I started at Ernst and Young in 1997 as a "consultant". Back then, there were 5 levels: Partner, senior manager, manager, sr. consultant, and consultant.
My salary - directly out of college - was $48,500 + bonus.
And that was back in 1997. Since then, I got out of IT because it "wasn't going anyware". Sure, I had PLENTY of mid-level job opportunities but for me, I could see the writing on the wall. And the writing said: this is a lousy career because nobody will pay you what you are REALLY worth.
In almost every other type of career I can think of, the workers "share" in the success of a company. It may be delayed, but it eventually trickles down into better pay and better bonuses (and options if you are lucky). IT is the only area where I never saw that happen. I saw lots of capital expenditure budgets go up, but I never saw the actual workers making more money. That pretty much sums up why I still *love* technology and computers but I can not imagine how anyone "gets ahead" in this career. Unless you are an owner of one of these companies......and I am not.
Intel is getting ready to finish AMD off once and for all, and the only thing the crippled AMD can do is hope to pull a magic rabbit out of their ass.
But that's the thing: it's in Intel's best interest to have AMD around. Not powerful or competitive -- but around.
Let's not forget the Intel monopoly issues involved. Intel NEEDS AMD to help keep the heat off of them for anti-competitive practices. As long as AMD is there, Intel can point and say "there's your competition". If AMD goes, then Intel is definitely a monopoly.
This is totally OT but its funny you bring up your personal experience regarding C2D and AMD.
It is the exact same thing I went through myself. I've used AMD for almost 10 years now and the C2D was the first Intel processor I have bought during that time (ever since Celeron 300).
And just to take your story one step further: I shorted AMD the day after I bought my Intel chip.
Why? Because I am a techie and a big fan of AMD. The fact that Intel had a better offering was the first time I had seen that situation in 10 years. That tells me something is very wrong at AMD.
Turns out, I was right. The stock has absolutely tanked (and I made quite a bit of hay on it)
Uhh, just to be clear, day-traders buy and sell stocks, options, and financial instruments.
They are not selling themselves, rather, they are buying/selling a "product". No, they aren't prostitutes. More like pimps with a penchant for promotion.
Ok, so they up the ante. Now, why would I care about that if I am boycotting?
You see, that's the point right there. When I say "boycott" you are not hearing what I am saying. A boycott means I just plain don't care what they are doing anymore because I am NOT going to buy their product for ANY reason.
So, let them up the ante. If you are serious about your boycott, you shouldn't care and you darn sure aren't responsible for telling Sony why. Let them wallow and figure it out themselves. The idea behind a boycott is that sales decrease so the company has to take notice...
You need to distinguish between generation, transmission, and distribution. You can't just say power companies are granted monopolies. They are not and that is not an accurate way to describe them.
A power company is not just a power company. There are 3 distinct pieces and each one gets treated separately according to the law and society. Generation makes the power and is usually private (in Okla). Yes, there are muni's and co-ops but in general, Okla power generation is privately owned. Transmission is long haul transmission and it is regulated in Okla like it is in most (48) states. Distribution is step down and delivery to customers and it, too, is regulated (by the Public Utilities Commission). When you talk about deregulation of the power industry, you are usually talking about the distribution part. Generation, for the most part, has been unregulated for a long time.
Second, the situation you describe (subsidies from customers to large companies), is the very reason the PUC exists -- to keep everyone honest and protect consumers. And you'll just have to trust me on this one...no power company in their right mind wants to tangle with the PUC here in Okla.
Now, the article in question is talking about municipality owned generation so yes, it is still a concern. But please realize that it's not just the "power" company. There is much more to it than that and its important to understand all the pieces.
You, sir, get the crazy post award of the day. At least on your power comments.....and the rest is a little suspect too.
