Let's take it on good faith that this is not vaporware and will actually ship within the next 5 years--a fairly reasonable timeframe I think. That means that finally removable storage density has caught up with hard drives, and that it doesn't take 10-100 disks anymore to backup a modern HD.
Not for long. Hard disk capacity has been doubling every year for at least the last 5 years and it looks like that trend will continue. Here's what that looks like for the next 5 years:
These optical drives are going to need to come out pretty quick to ever match hard disk space and even then, they will probably be quickly left behind.
As for storage interconnect technologies, I wouldn't be surprised to see disks with native Infini-band interfaces by 2004. (Infini-band is the newest, just recently specified, mesh interconnect that is expected to replace PCI/PCI-X in the high-end).
Uh sure it would. Except, perhaps, for one thing. HDTV has almost nothing to do with DVDs.
Now, you could save an HDTV broadcast to disc and burn it to disc or email it or whatever. But, then you are going to have to edit out all the commericals and crap that interrupt the show every 14 minutes. Plus, who really cares about a copy of last week's Leno, even if it is so hi-def you can see the pores on his chin?
To a lot of people Bore and Gush are the same. To these people, it doesn't matter so much who wins this time, but rather that fundamental change occurs in the process. By voting for Nader they helping to break the choke-hold that the two-party system currently has process.
The people who think that they shouldn't "waste" their vote on Nader because it might help Bush don't really understand what Nader represents.
What does being from Sony have to do with having DD5.1 and DTS? There is no special relationship between Sony and DTS. In truth, *ANY* dvd player with digital audio out (copper sp/dif or optical toslink) will do both DD5.1 and DTS because "bits is bits" and the actual DD5.1/DTS processing is being handled by the receiver, not the dvd player.
As for the reviewer in the original article, I have to wonder about his level of comprehension. Here's why: He talks about comparing the PS2 to his Toshiba 5109, and then quips that he likes the high-end stuff too because he paid $600 for the toshiba. But, he also states that he is using a 12 year-old magnavox TV.
The one thing about the Toshiba 5109 that makes it "high-end" (besides the price) is that it is a progressive DVD player (i.e. it supports displaying a gorgeous de-interlaced image on an HDTV), it is well known for producing relatively poor image quality in interlaced mode. With his 12-year old TV, the only output he can view from his Toshiba 5109 is interlaced. So, you have to wonder why this guy wasted $600 for a player from which he can only get relatively poor image quality from?
I'm not saying the PS2 has poor image quality, or poor audio quality, you really can't tell either way from the review, we just know that it is at least as good as a bad dvd player on a 12-year old TV.
What I am saying is that the reviewer seems to be a real hypocrite for ranting about "audiophiles" and such for a page and a half, and then he turns out to be the worst of the worst himself -- a guy who wasted his money on a high-end dvd player that he can't even make use of properly in his system, and doesn't even seem to know that he's screwed himself. That's not the kind of guy whoose opinions I would trust.
I work on large multi-processor machines. Or more precisely, I work with clients developing software for such machines. I have found that regardless of the precise definition, using the term CPU reduces confusion quite a bit. Why? Because the alternative of saying "processor" is very close to the word "process."
When you are in deep discussion talking about which processes will be scheduled on which processors, it is easy for people to get really lost really quick.
So, for ease of verbal (and probably written) communication I find that the term CPU is a lot more clear than processor.
I do not have pointers to any products off-hand, but I can tell you one thing: The electrical and data interface on compact flash is the same as for an IDE/ATA hard disk. It is just the connector that is different, it has been minituarized to fit the smaller form factor of the compact flash card.
So, if you are looking for a cheap solution, there is probably some sort of really cheap IDE-to-CF converter that sits in a drive bay. I would expect such a device to cost less than $10 at retail, and probably a whole lot less if you want to buy 600 of them at one time.
When Douglas Englebart invented the mouse back in the late 60s, he also invented the chording keyboard. The idea was a lot like this claw, one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard and no need to take either hand off its designated input device.
For some reason, the chording keyboard never really took off. Perhaps because it is a little complex to start using, there is no 'hunt-and-peck' way to use a chording keyboard. You've only got five buttons and you have to remember which combination of simultaneous button presses will generate the characters you want to type.
One really good thing about chording keyboards is that because there is so little hand movement required to operate them, they are far more ergonomic than regular keyboards.
I read the article and there is no mention of chording on the claw, but it sounds like it is programmable enough that it shouldn't require any other than new software.
