Do yourself a favor and read the parent on this post. Yes, it's offtopic. Yes, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Oracle's poorly-conceived marketing. But it is nonetheless an interesting post, and with 58 (as of this writing) moderation points spent on it, is significant enough to deserve your attention....
Amazing occurance: In the time it takes the page to refresh (about 10 seconds, over my connection), every single reply to the message was modded down to 0: Offtopic or below. Every one, including ones that were at 2 or 3.
Methinks the gods have been angered....
Re:The first Slashdot troll post investigation
on
KaZaa Suspends Downloads
·
· Score: -1, Offtopic
As I was reading this article, the following showed up in my email, from the MCP mailing list:
In this issue of MCP Magazine News:
** Microsoft, DOJ Reach Settlement
One of the biggest and highest-profile antitrust cases in U.S. history was brought nearly to a close Friday when Microsoft Corp. and the federal government reached a settlement in the four-year old lawsuit. The settlement was praised by Microsoft and the government, but a number of industry analysts said the feds were too lenient on Microsoft.
Far from the breakup of Microsoft into two separate companies that the government initially sought, the settlement places some safeguards on several Microsoft practices judged to be anti-competitive. The final resolution hasn't come yet, however. There are still 18 states that have yet to sign on to the settlement, and one has said it won't.
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates, at a press conference announcing the settlement, said it "represents a fair compromise on all sides. We hope the state attorneys general will also agree it's a good settlement."
Regarding some of the restrictions placed on Microsoft, Gates said his company fully intends to comply. "The agreement contains significant rules and regulations on how we develop and license our software, but it allows Microsoft to keep innovating on behalf of consumers."
Changes in Redmond's behavior required by the proposal include:
The company has to disclose server protocols to make sure that Windows desktops don't work better with Microsoft OSs like Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows.NET than they do with competing OSs like Linux or Unix.
For at least five years (with an option to extend the time frame two more years), Microsoft must offer uniform licensing to OEMs. No more special deals for some computer makers over others.
Microsoft is forbidden from entering into exclusive contracts that keep software developers or computer manufacturers from using competing products.
Those and other terms of the settlement didn't satisfy many.
"The reported settlement agreement, stunningly, will not change either Microsoft's business practices nor its software implementations one iota," Ken Wasch, president of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), a trade association for the software and digital content industry, said in a statement.
"Remarkably, the purported settlement appears to be less than the interim remedies ordered by Judge Jackson prior to the unanimous Court of Appeals ruling. And it appears to be weaker than the last offer in the previous round of mediation led by Judge Posner," Wasch said.
Some states are making noises that the settlement doesn't go far enough, and will press ahead with separate litigation. Massachusetts on Monday became the first to confirm that it isn't satisfied, and is moving forward in the courts. So while Redmond is done, at least for now, with Uncle Sam, some of his cousins still want to mix it up with Bill & Co.
Keith Ward
Either they're just not up on the times (very likely), or they're trying to spin this (also very likely)....
There was an Italian soft-pron movie about 20 years ago that did the same sort of thing. Used special sensors placed under matresses, and generated power when the people in the bed, er, engaged in recreational activities.
The problem with this stems from the fact that not everyone assigns the same value to content. Let's say Joe finds a piece of info on the Internet and he's willing to pay $10 for it, Jack finds that same piece of info but only thinks it is worth $2, and Jill finds the information not useful at all. Now if the information provider sets the value of that piece of information at $5, he's lost 2 customers, not one.
And how is this different from any other type of publishing? Magazine publishers need to set the appropriate price for their publications. Same with newspapers, book publishers, music labels.... If the price is set too high, they lose sales. Too low, they don't turn a profit. It sounds like the same problem to me. So why is this an issue? What's different?
To my mind, the answer is perception. The Web is perceived as being this huge, egalitarian town square, where everyone has a voice, and everyone has equal access to what's being said. Nice dream, but it's just not true. Being connected costs money, for the content provider and for the content viewer. But these costs are hidden for the most part - I can easily see that the book I hold in my hand required resources and effort to produce. The end results are here, physically in my hands, and I have no problem paying for it.
But I can't hold web content in my hand (unless I print it, using my own toner and paper). The costs of the web server or hosting service are hidden from me. I'm already paying for my ISP, my PC, the software that I'm running to get on the web. Isn't that enough?