First of all, we (we being Oklahoma) have PLENTY of power. To my knowledge we've NEVER had rolling blackouts or anything close to that. Do you even know where OK is? Do you know how many power plants are within 200 miles of Pryor? I do. They are my customers and there are a ton of them. Additionally, we aren't like California. Contrary to what you state, we are well prepared to provide power for the foreseeable future. You see, we have been scaling up over the last 20 years to keep up with demand. Unlike other places, we don't mind building new plants. The idea that 15MW, or hell even 1500MW, would make a dent is laughable. There is plenty of power here. (sidenote: our track record for clean air really isn't all that bad either)
Second, there are many types of power companies. Private (AEP, Duke, Reliant) and Public (Co-op, Municipals, etc) companies of all kinds provide power to "the system". You cries of monopolies ring hollow because the "monopoly" part you talk about is highly highly regulated. The rest (generation) isn't. And you may not realize this but -- we have plenty of land that is suitable for power plants. So does Texas and look how many plants they have (108 just from Dallas Northeast to Texarkana -- about 1/6 of the state).
Look, I know Okla has its share of real problems. All I am saying is that power ain't one of them (had to throw in an "aint")
Also, if the strategy were as simplistic as you claim, then it could be easily defeated by the occupier refusing to respond violently.
And which occupier would NOT react with violence when threatened with loss of power? Maybe the Swiss, but really, I think it's highly unlikely they would occupy anyone.
That may be true about the other personal freedoms...
But, there are few issues where "the evidence" is so compelling. I would wager that most people, when they answer honestly, realize weed is no "worse" than alcohol. But yet, the subject is never seriously debated and the same ol' War continues on. Do you realize we spend almost $40bil/yr fighting the drug war? That's a lot of people's paycheck.
The reason its such a hot-button issue is because the War on Drugs has probably had the largest impact on freedom for the largest amount of people. Both sides are affected. The citizens are policed and the police forces depend on "anti-drug money" for their funding. You didn't think they got those machine guns and new SWAT cars because they were nice, did you? No, they go them as a direct result of the drug war. It has, in a way, transformed our police into tactical military units.
While there are definitely other topics to talk about, the WoD is the single largest rights-impeder out there and that's why the libs focus on it. Not only is it a HUGE source of corruption, but there are truly, some dastardly things that have been done during this war. Just go browse a civil liberties site and you can find countless stories of abuse with respect to the War on Drugs.
No other personal freedom issue has a track record like that one.
I just read the paper. Not a single mention of different bitrates, codecs, or compression ratios that could be present in any of the files you guys are dealing with.
See my comment below and please explain this. I think a lot of us are missing this piece.
What the parent is saying can be summarized with a simple example:
A 200MB, 30min video that was compressed at 1000kbps DiVX is not the "same file with minor changes" as a 200MB, 30min video that was compressed at 900kbps DiVX. They ARE different files and should be treated as such. You also can't deduce anything from their filenames, play length, or any other characteristic so how would you determine which ones can go together and which ones can't? I did not see codecs or compression mentioned at all in the article.
This is the fundamental problem here. You can't recombine video and audio files unless they ARE the same file. You have to account for different bitrates, compression ratios, and who knows what else (I am no expert in this area but this seems obvious...).
Lemme guess -- the mp3s mentioned in the article were ALL encoded at the same bitrate, right? If not, then please correct me because now you have my attention;)
The expensive DVD player from Sony now sits in the kitchen and occasionally plays a normal music CD, when there is nothing in the FM worth listening to.
So, runnning 24/7/365, how long does a Sony DVD player work?
By "standard", we mean "right enough to be accepted by most people".
So yea, MSFT is "right" about a lot of things. Both past and present.
That does not mean, however, they are "right" about the Zune. Personally, I think it's wrong. Its the wrong product at the wrong time with the wrong capabilities and features.
I graduated college in May 1995 and used Vocaltec myself back in the day. I particularly remember that proggie because as far as I know.....it was never cracked.;)
So yea, I can vouch that Vocaltec/Net2Phone was around back in 1994-1995 and had software "out on the market". If I recall right, the company was Israeli.
What you are talking about is a co-lo power station. Lots of plants have these. 3M in Austin, TX comes to mind as does TI in Dallas and Sherman, TX. I am quite certain Lockheed in Ft Worth has one as well. Basically -- they are pretty common.
Most the co-los I am familiar with are in the 10-20MW range. I've never seen one larger so I am guessing that is the point where "it makes sense".
It doesn't matter WHERE the install files come from -- as long as you have a legal license to use the software.
You can take your Vista license, call MSFT, and get a new key for a new XP install based on that license. Vista license covers Vista + XP so you are "legally" allowed to run XP.
