Dell told its 905 workers there that the factory will be closed by January in a cost-cutting move that will send more of the company's manufacturing overseas.... Analysts said they expect Dell will transfer much of the work now done in North Carolina to lower-cost contract manufacturers in Asia, who already make PCs for Dell's rivals.
The laws of thermodynamics are only valid when the "system" is very well defined. When you define the system as the entire universe, the laws aren't very helpful.
I heard the same things said about Wind98, 2000, XP, and Windows7. Don't you remember the whole "Windows 7 is just Vista with a new skin?" And Vista was just XP with a new skin. And before that XP was Windows 2000 with a new skin. Now Windows 8 is just Windows 7 with a new skin. You don't know it, but we're currently using windows 3.1, just with a different skin. Why bother upgrading?
In my experience these people usually end up in the business school after failing out of whatever department they were accepted to. I should know I got a second degree in business and had to spend every day with these people. These same people also went to go work for Goldman Sachs, and other big Wall Street firms. It really enlightened me as to why the financial sector is so fucked up.
There are certainly opportunities available for disadvantaged kids. Along with 40 other students I spent 4 years of my undergrad tutoring inner city kids and helping them with science fair projects. I attribute 90% of my success in college to what I learned in science fair. The past couple weeks I worked in a program which gives about 100 inner city kids the opportunity to learn math, science, and robotics over the summer. They don't have to pay a dime for this. Sure it's not going to accommodate everyone, but there is an interview process to make sure only kids who are really interested get in.
There are opportunities out there for these kids if they really want them. I've met some seriously disadvantaged kids in my work, and they are some of the brightest most motivated kids I know, regardless of economic background. These kids aren't going to need affirmative action when they get to college, and are going to be way more qualified than some other applicants.
My general stance is that college is way too late to try to level the playing field. It should be done earlier, through the kinds of programs I've volunteered for in the past. That's where you really make a difference. No need for AA because you'll be building kids who don't need a handicap to compete.
Affirmative Action doesn't hand the student a degree, it just gets them in the school.
I often found that the hardest part is getting in. I applied to a top tier school early admission and was deferred to regular admission. Then I was waitlisted, and finally I was accepted. Once there, I found some kids who were accepted to early admission were borderline retarded, compulsive liars, and habitual slackers. Some of these kids didn't do too hot, but others joined frats and had a nice support network to help them through college (not to mention a steady supply of Adderall).
For a while it really irked me that these kids were picked before me, when I felt I was more qualified, but I eventually got over it when they dropped out of my program.
when you can easily work on screen as it is, with a stylus, or with any USB or bluetooth keyboard why would the iPad not be a good solution for day to day note taking?
As a heavy Tablet PC user (you know, the tablets we had before tablets were cool) I thoroughly disagree with this, at least for an academic scenario. I take all my notes on my Latitude XT. Now THAT is a great note taking computer. Write with the stylus in one note, flip the screen around and type just as easily. It has robust and full featured note taking applications like OneNote, which is pretty much the killer app for tablets.
I tried to use my iPad to do the same, but it's really just awful. Without an active digitizer, any stylus you buy is as accurate as writing with your thumb. So you end up writing super large, which isn't really isn't great for the intricate diagrams I like to draw. The apps are pretty anemic as well. Apps like UPAD are nice, but they don't have all the features of something like OneNote. Then there's the issue of multitasking, which is something the iPad really doesn't do even with the iOS4. I'm talking voice recording, cutting images from textbooks, pasting in notes, browsing the internet. It can do these things... but it's just way too slow compared to how I work on my tablet PC. And trying to do these things on the iPad 1 is just painfully slow and unstable sometimes.
In all it's an okay device, but I can't use it for what I wanted to. I usually just end up reading books and browsing web pages with it. Content consumption
Has everyone forgotten there are hundreds of universities out there doing pie in the sky research every day that will most likely take decades to monetize, if ever?
What about our national research labs? Sandia, Fermilab, Los Alamos... amazing things have come out of these places and they're still doing great work that again, won't readily be monetized. How about NASA's mars missions, both past and future?
