They do accept user-created ring tones, in fact, they openly support it..MID files are common, and lots of new (and not-so-new) phones support MP3 ring-tones already.
There's no conspiracy, just a bunch of stupid people who don't realise you can get the ringtones for free off the net, and who don't realise the incredible lack of value a ringtone has. Because these people don't have a clue, they keep on paying $3 for 20K of data, which keeps these companies in business. If people stopped paying the extortionate prices, they would drop.
I'm not being rude here, but it's a business not a religion. It has to be concerned with actual, tangible resources. The theoretical millions-strong geek coding army is a nice idea and somewhat accurate, but it can't be called on by Red Hat to help them or their products when they want. It's no Batman.
You read the article, so you've seen the amount of money they have, versus that spent by MS each year. There's absolutely no way on earth they can compete. I mean, Microsoft (whether you hate them or not) churns out entire operating systems (for every market you can think of), office suites, multimedia products, network server products, hardware, games, a console (with another on the way), etc. The list goes on. You can see that Red Hat has its work cut out. A company that has its fingers in as many pies as MS, with the budget it has, is pretty much unstoppable when it comes to innovation and implementation (whether you agree with the philosophy or not).
That's because all that "find" does is look for filenames matching a pattern, or text within a file. WinFS (and this project, most likely) operate by allowing the search to be performed on the contents of the file, regardless of which application wrote it. So, for example, you could search base64-encoded messages just like you could.conf files or excel spreadsheets. The fact it uses the internet and runs via HTML is really not that important. Neither is the ranking algorithm. The "google features" they're pertaining to are the searching within multiple file types.
So you actually spent 20 minutes on the phone to someone asking them to repeat themselves? I find that a bit hard to believe;)
India has a very large percentage of English-speaking people, some of who can speak English better than most native English/Canadian/American/Australian people. Saying Indians can't speak English properly (which is what you're essentially saying, whether you meant it or not) is a bit harsh. Heck - I've spokent to tech support people in the US before who couldn't speak English properly. Everywhere's the same. Some are good tech guys, some are crap. They're probably in adjacent cubicles. It's that intrinsic in the sector.
The magazines do stop working. My stack of PC World mags from 1993 aren't as up-to-date as a similar publication I could buy today. Magazines are one big time-bomb, because they can never be updated, only replaced.
Shit, but ask me about 386 notebooks, and I'm all yours.
I know the going rate for developers in the US, and it IS high. There's no denying that. Just look at the numbers. Sheesh.
It's not corporations suddenly turning round and realising they can make money elsewhere - that's been happening for years. What has happenened, is that IT staff's wages went up massively during the dotcom boom, and have tried to remain as high as they can ever since, which means they've effectively priced themselves out of the market. There's no-one here to blame but the IT workers and the IT sector. The companies are just doing what they have to to survive.
If he started early enough, he'd be great. That's the thing. Not being able to teach someone when they're older is not the same as not being able to teach 'em when they're a kid. Get them young, and they're set.
There's more than a wee tinge of racism in your post, but I'll let it slide.
Your job went to India because there's an Indian over there who will accept less money than you to do your job. Guess who's fault that is? It sure isn't the fault of the Indian.
The free market, that wonderful creation America gave to the world, has turned the tide on America. America isn't that great a place to have a business, as Americans want higher salaries than most other nations. That fact means people will go elsewhere. Thanks to the free market, it's a lot easier to do that.
That "hire american citizens" thing is a bit silly. What about non-American citizens living in the US? Shouldn't they be hired? Isn't that a bit xenophobic?
Anyway, I've spoken to American tech support people before, and they're just as inept as tech support from anywhere else in the world. They just have an accent that doesn't make you, http101, feel ill.
So, you were being overpaid for your job when the market stabilised and re-adjusted itself, leaving you with a smaller wage which means you're not as well off as you were before.
If IT workers didn't insist on inflated wages, we'd be a lot more happy. The jobs are going overseas as Americans ask for too much money to do what is essentially a basic task. Anyone can program a computer given enough books to read. Anyone can fix computer problems. It's not like it's a gift - IT professionals aren't "chosen by the elders" or "pre-ordained by the prophecy" - they're just guys and gals who type on keyboards all day.
