Sounds like an old fashioned bribe did the trick and not an overprized government toilet project. Funny, how the media plays right into their greedy, warmongering little hands: [Paraphrasing CNN] "Millions rallied in major cities throughout the world to protest the upcoming war; and in breaking news, fifty war supporters rallied in [insert nondescript American small-town] and dumped French wine down sewer."
This spyware is not taking advantage of any bugs in IE to install itself without the user's explicit permission, and I don't see anyone providing any evidence to the contrary other than "my girlfriend was surfing the web when..." or a friend of a friend went blind after Xupiter forced itself on him.
It is just another Gator clone. Besides it is easy to block at the firewall, or for that matter remove it by hand, if a user has itchy trigger fingers. I am sure AdAware will also do the trick.
I mostly agree with your reply. My post wasn't so much about why an OSS-based solution wasn't chosen, but about why SimDesk was. You critique regarding the maturity of OSS office suites was right on. That being said, I still don't see how SimDesk is even remotely the best solution for the City of Houston. Like Microsoft it is a proprietary solution, but unlike Microsoft SimDesk provides no information as to how to develop for/enhance/support their product. SimDesk can't be much cheaper to buy than M$ Office, and even if it was, the long-term costs would probably be higher (not that SimDesk can provide any TCO figures to the contrary unlike OSS which can). Then there is the fact that SimDesk is dependant on Redmond for its survival. The value of their product is that it can read Microsoft files, which means that by adopting SimDesk Houston does not free itself from Microsoft in any way, if anything their dependence is obfuscated by a second-rate vendor that wouldn't be able to exert as much influence over Redmond as could the fourth largest city in the US. All this adds up to the fact that there is no assurance that SimDesk will be around a year from now, a concern, which by the way, wouldn't be as a big deal with an OSS-based solution.
The good 'ol boy voodoo economics argument makes no sense. This has nothing to do with supporting the local economy. After all, how many employees does SimDesk have? Are their solutions anywhere as innovative as those available under open source licensing? If you are going to make this argument then you'd have to conclude, just on the number of Microsoft certified people in the city of Houston, that a Microsoft solution would have been a better choice for the local economy. Why stop there?
There are just as many OSS developers in Houston who would have loved pitching their solutions to the city, but they were locked out because they didn't grease the right palms or have the right regional pedigree. Choosing OSS solution would have generated more jobs and insured that the software would have been supported in the future.
By going this route the City of Houston has made a terrible mistake. They will be stuck with a proprietary solution from a company that, just from their web site's babble regarding filing "patents to ensure that the company's methodology and software remain proprietary," gives every indication that they will prevent other non SimDesk developers from providing the city with better/cheaper support in the future. SimDesk will most likely take the taxpayers' money, provide crappy support, fold, and make out like Houston's other local boys turned bandits at Enron.
This decision had nothing to do with the fact that Windows is too expensive but with the fact that city Houston is too corrupt. I can't believe that choosing a small company's, closed proprietary solution over a large company's closed proprietary solution had anything to do with cost or for that matter quality. At least M$ will be around five years from now, though probably forcing users to upgrade to the latest greatest version, which doesn't matter since the biggest selling point of SimDesk is that it looks like M$ and can read M$ files. Anyhow I've been around the block in Houston a few times and doing business here is all about who you know, and I don't mean it in the greasy salesperson networking sort of way. Houston is about nepotism, greasing palms, and paying people off. Dig around a little and you'll find a relative, lover, or crony of someone in Houston city government calling the shots at SimDesk.
Good-quality sarcasm = penises and pr0n?
on
F'd Companies
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I always trust a reviewer who equivocates four-letter words, penises, and pr0n with quality sarcasm because he provably still wapits to the lingerie section of the Sears catalog.
Anyhow, F'd Companies was funny maybe in 2000 - 2001. This book is Kaplan's sad attempt to use every last scrap of the buffalo.
Why bother switching? An innovative/paradigm shifting approach a la the original Mac over DOS would be a better strategy than always playing catch-up to Microsoft. I've been using Redhat since 1997 (I came over from Mac) and can totally predict the next release's GUI knickknacks by looking at the current version of Windows. These features tend to be buggier and more resource intensive than comparable features in Windows or OS X. I love Linux. It is an incredible server OS. I would never consider running my server applications on anything else. Yet it is a different story in the desktop arena: Back in 1997 Linux was the clear choice for me as far as having a robust OS in my desktop to do research and manage network applications, but now I am not so sure. At my current rate of frustration, I'll be using OS X in my desktop by the middle of next year.
