I can't speak for the layers of recruiting that come before me - they may have an unhealthy fixation on university degrees.
Unfortunately we can't really answer the question without their input. My point is that when Bill goes around saying he can't find enough people, I want to know how hard he is really trying. I'm sure that, statistically speaking, people with degrees are more likely to be useful employees, but that doesn't mean it makes sense to use that as a filter. As an example, it may be the case that women are safer drivers on average, but few trucking companies will reject any male applicants out of hand.
I don't know the specifics at Microsoft, but consider Google, which is known for an emphasis on advanced degrees. Google is the hot company these days, so they can afford to throw away most of the applications that they get, and still find plenty of people. Microsoft's present may be their future -- when the hype wears off, and the applications slow down, they will need to change their recruitment strategy to find enough candidates. Again, I don't know how it works at Microsoft, but I think it would be very relevant. I'm suspicious because Microsoft used to be considered a hot company, so I wonder if the corporate mindset changed to fit the new climate.
Ultimately what I'm saying is that Microsoft may need more people like you, to consider more candidates more carefully. If they are like many other companies, they may have too many decisions being made by mindless HR drones. Or maybe Bill is right, but I'm not inclined to trust him on the surface.
How do you determine who is "qualified", though? What does a degree prove these days?
And don't give me any "shows dedication" BS, either. Dedication to time-wasting is not a positive attribute, and it's the last thing needed at MS. Turn it around -- if college is useless and you hire exclusively college graduates, you might end up with a lot of people who don't have a good sense of value versus time.
On the other hand, if you live in a poor country and a college degree is your only ticket to a good life, then you'd have good reason to obtain one even if it was otherwise useless. But that doesn't mean that college graduates from poor countries are more qualified than capable non-graduates in the US.
You know, reading posts like this makes me want to go to the Apple Store and buy something. There seems to be a correlation between people who can't shut up about how much they hate Apple and people who repeatedly make completely absurd posts with a deficient vocabulary.
Seriously, I'll pay a lot of money just to not be like you.
Oh, I love puzzle games; that's why I bought Fantavision. I tried really hard to like it, too. But there wasn't much game there. Too much of the gameplay was a matter of aiming the cursor quickly with the analog stick... heck, it might be a fun game on the Wii. I can still whip out a version of Tetris and be amused for a while, but I doubt that anyone in the whole wide world played any Fantavision last week.
In fact, it was Meteos which made me feel like the DS might have something going for it after all.
If the Wii lineup reminds you of the DS launch lineup, then you are looking at the DS launch through the cloud of nostalgia. There was absolutely nothing to play except for a barely playable port of Mario 64. I thought I had wasted my money for over a YEAR.
The Wii launch lineup is far better than the DS, or the PS2 for that matter... anyone who disagrees can have my copy of Fantavision.
KC is a city on a river with portions on both sides of the river. It just so happens that the river is also the border between Kansas and Missouri. Like most river cities, one bank is larger and more important than the other; in this case it's the Missouri side, so mostly you hear about KC in Missouri, but part of it is in Kansas.
Wow, a kernel feature! See, your credibility problem is that you come in here and praise the likes of OpenBSD, which is an extremely minimal kernel shipped with extremely minimal supporting software, and criticize Linux for kernel problems, and then talk about a bunch of non-kernel features in a specific edition of Windows. OpenBSD doesn't have any of these features at all, so why do you need them out of Windows? If you need all this great shiny Enterprise stuff, you'll have to accept the extra complexity -- and thus the security problems -- that those features entail. You need to pick a component and stick with it; if we're talking about kernels, let's talk about kernels.
If we're talking about "best tool for the job", then don't bring toys like the BSDs into the discussion.
Why should we be kind when you dump marketing nonsense like "Enterprise Edition" into your post? Do you really think we're going to believe that the Enterprise Edition kernel is more stable than the regular kernel? Why shouldn't we begin to suspect that your definition of a "reliable" OS is one that says "Enterprise" on the box? Are you even aware that 0-day exploits from Turkey are rarely caused by kernel code?
