More fundamental reform is required: this is not about people not acting like a--holes for fear of the penalty, it's about people not acting like a--holes because they *aren't* a--holes.
Come on. What do you think the folks on Slashdot think? I don't know the first thing about mainframes, but I assure you that the folks on Slashdot think that any suggestion that Linux is not the best solution to everything is pure FUD, Linux r0x0rs, rah rah, the unstoppable might of open source will surely roll over any puny opposition unwise enough to stand in their way.
That may or may not be true in this case - like I said, I don't know the first thing about mainframes and I haven't even read the article. I'm just saying it's pretty silly to ask slashdot if anyone should use Linux.
Dude, did you ever actually work at a dot-com? I did, and I can assure you that plenty of the companies of that period (no pun intended) did indeed crash as a result of pure, unadulterated stupidity.
The hardware costs actually run significantly higher than that when you consider the specialized boards, front panels, and such. There's also something to be said for easy integration with a home entertainment system.
Oh, and they do release software updates, by the way. I happen to have written the update code before I was seduced by the power of the Dark Side (ie, left for a 50% raise at a marketing company).
an aside: it's quite apparent that many slashdot users could really benefit from aquiring some business knowledge simply by the way marketing people are regarded by most people here.;)
"I am a marketing person."
but anyhow, if you have any aspirations of getting out of a generic cubicle job your best bet is to learn a little about business. while experience is great, ultimately you need a starting point and that's what a good MBA can provide. it'll give you the fundamental knoweldge of how finance, marketing, sales and business development work, and hopefully a base that you can apply to your learning on the job.
"If you want to be in an important field, like marketing or management, you must first purchase a sturdy shovel."
having a technical degree is useful, but if you can pull off both a technical degree and have an MBA you'll be absolutely golden. if you're one of those people who can be techincally-minded and yet convey your thoughts easily to others then you may really enjoy taking an MBA as well as learning a lot from the experience.
"If you enjoy talking to idiots, you'll enjoy getting an MBA."
engineering is great, but ultimately it takes the business infrastructure to market and sell a product.
"Creating things is less important than selling them."
of course, to do this properly those in sales and marketing have to have a good understanding of the technology they're pushing or you get the "clueless marketroid" symptom so often discussed here slashdot. this is where techies with MBAs come in, and there's a real need for this.
"Marketing people are hip with technology. It's just those 'clueless marketroids' that don't get it. But not us. We're down with it. Yo."
from a personal perspective, if you're the type of techinical person that also love to interact with other people then ultimately you'd be very happy taking an MBA.
"If you're a technical person who enjoys discussing technical subjects with non-technical people, you'll be very happy taking an MBA. See 'talking to idiots' above."
i personally work in marketing blah blah blah.
I knew it!
[some stuff about getting jobs in sales]
[static]
all in all i'd say that if you think you'd enjoy the work, go get an MBA.
"If you plan to be in management or sales anyway, get an MBA."
it's an extremely useful carreer move, especially for the technically minded.
"You'll make more money."
To make a serious contribution of sorts, though, I'll just point out the obvious, like everyone else in this thread. If you want to go into marketing or sales, an MBA will help you get a job. If you don't, it's probably useless and may actually be regarded with suspicion by most technical types.
Most of the posts in this thread seem to be of the "all the stability of Windows with the broad application base of Linux!" sort, and I have to admit that that was my first reaction, too.
But, now that I think about it for a moment, most of that broad Linux application base is released under the GPL or some other free (beer|speech) license, whereas a lot of the useful Windows apps aren't. I could easily see a lot of college students who don't feel like shelling out for Adobe but also don't want to switch to Linux using this to run the Gimp, for instance.
(The Gimp may actually run on Windows already; I wouldn't know. That was just an example.)
Slashdot Mirror
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
- P. T. Barnum
The problem with that is, people are a--holes.
> I was always a horrible student in English, but I discovered in the "real" world, being literate, in speaking and in writing is very important.
How ironic.
