Is making a complete career change at this point a bad idea?"
In the US, I'm not sure about other countries, the average person changes their career a few tymes. About.com has a page on "Ten Myths About Choosing a Career". More about changing careers from About.com can be found at Career Choice or Change.
Am I the only one wondering why the lawyers need to 'hide' their conversations from the NSA? I mean, what do they have to hide?
Ever hear of Duty of confidentiality? Lawyers have the same duty as doctors and priests. Now let's turn that on it's head, "what does the FBI, NSA, and government in general have to hide? Other than how they misusing their power?"
That's how the FBI got crucial evidence against Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr., son of former mob boss Little Nicky Scarfo, adding a hardware keylogger to grab his PGP password to allow them to decrypt his messages in concert with his private key, also copied at the time.
Though I'm not sure it's this case, I think the FBI had to let him go because they didn't have a warrant or some such thing.
The keys are flat, not bevelled. The keys are not solidly seated... they float, making it feel imprecise. The action is both too soft and too hard, with very little "padding" effect.
The only problem I have with the keyboard is that I wish it were closer to me. I'd switch the track pad and keyword if I could.
It's only mandatory as long as you're employed and make less than a certain amount
See, that right there is a problem for me, it being mandatory. Hillary's health insurance plan is also mandatory, for everyone, whereas Obama's plan is only mandatory for children. As far as I'm concerned anything like this that mandates something from people is a violation of liberty. So long as you are not harming anyone else the government should not be telling you what you can and can not do, or make anything mandatory for anyone.
I don't really consider that taxpayer-funded
Anytime a deduction is mandated for something the government mandates I consider a tax, in this case it's health insurance providers who get the money.
My problem isn't that I couldn't afford private health insurance, it's that no private carrier will take me due to being an incalculable risk.
I didn't say this before so I will now. The state I live in has an insurance pool everybody who offers, sells, health insurance in the state have to contribute to. People who are denied health insurance can apply and get medical coverage from this pool. Now that I support. Actually the last tyme I had coverage that's how I got it, recall I said I was denied health insurance? Because I was denied coverage I was able to get it through this pool. In this case, mandating insurers pay into the pool, isn't forcing people to pay into it instead it's forcing insurers to pay. If the insurer raises premiums because of it then that's their problem.
Well, sorry, that's just guessed wrong. We do have public health insurance around here, but it's not paid for by taxes.
How is it paid for then?
as you make enough money (~50k Euros per year) _or_ are self-employed, you can opt out of the public health insurance system completely. Doctors aren't government employees, they get paid by the patients or their insurance (public or private).
I didn't say doctors were government employees, I said taxpayers pay. That "public health insurance system" is taxpayer funded isn't it? ie if you don't make 50k Euros your employer deducts the money to pay for "public health insurance" whether you want it or not? And that 50k Euros is more than $75,000, anyone in the US making that should be able to afford health insurance.
Even though we're in a heated discussion here, thank you for sharing your story. It makes a lot of things clearer. I agree with the latter - in case of someone causing pretty much permanent disability, they (or their insurance) should have to pay really big time (that's one of the cases when I'm all for big payouts).
Thanks. That's something that I really hate, taxpayers being on the hook for what little income I have. I also hate, if not taking college classes and working on degree, not working. At the tyme of the accident I was majoring in Computer Engineering, CE, and I had already taken the core classes like physics and calculus. But while I was in rehab I realized I could not do simple problems calc and physics students could do after the first few weeks of the first class in either subject. I had to start over and repeat a bunch of classes, if I wanted to continue in CE. But I didn't. If I knew what I wanted to do, I have no idea if I'd be able to do it. My memory is bad now, I have trouble retaining long term memory for one thing.
Please do not mention the Gimp. I need CMKY for one thing.
I think both CinePaint aka Film GIMP, and Krita support CMYK. CinePaint is available for Linux, Macs, and Windows whereas Krita is for Linux. I don't know about Krita but CinePaint also does 32 bits per colour channel.
Or, hold down the ctrl button while clicking with that one, lonely button.
You can also hold the [Apple] key while clicking. It will give you a different context menu than [ctrl] clicking does. For my reply to you I did that when clicking on the reply button, the reply window opened in a new tab in Firefox.
Actually Macs have 3 buttons. The "left" click is the normal one. Another one is when you hold the [Apple] key down while clicking, and the third is when you hold the [ctrl] key while clicking. Hold one of these down while clicking makes a context menu popup, a different menu for each key. Or in the case of Firefox, if I [Apple] click on a link it opens up the link in a new tab.
