This is Microsoft installation support. How may we help you? A message box just popped up, saying I have to call you and answer a series of questions, before the reinstallation can be completed.
Yes ma'am, that is correct. Question number one: What is your age? I'm 25 years old.
Are you single or married? I'm single.
What are you wearing right now? What th'? Why do you need to know that?
Okay, we'll come back to that one later. What is your bra size, and do you hook in front or in back? That's TWO questions, and it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
I'm sorry, ma'am, we can't successfully complete your reinstallation unless we get accurate answers to all our questions....
Mark Edwards
--
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
I spent some time in the US Air Force, where the "Whole Person" concept was highly valued. That is, a person should know their job, and pay attention to the world outside their jobs.
As a military job is strongly affected by world events, politics, economics, and whatnot, this was a good idea.
On the other side of the coin, my education started out in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas, in Austin.
I remember an editorial letter from a liberal arts major, who complained that we "students of the sciences" were getting way too focussed an education, without a proper rounding out of said education. Of course, we had to respond.
In prinipal, we agreed, we said. But we saw a definite lack of technical courses in the syllabi of the typical liberal arts student, and offered to take a literature course, say, if they would likewise require one of our introductory engineering courses.
We pointed out that for us, it would be a welcome vacation from the hard-core technical classes, but that liberal arts majors would likely harm their GPAs by reciprocating (grin).
Personally, I think that any education is valuable, but the best "rounding" of your formal education is obtained merely by paying attention to the rest of the world.
Someone pointed out that it would be nice to have classes on resume writing, and how to interview. I say that you simply weren't looking at student services. Most colleges have this and more. Moreover, my experience has been that this is a free service, even for part time students.
Someone else pointed out that they documented for three hours, for a program that took an hour to write. For heaven's sake, there is rarely such a thing as a throw away program. When you move on to greener pastures, someone else has to maintain that program. Speaking from experience, good documetation has saved my job time and time again, while no- or bad-documentation has made my life a living hell on more than one occasion, especially if coupled with bad programming practices.
Business, Management, and Economics courses try to give us a hint of the reason we write the software - in the corporate world, you should have a good business case (gads, I sound like Dilbert's boss) for even starting a new project, because the bottom line depends on wasting as little of a company's resources as possible.
Now, I hated having to take all the "extra classes" as much as anyone. After all, I wanted to just get on track with my career, and fill in the details as I went. It's easier if you already have some of those details when you go...
Dammit, Scott Adams, Curt Cobain, and Paul McCartney are going to be so upset when the mailing list is sold, since those were the names I used so I could get a cat to hack up... or rolling in graves for two of them...
Microsoft wants to centralize all the aplications, and sell access to the application servers.
I seem to remember that groups like People's Computer Company and YIPL fought long and hard to get the power out of the hands of the "white-coated computer priesthood", where all services were centralized, and you had to submit your job and wait for the results.
How is.NET so very different than 'the old days'? This is an attempt to take the power back away from the people (granted, people are idiots...) and to never give it back.
I've been contracting - start a project in March, get laid off in December because they cancelled the project for some obscure reason that has nothing to do with the project, spend a month job hunting and talking to recruiters before you even get to an interview...
Get tired of that, so take a permanent job in March, only to get laid off in December because they forgot to market the product that is supposed to pay your salary, spend a month job hunting and talking to recruiters before you even get to an interview...
One thing has never changed over time - the future always has been, is, and will be People.
For every visionary, there will be thousands of nay sayers, telling us that "IT" can't be done. For every project, for every hope, for every dream, there will be people putting blood, sweat and tears into every little detail.
For every hurt, for every hatred, for every catastrophe (may they all be few), there will be people affected.
Behind every new moment, there will be people. Some people will support everything that moment represents. Some people will oppose everything that moment represents. Some people will have mixed reactions to any given moment.
But above all, we need to rememember that each moment was created by People. No moment exists in a vacuum.
May all you People be blessed in the coming new Millennium.
Mark Edwards
------------
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
We had a similar experience here, but it was "All programs must compile on our gcc boxes running Dec Alpha *nix" (big grin).
We were told, however, that we could develop under whatever operating system or IDE we wished, as long as we could port it to and compile it under the school's system.
Personally I chose vi and gcc because that's what I had on my laptop (well, still do, as a matter of fact), while 3/4 of the class was trying to figure out how to get from VC++ to gcc, and were confused by command lines...
In Geneva, today, a nine judge panel finally reached its verdict in the trial of cyberterrorist Jon Katz, who single handedly fomented the so called Corporatist Rebellions.
Katz stirred up people through his series of articles on the fledgling Slashdot Conglomerate web site, inciting riots against McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, Walmart , and a small hot dog vendor name Sam .
As in the case of the Unibomber, nobody knows why Katz set out upon this quest, but some have suggestions.
