You're not going to change the world working 40 hours/week. You're not going to have an impact on the world working 40 hours/week. Don't want to change the world? Don't want to have an impact? Don't work for a small company.
You're out of your tree, pure and simple... If my contract with you states '40 hours per week for annual salary $40,000' and you start demanding 60 hour weeks without matching that in pay, you're in breach of contract. Tell me how you're not, and back it up with facts. Otherwise (IMHO) you're an asshole and your company deserves to join the other dot.bombs.
To put my humble opinion in perspective, I'm one of those 'lucky' people that are classed as overtime-exempt, which means that for the last 20-odd years every minute over my 40 hours is free to the company. I don't get overtime, I might get comp time at less than 1:1 if my boss is having a good day. And I'm damn good at what I do, to the extent that folks bring me the impossible problems that nobody else has a clue about.
The owner that you're all deriding, its HIS money on the line. He's paying you. If you fail, he loses money.
Sounds like your business plan is:
1) Get people to work 60 hours for 40 hours salary 2)??? 3)Profit!!!
Don't like my opinion ? Have an honest talk with your employees and see how many agree.
A quick question for the original poster - if you do work the 15 hour days including weekends, would you still be paid for your regular 5-day 40-hour week?
In other words, is your lunatic boss expecting you to effectively take half pay or less, or is he going to pay the same hourly rate for the extra time?
If he's going to pay the extra, why not just use that money to buy extra employees. If he's not going to pay extra, then he's probably proposing breach of contract - you did sign a contract stating 40-hour weeks @ $xxx per hour/week/month, right? Tell me you did, please?
Anybody want to place bets on how long it will be before Microsoft changes their licencing terms again to prevent Dell from what they're doing now? (Or perhaps M$ will just tell Dell that they've decided not to licence Windows to them at all; they've used those sorts of threats in the past.)
On the other hand, if they do, it will be really, really hard for M$ to convince people that they're justified in changing the contract so soon...
Will anyone here be surprised if the 'patch' for this little lapse of concentration is 100's of Kb big and replaces several dll's that tighten the DRM chokehold just a little bit more. While also fixing the SSL cert problem, of course...:)
Oh, and while we're being sceptical, the click-through EULA for downloading and/or installing the patch will probably mutate yet again, either subtly or not-so-subtly to move M$ ever further from responsibility for software that's "so badly written it's a National Security issue", while at the same time tightening the monopoly screws even tighter.
A lot of people are saying, "Screw that, we won't buy DRM restricted hardware, etc", but think for a minute...
Suppose a motherboard manufacturer quietly includes some whiz-bang DRM stuff, but leaves it disabled, or suppose a cpu manufacturer builds DRM right into their latest over-2GHz cpus, again leaving it disabled, and then one day a magic packet/program shows up that PERMANENTLY enables the DRM hardware...
Maybe we already have such stuff and don't know it... Maybe your brand new, sparkly DVD/CD-RW combo drive will suddenly refuse to copy cd's after you play a Celine or Britney cd that has the enabler builtin? Maybe your motherboard will conspire with your brand-name, closed-source OS to secretly deliver email regarding your DVD/CD usage?
So what if you firewall? I'd be surprised if the proprietary OS couldn't slip something past your in-system firewall below the packet level, and if you have a separate firewall, are you filtering outbound email for destination?
Heck, doesn't even need to be email, it could be encrypted form data going to a secure web server. Could even be a DNS lookup -
"No unauthorised banner... And so? It's just text"
Yeah, but if you have one, and someone breaks in, you've already served notice that they are not welcome. I understand this is important legally (IANAL), because you can then get law enforcement involved. Without the banner, it's like leaving your front door open, which apparently is equal to "hey, come on in and steal stuff"... The banner is like a sign on your locked front door that says "if you break in I will break you".
As for the other stuff, I checked out a 1.0 beta copy of the CIS Security Scanner over a year ago and it failed to find a couple of things. I think sendmail was one of them - CIS was doing something silly like "ps -ef | grep 'sendmail - Accepting connections'", and my sendmail didn't show up like that. I forget what else went unnoticed.
