I was listening to NPR this morning to a news story about Wisconson outsourcing their food stamp information line to India. They talked to a lady currently on food stamps that would have been happy to work that job ( so she doesn't have to be on food stamps.)
Instead the state goes for the lowest labor cost, then inflates the cost by having to give welfare to it's citizens instead of jobs.
You can seriously mess up your computer MUCH easier in Linux than in Windows.
Which is much preferable to Windows seriously messing up your computer for you.
Back in the Win3.1 days, Microsoft convinced WordPerfect that they should develop for OS/2 instead of Windows, because OS/2 was the supposed high end operating system of the future.
WordPerfect was late to bring out a Windows product, which gave Microsoft time to make Word the standard, where WordPerfect had been eating their lunch in the DOS world.
I used to work at a nice little company called Enigma Logic that did authentication products (one time passwords and stuff.) Single sign on was the holy grail.
Their product supported multiple authentication servers.. At the time you could configure your client to try up to three authentication servers, so if at least one of the servers was up your login would be processed.
Single point of failure should not be an issue, at least with their technology.
Here in California nothing is illegal unless there is a cop to enforce the law. People do the most incredibly stupid things all the time. California is chock full of idiots and assholes. We don't need more laws, just less morons.
In places like theaters where patrons don't have enough sense or regard for other people's rights and privacy, the management should have the cojones to toss the offender out. If it doesn't happen walk out RIGHT THEN and ask for your money back. The theatre will get the idea. Don't sit through the entire movie then ask for your money back.
I went to see the comedian Galligher many years ago where a heckler was interrupting the show. After trying to get the asshole to shut up, Galligher pulled a $20 bill out of his pocket, told the ushers to give the jerk his money back and toss him out.
That action got about the biggest applause of the night.
At the place I worked before, I went in as a technical writer, web master and misc odd jobs, just because I wanted to work there.
The opportunity came up to be a software engineer in the new emerging wonderful world of Windows NT, because none of the other software engineers wanted anything to do with it.
Five years and one busted start up later, I've had it with Microsoft and venture capitalists. I can sell my house for twice what it's worth, so I'm selling, moving back home, and paying cash for a nicer house.
I'll flip burgers or hawk prepaid cell phones at Radio Shack. At least I'll get a day off occaisionally, and I won't feel guilty supporting Microsoft's evil empire.
The up side to never taking vacation is that you can sell it back to the company when you quit.
Maybe I'm a little insensive to giant evil companies having my credit card numbers.
Yesterday I noticed two charges on a card for renewing two magazine subscriptions. The initial subscriptions were those 'free' subscription offers you get all the time.
So, one of these magazines I cancelled 6 months ago. We NEVER gave them our credit card numbers because they were 'free' subscriptions.
Somehow they got the credit card number, and decided to renew the magazines for me without asking or informing me.
When I called they were nice enough and said they would cancel, refund money, blah blah blah.
Fortunately I watch that stuff, and it just happened a couple days ago.
I don't like the idea that there's all these crooked assholes doing whatever they want with my money in secret, then when they get caught, they act like it's no big deal.
It's like my old friend Chuck (and everybody else) says "it's easier to get forgiveness than to get permission". It's funny when Chuck says it, not when some company I never heard of does it after taking my money.
And Microsoft is the LAST company I would trust having anything remotely to do with my money.
Here is what I am currently doing; Selling my overpriced house in California, with the proceeds paying off the cars, the credit cards, everything else, and paying cash for a house in Washington state, right in the shadow of Microsoft. This Passport stuff is going to lead to world chaos.
How is this going to affect me at home with my UltraSparc and my PowerBook?
Not at all?
OK, sure Bill go for it. Try to screw the entire planet, there's more PowerBooks where mine came from.
... If this enormous undertaking succeeds, it will make computers more personal than ever. Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier.'"
Then they will upload all that information to their databases,then sell it to terrorists.
Then they will not only keep track of, but control how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours....
Slashdot Mirror
I was listening to NPR this morning to a news story about Wisconson outsourcing their food stamp information line to India. They talked to a lady currently on food stamps that would have been happy to work that job ( so she doesn't have to be on food stamps.)
