I worked for a company that Microsoft wanted to have a "sit down" with, they were interested in our media player that was shipped on every HP and Compaq computer sold in the US. Within 6 months, we were out of business and were surprised to see the "Windows Media Player" released with features and functions that we had been selling to our OEM's and making a decent living at it.
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
10 years later, in hindsight, I blame the principals of our company having dollar signs in their eyes and not being responsible by making them sign NDA's up the wing-wang. Of course, we all believed (at the company) they wanted to buy our product and use that as the "Media Player", what we didn't realize then was that they were just interested in seeing where we were headed to ensure that they were going to stomp us out by delivering it "free" in windows.
It worked.
In my opinion, There is no reason for the OSS community to have a "sit down".
How about MS extending the olive branch and open sourcing VB 6? Showing the comminity that they are committed to ensuring their customers have a path or support outside of JUST MS.
I own a small software company. We are two guys in an office and we are profitable. We can pay our salaries (not much, but enough to live on) and we are gaining customers monthly. We, as of today, are doing pretty well.
It wasn't like this from the start.
We had some false starts trying to find the right mix of product and market. It was hard trying to focus on what is "right". But once we figured it out, it got a lot clearer what our goal was...
Thats why I think its also good to have an excellent business knowledge of the market and the climate in which your building and selling your products.
I think its easy to say "why not start your own". The issue is this: You could build the best widget in the world, but can you sell that widget? Can you market it, and can you continue to be profitable by supporting that widget?
We struggle every day. We bring enough money in monthly to pay the bills and whats left we keep for salary and benefits -- its truely a startup -- I figured last week, that I have about $300,000 of my own personal sweat equity into this venture because I went 2 years without cashing a paycheck.
My partner has the same amount.
So it does NOT come cheap.
We have an excellent product and our customers love us. However, it would not have been this way had one of us (me) been the one who could cold call and sell the damn thing. Everyone knows that an engineer is usually the last person to be selling the product. Fortunately, I'm a good engineer and i'm also very good at sales and marketing. My partner, he's also a very good engineer, but he's NOT a sales or marketing type. I often wonder had I not worked as a sales engineer for 5 years at large company, would I have been "just an engineer".
I also knew how to get to the customer and how to make them want the product. We have competitors now, and its becoming even more of a stuggle as we battle the cash flow vs. investing back into new development -- which we love to do (R&D is fun, isn't it??).
We want to hire more people, but I'm reluctant to do so unless I feel that we have a model that can pay everyone and sustain growth at the same time.
What have I learned?
I've learned that its not easy. Its the hardest thing I've done in my life. But its also very rewarding and to know that you have products that people use which are "real" and are "useful" makes me feel that we've accomplished something.
Seems to me, I might have "prior art" on this. The company that I wrote it for filed a patent in 2000 -- which was not accepted or pursued (they went out of business). The patent was filed and I should really try and dig up the documentation.
Basically, I used JavaScript/HTML and a little XML, I packaged it up in a resource DLL and delivered it via an IE application (a simple COM/ATL container). This allowed a web designer to "create" an interface in HTML using Dreamweaver, glue it together using JavaScipt and have it be completely contained within a payload of a resource DLL.
The MPAA has just created a new "End User License Agreement" for all movies released to the general public.
The License Agreement states that all viewers will remain in confidence about said movies and will not mention, speak or talk about the movie in anyway to anyone until the DVD is released to the public until after it's third edition or "Special Release Edition" DVD release.
When asked about how they would uphold such a license agreement, MPAA spokesman, Rich Taylor stated that they will be encoding each movie with a technology that will allow each viewer only faint memories of the movie once they leave the theatre. Asked if the technology will help sales of the movie and ensure box office numbers that are in-line with their estimations for a movie, Taylor stated: "our goal is to ensure that each and every movie makes money. When people use technology to tell their friends the movie is not good, we'll combat negative reviews by using our technology that will make it difficult for them to remember a movie all together, thus this will limit the scope of bad reviews and bad vibes about a movie which will negativetly impact the numbers."
Asked if he believed this new technology could be seen as a way of controlling public opinion. Taylor stated, "if they can't remember a movie, that's not the point. The point is that they paid for a ticket, and were delivered a product. We are protecting our intellectual property and ensuring that others who have not seen the product will pay for it and we will not lose revenue."
Asked what the penalty will be for sharing memories of their product, Taylor remarked, "We take theft very seriouslly, if we find that someone is sharing our product and breaking the EULA which they agreed with when they purchased a ticket, we will pursue them through all legal channels and prosecute them.".
Microsoft is seeing the end. The end is near and they are starting to prepare for it by using the courts as a an offense instead of building a better product. The only defense (instead of building a better product) is to sue the product thats beating the shit out of you and tie them up legally.
This exact thing is happening to me. I created a product that is better than my one competitor out there. I sell it for a fraction of the cost and it's better technology (of course it's based on Open Source). I've taken 20 - 30 new customers from my one competitor in the last six 5 months. Not bad.
Well, what does the competitor do? They pull a credit report on my company, start making "wild claims" (read: FUD) about me and the company to their existing customers, even went as far as changing their product to make it hard for their existing customers to leave. Recently, I'm hearing that they are using lawyers now to find out information about me and my company... It's an ugly world.
What am I going to do? hahaha. Ignore eveything and keep going on. I won't stop. They'll have to show up with the Sheriff's to pull me out of my office. My belief, this is not about winning a court case, it's about "killing the little guy by legally strangling them."
This is probably the smartest thing someone has said here yet.
The problem is, most people on the lower rung envy the people at the top and always make it seem like the people are the top are the reason they are on the lower end. Your relatives are like mine and think they "deserve" more without working harder or doing something more (like maybe go to college or getting training). Jealousy? Nah, It's ignorance.
