I am not saying that all the GS guys are morons. I do know, however, to do a housecall it is very expensive. I charge $75 per house house calls, and 25 for a diagnosis. The GS guys are great for certain situations, but the costs are very high. I do the work a bit cheaper, and my shop did 250k last year. So, in retrospect, businesses like that are a great booster for me.
And a drain on their wallets. The "so-called-techs" that you refer to also fix server issues, and other money making problems that are faced day to day. We do not fix mundane problems such as Digital Cameras, because there is no money in that equipment for a small business like mine. We do, however, work on higher level operating systems that would make the Geek Squad run in retreat.
I frequently get a chuckle at the Geek Squad commercials, although I can appreciate how much money that business makes. The sad thing is that the employees do not make much money (well, you may think you do), and that they make techs everywhere look silly. For a nominal $75, I give the customer an hour labor... Your company charges well over $100.00 . I hope you guys stick around, because you help me make money by charging the ridiculous fees you do. Thanks!
And yes, I do think that it is easy. I have been doing this since I was 8, and 99.9% of my work is customer service. It is the.1% that is the actual repair work.
And yes, most of your brethren are incompetent baboons. Maybe not you, but most I have seen are.
I am sure that one has been mentioned. I can see it now, someone will design a remote cracker, and set off the gun remotely.
I am perfectly happy with my 1911. Technology like this has no place in todays firearms... Stupid people will still be able to shoot themselves or others with this technology.
McBride said the case against IBM "is scheduled to come to trial in early 2007. We continue to feel we have a strong case and we're looking forward to our day in court. But while the legal teams have been off litigating, the business team has been busy innovating.">
They have a case. When did this happen?
They are innovative? When did this happen?
Why am I always the last one to hear about this stuff?
First off, the Wifi routers will MAYBE handle regular surfing, but consider that nobody regular surfs.
Also, the cost of switches and wire as well as their low cost to maintain will outweigh the cost of the Wifi.
Great question. Unfortunately, the Wifi is not there yet with the costs and equipment. The support inquiries alone will bury you, not to mention the cost of said support in man hours.
And we all know it, but it works for all these great technologies. They said years ago the Internet would collapse because of viruses and streams, and it did not happen. Never really seen a problem with my hosting companies and the bandwidth, because the bandwidth is so cheap.
I use DSL to watch streaming video, bittorrent, email, everything. I pay dearly, because it is a business account. If I were offered fiber, I would gladly pay for it. I just don't have many other options.
Thats great. Now if a cure is to be found, we are at the mercy of the researchers and companies that own the patent.
Why does this not bother our so called Representatives? I swear, this country spends more time and money combating a weed that grows in the ground, then helping us when we need it the most.
So if I patent the fart, I can sue you all for farting? Give me a break. If the SC does not side with reality on this one, it could lose much of the ground it stands on.
"air flight regulators changed rules that banned passengers from carrying flammable methanol onto aircraft"
So, aside from the fact that you can easily pack some c4 into your laptop and set the charge with your modem, I am still supposed to feel safe flying? Would I be scrutinized if I brought a case of lighters onboard?
Sounds dangerous. Anyone have a good link to the technology behind these fuel cells? There is something about having a few fuel cells kicking around the plane that sketches me out.
What's next? Suing Google because you can find kiddie pron with it? Lets sue the Government, because they certainly started this whole crazy Internet thing.
I think these lawsuits are ridiculous and need to be stopped. Our society is hurt by them. If they can't stop people like http://thepiratebay.org/, then this is pointless. The Internet is not just in the United States jurisdiction, it is all over the world.
If a large part of society changes, you will see rift from the other parts of society. When cars were first driving our roads, you had to pull to the side and shut your car off if you came up to a horse. That was the law here in New Hampshire. Society is and has greatly changed because of computers and the Internet. It seems to me that these technologies are not going anywhere, and although change is difficult, we need to embrace it because fighting it will only produce short term gratification. Long term damage? Hopefully, if it involves the RIAA.
This makes as much sense as the US passing laws against spam, when spam comes from everywhere.
"Have you been living under a rock? The first locations in the country to be secured were the oil fields, which started production almost imediately."
Have you? If you are a gold producing nation, and that is the basis of your economy, then I would EXPECT the liberators to secure that first. Come on, if we are there for the oil, then why are the Iraqis voting? Why aren't we voting for their president?
The most obvious reason for taking the oil fields is to attempt to make them secure so Iraq can use them to fund their new economy. Especially since Saddam was lighting them on the first Gulf War.
