I prefer Linux as a desktop. Especially since Vista came out. XP was okay, it has been all downhill for Windows ever since. While Windows keeps getting worse, Linux keeps getting better.
Linux boots faster, is far less susceptible to malware, has a much better interface (except for Gnome3). I can re-install Linux any time I want, with no headaches about registration. I can use my old printers and scanners with a 64bit system. Linux uses less system resources than any version of Windows since XP. My Win7 laptop keeps getting bogged down, no malware, but for some reasons it gets slower after a time, that does not happen with Linux. Linux updates in the background, without affecting performance, Windows will not start, or stop, when I want it to, due to excessive updating all the time.
All JMHO, or course, but I think Linux is better desktop than Windows - by a mile.
I just came across this article. I wonder if there is anything to it?
> "Inflation-adjusted median income has dropped over the last five years, more people are leaving the workforce than joining it, the bulk of new job gains are part-time and millions are woefully under-employed."
I am in Denver, CO. I am not seeing great improvements in employment here, or anywhere.
Microsoft, and now Cisco, are announcing huge job cuts.
Pay for IT jobs, here in Denver, is way down. Typical pay for PC techs used to be over $20 an hour, now it's usually around $16, sometimes as low as $12. Pay for CISSP certified used to over $100K a year, now it's more like $70K a year.
My wife, and I, are both unemployed, which is very unusual for us. Our friends are unemployed as well. I have one friend who used make $90K a year as a logistics manager, now he works temp jobs on assembly lines, side-by-side with people who have master's degrees in stuff like biotechnology.
Again, I am not sure where they get these stellar employment numbers, all I see is huge layoff, and declining salaries.
You clearly have not been listening to actual users. Gnome3 is hated, so is Systemd.
I have two PCs on my desk right now, one is running CentOS 6.5, the other is running CentOS 7.0 - upgraded from CentOS 6.5.
IMO: CentOS 6.5 is the clear winner. No contest at all. In fact 7.0 does not even boot faster, which I thought was supposed to be it's big advantage.
It's sad, Red Hat is going backwards, just like MS. And just like MS, it will not listen to end user, it just keeps proclaiming that it's new stuff is better, and barfing out insults at anybody who offers any criticism.
Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 235,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1 percent, but that hardly tells the story.
The jobless rate may be down from its recession peak of 10 percent, but much of this results from adults, discouraged by the lack of decent job openings, having quit altogether. They are neither employed nor looking for work.
Only about half of the drop in the adult participation rate may be attributed to the Baby Boom generation reaching retirement age. Lacking adequate resources to retire, a larger percentage of adults over 65 are working than before the recession.
Many Americans who would like full time jobs are stuck in part-time positions, because businesses can hire desirable part-time workers to supplement a core of permanent, full-time employees, but at lower wages. And Obamacare’s employer health insurance mandates will not apply to workers on the job less than 30 hours a week.
Since 2000, Congress has enhanced the earned income tax credit and expanded programs that provide direct benefits to low-income workers, including food stamps, Medicaid, Obamacare, and rent and mortgage assistance.
Virtually all phase as family incomes rise, either by securing higher hourly pay or working more hours, and impose an effective marginal tax rate as high as 50 percent. Consequently, these programs discourage work and skills acquisition and encourage single parents and one partner in two adult households not to work. Often, these motivate single people to work only part-time.
Undocumented immigrants face more difficulties accessing these programs, and lax immigration enforcement permits them to openly take jobs that government benefits discourage low-income Americans from accepting.
Employers can, intentionally or unintentionally, abuse the H-1B visa program, which permit businesses to employ foreign workers when qualified Americans are unavailable. Americans may be overlooked because they demand higher wages or are not networked with immigrants that are already employed in technical and managerial positions.
The economy has created only about 6 million new jobs during the Bush-Obama years, whereas the comparable figure during the Reagan-Clinton period was about 40 million. A recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies indicates that virtually all the new jobs created since 2000 went to immigrants, whereas none were created for native-born Americans.
