When I did government work, there was four situations:
#1 Legacy programs and databases in need up upgrading to the latest tech (Clipper to MS-Access and Visual BASIC, for example). Analysis and design was already done, but I tried to recreate it in a new environment with new technology.
#2 Requirements, analysis and design already done in a meeting I was not invited to (Federal Contractors are not trusted enough for meetings) in which I had to be creative and plug holes in the design while making it look like it is still using their design.
#3 I was empowered to do my own analysis and design after the requirements were given.
#4 I had to Integrate existing programs and databases in with each other. Which meant altering the design.
The only problems that I really had were Federal Employees not wanting to do their jobs properly (due to being near retirement age) and took it out on the Contractors (They painted us as greedy capitalist types out to steal their jobs, while painting themselves as the socialists who support their country and are allowed to slack off on the job because they are owed something for the service they provided.) Some of them would sabotage databases and the like, but thanks to administrators logging everything, we found out who they were. The Army base was behind schedule to close, and Clinton gave us two years to finish the job, I was finished in a year and a half before I finished the job. The Army base was moved.
Anyway I used to work for lawyers and a medical instrument company, both where worse places to work at than the Army base. I did not talk about the Army base in my post here, only the other two workplaces.
Anyone can dye their hair blue, it does not mean they are creative. I'd give potential employees a creative test. Maybe a role playing scenario to see how they handle things. Ink blot tests. The type of things that show me if someone is creative or not.
Yeah the blue hair people in India took yer jaaaaawwwwwwbbbbbbbsssss!
Honestly, who would know if they dyed their hair or not, the managers are not physically there, no cameras to watch them, they just write code and then ftp it to a server somewhere, and someone installs it for a manager to see.
Blue hair is not about having balls. Balls is telling the manager what they are doing wrong, and making suggestions for things that should be done right. Balls is taking the initutive to learn new technology and a new way of doing things to improve productivity, cut costs, improve quality, etc.
Blue hair alone will not do any of this. If you want to survive, you got to learn to adapt to the changes. P.S. things constantly change, so you should constantly keep learning new things.
I see people with blue hair as being no different than the brown nosers. They are doing what they can to be different to improve their odds of standing out. Only who can respect a person who dyes their hair for attention, or brown noses you instead of doing their jobs? You want my attention as a manager to stand out from the others, find a way to do things better than helps lower costs, improves quality, meets customers' needs, increases productivity, and generates more revenue.
If a person does all of that and has blue hair, piericings, tattos, etc, then yes they would survive a downsizing. If not, they are no different from the other workers getting downsized.
Yeah apparently the 90% turn-over rate for IT staff was not an indication to management that they should change their IT strategy or at least figure out one that works.
I worked for a small business, I had a coworker constantly change the database and program on me, as I was trying to learn it. I asked for a document, what I got was a series of daily emails with the changes she kept making to it, and changes I should make to make the programs I was working on work with her changes. I'll bet the owner of that business hasn't figured out why his company is bleeding money on the IT development yet. If they did it my way, they would have saved on costs, and got done sooner with fewer bugs.
Yeah apparently ticking off and annoying your boss and coworkers is not the best way to get promoted anymore. Businesses can legally discriminate against people for body modifications, there is no law that says they cannot.
Use a natrual hair color if you want to die your hair.
Leave the body piercings at home.
Wear clothes that cover up the tattoos.
Dress up like you are working at a business, not at the pub or carnival as the freak show.
Slang should be avoided as well.
Remember that 300,000 IT jobs in the USA will go away in the next five years. Not following this advice will hurt your career.
You have to be kidding me. The last three jobs I had, I got dinged if I did analysis of any sort. Most software developers skipped the analysis and design part, because Managers wanted them to start coding on the first day and not stop until it was ready for QA to look it over. I called it "Seat of your pants" programming. Often I had to fix problems in other developers' programs and they did not have proper documentation, source code comments, naming conventions, flow charts, or any sort of documentation to help me figure it out at all.
Requirements kept comming in, and they changed daily. Often what I started writing at 8am, was useless by 4:45PM when the requirements changed on-the-fly and adhoc and required me to program something else to replace it before I went home for the night. While I could have waited until the requirements were locked in, there was no such thing as that, any idea anyone had was instantly accepted by a manager and given to me to put into the program. Combo boxes became Listvues, then combo boxes again, then a text box, and then a Listvue again, and then a combo box. Database names for tables and columns were always changed, and of the thousands of SQL Queries in my programs that accessed them, they needed to be changed as well.
