He's a good writer, but I lost respect for Mossberg after he wrote this in 2007: "After months of testing Vista on multiple computers, new and old, I believe it is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has produced." I wrote to him and asked him to explain. He praised the user interface and new security features. Over the years, I noticed that he rarely says anything bad about MS products. That's not journalism; it's shilling.
Many proponents of net neutrality are mainly concerned about the cost of their video streaming. This puts a big demand on infrastructure and not everybody watches streaming video. I may not want to subsidizes your Game of Thrones addiction.
If your job became obsolete and the govt paid you somewhat less to do nothing, would you do nothing? Or would you look for another way to contribute to society? As I have pointed out in other threads, there are millions of jobs that need to be done, but we've created perverse incentives for people to do less productive things instead. Things that humans can do that machines can't: Find a cure for diabetes, design a low-cost solar panel, plant a tree, teach someone how to do home repairs, write a poem... Many, but not all of these things require an advanced education.
I refuse to believe that the future human race will consist mostly of couch potatoes like H.G. Wells' Eloi.
which are used by businesses, schools, government agencies, and do-it-yourselfers who don't want to rely on the users to maintain and use an end-point filter. Google and Facebook want you to be able to see their ads at work! There are two known solutions to filtering encrypted content at the border: explicit proxy configured by group policy, or transparent proxy with dedicated certificate authority. Both have reliability and privacy issues.
but no one trained to do them. So instead of improving our educational system, POTUS wants to pay people to do nothing. Yikes!
And by improving our educational system, I do not mean throwing Federal dollars at it. We already have the most expensive system in the world with pitiful results. CrankyOldEngineer believes that any child can and should learn math and science, if we hire teachers that are qualified to tech these subjects.
By jobs that need doing, I do not mean current openings on the want-ads. The human race needs doctors, engineers, and all kinds of skilled people, but we've created incentives for the wrong professions.
1. No one I know thinks there was ever truly a shortage of IT workers in the US; only a shortage at the wages the corps wanted to pay. Maybe it's better to import cheap labor than to export the job altogether, but the effect is the same for the affected US worker. There has been abuse in the program since it was created around 25 years ago, and it has gotten worse as the ridiculously low salary threshhold got even lower due to inflation. There have been so many well-publicized examples of abuse that there is no point in listing them.
2. To those who think US IT workers are whining about losing what used to be an unfair advantage and they ought to just suck it up: Maybe you think your job is safe or that you're just "special." Maybe every US worker ought to have the same living standard as Indian workers, including doctors, lawyers, accountants,.. everyone. In some sense that would be more fair. But I happen to think that the goal of US trade policy should be to improve the competitiveness of US workers and the life of all Americans. As it is, trade policy benefits only the corporations involved in the trade; not the workers or the consumers.
3. Yes I know that the theory of competitive advantage says that we are better off "on average," but some individuals are inevitably worse off. Unfortunately, US trade policy makes no effort to share the benefits, which go almost entirely to the corps. Also the theory (as I remember from school) assumes full employment. Anyone who thinks we are even close to full employment is drinking the government's koolaid. Workforce participation is at a post WW2 low and salaries have been stagnant for decades. It seems clear that India and China are exporting their unemployment to North America and Europe. Now maybe you think that as a citizen of the world that's how it should be, but I expect our political leaders to look out for *us*.
This comment is pure FUD.
I write a lot in my work. Large complicated documents with outlines, headings, indices, tables, you name it. Needless to say, I and my colleagues use MS Office in its various versions at the office. I have used LO at home since it forked and OO before that. In recent years I have had almost 0 compatibility/formatting issues. LO is more compatible with MS than the various versions of MS are with each other!
Clearly it's not for lack of money -- If that were the reason, poor regions would have the lowest birth rates. My money is on lack of social skills -- a phenomenon that I observe daily. Also, the study said "no sex partner". If a person's only sex is occasional hookup for oral, whether that counts or not, it sure as hell indicates poor social skills.
Oh, and get off my lawn.
COE
Apart from the few unfortunates who live in the boondocks, the people I know who have only wireless internet have made a choice based on how they use the internet. Most young people would rather cut off an arm than be without 24/7 access to facebook, twitter, etc. Some of these folks receive SNAP and shop at the food bank and Goodwill. In my city, you can get basic FIOS and a dumb phone for less monthly expense than an iPhone with a data plan. So when they claim they can't afford internet, that's BS. It's a choice.
And oh by the way, get off my lawn.
