There are so many facets to this conversation that it's hard to even find one simple place to start. However, being a 20 year+ experienced web dev (perl -> php) I would feel remorse if I did not at least give a tidbit here.
I have seen the entire gambit of good and bad code. Every time when it I think I have seen the worst... guess what? it's the third Tuesday of the month and BAM! We now get a new definition of ROCK BOTTOM! However, every piece of bad PHP code that I have seen was:
a) made in the past
b) fixed the problem of that moment
So can you really say it's bad code? It did what it need to do at that place in time. Also if a project has been online and functioning for 7 years can you really say it's a piece of crap and refuse to work on it? Yes it should be remade with a newer vision, budget, tools, technology but for real it's been online for 7 years and got the job done. That's more than what you can say about any phone, automobile, laptop, etc...
The php web dev sphere is filled with these "perfectionist" young kids who spend all day complaining about PHP. Everything to them should be done in GO, Python, or... These people don't last long at any one job because they are never happy with what they have and never see the potential for what is possible. If they would spend 1/2 of the time finding joy in PHP that they spend complaining about PHP well...
Bad stuff is made by bad people, or by companies that don't focus on quality and focus only on time and money. The worst projects to work on are for companies that don't have a clue what they are really doing and hire contractors 3 months at a time to Band-Aid problems. But this is not a PHP problem this is a make money and shut up problem of the economic system.
After 22 years of doing this I can say that if you want to work with a good environment, with good code, with good tools, with positive experiences, then you need to look for and find a work environment that practices proper Agile and Socriocracy methodologies. Make sure that they have a scrum master, that they do real stand ups daily, retrospectives, refinements, sprints, adhere to a correct definition of ready, definition of done, etc... It makes a HUGE difference trust me.
When you are working in a quality first model and not a waterfall, support desk fix the problem model, you will find a real inner peace/zen to your daily work and coding. It will become a pleasure and you will stop going from emergency to emergency. Switching web dev languages will not fix the problem. Hanging out with better people will.
Upgrade was also no problem on two machines (Laptop and Desktop) using the update manager. However with the exceptions of Firefox 2.0 and Gaim 2+ I can't say that too much is actually 'edgy' in this realease...
Getting Beryl to work was simple! Regardless smooth video playback at full screen even with researched settings still is a bit lacking.
In hind site I think it would be best to say that Ubuntu with their recent releases have been so ground breaking in getting Linux on the average desktop that maybe too many people were expecting either the second coming or the 'ultimate windows killer' from this one. None the less as long as there is never an Ubuntu Genuine Advantage spyware or a silly OSx "my company's hardware only" policies then Ubuntu will remain my OS thru and thru.
I am an American living in Belgium. I have been ever since Bush took office in 2000.
Free health care, education, broadband everywhere, soft drugs tolerancy, non massive biased media, a government that works, people who care about one another... Ohhh yeah I am missing the states for sure:)
Infact browsers do infact cache CSS and images and if done correctly yes they won't reload the images and flash the screen. Its just that you have to use css and layout mechanisms correctly which most AJAX hypers don't do...
You are a special needs kid using visual basic drag drop. The only thing you can make are little crapplets that further the hold that companies are taking on the internet.
You are only part of the problem concerning the internet and its corporate take over.
Ever since google used this thing to make google maps everyone and their dog is talking about Ajax! I for one would like it to stop along with all the other HYPED up fads in the webdevelopment world ( RUBY most noteably ).
However, these Ajax yappers completely miss a few points.
Just like 'FLASH' Ajax will have adverse effects if used in a site:
1. Makes it unreadable for the blind or anyone else using a browser that doesn't use a fancy javascript. 2. Makes it less readable or unreadable to google and yahoo search engines. 3. Adds yet another step in the web development pipeline 4. Further supports M$'s "we'll make our own javascript" cause. IE handles AJAX differently then the rest ( big surprise ). 5. Breaks the standard accepted policy of unified pages ( essentially re-introducing frames )
Lastly and most importantly,
AJAX yappers talk about response and app like look and feel. If you encounter one of these people then rest assured that they don't know what good layout design and CSS are!
