It could be as simple as known/comfy vs. unknown, but it depends on the two companies.
The money's the same. You can choose between the same old thing, even if it's not so bad, with the counteroffer risks and a possible grudge at keeping you and fear of a raise avalanche,
OR
You can go to a new company, work on new things, learn, be appreciated because they're TRYING to get you, get a new 'honeymoon' and the change to reinvent yourself a little, drop any old political baggage and move up in how you're perceived.
Personally I really dug the old easy-to-get contract days and being a professional temp. Going someplace new is a huge opportunity, and it's always positive and educational at the beginning even if it does suck later. So as long as it doesn't suck later you're always better off.
Just keep the old place happy! Leave 'em with a smile! Happy former employers are extremely important these days, and ALL my new jobs come through them!
Hey-
Like IC's, there are usually more than one device in a single package with tubes. We're probably looking at a dual triode. Could (should) be quad triode, but I seriously doubt it.
It's never gonna sound much better than the D/A, which is probably a runofthemill 44.1k by 16bit job, which just isn't all that great, especially with only one triode per channel instead of two.
SO it's a sales gimmick. But, it's a DAMN GOOD ONE and I'd like to see more of this and I think it will succeed as it should!
More crap like this, please! Give me swing meters and magic-eyes and nixies! Bring it on!
And they were only too eager to buy it. Besides a hiccup during the spy plane fiasco, chinese buyers were lining up to buy old tech from the scrapyard where I work and scrounge in San Francisco. It stopped cold the day they got into the WTO, months ago.
Chinese people showed up with money and bought container loads of unsorted scrap. Done deal, it's miller time. Honestly, we assumed without even thinking about it that it was being recycled in factories, though probably unsafe ones, or that the working stuff would go to schools or offices, where a 386 would be worth the trouble to set up. Who cares, they're doing more with it than us.
So the bottom has fallen out of the scrap market, and now monitors are toxic waste you have to pay to get rid of. But, there are still countries buying.
Is this the fault of the bad, bad US? Should we be required to keep our junk away from irresponsible people? Have we forced anyone? Or even been deceptive?
You know, people from India buy old tires by the container to ship to india. Other countries do it too. Totally bald, worn out tires. They just love 'em. You know where they wind up? ON CARS! GOD! This HAS to kill people.
We've been told that these are NEW tires, and if we're worried we should go and see what an OLD tire looks like. So are they killing people, or saving lives?
It just ain't like it is here, in most places! It may be hard for us to understand, but 'chinese peasants' with scrap to sort, and people filthy rich enough to have a car to put bald tires on, are a hell of alot better off than at least 50% of the people on this planet!
You know there's a famine in africa right now, and I don't think they care about dying of cancer in 30 years. All they can think about is keeping their children alive for just one more day. Think about that when you're in the supermarket. Go when they're throwing out the fruit. That's when I go.
I'd like to solve these problems, but it's saturday, and we've got tires to stack. Maybe we'll save a life.
THis stuff never sticks, and what better way to announce to the industry that retaliation will happen?
It's pretty obvious all around. Hardware boxes almost never mention linux, even when a company does support it. And, when they do, the support never comes directly from them.
M$'s strategies are so bold and, franky, impressive that I'd be very surprised if it really was an unintentional leak.
I was an admin in a situation where the users had way more clout than the admins, and the problem was very similar.
My boss was old and smart. He gave them a 'new' network. It had excellent speed, access, and all the features needed to do 'real' work, and the necessary restrictions for technical reasons. He left the old network intact, with no intention of maintaining it. The users had a 'choice'.
Eventually they all moved over and the issue died. it's a nice solution if you've got enough wires!
I use linux to build exhibits for artists and museums.
I'm a big fan of Linux and OpenSource, but the real reason I use open source for my projects is that it comes with a compiler and some example code.
Windows in the past has come with 'accessories', such as Calculator, Notepad, Wordpad, Soundrecorder, CD player, etc.
Now, what if Microsoft provided the code to these accesories, perhaps in whatever language they're trying to market, like C#, and also provided a working compiler, perhaps stripped down but functional, so that you could modify and compile these accessories. They could use their 'application signing' for something good, to show when you're running a modified binary.
