Putting components that snap together into a container sounds an awful lot like a box of Leggo blocks.
The concept of a "tool box" or putting related objects together in some kind of container has been around a lot longer than any kind of software.
Makes about as much sense as a company being able to trademark or patent something found in nature, like a color. (UPS Brown)
This whole incident just goes to show what the President's spreading of FUD has done to American society.
Terrorists and child pornographers behind every tree ready to spring out and attack the 'homeland'.
Maybe people should ask themselves a few simple questions?
1. What is the 'homeland' -- unless you are a Native American Indian, you and/or your familar originated elsewhere. There is a new joke going around in Russia -- "Look! The Americans have found ANOTHER country that built itself right on top of THEIR oil reserves!"
2. If terrorists were everywhere, why haven't they struck since 9/11? One would assume that if they WERE around, they would have been doing things like poisoning the water supply, sniping from buildings and thousands of other fun and interesting acts of terror by now -- so WHERE ARE THEY? THINK ABOUT IT -- If YOU wanted to create havoc and terror -- all you'd have to do is go to the local hardware store, buy a nice hunting rifle and a few thousand rounds of ammunition and park yourself on the top of some building and start shooting people. Why hasn't this happened yet??? Why hasn't anyone bombed a New York subway line? (Like they have in Russia.) It seems that NOTHING is happening. So WHERE are all these terrorists???
3. Instead of focusing on (and hassling endlessly) 'honest' travellers (like Canadians spending the weekend shopping in the USA who are subjected to fingerprints and retina scans) -- wouldn't terrorists find it much easier to enter the USA in the good old fashioned way -- like, say, the Mexicans? Instead of making life hell for honest travellers, if there WERE people entering the country illegally, why not stop them instead? Is it really so hard? And again, if it is so EASY to enter the US illegally -- go back to point 2 -- where the hell ARE all the terrorists?
Truth be known -- there ARE NO major terrorist cells in the USA -- the whole thing is bullshit that has been used as an excuse to subjugate the entire population of the USA to an ever increasing series of violations of rights, freedoms and personal privacy. Wait for it -- pretty soon there will be cameras monitoring every aspect of your life (just like in the UK, where the cameras also TALK BACK to you -- "pick up that trash!", "stop fighting or we will arrest you!"...)
And "we the people seem" to LOVE IT! We suck it right up and let the government do this and more!:)
SURE, Let's implant everyone's passport with RFID chips -- (ignore the fact that they have been hacked with $20 worth of equipment) Next, implant the people. Most Americans would have a problem accepting the requirement to carry a passport all the time (like other countries already do), but seem to have no problem with the concept of a Universal ID Card.
Link the implants to that Universal ID Card -- It will keep the terrorists off the airplanes and as an added benefit be able to track honest people from the moment they are born to the moment they die -- and don't forget to link that to the bank cards and credit cards -- need to be able to see every purchase people make. Maybe that hydrogen peroxide they use to bleach out a bit of hair could be used to make a bomb.
With the right computer system monitoring all your purchases, I'll be there are ten thousand seemingly innocent purchases that, when linked together, could show YOU as being a criminal mastermind terrorist.
Oh, and don't worry about evidence or anything like that -- by the time you have spent a few months in Cuba on the all-American permenant vacation plan -- you'll be confessing to everything you've ever done since you were born. Try standing on one leg for 24 hours or so -- or lie naked on the concrete floor of a 4x6 cell for a couple of weeks and you'll start to talk up a storm. (It is amazing how much talking someone can do when you deprive them of sleep for a couple of weeks.)
Of course, the Geneva convention doesn't protect you because you are not a 'prisoner of war' -- but instead, an "enemy comb
This has already been done. Maybe AT&T was just a trial for what is to come.
Already, there are tools to monitor all forms of traffic to look for 'keywords' and flag/capture interesting traffic for later analysis. Already, real-time analysis tools are available to do the same with VoIP conversations.
Police state is already here folks -- the screws are just starting to tighten.
If the UK is already releasing kiddie pornsters to the street instead of sending them to jail because the jails are already full -- what chance do you think any spam-facilitator is ever going to see the inside of a cell?
Actually, for the last 5% I've always had components built using MS technologies. First with C++ and now with any flavor of.NET. Getting coders is cheap and easy. Rentacoder has worked nicely most of the time.
Never a question of whether things can work together or not. Usually just a question of selecting the right Leggo blocks to plug in to each other and writing the code to solve the problem at hand.
Developer productivity is extremely high -- once you know how to open and manipulate one component -- you can virtually cut and past code to open and work with any of the components. Creating components is almost a joke. You can create a simple but useful COM component or ActiveX control in just a couple of lines of code. Nothing runs as fast or as efficiently as an in-process component.
(Of course a lot of Anti-MS people break into total panic and run away screaming when they hear the term ActiveX, but the kinds of things you can do with it are incredible -- a benefit of having almost total access to and control of the operating system and everything between.)
PKZIP -- can't remember -- I always got the company to buy it if they didn't already have it. (Been a lot of years since then.)
All the work I do these days is with 100% Microsoft shops. The US Army as a prime example of a very large-scale Microsoft-only solution. There are huge cost savings to be had by not having to train two completely separate 'streams' of staff -- one for the MS- side of the house and the other for the 'NIX side. Mixed environments can be fun -- if you can afford it and enjoy daily challenges.
Nobody can say that there are not great 'nix solutions for different problems -- but getting them to actually work together or integrate is an entirely different and very complex problem. (Usually resulting in a mountain of completely unmaintainable 'glue code' and 'shims' you have to pay for and then pay to have maintained.)
I personally enjoy being able to install a COMPLETE business solution -- from the OS all the way to the database and groupware server where product integration is never a question (or a worry), interpoperability and security is fully integrated across every single product with a single model. Gotta like that.
It gives me great joy to be able to spend all my time figuring out how to solve the real business problems at hand -- rather than worrying about how the hell I can get Product A to talk to Product B and Product C (with entirely different interfaces and data formats).
This in no way says that MS offers the "Best of Breed" in any one particular area. They dont. However, look at what happened to Corel when they tried to build an office suite out of the so-called best of breed -- Word Perfect, Quattro Pro, etc. The company tanked -- it was one of the most collossal failures in the software industry.
