He will argue one side and if he doesn't get the desired result, he will begin to argue the opposite side.
That's not a Devil's Advocate, just someone in dire need of attention. A Devil's Advocate is someone capable of anticipating what's not good about a plan, or what an opposing party might use as arguments in a discussion. Not that being a good Devil's Advocate is any better in terms of long term career opportunities than just being an attention-addict...
*nods in agreement with regards to the Asperger-like behaviour*
there's another way of learning how to do it "the way it's supposed to" though, try, and fail, and try again, and fail again, and repeat the process till either completely suicidal or the lightbulb goes on...
If someone steals a TV, then goes and sells it to a resale shop, do we consider the owner of the resale shop to be a TV thief?No, we call him an idiot for buying stolen goods, which afaik is considered in most countries to be a crime as severe as the actual theft itself. Whether or not the buying party is aware of the theft is mostly irrelevant.
actually, when installing XP, it'll create the admin account, ask for a password, and when booting for the first time, it'll pretty much force you to create a user account besides the admin one. So far so good, if the user account wasn't also at admin level...for some totally odd reason, XP forces you to have an admin account, a user account that is also an admin account, and does not provide any information on how to create yet another account that'll actually have normal user rights...
the general highschool example of a catalyst is dropping some cigarette ashes on sugar. Without the ashes, you can hold a lighter next to the sugar and practically nothing will happen, but with the ashes in there the sugar will easily ignite, since the ashes allow for an alternate route for the sugar to react with oxygen(burn). Once the sugar has burnt up, you'll still have the same amount of ashes left that you started with, albeit likely embedded in a pile of black smelly goo:-)
hmmm, dunno, but I'll happily trade in those 6 weeks of vacation for the right to actually be allowed to turn on my brain while at work, which still happens to be something not overly appreciated in Germany...
as cool as that may sound, anyone savvy enough to know how to do this is a) not very likely to get lost in the wilderness and b) even less likely to do so without a real compass...
Indeed. Where would this world go if one were to use his or her skills to help those around him/her instead of solely for material gain.
On a side note, when relatives/friends/folks I know ask me to fix a computer, that generally means a free meal, an invitation for a couple of drinks at their expense, or some other sort of reward that may not have been in crispy bills but was substantial instead. There was a time when I referred to my fixing PC's as "having to play doctor again"...
Spybot, AdAware and Spyblaster should be part of ALL pre-packaged computers with documentation in a special yellow and red folder marked urgent.
And just how many of the "ooooooh, sparkly thingies! let's click on it!" users do you think are going to actually read the yellow and red thingy marked "urgent"? Face it, there's a shitload of 12 o' clock flashers out there, (For those who don't know what those are, check out this ) for the very simple reason that some people just can't be arsed to RTFM. And as long as that's the case, there's a choice between either complaining about it or fixing whatever it is they broke this time for a living;-)
I still think the 16 speed cd-rom drives were the best. Fast enough to be fast and slow enough to avoid equalling a Concorde taking off in noise levels. Drives that only last 1 year can be entertaining though, with the laws stating that all pc-addon products in Europe need to have 2 years of guarantuee on 'm. Usually harassing the helpdesk long enough will get you what you want in the long run anyway...
Example: Interent Explorer. IE is built off the Mosaic code base. If Microsoft were required to relase the IE source it would be possable to update the Unix version of Mosaic to have the same behavure as IE.
Oi! Let's not give the closed-source movement extra ammo, shall we?
When the company fails to meet Wall Street expectations
Which basically comes down to wanting results NOW, instead of in the long run. Google didn't just pop out of thin air, they've developed to the point where they are now over time, using the most efficient form of advertising there is, word of mouth. But that approach requires long-term vision, not just a load of hot air and a guy in a fancy suit with a nice powerpoint presentation. Just because Wall Street doesn't like it, doesn't actually make it a bad business model, well, until you hit the stock market, at which point you all of a sudden have to adhere to a set of rules that seem to have been made up by a bunch of retired economists with way too much time on their hands.
that's the whole idea behind OEM, isn't it? When something in your cd player breaks, you call the manufacturer of the cd player, not of that particular component. Of course, in desperate cases where ie the manufacturer is out of business, you might give it a shot to get your hands on that component, but you'd hardly expect to get it for free.
Memorex does NOT manufacture. Their company consists of a buying department, a re-labeling department, and a sales department, that's it. All their drives are rebranded philips/ricoh/whatever/you name it/keep on guessing.
but even Joe Average does more than just browse a bit and read email. Joe Average wants to receive silly postcards that only play in media player, Joe Average wants to download silly games full of spyware, and when Joe Average downloads some piece of software, he wants to be able to install it by 1 single double-click and "next, next, next..."
aye, and if the whole world had been using whatever happened to be the most common form of *nix instead of windows, there wouldn't be a single soul tempted to write a worm targetting whatever exploits that OS may have, right?
so they won't let others into their system, but expect to be allowed into other systems at the same time, and actually charge for that? I'd love to see that...
especially the reviews part is interesting. hordes of gamers deciding on their next gfx card based on reviews done by the websites we all know so well. 1 says ATI is better, the other finds in favor of NVIDIA, who're we gonna trust? And once we decide to put our faith in someone, how likely is it they'll yield to the giant offers in exchange for some "impartial" advice?
aye, and let's not forget the criminals who occasionally help an old lady cross the street. But hold on! Could this be true? Isn't everything plain and simply black and white? Could there be shades of grey? The horror!
Slashdot Mirror
touche :-)
He will argue one side and if he doesn't get the desired result, he will begin to argue the opposite side.
