Do you mean converting your compiler to run under linux, or making it able to compile code FOR linux (and if so, under what platform).
IF it's a playstation/games developmetn compiler.... then the only reason to port it to linux is if you want to offer linux as a development environment for playstation games. Is it? What's the benefit?
Well.. actually....
Despite the ill effects of gambling.. gambling is largely illegal for a) religios and b) greed reasons.
All other reasoning about how the government is 'protecting you' from the casinos is simply the government finding an excuse to collect more tax.
The fact of the matter is.. online gambling is a huge business, and the US is simply missing out. (on the economic benefits of having the online casinos run domestically, I mean). As for the gamblers.. they gamble anyway, at online casinos, run by americans, run from other jurisdictions where they have perfectly legal gambling licenses, pay gambling taxes, etc, and simply spend twice as much on infrastructure costs to run their businesses.
Regarding the 'state enforced contract'. Sorry.. bullshit. Yes, that may be true in many places... but an online casino loses it's business FAST if it's not honest. That goes DOUBLY for online casinos.. as it would be even easier for them to cheat their customers. Most are audited by very reputable firms every year to ensure the house take on the games is *precisely* as they stated it would be.
We all know the reason the government regulates gambling is because they want the taxes.. nothing more. Everything else is just PR nonsense to get people riled up about it.
Also... with regards to online casinos, forcing them to run from jursidictions outside the US simply moves the business & associated jobs, etc, outside the country.. it does not change the customer base AT ALL. that's the point. I can assure you that Americans gamble like mad online, all the time.. at casinos that are all run outside the country, by other americans, pefectly (despite the odd test case) legally.
Any zoning law I've ever seen allows for business to take place from the home, as long as said business operates within certain bounds... like, you can't have a showroom open to the public all day.. but you can certainly invite a potential customer over to talk business.
Many accountants operate out of their home.. perfectly legally.
Many home-based businesses are out there. What about contract programmers working from home? That's operating a business from your home.. are you saying that is illegal?
I mean, we always have to remember that these servers, at the moment, are run by real people, from real physical locations, in real jurisdictions, where the law applies to them.
One should not be able to avoid local law by simply going 'online'.
It is important, however, when it comes to more purely informational crimes.. for the courts and lawmakers to realize that if they make running a certain type of site illegal online from their country, it will not preven those who want such information from obtaining it; the site will just run from somewhere else where it IS legal, and the exact same audience will be there to see it (Audience being the whole internet).
Maybe it's good, and smart.
If they shut down now, and wipe records.. it's legal.
If they wait until lawyers and Feds arrive.... everything would be compromised.
It doesn't matter if you independently come up with the idea, or if you use someone elses patent as a source of information. Either way, you are infringing on their patent.
You might be right about lawsuits though... I don't think you can sue for infringement if the other party was not aware you had a patent. EVen worse, if the patent holder knew about it and didnt' say anything. I think you can only sue for damages if you tell them about your patent and they ignore it.
I recall a company that did machines for automatically sizing & cutting logs, (the lumber industry). They had a laser measuring device.
They got around another company's patent on a machine simply by putting some 'filters' in front of some of the lasers to attenuate them. The original patent specified that output power of some lasers were equal.. they just did it unequal. It wasn't that important to the patent.. but due to the wording, made their device 'new'.
But you can't be sued for infringement unless you knowingly infringe.
If you didn't know there was a patent, and the patent holder didn't tell you, they can't sue you for damages, no?
I thought they could only go for damages after they inform you of the patent and you ignore them.
To all those who say 'Staroffice isn't 100% compatable, so we can't switch our office'. Well.. I understand the logistics and all.. but.
To switch to staroffice, you have to instruct your staff to learn to use it, and adapt the workflow to staroffice, not the other way around. The same goes for switching to any product.
The financial benefits of using staroffice in many cases outweigh the use of OFficeXP
this shouldnt' fall under the jurisdiction of the fcc?
I thought the FCC was there to regulate certain things... like radio, and television (as it's broadcast, and involves many public concessions to work, right-of-way, etc).
