Depending on how you define "part time help" your statement is either accurate or complete bull.
If you define "part time help" as someone being grossly underpaid, possibly a grad student or something, then you're probably right. If you define "part time help" as a professional contractor, you couldn't be more wrong.
The "part time help has nothing at stake" myth is invariably spouted by regular employees who are jealous that we make twice as much money, don't have to do unpaid overtime, are immune to politics, and we do the "same work" that they do.
What they don't realize, is that as a contractor, we have to constantly work harder, faster, do the shit jobs that no one wants, and generally be more productive than the "regular" employees, because we know that if the shit hits the fan, we are the first ones to go.
A lot (recently all) of the work I get is by word of mouth, so it is in my interest to provide good value for the dollar so that my employers will a) keep extemding my contract, b) recommend me to others, c) bring me back the next time they need something done. If you don't work this way, you won't be working long as a contractor.
Perhaps 15 years ago your statement would be correct, but most employees do not have "more stake in the company" - especially in the software industry. To remain competitive technically and financially we must be constantly acquiring new skills and renegotiating our compensation, and this often involves changing jobs.
The only employees that have "more at stake" are the ones that are looking at a career in the company. These are few and far between, and more importantly tend to be political rather than technically oriented.
There are exceptions, but in my experience, this is what I have seen.
This is a symptom of what has become all too common in todays email society - the trivialization of communication.
The "forward" has become a replacement for an actual composed email message. Its easier to maintain the illusion of staying in touch by forwarding some insipid crap rather than taking the time to actually *gasp* drop someone a personal note.
As a result, most email is not private, or more importantly, personal. I can easily imagine what went through the recipients mind - "wow, this is cool, let me forward it to ____". Why wouldn't he ? After all, we foward crap to each other all the time, why should this very interesting email be any different ?
You get something that looks interesting, you forward it. It couldn't POSSIBLY have been intended for ONLY you.
I would bet that had this letter been handwritten, the recipients would not have shown it around.
First Question: Apple is using the G3 and G4 processors in its computers. The G3 is made by IBM. The G4 is essentially a G3 with the addition of the AltiVec extentions.
Second Question: NFI - The blade server line pages claim that it will run unix or windows server (and most likely linux), but this particular prototype, I don't know. I would suspect AIX.
Suspicion: Wrong, the processor is actually made by IBM.
Theres a HUGE discussion about this CPU on arstechnica - link but its pretty technical.
This chip was not just for mac, its supposedly to make IBM more competitive in the mid-level server market.
Based on the way the patent office works (or doesn't work) with regards to patents makes it clear that there is definitely a need for some sort of reform. The problem is what the reform should be.
We are currently seeing a rash of patents that frankly have no business being approved, but they continue to get approved because the guys at the patant office who are doing the research for prior art cannot possibly be aware of every product in the entire universe.
I suspect that probably the overworked clerks have some sort of keyword procedure that is used to allow them to check for prior art. The flaws in this approach have become painfully apparent with software patents.
For example, in this case, there seems to be not much functionality there that isn't already provided already by the likes of CVS, subversion, etc., but the clerks at the patent office have absolutely no what CVS is, or any other of the myriad obscure open source projects.
Perhaps the process should be modified such that during the "patent pending" process, non-USPO individuals/entities should be allowed to review pending patents and provide prior art. The onus would then be on the community to ensure that bogus patents don't get passed.
I'd like to see a world where private industries (as well as public organizations like FSF) would keep an eye on their respective fields of interest and perhaps bring some of this foolish crap to a stop.
Prohibitions It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States -- to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine;
Doesn't say anything about the fax having to come over a phone line, just that it has to go to a telephone facsimile machine.
Looks like cable modem users can sue. Luckily I have about 10k spams saved, I'm sure I can find some for local florida companies, then I'll go buy myself a faxmodem !
Well, I didn't say that everyone should be more interested in osX than linux, just that its more interesting to me. Linux also makes a great desktop, just not for me.
I'm a programmer, I do embedded, client side, and server side programming. For the embedded, I need a gcc crosscompiler and a serial port. I can do that anywhere. For the client side stuff, I started off with Motif, then went to Swing, then MFC, and I'm probably going to switch to wxWindows which theoretically should run anywhere. (crosses fingers).