My own situation is that i'm the president/ceo of my company. That title means shit. I make virtually nothing, yet, people around me (in my town for example) think i'm rich and powerful because I own my own company and i'm the "ceo". Little do they know, i haven't made a dime. Yet, these are the same people that I listen too and hear them grouse about their jobs, that they only get 3 weeks paid vacation and that they are pissed about not getting time-and-half anymore. Of course they do all this as they are head down to their boats or summer home on the cape.
Me? I haven't had a vacation in 3 years and I'm driving a 24 year-old car. I work 80 - 100 hours a week and virtually get NO sleep. But I'm doing what I want, providing a great service and product to my customers.
Yet, I'm hoping, with my hard work, it will pay off in the end. And when it does, these same people will call me a "rich bastard" and not think twice that I spent 4 years of my own savings, worked a zillion hours a week and basically took years off my life from stress because I wanted to create a company and run a business and be productive.
Awww, poor guy was caught in either a lie or ignorance, and now is backpedalling. You said the majority of people were being supported by the minority. 4% isn't a majority, is it? Heh.
No, your wrong. I said the "majority of people on the system...". I never said a majority of people in the US. Go get your glasses and read it again.
The funny thing, is if you're doing the consultant thing, you're probably cheating someone, as the vast majority of "consultants" are con artists.
Oh, ok, and I generalize??? hahahahaha. What a statement. I bet you've pissed off half the people on/.
Actually, I did make a mistake here. There are people heading to lessor paying jobs. I think what I was trying to say is that some of those people when the bubble burst, didn't and went right on the tit until they found something, which for most of the people didn't happen.
A generalization, but my observation.
WOW, YOU HAVE ESP! You can tell they don't have jobs simply by looking at them? And there's no chance that maybe that was their time off? That's why we can't trust what you say, these massive assumptions you make. I guarantee the majority of those people you've seen have jobs. But that doesn't fit into your weird worldview, so boom, make up something.
These people are on corner EVERYDAY!!! And I talk to them all the time, they ARE collecting, they told me! One guy actually told me that he works 'just enough' to keep extending.
I actually offered to have one of them help us clear out the side of our building (I was going to pay them $20 an hour). You know what the guy said? "Nah, dude... I'm chillin with my boys... Thanks anyway, i've got enough money.".
Your completely nieve if you believe that there aren't a lot of people abusing the system.
Yes. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 3.3 percent of Americans are dependent on welfare.
In my state (MA), that number is low. Nationally, ok, it evens out. But you know what? 3.3, let's call it 4% of 250 million? That's a LOT of people bubba. Part of a "left wing's bleeding heart, give all my money to a tree" strategy is to make the numbers look small so that they can 'add to the coffers' give me a break. If I had a dollar for each one of those 3.3% of the population, I'd have Trump money...
Wake up. That's a LOT of people.
There are people receiving welfare who work full time, at jobs you wouldn't last a day in, doing backbreaking work that you couldn't possibly imagine
I don't think I ever said I wanted to get rid of Welfare. All I'm saying is that welfare should be a "crutch", not a hammock. Why are people treating this like a free ride? Why would someone who loses their job think first "look, i can always file for unemployement". How about getting an interim job and contributing instead of doing the "easy thing".
I love posts like yours, they take jabs without living or understanding the facts personally. You probably work for a company 40 hours a week make a nice salary and have never run a business yourself or had to worry about things like paying your employees, unemployment tax, fed unemployement tax, health care etc.. Until you have to run a business and earn money from virtually nothing, you should shut up. You know nothing other than your opinion.
Here's the real ironic thing: I haven't cashed a paycheck since February of 2001. That's right, I haven't earned a dime since 2001.
Why? Because I started my own company, saved enough money to cover myself for 3+ years (doing consulting and working for a large software company). I could have easily gone on unemployement tit for 32 weeks at a time, or gone and taken a part time job from someone and earn $10 - 12 dollars an hour while my company builds up revenue. Yet I haven't taken a loan or taken VC, or done any of the cheezy things like collect or grab a part-time job. Why? Because I realized long ago, that I wanted to do things the "right way" so that my conscience is clean when my company is profitable and succesful -- which is now, thankfully, about 5 months away.
Some people would call that stupid. I call it "the right way". I couldn't live with myself knowing that I build my company on unemployement. I would have as soon taken a big fat loan.
You can call me a right wing "Ayn Rand square jawwed wanna be", but I'd rather just be called "honest". At the end of the day, I can feel good about the dollar that I earn. I'd prefer to call YOU a "dirty t-shirt wearning geek knucklehead" without the presence of mind to understand anything beyond your D&D score or when the next episode of Farscape is going to be on... please.
Lot's of my emotions about this topic comes from personal experience and the fact that I'm conributing and working really hard (80 - 90 hours a week for pretty much zip). I get really upset when I hear that someone is going on unemployement for 32 weeks because they can't find a "comparable job" to the one they lost.
Hey, why not go get a part time job or something that will earn "something" until you find something "comparable" instead of filing?
Jesus Christ, I would have thought the LAST thing to do was to file -- guess people use this is a the first option. Hey, if you tried to get the part-time job and couldn't or your in dire straights medically. OK, Welfare and unemployement is something to consider.
I think that's where I have a problem with all these posts backing "the system". People out of work tend to go the easy route and cost tax payers (themselves) and companies lots of money.
Incidently, our office is located in a really poor section of Boston, and when i walk over to get lunch I see a LOT of people milling around and not working. I'm pretty sure a lot of
Re:The problem is people take jobs just for the mo
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He's just as proud and ambitous as anyone -- your SO wrong.
The problem with everything you replied too? Your assuming that people in lower wage jobs don't like thier job. Actually, my brother-in-law likes his job very much and is very good at it (he's a grocery manager). He has pretty good hours too, he's up at 3am and back home by noon ot have the rest of the day to do the things he enjoyes in life (golf, woodworking etc.). He makes about $60-75K a year and has a great house and three kids. A very typical American if you ask me.
Your assumption that people in blue-collar jobs are miserable. You forget, people actually like to do these jobs and enjoy it.