Now, if only it had a USB connector so I could use it on my HP workstation in the office.
Re:What about GPL'ed code sent on newsgroups?
on
Deja For Sale
·
· Score: 1
Uh, hello McFly?!!
In short, the GPL says that if you give someone the binary, you gotta give them the source code. If the code was posted and Deja sold it, then by definition the buyer now has a copy of the code.
VA Linux Needs to Buy Deja
on
Deja For Sale
·
· Score: 1
Deja's sale has been inevitable since they changed the name from DejaNews. I've been thinking, if anyone were to buy Deja, VA Linux would probably be one of the best choices.
So far VA hasn't screwed up Slashdot any worse, right? I think Deja's database would fit right in with VA's move to be a content provider.
H1B visas are designed so that their holders are not able to participate in the free market for labor. H1B visas are not open immigration.
I say, stop letting the government meddle in the market for IT labor, leave the borders completely open. If a company can find a skilled guy for $70k in Europe, hell yes hire him. But, when he gets here and sees that he could be making $100k, then the government shouldn't stop him from changing jobs immediately.
Until then, big business is the hypocrite, not me.
The companies that hire H1B's directly usually treat them decently, as has been your experience. But the H1B's that work for consulting companies like Mastech (#4), Syntel(#8), Wipro(#9) and Tata(#10) (who is really #2 on the list rather than #10 and #18) are the ones who get treated like slaves.
As you can see from the list, the number of H1Bs at bodyshops is a lot higher than the number of H1Bs working as employees of real companies.
It has been reported at RealRates that there is an H1B effect in the contracting market.
Each year, a new batch of H1B visa are issued and it takes 6-8 months for the quota to be filled. The contractors at RealRates can usually tell you when the quota has been filled by the change in the contract job market. Within a week or so of hitting the quota, these people report getting a huge increase in the amount of interest from job brokers. It is almost as if someone has flipped a switch and turned the job market back on.
I think this phenomenon is clear proof that H1B visas are used to supply artifically cheap labor to the IT market.
One thing to keep in mind when people start quoting the number of vacant IT positions is the methodology used in counting them.
Amazingly enough, positions that are filled by contractors (aka temporary workers) are usually counted as vacant. There are easily more than 300,000 contract workers in the US IT market. So, whenever you hear some parrot the Big Business line about 200k-300k vacant IT positions each year, keep in mind that a large number of those positions are not really vacant...
The issue for the libertarians is that a vast majority of H1B's do not have the LIBERTY to seek better paying jobs. The mechanics of the H1B visa process are such that changing jobs is often effectively impossible. This feature of the H1B visa (and to a lessor extent the green card application process) is an artifical downward pressure on wages for the labor market in general. It is certainly not a free-market situation.
Sure, there are some nationalistic people who want to keep foreign labor out at all costs, but those people are not libertarians in the first place.
The whole idea of stealing jobs is a false one - if you're good enough you get the job.
You are right, it isn't about stealing jobs. It is about lowering average salaries. With H1B not only does Big Business get to increase the labor pool, they also get to artificially depress rates by virtue of the indentured servitude feature of H1B.
The first part about increasing the labor pool is just part of life in the global economy and the free-market. But the second part the virtual slavery is so definitely in opposition to the principles of a free-market that it is a wonder that the lobbyists for Big Business don't die of the hypocrisy.
That is technically true. The reality is somewhat different. Here's the reality:
1) A person with an H1B visa who is unemployed has 7 days to exit the country or be considered an illegal alien.
2) The H1B application process often takes substantially longer than a month.
3) Getting a new job requires a new H1B.
4) Early on in the H1B application process, your current employer is notified that you have applied for a new H1B.
5) Current employer says, screw you, you are fired.
6) You are deported.
Additionally, most H1B people who work for bodyshops like Tata have employment contracts that require them to pay a penalty fee for quiting before their H1B visa expires (3-6 years). Of course it isn't called a penalty fee, that would be illegal. Instead they call it reimbursement for training, legal and transportation costs. Basically if you quit a bodyshop, they want $10-20K to 'cover' their expenses for training you and importing you to the US. Doesn't matter that the costs are trumped up and that they've made them back many times over in the first 6 months of your employment.
Also, don't forget that anyone applying for a green card must stay with their current employer (often for 3-4 years) or the green card application process must start all over again.
So, you see that yeah, H1B people can technically change jobs whenever they want. But the reality is that for a large number of them it is infeasible to do so.
Always disturbs me whenever I hear of the new guy who just got hired at some rediculous 6-digit figure. I get intensly jealous.
