Well, if they genuinely get the same benefit at 1/3rd the cost you're in trouble. More often the case is that you get the hours, but productivity is much lower in ways that are very hard to quantify and less immediately apparent. You can spend 10x as long working around bad design and bad code and chasing bugs and corrupted data as just getting it right. But "getting it right" isn't going to show up in any MBA's spreadsheet. Wage costs cut, margins up, long term projects fail, quality falls, customers flee but probably not before the people behind it has collected their bonus and moved on to greener pastures.
Having worked in both US and India, and having seen the software developed in both countries, I can safely say that the code written by comparably qualified developers is not that much different! Just like you are complaining about bad design and bad code, the developers in India also complain about the quality of code when they are handed code written by developers in US and asked to debug it and develop it further!
Agree on the productivity part, I would put the productivity at around 60-75%.
One thing I would additionally like to correct - "Getting it right" always shows up in the management KPIs as the cost of rework!
No one minds reinstalling for newer releases. The OP is taking about having to reinstall the same version over and over again. I don't mind starting for scratch for Windows XP -> Windows Vista upgrade. But having to reinstall just Windows XP every year just to clear all the crap it has accumulated over the year is ridiculous.
"Simply coming into compliance now is not sufficient to settle the matter, because that would mean anyone can violate the license until caught, because the only punishment would be to come into compliance."
how the fuck can they make this claim, yet when SCO filed it's complaint, the open source community's response was "all we have to do is fix the infringment" - the very same claim now being denied.
you can't have it all your own way.
IF there was an infringement, then the Linux devs would have rewritten the code to avoid that. But folks who are using or had used the version with SCO's code would still be legally liable.
So many comments and none of the "I went to the local and they had tons of PS3s but no Wii... PS3 sucks..." comments usually found on digg:) Its nice to see a nice discussion on game consoles without the idiotic comments.
That's why I said "reasonable limits". I know of companies who won't allow users to install any IM software, simple multimedia applications, etc. on their laptops. What are they supposed to do on business trips after business hours?! I do not have problems with IT locking down equipment that is used in the office, but for equipment that is used outside of the office hours, there should be some relaxation in the policies.
Ultimately users need to bear in mind that their PC is for working, and really should only provide for their working environment. It's best to put aside the 'it's my computer' attitude and push the 'it's a company tool' attitude.
Attitudes like that are the reason why users try to circumvent the "security measures". If I am a frequent traveler, am I supposed to carry two laptops - one for personal use, the other for company use? Or two cell phones - one for personal use, the other for company use? Or...
IT departments need to realize that there are users who need to go outside the "policy". Thankfully our IT department is not that draconian and allows users to use their laptops the way they want (within reasonable limits) and even provides support when things break (again within reasonable limits).
Why do your programs use the local timezone, anyway?
Programs should handle and store dates in UTC, and convert to the local timezone only for display.
Saving the time in UTC does not get rid of all problems. Programs that store the data for future events will still run into issues. An event that was stored in the database before the system was patched will be off by one hour if the time falls within the dates that have the daylight savings rule changed.
You are combining two different issues in the same. If the receipt says $5.00 and I pay $5.00 that is not a crime. If I am supposed to receive $5.00 back and I receive $50.00 that is wrong.
With so many important events to pick from http://in.rediff.com/news/bush06.html - especially the nuclear pact - Slashdot chooses outsourcing as the "event to report".
I've had a number of friends working in IT who have come from India and had the stated intention of just working in IT for a few years to earn the money to buy some farmland or a hotel (which they would then hire other people to work for them). Even those in suposedly permanant jobs have treated them like contrator positions.
How many of them went back? Among my acquaintances of Indian origin (yes I am from India, working in the US) 90% talk about going back in X years or after they have saved Y dollars. X is always relative from the current date and never changes. Y always keeps on increasing. Bottom line, less than 5% of them have gone back. And this is at a time when companies in India are paying handsomely by local standards.
You think you can complain to Microsoft and they will actually DO something about it? They haven't had a new browser in 5 years. What makes you think they'll listen to your complaints and make a move?
Very true. I submitted a bug report to Microsoft on how forms are handled in IE (one of the names sent to the server in post requests did not match the W3C spec). This was in 1998. There was no acknowledgment to my e-mail, nor was it ever fixed (I checked an year or so ago and the bug was still there).
