You pay for an OS which puts the burden of proving you paid for it on you...
Pay for anti-virus software to keep it from being porked by every 15 year old script kiddie on the planet.
Pay for spyware removal tools on top of that to keep it running at some functional level.
And after a couple years of paying for all that you get the privilege of paying for yet another buggy piece of crapware OS and start the cycle all over again.
Is that pretty much the gist of it? Wow, getting such a great deal it's hard to figure why so many people despise MSFT.
Why didn't the Air Force at least evaluate these products to see if their situation was one in which they would work?
You're laboring under the mistaken impression that common sense or business sense plays any part in how the government and military organizations pick software solutions. You don't have to look any farther than the Navy's NMCI project to get an idea how bad it really can get.
Every little podunk phone company on the planet is raking in big bucks from universal service fees, whether they need them or not. And we're all footing that bill. It's a pork barrel rife with corruption. Even the mob was getting into it, running a little phone company in MS and raking in the fees. Some are making so much money they're giving back more money to their customers every year than they pay on their phone bill. It's that bad.
Between satellite internet and cell phones you don't need a wire running out to your house anymore.
We're in the process of building a house that will produce its own electricity and won't have a phone line or any other type of wire connection. If we didn't want to rely on satellite and cell phones there are still more options beyond those. I'll probably get an Amateur Radio license anyway. When everything else goes to crap it's one of the few comm channel that manages to stay working.
Dump the Universal Service and use the money for something productive. Cut the cord and move on.
I wanted a Smart grease car ever since they started making the conversion kits in Europe.
I generate enough waste veg oil from my turkey fryer to drive for a week. Around here, the land of the giant pickup trucks, I'm sure it would be a laughing stock. I'd cry all the way to the bank, stopping off at my friend's Chinese restaurant to pick up his waste oil for next week. Then I'll laugh passing them at the gas station putting 60 bucks worth of gasoline in their monster trucks that actually get used to haul something maybe once a month.
Intel has been working on Linux initiatives for at least two years, maybe longer. But it was news that efforts were focused in Asia.
I would love to see the US pushed into Linux compatibility by other countries for a change. It's a better OS and a more efficient business model.
We have a day of reckoning coming. On the amount of energy we use, about being dependent on foreign countries for manufacturing capacity, being dependent on foreigners to finance our budget deficit and thinking we can sustain an economy on mind share exports. Won't be long they're going to start jerking those chains and we're going to get a lesson on what the word "bitch" really means.
Wow, the idea that the US could manufacture anything has literally become a joke.
And I was just sitting here wondering if there was a market for PC's made in the USA.
Guess I got my answer. Heck, yeah, let's completely sell all our manufacturing capability to potentially hostile foreign countries because, let's face it, being dependent on foreign oil just isn't enough!
They're offering you a contractor position? Take it. Couple things to keep in mind. Just because you turn in an invoice doesn't mean they're going to pay it on time. Be prepared.
Insist on using your own equipment (it's deductable) and lock it out from their network monitoring and sysads. Get a Blackberry and cell phone for non-customer related communication. You're not an employee so don't let them treat you like one. The contractor gig was their idea, you'll need to remind them once in a while. Gently but firmly. The more you enforce the separation, the sooner they'll turn you into a permanent position. Seems counter-intuitive but it works.
For insurance if you have Blue Cross/Blue Shield in your area they used to have short-term coverage you can buy that's pretty reasonable. Lot cheaper than COBRA from your last employer.
The hours are longer, the work is harder and job security is a thing of the past. But a bad day working for yourself is better than the best day you'll ever have working for someone else.
As long as I can buy VHS tapes
on
The VHS is Dead
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
It will never be completely dead. I'm planning to stash a couple decks for the future when people want their grandparents old VHS tapes duped to whatever storage medium is popular then.
MSFT is taking a page from Karl Rove's playbook. Between the paid-for TCO studies and the patent scare tactics they've turned relentlessly negative.
I think it makes an interesting statement about MSFT products to hear them bashing the competition instead of selling the competitive strengths of their products.
To me it's almost an admission that their product line is not cost competitve with OSS. That's not strictly a price comparison, it's a value comparison. MSFT products do not give you the same value for the $$$ that LInux and OSS. Something most of us here have known for a long time.
MSFT has been sticking it to their customers for years with higher and higher license fees, back-stabbing EULA's and Naziesque business practices. I think they're really underestimating how bad people dislike being dicked and how long their memories can be.
I know it sounds a little Pollyanna but it's unfortunate that going negative can be so effective. It's kind of like spam. Everyone complains about it but as long as it's effective we're going to keep getting buried buy it.
Board spokesman Keith Holloway said public concerns about personal privacy shouldn't get in the way of providing a valuable tool for accident investigators.