And for crying out loud.... CERN? How much more pie in the sky can you get? The LHC cost $9billion and what exactly is the ROI of that?
The problem is this: Let's say HR gives you the benefit of the doubt and trusts your ability to learn the new language in a week. Then it turns out you overestimated your abilities, drop the ball, and generally fuck up. Then the higher ups confront HR on the issue...
"This guy said he had 5 years experience?"
"Well, no... but he promised he'd learn real fast."
"Why didn't you hire someone with actual experience?"
"Uh...."
HR can see this situation a mile away, so when they're faced with hundreds of candidates exactly like you, they're going to choose the one with actual experience instead of pretend "I'll try real hard" experience.
What shot at the desktop? That battle was fought and is pretty much over. There are new battles ahead, and the desktop is evolving into something else. You can see both Microsoft and Apple are taking their desktop operating systems in decidedly non-desktop directions. What is the open source world doing? Well if Ubuntu Unity and Gnome 3 are any indication it doesn't look good in my opinion.
Adding another screen to a PC boot sequence is not going to significantly "complicate matters".
Yes, but when half the computers are running on one OS and half on another, and a kid comes up to one and is confronted with something he's never seen before that does complicate matters. You know, that would piss even me off if I went into a computer lab expecting to work on windows, and I realized I had to restart the damn computer or find another one before I could start working.
And what exactly is the issue with the license if the computer was bought and XP license?
3) Is the 2 year limit on XP relevant? Of course not, in 2 years as an XP machine it'll be due for a re-install anyway (if not before).
I've never had to wipe an XP install because it was running too slow. True, I've seen other machines that were bogged down by so much crap running in the background that the easiest thing to do was just start from scratch. But this is not an inherent trait of XP, that it will slowly decay if left alone. I guess if the kids are free to install Bonzai buddy and all kinds of crap then this might happen... but don't give them admin privileges and you should be fine.
Printers and such all support XP, but you have to figure out where to get the driver and which one to use; whereas with Ubuntu the driver support isn't 100%, but the stuff that does work will really Just Work with no fussing.
So essentially what you're saying is "Plug anything into XP and it's going to work. But you might have to put in a CD that came with the thing, or go to the manufacturer's webpage. However with Ubuntu it's a crapshoot that anything you plug in will work, and there's really no guarantee that there's a driver for it, but in the off chance there is a driver it's going to be a good one."
The better question is why set up a dual boot system, if XP will do just fine? Why complicate matters? I get you want to spread the FOSS mentality and all that, but that has a time and a place and it's not at a charity. And honestly they probably could not care less about the status of the source code, and just want something that is familiar and does the job.
All true points, so of course your mileage may vary depending on the specific train. However regarding the last points I've always considered the journey as part of the trip. Although with kids that probably wouldn't hold true.
Did you read your own link? Apparently they were screened because something else was going on, and they didn't even have to if they didn't want to enter the station. Meaning they could have taken their luggage off the train, hopped in their car, and driven away without going through screening. So still safe for now! But for how long...
A train is an excellent alternative! Sure it might take a little longer and cost a little more (sometimes it's actually cheaper), but it is incredibly comfortable and convenient. Most trains have a dining car, a little car with movie, and a viewing car with large glass windows so you can sit and watch the country go by. The seats are large and there's tons of leg room. Most trains have outlets now so no need to worry about the laptop dying. Some even have wifi! Oh, bags come on for free (there's a limit to that of course, but it's pretty generous), and for longer trips you can get a private room with a pull out bed. If you have a family you can get a large private room that sleeps 4 people and has a private bathroom!
Best of all: NO TSA GOONS. Train is the best option unless you're a real frequent traveler, and have to be there and back in a day or something.
Slashdot Mirror
Lenovo technically isn't outsourcing by manufacturing in China.
Dell told its 905 workers there that the factory will be closed by January in a cost-cutting move that will send more of the company's manufacturing overseas.... Analysts said they expect Dell will transfer much of the work now done in North Carolina to lower-cost contract manufacturers in Asia, who already make PCs for Dell's rivals.
