Mammy say bitch ain't never too fat - gotta have meat on the bone or the motherfucker she hooked with ain't gonna support yo.
That Gates motherfucker started this shit...somebody bust a cap in his ass, he wake up and smell the shit. SOmebody need to kick his bitch ass up round his ears and turn his ass out. Nigger can't even run his shit for a week without it bombing...
OSS mothers need to quit trippin' and get trickin'...Cough up the bling or get the fuck out.
When will modern dentists stop using flint?
on
Stone Age Dentists
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· Score: 2, Interesting
That's my question.
In my lifetime, dentists have changed the way you're supposed to brush your teeth three times now.
This isn't rocket science, folks. Try to find a way to get plague off someone's teeth without using C-4, please.
I suspect dentistry simply isn't trying to solve the problem of tooth decay - there's too much money in not solving it. By now, we should have a simple chemical that spread on the teeth should remove bacteria and plaque almost instantly and prevent further growth. It's ridiculous.
I guess I'll have to wait for further development of nanotech - I just hope I have any teeth left by then (OTOH, I'll probably be able to rebuild them with nanotech, anyway.)
For $20/month, with SBC DSL going for $14/month (for new customers only, I still have to pay $26.95), I doubt existing customers will switch. But some will switch to the 300Kbps free ad version.
I wouldn't switch to the $20/month for my desktop because I get a full 1.5Mbps on my DSL, and the $20 only offers 1Mbps. However, once I get a laptop, I definitely would use the 300Kbps free service for email checking and surfing, and maybe the $20/month service for my PC tech support business - it will be nice being able to download software fixes from the Net when the customer's Net connection is down.
This service wasn't available before. Now it will be.
Some people will take advantage - poor and non-poor alike. Those who are less poor will take more advantage, as usual.
Some people won't take advantage. Many will be poor, some will not.
So how does this make the whole project somehow a Bad Thing?
In other words, if you don't have utopia, don't do anything at all? Is that your argument?
As a guy who's been out sick for three weeks and can't make my current rent payment, while still making my $33 DSL/phone bill, I say this service will come in handy for some poor people. Considering that SBC DSL goes for $14/month now, most people will desktops won't bother with the $20 Wi-Fi, although some who only do email may go for the 300Kbps free ad version. But anybody with a laptop will find $20/month for city-wide access appealing and even more will find the free ad version appealing since most of the time external laptop use is just for email checking anyway.
There's nothing wrong with this service. It will help some people and not help others. Nobody said it was going to solve all urban problems.
musings which were reported on the Mini-Microsoft blog this past week.
Remember? Somebody posted that the word around the water cooler at Microsoft Legal was that the delay for Vista had nothing to do with the code, and everything to do with the EU's case against Microsoft. Word is that Microsoft intended to delay Vista until the US Commerce Department or the WTO could be "persuaded" by corporate pressure from corporations wanting to upgrade to Vista (are there any, however?) to intervene on Microsoft's behalf.
The purported reason? Microsoft wants to avoid having to open their server APIs so that Samba absolutely would not be able to interoperate with Vista the way it does with Windows 2000 and 2003 Server.
They're selling their 3Mbps service to people too far from the CO to get it.
And now they're talking about 20Mbps service - to whom? People five feet from the CO?
ASI explicitly told me that I was 12,000 feet from the CO and 3Mbps service simply is not functional for people that far. The tech said they could set my service for that, but I would experience increasing numbers of dropped lines and eventually the line would go down and stay down.
But the SBC (now AT&T) sales office was happy to sell me that 3Mbps service even though they should have known that I couldn't get more than the 1.5-1.6Mbps I'd been getting.
"The "no changing ip's" business was that we had to have services on a certain IP for the duration of the competition."
Oh, okay - if it had to be a public accessible service such as the Web server - but could you change the ports? No reason to use the standard ports for services if you don't have to and clobber the banners, too.
"I'm convinced that the only secure computer is one that's not plugged in."
That's about right. And the only secure computer that is running is the one that doesn't have anything on it somebody might want - which fortunately for most companies is quite a few of their computers.
I agree - since the red team had access to the entire infrastructure setup, the first thing the students should have done was change everything - subnets, IPs, passwords, even what software was being run in some cases.
That would have forced the hacker team back into information gathering mode for a longer time, and it's clear from the story that even though the students had three hours without attacks, they needed more time.
At City College of San Francisco, one of our teachers sort of teaches "Script Kiddies 101". His computer security courses teaches how various simple tricks can be used to trick a sys admin into giving you root access (e.g., tricking him into running a standard command with root privilege which you have tricked out as a script that copies a shell with his privilege and then runs the command he thought he was running before erasing itself - stuff like that.
It's very introductory, but it's better than the Windows security course which is ninety percent about locking down the desktop using Group Policy - which is hardly significant computer security, regardless of what people think about internal users being the worst security risks.
Restricting the student teams from messing with the infrastructure was the first mistake, since the hackers had somehow stolen the details of the entire system.
