IT books of general interest
on
General IT Books?
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· Score: 4, Informative
For those wanting some history of IT reading here are some books for you
Soul of a new machine - Tracy Kidder - inside the creation of the data general eagle mini comp - a great look at IT in the late 70's early 80's - considered a classic of tech writing
Hackers - Steven Levy - the classic of computer tech writing - the reality of hackers and an insight into where open source came from
Free as in Freedom - Sam Williams - Fascinating look at RMS and what makes him tick, even someone who often disagrees with him(like me)found a new insight into him and the book is GPL and available in full online
Thats just a few with links for you - PS i also love the following books myself - theyre a great read for many reasons...
-The unix Haters Handbook (dont laugh - its a funny read and so much of this stuff still bugs me)
-Sluggy Freelance Books
-The Bastard Operator from hell books
-Underground - Sulette Davies (great book about hackers and available online if you lookat www.underground.com)
-Insanely Great and Crypto - Newer books by steven levy
-The Cathedral and the Bazzar - Eric Raymonds book on open source
-Takedown - The pursuit of Kevin mitnick (a bit biased but a good read)
let me know your favourites ok.
Not being american i have to admit i have trouble understanding the post september 11 issue.. It amazes me that since that date the number of basic rights and civil liberties that have been ignored or thrown away in the cause of 'Patriotism' are so big.
it seems anything can be dismissed as post september 11 and be justifiable on the grounds of the war against terrorism...
meanwhile in palestine the IDF moves tanks back into refuge settlements to 'supress undesirable elements' and no one blinks ?
Tragedy that sept 11 was its no excuse to allow your rights and freedoms to be taken away from you and no excuse to not stand up for yourselves or others - America is supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave - it seems worryinh that these days its increasingly not so free and only brave when backed by superior firepower.....
And am i the only one who thinks that the post septmeber 11 comment has been a great way for the FBI and CIA et al to get around all those niggling civil rights and civil liberties issues? just how long have they been able to do this anyway...
Are we talking about a career in Support or a career in programming / development.
I only ask as i think it's a relevant point - some of the subjects and books you have posted are irrelevant to someone supporting Servers for example whilst the sort of books desktop support staff would need most are others - for example i have worked 10 years in IT support in roles ranging from SYS admin to IT manager and have never even picked up a book on software design or user interfaces...
If you support systems for a living things like hardwareand operating systems are more valuable than books on code, so maybe what we need is a definitive list of books by proffesiona class - IE programmer, support operator, web developer etc.
Anything and everything from id. Which amounts to the majority of first person shooter games out there. Sorry to answer your rhetorical question:-P
I do hope someone has told raven and the other companies in this market - the fact is RTCW was a flop compared to previous efforts and compared to the success of Max Payne - and the other games mentioned were not supported out of the box (ID didnt write them for linux natively and from memory the ports of 1 and 2 were done by outsiders and not by ID and on release day 1 and 2 and RTCW did not run natively on linux - extra work and playing was required to get them to run and nothing was advertised about the linux ability - thus it's irrelevant
ID games are one company and have not had a massive amount of success in the last 2 years - Even quake 2 was a flop in sales respects - so calling them the majroity of the FPS games out there (have you been to a games store in the last 2 years ? - is incorrect - you cannot forget the failure of Loki - this indicates to me that either linux is not a mature platform for games (considering the fun in getting OpenGl running under some distro's not to mention gaming...) or is not something people see as viable for games (maybe cause free software seems to be an issue - to judge from the sort of comments attached to the loki failure threads commenting on people not willing to pay money for anything...)
This is the issue I see - FPS and such games cost money and time to develop - companies are not going to give them away free and the issue is that open source product or product in a binary format is too open to piracy (dont claim it never happens...) or 'reverse engineerig' for those who claim a high ground. Thus a company knows that for all the work required to port to linux they might sell a few thousand copies and run the risk their work may turn up in some other companies products uncredited (or paid) tends to put them off...
