terms for software they packaged in their dev kit and sold to customers, the company went after the end users as well. The law often does not do what seems reasonable.
Funny, their system seems to be the one that allows for proportional representation, while the "free" US hands near absolute power to any lunatic on a 50%+1 win. I'd rather have a government that reflects the beliefs of the people and regulates language, than a government that leaves language alone and represents the bare majority (or not even that in most of our elections) at the expense of everyone else. And, at least in France, citizens cannot be stripped of their rights at the mere mention of the "T" word.
Actually, wasn't it a congressional thing? That is just as binding as the French side, the new word only applies to official matters. Now, as to the "freedom fry" thing, under what circumstances could it possibly have not been silly?
First, I must agree with the other posts here. It is not good to migrate a fully functional system to an untested one. Make sure the developers completetly test on Linux. That said, if the application is like most I have worked with on SCO, the underlying OS won't make too much difference there.
There are a couple of big reasons I see for migrations away from SCO, from the perspective of both the admin and the developer. I have a lot of clients on SCO, mostly running apps written in (seriously) Business Basic and similar languages. Most of these software vendors have demoted SCO to a second tier system. This typically means that if something breaks, they might try to fix it for an hourly rate, but no more guarantees. The basic interpreter runs on most *nix systems and Linux, so no difference there. Most development shops have seen their SCO customers either switch to Linux when the SCO box died, or move up to Solaris or AIX as their business grew. They just dust off the SCO box in the corner to test release installs, and that is about it.
Another reason is that their hardware compatibility list is not very long, and even the hardware listed often is only tested on ancient firmware revisions. This is a small upgrade, but you will see a lot more problems with upgrades and patches being needed for minor hardware changes, and a migration to a new box can be a big hassle.
SCO is also not a very standard (look at the structure of symlinks of system binaries, or maybe the fact that there are a stack of binaries in/etc instead of/sbin), and thus requires special procedures and scripts to account for this. This also means that SCO is often the last priority for software authors to test against or issue fixes for. With the recent lawsuit, many software projects may drop SCO support entirely.
It sums up as the basic argument that if it ain't broke don't fix it, but on the other hand SCO products are the very definition of legacy systems, and will be increasingly difficult to find hardware and software support for in the future. While now may not be the time to move, these issues are big enough that you really do need to have a long term migration plan to something else.
Most of those either have to be done locally (doctors and lawyers) or have professional standards boards like the bar or the AMA protecting their interests. As to management, that is what is great about being at the top, are you going to outsource your own job to save the company money, or are you going to outsource everyone else and pocket a cut of the savings?
Even if it is useful, I see no reason to expect offshore development to get more expensive. When India gets too pricy, they move to Russia, then to the next country willing to play price wars. Eventually, they'll even return here, when the $2 an hour over what McDonalds pays looks good enough to have programmers begging for jobs without benefits.
Are the companies that are moving jobs overseas profiting?
It always looks like profits up front, as you mention in Q 4, what matters is who gets them.
Are their share prices rising?
If they laid off staff, probably.
Are they paying better dividends?
How many even bother paying dividends, the shareholders don't seem to hold them accountable to provide a return.
Or are they merely reducing technical costs so that the executives can receive higher salaries and bonuses?
Bingo! That would be what most of us who have worked in sizeable companies are familiar with.
Oh, sorry, I guess they "earned" it. After all, it is really tough laying people off, so tough that it takes at least a 5 or 6 figure bonus to make up for the anguish of not giving them more than token severance pay.
Excellant post! Can I borrow that last paragraph upon occasion? That eliminates at least two rounds of back and forth name calling up front, especially with the Libertopians.
You're the one posting absurd statements, the research is your problem. Try http://www.advancefornurses.com/common/editorial/P rintFriendly.aspx?CC=3904 for starters. Talking to "nurses I've known" does not qualify as either research or knowledge by any stretch of the imagination.
Of course, what should I expect when you go on some giant generic "liberals" screed in response...well, not in response to anything I wrote in my post. What does unionization have to do with violence, killing, hating the wealthy, and gulags?
Nurses: Do your research, only 21% of nurses report belonging to a union, but those that do report far higher average wages.
Programmers: a tiny group, not doing nearly as well after the boom, that did well because of the scarcity of professionals in a newly important field
The airlines are teetering on bankruptcy because they made the mistake of competing mainly on price, and removing the profitability of the entire industry. Take a look at the history of airline profits, labor costs have very little to do with their failure.