Linux is the ultimate set of Legos. If I want to make an app that does X, Y, and Z, I can get example code from open source projects which I know do any one of these, and kill and yank until I have the framework of the project I want.
If I could look at the code for Calculator to get buttons, Notepad for editing and file I/O, Something for serial or USB I/O, See what I'm getting at? I could cut and paste the framework of a windows app, and build the code for my project. It would run with a warning message because It isn't signed or compiled with the full version of C#, but it would work, and I could use windows to do my project. The warning would keep this from killing the sales of enterprise development tools, which poor people pirate anyway.
Now, I prefer Linux, I prefer older, cheap (free) hardware, and I'm not big on MS or closed formats or any of that. But, my clients don't know anything about linux. They're usually Mac users but they can suffer through windows if they have to. Often they want to run the project alongside something commercial or they just want a platform they've used before.
Linux lets me take a basic new OS install, write a program that interacts with the filesystem and external stuff through the serial port or whatever, and lets me set it up so it's a box with no screen or keyboard unless needed, that does what it's supposed to do when you turn the power on, and keep right on doing it for months. I can't do that with windows. I can't hook it to a Basic stamp or a BX-24 or MIDI with built-in tools. It's only possible with very expensive add-ons and then it's a maintenance and reliability nightmare.
If windows could do that, I would use it for clients who wanted it, unless there were a larger reason not to. It would be possible to do the majority of the projects I do now on windows, which I would never consider now. I wouldn't have to use a second machine to put an interface on it with something like Director.
It would also bring back the magic of the days when your computer came with a language, like the Commodore 64 and the Apple IIe, when people had the freedom to actually DO things with their computers. Linux has recaptured a tiny part of that, but the complexity of doing anything large, especially anything graphical, as well as not being most people's primary environment, prevents it from having that mass appeal.
If Microsoft did that, they'd really be on to something. Researchers would use it. Tinkerers, experimentors, electronics people, innovators. The people who currently have NO CHOICE but to use Linux or BSD. It would turn windows back into a HOBBY, like the pseudo-OS BASIC interpreters used to be. Kids would write games instead of doing their homework again.
It wouldn't give away any of their precious secrets. It wouldn't compromise the integrity of their closed OS. It would promote their languages. They'd still sell their development tools to the people with the money to pay for them. And I doubt very much it would do anything but help their customer loyalty and their revenues.
No offense to you, sir, I aggree with what you say.
but the guy who runs my corner store has a different comparison of life in israel and the U.S. He's palestinian.
Of course, we must both appreciate the irony that my making this remark about the freedom of your country will likely wind up in the profile database in mine!
I have alot of hours in as a helper in undergrad CS labs. If you were to remove the variable names in intro to CS assignments, most correct assignments should appear identical without cheating, especially given the simplicity of such projects. Are thirty classmates supposed to come up with thirty completely different and original programs to calculate a fibonacci series? Is that even possible? Does anyone have any information about false positives?
It seems obvious that the CD medium is a gaping hole in the recording industry's business model.
By making CD's that don't always play, they will turn people against CDs as a whole. It's looks like a standard FUD tactic.
Soon they'll introduce a 'better' medium with more capacity, other hype, and a player that is under industry control, like DVD without the security hole.
It's all a waste, people seem to like MP3's just fine. I don't like the quality myself, but I have no problem with the quality of sampled analog. A standard quality MP3 is no worse when ripped from analog than from a cdda track, and it's just a tiny bit more work.
They can kill CD's, and they will, but they can't kill the LINE OUT jack!
There is no way this law can pass in its current form.
It is far too broad, and will make entire classes of industries illegal. It is unenforceable, extremely costly, and just wouldn't be effective. All this doom and gloom is a bit premature.
However, it IS an indication of the way things are headed, both in the law and the computer industry. Expect to see many less publicized, more specific laws of the same type.
The best thing about this is that it is SO extreme and ridiculous, that it may bring attention to this problem.
What about MY freemdom to innovate???
SOFT MONEY LEGALIZES BRIBERY! As long as this is allowed, in ALL cases, elected officials will serve those with the most money.