They more than likely have 5+ things happening on the screen at the same time or have too much information on the screen such that user interaction causes the page to have to be completely reloaded.
With proper layout and CSS you can make a web site or application respond and look just like an Ajax one without having to use Ajax or code up some JavaScript piping. The browser will cache the layout correctly and thus the extra 3k of information that AJAX supporters say they avoid is in fact already avoided.
Well I wasn't going to name names but since the guy above did then I shall too.
It was indeed Computer City. That infamous bastard child of radio shack. I too was there for a few years and I did enjoy it for the most part.
I didn't like the constant management push for extended warranty selling and customers who refused to except the fact that sometimes a computer is dead and there is nothing that can be done. I think that job would be funner these days because with massive USB drives you can back up a customers data easier and also get a copy of their mp3s;)
The biggest task was upgrading or wiping the hard drive. Everyone knows that windows goes faster after a clean install. So how do you get all their data ( cookies, mail, settings, etc... ) onto the new hard drive. Also lord have mercy if someone needed this done and needed to have the Office 95 reinstalled when it was year 98. The again thats a problem that M$ should fix. Do roaming profiles really work?
A long long time ago in a Galaxy far far away...
I worked for a retail chain that had an 'upgrades and repair counter' long before Best Buy had "geek squad".
486 66s / 30 Pinn Memory / 850mb hard drives / 2x CD Burners OH MY!
While everyone who worked at the coutner was capable of handling many hardware issues the problem occured at the management level. What problems don't?
We weren't allowed to work on anything that would take more than 20/30 minutes or anything that would require in-depth troubleshooting or many parts. Geek Squad, I am sure is a marketing gimmick put on Best Buy. Fast answers and solutions to make the brand look beter with maximum efficiency. Their true function is not to fix computers so that customers trust Best Buy and come back.
Geek Squad probably and unfortunately not known by the geeks that work there is a high level marketing concept to push and promote extended warranty programs. The Idea:
"OMG If Geek Squad can't fix it and has to send it in then it must be serious and its going to cost XXXX, Judas I should have bought the extended warranty or atleast if I have to buy a new computer I will buy the warranty then..."
I am sure that the computers that the original poster is recieving are not computers that have an extended warranty program purchased with the system. I am also sure that Geek Squad gladly fixes 'serious' problems when the machine does have the warranty, what do geek squadders get paid?
Lastly, the Best Buy stores in rural Iowa probably have a better Geek Squad track record that the stores located in busy/crazy environments like LA or NY.
My $0.02
None of the browsers reviewed in that article had ports for Linux.
I don't think that its stupid/useless, if input devices are/were to change and we get our hands free from the keyboard. The 3d apps would make very good sense.
Instead of Alt-Left/Right we just flick our finger to go back and forth in history.
If 3d browsers are useless then Compiz and GLX are useless as well...
First off, linux, bsd, and unix, utilize the hardware of machine much better than Windows. However, Linux, BSD, and Unix completely fail in providing an out of the box enjoyeable experience.
Points where Linux for the Desktop fails (Ubuntu and Suse):
If you want to play a MP3 in Linux... If you want to play a DivX or Xvid in Linux... USB Stick Drive in Linux... Photoshop ( don't say gimp... lynda.com does not have tutorials on gimp ) Dreamweaver ( don't say hand code, today's websites require too much for hand coding ) Games MP3 players, zen, ipod, etc... windows only drivers.
None of these things work out of the box aleast for Ubuntu or Suse. You have to go to the Xine page, or the Mplayer page, or the Xmms page, or GNU project. You have to install the codecs in/usr/lib/w32 yada smada. Reconfigure your gnome or KDE to Xine to play DivXs. O and Xine can't see accross your network so the file has to be on your hard drive. So that means you need to install samba, configure samba, mount shares. All this and then you still go to play the avi of something and low and behold the mpeg/layer2 codec is not properly there so no sound just video. Or my favorite in linux is what I call the library run around../configure -> requires something from ^here^ -> that requires something from there -> that inturn requires another library from another place... Some apps you get from source, some apps you need to use apt-get, some times you have rpm's. Only FreeBSD and its port collection impress me. The ports system on FreeBSD should be what the other Nix's do.