With the MS products, I may not get 100% of what I want, but I'll get 95% TODAY. (Rather than spending a year trying to glue together the 'best of breed' and get that last, and very expensive 5% that I can't do.)
There is a lot to be said for the simplicity and efficiency of a single vendor solution. Active directory is also LDAP and Kerberos based, so in fact a lot of integration would be possible with the 'nix side if anyone really worked on it. Just nobody seem to be trying.
I personally would embrace with open arms any REAL competition to Exchange, but for MS-based shops, right now, no real alternative exists.
As many in this discussion have noted, FOSS projects don't get done because of customer want or need -- they get done when the programmers think it would be cool or fun to do. A great way to operate a 'hobby', but a hell of a way to run a 'business'.
With 'commercial' software, it is known right at the start that the product (and company) need to make money to survive -- so they enter the project with a strong focus on customer needs. Developers are given a set of business problems to solve -- these come from the eventual customers of the product. Demand-driven PULL rather than hobbyist driven PUSH.
In the past, I have actually recommended customers to use products like HelpCore and SugarCRM when they are appropriate -- but certainly these products are far from being anywhere near what I would consider 'commercial' quality. If the customers had money to spend, I would have recommended quite different solutions.
Another problem is the support and operation of these so-called 'free' products. HelpCore, for example, wanted $100 USD per hour and a minimum of 4 hours just to INSTALL their product on a client's server. (I got some guys in India to do it for $25, but that's another story.) To KEEP the product running is another problem -- unless you have a Linux geek on-staff full-time for even the smallest and simplest server and single application, you're toast.
For sure, if there ever does become a REAL alternative to Exchange, I'd be one of the first people to recommend it -- but at the moment, it seems like any real alternatives are far away.
Lots of the Linux fanboys think Exchange is just a POP/SMTP server when in fact those two services are only a TINY part of the product functionality. If customers wanted just a POP/SMTP server, I WOULD probably recommend a FOSS solution -- but this isn't normally the case. Customers want Active Directory integration, Outlook Integration, Outlook Web Access and a whole lot more that NO single Linux-based product currently comes even close to offering.
Will wait and see. In the meantime, business keeps rolling along just fine with Exchange and now that Exchange 7 is out -- you'll see a lot more third-parties offering 'hosted' mail solutions. Things will get very interesting soon!:)
>If you can afford to pay licensing on one thousand seats of Microsoft Outlook, >you can afford to pay a developer to write a mail and calendar client application.
Yes you could, but it is called REINVENTING THE WHEEL and leads to a million other problems such as moving away from an industry standard (Yes, Exchange IS an industry standard.), moving away from a professional developed and supported product to an unknown developer of unknown reliability, etc. etc. etc.
Any decent programmer COULD take an existing FOSS mail server and build up a package that does most of what Exchange does. But who will support it? Who (and how much money) would it take to build the client-side. You expect corporations to throw away the investment they have already made? You expect them to throw away the Leggo-block compatibility BETWEEN different MS products?
I encounter Russian developers every day who plan to change the world with their FOSS software and who try through brute force to make companies change to their way of thinking. They fail to understand that the CUSTOMER is the one who makes the choices, and will NOT tolerate simple developers telling them how to run their business and what software they should or should not be running. And -- since the customer is the one WITH THE MONEY -- they certainly have the right to do so.
I don't have much pity on teachers who have to "work all day" to get a tool that they'll use MANY HOURS EVERY DAY ALL YEAR and for years to come. Tools that increase their productivity thousands of times more than tools they USED to use like typewriters and "ditto machines". (Which cost MANY hundreds of dollars.)
Where would education be right now without computers, and specifically, without Windows-based systems and Office? Back in the stone age -- that's where. If there are free alternatives that do the job NOW, that's great, but don't forget about how we reached the current state.
Would you hire a carpenter who was too cheap to buy his own hammer and saw? A plumber who doesn't own a pipe wrench? A mechanic without his snap-ons? EVERY tradesman (including teachers) should consider it a cost of doing business to buy their own tools. The more efficient and better quality the tools -- the faster and easier the work.
There's a very old saying, "A poor tradesman always blames his tools". If you think YOUR education system has money problems -- take a look at Russia, the FSU and hundreds of other countries before griping, whining and complaining.
The world needs people with "knowledge", "skills" AND "experience".
These factors together form a triangle that defines the overall 'value' of the individual to an employer.
Universities often focus on the "knowledge" and claim exclusivity on the ability to think -- but offer virtually no immediately usable skills.
Does the world need philosophers? People who sit and think but otherwise do nothing?
Does the world need robots? People who have fixed and limited skills but who are inflexible and disposable?
Does the world need theorists? People with theoretical knowledge and unpracticed skills, but who have never applied either in the real world?
No, I would suggest that the world needs people who can hit the ground running. People with a FOUNDATION of knowledge upon which to build and an ability to learn as required. People who also have valuable, current, real-world skills and some experience in actually using those skills.
Our educational systems are streamed in two directions -- Universities, supposedly producing thinkers, who should manage and run the world -- Colleges, supposedly producing skilled, ready-to-use employees.
Neither system actually WORKS as advertised.
Both institutions are dinosaurs -- unable to move fast enough to adapt to the changing world and the techologies being developed every day.
Many professors spent their entire life in the theoretical, sterile educational system and have never done an honest day's work anywhere else.
You have government control and mountains of paperwork needed to institute new programs that ensure "new" programs coming on-line are already oboslete.
Educational systems must EVOLVE and MERGE so that people receive ALL that they need to become successful and achieve their full potential.
Greed plays a large role. Professors worry about their own careers and 'tenure' -- to the exclusion of students, learning and building programs around new tools, techniques and technologies. Graduates expect to start at the top, with entry-level salary demands exceeding those of CEOs in less developed countries. The concept of "paying your dues" to increase your salary (and your 'value') seems to have been forgotten.
My vision would be a 6-year program. Two years of 'basics' like math, English, business skills, people skills followed by 4 years of work-related courses and training intermixed with paid apprenticeship.
How could it be possible? People can't even manage 4 years of education now without incurring huge student loans that take tens of years to pay off -- let alone extend the educational process to 6 years...
Well, it CAN and IS possible but requires the cooperation of the educational institutions, government AND business.