Management didn't think anything of it, and kept their "We cannot say no to anyone, no matter how insane the request" attutude.
Analysis, hooo haaaa! Yeah I wish! Corporate America apparently does not believe in it anymore.
you saw how they nailed those P2P file sharing kiddies who spread OSX over the file sharing networks. They got some sort of Internet sniffer out there that can sniff out piracy over the file sharing networks.
Also the part of OSX that Apple does not give the source to, has a function that phones home with the Macintosh serial number from the hardware and IP address, etc. If there is no serial number, or duplicate serial numbers are used on many different IP networks, they can suspect piracy. Then the lawyers subpeona whomever those IP addresses belong to to find out who was using what account at the time to make the Internet connection.
Like Microsoft Windows, OSX also has NSA spounsered back-doors in it.
Yeah, pirate Mac OSX, or use it improperly, and the Mac Cops will come knocking on your door.
Yeah and like Intel and Apple, neither Microsoft nor IBM/Motorola are commenting or conferming on the switch to the PPC for the Microsoft Longhorn. Why using the Apple Intel switch logic, the rumor must be true!
Anyone remember Osborne computers? They announced a new Osborne computer to replace the last one. Osborne buyers held off buying the current Osborne computer for the one due to come out later. The Intel Mac is due out in two years. Are potential Mac Buyers holding out for the Intel Mac? Is this the Osborne Syndrome, or is it more like the New Coke Syndrome? Remember when New Coke was made to taste like Pepsi?
Steve Jobs, are you taking notes on these two failures? Perhaps it is just a ploy to sell more PPC based Macs as some Mac Users are trying to get the last of the PPC made Macs before the Intel ones come out. I'll bet the auction sites are full of PPC Macs at high prices, it might be a seller's market if there ends up being a shortage of PPC Macs.
Great ideas, they autoconfigure the hardware before loading. That way the Windows user can see that their Wireless adapter or WinModem won't work on Linux before installing it to their hard drive.
Oh maybe they can figure out how to download the source code to NDISWrapper and then copy the driver files from their Windows partition to the Linux RAM disk, and then Compile NDISWrapper after downloading the Linux Kernel and configuring it to get all the headers NDISWrapper needs to compile. Then install the Wireless programs, if the LiveCD didn't already have them. Maybe then they can enter their WEP/WPA Key and then get wireless working. If not, they can always buy a new Wireless adapter that has Linux support.
WinModem, chances are they can surf to find a Linux version of their Winmodem under Windows. If they are lucky there will be a free version and all they need do is compile it into the Linux Kernel. If not, there is a trial version that runs at 14.4K BPS until they can register it for $30 or more. If none of these exist, they are better off buying an external modem that has Linux support.
Yeah these things made running a LiveCD of Linux almost as easy as running Windows itself.
Micosoft will move Longhorn to the PowerPC platform in the next two years. Since people will need to buy new apps, as Legacy Windows apps will have a hard time running on Longhorn, Gates and Ballmer decided that if the XBox 360 using a PPC chip was good enough, then Microsoft branded PCs using the PPC chip was the next logical step.
Microsoft just licenses the new design of the MSPPC system to its OEMs for Windows, and sells a copy of VirtualPC with XP Home on it to run Legacy Windows apps to anyone who wishes to run the old X86 programs on the new boxes.
The UI for Pro is not more complex than the Home or Starter UI of XP. Tweaking the registry for Home to turn into Pro Lite does not create more complexity.
Many homes are having more than one machine on a broadband connection using a router. Home does not network as well as Pro does. Check out this chart.
But then I guess Home users who have a network do not want the extra security or encryption of shared files, and like having their personal data stolen by script-kiddies?
Get fired? I am not even employed, you insensitive clod! Read my diaries, I have been too sick to work.
after all, Microsoft did that with NT Server and NT Workstation. Andrew Schulman had shown that with a few registry tweaks, NT Workstation could be turned into NT Server quite a long time ago. It even fooled server programs like MS SQL Server, Exchange, SNA Server, etc that they were running on NT Server. The only big difference were the support files found on NT Server that NT Workstation did not have.
If someone looks at it hard enough, they can find registry tweaks to turn XP Starter Edition into a non-crippled version. It might resemble XP Home then. Then apply the XP Home tweaks to turn it into an XP Pro Lite type OS.
When you think about it, Microsoft keeps the kernels the same, but makes changes to the registry and support files. Tweak the registry, and you may be able to overcome limitations.
