Well, there are all kinds of things that I can do, but that wasn't really my intended point. Personally I don't even browse the web much in Windows... I use a 64 bit Nightly just for checking my forums etc. in between gaming. (and I use Windows 7... my XP example is because I am an on site computer service and I observe a lot of systems) Personally I also do not automatically update anything.
For the masses, this amounts to an Internet Explorer enema.
Umm, Firefox and Chrome don't break the system when they update and if they do, it only takes a minute to uninstall and reinstall the desired version. It is also very easy to opt out.
Internet Explorer upgrades are not something to be taken lightly, because:
a) They can affect the Windows shell b) Programmers may be (correctly or incorrectly) relying on behaviour of its APIs
Internet Explorer upgrades can break shit.
Another example, I have noticed that adding IE8 to an older Windows XP computer slows the whole system down. (That sucks when you don't even use the browser)
Don't launch in 2012. Fuck off... I don't care what is best for Microsoft. I am tired of consoles holding back game development. Having to dumb down the graphics and use clever object fade techniques so games will run on the consoles. In most cases, the PC ports of the games are the same shit as the console versions. Launch the new console as soon as it's ready and never mind strategically holding it back, assholes.
I play games on both Xbox 360 and PC and I see the same games on both platforms.
I don't give a fuck about shaking up game studios who think they can keep using the same engines over and over for their games.
Games used to drive hardware development on the PC. Now we get similar iterations of video cards with higher model numbers every year instead of significant improvements in performance. Remember Crysis? When it was released video cards that could play it well with the highest graphics settings weren't invented yet. It wasn't long before that was remedied. They did it as an after thought with Crysis 2, but the original release was disappointing on the PC, with console quality graphics. That's the only game I have seen in a long time that pushes modern hardware limits (if you installed the new high res texture packs and DX11 overlay)
If they keep the Xbox 360 on the market, then many game developers are going to stick with the lowest common denominator and keep their games compatible with both systems. Again, we'll see no improvement and the only one who benefits is Microsoft.
What I would expect is that the Xbox 720 or whatever they call it will still be able to run older games but it's time to retire sales of the old systems. The price of the new ones should be kept comparable to the old (within reason... maybe a little higher at first) At least it better be, or they can shove it up their ass.
New iterations of the Xbox 360 have seen slimmer form, wireless controllers with built in receivers, new designs that don't let you clip on your old hard drive anymore etc. and has kept the cost of replacement units up there. The hardware inside that counts is still the same.
It's not the slashdot hive mind, or libertarianism, it's my individual belief and politically, I'm closer to a liberal with some socialist leanings if you must apply labels.
People want to do things that are unfairly deemed illegal in our righteous society (fuck the law, and fuck the church... both have made themselves adversaries) and therefore, goods and services are provided by criminals. They aren't going to stop because it has been decreed.
Not only is it the "government's fault" but it's specifically the U.S. government's fault for what's going on in Mexico right now. Those cartels are all competing for American dollars to fill the void left by the War on Drugs.
The cartels switched gears when Mexico started to crack down on their activities under pressure from the U.S. Raising the stakes always raises the level of violence associated with illegal activities.
I'm sorry that they kill people, but that is where my sympathy ends. I have to accept the existence of criminal organizations because they PROVIDE SERVICES that fill the gaps caused by prohibition. (drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc.)
If governments are too stubborn to tax and control, then I have no sympathy for the collateral damage to society.
I think I am in a good enough position to consider a change in the drug laws as well as laws based on religious morality. Legalize and legitimize those activities in every town, city, state and province otherwise criminals are going to run them. Also, jack booted enforcement of such law is not very good harm reduction.
Legalizing and LEGITIMIZING (very important) these activities reduces the harm, and victimization of people involved.
Let's see... drug testing as a requirement of employment, jack booted thugs throwing flash bang grenades terrorizing your family and killing your pets in the night from bad intel, drug interdiction techniques by the police that profile citizens and justify searches (and if you exercise your right to refuse, they will go over the situation with a fine tooth comb and find a reason). They make no apologies for these acts, in the name of the War on Drugs.
It may not have happened to you personally, but you should not accept that behaviour because it just as easily could.
I have deliberately refused to buy any game with Ubisoft's name on it, since the Assasin's Creed 2 DRM. Before that, they were a game publisher that I liked. Good titles, decent quality, hassle free etc.
