For me and about 6% of the U.S. population, I think the best company to work for is just about ANY company right now. All I want right now is a job! A couple of years ago I might have taken an interest in this list. But now... I am going back to HotJobs, Monster, etc. to look for any company that has an opening!
Just an FYI to anyone considering a factory tour of the Oakdale, CA Hershey plant... They are no longer giving factory tours out here. I don't know about other Hershey plants, but this one stopped because of "security concerns after Sept. 11th." Very disappointing to my 3 yeard old to say the least!
Ugh... I have been going downhill since 1999. 1999: Bonus was 120% of my annual salary(yes, times were great) 2000: Bonus was 75% of my annual salary(yes, times were still pretty good) 2001: No bonus; I was laid off, but got 6 months severance (Not bad, considering...) 2002: No bonus; I was laid off and got nothing at all. (This is the Grinch Christmas)
If you read the article, it is the version AFTER.Net Server that has been scrapped--code name Longhorn..Net server has already shipped Release Candidate 1 and RC2 should be out shortly. The final.Net Server should be out next year. Longhorn server and desktop versions were due out in 2004. Since it take corporate environments a couple of years to roll out a server upgrade, MS figured.Net Server would never get implemented by most IT departments(i.e. they wouldn't sell many copies of.Net Server).
Now, MS is just going to skip the Longhorn release in 2004 and instead go to the Blackcomb release.
I'm doing some consulting work for a couple of small companies that are hooked on those Blackberry email devices. They want to use the Enterprise edition(so the email redirection takes place transparently on the server). Unfortunately, when I tell them the costs of an Exchange server(they use POP3 now) plus Blackberry software($3000) plus consulting fees, they balk at the idea. I would love to throw in a sendmail or postfix server instead, but need the Blackberry redirection.
If you work at a publicly traded or SEC regulated company... Go to work on Halloween as an SEC inspector. Back in 1999, I did this at the company I worked for. It was a financial company and the letters S-E-C always scared them anyway. I won the prize for scariest costume and once the CEO found out, he told his secretary not to even let me walk by his office. And when he gave out the different prizes, he flipped me off instead of shaking my hand. It was hilarious. And with today's "corporate cilmate", I'm sure a lot of companies would react the same way. The costume is easy... Just wear a suit and make a name badge and some business cards with the SEC logo on it.
I agree with some of what you say. I also know many people who jumped into tech just for the cash. I know a few that don't have home computers and many who have only one. Then they come to my house and are bewildered as to why I have 15 computers in my office... and the OSes range from Amiga to Windows XP (yes, including Linux and more).
I thrive on tech. I love it. I always told my friends that were making half as much as me in other jobs that I was just lucky that what I love happened to pay very well.
I will never let tech out of my life. But I am tired of the current environment. I currently have a job which would be great if not for the jerks in management. Before they were bad, but know they think they can demand anything because us techies have no where to go. This is of course in Silicon Valley which has been really hit hard by the dot com bust.
And they are right... I would love to quit and find another job, but the market sucks. Everyone wants the exact requirements of the job to be matched by your resume. I am at the point in my career where I can pick up any piece of software/hardware or whatever and be proficient with it in a couple of days. And of course... Now everyone wants you to have a degree. They don't care that I have been programming and building computers/networks since I was 7 years old(back in 1978).
I thought I could enhance my resume by picking up certifications or completing my degree on line, but that sucks when you work 60-85 hours in a week and then have a family. I was learning at work, but now they seem to find more crap jobs. (Like clean up the IT storage room).
So am I ready to leave tech... NO. But do I feel I might have to... YES. I think of it this way... it will be like a sabbatical. I will get out of the industry during this crap, but still get paid enough to at least put a roof over my kid's head and food on the table.
The problem is I don't know what else to do besides tech. It is all I have ever done and the only thing I really like. I am hoping to come up with another career that I could possible involve computers in. I also thought about trying the consulting business, but that is probably a worse situation than what I am in.
So I go back to my original question... What other careers might be suited to an ex-techie? Any ideas?
Is there a list of what's on each of the ISO images available for download? I looked and saw 8 of them. I figure the first two are probably for the install and the rest are apps/docs/tools... but which is which and what exactly is on each one?