"He was a lousy writer," says a member of the Anonymous Coward Gestalt , "and I suppose that comments related to Natalie portman and hot grits just sent him over the edge. Hee hee."
World Triad leaders Steve Case, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, set a reward for Katz's capture when local Starbucks stores were trashed as a result of one of Mr. Katz's articles.
Says Mr. Case, "That was the last straw. He was directly responsible for the attack on the epitomy of lowest common denominator marketing in this country. We had to respond."
As part of his punishment, Jon Katz will now be required to publish nothing but press releases for the Microsoft A and Microsoft B monopolies, and patent specifications for Amazon International .
I thought it was funny that after all Microsoft's delay tactics, they publicly stated that with the Appeals Court taking the case, the government can no longer delay the outcome of the trial.
Huh? Spinning the hell out of it, and pretending that nobody else would notice?
I have a feeling that Judge Jackson's stay of the conduct remedies is just an attempt to give Microsoft enough rope to hang itself, by showing that they still won't play nice in the interim...
My long term goal is to continue being paid for playing with computers.
I've slid down the slippery slope of systems administration. I've done technical writing, I've performed tech support and phone firewall. At one point, I've even done data entry. I'm currently a programmer.
My point is that my life revolves around all the things you can do with computers, and I want my work life to always reflect that. Sort of a hacking for hacking's sake kind of life.
I remember the day I unpacked my Bell & Howell Apple ][+, which came with three or four full manuals on the operating system, BASIC, and so on. I spent the next three days reading them from cover to cover before I so much as plugged the box into the wall.
Then I remember when the new PCs came out. Documentation was an "introductory" booklet. Real Documentation was available for additional money, in nice three ring notebooks and a hard cardboard box.
Suddenly, stuff came out with "installation pamphlets" and online help only.
These days, the online "help" is usually weak, and you have to buy a book to get any real idea of what the hell the software/hardware/OS even does, never mind any advanced functionality.
THEN, to add insult to injury, the books are so badly indexed that you are lucky if you can find anything. As an ex technical writer, this really pisses me off. Indexing is critical...
All I want is proper documentation in a portable format, in which it is easy to locate the help I need.
I've been online, one place or another, for 20 years. I've had some of the things I've said published in someone else's books.
But in each case, the author either contacted me directly, or posted a note saying "Hey, I'd like to use some of the comments here in my book. email me and let me know if I can use something you said."
If anything I said on/. was in the Jon's book, I don't really mind. I doubt I said anything worthy of more than a Bronx cheer, but I don't like being blindsided.
How hard would it have been to say up front, "Hey y'all, can I publish your comments?"
Oh well.
Mark Edwards Comments posted to Slashdot may be used freely, but only if I am directly contacted for permission prior to publication.
Just another way to slow you down
on
Laptop Exams?
·
· Score: 1
This really isn't much different than it ever was - an 'open notes' policy is just another way to slow down the people who really don't know the material, or weeding out the people who don't know how to index their notes (grin).
I would imagine that students with Linux and Lynx would have an advantage over those with Internet Explorer, with graphics and javascript enabled...
On the plus side, I learned a lot of the material simply by indexing notes, textbooks, and whatnot.
To most people, The Internet is The Web, or more accurately, AOL with a web connection.
How many people have heard of Gopher, Archie, or Veronica? I just sold a client a gui FTP client because claimed that he "just couldn't" use an FTP command line. Heaven help me if I'd had to explain Telnet.
And what ever happened to the old Internet Scavenger Hunt (circa 1993-1995) where you had to use any and all net resources to solve the questions?
Oh well, I sound like I'm in old fogie mode:
"Kids today! Why, when I were a youngster, we had to bang two rocks together to get ones and zeroes!"
Slashdot Mirror
This is Microsoft installation support. How may we help you?
A message box just popped up, saying I have to call you and answer a series of questions, before the reinstallation can be completed.
Yes ma'am, that is correct. Question number one: What is your age?
I'm 25 years old.
Are you single or married?
I'm single.
What are you wearing right now?
What th'? Why do you need to know that?
Okay, we'll come back to that one later. What is your bra size, and do you hook in front or in back?
That's TWO questions, and it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
I'm sorry, ma'am, we can't successfully complete your reinstallation unless we get accurate answers to all our questions....
Mark Edwards
--
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
You mean people would actually *choose* to pirate *Windows*? Now that's sick...
I have always stressed to friends and family that I consult for money. And that when I am off duty, I do not perform any work for free.
My stepmother once hired me at $100 an hour for doing some admin and installation work on her home computer...
I love what I do, but I do not work for free.
Mark Edwards
I spent some time in the US Air Force, where the "Whole Person" concept was highly valued. That is, a person should know their job, and pay attention to the world outside their jobs.
