I rather doubt any good poetry will actually come out of this.
That's exactly the idea. 99.99% of whatever comes out will be pure shite, but as time goes on, the theory is that the content of some will improve.
It's why it's called "Darwinian". Random mutations producing almost total garbage, but rarely producing something worthwhile, which is allowed to survive.
Well said. The problem with "easy" and "elegant" is that it's a pretty short step to "unconfigurable" and "uncustomizable". FreeBSD's design assumes that *you* want to control how things happen, not some preconfigured process designed by somebody who had no idea what your needs were.
If ease and elegance of updating the operating system were the main criteria for picking one, we'd all be running Windows. Can't get much easier than going to a website and doing it all with one mouse button and rebooting.
If you want everything to be easy and be led by the hand through it all, go get yourself a copy of Windows.
If, on the other hand, you're actually willing to do a little bit of upfront work so your system can behave the way you want it to rather than the way MS thinks it should then do it yourself- it's not that hard to do.
I really can't believe that anyone would complain about how FreeBSD's package system works. Fact is, it does, hands down, and it's not that hard to learn or configure.
ISPs are allowed to filter out content if they wish. It doesn't happen with most of them (that I know of) but there would be no legal recourse for the customers if an ISP did begin blocking some traffic. The ISP owns the systems, the user cannot tell them how to run them. The user can go elsewhere, along with their wallet, which is why most ISPs don't censor content on their networks.
This is of course assuming they didn't violate their own TOS or contracts, etc, which is a different issue entirely.
Well, if SCO follows the RIAA's model, they'll enlist the government into making their position legal, while simultaneously making their opponents "pirates".
Sure, that's one of the purposes of having a handgun. But it still leaves the fact that a gun is designed for killing and/or maiming other human beings- it's context-neutral.
Not relevant; the RIAA isn't the arbiter of what makes sense or not. It's not appropriate to voice an opinion - that P2P is primarily for illegal activities - and use that as a justification for outlawing it.
As an analogy, handguns (as in pistols) are primarily designed for one purpose- killing people. They're not very useful for other applications (most of the time), although some people like to hunt with them, and so on. Target shooting is also something people do with them. However, the primary purpose of a handgun is to provide a convenient means of killing or maiming another human being. On the basis of that argument, should handguns be illegal?
I don't think so personally, but the analogy is valid.
I suppose that every OS has its flaws that will cause headaches for individuals looking to do specific things; in my case I have either worked around these issues or haven't run across them- I don't use a networked printer in my home lab, for example (no need for it in a room only about 10 by 20 feet).
When I was getting used to FreeBSD, I could make it detonate pretty much at will, although I've since learned what to do and what not to. It's just a question of learning not only the operating system, but its limitations; they all have their pluses and minuses, one just has to figure out the right mix to accomplish whatever tasks need doing.
After I moved into a new place, the power was really flaky until I changed a few things around, so I hear where you're coming from there. For some reason my printer seems to have been the culprit, although it's just an inkjet. *shrug* It's working fine now, though.
I have 5 Win 2K servers and two Win XP boxes in my home lab, along with three FreeBSD systems. The XP and 2K systems have about the same uptime as the FreeBSD ones.
The only restarts for *any* of my systems in the last two years were for moving, installing new hardware, applying some update or another, or the occasional power supply failure- had two of those in the last year. I've had exactly zero crashes related to software in several years. I get a BSOD on my laptop every now and again, but that comes with the territory of running a debugger.
I routinely get 6 months or more uptime out of my desktop, and more than that for my servers. Any operating system can be made stable if you know what you're doing.
You have a point, but the fact is that people who are (in)famous are the target of harrassment, stalking, and other attacks more often than the average joe. I can imagine there's a few anti-Microsoft zealots who would love to savage Bill Gates' credit record or file an SSI claim as him, just as an example.
I think that if I were Bill Gates, I'd be justifiably more concerned about the potential of abuse of my SSA data than I personally am. I certainly am concerned about it, but I'm not subject to the same kind of exposure that political figures, actors, and so on are.
It's probably a question of simply allocating resources- you can't flag everyone's SSN for followup, but it should raise a flag (in my opinion) if the Speaker of the House's social security records are accessed by an operator answering the 1-800 line, for example. Chances are, it's just someone (usually a flunky) filing some piece of paperwork or other, but it could be something more sinister.
Actually, in the case of major political figures (which probably does not include California assembly members), actors/actresses and other famous individuals, the government, in particular GSA and the Social Security Administration, have flagged their numbers.
Having known people who work for the SSA, I've heard stories of having to deal with processing a legitimate information request for a major figure, such as an actor or member of Congress, and having to explain every aspect of the actions taken the next day, because any processing of data using a flagged number triggers an internal review.
If you try and use that SSN for anything, you'll very quickly be getting a visit from some individuals with their sense of humor surgically removed, and you'll very likely not be seen for a while.
Re:Do younger minds absorb quicker?
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Ageism in IT?