I got out of the Air Force in 1999 after 10 years in the career field you mentioned (3C0X1). The most important thing for you to remember is that in that job, you can work with anything that involves a computer. This means you might get a great position as a network security specialist or you might work as a telephone operator. Most likely you will start in the hell known as Base Comm Center. Basically, you will operate systems that process classified email. It is extremely boring and if you make a mistake, you get burned because you compromised national security.
And don't think that you can waltz in and impress the commander into giving you the network job because of your vast knowledge. Everyone in the 3C0X1 wants that job and you will be the lost ranking person. So guess what... back to the Comm Center.
Another thing about the 3C0X1 job is that they are needed at every single AF installation in the world. This is good and bad. If you want to travel around the world, you will like this. However... most of the time you don't get your choice. I put in for any East Coast base, and I got Germany. The next time, I put in for East Coast bases again and I got California. Neither assignment was what I wanted, but both turned out to be great.
And as far as assignments go... Don't just pick the base you want because of location. Find out what they do at the base. For example... If they have a Combat Communications Squadron, be prepared to spend 180 days a year away from home (do you like Kuwait at Christmas time?). Hint: Look for Space Command bases. For me, I was lucky and got Onizuka AS in California. I worked in a satellite mission control center. In addition to working on a ton of military space launches, I also worked on 33 space shuttle missions with NASA.
One last word of caution.... I know you probably aren't expecting the AF to beat a civilian job in terms of salary/benefits. But, be aware at how pitiful the benefits and pay really are. When I got out in 1999, I almost tripled my salary. A lot of the benefits the AF does have are shrinking and suck. Ask anyone in the military (besides a recruiter) about the medical benefits!
Anyway.... If you want some more insight... Email me at patrick@theNO-UNSOLICITATED-EMAILinfobox.com
I was lucky... my wife didn't like diamonds! A lot of people like them only because they are suppose to. My wife was very objective about it. She wanted a pretty ring and decided that diamonds were just plain boring. In the end, we decided on a sapphire. She loved the dark blue stone, it was my birthstone, and ol' Charles gave one to Princess Di (not that either of us give a crap about Princess Di, but it was good ammo for the girlfriends biggest diamond contest).
I say go for something different... An engagement is about the most personal relationship you will ever have. Make the ring just as personal... not some competition!
I am really sick of this debate myself. Right after HS, I started working right away(actually, I joined the Air Force). I have taken classes as time went by and collected about 2 1/2 years worth of college credit. I have to say 90% of the classes were a waste of my time. Either I already knew the stuff, or I could have learned it a lot faster by reading a book on my own. Of course, you will hear the argument that college is all about the experience. Huh? That is the stupidest reason to go to college. Think about it... That is like saying, "I could learn this on my own, but I really rather mix in some excessive drinking and mid-day naps."
Another problem I have with the college system is the crap courses you have to take. Although my Film History class as a breeze and satisfied a Humanities requirement, I was irritated that my tuition (and a lot of people's tax money) was paying for something so useless. And please, don't tell me the discussions with my peers are invaluable. You either get the clueless type that has never formed an opinion on their own or the type that thinks every discussion should be handled like a Lincoln-Douglas debate.
I also despised the canned courses I got from the professors. You know the type... they use the same syllabus year after year. They even leave the dates on there so you have to cross out 1984 and write in 2002. Of course, many "elite" colleges have TAs teach classes now. And look at the online course that are now beginning to be offered by major universities. They want to charge the same price or even more for a course that could easily be run by an email bot.
After all of my gripes... do you think you should not go to college? Actually, you probably should! Why? Because it is like a cult association. The people doing the hiring suffered through college and they expect no less of you. Your boss will likely have been to college and will use your lack of college as an excuse anytime you get dumped on. Yep... the scam is full circle. So go ahead and suffer through it. Hopefully you can get someone else to pay and you too can stay drunk for the next 4 years.
There is my 2 cents and my -2 karma for today.
btw... I am not doing to badly without my degree. I make 6 figures, but I do still have conflicts with managers because my lack of a degree.
Wrong... The DoD using Lotus Notes and Exchange. Both are approved for use in the official Defense Message System. The Army has chosen Lotus Notes, while the Air Force uses Exchange. Not sure about the Navy.