I'm not trolling - this is a point I've tried to make countless times on slashdot (but always been modded out of existance).
The free market America tried to hard to push on the world has finally come of age. It was instigated when America was a very economically-viable place to have a business. Now, that free market has gained more momentum in other, more economically steady, parts of the world. Because of that, the jobs are now flowing the other way, which America doesn't seem to like.
Something about cake and eating it springs to mind...;)
Exactly. Americans just want Americans on the end of their support lines. You also have to remember that the American slice of the pie is getting rapidly smaller and smaller.
I have no problem with people with heavy accents on the end of the phone. I'm not a racist, so it doesn't peeve me that way, and I have working ears and a brain so I can usually figure out what someone's saying. (Note in point: I called Intel the other week, and they asked what chassis I had for my PC. The lady pronounced the ch as ch instead of sh, so that confused me for 10 seconds tops.
I know this doesn't apply to everyone with bad tech support experiences, but lots of people here are bitter and resent those people for taking "american" jobs (what the hell an "american" job is, I don't know - there are no laws in the US that forbid foreign nationals from working at tech support). I know it's not everyone, but there are a few on here with alterior reasons for their lack of tolerance.
Another point is that US-based tech support is rarely any better. I've spoken to tech support all over the world, and it's pretty much identical. India, Netherlands, UK, US, Uzbekistan, wherever - it's all the same deal. The one critical factor, though, is the better paid the tech guys, the better the service. You can bet that the Indian guys get a better wage than the American ones, so I really don't mind the jobs going wherever.
Only the Americans can help further us backwards, mud-hut-living, tree-bark-eating Europeans! Come, great white man, teach us your strange, fantastic ways!
That's like saying stopping me from carving messages in peoples' bodies with a bowie knife is inhibiting my right to free speech. Free speech merely means no-one is going to tell you to stop saying what you want. It doesn't guarantee your right to use any medium you want to send your message. Illegal is illegal, regardless of whether a voiced opinion was involved or not.
It's not like that's his only way to reach the electorate, is it?
I use windows very frequently, and yes, lots of people do draw their own controls. They do it because windows doesn't offer the graphical device they want. What I see on Linux is software developers using random libraries to draw their graphics that exist in other libraries, instead of drawing from a common pool (no pun intended). Every time I've seen a windows app drawing its own controls, I get the same feeling I get when I see your average linux desktop. Disjointed graphics, floating ill-aligned controls.
I guess if linux had a universal, well-defined, mature and skinning-friendly graphical toolkit lying around, most of these "what the hell is that?" problems would disappear.
It's ironic that MS also uses custom graphics in their office suites, usually because they want a more stylised look to their apps. Their usually work out OK as MS has a pretty decent design department. When some of the smaller linux developers try to do theirs, it doesn't always come out that good.
am I running round in circles here, or is it just me?:-P
If you read my post, that's exactly what I'm saying. Bear in mind that Microsoft has a huge art and design department, whereas Mozilla doesn't. I'm talking about design integrity, not politics. The MS apps that use their own graphics also give those graphics back to the OS. You can write your own software to use their toolbars/whatever, which is cool.
You see, that's my beef. On Macs and Windows, the apps generally don't draw their own graphics. Usually, the only time they'll do that is if the graphical devices they want (specialised window shape, specialised style) aren't available in the OS. If an app wants a column header, it'll draw the standard OS one. I think that's the attitude linux needs to take, otherwise it'll always look a little "dodgy" from an aesthetical point of view.
It's EASY to get things pixel-perfect on the web. Of course they're not going to be exactly the same on each system, but you can get cut-up graphics to adhere to each other easily across any platform you can think of (which is the entire idea of a good HTML coder and HTML code). I've been doing it for YEARS. sheesh:)
By doing anything so much as glancing sideways at the picky-ass CONF files scattered all over the system? Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean I'm instantly wrong and you're instantly right. You're not very polite, are you?;)
Because he's not likely to win. Nader's not likely to win anything either. I know how much that hurts libertarians, but then they're so pissed off all the time anyway I don't think anyone'll notice.;)
Windows does have a good "run as" option on executables, which is useful for situations like that, but it doesn't address the big ol' flaw of admin users. I think that problem would break so many things if it were fixed that we're not going to see it for a while. I mean, look at the backlash over SP2:-P You can hardly blame them
I wish I could point you in the right direction on this one, but my memory is so bad, Swiss Cheese inc. is suing me for copyright infringement.
