...by this logic, every time I do a net install of Linux my ISP is going to send my name to the music and movie associations because I'm using too much bandwidth.
Guess I'd better not make too many phone calls with Vonage either, or they'll report me for that.
Welcome to the 2000's folks - where it's guilty until the RIAA/MPAA/whatever decides that after a careful anal probe, you're not guilty of a crime at the moment but damn it they're watching you and they know you're stealing something and they're just waiting to get the proof so that they can nail you, your grandmother, and anyone you were ever related to because they're just not rich enough. (How's that for a run on sentence?!)
...tax software is the one thing I don't mind paying for, and specifically because if Turbo Tax screws up big time and I find the IRS crawling up my hoo-hah, I would expect that I could go to Turbo Tax and at least get them to explain why the problem happened. (provided the problem wasn't caused by stupid user input)
I don't think I could expect to sue any other company for their software flaws, but I think everyone expects tax software to be as accurate as possible and to have the backing of the software company if it's not.
I charge a flat rate of $100/hour whether it's personal or business.
I value my personal time greatly, and if I've got to be inconvenienced to work on someone's computer problems I want it to both compensate me appropriately for my time, and give a little pain to their wallet. This scares most people off, and frankly that's why I set the rate at that. For those that do pay my rate I make sure they get what they asked for and usually more.
I'm pretty liberal on tracking my time, but that of course fluctuates from person to person. The more annoying - the closer I track my time.
There are exceptions of course. I wouldn't dream of charging my folks or my mother & father in-law. OTOH my brother is turning into a multiple-call-a-day person, and that's where I draw the line.
I may come off as a jerk in this post, but think about it. Do you want to work for little or nothing for everyone you're related to, all your friends, all their friends, and so on while you get no time with your own wife & kids to enjoy life?? Personally my time is my time to relax. If they can't understand that they can call Geek Squad and pay more for less service.
So you're saying you prefer tools that have been dumbed down to the point that any shmoe can run them instead of some trained individual that can intelligently interpret what he's seeing?...and on top of this part of the justification is that it's "free money" because Uncle Sam is footing the bill??
Sorry, but this is *HUGE* example of why my taxes are so big!
I'm with you, but re: the games you're talking about - FreeCraft kicks ass!
Can't remember what they're calling it now, but I've spent a lot of time playing FreeCraft, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Quake 3 Arena, and others all with native support on Linux.
We'll see how the average grandmother deals with Debian Linux soon.
I refuse to turn my mother-in-law loose with the roach motel that is Windows ME, so she'll be running Debian with KDE soon.
I can spend a ton of money on software for an OS upgrade to XP, Microsoft Office, some recipe program, etc. or I can spend an hour installing Debian across a cable modem connection and give her all that an a hell of a lot more for free.
Quite the contrary - open source software isn't perfect either, but I certainly prefer what OSS will give me for free vs. the idiocy that commercial software brings with it.
I find that those that slam open source software tend to be those that haven't given it a fair shot and are uneducated about what it can offer them. There's a reason that many who try it don't go back to buying software.
Hard saying Free is bad when the software is that good!
All I can say is it's gotta be a slow day on/. when this makes the site.
Floppies going away is news? How many of us remember or have worked with 8" disks, 5.25" disks, MFM or RLL hard drives, or remember when DOS 2.0 was a big deal because storage on floppies went from 160 or 320K in DOS 1.0 (depending on if you used single sided or double sided drives) to 180 or 360k?
Floppies are already dead. Dirt cheap CDR's and USB keys put the nails in the floppy coffin in the past few years, and I dare say you can toss Zip disks in with 'em.
Thinking I submitted way better stories than this that got rejected, - Dave
I was running a movie theater in 1996, and we got to have a special sneak preview of the movie Ed. I put the film together, and my dad, four year old son, and I started to watch it. Seeing as it was a kid's film I figured we'd get both the pleasure of seeing it in peace and making sure I spliced it together properly. Fifteen minutes into the movie the kid was playing with his cars in the aisle of the theater, and my father and I couldn't believe this wasn't a straight to video movie.
