If I really had to say I think we could do one thing better, it would be having a 'headless' install option for some of these devices.
There are times where I go and install software, and have to be in a different room or different area, that me physically being at the console for the entire installation is pratically impossible. It would be wonderful if there was an option to do a network install over https, or a network install over ssh, to get it up and working.
Just think how nice it would be to pop in a CD, sit back at your desk, go to an IP address, and volia, install your server without actually being there:)
Oh, well, just wishful thinking, unless anyone knows a good installer, wants to help write one, or knows of a free as in beer system to get something like that accomplished.
and they can claim that the GPL infringes on copyright law (highly unlikely, but still)
What is going to happen?
Do we start over? Do we look for a different 'open source' project? They're trying to get BSD and Linux taken out of the server arena, and Darl doesn't care how much FUD he's got to spread or how thick it's spread up.
If the GPL's ruled invalid...then what?
I'm having a hard time fathoming anything like that happening. I'd be looking for a country that has less draconian laws (PATRIOT, DMCA, profit by legislation being the few), and moving there. That much I know for sure.
At work this week, we had to tell a guy who had served his time 7 years ago from a Juvnielle crime that we wouldn't hire him.
Regardless of the fact that he's probably one of the better technicians I've seen. Regardless of the fact that no one (even his former employer) has a bad thing to say. I've QC'ed his work...and he's truly a technician's technician...and he's good to the customer's and subscribers.
It's really sad when we're getting to the point where you do one bad thing, and you're marked for life, regardless about having "paid your debt" to society.
It makes me wonder what kind of deamons they'll find when I go through Airport Security next. "I'm Sorry, Ian, we can't let you go through because you stole a farm tractor when you were 15, and we consider you a risk."
The three dorm rooms that I had the pleasure of being in had about 6 outlets. 2 by their computer/RJ45/Coax/Phone Outlet, 2 by their sink, and 2 by their bed.
Take, by contrast, my former employer/ala mater, who just built 250 new dorm rooms...and they have around 8 outlets in them per bedroom, and their own surge supression systems on the line.
Yeah...boring, I know...but WSU's problem is the fact that their dorms are old, and not up to today's "electronic" standards. Hell, even their Gai-Tronics phones on campus are programmed with the default password, and their telecommunications staff seem to have problems finding out which pairs are blue/blue white.
When you're in that situation, do what any other self-respecting geek would do. Go, grab a box of Cat 5E or Cat6 Cable, some RG11, and wire the damn outlets yourself. If you need cable someplace, put cable someplace. If you need TelCo someplace, put Telco someplace. If you need Data outlets somewhere, plug them in yourself. Get yourself a nice punchdown block, terminate everything, and only use what you need. It may be cool to have every coax outlet in your house "hot," but, when the local cable company sweeps for signal loss, your house may be shut off because it's leaking signal.
It may not buy their freedom, however, I think you're taking the wrong view on the law enforcement analogy. The students are directly paying for the privledge of attending school there. They have the choice to go someplace else. Our law enforcement is funded with our tax dollars as well as money from fines, with their purpose to be to protect us, and uphold the laws--it's their philosophy to provide equal access under the law, and apply equal enforcement.
There is a small, somewhat religious college near where I attended, and when the whole napster thing happened back in 1998/99ish, they installed a very restrictive firewall and packeteer, to prevent the students from sharing files. The end result? The students revolted, and protested. They told the administration of the college that if they didn't restore access to the network that they were paying for, they were going to attend classes elsewhere. The college administration scoffed, and sure enough, when the next quarter rolled around, their enrollment dropped from 1100 to 200, and they had to let go of most of their staff.
The college where I attended and worked, student tuition was presented for most of the yearly budget, where money coming from the endowment was set aside for capital budget items (things like phone switches). The students wanted more bandwidth, we explained to them that bandwidth cost money, and for more bandwidth, it would cost more in tuition...they agreed to a technology fee of $200/year/student, and we migrated from 5 T1 lines to a full OC-3. IMHO, if the administration of your college doesn't listen to the students, they are shooting themselves in the foot, because if they walk out...you may be looking at a different situation than what you thought you were looking at when you arrived at your job.
