Re:Get rid of ALL of it.
on
Cable Chaos
·
· Score: 1
> I think that getting rid of most of the stuff is probably the best idea.
Yeah right, would YOU do that if you owned all that stuff?
> keep the computer and have DVD/CD-RW/CD-ROM/HD for MP3, kick ass video card, blah, blah
Nice, I have the ability to watch DVDs OR use my computer, and NOT play games that I already have for the playstation and not on the PC. Good advice. Crap, I have to reboot now. Goodbye music.
Extension Hell is when you receive a file from a Mac user and have no idea what format it is in. A good Mac user would let me know what it is in before they send it OR give it an extension.
I think extensions are a good thing, like proper naming convetions in programming. You don't HAVE to put a "b" or "bln" or whatever in front of the variable (ie, "blnMyVar") when you name it, but it sure is handy when another person comes a long and has to read your code. The same applies for file extensions. Who wants to look at a folder full of names with no extensions and have no idea what format they are in? Surely *nix and Windows users have had problems like this reading from Mac accessed shares? I know I have.
Re: mini-ITX platform - Looks neat, but the main reason I bought my last low-profile system was for use as a video player. Not sure the VIA C3 chip is suited for that. I tend to prefer Intel CPUs all around as I have experienced better stability, and stability is #1. I would gladly take a speed decrease (as long as I can still play intense media) over a system that crashes often. That is what I like about the SS50. Too bad it uses the SiS chipset:(
Give me Intel or give me death (Blue screen of death, to be exact).
This guy graduated from the UW at age 18. IIRC, he was a TA for the CS department too. Smart guy. Perhaps it's a testament to their CS departments ability to graduate talented CS students, but perhaps they should also require a law class in the curriculum.
> Some days, I really would like to switch all users over to Pine, though.
LOL. Being one of the few that have actually worked at the university Help Desk long enough, I remember when we switched from Pine to Eudora/POP access. We had some people that liked Pine and didn't want no damn GUI cluttering up their desktop.
These are the same users that cry when they lose a desktop shortcut and can't get their work done until the "problem" is resolved. I suppose that is one nice thing about Pine - there is very little for them to screw up and it always looks the same (although Outlook Web Access is basically providing the same functionality now, even though it took a long time to mature).
Ahh yes, I've seen this arrogance before. Only a true CS professional could carry it so well. Thanks for the advice, but I know myself better than you do.
I realize there are things that CS people know that I don't, but I also like to think the opposite is true. You obviously lack a any sort of social skills which is one area I have the advantage.
Agreed. For a group that is driven by community development, we aren't always willing to offer community support to our favorite companies.
> If I was not unemployed (get into computers, they said in the '70s. It's the wave of the future, you'll never be out of work! Yeah, right), I'd pay Mandrake for their distro.
I'm in the same boat. Although I'm using Debian at the moment, I would pay for the Mandrake club just to support as what I perceive as the other great distro. Unfortunately, as a recent MIS graduate, I can't find work and I'm about to sell my winter jacket here in Wisconsin just to afford next month's rent. I now realize the folly of my ways (hindsight is 20x20), but I remember them selling me on the idea of majoring in MIS five years ago because I would be gaurenteed to find a job and could expect to earn a lot of money. Horse pucky! I consider myself "above average" and on-par with most of the CS graduates through job experience and personal persistence and I keep getting turned down due to lack of experience. I particularly loved this quote from my alma mater's web site on why to study MIS:
> Well paid. The annual salary range for an entry-level MIS trainee with a bachelor's degree is $45,000-$52,000.
Note "entry level". I visit that page once in awhile for a good laugh. EVERYONE, even entry level, wants experience. Everyone.
It would be cool if someone would organize a class action lawsuit. Too bad I'm a lazy bitch and lack hard evidence.
PayPal isn't that bad. You are worried about being fucked out of $5? I use it all the time, and while it has its problems, I don't think a PayPal type subscription system would be so bad as an option.