Old Mac mice only had one button but the Mighty Mouse has 2. Or you can use the easier way, use a two or three button mouse. I have a Logitech 2 button scrolling trackball for my Mac.
In 2008 Mac prices are comparable to Windows PC prices, and have been for a few years now. Unfortunately what you will not find in Apple's lineup is an inexpensive expandable and upgradeable model.
Simplicity and elegance means my Macbook Pro has one of the worst keyboards on a laptop, ever
The only problem I have with the keyboard on my MBP is that it's further back, er forward, than I'd like, however with an external keyboard that problem goes away.
I would jsut like a single connector on the bottom of the Mac that connects to a dock that has all my shit permantly plugged in to it...is that so hard?
Same here, I'd like to have just one thing to disconnect and reconnect for my MBP.
Yea, I've recently switched from Windows to OS X and I've spent several hours, without success, searching Apple's developer connection on how to start programming on it. I picked up a book on XCode however I don't see anything about how to use it for Java. I think I'll try JBuilder as I've used it on Windows. However I also want to program in C/C++ as well as Perl, Ruby on Rails, and or other languages for the web.
Like many others, I didn't like where it seemed Microsoft was headed with Product Activation and DRM and decided that long-term, I would attempt to migrate away from Windows.
They were far from the only reason I switched from Windows but two big reasons I did switch, both to Linux and Macs, was because of Activation and all the spyware, WGA/WPA. I got a tower PC with Linux preinstalled, I'd like to set it up as a server, and I'm typing this on my MacBook Pro.
Even if Vista (like XP) isn't a terrible thing in itself
The very first tyme I booted up a PC with XP it froze while booting. The PC was a brand new Dell the college I went to got, they had just replaced a bunch of older PCs.
I unscrewed one fat screw, pulled out the hard drive sled, slotted a new drive in, and restored everything from backup.
Did you pay for the new HDD?
And that was AFTER the phone call to Applecare and waiting for the Apple Store to call me to say they had the right part in. Had to run my Macbook from an external drive for a week while I was waiting.
When I ordered my MacBook Pro I ordered some software with it including TechTools Pro. Then when I got it I tried to use the diagnostics by booting up with the disk in the drive, b ut it wouldn't work. So the following day, not knowing I was supposed to make an appointment I went down to an Apple Store. Someone there said they were all booked up for the day but he went online to check for an available slot at another store, there's 4 stores in my area, and found one. He signed me up for it. The genius there took all of 5 minutes to find out the version of TechTools I got wasn't compatible with the new CPU, Apple had updated the CPU a couple of days before I placed my order. While I think Apple should have replaced the old one with a new one at the store, she suggested I call the company and request a new disk, I didn't have a problem with their tech support.
There that sorts it out, 2500 is no where near 1/4 of all US pc's
So, you know how many PCs Publicis Groupe uses?
I'm not going to bash it (other than being proprietary and expensive)
I'll grant you proprietary, so is Windows, however Macs are not expensive. At least not anymore expensive than Windows PCs.
With the looming recession I don't think there will end up being all that many of those votes, especially when GNU/Linux is making so much headway.
Looming? As if there isn't already a recession? And what headway is GNU?Linux making? Is it against Macs? Both Linux and Macs are making gains against Windows: Windows is caught between Mac and Linux". And that's a Linux website not a Mac site.
If you compare Mac and non-Mac hardware solutions to almost any realistic set of requirements, the Mac solution is at least 40% more than the comparable Windows solution.
I did compare cost before switching from Windows. A Dell with similar specs to my MacBook Pro cost $200 more while an HP cost about the same.
What makes Macs competitive is the software. The hardware is still super-expensive.
No it isn't, however like you said before, when you compare prices you have to start with the Mac.
I'm still waiting for Apple to fix some bugs from 2004.
I've only had my MBP 8 months but it that tyme I've only had 3 problems with it. The first, and only Mac specific, is it doesn't always wakeup after I've closed the lip. The second is that I wasn't about the get Fink Commander to work properly, however I'm not a Linux guru. The third was that Firefox used to occasionally crash though it hasn't happened in a few months.
But for the cost of a mac, you could get a higher spec Dell
Before I got my MacBook Pro I compared it's price to that of some Windows OEMs. A Dell having a similar configuration was $200 more while an HP was the same price.
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (15") 1.999 mac book pro
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (14.1) 1.024 insprion 1420
This comparsion isnt as fair as ive got a worse PC, because i was only looking at the dell-linux site, but is the.2ghz and extra inch of screen, worth $970.
Before buying my MacBook Pro I compared it's price to the prices of laptops from a number of Windows OEMs. Of those that I can recall a similarly configured Dell was $200 more and an HP was about the same price as the MBP.
