(1) How many working hours per week is the median? Most IT jobs that I've come across only pay that well when you're working 60h+/week, or your at the top of the ladder with a fancy title.
(2) Where is this kind of compensation? $82,000 median base pay for my region (Great Lakes) seems very high for most positions. I recently received an offer for a Help Desk spot for a regional bank on a rotating shift schedule, $14/hr...$29,120an. No thanks. Except for sales, every core function of that industry has been replaced by a computer and bankers want to pay peanuts for the uptime.
As for their "Experiencing Difficulty In Hiring" rating, I'm certain if the company would offer "Fair Value - US Market Rate ($$$)" instead of "Fair Value - Global Market Rate ($)" to local candidates, i.e. Natural/Naturalized Citizens, they wouldn't have such a difficult time. Also HR 'requirements' for positions: "10+ years exp. in Java, HTML, PHP, Perl, Rails, XCode, VBStudio, JDE. Not essential, but helpful MCSE, MCSA, MCSD, CCNP, CCNA, A+....Insert additional marketing/HR buzzwords here... Ridiculous.
Perhaps its just me and my location,...sigh... ...and who calls the 'Great Plains' states the 'Northwest'??
If you read other articles on their website, they definitely have a bias towards Apple, so I can't dispute that, but your other points are much weaker. Let's clear up some of your skepticism:
1. Your Macs were replaced 5 times in 8 years because they are the critical tools at a design company. As the software the designers use everyday advances, the hardware needs to be upgraded to accommodate it. And I wouldn't be surprised if your company sold the used machines, so they didn't take a full loss on the price of the machine.
2. The old PCs were probably used for Accounting and other office functions, not the core business with the demanding design tools. And there is zero resale value on a 3 year old PC, so you might as well just find a small corner of the office to stick it.
3. Macs are upgraded, but most of the time, its adding more RAM and HDs.
4. Apple has a great hardware support website, and if you really want to pay AppleCare to fix your Pismo G3 Powerbook, they'll fix it, it'll just cost more than the local Apple shop.
5. I have had no problems running 10.4.8 on a 3 year old Powerbook, and it runs noticably faster than 10.3 and 10.2. The 3-4 year old PC is probably around 1.5-2.0Ghz CPU with 256-512M RAM running MS Office XP, Quickbooks, IE, ACT, etc., not exactly CPU-taxing software packages. XP was beta tested in 2001, and pretty much any PC since 2000 has been able to run it, albeit slowly.
6. Complain to the software developers using new state-of-the-art tools included in the new versions of the OS that you can't use their nifty programs because you refuse to upgrade the OS. Thats like running Windows 98 on a brand new machine and complaining that you can't run Flight Simulator X or some other program that requires XP SP2 or, in 6-12 months, Vista. Oh, and for every 1 DOS program that you get to work 100% in XP, there's 10 that only partly work due to poor/no hardware emulation, especially with sound. And at this point in the OSX lifecycle, if you're still using something that requires the OS9 emulation and is buggy because of it, maybe its time to find a new program native to OSX.
7. If you can maintain a 5 year old PC, you can maintain a 5 year old Mac. Especially if you want to run/are running *nix on it. If you can't, you're ignorant.
8. There's plenty of "family computer guys/gals" on slashdot who are simply tired of fixing computers due to spyware/malware/etc. Many of them just recommend Macs now because they don't have to spend 4h fixing the computer next time they come to visit. Although that leaves 4h for embarassing family stories... Besides, ever taken a PC to a local shop to have them remove all the garbage? $50 minimum. Usually $100+. Gets expensive doing that twice a year for 2-3 years.
9. Heard of the Mac Mini? $600. iMac? $1000. $2500 buys you a very nice MacBook Pro or Mac Pro, not a fair comparison to an Xbox360. If you believe that Apple is a Software-only company, again, you're ignorant and have been living in a troll cave. Apple: Hardware + Consumer Electronics = Profit. MS: Hardware + Consumer Electronics = Loss. All you really need to look at is Amazon's Sales Ranking for the Zune and you can tell that it has not been widely accepted in the mass marketplace. Giving Zune time isn't going to much beside continue to hurt MS's partners.
10. Deceptive Marketing? I'm going to leave that alone; too big of an issue for slashdot.
75% of all Canadians live within 100 miles of the US. US Embassy brochure here. Even with the border close, our wonderful gov't (DHS) is making it much more cumbersome to cross. Plus with the cost of fuel, I'm sure most Canucks will just suck it up and pay the Mafia Tax if its passed. I hope they rally together to stop this madness.
Seriously, you must be young... I've seen every console launch in the last 20 years and vaguely remember a few prior to that. The best launch, IMO, was the Super Nintendo. SMW & 2 contollers as a pack-in game. Huge step forward over the NES in terms of graphics, more comfortable controller, and did I mention Super Mario World?
The Sega Dreamcast launch was rather impressive too, I was sad to see that system fail. PS2 never impressed me much after playing the DC and I wasn't much of a Ridge Racer 4 fan. I didn't buy my XBox until it had been out for more than a year 'cause the launch games didn't impress me much. The Gamecube is a good system, but didn't have a great launch. Come on...Luigi with a vacuum?
Top Console Launches (IMO):
1. SNES
2. Sega Dreamcast
3. NES
4. PSX
5. Genesis
So you are either too young to remember anything else, including the PS2 launch, or are a true Sony fanyboy. And I don't think your parents are going to be too eager to shell out $600+ in November.
Seriously, I would love to see the raw data and methods used to come up with that number. They are assuming some very large damages due to piracy. While I don't doubt that piracy does cost them money, $6.1b is ludacris. That probably assumes that 1 pirated copy (downloaded, CD/DVD-R) = Full MSRP of Retail DVD; or for movies still in theaters, 1 copy = 4 tickets at $10ea + 2 copies of the DVD.
How many movies have you downloaded then gone and bought the DVD because you liked it? How many did you want to go blind or gouge your eyes out after watching? (Probably more of the latter recently)
Let's see if I can get this metaphor to work... I wonder if I can use fuzzy-math tactics (Call it 'Perceived Value'). Hollywood perceives DVD and ticket sales as valuable to them. I perceive my free-time at a value of a modest $10/hr.
