If you are in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, chuck me an email with a resume (ascii format is fine) and we'll talk. codearch at codearchitect.net and/or eparkin at op.net
While you are apparently a trolling ac, I actually will respond by saying that no, I'm NOT CFO, I'm the CTO. Tech decisions are rightfully made by myself along with the other techs at our company, not accountants. Everyone has their field of specialty and deciding which technology is best to get the job done isn't the job of the CFO. They hire old school geeks such as myself who keep current on what's what to make the right choices, not spend frivously or waste money. Cheaper doesn't always equate with better. I do run linux at work, and have several boxen at home, however that has been changing to OS X in many cases, and no, I'm not a linux newbie, I've been using it at home since Slackware 4.0 or so (though I was exposed to it earlier than that), though I prefer FreeBSD whenever possible.
I'm CTO/Chief Software Architect for a financial company and we have been moving our development team over to mac laptops over the past year or so. The upcoming Dual G5 looks to be a possible replacement for our Dual 2.0Ghz Xeon Linux server. Given that the price of the aforementioned Xeon server, the G5 is a much better deal overall. I couldn't see using it as a personal computer in our company though, I will definitely give you that, considering most of our work is done via ssh onto the server(s). Our main reason for using the Macs are that simply disappear in terms of the technology and let you work. I won't go into the evangelical thing now as I'm sure everyone has heard it from one time or another from Mac users. (though on Intel architecture, I'm a BSD junkie).
Well.. Duh.. If I wrote all that without being a Computer Geek, that'd be a problem, now wouldn't it.. as for the corny switch bit.. uh.. how about... no. BTW, I wouldn't have responded at such lengths if I didn't really find this to be such a difference in terms of a useable os/laptop combo.
I've been using my 700mhz iBook for roughly 3.5 months now and I have to say, I'm never going back to Linux as a day-to-day machine. I will however keep my FreeBSD server(s) for now.
I'm lead software architect for a financial firm developing fairly large applications (as well as a couple of necessary kludges in this business). I needed a machine (preferably a laptop) which would give me the freedom to move about while taking my development environment with me.
My first foray into real computers started in 1986 when I bought my first Amiga 1000. I progressed through multiple Amigas (I ended up running a 12 Line BBS (Somerton Telecomm) from 1987-1996) and became quite used to certain ways of doing things. Mostly the command line interface and it's unix slant towards directory paths and commands. We used to bust on Macs because they didn't offer anything for the power users.
I moved to WinTel PC's in the latter half of 1996. I was at first enthralled with some of the really "neat" stuff I was able to do, but that lasted about 3 months. The current version of Slackware Linux at the time was installed, and I had a dual boot machine. Win 95 & Slackware. I did my perl development in Slackware, along with website development. Eventually bought my wife her own machine and that too was a dual boot.
Flash forward to roughly 2 years ago. The wife was getting fed up with Win2000 Professional. She went 100% Mandrake Linux. (She's a professional illustrator). Loaded with a SCSI Scanner, The GIMP, etc. she was good to go. I was running FreeBSD in various versions (I still do).
Started seeing and hearing more about these OS X laptops, the iBooks and the TiBooks. Did a bunch of research, decided to go with it and bought a 700mhz iBook w/Airport Card and 640MB of ram/30GB hard drive. I've enjoyed its ability so much that I went and bought an identical one for my wife. She loves it as well. Still have to install Gimp on hers (I have it on mine), but again, she is not only using her Linux box for Scanning because i don't have Gimp installed yet for her to touch up her comic strip (www.doemainofourown.com). That'll happen soon.
End result. Jaguar is killer, and it runs super quick on the 700mhz iBooks. 10.1.5 was decent, and I've heard the older versions of OS X were abysmal so I can understand where some people are coming from. Try it, you'll love it.
My iBook: 700mhz, 640MB ram, 30G HD, Java, Python, Perl 5.8, PHP4, MySQL, Mozilla 1.1, Chimera, GCC 3.1, NetBeans 3.3.2. Ati Radeon 16mb onboard. OpenGL 1.2.. Runs like a dream. Oh, and a firewire webcam.. who needs a video camera when you have one of those.. (iBot).
As a side note: I only found that the majority of people who bitch about OS X and Apple, and about it not being free, are the people who can't afford them. This is their problem, not Apples.