Don't get me wrong. I know that all of these will work when 'configured' properly, and I also do know that you have some of the same stuff going on in Windows. However, I never need to go into a/usr/local/etc/config.file and change things to get them to work in windows. I don't have to go to 4 different web pages and download 6 different glibc extension libraries to get something to work.
For serving things hands down Nix's are better, mail, www, ftp, smb, you name it they do it better than god forbid Windows 200x. However, for using in day to day life I have to say Windows does a better job of making things easier. Hooking up a digital camera, USB pen drives, playing things. Doing something just a bit more than emailing and web browsing.
1. Don't Use IE 2. Don't Use Outlook ( Express ) 3. Use a smoothwall firewall as the router 4. Don't run any of those pop-ups that come from porn sites. 5. Eliminate all noobs who use the machines!!!
Are you for real? Judas priest man go on line a read SOMETHING! To say what you have said only shows you don't even have a clue about the EU. You're just some stuck up english tart that doesn't wan't to loose his knickers and have to drive on the right side of the road. You sir are nothing but rubbish!
Start your own company do it how you want to do it. Tell your boss to take a hike.
Would a person who likes to work in a shop ever work for Wallmart? Heck no! They would have their own store selling the stuff that they like.
Talk to an accountant get a tax number and make websites for your own clients in your own way. You may be good at it or bad it. Atleast you won't be in an office masterbating to the theme song of the week of your pointy haired boss.
Sat around for a year waiting for clearance did absolutely nothing. We didn't even have enough computers for everyone waiting and by company rules bringing a deck of cards was forbidden and reading non company approved books was prohibited. However, I did get a stupid ID card to hang around my neck and an employee number by which I could be referred to.
In the end I left the company. I had been written up for viewing 'the onion' once from a computer. "The Onion" in Lockheed and the government's eye was an anti-social movement online publication that was a threat to the workspace.
Don't do business with people that do business with AOL for starters.
Let me guess, the email that you send them you probably advertise viagra?
Run a legit business that doesn't require mass mailing people dork!
This is what I did. Is it the best way? For me it has been.
First I took a job with Lockheed. They are a HUGE company. You blend in become unoticed fairly quick! The job required that I sit and wait for a year in a TANK while the FBI looked up my information ( While being payed alot of money by the Taxpayers ).
During that year of sitting and doing nothing I looked on job boards in Europe (www.stepstone.be and www.monster.be). I look in Belgium because it was in the center of Europe and pretty language / work friendly to outsiders. Brussels is an open international city. Mostly French speaking with some dutch and spanish and german and english and anything else. FUN!
BTW If you don't want to actually do anything with your life and get paid for it then work for Lockheed Martin. They rule!
So I took a job in Belgium. Got a visa, work permit, living permit, and voila! I was on a plane to another part of the world to set up residence and live.
As it turns out it ROCKS. I learned the local version of Dutch, the French is improving. I rent a car from time to time and travel around europe at my pace and see plenty of cool things. I play on the coolest frisbee team possible, I go to concerts and festivals, and do really cool stuff like going to Euro style Saunas. The people here are fantastic and its very safe. No Snipers, gangs, or politicians like Bush to worry about. Its pratically legal to smoke green here too! The fellow co-workers are extrememly brillant and work actually gets done in the WORK environment.
Having a Belgium ID means you can go to cool places like CUBA and Thailand and not have to show you US passport. One of the things you will learn is that once you get outside of the US, 90% of the rest of world hates the US. Second thing you will learn is how much healthier the rest of the world lives when there isn't a McDonalds on every street corner!
Joining some missionary group like Peace Corp may be an answer but that's if you want to see Africa or China. Then not to mention try getting out of Peace Corp. I have heard about some pretty Amway like brainwashing that goes on to keep people in.
The other option and I have seen this done quite well and frequently is become a freelancer for a global company or enterprise software tool. I see programmers in PeopleSoft, Baan, and SAP globe trotting all the time. Asia, Europe, Americas, etc... They work 6 months then take off and travel 6 months on their own time.
