I got into network administration because I loved working with servers (Linux, Windows, whatever), setting up routers, and in one job running from Connecticut to Massachusets to work on our servers in the colo. I built up a hefty O'Reilly book collection and made good use of them. I kept my home computer upgraded to near-top-of-the-line.
I now work for the government, mostly doing second level tech support. Every once in a while, I'll get a good project thrown my way that I can sink myself into, but mostly the tasks I get are piddly software installs or other things with constantly changing priorities. I have no use for my O'Reilly books anymore. I haven't so much as looked at a server for as long as I can remember (unless I waltz in to hang out with someone working in the server room). I can barely bring myself to do anything with my home computer aside from check a few websites, read email, and play a game or two. The last upgrade I did with it was over a year ago, and only because something blew the hard drive, video card, and motherboard.
Am I unhappy with my current job? Yeah, I guess I am, but the money is such that I can't give it up right now with a mortgage, child, and future possibilities future with my girlfriend. But, if I were to lose my job for whatever reason, I doubt I would get back into the IT field. It doesn't really hold much interest for me anymore.
I feel the same way. I just can't understand the mindset of doing work on "my time". Call me a poor worker, or unmotivated, but my time is my time, and it's precious to me. If something is important enough to warrant overtime, I will make sure I'm compensated for it.
As well, in my work environment, if I'm just 10 minutes late for work, I get called on it... but do you think management ever notices when I work through coffee breaks? Nope...:)
Also, pagers and cell phones have made it impossible to fully enjoy weekends and times away from the office.
Gotta say, I have just a cell phone (no land line at home) that I carry with me at all times. I even gave the number to my boss, my boss' boss, and another manager here at work. But here's the rub... they are fully aware that it's a cell phone, and I have made it perfectly clear that I will make a claim for any calls coming in to pay for minutes used on it. Plus, with included caller ID (never had it on my land line when I had one) I can choose to not answer the phone. Anyone I would actually want to talk to is in my cell's phone book, so if the number isn't recognizable, voicemail can get it.
It's not that I'm a bad worker... in fact, when I get a big project at work that I can really sink myself into, I'm quite happy and productive. Problem is, when your priorities change on an hourly basisas mine do, it's hard to keep things straight and that can make any employee unhappy.
Been with Fido in Winnipeg for some time now, as has a friend of mine at work, and neither of us have any complaints with the service. Albeit, Winnipeg is a smaller metro area than the Vancouver or Toronto areas...
It's not downloading and doing a separate install that's a problem, it's that it's simply not free enough to be in the main Debian distro (vs. in non-free, or not included at all).
What the parent was saying is if it's not free enough for Debian, it's simply not free enough, period.
Using vision to communicate through email (it's friggin TEXT) is... uhh....
Regular books are friggin TEXT but I don't see blind people able to read them. Sure, you can get books that are in braille, but they aren't simple friggin TEXT are they?
Your analogy doesn't work, nor do the ones that follow.
Or it could be Mission To Mars, which no doubt would make you and the rest of the crew want to run screaming out the air lock into the vacuum of space just to free yourself from that horrible movie.
Talk the talk, walk the walk, and you can get damn near anything. Not sure how true this story is, but I remember hearing about two guys walking into a Canadian Tire store, and walking out with a canoe, simply because the employees assumed they should be taking it. You'd think something as bold and big as that would never occur, but I believe it could.
Slashdot posters, do you even thoroughly read the article? It doesn't say that SW: TPM WON'T be released on DVD, it just says it WILL be released on VHS. It just says that a DVD version will not be released in 2000 or the forseeable future, which typically means a few years. Given that Lucas has stated (IIRC) that he wants to release a DVD boxed set after all 3 prequels are done, and Episode 3 won't be out for a few years, then this isn't really news. Perhaps Slashdot should check more into stories before posting such blatant statements.
