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User: salesgeek

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Comments · 1,712

  1. Re:Only as valuable as the issuing institution on Ask Slashdot: How Is Online Engineering Coursework Viewed By Employers? · · Score: 1

    A degree is only as good as the person holding it has made it.

  2. Re:Bad precedent on Amazon To Collect Indiana Sales Tax In 2014 · · Score: 1

    That is how California and New York tried to force Amazon to collect sales tax and it had devastating results for those states as in the affiliates went out of business or moved. Claiming independent contractors are a nexus is legally dubious, but expensive for the contractor to fight. In Indiana they have a big building with their name on it, so the situation is very, very different.

  3. Re:Ubuntu 11.10 sucks! on Shareholder Fight Threatens Mandriva SA · · Score: 1

    Please stop confusing the GUI for the OS. Thank you.

  4. Actually on Open Source Increasingly Replaced By Open APIs · · Score: 1

    Most of the platforms with APis are running on open source and their developers are contributing code back. Nothing to see here.

  5. Re:Loaded cost of a software developer on In Favor of Homegrown IT Solutions · · Score: 5, Informative

    Loaded cost for an employee is typically 18% of salary + $320/month for real estate overhead. So a $90 K employee ends up costing about $120,000 with benefits.

  6. Re:Paid Vs. Free? on Android Market Hits 10 Billion Downloads, Games Dominate · · Score: 1

    Apparently, you are not aware how easy it is to get started with Amazon's app store. It's easy enough that everyone I know with an Android device has done it.

  7. Re:Paid Vs. Free? on Android Market Hits 10 Billion Downloads, Games Dominate · · Score: 1

    It is dangerous to assume facts not in evidence. First, Android devices exist at all levels of the smartphone marketplace. Some are cheap (either inexpensive or poorly constructed). Some are very expensive. The best part is that inexpensive phones are critical in unlocking the global mass market. Second, Android users run the gamut from the prepaid phone user to people on unlimited everthing on every carrier available. Even the prepaid market is surprising when you study it. There are a lot of wealthy people who think paying $150 for a phone and $50 for unlimited everything with no possibility of the monthly bill going over $50 is smart business... mainly because it is. Since you clearly aren't an Android user (you said they were cheap and piracy was rampant without knowing how difficult it actually is to pirate software), then you probably have never had the pleasure of getting an app for $.10 because one app store had a sale and the other had a price match policy.

  8. Re:Paid Vs. Free? on Android Market Hits 10 Billion Downloads, Games Dominate · · Score: 3, Informative

    Um... you were doing great until you hit the piracy part. That isn't why apps are less expensive on Android. The issue is that Android's market (small m market) are competitive because there are multiple ways consumers can buy (Google, Amazon, etc)

  9. Don't confuse delaying making the payment on Wounded Copyright Troll Still Alive and Kicking · · Score: 4, Insightful

    With a legitimate argument. Sure they are going to appeal. Because they are out of business if they don't.

  10. Re:touchscreens everywhere on Linux Mint: the New Ubuntu? · · Score: 1

    Nah. Mint will just update their GUI appropriately. Unity is early, and will probably die because of it.

  11. Re:I'm the only on Linux Mint: the New Ubuntu? · · Score: 1

    Oh no. Not this again.

  12. Re:no mention of bugs, anyone? on Linux Mint: the New Ubuntu? · · Score: 1

    Problem is they confused an engineering problem for a design problem and ended up with an ornate piece of crap.

  13. No one is baffled. on Fedora Aims To Simplify Linux Filesystem · · Score: 1

    In the Unix world, we tend not to bloat one tool with the features of another. Just google linux mount zip or linux mount rar for some interesting ways to do what you want that rely on the Unix many simple tools that work together philosophy.

  14. Re:State law: Only engineers can have that title. on Career Advice: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer · · Score: 1

    I am not a lawyer,and the following is not legal advice:

    I can see where anyone who is a sole proprietor or owns a company and entitles them self a "systems engineer" or "software engineer" would run into trouble under that law. After reading all of 471, I can't see where some guy who gets a job as a programmer at a company he does not own and gets handed a stack of business cards that say "software engineer" on them would be prosecuted under 471.031. Would seem there are more than a few provisions in that law to prevent people in that situation from being prosecuted (see .003, 0.31, .023).

    In other words, a printed card may or may not violate the statute, and you probably should get some legal advice from an actual lawyer if you are concerned about it.

  15. Re:Not many programmers needed on Career Advice: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer · · Score: 1

    Let me clarify this for you. A programmer is a puh-tey-toh. A software developer is a puh-tah-toh.

    Got it?

  16. Re:State law: Only engineers can have that title. on Career Advice: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer · · Score: 2

    Sheesh. This is silly. The only place where there is an issue is when someone hangs out a shingle that and practices engineering. People with creative job titles (i.e. Database Engineer) and graduate engineers (4 year degree EE without license) are not being prosecuted for calling themselves by their job titles or degrees UNLESS they hang out a shingle and open a contract engineering company or are claiming to own a company that holds an authorization certificate and does not.

    This whole trying to make engineering work like the law industry isn't going

  17. Re:joomla programmer on Career Advice: Don't Call Yourself a Programmer · · Score: 1

    I'd rather you tell the truth and say you are a PHP programmer who has expertise with Joomla. Joomla is only programmable in PHP.