I remember back when LightWave first came out for Windows. Newtek thought they would crush 3dStudio becuase of its price/features. To their amazement, sales were low. When they researched to find out why it wasn't selling, they found many companies ignored it because it wa TOO CHEAP. The old saying, "You pay for what you get" made purchasers think that if Brand X is half the price of Brand Z, there must be a reason. What did Newtek do? They raised the price by $1000 and Lightwave sales took off!
The same thing is happening today with stuff like StarOffice, GoBe, and Linux in general. People that don't know better assume that if it is cheap or free, it must be something wrong with it. Maybe the solution is to charge outrageous prices (with deep discounts for personal uses).
Amiga is set to release a player for PocketPC in April. So far they already have a player for Linux and Windows. Eventually, they plan on having a platform where you can use the same apps on cell phones, set top boxes, PDAs, PCs, etc. A week ago on TechTV(Screensavers), Bill McEwen of Amiga demoed how you could play the exact same game binary on Linux, Windows, PocketPC, and WindowsCE. For more info check out Amiga-Anywhere or Amiga.com. To see the TechTV video clip, download the MPG from one of the mirrors listed here.
This "warning" to Microsoft makes me wonder if the Air Force will soon be recieving a letter from MS's Licensing Dept. about whether they have the "correct" number of Windows and Office licenses.
And on a more serious note... A couple of posts have questioned why the AF uses MS products. When I was in the Air Force we were directed to convert our bases' Novell/cc:mail/Linux servers all over to MS products. The reason we were told was that they wanted a standard set of products used at all AF locations. This way, when you went from base to base, you would already be familiar with the software infrastructure. The reason MS was chosen was because it was easier to train people to learn the basics of Windows compared to the others. At the time, the Air Force was also learning that if they spent 4 years teaching someone to be a Linux/Solaris/etc guru, they would opt for a civilian job when their re-enlistment time came(i.e. they rather double or triple their salary and not have to worry about being sent to Bosnia).
I have been trying unsuccessfully to find a perfect solution for the same thing. To me, it seems to be a waste of money to buy a hardware MP3 player when I have one already... my PC. My system is running 24 hours a day anyway, so it makes sense to use it as an MP3 player. I have seen sites that allow you to control the PC via a remote, so that won't be a problem. The problem is connecting the PC to the stereo. This would be easy if I wanted to keep my server in the living room. But I want the stereo in the living room and my PC in the office. So the question is, how do I connect 'em?
The choices for doing this are: A) a USB to RCA converter-but the stereo has to be within 15 feet of the PC; B) an FM transmitter/receiver-but I have read reviews and the quality sucks; C) run a line out cable-but again, I hear quality sucks; or D) relocate the stereo to the office and run speaker cables back to the living room-running the cables may be a pain and lack of having the stereo's display in the living room. So far, it looks like option D may be my choice... unless someone else has a better answer.
I think it depends what you want to do with the sites. I have three sites that I maintain. myHayward.net is a community info website that I want to make sure is up 24/7 so I chose to outsource the hosting. On my other two sites, one is really just for my family and the other is a hobby of mine. I have used them as a way of testing out new stuff which in the end made me a better sys admin. For those two, I host them at home. If they go done for a few hours, no one will notice and if they do... who cares.
As for how much traffic a DSL line can take, I don't know since I only get about a dozen visitors a day. If anyone wants to know, go a head and "/." The-Andersons.com and TheInfoBox.com. After I restore my site to normal, I will let you know how bad it was!:)
I tried PHPNuke... But the security was horrible. (Do some searches on phpNuke and you will quickly find people who were burned by using phpNuke on their site.) Plus, each new release was so buggy. I would suggest trying a series of deifferent webloggers before settling on one... PostNuke, Slash, etc. I chose phpWebSite. It is a branch of phpNuke that is focused on fixing the sloppy code, XHTML 1.0 compliance, and meets the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative requirements. The project started at Appalachian State University and is maintained at SourceForge.
Pretty good and quick search engine for Bay Area homes is www.baymls.com --Although I could get it to find any houses for under $100,000. Strange, huh?
I guess we should also get rid the mouse buttons on my computer. Sometimes I close those annoying ads that pop up when I am surfing the web for pr0n. I didn't realize I was stealing content!