Yup, we have it up here in the North too... a good example is Safeway, a large supermarket chain if you don't know. They decided to scrap all savings coupons and use a swipe card instead... to get a swipe card you have to fill out a form completely with all of your information... name, address, age, marital status, even household income I believe (I refuse to get one so I am not too sure on that one). So, you want deals, you need this card... they swipe the card after all of your items are swiped through, and bam, they get a detailed history of your buying habits, tacked on to your profile. Glad I live in a "free" country.
the upcoming movie about Kevin Mitnick, "Takedown"? Surely, things will be portrayed seriously in this movie? I mean, they certainly won't have a makeup enhanced overweight Skeet Ulrich hiding in a dingy apartment with his computers and cell phones? I mean, didn't Kevin spend a lot of time shooting at police, driving fast cars, and hiding out in night clubs with strippers and the like? sigh... no, Hollywood, IMO, is incapable of making a movie about hacking/phreaking/whatever that isn't downright stupid (well, I thought The Matrix rocked, but that was meant to be an action type movie, not intellectual). Of course, you realize, so long as the majority of the stupid public buys into these movies and sits there like brain dead idiots laughing everytime they see a virus pop up a skull and crossbones (ala Independence Day), the Hollywood machine will keep pumping out these lack-of-reality-which-is-far-too-boring movies.
Ever heard of the APEC rally at University of British Columbia? Students were peacefully demonstrating against APEC and Suharto, and many were peppersprayed, arrested, and I believe beaten as well (sorry, I was not there and my knowledge of the whole thing isn't as great as I would like it to be).
Anyway, personal accounts of the situation are here, at the APEC-Alert! homepage.
Now, doesn't this sound a bit like what goes in in China (altho perhaps to a lesser extent)? But we don't live in a fascist country... whatever.
Congratulations, I am glad to see that those who deserve "reimbursement" for their hard work will get what they richly deserve. Keep up the great work guys!
I am in Canada (Winnipeg, MB to be exact) and have ADSL. I am moving to cable modem very soon. ADSL performance is very poor and crashes often and hard. Many weekends, I have been without internet access due to my ADSL connection being down in such a manner that resetting the modem doesn't fix it (this is my ISP and phone company's solution to all ADSL problems) and there is no one to phone to get the problem fixed, as no one is in at the phone company on the weekends and my ISP won't do anything but tell me to reset the modem, and if that doesn't work, they will create a Trouble Ticket. I have also been told by someone who agrees with my opinion of ADSL who works at my ISP that ADSL in my area crashes when it rains and thunders, and a lot of the time lately that my connection has dropped, it has in fact been raining.
A friend of mine's wife has ADSL in her business as their connection to the 'net, and two days out of the week, their ADSL connection is down. I would consider this very unsatisfactory for a business customer to have to put up with.
As well, with the modems that we are using (Pulsecom WavePacer) there is a hardware problem that causes the connection to drop when doing batch FTP downloads. In fact, the connection drops often when only doing SINGLE file FTP transfers.
Another problem is that I can set my machine to have 1 of 2 IP addresses (192.168.100.101 or 206.45.92.84) and if it is set to the former, some services work (like reverse lookups) but set to the latter, those services don't work, but others do (like Samba and Apache vhosts).
Nonetheless, I am very unhappy with ADSL in my area, as are everyone I know who have it as well, and I will be moving to a cable modem business plan very soon. I warn anyone considering ADSL to research performance in their area and look at other options before investing in it.
ya, you're right... all "moral" issues aside, it would be great to have some decent competition in the browser area for Linux. However, I would be surprised if it's not a huge piece of bloatware. Another poster (sorry, can't remember who) mentioned that the Solaris port of IE effectively had the "whole Win32 API" running on top of the OS. If this is going to be the case for Linux IE, then I can't see it as anything but bloat. Probably won't be any better than what we currently have...
Just wondering, who would actually use it? Knowing how vehemently most Linux users despise Microsoft (myself included), it would be interesting to get figures of how many people would use it if Microsoft actually came out with MSIE for Linux. I think I personally would, but only for testing purposes to make sure my web sites look right in both IE and Netscape. I figure that would be the main reason why most people would use it as well. Hey, at least it would be useful, eh?
I thought about that, and emailed the guy about it. I hope some sort of cooperation can come about, because it would be a waste of resources all around if a bunch of these sites sprung up, all not knowing where the other was going. I hope he emails me back with a positive response, as something like this can do a lot of good, IMO.
and thanks for the compliment on my web design skills:-)
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/31/canada/downlo ad_court040331
Contains a few links to older information about the story and whatnot.