For web development, depending on the customer, I need apache/jsp/php/servlets and typically postgresql or mysql. I can do this work on a windows machine, but I prefer to do it on a linux box as 99.9% of the time the deployment server is also a unix box, and to be honest getting this stuff running on a windows box is extremely tedious.
But here's the kicker - for web work I also need dreamweaver + illustator + photoshop. For these apps I need either windows or osx, so I need two machines. Dual boot is absolutely not an option.
At home I have two machines hooked up via KVM - one is my test server, and the other I run my applications on. For travelling, the only possible option is to lug around two laptops and a hub, which is no fun.
I've been messing with an iBook recently, and I think that the next time I'm due to upgrade my hardware (which should be this year), more than likely I will pick up one of the new powerbooks and this will become my desktop and travel computer.
Macs laptops cost a little more than intel hardware, and mac desktops cost a lot more, but remember that I am replacing two machines with one, hence my statements that for me, macs are cheaper.
Also, this line gets thrown around a lot, but I'll use it again "linux is free if your time is worthless". Every hour I spend dicking with linux trying to get something to work, is an hour that I could be billing a customer, or working on one of my myriad unfinished projects. Or better yet away from a computer:)
Ah. OK. now I understand. Your aversion to the closed Apple community is completely understandable and valid. You wouldn't happen to be RMS in disguise would you ?:P
I'd like to present a different viewpoint - that there is nothing wrong with a company controlling the hardware as long as it works.
Take for example the software that runs on a CD player. Its controlled by the manufacturer that made the hardware. You can't add or change anything, but guess what - as long as you can stop, play, advance, rewind and eject, who cares is you can't change anything ?
I used to be an linux zealot, and I really liked the fact that I could rebuild anything I didn't like in linux. In fact, I used to do it all the time. But in the last 5 years or so, I haven't modified a single line of code in any linux distro, mainly because the linux tools and applications are getting better, and I don't _need_ to patch them to get them to work right for me.
Linux as a desktop solution has made some wonderful advances, but its nowhere near as integrated as the osX environment is - remember that osX is currently controlled by a company that has a vested interest in having all the tools interoperate and work well together, which is not true for linux.
Linux might be a valid desktop replacement a few years from now, but not yet. At least not for me anyway - too many of the apps I need are either windows or unix specific. Over the years I've had dual boot machines, multiple machines connected via a KVM, cygwin, remote access via exceed, you name it, I've tried it. I find osX to be a cleaner and cheaper solution.
Vegetarians don't get reamed for "Organic" produce out of spite or ill will, its just economics.
A field of crops requires X dollars to harvest, irrigate, package, distribute, etc. Say that with fertilizers/steriods/insecticides it produces N units of crop, and without it produces N/10. Obviously the organic crops will cost 10 times as much.
Remember also that the cost of the chemicals is proportionally very small, so the chemical savings are nowhere near enough to counter the vastly produced production.
Harvest are much smaller when "Organic" methods are used - look at the production numbers for dairy cattle if you REALLY want to be amazed.
OSX is not a Linux replacement. Although it may be a good Windows replacement. If someone specifically asks for Linux, chances are they're not interested in what OSX has to offer.
what people call "linux" is a combination of a kernel and a bunch of applications.
osx will run everything except the kernel itself, so I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say.
Do you have any examples of what specifically will not run on osx ?
MS lost out bigtime by failing to convince the cellphone manufacturers to adopt their embedded OS - most of the bignames plan to use Simian (is that how you spell it) which uses Opera as its browser.
The reality is that most windows users will never change their browser from IE to something else, so they are not afraid of Mozilla, konq, Safari, etc.
The cellphone market on the other hand is HUGE, and given recent advances in wireless bandwith, has the potential to be highly lucrative.
More than likely its probably safe to say that a significant percentage of all web browsing in the future will be on cellphones.
They are attempting to ensure that non MS cellphones can't surf the web properly, in an attempt to make consumers prefer buying MS enabled webphones, which in turn will generate more revenue in the embedded market for them, which they desperately need.
Just my opinion tho - can never tell what does guys are up to...
I don't see it happening, because in order to be fair, that would require LOWERING prices for the people that don't use a lot of bandwidth.
As we all know, prices only drop when theres competition, and thanks to Powell Jr, in the short term there will never be any.
It probably annoys the telcos to no end that a connection can be shared - they are more used to the "telephone" model, where there is one line going into the house and if 2 people want to have separate converations then they need two lines.