Pity cause i actually like linux for gaming - but then again i actually bought Loki games instead of copying them like my friends did.....
Well, perhaps if you posted intelligent comments then you wouldn't get flamed.
Hmmm irony seems lost on some people... Ok let me put this clearly. On a normal subject a post about a WINDOWS only software product on here is flamed into non existance as monopolist etc... yet a post about a GAME is fine - my point was the hyporcrisy of some people is intriguing. I thought that it was not an especially off topic post in light of the fact that linux and open source gaming companies lilke Loki have all failed to survive a market where people are of course reluctant to pay for anything they should have access to for free.
Of course instead im attacked as some sort of troll - which is understandable as people intenstly dislike others saying things they don't agree with......
I am left to wonder if you would be so brave if you were not able to hide behind the term Anonymous Coward.. (Never has the word 'coward' been so truthfully applied) If you cannot debate my point with an actual account (thus risking karma like real people) then your opinion (whatever it is) is invalid.
This site used to be a tech site - now its an abuse site and pointing out that one of the moderators rated me flamebait in light of their incredible consistency in rating anything they personally dislike or non fawning down im not surprised - indeed i would have been surprised if it was NOT rated that way..
I'm sorry, but why do you even bother reading slashdot?
I wonder myself... I make a comment on something and immdiately join the ranks of the group of people who obviously dont know anything else... completely missing a link to a LINUX site in my sig, a site i post articles on Linux on.....
Maybe im in the wrong place - i recall when this site stood for intelligent comment and discussion - now it seems it stands for other things..
No im well aware of the difference - however Netscape 7 and Mozilla share code and thus are very similar - netscape is free and is held up as an open source champion at the same time it belongs to a monopoly which makes MS look like a kindergarten... I simply found that ironic.
Does anyone else find the irony in the fact that most stories on here discuss open source product etc but this is a Beta test that you need Windows to participate in ? not to put too fine a point on it but it does make me smile a little...
The sight of people defending AOL Time Warner against Microsoft is in my mind worthy of a bookmark for future reference... AOL Time Warner are a monopoly in a way Microsoft would love to be - they have absorbed media companies left right and center yet as long as they release or support free software they are considered acceptable? Hmm why is it im suspicious of their motives ?
These people control what you see and what you read - they make no bones about their desire to dominate the media world and for them to turn around and start lawsuits against a former ally and best buddy (MS) shows the level of loyalty and trust worthiness they should be afforded.
I use Mozilla on Linux - i like it - its not as stable nor as useable as IE5.5 but it is a damn good browser. Netscape is a bloated, buggy unuseable piece of crap on windows and from my experiments on linux as well. To defend AOL and beg for them to do something like this is a joke, they WILL not do anything unless they can gain a competitive advantage from it - this is the way they have built a business (and previous slashdot stories can attest to it)
Im bookmarking this so when they become 'evil' in the eyes of/. i can post links to this story - Just WHO do you guys think would have the cash to buy parts of a split up MS anyway ? Painting the worlds largest media monopoly as a small guy against microsoft's might makes me laugh and feel ill at the same time.
It might sound bad to some people but superior products win marketshare - IE was better than Netscape - IE won whilst netscape frittered away a lead and became a second rate product (yet mozilla is a first rate ? go figure)
And yes the majority of the real world (non open source) consider IE a very good product.
on of my so called 'friends' did it - i love people like this - i leave the room for 10 mins come back and he's hitting submit on this stuff - nice guy - although come to think of it he has the tact and mental capacity of a 3 year old so maybe..
can someone mod this down or delete it(the preferable soltution) - it was posted by someone else using my PC which had my account logged in - i was to late to stop them hitting submit -this does NOT reflect my views - thank you.
