Let's see, bribe psychopaths and criminals to not be evil... How has that worked out for the US historically, in say places like Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Afghanistan, etc... Not so well I think. So why should we expect that kind of failed policy to work in society at large? How about we just teach people skills, that allow them to employ themselves, and not rely on the government or corporations?
And in further news, the sky is blue.
Of course climate change is going to cause weather changes. That's commonsense. The debate is what caused the climate change - the natural evolution of the climate (gradual warming as we emerge from the last ice age, which takes thousands of years to occur; the earth was much warmer than it is now, during the dinosaur era before the ice age) or man-made influences? For me, there are merits to both theories, but no definitive evidence to choose one over the other as "the cause".
In my opinion, the weather isn't any different than it was during the '80s. If anything, we actually have more frequent drier winters. For example, we only had one major snowstorm last year. This year is more the norm - hence the term "Hardy New Englanders". The excitement comes from weather folks trying to drum up advertising revenue by hyping the storms, and migration of southern folk to the Northeast, for better job opportunities, and they can't handle the weather.
Are you that naive that you don't think they have that data already, through you paying taxes to the IRS, you know, the info on your W2 form? They simply are filling a bureaucratic requirement, and soliciting data that legally binds Google to the data, for which they can then be legally accountable for. Plus if the get it in one big data snapshot, it makes it easier to analyze. I thought Googlers were supposed to be the smart ones?
And there you go. 120,000 years ago, before cars and industrial CO2 sources, the earth was warmer than it is now. The earth goes through natural warming and cooling cycles. There is no magic mystery. Which makes complete commonsense, as it would have to of been warmer to support large roaming reptiles, and of course we have evidence of glacial periods, where the earth was much colder. It's not denial. It's let's see what the historical record truly is, when the scientists actually have the tools to gather real evidence, and not just make conjecture, in order to make plausible, a specific political agenda.
Let's face it, this is a tax, to give money back to phone companies, to do a service that they would do in the first place anyways, if the government allowed market competition. Verizon - No, that area doesn't meet our 40% profit threshold; Joe's Phone Service - No problem, I can do that and still make money at 10% margin. But regulation keeps Joe from competing in that market, so the artificial forced alternative is no service. It's the same reason why everyone doesn't have at least 5 different options for high speed Internet access. A lot of the debate centers around copper line delivery. However, I have to wonder if what is being missed is subsidies toward satellite-based feeder services (Satellite to rural area to copper line to consumer). That would be a big capital expenditure and I could see a large dollar value on a line by line basis, if that was the delivery method. Still not an excuse for the subsidy in the first place, but it would explain the numbers.
That's the big difference operational security versus blanket administrative keeping secrets. Spying on foreigners = operational security; spying on Americans = administrative keeping secrets/authoritarian government. The NSA is supposed to be used for counter intelligence against foreign spies, not spy on Americans and controlling the populace. The administrative side of the government should not be allowed to keep secrets, period. I have no problem with the NSA doing a reverse look up based on terrorist communicating with an American citizen. That's a limited search with a reasonable suspicion per the 4th amendment. I also don't believe for a second that they don't have the actual content of the conversations. They may not be able to use them legally without getting a court order, but you know they can bring them up in a second as soon as they get that order (which is a rubber stamp operation of the secret FISA court). The fact that we even have secret courts is a problem. Justice can only be had publicly, with both sides having equal representation, with all facts on the table, reviewed and judged by our fellow citizens.
To be honest, you'd be better off applying for strictly networking jobs where you can show your experience with what you have done so far. Find a good networking job that will use all of the skills you have learned and that will pay you the same or better than the low-ballers that want to hire one person to wear many hats (i.e. do 5 jobs for the price of 1). They are out there, especially at academic institutions and network appliance vendors. Network appliance vendors, specifically firewall and traffic screening, will also get you experience in network security, which would be more closely related to what you do now, versus learning a different career path of application server management. Network security is extremely lucrative right now and would be the better direction for you if you want a long career. MS Exchange and database storage is rapidly moving to the cloud, and on premise management is declining or moving towards managed services. The database people still in the office are more programmers than server/application technicians. I'm not saying there isn't a need for DBAs or SQL Database administrators right now, but the scene is quickly consolidating and moving in other directions. If you really want to learn all those apps, by all means take more Microsoft training classes and join a consulting company, you'll get the experience you want, while it lasts.
