I am acquainted with a large number of tech recruiters, and they are always yelling about how they can't find anyone who's versed in.NET. Disclaimer: I'm from the US, but I imagine the IT job market isn't drastically different on your side of the pond. Like it or lump it, Java coders are a dime a dozen, but you can find a niche doing.NET development (ASP, C#, &c.). Silverlight wouldn't be a bad thing to pick up. I'll probably get lots of flames from the anti-MS coterie, but that's the way things are.
As far as C and C++, plenty of FOSS projects use them, but most new business app dev is done in Java and.NET.
Take a look at Squeak -- it's targeted at younger children (elementary and junior-high) but versatile enough that high schoolers can probably get something out of it as well.
Douglas Crockford postulates that companies using IE6 are probably among the less efficient and competent ones, and therefore among the more likely to be weeded out by the invisible hand as times get tough.
I can confirm this. I was at Qimonda, who were still on Win2000/IE6 not for any good business reason, but because they couldn't afford to upgrade to anything newer. Look at what happened to them.
Either sell them, or donate them for a helluva tax deduction. In this economic climate, I doubt you'd be able to cobble together an effective business that would use the hardware (no offence), and having them sit in storage is an utter waste.
Do what Google does: give employees 20% of their paid time to work on whatever they want, no strings attached. That way you're putting your money where your mouth is and not just paying lip-service to suggestions like most companies do. I don't know how many times I've made good suggestions to a given boss (often backing it up with a white paper citing cost/benefit analysis) only to be told that my suggestion would eliminate someone's job security, or lead to internecine warfare, or piss on someone's shoes, or any other politically-influenced horseshit.
In order to make up for revenue shortfalls, localities are having their traffic engineers shorten the cycle times of their lights by a couple of seconds in the hopes of catching more light runners. Also, where a year ago cops would disregard someone doing 'only' 5 or so miles over the speed limit, now they are zealously pulling those people over because they need that ticket revenue.
Don't the inventors realise that most CAPTCHA's are solved by employing sweat-shop labour in developing countries? Using things like CAPTCHA not only don't help solve the problem of spam, but rather annoy legitimate users.
Complete wankery. Look at per capita (i.e., average), not total, GDP. At PPP as of 2007, those figures are $36,570 (UK) versus $47,025 (US) -- in other words, not the huge gap you disingenuously indicate. Also notice the population disparity of 60M (UK) versus 300M (US). Other things equal, more people means more production and consumption. Duh!
Yep. The problem is that any sufficiently large and powerful organisation is (with a few exceptions) extremely bad at producing anything other than paperwork and hindrances.
2. Microsoft doesn't ignore the customer. They just have a lot of customers that don't care about security. Look at how many people complained about Vista's UAC dialogs, when, my Linux box has had the same thing for quite some time.
That's because sudo is a much more elegant (and less obtrusive) method of privilege escalation than UAC is. Happily, MS is remedying this somewhat with 7, although I would much rather that they just bought suDown and ditched UAC.
If you're applying to a large corporation, you can pretty much forget even a help-desk job without an associate's or greater. But if you're willing to work your way up at a small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) -- broadly defined as having 500 or fewer employees -- then you should be OK. Plus, working at a smaller firm will give you the opportunity to wear several hats and get a broader base of experience, where you'd probably be typecast at a larger place.:)
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The United Arab Emirates have a 0% tax rate; perhaps you should consider immigrating there.
I was going to suggest he move to Somalia.
... in an ideal free market, profits will approach zero anyway. TWCs [sic] profit is a sign of market inefficiency.
Precisely. And there's a name for TWC's behaviour: rent seeking.
...he wants his handle back.
I guess my age is showing. I prefer to get my degrees through the more traditional approach: mail order.
Old coot! I've gotten all mine from the bottom of Lucky Charms boxes.
I am acquainted with a large number of tech recruiters, and they are always yelling about how they can't find anyone who's versed in .NET. Disclaimer: I'm from the US, but I imagine the IT job market isn't drastically different on your side of the pond. Like it or lump it, Java coders are a dime a dozen, but you can find a niche doing .NET development (ASP, C#, &c.). Silverlight wouldn't be a bad thing to pick up. I'll probably get lots of flames from the anti-MS coterie, but that's the way things are.