First thing the students should have done was change EVERYTHING - the subnets, the IPs, maybe even the software being used. That would have forced the hackers to have to relearn everything they thought they knew.
I would presume that ANY PC hardware offered by any company inside or outside the US would have their systems spot-checked by intelligence agencies.
That said, in the end, it's pointless. If you buy 16,000 PCs, you can't check them all - not every bit of silicon. OTOH, any foreign intelligence agency couldn't know where the PCs would be deployed - unless they were all ordered under the same contract by the same US federal agency, or whether they would be deployed in a manner allowing access to the particular networks of interest.
Blindly suggesting that inspection is unnecessary OR that it will be effective is just stupid.
That said, exactly what would happen if Lenovo, a major Chinese company, were PROVED to be bugging their hardware for ANYBODY. They would go out of business in a heartbeat.
Therefore the odds that this is being done - with Lenovo's cooperation, anyway - is likely to be zero. Which doesn't mean it might not be done WITHOUT Lenovo's knowledge, however - this is why spot checks would be useful.
I'd say it depends. If you have a human monitoring the UAV from the ground, including the ability to detect its position relative to other normal aircraft, then this issue would be less of a concern - except, of course, that its unlikely the UAV could be maneuvered as well as a piloted craft. There is also the issue of whether the pilots of normal aircraft would be able to see it as well as larger aircraft in order to execute THEIR responsibility to see and avoid.
If, however, these things are AI-controlled, that is just braindead. Sooner or later, they'll crash into something they shouldn't. The AI just isn't going to be good enough without decent conceptual processing algorithms.
I'd also say that from the viewpoint of civil rights, the notion that these things are "just another pair of cops eyes" is too simplistic. With sensors and other technology, plus their vantage point, there are considerably more invasive than your average cop on the beat.
I'd suggest everybody watch the movie "Blue Thunder" - this is where the US is heading and it's not a good idea.
Actually Hitler once said to an associate that he actually knew the Jews weren't responsible for all the evils in the world - but he had to have somebody to unite everybody else against, and the Jews were the easiest target.
Personally I think he was entirely anti-Semitic, but that would be no surprise as Germany was a major Catholic country and Catholicism has been pushing anti-Semitism for hundreds of years up until the last Pope decided to "apologize". So it would be no more unlikely for Hitler to be anti-Semitic than it would be for some white person from the America South to be anti-black. It's simply part of the culture.
Insurance company considering switching to SUSE because they was robbed by Microsoft...
As an IT Manager that was basically blackmailed by MS into purchasing their upgrade strategy licensing. We were promised upgrades over 2 years ago. We were promised XP migration support too. It never happened but, we've been forced to keep paying. Paying for what? Vaporware!
We have over 250 Windows 2000 systems because XP wouldn't run our in-house apps and MS wouldn't help even though they promised us assistance in migration. We spent tens of thousands of dollars to MS for basically nothing!
We have 20% of the divisional departments running on Suse now. If this test works for 1 year, our division will be a no MS house in 2 years. We just can't afford MS anymore. If our division can do it, then the entire corporation is considering the transition as well.
Yes, we are paying for Suse support agreements. We're not a "free" user. As a big insurance company, we do need to cover our bases but we cannot afford to waste money for another year or two.
I am one of those lame testers that were "removed" approximately a month ago to pave the way for the full transition of BVT/FVT to IDC.
While I was employed for the past 11 months testing the code produced by Windows Core, I came across a staggering discovery, and that was that the majority of our tests when they failed spectacularly were deemed "Approved by Component Developer".
This was just shocking to me at first to pass packages and updates for GDR that were incapable of being removed or broke compatability with such things as Winlogon if the machine had not yet been activated. Now that was a fun issue that was thankfully repaired after a major complaint that I filed.
So, this really does not surprise me that everything started to slip. I have seen what Vista and Longhorn Server (as of the last build I tested) have been so am confident that I will not be upgrading my personal computers to it any time soon.
It is just scarry to see things like the ability to access the "Help Viewer" through the Login screen to gain full control over the system (Yes, it was still there as of 5283).
As a hint, it involves a URL and EXPLORER.EXE and you can gain Admin Rights.
It's all about the EU and breaking the Linux server market...
"The ship is heavy, hard to steer and will keep going, when it stops it will turn around or may be it will go down, maybe it will be for the better, who knows.
Be the rats to jump off the ship, except that ship ain't sinking, because it's too big."
At over 100 feet longer than the Mauritania, this ship truly is unsinkable. All these unnecessary lifeboats taking up space on the decks...