Yes, the student's don't own the network, but, you must understand...the computers, networking equipment, and bandwith that everyone takes advantage of at an.edu wouldn't be there *if not for the students.*
If you didn't have students attending...you wouldn't have jobs. That endowment that your university has only goes sooo far if you're not generating alumni money...and how much do you think John Q. Public is going to donate after you shut off little Johnny's net connection? After you field the angry calls from him, his roomate, and his parent...yeah.
Interestingly enough, when I was working as the phone guy at my college, we had an incident with one of the Janitors in the building who liked to look at child porn on the campus computers.
We found this out by watching the logs, and linking the browser's history time stamp with the user logs, however, when the FBI Agents came to campus to visit with me (that freaked me out...those of you who know me understand why), asked if I'd help them install a carnivore-like system to record all activity from this particular computer that he used.
Click and enable and a few lines of Cisco Config later, I've got a port mirrored, and the FBI Agents then come out once a day to pick up a Zip Disk from the Switchroom, to be used against this guy.
Nothing really happened to this....he was fired from the university for "timecard fraud," and no criminal charges were ever filed against him.
Many Schools and universities use SCT's Banner as a way to manage just about everything in the university--from student and staff payroll, to grades, to financial aid. Banner's source is "open," but not "free as in beer."
The university that I attended uses banner, and the Registrar and others have submitted patches to SCT, and they've been released as patches--either security wise, or as bugfixes.
I'm currently writing an application for web-based management of telephone information, be it LEN's, Pairs, or Routing information. I'm planning on Open Source licensing it, but, I'm not planning on giving my support and time away for free. If a company wants source modifications, they can either a) hire me to do it, or b) hire another perl/php coder to do it. Either way, it's helping the programming/software movement in general, or, it's helping me directly.
Look at the On-Demand system and some of the networks they have. For example, my significant other enjoys the TV Show "Let's Bowl" on Comedy Central.
Because of our odd schedules, we never get to see it live, but, because we pay for digital cable, we get access to Comedy Central on Demand, we can watch it, in a 24 minute show, with one commercial in the beginning.
There are other ways to sell your products and services of a website. Yes, we sell service plans in linux, but, instead of software, you're looking at getting a qualified expert to help you get what ever's not working, working.
In a website, however, it's not that easy. I really don't think that Micropayments are the answer, either. People don't want to pay extra for their internet--they already pay their $20/month for internet access, why should they pay for your website, when, there are other alternatives to getting the information. I saw this today, I was looking for an example of something, and google came up with a good match for my search. I clicked on the link, and the website told me that I had to be a member to access the information. I go back, and I click on the cached version of the webpage. Volia, my information's there, and I didn't have to pay for it.
Opticom is 3M's solution for priority/preemptive right of way control--it has two modes, depending on what type of traffic you are. One is the "priority" right of way. If you're sitting at an intersection, and the light is red, and this comes up, you will get a shorter red, or a longer green light time when you're coming upon the light and it's green. This was kinda designed for public transit (e.g., buses), where idle time costs the city money in fuel.
The next section is something called the pre-emptive right of way, where the traffic lights that are not the same path as the signal is coming from, get a red light. The reason for this, is so in case the vehicle can make a left turn without worrying about oncoming traffic.
The system works in two parts--one's a transmitter, the other's an receiver, and the system can be set for thousands of possible codes. (for vehicle identification). the odds of something like this working, right out of the box, is very small...you'd need to get a correct code, and hope that no one notices a lot of new entries when it logs.
There is a comapny that makes legitimate Opticom receivers, for 'testing' purposes...however, their testing eqipment is very limited. They do make handheld opticom transmitters, however, they'll only sell them to you if you're a law enforcement/governmnet agency.
I subcontract for a cable company doing installs for High Speed Data Installations. More specifically, I was brought in by the company to lower the amount of service calls that were created by cable installation technicians who wern't the most technically literate.
Every one of the technicians that comes through my class has a basic understaning of how to configure a network card in the main "3" Linux systems (RedHat, SuSE, and Debian), as well as Windows. The first thing they say when they sit down at my workstations, they ask me, "What's this, it's not windows."
I've been able to convert 20 technicians over from the dark side to the linux side. Many technicians burn and openly give knoppix CD's to customers when they request information about the laptop, and I actively encourage them to get involved in the Local Linux User's Group.
