I find doctors to be quite bad at routing diagnostics, so I think a roll of a d100 has at least as good a chance of predicting heart attack as most doctors.
Doctors are generally good at minor surgery, prescribing drugs, and addressing simple injuries. Beyond that, diving meaning from chicken bones seems to be just as accurate as doctors in predicting and/or diagnosing general issues.
At least it's moving in the right direction. However, there is no shortage of skilled American workers. Just the opposite is true. We have a glut of skilled American workers, but there is a dramatic shortage of decent, livable-wage jobs in America.
While tightening the rules around H1B is a good start, the system needs to be entirely gutted.
Not much of a challenge when over 70 percent of electricity generated in Oregon is currently from renewables.
They should be given more kudos for having the foresight to hit the 70% mark already. You don't go from zero to seventy overnight, so they had to have planned for this and started their implementations much earlier. This is far ahead of most places, so they should be congratulated for their forward thinking.
Still, the remaining 30% isn't a walk in the park, either. There is still a lot of planning and implementation remaining.
Your post is full of so many errors and logical fallacies, I barely have the time to scratch the surface.
1) Windows is the most popular OS.
This is nitpicking, but Windows is the most prevalent *desktop* operating system. Linux is the most popular operating system by far, with Android alone recently eclipsing Windows on the user-facing front.
2) But even today, after so many years, it's nowhere near as user-friendly as Windows or macOS are.
Everyone for whom I have installed Kubuntu has commented on how unexpectedly easy "Linux" is to use. That's to be expected, since the vast majority of people use their desktops as nothing more than glorified program launchers. That's aside from how much better their computers perform vs. Windows. After using Kubuntu for a while, my customers find Windows to be infuriatingly harsh and difficult to use. They didn't realize just how bad it really is, because that's all they knew. They thought that it was normal for computers to behave so badly, and to be so hard to manage.
3) If we go with the major distro defaults of GNOME 3, systemd and PulseAudio, we'll likely encounter odd problems.
GNOME 3 is, in a word, shit. I don't dare put any of my customers or family in front of GNOME, as it's just absolutely terrible. As for the systemd and Pulse Audio hate: I have yet to have a problem with them on any computer I have or service. For 99.999999% of users, Pulse Audio is fantastic. Nobody notices, or cares, about SysV vs. systemd outside of computer forums like Slashdot. For every single one of my users, Kubuntu has been completely care-free. The sole exception was a short period of time where the Open Source AMD driver caused a bunch of bad flickering when desktop effects were turned on.
4) So Linux really isn't an option for most people.
On the other hand a good degree will introduce you to concepts and rigor that you would otherwise not encounter if you were self taught.
I think you believe that, because your schooling interfered with your education. A passionate self-taught programmer would likely have encountered everything you mentioned, and more. I went to a 4-year university after I had been a self-taught programmer for 8 years. My self-taught interests touched upon signal processing as a, "that sounds interesting, so I want to investigate it" motive. I didn't care enough about it to pursue it very far, but I was exposed to it. I knew why it was used and when to use it, but I had no actual need for it. I had learned about a dozen programming languages, and that was barely touching the surface of the things I explored during those first 8 years.
Later, I got interested in 3D game programming (what self-taught programmer didn't?), so I learned OpenGL, OpenAL, Linear Algebra, designed a model format, and wrote a 3D game engine that handled rendering, sound, networking, input controls, physics, etc. Then I realized that my engine core was horrendously inefficient, so gutted it and rewrote it to be efficient. My degree program didn't, and couldn't, even touch upon any of it.
My university degree program was heavily focused on the needs of surrounding businesses of the period, while my real education took place at home. A good understand of how to use the Internet for research is WAY more valuable than a University degree. The only use to a job seeker of a University degree is to make it past H.R. Everything else is readily available on the Internet, for the motivated self-learner.
...Garage Opening Now A Delivered Service (GONADS).