When the pinacle of humor in a film is a monkey farting, it's time to seriously consider execution for talentless writers that turn out drivel like this. I hope whoever wrote and produced this turkey is asking, "Would you like fries with that?" somewhere now.
Say what you want about bad films like Plan 9, Bride of the Monster, or other such films. (Ed Wood's catalog is such an easy target!) There's much to be said about trying to make Independence Day on a Clerks budget. Imagine Wood's visions with a real budget and special effects dept. A remake of Plan 9 as Wood saw it in his head might be a pretty good film.
OTOH all the budget and special effects in the world couldn't help a dud like Ed.
Take the world's most unreliable operating system, combine it with a manufacturer who's name is rumored to be short for "Fix It Again Tony", and what do you get? Probably the fabled car with the hood welded shut that Open Source fans (like myself) have talked about for years.
Congrats to Microsoft and Fiat - I was wondering who'd finally build a replacement for the Yugo...
...the only thing that I can think of that my wife and I use Java for is when we play Yahoo Pool against each other. I also used to use it for Limewire before I became too paranoid to use that anymore. Oh - maybe for OpenOffice.org too.
FWIW I've been using Linux as my desktop OS for 3 or 4 years, and my wife has been using it as her desktop OS for the past year. The idea of actually buying software is more and more foreign every day.;)
I've had Vonage for quite a while now, and I find it to be superb -AND- it just dropped to $29.99 per month for unlimited calling. Not exactly hard to take price wise, and guiltless LD to everyone I know in the US and Canada is pretty sweet.
Vonage gets my vote all the way, but I've never tried any others. I never had to - Vonage has been flawless since day 1.
...I've got to say that the past year has to have been the worst year in my career.
I was a WAN analyst for a Fortune 500 (well it was until recently) company, and enjoying all the geekiness that goes with working on a network comprised of point to point, frame relay, ISDN, VPN, and other such transports into the corporate WAN.
Last April I was told that my position was eliminated due to budget cutbacks and they were moving me to a role in IT Operations (read - HELPDESK) so that I could bring the folks in that team up to a higher level of awareness of how networks work. It meant I was going to still be employed, so I accepted. What a mistake.
One year later I find myself bored to tears having gone from WAN guru to doing share access cases for corporate users. Nothing like stepping back to 1996 in my career. You know - BEFORE I had any experience as a Windows NT / Windows 2000 / Novell / Solaris / Linux administrator, before I had any experience as a WAN analyst, etc.
I've been desperately looking for another job, and have been rather open about that at work. I was recently offered a transfer to the LAN team, but told them I'd had interviews at places that'd be more money, no on call, and about 45 minutes less of a commute. I might as well have been talking to The Bobs as they wished me good luck and to keep them posted.
Did I mention that the Ops position was shift work, and I've been stuck working every weekend since Christmas?? Just what you want to do when you're a newly wed...
Beyond annoyed at work, and thinking of changing my name to Peter.
I came into 2003 waiting anxiously like many people for the Matrix sequels. Matrix Reloaded was okay, but it should've set off a big warning sign in my head. I came out of Matrix 1 wanting more and excited for anything else they could give me. OTOH I came out of Matrix Reloaded without any excitement at all for any more, yet on our honeymoon my wife and I found ourselves at the Downtown Disney theater watching Matrix Revolutions. When it was done we both walked out shaking our heads wondering what the hell we'd just seen. We hated it and both felt that if Matrix 3 was the first movie instead of the 3rd - there never would've been a second Matrix. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!
Elf was extremely good, and is bound to topple Scrooged! as the most played Christmas movie on broadcast TV in probably 2005. (I'm guessing that HBO / Cinemax / Showtime will play it to death for 2004.)