I doubt that even apples are given straight to users, they have to be configured to work in your set-up 1st, which may be faster under linux, as you can burn your setup to an install disk, then install the systems preconfigured.
Having switched from Windows, when I got my MacBook Pro I unpacked it, plugged it in, and booted up. It asked me to setup an account then without any setup involved I connected to the internet over my WiFi router. Having said that, it was just as easy to connect to the net when I booted my Linux PC the first tyme, it automatically detected and configured for my router.
losing out on the advantages of linux? by using OSX you lose out on the most important advantage of gnu/linux and free software: you actually own the software, you don't just license it.
Excuse me but I'm typing this in a Firefox tab on my MacBook Pro. As an office suite I use NeoOffice, the native Mac port of Open Office. I can install RPM packages with MacPorts and for Debian's dpkg and apt-get I can use Fink. Anything, well most maybe as I don't know for sure everything will, that runs in X on Linux I can install on my Mac.
Except, as TFA is all about, Macs are gaining in enterprises.
Mobile users will still have Mac Book Pros, artiste-types will have their cheese graters, but the cubicle critters aren't going to get anything that fancy.
Many of the "cubicle critters" don't really need much more than the set top like Mac Mini. My problem with the Mini is that it's very much planned obsolescence made with a lot of precious and toxic stuff.
Because, With open-source software, all you need to do to write an exploit is to take a look at the source code.
And thousands if not millions of people have the same access to the code and are able to submit fixes.
Thinking you're safe because you're using OS XYZ is like leaving the barn door wide open.
True, I got in a discussion with someone at a store that sells Apple stuff. He kept saying a Mac will never be infected with a virus or other malware. I said that while OS X , and Linux, is more secure as human endeavors they are not totally secure. And never will be.
The fact that hijacked linux systems are serving up malware and controlling botnets is proof that the probability of infection is unacceptably high for linux.
Do you have any statistics showing how many botnets control Linux PCs? Or is this just a guess that's there's a bunch? While I don't have statistics, like I asked you for, Tech Republic has an interesting article on how "Linux phishing botnet statistics can be deceptive".
Slashdot Mirror
Is making a complete career change at this point a bad idea?"
In the US, I'm not sure about other countries, the average person changes their career a few tymes. About.com has a page on "Ten Myths About Choosing a Career". More about changing careers from About.com can be found at Career Choice or Change.
FalconAm I the only one wondering why the lawyers need to 'hide' their conversations from the NSA? I mean, what do they have to hide?
Ever hear of Duty of confidentiality? Lawyers have the same duty as doctors and priests. Now let's turn that on it's head, "what does the FBI, NSA, and government in general have to hide? Other than how they misusing their power?"
FalconThat's how the FBI got crucial evidence against Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr., son of former mob boss Little Nicky Scarfo, adding a hardware keylogger to grab his PGP password to allow them to decrypt his messages in concert with his private key, also copied at the time.
Though I'm not sure it's this case, I think the FBI had to let him go because they didn't have a warrant or some such thing.
FalconThe keys are flat, not bevelled. The keys are not solidly seated... they float, making it feel imprecise. The action is both too soft and too hard, with very little "padding" effect.
The only problem I have with the keyboard is that I wish it were closer to me. I'd switch the track pad and keyword if I could.
FalconIt's only mandatory as long as you're employed and make less than a certain amount
See, that right there is a problem for me, it being mandatory. Hillary's health insurance plan is also mandatory, for everyone, whereas Obama's plan is only mandatory for children. As far as I'm concerned anything like this that mandates something from people is a violation of liberty. So long as you are not harming anyone else the government should not be telling you what you can and can not do, or make anything mandatory for anyone.
I don't really consider that taxpayer-funded
Anytime a deduction is mandated for something the government mandates I consider a tax, in this case it's health insurance providers who get the money.
My problem isn't that I couldn't afford private health insurance, it's that no private carrier will take me due to being an incalculable risk .
I didn't say this before so I will now. The state I live in has an insurance pool everybody who offers, sells, health insurance in the state have to contribute to. People who are denied health insurance can apply and get medical coverage from this pool. Now that I support. Actually the last tyme I had coverage that's how I got it, recall I said I was denied health insurance? Because I was denied coverage I was able to get it through this pool. In this case, mandating insurers pay into the pool, isn't forcing people to pay into it instead it's forcing insurers to pay. If the insurer raises premiums because of it then that's their problem.
FalconWell, sorry, that's just guessed wrong. We do have public health insurance around here, but it's not paid for by taxes.