Don't get jealous, get a new job. When you know someone gets hired to do work similar to yours but is getting paid boatloads more money, this is a sign that you are underpaid. Don't be jealous, be glad that you've found out that you are potentially worth a lot more money. Then go act on that new knowledge and get yourself a 'rediculous' 6-figure salary.
Better do it while you can too, in a couple of more years we will probably see another down-turn in the IT labor market and then you may be unemployed. It is a lot better to be unemployed with a big bank account balance than it is to be unemployed with a small bank account balance.
Every year we've had an H1B visa bill it has contained similar wording regarding paying at least some high percentage of the prevailing wage, this is nothing new. The trouble is that such requirements have little teeth.
In the real world, there is very little enforcement of that requirement. In the real world there is very little budget to enforce the prevailing wage requirement, there are no inspectors who verify these things. In the real world all a company has to do is attest that they are paying a prevailing wage, that's the only requirement.
Here's just one game that gets played - lump all of IT in one group, so that the there is no difference between an operator (aka tape monkey) with 5 years experience and a C++ developer with 5 years experience. Pay the H1B guy 90% of what you pay your operator, but put him to work doing C++ development. It happens all the time.
Actually best people understand that the problem with H1B is not immigration, it is the lack of OPEN immigration. Sure, let these people in - send us your brightest, most talented people. But don't force them to work for the same employer at whatever crap salary that employer feels they can get away with. Don't constantly hold the threat of deportation over their heads if they speak up about poor working conditions, or start looking for another job.
Sure, some people jump on the H1B problem to further their own nationalistic agenda, but fundamentally what is going on is that we have big business that is not willing to settle for a simple free market of labor, they have got the US government to provide them with what is essentially slave labor.
It doesn't matter if you are GOOD or not, H1B (and to a lessor extent even green card application process) is a force that drives down wages for everyone. Sure, the good people get paid more than average joe, but personally I'd rather have a market where the average joe makes $100k and the good people can make $200k than a market where joe makes $25k and the good people only make $50k. Wouldn't you?
Why should there be a limit on what people are paid? Isn't America suppossed to be the land of the free-markets where goods and services are sold at whatever price the market will bear? Do you also support some sort of subsidy for IT people when the market turns bad? It was still less than a decade ago when IT jobs paid crap, a lot of people really took it where it hurts the most - in the wallet.
Big business didn't give a damn then about the people, they paid them as little as they could, they down-sized/right-sized/whatever-ized them into unemployment. It seems like we get screwed on the down cycles as well as the up cycles.
H1B is just another form of corporate welfare, America was built on the backs of immigrants with a strong work ethic. Parts of it were built on slave-labor even, but in this modern time should we really accept slave-labor in the IT field?
Big business is all for free-markets for their products, but when it comes to paying for required resources they are a bunch of hypocrites.
There is a far simpler explanation for why your interviewer has not seen many skilled people. It is because they are actively ignoring them. It goes like this:
They think that Age == Bad because older workers expect higher salaries and aren't willing to work those 18 hour days.
So, these employers never even interview the people who are older. They neglect to realize that often Age == Experience. One reason experienced people aren't willing to work 18 hours days is that they prefer to work smart -- often the reason for 18 hour work days is not that there is a lot of work, it is that management has so fucked things up that the only way out is for people to put in a herculean amount of effort.
Of course management never wants to hear that they are the problem and so they prefer that a bunch of newbies who don't know any better work those 18 hour days.
InterNap is an interesting contradiction. On one hand they loooove linux, they've been a linux shop since just about day one. On the other hand, they've applied for patents on their special BGP routing algorithms. I think such a patent is barely better than a software patent, because as you say, anybody who knows how BGP works can figure it out the basics of they've patented...
Uh, yeah, we've read the article. Just because the border guard wanted to talk about baskeball instead of the temporary status of the H1B visa the guy was entering on, doesn't mean he should assume he will get permanent status. The H1B is a temporary visa and it is not on the official track towards citizenship. So, Big Business misleads these people, Big Business is constantly trying to screw little people over in any way they can.
As for the kid, that is weird. I would like to know more about that.
If she's been here on a student visa, she hasn't paid much in the way of taxes, student visas very stringently limit where one can legally work, mostly on-campus type jobs, none of which pay a whole heck of a lot. In fact, she should not have paid a dime into the greatest ponzi scheme of them all, social security, people on student visas are immune to that wallet sucker.