Yeah, don't let public concerns stop you from doing whatever the hell you want. It doesn't stop anyone else.
I've definitely been going at this the wrong way. Before I'd mix in activated charcoal, then start the painful process of filtering it out. This is better.
At the boat races in Washington state you could take a cooler, but not alcohol. They'd even sniff jello in search of jello shots. But we discovered livening up an orange with an injection of everclear would get by every time. But you had to be careful as it was possible to get totally plastered sitting there eating orange slices.
For those not in the know, a security clearance is a pre-punched meal-ticket...
There's some truth to that. Especially when you have DoD and DoE clearances, which used to be separate processes. Not sure if that's still true or not. Amazing how many people don't qualify.
A Top Secret brings a higher salary and even more options to choose from...
Sometimes it's like fast food menu. Uh, I'll have a top secret with SNM endorsement. That's Special Nuclear Materials, but it was always a laugher when someone talked about getting their S&M endorsement. And if you're on a hazmat spill team, even more training and endorsements. And a confined space entry team for an SNM facility, talk about a cushy job. You'll need a high tolerance for the gov'ment looking up your hiney with a microscope. But that's the only big downside.
Still, I'm done working for someone else after this job...if it ever ends. I'm burned out and need a tech break. Going to go into business for myself, non-technical field. And I don't care if the business changes while I'm away. Returning is optional. And the government can take all their training and security clearances and cram them for all I care. I've have enough being inspected at this point in life.
A lot of the stuff they do in a montage takes hours of painstaking work and it's really, really boring. Like cataloging blood spatters. Ugh. So tedious. And every single time there's something that just doesn't fit, which you never see on CSI.
And I just love the way the investigators get pushy with people and they just roll over. No one ever contests a search warrant, they never get dragged into a hearing by a pissed off business owner, politcal people never burst into the office and start making unreasonable demands.
...if the data wasn't being copied to the police. I think it would be okay if the cops got access on a need to know basis, like when they're looking for someone in particular, but to just copy it over to law enforcement is so soviet.
To me it's appalling, but I guess it shouldn't be surprising. America today is turning into a different country than the one I grew up in.
Patent litigation shouldn't keep you up nights
on
Is The Lone Coder Dead?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Why would any company spend hundreds of thousands to sue you? Even if they won what would they get? A ticket to stand in line for the bankruptcy hearing with the other unsecured creditors? There's no margin in suing you...nothing personal.
A more likely scenario is you build something that's moderately successful and shiit-for-brains-we-don't-produce-anything-but-lit igation company comes after you, and probably a bunch of bigger fish, for royalties. More likely they'll go after the big fish first, then you smaller players later.
The way to beat these kinds of cases is 30 or 40 of you team up to mount a collective defense. FIghting one little company is easy, fighting the Borg is whole different deal. If it's an abusive patent with prior art worth fighting you stand a good chance.
What expertise is Disney going to pull out of their ass to make an animated movie? A company that dumped all their talent on the streets long ago. They go with a formula, try to calculate squeaky clean cute, recycle the same tired set ups and it will stink. An original thought would die of loniless at Disney. Sad testimony to the company they used to be.
Personally, I'd rather be trying to replace Disney than Pixar. Of course, now that they're publically traded, Pixar will go through their own Disneyfication over the years with roughly the same result.
Additionally, they say they will soon be using robots to stop sheep jumping off cliffs...
Is this a big problem? I've never heard of it but there could be a lot of reasons for sheep cliff divers. They get drunk with their hoodlum buddies and start showing off, I'm not sure. But when you think about it there aren't a lot of sheep singing It's A Wonderful Life. You stand around eating grass all day, constantly on the alert for predators, then once a year you get man handled by some smelly guy who shaves all your fur off. That's all fine and dandy, then one day you get to go for a ride in the trailer that ends up at the slaughter house and you're nothing but mutton chops after that, baby.
Yeah, I think I'd opt for the cliff myself. At least you've got a chance that way. You could wash up on the island of lost sheep. But I guess that's another movie.
Why? One of the things I like about Linux is that it's NOT like Windows. At home I have Windows and Linux boxes on the same network and they see each other just fine. I can configure a printer in less time than it takes in Windows. Not seeing a problem.
I realize if Linux did this and that the PHB's might pop out of their prairie dog hole and look at it, but if they don't what do I f'ing care? The PHB's will come around in their own time, or not. If they're too short-sighted to see the advantages, tough luck.
But if I'm setting up a small to medium size business these days, there won't be a Windows machine or piece of MSFT crapware anywhere near it.
I'm just sick and f'ing tired of people coming along and telling the Linux community what they have to do to gain commercial acceptance. Like my brother. Going on about Linux just isn't there yet. Linux isn't the problem, he is.
