NSAs actions regarding surveillance are worse than the wettest dreams the East German StaSi could ever have imagined, for several reasons:
1. They didn't have the funds to do what NSA does
2. Technique developed a lot, everything is connected nowadays
3. USA pretends to be friends with most western countries, while East Germany was never trusted
The StaSi did some pretty bad stuff as well when it came to physical actions against opponents, but since most of it is not publicly known (neither for StaSi nor for NSA) it's hard to compare.
The only segment Google is really market leader by quality is IMO search. For all other areas (Mail, News, Social networks, Maps, Mobile OS, whatever) there are technically equally good or even better alternatives, for most areas even within Europe. (Mail-providers are available for ages, for social networks Facebook is not European but more widely used than Google+ while Diaspora would be a technically better solution than either of them, for Mobile OS there is SailfishOS [Yes, with an Android compatibility layer to let Android-Apps run; not because Android is better but because it has more market share by now and would be difficult to catch up], Meego and others, for Maps we have HERE and Openstreetmap). These alternatives are not widely used due to Googles market dominance, but they are good and available.
I'm not sure what the impact would be if Google Search would vanish, but I think we will survive.
I do agree on the point that blowing interviews is a bit pretentious. But there are a lot of times an interviewer has clearly asked questions "over the line" or that identify this company as a terrible fit.
Maybe, but I wouldn't judge by any of those low standard questions. Either the interviewer is from HR, then his competence does not necessarily say anything about the engineers technical competences and team atmosphere. Or the guy might still be a quite good engineer and just sucks at interview planning, or was scheduled on short notice to do the interview for another team. I'd probably tell the interviewer that I consider the questions a bit generic, took the time to learn the usually expected answers, but would prefer to go into more job-specific topics. Depending on the reaction, I can still blow the interview, or if they consider the interview blown because of this, I could probably live with it.
My stock answer (which usually appears to be well received:
There are no strengths or weaknesses. Just properties with positive and negative effects depending on the situation. I got this question in several interviews and always give this answer with appropriate information about my properties, and how they proved advantageous or disadvantageous
You are hired! No, really! Quit your current job and come next Monday to sign the new contract, and I promise we will double your current salary. We will never take advantage of your unemployment by then.
I did some research. GPL2, paragraph 1 requires to always add a license to the distribution. I.e. the user should *not* be required to do any research beyond reading the manual or maybe the help menu on the reader. (In this case the help menu does not count, since it is not accessible before giving away my personal data.)
Registering is already too much. I bought something for cash, why on earth should I want to provide my email address and name?!? And who says, if i where using a Windows PC, that data isn't sent when updating the library/adding books, or without win PC, whenever a free WLan becomes available? (Yes, I can switch of WLan. Will it really stay switched off with a vendor who is so sure to know better what's good for me?)
My Kobo reader didn't want to work without registration. I found some help here: http://trollinger.blog.com/2013/10/25/using-kobo-ebook-reader-without-registration/
BTW: Only because of that problem I learned that KOBO devices run Linux, and noticed that they didn't offer the source code in their manual, which means they are probably in breach of the GPL2 and might face some problems for it. I'm not feeling sorry for them.
Unfortunately the NSA,did take care that EU traffic was unnecessarily routed through the US, tapeired politician phones, abused save harbour agreements for data centers etc. I don't consider this fair game. And if spying on Brazil is seen as justified action of war because they harbour someone (I wouldn't know about it), irt shouldn't be surprising if Brazil doesn't order war equipment from their "enemies"...
There is more than black and white, you know... I expect^wwould wish for the police to do their work, still I exp^wwould wish they'd respect privacy and adhere to the principle of innocence until proven otherwise, and freedom of speech, and civil rights. The same I wish I could expect from secret agencies. What our Government is not allowed to do to us, it shouldn't be allowed to do to other people as well.
Good luck... I have the same dream for us here in Europe. Imagine a democratic elected parliament with some real power instead of the EU commission doing the decision... Imagine ministries, where the ministers and staff design new laws rather than "Advisers" being officially employed e.g. by the pharma industry...