Cox business SOHO accounts are basically residential accounts that are "open" and guaranteed (ie: you don't share). They are sold through the business group - entirely separate from residential.
I find that the extra $10-$15/mo is well worth it to not have to worry about crap like this. I've done it all (BT, P2P, Tor, I2P, even as a Freenet exit point) with my connection and I've never heard a peep from them. Usenet can be especially greedy on bandwidth:)
Right now, I have 10MB dwn/1 MB up. No caps. No ports blocked. Preferential treatment in my neighborhood. Yea, I'm a geek and that's worth it.
Hey, I don't want to be a douche here but your problem is not with Daylight savings. Your problem is with communication. And yes, sometimes a lack of communcation can be expensive.
You aren't, by chance, in IT consulting are you?:)
The EULA of Vista allows you to "downgrade" to XP. I found this out after I ran into the same problem for company machines. We couldn't find XP boxes to buy. Eventually we did but I later found out I could have just bought Vista and downgraded to XP. But -- I would have also had to install XP myself. That wouldn't work in my case but it might in yours. (sidenote: we bought from HP, specifically, because they offered XP. First time to ever buy from HP)
Take advantage of it and reuse your XP operating system.
Sure, we can do that. Just as soon as we work out this whole "social interaction" thing among us humans of different temperaments, talents, and convictions.
Whether you like it or not, our legal system is a fairly good way to work out disagreements. Yes, it has it's flaws like any system. But, on the whole, it is far better than duking it out with guns, gangs, or otherwise. I would much rather hire an attorney than hire an army.
If you think America is violent NOW, imagine what it would be like without any "legal", state-recognized way to work out disagreements. Do you really want to be in a system where the biggest gun wins? You would stand absolutely no chance in a system like that.
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I started at Ernst and Young in 1997 as a "consultant". Back then, there were 5 levels: Partner, senior manager, manager, sr. consultant, and consultant.
My salary - directly out of college - was $48,500 + bonus.
And that was back in 1997. Since then, I got out of IT because it "wasn't going anyware". Sure, I had PLENTY of mid-level job opportunities but for me, I could see the writing on the wall. And the writing said: this is a lousy career because nobody will pay you what you are REALLY worth.
In almost every other type of career I can think of, the workers "share" in the success of a company. It may be delayed, but it eventually trickles down into better pay and better bonuses (and options if you are lucky). IT is the only area where I never saw that happen. I saw lots of capital expenditure budgets go up, but I never saw the actual workers making more money. That pretty much sums up why I still *love* technology and computers but I can not imagine how anyone "gets ahead" in this career. Unless you are an owner of one of these companies......and I am not.
Intel is getting ready to finish AMD off once and for all, and the only thing the crippled AMD can do is hope to pull a magic rabbit out of their ass.
But that's the thing: it's in Intel's best interest to have AMD around. Not powerful or competitive -- but around.
Let's not forget the Intel monopoly issues involved. Intel NEEDS AMD to help keep the heat off of them for anti-competitive practices. As long as AMD is there, Intel can point and say "there's your competition". If AMD goes, then Intel is definitely a monopoly.
This is totally OT but its funny you bring up your personal experience regarding C2D and AMD.
It is the exact same thing I went through myself. I've used AMD for almost 10 years now and the C2D was the first Intel processor I have bought during that time (ever since Celeron 300).
And just to take your story one step further: I shorted AMD the day after I bought my Intel chip.
Why? Because I am a techie and a big fan of AMD. The fact that Intel had a better offering was the first time I had seen that situation in 10 years. That tells me something is very wrong at AMD.
Turns out, I was right. The stock has absolutely tanked (and I made quite a bit of hay on it)
Uhh, just to be clear, day-traders buy and sell stocks, options, and financial instruments.
They are not selling themselves, rather, they are buying/selling a "product". No, they aren't prostitutes. More like pimps with a penchant for promotion.
Speak for yourself!
One of the greatest joys I get each week is coming home and seeing a package on the doorstep that I can not - for the life of me - recall ordering.
What I've learned is that I order some pretty cool shit when I'm wasted. And it's kind of cool to have a Christmas every week.
Ok, so they up the ante. Now, why would I care about that if I am boycotting?