So, according to you, Iran should have nukes. Even after their religious figures there say that it is their God given right to have them and use them. Even after the rest of the world does not want them to have them.
"Stop bombing and invading countries for their oil"
Come on, this argument is getting really old. There is no solid evidence that the United States is in Iraq because of oil. There is more proof out there that states Saddam moved his weapons to Syria.
The Government is pretty much at a stand still these days, and nothing is getting done. It seems to me that there would be more productivity if everyone engaged in intelligent debate, instead of throwing useless and faceless accusations such as the US is invading countries for oil. Next thing you know, the people who claim that the Government is placing nanobots in the flu shots will gain credibility.
Oh wait, I have one. We are going to invade Iran for oil next. It would have nothing to do with their nuclear ambitions.
It is always interesting to read how the Government wants to invade our lives, listen to you talking to your girlfriend about how your day went... Do you people honestly think that this is the goal?
Seriously. If you are talking to someone in Iran about blowing up a site in the US, I want the Government listening to that call. I want the Government protecting me against people who get pissed off over a cartoon and riot for weeks, and want to burn our flag and kill innocent people, even though the cartoon was published somewhere else. These Islamic Extremists are freaking nut jobs (they definately outnumber the homegrown terrorists)... If the Government wants to listen to them, then they have 90% of the US behind them. Read the polls.
Some people get out of hand, and yes, so doesn't the Government. We are the greatest country in the world, and I don't care if anyone thinks differently. We are, and I would fight and die for the US and my way of life if I had to. My freedom and my liberties, my way of life... You can say what you wish, but the fact is that nobody has it as good as the US.
I can only guess what they said when they suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, or imprisoned Japanese during WWII. Whatever the case, what is the Government supposed to do to protect us? There are many arm chair quarterbacks, and many that just hate everything the President does. Clinton did wiretaps, Carter did, JFK did.
Perhaps it is just a case of "You can't please everyone"?
I find it amazing that a majority of the comments in this thread have been posted by annonymous cowards. But back to the topic, I for one don't know many minorities that are in this field. I recently posted a job listing in many local papers, as well as through state agencies, and not 1 woman sent in a resume... Not one black or hispanic came in for an interview.
IMHO, you have to seek the job in order to show an interest in the job. I don't believe that there are many blacks, women, or hispanics that are interested in doing what we do.
When I was in college, there was one black in our CCNA courses, and he was very discouraged. The instructor constantly asked him to use proper english and to purchase a belt. He eventually left the class, as well as the college. Nobody was to blame but himself, as he could not conform.
I think that part of the racial debate that we fail to recognize is the fact that white people are discouraged to say anything negative about blacks and hispanics, yet on the other side of the coin, the same is not true. Be black, wear a black power shirt, no problem. Be white, wear a white power shirt... That is the reason most of you posted as anonymous cowards.
I am eagerly awaiting the affirmitive action crowds to make a feeble attempt to dumb our choice of work down, by mandating that we hire people with little skill for much money simply because they fall into a racial or gender category. Say it won't happen, but if it can happen to hospitals, it can happen anywhere.
And yes, coming from a "Scottish-Irish-American", I invite the comments of my poorly written, unsympathetic rant... Especially from Mexican-Europeans and Chinese-Africans.
The mouse is very interesting indeed. Have you ever opened up the bottom of a balled mouse and seen all that gunk around the inner wheels? Skin, hair, dried bodily fluids, whatever...
It's nasty.
We keep a bottle of hand sanitizer here for all the people who work on the systems. It is just plain gross to work on someones laptop and then go eat lunch, without cleaning yourself.
"the top 10 albums sold 40% fewer copies than the top 10 albums the same week in 2004"
If the industry did not sell crap for music, perhaps the sales would be higher?
Remember at the end of the 80's, when the hair bands really started to suck? Bands like Winger, singing the gayest love songs you can possibly endure? It was worse then listening to Vogon poetry.
Then came bands like Nirvana, and all those stupid hair band songs were gone. It was almost like a revolution in music.
Kinda like today, or maybe what should happen today.
These bastards run the radio stations, they run MTV, they choose what you listen to. I mean come on, how many times can we listen to Stairway To Heaven? How many rappers that tell everyone how great they are do we need to hear?
People here may feel like bashing the article, but owning a computer consulting business, I can assure you that many people in the general public feel this way also. Who really wants the hassle besides us geeks? I find it hard to believe that Linux will be an end-user OS until the driver scheme changes, and the OS just works for people.