Wow, My pal, Adam Bailey, built one of these in 1992. He was inspired by his blind lab partner in a class at the University of Buffalo. He made it, with alot of advice from others, and it had a matrix of vibrating pins, like contemporary optical readers, and ran a TSR program which downloaded the bitmap of the area around the mouse pointer to the mouse. It worked with DOS and Windows 3.1.
He submitted it as a project for a class. Other people submitted lots of stupid stuff that didn't work, and he submitted a working image-feel mouse with software! What do you suppose the Prof did? He got really upset because Adam had not designed packaging for it, when that was not part of the assignment!!!! (I suspect the prof had other plans...)
He now makes Tube amps in Austin, TX. I emailed him to give him shit about this. I'm sure he's long since abandoned any idea of developing this sort of thing, but it should go as a lesson to all of you inventor types, just because there are millions of people in the world and you're broke does not mean that your idea is not worthwhile. Jobs and Woz had to wake up the pope to wake themselves up.... This one ought to work for Adam... It sure works for me!!!
=Rich
_____________________________________
Richard Mortimer Humphrey
Technology consultant to fine artists
rich@cellspace.org
Apt IS great, now if we could USE it.
on
An RPM Port Of APT
·
· Score: 5
Yes, I do agree that apt is what makes debian superior... But the dselect interface is SO INCREDIBLY BAD that I've never had the patience to finish installing debian, and always wind up dropping back to slackware or even redhat(yuk).
BAD INTERFACE is without question the only reason why debian is not the dominant distro. Someone really should fix this. Make the keystrokes consistant on every page and TEST it with someone who doesn't already KNOW it.
Now we can use apt on other distros. Hurray. I still would like to use debian though, and I know others who feel the same way.
Wow- We all know who buys computers at Radio Shack, only the totally computer illiterate. Radio Shack targets low-income, uneducated people. Yeah, they're in malls, but they're always in poor neighborhoods, too. Until now, M$ has targetted the technically uneducated and the computer illiterate in their home products, that's where they make their bucks, and I guess that's fine. But now it's shifted to low-income. I hope in the long run it's a good thing, informative and all, but now folks can more easily shop for M$ products on their lottery ticket errands. So now you can buy a computer you don't have a use for on payments and sign up for MSN in the same store.... And with the new e-trade style add campaigns, the new vision statement of the internet is becoming... A SLOT MACHINE IN EVERY HOME! Now with porn! It's one low easy monthly payment, but you'll be rich soon, so don't worry... It makes sense, though, there are NO good deals at radioshack, and they never have more than 3 of the overpriced part I need ten of right then... And when I applied there in highschool they had an agreement that they have exclusive rights to all intellectual property of their employees, inventions, music, programs, writing, etc... Up to one year after termination of employment. The only really awesome thing they ever did was include schematics in their owners manuals, but I think they stopped... Damn... I'm fresh out of things to bitch about...
If ANYONE sees any info on these, like how they're powered, controlled, communication, do they have cameras on them, PLEASE post the URL! I'll be scanning for days....
-rMortyH ______________________________________________ I have no use for hardware with a purpose.
I tried this, using very small copper tubing. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you find out what the DEW POINT is and not cool below it! You'll condense water on your motherboard, as I did. If you live in a humid climate or a dry climate with a swamp cooler, you must be very careful!
Put a sensor on the chip and regulate the temperature, don't just go crazy!
-rMortyH ________________________________________________ I have no use for hardware with a purpose.
On older LCD panels, the contrast controls the optimum vertical viewing angle. How about this.... Put a chip like a quad-bilateral switch on the contrast control, with two pots, so you have two contrast controls that switch in and out on a flip flop. Now, hook the flip flop to something like the vertical sync line of the monitor output, or something slow and controllable like the parallel port. Program it to switch between contrast controls so that every other frame is controlled by one of the contrast controls. Now, TURN THE SCREEN 90 DEGREES and adjust the controls so that each eye is just inside the viewable angle for that eye... Hold your head very still... It's not perfect but it just might work.....
-rMortyH ___________________________________________ I have no use for hardware with a purpose.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree you shouldn't miss an opportunity,
It could be as simple as known/comfy vs. unknown, but it depends on the two companies.
