>The article points out their expectations that, > that most of the boxes will stay ms-boxes:
Where exactly does it says MS expects the boxes to stay MS-boxes?
Here is the full part of the article: "They'll be adding software from other providers. There's no exclusivity," he said. "Our role is to bring software that is quite popular, and happens to be ours."
Microsoft software is used to run more than 90 percent of the world's PCs. Governments in several emerging countries, such as Brazil and Thailand, have started to promote computers that run the rival Linux operating system.
Note : The reporter/editor and not MS is saying that 90% of PCs are MS. The 90% of PC statement is not used to justify anything except maybe the fact that MS software is popular.
>This, probably, is the worst advice you could possibly give.
The AC probally wishes that someone had given him that advice.
>I'd be very open about the department. Be sure to highlight the positives, and explain, in lay terms, the "challenges" you're facing, not your problems.
Read his post again. As an IT "geek" (however you define it as) your interpersonal/political kung-fu is weak. As a manager/CIO, their kung-fu is strong. They will see through anything you say, including sweeting it with positives, "challenges vs. problems", false complements etc.
>"No more, no less..." Where I work, that would get you fired, plain and simple.
If they can't even specify what they expect of you in your job description and to the extent that they would feel justified in firing you, then what sort of company is it?
"You have horrible personal management skills, you are so clueless that you didn't even know that we did this project and we think you are biased. PS - we wasted time on this when we told you were were doing something else."
Sometimes the medium is more important than the message.
Suppose you give a great idea. What do you get? Will the people reward you, or will it just be one of 5 suggestions from that great night which was the CIO's initiative in the first place? You stuck your neck out for what, something you should have mentioned to your manager before? Something you've should have implemented on small scale locally?
If it does get back to you, why didn't your manager say this before? Isn't he suppose to be on top of this stuff? Shouldn't he have seen your wisdom and intelligence before? Why do we keep him around?
Suppose its a bad idea. Do you think your manager is going to be happy that you went off on a 15 minute OpenSource rant with liberal doses of "BILL GATES = EVIL!!!"? Who do you think will stick out like a sore thumb next time layoffs come around?
Not all of these things can happen in one year but this year I suggest keep quiet. Next year, see what happen last year to see what you are willing to do.
>probably doesn't even know how to use Google to find Web sites,
How hard is this? Go to Google.com, enter key words, enter, enjoy! And why do I "have" to know how to do this? Couldn't I use an another search engine?
>USENET postings,
Yes, Usenet, that treasure trove of insightful commentary. People have moved on to bloggs and websites like this one. Usenet, while excellent for binaries, still has a horrific signal to noise.
I can't believe he is saying that slashdot is unbiased.
Their bias is in their slogan: "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." Its biased towards the "Nerds" group and someone has to make a decision on what "matters" and what doesn't.
>Microsoft are evil, not because they dominate the desktop, but because, thanks to them, most people (think they) have no alternative.
Its pretty funny you really look at this argument. Most people define "Evil" as in the serious, cue-the-dramatic-music "EVIL". But here we are defining it as "monopoly over one part of a technology and becuase they act in an unethical corporate manner."
How about spending a few minutes here and seeing what true evil is. Comparitively, who cares about controlling a computer desktop or computer interoperability?
> I explained that I didn't spend all this time in college to answer phones.
I bet you didn't spend all this time in college to spend days firing off resumes, getting only one interview and still be unemployeed after one month and then posting it on slashdot. Think about that before you wave off a job like that.
>not much "entry level" stuff out there.
The call centre job would have been considered entry level stuff.
>Perhaps the Saudi geeks are indeed like us, in the sense that they tend to be more openminded, better educated, more tolerant, and less dogmatic in their religions than the general populace.
Or perhaps not. What the hell is the point?
How can one be a "Geek" and then we suddenly know everything, from their political stance to religous views to their favourite colour?
I can be a "Geek" and still be oppressive to women.
>Instead of spending time on the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International websites, you may find it worthwhile to try and get to know some Saudi's, so you can form an opinion firsthand.
How do you think these groups form their opinions? By watching TV?
When you are talking about the oppression of half of the population, including your mother, grandmother, aunts and sisters how can you be motivated NOT effect change?