For some reason I have the feeling that most Americans didn't see much of a problem in the spying on other countries.
Nope. Not a bit. Any more than anyone else sees a problem with their country spying on other countries.
Or are you silly enough to believe that YOUR country doesn't spy on other countries?
Maybe my country does, although I consider them quite incompetent in this regard. The difference is that I still find it problematic, and so do most of my friends here. Another difference is that most people I know accept that other countries will react on the aggression of our government, and that it is our responsibility to rally against it.
Hm. Maybe, getting some good contracts might save the SAAB AG from being bought out. Maybe this is also part of the thinking by Brazil government. Also, the EU might not want Boeing to purchase SAAB AG...
Just imagine, USA would be a democracy, and people would elect their leaders. Then it would be fair again, right?
For some reason I have the feeling that most Americans didn't see much of a problem in the spying on other countries. From what I read in the news, the main perceived problem was not the spying, but that they didn't filter the domestic data out. Maybe decisions like this will change the perception, and consequently maybe the foreign policy as well.
Jesus Christ, get over it, for Christs sake! Are you sure name is only mentioned when people think about the guy? Nowadays it's as much a habit or a swear word as a name... BTW: "sex" is 4-5x bigger than "Jesus" as well. Not to forget the mighty "the", which is even one magnitude stronger than "sex".
I would consider Amazon and Google direct competitors. Yet this does not stop Amazon to make use of Android, while replacing all Google services with their own...
Ever heard about NSN? (100% Nokia since last summer)
Or ever heard about Navteq? (100% Nokia since 2007, 80% Market share in map data for car navigation systems)
Or the efforts for self-driving cars, together with Mercedes and other biggies in the automotive department?
Heard about this project called "Tizen", whose maps are powered by Nokia Maps (HERE Maps) instead of Google?
Or maybe you heard about the Kiendle Fire, which uses HERE Map data, because Amazon doesn't want to be too dependant on Google services?
No? Yeah, didn't think so...
How about "you want to produce where you sell"? Or "you want developing countries to... well... *develop*"? I see it might be my disadvantage as an employee when companies move their production to other countries, but as a customer I'm happy when they find locations to lower production costs, making the goods more affordable for me. And thinking about fairness, I think if one of the biggest markets is in India , it is also fair to produce there. Being born in a western culture doesn't make us better people; 3rd world workers have a right to compete with us.
You want little environmental regulation?
You are aware that Nokia won a couple of awards over the past years for their efforts to produce eco-friendly?
You want to hide from taxes in your home country?
Now this is ridiculous. The issue at hand is that Nokia did pay the SW tax in their home country, and Indian tax authorities suddenly got it into their head that Nokia should pay taxes for the same transaction in India as well. So exactly the opposite of what you wrote.
Then build in the developing world. But don't cry when the developing world's lack of rules and regulations bite you in the ass with sudden "fees", "taxes", and other sundry costs. You chose to leave your home country to enhance shareholder profits. Surprise, the rest of the world doesn't have to operate according to your shareholder's profit motive.
Where exactly to you see Nokia crying? in your dreams? They defend themselves in court, which seems sensible. They hope for the help of their Government, which would seem sensible if you hadn't ignored the fact that they paid the tax in Finland.
I like to bash big companies and blame them for all our misfortune just as the next guy, but your collection of platitudes just doesn't fit here. Nokia probably also made lots of mistakes.
I'm definitely not an advocate of the free market to solve everything - free market mainly means absence or minimization of regulation, which in the end means to let the strongest rule over the weak. I'd prefer a Government which also protects the weaker and creates an environment to encourage the development of polypolies instead of rewarding monopolies.
