For some reason, I missed the bit about the private company vs. the gov't company. I hope you can forgive my responding on the wrong assumption.
I'd offer a correction but I'm not quite settled in my mind about what the right thing to do is. (In other words, you got through to me, but I still need some think time.)
Again, sorry about that. Bit fatigued today. Hope you get this before you respond to my previous post.
"So, what do you think misuse is and how would you go about discovering it?"
My comment about Solitaire not being computer misuse is based on a couple of factors: 1.) Nothing new was installed, nearly all the time Solitaire is installed on any given Windows box. 2.) It does not, in any way, expose the company to any external danger like a web browser can. It is a time management issue, not a computer misuse issue.
" If all this so called 'boss' has to do is play solitare all day, then his position needs to be ELIMINATED!"
That is a very shortsighted comment. The reality is that people are hired to fulfill tasks, not occupy a chair for 8+ hours a day. They're expected to get their tasks done. If they don't have enough tasks to occupy 8 hours every single day, that's an efficiency problem, not an elimination scenario.
In short, if the work's getting done, Solitaire shouldn't matter in the slightest. Obviously somebody in that position was worth his salary before knowing about his/her game playing habits. Firing somebody over that will earn you a promotion to Major. (major asshole.)
"He was doing exactly what he was paid to do: stop computer misuse."
Playing Solitaire is not misuse. It's not the best use of time, but it is not misuse. He sent the emails to the higher-ups, they obviously weren't that interested. In other words, he must still have been getting his work done. (Or his job wasn't so consequential, but it's not a syadmin's job to trim the fat.)
By installing spyware on his boss's machine, he captured and examined data that he is not privy to. What was to stop him from seeing his boss emailing another executive about future layoffs, or the salary of one of his coworkers? His was quite obviously fired due to mistrust. Being his boss might have played into the politics a bit, but I certainly wouldn't hire this guy.
"this guy got shafted. Canned for doing your job?"
I'm just going to be up front and tell you I haven't RTFA yet. (in a bit of a hurry, headed to dinner...) So I'm just gonna talk in a general sense here. In other words, this isn't necessarily a direct rebuttal to what you're saying.
I'm not a manager. In fact, I had a job very similar to what this guy was doing to a much lesser extent. I read what he did and a couple of things bothered me.
1.) He notified the management, they chose not to act on it. He should have just left it there. It's important to let the big wigs make the decision, as opposed to becoming a virtual vigilante.
2.) Spyware on somebody above him? Man, that is a MAJOR no-no. When you're a sysadmin, you have access to all sorts of sensitive data. To actively capture it and use it zealously nail your boss, well I tell you what, that'd scare the hell out of me. The whole reason Slashdot isn't a big fan of things like video cameras at every street corner is that anything can be captured to make somebody look like they're doing something illegal. It's discomforting.
Understanding that I am taking the summary of the article at face value, and that I haven't gotten to the details of the article yet, this is what I think: This guy took it too far. Way too far. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the people above him thought "Geez, what if he caught a screen grab of me looking at porn? I get a bunch of that shit in my email all the time. Was he going to go McBain on me, too?"
Maybe he was doing his job, but he should have had a little more faith in the higher-ups. Even if it was 'wrong', they're still the ones in charge. He should have just let it drop at the emails. Instead, it appears he took it so far that nobody could really trust him. I mean, if his boss still had a job, how do we know he wasn't getting it done? Maybe he had solitaire open because he was on the phone a lot, and wanted something to keep his hands active? Playing Solitaire may not be the most productive use of time, but it's a stretch to call it abuse until somebody's not doing their job. In this particular case, maybe he wasn't doing a damn thing, but in a general sense, what this guy wasn't so smart.
"Does this indicate some kind of problem with the further fulfillment of Moore's law (you know, for once, Moore's law failing to apply NOW as opposed to "Moore's law will stop working in 8 months) or has this just been a bad year?"
Option #3 could be that there really isn't a killer app that requires that speed. I have difficulty imagining a lot of ppl flocking to those machines right now. It is a pity for Intel that 3d cards do more for games than cpu's.
"We should have a preference in our settings for "don't use crazy colours" or "default color scheme" or something like that."
You do have that preference. It's called light mode or something like that. Sadly, it's hard to spot. Id look for it and help ya find it, but i am tooo fatigued, Sorry if I sound rude or elitist, not intentional.
