Also, if the little guy has a patent on something, it is up to them to defend it. This costs big bucks and takes considerable amount of time, two things a little guy does not have to spare
I'm glad to see someone else recognizing this fact.
Your post has been up for 4 days now and you have no troll replies? Usually when I post something like this I'll have a troll or AC hit me with "Get a lawyer! They'll do it for you!" within 10 minutes. Am I paranoid or do I really have a gang of online trolls follwing me around?
Most "self made" rich people are those that start their own business, bust their ass, and make it work (independant of patents)
I'd like to agree but I think most "self made" rich people come from a background which facilitates making their business work. Associations tied to family or to the neighborhood in which they grew up or where they went to school which lead to greater opportunity down the road. Sure there are "rags-to-riches" poster children but that's exactly why they make good stories and movies--they're unlikely poster children. It may sound a little cynical but moving between social classes here in the US is little different than doing it in a nation which has formalized the divisions. The real difference is that, here in the US, we don't have the formality so you never really know what you need to do to make it.
The overseas markets kick our butts in textiles, steel manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, circuit board manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, beer manufacturing, cheese manufacturing, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum ad nauseum. Somehow these industries still survive here in the US.
Enough of the apocolyptic viewpoint already.
But by then the decline of the US will be so obvious
The US has declined so far already to be a socialist state (with a different name) and still the majority of the people don't notice. They don't notice because they're too busy working their asses off to pay taxes and get their kids through crappy public schools which teach the same mindsets that keep people working their asses off to pay ever-increasing taxes and racing to get their kids to crappy public schools which teach the same mindsets that keep people working...
As much as I wish it would all reform and get better overnight, or even in the space of 5 years, it probably won't. We can have major elections turn out with no more certainty than a coin toss and still the majority of American people feel they're properly informed about the issues which affect their lives. Sad to say, it's not going to change.
Now certainly we won't continue to have $50k jobs for every 2.0 GPA 4-year graduate with a good haircut and a nice tie but you won't find me feeling any pity for them. No 4-year graduate in my field gets a gravy train--even with a 3.5 GPA from a elitist school.
Technically speaking every license has restrictions. The BSD license has restrictions--restrictions which force you to agree to the terms of the BSD license. Living in the USA, a "free" country, has restrictions set forth by the millions of pages of local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations. Even if a license existed which was a blank page there would still be restrictions. By agreeing to use a blank license you are restricted to the terms of using a license with no terms and agreeing to be restricted to admitting to the use of such a license. "Restriction" in popular use carries negative intonations especially when it is used in the same context as Open Source Software or Free Software.
I'm really really bothered by people who insist on putting negative spin on what amounts to a logical necessity.
I'm not so big on the 45 degree angle. I don't want a 3D circular desktop. I just want a 2D desktop with DEPTH. A 3D box.
I run my monitor at 1600x1200 and it gets cluttered in no time. If I had dual monitors, well, I'd still want the depth because I'd clutter them up just as quickly.
Depth means I can prioritize the windows based upon their activity. Xterms which are compiling go down but are still visible so that I know when they're done. Also my examples of terms which are watching network traffic. And windows which are holding IM conferences. They don't need to take up their full usual space but I do want to know the moment that a new line comes in.
What's even scarier than being able to read the obnoxious 13375p34| farther up is that I recognize this code.
The LEN statement is a bit fuzzy--I can't remember if that was available in the dialect that I'm thinking of. The int(rnd()) construct is certainly indicative of a particular dialect.:)))
Why is everyone giving Looking Glass such horrible reviews? Did all of you have a suck weekend?