Probably depends on your geographic location. I live in Wisconsin, where everything IT is stagnant. Linux/UNIX is minimal, and Oracle isn't used much of anywhere. MCSE or A+ is about the only thing that matters around here (most of the state, anyway, not all). You walk in with a Oracle cert and they'll say, "Wow, that's cool, but how is it going to help you image a computer?" Hell, half the people that do the initial interview are HR people anyway who are intimidated by all those confusing little acronyms I have listed on my resume.
> when some manager of one of those broken sites sees the page-view numbers go down the drain (-34 million is bound to have some inpact
You people keep talking as if the 'net will make some huge transition from IE to Mozilla over night when AOL 8 is released. As stated before, most users will probably not upgrade if what they have is working, and if and when they do upgrade, it will not be all at once...
Your points make sense, however, I can't take advantage of most of them until I am actually hired, which is the WHOLE problem.
I think I am very ambitious and eager at my job - taking on projects nobody else will and doing a darn good job at them. But I can't prove myself until I'm hired.
> Get to know those "dumb users" and change them into contacts and friends.
Perhaps my standards are getting in the way of my prosperity, but I will not try to make friends with strangers who are rude to me without even giving me a chance. I'd rather focus my ass-kissing on management - they at least have the right to be jerks.
I know where I have made mistake in the past - going to college being the biggest one of them all - but now I want to try to fix my mistakes. I am finding closed doors everywhere.
I am so desparate I have even been applying for random jobs like secretary and office clerk positions, only to get denied (a real confidence booster). I have a friend in the same boat. He was so desparate after graduating from MIS at a different University that he applied to a book bindery to help pay his student loans. They said he was over-qualified for the position.
So we are underqualified for the good jobs and overqualified for the shit jobs. That bachelor's degree was the biggest waste of time ever. *sigh* Time to rewrite my resume I guess and take out that line.
> Just because you don't want to do the work necessary, doesn't mean you should discourage individuals from doing their best.
I spread the truth to whomever I wish. I hate how so many people around here think they know me better than I do.
So, I'm not willing to do the work it takes, huh? What am I doing wrong then, cuz I'm ready to step up to bat. I've tried everything I can do and it's gotten me nowhere. My bachelor's degree has gotten me no further than my high school diploma has. What a waste.
> Are all of you stupid? The onnly job they give at entry level is stuff like help desk.
No shit, and I don't have a problem with that. I have been working at a Help Desk for 4 years and can't get a job because I lack enough experience in the specific areas I'm applying for.
So, smart ass, what SHOULD I be applying for. SENIOR Help Desk positions?!
> Your "dumb users" are the people keeping you from flipping burgers, asshole.
Did you not read the part where I stated, "If it wasn't for dumb users I, and I suspect many other people here, would be unemployed." Please read the full post before going off and calling me an asshole.
> If you don't know if you want to go into being a DBA or into web development then you aren't focused enough to know how to get to the next level.
I think most people in here would agree it's handy to be well-rounded in computers for any tech job. However, I have chosen to focus my efforts on database and web development. Are these all that unrelated? In my opinion, these two elements go hand in hand quite nicely.
I don't give a shit what other people, other than employers, think of my degree. There is one thing that is certain - my degree, which I've put in a lot of time, effort, and money for, hasn't gotten me any further than my high school diploma has. I have seen NO benefit fom it. Companies want *experience* PERIOD.
> What's holding you back from donating to the open source movement, and then bringing it to work as proof?
The first constructive thing you've said. I don't know C/C++ very well, but I'm working on it. Nobody told me that I should learn this language in the past, so I'm playing catch up, but it's hard to focus on a specific technology without knowing what I'll be hired for. I don't want to waste my time mastering Perl if I get hired to a COBOL job and vice versa.
> Oh, and yes, it does come shining right through. You're not nearly as subtle as you think you are.
Let me see, who knows me better - myself or a fucking troll?
> The Office XP executables are actually quite a bit smaller than the corrisponding exe's for previous versions of office.
Not only that, but the point of the upgrade is to try to alleviate bugs.
Although never historically perfect by any means, the Windows platform *is* getting better. Although more annoying and pointlessly colorful, it's much more stable and slightly more secure than it's Windows predecessors (and their development tools and SDKs get better all the time too). Sure, you might enjoy this by default with other operating systems, but people face tradeoffs.
