Go to URL of school's Fronter install... Parent already has this for a variety of other things. Log in to parent account. Click the school trip message. click 'accept' or 'reject'.
My father works in a middle school here in Norway and getting a digital 'ok' on something is fine if the parent can log onto their Fronter account and sign it with their user. This works fine, and if the parent gives the kid the password or otherwise allows access that is not strictly a matter for the school.
Is the bank liable if you give your kid the pin to your debit card and they blow the money on smurf-berries?:p
My mother works in a kindergarten and my father works in a middle school in Norway.
Both use computers heavily in their work.
All reports are digital. ALL grades are stored in a national grade database. They're input by the teacher digitally. They use a system called Fronter (http://com.fronter.info/) for paper turn-ins and even tests done in the computer lab. Communication with parents is handled either by email, fronter messages or sometimes phone. It works great.
They have 'smart boards' in every classroom (a new addition installed in the past year) which every teacher uses. They removed the classic 'blackboards' as they served no use with all the features of the new digital replacement.
My father happens to be the responsible for the tech at the school and he is quite happy with the way it works now.
They have some local use but most of the computing is done "On the farm" as they say. They have a server-farm and terminal clients for word/excel/etc and local winxp or win7 installations for audio/video work.
While I agree it can be a pain to keep windows running in such an environment it is the best option. There is virtually nobody available who has touched Linux if that is the other option... There are plenty of ways to harden the systems too. Mirrored partitions that get restored on reboots work great for keeping it stable.
Parents HAVE the option of getting material sent home in paper form, but the default is electronic. It just works here.
A local store recently dropped their whole computer-game area and replaced it with more books and board games as well as expanding their 'props' space.
With the way games in general are shifting to online systems it was a better way to go about it for them. That was the gist of things when I spoke to the owner a while back. There was little profit in it, but it took a significant amount of space. They had not lost any sales by removing the merchandise at all.. Hell, they improved their sales of books as they could keep more in stock.
Of course, Games Workshop goods are still a big part of their store. It is -the- place to go for that.
The only thing most if not all my friends used the local GAME store for was midnight releases... and hell even Elkjøp (think 'best buy' type store) has had midnight releases so they even lost that:p
It is a.com so it is still under american law regardless of where it is hosted.
As seen by recent domain grabs by the american government.
Hell, a brit is is being put on a fucking plane to the US to stand trial even though his only connection to the case in the US seems to be that the domain he used was a.com... sigh.
It has very little to do with logic. If they were logical you could argue with them after all.
There are quite a few things I could use in my daily work that I cannot.
* Paint.net, I have to use Photoshop which is quite pricy for the simplistic stuff I do. * SVN, To actually keep track of what I code and change. I make small apps for coworkers to ease repetitive tasks a bit. Instead I get to zip down the code with a Scheduled Task every 8 hours and dump it onto a usb-drive... sigh * A myriad of command line tools that make handling data easier. Hell GREP would be awesome to have... but no.
Their most amusing argument against Paint.net is amusing however...
"If we have everyone using photoshop we get much better prices and agreements"
Getting any OSS software certified for use in the corporate environment is a mostly pointless activity where I work.
Corporate IT has in talks with the legal department banned ALL open source software from the network due to "unclear legality of corporate use of software". Since there is no vendor to guarantee that the software is legal and take the hit if it turns out to NOT be legal, they wont go for it.
No amount of lobbying will help us get access to what we want to use. There is almost -always- a commercial vendor which will sell a similar product and the people who make the decisions are so far away from the people using the software that they'll go with the vendor options.
Hell... The head of IT has actually come out and plainly said that usage of firefox on the corporate network was a huge breach of security and could 'endanger the entire company infrastructure'... This was a time when we were still using IE6 while the rest of the world was up at 8 and moving to 9...
If only it was possible to get some of the free options adopted more widely... and if only the corporate lawyer asshats would get educated on the legality.....
I took me several weeks on and off to figure out what was causing a similar sound issue. After murdering pulseaudio the sound issues went away.
After messing around with drivers for the nvidia card and forcing the use of a certain playback device in mplayer the machine could mostly play 1080p. Not the highest quality stuff though, I'd have to enable framedropping there:(
People are lazy. If it is too much of a hassle to learn they'll move back to what is familiar.
I've used a linux desktop for a while but I can honestly say I prefer my win7 machine. It just feels more polished and has less quirks that I have to 'live with'.
I use an ubuntu install for my file/media server however. For that it works like a charm. Pain in the ass to set up, but once set up it is excellent.
Either HP or Dell did sell machines with linux installed for a while. I know.. because a friend of mine bought one..
It took less than a week for her to return it for a windows machine...
* No fullscreen flash video playback * Every time she opened a video in the default video player she would get a font error message. * Several websites she used would not work properly due to a java issue.. Following the usual directions to get it fixed did not work.
The list goes on. While most 'geeks' can figure this all out, to someone who does not know the command line it can be quite challenging.. For 'security' they also disabled sshd on the machine so it was annoying as hell to go through the procedure to configure and get that running to even be able to remotely help.
It takes just one such meet with Linux to forever label it "shit" in someone's mind.