That's not a Devil's Advocate, just someone in dire need of attention. A Devil's Advocate is someone capable of anticipating what's not good about a plan, or what an opposing party might use as arguments in a discussion. Not that being a good Devil's Advocate is any better in terms of long term career opportunities than just being an attention-addict...*nods in agreement with regards to the Asperger-like behaviour*
there's another way of learning how to do it "the way it's supposed to" though, try, and fail, and try again, and fail again, and repeat the process till either completely suicidal or the lightbulb goes on...
If someone steals a TV, then goes and sells it to a resale shop, do we consider the owner of the resale shop to be a TV thief?No, we call him an idiot for buying stolen goods, which afaik is considered in most countries to be a crime as severe as the actual theft itself. Whether or not the buying party is aware of the theft is mostly irrelevant.
actually, when installing XP, it'll create the admin account, ask for a password, and when booting for the first time, it'll pretty much force you to create a user account besides the admin one. So far so good, if the user account wasn't also at admin level...for some totally odd reason, XP forces you to have an admin account, a user account that is also an admin account, and does not provide any information on how to create yet another account that'll actually have normal user rights...
the general highschool example of a catalyst is dropping some cigarette ashes on sugar. Without the ashes, you can hold a lighter next to the sugar and practically nothing will happen, but with the ashes in there the sugar will easily ignite, since the ashes allow for an alternate route for the sugar to react with oxygen(burn). Once the sugar has burnt up, you'll still have the same amount of ashes left that you started with, albeit likely embedded in a pile of black smelly goo :-)
hmmm, dunno, but I'll happily trade in those 6 weeks of vacation for the right to actually be allowed to turn on my brain while at work, which still happens to be something not overly appreciated in Germany...
as cool as that may sound, anyone savvy enough to know how to do this is a) not very likely to get lost in the wilderness and b) even less likely to do so without a real compass...
some people are just spending way too much time around pimps...
my thoughts exactly...so does this mean the next episode of the Gulf War will feature Blaster Bombs? :-)
Nuff said
Indeed. Where would this world go if one were to use his or her skills to help those around him/her instead of solely for material gain.
On a side note, when relatives/friends/folks I know ask me to fix a computer, that generally means a free meal, an invitation for a couple of drinks at their expense, or some other sort of reward that may not have been in crispy bills but was substantial instead. There was a time when I referred to my fixing PC's as "having to play doctor again"...
Spybot, AdAware and Spyblaster should be part of ALL pre-packaged computers with documentation in a special yellow and red folder marked urgent.
And just how many of the "ooooooh, sparkly thingies! let's click on it!" users do you think are going to actually read the yellow and red thingy marked "urgent"? Face it, there's a shitload of 12 o' clock flashers out there, (For those who don't know what those are, check out this ) for the very simple reason that some people just can't be arsed to RTFM. And as long as that's the case, there's a choice between either complaining about it or fixing whatever it is they broke this time for a livingI still think the 16 speed cd-rom drives were the best. Fast enough to be fast and slow enough to avoid equalling a Concorde taking off in noise levels. Drives that only last 1 year can be entertaining though, with the laws stating that all pc-addon products in Europe need to have 2 years of guarantuee on 'm. Usually harassing the helpdesk long enough will get you what you want in the long run anyway...
Example: Interent Explorer. IE is built off the Mosaic code base. If Microsoft were required to relase the IE source it would be possable to update the Unix version of Mosaic to have the same behavure as IE.
Oi! Let's not give the closed-source movement extra ammo, shall we?When the company fails to meet Wall Street expectations
Which basically comes down to wanting results NOW, instead of in the long run. Google didn't just pop out of thin air, they've developed to the point where they are now over time, using the most efficient form of advertising there is, word of mouth. But that approach requires long-term vision, not just a load of hot air and a guy in a fancy suit with a nice powerpoint presentation. Just because Wall Street doesn't like it, doesn't actually make it a bad business model, well, until you hit the stock market, at which point you all of a sudden have to adhere to a set of rules that seem to have been made up by a bunch of retired economists with way too much time on their hands.you know you're getting old when people think (nt) started on Kuro5hin...
that's the whole idea behind OEM, isn't it? When something in your cd player breaks, you call the manufacturer of the cd player, not of that particular component. Of course, in desperate cases where ie the manufacturer is out of business, you might give it a shot to get your hands on that component, but you'd hardly expect to get it for free.
Memorex does NOT manufacture. Their company consists of a buying department, a re-labeling department, and a sales department, that's it. All their drives are rebranded philips/ricoh/whatever/you name it/keep on guessing.
but even Joe Average does more than just browse a bit and read email. Joe Average wants to receive silly postcards that only play in media player, Joe Average wants to download silly games full of spyware, and when Joe Average downloads some piece of software, he wants to be able to install it by 1 single double-click and "next, next, next..."
looks like there's only solution for us to "keep" google. Each slashdot readers buys a chunk of shares.
Can you imagine the smell at the shareholder meetings? I can, but I really don't want to...
aye, and if the whole world had been using whatever happened to be the most common form of *nix instead of windows, there wouldn't be a single soul tempted to write a worm targetting whatever exploits that OS may have, right?
so they won't let others into their system, but expect to be allowed into other systems at the same time, and actually charge for that? I'd love to see that...
sounds like politics to me :/
especially the reviews part is interesting. hordes of gamers deciding on their next gfx card based on reviews done by the websites we all know so well. 1 says ATI is better, the other finds in favor of NVIDIA, who're we gonna trust? And once we decide to put our faith in someone, how likely is it they'll yield to the giant offers in exchange for some "impartial" advice?
aye, and let's not forget the criminals who occasionally help an old lady cross the street. But hold on! Could this be true? Isn't everything plain and simply black and white? Could there be shades of grey? The horror!