[...]Because it's all just a bunch of random personal anecdotes, it doesn't mean anything.
Very true. But in my experience, this happens even more at digg.com. I sometimes visit the Ars Technica forums and the problem doesn't seem to exist there.
When I started resisting the demands (in order to get on with the job) he accused me of trying to "hide something" from him. [...] the lesson is - treat process as a contract, as much as the functional requirements. If they ask for more, just say "no"
Another lesson could be that when your client feels uncertainty and doubt, actively make this a topic and ask how that feeling can be alleviated. The problem should probably be fixed by the client himself, for instance by paying an external auditing party, by paying for extra deliveries and so on.
If you get a call asking you if you'd be willing to [...] restart your system, then you have the Linux version.
Restart your system? And ruin my uptime? OOooooh I wish I would get a call like that. I would lecture said person ad nauseam about the foolishness of rebooting, when you can just restart the service in question, whether he was a M$ lackey, how he could explain the reboot to his senior sysadmin, et cetera. Without so much as a breath, I'd then continue and venture into the GNU/Linux question, how great Samba is, Sony's questionable activities, the intricacies of the CC attribute-blah-blah license et cetera et cetera.
Oh BOY, please SOMEONE CALL ME and tell me to REBOOT my SYSTEM!
I only wish they'd let me lower the offering price. Maybe 2 or 3 other people will have anything to do with my music getting all the way into the iTunes store..
You can send those people iTunes gift certificates.
As an inhabitant of a Euro-using country, I'd say that's perfectly understandable. Everytime I visit an European country that has its own currency, I think to myself 'how old-fashioned, get the Euro already'.
I think the fact that there are people out there who aspire to do mundane jobs is a blessing
Whether it's mundane, depends on your viewpoint. I hack Perl and C++ code and lots of friends find that mundane.
I know a few front-end developers who are TEH specialist, having contacts in W3C, keeping up to date on related blogs, getting high tariffs (60+ euros), and knowing the ins and outs of government regulations concerning HTML compliant for usage by screenreaders.
Windows Mobile devices have had applications running in the background for ages and there have not been outbreaks of infections preventing people from dialing 911
I agree on the 'no outbreaks' part, but you'll agree that Windows Mobile feels very sluggish, often requires rebooting and often needs the taskmanager to kill running background tasks.
everyone already *knows* what Excel, Quicken, Outlook, etc are. [...] they can get away with not saying Excel Spreadsheet and Outlook Mail/News and whatever in your start menu.
So why does the Vista start menu have a search function?
Because no, not everyone knows all programs. Recently I organized an online meeting and downloaded the client from gotomeeting.com. After installation, I couldn't find it and after a couple of minutes, found it it's reachable through Start -> Citrix -> GoToMeeting.... Seasoned ~7yr. experience IT professional.
Aw come on... I've read a lot of your smart posts. It's not a thin line at all. You either have a relationship or you don't. Doesn't seem that thin to me.
And no, one date is not a relationship. The IRS in my small European country will ask whether you share a sustained household -- that is the base question. One date is not a sustained household.
Two of the three companies I worked for, served coffee that was either made from some strange paste, or was made by cooking water and mixing it with powder.
You're touching a sensitive point here. The office coffee (if you can call it that) at my workplace is so terrible, that all around the building coffee machines pop up.
Now I ask you. Why, why in Bane's name would an employer give bad coffee to his employees? What could possibly be a good reason?
if you really feel emasculated by a girl [...] It comes with time, so try not to worry or be discouraged.
No, it comes with practice. Active practice, just like any other skill. Start asking questions actively, don't wait until you're 28 years old and grumpy about it.
Apparently Opera allows you to browse the web quickly. (Admittedly that's rather science-fictiony.)
That's not science-fiction at all. On one hand you've got the internet. On the other hand you've got Opera. You get that don't you? OK, now I'm telling you that Opera is better than the internet.
The way I see it, this guy blew any chance of promotion for the coming two years. He also has a problem picking up other jobs in the future. Should be punishment enough. Firing? What purpose would that serve?
Not in my cosy little North-West European country.
Slashdot Mirror
We just need to get all the golf websites to drop IE6 support
"Golf" websites. Actually I know of this other category of errr... exercise... that might have a bigger effect.
Yeah but when will it support the interval attribute??!?
<blink interval="100ms">that's what she said</blink>
the updates are installed automagically without any manual intervention
I'm not sure that's a good idea on a server. Why would you mindlessly update packages on a server when there's no actual reason to do so?
Look, these threads are the same every time:
[...]Because it's all just a bunch of random personal anecdotes, it doesn't mean anything.
Very true. But in my experience, this happens even more at digg.com. I sometimes visit the Ars Technica forums and the problem doesn't seem to exist there.
Of course, YMMV.
I have 20+ years of project management experience, sometimes while being called a project manager.
Just curious... What were you being called other times?
Names? Liar? Scapegoat? Catbert, Destoyer-of-Marriages? Head slave-driver?