Or, if you're dumb enough to have your garage door opener controlled by some unaccountable third party, "Garage Opening Now A Denied Service (GONADS)."
The Constitution is very clearly written in this regard, and the Judicial and Executive branches routinely ignore it or hand-wave it away. Americans have the full protection of the Constitution while within the borders of the U.S. U.S. law enforcement officials have no authority outside of its borders.
Therefore, U.S. law enforcement has no legal right to do most of the things they are doing at the border, and belong in prison for violating our highest law of the land; as do many judges and Justices.
I was going to post counterpoints, but you beat me to it. However, my counterpoints complement yours rather that just repeat them.
1. The big screen.
TV's are large enough and cheap enough that I can have a screen as large as I want, and no larger. My home TV sizes are perfect for my environment. At the theater, the screen is either too big (front row seats), too small (back row seats), or not much larger than my living room TV (center seats). This is a non-issue.
2. People everywhere.
This is a good reason to stay home. People have different ways of keeping themselves entertained during a movie, with many of them directly opposing my way of staying entertained during a movie. I can customize my experience at home.
3. Focus.
If the movie is good, it keeps my focus. Screen size doesn't matter like it did 15 years ago, when theater screens were impressive.
4. Relentlessness.
If I'm hungry, thirsty, or have to pee, the theater movie goes on. In the 80's, theaters still had intermission to allow movie-goers to expel that huge bucket of soda that they sucked down in the first half of the movie. We've been without this courtesy for decades now, making this point a HUGE drawback.
5. A massive speaker system.
This is one of my go-to reasons for staying home. I would like to still have my hearing when I'm old, and theaters are hell-bent on destroying it. The massive speaker system is a HUGE drawback.
6. Previews.
This is much like paying for Cable TV while being forced to watch commercials. If I want to watch commercials, I'll watch them on YouTube. When I go to the theater at 6:00pm, I want the movie to start an 6:00pm; not at 6:30pm - 6:45pm. Saying that paying to watch commercials is somehow a plus is just moronic.
7. Disruption.
Shit happens in life, especially when you have kids. If I want to stop the movie to tend to other things, then I can do that at home without much hassle. I can pause the movie, do what needs to be done, then come back and unpause it when it suits me. That's a huge benefit of watching movies at home.
8. Alone time.
Until my kids are older, this is a non-starter. But when they're old enough, they can go keep themselves entertained for a couple hours while my wife and I watch a movie. Or, when they're old enough, they can watch the movie with us. The theater doesn't allow the freedom to adapt to changing circumstances. It's all or nothing, most of the time.
9. 32 ounces of cola in the dark.
This is a benefit to the theater owner, not to the movie-goer.
10. Bragging rights.
Bragging about what? "I got ripped off big time by the theater! Look at me! I'm awesome!" The last time I took my family out to watch a movie (which I hadn't done in years), it cost me nearly $60. That's ridiculous, and my wife and I both revolted against the idea of doing that again anytime soon. I can buy the DVD (I won't buy Blu-Ray), load up on home concessions and watch the movie in the comfort of my own home for half that (in principle. In reality we usually watch during or after dinner, so movie food is usually a non-issue). Then, when we want to watch the movie again in a few months, we can do it for next to nothing.
If this is the case for going to the theater, then they deserve to die off. It has little to no appeal.
The last time hollywood writers went on strike we got a whole lot of unscripted reality TV....
So-called, "Reality TV" is scripted, too. It's just that the script is unimaginative tripe. It's what you get when the janitor is promoted to lead creative director.
Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
Stop using Microsoft, and the problems with Microsoft automatically fix themselves. It's amazing how well computers work when you don't allow Microsoft to touch them.
Whaa?? Who runs a public web site on a 14-year old version of the server????
There are plenty of dumb people who still think that Windows belongs in a public-facing capacity. It doesn't matter which version of Windows you use to underpower your Web server. You were screwed the moment your management decided to use Microsoft.