Yes...Linux has a long way to go before it gets to the hands of Joe Six-Pack and family, however, that shouldn't stop any developer or anyone who even has an inkling of C/C++ to not want to help. Linux is collectively "our" software--"we" share it, we help build it, and we use it. We should bring it to the next level. The more people can see this software, the more they can realize that it's good, it's free (as in speech, if not as beer), and it can be tailored to what the user specifically wants.
AT&T Government Services actually "runs" the DNC list, but, AT&T is telemarketing and not using the DNC list. One would think that it wouldn't be too hard for them to even get a copy of the list, since a different division of their company runs it.
Maybe their version of "prior business relationship" is when you signed up on the DNC list.
In my little home network, I run netreg, that way if there's someone unknown on the network, it requests that they register before it gives them an IP address that really does anything. After they get an 'active' IP address, I basically route everything through squid, and drop everything else.
It serves the purpose well--it keeps the neighbors from looking at pr0n, and still lets me be 'friendly' to my network community as a whole.
Why is the controlling software being placed on the client's machine? That just seems like an invitation for my 12 year old Johnny to tinker and piddle with it.
Now, granted, I don't have children, but I do have 12 year old twin brothers who visit me often, and they have their own computer, and it's hooked up to the ever-peaceful squid proxy server, running squidguard. They know what is responsible web surfing, and I don't care what they surf, however, I really think that between disallowing direct internet connections from their computer, and forcing them to go through a proxy filter that keeps them totally 'honest,' it's better than leaving the 'watchdog' software on the client computer.
Has today's society really dumbed down to the point where Mom and Joe Sixpack don't know or care what their kids are doing today?
I think that this is a good idea; I know that there is some software that provides a decent IDE for HTML in KDE, however, the software is rather limited to HTML only.
I think what the open source community needs is a general, all around, Development Enviornment where you can edit files in a raw mode, swap over to a WYSIWYG editor, then let them preview using the browser of their choice--for not just HTML, but for PHP, Perl, and SQL as well...something that would be integrated into the server, as well as the development client.
Just my thoughts...but, still, I'm looking forward to it:)
Some of us have seen the DirecTV commercials where the guy shows up, and the subscriber asks the guy to drive around back, when the installer asks, "hey, you work for the cable company, right?"
Unfortunately, I know a few of the guys who have been released from contracting for just that--having a DirecTV system installed and using it at their house.
Most employees get free cable, as well as free roadrunner, however, most contractors do not. In our case, it's cheaper to buy a dish and run the cables the right way, install it the right way, than it is dealing with the service from the cable company that we *know* has service and HFC plant issues. The cable employees don't bitch because they get it for free. We have to install it, troubleshoot it, *and* pay for it--or else we're let go.
I subcontract as a high speed data installer for Time Warner, and our badges already have these. Want to get in the door? Badge in/Badge Out. Want to park your van in the parking lot? Badge In/Badge Out. At a customer's house to activate a box? Take it outside to your laptop...Badge In, SecurID In. Want to close a work order? Badge In, SecurID In.
I enjoy being a cable guy every now and then because I'm working outside...the open air, the seasons, the lack of a boss over my shoulder. If you've got good computer skills, and can run a cable from point A to Point B, it's not a bad field to do to bring in some extra cash on a saturday or a week that you've got off.
Of course, it'll be like talking to a brick wall, but hey, it might be worth a try.
Sunncomm Inc 668 N 44th St Phoenix, AZ 85008
I'm planning on sending a letter (complete, with on university letterhead nonetheless) when I sit down and take the time to come up with a good rant. Hell, who knows, maybe I'll be sued too;)
First, if my memory serves me correctly it was Yahoo's (then called) Pager that had the " is typing a message." Then MSN started having it, then, AOL finally implemented it in their IM client. Yes, PowWow was first, but out of the mainstream clients, this was what I can remember.
Also, if you look at the patent text itself, I like this part:
As shown in a recent popular movie, "You've Got Mail,"... Since when was you got mail a recent popular movie? 1999?
Or, it could be like Columbus, where we have Insight, WOW, and Time Warner...all in the same areas.
It's kinda funny. You see the Time Warner Guys stealing WOW's Aerial, because they're too lazy to re-hang a drop, or insight cutting WOW's line when a customer Disco's.
You might ask about competition, however, the base prices are the same--but they'll lower your rate to what you're paying now with your other cable company if you show them a copy of your bill (Why I'm getting Road Runner for $14.95/month in addition to my basic cable. You just have to find a sales-critter who will discount it for you).
