In light of this article - and the IBM system which it is about - i thought some information on real life experiences with an automated web based helpdesk system.
We are a corporate with 1500 people in Au spread across the country in a variety of locations with differing connections and equipment (from 56k dial up to gigabit ethernet) and have gone thru a number of changes in attempting to provide effective support with most efficient use of resources.
We moved away from a centralised help desk model about 12 months ago and moved to an online and email solution in order to achieve more effective management - the solution seemed simple - we could do away with a 'help desk' and use the staff in that role more effectively as 2nd level support - we could give clients access to their own call information and provide updates and feedback on the call - and we could more effectively track issues and resolutions (vital as we insituting an SAP solution. So we had high hopes - and it sort of worked - here are some of the things we discovered.
1. Uptake - Getting them to use the system was harder than we ever anticipated, users are accustomed to making a call and having a live person fix their fault, they dont need to think about it and thus were not trained to note errors and clearly state a problem (we use PC Anywhere so they were used to staff remote controlling and seeing the problem) in the end we had to simply tell people that if the call isnt logged we cant help them - painfull but it worked
2. Complexity - We were lucky in that we could tailor our web front end of the helpdesk software to make it as easy as possible - but we still had issues - no matter how simple some staff just thre their hands in the air - motto - you cant please all the people
3. Escalations and Priorities - At first we let users set priority themselves (scale of 1-5, 1 HIGH 5 LOW) with guidelines on what to set - what a failure- suddenly we had 95% priority 1 calls (clarification - we use this only for major outages) and our SLA's were screwed. So now we have a simple way of knowing - the user answers 5 simple yes no questions and the system sets priority based on them - example question is Does This Problem Affect more than 1 person ?
4. Staffing - this sort of system quickly shows up the flaws in your staff levels - calls from a geographic or system type area are routed to a Queue for that area - so if you are short staffed the queues blow out quickly - mind you it has anbled us to help staff manage their own territories better.
All in all we have found the process to be positive, by logging calls in this way and having support staff contribute solutions we have built a comprehensive knowledge base of solutions and tips, we used the system to get all staff access to MS Technet and Premium Online support at their desk and this has lead to a smarter and better informed workforce.
But be warned - this sort of system costs - both money (server load was higher than we estimated and this meant a new server) Staffing - A full time admin for the system plus turnover in staff who dont like the change- and client good will - startup was hell - we spent months trying to keep everyone happy before we realised it was impossible.
A further thing, for those who are interested in what this sort of system hides - in other words the real threats to the world these days (now that nuclear weapons are invalidated as a military system)
Read these links
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/bw/index.html - Bio Warfare Facts
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/index.html - Primer on Special Weapons
Read the Bio Weapons one - the article on delivery systems espcecially - this is the threat to the world that George Bush Cannot build defense systems against
Quote from Article : -Biological agents have some unique characteristics that make weaponizing them attractive. Most biological weapons consist of living organisms (toxins are the exception) and, thus, can replicate once disseminated. A relatively small group of persons, using single individuals deployed in a military staging area, could bring about the infection of a large percentage of targeted persons. The clinical illness could develop within a day of dispersal and last for as long as 2-3 weeks. The mission and political impact of such a strike on a combat or constabulary force of 10,000 soldiers may compromise operations. In a civil situation, major subway systems in a densely populated urban area could be targeted for biological agent strike, resulting in massive political and social disorganization. Approximately 10 grams of anthrax spores can kill as many persons as a ton of sarin.
Any country having pharmaceutical, cosmetic, or advanced food storage industries will have stabilization facilities similar to those that could be used for biological weapons. The ability to disseminate the biological agent over a wide area would be limited to those countries having cruise missiles or advanced aircraft. Even the smallest country or a terrorist group, however, has the capability to deliver small quantities of BW agent to a specific target.:-
Now the major thing to bear in mind about the US govt and this is that (and i bet most of you dont know about this one) The US has the biggest bio warfare article on earth and maintains development of new weapons.
And the threat is nothing new. After the Aum Shriyinko Sarin attacks in Tokyo the US did a report into biological attack on a US city and its impact (there was a TV doco on this subject) and the results were fucking frightening.
One story - http://www.sciam.com/1296issue/1296cole.html - The Specter
of Biological Weapons
Think about whats being pulled over your eyes with this Star Wars system ?
Whats next - Special tape players which you place on your womb when pregnant so that the kiddies are well educated and obedient when born ?
What he's really talking about is teaching children what the corporate community considers right or wrong rather than what may be moraly correct.
Whilst i agree that many of these things may be illegal (copyright breach etc) i question that they have any right to teach children what amounts to their views of the law - the laws on music copryright for example are based manily on the money and power of the RIAA and Recording Companies who conveniently ignore the fact that they screw artists for every cent they can make and engage in morally questionable actions in the pursuit of their 'rights'
So this is something we NEED to stop - enough - lets teach children morals and a sense of right and wrong and let them make their own decisions - not give companies the right to educate them about THEIR version of the world.
Good Point - Forgot about the french subs - but the US and France are allied and france developed the capability against Russia - still wonder why they havent decomissioned them ?
China and Taiwan - China considers this a domestic matter and would never use nuc weapons, given the size of their conventional forces they dont need to - they are actually defensive in view and Taiwan rattles the saber in their way as well every now and then (not to defend china)
Still loopkin - thanks for pointing out my error on the french - and a good point about taiwan
Do a bit of reading - a suitcase nuke can be made for as little as $100k and requires no special equipment - it would be dirty and you might get radioactive poisoning but if you are on a jihad you wont care.
Yes they are low yield - you could get up to 10kt - BUT they are DIRTY - you would pack the outside of the fissionable device with More Uranium or spent plutionium (say an old fuel rod which would be easy to buy on the international market)
The point is you dont want high power in a city bomb - you want LOW yield to cause damage on a scale BUT also illness and sickness (Hence the dirty bit) thus overloading Emergency Services and causing maximum fear and panic)
PS - US still have NUC weapons targeted at all major Chinese and Russian Targets - so your point is invalid and a little redundant as despite the media hullaballo about the plane to the contrary the China and the US have a number of treaties, North Korea cant feed their people and their weapons programme has proven to be a lot of bluster, Iraq hasnt got the money left to make bombs anymore - they are the most spied upon nation on earth, and the US border is so easy to get thru its a laugh - go for a drive to canada, last time i was in the US we went back and forth across the border a number of times and it was all on backroads with NO sign of any customs (oh look were in Canada Again !)
And last point - I AM NOT TROLLING BUT - dont poke off at China's Human rights record - The US is also criticised (as is my country of Aust) for its record as well, im not going to be seen as US bashing but you have some questionable things as well.