How can they dicatate what a website can do? Sheesh.
Everyone is talking about either remote exploits, or encryption, or NSA backdoors...
SElinux has NOTHING to do with any of those...
IT's about intenral access controls for applications so they only have access to the resources they need to get the job done.
So, in the future, say, a large, huge server can run *securely* where differnet internal users are safer from each other.
If they want to use 'wma' as a technology, licensed from Microsoft, on their CD's.. more power to them. IT's not up to ME to dictate what format they use for CDs.
What did you think they would use.. mp3?
What I can do... is fight things like the DMCA that make it illegal to rip tracks to my computer for my own convenience.
I think... perhaps many people misunderstand what a University education is all about...
A well rounded education is important, to be sure. In a way.
University is not there to 'teach you a skill' so you can go get a job. It's there to make you think, to teach you general concepts, and a well rounded education. You can certainly take some courses to learn about certain things that interest you in your field.....
But university is not just about learning a trade.
You can do that at a trade school... a college... if you want ot be a nurse, you can do that.. if you want to be a technician, you can do that...
If you view university as 'the way to get a job'. Go to trade school, save yourself the time and money. Go to University to discover what you want to do.. to think.. to study.. to observe.
I'd happily go back to university....
Loosening these restrictions is in the interests of business who hold patents.. but not in the interests of the potential future business getting into the web.. and that's the problem.
Having a completely open stardard is definately better than having a standard with patents involved. Completely open means anyone can take it and work with it... without paying the piper.
OF course they don't. Anything that actually fit in would cause too much argument and never get in.
So the only new tld's suck.
LIke '.biz'. Yeah.. that's useful..
I came up with this one today.. so sorry I posted it elsewhere already.. but..
I liken A+, N+, this new Linux certification, and those like them (MCSE even)... to the PADI Open Water Diver certification.
For those not familiar.. scuba diving is a self-regulated industry. There is generally no law that says you can't dive.. but a dive shop won't sell you tanks, or gear, or sell you air if you don't present a certification. They COULD.... but they won't. Wanna go on vacation to go diving? In general, a dive expedition won't take you out if you aren't certified. Oh.. they can make exceptions... but you get the idea.
You study for several hours.. take a few classes, do some practice diving, and then get run through some tests to get your certification.
Now.. NOBODY who takes the PADI Open-Water certification an passes would come out of it thinking 'I AM NOW AN EXPERT DIVER'. And that's the problem... with N+, MCSE, etc.. people come out of them thinking 'I AM NOW AN EXPERT'. That's what bothers us.. isn't it? It's not that they took it because they want to get int ot his business, and come to their new job willing to learn and grow.. it's because they tend to show up thinking 'I'm certified, I know it all.. nya nya'. And of course.. they don't.
What should an employer put some faith in then? How do you chose to hire someone?
I agree.. you shouldn't hire based on certification alone... especially for serious jobs... but that's why experience usually always wins over education... so don't worry.
A Masters degree in CS doesn't necessarily have anything at all to do with normal IT work.
A+, N+, CCNA, CNA, MCP.. are all 'entry level' certifications. All they should tell you is that the person is familiar with the material covered. by no means an expert. If you say you have a switch, they sort of know what that is.....
The problem is that some treat certifications as the 'end of the road' for learning.. not the beginning of the journey, as it should be.
Let me compare it to.. a diving certification.
You go out and get your PADI Open-Water Diver certification. This qualifies you to dive in normal conditions down to about.. I forget.. 60 feet max, in open water. Now.. just because you are certified, does NOT make you an expert diver.. it just means that some professionals have decided you know enough to dive safely under those conditions.
After hundreds of dives.. and more study.. you may someday be a Divemaster.... many certifications later... which means you've done hundreds of dives, and are an expert diver, so much that you can take responsibility for helping others out on a dive.. etc.
A+, CNA, etc... are like the Open Water certification... they are a beginning.