Talk around the vending machines in legal is that the delay has nothing to do with coding, slipped schedules or anything else. That's why very few heads will actually roll and most will simply shuffle positions. Actual reasons have to do with no product, NONE, shipping until after the mess with the EU is cleaned up. From what I've heard so far, if there are further major delays with EU that can't be solved by set-asides and scholarships, then expect another major delay beyond what has already been announced. At 25-40% annual compounded growth rates for Linux servers, the last thing that's going to happen is for the EU to be able to do what US-Justice failed to do, which is force disclosure of MS server protocols so competitors can copy MS's IP and gain market share in the market segment on MS's dime. Samba has never been 100% compatible and that's the way its going to stay, come hell or high water. Regardless of how much time/delay it takes, Samba and Vista will never be as interoperable as Samba is with PDC, AD, AS currently. If it takes another 6 month delay, another 9 months, whatever. Eventually EU will capitulate whether Commerce and the WTO has to step in or not. Server space market share has either reached a tipping point, or already passed a tipping point depending on which internal study you read. Whichever study you read/believe, make sure its one of the ones that takes into account free installs of their versions of AS/ES, such as Cent/OS. According to those studies, the server space has already passed the tipping point, that's why we're seeing what's happening with Mass/ODF/XML, and some of the large desktop migrations that have been documented internally. And remember, any large migrations you get a whiff of, you know where to report them, get details and do it. A single 6 digit desktop migration has repercussions far and wide on many other customers and partners (and media), and we are staring at over a dozen of them and have been unsuccessful in turning any of them around so far.
So unless anything settles with the EU in the coming months, expect further delays regardless of what they are blamed on.
I have to disagree: you don't have a problem. There's no need to fire anyone. It may be frustrating; it may take another five years, but the people at the very top know this simple truth: In financial terms, it doesn't matter. That it won't be more secure? Doesn't matter. That it will be slow? Bloated? Will crash at the slightest hiccup? Doesn't matter.
What matters is this: your customers, the ones at home or the ones buying for a corporation - not your fellow MS, Linux or Mac geeks, but normal people - don't have a clue. They've been left behind, they can barely turn the computer on and check their e-mail. What does WINFS mean to them? Nothing. Less than zero.
People will keep buying your products because they still have no choice and don't know any better: Linux is for hard-core no-life slashdot-reading geeks only; Macs are for people willing to pay thousands of dollars for the trhill of turning their computer on, who bleat on and on about their "fabulous design" while working with their illegally downloaded MS Office...
So shouldn't you relax, comrade? Shouldn't you just let the Socialist Republic of Micro Soft keep on rolling god awful products at exhorbitant profits? Can't you see your politburo has it all under control?
If what's left of your spine itches, here's a sure way of relieving the pain: just rub it with your big fat paycheck.
This guy is right about trying to reform management - it's a losing battle, er, a LOST battle...
This thread may have jumped the shark some time ago, but I'll just add one or two more horse flogs myself, just because. Summary of threads thus far: -Vista's not ready -much of middle and upper Mgmt at MS sucks -Vista sucks resources -Working for a large bureaucratic monolithic company sucks. -Mini's premise of the lean and mean applies directly to this fustercluck. Talk about vindication. OOOeeee Jethro. Let's boot some overpaid,underperforming exec dead-weight out the door.
Did I miss anything? Lots, but enough of the kvetching already. Get out or get fired up to make changes in your sphere of influence. Don't complain (like we all do) about stupid boss tricks; you cannot change the 'ineffectual middle mgmt suck-ups' (tribute to 'Almost Live') who will end up in the upper echelons of a large corp food-chain. You can only compete with them - and to do so, you must dive into the manure pit they own. Don't complain about some loud-mouth sales hack who's now in charge of the company. He got there because he's a friend of Mr Rich. He'll stay because Mr Rich has been out of touch with reality for yrs (to be fair, you would be too, if you had a phalanx of minions who lied to you about what was really going on) Don't complain, it only makes you sound like a Monty Python sketch and no one will listen to you anyway. Nothing's wrong. Just keep moving. Don't look at the camera. Just keep going, like you're fighting... Until real leaders ascend to positions of influence, the slow inexorable wheel will continue to grind. Don't get in its way without a backup plan, or you'll get a career owiee.
My backup plan is working well, thank you.
Do I miss not working at MS anymore? Uhm, yeah, I miss it like I'd miss barbed-wire boxer shorts.
Should I feel bad for leaving when it got tough? Oh yeah, real bad. Ohh the guilt.
Lessee how life stacks up post MS 1) I make more money now.(More than enough to compensate for the difference in benefits, and I don't think I'll need that gender-bender benefit anyway) 2) I work far fewer hours. (Still not 40hrs/wk, but does that even exist anymore outside of union ruined shops?) 3) My kids actually don't have to be re-introduced to me each wknd. 4) I don't look like something out of a George Romero movie anymore. 5) I remembered how to smile again. (My wife was the first to notice that. ) 6) Did I mention I make more money? ( For shame, I'm such a materialist. I should be back there in the trenches making life better for... Uhh, help me out here...C'mon guys, there's someone out there who's life will be better when Vista-to-be-repackaged-or-renamed eventually gets pushed out the door...C'mon, someone? Buehhler? Oh yeah, that's right, I DO make life better for some people; they're called patients. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the healthcare industry is happy with Unix, and other working, stable Windows platforms and has no plans whatsoever to ever bother with Longwait/Vista/4th-and-long.