They filed suit against Verisign accusing
Verisign of misuse of their registry position with their Site Finder service. Link to the press release is here
I'm sure you're talking about their sales system. Most of the dealerships in our area run either an ADP or a Reynolds and Reynolds system. Overglorified Unix boxen, running telnet/ssh, so that you can use dumb terminals and line printers (or, real computers and fancy laser printers) to do every aspect of the sales and back-office work.
Running a car business isn't something that is as easy as people think. Working in a car dealership as an "IT" type person isn't fun, either. There are many divisions or areas, each with their own pay scale, profit margins, and goals--then the sales department, keeping track of credit applications and reports in a secure manner, as well as customer information, deals, and then the finance office with the paperwork that they have to complete (complete with dot-matrix printer to print the forms all out).
So, the end result is, in the back office, and what keeps the dealership running, is actually running Unix, however, I think things like FordDirect's (When you do a web form, they get a fax and information entered into a CRM that they have to follow up on) will be better managed by a Linux-based server.
First, as I recall, no one from NetSol/Veri$ign sought ideas or thoughts from the internet community at large before implementing this. What really bothers me is the fact that:
- Only one company is doing this - This company engages in what I would consider deceptive and somewhat dangerous business pratices - This same company controls a lot of the Root Certificates - This same company controls a lot of registrations for websites (including my employer's)
Even if I think of it as a worse-case scenario, let's say that Mr. Experienced Cracker/Internet Bad Guy wants to crack into this server. Within a day, if no one notices it (and given their security record, this shouldn't be too much of a stretch), within a day, they have the ability to 0wn numerous clients.
Best Case scenario, I still see them breaking many things, including email, the rest of DNS, and, quite possibly, other things.
I have the odd feeling this will turn into another "Proft by legislation/lawsuit" scheme. *sighs* Know of any good countries where people still have "rights?"
Slashdot Mirror
If I really had to say I think we could do one thing better, it would be having a 'headless' install option for some of these devices.
:)
There are times where I go and install software, and have to be in a different room or different area, that me physically being at the console for the entire installation is pratically impossible. It would be wonderful if there was an option to do a network install over https, or a network install over ssh, to get it up and working.
Just think how nice it would be to pop in a CD, sit back at your desk, go to an IP address, and volia, install your server without actually being there
Oh, well, just wishful thinking, unless anyone knows a good installer, wants to help write one, or knows of a free as in beer system to get something like that accomplished.
Ian
If you look around on the website a bit, you can see a link to a .pdf file (hint: just change the .txt to a .pdf) of the actual letter that was sent.
and they can claim that the GPL infringes on copyright law (highly unlikely, but still)
What is going to happen?
Do we start over? Do we look for a different 'open source' project? They're trying to get BSD and Linux taken out of the server arena, and Darl doesn't care how much FUD he's got to spread or how thick it's spread up.
If the GPL's ruled invalid...then what?
I'm having a hard time fathoming anything like that happening. I'd be looking for a country that has less draconian laws (PATRIOT, DMCA, profit by legislation being the few), and moving there. That much I know for sure.
"Serving their time," huh?
At work this week, we had to tell a guy who had served his time 7 years ago from a Juvnielle crime that we wouldn't hire him.
Regardless of the fact that he's probably one of the better technicians I've seen. Regardless of the fact that no one (even his former employer) has a bad thing to say. I've QC'ed his work...and he's truly a technician's technician...and he's good to the customer's and subscribers.
It's really sad when we're getting to the point where you do one bad thing, and you're marked for life, regardless about having "paid your debt" to society.
It makes me wonder what kind of deamons they'll find when I go through Airport Security next. "I'm Sorry, Ian, we can't let you go through because you stole a farm tractor when you were 15, and we consider you a risk."
Ian
I was at WSU yesterday.
The three dorm rooms that I had the pleasure of being in had about 6 outlets. 2 by their computer/RJ45/Coax/Phone Outlet, 2 by their sink, and 2 by their bed.
Take, by contrast, my former employer/ala mater, who just built 250 new dorm rooms...and they have around 8 outlets in them per bedroom, and their own surge supression systems on the line.