  18. Re:There are no rules like with engineering on Outlining a World Where Software Makers Are Liable For Flaws · · Score: 1

    The issue is not the programmer. The issue is the customer being willing to waive their warranty rights in order to use software. In many states, you still have statutory warranty rights, it's just that the $3 you paid for Angry Birds is not worth going to court over when it locks up your phone. Your cities $1.6million E911 dispatch software that doesn't work is worth going to court over, and often times developers are held liable for defects.

  19. Re:Treat software as an Engineering process on Outlining a World Where Software Makers Are Liable For Flaws · · Score: 1

    Using an agile methodology to build anything that is an expensive one-shot build (bridge, rocket, automobile, etc) that has to last forever is insanity.
    Using a "systems engineering" top down approach to build something that can be torn down and built instantly for virtually free is equally stupid. Especially when the complete specifications are simply not available now.

    Technology has changed. Connected devices and package management tools have made systems that used to be expensive one-shot builds into systems that can be reconfigured, repurposed and rebuilt nearly instantly and for nearly free. It's now an agile world. Get used to it works with a few warts that will be fixed in the next update.

  20. Re:Individual Mandate originally a Republican idea on Healthcare Law Appealed To Supreme Court · · Score: 1

    You should look at what Nixon wanted to do in the 1970s.

  21. Sounds like you are hosting a website. on Newb-Friendly Linux Flavor For LAMP Server? · · Score: 1

    Ubuntu server is very good, but you really will have to deep-dive into Apache and the mail server of your choice which adds about 200% over just learning Linux. In your case, though, it sounds more like you are setting up to serve a few PHP apps. If that is the case, I'd recommend setting up on a Cpanel based hosting service (Cpanel runs on CentOS and has become a de-facto standard for serving PHP apps like PHPBB 3). If you need a dedicated server, you can find places where you can get a Cpanel server for $100/month-$200/month... or you can license it for your own server. There is a reason that Cpanel is so popular...

    Ignore all the static here about "another admin who doesn't know what he/she is doing". Every one of us here knew nothing at one time. Yes, you'll learn a few lessons the hard way, but as long as you have regular backups and pay attention to ensuring users have strong passwords, you probably will not do anything you can't recover from.

  22. Re:The problem with politics on Atlas Takes Heat For Melting Glacier Claim · · Score: 1

    [joke]I'm sure passing a law mandating that CO2 no longer enter the atmosphere will work about as well as Indiana's ill fated attempt to legislate the value of pi.[/joke] Even if the legislation indirectly tired to stop CO2 emissions by targeting human behaviors, it would be rife with loopholes, ignored, and probably near unenforceable.

    If the problem is the level of CO2 in the atmosphere then develop the process and supporting technology for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Sure, funding the solution is political, but it's not a grade a scapegoat, beard and all. Solve the problem instead of putting a stupid hack in place that only works when specific human behaviors are the source of CO2. Apply science. Engineer. Invent. Make something that actually solves the problem instead of a workaround for idiot users that will only work until a better idiot comes along.

  23. Re:The problem with politics on Atlas Takes Heat For Melting Glacier Claim · · Score: 1

    They wouldn't have this issue if there wasn't an opposition that will shout it to the heavens every time a mistake or revision is made in relation to global warming but every statement made in support of it is ignored, even if the two are part of the same package.

    When you advocate a political solution (carbon credits, taxes, laws, regulations) to a scientific problem, you create a fantastic scapegoat that can be used by politicians to further their own power. The ones shouting at the heavens? They are using the scientists as the scapegoat. The ones screaming "end of the world"? Same play, different angle. Both are the oldest play in the political playbook. On top of that, creating a crisis ("we're destroying the earth"), gives politicians cover to move quickly and with impunity.

    People in real sciences forget that political types have a science of their own: political science, complete with it's own great masters like like Socrates, Plato and Machiavelli. If you think a political solution is the best way to address a technology problem, you are tossing a gross of bottle rockets in a campfire and acting surprised when people get burned.

  24. Kids are going to love whatever you do. on How Do You Explain Software Development To 2nd Graders? · · Score: 1

    Don't worry about teaching them computer science, focus on sharing what you do. Bring in some pictures and video. Maybe make a little powerpoint with a wireframe mock up, an UML chart, ERD or flowchart, some code and a screenshot of the finished product and talk about how you take an idea, plan how to implement the idea (or solve the problem), and then create code. Kids will really be interested in what happens if you make a mistake and how you boss decides you are doing a good job (if you are the boss, then talk about finding good people, and what makes a person good or bad for the job). They'll also be interested in the place your work (big picture, the building, what it looks like) and the kinds of people you work with.

    Maybe go around the office and explain what people on your team do (analysts, testers, etc) and ask them simple questions like "why is your job important" so the kids get a sense that you are part of team, and that everyone has their part to do. Adults forget a lot of times that kids are just as smart as adults, they just don't have any experience... so they are VERY interested in what your life is like even if they aren't ready for CS120 yet.

  25. Re:The horror... on Novell Wins Against SCO Again · · Score: 2

    Facts: Caldera purchased SCO, Inc. Life was good. Then investor Ralph Yarro pushed Caldera into a radical direction in 2002. First, most of SCO was spun off as Tarantella. Second, SCO was renamed the SCO Group and began trying to extort license revenue out of companies that used Linux.

    It was bizarre. A near 100% reversal of direction. To date, no one, and I mean no one, from Ransom Love (former Caldera CEO) to Darl McBride (CEO pushed in by Yarro who displaced Love) can explain what happened. Up unitl 2002, Caldera had fought tooth and nail to get Linux into the enterprise (that is what their distribution was) and suddenly did an about face and started attacking Linux.

    At this point, I'd love to hear the story of what cause the change in 2002.