Or you could just switch to the simple mode in your user preferences and roll your eyes when ppl get modded up for complaining about a style that doesn't actually cause eye cancer.
"Or, if not good, at least on-par with modern operating systems."
Windows 2000, and to a lesser extent, Windows XP. Okay, I don't have >6 month up times, but I don't have in opportune crashes either. If I did, my job as a 3D animator would be in jeopardy. I don't remember the last time I left an over-the-weekend render and came back on Monday to an 'oh shit!. I do remember that it was before Win2k.
When was the word 'innovation' used? I can't find it. But since we're on the topic, it is interesting that despite MS being a monopoly, they're still doing major work on their upcoming OS. But... no, we'd rather talk about their OS taking a big step towards (possibly even past) what Apple has done.
Hey bud, I installed Linux as a present for you. No more worms! Great, huh?
[1 day later]
Hey bud, how do I set up dual monitors?
[1 hour later]
Hey bud, how do I change the refresh rate? They're stuck at 60.
[30 minutes later]
Hey bud, how do I get Quake running on this thing? I know, I know.. I just need to make sure my 3D card is working even though nothing during my work day even touches the 3D card.
[10 minutes later]
Hey bud, on Windows I could change my mouse cursor to a Tweety Bird, how do I do that on Linux?
[another 10 minutes later]
Hey bud, OpenOffice doesn't support this ActiveX control I need for my presentation, how do I fix this?
[1 minute later]
Whaddya mean you're putting Windows back on it? I switched just for you, man!
"please do not attribute to adequacy what is actually product of intertia."
And exactly how would that intertia happen if the product didn't fulfill its purpose? Microsoft cannot magically make a monopoly out of everything it puts out. So to be successful, people actually have to like their product. Shocking, isn't it? Sure sounds like it's adequate somewhere, duddn't it?
"..perfecting the technique of causing mass frustration stretching all the way from the individual consumer to entire governments through the release of buggy software"
I got news for ya, bud, MS would easiliy have fallen flat on its face if people weren't getting things done with that 'buggy software'.
"Here's the god awful color again. How tough it this to change?"
It's easy. From the Slashdot login page, look to your left. You'll see your username. Click on 'preferences' right under it. Then click on the 'Homepage' tab. Just under the timezone bit, there's a checkbox next to 'light'. Click that. Slashdot will look barren at first, but it's easy to get used to. No more ugly color schemes and you get a less complex page.
Simple. Now quitcherbitchen. The color scheme isn't that bad. It aint great, but it's not +4 insightful.
"Because the one in 2001 had its desired effect of reducing the American public a bunch of simpering morons willing to be stripped of their liberties every time someone screams "Orange Alert!" and then fails to tell us, in even the vaguest terms, why there's an orange alert."
Actually, there's been a lot of resistance to the stripping of freedoms, and there's been apathy towards the alert system. You don't know what you're talking about here.
"Oh, but of course, that begs the question of who actually masterminded the attack and desired the effect of it."
Osama bin Laden. Desired effect? To turn the world against us. Actual outcome: Turned the world against him.
"So, an argument for education could also be seen as an argument to create more understanding and tolerance... which would hopefully reduce the need for attacks (on both sides of the world)."
Unfortunately, the big hole in that argument is that it would take years for any appreciable effect on our image, but we are expecting an attack any day now.
I agree with you that in the long term it has a chance of working, but I doubt anybody'd go for it. Frankly, I think more exposure to the internet will help more than anything. If would-be terrorists were to make friends over here, it'd make them think twice.
Slashdot Mirror
"Look at me! I have an opinion! I'm insulted by everybody's stupidity! I'm so elite!"
For some reason, I missed the bit about the private company vs. the gov't company. I hope you can forgive my responding on the wrong assumption.
I'd offer a correction but I'm not quite settled in my mind about what the right thing to do is. (In other words, you got through to me, but I still need some think time.)
Again, sorry about that. Bit fatigued today. Hope you get this before you respond to my previous post.
"So, what do you think misuse is and how would you go about discovering it?"
My comment about Solitaire not being computer misuse is based on a couple of factors: 1.) Nothing new was installed, nearly all the time Solitaire is installed on any given Windows box. 2.) It does not, in any way, expose the company to any external danger like a web browser can. It is a time management issue, not a computer misuse issue.
