Techies? Laborers? Does anyone here have the audacity to equate sitting at a computer, eating Fritos and Dew, reading Slashdot, and helping someone with his or her computer to getting atop large steel-framed buildings with nary a safety net or crawling into dirty, polluted mines?
All you have to do to get a white collar, well-paid tech job is this: clean up your act, shave your pony tail, dress nicely, and be FRIENDLY so that people actually ENJOY your presence.
I can speak from experience. No sane company lays off competent, insanely friendly IT people. These folks are the last to go. If you're a smug, unkempt, incompetent dork who hates everyone, your days in IT are limited -- try to unionize... what competent IT person is going to want to be affiliated with you? Why would they want to stick up for you?
Sounds like a great idea. Let's figure out the new "features" that will come out when everyone gets their fingers in the pot!
1. Three penguin menus (at the left, top, and right of the screen) instead of one Apple menu. 2. A control panel that is 10 pages long instead of one page long. 3. Documentation will now consist of a CD-ROM of HOWTOs outdated by exactly one year. 4. Safari will have an email program within it, a calendar program within it, and a wiseacre "kitchen sink" string that someone tossed in for laughs. 5. iTunes will not be supported because it has less than 50 command line options and doesn't support the cheapest, most counterintuitive MP3 player on the market. 6. iCal will not be supported because when you're recompiling your kernel and compiling software from scratch, time has no meaning. 7. Menus will be replaced by clicking the fifth button on a seven-button mouse and navigating through a subsequent hierarchy of submenus. 8. Booting will no longer be a graceful Apple graphic by default. It will be as detailed with as much garbage text as possible, announcing every single contributor to every package on the system. 9. iPhoto will have easily-installable, pornography-specific features. 10. The OS X help menu will have a selection of helpful things completely unrelated to OS X... perhaps a collection of ESR's works, most notably "How To Pick Up Girls".
For all of history, anyone who has ever been charged with leading a team to do anything... go into battle, perform sports, develop the next groundbreaking program, etc. knows that:
80% of the people are there to do what they're told (at varying levels of competency, from excellent to fair), collect a check, and get out of there.
15% of the people are there to try to do the absolute minimum possible, complain & don't do anything about it, collect a check, and get out of there.
5% of the people are superstars, who give more than asked, use their creativity to the team's benefit, in addition to doing what they do well. Superstars don't usually just perform their job well; they usually go beyond the call of duty. They purposefully become so useful to their team that they get more leverage over everyone else when it comes time to negoatiate.
Good coaches: 1. Motivate the 75% to do slightly better than normal 2. Deaccentuate the bottom 15% 3. Accentuate the superstars, whomever they might be.
This might sound simple, but it is hard. It's hard for small businesses and it is really hard for large organizations.
Most CEOs today are awful leaders and they are self-centered because they don't see it as "their business" or "their money". They become the vast 75%; show up, do CEO duties, collect a check, go home. This is why they have a lifespan of 2 years.
People who successfully do this are the people who are looked up to.
Jobs has his own cabinet of celebrities (Tevanian, Ive, etc.), he has cracked down on "bottom 15%" (disgruntled) employees revealing product info, and he has ostensibly motivated everyone else to do just a little bit better than normal.
I'm ditching my ipod mini (2g) - and will buy an SE W800i phone. I have a k750i - which...uses standards (png for transparency on themes, jpg for images). Connects out of the box via usb in FreeBSD. 2Mpixel camera.
the ipod was a HUGE disappointment for me - I guess I'm not the target audience.
If you were the intended audience, they'd ship it to you in pieces and have you assemble it yourself. Then you could go and find a stylish wooden box to put it in. It might cost, oh, $666 and be shipped from a home garage in California.
Here is a great thing that small business owners would love. I mean, the opportunity to start with little capital and get the needed services over three years.
There's only one problem -- Sun's market isn't small businesses (small IT). Sun's market isn't medium-sized IT, either. Sun's market is only large enterprise... which is dominated by Windows and (now) Linux. Could someone correct me if this is not the case?
Whether in business or pleasure, I have really wanted to use Sun stuff... I really do. I just can't figure out a reason to. Every time I look at their site. It's like it is completely irrelevant to what is going on in the normal world.
Well, just as one has America to blame for Microsoft, one also has America to thank for bringing us Free Software. I think it is purely a cost issue -- nobody likes to pay the Microsoft Tax, and, since American states like Massachusetts are stepping up and saying "No", I think it emboldens other governments to do the same.
...and even if you went vegetarian/vegan, there are "researchers" trying to gain fame by saying that tofu, soy, is bad for you. Can't win. What do we eat? Anyone know?