Aside from the CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert) certifications... I can't think of any certifications that actually test experts. CCIE definately does (unless it's changed.. I know they split it into three different exams now... but each field has grown as well.. so...). Unless you are some kind of prodigy, you don't study for a weekend and pass CCIE.. you have to know a LOT about a LOT to pass it.
Other than that.. certifications.. don't worry about it! Work experience is everything. If you get the chance to go for liek a weekend firewall course or something... on the company, to get 'certified' on something.. go for it, won't hurt..
but nobody will be questioning a few years experience wondering 'but you don't have an A+!'
If you have experience, and a company really wants all their techs a+ certified.. they'll send you to the course themselves.
You are 100% correct. The guy who sets up NFS at home, and plays with various things, generally has a BETTER chance of being hired if I interview him than the guy who juust took a linux course last weekend because he heard it's a new buzzword.
If you do that kind of stuff at home, dont' sell yourself short on what you know.. you'd probably find you know quite a bit MORE than most who just learn through certification/courses.
And you are so right about sysadmins being dangerous....
I'll say. it took many years before I really realized that I could be confident in my own knowledge. As you say.. there are always areas you don't know anything about because you've never had to work with them before... but as a sysadmin.. you have to be general.
Having done some entry-level IT hiring in the past.. let me tell you about certifications.
They ARE useful... in a way. When I'm looking at a resume for an entry-level IT person who can come in and start taking some load off me for more 'simple' tasks... fixing PC's, helping clients, doing some network cabling.. etc....
Obviously, someone with experience is what I want. But... few people with experience fit the bill.. they are too senior, don't want that junior job.
Now.. if someone says they have A+.. I know I can tell them to open up a computer and add some ram and they won't go 'Hunh? What's that?'. Oh.. they may still have questions about what kind of ram... but at least they understand what's going on.
Ever heard how, In karate, the black-belt, aside from simply holding your pants up, symbolizes 'the beginning'. The same could be said of most certifications such as A+, N+, this new linux one, etc. They are a beginning, not an end.
If you had that linux certification, and no other experience, I would consider you for an entry-level linux job.. if I interviewed you and thought you had the brains for the particular job.
That's ALL they are... there are two things I really hate.
1) The classes tend to prepare people into thinking they now know everything, and are ready to take top-level jbos. This is especially true of MCSE, not so much of A+/N+/etc.
2) Employers and shops like to brag about their certified employees... 'All our technicians are A+ certified'.
Really.. I guess I'm saying that.. these certifications are a good entry into the business, but no more.
CCIE... the reason you respect that is because it's not a certification you can just go out, do a bit of studying, and get in a weekend if you know nothing. IT was designed to certify experts in internetworking. I looked at it a couple years ago.. the routing & Switching one. I know a LOT about TCP/IP... I've been doing fairly detailed stuff for about 9 years... and I knew about 80% of the IP section, which was only about 40% of the whole test. (if memory serves). It's hard.. so if someone actually passes CCIE, then that proves they DO know something. It's like a PH.D in networking.
Well.. I agree..
But the way to do multiple websites is to use www.science.drexel.edu, www.staff.drexel.edu, etc...
~username is fine for individual users pages on a given server perhaps...
DNS issupposed to be heirarchial.. the problem is it's also a be-all-end-all lookup service for the WWW now.
You want ford? YOu don't look up 'ford motor company' in an index and go to the site, you go to 'ford.com'.. that's the problem.
@home doesn't own the cable network; they own the servers, chiefly the email infrastructure and web space.
So shaw.ca has it's own mail servers.. and is encouraging users to switch over voluntarily (before they all get their mail cut off when @home goes down the toilet).
Internet service won't go out. You'll still continue the same way as ever.
Slashdot Mirror
Do you mean converting your compiler to run under linux, or making it able to compile code FOR linux (and if so, under what platform).
IF it's a playstation/games developmetn compiler.... then the only reason to port it to linux is if you want to offer linux as a development environment for playstation games. Is it? What's the benefit?
Well.. actually....
Despite the ill effects of gambling.. gambling is largely illegal for a) religios and b) greed reasons.
