This is the best descriptive model I've seen for LINUX, unfortunatly, it ignores the reality of the very real end user. Currently the LINUX end-user is a system-savvy hobbiest or professional, a minimum of one or two levels above the average computer owner (the guy or gal that's still trying to figure out emoticons in AOL-IM or get the time set on their VCR).
This isn't denigrating the average user, it just means most don't lose sleep over the slow adoption of TCP/IP v6. They have little interest in memorizing their monitor refresh rates at various resolutions when DOS (with various windowing programs) and WINDOWS both had easy ways to switch on the fly. Why bother learning the intricacies and simplicity of pipes when all they have to do is hit an icon?
Personally I think they'd be better learning how to work the silly box but the simple fact is this is no longer the era of the ALTAIR,PET/VIC-20/C-64, Apple II, Atari when the purchasers of "home computers" were assumed to have a good basic knowledge OR DESIRED SUCH. Today purchasers just want to get a letter written or look something up on the internet.
Reality says if LINUX is to go further than UNIX did we have to get past the buzz and give the users something more than nine-tenths finished. Patches have to be as easy as wintel or mac machines (forget recompiling, just run the executable) and programs need to be complete and usable as delivered, including example templates, complete help files (written in ENGLISH!), and even online help (ala the much hated though immortal clippy).
The issue is not the developers, where LINUX is now strongest. The issue is the "mom & pop" end user that want's another toaster. Steve Jobs understood that with the original Mac, Bill Gates still does, the question is when will Debian, Red Hat, Suse, etc. catch on.
If you're going to post someone else's work (true intellectual value) please:
A. Give them credit (this was originally the work of Ian Murdock)
and
B. Put your own rude remarks in italics or parentheses and not insert them inline without annotation so your readers won't blaim such cheap shots on the original author. Commentary is fine, but take the credit (or blaim) yourself.
The issue is can anyone see it. If know one knows it's there it's like whether or not you're circumcised, it's no one's business.
The business has a legitimate issue with body art that is visible, namely, if someone isn't concerned about offending the boss and the ones they work with all day long, how concerned will they be about offending our (paying) customers.
One last point, ladies seem to get more of a pass on this than guys (Don't complain to me, call 1-800-WAA-AAAA) but even they need to be careful. The business world treats a rose on the ankle and a skull in the center of the forehead MUCH differently.
Honestly, I don't think a guy with extensive body art could get through the hiring process here (except maybe the obligatory Marine Corps anchor or some other service related stuff).
Cliff, just to let you know I am not a doctor, nor do I pretend to offer medical advice. I do know a little about this subject becauswe I've been living with it for a looonnngg time. When I was a kid I was diagnosed with it (it was called "minimal brain damadge" in the '50s before it became "hyperactivity" and the "hyperactivity disorder" and then....., you get the picture). Mom was smart, she didn't tell me a word and made me grow up mormally. I was rediagnosed in the '90s (after I had graduated highschool with honors, done the honors and IQ test groups bit, graduated my associates, two bachelors, and masters with honors a doctor finally got around to telling me how "handicapped" I was).
You'll hear from two groups, the medicators and the naysayers.
The naysayers will poo-poo the reality you're living with. Ignore them politely, you're the one that has to live with it, not them. Most of them are either so "openminded" their brains have dripped out or so "closeminded" that if granite ever become a precious commodity they'll be rich, neither type will ever change their mind. A few are in the middle and MAY one day be persuaded but it really isn't worth your effort.
The medicators will push their favorite pill (which may have worked VERY WELL in their personal experience). Remember your body and metabolism are unique to you, so IF you choose to go the medication route pleae work closely with an experienced doctor (a REAL one) and find the best one for you, follow his instruction TO THE LETTER (these do affect YOUR BRAIN after all).
The reality is that both medication and habit modification will probably be worth it to you, and after all these years you've probably been practicing some of these without knowing about it (i.e. dayrunners, PDAs, PIMS, etc).
I had to learn to live without the drugs, I honestly can't say if they would have helped because I never fealt a need for them. I have learned a lot on personal orginization. In fact, I occasionally teach classes on it in my company (ain't THAT ironic).
As far as technical skills and ADHD. I don't know if they're related but I've always been able to track code "in my head", design circuits, and "intuitively" understand systems. I'm one of the 70's geeks that actually built their own computer (pre-commodore/apple days). I got the plans and some parts from a HAM Radio magazine my Dad took. It came with no memory, no OS (wrote my own) and the instructions were wrong. I finally got "frankenbox" as my dad called it working good enough to track his CQs.
I strongly suggest a series of books by a guy named Thom Hartmann, you should find them on BAMM or AMAZON.
Good luck, listen with wisdom and take all with a grain of salt, remember that when someone else tells you what you MUST or MUST not do about ADD it's your life, not theirs. And as far as that life goes, enjoy it.
You'll hear from the ones that declare ADHD
Excuse me folks, but you're missing the real bad actor in this story. President Bush didn't have much (if anything) to do with this decision (despite the incorrect statement in the opening message, read the news stories), and the DOJ was painted into the same corner (very few options).
When Judge Jackson decided DURING THE TRIAL to get his 15 minutes of fame and rail his venom against Gates he shot the whole case in the foot. Not only did he place his judgement in question, but now no judge is going to want to be associated with that piece of paper in the remotest sense!
