I'm currently in the process of developing an office management solution in-house for the company I work for. We've been in heavy development for a year, and let me tell you that while this doesn't make the office completely paperless, we've reduced a great deal of paper use around here.
Aside from that, we've gained productivity from it. The process is much more streamlined for our technicians, as they no longer have to keep track of paper orders anymore. The only paper we ever have around is purely for backup purposes, in order to leave a paper trail; if we wanted to, we could completely cut the paper altogether.
The last benefit is something upper management loves - that's the ability to instantly analyze all the company data, and spit it out into something they can use. The paperless office isn't a myth, it's just that most people don't know what they're dealing with. I know for us, it took a great deal of training and practice, but I would say that we're more efficient now than we ever were on paper.
But, I myself have played the Warcraft III beta, and I don't think I've ever been so disappointed. I was expecting very large innovations in gameplay, and a whole lot more from the graphics, for the amount of time they spent developing it. What I essentially feel I got was Warcraft II with a few minor changes.
Perhaps I'm just bitter. My friends and I spent many many hours playing Warcraft II, and while an updated Warcraft II is nice, I was still expecting more.
I concur wholeheartedly with that. I think people have an instant fear factor associated with nuclear power. Yes, it can be dangerous, but everything else we do is dangerous as well. Getting in my car in the morning is dangerous. I, for one, wouldn't mind the risk provided I wasn't paying outrageous power bills.:/
I'm wondering if this isn't something that might help us here in California with our so-called "energy crisis".
I firmly believe that we're all getting ripped off by the energy companies out here, and that the crisis would be solved if the idiot power companies would shape up. However, this doesn't seem to be happening, so perhaps this might bring some new companies to the table, and possible spark a little competition out here? Perhaps at least give us more options so we can quit being raped by our electric bills. Even with cutting back, I'm paying a lot.
Besides, to cut back anymore would require powering down my servers. That's just not gonna happen.
This is a fascinating article. I'm especially interested in it, because I tend to work with databases - most of which are created from completely unstructured data.
For instance, Company A is tracking all their data in a Microsoft Word document. Frequently I get asked to dynamically work with this data, and pull it directly out programmatically. I can attest to how difficult this can be sometimes, and I frequently find that upper management doesn't understand the challenges behind pulling unstructured data out.
I definitely recommend this article - especially when trying to explain to your boss why you can't flick your magic wand, and *poof* the data moves from his text file into a database.
I'd be happy just to see this thing finish itself off. I'm all for justice, and penalizing Microsoft for what they've done, but it's hard to do when the plaintiff doesn't even want it anymore.
Just let it go, and let the states get on with their case.
I agree completely. I've attempted to use Gnutella before, with many other clients, and all I've ever met with was frustration with the network. I mean, really, my average download speed was about 3K/sec. Looks like I'll have to figure out a way to use KaZaa without them spying on me.
I've worked at several places that deploy thin client solutions. There are a lot of very cool and neat things that can be done with thin client, and most of my experiences have been quite good. I've found that using thin client makes it very easy to administrate, and fairly easy to maintain, but there's certainly a few drawbacks. Depending on what you use, sometimes printer configuration can be a real pain, especially if you're going to have a local printer on a thin client device. The best route to go with printing is to use network print servers, it's much simpler and will be less of a hassle in the end.
The main thing I would worry about with thin clients is security. Security is always very important, but now you're going to have multiple people all sharing one machine. The network at our local college was completely open - we had students browsing other student's directories and stealing their work.
Also, as already suggested, there are alternatives. Citrix does put out very nice software, I've had first hand experience with it, but there are other nice packages. Windows 2000 Terminal Services is really not bad, we've got it deployed here at work for remote access. I'll probably get a beating for mentioning it, but I believe Citrix runs on top of it anyway. If you have newer clients, Win2K TS supports printer redirection, too. The only advantage we've had with Citrix is local file redirection; if you're running thin client devices, this isn't even a consideration. I haven't had much experience with VNC or other free alternatives, but I'm sure someone here can point you in the right direction for that, as well.:)
Well, it's probably not a popular opinion, but I would say that on their own, your perl scripts do not represent software. True, they can be used to provide custom functionality, but in the end they require software to run; they are not software themselves. They are source code, they are raw data used and implemented as a feature of the interpreter.