Slashdot Mirror
Not for long. Hard disk capacity has been doubling every year for at least the last 5 years and it looks like that trend will continue. Here's what that looks like for the next 5 years:
2000: 80GB @ $300
2001: 160GB @ $300
2002: 320GB @ $300
2003: 640GB @ $300
2004: 1.3TB @ $300
2005: 2.5TB @ $300
These optical drives are going to need to come out pretty quick to ever match hard disk space and even then, they will probably be quickly left behind.
As for storage interconnect technologies, I wouldn't be surprised to see disks with native Infini-band interfaces by 2004. (Infini-band is the newest, just recently specified, mesh interconnect that is expected to replace PCI/PCI-X in the high-end).
HDTV has almost nothing to do with DVDs.
Now, you could save an HDTV broadcast to disc and burn it to disc or email it or whatever. But, then you are going to have to edit out all the commericals and crap that interrupt the show every 14 minutes. Plus, who really cares about a copy of last week's Leno, even if it is so hi-def you can see the pores on his chin?
To a lot of people Bore and Gush are the same. To these people, it doesn't matter so much who wins this time, but rather that fundamental change occurs in the process. By voting for Nader they helping to break the choke-hold that the two-party system currently has process.
The people who think that they shouldn't "waste" their vote on Nader because it might help Bush don't really understand what Nader represents.
What does being from Sony have to do with having DD5.1 and DTS? There is no special relationship between Sony and DTS. In truth, *ANY* dvd player with digital audio out (copper sp/dif or optical toslink) will do both DD5.1 and DTS because "bits is bits" and the actual DD5.1/DTS processing is being handled by the receiver, not the dvd player.
As for the reviewer in the original article, I have to wonder about his level of comprehension. Here's why: He talks about comparing the PS2 to his Toshiba 5109, and then quips that he likes the high-end stuff too because he paid $600 for the toshiba. But, he also states that he is using a 12 year-old magnavox TV.
The one thing about the Toshiba 5109 that makes it "high-end" (besides the price) is that it is a progressive DVD player (i.e. it supports displaying a gorgeous de-interlaced image on an HDTV), it is well known for producing relatively poor image quality in interlaced mode. With his 12-year old TV, the only output he can view from his Toshiba 5109 is interlaced. So, you have to wonder why this guy wasted $600 for a player from which he can only get relatively poor image quality from?
I'm not saying the PS2 has poor image quality, or poor audio quality, you really can't tell either way from the review, we just know that it is at least as good as a bad dvd player on a 12-year old TV.
What I am saying is that the reviewer seems to be a real hypocrite for ranting about "audiophiles" and such for a page and a half, and then he turns out to be the worst of the worst himself -- a guy who wasted his money on a high-end dvd player that he can't even make use of properly in his system, and doesn't even seem to know that he's screwed himself. That's not the kind of guy whoose opinions I would trust.
I work on large multi-processor machines. Or more precisely, I work with clients developing software for such machines. I have found that regardless of the precise definition, using the term CPU reduces confusion quite a bit. Why? Because the alternative of saying "processor" is very close to the word "process."
When you are in deep discussion talking about which processes will be scheduled on which processors, it is easy for people to get really lost really quick.
So, for ease of verbal (and probably written) communication I find that the term CPU is a lot more clear than processor.
http://www.urbanlegends.com/animals/penguins_fall_ over.html
With a explanation what really happens when fighter jets fly over a penguin colony...
This is the definitive site for debunking urban legends...
I do not have pointers to any products off-hand, but I can tell you one thing: The electrical and data interface on compact flash is the same as for an IDE/ATA hard disk. It is just the connector that is different, it has been minituarized to fit the smaller form factor of the compact flash card.
So, if you are looking for a cheap solution, there is probably some sort of really cheap IDE-to-CF converter that sits in a drive bay. I would expect such a device to cost less than $10 at retail, and probably a whole lot less if you want to buy 600 of them at one time.
When Douglas Englebart invented the mouse back in the late 60s, he also invented the chording keyboard. The idea was a lot like this claw, one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard and no need to take either hand off its designated input device.
For some reason, the chording keyboard never really took off. Perhaps because it is a little complex to start using, there is no 'hunt-and-peck' way to use a chording keyboard. You've only got five buttons and you have to remember which combination of simultaneous button presses will generate the characters you want to type.
One really good thing about chording keyboards is that because there is so little hand movement required to operate them, they are far more ergonomic than regular keyboards.
I read the article and there is no mention of chording on the claw, but it sounds like it is programmable enough that it shouldn't require any other than new software.