Business (who has the money) must fund education -- but right now, they won't do it because the graduates are virtually worthless without a huge investment in further training and experience. They already incur this additional cost both by the rediculous salaries the new graduates demand, but also by the months of non-productivity it takes to bring them up to speed as well as the internal training and cost and lost productivity associated with people to give the training and mentoring.
(In the military, you are instructed to wound someone rather than kill them. A dead enemy is only one, but a wounded one takes down two to carry the stretcher and others to attend to him.) Much like planting a new graduation with no skills or experience into a busy business.:)
Business WOULD fund education if they could CUT these additional costs. If they were GUARANTEED access to graduates HAVE EXACTLY the knowledge, skills and experience they need to BE productive from day one -- they would pay happily!
However, this would involve a contract between all parties:
The institution -- who accepts funding and support from business in exchange for producing the graduates they want.
Leave it to a Linux guy to install Linux when he can't figure out how to install MS.
The situation described is not particularly complex to work around (as several posters have already noted). Most real consultants would have at least a spare hard drive, DVD drive and floppy drive and some common software like OS, Ghost and yes, even a Linux bootable CD in their kit -- as well as a notebook. Not much you can't work around with a few basic pieces of equipment. Even without it, there are plenty of ways to go.
If I were the customer, I'd fire this guy's ass out the door and bring in someone who knew what they were doing.
Unfortunately, I see this kind of 'consultant knows best and to hell with what the customer has/wants' attitude often and end up having to go in and clean up some horrific messes. The bright side is that this kind of work is all too easy to find, and the customers are delighted to pay whatever I ask to get the job done right.:)
There is a lot of BS floating around about offshore developers. Statements like 'you get what you pay for' are little more than jealousy and sour grapes.
In India, or China, you can live like a KING for $1,000 per month. In the US, entry-level programmers are demanding $50K per year fresh out of college with no experience.
Something has to give...
Customers (the people paying the bills) don't have any 'responsibility' to provide developers with a beach house or an SUV. In fact, they don't care whether you live in a cardboard box or have to dumpster-dine to make your way through the day -- as long as you produce the code they want at the best possible price.
Reality bites, but that's the way it works -- it's called 'capitalism'.
Developers abroad are every bit as good as American developers -- and in fact, sometimes even better because India, for example, has embraced certifications including ISO and CMM certifications that ensure the quality remains high. Check the number of CMM level 5 certified shops in the USA and India -- you may be surprised at the results.
Offshore developers are often have a much broader base of experience simply because they HAVE worked on many different types of problems and with different technologies as part of the offshore development system than someone who's done the same-old-same-old for years.
What seems to be the trend is that the work will move to the next cheapest available market, and then the next, and the next. At the same time, per-hour rates for the work will rise (at the low end) and sink (at the high end) to spread the wealth between developers world-wide and eventually there may be relatively difference between pay scales in rich vs. poor countries.
India used to have the 'lock' on offshore development -- but over the past 10 years, their prices have risen to he point where they are equal to Russian end other FSU country developers. Work is now shifting to Russia -- particularly from European companies that see a smaller culture difference (and time difference) between themselves and the Russians as opposed to the Indians. Work styles are also different -- Indians tend to work very well from detailed specifications -- Russians work best when they can be creative and just produce a result using whatever techniques they are able to come up with.
China is a late starter, but will DEFINITELY shape the market in the coming years. Initially, they suffered from very low quality work and tremendous language and business process weakness -- but they aren't sitting still and with the sheer volume of developers they can produce are going to have a very interesting impact on the market in the coming years.
Want a stable salary and a job for life? Better get a 'trade' and join a union and/or work for the government. The IT business is doing as it always has done -- change fast and change hard. Improvise, adapt and overcome if you plan to stay in the game.
The interesting part about all blatent and obvious abuses of power the government commits is that there seems to be absolutely nothing being done to STOP it. What COULD you do?
Ya, you got 'rights', ya, you got a 'constitution' but SO WHAT? Seems nothing more than words on paper.
The government can monitor your phone calls (without a warrant), merge every record that mentions your name from any source anywhere on the planet, and now give you some 'special attention' because of your name or the type of car you drive or where you buy your airline tickets.
Right now, you also have people imprisoned with no charges or trial for YEARS, secret 'rendition' camps where torture and human abuse are nothing more than a good day's work. (Of course, you have to take care of all them terrorists hiding behind every bush -- don't you?)
That's right citizen, have no fear. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.
Even if the wake-up call comes -- what you going to do? Individuals heading in different directions won't make a fart worth of difference. Gonna start holding public protests? That may not be such a good idea with the new 'crowd control' microwave weapons now approved for use (testing) in Iraq. Inflicts severe pain, blistering and burning in less than 3 seconds -- unbearable to 100% of victims tested in less than 6 seconds. Range -- 1.5km and works as long as you have power.
Yep -- all is well -- go about your business...
(I only WISH I was a conspiracy theorist -- reality is much more frightening.)
I wouldn't be so quick to suit up. Think about what happens to tinfoil or other metal objects when you put them in a microwave. It will be a very sad day when the government starts nuking its own citizens. Seems Iraq is just the testing and fine-tuning ground for the real 'homeland' security yet to come.
Lying, cheating and stealing are OK as long as it is the government, police, private investigators, . . or anyone with a plastic badge doing it.
Their theory, "the evil we do is less than the evil the perpetrators are doing" -- or -- "the end justifies the means".
If you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide -- right citizen?
The police state racks up another battle in the war against freedom and privacy. Another sad day when illegal and unethical acts are sanctioned by the government -- guess nothing new there though -- is there?
In what other industry would the government (ANY government) have the right to force a company to release its trade secrets to its competitors in order for them to 'compete'?
Do drug makers have to release their formulae to their competitors to release competing (or even complimentary) products?
Does Boeing send their engineering specifications to Airbus? Does Ford have to send the documentation on their latest engine design to General Motors or Volkswagen?
Microsoft is the "American Dream" -- it has produced more millionaires than probably any other company in America. How many other companies have generated so much money for the American taxpayer coffers -- from the taxes on everything they consume, to every employee they hire world-wide.
How many businesses 'live off' Microsoft technologies? (Every software company in the world that develops any kind of software or system based on the Windows platform -- that's who.) How many workers across the entire planet work faster, easier and better because they have access to Windows and Microsoft Office?
