This is not a flame...I am totally serious with this question.
What about your job is so important that it must be kept around for you? Does it pay your bills? Do you enjoy it? Would you want to keep it? If you answer yes to any of them, which you probably can to at least one of them, then you have proven your opinion to be applicable to yourself.
The difference between your job and theirs is that they most likely really dig their job and would like to keep doing it. A scientist is rarely in it for the money. He/she is usually in it for the thrill of discovery. Sometimes there are more gains than money.
And quite a few of the pleasures you enjoy today have come from someone's pocket at some time or another. I don't like my tax money going to pay for rediculous artistic expressions, but my theatre brother does like it. Go figure.
Can someone please tell me when the world became filled with mindless lemmings who believe that if you can't back a winner then don't back anyone? When someone says something foolish like the above then it says one thing about them; they are a fool. Voting is suppose to be about voting for who you believe in, not in who you believe will win. Right now Christianity is not the most predominant religion, but do Christians let that stop them from worshiping? No. Why support Linux when everyone doing serious work supports Windows?
I say it again...fool!
Myxx
And what is even funnier is that MCI owns almost ALL the 10-10 companies. They own 10-10-220 and a couple more. You used to be able to see their name really tiny down below, but I think a recent law has made it so that they have to be more open about the fact that it is them. I cannot find the reference article though.
Still, I have an even better angle to add. I used to do IS work for a large telecom company *coughberniecough* and the slamming, while spoken from the left side of the mouth, was drilled as illegal, it was only lightly tapped from the right side. There is nothing in the system stopping one of these telemarketing weasels from simply getting a friend to vouch for being the one authorized to switch you over to their LD. It happens all the time and by the time you find out the marketing rep has already gotten their commission. It is a sad reality that here in Atlanta they employ any Joe who will take the bus up into the extreme suburbs to the shiny facility that is 10 minutes from the director's home to sell LD at any cost. Now I liked the Directory. He was a nice enough guy, but the LD industry has become so competitive that his profits slipped and slipped. The same kind of money is not being made any more which is why these companies are trying to re-form into the old mega-companies.
So, more than likely it was not "the company" but some rep who needed the $50 or $100 commission of getting your sale. Still the company, I know, but it takes it more off the company and makes it more like someone you could blame. It was most likely one of those reps who spoke to you at one point.
Now, go give them hell and get one of those checks they like to give out.
Out of curiosity, why do yo say it will never get completed or be maintained? Do you assert that simply because it was written with a RAD tool it has the inherent flaw that will cause it to never be finished? Wow...I would assert the opposite on such things.
I am waiting with unaccustomed amusement when Kylix gets released and we see the flood of converted programs. Some will be good, most will be superfluous, but all will be welcome.
Now I have seen many of the respondents not only telling you that you are making a mistake, but that you will become one of them if you do. As Smokey used to say, "Only you can prevent the inevitable downward spiral into middle management mediocity." I have done the same thing you have and sometimes it is great and sometimes it is not.
I worked as a phone tech and went into management. I had a blast and still kept my technical edge and my people loved me. Or so they said.:-)
When this big ld telecom company sold my division off so that they could merge with another telecom company *coughberniecough* I went into LAN administration. I learned a lot about NT that way. Then I took a job with a large southern US telecom company and went back into management. It was fun again and I was partially technical, but I did begin to lose my edge. I was in customer service totally and spent most of my time in meetings.
Then I swicthed over to training for DSL for that company and it was slightly cool again, but training is a funny beast. If you spend all your time doing your job and none learning new stuff then you lose your edge again. But my students thought I was cool because I made it fun.
That is your challenge and your goal in this case. Go out, don't lose your edge, be a cool boss, and above all do one thing; be the buffer between your people and the real clueless above you. It will suck and it will never get you very far upwards, but your people will appreciate you to no end. And you can get pretty far up and still be this way.
My current department director is about as uber-geek as it gets. You can visit his web site and control robots in his home. He watches battlebots on Comedy Central and plays Unreal Tournament at night. He also speaks good corporate speak. Go be one of those bosses.
Unless the job is specifically for an area that the company might not be known for, say a new chip company, and they are interviewing you for the skills you have in chip design, then I can't see how they can require one or even need to enforce one during an interview. It would be easier for them to simply discuss your ability in hardware and circuitry design without mentioning how it relates to the position.
You are correct that the interview should be about what kind of employee you are/would be. Your resume should state the facts about your skills. If they need clarification they can simply say, "Tell me more about your experience in X Job or Y job." That way they are discussing your experience in a job, not a field. Too many times interviewers forget that there are two people in the interview with the same agenda. You both want to fill a position, but there is such a thing as a second interview. This would be where I think an NDA would be appropriate as it would show that they like who you are and now they want to know if you would be excited to work on their item.
While this is certainly an interesting suggestion, we would need a world government for this to work and that is one thing that this planet is not ready for. Until we can see beyond religious and racial issues we will be unable to truly govern on a world basis. Each culture is founded on (sometimes) vastly different ideologies and because of this we would be unable to come to agreements on such things. How would a fundamentalist society that does not believe in sex outside of marriage deal with a country that allowed prostitution on a lawmaking basis? What would the Christians think of allowing a country of non-believers to have a large say-so in their laws as, say, China would with their enormous population?
Still, I like the idea of a world government, but only in the way that our forefathers here in America intended our own government to be. Essentially it was suppose to work like this: the states are allowed to govern themselves as they see fit as long as it doesn't conflict with laws set aside by the federal government. And the federal government cannot make laws that contradict the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Perhaps each country governs themselves, but the global government allows voting for its members by its own people. If it chooses to bring people into that government in a non-voting manner then that is their business, but when they get into the global government then it is a voting situation.
