You certainly can, but forcing the "click-through and select the appropriate options" install of Firefox 1.0.4 would be a step backwards for us because updates to Windows, IE, or Office are transparent to our end users. With a tiny help desk, we cannot afford to put more work back on poor Nathan.
Exactly. I am running Ubuntu on a machine on my desk, but moving the entire campus to a Debian distro doesn't seem feasible right now. We have programming classes that use Visutal Studio, psychology classes that use SPSS, and other similar issues. Our student information system uses a Windows client provided by the vendor (we've made it limp along under wine but it is not stable). Our Web site runs on a CMS that requires IE for the management side.
I'm looking for help doing this in smaller steps without losing enterprise-level management I have with SUS, group policies, etc.
Believe it or not, some IT management rises from within, some have undergrad degrees in Comp Sci, and some run FreeBSD, OS 10.3, Windows 2000, and Windows XP on boxes at home.
Right, I really just ignored the last sentence of the original post.
So, you decided to be of no help? As another poster said, in the real world you sometimes have to live within boundaries that you don't like. The question says that this person works at a department store and is the only technical support person. Clearly tech support is a very ancillary piece of the big picture and one that needs to be done as under the radar as possible. Advice like yours is of no value. I haven't priced Remedy recently, but another poster indicated they paid over $15,000/year.
The major problem with your line of argument is that Microsoft bundles their own applications in their own OS in their monopolized market. Linux distros bundle several "competing" applications from development teams unrelated to the OS project. The problem on Microsoft's side is they stand to make significant money by pushing their own software on an essentially captive audience. This isn't the case in the Linux world.
Its great that there are lawyers willing to spend time on OSS projects, but they just dumped a whole pile of hurt on Wine if Borland pursues this.
How do you figure? TFA simply says that gcc can't implement the features because Borland has a patent. This means that people wanting to use Winelib must remove the SEH portions of their code in order for it to compile. This is a story about a shortcoming of gcc and Winelib because so many Windows C++ developers use SEH instead of sticking to standard C++. I see no threat of lawsuit from Borland or any potential for it.
Since this is a patented technology used in other compilers, I assume Borland licenses it but it can't be part of the C++ standard. This just seems to me like another great example of problems introduced when programmers rely on things that are not part of the standard. Whether it is Microsoft's custom portions of Java (which meant Java apps suddenly were no longer compatible with Sun's JVM) or vendor extensions to error handling, if you use a tool that does not meet defined standards, then you develop software that is much less useful (it may implement something cool but it has a more limited audience and an almost guaranteed shortened lifespan).
You're also a unique example in a very specific role in a very specific field. To repeat from my OP:
While I agree with your comments, Slashdotters don't seem to realize that most school children aren't going to grow up to be coders or sys admins. In fact, most are not. If you want to be realistic about this, think about billing clerks, secretaries, accountants, and school teachers.
Your individual experience aside, an accounting firm that is tied to Excel will look for people whose portfolio includes Excel experience. This isn't the only item on the list and shouldn't even be near the top, but it is something that is considered.
As an IT manager, I have sacrificed signficant depth for breadth the last few years. This is a requirement of the position. However, as a primarily Microsoft shop with Exchange, AD, and several hundred XP desktops, I must look for certain experience when hiring. If other things are equal, breadth is great, but an experienced Active Directory and Exchange administrator has a leg up on an experienced AIX and sendmail admin.
Computer software changes so rapidly that extensive ingrained experience with any tool is a liability, not an asset. It tends to indicate, more often than not, difficulty and opposition for anything different, no matter how the suitability compares between the old and new software.
That is a problem, but not necessarily related to the issue of depth with any particular technology or tool. Yet, it is true that too much depth without breadth can lead to tunnel vision. Of course, if this person could get really good at one particular thing, they just need the appropriate motivation to transfer this ability. That's where good leadership/management comes in:)
Yes, but what are those tools going to be when today's school children are in the marketplace. We're talking 10 years or so down the road, minimum.
The answers certainly change when you look at different academic levels. I am a university IT director and tend to think on the shorter term because our students are closer to the real world. However, the study in TFA did talk more about grade school (primary schools) instead of high school or college, so your point is certainly valid.
So, part of the question becomes: how insightful will the school administrators look to the future?
Predicting future marketshare or emerging products is a crap shoot for experts in the business. Do you really think administrators in public education will fare well in being insightful on this issue? Perhaps a better consideration is how they can transition to the next immediate step. What should those in primary schools learn to do better in secondary schools? In theory, this should eventually get to a question of what is used in business today or expected to be used tomorrow.
