Am I the only one who finds this crazy? Are we to go around scared of opening doors? Is there any implied consent (i.e. should I call up the gas station attendant to open their store door so I'm not B&E when I go in to pay the bill?)
I'm seriously getting tired of this idea that I need to somehow guess what another person meant to authorize me to do.
To wit, it sounds like I could get in trouble at work in the following situation: We have exterior door keys given to all employees. These also open some internal doors, including the stock room. We have been explicitly told we can use these keys to gain access after hours when the doors are locked, and in fact, that's why they gave us these keys (otherwise they just waste space on your keyring as doors are open during the day). Now, I don't know all the doors they open.
You're saying that if I go to a door that is external, and try my key, and it opens the door, but it wasn't one of the doors my employer meant for me to go in through (note, I've never been told *what* doors to use, just "external"), I'm breaking and entering? This seems preposterous.
Not to mention, in my house the same key opens multiple doors. So if I give someone a key and say they can come in the door, and they pick door B by bad luck, I can call the cops and have them arrested for B&E? Come on. I cannot imagine anyone meant that by any law, nor that any cop would arrest the person coming over (though maybe me for being stupid), nor any court convict.
It seems to me that we have to have reasonableness concepts - I was at high school a decade ago, and was browsing around the network share. This was where some homework assingments were given, and some homework was submitted. I noticed a folder that was new, and double clicked it - turned out to be something like this situation, the permissions were set wrong. I notified the net admin and was thanked (I happened to volunteer with him, and was trusted). Lucky me I guess. But let me say, this was very similar to browsing the school directory - something wrongly published should *not* make the viewer liable.
I've set up an OpenSolaris raidz2 array with 9 disks at home for my backup (that is, I backup my main system that is JBOD to the raid array, so it's my extra copy). I'm not that versed in Solaris, and slowly learning (it's built in SMB was much easier for me that SAMBA has been), but I really know Red Hat better. What's coming to replace it (zfs) that's better?? Is it going to work on CENTOS?
You need a license (read permission) to use someone else's copyrighted works. I'm pretty sure this isn't true for most copyrighted stuff (computers are funny here due to how they work). Specifically, I don't need a license to read a book, or look at a picture, or watch TV... I need a license to make copies legally however.
But wait, are you talking about $50,000 or $500,000? That's an order of magnitude difference... Plus, $50,000 is only getting started with most big medical bills. Sure it'll pay for normal doctors visits and short term perscriptions, but I know many people with $6,000 a year medicine bills alone, plus doctors, plus perhaps surgery etc. That can run through $50,000 faster than you are claiming you can save it up.
Plus, who's spending $2k on a computer every year? Certainly not most people. I've spent at most $1,500 every 2 years (less than half, and that *is* flagrantly wasteful for fun and gaming and I admit it). Most people I know spend $300-$500 every 5 or more years. That's not going to add up to your $50,000.
I'm also not sure whether you're claiming you need to give up cell phones or what exactly, but I have seen people get $15 a month or so if they share or hunt for prepaid bargins etc...
Finally, you plan is a) someone (possibly by "stealing") covers you up till 18 (adult??) b) You immediately get a job paying $40,000 or so a year (or more?) c) You live a hermits life for at least 10 years d) You don't get sick for those 10 years so you can save up the $50,000 medical fund
And, this is assuming you're actually talking about only $50,000 . . .
So, here's something else I've always wondered. I drive an automatic, so I'd assume it's usually in an appropriate gear (and especially so if it's not redlining the Tachometer). If I take my foot off the gas and coast, that's not engine braking right? Because I've heard from multiple trustworthy sources that that's no danger, and is a good way to save on brake pads... Now, downshifting is usually a bad idea unless already at speed for the gear and you're going down a steep hill, in which case, again it saves your breaks from overheating.
As far as I've heard (Click & Clack for what it's worth) modern cars with Fuel Injectors don't have any additional gas use on startup unless the engine is cold.
Indeed, my Subaru Impreza has a 2.5L 4 cylinder engine with 173 HP. No problem doing 80. No problem getting to 80 quite fast enough for me. Heck, it does 100 without a big issue, but then I get scared and slow down.