Now, if only it had a USB connector so I could use it on my HP workstation in the office.
Uh, hello McFly?!!
In short, the GPL says that if you give someone the binary, you gotta give them the source code. If the code was posted and Deja sold it, then by definition the buyer now has a copy of the code.
Deja's sale has been inevitable since they changed the name from DejaNews. I've been thinking, if anyone were to buy Deja, VA Linux would probably be one of the best choices.
So far VA hasn't screwed up Slashdot any worse, right? I think Deja's database would fit right in with VA's move to be a content provider.
Perhaps you don't get it.
Let me state it more clearly.
H1B visas are designed so that their holders are not able to participate in the free market for labor. H1B visas are not open immigration.
I say, stop letting the government meddle in the market for IT labor, leave the borders completely open. If a company can find a skilled guy for $70k in Europe, hell yes hire him. But, when he gets here and sees that he could be making $100k, then the government shouldn't stop him from changing jobs immediately.
Until then, big business is the hypocrite, not me.
Take a look at the top 100 H1B employers:
http://www.h1bsponsors.com/Top100h1b.html
The companies that hire H1B's directly usually treat them decently, as has been your experience. But the H1B's that work for consulting companies like Mastech (#4), Syntel(#8), Wipro(#9) and Tata(#10) (who is really #2 on the list rather than #10 and #18) are the ones who get treated like slaves.
As you can see from the list, the number of H1Bs at bodyshops is a lot higher than the number of H1Bs working as employees of real companies.
Each year, a new batch of H1B visa are issued and it takes 6-8 months for the quota to be filled. The contractors at RealRates can usually tell you when the quota has been filled by the change in the contract job market. Within a week or so of hitting the quota, these people report getting a huge increase in the amount of interest from job brokers. It is almost as if someone has flipped a switch and turned the job market back on.
I think this phenomenon is clear proof that H1B visas are used to supply artifically cheap labor to the IT market.
One thing to keep in mind when people start quoting the number of vacant IT positions is the methodology used in counting them.
Amazingly enough, positions that are filled by contractors (aka temporary workers) are usually counted as vacant. There are easily more than 300,000 contract workers in the US IT market. So, whenever you hear some parrot the Big Business line about 200k-300k vacant IT positions each year, keep in mind that a large number of those positions are not really vacant...
The issue for the libertarians is that a vast majority of H1B's do not have the LIBERTY to seek better paying jobs. The mechanics of the H1B visa process are such that changing jobs is often effectively impossible. This feature of the H1B visa (and to a lessor extent the green card application process) is an artifical downward pressure on wages for the labor market in general. It is certainly not a free-market situation.
Sure, there are some nationalistic people who want to keep foreign labor out at all costs, but those people are not libertarians in the first place.
The whole idea of stealing jobs is a false one - if you're good enough you get the job.
You are right, it isn't about stealing jobs. It is about lowering average salaries. With H1B not only does Big Business get to increase the labor pool, they also get to artificially depress rates by virtue of the indentured servitude feature of H1B.
The first part about increasing the labor pool is just part of life in the global economy and the free-market. But the second part the virtual slavery is so definitely in opposition to the principles of a free-market that it is a wonder that the lobbyists for Big Business don't die of the hypocrisy.
H1B's have always allowed job changes.
That is technically true. The reality is somewhat different. Here's the reality:
1) A person with an H1B visa who is unemployed has 7 days to exit the country or be considered an illegal alien.
2) The H1B application process often takes substantially longer than a month.
3) Getting a new job requires a new H1B.
4) Early on in the H1B application process, your current employer is notified that you have applied for a new H1B.
5) Current employer says, screw you, you are fired.
6) You are deported.
Additionally, most H1B people who work for bodyshops like Tata have employment contracts that require them to pay a penalty fee for quiting before their H1B visa expires (3-6 years). Of course it isn't called a penalty fee, that would be illegal. Instead they call it reimbursement for training, legal and transportation costs. Basically if you quit a bodyshop, they want $10-20K to 'cover' their expenses for training you and importing you to the US. Doesn't matter that the costs are trumped up and that they've made them back many times over in the first 6 months of your employment.
Also, don't forget that anyone applying for a green card must stay with their current employer (often for 3-4 years) or the green card application process must start all over again.
So, you see that yeah, H1B people can technically change jobs whenever they want. But the reality is that for a large number of them it is infeasible to do so.
Always disturbs me whenever I hear of the new guy who just got hired at some rediculous 6-digit figure. I get intensly jealous.