I go to the theater, because that's what my girlfriend wants to do, pay $10ea for tickets for a "2-hour" movie. OK, as of now, I'm break-even after two hours, plus the value of my girlfiend. But the movie was only 88-minutes because aside from 3-hour epics, Hollywood won't make anything longer. $7.33 went toward the title movie, $0.21 for each of the 6 trailers I had to watch, $0.42 for 5 min of soda and "don't steal this" commercials, $0.42 for the 5 min courtesy reminders, and the remaining $0.57 for atmosphere of voiceovers, bad sound systems, and artifacts. The movie turns out to be awful with 8-min of dialog written by apes with typewriters while throwing feces at each other, and 80-min of special effects.
Now, can I say that the studio stole my time because my 'Perceived Value' of the film was not there? Can I send them a bill for $20? At the very least for the $2.67 of junk that I did NOT pay for? For those that say I voluntarily went to the movies, they are correct. Hollywood also voluntarily put out the lousy film. Even though my math is correct (within rounding), I call it fuzzy because value is subjective.
They are trying to bill us for lost revenue, I say we bill them for lost time.
Seriously, Dvorak is an idiot. It amazes me that/. keeps posting his stories. I don't think OS X will ever be released for vanilla PC-boxen, but I have a revised list:
1. Apple releases OS X for PCs.
2. Dell begins to sell desktops preloaded with OS X.
3. Phone call to Dell from Redmond about the new per unit cost to "nonexclusive" vendors of preloaded Windows: $500.
4. Dell announces that OS X shipments being increased due to the 'Premium' models loaded with Windows selling poorly.
5. Shipments of Apple computers continue to increase, as revenue from OS X makes up only a fraction total revenue, and consumers realize that el-cheapo hardware is, well...cheap. And that a Dell with OSX is a better Dell, but an Apple is still worth the premium.
6. Dell and Apple stock grows. MSFT stock does the same thing its been doing...nothing!
I can remember when, probably 10 years or so, movies were in the theater for MONTHS at a time instead of WEEKS. The quantity of movies coming out of Hollywood was less, and the quality was arguably better. Now, you have mostly crap coming every week, that were shot on a budget millions over what it should have been done for, that are uninteresting. Every few months, a decent movie comes along, makes good money, but is pulled because the next craptacular film needs the required 4 screen space.
Alot of readers here have already pointed out the physical theater disadvantages, commercials, exorbitant ticket & food prices, cell phones, and voice-overs, so I won't bother expanding upon those point.
Hollywood is just trying to figure out the fastest way to sell us crap and DVD is cheaper than sending out 2400, 88-min long, film reels.
Seriously...way back when, CNET used to be a decent source of tech news. The kind that actually did some research into their reporting. However, all that has been replaced by blogs filled with annecdotal "research" and rampant speculation. Definitely lacking any real journalism. About half of the headlines are based upon speculation and possibilities, at the moment. Could be...In talks...possibilities...proposes...will solicit...weighs in on... Did I take those phrases out of context? Maybe, but I'm not describing the articles in question, merely the use of phrases implying future events (speculation) and not based upon actual, fact-based data.
I used to be a regular reader, but once they shifted to extensive use of flash ads on their website a few years ago, I rarely visit. That, and the failing quality of their content lead me to other sources.
As with other replies, I disagree with shifting from the the ATT apps to GNU ones for the same reasons as mentioned in another post. And if you really want a specific GNU tool, just recompile it for AIX or grab it from the AIX Toolbox.
I do agree with you about the crappy packing system, although I personally like FreeBSD's package system, but apt is nice too.
The thing with the AIX, and *nixes in general, is that they run on big iron. Backend stuff that needs performance, reliability and predictability over eyecandy. Nobody uses AIX as their daily desktop system. Why muck it up with the glossy stuff that just eats CPU time?
Just because DQ8 is a "Case Study On 'Old School,'" does not mean that it is not fun. I, like other/.ers, am having alot of fun playing this game. Not all RPGs need to be incredibly complex, new school type mega-quests. If you don't like the gameplay, fine, don't play it, go back to FF* or any other 'advance' RTB game. Millions of gamers, japanese, european, or american, will disagree and tell you that the Dragon Quest series is the best out there.
The Internet's "extraordinary growth and adaptation..." really occured when the network was opened up to the public in the early 1990s. Before that, it was primarily a research and communications tool developed initially with the Department of Defense (DARPAnet) and academia. Yes, we had private networks in the 1980s, ala AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, Genie, etc., but there was still no "Internet" as we know it today.
Private-sector funding, in conjuction with many government grants, throughout the 1990s ushered in a completely different era in the Internet's history. Had the powers at be continued to restrict access, we'd have something that looks like Internet2.
As for your statement regarding "absolutely no private-sector investment," I'm fairly certain that following companies will strongly disagree:
Routing equipment: Nortel, Cisco, 3Com, etc
Lines: AT&T, SBC, MCI, Sprint
Fiber: OI
Software: Sun, Microsoft, Apple, *nix developers
That list can continue on and on, but I think you get the point. I'm not sure where you're from, but here in the US, Uncle Sam does NOT lay telephone wire/fiber/cable. Once again, private-sectore investment.
Does this mean that the Internet was invented by the private-sectore, no; merely, the Internet as we now know it was built through private-sector investments.
Adding levels of bureaucratic oversight to anything constrains development. NASA is a good example of this. Adding "Safety" committees to make sure space travel is 99.999999% safe has brought development of new/risky programs to a crawl.
As a side note, I don't see the purpose of political bashing here. I highly doubt anyone else in either Rice's or Bush's position would gladly give up control of the Internet.
Let's be realistic here...There is no end-all solution here. The obvious answer is to have all your music in.mp3 or.ogg and tag it yourself. mp3 is really the only vendor neutral solution. If you want all the niceties that come with the electonic stores, i.e. album art, proper tagging, etc., then you have to play by that vendor's rules.