Of course it's easy enough to screw up some of the more modern, yet essential, services like kerberos, which will send anything that needs it completely off the rails.:)
I know about the cmd/command.com difference, I was just making a point;)
Yes, there are very powerful object-based tools in windows. Most recent MS server-based apps have command-line tools for configuration. I added an LCS 2005 server to our domain the other week all from the command prompt. It updated the schemas, propagated them, and configured the user accounts, all from the command line. Hella powerful stuff. Of course, being Microsoft, there is a pretty-pretty GUI alternative, too.
Slashdot Mirror
I would never, EVER besmirch pr0n mags. I never meant to allude to pr0n having a shelf-life - we all know they're good for at least 40 years :)
There's no conspiracy, just a bunch of stupid people who don't realise you can get the ringtones for free off the net, and who don't realise the incredible lack of value a ringtone has. Because these people don't have a clue, they keep on paying $3 for 20K of data, which keeps these companies in business. If people stopped paying the extortionate prices, they would drop.
You read the article, so you've seen the amount of money they have, versus that spent by MS each year. There's absolutely no way on earth they can compete. I mean, Microsoft (whether you hate them or not) churns out entire operating systems (for every market you can think of), office suites, multimedia products, network server products, hardware, games, a console (with another on the way), etc. The list goes on. You can see that Red Hat has its work cut out. A company that has its fingers in as many pies as MS, with the budget it has, is pretty much unstoppable when it comes to innovation and implementation (whether you agree with the philosophy or not).
Google can search within a nice array of document types, not just HTML. That's what the google metaphor is all about, nothing to do with pagerank.
That's because all that "find" does is look for filenames matching a pattern, or text within a file. WinFS (and this project, most likely) operate by allowing the search to be performed on the contents of the file, regardless of which application wrote it. So, for example, you could search base64-encoded messages just like you could .conf files or excel spreadsheets. The fact it uses the internet and runs via HTML is really not that important. Neither is the ranking algorithm. The "google features" they're pertaining to are the searching within multiple file types.
India has a very large percentage of English-speaking people, some of who can speak English better than most native English/Canadian/American/Australian people. Saying Indians can't speak English properly (which is what you're essentially saying, whether you meant it or not) is a bit harsh. Heck - I've spokent to tech support people in the US before who couldn't speak English properly. Everywhere's the same. Some are good tech guys, some are crap. They're probably in adjacent cubicles. It's that intrinsic in the sector.
Shit, but ask me about 386 notebooks, and I'm all yours.
It's not corporations suddenly turning round and realising they can make money elsewhere - that's been happening for years. What has happenened, is that IT staff's wages went up massively during the dotcom boom, and have tried to remain as high as they can ever since, which means they've effectively priced themselves out of the market. There's no-one here to blame but the IT workers and the IT sector. The companies are just doing what they have to to survive.
If he started early enough, he'd be great. That's the thing. Not being able to teach someone when they're older is not the same as not being able to teach 'em when they're a kid. Get them young, and they're set.
Thanks for the clarification ;)
Your job went to India because there's an Indian over there who will accept less money than you to do your job. Guess who's fault that is? It sure isn't the fault of the Indian.
The free market, that wonderful creation America gave to the world, has turned the tide on America. America isn't that great a place to have a business, as Americans want higher salaries than most other nations. That fact means people will go elsewhere. Thanks to the free market, it's a lot easier to do that.
That "hire american citizens" thing is a bit silly. What about non-American citizens living in the US? Shouldn't they be hired? Isn't that a bit xenophobic?
Anyway, I've spoken to American tech support people before, and they're just as inept as tech support from anywhere else in the world. They just have an accent that doesn't make you, http101, feel ill.