I would disagree with the comparison to New Coke. Drinkers of New Coke plain just didn't like it and there was nothing Coke could do to fix the product itself, so they had to revert to a different formula.
Windows 8 is more like the recent J.C. Penney disaster. Microsoft brought out this new version of what they think an operating system should be like, and ignored what their customers were telling them. Windows 8 can be fixed, Microsoft just needs to be willing to listen to their customers. They can start by making Metro an optional GUI overlay that can be enabled by the user - and not the default GUI. They can make Aero an optional GUI theme that can be enabled. Of course no one will get fired at Microsoft over this debacle like the JCP CEO did (except Steven who tried to stop the Windows roll-out). Microsoft should roll out a service pack for Windows 8 that takes care of these issues.
The line "Two researchers conducted an experiment in their bathroom..." doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence or credibility to the alleged findings... A temperature controlled clean-room laboratory, maybe...
Baloney. In most offices you have a few people that are responsible for key output - typically tied to revenue/profit/quality. Everyone else is collecting a paycheck until the key people come knocking to piss them into doing work. It goes like this: Joe CEO: Why are shipments down? Joe Ship Supervisor: So and so in manufacturing/sales/customer service/etc isn't doing their job, so I am not hitting my metrics. Joe CEO: So and so get the F back to work! So and so: Sure thing boss! Two months goes by. Repeat. Rinse. Wash. So and so is never held accountable, the key people work harder for less, and the company eventually has high turnover of key people and/or the company goes out of business.
This is just another case of management dysfunction. Management has the data to show who wasn't meeting their work obligations, but rather than hold specific employees accountable, they create a blanket policy that penalizes everyone. Those employees still get to keep their jobs and slack off at work (long lunches, multiple coffee breaks, You Tubing, etc...) and people who would love those jobs don't get the chance to help make Yahoo a better organization. Not to mention further reduction in employee morale. Data analysis is all well and good, but you still have to make good decisions.
TechNet and MSDN documentation and associated sites like msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio and asp.net are actually really good and I use them a lot. The problem is that they are not searchable from traditional public search engines or the content scores really low on the the search engine rankings. Most developers first reaction to a problem is to Google it, and 9 out of 10 times the first results are all links to Stack Overflow. That's better than it used to be which was pay gates to Experts Exchange. I won't say that is Google's or Microsoft's problem directly, but I would think it would be in both parties' interest to get better quality documentation to the top of the search results. Microsoft definitely needs to improve the search ability of TechNet and MSDN as well.
Except most ultrabooks under $1500 only have a 720p display. Given that you get a 1080p display and can get a Bluetooth keyboard for $25 (that can work with more than just the Surface), This is an OK deal. However having used netbooks and slates, I personally need at least a 13" or 14" class device with 1080p, so I will be a hold-out until such an ultrabook model with touch becomes available at a more reasonable price. Until then, I'll be lugging my ThinkPad T510. I have an Asus Transformer Prime tablet with keyboard dock, but that is more a toy/living room device than a productive work device.
There is more to it then that. For Toyota, specifically Tundra trucks (but I believe all Toyota models), you can't get a repair manual for even minor service work, because Toyota won't permit Haynes etc.. to publish them. If you are a licensed mechanic, you can order the official service set, at $2000.00 a volume.
Once again, Adobe sucks at communicating. Flash on mobile is not dead. Flash is a platform, and Adobe's Flash-based tools - Flash Builder and the Adobe Air SDK - can continued to be used to build Flash, Flex, and ActionScript-based applications that compile as native applications that run on iOS, Android, and Blackberry mobile platforms (Why not Microsoft Windows Phone? I have no idea).
