I worked for Mastercard for 5 years, starting as an intern after my sophomore year in college. I was in HR for a year, then an analytical dept for a year, then the "IT" department for 2 years. I was hired at 19, had great reviews and only compliments for my first 2 years.
After I graduated and was hired full time, I was moved under a jack-ass of a boss. He was an idiot, but lied and carried himself well, so got away with a lot of shit. Anyway, he was my 4th boss at the company and was the only one to talk about me behind my back. He gave me great reviews, but the raises sucked and he told others I was too young, even though everyone agreed I did more than my share of good work.
After one particular comment he made in front of others, I put in an official complain in human resources. They did nothing. I went to his boss, who also did nothing (he seemed to feel uncomfortable with discussing it with my boss). I felt my salary was being held back because I was being discriminated against. I had no good way to prove it, however.
I took 2 weeks vacation, found a new job, and started at double the salary I was getting at Mastercard. I'm still at this other company and I'm treated very well, even as the youngest in my group.
My experience tells me that if your IT director wants to get rid of you, you're out of luck. Granted it's a bad market, but go looking elsewhere. Remember that you won't be able to sue him (most likely) until after you're fired, which is way too late if you've got a family. So freshen up that resume and send it to everyone and their mother.
Just because you didn't work while you were in high school doesn't mean no one else did. As a freshman in high school (14 yrs old) my father hired me to do some network administration in the small accounting firm he owned. I learned on the job and he paid me a low hourly salary. I did that all through high school and college for him. That's 8 years of "real world(tm)" experience before getting a degree.
No one is going to say their 19 with 5 yrs experience and not mean it. You can be sure he's used to the questions, and knows better than to state something like that on Slashdot without a valid story behind it;-)
Paying per quarter or year makes much more sense. It's a strange feeling to pay for something monthly that you wouldn't use at least once a month (at least I hope they don't make one release per month). I could see 4 upgrades a year, so pay every quarter. But if I can dial up to the entire internet for $19.95/mo (granted 56K), why pay $9.95/mo just to upgrade a small portion of my software?
I agree with their strategy of charging, no problem there. In fact they should charge for their services. But they need to come up with a better pay model. Maybe charge more monthly for corporate upgrades, less for home users.
I couldn't agree more. I've been spending all of my free time putting together documents and a plan to get my company to switch to Linux workstations and Linux/*BSD servers. It's a major multi-national corporation, and if we slowly migrate (successfully), I guarantee it'll be documented in at least a few industry publications.
My point being that if IT managers and developers see articles of success, cost cutting, and other improvements, their interest peaks. Doesn't matter what platform or language it's about. All you need to do is raise their interest so maybe others will try the same, and once it's visible enough, others will come into the market to compete with software like this.
I sure hope my company will look beyond Microsoft... and I'm going to do everything in my power to make management aware of their options.
But they're claiming patent directly on "a computer system comprising a processing unit, a system memory coupled to the processing unit through a system bus, and a computer-readable medium coupled to the processing unit through a system bus" along with the OS. Wouldn't that include a Dell computer with Windows XP installed?
This is in the list of claims the patenter (is that a word?) holds, so the way I read it they are holding a patent for the entire computer.
I don't disagree with your comment, but this patent seems to contain more than just the DRM OS.
a system memory coupled to the processing unit through a system bus;
a computer-readable medium coupled to the processing unit through a system bus; and
a digital rights management operating system executed from the computer-readable medium by the processing unit, wherein the digital rights management operating system causes the processor to create a trusted identity for the digital rights management operating system.
I interpret that to mean that if XP contains DRM capabilities, then the entire computer it's on is patented. If that's the case, they can theoretically force computer manufacturers to pay royalties for licensing this patent. I'm sure I must be getting this a little confused, but this part 17 really sounds crazy...
Since many will post without actually reading the study, everyone should note that the raw data came only from the kernel and GNOME. I doubt that kernel+GNOME developers make up the majority of open source developers. And I wouldn't consider it an accurate sample set of developer's either. Kernel hackers are a special breed, to say the least. And GNOME developers certainly don't completely encompass the average application developer, such as command-line, internet, or just plain x-window.
I'm an open source application developer (in my personal time), and find this study does not at all include my perspective. Obviously I'm not the majority, but I think it's missing a lot.