Actually, with cygwin you have been able to get x working for some time now. I recall January being my first X-perience on Xp.
Since cygwin's setup program is now idiot proof its about 6 clicks and a bunch downloading later and BAM! X on Xp. Just make a shortcut to the startwinx.bat file in the/usr/X.../bin/ dir and you then become |golden boy|. Ofcourse blast out the line in starwinx.bat that kicks of tvm and get a real window manager ( as if you care, but fvwm is my choice ).
For performance sake I keep to just a simple fvwm2 setup. Not to say Xp is great but I don't see a need to duplicate half of the fancy stuff ( email notifiers, clocks, start menus, yada^3 ) by running KDE or something more ontop of your current Xp rig.
To be honest I think the work the cygwin folks are doing is the most complete solution now for your PC. You now get the power and devel environ of Nix and the hardware compatibility and other features of windows. No more dual boot. No more kernel recompiles just to get a USB flash card reader working. Just point scripts to/cygdrive/d where d is drive letter that windows assigned to your hardware.
Only complaint is the file naming problems that occur when your strike off a DOS program with files as arguments. But not a huge issue. ( Compiling Tcl/Tk scripts using the Windows version of tclpro tools, chokes on the file names ). Other than that perfect!
If you are truly sick... Cygwin does come with glut and glu. I'd like to see someone hack something like q3 for linux inside a cygwin session running on Xp or 2000 or whatever illegal bangkok version of the Microsoft OS your are running.
Cutting the BS out of the way...
What makes google different from the many razor scooter riding, Latte drinking, "hi we all have PHDs" and look at us do something on the 'net' companies?
Rob
Slashdot Mirror
There are so many facets to this conversation that it's hard to even find one simple place to start. However, being a 20 year+ experienced web dev (perl -> php) I would feel remorse if I did not at least give a tidbit here. I have seen the entire gambit of good and bad code. Every time when it I think I have seen the worst... guess what? it's the third Tuesday of the month and BAM! We now get a new definition of ROCK BOTTOM! However, every piece of bad PHP code that I have seen was: a) made in the past b) fixed the problem of that moment So can you really say it's bad code? It did what it need to do at that place in time. Also if a project has been online and functioning for 7 years can you really say it's a piece of crap and refuse to work on it? Yes it should be remade with a newer vision, budget, tools, technology but for real it's been online for 7 years and got the job done. That's more than what you can say about any phone, automobile, laptop, etc... The php web dev sphere is filled with these "perfectionist" young kids who spend all day complaining about PHP. Everything to them should be done in GO, Python, or ... These people don't last long at any one job because they are never happy with what they have and never see the potential for what is possible. If they would spend 1/2 of the time finding joy in PHP that they spend complaining about PHP well...
Bad stuff is made by bad people, or by companies that don't focus on quality and focus only on time and money. The worst projects to work on are for companies that don't have a clue what they are really doing and hire contractors 3 months at a time to Band-Aid problems. But this is not a PHP problem this is a make money and shut up problem of the economic system.
After 22 years of doing this I can say that if you want to work with a good environment, with good code, with good tools, with positive experiences, then you need to look for and find a work environment that practices proper Agile and Socriocracy methodologies. Make sure that they have a scrum master, that they do real stand ups daily, retrospectives, refinements, sprints, adhere to a correct definition of ready, definition of done, etc... It makes a HUGE difference trust me.
When you are working in a quality first model and not a waterfall, support desk fix the problem model, you will find a real inner peace/zen to your daily work and coding. It will become a pleasure and you will stop going from emergency to emergency. Switching web dev languages will not fix the problem. Hanging out with better people will.
Upgrade was also no problem on two machines (Laptop and Desktop) using the update manager. However with the exceptions of Firefox 2.0 and Gaim 2+ I can't say that too much is actually 'edgy' in this realease...
;)
Getting Beryl to work was simple! Regardless smooth video playback at full screen even with researched settings still is a bit lacking.
In hind site I think it would be best to say that Ubuntu with their recent releases have been so ground breaking in getting Linux on the average desktop that maybe too many people were expecting either the second coming or the 'ultimate windows killer' from this one. None the less as long as there is never an Ubuntu Genuine Advantage spyware or a silly OSx "my company's hardware only" policies then Ubuntu will remain my OS thru and thru.