We may have the time and knowledge to compile and futz around with this and that, but do you really think that someone who just wants to check their email wants to mess with.tgz files? The post has a point, and developers should listen, or stop bashing what is working and continue writing a geek OS. By geeks, for geeks, period.
BTW: I run a Fedora Core 3 fileserver and a Slackware 10.2 system, as well as a Server 2003, and various XP Pro and 2000 machines. I never need to do anything to the Fedora system, but setting up the Samba? Love to see John Q. Public do that!
Well, what I did was I called around and found out what the going rate was and upped that. But I go the extra mile to make sure that the customer is satisfied. For example, when I fix a computer in my store, I clean the inside and scrub the outside with scented window cleaner. I blow all the dust out of the fans, and if time permits, I defrag the machine.
See, the way I figure it is that 98% of the job is customer service. That is what I sell my business as. You could be a total geek, and know everything there is to know, but nothing really matters much unless you can speak to the customers on a level that they can feel comfortable. I try to make them feel that they are the most important customer, the fixing the computers is the easy part.
You need to explain things in a way that someone who has no idea where the Any Key is can comprehend. These are the customers that usually are the most delighted that someone finally sat down and explained things to them. And then they tell their friends, and so on.
I live in NH, and the rates in the store are 55 hour, 65 on-site, and 100 for a reinstall with all drivers and patches. I charge 50 for data retention, and 50 for NAV fully updated and installed, 39.99 stand alone. Again, calling around and seeing what my competition charges ensures me that my rates are fair against the current local market.
BTW. I started out like you did. I was fixing everybodys computers for free until I realized that I could do it for a living! Good luck, it takes some time to get a name for yourself but it is so worth it!
Perhaps you have split personalities? Something get under your skin today? Is your boss mad because you spend too much time on/. ? LMS?
You gave your opinion, and I gave mine. There is no reason to get all hot and bothered. Having a civil discussion is one thing, but swearing at me and calling me names makes you look quite foolish.
They have medications for your little outbursts, I am sure. You should get that checked before you decide to hurt someone, perhaps even yourself. Serious.
Slashdot Mirror
Please. This is just more feel good legislation... As if we need more.
I am not saying that all the GS guys are morons. I do know, however, to do a housecall it is very expensive. I charge $75 per house house calls, and 25 for a diagnosis. The GS guys are great for certain situations, but the costs are very high. I do the work a bit cheaper, and my shop did 250k last year. So, in retrospect, businesses like that are a great booster for me.
Good luck. I hope you go for that job!
"We are a lifeline to those people."
.1% that is the actual repair work.
And a drain on their wallets. The "so-called-techs" that you refer to also fix server issues, and other money making problems that are faced day to day. We do not fix mundane problems such as Digital Cameras, because there is no money in that equipment for a small business like mine. We do, however, work on higher level operating systems that would make the Geek Squad run in retreat.
I frequently get a chuckle at the Geek Squad commercials, although I can appreciate how much money that business makes. The sad thing is that the employees do not make much money (well, you may think you do), and that they make techs everywhere look silly. For a nominal $75, I give the customer an hour labor... Your company charges well over $100.00 . I hope you guys stick around, because you help me make money by charging the ridiculous fees you do. Thanks!
And yes, I do think that it is easy. I have been doing this since I was 8, and 99.9% of my work is customer service. It is the
And yes, most of your brethren are incompetent baboons. Maybe not you, but most I have seen are.
I am sure that one has been mentioned. I can see it now, someone will design a remote cracker, and set off the gun remotely.
I am perfectly happy with my 1911. Technology like this has no place in todays firearms... Stupid people will still be able to shoot themselves or others with this technology.
McBride said the case against IBM "is scheduled to come to trial in early 2007. We continue to feel we have a strong case and we're looking forward to our day in court. But while the legal teams have been off litigating, the business team has been busy innovating.">
They have a case. When did this happen?
They are innovative? When did this happen?
Why am I always the last one to hear about this stuff?
Just toy with the idea as you are now.
First off, the Wifi routers will MAYBE handle regular surfing, but consider that nobody regular surfs.
Also, the cost of switches and wire as well as their low cost to maintain will outweigh the cost of the Wifi.
Great question. Unfortunately, the Wifi is not there yet with the costs and equipment. The support inquiries alone will bury you, not to mention the cost of said support in man hours.
And we all know it, but it works for all these great technologies. They said years ago the Internet would collapse because of viruses and streams, and it did not happen. Never really seen a problem with my hosting companies and the bandwidth, because the bandwidth is so cheap.
I use DSL to watch streaming video, bittorrent, email, everything. I pay dearly, because it is a business account. If I were offered fiber, I would gladly pay for it. I just don't have many other options.
