I've been using my personal email address (eg myname@myname.com - myname changed to protect the ignorant:) since around the time the world became blessed with the WWW. Before that it was my MUDding name... how far back do we need to go?
I spent 4 years working admin at a strip mine and a coal fired power plant. The mine wasn't too bad, except everything had an inch think layer of coal dust on it. The power plant was different. My office was in the front of the building and the maintenance dept was at the back (about 1/2 mile in distance- big building!) to reach them you had to walk through the furnace room - 4 three-story furnaces full of coal roaring away - so hot you couldn't get near them (in winter it was -20F outside and 100F inside) - when they spin them down to reload the coal you have to leave the area to keep from being burned--> One after noon a vibration tech asked me to come look at his PC - printer problems - I told him I would get a new cable and head back. As I was leaving my office the alarms went off and everyone ran for it. When everything had been settled down they found that a 1200PSI/2000 degree pressure pipe had blown about 3 feet from where I had been talking to the vibration tech - they found his body parboiled. If I had been 2 minutes faster or slower they would have found me right beside him...I work in a renevated coffin factory now, testing flat files...much nicer:)
It's not the only way to sell the product, but it is the only way the the industry has decided to sell the product. Constantly undercutting prices without regard to the cost related to production only perpetuates the problem. Being the lowest price may make your sale today, but it is not a sustainable path. Cutting and/or outsourcing your staff is only a short-term cost saving event. This year you cut your staff 40%, what are you going to do next year when your competitor drops his price and you have nothing to cut that won't affect your quality?
For a company to focus on only making money to the detriment of all else is socially irresponsible. We may as well turn a blind eye to all of the exxon-valdese and 3mile islands in the world. What does it matter? It's just as irresponsible to fire a million workers in pursuit of the almighty buck, as it is to let a bunch of babys die from luekemia. It just doesn't play as well on the 6 o'clock news.
Putting as many people out of work as everyone is speculating will create a huge impact on this country (if the last three years wasn't enough of an example, read on mcduff!)
I recently read an article speculating a new tech boom based on retiring baby boomers and the standard 3% growth rate. The article estimated 100k+ jobs unfilled in 5 to 7 years. It was a cheery report, but if you dump 1 in 10 IT jobs overseas, where does that level out? Sadly, I believe we're in for a long slow recovery (if you can call it that) where those opening jobs are offset by offshoring and outsourcing to 3rd world resources. Why shouldn't those companies replace their retiring high-paid techies with cheap low cost flunkies? If there is no control put in place, that is exactly what they will do.
The blind club of legislation is scary, but the corporate beast needs to be clubbed a few times to keep it in line!
A little protectionism to keep jobs here is not going to break the big companies (heck, its common with other countries ), and may keep enough jobs here to prevent the US from become one more starving third-world on the scrap-heap.
Grim
Get a clue!
The tech boom has nothing to do with the outsourcing that is occurring now. This is simply another version of profit-taking by excutives looking to pad their own pockets. There is no forward thinking involved. They see this as the anethema for bad planning and lack of strategy.
As to going somewhere cheaper and learning a new trade. First, moving costs money, relearning a new trade cost money and time, and finally, most small places are small because there's no infrastructure, commerce, or resources to support a larger population. I left one of those small, cheap towns to go to the pacific northwest for work. My father was a mechanic all his life, was never able to retire because social security couldn't pay for all the medical bills (the direct result of his blue collar career), and died early as a result of it. I could have stayed and been a mechanic (or plumber) and followed a similarly sad path, but my father begged me to go to school and do better than he had (I paid for it myself - they had no money). Now I find that the career I struggled to build is being sucked away overseas, so some companies can make a better profit.
It makes my blood boil.
The rules have definitely changed... Around 1991 my wife took a trip to africa and returned with a roman style short sword for me in her carry-on bag. She tried to pull it out in the airport to show me and I thought I was going to have a heart attack before I could get her to put it away - no one ever said a word...
That is a real optimistic number for Wyoming anyway. I started my It career there at a coal mine where you couldn't see another light from civilization in any direction you looked...
But seriously, it would be better to just string all the executives who think outsourcing is a 'good idea' out in the ocean instead, you may be able to walk all the way to Hawaii on their inflated egos....GRIM
You know, no matter how fat they get the processors or how wide the bus gets, Windows is still going to act like a punch-drunk sow on valium. I slap the Os on a P166 and on a p4-2.2g and boot them - I still have time to get coffee before they're finished booting. What's the point?
So who do we have to thank for THIS particular piece of intuitive legislation? Not the congressman...their three for a dollar - I'm refering to the sleezo company that bought their way into the lawbooks. I'm in the process of putting together a non-profit company for routing donatable computers to schools/charities, and this is a major roadblock. I would just like to know who to thank... I assume Microsoft but that's the obvious choice.
Slashdot Mirror
As long as there is a secondary control room that allows saucer separation, wait....