Way back in March, Slashdot carried an article saying Office Depot will only carry Windows XP approved software. I also think a big company only supporting a few software titles (and probably charging a bit to do it) is bad too.
Ah, my friend, but you forget that is for for small business owners such as myself who couldn't care less about the variety of software -- we just want our stuff to work. Do you know how much time I spend playing "IT Guy" for our company? It is truly not fun.
Give us our MS-Office, our devices that plug in correctly, our specialized apps, and just make everything work. We'll pay extra.
First of all, computers are often sold under the assumption that putting one in people's hands gives them an education. In reality, how many people have any sort of education software as a percentage of games, productivity apps, etc.?
Secondly, these individuals need actual teachers before computers.
Thirdly, $100 computers would be snatched up in the Euro-America world quicker than they could get to developing countries... and we'd pay more for them.
Fourthly, how many high school PC or Mac labs ever got that much educational use?
Lastly, technology is indeed NOT the answer to every single problem... neither is throwing money at something. If either were the solution, we wouldn't have a bankrupt welfare system.
> It's not _that_ ok to come to Ask Slashdot, just to save a few bucks.
As you correctly recognize, Slashdotters are substantially wealthy people who should be embarrassed about asking such prole-ish questions like "how can I save money?"
Clearly, your address at "freeservers.com" shows that you are one of these wealthy high-roller Slashdotters. We apologize for offending you.
You are also correct in implying that Slashdotters spend their large amounts of money on whatever "everyone else is using" because the Slashdot community is extremely sparse with giving their opinions and experiences to other geeks.
Ok, I'm just joking/kidding around... But you see what I mean.:-)
An Initial Public Offering of stock (i.e., an "IPO") is done when there are venture capitalists or owners who want an exit strategy to realize their investment proceeds (i.e., "cash out"). These are traditionally only used by large companies, though, in the "tech boom", small companies were boosted with cash so that they could function like large companies through outside investment. IPOs are very expensive and time-consuming, so they are mostly only used for large businesses.
Another strategy that owners use to get out of the business is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). These can be used by large and/or small businesses. It's not as glamourous and it takes a while. There's no immediate "cash out".
Both an IPO and an ESOP are similar in that the owners are giving up some sort of control. With an ESOP, owners are giving up some control to employees. With an IPO, owners are giving up some control to the public.
99% of businesses are small businesses and thus do not have the interest nor funding nor capability to do an IPO.
Mozilla Corporation will likely be a small business run by a small group of people who are passionate about developing Mozilla to its fullest potential.
Twist of events: I imagine it is necessary for Mozilla to make a profit under the for-profit side to keep their nonprofit 501(c)(3) status. Sometimes organizations started for humanitarian purposes end up taking in too much cash (and, by that, I don't mean a lot..because the limits are low) and have to do this for tax reasons.
I've been a CTO for the last year and a half and if they want to take more of my money and the money of people like me out in taxes, more power to 'em. I'd much rather see that money go to the public good than have another one of my colleagues blow his bonus on another new Bentley
That's very easy to say because:
Presumably you're pretty young, probably unmarried, have no children, own no property, have your paycheck subsidized by someone (e.g., you're not a small business owner).
You're probably not relied upon to provide for your elderly parents, you've probably never known someone who has hit retirement penniless, and you probably haven't had to pay for a child's education.
You've probably never been assessed for street repairs (aside from on Monopoly), you've likely never had to deal with avoiding taxes to passing asset to a loved one such as your son or daughter, and you've likely never experienced the death and settling the estate (as executor) of a loved one.
Once you've done even half of these, come back and talk to us about being so ambivalent about taxes.
1. Short-term capital gains @ ordinary income. Ouch. Tax man cometh. Depending on what the new president does with the tax laws.... 35-39% for federal, maybe up to 10% for state. All the folks espousing their liberal viewpoints I trust will enjoy giving up 45% - 50% to Uncle Sam because they are now "evil rich people".
2. People who receive a windfall of money, such as lottery ticket holders, about 95% of them blow the money within 3 years. If you didn't earn it by struggling, you're not going to struggle on keeping it. Sorry to say, but they will also probably not go to see a NAPFA-certified, fee-only financial planner, either.
Think of how many True Hollywood Stories you've watched on E! that have the same sob story.
3. The exception to this is when it is annuitized, which would provide a certain amount of money per year for a certain amount of time. In which case, it would be more like a salary without work.
4. A lot of these people are not vested. By the time they're able to exercise their options, the stock will probably be down at a level more in line with reality. If you're not liquid, you're only a millionaire on paper.
5. Some people may own restricted stock, so this would impede their ability to convert it to cash. Again, another liquidity issue. By the time they are able to sell the stock, the price will have deflated.
