I have to agree this is a let-down. For all the secrecy and even Steve Jobs promise of something "revolutionary", as an Apple fanatic I am unimpressed. I was expecting something quite a bit cooler then an MP3 player.
I think part of the problem of buying/listing houses online and something else, like say a computer or a car, is that buying a house requires the use of quite a few middlemen. The bank, the realty agent, appraisers/inspectors, and so on. Getting a comprehensive listing bringing together all these parties would be something of a chore, and they'res not really any incentive for any of these parties independently to bring such a site together.
Ideally, I'd like to see something like www.carsoup.com adapted for home buying - but thats just me...
I disagree. I don't find this to be so much a ruling against free speech as it is against misrepresentation. After reading the verdict, the crux of it seems to lie in the fact that the email did not represent where it came from. Rather it seems that the fault of the spammer was that the email was disguised to prevent any resident from demanding to be taken off the mailing list or "opt-out".
IMHO this is completely fair....
Working 2nd level's almost as bad...you talk to clueless techs instead. One wonders how much worse it could be talking to the customer in the first place. I get tickets all day from 1st level with that read like:
"User deleted MS word shortcut from the desktop. Now user doesn't know how to launch word. user thinks its too much trouble to go start-> programs ->msword. wants it put back the old way. Reinstalled office from cd, setup asked for a windows cd...couldn't find it. clicked skip file on all windows files. rebooted. pc will only boot into safe mode. please advise"
So instead of 1st level doing something trivial like making a new shortcut, The user is passed off to me and I get an all day project with the choices of reinstalling windows, or putting back in all the missing files piecemeal off the office cd. GRRRR... I think the onset of burnout is imminent.
IANAL but to walk away from the dealer with the truck I bought this last spring, not only did I have to bring in my license and insurance info, they called both the state (MN) and insurance company before finalizing the deal. I can only speak to what i've been put through:-)
What dot.coms? I thought they all went bankrupt....
heh...
seriosuly though I think this is still (motsly) true for programmers as they're relatively in demand. Its the CIS guys that wanna do some network architecture or what have you that usually end up as reinstall jockeys.
I've been working various support desks for going on 3 years here. All the people that have talent work exactly like this... they burn out or are promoted within 3 months. I can totally see thier point. There no challenge, high repitition, angry customers, and indifferent management. Pretty much the reason anyone does it (including myself) is because you can't wrap a real job around a college schedule, and you gotta get a foot in the door somewhere and build up that resume. Can't go from being a burger flipper to network admin:-)
I'm reading this at work. Been on this call for going on two hours now! Why? This lady decided to go on a spring cleaning binge and delete all those pesky dll's she was sure she would never need. The best part is she's pissed at ME. Been complaining the whole time about how she's always having to call tech support.
Seriously though, I believe some of the blame relies on the customers shoulders. I don't think theres anything in a persons daily life that works correctly without you having knowledge of how to use it.
In another context, owning a car requires a drivers license. You also have to be aware that regular maintainence is also needed. You can't just show up at the dealer, take the keys and be good to go.
Pretty much every guy that is fairly handy can chagnge his own oil/battery/tires or what have you. The use of an automobile has a prerequisite of at least basic automotive knowledge. I always pay to have my oil changed, but I could do it if I needed to.
While I'm not suggesting requiring a license to use a computer (but man would my life be easier if this was true), I do believe that we can't keep pushing boxes as consumer friendly. There's still a geek factor to them. Even I call tech support from time to time (who knew acrobat won't install correctly if win98 user profiles are enabled).
I think I'm talking in circles again, but it pisses me off that customers continue to blame tech support for thier lack of knowledge. The consumer continues to get dumber and dumber while demanding more support/service/hand holding.
This is true in all industries. All you need to do is work for a department store at the christmas returns desk. "Yeah this sweater doesn't fit and I don't like the color. Even though I stained it with coffee and have been wearing it the past 3 weeks, I DEMAND a refund!". and you know what? the store manager will come out and do exactly that? why? to provide good customer service. Management is trained to "do what it takes and go that extra mile" to absurdity and the consumer knows if they complain enough, they get thier way.
