Is it just me or is MSFT starting to sound like the Iraqi Information Minister? There are no Linsuxes within a 100 miles of Redmond! We will drive the Googles into Puget Sound!
We can't use open source code because some of it could be written outside of the US.
Bullshit alert. Some of the Army's new comm systems will be running Linux, the NSA is running Linux...even doing some of their own development, the Marines, NASA, Navy...don't know about the Air Force. I can't think of a government agency that doesn't have open source somewhere in their architecture, with the possible exeception of the FBI and only because I don't know what they're running. I do know some of their forensic people are using Mac's and I believe some of them are running Linux but I've never seen it with my own eyes.
Since every major software developer has tech centers in India and Pakistan, the origin of code is going to be very difficult to pin down. Any big company telling you their software is totally produced in the US is almost certainly lying.
I doubt that's really what your contract says. Even Windows isn't all produced in the US. That leaves you guys running some custom OS written from scratch. What about your printers? All your print drivers written in the US? Scanner software? No one in the office has a Blackberry? What about your cell phones?
BRREEEET! BREEEET! Bullshit alert! This is not a drill. All hands into your hip waders! Repeat, this is not a drill.
Indeed, Microsoft may be find for small systems and hobby use, but when you scale up proprietary software becomes a worse and worse choice.
I see that every day, both with MSFT products and other proprietary software products. And another metric no one ever seems to consider is how fast resources can be alloted in each environment.
Just had an experience with a customer this week that their proprietary mapping software running on Win2K won't run on 2003 server. So when they pay for upgrading that server, they'll also get to pay an extra six grand for upgrading their mapping software, including all the extra support components. Their developers do not know.NET, so they'll get to either invest in their education or incur the cost of replacing them on top of that. If that's not bad enough, all the data connections this craptacular application uses will have to be rebuilt. It's a safe bet those type of hidden costs never end up in MSFT TCO studies. Had they gone with the Linux version of the mapping product, they might well likely have to upgrade anyway some day, but that upgrade would've been on the customer's schedule not on MSFT's. That's what I think my business customers want to get away from. It's more about control than cost.
It may look like the Crew Return Vehicle concept that's being rehashed into a shuttle replacement.
I think the technical term is "spam can" if I remember right. Wings on a space craft is what you get when ex-pilots are running the space program. We need economical, reliable lift capability, not flying space ships. That's why the Russians are kicking our ass. They're building trucks for space while NASA is still dorking around trying to glue wings on re-entry vehicles.
What's wrong with ballistic re-entry anyway? Wasn't there some talk about refitting one of the old Apollo capsules in the space museum? ROFL! This is one time when going ballistic would be a good thing. lol.
Did we just fall into a time warp? The link in the article points to a story published last year:
Published: May 5, 2004
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the majority of us have moved into 05. This article is part of the aborted Get The (MSFT Financed) Facts.
Either that of I've suddenly been transported into last year, sort of longer version of Ground Hog Day. That could be kind of cool. I can keep living 2004 over and over.
If this is really 2004 again, then I'm not going to spoil the surprise of what happens in 05.
Honestly, how does tripe like this summary get published?
Same way tripe like your response gets published. You click the button and take your chances.
I run OO on Linux and Windows at home and never have missed Office. It's a good product independent of the price. Yet it's incredible what petty little nits people will find to pick at to justify spending 400 bucks on Office.
Unless you work for MSFT, or happen to be the office MSFT shade tree pro and think that gives you an edge keeping your job.
but they are certainly not worth $50 a year for me to access...
50 a year for online access to the NY Times and a one year archive? Sign me up. I think that's a great deal. Now where that opinion might change is if they pound me with ads on top of the 50 bucks, ala Tivo. Then, yeah, explore other news sources. Even if it was 50 on top of a 15/month online subscription...I still think that's a pretty good deal. Especially if you can do topical searches. Wow, what a resource.
$2.95 an article is a joke. I'm surprised they ever thought that would work.