I wouldn't argue that binary compiled code is considered simply data without an operating system. I don't want to get into semantics, but to me software is partially *defined* by that requirement of a platform. If a piece of software ran without the operating system, I would consider it an operating system itself.
I think there's a few key points that could be brought up to prove that this isn't software. A software application runs on a platform to provide some sort of functionality. Given this, we could examine the spreadsheet in the same way:
Q: Can you open and execute the spreadsheet on it's own?
A: No. The spreadsheet requires a proper spreadsheet application to view it.
Q: Does the spreadsheet provide any sort of functionality by itself?
A: It doesn't do this either. Again, you have to have the application in order to give the spreadsheet any functionality.
Q: If the spreadsheet has programmatic features, such as macros, can these be executed or used to provide functionality?
A: It can't do this either. Not only are they not capable of executing themselves without an application, the macros contained are not even cross compatible. That defines them as a feature of the application, rather than a feature of the spreadsheet.
Bottom line? I think they're jerking you around, and I wouldn't stand up for it. Even though you don't have a lot of resources, there are things you can do. Besides, if we don't defend our rights, who will?
Personally the most interesting and sickening part of the article was how they wanted him to convert his "neural network" into microprocessor functions so that it would be harder to reverse engineer.
Don't these people have better things to do that worry that some kid MIGHT be getting a little more intelligent due to natural curiousity and his ability to take apart his toys? If they are so worried about their competitors, they'll need a whole hell of a lot more than a microprocessor to stop them from hacking it.
It's as bad as copy protection schemes. The only people that it causes problems for are the everyday normal people NOT involved with things like that. Anyone who is already knows enough to circumvent any lame copy protection scheme.
The company I work for had the same problem. As a result, we ended up having trouble getting e-mail to some of our customers. Thankfully, it was easy to get ourselves removed, but I think if people are going to use blacklists, they should also take the responsibility of keeping them maintained, both in additions and removals.
Yeah, they probably stuck him on a polygraph machine, and when he couldn't figure out how to answer "Yes" or "No", decided he wasn't a threat to anyone anyway.;)
What an amazing way to propose!
Congratulations, to the both of you!
(Everyone, post! This is far more important than blowing up the Taliban, we need this in the hall of fame!)
... but isn't playing catch-up the wrong game to play?
I understand how difficult going up against Microsoft is, but it seems to me like we need to get to the point where it is changing minds of developers, rather than simply adapting to whatever Microsoft puts out. By making wrappers and such for Microsoft APIs, it'll only encourage developers to become more dependent on Microsoft's technology, because they won't see a need to develop for anything else.
As a programmer myself, it's always easier to use what you already know, than to pick up something new. I love learning new things, but most corporate environments are on a tight schedule as it is. There's no time for learning something new, so we rely on what we already know.
Wouldn't it be possible to write a code converter of some sort? To help translate Direct3D calls to OpenGL? It wouldn't really need to be a complete conversion, just enough to make it easier for developers to natively support OpenGL...
I'm in the same situation at my current job, where management doesn't understand the concepts and time required to do what needs to be done.
That said, the most important thing I think a manager could do is try to understand that as programmers, when we give a time period to get something done, it's generally the minimum amount of time needed. Programming is something that takes time, and GOOD programming takes even longer.
I would think it would also help to familiarize yourself with the project, and if possible try to learn some of what the programmers will be working with. I say this because I frequently get programming requests which seem simple to other people, but are actually somewhat difficult to implement. Sometimes, the reverse happens; a complex sounding request is actually quite simple to implement.
Just learn to trust your programmers, and realize that very few of us are lazy. Most of us will work as hard as we can to get the job done as soon as we can.
Muscles and crabs are quite interesting, but I'm much more interested in seeing the fish up close.
Most of the pictures out aren't very clear, no doubt due to the fact that I'm sure it's very difficult taking pictures at that level.
If anyone knows of any sites with detailed information on this, it'd be much appreciated...
Slashdot Mirror
I'm currently in the process of developing an office management solution in-house for the company I work for. We've been in heavy development for a year, and let me tell you that while this doesn't make the office completely paperless, we've reduced a great deal of paper use around here.
