You only pay $700 for a premium license and if there are as many versions of Office as there will be Windows, I expect you will probably pay even MORE.
So yes, be 'liberal' with your $700 license for the software -- who cares about the format if it will cost you $700 to read it?
Bill Gates becomes more and more, as days go by... like Baghdad Bob.
I can't wait until Desktop Linux gets to critical mass and spills mainstream... there will be Bill Gates, Microsoft burning in the background and Linux paratroopers marching behind him, and he will be saying "Microsoft will be the leader! Microsoft can never be defeated!"
At which point he is properly indexed by Google Video so people the world over can laugh repeatedly at him.
Of Microsoft going 'after' somebody. One day we have an 'expert' writing an article for FoxNews saying how Open Document is HORRIBLE. Then we have another 'expert' writing how Windows TCO is lower than Linux. We have Bill Gates coming out and saying they are going to be better than Google.
With all the recent press noise Microsoft is making lately, I am thinking they are further behind than we think they are, and that the competition is catching up so rapidly that they fight them off with advertising and placed 'expert' articles on major PC magazines and publications, instead of innovating. I had a friend who was a developer on SQL Server 2005 (I think) quit Microsoft just recently because he was tired of having arguements and being part of arguments that shows other people as a leader in the field (ala Oracle or even MySQL 5 for corporate use). The politics of the organization is like a mafia where nobody can badmouth the boss.
If Microsoft doesn't want to admit that some of the stuff they make is total horseshit, then they will be pushed further and further behind regardless of their stranglehold on the Desktop OS market. All you need is a few key developments and advances in Linux along with better software support (which is already coming), and it can make a breakthru to the desktop at a lower cost. And when that happens, expect more articles from 'experts' and more interviews from Bill Gates saying how they are just about to kick everybody's ass in everything -- but we have to wait just a LITTLE longer.
I've been waiting for 5 years for holes in XP to be patched. And I believe you're going to make a better search? Don't talk Bill -- prove it.
Physics was never my strong suit. I didn't bother to check any of the formulas and it doesn't really matter anyway, because only real big fat loser nerds would have seen that mistake and been like "He made a mistake in his calculations".
I am thinking Professor Frink from the Simpsons of course:)
Peter Molyneux created a pretty nice game in B&W (the original). Graphics were great for their time, nice playability, etc. The problem was the philosphy behind "NO BUTTONS".
I can't say I remember 100%, but I know you had to draw circles and squares and such in order to use a skill or spell or something. This is total stupidity, especially when it is just easier to click a button.
If game developers decided to start innovating GAMEPLAY which *was* done with B&W, there wouldn't be such an inherent need to fix the things that aren't broken.
Advancement doesn't really have to be attached in work -- it can be outside of work. I started my position as a systems administrator, and was promoted within a year to systems administrator II. The change in title was arbitrary, as I was doing the same work, however I had a few bonuses that were department specific. The biggest bonus for me, was a bigger and more flexible training budget for me. That means if I wanted to learn something and it was IT related (not job related), I had a budget I could use to do what I wanted. So we are a Windows only shop... I have chosen to learn Linux even though it has no bearing on my job.
The rationale behind this is pretty simple -- a person gets complacent, and especially in IT, because they feel they are going to be outdated, or they aren't performing duties that will get them noticed in a future job. While your employer's job is to keep you working at THEIR company, they can't remove the possibility of you working somewhere else -- and the career 'path' at a company has to take this into consideration else there will be a lot of turnover in your IT department. Web programmers that are doing one thing, constantly and not being able to use and learn new technologies (because if it ain't broke, don't fix it) they won't feel the need to stay at that company, even though they are stellar at their jobs.
Bonuses are good too. Stock options, Christmas bonuses, paid holidays, and a big one that's often overlooked -- gym memberships -- are all very important. Little expenditures can reap huge rewards for an IT department because it keeps employees happy. As IT personnell, I have personally found working in environments that are laid back (let me wear a backwards hat, t shirt and shorts to work!) are the best. With hours being spent in front of the computer, they should be comfortable, and sitting in the best chairs, have the best keyboards and mice, nice monitors, etc. It's something that other departments SHOULD envy because let's face it -- if your company is relying on them to make the money, then your company is going to want to make them feel wanted. It works much the same for sales people in ANY field -- do your job well and you get more perks than you can imagine.
So if your company can offer title changes, personal training budgets, maybe some catered food once in a while, free tickets to see some ballteam playing, the best equipment, ergonomic chairs, etc... these small expenditures will go a long way to keeping the staff you have happy and working hard for YOU and not somebody else.