I hope they have fun photographing the wall in front of my property!
I've been using my personal email address (eg myname@myname.com - myname changed to protect the ignorant:) since around the time the world became blessed with the WWW. Before that it was my MUDding name... how far back do we need to go?
I spent 4 years working admin at a strip mine and a coal fired power plant. The mine wasn't too bad, except everything had an inch think layer of coal dust on it. The power plant was different. My office was in the front of the building and the maintenance dept was at the back (about 1/2 mile in distance- big building!) to reach them you had to walk through the furnace room - 4 three-story furnaces full of coal roaring away - so hot you couldn't get near them (in winter it was -20F outside and 100F inside) - when they spin them down to reload the coal you have to leave the area to keep from being burned--> One after noon a vibration tech asked me to come look at his PC - printer problems - I told him I would get a new cable and head back. As I was leaving my office the alarms went off and everyone ran for it. When everything had been settled down they found that a 1200PSI/2000 degree pressure pipe had blown about 3 feet from where I had been talking to the vibration tech - they found his body parboiled. If I had been 2 minutes faster or slower they would have found me right beside him...I work in a renevated coffin factory now, testing flat files...much nicer :)
It's not the only way to sell the product, but it is the only way the the industry has decided to sell the product. Constantly undercutting prices without regard to the cost related to production only perpetuates the problem. Being the lowest price may make your sale today, but it is not a sustainable path. Cutting and/or outsourcing your staff is only a short-term cost saving event. This year you cut your staff 40%, what are you going to do next year when your competitor drops his price and you have nothing to cut that won't affect your quality? For a company to focus on only making money to the detriment of all else is socially irresponsible. We may as well turn a blind eye to all of the exxon-valdese and 3mile islands in the world. What does it matter? It's just as irresponsible to fire a million workers in pursuit of the almighty buck, as it is to let a bunch of babys die from luekemia. It just doesn't play as well on the 6 o'clock news. Putting as many people out of work as everyone is speculating will create a huge impact on this country (if the last three years wasn't enough of an example, read on mcduff!) I recently read an article speculating a new tech boom based on retiring baby boomers and the standard 3% growth rate. The article estimated 100k+ jobs unfilled in 5 to 7 years. It was a cheery report, but if you dump 1 in 10 IT jobs overseas, where does that level out? Sadly, I believe we're in for a long slow recovery (if you can call it that) where those opening jobs are offset by offshoring and outsourcing to 3rd world resources. Why shouldn't those companies replace their retiring high-paid techies with cheap low cost flunkies? If there is no control put in place, that is exactly what they will do. The blind club of legislation is scary, but the corporate beast needs to be clubbed a few times to keep it in line! A little protectionism to keep jobs here is not going to break the big companies (heck, its common with other countries ), and may keep enough jobs here to prevent the US from become one more starving third-world on the scrap-heap. Grim
Get a clue! The tech boom has nothing to do with the outsourcing that is occurring now. This is simply another version of profit-taking by excutives looking to pad their own pockets. There is no forward thinking involved. They see this as the anethema for bad planning and lack of strategy. As to going somewhere cheaper and learning a new trade. First, moving costs money, relearning a new trade cost money and time, and finally, most small places are small because there's no infrastructure, commerce, or resources to support a larger population. I left one of those small, cheap towns to go to the pacific northwest for work. My father was a mechanic all his life, was never able to retire because social security couldn't pay for all the medical bills (the direct result of his blue collar career), and died early as a result of it. I could have stayed and been a mechanic (or plumber) and followed a similarly sad path, but my father begged me to go to school and do better than he had (I paid for it myself - they had no money). Now I find that the career I struggled to build is being sucked away overseas, so some companies can make a better profit. It makes my blood boil.
The rules have definitely changed... Around 1991 my wife took a trip to africa and returned with a roman style short sword for me in her carry-on bag. She tried to pull it out in the airport to show me and I thought I was going to have a heart attack before I could get her to put it away - no one ever said a word...
That is a real optimistic number for Wyoming anyway. I started my It career there at a coal mine where you couldn't see another light from civilization in any direction you looked... But seriously, it would be better to just string all the executives who think outsourcing is a 'good idea' out in the ocean instead, you may be able to walk all the way to Hawaii on their inflated egos....GRIM
You know, no matter how fat they get the processors or how wide the bus gets, Windows is still going to act like a punch-drunk sow on valium. I slap the Os on a P166 and on a p4-2.2g and boot them - I still have time to get coffee before they're finished booting. What's the point?
So who do we have to thank for THIS particular piece of intuitive legislation? Not the congressman...their three for a dollar - I'm refering to the sleezo company that bought their way into the lawbooks. I'm in the process of putting together a non-profit company for routing donatable computers to schools/charities, and this is a major roadblock. I would just like to know who to thank... I assume Microsoft but that's the obvious choice.