How is it paid for then?
as you make enough money (~50k Euros per year) _or_ are self-employed, you can opt out of the public health insurance system completely. Doctors aren't government employees, they get paid by the patients or their insurance (public or private).
I didn't say doctors were government employees, I said taxpayers pay. That "public health insurance system" is taxpayer funded isn't it? ie if you don't make 50k Euros your employer deducts the money to pay for "public health insurance" whether you want it or not? And that 50k Euros is more than $75,000, anyone in the US making that should be able to afford health insurance.
Even though we're in a heated discussion here, thank you for sharing your story. It makes a lot of things clearer. I agree with the latter - in case of someone causing pretty much permanent disability, they (or their insurance) should have to pay really big time (that's one of the cases when I'm all for big payouts).
Thanks. That's something that I really hate, taxpayers being on the hook for what little income I have. I also hate, if not taking college classes and working on degree, not working. At the tyme of the accident I was majoring in Computer Engineering, CE, and I had already taken the core classes like physics and calculus. But while I was in rehab I realized I could not do simple problems calc and physics students could do after the first few weeks of the first class in either subject. I had to start over and repeat a bunch of classes, if I wanted to continue in CE. But I didn't. If I knew what I wanted to do, I have no idea if I'd be able to do it. My memory is bad now, I have trouble retaining long term memory for one thing.
FalconPlease do not mention the Gimp. I need CMKY for one thing.
I think both CinePaint aka Film GIMP, and Krita support CMYK. CinePaint is available for Linux, Macs, and Windows whereas Krita is for Linux. I don't know about Krita but CinePaint also does 32 bits per colour channel.
FalconOr, hold down the ctrl button while clicking with that one, lonely button.
You can also hold the [Apple] key while clicking. It will give you a different context menu than [ctrl] clicking does. For my reply to you I did that when clicking on the reply button, the reply window opened in a new tab in Firefox.
FalconLOL! How do you do that with only one button?
Actually Macs have 3 buttons. The "left" click is the normal one. Another one is when you hold the [Apple] key down while clicking, and the third is when you hold the [ctrl] key while clicking. Hold one of these down while clicking makes a context menu popup, a different menu for each key. Or in the case of Firefox, if I [Apple] click on a link it opens up the link in a new tab.
Old Mac mice only had one button but the Mighty Mouse has 2. Or you can use the easier way, use a two or three button mouse. I have a Logitech 2 button scrolling trackball for my Mac.
FalconIn 2008 Mac prices are comparable to Windows PC prices, and have been for a few years now. Unfortunately what you will not find in Apple's lineup is an inexpensive expandable and upgradeable model.
FalconSimplicity and elegance means my Macbook Pro has one of the worst keyboards on a laptop, ever
The only problem I have with the keyboard on my MBP is that it's further back, er forward, than I'd like, however with an external keyboard that problem goes away.
FalconI would jsut like a single connector on the bottom of the Mac that connects to a dock that has all my shit permantly plugged in to it...is that so hard?
Same here, I'd like to have just one thing to disconnect and reconnect for my MBP.
Falconyour solution get a mac $$$
GP said they already have Macs, "EVERY employee uses a mac."
Falconbut for developers, it's not.
Yea, I've recently switched from Windows to OS X and I've spent several hours, without success, searching Apple's developer connection on how to start programming on it. I picked up a book on XCode however I don't see anything about how to use it for Java. I think I'll try JBuilder as I've used it on Windows. However I also want to program in C/C++ as well as Perl, Ruby on Rails, and or other languages for the web.
FalconLike many others, I didn't like where it seemed Microsoft was headed with Product Activation and DRM and decided that long-term, I would attempt to migrate away from Windows.
They were far from the only reason I switched from Windows but two big reasons I did switch, both to Linux and Macs, was because of Activation and all the spyware, WGA/WPA. I got a tower PC with Linux preinstalled, I'd like to set it up as a server, and I'm typing this on my MacBook Pro.
Even if Vista (like XP) isn't a terrible thing in itself
The very first tyme I booted up a PC with XP it froze while booting. The PC was a brand new Dell the college I went to got, they had just replaced a bunch of older PCs.
FalconI unscrewed one fat screw, pulled out the hard drive sled, slotted a new drive in, and restored everything from backup.
Did you pay for the new HDD?
And that was AFTER the phone call to Applecare and waiting for the Apple Store to call me to say they had the right part in. Had to run my Macbook from an external drive for a week while I was waiting.