Everything I actully wrote code on/for was some kind of *nix box.
So I keep hearing about the importantance of knowing Office etc.. I could see that it has some value, but I have NEVER hired anyone nor been hired myself based any kind of m$ office skills....
If somone is smart and can learn Word perfect or open Off or m$ off, then they can easily learn another package.
While I agree with your comments, Slashdotters don't seem to realize that most school children aren't going to grow up to be coders or sys admins. In fact, most are not. If you want to be realistic about this, think about billing clerks, secretaries, accountants, and school teachers. The average hiring manager wants someone who has experience with the particular tools they use. When looking for experience, depth is often given much more weight than breadth.
If you were hiring a help desk position in a Microsoft Office environment and had two basically equal candidates, but the first had used Microsoft Office for years while the other had used OpenOffice or Corel Office, which are you going to choose?
Re:Can I get the Force from a foozeball table?
on
How Lightsabers Work
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· Score: 1
I'm more interested in whether I can get BALCO to cook up a Midichlorian injection so I can be a stronger Jedi.
That being said, how is using it in violation of the license illegal?...I think the terms legal and illegal are used far too loosely in this country.
The basic definition of illegal is simply "against the law". There are civil and criminal sections of law, and running afoul of parts of either is illegal. Is it illegal to sign a contract then not hold up your end of the deal? This may be a civil case (in most situations), but is it still illegal.
When you install software you are required to accept the license agreement and all its terms. The terms of the MSDNAA include stipulations about how and when the software can be used. It is not legal for me to run an administrative application for our university using the MSDNAA licensed software.
Can I get the Force from a foozeball table?
on
How Lightsabers Work
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· Score: 1
Microsoft's MSDNAA program provides a perpetual license for the software. If your school stops paying the annual fee, they can continue using whatever versions they were using at that time. However, the software is licensed for academic uses only, so you would be in violation of the license if you continued using it once you left school. Further, the university would have no liability as long as they gave you some guidelines (which are requred for MSNDAA participants). In fact, most schools require that you sign something indicating that you read and understand the license before you get a copy of the media.
That doesn't mean it's illegal (selling it would be), just unlicensed.
Using it in violation of the license agreement is illegal.
Certainly Apple has some version of Mac OS Tiger trademarked, isn't it past the time to complain already?
Apple does have a trademark registered for Tiger as it relates to computer operating system software. However, this trademark was challenged several months ago, so who knows.
It does seem to be case of Google Rage, but something tells me it goes a little deeper. Regardless, I don't see Tiger Direct having any more success than Microware had in their "OS 9" suit five or six years ago.
TFA talks about big drug companies benefitting from native people (shamans and such) without returning any of the profits. The sentence that you quoted finished with bypassing some of the controversy, in reference to the corporations' exploitation of the local people. This new process allows the companies to exploit historical documentation instead of contemporary individuals.
This issue is really quite simple, but clearly most posters in this thread have no clue of the actual facts. The DMCA permits expedited subpeonas (those that require only a clerk signature, instead of judicial review) only in certain situations. The judge decided that these subpeonas were invalid because the school was acting as a conduit only. Just like the case that Verizon won over a year ago, the ISP was not storing any of the material on their network and thus the subpeona did not meet the guidelines of the DMCA. The RIAA attempted to argue that legislative intent was to include those who act as conduits, but the judge (just as in the Verizon case) did not buy it. If it turned out that the materials were actually stored on a University file server, the situation would be different.
Also important in this is FERPA. If a school revealed a student's person information in response to an invalid subpeona, they could be sued by the student for a clear FERPA violation. This university said that they do not support these kids' actions. I believe that like most every other institution of higher education served thus far, North Carolina State University will honor a valid subpeona. Boston College and a few other schools successfully fought ealier RIAA subpeonas based upon filing jurisdictions. Once the technicality was resolved and a valid subpeona issued, they complied.
One other FERPA-related concern is that schools must notify students before releasing their personal information. The RIAA subpeonas dictate such compressed timelines that compliance with them could cause a FERPA violation because the students couldn't be notified in time.
Once the RIAA's lawyers pull their heads out of their collective butts and issue legally solid subpeonas, colleges and universities will comply. We can only hope that a few will refuse on grounds of DMCA protests and force the courts to (again) examine the expedited subpeonas, or the RIAA will eventually give up on their shotgun subpeona approach.
Oh I definitely agree, competition is good. But I also don't agree that open source software necessarily needs competition (at all) to improve.
I don't completely disagree if you consider "improve" to mean growth of an existing product. However, so much open source software is simply recreations of existing commercial software that you have to wonder what would happen if FOSS actually gained significant market share.