6. Money doesn't buy happiness. Most people would not enjoy laying around all day, past maybe 1 year, because your purpose in life becomes basically to consume. There are only so many cars and so many Rolex watches one can buy before it becomes old really quick. People need purpose and vision.
There are actually psychologists who specialize in treating folks who receive a windfall of money. You don't realize that, when you receive a large sum of money or inherit something grossly large, some of your dreams, aspirations, and hopes are destroyed.
Helpful hint that no one does. Here's how to turn into a "rich person" while keeping sane. If you save just 10% of your income, starting today, each year, in 20-30 years, you'll be right there... but you'll have done it organically and have your common sense about you.
Instead of a violent solution (ripping them up, distributing their wealth, etc. etc. How about just saying, "Stick to what you know and do 'well'. Operating systems and MS Office."
>Is it possible to make a normal oxygen tank explode and if so, >how powerful would it be? I expect you could blow a hole >in a plane though that wouldn't necissarly kill anyone.
Look no further than the ValuJet, now renamed "AirTran" because of the bad publicity. There was an oxygen explosion, which caused "smoke in the cockpit". The aircraft plunged into the Florida Everglades in the 90's, killing everyone onboard.
This accident was purely from negligence, rather than terrorism. You won't find me flying on AirTran anytime soon.
I would think, with the Batman franchise continuing on into an eco-crazy millenium, Batman wouldn't convert the Batmobile into an dually-wheeled SUV! How about at least a Bat-hybrid?!
But then again, what do I know -- he's got a fire-breathing mega-engine on the back of that... and that's DEFINITELY not environmentally friendly.
This is crazy. Where there is EFT involved with fraud, there is going to be:
skimming (viruses/malicious ppl)
taxing (governments)
hacking
money laundering
Cayman Island bank accounts
Then, we're going to have to set up rules for EFT regarding which banks are "good" banks in "good" countries... and which banks are "bad" in "bad" countries. And, of course, the "rogue" nations will provide EFT accounts to spammers for the appropriate amount of cash.
Spammers will thus get into the game of money laundering and organized crime... at least more so than they actually are right now. There has to be an intelligent solution without using money and EFT.
Slashdot Mirror
> I don't think that women are genetically built for programming
And I, for one, would like to know what human genetics has to do with slogging together some crappy Perl code?
Techies? Laborers? Does anyone here have the audacity to equate sitting at a computer, eating Fritos and Dew, reading Slashdot, and helping someone with his or her computer to getting atop large steel-framed buildings with nary a safety net or crawling into dirty, polluted mines?
All you have to do to get a white collar, well-paid tech job is this: clean up your act, shave your pony tail, dress nicely, and be FRIENDLY so that people actually ENJOY your presence.
I can speak from experience. No sane company lays off competent, insanely friendly IT people. These folks are the last to go. If you're a smug, unkempt, incompetent dork who hates everyone, your days in IT are limited -- try to unionize... what competent IT person is going to want to be affiliated with you? Why would they want to stick up for you?
Sounds like a great idea. Let's figure out the new "features" that will come out when everyone gets their fingers in the pot!
1. Three penguin menus (at the left, top, and right of the screen) instead of one Apple menu.
2. A control panel that is 10 pages long instead of one page long.
3. Documentation will now consist of a CD-ROM of HOWTOs outdated by exactly one year.
4. Safari will have an email program within it, a calendar program within it, and a wiseacre "kitchen sink" string that someone tossed in for laughs.
5. iTunes will not be supported because it has less than 50 command line options and doesn't support the cheapest, most counterintuitive MP3 player on the market.
6. iCal will not be supported because when you're recompiling your kernel and compiling software from scratch, time has no meaning.
7. Menus will be replaced by clicking the fifth button on a seven-button mouse and navigating through a subsequent hierarchy of submenus.
8. Booting will no longer be a graceful Apple graphic by default. It will be as detailed with as much garbage text as possible, announcing every single contributor to every package on the system.
9. iPhoto will have easily-installable, pornography-specific features.
10. The OS X help menu will have a selection of helpful things completely unrelated to OS X... perhaps a collection of ESR's works, most notably "How To Pick Up Girls".
For all of history, anyone who has ever been charged with leading a team to do anything... go into battle, perform sports, develop the next groundbreaking program, etc. knows that:
80% of the people are there to do what they're told (at varying levels of competency, from excellent to fair), collect a check, and get out of there.
15% of the people are there to try to do the absolute minimum possible, complain & don't do anything about it, collect a check, and get out of there.
