I'm an ethical consultant who deals with small offices who want to do it right. I am working on a paper outlining the best IT practices for small medical offices. Email me if you would like to provide input.
I have updated on several machines and had no problems. It was tedious and I had to zypper up and restart several times. Granted, these are headless machines, but I do run a GUI via NX.
This is one reason to keep ongoing documentation, a malicious person could even use that to sabotage things because the only thing worse then no documentation is bad documentation (it wastes alot of time if you made assumptions up front).
It would cost time, presumably multiple reloads while the other admins tried to figure out why the servers were wiping themselves out after being restored from backup. Assuming the eventually figured it out (not a safe assumption from my experience), but let's assume that they have someone talented, or a good consultant. They would still be out a significant amount of effort.
Sounds like you were trying to transfer an existing plan, which is probably well out of the new subscriber cancellation policy. I just switched my wife from sprint to verizon, she is getting 4GG, 1K texts, and 950 minutes (to get friends and family, 950 is way too many, but 400 is not enough without friends and family), it is costing us about the same as sprint with unlimited data and texts and 700 minutes (400 minute plan with 300 free extra minutes since we were long time subscibers). Sprint's service has been getting worse and their phone selection is nowhere near as good as Verizon's.
Kansas is a phone company's dream for tower placement, anywhere hilly and full of trees, or urban with lots of buildings is a whole different story. I get crap reception with sprint in rural western Michigan. I was actually able to get some data service with Verizon, slow.. I do hear the t-mobile has good service in that area, but I have not had the opportunity to try it.
In my case, it's less a fear of job outsourcing and more a fear that those moving the infrastructure don't understand what they are giving up. The "cloud" makes sense in some cases and I make use of it myself, but a private "cloud" is often better with lower costs. Use the right tool for the right job, don't try to take your lug nuts off with a screw driver because it's shiny and someone you know did it.
DING, DING, DING, we have a winner... It sucks to get sucked into a bad situation, but move on as quickly as possible with as little damage to yourself. If you stick around the damage just intensifies (psychological, financial, and often physical). It mystifies me why so many people stick around in crappy jobs.
I consider myself a hacker, and I mostly follow the rules. In my experience it's usually the big guys that break the rules left and right. They avoid interoperability and design their own "standards".
This is a good post, hackers are great at keeping you under budget on projects. I remember one network infrastructure upgrade. My boss was unsure about how the new stuff would interact with the old and was hedging toward signing off on additional switch replacements (blowing our budget for the year). After I examined the quote, removed the padding, and assured my boss of interoperabilty we came in under budget and saved about $20k when we eventually upgraded the rest of the older equipment, on our schedule.
I agree, I am always careful to document the open software and standards I am adhering too. In my mind it always looks straightforward and I have maintained systems for years. Unfortunately once it gets turned over to someone else they always have maintenance problems, usually because they cannot understand the process no matter how much training I provide. However, I see this with commercial solutions also. Either the new guy can't understand the current stuff, or he needs to mark his territory by replacing things.
To some extent that's true, but what I see is alot of people who either can't or won't comprehend things that are relatively simple. Often they are going through the motions doing things like building out dozens of PC manually, instead of imaging and scripted installs. They are often keeping busy which looks good to an outsider, but to a knowledgeable tech they are spinning their wheels with problems the rest of the world solved 5 or 10 years ago. I guess these are grown up script kiddies that are comfortable with their own toolbox and don't have the intellectual curiosity to ask why do you do this and how can you do it better or faster.
The truth it, taxes aren't "passed on to" anyone. They are simply extracted from the economy. Both companies and physical persons are actors in that economy, so both pay.
I'd like to see some citations. As far as I know, Hulu is not exempt, only xfinity's video on xbox service is exempt. Plus, the 250GB cap has been around for several years now. AT&T is the new one in the cap business. I run alot of network services, home NX server, netflix all day long (via wii, so not HD) and I am only hitting 150GB / month. I am troubled by the implications of capping, but let's keep the discussion grounded in reality.
True, the incompetence at many IT departments is astounding. Maybe I should be saying this anonymously...
However most of the incompetence is because of the lack of training budgets and the tendency of companies to throw anything at IT and see if it sticks.
AMEN brother! Many people confuses scripters with programmers. I can knock out some bad ass scripts that get the job done, but I am not a programmer and I know my limits.
That being said, I will step over the line for pay and try my hardest to make sure you understand I am over the line, but business has to get done.
I have a crappy AS and 10 years of experience. I am finding myself filtered out of many positions because they want a BS. I am currently working in IT, but looking to move up. When I can get my foot in the door, I know how to impress, but getting past the gatekeepers is tough in this economy.
I find the touchscreen works great 90% of the time. The other 10% would not be any better with an onboard keyboard that is too small for touch typing, but a bluetooth keyboard let's me handle SSH sessions, take notes, etc...
Slashdot Mirror
I'm an ethical consultant who deals with small offices who want to do it right. I am working on a paper outlining the best IT practices for small medical offices. Email me if you would like to provide input.
I've been doing some research on this,it is essential for medical providers who want to adhere to Hippa.
Hushmail was a bit of a pain, 4securemail seemed to work well (no affiliation and no link, google it up yourself).