Wow, you people lining up to identify with Google's interests are totally missing the point.
Google's interests happen to align with the vast majority of the online world's interests in this issue. I think that you are the one missing the point. This goes far beyond the mere, insignificant issue of how much Google should pay in royalties, or even whether Google should pay royalties at all. This is the RIAA positioning itself as the gatekeeper of shared culture, much like how Disney is positioning itself as the gatekeeper of the public domain, via absurd paid-for studies.
You can safely skip the article without missing anything. I stopped reading after, "Relationships Can Be Codified" because I realized that the author of the article seems to have very limited programming and design experience. All of his examples up to, and including, that point are elementary issues with simple solutions.
At some point I'm sure they'd manage to do away with this silly inconvenient 'open source' nonsense, seeing as how they'll have invested all the time and money and manpower into it, right?
There are some serious obstacles to that, the most obvious being:
1) They would have to get copyright law changed so that it is no longer valid.
or
2) They would have to rewrite Linux themselves.
or
3) They would have to contact all the copyright holders, and convince them to sell out.
In short, don't lose any sleep over your concerns.
DrXym, you and I have had very different experiences at GameStop. The GameStop I use is staffed by very friendly people, and has reasonable prices for the used games I buy for my kids (most are $10 or less). I really hope that location doesn't close.
At the present rate, we will all be paying $50/month for all these streaming services just to get the content we need.
Which is still 4 times less than what the cable companies want, while providing more than the cable companies.
We can't have the entire enchilada all at once, but Netflix and Amazon prime are a HUGE step in the right direction (with Netflix being superior, as it doesn't offer just a few episodes of a show before hitting you up to buy subsequent one). Not to mention, I signed up for Amazon Prime to save on shipping. Finding out I could stream shows was an unexpected bonus.
I find myself unable to identify with much of anything you said in your posting (except for ala carte choices). My main objections to cable TV were the HUGE cost and massive commercial intrusions. Netflix solves both of those problems, while also providing commercial-free ala carte viewing that Hollywood refuses to provide.
To put it bluntly, fuck Hollywood. That troll needed to die years ago, and I hope Netflix is the one to push it into the sunlight.
In my last post, I neglected to mention that Windows upgraded itself, despite me having explicitly turned off all automatic updates. So yeah, Microsoft needs to be sued.
For billions, not mere millions.
If all Microsoft is going to have it pay is a mere few dozen million dollars, then the lawsuit might as well stop now. If the point of a class action lawsuit is to change a company's behavior, then nothing short of 20 billion dollars in damages will suffice in the case of Microsoft. 50 billion would be fair.
I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.
The Windows 7 -> Windows 10 upgrade made one of my customer's computers unable to do anything but an infinite reboot cycle. At that point, though, he finally gave it and paid me to install Kubuntu on his computer. Before that, he was very much opposed to replacing Windows with Linux. Now he says his computer works better than it ever has.
And now tech support, as always happens with my Windows to Linux migrations, has changed from, "I was doing [something innocuous], and suddenly [fill in malicious Windows behavior]" to, "Can you come in periodically for routine maintenance? No, everything's fine. We just like knowing you're still available, and we'll pay you for your time."
Or quite possibly people can get more money for their Chrome exploits elsewhere....
The same could be said for Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. The more likely explanation is that Chrome is just more secure than the other browsers, and that Edge is just as bad as Internet Explorer (which makes sense, since Microsoft is incapable of making a decent Web browser).
Slashdot Mirror
There is an alter-motive behind this.
The word you're looking for is, "ulterior."
I find doctors to be quite bad at routing diagnostics, so I think a roll of a d100 has at least as good a chance of predicting heart attack as most doctors.
Doctors are generally good at minor surgery, prescribing drugs, and addressing simple injuries. Beyond that, diving meaning from chicken bones seems to be just as accurate as doctors in predicting and/or diagnosing general issues.