I think that is the true problem here. People don't understand the publishing costs on the web, because the costs are intangible. And while that's true, I think it will be very difficult to get people to pay for content on a regular basis.
Oh, for the record, I would have no problem paying a small monthly or annual subscription fee to sites that I find particularly useful (like Slashdot). And the micropayment schemes mentioned a while back in Bob Cringely's columns here and here make a lot of sense to me.
If you want science fiction, read some books instead.
Like Time Enough For Love? Or any of the following Heinlein books, which painfully attempted to inject Lazarus Long into every other storyline he'd written? Oh, yeah, great Science Fiction there without a hint of "space opera", from one of the widely acknowledged giants.... (sarcasm mode OFF)
There are absolute gems in every format, be it books, magazines, radio, film, TV, games... There's also absolute crap, and every shade in between. If you throw out any format without exception, you're missing out on a lot.
US Treasury Bonds are the only way of financially supporting the USGS, but under the current administration, damn little of your contribution will actually go their way. The same was true under the previous Bush. The situation improved, but only somewhat, under Clinton. "Science in the public interest" (their old slogan) and "Science for a changing world" (their new one) aren't sexy enough to get notice come appropriations time.
If you're truly serious about supporting their science and efforts (and you're a US citizen), write or call your Congresscritters and tell them to support increases to DoI and USGS funding.
I suffered from RSI for a while, mainly in my right wrist (not being a touch typist, my typing "style" uses my right hand more than my left). It got so bad at one point, I couldn't hold my mouse. A wrist brace, heat treatments and anti-inflamatories helped, but six years later I still get a twinge when I've been typing too much.
I think the article contains its own answer to the question it raised: RSI has significantly declined in computer-related injuries mainly because of heightened awareness of ergonomics. I know in my own case, I can go a lot longer because my desk is the right height, my keyboard is at a comfortable height and angle, I chair is more comfortable and holds me at a better posture....
This whole debate reminds me of Y2K. Everyone perceived it as a huge fiasco in the making (which it was, in 1998), and dumped $millions into fixes, redesigns and contingency plans. Then, when the actual fallout was insignificant, rather than congratulating IT for averting a disaster, people asked "So what was the fuss all about? Why did we spend so much preparing for nothing?" Guess what, folks, if you didn't spend so much, it (probably) wouldn't have been "nothing".
So in response to a medical condition, let's increase awareness and knowledge about ergonomics, develop solutions, roll it out industry-wide, and perform audits check and maintain compliance. Then, when the condition declines, let's label the whole thing "hysteria".
As before, reproduction tech influenced the character of the music. Could a player piano reproduce a slow, soft Beethoven movement? It could try, but because the paper rolls allowed for no dynamic subtlety, every key would have been banged out exactly as loud as the next.
True enough, at first. You fail to take into account the reproducing pianos, developed shortly after 1900, which could faithfully reproduce the performance of the person cutting the roll, including dynamic and tempo variations. These rolls and pianos were remarkably faithful to the original performances (especially considering the technology used), and rolls of Rhapsody in Blue cut by George Gershwin have been used in concert as recently as the mid-1980's.
"By partnering with a market leader such as Roxio, EMI will work to develop ways for consumers to easily record authorized music onto recordable CDs," said Jay Samit, senior vice president, New Media, EMI Recorded Music.
So, what is "authorized music", and who determines what is and isn't authorized? Is burning a copy of a CD so I can listen in the car authorized? How about the MP3 file a friend made with his garage band, that isn't in their database? The CD a local choir sold as a fundraiser?
What will happen with stuff that's not on their RADAR? If they allow it unrestricted, that opens up an avenue to circumvent their "protection". If they block it, they'll cripple their software to the point of unusability.
And just how do they plan to collect these fees? Does my PC have to be online when I burn the CDs, so the software can check for authorization, and transfer fees accordingly? Do I have to enter my VISA number to burn a CD? What if I'm not online (there are still standalone PC in the world).
Just a hunch, but I think they'll find this unworkable.....