Not everything is high-tech, and not everything is geek related. When you buy a gallon of milk, remember how that milk got to the store and got priced. Someone had to do it, last time I checked the 2.4.20 kernel couldn't actually move mile from a dairy to a store (yet).
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Your daft.
I love how your saying "lay off the lower paid worker" while your unemployed. Hahahahahah.
How about going out and taking that "lower paid wage" instead of sucking off the tit? Wait, I bet you did the math and realized that you could collect 32 weeks at $535 dollars... HELL, why work when I can stay home and make that money for 32 weeks.
I pity your neighbors who are holding up your end of the earth.
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Please, i'd love to see the statistic of people working "hard". I'm willing to bet that there is a small percentage in this country "working hard" and shouldering the economy while the rest of the nation "rests and relaxes". Have you seen the welfare numbers? Have you seen the unemployment numbers? Gimme a break.
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First off. I'm one of the people that thinks this is a good thing. Here's why:
Most of the lower end hourly employee's in this country abuse the system and cost the tax payer HUGE amounts of money because they are pushing the cost of the hourly wage up higher and back to the employer.
Here's an example:
Say your a grocery clerk earning $12.00 an hour stocking shelves. You work 4 days a week and you work on a sunday. You opt to NOT work that 5th weekday because you know that you can make double time, or time and half on sundays. So you work your way up the ladder and get that sunday as a "cherry" day where you could have simply worked that "normal day". There is SO MUCH of this, it's crazy.
The problem with this? Easy. Why on earth is someone who works at a supermarket on sunday's entitled to make time and a half because it's "sunday"? And why is it a "right" or a "law" it's crazy.
And don't give me this "holy day" crap. It's a load.
Think about it. You can basically do ANYTHING you want on sunday's. Go to the movies, buy a DVD, drink at a bar. So, I question the reasoning behind this perk as being just another "unionized hold over" from the days of unionized bullyism with employer's of non-salaried companies. Once a union get's their grips on the employer, it's like a leech sucking the life from the host...
Let's face it; An hour a person works putting can's on a shelf on monday is no different than the hour he she works on a sunday. Why does that person need to earn 50% more because it's frickin' sunday.
Remember, these laws cost us. The employer eats this salary and doesn't get to claim that employee's hours on the books -- it's considered "overtime" and not part of the 40 hours work week. It effects unemployement taxes and is a huge burden on the accounting side.
It eventually hurts the employer by costing them lot's of money which they eventually push back to us by keeping the prices up and/or hiring less employees.
I say "shit or get off the pot". If you want sunday to be a "holy day" or you don't want to have overtime pay for over 40 hours for certain types of "non-exempt" employee's then you can't have "wishy washy" blue law's that just don't make sense anymore in 2003.
I know one thing. My brother-in-law who's in a union and works for a grocery chain here in MA was complaining recently that he has to now pay for health insurance. I thought (that sucks), then he told me it was $50.00 a month. I almost puked. We (I own a software company here in Boston) pay $925 per family to BCBS -- I'd kill for $50.00 a month... But, yet, he complains.
Yes, he's very angry that he can't earn $34.00 an hour on sunday's anymore instead of making $22.00 on a normal day. Now he'll just work friday's instead of switching off on sunday's cause he's got "seniority". I guess his golf game might suffer.
I think hourly and non-salaried folks who are in these situations have to wake up.
I'm sick of the money grubbing BS that's hovering around this case. It's clear that SCO is using the "open" in open source to try and challenge an IP issue because they know the court's never seen anything like this before. Also, the fact that M$ injects money into SCO is really suspect and deserves and out right investigation, because EVERYONE knows they [SCO] wouldn't be paying lawyer's for this FUD if they didn't have the cash.
Everyone here knows that Linux is kicking the shit out of Microsoft on the server, and they [M$]know it's not long before it starts cutting into their desktop margins.
This stuff is making me sick. It's a joke, it's friggin' "high-tech ambulance chasing".
I can't wait until they lose and I hope IBM find's something suspect in the case so that they can reveal the true evil behind all this...
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I'm so sick of Microsoft...
I've had it.
I did the same thing I went to the link and "blammo", no can view. I'm using Mozilla 1.3b.
Here's my main issue with Microsoft, and my opinion comes from someone who's made a lot of money writing Windows code and who up until 2000, was someone who had mainly done ALL development on Microsoft platforms.
My main issue simply this: Microsoft is not the best anymore. Thier products are at best "mediocre". There was once a time where I felt that IE was a supperior browser, Outlook was the only mail client to use and that ASP/COM and ATL were the only solution for the server.
Those days are long gone.
The playing field has all changed because things have clearly gotten better in the open source realm.
Mozilla, in my opinion, is now a browser that is faster and more reliable than IE, and PHP with Apache is clearly a more secure and cost effective solution than ASP and IIS.
Microsoft has to wake-up, they are trying to "AOL everyone" into their little world on the desktop by restricting the user and making life difficult for the user who wants "choice" or is on the "fringe" and not running 100% microsoft products.
I don't really like to get into the MS vs. Linux thing because I like to solve problems by using the best solution available. But lately, I'm realizing that Microsoft is becoming a choice that I can't recommend. It's really now down to one single application that is holding people back from running another desktop: Office. Once there is a viable mainstream office solution that "works" and is free. It's lights out in Redmond. I really can't think of anything else on the Desktop that is holding people back from using the Mac (which actually has Office but its like $500 dollars) or choosing Linux -- there is really nothing compelling about Windows anymore.
I once worked on a machine that had "nobody" with write permissions.
I had to explain to the client that because the web server was working fine, that it didn't mean that the security and permissions were in tact.
The admin (a windows guy) decided that since he kept getting the "permission denied" when any web page was displayed, the best thing to do was to give "all access" permissions to "nobody".