My office just got it as well. Our Exchange servers have at least 2000 contacts and groups in the global e-mail list, so it seems to go through most of that list and e-mail everyone. We seem to have some sort of virus "catcher" running that removes most of the viruses, but those that get through send out thousands, so the e-mail groups are almost getting a few thousand e-mails each. Even with the virus removed, that's a lot of e-mails going around just within an hour or so.
Now that I think about it, it's spreading amazingly slow in my office (we have approx. 20 international offices). This is sort of a good load test of our servers. Seems my company's setup of Exchange servers suck when hit with that many e-mails in a short period of time. But then again, I don't really know how another comparative e-mail server setup would fare.
Hang out with my co-workers? Those nerds? I don't think so...;)
I've had a variety of experiences at a few companies. My last company was filled with 20 year-olds, so there were lots of friends to be made. I made my closest friendships and that company and hang out with those old co-workers all the time. My current group is filled with a variety of ages and types. The only things we have in common are computers and alcohol. So sometimes after coding we go out drinking.
But I don't golf, don't have a wife or kids, and never want to visit anyone in New Jersey. (Yes, NJ really is the armpit of the US.) If we were all middle-aged bankers, I could see us going to all play golf one day or have a BBQ with the families. But with such a varied bunch of developers, I don't see that happening in my career anytime soon.
Can anyone explain this? Now if only Microsoft would let me legally distribute this software I'd be a happy person. Unfortunately, only registered XBox developers can legitimately obtain this software (okay, apart from the fact that only registered XBox developers actually have an XBox that can run the software).
I understand if only the XBox dev kit would run this software, but where does the law come in? Is it the licensing of the dev kit? Does this mean that you're required to pay MS to write software for this platform?
Of course that's beside the fact that MS had to pay game companies to write games in the first place.
The most common issue I hear about it exactly that: video and audio. Most of the hardware, at least in the older laptops, all seem proprietary and unique to laptops.
I suggest taking a look at some old (used) IBM ThinkPads. I've used them for years, and for the most part they're great. They're too expensive when they're new, but the older systems have just about everything you're asking for. Most had built-in Ethernet at least as an option. Many had CD-ROM as only an option, with the space replacable with an extra battery or hard drive. They're a decent size and well-built. The ones with butter-fly keyboards (expand when opened) are exceptionally small.
The only issue could be battery life. But like I said, with some models you can drop the extra drive and use a battery instead, or maybe IBM sells better modern batteries that would fit in the old systems.
So check out models from IBM and then search for them on auction sites and such. Good luck!
P.S. When you've found or built what you're looking for, let us know what linux distro you used, or how you built your own, since so many of us have issues getting Linux up on laptops.
But there are some things a contract can not protect you from. For example, if a contract is made for the purpose of an illegal act, that contract isn't binding. If the EULA goes against a state or federal law, that part of the EULA can't be used to prevent you from sueing them. That's why I'm wondering where the current law stands. I'll keep searching online law libraries, but you practically need a law degree to understand the law.
(Which, by the way, I think is totally improper. How can you be expected to follow a law that the average person can not understand? That's one way to gain control over a population, but I'll save that conversation for another time.)
But that's just it. The remote's not a big deal. In fact, I really like your wireless mouse idea. And a few posters below mention IR methods.
I do use X (I like KDE). But in no matter what wm or desktop I use, there's a plethora of disperse apps to control all multimedia. Want to play MP3s or CDs, load XMMS. Want full audio volume controls for every a/v connection, load KMix. Want to play a DVD, load your DVD software. Want streaming audio, load something else.
It would be great, just for this purpose, to have one nice, clean app which takes up the whole screen and has everything layed out. All simple controls are layed out like a huge remote with easy-to-find buttons and graphics. One "Next Track" button that works with whatever you're running (CD track, MP3 playlist, or DVD chapter, whatever). Press a CD button and press play. Press the MP3 button and use the same play button to start it. A nice, clean common interface. Looks like I'll be staying up late trying to write it myself.
Does anyone think that withholding software bugs is illegal? It was illegal for Firestone to withhold information because it irresponsibly cost lives. Security holes generally do not, but they do cost companies money. Holding back info for a security flaw will definitely prevent many admins from changing system settings, limiting current development, waiting for a patch before releasing, etc. That in turn will cost money if the flaw is still exploited.