I should mention one piece of advice I learned from a friend that is a manager, and that is exceptional in his field and his employees love him. What he said is something like this:
"Your job as a manager for your employees is to assign them the work to do, see they do it satisfactorily, take the blame FOR them if they fuck up, and then tell them to stop fucking up in PRIVATE. And when time comes, you fight tooth and nail to get every penny you can out of the higher ups to make sure they get the best raises they can get."
There is no faster way to lose employees when if they make a single screwup, the world comes crashing down on them, believe me they are going to look to leave fast. It makes me regret leaving MY last job, because it's the situation I'm in right now. So on a side note... if anybody's looking for a Windows SysAdmin....:)
Clearly Google's interest in AOL is their huge CD distribution system, widely regarded as the most advanced in the world as demonstrated by my mailbox.
Uhm... Why would Google want to associate itself with a company whose history has shown it can't keep up with the times, for a mailing scheme? If there is a genuine interest in Google to buy stock in AOL it has to be for more than that, because any idiot with half a brain can put together a decent distribution system. Netflix did it in a year -- imagine what Google could do?
Thanks for the information -- I've been on LinuxForums.org a bit to get some information, unfortunately time is a constraint lately so I haven't had enough time to tinker.
I think I'm going to give Kubuntu a shot later tomorrow.
Thanks for that. Hard to get modded anything but troll when you ask questions or make comments about how "good" Linux is, versus how good it "could" be.
I'm just trying to give you an example of the problems *I* had. I went to atrpms.net (I think that's the site) to download a copy of Nessus in RPM form. On the Nessus site, I only found source and I was having problems installing it, so I figured RPMs would be helpful in that case, just making it a 'set it and forget it' type of thing.
However, I downloaded oh... 10 different RPMs -- the server, addons, glib this, blah blah... and I kept getting dependancy problems when installing. I'm speaking from a NON-PROGRAMMER point of view, and as amazing as it may be, there are Windows junkies that live on/. as well as Linux junkies.
I have a keen interest in getting Linux to work with some ease that I'm accustomed to in Windows and that AS a Windows user, I can figure out in OS X. Linux doesn't offer that, and I know that every other Linux junkie here will heroically defend the idea that Linux is hard to use and fight me tooth and nail on any comment I make. But in the end, it won't make Linux any easier, it won't win any more of the desktop market, and no apps will be written for it. And I will be *stuck* (I don't WANT to use Windows, but I *have* to) with a OS that's easy and familiar instead of venturing out with training wheels. It's like going from going from Windows, a bike, to Linux, a spaceship. There's going to be quite a few problems in me learning it because it's alien to me. And the notion of it being alien to me is one that escapes a LOT of people here.
When the oversight is seen that Linux can be a lot more, AND appease Windows junkies like myself will it gain the support of a lot more people on a fundamental level. So I insist, please go on making snide remarks about my questions and concerns with Linux as a Desktop OS. I am sure that will solve all the usability issues it has.
Red Hat's Fedora... it seems the logical choice but as I may have motioned towards... I'm a total neophyte with Linux. I know the THEORY, I just don't know the application.
Besides I prefer to learn the hard way as it usually provides shortcuts for things later on. I still regularly drop to DOS windows in Windows to get things done quickly:)
That relies on a database of applications, correct? So if I come across some no-name software that I want to check out (as there are millions for Windows) and it's not in the database, it doesn't solve my problem.
RPMs are a start, but there are so many problems I've had in the past with them, they are relatively useless. Install packages need to be like OS X. Drag the app in, and it just works. I don't know how much easier it can get.
but another entirely to start working on a solution. The barrier to desktop Linux lies in simplicity, and without conducting a study or showing you a video, I can explain it easily.
Go to the web on a Linux PC (provided you've got a browser pre-installed), and download a tarball of say, Firefox. You are a Windows user but you're 'elite', so you use Firefox, and since it's available for Linux, you want to have the same browser.
You have downloaded the tarball, presumably to your desktop. You double click on the file, and it gets opened by Archive Manager. And from here, you can bet that 99% of the Windows folks that would like an alternative to their PCs will not make the adaptation to Linux.
It has to be EASY. Apple set the benchmark for this -- and if imitation is the greatest form of flattery, then do it. Who cares about inflating Apple's ego? If Linux makes a breakthru on the desktop because it's as easy to use as an Apple, or even as easy as Windows, how does that hurt anybody? The true geek can rely on the the commandline only distros, or drop to terminal to get their tasks done using regular expressions and grep or whatever they want, while the 'idiots' (and I would venture to say, that I'm one of them) can use the nice GUI that's simple to follow and easy to use.