" If all this so called 'boss' has to do is play solitare all day, then his position needs to be ELIMINATED!"
That is a very shortsighted comment. The reality is that people are hired to fulfill tasks, not occupy a chair for 8+ hours a day. They're expected to get their tasks done. If they don't have enough tasks to occupy 8 hours every single day, that's an efficiency problem, not an elimination scenario.
In short, if the work's getting done, Solitaire shouldn't matter in the slightest. Obviously somebody in that position was worth his salary before knowing about his/her game playing habits. Firing somebody over that will earn you a promotion to Major. (major asshole.)
"He was doing exactly what he was paid to do: stop computer misuse."
Playing Solitaire is not misuse. It's not the best use of time, but it is not misuse. He sent the emails to the higher-ups, they obviously weren't that interested. In other words, he must still have been getting his work done. (Or his job wasn't so consequential, but it's not a syadmin's job to trim the fat.)
By installing spyware on his boss's machine, he captured and examined data that he is not privy to. What was to stop him from seeing his boss emailing another executive about future layoffs, or the salary of one of his coworkers? His was quite obviously fired due to mistrust. Being his boss might have played into the politics a bit, but I certainly wouldn't hire this guy.
"this guy got shafted. Canned for doing your job?"
I'm just going to be up front and tell you I haven't RTFA yet. (in a bit of a hurry, headed to dinner...) So I'm just gonna talk in a general sense here. In other words, this isn't necessarily a direct rebuttal to what you're saying.
I'm not a manager. In fact, I had a job very similar to what this guy was doing to a much lesser extent. I read what he did and a couple of things bothered me.
1.) He notified the management, they chose not to act on it. He should have just left it there. It's important to let the big wigs make the decision, as opposed to becoming a virtual vigilante.
2.) Spyware on somebody above him? Man, that is a MAJOR no-no. When you're a sysadmin, you have access to all sorts of sensitive data. To actively capture it and use it zealously nail your boss, well I tell you what, that'd scare the hell out of me. The whole reason Slashdot isn't a big fan of things like video cameras at every street corner is that anything can be captured to make somebody look like they're doing something illegal. It's discomforting.
Understanding that I am taking the summary of the article at face value, and that I haven't gotten to the details of the article yet, this is what I think: This guy took it too far. Way too far. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the people above him thought "Geez, what if he caught a screen grab of me looking at porn? I get a bunch of that shit in my email all the time. Was he going to go McBain on me, too?"
Maybe he was doing his job, but he should have had a little more faith in the higher-ups. Even if it was 'wrong', they're still the ones in charge. He should have just let it drop at the emails. Instead, it appears he took it so far that nobody could really trust him. I mean, if his boss still had a job, how do we know he wasn't getting it done? Maybe he had solitaire open because he was on the phone a lot, and wanted something to keep his hands active? Playing Solitaire may not be the most productive use of time, but it's a stretch to call it abuse until somebody's not doing their job. In this particular case, maybe he wasn't doing a damn thing, but in a general sense, what this guy wasn't so smart.
"Aw man, now I'm going to have to finally spring for a 3D accelerator."
That joke is really lacking in depth.
"Does this indicate some kind of problem with the further fulfillment of Moore's law (you know, for once, Moore's law failing to apply NOW as opposed to "Moore's law will stop working in 8 months) or has this just been a bad year?"
Option #3 could be that there really isn't a killer app that requires that speed. I have difficulty imagining a lot of ppl flocking to those machines right now. It is a pity for Intel that 3d cards do more for games than cpu's.
"We should have a preference in our settings for "don't use crazy colours" or "default color scheme" or something like that."
You do have that preference. It's called light mode or something like that. Sadly, it's hard to spot. Id look for it and help ya find it, but i am tooo fatigued, Sorry if I sound rude or elitist, not intentional.
Or you could just switch to the simple mode in your user preferences and roll your eyes when ppl get modded up for complaining about a style that doesn't actually cause eye cancer.
So?
"Or, if not good, at least on-par with modern operating systems."