IANAL, but I personally think MS could be sued by a company attacked through a hole kept secret by this security gang. It should in fact be illegal to withhold information about known flaws in any product, since knowing of those flaws may change the value in the customer's eyes. I see that as indirectly constituting fraud.
Anyone know of any precedence or the true current legal standing of such a situation?
I have an old PC running Linux that I'd love to set up to handle all of my multimedia. I have it networked to my DSL, so it'll have internet access. I have 2 real problems, however:
How can I have a comprehensive user interface to control all media? And of course it would use all of the latest libraries.
How can I set up a remote control to the PC?
Of course I could write a program to handle every media type I'm interested in with a nice GUI, but I definitely don't have the time or knowledge of the libraries. The remote is probably just a technicality that I could find out more about (generic remote, buy an IR reader connected to serial port, etc). But without loading 100 different programs and user interfaces, does anyone know how or where to find a nice GUI to handle everything? Because that's really the only benefit I see in their product: usability. It would be a fun hack to mimick that with an old PC.
Flamebait, but I've got karma to burn... Does this really matter? No offense to either party involved. They've both obviously contributed valuable work to society. But this is just another piece of the puzzle, and they can share credit for it. I'm sure it's listed on both of their resumes.
If anyone could explain why this gains news-worthy attention, please post. If this dispute does in fact matter to anyone but the parties involved, I'd like to know how.
I don't see much competition among the all-in-one development environments for Linux. Kylix is an attempt to become the MS Visual Studio of Linux. I don't see anything else as broad as this. KDevelop is kind of a Turbo C app. I'm not familiar with KDE Studio, but it seems to be the only real competition.
Developers, and especially companies, really want the grand development environment that nicely brings everything together. That's exactly why every Windows developer eventually dropped Borland's array of products and went to MS Visual Studio.
Borland here is trying to keep up with the times and learn from the past. I think this is a great step for Linux.
Assuming their plugin is an app that runs on WINE, you're completely incorrect. In fact, the LGPL, unlike the GPL, is specifically meant to allow separation of their product from WINE. I can write a closed-source app for Linux which uses LGPL libraries and sell that app without releasing my code under the LGPL.
They have an interesting coming soon product. I'm referring to the second item, basically a simple client workstation built just to run Windows apps, but without purchasing Windows. I don't think this'll take off for internet appliances (might as well make a special Linux distro for that with custom apps), but it may open some eyes to other possiblities. Maybe distros built specifically to replace MS licenses. Maybe transitional product lines for moving MS users to free-as-in-speech platforms. I think making that transitional product is a great idea, and of course charging for it is logical and potentially very profitable in the long run.
Having transitional products is the best way to show corporations how much money they can save from MS licenses, while getting them onto free software. This is very and sounds like a great business model (at least for this specific product).
I've searched Microsoft's site and Google for a long time in an attempt to find the Windows XP End User License Agreement (EULA). No EULAs are on MS's site except for some driver development kit. I'm not too surprised, since they probabaly wouldn't want anyone reading it before buying a product. Google also found nothing, probably because the EULA is copywritten, so it's illegal to post it online if you're not MS!
Does anyone have a link to the full EULA for Windows XP, or any MS products for that matter? I'd like to take the most absurd parts and e-mail it to everyone I know, hoping they will pass it on and prevent some people from buying XP. Thanks in advance to anyone who posts a link.
Interesting point, mostly because it's been debated for over 100 years. If you re-read the entire constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, it almost always refers to "people", not "citizens". Remember also that the country was founded by those seeking a new land in which to be free. Their frame of mind was encompassing all of those entering the country. In the beginning, foreigners could just walk into the country and be considered "people" protected by the constitution. That seemed to change over time as vast numbers of immigrants entered the country, and it's considered to be in the best interests of the country to separate citizens from others. But reading the constitution and other papers by the country's founders shows that no one within our borders was intended to be excluded from constitutional protection.
Looking at it from another perspective, we usually say that we are the shining example of freedom and democracy on this planet. Proving that should include extending those freedoms to all who want it (at least within our borders). Otherwise, we are just being hypocrites; freedom's great for us, but the rest of you are on your own.
My brother says "Mo fo butter layin me to da bone, jackin me up, tightly."