Then folks, when developers see that they can cross develop applications that work in Linux (with little overhead), and that people will be able to easily use and access them -- THEY WILL. The open source community just needs to see that fact and start making solutions happen. With the extremely fast and accurate nature of Open Source, the feats that have come from it are amazing. It's more amazing, that the basis of Open Source -- Linux -- remains fundamentally unchanged to accomodate the eager Windows users (read: ME) to switch fully to Linux. Until the snobbery stops and changes start, Linux on the desktop is going nowhere fast. And that's upsetting for a Windows user tired of his OS, and not wanting to get tied into another corporate entity (Apple).
And please excuuuuuuse me for being a bit sardonic in my wit, I was just joking around.
The Tyco CEO (Dennis Kozlowski) went to where I graduated, Seton Hall University. He donated millions there and has a building named after him (at least I think he still does). He came to my school about 3 weeks before charges were brought up against him to give a speech, one I was required to attend by my Business Law class.
The topic? "Business Ethics on a Global Scale"
And even more entertaining? That's the THIRD building our school has named after a convicted criminal. I think we have a record or something...
While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
And that reason alone, is why I will never feel sorry for CEOs long work days. Besides, everybody knows that CEOs are figureheads and the real work is done by the managers looking for promotions into more cushy jobs and getting the little guys to work their asses off to deliver the given product/service on a deadline that means THEIR job.
Yea.. fuck CEOs. Until I am one -- and then I will look back at this post and think how delusional I was while I bathe myself in hundred dollar bills while telling my driver to take me to my job where I do little work and -- oh wait, I am still a peon. Long way to go yet:)
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You only pay $700 for a premium license and if there are as many versions of Office as there will be Windows, I expect you will probably pay even MORE.
So yes, be 'liberal' with your $700 license for the software -- who cares about the format if it will cost you $700 to read it?
I'm taking bets that most will be modded funny instead of insightful.
:)
Granted though... I could be moderated insightful for THIS post... so I'm betting against myself
Bill Gates becomes more and more, as days go by... like Baghdad Bob.
I can't wait until Desktop Linux gets to critical mass and spills mainstream... there will be Bill Gates, Microsoft burning in the background and Linux paratroopers marching behind him, and he will be saying "Microsoft will be the leader! Microsoft can never be defeated!"
At which point he is properly indexed by Google Video so people the world over can laugh repeatedly at him.
Of Microsoft going 'after' somebody. One day we have an 'expert' writing an article for FoxNews saying how Open Document is HORRIBLE. Then we have another 'expert' writing how Windows TCO is lower than Linux. We have Bill Gates coming out and saying they are going to be better than Google.
With all the recent press noise Microsoft is making lately, I am thinking they are further behind than we think they are, and that the competition is catching up so rapidly that they fight them off with advertising and placed 'expert' articles on major PC magazines and publications, instead of innovating. I had a friend who was a developer on SQL Server 2005 (I think) quit Microsoft just recently because he was tired of having arguements and being part of arguments that shows other people as a leader in the field (ala Oracle or even MySQL 5 for corporate use). The politics of the organization is like a mafia where nobody can badmouth the boss.
If Microsoft doesn't want to admit that some of the stuff they make is total horseshit, then they will be pushed further and further behind regardless of their stranglehold on the Desktop OS market. All you need is a few key developments and advances in Linux along with better software support (which is already coming), and it can make a breakthru to the desktop at a lower cost. And when that happens, expect more articles from 'experts' and more interviews from Bill Gates saying how they are just about to kick everybody's ass in everything -- but we have to wait just a LITTLE longer.
I've been waiting for 5 years for holes in XP to be patched. And I believe you're going to make a better search? Don't talk Bill -- prove it.
Physics was never my strong suit. I didn't bother to check any of the formulas and it doesn't really matter anyway, because only real big fat loser nerds would have seen that mistake and been like "He made a mistake in his calculations".
:)
I am thinking Professor Frink from the Simpsons of course
ROFL!
I reply to nearly 100% of legit messages.
Did Darwin and Einstein get mail telling them they could improve their penis size too, that they didn't respond to?
It's nice to have a place where you can voice a complaint that might actually be read :)
Peter Molyneux created a pretty nice game in B&W (the original). Graphics were great for their time, nice playability, etc. The problem was the philosphy behind "NO BUTTONS".
I can't say I remember 100%, but I know you had to draw circles and squares and such in order to use a skill or spell or something. This is total stupidity, especially when it is just easier to click a button.
If game developers decided to start innovating GAMEPLAY which *was* done with B&W, there wouldn't be such an inherent need to fix the things that aren't broken.