Come on. What do you think the folks on Slashdot think? I don't know the first thing about mainframes, but I assure you that the folks on Slashdot think that any suggestion that Linux is not the best solution to everything is pure FUD, Linux r0x0rs, rah rah, the unstoppable might of open source will surely roll over any puny opposition unwise enough to stand in their way.
That may or may not be true in this case - like I said, I don't know the first thing about mainframes and I haven't even read the article. I'm just saying it's pretty silly to ask slashdot if anyone should use Linux.
Dude, did you ever actually work at a dot-com? I did, and I can assure you that plenty of the companies of that period (no pun intended) did indeed crash as a result of pure, unadulterated stupidity.
Oh, and they do release software updates, by the way. I happen to have written the update code before I was seduced by the power of the Dark Side (ie, left for a 50% raise at a marketing company).
at least to this crowd, has got to be that it runs linux.
If you like ACME::Bleach, you should try ACME::Smirch. Wash all those messy alphanumerics right out of your code!
Translation:
an aside: it's quite apparent that many slashdot users could really benefit from aquiring some business knowledge simply by the way marketing people are regarded by most people here. ;)
"I am a marketing person."
but anyhow, if you have any aspirations of getting out of a generic cubicle job your best bet is to learn a little about business. while experience is great, ultimately you need a starting point and that's what a good MBA can provide. it'll give you the fundamental knoweldge of how finance, marketing, sales and business development work, and hopefully a base that you can apply to your learning on the job.
"If you want to be in an important field, like marketing or management, you must first purchase a sturdy shovel."
having a technical degree is useful, but if you can pull off both a technical degree and have an MBA you'll be absolutely golden. if you're one of those people who can be techincally-minded and yet convey your thoughts easily to others then you may really enjoy taking an MBA as well as learning a lot from the experience.
"If you enjoy talking to idiots, you'll enjoy getting an MBA."
engineering is great, but ultimately it takes the business infrastructure to market and sell a product.
"Creating things is less important than selling them."
of course, to do this properly those in sales and marketing have to have a good understanding of the technology they're pushing or you get the "clueless marketroid" symptom so often discussed here slashdot. this is where techies with MBAs come in, and there's a real need for this.
"Marketing people are hip with technology. It's just those 'clueless marketroids' that don't get it. But not us. We're down with it. Yo."
from a personal perspective, if you're the type of techinical person that also love to interact with other people then ultimately you'd be very happy taking an MBA.
"If you're a technical person who enjoys discussing technical subjects with non-technical people, you'll be very happy taking an MBA. See 'talking to idiots' above."
i personally work in marketing blah blah blah.
I knew it!
[some stuff about getting jobs in sales]
[static]
all in all i'd say that if you think you'd enjoy the work, go get an MBA.
"If you plan to be in management or sales anyway, get an MBA."
it's an extremely useful carreer move, especially for the technically minded.
"You'll make more money."
To make a serious contribution of sorts, though, I'll just point out the obvious, like everyone else in this thread. If you want to go into marketing or sales, an MBA will help you get a job. If you don't, it's probably useless and may actually be regarded with suspicion by most technical types.
--
John Hyland
Yeah.
--
John Hyland
Backend Coder and Kung Foo Master
But, now that I think about it for a moment, most of that broad Linux application base is released under the GPL or some other free (beer|speech) license, whereas a lot of the useful Windows apps aren't. I could easily see a lot of college students who don't feel like shelling out for Adobe but also don't want to switch to Linux using this to run the Gimp, for instance.
(The Gimp may actually run on Windows already; I wouldn't know. That was just an example.)
--
John Hyland
Backend Coder and Kung Foo Master
So... what is your longest uninterrupted hacking binge?
Oh, really?
[insert wild speculation and/or accusations here]
Last Post!
Gee, Rob, are your forgetting somebody?
[Insert obligatory rant about 'the editorial quality of slashdot blah blah blah' here]
...does that mean Slashdot is officially 'dead'? Guess we're all off to kuro5hin!