How well are non-unionized laborers doing? How about construction? I would be interested in those studies you are talking about, when I did a quick google around, all I found quickly were some from the U of Maryland showing that union workers receive far higher wages, and industry specific surveys showing higher average wages for union jobs.
If you want a roommate, you will probably want to stick with a 30-32 foot boat then, some of the 27' only have one bedroom. Just keep in mind that the smaller boats are close quarters, and that can be tough if your roommate doesn't know how to pick up after themselves:)
I'm not sure what the licensing is like in Mass, they don't seem to have a good government website with that kind of info, but it won't matter at first. When you buy it, you can arrange to have it delivered to the marina you want to stay at, or being coastal, you can probably find a friend who can help. You can just take it under motor power, so they don't have to know how to sail.
If you want to learn a bit about how to go under sail you should probably start with Invitation to Sailing by Alan Brown. The "bible" of boating would be Chapmans Piloting and Seamanship, this will teach you things like the right of way rules, what naval flags mean (not used much, but it is good to know distress signals), basically the naval drivers ed. The final one I'd recommend is The Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual by Nigel Calder. This is the best do it yourself fix it book out there. All of these should be in the library in that area.
There is a really nice community boating group in your area at http://www.community-boating.org/ that can help. The dues are $175/year, and that gets you all the classes you need to be a good boater, and can get you some practical experience to see how you like it. They also have a $75 45 day membership if you just want to try a couple of classes to see what you think.
And if you have a roomie, just charge them less than half, and make sure the boat is only owned by you if possible. It's nice to have a paid off home of sorts at 25, takes a lot of the stress out of economic uncertainty.
Pretty much certainly. You are absolutely right that most people get screwed on mortgages, but that is mainly due to how badly they get nailed by a 30 year. On a 10 or 15, you would have to be a very disciplined and skilled investor (which most people aren't) to do better. That gap becomes even bigger with the mortgage deduction, which may not be nearly as big of a deal as real estate agents make it out to be, but it is usually big enough to balance out the yearly maintenance costs, which does a lot to even the playing field. But you are right, then it is time to do the math. In our housing market, rentals tend to stay very even with the monthly on a 15, and more expensive than a 30 with decent down (though the interest will eat you alive). It's all a numbers game.
If you're looking for ideas on how to get by better, it really is worth a shot. I'm not sure exactly where you live and work, so I just tried to find some general Boston area marinas so I can give you fairly accurate pricing for your area. If you know the name of a nearby bay or port that could help me to find a good match, and a decent dealer near to you.
I am drawing from a couple of your earlier posts where you mentioned an after tax income of around $375 per week, and said that you could get a roommate and get an apartment, at least for the short term, at $500/m.
The best boat will be a sailboat between 27' and 30', in good shape but needing you to refinish some of the woodwork. Depending on the boat, it will probably cost anywhere from $12,000 to $25,000, so your payments will be roughly between $250 and $400/month. The marina I found looks to be a fairly fancy one, it will run you from $280-$300 a month depending on if you're in a 27 or a 30 (they charge by the foot). This payment includes trash, water, power, phone, cable TV, laundry facility, showers, and parking. You will also probably have to carry insurance and such, which will run around $400-$600 per year, so around $50/month. This will run you around $600-$850 per month, and you will own it in 5 years, much faster if you can squeeze in a few extra payments here and there.
This would give you permanent housing for a while, the ability to sail to somewhere else on the coast for better job prospects, and you would own it. Even if you're still in college, this means that for not much more than rent would normally cost you, you could own a boat and live on it. You have the security of owning where you live, and the freedom to leave if the grass looks greener somewhere else. After the boat is payed off, you're only in for the slip, insurance, and maybe some extra for diesel (after you've had it a bit, you'll start wanting to travel some, you live in a really nice area for short trips), maybe $500/month at most.
If there is anything I can help you out with, like finding a good boat in your area or helping with cost estimates, let me know, I'd be happy to help. I know how hard getting started is, and I know how bad a recession sucks. I've spent my share of time working as a temp for BFI (the local trash company) during cold rainy weather, it sucks. I'm just trying to show you that there are some ways to improve your life faster, most people just don't know what great options are out there.