While a great idea, the execution is severely lacking in the attempts that have been made:(
I am not allowed to use the "scan to pdf and email" function to send signed paperwork to the central office.
I have to FAX the signed papers.... FAX.....
The FAX uses the same multi-function office beast... but due to constraints of faxes it gets scaled down to a smudge, then sent to the central office... where it is delivered as a PDF file... (in arse quality) to the intended recipient...
The app 'feels' the actual 'bump'... which means you have to expose your phone to knocking it against someone's phone.... Or should I say... you have to expose your phone to being knocked on by some bozo you dont know:p
One of the team-members made a comment today that falling behind on ANY piece of work was a huge issue not because of the delay, but because it would cost us at least a day or more likely two days of work in meetings discussing the delay, how to 'get on schedule' and so forth...
Overhead is a huge issue when project management goes anal:p
I live in Norway and I have not felt that kind of thing from the people around me at all. There are parts of the population who think that way, but what country doesnt have that?..
There is a whole hell of a lot more people who are supportive and give credit where credit is due than those constantly bothered by other achieving something.
Anyway, figured it was worth a post to give the actual source of the comment you received from the Danish man.
I'm a 'project engineer' in a company which produce control systems for oil/gas rigs and plants.
Overtime has a legal maximum which is quite strict here in Norway:
Translation of the legalese: ----- 10 hours in a span of 7 days. 25 hours in a span of 4 consecutive weeks. 200 hours in a span of 52 weeks.
Total work time must not exceed 13 hours in a span of 24 hours. Total work time must also not exceed 48 hours in a span of 7 days.
The limit of 48 hours can be averaged over a period of 8 weeks. This means that during some weeks more hours can occur but this must be offset by fewer hours in another week. -----
Very few workers are exempt from these rules. A programmer or IT person is most certainly not exempt!
Slashdot Mirror
Go to URL of school's Fronter install... Parent already has this for a variety of other things.
Log in to parent account.
Click the school trip message.
click 'accept' or 'reject'.
Done.
It is done here, and it works. (Norway)
My father works in a middle school here in Norway and getting a digital 'ok' on something is fine if the parent can log onto their Fronter account and sign it with their user.
This works fine, and if the parent gives the kid the password or otherwise allows access that is not strictly a matter for the school.
Is the bank liable if you give your kid the pin to your debit card and they blow the money on smurf-berries? :p
My mother works in a kindergarten and my father works in a middle school in Norway.
Both use computers heavily in their work.
All reports are digital.
ALL grades are stored in a national grade database. They're input by the teacher digitally.
They use a system called Fronter (http://com.fronter.info/) for paper turn-ins and even tests done in the computer lab.
Communication with parents is handled either by email, fronter messages or sometimes phone. It works great.
They have 'smart boards' in every classroom (a new addition installed in the past year) which every teacher uses. They removed the classic 'blackboards' as they served no use with all the features of the new digital replacement.
My father happens to be the responsible for the tech at the school and he is quite happy with the way it works now.
They have some local use but most of the computing is done "On the farm" as they say. They have a server-farm and terminal clients for word/excel/etc and local winxp or win7 installations for audio/video work.
While I agree it can be a pain to keep windows running in such an environment it is the best option. There is virtually nobody available who has touched Linux if that is the other option...
There are plenty of ways to harden the systems too. Mirrored partitions that get restored on reboots work great for keeping it stable.
Parents HAVE the option of getting material sent home in paper form, but the default is electronic. It just works here.
A local store recently dropped their whole computer-game area and replaced it with more books and board games as well as expanding their 'props' space.
With the way games in general are shifting to online systems it was a better way to go about it for them. That was the gist of things when I spoke to the owner a while back. There was little profit in it, but it took a significant amount of space. They had not lost any sales by removing the merchandise at all.. Hell, they improved their sales of books as they could keep more in stock.
Of course, Games Workshop goods are still a big part of their store. It is -the- place to go for that.
The only thing most if not all my friends used the local GAME store for was midnight releases... and hell even Elkjøp (think 'best buy' type store) has had midnight releases so they even lost that :p
Translates roughly into 'chapter 11' for the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapter_11,_Title_11,_United_States_Code
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administration_(law)#United_Kingdom
A common tool is to use WorldEdit while in-game.
It allows loading 'schematic' files into game directly, copy-pasting and all sorts of things for building complex stuff.
It is a .com so it is still under american law regardless of where it is hosted.
As seen by recent domain grabs by the american government.
Hell, a brit is is being put on a fucking plane to the US to stand trial even though his only connection to the case in the US seems to be that the domain he used was a .com... sigh.
Corporate IT for a company with 120000 or so people. Cannot name names due to a 'code of conduct' agreement :p
We build control systems for oil rigs at my location and we get no access to open source tools... It hurts.
It has very little to do with logic. If they were logical you could argue with them after all.
There are quite a few things I could use in my daily work that I cannot.
* Paint.net, I have to use Photoshop which is quite pricy for the simplistic stuff I do.
