the quality of the shillery of late has become unacceptably poor. without singling anyone out (*cough* anonymous coward *cough*), i offer this communication as a first step in bringing your performance back in line with baseline standards (as published in MS Policy & Procedure manual, chapter one, section three).
point the first: when employing sarcasm, don't be so damn obvious about it. try a more oblique touch - it makes you seem all smarty and less in-your-face at the same time.
point the second: we *do* want to target the young/.'er, before they establish strong connections in the free/open source community, so playing on their sense of insecurity is a good strategy. but jesus h effing christ on a popsicle stick, don't lecture them like a parent! it will make you sound like a "square" and turn them off. remember, remain groovy and cool at all times, like you are a big man on campus. they will look up to your hipness faster than you can say 23-skidoo.
point the third: marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing! the classics never die: lure with money, sex, and the promise of peer acceptance. but don't blow it at the last minute by restating the obvious! it comes out all crass and destroys a carefully crafted psychological moment. remember, mind-fuckery is a delicate cocktail, better gently stirred than shaken. in fact you could almost say it's like one of those floaty shots, where you gently layer one ingredient on - ok, forget about that. that's not important right now.
i hope you have found this review of astroturfing and shillery helpful. now get with the program or you will be back to your old jobs putting stray pets to sleep and humping comatose patients on the night shift faster than you can say "filthy whore"!
that is all.
and janeane, if there are any typos in this memo, you're going to be cleaning this office for a living instead of taking dictation in it.
So here I am, trying to pay my own way -- and the response isn't "no thanks, it's not for me" -- it's this weird and totally unnecessary hostility.
not hostile at all - more sardonic than anything else.
simply pointing out that you opened yourself up to losing a potential customer to a gpl product precisely because you did not offer what open source does - the ability to modify the software for one's own needs.
maybe doing that keeps you some customers, but obviously it loses you others.
Yep. I'm proof. I'm in the process of developing a company myself. As a web developer/designer/database developer/sys admin, I've got a nice enough set of skils to be able to cover all the bases for a web driven business.
that pretty much describes me - in fact i'm going to give this model a try myself.
i have to say though - get back to us after your company has survived a year or two after you've burned through your seed capital.
I'm a fellow lone coder. It's not easy -- you have to stoop to doing stuff like adding gratuitous links to your Slashdot posts. This isn't going to be a popular sentiment here, but I'd say that the GPL and P2P generally make it tougher to make a living.
----
Here's what I do: Andromeda [turnstyle.com] MP3 Juke/Server for PHP or ASP
oh yeah, i dimly remember andromeda. i threw it out when i realized that it purposely wouldn't work if i modified the php. and i replaced it with a GPL competitor.
programming commodity software is probably a dead-end, due to competition with open source and larger entrenched shops. i'd think there is still room for:
- consulting projects writing softare for an individual company
- consulting projects customizing existing open source packages for individual companies
- niche vertical-market applications targeted at specific industries
i'm trying to make all my applications web-based, and i'm thinking of getting into the business of both writing and hosting web applications. this has several advantages - an incidental one being that no one can examine your code for patent violations:-)
of course there are now business process patents added into the mix, so simply doing something in a particular way in the interface could conceivably put you in a ridiculous lawsuit.:-(
"My wife runs Windows 98 on her little 300mhz computer and it basically does what she needs - some photo editing, writing of documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, and Web surfing."
is there a way to set up secure connections between a linux vnc client and windows vnc server that starts automatically and is unobtrusive for the windows user?
i'd like the windows machines to start a secure server automatically, without extra windows in the taskbar (as putty requires, i think?)...
while mere mortals would have burst into flames long ago after combining such blatant lying with such unimaginable arrogance, darl goes on to prove that there's still plenty of douche left in this bag!
let's raise a glass to darl - the world's biggest douchebag.
i have never liked the way kde looked or felt. it had a kind of cheesy, garish look about it, kind of like a third-rate pachinko machine. kartoony, i guess. i know it can be themed, of course, but there's something about it - almost intangible - that transcends the themes.
gnome looks/feels solid, neutral, reserved... it just has more class, IMHO.
If you can remember enough about to scare up a Google Groups link, that'd be pretty cool, assuming it and/or the poster haven't been disappeared.
actually, i made a half-hearted attempt at it after posting my comment, but didn't find it. i might give it some more thought and see if i can narrow it down some...
just an interesting side-note about echelon: i remember seeing an anonymous posting on (i think) usenet, a number of years before the story broke in the media.
it was pretty detailed - explaining how it worked, the several international locations, what went on inside the actual work areas. IIRC, he was bothered about the privacy issues and wanted to blow the whistle.
i don't recall if he actually used the word "echelon", but upon seeing the 60 minutes piece on it i immediately recalled this posting.
"it looks like you are searching for pr0n. would you like me to lock the door and dim the lights via X10? how about some romantic music? maybe add to your search results a froogle side-bar with the best astro-glide prices on the net?"
I once went to my gym, where they know me as the local computer geek.
undoubtedly because you only went once, weighed 105 or 328 pounds, had a protruding adam's apple and thick black-rimmed glasses, and fell off all the exercise equipment jerry lewis style.