Would I ever come back? Uhm yeah. In a minute. Hey! What are you doing with that net? Hey! That's not my jacket!! These sleeves are way too long. No, thanks, but I've had my shots. Gee that's a big needle......
"What do you think is the best group to be in for a new hire? A startup company would be a good choice. In a smaller company, you know what your contribution is worth."
I can't echo that enough. Five years within the Windows group immediately after college was devastating! I came away doubting my self-worth, doubting my technical skills and wondering if I should go work for McDonalds or just slip into a suicidal depression.
I threw an amazingly crappy resume around for a couple weeks and was awakened by the amazed reactions on the faces of interviewers at startups when I demonstrated that I really knew my stuff.
I quickly found a great job at a startup with co-workers who are very cooperative, friendly, and encouraging. The money is better, the environment is better, the hours are better...why the hell did I ever work at Microsoft?
(Oh, and I know a few hiring managers who find it refreshing to see a resume that does not contain MSFT experience. In Seattle, it seems that everyone has done a stint there.)
Typical management sins listed - no surprises here - trust me, it's ALWAYS management's fault!
A Rogue's Gallary at Microsoft
Here is a short list of the chief villians and idiots and their sins. They've made MS a much less successful company in the last 10 years.
[1] Steve Balmer - Prancing Public Buffon Antics, Customer Defocus, No Technology Depth - Fire him and get a real President with vision. [2] Jim Allchin -.Net / Managed Code Fiasco, Longhorn Reset, Longhorn Basics Unfunded Mandates - Fire him and revoke his options before he retires. [3] Brian Valentine - Ugly WAR Team Tyranny, COSD techno Luditism, Physical Violence & random Furniture tossing - Fire him immediately before he assaults someone. [4] Will Poole - Open MPAA/RIIA Bedfellow & DRM Moron, Windows Client Lack of Vision, wasteful DMD Codec Wars - Fire him immediately before he dorks something else. [5] Craig Munde - Billions wasted on WebTV, Tigre Media Servers, UPNP Community Alienation and ineffectual Politicking in WA DC. - Fire him retroactively and get back the BILLIONS he's wasted. [6] Chris Jones - Semi-talented Wunderkid VP wannabe, an example of good old boy insider promo, Mr. Cut-Cut-Cut if it's not done by 8/05, Oh wait - we're slipping again! - Should be made an IC Program Manager somewhere useless like MSN or RedWest. [7] Jawad Khaki - Perennial GM/PUM humiliation & Burnout, Random High Priority Demands, Warring with BrianV, Entire Org underleveled and underappreciated - Fire him and get a decent people manager [8] Longhorn Basics Teams - Random Unfunded Mandates, Arbitrary and last minute Decisions on Quality and Security requirements, destroyed the ability of the product teams to deliver on their planned commitments - Put them in stocks in the village square for and let all the product teams beat them like dogs. [9] WinSE - Minimial actual development, chronic pushback on produc teams, weekly security cluster fucks, nastiest possible working environment at WAR teams. - Fire them all and outsource Sustaining Engineering to actual engineers (in India or wherever).
I'm sure you can add to this list of rogue and also add to their voluminous sins. The real problem is that "partner" class players at Microsoft are "made men" and are not launched when they do major damage. Instead, they are just moved so they can do more of the same.
Few things could have done more damage to the 2006 PC market then the slip of Windows Vista. This will have an adverse impact on a broad cross section of components and platform PC suppliers who depend on the 4th quarter to make their numbers. The big issue is consumers typically do not wait to buy, and will chose to buy something else and now wait until later in 2007 to purchase their computers.
Now all eyes turn to Apple with what now is an unprecedented opportunity to take major market share in the critical 4th quarter. If their expected Media Center competitive product can make it to market as expected, they could gain significant share in a market looking to buy new product but now only seeing it from Apple. I personally can not recall Apple ever getting an opportunity like this.
Overall this is showcasing what may be significant execution problems at Microsoft which has already slipped Windows Vista several years and had been cutting features to make its 2006 ship date yet still was unable to make even that ship date. Execution problems of this level do not bode well for any company, and this level of problem for a company as critical as Microsoft is to the industry could easily drive Microsoft partners to alternative platforms to better assure their own financial performance.
In short, this reminded a lot of folks critical to Microsoft's long term success how dangerous it is to be tied to any one vendor which is never wise for any dominant vendor to do because it increases, dramatically, the need for a secondary vendor."
Slashdot Mirror
(Benefits of eight years in the Federal joint...)
Mammy say bitch ain't never too fat - gotta have meat on the bone or the motherfucker she hooked with ain't gonna support yo.
That Gates motherfucker started this shit...somebody bust a cap in his ass, he wake up and smell the shit. SOmebody need to kick his bitch ass up round his ears and turn his ass out. Nigger can't even run his shit for a week without it bombing...