Aside from that, we've gained productivity from it. The process is much more streamlined for our technicians, as they no longer have to keep track of paper orders anymore. The only paper we ever have around is purely for backup purposes, in order to leave a paper trail; if we wanted to, we could completely cut the paper altogether.
The last benefit is something upper management loves - that's the ability to instantly analyze all the company data, and spit it out into something they can use. The paperless office isn't a myth, it's just that most people don't know what they're dealing with. I know for us, it took a great deal of training and practice, but I would say that we're more efficient now than we ever were on paper.
But, I myself have played the Warcraft III beta, and I don't think I've ever been so disappointed. I was expecting very large innovations in gameplay, and a whole lot more from the graphics, for the amount of time they spent developing it. What I essentially feel I got was Warcraft II with a few minor changes.
Perhaps I'm just bitter. My friends and I spent many many hours playing Warcraft II, and while an updated Warcraft II is nice, I was still expecting more.
I concur wholeheartedly with that. I think people have an instant fear factor associated with nuclear power. Yes, it can be dangerous, but everything else we do is dangerous as well. Getting in my car in the morning is dangerous. I, for one, wouldn't mind the risk provided I wasn't paying outrageous power bills. :/
I'm wondering if this isn't something that might help us here in California with our so-called "energy crisis".
I firmly believe that we're all getting ripped off by the energy companies out here, and that the crisis would be solved if the idiot power companies would shape up. However, this doesn't seem to be happening, so perhaps this might bring some new companies to the table, and possible spark a little competition out here? Perhaps at least give us more options so we can quit being raped by our electric bills. Even with cutting back, I'm paying a lot.
Besides, to cut back anymore would require powering down my servers. That's just not gonna happen.
I've seen comments about the poles reversing every 10,000 years.
:P
I've seen comments about the poles reversing every 70,000 years.
I've seen comments about the poles reversing every 1,000,000 years.
Aren't we a well-educated bunch?
This is a fascinating article. I'm especially interested in it, because I tend to work with databases - most of which are created from completely unstructured data.
For instance, Company A is tracking all their data in a Microsoft Word document. Frequently I get asked to dynamically work with this data, and pull it directly out programmatically. I can attest to how difficult this can be sometimes, and I frequently find that upper management doesn't understand the challenges behind pulling unstructured data out.
I definitely recommend this article - especially when trying to explain to your boss why you can't flick your magic wand, and *poof* the data moves from his text file into a database.
I'd be happy just to see this thing finish itself off. I'm all for justice, and penalizing Microsoft for what they've done, but it's hard to do when the plaintiff doesn't even want it anymore.
Just let it go, and let the states get on with their case.
I agree completely. I've attempted to use Gnutella before, with many other clients, and all I've ever met with was frustration with the network. I mean, really, my average download speed was about 3K/sec. Looks like I'll have to figure out a way to use KaZaa without them spying on me.
I've worked at several places that deploy thin client solutions. There are a lot of very cool and neat things that can be done with thin client, and most of my experiences have been quite good. I've found that using thin client makes it very easy to administrate, and fairly easy to maintain, but there's certainly a few drawbacks. Depending on what you use, sometimes printer configuration can be a real pain, especially if you're going to have a local printer on a thin client device. The best route to go with printing is to use network print servers, it's much simpler and will be less of a hassle in the end.
:)
The main thing I would worry about with thin clients is security. Security is always very important, but now you're going to have multiple people all sharing one machine. The network at our local college was completely open - we had students browsing other student's directories and stealing their work.
Also, as already suggested, there are alternatives. Citrix does put out very nice software, I've had first hand experience with it, but there are other nice packages. Windows 2000 Terminal Services is really not bad, we've got it deployed here at work for remote access. I'll probably get a beating for mentioning it, but I believe Citrix runs on top of it anyway. If you have newer clients, Win2K TS supports printer redirection, too. The only advantage we've had with Citrix is local file redirection; if you're running thin client devices, this isn't even a consideration. I haven't had much experience with VNC or other free alternatives, but I'm sure someone here can point you in the right direction for that, as well.
No, but you should be. Not for making a statement, but for making generalizations and assumnptions.
This is really getting out of hand. Whoever said we should shoot all the lawyers... can't we? Please? It would be the happiest moment of my life!
These people need to get a grip.