In New York State, you can pass legally wherever you want if it's a dashed line, as long as it's not designated as a turn only lane by sign or painted indicator. Right, left, middle - doesn't matter.
In the US (or at least New York State) we do have a point system, and speeding is 3-4 points IIRC. You only get 12 points, so speeding will quickly eat that up if you get ticketed.
The worst part is spore isn't revolutionary at all. In fact, it's a huge dissapointment to me. NOTE: I've only played 3 of 5 levels/parts of the game.
It isn't a simulation like say, Sim City was. It's not even really like The Sims. It's been 3 minigames so far: 1) PackMan 2) CRPG style grind 3) Weak RTS similar to a stripped down WarCraft 1.
I can't imagine what the later 2 stages really are, but I'm mostly bored. The worst part is I've spent maybe 6 hrs to be almost done with Stage 3 (and what's holding me back is being unable to beat a basically equivelent in all ways enemy to advance).
Where is the simulation??? Where is me being suprised? If I wanted some funky pack of half assed games that have been done before, I'd just get one of those combo packs...
You know, I hear about renters insurance, but can you point at some more info on that? What I found googling was $500 deductable... In this case, he'd not get anything from his insurance either... In fact, your home electronics that are over $500 are going to be somewhat limited... Maybe your laptop? Possibly your TV. Likely NOT your average printer or iPod etc... And the insurance isn't going to cover the first $500 either, whereas the extended warranty + accidental coverage will cover with no deductable.
I'd be interested in the "low cost" insurance option . . . if someone could point me in that direction.
Hmm, I think it will vary by store quite a bit. I worked at a Best Buy, and while they weren't perfect, they did make a significant effort to honor the warranty. Now, just like manufacturer warrantys, they did not cover abuse to the product, including outside impact damage, like being dropped. They would, however, cover wearing out or various other defects. And where I worked, even if it was covered by the manufacturer, we would still take care of that behind the scenes for the customer.
Now, the biggest downside to the warranty was that it could often take a month of shipping for getting something fixed (waiting to ship, trundling ground across the country, waiting to get parts at the repair shop, trundling back to us, us processing and calling customer). This was majorly improved just before I left, going from major truck shipping once a week to daily UPS shipments. Customer wait time went from an average of a month to an average of a week for a repair.
The other thing that started up was offering insurance in the form of Accidental coverage warranties. So now for more money, you also got coverage on you dropping the item, or running over it with a car.
I think one of the things people always forgot was the difference between insurance and a warranty. No warranty I know of covers you running the item over with a car, but insurance might.
Well, I don't really know what applecare covers, but it sounds like the standard extended warrenty to me... Does it cover software glitches? Because if it mainly covers hardware and labor, so does BB and CC protection plans, which spec out at similar prices or +$100 for accidental damage coverage. Apple may be better at the marketing and or higher better techs or have an easier job, but the general offering is quite similar to your description - they will work on it for 3 years to fix any hardware problems, and if they can't fix it, they will give you your money towards a replacement.
If customers want their hands held, they're going to need to actually pay someone as an impartial consultant, or find a friend / relative who is qualified to do said holding. The downside is many of the qualified people charge significantly more per hour than MS is paing their sales drones, and figuring out if one is reputable is like finding a good doctor or good mechanic - hard.
Seriously, get ready to pay per hour, and at rates that are similar to your car mechanics.
I swear, and this bears it out, you get paid more without certs. Actually, the recent Redmond magizine also showed this in their 08 salary survey, though they were slightly higher amounts . . .
I don't hate it, but knowing that I could bring the machine in to have someone actually look at it and not have to fail at diagnosing it over the phone from India would be a HUGE selling point for most people
Isn't that what the Geek Squad and Firedog(WTH name is that?) is supposedly for? What role are these Gurus supposedly filling that the salespeople or Techies *already* hired by the retailers don't? Why would Best Buy or Circuit City *want* the competition from MS Gurus who supposedly do... something...
I mean, even if the salespeople aren't on commission, they are given sales #s to hit, and often there are contests with some sort of prize for winning...