Contrast that with a high speed connection that can been shared with a bazillion users.
I'm guessing they are not as concerned with people who are running more than one machine at home - the precedent has been set already with telephone extensions, cable TV and satellite TV.
I know of at least one person that is sharing his connection with 5 houses on his block via 802.11, which is a fair chunk of high speed connections that could be sold, and more than likely these are the people they are trying to find.
My prediction - they will either give up once netgear, linksys et al. release rom patches to prevent this, or they will try start charging on a "by data" basis.
This is of course doomed to failure, because the only purpose for a high speed connection is for sharing [censored by the RIAA and MPAA] across the net, and any attempts to change their pricing to this model will be met by massive consumer outcry.
Why not a 3,5"/' (damned imperial system) bay slot as a reader? And if it comes with internal processor and all, why not use it as a removable network drive?
The main difference is that all those channels you mentioned are independently owned, and are trying to gain advertising revenue, which is why they "go mainstream" to attract viewers.
In contrast, XM owns all 100 stations, so the individual stations have nothing to gain by going mainstream.
I think its a good idea, god knows FM sucks ass theses days.
Slashdot Mirror
Depending on how you define "part time help" your statement is either accurate or complete bull.
If you define "part time help" as someone being grossly underpaid, possibly a grad student or something, then you're probably right. If you define "part time help" as a professional contractor, you couldn't be more wrong.
The "part time help has nothing at stake" myth is invariably spouted by regular employees who are jealous that we make twice as much money, don't have to do unpaid overtime, are immune to politics, and we do the "same work" that they do.
What they don't realize, is that as a contractor, we have to constantly work harder, faster, do the shit jobs that no one wants, and generally be more productive than the "regular" employees, because we know that if the shit hits the fan, we are the first ones to go.
A lot (recently all) of the work I get is by word of mouth, so it is in my interest to provide good value for the dollar so that my employers will a) keep extemding my contract, b) recommend me to others, c) bring me back the next time they need something done. If you don't work this way, you won't be working long as a contractor.
Perhaps 15 years ago your statement would be correct, but most employees do not have "more stake in the company" - especially in the software industry. To remain competitive technically and financially we must be constantly acquiring new skills and renegotiating our compensation, and this often involves changing jobs.
The only employees that have "more at stake" are the ones that are looking at a career in the company. These are few and far between, and more importantly tend to be political rather than technically oriented.
There are exceptions, but in my experience, this is what I have seen.
This is a symptom of what has become all too common in todays email society - the trivialization of communication.
The "forward" has become a replacement for an actual composed email message. Its easier to maintain the illusion of staying in touch by forwarding some insipid crap rather than taking the time to actually *gasp* drop someone a personal note.
As a result, most email is not private, or more importantly, personal. I can easily imagine what went through the recipients mind - "wow, this is cool, let me forward it to ____". Why wouldn't he ? After all, we foward crap to each other all the time, why should this very interesting email be any different ?
You get something that looks interesting, you forward it. It couldn't POSSIBLY have been intended for ONLY you.
I would bet that had this letter been handwritten, the recipients would not have shown it around.
Welcome to the global communication era.
First Question:
Apple is using the G3 and G4 processors in its computers. The G3 is made by IBM. The G4 is essentially a G3 with the addition of the AltiVec extentions.
Second Question:
NFI - The blade server line pages claim that it will run unix or windows server (and most likely linux), but this particular prototype, I don't know. I would suspect AIX.
Suspicion:
Wrong, the processor is actually made by IBM.
Theres a HUGE discussion about this CPU on arstechnica - link but its pretty technical.
This chip was not just for mac, its supposedly to make IBM more competitive in the mid-level server market.
Based on the way the patent office works (or doesn't work) with regards to patents makes it clear that there is definitely a need for some sort of reform. The problem is what the reform should be.
We are currently seeing a rash of patents that frankly have no business being approved, but they continue to get approved because the guys at the patant office who are doing the research for prior art cannot possibly be aware of every product in the entire universe.
I suspect that probably the overworked clerks have some sort of keyword procedure that is used to allow them to check for prior art. The flaws in this approach have become painfully apparent with software patents.
For example, in this case, there seems to be not much functionality there that isn't already provided already by the likes of CVS, subversion, etc., but the clerks at the patent office have absolutely no what CVS is, or any other of the myriad obscure open source projects.