Really, most people find that Linux on servers doesn't crash, either, especially now that we're through with the clunky days of 2.4. Usually crashes that do occur are caused by hardware drivers. Of course, a cluster of homogenous machines (all of them within the narrow range of older hardware that would be supported by OpenBSD) isn't a tough environment for hardware drivers.
Or, you could say that the Wii gets a major title, previously unavailable on Nintendo systems, due to its huge sales and popularity. You could say that nobody ever said a Wii game had to feature the Wiimote, just like lots of great DS games don't use the stylus. You could say that, if you weren't trolling.
Really, if your standard for technology products is reliability and nothing else, history would suggest you'd be a Nintendo fan.
I'm glad that you've gotten good use from your Sony products, but why would that stop you from giving competing products a fair shake? Sure, the PSP has some good games, but it's hard to build a case that the PSP has a better library than the DS. I mean, Hotel Dusk _alone_...
No, but honestly I'd like to know what's been going on with Slashdot over the last month. It's like everyone has just decided to throw poo everywere instead of having a discussion. Did people finally get tired of digg? Can we have another "slashdot is lame now" exodus, please?
Yeah, well. The submitter says "many people don't like to acknowledge it", but I don't "acknowledge" the existence of aliens just because a bunch of people say so. I'm still waiting for somebody to show up with some real evidence.
I think this is one of those notions that catches on because it seems true somehow, but it's honestly not very likely. While a small minority of people may watch more porn than they do non-porn material, the vast majority spend more time with the non-porn. After all, porn is only really interesting for a few minutes at a time.
Mod parent up, ya sissies. He has a strong opinion -- which happens to be right, by the way -- and he's expressing it in strong language because it has emotional importance to him.
If we're ever going to do anything worthwhile as a species, we've got to stop this "everyone does it" nonsense right here, right now. For instance, consider my boss -- he doesn't lie, because he's not an asshole. It's not hard.
That's why we have GNU hello (http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/), a standards-compliant implementation of hello complete with localization and command-line options.
There's a huge fundamental gap between i and this guy's "nullity". The difference is that i can be defined and used exactly like a regular number without breaking mathematics. You can divide by i, multiply by it, subtract it from both sides of an equation, etc.
That's why i is so useful; it simplifies and completes various aspects of mathematics without causing any damage to existing axioms. No such praise can be given to "nullity". It exists entirely in its own category, unable to participate in any mathematical operations.
This entire operation is a matter of linguistics, not mathematics. People have said for centuries that x/0 is simply undefined and without meaning. He's just saying that it's "defined" as something called "nullity" which is (surprise!) without meaning.
The notion that this should be applied in computer hardware or software is similarly without merit. In Python, if you ask for a division by zero, the system throws an exception; if division by zero means something in your program, you trap the exception and interpret it however you want. What else could be done? There's no behavior that would fit all cases. What does it mean when your pacemaker divides by zero -- that your heartrate should be set to "nullity"? How many beats per minute is that?
PS3 ebay prices have dropped to around $1000, which isn't exactly spectacular for a console that launched only a few days ago in extremely limited numbers.
1080p is not required for "true HD" and only games with relatively simplistic graphics will ever use it, as the PS3 isn't powerful enough to render complex graphics with lots of effects in 1080p. Of course, only a small proportion of people have 1080p televisions anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't speak for the layers of recruiting that come before me - they may have an unhealthy fixation on university degrees.
Unfortunately we can't really answer the question without their input. My point is that when Bill goes around saying he can't find enough people, I want to know how hard he is really trying. I'm sure that, statistically speaking, people with degrees are more likely to be useful employees, but that doesn't mean it makes sense to use that as a filter. As an example, it may be the case that women are safer drivers on average, but few trucking companies will reject any male applicants out of hand.