I emailed CIS about it and got back a "Gosh! Wow! Thanks for telling us, we'll certainly look into that!" reply. I got the impression that what they meant was "uh oh, we didn't think of that", though they didn't come right out and say it.
Any corporate HR that flagrantly violates the H1B provisions can suddenly find themselves unable to get/renew H1Bs. This is handled by the INS, who can stop visitors, immigrants, visa-holders and probably even green-card-holders at the border, for no apparent reason, with no appeal.
Heck, if the INS were pissed off enough, they could probably cancel the company's outstanding H1Bs and give them 7 days to sell up and move out.
As someone else said, the qualifications include either a full degree, or work experience that evaluates to equivalent to a full degree, typically 10 years or more in the industry prior to entering the US. If you happen to be a nuclear physicist, a nurse/doctor, or possibly a musician/artist famous for something other than just being famous, the INS will fall over themselves to allow you in. Everybody else gets to suck rocks while they wait.
Maybe I was just lucky, but I got a payraise during my LCA. Not because I was on slave wages, but because the company just hadn't kept up with the going market rate for any of us. Or maybe I was lucky enough to get into an established company that actually has some history and a sensible business plan, not the
1) think up something cool 2) ???? 3) profit!!!
that became so common in the last 3 years.
And for those that don't know, there's a stage during the H1B and Green Card apps where you can't work (no work permit), but you can't leave the country either (abandoning your app). This can run on for months. No welfare, no work, live off prior savings and so on until some overworked INS official pulls your paper out of the stack, says 'yep, that looks good' and stamps it.
Oh yeah, before I forget, I get to pay taxes, but I don't get to vote. Taxation without representation - enough to cause a revolution in some parts of the world...:)
It would be kinda fun to watch these bozos DOS Washington DC, Redmond, Hollywood, etc.
It could happen, too. If enough folks in those areas put up enough shared files for the MPAA to get irritated, the ensuing DOS attack could take out routers and pipes that also serve Congress, the White House and the Pentagon, Microsoft in Redmond and all the motion picture sites in Hollywood.
Talk about a prime opportunity to shoot off a couple of toes...
A prospective employer likes your resume, applies for an H1B visa for you. If/when it's granted, you get to enter the USA.
What you don't see is that behind the scenes, the employer has to show:
1) they advertised the position and no suitably qualified American citizen applied;
2) the pay scale is equal to the going rate for the advertised position;
3) that the position has been advertised for sufficiently long time that any interested citizen can apply.
Once the H1B is granted, it is valid for a maximum of 6 years, after which the worker has to exit the US for 1 year, then repeat the process.
During the worker's 6 years of H1B, a green card can be applied for. This requires:
a) Labor Certification - i.e. proving the job was advertised and still no qualified citizen wants it. Dept of Labor also checks that H1B is being paid the going rate, not slave wages;
b) Petition for Alien Worker - where the employer begs the INS for permission to apply for a green card.
c) Filing for the Green Card, and possibly for a temp work permit if the H1B visa will soon expire;
d) get to your local INS office very early in the morning complete the final paperwork and to get a stamp in your passport. You need to take along two very specific photos (head/shoulders, 3/4 face, right ear showing, not too much hair, etc), and if the INS official disapproves of them, you have to get new ones.
I think I may have missed a step between b) and c), but I'm not sure.
The major criterion in H1B and Green Card apps is that the position has to be advertised, at a fair salary, and there were no qualified citizens that wanted the job. If an H1B is going for a green card and a qualified citizen applies during the advertisement stage, the H1B is out and the citizen gets the job.
Here in Oklahoma Labor Cert can take 30-45 days, the Petition for an Alien Worker can take 18 months, and the Green card app take a further 2 years or so.