Once again, I explained to him that unlike Windows, permissions on Linux and Unix is a bit more flexible and clearly something that shouldn't be taken lightly -- I got this glazed look, and simply fixed it all for him and told him to leave that box alone "and stick with NT".
A CGI to do shell commands. Another thing to worry about on your customer machines... no thanks
See, this is where we veer off the road and crash into tree to disagreement. I find Imperial Bedroom very layered, overally produced and very dated (The Attractions could have been on vacation, you would have noticed it was them on the album). I think Man Out of Time is one the best written and worst engineered songs he's put out -- its "shrilly" and has a cocophany of noise thats deafening and *almost* ruins the song.
I wonder if he head Nick Lowe back at the knobs, might that album had more airplay. It was way to much towards the direction (production wise) of what was huge back then (H20, hall and oates, Dire Straights, Police etc.), too slick, too much layering and not enough "performance". Was it a bad album, no. The material is some of his best work. By I tend to disagree with people, I think its a little over the top in production and almost ruins the performance.
Now, going to My Aim Is True. Your friends should stop and listen to that album for what it is. Raw, well produced and very well performed. It was recorded on an 8-track ree-to-reel, and it sounds like it. I actually think it has a nice warm and very "live" sound to it. I think production and quality kick the shit out of anything to date that he's done (well, maybe not Armed Forces or Get Happy), but Its damn good for what it was suppose to be...
Cheap production sometimes brings out the performance and in this case, I clearly think it was the reason this album is probably one of the 10 best albums every recorded in rock.
When I was playing and recording back in the early 80's and into the 90's (yes, I'm that old). I did a TON of recording and producing of my music and other folks. I had no money, spartan gear and very little in the way of technical knowledge of what to do. All I had was my ears and my skills as a musician. Recently, a friend called me and asked for some master tapes for an album that he's putting together for a woman that I recorded in 1984. I remembered the session, but remembered that she got a ton of money from a record company to do some demos at Synchro Sound in the hopes of getting a deal. Synchro was the BIG studio in Boston that The Cars owned.
My sessions were done on a TEAC 4-track reel-to-real. I literally used to bounce to VHS (Hi-Fi) and back down to 2 tracks... My whole goal was to capture the performance and the song and not worry too much about the gear. My console was this old Soundcraft piece of crap that I stole from a club (err... borrowoed) and my Mic's were cheapo Sure's, the vocal mic was an old Tube mic that I found at a radio station my friend worked at -- they were throwing it out, so I snarfed it. For effects I had a compressor and reverb -- thats it. My monitors were actually just a pair of Kliptch speakers and the power amp and headphone amp were basically NAD home stereo quality things -- good for listening to Steely Dan, probably not optimal for monitoring and listening to a performance. The studio itself was actually my apartment, which was on the third floor. We'd use each room as a "booth". Heh. I'm talking REAL spartan here. But my point is this: People, to this day tell me today that my recordings were some of the best that they'd heard. I was skeptical, but then when this person called and wanted the masters of my recordings (which I had but were in pretty bad shape), he explained that the demo's she spent so much money on sounded flat, over produced and (get this) too expensive. Hahahahah...
I think I charged her $20 an hour. The whole thing was like $400.
The point is, its how good the music is, and how good the production is (production of the performance)...
I said Norton, I meant Albini (he producted the Pixies originally). Interesting that we're talking about money and producers. And your right, Albini makes a point of NEVER taking points on an album -- its against his belief of what he does for a band.
Anyway, my bad.
I think Albini is a great producer. He produced Page and Plant's Clarksville album, which i happen to think was pretty reminisent of the old Zep "sound" -- very well done. I'd actually like to see him produce another old time band like the Stones, he seems to really pull out the performance as well as building a great layer of sound that captures the band. I find his recordings very "room like". Which I tend to like.
I think Nirvana is probably a good example only because they really weren't much for the big production studio thing, Kurt was always commenting on how Nevermind sounded too slick.
But if my memory serves. Tom Scholtz had used some pretty lamo equipment (old mixing board, some older cheap tube mic's) that he modified and enhanced (he was an EE from MIT). The point is, today you can spend $200 on a good Mic, buy an nice quiet mixing board (Mackie), a power amp, some nice monitors and then use Digital Performer, ProTools or whatever around a MOTU system -- the whole package is under $3000.00, and you've got a VERY compelling studio. Yes, Mic's make a big difference... but if your talking Rock-n-Roll, your not talking about a lot of dynamic range, especially if your micing a distorted guitar. Some SM57's will do just fine... Voice? Get an old Nueman, or if you can't afford one, spend $199 on a decent east european mic (russian). Shit, a decent audio technica does the job...
I've got friends who utilize this stuff, and I have to say, its quite astounding.
I'm FROM Boston.. actually, the album was recorded not too far away from my house... Yes, I knew about MIT. Did you know Scholtz (the guy in question) was also an employee of Polaroid, the camera and film company. He worked there during the day and record during the night...
I beg to differ. Vig had already produced a bunch of underground bands (Killdozer, Urge overkill, The Other Kids). Ok, maybe not marquee bands, but he certainly had a good rep. He went on to produce Soul Asylum, Sonic Youth, Helmet, Freedy Johnston and of course Siamese Dream, by the pumpkins.
I believe Andy Wallace also produced McCartney.
But actually, the big name producer wasn't really Wallace back then, it was Gil Norton -- who produced the Pixies, which Kurt gives all the credit too when he talked about Nirvana and their "sound". Rightly so.
Anwyay, the point I really trying to make was that the producer is where all the money goes. We just named 3 big producers who by today's standards would ask for big money. The fact that Nevermind was $120,000 is pretty much normal: I suspect $50-70K went to Vig plus "back end" money.
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I worked for a company that Microsoft wanted to have a "sit down" with, they were interested in our media player that was shipped on every HP and Compaq computer sold in the US. Within 6 months, we were out of business and were surprised to see the "Windows Media Player" released with features and functions that we had been selling to our OEM's and making a decent living at it.