I am not going to try and figure out how to allow all those people to vote, though. It can't work that way as countries like, again, China would easily skew the voting. Perhaps they choose among their own colleagues for leaders as each country would have an equal number of representatives.
What do I know, though. This is why I am a commentater as opposed to a baked potater!
Nothing more exciting than going back. The Pathfinder mission was certainly a PR success. Perhaps a couple more like that and we can look forward to some commercial ventures spurred on by the marketing people of the world. Get your Mars Happy Meals right here. Doesn't bother me as long as we go! I have been waiting for more exploration of the red planet for three years and now it seems like we may get our wish. I can't wait for the new findings on more water. More marketing...Evian Martian Blast!
Ahhh...but the true irony is that the RIAA is claiming that he would not die rich. He would still die a pauper because he would have beenc heated out of all those millions by the pirates online. The truth of the matter is that while piracy is illegal, the fact of the matter is that it would be less of an issue if the music industry had simply tried to find a way to make money using technology instead of trying to crush it before it ever has a chance to erode their monopoly on the CD industry. The recent lawsuit laying blame on the recording companies for price gouging is evidence that the tide is turning. They need to turn this corner. Piracy, however wrong, will not stop as long as the internet is alive and kicking. If they would adopt a sensible music pricing system, many people would flock to it.
I believe that most people want to pay for it and realize that not paying for it would bankrupt the artist. $15 a CD when I know that it couldn't cost more than $2 to make the thing makes me angry to say "I'll show them. Where do I download Napster." I am not saying it is right, but that is what makes those borderline pirates cross the line. The rest will pirate no matter how much it is.
I know a guy right now who's household income is damn near $200K a year and he still downloads his ass off. It doesn't matter what it is. He could afford to buy it but he doesn't. However, if he likes a product enough he will purchase things in support of it. He buys self-teaching books on the products. He buys games he likes the most. He buys tons of CD's to burn the stuff to. Now why does he do this? It is obvious he can afford the stuff, but he doesn't buy it. Why? I don't know and he probably couldn't tell you. But he will also shell out $1000 for books to learn all the stuff. he is thekind of person that would steal it no matter what, but would also go and buy a bunch of CD's if he thought it would help a starving artist. His kind is strange that way.
This is the way tho whole DSL and third party thing works but to understand you need to see the whole picture and the players. To get DSL you need the following:
Sometimes, as with 3rd party setups, there is another step that includes an installer.
All ISP's that do DSL are dependent on the presence of the DSLAM which is usually, I said usually, provided by the telco. COVAD has been installing them in some places which is where they come in. Otherwise they simply broker the connection between the telco and the ISP.
When something goes wrong the ISP usually gets the call and must go through COVAD to get resolution because their contract is with COVAD, not the telco.
The setup for the ISP I work for, which is owned by the telco, only lacks the 3rd party step. The customer still calls us but we have set up a system by which any reseller of DSL (other ISPs or 3rd party folks) can submit trouble tickets on the line. If the telco has put the proper infrastructure in place then any 3rd party group can get information about the line. Only the telco knows about the line. COVAD merely handles any DSLAMs they may have installed themselves. If they simply pay to get access to the DSLAMS then it falls back ultimately on the telco.
But the customer doesn't care. They want service and don't care who does the calling. Most likely each entity wishes they had more control over the situation, but the telcos still have the ultimate control. We all forget that modem connections used to have the same reliability that DSL has now. DSL is barely 3 now. It will get better and more wide spread as time goes on. Somedays mine is great, somedays it sucks. I give them more slack because I know how the technology works and everyone is working to make it better. The future depends on it round here where I work.
Any system that takes even a 1% chance of executing innocents has zero respect for human life, so don't waste my time with your self-righteous verbal diharrhea.
Now really...this is a gross overstatement from a grossly overstated distrust of the judicial system. By your own logic we would need to trash the entire system simply because we jali innocents 1% of the time. To say that embracing such a system makes one 100% incapable of respecting human is another gross exaggeration. I say that people who believe such a point of view are 100% egotistical and self righteous in a bielef of their own ethical superiority, but that would still only be my opinion.
I, for one, would be very upset if I were one of the 1% wrongly accused and sentenced to death, but if they got rid of the other 99% then I might be a little more forgiving. The real point you may be trying to make is whether or not it does any good. That is another debate entirely. Can't say it does or it doesn't and often times we place people on deathrow in the US for silly things as possession for 1 oz of pot. That is misguided as well, but many feel that it is still acceptable to cut the hands off of thsoe who steal bread.
I submit to you that it is impossible to completely guarantee 100% certainty of guilt in many cases, but that is not a reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We try and we fail, but we should keep trying. People with your intensity force the process to improve by insisting new techniques be used as in DNA testing. That is what makes the process better each year.
And there is no difference between your killing a criminal and the state except you are certain of the guilt while the state must do the best it can having not been in your home at the time. If you lied and said you did not kill the man and the court let you go, why then you would be benefitting from the system you claim is so fraught with problems. It is not the best system, but it is one that works better than anything that has been brought up so far. And if you don't agree, please feel free to point out another country with a better judicial syste,
Actually, in this cae it IS some of the original people. Amiga INC is now owned by a group of Amiga enthusiasts who have, at one time or another, been deeply involved in its development. I look forward to seeing what they can acomplish.
Local programming has been out for no more than 4 or 5 months and not in every market.
And where I am at, Mediaone's signal is the worst of any cable company I have ever seen. I also live where there are 6 or 8 local channels, but they don't pump much into the air for signal since there are so many "wonderful" cable companies helping. The reception is horrid.
Ultimately, the complaint against airing local stations was never truly justified any more than shutting down that Canadian web site (ICrave?). The ads were still there, but no one likes to share. Why we don't complain about the new technology that removes spaces from recorded and live signals to gain more air time is beyond me.