Humorous side note: my 10yo daughter, wearing long hair and a dress, was standing right in front of the INS official and even so was marked on the final app as a boy... We didn't notice until the plastic card arrived. The same official also stamped my passport with a temporary visa stamp that expired the previous day instead of [now+1 year], because someone had altered the date stamp and hadn't put it back... Fortunately I caught that one while the official was processing my wife's papers.
Presumably the authorities are not so stupid as to try to prevent Bruce from speaking, but as soon as he says something illegal, he's theirs...
So, Bruce, if you're listening, how about getting all the details of your speech printed up and distributed through the crowd by 100's of volunteers, and also via many websites all over the world??
It may or may not add to the size of the hole they dig for you, but at least those of us that can't attend will know what you said...
And anyone planning on attending, please take a video camera so that even if major news broadcasters decline to cover the event, the rest of us can inundate local news stations with outraged comments - "Arrested for playing a DVD" indeed!!
I hate to sound naive but I'm a bit surprised at how little attention this has drawn in the political arena, you'd think by now someone would have started pushing for some reform but I haven't heard of any serious efforts to do so.
You don't think that maybe the big companys are funding politicians to not make waves??
"...RIAA & MPAA work with Microsoft to 'update' Media Player to include recognition for certain data blocks in the looped files. With a normal player, the special blocks produce a blip of static that is virtually inaudible, but when the enhanced player finds these blocks it launches a tracking packet to MS/MPAA/RIAA. Regular offenders will soon be hearing from the thought police..."
OK, so it hasn't happened yet, but it could... Or maybe it already has... Don't forget to keep downloading all those MS updates for the 'security' holes they keep finding...
Anyone consider the possibility that it may be policy at Micro$oft to allow such holes in the software?
Considering that the browser components are supposedly scattered through many DLLs, any patches from M$ could easily include updates for Digital Rights Management lockdown, spyware to tell tales, etc, as well as the 'next big hole' that someone will 'discover' whenever MS feels the need to send out more tracking/spying/crippling patches.
Heck, they don't even need to include such stuff, just track who downloads the latest patch and correlate with previous data to build a picture of what's out there.
For example, say ten million distinct folks download the latest patch for Win98. If M$ *know* they've only sold eight million copies of Win98, they know there are 2 million BSA targets out there...
1) DoD invites BSA to send along all their auditors that have Top-Secret (or higher) security clearance. That ought to slow them down.
2) DoD allows BSA auditors in, accompanied by highly-armed, kill-yer-grandma-for-a-dollar guards. Wanna bet they'd find nothing amiss?
3) DoD invites BSA to observe the middle finger, with the sub-text "we got waaay more guns than you..."
4) DoD explains to BSA that interfering with the military would be aiding terrorists, therefore branding the BSA as terrorists themselves. The BSA is then locked up and all their assets seized...
Hmm, option 4 is looking more and more attractive:)
Slashdot Mirror
Won't those guys be surprised when they open the next door and discover 100,000 tons of sand pouring out of the hole... :)
You're out of your tree, pure and simple... If my contract with you states '40 hours per week for annual salary $40,000' and you start demanding 60 hour weeks without matching that in pay, you're in breach of contract. Tell me how you're not, and back it up with facts. Otherwise (IMHO) you're an asshole and your company deserves to join the other dot.bombs.
To put my humble opinion in perspective, I'm one of those 'lucky' people that are classed as overtime-exempt, which means that for the last 20-odd years every minute over my 40 hours is free to the company. I don't get overtime, I might get comp time at less than 1:1 if my boss is having a good day. And I'm damn good at what I do, to the extent that folks bring me the impossible problems that nobody else has a clue about.
Sounds like your business plan is:
1) Get people to work 60 hours for 40 hours salary
2)???
3)Profit!!!
Don't like my opinion ? Have an honest talk with your employees and see how many agree.
In other words, is your lunatic boss expecting you to effectively take half pay or less, or is he going to pay the same hourly rate for the extra time?
If he's going to pay the extra, why not just use that money to buy extra employees. If he's not going to pay extra, then he's probably proposing breach of contract - you did sign a contract stating 40-hour weeks @ $xxx per hour/week/month, right? Tell me you did, please?
