That is fantastically cool! Thank you for sharing that. It makes me almost wish I could go back and redo high school if they had something like that going on! Almost.... hehe
Actually I'd rather be one of their "ninjas" or just anyone helping out behind the scenes.:)
I think you have the most insightful comment I have read so far, and the most plausible explanation for this purchase. That really does sound like a completely untapped market possibility. Who wouldn't want to be known as an expert in their niche field? Combine all the user ratings and feedback that eBay uses so that callers can rate these experts..... well the more I think about it, the more sense it makes!
It will be interesting to see what actually shakes out in the next few months, and to see if anyone was really close to the mark of why they bought Skype.
Moosebyte - I just wanted to say thank you for all the terrific advice you have given in this series of posts! I whole heartedly agree with everything you have said, and think you have an excellent grasp on the realities of the IT industry. Even though I'm not even a software developer, you've got me pumped up about wanting to be one!!
I myself am one of those from the other side of IT, a Network Administrator. I have been out of work for the past 9 months after a facility close, however I have spent the time achieving all the tech certs I should have gotten while on the job. (MCSE, Security+, etc) Now I am jumping into the job search full force and it looks like I will actually increase my salary significantly (10k+) from where I left off almost a year ago! And while it's true that getting the certs to go with my 10 years experience is what has been getting the phone to ring, I know that it is my attitude and interpersonal skills that are weighing the most heavy in getting me the actual offers. With a high enough charisma and +20 or so to Interpersonal Skill, you can get tech jobs even without the tech skills! (Trust me, we had several of those folks at my last company. lol)
Anyway, thanks again for the great posts. Hopefully others out there can find some help in them too.
I just opened one of my document files with WinRAR just to see what would happen, and it looks like it is seperate files and folders inside the main file. (including a Pictures folder which had my embedded picture in it)
Documents saved in OpenDoc format under OpenOffice 2 beta just show up as one file. I have no idea whether there is some sort of seperation inside of that file, and frankly I don't care. As far as I can tell it's just one file even with pictures embedded in it.
I wish I had mod points to mod you up, you are absolutely right and I thought the same thing! I read the article by the MVP and didn't think there was a single slam against Bittorrent in the whole post.
I think the real "load of crock" is this Dvorak article itself....
Well, don't tell anyone.... but the REAL scam is the big coverup trying to convince people they are fraud! With the advent of email, so many folks were getting rich it got to be too crazy. So now there is a whole scam to convince people it's just fraud, so that the few in the know can continue to get rich and help out all those members of African Royalty!
But keep that on the low, don't want everyone finding out.....;)
"...or about some wealthy Nigerian that is dying to have me hold onto his $28M US."
That is a 419 scam email:)
Here is some info about it, found on this page: http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/
"A Five Billion US$ (as of 1996, much more now) worldwide Scam which has run since the early 1980's under Successive Governments of Nigeria. It is also referred to as "Advance Fee Fraud", "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria, and "The Nigerian Connection" (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually called plain old "419" even by the Nigerians themselves."
This is a terrific reply. Thank you for the insightful comment. Skin color really is pretty useless information when any other information is available. Even when it's the only information you have, you should be careful not to let your own life experiences jade your viewpoint before you have gathered any more information.
If I had mod points I would have modded you up, so instead you get a personal reply.
I know this is really late reply, but hopefully you'll notice it.... that was a fantastic response. Very well done and I completely agree with your points.
Really the only thing that pisses me off is when MS does something like make their software programs revert (or stay) as the default even when you load other programs. For instance if I loaded Quicktime and told it to play all movies, yet WMP decided that it really should stay the default and sets it back. THAT is an abuse in my mind (And lots of programs do it nowadays, I hate it); but having them loaded in the first place isn't bad in my mind.
So reallly all I would like to see is that they ensure that when alternative software is loaded, that I am able to USE it without interference from the bundled programs. I would also like to see them publish the file formats for their office suite so that other office programs can interoperate with the files.
But instead we get silly fights about unbundling the media player.
You should have posted non-anon, that is actually a very insightful post!
Even if we would all like to live in a world where the firefighters and teachers make the big bucks instead of movie stars, you are absolutely right in what would happen.
Anyway, thanks for the reality check! Even if it is out of place for a/. discussion;)
Amen to that! I'm so sick of the endless bitching and moaning our world (at least America) spends it's time doing! What a bunch of insignificant retards we (as a whole) have become. (yes I am just as much a retard for bitching about the bitching)
I think the only way humanity will get a man on mars is through some super rich dreamer funding the whole thing using perhaps another countries resources and expertise. In fact I can't believe this hasn't happened already. What if 10 or 20 of the world's wealthiest got together and gave a few hundred million bucks each to NASA and said "go to Mars!" Is that illegal to do?
I had no troubles on either site with Firebird 0.7+ (nightly from last night) on Linux. I did not try to login but I saw where I could login on both pages.
Slashdot Mirror
That is fantastically cool! Thank you for sharing that. It makes me almost wish I could go back and redo high school if they had something like that going on! Almost .... hehe
Actually I'd rather be one of their "ninjas" or just anyone helping out behind the scenes. :)
I think you have the most insightful comment I have read so far, and the most plausible explanation for this purchase. That really does sound like a completely untapped market possibility. Who wouldn't want to be known as an expert in their niche field? Combine all the user ratings and feedback that eBay uses so that callers can rate these experts ..... well the more I think about it, the more sense it makes!
It will be interesting to see what actually shakes out in the next few months, and to see if anyone was really close to the mark of why they bought Skype.