As a military job is strongly affected by world events, politics, economics, and whatnot, this was a good idea.
On the other side of the coin, my education started out in Electrical Engineering at the University of Texas, in Austin.
I remember an editorial letter from a liberal arts major, who complained that we "students of the sciences" were getting way too focussed an education, without a proper rounding out of said education. Of course, we had to respond.
In prinipal, we agreed, we said. But we saw a definite lack of technical courses in the syllabi of the typical liberal arts student, and offered to take a literature course, say, if they would likewise require one of our introductory engineering courses.
We pointed out that for us, it would be a welcome vacation from the hard-core technical classes, but that liberal arts majors would likely harm their GPAs by reciprocating (grin).
Personally, I think that any education is valuable, but the best "rounding" of your formal education is obtained merely by paying attention to the rest of the world.
Someone pointed out that it would be nice to have classes on resume writing, and how to interview. I say that you simply weren't looking at student services. Most colleges have this and more. Moreover, my experience has been that this is a free service, even for part time students.
Someone else pointed out that they documented for three hours, for a program that took an hour to write. For heaven's sake, there is rarely such a thing as a throw away program. When you move on to greener pastures, someone else has to maintain that program. Speaking from experience, good documetation has saved my job time and time again, while no- or bad-documentation has made my life a living hell on more than one occasion, especially if coupled with bad programming practices.
Business, Management, and Economics courses try to give us a hint of the reason we write the software - in the corporate world, you should have a good business case (gads, I sound like Dilbert's boss) for even starting a new project, because the bottom line depends on wasting as little of a company's resources as possible.
Now, I hated having to take all the "extra classes" as much as anyone. After all, I wanted to just get on track with my career, and fill in the details as I went. It's easier if you already have some of those details when you go...
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Dammit, Scott Adams, Curt Cobain, and Paul McCartney are going to be so upset when the mailing list is sold, since those were the names I used so I could get a cat to hack up... or rolling in graves for two of them...
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity forged upon request
Microsoft wants to centralize all the aplications, and sell access to the application servers.
.NET so very different than 'the old days'? This is an attempt to take the power back away from the people (granted, people are idiots...) and to never give it back.
I seem to remember that groups like People's Computer Company and YIPL fought long and hard to get the power out of the hands of the "white-coated computer priesthood", where all services were centralized, and you had to submit your job and wait for the results.
How is
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
I've been contracting - start a project in March, get laid off in December because they cancelled the project for some obscure reason that has nothing to do with the project, spend a month job hunting and talking to recruiters before you even get to an interview...
Get tired of that, so take a permanent job in March, only to get laid off in December because they forgot to market the product that is supposed to pay your salary, spend a month job hunting and talking to recruiters before you even get to an interview...
Does anyone see a pattern here?
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
One thing has never changed over time - the future always has been, is, and will be People.
For every visionary, there will be thousands of nay sayers, telling us that "IT" can't be done. For every project, for every hope, for every dream, there will be people putting blood, sweat and tears into every little detail.
For every hurt, for every hatred, for every catastrophe (may they all be few), there will be people affected.
Behind every new moment, there will be people. Some people will support everything that moment represents. Some people will oppose everything that moment represents. Some people will have mixed reactions to any given moment.
But above all, we need to rememember that each moment was created by People. No moment exists in a vacuum.
May all you People be blessed in the coming new Millennium.
Mark Edwards
------------
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
>> And who is this Keanu Reeves-looking clown they've
>> got starring in it??
I mistakenly replied:
>I thought it was the guy from the defunct TV show, "Sliders" - um, Jerry O'Connell.
Oops. Just got back from the movie. Yep, Justin Whalin, aka Jimmy Olsen from "Lois and Clark".
It's sorta disturbing to see Jimmy doing a fantasy pic, and Lois doing TV commercials (grin). What is Clark doing nowadays?
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
> And who is this Keanu Reeves-looking clown they've
> got starring in it??
I thought it was the guy from the defunct TV show, "Sliders" - um, Jerry O'Connell. Yeah, that was him.
He also did a reasonably funny movie, "Joe and the Cockroaches" (title?) a few years back.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Speaking of the number six, just thought I'd mention that Patrick McGoohan will be doing a "Prisoner" Simpsons episode this season.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
We had a similar experience here, but it was "All programs must compile on our gcc boxes running Dec Alpha *nix" (big grin).
We were told, however, that we could develop under whatever operating system or IDE we wished, as long as we could port it to and compile it under the school's system.
Personally I chose vi and gcc because that's what I had on my laptop (well, still do, as a matter of fact), while 3/4 of the class was trying to figure out how to get from VC++ to gcc, and were confused by command lines...
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Mark Edwards
Well if Linux/Perl is not the answer to every question, then maybe the questions aren't worth asking (big grin).