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· Score: 1
+1 Groks It. Yes, I prefer smaller organizations. I've worked in larger ones, and at the employee level, it seems that in the big companies there isn't much emphasis on actual work, but a lot on politics, backbiting, nest-feathering, and general horsepucky that takes me away from coding.:)
So you could call it a convenient affectation, but I really don't think that if you're going to toss a resume based on the degree that I'd want to work there. Frankly, if I can't make the cut because the place is so large that they have to weed resumes out on such a basis, I'm not interested- at that level, they're not looking for employees per se, but the cog that will fit best with the rest of the cogs.
Re:Do younger minds absorb quicker?
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Ageism in IT?
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· Score: 1
I put it on there because leaving it off would leave the question of what level my formal education was at open. With that, there's no question. It's not useful in terms of what the employer is usually seeking, but it does provide information that would otherwise have to be solicited directly.
Re:Do younger minds absorb quicker?
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Ageism in IT?
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Heh. I used to be an employer, and diplomas were about the last thing I worried about. They're good for what I said, not much more. I'm not impressed by academic credentials, I want to see what you can do.
And as far as "real world happenings", I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'm pretty comfortable in my understanding of what goes on in the real world.
As far as where I will work, generally I was referring to situations in which there is a choice, which thankfully in IT has, even in this economy, been pretty much true.
And the same to you, by the way.:-)
Re:Do younger minds absorb quicker?
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Ageism in IT?
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· Score: 1
+1 Rocky.
Well done.
Re:Do younger minds absorb quicker?
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Ageism in IT?
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· Score: 4, Insightful
That's the only education aside from computer training listed on my resume.
My comeback when people ask about it is that I've never been to college, but I taught it for a few years. (true story);-)
Diplomas are nice, but when the rubber meets the road, they don't mean much. They're mostly a tool to see if you have any of the experience/ability you claim. Without it, there's other ways to demonstrate your ability.
Actually, any company that would toss a resume because it didn't list college experience isn't a place I'd want to work anyway- not sour grapes; it shows a fundemtally flawed methodology that probably permeates the entire organization, and it would be better not to be there, in my opinion.
*sigh*... No, I don't love that. What I think is fascinating is how "Trek" has managed to inculcate itself into the culture enough that a state-funded mental health organization finds itself forced by law to hire, or at least place on call, Klingon speakers.
Please don't construct such clumsy strawmen in the future.
Uh, not quite true. The language was originally created for one of the movies, and was a full-fledged language with its own grammar and syntax, invented by a linguist, not a fan.
It's been extended and promoted by fans, true, but the original language was invented by a linguist.
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I rather doubt any good poetry will actually come out of this.
That's exactly the idea. 99.99% of whatever comes out will be pure shite, but as time goes on, the theory is that the content of some will improve.
It's why it's called "Darwinian". Random mutations producing almost total garbage, but rarely producing something worthwhile, which is allowed to survive.
I think it's an interesting experiment, actually.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
No, but three lefts do!
Well said. The problem with "easy" and "elegant" is that it's a pretty short step to "unconfigurable" and "uncustomizable". FreeBSD's design assumes that *you* want to control how things happen, not some preconfigured process designed by somebody who had no idea what your needs were.
If ease and elegance of updating the operating system were the main criteria for picking one, we'd all be running Windows. Can't get much easier than going to a website and doing it all with one mouse button and rebooting.
If you want everything to be easy and be led by the hand through it all, go get yourself a copy of Windows.
If, on the other hand, you're actually willing to do a little bit of upfront work so your system can behave the way you want it to rather than the way MS thinks it should then do it yourself- it's not that hard to do.
I really can't believe that anyone would complain about how FreeBSD's package system works. Fact is, it does, hands down, and it's not that hard to learn or configure.
I doubt any judge or jury will grant you as an indivdual common carrier status- that's usually reserved for telecommunications providers and the like.
Without that status, you're fair game. Of course, IANAL.
ISPs are allowed to filter out content if they wish. It doesn't happen with most of them (that I know of) but there would be no legal recourse for the customers if an ISP did begin blocking some traffic. The ISP owns the systems, the user cannot tell them how to run them. The user can go elsewhere, along with their wallet, which is why most ISPs don't censor content on their networks.
This is of course assuming they didn't violate their own TOS or contracts, etc, which is a different issue entirely.
Office Space is a movie made by Mike Judge. Think live-action Dilbert, only darker and funnier. I highly recommend it.
Well, if SCO follows the RIAA's model, they'll enlist the government into making their position legal, while simultaneously making their opponents "pirates".
Point conceded- however, that's why it was an analogy. ;)
Sure, that's one of the purposes of having a handgun. But it still leaves the fact that a gun is designed for killing and/or maiming other human beings- it's context-neutral.
Not relevant; the RIAA isn't the arbiter of what makes sense or not. It's not appropriate to voice an opinion - that P2P is primarily for illegal activities - and use that as a justification for outlawing it. As an analogy, handguns (as in pistols) are primarily designed for one purpose- killing people. They're not very useful for other applications (most of the time), although some people like to hunt with them, and so on. Target shooting is also something people do with them. However, the primary purpose of a handgun is to provide a convenient means of killing or maiming another human being. On the basis of that argument, should handguns be illegal? I don't think so personally, but the analogy is valid.
