Because that sounds like a perfect description of the company I worked for until last summer. When I began working there in '97 the company had a great software product that sold well. Unfortunately, they decided to jump on the Internet bandwagon in late '98 because it was The Next Big Thing.
We programmers saw our fun, profitable work disappearing due to a whim of management, and we were not happy. So we went to work on the salespeople. We gave them demos of the cool stuff we could do. It reminded them that there was something other than Web site redesigns they could sell, and gave them something snazzy to show potential customers. The theory being that as long as the money was coming in, the "visionaries" in management need not worry about the source.
It almost worked, but there was too much turnover in sales and management for our strategy to get a foothold, and then the company ran out of money and almost everyone got laid off. Oh well.
Re:Simple solution, work for yourself
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· Score: 4, Informative
About suggestion 4: Spend a few bucks to get some quality business advice.
If you live in the US (which you don't but it might apply to other people starting their own businesses), you might be able to get free business counseling at your local Chamber of Commerce. Many CofCs participate in a program called SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Entrepreneurs). The SCORE people volunteer their time to advise people starting their own businesses who might not have the cash to pay an expensive consultant.
I used to work for the CofC in my hometown, and the SCORE guys there usually came in about twice a week, and the people who came in to see them seemed to find the service helpful.
I work for a research group which builds a lot of government software. AFAIK, we haven't run into any problems with organizations specifying which technology must be used to build the applications. They just want the software to 1) work with their existing procedures and 2) run on existing hardware, wherever possible. This has led to the development of a lot of web-based systems utilizing some open source solutions, sometimes hosted by the government and sometimes hosted by our group. Whatever works best, doesn't cost too much, and requires little training is what makes the gov't orgs happy.
Don't buy a card at the store. Instead, break out that old box full of obsolete tech that you can't bear to throw away because you still think you might be able to use it for parts someday. You know, the one with the 28.8 modem, the mismatched cables, the ancient video cards. Pick out something that looks interesting and stick a clever note on it (e.g. "I like the way we connect").
Note: This will probably go over better if you give your homemade "card" to your S.O. during dinner at their favorite restaurant.
Thanks. I don't have a CS degree, having come to my career in a roundabout way. This looks like something that could be useful.
But is there anything like this that isn't a 3-volume set costing $149, for people who maybe don't need as much detail as the book equivalent of a BCS degree?
Actually, our sysadmin is the same way. He lives on a boat and owns no computer of his own. But if I had to deal with a network like ours day in & day out (a mix of ancient and new servers, SPs, NT 4.0 and Apache and who knows what all else), I might feel the same.
I personally wouldn't mind coming home to a semi-wired home, as long as I could control the guts of it. I spend plenty of time on my Mac at home these days; it's like unwinding from having used Windows all day.
In February, there will be a benefit for artists opposed to the RIAA
I've heard this concert mentioned here before, but have searched all over the place and can't find any information like exact date, time, place, and who's playing.
I sent what I thought was intelligent, informed, well-thought-out feedback about the SSSCA to Senator Hollings via the form on his web site. I mentioned that I am one of his constituents and a registered member of his political party. A month later, I still haven't heard back from him. Not even a form letter or autoreply.
Moral of the story: Just because your rep has a Web site, doesn't mean he or she is "wired." Next time, chisel some letters into stone tablets. That'll get their attention.
I am also in SC. I have already written to Hollings, and plan to write to Thurmond. I also plan to write to Governor Hodges. He has made a lot of effort to be technology-friendly in order to improve our state's economy. I don't know how well he knows Hollings, but they're both Democrats, and I don't think the governor would be happy about one of our own senators pulling the rug out from under his technology initiatives. I'm hoping that Gov. Hodges might be willing to put in a word against the SSSCA; even though it's not his jurisdiction, I'm sure he can make his opinion known. I also plan to contact the Technology Transition Team.
The only thing curious about it is that the entertainment industry has nothing to do with Hollings' home state of South Carolina. On the other hand, the governor of SC has been working hard to bring tech companies (both manufacturing and otherwise) to this state, something that just about everyone in SC agrees we need. Meanwhile, one of our own senators is trying to pull the economic rug out from under us! Hmmm, methinks somebody is not going to get reelected.
I can attest to the fact that this is still being done. I needed an outline of South Carolina for a recent web project, and had to go through several clip-art map collections to find one that was reasonably accurate. Most maps I found left out significant portions of the state (e.g. the entire upper 1/3). I can only guess that the mapmakers thought SC was unimportant enough to serve as the digital watermark for their clip-art map collection.