as if this isn't the headquarters and catherdral of the First Inernational Church of Rabid Linux Supporters (other wise knows as the Linux Open Source Encouragement and Racist Supporters) or L.O.S.E.R.S
What a fucking joke - you guys are more intolerant than any church and if it weren't for the fact that most of you are - A: Too Fat to get out the door OR B: Can't move five feet without passing out from Asthma that you all seem born with OR C: Don't go anywhere as buses and taxi's arent free and thus you have a philosophical problem with them
You would have long ago flown a plane into the microsoft headquarters - the only reason you haven't declared an open holy war or Jihad on MS is that their marketing and sales guys would eat you alive on the battlefield (you'd be designing strategy sofwtare whilst they were tearing your hearts out - don't believe me ? look what they did to thei competititors).
Just declare the whole fucking thing a religion and get off your high horses.
And you wonder why we normal people think your all hypocrites ?
I agree with you on the big corporates - too many people can drop thru the cracks - we would prefer not to monitor as frankly it's a pain in the butt with logs and cleaning out quarantined stuff, i don't 100% agree with the policy but i have to enforce it - farnkly at times it's a pain.
Im lucky that i have good guys.
I have read Peopleware - the suit is only part of this company - we deal in big dollar value transactions and the company used to be a partnership - so the dress code is a hangover from that - plus when a client is spending $100 million with you they expect you to dress like that.
We drive proffesionalism in many ways, we ecnourgae people to study, to conbtribute (many of our staff write white papers and industry articles without being encouraged) we encourage staff to recruit people themselves - if they know someone good then recommend them. The company credo is simply to be proffesional in all dealings at all times - be ethical and honest and make commitments to clients and deliver.
Unfortuntely some people abuse it and we end up with policies like this, it hurts.
I understand you wouldn't like to work here, hell i can see what you mean - the thing is i think that this setup would not work for an IT company (we're not one) and for programming which IMHO by defenition has to be more flexible and open. We have legislative and legal controls on us and procedures to follow.
The thing is that as a SUpport Tech when you want to take the next step up in management you eventually have to work for a large corporate.
This one's actually really good, excellent pay, great work environment and a lot of extras - we give all of our staff open net access, we give them all speakers on their desks and install winamp (they can't donwload MP3's but they can bring in their own) , i have a boardroom here with surround sound, 12foot screen and DLP prohector where we run DVD's every friday afternoon - drinks are for all and free with a full bar, and the list goes on
We simply ask people to follow some simple rules and you know, no one has ever complained about them as they are really common sense.
No i would not employ you - if you go into any job interview unprepared to sign a AUP or Policy on Corporate systems usage then you won't get a job with a modern corporation - they all have them.
And anyway in my mind if you are the sort of person who needs IM or they don't work then i would be paying you a lot less than double - thats asking an employer to pay you more for actually doing the job they hired you for
Id rather talk to someone who has the balls to post as a name not anonymous.
I dont set the rules for the 500th time - the company does and the do it for good reasons.
We ran internal IM servers for over 2 years - when we looked at the traffic earlier this year we found about 1% work related stuff - thats after 2 sexual harrasment suits in which IM harrasment was named.
We stopped it as people clearly cannot be trusted to use common sense - this in a company where the average wages is $50'000 k and 80% of staff have a university degree.
See you work for an IT company - likely a company in the business of software development - i don't we are a services based business. IT companies has a reasonable expectation that their staff are intelligent enough to know their limits - we don't have that luxury and after lawsuits we don't have the patience.
The company culture is one of proffesionalism - it's a suit and tie workplace where the customer is our most important assett, the company doesn't monitor dress code (you don't follow it subtle peer pressure will pull you into line), they don't spy on employees (we just don't allow IM and we strip.mov and some other attachments for legal reasons (afformentioned lawsuits included exposure to pornography in the workplace)
The company has a reputation as being the most porffesional and succefull in our business feild world wide - and they made a decision at global level (we have some 15'000 employees) to formulate policies and apply them - us as IT Managers enforce these - thats the job you take on when you are a manager - something i doubt you have ever been
Thanks for your comment - but please next time - use a username and i will listen to what you say without dismissing it out of hane -anonymous opinion is worth the same as free advice.