Probably the wrong message for/. but true nonetheless -- Microsoft developed these technologies, and is now being forced to hand them over to their direct competitors. Where's the incentive to innovate if you can't capitalize and have your intellectual property protected? How would you like YOUR work handed over to YOUR competitors?
Computing Science programs are designed to produce 'generic' candidates with no particularly strong skills in any particular area of IT. This philosophy assumes that the person 'should' be able to learn whatever they need to know for whatever job they want to do -- but this makes most graduates effectively useless and unsuitable for any particular position.
In my view, the key for a CS candidate is to choose and specialize in one particular area they wish to work in -- be it multimedia, cryptography, and even in the software development area -- to focus on one particular area of specialization -- business software, scientific software, graphics and visualization software, etc.
So, if the question is what kind of math you should take -- the answer is in what you want to end up being able to do!
In my own case, complex math has proven virtually useless -- 99.9% of what I do that is mathematically-related is cost analysis spreadsheets where the business functions I need are built-in and not particularly difficult. If you wanted to specialize in cryptography, and had the desire to understand or build new algorithms, you'd need some heavy math, but just 'using' cryptography to accomplish the business goal of connecting offices through a VPN, you'd be better to take some courses from Cisco or Microsoft.;)
US Passports are supposed to implement exactly the same technology. Currently, all diplomatic passports already have this feature. All new US passports are, or will very shortly be, getting them. Break out the tinfoil passport condoms!:)
I have often suggested that what is necessary is to have a "Software Developer Finishing School" of some sort -- a system perhaps like an apprenticeship system where students would work on real teams developing real products for real customers.
Let's face it -- if the profs were the best and brightest, they'd be working out in the real world making a pile more money than at the colleges. Often, students are given a lot of great 'theoretical' knowledge, but with no real-world skills to back it up.
(This, plus a healthy dose of arrogance is what seems to have students graduating these programs and expecting to instantly start earning $75K+ with no experience whatsoever.)
Instead of companies offshoring software development to India or China -- why not set up small development teams within the colleges and universities and make completion of real projects a mandatory part of the program?
If a student participated in 4 or 5 different projects -- assuming different primary roles on each project -- there would be a lot of benefits:
1. The student would learn how to work as part of a team. 2. The student would learn how to work with customers (clients) and their 'interesting' requirements and methods of communication. 3. The student would learn how to put together a complete software product -- from start to finish -- through every phase of the cycle. 4. The student would learn real-world trade-offs, compromises and how to make the hard choices necessary to get the product out the door on-time and on-budget. 5. The companies using the students would benefit by having their projects done on-shore, by native English speakers, and at little (or preferably NO cost).
The educational system in the US is so far behind other countries it is absolutely dismal. I don't see a lot of change happening. The programs adapt and change with the speed of a dinosaur -- teaching languages and techniques already obsolete. I believe that if business got more involved in funding and working with educational institutions -- the programs could adapt faster, and be more closely tailored to what the real world actually needs.
Actually, if you are speaking of Russians with this post -- you're far off-base.
Russians have not required an 'exit visa' for many years. For a Russian to leave Russia all they need is their international passport and a visa for the country they wish to visit. (If indeed they need any visa at all.)
America has tools, techniques and technologies Hitler and Stalin could only have DREAMED of to surveil and subjugate the people...
I've tried a number of RAC competitors, and always return to RAC when I need coders. (As opposed to graphic designers, web developers, etc.)
If the buyer has done their homework, has a clear and precise specification and knows what a reasonable price should be --then they have few difficulties in selecting decent coders to do the job.
RAC has a pretty good coder rating and feedback system. Arbitration and support HAVE been done by perfect English speakers for any cases I have been involved with. After having processed over 10 projects through them, I have absolutely no complaints with the service at all. (I have made some suggestions for improvements and enhancements though.)
Payment handling is another important aspect of RAC. They seem to be able to work with and pay coders in countries where it would be difficult to handle money in small to medium sized amounts. Russia, for example, has big problems to send and receive money. Even trying to log in to a PayPal account from a Russian IP address will get your account blocked.
Is 15% too much to pay -- well, maybe the cost should be split between the buyer and coder to be more fair -- I don't know, but for the projects I have done, overall, it has been a positive experience working with RAC.
What right (or business) do McAffee and Symantec have messing around with the kernel of the operating system.
After seeing how much both companies have slowed down (and in some cases crippled) systems with their software -- I don't WANT them anywhere near the kernel of my machine.
What's interesting is how Microsoft is being FORCED to expose the internals of their proprietary software for anyone who asks. Including the source code -- just to make it easier.
I don't see anyone forcing Ford or General Motors to turn their engineering drawings and specifications over to Toyota or Honda in order for these companies to be able to make replacement components.
Call me devil's advocate, but someone has to be.;)
Looks like another win for big brother. The UK is already fameous for having millions of cameras watching the moves of everyone. "Deny the use of roads to criminals" is a popular political system for justifying big brother's continual observation and monitoring. Now, if you want to drink you need to provide a fingerprint. How soon before that turns to a national ID smart card with DNA verification?
This wouldn't be so bad if big brother could be trusted -- but we already know that he lies, cheats and steals to forward his agenda. Look at the UK and US in their blatent lies about "weapons of mass destruction" as an excuse for a war on Iraq.
The word trust and politician should never be used in the same sentence.
Slowly, increment by increment, both the USA and UK are turning into police states. The agenda has been set, the plans made, all they need to do is erode every speck of privacy a unit at a time.
Is everyone sleeping? Is nobody worried or seeing the big picture?
Nope. No conspiracy here. Move along and get on with your business, citizen.
In a society where there is no freedom -- there is no crime.
Actually, it works pretty well -- the Nazi's did it, the Communists did (and do) it. When everyone is scared shitless to do anything wrong because no matter what you do, or where you do it, big brother is watching -- it works great!
Right now, the USA is going through the first phase -- FUD. The president is trying to scare everyone so much with terrorists lurking behind every tree that you'll GLADLY give up what little freedom you have left just to be 'safe' from the foreign menace.
Nothing new -- the Communists had the same agenda with people fed the same threat stories about the Americans back during the cold war. Guess Mr. Bush figures if it worked for them, it'll work for him. He's not smart enough to come up with his own plan I suppose.