I would love to know how they can attribute it to piracy, instead of the fact that they both release a bunch of crap these days.
The gene for diabetes is owned
Thats great. Now if a cure is to be found, we are at the mercy of the researchers and companies that own the patent.
Why does this not bother our so called Representatives? I swear, this country spends more time and money combating a weed that grows in the ground, then helping us when we need it the most.
So if I patent the fart, I can sue you all for farting? Give me a break. If the SC does not side with reality on this one, it could lose much of the ground it stands on.
"air flight regulators changed rules that banned passengers from carrying flammable methanol onto aircraft"
So, aside from the fact that you can easily pack some c4 into your laptop and set the charge with your modem, I am still supposed to feel safe flying? Would I be scrutinized if I brought a case of lighters onboard?
Sounds dangerous. Anyone have a good link to the technology behind these fuel cells? There is something about having a few fuel cells kicking around the plane that sketches me out.
And in other news, CmdrTaco found a better mod system.
What's next? Suing Google because you can find kiddie pron with it? Lets sue the Government, because they certainly started this whole crazy Internet thing.
I think these lawsuits are ridiculous and need to be stopped. Our society is hurt by them. If they can't stop people like http://thepiratebay.org/, then this is pointless. The Internet is not just in the United States jurisdiction, it is all over the world.
If a large part of society changes, you will see rift from the other parts of society. When cars were first driving our roads, you had to pull to the side and shut your car off if you came up to a horse. That was the law here in New Hampshire. Society is and has greatly changed because of computers and the Internet. It seems to me that these technologies are not going anywhere, and although change is difficult, we need to embrace it because fighting it will only produce short term gratification. Long term damage? Hopefully, if it involves the RIAA.
This makes as much sense as the US passing laws against spam, when spam comes from everywhere.
"Have you been living under a rock? The first locations in the country to be secured were the oil fields, which started production almost imediately."
Have you? If you are a gold producing nation, and that is the basis of your economy, then I would EXPECT the liberators to secure that first. Come on, if we are there for the oil, then why are the Iraqis voting? Why aren't we voting for their president?
The most obvious reason for taking the oil fields is to attempt to make them secure so Iraq can use them to fund their new economy. Especially since Saddam was lighting them on the first Gulf War.
Take off your tin foil hat and find a new hobby.
So, according to you, Iran should have nukes. Even after their religious figures there say that it is their God given right to have them and use them. Even after the rest of the world does not want them to have them.
Nice.
"Stop bombing and invading countries for their oil"
Come on, this argument is getting really old. There is no solid evidence that the United States is in Iraq because of oil. There is more proof out there that states Saddam moved his weapons to Syria.
The Government is pretty much at a stand still these days, and nothing is getting done. It seems to me that there would be more productivity if everyone engaged in intelligent debate, instead of throwing useless and faceless accusations such as the US is invading countries for oil. Next thing you know, the people who claim that the Government is placing nanobots in the flu shots will gain credibility.
Oh wait, I have one. We are going to invade Iran for oil next. It would have nothing to do with their nuclear ambitions.
Get over it people. The sooner you all understand and accept that Google will rule the world, the better off you will be.
Coming soon, Google Thought. Have we yet heard the term Google Crime? It's coming!
It is always interesting to read how the Government wants to invade our lives, listen to you talking to your girlfriend about how your day went... Do you people honestly think that this is the goal?
Seriously. If you are talking to someone in Iran about blowing up a site in the US, I want the Government listening to that call. I want the Government protecting me against people who get pissed off over a cartoon and riot for weeks, and want to burn our flag and kill innocent people, even though the cartoon was published somewhere else. These Islamic Extremists are freaking nut jobs (they definately outnumber the homegrown terrorists)... If the Government wants to listen to them, then they have 90% of the US behind them. Read the polls.
Some people get out of hand, and yes, so doesn't the Government. We are the greatest country in the world, and I don't care if anyone thinks differently. We are, and I would fight and die for the US and my way of life if I had to. My freedom and my liberties, my way of life... You can say what you wish, but the fact is that nobody has it as good as the US.
I can only guess what they said when they suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War, or imprisoned Japanese during WWII. Whatever the case, what is the Government supposed to do to protect us? There are many arm chair quarterbacks, and many that just hate everything the President does. Clinton did wiretaps, Carter did, JFK did.
Perhaps it is just a case of "You can't please everyone"?
IMHO, you have to seek the job in order to show an interest in the job. I don't believe that there are many blacks, women, or hispanics that are interested in doing what we do.