Baloney. Teaching to the test is exactly why we have so many MCP and MCSE paper professionals in the IT world that don't know jack. All they know is theory and they don't have any commonsense diagnostic skills to track down root causes of problems. They're the ones who reformat and ask questions later.
Teaching to the test teaches children one-dimensional thought processes. That makes them ill prepared for the real world where all kinds of screw ball curves are thrown at you and the text book way to solve an issue may not be the best or most efficient way to solve the problem.
I would say my comment score and the similar comments on this thread are justification enough for my points. As a potential hiring manager it is necessary to read between the lines to evaluate a potential candidate. If this thread was a job interview, this candidate would have been thrown out of the building by his comments alone.
For one, he didn't write a major application, he wrote a basic help desk application of which there are thousands of free existing applications available which could of been used or modified for his company's use.
Despite your narrow view, money is often not the main driver for a job, else we would all run our own businesses in order to control how much we make. Some people like the challenge of working with limited resources or helping to grow a struggling company. Others like the challenge of the work involved. Some like the community within the organization. Others take jobs for the learning opportunity.
He doesn't have an interest in improving the efficiency or profitability of the company because he would of just done it if he did as opposed to claiming to have a solution that *could* improve the situation and sitting on his laurels watching his teammates struggle with the daily work load.
Sitting around 20% of the time doing nothing is poor time management. He should be offering to help others with their work, training other employees, investing in his own skill set, or developing solutions to help the company (and possibly himself by way of bonuses if his work can make the company more profitable).
We have no way of knowing whether he is an employee in good standing - based on his comments and demonstrated self-entitlement, it would be easy to argue that he is not. We haven't seen what he produced "as a hobby", we just have his word. It could be total crap. As he admits on his own, he is not a programmer.
Of course it is reasonable to want more, but more isn't always equal to more money.
You've just pretty much killed your job career by posting this publicly, but for the sake of the next sysadmin to come along, I'll offer this advice as a potential employer. I have worked in several jobs in which I clearly had skills above and beyond the called for requirements. Those skills are considered pluses for the employer and you are expected to use them if you can benefit the company by them. In this particular case, your actions speak louder than your skill set. You have proven that:
1. You won't accept any responsibility greater than called for in your job description which makes you an inflexible employee
2. You are only in it for the money
3. You have zero concern for helping to improve the efficiency and potential profitability of the company through reduced overhead
4. You are unable to self-manage your time
5. You are unwilling to tutor other employees
6. You are unwilling to demonstrate your alleged advanced skill set through practical application of those skills
7. You demonstrated that you prefer to reinvent the wheel by creating an new application versus researching, implementing, and customizing one of many free and paid applications available through the Internet
You need to remember that life is a job interview. Everything you do reflects on you as a person and as an employee. While you may not receive financial compensation for your work, down the road that work may be your foot in the door to a better opportunity with compensation and benefits that may outweigh the effort that was given away for the original work.
To get some basic credentials for the HR types, enroll in a web designer certificate course at your local community college. If you have taught your self well enough, you will blow through it and maybe pick up a thing or two while you are at it. Next, try getting a web design job with a local college or university. They are more forgiving as to who they hire because they can't afford to hire for top notch skills or experience. You'll get better than decent benefits, OK pay, and get the experience you need to move on. If you're smart, you'll take some college classes/get a degree in web design while you are working there. Typically you can take classes for free if you work for a school. From there you'll be on equal footing with the rest of the web design crowd. To stand out, you'll need to land some gigs for high profile clients or prove your worth with the latest technologies and industry trends.
You can take it a step farther, not only does every O/S come with a browser, they also come with web browsing framework. In Windows it's the.NET WebBrowser class that uses Internet Explorer technology, on Mac OS/iOS and Google Chrome its WebKit, on Linux (Gnome) its Epiphany. So literally every O/S has web technology baked in. So no, the argument is moot at this point. And frankly the average consumer doesn't care what the browser is as long as they can get to the Internet, so there would be little to base an Anti-trust battle on again because you wouldn't be able to prove the consumer is being hurt.