Maybe its time to focus on Damn Small Ubuntu?
I am an American living in Belgium. I have been ever since Bush took office in 2000.
:)
Free health care, education, broadband everywhere, soft drugs tolerancy, non massive biased media, a government that works, people who care about one another... Ohhh yeah I am missing the states for sure
Good point steroid.
Javascript has been abused for so many years by devious people.
I would disable it in my browser however there are just too many sites to require it for use. The problem is thus.
In Reality:
JavaScript, Flash, Ajax have about 25% legitimate functional uses and the other 75% is either useless, devious, or down right stupid.
Nope you're not.
Infact browsers do infact cache CSS and images and if done correctly yes they won't reload the images and flash the screen. Its just that you have to use css and layout mechanisms correctly which most AJAX hypers don't do...
If you use .net you are ^not^ a web app developer.
You are a special needs kid using visual basic drag drop. The only thing you can make are little crapplets that further the hold that companies are taking on the internet.
You are only part of the problem concerning the internet and its corporate take over.
Learn how to code you moron.
Ever since google used this thing to make google maps everyone and their dog is talking about Ajax! I for one would like it to stop along with all the other HYPED up fads in the webdevelopment world ( RUBY most noteably ).
However, these Ajax yappers completely miss a few points.
Just like 'FLASH' Ajax will have adverse effects if used in a site:
1. Makes it unreadable for the blind or anyone else using a browser that doesn't use a fancy javascript.
2. Makes it less readable or unreadable to google and yahoo search engines.
3. Adds yet another step in the web development pipeline
4. Further supports M$'s "we'll make our own javascript" cause. IE handles AJAX differently then the rest ( big surprise ).
5. Breaks the standard accepted policy of unified pages ( essentially re-introducing frames )
Lastly and most importantly,
AJAX yappers talk about response and app like look and feel. If you encounter one of these people then rest assured that they don't know what good layout design and CSS are!
They more than likely have 5+ things happening on the screen at the same time or have too much information on the screen such that user interaction causes the page to have to be completely reloaded.
With proper layout and CSS you can make a web site or application respond and look just like an Ajax one without having to use Ajax or code up some JavaScript piping. The browser will cache the layout correctly and thus the extra 3k of information that AJAX supporters say they avoid is in fact already avoided.
Well I wasn't going to name names but since the guy above did then I shall too.
;)
It was indeed Computer City. That infamous bastard child of radio shack. I too was there for a few years and I did enjoy it for the most part.
I didn't like the constant management push for extended warranty selling and customers who refused to except the fact that sometimes a computer is dead and there is nothing that can be done. I think that job would be funner these days because with massive USB drives you can back up a customers data easier and also get a copy of their mp3s
The biggest task was upgrading or wiping the hard drive. Everyone knows that windows goes faster after a clean install. So how do you get all their data ( cookies, mail, settings, etc... ) onto the new hard drive. Also lord have mercy if someone needed this done and needed to have the Office 95 reinstalled when it was year 98. The again thats a problem that M$ should fix. Do roaming profiles really work?
Long Live NIX
A long long time ago in a Galaxy far far away... I worked for a retail chain that had an 'upgrades and repair counter' long before Best Buy had "geek squad". 486 66s / 30 Pinn Memory / 850mb hard drives / 2x CD Burners OH MY! While everyone who worked at the coutner was capable of handling many hardware issues the problem occured at the management level. What problems don't? We weren't allowed to work on anything that would take more than 20/30 minutes or anything that would require in-depth troubleshooting or many parts. Geek Squad, I am sure is a marketing gimmick put on Best Buy. Fast answers and solutions to make the brand look beter with maximum efficiency. Their true function is not to fix computers so that customers trust Best Buy and come back. Geek Squad probably and unfortunately not known by the geeks that work there is a high level marketing concept to push and promote extended warranty programs. The Idea: "OMG If Geek Squad can't fix it and has to send it in then it must be serious and its going to cost XXXX, Judas I should have bought the extended warranty or atleast if I have to buy a new computer I will buy the warranty then..." I am sure that the computers that the original poster is recieving are not computers that have an extended warranty program purchased with the system. I am also sure that Geek Squad gladly fixes 'serious' problems when the machine does have the warranty, what do geek squadders get paid? Lastly, the Best Buy stores in rural Iowa probably have a better Geek Squad track record that the stores located in busy/crazy environments like LA or NY. My $0.02
None of the browsers reviewed in that article had ports for Linux.