On the other hand, if they do, it will be really, really hard for M$ to convince people that they're justified in changing the contract so soon...
Oh, and while we're being sceptical, the click-through EULA for downloading and/or installing the patch will probably mutate yet again, either subtly or not-so-subtly to move M$ ever further from responsibility for software that's "so badly written it's a National Security issue", while at the same time tightening the monopoly screws even tighter.
Suppose a motherboard manufacturer quietly includes some whiz-bang DRM stuff, but leaves it disabled, or suppose a cpu manufacturer builds DRM right into their latest over-2GHz cpus, again leaving it disabled, and then one day a magic packet/program shows up that PERMANENTLY enables the DRM hardware...
Maybe we already have such stuff and don't know it... Maybe your brand new, sparkly DVD/CD-RW combo drive will suddenly refuse to copy cd's after you play a Celine or Britney cd that has the enabler builtin? Maybe your motherboard will conspire with your brand-name, closed-source OS to secretly deliver email regarding your DVD/CD usage?
So what if you firewall? I'd be surprised if the proprietary OS couldn't slip something past your in-system firewall below the packet level, and if you have a separate firewall, are you filtering outbound email for destination?
Heck, doesn't even need to be email, it could be encrypted form data going to a secure web server. Could even be a DNS lookup -
"nslookup us123abc45678.playing.celine.sony.com"
"nslookup us123abc45678.copying.metallica.drm.com"
Do you filter those? What other protocols do you pass? NTP to a time server? POP, IMAP, SMTP, HTTP, HTTPS? How about the various Instant Messengers?
What it comes down to is, they only have to be lucky once to catch you. You have to be lucky all the time...
Yeah, but if you have one, and someone breaks in, you've already served notice that they are not welcome. I understand this is important legally (IANAL), because you can then get law enforcement involved. Without the banner, it's like leaving your front door open, which apparently is equal to "hey, come on in and steal stuff"... The banner is like a sign on your locked front door that says "if you break in I will break you".
As for the other stuff, I checked out a 1.0 beta copy of the CIS Security Scanner over a year ago and it failed to find a couple of things. I think sendmail was one of them - CIS was doing something silly like "ps -ef | grep 'sendmail - Accepting connections'", and my sendmail didn't show up like that. I forget what else went unnoticed.
I emailed CIS about it and got back a "Gosh! Wow! Thanks for telling us, we'll certainly look into that!" reply. I got the impression that what they meant was "uh oh, we didn't think of that", though they didn't come right out and say it.
Heck, if the INS were pissed off enough, they could probably cancel the company's outstanding H1Bs and give them 7 days to sell up and move out.
As someone else said, the qualifications include either a full degree, or work experience that evaluates to equivalent to a full degree, typically 10 years or more in the industry prior to entering the US. If you happen to be a nuclear physicist, a nurse/doctor, or possibly a musician/artist famous for something other than just being famous, the INS will fall over themselves to allow you in. Everybody else gets to suck rocks while they wait.
Maybe I was just lucky, but I got a payraise during my LCA. Not because I was on slave wages, but because the company just hadn't kept up with the going market rate for any of us. Or maybe I was lucky enough to get into an established company that actually has some history and a sensible business plan, not the
1) think up something cool
2) ????
3) profit!!!
that became so common in the last 3 years.
And for those that don't know, there's a stage during the H1B and Green Card apps where you can't work (no work permit), but you can't leave the country either (abandoning your app). This can run on for months. No welfare, no work, live off prior savings and so on until some overworked INS official pulls your paper out of the stack, says 'yep, that looks good' and stamps it.
Oh yeah, before I forget, I get to pay taxes, but I don't get to vote. Taxation without representation - enough to cause a revolution in some parts of the world... :)
It could happen, too. If enough folks in those areas put up enough shared files for the MPAA to get irritated, the ensuing DOS attack could take out routers and pipes that also serve Congress, the White House and the Pentagon, Microsoft in Redmond and all the motion picture sites in Hollywood.