Windows 2000, and to a lesser extent, Windows XP. Okay, I don't have >6 month up times, but I don't have in opportune crashes either. If I did, my job as a 3D animator would be in jeopardy. I don't remember the last time I left an over-the-weekend render and came back on Monday to an 'oh shit!. I do remember that it was before Win2k.
When was the word 'innovation' used? I can't find it. But since we're on the topic, it is interesting that despite MS being a monopoly, they're still doing major work on their upcoming OS. But... no, we'd rather talk about their OS taking a big step towards (possibly even past) what Apple has done.
Sounds like Microsoft is once again taking from Apple. Core Image uses the GPU to process data and not the CPU, watch the WWDC on apple.com
Copying or evolving? What the article talks about is a hell of a lot more than just a 3d shell.
Oh. Well it means a huge bite out of my porn stash for me. :)
Hey bud, I installed Linux as a present for you. No more worms! Great, huh?
[1 day later]
Hey bud, how do I set up dual monitors?
[1 hour later]
Hey bud, how do I change the refresh rate? They're stuck at 60.
[30 minutes later]
Hey bud, how do I get Quake running on this thing? I know, I know.. I just need to make sure my 3D card is working even though nothing during my work day even touches the 3D card.
[10 minutes later]
Hey bud, on Windows I could change my mouse cursor to a Tweety Bird, how do I do that on Linux?
[another 10 minutes later]
Hey bud, OpenOffice doesn't support this ActiveX control I need for my presentation, how do I fix this?
[1 minute later]
Whaddya mean you're putting Windows back on it? I switched just for you, man!
" That they locked RM is the thing that irritated me the most about Real and why I have long since dumped them."
Ouch. That must have taken a serious bite out of your porn stash.
"Why is Qui-Gon Jinn in batman?"
Well, his Star Wars career was cut pretty short.
(*sigh* This might have been worth a +1 Funny if we were talking about Darth Maul.)
"At least it appears to have real Actors in the Cast. Can never be disappointed by Morgon Freeman, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, or Gary Oldman."
Yeah, they should kick Tommy Lee Jones's ass!
"please do not attribute to adequacy what is actually product of intertia."
And exactly how would that intertia happen if the product didn't fulfill its purpose? Microsoft cannot magically make a monopoly out of everything it puts out. So to be successful, people actually have to like their product. Shocking, isn't it? Sure sounds like it's adequate somewhere, duddn't it?
"..perfecting the technique of causing mass frustration stretching all the way from the individual consumer to entire governments through the release of buggy software"
I got news for ya, bud, MS would easiliy have fallen flat on its face if people weren't getting things done with that 'buggy software'.
"Well... I think someone submitted that as a Slashdot bug and they wrote it off as a Mozilla one instead."
That's a thoughtless attitude of any web developer.
"Here's the god awful color again. How tough it this to change?"
It's easy. From the Slashdot login page, look to your left. You'll see your username. Click on 'preferences' right under it. Then click on the 'Homepage' tab. Just under the timezone bit, there's a checkbox next to 'light'. Click that. Slashdot will look barren at first, but it's easy to get used to. No more ugly color schemes and you get a less complex page.
Simple. Now quitcherbitchen. The color scheme isn't that bad. It aint great, but it's not +4 insightful.
"Because the one in 2001 had its desired effect of reducing the American public a bunch of simpering morons willing to be stripped of their liberties every time someone screams "Orange Alert!" and then fails to tell us, in even the vaguest terms, why there's an orange alert."
Actually, there's been a lot of resistance to the stripping of freedoms, and there's been apathy towards the alert system. You don't know what you're talking about here.
"Oh, but of course, that begs the question of who actually masterminded the attack and desired the effect of it."
Osama bin Laden. Desired effect? To turn the world against us. Actual outcome: Turned the world against him.
"I'll leave that to you as a mental exercise."
You need a few more pushups there. Heh.
"So, an argument for education could also be seen as an argument to create more understanding and tolerance ... which would hopefully reduce the need for attacks (on both sides of the world)."
Unfortunately, the big hole in that argument is that it would take years for any appreciable effect on our image, but we are expecting an attack any day now.
I agree with you that in the long term it has a chance of working, but I doubt anybody'd go for it. Frankly, I think more exposure to the internet will help more than anything. If would-be terrorists were to make friends over here, it'd make them think twice.
My boss reads Slashdot. Watch, that'll be the day I really am sick.