Borland's biggest claim to fame was writing the best Pascal compiler on the planet. After that, they wrote Pascal 4.0 and dropped off the face of the planet.
Hmmm...without being too harsh, I wouldn't exactly call Delphi "falling off the face of the planet." It is a good RAD suite and I wait with baited breath for it to come out for Linux under the Kylix name. And to be controversial, I don't care if it is open sourced or not. I shudder to think of all the cool little apps that will come out when it does. Sure, C is nice, but nothing beats being able to show something quickly to your boss with a RAD tool. I have won several awards where I work due to my VB work. I'd love to be able to do the same with Kylix as we have many closet Linux boxes around.
Without being too harsh on you, I must point out that most people are blissfully unaware of how much spam comes from their domain (except for the spammers themselves). Abuse departments (of which I was recently a Supervisor over) have to wade through all the forged headers to determine where a post came from and the return addresses are almost ALWAYS forged. Remember; just because you don't see the @Home domain in the email address doesn't mean it isn't from an @Home user. The IP address will usually resolve to the culprit's domain.
And these actions (UDP) do work. The ISP I work for has been placed on ban lists before and we do all we can to keep off of them, but it is always an uphill job.
We were told to stop treating our temps as regular employees based on this case. It makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint. The temps that sue, though, are suing out of pure and simple greed. When you are a contractor or a temp you know this. If you spend two years as a temp at a job without being taken on full time, how can you say you were cheated out of anything? Why would you sit around and think "Man...there is no difference between me and those other folks. I should get what they are getting."
The answer is to either ask to be taken on permanently or seek employment elsewhere. If you don't then it means you like being a temp there or hope to be brought on full time some day. Until you are you are a temp, no matter how nice they treat you.
For those who say that they were by false promises of permanent status, I can only ask how long did you sit around hoping? I would have left fairly quickly if it seemed hopeless.
No, this is nothing more than another case of a money grabbing society in the US and people figuring "MS can take the hit. I want some money."
Now, in this case Microsoft was writing them off as temps and making money off of them by calling them temps. They saved on benefits and options etc. But again I say, who was fooling whom? The temps knew they were temps and could have left at any time for permanency elsewhere. They were betting on the day when they could be brought on full time or they enjoyed the position of being a temp and being able to "walk" away at any time. MS is always in a city where there is good opportunity for all so to think that these were the best jobs around is simply not so.
I worked as a temp for MS in the summer of 95. It was one of the most boring yet inspiring jobs ever. It is what brought me from teaching to computers, but I had no illusions that I was not permanent.
The way this is being discussed is as if this were a common law marriage and that these employees were entitled to half. Heck, what could they ultimately win? Past medical benefits? Options? What temp will be willing to purchase options? Some I am sure. I would, but not everyone.
In the end this serves only to make life more miserable for contractors all over the US. Companies will treat them even colder for fear of retribution and in 10 years we will be seeing the "Hurt Feelings" lawsuit on behalf of all the contractors who feel like they have no sense of permanency.
Dumb is making a statement like that when you know that this is an alpha version. Obviously no one would expect you to pay for this product. This is like saying that M1 of Mozilla was not worth paying for.
There are many issues that continue to retard Linux's acceptance on the mainstream desktop. I have experienced a few that would have stumped a normal user to simply abandon Linux entirely. KDE was a fantastic first step toward allowing others a chance to peek into the world of Linux. In what ways, if at all, will you be addressing the new user with KDE 2.0? Will it be primarily from a documentation point of view, which would facilitate a smoother learning curve for new users? Or will you update many features (Kmail and Knews, and Kppp) so that they can quickly access the Internet in order to gain the valuable knowledge necessary to make the Linux switch?
For such a large group of obviously intelligent and thoughtful people, why do you stoop to this level of downright childish name-calling on what is obviiously an important issue?
We are all computer people. We know them, understand them, love them. We learned almost immediately the old GIGO rule and when we are faced with a problem that stems directly from the GIGO rule we simply make jokes and jeer at people who may believe otherwise. The incessant immature nature of many of the posters here honestly makes me wish for Y2K's worst possibilities to strike with impunity.
Right now I can go out and pull in pages and pages of testimony from experts in the fields affected by Y2K who say it will not be this cakewalk that so many of you stand upon your little soap boxes and pontificate upon. Listen folks, if an earthquake in a small Asian country can affect chip prices in the US and abroad, what would something like a small piece of software whose job it is to correctly manufacture those same chips do if it failed because of unforseen Y2K issues?
I am not saying Y2K will be a disaster. I am more talking about your blind assumption that because the majority of the world may fear it then they must be wrong. I am here to tell you folks that the majority of ther world does NOT fear it. In fact, they jeer it.
I have not seen one iota of proof from any of you that it will not happen, yet I can pull in reports from many people who work for the affected companies who have real concerns. Just because Linux will not suffer does not mean that others will not. No one here mentions the supply chain issues that will be the real problem. Sure, all of VA Systems may be compliant and may be open for business on Jan. 1, but will the companies who make all the parts they use be open? If one part becomes unavailable then perhaps VAS looks elsewhere for that part. What if that part is available at another company who charges more now that they know that they can. Prices go up. Tell me that you don't mind that.
All I ask is that the standard "here is another crazy, baseless Y2K thing to laugh at" mentality stop and be replaced with thoughtful discussion. This isn't theology here where we are discussing the existence of heaven or hell or the consequences of our actions here on Earth. We are discussing more tangible things that have an immediate affect. Stop playing Quake and take a moment to at least intelligently discuss the issue.
I challenge Slashdot to actually discuss the issue and moderate the baseless masses who just post "lAmEr" responses. Let's find someone in the know and submit questions to them. Sci-fi authors are great to read interviews from, but let's do something else for a moment. Don't be afraid to confront someone who makes it their job to study the problem.