But they are now on my (long) list of companies that can go ride the baloney pony off into the sunset.
Look at how many people are saying similar things. It shows that Ubisoft is full of shit... it's not piracy that ruins their business on the PC platform, it's their DRM.
"95% piracy rate" --- what a crock of shit. I look forward to their pain.
Plus, police and drug enforcement often use such circular logic as: (from the article summary)
"A DEA spokesman describes this as 'collateral damage' not resulting from DEA regulations but from the selfish actions of criminals."
That's a bit like those paramilitary raids where they come in throwing flashbang grenades in the middle of the night, shoot the family dog, terrorize the wife and kids, find a small amount of marijuana and then turned around and charge the victim with endangering his own family. (i.e. if he wouldn't have had that marijuana, they wouldn't have been forced to do those things.)
They use some pretty sick rationale to try to justify their behaviour. It's almost like religion to those creeps. Sinister indeed.
Just how is XFCE anything like Windows 95, because it has menus and a little x to close program windows? If anything, it's one of the least "Windows-like" clients. It can in fact be very different depending on how you set it up. The way it looks and behaves out of the box can be changed in about 2 minutes, through the GUI, such that you wouldn't recognize it. With Windows you would need third party shell replacements to even come close to the functionality of XFCE.
I have not tried Gnome 3 or Unity because I hate Gnome (and Ubuntu for that matter) but KDE 4 is getting to be pretty good.
I'm sure you aren't really as dumb as you seem, but the unix filesystem heirarchy makes a fuck of a lot more sense than "other OS". I can install stuff using a "make install" and then find every single piece of it later when I want to remove it. I have "Linux From Scratch" based systems that I don't even have package management on.
It's also not hard to guess where a particular executable is, based on the type of program. I know a typical user program installed from a distro's repository is going to be in/usr/bin. Core system utilities will be in/bin. Daemons will be in/usr/sbin and so on. Libraries will be in the appropriate install --prefix's lib directory. Headers will be in the appropriate prefix's include directory. Resources like icons and shit will be in the appropriate prefix's share directory.
Besides, you have tools like "whereis" at your fingertips for finding executables that are in your PATH, and if that doesn't cut it, you have tools like locate and find.
Yes, there is quite a big difference and it is "better" (less harmful) than being physically addicting. There are no physical complications from cessation of use. It is not medically dangerous to stop using a psychologically addictive substance.
Yes, marijuana can be (mostly psychologically) addictive, but it is not a serious addiction. More of an irritation because you want it and don't have any. It certainly does not require medical treatment. There are also cases where cannabis provides relief (e.g. for gastrointestinal discomfort), and then when cannabis use stops they stop getting that relief. This happens all the time when people are using it medically, and the cops come and bust their grow room and confiscate their medicine.
Cognitive impairment. Yes, some individuals will experience that, particularly if they aren't experienced users. I do not believe that it causes "permanent cognitive impairment" to any significant degree, though. Certainly less than alcohol and benzodiazepine type tranquilizers, for example.
Voluntary admission to drug treatment programs. Just fuck off... it's the enforcement of the prohibition that causes most cannabis users to do that. There certainly would be some attention whoring, or psychologically defective individuals that would check themselves into a rehab program over anything I'm sure, but most that are there for cannabis alone seek to gain some sympathy from the courts or perhaps family members/employers etc. for being a fuck up. I'll bet the incidences of self admission for cannabis alone are higher in the U.S. than elsewhere.
What's important when you cut through the propaganda is that the harm that cannabis itself causes to individuals and society is mostly because it's illegal. It does a heck of a lot less harm where I live than it does in the U.S. Less harm yet if you go to the Netherlands. Funny how that works. The REAL harm that it causes is not severe enough to warrant it being criminally banned.
There are ulterior motives here that causes governments to continue their campaign against a beneficial plant, in defiance of a large percentage of the population.
I see you don't understand. I go where my time is better spent. If clients won't take my advice and want me to do stupid things, why the fuck are they calling me? I have no time for that. Yes, people at McDonalds are wasting their time. I would say that's their choice, but it's more likely that they don't have many choices. It would be better for them if they had a marketable skill, then they wouldn't have to take that crap from humanity. Being good at what you do affords you some freedom, too.