> Answering the same question over and over to compensate for a bad manual or bad design
Who cares about intellectually stimulating? Sure, if I had the choice I would rather have a job I enjoy, and where I really make a difference. But I have to settle for meaningless Help Desk and Desktop Support jobs because that's all that's available. I would love it if a junior DB Admin or Web Dev position opened up, but I know they would look for one thing - experience. I have the know how (well, not bad for my age anyway), I have the degree (*snicker*), and I have to persistence and confidence, but I don't have the experience and that's all they want.
I'll gladly take that techie "burger flipping" job over being unemployed, thanks.
> Increasing the level of public technical knowledge frees up smart, hard-working people for more interesting and worthwhile jobs than clearing a phone queue
Where do you live that there is a deficit for this sort of position? Where do I sign up? If it wasn't for dumb users I, and I suspect many other people here, would be unemployed, regardless of how much we WANT a stimulating job.
There are a few things I like about IE that I didn't see in.9.6 of Mozilla for Windows. Does anyone know how to mimick the following functionality in Mozilla:
1. Type a word (like "google") and hit Control-Enter to add the www. and.com to it in the address bar. 2. Be able to have the ALT text tooltips when you hover over images. This is VERY annoying not to have for me.
> The only thing they have that Java doesn't really, is a pretty flashy IDE with said GUI builder
Personally, I think this is a significant bonus. IMO, VS.NET's IDE is superb. I didn't much care for JBuilder or VisualAge in comparison. VS.NET is expensive as hell, but I think it's a nice product and doesn't really care what language you code in (with addons).
You're right - they did "steal" a lot from Java, but I like to think of it as learning from a prior generation's mistakes...
Have you tried it recently? Works great here on Windows. It pretty much has everything I want except "Control-Enter" in the address bad and "ALT text" popups when you hover over images like IE does. Other than that, it's a dream. On the web sites I visit I see virtually no different between it and IE (within reason). As a web developer, I haven't found developing for it much different than IE. Netscape, on the other hand, is a nightmare. As long as AOL doesn't use Netscape (which is probably what they'll really use) I'm okay with it.
You clearly have never worked in a computer support position before. Very few "grown ups" view a computer as just another appliance. They see a spooky device with a dark cloud over it, just waiting for them to touch the keyboard so it fail. Most of the calls I can get people could probably figure out if they would just stop and think for a few seconds, but as soon as they encounter anything remotely close to a hurdle, their fingers tap the memorized number of the Help Desk faster than you can say "no, I said right click. Yeah, properties. No, left click this time."
And I'm sorry, although it might be critical to ONE sector, I hardly call it a critical app on the same level as Office/Outlook or Lotus Notes or something.
> In a 1996-97 survey of 148 undergraduates at three public universities and one private liberal arts college
Hardly a representative sample, in my opinion.
> Assane said it helped to have Chiang, then a master's student at UNLV, involved in the survey because he was familiar with student lingo and culture.
So basically this economics major asked a bunch of people he knew whether they pirate software or not? Does his sample include geeks vs. non-geeks, or only the econ-savvy?
> For one thing, software makers now commonly make agreements with computer manufacturers to "bundle" software
Oh yeah, bundled software really makes me want to pirate less. I love the incompatible copy of MS Works and bloated image loads of Windows that come with new computers (which don't include the original CD anyway, requiring me to obtain a copy in order to load it my way).
> Equally important, software vendors increasingly offer licenses to colleges and universities allowing students to use expensive software cheaply
THIS fact alone is why I feel piracy has decreased (if it really has), although I question the validity of the study without seeing more details.
> Software is simply cheaper now than it was in 1996, reducing the incentive to steal, Chiang said.
Says who? I don't remember exact numbers, but after adjusting for inflation, do the most commonly pirated titles (Windows, Office, Games) cost any less than they did then? I don't think so. Where is their source for this factoid?
> These might include creating a market for "subscriptions" to libraries music and movies or a more efficient approach to the pay-per-download market, he said
Well, at least they got this right, even though it's missing a word.
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> I think that getting rid of most of the stuff is probably the best idea.
Yeah right, would YOU do that if you owned all that stuff?
