Sometimes I think employers try to offer "perks" because they are cheaper than offering real incentives, like group insurance plans and retirement help.
I worked for a webhosting company recently called WestHost in their support department, and one of the things that they would do is advertise to potential hires "we offer free pop, and LAN parties!" Then, they would hold this over our heads, and if we didn't perform perfectly and clean up management's messes and smile all the while, we got no LAN parties and they acted like we were not deserving of the free pop.
Oh, and did I mention that they paid us jack crap?
I really would rather be paid more and have no extra 'perks' as long as they treated me right. I will always be willing to work my tail off for an employer who does that.
Well, since I was just postulating they might have a little more stress about it, you can relax now and realize nobody thinks that MS's world is going to end if an OSS Exchange Server clone were created.
However, Office is, from what I understand, MS's biggest source of revenue, so threatening that in any way likely isn't taken lightly or ignored in Redmond.
However, my personal bet is that they'll just quietly (at first) either:
1 - Prepare to pull some patent crud and hinder Connector and its derivatives (kmail, anyone?) as much as possible when the timing is right
2 - Change protocols a bit and periodically in an attempt to keep the OSS community behind just enough to hinder them and keep MS on top
There might be other things they'd try, but I sincerely hope that they aren't able to touch Connector or any groups working on OSS Exchange-compatible servers.
Now that Connector is open-source, it should be interesting to see what MS thinks of this as it will undoubtedly eat into their ability to sell Office as well as they do now.
I also wonder how long it will be before we see some kind of open-source version of Exchange Server itself, replacing MS across the board for Exchange!
I've rarely heard anyone take this attitude except when they don't have a wife/girlfriend. I have one, so I speak from experience here... You do funny things for love, even if they don't make a huge amount of sense, but you don't regret it if you really love them.
And besides, a smart guy doesn't spend two months' salary on a ring, because if he's smart he'll be earning more than that and if he's smart he won't marry a prissy girl that wants a huge rock on her finger. You just gotta think and do a little research before you plunk down money like that, and it will always be more significant and a better reminder to the woman than a chunk of land.
What will suck is when you can nano-manufacture all of this for cheap and it will be worth nothing, and then you won't be able to give the girlfriend ANYTHING appreciable to prove you'll sacrifice for her. =)
Now THIS is a great way to start off my morning; I hop on slashdot, and this is what I see?
And a clean slate to boot! Life is good today, the two companies I hate implicated and I see no postings yet...
Man, you gotta get it right so you have all the powers of two.
Microsoft Windows:
32-bit extensions to a 16-bit operating system written for an 8-bit revision of a 4-bit processor for a 2-bit company that can't stand one bit competition.
And yes, I dream in hexadecimal...
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Sometimes I think employers try to offer "perks" because they are cheaper than offering real incentives, like group insurance plans and retirement help.
I worked for a webhosting company recently called WestHost in their support department, and one of the things that they would do is advertise to potential hires "we offer free pop, and LAN parties!" Then, they would hold this over our heads, and if we didn't perform perfectly and clean up management's messes and smile all the while, we got no LAN parties and they acted like we were not deserving of the free pop.
Oh, and did I mention that they paid us jack crap?
I really would rather be paid more and have no extra 'perks' as long as they treated me right. I will always be willing to work my tail off for an employer who does that.
Well, since I was just postulating they might have a little more stress about it, you can relax now and realize nobody thinks that MS's world is going to end if an OSS Exchange Server clone were created.
However, Office is, from what I understand, MS's biggest source of revenue, so threatening that in any way likely isn't taken lightly or ignored in Redmond.
However, my personal bet is that they'll just quietly (at first) either:
1 - Prepare to pull some patent crud and hinder Connector and its derivatives (kmail, anyone?) as much as possible when the timing is right
2 - Change protocols a bit and periodically in an attempt to keep the OSS community behind just enough to hinder them and keep MS on top
There might be other things they'd try, but I sincerely hope that they aren't able to touch Connector or any groups working on OSS Exchange-compatible servers.
Now that Connector is open-source, it should be interesting to see what MS thinks of this as it will undoubtedly eat into their ability to sell Office as well as they do now.
I also wonder how long it will be before we see some kind of open-source version of Exchange Server itself, replacing MS across the board for Exchange!
I've rarely heard anyone take this attitude except when they don't have a wife/girlfriend. I have one, so I speak from experience here... You do funny things for love, even if they don't make a huge amount of sense, but you don't regret it if you really love them.
And besides, a smart guy doesn't spend two months' salary on a ring, because if he's smart he'll be earning more than that and if he's smart he won't marry a prissy girl that wants a huge rock on her finger. You just gotta think and do a little research before you plunk down money like that, and it will always be more significant and a better reminder to the woman than a chunk of land.
What will suck is when you can nano-manufacture all of this for cheap and it will be worth nothing, and then you won't be able to give the girlfriend ANYTHING appreciable to prove you'll sacrifice for her. =)
Now THIS is a great way to start off my morning; I hop on slashdot, and this is what I see? And a clean slate to boot! Life is good today, the two companies I hate implicated and I see no postings yet...
Man, you gotta get it right so you have all the powers of two. Microsoft Windows: 32-bit extensions to a 16-bit operating system written for an 8-bit revision of a 4-bit processor for a 2-bit company that can't stand one bit competition. And yes, I dream in hexadecimal...