Here an interesing question. Unlike most old style monopolies, Microsoft as very few fixed assets. Their value is in their source code. Now what happens if:
Microsoft forms a new company, Microsoft Development, based in Redmond, which just does subcontract development, but owns no code copyrights. The Copyright hold (Microsoft) moves to say Grand Cayman Island. NAFTA gives them free access to the US market, the Carribean Island initiative gives them access to the USPS at no extra cost. They tell the US Gov to shove it where the sun doesn't shine.
Suitcase nukes were built, at least by the US, along with artillery shells as small as 105mm, and jeep mounted RPG type launchers. You can see deactivated versions of these (along with one of the first Cray 1 computers) at the National Atomic Museum at Kurtland AFB in Albuquerque NM. It's open to the public, and is fairly interesting. I understand that there is a classified version of the museum across the street
Back when I first was asked to sign one of these agreements, I actually went and talked to a lawyer (GASP). Even then, 9 years or so ago, he said that almost no non compete is enforceable unless:
You are a senior officer of the company and The non compete specifically spells out the 1)Industry, 2)Time, and 3)Geographic local
He said that basically, it has to be written in such a way that you can continue to make a living in your field, without moving from your home (But allowing LONG commutes) during the timeframe in question
Chris, This works for commercial software, but most software out there isn't commercial software. MOST software is things like an application to process an insurance claim, and tell the adjuster how likely a jury is to make an award. Or to tell you what is going to be on the evening news 15 seconds from now, and how long that segment will be.
Yep, it's a service, to ONE company, that has the companies business rules built in. You never sell the thing (it may be charged back)
When I say that the software goes no where, I'm not only talking about the source, but even the EXEs.
Did you ever notice that it seems that very few of the readers here have made a LIVING writing code? Writing code for free is GREAT, as
1) A Hobby or 2)When someone else is paying you cost of living
When you get out in the real world, where you get paid to write code, you'll find out a few things
1)Code has to meet a defined need 2)Your boss usually wants to keep that code (that he paid for) to themselves. Let's face it, that project probably took 4-5 man years, and cost him (Fully loaded costs), in the order of 1 million dollars. You don't GIVE that to you competition for free, or you go out of business, fast
Gee, I don't know. WAY back when, this old geek used to play D&D - NO not AD&D, but back when it was three little books that no one had heard of. One day, my best freind brings this girls he's known since she was 4 to a gaming session. Mary ended up liking D&D, and became one of the gang. About 2 years later, we started dating. Folks, that was March 1980. We have a happy little 2 1/2 year old girl who is a total computer nerd (would rather play with the computer than watch TV)
Not open source, BUT, some of their systems use a search engine made by a company called Excalibur Technologies. Nice stuff. Ask if for info on gas prices, and it'll find petroleum costs
Do you REALLY thing that the congress critter e-mail addresses you and I have are actually their REAL email addresses? The public addresses go to a group of aides for the congressperson, and important ones get fowarded. Just like, at one time, BillG@Microsoft.com was real, but today, yeah right
And a second followup Chris, remember the triggering incident of the American revolution. The battle of Lexington/Concorde was because a bunch of people from England decide to try to take away American arms. We didn't like Brits telling us what to do then, and we don't like it NOW. Want to ban firearms in Britan, go right ahead, that's YOUR business.
It has nothing to do with bears, Indians or bandits (But it does seem to me, with bear intrusions on houses up over 100% the last decade we still have bears, and tell my insurance company we have no bandits). It's about freedom and your responsibility to protect yourself. From many things, including people who would repress you.
Want an opinion other than mine? ESR puts it well:
Not detectable? Maybe not with what's on the market right now, but if you use active measures, it CAN be detected! Why do you think the military spends so much on PASSIVE survailence stuff. With enough power, you can jam almost anything, just overload the frontend of the receiver. Of course, you probably don't what to sit around transmitting a few kiliowatts of microwave RF .
