Wow, another me-too product from a company that used to invent. It seems that Carly's HP is not an innovation based company that she would like all to believe. These new "consumer electronics" products are all based on other companies' previous products....not one is a new, innovative product.
"Customers want all this to work together, and they want a seamless approach. We're very much going to make sure that the Microsoft and Apple worlds work together. That's part of the power we bring to this thing."
Carly, call me crazy, but I think Apple already did that with iTunes for windows. You are a little late to the party.
As I have said many times before. HP is no longer run by engineers, it is run my MBAs and marketing groups. They see someone else's good idea and try to copy it. HP Invent? I don't think so.
Say what you want about Microsoft, Outlook 2003 is pretty darn good. It has a great junk mail filter, and it, by default, blocks beaconing. No email is allowed to access the internet when being read, unless you specifically allow it to. Maybe this guy wouldn't have been caught if he had something like this setup.
Those are intrest rate sensitive items...when intrest rates fall, sales of those items go up. Intrest rates can not remain this low without putting inflationary pressure in the economy.
During the past few weeks i've seen a reduction in the amount of garbage in my hotmail inbox, I thought Microsoft implemented a new spam filter - maybe not.
From the article: But he has not sent a single message over the Internet in the last few weeks.
Maybe the reduction in spam was due to this guy taking a break.
I did take econ in college. You are right, employment is a trailing indicator (especially after it takes the govt a month to analize the data).
Corporate hiring PLANS are a much better "current" indicator. Companies planning to hire new positions are confident about the profit picture for the next 18 months. Companies right now are not planning on hiring, because of the uncertain economic future. Companies are either reducing head-count or hiring short term contract employees...usually less than 6 months.
Yet the stock market runs upward. Unless things get dramatically better in the next quarter or two, look for a 10-15% correction next year.
Does anyone actually believe that? I watch CNBC all day and these guys seem to believe that these one-time earnings gains are going to continue. These gains are mostly from off-shoring work...not from "top-line" growth.
The economy is still very much in recession. I don't care what the Bush spinsters say. Employment is the number one indicator of economic health, and our economy is terribly sick. Sure the official number might be around 6%, but that does not account for under-employment. How many software guys do you know that are working either contract positions, or not working in IT at all?
I predict a slow Christmas retail season, a corporate earnings drop-off next year, and higher unemployment numbers after the full impact of off-shoring jobs really takes its toll. Companies will soon realize that off-shoring jobs is a one-time gainer strategy, and not one that will provide long-term growth.
Hey, it's in the article: "Low-skill jobs like coding"
I don't code for a living, but my degree is in computer science...and to get that degree I had to learn crazy amounts of math (calculus III, diferential equations..etc), algorithms, complexity theory, compiler theory, as well as a whole slew of languages (C, C++, Pascal, Fortran, Java).
How could a profession that requires that much knowledge possibly be considered "low-skill"? Christ! If that's true, doctors will be considered blue-collar workers in the next 5 years! I can see it now: Become a doctor at your local vo-tech school while attending classes at night or on weekends!
Lots of fraternity guys at my college had file cabinets full of business papers availible for "recycled use" by their brothers. They never had any Math, Chemistry, Pre-Med, Computer Science, or Engineering papers though....I wonder why?
We are in this mess now because we've become a nation of managers...we don't actually do anything in this country...but we sure as hell manage a lot. Good management is important in any company, but it can not replace intellectual capital. That's what drives long-term innovation and productivity.
It is easier for a scientist to learn business than it is for a businessman to learn science.
I've had all the carriers at one point or another, and I can safely say AT&T is the worst.
I have a Verizon phone....no problems with the service, or the people. They never screw up my bill, and the coverage area is great (here in the North-East).
I had problems with AT&T wireless five years ago, but I thought by now they would have ironed out their problems so, I recently bought a phone from AT&T wireless for my wife. The purchase and activation went well, but that was about it. The phone wouldn't work in a majority of areas that my wife commutes to...she overlapped her Verizon service just in case she didn't like AT&T. When the AT&T phone sucked, she switched to her Verizon phone and had no problems.