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Putting components that snap together into a container sounds an awful lot like a box of Leggo blocks. The concept of a "tool box" or putting related objects together in some kind of container has been around a lot longer than any kind of software. Makes about as much sense as a company being able to trademark or patent something found in nature, like a color. (UPS Brown)
This whole incident just goes to show what the President's spreading of FUD has done to American society.
:)
Terrorists and child pornographers behind every tree ready to spring out and attack the 'homeland'.
Maybe people should ask themselves a few simple questions?
1. What is the 'homeland' -- unless you are a Native American Indian, you and/or your familar originated elsewhere. There is a new joke going around in Russia -- "Look! The Americans have found ANOTHER country that built itself right on top of THEIR oil reserves!"
2. If terrorists were everywhere, why haven't they struck since 9/11? One would assume that if they WERE around, they would have been doing things like poisoning the water supply, sniping from buildings and thousands of other fun and interesting acts of terror by now -- so WHERE ARE THEY? THINK ABOUT IT -- If YOU wanted to create havoc and terror -- all you'd have to do is go to the local hardware store, buy a nice hunting rifle and a few thousand rounds of ammunition and park yourself on the top of some building and start shooting people. Why hasn't this happened yet??? Why hasn't anyone bombed a New York subway line? (Like they have in Russia.) It seems that NOTHING is happening. So WHERE are all these terrorists???
3. Instead of focusing on (and hassling endlessly) 'honest' travellers (like Canadians spending the weekend shopping in the USA who are subjected to fingerprints and retina scans) -- wouldn't terrorists find it much easier to enter the USA in the good old fashioned way -- like, say, the Mexicans? Instead of making life hell for honest travellers, if there WERE people entering the country illegally, why not stop them instead? Is it really so hard? And again, if it is so EASY to enter the US illegally -- go back to point 2 -- where the hell ARE all the terrorists?
Truth be known -- there ARE NO major terrorist cells in the USA -- the whole thing is bullshit that has been used as an excuse to subjugate the entire population of the USA to an ever increasing series of violations of rights, freedoms and personal privacy. Wait for it -- pretty soon there will be cameras monitoring every aspect of your life (just like in the UK, where the cameras also TALK BACK to you -- "pick up that trash!", "stop fighting or we will arrest you!"...)
And "we the people seem" to LOVE IT! We suck it right up and let the government do this and more!
SURE, Let's implant everyone's passport with RFID chips -- (ignore the fact that they have been hacked with $20 worth of equipment) Next, implant the people. Most Americans would have a problem accepting the requirement to carry a passport all the time (like other countries already do), but seem to have no problem with the concept of a Universal ID Card.
Link the implants to that Universal ID Card -- It will keep the terrorists off the airplanes and as an added benefit be able to track honest people from the moment they are born to the moment they die -- and don't forget to link that to the bank cards and credit cards -- need to be able to see every purchase people make. Maybe that hydrogen peroxide they use to bleach out a bit of hair could be used to make a bomb.
With the right computer system monitoring all your purchases, I'll be there are ten thousand seemingly innocent purchases that, when linked together, could show YOU as being a criminal mastermind terrorist.
Oh, and don't worry about evidence or anything like that -- by the time you have spent a few months in Cuba on the all-American permenant vacation plan -- you'll be confessing to everything you've ever done since you were born. Try standing on one leg for 24 hours or so -- or lie naked on the concrete floor of a 4x6 cell for a couple of weeks and you'll start to talk up a storm. (It is amazing how much talking someone can do when you deprive them of sleep for a couple of weeks.)
Of course, the Geneva convention doesn't protect you because you are not a 'prisoner of war' -- but instead, an "enemy comb
This has already been done. Maybe AT&T was just a trial for what is to come.
Already, there are tools to monitor all forms of traffic to look for 'keywords' and flag/capture interesting traffic for later analysis. Already, real-time analysis tools are available to do the same with VoIP conversations.
Police state is already here folks -- the screws are just starting to tighten.
If the UK is already releasing kiddie pornsters to the street instead of sending them to jail because the jails are already full -- what chance do you think any spam-facilitator is ever going to see the inside of a cell?
Actually, for the last 5% I've always had components built using MS technologies. First with C++ and now with any flavor of .NET. Getting coders is cheap and easy. Rentacoder has worked nicely most of the time.
Never a question of whether things can work together or not. Usually just a question of selecting the right Leggo blocks to plug in to each other and writing the code to solve the problem at hand.
Developer productivity is extremely high -- once you know how to open and manipulate one component -- you can virtually cut and past code to open and work with any of the components. Creating components is almost a joke. You can create a simple but useful COM component or ActiveX control in just a couple of lines of code. Nothing runs as fast or as efficiently as an in-process component.
(Of course a lot of Anti-MS people break into total panic and run away screaming when they hear the term ActiveX, but the kinds of things you can do with it are incredible -- a benefit of having almost total access to and control of the operating system and everything between.)
PKZIP -- can't remember -- I always got the company to buy it if they didn't already have it. (Been a lot of years since then.)
All the work I do these days is with 100% Microsoft shops. The US Army as a prime example of a very large-scale Microsoft-only solution. There are huge cost savings to be had by not having to train two completely separate 'streams' of staff -- one for the MS- side of the house and the other for the 'NIX side. Mixed environments can be fun -- if you can afford it and enjoy daily challenges. Nobody can say that there are not great 'nix solutions for different problems -- but getting them to actually work together or integrate is an entirely different and very complex problem. (Usually resulting in a mountain of completely unmaintainable 'glue code' and 'shims' you have to pay for and then pay to have maintained.) I personally enjoy being able to install a COMPLETE business solution -- from the OS all the way to the database and groupware server where product integration is never a question (or a worry), interpoperability and security is fully integrated across every single product with a single model. Gotta like that. It gives me great joy to be able to spend all my time figuring out how to solve the real business problems at hand -- rather than worrying about how the hell I can get Product A to talk to Product B and Product C (with entirely different interfaces and data formats). This in no way says that MS offers the "Best of Breed" in any one particular area. They dont. However, look at what happened to Corel when they tried to build an office suite out of the so-called best of breed -- Word Perfect, Quattro Pro, etc. The company tanked -- it was one of the most collossal failures in the software industry. With the MS products, I may not get 100% of what I want, but I'll get 95% TODAY. (Rather than spending a year trying to glue together the 'best of breed' and get that last, and very expensive 5% that I can't do.) There is a lot to be said for the simplicity and efficiency of a single vendor solution. Active directory is also LDAP and Kerberos based, so in fact a lot of integration would be possible with the 'nix side if anyone really worked on it. Just nobody seem to be trying.