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
10 years later, in hindsight, I blame the principals of our company having dollar signs in their eyes and not being responsible by making them sign NDA's up the wing-wang. Of course, we all believed (at the company) they wanted to buy our product and use that as the "Media Player", what we didn't realize then was that they were just interested in seeing where we were headed to ensure that they were going to stomp us out by delivering it "free" in windows.
It worked.
In my opinion, There is no reason for the OSS community to have a "sit down".
How about MS extending the olive branch and open sourcing VB 6? Showing the comminity that they are committed to ensuring their customers have a path or support outside of JUST MS.
Let me give ya'll my take, since I'm living it.
I own a small software company. We are two guys in an office and we are profitable. We can pay our salaries (not much, but enough to live on) and we are gaining customers monthly. We, as of today, are doing pretty well.
It wasn't like this from the start.
We had some false starts trying to find the right mix of product and market. It was hard trying to focus on what is "right". But once we figured it out, it got a lot clearer what our goal was...
Thats why I think its also good to have an excellent business knowledge of the market and the climate in which your building and selling your products.
I think its easy to say "why not start your own". The issue is this: You could build the best widget in the world, but can you sell that widget? Can you market it, and can you continue to be profitable by supporting that widget?
We struggle every day. We bring enough money in monthly to pay the bills and whats left we keep for salary and benefits -- its truely a startup -- I figured last week, that I have about $300,000 of my own personal sweat equity into this venture because I went 2 years without cashing a paycheck.
My partner has the same amount.
So it does NOT come cheap.
We have an excellent product and our customers love us. However, it would not have been this way had one of us (me) been the one who could cold call and sell the damn thing. Everyone knows that an engineer is usually the last person to be selling the product. Fortunately, I'm a good engineer and i'm also very good at sales and marketing. My partner, he's also a very good engineer, but he's NOT a sales or marketing type. I often wonder had I not worked as a sales engineer for 5 years at large company, would I have been "just an engineer".
I also knew how to get to the customer and how to make them want the product. We have competitors now, and its becoming even more of a stuggle as we battle the cash flow vs. investing back into new development -- which we love to do (R&D is fun, isn't it??).
We want to hire more people, but I'm reluctant to do so unless I feel that we have a model that can pay everyone and sustain growth at the same time.
What have I learned?
I've learned that its not easy. Its the hardest thing I've done in my life. But its also very rewarding and to know that you have products that people use which are "real" and are "useful" makes me feel that we've accomplished something.
How the hell can a Yugo be worse then a Pinto?
The Pinto actually blew up and killed people!
Yeah, the Yugo was bad. But I don't remember the damn thing blowing up. You have to run to blow up....
When they port Microsoft Bob to the XBox, then I'll really be impressed.
Yawn....
Seems to me, I might have "prior art" on this. The company that I wrote it for filed a patent in 2000 -- which was not accepted or pursued (they went out of business). The patent was filed and I should really try and dig up the documentation.
Basically, I used JavaScript/HTML and a little XML, I packaged it up in a resource DLL and delivered it via an IE application (a simple COM/ATL container). This allowed a web designer to "create" an interface in HTML using Dreamweaver, glue it together using JavaScipt and have it be completely contained within a payload of a resource DLL.
The MPAA has just created a new "End User License Agreement" for all movies released to the general public.
The License Agreement states that all viewers will remain in confidence about said movies and will not mention, speak or talk about the movie in anyway to anyone until the DVD is released to the public until after it's third edition or "Special Release Edition" DVD release.
When asked about how they would uphold such a license agreement, MPAA spokesman, Rich Taylor stated that they will be encoding each movie with a technology that will allow each viewer only faint memories of the movie once they leave the theatre. Asked if the technology will help sales of the movie and ensure box office numbers that are in-line with their estimations for a movie, Taylor stated: "our goal is to ensure that each and every movie makes money. When people use technology to tell their friends the movie is not good, we'll combat negative reviews by using our technology that will make it difficult for them to remember a movie all together, thus this will limit the scope of bad reviews and bad vibes about a movie which will negativetly impact the numbers."
Asked if he believed this new technology could be seen as a way of controlling public opinion. Taylor stated, "if they can't remember a movie, that's not the point. The point is that they paid for a ticket, and were delivered a product. We are protecting our intellectual property and ensuring that others who have not seen the product will pay for it and we will not lose revenue."
Asked what the penalty will be for sharing memories of their product, Taylor remarked, "We take theft very seriouslly, if we find that someone is sharing our product and breaking the EULA which they agreed with when they purchased a ticket, we will pursue them through all legal channels and prosecute them.".
If you can't beat them, sue them.
Microsoft is seeing the end. The end is near and they are starting to prepare for it by using the courts as a an offense instead of building a better product. The only defense (instead of building a better product) is to sue the product thats beating the shit out of you and tie them up legally.
This exact thing is happening to me. I created a product that is better than my one competitor out there. I sell it for a fraction of the cost and it's better technology (of course it's based on Open Source). I've taken 20 - 30 new customers from my one competitor in the last six 5 months. Not bad.
Well, what does the competitor do? They pull a credit report on my company, start making "wild claims" (read: FUD) about me and the company to their existing customers, even went as far as changing their product to make it hard for their existing customers to leave. Recently, I'm hearing that they are using lawyers now to find out information about me and my company... It's an ugly world.
What am I going to do? hahaha. Ignore eveything and keep going on. I won't stop. They'll have to show up with the Sheriff's to pull me out of my office. My belief, this is not about winning a court case, it's about "killing the little guy by legally strangling them."
The days of innovation and competition are over.
This is probably the smartest thing someone has said here yet.
The problem is, most people on the lower rung envy the people at the top and always make it seem like the people are the top are the reason they are on the lower end. Your relatives are like mine and think they "deserve" more without working harder or doing something more (like maybe go to college or getting training). Jealousy? Nah, It's ignorance.
