Think about this logically: someone, somewhere, has to pay for the electricity for all that. It trickles down to the consumer or the company fails. So: where is the massive cost from the rough equivalent to 400-odd cups of tea I boil every day?
Here's what I have to wonder: do people just assume that the floors stay shiny and clean, and that trash cans will magically be empty the next day? How about the power to their building, or the HVAC? Or lights that burn out? People seem to acknowledge the need for building maintenance people and cleaners and the like; what's so different about IT that people think it should "just work"?
One potential "solution" I've heard of working is to actually let, and make, things break - sort of on a schedule. I had a job once where I got criticized for not "doing anything" - despite everything running smoothly. Apparently the guy before me "got a lot done, such as fixing $x" - where X is the system he allowed to break, or mismanaged, or such. So the less-competent person, the one who allows stuff to break, gets kudos. WTF?
It's like people expect computers to not work properly unless someone is "fixing" it all the damn time.
Not hard at all, if you enjoy driving and are good at it. It's roughly as gruesome as IT work, but you get paid for the work you've done - ie, per mile. If you're an IT worker, you've already got the "long stretch at a time" thing going for you. Might be something worth considering...
And what do lawyers, engineers, accountants, nurses, and a number of other fields have in common which has no parallel in the IT industry?
Oh that's right. They are exempt employees. IE, that's part of their job. IT folks, well.... they have to suffer that burden but usually don't get compensated for it.
Breaking an endless task into smaller, more manageable tasks is simply micromanaging an unmanagable process. It'll do little more than drive off your good workers.
Real good management will eliminate the cause of those endless tasks - or allow their competent technical people to figure out a way to do so, then implement it. Sure, it might cost money, but in the long run it'll save money. From what I've seen, the sole cause of "endless tasks" is simply poor planning, or trying to solve a problem the wrong way - ie doing what's always been done and not looking at different approaches.
I don't know. I do think a person needs a time to unwind, but at every place I've worked I've tested the water to see if it'd be OK for me to work 3 12-hour or 4 10-hour shifts a week. I find I tend to "zone in" on programs after about 5 hours of concentration and things start to fall into place with a great deal of rapidity; of course, that means that I'm just starting to get productive when it's time to go home. Nobody ever bought it, but oh well.
The failure in most of these cases (me, being one of those small shop, do-it-all sysadmins) is that I was being tasked with tech support at the same time as sysadmin tasks. That kind of puts a crimp in a person's ability to concentrate on problems, and likely wasted an hour or two a day simply due to distraction and having to get back to the previous task once a quick tech support task were to be completed.
Eh, they're pretty hostile towards anyone who doesn't fit their subculture, or is at least somewhat accepting of it, though - as a rule. Sure, you don't have herbalists fighting out with the crystalists, but you've got plenty of both doing things like, oh, keying SUVs, marching with Code Pink, and petitioning people on PETA's behalf.
I'm currently unemployed and we are living with my FIL. He constantly complains (about almost everything under the sun), but specifically he complains about me not going out and taking "any old job", because apparently even McDonalds pays better now than the jobs he had when he was "raising" my wife (he was a bit of a deadbeat).
Not only will fast food places not hire me, but, after inflation, he was making more as a cabbie 20-25 years ago than I can make in IT in the area after frustration. Pretty damn frustrating.
Sure, they could make a functional operating system with the exported API providing programming via a web language. Yes, it would make for a lot of likely-useful data applications (you know, tools you can use to work).
However, I don't think it'll really "launch" - it's not going to get all that far off the ground as a successful product. Personally, I think both smartphones and 'netbooks' are converging for the same market space: fully-functional computers which have a myriad of connectivity options. We got a bit closer to that with the iPhone and the WinMO mobiles, but this Palm looks like it's a step back.
So why does the HTML/XML/Javascript/CSS combination sour me? Simply, because they limit you and aren't "real computer" applications. Yes, it'll be easy to cobble together custom applications for your organization allowing you to get good use out of them, and there will certainly be a lot of apps for data management which would spring up. But there are a lot of actual "computer tools" which appeal to the geeky which won't be available at first glance and, potentially, won't be available at all without some irritating under-the-covers hacking of the OS.
