A good example of some of the things going on at Dell go like this.
I was hired as Basic Server Support tech.
I was given extra training to take over the graveyard shift from headquarters in round rock.
It was moved to Oklahoma City.
After several months we had done well as a team and were offered Gold level support, but we would need to apply for that job.
I did apply and I got the position and the night crew became gold level support.
After just a few weeks the platinum crew was so swamped they started dumping their calls on us and we were required to take them.
We got a few days training and were thrown to the sharks taking calls way over our heads with little to no prior experience in the advanced server software arena.
The customers were guaranteed MCSE trained technicians.
Needless to say that is not what they were getting.
Customers were furious and launched into a tirade over the idiocy, and I did not blame them a bit.
To me this was breech of contract and fraud.
I brought this up in a meeting and was shouted down.
I decided at that point to leave the company.
At the end of the one year I had been there, over half the ppl working for server support had quit.
1 year after I left my team of 26 only had 3 original members.
The upper management at Dell was THAT bad.
Michael Dell came off his long term vacation and tried to correct the course of the company, but the damage had been done and he was lied to as well.
It took him time to work thru all the lies and he fired a lot of ppl for various reasons.
Some of the low to middle management were actually good ppl, such as my eventual manager.
He didn't like what they were doing, but he had left his prior job and had to make this work or lose his house, his car, and likely his wife.
Fun times...
I keep in touch with some of the ppl still working there, and after I quit things got better once Mr. Dell could cut through some of the lies.
I do not think the company will fully recover and it cannot compete with Asian companies that do not have all the government regulations, fees, taxes, and red tape to deal with.
That and they can get workers to work for below minimum wage.
Like most US businesses it is hard to compete on uneven ground.
Religion is the worst lies that have been foisted on mankind and mankind has taken them and slain millions in the name of an invisible man living in the sky.
Even if you made it illegal to chase storms without a storm chasing permit or some other silly government drama ppl would still do it.
I wish you the best, maybe you guys can make a UAV to chase the storms for you and that way you can back off to a safe distance and fly it remote like the military folks do.
You may have some heavy gear that will not scale to a UAV though and that would be a show stopper.
Good Luck getting the locals off the road !
I go underground when one of those things are near.
Slashdot Mirror
It appears MUMPS programming is about 50 years old.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUMPS
If they'd redo it with something a bit more current and open source
they'd save money, time, and sanity.
This is why I refuse to work full time anymore.
My motto as it is for a lot of other ppl tired of Welfare state is ....
"Starve the Beast"
As Ron Paul said, if you subsidize something you get more of it.
We need Co-op healthcare like the way USAA does Insurance, not for profit,
and no government bloated bureaucracy running it like the VA.
As a former veteran I can tell you the VA is often substandard.
The MSM even covered stories of returning injured not getting the care they needed.
A good example of some of the things going on at Dell go like this.
I was hired as Basic Server Support tech.
I was given extra training to take over the graveyard shift from headquarters in round rock.
It was moved to Oklahoma City.
After several months we had done well as a team and were offered Gold level support,
but we would need to apply for that job.
I did apply and I got the position and the night crew became gold level support.
After just a few weeks the platinum crew was so swamped they started dumping
their calls on us and we were required to take them.
We got a few days training and were thrown to the sharks
taking calls way over our heads with little to no prior experience
in the advanced server software arena.
The customers were guaranteed MCSE trained technicians.
Needless to say that is not what they were getting.
Customers were furious and launched into a tirade over the idiocy,
and I did not blame them a bit.
To me this was breech of contract and fraud.
I brought this up in a meeting and was shouted down.
I decided at that point to leave the company.
At the end of the one year I had been there, over
half the ppl working for server support had quit.
1 year after I left my team of 26 only had 3 original members.
The upper management at Dell was THAT bad.
Michael Dell came off his long term vacation and
tried to correct the course of the company, but
the damage had been done and he was lied to as well.
It took him time to work thru all the lies and he fired
a lot of ppl for various reasons.
Some of the low to middle management were actually
good ppl, such as my eventual manager.
He didn't like what they were doing, but he had left
his prior job and had to make this work or lose his
house, his car, and likely his wife.
Fun times...
I keep in touch with some of the ppl still working there,
and after I quit things got better once Mr. Dell could
cut through some of the lies.
I do not think the company will fully recover and it
cannot compete with Asian companies that do not
have all the government regulations, fees, taxes,
and red tape to deal with.
That and they can get workers to work for below minimum wage.