We're getting rid of the devil we know in exchange for the devil we don't know.
What makes you think Bush won't appoint an evangelical Ghengis Kahn in his place?
Still there's a thin shred of hope that he couldn't do much worse. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, John. And, on behalf of 56 million of your fellow countrymen, good riddance.
Honestly, you can't count on a career in technology anymore, no matter what your skill level.
We paid off all our credit cards and are about to payoff the last car loan we ever plan on having. I wouldn't have a car loan now if they paid me interest. We save cash every month and pay extra on our mortgage. We do it by not living extravegantly, shopping at discount stores, and not going out all the time. It's not easy, but just something like packing your lunch can save a bunch of money every month. Many of my co-workers eat out every day, that's between seven and ten dollars a day.
On top of that I have a non-tech back up career I work part-time. Living off of it full time wouldn't be fun but we wouldn't lose the house.
Lot of young people are killing themselves with credit cards. And now days being late on one can raise interest and fees on all the others. It's insane. Credit card companies are modern day robber barons. Cut them up, pay them off and close those accounts! That way you're not tempted.
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Pay for anti-virus software to keep it from being porked by every 15 year old script kiddie on the planet.
Pay for spyware removal tools on top of that to keep it running at some functional level.
And after a couple years of paying for all that you get the privilege of paying for yet another buggy piece of crapware OS and start the cycle all over again.
Is that pretty much the gist of it? Wow, getting such a great deal it's hard to figure why so many people despise MSFT.
Switched to real estate for a sideline and that's a lot more fun.
Also started building and selling solar power kits for cabins. Weird how IT can lead you into some pretty oddball fields.
You're laboring under the mistaken impression that common sense or business sense plays any part in how the government and military organizations pick software solutions. You don't have to look any farther than the Navy's NMCI project to get an idea how bad it really can get.
Some of our staff have gotten transplanted monkey organs. They jack off furiously all day and throw feces at one another during staff meeting.
Between satellite internet and cell phones you don't need a wire running out to your house anymore.
We're in the process of building a house that will produce its own electricity and won't have a phone line or any other type of wire connection. If we didn't want to rely on satellite and cell phones there are still more options beyond those. I'll probably get an Amateur Radio license anyway. When everything else goes to crap it's one of the few comm channel that manages to stay working.
Dump the Universal Service and use the money for something productive. Cut the cord and move on.
I generate enough waste veg oil from my turkey fryer to drive for a week. Around here, the land of the giant pickup trucks, I'm sure it would be a laughing stock. I'd cry all the way to the bank, stopping off at my friend's Chinese restaurant to pick up his waste oil for next week. Then I'll laugh passing them at the gas station putting 60 bucks worth of gasoline in their monster trucks that actually get used to haul something maybe once a month.
I would love to see the US pushed into Linux compatibility by other countries for a change. It's a better OS and a more efficient business model.
We have a day of reckoning coming. On the amount of energy we use, about being dependent on foreign countries for manufacturing capacity, being dependent on foreigners to finance our budget deficit and thinking we can sustain an economy on mind share exports. Won't be long they're going to start jerking those chains and we're going to get a lesson on what the word "bitch" really means.
And I was just sitting here wondering if there was a market for PC's made in the USA.
Guess I got my answer. Heck, yeah, let's completely sell all our manufacturing capability to potentially hostile foreign countries because, let's face it, being dependent on foreign oil just isn't enough!
Insist on using your own equipment (it's deductable) and lock it out from their network monitoring and sysads. Get a Blackberry and cell phone for non-customer related communication. You're not an employee so don't let them treat you like one. The contractor gig was their idea, you'll need to remind them once in a while. Gently but firmly. The more you enforce the separation, the sooner they'll turn you into a permanent position. Seems counter-intuitive but it works.
For insurance if you have Blue Cross/Blue Shield in your area they used to have short-term coverage you can buy that's pretty reasonable. Lot cheaper than COBRA from your last employer.
The hours are longer, the work is harder and job security is a thing of the past. But a bad day working for yourself is better than the best day you'll ever have working for someone else.
It will never be completely dead. I'm planning to stash a couple decks for the future when people want their grandparents old VHS tapes duped to whatever storage medium is popular then.
I think it makes an interesting statement about MSFT products to hear them bashing the competition instead of selling the competitive strengths of their products.
To me it's almost an admission that their product line is not cost competitve with OSS. That's not strictly a price comparison, it's a value comparison. MSFT products do not give you the same value for the $$$ that LInux and OSS. Something most of us here have known for a long time.
MSFT has been sticking it to their customers for years with higher and higher license fees, back-stabbing EULA's and Naziesque business practices. I think they're really underestimating how bad people dislike being dicked and how long their memories can be.