If IT workers didn't insist on inflated wages, we'd be a lot more happy. The jobs are going overseas as Americans ask for too much money to do what is essentially a basic task. Anyone can program a computer given enough books to read. Anyone can fix computer problems. It's not like it's a gift - IT professionals aren't "chosen by the elders" or "pre-ordained by the prophecy" - they're just guys and gals who type on keyboards all day.
I'm not trolling - this is a point I've tried to make countless times on slashdot (but always been modded out of existance).
The free market America tried to hard to push on the world has finally come of age. It was instigated when America was a very economically-viable place to have a business. Now, that free market has gained more momentum in other, more economically steady, parts of the world. Because of that, the jobs are now flowing the other way, which America doesn't seem to like.
Something about cake and eating it springs to mind... ;)
I have no problem with people with heavy accents on the end of the phone. I'm not a racist, so it doesn't peeve me that way, and I have working ears and a brain so I can usually figure out what someone's saying. (Note in point: I called Intel the other week, and they asked what chassis I had for my PC. The lady pronounced the ch as ch instead of sh, so that confused me for 10 seconds tops.
I know this doesn't apply to everyone with bad tech support experiences, but lots of people here are bitter and resent those people for taking "american" jobs (what the hell an "american" job is, I don't know - there are no laws in the US that forbid foreign nationals from working at tech support). I know it's not everyone, but there are a few on here with alterior reasons for their lack of tolerance.
Another point is that US-based tech support is rarely any better. I've spoken to tech support all over the world, and it's pretty much identical. India, Netherlands, UK, US, Uzbekistan, wherever - it's all the same deal. The one critical factor, though, is the better paid the tech guys, the better the service. You can bet that the Indian guys get a better wage than the American ones, so I really don't mind the jobs going wherever.
Ok, so it's not exactly "anal ease", but meh.
It's not like that's his only way to reach the electorate, is it?
I guess if linux had a universal, well-defined, mature and skinning-friendly graphical toolkit lying around, most of these "what the hell is that?" problems would disappear.
It's ironic that MS also uses custom graphics in their office suites, usually because they want a more stylised look to their apps. Their usually work out OK as MS has a pretty decent design department. When some of the smaller linux developers try to do theirs, it doesn't always come out that good.
am I running round in circles here, or is it just me? :-P
If you read my post, that's exactly what I'm saying. Bear in mind that Microsoft has a huge art and design department, whereas Mozilla doesn't. I'm talking about design integrity, not politics. The MS apps that use their own graphics also give those graphics back to the OS. You can write your own software to use their toolbars/whatever, which is cool.
You see, that's my beef. On Macs and Windows, the apps generally don't draw their own graphics. Usually, the only time they'll do that is if the graphical devices they want (specialised window shape, specialised style) aren't available in the OS. If an app wants a column header, it'll draw the standard OS one. I think that's the attitude linux needs to take, otherwise it'll always look a little "dodgy" from an aesthetical point of view.
It's EASY to get things pixel-perfect on the web. Of course they're not going to be exactly the same on each system, but you can get cut-up graphics to adhere to each other easily across any platform you can think of (which is the entire idea of a good HTML coder and HTML code). I've been doing it for YEARS. sheesh :)
By doing anything so much as glancing sideways at the picky-ass CONF files scattered all over the system? Just because you've never seen it doesn't mean I'm instantly wrong and you're instantly right. You're not very polite, are you? ;)
Because he's not likely to win. Nader's not likely to win anything either. I know how much that hurts libertarians, but then they're so pissed off all the time anyway I don't think anyone'll notice. ;)
Windows does have a good "run as" option on executables, which is useful for situations like that, but it doesn't address the big ol' flaw of admin users. I think that problem would break so many things if it were fixed that we're not going to see it for a while. I mean, look at the backlash over SP2 :-P You can hardly blame them
Of course it's easy enough to screw up some of the more modern, yet essential, services like kerberos, which will send anything that needs it completely off the rails. :)
Yes, there are very powerful object-based tools in windows. Most recent MS server-based apps have command-line tools for configuration. I added an LCS 2005 server to our domain the other week all from the command prompt. It updated the schemas, propagated them, and configured the user accounts, all from the command line. Hella powerful stuff. Of course, being Microsoft, there is a pretty-pretty GUI alternative, too.