From the Outer Space Treaty, entered into force on 10 October, 1967:
(Article I Excerpt) Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality and in accordance with international law, and there shall be free access to all areas of celestial bodies.
and
(Article II) Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.
and finally,
(Article VI) States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty. When activities are carried on in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, by an international organization, responsibility for compliance with this Treaty shall be borne both by the international organization and by the States Parties to the Treaty participating in such organization.
The US doesn't own "everything around the Earth". But per the Outer Space Treaty, the US is responsible for the actions in space of any US-based "entities". Thus, proper govenmental clearance must be obtained before any activities can take place.
Very true - this review was more of a gripe about the company, its policies, and the installation process than about the game. I learned more about Michael's system than I did about actual gameplay in MystIII.
Did this "review" help me to decide about buying the game? No. I'd classify this more as a cautionary note - be aware that there are a number of known bugs, that the requirements on the box are not accurate, and that the Safedisk copy protection may not be compatible with your system. In that respect, this note was informative and useful. But as a review, this "review" sucked....
Michael, in your comments you state For example, Mundie says forking code is bad. Here's the same thought translated into manager-speak: "Having multiple vendors competing to offer us the best product at the lowest price is worse than having one vendor who can sell the product to us at monopoly prices."
Is that really the same thought? I don't think so. From my understanding, forking code is where source code diverges along different development lines. The resulting applications may have some code in common, but possibly key parts are different. Interoperability, or even basic compatibility is not assured between these two related products.
Your manager-speak example addresses sole-source procurement and monopolistic behavior vs. open-market competition, rather than divergent development forks. To my mind, both are undesirable. But they're not the same thing, or even the same concept.
There are a lot of factors that contribute to the hours I'm required to work each week.
I'm an IT manager for a business services company, with a HQ facility and a newer remote processing facility. In our HQ, which has been around for about 12 years, there are a lot of support issues - legacy equipment, workstations that have been pressed into service as servers, systems that have been upgraded or reinstalled a dozen times over. The staff there easily works 60+ hour weeks, just trying to keep up.
I'm in the new remote facility, built from the ground up 18 months ago. We've got server-class systems as our servers, all new equipment, standardized desktops, network shares for user data.... When I designed this facility, I tried to learn from the mistakes made in HQ, and ended up with a much more stable environment, so my workload is correspondingly lower. I still put in 50 hours or so per week, but a good portion of that is doing remote administration of HQ systems. If I only had to deal with my facility, I could be at 40 hours easily.
What you say also applies here, but only for hourly employees (which would include part time). Exempt employees are a different story.
First of all, IANAHRPerson, but I have discussed this with one as part of my hair-pointening promotion. This is going from memory and rather sparse notes, and may apply only to California. YMMV.
There are certain requirements for becoming an exempt employee. Advanced degrees are one way of "qualifying", but not the only one. You can be made exempt if you are in a "professional" career field, or perform functions that the company have deemed to be absolutely vital. It's been my experience that this is how most IS/IT types get made exempt (it's certainly true in my case, as I have no advanced degree, and have been an exempt employee at various companies for over 15 years).
Once you are exempt, you get paid a flat salary to perform the functions listed in your job description (including the infamous "other duties as assigned"). You are paid based on your job performance and completion of your assigned duties. Hours do not enter into the fomula at all; in fact, if they do, your exempt status comes into jeopardy.
Suppose I go home sick after working 2 hours. A hourly employee would get charged 6 hours sick time. But as an exempt employee, I should not be charged for any sick time - I worked part of that day, so I get paid for the full day. Breaking it down into "2 hours worked, 6 hours sick" shifts the pay charging from "job/task based" to "hour based". The same goes for running errands during the day, doctors appointments, and the like. If I make up the time, I jeopardize my exempt status. I get paid to get the work done, no matter how many (or few) hours it takes.
So, if you're exempt, and your boss is making you take partial sick or vacation time, s/he may be jeopardizing your exempt status. Check with your HR rep.
Now, to go with this, if my job duties require me to put in 50-60 hour weeks, come in on weekends, be on-call 24/7 (which, at times, it does), well, that's the other side of the coin. As an exempt employee, you should not get any sort of additional official compensation, either in salary or time off, for these extra hours.
Note that I said "official" - most managers (and I'm one of them) will cut their exempt employees some extra slack when they've been putting in extra hours. A lot of time, it's "work at home" time, where they're officially on the job, but unofficially at the beach. Money's harder to do - I've received extra stock options "in recognition of my efforts and value to the company", but that requires action at the Board level (at least, it does in our company). It's tough for managers to give monetary perks to their overworked exempt employees.