Yeah...boring, I know...but WSU's problem is the fact that their dorms are old, and not up to today's "electronic" standards. Hell, even their Gai-Tronics phones on campus are programmed with the default password, and their telecommunications staff seem to have problems finding out which pairs are blue/blue white.
When you're in that situation, do what any other self-respecting geek would do. Go, grab a box of Cat 5E or Cat6 Cable, some RG11, and wire the damn outlets yourself. If you need cable someplace, put cable someplace. If you need TelCo someplace, put Telco someplace. If you need Data outlets somewhere, plug them in yourself. Get yourself a nice punchdown block, terminate everything, and only use what you need. It may be cool to have every coax outlet in your house "hot," but, when the local cable company sweeps for signal loss, your house may be shut off because it's leaking signal.
It may not buy their freedom, however, I think you're taking the wrong view on the law enforcement analogy. The students are directly paying for the privledge of attending school there. They have the choice to go someplace else. Our law enforcement is funded with our tax dollars as well as money from fines, with their purpose to be to protect us, and uphold the laws--it's their philosophy to provide equal access under the law, and apply equal enforcement.
:)
There is a small, somewhat religious college near where I attended, and when the whole napster thing happened back in 1998/99ish, they installed a very restrictive firewall and packeteer, to prevent the students from sharing files. The end result? The students revolted, and protested. They told the administration of the college that if they didn't restore access to the network that they were paying for, they were going to attend classes elsewhere. The college administration scoffed, and sure enough, when the next quarter rolled around, their enrollment dropped from 1100 to 200, and they had to let go of most of their staff.
The college where I attended and worked, student tuition was presented for most of the yearly budget, where money coming from the endowment was set aside for capital budget items (things like phone switches). The students wanted more bandwidth, we explained to them that bandwidth cost money, and for more bandwidth, it would cost more in tuition...they agreed to a technology fee of $200/year/student, and we migrated from 5 T1 lines to a full OC-3. IMHO, if the administration of your college doesn't listen to the students, they are shooting themselves in the foot, because if they walk out...you may be looking at a different situation than what you thought you were looking at when you arrived at your job.
Just my idle ranting
Ian
Yes, the student's don't own the network, but, you must understand...the computers, networking equipment, and bandwith that everyone takes advantage of at an .edu wouldn't be there *if not for the students.*
.edu work anymore :)
If you didn't have students attending...you wouldn't have jobs. That endowment that your university has only goes sooo far if you're not generating alumni money...and how much do you think John Q. Public is going to donate after you shut off little Johnny's net connection? After you field the angry calls from him, his roomate, and his parent...yeah.
This is why I'm not in
http://www.albionmedical.com/
The company name came up when I was reading the Houston Chronical Version of the story.
The return address if you're unsatisifyed with their product is:
Leading Edge Herbals
2414 4th Avenue
Greeley, CO
80631
United States of America
Interestingly enough, when I was working as the phone guy at my college, we had an incident with one of the Janitors in the building who liked to look at child porn on the campus computers.
We found this out by watching the logs, and linking the browser's history time stamp with the user logs, however, when the FBI Agents came to campus to visit with me (that freaked me out...those of you who know me understand why), asked if I'd help them install a carnivore-like system to record all activity from this particular computer that he used.
Click and enable and a few lines of Cisco Config later, I've got a port mirrored, and the FBI Agents then come out once a day to pick up a Zip Disk from the Switchroom, to be used against this guy.
Nothing really happened to this....he was fired from the university for "timecard fraud," and no criminal charges were ever filed against him.
Many Schools and universities use SCT's Banner as a way to manage just about everything in the university--from student and staff payroll, to grades, to financial aid. Banner's source is "open," but not "free as in beer."
The university that I attended uses banner, and the Registrar and others have submitted patches to SCT, and they've been released as patches--either security wise, or as bugfixes.
I'm currently writing an application for web-based management of telephone information, be it LEN's, Pairs, or Routing information. I'm planning on Open Source licensing it, but, I'm not planning on giving my support and time away for free. If a company wants source modifications, they can either a) hire me to do it, or b) hire another perl/php coder to do it. Either way, it's helping the programming/software movement in general, or, it's helping me directly.
Look at the On-Demand system and some of the networks they have. For example, my significant other enjoys the TV Show "Let's Bowl" on Comedy Central.