I gave up playing the game for that reason.
Advancement doesn't really have to be attached in work -- it can be outside of work. I started my position as a systems administrator, and was promoted within a year to systems administrator II. The change in title was arbitrary, as I was doing the same work, however I had a few bonuses that were department specific. The biggest bonus for me, was a bigger and more flexible training budget for me. That means if I wanted to learn something and it was IT related (not job related), I had a budget I could use to do what I wanted. So we are a Windows only shop... I have chosen to learn Linux even though it has no bearing on my job.
:)
The rationale behind this is pretty simple -- a person gets complacent, and especially in IT, because they feel they are going to be outdated, or they aren't performing duties that will get them noticed in a future job. While your employer's job is to keep you working at THEIR company, they can't remove the possibility of you working somewhere else -- and the career 'path' at a company has to take this into consideration else there will be a lot of turnover in your IT department. Web programmers that are doing one thing, constantly and not being able to use and learn new technologies (because if it ain't broke, don't fix it) they won't feel the need to stay at that company, even though they are stellar at their jobs.
Bonuses are good too. Stock options, Christmas bonuses, paid holidays, and a big one that's often overlooked -- gym memberships -- are all very important. Little expenditures can reap huge rewards for an IT department because it keeps employees happy. As IT personnell, I have personally found working in environments that are laid back (let me wear a backwards hat, t shirt and shorts to work!) are the best. With hours being spent in front of the computer, they should be comfortable, and sitting in the best chairs, have the best keyboards and mice, nice monitors, etc. It's something that other departments SHOULD envy because let's face it -- if your company is relying on them to make the money, then your company is going to want to make them feel wanted. It works much the same for sales people in ANY field -- do your job well and you get more perks than you can imagine.
So if your company can offer title changes, personal training budgets, maybe some catered food once in a while, free tickets to see some ballteam playing, the best equipment, ergonomic chairs, etc... these small expenditures will go a long way to keeping the staff you have happy and working hard for YOU and not somebody else.
I should mention one piece of advice I learned from a friend that is a manager, and that is exceptional in his field and his employees love him. What he said is something like this:
"Your job as a manager for your employees is to assign them the work to do, see they do it satisfactorily, take the blame FOR them if they fuck up, and then tell them to stop fucking up in PRIVATE. And when time comes, you fight tooth and nail to get every penny you can out of the higher ups to make sure they get the best raises they can get."
There is no faster way to lose employees when if they make a single screwup, the world comes crashing down on them, believe me they are going to look to leave fast. It makes me regret leaving MY last job, because it's the situation I'm in right now. So on a side note... if anybody's looking for a Windows SysAdmin....
Good luck to you.
Windows is inherent that it won't allow changes to software unless you have admin rights.
Hopefully it will allow for you to 'log on as' and then install all the updates, at least in Windows.
Clearly Google's interest in AOL is their huge CD distribution system, widely regarded as the most advanced in the world as demonstrated by my mailbox.
Uhm... Why would Google want to associate itself with a company whose history has shown it can't keep up with the times, for a mailing scheme? If there is a genuine interest in Google to buy stock in AOL it has to be for more than that, because any idiot with half a brain can put together a decent distribution system. Netflix did it in a year -- imagine what Google could do?
I pride myself on high post ratings.
:)
I know... it's sad. But it's the only joy I have at work
Thanks for the information -- I've been on LinuxForums.org a bit to get some information, unfortunately time is a constraint lately so I haven't had enough time to tinker.
I think I'm going to give Kubuntu a shot later tomorrow.
How many lawsuits will Microsoft have to settle before it well.... stops having any money left?
:)
It's probably way, way, wayyyyyy off but the thought popped into my mind. And I'm not ashamed to say, I smiled a bit
Because I'd like to start using Linux in the GUI form first and figure out the intricacies later thru use of the terminal and command line.
:)
The GUI form however, is still difficult to use for the average Windows user (me). Fix that, and you have another convert to preach the word
Thanks for that. Hard to get modded anything but troll when you ask questions or make comments about how "good" Linux is, versus how good it "could" be.
I'm just trying to give you an example of the problems *I* had. I went to atrpms.net (I think that's the site) to download a copy of Nessus in RPM form. On the Nessus site, I only found source and I was having problems installing it, so I figured RPMs would be helpful in that case, just making it a 'set it and forget it' type of thing.
/. as well as Linux junkies.