The biggest detractor to the Atom right now is the integrated Intel video. It has never, ever worked well - or at least since i810 came around. By "well" I don't mean "good performance" I mean "works without glitches, consistently" - on either Windows or Linux.
And then the fact that the latest Intel graphics are slow as tar and work all that well - IE, not even as well as a 5+year-old Nvidia mid-range graphic card (ti4200).
The most evident performance increase I've seen in Desktops, when the performance to be gained is marginal and the systems are pretty well constrained (size, space, heat. etc) has been to upgrade the video card or hard drive (if things are "appearing" slow). At least in Linux, that tends to make things snappy and responsive. An AMD/ATI mobile platform would be, IMO, greatly appreciated over the Intel Atom.
Nonsense. The iPhone didn't do anything all that fantastic - they simply adhered to the Apple UI principle (works well, works simply, and looks nice) and applied a bunch of the criticism targeted towards most phones to create a new product. In reality, they didn't have to do all that much - just add phone functionality to the high-end ipod, in essence.
The problem is that everyone who uses a cell phone for a couple hours a day, and maybe has a PDA or some such other device as well, is going to find the iPod nice in the simple fact that it's 1 device and not 2 (or 3, or 4, or...). Also, there has been criticism of cell phone companies, and cell phones in general for quite a while now, for simply not being the computers that they're capable of being.
Apple addressed a lot of common complaints, but nothing so bold as to say they "offered them far more than what tehy've asked for" - they've just got good marketing.
Apple products are an excellent example of products designed from the ground up using the same core technologies so that there isn't a lot of re-implementation necessary and time can be spent on user interface/interaction stuff.
Young people, by definition, have no responsibilities. They have a disproportionate amount of disposable income compared to someone who has moved on in life, and can live much, much more comfortably on $35k a year than someone who has a family making twice that.
If you still have money to burn on fancy gadgets by the time you're 30, you are either financially well-off or unmarried and have no children.
You do know you can calibrate the reticle to actually point where you're aiming it, right? It takes a little bit of effort moving the reciever around and testing, but it works. No more effort than sighting in a real gun, I s'pose.
Thank you; I did not know what that temperature was called, but I knew what it was. (Newton commented on the observation of iron losing its magnetic properties at a cherry red, even.)
It's pretty easy to reach steel's Curie point; you can do it in a hot camp fire's coals.
I'm not certain what a drive platter is made of, but steel will lose its magnetism at around 1500 degrees F - slightly more white than a red hot cherry color. The temperature is lower for other magnetic metals. IE, the magnetic field is gone due to the neutral realignment of the steel lattice structure, relieving any stress and putting it in a 'virgin' state. This effect is roughly visible as the metal is heated past the Austenite point - you'll see waves/shadows in the metal as it occurs.
This is a temperature which can be achieved in a common wood stove or BBQ grill (within the fire's heart, at least) without much effort; it is also only slightly more than half the temperature required to melt steel. If you've got yellow- or white-hot coals in your fire (say, a bond fire or even a larger camp fire made with dry wood) the fire is more than hot enough to demagnetize steel.
I really, really hope your post was made in jest. And I highly doubt anyone would be able to recover a drive subjected to even marginal "percussive" treatment (ie bent platter) short of using an electron microscope or some such gadgetry.
Personally, I've been waiting for gaming to get the "move your arm to shoot" control for FPS type games since the NES was the hottest thing in town. A FPS is much, much better when you're actually, you know, shooting. Like in the arcade.
Likely, for the same reason that it would be difficult for Collin Powell to replace Barack Obama: Powell isn't Obama, and does not have the rabid, awestruck fan base.
You can not replace people who have a cult built around them. Someone different has to replace the cult. I would expect any successful heir to Jobs' throne to radically change the Apple Image (tm) without any drastic underpinning changes. Black plastic instead of white, maybe? That's probably drastic enough for the demographic we're talking about.