Slashdot Mirror
I worked for Mastercard for 5 years, starting as an intern after my sophomore year in college. I was in HR for a year, then an analytical dept for a year, then the "IT" department for 2 years. I was hired at 19, had great reviews and only compliments for my first 2 years.
After I graduated and was hired full time, I was moved under a jack-ass of a boss. He was an idiot, but lied and carried himself well, so got away with a lot of shit. Anyway, he was my 4th boss at the company and was the only one to talk about me behind my back. He gave me great reviews, but the raises sucked and he told others I was too young, even though everyone agreed I did more than my share of good work.
After one particular comment he made in front of others, I put in an official complain in human resources. They did nothing. I went to his boss, who also did nothing (he seemed to feel uncomfortable with discussing it with my boss). I felt my salary was being held back because I was being discriminated against. I had no good way to prove it, however.
I took 2 weeks vacation, found a new job, and started at double the salary I was getting at Mastercard. I'm still at this other company and I'm treated very well, even as the youngest in my group.
My experience tells me that if your IT director wants to get rid of you, you're out of luck. Granted it's a bad market, but go looking elsewhere. Remember that you won't be able to sue him (most likely) until after you're fired, which is way too late if you've got a family. So freshen up that resume and send it to everyone and their mother.
Good luck.
Just because you didn't work while you were in high school doesn't mean no one else did. As a freshman in high school (14 yrs old) my father hired me to do some network administration in the small accounting firm he owned. I learned on the job and he paid me a low hourly salary. I did that all through high school and college for him. That's 8 years of "real world(tm)" experience before getting a degree.
;-)
No one is going to say their 19 with 5 yrs experience and not mean it. You can be sure he's used to the questions, and knows better than to state something like that on Slashdot without a valid story behind it
Paying per quarter or year makes much more sense. It's a strange feeling to pay for something monthly that you wouldn't use at least once a month (at least I hope they don't make one release per month). I could see 4 upgrades a year, so pay every quarter. But if I can dial up to the entire internet for $19.95/mo (granted 56K), why pay $9.95/mo just to upgrade a small portion of my software?
I agree with their strategy of charging, no problem there. In fact they should charge for their services. But they need to come up with a better pay model. Maybe charge more monthly for corporate upgrades, less for home users.
According to Desler, Microsoft has rigorous processes in place during the development of Windows to ensure the security and integrity of source code.
Hahaha... that's how you can be sure this article's a hoax.
I couldn't agree more. I've been spending all of my free time putting together documents and a plan to get my company to switch to Linux workstations and Linux/*BSD servers. It's a major multi-national corporation, and if we slowly migrate (successfully), I guarantee it'll be documented in at least a few industry publications.
My point being that if IT managers and developers see articles of success, cost cutting, and other improvements, their interest peaks. Doesn't matter what platform or language it's about. All you need to do is raise their interest so maybe others will try the same, and once it's visible enough, others will come into the market to compete with software like this.
I sure hope my company will look beyond Microsoft... and I'm going to do everything in my power to make management aware of their options.
But they're claiming patent directly on "a computer system comprising a processing unit, a system memory coupled to the processing unit through a system bus, and a computer-readable medium coupled to the processing unit through a system bus" along with the OS. Wouldn't that include a Dell computer with Windows XP installed?
This is in the list of claims the patenter (is that a word?) holds, so the way I read it they are holding a patent for the entire computer.
I don't disagree with your comment, but this patent seems to contain more than just the DRM OS.
I interpret that to mean that if XP contains DRM capabilities, then the entire computer it's on is patented. If that's the case, they can theoretically force computer manufacturers to pay royalties for licensing this patent. I'm sure I must be getting this a little confused, but this part 17 really sounds crazy...
Since many will post without actually reading the study, everyone should note that the raw data came only from the kernel and GNOME. I doubt that kernel+GNOME developers make up the majority of open source developers. And I wouldn't consider it an accurate sample set of developer's either. Kernel hackers are a special breed, to say the least. And GNOME developers certainly don't completely encompass the average application developer, such as command-line, internet, or just plain x-window.
I'm an open source application developer (in my personal time), and find this study does not at all include my perspective. Obviously I'm not the majority, but I think it's missing a lot.