A lot of the information you're looking for can be found at Project Vote Smart. You can put in your zip code to find out who all your representatives are, and how to get in touch with them. The site will even tell you how your representatives have voted during their time in office.
As an aside, if you're interested in knowing whose votes are influenced by which lobbyists and corporations, Opensecrets.org has that information.
Good point. Only slightly off-topic, may I recommend the book Prophet by Frank Peretti. Religious agenda aside, it is a good look at how the media (in this case a local news station) can bury a story that doesn't fit their bias.
Those Salon articles are interesting and a little disheartening. This past weekend, however, my local classic rock radio station turned "Pay for Play" on its head: for a minimum donation of $10.23, they would play any two songs of your choice. Several songs from Clear Channel's no-no list were played, including "Stairway to Heaven," and the radio station raised over $10,000 for the Red Cross. And no, Fox 102 isn't owned by Clear Channel.
There isn't a president we've elected in the last 20 years who couldn't have handled that situation.
I don't think Clinton could have handled that situation, and I voted for the man. He would have given a great speech, but I would have had doubts about his ability to get the real work done.
Personally, I found Bush's speeches to be exactly what I expected, and what I needed to hear. He was serious, concerned, and all business. In a crisis, I'll take that attitude any day over maudlin sympathy. And no, I didn't vote for him; far from it. But I support him today.
"Surely JonKatz is exaggerating," I thought. So I decided to see what the news media actually had to say about this story. I searched for "skylarov" on MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, washingtonpost.com, and nytimes.com. The New York Times had one story. The rest returned no results at all.
This nifty web page will convert your email address into Character Entities so you can display it on your site and not get harvested by spammers: Email Address Encoder
Will this fit in my/. user profile? webma ster@ super flipp y.net
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No, you're thinking of Strom Thurmond. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings is one of the co-sponsors of the SSSCA.
Because that sounds like a perfect description of the company I worked for until last summer. When I began working there in '97 the company had a great software product that sold well. Unfortunately, they decided to jump on the Internet bandwagon in late '98 because it was The Next Big Thing.
We programmers saw our fun, profitable work disappearing due to a whim of management, and we were not happy. So we went to work on the salespeople. We gave them demos of the cool stuff we could do. It reminded them that there was something other than Web site redesigns they could sell, and gave them something snazzy to show potential customers. The theory being that as long as the money was coming in, the "visionaries" in management need not worry about the source.
It almost worked, but there was too much turnover in sales and management for our strategy to get a foothold, and then the company ran out of money and almost everyone got laid off. Oh well.
About suggestion 4:
Spend a few bucks to get some quality business advice.
If you live in the US (which you don't but it might apply to other people starting their own businesses), you might be able to get free business counseling at your local Chamber of Commerce. Many CofCs participate in a program called SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Entrepreneurs). The SCORE people volunteer their time to advise people starting their own businesses who might not have the cash to pay an expensive consultant.
I used to work for the CofC in my hometown, and the SCORE guys there usually came in about twice a week, and the people who came in to see them seemed to find the service helpful.
I work for a research group which builds a lot of government software. AFAIK, we haven't run into any problems with organizations specifying which technology must be used to build the applications. They just want the software to 1) work with their existing procedures and 2) run on existing hardware, wherever possible. This has led to the development of a lot of web-based systems utilizing some open source solutions, sometimes hosted by the government and sometimes hosted by our group. Whatever works best, doesn't cost too much, and requires little training is what makes the gov't orgs happy.
Don't buy a card at the store. Instead, break out that old box full of obsolete tech that you can't bear to throw away because you still think you might be able to use it for parts someday. You know, the one with the 28.8 modem, the mismatched cables, the ancient video cards. Pick out something that looks interesting and stick a clever note on it (e.g. "I like the way we connect").
Note: This will probably go over better if you give your homemade "card" to your S.O. during dinner at their favorite restaurant.
Thanks. I don't have a CS degree, having come to my career in a roundabout way. This looks like something that could be useful.
But is there anything like this that isn't a 3-volume set costing $149, for people who maybe don't need as much detail as the book equivalent of a BCS degree?
[OT] OK, I'll bite: what's the correlation?
