Education and skill do not always converge 1:1. I know plenty of people who have Ph.D.s in Computer Science, who don't have the common sense to check the power cord when their PC won't turn on. It's sad, yes, but true.
What people fail to realize is that in many situations, education alone is not enough to diagnose and/or fix a computer problem. It takes a level of ingenuity and creative thinking sometimes. Simply educating someone on how to swap out a power supply does not prepare them for an unexpected BSOD that they have to manually track down. Cognitive function comes heavily into play, and it's at this point when the truly talented rise above the masses of people who simply title themselves "computer technicians."
It seems like people are expecting some major hand-holding while they get used to a new CLI / OS. Yet, ironically, similar things when introduced by MS or otherwise are globally scorned.
What's so taboo about just buying a book? The Table of Contents for "Linux for Dummies" shows a section dedicated to "Working Without The GUI".
If a new user wishes to learn about the Linux CLI, instead of insisting that developers waste valuable time on a pretty menu to tell you how to do a directory listing or find out how much disk space is free (sounds almost like a GUI, eh?), why not just pick up a book, or read one of the many free primers that are available on the web?
find / -name *base* -exec chown us:us {} \; su -c someone 'export UP_US=thebomb' for f in great justice ; do sed -e 's/zig//g' < $f ; done
b) Have you ever actually *tested* the speed of your wireless link or are you just trusting what the little icon tells you? Hell, I remember the good ol' days of dial-up when my little modem icon said "Connected at 115,200bps". I guess I had the fastest modem in the world!!
Saying that your car is only capable of 70MPH is incorrect. The car is not capable of 40% of its advertised throughput, it is capable of 100% -- the full 180MPH. If you only drive it at 70MPH, that's your choice -- the only thing stopping you from driving at 180MPH is fear (death, tickets, etc.).
Your comparison of your car's speed with the issue at hand isn't really appropriate. The main problem being that there is no "speed limit" on wireless devices (FCC radio regulations aren't applicable at this point) -- people expect to get full performance out of thier gear.
The main beef that I'm seeing that people have is that so many devices were advertised at 54Mbps and now we're finding out that it won't be so. What most people are failing to realize is that every one of those ads that I've bothered to investigate had a disclaimer explicitly stating that 802.11g was not standardized yet and was *subject to change.* The same goes for the modem issue you mentioned -- every modem box has it in plain print that they're not going to connect at 56Kbps.
Sure, it's a bummer that 802.11g won't be the 54Mbps dream we all thought it would be. But, and this has been said already, really, what are we losing? Once you factor in overhead and real-world tests, the performance of 11g networks was pretty much what's being stated as in the new drafts anyway.
I've discovered that there is a time and a place for every battle. Sometimes it's better to let people figure it out for themselves. I've been down this road with companies that I've consulted for many times. They all follow the "hit-by-a-bus" strategy... if our admin gets hit by a bus, we need software that any other person can support if we need to bring them in. Sadly, there aren't many people out there actually worth their salt and too many of them only specialize in certain commercial apps.
My strategy: Make the case to the management plain and simple. Open source software is constantly being improved and will [potentially] always be free (unless the author goes to the dark side...). Tell them they can save XXX dollars and get great features. If they still argue, say OK fine. Get quotes from all the major vendors of high-dollar commercial apps (i.e. Citrix Metaframe instead of VNC (yes there is a Unix version), commerical SSH (yes there are plenty) instead of OpenSSH, etc.) Compile all the costs, slap it on the CFO's desk and say "Ok I'm ready to implement all this just buy all that stuff." Then the CFO will scratch his head and say "Maybe this open-source stuff isn't such a bad idea after all."
Reminds me of a very similar battle I went through wtih a client some time back. The CEO *insisted* on M$ ISA Server (becasue people with "MCSE" after their names are a dime-a-dozen. Trust me, I know, I have one as well, only because my employer paid me to go get it) I told him that it was a waste of money. He didn't believe me. So I set up two servers -- one with ISA Server and one with Linux and IP Tables. He quickly saw the light when I dropped the $2400 quote on his desk to buy the license for ISA when the demo expired, and had no such quote for the other server.
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Call me when they have pets that don't require feeding and don't shit in the yard.
I can't even load the cherryos.com site to take a look at it...
I half-expected that reply to end with:
:)
"I'm Rick James, BITCH!" and a punch to the face.
No need to take offense or defend yourself -- I qualified that statement.
...meaning that some people are qualified and talented computer technicians. Others simply label themselves as that.
"...people who simply title themselves "computer technicians.""
That's not necessarily true.