Beach is South Fla? You'd have more to worry about from the sunlight. The RTG is so well shelded that it would not come apart. The fear of "Radiation" we have is crazy. They (we, I used to be involved, very slightly in power plants) think of problems you wouldn't immagine. Things like: There is an earthquake, which knocks down the support building, leaving the access door exposed, then an F5 tornado comes along, and picks up a telephone pole, and wings it, small end first at the door. Impact is at 300mph. The door has to hold. (I was there for the test, it held - Yes, we fired a telephone pole at the door (a sample door))
Cassini's RTG was designed to hold together through either through a launch explosion, or a worst case re-entry
I always used to use a Shure Mic/Line mixer, but they are true pro audio gear, read not cheap. You COULD always roll your own, it's not that hard. Use a quad op amp, set it up unity gain, inverting (To isolate the input), tie the outputs together, feed to one more stage, inverting, and you get line level out
Charlie (Radio shack has their "Op Amp Cookbook" for this)
Gee, We get complaints about the digital sweatshop (Long hours for the same pay). This is just another outgrowth.
Guys, learn to tell your boss _NO_. I've said it before, I took a job at 6% less pay, but went from 55 billable hours (read 60+ in the shop), to getting out of work at 5:00pm every day, a 40 hour week. Best trade I ever made
Yep, My domain was blocked for a while by a few ISPs (Since Unblocked). Why? I build trains like you see in amusement parks that are real steam engines. The term for this?
Live Steam
Oh boy does that phrase get you censored. When I got them to LOOK at what was on the site, it went away
The answer is really quite simple. I refuse to do this on a regular basis any more. Yes, once or twice a year, things happen at my current job, but not regularly. To get this job, I left a job that paid 10% more (Plus "Options" if the company goes public (They still haven't)), and came here. My average work week is 20% shorter, and I get to see my family. All that, and the new company LIKES me more
Remember folks, the USPS makes most of it's money on that so called "Junk Mail" (Real name 3rd class mail). The call it Money Mail. People like Publishers Clearing House have mail bills running literaly in the 10s of millions/month!
Speaking of bills, the USPS actually worries more about Electronic bills (Direct payment) than the lost of personal letters (Think about it)
Now, also remember, that NON-Exempt employees are entitled to one 24 hour period off (without interuption) after each 6 day period worked. In addition MOST companies pay 2x (Not 1.5x) for Sundays, and Holidays are usually paid at 1.5x for the hours worked + your holiday pay.
Do yourself a favor, figure out how much you REALLY earn per hour! I know I left my last job, which was demanding more that 55 hours/week average (Including "vacation weeks"), for a job that paid $5000 less, but now I work about 45hrs/week. Not a bad deal
The other big advantage to this is: If you WANT to work the OT, you do, and your Co-workers who DON'T, don't have to.
I used to be a wage slave - Technically, it was one of the best jobs I ever had! I ran a lab that did electrical and mechanical testing. I got to design the electronics, the hardware test fixtures, BUILD the electronics, machine the fixtures, and then design and write the programs to run it all. Of course, then the cold war ended, and military contractors went bust everywhere.
Kids are smarter than you think. My then 1.5 year old daughter wanted to get out of the house. She took my keys, and used the key to unscrew the inside of the door lock, and open the door! Trust me, the kid probably looked under the hood, saw 2 wires that were disconnected, and hooked them up. No big deal
BTW Anna (My now 28 month old), can already boot the PC, Log in, and load her games.
EZ=Pass is only a SEMI Active transmitter. What happens is it's hit with a particular radio freq signal (at fairly high power), and that actually POWERS the EZ-Pass, which then transmits it's code. It doesn't transmit all the time. If your really worried about it, when your given your EZ-Pass, they give you a metalized (aka Anti Static) bag to put it in, so that if you want to go through the tolls with getting billed, you can. Take it off your window, and put it in the bag. No RF out or in
Slashdot Mirror
Here an interesing question. Unlike most old style monopolies, Microsoft as very few fixed assets. Their value is in their source code. Now what happens if:
Microsoft forms a new company, Microsoft Development, based in Redmond, which just does subcontract development, but owns no code copyrights. The Copyright hold (Microsoft) moves to say Grand Cayman Island. NAFTA gives them free access to the US market, the Carribean Island initiative gives them access to the USPS at no extra cost. They tell the US Gov to shove it where the sun doesn't shine.