Like the dont have and wont use - they have the weapons but they wont use them
Russia cannot afford for pay their troops and its questionable that their missiles would work based on current inspections showing that the rocket engines in them have become unstable and would be just as likely to blow up on the pad as anything - havent been serviced in years - Their missile submarine fleet is rotting in Polyarny (Estimated that they have 0 serviceable nuc subs and only a few diesels - their aircraft are being sold off and they havent got money to buy fuel - Plus US knows where they all are
Israel - Short/Intermediate range delivery only and these weapons were made with major US help - and the US knows where they all are
UK - As for israel although they did have ICBM's - not sure of decomissioning timetable - US knows where they all are as they helped build them
France - Mainly short range but do have ICBM capability - You can bet US knows where they all are at any time
Pakistan - If you do a bit of research you will find that at best Pakistan have short range delivery - fighter and IRBM's and it s suspected they actually have less than 10 weapons- Their major focus is India who they have been techinically at war with for over 20years - US likely knows where they all are
India - Have Mainly IRBM's - the information is a little sketchy due to secrecy - they do have an excelent Deep Water navy (now i think 4th largest in the world) and advanced military but money is tight for this sort of weaponry as they are involved in a conventional war with Pakistan - Experts suspect that they may have as many as 50 but likely 20 short range low yield weapons. - Us may have knowledge of location.
China - These guys are the only REAL nucleat power left other than the US - ICBM's and well mainitained - huge conventional forces HOWEVER China is the least likely to use the weapons as it doesnt fit with their national Psyche or their view of the world - they are by tradition a defensive nation and thus these weapons are seen as defensive only.
Star Wars remains as ridiculous an idea as it was 15 years ago - the rest of the world thought the US was kidding about this when Bush brought it back in - I mean the US Govt Refuses to make an effective stand on Chemical and Biological Weapons (hint - you have the largest arsenal in the world and continue to develop them) despite their danger, you refuse to consider controls on weapons sales to non soveriegn groups (that is Non Countries = Arms Dealers).
And thats before the refusal to support greenhouse gas controls, etc etc and lets not even go near capital punishment and its conundrums (There are 3 countries in the world that execute children - you are one of them)
Now this is NOT America bashing - i think that so many great people and ideas come from there - what i am saying is that IMHO the US govt uses crap like Star Wars to prop up the military industrail complex and major corporates (GE happens to be the biggest defence manufacturer in the world - and also a major Republican Party Contributor) - this is what they do to take your attention of other serious issues.
Come on i could as was pointed out, drive into the US from Canada with a low yield nuke in my boot and set it off in New York without a problem - in fact i would have to be so unlucky to get caught it's not funny. Not to mention it would be easy to air drop Anthrax say over a major city (it would cost a limited amount to manufacture enough to kill millions).
Nuclear Weapons are the least of the world worries - think about what all this money could be used for ? Lowering Poverty ? Creating Jobs ? Building Homes for the homeless ? Controlling Global Warming ?
hell you could use it to buy microsoft and shut
it down if you wanted to:)
This smacks very very much of an attempt to make access to whois a paid or subscription service - the gist of some of these comments is not that the mailing lists have been made based on the whois but that they have been made for free.
What committess do these good gentlemen sit on ? what vested interests do they represent ?
The fact is the whois function can be usefull and should be freely available. If i am being attacked of flamed or spammed on my servers from a domain i should have the right to see who owns that domain and what contact details they have.(which 9 times out of 10 will mean nothing as they wil be false or the domain has been hijacked or they just dont give a fuck but i can dream can't i)
This is a natural extension from the INTERNIC bullshit and the selling of domain names for profit. One of the posters mentioned that here - and i have had a similar experience - i did a who is search on a domain name on NSI and then filled in the registration details. Upon sedning this of a day or so later i was told this name was registered to - surprise surprise NSI - and i could buy it for a sum from them - this to me smacks of extortion - 'sure you can have the domain name - seeing as how we own it its only gonna cost you $500 (figure not correct)'.
Then we have the DMCA and their lawyers (or NAZI's as they are otherwise known) these guys are about as subtle as a kick in the gonads and they love whois - they can get contact info to sue you from there - yet they use it to make money as well.
So heres what i predict. (rubs crystal ball)
access to whois information will be regulated by the government with legitimate associations (IDSA) and organisations (DOJ) having free or low cost access to it - corporates will no doubt be able to buy a subscription but the rest of us will likely have to pay by the use or get no access.
Whilst part of me likes the idea of spammers having to pay for this info i become concerned that this is another commodity and yet another way to prevent free access to information on the web - its already hard enough trying to track someone on the web without this being removed.
Now we have solved shower curtain suckage and airflow dynamics can we start work on the next major question of life.
Trolls - What are they, where do they come from and how can we send them back ?
Suggested research methods include anatomy of a troll, defining the troll (open source or pro microsoft) specific studies of famous trolls (trollaxtor) and anaylisis of a troll post (flame and counter flame and just plain nuts)
It would be expected that this research project would aim in finding a way to combat to prolific problem of trolls on/. and could be devloped into an Open Source Project call XTroll - aimed at filtering out and killing trolls thru exposure to large amounts of targeted high quality porn, thus giving them heart attacks due to over arousal.
At the very least this method of attack would ensure that their hands would remain way too busy to type troll and flame posts and prove once and for all the theory about what trolls really are
And its always easy to find one single example to refute this isnt it.
Aligent are one example only - and they appear to be in financial trouble by the looks of it - dont msitake issues of money with industry issues - the reason PC sales have dropped off is related to company fiscal issue - IE they keep going broke (take a look at http://www.fuckedcompany.com)
Windows XP is one product line in the MS catalgoue - the fiaction on it here is related to the WPA concept - which to a corporate means absolutely zilch - we purchase and manage licences under MS Select and Premium Partner agreements for product activation means nothing.
Windows XP doesnt offer any improvment in stability and operability over Win2k Pro (i have a machine running it right next to me with Office XP and a number of other things on it) we wont be moving to it as we have a standard environment.
MS have as much as admitted that the product is aimed at small business, SOHO and home users, thus attempting to cut pirate software rates (where do you think the majority of pirate software is used- hint it isnt corporate desktops). The big corporates have a 1-2 year changeover and takeup rate on NEW os's - many many of them continue to run Winnt4 and will do so for up to 2 more years.
Now this is an excellent point and one that bears looking at - Yes techincally under the GPL their software should be released but are they developing under the GPL. They are using Linux as an OS but i cannot see any reference to GPPL software - i suspect that their software is considered non open source as it is in house developed.
Think about this - the animation industry remains a competitive area and thus anything that gives a company a competitve advantage is closely guarded - thsu their software is something they wont release. And the other thing to note is that they are paying their programmers to write this software - thus they technically 'own' the finished product.