My office just got it as well. Our Exchange servers have at least 2000 contacts and groups in the global e-mail list, so it seems to go through most of that list and e-mail everyone. We seem to have some sort of virus "catcher" running that removes most of the viruses, but those that get through send out thousands, so the e-mail groups are almost getting a few thousand e-mails each. Even with the virus removed, that's a lot of e-mails going around just within an hour or so.
Now that I think about it, it's spreading amazingly slow in my office (we have approx. 20 international offices). This is sort of a good load test of our servers. Seems my company's setup of Exchange servers suck when hit with that many e-mails in a short period of time. But then again, I don't really know how another comparative e-mail server setup would fare.
Hang out with my co-workers? Those nerds? I don't think so... ;)
I've had a variety of experiences at a few companies. My last company was filled with 20 year-olds, so there were lots of friends to be made. I made my closest friendships and that company and hang out with those old co-workers all the time. My current group is filled with a variety of ages and types. The only things we have in common are computers and alcohol. So sometimes after coding we go out drinking.
But I don't golf, don't have a wife or kids, and never want to visit anyone in New Jersey. (Yes, NJ really is the armpit of the US.) If we were all middle-aged bankers, I could see us going to all play golf one day or have a BBQ with the families. But with such a varied bunch of developers, I don't see that happening in my career anytime soon.
Can anyone explain this?
Now if only Microsoft would let me legally distribute this software I'd be a happy person. Unfortunately, only registered XBox developers can legitimately obtain this software (okay, apart from the fact that only registered XBox developers actually have an XBox that can run the software).
I understand if only the XBox dev kit would run this software, but where does the law come in? Is it the licensing of the dev kit? Does this mean that you're required to pay MS to write software for this platform?
Of course that's beside the fact that MS had to pay game companies to write games in the first place.
The most common issue I hear about it exactly that: video and audio. Most of the hardware, at least in the older laptops, all seem proprietary and unique to laptops.
I suggest taking a look at some old (used) IBM ThinkPads. I've used them for years, and for the most part they're great. They're too expensive when they're new, but the older systems have just about everything you're asking for. Most had built-in Ethernet at least as an option. Many had CD-ROM as only an option, with the space replacable with an extra battery or hard drive. They're a decent size and well-built. The ones with butter-fly keyboards (expand when opened) are exceptionally small.
The only issue could be battery life. But like I said, with some models you can drop the extra drive and use a battery instead, or maybe IBM sells better modern batteries that would fit in the old systems.
So check out models from IBM and then search for them on auction sites and such. Good luck!
P.S. When you've found or built what you're looking for, let us know what linux distro you used, or how you built your own, since so many of us have issues getting Linux up on laptops.
But there are some things a contract can not protect you from. For example, if a contract is made for the purpose of an illegal act, that contract isn't binding. If the EULA goes against a state or federal law, that part of the EULA can't be used to prevent you from sueing them. That's why I'm wondering where the current law stands. I'll keep searching online law libraries, but you practically need a law degree to understand the law.
(Which, by the way, I think is totally improper. How can you be expected to follow a law that the average person can not understand? That's one way to gain control over a population, but I'll save that conversation for another time.)
But that's just it. The remote's not a big deal. In fact, I really like your wireless mouse idea. And a few posters below mention IR methods.
I do use X (I like KDE). But in no matter what wm or desktop I use, there's a plethora of disperse apps to control all multimedia. Want to play MP3s or CDs, load XMMS. Want full audio volume controls for every a/v connection, load KMix. Want to play a DVD, load your DVD software. Want streaming audio, load something else.
It would be great, just for this purpose, to have one nice, clean app which takes up the whole screen and has everything layed out. All simple controls are layed out like a huge remote with easy-to-find buttons and graphics. One "Next Track" button that works with whatever you're running (CD track, MP3 playlist, or DVD chapter, whatever). Press a CD button and press play. Press the MP3 button and use the same play button to start it. A nice, clean common interface. Looks like I'll be staying up late trying to write it myself.
Does anyone think that withholding software bugs is illegal? It was illegal for Firestone to withhold information because it irresponsibly cost lives. Security holes generally do not, but they do cost companies money. Holding back info for a security flaw will definitely prevent many admins from changing system settings, limiting current development, waiting for a patch before releasing, etc. That in turn will cost money if the flaw is still exploited.