I don't mark up hardware at all, and only get it as a convenience as part of my services. (So it's not like I'm selling someone something and reneging on something we agreed on). As I said, if someone calls me for advice about getting new computers and there's a real need for XP, I'll procure a suitable one so I don't have to waste my time downgrading some Walmart special that they bought themselves. Even if I got it for them, it's not my obligation to downgrade it to XP after the fact. Most computer shops would also tell you no.
I won't waste my time on useless exercises like needlessly downgrading laptops to a 10 year old OS that doesn't even make good use of the hardware, and running with possibly poorly tested drivers. (That was just one example of something that eats up time, pointlessly). Someone else can indeed get the "reward" for doing stuff like that. I'm not looking for a reward. Similarly, I also won't waste my time working on 10 year old computers, except under special circumstances. (Like, the user absolutely can't afford to get a new one. I will probably spend hours I don't bill for in that case too, because I don't want them to waste money)
I charge reasonably (less than most clowns) for my expertise, which I provide on a case by case, per incident basis. I refuse to take contract work and I don't owe anybody service. I treat my customers very well, I do good work and I am trustworthy. (I'll go to my grave with your secrets no matter how valuable, or dirty). I do extra things for people, too, while I'm there and always have their best interests at heart. The only thing is I decide whether I'm going to agree to anything. I'll bluntly tell people that their setup is shit too, if that's the case.
I WARN people (especially businesses) that they can't always rely on me and I'm not their help desk. I can't always come right away and may not be able to come at all (not soon enough to be practical), depending on what else I have promised or planned. I have turned down big support contracts because I would not be free to go and help the people I choose to. I once turned down a high paying teaching position for a college night course for moral reasons. It's somewhat related to wasting my time... yes, I'm a "computer expert" known by the person recruiting me but no, I shouldn't be a warm body to babysit a class, hired only because they don't want any computer headaches, making the students learn their logic programming out of a book. Get an instructor better suited to the material. I don't want their money and I do not condone that kind of hiring. Anyone I have told about that has called me a fool for turning it down, both for the money and the opportunities it could have led to. If it doesn't feel right, I'm not doing it.
Yes, my time is valuable to me. I'm not as motivated by money as most others are. To me there is nothing more discouraging than wasting my time, even if it's on someone else's dime. It does not feel good to even take that money.
Got a rootkit that nobody else seems to be able to remove? Computer been looked at by others who took your money and your problem isn't solved? Don't want to format and lose all your installed programs? Can't figure out why your networking is notworking? Need help setting up Linux systems for various purposes? etc. I'm the guy to call. Want furniture moved? Call movers.
I don't use buzzwords like "IT" and "Professional" to describe myself either. (nor do I put on airs of professionalism) I simply call myself a certified technician. My rep
Nah, depending on the situation, I might fire THEM as clients (tell them to get someone else) because my time is more valuable to me than that. I don't care how much someone is paying me, they can't pay me enough to waste my time. I have other clients with which to spend my time more productively. New clients that I might now have time for, even (I get more callers than time). My attitude truly shocks people. I've had it come back to me second hand, often with amusement... "I can't believe the guy said that to me and told me not to call again". I have also had people call me back pleadingly, after going elsewhere and getting shafted. Many appreciate my blunt honesty and/or refusal to waste their money.
I don't suck anything up.
Downgrading a laptop to XP is not always a simple matter... even given model specific XP drivers from the OEM (which there often aren't... you have to get them from individual hardware component manufacturers) it can be a lot of work. I won't do it just because "the customer says jump". If there's a good enough reason to, I might be more willing to spend the time, in which case I'd have probably procured a business class notebook that comes with both a Windows 7 and a Windows XP Professional license, with OS and driver installation media. I've done that for several clients and as far as I know, it's still possible to get them. For example, got a $10,000 plotter that is never going to see a Vista/7 driver? Perhaps some expensive, custom/proprietary software that doesn't work properly? I'll work with them on that. Just don't try to waste my time on a silly fucking whim and don't think for a moment that you're going to bust my balls. Nobody has that power over me and nobody can make me do anything I don't want to do.
Now, I don't do "corporate" which usually would have their own IT personnel and "policies" and I'm guessing by the use of the word "client", neither does the grandparent. Those aren't the kind of companies that would be buying equipment and services from the likes of us. I have a lot of business customers though and also residential.
So pinfall (grandparent post), keep up your standards. Clients like that (that would fire you rather than so much as listen to your advice) may not be worth retaining anyway.