At least it's moving in the right direction. However, there is no shortage of skilled American workers. Just the opposite is true. We have a glut of skilled American workers, but there is a dramatic shortage of decent, livable-wage jobs in America.
While tightening the rules around H1B is a good start, the system needs to be entirely gutted.
Not much of a challenge when over 70 percent of electricity generated in Oregon is currently from renewables.
They should be given more kudos for having the foresight to hit the 70% mark already. You don't go from zero to seventy overnight, so they had to have planned for this and started their implementations much earlier. This is far ahead of most places, so they should be congratulated for their forward thinking.
Still, the remaining 30% isn't a walk in the park, either. There is still a lot of planning and implementation remaining.
Cue the brainless Microsoft apologists who will try to spin this into something other than yet another reason to stop using Microsoft software.
This problem goes way beyond Windows.
Your post is full of so many errors and logical fallacies, I barely have the time to scratch the surface.
1) Windows is the most popular OS.
This is nitpicking, but Windows is the most prevalent *desktop* operating system. Linux is the most popular operating system by far, with Android alone recently eclipsing Windows on the user-facing front.
2) But even today, after so many years, it's nowhere near as user-friendly as Windows or macOS are.
Everyone for whom I have installed Kubuntu has commented on how unexpectedly easy "Linux" is to use. That's to be expected, since the vast majority of people use their desktops as nothing more than glorified program launchers. That's aside from how much better their computers perform vs. Windows. After using Kubuntu for a while, my customers find Windows to be infuriatingly harsh and difficult to use. They didn't realize just how bad it really is, because that's all they knew. They thought that it was normal for computers to behave so badly, and to be so hard to manage.
3) If we go with the major distro defaults of GNOME 3, systemd and PulseAudio, we'll likely encounter odd problems.
GNOME 3 is, in a word, shit. I don't dare put any of my customers or family in front of GNOME, as it's just absolutely terrible. As for the systemd and Pulse Audio hate: I have yet to have a problem with them on any computer I have or service. For 99.999999% of users, Pulse Audio is fantastic. Nobody notices, or cares, about SysV vs. systemd outside of computer forums like Slashdot. For every single one of my users, Kubuntu has been completely care-free. The sole exception was a short period of time where the Open Source AMD driver caused a bunch of bad flickering when desktop effects were turned on.
4) So Linux really isn't an option for most people.
My experience indicates the opposite.
On the other hand a good degree will introduce you to concepts and rigor that you would otherwise not encounter if you were self taught.
I think you believe that, because your schooling interfered with your education. A passionate self-taught programmer would likely have encountered everything you mentioned, and more. I went to a 4-year university after I had been a self-taught programmer for 8 years. My self-taught interests touched upon signal processing as a, "that sounds interesting, so I want to investigate it" motive. I didn't care enough about it to pursue it very far, but I was exposed to it. I knew why it was used and when to use it, but I had no actual need for it. I had learned about a dozen programming languages, and that was barely touching the surface of the things I explored during those first 8 years.
Later, I got interested in 3D game programming (what self-taught programmer didn't?), so I learned OpenGL, OpenAL, Linear Algebra, designed a model format, and wrote a 3D game engine that handled rendering, sound, networking, input controls, physics, etc. Then I realized that my engine core was horrendously inefficient, so gutted it and rewrote it to be efficient. My degree program didn't, and couldn't, even touch upon any of it.
My university degree program was heavily focused on the needs of surrounding businesses of the period, while my real education took place at home. A good understand of how to use the Internet for research is WAY more valuable than a University degree. The only use to a job seeker of a University degree is to make it past H.R. Everything else is readily available on the Internet, for the motivated self-learner.
...Garage Opening Now A Delivered Service (GONADS).
Or, if you're dumb enough to have your garage door opener controlled by some unaccountable third party, "Garage Opening Now A Denied Service (GONADS)."