This sounds like a more limited version of freenet, and the same worries come up... Do we expect the encryption to get broken, as well as the "piece" algorithm?
Interestingly, my rates have been going down a little every renwal I don't make a claim / have an accident... I've only been with them for 1.5 years though.
Hmmm, well, they don't let you choose online the coverage you need really, so they ended up being $500 more a year than I'm paying Geico. I really haven't seen any lower quotes, the only one close was Progressive... I get lots of ads saying they can save me $300 over geico, but I'm only paying ~ $800 a year... how low can they realistically go?
I would argue that, yes, as per Click and Clack, a "clunker" is the cheapest car to own. That said, I think that really doesn't take into account all sorts of externalities. For direct payments, yes, the clunker is cheapest. But I've owned $3,000 clunkers (2x what you claim can get you by) and they break down *all* the time.
When you first get it, it's ok for a few months - great. But then you start needing to get it fixed. I've seen this in GM cars, Subaru, etc...
Now the costs come up. It's not as much or as regular as a car payment, but you're never really sure that the car is going to work. So you've got the random availability, random cost, which is much harder to budget and plan than a known fixed cost and a known fixed maintanence schedule.
I've worked out of college jobs like retail or first jobs, and you really don't get that much slack for "my car is broke down" or "I need to be out of work for 3 days while my car is being fixed". Sometimes you can get alternate transportation to and from work, but that can cost money, goodwill, or if you can car pool all the time, why buy the clunker at all?
Also, if you are out of work, you might well be getting unpaid time off, so that's a direct lowering of your paycheck that pay period, just when you do need to pay more than normal for the car. After 2 years or so, you might well be fixing the car twice a month or more.
Now, if you are a mechanic, or have a friend who doesn't mind fixing your car every other weekend for free, $1,500 clunkers can make sense. Or if you can afford 2 of them, plus double insurance etc, then you can swap out cars at the shop. But is keeping 2 cars on the road going to really save you over one "good" car? Is your time worth nothing going to and from the shop? Waiting on parts etc?
That's not to say it makes sense to get a *new* car (though it is nice as you are guaranteed at least 3 years of only paying maintenance by the warranty), getting a $1,500 clunker probably isn't the best choice right out of school. I'd recommend either working where you can use public transportation to work, or getting a 2-3 year old car.
Simple really, our bosses don't actually think there's a big problem with using whatever works. Upgrades are a real pain, for little percieved user gains. We're still migrating users off of Eudora 6, and they don't actually want to migrate. We're still having users who don't want the down time to upgrade from Windows 2000. Virus attacks just don't happen near as much as I'd expect when talking about home systems, and I think it's because they aren't Admins on their computers.
Part of it may be endemic, part of it may be management, but they are interested in issues they have now, not what might possibly happen sometime later. When viruses happen maybe once every 6 months, and take at worst 2 days to reimage one users PC, there just isn't a big belief that they are a big deal. New versions of software are known to make old scripts and procedures and products break, and that's believed to be a problem, so when you compare breaking what used to work vs a remote chance of a virus, guess which wins? Not patching/upgrading.
You could argue about the software vendors having crappy products, but then we can't switch every time there's an issue. And I expect the feeling is why pay someone who makes our work harder by deliberatly breaking programs? Worst of all budgets are tight right now, and we have to bill out time. No one wants to pay to upgrade our timecard system when there's literally nothing wrong with it. It's 6 months old revision. That'd be like trying to convince someone to pay to replace their 6 month old car... Just doesn't happen. And of course it's a major version change now, so it's not equivelent to changing the oil,but a big replacement and re-training of people how to use it. All so we can use Firefox 3? Just can't justify it.
Now, I agree that the vendor ought to have a web app that works in FF 1-3, Opera 9.x, IE7, Safari and everything else. But they don't. This was in place when I started, so I had no imput, but even if I had, the working is often more important than the idealiogical purity. I think this happens all the time everywhere, bosses want stuff that functions more than they want to follow best practices.
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Am I the only one who finds this crazy? Are we to go around scared of opening doors? Is there any implied consent (i.e. should I call up the gas station attendant to open their store door so I'm not B&E when I go in to pay the bill?)