This is an important point to note. We should remember that although we encourage an organisation to use an open source OS we cannot always expect them to release any and all software they develop, they must still be reasonably expect to be able to maintain control of commercial in confidence software and thus maintain their competitve advantage - otherwise what reason is there to go to linux? (support costs arent that much lower)
In the long term we will see the libraries and improvements they have made come down into the market and the GPL community - but they have a right to not release the code they paid to develop.
The Taliban have destroyed ancient religious monuments, returned women to servitude, enforced the islamic laws and persecuted non islams out of the country and proceded to commit religious genocide and we should be surprised they have banned the internet ?
The fact is the goverment control all of the Telephone services and montitoring is normal, the TV, Radio and Media a government controlled and thus no criticism is allowed and anyone who dares to stand up to them dies.
The mujahadeen have been fighting guerilla wars first against the russians and now the taliban and the country is split into warzones, the taliban now run the most fundamentalist islamic regime on the planet and provide aid and succor to terrorists - so the internet is about the easiest thing to control.
He who controls access to the world controls the world - the populace of afghanistan after the russian occupation would consider acccess to clean water and electricty a bonus - they would put computer access very very low on their interests - it remains a toy for the rich and there aren't that many of them. Most of the population would like to have enought to eat.
How about a comment on their human rights record, or their treatment of women (this is a country that condones murder as a punishment for disobedience of a wife toward her husband).
The sad thing is this is a government the Americans helped put in power with weapons and funding to fight the russians - yet they now hide people like Osama Bin Laden - US public enemy number one.
in light of the article on the ISS my advice is
on
Hotel on the Moon
·
· Score: 1
Take plenty of Cleaning Gel, Chilli Sauce and a big russian dictionary.
You should be fine then
Um, no? What needs to happen is Compaq, Gateway, Dell, et. al. need to start distributing a nice Linux desktop. Maybe with a well proofed Wine setup and heavily secured remote admin tools. Provide a mirror of that setup on a recovery CD (that is totally automated), and most "moms and dads" will be fine. That's about what they do for windows now. What, do you think a "mom" or "dad" could survive the windows install, or even really use it effectively? I'll say this now: They don't. They only use it because it's on there, and the software they get runs on it. That's ALL.
**
Actually thats a damn good point and one i missed - i commented the other day in a post about it. The fact is IMHO win isnt that hard to set up - most competent children can do it and if you dont know how chances are a friend or someone you know will and if you bought a Dell or similar then the process is as simple as bunging in a reinstall disk - Linux does need to get to this point - Very Very Good Point microlith
To add a further thing what i would love to see is GPL and Linux to the point where it becomes an easy choice for the consumer - a tick on an order form - then you can compare the OS's and choose what you want - sort of like buying a car - do you get the 4 or 6 cylinder engine, with or without aircon, manual or auto.
Maybe MS will become irrelevent then - who knows what will happen in the future - I simply would love to see a choice for all - from the average home user to the corporate IT manager.
Over the last week or so i have posted several comments on MS stories in which i pointed out that the reason we enjoy the access to hardware and peripherals we have today was due to the WIntel block and the way in which MS has helped make the PC ubiqioutos.
I also pointed out that MS products are all most home users and corporate customers want - there are as you all say alternatives out there but the MS lines dominate - NOTE im taling desktop only - i love Linux and run a number of Slackware and Caldera servers and Workstations and think it a far superior product for Web and Database (to name just 2)functions.
The reality is no matter what we may wish or pray for MS are not dead and not about to be. The US government is a Republican and Pro Business one. The company will not be broken up - this is not seen as a viable solution by most anymore and the sales of their products continue to grow - Win2k pro is at i think about 20% growth per month and their application market has never been stronger in its dominance of the home, SOHO and Corporate Desktop.
Im not in the US - im in Aus and down here the MS Anti Trust and Monopoly Trials are old news - not even seen on our media, the reality is that if MS pulled out of the US our government (and many others would bend over backwards for the jobs) you will not put MS out of business - they may pull out of the US but that will have a far far greater impact on your economy than you ever want to think about (possible a depression when the collapse of dependant companies is taken into account)
So think for a minute - the open source movement produces incredible software for free and provides an alternative to Microsoft.
Isnt it enought that we have the high ground as ethical and intelligent liberal thinking programmers with an ethic of producing the best possible solution ?
Isnt it enought that Linux has enable millions of kids around the world to develop new skills and grow into the industry heavy weights of toomorrow ?
I dont and never will subscribe to the Crush MS camp - this is short sighted to me - but ITS a RIGHT of people to have opinions and to be able to express them - so i have never and will never flame anyone for thos thoughts - and i will defend their right to express them as i would hope they would defend mine.
SO i suggest a thought - If MS products are fine for some people and not for others shouldn't we be developing a more user friendly and desktop friendly OS for the home market - something which doesnt require the level of knowledge most Linux Distros need ? (the home users - moms and dads - wont ever run the product at the level it is now)
Rather than trying to crush a company (and the 'war' has been going on for over 5 years and so far they are still getting bigger) we should provide an example of what many disparate people and cultures can produce when they work together.
Please dont bother flaming me - i understand what i have just said is going to offend some of you - i dont pretend some of what people say about things doesnt offend me - i simply choose to post intelligently -
And no i dont want to hear about the supposed illegalities and business practices of MS - they are redundant and coming from a country that allowed companies like Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, GE, Monsanto and many many others to pollute large swathes of the third world i feel a little hypocrtical - lets just be the best we can be and show the world what the hacker ethic is really all about.
I think the question i would like to answer is did MAPS have an effect ? i mean the level of spam does not seem to have decreased at all and i think it has grown - the major ISP and web services providers - @home, Yahoo etc dont want to know about it - they may block email accounts of bulk mailers but in my expereince they dont.
The other side of the coin in this message is that MAPS have costs as well, the maintenance of servers, databases and net bandwidth costs require money and staffing and that inevitable means costs. They have obviously now found it neccesary to continue and try and recoup them with the subscritption method.
I personally find it a usefull tool and will likely pay for access under the subscription plan but others wont, thats a choice thing.
After all they are a company and as such as they say they need to pay the bills.