I said that, because as a professional photographer you might have a vested interest in seeing others having to follow the same rules that you do. (Not necessarily maliciously, but it may affect your opinion on the matter). I see it in all trades. For example, in my area, you don't need to have a business permit of any kind to work out of your house. That makes shopkeepers angry, so they do things like rat you out for not following whatever rules they think you are breaking. (whether you are or not, the damage is done... you'll get audited and have to put up with reams of horseshit and you'll never get that time back and the wear and tear on your nerves). Another example... farmers were donating eggs and stuff to soup kitchens. People in the industry complain, because they aren't going through the marketing boards and nobody is making their touch. Farmers are allowed to SELL eggs and some other food items privately, but because of the lobbying, (in the name of health and safety officially but that isn't the problem, it's the money) the food has to be purchased through proper channels. In the building trades, union people make a big stink about the little guys and they get visits from inspectors to make sure everyone has the proper tickets. The list goes on.
It was probably unfair of me to label you so, on the basis of what you said... it's just a sore spot lately.
My thoughts are that this is a home video. There is no reason for park staff to pull a heavy over it. I don't tolerate that kind of small minded authority where I live, and neither should Americans. You should not need millions of dollars in liability insurance to use a camcorder at a park.
As a "photographer" (I assume professional) you are just trying to safe guard your livelihood and want others to have their hands tied by a bunch of rules, just like big industry that seeks to protect itself.
I nearly barfed when I typed "crontab -e" on a new CentOS 6 server we just moved to and nano was the editor. I didn't notice at first (I wasn't looking at the bottom), until I realized that my vi commands weren't working. It's not that nano is bad, it was more of a "Since when?!" thing for me. It's actually harder for me to use a so called "easy" editor like nano, when a traditional vi based editor is second nature. I realize I could change that variable, but now I'm done setting up my cron jobs.
I compile and install Pine if it's not included in a distro. It's the first email program I ever used and I quite like it. I don't use it for personal mail anymore (I use Sylpheed over POP3) but for local mail, like root and postmaster's status messages aliased to my user.
Know what finally saved my ass from the SPEWS database? It certainly wasn't the hoops I jumped through to try to get removed. It was my datacenter's IP subnets that were on the list, not my server... I hate spam of any kind and have never sent so much as a chain email to anyone in my life. It was like a nightmare. We moved our forum site to a new hosting provider and suddenly we found out we couldn't send mail to almost everyone. People couldn't register, or get forum notifications. The SPEWS list seemed to feed all kinds of other services, and we were brutally buggered.
SPEWS got DOS'd out of existence, by spammers and others who fought back. That was how the problem finally got solved. It took a while for things to sort themselves after those bullies were gone and I had to write to several (major) ISPs who still had us on their own lists but finally we stopped getting mail rejected.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. I hope the same happens to Spamhaus. Empire building and extortion and no way to get off the list makes me hate those block list services worse than the spammers. I sure as shit don't use them... I let SpamAssassin do more sensible things.
Umm, I'm afraid not. I don't live in the US and I don't listen to your "talk radio" or your idiotic commentators. I am quite capable of making up my own mind and my own words.
Yes though, it was a variant of the nanny state... I called it the nannying police state, which I think describes what society is becoming in the U.S. and some other countries.
Everyone has their workflow... leave them the fuck alone and let them do their work. They will be less productive if you try to force your way upon them.
The nannying police state creeping into all aspect of people's lives. I would pull my kids out of any school that did that. I'd bet that "attendance" isn't the primary goal of this process.
Yes, I remove McCrappy products on sight. It's a perfect example of a cure being worse than the disease. Most trojans don't cause the nausea or problems that McCrappy does, ironically.
Norton, on the other hand, is still living down a horrible reputation from last decade, but a modern standalone Norton Antivirus isn't that horrible anymore (I still nuke their security suites on sight). In fact Norton does have one very good program. It's their most popular one, and one of the most searched for when you start to type Norton into Google. Yes, that's right, the Norton Removal Tool:-)
(McCrappy also has one for removing their rubbish, thankfully)
Avira has the better detections, but yes... when I come back several months later and find it in a dysfunctional state because the user didn't upgrade the program, or didn't notice that the umbrella wasn't opening anymore, or didn't notice that it's not even loading I have to switch them to something else.