Could we please grow up and stop trying to classify people into neat little boxes?
Every time people try to define if characteristic makes them a "geek" or "nerd" or "jock" or whatever always degrades into the level of passing-notes-in-high-school-class.
>Geeks tend not to be racist because hate takes time and effort that could be better applied to developing a better understanding of the universe.
And yet you just spent how much time and effort defining what a Geek is?
Hate is easy. It takes NO time or effort to not think or not to care about others who are forigen or to let someone else think for you.
>lie comfortable on my side or back,... >or rest it on my stomach
That sounds unconfortable. How do you prop up your head to face directly at the screen? Is your head and back at 90 degress to each other? Or am I missing something.
>Now try watching a movie on a desktop... argh, it's an ordeal.
People usually set up their desktop so they can type/surf/IM for long periods of time. Watching a movie is no different.
Slashdot Mirror
>The article points out their expectations that,
> that most of the boxes will stay ms-boxes:
Where exactly does it says MS expects the boxes to stay MS-boxes?
Here is the full part of the article:
"They'll be adding software from other providers. There's no exclusivity," he said. "Our role is to bring software that is quite popular, and happens to be ours."
Microsoft software is used to run more than 90 percent of the world's PCs. Governments in several emerging countries, such as Brazil and Thailand, have started to promote computers that run the rival Linux operating system.
Note : The reporter/editor and not MS is saying that 90% of PCs are MS. The 90% of PC statement is not used to justify anything except maybe the fact that MS software is popular.
Your whole argument is dumb.
By your logic, there is no true value to software.
Ask any programmer who spent 6 months on an application if this is true.
>Software, once written, has absolutely no economic value.
And how can you say this with all the retail software stores out there?
What do you think the person who wrote the software would say?
Why not just openly copy things for free and then in court try and pull that argument to justify what sort of penalties should be applied?
When people see the "system" is unfair then they feel the need to rise against that system.
"Why should I follow a corrupt and unfair system?"
How are you suppose to use the arrow keys with your third and pinky fingers? I would get a cramp.
I can't believe I am about to defend an AC.
>This, probably, is the worst advice you could possibly give.
The AC probally wishes that someone had given him that advice.
>I'd be very open about the department. Be sure to highlight the positives, and explain, in lay terms, the "challenges" you're facing, not your problems.
Read his post again. As an IT "geek" (however you define it as) your interpersonal/political kung-fu is weak. As a manager/CIO, their kung-fu is strong. They will see through anything you say, including sweeting it with positives, "challenges vs. problems", false complements etc.
>"No more, no less..." Where I work, that would get you fired, plain and simple.
If they can't even specify what they expect of you in your job description and to the extent that they would feel justified in firing you, then what sort of company is it?
How does this not scream of to your manager?;
"You have horrible personal management skills, you are so clueless that you didn't even know that we did this project and we think you are biased. PS - we wasted time on this when we told you were were doing something else."
Sometimes the medium is more important than the message.
I agree totally.
What are the managers going to get out of this dinner?
Any suggestions are basically going to be critism of their performance.
"It would be nice if we got working keyboards." -> Why didn't the managers do this already with the money they have?
"Too many people are leaving/have low moral." -> Isn't this the manager's area of expertise? Shouldn't they have handled this?
"We need a project to do this." -> Shouldn't the manager's have mentioned this to us before?
Suppose you give a great idea. What do you get? Will the people reward you, or will it just be one of 5 suggestions from that great night which was the CIO's initiative in the first place? You stuck your neck out for what, something you should have mentioned to your manager before? Something you've should have implemented on small scale locally?
If it does get back to you, why didn't your manager say this before? Isn't he suppose to be on top of this stuff? Shouldn't he have seen your wisdom and intelligence before? Why do we keep him around?
Suppose its a bad idea. Do you think your manager is going to be happy that you went off on a 15 minute OpenSource rant with liberal doses of "BILL GATES = EVIL!!!"? Who do you think will stick out like a sore thumb next time layoffs come around?
Not all of these things can happen in one year but this year I suggest keep quiet. Next year, see what happen last year to see what you are willing to do.
Who ever did this wasn't dumb. And they knew how illegal it was. Of course they would cover their tracks.