> keep the computer and have DVD/CD-RW/CD-ROM/HD for MP3, kick ass video card, blah, blah
Nice, I have the ability to watch DVDs OR use my computer, and NOT play games that I already have for the playstation and not on the PC. Good advice. Crap, I have to reboot now. Goodbye music.
Extension Hell is when you receive a file from a Mac user and have no idea what format it is in. A good Mac user would let me know what it is in before they send it OR give it an extension.
I think extensions are a good thing, like proper naming convetions in programming. You don't HAVE to put a "b" or "bln" or whatever in front of the variable (ie, "blnMyVar") when you name it, but it sure is handy when another person comes a long and has to read your code. The same applies for file extensions. Who wants to look at a folder full of names with no extensions and have no idea what format they are in? Surely *nix and Windows users have had problems like this reading from Mac accessed shares? I know I have.
Re: mini-ITX platform - Looks neat, but the main reason I bought my last low-profile system was for use as a video player. Not sure the VIA C3 chip is suited for that. I tend to prefer Intel CPUs all around as I have experienced better stability, and stability is #1. I would gladly take a speed decrease (as long as I can still play intense media) over a system that crashes often. That is what I like about the SS50. Too bad it uses the SiS chipset :(
Give me Intel or give me death (Blue screen of death, to be exact).
This guy graduated from the UW at age 18. IIRC, he was a TA for the CS department too. Smart guy. Perhaps it's a testament to their CS departments ability to graduate talented CS students, but perhaps they should also require a law class in the curriculum.
> Some days, I really would like to switch all users over to Pine, though.
LOL. Being one of the few that have actually worked at the university Help Desk long enough, I remember when we switched from Pine to Eudora/POP access. We had some people that liked Pine and didn't want no damn GUI cluttering up their desktop.
These are the same users that cry when they lose a desktop shortcut and can't get their work done until the "problem" is resolved. I suppose that is one nice thing about Pine - there is very little for them to screw up and it always looks the same (although Outlook Web Access is basically providing the same functionality now, even though it took a long time to mature).
Ahh yes, I've seen this arrogance before. Only a true CS professional could carry it so well. Thanks for the advice, but I know myself better than you do.
I realize there are things that CS people know that I don't, but I also like to think the opposite is true. You obviously lack a any sort of social skills which is one area I have the advantage.
Agreed. For a group that is driven by community development, we aren't always willing to offer community support to our favorite companies.
> If I was not unemployed (get into computers, they said in the '70s. It's the wave of the future, you'll never be out of work! Yeah, right), I'd pay Mandrake for their distro.
I'm in the same boat. Although I'm using Debian at the moment, I would pay for the Mandrake club just to support as what I perceive as the other great distro. Unfortunately, as a recent MIS graduate, I can't find work and I'm about to sell my winter jacket here in Wisconsin just to afford next month's rent. I now realize the folly of my ways (hindsight is 20x20), but I remember them selling me on the idea of majoring in MIS five years ago because I would be gaurenteed to find a job and could expect to earn a lot of money. Horse pucky! I consider myself "above average" and on-par with most of the CS graduates through job experience and personal persistence and I keep getting turned down due to lack of experience. I particularly loved this quote from my alma mater's web site on why to study MIS:
> Well paid. The annual salary range for an entry-level MIS trainee with a bachelor's degree is $45,000-$52,000.
Note "entry level". I visit that page once in awhile for a good laugh. EVERYONE, even entry level, wants experience. Everyone.
It would be cool if someone would organize a class action lawsuit. Too bad I'm a lazy bitch and lack hard evidence.
PayPal isn't that bad. You are worried about being fucked out of $5? I use it all the time, and while it has its problems, I don't think a PayPal type subscription system would be so bad as an option.
I'm sure you don't really believe that. If so, may I ask what country you are in (and hence which rights you enjoy)?
Probably depends on your geographic location. I live in Wisconsin, where everything IT is stagnant. Linux/UNIX is minimal, and Oracle isn't used much of anywhere. MCSE or A+ is about the only thing that matters around here (most of the state, anyway, not all). You walk in with a Oracle cert and they'll say, "Wow, that's cool, but how is it going to help you image a computer?" Hell, half the people that do the initial interview are HR people anyway who are intimidated by all those confusing little acronyms I have listed on my resume.