I'm seriously getting tired of this idea that I need to somehow guess what another person meant to authorize me to do.
To wit, it sounds like I could get in trouble at work in the following situation:
We have exterior door keys given to all employees. These also open some internal doors, including the stock room. We have been explicitly told we can use these keys to gain access after hours when the doors are locked, and in fact, that's why they gave us these keys (otherwise they just waste space on your keyring as doors are open during the day). Now, I don't know all the doors they open.
You're saying that if I go to a door that is external, and try my key, and it opens the door, but it wasn't one of the doors my employer meant for me to go in through (note, I've never been told *what* doors to use, just "external"), I'm breaking and entering? This seems preposterous.
Not to mention, in my house the same key opens multiple doors. So if I give someone a key and say they can come in the door, and they pick door B by bad luck, I can call the cops and have them arrested for B&E? Come on. I cannot imagine anyone meant that by any law, nor that any cop would arrest the person coming over (though maybe me for being stupid), nor any court convict.
It seems to me that we have to have reasonableness concepts - I was at high school a decade ago, and was browsing around the network share. This was where some homework assingments were given, and some homework was submitted. I noticed a folder that was new, and double clicked it - turned out to be something like this situation, the permissions were set wrong. I notified the net admin and was thanked (I happened to volunteer with him, and was trusted). Lucky me I guess. But let me say, this was very similar to browsing the school directory - something wrongly published should *not* make the viewer liable.
I've set up an OpenSolaris raidz2 array with 9 disks at home for my backup (that is, I backup my main system that is JBOD to the raid array, so it's my extra copy). I'm not that versed in Solaris, and slowly learning (it's built in SMB was much easier for me that SAMBA has been), but I really know Red Hat better. What's coming to replace it (zfs) that's better?? Is it going to work on CENTOS?
Actually, there is a compatibility pack for Office 2003... It seems to work fine.
You need a license (read permission) to use someone else's copyrighted works.
I'm pretty sure this isn't true for most copyrighted stuff (computers are funny here due to how they work). Specifically, I don't need a license to read a book, or look at a picture, or watch TV... I need a license to make copies legally however.
But wait, are you talking about $50,000 or $500,000? That's an order of magnitude difference... Plus, $50,000 is only getting started with most big medical bills. Sure it'll pay for normal doctors visits and short term perscriptions, but I know many people with $6,000 a year medicine bills alone, plus doctors, plus perhaps surgery etc. That can run through $50,000 faster than you are claiming you can save it up.
Plus, who's spending $2k on a computer every year? Certainly not most people. I've spent at most $1,500 every 2 years (less than half, and that *is* flagrantly wasteful for fun and gaming and I admit it). Most people I know spend $300-$500 every 5 or more years. That's not going to add up to your $50,000.
I'm also not sure whether you're claiming you need to give up cell phones or what exactly, but I have seen people get $15 a month or so if they share or hunt for prepaid bargins etc...
Finally, you plan is
a) someone (possibly by "stealing") covers you up till 18 (adult??)
b) You immediately get a job paying $40,000 or so a year (or more?)
c) You live a hermits life for at least 10 years
d) You don't get sick for those 10 years so you can save up the $50,000 medical fund
And, this is assuming you're actually talking about only $50,000 . . .
So, here's something else I've always wondered. I drive an automatic, so I'd assume it's usually in an appropriate gear (and especially so if it's not redlining the Tachometer). If I take my foot off the gas and coast, that's not engine braking right? Because I've heard from multiple trustworthy sources that that's no danger, and is a good way to save on brake pads... Now, downshifting is usually a bad idea unless already at speed for the gear and you're going down a steep hill, in which case, again it saves your breaks from overheating.
As far as I've heard (Click & Clack for what it's worth) modern cars with Fuel Injectors don't have any additional gas use on startup unless the engine is cold.
Indeed, my Subaru Impreza has a 2.5L 4 cylinder engine with 173 HP. No problem doing 80. No problem getting to 80 quite fast enough for me. Heck, it does 100 without a big issue, but then I get scared and slow down.