The money's the same. You can choose between the same old thing, even if it's not so bad, with the counteroffer risks and a possible grudge at keeping you and fear of a raise avalanche,
OR
You can go to a new company, work on new things, learn, be appreciated because they're TRYING to get you, get a new 'honeymoon' and the change to reinvent yourself a little, drop any old political baggage and move up in how you're perceived.
Personally I really dug the old easy-to-get contract days and being a professional temp. Going someplace new is a huge opportunity, and it's always positive and educational at the beginning even if it does suck later. So as long as it doesn't suck later you're always better off.
Just keep the old place happy! Leave 'em with a smile! Happy former employers are extremely important these days, and ALL my new jobs come through them!
Hey-
Like IC's, there are usually more than one device in a single package with tubes. We're probably looking at a dual triode. Could (should) be quad triode, but I seriously doubt it.
It's never gonna sound much better than the D/A, which is probably a runofthemill 44.1k by 16bit job, which just isn't all that great, especially with only one triode per channel instead of two.
SO it's a sales gimmick. But, it's a DAMN GOOD ONE and I'd like to see more of this and I think it will succeed as it should!
More crap like this, please! Give me swing meters and magic-eyes and nixies! Bring it on!
=Rich
And they were only too eager to buy it. Besides a hiccup during the spy plane fiasco, chinese buyers were lining up to buy old tech from the scrapyard where I work and scrounge in San Francisco. It stopped cold the day they got into the WTO, months ago.
Chinese people showed up with money and bought container loads of unsorted scrap. Done deal, it's miller time. Honestly, we assumed without even thinking about it that it was being recycled in factories, though probably unsafe ones, or that the working stuff would go to schools or offices, where a 386 would be worth the trouble to set up. Who cares, they're doing more with it than us.
So the bottom has fallen out of the scrap market, and now monitors are toxic waste you have to pay to get rid of. But, there are still countries buying.
Is this the fault of the bad, bad US? Should we be required to keep our junk away from irresponsible people? Have we forced anyone? Or even been deceptive?
You know, people from India buy old tires by the container to ship to india. Other countries do it too. Totally bald, worn out tires. They just love 'em. You know where they wind up? ON CARS! GOD! This HAS to kill people.
We've been told that these are NEW tires, and if we're worried we should go and see what an OLD tire looks like. So are they killing people, or saving lives?
It just ain't like it is here, in most places! It may be hard for us to understand, but 'chinese peasants' with scrap to sort, and people filthy rich enough to have a car to put bald tires on, are a hell of alot better off than at least 50% of the people on this planet!
You know there's a famine in africa right now, and I don't think they care about dying of cancer in 30 years. All they can think about is keeping their children alive for just one more day. Think about that when you're in the supermarket. Go when they're throwing out the fruit. That's when I go.
I'd like to solve these problems, but it's saturday, and we've got tires to stack. Maybe we'll save a life.
=Rich
THis stuff never sticks, and what better way to announce to the industry that retaliation will happen?
It's pretty obvious all around. Hardware boxes almost never mention linux, even when a company does support it. And, when they do, the support never comes directly from them.
M$'s strategies are so bold and, franky, impressive that I'd be very surprised if it really was an unintentional leak.
I was an admin in a situation where the users had way more clout than the admins, and the problem was very similar.
My boss was old and smart. He gave them a 'new' network. It had excellent speed, access, and all the features needed to do 'real' work, and the necessary restrictions for technical reasons. He left the old network intact, with no intention of maintaining it. The users had a 'choice'.
Eventually they all moved over and the issue died.
it's a nice solution if you've got enough wires!
I use linux to build exhibits for artists and museums.
I'm a big fan of Linux and OpenSource, but the real reason I use open source for my projects is that it comes with a compiler and some example code.
Windows in the past has come with 'accessories', such as Calculator, Notepad, Wordpad, Soundrecorder, CD player, etc.
Now, what if Microsoft provided the code to these accesories, perhaps in whatever language they're trying to market, like C#, and also provided a working compiler, perhaps stripped down but functional, so that you could modify and compile these accessories. They could use their 'application signing' for something good, to show when you're running a modified binary.