That would be true if i was a nazi but i'm note. I encourage my guys to have fun, if you don't have fun at work then why be there.
The rules in the AUP were written by the company and my bosses, the 4 regional CIO's and the Global CIO - i did'nt write them but it's my job to see they are followed.
That being said anyone who equates blocking IM with encouraging slavery has other problems - its software for god sake not thought. We allow access to the web with very little monitoring, we allow unlimited email providing the content doesn't get out of hand (we filter it)
We tell jokes, have fun, party togethere and my guys are always able to speak up to me - i encourage them to challenge me as a manager every day.
Rules are rules - if you agree to them when you get a paycheck then thats that, companies set the rules and if you want to work for company A you abide by their rules - thats the workforce.
I have 13 staff and a turnover rate of 0 in 2 years, 3 of my staff have worked for me in 2 jobs now. They know their internet and email are monitored and they accept it as the company has a AUP that all staff sign - I won't bend the rules for anyone - we all have to comply.
Knowing this weeks tasks are being done is fine - understanding the costs of bandwidth usage and the other stuff plus the users who see it and whine that they don't have it.
As for this "Any employee who is worth access to a computer and all the costs that entails is capable of managing his time at least to the hour, or if not will quickly be found out without such a system. " Oh my god - do you know how much porn and games we pull out of email systems every day - all of our staff in the company (some 1500) have a computer and email and without such a system they can easily cover it up.
Yes we block it Yes we block IM Yes we block AIM Yes you get fired if you break the rules
When you start work with us you sign an agreement which clearly states what is and isn't allowed - the shock comes about for most people when we enforce that agreement - and we do.
The employer pays you to work, there are NO work reasons (cut the crap about tech support IRC and suchlike - i've heard it and seen what these guys talk about - there's no tech support going on at all - its chatting) for IM clients that i can see other than wasting time.
many of us work in environments where our calls are taped and monitored.
And as a manager let me tell you what that 'trust' gets you - gigabytes of porn, movies, racism, games, and the other shit - none of which have any place at work.
While people abuse trust companies will not trust people. we used to have unmonitored email and web, we now monitor everything after the mp3 dowloading and porn your friends by email gave is 2 sexual harrasment cases and a massive (300%) jump in web traffic.
people need to demonstrate they are worthy of trust - it's not an implicit right in the workforce
How will lycoris compete with click n run? Easy - Lindows is vapour and doesn't have a product yet - won't until end 2002 at the earliest - thus click and run does not exist and lycoris has a chance to build a market.
How will mandrake compete with OEM contracts? By developing their own - if you can't beat them , join them.
How will lindows compete with the linux community? It wont as i suspect they will NEVER release a product as a linux - they won't follow the GPL and anything they release will be propietary - the company wants a closed system (the only reason the trademark is so important IMHO) not covered by the GPL
I run Windows XP on 2 boxes here - ones my main system (my cable modem only works with win and mac unless i buy a router and thats a waste of money to me) and i run Lyrcoris on my notebook and Mandrake 8.1 on the server.
I also run a lycoris notebook at work for a citrix console as it makes use of an old piece of legacy equipment.
BTW the bit about phoning for permission is really crap - it's old hat - i have ripped this box down and upgraded the hardware and never had to re activate.
Linux and Windows are not mutually exclusive - they offer advanatges and disadvantages the same as anything else.
Slashdot Mirror
Soul of a new machine - Tracy Kidder - inside the creation of the data general eagle mini comp - a great look at IT in the late 70's early 80's - considered a classic of tech writing
Fire in the Valley - Frieberger and Swaine - Considered the definitive history of the PC revolution and silicon valley.