I switch windows 2-3 times/minute when I'm holding conferences, compiling multiple items, writing new scripts, working on reports, listening to tunes, ripping CDs, and browsing the web. I have two Mozilla windows with 4+ tabs in each when I'm mangling entries for OSVDB. No, it wouldn't be more productive to have all 8+ tabs in one Moz window because there's a grouping scheme for ordering the information that I need at any given time. I also spent $200 on this fancy-dancy video card... for what? Xterm sure doesn't need 128mb of vid ram and 3D routines to run gcc. Why would I want to resurrect a window (click, select, click) just to type "dir" and then send it back (click) when a simple mouseover could bring the window to the front and then loss of focus could send the window back to an icon sized scaled down version? How about watching network monitors? Maybe I like watching "tcpdump" but have it tailored to only catch stray unwanted packets. I need the window around at all times but not full-sized. All I want is a scaled down xterm so that, when the lines shift, I can bring it up, have a look at it, decide if it's bad, and then send it back. How about "watch -n 2 netstat"? I like to know when someone's knocking on my ftp server but I don't need that window taking up maximum real estate at all times. Sure there are gkrellm plugins for these easy examples but there are dozens of custom considerations that can be accomplished with grep in an xterm. How about tailing daemon.log? That's another window which doesn't need to be full size all the time but you'll want to know instantly when it changes.
Looking glass and Expocity are just what I need to help me organize my screen to quickly flip back and forth between different windows or to keep the xterms running so that I can see when the scroll stops and compiling is done.
Guess you're all low-end, non-multitasking users. As long as my CPU can keep up with the demands of the WM I find a 3D WM to be just what the doctor ordered.
Actually, since I don't bother playing video games anymore (really, they're all the same) I've been waiting for something like Looking Glass to show up and make use of the $200 I paid for a video card.
The unfortunate part is that Looking Glass will probably eat into my CPU cycles more than harness the vid card. I think most vid card acceleration routines are tailored for gaming and not for productivity.
Personally, I use all my screen real estate for my current app. I might be in a minority but how many people don't maximize the application that they're working in?
My operating mode is quite the opposite. I multitask my workload and find myself switching windows 2-3 times/minute when I'm compiling multiple packages, working on new bash scripts, holding IM conferences, and writing a report. You could say that I need to lay off the caffeine but, oddly, I don't drink much coffee. A 3D desktop like this would be a blessing for me. No longer do I need to worry about my screen becoming cluttered with windows constantly reshuffling their order. I can send them back slightly to make them smaller or just turn them sideways.
Unfortunately my two systems probably don't have the horsepower for something like Looking Glass. I have a K6-3/400 w/ a Radeon 7500 and a PII/400 w/ a Viper 550.
I've recently learned about Expocity. Expocity is a python patch for metacity.
Anyways, saying you can't access this code unless you also agree to the license is a HUGE restriction
I don't see any restriction at all. If you want to be protected by a free license then you must subscribe to the free philosophy. Asking to be protected by a free license so that you can take the next guy to the cleaners is hypocrisy.
So magic really isn't some transcendental hokus-pokus, it's really a description of the abilities of those who have studied and mastered the art of predicting the next set of actions based upon previous vocal intonations.
Re:Depends on the kind of graffiti
on
Reverse Graffiti
·
· Score: 1
Taggers, on the other hand, just like to put their name on shit for whatever reason - territory marking
You grew up on the rich side of the tracks, didn't you?
I think the end goal is to create a new business model around pay-per-play Absolutely. They've realized that all of us entering our 30s aren't going to buy many new CDs and they're still trying to milk us for every last drop they can get. We were the ones that loaded up on import singles from England at $25/pop over the last ten years. The new generation of teenagers doesn't care about remixes because they already have a million of them (kindly supplied by us). We were the generation that put the money into the remix movement. What thanks do we get for it? None. Only the proposition to BOHICA.
don't kid yourself into thinking the riaa just doesn't get it... what's scarier than them not getting it is that they do get it and they're using that against us I've been saying this for years. Not just about the RIAA, but about any powerful political entity from individual senators up to entire governing bodies. I usually get shouted down for being a paranoid hippie freak.
Also do remember that for every one of us who want information free, there are three who stand to lose money at free information, and six who just don't give a fuck, as long as they get paid.
VERY INSIGHTFUL
Note that the six who don't give a plaid rabid flying badger-patootle make up the voting majority. It's this concept of rigging the vote that no one seems to understand.
OSS, while it may be changing the way the industry works, is still not commonplace to the end user.
To the contrary I forward the hypothesis that a majority of proprietary software is pirated and rewritten from available open source code. Since it's illegal, per the EULA and many federal laws, to decompile the code in order to check no one ever notices the fraud.
This is going to sound like a troll but my personal experience tells me that this post is nothing more than a fancy pep talk given by an armchair quarterback.
