I used to like Apple's term of "System Software" in reference to their Mac operating system. (although now it's MacOS; go figure;-)
But I still like to think of the OS as something akin to the Tannenbaum definition (kernel, modules, and a subset of daemons). But something like a Linux distribution, which includes so much more, I prefer to think of as "System Software". I really cringe when I see an article that says something like "RedHat Linux OS"; that just ain't so. The "OS" in RH distro is arguably the same one in Suse or Debian or Slackware, etc. It's all the "extras" and configurations that set the distros apart from eachother.
So maybe it would be neat to see something like "Debian distribution featuring Linux OS and GNU system software."
Where I work, we've been burned in the (recent) past by contractors. The attitude I see from nearly every contractor I've worked with has been one of not caring for the long term progress of the task or project. And it can be worse...
We had asked our contractors to help us build test automation. They did. We made the mistake of not reviewing their work often enough or thoroughly enough. After churning out a small mountain of scripts, we found: A. Not a comment in sight B. They didn't work, nor could they ever have worked.
I'd like to think that this was an unfortunate situation that happens rather rarely, but I admit that I'll think twice about hiring contractors again. The time and money wasted on this was very frustrating to deal with.
Incidentally, contractors in my company tend to have an indefinite contract period, which pretty much makes them higher-priced full time employees who often produce low-quality work. (Again, this is my experience.)
If you go with contractors, I'd recommend: A. Do NOT assume they are somehow more expert or more senior. It most likely is the opposite. B. Make sure the contract period is defined and finite. You can always bring them on with a new contract if things work well (of course you can also "fire" them with an indefinite one if things go badly;) C. Interview very carefully and thoroughly. Contractors switch jobs much more often and interview much more often. They know what you want to hear, so they say it. It doesn't necessarily mean they understand the technology or are proficient at the work they advertise.
I'm probably a bit paranoid, but it happened to us, and I can easily envision it happening elsewhere. My general rule of thumb (now) is that all employees get interviewed very thoroughly and all work gets reviewed on a regular basis.
Let's not forget that while a lack of address space is the most obvious (and arguably the biggest) problem with IPv4, there are other issues that have come up such as security but also QoS and general bandwidth control. (I don't want to start a war on whether or not this stuff is needed or wanted.)
I believe (smack me if I'm wrong;) that IPv6 is there to address these issues too. A lot of people say "If it ain't broke..." and imply that IPv4 "ain't broke". But it is (or will be soon) in several areas. Not because it's a bad technology (heck, it's downright beautiful). But because it has outgrown it's projected usage space.
This quack is only looking at the address problem, and his solution (??) appears faulty at best. The point(s) made earlier are valid: if you implement this garbage, you'd have to re-write TCP/IP anyway so why not use IPv6 and do it right.
I agree heavily with the article's comments about communications skills. Many many geeks cannot effectively communicate basic thoughts and concepts. The good ones can. Consider all the "big boys" in the Linux community. They can all communicate eloquently. This directly leads to faster development, because ideas can transfer between people faster and more accurately.
Where do these skills come from? College! Why not High School or on-the-job? In high school, you get pretty much zilch for communication training. On-the-job, is better. But in College, you are constantly placed into group projects and the like, with deadlines that don't move (unlike the job place). And the only way to accomplish the task at hand in the time allotted is to get your heads on straight and talk amongst eachother to be sure it all got done -- right.
Umm, this site works so well, I'm actually not fully aware of who all the people are that make it happen; it's totally transparent to me, the user.
But to all of you who maintain Slashdot.org, this is truly awesome! All the other dorky portals that have customizable web pages, just cannot compare to the choice of content on Slashdot. My thanks and Kudos go out to you. I'll just throw out all my bookmarks, cuz now Slashdot does it all.
And anyone who complains about anything on this site, should go blow his nose elsewhere. What do you want for nothing? Rrrrrrrrubber biscuit?