When I ordered my MacBook Pro I ordered some software with it including TechTools Pro. Then when I got it I tried to use the diagnostics by booting up with the disk in the drive, b ut it wouldn't work. So the following day, not knowing I was supposed to make an appointment I went down to an Apple Store. Someone there said they were all booked up for the day but he went online to check for an available slot at another store, there's 4 stores in my area, and found one. He signed me up for it. The genius there took all of 5 minutes to find out the version of TechTools I got wasn't compatible with the new CPU, Apple had updated the CPU a couple of days before I placed my order. While I think Apple should have replaced the old one with a new one at the store, she suggested I call the company and request a new disk, I didn't have a problem with their tech support.
FalconThere that sorts it out, 2500 is no where near 1/4 of all US pc's
So, you know how many PCs Publicis Groupe uses?
I'm not going to bash it (other than being proprietary and expensive)
I'll grant you proprietary, so is Windows, however Macs are not expensive. At least not anymore expensive than Windows PCs.
With the looming recession I don't think there will end up being all that many of those votes, especially when GNU/Linux is making so much headway.
Looming? As if there isn't already a recession? And what headway is GNU?Linux making? Is it against Macs? Both Linux and Macs are making gains against Windows: Windows is caught between Mac and Linux". And that's a Linux website not a Mac site.
FalconIf you compare Mac and non-Mac hardware solutions to almost any realistic set of requirements, the Mac solution is at least 40% more than the comparable Windows solution.
I did compare cost before switching from Windows. A Dell with similar specs to my MacBook Pro cost $200 more while an HP cost about the same.
What makes Macs competitive is the software. The hardware is still super-expensive.
No it isn't, however like you said before, when you compare prices you have to start with the Mac.
I'm still waiting for Apple to fix some bugs from 2004.
I've only had my MBP 8 months but it that tyme I've only had 3 problems with it. The first, and only Mac specific, is it doesn't always wakeup after I've closed the lip. The second is that I wasn't about the get Fink Commander to work properly, however I'm not a Linux guru. The third was that Firefox used to occasionally crash though it hasn't happened in a few months.
FalconBut for the cost of a mac, you could get a higher spec Dell
Before I got my MacBook Pro I compared it's price to that of some Windows OEMs. A Dell having a similar configuration was $200 more while an HP was the same price.
Falcon2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (15") 1.999 mac book pro .2ghz and extra inch of screen, worth $970.
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (14.1) 1.024 insprion 1420
This comparsion isnt as fair as ive got a worse PC, because i was only looking at the dell-linux site, but is the
Before buying my MacBook Pro I compared it's price to the prices of laptops from a number of Windows OEMs. Of those that I can recall a similarly configured Dell was $200 more and an HP was about the same price as the MBP.
FalconI doubt that even apples are given straight to users, they have to be configured to work in your set-up 1st, which may be faster under linux, as you can burn your setup to an install disk, then install the systems preconfigured.
Having switched from Windows, when I got my MacBook Pro I unpacked it, plugged it in, and booted up. It asked me to setup an account then without any setup involved I connected to the internet over my WiFi router. Having said that, it was just as easy to connect to the net when I booted my Linux PC the first tyme, it automatically detected and configured for my router.
Falconlosing out on the advantages of linux? by using OSX you lose out on the most important advantage of gnu/linux and free software: you actually own the software, you don't just license it.
Excuse me but I'm typing this in a Firefox tab on my MacBook Pro. As an office suite I use NeoOffice, the native Mac port of Open Office. I can install RPM packages with MacPorts and for Debian's dpkg and apt-get I can use Fink. Anything, well most maybe as I don't know for sure everything will, that runs in X on Linux I can install on my Mac.
FalconOS X will be marginalized in the enterprise
Except, as TFA is all about, Macs are gaining in enterprises.
Mobile users will still have Mac Book Pros, artiste-types will have their cheese graters, but the cubicle critters aren't going to get anything that fancy.
Many of the "cubicle critters" don't really need much more than the set top like Mac Mini. My problem with the Mini is that it's very much planned obsolescence made with a lot of precious and toxic stuff.
FalconBecause, With open-source software, all you need to do to write an exploit is to take a look at the source code.
And thousands if not millions of people have the same access to the code and are able to submit fixes.
Thinking you're safe because you're using OS XYZ is like leaving the barn door wide open.
True, I got in a discussion with someone at a store that sells Apple stuff. He kept saying a Mac will never be infected with a virus or other malware. I said that while OS X , and Linux, is more secure as human endeavors they are not totally secure. And never will be.
The fact that hijacked linux systems are serving up malware and controlling botnets is proof that the probability of infection is unacceptably high for linux.
Do you have any statistics showing how many botnets control Linux PCs? Or is this just a guess that's there's a bunch? While I don't have statistics, like I asked you for, Tech Republic has an interesting article on how "Linux phishing botnet statistics can be deceptive".
Falcon