Infinite Loop - Micheal S Malone a good look inside Apple computer - real insight into what went on behind the scenes
Hackers - Steven Levy - the classic of computer tech writing - the reality of hackers and an insight into where open source came from
Free as in Freedom - Sam Williams - Fascinating look at RMS and what makes him tick, even someone who often disagrees with him(like me)found a new insight into him and the book is GPL and available in full online
Thats just a few with links for you - PS i also love the following books myself - theyre a great read for many reasons...
-The unix Haters Handbook (dont laugh - its a funny read and so much of this stuff still bugs me)
-Sluggy Freelance Books
-The Bastard Operator from hell books
-Underground - Sulette Davies (great book about hackers and available online if you lookat www.underground.com)
-Insanely Great and Crypto - Newer books by steven levy
-The Cathedral and the Bazzar - Eric Raymonds book on open source
-Takedown - The pursuit of Kevin mitnick (a bit biased but a good read) let me know your favourites ok.
Not being american i have to admit i have trouble understanding the post september 11 issue.. It amazes me that since that date the number of basic rights and civil liberties that have been ignored or thrown away in the cause of 'Patriotism' are so big.
it seems anything can be dismissed as post september 11 and be justifiable on the grounds of the war against terrorism...
meanwhile in palestine the IDF moves tanks back into refuge settlements to 'supress undesirable elements' and no one blinks ?
Tragedy that sept 11 was its no excuse to allow your rights and freedoms to be taken away from you and no excuse to not stand up for yourselves or others - America is supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave - it seems worryinh that these days its increasingly not so free and only brave when backed by superior firepower.....
And am i the only one who thinks that the post septmeber 11 comment has been a great way for the FBI and CIA et al to get around all those niggling civil rights and civil liberties issues? just how long have they been able to do this anyway...
Are we talking about a career in Support or a career in programming / development.
I only ask as i think it's a relevant point - some of the subjects and books you have posted are irrelevant to someone supporting Servers for example whilst the sort of books desktop support staff would need most are others - for example i have worked 10 years in IT support in roles ranging from SYS admin to IT manager and have never even picked up a book on software design or user interfaces...
If you support systems for a living things like hardwareand operating systems are more valuable than books on code, so maybe what we need is a definitive list of books by proffesiona class - IE programmer, support operator, web developer etc.
Still a damn good idea and a got me thinking.
'Even quake 2 was a flop in sales respects '
that of course SHOULD read Quake 3 as we all know Quake 2 was a huge success.
Sorry for any confusion
I do hope someone has told raven and the other companies in this market - the fact is RTCW was a flop compared to previous efforts and compared to the success of Max Payne - and the other games mentioned were not supported out of the box (ID didnt write them for linux natively and from memory the ports of 1 and 2 were done by outsiders and not by ID and on release day 1 and 2 and RTCW did not run natively on linux - extra work and playing was required to get them to run and nothing was advertised about the linux ability - thus it's irrelevant
ID games are one company and have not had a massive amount of success in the last 2 years - Even quake 2 was a flop in sales respects - so calling them the majroity of the FPS games out there (have you been to a games store in the last 2 years ? - is incorrect - you cannot forget the failure of Loki - this indicates to me that either linux is not a mature platform for games (considering the fun in getting OpenGl running under some distro's not to mention gaming...) or is not something people see as viable for games (maybe cause free software seems to be an issue - to judge from the sort of comments attached to the loki failure threads commenting on people not willing to pay money for anything...)
This is the issue I see - FPS and such games cost money and time to develop - companies are not going to give them away free and the issue is that open source product or product in a binary format is too open to piracy (dont claim it never happens...) or 'reverse engineerig' for those who claim a high ground. Thus a company knows that for all the work required to port to linux they might sell a few thousand copies and run the risk their work may turn up in some other companies products uncredited (or paid) tends to put them off...
Pity cause i actually like linux for gaming - but then again i actually bought Loki games instead of copying them like my friends did.....