Adding in discouraged adults who say they would begin looking for work if conditions were better, those working part-time but say they want full time work, and the effects of immigration, the unemployment rate becomes about 15 percent—and that is a lower bound estimate.
Many young people are being duped both by unscrupulous for profit, post-secondary institutions—as well as accredited colleges and universities with low admission standards—to enroll in useless programs. They would likely be in the labor force now but for easy access to federally sponsored loans and will end up heavily in debt.
Adding in these students, the real unemployment rate among U.S. citizens and permanent residents is at least 18 percent.
Since 2000, GDP growth has averaged 1.7 per year, whereas during the Reagan-Clinton years, it was 3.4 percent. The reluctance of both Presidents Bush and Obama to confront Chinese protectionism and currency manipulation and open up offshore oil for development have created a huge trade deficit that sends consumer demand, growth, and jobs abroad.
New business regulations, more burdensome than are necessary to accomplish legitimate consumer protection and environmental objectives, exacerbate these problems.
All of this suppresses wages except for the most skilled and talented workers.
No surprise, average family income, adjusted for inflation has fallen from about $55,600 in 2007 to $51,000 even as the gap between families at the bottom and top widens.
30% for publisher? Why have a publisher?
on
Amazon's eBook Math
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Cut out the useless publisher, and the author gets 70%.
Why do you need a publisher to sell an ebook?
Idunno. Maybe a publisher does have some use. But does an ebook publisher deserve a whopping 30% ?
As a side note. The announcement of the huge Microsoft layoffs come one week after Bill Gates calls for more imported labor.
Break the Immigration Impasse By SHELDON G. ADELSON, WARREN E. BUFFETT and BILL GATESJULY 10, 2014 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/opinion/sheldon-adelson-warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-on-immigration-reform.html?_r=0
So the iron dome gets about 90% of the rockets, and the rest get though. And the missiles used for the iron dome cost nearly 10X as much as the Hamas rockets.
There be reasons to dislike Israel, but what the Jews that have accomplished there is incredible. Especially whey you consider that they do it all under constant terrorist attacks.
Microsoft's motives are obvious. Other nations are adopting open-source, because nothing is hidden, and Microsoft is saying "me too." Microsoft is just trying to stop other countries from adopting open source.
Problem is: as soon as you start trusting Microsoft, Microsoft will pull the 'ol switcheroo. Then once Microsoft has you vendor-locked: it's problem solved - for Microsoft.
Microsoft's basic strategy has been the same for decades. Anybody who trusts Microsoft at this point is an ignorant fool.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you referring to Windows 8.x?
I prefer Linux as a desktop. Especially since Vista came out. XP was okay, it has been all downhill for Windows ever since. While Windows keeps getting worse, Linux keeps getting better.
Linux boots faster, is far less susceptible to malware, has a much better interface (except for Gnome3). I can re-install Linux any time I want, with no headaches about registration. I can use my old printers and scanners with a 64bit system. Linux uses less system resources than any version of Windows since XP. My Win7 laptop keeps getting bogged down, no malware, but for some reasons it gets slower after a time, that does not happen with Linux. Linux updates in the background, without affecting performance, Windows will not start, or stop, when I want it to, due to excessive updating all the time.
All JMHO, or course, but I think Linux is better desktop than Windows - by a mile.
I was actually easier that mucking with AV software. At least my PC ran fast for a while.
Sadly, MS has made that too difficult these days.
I just came across this article. I wonder if there is anything to it?
> "Inflation-adjusted median income has dropped over the last five years, more people are leaving the workforce than joining it, the bulk of new job gains are part-time and millions are woefully under-employed."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2314525-value-versus-momentum-what-should-you-buy-for-your-etf-portfolio
I am in Denver, CO. I am not seeing great improvements in employment here, or anywhere.
Microsoft, and now Cisco, are announcing huge job cuts.