Actually, our sysadmin is the same way. He lives on a boat and owns no computer of his own. But if I had to deal with a network like ours day in & day out (a mix of ancient and new servers, SPs, NT 4.0 and Apache and who knows what all else), I might feel the same.
I personally wouldn't mind coming home to a semi-wired home, as long as I could control the guts of it. I spend plenty of time on my Mac at home these days; it's like unwinding from having used Windows all day.
I've heard this concert mentioned here before, but have searched all over the place and can't find any information like exact date, time, place, and who's playing.
Does anyone know the specifics?
Hooray! Free XBoxes for everyone!!!
Word 2000 won't help me call you an idiot, but I can still call you stupid.
MS Word 2000 synonyms for "stupid": unintelligent, dim, thick, dense, slow, dull, brainless, dim-witted, obtuse
I sent what I thought was intelligent, informed, well-thought-out feedback about the SSSCA to Senator Hollings via the form on his web site. I mentioned that I am one of his constituents and a registered member of his political party. A month later, I still haven't heard back from him. Not even a form letter or autoreply.
Moral of the story: Just because your rep has a Web site, doesn't mean he or she is "wired." Next time, chisel some letters into stone tablets. That'll get their attention.
I am also in SC. I have already written to Hollings, and plan to write to Thurmond. I also plan to write to Governor Hodges. He has made a lot of effort to be technology-friendly in order to improve our state's economy. I don't know how well he knows Hollings, but they're both Democrats, and I don't think the governor would be happy about one of our own senators pulling the rug out from under his technology initiatives. I'm hoping that Gov. Hodges might be willing to put in a word against the SSSCA; even though it's not his jurisdiction, I'm sure he can make his opinion known. I also plan to contact the Technology Transition Team.
The only thing curious about it is that the entertainment industry has nothing to do with Hollings' home state of South Carolina. On the other hand, the governor of SC has been working hard to bring tech companies (both manufacturing and otherwise) to this state, something that just about everyone in SC agrees we need. Meanwhile, one of our own senators is trying to pull the economic rug out from under us! Hmmm, methinks somebody is not going to get reelected.
I can attest to the fact that this is still being done. I needed an outline of South Carolina for a recent web project, and had to go through several clip-art map collections to find one that was reasonably accurate. Most maps I found left out significant portions of the state (e.g. the entire upper 1/3). I can only guess that the mapmakers thought SC was unimportant enough to serve as the digital watermark for their clip-art map collection.
A lot of the information you're looking for can be found at Project Vote Smart. You can put in your zip code to find out who all your representatives are, and how to get in touch with them. The site will even tell you how your representatives have voted during their time in office.
As an aside, if you're interested in knowing whose votes are influenced by which lobbyists and corporations, Opensecrets.org has that information.
Good point. Only slightly off-topic, may I recommend the book Prophet by Frank Peretti. Religious agenda aside, it is a good look at how the media (in this case a local news station) can bury a story that doesn't fit their bias.
Those Salon articles are interesting and a little disheartening. This past weekend, however, my local classic rock radio station turned "Pay for Play" on its head: for a minimum donation of $10.23, they would play any two songs of your choice. Several songs from Clear Channel's no-no list were played, including "Stairway to Heaven," and the radio station raised over $10,000 for the Red Cross. And no, Fox 102 isn't owned by Clear Channel.
I don't think Clinton could have handled that situation, and I voted for the man. He would have given a great speech, but I would have had doubts about his ability to get the real work done.
Personally, I found Bush's speeches to be exactly what I expected, and what I needed to hear. He was serious, concerned, and all business. In a crisis, I'll take that attitude any day over maudlin sympathy. And no, I didn't vote for him; far from it. But I support him today.
...before something like this happened. Oh well. Welcome to the next Crisis.
The engine in a cement mixer has more horsepower than the engine in a Miata. But which one goes faster?
How about "Congressional Law Limits Reproductive Rights"? The headline alone would get a huge chunk of the US population up in arms.
He made such a big deal of this in the article, I wonder if they're planning on releasing II and III simultaneously? That would be fun.
"Surely JonKatz is exaggerating," I thought. So I decided to see what the news media actually had to say about this story. I searched for "skylarov" on MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, washingtonpost.com, and nytimes.com. The New York Times had one story. The rest returned no results at all.
This nifty web page will convert your email address into Character Entities so you can display it on your site and not get harvested by spammers: Email Address Encoder
Will this fit in my /. user profile? webma ster@ super flipp y.net