There is a simple solution: just follow the mac rumour sites and skim the ideas which make sense (physical, technological, ergonomic, etc.) and turn them into products. Voila, instant fan-inspiring advertising, for free..
Part of me wonders if that isn't what they've been doing for the last couple years.
Of course, that's depending on whether Apple lasts. Apple has always ridden on top of the financial waves, so to speak, by catering to the upper financial strata... That strata might not be around much longer, and younger people, for the most part, don't regard computer differences with quite as much difference as we have in the past.
It probably has something to do with the massive amount of lead and various other environmentally hazardous material found in televisions: the gov't doesn't want it all in landfills. Especially, for that matter, right away: when TVs all stop working at once, everyone is going to dispose of their old ones immediately (not leave them laying around). Such a thing could overwhelm sanitation services (due to the weight of the things) temporarily.
Also, there are a LOT of people out there who don't like throwing things out. So there are still quite a few 30+ year old TVs out there with the analog 19 channel dials.
I take it you're not a US citizen, otherwise you'd know this, but...
First, the USMC is not a military branch. It is subordinate to the Navy.
The Coast Guard is not a military force, per se. It could be considered one, but as far as I know, it isn't readily considered one of the military branches (though it is 1 of the 7 uniformed services). They do not regularly conduct or share the operations of the military, and are therefore usually not included (they're a law enforcement organization). Though, I suppose the argument could be made that they are a branch, even though they get shoved under the Navy's command during war time, now that they're under the DoD and not Commerce.
Though, historically/traditionally, there are only three branches - AF, Navy, Army.
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Think about this logically: someone, somewhere, has to pay for the electricity for all that. It trickles down to the consumer or the company fails. So: where is the massive cost from the rough equivalent to 400-odd cups of tea I boil every day?
But, but... that involves going outdoors!
Here's what I have to wonder: do people just assume that the floors stay shiny and clean, and that trash cans will magically be empty the next day? How about the power to their building, or the HVAC? Or lights that burn out? People seem to acknowledge the need for building maintenance people and cleaners and the like; what's so different about IT that people think it should "just work"?
One potential "solution" I've heard of working is to actually let, and make, things break - sort of on a schedule. I had a job once where I got criticized for not "doing anything" - despite everything running smoothly. Apparently the guy before me "got a lot done, such as fixing $x" - where X is the system he allowed to break, or mismanaged, or such. So the less-competent person, the one who allows stuff to break, gets kudos. WTF?
It's like people expect computers to not work properly unless someone is "fixing" it all the damn time.
Not hard at all, if you enjoy driving and are good at it. It's roughly as gruesome as IT work, but you get paid for the work you've done - ie, per mile. If you're an IT worker, you've already got the "long stretch at a time" thing going for you. Might be something worth considering...
And what do lawyers, engineers, accountants, nurses, and a number of other fields have in common which has no parallel in the IT industry?
Oh that's right. They are exempt employees. IE, that's part of their job. IT folks, well.... they have to suffer that burden but usually don't get compensated for it.
At least for non-programming, non-support IT, "normal" hours should mean "expect to not work 8-5, but almost any other hour."
It's Infuriating when you are put in such a role, but are still expected to keep those 9-5 hours.
Kill your favorite job? What do you mean by that? They've made it unsatisfying, or they've gone and eliminated the position?
Breaking an endless task into smaller, more manageable tasks is simply micromanaging an unmanagable process. It'll do little more than drive off your good workers.
Real good management will eliminate the cause of those endless tasks - or allow their competent technical people to figure out a way to do so, then implement it. Sure, it might cost money, but in the long run it'll save money. From what I've seen, the sole cause of "endless tasks" is simply poor planning, or trying to solve a problem the wrong way - ie doing what's always been done and not looking at different approaches.