5% of the people are superstars, who give more than asked, use their creativity to the team's benefit, in addition to doing what they do well. Superstars don't usually just perform their job well; they usually go beyond the call of duty. They purposefully become so useful to their team that they get more leverage over everyone else when it comes time to negoatiate.
Good coaches:
1. Motivate the 75% to do slightly better than normal
2. Deaccentuate the bottom 15%
3. Accentuate the superstars, whomever they might be.
This might sound simple, but it is hard. It's hard for small businesses and it is really hard for large organizations.
Most CEOs today are awful leaders and they are self-centered because they don't see it as "their business" or "their money". They become the vast 75%; show up, do CEO duties, collect a check, go home. This is why they have a lifespan of 2 years.
People who successfully do this are the people who are looked up to.
Jobs has his own cabinet of celebrities (Tevanian, Ive, etc.), he has cracked down on "bottom 15%" (disgruntled) employees revealing product info, and he has ostensibly motivated everyone else to do just a little bit better than normal.
Hence, he deserves our respect.
the ipod was a HUGE disappointment for me - I guess I'm not the target audience.
If you were the intended audience, they'd ship it to you in pieces and have you assemble it yourself. Then you could go and find a stylish wooden box to put it in. It might cost, oh, $666 and be shipped from a home garage in California.
Willy Wanker and the Software Factory. What bad things could happen to the 19 people who don't win?
Here is a great thing that small business owners would love. I mean, the opportunity to start with little capital and get the needed services over three years.
There's only one problem -- Sun's market isn't small businesses (small IT). Sun's market isn't medium-sized IT, either. Sun's market is only large enterprise... which is dominated by Windows and (now) Linux. Could someone correct me if this is not the case?
Whether in business or pleasure, I have really wanted to use Sun stuff... I really do. I just can't figure out a reason to. Every time I look at their site. It's like it is completely irrelevant to what is going on in the normal world.
Well, just as one has America to blame for Microsoft, one also has America to thank for bringing us Free Software. I think it is purely a cost issue -- nobody likes to pay the Microsoft Tax, and, since American states like Massachusetts are stepping up and saying "No", I think it emboldens other governments to do the same.
...and even if you went vegetarian/vegan, there are "researchers" trying to gain fame by saying that tofu, soy, is bad for you. Can't win. What do we eat? Anyone know?
Your rant exemplifies why I would prefer doing it myself versus hiring someone. It's not being cheap that's the problem.
Ah, my friend, but you forget that is for for small business owners such as myself who couldn't care less about the variety of software -- we just want our stuff to work. Do you know how much time I spend playing "IT Guy" for our company? It is truly not fun.
Give us our MS-Office, our devices that plug in correctly, our specialized apps, and just make everything work. We'll pay extra.
Amen to that.
First of all, computers are often sold under the assumption that putting one in people's hands gives them an education. In reality, how many people have any sort of education software as a percentage of games, productivity apps, etc.?
Secondly, these individuals need actual teachers before computers.
Thirdly, $100 computers would be snatched up in the Euro-America world quicker than they could get to developing countries... and we'd pay more for them.
Fourthly, how many high school PC or Mac labs ever got that much educational use?
Lastly, technology is indeed NOT the answer to every single problem... neither is throwing money at something. If either were the solution, we wouldn't have a bankrupt welfare system.
As you correctly recognize, Slashdotters are substantially wealthy people who should be embarrassed about asking such prole-ish questions like "how can I save money?"
Clearly, your address at "freeservers.com" shows that you are one of these wealthy high-roller Slashdotters. We apologize for offending you.
You are also correct in implying that Slashdotters spend their large amounts of money on whatever "everyone else is using" because the Slashdot community is extremely sparse with giving their opinions and experiences to other geeks.
Ok, I'm just joking/kidding around... But you see what I mean. :-)
..because if it's in Wikipedia, it's GOTTA be true.
Come to think of it, my response was probably the second most ignorant. D'oh!
This is probably the most ignorant posting on Slashdot I've seen in a long time.
Yipes.
An Initial Public Offering of stock (i.e., an "IPO") is done when there are venture capitalists or owners who want an exit strategy to realize their investment proceeds (i.e., "cash out"). These are traditionally only used by large companies, though, in the "tech boom", small companies were boosted with cash so that they could function like large companies through outside investment. IPOs are very expensive and time-consuming, so they are mostly only used for large businesses.
Another strategy that owners use to get out of the business is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). These can be used by large and/or small businesses. It's not as glamourous and it takes a while. There's no immediate "cash out".
Both an IPO and an ESOP are similar in that the owners are giving up some sort of control. With an ESOP, owners are giving up some control to employees. With an IPO, owners are giving up some control to the public.