We use the Cybex Extenders which is basically the same thing as this. The advantage for use is that it clears up some needed room for us. We have an office in which there are 5 people working together(stock market traders). Becuase of their type of work, they have 3 PCs each. As you can imagine that would make their workspace quite crowded. It also generates a lot of heat. We use the Extenders to loacate their PCs in a nearby closet. This provides better security and the closet has a seprate A/C duct. It is also a lot quieter. Now, this only works because these users don't need floppies, CD-ROMs, etc. They have been reliable so far. Just plug them in and forget them.
Will it solve everyone's problems... No. Not IT product ever does. But this is useful in certain situations. I even took a set home. I used to be jealous of the quiet iMacs. Well now, I have the ultimate quiet computer. I put my PC in the garage, and used the Extender to connect my bedroom. Now my wife doesn't care if the PC is left on all night.
Another problem though is the cost. The last time I checked, the Extenders were about $400. I wouldn't buy them myself at that price... but spending company money, I didn't mind.:)
This is just media hype! Yes it is expensive to live in Silicon Valley. And the past couple of years have been really bad. But just think for a minute. There are a lot of families that live out here that work as teachers, janitors, sales clerks, etc. Everything you hear about Silicon Valley expenses are true... to an extent. Housing is expensive in MOST areas. Sometimes you have to commute a FEW miles to find affordable housing.
Right now I live in Hayward, CA, and work in San Mateo, CA. Both are on the fringes of Silicon Valley. What makes me laugh is the number of people who say they "can't" afford to buy a home here... but blow money on all sorts of ridiculous stuff and have maxed out their credit cards. My wife and I decided we wanted to buy a house and saved up money so we could do that. Now I have a good job and a nice house. My wife has chosen to not work for a couple of years so she can stay at home with our toddler. A lot of the problem is that individuals need to plan better.
However, I am not taking the blame off of the companies and civic leaders. There is definitely too much of a rush for businesses to be built when the companies and government know there isn't adequate housing or transportation. If you go for a drive in Santa Clasra county you will see countless businesses being built. At the same time, the government is complaining about the lack of space to build housing! Another problem that many areas face is that the people who already live there will always fight AGAINST new housing development. By limiting new houses, they drive their property values through the roof. I have seen this everywhere I have lived... England, Sacramento, North Carolina... it is all the same.
------------- TheInfoBox.com Another techie hangout... please visit so I can say I've been slashdotted!
If you ask me, I think this was the so-called Amiga MCC... Want to see the evidence? Just check out this technology brief presented by Amiga on July 16th of last year... or this Amiga Music Video from July 28th, 1999, in which the Transmeta name is seen. The technology they were talking about then was truly exciting. However, if it has all been wasted on an AOL version of WebTV, it will be boring.
------- TheInfoBox Another techie hangout... Please visit and crash my site so I can say I've been slashdotted!!
Slashdot Mirror
For me and about 6% of the U.S. population, I think the best company to work for is just about ANY company right now. All I want right now is a job! A couple of years ago I might have taken an interest in this list. But now... I am going back to HotJobs, Monster, etc. to look for any company that has an opening!
P.S. Hire me!!!!!
Just an FYI to anyone considering a factory tour of the Oakdale, CA Hershey plant... They are no longer giving factory tours out here. I don't know about other Hershey plants, but this one stopped because of "security concerns after Sept. 11th." Very disappointing to my 3 yeard old to say the least!
Nah... 802.11xp is nothing.... Now, 802.11.NET is something to wait for! :->
Ugh... I have been going downhill since 1999.
1999: Bonus was 120% of my annual salary(yes, times were great)
2000: Bonus was 75% of my annual salary(yes, times were still pretty good)
2001: No bonus; I was laid off, but got 6 months severance (Not bad, considering...)
2002: No bonus; I was laid off and got nothing at all. (This is the Grinch Christmas)
I guess 2004 will have to be better than this.
P.S. Need a Net. Admin.? Look at my resume: Resume for Patrick Anderson
If you read the article, it is the version AFTER .Net Server that has been scrapped--code name Longhorn. .Net server has already shipped Release Candidate 1 and RC2 should be out shortly. The final .Net Server should be out next year. Longhorn server and desktop versions were due out in 2004. Since it take corporate environments a couple of years to roll out a server upgrade, MS figured .Net Server would never get implemented by most IT departments(i.e. they wouldn't sell many copies of .Net Server).
Now, MS is just going to skip the Longhorn release in 2004 and instead go to the Blackcomb release.
