You don't know many people outside the tech sector, do you? The major drive of marketing -is- appearance. There are people out there who buy cars that match their shade of nail polish.
Laptops are just the latest incarnation of the trend; pagers, cell phones, and pdas went the same way, so do most tech gadgets. At first, only the extremely geeky own the newest stuff, but eventually more and more people catch on, and they end up like cell phones did; nothing but glorified fashion accessories. Some of them are useful, I won't argue that, but most people who own 'em, don't know half of what they good for, or when they should be used.
True enough, but by the same token, if someone has been dissapointed once, they're probably going to start doing some research before they buy. If they don't learn their lesson the first time, they probably deserve getting bit in the a$$ a couple times.
Arguably, you can't "know" how good the tech support for a company is until you've experienced it, but you can probably get a pretty good idea from word-of-mouth.
...adding on-site product support does nothing to bring in new customers.
I don't know about that; if I know I can get competent tech support service from a company, I'd definitely consider going with them rather than a competitor. Get frustrated with the service from one company often enough, and you start looking around.
Glad we got the majority of the misunderstanding cleared up, but the tenor I used was what I had intended.
If you're going to complain about specific lines; at least quote them in-context. It wasn't "Cheer the f**k up." The comment was "Cheer the f**k up, it's friday." If I had the comment to be interpreted the way you read it, I wouldn't have bothered censoring. Besides, after accusing someone of lacking intelligence, you probably shouldn't expect them to reply in the manner of a "jovial conversation partner". Cheers.
Cheer the f**k up, it's friday. It wasn't an accusation, it was a joke.
I didn't think your post here was spam; it was interesting, and had a point. The spam association came from your statement that you sell things over the internet. The vast majority of sales advertising on the internet is from unsolicited email - spam. (I'm measuring by annoyance level here.. it's followed closely by pop-up ads) Before you try and insist that not everyone on the internet who is selling something is a spammer, I refer you to the first paragraph of this post.
As for "Any low-intelligence self-important choad can type that without having to read or think about anything.", stop being so defensive; especially where it isn't merited. I'm not persecuting you, I'm joking about a comment. Most people with the intelligence you claim I'm lacking would realize the difference.
Lemme get this straight; you sell things over the internet, and you post to/. ? I'm guessing that means you hate SCO as much as the rest of us. So we have:
spamming + hating SCO + having money =... You paid andy to write MyDoom, didn't you?
So 35% of them get in? And you're complaining that you have to bust ass? Wow.
The Engineering program at the U of Alberta has a common first year, with usually around 750 students. about 30% of the fail out of engineering altogether, and only the top 15 get into the coveted Engineering Physics program. Another 30 get into Chem E: Computer Process Control, from there, the rest of the programs fill up. Never more than 120 students per program. If you wanted something other than Civ E, Mec E, or EE, busting ass didn't even begin to describe it.
I'm surprised to see Civil Engineering so low on the scale; not even in the top ten. I'm hoping that number climbs a bit over the next few years, and with the reconstruction thats going to need to be done in Iraq, it just might. I'll cross my fingers, anyways.
I'd be interested to find out where the salaries went from here, say ten years further down the road. In the places I've worked, it seems that Civil Engineers end up in a lot of the management positions, with the other disciplines working under them. I don't know if that's because Civ E's tend to get construction management type courses at the undergrad level (at least around here), combining some basic economics, with a lot of scheduling and other 'management' skills.
You're not the only one who hates the "Old games are crappy" conception that seems oh-so-common. As far as I'm concerned, the vast majority of the new games are little more than eye-candy. Developers try to push the best graphics out of a system, without even thinking about play-quality or storyline.
I'm an RPGamer. I still think Final Fantasy 3 (or 6, if you prefer the Japanese numbering) was the best game of the series to be released (9 was a close second). It was first released in north america for the SNES. I'd still fire up the old system if it hadn't died on me. Despite all the advances in graphics (which I freely admit are quite pretty), it's the storyline and characterization that make me enjoy a game; not how many colors flash up on the screen every time my thumbs twitch. There are better ways to induce a seizure.
I agree in part; there are obvious problems on Earth that need some serious consideration. Poverty, disease, and the environment to name a few.
Rather than cut back the space program though, I think the government should be more accountable for the money it spends elsewhere. At least the space program is something people can be inspired by; it's something worth striving to make progress in. (I don't really agree with the nationalistic competition behind it, but that's another story.) I don't know many people that feel the same way for the military. Shock and awe, of course, notwithstanding.
I'm sure there's enough money squandered elsewhere, rather than having to cut back on things like the space program. How much does a congressman make in a year anyways?
Glad to see the Tad Williams book up there; it was excellent.
Another series by the same author that I'd highly recommend (especially to this crowd) is the "Otherland" series; four books long (and I do mean long.)
It set in the future, and raises some interesting points about the possible future of the internet, VR, and gaming technologies.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't know many people outside the tech sector, do you? The major drive of marketing -is- appearance. There are people out there who buy cars that match their shade of nail polish.
Laptops are just the latest incarnation of the trend; pagers, cell phones, and pdas went the same way, so do most tech gadgets. At first, only the extremely geeky own the newest stuff, but eventually more and more people catch on, and they end up like cell phones did; nothing but glorified fashion accessories. Some of them are useful, I won't argue that, but most people who own 'em, don't know half of what they good for, or when they should be used.
True enough, but by the same token, if someone has been dissapointed once, they're probably going to start doing some research before they buy. If they don't learn their lesson the first time, they probably deserve getting bit in the a$$ a couple times.