> when some manager of one of those broken sites sees the page-view numbers go down the drain (-34 million is bound to have some inpact
You people keep talking as if the 'net will make some huge transition from IE to Mozilla over night when AOL 8 is released. As stated before, most users will probably not upgrade if what they have is working, and if and when they do upgrade, it will not be all at once...
Neither does Mozilla's web site.
Your points make sense, however, I can't take advantage of most of them until I am actually hired, which is the WHOLE problem.
I think I am very ambitious and eager at my job - taking on projects nobody else will and doing a darn good job at them. But I can't prove myself until I'm hired.
> Get to know those "dumb users" and change them into contacts and friends.
Perhaps my standards are getting in the way of my prosperity, but I will not try to make friends with strangers who are rude to me without even giving me a chance. I'd rather focus my ass-kissing on management - they at least have the right to be jerks.
I know where I have made mistake in the past - going to college being the biggest one of them all - but now I want to try to fix my mistakes. I am finding closed doors everywhere.
I am so desparate I have even been applying for random jobs like secretary and office clerk positions, only to get denied (a real confidence booster). I have a friend in the same boat. He was so desparate after graduating from MIS at a different University that he applied to a book bindery to help pay his student loans. They said he was over-qualified for the position.
So we are underqualified for the good jobs and overqualified for the shit jobs. That bachelor's degree was the biggest waste of time ever. *sigh* Time to rewrite my resume I guess and take out that line.
This is the best fucking advice I've seen in this forum in a long time, and, quite frankly, the only solution I see fit.
Kudos.
> Just because you don't want to do the work necessary, doesn't mean you should discourage individuals from doing their best.
I spread the truth to whomever I wish. I hate how so many people around here think they know me better than I do.
So, I'm not willing to do the work it takes, huh? What am I doing wrong then, cuz I'm ready to step up to bat. I've tried everything I can do and it's gotten me nowhere. My bachelor's degree has gotten me no further than my high school diploma has. What a waste.
> Are all of you stupid? The onnly job they give at entry level is stuff like help desk.
No shit, and I don't have a problem with that. I have been working at a Help Desk for 4 years and can't get a job because I lack enough experience in the specific areas I'm applying for.
So, smart ass, what SHOULD I be applying for. SENIOR Help Desk positions?!
> Your "dumb users" are the people keeping you from flipping burgers, asshole.
Did you not read the part where I stated, "If it wasn't for dumb users I, and I suspect many other people here, would be unemployed." Please read the full post before going off and calling me an asshole.
> If you don't know if you want to go into being a DBA or into web development then you aren't focused enough to know how to get to the next level.
I think most people in here would agree it's handy to be well-rounded in computers for any tech job. However, I have chosen to focus my efforts on database and web development. Are these all that unrelated? In my opinion, these two elements go hand in hand quite nicely.
I don't give a shit what other people, other than employers, think of my degree. There is one thing that is certain - my degree, which I've put in a lot of time, effort, and money for, hasn't gotten me any further than my high school diploma has. I have seen NO benefit fom it. Companies want *experience* PERIOD.
> What's holding you back from donating to the open source movement, and then bringing it to work as proof?
The first constructive thing you've said. I don't know C/C++ very well, but I'm working on it. Nobody told me that I should learn this language in the past, so I'm playing catch up, but it's hard to focus on a specific technology without knowing what I'll be hired for. I don't want to waste my time mastering Perl if I get hired to a COBOL job and vice versa.
> Oh, and yes, it does come shining right through. You're not nearly as subtle as you think you are.
Let me see, who knows me better - myself or a fucking troll?
> The Office XP executables are actually quite a bit smaller than the corrisponding exe's for previous versions of office.
Not only that, but the point of the upgrade is to try to alleviate bugs.
Although never historically perfect by any means, the Windows platform *is* getting better. Although more annoying and pointlessly colorful, it's much more stable and slightly more secure than it's Windows predecessors (and their development tools and SDKs get better all the time too). Sure, you might enjoy this by default with other operating systems, but people face tradeoffs.