Slashdot Mirror
gee, in the 80's absolut was considered one of the better vodkas.
yeah but it's not as snappy.
dammit janeane, take this down.
/.'er, before they establish strong connections in the free/open source community, so playing on their sense of insecurity is a good strategy. but jesus h effing christ on a popsicle stick, don't lecture them like a parent! it will make you sound like a "square" and turn them off. remember, remain groovy and cool at all times, like you are a big man on campus. they will look up to your hipness faster than you can say 23-skidoo.
ahehehehem...
memo to all microsoft astroturfers and shills:
the quality of the shillery of late has become unacceptably poor. without singling anyone out (*cough* anonymous coward *cough*), i offer this communication as a first step in bringing your performance back in line with baseline standards (as published in MS Policy & Procedure manual, chapter one, section three).
point the first: when employing sarcasm, don't be so damn obvious about it. try a more oblique touch - it makes you seem all smarty and less in-your-face at the same time.
point the second: we *do* want to target the young
point the third: marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing! the classics never die: lure with money, sex, and the promise of peer acceptance. but don't blow it at the last minute by restating the obvious! it comes out all crass and destroys a carefully crafted psychological moment. remember, mind-fuckery is a delicate cocktail, better gently stirred than shaken. in fact you could almost say it's like one of those floaty shots, where you gently layer one ingredient on - ok, forget about that. that's not important right now.
i hope you have found this review of astroturfing and shillery helpful. now get with the program or you will be back to your old jobs putting stray pets to sleep and humping comatose patients on the night shift faster than you can say "filthy whore"!
that is all.
and janeane, if there are any typos in this memo, you're going to be cleaning this office for a living instead of taking dictation in it.
hmmm....
racist: check.
ad hominem: check.
homophobe: check.
anonymous: check.
coward: check.
diagnosis: troll.
not hostile at all - more sardonic than anything else.
simply pointing out that you opened yourself up to losing a potential customer to a gpl product precisely because you did not offer what open source does - the ability to modify the software for one's own needs.
maybe doing that keeps you some customers, but obviously it loses you others.
that pretty much describes me - in fact i'm going to give this model a try myself.
i have to say though - get back to us after your company has survived a year or two after you've burned through your seed capital.
----
Here's what I do: Andromeda [turnstyle.com] MP3 Juke/Server for PHP or ASP
oh yeah, i dimly remember andromeda. i threw it out when i realized that it purposely wouldn't work if i modified the php. and i replaced it with a GPL competitor.
programming commodity software is probably a dead-end, due to competition with open source and larger entrenched shops. i'd think there is still room for:
:-)
:-(
- consulting projects writing softare for an individual company
- consulting projects customizing existing open source packages for individual companies
- niche vertical-market applications targeted at specific industries
i'm trying to make all my applications web-based, and i'm thinking of getting into the business of both writing and hosting web applications. this has several advantages - an incidental one being that no one can examine your code for patent violations
of course there are now business process patents added into the mix, so simply doing something in a particular way in the interface could conceivably put you in a ridiculous lawsuit.
i have nothing against demons in general, but i don't particularly care for the ones ass-fucking penguins. that's just wrong.
sobering thought that that headline sounds exactly like something you might hear in a pulp sci-fi movie from the 50's...
...so while god may not play dice with the universe, i guess we can't rule out ping-pong.
where does it say that?
i'd like the windows machines to start a secure server automatically, without extra windows in the taskbar (as putty requires, i think?)...
this is like asking if you would like dogshit any better if it were spread on a ritz cracker instead of a graham cracker.
i'd treat the entire server as compromised.
let's raise a glass to darl - the world's biggest douchebag.
if i can offer some constructive criticism - nice concept, lousy website.
why not use one of the existing Free photo gallery packages out there?
i have never liked the way kde looked or felt. it had a kind of cheesy, garish look about it, kind of like a third-rate pachinko machine. kartoony, i guess. i know it can be themed, of course, but there's something about it - almost intangible - that transcends the themes.
gnome looks/feels solid, neutral, reserved... it just has more class, IMHO.
actually, i made a half-hearted attempt at it after posting my comment, but didn't find it. i might give it some more thought and see if i can narrow it down some...
it was pretty detailed - explaining how it worked, the several international locations, what went on inside the actual work areas. IIRC, he was bothered about the privacy issues and wanted to blow the whistle.
i don't recall if he actually used the word "echelon", but upon seeing the 60 minutes piece on it i immediately recalled this posting.
or at least demand a public apology, and if not received, then sue for one dollar.
"it looks like you are searching for pr0n. would you like me to lock the door and dim the lights via X10? how about some romantic music? maybe add to your search results a froogle side-bar with the best astro-glide prices on the net?"
undoubtedly because you only went once, weighed 105 or 328 pounds, had a protruding adam's apple and thick black-rimmed glasses, and fell off all the exercise equipment jerry lewis style.
what the heck is that supposed to mean?
damn savages.
...bomb us back into the stone-age. "civilization" has gone too far.