I guess my point boils down to this: The magic of a given, _specific_ instance of modern digital technology is so arcane, so deeply specialized, that even a fellow practitioner, working two blocks over, doing pretty much the same kind of thing, but not exactly, has little chance of quickly solving a "service" problem. The engineer at Cisco (pick your fav hitech company) uses C just like I do; she writes some python, bash or ruby, like I do. She could learn my job, and I hers, given a good chunk of time (weeks). But there's no way she can respond in real time to a problem with some piece of code I or my crew wrote. She doesn't know my architecture, may not know my tool set all that well (CVS vs SVN vs git vs ClearCase, GNU C vs Intel C, Linux vs. QNX, etc.), and absolutely doesn't know the folklore regarding the SX-1000 Megaswitch and Rice Cooker I helped develop that just stopped passing packets and is now burning tonight's dinner.
For ill or good, we've spun up a high-tech civilization that is so damn complicated and deeply layered that your ideal of a jack-of-all trades Citizen who can take care of themselves, by themselves, is almost an impossibility, IMHO. Sincere kudos to you, mixed with envy, if you are the rare exception!:)
I've worked in telecoms for a looong time now, on the technical side (embedded SW). If my Comcast service stops working, and is still not working after the usual sanity checks (restart Firefox, ping google, reset modem and router, etc.), I, uh, call Comcast. What, you want me to break out a 'scope or packet analyzer? Want me to pop the top on their green box out by the curb? Hack into their Cisco box at the head end? No, thanks -- it's *their* debugging problem, not mine!:)
... what it was always designed to do, though admittedly at a higher, more general level than originally envisioned: It will route around the blockage.
A big, powerful, arrogant company is telling me that their very iffy handling of my personal data is "OK" because some other big, powerful and arrogant company is already doing pretty much the same?
I don't see the problem with Microsoft patenting or trademarking ideas that Apple has already shipped. I mean, they've done it before and gotten away with it...
Slashdot Mirror
ummmm... Frank's own sequels to "Dune" were spotty. So, at least the other authors were following the pattern.
-k
... this is just _wrong_!
First SparkFun get a stupid cease & desist, *then* it gets slashdotted. Some days, it all just goes downhill from the git-go...
You are easily excited...
Yes. Yes you are.
I haven't heard a *WHOOOOOSH* this loud on /. in a long time...
Somewhere, Orwell is slowly shaking his head...
Shit... morning coffee all over my keyboard _again_ ...
... just to get you to click thru
"embedded SW" = "embedded software" (sorry :})
:)
I guess my point boils down to this: The magic of a given, _specific_ instance of modern digital technology is so arcane, so deeply specialized, that even a fellow practitioner, working two blocks over, doing pretty much the same kind of thing, but not exactly, has little chance of quickly solving a "service" problem. The engineer at Cisco (pick your fav hitech company) uses C just like I do; she writes some python, bash or ruby, like I do. She could learn my job, and I hers, given a good chunk of time (weeks). But there's no way she can respond in real time to a problem with some piece of code I or my crew wrote. She doesn't know my architecture, may not know my tool set all that well (CVS vs SVN vs git vs ClearCase, GNU C vs Intel C, Linux vs. QNX, etc.), and absolutely doesn't know the folklore regarding the SX-1000 Megaswitch and Rice Cooker I helped develop that just stopped passing packets and is now burning tonight's dinner.
For ill or good, we've spun up a high-tech civilization that is so damn complicated and deeply layered that your ideal of a jack-of-all trades Citizen who can take care of themselves, by themselves, is almost an impossibility, IMHO. Sincere kudos to you, mixed with envy, if you are the rare exception!
I've worked in telecoms for a looong time now, on the technical side (embedded SW). If my Comcast service stops working, and is still not working after the usual sanity checks (restart Firefox, ping google, reset modem and router, etc.), I, uh, call Comcast. What, you want me to break out a 'scope or packet analyzer? Want me to pop the top on their green box out by the curb? Hack into their Cisco box at the head end? No, thanks -- it's *their* debugging problem, not mine! :)
... what it was always designed to do, though admittedly at a higher, more general level than originally envisioned: It will route around the blockage.
-k
... yields 36,9000 hits.
... we're all gonna die, right?
... will be a text-to-voice service that will read your Google Voice mail to you...
"This would be followed by brownouts a combination of temporary freezing and computers being reduced to a slow speed."
I have Comcast; how will I be able to tell when this starts to happen, compared to what I see today?
"The name, which will not be publicly released until the program airs."
I know this is slashdot, but can we at least have complete sentences? Please?
Flamebait??? He's spot on. Mod him "goddamn right!"
I have mod points, but cannot find the "Totally Bonkers" mod...
$33 per share, right? And now it's at $12 or $13? Hmmm... can you say "stockholder lawsuit"?
... the laser on that shark!
But, I'd sign up to be an at-the-source QA tester...
A big, powerful, arrogant company is telling me that their very iffy handling of my personal data is "OK" because some other big, powerful and arrogant company is already doing pretty much the same?
Oh, I feel much better now...
... is this man's Nobel Prize for Literature? I'm completely serious.
Or, maybe, a "screamingallthewaydown" tag?
I don't see the problem with Microsoft patenting or trademarking ideas that Apple has already shipped. I mean, they've done it before and gotten away with it...