I don't think that its stupid/useless, if input devices are/were to change and we get our hands free from the keyboard. The 3d apps would make very good sense.
Instead of Alt-Left/Right we just flick our finger to go back and forth in history.
If 3d browsers are useless then Compiz and GLX are useless as well...
The episodes are only availeable for US isp's.
Will still go to p-bay for free no commercial versions...
First off, linux, bsd, and unix, utilize the hardware of machine much better than Windows. However, Linux, BSD, and Unix completely fail in providing an out of the box enjoyeable experience.
/usr/lib/w32 yada smada. Reconfigure your gnome or KDE to Xine to play DivXs. O and Xine can't see accross your network so the file has to be on your hard drive. So that means you need to install samba, configure samba, mount shares. All this and then you still go to play the avi of something and low and behold the mpeg/layer2 codec is not properly there so no sound just video. Or my favorite in linux is what I call the library ./configure -> requires something from ^here^ -> that requires something from there -> that inturn requires another library from another place... Some apps you get from source, some apps you need to use apt-get, some times you have rpm's. Only FreeBSD and its port collection impress me. The ports system on FreeBSD should be what the other Nix's do.
/usr/local/etc/config.file and change things to get them to work in windows. I don't have to go to 4 different web pages and download 6 different glibc extension libraries to get something to work.
Points where Linux for the Desktop fails (Ubuntu and Suse):
If you want to play a MP3 in Linux...
If you want to play a DivX or Xvid in Linux...
USB Stick Drive in Linux...
Photoshop ( don't say gimp... lynda.com does not have tutorials on gimp )
Dreamweaver ( don't say hand code, today's websites require too much for hand coding )
Games
MP3 players, zen, ipod, etc... windows only drivers.
None of these things work out of the box aleast for Ubuntu or Suse. You have to go to the Xine page, or the Mplayer page, or the Xmms page, or GNU project. You have to install the codecs in
run around.
Don't get me wrong. I know that all of these will work when 'configured' properly, and I also do know that you have some of the same stuff going on in Windows. However, I never need to go into a
For serving things hands down Nix's are better, mail, www, ftp, smb, you name it they do it better than god forbid Windows 200x. However, for using in day to day life I have to say Windows does a better job of making things easier. Hooking up a digital camera, USB pen drives, playing things. Doing something just a bit more than emailing and web browsing.
1. Don't Use IE
2. Don't Use Outlook ( Express )
3. Use a smoothwall firewall as the router
4. Don't run any of those pop-ups that come from porn sites.
5. Eliminate all noobs who use the machines!!!
40 euro per hour for normal whatever people.
;)
20 euro per hour for family.
lower rates depending on wether the person your helping is:
A. Hot, Horny and Female
B. Can fix your car someday
C. Can score you some green
Free for mom and dad cause they brought into the world. Ok maybe your sister and bro too.
Make sure that it is cash as much as possible. BLACK MONEY is gold really.
Cheers
Are you for real? Judas priest man go on line a read SOMETHING! To say what you have said only shows you don't even have a clue about the EU. You're just some stuck up english tart that doesn't wan't to loose his knickers and have to drive on the right side of the road. You sir are nothing but rubbish!
Start your own company do it how you want to do it. Tell your boss to take a hike.
Would a person who likes to work in a shop ever work for Wallmart? Heck no! They would have their own store selling the stuff that they like.
Talk to an accountant get a tax number and make websites for your own clients in your own way. You may be good at it or bad it. Atleast you won't be in an office masterbating to the theme song of the week of your pointy haired boss.
-R
Working for Lockheed Martin...