The IP connection limit is built into the TCP/IP stack of XP, but most P2P networks have a modified version that allows the user set their own number of connections, like say 100. I am sure that is against the EULA, but people run it anyway.
The more crippled Microsoft makes an OS, the more people will discover or find or invent a way around the crippling. Take DRM for example, people have already found ways around it, the new DRM on an Intel chip just makes it more of a challenge for people to find a way around it. Most likely someone will find or invent a way to fool the DRM functions that files are legit, via software or something.
Microsoft refuses to understand that it must meet the customers' needs, and that making a system more complex or trying to lock it down more, only upsets the customer. They will either seek underground methods to get around the limitations, find an alternative, use an older version of software/hardware, or just learn to suffer with it. In any case, it causes Microsoft bad PR, and a bad reputation.
Yeah my ISP supports Linux too. At least that is what I was told. I call up with a Linux issue, and they ask me if I have a Mac or PC. I tell them a PC, and then they ask me which version of Windows I have, and I answer that I have Red Hat Fedora Core 3, Linux not Windows. In which case they tell me that there is Linux support, but it is "best effort" and not "box to surf" or even a priority. This is help desk talk which basically means you have a minority OS, and will get the runaround unless you reformat and install Windows. You finally talk to a Linux expert, which tells you they cannot help you, to contact Red Hat or reformat and install Windows.
Yes they have to support it, but that does not mean they will do a good job supporting it and most likely will pass the buck to some other company or suggest switching to Windows.
McDonald's at first was a bad idea. Why sell food for more than someone can reasonably cook it at home? Even still, why should someone eat the food at McDonald's every day for work because it is bad for them and will make them fat if they eat too much? Why are people willing to work too hard at McDonald's for minimum wage instead of getting a real job? Face it, McDonald's is a bad idea, yet it makes billions of dollars.
Microsoft Windows, also a bad idea. Full of security holes, exploits, prone to malware infections, poor quality control, memory leaks, sluggish performance unless you own the latest hardware, and ends up being a large part of the cost of a new PC. Yet it sells like hotcakes and makes Microsoft billions of dollars.
The Internet, a bad idea. You open up your computer to the rest of the world and walreware infections. Web sites are full of such misinformation, people post their own personal opinions as fact on blogs, everywhere you go is a porn peddler or spammer or scam artist. People are paying as much as $22 to $24 a month for dial-up access, when other ISPs are offering $9.99 or lower for the same bandwidth and services. Bad information, negativity, trolls, and other bad things lurk everywhere. Yet more and more people keep signing up new accounts.
Such as Mac Users who use Macs at home, often use Windows PCs at work? That they should not be accused of hypocracy? Why is it hardly ever the other way around, that PC Users who use Windows at home, use Macs at work?
How about we opt for ECW rules? I think that should make it interesting.
This reeks of an Internet rebate scam. Buy a cheap PC for almost nothing, but be forced into a $22/month dial-up contract for a few years.
How is this different than a $400 Internet rebate on an eMachines PC running XP Home, which costs $470, and is $70 after rebates, but you have to pay AOL/MSN/Earthlink $22/month for 3 to 5 years?
Why don't I just pay $300 for a Linux PC, and then pick my own ISP for a much lower price per month?
$22 for 12 months ends up being $264, plus $70 for the PC, makes $334 for a whole year. $792 for three years of ISP service at $22/month, $359.64 for three years of a $9.99/month ISP service. $432.36 saved by using your own ISP choice at the $9.99/month price. That money could easily go to pay for a nice PC running XP Home, a down payment on a Mac Mini, or a $300 Linux PC. Save even more after five years.
Besides I got a $27.99 DSL ISP account going, why should I lock myself into a slower dialup service for just a few bucks cheaper? $5.99/month savings does not justify my being stuck with a slower Internet access account for a few years or so.
I got a better idea, in fact I did it already, I spent $400 on parts from Newegg.com, built my own system, and installed my own DSL modem and DSL router, and I have a much better deal than this POS deal can offer me. Instead of a Septron, I have an Athlon XP, I have more RAM, faster CPU, bigger hard drive, etc.
I am not going to fall for the latest and greatest Internet rebate scam.
Linspire and Xandros, for example, are easier to use and install Linux distros. I hear that Unbunto Linux is easy to use as well as free to download.
OS/2 was reborn as eCS, I hear that the 32 bit Windows malware don't even run in it.