Really though, if you're not that interested in the Times all that well then 50 bucks wouldn't be worth it. But if you can get it the same day, that's not bad. I'll pay for information resources if I get value for the $$. But if I have to pay to get a full slew of online ads, then they can kiss my big hairy butt.
Notice how SCO manages to plant stories in the media? That means they have a good PR company. Between MOG, The Didiator and Murphy, SCO's PR people have done a really good job lining up friendly press.
They're full of crap hacks, but they still managed to get published.
I'm guessing the days of people waiting in line all night for the latest version of Windows are pretty much over.
I'm not as concerned about how it looks as how it operates. Still, my sense is that people are getting fed up with MSFT's crap. And the quality of their software doesn't matter. They still treat their customers like a revenue stream and now there's an alternative. And people are picking the alternative for quality AND price.
Time Magazine is reporting that the Bush Administration is removing U.S. delegates from the Inter-American Telephone Commission because they gave money to John Kerry in last year's election.
There was one recently that in a survey of over 600 kids, the ones who played video games were responsible for two-thirds of the violent acts recorded for the group.
That's kind of like saying marijuana was involved in a 1/3 of all car accidents. One could conclude that straight drivers crash at twice the rate of stoned drivers.
It's the salary. If you're smart and need to get a Masters, then why not go to med school instead? You'll never have to worry about a job, the pay is great and it's just two more years work plus an internship.
So if CS pays crap of course people are going to pick a different major.
I am only a child of the 70s, but it's certainly a different, wussier, world out there than I remember.
Truth. It may have started with what George Carlin calls the pussification of the American male, but it's sort of branched out from there. I find it amazing that whole generations of Americans were able to cope with school without the aid of medication. Not anymore. I can sit here and think of five or six of the neighbor kids on drugs, one is getting some heavy hitter anti-psychotics. This isn't that big of a town.
Is it email or just that we're spending more time making money than making things? Or more time watching TV than reading?
Switching isn't that big of a deal. There's an adjustment just like with any new software suite. Transitioning to OpenOffice doesn't take any more training than switching from one version of office to the next.
To ease the transition offer copies to staff to take home and install on their home machines and laptops. That ends the complaining about formats not being compatible with what they use at home (biggest MSFT fan complaint I've heard). And when you tell them they can install it on as many computers as they like without cost, that does warm people to the idea a little bit. And instead of mass training, hire someone to work one on one with the power users on how to do routine tasks (mail merge, macros, ect.). They'll then become the knowledge brokers for other staff. That superior knowledge will actually get the power users behind OO and that's what you really want.
You'll get a few mavericks who try installing their personal copy of Office on their work machine but that's pretty easy to hunt down. After the adjustment period they go back to getting their work done instead of complaining.
I just cant see how they are pulling the "culture" flag out of their pocket in this one.
Because it doesn't sound as good to stand up and say, "We're a bunch of greedy, pud yanking wankers trying to protect our racket and we want to sue these people because it beats working for a living."
So when you don't want to say that, then you say something about protecting culture. If you're MSFT stuffing product activation down the consumer's throat, you say you're doing it to protect honest users. Just like when you're giving your buddies in the banking and credit card business a giant wet kiss on the lips you say you're doing it to make credit more affordable. And when you're sticking your nose into the private business of millions of Americans, you just have to say you're doing it to protect them. Just like we're protecting democracy in Iraq, which sounds better than saying we used bad intelligence as an excuse to invade another country. Instant nobility.
And if you really get desperate, then drag children into it. You can justify almost any horror by claiming you're doing it to protect the little children.
There's not anything on their web site saying it's US registered and outside the US Navy not many organizations pick the US to register big ships.
This might actually work. Sort of a portable office building. If the US authorities started getting annoying, up anchor and move somewhere more friendly. Or just find a calm spot in the middle of the ocean and hover.
It would be really convenient for supplying employee perks that you could never think of here, like women.
They don't want US labor laws, but they do want: "...including the protection of U.S. Intellectual Property laws..." How convenient. Lets pick and choose which laws we want to be covered by.