I personally would embrace with open arms any REAL competition to Exchange, but for MS-based shops, right now, no real alternative exists. As many in this discussion have noted, FOSS projects don't get done because of customer want or need -- they get done when the programmers think it would be cool or fun to do. A great way to operate a 'hobby', but a hell of a way to run a 'business'. With 'commercial' software, it is known right at the start that the product (and company) need to make money to survive -- so they enter the project with a strong focus on customer needs. Developers are given a set of business problems to solve -- these come from the eventual customers of the product. Demand-driven PULL rather than hobbyist driven PUSH. In the past, I have actually recommended customers to use products like HelpCore and SugarCRM when they are appropriate -- but certainly these products are far from being anywhere near what I would consider 'commercial' quality. If the customers had money to spend, I would have recommended quite different solutions. Another problem is the support and operation of these so-called 'free' products. HelpCore, for example, wanted $100 USD per hour and a minimum of 4 hours just to INSTALL their product on a client's server. (I got some guys in India to do it for $25, but that's another story.) To KEEP the product running is another problem -- unless you have a Linux geek on-staff full-time for even the smallest and simplest server and single application, you're toast. For sure, if there ever does become a REAL alternative to Exchange, I'd be one of the first people to recommend it -- but at the moment, it seems like any real alternatives are far away. Lots of the Linux fanboys think Exchange is just a POP/SMTP server when in fact those two services are only a TINY part of the product functionality. If customers wanted just a POP/SMTP server, I WOULD probably recommend a FOSS solution -- but this isn't normally the case. Customers want Active Directory integration, Outlook Integration, Outlook Web Access and a whole lot more that NO single Linux-based product currently comes even close to offering. Will wait and see. In the meantime, business keeps rolling along just fine with Exchange and now that Exchange 7 is out -- you'll see a lot more third-parties offering 'hosted' mail solutions. Things will get very interesting soon! :)
>If you can afford to pay licensing on one thousand seats of Microsoft Outlook,
>you can afford to pay a developer to write a mail and calendar client application.
Yes you could, but it is called REINVENTING THE WHEEL and leads to a million other problems such as moving away from an industry standard (Yes, Exchange IS an industry standard.), moving away from a professional developed and supported product to an unknown developer of unknown reliability, etc. etc. etc.
Any decent programmer COULD take an existing FOSS mail server and build up a package that does most of what Exchange does. But who will support it? Who (and how much money) would it take to build the client-side. You expect corporations to throw away the investment they have already made? You expect them to throw away the Leggo-block compatibility BETWEEN different MS products?
I encounter Russian developers every day who plan to change the world with their FOSS software and who try through brute force to make companies change to their way of thinking. They fail to understand that the CUSTOMER is the one who makes the choices, and will NOT tolerate simple developers telling them how to run their business and what software they should or should not be running. And -- since the customer is the one WITH THE MONEY -- they certainly have the right to do so.
I don't have much pity on teachers who have to "work all day" to get a tool that they'll use MANY HOURS EVERY DAY ALL YEAR and for years to come. Tools that increase their productivity thousands of times more than tools they USED to use like typewriters and "ditto machines". (Which cost MANY hundreds of dollars.)
Where would education be right now without computers, and specifically, without Windows-based systems and Office? Back in the stone age -- that's where. If there are free alternatives that do the job NOW, that's great, but don't forget about how we reached the current state.
Would you hire a carpenter who was too cheap to buy his own hammer and saw? A plumber who doesn't own a pipe wrench? A mechanic without his snap-ons? EVERY tradesman (including teachers) should consider it a cost of doing business to buy their own tools. The more efficient and better quality the tools -- the faster and easier the work.
There's a very old saying, "A poor tradesman always blames his tools". If you think YOUR education system has money problems -- take a look at Russia, the FSU and hundreds of other countries before griping, whining and complaining.
The world needs people with "knowledge", "skills" AND "experience".
:)
These factors together form a triangle that defines the overall 'value' of the individual to an employer.
Universities often focus on the "knowledge" and claim exclusivity on the ability to think -- but offer virtually no immediately usable skills.
Does the world need philosophers? People who sit and think but otherwise do nothing?
Does the world need robots? People who have fixed and limited skills but who are inflexible and disposable?
Does the world need theorists? People with theoretical knowledge and unpracticed skills, but who have never applied either in the real world?
No, I would suggest that the world needs people who can hit the ground running. People with a FOUNDATION of knowledge upon which to build and an ability to learn as required. People who also have valuable, current, real-world skills and some experience in actually using those skills.
Our educational systems are streamed in two directions -- Universities, supposedly producing thinkers, who should manage and run the world -- Colleges, supposedly producing skilled, ready-to-use employees.
Neither system actually WORKS as advertised.
Both institutions are dinosaurs -- unable to move fast enough to adapt to the changing world and the techologies being developed every day.
Many professors spent their entire life in the theoretical, sterile educational system and have never done an honest day's work anywhere else.
You have government control and mountains of paperwork needed to institute new programs that ensure "new" programs coming on-line are already oboslete.
Educational systems must EVOLVE and MERGE so that people receive ALL that they need to become successful and achieve their full potential.
Greed plays a large role. Professors worry about their own careers and 'tenure' -- to the exclusion of students, learning and building programs around new tools, techniques and technologies. Graduates expect to start at the top, with entry-level salary demands exceeding those of CEOs in less developed countries. The concept of "paying your dues" to increase your salary (and your 'value') seems to have been forgotten.
My vision would be a 6-year program. Two years of 'basics' like math, English, business skills, people skills followed by 4 years of work-related courses and training intermixed with paid apprenticeship.
How could it be possible? People can't even manage 4 years of education now without incurring huge student loans that take tens of years to pay off -- let alone extend the educational process to 6 years...
Well, it CAN and IS possible but requires the cooperation of the educational institutions, government AND business.
Business (who has the money) must fund education -- but right now, they won't do it because the graduates are virtually worthless without a huge investment in further training and experience. They already incur this additional cost both by the rediculous salaries the new graduates demand, but also by the months of non-productivity it takes to bring them up to speed as well as the internal training and cost and lost productivity associated with people to give the training and mentoring.