Slashdot Mirror
NSAs actions regarding surveillance are worse than the wettest dreams the East German StaSi could ever have imagined, for several reasons: 1. They didn't have the funds to do what NSA does 2. Technique developed a lot, everything is connected nowadays 3. USA pretends to be friends with most western countries, while East Germany was never trusted The StaSi did some pretty bad stuff as well when it came to physical actions against opponents, but since most of it is not publicly known (neither for StaSi nor for NSA) it's hard to compare.
The only segment Google is really market leader by quality is IMO search. For all other areas (Mail, News, Social networks, Maps, Mobile OS, whatever) there are technically equally good or even better alternatives, for most areas even within Europe. (Mail-providers are available for ages, for social networks Facebook is not European but more widely used than Google+ while Diaspora would be a technically better solution than either of them, for Mobile OS there is SailfishOS [Yes, with an Android compatibility layer to let Android-Apps run; not because Android is better but because it has more market share by now and would be difficult to catch up], Meego and others, for Maps we have HERE and Openstreetmap). These alternatives are not widely used due to Googles market dominance, but they are good and available. I'm not sure what the impact would be if Google Search would vanish, but I think we will survive.
The device is definitely faster at draining your cash balance. Or, if we are lucky, the cash-balance of e.g. NSA/CIA.
I do agree on the point that blowing interviews is a bit pretentious. But there are a lot of times an interviewer has clearly asked questions "over the line" or that identify this company as a terrible fit.
Maybe, but I wouldn't judge by any of those low standard questions. Either the interviewer is from HR, then his competence does not necessarily say anything about the engineers technical competences and team atmosphere. Or the guy might still be a quite good engineer and just sucks at interview planning, or was scheduled on short notice to do the interview for another team. I'd probably tell the interviewer that I consider the questions a bit generic, took the time to learn the usually expected answers, but would prefer to go into more job-specific topics. Depending on the reaction, I can still blow the interview, or if they consider the interview blown because of this, I could probably live with it.
There are no strengths or weaknesses. Just properties with positive and negative effects depending on the situation. I got this question in several interviews and always give this answer with appropriate information about my properties, and how they proved advantageous or disadvantageous
-I'm a liar.
You are hired! No, really! Quit your current job and come next Monday to sign the new contract, and I promise we will double your current salary. We will never take advantage of your unemployment by then.
Might be interesting, if it wasn't patented already...
I did some research. GPL2, paragraph 1 requires to always add a license to the distribution. I.e. the user should *not* be required to do any research beyond reading the manual or maybe the help menu on the reader. (In this case the help menu does not count, since it is not accessible before giving away my personal data.) Registering is already too much. I bought something for cash, why on earth should I want to provide my email address and name?!? And who says, if i where using a Windows PC, that data isn't sent when updating the library/adding books, or without win PC, whenever a free WLan becomes available? (Yes, I can switch of WLan. Will it really stay switched off with a vendor who is so sure to know better what's good for me?)
My Kobo reader didn't want to work without registration. I found some help here: http://trollinger.blog.com/2013/10/25/using-kobo-ebook-reader-without-registration/ BTW: Only because of that problem I learned that KOBO devices run Linux, and noticed that they didn't offer the source code in their manual, which means they are probably in breach of the GPL2 and might face some problems for it. I'm not feeling sorry for them.
It's nice that yo can reach in, but not that nice since it is lacking moisture :-(
That must be the first competition "Mine is smaller than yours" I've seen among men...
You should have left it uncommented :-)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trolling%20is%20a%20art
Accidentally mis-voted on a slow computer... Please mod parent up! Very good explanation!
Unfortunately the NSA,did take care that EU traffic was unnecessarily routed through the US, tapeired politician phones, abused save harbour agreements for data centers etc. I don't consider this fair game. And if spying on Brazil is seen as justified action of war because they harbour someone (I wouldn't know about it), irt shouldn't be surprising if Brazil doesn't order war equipment from their "enemies"...
There is more than black and white, you know... I expect^wwould wish for the police to do their work, still I exp^wwould wish they'd respect privacy and adhere to the principle of innocence until proven otherwise, and freedom of speech, and civil rights. The same I wish I could expect from secret agencies. What our Government is not allowed to do to us, it shouldn't be allowed to do to other people as well.