As an employment counselor for 5 years, these techniques did wonders for my clients in their job searchs. And this particular line is nothing more than self-advertising. Sure, it's posted by an AC, but it serves to advertise/benefit the headhunter industry.
Act,(1),noun 8 : a display of affected behavior : PRETENSE
Act,(2),verb 4 : to behave in a manner suitable to
As is very common, the act is more important than actually BEING professional. Large corporations are in no way honest, nor do they communicate unless it's profitable to do so, and simplicity is not beneficial for patent applications.
As long as the general populance believes it, however, they are safe and profitable.
The only restrictive part of the GPL is that GPLd works can only be used as parts of a GPL project. Proprietary projects cannot contain GPL works unless the proprietary project uses the GPL.
What's so bad about that? Do you really want some proprietary company stealing your open code, compiling it, and then suing you for breaking numerous laws when you decompile it to prove that they stole it?
If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
So it's circular? Since all Contributors are Recipients, all Recipients are Contributors, and Contributors grant rights to Recipients?
Is there some way that we can break out of the loop and use this to worm our way into getting copies of the MS OS source for free?
I suspect that, if you should carefully read the CPL for other circular occurrences such as this, there is a way for MS lawyers to sue select individuals should their "derivative works" ever become even mildly popular or competitive.
You make some good points. Allow me to state my opinion:
No other industry in history has successfully survived giving away products for free. I do not see giving products away for free as a long-term solution. I see the free software the way free software has always been--an educational tool and a hook to priced software. Right now free software is necessary as a marketing tactic. If someone (laughable possibility) could possibly come up with an OS with all the gaming support of Windows and put it on the store shelves of every major electronics, department, and general store, you can bet dollars to donuts that Microsoft would not bat an eyelid to take a short term loss, make use of their immense resources, and cut their price by 1/2 of the incoming competitor to stay on top. Giving software away for free is the only way that OSS has a chance of breaking the MS monopoly. Even after we break MS I still see the OS and core components being free while advanced products such as games and an office suite (which doesn't mimic MS-Office) or video and audio editing will generate real revenue.
A computer is the only product I can think of in which the key to the front door costs 1/2 as much as all the hardware. Could your landlord charge $200/mo for your key? Could your real estate broker charge $20000 for your key? Could your auto manufacturer charge $2000 for the key? Are ovens sold without the door? Are refrigerators sold without a compressor? Do your tennis shoes come without laces (and laces, btw, cost $25)? Is your television sold with a BIOS on a separate chip (and the TV BIOS costs $200)? How about your stereo? What of home typewriters? Are they sold with a separate power supply which costs an extra $100? A computer without an OS is a funny looking paperweight.
By 2015 when the US software industry is completely destroyed What is this, a troll? The software industry will never ben destroyed. Companies may come and go. Some very bright developers may become unemployed, homeless, and eventually die or commit suicide. The software industry is no different from any other industry--It will survive.
Open Source will be remembered - less than warmly - for being a major contributor to the collapse of the industry Open source does not necessitate $0.00. Proprietary vendors have been arguing against open source for the same reason that they are profitting: Once code is compiled and sold (for a price), it is illegal to decompile the code to verify that it hasn't been stolen. If you ask me proprietary vendors have been stealing open source code, dressing it up, and selling it for profit for years. Open source code could only serve to strengthen the integrity of the industry.
Simply a software manager with 30 years experience who is tickled by the naivety of geeks when it comes to business reality It sounds to me like you're scared to let anyone else double check your work. Don't worry. It's okay. I've never worked for a manager who was comfortable with me checking his work. My managers know that they treat their employees like crap and they avoid, AT ALL COSTS, the opportunities for their employees to do the same. I don't believe in the 360degree performance review system, either. It's a sham. Managers know that they have the upper hand with HR if they should receive a blistering review from their subordinates.
Slashdot Mirror
Also, if the little guy has a patent on something, it is up to them to defend it. This costs big bucks and takes considerable amount of time, two things a little guy does not have to spare
I'm glad to see someone else recognizing this fact.
Your post has been up for 4 days now and you have no troll replies? Usually when I post something like this I'll have a troll or AC hit me with "Get a lawyer! They'll do it for you!" within 10 minutes. Am I paranoid or do I really have a gang of online trolls follwing me around?