Still, I like the concept. It could be expanded. You could build a floating condominium outside US jurisdiction. That has lots of interesting possibilities.
Lack of ActiveX support actually prevented my previous company from switching to OpenOffice or Mozilla.
Lack of ActiveX support isn't what prevented the transition, it was lack of planning and foresight in application development. You built or bought applications without considering compatibility with other browser platforms, then blame those other platforms for not supporting you. Seems like the tail wagging the dog to me.
If your application developers or IT management never bothered to ask themselves what would happen if another browser became popular or if IE wasn't around, the fault rightly rests with the decision makers, not the Mozilla developers.
It reminds me of people who voted for Bush blaming the Democrats for not picking a better candidate.
If I bought Dell PC's, this might concern me. As it is I'm able to build my own servers and desktops, free to use AMD and not give a crap what Dell does or does not do. And if there were a standard like ATX for laptops, I'd build those too.
BTW, does anyone here build their own laptops? Just curious.
From their perspective I can see why Dell does it. Probably the same reason Southwest only flies Boeing 737's: Cost. The fewer variables in your production line, the lower the costs.
If Dell loses market share it will because their gutting the quality service that got them to where they are. It was a service call that got me to start building my own boxes. One of my coworkers just sent back a Dell and bought an Alienware for the same reason. She got tired of dealing with Indian tech support reading from a script and just returned it. And it's funny that Dell doesn't feature their Indian call centers when advertising their "award winning service." If Dell doesn't have anything to hide, then why not be honest in their commercials? Show some guy riding an elephant to work. Dude, you be getting a Dell!
Seems like companies grow to the point they stop earning their living and start thinking they have a right to it.
If the IRS would actually come out with a method of E-Filing that does not require third party involvement, they would go a long way towards elimenating this type of problem.
The IRS? HAHAHAHA! The IRS has so badly mismanaged their IT projects that they're generally recognized as the worst of the bad government contract managers. Their old data system is barely limping along but after spending tens of millions they're no closer to a working replacement than they were two years ago.
We can all breath a giant sigh of relief if they get the new main system online before the old one throws in the electronic towel. Any time you ask anyone in the IRS group how things are going, you'll always get the Air Force salute (shoulder shrug) in response.
Hey, bad people are in India. And in the U.S. And in Europe. And in Asia. Oh my god! They are everywhere!
That's so Polyanna it almost makes me picture you with pig tails.;) In the countries you listed 30 or 40 grand is a lot of money. Enough to buy influence with regional authorities who might decide to drag their feet for a piece of the action. Pretty soon the local governments are sidelining their income with identity theft.
This is only the beginning of problems and these people were a bunch of low-level amateurs. Once foreign governments figure out how to monetize that information then you're really going to see some serious shit.
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Is it just me or is MSFT starting to sound like the Iraqi Information Minister? There are no Linsuxes within a 100 miles of Redmond! We will drive the Googles into Puget Sound!
Viva La Penguinista!
Bullshit alert. Some of the Army's new comm systems will be running Linux, the NSA is running Linux...even doing some of their own development, the Marines, NASA, Navy...don't know about the Air Force. I can't think of a government agency that doesn't have open source somewhere in their architecture, with the possible exeception of the FBI and only because I don't know what they're running. I do know some of their forensic people are using Mac's and I believe some of them are running Linux but I've never seen it with my own eyes.
Since every major software developer has tech centers in India and Pakistan, the origin of code is going to be very difficult to pin down. Any big company telling you their software is totally produced in the US is almost certainly lying.
I doubt that's really what your contract says. Even Windows isn't all produced in the US. That leaves you guys running some custom OS written from scratch. What about your printers? All your print drivers written in the US? Scanner software? No one in the office has a Blackberry? What about your cell phones?
BRREEEET! BREEEET! Bullshit alert! This is not a drill. All hands into your hip waders! Repeat, this is not a drill.
This is MSFT casting around for ways to keep their quarterly numbers up. Their numbers come out of your pocket.
I see that every day, both with MSFT products and other proprietary software products. And another metric no one ever seems to consider is how fast resources can be alloted in each environment.