Support them with subcriptions if you want to help combat spam or dont use the service - i think its a fair comment - not everything can be free as life costs money
Well it doesnt mean that you cant get one cheaper but then again where do you live - my point is valid for the Australian Market and the Mac Cube is now a discontinued model - the price here of a Imac has actually just gone down (i make a correction - the base is available in some areas for $1795 but thats a 400mhz base machine with very little included - the realistic figure on the market is around $3000 - i may have been a little off on price ) However i can buy an Athlon 900 with 128mb and a 20gb hdd, burner, 17 etc for $1200 today so i still think the point is somewhat valid, but you have a point guinsu i am a bit high on price of macs - apologies offered
I still think to compare (bad pun follows) apples with apples the standard home computer is a PC - the variety of software and games the home user wants are on PC - and sepcifically readily available on Win - i know you can download it all but bear in mind the average home user doesnt have the ability rto download a 650mb package (the majority of this country is in 56k dial up with often 5 hour connection limits (bigpond) - cable and ADSL has not made major inroads except in the capital cities and in limited areas of those (i know that if you shop around you can get unlimited dial up and other options BUT the majority of home users go for the major players as they dont know any better - Bigpond, OzEmail, OneNet (if still going) and AOL dominate this market) and cable and ADSL are expensive - i paid $200 install and get a cheap monthly rate as i have all of my services bunlded - my brother is on Telstra ADSL and paid $300 install and pays $80 month for a capped 512k account with a 3gb limit)
So for most users its what they use at work - Win and MS office with IE - but the younger users will move to linux and learn and grow - this is the beauty of the GPL and Free Software movement - it allows people access to these areas at a minial or no cost and encourages growth and thought - it should be congratulated and encouraged but trying to replaces MS (IMHO) will not work - they survive for a reason as does linux
Linux is the future but MS will always be here (and if not MS there will be someone else to take their place)
I think that the focus on Microsoft may at times be detrimental to some of us.
The fact is MS is not finished, their image is not ruined, at least not outside the US. You cannot discount that for in the corporate desktop market and the home and small business market MS products present the best low cost/ effective options for the average user.
The average home user is not going to be interested in Linux for while to come, the distributions require too much work and knowledge for the average click and go home user who wants the easiest and simplest way to get online and get going.
The corporate marketplace wants an easy to standardise uniform desktop environment that is not support intensive and easy to manage - and with RIS and Win2k thats what they have got - they wont move to linux due to what is see, rightly or wrongly, as its larger overhead on desktop support and the fact that their staff know and understand MS products like Outlook and Word. (and this applies equally to support and users - it can be hard to find a skilled desktop support person with Linux skills - i have tried)
What that means is that linux remains the best choice system for the pros and for server and scaleable artchitecture, it is in my opinion the best server OS for web and security applications and if inifinetly stronger and preferable for coding.
I wonder sometimes if in trying to make it all things for all people we have lost sight of the true power of the OS - to encourage those who want to learn and give them the tools to do so.
The linux users of today will be the network desingers, coders and system managers of toomorrow, trained and grounded in an OS they can get inside of.
The linux desktop will likely never be the desktop of choice and wilst it may be hard to admit it we need Microsoft - how many kids started out and start out on Win and then move to linux when their appetite is whetted ? and dont forget that MS and Intel drove the development of most modern TEch and Software forward by helping make the PC ubiqitous.
(and no i didnt mention apple, i love macs but the cost of them is way too much for the bang you get - even the 'budget' imacs in Aust go for $4000 and a powerfull PC can be had for under $2000 - Apple have priced themselves out of the consumer and hobbyist market-a pity but the truth)
Discussion invited but no flames, lets have a rational conversation here
Guys thanks for that - i am checking out some of the sites and one of my development guys has suggested PERL as well so im going to give it and C a look and start with some of the tutuorials.
Maybe i can ask one last thing - what then is the difference between C and Visual C ?
(i really dont know that one and feel silly asking one of my guys about it)
I will say from the start that i cant write code - i work in servers and networks, yet i found this article interesting and it has some good ideas.
I have purchased a couple of books on c++, java and perl only beacuse i support developers and i think its only fair to get some idea of how they work and i have always found my guys to be wiling to help and advise and encourage if they have the time.
So i read this with interest - dont get me wrong i would probably never be good enough to write code for other people to use but i would love to be ablw to play around in my own way and thats where these sort of tips and articles come into their own
I work all my days in an MS shop and find Linux to be something i more and more play with at home as it lets you see what is going on in the backend and what the changes you make impact on - and this article gives me some tips to start out on learning how to write apps.
My questions is in light of these posts and comments whats the best language to start with ? by that i mean will C or C++ help me develop an understanding of basic constructs and programming skills that will be portable ? IS there another language i should think about ? Am i wrong in trying to do this ?
Or am i thinking in the wrong way ? i mean i just want to learn to write code so i can see it work - not for any other reason than my own enjoyment (sounds sick doesnt it)
for those who seem to have a short attention span and think that everyone else in the world must be inferior because they are not the same i post the follwing point.
I am WHITE morons, WHITE as in anglo saxon and male. Surprise surfucking prize not everyone who cant stand white power fuckwits and racists motherfuckers is black or asian - most of this world holds what you do as one step lower than dogshit.
And as for the theory that if im white im part of the problem - thats almost as offensive as the nazi fucks.
In closing.
Bite me - and have the guts to use a name when you attack someone else's morals and personal convictions - Anonymous Coward is about right for you lot.
umm i didnt know i was but of course i might have heard of it or read it years ago - i dont remember but that doesnt mean i didnt
Pray tell what source i am ripping off ?
We all need a laugh every now and then - you cannot take life to seriously and this story just cries out for a bit of it, besides a good laugh makes your day go faster and happier
'Its what we've been waiting for' cry physicists.
---------
Hot on the heels of their discovery of the Mysterious Slashdot Pillars in the oceans it has been announced that in an astounding move scientists have published the discovery of what they have called women.
'We had always heard about these mysterious females but none of us had ever encoutered one in real life' said Astro Physicist Ned Funders 'we just never get invited to those sort of parties'
The dicovery - announced in Nature Magazine under the headline 'Hot Chicks and How to get them' hasd sent shockwaves throughout the scientific world with reports that scientists have been abandoning their posts at universities around the world and flocking to locations where women are reputed to be found.
These locations include Shopping Malls, Strip Bars and Singles Clubs. We found and interviewed one scientist in a hooters restaurant who would not be named but can be described as wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit and tie in a fetching shade of mauve - when asked about his impression of women he stated 'i always knew they existed - others didnt believe me but i was right - now if only i could get them to talk to me'
Scientists are believed to be working on their next discovery at this very moment - the elusive and rare element entitled sex appeal. It is hoped that this will enable them to further explore the possibilities of women.
No pillars were harmed in the making of this story.
(i know this might be off topic but i figured so many other posts are that it may be worth a laugh)
Slashdot Mirror
In light of this article - and the IBM system which it is about - i thought some information on real life experiences with an automated web based helpdesk system.