The masses don't seem to care right now about vendor lockin as long as they get an easy, pleasant experience purchasing music online. And if the masses are buying iPods, what motivation does a manufacturer have to design and produce a player capable of.ogg with an FM tuner if there is only a handful of geeks buying it?
On a side note, can we save our Ask/. posts for something relevant? The answer to the question is so blantantly obvious, why discuss it?
I can't help but think of the airplane racing in The Rocketeer, but not near as exciting. Also of an old game called "Slipstream 5000."
NASCAR, Indy, and F1 are all technologically advance machines driven for extended amounts of time at high speeds along exciting circuits capabale of seating hundreds of thousands of fans during all kinds of weather and track conditions. All teams command a multitude of sponsors from various industries and include a manufacturer of core equipment, like Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Honda, Toyota, McLaren, Ferrari, etc. The core manufacturer uses technology derived from their respective racing teams and eventually use it in products they sell to customers.
Which is where the problem comes in... Commercially, this is not viable because:
Airframe, Powerplant, and other suppliers are not going to sell this technolgoy at some point to consumers, at least within the next 50 years.
Where are people going to watch this from? Auto racing packs in the crowds because people can get close to the racing, even though they might not see much of the track.
Seriously, 3-4 laps of glide time and 4 min of available thrust between 5-10 minute pit stops?? BOOOOORING!!! Especially versus 30-50 laps between less than 15 second pit stops...and not to mention 300-500+ mile races!
Most people cannot relate to a "rocket racer" because they don't own a rocket plane. Its very easy to relate to a race car driver because you own a car.
$$$$....To own a basic pro-circuit auto racing team, its millions of dollars in costs. A rocket racing team would have extremely high upfront costs, high maintenance costs, and probably low payout. Poor ROI.
I'm not trying to bash the Rocket Racing League idea, as I think its a neat concept, especially concerning space technology development. I just strongly believe it not to be commercially viable and will not be very popular. Good Luck anyways.
Amigori
Now if only I could find copies of the Mac version now that I switched to Mac. BGII is not very common on eBay and when you do find it, it typically demands a premium price. Soon, I'll be able to afford a premium game again...darn tuition...
Amigori
These are not the same costs. The $40 average is the manufacturing cost. The "UP TO $637" represents the retail price to the consumer. An analysis of any manufacturing industry will yield similar markups (profit margin), although the percentage varies for every industry.
Amigori
Wow...This long rant, er...op-ed, of yours is one of the largest pieces of flamebait I've seen in a long time. I'm going to bite and show you that you need to come out of your parent's basement once in a while. While your at it, grab a basic accounting/finance college textbook, perhaps you'll learn something about a profitable business.
Profits fluctuate according to market conditions and the ability to control costs. As we near the end of the current consoles, sales will inevitably fall, the same goes for Sony and Microsoft. In the business world, this is call the Product Life Cycle. **NOTE** The entire life cycle for the NGC has been profitable! Something the other two cannot say. Sony, btw, just reported a terrible quarter. The only reason Sony and Microsoft are able to sell their systems for a loss is due to subsidies given to their gaming divisions.
As for admiting mistakes...N64 cartridge, yes; online gaming, maybe; EU, yes (but all 3 are guilty here); First-party titles, the best in the biz, so not a mistake; and product announcements, do you show all your cards to your opponents before you bid? also no.
Gaming culture has absolutely evolved from when I started playing computer/video games, in 1983. We can now sit in comfort in front of big screen HDTVs, taunting our friends, and showing off to girls our elite gaming skills, instead of being locked in the basement, trying to escape a dark dungeon with your D&D buddies. Nintendo is not forcing anything down your throat. That's the great part about capitalism. (Another big college word.) If you're not interested in it, don't buy it. I'm sure EA would gladly sell you Sports_Game 200X or sequel number 7 or a series that never should have made it past number 2. Personally, I thoroughly enjoy the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games because they're fun. I'm not sure I can say the same about the stacks of worthless sequels in the Valu-bins all over suburbia America.
Fanboys...What's wrong with being passionate about a product? I will never buy another Windows based PC after buying a Powerbook. But that doesn't make me some moron who incessantly rants and raves about Apples. Product endorsement, absolutely; fanboy, hardly. Your list of adjectives describing Apple zealots can just as easily be applied to Linux, Windows, Star Wars, Pokemon, The O.C., Abercrombie & Fitch, etc. Clearly your understanding of the business world is meager, at best. The people at trade show and your catered PR are going to be the first-movers on purchasing your product. They will typically pay a premium for this. This goes back to the balance sheet.
Niche players are typically profitable, successful, well-thought of, and respected brands. The others merely become commodities who eventually compete on price alone. If we did not have competition, we'd be driving the same car, wearing the same clothes, living in the same rigid society...think 1984, the book by Orwell, not the Apple commercial. Development costs are going up, for everyone, not just Nintendo. Before too long, all you will see is sequel titles from EA and the other big few, and some originality from Nintendo. Granted the Nintendo brands are old and tried, but they've also had new gameplay and fresh ideas in each incarnation. As for your anecdotal evidence about sales going down, you are flat our wrong. Total industry unit sales are at their highest point in history. (If I feel like tracking down the report later, I may). The SNES bit has a nice nostalgia ring to it, but you don't see Ford building original Thunderbirds any more, right? Besides, like one of the other responders has mentioned, just grab an emulator and your favorite games. Or hitup ebay and grab a system for cheap.
If whoever wrote this flamebait trash would like to respond to what I have to say, and even attempt to correct me, perhaps find some courage to post with your handle. But until then, put down the PS2 controller, stop playing Ace Combat 21, and RTFA and whatever supporting material you deem necessary to understand what you are reading.
I bet the local community college had trouble accepting you, judging by the blatant ignorance of your post.
The majority of the student body at any university in Duke's class/caliber is going to be "middle-to-upper-middle class students with parents that are paying for college." Do you think that tier is cheap? How many full ride scholarships will they give out? And I would certainly want my say in where I would be spending the next 4-5 years. What if your parents wanted you to study arctic wildlife at UAF and you wanted to study beach wildlife at UCSD? Wouldn't you want a say in that? If not, have fun on the frozen tundra. I'll be on the beach with the girls if you need me. Insert obilgatory Girls/Slashdot comment here.