I also live in PA. The only areas that really have timers for their lights are the big cities like Philadelphia and the like, which I stay as far away from as possible. I was smart enough to move out to the suburbs as quickly as I could, and I have to say, after growing up in Philadelphia, that Sensors in the road are definitely something I don't want to have to do without.
My drive to work in the morning is great. Pretty much green all the way. The sensors detect you far enough down the road that 20mph is about as slow as you get when approaching a red light before it notices and goes green.
I don't know where the previous poster from PA was referring to, but I've found that this is the general case. Suburbs = Road Sensors for Lights, Cities = Timing Systems for Lights. Simple solution, stay away from major metropolitan areas, it isn't like there's anything worth one's time in a city.
As for the whole GPS thing, they (the companies doing the tracking) could just guesstimate one's speed based on the time required to go from one place on the map to another. If you've driven from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in under 4 hours, they can easily know that you were averaging over 80mph. They don't have to know your position all the time. Reality of it is that they'll never be able to catch everyone all the time..
I found my pleasant and humble abode using realtor.com. In fact, it was a 100% match for what my wife and I wanted. A nice ranch (very easy for wiring fiber and/or cat6e from floor to floor and room to room due to easy access) in the great quiet Suburbs with a nice plot of land, older construction with a fireplace, separate garages, etc. ad nauseum.
I have since suggested realtor.com to others and there have been several success stories amongst those individuals (those with whom I still converse).
Will we ever get rid of realtors, I doubt it. They know the legal end of the deals, and for most of us who do not have time to learn the specfic legalities of home ownership purchasing/tranferring, they're abilities are needed. Thankfully my brother has a side job as a realtor, so after finding the house, he took care of the rest.
Does anyone know whom I may be able to email to have them modify the informatino on this list. In the Philadelphia listings, under Somerton Telecomm, they have me listed as having it from 1995 through 1997, when in all reality, it was full time from 1987 through 1996. And 12 lines to boot, with a Unix style Mud (Diku_mud) running an a Single Amiga 2000.. (Ah, to pay $400/meg of ram, and $1400 for a 1 gig hard drive (in the 80's)).
If anyone does have information on contacts, please let me know. eparkin@op.net
Slashdot Mirror
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my $contacts = shift;
my $gender = ($contacts>=75) ? 'female' : 'male';
return $gender;
If you are in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, chuck me an email with a resume (ascii format is fine) and we'll talk. codearch at codearchitect.net and/or eparkin at op.net
While you are apparently a trolling ac, I actually will respond by saying that no, I'm NOT CFO, I'm the CTO. Tech decisions are rightfully made by myself along with the other techs at our company, not accountants. Everyone has their field of specialty and deciding which technology is best to get the job done isn't the job of the CFO. They hire old school geeks such as myself who keep current on what's what to make the right choices, not spend frivously or waste money. Cheaper doesn't always equate with better. I do run linux at work, and have several boxen at home, however that has been changing to OS X in many cases, and no, I'm not a linux newbie, I've been using it at home since Slackware 4.0 or so (though I was exposed to it earlier than that), though I prefer FreeBSD whenever possible.
I'm CTO/Chief Software Architect for a financial company and we have been moving our development team over to mac laptops over the past year or so. The upcoming Dual G5 looks to be a possible replacement for our Dual 2.0Ghz Xeon Linux server. Given that the price of the aforementioned Xeon server, the G5 is a much better deal overall.
I couldn't see using it as a personal computer in our company though, I will definitely give you that, considering most of our work is done via ssh onto the server(s). Our main reason for using the Macs are that simply disappear in terms of the technology and let you work. I won't go into the evangelical thing now as I'm sure everyone has heard it from one time or another from Mac users. (though on Intel architecture, I'm a BSD junkie).
egp
http://codearchitect.net
I figured it was a joke, I tried to point that out in my response. No intention here to start a spat. :)
Well.. Duh.. If I wrote all that without being a Computer Geek, that'd be a problem, now wouldn't it.. as for the corny switch bit.. uh.. how about ... no.
BTW, I wouldn't have responded at such lengths if I didn't really find this to be such a difference in terms of a useable os/laptop combo.
I've been using my 700mhz iBook for roughly 3.5 months now and I have to say, I'm never going back to Linux as a day-to-day machine. I will however keep my FreeBSD server(s) for now.
I'm lead software architect for a financial firm developing fairly large applications (as well as a couple of necessary kludges in this business). I needed a machine (preferably a laptop) which would give me the freedom to move about while taking my development environment with me.