Anyway, that's my understanding of the difference between hourly and exempt employees.....
One good way to spend all those on-call hours: type (or scan) all the software documentation into encrypted files, preferably ones that can only be read by non-standard applications.
Then, shred the originals.
Use these files (on the sly, of course) to become the sole office expert on all the vital applications. Instant job security.
Of course, any chance at a vacation instantly goes out the window....
Amen! My cell phone and pager are always on, always nearby, and have interrupted more evenings and weekends than I care to remember. And according to the rules of exempt employment, not only do I not collect overtime, I also can't accrue comp time for the extra hours I work.
When you're salaried, you're paid to get the job done, however long it takes. Hours don't count. And if the job includes being on call, well, them's the breaks....
D'oh! This thread is probably about the handheld devices, not the Maxtor. Please excuse my previous post as the aimless ramblings of an overworked cubicle dweller....
Slashdot Mirror
Do yourself a favor and read the parent on this post. Yes, it's offtopic. Yes, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Oracle's poorly-conceived marketing. But it is nonetheless an interesting post, and with 58 (as of this writing) moderation points spent on it, is significant enough to deserve your attention....
Amazing occurance: In the time it takes the page to refresh (about 10 seconds, over my connection), every single reply to the message was modded down to 0: Offtopic or below. Every one, including ones that were at 2 or 3.
Methinks the gods have been angered....
Parent: Moderation Totals: Offtopic=19, Troll=1, Redundant=2, Insightful=7, Interesting=15, Informative=6, Overrated=2, Total=52.
If your intention was to stir up a hornet's nest, I think you succeeded.
And I also think you hit the nail on the head....
G'head, mod me down. G'head. I got a life outside karma....
As in the story where everyone depends on calculators and doing math by hand is revolutionary (sorry if I forgot the name).
I believe that one was Heinlein, in his short story Misfit. Unless Asimov wrote one like that as well....
Any idea who the play-by-play announcers will be? It just won't be the same without Kenji Fukui, Doc Hatori, and field reports from Ohta.
With our luck, we'll get the MNF crowd. Micheals and Fouts would probably be okay, but Miller would suck.
"Albino-san...."
"Yes, Dendu?"
Either they're just not up on the times (very likely), or they're trying to spin this (also very likely)....
There was an Italian soft-pron movie about 20 years ago that did the same sort of thing. Used special sensors placed under matresses, and generated power when the people in the bed, er, engaged in recreational activities.
I'd be willing to fund research....
And how is this different from any other type of publishing? Magazine publishers need to set the appropriate price for their publications. Same with newspapers, book publishers, music labels.... If the price is set too high, they lose sales. Too low, they don't turn a profit. It sounds like the same problem to me. So why is this an issue? What's different?
To my mind, the answer is perception. The Web is perceived as being this huge, egalitarian town square, where everyone has a voice, and everyone has equal access to what's being said. Nice dream, but it's just not true. Being connected costs money, for the content provider and for the content viewer. But these costs are hidden for the most part - I can easily see that the book I hold in my hand required resources and effort to produce. The end results are here, physically in my hands, and I have no problem paying for it.
But I can't hold web content in my hand (unless I print it, using my own toner and paper). The costs of the web server or hosting service are hidden from me. I'm already paying for my ISP, my PC, the software that I'm running to get on the web. Isn't that enough?
I think that is the true problem here. People don't understand the publishing costs on the web, because the costs are intangible. And while that's true, I think it will be very difficult to get people to pay for content on a regular basis.
Oh, for the record, I would have no problem paying a small monthly or annual subscription fee to sites that I find particularly useful (like Slashdot). And the micropayment schemes mentioned a while back in Bob Cringely's columns here and here make a lot of sense to me.
Like Time Enough For Love? Or any of the following Heinlein books, which painfully attempted to inject Lazarus Long into every other storyline he'd written? Oh, yeah, great Science Fiction there without a hint of "space opera", from one of the widely acknowledged giants.... (sarcasm mode OFF)
There are absolute gems in every format, be it books, magazines, radio, film, TV, games... There's also absolute crap, and every shade in between. If you throw out any format without exception, you're missing out on a lot.