Linux is the ultimate set of Legos. If I want to make an app that does X, Y, and Z, I can get example code from open source projects which I know do any one of these, and kill and yank until I have the framework of the project I want.
If I could look at the code for Calculator to get buttons, Notepad for editing and file I/O, Something for serial or USB I/O, See what I'm getting at? I could cut and paste the framework of a windows app, and build the code for my project. It would run with a warning message because It isn't signed or compiled with the full version of C#, but it would work, and I could use windows to do my project. The warning would keep this from killing the sales of enterprise development tools, which poor people pirate anyway.
Now, I prefer Linux, I prefer older, cheap (free) hardware, and I'm not big on MS or closed formats or any of that. But, my clients don't know anything about linux. They're usually Mac users but they can suffer through windows if they have to. Often they want to run the project alongside something commercial or they just want a platform they've used before.
Linux lets me take a basic new OS install, write a program that interacts with the filesystem and external stuff through the serial port or whatever, and lets me set it up so it's a box with no screen or keyboard unless needed, that does what it's supposed to do when you turn the power on, and keep right on doing it for months. I can't do that with windows. I can't hook it to a Basic stamp or a BX-24 or MIDI with built-in tools. It's only possible with very expensive add-ons and then it's a maintenance and reliability nightmare.
If windows could do that, I would use it for clients who wanted it, unless there were a larger reason not to. It would be possible to do the majority of the projects I do now on windows, which I would never consider now. I wouldn't have to use a second machine to put an interface on it with something like Director.
It would also bring back the magic of the days when your computer came with a language, like the Commodore 64 and the Apple IIe, when people had the freedom to actually DO things with their computers. Linux has recaptured a tiny part of that, but the complexity of doing anything large, especially anything graphical, as well as not being most people's primary environment, prevents it from having that mass appeal.
If Microsoft did that, they'd really be on to something. Researchers would use it. Tinkerers, experimentors, electronics people, innovators. The people who currently have NO CHOICE but to use Linux or BSD. It would turn windows back into a HOBBY, like the pseudo-OS BASIC interpreters used to be. Kids would write games instead of doing their homework again.
It wouldn't give away any of their precious secrets. It wouldn't compromise the integrity of their closed OS. It would promote their languages. They'd still sell their development tools to the people with the money to pay for them. And I doubt very much it would do anything but help their customer loyalty and their revenues.
=Rich
Is it included in the cost???
No offense to you, sir, I aggree with what you say.
but the guy who runs my corner store has a different comparison of life in israel and the U.S. He's palestinian.
Of course, we must both appreciate the irony that my making this remark about the freedom of your country will likely wind up in the profile database in mine!
I'm interested in this GA tech program....
I have alot of hours in as a helper in undergrad CS labs. If you were to remove the variable names in intro to CS assignments, most correct assignments should appear identical without cheating, especially given the simplicity of such projects. Are thirty classmates supposed to come up with thirty completely different and original programs to calculate a fibonacci series? Is that even possible? Does anyone have any information about false positives?
It seems obvious that the CD medium is a gaping hole in the recording industry's business model.
By making CD's that don't always play, they will turn people against CDs as a whole. It's looks like a standard FUD tactic.
Soon they'll introduce a 'better' medium with more capacity, other hype, and a player that is under industry control, like DVD without the security hole.
It's all a waste, people seem to like MP3's just fine. I don't like the quality myself, but I have no problem with the quality of sampled analog. A standard quality MP3 is no worse when ripped from analog than from a cdda track, and it's just a tiny bit more work.
They can kill CD's, and they will, but they can't kill the LINE OUT jack!
There is no way this law can pass in its current form.
It is far too broad, and will make entire classes of industries illegal. It is unenforceable, extremely costly, and just wouldn't be effective. All this doom and gloom is a bit premature.
However, it IS an indication of the way things are headed, both in the law and the computer industry. Expect to see many less publicized, more specific laws of the same type.
The best thing about this is that it is SO extreme and ridiculous, that it may bring attention to this problem.
What about MY freemdom to innovate???
SOFT MONEY LEGALIZES BRIBERY! As long as this is allowed, in ALL cases, elected officials will serve those with the most money.