However, I downloaded oh... 10 different RPMs -- the server, addons, glib this, blah blah... and I kept getting dependancy problems when installing. I'm speaking from a NON-PROGRAMMER point of view, and as amazing as it may be, there are Windows junkies that live on
I have a keen interest in getting Linux to work with some ease that I'm accustomed to in Windows and that AS a Windows user, I can figure out in OS X. Linux doesn't offer that, and I know that every other Linux junkie here will heroically defend the idea that Linux is hard to use and fight me tooth and nail on any comment I make. But in the end, it won't make Linux any easier, it won't win any more of the desktop market, and no apps will be written for it. And I will be *stuck* (I don't WANT to use Windows, but I *have* to) with a OS that's easy and familiar instead of venturing out with training wheels. It's like going from going from Windows, a bike, to Linux, a spaceship. There's going to be quite a few problems in me learning it because it's alien to me. And the notion of it being alien to me is one that escapes a LOT of people here.
When the oversight is seen that Linux can be a lot more, AND appease Windows junkies like myself will it gain the support of a lot more people on a fundamental level. So I insist, please go on making snide remarks about my questions and concerns with Linux as a Desktop OS. I am sure that will solve all the usability issues it has.
Red Hat's Fedora... it seems the logical choice but as I may have motioned towards... I'm a total neophyte with Linux. I know the THEORY, I just don't know the application.
:)
Besides I prefer to learn the hard way as it usually provides shortcuts for things later on. I still regularly drop to DOS windows in Windows to get things done quickly
That relies on a database of applications, correct? So if I come across some no-name software that I want to check out (as there are millions for Windows) and it's not in the database, it doesn't solve my problem.
RPMs are a start, but there are so many problems I've had in the past with them, they are relatively useless. Install packages need to be like OS X. Drag the app in, and it just works. I don't know how much easier it can get.
People tend to think differently when they are paying the licensing fees for all the copies of Windows they will need to replace.
I know I'll hang on to my XP Pro box for a while before I rush off and go to a Vista based system, even with all the eyecandy and new features.
but another entirely to start working on a solution. The barrier to desktop Linux lies in simplicity, and without conducting a study or showing you a video, I can explain it easily.
Go to the web on a Linux PC (provided you've got a browser pre-installed), and download a tarball of say, Firefox. You are a Windows user but you're 'elite', so you use Firefox, and since it's available for Linux, you want to have the same browser.
You have downloaded the tarball, presumably to your desktop. You double click on the file, and it gets opened by Archive Manager. And from here, you can bet that 99% of the Windows folks that would like an alternative to their PCs will not make the adaptation to Linux.
It has to be EASY. Apple set the benchmark for this -- and if imitation is the greatest form of flattery, then do it. Who cares about inflating Apple's ego? If Linux makes a breakthru on the desktop because it's as easy to use as an Apple, or even as easy as Windows, how does that hurt anybody? The true geek can rely on the the commandline only distros, or drop to terminal to get their tasks done using regular expressions and grep or whatever they want, while the 'idiots' (and I would venture to say, that I'm one of them) can use the nice GUI that's simple to follow and easy to use.
Then folks, when developers see that they can cross develop applications that work in Linux (with little overhead), and that people will be able to easily use and access them -- THEY WILL. The open source community just needs to see that fact and start making solutions happen. With the extremely fast and accurate nature of Open Source, the feats that have come from it are amazing. It's more amazing, that the basis of Open Source -- Linux -- remains fundamentally unchanged to accomodate the eager Windows users (read: ME) to switch fully to Linux. Until the snobbery stops and changes start, Linux on the desktop is going nowhere fast. And that's upsetting for a Windows user tired of his OS, and not wanting to get tied into another corporate entity (Apple).
And please excuuuuuuse me for being a bit sardonic in my wit, I was just joking around.
The Tyco CEO (Dennis Kozlowski) went to where I graduated, Seton Hall University. He donated millions there and has a building named after him (at least I think he still does). He came to my school about 3 weeks before charges were brought up against him to give a speech, one I was required to attend by my Business Law class.
The topic? "Business Ethics on a Global Scale"
And even more entertaining? That's the THIRD building our school has named after a convicted criminal. I think we have a record or something...
I have much to learn Obi Wan.
While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
:)
And that reason alone, is why I will never feel sorry for CEOs long work days. Besides, everybody knows that CEOs are figureheads and the real work is done by the managers looking for promotions into more cushy jobs and getting the little guys to work their asses off to deliver the given product/service on a deadline that means THEIR job.
Yea.. fuck CEOs. Until I am one -- and then I will look back at this post and think how delusional I was while I bathe myself in hundred dollar bills while telling my driver to take me to my job where I do little work and -- oh wait, I am still a peon. Long way to go yet