All other reasoning about how the government is 'protecting you' from the casinos is simply the government finding an excuse to collect more tax.
The fact of the matter is.. online gambling is a huge business, and the US is simply missing out. (on the economic benefits of having the online casinos run domestically, I mean). As for the gamblers.. they gamble anyway, at online casinos, run by americans, run from other jurisdictions where they have perfectly legal gambling licenses, pay gambling taxes, etc, and simply spend twice as much on infrastructure costs to run their businesses.
Regarding the 'state enforced contract'. Sorry.. bullshit. Yes, that may be true in many places... but an online casino loses it's business FAST if it's not honest. That goes DOUBLY for online casinos.. as it would be even easier for them to cheat their customers. Most are audited by very reputable firms every year to ensure the house take on the games is *precisely* as they stated it would be.
We all know the reason the government regulates gambling is because they want the taxes.. nothing more. Everything else is just PR nonsense to get people riled up about it.
Also... with regards to online casinos, forcing them to run from jursidictions outside the US simply moves the business & associated jobs, etc, outside the country.. it does not change the customer base AT ALL. that's the point. I can assure you that Americans gamble like mad online, all the time.. at casinos that are all run outside the country, by other americans, pefectly (despite the odd test case) legally.
Any zoning law I've ever seen allows for business to take place from the home, as long as said business operates within certain bounds... like, you can't have a showroom open to the public all day.. but you can certainly invite a potential customer over to talk business.
Many accountants operate out of their home.. perfectly legally.
Many home-based businesses are out there. What about contract programmers working from home? That's operating a business from your home.. are you saying that is illegal?
I mean, we always have to remember that these servers, at the moment, are run by real people, from real physical locations, in real jurisdictions, where the law applies to them.
One should not be able to avoid local law by simply going 'online'.
It is important, however, when it comes to more purely informational crimes.. for the courts and lawmakers to realize that if they make running a certain type of site illegal online from their country, it will not preven those who want such information from obtaining it; the site will just run from somewhere else where it IS legal, and the exact same audience will be there to see it (Audience being the whole internet).
Maybe it's good, and smart.
If they shut down now, and wipe records.. it's legal.
If they wait until lawyers and Feds arrive.... everything would be compromised.
It doesn't matter if you independently come up with the idea, or if you use someone elses patent as a source of information. Either way, you are infringing on their patent.
You might be right about lawsuits though... I don't think you can sue for infringement if the other party was not aware you had a patent. EVen worse, if the patent holder knew about it and didnt' say anything. I think you can only sue for damages if you tell them about your patent and they ignore it.
Good point! quite possibly.
It doesnt' take much to get around a patent...
I recall a company that did machines for automatically sizing & cutting logs, (the lumber industry). They had a laser measuring device.
They got around another company's patent on a machine simply by putting some 'filters' in front of some of the lasers to attenuate them. The original patent specified that output power of some lasers were equal.. they just did it unequal. It wasn't that important to the patent.. but due to the wording, made their device 'new'.
But you can't be sued for infringement unless you knowingly infringe.
If you didn't know there was a patent, and the patent holder didn't tell you, they can't sue you for damages, no?
I thought they could only go for damages after they inform you of the patent and you ignore them.
To all those who say 'Staroffice isn't 100% compatable, so we can't switch our office'. Well.. I understand the logistics and all.. but.
To switch to staroffice, you have to instruct your staff to learn to use it, and adapt the workflow to staroffice, not the other way around. The same goes for switching to any product.
The financial benefits of using staroffice in many cases outweigh the use of OFficeXP
My bad as much as theirs.
Having the FTC do this is an entirely different matter.... it makes much more sense.
this shouldnt' fall under the jurisdiction of the fcc?
I thought the FCC was there to regulate certain things... like radio, and television (as it's broadcast, and involves many public concessions to work, right-of-way, etc).
How can they dicatate what a website can do? Sheesh.
Everyone is talking about either remote exploits, or encryption, or NSA backdoors...
SElinux has NOTHING to do with any of those...