COE
It's been clear for at least ten years that companies are exploiting a loophole in the H1B law that allows them to outsource to another company which just happens to have foreign employees. In all this time, Senator Durbin and his 534 accomplices have not had the time to fix this loophole. (Also the insanely low salary threshhold.) No one has even proposed anything. But they have time for grandstanding to make it seem that they're trying to help. One can only conclude that they want to keep things the way they are. I wonder why.
I run a private email server on a hosted VM with Spam Assassin for me and my family. It's secure, private, and inexpensive. The biggest cost a a few minutes every couple months to keep it patched. Well worth it. My friends with gmail and yahoo addresses keep getting spammed, slammed, and pwned, but can't be bothered.
Britz -- You just had to turn this into a political issue, didn't you? "Crazy libertarians" did not cause the 2008 economic melt-down. A combination of misguided public policy, captured regulators, and crony capitalism created the conditions that made it inevitable. Those conditions included poor underwriting practices, over-extended borrowers, and complex financial derivitives used to intentionally hide the dangers. But these were symptoms; not causes. There have been a number of excellent books written about it. I have some favorites, but I hesitate to mention any for fear of getting blamed for bias. Politicians of all sides share the blame. Please read up.
Technology not only makes bad schools worse; it makes good schools worse too.
The school board at our kids' school is enamored with tablets, laptops, 3D printers, and more. At each introduction of new technology, they had no idea how to use it to enhance learning. They just took it on faith that you put a tablet in a classroom, and magic happens. All they did was create a crutch for the mediocre teachers and distractions for students who already have too-short attention spans. Then they had the nerve to ask for a tax increase because they claimed they couldn't afford a much-needed salary increase for the teachers. What putzes.
It's too bad that Clement mixed his politics with his professional work. But really, are people willing to stop using an excellent product because they don't agree with someone's politics? Do I support my landlord's libertarian politics when I write a rent check? Do I support fracking when I turn on my furnace? Do I support child labor when I buy clothes made almost anywhere in asia? Do I support bigotry when I listen to a MIles Davis recording? The work is too interconnected and complicated.
Most large tech businesses are following this strategy.They are just responding to our illogical tax and immigration policies. The US can compete, or try to be a self-sufficient island. Like it or not:
Workers compete for jobs.
Businesses compete for customers.
Governments compete for businesses.
All three compete for capital.
Slashdot Mirror
He's a good writer, but I lost respect for Mossberg after he wrote this in 2007: "After months of testing Vista on multiple computers, new and old, I believe it is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has produced." I wrote to him and asked him to explain. He praised the user interface and new security features. Over the years, I noticed that he rarely says anything bad about MS products. That's not journalism; it's shilling.
Many proponents of net neutrality are mainly concerned about the cost of their video streaming. This puts a big demand on infrastructure and not everybody watches streaming video. I may not want to subsidizes your Game of Thrones addiction.
If your job became obsolete and the govt paid you somewhat less to do nothing, would you do nothing? Or would you look for another way to contribute to society? As I have pointed out in other threads, there are millions of jobs that need to be done, but we've created perverse incentives for people to do less productive things instead. Things that humans can do that machines can't: Find a cure for diabetes, design a low-cost solar panel, plant a tree, teach someone how to do home repairs, write a poem... Many, but not all of these things require an advanced education. I refuse to believe that the future human race will consist mostly of couch potatoes like H.G. Wells' Eloi.
which are used by businesses, schools, government agencies, and do-it-yourselfers who don't want to rely on the users to maintain and use an end-point filter. Google and Facebook want you to be able to see their ads at work! There are two known solutions to filtering encrypted content at the border: explicit proxy configured by group policy, or transparent proxy with dedicated certificate authority. Both have reliability and privacy issues.
Ditch all the multimedia BS and see how fast your internet connection can be.
but no one trained to do them. So instead of improving our educational system, POTUS wants to pay people to do nothing. Yikes! And by improving our educational system, I do not mean throwing Federal dollars at it. We already have the most expensive system in the world with pitiful results. CrankyOldEngineer believes that any child can and should learn math and science, if we hire teachers that are qualified to tech these subjects. By jobs that need doing, I do not mean current openings on the want-ads. The human race needs doctors, engineers, and all kinds of skilled people, but we've created incentives for the wrong professions.
Nadella did.