A lot of the books mentioned are fairly specific to C, C++, Java, etc... but I like to get down to the basics of programming logic, application design, and "KISS". Joyce Farrell's Programming Logic and Design does exactly that and forces you to think how you can improve the optimization of your algorithms through careful planning. I can honestly say I have written better code (and documentation) as a result of reading the book and practicing its philosophy. I also think Joyce's Java Programming text was a lot more comprehensible than the Deitel How to Program Java text.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it probably has a lot more to do with the $150,000 a year salary versus the age. It has been a trend for a long time now that companies are cutting salaries and benefits of employees to reduce overhead costs and improve the bottom line/profit. If a company can bring in one of the millions of unemployed Americans to code C, COBOL, or your language of choice for less money, you bet they are going to do it. It doesn't take a professor affiliated with multiple universities to figure that one out...
If you truly are concerned about the trustworthiness of your systems administrator; you definitely don't have the right person in place and you need to take steps NOW to ensure the continuity of your systems. Start implementing strict documentation standards for everything - passwords, system maintenance procedures, run books, network diagrams, etc... This information then needs to be stored in location accessible by senior executives and audited by an external firm to ensure completeness and validity. You have to be careful about this though, because it can be a tip off that the administrator's tenure is coming to a close shortly. It can be very costly to have your admin walk off the job with all the passwords. Your systems will be unmanageable and if the passwords can not be recovered by a forensics firm, you'll have to wipe and re-implement the affected systems. Better to have a discussion with all employees and say that the company has come under regulatory scrutiny, or some other excuse, and that all departments must now thoroughly document everything they do. Then everybody is on an equal playing field and employees are less likely to think more into it.
As far as backups go, bring in an external firm to configure, perform, monitor, and audit the backups. The best system would be an off-site mirror of your data center managed by this firm. But tape archives can be effective as well. Either way, your administrator would be discouraged from tampering with the backups, as an audit would immediately show any attempts at sabotage. But even with backups, you could be talking about days of downtime before all systems could be restored, so best to fix the human problem first before you even get to this point.
I went into a local community college with a team of talented system engineers after they were forced to fire their hands-on IT manager. They neglected to get typed and validated documentation from him before they kicked him out, and it took us days to crack all of the passwords and document all of the systems and networks. I estimate it probably cost the college at least $20,000 for this forensics work because they didn't handle the situation properly.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see, bribe psychopaths and criminals to not be evil... How has that worked out for the US historically, in say places like Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Afghanistan, etc... Not so well I think. So why should we expect that kind of failed policy to work in society at large? How about we just teach people skills, that allow them to employ themselves, and not rely on the government or corporations?
And in further news, the sky is blue. Of course climate change is going to cause weather changes. That's commonsense. The debate is what caused the climate change - the natural evolution of the climate (gradual warming as we emerge from the last ice age, which takes thousands of years to occur; the earth was much warmer than it is now, during the dinosaur era before the ice age) or man-made influences? For me, there are merits to both theories, but no definitive evidence to choose one over the other as "the cause". In my opinion, the weather isn't any different than it was during the '80s. If anything, we actually have more frequent drier winters. For example, we only had one major snowstorm last year. This year is more the norm - hence the term "Hardy New Englanders". The excitement comes from weather folks trying to drum up advertising revenue by hyping the storms, and migration of southern folk to the Northeast, for better job opportunities, and they can't handle the weather.
Are you that naive that you don't think they have that data already, through you paying taxes to the IRS, you know, the info on your W2 form? They simply are filling a bureaucratic requirement, and soliciting data that legally binds Google to the data, for which they can then be legally accountable for. Plus if the get it in one big data snapshot, it makes it easier to analyze. I thought Googlers were supposed to be the smart ones?
And there you go. 120,000 years ago, before cars and industrial CO2 sources, the earth was warmer than it is now. The earth goes through natural warming and cooling cycles. There is no magic mystery. Which makes complete commonsense, as it would have to of been warmer to support large roaming reptiles, and of course we have evidence of glacial periods, where the earth was much colder. It's not denial. It's let's see what the historical record truly is, when the scientists actually have the tools to gather real evidence, and not just make conjecture, in order to make plausible, a specific political agenda.