Quite right. I left out the word voluntarily in my original post.
US Treasury Bonds are the only way of financially supporting the USGS, but under the current administration, damn little of your contribution will actually go their way. The same was true under the previous Bush. The situation improved, but only somewhat, under Clinton. "Science in the public interest" (their old slogan) and "Science for a changing world" (their new one) aren't sexy enough to get notice come appropriations time.
If you're truly serious about supporting their science and efforts (and you're a US citizen), write or call your Congresscritters and tell them to support increases to DoI and USGS funding.
I suffered from RSI for a while, mainly in my right wrist (not being a touch typist, my typing "style" uses my right hand more than my left). It got so bad at one point, I couldn't hold my mouse. A wrist brace, heat treatments and anti-inflamatories helped, but six years later I still get a twinge when I've been typing too much.
I think the article contains its own answer to the question it raised: RSI has significantly declined in computer-related injuries mainly because of heightened awareness of ergonomics. I know in my own case, I can go a lot longer because my desk is the right height, my keyboard is at a comfortable height and angle, I chair is more comfortable and holds me at a better posture....
This whole debate reminds me of Y2K. Everyone perceived it as a huge fiasco in the making (which it was, in 1998), and dumped $millions into fixes, redesigns and contingency plans. Then, when the actual fallout was insignificant, rather than congratulating IT for averting a disaster, people asked "So what was the fuss all about? Why did we spend so much preparing for nothing?" Guess what, folks, if you didn't spend so much, it (probably) wouldn't have been "nothing".
So in response to a medical condition, let's increase awareness and knowledge about ergonomics, develop solutions, roll it out industry-wide, and perform audits check and maintain compliance. Then, when the condition declines, let's label the whole thing "hysteria".
Brilliant.
As before, reproduction tech influenced the character of the music. Could a player piano reproduce a slow, soft Beethoven movement? It could try, but because the paper rolls allowed for no dynamic subtlety, every key would have been banged out exactly as loud as the next.
True enough, at first. You fail to take into account the reproducing pianos, developed shortly after 1900, which could faithfully reproduce the performance of the person cutting the roll, including dynamic and tempo variations. These rolls and pianos were remarkably faithful to the original performances (especially considering the technology used), and rolls of Rhapsody in Blue cut by George Gershwin have been used in concert as recently as the mid-1980's.
More info on these pianos can be found here.
So, what is "authorized music", and who determines what is and isn't authorized? Is burning a copy of a CD so I can listen in the car authorized? How about the MP3 file a friend made with his garage band, that isn't in their database? The CD a local choir sold as a fundraiser?
What will happen with stuff that's not on their RADAR? If they allow it unrestricted, that opens up an avenue to circumvent their "protection". If they block it, they'll cripple their software to the point of unusability.
And just how do they plan to collect these fees? Does my PC have to be online when I burn the CDs, so the software can check for authorization, and transfer fees accordingly? Do I have to enter my VISA number to burn a CD? What if I'm not online (there are still standalone PC in the world).
Just a hunch, but I think they'll find this unworkable.....
and
and finally,
The US doesn't own "everything around the Earth". But per the Outer Space Treaty, the US is responsible for the actions in space of any US-based "entities". Thus, proper govenmental clearance must be obtained before any activities can take place.
Very true - this review was more of a gripe about the company, its policies, and the installation process than about the game. I learned more about Michael's system than I did about actual gameplay in MystIII.
Did this "review" help me to decide about buying the game? No. I'd classify this more as a cautionary note - be aware that there are a number of known bugs, that the requirements on the box are not accurate, and that the Safedisk copy protection may not be compatible with your system. In that respect, this note was informative and useful. But as a review, this "review" sucked....
Sorta brings a whole new level of meaning to the term Blue Screen Of Death, doesn't it?
Michael, in your comments you state For example, Mundie says forking code is bad. Here's the same thought translated into manager-speak: "Having multiple vendors competing to offer us the best product at the lowest price is worse than having one vendor who can sell the product to us at monopoly prices."
Is that really the same thought? I don't think so. From my understanding, forking code is where source code diverges along different development lines. The resulting applications may have some code in common, but possibly key parts are different. Interoperability, or even basic compatibility is not assured between these two related products.