In New York State, you can pass legally wherever you want if it's a dashed line, as long as it's not designated as a turn only lane by sign or painted indicator. Right, left, middle - doesn't matter.
In the US (or at least New York State) we do have a point system, and speeding is 3-4 points IIRC. You only get 12 points, so speeding will quickly eat that up if you get ticketed.
The worst part is spore isn't revolutionary at all. In fact, it's a huge dissapointment to me. NOTE: I've only played 3 of 5 levels/parts of the game.
It isn't a simulation like say, Sim City was. It's not even really like The Sims. It's been 3 minigames so far:
1) PackMan
2) CRPG style grind
3) Weak RTS similar to a stripped down WarCraft 1.
I can't imagine what the later 2 stages really are, but I'm mostly bored. The worst part is I've spent maybe 6 hrs to be almost done with Stage 3 (and what's holding me back is being unable to beat a basically equivelent in all ways enemy to advance).
Where is the simulation??? Where is me being suprised? If I wanted some funky pack of half assed games that have been done before, I'd just get one of those combo packs...
You know, I hear about renters insurance, but can you point at some more info on that? What I found googling was $500 deductable... In this case, he'd not get anything from his insurance either... In fact, your home electronics that are over $500 are going to be somewhat limited... Maybe your laptop? Possibly your TV. Likely NOT your average printer or iPod etc... And the insurance isn't going to cover the first $500 either, whereas the extended warranty + accidental coverage will cover with no deductable.
I'd be interested in the "low cost" insurance option . . . if someone could point me in that direction.
Hmm, I think it will vary by store quite a bit. I worked at a Best Buy, and while they weren't perfect, they did make a significant effort to honor the warranty. Now, just like manufacturer warrantys, they did not cover abuse to the product, including outside impact damage, like being dropped. They would, however, cover wearing out or various other defects. And where I worked, even if it was covered by the manufacturer, we would still take care of that behind the scenes for the customer.
Now, the biggest downside to the warranty was that it could often take a month of shipping for getting something fixed (waiting to ship, trundling ground across the country, waiting to get parts at the repair shop, trundling back to us, us processing and calling customer). This was majorly improved just before I left, going from major truck shipping once a week to daily UPS shipments. Customer wait time went from an average of a month to an average of a week for a repair.
The other thing that started up was offering insurance in the form of Accidental coverage warranties. So now for more money, you also got coverage on you dropping the item, or running over it with a car.
I think one of the things people always forgot was the difference between insurance and a warranty. No warranty I know of covers you running the item over with a car, but insurance might.
Well, I don't really know what applecare covers, but it sounds like the standard extended warrenty to me... Does it cover software glitches? Because if it mainly covers hardware and labor, so does BB and CC protection plans, which spec out at similar prices or +$100 for accidental damage coverage. Apple may be better at the marketing and or higher better techs or have an easier job, but the general offering is quite similar to your description - they will work on it for 3 years to fix any hardware problems, and if they can't fix it, they will give you your money towards a replacement.
And how do you get that working on Windows? Looks like you need Cygwin... No thanks. Anyone compiled binaries for use on WinXP?
If customers want their hands held, they're going to need to actually pay someone as an impartial consultant, or find a friend / relative who is qualified to do said holding. The downside is many of the qualified people charge significantly more per hour than MS is paing their sales drones, and figuring out if one is reputable is like finding a good doctor or good mechanic - hard.
Seriously, get ready to pay per hour, and at rates that are similar to your car mechanics.
I swear, and this bears it out, you get paid more without certs. Actually, the recent Redmond magizine also showed this in their 08 salary survey, though they were slightly higher amounts . . .
I don't hate it, but knowing that I could bring the machine in to have someone actually look at it and not have to fail at diagnosing it over the phone from India would be a HUGE selling point for most people
Isn't that what the Geek Squad and Firedog(WTH name is that?) is supposedly for? What role are these Gurus supposedly filling that the salespeople or Techies *already* hired by the retailers don't? Why would Best Buy or Circuit City *want* the competition from MS Gurus who supposedly do... something...
I mean, even if the salespeople aren't on commission, they are given sales #s to hit, and often there are contests with some sort of prize for winning...