I'm doing some consulting work for a couple of small companies that are hooked on those Blackberry email devices. They want to use the Enterprise edition(so the email redirection takes place transparently on the server). Unfortunately, when I tell them the costs of an Exchange server(they use POP3 now) plus Blackberry software($3000) plus consulting fees, they balk at the idea. I would love to throw in a sendmail or postfix server instead, but need the Blackberry redirection.
If you work at a publicly traded or SEC regulated company... Go to work on Halloween as an SEC inspector. Back in 1999, I did this at the company I worked for. It was a financial company and the letters S-E-C always scared them anyway. I won the prize for scariest costume and once the CEO found out, he told his secretary not to even let me walk by his office. And when he gave out the different prizes, he flipped me off instead of shaking my hand. It was hilarious. And with today's "corporate cilmate", I'm sure a lot of companies would react the same way. The costume is easy... Just wear a suit and make a name badge and some business cards with the SEC logo on it.
I agree with some of what you say. I also know many people who jumped into tech just for the cash. I know a few that don't have home computers and many who have only one. Then they come to my house and are bewildered as to why I have 15 computers in my office... and the OSes range from Amiga to Windows XP (yes, including Linux and more).
I thrive on tech. I love it. I always told my friends that were making half as much as me in other jobs that I was just lucky that what I love happened to pay very well.
I will never let tech out of my life. But I am tired of the current environment. I currently have a job which would be great if not for the jerks in management. Before they were bad, but know they think they can demand anything because us techies have no where to go. This is of course in Silicon Valley which has been really hit hard by the dot com bust.
And they are right... I would love to quit and find another job, but the market sucks. Everyone wants the exact requirements of the job to be matched by your resume. I am at the point in my career where I can pick up any piece of software/hardware or whatever and be proficient with it in a couple of days. And of course... Now everyone wants you to have a degree. They don't care that I have been programming and building computers/networks since I was 7 years old(back in 1978).
I thought I could enhance my resume by picking up certifications or completing my degree on line, but that sucks when you work 60-85 hours in a week and then have a family. I was learning at work, but now they seem to find more crap jobs. (Like clean up the IT storage room).
So am I ready to leave tech... NO. But do I feel I might have to... YES. I think of it this way... it will be like a sabbatical. I will get out of the industry during this crap, but still get paid enough to at least put a roof over my kid's head and food on the table.
The problem is I don't know what else to do besides tech. It is all I have ever done and the only thing I really like. I am hoping to come up with another career that I could possible involve computers in. I also thought about trying the consulting business, but that is probably a worse situation than what I am in.
So I go back to my original question... What other careers might be suited to an ex-techie? Any ideas?
Is there a list of what's on each of the ISO images available for download? I looked and saw 8 of them. I figure the first two are probably for the install and the rest are apps/docs/tools... but which is which and what exactly is on each one?
I got out of the Air Force in 1999 after 10 years in the career field you mentioned (3C0X1). The most important thing for you to remember is that in that job, you can work with anything that involves a computer. This means you might get a great position as a network security specialist or you might work as a telephone operator. Most likely you will start in the hell known as Base Comm Center. Basically, you will operate systems that process classified email. It is extremely boring and if you make a mistake, you get burned because you compromised national security.
And don't think that you can waltz in and impress the commander into giving you the network job because of your vast knowledge. Everyone in the 3C0X1 wants that job and you will be the lost ranking person. So guess what... back to the Comm Center.
Another thing about the 3C0X1 job is that they are needed at every single AF installation in the world. This is good and bad. If you want to travel around the world, you will like this. However... most of the time you don't get your choice. I put in for any East Coast base, and I got Germany. The next time, I put in for East Coast bases again and I got California. Neither assignment was what I wanted, but both turned out to be great.
And as far as assignments go... Don't just pick the base you want because of location. Find out what they do at the base. For example... If they have a Combat Communications Squadron, be prepared to spend 180 days a year away from home (do you like Kuwait at Christmas time?). Hint: Look for Space Command bases. For me, I was lucky and got Onizuka AS in California. I worked in a satellite mission control center. In addition to working on a ton of military space launches, I also worked on 33 space shuttle missions with NASA.