I got my cell service from T-Mobile. Not only are they a GSM provider (and I can even get a phone from them that works outside of the U.S.), but they don't disable their Bluetooth at all.
Additionally, they unlock the phone for free after you have been on contract for 3 months or so.
Indian programmers who work on open-source projects are capitalistic bastards. Ever seen a desi begin (leave alone release) an open-source product without getting paid for it?
I am sure there are other projects, can remember one right now YahooPOPs.
In particular, U.S. courts have recognized the following fair uses: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research and parodies.
Does that mean that if I rip a song from the CD I own and add some verbal comments at the end of song (about how good/bad the song is and why it is good/bad) and then distribute it on the net, it would be a fair use?
SCO can still claim they did not know the source contained their code since it is impossible to go through each line of code. So that argument may not stick.
The most imporatant fact is that even after they knew (the proper word would be believed) that the linux kernel source contained their copyrighted code, they continued to distribute it. If they did not stop the distribution of the kernel sources even after they "knew" it contained copyrighted code, how do they expect companies (who do not know about infringing code except for the informationless letters from SCO) to stop adoption of Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, if they genuinely get the same benefit at 1/3rd the cost you're in trouble. More often the case is that you get the hours, but productivity is much lower in ways that are very hard to quantify and less immediately apparent. You can spend 10x as long working around bad design and bad code and chasing bugs and corrupted data as just getting it right. But "getting it right" isn't going to show up in any MBA's spreadsheet. Wage costs cut, margins up, long term projects fail, quality falls, customers flee but probably not before the people behind it has collected their bonus and moved on to greener pastures.
Having worked in both US and India, and having seen the software developed in both countries, I can safely say that the code written by comparably qualified developers is not that much different! Just like you are complaining about bad design and bad code, the developers in India also complain about the quality of code when they are handed code written by developers in US and asked to debug it and develop it further! Agree on the productivity part, I would put the productivity at around 60-75%. One thing I would additionally like to correct - "Getting it right" always shows up in the management KPIs as the cost of rework!
No one minds reinstalling for newer releases. The OP is taking about having to reinstall the same version over and over again. I don't mind starting for scratch for Windows XP -> Windows Vista upgrade. But having to reinstall just Windows XP every year just to clear all the crap it has accumulated over the year is ridiculous.
Thanks SCOSource. Without Unixware 7.x, this release would not have been possible. The previous releases based on Sys V were really crappy.
One or two stories like that don't seem idiotic, but when there is atleast one story everyday with the same lame ass comments, it does a bit boring.
So many comments and none of the "I went to the local and they had tons of PS3s but no Wii... PS3 sucks..." comments usually found on digg:) Its nice to see a nice discussion on game consoles without the idiotic comments.
That's why I said "reasonable limits". I know of companies who won't allow users to install any IM software, simple multimedia applications, etc. on their laptops. What are they supposed to do on business trips after business hours?! I do not have problems with IT locking down equipment that is used in the office, but for equipment that is used outside of the office hours, there should be some relaxation in the policies.
You are combining two different issues in the same. If the receipt says $5.00 and I pay $5.00 that is not a crime. If I am supposed to receive $5.00 back and I receive $50.00 that is wrong.
With so many important events to pick from http://in.rediff.com/news/bush06.html - especially the nuclear pact - Slashdot chooses outsourcing as the "event to report".
So if they can find the mother of the internet, will Google have the chance to create the Internets that we heard of?
Indian programmers who work on open-source projects are capitalistic bastards. Ever seen a desi begin (leave alone release) an open-source product without getting paid for it?
I am sure there are other projects, can remember one right now YahooPOPs.
Does that mean that if I rip a song from the CD I own and add some verbal comments at the end of song (about how good/bad the song is and why it is good/bad) and then distribute it on the net, it would be a fair use?
SCO can still claim they did not know the source contained their code since it is impossible to go through each line of code. So that argument may not stick.
The most imporatant fact is that even after they knew (the proper word would be believed) that the linux kernel source contained their copyrighted code, they continued to distribute it. If they did not stop the distribution of the kernel sources even after they "knew" it contained copyrighted code, how do they expect companies (who do not know about infringing code except for the informationless letters from SCO) to stop adoption of Linux.
You can do that in Yahoo Messenger. Add additional profiles and use different profiles for different categories of people.