One thing I like to do is turn of standard Windows filesharing and running Samba under Linux, to get rid of the max. 14 shares we have here on our workstations.
IT has the possibility to amplify the things that the revenue generating people do. If they can do more work in less time, then more revenue is generated. In this sense, IT does generate revenue.
The only problem is how to quantify this. You should be able to compare the the output of a job without and with IT amplification. If that is not possible, before beginning on a new project, it could well help to do some measurements beforehand, have a good talk with the people you need to help, estimate their productivity increase and then compare with the final project results.
You could have a problem here. Since a companies revenue is based on demand, and the productivity increases, but the demand stays flat, then people will have more time on their hands.
But, this could lead them to help their clients better, which maybe means that demand could rise.
One thing large companies want is to be able to use all their old software from the 80's so that they don't have to buy anything new or get used to something different
The only platforms on which you can do that are mainframes, AS/400, VAX, and POSIX compatible Unix platforms.
On Windows, most people which started using VB way back in time, had to solve issues each time a new version of VB came out.
You know what ? WindRiver also thought that they did not need Linux because they owned 70% of the embedded RTOS market. A couple of months later they turned 180 degrees and embraced Linux completely.
I think that the main problem is just that the Disney Studio's are run by managers and beancounters.
When Walt Disney was alive, the company had in him a talented man, who had eye for detail, knew about popular and classical music, and probably also had the talent to find people with the artistic and entertaining talents he needed to make nice movies.
But Walt Disney, after his death, was not replaced by someone with the same capacities, so you get a gradual decline of quality, and managers and beancounters think that they can compensate that with quantity.
I did pay for the Watcom 32-bit compiler for DOS, Windows and OS/2, back then. Never used it very much though, the main reason for using it was learning the OS/2 Presentation Manager API, but I never got really far.
Before I got enough hardware to run Linux, I bought several compilers, two versions of Zortech C++, and after that the Watcom compiler, because Symantec did not support OS/2 anymore.
I hope it does not install the default Debian kernel.
I now run Debian already for five years (2.0 -> 2.2 -> 3.0), but last year I finally had the money to buy a midrange server (dual Athlon MP, 2 Gb RAM, Promise SX-6000 RAID card). The trouble is : Red Hat has the only kernel which makes it possible to use my Promise RAID card out of the box. So, I am stuck with Red Hat 9 for the moment.
Actually, I think he got it somewhere else, but I can't consult my 'Asimov on Science ' right now.
Yesterday evening by the way, I read the last essay in mentioned book, and it was about self-similarity in science. In answer to a question from his friend Heinz Pagels, Asimov brought forth the notion that there will be no end to science, because it could be that everything is fractal.
After Pagels died in a mountaineering accident, Asimov wrote down his thoughts about it.
This is because we ourselves can rerun the tests if we want to on Linux,with the sources from here. In fact, I intend to do this on my brand new Dual Athlon system.
After investigating the opportunities here in Belgium for building a dual Opteron system, I came to the same conclusion. For the moment I rather have dual Athlon MP system, with SX-6000 raid, and 2Gb of memory, for which I know that current software will run well.
Since I am creating and giving courses on Linux, this system will give me plenty of horsepower to create courses on Linux for midrange systems : databases, web servers, UML, terminal servers, volume management, backups and so on, while at the same time give my wife access to powerful system.
I have been using Hung. not. a year or ten ago, and the first thing I noticed was that if I changed the type, I must change the name of the variable everywhere.
Second, there are some languages which do not use explicit types.
Third, when using a variable its semantic context is much more important than its type. This falls into the category of using descriptive names. HN obfuscates this.
Fourth, it is silly to add the type of variable into its name when you are using a compiler which checks for type conflicts.
When I worked in the bank, we did have two separate systems for each department, one for production and one for development, which always had the same configuration (I think the mainframe developers had their own partitions).
You do not want to run development code onto a production system, but you create a development system with enough copies of real data to test your software against.
The only administration part needed was when new software had to go into production. Ideally, this should indeed only be done when the user approves of the software.
The Islamic world was historically in the vanguard of science, knowledge, and all forms of culture. But at some point the West experienced the Enlightenment, and the Islamic world did not.
This came about because in their first conquests they encountered the remains of the Greek culture, which were spread over the Middle East in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great.
I think the Arabs at that time were a relatively open minded people, being spared the conquests of Alexander and the Romans. They embraced what remained of the Greek culture and philosophy and indeed built a grandiose culture with place for arts and sciences.
It is only since the twelfth century that Islamic fundamentalism crept in and created the pathways for abominations like Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Slashdot Mirror
Although I already use Debian for 5 years, at the end of last year I had to install RH9 on my new box.
I have a Promise SX-6000 ATA RAIDS controller, and only the Red Hat 9 distro was able to activate it.
I tried 2.4.20, 21, 23 and 24 kernels, with the standard RH configuration files, but none of them succeeds.
The problem now is to find out which patches on the 2.4.20 kernel RH has applied make it so. Only when I find that out, I can start installing Debian.
Jurgen
a) Look at innovations done by others
b) Wait some to time to gather enough topics
c) Start predicting the future by reading the past
In cygwin 'xinit -- -rootless' !
One thing I like to do is turn of standard Windows filesharing and running Samba under Linux, to get rid of the max. 14 shares we have here on our workstations.
To give a real short answer : IT is an amplifier.