Just had an experience with a customer this week that their proprietary mapping software running on Win2K won't run on 2003 server. So when they pay for upgrading that server, they'll also get to pay an extra six grand for upgrading their mapping software, including all the extra support components. Their developers do not know .NET, so they'll get to either invest in their education or incur the cost of replacing them on top of that. If that's not bad enough, all the data connections this craptacular application uses will have to be rebuilt. It's a safe bet those type of hidden costs never end up in MSFT TCO studies. Had they gone with the Linux version of the mapping product, they might well likely have to upgrade anyway some day, but that upgrade would've been on the customer's schedule not on MSFT's. That's what I think my business customers want to get away from. It's more about control than cost.
I think the technical term is "spam can" if I remember right. Wings on a space craft is what you get when ex-pilots are running the space program. We need economical, reliable lift capability, not flying space ships. That's why the Russians are kicking our ass. They're building trucks for space while NASA is still dorking around trying to glue wings on re-entry vehicles.
What's wrong with ballistic re-entry anyway? Wasn't there some talk about refitting one of the old Apollo capsules in the space museum? ROFL! This is one time when going ballistic would be a good thing. lol.
ROFL! Wow, that brings back memories.
Published: May 5, 2004
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the majority of us have moved into 05. This article is part of the aborted Get The (MSFT Financed) Facts.
Either that of I've suddenly been transported into last year, sort of longer version of Ground Hog Day. That could be kind of cool. I can keep living 2004 over and over.
If this is really 2004 again, then I'm not going to spoil the surprise of what happens in 05.
Same way tripe like your response gets published. You click the button and take your chances.
I run OO on Linux and Windows at home and never have missed Office. It's a good product independent of the price. Yet it's incredible what petty little nits people will find to pick at to justify spending 400 bucks on Office.
Unless you work for MSFT, or happen to be the office MSFT shade tree pro and think that gives you an edge keeping your job.
50 a year for online access to the NY Times and a one year archive? Sign me up. I think that's a great deal. Now where that opinion might change is if they pound me with ads on top of the 50 bucks, ala Tivo. Then, yeah, explore other news sources. Even if it was 50 on top of a 15/month online subscription...I still think that's a pretty good deal. Especially if you can do topical searches. Wow, what a resource.
$2.95 an article is a joke. I'm surprised they ever thought that would work.
Really though, if you're not that interested in the Times all that well then 50 bucks wouldn't be worth it. But if you can get it the same day, that's not bad. I'll pay for information resources if I get value for the $$. But if I have to pay to get a full slew of online ads, then they can kiss my big hairy butt.
They're full of crap hacks, but they still managed to get published.
I'm in the wrong business.
I'm thinking this would make iPods a hot commodity in duty free shops. Wo-ho!
I'm not as concerned about how it looks as how it operates. Still, my sense is that people are getting fed up with MSFT's crap. And the quality of their software doesn't matter. They still treat their customers like a revenue stream and now there's an alternative. And people are picking the alternative for quality AND price.
www.itworldcanada.com/Pages/Docbase/ViewArticle. aspx?id=idgml-8f87ddb3-bfe0-4b69&s=90323
The IT world no longer revolves around the products MSFT puts out. Glory days, they pass you by.
Republicans suck.
That's kind of like saying marijuana was involved in a 1/3 of all car accidents. One could conclude that straight drivers crash at twice the rate of stoned drivers.
Many times it's how you spin the statistics.
So if CS pays crap of course people are going to pick a different major.
Truth. It may have started with what George Carlin calls the pussification of the American male, but it's sort of branched out from there. I find it amazing that whole generations of Americans were able to cope with school without the aid of medication. Not anymore. I can sit here and think of five or six of the neighbor kids on drugs, one is getting some heavy hitter anti-psychotics. This isn't that big of a town.
Is it email or just that we're spending more time making money than making things? Or more time watching TV than reading?