Talk about a prime opportunity to shoot off a couple of toes...
A prospective employer likes your resume, applies for an H1B visa for you. If/when it's granted, you get to enter the USA.
What you don't see is that behind the scenes, the employer has to show:
1) they advertised the position and no suitably qualified American citizen applied;
2) the pay scale is equal to the going rate for the advertised position;
3) that the position has been advertised for sufficiently long time that any interested citizen can apply.
Once the H1B is granted, it is valid for a maximum of 6 years, after which the worker has to exit the US for 1 year, then repeat the process.
During the worker's 6 years of H1B, a green card can be applied for. This requires:
a) Labor Certification - i.e. proving the job was advertised and still no qualified citizen wants it. Dept of Labor also checks that H1B is being paid the going rate, not slave wages;
b) Petition for Alien Worker - where the employer begs the INS for permission to apply for a green card.
c) Filing for the Green Card, and possibly for a temp work permit if the H1B visa will soon expire;
d) get to your local INS office very early in the morning complete the final paperwork and to get a stamp in your passport. You need to take along two very specific photos (head/shoulders, 3/4 face, right ear showing, not too much hair, etc), and if the INS official disapproves of them, you have to get new ones.
I think I may have missed a step between b) and c), but I'm not sure.
The major criterion in H1B and Green Card apps is that the position has to be advertised, at a fair salary, and there were no qualified citizens that wanted the job . If an H1B is going for a green card and a qualified citizen applies during the advertisement stage, the H1B is out and the citizen gets the job.
Here in Oklahoma Labor Cert can take 30-45 days, the Petition for an Alien Worker can take 18 months, and the Green card app take a further 2 years or so.
Humorous side note: my 10yo daughter, wearing long hair and a dress, was standing right in front of the INS official and even so was marked on the final app as a boy... We didn't notice until the plastic card arrived. The same official also stamped my passport with a temporary visa stamp that expired the previous day instead of [now+1 year], because someone had altered the date stamp and hadn't put it back... Fortunately I caught that one while the official was processing my wife's papers.
So, Bruce, if you're listening, how about getting all the details of your speech printed up and distributed through the crowd by 100's of volunteers, and also via many websites all over the world??
It may or may not add to the size of the hole they dig for you, but at least those of us that can't attend will know what you said...
And anyone planning on attending, please take a video camera so that even if major news broadcasters decline to cover the event, the rest of us can inundate local news stations with outraged comments - "Arrested for playing a DVD" indeed!!
(yeah, I know that MS can legally use OpenSource, but the BSA don't seem to know that...)
You don't think that maybe the big companys are funding politicians to not make waves??
OK, so it hasn't happened yet, but it could... Or maybe it already has... Don't forget to keep downloading all those MS updates for the 'security' holes they keep finding...
Considering that the browser components are supposedly scattered through many DLLs, any patches from M$ could easily include updates for Digital Rights Management lockdown, spyware to tell tales, etc, as well as the 'next big hole' that someone will 'discover' whenever MS feels the need to send out more tracking/spying/crippling patches.
Heck, they don't even need to include such stuff, just track who downloads the latest patch and correlate with previous data to build a picture of what's out there.
For example, say ten million distinct folks download the latest patch for Win98. If M$ *know* they've only sold eight million copies of Win98, they know there are 2 million BSA targets out there...
1) DoD invites BSA to send along all their auditors that have Top-Secret (or higher) security clearance. That ought to slow them down.
2) DoD allows BSA auditors in, accompanied by highly-armed, kill-yer-grandma-for-a-dollar guards. Wanna bet they'd find nothing amiss?
3) DoD invites BSA to observe the middle finger, with the sub-text "we got waaay more guns than you..."
4) DoD explains to BSA that interfering with the military would be aiding terrorists, therefore branding the BSA as terrorists themselves. The BSA is then locked up and all their assets seized...
Hmm, option 4 is looking more and more attractive :)