Cat In The Hat... When did the Cat become a Jewish woman? Mike Myers seemed confused as to what voice he was trying to use. It would've been better as "Austin Powers 4 - The Hairball Myers Coughed Up." My wife liked it, my step-son liked it, I sat there praying for it to be over soon.
September, aka Bad Slasher Movie Month, brought a movie my wife wanted to see, but I didn't - The Order. I reluctantly went to see it with her, and when it was over she didn't really like it, and I loved it. Very interesting, bizarre film. I can probably blame my Catholic up-bringing on liking this one.
I also saw League Of Extrordinary Gentlemen, Tomb Raider 2, Scary Movie 3, American Wedding, Haunted Mansion, Legally Blonde 2, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Dumb And Dumberer, Daddy Day Care, Bruce Almighty, Finding Nemo, Anger Management, Holes, Identity, Charlie Angels Full Throttle, View From The Top, Blue Collar Comedy Tour - The Movie, The Core, Old School, and Kangaroo Jack. Some like The Core blew me away. Other's like Kangaroo Jack seemed to be movies where I felt like I was doing time as a parent.
In the end though - the movie that sticks in my mind the most as one that I really enjoyed (probably because it was the last one I saw) was Bad Santa. It's not trying to win an academy award - it's just trying to make you laugh, and it truly succeeded with me.
Did I really see 26 movies in theaters this year?! (Can't imagine how many I saw on video too)
That'll be 27 before the end of the year - have to see Return Of The King!
Go to http://sunsite.dk/linux-newbie/ and get the Linux Newbie Administrator's Guide.
I've bought different linux books in the past to try and get me started, and none were as good as the LNAG. Best of all - it's free! Read it online, or download it and print it off at work to piss off your co-workers.:)
I've got to say that I've been using Dailyroutine.com for a few years now, and it has really made my life much, much easier.
I've got certain web pages I like to read every morning (ESPN's NHL section, the Ottawa Sun's sport section, Dilbert, Userfriendly.org, etc.) so to be able to have a single routine that just goes and grabs them all & sticks them into one easy to read web page is great.
When I was on dial up I started it before I got into the shower every morning and it was ready by the time I got out of the shower.
Now I start it at work before I go get my morning coffee and by the time I get back it's done.
I was skeptical that I'd use Dailyroutine.com when I first heard about it. Now I can't imagine my morning web surfing without it.
Trust me - try it for a few weeks and you'll get addicted.
When did I say that I was either in America or that it was the center of the universe?
Yes, you're right - from what I've heard Red Flag is popular in China. I've also heard that ELX is growing in popularity too.
The problem with most linux geeks as a whole is that if you insult the distro THEY use you're automatically a target for flames. (I'm not immune - I use Red Hat and would pursuade others to do the same if they were considering Linux.)
The fact is I've heard of more people using PeanutLinux than I have using TurboLinux. Ditto for LOAF.
I never said anything bad about TurboLinux. I tried it, I didn't like it, I moved on.
Maybe everyone else on the rest of the earth, sun, moon, and stars uses it. They must have the most quiet user base in the history of the Linux though. Users of every other distro defend their's more than they would their own country.
In all my readings of alt.os.linux, etc. I've never heard anyone recommend or say they were using TurboLinux. Simple comment - not patriotic or political, just a fact.
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone want to wager on how much longer that guy will be employed by Microsoft?
/., and something like this (if it can be verified as authentic) is a pretty black eye to MS.
:)
Ya know that MS must lurk @
That being said, I'm sitting here giggling with maniacal laughter just thinking about the whole thing.
...by this logic, every time I do a net install of Linux my ISP is going to send my name to the music and movie associations because I'm using too much bandwidth.
Guess I'd better not make too many phone calls with Vonage either, or they'll report me for that.
Welcome to the 2000's folks - where it's guilty until the RIAA/MPAA/whatever decides that after a careful anal probe, you're not guilty of a crime at the moment but damn it they're watching you and they know you're stealing something and they're just waiting to get the proof so that they can nail you, your grandmother, and anyone you were ever related to because they're just not rich enough. (How's that for a run on sentence?!)