It just works. Well sometimes... But we're Apple and you love us anyways!
Let's face it, this is a tax, to give money back to phone companies, to do a service that they would do in the first place anyways, if the government allowed market competition. Verizon - No, that area doesn't meet our 40% profit threshold; Joe's Phone Service - No problem, I can do that and still make money at 10% margin. But regulation keeps Joe from competing in that market, so the artificial forced alternative is no service. It's the same reason why everyone doesn't have at least 5 different options for high speed Internet access. A lot of the debate centers around copper line delivery. However, I have to wonder if what is being missed is subsidies toward satellite-based feeder services (Satellite to rural area to copper line to consumer). That would be a big capital expenditure and I could see a large dollar value on a line by line basis, if that was the delivery method. Still not an excuse for the subsidy in the first place, but it would explain the numbers.
That's the big difference operational security versus blanket administrative keeping secrets. Spying on foreigners = operational security; spying on Americans = administrative keeping secrets/authoritarian government. The NSA is supposed to be used for counter intelligence against foreign spies, not spy on Americans and controlling the populace. The administrative side of the government should not be allowed to keep secrets, period. I have no problem with the NSA doing a reverse look up based on terrorist communicating with an American citizen. That's a limited search with a reasonable suspicion per the 4th amendment. I also don't believe for a second that they don't have the actual content of the conversations. They may not be able to use them legally without getting a court order, but you know they can bring them up in a second as soon as they get that order (which is a rubber stamp operation of the secret FISA court). The fact that we even have secret courts is a problem. Justice can only be had publicly, with both sides having equal representation, with all facts on the table, reviewed and judged by our fellow citizens.
To be honest, you'd be better off applying for strictly networking jobs where you can show your experience with what you have done so far. Find a good networking job that will use all of the skills you have learned and that will pay you the same or better than the low-ballers that want to hire one person to wear many hats (i.e. do 5 jobs for the price of 1). They are out there, especially at academic institutions and network appliance vendors. Network appliance vendors, specifically firewall and traffic screening, will also get you experience in network security, which would be more closely related to what you do now, versus learning a different career path of application server management. Network security is extremely lucrative right now and would be the better direction for you if you want a long career. MS Exchange and database storage is rapidly moving to the cloud, and on premise management is declining or moving towards managed services. The database people still in the office are more programmers than server/application technicians. I'm not saying there isn't a need for DBAs or SQL Database administrators right now, but the scene is quickly consolidating and moving in other directions. If you really want to learn all those apps, by all means take more Microsoft training classes and join a consulting company, you'll get the experience you want, while it lasts.
I would disagree with the comparison to New Coke. Drinkers of New Coke plain just didn't like it and there was nothing Coke could do to fix the product itself, so they had to revert to a different formula.
Windows 8 is more like the recent J.C. Penney disaster. Microsoft brought out this new version of what they think an operating system should be like, and ignored what their customers were telling them. Windows 8 can be fixed, Microsoft just needs to be willing to listen to their customers. They can start by making Metro an optional GUI overlay that can be enabled by the user - and not the default GUI. They can make Aero an optional GUI theme that can be enabled. Of course no one will get fired at Microsoft over this debacle like the JCP CEO did (except Steven who tried to stop the Windows roll-out). Microsoft should roll out a service pack for Windows 8 that takes care of these issues.
The line "Two researchers conducted an experiment in their bathroom..." doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence or credibility to the alleged findings... A temperature controlled clean-room laboratory, maybe...
Baloney. In most offices you have a few people that are responsible for key output - typically tied to revenue/profit/quality. Everyone else is collecting a paycheck until the key people come knocking to piss them into doing work. It goes like this: Joe CEO: Why are shipments down? Joe Ship Supervisor: So and so in manufacturing/sales/customer service/etc isn't doing their job, so I am not hitting my metrics. Joe CEO: So and so get the F back to work! So and so: Sure thing boss! Two months goes by. Repeat. Rinse. Wash. So and so is never held accountable, the key people work harder for less, and the company eventually has high turnover of key people and/or the company goes out of business.