Arguably, you can't "know" how good the tech support for a company is until you've experienced it, but you can probably get a pretty good idea from word-of-mouth.
...adding on-site product support does nothing to bring in new customers.
I don't know about that; if I know I can get competent tech support service from a company, I'd definitely consider going with them rather than a competitor. Get frustrated with the service from one company often enough, and you start looking around.
Warphoning? Grossly overused prefix, but I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it.
I wonder how long it takes before people using voice dial find themselves calling Elbonia..
Sorry, gotta disagree. TradeWars, all the way.
Truth to tell, I played both religiously for a good long period. *sigh* I miss my 9600 baud.
Underachiever; 24. One of 'em has a co-author though ;)
What? Give up nice, blue chip, MSFT stock? It's better'n SCOX ;)
When your quarterly revenue is $30B, you can do a -lot- of owning.
It's a shame moderators rarely look at anything past the 300th comment or so; that deserves 5+ Funny.
No, he was indicted for playing with six year old boys, not their action figures ;)
In terms of script; Spirited Away. TTT made a far better book than movie.
that the last name of the auther of "A New Kind of Science", is the Old name for Tungsten?
Glad we got the majority of the misunderstanding cleared up, but the tenor I used was what I had intended.
If you're going to complain about specific lines; at least quote them in-context. It wasn't "Cheer the f**k up." The comment was "Cheer the f**k up, it's friday." If I had the comment to be interpreted the way you read it, I wouldn't have bothered censoring. Besides, after accusing someone of lacking intelligence, you probably shouldn't expect them to reply in the manner of a "jovial conversation partner". Cheers.
Cheer the f**k up, it's friday. It wasn't an accusation, it was a joke.
.. it's followed closely by pop-up ads) Before you try and insist that not everyone on the internet who is selling something is a spammer, I refer you to the first paragraph of this post.
I didn't think your post here was spam; it was interesting, and had a point. The spam association came from your statement that you sell things over the internet. The vast majority of sales advertising on the internet is from unsolicited email - spam. (I'm measuring by annoyance level here
As for "Any low-intelligence self-important choad can type that without having to read or think about anything.", stop being so defensive; especially where it isn't merited. I'm not persecuting you, I'm joking about a comment. Most people with the intelligence you claim I'm lacking would realize the difference.
Lemme get this straight; you sell things over the internet, and you post to /. ? I'm guessing that means you hate SCO as much as the rest of us. So we have:
... You paid andy to write MyDoom, didn't you?
spamming + hating SCO + having money =
So 35% of them get in? And you're complaining that you have to bust ass? Wow.
The Engineering program at the U of Alberta has a common first year, with usually around 750 students. about 30% of the fail out of engineering altogether, and only the top 15 get into the coveted Engineering Physics program. Another 30 get into Chem E: Computer Process Control, from there, the rest of the programs fill up. Never more than 120 students per program. If you wanted something other than Civ E, Mec E, or EE, busting ass didn't even begin to describe it.
I'm surprised to see Civil Engineering so low on the scale; not even in the top ten. I'm hoping that number climbs a bit over the next few years, and with the reconstruction thats going to need to be done in Iraq, it just might. I'll cross my fingers, anyways.
I'd be interested to find out where the salaries went from here, say ten years further down the road. In the places I've worked, it seems that Civil Engineers end up in a lot of the management positions, with the other disciplines working under them. I don't know if that's because Civ E's tend to get construction management type courses at the undergrad level (at least around here), combining some basic economics, with a lot of scheduling and other 'management' skills.
.. have you walked through a high school recently? angry and confused doesn't even -begin- to describe it.
Thank you.
You're not the only one who hates the "Old games are crappy" conception that seems oh-so-common. As far as I'm concerned, the vast majority of the new games are little more than eye-candy. Developers try to push the best graphics out of a system, without even thinking about play-quality or storyline.
I'm an RPGamer. I still think Final Fantasy 3 (or 6, if you prefer the Japanese numbering) was the best game of the series to be released (9 was a close second). It was first released in north america for the SNES. I'd still fire up the old system if it hadn't died on me. Despite all the advances in graphics (which I freely admit are quite pretty), it's the storyline and characterization that make me enjoy a game; not how many colors flash up on the screen every time my thumbs twitch. There are better ways to induce a seizure.
What are we waiting for?
.. it's in the mail.
The cheque. I know, I know
At what point do we decide that we've done our best to look for it, but that life just never existed on Mars?
At the same point we start calling it the Law of Evolution. We really haven't had much opportunity to check in detail.
I agree in part; there are obvious problems on Earth that need some serious consideration. Poverty, disease, and the environment to name a few.
Rather than cut back the space program though, I think the government should be more accountable for the money it spends elsewhere. At least the space program is something people can be inspired by; it's something worth striving to make progress in. (I don't really agree with the nationalistic competition behind it, but that's another story.) I don't know many people that feel the same way for the military. Shock and awe, of course, notwithstanding.
I'm sure there's enough money squandered elsewhere, rather than having to cut back on things like the space program. How much does a congressman make in a year anyways?
nope; 22. My dad's fond of it though; and he's over 50 .. maybe thats it?
Glad to see the Tad Williams book up there; it was excellent.
Another series by the same author that I'd highly recommend (especially to this crowd) is the "Otherland" series; four books long (and I do mean long.)
It set in the future, and raises some interesting points about the possible future of the internet, VR, and gaming technologies.