BeOS and ZetaOS, still available, and there does not seem to be any malware written for it.
FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Darwin X86, also alternatives. Yet suffer from the complexity that some Linux distros have.
AmigaOS, I think there was a X86 port at one time. The AmigaOne is still sold, IIRC.
Solaris, I heard there was an open source version of it due out soon.
JavaOS, whatever happened to this one? A complete Java based OS.
Q*NX, an easy to use Unix.
Thin Clients, or old PCs running VNC, that go to a server that has limited access rights for the users so malware won't be installed in the first place. It is constantly monitored, and any threats removed.
The rumor is that Apple will use Intel chips to run OSX on and switch everyone over. I think that is BS, and that there are other possibilities that people have not yet considered.
#1 Apple contracts with Intel, and licenses the PowerPC IP to Intel to start making G4 and G5 chips. Intel is able to switch over some of their factories to make them in bulk, cheaper, and faster, than IBM or Morotola. Apple does not abandon the PowerPC platform, but finds a way to make the chips more cost effective.
#2 Apple does not want to use Intel CPUs in Macs, but rather starts making PCs. Apple branded PCs that run Darwin X86. This is in order to pick up where NeXTOS/NeXTStep left off. Apple is trying to capitilize on the cheap PC market, and knows that $499 is the cheapest price for a Macintosh. In order to reach a $300 price tag, an Intel CPU based system running Darwin X86 would be more likely. Apple will then try to cut into the Linspire, Xandros, and other OSes that run on $300 PC systems. Perhaps Apple makes a deal with Wal*Mart to sell the $300 Apple Darwin PC?
#3 Apple wants Intel chips, just not the CPUs. Maybe the Intel chips that do wireless networking, bluetooth, audio, video, etc. This is an attempt to make a cheaper Mac Mini to break the $499 retail price.
#4 Apple wants to subcontract out part of the PowerMac making to Intel. Intel wants to make their own PC, and has been making different PC designs, and now it has caught Apple's eye. Intel can make the motherboard, case, power supply, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. Apple can stick the PowerPC chip on the motherboard at the Apple factory when the Intel made bare bones PowerMacs are shipped.
#5 This is all a plot to try and boost both Apple and Intel stock by issuing yet another rumor that Apple will use Intel chips. Someone here is a master manipulator and is making a fortune selling off Intel and Apple stock, while the rumor is still hot.
#6 Apple has been subcontracted to make PCs for one of the PC makers (Dell, Compaq/HP, Gateway, etc) and made an advance order for Intel chips. The PC Maker is tired of poor quality standards from overseas factories, and feels that Apple has better quality control standards.
Notice that Obi-Won treats R2 like a human being. I think that R2D2 has more to him that meets the eye.
C3P0 had his memory erased, because he is a protocol droid with a big mouth. R2D2 can be trusted to keep a secret. C3P0 would have blabbed to Leia about her mother and father and ruined the secret. R2D2 kept the secret, and never told Leia about her real parents. In fact, R2D2 never told Luke about who Darth Vader was or what happened to his father. This is because of the human qualities that R2D2 has that C3P0 does not.
Maybe R2D2 only uses his rocket packs in the biggest emergancies? Yet maybe the CGI for Episode IV, V, and VII didn't have the budget for R2 to use rocketpacks?
Think about it, he is an Astro droid that is supposed to operate in space and interface with spaceships. He needs some sort of jets to move around in space. He has a limited fuel supply, so he should only use them when he absolutely needs to.
I am not available.
She won't leave me alone I am married and she cannot get over it. I am sorry that her obsession has spread to Slashdot, I really am. She has been trying to contact me via email, chat, and other methods. I guess she decided to bring it out into the open of the wild internet?
What am I supposed to do with a psycho ex-girlfriend who won't give up?
Sure by all rights, according to you, we still should be slaves to the British Empire in the good old USA. Also Hitler should be running the planet after World War II. Just because you say it is not ok to kill if you put the right label on it. I'll bet you never stood for anything in your life that was worth fighting for.
Therefore, you are pro-Facism, pro-Slavery, and pro-Freedom because you would rather let those things happen than kill people to prevent it.
There is a difference between kill and murder. Murder is unjustified, killing can be justified.
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When I did government work, there was four situations:
#1 Legacy programs and databases in need up upgrading to the latest tech (Clipper to MS-Access and Visual BASIC, for example). Analysis and design was already done, but I tried to recreate it in a new environment with new technology.
