If intel called the 80 cpu beast "Grendel", could it still be part of a Beowulf cluster? Or would it end up in a perpetual battle - cpu versus os - until the very fabric of the universe itself crumbled around us?
The onion article was about competition, not performance. It was a satiric look at how one company feels pressured to innovate in an arena where continuously adding *features* will not have a significant impact on the performance of the product. You can't simply substitute Intel for Gillette and assume that the remainder of the article would mesh up.
It was an interesting parody. Perhaps not entirely on topic, but related.
There's no reason that each Social Networking site couldn't write their own widget for facebook...
The widget could have a login window or popup, and show your "other" social network information. Complete with any advertisements associated with accessing that page.
Something to the effect of: "Where'd you get the money to buy that tazer?" "I bought it with the money that I saved from buying these bullet resistant vests." "Bullet resistant?! The shirt is wrinkle resistant but see this [wrinkles vest] - still gets wrinkles!"
Out of curiosity, did you include any other details of the ECC in the original e-mail?
If not, it would be like your boss asking you to put change in the parking meter for him if it expires while he's in a big meeting with the clients. You get to the street prepared to plug the meter, only to see that there are 10 vehicles there. He gave you enough information to raise your awareness of the situation, but not enough to actually do anything.
My bad - I was posting on this comment and another at the same time and I guess that I got my wires crossed... I can't see my other post, and this one is just not right either...
I did learn valuable information from this, however. Posting a politely worded request for moderation results in a counter moderation of flamebait.
I don't know if you are kidding or not - I'll assume that you are not.
SysOp = System Operator
This person is usually the first line of support for getting data out of a mainframe or mini computer. Or even out of vms type OSes. In many cases, they assist you with reporting jobs that you create, by: 1. scheduling jobs 2. aborting problem jobs 3. collecting printed reports for delivery to you 4. changing the priority of jobs
We will have SysOps as long as we have people that don't wish to know anything about the mainframe / mini computer / etc. . Their titles may change somewhat, but ultimately the role will remain.
Need that report, but don't know how to login to the mainframe? Call an operator. Need this report to print in front of the 30 jobs in the queue? Call an operator. Need to cancel a scheduled batch process? Call an operator.
Alternatively, we could just add those tasks onto the shoulders of the sysadmin... it's not like they don't have free cycles;)
Once, we were narrow of scope with a deep understanding of the subject matter. Now, we are a mile wide and an inch deep. Less focus, more distractions... ooh - something shiny...
The Woz' doesn't say that sysadmins are pimps. He says that he'd support his son's decision if he chose to become a pimp, but would not support him if he chose to become a network administrator. From the link:
As I administered a network that spanned my homes and friends' homes and public ad private schools and libraries in my town, using T1's and RF links, I got bogged down. Frequently things would fail and, whether it was my equipment or the ISP above me, I was the middle man letting a lot of people down. I lost my life to this for a year and finally got staff hired to administer part of the WAN for the public schools. Finally, the problems became very rare. I'm in a city with very bad phone service and very bad T1 service too. I don't think that the Network Administrator job is a bad gig. Some of my best friends do the network thing, and until the last few years, it was a large part of any role that I filled.
I will admit, however, that I always hear circus music when I'm standing near one...
Interestingly enough, most project managers do not understand the concepts involved with the majority of IT projects.
Their role is to keep a project on track and on budget. It is your role to ensure that if there are issues, they are raised, but it is their role to ensure that things get escalated...
The best project manager that I ever had came from a non-it background.
If you have a great deal of project management experience - there is an ocean of opportunity out there that does not involve "IT". Construction / manufacturing / etc. all require project managers to keep new ideas on track and on budget.
If you have a great deal of experience with risk managemnt - there may be an opportunity for you in the stock market.
It's all about which areas you have experience in, and how comfortably you are at adapting your skills to a new environment.
While there may likely be a large number of skilled workers released from their previous roles with IBM Global Services, it's unlikely that the bulk of them would be of the "skilled AND capable" variety. There are always some good workers that just end up getting screwed, but they will not likely be the rule.
I have several questions about software licensing and your product.