One last word of caution.... I know you probably aren't expecting the AF to beat a civilian job in terms of salary/benefits. But, be aware at how pitiful the benefits and pay really are. When I got out in 1999, I almost tripled my salary. A lot of the benefits the AF does have are shrinking and suck. Ask anyone in the military (besides a recruiter) about the medical benefits!
Anyway.... If you want some more insight... Email me at patrick@theNO-UNSOLICITATED-EMAILinfobox.com
I was lucky... my wife didn't like diamonds! A lot of people like them only because they are suppose to. My wife was very objective about it. She wanted a pretty ring and decided that diamonds were just plain boring. In the end, we decided on a sapphire. She loved the dark blue stone, it was my birthstone, and ol' Charles gave one to Princess Di (not that either of us give a crap about Princess Di, but it was good ammo for the girlfriends biggest diamond contest).
I say go for something different... An engagement is about the most personal relationship you will ever have. Make the ring just as personal... not some competition!
I am really sick of this debate myself. Right after HS, I started working right away(actually, I joined the Air Force). I have taken classes as time went by and collected about 2 1/2 years worth of college credit. I have to say 90% of the classes were a waste of my time. Either I already knew the stuff, or I could have learned it a lot faster by reading a book on my own. Of course, you will hear the argument that college is all about the experience. Huh? That is the stupidest reason to go to college. Think about it... That is like saying, "I could learn this on my own, but I really rather mix in some excessive drinking and mid-day naps."
Another problem I have with the college system is the crap courses you have to take. Although my Film History class as a breeze and satisfied a Humanities requirement, I was irritated that my tuition (and a lot of people's tax money) was paying for something so useless. And please, don't tell me the discussions with my peers are invaluable. You either get the clueless type that has never formed an opinion on their own or the type that thinks every discussion should be handled like a Lincoln-Douglas debate.
I also despised the canned courses I got from the professors. You know the type... they use the same syllabus year after year. They even leave the dates on there so you have to cross out 1984 and write in 2002. Of course, many "elite" colleges have TAs teach classes now. And look at the online course that are now beginning to be offered by major universities. They want to charge the same price or even more for a course that could easily be run by an email bot.
After all of my gripes... do you think you should not go to college? Actually, you probably should! Why? Because it is like a cult association. The people doing the hiring suffered through college and they expect no less of you. Your boss will likely have been to college and will use your lack of college as an excuse anytime you get dumped on. Yep... the scam is full circle. So go ahead and suffer through it. Hopefully you can get someone else to pay and you too can stay drunk for the next 4 years.
There is my 2 cents and my -2 karma for today.
btw... I am not doing to badly without my degree. I make 6 figures, but I do still have conflicts with managers because my lack of a degree.
Wrong... The DoD using Lotus Notes and Exchange. Both are approved for use in the official Defense Message System. The Army has chosen Lotus Notes, while the Air Force uses Exchange. Not sure about the Navy.
I remember back when LightWave first came out for Windows. Newtek thought they would crush 3dStudio becuase of its price/features. To their amazement, sales were low. When they researched to find out why it wasn't selling, they found many companies ignored it because it wa TOO CHEAP. The old saying, "You pay for what you get" made purchasers think that if Brand X is half the price of Brand Z, there must be a reason. What did Newtek do? They raised the price by $1000 and Lightwave sales took off!
The same thing is happening today with stuff like StarOffice, GoBe, and Linux in general. People that don't know better assume that if it is cheap or free, it must be something wrong with it. Maybe the solution is to charge outrageous prices (with deep discounts for personal uses).
Amiga is set to release a player for PocketPC in April. So far they already have a player for Linux and Windows. Eventually, they plan on having a platform where you can use the same apps on cell phones, set top boxes, PDAs, PCs, etc. A week ago on TechTV(Screensavers), Bill McEwen of Amiga demoed how you could play the exact same game binary on Linux, Windows, PocketPC, and WindowsCE. For more info check out Amiga-Anywhere or Amiga.com. To see the TechTV video clip, download the MPG from one of the mirrors listed here.
This "warning" to Microsoft makes me wonder if the Air Force will soon be recieving a letter from MS's Licensing Dept. about whether they have the "correct" number of Windows and Office licenses.