Did you honestly evaluate the colleges that you applied to by the (pseudo) free trinkets they gave you? "Hey Ma! Isn't this frisbee neat? I want to go there 'cause they have ultimate frisbee intramurals!" As for who gets the bill, I'm absolutely sure that its tacked on somewhere to the student's bill. Probably something like "Electronics Lab Fee" "Portable Lecture Device Fee" "Insert some stupid name for a fee" or even under "General Fee."
Duke's reputation and offerings are stong enough that they do not need to lure students with an iPod. Academics, Athletics, etc.
Profit? Perhaps, but that comment has no bearing in this discussion, regardless of the/. joke you are trying to pull.
As for someone "fresh out (almost) of the application process," I see someone pissed off because Duke did not accept them. Collegiate sports do build the popularity of the school and I see no reason to bash them. They build comradery among the students and certainly contribute to the overall atmosphere of the school.
As for my own opinion of Duke's iPod program, now that I've rebutted your post, I see it as a positive. Yes, you can put music on there; yes, you could never use it for your studies; but, the potential is there for you to use it to record lectures on, transport large chunks of data from the ASTR lab to your dorm computer for further evaluation, or to store the entire works of your collegiate career, from ENGL-101 to your senior thesis. Isn't that what college is about, developing potential?
As much as I try to get away from the keyboard when I'm not at work, it seems as I'm always asked by friends and family to fix their computer(s). Depending on the problem, anywhere from a case of beer to $100 is the fee. I typically charge on the low-end ($20/hr) and they usually pay me a nice bonus because its still cheaper than taking it to a computer shop. I recently got $20 to setup my friends WiFi card in her notebook.
Congratulations for teaching me something new. I now know about Asperger's Syndrome, and I can see how it influences your writing style and attitudes. I applaud you for at least trying to improve your communication skills. I'm sure that it is not the easiest thing to do.
Maslow's heirarchy has nothing to do with personal attitudes, and self-actualization is a long way from physiological needs.
Congratulations for being a father. I do hope to be one someday, and even though I'm 24, I'm hoping for a few more years before I come to that point in my life.
As for the rest of it, change and death are the only two constants in life. Amigori
Have you ever given any thought into improving your communication skills? From this response, and others in this thread, you seem very full of anger and resentment against the world; like the world owes you something for being born. It definitely shows in your writing styles. You are obviously very arrogant, opinionated, and need constant recognition for past work. And I'm sure that Access DB job is well below your ego, but you needed money to support your DVD habits.
Did you look outside your area? Did you consider the possibility of relocating? Did you consider another field completely? Did you look into a manufacturing job? How about sales? Education? The world changes, adapt or perish.
For someone with dozens of languages known, I'm amazed that your personal website is so...1996. With all your free time in the past 26 months, I know someone of your experience and stature should have created a better site. --Amigori
The open source community doesn't have as good of a reason to improve the usability as Apple does. Apple is a business and needs to make money, the various Linux gui maintainers, a community project, do not. Apple's big feature is the usability of their computers; for everyone, not just geeks. Linux vendors don't sell computers to everyday people with everyday needs; they sell to geeks who know what linux is good for. Two different target markets, two different reasons for improvements. Now I'm not saying that Linux developers aren't on the right track, which they are, and improvements can be seen throughout, but they are serving different markets.
If you don't like the way X is moving along, feel free to help. You're a veteran here, so I don't need to tell you where to find X. As a veteran, I'm surprised that you fell for a troll article like this. Although, I'm just as guilty in my response here.
As for paying for the OS, I will gladly pay Apple for their products, hardware and software. Is it more expensive? Not to me. My PBG4 has higher resale value if I ever sell it than a comparable dell/etc., I don't have to recompile and spend hours troubleshooting just to get my soundcard/joystick to work, which it still doesn't on my Suse 9.1 box, and I am more productive on my PB, I get the same things done quicker so I have more time for the things that I value in life, like playing with my dog or reading a non-sci-fi book. If you, as your primary mode of transportation, had the knowledge and resources to build a car versus buying one, what would you pick? Buy the car most likely, I would.
Can the Ask Slashdot topic itself be moderated (-1) Troll or (-1) Flamebait? Please?
Amigori
What about the Windows license that many home users are using? Probably pirated. Especially those who's computer came with WinME and their friend loaded 2000/XP for them. Out of all the pirated material floating around the net, I would venture a guess that MS Windows is one of the most widely pirated.
As far as volumes are concerned, Apple sells pretty much every iPod they can produce. It was the thing on kids back to school want lists, it will be the thing on many people's Christmas lists, and it will continue to be the de facto standard for portable music players. Sony's new Walkman, what a joke! I'm not converting everything to their proprietary format. Everyone else? What do you see marketing campaigns on MTV, CNBC, CN, etc. for? Rio, nope. iRiver, nada. Dell, not really. Apple's iPod in clever, catchy ads. Apple's iTMS servers handle the demand smoothly and are never/.'d. And to increase volume, the main piece to worry about is the bandwidth, easy enough.
The article is merely propaganda for those who are too damn ignorant to understand. "DRM...years" "DRM...not been that easy to use" "My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear..." Sounds to me like he's shooting himself in the foot and doesn't understand what his customers want. Oh well, that's Microsoft for you.
Amigori
Stylistically, this is a terrible article to read. Since when did one sentence equal an entire paragraph? (Yes I know the newspapers often do it.) Although, after checking other articles on this site, they all seem to be written this way. The author could have written the entire page using bullet points.
All he did was state data, interpret, and generalize. He indicts rebuplicans and the current administration for corporate decisions; democrats for their failure to understand their constituents. He is assuming the Kerry-Edwards campaign will succeed in November by advising them in what they should be doing, manage the trade defecit and immigration. By doing so will magically grow the middle class and their disposable income.