After two weeks of this non-sense, we returned the phone under the 30 day, no-risk, trial period, and just upgraded her Verizon phone. It cost a little more than the AT&T phone, but it works ALL the time.
About a month and a half later, we get a bill for $147.00 from AT&T wireless. I called AT&T to clear up the confusion and here's what happened:
Waited on hold for 45 minutes for a customer service representative.
Once I got the rep. he told me that he had to send me to the "GSM" department. They have two separate departments - one for GSM, one for TDMA. Why one person can't handle both is beyond me.
Finally get the GSM rep after 15 more minutes on hold - she tells me that there is usage on my phone after I turned it in....and that i'm responsible for the calls (and the termination fee if I cancel the phone since 45 days have passed)! I tell her that I have a reciept for turning in the phone, and that the phone wasn't in my possesion. I didn't make those calls, so those calls are fraudulent calls. I tell her someone in the store must have made those calls. She says that it is my responsiblity to make sure that the people in the store deactivate the phone. She says that AT&T can't control the people that sell the service, so it's my responsiblity...not theirs.
I tell her that in order to do that, i'd have to arrive at the store with the sheriff and a subpoena in hand since the phone is no longer my property....uugh.
After that little ordeal, I ask to speak with her supervisor who finally cancels the phone, credits my account, and says she will be sending me a paper copy of the whole transaction for my records. By now i've wasted two and a half hours of my time.
I will never buy a phone from AT&T wireless ever again....and my recommendation is that you shouldn't either.
-ted
Steath inflation hurts companies as well.
on
Stealth Inflation
·
· Score: 1
I recently bought a "refurbished" Dell 18" flat panel monitor. It took Dell technical support (India) FOUR tries to get me a monitor that worked correctly. What did that cost Dell in terms of support costs, shipping, handling...etc? It can't be cheap to insure and ship four flat screen monitors.
I don't think this type of behavior is intentional. It is the unintended consequence of COST CUTTING. In a depressed economy, companies cut everywhere they can...including billing, customer service and support. These cost cutting measures result in alot of mistakes.
I said this two years ago when I first heard about the HP Compaq merger. HP has strengths that Compaq could not make better (calculators, printing, medical and engineering diagnostic tools come to mind).
These companies also had severe weaknesses (desktop PCs and x86 servers) that the merger only made worse. Can anyone point to a product or service from either company that became stronger/better with the merger?
Instead of spewing buzzwords, this VP should step aside and let engineers run HP the way it was run in the past. Carly and Co. are so fixated on the boring low-margin businesses (PC based stuff) that they are ruining the company. It happened to SGI and now it's happening to HPQ. Stay away from this company while Carly and Co. are running it. They can't beat Dell or IBM.
Why wait? Just go get the Google Toolbar...
on
IE To Block Pop-Ups
·
· Score: 1
Blocks pop-ups, has built in Google search, auto-fill for forms...lots of good stuff.
Many applications like Inspiration, WYNN, Write Outloud, and other educational packages only run (and therefore only supported) on Windows or Mac.
I have a Linux machine running in my office, I am constantly testing apps for compatibility....they day they all work reliably on Linux is the day we switch. Until then, we've got to look at Mac OS X as an alternative.
For every microsoft platform we deploy, we need to purchase centralized anti-virus software, proxy server filtering software, auditing software, intrusion detection software....and the list goes on and on.
Granted, we have never had a hack related outage, because we keep up with patches and anti-virus updates, but the added cost of the security packages certainly does eat into our budgets.
In a k-12 school, we run many 3rd party apps that don't run on Linux, so we really can't switch to that yet (think desktop...not server). We are, however, really considering migrating slowly to OS X to avoid the added "security software tax" that comes with the Microsoft products.
I've got a 15 year old sister and she works after school to pay for all these little things. 10 years ago kids didn't have to choose between so many forms of entertainment. What used to be spent on CDs is now divided amongst the things listed above. Therefore, less to spend on CDs.
Anyone who doesn't see that is a moron. But that's just my stupid little opinion.
On another occasion in 1996, a Boeing 767 pitched and dropped 120 metres before pilots recovered control. A passenger using an electronic dictionary was asked to turn it off, and the plane's systems returned to normal.