> Answering the same question over and over to compensate for a bad manual or bad design
Who cares about intellectually stimulating? Sure, if I had the choice I would rather have a job I enjoy, and where I really make a difference. But I have to settle for meaningless Help Desk and Desktop Support jobs because that's all that's available. I would love it if a junior DB Admin or Web Dev position opened up, but I know they would look for one thing - experience. I have the know how (well, not bad for my age anyway), I have the degree (*snicker*), and I have to persistence and confidence, but I don't have the experience and that's all they want.
I'll gladly take that techie "burger flipping" job over being unemployed, thanks.
> Increasing the level of public technical knowledge frees up smart, hard-working people for more interesting and worthwhile jobs than clearing a phone queue
Where do you live that there is a deficit for this sort of position? Where do I sign up? If it wasn't for dumb users I, and I suspect many other people here, would be unemployed, regardless of how much we WANT a stimulating job.
There are a few things I like about IE that I didn't see in .9.6 of Mozilla for Windows. Does anyone know how to mimick the following functionality in Mozilla:
.com to it in the address bar.
1. Type a word (like "google") and hit Control-Enter to add the www. and
2. Be able to have the ALT text tooltips when you hover over images. This is VERY annoying not to have for me.
Is there a way to do either of these in Mozilla?
> The only thing they have that Java doesn't really, is a pretty flashy IDE with said GUI builder
Personally, I think this is a significant bonus. IMO, VS.NET's IDE is superb. I didn't much care for JBuilder or VisualAge in comparison. VS.NET is expensive as hell, but I think it's a nice product and doesn't really care what language you code in (with addons).
You're right - they did "steal" a lot from Java, but I like to think of it as learning from a prior generation's mistakes...
> Have you ever tried mozilla?
Have you tried it recently? Works great here on Windows. It pretty much has everything I want except "Control-Enter" in the address bad and "ALT text" popups when you hover over images like IE does. Other than that, it's a dream. On the web sites I visit I see virtually no different between it and IE (within reason). As a web developer, I haven't found developing for it much different than IE. Netscape, on the other hand, is a nightmare. As long as AOL doesn't use Netscape (which is probably what they'll really use) I'm okay with it.
Are you a COBOL developer by day? Mixed case alphabet and carriage returns are always welcomed for easier reading.
You clearly have never worked in a computer support position before. Very few "grown ups" view a computer as just another appliance. They see a spooky device with a dark cloud over it, just waiting for them to touch the keyboard so it fail. Most of the calls I can get people could probably figure out if they would just stop and think for a few seconds, but as soon as they encounter anything remotely close to a hurdle, their fingers tap the memorized number of the Help Desk faster than you can say "no, I said right click. Yeah, properties. No, left click this time."
And I'm sorry, although it might be critical to ONE sector, I hardly call it a critical app on the same level as Office/Outlook or Lotus Notes or something.
> In a 1996-97 survey of 148 undergraduates at three public universities and one private liberal arts college
Hardly a representative sample, in my opinion.
> Assane said it helped to have Chiang, then a master's student at UNLV, involved in the survey because he was familiar with student lingo and culture.
So basically this economics major asked a bunch of people he knew whether they pirate software or not? Does his sample include geeks vs. non-geeks, or only the econ-savvy?
> For one thing, software makers now commonly make agreements with computer manufacturers to "bundle" software
Oh yeah, bundled software really makes me want to pirate less. I love the incompatible copy of MS Works and bloated image loads of Windows that come with new computers (which don't include the original CD anyway, requiring me to obtain a copy in order to load it my way).
> Equally important, software vendors increasingly offer licenses to colleges and universities allowing students to use expensive software cheaply
THIS fact alone is why I feel piracy has decreased (if it really has), although I question the validity of the study without seeing more details.
> Software is simply cheaper now than it was in 1996, reducing the incentive to steal, Chiang said.
Says who? I don't remember exact numbers, but after adjusting for inflation, do the most commonly pirated titles (Windows, Office, Games) cost any less than they did then? I don't think so. Where is their source for this factoid?
> These might include creating a market for "subscriptions" to libraries music and movies or a more efficient approach to the pay-per-download market, he said
Well, at least they got this right, even though it's missing a word.