#2 Requirements, analysis and design already done in a meeting I was not invited to (Federal Contractors are not trusted enough for meetings) in which I had to be creative and plug holes in the design while making it look like it is still using their design.
#3 I was empowered to do my own analysis and design after the requirements were given.
#4 I had to Integrate existing programs and databases in with each other. Which meant altering the design.
The only problems that I really had were Federal Employees not wanting to do their jobs properly (due to being near retirement age) and took it out on the Contractors (They painted us as greedy capitalist types out to steal their jobs, while painting themselves as the socialists who support their country and are allowed to slack off on the job because they are owed something for the service they provided.) Some of them would sabotage databases and the like, but thanks to administrators logging everything, we found out who they were. The Army base was behind schedule to close, and Clinton gave us two years to finish the job, I was finished in a year and a half before I finished the job. The Army base was moved.
Anyway I used to work for lawyers and a medical instrument company, both where worse places to work at than the Army base. I did not talk about the Army base in my post here, only the other two workplaces.
Anyone can dye their hair blue, it does not mean they are creative. I'd give potential employees a creative test. Maybe a role playing scenario to see how they handle things. Ink blot tests. The type of things that show me if someone is creative or not.
Yeah the blue hair people in India took yer jaaaaawwwwwwbbbbbbbsssss!
Honestly, who would know if they dyed their hair or not, the managers are not physically there, no cameras to watch them, they just write code and then ftp it to a server somewhere, and someone installs it for a manager to see.
Blue hair is not about having balls. Balls is telling the manager what they are doing wrong, and making suggestions for things that should be done right. Balls is taking the initutive to learn new technology and a new way of doing things to improve productivity, cut costs, improve quality, etc.
Blue hair alone will not do any of this. If you want to survive, you got to learn to adapt to the changes. P.S. things constantly change, so you should constantly keep learning new things.
I see people with blue hair as being no different than the brown nosers. They are doing what they can to be different to improve their odds of standing out. Only who can respect a person who dyes their hair for attention, or brown noses you instead of doing their jobs? You want my attention as a manager to stand out from the others, find a way to do things better than helps lower costs, improves quality, meets customers' needs, increases productivity, and generates more revenue.
If a person does all of that and has blue hair, piericings, tattos, etc, then yes they would survive a downsizing. If not, they are no different from the other workers getting downsized.
Yeah apparently the 90% turn-over rate for IT staff was not an indication to management that they should change their IT strategy or at least figure out one that works.
I worked for a small business, I had a coworker constantly change the database and program on me, as I was trying to learn it. I asked for a document, what I got was a series of daily emails with the changes she kept making to it, and changes I should make to make the programs I was working on work with her changes. I'll bet the owner of that business hasn't figured out why his company is bleeding money on the IT development yet. If they did it my way, they would have saved on costs, and got done sooner with fewer bugs.
Yeah apparently ticking off and annoying your boss and coworkers is not the best way to get promoted anymore. Businesses can legally discriminate against people for body modifications, there is no law that says they cannot.
Use a natrual hair color if you want to die your hair.
Leave the body piercings at home.
Wear clothes that cover up the tattoos.
Dress up like you are working at a business, not at the pub or carnival as the freak show.
Slang should be avoided as well.
Remember that 300,000 IT jobs in the USA will go away in the next five years. Not following this advice will hurt your career.
You have to be kidding me. The last three jobs I had, I got dinged if I did analysis of any sort. Most software developers skipped the analysis and design part, because Managers wanted them to start coding on the first day and not stop until it was ready for QA to look it over. I called it "Seat of your pants" programming. Often I had to fix problems in other developers' programs and they did not have proper documentation, source code comments, naming conventions, flow charts, or any sort of documentation to help me figure it out at all.
Requirements kept comming in, and they changed daily. Often what I started writing at 8am, was useless by 4:45PM when the requirements changed on-the-fly and adhoc and required me to program something else to replace it before I went home for the night. While I could have waited until the requirements were locked in, there was no such thing as that, any idea anyone had was instantly accepted by a manager and given to me to put into the program. Combo boxes became Listvues, then combo boxes again, then a text box, and then a Listvue again, and then a combo box. Database names for tables and columns were always changed, and of the thousands of SQL Queries in my programs that accessed them, they needed to be changed as well.
Management didn't think anything of it, and kept their "We cannot say no to anyone, no matter how insane the request" attutude.