Slashdot Mirror
Pencils kill people too. (at least, mine does)
Well, there are all kinds of things that I can do, but that wasn't really my intended point. Personally I don't even browse the web much in Windows... I use a 64 bit Nightly just for checking my forums etc. in between gaming. (and I use Windows 7... my XP example is because I am an on site computer service and I observe a lot of systems) Personally I also do not automatically update anything.
For the masses, this amounts to an Internet Explorer enema.
Umm, Firefox and Chrome don't break the system when they update and if they do, it only takes a minute to uninstall and reinstall the desired version. It is also very easy to opt out.
Internet Explorer upgrades are not something to be taken lightly, because:
a) They can affect the Windows shell
b) Programmers may be (correctly or incorrectly) relying on behaviour of its APIs
Internet Explorer upgrades can break shit.
Another example, I have noticed that adding IE8 to an older Windows XP computer slows the whole system down. (That sucks when you don't even use the browser)
What an opinionated piece that article is.
Don't launch in 2012. Fuck off... I don't care what is best for Microsoft. I am tired of consoles holding back game development. Having to dumb down the graphics and use clever object fade techniques so games will run on the consoles. In most cases, the PC ports of the games are the same shit as the console versions. Launch the new console as soon as it's ready and never mind strategically holding it back, assholes.
I play games on both Xbox 360 and PC and I see the same games on both platforms.
I don't give a fuck about shaking up game studios who think they can keep using the same engines over and over for their games.
Games used to drive hardware development on the PC. Now we get similar iterations of video cards with higher model numbers every year instead of significant improvements in performance. Remember Crysis? When it was released video cards that could play it well with the highest graphics settings weren't invented yet. It wasn't long before that was remedied. They did it as an after thought with Crysis 2, but the original release was disappointing on the PC, with console quality graphics. That's the only game I have seen in a long time that pushes modern hardware limits (if you installed the new high res texture packs and DX11 overlay)
If they keep the Xbox 360 on the market, then many game developers are going to stick with the lowest common denominator and keep their games compatible with both systems. Again, we'll see no improvement and the only one who benefits is Microsoft.
What I would expect is that the Xbox 720 or whatever they call it will still be able to run older games but it's time to retire sales of the old systems. The price of the new ones should be kept comparable to the old (within reason... maybe a little higher at first) At least it better be, or they can shove it up their ass.
New iterations of the Xbox 360 have seen slimmer form, wireless controllers with built in receivers, new designs that don't let you clip on your old hard drive anymore etc. and has kept the cost of replacement units up there. The hardware inside that counts is still the same.
It's not the slashdot hive mind, or libertarianism, it's my individual belief and politically, I'm closer to a liberal with some socialist leanings if you must apply labels.
People want to do things that are unfairly deemed illegal in our righteous society (fuck the law, and fuck the church... both have made themselves adversaries) and therefore, goods and services are provided by criminals. They aren't going to stop because it has been decreed.
Not only is it the "government's fault" but it's specifically the U.S. government's fault for what's going on in Mexico right now. Those cartels are all competing for American dollars to fill the void left by the War on Drugs.
The cartels switched gears when Mexico started to crack down on their activities under pressure from the U.S. Raising the stakes always raises the level of violence associated with illegal activities.
I'm sorry that they kill people, but that is where my sympathy ends. I have to accept the existence of criminal organizations because they PROVIDE SERVICES that fill the gaps caused by prohibition. (drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc.)
If governments are too stubborn to tax and control, then I have no sympathy for the collateral damage to society.
I think I am in a good enough position to consider a change in the drug laws as well as laws based on religious morality. Legalize and legitimize those activities in every town, city, state and province otherwise criminals are going to run them. Also, jack booted enforcement of such law is not very good harm reduction.
Legalizing and LEGITIMIZING (very important) these activities reduces the harm, and victimization of people involved.
Let's see... drug testing as a requirement of employment, jack booted thugs throwing flash bang grenades terrorizing your family and killing your pets in the night from bad intel, drug interdiction techniques by the police that profile citizens and justify searches (and if you exercise your right to refuse, they will go over the situation with a fine tooth comb and find a reason). They make no apologies for these acts, in the name of the War on Drugs.
It may not have happened to you personally, but you should not accept that behaviour because it just as easily could.
I have deliberately refused to buy any game with Ubisoft's name on it, since the Assasin's Creed 2 DRM. Before that, they were a game publisher that I liked. Good titles, decent quality, hassle free etc.
But they are now on my (long) list of companies that can go ride the baloney pony off into the sunset.