For being an economist, why doesn't he understand that and unemployment rate of 5.4% is very good and one of the lowest in the world. Its certainly better than the double-digit numbers in most of the world and certainly this overall number from India.
As for the shifting of capital and the growing divide of the classes, name one successful society, where the controlling power had a monetary policy will divide the currency exactly among its citizens. Just one... Nope? I didn't think so. The closest example I can think of is the USSR, and they still had the rich elite controlling the working class; and it only lasted 70 years.
Last time I checked, my blue-collar, low-wage friends and I all have the same opportunity of wealth as the rich kids we tend to resent. Notice, I did NOT say that it would be easier because often capital is more difficult to obtain, but we have the same basic opportunity to start a business as the next person. We have the greatest entrepreneurial environment in the world and its ours to take advantage of. People from other countries see this and other advantages our country offers and immigrate. Is the global playing field level? No, it never has been and it never will be. Life is not fair. Life is hard. Get over the idea of being employeed in one place for your entire life in a job that a trained monkey or robots can do.
Will the election in November help? No. Its just a corporate sponsored figurehead with a puppet administration. Either one. What about a third party? Well, we effectively shut them out a generation ago and now, they're just a talking point.--Amigori
Re:I'm a micro-view of the job situation
on
The Jobs Crunch
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I personally don't think the problem is too many teachers, but rather the whole US education system. There are many theories as to why it has degraded in the past 30 years; declining tax base (which should NOT happen with a growing population), bureaucratic meddling, inflexible unions, ever changing demographics, lowest common denominators, etc. I also question many of the actual skills of numerous teachers I've had in the past. The general American culture has changed dramatically in the last 25 years, and the education system has not adapted well.
I will graduate college in Ohio in May with an International Business degree, and I have no intention of looking locally for a job. Why? Because when I entered the program, I understood that the markets that have demand for the positions I qualify for are elsewhere. At the job fairs I've attended, teachers are in great demand in Florida and Nevada, but not here in Ohio. I don't know your specialties, but perhaps you are limiting your job search to only jobs you want to work and not all the jobs you qualify for. Perhaps you are also limiting your location as well, saying that you will only work for the Cypress-Fairbanks district in NW Houston versus moving to where you can find work.
Personally, I think we need to drastically increase funding for the whole education system, not by raising taxes, but cutting other governmental programs which have little effect on society as a whole. And I don't think that extra money should go straight to the teachers' and administrators' pockets. The salaries should be determined by supply/demand with a significant qualitative factor. Excellent teachers should make more than poor teachers. The extra money should be used to build, update, and maintain facilities. I also favor a general, liberal education program in public schools (K-12) versus trade/technical programs at the high school level; leave the job training for post-secondary programs, i.e. trade school, college, university, etc.
That's enough ranting for this thread from me, but to reiterate my rebutal 1)Bushism has little to do with jobs, 2)There are NOT too many teachers, 3)The education system needs a major overhaul, and 4)Don't limit yourself.--Amigori
Slashdot Mirror
(1) How many working hours per week is the median? Most IT jobs that I've come across only pay that well when you're working 60h+/week, or your at the top of the ladder with a fancy title.
(2) Where is this kind of compensation? $82,000 median base pay for my region (Great Lakes) seems very high for most positions. I recently received an offer for a Help Desk spot for a regional bank on a rotating shift schedule, $14/hr...$29,120an. No thanks. Except for sales, every core function of that industry has been replaced by a computer and bankers want to pay peanuts for the uptime.
As for their "Experiencing Difficulty In Hiring" rating, I'm certain if the company would offer "Fair Value - US Market Rate ($$$)" instead of "Fair Value - Global Market Rate ($)" to local candidates, i.e. Natural/Naturalized Citizens, they wouldn't have such a difficult time. Also HR 'requirements' for positions: "10+ years exp. in Java, HTML, PHP, Perl, Rails, XCode, VBStudio, JDE. Not essential, but helpful MCSE, MCSA, MCSD, CCNP, CCNA, A+. ...Insert additional marketing/HR buzzwords here... Ridiculous.
Perhaps its just me and my location, ...sigh...
...and who calls the 'Great Plains' states the 'Northwest'??
Here is the thread from last time they did it, Super Mario Bros. style.
1. Your Macs were replaced 5 times in 8 years because they are the critical tools at a design company. As the software the designers use everyday advances, the hardware needs to be upgraded to accommodate it. And I wouldn't be surprised if your company sold the used machines, so they didn't take a full loss on the price of the machine.
2. The old PCs were probably used for Accounting and other office functions, not the core business with the demanding design tools. And there is zero resale value on a 3 year old PC, so you might as well just find a small corner of the office to stick it.
3. Macs are upgraded, but most of the time, its adding more RAM and HDs.
4. Apple has a great hardware support website, and if you really want to pay AppleCare to fix your Pismo G3 Powerbook, they'll fix it, it'll just cost more than the local Apple shop.
5. I have had no problems running 10.4.8 on a 3 year old Powerbook, and it runs noticably faster than 10.3 and 10.2. The 3-4 year old PC is probably around 1.5-2.0Ghz CPU with 256-512M RAM running MS Office XP, Quickbooks, IE, ACT, etc., not exactly CPU-taxing software packages. XP was beta tested in 2001, and pretty much any PC since 2000 has been able to run it, albeit slowly.
6. Complain to the software developers using new state-of-the-art tools included in the new versions of the OS that you can't use their nifty programs because you refuse to upgrade the OS. Thats like running Windows 98 on a brand new machine and complaining that you can't run Flight Simulator X or some other program that requires XP SP2 or, in 6-12 months, Vista. Oh, and for every 1 DOS program that you get to work 100% in XP, there's 10 that only partly work due to poor/no hardware emulation, especially with sound. And at this point in the OSX lifecycle, if you're still using something that requires the OS9 emulation and is buggy because of it, maybe its time to find a new program native to OSX.
7. If you can maintain a 5 year old PC, you can maintain a 5 year old Mac. Especially if you want to run/are running *nix on it. If you can't, you're ignorant.