Again I am astounded at the if it aint free then it aint worth crap side of the house. You all do realize that your constant, repetitive litany sounds like nothing more than a 5 year old's incessant tantrums? If it is free then great! I intend on writing software for free too, but just because someone else wants me to pay for it doesn't mean I wont buy it. If I do pay for it then I will be less likely to be blaise about bugs, un-implemented features, and support. I will expect to be taken care of nicely and to have my questions answered when I have one. That's what I expect to get for $99. When something free breaks and I can't fix it, I dump it until something new comes out. I don't trash it, I don't slam it, I don't hurl insults at the authors like many people do. I appreciate anyone's effort.
The fact of the matter is that people who cannot or will not alter the free source of a program to make it do what they want are the people who will pay to get what they want. In other words, you get what you pay for it sometimes. If you pay for it then you may get what you want, though it is not a guarantee. If not then you don't buy the next one and you tell all your friends to stay away from it and the author goes out of business. Who goes out of business when free software goes bad? No one. That is probably why many folks simply try to shame the free author out of writing software. Face it, it doesn't matter how great the plaform is (beta max) nor how cool the OS is (Amiga) nor how better designed it is (G3/4) now how convienent (Palm OS over CE). Linux needs some forms of legitimacy and good software that is well supported and can be pruchased on a shelf at Best Buy will always help.
Linux has taken off because of good PR, not because of it's abilities. It has also gotten a boost from the anti-trust case. It has also gotten attention because of the anti-MS sentiment many have. And it has gotten attention because it is a decent OS that will only get better. Please remember this. We need both. If Photogenics cannot compete against the GIMP then it is because the GIMP is better AND free, not because the GIMP is just free.
Oh, man. If it could that would make admin chores a little less hum-drum. Not that I would ever do such a thing. A BOFH might, but certainly not me. But I never said I wouldn't think about it.
What complete hogwash. And the distance from the tip of my nose (quite a nice large one I might add) to the tips of my finger should be a yard. Royal measurements should have been abandoned long ago due to their intrinsically irrational basis. Your argument amounted to nothing more than "because it just feels better." While base 12 or 60 might work better mathematically, let us all at least admit that segmenting things out to tens, while awkward to say some things, at least can be figured out more intuitively. If I know the root words I can figure out the number. What is it about the word "foot" or "yard" that donotes distance any more than "bleem" and "flurb" do?
However, you darn sure know how long 10 centimeters are, don't you? Tell me I need 1 liter of water but I have to use a mililiter spoon to measure and I can tell you exactly how many spoons to fill. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many cups it takes to make a gallon. If it involves memorization to learn and cannot be "intuited" then it is a waste of time.
To say that we are lazy is true. I believe that humans are inherently lazy which is why they wont switch. I am an American and I believe we are probably more lazy than most become we expect to be given things that we demand due to some God given right. We might deserve it, but not because we just "ought" to and not because we are Americans. If we deserve color TVs and microwaves and decent service in restaurant then so do the "lesser" folks you sneer at when they come to our country. Especially those funny foreigners who measure things logically.
One of us needs to smoke a little more...why thank you!
Hehehe..if that were a criteria then no one would take Slashdot seriously. Your point is well taken, though. Still, $35 to just dream you are helping could also bring you great satisfaction.
Been there myself. I recently worked for a large long distance company in one of their telemarketing centers. Nothing haunts you more than when the connection to those databases go boom and the reps sit there, making no money. The Center Director just paces around, mumbling. The IS Manager is yelling over the walkie talkie for information, and the open bridge conference call has a bunch of remote network admins scratching their heads saying things like "did you reboot it first?" The funny thing is that a lot of times we weren't even allowed to reboot the thing unless they said to do it.
In all things there are complainers and there are doers. Here we have a project that is grand in scale. Just because someone else is doing this kind of distributed networking more efficiently has NOTHING to do with SETI's efforts. That's like saying that because the Commodore 64 was so wildly successful and efficient that all computers ought to be. Well, I would assume that all C-64's would be that efficient, but not something that does something totally different. Sure, computer hardware is essentially the same, but the way it is implimented is not.
And to say that "I will not waste computer cycles on this buggy program" is almost as laughable as the people who have gotten offended at the Unix/Linux slur. Am I not mistaken that the Linux/Unix version came out first? I don't see these folks being anti-Linux with this sort of evidence. And just what were you wasting your computer cycles on before SETI? This is like saying "I wasted my Saturday helping to search for a lost child and then I find out the parents hadn't looked hard enough for the child yet." Sure, it can be frustrating, but you volunteered, didn't you? No one meant to take advantage of you. You joined SETI because it was cool, not because you wanted reward.
I guess that some people just cannot mess up.
And about the hacking...if the hacking took place and it was verified to have been done by LINUX/UNIX then their statements are justified. Perhaps not the hacking statement, but the dig against the platform is justified. If he had said that "Widnows users seem to be the cuplprits, but that is probably because of the MS mentality" then we would have all cheered. But I guess the double-standard is ok?
In essence, I volunteered because I thought it would be the coolest thing since sliced bread. It has been. I like the screen saver. My computer is on anyway. Nothing is lost by me in any way shape or form. That I have been chewing on a duplicate packet is unfortunate, but they will fix the issue. Anyone invlolved with SETI knows that Congress has gleefully been chopping away at its budget for years and calling it a victory while they continue to pour funds into more "dubious" research. If I can help them out I will.
Slashdot Mirror
This is not a flame...I am totally serious with this question.
What about your job is so important that it must be kept around for you? Does it pay your bills? Do you enjoy it? Would you want to keep it? If you answer yes to any of them, which you probably can to at least one of them, then you have proven your opinion to be applicable to yourself.