The laws of thermodynamics are only valid when the "system" is very well defined. When you define the system as the entire universe, the laws aren't very helpful.
I heard the same things said about Wind98, 2000, XP, and Windows7. Don't you remember the whole "Windows 7 is just Vista with a new skin?" And Vista was just XP with a new skin. And before that XP was Windows 2000 with a new skin. Now Windows 8 is just Windows 7 with a new skin. You don't know it, but we're currently using windows 3.1, just with a different skin. Why bother upgrading?
In my experience these people usually end up in the business school after failing out of whatever department they were accepted to. I should know I got a second degree in business and had to spend every day with these people. These same people also went to go work for Goldman Sachs, and other big Wall Street firms. It really enlightened me as to why the financial sector is so fucked up.
It's funny how you hear the same comments ever 3 years or so when MS releases a new OS.
I don't think Microsoft is losing many people to Linux. Their biggest competitors are first themselves, and second Apple.
There are certainly opportunities available for disadvantaged kids. Along with 40 other students I spent 4 years of my undergrad tutoring inner city kids and helping them with science fair projects. I attribute 90% of my success in college to what I learned in science fair. The past couple weeks I worked in a program which gives about 100 inner city kids the opportunity to learn math, science, and robotics over the summer. They don't have to pay a dime for this. Sure it's not going to accommodate everyone, but there is an interview process to make sure only kids who are really interested get in.
There are opportunities out there for these kids if they really want them. I've met some seriously disadvantaged kids in my work, and they are some of the brightest most motivated kids I know, regardless of economic background. These kids aren't going to need affirmative action when they get to college, and are going to be way more qualified than some other applicants.
My general stance is that college is way too late to try to level the playing field. It should be done earlier, through the kinds of programs I've volunteered for in the past. That's where you really make a difference. No need for AA because you'll be building kids who don't need a handicap to compete.
Affirmative Action doesn't hand the student a degree, it just gets them in the school.
I often found that the hardest part is getting in. I applied to a top tier school early admission and was deferred to regular admission. Then I was waitlisted, and finally I was accepted. Once there, I found some kids who were accepted to early admission were borderline retarded, compulsive liars, and habitual slackers. Some of these kids didn't do too hot, but others joined frats and had a nice support network to help them through college (not to mention a steady supply of Adderall).
For a while it really irked me that these kids were picked before me, when I felt I was more qualified, but I eventually got over it when they dropped out of my program.
when you can easily work on screen as it is, with a stylus, or with any USB or bluetooth keyboard why would the iPad not be a good solution for day to day note taking?
As a heavy Tablet PC user (you know, the tablets we had before tablets were cool) I thoroughly disagree with this, at least for an academic scenario. I take all my notes on my Latitude XT. Now THAT is a great note taking computer. Write with the stylus in one note, flip the screen around and type just as easily. It has robust and full featured note taking applications like OneNote, which is pretty much the killer app for tablets.
I tried to use my iPad to do the same, but it's really just awful. Without an active digitizer, any stylus you buy is as accurate as writing with your thumb. So you end up writing super large, which isn't really isn't great for the intricate diagrams I like to draw. The apps are pretty anemic as well. Apps like UPAD are nice, but they don't have all the features of something like OneNote. Then there's the issue of multitasking, which is something the iPad really doesn't do even with the iOS4. I'm talking voice recording, cutting images from textbooks, pasting in notes, browsing the internet. It can do these things... but it's just way too slow compared to how I work on my tablet PC. And trying to do these things on the iPad 1 is just painfully slow and unstable sometimes.
In all it's an okay device, but I can't use it for what I wanted to. I usually just end up reading books and browsing web pages with it. Content consumption
Uh, there's at least one (Google).
Has everyone forgotten there are hundreds of universities out there doing pie in the sky research every day that will most likely take decades to monetize, if ever?
What about our national research labs? Sandia, Fermilab, Los Alamos... amazing things have come out of these places and they're still doing great work that again, won't readily be monetized. How about NASA's mars missions, both past and future?
And for crying out loud.... CERN? How much more pie in the sky can you get? The LHC cost $9billion and what exactly is the ROI of that?