I suppose that every OS has its flaws that will cause headaches for individuals looking to do specific things; in my case I have either worked around these issues or haven't run across them- I don't use a networked printer in my home lab, for example (no need for it in a room only about 10 by 20 feet).
When I was getting used to FreeBSD, I could make it detonate pretty much at will, although I've since learned what to do and what not to. It's just a question of learning not only the operating system, but its limitations; they all have their pluses and minuses, one just has to figure out the right mix to accomplish whatever tasks need doing.
Sometimes I think MS Bob is the Voldemort of the IT world- "you-know-what" or "the app that must not be named".
;-)
This is borne out by the sort of vaguely ill look and flinching exhibited by anyone else when you mention its name.
After I moved into a new place, the power was really flaky until I changed a few things around, so I hear where you're coming from there. For some reason my printer seems to have been the culprit, although it's just an inkjet. *shrug* It's working fine now, though.
Yeah, that's true. I should have qualified my statement a bit more. I stand corrected. :)
I have 5 Win 2K servers and two Win XP boxes in my home lab, along with three FreeBSD systems. The XP and 2K systems have about the same uptime as the FreeBSD ones.
The only restarts for *any* of my systems in the last two years were for moving, installing new hardware, applying some update or another, or the occasional power supply failure- had two of those in the last year. I've had exactly zero crashes related to software in several years. I get a BSOD on my laptop every now and again, but that comes with the territory of running a debugger.
I routinely get 6 months or more uptime out of my desktop, and more than that for my servers. Any operating system can be made stable if you know what you're doing.
You have a point, but the fact is that people who are (in)famous are the target of harrassment, stalking, and other attacks more often than the average joe. I can imagine there's a few anti-Microsoft zealots who would love to savage Bill Gates' credit record or file an SSI claim as him, just as an example.
I think that if I were Bill Gates, I'd be justifiably more concerned about the potential of abuse of my SSA data than I personally am. I certainly am concerned about it, but I'm not subject to the same kind of exposure that political figures, actors, and so on are.
It's probably a question of simply allocating resources- you can't flag everyone's SSN for followup, but it should raise a flag (in my opinion) if the Speaker of the House's social security records are accessed by an operator answering the 1-800 line, for example. Chances are, it's just someone (usually a flunky) filing some piece of paperwork or other, but it could be something more sinister.
Actually, in the case of major political figures (which probably does not include California assembly members), actors/actresses and other famous individuals, the government, in particular GSA and the Social Security Administration, have flagged their numbers.
Having known people who work for the SSA, I've heard stories of having to deal with processing a legitimate information request for a major figure, such as an actor or member of Congress, and having to explain every aspect of the actions taken the next day, because any processing of data using a flagged number triggers an internal review.
If you try and use that SSN for anything, you'll very quickly be getting a visit from some individuals with their sense of humor surgically removed, and you'll very likely not be seen for a while.
+1 Groks It. Yes, I prefer smaller organizations. I've worked in larger ones, and at the employee level, it seems that in the big companies there isn't much emphasis on actual work, but a lot on politics, backbiting, nest-feathering, and general horsepucky that takes me away from coding. :)
So you could call it a convenient affectation, but I really don't think that if you're going to toss a resume based on the degree that I'd want to work there. Frankly, if I can't make the cut because the place is so large that they have to weed resumes out on such a basis, I'm not interested- at that level, they're not looking for employees per se, but the cog that will fit best with the rest of the cogs.
I put it on there because leaving it off would leave the question of what level my formal education was at open. With that, there's no question. It's not useful in terms of what the employer is usually seeking, but it does provide information that would otherwise have to be solicited directly.
Heh. I used to be an employer, and diplomas were about the last thing I worried about. They're good for what I said, not much more. I'm not impressed by academic credentials, I want to see what you can do.
:-)
And as far as "real world happenings", I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'm pretty comfortable in my understanding of what goes on in the real world.
As far as where I will work, generally I was referring to situations in which there is a choice, which thankfully in IT has, even in this economy, been pretty much true.
And the same to you, by the way.
+1 Rocky. Well done.
That's the only education aside from computer training listed on my resume.
;-)
My comeback when people ask about it is that I've never been to college, but I taught it for a few years. (true story)
Diplomas are nice, but when the rubber meets the road, they don't mean much. They're mostly a tool to see if you have any of the experience/ability you claim. Without it, there's other ways to demonstrate your ability.
Actually, any company that would toss a resume because it didn't list college experience isn't a place I'd want to work anyway- not sour grapes; it shows a fundemtally flawed methodology that probably permeates the entire organization, and it would be better not to be there, in my opinion.
*sigh*... No, I don't love that. What I think is fascinating is how "Trek" has managed to inculcate itself into the culture enough that a state-funded mental health organization finds itself forced by law to hire, or at least place on call, Klingon speakers.
Please don't construct such clumsy strawmen in the future.
Uh, not quite true. The language was originally created for one of the movies, and was a full-fledged language with its own grammar and syntax, invented by a linguist, not a fan.
It's been extended and promoted by fans, true, but the original language was invented by a linguist.