The DOJ is trying to get the best out of a bad situation, if you don't like it, blame Jackson running his mouth when he should have been writing legal opinions and letting them stand! (I guess he was jelous of Judge Ito)
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This is the best descriptive model I've seen for LINUX, unfortunatly, it ignores the reality of the very real end user. Currently the LINUX end-user is a system-savvy hobbiest or professional, a minimum of one or two levels above the average computer owner (the guy or gal that's still trying to figure out emoticons in AOL-IM or get the time set on their VCR).
This isn't denigrating the average user, it just means most don't lose sleep over the slow adoption of TCP/IP v6. They have little interest in memorizing their monitor refresh rates at various resolutions when DOS (with various windowing programs) and WINDOWS both had easy ways to switch on the fly. Why bother learning the intricacies and simplicity of pipes when all they have to do is hit an icon?
Personally I think they'd be better learning how to work the silly box but the simple fact is this is no longer the era of the ALTAIR,PET/VIC-20/C-64, Apple II, Atari when the purchasers of "home computers" were assumed to have a good basic knowledge OR DESIRED SUCH. Today purchasers just want to get a letter written or look something up on the internet.
Reality says if LINUX is to go further than UNIX did we have to get past the buzz and give the users something more than nine-tenths finished. Patches have to be as easy as wintel or mac machines (forget recompiling, just run the executable) and programs need to be complete and usable as delivered, including example templates, complete help files (written in ENGLISH!), and even online help (ala the much hated though immortal clippy).
The issue is not the developers, where LINUX is now strongest. The issue is the "mom & pop" end user that want's another toaster. Steve Jobs understood that with the original Mac, Bill Gates still does, the question is when will Debian, Red Hat, Suse, etc. catch on.
If you're going to post someone else's work (true intellectual value) please:
A. Give them credit (this was originally the work of Ian Murdock)
and
B. Put your own rude remarks in italics or parentheses and not insert them inline without annotation so your readers won't blaim such cheap shots on the original author. Commentary is fine, but take the credit (or blaim) yourself.
The issue is can anyone see it. If know one knows it's there it's like whether or not you're circumcised, it's no one's business.
The business has a legitimate issue with body art that is visible, namely, if someone isn't concerned about offending the boss and the ones they work with all day long, how concerned will they be about offending our (paying) customers.
One last point, ladies seem to get more of a pass on this than guys (Don't complain to me, call 1-800-WAA-AAAA) but even they need to be careful. The business world treats a rose on the ankle and a skull in the center of the forehead MUCH differently.
Honestly, I don't think a guy with extensive body art could get through the hiring process here (except maybe the obligatory Marine Corps anchor or some other service related stuff).
Yuk, I've got to learn this editor, that looks AWFUL!
Cliff, just to let you know I am not a doctor, nor do I pretend to offer medical advice. I do know a little about this subject becauswe I've been living with it for a looonnngg time. When I was a kid I was diagnosed with it (it was called "minimal brain damadge" in the '50s before it became "hyperactivity" and the "hyperactivity disorder" and then ....., you get the picture). Mom was smart, she didn't tell me a word and made me grow up mormally. I was rediagnosed in the '90s (after I had graduated highschool with honors, done the honors and IQ test groups bit, graduated my associates, two bachelors, and masters with honors a doctor finally got around to telling me how "handicapped" I was).
You'll hear from two groups, the medicators and the naysayers.
The naysayers will poo-poo the reality you're living with. Ignore them politely, you're the one that has to live with it, not them. Most of them are either so "openminded" their brains have dripped out or so "closeminded" that if granite ever become a precious commodity they'll be rich, neither type will ever change their mind. A few are in the middle and MAY one day be persuaded but it really isn't worth your effort.
The medicators will push their favorite pill (which may have worked VERY WELL in their personal experience). Remember your body and metabolism are unique to you, so IF you choose to go the medication route pleae work closely with an experienced doctor (a REAL one) and find the best one for you, follow his instruction TO THE LETTER (these do affect YOUR BRAIN after all).
The reality is that both medication and habit modification will probably be worth it to you, and after all these years you've probably been practicing some of these without knowing about it (i.e. dayrunners, PDAs, PIMS, etc).
I had to learn to live without the drugs, I honestly can't say if they would have helped because I never fealt a need for them. I have learned a lot on personal orginization. In fact, I occasionally teach classes on it in my company (ain't THAT ironic).
As far as technical skills and ADHD. I don't know if they're related but I've always been able to track code "in my head", design circuits, and "intuitively" understand systems. I'm one of the 70's geeks that actually built their own computer (pre-commodore/apple days). I got the plans and some parts from a HAM Radio magazine my Dad took. It came with no memory, no OS (wrote my own) and the instructions were wrong. I finally got "frankenbox" as my dad called it working good enough to track his CQs.
I strongly suggest a series of books by a guy named Thom Hartmann, you should find them on BAMM or AMAZON.
Good luck, listen with wisdom and take all with a grain of salt, remember that when someone else tells you what you MUST or MUST not do about ADD it's your life, not theirs. And as far as that life goes, enjoy it.
You'll hear from the ones that declare ADHD
Excuse me folks, but you're missing the real bad actor in this story. President Bush didn't have much (if anything) to do with this decision (despite the incorrect statement in the opening message, read the news stories), and the DOJ was painted into the same corner (very few options). When Judge Jackson decided DURING THE TRIAL to get his 15 minutes of fame and rail his venom against Gates he shot the whole case in the foot. Not only did he place his judgement in question, but now no judge is going to want to be associated with that piece of paper in the remotest sense! The DOJ is trying to get the best out of a bad situation, if you don't like it, blame Jackson running his mouth when he should have been writing legal opinions and letting them stand! (I guess he was jelous of Judge Ito)