We are a corporate with 1500 people in Au spread across the country in a variety of locations with differing connections and equipment (from 56k dial up to gigabit ethernet) and have gone thru a number of changes in attempting to provide effective support with most efficient use of resources.
We moved away from a centralised help desk model about 12 months ago and moved to an online and email solution in order to achieve more effective management - the solution seemed simple - we could do away with a 'help desk' and use the staff in that role more effectively as 2nd level support - we could give clients access to their own call information and provide updates and feedback on the call - and we could more effectively track issues and resolutions (vital as we insituting an SAP solution. So we had high hopes - and it sort of worked - here are some of the things we discovered.
1. Uptake - Getting them to use the system was harder than we ever anticipated, users are accustomed to making a call and having a live person fix their fault, they dont need to think about it and thus were not trained to note errors and clearly state a problem (we use PC Anywhere so they were used to staff remote controlling and seeing the problem) in the end we had to simply tell people that if the call isnt logged we cant help them - painfull but it worked
2. Complexity - We were lucky in that we could tailor our web front end of the helpdesk software to make it as easy as possible - but we still had issues - no matter how simple some staff just thre their hands in the air - motto - you cant please all the people
3. Escalations and Priorities - At first we let users set priority themselves (scale of 1-5, 1 HIGH 5 LOW) with guidelines on what to set - what a failure- suddenly we had 95% priority 1 calls (clarification - we use this only for major outages) and our SLA's were screwed. So now we have a simple way of knowing - the user answers 5 simple yes no questions and the system sets priority based on them - example question is Does This Problem Affect more than 1 person ?
4. Staffing - this sort of system quickly shows up the flaws in your staff levels - calls from a geographic or system type area are routed to a Queue for that area - so if you are short staffed the queues blow out quickly - mind you it has anbled us to help staff manage their own territories better.
All in all we have found the process to be positive, by logging calls in this way and having support staff contribute solutions we have built a comprehensive knowledge base of solutions and tips, we used the system to get all staff access to MS Technet and Premium Online support at their desk and this has lead to a smarter and better informed workforce.
But be warned - this sort of system costs - both money (server load was higher than we estimated and this meant a new server) Staffing - A full time admin for the system plus turnover in staff who dont like the change- and client good will - startup was hell - we spent months trying to keep everyone happy before we realised it was impossible.
A further thing, for those who are interested in what this sort of system hides - in other words the real threats to the world these days (now that nuclear weapons are invalidated as a military system)
:-
Read these links
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/bw/index.html - Bio Warfare Facts
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/index.html - Primer on Special Weapons
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/cw/index.html - Chem Warfare Facts
Read the Bio Weapons one - the article on delivery systems espcecially - this is the threat to the world that George Bush Cannot build defense systems against
Quote from Article : -Biological agents have some unique characteristics that make weaponizing them attractive. Most biological weapons consist of living organisms (toxins are the exception) and, thus, can replicate once disseminated. A relatively small group of persons, using single individuals deployed in a military staging area, could bring about the infection of a large percentage of targeted persons. The clinical illness could develop within a day of dispersal and last for as long as 2-3 weeks. The mission and political impact of such a strike on a combat or constabulary force of 10,000 soldiers may compromise operations. In a civil situation, major subway systems in a densely populated urban area could be targeted for biological agent strike, resulting in massive political and social disorganization. Approximately 10 grams of anthrax spores can kill as many persons as a ton of sarin.
Any country having pharmaceutical, cosmetic, or advanced food storage industries will have stabilization facilities similar to those that could be used for biological weapons. The ability to disseminate the biological agent over a wide area would be limited to those countries having cruise missiles or advanced aircraft. Even the smallest country or a terrorist group, however, has the capability to deliver small quantities of BW agent to a specific target.
Now the major thing to bear in mind about the US govt and this is that (and i bet most of you dont know about this one) The US has the biggest bio warfare article on earth and maintains development of new weapons.
And the threat is nothing new. After the Aum Shriyinko Sarin attacks in Tokyo the US did a report into biological attack on a US city and its impact (there was a TV doco on this subject) and the results were fucking frightening.
One story - http://www.sciam.com/1296issue/1296cole.html - The Specter
of Biological Weapons
Think about whats being pulled over your eyes with this Star Wars system ?
Whats next - Special tape players which you place on your womb when pregnant so that the kiddies are well educated and obedient when born ?
What he's really talking about is teaching children what the corporate community considers right or wrong rather than what may be moraly correct.
Whilst i agree that many of these things may be illegal (copyright breach etc) i question that they have any right to teach children what amounts to their views of the law - the laws on music copryright for example are based manily on the money and power of the RIAA and Recording Companies who conveniently ignore the fact that they screw artists for every cent they can make and engage in morally questionable actions in the pursuit of their 'rights'
So this is something we NEED to stop - enough - lets teach children morals and a sense of right and wrong and let them make their own decisions - not give companies the right to educate them about THEIR version of the world.
Good Point - Forgot about the french subs - but the US and France are allied and france developed the capability against Russia - still wonder why they havent decomissioned them ?
China and Taiwan - China considers this a domestic matter and would never use nuc weapons, given the size of their conventional forces they dont need to - they are actually defensive in view and Taiwan rattles the saber in their way as well every now and then (not to defend china)
Still loopkin - thanks for pointing out my error on the french - and a good point about taiwan
Do a bit of reading - a suitcase nuke can be made for as little as $100k and requires no special equipment - it would be dirty and you might get radioactive poisoning but if you are on a jihad you wont care.
Yes they are low yield - you could get up to 10kt - BUT they are DIRTY - you would pack the outside of the fissionable device with More Uranium or spent plutionium (say an old fuel rod which would be easy to buy on the international market)
The point is you dont want high power in a city bomb - you want LOW yield to cause damage on a scale BUT also illness and sickness (Hence the dirty bit) thus overloading Emergency Services and causing maximum fear and panic)
this aint hard - as i said do a bit of reading
http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Nwfaq/Nfaq2.html
http://www.accutek.com/~moistner/nuclear1.htm
and others
PS - US still have NUC weapons targeted at all major Chinese and Russian Targets - so your point is invalid and a little redundant as despite the media hullaballo about the plane to the contrary the China and the US have a number of treaties, North Korea cant feed their people and their weapons programme has proven to be a lot of bluster, Iraq hasnt got the money left to make bombs anymore - they are the most spied upon nation on earth, and the US border is so easy to get thru its a laugh - go for a drive to canada, last time i was in the US we went back and forth across the border a number of times and it was all on backroads with NO sign of any customs (oh look were in Canada Again !)
And last point - I AM NOT TROLLING BUT - dont poke off at China's Human rights record - The US is also criticised (as is my country of Aust) for its record as well, im not going to be seen as US bashing but you have some questionable things as well.
