What the rise and rise of P2P ("Pirate to Pirate" as we call them) networks shows is that to many people the risk costs of P2P are less than the cost of "legitimate" media contents.
The recent music CD price reduction is a grudging and very late admission of this salient fact.
Getting legal client/server systems out to the consumers at an even lower risk cost will almost completely eliminate illicit uses of P2P technologies. Because for most people, it just won't be worth it.
Hey. You say that you've asked for more resources but got the answer "No!"
Right?
Well, WHO did you ask this question? Why should YOU be their messenger boy? Are you an IT Manager or their personal mouth-piece? If they already have a mouth then it sounds like one of you is redundant, huh?
First Principle: When someone gives you RESPONSIBILITY for something, they simultaneously give you the AUTHORITY to make it happen. When you accept AUTHORITY, you accept RESPONSIBILITY.
Sounds like both you and your boss are confused about this. Responsibility and Authority can NOT (EVER) be separated.
No matter what the President and his advisors say!
If your boss is the man saying "NO" then your boss is the man holding both the authority and the responsibility. Send your petitioners to him by telling them:
"Look, I'm really sorry I can't help you with that. I have this amount of budget that I am responsible for. With that budget I have the responsibility to get this amount of work done, these projects finished, etc. I do not have the authority to spend any of this money on anything other than these explicit things. I do not have the authority to spend any more than my budget, even on getting these done, let alone doing things I haven't been authorised to spend money on.
If the company really needs this stuff done then someone needs to authorise the funds to have us in IT do it."
Mix is up a bit for varieties sake, but that's about it in a nutshell.
I ALWAYS give a little speech about this in job interviews. I let every potential employer know that when they give me responsibility to do something, they're also giving me the authority to get it done. If they don't want to give up the authority, fine, they get to keep the responsibility. I tell them I LOVE being given additional responsibility. I have NEVER had an employer give me any crap about that. They have all appreciated the sense of it in the interview.
(Later, as they're holding the bag, they sometimes regret it. Sometimes I let it slide, sometimes I tell them; "Life's tough, huh? I'm glad you figured that out." It depends on the person and our working relationship.)
Second Principle: There are NO technology decisions, ONLY business decisions.
Buying a new computer, piece of software, network device, whatever: they're all just business tools. The business spends the money in the expectation it will get a return on that investment. If it can get a better return somewhere else, it should go there. If that means it buys a new widget packer instead of a new Cisco 2924 then so be it. That is the business' decision to make, not yours.
Learn to speak the language of business to business people. Educate them that I.T. exists ONLY to serve the business. Let them know that you're not the High Freaking Priest of IT sitting on some damned Mount Inscrutability, but simply a man doing a specialist job with specialist tools, just like the man who cleans the toilets is.
Let them know that you're not going to let them pretend that what you do is magic, that you can make functional IT resources out of an old newspaper and some ordinary household bleach.
Let them know that the authority to spend money on business investments comes from the people whose responsibility it is to see that the business prospers, and that you are not that person or persons. Sound familiar?
Learn how to say this DIPLOMATICALLY.
If you can't say "I'd really LOVE to help you" and mean it, then (A) don't say it, and (B) find a job where you can. The IT industry has enough pretenders and charlatans to give us a bad name, we don't need any more, and you don't need that shit in a third of your life.
But learn to SAY it. Your life WILL be hell until you do.
It's not hard. Its just simple principles that anyone can understand. You just need to apply them to your specific situation sensibly.
Slashdot Mirror
If only they knew some.
What the rise and rise of P2P ("Pirate to Pirate" as we call them) networks shows is that to many people the risk costs of P2P are less than the cost of "legitimate" media contents.
The recent music CD price reduction is a grudging and very late admission of this salient fact.
Getting legal client/server systems out to the consumers at an even lower risk cost will almost completely eliminate illicit uses of P2P technologies. Because for most people, it just won't be worth it.