Most "self made" rich people are those that start their own business, bust their ass, and make it work (independant of patents)
I'd like to agree but I think most "self made" rich people come from a background which facilitates making their business work. Associations tied to family or to the neighborhood in which they grew up or where they went to school which lead to greater opportunity down the road. Sure there are "rags-to-riches" poster children but that's exactly why they make good stories and movies--they're unlikely poster children. It may sound a little cynical but moving between social classes here in the US is little different than doing it in a nation which has formalized the divisions. The real difference is that, here in the US, we don't have the formality so you never really know what you need to do to make it.
am saying that it will NOT survive in the US
The overseas markets kick our butts in textiles, steel manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, circuit board manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, beer manufacturing, cheese manufacturing, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum ad nauseum. Somehow these industries still survive here in the US.
Enough of the apocolyptic viewpoint already.
But by then the decline of the US will be so obvious
The US has declined so far already to be a socialist state (with a different name) and still the majority of the people don't notice. They don't notice because they're too busy working their asses off to pay taxes and get their kids through crappy public schools which teach the same mindsets that keep people working their asses off to pay ever-increasing taxes and racing to get their kids to crappy public schools which teach the same mindsets that keep people working...
As much as I wish it would all reform and get better overnight, or even in the space of 5 years, it probably won't. We can have major elections turn out with no more certainty than a coin toss and still the majority of American people feel they're properly informed about the issues which affect their lives. Sad to say, it's not going to change.
Now certainly we won't continue to have $50k jobs for every 2.0 GPA 4-year graduate with a good haircut and a nice tie but you won't find me feeling any pity for them. No 4-year graduate in my field gets a gravy train--even with a 3.5 GPA from a elitist school.
Technically speaking every license has restrictions. The BSD license has restrictions--restrictions which force you to agree to the terms of the BSD license. Living in the USA, a "free" country, has restrictions set forth by the millions of pages of local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations. Even if a license existed which was a blank page there would still be restrictions. By agreeing to use a blank license you are restricted to the terms of using a license with no terms and agreeing to be restricted to admitting to the use of such a license. "Restriction" in popular use carries negative intonations especially when it is used in the same context as Open Source Software or Free Software.
I'm really really bothered by people who insist on putting negative spin on what amounts to a logical necessity.
I use the Expocity hack
:)
It's not a hack. It's python code overlay.
I'm not so big on the 45 degree angle. I don't want a 3D circular desktop. I just want a 2D desktop with DEPTH. A 3D box.
I run my monitor at 1600x1200 and it gets cluttered in no time. If I had dual monitors, well, I'd still want the depth because I'd clutter them up just as quickly.
Depth means I can prioritize the windows based upon their activity. Xterms which are compiling go down but are still visible so that I know when they're done. Also my examples of terms which are watching network traffic. And windows which are holding IM conferences. They don't need to take up their full usual space but I do want to know the moment that a new line comes in.
What's even scarier than being able to read the obnoxious 13375p34| farther up is that I recognize this code.
:)))
The LEN statement is a bit fuzzy--I can't remember if that was available in the dialect that I'm thinking of. The int(rnd()) construct is certainly indicative of a particular dialect.
(incidentally, this closesly resembles how the OS X window manager works)
On Linux there is Expocity which scales the windows as you desire.
Why is everyone giving Looking Glass such horrible reviews? Did all of you have a suck weekend?
I switch windows 2-3 times/minute when I'm holding conferences, compiling multiple items, writing new scripts, working on reports, listening to tunes, ripping CDs, and browsing the web. I have two Mozilla windows with 4+ tabs in each when I'm mangling entries for OSVDB. No, it wouldn't be more productive to have all 8+ tabs in one Moz window because there's a grouping scheme for ordering the information that I need at any given time. I also spent $200 on this fancy-dancy video card... for what? Xterm sure doesn't need 128mb of vid ram and 3D routines to run gcc. Why would I want to resurrect a window (click, select, click) just to type "dir" and then send it back (click) when a simple mouseover could bring the window to the front and then loss of focus could send the window back to an icon sized scaled down version? How about watching network monitors? Maybe I like watching "tcpdump" but have it tailored to only catch stray unwanted packets. I need the window around at all times but not full-sized. All I want is a scaled down xterm so that, when the lines shift, I can bring it up, have a look at it, decide if it's bad, and then send it back. How about "watch -n 2 netstat"? I like to know when someone's knocking on my ftp server but I don't need that window taking up maximum real estate at all times. Sure there are gkrellm plugins for these easy examples but there are dozens of custom considerations that can be accomplished with grep in an xterm. How about tailing daemon.log? That's another window which doesn't need to be full size all the time but you'll want to know instantly when it changes.