I don't know. I do think a person needs a time to unwind, but at every place I've worked I've tested the water to see if it'd be OK for me to work 3 12-hour or 4 10-hour shifts a week. I find I tend to "zone in" on programs after about 5 hours of concentration and things start to fall into place with a great deal of rapidity; of course, that means that I'm just starting to get productive when it's time to go home. Nobody ever bought it, but oh well.
The failure in most of these cases (me, being one of those small shop, do-it-all sysadmins) is that I was being tasked with tech support at the same time as sysadmin tasks. That kind of puts a crimp in a person's ability to concentrate on problems, and likely wasted an hour or two a day simply due to distraction and having to get back to the previous task once a quick tech support task were to be completed.
Eh, they're pretty hostile towards anyone who doesn't fit their subculture, or is at least somewhat accepting of it, though - as a rule. Sure, you don't have herbalists fighting out with the crystalists, but you've got plenty of both doing things like, oh, keying SUVs, marching with Code Pink, and petitioning people on PETA's behalf.
Meh. Call me an eternal skeptic, but chances are the jobs 'created' will pay less than the jobs 'destroyed' by layoffs.
Pretty sad, isn't it?
I'm currently unemployed and we are living with my FIL. He constantly complains (about almost everything under the sun), but specifically he complains about me not going out and taking "any old job", because apparently even McDonalds pays better now than the jobs he had when he was "raising" my wife (he was a bit of a deadbeat).
Not only will fast food places not hire me, but, after inflation, he was making more as a cabbie 20-25 years ago than I can make in IT in the area after frustration. Pretty damn frustrating.
Well, it's not that simple.
Sure, they could make a functional operating system with the exported API providing programming via a web language. Yes, it would make for a lot of likely-useful data applications (you know, tools you can use to work).
However, I don't think it'll really "launch" - it's not going to get all that far off the ground as a successful product. Personally, I think both smartphones and 'netbooks' are converging for the same market space: fully-functional computers which have a myriad of connectivity options. We got a bit closer to that with the iPhone and the WinMO mobiles, but this Palm looks like it's a step back.
So why does the HTML/XML/Javascript/CSS combination sour me? Simply, because they limit you and aren't "real computer" applications. Yes, it'll be easy to cobble together custom applications for your organization allowing you to get good use out of them, and there will certainly be a lot of apps for data management which would spring up. But there are a lot of actual "computer tools" which appeal to the geeky which won't be available at first glance and, potentially, won't be available at all without some irritating under-the-covers hacking of the OS.
I would think it would be fairly trivial to throw in a "PalmOS compatibility layer" ie emulator to run the existing software transparently.
Meh. Atom.
The biggest detractor to the Atom right now is the integrated Intel video. It has never, ever worked well - or at least since i810 came around. By "well" I don't mean "good performance" I mean "works without glitches, consistently" - on either Windows or Linux.
And then the fact that the latest Intel graphics are slow as tar and work all that well - IE, not even as well as a 5+year-old Nvidia mid-range graphic card (ti4200).
The most evident performance increase I've seen in Desktops, when the performance to be gained is marginal and the systems are pretty well constrained (size, space, heat. etc) has been to upgrade the video card or hard drive (if things are "appearing" slow). At least in Linux, that tends to make things snappy and responsive. An AMD/ATI mobile platform would be, IMO, greatly appreciated over the Intel Atom.
Nonsense. The iPhone didn't do anything all that fantastic - they simply adhered to the Apple UI principle (works well, works simply, and looks nice) and applied a bunch of the criticism targeted towards most phones to create a new product. In reality, they didn't have to do all that much - just add phone functionality to the high-end ipod, in essence.
The problem is that everyone who uses a cell phone for a couple hours a day, and maybe has a PDA or some such other device as well, is going to find the iPod nice in the simple fact that it's 1 device and not 2 (or 3, or 4, or...). Also, there has been criticism of cell phone companies, and cell phones in general for quite a while now, for simply not being the computers that they're capable of being.
Apple addressed a lot of common complaints, but nothing so bold as to say they "offered them far more than what tehy've asked for" - they've just got good marketing.