Chris
Looks like its Windows - at least part time...
on
Space Station BSOD
·
· Score: 2
Found this excerpt from the station logs (the Nov 27th One)
"Sergei notices that the Russian PCS laptop has locked up. He tries to reboot, but the Sun application software won't load. Lots of messages on the screen noting data errors. Sergei thinks that it may be the hard drive. He boots up windows to see if the windows partition runs OK--it does. So at least some of the hardware is functional. Troubleshooting starts right away with TsUP. Without this PCS, we don't have a laptop interface to the central post computers."
The entire link is:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp1/exp1 shepnov.html
MAN do I love government projects! I bet they paid a bunch of money for those thinkpads too... some "space certified" models. (the whole $400 hammer scenario all over again)
ABSOLUTELY!
Considering that the whole discussion of the gun was brought up by the kids doing the bullying, what other kind of response would they expect? (Although not perhaps the best response in this situation). I would think that at least a parent-student-principal meeting between all involved parties would be held to address these concerns.
My only question -> If this bullying had been going on for some time (and we are in fact nearing the end of the school year). Why wasn't the issue of the victims mistreatment by his peers brought to the administrations attention? hindsight being always 20/20 I know its any easy thing to say, but certainly if my teenager was having things stolen from thier backpack and being bullied on a regular basis, I would have a few choice words for the school administrators!
It cost me US$218 to fly from MSP to SJC. (3 hour flight) Wheras AmTrak wanted almost US$980 and 36 hours for the same trip. This is just one more reason for me to avoid AmTRAK.../me continues muttering to himself...
The thing is...it doesn't natively play mp3's..it has software that will convert your mp3's into atrac...once your mp3 is converted to atrac...you can't convert it back. Thier software also attempts to delete the source mp3 once conversion is complete. One way conversion only! (man was I pissed when my hip new Sony mp3 stick walkman pulled that on me). The compression is great...no difference in sound then mp3, however I now have a duplicate mp3 collection...6 gigs of music in mp3 to play in WinAmp or burn to cd or trade or whatever...and 6 gigs of the same exact songs in atrac format to shuttle in and out of the sony. Quite a hassle if you ask me. Damn best buy for not taking back the sony! stupid return desk people (/me continues muttering)
Slashdot Mirror
yep... that was an omnitouch keep in touch tower... placed there as a result of homer destorying the constitution :-)
I have to agree this is a let-down. For all the secrecy and even Steve Jobs promise of something "revolutionary", as an Apple fanatic I am unimpressed. I was expecting something quite a bit cooler then an MP3 player.
Chris
I think part of the problem of buying/listing houses online and something else, like say a computer or a car, is that buying a house requires the use of quite a few middlemen. The bank, the realty agent, appraisers/inspectors, and so on. Getting a comprehensive listing bringing together all these parties would be something of a chore, and they'res not really any incentive for any of these parties independently to bring such a site together.
Ideally, I'd like to see something like www.carsoup.com adapted for home buying - but thats just me...
My 2 cents!
I disagree. I don't find this to be so much a ruling against free speech as it is against misrepresentation. After reading the verdict, the crux of it seems to lie in the fact that the email did not represent where it came from. Rather it seems that the fault of the spammer was that the email was disguised to prevent any resident from demanding to be taken off the mailing list or "opt-out".
IMHO this is completely fair....
Alright I went and found them myself. Check them out here.
Working 2nd level's almost as bad...you talk to clueless techs instead. One wonders how much worse it could be talking to the customer in the first place. I get tickets all day from 1st level with that read like:
"User deleted MS word shortcut from the desktop. Now user doesn't know how to launch word. user thinks its too much trouble to go start-> programs ->msword. wants it put back the old way. Reinstalled office from cd, setup asked for a windows cd...couldn't find it. clicked skip file on all windows files. rebooted. pc will only boot into safe mode. please advise"
So instead of 1st level doing something trivial like making a new shortcut, The user is passed off to me and I get an all day project with the choices of reinstalling windows, or putting back in all the missing files piecemeal off the office cd. GRRRR... I think the onset of burnout is imminent.
Chris
Theres not exactly a huge market for entry-level geek wannabe's outside of tech support :-)
IANAL but to walk away from the dealer with the truck I bought this last spring, not only did I have to bring in my license and insurance info, they called both the state (MN) and insurance company before finalizing the deal. I can only speak to what i've been put through :-)
Chris
What dot.coms? I thought they all went bankrupt....
heh...
seriosuly though I think this is still (motsly) true for programmers as they're relatively in demand. Its the CIS guys that wanna do some network architecture or what have you that usually end up as reinstall jockeys.