Because of our odd schedules, we never get to see it live, but, because we pay for digital cable, we get access to Comedy Central on Demand, we can watch it, in a 24 minute show, with one commercial in the beginning.
There are other ways to sell your products and services of a website. Yes, we sell service plans in linux, but, instead of software, you're looking at getting a qualified expert to help you get what ever's not working, working.
In a website, however, it's not that easy. I really don't think that Micropayments are the answer, either. People don't want to pay extra for their internet--they already pay their $20/month for internet access, why should they pay for your website, when, there are other alternatives to getting the information. I saw this today, I was looking for an example of something, and google came up with a good match for my search. I clicked on the link, and the website told me that I had to be a member to access the information. I go back, and I click on the cached version of the webpage. Volia, my information's there, and I didn't have to pay for it.
Opticom is 3M's solution for priority/preemptive right of way control--it has two modes, depending on what type of traffic you are. One is the "priority" right of way. If you're sitting at an intersection, and the light is red, and this comes up, you will get a shorter red, or a longer green light time when you're coming upon the light and it's green. This was kinda designed for public transit (e.g., buses), where idle time costs the city money in fuel.
The next section is something called the pre-emptive right of way, where the traffic lights that are not the same path as the signal is coming from, get a red light. The reason for this, is so in case the vehicle can make a left turn without worrying about oncoming traffic.
The system works in two parts--one's a transmitter, the other's an receiver, and the system can be set for thousands of possible codes. (for vehicle identification). the odds of something like this working, right out of the box, is very small...you'd need to get a correct code, and hope that no one notices a lot of new entries when it logs.
There is a comapny that makes legitimate Opticom receivers, for 'testing' purposes...however, their testing eqipment is very limited. They do make handheld opticom transmitters, however, they'll only sell them to you if you're a law enforcement/governmnet agency.
I subcontract for a cable company doing installs for High Speed Data Installations. More specifically, I was brought in by the company to lower the amount of service calls that were created by cable installation technicians who wern't the most technically literate.
Every one of the technicians that comes through my class has a basic understaning of how to configure a network card in the main "3" Linux systems (RedHat, SuSE, and Debian), as well as Windows. The first thing they say when they sit down at my workstations, they ask me, "What's this, it's not windows."
I've been able to convert 20 technicians over from the dark side to the linux side. Many technicians burn and openly give knoppix CD's to customers when they request information about the laptop, and I actively encourage them to get involved in the Local Linux User's Group.
Yes...Linux has a long way to go before it gets to the hands of Joe Six-Pack and family, however, that shouldn't stop any developer or anyone who even has an inkling of C/C++ to not want to help. Linux is collectively "our" software--"we" share it, we help build it, and we use it. We should bring it to the next level. The more people can see this software, the more they can realize that it's good, it's free (as in speech, if not as beer), and it can be tailored to what the user specifically wants.
It should sound like any IT Manager's wet dream.
AT&T Government Services actually "runs" the DNC list, but, AT&T is telemarketing and not using the DNC list. One would think that it wouldn't be too hard for them to even get a copy of the list, since a different division of their company runs it.
Maybe their version of "prior business relationship" is when you signed up on the DNC list.
In my little home network, I run netreg, that way if there's someone unknown on the network, it requests that they register before it gives them an IP address that really does anything. After they get an 'active' IP address, I basically route everything through squid, and drop everything else.
It serves the purpose well--it keeps the neighbors from looking at pr0n, and still lets me be 'friendly' to my network community as a whole.
Why is the controlling software being placed on the client's machine? That just seems like an invitation for my 12 year old Johnny to tinker and piddle with it.
Now, granted, I don't have children, but I do have 12 year old twin brothers who visit me often, and they have their own computer, and it's hooked up to the ever-peaceful squid proxy server, running squidguard. They know what is responsible web surfing, and I don't care what they surf, however, I really think that between disallowing direct internet connections from their computer, and forcing them to go through a proxy filter that keeps them totally 'honest,' it's better than leaving the 'watchdog' software on the client computer.
Has today's society really dumbed down to the point where Mom and Joe Sixpack don't know or care what their kids are doing today?
I think that this is a good idea; I know that there is some software that provides a decent IDE for HTML in KDE, however, the software is rather limited to HTML only.