Like the dont have and wont use - they have the weapons but they wont use them
:)
Russia cannot afford for pay their troops and its questionable that their missiles would work based on current inspections showing that the rocket engines in them have become unstable and would be just as likely to blow up on the pad as anything - havent been serviced in years - Their missile submarine fleet is rotting in Polyarny (Estimated that they have 0 serviceable nuc subs and only a few diesels - their aircraft are being sold off and they havent got money to buy fuel - Plus US knows where they all are
Israel - Short/Intermediate range delivery only and these weapons were made with major US help - and the US knows where they all are
UK - As for israel although they did have ICBM's - not sure of decomissioning timetable - US knows where they all are as they helped build them
France - Mainly short range but do have ICBM capability - You can bet US knows where they all are at any time
Pakistan - If you do a bit of research you will find that at best Pakistan have short range delivery - fighter and IRBM's and it s suspected they actually have less than 10 weapons- Their major focus is India who they have been techinically at war with for over 20years - US likely knows where they all are
India - Have Mainly IRBM's - the information is a little sketchy due to secrecy - they do have an excelent Deep Water navy (now i think 4th largest in the world) and advanced military but money is tight for this sort of weaponry as they are involved in a conventional war with Pakistan - Experts suspect that they may have as many as 50 but likely 20 short range low yield weapons. - Us may have knowledge of location.
China - These guys are the only REAL nucleat power left other than the US - ICBM's and well mainitained - huge conventional forces HOWEVER China is the least likely to use the weapons as it doesnt fit with their national Psyche or their view of the world - they are by tradition a defensive nation and thus these weapons are seen as defensive only.
Star Wars remains as ridiculous an idea as it was 15 years ago - the rest of the world thought the US was kidding about this when Bush brought it back in - I mean the US Govt Refuses to make an effective stand on Chemical and Biological Weapons (hint - you have the largest arsenal in the world and continue to develop them) despite their danger, you refuse to consider controls on weapons sales to non soveriegn groups (that is Non Countries = Arms Dealers).
And thats before the refusal to support greenhouse gas controls, etc etc and lets not even go near capital punishment and its conundrums (There are 3 countries in the world that execute children - you are one of them)
Now this is NOT America bashing - i think that so many great people and ideas come from there - what i am saying is that IMHO the US govt uses crap like Star Wars to prop up the military industrail complex and major corporates (GE happens to be the biggest defence manufacturer in the world - and also a major Republican Party Contributor) - this is what they do to take your attention of other serious issues.
Come on i could as was pointed out, drive into the US from Canada with a low yield nuke in my boot and set it off in New York without a problem - in fact i would have to be so unlucky to get caught it's not funny. Not to mention it would be easy to air drop Anthrax say over a major city (it would cost a limited amount to manufacture enough to kill millions).
Nuclear Weapons are the least of the world worries - think about what all this money could be used for ? Lowering Poverty ? Creating Jobs ? Building Homes for the homeless ? Controlling Global Warming ?
hell you could use it to buy microsoft and shut
it down if you wanted to
Well heres my comment
This smacks very very much of an attempt to make access to whois a paid or subscription service - the gist of some of these comments is not that the mailing lists have been made based on the whois but that they have been made for free.
What committess do these good gentlemen sit on ? what vested interests do they represent ?
The fact is the whois function can be usefull and should be freely available. If i am being attacked of flamed or spammed on my servers from a domain i should have the right to see who owns that domain and what contact details they have.(which 9 times out of 10 will mean nothing as they wil be false or the domain has been hijacked or they just dont give a fuck but i can dream can't i)
This is a natural extension from the INTERNIC bullshit and the selling of domain names for profit. One of the posters mentioned that here - and i have had a similar experience - i did a who is search on a domain name on NSI and then filled in the registration details. Upon sedning this of a day or so later i was told this name was registered to - surprise surprise NSI - and i could buy it for a sum from them - this to me smacks of extortion - 'sure you can have the domain name - seeing as how we own it its only gonna cost you $500 (figure not correct)'.
Then we have the DMCA and their lawyers (or NAZI's as they are otherwise known) these guys are about as subtle as a kick in the gonads and they love whois - they can get contact info to sue you from there - yet they use it to make money as well.
So heres what i predict. (rubs crystal ball)
access to whois information will be regulated by the government with legitimate associations (IDSA) and organisations (DOJ) having free or low cost access to it - corporates will no doubt be able to buy a subscription but the rest of us will likely have to pay by the use or get no access.
Whilst part of me likes the idea of spammers having to pay for this info i become concerned that this is another commodity and yet another way to prevent free access to information on the web - its already hard enough trying to track someone on the web without this being removed.
Now we have solved shower curtain suckage and airflow dynamics can we start work on the next major question of life.
/. and could be devloped into an Open Source Project call XTroll - aimed at filtering out and killing trolls thru exposure to large amounts of targeted high quality porn, thus giving them heart attacks due to over arousal.
Trolls - What are they, where do they come from and how can we send them back ?
Suggested research methods include anatomy of a troll, defining the troll (open source or pro microsoft) specific studies of famous trolls (trollaxtor) and anaylisis of a troll post (flame and counter flame and just plain nuts)
It would be expected that this research project would aim in finding a way to combat to prolific problem of trolls on
At the very least this method of attack would ensure that their hands would remain way too busy to type troll and flame posts and prove once and for all the theory about what trolls really are
And its always easy to find one single example to refute this isnt it.
Aligent are one example only - and they appear to be in financial trouble by the looks of it - dont msitake issues of money with industry issues - the reason PC sales have dropped off is related to company fiscal issue - IE they keep going broke (take a look at http://www.fuckedcompany.com)
Windows XP is one product line in the MS catalgoue - the fiaction on it here is related to the WPA concept - which to a corporate means absolutely zilch - we purchase and manage licences under MS Select and Premium Partner agreements for product activation means nothing.
Windows XP doesnt offer any improvment in stability and operability over Win2k Pro (i have a machine running it right next to me with Office XP and a number of other things on it) we wont be moving to it as we have a standard environment.
MS have as much as admitted that the product is aimed at small business, SOHO and home users, thus attempting to cut pirate software rates (where do you think the majority of pirate software is used- hint it isnt corporate desktops). The big corporates have a 1-2 year changeover and takeup rate on NEW os's - many many of them continue to run Winnt4 and will do so for up to 2 more years.
Now this is an excellent point and one that bears looking at - Yes techincally under the GPL their software should be released but are they developing under the GPL. They are using Linux as an OS but i cannot see any reference to GPPL software - i suspect that their software is considered non open source as it is in house developed.