Hey let's face it. Every geek I've ever known has a massive silly side to him/her. And where did Linux rise from? And what kind of people made it the glorious piece of work that it is? Geeks built and maintain Linux. Linux is so awesome, because the geeks know how to do things right. And a fundamental goal of Linux is to have fun with it. So a little silliness spilled in. The fact that world domination is happening is a direct consequence to building such a high quality system. Oh sure, we could be professional with a low-quality system like some other OS company. But I think we see where that leads in terms of user satisfaction.
Yes, at the company I worked for (one of the "Big Four" networking vendors) we actually had this in the center of our lab for reference! (Way to go, Pat!)
And now, as far as I know, it's at another big networking company (I forget the name; I think it starts with '3'). Hey Willie, you still got it?
An absolute 'must read'. Thrilling drama. It taught me a lot when I was starting out.
Slashdot Mirror
Dear StrongBad,
How do you type with boxing gloves on your hands?
Sincerely,
fhqwgads
No, methinks Drew Carey had a hand in this... or perhaps Mr. Wick?
Pig!
Looks like MSNBC has the same proofreaders as Slashdot...
Is this in any way related to Strong Bad?
"Everybody To The Limit!!"
Yes I think in my QA days I had a Command Line Iinterface Tester at some point. (But I could always find it ;-)
I'm not a seasoned web developer, but doesn't apache have a spell-checking module called 'mod_speling'?
(note the missing 'l')
too funnie...
I know I'm adding to already rampant speculation (what else can we do at this point)...
But can anybody comment on the likelihood of an impact with orbiting objects or debris? I figure you knock loose a few of those heat tiles...
From the article:
;-)
"Even if God wears shoes with 100 eyelets..."
God wears shoes? What kind of marketing propaganda is Nike into now??
What's even more interesting (and humorous) is that WindRiver's product line is entirely based on the GNU toolset!
How can they deal with such "growing uncertainty of using GPL-based code" in their own products?
guffaw
Could a concept like this help reverse major
global warming?
What about the other planets?
Could we move Mars in a bit and warm it up?
Hey the PDP-10 may be older than me, but I have
fond memories of re-implementing a PDP-11 in
Mentor Graphics for my BSEE requirements.
Oh the memories...
Say, you know what would be fun, is to run EMACS
on a _simulated_ PDP-10 in Mentor Graphics.
Now *that* sounds useful. Chug-chug-chug...
I used to like Apple's term of "System Software" in reference to their Mac operating system. (although now it's MacOS; go figure ;-)
But I still like to think of the OS as something akin to the Tannenbaum definition (kernel, modules, and a subset of daemons). But something like a Linux distribution, which includes so much more, I prefer to think of as "System Software".
I really cringe when I see an article that says something like "RedHat Linux OS"; that just ain't so. The "OS" in RH distro is arguably the same one in Suse or Debian or Slackware, etc. It's all the "extras" and configurations that set the distros apart from eachother.
So maybe it would be neat to see something like "Debian distribution featuring Linux OS and GNU system software."
???
I think Cobalt has a great thing going. The integration they've put into their product really helps in the performance area.
;)
I also like how they aren't using an Intel architecture, which helps promote Linux's cross-platform abilities.
Best of luck Cobalt! (I love that color too
Where I work, we've been burned in the (recent) past by contractors. The attitude I see from nearly every contractor I've worked with has been one of not caring for the long term progress of the task or project. And it can be worse...
;)
We had asked our contractors to help us build test automation. They did. We made the mistake of not reviewing their work often enough or thoroughly enough. After churning out a small mountain of scripts, we found:
A. Not a comment in sight
B. They didn't work, nor could they ever have worked.
I'd like to think that this was an unfortunate situation that happens rather rarely, but I admit that I'll think twice about hiring contractors again. The time and money wasted on this was very frustrating to deal with.
Incidentally, contractors in my company tend to have an indefinite contract period, which pretty much makes them higher-priced full time employees who often produce low-quality work. (Again, this is my experience.)