IT's about intenral access controls for applications so they only have access to the resources they need to get the job done.
So, in the future, say, a large, huge server can run *securely* where differnet internal users are safer from each other.
If they want to use 'wma' as a technology, licensed from Microsoft, on their CD's.. more power to them. IT's not up to ME to dictate what format they use for CDs.
What did you think they would use.. mp3?
What I can do... is fight things like the DMCA that make it illegal to rip tracks to my computer for my own convenience.
my own personal views on pornography aside...
.if kids wanna watch porn, let them.
I think online providers of pornography should check the age of their users, or risk being charged.
I mean.. why should they be any different than meatspace providers of porn? They shouldn't.
My own view is that such controls are rediculous..
I think... perhaps many people misunderstand what a University education is all about...
A well rounded education is important, to be sure. In a way.
University is not there to 'teach you a skill' so you can go get a job. It's there to make you think, to teach you general concepts, and a well rounded education. You can certainly take some courses to learn about certain things that interest you in your field.....
But university is not just about learning a trade.
You can do that at a trade school... a college... if you want ot be a nurse, you can do that.. if you want to be a technician, you can do that...
If you view university as 'the way to get a job'. Go to trade school, save yourself the time and money. Go to University to discover what you want to do.. to think.. to study.. to observe.
I'd happily go back to university....
Loosening these restrictions is in the interests of business who hold patents.. but not in the interests of the potential future business getting into the web.. and that's the problem.
Having a completely open stardard is definately better than having a standard with patents involved. Completely open means anyone can take it and work with it... without paying the piper.
OF course they don't. Anything that actually fit in would cause too much argument and never get in.
So the only new tld's suck.
LIke '.biz'. Yeah.. that's useful..
I came up with this one today.. so sorry I posted it elsewhere already.. but..
I liken A+, N+, this new Linux certification, and those like them (MCSE even)... to the PADI Open Water Diver certification.
For those not familiar.. scuba diving is a self-regulated industry. There is generally no law that says you can't dive.. but a dive shop won't sell you tanks, or gear, or sell you air if you don't present a certification. They COULD.... but they won't. Wanna go on vacation to go diving? In general, a dive expedition won't take you out if you aren't certified. Oh.. they can make exceptions... but you get the idea.
You study for several hours.. take a few classes, do some practice diving, and then get run through some tests to get your certification.
Now.. NOBODY who takes the PADI Open-Water certification an passes would come out of it thinking 'I AM NOW AN EXPERT DIVER'. And that's the problem... with N+, MCSE, etc.. people come out of them thinking 'I AM NOW AN EXPERT'. That's what bothers us.. isn't it? It's not that they took it because they want to get int ot his business, and come to their new job willing to learn and grow.. it's because they tend to show up thinking 'I'm certified, I know it all.. nya nya'. And of course.. they don't.
What should an employer put some faith in then? How do you chose to hire someone?
I agree.. you shouldn't hire based on certification alone... especially for serious jobs... but that's why experience usually always wins over education... so don't worry.
A Masters degree in CS doesn't necessarily have anything at all to do with normal IT work.
A+, N+, CCNA, CNA, MCP.. are all 'entry level' certifications. All they should tell you is that the person is familiar with the material covered. by no means an expert. If you say you have a switch, they sort of know what that is.....
The problem is that some treat certifications as the 'end of the road' for learning.. not the beginning of the journey, as it should be.
Let me compare it to.. a diving certification.
You go out and get your PADI Open-Water Diver certification. This qualifies you to dive in normal conditions down to about.. I forget.. 60 feet max, in open water. Now.. just because you are certified, does NOT make you an expert diver.. it just means that some professionals have decided you know enough to dive safely under those conditions.
After hundreds of dives.. and more study.. you may someday be a Divemaster.... many certifications later... which means you've done hundreds of dives, and are an expert diver, so much that you can take responsibility for helping others out on a dive.. etc.
A+, CNA, etc... are like the Open Water certification... they are a beginning.