OSS mothers need to quit trippin' and get trickin'...Cough up the bling or get the fuck out.
That's my question.
In my lifetime, dentists have changed the way you're supposed to brush your teeth three times now.
This isn't rocket science, folks. Try to find a way to get plague off someone's teeth without using C-4, please.
I suspect dentistry simply isn't trying to solve the problem of tooth decay - there's too much money in not solving it. By now, we should have a simple chemical that spread on the teeth should remove bacteria and plaque almost instantly and prevent further growth. It's ridiculous.
I guess I'll have to wait for further development of nanotech - I just hope I have any teeth left by then (OTOH, I'll probably be able to rebuild them with nanotech, anyway.)
For $20/month, with SBC DSL going for $14/month (for new customers only, I still have to pay $26.95), I doubt existing customers will switch. But some will switch to the 300Kbps free ad version.
I wouldn't switch to the $20/month for my desktop because I get a full 1.5Mbps on my DSL, and the $20 only offers 1Mbps. However, once I get a laptop, I definitely would use the 300Kbps free service for email checking and surfing, and maybe the $20/month service for my PC tech support business - it will be nice being able to download software fixes from the Net when the customer's Net connection is down.
Let's drop this crap now, please.
This service wasn't available before. Now it will be.
Some people will take advantage - poor and non-poor alike. Those who are less poor will take more advantage, as usual.
Some people won't take advantage. Many will be poor, some will not.
So how does this make the whole project somehow a Bad Thing?
In other words, if you don't have utopia, don't do anything at all? Is that your argument?
As a guy who's been out sick for three weeks and can't make my current rent payment, while still making my $33 DSL/phone bill, I say this service will come in handy for some poor people. Considering that SBC DSL goes for $14/month now, most people will desktops won't bother with the $20 Wi-Fi, although some who only do email may go for the 300Kbps free ad version. But anybody with a laptop will find $20/month for city-wide access appealing and even more will find the free ad version appealing since most of the time external laptop use is just for email checking anyway.
There's nothing wrong with this service. It will help some people and not help others. Nobody said it was going to solve all urban problems.
Check with Roto, they still have them...
musings which were reported on the Mini-Microsoft blog this past week.
Remember? Somebody posted that the word around the water cooler at Microsoft Legal was that the delay for Vista had nothing to do with the code, and everything to do with the EU's case against Microsoft. Word is that Microsoft intended to delay Vista until the US Commerce Department or the WTO could be "persuaded" by corporate pressure from corporations wanting to upgrade to Vista (are there any, however?) to intervene on Microsoft's behalf.
The purported reason? Microsoft wants to avoid having to open their server APIs so that Samba absolutely would not be able to interoperate with Vista the way it does with Windows 2000 and 2003 Server.
They're selling their 3Mbps service to people too far from the CO to get it.
And now they're talking about 20Mbps service - to whom? People five feet from the CO?
ASI explicitly told me that I was 12,000 feet from the CO and 3Mbps service simply is not functional for people that far. The tech said they could set my service for that, but I would experience increasing numbers of dropped lines and eventually the line would go down and stay down.
But the SBC (now AT&T) sales office was happy to sell me that 3Mbps service even though they should have known that I couldn't get more than the 1.5-1.6Mbps I'd been getting.
"The "no changing ip's" business was that we had to have services on a certain IP for the duration of the competition."
Oh, okay - if it had to be a public accessible service such as the Web server - but could you change the ports? No reason to use the standard ports for services if you don't have to and clobber the banners, too.
"I'm convinced that the only secure computer is one that's not plugged in."
That's about right. And the only secure computer that is running is the one that doesn't have anything on it somebody might want - which fortunately for most companies is quite a few of their computers.
I agree - since the red team had access to the entire infrastructure setup, the first thing the students should have done was change everything - subnets, IPs, passwords, even what software was being run in some cases.
That would have forced the hacker team back into information gathering mode for a longer time, and it's clear from the story that even though the students had three hours without attacks, they needed more time.
At City College of San Francisco, one of our teachers sort of teaches "Script Kiddies 101". His computer security courses teaches how various simple tricks can be used to trick a sys admin into giving you root access (e.g., tricking him into running a standard command with root privilege which you have tricked out as a script that copies a shell with his privilege and then runs the command he thought he was running before erasing itself - stuff like that.
It's very introductory, but it's better than the Windows security course which is ninety percent about locking down the desktop using Group Policy - which is hardly significant computer security, regardless of what people think about internal users being the worst security risks.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it was one of the student teams, not a red team, that hosed their router.
Restricting the student teams from messing with the infrastructure was the first mistake, since the hackers had somehow stolen the details of the entire system.
First thing the students should have done was change EVERYTHING - the subnets, the IPs, maybe even the software being used. That would have forced the hackers to have to relearn everything they thought they knew.
I can barely read the sidebars!
What do you care if 98.3% of the readers are males - you're fucking fags, anyway!
Change this goddamn theme back before I have to change my SIG again!