1. Do you have a utility that will allow me to easily identify how many copies of this software is currently installed in my environment? 2. Can you provide me with a price quote for licenses for your product? Please include prices for complete software sets, as well as license only [no media, no manuals]:
- 1 license
- 3 licenses
- 5 licenses
- 10 licenses
- site license 3. If we choose to order more of your product, can we immediately install additional copies of the software while waiting for licenses to arrive? 4. Can you recommend alternate versions of your product that might suit the needs of users with less requirement than the full version of your product? Cost saving is very important for us, and will weigh heavily on our decisions to continue to use this product.
Thank you for all of your assistance in this matter,
To: [e-mail address of manager] Bcc: [your personal e-mail address] Subject: [Product] installations and license limitations Body: [name of manager],
I have reviewed our records and determined that we have x licenses for [product]. There are users that require this product, yet do not currently have it installed, and there are insufficient licenses to meet their needs. Unfortunately, we are not able proceed with installing more copies of this software until new licenses are purchased.
I am attaching the name of our local [product] vendor, as well as his/her direct number, so that you can obtain additional licensing. When the new licenses arrive, we will happy to proceed with the new installations.
Alternatively, we would be happy to install an available opensource alternative. There are a handful of products that might be more suitable in this environment, and we are willing to work with the users to ensure the right products for them.
We are not willing to put this company at risk of litigation or prosecution for software misuse.
Byte was the last good IT magazine. I was sad to see it go out of print [although I'm pretty sure that it resurfaced in an online format]. Now we're stuck with market-specific periodicals. I can choose from *nix [ala sysasmin], pc [ala pc world], or mac [ala mac world]. Now, I can scratch those last two from my list...
When will we find a platform independent and *advertiser* independent magazine that will fill that gaping void?
This is an application that runs on an OS. It's as likely as saying that because Adobe was working on a "native" version of Photoshop for the Intel Macs, that they were planning a merger with Apple.
Unless you are smoking some banned substance or another, I can't imagine how this would fuel any speculation about an Apple / Sun merger.
I can tell you the *likely* explaination. Probably something like this:
Child 1: Dude - look at this cool map I made for [insert game name here] Child 2: Dude! It's amazing. That's so cool. Child 1: Yeah. Child 2: Dude - could you make a map of the school? That would be awesome. Child 1: Hmm - let's see.... [2 weeks later] Child 1: Here it is man - what do you think? Child 2: Dude! Let's upload it and get the rest of the guys to play! Child 1: m'okay. [3 months later] FBISD: You're being creative, and having fun in a way that we don't understand. We don't understand your motivation at that frightens us. You have to be stopped, and corrective action has to be issued to ensure that you don't do other things in the future that we might not understand, or potentially use your creativity in a manner that might bring harm to others, either intentionally or unintentionally. Child 1:...
It's like requiring users to be car mechanics in order to drive an FOSS car. I would think that it's more like belonging to a focus group discussing a concept car. The developers need [useful] feedback.
Saying, "I hate it. What is it?" won't help. Saying, "I don't like having to go seven layers into a menu to do this common procedure" will help.
That so many in FOSS can't see the inefficiency of requiring all users, to be some level of developer, on every tool they use Have you ever made a recommendation for process improvement? Have you ever contributed to a project that required your special skills or unique insight? Have you been passed up for a promotion based on your recommendations or insight on a project?
FOSS is not for everyone. Many people are willing to invest cash for a product that "just works" and requires no investment of time to aid in development. Many people are willing to invest time for a product that requires no financial outlay to compensate for development.
I don't believe that you should have been flamed - Photoshop has had undo since at least 1991 [this is when I started using 2.0]. Not sure if was there an undo prior to that, but I doubt that you would have been discussing the GIMP back then;)
In all fairness, there wasn't a multiple level undo until much later [version 5 or so], so you would have needed to save prior to doing multiple changes.
Cloning from wikipedia:
In 1986, Apple released the Mac Plus which came standard with 1MiB of RAM. This amount of memory was sufficient to support some form of multitasking, which was first implemented by Andy Hertzfeld in his Switcher program released in April 1985. Switcher worked by designating a number of fixed "slots" in memory, into which applications could be loaded. The user could then switch between these applications by clicking a small button on the top of the menu bar. The current application would horizontally slide out of view, and the next one would slide in. Despite its awkwardness, this approach did fit well with the existing system's memory management scheme, and applications needed no special programming to work with Switcher. This early work on Switcher led to the development of MultiFinder by Apple system software engineers Erich Ringewald and Phil Goldman. Also sounds like prior art, n'est pas?