My first foray into real computers started in 1986 when I bought my first Amiga 1000. I progressed through multiple Amigas (I ended up running a 12 Line BBS (Somerton Telecomm) from 1987-1996) and became quite used to certain ways of doing things. Mostly the command line interface and it's unix slant towards directory paths and commands. We used to bust on Macs because they didn't offer anything for the power users.
I moved to WinTel PC's in the latter half of 1996. I was at first enthralled with some of the really "neat" stuff I was able to do, but that lasted about 3 months. The current version of Slackware Linux at the time was installed, and I had a dual boot machine. Win 95 & Slackware. I did my perl development in Slackware, along with website development. Eventually bought my wife her own machine and that too was a dual boot.
Flash forward to roughly 2 years ago. The wife was getting fed up with Win2000 Professional. She went 100% Mandrake Linux. (She's a professional illustrator). Loaded with a SCSI Scanner, The GIMP, etc. she was good to go. I was running FreeBSD in various versions (I still do).
Started seeing and hearing more about these OS X laptops, the iBooks and the TiBooks. Did a bunch of research, decided to go with it and bought a 700mhz iBook w/Airport Card and 640MB of ram/30GB hard drive. I've enjoyed its ability so much that I went and bought an identical one for my wife. She loves it as well. Still have to install Gimp on hers (I have it on mine), but again, she is not only using her Linux box for Scanning because i don't have Gimp installed yet for her to touch up her comic strip (www.doemainofourown.com). That'll happen soon.
End result. Jaguar is killer, and it runs super quick on the 700mhz iBooks. 10.1.5 was decent, and I've heard the older versions of OS X were abysmal so I can understand where some people are coming from. Try it, you'll love it.
My iBook: 700mhz, 640MB ram, 30G HD, Java, Python, Perl 5.8, PHP4, MySQL, Mozilla 1.1, Chimera, GCC 3.1, NetBeans 3.3.2. Ati Radeon 16mb onboard. OpenGL 1.2.. Runs like a dream. Oh, and a firewire webcam.. who needs a video camera when you have one of those.. (iBot).
As a side note: I only found that the majority of people who bitch about OS X and Apple, and about it not being free, are the people who can't afford them. This is their problem, not Apples.
I also live in PA. The only areas that really have timers for their lights are the big cities like Philadelphia and the like, which I stay as far away from as possible. I was smart enough to move out to the suburbs as quickly as I could, and I have to say, after growing up in Philadelphia, that Sensors in the road are definitely something I don't want to have to do without. My drive to work in the morning is great. Pretty much green all the way. The sensors detect you far enough down the road that 20mph is about as slow as you get when approaching a red light before it notices and goes green. I don't know where the previous poster from PA was referring to, but I've found that this is the general case. Suburbs = Road Sensors for Lights, Cities = Timing Systems for Lights. Simple solution, stay away from major metropolitan areas, it isn't like there's anything worth one's time in a city. As for the whole GPS thing, they (the companies doing the tracking) could just guesstimate one's speed based on the time required to go from one place on the map to another. If you've driven from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in under 4 hours, they can easily know that you were averaging over 80mph. They don't have to know your position all the time. Reality of it is that they'll never be able to catch everyone all the time..
I found my pleasant and humble abode using realtor.com. In fact, it was a 100% match for what my wife and I wanted. A nice ranch (very easy for wiring fiber and/or cat6e from floor to floor and room to room due to easy access) in the great quiet Suburbs with a nice plot of land, older construction with a fireplace, separate garages, etc. ad nauseum. I have since suggested realtor.com to others and there have been several success stories amongst those individuals (those with whom I still converse). Will we ever get rid of realtors, I doubt it. They know the legal end of the deals, and for most of us who do not have time to learn the specfic legalities of home ownership purchasing/tranferring, they're abilities are needed. Thankfully my brother has a side job as a realtor, so after finding the house, he took care of the rest.
Does anyone know whom I may be able to email to have them modify the informatino on this list. In the Philadelphia listings, under Somerton Telecomm, they have me listed as having it from 1995 through 1997, when in all reality, it was full time from 1987 through 1996. And 12 lines to boot, with a Unix style Mud (Diku_mud) running an a Single Amiga 2000.. (Ah, to pay $400/meg of ram, and $1400 for a 1 gig hard drive (in the 80's)).
If anyone does have information on contacts, please let me know. eparkin@op.net