Perhaps the process should be modified such that during the "patent pending" process, non-USPO individuals/entities should be allowed to review pending patents and provide prior art. The onus would then be on the community to ensure that bogus patents don't get passed.
I'd like to see a world where private industries (as well as public organizations like FSF) would keep an eye on their respective fields of interest and perhaps bring some of this foolish crap to a stop.
read the law.
Section 227.b.1
Prohibitions
It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States -- to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine;
Doesn't say anything about the fax having to come over a phone line, just that it has to go to a telephone facsimile machine.
Looks like cable modem users can sue. Luckily I have about 10k spams saved, I'm sure I can find some for local florida companies, then I'll go buy myself a faxmodem !
I've been copper free for 2 years now.
Cellular has its share of problems, but I am currently paying about 1/20 what I used to pay for cellphone service 6 years go.
Contrast to my landline bill that gradually went up over time for about 15 years before I finally told them to fuck off.
THATs what competition is supposed to give you, and I don't mind a few dropped calls here and there.
I knew that bit, but I was just wondering what made you think it was base 8 rather than base 10 ?
what does your sig mean ? (666 octal)
something happened, and my reply didn't show up under yours so you probably didn't get notification. heres the "bump"
Well, I didn't say that everyone should be more interested in osX than linux, just that its more interesting to me. Linux also makes a great desktop, just not for me.
:)
I'm a programmer, I do embedded, client side, and server side programming. For the embedded, I need a gcc crosscompiler and a serial port. I can do that anywhere. For the client side stuff, I started off with Motif, then went to Swing, then MFC, and I'm probably going to switch to wxWindows which theoretically should run anywhere. (crosses fingers).
For web development, depending on the customer, I need apache/jsp/php/servlets and typically postgresql or mysql. I can do this work on a windows machine, but I prefer to do it on a linux box as 99.9% of the time the deployment server is also a unix box, and to be honest getting this stuff running on a windows box is extremely tedious.
But here's the kicker - for web work I also need dreamweaver + illustator + photoshop. For these apps I need either windows or osx, so I need two machines. Dual boot is absolutely not an option.
At home I have two machines hooked up via KVM - one is my test server, and the other I run my applications on. For travelling, the only possible option is to lug around two laptops and a hub, which is no fun.
I've been messing with an iBook recently, and I think that the next time I'm due to upgrade my hardware (which should be this year), more than likely I will pick up one of the new powerbooks and this will become my desktop and travel computer.
Macs laptops cost a little more than intel hardware, and mac desktops cost a lot more, but remember that I am replacing two machines with one, hence my statements that for me, macs are cheaper.
Also, this line gets thrown around a lot, but I'll use it again "linux is free if your time is worthless". Every hour I spend dicking with linux trying to get something to work, is an hour that I could be billing a customer, or working on one of my myriad unfinished projects. Or better yet away from a computer
Ah. OK. now I understand. Your aversion to the closed Apple community is completely understandable and valid. You wouldn't happen to be RMS in disguise would you ? :P
:)
I'd like to present a different viewpoint - that there is nothing wrong with a company controlling the hardware as long as it works.
Take for example the software that runs on a CD player. Its controlled by the manufacturer that made the hardware. You can't add or change anything, but guess what - as long as you can stop, play, advance, rewind and eject, who cares is you can't change anything ?
I used to be an linux zealot, and I really liked the fact that I could rebuild anything I didn't like in linux. In fact, I used to do it all the time. But in the last 5 years or so, I haven't modified a single line of code in any linux distro, mainly because the linux tools and applications are getting better, and I don't _need_ to patch them to get them to work right for me.
Linux as a desktop solution has made some wonderful advances, but its nowhere near as integrated as the osX environment is - remember that osX is currently controlled by a company that has a vested interest in having all the tools interoperate and work well together, which is not true for linux.
Linux might be a valid desktop replacement a few years from now, but not yet. At least not for me anyway - too many of the apps I need are either windows or unix specific. Over the years I've had dual boot machines, multiple machines connected via a KVM, cygwin, remote access via exceed, you name it, I've tried it. I find osX to be a cleaner and cheaper solution.
The notebook hardware is pretty damm cool too.
Vegetarians don't get reamed for "Organic" produce out of spite or ill will, its just economics.