Pay for IT jobs, here in Denver, is way down. Typical pay for PC techs used to be over $20 an hour, now it's usually around $16, sometimes as low as $12. Pay for CISSP certified used to over $100K a year, now it's more like $70K a year.
My wife, and I, are both unemployed, which is very unusual for us. Our friends are unemployed as well. I have one friend who used make $90K a year as a logistics manager, now he works temp jobs on assembly lines, side-by-side with people who have master's degrees in stuff like biotechnology.
Again, I am not sure where they get these stellar employment numbers, all I see is huge layoff, and declining salaries.
I wonder how many Indians work at Apple, vs Indians in general US population?
I am guessing a lot of apple employees are under 40 years of age - especially in software development.
The job app forms are created by companies like Taleos. They are absolutely awful.
I was working, in IT, for the federal government until about a year ago.
From what I saw: any special project, like that website, is going to be done by contractors, not staff employees.
IMO: there is a lot of corrupt politics involved in getting those contracts.
When working conditions are so bad that suicide is a better alternative, I would say that is a real problem.
Do you work for Red Hat? You sure sound like it.
You clearly have not been listening to actual users. Gnome3 is hated, so is Systemd.
I have two PCs on my desk right now, one is running CentOS 6.5, the other is running CentOS 7.0 - upgraded from CentOS 6.5.
IMO: CentOS 6.5 is the clear winner. No contest at all. In fact 7.0 does not even boot faster, which I thought was supposed to be it's big advantage.
It's sad, Red Hat is going backwards, just like MS. And just like MS, it will not listen to end user, it just keeps proclaiming that it's new stuff is better, and barfing out insults at anybody who offers any criticism.
If you are going to actually work with Linux professionally, you will probably have to use Red Hat.
Red Hat seems determined to force crappy, and unwanted, interface, and other technologies, on it's users. Very Microsoft like in that respect.
Gnome2 is far superior to anything based on Gnome3. And it's hard to see where Systemd is much of an improvement.
I envy home Linux users who get to have a nicer interface.
I do not think that is even close to being accurate.
System requirements for XP are 64MB RAM minimum and 128MB RAM recommended.
System requirements for Win7 are 1GB RAM minimum and 2GB RAM recommended.
People were not so "resistant to change" when MS came out with Win3, or Win95. People were lining up around the block for it.
People were not so "resistant to change" when Apple came out with the iPhone.
People are "resistant to change" when the new product is substantially worse then the old product.
XP is a 14 year old OS, that was first "replaced" 7 years ago.
Since then, MS has had four major "upgrades."
Yet, in spite of MS's greatest arm twisting efforts, 25% still hang on to XP.
These stats tell me that MS OSes have totally sucked for the last 7 years.
> tech doesn't attract young black men and women because studying math, science, tech, and computers in school isn't cool.
No, because the jobs are all going offshore. And what isn't going offshore is being done by visa workers.
The future for tech jobs in the USA is grim.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/07/29/Real-Unemployment-Rate-Is-at-Least-18-Percent
Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 235,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1 percent, but that hardly tells the story.
The jobless rate may be down from its recession peak of 10 percent, but much of this results from adults, discouraged by the lack of decent job openings, having quit altogether. They are neither employed nor looking for work.
Only about half of the drop in the adult participation rate may be attributed to the Baby Boom generation reaching retirement age. Lacking adequate resources to retire, a larger percentage of adults over 65 are working than before the recession.
Many Americans who would like full time jobs are stuck in part-time positions, because businesses can hire desirable part-time workers to supplement a core of permanent, full-time employees, but at lower wages. And Obamacare’s employer health insurance mandates will not apply to workers on the job less than 30 hours a week.
Since 2000, Congress has enhanced the earned income tax credit and expanded programs that provide direct benefits to low-income workers, including food stamps, Medicaid, Obamacare, and rent and mortgage assistance.