I would presume that ANY PC hardware offered by any company inside or outside the US would have their systems spot-checked by intelligence agencies.
That said, in the end, it's pointless. If you buy 16,000 PCs, you can't check them all - not every bit of silicon. OTOH, any foreign intelligence agency couldn't know where the PCs would be deployed - unless they were all ordered under the same contract by the same US federal agency, or whether they would be deployed in a manner allowing access to the particular networks of interest.
Blindly suggesting that inspection is unnecessary OR that it will be effective is just stupid.
That said, exactly what would happen if Lenovo, a major Chinese company, were PROVED to be bugging their hardware for ANYBODY. They would go out of business in a heartbeat.
Therefore the odds that this is being done - with Lenovo's cooperation, anyway - is likely to be zero. Which doesn't mean it might not be done WITHOUT Lenovo's knowledge, however - this is why spot checks would be useful.
I'd say it depends. If you have a human monitoring the UAV from the ground, including the ability to detect its position relative to other normal aircraft, then this issue would be less of a concern - except, of course, that its unlikely the UAV could be maneuvered as well as a piloted craft. There is also the issue of whether the pilots of normal aircraft would be able to see it as well as larger aircraft in order to execute THEIR responsibility to see and avoid.
If, however, these things are AI-controlled, that is just braindead. Sooner or later, they'll crash into something they shouldn't. The AI just isn't going to be good enough without decent conceptual processing algorithms.
I'd also say that from the viewpoint of civil rights, the notion that these things are "just another pair of cops eyes" is too simplistic. With sensors and other technology, plus their vantage point, there are considerably more invasive than your average cop on the beat.
I'd suggest everybody watch the movie "Blue Thunder" - this is where the US is heading and it's not a good idea.
Actually Hitler once said to an associate that he actually knew the Jews weren't responsible for all the evils in the world - but he had to have somebody to unite everybody else against, and the Jews were the easiest target.
Personally I think he was entirely anti-Semitic, but that would be no surprise as Germany was a major Catholic country and Catholicism has been pushing anti-Semitism for hundreds of years up until the last Pope decided to "apologize". So it would be no more unlikely for Hitler to be anti-Semitic than it would be for some white person from the America South to be anti-black. It's simply part of the culture.
Insurance company considering switching to SUSE because they was robbed by Microsoft...
As an IT Manager that was basically blackmailed by MS into purchasing their upgrade strategy licensing. We were promised upgrades over 2 years ago. We were promised XP migration support too. It never happened but, we've been forced to keep paying. Paying for what? Vaporware!
We have over 250 Windows 2000 systems because XP wouldn't run our in-house apps and MS wouldn't help even though they promised us assistance in migration. We spent tens of thousands of dollars to MS for basically nothing!
We have 20% of the divisional departments running on Suse now. If this test works for 1 year, our division will be a no MS house in 2 years. We just can't afford MS anymore. If our division can do it, then the entire corporation is considering the transition as well.
Yes, we are paying for Suse support agreements. We're not a "free" user. As a big insurance company, we do need to cover our bases but we cannot afford to waste money for another year or two.
By Anonymous, at 12:59 PM
I am one of those lame testers that were "removed" approximately a month ago to pave the way for the full transition of BVT/FVT to IDC.
While I was employed for the past 11 months testing the code produced by Windows Core, I came across a staggering discovery, and that was that the majority of our tests when they failed spectacularly were deemed "Approved by Component Developer".
This was just shocking to me at first to pass packages and updates for GDR that were incapable of being removed or broke compatability with such things as Winlogon if the machine had not yet been activated. Now that was a fun issue that was thankfully repaired after a major complaint that I filed.
So, this really does not surprise me that everything started to slip. I have seen what Vista and Longhorn Server (as of the last build I tested) have been so am confident that I will not be upgrading my personal computers to it any time soon.
It is just scarry to see things like the ability to access the "Help Viewer" through the Login screen to gain full control over the system (Yes, it was still there as of 5283).
As a hint, it involves a URL and EXPLORER.EXE and you can gain Admin Rights.
By Anonymous, at 11:58 AM
It's all about the EU and breaking the Linux server market...
"The ship is heavy, hard to steer and will keep going, when it stops it will turn around or may be it will go down, maybe it will be for the better, who knows.
Be the rats to jump off the ship, except that ship ain't sinking, because it's too big."
At over 100 feet longer than the Mauritania, this ship truly is unsinkable. All these unnecessary lifeboats taking up space on the decks...