Like most US businesses it is hard to compete on uneven ground.
Good Luck to you all !
"I'm glad you think that! So, slave, give me $1,000."
Ah, another potential political candidate.
Get a old MAC off craigslist cheap, I don't think you will get one for free.
The problem with the XP PC can likely be solved with Hackinstosh or a Linux distro.
9% of all engineers are female.
http://www.tms.org/students/ProPref/9802/womenEngineers.html
I think you find this trend in other "brainy" fields too, not just IT.
So it may be more to the point that it is easier to get a man
to go do the stressful job and for them to do something else.
Bullshit comes in 31 flavors just like Baskin & Robbins.
Oklahoma is the worst in state government corruption.
Thou Louisiana will contest this, naturally...
Escalation is the process the call center crowd has chosen.
They hire ppl as cheap as they can get them to perform the
basic task of basic support.
Anything outside the mainstream is escalation.
The ppl with so called specialized knowledge make a few bucks
and hour more, and there are a LOT less of them.
I have worked for several companies and they all followed this model.
It is all about the money.
Religion is the worst lies that have been foisted on mankind and
mankind has taken them and slain millions in the name of
an invisible man living in the sky.
This pretty much sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOfjkl-3SNE
Done
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2007/12/nanosolar_ships_its_first_1_per_watt_panel.html
$1/watt and they are shipping now.
Nanosolar is who you may be looking for then.
They found a cheap way to make solar cells and print them
much like a computer printer.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2007/12/nanosolar_ships_its_first_1_per_watt_panel.html
The first $1/watt panel has shipped.
Actually you will find that the lawyer is not the only one in the country
of pakistan that wants to behead infidels.
In fact in many countries of the world the followers of islam
want death for those who blaspheme their religion.
But know that as islam grows it will not moderate for a long
time and for those not of the faith you are Dhimmi at best
and Infidels at worst.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhimmitude
This is exactly right as many have said.
All plans have some kind of flaw, we need to explore
most of them and find out what works best.
We have to move away from the fossil fuel method
for a variety of reasons, pollution, peak oil, etc.
If we spent 10% of what went to the bailouts it would be done.
If we spent 10% of what went to sports, religion, and military
we would have a paradise on earth that only the brightest
sci-fi writers could imagine.
The science is there, the will is not.
Lead is naturally occurring in nature.
Is nature killing itself by its own creation of lead ?
Should we start a suicide watch for the earth ?
If we take lead out of nature and seal it in a panel
are we protecting the earth from itself ?
LOL
I guess someone with oil royalties doesn't like your plan and modded you troll.
Its amazing how the truth has become trolling to those who put
their self interest above the rest of the ppl.
Even if you made it illegal to chase storms without a storm chasing permit
or some other silly government drama ppl would still do it.
I wish you the best, maybe you guys can make a UAV to chase the
storms for you and that way you can back off to a safe distance
and fly it remote like the military folks do.
You may have some heavy gear that will not scale to a UAV though
and that would be a show stopper.
Good Luck getting the locals off the road !
I go underground when one of those things are near.
If we put 10% of what went into the bailouts into alternative energy
this issue would solved already.
The best minds with a good budget and a effort on par
with the Apollo missions and this would be a done deal.
I think Jetstream wind and Ocean current power need to
be tapped as well as they will take up near zero land.
1% of the World's jet streams would replace all forms of
power on earth.
The strongest ocean current has 125 times the flow
of all rivers on earth combined.
Yeah and I guess you got a good excuse for why Rand Paul won ?
I think he means the funds going into his golden parachute that will not
be on the table, but under the table.
There are private dinners and payoffs are not made with checks
or credit cards, untraceable unofficial money.
We got a hybrid of 1984 and Brave New World, with all the religion and
billions going to war machine it was bound to be a hybrid of the two.
I think we have found someone who really only cares about themself.
It seems to be a growing craze these days.
And to you AC sir, go fuck yourself.
MOD PARENT UP !
Balrog...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balrog
You have received a nerd demotion point because all
nerds have watched LOTR, and can quote Gandalf from memory !
LOL
So some government shill or shrub shill,
or just knee jerk reactionary moron mods
this as a troll.
Read the documents, they are QUITE real.
The scenarios are getting a fair bit of TV
coverage and based on history all too possible.
Go mod your uninformed A$$ as a troll.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tx.html
Turkmenistan is the named used in the english speaking world.
The country was a former province of the USSR.
Good odds it will be again at some point.