I myself am one of those from the other side of IT, a Network Administrator. I have been out of work for the past 9 months after a facility close, however I have spent the time achieving all the tech certs I should have gotten while on the job. (MCSE, Security+, etc) Now I am jumping into the job search full force and it looks like I will actually increase my salary significantly (10k+) from where I left off almost a year ago! And while it's true that getting the certs to go with my 10 years experience is what has been getting the phone to ring, I know that it is my attitude and interpersonal skills that are weighing the most heavy in getting me the actual offers. With a high enough charisma and +20 or so to Interpersonal Skill, you can get tech jobs even without the tech skills! (Trust me, we had several of those folks at my last company. lol)
Anyway, thanks again for the great posts. Hopefully others out there can find some help in them too.
Replying to myself here ....
I just opened one of my document files with WinRAR just to see what would happen, and it looks like it is seperate files and folders inside the main file. (including a Pictures folder which had my embedded picture in it)
Pretty interesting stuff!
Documents saved in OpenDoc format under OpenOffice 2 beta just show up as one file. I have no idea whether there is some sort of seperation inside of that file, and frankly I don't care. As far as I can tell it's just one file even with pictures embedded in it.
I haven't tried to embed any "VoIP" though.
Hope that helps.
I wish I had mod points to mod you up, you are absolutely right and I thought the same thing! I read the article by the MVP and didn't think there was a single slam against Bittorrent in the whole post.
....
I think the real "load of crock" is this Dvorak article itself
Well, don't tell anyone .... but the REAL scam is the big coverup trying to convince people they are fraud! With the advent of email, so many folks were getting rich it got to be too crazy. So now there is a whole scam to convince people it's just fraud, so that the few in the know can continue to get rich and help out all those members of African Royalty!
..... ;)
But keep that on the low, don't want everyone finding out
"...or about some wealthy Nigerian that is dying to have me hold onto his $28M US."
:)
That is a 419 scam email
Here is some info about it, found on this page:
http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/
"A Five Billion US$ (as of 1996, much more now) worldwide Scam which has run since the early 1980's under Successive Governments of Nigeria. It is also referred to as "Advance Fee Fraud", "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria, and "The Nigerian Connection" (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually called plain old "419" even by the Nigerians themselves."
"Funny order of events no?"
No.
Mod parent up!
I was completely put off by the continual remarks about his sole mission being to "unseat the OS monopoly".
Sorry, not interested! If he had just stuck to telling me why it was such a great OS to try, I'm sure I would have downloaded it to check it out.
Wow that is fantastic. That is either a huge coincidence or someone at Time had some inspiration .....
To me it looked much closer to the "inspiration" as a thumbnail. The full size didn't look quite as bad, but still very funny.
Good find, OP!
Which means that we could learn about physics in the context of enjoyable fairy tales? That would be perfect for slashdot!
Since when have we worried over the precious "details" and "facts" around here anyway??
This is a terrific reply. Thank you for the insightful comment. Skin color really is pretty useless information when any other information is available. Even when it's the only information you have, you should be careful not to let your own life experiences jade your viewpoint before you have gathered any more information.
If I had mod points I would have modded you up, so instead you get a personal reply.
I know this is really late reply, but hopefully you'll notice it .... that was a fantastic response. Very well done and I completely agree with your points.
I didn't read the whole thread, but what if you just shipped the laptop to yourself or a UK friend FROM the US after getting the laptop?
That would save all the hassle and workarounds people are proposing for going through customs.
Right on! I totally agree with you.
Really the only thing that pisses me off is when MS does something like make their software programs revert (or stay) as the default even when you load other programs. For instance if I loaded Quicktime and told it to play all movies, yet WMP decided that it really should stay the default and sets it back. THAT is an abuse in my mind (And lots of programs do it nowadays, I hate it); but having them loaded in the first place isn't bad in my mind.
So reallly all I would like to see is that they ensure that when alternative software is loaded, that I am able to USE it without interference from the bundled programs. I would also like to see them publish the file formats for their office suite so that other office programs can interoperate with the files.
But instead we get silly fights about unbundling the media player.
Excellent post! Thank you for the reality check. I should have saved my mod points for you!
You should have posted non-anon, that is actually a very insightful post!
/. discussion ;)
Even if we would all like to live in a world where the firefighters and teachers make the big bucks instead of movie stars, you are absolutely right in what would happen.
Anyway, thanks for the reality check! Even if it is out of place for a
Amen to that! I'm so sick of the endless bitching and moaning our world (at least America) spends it's time doing! What a bunch of insignificant retards we (as a whole) have become. (yes I am just as much a retard for bitching about the bitching)
I think the only way humanity will get a man on mars is through some super rich dreamer funding the whole thing using perhaps another countries resources and expertise. In fact I can't believe this hasn't happened already. What if 10 or 20 of the world's wealthiest got together and gave a few hundred million bucks each to NASA and said "go to Mars!" Is that illegal to do?
Maybe I'm an idiot, but I appreciated the explanation :)
It makes perfect sense, but I wouldn't have thought of that immediately (and in fact didn't, so was curious about the boxes, too).
I had no troubles on either site with Firebird 0.7+ (nightly from last night) on Linux. I did not try to login but I saw where I could login on both pages.
Hahah that is true. It's like the entire rebellion is just on hold until it can really kick into high gear in 20 years!
I also use OWA with FireBird all the time and it works fine. The calendar requires java, but if you have that added in it works.
Wow, now that is a fantastic map site! I only wish I could choose US in the country list. :) Very, very nice site though.
Don't mess his story up with all your new-fangled logic!!! ;)