Calgon take me away...
...was buying an Aretha Franklin CD from a co-worker. ;)
Anyone else think that some script kiddie had managed to hack /. and put up their manifesto when they saw something that long?
...tax software is the one thing I don't mind paying for, and specifically because if Turbo Tax screws up big time and I find the IRS crawling up my hoo-hah, I would expect that I could go to Turbo Tax and at least get them to explain why the problem happened. (provided the problem wasn't caused by stupid user input)
I don't think I could expect to sue any other company for their software flaws, but I think everyone expects tax software to be as accurate as possible and to have the backing of the software company if it's not.
I charge a flat rate of $100/hour whether it's personal or business.
I value my personal time greatly, and if I've got to be inconvenienced to work on someone's computer problems I want it to both compensate me appropriately for my time, and give a little pain to their wallet. This scares most people off, and frankly that's why I set the rate at that. For those that do pay my rate I make sure they get what they asked for and usually more.
I'm pretty liberal on tracking my time, but that of course fluctuates from person to person. The more annoying - the closer I track my time.
There are exceptions of course. I wouldn't dream of charging my folks or my mother & father in-law. OTOH my brother is turning into a multiple-call-a-day person, and that's where I draw the line.
I may come off as a jerk in this post, but think about it. Do you want to work for little or nothing for everyone you're related to, all your friends, all their friends, and so on while you get no time with your own wife & kids to enjoy life?? Personally my time is my time to relax. If they can't understand that they can call Geek Squad and pay more for less service.
Thinking that sounded grumpy,
- Dave
Working on my masters in network security, and probably CISSP. May see you after May '06 when I graduate. ;)
So you're saying you prefer tools that have been dumbed down to the point that any shmoe can run them instead of some trained individual that can intelligently interpret what he's seeing? ...and on top of this part of the justification is that it's "free money" because Uncle Sam is footing the bill??
Sorry, but this is *HUGE* example of why my taxes are so big!
Have a Series 2 Tivo, built a MythTV box to replace it, but haven't sold the Tivo yet.
This just might be the inspiration to get it on eBay tonight...
I'm with you, but re: the games you're talking about - FreeCraft kicks ass!
Can't remember what they're calling it now, but I've spent a lot of time playing FreeCraft, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Quake 3 Arena, and others all with native support on Linux.
We'll see how the average grandmother deals with Debian Linux soon.
I refuse to turn my mother-in-law loose with the roach motel that is Windows ME, so she'll be running Debian with KDE soon.
I can spend a ton of money on software for an OS upgrade to XP, Microsoft Office, some recipe program, etc. or I can spend an hour installing Debian across a cable modem connection and give her all that an a hell of a lot more for free.
Gee, let me think...
Quite the contrary - open source software isn't perfect either, but I certainly prefer what OSS will give me for free vs. the idiocy that commercial software brings with it.
I find that those that slam open source software tend to be those that haven't given it a fair shot and are uneducated about what it can offer them. There's a reason that many who try it don't go back to buying software.
Hard saying Free is bad when the software is that good!
LOL
;)
Nope on the satan worshiping and bible banning - correct on everything else.
...at least when it comes to GPL software I know what I'm getting into when I use it.
Let's see - software that works the way it' supposed to, has no spyware, and is trustworthy or something with a EULA and none of the above?
Someone tell me again why Windows and commercial software are so much better than open source / free software because I'm just not getting it...
- Dave
All I can say is it's gotta be a slow day on /. when this makes the site.
Floppies going away is news? How many of us remember or have worked with 8" disks, 5.25" disks, MFM or RLL hard drives, or remember when DOS 2.0 was a big deal because storage on floppies went from 160 or 320K in DOS 1.0 (depending on if you used single sided or double sided drives) to 180 or 360k?
Floppies are already dead. Dirt cheap CDR's and USB keys put the nails in the floppy coffin in the past few years, and I dare say you can toss Zip disks in with 'em.