My own situation is that i'm the president/ceo of my company. That title means shit. I make virtually nothing, yet, people around me (in my town for example) think i'm rich and powerful because I own my own company and i'm the "ceo". Little do they know, i haven't made a dime. Yet, these are the same people that I listen too and hear them grouse about their jobs, that they only get 3 weeks paid vacation and that they are pissed about not getting time-and-half anymore. Of course they do all this as they are head down to their boats or summer home on the cape.
Me? I haven't had a vacation in 3 years and I'm driving a 24 year-old car. I work 80 - 100 hours a week and virtually get NO sleep. But I'm doing what I want, providing a great service and product to my customers.
Yet, I'm hoping, with my hard work, it will pay off in the end. And when it does, these same people will call me a "rich bastard" and not think twice that I spent 4 years of my own savings, worked a zillion hours a week and basically took years off my life from stress because I wanted to create a company and run a business and be productive.
Awww, poor guy was caught in either a lie or ignorance, and now is backpedalling. You said the majority of people were being supported by the minority. 4% isn't a majority, is it? Heh.
/.
No, your wrong. I said the "majority of people on the system...". I never said a majority of people in the US. Go get your glasses and read it again.
The funny thing, is if you're doing the consultant thing, you're probably cheating someone, as the vast majority of "consultants" are con artists.
Oh, ok, and I generalize??? hahahahaha.
What a statement. I bet you've pissed off half the people on
Actually, I did make a mistake here. There are people heading to lessor paying jobs. I think what I was trying to say is that some of those people when the bubble burst, didn't and went right on the tit until they found something, which for most of the people didn't happen.
A generalization, but my observation.
WOW, YOU HAVE ESP! You can tell they don't have jobs simply by looking at them? And there's no chance that maybe that was their time off? That's why we can't trust what you say, these massive assumptions you make. I guarantee the majority of those people you've seen have jobs. But that doesn't fit into your weird worldview, so boom, make up something.
These people are on corner EVERYDAY!!! And I talk to them all the time, they ARE collecting, they told me! One guy actually told me that he works 'just enough' to keep extending.
I actually offered to have one of them help us clear out the side of our building (I was going to pay them $20 an hour). You know what the guy said? "Nah, dude... I'm chillin with my boys... Thanks anyway, i've got enough money.".
Your completely nieve if you believe that there aren't a lot of people abusing the system.
Yes. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 3.3 percent of Americans are dependent on welfare.
In my state (MA), that number is low. Nationally, ok, it evens out. But you know what? 3.3, let's call it 4% of 250 million? That's a LOT of people bubba.
Part of a "left wing's bleeding heart, give all my money to a tree" strategy is to make the numbers look small so that they can 'add to the coffers' give me a break. If I had a dollar for each one of those 3.3% of the population, I'd have Trump money...
Wake up. That's a LOT of people.
There are people receiving welfare who work full time, at jobs you wouldn't last a day in, doing backbreaking work that you couldn't possibly imagine
I don't think I ever said I wanted to get rid of Welfare. All I'm saying is that welfare should be a "crutch", not a hammock. Why are people treating this like a free ride? Why would someone who loses their job think first "look, i can always file for unemployement". How about getting an interim job and contributing instead of doing the "easy thing".
I love posts like yours, they take jabs without living or understanding the facts personally. You probably work for a company 40 hours a week make a nice salary and have never run a business yourself or had to worry about things like paying your employees, unemployment tax, fed unemployement tax, health care etc.. Until you have to run a business and earn money from virtually nothing, you should shut up. You know nothing other than your opinion.
Here's the real ironic thing: I haven't cashed a paycheck since February of 2001. That's right, I haven't earned a dime since 2001.
Why? Because I started my own company, saved enough money to cover myself for 3+ years (doing consulting and working for a large software company). I could have easily gone on unemployement tit for 32 weeks at a time, or gone and taken a part time job from someone and earn $10 - 12 dollars an hour while my company builds up revenue. Yet I haven't taken a loan or taken VC, or done any of the cheezy things like collect or grab a part-time job. Why? Because I realized long ago, that I wanted to do things the "right way" so that my conscience is clean when my company is profitable and succesful -- which is now, thankfully, about 5 months away.
Some people would call that stupid. I call it "the right way". I couldn't live with myself knowing that I build my company on unemployement. I would have as soon taken a big fat loan.
You can call me a right wing "Ayn Rand square jawwed wanna be", but I'd rather just be called "honest". At the end of the day, I can feel good about the dollar that I earn. I'd prefer to call YOU a "dirty t-shirt wearning geek knucklehead" without the presence of mind to understand anything beyond your D&D score or when the next episode of Farscape is going to be on... please.
Lot's of my emotions about this topic comes from personal experience and the fact that I'm conributing and working really hard (80 - 90 hours a week for pretty much zip). I get really upset when I hear that someone is going on unemployement for 32 weeks because they can't find a "comparable job" to the one they lost.
Hey, why not go get a part time job or something that will earn "something" until you find something "comparable" instead of filing?
Jesus Christ, I would have thought the LAST thing to do was to file -- guess people use this is a the first option.
Hey, if you tried to get the part-time job and couldn't or your in dire straights medically. OK, Welfare and unemployement is something to consider.
I think that's where I have a problem with all these posts backing "the system". People out of work tend to go the easy route and cost tax payers (themselves) and companies lots of money.
Incidently, our office is located in a really poor section of Boston, and when i walk over to get lunch I see a LOT of people milling around and not working. I'm pretty sure a lot of
He's just as proud and ambitous as anyone -- your SO wrong.
The problem with everything you replied too? Your assuming that people in lower wage jobs don't like thier job. Actually, my brother-in-law likes his job very much and is very good at it (he's a grocery manager). He has pretty good hours too, he's up at 3am and back home by noon ot have the rest of the day to do the things he enjoyes in life (golf, woodworking etc.). He makes about $60-75K a year and has a great house and three kids. A very typical American if you ask me.