The Constitution is very clearly written in this regard, and the Judicial and Executive branches routinely ignore it or hand-wave it away. Americans have the full protection of the Constitution while within the borders of the U.S. U.S. law enforcement officials have no authority outside of its borders.
Therefore, U.S. law enforcement has no legal right to do most of the things they are doing at the border, and belong in prison for violating our highest law of the land; as do many judges and Justices.
I was going to post counterpoints, but you beat me to it. However, my counterpoints complement yours rather that just repeat them.
1. The big screen.
TV's are large enough and cheap enough that I can have a screen as large as I want, and no larger. My home TV sizes are perfect for my environment. At the theater, the screen is either too big (front row seats), too small (back row seats), or not much larger than my living room TV (center seats). This is a non-issue.
2. People everywhere.
This is a good reason to stay home. People have different ways of keeping themselves entertained during a movie, with many of them directly opposing my way of staying entertained during a movie. I can customize my experience at home.
3. Focus.
If the movie is good, it keeps my focus. Screen size doesn't matter like it did 15 years ago, when theater screens were impressive.
4. Relentlessness.
If I'm hungry, thirsty, or have to pee, the theater movie goes on. In the 80's, theaters still had intermission to allow movie-goers to expel that huge bucket of soda that they sucked down in the first half of the movie. We've been without this courtesy for decades now, making this point a HUGE drawback.
5. A massive speaker system.
This is one of my go-to reasons for staying home. I would like to still have my hearing when I'm old, and theaters are hell-bent on destroying it. The massive speaker system is a HUGE drawback.
6. Previews.
This is much like paying for Cable TV while being forced to watch commercials. If I want to watch commercials, I'll watch them on YouTube. When I go to the theater at 6:00pm, I want the movie to start an 6:00pm; not at 6:30pm - 6:45pm. Saying that paying to watch commercials is somehow a plus is just moronic.
7. Disruption.
Shit happens in life, especially when you have kids. If I want to stop the movie to tend to other things, then I can do that at home without much hassle. I can pause the movie, do what needs to be done, then come back and unpause it when it suits me. That's a huge benefit of watching movies at home.
8. Alone time.
Until my kids are older, this is a non-starter. But when they're old enough, they can go keep themselves entertained for a couple hours while my wife and I watch a movie. Or, when they're old enough, they can watch the movie with us. The theater doesn't allow the freedom to adapt to changing circumstances. It's all or nothing, most of the time.
9. 32 ounces of cola in the dark.
This is a benefit to the theater owner, not to the movie-goer.
10. Bragging rights.
Bragging about what? "I got ripped off big time by the theater! Look at me! I'm awesome!"
The last time I took my family out to watch a movie (which I hadn't done in years), it cost me nearly $60. That's ridiculous, and my wife and I both revolted against the idea of doing that again anytime soon. I can buy the DVD (I won't buy Blu-Ray), load up on home concessions and watch the movie in the comfort of my own home for half that (in principle. In reality we usually watch during or after dinner, so movie food is usually a non-issue). Then, when we want to watch the movie again in a few months, we can do it for next to nothing.
If this is the case for going to the theater, then they deserve to die off. It has little to no appeal.
The last time hollywood writers went on strike we got a whole lot of unscripted reality TV....
So-called, "Reality TV" is scripted, too. It's just that the script is unimaginative tripe. It's what you get when the janitor is promoted to lead creative director.
Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
Stop using Microsoft, and the problems with Microsoft automatically fix themselves. It's amazing how well computers work when you don't allow Microsoft to touch them.
Whaa?? Who runs a public web site on a 14-year old version of the server????
There are plenty of dumb people who still think that Windows belongs in a public-facing capacity. It doesn't matter which version of Windows you use to underpower your Web server. You were screwed the moment your management decided to use Microsoft.
Wow, you people lining up to identify with Google's interests are totally missing the point.