Slashdot Mirror
If intel called the 80 cpu beast "Grendel", could it still be part of a Beowulf cluster? Or would it end up in a perpetual battle - cpu versus os - until the very fabric of the universe itself crumbled around us?
You must be new here...
The onion article was about competition, not performance. It was a satiric look at how one company feels pressured to innovate in an arena where continuously adding *features* will not have a significant impact on the performance of the product. You can't simply substitute Intel for Gillette and assume that the remainder of the article would mesh up.
It was an interesting parody. Perhaps not entirely on topic, but related.
And it was freakin' hilarious.
You crave small, you don't want pain, and yet you ask for the most bloated editor in the realm. Sounds a little left of centre, n'est ce pas?
NOTE: I'm not anti-Emacs. I concede that it is a feature rich editing environment. Me? I'm a minimalist, so I choose to use vi.
There's no reason that each Social Networking site couldn't write their own widget for facebook...
The widget could have a login window or popup, and show your "other" social network information. Complete with any advertisements associated with accessing that page.
Or not...
Reminds me of a Corner Gas episode.
Something to the effect of:
"Where'd you get the money to buy that tazer?"
"I bought it with the money that I saved from buying these bullet resistant vests."
"Bullet resistant?! The shirt is wrinkle resistant but see this [wrinkles vest] - still gets wrinkles!"
Out of curiosity, did you include any other details of the ECC in the original e-mail?
If not, it would be like your boss asking you to put change in the parking meter for him if it expires while he's in a big meeting with the clients. You get to the street prepared to plug the meter, only to see that there are 10 vehicles there. He gave you enough information to raise your awareness of the situation, but not enough to actually do anything.
My bad - I was posting on this comment and another at the same time and I guess that I got my wires crossed... I can't see my other post, and this one is just not right either...
I did learn valuable information from this, however. Posting a politely worded request for moderation results in a counter moderation of flamebait.
Meh.
Can someone please mod parent +1 Insightful
I don't know if you are kidding or not - I'll assume that you are not.
SysOp = System Operator
This person is usually the first line of support for getting data out of a mainframe or mini computer. Or even out of vms type OSes. In many cases, they assist you with reporting jobs that you create, by:
1. scheduling jobs
2. aborting problem jobs
3. collecting printed reports for delivery to you
4. changing the priority of jobs
Hope that this helps...
We will have SysOps as long as we have people that don't wish to know anything about the mainframe / mini computer / etc. . Their titles may change somewhat, but ultimately the role will remain.
;)
Need that report, but don't know how to login to the mainframe? Call an operator.
Need this report to print in front of the 30 jobs in the queue? Call an operator.
Need to cancel a scheduled batch process? Call an operator.
Alternatively, we could just add those tasks onto the shoulders of the sysadmin... it's not like they don't have free cycles
Once, we were narrow of scope with a deep understanding of the subject matter. Now, we are a mile wide and an inch deep. Less focus, more distractions... ooh - something shiny...
I will admit, however, that I always hear circus music when I'm standing near one...
Interestingly enough, most project managers do not understand the concepts involved with the majority of IT projects.
Their role is to keep a project on track and on budget. It is your role to ensure that if there are issues, they are raised, but it is their role to ensure that things get escalated...
The best project manager that I ever had came from a non-it background.
If you have a great deal of project management experience - there is an ocean of opportunity out there that does not involve "IT". Construction / manufacturing / etc. all require project managers to keep new ideas on track and on budget.
If you have a great deal of experience with risk managemnt - there may be an opportunity for you in the stock market.
It's all about which areas you have experience in, and how comfortably you are at adapting your skills to a new environment.
While there may likely be a large number of skilled workers released from their previous roles with IBM Global Services, it's unlikely that the bulk of them would be of the "skilled AND capable" variety. There are always some good workers that just end up getting screwed, but they will not likely be the rule.