8. There's plenty of "family computer guys/gals" on slashdot who are simply tired of fixing computers due to spyware/malware/etc. Many of them just recommend Macs now because they don't have to spend 4h fixing the computer next time they come to visit. Although that leaves 4h for embarassing family stories... Besides, ever taken a PC to a local shop to have them remove all the garbage? $50 minimum. Usually $100+. Gets expensive doing that twice a year for 2-3 years.
9. Heard of the Mac Mini? $600. iMac? $1000. $2500 buys you a very nice MacBook Pro or Mac Pro, not a fair comparison to an Xbox360. If you believe that Apple is a Software-only company, again, you're ignorant and have been living in a troll cave. Apple: Hardware + Consumer Electronics = Profit. MS: Hardware + Consumer Electronics = Loss. All you really need to look at is Amazon's Sales Ranking for the Zune and you can tell that it has not been widely accepted in the mass marketplace. Giving Zune time isn't going to much beside continue to hurt MS's partners.
10. Deceptive Marketing? I'm going to leave that alone; too big of an issue for slashdot.
75% of all Canadians live within 100 miles of the US. US Embassy brochure here. Even with the border close, our wonderful gov't (DHS) is making it much more cumbersome to cross. Plus with the cost of fuel, I'm sure most Canucks will just suck it up and pay the Mafia Tax if its passed. I hope they rally together to stop this madness.
The Sega Dreamcast launch was rather impressive too, I was sad to see that system fail. PS2 never impressed me much after playing the DC and I wasn't much of a Ridge Racer 4 fan. I didn't buy my XBox until it had been out for more than a year 'cause the launch games didn't impress me much. The Gamecube is a good system, but didn't have a great launch. Come on...Luigi with a vacuum?
Top Console Launches (IMO):
So you are either too young to remember anything else, including the PS2 launch, or are a true Sony fanyboy. And I don't think your parents are going to be too eager to shell out $600+ in November.How many movies have you downloaded then gone and bought the DVD because you liked it? How many did you want to go blind or gouge your eyes out after watching? (Probably more of the latter recently)
Let's see if I can get this metaphor to work... I wonder if I can use fuzzy-math tactics (Call it 'Perceived Value'). Hollywood perceives DVD and ticket sales as valuable to them. I perceive my free-time at a value of a modest $10/hr.
I go to the theater, because that's what my girlfriend wants to do, pay $10ea for tickets for a "2-hour" movie. OK, as of now, I'm break-even after two hours, plus the value of my girlfiend. But the movie was only 88-minutes because aside from 3-hour epics, Hollywood won't make anything longer. $7.33 went toward the title movie, $0.21 for each of the 6 trailers I had to watch, $0.42 for 5 min of soda and "don't steal this" commercials, $0.42 for the 5 min courtesy reminders, and the remaining $0.57 for atmosphere of voiceovers, bad sound systems, and artifacts. The movie turns out to be awful with 8-min of dialog written by apes with typewriters while throwing feces at each other, and 80-min of special effects.
Now, can I say that the studio stole my time because my 'Perceived Value' of the film was not there? Can I send them a bill for $20? At the very least for the $2.67 of junk that I did NOT pay for? For those that say I voluntarily went to the movies, they are correct. Hollywood also voluntarily put out the lousy film. Even though my math is correct (within rounding), I call it fuzzy because value is subjective.
They are trying to bill us for lost revenue, I say we bill them for lost time.
1. Apple releases OS X for PCs.
2. Dell begins to sell desktops preloaded with OS X.
3. Phone call to Dell from Redmond about the new per unit cost to "nonexclusive" vendors of preloaded Windows: $500.
4. Dell announces that OS X shipments being increased due to the 'Premium' models loaded with Windows selling poorly.
5. Shipments of Apple computers continue to increase, as revenue from OS X makes up only a fraction total revenue, and consumers realize that el-cheapo hardware is, well...cheap. And that a Dell with OSX is a better Dell, but an Apple is still worth the premium.
6. Dell and Apple stock grows. MSFT stock does the same thing its been doing...nothing!
Alot of readers here have already pointed out the physical theater disadvantages, commercials, exorbitant ticket & food prices, cell phones, and voice-overs, so I won't bother expanding upon those point.
Hollywood is just trying to figure out the fastest way to sell us crap and DVD is cheaper than sending out 2400, 88-min long, film reels.
I used to be a regular reader, but once they shifted to extensive use of flash ads on their website a few years ago, I rarely visit. That, and the failing quality of their content lead me to other sources.
I do agree with you about the crappy packing system, although I personally like FreeBSD's package system, but apt is nice too.
The thing with the AIX, and *nixes in general, is that they run on big iron. Backend stuff that needs performance, reliability and predictability over eyecandy. Nobody uses AIX as their daily desktop system. Why muck it up with the glossy stuff that just eats CPU time?
Amigori
Just because DQ8 is a "Case Study On 'Old School,'" does not mean that it is not fun. I, like other /.ers, am having alot of fun playing this game. Not all RPGs need to be incredibly complex, new school type mega-quests. If you don't like the gameplay, fine, don't play it, go back to FF* or any other 'advance' RTB game. Millions of gamers, japanese, european, or american, will disagree and tell you that the Dragon Quest series is the best out there.
Private-sector funding, in conjuction with many government grants, throughout the 1990s ushered in a completely different era in the Internet's history. Had the powers at be continued to restrict access, we'd have something that looks like Internet2.
As for your statement regarding "absolutely no private-sector investment," I'm fairly certain that following companies will strongly disagree:
That list can continue on and on, but I think you get the point. I'm not sure where you're from, but here in the US, Uncle Sam does NOT lay telephone wire/fiber/cable. Once again, private-sectore investment.
Does this mean that the Internet was invented by the private-sectore, no; merely, the Internet as we now know it was built through private-sector investments.
Adding levels of bureaucratic oversight to anything constrains development. NASA is a good example of this. Adding "Safety" committees to make sure space travel is 99.999999% safe has brought development of new/risky programs to a crawl.
As a side note, I don't see the purpose of political bashing here. I highly doubt anyone else in either Rice's or Bush's position would gladly give up control of the Internet.