The problem is this: Let's say HR gives you the benefit of the doubt and trusts your ability to learn the new language in a week. Then it turns out you overestimated your abilities, drop the ball, and generally fuck up. Then the higher ups confront HR on the issue...
"This guy said he had 5 years experience?"
"Well, no... but he promised he'd learn real fast."
"Why didn't you hire someone with actual experience?"
"Uh...."
HR can see this situation a mile away, so when they're faced with hundreds of candidates exactly like you, they're going to choose the one with actual experience instead of pretend "I'll try real hard" experience.
No they don't, they want whatever the next TV commercial tells them to want.
Right, so they don't want to choose... were you trying to contradict yourself?
What shot at the desktop? That battle was fought and is pretty much over. There are new battles ahead, and the desktop is evolving into something else. You can see both Microsoft and Apple are taking their desktop operating systems in decidedly non-desktop directions. What is the open source world doing? Well if Ubuntu Unity and Gnome 3 are any indication it doesn't look good in my opinion.
Adding another screen to a PC boot sequence is not going to significantly "complicate matters".
Yes, but when half the computers are running on one OS and half on another, and a kid comes up to one and is confronted with something he's never seen before that does complicate matters. You know, that would piss even me off if I went into a computer lab expecting to work on windows, and I realized I had to restart the damn computer or find another one before I could start working.
And what exactly is the issue with the license if the computer was bought and XP license?
3) Is the 2 year limit on XP relevant? Of course not, in 2 years as an XP machine it'll be due for a re-install anyway (if not before).
I've never had to wipe an XP install because it was running too slow. True, I've seen other machines that were bogged down by so much crap running in the background that the easiest thing to do was just start from scratch. But this is not an inherent trait of XP, that it will slowly decay if left alone. I guess if the kids are free to install Bonzai buddy and all kinds of crap then this might happen... but don't give them admin privileges and you should be fine.
So then why not keep XP and install these open source applications ahead of time? Last I check Open Office, Gimp, etc are free for windows.
Printers and such all support XP, but you have to figure out where to get the driver and which one to use; whereas with Ubuntu the driver support isn't 100%, but the stuff that does work will really Just Work with no fussing.
So essentially what you're saying is "Plug anything into XP and it's going to work. But you might have to put in a CD that came with the thing, or go to the manufacturer's webpage. However with Ubuntu it's a crapshoot that anything you plug in will work, and there's really no guarantee that there's a driver for it, but in the off chance there is a driver it's going to be a good one."
The better question is why set up a dual boot system, if XP will do just fine? Why complicate matters? I get you want to spread the FOSS mentality and all that, but that has a time and a place and it's not at a charity. And honestly they probably could not care less about the status of the source code, and just want something that is familiar and does the job.
Thanks for explaining the difference between digital and physical media to us. Anything else you're an expert on? I'd love to hear more.
I like the first one, to Mozilla.org. I means seriously? Why no links to Apple.com Google.com and Microsoft.com? I've never heard of these companies.
All true points, so of course your mileage may vary depending on the specific train. However regarding the last points I've always considered the journey as part of the trip. Although with kids that probably wouldn't hold true.
Did you read your own link? Apparently they were screened because something else was going on, and they didn't even have to if they didn't want to enter the station. Meaning they could have taken their luggage off the train, hopped in their car, and driven away without going through screening. So still safe for now! But for how long...
A train is an excellent alternative! Sure it might take a little longer and cost a little more (sometimes it's actually cheaper), but it is incredibly comfortable and convenient. Most trains have a dining car, a little car with movie, and a viewing car with large glass windows so you can sit and watch the country go by. The seats are large and there's tons of leg room. Most trains have outlets now so no need to worry about the laptop dying. Some even have wifi! Oh, bags come on for free (there's a limit to that of course, but it's pretty generous), and for longer trips you can get a private room with a pull out bed. If you have a family you can get a large private room that sleeps 4 people and has a private bathroom!
Best of all: NO TSA GOONS. Train is the best option unless you're a real frequent traveler, and have to be there and back in a day or something.