Analysis, hooo haaaa! Yeah I wish! Corporate America apparently does not believe in it anymore.
you saw how they nailed those P2P file sharing kiddies who spread OSX over the file sharing networks. They got some sort of Internet sniffer out there that can sniff out piracy over the file sharing networks.
Also the part of OSX that Apple does not give the source to, has a function that phones home with the Macintosh serial number from the hardware and IP address, etc. If there is no serial number, or duplicate serial numbers are used on many different IP networks, they can suspect piracy. Then the lawyers subpeona whomever those IP addresses belong to to find out who was using what account at the time to make the Internet connection.
Like Microsoft Windows, OSX also has NSA spounsered back-doors in it.
Yeah, pirate Mac OSX, or use it improperly, and the Mac Cops will come knocking on your door.
Yeah and like Intel and Apple, neither Microsoft nor IBM/Motorola are commenting or conferming on the switch to the PPC for the Microsoft Longhorn. Why using the Apple Intel switch logic, the rumor must be true!
Anyone remember Osborne computers? They announced a new Osborne computer to replace the last one. Osborne buyers held off buying the current Osborne computer for the one due to come out later. The Intel Mac is due out in two years. Are potential Mac Buyers holding out for the Intel Mac? Is this the Osborne Syndrome, or is it more like the New Coke Syndrome? Remember when New Coke was made to taste like Pepsi?
Steve Jobs, are you taking notes on these two failures? Perhaps it is just a ploy to sell more PPC based Macs as some Mac Users are trying to get the last of the PPC made Macs before the Intel ones come out. I'll bet the auction sites are full of PPC Macs at high prices, it might be a seller's market if there ends up being a shortage of PPC Macs.
Great ideas, they autoconfigure the hardware before loading. That way the Windows user can see that their Wireless adapter or WinModem won't work on Linux before installing it to their hard drive.
Oh maybe they can figure out how to download the source code to NDISWrapper and then copy the driver files from their Windows partition to the Linux RAM disk, and then Compile NDISWrapper after downloading the Linux Kernel and configuring it to get all the headers NDISWrapper needs to compile. Then install the Wireless programs, if the LiveCD didn't already have them. Maybe then they can enter their WEP/WPA Key and then get wireless working. If not, they can always buy a new Wireless adapter that has Linux support.
WinModem, chances are they can surf to find a Linux version of their Winmodem under Windows. If they are lucky there will be a free version and all they need do is compile it into the Linux Kernel. If not, there is a trial version that runs at 14.4K BPS until they can register it for $30 or more. If none of these exist, they are better off buying an external modem that has Linux support.
Yeah these things made running a LiveCD of Linux almost as easy as running Windows itself.
Micosoft will move Longhorn to the PowerPC platform in the next two years. Since people will need to buy new apps, as Legacy Windows apps will have a hard time running on Longhorn, Gates and Ballmer decided that if the XBox 360 using a PPC chip was good enough, then Microsoft branded PCs using the PPC chip was the next logical step.
Microsoft just licenses the new design of the MSPPC system to its OEMs for Windows, and sells a copy of VirtualPC with XP Home on it to run Legacy Windows apps to anyone who wishes to run the old X86 programs on the new boxes.
The UI for Pro is not more complex than the Home or Starter UI of XP. Tweaking the registry for Home to turn into Pro Lite does not create more complexity.
Many homes are having more than one machine on a broadband connection using a router. Home does not network as well as Pro does. Check out this chart.
But then I guess Home users who have a network do not want the extra security or encryption of shared files, and like having their personal data stolen by script-kiddies?
Get fired? I am not even employed, you insensitive clod! Read my diaries, I have been too sick to work.
after all, Microsoft did that with NT Server and NT Workstation. Andrew Schulman had shown that with a few registry tweaks, NT Workstation could be turned into NT Server quite a long time ago. It even fooled server programs like MS SQL Server, Exchange, SNA Server, etc that they were running on NT Server. The only big difference were the support files found on NT Server that NT Workstation did not have.
If someone looks at it hard enough, they can find registry tweaks to turn XP Starter Edition into a non-crippled version. It might resemble XP Home then. Then apply the XP Home tweaks to turn it into an XP Pro Lite type OS.
When you think about it, Microsoft keeps the kernels the same, but makes changes to the registry and support files. Tweak the registry, and you may be able to overcome limitations.
The IP connection limit is built into the TCP/IP stack of XP, but most P2P networks have a modified version that allows the user set their own number of connections, like say 100. I am sure that is against the EULA, but people run it anyway.