Aside from the CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert) certifications... I can't think of any certifications that actually test experts. CCIE definately does (unless it's changed.. I know they split it into three different exams now... but each field has grown as well.. so...). Unless you are some kind of prodigy, you don't study for a weekend and pass CCIE.. you have to know a LOT about a LOT to pass it.
Other than that.. certifications.. don't worry about it! Work experience is everything. If you get the chance to go for liek a weekend firewall course or something... on the company, to get 'certified' on something.. go for it, won't hurt..
but nobody will be questioning a few years experience wondering 'but you don't have an A+!'
If you have experience, and a company really wants all their techs a+ certified.. they'll send you to the course themselves.
You are 100% correct. The guy who sets up NFS at home, and plays with various things, generally has a BETTER chance of being hired if I interview him than the guy who juust took a linux course last weekend because he heard it's a new buzzword.
If you do that kind of stuff at home, dont' sell yourself short on what you know.. you'd probably find you know quite a bit MORE than most who just learn through certification/courses.
And you are so right about sysadmins being dangerous....
I'll say. it took many years before I really realized that I could be confident in my own knowledge. As you say.. there are always areas you don't know anything about because you've never had to work with them before... but as a sysadmin.. you have to be general.
Having done some entry-level IT hiring in the past.. let me tell you about certifications.
They ARE useful... in a way. When I'm looking at a resume for an entry-level IT person who can come in and start taking some load off me for more 'simple' tasks... fixing PC's, helping clients, doing some network cabling.. etc....
Obviously, someone with experience is what I want. But... few people with experience fit the bill.. they are too senior, don't want that junior job.
Now.. if someone says they have A+.. I know I can tell them to open up a computer and add some ram and they won't go 'Hunh? What's that?'. Oh.. they may still have questions about what kind of ram... but at least they understand what's going on.
Ever heard how, In karate, the black-belt, aside from simply holding your pants up, symbolizes 'the beginning'. The same could be said of most certifications such as A+, N+, this new linux one, etc. They are a beginning, not an end.
If you had that linux certification, and no other experience, I would consider you for an entry-level linux job.. if I interviewed you and thought you had the brains for the particular job.
That's ALL they are... there are two things I really hate.
1) The classes tend to prepare people into thinking they now know everything, and are ready to take top-level jbos. This is especially true of MCSE, not so much of A+/N+/etc.
2) Employers and shops like to brag about their certified employees... 'All our technicians are A+ certified'.
Really.. I guess I'm saying that.. these certifications are a good entry into the business, but no more.
CCIE... the reason you respect that is because it's not a certification you can just go out, do a bit of studying, and get in a weekend if you know nothing. IT was designed to certify experts in internetworking. I looked at it a couple years ago.. the routing & Switching one. I know a LOT about TCP/IP... I've been doing fairly detailed stuff for about 9 years... and I knew about 80% of the IP section, which was only about 40% of the whole test. (if memory serves). It's hard.. so if someone actually passes CCIE, then that proves they DO know something. It's like a PH.D in networking.
Well.. I agree..
But the way to do multiple websites is to use www.science.drexel.edu, www.staff.drexel.edu, etc...
~username is fine for individual users pages on a given server perhaps...
DNS issupposed to be heirarchial.. the problem is it's also a be-all-end-all lookup service for the WWW now.
You want ford? YOu don't look up 'ford motor company' in an index and go to the site, you go to 'ford.com'.. that's the problem.
I got a letter from Shaw@home (Calgary, Alberta).
@home doesn't own the cable network; they own the servers, chiefly the email infrastructure and web space.
So shaw.ca has it's own mail servers.. and is encouraging users to switch over voluntarily (before they all get their mail cut off when @home goes down the toilet).
Internet service won't go out. You'll still continue the same way as ever.
More dangerous than... Propane? Natural gas?
They use Liquid Hydrogen in jet aircraft? Really?
Yes.. the flames are light blue, bordering on invislbe. you wouldn't see them in daylight.
And chances are, if you stepped in a puddle of burning H2.. you would FEEL your body burning before you smelled it...
How is it more dangerous than current, compressed fuels?