Looking glass and Expocity are just what I need to help me organize my screen to quickly flip back and forth between different windows or to keep the xterms running so that I can see when the scroll stops and compiling is done.
Guess you're all low-end, non-multitasking users. As long as my CPU can keep up with the demands of the WM I find a 3D WM to be just what the doctor ordered.
Actually, since I don't bother playing video games anymore (really, they're all the same) I've been waiting for something like Looking Glass to show up and make use of the $200 I paid for a video card.
The unfortunate part is that Looking Glass will probably eat into my CPU cycles more than harness the vid card. I think most vid card acceleration routines are tailored for gaming and not for productivity.
Personally, I use all my screen real estate for my current app. I might be in a minority but how many people don't maximize the application that they're working in?
My operating mode is quite the opposite. I multitask my workload and find myself switching windows 2-3 times/minute when I'm compiling multiple packages, working on new bash scripts, holding IM conferences, and writing a report. You could say that I need to lay off the caffeine but, oddly, I don't drink much coffee. A 3D desktop like this would be a blessing for me. No longer do I need to worry about my screen becoming cluttered with windows constantly reshuffling their order. I can send them back slightly to make them smaller or just turn them sideways.
Unfortunately my two systems probably don't have the horsepower for something like Looking Glass. I have a K6-3/400 w/ a Radeon 7500 and a PII/400 w/ a Viper 550.
I've recently learned about Expocity. Expocity is a python patch for metacity.
Screenshot here and here and here.
Hopefully it will be a little less resource hungry for what I want to do.
Anyways, saying you can't access this code unless you also agree to the license is a HUGE restriction
I don't see any restriction at all. If you want to be protected by a free license then you must subscribe to the free philosophy. Asking to be protected by a free license so that you can take the next guy to the cleaners is hypocrisy.
some high-level executive who gets their fall cushioned by 10 million dollar bills
That always makes me laugh, too.
So magic really isn't some transcendental hokus-pokus, it's really a description of the abilities of those who have studied and mastered the art of predicting the next set of actions based upon previous vocal intonations.
Taggers, on the other hand, just like to put their name on shit for whatever reason - territory marking
You grew up on the rich side of the tracks, didn't you?
Of course it's territory marking.
Tell me a story about a guy making 50 grand a year who gets fired after demonstrably improving his company and I'll feel something
That would be me. But I'll save you the sob story because you, like anyone else, don't really care.
I think the end goal is to create a new business model around pay-per-play
Absolutely. They've realized that all of us entering our 30s aren't going to buy many new CDs and they're still trying to milk us for every last drop they can get. We were the ones that loaded up on import singles from England at $25/pop over the last ten years. The new generation of teenagers doesn't care about remixes because they already have a million of them (kindly supplied by us). We were the generation that put the money into the remix movement. What thanks do we get for it? None. Only the proposition to BOHICA.
don't kid yourself into thinking the riaa just doesn't get it... what's scarier than them not getting it is that they do get it and they're using that against us
I've been saying this for years. Not just about the RIAA, but about any powerful political entity from individual senators up to entire governing bodies. I usually get shouted down for being a paranoid hippie freak.
Also do remember that for every one of us who want information free, there are three who stand to lose money at free information, and six who just don't give a fuck, as long as they get paid.
VERY INSIGHTFUL
Note that the six who don't give a plaid rabid flying badger-patootle make up the voting majority. It's this concept of rigging the vote that no one seems to understand.
OSS, while it may be changing the way the industry works, is still not commonplace to the end user.
To the contrary I forward the hypothesis that a majority of proprietary software is pirated and rewritten from available open source code. Since it's illegal, per the EULA and many federal laws, to decompile the code in order to check no one ever notices the fraud.