The difference between your job and theirs is that they most likely really dig their job and would like to keep doing it. A scientist is rarely in it for the money. He/she is usually in it for the thrill of discovery. Sometimes there are more gains than money.
And quite a few of the pleasures you enjoy today have come from someone's pocket at some time or another. I don't like my tax money going to pay for rediculous artistic expressions, but my theatre brother does like it. Go figure.
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Can someone please tell me when the world became filled with mindless lemmings who believe that if you can't back a winner then don't back anyone? When someone says something foolish like the above then it says one thing about them; they are a fool. Voting is suppose to be about voting for who you believe in, not in who you believe will win. Right now Christianity is not the most predominant religion, but do Christians let that stop them from worshiping? No. Why support Linux when everyone doing serious work supports Windows? I say it again...fool! Myxx
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And what is even funnier is that MCI owns almost ALL the 10-10 companies. They own 10-10-220 and a couple more. You used to be able to see their name really tiny down below, but I think a recent law has made it so that they have to be more open about the fact that it is them. I cannot find the reference article though.
Still, I have an even better angle to add. I used to do IS work for a large telecom company *coughberniecough* and the slamming, while spoken from the left side of the mouth, was drilled as illegal, it was only lightly tapped from the right side. There is nothing in the system stopping one of these telemarketing weasels from simply getting a friend to vouch for being the one authorized to switch you over to their LD. It happens all the time and by the time you find out the marketing rep has already gotten their commission. It is a sad reality that here in Atlanta they employ any Joe who will take the bus up into the extreme suburbs to the shiny facility that is 10 minutes from the director's home to sell LD at any cost. Now I liked the Directory. He was a nice enough guy, but the LD industry has become so competitive that his profits slipped and slipped. The same kind of money is not being made any more which is why these companies are trying to re-form into the old mega-companies.
So, more than likely it was not "the company" but some rep who needed the $50 or $100 commission of getting your sale. Still the company, I know, but it takes it more off the company and makes it more like someone you could blame. It was most likely one of those reps who spoke to you at one point.
Now, go give them hell and get one of those checks they like to give out.
Myxx
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Out of curiosity, why do yo say it will never get completed or be maintained? Do you assert that simply because it was written with a RAD tool it has the inherent flaw that will cause it to never be finished? Wow...I would assert the opposite on such things.
I am waiting with unaccustomed amusement when Kylix gets released and we see the flood of converted programs. Some will be good, most will be superfluous, but all will be welcome.
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Now I have seen many of the respondents not only telling you that you are making a mistake, but that you will become one of them if you do. As Smokey used to say, "Only you can prevent the inevitable downward spiral into middle management mediocity." I have done the same thing you have and sometimes it is great and sometimes it is not.
:-)
I worked as a phone tech and went into management. I had a blast and still kept my technical edge and my people loved me. Or so they said.
When this big ld telecom company sold my division off so that they could merge with another telecom company *coughberniecough* I went into LAN administration. I learned a lot about NT that way. Then I took a job with a large southern US telecom company and went back into management. It was fun again and I was partially technical, but I did begin to lose my edge. I was in customer service totally and spent most of my time in meetings.
Then I swicthed over to training for DSL for that company and it was slightly cool again, but training is a funny beast. If you spend all your time doing your job and none learning new stuff then you lose your edge again. But my students thought I was cool because I made it fun.
That is your challenge and your goal in this case. Go out, don't lose your edge, be a cool boss, and above all do one thing; be the buffer between your people and the real clueless above you. It will suck and it will never get you very far upwards, but your people will appreciate you to no end. And you can get pretty far up and still be this way.
My current department director is about as uber-geek as it gets. You can visit his web site and control robots in his home. He watches battlebots on Comedy Central and plays Unreal Tournament at night. He also speaks good corporate speak. Go be one of those bosses.
Now go do something honorable.
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Unless the job is specifically for an area that the company might not be known for, say a new chip company, and they are interviewing you for the skills you have in chip design, then I can't see how they can require one or even need to enforce one during an interview. It would be easier for them to simply discuss your ability in hardware and circuitry design without mentioning how it relates to the position.
You are correct that the interview should be about what kind of employee you are/would be. Your resume should state the facts about your skills. If they need clarification they can simply say, "Tell me more about your experience in X Job or Y job." That way they are discussing your experience in a job, not a field. Too many times interviewers forget that there are two people in the interview with the same agenda. You both want to fill a position, but there is such a thing as a second interview. This would be where I think an NDA would be appropriate as it would show that they like who you are and now they want to know if you would be excited to work on their item.
Good luck on your job hunting.
Myxx
While this is certainly an interesting suggestion, we would need a world government for this to work and that is one thing that this planet is not ready for. Until we can see beyond religious and racial issues we will be unable to truly govern on a world basis. Each culture is founded on (sometimes) vastly different ideologies and because of this we would be unable to come to agreements on such things. How would a fundamentalist society that does not believe in sex outside of marriage deal with a country that allowed prostitution on a lawmaking basis? What would the Christians think of allowing a country of non-believers to have a large say-so in their laws as, say, China would with their enormous population?
Still, I like the idea of a world government, but only in the way that our forefathers here in America intended our own government to be. Essentially it was suppose to work like this: the states are allowed to govern themselves as they see fit as long as it doesn't conflict with laws set aside by the federal government. And the federal government cannot make laws that contradict the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Perhaps each country governs themselves, but the global government allows voting for its members by its own people. If it chooses to bring people into that government in a non-voting manner then that is their business, but when they get into the global government then it is a voting situation.
I am not going to try and figure out how to allow all those people to vote, though. It can't work that way as countries like, again, China would easily skew the voting. Perhaps they choose among their own colleagues for leaders as each country would have an equal number of representatives.