Chris
I've been working various support desks for going on 3 years here. All the people that have talent work exactly like this... they burn out or are promoted within 3 months. I can totally see thier point. There no challenge, high repitition, angry customers, and indifferent management. Pretty much the reason anyone does it (including myself) is because you can't wrap a real job around a college schedule, and you gotta get a foot in the door somewhere and build up that resume. Can't go from being a burger flipper to network admin :-)
Chris
I'm reading this at work. Been on this call for going on two hours now! Why? This lady decided to go on a spring cleaning binge and delete all those pesky dll's she was sure she would never need. The best part is she's pissed at ME. Been complaining the whole time about how she's always having to call tech support. Seriously though, I believe some of the blame relies on the customers shoulders. I don't think theres anything in a persons daily life that works correctly without you having knowledge of how to use it. In another context, owning a car requires a drivers license. You also have to be aware that regular maintainence is also needed. You can't just show up at the dealer, take the keys and be good to go. Pretty much every guy that is fairly handy can chagnge his own oil/battery/tires or what have you. The use of an automobile has a prerequisite of at least basic automotive knowledge. I always pay to have my oil changed, but I could do it if I needed to. While I'm not suggesting requiring a license to use a computer (but man would my life be easier if this was true), I do believe that we can't keep pushing boxes as consumer friendly. There's still a geek factor to them. Even I call tech support from time to time (who knew acrobat won't install correctly if win98 user profiles are enabled). I think I'm talking in circles again, but it pisses me off that customers continue to blame tech support for thier lack of knowledge. The consumer continues to get dumber and dumber while demanding more support/service/hand holding. This is true in all industries. All you need to do is work for a department store at the christmas returns desk. "Yeah this sweater doesn't fit and I don't like the color. Even though I stained it with coffee and have been wearing it the past 3 weeks, I DEMAND a refund!". and you know what? the store manager will come out and do exactly that? why? to provide good customer service. Management is trained to "do what it takes and go that extra mile" to absurdity and the consumer knows if they complain enough, they get thier way. Chris
Found this excerpt from the station logs (the Nov 27th One) "Sergei notices that the Russian PCS laptop has locked up. He tries to reboot, but the Sun application software won't load. Lots of messages on the screen noting data errors. Sergei thinks that it may be the hard drive. He boots up windows to see if the windows partition runs OK--it does. So at least some of the hardware is functional. Troubleshooting starts right away with TsUP. Without this PCS, we don't have a laptop interface to the central post computers." The entire link is: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp1/exp1 shepnov.html
MAN do I love government projects! I bet they paid a bunch of money for those thinkpads too... some "space certified" models. (the whole $400 hammer scenario all over again)
ABSOLUTELY! Considering that the whole discussion of the gun was brought up by the kids doing the bullying, what other kind of response would they expect? (Although not perhaps the best response in this situation). I would think that at least a parent-student-principal meeting between all involved parties would be held to address these concerns. My only question -> If this bullying had been going on for some time (and we are in fact nearing the end of the school year). Why wasn't the issue of the victims mistreatment by his peers brought to the administrations attention? hindsight being always 20/20 I know its any easy thing to say, but certainly if my teenager was having things stolen from thier backpack and being bullied on a regular basis, I would have a few choice words for the school administrators!
It cost me US$218 to fly from MSP to SJC. (3 hour flight) Wheras AmTrak wanted almost US$980 and 36 hours for the same trip. This is just one more reason for me to avoid AmTRAK... /me continues muttering to himself...
The thing is...it doesn't natively play mp3's..it has software that will convert your mp3's into atrac...once your mp3 is converted to atrac...you can't convert it back. Thier software also attempts to delete the source mp3 once conversion is complete. One way conversion only! (man was I pissed when my hip new Sony mp3 stick walkman pulled that on me). The compression is great...no difference in sound then mp3, however I now have a duplicate mp3 collection...6 gigs of music in mp3 to play in WinAmp or burn to cd or trade or whatever...and 6 gigs of the same exact songs in atrac format to shuttle in and out of the sony. Quite a hassle if you ask me. Damn best buy for not taking back the sony! stupid return desk people (/me continues muttering)