:)
I think what the open source community needs is a general, all around, Development Enviornment where you can edit files in a raw mode, swap over to a WYSIWYG editor, then let them preview using the browser of their choice--for not just HTML, but for PHP, Perl, and SQL as well...something that would be integrated into the server, as well as the development client.
Just my thoughts...but, still, I'm looking forward to it
Some of us have seen the DirecTV commercials where the guy shows up, and the subscriber asks the guy to drive around back, when the installer asks, "hey, you work for the cable company, right?"
:)
Unfortunately, I know a few of the guys who have been released from contracting for just that--having a DirecTV system installed and using it at their house.
Most employees get free cable, as well as free roadrunner, however, most contractors do not. In our case, it's cheaper to buy a dish and run the cables the right way, install it the right way, than it is dealing with the service from the cable company that we *know* has service and HFC plant issues. The cable employees don't bitch because they get it for free. We have to install it, troubleshoot it, *and* pay for it--or else we're let go.
$DIEITY...I love contracting
Already done:
I subcontract as a high speed data installer for Time Warner, and our badges already have these. Want to get in the door? Badge in/Badge Out. Want to park your van in the parking lot? Badge In/Badge Out. At a customer's house to activate a box? Take it outside to your laptop...Badge In, SecurID In. Want to close a work order? Badge In, SecurID In.
I enjoy being a cable guy every now and then because I'm working outside...the open air, the seasons, the lack of a boss over my shoulder. If you've got good computer skills, and can run a cable from point A to Point B, it's not a bad field to do to bring in some extra cash on a saturday or a week that you've got off.
Maybe care to give them a call.
;)
602-267-7500
Of course, it'll be like talking to a brick wall, but hey, it might be worth a try.
Sunncomm Inc
668 N 44th St
Phoenix, AZ 85008
I'm planning on sending a letter (complete, with on university letterhead nonetheless) when I sit down and take the time to come up with a good rant. Hell, who knows, maybe I'll be sued too
Also, if you look at the patent text itself, I like this part:
As shown in a recent popular movie, "You've Got Mail,"...
Since when was you got mail a recent popular movie? 1999?
It's kinda funny. You see the Time Warner Guys stealing WOW's Aerial, because they're too lazy to re-hang a drop, or insight cutting WOW's line when a customer Disco's.
You might ask about competition, however, the base prices are the same--but they'll lower your rate to what you're paying now with your other cable company if you show them a copy of your bill (Why I'm getting Road Runner for $14.95/month in addition to my basic cable. You just have to find a sales-critter who will discount it for you).
They filed suit against Verisign accusing Verisign of misuse of their registry position with their Site Finder service.
Link to the press release is here
I'm sure you're talking about their sales system. Most of the dealerships in our area run either an ADP or a Reynolds and Reynolds system. Overglorified Unix boxen, running telnet/ssh, so that you can use dumb terminals and line printers (or, real computers and fancy laser printers) to do every aspect of the sales and back-office work.
Running a car business isn't something that is as easy as people think. Working in a car dealership as an "IT" type person isn't fun, either. There are many divisions or areas, each with their own pay scale, profit margins, and goals--then the sales department, keeping track of credit applications and reports in a secure manner, as well as customer information, deals, and then the finance office with the paperwork that they have to complete (complete with dot-matrix printer to print the forms all out).
So, the end result is, in the back office, and what keeps the dealership running, is actually running Unix, however, I think things like FordDirect's (When you do a web form, they get a fax and information entered into a CRM that they have to follow up on) will be better managed by a Linux-based server.
First, as I recall, no one from NetSol/Veri$ign sought ideas or thoughts from the internet community at large before implementing this. What really bothers me is the fact that:
- Only one company is doing this
- This company engages in what I would consider deceptive and somewhat dangerous business pratices
- This same company controls a lot of the Root Certificates
- This same company controls a lot of registrations for websites (including my employer's)
Even if I think of it as a worse-case scenario, let's say that Mr. Experienced Cracker/Internet Bad Guy wants to crack into this server. Within a day, if no one notices it (and given their security record, this shouldn't be too much of a stretch), within a day, they have the ability to 0wn numerous clients.
Best Case scenario, I still see them breaking many things, including email, the rest of DNS, and, quite possibly, other things.
I have the odd feeling this will turn into another "Proft by legislation/lawsuit" scheme. *sighs* Know of any good countries where people still have "rights?"