What do I know, though. This is why I am a commentater as opposed to a baked potater!
Myxx
Nothing more exciting than going back. The Pathfinder mission was certainly a PR success. Perhaps a couple more like that and we can look forward to some commercial ventures spurred on by the marketing people of the world. Get your Mars Happy Meals right here. Doesn't bother me as long as we go! I have been waiting for more exploration of the red planet for three years and now it seems like we may get our wish. I can't wait for the new findings on more water. More marketing...Evian Martian Blast!
Ahhh...but the true irony is that the RIAA is claiming that he would not die rich. He would still die a pauper because he would have beenc heated out of all those millions by the pirates online. The truth of the matter is that while piracy is illegal, the fact of the matter is that it would be less of an issue if the music industry had simply tried to find a way to make money using technology instead of trying to crush it before it ever has a chance to erode their monopoly on the CD industry. The recent lawsuit laying blame on the recording companies for price gouging is evidence that the tide is turning. They need to turn this corner. Piracy, however wrong, will not stop as long as the internet is alive and kicking. If they would adopt a sensible music pricing system, many people would flock to it.
I believe that most people want to pay for it and realize that not paying for it would bankrupt the artist. $15 a CD when I know that it couldn't cost more than $2 to make the thing makes me angry to say "I'll show them. Where do I download Napster." I am not saying it is right, but that is what makes those borderline pirates cross the line. The rest will pirate no matter how much it is.
I know a guy right now who's household income is damn near $200K a year and he still downloads his ass off. It doesn't matter what it is. He could afford to buy it but he doesn't. However, if he likes a product enough he will purchase things in support of it. He buys self-teaching books on the products. He buys games he likes the most. He buys tons of CD's to burn the stuff to. Now why does he do this? It is obvious he can afford the stuff, but he doesn't buy it. Why? I don't know and he probably couldn't tell you. But he will also shell out $1000 for books to learn all the stuff. he is thekind of person that would steal it no matter what, but would also go and buy a bunch of CD's if he thought it would help a starving artist. His kind is strange that way.
This is the way tho whole DSL and third party thing works but to understand you need to see the whole picture and the players. To get DSL you need the following:
1. Line provisioner (phone company).
2. DSLAM.
3. Modem.
4. ISP.
Sometimes, as with 3rd party setups, there is another step that includes an installer.
All ISP's that do DSL are dependent on the presence of the DSLAM which is usually, I said usually, provided by the telco. COVAD has been installing them in some places which is where they come in. Otherwise they simply broker the connection between the telco and the ISP.
When something goes wrong the ISP usually gets the call and must go through COVAD to get resolution because their contract is with COVAD, not the telco.
The setup for the ISP I work for, which is owned by the telco, only lacks the 3rd party step. The customer still calls us but we have set up a system by which any reseller of DSL (other ISPs or 3rd party folks) can submit trouble tickets on the line. If the telco has put the proper infrastructure in place then any 3rd party group can get information about the line. Only the telco knows about the line. COVAD merely handles any DSLAMs they may have installed themselves. If they simply pay to get access to the DSLAMS then it falls back ultimately on the telco.
But the customer doesn't care. They want service and don't care who does the calling. Most likely each entity wishes they had more control over the situation, but the telcos still have the ultimate control. We all forget that modem connections used to have the same reliability that DSL has now. DSL is barely 3 now. It will get better and more wide spread as time goes on. Somedays mine is great, somedays it sucks. I give them more slack because I know how the technology works and everyone is working to make it better. The future depends on it round here where I work.
Myxx
Any system that takes even a 1% chance of executing innocents has zero respect for human life, so don't waste my time with your self-righteous verbal diharrhea.
Now really...this is a gross overstatement from a grossly overstated distrust of the judicial system. By your own logic we would need to trash the entire system simply because we jali innocents 1% of the time. To say that embracing such a system makes one 100% incapable of respecting human is another gross exaggeration. I say that people who believe such a point of view are 100% egotistical and self righteous in a bielef of their own ethical superiority, but that would still only be my opinion.
I, for one, would be very upset if I were one of the 1% wrongly accused and sentenced to death, but if they got rid of the other 99% then I might be a little more forgiving. The real point you may be trying to make is whether or not it does any good. That is another debate entirely. Can't say it does or it doesn't and often times we place people on deathrow in the US for silly things as possession for 1 oz of pot. That is misguided as well, but many feel that it is still acceptable to cut the hands off of thsoe who steal bread.
I submit to you that it is impossible to completely guarantee 100% certainty of guilt in many cases, but that is not a reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We try and we fail, but we should keep trying. People with your intensity force the process to improve by insisting new techniques be used as in DNA testing. That is what makes the process better each year.
And there is no difference between your killing a criminal and the state except you are certain of the guilt while the state must do the best it can having not been in your home at the time. If you lied and said you did not kill the man and the court let you go, why then you would be benefitting from the system you claim is so fraught with problems. It is not the best system, but it is one that works better than anything that has been brought up so far. And if you don't agree, please feel free to point out another country with a better judicial syste,
Myxx
Actually, in this cae it IS some of the original people. Amiga INC is now owned by a group of Amiga enthusiasts who have, at one time or another, been deeply involved in its development. I look forward to seeing what they can acomplish.
Local programming has been out for no more than 4 or 5 months and not in every market.
And where I am at, Mediaone's signal is the worst of any cable company I have ever seen. I also live where there are 6 or 8 local channels, but they don't pump much into the air for signal since there are so many "wonderful" cable companies helping. The reception is horrid.
Ultimately, the complaint against airing local stations was never truly justified any more than shutting down that Canadian web site (ICrave?). The ads were still there, but no one likes to share. Why we don't complain about the new technology that removes spaces from recorded and live signals to gain more air time is beyond me.