Let's be realistic here...There is no end-all solution here. The obvious answer is to have all your music in .mp3 or .ogg and tag it yourself. mp3 is really the only vendor neutral solution. If you want all the niceties that come with the electonic stores, i.e. album art, proper tagging, etc., then you have to play by that vendor's rules.
The masses don't seem to care right now about vendor lockin as long as they get an easy, pleasant experience purchasing music online. And if the masses are buying iPods, what motivation does a manufacturer have to design and produce a player capable of .ogg with an FM tuner if there is only a handful of geeks buying it?
On a side note, can we save our Ask /. posts for something relevant? The answer to the question is so blantantly obvious, why discuss it?
NASCAR, Indy, and F1 are all technologically advance machines driven for extended amounts of time at high speeds along exciting circuits capabale of seating hundreds of thousands of fans during all kinds of weather and track conditions. All teams command a multitude of sponsors from various industries and include a manufacturer of core equipment, like Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Honda, Toyota, McLaren, Ferrari, etc. The core manufacturer uses technology derived from their respective racing teams and eventually use it in products they sell to customers.
Which is where the problem comes in...
Commercially, this is not viable because:
I'm not trying to bash the Rocket Racing League idea, as I think its a neat concept, especially concerning space technology development. I just strongly believe it not to be commercially viable and will not be very popular. Good Luck anyways.
Amigori
Now if only I could find copies of the Mac version now that I switched to Mac. BGII is not very common on eBay and when you do find it, it typically demands a premium price. Soon, I'll be able to afford a premium game again...darn tuition...
Amigori
These are not the same costs. The $40 average is the manufacturing cost. The "UP TO $637" represents the retail price to the consumer. An analysis of any manufacturing industry will yield similar markups (profit margin), although the percentage varies for every industry.
Amigori
Profits fluctuate according to market conditions and the ability to control costs. As we near the end of the current consoles, sales will inevitably fall, the same goes for Sony and Microsoft. In the business world, this is call the Product Life Cycle. **NOTE** The entire life cycle for the NGC has been profitable! Something the other two cannot say. Sony, btw, just reported a terrible quarter. The only reason Sony and Microsoft are able to sell their systems for a loss is due to subsidies given to their gaming divisions.
As for admiting mistakes...N64 cartridge, yes; online gaming, maybe; EU, yes (but all 3 are guilty here); First-party titles, the best in the biz, so not a mistake; and product announcements, do you show all your cards to your opponents before you bid? also no.
Gaming culture has absolutely evolved from when I started playing computer/video games, in 1983. We can now sit in comfort in front of big screen HDTVs, taunting our friends, and showing off to girls our elite gaming skills, instead of being locked in the basement, trying to escape a dark dungeon with your D&D buddies. Nintendo is not forcing anything down your throat. That's the great part about capitalism. (Another big college word.) If you're not interested in it, don't buy it. I'm sure EA would gladly sell you Sports_Game 200X or sequel number 7 or a series that never should have made it past number 2. Personally, I thoroughly enjoy the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games because they're fun. I'm not sure I can say the same about the stacks of worthless sequels in the Valu-bins all over suburbia America.
Fanboys...What's wrong with being passionate about a product? I will never buy another Windows based PC after buying a Powerbook. But that doesn't make me some moron who incessantly rants and raves about Apples. Product endorsement, absolutely; fanboy, hardly. Your list of adjectives describing Apple zealots can just as easily be applied to Linux, Windows, Star Wars, Pokemon, The O.C., Abercrombie & Fitch, etc. Clearly your understanding of the business world is meager, at best. The people at trade show and your catered PR are going to be the first-movers on purchasing your product. They will typically pay a premium for this. This goes back to the balance sheet.
Niche players are typically profitable, successful, well-thought of, and respected brands. The others merely become commodities who eventually compete on price alone. If we did not have competition, we'd be driving the same car, wearing the same clothes, living in the same rigid society...think 1984, the book by Orwell, not the Apple commercial. Development costs are going up, for everyone, not just Nintendo. Before too long, all you will see is sequel titles from EA and the other big few, and some originality from Nintendo. Granted the Nintendo brands are old and tried, but they've also had new gameplay and fresh ideas in each incarnation. As for your anecdotal evidence about sales going down, you are flat our wrong. Total industry unit sales are at their highest point in history. (If I feel like tracking down the report later, I may). The SNES bit has a nice nostalgia ring to it, but you don't see Ford building original Thunderbirds any more, right? Besides, like one of the other responders has mentioned, just grab an emulator and your favorite games. Or hitup ebay and grab a system for cheap.
If whoever wrote this flamebait trash would like to respond to what I have to say, and even attempt to correct me, perhaps find some courage to post with your handle. But until then, put down the PS2 controller, stop playing Ace Combat 21, and RTFA and whatever supporting material you deem necessary to understand what you are reading.
Amigori
- The majority of the student body at any university in Duke's class/caliber is going to be "middle-to-upper-middle class students with parents that are paying for college." Do you think that tier is cheap? How many full ride scholarships will they give out? And I would certainly want my say in where I would be spending the next 4-5 years. What if your parents wanted you to study arctic wildlife at UAF and you wanted to study beach wildlife at UCSD? Wouldn't you want a say in that? If not, have fun on the frozen tundra. I'll be on the beach with the girls if you need me. Insert obilgatory Girls/Slashdot comment here.
- Did you honestly evaluate the colleges that you applied to by the (pseudo) free trinkets they gave you? "Hey Ma! Isn't this frisbee neat? I want to go there 'cause they have ultimate frisbee intramurals!" As for who gets the bill, I'm absolutely sure that its tacked on somewhere to the student's bill. Probably something like "Electronics Lab Fee" "Portable Lecture Device Fee" "Insert some stupid name for a fee" or even under "General Fee."
- Duke's reputation and offerings are stong enough that they do not need to lure students with an iPod. Academics, Athletics, etc.
- Profit? Perhaps, but that comment has no bearing in this discussion, regardless of the
/. joke you are trying to pull.