Actually, at least in the market in Idaho, apartments are not cheaper than buying a house. The big key is to get one with a 10 or 15 year mortgage. If you have a 10 year, and make a bit of extra payment, in 8.5 years you will own it outright, or on a 15 you would be only 5 years from payoff at the 7 year mark, and a lot of equity at that point.
With a straight 10 year mortgage, at the seven year mark you would have roughly $40,000 in equity. If you had gone with an apartment for $200 a month less, your savings would (at 7%) net you only just shy of $22,000. A 15 year with no extra payments would still leave you with $22,000 in equity, with low enough payments that an apartment would be hard pressed to be much cheaper.
You are correct that some people get screwed with 30 year mortgages or a too large house, but with a shorter period mortgage, the house will usually be a far better investment.
What really bites about this is when you look around a bit. A lot of other countries have rates not much higher, and the taxpayers actually receive real services in return.
You can still have a very enjoyable work day. Having a good job doesn't require me to pretend that management (at least in the majority of situations) will do everything in their power to ensure that money goes to them in pay and bonuses instead to the peons under them.
How many people got bigger bonuses in the down economy, while the management gave theirs up? Now how many got salary freezes and little to no bonus, while management still got theirs? Unfortunate, but often the case.
"At any rate there is no ENTITLEMENT. You don't have the right to super working conditions."
That all depends on the country and state/province you work in. In fact, in the majority of first world countries, you do have a right to super working conditions, or at least decent ones. How well this is enforced can be another matter.
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Ack, should preview. 850*8 will always be more _expensive_ than 500*8. Sorry.
Simple, the salaried/exempt class. Except for some manual jobs (and I know janitors that have been shoehorned into exempt lately), companies do not pay workers for overtime. We're not talking about no time and a half, I mean none. 850 * 8 hours will always be cheaper to the management than 500 * 8 hours. They may not be as productive, but management will already have their bonuses and have bailed long before that matters.
I think I see a problem. A contract requires an exchange of value. The customer gives them money, but they give them a UnixWare license, which to anyone who has used it, has at best no value, at worst a negative one. Would it still be enforceable?
Actually, when Microsoft was taken to court for not following licensing terms for software they packaged in their dev kit and sold to customers, the company went after the end users as well. The law often does not do what seems reasonable.
"IBM should have bought them lock, stock and barrel and then just gutted the company and released the IP to the public domain."
But then wouldn't they be open to charges of using WMD's. I mean, have you ever _used_ SCO Open Server, my God, think of the _children_!
Try reading any statement from the current administration, that should be enough examples to keep you busy until Christmas.
Funny, their system seems to be the one that allows for proportional representation, while the "free" US hands near absolute power to any lunatic on a 50%+1 win. I'd rather have a government that reflects the beliefs of the people and regulates language, than a government that leaves language alone and represents the bare majority (or not even that in most of our elections) at the expense of everyone else. And, at least in France, citizens cannot be stripped of their rights at the mere mention of the "T" word.
Actually, wasn't it a congressional thing? That is just as binding as the French side, the new word only applies to official matters. Now, as to the "freedom fry" thing, under what circumstances could it possibly have not been silly?
First, I must agree with the other posts here. It is not good to migrate a fully functional system to an untested one. Make sure the developers completetly test on Linux. That said, if the application is like most I have worked with on SCO, the underlying OS won't make too much difference there.
/etc instead of /sbin), and thus requires special procedures and scripts to account for this. This also means that SCO is often the last priority for software authors to test against or issue fixes for. With the recent lawsuit, many software projects may drop SCO support entirely.
There are a couple of big reasons I see for migrations away from SCO, from the perspective of both the admin and the developer. I have a lot of clients on SCO, mostly running apps written in (seriously) Business Basic and similar languages. Most of these software vendors have demoted SCO to a second tier system. This typically means that if something breaks, they might try to fix it for an hourly rate, but no more guarantees. The basic interpreter runs on most *nix systems and Linux, so no difference there. Most development shops have seen their SCO customers either switch to Linux when the SCO box died, or move up to Solaris or AIX as their business grew. They just dust off the SCO box in the corner to test release installs, and that is about it.
Another reason is that their hardware compatibility list is not very long, and even the hardware listed often is only tested on ancient firmware revisions. This is a small upgrade, but you will see a lot more problems with upgrades and patches being needed for minor hardware changes, and a migration to a new box can be a big hassle.