Talk around the vending machines in legal is that the delay has nothing to do with coding, slipped schedules or anything else. That's why very few heads will actually roll and most will simply shuffle positions. Actual reasons have to do with no product, NONE, shipping until after the mess with the EU is cleaned up. From what I've heard so far, if there are further major delays with EU that can't be solved by set-asides and scholarships, then expect another major delay beyond what has already been announced. At 25-40% annual compounded growth rates for Linux servers, the last thing that's going to happen is for the EU to be able to do what US-Justice failed to do, which is force disclosure of MS server protocols so competitors can copy MS's IP and gain market share in the market segment on MS's dime. Samba has never been 100% compatible and that's the way its going to stay, come hell or high water. Regardless of how much time/delay it takes, Samba and Vista will never be as interoperable as Samba is with PDC, AD, AS currently. If it takes another 6 month delay, another 9 months, whatever. Eventually EU will capitulate whether Commerce and the WTO has to step in or not. Server space market share has either reached a tipping point, or already passed a tipping point depending on which internal study you read. Whichever study you read/believe, make sure its one of the ones that takes into account free installs of their versions of AS/ES, such as Cent/OS. According to those studies, the server space has already passed the tipping point, that's why we're seeing what's happening with Mass/ODF/XML, and some of the large desktop migrations that have been documented internally. And remember, any large migrations you get a whiff of, you know where to report them, get details and do it. A single 6 digit desktop migration has repercussions far and wide on many other customers and partners (and media), and we are staring at over a dozen of them and have been unsuccessful in turning any of them around so far.
So unless anything settles with the EU in the coming months, expect further delays regardless of what they are blamed on.
By Turk, at 10:08 PM
I have to disagree: you don't have a problem. There's no need to fire anyone. It may be frustrating; it may take another five years, but the people at the very top know this simple truth: In financial terms, it doesn't matter. That it won't be more secure? Doesn't matter. That it will be slow? Bloated? Will crash at the slightest hiccup? Doesn't matter.
What matters is this: your customers, the ones at home or the ones buying for a corporation - not your fellow MS, Linux or Mac geeks, but normal people - don't have a clue. They've been left behind, they can barely turn the computer on and check their e-mail. What does WINFS mean to them? Nothing. Less than zero.
People will keep buying your products because they still have no choice and don't know any better: Linux is for hard-core no-life slashdot-reading geeks only; Macs are for people willing to pay thousands of dollars for the trhill of turning their computer on, who bleat on and on about their "fabulous design" while working with their illegally downloaded MS Office...
So shouldn't you relax, comrade? Shouldn't you just let the Socialist Republic of Micro Soft keep on rolling god awful products at exhorbitant profits? Can't you see your politburo has it all under control?
If what's left of your spine itches, here's a sure way of relieving the pain: just rub it with your big fat paycheck.
-S
By Anonymous, at 2:54 PM
This guy is right about trying to reform management - it's a losing battle, er, a LOST battle...
...
This thread may have jumped the shark some time ago, but I'll just add one or two more horse flogs myself, just because.
Summary of threads thus far:
-Vista's not ready
-much of middle and upper Mgmt at MS sucks
-Vista sucks resources
-Working for a large bureaucratic monolithic company sucks.
-Mini's premise of the lean and mean applies directly to this fustercluck. Talk about vindication. OOOeeee Jethro. Let's boot some overpaid,underperforming exec dead-weight out the door.
Did I miss anything?
Lots, but enough of the kvetching already. Get out or get fired up to make changes in your sphere of influence.
Don't complain (like we all do) about stupid boss tricks; you cannot change the 'ineffectual middle mgmt suck-ups' (tribute to 'Almost Live') who will end up in the upper echelons of a large corp food-chain. You can only compete with them - and to do so, you must dive into the manure pit they own.
Don't complain about some loud-mouth sales hack who's now in charge of the company. He got there because he's a friend of Mr Rich. He'll stay because Mr Rich has been out of touch with reality for yrs (to be fair, you would be too, if you had a phalanx of minions who lied to you about what was really going on)
Don't complain, it only makes you sound like a Monty Python sketch and no one will listen to you anyway. Nothing's wrong. Just keep moving. Don't look at the camera. Just keep going, like you're fighting...
Until real leaders ascend to positions of influence, the slow inexorable wheel will continue to grind. Don't get in its way without a backup plan, or you'll get a career owiee.
My backup plan is working well, thank you.
Do I miss not working at MS anymore?
Uhm, yeah, I miss it like I'd miss barbed-wire boxer shorts.
Should I feel bad for leaving when it got tough?
Oh yeah, real bad. Ohh the guilt.
Lessee how life stacks up post MS 1) I make more money now.(More than enough to compensate for the difference in benefits, and I don't think I'll need that gender-bender benefit anyway)
2) I work far fewer hours. (Still not 40hrs/wk, but does that even exist anymore outside of union ruined shops?)
3) My kids actually don't have to be re-introduced to me each wknd.
4) I don't look like something out of a George Romero movie anymore.
5) I remembered how to smile again. (My wife was the first to notice that. )
6) Did I mention I make more money? ( For shame, I'm such a materialist. I should be back there in the trenches making life better for
Uhh, help me out here...C'mon guys, there's someone out there who's life will be better when Vista-to-be-repackaged-or-renamed eventually gets pushed out the door...C'mon, someone? Buehhler?