As far as C and C++, plenty of FOSS projects use them, but most new business app dev is done in Java and .NET.
Take a look at Squeak -- it's targeted at younger children (elementary and junior-high) but versatile enough that high schoolers can probably get something out of it as well.
'Nuff said.
Where, in either Crockford's postulate or my corroboration, does causation come up? You're making unwarranted assumptions.
Douglas Crockford postulates that companies using IE6 are probably among the less efficient and competent ones, and therefore among the more likely to be weeded out by the invisible hand as times get tough.
I can confirm this. I was at Qimonda, who were still on Win2000/IE6 not for any good business reason, but because they couldn't afford to upgrade to anything newer. Look at what happened to them.
Either sell them, or donate them for a helluva tax deduction. In this economic climate, I doubt you'd be able to cobble together an effective business that would use the hardware (no offence), and having them sit in storage is an utter waste.
Do what Google does: give employees 20% of their paid time to work on whatever they want, no strings attached. That way you're putting your money where your mouth is and not just paying lip-service to suggestions like most companies do. I don't know how many times I've made good suggestions to a given boss (often backing it up with a white paper citing cost/benefit analysis) only to be told that my suggestion would eliminate someone's job security, or lead to internecine warfare, or piss on someone's shoes, or any other politically-influenced horseshit.
In order to make up for revenue shortfalls, localities are having their traffic engineers shorten the cycle times of their lights by a couple of seconds in the hopes of catching more light runners. Also, where a year ago cops would disregard someone doing 'only' 5 or so miles over the speed limit, now they are zealously pulling those people over because they need that ticket revenue.
Give me a freaking break. People need more than just to browse the web, send email, and run notepad.
Oh, really? If that's the case, then why are netbooks flying off the shelves in the midst of a depression?
I consider going to Windows 7 the same as upgrading Windows 98 to Windows Millennium Edition
'Windows 95 RTM to Windows 95 OSR2' or 'Windows 98 RTM to Windows 98 SE' would be more apt analogies.
Don't the inventors realise that most CAPTCHA's are solved by employing sweat-shop labour in developing countries? Using things like CAPTCHA not only don't help solve the problem of spam, but rather annoy legitimate users.
Maybe Ballmer can start the MS version of German dodge-ball -- if you get hit by a chair, you get laid off.
...damn, I crack myself up.
Complete wankery. Look at per capita (i.e., average), not total, GDP. At PPP as of 2007, those figures are $36,570 (UK) versus $47,025 (US) -- in other words, not the huge gap you disingenuously indicate. Also notice the population disparity of 60M (UK) versus 300M (US). Other things equal, more people means more production and consumption. Duh!
Yep. The problem is that any sufficiently large and powerful organisation is (with a few exceptions) extremely bad at producing anything other than paperwork and hindrances.
There, I fixed it for ya.
The only ones who made any real money were the ones who bought in early; the vast majority of Amway reps break even at best.
2. Microsoft doesn't ignore the customer. They just have a lot of customers that don't care about security. Look at how many people complained about Vista's UAC dialogs, when, my Linux box has had the same thing for quite some time.
That's because sudo is a much more elegant (and less obtrusive) method of privilege escalation than UAC is. Happily, MS is remedying this somewhat with 7, although I would much rather that they just bought suDown and ditched UAC.
So who exactly are they pleasing with this desire to copy all things Apple?
Answer: content/media companies (DRM) and hardware manufacturers (more resources).
I agree. I don't understand the fruitcake meme -- well-made fruitcake is delicious.
If you're applying to a large corporation, you can pretty much forget even a help-desk job without an associate's or greater. But if you're willing to work your way up at a small- or medium-sized enterprise (SME) -- broadly defined as having 500 or fewer employees -- then you should be OK. Plus, working at a smaller firm will give you the opportunity to wear several hats and get a broader base of experience, where you'd probably be typecast at a larger place. :)
Isn't an abortion a lot cheaper? I mean, with these genetic misfits being somehow a part of society, we could be doing some damage to our gene pool.
Erm, in case your remark isn't facetious: individuals with Down's Syndrome are typically sterile.