A recent post in the Freeciv thread made the interesting point that original FOSS is extra difficult because of the relatively unorganized and fluid nature of development teams. The loss of the primary developer can kill or radically alter any FOSS project, even with a commercial product to use a roadmap. Anything really new and inventive is exponentially more susceptible.
The fact that they agreed to plead guilty means that they negotiated the fine. They are unlikely to accept a fine that makes them destitute or removes those six sports cars from the garage. You can be sure that the fine is insignificant to the corporation.
Slashdot Mirror
You certainly can, but forcing the "click-through and select the appropriate options" install of Firefox 1.0.4 would be a step backwards for us because updates to Windows, IE, or Office are transparent to our end users. With a tiny help desk, we cannot afford to put more work back on poor Nathan.
I've heard of this but never used it. Does it create a file that requires no user intervention or must the end user still click through stuff?
I'm looking for help doing this in smaller steps without losing enterprise-level management I have with SUS, group policies, etc.
Believe it or not, some IT management rises from within, some have undergrad degrees in Comp Sci, and some run FreeBSD, OS 10.3, Windows 2000, and Windows XP on boxes at home.
So, you decided to be of no help? As another poster said, in the real world you sometimes have to live within boundaries that you don't like. The question says that this person works at a department store and is the only technical support person. Clearly tech support is a very ancillary piece of the big picture and one that needs to be done as under the radar as possible. Advice like yours is of no value. I haven't priced Remedy recently, but another poster indicated they paid over $15,000/year.
Interesting. I replied to this post but that is not where my message is threaded now. I apologize for the confusion.
Which is why I recommended modding up the parent. Did you even read my post?
The major problem with your line of argument is that Microsoft bundles their own applications in their own OS in their monopolized market. Linux distros bundle several "competing" applications from development teams unrelated to the OS project. The problem on Microsoft's side is they stand to make significant money by pushing their own software on an essentially captive audience. This isn't the case in the Linux world.
Finally someone who actually bothered to RTFA and use their brain.
How do you figure? TFA simply says that gcc can't implement the features because Borland has a patent. This means that people wanting to use Winelib must remove the SEH portions of their code in order for it to compile. This is a story about a shortcoming of gcc and Winelib because so many Windows C++ developers use SEH instead of sticking to standard C++. I see no threat of lawsuit from Borland or any potential for it.
Since this is a patented technology used in other compilers, I assume Borland licenses it but it can't be part of the C++ standard. This just seems to me like another great example of problems introduced when programmers rely on things that are not part of the standard. Whether it is Microsoft's custom portions of Java (which meant Java apps suddenly were no longer compatible with Sun's JVM) or vendor extensions to error handling, if you use a tool that does not meet defined standards, then you develop software that is much less useful (it may implement something cool but it has a more limited audience and an almost guaranteed shortened lifespan).
While I agree with your comments, Slashdotters don't seem to realize that most school children aren't going to grow up to be coders or sys admins. In fact, most are not. If you want to be realistic about this, think about billing clerks, secretaries, accountants, and school teachers.
Your individual experience aside, an accounting firm that is tied to Excel will look for people whose portfolio includes Excel experience. This isn't the only item on the list and shouldn't even be near the top, but it is something that is considered.
As an IT manager, I have sacrificed signficant depth for breadth the last few years. This is a requirement of the position. However, as a primarily Microsoft shop with Exchange, AD, and several hundred XP desktops, I must look for certain experience when hiring. If other things are equal, breadth is great, but an experienced Active Directory and Exchange administrator has a leg up on an experienced AIX and sendmail admin.
Computer software changes so rapidly that extensive ingrained experience with any tool is a liability, not an asset. It tends to indicate, more often than not, difficulty and opposition for anything different, no matter how the suitability compares between the old and new software.
That is a problem, but not necessarily related to the issue of depth with any particular technology or tool. Yet, it is true that too much depth without breadth can lead to tunnel vision. Of course, if this person could get really good at one particular thing, they just need the appropriate motivation to transfer this ability. That's where good leadership/management comes in :)
The answers certainly change when you look at different academic levels. I am a university IT director and tend to think on the shorter term because our students are closer to the real world. However, the study in TFA did talk more about grade school (primary schools) instead of high school or college, so your point is certainly valid.
So, part of the question becomes: how insightful will the school administrators look to the future?
Predicting future marketshare or emerging products is a crap shoot for experts in the business. Do you really think administrators in public education will fare well in being insightful on this issue? Perhaps a better consideration is how they can transition to the next immediate step. What should those in primary schools learn to do better in secondary schools? In theory, this should eventually get to a question of what is used in business today or expected to be used tomorrow.