(In the military, you are instructed to wound someone rather than kill them. A dead enemy is only one, but a wounded one takes down two to carry the stretcher and others to attend to him.) Much like planting a new graduation with no skills or experience into a busy business.
Business WOULD fund education if they could CUT these additional costs. If they were GUARANTEED access to graduates HAVE EXACTLY the knowledge, skills and experience they need to BE productive from day one -- they would pay happily!
However, this would involve a contract between all parties:
The institution -- who accepts funding and support from business in exchange for producing the graduates they want.
The graduates -- who promise to work
Leave it to a Linux guy to install Linux when he can't figure out how to install MS.
:)
The situation described is not particularly complex to work around (as several posters have already noted). Most real consultants would have at least a spare hard drive, DVD drive and floppy drive and some common software like OS, Ghost and yes, even a Linux bootable CD in their kit -- as well as a notebook. Not much you can't work around with a few basic pieces of equipment. Even without it, there are plenty of ways to go.
If I were the customer, I'd fire this guy's ass out the door and bring in someone who knew what they were doing.
Unfortunately, I see this kind of 'consultant knows best and to hell with what the customer has/wants' attitude often and end up having to go in and clean up some horrific messes. The bright side is that this kind of work is all too easy to find, and the customers are delighted to pay whatever I ask to get the job done right.
There is a lot of BS floating around about offshore developers. Statements like 'you get what you pay for' are little more than jealousy and sour grapes.
In India, or China, you can live like a KING for $1,000 per month. In the US, entry-level programmers are demanding $50K per year fresh out of college with no experience.
Something has to give...
Customers (the people paying the bills) don't have any 'responsibility' to provide developers with a beach house or an SUV. In fact, they don't care whether you live in a cardboard box or have to dumpster-dine to make your way through the day -- as long as you produce the code they want at the best possible price.
Reality bites, but that's the way it works -- it's called 'capitalism'.
Developers abroad are every bit as good as American developers -- and in fact, sometimes even better because India, for example, has embraced certifications including ISO and CMM certifications that ensure the quality remains high. Check the number of CMM level 5 certified shops in the USA and India -- you may be surprised at the results.
Offshore developers are often have a much broader base of experience simply because they HAVE worked on many different types of problems and with different technologies as part of the offshore development system than someone who's done the same-old-same-old for years.
What seems to be the trend is that the work will move to the next cheapest available market, and then the next, and the next. At the same time, per-hour rates for the work will rise (at the low end) and sink (at the high end) to spread the wealth between developers world-wide and eventually there may be relatively difference between pay scales in rich vs. poor countries.
India used to have the 'lock' on offshore development -- but over the past 10 years, their prices have risen to he point where they are equal to Russian end other FSU country developers. Work is now shifting to Russia -- particularly from European companies that see a smaller culture difference (and time difference) between themselves and the Russians as opposed to the Indians. Work styles are also different -- Indians tend to work very well from detailed specifications -- Russians work best when they can be creative and just produce a result using whatever techniques they are able to come up with.
China is a late starter, but will DEFINITELY shape the market in the coming years. Initially, they suffered from very low quality work and tremendous language and business process weakness -- but they aren't sitting still and with the sheer volume of developers they can produce are going to have a very interesting impact on the market in the coming years.
Want a stable salary and a job for life? Better get a 'trade' and join a union and/or work for the government. The IT business is doing as it always has done -- change fast and change hard. Improvise, adapt and overcome if you plan to stay in the game.
The interesting part about all blatent and obvious abuses of power the government commits is that there seems to be absolutely nothing being done to STOP it. What COULD you do?
Ya, you got 'rights', ya, you got a 'constitution' but SO WHAT? Seems nothing more than words on paper.
The government can monitor your phone calls (without a warrant), merge every record that mentions your name from any source anywhere on the planet, and now give you some 'special attention' because of your name or the type of car you drive or where you buy your airline tickets.
Right now, you also have people imprisoned with no charges or trial for YEARS, secret 'rendition' camps where torture and human abuse are nothing more than a good day's work. (Of course, you have to take care of all them terrorists hiding behind every bush -- don't you?)
That's right citizen, have no fear. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.
Even if the wake-up call comes -- what you going to do? Individuals heading in different directions won't make a fart worth of difference. Gonna start holding public protests? That may not be such a good idea with the new 'crowd control' microwave weapons now approved for use (testing) in Iraq. Inflicts severe pain, blistering and burning in less than 3 seconds -- unbearable to 100% of victims tested in less than 6 seconds. Range -- 1.5km and works as long as you have power.
Yep -- all is well -- go about your business...
(I only WISH I was a conspiracy theorist -- reality is much more frightening.)
I wouldn't be so quick to suit up. Think about what happens to tinfoil or other metal objects when you put them in a microwave. It will be a very sad day when the government starts nuking its own citizens. Seems Iraq is just the testing and fine-tuning ground for the real 'homeland' security yet to come.
Lying, cheating and stealing are OK as long as it is the government, police, private investigators, . . or anyone with a plastic badge doing it.
Their theory, "the evil we do is less than the evil the perpetrators are doing" -- or -- "the end justifies the means".
If you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide -- right citizen?
The police state racks up another battle in the war against freedom and privacy. Another sad day when illegal and unethical acts are sanctioned by the government -- guess nothing new there though -- is there?
In what other industry would the government (ANY government) have the right to force a company to release its trade secrets to its competitors in order for them to 'compete'?
/. but true nonetheless -- Microsoft developed these technologies, and is now being forced to hand them over to their direct competitors. Where's the incentive to innovate if you can't capitalize and have your intellectual property protected? How would you like YOUR work handed over to YOUR competitors?
Do drug makers have to release their formulae to their competitors to release competing (or even complimentary) products?
Does Boeing send their engineering specifications to Airbus? Does Ford have to send the documentation on their latest engine design to General Motors or Volkswagen?
Microsoft is the "American Dream" -- it has produced more millionaires than probably any other company in America. How many other companies have generated so much money for the American taxpayer coffers -- from the taxes on everything they consume, to every employee they hire world-wide.
How many businesses 'live off' Microsoft technologies? (Every software company in the world that develops any kind of software or system based on the Windows platform -- that's who.) How many workers across the entire planet work faster, easier and better because they have access to Windows and Microsoft Office?