Hmmm irony seems lost on some people... Ok let me put this clearly. On a normal subject a post about a WINDOWS only software product on here is flamed into non existance as monopolist etc... yet a post about a GAME is fine - my point was the hyporcrisy of some people is intriguing. I thought that it was not an especially off topic post in light of the fact that linux and open source gaming companies lilke Loki have all failed to survive a market where people are of course reluctant to pay for anything they should have access to for free.
Of course instead im attacked as some sort of troll - which is understandable as people intenstly dislike others saying things they don't agree with......
I am left to wonder if you would be so brave if you were not able to hide behind the term Anonymous Coward.. (Never has the word 'coward' been so truthfully applied) If you cannot debate my point with an actual account (thus risking karma like real people) then your opinion (whatever it is) is invalid.
This site used to be a tech site - now its an abuse site and pointing out that one of the moderators rated me flamebait in light of their incredible consistency in rating anything they personally dislike or non fawning down im not surprised - indeed i would have been surprised if it was NOT rated that way..
I'm sorry, but why do you even bother reading slashdot?
I wonder myself... I make a comment on something and immdiately join the ranks of the group of people who obviously dont know anything else... completely missing a link to a LINUX site in my sig, a site i post articles on Linux on.....
Maybe im in the wrong place - i recall when this site stood for intelligent comment and discussion - now it seems it stands for other things..
No
im well aware of the difference - however Netscape 7 and Mozilla share code and thus are very similar - netscape is free and is held up as an open source champion at the same time it belongs to a monopoly which makes MS look like a kindergarten... I simply found that ironic.
Does anyone else find the irony in the fact that most stories on here discuss open source product etc but this is a Beta test that you need Windows to participate in ? not to put too fine a point on it but it does make me smile a little...
The sight of people defending AOL Time Warner against Microsoft is in my mind worthy of a bookmark for future reference... AOL Time Warner are a monopoly in a way Microsoft would love to be - they have absorbed media companies left right and center yet as long as they release or support free software they are considered acceptable? Hmm why is it im suspicious of their motives ?
/. i can post links to this story - Just WHO do you guys think would have the cash to buy parts of a split up MS anyway ? Painting the worlds largest media monopoly as a small guy against microsoft's might makes me laugh and feel ill at the same time.
These people control what you see and what you read - they make no bones about their desire to dominate the media world and for them to turn around and start lawsuits against a former ally and best buddy (MS) shows the level of loyalty and trust worthiness they should be afforded.
I use Mozilla on Linux - i like it - its not as stable nor as useable as IE5.5 but it is a damn good browser. Netscape is a bloated, buggy unuseable piece of crap on windows and from my experiments on linux as well. To defend AOL and beg for them to do something like this is a joke, they WILL not do anything unless they can gain a competitive advantage from it - this is the way they have built a business (and previous slashdot stories can attest to it)
Im bookmarking this so when they become 'evil' in the eyes of
It might sound bad to some people but superior products win marketshare - IE was better than Netscape - IE won whilst netscape frittered away a lead and became a second rate product (yet mozilla is a first rate ? go figure)
And yes the majority of the real world (non open source) consider IE a very good product.
naah
..
on of my so called 'friends' did it - i love people like this - i leave the room for 10 mins come back and he's hitting submit on this stuff - nice guy - although come to think of it he has the tact and mental capacity of a 3 year old so maybe
can someone mod this down or delete it(the preferable soltution) - it was posted by someone else using my PC which had my account logged in - i was to late to stop them hitting submit -this does NOT reflect my views - thank you.
Apologies for any offence this may cause
as if this isn't the headquarters and catherdral of the First Inernational Church of Rabid Linux Supporters (other wise knows as the Linux Open Source Encouragement and Racist Supporters) or L.O.S.E.R.S
What a fucking joke - you guys are more intolerant than any church and if it weren't for the fact that most of you are -
A: Too Fat to get out the door
OR
B: Can't move five feet without passing out from Asthma that you all seem born with
OR
C: Don't go anywhere as buses and taxi's arent free and thus you have a philosophical problem with them
You would have long ago flown a plane into the microsoft headquarters - the only reason you haven't declared an open holy war or Jihad on MS is that their marketing and sales guys would eat you alive on the battlefield (you'd be designing strategy sofwtare whilst they were tearing your hearts out - don't believe me ? look what they did to thei competititors).