Don't get jealous, get a new job. When you know someone gets hired to do work similar to yours but is getting paid boatloads more money, this is a sign that you are underpaid. Don't be jealous, be glad that you've found out that you are potentially worth a lot more money. Then go act on that new knowledge and get yourself a 'rediculous' 6-figure salary.
Better do it while you can too, in a couple of more years we will probably see another down-turn in the IT labor market and then you may be unemployed. It is a lot better to be unemployed with a big bank account balance than it is to be unemployed with a small bank account balance.
I'd suggest that you get to know the real world.
Every year we've had an H1B visa bill it has contained similar wording regarding paying at least some high percentage of the prevailing wage, this is nothing new. The trouble is that such requirements have little teeth.
In the real world, there is very little enforcement of that requirement. In the real world there is very little budget to enforce the prevailing wage requirement, there are no inspectors who verify these things. In the real world all a company has to do is attest that they are paying a prevailing wage, that's the only requirement.
Here's just one game that gets played - lump all of IT in one group, so that the there is no difference between an operator (aka tape monkey) with 5 years experience and a C++ developer with 5 years experience. Pay the H1B guy 90% of what you pay your operator, but put him to work doing C++ development. It happens all the time.
Actually best people understand that the problem with H1B is not immigration, it is the lack of OPEN immigration. Sure, let these people in - send us your brightest, most talented people. But don't force them to work for the same employer at whatever crap salary that employer feels they can get away with. Don't constantly hold the threat of deportation over their heads if they speak up about poor working conditions, or start looking for another job.
Sure, some people jump on the H1B problem to further their own nationalistic agenda, but fundamentally what is going on is that we have big business that is not willing to settle for a simple free market of labor, they have got the US government to provide them with what is essentially slave labor.
It doesn't matter if you are GOOD or not, H1B (and to a lessor extent even green card application process) is a force that drives down wages for everyone. Sure, the good people get paid more than average joe, but personally I'd rather have a market where the average joe makes $100k and the good people can make $200k than a market where joe makes $25k and the good people only make $50k. Wouldn't you?
Why should there be a limit on what people are paid? Isn't America suppossed to be the land of the free-markets where goods and services are sold at whatever price the market will bear? Do you also support some sort of subsidy for IT people when the market turns bad? It was still less than a decade ago when IT jobs paid crap, a lot of people really took it where it hurts the most - in the wallet.
Big business didn't give a damn then about the people, they paid them as little as they could, they down-sized/right-sized/whatever-ized them into unemployment. It seems like we get screwed on the down cycles as well as the up cycles.
H1B is just another form of corporate welfare, America was built on the backs of immigrants with a strong work ethic. Parts of it were built on slave-labor even, but in this modern time should we really accept slave-labor in the IT field?
Big business is all for free-markets for their products, but when it comes to paying for required resources they are a bunch of hypocrites.
There is a far simpler explanation for why your interviewer has not seen many skilled people. It is because they are actively ignoring them. It goes like this:
They think that Age == Bad because older workers expect higher salaries and aren't willing to work those 18 hour days.
So, these employers never even interview the people who are older. They neglect to realize that often Age == Experience. One reason experienced people aren't willing to work 18 hours days is that they prefer to work smart -- often the reason for 18 hour work days is not that there is a lot of work, it is that management has so fucked things up that the only way out is for people to put in a herculean amount of effort.
Of course management never wants to hear that they are the problem and so they prefer that a bunch of newbies who don't know any better work those 18 hour days.
InterNap is an interesting contradiction. On one hand they loooove linux, they've been a linux shop since just about day one. On the other hand, they've applied for patents on their special BGP routing algorithms. I think such a patent is barely better than a software patent, because as you say, anybody who knows how BGP works can figure it out the basics of they've patented...
Uh, yeah, we've read the article. Just because the border guard wanted to talk about baskeball instead of the temporary status of the H1B visa the guy was entering on, doesn't mean he should assume he will get permanent status. The H1B is a temporary visa and it is not on the official track towards citizenship. So, Big Business misleads these people, Big Business is constantly trying to screw little people over in any way they can.
As for the kid, that is weird. I would like to know more about that.
If she's been here on a student visa, she hasn't paid much in the way of taxes, student visas very stringently limit where one can legally work, mostly on-campus type jobs, none of which pay a whole heck of a lot. In fact, she should not have paid a dime into the greatest ponzi scheme of them all, social security, people on student visas are immune to that wallet sucker.