Google's interests happen to align with the vast majority of the online world's interests in this issue. I think that you are the one missing the point. This goes far beyond the mere, insignificant issue of how much Google should pay in royalties, or even whether Google should pay royalties at all. This is the RIAA positioning itself as the gatekeeper of shared culture, much like how Disney is positioning itself as the gatekeeper of the public domain, via absurd paid-for studies.
M$ is bad because M$!
That reputation did not spring out of the ether. Microsoft solidly earned it with bad products and bad business practices.
You can safely skip the article without missing anything. I stopped reading after, "Relationships Can Be Codified" because I realized that the author of the article seems to have very limited programming and design experience. All of his examples up to, and including, that point are elementary issues with simple solutions.
At some point I'm sure they'd manage to do away with this silly inconvenient 'open source' nonsense, seeing as how they'll have invested all the time and money and manpower into it, right?
There are some serious obstacles to that, the most obvious being:
1) They would have to get copyright law changed so that it is no longer valid.
or
2) They would have to rewrite Linux themselves.
or
3) They would have to contact all the copyright holders, and convince them to sell out.
In short, don't lose any sleep over your concerns.
DrXym, you and I have had very different experiences at GameStop. The GameStop I use is staffed by very friendly people, and has reasonable prices for the used games I buy for my kids (most are $10 or less). I really hope that location doesn't close.
At the present rate, we will all be paying $50/month for all these streaming services just to get the content we need.
Which is still 4 times less than what the cable companies want, while providing more than the cable companies.
We can't have the entire enchilada all at once, but Netflix and Amazon prime are a HUGE step in the right direction (with Netflix being superior, as it doesn't offer just a few episodes of a show before hitting you up to buy subsequent one). Not to mention, I signed up for Amazon Prime to save on shipping. Finding out I could stream shows was an unexpected bonus.
I find myself unable to identify with much of anything you said in your posting (except for ala carte choices). My main objections to cable TV were the HUGE cost and massive commercial intrusions. Netflix solves both of those problems, while also providing commercial-free ala carte viewing that Hollywood refuses to provide.
To put it bluntly, fuck Hollywood. That troll needed to die years ago, and I hope Netflix is the one to push it into the sunlight.
It decided to upgrade itself to Windows 10....
In my last post, I neglected to mention that Windows upgraded itself, despite me having explicitly turned off all automatic updates.
So yeah, Microsoft needs to be sued.
For billions, not mere millions.
If all Microsoft is going to have it pay is a mere few dozen million dollars, then the lawsuit might as well stop now. If the point of a class action lawsuit is to change a company's behavior, then nothing short of 20 billion dollars in damages will suffice in the case of Microsoft. 50 billion would be fair.
I haven't seen a Windows upgrade (note: UPGRADE) destroy data in a meaningful way in.....I don't even know how long.
The Windows 7 -> Windows 10 upgrade made one of my customer's computers unable to do anything but an infinite reboot cycle. At that point, though, he finally gave it and paid me to install Kubuntu on his computer. Before that, he was very much opposed to replacing Windows with Linux. Now he says his computer works better than it ever has.
And now tech support, as always happens with my Windows to Linux migrations, has changed from, "I was doing [something innocuous], and suddenly [fill in malicious Windows behavior]" to, "Can you come in periodically for routine maintenance? No, everything's fine. We just like knowing you're still available, and we'll pay you for your time."
These are the types of patents that are just fucking stupid.
Along with all the rest.
never buy anything Lexmark.
I've been doing this since 1999, when Lexmark was the printer manufacturer most hostile to Linux.
Supplement it with a replica / backup / alternative.
Or be smart, and don't put anything you want to keep on someone else's servers.
Or quite possibly people can get more money for their Chrome exploits elsewhere....
The same could be said for Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, and Edge. The more likely explanation is that Chrome is just more secure than the other browsers, and that Edge is just as bad as Internet Explorer (which makes sense, since Microsoft is incapable of making a decent Web browser).