Oh yeah, that's right, I DO make life better for some people; they're called patients. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the healthcare industry is happy with Unix, and other working, stable Windows platforms and has no plans whatsoever to ever bother with Longwait/Vista/4th-and-long.
Would I ever come back? Uhm yeah. In a minute.
Hey! What are you doing with that net? Hey! That's not my jacket!! These sleeves are way too long. No, thanks, but I've had my shots. Gee that's a big needle......
Nightie-night.
By Anonymous, at 9:52 AM
"What do you think is the best group to be in for a new hire?
A startup company would be a good choice.
In a smaller company, you know what your contribution is worth."
I can't echo that enough. Five years within the Windows group immediately after college was devastating! I came away doubting my self-worth, doubting my technical skills and wondering if I should go work for McDonalds or just slip into a suicidal depression.
I threw an amazingly crappy resume around for a couple weeks and was awakened by the amazed reactions on the faces of interviewers at startups when I demonstrated that I really knew my stuff.
I quickly found a great job at a startup with co-workers who are very cooperative, friendly, and encouraging. The money is better, the environment is better, the hours are better...why the hell did I ever work at Microsoft?
(Oh, and I know a few hiring managers who find it refreshing to see a resume that does not contain MSFT experience. In Seattle, it seems that everyone has done a stint there.)
By Anonymous, at 8:22 AM
Typical management sins listed - no surprises here - trust me, it's ALWAYS management's fault!
.Net / Managed Code Fiasco, Longhorn Reset, Longhorn Basics Unfunded Mandates - Fire him and revoke his options before he retires.
A Rogue's Gallary at Microsoft
Here is a short list of the chief villians and idiots and their sins. They've made MS a much less successful company in the last 10 years.
[1] Steve Balmer - Prancing Public Buffon Antics, Customer Defocus, No Technology Depth - Fire him and get a real President with vision.
[2] Jim Allchin -
[3] Brian Valentine - Ugly WAR Team Tyranny, COSD techno Luditism, Physical Violence & random Furniture tossing - Fire him immediately before he assaults someone.
[4] Will Poole - Open MPAA/RIIA Bedfellow & DRM Moron, Windows Client Lack of Vision, wasteful DMD Codec Wars - Fire him immediately before he dorks something else.
[5] Craig Munde - Billions wasted on WebTV, Tigre Media Servers, UPNP Community Alienation and ineffectual Politicking in WA DC. - Fire him retroactively and get back the BILLIONS he's wasted.
[6] Chris Jones - Semi-talented Wunderkid VP wannabe, an example of good old boy insider promo, Mr. Cut-Cut-Cut if it's not done by 8/05, Oh wait - we're slipping again! - Should be made an IC Program Manager somewhere useless like MSN or RedWest.
[7] Jawad Khaki - Perennial GM/PUM humiliation & Burnout, Random High Priority Demands, Warring with BrianV, Entire Org underleveled and underappreciated - Fire him and get a decent people manager
[8] Longhorn Basics Teams - Random Unfunded Mandates, Arbitrary and last minute Decisions on Quality and Security requirements, destroyed the ability of the product teams to deliver on their planned commitments - Put them in stocks in the village square for and let all the product teams beat them like dogs.
[9] WinSE - Minimial actual development, chronic pushback on produc teams, weekly security cluster fucks, nastiest possible working environment at WAR teams. - Fire them all and outsource Sustaining Engineering to actual engineers (in India or wherever).
I'm sure you can add to this list of rogue and also add to their voluminous sins. The real problem is that "partner" class players at Microsoft are "made men" and are not launched when they do major damage. Instead, they are just moved so they can do more of the same.
By Shuttle 999 to oblivion, at 3:43 AM
Enderle sums it up nicely:
"Consumer Market for Consumer PCs Takes Major Hit
03/21/2006 by Rob Enderle
Few things could have done more damage to the 2006 PC market then the slip of Windows Vista. This will have an adverse impact on a broad cross section of components and platform PC suppliers who depend on the 4th quarter to make their numbers. The big issue is consumers typically do not wait to buy, and will chose to buy something else and now wait until later in 2007 to purchase their computers.
Now all eyes turn to Apple with what now is an unprecedented opportunity to take major market share in the critical 4th quarter. If their expected Media Center competitive product can make it to market as expected, they could gain significant share in a market looking to buy new product but now only seeing it from Apple. I personally can not recall Apple ever getting an opportunity like this.
Overall this is showcasing what may be significant execution problems at Microsoft which has already slipped Windows Vista several years and had been cutting features to make its 2006 ship date yet still was unable to make even that ship date. Execution problems of this level do not bode well for any company, and this level of problem for a company as critical as Microsoft is to the industry could easily drive Microsoft partners to alternative platforms to better assure their own financial performance.
In short, this reminded a lot of folks critical to Microsoft's long term success how dangerous it is to be tied to any one vendor which is never wise for any dominant vendor to do because it increases, dramatically, the need for a secondary vendor."
By Anonymous, at 10:18 PM