Well, there's an opportunity just begging for some of you clever EFF types to leap on it and savage its little mousey carcass.
Distribute a piece of software that randomly manipulates your mouse so that we can all be anonymouse once more.
Get to it, you freaks!
+++
**Be realistic with your time estimates**
I love it when people say this. The only way you ever know what was reasonable is AFTERWARDS!
Up front, it's all educated guesswork.
Try to be educated, try to be responsible, try to be reasonable, but don't ever think that your battle plan will survive contact with the enemy.
Share & Enjoy.
Hey. You say that you've asked for more resources but got the answer "No!"
Right?
Well, WHO did you ask this question? Why should YOU be their messenger boy? Are you an IT Manager or their personal mouth-piece? If they already have a mouth then it sounds like one of you is redundant, huh?
First Principle: When someone gives you RESPONSIBILITY for something, they simultaneously give you the AUTHORITY to make it happen. When you accept AUTHORITY, you accept RESPONSIBILITY.
Sounds like both you and your boss are confused about this. Responsibility and Authority can NOT (EVER) be separated.
No matter what the President and his advisors say!
If your boss is the man saying "NO" then your boss is the man holding both the authority and the responsibility. Send your petitioners to him by telling them:
"Look, I'm really sorry I can't help you with that. I have this amount of budget that I am responsible for. With that budget I have the responsibility to get this amount of work done, these projects finished, etc. I do not have the authority to spend any of this money on anything other than these explicit things. I do not have the authority to spend any more than my budget, even on getting these done, let alone doing things I haven't been authorised to spend money on.
If the company really needs this stuff done then someone needs to authorise the funds to have us in IT do it."
Mix is up a bit for varieties sake, but that's about it in a nutshell.
I ALWAYS give a little speech about this in job interviews. I let every potential employer know that when they give me responsibility to do something, they're also giving me the authority to get it done. If they don't want to give up the authority, fine, they get to keep the responsibility. I tell them I LOVE being given additional responsibility. I have NEVER had an employer give me any crap about that. They have all appreciated the sense of it in the interview.
(Later, as they're holding the bag, they sometimes regret it. Sometimes I let it slide, sometimes I tell them; "Life's tough, huh? I'm glad you figured that out." It depends on the person and our working relationship.)
Second Principle: There are NO technology decisions, ONLY business decisions.
Buying a new computer, piece of software, network device, whatever: they're all just business tools. The business spends the money in the expectation it will get a return on that investment. If it can get a better return somewhere else, it should go there. If that means it buys a new widget packer instead of a new Cisco 2924 then so be it. That is the business' decision to make, not yours.
Learn to speak the language of business to business people. Educate them that I.T. exists ONLY to serve the business. Let them know that you're not the High Freaking Priest of IT sitting on some damned Mount Inscrutability, but simply a man doing a specialist job with specialist tools, just like the man who cleans the toilets is.
Let them know that you're not going to let them pretend that what you do is magic, that you can make functional IT resources out of an old newspaper and some ordinary household bleach.
Let them know that the authority to spend money on business investments comes from the people whose responsibility it is to see that the business prospers, and that you are not that person or persons. Sound familiar?
Learn how to say this DIPLOMATICALLY.
If you can't say "I'd really LOVE to help you" and mean it, then (A) don't say it, and (B) find a job where you can. The IT industry has enough pretenders and charlatans to give us a bad name, we don't need any more, and you don't need that shit in a third of your life.
But learn to SAY it. Your life WILL be hell until you do.
It's not hard. Its just simple principles that anyone can understand. You just need to apply them to your specific situation sensibly.
Share & Enjoy.
"KARMA WORKS" ??????
......
Is that right?
So, if we really DO live in a world that ISN'T just "sometimes bad things happen to good people", then you'll be able to tell me:
WHAT, exactly, does Karma "work" on?
IOW, what karmic events cause the karmic effects you claim are in operation?
Because I am dying to know
You, my friend, are a bonafide genius. I salute you.