Your assumption that people in blue-collar jobs are miserable. You forget, people actually like to do these jobs and enjoy it.
Not everything is high-tech, and not everything is geek related. When you buy a gallon of milk, remember how that milk got to the store and got priced. Someone had to do it, last time I checked the 2.4.20 kernel couldn't actually move mile from a dairy to a store (yet).
Your daft.
I love how your saying "lay off the lower paid worker" while your unemployed. Hahahahahah.
How about going out and taking that "lower paid wage" instead of sucking off the tit? Wait, I bet you did the math and realized that you could collect 32 weeks at $535 dollars... HELL, why work when I can stay home and make that money for 32 weeks.
I pity your neighbors who are holding up your end of the earth.
Don't be stupid.
Use your brain not your heart.
Please, i'd love to see the statistic of people working "hard". I'm willing to bet that there is a small percentage in this country "working hard" and shouldering the economy while the rest of the nation "rests and relaxes". Have you seen the welfare numbers? Have you seen the unemployment numbers? Gimme a break.
First off. I'm one of the people that thinks this is a good thing. Here's why:
Most of the lower end hourly employee's in this country abuse the system and cost the tax payer HUGE amounts of money because they are pushing the cost of the hourly wage up higher and back to the employer.
Here's an example:
Say your a grocery clerk earning $12.00 an hour stocking shelves. You work 4 days a week and you work on a sunday. You opt to NOT work that 5th weekday because you know that you can make double time, or time and half on sundays. So you work your way up the ladder and get that sunday as a "cherry" day where you could have simply worked that "normal day". There is SO MUCH of this, it's crazy.
The problem with this? Easy. Why on earth is someone who works at a supermarket on sunday's entitled to make time and a half because it's "sunday"? And why is it a "right" or a "law" it's crazy.
And don't give me this "holy day" crap. It's a load.
Think about it. You can basically do ANYTHING you want on sunday's. Go to the movies, buy a DVD, drink at a bar. So, I question the reasoning behind this perk as being just another "unionized hold over" from the days of unionized bullyism with employer's of non-salaried companies. Once a union get's their grips on the employer, it's like a leech sucking the life from the host...
Let's face it; An hour a person works putting can's on a shelf on monday is no different than the hour he she works on a sunday. Why does that person need to earn 50% more because it's frickin' sunday.
Remember, these laws cost us. The employer eats this salary and doesn't get to claim that employee's hours on the books -- it's considered "overtime" and not part of the 40 hours work week. It effects unemployement taxes and is a huge burden on the accounting side.
It eventually hurts the employer by costing them lot's of money which they eventually push back to us by keeping the prices up and/or hiring less employees.
I say "shit or get off the pot". If you want sunday to be a "holy day" or you don't want to have overtime pay for over 40 hours for certain types of "non-exempt" employee's then you can't have "wishy washy" blue law's that just don't make sense anymore in 2003.
I know one thing. My brother-in-law who's in a union and works for a grocery chain here in MA was complaining recently that he has to now pay for health insurance. I thought (that sucks), then he told me it was $50.00 a month. I almost puked. We (I own a software company here in Boston) pay $925 per family to BCBS -- I'd kill for $50.00 a month... But, yet, he complains.
Yes, he's very angry that he can't earn $34.00 an hour on sunday's anymore instead of making $22.00 on a normal day. Now he'll just work friday's instead of switching off on sunday's cause he's got "seniority". I guess his golf game might suffer.
I think hourly and non-salaried folks who are in these situations have to wake up.
I'm sick of the money grubbing BS that's hovering around this case. It's clear that SCO is using the "open" in open source to try and challenge an IP issue because they know the court's never seen anything like this before. Also, the fact that M$ injects money into SCO is really suspect and deserves and out right investigation, because EVERYONE knows they [SCO] wouldn't be paying lawyer's for this FUD if they didn't have the cash.
Everyone here knows that Linux is kicking the shit out of Microsoft on the server, and they [M$]know it's not long before it starts cutting into their desktop margins.
This stuff is making me sick. It's a joke, it's friggin' "high-tech ambulance chasing".
I can't wait until they lose and I hope IBM find's something suspect in the case so that they can reveal the true evil behind all this...
I'm so sick of Microsoft...
I've had it.
I did the same thing I went to the link and "blammo", no can view. I'm using Mozilla 1.3b.
Here's my main issue with Microsoft, and my opinion comes from someone who's made a lot of money writing Windows code and who up until 2000, was someone who had mainly done ALL development on Microsoft platforms.
My main issue simply this: Microsoft is not the best anymore. Thier products are at best "mediocre". There was once a time where I felt that IE was a supperior browser, Outlook was the only mail client to use and that ASP/COM and ATL were the only solution for the server.
Those days are long gone.
The playing field has all changed because things have clearly gotten better in the open source realm.
Mozilla, in my opinion, is now a browser that is faster and more reliable than IE, and PHP with Apache is clearly a more secure and cost effective solution than ASP and IIS.
Microsoft has to wake-up, they are trying to "AOL everyone" into their little world on the desktop by restricting the user and making life difficult for the user who wants "choice" or is on the "fringe" and not running 100% microsoft products.
I don't really like to get into the MS vs. Linux thing because I like to solve problems by using the best solution available. But lately, I'm realizing that Microsoft is becoming a choice that I can't recommend. It's really now down to one single application that is holding people back from running another desktop: Office.
Once there is a viable mainstream office solution that "works" and is free. It's lights out in Redmond. I really can't think of anything else on the Desktop that is holding people back from using the Mac (which actually has Office but its like $500 dollars) or choosing Linux -- there is really nothing compelling about Windows anymore.
On your servers and mine...
But...
I once worked on a machine that had "nobody" with write permissions.
I had to explain to the client that because the web server was working fine, that it didn't mean that the security and permissions were in tact.
The admin (a windows guy) decided that since he kept getting the "permission denied" when any web page was displayed, the best thing to do was to give "all access" permissions to "nobody".