99% of businesses are small businesses and thus do not have the interest nor funding nor capability to do an IPO.
Mozilla Corporation will likely be a small business run by a small group of people who are passionate about developing Mozilla to its fullest potential.
Twist of events: I imagine it is necessary for Mozilla to make a profit under the for-profit side to keep their nonprofit 501(c)(3) status. Sometimes organizations started for humanitarian purposes end up taking in too much cash (and, by that, I don't mean a lot..because the limits are low) and have to do this for tax reasons.
That's it.
That's very easy to say because:
Presumably you're pretty young, probably unmarried, have no children, own no property, have your paycheck subsidized by someone (e.g., you're not a small business owner).
You're probably not relied upon to provide for your elderly parents, you've probably never known someone who has hit retirement penniless, and you probably haven't had to pay for a child's education.
You've probably never been assessed for street repairs (aside from on Monopoly), you've likely never had to deal with avoiding taxes to passing asset to a loved one such as your son or daughter, and you've likely never experienced the death and settling the estate (as executor) of a loved one.
Once you've done even half of these, come back and talk to us about being so ambivalent about taxes.
Some factors to consider:
1. Short-term capital gains @ ordinary income. Ouch. Tax man cometh. Depending on what the new president does with the tax laws.... 35-39% for federal, maybe up to 10% for state. All the folks espousing their liberal viewpoints I trust will enjoy giving up 45% - 50% to Uncle Sam because they are now "evil rich people".
2. People who receive a windfall of money, such as lottery ticket holders, about 95% of them blow the money within 3 years. If you didn't earn it by struggling, you're not going to struggle on keeping it. Sorry to say, but they will also probably not go to see a NAPFA-certified, fee-only financial planner, either.
Think of how many True Hollywood Stories you've watched on E! that have the same sob story.
3. The exception to this is when it is annuitized, which would provide a certain amount of money per year for a certain amount of time. In which case, it would be more like a salary without work.
4. A lot of these people are not vested. By the time they're able to exercise their options, the stock will probably be down at a level more in line with reality. If you're not liquid, you're only a millionaire on paper.
5. Some people may own restricted stock, so this would impede their ability to convert it to cash. Again, another liquidity issue. By the time they are able to sell the stock, the price will have deflated.
6. Money doesn't buy happiness. Most people would not enjoy laying around all day, past maybe 1 year, because your purpose in life becomes basically to consume. There are only so many cars and so many Rolex watches one can buy before it becomes old really quick. People need purpose and vision.
There are actually psychologists who specialize in treating folks who receive a windfall of money. You don't realize that, when you receive a large sum of money or inherit something grossly large, some of your dreams, aspirations, and hopes are destroyed.
Helpful hint that no one does. Here's how to turn into a "rich person" while keeping sane. If you save just 10% of your income, starting today, each year, in 20-30 years, you'll be right there... but you'll have done it organically and have your common sense about you.
Especially if it's: "Game over, man!"
Instead of a violent solution (ripping them up, distributing their wealth, etc. etc. How about just saying, "Stick to what you know and do 'well'. Operating systems and MS Office."
>how powerful would it be? I expect you could blow a hole
>in a plane though that wouldn't necissarly kill anyone.
Look no further than the ValuJet, now renamed "AirTran" because of the bad publicity. There was an oxygen explosion, which caused "smoke in the cockpit". The aircraft plunged into the Florida Everglades in the 90's, killing everyone onboard.
This accident was purely from negligence, rather than terrorism. You won't find me flying on AirTran anytime soon.
You can find info and transcripts here: ValuJet 592 - The "Preventable Accident"
I would think, with the Batman franchise continuing on into an eco-crazy millenium, Batman wouldn't convert the Batmobile into an dually-wheeled SUV! How about at least a Bat-hybrid?!
But then again, what do I know -- he's got a fire-breathing mega-engine on the back of that... and that's DEFINITELY not environmentally friendly.
This is crazy. Where there is EFT involved with fraud, there is going to be:
Then, we're going to have to set up rules for EFT regarding which banks are "good" banks in "good" countries... and which banks are "bad" in "bad" countries. And, of course, the "rogue" nations will provide EFT accounts to spammers for the appropriate amount of cash.
Spammers will thus get into the game of money laundering and organized crime... at least more so than they actually are right now. There has to be an intelligent solution without using money and EFT.
LocalTalk,
A ppleTalk,n jiTalk, ... HyperTalk!
OpenTalk,
EtherTalk,
PowerTalk,
MovieTalk,
PlainTalk,
MacinTalk,
Ka
TokenTalk,
and lest we forget
How about a Talk to unite all 'Talks?