I know it sounds a little Pollyanna but it's unfortunate that going negative can be so effective. It's kind of like spam. Everyone complains about it but as long as it's effective we're going to keep getting buried buy it.
Yeah, don't let public concerns stop you from doing whatever the hell you want. It doesn't stop anyone else.
At the boat races in Washington state you could take a cooler, but not alcohol. They'd even sniff jello in search of jello shots. But we discovered livening up an orange with an injection of everclear would get by every time. But you had to be careful as it was possible to get totally plastered sitting there eating orange slices.
There's some truth to that. Especially when you have DoD and DoE clearances, which used to be separate processes. Not sure if that's still true or not. Amazing how many people don't qualify.
A Top Secret brings a higher salary and even more options to choose from...
Sometimes it's like fast food menu. Uh, I'll have a top secret with SNM endorsement. That's Special Nuclear Materials, but it was always a laugher when someone talked about getting their S&M endorsement. And if you're on a hazmat spill team, even more training and endorsements. And a confined space entry team for an SNM facility, talk about a cushy job. You'll need a high tolerance for the gov'ment looking up your hiney with a microscope. But that's the only big downside.
Still, I'm done working for someone else after this job...if it ever ends. I'm burned out and need a tech break. Going to go into business for myself, non-technical field. And I don't care if the business changes while I'm away. Returning is optional. And the government can take all their training and security clearances and cram them for all I care. I've have enough being inspected at this point in life.
Thanks for making us look like total twit-wits in front of the entire world, Steve. You're a great ambassador American values.
And I just love the way the investigators get pushy with people and they just roll over. No one ever contests a search warrant, they never get dragged into a hearing by a pissed off business owner, politcal people never burst into the office and start making unreasonable demands.
Yeah, CSI is reality.
To me it's appalling, but I guess it shouldn't be surprising. America today is turning into a different country than the one I grew up in.
A more likely scenario is you build something that's moderately successful and shiit-for-brains-we-don't-produce-anything-but-lit igation company comes after you, and probably a bunch of bigger fish, for royalties. More likely they'll go after the big fish first, then you smaller players later.
The way to beat these kinds of cases is 30 or 40 of you team up to mount a collective defense. FIghting one little company is easy, fighting the Borg is whole different deal. If it's an abusive patent with prior art worth fighting you stand a good chance.
Personally, I'd rather be trying to replace Disney than Pixar. Of course, now that they're publically traded, Pixar will go through their own Disneyfication over the years with roughly the same result.
Is this a big problem? I've never heard of it but there could be a lot of reasons for sheep cliff divers. They get drunk with their hoodlum buddies and start showing off, I'm not sure. But when you think about it there aren't a lot of sheep singing It's A Wonderful Life. You stand around eating grass all day, constantly on the alert for predators, then once a year you get man handled by some smelly guy who shaves all your fur off. That's all fine and dandy, then one day you get to go for a ride in the trailer that ends up at the slaughter house and you're nothing but mutton chops after that, baby.
Yeah, I think I'd opt for the cliff myself. At least you've got a chance that way. You could wash up on the island of lost sheep. But I guess that's another movie.
I realize if Linux did this and that the PHB's might pop out of their prairie dog hole and look at it, but if they don't what do I f'ing care? The PHB's will come around in their own time, or not. If they're too short-sighted to see the advantages, tough luck.
But if I'm setting up a small to medium size business these days, there won't be a Windows machine or piece of MSFT crapware anywhere near it.
I'm just sick and f'ing tired of people coming along and telling the Linux community what they have to do to gain commercial acceptance. Like my brother. Going on about Linux just isn't there yet. Linux isn't the problem, he is.
The US has more people in jail as a percentage of the population than Russia.
I hate spammers as much as anyone but is this really who we want filling up our federal prisons?
What makes you think Bush won't appoint an evangelical Ghengis Kahn in his place?
Still there's a thin shred of hope that he couldn't do much worse. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, John. And, on behalf of 56 million of your fellow countrymen, good riddance.
We paid off all our credit cards and are about to payoff the last car loan we ever plan on having. I wouldn't have a car loan now if they paid me interest. We save cash every month and pay extra on our mortgage. We do it by not living extravegantly, shopping at discount stores, and not going out all the time. It's not easy, but just something like packing your lunch can save a bunch of money every month. Many of my co-workers eat out every day, that's between seven and ten dollars a day.
On top of that I have a non-tech back up career I work part-time. Living off of it full time wouldn't be fun but we wouldn't lose the house.
Lot of young people are killing themselves with credit cards. And now days being late on one can raise interest and fees on all the others. It's insane. Credit card companies are modern day robber barons. Cut them up, pay them off and close those accounts! That way you're not tempted.