Apple products are an excellent example of products designed from the ground up using the same core technologies so that there isn't a lot of re-implementation necessary and time can be spent on user interface/interaction stuff.
Young people, by definition, have no responsibilities. They have a disproportionate amount of disposable income compared to someone who has moved on in life, and can live much, much more comfortably on $35k a year than someone who has a family making twice that.
If you still have money to burn on fancy gadgets by the time you're 30, you are either financially well-off or unmarried and have no children.
You do know you can calibrate the reticle to actually point where you're aiming it, right? It takes a little bit of effort moving the reciever around and testing, but it works. No more effort than sighting in a real gun, I s'pose.
Thank you; I did not know what that temperature was called, but I knew what it was. (Newton commented on the observation of iron losing its magnetic properties at a cherry red, even.)
It's pretty easy to reach steel's Curie point; you can do it in a hot camp fire's coals.
Oh really?
I'm not certain what a drive platter is made of, but steel will lose its magnetism at around 1500 degrees F - slightly more white than a red hot cherry color. The temperature is lower for other magnetic metals. IE, the magnetic field is gone due to the neutral realignment of the steel lattice structure, relieving any stress and putting it in a 'virgin' state. This effect is roughly visible as the metal is heated past the Austenite point - you'll see waves/shadows in the metal as it occurs.
This is a temperature which can be achieved in a common wood stove or BBQ grill (within the fire's heart, at least) without much effort; it is also only slightly more than half the temperature required to melt steel. If you've got yellow- or white-hot coals in your fire (say, a bond fire or even a larger camp fire made with dry wood) the fire is more than hot enough to demagnetize steel.
I really, really hope your post was made in jest. And I highly doubt anyone would be able to recover a drive subjected to even marginal "percussive" treatment (ie bent platter) short of using an electron microscope or some such gadgetry.
Personally, I've been waiting for gaming to get the "move your arm to shoot" control for FPS type games since the NES was the hottest thing in town. A FPS is much, much better when you're actually, you know, shooting. Like in the arcade.
Likely, for the same reason that it would be difficult for Collin Powell to replace Barack Obama: Powell isn't Obama, and does not have the rabid, awestruck fan base.
You can not replace people who have a cult built around them. Someone different has to replace the cult. I would expect any successful heir to Jobs' throne to radically change the Apple Image (tm) without any drastic underpinning changes. Black plastic instead of white, maybe? That's probably drastic enough for the demographic we're talking about.
There is a simple solution: just follow the mac rumour sites and skim the ideas which make sense (physical, technological, ergonomic, etc.) and turn them into products. Voila, instant fan-inspiring advertising, for free..
Part of me wonders if that isn't what they've been doing for the last couple years.
Of course, that's depending on whether Apple lasts. Apple has always ridden on top of the financial waves, so to speak, by catering to the upper financial strata... That strata might not be around much longer, and younger people, for the most part, don't regard computer differences with quite as much difference as we have in the past.
It probably has something to do with the massive amount of lead and various other environmentally hazardous material found in televisions: the gov't doesn't want it all in landfills. Especially, for that matter, right away: when TVs all stop working at once, everyone is going to dispose of their old ones immediately (not leave them laying around). Such a thing could overwhelm sanitation services (due to the weight of the things) temporarily.
Also, there are a LOT of people out there who don't like throwing things out. So there are still quite a few 30+ year old TVs out there with the analog 19 channel dials.
I take it you're not a US citizen, otherwise you'd know this, but...
First, the USMC is not a military branch. It is subordinate to the Navy.
The Coast Guard is not a military force, per se. It could be considered one, but as far as I know, it isn't readily considered one of the military branches (though it is 1 of the 7 uniformed services). They do not regularly conduct or share the operations of the military, and are therefore usually not included (they're a law enforcement organization). Though, I suppose the argument could be made that they are a branch, even though they get shoved under the Navy's command during war time, now that they're under the DoD and not Commerce.
Though, historically/traditionally, there are only three branches - AF, Navy, Army.