I'll bet the pilot was busy getting a BJ and decided to blame the turbulence on the electronic dictionary.
I'm the only IT guy here....so i'm the one that gets called to monitor email, web traffic, voicemail...etc. I do it because it's my job. The day I get asked to perform a body cavity search, I quit.
To get this job I had to be fingerprinted, submit to a background check, take a piss test, and take countless immunizations and tests. Why? Because parents do not want child-molesting, drug-dealing, TB-infected people working around their children.
As more and more companies outsource their IT services, this type of activity will become more frequent. Companies that care about their IT systems should keep trusted people in-house to maintain their data security.
I'm the Network Admin for a small school and I'll tell you why we don't have more Macs on our network...
Active Directory and Group Policies.
These technologies allow us to deploy group specific registry settings locking down things that get users in trouble. It allows us to remotely configure proxy servers, and remove controls that users don't need or aren't allowed to use. It allows us to enforce remote patch installation, and create a commonly configured software installation for all users. It allows us to redirect folders to more secure/appropriate places, and have every users settings follow them around the network. The list of remote management stuff goes on and on.
Apple, for the first time in history, has a software base to challenge Microsoft. OS X is great, but Apple needs it's own directory services and policy management software and it needs something to replace exchange server. If it can provide those features, then Apple WILL show up on more networks than it currently does.
Mangement and control are what Network Admins need.
Hey Microsoft! I'd like an Active Directory connector for Linux that makes my Linux machines act like domain member servers. I'd like Linux to replicate its user lists from my DCs.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow, another me-too product from a company that used to invent. It seems that Carly's HP is not an innovation based company that she would like all to believe. These new "consumer electronics" products are all based on other companies' previous products....not one is a new, innovative product.
"Customers want all this to work together, and they want a seamless approach. We're very much going to make sure that the Microsoft and Apple worlds work together. That's part of the power we bring to this thing."
Carly, call me crazy, but I think Apple already did that with iTunes for windows. You are a little late to the party.
As I have said many times before. HP is no longer run by engineers, it is run my MBAs and marketing groups. They see someone else's good idea and try to copy it. HP Invent? I don't think so.
-ted
Say what you want about Microsoft, Outlook 2003 is pretty darn good. It has a great junk mail filter, and it, by default, blocks beaconing. No email is allowed to access the internet when being read, unless you specifically allow it to. Maybe this guy wouldn't have been caught if he had something like this setup.
-ted
Those are intrest rate sensitive items...when intrest rates fall, sales of those items go up. Intrest rates can not remain this low without putting inflationary pressure in the economy.
-ted
During the past few weeks i've seen a reduction in the amount of garbage in my hotmail inbox, I thought Microsoft implemented a new spam filter - maybe not.
From the article:
But he has not sent a single message over the Internet in the last few weeks.
Maybe the reduction in spam was due to this guy taking a break.
-ted
I did take econ in college. You are right, employment is a trailing indicator (especially after it takes the govt a month to analize the data).
Corporate hiring PLANS are a much better "current" indicator. Companies planning to hire new positions are confident about the profit picture for the next 18 months. Companies right now are not planning on hiring, because of the uncertain economic future. Companies are either reducing head-count or hiring short term contract employees...usually less than 6 months.
Yet the stock market runs upward. Unless things get dramatically better in the next quarter or two, look for a 10-15% correction next year.
-ted
Walmart just lowered their guidance for this quarter...and I suspect more retailers will be following suit.
-ted
It's called "PEER REVIEW" and it does make your code better. Closed-source software vendors may want to take note.
-ted
Does anyone actually believe that? I watch CNBC all day and these guys seem to believe that these one-time earnings gains are going to continue. These gains are mostly from off-shoring work...not from "top-line" growth.
The economy is still very much in recession. I don't care what the Bush spinsters say. Employment is the number one indicator of economic health, and our economy is terribly sick. Sure the official number might be around 6%, but that does not account for under-employment. How many software guys do you know that are working either contract positions, or not working in IT at all?