Virtually all phase as family incomes rise, either by securing higher hourly pay or working more hours, and impose an effective marginal tax rate as high as 50 percent. Consequently, these programs discourage work and skills acquisition and encourage single parents and one partner in two adult households not to work. Often, these motivate single people to work only part-time.
Undocumented immigrants face more difficulties accessing these programs, and lax immigration enforcement permits them to openly take jobs that government benefits discourage low-income Americans from accepting.
Employers can, intentionally or unintentionally, abuse the H-1B visa program, which permit businesses to employ foreign workers when qualified Americans are unavailable. Americans may be overlooked because they demand higher wages or are not networked with immigrants that are already employed in technical and managerial positions.
The economy has created only about 6 million new jobs during the Bush-Obama years, whereas the comparable figure during the Reagan-Clinton period was about 40 million. A recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies indicates that virtually all the new jobs created since 2000 went to immigrants, whereas none were created for native-born Americans.
Adding in discouraged adults who say they would begin looking for work if conditions were better, those working part-time but say they want full time work, and the effects of immigration, the unemployment rate becomes about 15 percent—and that is a lower bound estimate.
Many young people are being duped both by unscrupulous for profit, post-secondary institutions—as well as accredited colleges and universities with low admission standards—to enroll in useless programs. They would likely be in the labor force now but for easy access to federally sponsored loans and will end up heavily in debt.
Adding in these students, the real unemployment rate among U.S. citizens and permanent residents is at least 18 percent.
Since 2000, GDP growth has averaged 1.7 per year, whereas during the Reagan-Clinton years, it was 3.4 percent. The reluctance of both Presidents Bush and Obama to confront Chinese protectionism and currency manipulation and open up offshore oil for development have created a huge trade deficit that sends consumer demand, growth, and jobs abroad.
New business regulations, more burdensome than are necessary to accomplish legitimate consumer protection and environmental objectives, exacerbate these problems.
All of this suppresses wages except for the most skilled and talented workers.
No surprise, average family income, adjusted for inflation has fallen from about $55,600 in 2007 to $51,000 even as the gap between families at the bottom and top widens.
Cut out the useless publisher, and the author gets 70%.
Why do you need a publisher to sell an ebook?
Idunno. Maybe a publisher does have some use. But does an ebook publisher deserve a whopping 30% ?
It is a bit of a bother. But, it is not unusual to be able to sell a book for the same, or even more, than you paid for it.
Does MS want "great" people? Seems to me that MS wants people who are cheaper, and easier to push around.
MS just churns out re-hashed products. Nothing that takes any great creative minds.
As a side note. The announcement of the huge Microsoft layoffs come one week after Bill Gates calls for more imported labor.
Break the Immigration Impasse
By SHELDON G. ADELSON, WARREN E. BUFFETT and BILL GATESJULY 10, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/opinion/sheldon-adelson-warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-on-immigration-reform.html?_r=0
So the iron dome gets about 90% of the rockets, and the rest get though. And the missiles used for the iron dome cost nearly 10X as much as the Hamas rockets.
Is the iron dome "working" or not?
Wrong.
Israeli airstrikes are a response to Palestinian aggression. Were it not for the rocket attacks, Israel would not have launched air strikes.
The entire thing started because Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered.
Hamas is committed to the death of all Jews - it's right in the Hamas charter.
Israel may not be perfect, but let's not pretend that the Palestinians are just innocent victims in all this.
Israeli Jews are hardly free loaders.
There be reasons to dislike Israel, but what the Jews that have accomplished there is incredible. Especially whey you consider that they do it all under constant terrorist attacks.
Microsoft's motives are obvious. Other nations are adopting open-source, because nothing is hidden, and Microsoft is saying "me too." Microsoft is just trying to stop other countries from adopting open source.
Problem is: as soon as you start trusting Microsoft, Microsoft will pull the 'ol switcheroo. Then once Microsoft has you vendor-locked: it's problem solved - for Microsoft.
Microsoft's basic strategy has been the same for decades. Anybody who trusts Microsoft at this point is an ignorant fool.