Myxx
Borland's biggest claim to fame was writing the best Pascal compiler on the planet. After that, they wrote Pascal 4.0 and dropped off the face of the planet.
Hmmm...without being too harsh, I wouldn't exactly call Delphi "falling off the face of the planet." It is a good RAD suite and I wait with baited breath for it to come out for Linux under the Kylix name. And to be controversial, I don't care if it is open sourced or not. I shudder to think of all the cool little apps that will come out when it does. Sure, C is nice, but nothing beats being able to show something quickly to your boss with a RAD tool. I have won several awards where I work due to my VB work. I'd love to be able to do the same with Kylix as we have many closet Linux boxes around.
Just my thoughts.
Without being too harsh on you, I must point out that most people are blissfully unaware of how much spam comes from their domain (except for the spammers themselves). Abuse departments (of which I was recently a Supervisor over) have to wade through all the forged headers to determine where a post came from and the return addresses are almost ALWAYS forged. Remember; just because you don't see the @Home domain in the email address doesn't mean it isn't from an @Home user. The IP address will usually resolve to the culprit's domain.
And these actions (UDP) do work. The ISP I work for has been placed on ban lists before and we do all we can to keep off of them, but it is always an uphill job.
Myxx
We were told to stop treating our temps as regular employees based on this case. It makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint. The temps that sue, though, are suing out of pure and simple greed. When you are a contractor or a temp you know this. If you spend two years as a temp at a job without being taken on full time, how can you say you were cheated out of anything? Why would you sit around and think "Man...there is no difference between me and those other folks. I should get what they are getting."
The answer is to either ask to be taken on permanently or seek employment elsewhere. If you don't then it means you like being a temp there or hope to be brought on full time some day. Until you are you are a temp, no matter how nice they treat you.
For those who say that they were by false promises of permanent status, I can only ask how long did you sit around hoping? I would have left fairly quickly if it seemed hopeless.
No, this is nothing more than another case of a money grabbing society in the US and people figuring "MS can take the hit. I want some money."
Now, in this case Microsoft was writing them off as temps and making money off of them by calling them temps. They saved on benefits and options etc. But again I say, who was fooling whom? The temps knew they were temps and could have left at any time for permanency elsewhere. They were betting on the day when they could be brought on full time or they enjoyed the position of being a temp and being able to "walk" away at any time. MS is always in a city where there is good opportunity for all so to think that these were the best jobs around is simply not so.
I worked as a temp for MS in the summer of 95. It was one of the most boring yet inspiring jobs ever. It is what brought me from teaching to computers, but I had no illusions that I was not permanent.
The way this is being discussed is as if this were a common law marriage and that these employees were entitled to half. Heck, what could they ultimately win? Past medical benefits? Options? What temp will be willing to purchase options? Some I am sure. I would, but not everyone.
In the end this serves only to make life more miserable for contractors all over the US. Companies will treat them even colder for fear of retribution and in 10 years we will be seeing the "Hurt Feelings" lawsuit on behalf of all the contractors who feel like they have no sense of permanency.
Dumb is making a statement like that when you know that this is an alpha version. Obviously no one would expect you to pay for this product. This is like saying that M1 of Mozilla was not worth paying for.
There are many issues that continue to retard Linux's acceptance on the mainstream desktop. I have experienced a few that would have stumped a normal user to simply abandon Linux entirely. KDE was a fantastic first step toward allowing others a chance to peek into the world of Linux. In what ways, if at all, will you be addressing the new user with KDE 2.0? Will it be primarily from a documentation point of view, which would facilitate a smoother learning curve for new users? Or will you update many features (Kmail and Knews, and Kppp) so that they can quickly access the Internet in order to gain the valuable knowledge necessary to make the Linux switch?
Either would be a boon!
Myxx
For such a large group of obviously intelligent and thoughtful people, why do you stoop to this level of downright childish name-calling on what is obviiously an important issue?
We are all computer people. We know them, understand them, love them. We learned almost immediately the old GIGO rule and when we are faced with a problem that stems directly from the GIGO rule we simply make jokes and jeer at people who may believe otherwise. The incessant immature nature of many of the posters here honestly makes me wish for Y2K's worst possibilities to strike with impunity.
Right now I can go out and pull in pages and pages of testimony from experts in the fields affected by Y2K who say it will not be this cakewalk that so many of you stand upon your little soap boxes and pontificate upon. Listen folks, if an earthquake in a small Asian country can affect chip prices in the US and abroad, what would something like a small piece of software whose job it is to correctly manufacture those same chips do if it failed because of unforseen Y2K issues?
I am not saying Y2K will be a disaster. I am more talking about your blind assumption that because the majority of the world may fear it then they must be wrong. I am here to tell you folks that the majority of ther world does NOT fear it. In fact, they jeer it.
I have not seen one iota of proof from any of you that it will not happen, yet I can pull in reports from many people who work for the affected companies who have real concerns. Just because Linux will not suffer does not mean that others will not. No one here mentions the supply chain issues that will be the real problem. Sure, all of VA Systems may be compliant and may be open for business on Jan. 1, but will the companies who make all the parts they use be open? If one part becomes unavailable then perhaps VAS looks elsewhere for that part. What if that part is available at another company who charges more now that they know that they can. Prices go up. Tell me that you don't mind that.
All I ask is that the standard "here is another crazy, baseless Y2K thing to laugh at" mentality stop and be replaced with thoughtful discussion. This isn't theology here where we are discussing the existence of heaven or hell or the consequences of our actions here on Earth. We are discussing more tangible things that have an immediate affect. Stop playing Quake and take a moment to at least intelligently discuss the issue.