Probably the wrong message for
Devil's advocate OUT...
Computing Science programs are designed to produce 'generic' candidates with no particularly strong skills in any particular area of IT. This philosophy assumes that the person 'should' be able to learn whatever they need to know for whatever job they want to do -- but this makes most graduates effectively useless and unsuitable for any particular position.
;)
In my view, the key for a CS candidate is to choose and specialize in one particular area they wish to work in -- be it multimedia, cryptography, and even in the software development area -- to focus on one particular area of specialization -- business software, scientific software, graphics and visualization software, etc.
So, if the question is what kind of math you should take -- the answer is in what you want to end up being able to do!
In my own case, complex math has proven virtually useless -- 99.9% of what I do that is mathematically-related is cost analysis spreadsheets where the business functions I need are built-in and not particularly difficult. If you wanted to specialize in cryptography, and had the desire to understand or build new algorithms, you'd need some heavy math, but just 'using' cryptography to accomplish the business goal of connecting offices through a VPN, you'd be better to take some courses from Cisco or Microsoft.
US Passports are supposed to implement exactly the same technology. Currently, all diplomatic passports already have this feature. All new US passports are, or will very shortly be, getting them. Break out the tinfoil passport condoms! :)
I have often suggested that what is necessary is to have a "Software Developer Finishing School" of some sort -- a system perhaps like an apprenticeship system where students would work on real teams developing real products for real customers.
Let's face it -- if the profs were the best and brightest, they'd be working out in the real world making a pile more money than at the colleges. Often, students are given a lot of great 'theoretical' knowledge, but with no real-world skills to back it up.
(This, plus a healthy dose of arrogance is what seems to have students graduating these programs and expecting to instantly start earning $75K+ with no experience whatsoever.)
Instead of companies offshoring software development to India or China -- why not set up small development teams within the colleges and universities and make completion of real projects a mandatory part of the program?
If a student participated in 4 or 5 different projects -- assuming different primary roles on each project -- there would be a lot of benefits:
1. The student would learn how to work as part of a team.
2. The student would learn how to work with customers (clients) and their 'interesting' requirements and methods of communication.
3. The student would learn how to put together a complete software product -- from start to finish -- through every phase of the cycle.
4. The student would learn real-world trade-offs, compromises and how to make the hard choices necessary to get the product out the door on-time and on-budget.
5. The companies using the students would benefit by having their projects done on-shore, by native English speakers, and at little (or preferably NO cost).
The educational system in the US is so far behind other countries it is absolutely dismal. I don't see a lot of change happening. The programs adapt and change with the speed of a dinosaur -- teaching languages and techniques already obsolete. I believe that if business got more involved in funding and working with educational institutions -- the programs could adapt faster, and be more closely tailored to what the real world actually needs.
Actually, if you are speaking of Russians with this post -- you're far off-base.
Russians have not required an 'exit visa' for many years. For a Russian to leave Russia all they need is their international passport and a visa for the country they wish to visit. (If indeed they need any visa at all.)
America has tools, techniques and technologies Hitler and Stalin could only have DREAMED of to surveil and subjugate the people...
Who says cameras won't be installed in homes and alleys and just about everywhere else?
Cameras are cheap. Privacy, so it seems, is too.
Of course, the government will tell you it's to protect you from terrorists when they start installing cameras in you home.
Don't worry citizen, just go about your business!
I've tried a number of RAC competitors, and always return to RAC when I need coders. (As opposed to graphic designers, web developers, etc.)
If the buyer has done their homework, has a clear and precise specification and knows what a reasonable price should be --then they have few difficulties in selecting decent coders to do the job.
RAC has a pretty good coder rating and feedback system. Arbitration and support HAVE been done by perfect English speakers for any cases I have been involved with. After having processed over 10 projects through them, I have absolutely no complaints with the service at all. (I have made some suggestions for improvements and enhancements though.)
Payment handling is another important aspect of RAC. They seem to be able to work with and pay coders in countries where it would be difficult to handle money in small to medium sized amounts. Russia, for example, has big problems to send and receive money. Even trying to log in to a PayPal account from a Russian IP address will get your account blocked.
Is 15% too much to pay -- well, maybe the cost should be split between the buyer and coder to be more fair -- I don't know, but for the projects I have done, overall, it has been a positive experience working with RAC.
What right (or business) do McAffee and Symantec have messing around with the kernel of the operating system.
;)
After seeing how much both companies have slowed down (and in some cases crippled) systems with their software -- I don't WANT them anywhere near the kernel of my machine.
What's interesting is how Microsoft is being FORCED to expose the internals of their proprietary software for anyone who asks. Including the source code -- just to make it easier.
I don't see anyone forcing Ford or General Motors to turn their engineering drawings and specifications over to Toyota or Honda in order for these companies to be able to make replacement components.
Call me devil's advocate, but someone has to be.
Looks like another win for big brother. The UK is already fameous for having millions of cameras watching the moves of everyone. "Deny the use of roads to criminals" is a popular political system for justifying big brother's continual observation and monitoring. Now, if you want to drink you need to provide a fingerprint. How soon before that turns to a national ID smart card with DNA verification?
This wouldn't be so bad if big brother could be trusted -- but we already know that he lies, cheats and steals to forward his agenda. Look at the UK and US in their blatent lies about "weapons of mass destruction" as an excuse for a war on Iraq.
The word trust and politician should never be used in the same sentence.
Slowly, increment by increment, both the USA and UK are turning into police states. The agenda has been set, the plans made, all they need to do is erode every speck of privacy a unit at a time.
Is everyone sleeping? Is nobody worried or seeing the big picture?
Nope. No conspiracy here. Move along and get on with your business, citizen.
In a society where there is no freedom -- there is no crime.
Actually, it works pretty well -- the Nazi's did it, the Communists did (and do) it. When everyone is scared shitless to do anything wrong because no matter what you do, or where you do it, big brother is watching -- it works great!
Right now, the USA is going through the first phase -- FUD. The president is trying to scare everyone so much with terrorists lurking behind every tree that you'll GLADLY give up what little freedom you have left just to be 'safe' from the foreign menace.
Nothing new -- the Communists had the same agenda with people fed the same threat stories about the Americans back during the cold war. Guess Mr. Bush figures if it worked for them, it'll work for him. He's not smart enough to come up with his own plan I suppose.