2. To those who think US IT workers are whining about losing what used to be an unfair advantage and they ought to just suck it up: Maybe you think your job is safe or that you're just "special." Maybe every US worker ought to have the same living standard as Indian workers, including doctors, lawyers, accountants, .. everyone. In some sense that would be more fair. But I happen to think that the goal of US trade policy should be to improve the competitiveness of US workers and the life of all Americans. As it is, trade policy benefits only the corporations involved in the trade; not the workers or the consumers.
3. Yes I know that the theory of competitive advantage says that we are better off "on average," but some individuals are inevitably worse off. Unfortunately, US trade policy makes no effort to share the benefits, which go almost entirely to the corps. Also the theory (as I remember from school) assumes full employment. Anyone who thinks we are even close to full employment is drinking the government's koolaid. Workforce participation is at a post WW2 low and salaries have been stagnant for decades. It seems clear that India and China are exporting their unemployment to North America and Europe. Now maybe you think that as a citizen of the world that's how it should be, but I expect our political leaders to look out for *us*.
This comment is pure FUD. I write a lot in my work. Large complicated documents with outlines, headings, indices, tables, you name it. Needless to say, I and my colleagues use MS Office in its various versions at the office. I have used LO at home since it forked and OO before that. In recent years I have had almost 0 compatibility/formatting issues. LO is more compatible with MS than the various versions of MS are with each other!
Clearly it's not for lack of money -- If that were the reason, poor regions would have the lowest birth rates. My money is on lack of social skills -- a phenomenon that I observe daily. Also, the study said "no sex partner". If a person's only sex is occasional hookup for oral, whether that counts or not, it sure as hell indicates poor social skills. Oh, and get off my lawn. COE
Apart from the few unfortunates who live in the boondocks, the people I know who have only wireless internet have made a choice based on how they use the internet. Most young people would rather cut off an arm than be without 24/7 access to facebook, twitter, etc. Some of these folks receive SNAP and shop at the food bank and Goodwill. In my city, you can get basic FIOS and a dumb phone for less monthly expense than an iPhone with a data plan. So when they claim they can't afford internet, that's BS. It's a choice. And oh by the way, get off my lawn. COE
It's been clear for at least ten years that companies are exploiting a loophole in the H1B law that allows them to outsource to another company which just happens to have foreign employees. In all this time, Senator Durbin and his 534 accomplices have not had the time to fix this loophole. (Also the insanely low salary threshhold.) No one has even proposed anything. But they have time for grandstanding to make it seem that they're trying to help. One can only conclude that they want to keep things the way they are. I wonder why.
I run a private email server on a hosted VM with Spam Assassin for me and my family. It's secure, private, and inexpensive. The biggest cost a a few minutes every couple months to keep it patched. Well worth it. My friends with gmail and yahoo addresses keep getting spammed, slammed, and pwned, but can't be bothered.
How will ISPs help enforce copyright laws if they don't know who is using your router?
Britz -- You just had to turn this into a political issue, didn't you? "Crazy libertarians" did not cause the 2008 economic melt-down. A combination of misguided public policy, captured regulators, and crony capitalism created the conditions that made it inevitable. Those conditions included poor underwriting practices, over-extended borrowers, and complex financial derivitives used to intentionally hide the dangers. But these were symptoms; not causes. There have been a number of excellent books written about it. I have some favorites, but I hesitate to mention any for fear of getting blamed for bias. Politicians of all sides share the blame. Please read up.
Technology not only makes bad schools worse; it makes good schools worse too. The school board at our kids' school is enamored with tablets, laptops, 3D printers, and more. At each introduction of new technology, they had no idea how to use it to enhance learning. They just took it on faith that you put a tablet in a classroom, and magic happens. All they did was create a crutch for the mediocre teachers and distractions for students who already have too-short attention spans. Then they had the nerve to ask for a tax increase because they claimed they couldn't afford a much-needed salary increase for the teachers. What putzes.
It's too bad that Clement mixed his politics with his professional work. But really, are people willing to stop using an excellent product because they don't agree with someone's politics? Do I support my landlord's libertarian politics when I write a rent check? Do I support fracking when I turn on my furnace? Do I support child labor when I buy clothes made almost anywhere in asia? Do I support bigotry when I listen to a MIles Davis recording? The work is too interconnected and complicated.
Most large tech businesses are following this strategy.They are just responding to our illogical tax and immigration policies. The US can compete, or try to be a self-sufficient island. Like it or not: Workers compete for jobs. Businesses compete for customers. Governments compete for businesses. All three compete for capital.