The Faramir scenes make no sence (SPOILERS)
on
LOTR: The Two Towers
·
· Score: 1
Was anyone else bothered by PJ's portrayal of Faramir (and the Ring)? It made no sense: Faramir is supposed to be a contrast against Boromir, who was seduced by the Ring. Faramir was wise and able to resist. Then there is the whole talking openly about the Ring in front of other men sequence. Men are supposed to kill each other for the Ring. Had Faramir openly turned the Ring down his lackeys would have pounced Frodo and taken it from him mistakenly believing that they were doing the right thing. The whole sequence stripped the Ring of its corrupting psychological power. Then again, perhaps these are petty complaints, as I really enjoyed the movie.
So, your proposed solution is that RMS should become a slimy, manipulative, ready-for-consumption media whore like Gates, Balmer, Ellison, and company? Talk about the cure being worse than the disease.
Interesting how the users end up regulating their behavior. The experience of having their TiVo "validate" their masculinity (or whatever else is in doubt) must be very pleasurable.
You had a good business opportunity come your way. Many a successful consultant have started this way. You work for a company, you are laid off by shortsighted management, they realize their mistake a little too late, they call on you. What do you do? You could be chump, and show them that they did right by laying off your immature ass, or you could turn it into a profitable business opportunity. You have the upper hand in the negotiation. Come up with a good rate (twice your old rate is a good place to start), then negotiate the minimum amount of billable time. Depending on the type of work you do it could be anything from eight hours, to forty hours, to the entirety of an ongoing project. Be creative. This is were the money is made, and were you can establish lasting recurring billing cycles. If the work that they are asking you to do is part of an ongoing project and you feel that there is a chance that they'll call on you again, negotiate for the remainder of the contract. Sweeten the deal. Profit off their shortsightedness, but don't kill the goose, and above all realize that you are now your own person, you don't need them, they need you.
People keep talking about how grateful they are about still having a job, etc., but what it really comes down to is holding on to jobs by snitching on coworkers, and doing crappy work at the behest of their pimps --err-- managers. It feels terrible. Sure you keep your job, but the effects linger beyond the period of scarce job opportunities. Once the famine is over you find yourself continuing to do crappy work. The whole experience is poisonous to the pursuit of excellence, which is crucial to personal job satisfaction.
According to this article, http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/11/11/video. ondemand.ap/index.html, "Movielink offers individual titles for $1.99 to $4.99. The compressed files average about 500 megabytes in size and take about an hour to download with a high-speed DSL or cable modem connection." Yikes! I might as well walk my fat ass to Blockbuster, rent the movie, and then get a six-pack and a pizza on my way back.
At 500 megs I am sure that the quality will not be anywhere close to DVD (they'll probably be using some crappy Real solution). Besides, I'll be paying for the bandwidth on top of the already high rental fee, have to install their spyware, and can only play it on one machine. I can see someone paying $1.00 for a new release using Movielink. However, I'll stick to Netflix's and Blockbuster's spotty service for now and continue to enjoy my beer and pizza.
Slashdot Mirror
Sounds like an old fashioned bribe did the trick and not an overprized government toilet project. Funny, how the media plays right into their greedy, warmongering little hands: [Paraphrasing CNN] "Millions rallied in major cities throughout the world to protest the upcoming war; and in breaking news, fifty war supporters rallied in [insert nondescript American small-town] and dumped French wine down sewer."
This spyware is not taking advantage of any bugs in IE to install itself without the user's explicit permission, and I don't see anyone providing any evidence to the contrary other than "my girlfriend was surfing the web when..." or a friend of a friend went blind after Xupiter forced itself on him.
It is just another Gator clone. Besides it is easy to block at the firewall, or for that matter remove it by hand, if a user has itchy trigger fingers. I am sure AdAware will also do the trick.
I mostly agree with your reply. My post wasn't so much about why an OSS-based solution wasn't chosen, but about why SimDesk was. You critique regarding the maturity of OSS office suites was right on. That being said, I still don't see how SimDesk is even remotely the best solution for the City of Houston. Like Microsoft it is a proprietary solution, but unlike Microsoft SimDesk provides no information as to how to develop for/enhance/support their product. SimDesk can't be much cheaper to buy than M$ Office, and even if it was, the long-term costs would probably be higher (not that SimDesk can provide any TCO figures to the contrary unlike OSS which can). Then there is the fact that SimDesk is dependant on Redmond for its survival. The value of their product is that it can read Microsoft files, which means that by adopting SimDesk Houston does not free itself from Microsoft in any way, if anything their dependence is obfuscated by a second-rate vendor that wouldn't be able to exert as much influence over Redmond as could the fourth largest city in the US. All this adds up to the fact that there is no assurance that SimDesk will be around a year from now, a concern, which by the way, wouldn't be as a big deal with an OSS-based solution.
By going this route the City of Houston has made a terrible mistake. They will be stuck with a proprietary solution from a company that, just from their web site's babble regarding filing "patents to ensure that the company's methodology and software remain proprietary," gives every indication that they will prevent other non SimDesk developers from providing the city with better/cheaper support in the future. SimDesk will most likely take the taxpayers' money, provide crappy support, fold, and make out like Houston's other local boys turned bandits at Enron.