I don't know the specifics at Microsoft, but consider Google, which is known for an emphasis on advanced degrees. Google is the hot company these days, so they can afford to throw away most of the applications that they get, and still find plenty of people. Microsoft's present may be their future -- when the hype wears off, and the applications slow down, they will need to change their recruitment strategy to find enough candidates. Again, I don't know how it works at Microsoft, but I think it would be very relevant. I'm suspicious because Microsoft used to be considered a hot company, so I wonder if the corporate mindset changed to fit the new climate.
Ultimately what I'm saying is that Microsoft may need more people like you, to consider more candidates more carefully. If they are like many other companies, they may have too many decisions being made by mindless HR drones. Or maybe Bill is right, but I'm not inclined to trust him on the surface.
How do you determine who is "qualified", though? What does a degree prove these days?
And don't give me any "shows dedication" BS, either. Dedication to time-wasting is not a positive attribute, and it's the last thing needed at MS. Turn it around -- if college is useless and you hire exclusively college graduates, you might end up with a lot of people who don't have a good sense of value versus time.
On the other hand, if you live in a poor country and a college degree is your only ticket to a good life, then you'd have good reason to obtain one even if it was otherwise useless. But that doesn't mean that college graduates from poor countries are more qualified than capable non-graduates in the US.
You know, reading posts like this makes me want to go to the Apple Store and buy something. There seems to be a correlation between people who can't shut up about how much they hate Apple and people who repeatedly make completely absurd posts with a deficient vocabulary.
Seriously, I'll pay a lot of money just to not be like you.
Oh, I love puzzle games; that's why I bought Fantavision. I tried really hard to like it, too. But there wasn't much game there. Too much of the gameplay was a matter of aiming the cursor quickly with the analog stick... heck, it might be a fun game on the Wii. I can still whip out a version of Tetris and be amused for a while, but I doubt that anyone in the whole wide world played any Fantavision last week.
In fact, it was Meteos which made me feel like the DS might have something going for it after all.
If the Wii lineup reminds you of the DS launch lineup, then you are looking at the DS launch through the cloud of nostalgia. There was absolutely nothing to play except for a barely playable port of Mario 64. I thought I had wasted my money for over a YEAR.
The Wii launch lineup is far better than the DS, or the PS2 for that matter... anyone who disagrees can have my copy of Fantavision.
"Speak" Perl, right. Because what Unix really needed was a combination of the specificity of natural language and the friendly syntax of awk.
Only if you want to actually end up on Mars instead of in the Horsehead Nebula (a "mare").
KC is a city on a river with portions on both sides of the river. It just so happens that the river is also the border between Kansas and Missouri. Like most river cities, one bank is larger and more important than the other; in this case it's the Missouri side, so mostly you hear about KC in Missouri, but part of it is in Kansas.
If we evolved, then it was a matter of random chance.
Well, with such an incredibly incorrect first premise, I'm sure you can prove about anything.
Natural selection is not random.
Wouldn't a 1024 qubit computer be far faster than any cluser on earth?
Maybe, at factoring large numbers or something. But for doing your taxes or playing Quake it would be completely useless.
Microsoft didn't always suck ...
Back in the day, using Microsoft BASIC on a C-64, I was pretty happy. Since then it's been downhill.
Win Server EE supports clustering
Not in the kernel.
failover
Not in the kernel.
federated directory services
Not in the kernel.
larger addressable memory space.
Wow, a kernel feature! See, your credibility problem is that you come in here and praise the likes of OpenBSD, which is an extremely minimal kernel shipped with extremely minimal supporting software, and criticize Linux for kernel problems, and then talk about a bunch of non-kernel features in a specific edition of Windows. OpenBSD doesn't have any of these features at all, so why do you need them out of Windows? If you need all this great shiny Enterprise stuff, you'll have to accept the extra complexity -- and thus the security problems -- that those features entail. You need to pick a component and stick with it; if we're talking about kernels, let's talk about kernels.
If we're talking about "best tool for the job", then don't bring toys like the BSDs into the discussion.
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (be kind!)