When I was in college, there was one black in our CCNA courses, and he was very discouraged. The instructor constantly asked him to use proper english and to purchase a belt. He eventually left the class, as well as the college. Nobody was to blame but himself, as he could not conform.
I think that part of the racial debate that we fail to recognize is the fact that white people are discouraged to say anything negative about blacks and hispanics, yet on the other side of the coin, the same is not true. Be black, wear a black power shirt, no problem. Be white, wear a white power shirt... That is the reason most of you posted as anonymous cowards.
I am eagerly awaiting the affirmitive action crowds to make a feeble attempt to dumb our choice of work down, by mandating that we hire people with little skill for much money simply because they fall into a racial or gender category. Say it won't happen, but if it can happen to hospitals, it can happen anywhere.
And yes, coming from a "Scottish-Irish-American", I invite the comments of my poorly written, unsympathetic rant... Especially from Mexican-Europeans and Chinese-Africans.
The mouse is very interesting indeed. Have you ever opened up the bottom of a balled mouse and seen all that gunk around the inner wheels? Skin, hair, dried bodily fluids, whatever...
It's nasty.
We keep a bottle of hand sanitizer here for all the people who work on the systems. It is just plain gross to work on someones laptop and then go eat lunch, without cleaning yourself.
"...admins taking their break straight from the bottle."
Jeez! I always figured we were a bunch of happy go lucky party animals.
You learn something new everyday!
"the top 10 albums sold 40% fewer copies than the top 10 albums the same week in 2004"
If the industry did not sell crap for music, perhaps the sales would be higher?
Remember at the end of the 80's, when the hair bands really started to suck? Bands like Winger, singing the gayest love songs you can possibly endure? It was worse then listening to Vogon poetry.
Then came bands like Nirvana, and all those stupid hair band songs were gone. It was almost like a revolution in music.
Kinda like today, or maybe what should happen today.
These bastards run the radio stations, they run MTV, they choose what you listen to. I mean come on, how many times can we listen to Stairway To Heaven? How many rappers that tell everyone how great they are do we need to hear?
Wake up recording industry!
People here may feel like bashing the article, but owning a computer consulting business, I can assure you that many people in the general public feel this way also. Who really wants the hassle besides us geeks? I find it hard to believe that Linux will be an end-user OS until the driver scheme changes, and the OS just works for people.
.tgz files? The post has a point, and developers should listen, or stop bashing what is working and continue writing a geek OS. By geeks, for geeks, period.
We may have the time and knowledge to compile and futz around with this and that, but do you really think that someone who just wants to check their email wants to mess with
BTW: I run a Fedora Core 3 fileserver and a Slackware 10.2 system, as well as a Server 2003, and various XP Pro and 2000 machines. I never need to do anything to the Fedora system, but setting up the Samba? Love to see John Q. Public do that!
That's great. Now, what about the malicious material that comes from foreign sources?
This will do little to curb the problem, and I do not believe that legislation is the proper course to take.
Well, what I did was I called around and found out what the going rate was and upped that. But I go the extra mile to make sure that the customer is satisfied. For example, when I fix a computer in my store, I clean the inside and scrub the outside with scented window cleaner. I blow all the dust out of the fans, and if time permits, I defrag the machine.
See, the way I figure it is that 98% of the job is customer service. That is what I sell my business as. You could be a total geek, and know everything there is to know, but nothing really matters much unless you can speak to the customers on a level that they can feel comfortable. I try to make them feel that they are the most important customer, the fixing the computers is the easy part.
You need to explain things in a way that someone who has no idea where the Any Key is can comprehend. These are the customers that usually are the most delighted that someone finally sat down and explained things to them. And then they tell their friends, and so on.
I live in NH, and the rates in the store are 55 hour, 65 on-site, and 100 for a reinstall with all drivers and patches. I charge 50 for data retention, and 50 for NAV fully updated and installed, 39.99 stand alone. Again, calling around and seeing what my competition charges ensures me that my rates are fair against the current local market.
BTW. I started out like you did. I was fixing everybodys computers for free until I realized that I could do it for a living! Good luck, it takes some time to get a name for yourself but it is so worth it!
Nice!
/. ? LMS?
Perhaps you have split personalities? Something get under your skin today? Is your boss mad because you spend too much time on
You gave your opinion, and I gave mine. There is no reason to get all hot and bothered. Having a civil discussion is one thing, but swearing at me and calling me names makes you look quite foolish.
They have medications for your little outbursts, I am sure. You should get that checked before you decide to hurt someone, perhaps even yourself. Serious.