~jaraxle
I got into network administration because I loved working with servers (Linux, Windows, whatever), setting up routers, and in one job running from Connecticut to Massachusets to work on our servers in the colo. I built up a hefty O'Reilly book collection and made good use of them. I kept my home computer upgraded to near-top-of-the-line.
I now work for the government, mostly doing second level tech support. Every once in a while, I'll get a good project thrown my way that I can sink myself into, but mostly the tasks I get are piddly software installs or other things with constantly changing priorities. I have no use for my O'Reilly books anymore. I haven't so much as looked at a server for as long as I can remember (unless I waltz in to hang out with someone working in the server room). I can barely bring myself to do anything with my home computer aside from check a few websites, read email, and play a game or two. The last upgrade I did with it was over a year ago, and only because something blew the hard drive, video card, and motherboard.
Am I unhappy with my current job? Yeah, I guess I am, but the money is such that I can't give it up right now with a mortgage, child, and future possibilities future with my girlfriend. But, if I were to lose my job for whatever reason, I doubt I would get back into the IT field. It doesn't really hold much interest for me anymore.
jaraxle
As well, in my work environment, if I'm just 10 minutes late for work, I get called on it... but do you think management ever notices when I work through coffee breaks? Nope... :)
Also, pagers and cell phones have made it impossible to fully enjoy weekends and times away from the office.
Gotta say, I have just a cell phone (no land line at home) that I carry with me at all times. I even gave the number to my boss, my boss' boss, and another manager here at work. But here's the rub... they are fully aware that it's a cell phone, and I have made it perfectly clear that I will make a claim for any calls coming in to pay for minutes used on it. Plus, with included caller ID (never had it on my land line when I had one) I can choose to not answer the phone. Anyone I would actually want to talk to is in my cell's phone book, so if the number isn't recognizable, voicemail can get it.
It's not that I'm a bad worker... in fact, when I get a big project at work that I can really sink myself into, I'm quite happy and productive. Problem is, when your priorities change on an hourly basisas mine do, it's hard to keep things straight and that can make any employee unhappy.
jaraxle
Been with Fido in Winnipeg for some time now, as has a friend of mine at work, and neither of us have any complaints with the service. Albeit, Winnipeg is a smaller metro area than the Vancouver or Toronto areas...
jaraxle
*shudder* I need a shower to remove the filthy feeling after that terrible, awful thought.
jaraxle
It's not downloading and doing a separate install that's a problem, it's that it's simply not free enough to be in the main Debian distro (vs. in non-free, or not included at all).
What the parent was saying is if it's not free enough for Debian, it's simply not free enough, period.
jaraxle
Regular books are friggin TEXT but I don't see blind people able to read them. Sure, you can get books that are in braille, but they aren't simple friggin TEXT are they?
Your analogy doesn't work, nor do the ones that follow.
Or it could be Mission To Mars, which no doubt would make you and the rest of the crew want to run screaming out the air lock into the vacuum of space just to free yourself from that horrible movie.
Talk the talk, walk the walk, and you can get damn near anything. Not sure how true this story is, but I remember hearing about two guys walking into a Canadian Tire store, and walking out with a canoe, simply because the employees assumed they should be taking it. You'd think something as bold and big as that would never occur, but I believe it could.
jaraxle
Pretty sure it's from Spaceballs, when they are watching themselves on the Spaceballs The Movie video casette.
Funny, but I believe JackRabbit is the name of another item that may make a good Valentine's gift. :)
That's "Doctor" Evil. I didn't go to seven years of medical school to be called "Mister"... thank you.
Mmm... sacrilegious.
It's a gnu, but personally I see a penis with two red balls holding a blanket with a hat on... Freud would have a field day :)
jaraxle
Slashdot posters, do you even thoroughly read the article? It doesn't say that SW: TPM WON'T be released on DVD, it just says it WILL be released on VHS. It just says that a DVD version will not be released in 2000 or the forseeable future, which typically means a few years. Given that Lucas has stated (IIRC) that he wants to release a DVD boxed set after all 3 prequels are done, and Episode 3 won't be out for a few years, then this isn't really news. Perhaps Slashdot should check more into stories before posting such blatant statements.