Your manager-speak example addresses sole-source procurement and monopolistic behavior vs. open-market competition, rather than divergent development forks. To my mind, both are undesirable. But they're not the same thing, or even the same concept.
There are a lot of factors that contribute to the hours I'm required to work each week.
I'm an IT manager for a business services company, with a HQ facility and a newer remote processing facility. In our HQ, which has been around for about 12 years, there are a lot of support issues - legacy equipment, workstations that have been pressed into service as servers, systems that have been upgraded or reinstalled a dozen times over. The staff there easily works 60+ hour weeks, just trying to keep up.
I'm in the new remote facility, built from the ground up 18 months ago. We've got server-class systems as our servers, all new equipment, standardized desktops, network shares for user data.... When I designed this facility, I tried to learn from the mistakes made in HQ, and ended up with a much more stable environment, so my workload is correspondingly lower. I still put in 50 hours or so per week, but a good portion of that is doing remote administration of HQ systems. If I only had to deal with my facility, I could be at 40 hours easily.
What you say also applies here, but only for hourly employees (which would include part time). Exempt employees are a different story.
First of all, IANAHRPerson, but I have discussed this with one as part of my hair-pointening promotion. This is going from memory and rather sparse notes, and may apply only to California. YMMV.
There are certain requirements for becoming an exempt employee. Advanced degrees are one way of "qualifying", but not the only one. You can be made exempt if you are in a "professional" career field, or perform functions that the company have deemed to be absolutely vital. It's been my experience that this is how most IS/IT types get made exempt (it's certainly true in my case, as I have no advanced degree, and have been an exempt employee at various companies for over 15 years).
Once you are exempt, you get paid a flat salary to perform the functions listed in your job description (including the infamous "other duties as assigned"). You are paid based on your job performance and completion of your assigned duties. Hours do not enter into the fomula at all; in fact, if they do, your exempt status comes into jeopardy.
Suppose I go home sick after working 2 hours. A hourly employee would get charged 6 hours sick time. But as an exempt employee, I should not be charged for any sick time - I worked part of that day, so I get paid for the full day. Breaking it down into "2 hours worked, 6 hours sick" shifts the pay charging from "job/task based" to "hour based". The same goes for running errands during the day, doctors appointments, and the like. If I make up the time, I jeopardize my exempt status. I get paid to get the work done, no matter how many (or few) hours it takes.
So, if you're exempt, and your boss is making you take partial sick or vacation time, s/he may be jeopardizing your exempt status. Check with your HR rep.
Now, to go with this, if my job duties require me to put in 50-60 hour weeks, come in on weekends, be on-call 24/7 (which, at times, it does), well, that's the other side of the coin. As an exempt employee, you should not get any sort of additional official compensation, either in salary or time off, for these extra hours.
Note that I said "official" - most managers (and I'm one of them) will cut their exempt employees some extra slack when they've been putting in extra hours. A lot of time, it's "work at home" time, where they're officially on the job, but unofficially at the beach. Money's harder to do - I've received extra stock options "in recognition of my efforts and value to the company", but that requires action at the Board level (at least, it does in our company). It's tough for managers to give monetary perks to their overworked exempt employees.
Anyway, that's my understanding of the difference between hourly and exempt employees.....
One good way to spend all those on-call hours: type (or scan) all the software documentation into encrypted files, preferably ones that can only be read by non-standard applications.
Then, shred the originals.
Use these files (on the sly, of course) to become the sole office expert on all the vital applications. Instant job security.
Of course, any chance at a vacation instantly goes out the window....
Amen! My cell phone and pager are always on, always nearby, and have interrupted more evenings and weekends than I care to remember. And according to the rules of exempt employment, not only do I not collect overtime, I also can't accrue comp time for the extra hours I work.
When you're salaried, you're paid to get the job done, however long it takes. Hours don't count. And if the job includes being on call, well, them's the breaks....
I gesture at my computer constantly. It doesn't increase my productivity or improve my computing, but it does make me feel a whole lot better....
... if I note that James Taylor had a song entitled BSUR,SUCSIMIM
D'oh! This thread is probably about the handheld devices, not the Maxtor. Please excuse my previous post as the aimless ramblings of an overworked cubicle dweller....