A field of crops requires X dollars to harvest, irrigate, package, distribute, etc. Say that with fertilizers/steriods/insecticides it produces N units of crop, and without it produces N/10. Obviously the organic crops will cost 10 times as much.
Remember also that the cost of the chemicals is proportionally very small, so the chemical savings are nowhere near enough to counter the vastly produced production.
Harvest are much smaller when "Organic" methods are used - look at the production numbers for dairy cattle if you REALLY want to be amazed.
OSX is not a Linux replacement. Although it may be a good Windows replacement. If someone specifically asks for Linux, chances are they're not interested in what OSX has to offer.
what people call "linux" is a combination of a kernel and a bunch of applications.
osx will run everything except the kernel itself, so I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say.
Do you have any examples of what specifically will not run on osx ?
Not flaming you, just curious...
> This is probably the most insightful post in the
> thread, and certainly the best "theory" as to
> the "why" we've seen yet
thanks dude.
MS lost out bigtime by failing to convince the cellphone manufacturers to adopt their embedded OS - most of the bignames plan to use Simian (is that how you spell it) which uses Opera as its browser.
The reality is that most windows users will never change their browser from IE to something else, so they are not afraid of Mozilla, konq, Safari, etc.
The cellphone market on the other hand is HUGE, and given recent advances in wireless bandwith, has the potential to be highly lucrative.
More than likely its probably safe to say that a significant percentage of all web browsing in the future will be on cellphones.
They are attempting to ensure that non MS cellphones can't surf the web properly, in an attempt to make consumers prefer buying MS enabled webphones, which in turn will generate more revenue in the embedded market for them, which they desperately need.
Just my opinion tho - can never tell what does guys are up to...
I don't see it happening, because in order to be fair, that would require LOWERING prices for the people that don't use a lot of bandwidth. As we all know, prices only drop when theres competition, and thanks to Powell Jr, in the short term there will never be any.
*sigh*
:P
It was a joke...
We all know that there are wonderful uses for highspeed connections.
And btw, you forgot the single most important use for the internet - porn.
That was another joke btw
It probably annoys the telcos to no end that a connection can be shared - they are more used to the "telephone" model, where there is one line going into the house and if 2 people want to have separate converations then they need two lines.
Contrast that with a high speed connection that can been shared with a bazillion users.
I'm guessing they are not as concerned with people who are running more than one machine at home - the precedent has been set already with telephone extensions, cable TV and satellite TV.
I know of at least one person that is sharing his connection with 5 houses on his block via 802.11, which is a fair chunk of high speed connections that could be sold, and more than likely these are the people they are trying to find.
My prediction - they will either give up once netgear, linksys et al. release rom patches to prevent this, or they will try start charging on a "by data" basis.
This is of course doomed to failure, because the only purpose for a high speed connection is for sharing [censored by the RIAA and MPAA] across the net, and any attempts to change their pricing to this model will be met by massive consumer outcry.
The worst ?
17 years ago the exact same type of ship blew up, with the exact same amount of crew on it, but yet the last one is the worst ?
I dont' get it.
I like the way everyone thinks it works great except the spanish speaking dude.
:)
"Esto es muy malo. No trabaja. Me engañan!" -Toraidio Smith, Tijuana
Translation: This is very bad. It doesn't work. They fool me.
Nice touch
Why not a 3,5"/' (damned imperial system) bay slot as a reader? And if it comes with internal processor and all, why not use it as a removable network drive?
Why not bluetooth ? no slot needed.
Theres a reason Europe is that way. Cost reversal.
Some mobile phones cost nothing to receive calls, the cost is instead billed to the caller.
The reason the #s are different is so that you know up front, that if you call that number, you will be billed. (like a 900# here in the usa).
Not true.
The main difference is that all those channels you mentioned are independently owned, and are trying to gain advertising revenue, which is why they "go mainstream" to attract viewers.
In contrast, XM owns all 100 stations, so the individual stations have nothing to gain by going mainstream.
I think its a good idea, god knows FM sucks ass theses days.
Checked the site, I was intending to give some $, but I'm not sure I trust it.
I think its a great idea, and I would love to send money to a few obscure bands that I like, but there isn't much info on that site.
Say for example I type in coolbandname, it comes back with
"Send money to coolbandname"
How do I know that I am sending to coolbandname the NYC jazz group, as opposed to coolbandname the texan mariachi band ?
That site needs to give some more info before I will feel comfortable giving them money.
this is a damm good question.