Thinking I submitted way better stories than this that got rejected,
- Dave
I was running a movie theater in 1996, and we got to have a special sneak preview of the movie Ed. I put the film together, and my dad, four year old son, and I started to watch it. Seeing as it was a kid's film I figured we'd get both the pleasure of seeing it in peace and making sure I spliced it together properly. Fifteen minutes into the movie the kid was playing with his cars in the aisle of the theater, and my father and I couldn't believe this wasn't a straight to video movie.
When the pinacle of humor in a film is a monkey farting, it's time to seriously consider execution for talentless writers that turn out drivel like this. I hope whoever wrote and produced this turkey is asking, "Would you like fries with that?" somewhere now.
Say what you want about bad films like Plan 9, Bride of the Monster, or other such films. (Ed Wood's catalog is such an easy target!) There's much to be said about trying to make Independence Day on a Clerks budget. Imagine Wood's visions with a real budget and special effects dept. A remake of Plan 9 as Wood saw it in his head might be a pretty good film.
OTOH all the budget and special effects in the world couldn't help a dud like Ed.
Take the world's most unreliable operating system, combine it with a manufacturer who's name is rumored to be short for "Fix It Again Tony", and what do you get? Probably the fabled car with the hood welded shut that Open Source fans (like myself) have talked about for years.
Congrats to Microsoft and Fiat - I was wondering who'd finally build a replacement for the Yugo...
...the only thing that I can think of that my wife and I use Java for is when we play Yahoo Pool against each other. I also used to use it for Limewire before I became too paranoid to use that anymore. Oh - maybe for OpenOffice.org too.
;)
FWIW I've been using Linux as my desktop OS for 3 or 4 years, and my wife has been using it as her desktop OS for the past year. The idea of actually buying software is more and more foreign every day.
Nice idea, but at $39.99 per month?
I've had Vonage for quite a while now, and I find it to be superb -AND- it just dropped to $29.99 per month for unlimited calling. Not exactly hard to take price wise, and guiltless LD to everyone I know in the US and Canada is pretty sweet.
Vonage gets my vote all the way, but I've never tried any others. I never had to - Vonage has been flawless since day 1.
...I've got to say that the past year has to have been the worst year in my career.
I was a WAN analyst for a Fortune 500 (well it was until recently) company, and enjoying all the geekiness that goes with working on a network comprised of point to point, frame relay, ISDN, VPN, and other such transports into the corporate WAN.
Last April I was told that my position was eliminated due to budget cutbacks and they were moving me to a role in IT Operations (read - HELPDESK) so that I could bring the folks in that team up to a higher level of awareness of how networks work. It meant I was going to still be employed, so I accepted. What a mistake.
One year later I find myself bored to tears having gone from WAN guru to doing share access cases for corporate users. Nothing like stepping back to 1996 in my career. You know - BEFORE I had any experience as a Windows NT / Windows 2000 / Novell / Solaris / Linux administrator, before I had any experience as a WAN analyst, etc.
I've been desperately looking for another job, and have been rather open about that at work. I was recently offered a transfer to the LAN team, but told them I'd had interviews at places that'd be more money, no on call, and about 45 minutes less of a commute. I might as well have been talking to The Bobs as they wished me good luck and to keep them posted.
Did I mention that the Ops position was shift work, and I've been stuck working every weekend since Christmas?? Just what you want to do when you're a newly wed...
Beyond annoyed at work, and thinking of changing my name to Peter.
- Dave
I came into 2003 waiting anxiously like many people for the Matrix sequels. Matrix Reloaded was okay, but it should've set off a big warning sign in my head. I came out of Matrix 1 wanting more and excited for anything else they could give me. OTOH I came out of Matrix Reloaded without any excitement at all for any more, yet on our honeymoon my wife and I found ourselves at the Downtown Disney theater watching Matrix Revolutions. When it was done we both walked out shaking our heads wondering what the hell we'd just seen. We hated it and both felt that if Matrix 3 was the first movie instead of the 3rd - there never would've been a second Matrix. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!