Sat around for a year waiting for clearance did absolutely nothing. We didn't even have enough computers for everyone waiting and by company rules bringing a deck of cards was forbidden and reading non company approved books was prohibited. However, I did get a stupid ID card to hang around my neck and an employee number by which I could be referred to.
In the end I left the company. I had been written up for viewing 'the onion' once from a computer. "The Onion" in Lockheed and the government's eye was an anti-social movement online publication that was a threat to the workspace.
Lockheed is a JOKE!
Don't do business with people that do business with AOL for starters. Let me guess, the email that you send them you probably advertise viagra? Run a legit business that doesn't require mass mailing people dork!
First DROP the geek. No one is a geek.
This is what I did. Is it the best way? For me it has been.
First I took a job with Lockheed. They are a HUGE company. You blend in become unoticed fairly quick! The job required that I sit and wait for a year in a TANK while the FBI looked up my information ( While being payed alot of money by the Taxpayers ).
During that year of sitting and doing nothing I looked on job boards in Europe (www.stepstone.be and www.monster.be). I look in Belgium because it was in the center of Europe and pretty language / work friendly to outsiders. Brussels is an open international city. Mostly French speaking with some dutch and spanish and german and english and anything else. FUN!
BTW If you don't want to actually do anything with your life and get paid for it then work for Lockheed Martin. They rule!
So I took a job in Belgium. Got a visa, work permit, living permit, and voila! I was on a plane to another part of the world to set up residence and live.
As it turns out it ROCKS. I learned the local version of Dutch, the French is improving. I rent a car from time to time and travel around europe at my pace and see plenty of cool things. I play on the coolest frisbee team possible, I go to concerts and festivals, and do really cool stuff like going to Euro style Saunas. The people here are fantastic and its very safe. No Snipers, gangs, or politicians like Bush to worry about. Its pratically legal to smoke green here too! The fellow co-workers are extrememly brillant and work actually gets done in the WORK environment.
Having a Belgium ID means you can go to cool places like CUBA and Thailand and not have to show you US passport. One of the things you will learn is that once you get outside of the US, 90% of the rest of world hates the US. Second thing you will learn is how much healthier the rest of the world lives when there isn't a McDonalds on every street corner!
Joining some missionary group like Peace Corp may be an answer but that's if you want to see Africa or China. Then not to mention try getting out of Peace Corp. I have heard about some pretty Amway like brainwashing that goes on to keep people in.
The other option and I have seen this done quite well and frequently is become a freelancer for a global company or enterprise software tool. I see programmers in PeopleSoft, Baan, and SAP globe trotting all the time. Asia, Europe, Americas, etc... They work 6 months then take off and travel 6 months on their own time.
If you want you can email me.
Since cygwin's setup program is now idiot proof its about 6 clicks and a bunch downloading later and BAM! X on Xp. Just make a shortcut to the startwinx.bat file in the /usr/X.../bin/ dir and you then become |golden boy|. Ofcourse blast out the line in starwinx.bat that kicks of tvm and get a real window manager ( as if you care, but fvwm is my choice ).
For performance sake I keep to just a simple fvwm2 setup. Not to say Xp is great but I don't see a need to duplicate half of the fancy stuff ( email notifiers, clocks, start menus, yada^3 ) by running KDE or something more ontop of your current Xp rig.
To be honest I think the work the cygwin folks are doing is the most complete solution now for your PC. You now get the power and devel environ of Nix and the hardware compatibility and other features of windows. No more dual boot. No more kernel recompiles just to get a USB flash card reader working. Just point scripts to /cygdrive/d where d is drive letter that windows assigned to your hardware.
Only complaint is the file naming problems that occur when your strike off a DOS program with files as arguments. But not a huge issue. ( Compiling Tcl/Tk scripts using the Windows version of tclpro tools, chokes on the file names ). Other than that perfect!
If you are truly sick... Cygwin does come with glut and glu. I'd like to see someone hack something like q3 for linux inside a cygwin session running on Xp or 2000 or whatever illegal bangkok version of the Microsoft OS your are running.
Cutting the BS out of the way... What makes google different from the many razor scooter riding, Latte drinking, "hi we all have PHDs" and look at us do something on the 'net' companies? Rob