I challenge Slashdot to actually discuss the issue and moderate the baseless masses who just post "lAmEr" responses. Let's find someone in the know and submit questions to them. Sci-fi authors are great to read interviews from, but let's do something else for a moment. Don't be afraid to confront someone who makes it their job to study the problem.
Myxx
Again I am astounded at the if it aint free then it aint worth crap side of the house. You all do realize that your constant, repetitive litany sounds like nothing more than a 5 year old's incessant tantrums? If it is free then great! I intend on writing software for free too, but just because someone else wants me to pay for it doesn't mean I wont buy it. If I do pay for it then I will be less likely to be blaise about bugs, un-implemented features, and support. I will expect to be taken care of nicely and to have my questions answered when I have one. That's what I expect to get for $99. When something free breaks and I can't fix it, I dump it until something new comes out. I don't trash it, I don't slam it, I don't hurl insults at the authors like many people do. I appreciate anyone's effort.
The fact of the matter is that people who cannot or will not alter the free source of a program to make it do what they want are the people who will pay to get what they want. In other words, you get what you pay for it sometimes. If you pay for it then you may get what you want, though it is not a guarantee. If not then you don't buy the next one and you tell all your friends to stay away from it and the author goes out of business. Who goes out of business when free software goes bad? No one. That is probably why many folks simply try to shame the free author out of writing software. Face it, it doesn't matter how great the plaform is (beta max) nor how cool the OS is (Amiga) nor how better designed it is (G3/4) now how convienent (Palm OS over CE). Linux needs some forms of legitimacy and good software that is well supported and can be pruchased on a shelf at Best Buy will always help.
Linux has taken off because of good PR, not because of it's abilities. It has also gotten a boost from the anti-trust case. It has also gotten attention because of the anti-MS sentiment many have. And it has gotten attention because it is a decent OS that will only get better. Please remember this. We need both. If Photogenics cannot compete against the GIMP then it is because the GIMP is better AND free, not because the GIMP is just free.
Oh, man. If it could that would make admin chores a little less hum-drum. Not that I would ever do such a thing. A BOFH might, but certainly not me. But I never said I wouldn't think about it.
What complete hogwash. And the distance from the tip of my nose (quite a nice large one I might add) to the tips of my finger should be a yard. Royal measurements should have been abandoned long ago due to their intrinsically irrational basis. Your argument amounted to nothing more than "because it just feels better." While base 12 or 60 might work better mathematically, let us all at least admit that segmenting things out to tens, while awkward to say some things, at least can be figured out more intuitively. If I know the root words I can figure out the number. What is it about the word "foot" or "yard" that donotes distance any more than "bleem" and "flurb" do?
However, you darn sure know how long 10 centimeters are, don't you? Tell me I need 1 liter of water but I have to use a mililiter spoon to measure and I can tell you exactly how many spoons to fill. I couldn't even begin to tell you how many cups it takes to make a gallon. If it involves memorization to learn and cannot be "intuited" then it is a waste of time.
To say that we are lazy is true. I believe that humans are inherently lazy which is why they wont switch. I am an American and I believe we are probably more lazy than most become we expect to be given things that we demand due to some God given right. We might deserve it, but not because we just "ought" to and not because we are Americans. If we deserve color TVs and microwaves and decent service in restaurant then so do the "lesser" folks you sneer at when they come to our country. Especially those funny foreigners who measure things logically.
One of us needs to smoke a little more...why thank you!
Hehehe..if that were a criteria then no one would take Slashdot seriously. Your point is well taken, though. Still, $35 to just dream you are helping could also bring you great satisfaction.
Been there myself. I recently worked for a large long distance company in one of their telemarketing centers. Nothing haunts you more than when the connection to those databases go boom and the reps sit there, making no money. The Center Director just paces around, mumbling. The IS Manager is yelling over the walkie talkie for information, and the open bridge conference call has a bunch of remote network admins scratching their heads saying things like "did you reboot it first?" The funny thing is that a lot of times we weren't even allowed to reboot the thing unless they said to do it.
In all things there are complainers and there are doers. Here we have a project that is grand in scale. Just because someone else is doing this kind of distributed networking more efficiently has NOTHING to do with SETI's efforts. That's like saying that because the Commodore 64 was so wildly successful and efficient that all computers ought to be. Well, I would assume that all C-64's would be that efficient, but not something that does something totally different. Sure, computer hardware is essentially the same, but the way it is implimented is not.
And to say that "I will not waste computer cycles on this buggy program" is almost as laughable as the people who have gotten offended at the Unix/Linux slur. Am I not mistaken that the Linux/Unix version came out first? I don't see these folks being anti-Linux with this sort of evidence. And just what were you wasting your computer cycles on before SETI? This is like saying "I wasted my Saturday helping to search for a lost child and then I find out the parents hadn't looked hard enough for the child yet." Sure, it can be frustrating, but you volunteered, didn't you? No one meant to take advantage of you. You joined SETI because it was cool, not because you wanted reward.
I guess that some people just cannot mess up.
And about the hacking...if the hacking took place and it was verified to have been done by LINUX/UNIX then their statements are justified. Perhaps not the hacking statement, but the dig against the platform is justified. If he had said that "Widnows users seem to be the cuplprits, but that is probably because of the MS mentality" then we would have all cheered. But I guess the double-standard is ok?
In essence, I volunteered because I thought it would be the coolest thing since sliced bread. It has been. I like the screen saver. My computer is on anyway. Nothing is lost by me in any way shape or form. That I have been chewing on a duplicate packet is unfortunate, but they will fix the issue. Anyone invlolved with SETI knows that Congress has gleefully been chopping away at its budget for years and calling it a victory while they continue to pour funds into more "dubious" research. If I can help them out I will.
::sigh::