Good luck... I have the same dream for us here in Europe. Imagine a democratic elected parliament with some real power instead of the EU commission doing the decision... Imagine ministries, where the ministers and staff design new laws rather than "Advisers" being officially employed e.g. by the pharma industry...
Nope. Not a bit. Any more than anyone else sees a problem with their country spying on other countries.
Or are you silly enough to believe that YOUR country doesn't spy on other countries?
Maybe my country does, although I consider them quite incompetent in this regard. The difference is that I still find it problematic, and so do most of my friends here. Another difference is that most people I know accept that other countries will react on the aggression of our government, and that it is our responsibility to rally against it.
Hm. Maybe, getting some good contracts might save the SAAB AG from being bought out. Maybe this is also part of the thinking by Brazil government. Also, the EU might not want Boeing to purchase SAAB AG...
For some reason I have the feeling that most Americans didn't see much of a problem in the spying on other countries. From what I read in the news, the main perceived problem was not the spying, but that they didn't filter the domestic data out. Maybe decisions like this will change the perception, and consequently maybe the foreign policy as well.
Jesus Christ, get over it, for Christs sake! Are you sure name is only mentioned when people think about the guy? Nowadays it's as much a habit or a swear word as a name... BTW: "sex" is 4-5x bigger than "Jesus" as well. Not to forget the mighty "the", which is even one magnitude stronger than "sex".
I would consider Amazon and Google direct competitors. Yet this does not stop Amazon to make use of Android, while replacing all Google services with their own...
Ever heard about NSN? (100% Nokia since last summer) Or ever heard about Navteq? (100% Nokia since 2007, 80% Market share in map data for car navigation systems) Or the efforts for self-driving cars, together with Mercedes and other biggies in the automotive department? Heard about this project called "Tizen", whose maps are powered by Nokia Maps (HERE Maps) instead of Google? Or maybe you heard about the Kiendle Fire, which uses HERE Map data, because Amazon doesn't want to be too dependant on Google services? No? Yeah, didn't think so...
For reference to the cultural illiterate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso :-)
(You might have to watch the whole movie to get it into perspective)
You want cheap labor?
How about "you want to produce where you sell"? Or "you want developing countries to ... well ... *develop*"? I see it might be my disadvantage as an employee when companies move their production to other countries, but as a customer I'm happy when they find locations to lower production costs, making the goods more affordable for me. And thinking about fairness, I think if one of the biggest markets is in India , it is also fair to produce there. Being born in a western culture doesn't make us better people; 3rd world workers have a right to compete with us.
You want little environmental regulation?
You are aware that Nokia won a couple of awards over the past years for their efforts to produce eco-friendly?
You want to hide from taxes in your home country?
Now this is ridiculous. The issue at hand is that Nokia did pay the SW tax in their home country, and Indian tax authorities suddenly got it into their head that Nokia should pay taxes for the same transaction in India as well. So exactly the opposite of what you wrote.
Then build in the developing world. But don't cry when the developing world's lack of rules and regulations bite you in the ass with sudden "fees", "taxes", and other sundry costs. You chose to leave your home country to enhance shareholder profits. Surprise, the rest of the world doesn't have to operate according to your shareholder's profit motive.
Where exactly to you see Nokia crying? in your dreams? They defend themselves in court, which seems sensible. They hope for the help of their Government, which would seem sensible if you hadn't ignored the fact that they paid the tax in Finland.
I like to bash big companies and blame them for all our misfortune just as the next guy, but your collection of platitudes just doesn't fit here. Nokia probably also made lots of mistakes.
I'm definitely not an advocate of the free market to solve everything - free market mainly means absence or minimization of regulation, which in the end means to let the strongest rule over the weak. I'd prefer a Government which also protects the weaker and creates an environment to encourage the development of polypolies instead of rewarding monopolies.
... no more comment :-)