Education and skill do not always converge 1:1. I know plenty of people who have Ph.D.s in Computer Science, who don't have the common sense to check the power cord when their PC won't turn on. It's sad, yes, but true.
What people fail to realize is that in many situations, education alone is not enough to diagnose and/or fix a computer problem. It takes a level of ingenuity and creative thinking sometimes. Simply educating someone on how to swap out a power supply does not prepare them for an unexpected BSOD that they have to manually track down. Cognitive function comes heavily into play, and it's at this point when the truly talented rise above the masses of people who simply title themselves "computer technicians."
It seems like people are expecting some major hand-holding while they get used to a new CLI / OS. Yet, ironically, similar things when introduced by MS or otherwise are globally scorned.
What's so taboo about just buying a book? The Table of Contents for "Linux for Dummies" shows a section dedicated to "Working Without The GUI". If a new user wishes to learn about the Linux CLI, instead of insisting that developers waste valuable time on a pretty menu to tell you how to do a directory listing or find out how much disk space is free (sounds almost like a GUI, eh?), why not just pick up a book, or read one of the many free primers that are available on the web?
...except for the fact that women are XX and men are XY.
find / -name *base* -exec chown us:us {} \; su -c someone 'export UP_US=thebomb' for f in great justice ; do sed -e 's/zig//g'
Actually if you want to start splitting hairs Rush is classified as "Progressive Rock."
-pLnCrZy
So what you're saying is that you'd actually PREFER goatse?
a) It seems you didn't actually READ the article.
b) Have you ever actually *tested* the speed of your wireless link or are you just trusting what the little icon tells you? Hell, I remember the good ol' days of dial-up when my little modem icon said "Connected at 115,200bps". I guess I had the fastest modem in the world!!
Of course, if I had read your post more carefully I would have seen that you were on the same page as I. *sigh*
/.'ing is dangerous.
Where's that silly "take back dumbass post" button when you need it?
I suppose that's why they say that drinking and
Saying that your car is only capable of 70MPH is incorrect. The car is not capable of 40% of its advertised throughput, it is capable of 100% -- the full 180MPH. If you only drive it at 70MPH, that's your choice -- the only thing stopping you from driving at 180MPH is fear (death, tickets, etc.).
Your comparison of your car's speed with the issue at hand isn't really appropriate. The main problem being that there is no "speed limit" on wireless devices (FCC radio regulations aren't applicable at this point) -- people expect to get full performance out of thier gear.
The main beef that I'm seeing that people have is that so many devices were advertised at 54Mbps and now we're finding out that it won't be so. What most people are failing to realize is that every one of those ads that I've bothered to investigate had a disclaimer explicitly stating that 802.11g was not standardized yet and was *subject to change.* The same goes for the modem issue you mentioned -- every modem box has it in plain print that they're not going to connect at 56Kbps.
Sure, it's a bummer that 802.11g won't be the 54Mbps dream we all thought it would be. But, and this has been said already, really, what are we losing? Once you factor in overhead and real-world tests, the performance of 11g networks was pretty much what's being stated as in the new drafts anyway.
I've discovered that there is a time and a place for every battle. Sometimes it's better to let people figure it out for themselves. I've been down this road with companies that I've consulted for many times. They all follow the "hit-by-a-bus" strategy... if our admin gets hit by a bus, we need software that any other person can support if we need to bring them in. Sadly, there aren't many people out there actually worth their salt and too many of them only specialize in certain commercial apps.
:)
My strategy: Make the case to the management plain and simple. Open source software is constantly being improved and will [potentially] always be free (unless the author goes to the dark side...). Tell them they can save XXX dollars and get great features. If they still argue, say OK fine. Get quotes from all the major vendors of high-dollar commercial apps (i.e. Citrix Metaframe instead of VNC (yes there is a Unix version), commerical SSH (yes there are plenty) instead of OpenSSH, etc.) Compile all the costs, slap it on the CFO's desk and say "Ok I'm ready to implement all this just buy all that stuff." Then the CFO will scratch his head and say "Maybe this open-source stuff isn't such a bad idea after all."
Reminds me of a very similar battle I went through wtih a client some time back. The CEO *insisted* on M$ ISA Server (becasue people with "MCSE" after their names are a dime-a-dozen. Trust me, I know, I have one as well, only because my employer paid me to go get it) I told him that it was a waste of money. He didn't believe me. So I set up two servers -- one with ISA Server and one with Linux and IP Tables. He quickly saw the light when I dropped the $2400 quote on his desk to buy the license for ISA when the demo expired, and had no such quote for the other server.
Sun Tzu.