To ease the transition offer copies to staff to take home and install on their home machines and laptops. That ends the complaining about formats not being compatible with what they use at home (biggest MSFT fan complaint I've heard). And when you tell them they can install it on as many computers as they like without cost, that does warm people to the idea a little bit. And instead of mass training, hire someone to work one on one with the power users on how to do routine tasks (mail merge, macros, ect.). They'll then become the knowledge brokers for other staff. That superior knowledge will actually get the power users behind OO and that's what you really want.
You'll get a few mavericks who try installing their personal copy of Office on their work machine but that's pretty easy to hunt down. After the adjustment period they go back to getting their work done instead of complaining.
Because it doesn't sound as good to stand up and say, "We're a bunch of greedy, pud yanking wankers trying to protect our racket and we want to sue these people because it beats working for a living."
So when you don't want to say that, then you say something about protecting culture. If you're MSFT stuffing product activation down the consumer's throat, you say you're doing it to protect honest users. Just like when you're giving your buddies in the banking and credit card business a giant wet kiss on the lips you say you're doing it to make credit more affordable. And when you're sticking your nose into the private business of millions of Americans, you just have to say you're doing it to protect them. Just like we're protecting democracy in Iraq, which sounds better than saying we used bad intelligence as an excuse to invade another country. Instant nobility.
And if you really get desperate, then drag children into it. You can justify almost any horror by claiming you're doing it to protect the little children.
Got the picture?
This might actually work. Sort of a portable office building. If the US authorities started getting annoying, up anchor and move somewhere more friendly. Or just find a calm spot in the middle of the ocean and hover.
It would be really convenient for supplying employee perks that you could never think of here, like women.
They don't want US labor laws, but they do want: "...including the protection of U.S. Intellectual Property laws..." How convenient. Lets pick and choose which laws we want to be covered by.
Still, I like the concept. It could be expanded. You could build a floating condominium outside US jurisdiction. That has lots of interesting possibilities.
Lack of ActiveX support isn't what prevented the transition, it was lack of planning and foresight in application development. You built or bought applications without considering compatibility with other browser platforms, then blame those other platforms for not supporting you. Seems like the tail wagging the dog to me.
If your application developers or IT management never bothered to ask themselves what would happen if another browser became popular or if IE wasn't around, the fault rightly rests with the decision makers, not the Mozilla developers.
It reminds me of people who voted for Bush blaming the Democrats for not picking a better candidate.
BTW, does anyone here build their own laptops? Just curious.
From their perspective I can see why Dell does it. Probably the same reason Southwest only flies Boeing 737's: Cost. The fewer variables in your production line, the lower the costs.
If Dell loses market share it will because their gutting the quality service that got them to where they are. It was a service call that got me to start building my own boxes. One of my coworkers just sent back a Dell and bought an Alienware for the same reason. She got tired of dealing with Indian tech support reading from a script and just returned it. And it's funny that Dell doesn't feature their Indian call centers when advertising their "award winning service." If Dell doesn't have anything to hide, then why not be honest in their commercials? Show some guy riding an elephant to work. Dude, you be getting a Dell!
Seems like companies grow to the point they stop earning their living and start thinking they have a right to it.
I thought, yeah, that's just what I need. A bed that comes apart in orbit and burns up on re-entry.
The IRS? HAHAHAHA! The IRS has so badly mismanaged their IT projects that they're generally recognized as the worst of the bad government contract managers. Their old data system is barely limping along but after spending tens of millions they're no closer to a working replacement than they were two years ago.
Here's one example there are many, many more.
We can all breath a giant sigh of relief if they get the new main system online before the old one throws in the electronic towel. Any time you ask anyone in the IRS group how things are going, you'll always get the Air Force salute (shoulder shrug) in response.
That's so Polyanna it almost makes me picture you with pig tails. ;) In the countries you listed 30 or 40 grand is a lot of money. Enough to buy influence with regional authorities who might decide to drag their feet for a piece of the action. Pretty soon the local governments are sidelining their income with identity theft.
This is only the beginning of problems and these people were a bunch of low-level amateurs. Once foreign governments figure out how to monetize that information then you're really going to see some serious shit.