I predict a slow Christmas retail season, a corporate earnings drop-off next year, and higher unemployment numbers after the full impact of off-shoring jobs really takes its toll. Companies will soon realize that off-shoring jobs is a one-time gainer strategy, and not one that will provide long-term growth.
-ted
Some of the problems were not Amtrak's fault; it looks like Bombardier had some technical problems with the Acela trains.
-ted
Hey, it's in the article:
"Low-skill jobs like coding"
I don't code for a living, but my degree is in computer science...and to get that degree I had to learn crazy amounts of math (calculus III, diferential equations..etc), algorithms, complexity theory, compiler theory, as well as a whole slew of languages (C, C++, Pascal, Fortran, Java).
How could a profession that requires that much knowledge possibly be considered "low-skill"? Christ! If that's true, doctors will be considered blue-collar workers in the next 5 years! I can see it now: Become a doctor at your local vo-tech school while attending classes at night or on weekends!
Lots of fraternity guys at my college had file cabinets full of business papers availible for "recycled use" by their brothers. They never had any Math, Chemistry, Pre-Med, Computer Science, or Engineering papers though....I wonder why?
We are in this mess now because we've become a nation of managers...we don't actually do anything in this country...but we sure as hell manage a lot. Good management is important in any company, but it can not replace intellectual capital. That's what drives long-term innovation and productivity.
It is easier for a scientist to learn business than it is for a businessman to learn science.
-ted
I've had all the carriers at one point or another, and I can safely say AT&T is the worst.
I have a Verizon phone....no problems with the service, or the people. They never screw up my bill, and the coverage area is great (here in the North-East).
I had problems with AT&T wireless five years ago, but I thought by now they would have ironed out their problems so, I recently bought a phone from AT&T wireless for my wife. The purchase and activation went well, but that was about it. The phone wouldn't work in a majority of areas that my wife commutes to...she overlapped her Verizon service just in case she didn't like AT&T. When the AT&T phone sucked, she switched to her Verizon phone and had no problems.
After two weeks of this non-sense, we returned the phone under the 30 day, no-risk, trial period, and just upgraded her Verizon phone. It cost a little more than the AT&T phone, but it works ALL the time.
About a month and a half later, we get a bill for $147.00 from AT&T wireless. I called AT&T to clear up the confusion and here's what happened:
Waited on hold for 45 minutes for a customer service representative.
Once I got the rep. he told me that he had to send me to the "GSM" department. They have two separate departments - one for GSM, one for TDMA. Why one person can't handle both is beyond me.
Finally get the GSM rep after 15 more minutes on hold - she tells me that there is usage on my phone after I turned it in....and that i'm responsible for the calls (and the termination fee if I cancel the phone since 45 days have passed)! I tell her that I have a reciept for turning in the phone, and that the phone wasn't in my possesion. I didn't make those calls, so those calls are fraudulent calls. I tell her someone in the store must have made those calls. She says that it is my responsiblity to make sure that the people in the store deactivate the phone. She says that AT&T can't control the people that sell the service, so it's my responsiblity...not theirs.
I tell her that in order to do that, i'd have to arrive at the store with the sheriff and a subpoena in hand since the phone is no longer my property....uugh.
After that little ordeal, I ask to speak with her supervisor who finally cancels the phone, credits my account, and says she will be sending me a paper copy of the whole transaction for my records. By now i've wasted two and a half hours of my time.
I will never buy a phone from AT&T wireless ever again....and my recommendation is that you shouldn't either.
-ted
I recently bought a "refurbished" Dell 18" flat panel monitor. It took Dell technical support (India) FOUR tries to get me a monitor that worked correctly. What did that cost Dell in terms of support costs, shipping, handling...etc? It can't be cheap to insure and ship four flat screen monitors.
I don't think this type of behavior is intentional. It is the unintended consequence of COST CUTTING. In a depressed economy, companies cut everywhere they can...including billing, customer service and support. These cost cutting measures result in alot of mistakes.
And they end up costing companies money.
-ted
I said this two years ago when I first heard about the HP Compaq merger. HP has strengths that Compaq could not make better (calculators, printing, medical and engineering diagnostic tools come to mind).