If you want to bring the vendor in, you must change the type of e-mail message.
To: [vendor]
cc: [manager]
Subject: Software license inquiry
Body:
Dear [vendor],
I have several questions about software licensing and your product.
1. Do you have a utility that will allow me to easily identify how many copies of this software is currently installed in my environment?
2. Can you provide me with a price quote for licenses for your product? Please include prices for complete software sets, as well as license only [no media, no manuals]:
- 1 license
- 3 licenses
- 5 licenses
- 10 licenses
- site license
3. If we choose to order more of your product, can we immediately install additional copies of the software while waiting for licenses to arrive?
4. Can you recommend alternate versions of your product that might suit the needs of users with less requirement than the full version of your product? Cost saving is very important for us, and will weigh heavily on our decisions to continue to use this product.
Thank you for all of your assistance in this matter,
- [you]
One e-mail message will do the job nicely.
To: [e-mail address of manager]
Bcc: [your personal e-mail address]
Subject: [Product] installations and license limitations
Body:
[name of manager],
I have reviewed our records and determined that we have x licenses for [product]. There are users that require this product, yet do not currently have it installed, and there are insufficient licenses to meet their needs. Unfortunately, we are not able proceed with installing more copies of this software until new licenses are purchased.
I am attaching the name of our local [product] vendor, as well as his/her direct number, so that you can obtain additional licensing. When the new licenses arrive, we will happy to proceed with the new installations.
Alternatively, we would be happy to install an available opensource alternative. There are a handful of products that might be more suitable in this environment, and we are willing to work with the users to ensure the right products for them.
We are not willing to put this company at risk of litigation or prosecution for software misuse.
Sincerely,
[You]
Byte was the last good IT magazine. I was sad to see it go out of print [although I'm pretty sure that it resurfaced in an online format]. Now we're stuck with market-specific periodicals. I can choose from *nix [ala sysasmin], pc [ala pc world], or mac [ala mac world]. Now, I can scratch those last two from my list...
When will we find a platform independent and *advertiser* independent magazine that will fill that gaping void?
Couldn't help it - it's a slow Thursday. ;)
This is an application that runs on an OS. It's as likely as saying that because Adobe was working on a "native" version of Photoshop for the Intel Macs, that they were planning a merger with Apple.
Unless you are smoking some banned substance or another, I can't imagine how this would fuel any speculation about an Apple / Sun merger.
I can tell you the *likely* explaination. Probably something like this:
...
Child 1: Dude - look at this cool map I made for [insert game name here]
Child 2: Dude! It's amazing. That's so cool.
Child 1: Yeah.
Child 2: Dude - could you make a map of the school? That would be awesome.
Child 1: Hmm - let's see....
[2 weeks later]
Child 1: Here it is man - what do you think?
Child 2: Dude! Let's upload it and get the rest of the guys to play!
Child 1: m'okay.
[3 months later]
FBISD: You're being creative, and having fun in a way that we don't understand. We don't understand your motivation at that frightens us. You have to be stopped, and corrective action has to be issued to ensure that you don't do other things in the future that we might not understand, or potentially use your creativity in a manner that might bring harm to others, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Child 1:
Saying, "I hate it. What is it?" won't help. Saying, "I don't like having to go seven layers into a menu to do this common procedure" will help. That so many in FOSS can't see the inefficiency of requiring all users, to be some level of developer, on every tool they use Have you ever made a recommendation for process improvement? Have you ever contributed to a project that required your special skills or unique insight? Have you been passed up for a promotion based on your recommendations or insight on a project?
FOSS is not for everyone.
Many people are willing to invest cash for a product that "just works" and requires no investment of time to aid in development.
Many people are willing to invest time for a product that requires no financial outlay to compensate for development.
I don't believe that you should have been flamed - Photoshop has had undo since at least 1991 [this is when I started using 2.0]. Not sure if was there an undo prior to that, but I doubt that you would have been discussing the GIMP back then ;)
In all fairness, there wasn't a multiple level undo until much later [version 5 or so], so you would have needed to save prior to doing multiple changes.
Sorry - thanks for the correction. I did, indeed, mean "n'est ce pas".
My bad... que je suis bete.