Just remember, if there's a pile of Horse Shit there must be a (trojan) horse around somewhere
Tag, your it
Charlie
Suitcase nukes were built, at least by the US, along with artillery shells as small as 105mm, and jeep mounted RPG type launchers. You can see deactivated versions of these (along with one of the first Cray 1 computers) at the National Atomic Museum at Kurtland AFB in Albuquerque NM. It's open to the public, and is fairly interesting. I understand that there is a classified version of the museum across the street
Back when I first was asked to sign one of these agreements, I actually went and talked to a lawyer (GASP). Even then, 9 years or so ago, he said that almost no non compete is enforceable unless:
You are a senior officer of the company
and
The non compete specifically spells out the 1)Industry, 2)Time, and 3)Geographic local
He said that basically, it has to be written in such a way that you can continue to make a living in your field, without moving from your home (But allowing LONG commutes) during the timeframe in question
And this WAS in New York
Chris,
This works for commercial software, but most software out there isn't commercial software. MOST software is things like an application to process an insurance claim, and tell the adjuster how likely a jury is to make an award. Or to tell you what is going to be on the evening news 15 seconds from now, and how long that segment will be.
Yep, it's a service, to ONE company, that has the companies business rules built in. You never sell the thing (it may be charged back)
When I say that the software goes no where, I'm not only talking about the source, but even the EXEs.
Did you ever notice that it seems that very few of the readers here have made a LIVING writing code? Writing code for free is GREAT, as
1) A Hobby
or
2)When someone else is paying you cost of living
When you get out in the real world, where you get paid to write code, you'll find out a few things
1)Code has to meet a defined need
2)Your boss usually wants to keep that code (that he paid for) to themselves. Let's face it, that project probably took 4-5 man years, and cost him (Fully loaded costs), in the order of 1 million dollars. You don't GIVE that to you competition for free, or you go out of business, fast
Gee, I don't know. WAY back when, this old geek used to play D&D - NO not AD&D, but back when it was three little books that no one had heard of. One day, my best freind brings this girls he's known since she was 4 to a gaming session. Mary ended up liking D&D, and became one of the gang. About 2 years later, we started dating. Folks, that was March 1980. We have a happy little 2 1/2 year old girl who is a total computer nerd (would rather play with the computer than watch TV)
Not open source, BUT, some of their systems use a search engine made by a company called Excalibur Technologies. Nice stuff. Ask if for info on gas prices, and it'll find petroleum costs
Do you REALLY thing that the congress critter e-mail addresses you and I have are actually their REAL email addresses? The public addresses go to a group of aides for the congressperson, and important ones get fowarded. Just like, at one time, BillG@Microsoft.com was real, but today, yeah right
And a second followup
Chris, remember the triggering incident of the American revolution. The battle of Lexington/Concorde was because a bunch of people from England decide to try to take away American arms. We didn't like Brits telling us what to do then, and we don't like it NOW. Want to ban firearms in Britan, go right ahead, that's YOUR business.
It has nothing to do with bears, Indians or bandits (But it does seem to me, with bear intrusions on houses up over 100% the last decade we still have bears, and tell my insurance company we have no bandits). It's about freedom and your responsibility to protect yourself. From many things, including people who would repress you.
Want an opinion other than mine? ESR puts it well:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/guns/
That long?
Not detectable? Maybe not with what's on the market right now, but if you use active measures, it CAN be detected! Why do you think the military spends so much on PASSIVE survailence stuff. With enough power, you can jam almost anything, just overload the frontend of the receiver. Of course, you probably don't what to sit around transmitting a few kiliowatts of microwave RF .
Beach is South Fla? You'd have more to worry about from the sunlight. The RTG is so well shelded that it would not come apart. The fear of "Radiation" we have is crazy. They (we, I used to be involved, very slightly in power plants) think of problems you wouldn't immagine. Things like:
There is an earthquake, which knocks down the support building, leaving the access door exposed, then an F5 tornado comes along, and picks up a telephone pole, and wings it, small end first at the door. Impact is at 300mph. The door has to hold. (I was there for the test, it held - Yes, we fired a telephone pole at the door (a sample door))
Cassini's RTG was designed to hold together through either through a launch explosion, or a worst case re-entry
I always used to use a Shure Mic/Line mixer, but they are true pro audio gear, read not cheap. You COULD always roll your own, it's not that hard. Use a quad op amp, set it up unity gain, inverting (To isolate the input), tie the outputs together, feed to one more stage, inverting, and you get line level out
Charlie
(Radio shack has their "Op Amp Cookbook" for this)
Gee,
When you have your own domain....