The more crippled Microsoft makes an OS, the more people will discover or find or invent a way around the crippling. Take DRM for example, people have already found ways around it, the new DRM on an Intel chip just makes it more of a challenge for people to find a way around it. Most likely someone will find or invent a way to fool the DRM functions that files are legit, via software or something.
Microsoft refuses to understand that it must meet the customers' needs, and that making a system more complex or trying to lock it down more, only upsets the customer. They will either seek underground methods to get around the limitations, find an alternative, use an older version of software/hardware, or just learn to suffer with it. In any case, it causes Microsoft bad PR, and a bad reputation.
Yeah my ISP supports Linux too. At least that is what I was told. I call up with a Linux issue, and they ask me if I have a Mac or PC. I tell them a PC, and then they ask me which version of Windows I have, and I answer that I have Red Hat Fedora Core 3, Linux not Windows. In which case they tell me that there is Linux support, but it is "best effort" and not "box to surf" or even a priority. This is help desk talk which basically means you have a minority OS, and will get the runaround unless you reformat and install Windows. You finally talk to a Linux expert, which tells you they cannot help you, to contact Red Hat or reformat and install Windows.
Yes they have to support it, but that does not mean they will do a good job supporting it and most likely will pass the buck to some other company or suggest switching to Windows.
McDonald's at first was a bad idea. Why sell food for more than someone can reasonably cook it at home? Even still, why should someone eat the food at McDonald's every day for work because it is bad for them and will make them fat if they eat too much? Why are people willing to work too hard at McDonald's for minimum wage instead of getting a real job? Face it, McDonald's is a bad idea, yet it makes billions of dollars.
Microsoft Windows, also a bad idea. Full of security holes, exploits, prone to malware infections, poor quality control, memory leaks, sluggish performance unless you own the latest hardware, and ends up being a large part of the cost of a new PC. Yet it sells like hotcakes and makes Microsoft billions of dollars.
The Internet, a bad idea. You open up your computer to the rest of the world and walreware infections. Web sites are full of such misinformation, people post their own personal opinions as fact on blogs, everywhere you go is a porn peddler or spammer or scam artist. People are paying as much as $22 to $24 a month for dial-up access, when other ISPs are offering $9.99 or lower for the same bandwidth and services. Bad information, negativity, trolls, and other bad things lurk everywhere. Yet more and more people keep signing up new accounts.
Such as Mac Users who use Macs at home, often use Windows PCs at work? That they should not be accused of hypocracy? Why is it hardly ever the other way around, that PC Users who use Windows at home, use Macs at work?
How about we opt for ECW rules? I think that should make it interesting.
This reeks of an Internet rebate scam. Buy a cheap PC for almost nothing, but be forced into a $22/month dial-up contract for a few years.
How is this different than a $400 Internet rebate on an eMachines PC running XP Home, which costs $470, and is $70 after rebates, but you have to pay AOL/MSN/Earthlink $22/month for 3 to 5 years?
Why don't I just pay $300 for a Linux PC, and then pick my own ISP for a much lower price per month?
$22 for 12 months ends up being $264, plus $70 for the PC, makes $334 for a whole year. $792 for three years of ISP service at $22/month, $359.64 for three years of a $9.99/month ISP service. $432.36 saved by using your own ISP choice at the $9.99/month price. That money could easily go to pay for a nice PC running XP Home, a down payment on a Mac Mini, or a $300 Linux PC. Save even more after five years.
Besides I got a $27.99 DSL ISP account going, why should I lock myself into a slower dialup service for just a few bucks cheaper? $5.99/month savings does not justify my being stuck with a slower Internet access account for a few years or so.
I got a better idea, in fact I did it already, I spent $400 on parts from Newegg.com, built my own system, and installed my own DSL modem and DSL router, and I have a much better deal than this POS deal can offer me. Instead of a Septron, I have an Athlon XP, I have more RAM, faster CPU, bigger hard drive, etc.
I am not going to fall for the latest and greatest Internet rebate scam.
Linspire and Xandros, for example, are easier to use and install Linux distros. I hear that Unbunto Linux is easy to use as well as free to download.
OS/2 was reborn as eCS, I hear that the 32 bit Windows malware don't even run in it.
BeOS and ZetaOS, still available, and there does not seem to be any malware written for it.
FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Darwin X86, also alternatives. Yet suffer from the complexity that some Linux distros have.
AmigaOS, I think there was a X86 port at one time. The AmigaOne is still sold, IIRC.