SCO is also not a very standard (look at the structure of symlinks of system binaries, or maybe the fact that there are a stack of binaries in
It sums up as the basic argument that if it ain't broke don't fix it, but on the other hand SCO products are the very definition of legacy systems, and will be increasingly difficult to find hardware and software support for in the future. While now may not be the time to move, these issues are big enough that you really do need to have a long term migration plan to something else.
"This could scare IT professionals into accepting lower pay."
For most IT guys right now, accepting lower pay would make Taco Bell management look like a primo career path.
Most of those either have to be done locally (doctors and lawyers) or have professional standards boards like the bar or the AMA protecting their interests. As to management, that is what is great about being at the top, are you going to outsource your own job to save the company money, or are you going to outsource everyone else and pocket a cut of the savings?
Even if it is useful, I see no reason to expect offshore development to get more expensive. When India gets too pricy, they move to Russia, then to the next country willing to play price wars. Eventually, they'll even return here, when the $2 an hour over what McDonalds pays looks good enough to have programmers begging for jobs without benefits.
Are the companies that are moving jobs overseas profiting?
It always looks like profits up front, as you mention in Q 4, what matters is who gets them.
Are their share prices rising?
If they laid off staff, probably.
Are they paying better dividends?
How many even bother paying dividends, the shareholders don't seem to hold them accountable to provide a return.
Or are they merely reducing technical costs so that the executives can receive higher salaries and bonuses?
Bingo! That would be what most of us who have worked in sizeable companies are familiar with.
Oh, sorry, I guess they "earned" it. After all, it is really tough laying people off, so tough that it takes at least a 5 or 6 figure bonus to make up for the anguish of not giving them more than token severance pay.
Excellant post! Can I borrow that last paragraph upon occasion? That eliminates at least two rounds of back and forth name calling up front, especially with the Libertopians.
You're the one posting absurd statements, the research is your problem. Try http://www.advancefornurses.com/common/editorial/P rintFriendly.aspx?CC=3904
for starters. Talking to "nurses I've known" does not qualify as either research or knowledge by any stretch of the imagination.
Of course, what should I expect when you go on some giant generic "liberals" screed in response...well, not in response to anything I wrote in my post. What does unionization have to do with violence, killing, hating the wealthy, and gulags?
There is an angle on his contribution I will support. The GPL is an amazing achievement, much more so than re-implementing ls.
Nurses: Do your research, only 21% of nurses report belonging to a union, but those that do report far higher average wages.
Programmers: a tiny group, not doing nearly as well after the boom, that did well because of the scarcity of professionals in a newly important field
The airlines are teetering on bankruptcy because they made the mistake of competing mainly on price, and removing the profitability of the entire industry. Take a look at the history of airline profits, labor costs have very little to do with their failure.
How well are non-unionized laborers doing? How about construction? I would be interested in those studies you are talking about, when I did a quick google around, all I found quickly were some from the U of Maryland showing that union workers receive far higher wages, and industry specific surveys showing higher average wages for union jobs.
If you want a roommate, you will probably want to stick with a 30-32 foot boat then, some of the 27' only have one bedroom. Just keep in mind that the smaller boats are close quarters, and that can be tough if your roommate doesn't know how to pick up after themselves :)
I'm not sure what the licensing is like in Mass, they don't seem to have a good government website with that kind of info, but it won't matter at first. When you buy it, you can arrange to have it delivered to the marina you want to stay at, or being coastal, you can probably find a friend who can help. You can just take it under motor power, so they don't have to know how to sail.
If you want to learn a bit about how to go under sail you should probably start with Invitation to Sailing by Alan Brown. The "bible" of boating would be Chapmans Piloting and Seamanship, this will teach you things like the right of way rules, what naval flags mean (not used much, but it is good to know distress signals), basically the naval drivers ed. The final one I'd recommend is The Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual by Nigel Calder. This is the best do it yourself fix it book out there. All of these should be in the library in that area.
There is a really nice community boating group in your area at http://www.community-boating.org/ that can help. The dues are $175/year, and that gets you all the classes you need to be a good boater, and can get you some practical experience to see how you like it. They also have a $75 45 day membership if you just want to try a couple of classes to see what you think.
And if you have a roomie, just charge them less than half, and make sure the boat is only owned by you if possible. It's nice to have a paid off home of sorts at 25, takes a lot of the stress out of economic uncertainty.