Instead the state goes for the lowest labor cost, then inflates the cost by having to give welfare to it's citizens instead of jobs.
You can seriously mess up your computer MUCH easier in Linux than in Windows. Which is much preferable to Windows seriously messing up your computer for you.
Picture this. Steve Ballmer dancing around like a monkey wearing nothing but a thong. Sorry if I ruined anyone's dinner.
Back in the Win3.1 days, Microsoft convinced WordPerfect that they should develop for OS/2 instead of Windows, because OS/2 was the supposed high end operating system of the future. WordPerfect was late to bring out a Windows product, which gave Microsoft time to make Word the standard, where WordPerfect had been eating their lunch in the DOS world.
Did anyone else see Micro$oft SPY instead of SPV?
Routing all the calls through Redmond could explain why it's a little sluggish.
I used to work at a nice little company called Enigma Logic that did authentication products (one time passwords and stuff.) Single sign on was the holy grail.
Their product supported multiple authentication servers.. At the time you could configure your client to try up to three authentication servers, so if at least one of the servers was up your login would be processed.
Single point of failure should not be an issue, at least with their technology.
Here in California nothing is illegal unless there is a cop to enforce the law. People do the most incredibly stupid things all the time. California is chock full of idiots and assholes.
We don't need more laws, just less morons.
In places like theaters where patrons don't have enough sense or regard for other people's rights and privacy, the management should have the cojones to toss the offender out. If it doesn't happen walk out RIGHT THEN and ask for your money back. The theatre will get the idea. Don't sit through the entire movie then ask for your money back.
I went to see the comedian Galligher many years ago where a heckler was interrupting the show. After trying to get the asshole to shut up, Galligher pulled a $20 bill out of his pocket, told the ushers to give the jerk his money back and toss him out.
That action got about the biggest applause of the night.
At the place I worked before, I went in as a technical writer, web master and misc odd jobs, just because I wanted to work there. The opportunity came up to be a software engineer in the new emerging wonderful world of Windows NT, because none of the other software engineers wanted anything to do with it. Five years and one busted start up later, I've had it with Microsoft and venture capitalists. I can sell my house for twice what it's worth, so I'm selling, moving back home, and paying cash for a nicer house. I'll flip burgers or hawk prepaid cell phones at Radio Shack. At least I'll get a day off occaisionally, and I won't feel guilty supporting Microsoft's evil empire. The up side to never taking vacation is that you can sell it back to the company when you quit.
Maybe I'm a little insensive to giant evil companies having my credit card numbers. Yesterday I noticed two charges on a card for renewing two magazine subscriptions. The initial subscriptions were those 'free' subscription offers you get all the time. So, one of these magazines I cancelled 6 months ago. We NEVER gave them our credit card numbers because they were 'free' subscriptions. Somehow they got the credit card number, and decided to renew the magazines for me without asking or informing me. When I called they were nice enough and said they would cancel, refund money, blah blah blah. Fortunately I watch that stuff, and it just happened a couple days ago. I don't like the idea that there's all these crooked assholes doing whatever they want with my money in secret, then when they get caught, they act like it's no big deal. It's like my old friend Chuck (and everybody else) says "it's easier to get forgiveness than to get permission". It's funny when Chuck says it, not when some company I never heard of does it after taking my money. And Microsoft is the LAST company I would trust having anything remotely to do with my money. Here is what I am currently doing; Selling my overpriced house in California, with the proceeds paying off the cars, the credit cards, everything else, and paying cash for a house in Washington state, right in the shadow of Microsoft. This Passport stuff is going to lead to world chaos.
How is this going to affect me at home with my UltraSparc and my PowerBook? Not at all? OK, sure Bill go for it. Try to screw the entire planet, there's more PowerBooks where mine came from.
... If this enormous undertaking succeeds, it will make computers more personal than ever. Equipped with Longhorn, your PC will keep track of how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours--making all those things easier.'"
Then they will upload all that information to their databases,then sell it to terrorists.
Then they will not only keep track of, but control how you work, whom you talk to, what sites you look at, how you make documents and whom you share them with, which data on the network are yours....
um, no thanks