You see, that's the point right there. When I say "boycott" you are not hearing what I am saying. A boycott means I just plain don't care what they are doing anymore because I am NOT going to buy their product for ANY reason.
So, let them up the ante. If you are serious about your boycott, you shouldn't care and you darn sure aren't responsible for telling Sony why. Let them wallow and figure it out themselves. The idea behind a boycott is that sales decrease so the company has to take notice...
understood...thanks for the reply and clarification.
:)
ps. its still very cool and nice leap forward
You need to distinguish between generation, transmission, and distribution. You can't just say power companies are granted monopolies. They are not and that is not an accurate way to describe them.
A power company is not just a power company. There are 3 distinct pieces and each one gets treated separately according to the law and society. Generation makes the power and is usually private (in Okla). Yes, there are muni's and co-ops but in general, Okla power generation is privately owned. Transmission is long haul transmission and it is regulated in Okla like it is in most (48) states. Distribution is step down and delivery to customers and it, too, is regulated (by the Public Utilities Commission). When you talk about deregulation of the power industry, you are usually talking about the distribution part. Generation, for the most part, has been unregulated for a long time.
Second, the situation you describe (subsidies from customers to large companies), is the very reason the PUC exists -- to keep everyone honest and protect consumers. And you'll just have to trust me on this one...no power company in their right mind wants to tangle with the PUC here in Okla.
Now, the article in question is talking about municipality owned generation so yes, it is still a concern. But please realize that it's not just the "power" company. There is much more to it than that and its important to understand all the pieces.
You, sir, get the crazy post award of the day. At least on your power comments.....and the rest is a little suspect too.
First of all, we (we being Oklahoma) have PLENTY of power. To my knowledge we've NEVER had rolling blackouts or anything close to that. Do you even know where OK is? Do you know how many power plants are within 200 miles of Pryor? I do. They are my customers and there are a ton of them. Additionally, we aren't like California. Contrary to what you state, we are well prepared to provide power for the foreseeable future. You see, we have been scaling up over the last 20 years to keep up with demand. Unlike other places, we don't mind building new plants. The idea that 15MW, or hell even 1500MW, would make a dent is laughable. There is plenty of power here. (sidenote: our track record for clean air really isn't all that bad either)
Second, there are many types of power companies. Private (AEP, Duke, Reliant) and Public (Co-op, Municipals, etc) companies of all kinds provide power to "the system". You cries of monopolies ring hollow because the "monopoly" part you talk about is highly highly regulated. The rest (generation) isn't. And you may not realize this but -- we have plenty of land that is suitable for power plants. So does Texas and look how many plants they have (108 just from Dallas Northeast to Texarkana -- about 1/6 of the state).
Look, I know Okla has its share of real problems. All I am saying is that power ain't one of them (had to throw in an "aint")
Also, if the strategy were as simplistic as you claim, then it could be easily defeated by the occupier refusing to respond violently.
And which occupier would NOT react with violence when threatened with loss of power? Maybe the Swiss, but really, I think it's highly unlikely they would occupy anyone.
That may be true about the other personal freedoms...
But, there are few issues where "the evidence" is so compelling. I would wager that most people, when they answer honestly, realize weed is no "worse" than alcohol. But yet, the subject is never seriously debated and the same ol' War continues on. Do you realize we spend almost $40bil/yr fighting the drug war? That's a lot of people's paycheck.
The reason its such a hot-button issue is because the War on Drugs has probably had the largest impact on freedom for the largest amount of people. Both sides are affected. The citizens are policed and the police forces depend on "anti-drug money" for their funding. You didn't think they got those machine guns and new SWAT cars because they were nice, did you? No, they go them as a direct result of the drug war. It has, in a way, transformed our police into tactical military units.
While there are definitely other topics to talk about, the WoD is the single largest rights-impeder out there and that's why the libs focus on it. Not only is it a HUGE source of corruption, but there are truly, some dastardly things that have been done during this war. Just go browse a civil liberties site and you can find countless stories of abuse with respect to the War on Drugs.
No other personal freedom issue has a track record like that one.
I just read the paper. Not a single mention of different bitrates, codecs, or compression ratios that could be present in any of the files you guys are dealing with.
See my comment below and please explain this. I think a lot of us are missing this piece.