Gee,
We get complaints about the digital sweatshop (Long hours for the same pay). This is just another outgrowth.
Guys, learn to tell your boss _NO_. I've said it before, I took a job at 6% less pay, but went from 55 billable hours (read 60+ in the shop), to getting out of work at 5:00pm every day, a 40 hour week. Best trade I ever made
Charlie
Yep, My domain was blocked for a while by a few ISPs (Since Unblocked). Why? I build trains like you see in amusement parks that are real steam engines. The term for this?
Live Steam
Oh boy does that phrase get you censored. When I got them to LOOK at what was on the site, it went away
The answer is really quite simple. I refuse to do this on a regular basis any more. Yes, once or twice a year, things happen at my current job, but not regularly. To get this job, I left a job that paid 10% more (Plus "Options" if the company goes public (They still haven't)), and came here. My average work week is 20% shorter, and I get to see my family. All that, and the new company LIKES me more
The changed the law. BTW You'll need to PROVIDE, (But it doesn't have to be ON) you SSN for every license you get. It's to stop "Dead Beat Dads"
Remember folks, the USPS makes most of it's money on that so called "Junk Mail" (Real name 3rd class mail). The call it Money Mail. People like Publishers Clearing House have mail bills running literaly in the 10s of millions/month!
Speaking of bills, the USPS actually worries more about Electronic bills (Direct payment) than the lost of personal letters (Think about it)
Gee,
/week
If I was still working 80hr/week, I'd LOVE to be on the clock at $27.50/hr!
Figure it out: 80hr/week = 40hrs straight time + (40hrs * 1.5) = 100hrs billable
50 weeks a year (Figure 2 weeks vacation)
+ 2 weeks @ 40hrs/week
Folks, that's $139,700/year.
Not shabby right?
Let's do some math:
Rate: 27.50/hr - 2 weeks Vacation Paid at 40/week
hrs/wk Annual Pay
40 $57200
45 $67512
50 $77825
55 $88137 (already above industry average pay)
60 $98450
65 $108762
70 $119075
75 $129387
80 $139700
Now, also remember, that NON-Exempt employees are entitled to one 24 hour period off (without interuption) after each 6 day period worked. In addition MOST companies pay 2x (Not 1.5x) for Sundays, and Holidays are usually paid at 1.5x for the hours worked + your holiday pay.
Do yourself a favor, figure out how much you REALLY earn per hour! I know I left my last job, which was demanding more that 55 hours/week average (Including "vacation weeks"), for a job that paid $5000 less, but now I work about 45hrs/week. Not a bad deal
The other big advantage to this is: If you WANT to work the OT, you do, and your Co-workers who DON'T, don't have to.
I used to be a wage slave - Technically, it was one of the best jobs I ever had! I ran a lab that did electrical and mechanical testing. I got to design the electronics, the hardware test fixtures, BUILD the electronics, machine the fixtures, and then design and write the programs to run it all. Of course, then the cold war ended, and military contractors went bust everywhere.
Yes, YES YES
Kids are smarter than you think. My then 1.5 year old daughter wanted to get out of the house. She took my keys, and used the key to unscrew the inside of the door lock, and open the door! Trust me, the kid probably looked under the hood, saw 2 wires that were disconnected, and hooked them up. No big deal
BTW Anna (My now 28 month old), can already boot the PC, Log in, and load her games.
EZ=Pass is only a SEMI Active transmitter. What happens is it's hit with a particular radio freq signal (at fairly high power), and that actually POWERS the EZ-Pass, which then transmits it's code. It doesn't transmit all the time. If your really worried about it, when your given your EZ-Pass, they give you a metalized (aka Anti Static) bag to put it in, so that if you want to go through the tolls with getting billed, you can. Take it off your window, and put it in the bag. No RF out or in