Think about this - the animation industry remains a competitive area and thus anything that gives a company a competitve advantage is closely guarded - thsu their software is something they wont release. And the other thing to note is that they are paying their programmers to write this software - thus they technically 'own' the finished product.
This is an important point to note. We should remember that although we encourage an organisation to use an open source OS we cannot always expect them to release any and all software they develop, they must still be reasonably expect to be able to maintain control of commercial in confidence software and thus maintain their competitve advantage - otherwise what reason is there to go to linux? (support costs arent that much lower)
In the long term we will see the libraries and improvements they have made come down into the market and the GPL community - but they have a right to not release the code they paid to develop.
IS that they misplaced to special silicone sealant for the airlock and had to use chilli sauce instead.
The Taliban have destroyed ancient religious monuments, returned women to servitude, enforced the islamic laws and persecuted non islams out of the country and proceded to commit religious genocide and we should be surprised they have banned the internet ?
The fact is the goverment control all of the Telephone services and montitoring is normal, the TV, Radio and Media a government controlled and thus no criticism is allowed and anyone who dares to stand up to them dies.
The mujahadeen have been fighting guerilla wars first against the russians and now the taliban and the country is split into warzones, the taliban now run the most fundamentalist islamic regime on the planet and provide aid and succor to terrorists - so the internet is about the easiest thing to control.
He who controls access to the world controls the world - the populace of afghanistan after the russian occupation would consider acccess to clean water and electricty a bonus - they would put computer access very very low on their interests - it remains a toy for the rich and there aren't that many of them. Most of the population would like to have enought to eat.
How about a comment on their human rights record, or their treatment of women (this is a country that condones murder as a punishment for disobedience of a wife toward her husband).
The sad thing is this is a government the Americans helped put in power with weapons and funding to fight the russians - yet they now hide people like Osama Bin Laden - US public enemy number one.
Take plenty of Cleaning Gel, Chilli Sauce and a big russian dictionary. You should be fine then
Um, no? What needs to happen is Compaq, Gateway, Dell, et. al. need to start distributing a nice Linux desktop. Maybe with a well proofed Wine setup and heavily secured remote admin tools. Provide a mirror of that setup on a recovery CD (that is totally automated), and most "moms and dads" will be fine. That's about what they do for windows now. What, do you think a "mom" or "dad" could survive the windows install, or even really use it effectively? I'll say this now: They don't. They only use it because it's on there, and the software they get runs on it. That's ALL.
**
Actually thats a damn good point and one i missed - i commented the other day in a post about it. The fact is IMHO win isnt that hard to set up - most competent children can do it and if you dont know how chances are a friend or someone you know will and if you bought a Dell or similar then the process is as simple as bunging in a reinstall disk - Linux does need to get to this point - Very Very Good Point microlith
To add a further thing what i would love to see is GPL and Linux to the point where it becomes an easy choice for the consumer - a tick on an order form - then you can compare the OS's and choose what you want - sort of like buying a car - do you get the 4 or 6 cylinder engine, with or without aircon, manual or auto.
Maybe MS will become irrelevent then - who knows what will happen in the future - I simply would love to see a choice for all - from the average home user to the corporate IT manager.
Over the last week or so i have posted several comments on MS stories in which i pointed out that the reason we enjoy the access to hardware and peripherals we have today was due to the WIntel block and the way in which MS has helped make the PC ubiqioutos.
I also pointed out that MS products are all most home users and corporate customers want - there are as you all say alternatives out there but the MS lines dominate - NOTE im taling desktop only - i love Linux and run a number of Slackware and Caldera servers and Workstations and think it a far superior product for Web and Database (to name just 2)functions.
The reality is no matter what we may wish or pray for MS are not dead and not about to be. The US government is a Republican and Pro Business one. The company will not be broken up - this is not seen as a viable solution by most anymore and the sales of their products continue to grow - Win2k pro is at i think about 20% growth per month and their application market has never been stronger in its dominance of the home, SOHO and Corporate Desktop.
Im not in the US - im in Aus and down here the MS Anti Trust and Monopoly Trials are old news - not even seen on our media, the reality is that if MS pulled out of the US our government (and many others would bend over backwards for the jobs) you will not put MS out of business - they may pull out of the US but that will have a far far greater impact on your economy than you ever want to think about (possible a depression when the collapse of dependant companies is taken into account)
So think for a minute - the open source movement produces incredible software for free and provides an alternative to Microsoft.
Isnt it enought that we have the high ground as ethical and intelligent liberal thinking programmers with an ethic of producing the best possible solution ?
Isnt it enought that Linux has enable millions of kids around the world to develop new skills and grow into the industry heavy weights of toomorrow ?
I dont and never will subscribe to the Crush MS camp - this is short sighted to me - but ITS a RIGHT of people to have opinions and to be able to express them - so i have never and will never flame anyone for thos thoughts - and i will defend their right to express them as i would hope they would defend mine.
SO i suggest a thought - If MS products are fine for some people and not for others shouldn't we be developing a more user friendly and desktop friendly OS for the home market - something which doesnt require the level of knowledge most Linux Distros need ? (the home users - moms and dads - wont ever run the product at the level it is now)
Rather than trying to crush a company (and the 'war' has been going on for over 5 years and so far they are still getting bigger) we should provide an example of what many disparate people and cultures can produce when they work together.
Please dont bother flaming me - i understand what i have just said is going to offend some of you - i dont pretend some of what people say about things doesnt offend me - i simply choose to post intelligently -
And no i dont want to hear about the supposed illegalities and business practices of MS - they are redundant and coming from a country that allowed companies like Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, GE, Monsanto and many many others to pollute large swathes of the third world i feel a little hypocrtical - lets just be the best we can be and show the world what the hacker ethic is really all about.
I think the question i would like to answer is did MAPS have an effect ? i mean the level of spam does not seem to have decreased at all and i think it has grown - the major ISP and web services providers - @home, Yahoo etc dont want to know about it - they may block email accounts of bulk mailers but in my expereince they dont.
The other side of the coin in this message is that MAPS have costs as well, the maintenance of servers, databases and net bandwidth costs require money and staffing and that inevitable means costs. They have obviously now found it neccesary to continue and try and recoup them with the subscritption method.
I personally find it a usefull tool and will likely pay for access under the subscription plan but others wont, thats a choice thing.
After all they are a company and as such as they say they need to pay the bills.
Support them with subcriptions if you want to help combat spam or dont use the service - i think its a fair comment - not everything can be free as life costs money
Thats my 2 cents anyway
Is it just me or has new scientist been slashdotted - cannot get to the server - can anyone provide a mirror ?