Just declare the whole fucking thing a religion and get off your high horses.
And you wonder why we normal people think your all hypocrites ?
Not to mention the fact they are illegal in a number of countries
my spelling sucks - i live with it - i spell check everythig i write for print etc but when i write a post i don't
BTW i know this might be important to you but IMHO picking on spelling and grammar is pedantic from someone who posts as an Anonymous Coward
I agree with you on the big corporates - too many people can drop thru the cracks - we would prefer not to monitor as frankly it's a pain in the butt with logs and cleaning out quarantined stuff, i don't 100% agree with the policy but i have to enforce it - farnkly at times it's a pain.
Im lucky that i have good guys.
I have read Peopleware - the suit is only part of this company - we deal in big dollar value transactions and the company used to be a partnership - so the dress code is a hangover from that - plus when a client is spending $100 million with you they expect you to dress like that.
We drive proffesionalism in many ways, we ecnourgae people to study, to conbtribute (many of our staff write white papers and industry articles without being encouraged) we encourage staff to recruit people themselves - if they know someone good then recommend them. The company credo is simply to be proffesional in all dealings at all times - be ethical and honest and make commitments to clients and deliver.
Unfortuntely some people abuse it and we end up with policies like this, it hurts.
I understand you wouldn't like to work here, hell i can see what you mean - the thing is i think that this setup would not work for an IT company (we're not one) and for programming which IMHO by defenition has to be more flexible and open. We have legislative and legal controls on us and procedures to follow.
The thing is that as a SUpport Tech when you want to take the next step up in management you eventually have to work for a large corporate.
This one's actually really good, excellent pay, great work environment and a lot of extras - we give all of our staff open net access, we give them all speakers on their desks and install winamp (they can't donwload MP3's but they can bring in their own) , i have a boardroom here with surround sound, 12foot screen and DLP prohector where we run DVD's every friday afternoon - drinks are for all and free with a full bar, and the list goes on
We simply ask people to follow some simple rules and you know, no one has ever complained about them as they are really common sense.
No i would not employ you - if you go into any job interview unprepared to sign a AUP or Policy on Corporate systems usage then you won't get a job with a modern corporation - they all have them.
And anyway in my mind if you are the sort of person who needs IM or they don't work then i would be paying you a lot less than double - thats asking an employer to pay you more for actually doing the job they hired you for
Id rather talk to someone who has the balls to post as a name not anonymous.
.mov and some other attachments for legal reasons (afformentioned lawsuits included exposure to pornography in the workplace)
I dont set the rules for the 500th time - the company does and the do it for good reasons.
We ran internal IM servers for over 2 years - when we looked at the traffic earlier this year we found about 1% work related stuff - thats after 2 sexual harrasment suits in which IM harrasment was named.
We stopped it as people clearly cannot be trusted to use common sense - this in a company where the average wages is $50'000 k and 80% of staff have a university degree.
See you work for an IT company - likely a company in the business of software development - i don't we are a services based business. IT companies has a reasonable expectation that their staff are intelligent enough to know their limits - we don't have that luxury and after lawsuits we don't have the patience.
The company culture is one of proffesionalism - it's a suit and tie workplace where the customer is our most important assett, the company doesn't monitor dress code (you don't follow it subtle peer pressure will pull you into line), they don't spy on employees (we just don't allow IM and we strip
The company has a reputation as being the most porffesional and succefull in our business feild world wide - and they made a decision at global level (we have some 15'000 employees) to formulate policies and apply them - us as IT Managers enforce these - thats the job you take on when you are a manager - something i doubt you have ever been
Thanks for your comment - but please next time - use a username and i will listen to what you say without dismissing it out of hane -anonymous opinion is worth the same as free advice.
