They've got a bunch of immediately available Dell netbooks without cameras at the Dell Outlet Store. I just got a 9" Dell Mini, found a 15% discount coupon, and it shipped less than 24 hours after I ordered it. Most of the inventory I saw had Windows XP Home installed. So you run with the preinstalled XP if you like that, or install Linux/go the Hackint0sh route if you prefer something else.
My question exactly. When I was contracting at Microsoft, after I had dug up the gig, gone through the interviewing process, arranged a bill rate, and gotten steered by MS' HR area to go through Volt, Volt was proposing to take a 35% margin off the top for a deal that I had put together. Fortunately, I was able to find another "approved vendor" with a much more reasonable margin. I've come across Volt's presence in several other contracting situations, and they've tried to cram down similar margins there too. I hope that the folks actually doing the work at MS have enough contract flexibility and persistence to find a more reasonable subcontracting vendor.
Not true about having to locate the phone next to your internet connection. See Vonage's website for options on using multiple phones with a single ATA adapter -- http://www.vonage-promotion.com/learn_center.html (see question about multiple phones). I've been using the last option they mention -- plugging the ATA adapter into my home's phone wiring AFTER disconnecting the incoming PSTN line (voltages differ, and you'll fry your ATA if you didn't disconnect it first). I didn't have to move any of our 3 phones in order to use the Vonage service. Not terribly elegant, but it took me all of 15 minutes to figure out and has worked for me for 1+ year with Vonage service.
When the government was decomissioning its Titan missile program in the 1990s, it sold off a number of properties like this. For example, also in the Eastern Washington area, some private investors bought the former Titan facilities located above ground and are running it as an ultra-secure data center facility [titanone.com]. The owner group includes a couple of former Microsoft execs. (Insert your favorite security joke here.)
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They've got a bunch of immediately available Dell netbooks without cameras at the Dell Outlet Store. I just got a 9" Dell Mini, found a 15% discount coupon, and it shipped less than 24 hours after I ordered it. Most of the inventory I saw had Windows XP Home installed. So you run with the preinstalled XP if you like that, or install Linux/go the Hackint0sh route if you prefer something else.
My question exactly. When I was contracting at Microsoft, after I had dug up the gig, gone through the interviewing process, arranged a bill rate, and gotten steered by MS' HR area to go through Volt, Volt was proposing to take a 35% margin off the top for a deal that I had put together. Fortunately, I was able to find another "approved vendor" with a much more reasonable margin. I've come across Volt's presence in several other contracting situations, and they've tried to cram down similar margins there too. I hope that the folks actually doing the work at MS have enough contract flexibility and persistence to find a more reasonable subcontracting vendor.
Not true about having to locate the phone next to your internet connection. See Vonage's website for options on using multiple phones with a single ATA adapter -- http://www.vonage-promotion.com/learn_center.html (see question about multiple phones). I've been using the last option they mention -- plugging the ATA adapter into my home's phone wiring AFTER disconnecting the incoming PSTN line (voltages differ, and you'll fry your ATA if you didn't disconnect it first). I didn't have to move any of our 3 phones in order to use the Vonage service. Not terribly elegant, but it took me all of 15 minutes to figure out and has worked for me for 1+ year with Vonage service.
When the government was decomissioning its Titan missile program in the 1990s, it sold off a number of properties like this. For example, also in the Eastern Washington area, some private investors bought the former Titan facilities located above ground and are running it as an ultra-secure data center facility [titanone.com]. The owner group includes a couple of former Microsoft execs. (Insert your favorite security joke here.)
1. Microsoft XP Shack
2. Microsoft XP Shed