Well it doesnt mean that you cant get one cheaper but then again where do you live - my point is valid for the Australian Market and the Mac Cube is now a discontinued model - the price here of a Imac has actually just gone down (i make a correction - the base is available in some areas for $1795 but thats a 400mhz base machine with very little included - the realistic figure on the market is around $3000 - i may have been a little off on price ) However i can buy an Athlon 900 with 128mb and a 20gb hdd, burner, 17 etc for $1200 today so i still think the point is somewhat valid, but you have a point guinsu i am a bit high on price of macs - apologies offered
I still think to compare (bad pun follows) apples with apples the standard home computer is a PC - the variety of software and games the home user wants are on PC - and sepcifically readily available on Win - i know you can download it all but bear in mind the average home user doesnt have the ability rto download a 650mb package (the majority of this country is in 56k dial up with often 5 hour connection limits (bigpond) - cable and ADSL has not made major inroads except in the capital cities and in limited areas of those (i know that if you shop around you can get unlimited dial up and other options BUT the majority of home users go for the major players as they dont know any better - Bigpond, OzEmail, OneNet (if still going) and AOL dominate this market) and cable and ADSL are expensive - i paid $200 install and get a cheap monthly rate as i have all of my services bunlded - my brother is on Telstra ADSL and paid $300 install and pays $80 month for a capped 512k account with a 3gb limit)
So for most users its what they use at work - Win and MS office with IE - but the younger users will move to linux and learn and grow - this is the beauty of the GPL and Free Software movement - it allows people access to these areas at a minial or no cost and encourages growth and thought - it should be congratulated and encouraged but trying to replaces MS (IMHO) will not work - they survive for a reason as does linux
Linux is the future but MS will always be here (and if not MS there will be someone else to take their place)
I think that the focus on Microsoft may at times be detrimental to some of us.
The fact is MS is not finished, their image is not ruined, at least not outside the US. You cannot discount that for in the corporate desktop market and the home and small business market MS products present the best low cost/ effective options for the average user.
The average home user is not going to be interested in Linux for while to come, the distributions require too much work and knowledge for the average click and go home user who wants the easiest and simplest way to get online and get going.
The corporate marketplace wants an easy to standardise uniform desktop environment that is not support intensive and easy to manage - and with RIS and Win2k thats what they have got - they wont move to linux due to what is see, rightly or wrongly, as its larger overhead on desktop support and the fact that their staff know and understand MS products like Outlook and Word. (and this applies equally to support and users - it can be hard to find a skilled desktop support person with Linux skills - i have tried)
What that means is that linux remains the best choice system for the pros and for server and scaleable artchitecture, it is in my opinion the best server OS for web and security applications and if inifinetly stronger and preferable for coding.
I wonder sometimes if in trying to make it all things for all people we have lost sight of the true power of the OS - to encourage those who want to learn and give them the tools to do so.
The linux users of today will be the network desingers, coders and system managers of toomorrow, trained and grounded in an OS they can get inside of.
The linux desktop will likely never be the desktop of choice and wilst it may be hard to admit it we need Microsoft - how many kids started out and start out on Win and then move to linux when their appetite is whetted ? and dont forget that MS and Intel drove the development of most modern TEch and Software forward by helping make the PC ubiqitous.
(and no i didnt mention apple, i love macs but the cost of them is way too much for the bang you get - even the 'budget' imacs in Aust go for $4000 and a powerfull PC can be had for under $2000 - Apple have priced themselves out of the consumer and hobbyist market-a pity but the truth)
Discussion invited but no flames, lets have a rational conversation here
Guys thanks for that - i am checking out some of the sites and one of my development guys has suggested PERL as well so im going to give it and C a look and start with some of the tutuorials.
Maybe i can ask one last thing - what then is the difference between C and Visual C ?
(i really dont know that one and feel silly asking one of my guys about it)
I will say from the start that i cant write code - i work in servers and networks, yet i found this article interesting and it has some good ideas.
I have purchased a couple of books on c++, java and perl only beacuse i support developers and i think its only fair to get some idea of how they work and i have always found my guys to be wiling to help and advise and encourage if they have the time.
So i read this with interest - dont get me wrong i would probably never be good enough to write code for other people to use but i would love to be ablw to play around in my own way and thats where these sort of tips and articles come into their own
I work all my days in an MS shop and find Linux to be something i more and more play with at home as it lets you see what is going on in the backend and what the changes you make impact on - and this article gives me some tips to start out on learning how to write apps.
My questions is in light of these posts and comments whats the best language to start with ? by that i mean will C or C++ help me develop an understanding of basic constructs and programming skills that will be portable ? IS there another language i should think about ? Am i wrong in trying to do this ?
Or am i thinking in the wrong way ? i mean i just want to learn to write code so i can see it work - not for any other reason than my own enjoyment (sounds sick doesnt it)
ideas, thoughts, help ?
for those who seem to have a short attention span and think that everyone else in the world must be inferior because they are not the same i post the follwing point.
I am WHITE morons, WHITE as in anglo saxon and male. Surprise surfucking prize not everyone who cant stand white power fuckwits and racists motherfuckers is black or asian - most of this world holds what you do as one step lower than dogshit.
And as for the theory that if im white im part of the problem - thats almost as offensive as the nazi fucks.
In closing.
Bite me - and have the guts to use a name when you attack someone else's morals and personal convictions - Anonymous Coward is about right for you lot.
umm i didnt know i was but of course i might have heard of it or read it years ago - i dont remember but that doesnt mean i didnt Pray tell what source i am ripping off ?
We all need a laugh every now and then - you cannot take life to seriously and this story just cries out for a bit of it, besides a good laugh makes your day go faster and happier
Scientists Discover Women
'Its what we've been waiting for' cry physicists.
---------
Hot on the heels of their discovery of the Mysterious Slashdot Pillars in the oceans it has been announced that in an astounding move scientists have published the discovery of what they have called women.
'We had always heard about these mysterious females but none of us had ever encoutered one in real life' said Astro Physicist Ned Funders 'we just never get invited to those sort of parties'
The dicovery - announced in Nature Magazine under the headline 'Hot Chicks and How to get them' hasd sent shockwaves throughout the scientific world with reports that scientists have been abandoning their posts at universities around the world and flocking to locations where women are reputed to be found.
These locations include Shopping Malls, Strip Bars and Singles Clubs. We found and interviewed one scientist in a hooters restaurant who would not be named but can be described as wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit and tie in a fetching shade of mauve - when asked about his impression of women he stated 'i always knew they existed - others didnt believe me but i was right - now if only i could get them to talk to me'
Scientists are believed to be working on their next discovery at this very moment - the elusive and rare element entitled sex appeal. It is hoped that this will enable them to further explore the possibilities of women.
No pillars were harmed in the making of this story.
(i know this might be off topic but i figured so many other posts are that it may be worth a laugh)