Why should we be kind when you dump marketing nonsense like "Enterprise Edition" into your post? Do you really think we're going to believe that the Enterprise Edition kernel is more stable than the regular kernel? Why shouldn't we begin to suspect that your definition of a "reliable" OS is one that says "Enterprise" on the box? Are you even aware that 0-day exploits from Turkey are rarely caused by kernel code?
Really, most people find that Linux on servers doesn't crash, either, especially now that we're through with the clunky days of 2.4. Usually crashes that do occur are caused by hardware drivers. Of course, a cluster of homogenous machines (all of them within the narrow range of older hardware that would be supported by OpenBSD) isn't a tough environment for hardware drivers.
Or, you could say that the Wii gets a major title, previously unavailable on Nintendo systems, due to its huge sales and popularity. You could say that nobody ever said a Wii game had to feature the Wiimote, just like lots of great DS games don't use the stylus. You could say that, if you weren't trolling.
You need a better dictionary.
Merriam-Webster, obsolete, definition 1b: of a kind or style no longer current : OLD-FASHIONED <an obsolete technology>
Really, if your standard for technology products is reliability and nothing else, history would suggest you'd be a Nintendo fan.
I'm glad that you've gotten good use from your Sony products, but why would that stop you from giving competing products a fair shake? Sure, the PSP has some good games, but it's hard to build a case that the PSP has a better library than the DS. I mean, Hotel Dusk _alone_...
No, but honestly I'd like to know what's been going on with Slashdot over the last month. It's like everyone has just decided to throw poo everywere instead of having a discussion. Did people finally get tired of digg? Can we have another "slashdot is lame now" exodus, please?
Yeah, well. The submitter says "many people don't like to acknowledge it", but I don't "acknowledge" the existence of aliens just because a bunch of people say so. I'm still waiting for somebody to show up with some real evidence.
I think this is one of those notions that catches on because it seems true somehow, but it's honestly not very likely. While a small minority of people may watch more porn than they do non-porn material, the vast majority spend more time with the non-porn. After all, porn is only really interesting for a few minutes at a time.
Mod parent up, ya sissies. He has a strong opinion -- which happens to be right, by the way -- and he's expressing it in strong language because it has emotional importance to him.
If we're ever going to do anything worthwhile as a species, we've got to stop this "everyone does it" nonsense right here, right now. For instance, consider my boss -- he doesn't lie, because he's not an asshole. It's not hard.
That's why we have GNU hello (http://www.gnu.org/software/hello/), a standards-compliant implementation of hello complete with localization and command-line options.
Yes but, to be fair, it was also a demon.
Redundant doesn't mean "already said in this discussion". It means "pointless and unnecessary".
There's a huge fundamental gap between i and this guy's "nullity". The difference is that i can be defined and used exactly like a regular number without breaking mathematics. You can divide by i, multiply by it, subtract it from both sides of an equation, etc.
That's why i is so useful; it simplifies and completes various aspects of mathematics without causing any damage to existing axioms. No such praise can be given to "nullity". It exists entirely in its own category, unable to participate in any mathematical operations.
This entire operation is a matter of linguistics, not mathematics. People have said for centuries that x/0 is simply undefined and without meaning. He's just saying that it's "defined" as something called "nullity" which is (surprise!) without meaning.
The notion that this should be applied in computer hardware or software is similarly without merit. In Python, if you ask for a division by zero, the system throws an exception; if division by zero means something in your program, you trap the exception and interpret it however you want. What else could be done? There's no behavior that would fit all cases. What does it mean when your pacemaker divides by zero -- that your heartrate should be set to "nullity"? How many beats per minute is that?
40+ hours a week? The horror!
PS3 ebay prices have dropped to around $1000, which isn't exactly spectacular for a console that launched only a few days ago in extremely limited numbers.
1080p is not required for "true HD" and only games with relatively simplistic graphics will ever use it, as the PS3 isn't powerful enough to render complex graphics with lots of effects in 1080p. Of course, only a small proportion of people have 1080p televisions anyway.