If you go with contractors, I'd recommend:
A. Do NOT assume they are somehow more expert or more senior. It most likely is the opposite.
B. Make sure the contract period is defined and finite. You can always bring them on with a new contract if things work well (of course you can also "fire" them with an indefinite one if things go badly
C. Interview very carefully and thoroughly. Contractors switch jobs much more often and interview much more often. They know what you want to hear, so they say it. It doesn't necessarily mean they understand the technology or are proficient at the work they advertise.
I'm probably a bit paranoid, but it happened to us, and I can easily envision it happening elsewhere. My general rule of thumb (now) is that all employees get interviewed very thoroughly and all work gets reviewed on a regular basis.
Let's not forget that while a lack of address
;) that IPv6 is
space is the most obvious (and arguably the
biggest) problem with IPv4, there are other
issues that have come up such as security but
also QoS and general bandwidth control. (I don't
want to start a war on whether or not this stuff
is needed or wanted.)
I believe (smack me if I'm wrong
there to address these issues too. A lot of
people say "If it ain't broke..." and imply that
IPv4 "ain't broke". But it is (or will be soon)
in several areas. Not because it's a bad
technology (heck, it's downright beautiful). But
because it has outgrown it's projected usage space.
This quack is only looking at the address problem,
and his solution (??) appears faulty at best. The
point(s) made earlier are valid: if you implement
this garbage, you'd have to re-write TCP/IP anyway
so why not use IPv6 and do it right.
To this day, I cannot accomplish simple navigation
/did/ GNU come up
through a texinfo file. With 'man', I can scroll
up down pageup pagedown beginning end, its easy.
INFO just seems so prickly to me; I hate having
to use it. 'man' is so ubiqitous (can you say
de-facto?)
Is there something about 'man' that is somehow
non-free? or anti-GNU? Why
with INFO?
Oh, and small note to developers: maintain your
man pages! (OK, maintain your INFO pages too, I
guess). We users ARE reading them!
Wait a minute; am I the "living Obi-Wan" or the ;-)
post-mortem "glowing Obi-Wan"? Or am I just
"Ben"? (That's a name I've not heard in a long
time.
I agree heavily with the article's comments about communications skills. Many many geeks cannot effectively communicate basic thoughts and concepts. The good ones can. Consider all the "big boys" in the Linux community. They can all communicate eloquently. This directly leads to faster development, because ideas can transfer between people faster and more accurately.
Where do these skills come from? College! Why not High School or on-the-job? In high school, you get pretty much zilch for communication training. On-the-job, is better. But in College, you are constantly placed into group projects and the like, with deadlines that don't move (unlike the job place). And the only way to accomplish the task at hand in the time allotted is to get your heads on straight and talk amongst eachother to be sure it all got done -- right.
Umm, this site works so well, I'm actually not fully aware of who all the people are that make it happen; it's totally transparent to me, the user.
But to all of you who maintain Slashdot.org, this is truly awesome! All the other dorky portals that have customizable web pages, just cannot compare to the choice of content on Slashdot. My thanks and Kudos go out to you. I'll just throw out all my bookmarks, cuz now Slashdot does it all.
And anyone who complains about anything on this site, should go blow his nose elsewhere. What do you want for nothing? Rrrrrrrrubber biscuit?
Hey let's face it. Every geek I've ever known
has a massive silly side to him/her.
And where did Linux rise from? And what kind of
people made it the glorious piece of work that it
is?
Geeks built and maintain Linux. Linux is so
awesome, because the geeks know how to do things
right. And a fundamental goal of Linux is to
have fun with it. So a little silliness spilled
in. The fact that world domination is happening
is a direct consequence to building such a high
quality system. Oh sure, we could be professional
with a low-quality system like some other OS
company. But I think we see where that leads
in terms of user satisfaction.
Have a great day, everyone.
Yes, at the company I worked for (one of the "Big Four" networking vendors) we actually had this in the center of our lab for reference! (Way to go, Pat!)
And now, as far as I know, it's at another big networking company (I forget the name; I think it starts with '3'). Hey Willie, you still got it?
An absolute 'must read'. Thrilling drama. It taught me a lot when I was starting out.
Have a great day, everyone.
6000-500000 FF --> What's that in Euros? ;-)
Have a nice day everyone!