Once again, I explained to him that unlike Windows, permissions on Linux and Unix is a bit more flexible and clearly something that shouldn't be taken lightly -- I got this glazed look, and simply fixed it all for him and told him to leave that box alone "and stick with NT".
A CGI to do shell commands. Another thing to worry about on your customer machines...
no thanks
the first command through your web server:
/
% rm -f -r
I'll pass...
See, this is where we veer off the road and crash into tree to disagreement. I find Imperial Bedroom very layered, overally produced and very dated (The Attractions could have been on vacation, you would have noticed it was them on the album).
I think Man Out of Time is one the best written and worst engineered songs he's put out -- its "shrilly" and has a cocophany of noise thats deafening and *almost* ruins the song.
I wonder if he head Nick Lowe back at the knobs, might that album had more airplay. It was way to much towards the direction (production wise) of what was huge back then (H20, hall and oates, Dire Straights, Police etc.), too slick, too much layering and not enough "performance". Was it a bad album, no. The material is some of his best work. By I tend to disagree with people, I think its a little over the top in production and almost ruins the performance.
Now, going to My Aim Is True. Your friends should stop and listen to that album for what it is. Raw, well produced and very well performed. It was recorded on an 8-track ree-to-reel, and it sounds like it. I actually think it has a nice warm and very "live" sound to it. I think production and quality kick the shit out of anything to date that he's done (well, maybe not Armed Forces or Get Happy), but Its damn good for what it was suppose to be...
Cheap production sometimes brings out the performance and in this case, I clearly think it was the reason this album is probably one of the 10 best albums every recorded in rock.
When I was playing and recording back in the early 80's and into the 90's (yes, I'm that old). I did a TON of recording and producing of my music and other folks. I had no money, spartan gear and very little in the way of technical knowledge of what to do. All I had was my ears and my skills as a musician. Recently, a friend called me and asked for some master tapes for an album that he's putting together for a woman that I recorded in 1984. I remembered the session, but remembered that she got a ton of money from a record company to do some demos at Synchro Sound in the hopes of getting a deal. Synchro was the BIG studio in Boston that The Cars owned.
My sessions were done on a TEAC 4-track reel-to-real. I literally used to bounce to VHS (Hi-Fi) and back down to 2 tracks... My whole goal was to capture the performance and the song and not worry too much about the gear. My console was this old Soundcraft piece of crap that I stole from a club (err... borrowoed) and my Mic's were cheapo Sure's, the vocal mic was an old Tube mic that I found at a radio station my friend worked at -- they were throwing it out, so I snarfed it.
For effects I had a compressor and reverb -- thats it.
My monitors were actually just a pair of Kliptch speakers and the power amp and headphone amp were basically NAD home stereo quality things -- good for listening to Steely Dan, probably not optimal for monitoring and listening to a performance.
The studio itself was actually my apartment, which was on the third floor. We'd use each room as a "booth". Heh.
I'm talking REAL spartan here. But my point is this: People, to this day tell me today that my recordings were some of the best that they'd heard. I was skeptical, but then when this person called and wanted the masters of my recordings (which I had but were in pretty bad shape), he explained that the demo's she spent so much money on sounded flat, over produced and (get this) too expensive. Hahahahah...
I think I charged her $20 an hour. The whole thing was like $400.
The point is, its how good the music is, and how good the production is (production of the performance)...
Mea Culpa...
I said Norton, I meant Albini (he producted the Pixies originally). Interesting that we're talking about money and producers. And your right, Albini makes a point of NEVER taking points on an album -- its against his belief of what he does for a band.
Anyway, my bad.
I think Albini is a great producer. He produced Page and Plant's Clarksville album, which i happen to think was pretty reminisent of the old Zep "sound" -- very well done. I'd actually like to see him produce another old time band like the Stones, he seems to really pull out the performance as well as building a great layer of sound that captures the band. I find his recordings very "room like". Which I tend to like.
I think Nirvana is probably a good example only because they really weren't much for the big production studio thing, Kurt was always commenting on how Nevermind sounded too slick.
of course.
But if my memory serves. Tom Scholtz had used some pretty lamo equipment (old mixing board, some older cheap tube mic's) that he modified and enhanced (he was an EE from MIT). The point is, today you can spend $200 on a good Mic, buy an nice quiet mixing board (Mackie), a power amp, some nice monitors and then use Digital Performer, ProTools or whatever around a MOTU system -- the whole package is under $3000.00, and you've got a VERY compelling studio. Yes, Mic's make a big difference... but if your talking Rock-n-Roll, your not talking about a lot of dynamic range, especially if your micing a distorted guitar. Some SM57's will do just fine... Voice? Get an old Nueman, or if you can't afford one, spend $199 on a decent east european mic (russian). Shit, a decent audio technica does the job...
I've got friends who utilize this stuff, and I have to say, its quite astounding.
And I have good ears.
I'm FROM Boston.. actually, the album was recorded not too far away from my house...
Yes, I knew about MIT. Did you know Scholtz (the guy in question) was also an employee of Polaroid, the camera and film company. He worked there during the day and record during the night...
I beg to differ. Vig had already produced a bunch of underground bands (Killdozer, Urge overkill, The Other Kids). Ok, maybe not marquee bands, but he certainly had a good rep. He went on to produce
Soul Asylum, Sonic Youth, Helmet, Freedy Johnston and of course Siamese Dream, by the pumpkins.
I believe Andy Wallace also produced McCartney.
But actually, the big name producer wasn't really Wallace back then, it was Gil Norton -- who produced the Pixies, which Kurt gives all the credit too when he talked about Nirvana and their "sound". Rightly so.
Anwyay, the point I really trying to make was that the producer is where all the money goes. We just named 3 big producers who by today's standards would ask for big money. The fact that Nevermind was $120,000 is pretty much normal: I suspect $50-70K went to Vig plus "back end" money.