Look at how many people are saying similar things. It shows that Ubisoft is full of shit... it's not piracy that ruins their business on the PC platform, it's their DRM.
"95% piracy rate" --- what a crock of shit. I look forward to their pain.
Plus, police and drug enforcement often use such circular logic as: (from the article summary)
"A DEA spokesman describes this as 'collateral damage' not resulting from DEA regulations but from the selfish actions of criminals."
That's a bit like those paramilitary raids where they come in throwing flashbang grenades in the middle of the night, shoot the family dog, terrorize the wife and kids, find a small amount of marijuana and then turned around and charge the victim with endangering his own family. (i.e. if he wouldn't have had that marijuana, they wouldn't have been forced to do those things.)
They use some pretty sick rationale to try to justify their behaviour. It's almost like religion to those creeps. Sinister indeed.
the right to bare arms, the right to bare children.
Yes, you can wear short sleeve shirts if you wish, but it would be frowned upon to be taking children's clothes off.
Just how is XFCE anything like Windows 95, because it has menus and a little x to close program windows? If anything, it's one of the least "Windows-like" clients. It can in fact be very different depending on how you set it up. The way it looks and behaves out of the box can be changed in about 2 minutes, through the GUI, such that you wouldn't recognize it. With Windows you would need third party shell replacements to even come close to the functionality of XFCE.
I have not tried Gnome 3 or Unity because I hate Gnome (and Ubuntu for that matter) but KDE 4 is getting to be pretty good.
I'm sure you aren't really as dumb as you seem, but the unix filesystem heirarchy makes a fuck of a lot more sense than "other OS". I can install stuff using a "make install" and then find every single piece of it later when I want to remove it. I have "Linux From Scratch" based systems that I don't even have package management on.
It's also not hard to guess where a particular executable is, based on the type of program. I know a typical user program installed from a distro's repository is going to be in /usr/bin. Core system utilities will be in /bin. Daemons will be in /usr/sbin and so on. Libraries will be in the appropriate install --prefix's lib directory. Headers will be in the appropriate prefix's include directory. Resources like icons and shit will be in the appropriate prefix's share directory.
Besides, you have tools like "whereis" at your fingertips for finding executables that are in your PATH, and if that doesn't cut it, you have tools like locate and find.
Yes, there is quite a big difference and it is "better" (less harmful) than being physically addicting. There are no physical complications from cessation of use. It is not medically dangerous to stop using a psychologically addictive substance.
Exaggerations of partial truths are still lies.
Yes, marijuana can be (mostly psychologically) addictive, but it is not a serious addiction. More of an irritation because you want it and don't have any. It certainly does not require medical treatment. There are also cases where cannabis provides relief (e.g. for gastrointestinal discomfort), and then when cannabis use stops they stop getting that relief. This happens all the time when people are using it medically, and the cops come and bust their grow room and confiscate their medicine.
Cognitive impairment. Yes, some individuals will experience that, particularly if they aren't experienced users. I do not believe that it causes "permanent cognitive impairment" to any significant degree, though. Certainly less than alcohol and benzodiazepine type tranquilizers, for example.
Voluntary admission to drug treatment programs. Just fuck off... it's the enforcement of the prohibition that causes most cannabis users to do that. There certainly would be some attention whoring, or psychologically defective individuals that would check themselves into a rehab program over anything I'm sure, but most that are there for cannabis alone seek to gain some sympathy from the courts or perhaps family members/employers etc. for being a fuck up. I'll bet the incidences of self admission for cannabis alone are higher in the U.S. than elsewhere.
What's important when you cut through the propaganda is that the harm that cannabis itself causes to individuals and society is mostly because it's illegal. It does a heck of a lot less harm where I live than it does in the U.S. Less harm yet if you go to the Netherlands. Funny how that works. The REAL harm that it causes is not severe enough to warrant it being criminally banned.
There are ulterior motives here that causes governments to continue their campaign against a beneficial plant, in defiance of a large percentage of the population.
I see you don't understand. I go where my time is better spent. If clients won't take my advice and want me to do stupid things, why the fuck are they calling me? I have no time for that. Yes, people at McDonalds are wasting their time. I would say that's their choice, but it's more likely that they don't have many choices. It would be better for them if they had a marketable skill, then they wouldn't have to take that crap from humanity. Being good at what you do affords you some freedom, too.