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
In Geneva, today, a nine judge panel finally reached its verdict in the trial of cyberterrorist Jon Katz, who single handedly fomented the so called Corporatist Rebellions.
Katz stirred up people through his series of articles on the fledgling Slashdot Conglomerate web site, inciting riots against McDonalds, Barnes & Noble, Walmart , and a small hot dog vendor name Sam .
As in the case of the Unibomber, nobody knows why Katz set out upon this quest, but some have suggestions.
"He was a lousy writer," says a member of the Anonymous Coward Gestalt , "and I suppose that comments related to Natalie portman and hot grits just sent him over the edge. Hee hee."
World Triad leaders Steve Case, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, set a reward for Katz's capture when local Starbucks stores were trashed as a result of one of Mr. Katz's articles.
Says Mr. Case, "That was the last straw. He was directly responsible for the attack on the epitomy of lowest common denominator marketing in this country. We had to respond."
As part of his punishment, Jon Katz will now be required to publish nothing but press releases for the Microsoft A and Microsoft B monopolies, and patent specifications for Amazon International .
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
I thought it was funny that after all Microsoft's delay tactics, they publicly stated that with the Appeals Court taking the case, the government can no longer delay the outcome of the trial.
Huh? Spinning the hell out of it, and pretending that nobody else would notice?
I have a feeling that Judge Jackson's stay of the conduct remedies is just an attempt to give Microsoft enough rope to hang itself, by showing that they still won't play nice in the interim...
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Oh my gosh, now that you mention it, The Matrix is Anime! Thank you for altering my perceptions.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
My long term goal is to continue being paid for playing with computers.
I've slid down the slippery slope of systems administration. I've done technical writing, I've performed tech support and phone firewall. At one point, I've even done data entry. I'm currently a programmer.
My point is that my life revolves around all the things you can do with computers, and I want my work life to always reflect that. Sort of a hacking for hacking's sake kind of life.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
Aarg, yer evil rat bastards. I just spent two hours looking at every plif strip since 1995.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
You mean like they did the original movie? (big grin).
The original movie was so bad (in my opinion), that I wrote a letter of condolence to Frank Herbert. Never got a reply back...
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
I remember the day I unpacked my Bell & Howell Apple ][+, which came with three or four full manuals on the operating system, BASIC, and so on. I spent the next three days reading them from cover to cover before I so much as plugged the box into the wall.
Then I remember when the new PCs came out. Documentation was an "introductory" booklet. Real Documentation was available for additional money, in nice three ring notebooks and a hard cardboard box.
Suddenly, stuff came out with "installation pamphlets" and online help only.
These days, the online "help" is usually weak, and you have to buy a book to get any real idea of what the hell the software/hardware/OS even does, never mind any advanced functionality.
THEN, to add insult to injury, the books are so badly indexed that you are lucky if you can find anything. As an ex technical writer, this really pisses me off. Indexing is critical...
All I want is proper documentation in a portable format, in which it is easy to locate the help I need.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
I've been online, one place or another, for 20 years. I've had some of the things I've said published in someone else's books.
/. was in the Jon's book, I don't really mind. I doubt I said anything worthy of more than a Bronx cheer, but I don't like being blindsided.
But in each case, the author either contacted me directly, or posted a note saying "Hey, I'd like to use some of the comments here in my book. email me and let me know if I can use something you said."
If anything I said on
How hard would it have been to say up front, "Hey y'all, can I publish your comments?"
Oh well.
Mark Edwards
Comments posted to Slashdot may be used freely, but only if I am directly contacted for permission prior to publication.
We could run a beowulf cluster of thousands of 65C02 emulators, on a single Intel machine, and exceed even the power of our modern systems!
Oh wait, today's the second...
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
How come they can't do this at a more convenient time? Like between 2 and 3 am Sunday morning?
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity forged upon request
This really isn't much different than it ever was - an 'open notes' policy is just another way to slow down the people who really don't know the material, or weeding out the people who don't know how to index their notes (grin).
I would imagine that students with Linux and Lynx would have an advantage over those with Internet Explorer, with graphics and javascript enabled...
On the plus side, I learned a lot of the material simply by indexing notes, textbooks, and whatnot.
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request
To most people, The Internet is The Web, or more accurately, AOL with a web connection.
How many people have heard of Gopher, Archie, or Veronica? I just sold a client a gui FTP client because claimed that he "just couldn't" use an FTP command line. Heaven help me if I'd had to explain Telnet.
And what ever happened to the old Internet Scavenger Hunt (circa 1993-1995) where you had to use any and all net resources to solve the questions?
Oh well, I sound like I'm in old fogie mode:
"Kids today! Why, when I were a youngster, we had to bang two rocks together to get ones and zeroes!"
Mark Edwards
Proof of Sanity Forged Upon Request