Pretty much certainly. You are absolutely right that most people get screwed on mortgages, but that is mainly due to how badly they get nailed by a 30 year. On a 10 or 15, you would have to be a very disciplined and skilled investor (which most people aren't) to do better. That gap becomes even bigger with the mortgage deduction, which may not be nearly as big of a deal as real estate agents make it out to be, but it is usually big enough to balance out the yearly maintenance costs, which does a lot to even the playing field. But you are right, then it is time to do the math. In our housing market, rentals tend to stay very even with the monthly on a 15, and more expensive than a 30 with decent down (though the interest will eat you alive). It's all a numbers game.
If you're looking for ideas on how to get by better, it really is worth a shot. I'm not sure exactly where you live and work, so I just tried to find some general Boston area marinas so I can give you fairly accurate pricing for your area. If you know the name of a nearby bay or port that could help me to find a good match, and a decent dealer near to you.
I am drawing from a couple of your earlier posts where you mentioned an after tax income of around $375 per week, and said that you could get a roommate and get an apartment, at least for the short term, at $500/m.
The best boat will be a sailboat between 27' and 30', in good shape but needing you to refinish some of the woodwork. Depending on the boat, it will probably cost anywhere from $12,000 to $25,000, so your payments will be roughly between $250 and $400/month. The marina I found looks to be a fairly fancy one, it will run you from $280-$300 a month depending on if you're in a 27 or a 30 (they charge by the foot). This payment includes trash, water, power, phone, cable TV, laundry facility, showers, and parking. You will also probably have to carry insurance and such, which will run around $400-$600 per year, so around $50/month. This will run you around $600-$850 per month, and you will own it in 5 years, much faster if you can squeeze in a few extra payments here and there.
This would give you permanent housing for a while, the ability to sail to somewhere else on the coast for better job prospects, and you would own it. Even if you're still in college, this means that for not much more than rent would normally cost you, you could own a boat and live on it. You have the security of owning where you live, and the freedom to leave if the grass looks greener somewhere else. After the boat is payed off, you're only in for the slip, insurance, and maybe some extra for diesel (after you've had it a bit, you'll start wanting to travel some, you live in a really nice area for short trips), maybe $500/month at most.
If there is anything I can help you out with, like finding a good boat in your area or helping with cost estimates, let me know, I'd be happy to help. I know how hard getting started is, and I know how bad a recession sucks. I've spent my share of time working as a temp for BFI (the local trash company) during cold rainy weather, it sucks. I'm just trying to show you that there are some ways to improve your life faster, most people just don't know what great options are out there.
Actually, at least in the market in Idaho, apartments are not cheaper than buying a house. The big key is to get one with a 10 or 15 year mortgage. If you have a 10 year, and make a bit of extra payment, in 8.5 years you will own it outright, or on a 15 you would be only 5 years from payoff at the 7 year mark, and a lot of equity at that point.
With a straight 10 year mortgage, at the seven year mark you would have roughly $40,000 in equity. If you had gone with an apartment for $200 a month less, your savings would (at 7%) net you only just shy of $22,000. A 15 year with no extra payments would still leave you with $22,000 in equity, with low enough payments that an apartment would be hard pressed to be much cheaper.
You are correct that some people get screwed with 30 year mortgages or a too large house, but with a shorter period mortgage, the house will usually be a far better investment.
"The reality is, unions are a parasite-- industries that are not unionized pay their employees better."
I was actually seriously reading your post, until I came to that gem. I suggest you look around a bit and reconsider that absurd statement.
What really bites about this is when you look around a bit. A lot of other countries have rates not much higher, and the taxpayers actually receive real services in return.
You can still have a very enjoyable work day. Having a good job doesn't require me to pretend that management (at least in the majority of situations) will do everything in their power to ensure that money goes to them in pay and bonuses instead to the peons under them.
How many people got bigger bonuses in the down economy, while the management gave theirs up? Now how many got salary freezes and little to no bonus, while management still got theirs? Unfortunate, but often the case.
"At any rate there is no ENTITLEMENT. You don't have the right to super working conditions."
That all depends on the country and state/province you work in. In fact, in the majority of first world countries, you do have a right to super working conditions, or at least decent ones. How well this is enforced can be another matter.
Hmm, maybe I'm just paranoid, but I'm starting to think "the children" are the greatest threat these days...