Solaris, I heard there was an open source version of it due out soon.
JavaOS, whatever happened to this one? A complete Java based OS.
Q*NX, an easy to use Unix.
Thin Clients, or old PCs running VNC, that go to a server that has limited access rights for the users so malware won't be installed in the first place. It is constantly monitored, and any threats removed.
The rumor is that Apple will use Intel chips to run OSX on and switch everyone over. I think that is BS, and that there are other possibilities that people have not yet considered.
#1 Apple contracts with Intel, and licenses the PowerPC IP to Intel to start making G4 and G5 chips. Intel is able to switch over some of their factories to make them in bulk, cheaper, and faster, than IBM or Morotola. Apple does not abandon the PowerPC platform, but finds a way to make the chips more cost effective.
#2 Apple does not want to use Intel CPUs in Macs, but rather starts making PCs. Apple branded PCs that run Darwin X86. This is in order to pick up where NeXTOS/NeXTStep left off. Apple is trying to capitilize on the cheap PC market, and knows that $499 is the cheapest price for a Macintosh. In order to reach a $300 price tag, an Intel CPU based system running Darwin X86 would be more likely. Apple will then try to cut into the Linspire, Xandros, and other OSes that run on $300 PC systems. Perhaps Apple makes a deal with Wal*Mart to sell the $300 Apple Darwin PC?
#3 Apple wants Intel chips, just not the CPUs. Maybe the Intel chips that do wireless networking, bluetooth, audio, video, etc. This is an attempt to make a cheaper Mac Mini to break the $499 retail price.
#4 Apple wants to subcontract out part of the PowerMac making to Intel. Intel wants to make their own PC, and has been making different PC designs, and now it has caught Apple's eye. Intel can make the motherboard, case, power supply, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. Apple can stick the PowerPC chip on the motherboard at the Apple factory when the Intel made bare bones PowerMacs are shipped.
#5 This is all a plot to try and boost both Apple and Intel stock by issuing yet another rumor that Apple will use Intel chips. Someone here is a master manipulator and is making a fortune selling off Intel and Apple stock, while the rumor is still hot.
#6 Apple has been subcontracted to make PCs for one of the PC makers (Dell, Compaq/HP, Gateway, etc) and made an advance order for Intel chips. The PC Maker is tired of poor quality standards from overseas factories, and feels that Apple has better quality control standards.
Learn to laugh, or you will go insane. You cannot ignore the truth.
Notice that Obi-Won treats R2 like a human being. I think that R2D2 has more to him that meets the eye.
C3P0 had his memory erased, because he is a protocol droid with a big mouth. R2D2 can be trusted to keep a secret. C3P0 would have blabbed to Leia about her mother and father and ruined the secret. R2D2 kept the secret, and never told Leia about her real parents. In fact, R2D2 never told Luke about who Darth Vader was or what happened to his father. This is because of the human qualities that R2D2 has that C3P0 does not.
Maybe R2D2 only uses his rocket packs in the biggest emergancies? Yet maybe the CGI for Episode IV, V, and VII didn't have the budget for R2 to use rocketpacks?
Think about it, he is an Astro droid that is supposed to operate in space and interface with spaceships. He needs some sort of jets to move around in space. He has a limited fuel supply, so he should only use them when he absolutely needs to.
Mod: -1 Wimp
Mod: -1 Whiner
Mod: -1 Retarded
Mod: -2 Uses moral relativism to justify doing nothing.
Mod: -3: Only the Sith think in absolutes.
The last one is slightly related to the thread. It is, at least Sci-Fi.
Have fun living in your unrealistic black and white world.
I am not available. She won't leave me alone I am married and she cannot get over it. I am sorry that her obsession has spread to Slashdot, I really am. She has been trying to contact me via email, chat, and other methods. I guess she decided to bring it out into the open of the wild internet? What am I supposed to do with a psycho ex-girlfriend who won't give up?
Er that should have been Anti-Freedom instead of Pro-Freedom. I got caught up in the momment.
Sure by all rights, according to you, we still should be slaves to the British Empire in the good old USA. Also Hitler should be running the planet after World War II. Just because you say it is not ok to kill if you put the right label on it. I'll bet you never stood for anything in your life that was worth fighting for.
Therefore, you are pro-Facism, pro-Slavery, and pro-Freedom because you would rather let those things happen than kill people to prevent it.
There is a difference between kill and murder. Murder is unjustified, killing can be justified.