I have updated on several machines and had no problems. It was tedious and I had to zypper up and restart several times. Granted, these are headless machines, but I do run a GUI via NX.
This is one reason to keep ongoing documentation, a malicious person could even use that to sabotage things because the only thing worse then no documentation is bad documentation (it wastes alot of time if you made assumptions up front).
It would cost time, presumably multiple reloads while the other admins tried to figure out why the servers were wiping themselves out after being restored from backup.
Assuming the eventually figured it out (not a safe assumption from my experience), but let's assume that they have someone talented, or a good consultant. They would still be out a significant amount of effort.
Sounds like you were trying to transfer an existing plan, which is probably well out of the new subscriber cancellation policy. I just switched my wife from sprint to verizon, she is getting 4GG, 1K texts, and 950 minutes (to get friends and family, 950 is way too many, but 400 is not enough without friends and family), it is costing us about the same as sprint with unlimited data and texts and 700 minutes (400 minute plan with 300 free extra minutes since we were long time subscibers).
Sprint's service has been getting worse and their phone selection is nowhere near as good as Verizon's.
Anyway, my point is we had 7 days to cancel.
Kansas is a phone company's dream for tower placement, anywhere hilly and full of trees, or urban with lots of buildings is a whole different story. I get crap reception with sprint in rural western Michigan. I was actually able to get some data service with Verizon, slow..
I do hear the t-mobile has good service in that area, but I have not had the opportunity to try it.
I have true unlimited data on Verizon (company plan)
Looks like more of a bureaucratic problem then a union problem
In my case, it's less a fear of job outsourcing and more a fear that those moving the infrastructure don't understand what they are giving up. The "cloud" makes sense in some cases and I make use of it myself, but a private "cloud" is often better with lower costs. Use the right tool for the right job, don't try to take your lug nuts off with a screw driver because it's shiny and someone you know did it.
So their daily cash transactions are all handled by a bank and not their in house accountants or clerks?
DING, DING, DING, we have a winner... It sucks to get sucked into a bad situation, but move on as quickly as possible with as little damage to yourself. If you stick around the damage just intensifies (psychological, financial, and often physical). It mystifies me why so many people stick around in crappy jobs.
I consider myself a hacker, and I mostly follow the rules. In my experience it's usually the big guys that break the rules left and right. They avoid interoperability and design their own "standards".
This is a good post, hackers are great at keeping you under budget on projects. I remember one network infrastructure upgrade. My boss was unsure about how the new stuff would interact with the old and was hedging toward signing off on additional switch replacements (blowing our budget for the year). After I examined the quote, removed the padding, and assured my boss of interoperabilty we came in under budget and saved about $20k when we eventually upgraded the rest of the older equipment, on our schedule.
I hold my car's bumper on with bungee cords you insensitive clod! (seriously, I'm driving a deathtrap..)
I agree, I am always careful to document the open software and standards I am adhering too. In my mind it always looks straightforward and I have maintained systems for years. Unfortunately once it gets turned over to someone else they always have maintenance problems, usually because they cannot understand the process no matter how much training I provide.
However, I see this with commercial solutions also. Either the new guy can't understand the current stuff, or he needs to mark his territory by replacing things.
To some extent that's true, but what I see is alot of people who either can't or won't comprehend things that are relatively simple. Often they are going through the motions doing things like building out dozens of PC manually, instead of imaging and scripted installs. They are often keeping busy which looks good to an outsider, but to a knowledgeable tech they are spinning their wheels with problems the rest of the world solved 5 or 10 years ago. I guess these are grown up script kiddies that are comfortable with their own toolbox and don't have the intellectual curiosity to ask why do you do this and how can you do it better or faster.
Maybe they just aren't as lazy as me.
The truth it, taxes aren't "passed on to" anyone. They are simply extracted from the economy. Both companies and physical persons are actors in that economy, so both pay.
Well said...!
I just prefer to have some pricing information before I start talking to a company, but maybe I will give them a call.
I'd like to see some citations. As far as I know, Hulu is not exempt, only xfinity's video on xbox service is exempt. Plus, the 250GB cap has been around for several years now. AT&T is the new one in the cap business. I run alot of network services, home NX server, netflix all day long (via wii, so not HD) and I am only hitting 150GB / month.
I am troubled by the implications of capping, but let's keep the discussion grounded in reality.
True, the incompetence at many IT departments is astounding. Maybe I should be saying this anonymously...
However most of the incompetence is because of the lack of training budgets and the tendency of companies to throw anything at IT and see if it sticks.
AMEN brother! Many people confuses scripters with programmers. I can knock out some bad ass scripts that get the job done, but I am not a programmer and I know my limits.
That being said, I will step over the line for pay and try my hardest to make sure you understand I am over the line, but business has to get done.
We have a dedicated Access programmer. Nice guy, but I shudder when I think about the mess...
I have a crappy AS and 10 years of experience. I am finding myself filtered out of many positions because they want a BS. I am currently working in IT, but looking to move up. When I can get my foot in the door, I know how to impress, but getting past the gatekeepers is tough in this economy.
another viewpoint...
I find the touchscreen works great 90% of the time. The other 10% would not be any better with an onboard keyboard that is too small for touch typing, but a bluetooth keyboard let's me handle SSH sessions, take notes, etc...