Elf was extremely good, and is bound to topple Scrooged! as the most played Christmas movie on broadcast TV in probably 2005. (I'm guessing that HBO / Cinemax / Showtime will play it to death for 2004.)
Cat In The Hat... When did the Cat become a Jewish woman? Mike Myers seemed confused as to what voice he was trying to use. It would've been better as "Austin Powers 4 - The Hairball Myers Coughed Up." My wife liked it, my step-son liked it, I sat there praying for it to be over soon.
September, aka Bad Slasher Movie Month, brought a movie my wife wanted to see, but I didn't - The Order. I reluctantly went to see it with her, and when it was over she didn't really like it, and I loved it. Very interesting, bizarre film. I can probably blame my Catholic up-bringing on liking this one.
I also saw League Of Extrordinary Gentlemen, Tomb Raider 2, Scary Movie 3, American Wedding, Haunted Mansion, Legally Blonde 2, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Dumb And Dumberer, Daddy Day Care, Bruce Almighty, Finding Nemo, Anger Management, Holes, Identity, Charlie Angels Full Throttle, View From The Top, Blue Collar Comedy Tour - The Movie, The Core, Old School, and Kangaroo Jack. Some like The Core blew me away. Other's like Kangaroo Jack seemed to be movies where I felt like I was doing time as a parent.
In the end though - the movie that sticks in my mind the most as one that I really enjoyed (probably because it was the last one I saw) was Bad Santa. It's not trying to win an academy award - it's just trying to make you laugh, and it truly succeeded with me.
Did I really see 26 movies in theaters this year?! (Can't imagine how many I saw on video too)
That'll be 27 before the end of the year - have to see Return Of The King!
Go to http://sunsite.dk/linux-newbie/ and get the Linux Newbie Administrator's Guide.
:)
I've bought different linux books in the past to try and get me started, and none were as good as the LNAG. Best of all - it's free! Read it online, or download it and print it off at work to piss off your co-workers.
- Dave
I've got to say that I've been using Dailyroutine.com for a few years now, and it has really made my life much, much easier.
I've got certain web pages I like to read every morning (ESPN's NHL section, the Ottawa Sun's sport section, Dilbert, Userfriendly.org, etc.) so to be able to have a single routine that just goes and grabs them all & sticks them into one easy to read web page is great.
When I was on dial up I started it before I got into the shower every morning and it was ready by the time I got out of the shower.
Now I start it at work before I go get my morning coffee and by the time I get back it's done.
I was skeptical that I'd use Dailyroutine.com when I first heard about it. Now I can't imagine my morning web surfing without it.
Trust me - try it for a few weeks and you'll get addicted.
When did I say that I was either in America or that it was the center of the universe?
Yes, you're right - from what I've heard Red Flag is popular in China. I've also heard that ELX is growing in popularity too.
The problem with most linux geeks as a whole is that if you insult the distro THEY use you're automatically a target for flames. (I'm not immune - I use Red Hat and would pursuade others to do the same if they were considering Linux.)
The fact is I've heard of more people using PeanutLinux than I have using TurboLinux. Ditto for LOAF.
I never said anything bad about TurboLinux. I tried it, I didn't like it, I moved on.
Maybe everyone else on the rest of the earth, sun, moon, and stars uses it. They must have the most quiet user base in the history of the Linux though. Users of every other distro defend their's more than they would their own country.
In all my readings of alt.os.linux, etc. I've never heard anyone recommend or say they were using TurboLinux. Simple comment - not patriotic or political, just a fact.
It's not just Taco. Go to alt.os.linux and ask who is running TurboLinux. I doubt you'd get many responses.
Red Hat (my personal favorite), Debian, Mandrake, Slack, and SuSE seem to be the big players.
I'm not saying there's no place in the world for Turbo - just that I've never known anyone who uses it.