This decision had nothing to do with the fact that Windows is too expensive but with the fact that city Houston is too corrupt. I can't believe that choosing a small company's, closed proprietary solution over a large company's closed proprietary solution had anything to do with cost or for that matter quality. At least M$ will be around five years from now, though probably forcing users to upgrade to the latest greatest version, which doesn't matter since the biggest selling point of SimDesk is that it looks like M$ and can read M$ files. Anyhow I've been around the block in Houston a few times and doing business here is all about who you know, and I don't mean it in the greasy salesperson networking sort of way. Houston is about nepotism, greasing palms, and paying people off. Dig around a little and you'll find a relative, lover, or crony of someone in Houston city government calling the shots at SimDesk.
I always trust a reviewer who equivocates four-letter words, penises, and pr0n with quality sarcasm because he provably still wapits to the lingerie section of the Sears catalog.
Anyhow, F'd Companies was funny maybe in 2000 - 2001. This book is Kaplan's sad attempt to use every last scrap of the buffalo.
I thought the idea of a fat yuppie drinking a triple macchiato, and blabbering on a cell phone while driving one of these was funny enough.
Why bother switching? An innovative/paradigm shifting approach a la the original Mac over DOS would be a better strategy than always playing catch-up to Microsoft. I've been using Redhat since 1997 (I came over from Mac) and can totally predict the next release's GUI knickknacks by looking at the current version of Windows. These features tend to be buggier and more resource intensive than comparable features in Windows or OS X. I love Linux. It is an incredible server OS. I would never consider running my server applications on anything else. Yet it is a different story in the desktop arena: Back in 1997 Linux was the clear choice for me as far as having a robust OS in my desktop to do research and manage network applications, but now I am not so sure. At my current rate of frustration, I'll be using OS X in my desktop by the middle of next year.
Was anyone else bothered by PJ's portrayal of Faramir (and the Ring)? It made no sense: Faramir is supposed to be a contrast against Boromir, who was seduced by the Ring. Faramir was wise and able to resist. Then there is the whole talking openly about the Ring in front of other men sequence. Men are supposed to kill each other for the Ring. Had Faramir openly turned the Ring down his lackeys would have pounced Frodo and taken it from him mistakenly believing that they were doing the right thing. The whole sequence stripped the Ring of its corrupting psychological power. Then again, perhaps these are petty complaints, as I really enjoyed the movie.
Nice, but then again: http://www.ntk.net/ballmer/mirrors.html
So, your proposed solution is that RMS should become a slimy, manipulative, ready-for-consumption media whore like Gates, Balmer, Ellison, and company? Talk about the cure being worse than the disease.
Interesting how the users end up regulating their behavior. The experience of having their TiVo "validate" their masculinity (or whatever else is in doubt) must be very pleasurable.
You had a good business opportunity come your way. Many a successful consultant have started this way. You work for a company, you are laid off by shortsighted management, they realize their mistake a little too late, they call on you. What do you do? You could be chump, and show them that they did right by laying off your immature ass, or you could turn it into a profitable business opportunity. You have the upper hand in the negotiation. Come up with a good rate (twice your old rate is a good place to start), then negotiate the minimum amount of billable time. Depending on the type of work you do it could be anything from eight hours, to forty hours, to the entirety of an ongoing project. Be creative. This is were the money is made, and were you can establish lasting recurring billing cycles. If the work that they are asking you to do is part of an ongoing project and you feel that there is a chance that they'll call on you again, negotiate for the remainder of the contract. Sweeten the deal. Profit off their shortsightedness, but don't kill the goose, and above all realize that you are now your own person, you don't need them, they need you.
People keep talking about how grateful they are about still having a job, etc., but what it really comes down to is holding on to jobs by snitching on coworkers, and doing crappy work at the behest of their pimps --err-- managers. It feels terrible. Sure you keep your job, but the effects linger beyond the period of scarce job opportunities. Once the famine is over you find yourself continuing to do crappy work. The whole experience is poisonous to the pursuit of excellence, which is crucial to personal job satisfaction.
Perhaps Mr. Gutenberg's newfangled invention made this a nonevent.
According to this article, http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/11/11/video. ondemand.ap/index.html, "Movielink offers individual titles for $1.99 to $4.99. The compressed files average about 500 megabytes in size and take about an hour to download with a high-speed DSL or cable modem connection." Yikes! I might as well walk my fat ass to Blockbuster, rent the movie, and then get a six-pack and a pizza on my way back.
At 500 megs I am sure that the quality will not be anywhere close to DVD (they'll probably be using some crappy Real solution). Besides, I'll be paying for the bandwidth on top of the already high rental fee, have to install their spyware, and can only play it on one machine. I can see someone paying $1.00 for a new release using Movielink. However, I'll stick to Netflix's and Blockbuster's spotty service for now and continue to enjoy my beer and pizza.