Isn't that what freenet did/does? The problems were it was SLOOOOOOOW, and no one made a pretty front end.
This sounds like a more limited version of freenet, and the same worries come up... Do we expect the encryption to get broken, as well as the "piece" algorithm?
Interestingly, my rates have been going down a little every renwal I don't make a claim / have an accident... I've only been with them for 1.5 years though.
Hmmm, well, they don't let you choose online the coverage you need really, so they ended up being $500 more a year than I'm paying Geico. I really haven't seen any lower quotes, the only one close was Progressive... I get lots of ads saying they can save me $300 over geico, but I'm only paying ~ $800 a year... how low can they realistically go?
I would argue that, yes, as per Click and Clack, a "clunker" is the cheapest car to own. That said, I think that really doesn't take into account all sorts of externalities. For direct payments, yes, the clunker is cheapest. But I've owned $3,000 clunkers (2x what you claim can get you by) and they break down *all* the time.
When you first get it, it's ok for a few months - great. But then you start needing to get it fixed. I've seen this in GM cars, Subaru, etc...
Now the costs come up. It's not as much or as regular as a car payment, but you're never really sure that the car is going to work. So you've got the random availability, random cost, which is much harder to budget and plan than a known fixed cost and a known fixed maintanence schedule.
I've worked out of college jobs like retail or first jobs, and you really don't get that much slack for "my car is broke down" or "I need to be out of work for 3 days while my car is being fixed". Sometimes you can get alternate transportation to and from work, but that can cost money, goodwill, or if you can car pool all the time, why buy the clunker at all?
Also, if you are out of work, you might well be getting unpaid time off, so that's a direct lowering of your paycheck that pay period, just when you do need to pay more than normal for the car. After 2 years or so, you might well be fixing the car twice a month or more.
Now, if you are a mechanic, or have a friend who doesn't mind fixing your car every other weekend for free, $1,500 clunkers can make sense. Or if you can afford 2 of them, plus double insurance etc, then you can swap out cars at the shop. But is keeping 2 cars on the road going to really save you over one "good" car? Is your time worth nothing going to and from the shop? Waiting on parts etc?
That's not to say it makes sense to get a *new* car (though it is nice as you are guaranteed at least 3 years of only paying maintenance by the warranty), getting a $1,500 clunker probably isn't the best choice right out of school. I'd recommend either working where you can use public transportation to work, or getting a 2-3 year old car.
Simple really, our bosses don't actually think there's a big problem with using whatever works. Upgrades are a real pain, for little percieved user gains. We're still migrating users off of Eudora 6, and they don't actually want to migrate. We're still having users who don't want the down time to upgrade from Windows 2000. Virus attacks just don't happen near as much as I'd expect when talking about home systems, and I think it's because they aren't Admins on their computers.
Part of it may be endemic, part of it may be management, but they are interested in issues they have now, not what might possibly happen sometime later. When viruses happen maybe once every 6 months, and take at worst 2 days to reimage one users PC, there just isn't a big belief that they are a big deal. New versions of software are known to make old scripts and procedures and products break, and that's believed to be a problem, so when you compare breaking what used to work vs a remote chance of a virus, guess which wins? Not patching/upgrading.
You could argue about the software vendors having crappy products, but then we can't switch every time there's an issue. And I expect the feeling is why pay someone who makes our work harder by deliberatly breaking programs? Worst of all budgets are tight right now, and we have to bill out time. No one wants to pay to upgrade our timecard system when there's literally nothing wrong with it. It's 6 months old revision. That'd be like trying to convince someone to pay to replace their 6 month old car... Just doesn't happen. And of course it's a major version change now, so it's not equivelent to changing the oil,but a big replacement and re-training of people how to use it. All so we can use Firefox 3? Just can't justify it.
Now, I agree that the vendor ought to have a web app that works in FF 1-3, Opera 9.x, IE7, Safari and everything else. But they don't. This was in place when I started, so I had no imput, but even if I had, the working is often more important than the idealiogical purity. I think this happens all the time everywhere, bosses want stuff that functions more than they want to follow best practices.