When I started resisting the demands (in order to get on with the job) he accused me of trying to "hide something" from him. [...] the lesson is - treat process as a contract, as much as the functional requirements. If they ask for more, just say "no"
Another lesson could be that when your client feels uncertainty and doubt, actively make this a topic and ask how that feeling can be alleviated. The problem should probably be fixed by the client himself, for instance by paying an external auditing party, by paying for extra deliveries and so on.
It's all just flavored ethanol. Deal with it.
Pop a bottle of real champagne and share it with the wife. This stuff isn't 'just flavored ethanol', I'm telling you, it's bottled love potion.
'Video games' is an extremely broad category
It wasn't broad at all, it could only be NetHack. Well, OK, it could've been NetHack-Qt or NetHack-X11, but that's really the same.
If you get a call asking you if you'd be willing to [...] restart your system, then you have the Linux version.
Restart your system? And ruin my uptime? OOooooh I wish I would get a call like that. I would lecture said person ad nauseam about the foolishness of rebooting, when you can just restart the service in question, whether he was a M$ lackey, how he could explain the reboot to his senior sysadmin, et cetera. Without so much as a breath, I'd then continue and venture into the GNU/Linux question, how great Samba is, Sony's questionable activities, the intricacies of the CC attribute-blah-blah license et cetera et cetera.
Oh BOY, please SOMEONE CALL ME and tell me to REBOOT my SYSTEM!
I only wish they'd let me lower the offering price.
Maybe 2 or 3 other people will have anything to do with my music getting all the way into the iTunes store..
You can send those people iTunes gift certificates.
True :) Got my currencies wrong...
As an inhabitant of a Euro-using country, I'd say that's perfectly understandable. Everytime I visit an European country that has its own currency, I think to myself 'how old-fashioned, get the Euro already'.
(Yeah, yeah, I know about the disadvantages).
Don't forget the Blink tag. Everyone LOVES Blinkie!
Not everyone. Not me, anyway. The way I see it, there's a big problem with the blink tag -- it doesn't support an 'interval' attribute.
I think the fact that there are people out there who aspire to do mundane jobs is a blessing
Whether it's mundane, depends on your viewpoint. I hack Perl and C++ code and lots of friends find that mundane.
I know a few front-end developers who are TEH specialist, having contacts in W3C, keeping up to date on related blogs, getting high tariffs (60+ euros), and knowing the ins and outs of government regulations concerning HTML compliant for usage by screenreaders.
Not mundane.
Windows Mobile devices have had applications running in the background for ages and there have not been outbreaks of infections preventing people from dialing 911
I agree on the 'no outbreaks' part, but you'll agree that Windows Mobile feels very sluggish, often requires rebooting and often needs the taskmanager to kill running background tasks.
V. B. A.
I should be getting hazard pay.
Have you considered going into poetry?
It's bad enough for him, just let him be.
Hmm, I'm not sure. World-wide, Google dominates search industry worldwide and holds 60% - 75% of all the market. But Yahoo holds 12%-20% and Microsoft is at 4%-8%.
So I don't think Google is totally synonimous with the internet.
everyone already *knows* what Excel, Quicken, Outlook, etc are. [...] they can get away with not saying Excel Spreadsheet and Outlook Mail/News and whatever in your start menu.
So why does the Vista start menu have a search function?
Because no, not everyone knows all programs. Recently I organized an online meeting and downloaded the client from gotomeeting.com. After installation, I couldn't find it and after a couple of minutes, found it it's reachable through Start -> Citrix -> GoToMeeting.... Seasoned ~7yr. experience IT professional.
Aw come on... I've read a lot of your smart posts. It's not a thin line at all. You either have a relationship or you don't. Doesn't seem that thin to me.
And no, one date is not a relationship. The IRS in my small European country will ask whether you share a sustained household -- that is the base question. One date is not a sustained household.
At least we didn't just nuke parts of the place, turn the sand into glass....and start real easy from that point.
Nice fallacy.
If only it was automatic drip!
Two of the three companies I worked for, served coffee that was either made from some strange paste, or was made by cooking water and mixing it with powder.
You're touching a sensitive point here. The office coffee (if you can call it that) at my workplace is so terrible, that all around the building coffee machines pop up.
Now I ask you. Why, why in Bane's name would an employer give bad coffee to his employees? What could possibly be a good reason?
Could a resident business owner enlighten me?
if you really feel emasculated by a girl [...] It comes with time, so try not to worry or be discouraged.
No, it comes with practice. Active practice, just like any other skill. Start asking questions actively, don't wait until you're 28 years old and grumpy about it.
Apparently Opera allows you to browse the web quickly. (Admittedly that's rather science-fictiony.)
That's not science-fiction at all. On one hand you've got the internet. On the other hand you've got Opera. You get that don't you? OK, now I'm telling you that Opera is better than the internet.
We can all rest easy now. The cloud will have a "blink" tag.
That's nice, but will it have an interval attribute?
I would love something like <blink interval="100ms">blinkenlights</blink>
The way I see it, this guy blew any chance of promotion for the coming two years. He also has a problem picking up other jobs in the future. Should be punishment enough. Firing? What purpose would that serve?
Not in my cosy little North-West European country.