=Rich
Wow, My pal, Adam Bailey, built one of these in 1992. He was inspired by his blind lab partner in a class at the University of Buffalo. He made it, with alot of advice from others, and it had a matrix of vibrating pins, like contemporary optical readers, and ran a TSR program which downloaded the bitmap of the area around the mouse pointer to the mouse. It worked with DOS and Windows 3.1.
He submitted it as a project for a class. Other people submitted lots of stupid stuff that didn't work, and he submitted a working image-feel mouse with software! What do you suppose the Prof did? He got really upset because Adam had not designed packaging for it, when that was not part of the assignment!!!! (I suspect the prof had other plans...)
He now makes Tube amps in Austin, TX. I emailed him to give him shit about this. I'm sure he's long since abandoned any idea of developing this sort of thing, but it should go as a lesson to all of you inventor types, just because there are millions of people in the world and you're broke does not mean that your idea is not worthwhile. Jobs and Woz had to wake up the pope to wake themselves up.... This one ought to work for Adam... It sure works for me!!!
=Rich
_____________________________________
Richard Mortimer Humphrey
Technology consultant to fine artists
rich@cellspace.org
Yes, I do agree that apt is what makes debian superior... But the dselect interface is SO INCREDIBLY BAD that I've never had the patience to finish installing debian, and always wind up dropping back to slackware or even redhat(yuk).
BAD INTERFACE is without question the only reason why debian is not the dominant distro. Someone really should fix this. Make the keystrokes consistant on every page and TEST it with someone who doesn't already KNOW it.
Now we can use apt on other distros. Hurray. I still would like to use debian though, and I know others who feel the same way.
Wow- We all know who buys computers at Radio Shack, only the totally computer illiterate. Radio Shack targets low-income, uneducated people. Yeah, they're in malls, but they're always in poor neighborhoods, too. Until now, M$ has targetted the technically uneducated and the computer illiterate in their home products, that's where they make their bucks, and I guess that's fine. But now it's shifted to low-income. I hope in the long run it's a good thing, informative and all, but now folks can more easily shop for M$ products on their lottery ticket errands. So now you can buy a computer you don't have a use for on payments and sign up for MSN in the same store.... And with the new e-trade style add campaigns, the new vision statement of the internet is becoming... A SLOT MACHINE IN EVERY HOME! Now with porn! It's one low easy monthly payment, but you'll be rich soon, so don't worry... It makes sense, though, there are NO good deals at radioshack, and they never have more than 3 of the overpriced part I need ten of right then... And when I applied there in highschool they had an agreement that they have exclusive rights to all intellectual property of their employees, inventions, music, programs, writing, etc... Up to one year after termination of employment. The only really awesome thing they ever did was include schematics in their owners manuals, but I think they stopped... Damn... I'm fresh out of things to bitch about...
If ANYONE sees any info on these, like how they're powered, controlled, communication, do they have cameras on them, PLEASE post the URL! I'll be scanning for days....
-rMortyH
______________________________________________
I have no use for hardware with a purpose.
Laugh, dammit!
-rMortyH
______________________________________________
I have no use for hardware with a purpose.
This is going on the wall of our robot lab....
-rMortyH
_______________________________________________
I have no use for hardware with a purpose.
CAREFUL THERE'S a CATCH
_
I tried this, using very small copper tubing. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you find out what the DEW POINT is and not cool below it! You'll condense water on your motherboard, as I did. If you live in a humid climate or a dry climate with a swamp cooler, you must be very careful!
Put a sensor on the chip and regulate the temperature, don't just go crazy!
-rMortyH
_______________________________________________
I have no use for hardware with a purpose.
On older LCD panels, the contrast controls the optimum vertical viewing angle. How about this.... Put a chip like a quad-bilateral switch on the contrast control, with two pots, so you have two contrast controls that switch in and out on a flip flop. Now, hook the flip flop to something like the vertical sync line of the monitor output, or something slow and controllable like the parallel port. Program it to switch between contrast controls so that every other frame is controlled by one of the contrast controls. Now, TURN THE SCREEN 90 DEGREES and adjust the controls so that each eye is just inside the viewable angle for that eye... Hold your head very still... It's not perfect but it just might work.....
-rMortyH
___________________________________________
I have no use for hardware with a purpose.