As for someone "fresh out (almost) of the application process," I see someone pissed off because Duke did not accept them. Collegiate sports do build the popularity of the school and I see no reason to bash them. They build comradery among the students and certainly contribute to the overall atmosphere of the school.As for my own opinion of Duke's iPod program, now that I've rebutted your post, I see it as a positive. Yes, you can put music on there; yes, you could never use it for your studies; but, the potential is there for you to use it to record lectures on, transport large chunks of data from the ASTR lab to your dorm computer for further evaluation, or to store the entire works of your collegiate career, from ENGL-101 to your senior thesis. Isn't that what college is about, developing potential?
Amigori
As much as I try to get away from the keyboard when I'm not at work, it seems as I'm always asked by friends and family to fix their computer(s). Depending on the problem, anywhere from a case of beer to $100 is the fee. I typically charge on the low-end ($20/hr) and they usually pay me a nice bonus because its still cheaper than taking it to a computer shop. I recently got $20 to setup my friends WiFi card in her notebook.
Maslow's heirarchy has nothing to do with personal attitudes, and self-actualization is a long way from physiological needs.
Congratulations for being a father. I do hope to be one someday, and even though I'm 24, I'm hoping for a few more years before I come to that point in my life.
As for the rest of it, change and death are the only two constants in life.
Amigori
Did you look outside your area? Did you consider the possibility of relocating? Did you consider another field completely? Did you look into a manufacturing job? How about sales? Education? The world changes, adapt or perish.
For someone with dozens of languages known, I'm amazed that your personal website is so...1996. With all your free time in the past 26 months, I know someone of your experience and stature should have created a better site.
--Amigori
If you don't like the way X is moving along, feel free to help. You're a veteran here, so I don't need to tell you where to find X. As a veteran, I'm surprised that you fell for a troll article like this. Although, I'm just as guilty in my response here.
As for paying for the OS, I will gladly pay Apple for their products, hardware and software. Is it more expensive? Not to me. My PBG4 has higher resale value if I ever sell it than a comparable dell/etc., I don't have to recompile and spend hours troubleshooting just to get my soundcard/joystick to work, which it still doesn't on my Suse 9.1 box, and I am more productive on my PB, I get the same things done quicker so I have more time for the things that I value in life, like playing with my dog or reading a non-sci-fi book. If you, as your primary mode of transportation, had the knowledge and resources to build a car versus buying one, what would you pick? Buy the car most likely, I would.
Can the Ask Slashdot topic itself be moderated (-1) Troll or (-1) Flamebait? Please?
Amigori
As far as volumes are concerned, Apple sells pretty much every iPod they can produce. It was the thing on kids back to school want lists, it will be the thing on many people's Christmas lists, and it will continue to be the de facto standard for portable music players. Sony's new Walkman, what a joke! I'm not converting everything to their proprietary format. Everyone else? What do you see marketing campaigns on MTV, CNBC, CN, etc. for? Rio, nope. iRiver, nada. Dell, not really. Apple's iPod in clever, catchy ads. Apple's iTMS servers handle the demand smoothly and are never /.'d. And to increase volume, the main piece to worry about is the bandwidth, easy enough.
The article is merely propaganda for those who are too damn ignorant to understand. "DRM...years" "DRM...not been that easy to use" "My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear..." Sounds to me like he's shooting himself in the foot and doesn't understand what his customers want. Oh well, that's Microsoft for you.
Amigori
All he did was state data, interpret, and generalize. He indicts rebuplicans and the current administration for corporate decisions; democrats for their failure to understand their constituents. He is assuming the Kerry-Edwards campaign will succeed in November by advising them in what they should be doing, manage the trade defecit and immigration. By doing so will magically grow the middle class and their disposable income.
For being an economist, why doesn't he understand that and unemployment rate of 5.4% is very good and one of the lowest in the world. Its certainly better than the double-digit numbers in most of the world and certainly this overall number from India.
As for the shifting of capital and the growing divide of the classes, name one successful society, where the controlling power had a monetary policy will divide the currency exactly among its citizens. Just one... Nope? I didn't think so. The closest example I can think of is the USSR, and they still had the rich elite controlling the working class; and it only lasted 70 years.
Last time I checked, my blue-collar, low-wage friends and I all have the same opportunity of wealth as the rich kids we tend to resent. Notice, I did NOT say that it would be easier because often capital is more difficult to obtain, but we have the same basic opportunity to start a business as the next person. We have the greatest entrepreneurial environment in the world and its ours to take advantage of. People from other countries see this and other advantages our country offers and immigrate. Is the global playing field level? No, it never has been and it never will be. Life is not fair. Life is hard. Get over the idea of being employeed in one place for your entire life in a job that a trained monkey or robots can do.
Will the election in November help? No. Its just a corporate sponsored figurehead with a puppet administration. Either one. What about a third party? Well, we effectively shut them out a generation ago and now, they're just a talking point.--Amigori
I will graduate college in Ohio in May with an International Business degree, and I have no intention of looking locally for a job. Why? Because when I entered the program, I understood that the markets that have demand for the positions I qualify for are elsewhere. At the job fairs I've attended, teachers are in great demand in Florida and Nevada, but not here in Ohio. I don't know your specialties, but perhaps you are limiting your job search to only jobs you want to work and not all the jobs you qualify for. Perhaps you are also limiting your location as well, saying that you will only work for the Cypress-Fairbanks district in NW Houston versus moving to where you can find work.
Personally, I think we need to drastically increase funding for the whole education system, not by raising taxes, but cutting other governmental programs which have little effect on society as a whole. And I don't think that extra money should go straight to the teachers' and administrators' pockets. The salaries should be determined by supply/demand with a significant qualitative factor. Excellent teachers should make more than poor teachers. The extra money should be used to build, update, and maintain facilities. I also favor a general, liberal education program in public schools (K-12) versus trade/technical programs at the high school level; leave the job training for post-secondary programs, i.e. trade school, college, university, etc.
That's enough ranting for this thread from me, but to reiterate my rebutal 1)Bushism has little to do with jobs, 2)There are NOT too many teachers, 3)The education system needs a major overhaul, and 4)Don't limit yourself.--Amigori