IANAL, but I personally think MS could be sued by a company attacked through a hole kept secret by this security gang. It should in fact be illegal to withhold information about known flaws in any product, since knowing of those flaws may change the value in the customer's eyes. I see that as indirectly constituting fraud.
Anyone know of any precedence or the true current legal standing of such a situation?
- How can I have a comprehensive user interface to control all media? And of course it would use all of the latest libraries.
- How can I set up a remote control to the PC?
Of course I could write a program to handle every media type I'm interested in with a nice GUI, but I definitely don't have the time or knowledge of the libraries. The remote is probably just a technicality that I could find out more about (generic remote, buy an IR reader connected to serial port, etc). But without loading 100 different programs and user interfaces, does anyone know how or where to find a nice GUI to handle everything? Because that's really the only benefit I see in their product: usability. It would be a fun hack to mimick that with an old PC.Flamebait, but I've got karma to burn... Does this really matter? No offense to either party involved. They've both obviously contributed valuable work to society. But this is just another piece of the puzzle, and they can share credit for it. I'm sure it's listed on both of their resumes.
If anyone could explain why this gains news-worthy attention, please post. If this dispute does in fact matter to anyone but the parties involved, I'd like to know how.
Microsoft's "freedom to Innovate Network"
Oh, the irony.
Nice to see that they've had a good sense of humor during all this litigation.
I don't see much competition among the all-in-one development environments for Linux. Kylix is an attempt to become the MS Visual Studio of Linux. I don't see anything else as broad as this. KDevelop is kind of a Turbo C app. I'm not familiar with KDE Studio, but it seems to be the only real competition.
Developers, and especially companies, really want the grand development environment that nicely brings everything together. That's exactly why every Windows developer eventually dropped Borland's array of products and went to MS Visual Studio.
Borland here is trying to keep up with the times and learn from the past. I think this is a great step for Linux.
Assuming their plugin is an app that runs on WINE, you're completely incorrect. In fact, the LGPL, unlike the GPL, is specifically meant to allow separation of their product from WINE. I can write a closed-source app for Linux which uses LGPL libraries and sell that app without releasing my code under the LGPL.
They have an interesting coming soon product. I'm referring to the second item, basically a simple client workstation built just to run Windows apps, but without purchasing Windows. I don't think this'll take off for internet appliances (might as well make a special Linux distro for that with custom apps), but it may open some eyes to other possiblities. Maybe distros built specifically to replace MS licenses. Maybe transitional product lines for moving MS users to free-as-in-speech platforms. I think making that transitional product is a great idea, and of course charging for it is logical and potentially very profitable in the long run.
Having transitional products is the best way to show corporations how much money they can save from MS licenses, while getting them onto free software. This is very and sounds like a great business model (at least for this specific product).
You may need another one of those voluntary reboots soon since you posted the link on /.
I realize this is a little off topic, but...
I've searched Microsoft's site and Google for a long time in an attempt to find the Windows XP End User License Agreement (EULA). No EULAs are on MS's site except for some driver development kit. I'm not too surprised, since they probabaly wouldn't want anyone reading it before buying a product. Google also found nothing, probably because the EULA is copywritten, so it's illegal to post it online if you're not MS!
Does anyone have a link to the full EULA for Windows XP, or any MS products for that matter? I'd like to take the most absurd parts and e-mail it to everyone I know, hoping they will pass it on and prevent some people from buying XP. Thanks in advance to anyone who posts a link.
Interesting point, mostly because it's been debated for over 100 years. If you re-read the entire constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, it almost always refers to "people", not "citizens". Remember also that the country was founded by those seeking a new land in which to be free. Their frame of mind was encompassing all of those entering the country. In the beginning, foreigners could just walk into the country and be considered "people" protected by the constitution. That seemed to change over time as vast numbers of immigrants entered the country, and it's considered to be in the best interests of the country to separate citizens from others. But reading the constitution and other papers by the country's founders shows that no one within our borders was intended to be excluded from constitutional protection.
Looking at it from another perspective, we usually say that we are the shining example of freedom and democracy on this planet. Proving that should include extending those freedoms to all who want it (at least within our borders). Otherwise, we are just being hypocrites; freedom's great for us, but the rest of you are on your own.
My brother says "Mo fo butter layin me to da bone, jackin me up, tightly."