This is just another case of management dysfunction. Management has the data to show who wasn't meeting their work obligations, but rather than hold specific employees accountable, they create a blanket policy that penalizes everyone. Those employees still get to keep their jobs and slack off at work (long lunches, multiple coffee breaks, You Tubing, etc...) and people who would love those jobs don't get the chance to help make Yahoo a better organization. Not to mention further reduction in employee morale. Data analysis is all well and good, but you still have to make good decisions.
TechNet and MSDN documentation and associated sites like msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio and asp.net are actually really good and I use them a lot. The problem is that they are not searchable from traditional public search engines or the content scores really low on the the search engine rankings. Most developers first reaction to a problem is to Google it, and 9 out of 10 times the first results are all links to Stack Overflow. That's better than it used to be which was pay gates to Experts Exchange. I won't say that is Google's or Microsoft's problem directly, but I would think it would be in both parties' interest to get better quality documentation to the top of the search results. Microsoft definitely needs to improve the search ability of TechNet and MSDN as well.
Except most ultrabooks under $1500 only have a 720p display. Given that you get a 1080p display and can get a Bluetooth keyboard for $25 (that can work with more than just the Surface), This is an OK deal. However having used netbooks and slates, I personally need at least a 13" or 14" class device with 1080p, so I will be a hold-out until such an ultrabook model with touch becomes available at a more reasonable price. Until then, I'll be lugging my ThinkPad T510. I have an Asus Transformer Prime tablet with keyboard dock, but that is more a toy/living room device than a productive work device.
There is more to it then that. For Toyota, specifically Tundra trucks (but I believe all Toyota models), you can't get a repair manual for even minor service work, because Toyota won't permit Haynes etc.. to publish them. If you are a licensed mechanic, you can order the official service set, at $2000.00 a volume.
Once again, Adobe sucks at communicating. Flash on mobile is not dead. Flash is a platform, and Adobe's Flash-based tools - Flash Builder and the Adobe Air SDK - can continued to be used to build Flash, Flex, and ActionScript-based applications that compile as native applications that run on iOS, Android, and Blackberry mobile platforms (Why not Microsoft Windows Phone? I have no idea).
Baloney. Teaching to the test is exactly why we have so many MCP and MCSE paper professionals in the IT world that don't know jack. All they know is theory and they don't have any commonsense diagnostic skills to track down root causes of problems. They're the ones who reformat and ask questions later.
Teaching to the test teaches children one-dimensional thought processes. That makes them ill prepared for the real world where all kinds of screw ball curves are thrown at you and the text book way to solve an issue may not be the best or most efficient way to solve the problem.
I would say my comment score and the similar comments on this thread are justification enough for my points. As a potential hiring manager it is necessary to read between the lines to evaluate a potential candidate. If this thread was a job interview, this candidate would have been thrown out of the building by his comments alone.
For one, he didn't write a major application, he wrote a basic help desk application of which there are thousands of free existing applications available which could of been used or modified for his company's use.
Despite your narrow view, money is often not the main driver for a job, else we would all run our own businesses in order to control how much we make. Some people like the challenge of working with limited resources or helping to grow a struggling company. Others like the challenge of the work involved. Some like the community within the organization. Others take jobs for the learning opportunity.
He doesn't have an interest in improving the efficiency or profitability of the company because he would of just done it if he did as opposed to claiming to have a solution that *could* improve the situation and sitting on his laurels watching his teammates struggle with the daily work load.
Sitting around 20% of the time doing nothing is poor time management. He should be offering to help others with their work, training other employees, investing in his own skill set, or developing solutions to help the company (and possibly himself by way of bonuses if his work can make the company more profitable).
We have no way of knowing whether he is an employee in good standing - based on his comments and demonstrated self-entitlement, it would be easy to argue that he is not. We haven't seen what he produced "as a hobby", we just have his word. It could be total crap. As he admits on his own, he is not a programmer.