So I keep hearing about the importantance of knowing Office etc.. I could see that it has some value, but I have NEVER hired anyone nor been hired myself based any kind of m$ office skills....
If somone is smart and can learn Word perfect or open Off or m$ off, then they can easily learn another package.
While I agree with your comments, Slashdotters don't seem to realize that most school children aren't going to grow up to be coders or sys admins. In fact, most are not. If you want to be realistic about this, think about billing clerks, secretaries, accountants, and school teachers. The average hiring manager wants someone who has experience with the particular tools they use. When looking for experience, depth is often given much more weight than breadth.
If you were hiring a help desk position in a Microsoft Office environment and had two basically equal candidates, but the first had used Microsoft Office for years while the other had used OpenOffice or Corel Office, which are you going to choose?
I'm more interested in whether I can get BALCO to cook up a Midichlorian injection so I can be a stronger Jedi.
The basic definition of illegal is simply "against the law". There are civil and criminal sections of law, and running afoul of parts of either is illegal. Is it illegal to sign a contract then not hold up your end of the deal? This may be a civil case (in most situations), but is it still illegal.
When you install software you are required to accept the license agreement and all its terms. The terms of the MSDNAA include stipulations about how and when the software can be used. It is not legal for me to run an administrative application for our university using the MSDNAA licensed software.
Up next: How to know if you are gifted with the Force and destined to be a Jedi. A simple blood test can reveal your Midichlorian level.
That doesn't mean it's illegal (selling it would be), just unlicensed.
Using it in violation of the license agreement is illegal.
Tony the Tiger works for Apple so don't hope for Kellogg getting involved.
Apple does have a trademark registered for Tiger as it relates to computer operating system software. However, this trademark was challenged several months ago, so who knows.
It does seem to be case of Google Rage, but something tells me it goes a little deeper. Regardless, I don't see Tiger Direct having any more success than Microware had in their "OS 9" suit five or six years ago.
TFA talks about big drug companies benefitting from native people (shamans and such) without returning any of the profits. The sentence that you quoted finished with bypassing some of the controversy, in reference to the corporations' exploitation of the local people. This new process allows the companies to exploit historical documentation instead of contemporary individuals.
This issue is really quite simple, but clearly most posters in this thread have no clue of the actual facts. The DMCA permits expedited subpeonas (those that require only a clerk signature, instead of judicial review) only in certain situations. The judge decided that these subpeonas were invalid because the school was acting as a conduit only. Just like the case that Verizon won over a year ago, the ISP was not storing any of the material on their network and thus the subpeona did not meet the guidelines of the DMCA. The RIAA attempted to argue that legislative intent was to include those who act as conduits, but the judge (just as in the Verizon case) did not buy it. If it turned out that the materials were actually stored on a University file server, the situation would be different.
Also important in this is FERPA. If a school revealed a student's person information in response to an invalid subpeona, they could be sued by the student for a clear FERPA violation. This university said that they do not support these kids' actions. I believe that like most every other institution of higher education served thus far, North Carolina State University will honor a valid subpeona. Boston College and a few other schools successfully fought ealier RIAA subpeonas based upon filing jurisdictions. Once the technicality was resolved and a valid subpeona issued, they complied.
One other FERPA-related concern is that schools must notify students before releasing their personal information. The RIAA subpeonas dictate such compressed timelines that compliance with them could cause a FERPA violation because the students couldn't be notified in time.
Once the RIAA's lawyers pull their heads out of their collective butts and issue legally solid subpeonas, colleges and universities will comply. We can only hope that a few will refuse on grounds of DMCA protests and force the courts to (again) examine the expedited subpeonas, or the RIAA will eventually give up on their shotgun subpeona approach.
I don't completely disagree if you consider "improve" to mean growth of an existing product. However, so much open source software is simply recreations of existing commercial software that you have to wonder what would happen if FOSS actually gained significant market share.
A recent post in the Freeciv thread made the interesting point that original FOSS is extra difficult because of the relatively unorganized and fluid nature of development teams. The loss of the primary developer can kill or radically alter any FOSS project, even with a commercial product to use a roadmap. Anything really new and inventive is exponentially more susceptible.
Thanks for the link. I even checked each one before submitting the story.
The fact that they agreed to plead guilty means that they negotiated the fine. They are unlikely to accept a fine that makes them destitute or removes those six sports cars from the garage. You can be sure that the fine is insignificant to the corporation.