These companies also had severe weaknesses (desktop PCs and x86 servers) that the merger only made worse. Can anyone point to a product or service from either company that became stronger/better with the merger?
Instead of spewing buzzwords, this VP should step aside and let engineers run HP the way it was run in the past. Carly and Co. are so fixated on the boring low-margin businesses (PC based stuff) that they are ruining the company. It happened to SGI and now it's happening to HPQ. Stay away from this company while Carly and Co. are running it. They can't beat Dell or IBM.
Blocks pop-ups, has built in Google search, auto-fill for forms...lots of good stuff.
Get it here
-ted
Many applications like Inspiration, WYNN, Write Outloud, and other educational packages only run (and therefore only supported) on Windows or Mac.
I have a Linux machine running in my office, I am constantly testing apps for compatibility....they day they all work reliably on Linux is the day we switch. Until then, we've got to look at Mac OS X as an alternative.
-ted
For every microsoft platform we deploy, we need to purchase centralized anti-virus software, proxy server filtering software, auditing software, intrusion detection software....and the list goes on and on.
Granted, we have never had a hack related outage, because we keep up with patches and anti-virus updates, but the added cost of the security packages certainly does eat into our budgets.
In a k-12 school, we run many 3rd party apps that don't run on Linux, so we really can't switch to that yet (think desktop...not server). We are, however, really considering migrating slowly to OS X to avoid the added "security software tax" that comes with the Microsoft products.
-ted
I propose one other possible explanation for the music industry downturn:
DVDs, high-speed internet, cellular phones, game-boy advance, X-box, Playstation.
I've got a 15 year old sister and she works after school to pay for all these little things. 10 years ago kids didn't have to choose between so many forms of entertainment. What used to be spent on CDs is now divided amongst the things listed above. Therefore, less to spend on CDs.
Anyone who doesn't see that is a moron. But that's just my stupid little opinion.
-ted
On another occasion in 1996, a Boeing 767 pitched and dropped 120 metres before pilots recovered control. A passenger using an electronic dictionary was asked to turn it off, and the plane's systems returned to normal.
I'll bet the pilot was busy getting a BJ and decided to blame the turbulence on the electronic dictionary.
-ted
Good one!
-ted
I'm the only IT guy here....so i'm the one that gets called to monitor email, web traffic, voicemail...etc. I do it because it's my job. The day I get asked to perform a body cavity search, I quit.
To get this job I had to be fingerprinted, submit to a background check, take a piss test, and take countless immunizations and tests. Why? Because parents do not want child-molesting, drug-dealing, TB-infected people working around their children.
Makes sense to me.
-ted
As more and more companies outsource their IT services, this type of activity will become more frequent. Companies that care about their IT systems should keep trusted people in-house to maintain their data security.
-ted
I'm the Network Admin for a small school and I'll tell you why we don't have more Macs on our network...
Active Directory and Group Policies.
These technologies allow us to deploy group specific registry settings locking down things that get users in trouble. It allows us to remotely configure proxy servers, and remove controls that users don't need or aren't allowed to use. It allows us to enforce remote patch installation, and create a commonly configured software installation for all users. It allows us to redirect folders to more secure/appropriate places, and have every users settings follow them around the network. The list of remote management stuff goes on and on.
Apple, for the first time in history, has a software base to challenge Microsoft. OS X is great, but Apple needs it's own directory services and policy management software and it needs something to replace exchange server. If it can provide those features, then Apple WILL show up on more networks than it currently does.
Mangement and control are what Network Admins need.
-ted
Charney said it was not necessarily so they can sack whoever is writing vulnerable code
Uh, yeah...I believe that...
-ted
<wishful thinking>
Hey Microsoft! I'd like an Active Directory connector for Linux that makes my Linux machines act like domain member servers. I'd like Linux to replicate its user lists from my DCs.
Think you could work on that for me? Thanks.
-ted
</wishful thinking>
It's obvious this tactic works! Have you ever driven the Jersey Turnpike? I think the minimum speed is now up to 80 MPH. So much for deterents.
C'mon people, capital punishment and the RIAA have one thing in common....it's revenge, not deterence.
-ted