What the parent is saying can be summarized with a simple example:
;)
A 200MB, 30min video that was compressed at 1000kbps DiVX is not the "same file with minor changes" as a 200MB, 30min video that was compressed at 900kbps DiVX. They ARE different files and should be treated as such. You also can't deduce anything from their filenames, play length, or any other characteristic so how would you determine which ones can go together and which ones can't? I did not see codecs or compression mentioned at all in the article.
This is the fundamental problem here. You can't recombine video and audio files unless they ARE the same file. You have to account for different bitrates, compression ratios, and who knows what else (I am no expert in this area but this seems obvious...).
Lemme guess -- the mp3s mentioned in the article were ALL encoded at the same bitrate, right? If not, then please correct me because now you have my attention
Pointless would be me screaming about how tall their towers are and basing my hatred of FM Radio on that criteria.
No, my joke wasn't pointless. In fact, its right on point. FM Radio listener numbers back me up on this one.
The expensive DVD player from Sony now sits in the kitchen and occasionally plays a normal music CD, when there is nothing in the FM worth listening to.
So, runnning 24/7/365, how long does a Sony DVD player work?
By "standard", we mean "right enough to be accepted by most people".
So yea, MSFT is "right" about a lot of things. Both past and present.
That does not mean, however, they are "right" about the Zune. Personally, I think it's wrong. Its the wrong product at the wrong time with the wrong capabilities and features.
I graduated college in May 1995 and used Vocaltec myself back in the day. I particularly remember that proggie because as far as I know.....it was never cracked. ;)
So yea, I can vouch that Vocaltec/Net2Phone was around back in 1994-1995 and had software "out on the market". If I recall right, the company was Israeli.
What you are talking about is a co-lo power station. Lots of plants have these. 3M in Austin, TX comes to mind as does TI in Dallas and Sherman, TX. I am quite certain Lockheed in Ft Worth has one as well. Basically -- they are pretty common.
Most the co-los I am familiar with are in the 10-20MW range. I've never seen one larger so I am guessing that is the point where "it makes sense".
It doesn't matter WHERE the install files come from -- as long as you have a legal license to use the software.
You can take your Vista license, call MSFT, and get a new key for a new XP install based on that license. Vista license covers Vista + XP so you are "legally" allowed to run XP.
It doesn't matter how you install the OS.
Answer: yes, you need a new key.
Call MSFT and get one. They will give you one but you have to call and manually get it.
Cox business SOHO accounts are basically residential accounts that are "open" and guaranteed (ie: you don't share). They are sold through the business group - entirely separate from residential.
:)
I find that the extra $10-$15/mo is well worth it to not have to worry about crap like this. I've done it all (BT, P2P, Tor, I2P, even as a Freenet exit point) with my connection and I've never heard a peep from them. Usenet can be especially greedy on bandwidth
Right now, I have 10MB dwn/1 MB up. No caps. No ports blocked. Preferential treatment in my neighborhood. Yea, I'm a geek and that's worth it.
Actually - read your EULA.
A Vista license allows you to "downgrade".
Hey, I don't want to be a douche here but your problem is not with Daylight savings. Your problem is with communication. And yes, sometimes a lack of communcation can be expensive.
:)
You aren't, by chance, in IT consulting are you?
The EULA of Vista allows you to "downgrade" to XP. I found this out after I ran into the same problem for company machines. We couldn't find XP boxes to buy. Eventually we did but I later found out I could have just bought Vista and downgraded to XP. But -- I would have also had to install XP myself. That wouldn't work in my case but it might in yours. (sidenote: we bought from HP, specifically, because they offered XP. First time to ever buy from HP)
Take advantage of it and reuse your XP operating system.
Sure, we can do that. Just as soon as we work out this whole "social interaction" thing among us humans of different temperaments, talents, and convictions.
Whether you like it or not, our legal system is a fairly good way to work out disagreements. Yes, it has it's flaws like any system. But, on the whole, it is far better than duking it out with guns, gangs, or otherwise. I would much rather hire an attorney than hire an army.
If you think America is violent NOW, imagine what it would be like without any "legal", state-recognized way to work out disagreements. Do you really want to be in a system where the biggest gun wins? You would stand absolutely no chance in a system like that.