Well, it's probably not a popular opinion, but I would say that on their own, your perl scripts do not represent software. True, they can be used to provide custom functionality, but in the end they require software to run; they are not software themselves. They are source code, they are raw data used and implemented as a feature of the interpreter.
I wouldn't argue that binary compiled code is considered simply data without an operating system. I don't want to get into semantics, but to me software is partially *defined* by that requirement of a platform. If a piece of software ran without the operating system, I would consider it an operating system itself.
I think there's a few key points that could be brought up to prove that this isn't software. A software application runs on a platform to provide some sort of functionality. Given this, we could examine the spreadsheet in the same way:
Q: Can you open and execute the spreadsheet on it's own?
A: No. The spreadsheet requires a proper spreadsheet application to view it.
Q: Does the spreadsheet provide any sort of functionality by itself?
A: It doesn't do this either. Again, you have to have the application in order to give the spreadsheet any functionality.
Q: If the spreadsheet has programmatic features, such as macros, can these be executed or used to provide functionality?
A: It can't do this either. Not only are they not capable of executing themselves without an application, the macros contained are not even cross compatible. That defines them as a feature of the application, rather than a feature of the spreadsheet.
Bottom line? I think they're jerking you around, and I wouldn't stand up for it. Even though you don't have a lot of resources, there are things you can do. Besides, if we don't defend our rights, who will?
Personally the most interesting and sickening part of the article was how they wanted him to convert his "neural network" into microprocessor functions so that it would be harder to reverse engineer.
Don't these people have better things to do that worry that some kid MIGHT be getting a little more intelligent due to natural curiousity and his ability to take apart his toys? If they are so worried about their competitors, they'll need a whole hell of a lot more than a microprocessor to stop them from hacking it.
It's as bad as copy protection schemes. The only people that it causes problems for are the everyday normal people NOT involved with things like that. Anyone who is already knows enough to circumvent any lame copy protection scheme.
The company I work for had the same problem. As a result, we ended up having trouble getting e-mail to some of our customers. Thankfully, it was easy to get ourselves removed, but I think if people are going to use blacklists, they should also take the responsibility of keeping them maintained, both in additions and removals.
Yeah, they probably stuck him on a polygraph machine, and when he couldn't figure out how to answer "Yes" or "No", decided he wasn't a threat to anyone anyway. ;)
I'm sorry, but if someone is that stupid to directly admit to what they've done (such as this kid did), they deserve what they get...
What an amazing way to propose! Congratulations, to the both of you! (Everyone, post! This is far more important than blowing up the Taliban, we need this in the hall of fame!)
... but isn't playing catch-up the wrong game to play?
I understand how difficult going up against Microsoft is, but it seems to me like we need to get to the point where it is changing minds of developers, rather than simply adapting to whatever Microsoft puts out. By making wrappers and such for Microsoft APIs, it'll only encourage developers to become more dependent on Microsoft's technology, because they won't see a need to develop for anything else.
As a programmer myself, it's always easier to use what you already know, than to pick up something new. I love learning new things, but most corporate environments are on a tight schedule as it is. There's no time for learning something new, so we rely on what we already know.
Wouldn't it be possible to write a code converter of some sort? To help translate Direct3D calls to OpenGL? It wouldn't really need to be a complete conversion, just enough to make it easier for developers to natively support OpenGL...
Somebody call the humane society!
Oh... they're not *real*?
I'm in the same situation at my current job, where management doesn't understand the concepts and time required to do what needs to be done. That said, the most important thing I think a manager could do is try to understand that as programmers, when we give a time period to get something done, it's generally the minimum amount of time needed. Programming is something that takes time, and GOOD programming takes even longer. I would think it would also help to familiarize yourself with the project, and if possible try to learn some of what the programmers will be working with. I say this because I frequently get programming requests which seem simple to other people, but are actually somewhat difficult to implement. Sometimes, the reverse happens; a complex sounding request is actually quite simple to implement. Just learn to trust your programmers, and realize that very few of us are lazy. Most of us will work as hard as we can to get the job done as soon as we can.
Muscles and crabs are quite interesting, but I'm much more interested in seeing the fish up close. Most of the pictures out aren't very clear, no doubt due to the fact that I'm sure it's very difficult taking pictures at that level. If anyone knows of any sites with detailed information on this, it'd be much appreciated...