That would be true if i was a nazi but i'm note. I encourage my guys to have fun, if you don't have fun at work then why be there.
The rules in the AUP were written by the company and my bosses, the 4 regional CIO's and the Global CIO - i did'nt write them but it's my job to see they are followed.
That being said anyone who equates blocking IM with encouraging slavery has other problems - its software for god sake not thought. We allow access to the web with very little monitoring, we allow unlimited email providing the content doesn't get out of hand (we filter it)
We tell jokes, have fun, party togethere and my guys are always able to speak up to me - i encourage them to challenge me as a manager every day.
Rules are rules - if you agree to them when you get a paycheck then thats that, companies set the rules and if you want to work for company A you abide by their rules - thats the workforce.
Yes and your'e not one
I have 13 staff and a turnover rate of 0 in 2 years, 3 of my staff have worked for me in 2 jobs now. They know their internet and email are monitored and they accept it as the company has a AUP that all staff sign - I won't bend the rules for anyone - we all have to comply.
Knowing this weeks tasks are being done is fine - understanding the costs of bandwidth usage and the other stuff plus the users who see it and whine that they don't have it.
As for this "Any employee who is worth access to a computer and all the costs that entails is capable of managing his time at least to the hour, or if not will quickly be found out without such a system. " Oh my god - do you know how much porn and games we pull out of email systems every day - all of our staff in the company (some 1500) have a computer and email and without such a system they can easily cover it up.
"What about your instant messages being logged by companies who will then in turn use your information to make a profit"
they can as they legally own anything you do, write or say on company equipment in company time (it's been proven - do a websearch on the subject)
"Personal data can be stored and later used for blackmail"
What ARE you doing at work and who do you work for - what company would actually do this.
Yes we block it
Yes we block IM
Yes we block AIM
Yes you get fired if you break the rules
When you start work with us you sign an agreement which clearly states what is and isn't allowed - the shock comes about for most people when we enforce that agreement - and we do.
The employer pays you to work, there are NO work reasons (cut the crap about tech support IRC and suchlike - i've heard it and seen what these guys talk about - there's no tech support going on at all - its chatting) for IM clients that i can see other than wasting time.
many of us work in environments where our calls are taped and monitored.
And as a manager let me tell you what that 'trust' gets you - gigabytes of porn, movies, racism, games, and the other shit - none of which have any place at work.
While people abuse trust companies will not trust people. we used to have unmonitored email and web, we now monitor everything after the mp3 dowloading and porn your friends by email gave is 2 sexual harrasment cases and a massive (300%) jump in web traffic.
people need to demonstrate they are worthy of trust - it's not an implicit right in the workforce
How will lycoris compete with click n run?
Easy - Lindows is vapour and doesn't have a product yet - won't until end 2002 at the earliest - thus click and run does not exist and lycoris has a chance to build a market.
How will mandrake compete with OEM contracts?
By developing their own - if you can't beat them , join them.
How will lindows compete with the linux community?
It wont as i suspect they will NEVER release a product as a linux - they won't follow the GPL and anything they release will be propietary - the company wants a closed system (the only reason the trademark is so important IMHO) not covered by the GPL
Personally i think Lindows is one big troll.
Which is what i do
I run Windows XP on 2 boxes here - ones my main system (my cable modem only works with win and mac unless i buy a router and thats a waste of money to me) and i run Lyrcoris on my notebook and Mandrake 8.1 on the server.
I also run a lycoris notebook at work for a citrix console as it makes use of an old piece of legacy equipment.
BTW the bit about phoning for permission is really crap - it's old hat - i have ripped this box down and upgraded the hardware and never had to re activate.
Linux and Windows are not mutually exclusive - they offer advanatges and disadvantages the same as anything else.