I don't mark up hardware at all, and only get it as a convenience as part of my services. (So it's not like I'm selling someone something and reneging on something we agreed on). As I said, if someone calls me for advice about getting new computers and there's a real need for XP, I'll procure a suitable one so I don't have to waste my time downgrading some Walmart special that they bought themselves. Even if I got it for them, it's not my obligation to downgrade it to XP after the fact. Most computer shops would also tell you no.
I won't waste my time on useless exercises like needlessly downgrading laptops to a 10 year old OS that doesn't even make good use of the hardware, and running with possibly poorly tested drivers. (That was just one example of something that eats up time, pointlessly). Someone else can indeed get the "reward" for doing stuff like that. I'm not looking for a reward. Similarly, I also won't waste my time working on 10 year old computers, except under special circumstances. (Like, the user absolutely can't afford to get a new one. I will probably spend hours I don't bill for in that case too, because I don't want them to waste money)
I charge reasonably (less than most clowns) for my expertise, which I provide on a case by case, per incident basis. I refuse to take contract work and I don't owe anybody service. I treat my customers very well, I do good work and I am trustworthy. (I'll go to my grave with your secrets no matter how valuable, or dirty). I do extra things for people, too, while I'm there and always have their best interests at heart. The only thing is I decide whether I'm going to agree to anything. I'll bluntly tell people that their setup is shit too, if that's the case.
I WARN people (especially businesses) that they can't always rely on me and I'm not their help desk. I can't always come right away and may not be able to come at all (not soon enough to be practical), depending on what else I have promised or planned. I have turned down big support contracts because I would not be free to go and help the people I choose to. I once turned down a high paying teaching position for a college night course for moral reasons. It's somewhat related to wasting my time... yes, I'm a "computer expert" known by the person recruiting me but no, I shouldn't be a warm body to babysit a class, hired only because they don't want any computer headaches, making the students learn their logic programming out of a book. Get an instructor better suited to the material. I don't want their money and I do not condone that kind of hiring. Anyone I have told about that has called me a fool for turning it down, both for the money and the opportunities it could have led to. If it doesn't feel right, I'm not doing it.
Yes, my time is valuable to me. I'm not as motivated by money as most others are. To me there is nothing more discouraging than wasting my time, even if it's on someone else's dime. It does not feel good to even take that money.
Got a rootkit that nobody else seems to be able to remove? Computer been looked at by others who took your money and your problem isn't solved? Don't want to format and lose all your installed programs? Can't figure out why your networking is notworking? Need help setting up Linux systems for various purposes? etc. I'm the guy to call. Want furniture moved? Call movers.
I don't use buzzwords like "IT" and "Professional" to describe myself either. (nor do I put on airs of professionalism) I simply call myself a certified technician. My rep
Nah, depending on the situation, I might fire THEM as clients (tell them to get someone else) because my time is more valuable to me than that. I don't care how much someone is paying me, they can't pay me enough to waste my time. I have other clients with which to spend my time more productively. New clients that I might now have time for, even (I get more callers than time). My attitude truly shocks people. I've had it come back to me second hand, often with amusement... "I can't believe the guy said that to me and told me not to call again". I have also had people call me back pleadingly, after going elsewhere and getting shafted. Many appreciate my blunt honesty and/or refusal to waste their money.
I don't suck anything up.
Downgrading a laptop to XP is not always a simple matter... even given model specific XP drivers from the OEM (which there often aren't... you have to get them from individual hardware component manufacturers) it can be a lot of work. I won't do it just because "the customer says jump". If there's a good enough reason to, I might be more willing to spend the time, in which case I'd have probably procured a business class notebook that comes with both a Windows 7 and a Windows XP Professional license, with OS and driver installation media. I've done that for several clients and as far as I know, it's still possible to get them. For example, got a $10,000 plotter that is never going to see a Vista/7 driver? Perhaps some expensive, custom/proprietary software that doesn't work properly? I'll work with them on that. Just don't try to waste my time on a silly fucking whim and don't think for a moment that you're going to bust my balls. Nobody has that power over me and nobody can make me do anything I don't want to do.
Now, I don't do "corporate" which usually would have their own IT personnel and "policies" and I'm guessing by the use of the word "client", neither does the grandparent. Those aren't the kind of companies that would be buying equipment and services from the likes of us. I have a lot of business customers though and also residential.
So pinfall (grandparent post), keep up your standards. Clients like that (that would fire you rather than so much as listen to your advice) may not be worth retaining anyway.
