First, the initial hostile takeover announcement was made in June 2003, not 2002.
Second, PeopleSoft did not freeze hiring; in fact, they were madly trying to hire developers right up to the date the merger was announced in December 2004. At which point no one would show up for interviews any longer.
Third, Oracle announced long ago that they would likely lay off 6,000 people, so the current round is less than initially announced. Not that they won't lay off a few more as time goes by.
Fourth, I'm sick and tired of hearing how such and such policy or practice is "sad." It isn't sad, it just is. That really says more about the writer than the situation. It means youre just complaining about a situation and actually have nothing to say.
Me, I left PeopleSoft for a better job elsewhere rather than work for Oracle.
Skip Bronson's book, and instead read Marsha Sinetar's Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow and To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love. They tell stories of real people struggling to find happiness with their "right livelihood." Some succeed, some fail. Bronson's book didn't need to be written, except as a money-making project. Sinetar already said what you need to know.
Re:Sun's education-market giveaway
on
Sun To Sell Linux PCs
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Perhaps most/.-ers are too young to remember that Apple gained much of its popularity by donating massive numbers of Apple IIs to schools. It worked, for awhile.
I have telecommuted for over a year as a tech writer for a large software company. While it's not so far that I can't drive in once in awhile for face-to-face meetings or to have my company-provided desktop upgraded, I do most of my work online. Even with a slow broadband connection (768k cable), email, IM, Lotus Notes databases, and the telephone are all I need.
The corollary to "you get what you pay for" is that if you pay enough (or too much) money, any problems that crop up are the vendor's, not the buyer's. Buy something for a buck at K-Mart, when it breaks you throw it out. Buy something for $1,000 at Macy's, you're gonna go back and get satisfaction when it goes bad.
I also use VPN over broadband, and have had the VPN connection drop repeatedly. My employer says it's the ISP, but I don't buy it; the ISP said it might be a router, but they've now replaced it, and VPN still drops. Clearly my company's problem, but they're not interested in it.
Likewise, they're much happier having me pay for my DSL line and reimbursing than doing it themselves. My company does offer a DSL service, but when I tried to get it the phone company said I didn't qualify--the same telco that provides my current DSL!
So cable internet is also available here, and, frustrated, I had it installed last week. Seems to work OK, only 2x faster than my DSL (768Kbps vs 384Kbps), and the VPN still drops. Go figure. Oh, and guess what?--the connectivity's better late at night than mid-day! I guess those commercials are right.
Oh, and as a backup I can dial-up from my company-provided laptop, but that's really only good for email--moving big files is out of the question.
As a tech writer, I can do plenty of work in downtime, but so much communication goes on via email that I can't afford to be off line for very long. So now I'm over-connected, but have redundancy. Which is a Good Thing I'm told.
Why are you writing the documentation? Hire yourself a technical writer; that's what they do for a living. They know the tools, the processes, the formats. Do what you're good at--presumably programming--and let writers do what they're good at.
I had a choice (miraculously) when ordering broadband: DSL from SBC/PacBell via my ISP, or cable from @Home. @Home prohibits VPN. My ISP said "bring it on." Cable would be faster, but I use VPN to telecommute. So it was a no-brainer for me.
Slashdot Mirror
First, the initial hostile takeover announcement was made in June 2003, not 2002.
Second, PeopleSoft did not freeze hiring; in fact, they were madly trying to hire developers right up to the date the merger was announced in December 2004. At which point no one would show up for interviews any longer.
Third, Oracle announced long ago that they would likely lay off 6,000 people, so the current round is less than initially announced. Not that they won't lay off a few more as time goes by.
Fourth, I'm sick and tired of hearing how such and such policy or practice is "sad." It isn't sad, it just is. That really says more about the writer than the situation. It means youre just complaining about a situation and actually have nothing to say.
Me, I left PeopleSoft for a better job elsewhere rather than work for Oracle.
There's nothing new here. These are not the oracles you're looking for. Move on, find some real news.
Skip Bronson's book, and instead read Marsha Sinetar's Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow and To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love. They tell stories of real people struggling to find happiness with their "right livelihood." Some succeed, some fail.
Bronson's book didn't need to be written, except as a money-making project. Sinetar already said what you need to know.
Perhaps most /.-ers are too young to remember that Apple gained much of its popularity by donating massive numbers of Apple IIs to schools. It worked, for awhile.
I have telecommuted for over a year as a tech writer for a large software company. While it's not so far that I can't drive in once in awhile for face-to-face meetings or to have my company-provided desktop upgraded, I do most of my work online. Even with a slow broadband connection (768k cable), email, IM, Lotus Notes databases, and the telephone are all I need.
The corollary to "you get what you pay for" is that if you pay enough (or too much) money, any problems that crop up are the vendor's, not the buyer's. Buy something for a buck at K-Mart, when it breaks you throw it out. Buy something for $1,000 at Macy's, you're gonna go back and get satisfaction when it goes bad.
Guess what? Business 2.0, where the article appears, is owned by AOL/TW.
I also use VPN over broadband, and have had the VPN connection drop repeatedly. My employer says it's the ISP, but I don't buy it; the ISP said it might be a router, but they've now replaced it, and VPN still drops. Clearly my company's problem, but they're not interested in it.
Likewise, they're much happier having me pay for my DSL line and reimbursing than doing it themselves. My company does offer a DSL service, but when I tried to get it the phone company said I didn't qualify--the same telco that provides my current DSL!
So cable internet is also available here, and, frustrated, I had it installed last week. Seems to work OK, only 2x faster than my DSL (768Kbps vs 384Kbps), and the VPN still drops. Go figure. Oh, and guess what?--the connectivity's better late at night than mid-day! I guess those commercials are right.
Oh, and as a backup I can dial-up from my company-provided laptop, but that's really only good for email--moving big files is out of the question.
As a tech writer, I can do plenty of work in downtime, but so much communication goes on via email that I can't afford to be off line for very long. So now I'm over-connected, but have redundancy. Which is a Good Thing I'm told.
Why are you writing the documentation? Hire yourself a technical writer; that's what they do for a living. They know the tools, the processes, the formats. Do what you're good at--presumably programming--and let writers do what they're good at.
I had a choice (miraculously) when ordering broadband: DSL from SBC/PacBell via my ISP, or cable from @Home. @Home prohibits VPN. My ISP said "bring it on." Cable would be faster, but I use VPN to telecommute. So it was a no-brainer for me.