>Unless whoever downloaded all that stuff was very careful not to use more than a smidgeon of bandwidth, the spike would stick out like a sore thumb.
They didn't have to get all 11 GB out over a single period of time.
Also art work would be large, so a spike wouldn't be so big.
UserFriendly is funnier than PvP?
That not biased, that just poor taste.
>then I gave him a few tips on how to find reputable pr0n.
You are an outstanding son-in-law that any man would gladly give his daughter to.
>probably doesn't even know how to use Google to find Web sites,
How hard is this? Go to Google.com, enter key words, enter, enjoy! And why do I "have" to know how to do this? Couldn't I use an another search engine?
>USENET postings,
Yes, Usenet, that treasure trove of insightful commentary. People have moved on to bloggs and websites like this one. Usenet, while excellent for binaries, still has a horrific signal to noise.
>pictures, news articles, etc.
How does one use pictures?
I can't believe he is saying that slashdot is unbiased.
Their bias is in their slogan: "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." Its biased towards the "Nerds" group and someone has to make a decision on what "matters" and what doesn't.
>Microsoft are evil, not because they dominate the desktop, but because, thanks to them, most people (think they) have no alternative.
Its pretty funny you really look at this argument. Most people define "Evil" as in the serious, cue-the-dramatic-music "EVIL". But here we are defining it as "monopoly over one part of a technology and becuase they act in an unethical corporate manner."
How about spending a few minutes here and seeing what true evil is. Comparitively, who cares about controlling a computer desktop or computer interoperability?
Why not then get some Asian data? Generally height and hands are smaller. How about importing some stuff from there and see how it fits women?
Except for condoms, becuase its a well known fact that Asians are larger than the typical beer-guzzling American.
> I explained that I didn't spend all this time in college to answer phones.
I bet you didn't spend all this time in college to spend days firing off resumes, getting only one interview and still be unemployeed after one month and then posting it on slashdot. Think about that before you wave off a job like that.
>not much "entry level" stuff out there.
The call centre job would have been considered entry level stuff.
>Perhaps the Saudi geeks are indeed like us, in the sense that they tend to be more openminded, better educated, more tolerant, and less dogmatic in their religions than the general populace.
Or perhaps not. What the hell is the point?
How can one be a "Geek" and then we suddenly know everything, from their political stance to religous views to their favourite colour?
I can be a "Geek" and still be oppressive to women.
>Instead of spending time on the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International websites, you may find it worthwhile to try and get to know some Saudi's, so you can form an opinion firsthand.
How do you think these groups form their opinions? By watching TV?
When you are talking about the oppression of half of the population, including your mother, grandmother, aunts and sisters how can you be motivated NOT effect change?
>You're a geek if
Could we please grow up and stop trying to classify people into neat little boxes?
Every time people try to define if characteristic makes them a "geek" or "nerd" or "jock" or whatever always degrades into the level of passing-notes-in-high-school-class.
>Geeks tend not to be racist because hate takes time and effort that could be better applied to developing a better understanding of the universe.
And yet you just spent how much time and effort defining what a Geek is?
Hate is easy. It takes NO time or effort to not think or not to care about others who are forigen or to let someone else think for you.
> Those are the Saudis in general. Let's not assume every Saudi agrees with that. I imagine many of them don't, in fact.
So you are saying "In general Saudis are like that but not the majority of them"?
That makes no sense at all.
I've done that too. Works wonders without spending thousands of dollars.
Works well except that I can still hear the monitor buzz. If you want a truely quiet environment, get an LCD monitor.
>lie comfortable on my side or back, ...
>or rest it on my stomach
That sounds unconfortable. How do you prop up your head to face directly at the screen? Is your head and back at 90 degress to each other? Or am I missing something.
>Now try watching a movie on a desktop... argh, it's an ordeal.
People usually set up their desktop so they can type/surf/IM for long periods of time. Watching a movie is no different.
Sample of OS in use
27% of users use Win98. 1% use Linux.
To translate for you;
PEOPLE LIKE TO MASTERBATE.
...all and any procedures that determines the legal merits of patent infringment, either in or out of a legal court of law.
CHECK AND MATE SIR!