I said that, because as a professional photographer you might have a vested interest in seeing others having to follow the same rules that you do. (Not necessarily maliciously, but it may affect your opinion on the matter). I see it in all trades. For example, in my area, you don't need to have a business permit of any kind to work out of your house. That makes shopkeepers angry, so they do things like rat you out for not following whatever rules they think you are breaking. (whether you are or not, the damage is done... you'll get audited and have to put up with reams of horseshit and you'll never get that time back and the wear and tear on your nerves). Another example... farmers were donating eggs and stuff to soup kitchens. People in the industry complain, because they aren't going through the marketing boards and nobody is making their touch. Farmers are allowed to SELL eggs and some other food items privately, but because of the lobbying, (in the name of health and safety officially but that isn't the problem, it's the money) the food has to be purchased through proper channels. In the building trades, union people make a big stink about the little guys and they get visits from inspectors to make sure everyone has the proper tickets. The list goes on.
It was probably unfair of me to label you so, on the basis of what you said... it's just a sore spot lately.
My thoughts are that this is a home video. There is no reason for park staff to pull a heavy over it. I don't tolerate that kind of small minded authority where I live, and neither should Americans. You should not need millions of dollars in liability insurance to use a camcorder at a park.
As a "photographer" (I assume professional) you are just trying to safe guard your livelihood and want others to have their hands tied by a bunch of rules, just like big industry that seeks to protect itself.
You have no credibility.
I nearly barfed when I typed "crontab -e" on a new CentOS 6 server we just moved to and nano was the editor. I didn't notice at first (I wasn't looking at the bottom), until I realized that my vi commands weren't working. It's not that nano is bad, it was more of a "Since when?!" thing for me. It's actually harder for me to use a so called "easy" editor like nano, when a traditional vi based editor is second nature. I realize I could change that variable, but now I'm done setting up my cron jobs.
I compile and install Pine if it's not included in a distro. It's the first email program I ever used and I quite like it. I don't use it for personal mail anymore (I use Sylpheed over POP3) but for local mail, like root and postmaster's status messages aliased to my user.
Know what finally saved my ass from the SPEWS database? It certainly wasn't the hoops I jumped through to try to get removed. It was my datacenter's IP subnets that were on the list, not my server... I hate spam of any kind and have never sent so much as a chain email to anyone in my life. It was like a nightmare. We moved our forum site to a new hosting provider and suddenly we found out we couldn't send mail to almost everyone. People couldn't register, or get forum notifications. The SPEWS list seemed to feed all kinds of other services, and we were brutally buggered.
SPEWS got DOS'd out of existence, by spammers and others who fought back. That was how the problem finally got solved. It took a while for things to sort themselves after those bullies were gone and I had to write to several (major) ISPs who still had us on their own lists but finally we stopped getting mail rejected.
Good riddance to bad rubbish. I hope the same happens to Spamhaus. Empire building and extortion and no way to get off the list makes me hate those block list services worse than the spammers. I sure as shit don't use them... I let SpamAssassin do more sensible things.
Umm, I'm afraid not. I don't live in the US and I don't listen to your "talk radio" or your idiotic commentators. I am quite capable of making up my own mind and my own words.
Yes though, it was a variant of the nanny state... I called it the nannying police state, which I think describes what society is becoming in the U.S. and some other countries.
Everyone has their workflow... leave them the fuck alone and let them do their work. They will be less productive if you try to force your way upon them.
The nannying police state creeping into all aspect of people's lives. I would pull my kids out of any school that did that. I'd bet that "attendance" isn't the primary goal of this process.
Yes, I remove McCrappy products on sight. It's a perfect example of a cure being worse than the disease. Most trojans don't cause the nausea or problems that McCrappy does, ironically.
Norton, on the other hand, is still living down a horrible reputation from last decade, but a modern standalone Norton Antivirus isn't that horrible anymore (I still nuke their security suites on sight). In fact Norton does have one very good program. It's their most popular one, and one of the most searched for when you start to type Norton into Google. Yes, that's right, the Norton Removal Tool :-)
(McCrappy also has one for removing their rubbish, thankfully)
Avira has the better detections, but yes... when I come back several months later and find it in a dysfunctional state because the user didn't upgrade the program, or didn't notice that the umbrella wasn't opening anymore, or didn't notice that it's not even loading I have to switch them to something else.