Of course it is reasonable to want more, but more isn't always equal to more money.
You need to remember that life is a job interview. Everything you do reflects on you as a person and as an employee. While you may not receive financial compensation for your work, down the road that work may be your foot in the door to a better opportunity with compensation and benefits that may outweigh the effort that was given away for the original work.
To get some basic credentials for the HR types, enroll in a web designer certificate course at your local community college. If you have taught your self well enough, you will blow through it and maybe pick up a thing or two while you are at it. Next, try getting a web design job with a local college or university. They are more forgiving as to who they hire because they can't afford to hire for top notch skills or experience. You'll get better than decent benefits, OK pay, and get the experience you need to move on. If you're smart, you'll take some college classes/get a degree in web design while you are working there. Typically you can take classes for free if you work for a school. From there you'll be on equal footing with the rest of the web design crowd. To stand out, you'll need to land some gigs for high profile clients or prove your worth with the latest technologies and industry trends.
You can take it a step farther, not only does every O/S come with a browser, they also come with web browsing framework. In Windows it's the .NET WebBrowser class that uses Internet Explorer technology, on Mac OS/iOS and Google Chrome its WebKit, on Linux (Gnome) its Epiphany. So literally every O/S has web technology baked in. So no, the argument is moot at this point. And frankly the average consumer doesn't care what the browser is as long as they can get to the Internet, so there would be little to base an Anti-trust battle on again because you wouldn't be able to prove the consumer is being hurt.
A lot of the books mentioned are fairly specific to C, C++, Java, etc... but I like to get down to the basics of programming logic, application design, and "KISS". Joyce Farrell's Programming Logic and Design does exactly that and forces you to think how you can improve the optimization of your algorithms through careful planning. I can honestly say I have written better code (and documentation) as a result of reading the book and practicing its philosophy. I also think Joyce's Java Programming text was a lot more comprehensible than the Deitel How to Program Java text.
I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it probably has a lot more to do with the $150,000 a year salary versus the age. It has been a trend for a long time now that companies are cutting salaries and benefits of employees to reduce overhead costs and improve the bottom line/profit. If a company can bring in one of the millions of unemployed Americans to code C, COBOL, or your language of choice for less money, you bet they are going to do it. It doesn't take a professor affiliated with multiple universities to figure that one out...
If you truly are concerned about the trustworthiness of your systems administrator; you definitely don't have the right person in place and you need to take steps NOW to ensure the continuity of your systems. Start implementing strict documentation standards for everything - passwords, system maintenance procedures, run books, network diagrams, etc... This information then needs to be stored in location accessible by senior executives and audited by an external firm to ensure completeness and validity. You have to be careful about this though, because it can be a tip off that the administrator's tenure is coming to a close shortly. It can be very costly to have your admin walk off the job with all the passwords. Your systems will be unmanageable and if the passwords can not be recovered by a forensics firm, you'll have to wipe and re-implement the affected systems. Better to have a discussion with all employees and say that the company has come under regulatory scrutiny, or some other excuse, and that all departments must now thoroughly document everything they do. Then everybody is on an equal playing field and employees are less likely to think more into it.
As far as backups go, bring in an external firm to configure, perform, monitor, and audit the backups. The best system would be an off-site mirror of your data center managed by this firm. But tape archives can be effective as well. Either way, your administrator would be discouraged from tampering with the backups, as an audit would immediately show any attempts at sabotage. But even with backups, you could be talking about days of downtime before all systems could be restored, so best to fix the human problem first before you even get to this point.
I went into a local community college with a team of talented system engineers after they were forced to fire their hands-on IT manager. They neglected to get typed and validated documentation from him before they kicked him out, and it took us days to crack all of the passwords and document all of the systems and networks. I estimate it probably cost the college at least $20,000 for this forensics work because they didn't handle the situation properly.
What do you mean playing videos will run down your battery?! Now that's just absurd. Adobe needs to redesign Flash so that it charges up your battery.