This is going to sound like a troll but my personal experience tells me that this post is nothing more than a fancy pep talk given by an armchair quarterback.
As an employment counselor for 5 years, these techniques did wonders for my clients in their job searchs.
And this particular line is nothing more than self-advertising. Sure, it's posted by an AC, but it serves to advertise/benefit the headhunter industry.
I'll believe it the day it works for me.
I'm on the same page: When the chief insists vehemently, day-after-day, that hurricanes do not exist...
Act,(1),noun
8 : a display of affected behavior : PRETENSE
Act,(2),verb
4 : to behave in a manner suitable to
As is very common, the act is more important than actually BEING professional. Large corporations are in no way honest, nor do they communicate unless it's profitable to do so, and simplicity is not beneficial for patent applications.
As long as the general populance believes it, however, they are safe and profitable.
The only restrictive part of the GPL is that GPLd works can only be used as parts of a GPL project. Proprietary projects cannot contain GPL works unless the proprietary project uses the GPL.
What's so bad about that? Do you really want some proprietary company stealing your open code, compiling it, and then suing you for breaking numerous laws when you decompile it to prove that they stole it?
GNU GPL
If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
Quit whining about the GPL.
So it's circular? Since all Contributors are Recipients, all Recipients are Contributors, and Contributors grant rights to Recipients?
Is there some way that we can break out of the loop and use this to worm our way into getting copies of the MS OS source for free?
I suspect that, if you should carefully read the CPL for other circular occurrences such as this, there is a way for MS lawyers to sue select individuals should their "derivative works" ever become even mildly popular or competitive.
You make some good points. Allow me to state my opinion:
No other industry in history has successfully survived giving away products for free.
I do not see giving products away for free as a long-term solution. I see the free software the way free software has always been--an educational tool and a hook to priced software. Right now free software is necessary as a marketing tactic. If someone (laughable possibility) could possibly come up with an OS with all the gaming support of Windows and put it on the store shelves of every major electronics, department, and general store, you can bet dollars to donuts that Microsoft would not bat an eyelid to take a short term loss, make use of their immense resources, and cut their price by 1/2 of the incoming competitor to stay on top. Giving software away for free is the only way that OSS has a chance of breaking the MS monopoly. Even after we break MS I still see the OS and core components being free while advanced products such as games and an office suite (which doesn't mimic MS-Office) or video and audio editing will generate real revenue.
A computer is the only product I can think of in which the key to the front door costs 1/2 as much as all the hardware. Could your landlord charge $200/mo for your key? Could your real estate broker charge $20000 for your key? Could your auto manufacturer charge $2000 for the key? Are ovens sold without the door? Are refrigerators sold without a compressor? Do your tennis shoes come without laces (and laces, btw, cost $25)? Is your television sold with a BIOS on a separate chip (and the TV BIOS costs $200)? How about your stereo? What of home typewriters? Are they sold with a separate power supply which costs an extra $100? A computer without an OS is a funny looking paperweight.
By 2015 when the US software industry is completely destroyed
What is this, a troll? The software industry will never ben destroyed. Companies may come and go. Some very bright developers may become unemployed, homeless, and eventually die or commit suicide. The software industry is no different from any other industry--It will survive.
Open Source will be remembered - less than warmly - for being a major contributor to the collapse of the industry
Open source does not necessitate $0.00. Proprietary vendors have been arguing against open source for the same reason that they are profitting: Once code is compiled and sold (for a price), it is illegal to decompile the code to verify that it hasn't been stolen. If you ask me proprietary vendors have been stealing open source code, dressing it up, and selling it for profit for years. Open source code could only serve to strengthen the integrity of the industry.
Simply a software manager with 30 years experience who is tickled by the naivety of geeks when it comes to business reality
It sounds to me like you're scared to let anyone else double check your work. Don't worry. It's okay. I've never worked for a manager who was comfortable with me checking his work. My managers know that they treat their employees like crap and they avoid, AT ALL COSTS, the opportunities for their employees to do the same. I don't believe in the 360degree performance review system, either. It's a sham. Managers know that they have the upper hand with HR if they should receive a blistering review from their subordinates.
Go Max!