Jaraxle
Yup, we have it up here in the North too... a good example is Safeway, a large supermarket chain if you don't know. They decided to scrap all savings coupons and use a swipe card instead... to get a swipe card you have to fill out a form completely with all of your information... name, address, age, marital status, even household income I believe (I refuse to get one so I am not too sure on that one). So, you want deals, you need this card... they swipe the card after all of your items are swiped through, and bam, they get a detailed history of your buying habits, tacked on to your profile.
Glad I live in a "free" country.
jaraxle
the upcoming movie about Kevin Mitnick, "Takedown"? Surely, things will be portrayed seriously in this movie? I mean, they certainly won't have a makeup enhanced overweight Skeet Ulrich hiding in a dingy apartment with his computers and cell phones? I mean, didn't Kevin spend a lot of time shooting at police, driving fast cars, and hiding out in night clubs with strippers and the like?
sigh... no, Hollywood, IMO, is incapable of making a movie about hacking/phreaking/whatever that isn't downright stupid (well, I thought The Matrix rocked, but that was meant to be an action type movie, not intellectual). Of course, you realize, so long as the majority of the stupid public buys into these movies and sits there like brain dead idiots laughing everytime they see a virus pop up a skull and crossbones (ala Independence Day), the Hollywood machine will keep pumping out these lack-of-reality-which-is-far-too-boring movies.
jaraxle
Anyway, personal accounts of the situation are here, at the APEC-Alert! homepage.
Now, doesn't this sound a bit like what goes in in China (altho perhaps to a lesser extent)? But we don't live in a fascist country... whatever.
jaraxle
and found it was running Apache 1.3.6 w/ mod_perl 1.19 and Linux
jaraxle
Congratulations, I am glad to see that those who deserve "reimbursement" for their hard work will get what they richly deserve.
Keep up the great work guys!
jaraxle
I am in Canada (Winnipeg, MB to be exact) and have ADSL. I am moving to cable modem very soon. ADSL performance is very poor and crashes often and hard. Many weekends, I have been without internet access due to my ADSL connection being down in such a manner that resetting the modem doesn't fix it (this is my ISP and phone company's solution to all ADSL problems) and there is no one to phone to get the problem fixed, as no one is in at the phone company on the weekends and my ISP won't do anything but tell me to reset the modem, and if that doesn't work, they will create a Trouble Ticket. I have also been told by someone who agrees with my opinion of ADSL who works at my ISP that ADSL in my area crashes when it rains and thunders, and a lot of the time lately that my connection has dropped, it has in fact been raining.
A friend of mine's wife has ADSL in her business as their connection to the 'net, and two days out of the week, their ADSL connection is down. I would consider this very unsatisfactory for a business customer to have to put up with.
As well, with the modems that we are using (Pulsecom WavePacer) there is a hardware problem that causes the connection to drop when doing batch FTP downloads. In fact, the connection drops often when only doing SINGLE file FTP transfers.
Another problem is that I can set my machine to have 1 of 2 IP addresses (192.168.100.101 or 206.45.92.84) and if it is set to the former, some services work (like reverse lookups) but set to the latter, those services don't work, but others do (like Samba and Apache vhosts).
Nonetheless, I am very unhappy with ADSL in my area, as are everyone I know who have it as well, and I will be moving to a cable modem business plan very soon. I warn anyone considering ADSL to research performance in their area and look at other options before investing in it.
jaraxle
ya, you're right... all "moral" issues aside, it would be great to have some decent competition in the browser area for Linux. However, I would be surprised if it's not a huge piece of bloatware. Another poster (sorry, can't remember who) mentioned that the Solaris port of IE effectively had the "whole Win32 API" running on top of the OS. If this is going to be the case for Linux IE, then I can't see it as anything but bloat. Probably won't be any better than what we currently have...
:)
Please Mozilla, hurry...!
jaraxle
Just wondering, who would actually use it? Knowing how vehemently most Linux users despise Microsoft (myself included), it would be interesting to get figures of how many people would use it if Microsoft actually came out with MSIE for Linux. I think I personally would, but only for testing purposes to make sure my web sites look right in both IE and Netscape. I figure that would be the main reason why most people would use it as well. Hey, at least it would be useful, eh?
Jaraxle
This seems to point at the fact that there will be "representatives" from all three sides present.
jaraxle
and thanks for the compliment on my web design skills :-)
jaraxle