To make the answer longer:
IT has the possibility to amplify the things that the revenue generating people do. If they can do more work in less time, then more revenue is generated. In this sense, IT does generate revenue.
The only problem is how to quantify this. You should be able to compare the the output of a job without and with IT amplification. If that is not possible, before beginning on a new project, it could well help to do some measurements beforehand, have a good talk with the people you need to help, estimate their productivity increase and then compare with the final project results.
You could have a problem here. Since a companies revenue is based on demand, and the productivity increases, but the demand stays flat, then people will have more time on their hands.
But, this could lead them to help their clients better, which maybe means that demand could rise.
Jurgen
One thing large companies want is to be able to use all their old software from the 80's so that they don't have to buy anything new or get used to something different
The only platforms on which you can do that are mainframes, AS/400, VAX, and POSIX compatible Unix platforms.
On Windows, most people which started using VB way back in time, had to solve issues each time a new version of VB came out.
The prodent admin probably has very shiny teeth!
You know what ? WindRiver also thought that they did not need Linux because they owned 70% of the embedded RTOS market. A couple of months later they turned 180 degrees and embraced Linux completely.
In Italian Mickey Mouse is Topolino, which I think can not be trademarked, because it means literally mouse.
I think that the main problem is just that the Disney Studio's are run by managers and beancounters.
When Walt Disney was alive, the company had in him a talented man, who had eye for detail, knew about popular and classical music, and probably also had the talent to find people with the artistic and entertaining talents he needed to make nice movies.
But Walt Disney, after his death, was not replaced by someone with the same capacities, so you get a gradual decline of quality, and managers and beancounters think that they can compensate that with quantity.
I did pay for the Watcom 32-bit compiler for DOS, Windows and OS/2, back then. Never used it very much though, the main reason for using it was learning the OS/2 Presentation Manager API, but I never got really far.
Before I got enough hardware to run Linux, I bought several compilers, two versions of Zortech C++, and after that the Watcom compiler, because Symantec did not support OS/2 anymore.
And now I only use scripting languages with Tk.
Jurgen
Yeah, or Eukanuba. I first thought that was food for fishes, but it is dog food.
In Soviet Russia Debian Overwrites You!
I hope it does not install the default Debian kernel.
I now run Debian already for five years (2.0 -> 2.2 -> 3.0), but last year I finally had the money to buy a midrange server (dual Athlon MP, 2 Gb RAM, Promise SX-6000 RAID card). The trouble is : Red Hat has the only kernel which makes it possible to use my Promise RAID card out of the box. So, I am stuck with Red Hat 9 for the moment.
Jurgen
Can electromagnetic pulses be used to destroy RFID's ?
Jurgen
Do you mean Roger Rabbit ? It seems that a version runs in DOSBox under Linux.
Regards,
Jurgen
Actually, I think he got it somewhere else, but I can't consult my 'Asimov on Science ' right now.
Yesterday evening by the way, I read the last essay in mentioned book, and it was about self-similarity in science. In answer to a question from his friend Heinz Pagels, Asimov brought forth the notion that there will be no end to science, because it could be that everything is fractal.
After Pagels died in a mountaineering accident, Asimov wrote down his thoughts about it.
Jurgen
The Presentation Manager was the API used to program OS/2 graphical applications.
What you got on screen was the Workplace Shell.
Jurgen
Yep, probably Jabil for Dell, don't know about Gateway though/.
This is because we ourselves can rerun the tests if we want to on Linux,with the sources from here. In fact, I intend to do this on my brand new Dual Athlon system.
After investigating the opportunities here in Belgium for building a dual Opteron system, I came to the same conclusion. For the moment I rather have dual Athlon MP system, with SX-6000 raid, and 2Gb of memory, for which I know that current software will run well.
Since I am creating and giving courses on Linux, this system will give me plenty of horsepower to create courses on Linux for midrange systems : databases, web servers, UML, terminal servers, volume management, backups and so on, while at the same time give my wife access to powerful system.
Regards,
Jurgen
SPOT : Single Point of Truth
I have been using Hung. not. a year or ten ago, and the first thing I noticed was that if I changed the type, I must change the name of the variable everywhere.
Second, there are some languages which do not use explicit types.
Third, when using a variable its semantic context is much more important than its type. This falls into the category of using descriptive names. HN obfuscates this.
Fourth, it is silly to add the type of variable into its name when you are using a compiler which checks for type conflicts.
Jurgen
When I worked in the bank, we did have two separate systems for each department, one for production and one for development, which always had the same configuration (I think the mainframe developers had their own partitions).
You do not want to run development code onto a production system, but you create a development system with enough copies of real data to test your software against.
The only administration part needed was when new software had to go into production. Ideally, this should indeed only be done when the user approves of the software.
Fungi is the plural of fungus!
The Islamic world was historically in the vanguard of science, knowledge, and all forms of culture. But at some point the West experienced the Enlightenment, and the Islamic world did not.
This came about because in their first conquests they encountered the remains of the Greek culture, which were spread over the Middle East in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great.
I think the Arabs at that time were a relatively open minded people, being spared the conquests of Alexander and the Romans. They embraced what remained of the Greek culture and philosophy and indeed built a grandiose culture with place for arts and sciences.
It is only since the twelfth century that Islamic fundamentalism crept in and created the pathways for abominations like Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Jurgen