* SVN, To actually keep track of what I code and change. I make small apps for coworkers to ease repetitive tasks a bit. Instead I get to zip down the code with a Scheduled Task every 8 hours and dump it onto a usb-drive... sigh
* A myriad of command line tools that make handling data easier. Hell GREP would be awesome to have... but no.
Their most amusing argument against Paint.net is amusing however...
"If we have everyone using photoshop we get much better prices and agreements"
Not better than free damnit *sigh*
Getting any OSS software certified for use in the corporate environment is a mostly pointless activity where I work.
Corporate IT has in talks with the legal department banned ALL open source software from the network due to "unclear legality of corporate use of software". Since there is no vendor to guarantee that the software is legal and take the hit if it turns out to NOT be legal, they wont go for it.
No amount of lobbying will help us get access to what we want to use. There is almost -always- a commercial vendor which will sell a similar product and the people who make the decisions are so far away from the people using the software that they'll go with the vendor options.
Hell... The head of IT has actually come out and plainly said that usage of firefox on the corporate network was a huge breach of security and could 'endanger the entire company infrastructure'... This was a time when we were still using IE6 while the rest of the world was up at 8 and moving to 9...
If only it was possible to get some of the free options adopted more widely... and if only the corporate lawyer asshats would get educated on the legality.....
I took me several weeks on and off to figure out what was causing a similar sound issue.
After murdering pulseaudio the sound issues went away.
After messing around with drivers for the nvidia card and forcing the use of a certain playback device in mplayer the machine :(
could mostly play 1080p. Not the highest quality stuff though, I'd have to enable framedropping there
I suspect he burned the disc ON the mac :p
People are lazy. If it is too much of a hassle to learn they'll move back to what is familiar.
I've used a linux desktop for a while but I can honestly say I prefer my win7 machine.
It just feels more polished and has less quirks that I have to 'live with'.
I use an ubuntu install for my file/media server however. For that it works like a charm.
Pain in the ass to set up, but once set up it is excellent.
Either HP or Dell did sell machines with linux installed for a while. I know.. because a friend of mine bought one..
It took less than a week for her to return it for a windows machine...
* No fullscreen flash video playback
* Every time she opened a video in the default video player she would get a font error message.
* Several websites she used would not work properly due to a java issue.. Following the usual directions to get it fixed did not work.
The list goes on. While most 'geeks' can figure this all out, to someone who does not know the command line it can be quite challenging..
For 'security' they also disabled sshd on the machine so it was annoying as hell to go through the procedure to configure and get that running to even be able to remotely help.
It takes just one such meet with Linux to forever label it "shit" in someone's mind.
While a great idea, the execution is severely lacking in the attempts that have been made :(
Not many people with a clue would use Windows for anything serious anyway.
Well.....
At -least- 5 different oil rigs in the North Sea run their HMI for operating the process control systems on win2003 server.
I'm not sure how the people who design this would be considered 'clueless' when it comes to design.
The usual MS bashing gets old.. but this -is- slashdot after all :p
The idea is a novel one, but that doesnt remove the downside :p
They still are...
I am not allowed to use the "scan to pdf and email" function to send signed paperwork to the central office.
I have to FAX the signed papers.... FAX.....
The FAX uses the same multi-function office beast... but due to constraints of faxes it gets scaled down to a smudge, then sent to the central office... where it is delivered as a PDF file... (in arse quality) to the intended recipient...
Meh..
http://xkcd.com/927/
This :(
Gets better...
They match it by accelerometer data too :p
The app 'feels' the actual 'bump'... which means you have to expose your phone to knocking it against someone's phone.... :p
Or should I say... you have to expose your phone to being knocked on by some bozo you dont know
I have worked for several years in a fairly small business. I was the only person with technical knowledge and had to support a myriad of odd setups.
If a business cannot afford the tech, then they'll have to live with the downside.. as we did.
Mmmmmm, virtualization
One of the team-members made a comment today that falling behind on ANY piece of work was a huge issue not because of the delay, but because it would cost us at least a day or more likely two days of work in meetings discussing the delay, how to 'get on schedule' and so forth...
Overhead is a huge issue when project management goes anal :p
The concept you are referring to is the "Law of Jante":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante
I doubt this is a unique Scandinavian trait ;)
I live in Norway and I have not felt that kind of thing from the people around me at all. There are parts of the population who think that way, but what country doesnt have that?..
There is a whole hell of a lot more people who are supportive and give credit where credit is due than those constantly bothered by other achieving something.
Anyway, figured it was worth a post to give the actual source of the comment you received from the Danish man.
Luckily this is illegal here in Norway.
I'm a 'project engineer' in a company which produce control systems for oil/gas rigs and plants.
Overtime has a legal maximum which is quite strict here in Norway:
Translation of the legalese:
-----
10 hours in a span of 7 days.
25 hours in a span of 4 consecutive weeks.
200 hours in a span of 52 weeks.
Total work time must not exceed 13 hours in a span of 24 hours. Total work time must also not exceed 48 hours in a span of 7 days.
The limit of 48 hours can be averaged over a period of 8 weeks. This means that during some weeks more hours can occur but this must be offset by fewer hours in another week.
-----
Very few workers are exempt from these rules. A programmer or IT person is most certainly not exempt!