And on a more serious note... A couple of posts have questioned why the AF uses MS products. When I was in the Air Force we were directed to convert our bases' Novell/cc:mail/Linux servers all over to MS products. The reason we were told was that they wanted a standard set of products used at all AF locations. This way, when you went from base to base, you would already be familiar with the software infrastructure. The reason MS was chosen was because it was easier to train people to learn the basics of Windows compared to the others. At the time, the Air Force was also learning that if they spent 4 years teaching someone to be a Linux/Solaris/etc guru, they would opt for a civilian job when their re-enlistment time came(i.e. they rather double or triple their salary and not have to worry about being sent to Bosnia).
I have been trying unsuccessfully to find a perfect solution for the same thing. To me, it seems to be a waste of money to buy a hardware MP3 player when I have one already... my PC. My system is running 24 hours a day anyway, so it makes sense to use it as an MP3 player. I have seen sites that allow you to control the PC via a remote, so that won't be a problem. The problem is connecting the PC to the stereo. This would be easy if I wanted to keep my server in the living room. But I want the stereo in the living room and my PC in the office. So the question is, how do I connect 'em?
The choices for doing this are: A) a USB to RCA converter-but the stereo has to be within 15 feet of the PC; B) an FM transmitter/receiver-but I have read reviews and the quality sucks; C) run a line out cable-but again, I hear quality sucks; or D) relocate the stereo to the office and run speaker cables back to the living room-running the cables may be a pain and lack of having the stereo's display in the living room. So far, it looks like option D may be my choice... unless someone else has a better answer.
I think it depends what you want to do with the sites. I have three sites that I maintain. myHayward.net is a community info website that I want to make sure is up 24/7 so I chose to outsource the hosting. On my other two sites, one is really just for my family and the other is a hobby of mine. I have used them as a way of testing out new stuff which in the end made me a better sys admin. For those two, I host them at home. If they go done for a few hours, no one will notice and if they do... who cares.
:)
As for how much traffic a DSL line can take, I don't know since I only get about a dozen visitors a day. If anyone wants to know, go a head and "/." The-Andersons.com and TheInfoBox.com. After I restore my site to normal, I will let you know how bad it was!
I tried PHPNuke... But the security was horrible. (Do some searches on phpNuke and you will quickly find people who were burned by using phpNuke on their site.) Plus, each new release was so buggy. I would suggest trying a series of deifferent webloggers before settling on one... PostNuke, Slash, etc. I chose phpWebSite. It is a branch of phpNuke that is focused on fixing the sloppy code, XHTML 1.0 compliance, and meets the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative requirements. The project started at Appalachian State University and is maintained at SourceForge.
Pretty good and quick search engine for Bay Area homes is www.baymls.com --Although I could get it to find any houses for under $100,000. Strange, huh?
I guess we should also get rid the mouse buttons on my computer. Sometimes I close those annoying ads that pop up when I am surfing the web for pr0n. I didn't realize I was stealing content!
Will it solve everyone's problems... No. Not IT product ever does. But this is useful in certain situations. I even took a set home. I used to be jealous of the quiet iMacs. Well now, I have the ultimate quiet computer. I put my PC in the garage, and used the Extender to connect my bedroom. Now my wife doesn't care if the PC is left on all night.
Another problem though is the cost. The last time I checked, the Extenders were about $400. I wouldn't buy them myself at that price... but spending company money, I didn't mind. :)
Right now I live in Hayward, CA, and work in San Mateo, CA. Both are on the fringes of Silicon Valley. What makes me laugh is the number of people who say they "can't" afford to buy a home here... but blow money on all sorts of ridiculous stuff and have maxed out their credit cards. My wife and I decided we wanted to buy a house and saved up money so we could do that. Now I have a good job and a nice house. My wife has chosen to not work for a couple of years so she can stay at home with our toddler. A lot of the problem is that individuals need to plan better.
However, I am not taking the blame off of the companies and civic leaders. There is definitely too much of a rush for businesses to be built when the companies and government know there isn't adequate housing or transportation. If you go for a drive in Santa Clasra county you will see countless businesses being built. At the same time, the government is complaining about the lack of space to build housing! Another problem that many areas face is that the people who already live there will always fight AGAINST new housing development. By limiting new houses, they drive their property values through the roof. I have seen this everywhere I have lived... England, Sacramento, North Carolina... it is all the same.
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TheInfoBox.com
Another techie hangout... please visit so I can say I've been slashdotted!
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TheInfoBox
Another techie hangout... Please visit and crash my site so I can say I've been slashdotted!!