I know a dozen professional graphic designers, each of whom had a 4-year university degree. Every one would think you're an idiot if they read this. You really have no idea what you're talking about. Someone please mod the parent as a troll. He is definitely not insightful.
If I ever need RS232 I know I can just plug a cable into one of my USB ports.
Not necessarily. In order for your RS232-USB converter to work, you need to have device drivers not only for USB, but for the converter as well. On the hardware end it may be simple, but on the software end it's very complicated.
When the Linux kernel boots, it can be configured to send boot messages to the serial port. This feature will NOT work with USB serial devices, because the kernel talks to the RS232 registers directly.
Then I want my money back for all of the piece-of-shit CD's I purchased because I had no means of sampling the music first due to them prohibiting me from listing before buying.
Bzzzt. Wrong answer.
You're not entitled to a refund. You knew at the time of purchase what the terms were. If you weren't certain that you would enjoy the product, then you shouldn't have puchased it.
Mod the parent up! I have no sympathy for criminals, and people who sharing copyrighted works illegal are committing a crime, it's that simple. The RIAA is doing the right thing by going after individuals, instead of trying to pass draconian laws that harm the innocent more than the guilty.
I'm not trying to be argumentative but are you sure about that?
Yes, I'm 100% positive. I used to be a BIOS developer and I have 10 years' experience in device drivers. The whole point behind a modern OS like Linux and Windows 2000/XP is to prevent apps from talking to any hardware resource (and memory and BIOS count as hardware resources) without the OS's permission. An app can't issue an interrupt, nor can it make a call into some fixed memory location in the BIOS. The CPU will just not allow these operations.
An application could insist that it be run on a specific version of Windows that supports the BIOS DRM. Of course, that wouldn't stop some enterprising hacker from writing a driver that pretends to be the BIOS.
You don't need Apple's permission to create and market any Mac software. There are thousands of Mac shareware apps that prove it.
You can use any USB mouse you want, even one with 10 buttons and a scroll wheel. They all work fine.
You can buy memory from dozens of dealers. Macs use standard memory chips, just like PCs do.
You can use any VGA or DVI monitor with any Mac. Mine is made by Hitachi.
You purchase video cards from ATI or NVIDIA that work in your Mac, and you don't have to buy them from Apple. Some people even take PC video cards and flash them with Mac ROMs. My ATI 8500 is like that.
An app can't talk to the BIOS unless the OS lets it. If your OS doesn't provide an API that the app can use to get the DRM information, then the DRM feature of your BIOS is effectively disabled.
I'm going to be modded down as a troll, but I believe that software patents protect developer jobs in the U.S. and Europe from being outsourced to India. If you're a software developer and you file patents, you're much more valuable to your company than some Indian programmer. These Indians are not going to be working on stuff than can be patented, so any developers who worked on patentable software development is much less likely to lose his job to overseas outsourcing.
Texas has a $9 billion budget deficit, partly because we don't have a state income tax. Instead, property and sales taxes are increased, which does little to increase the budget but does a lot to burden the poor and middle-class. Sales tax burdens the poor, property taxes burden the middle class, and income taxes burden the rich. You need to have all three.
How many of those who can't find jobs are unwilling to move to another part of the country? In my experience, the vast majority of people who have education, experience, and talent but can't find any jobs are unemployed because they're unwilling to relocate. I plan on moving once I get my Ph.D., and I'm willing to consider any city in the U.S, Canada, and even Europe.
I know someone who has a BA degree from Vanderbilt, and it was basically a complete waste of her time. But I'm talking about Ph.D.s in computer science or computer engineering. The fact that someone with a Ph.D. in Economics can't get a job doesn't affect me, because it's a completely different field.
One trend that I'm seeing in the posts is the education vs. experience angle. What I didn't mention in my submission is that I already have 10 years' experience as a system software developer (device drivers, embedded systems, etc), and I'm very good at it. I like coding, provided I can design the code that I write, which is what I've always been able to do. I'm usually the top developer in whatever team I'm put on.
Having said that, one of the reasons why I want to get a Ph.D. is to help me switch to a career in hardware design, in which I have very little experience. Of course, I would rather be a professor, but that may not work out. And that's why I submitted this Ask Slashdot.
Not exactly, no. I already have a good career (as a software engineering). In fact, I would be quitting my job to get the Ph.D. I would certainly enjoy working on it. My goal would be to allow me to choose between working in the industry or in academia, effectively doubling my career options. In addition, my work experience is completely in software, but I would rather work in hardware design (e.g. microprocessor or computer architecture). Without getting a degree in computer engineering, I don't see how I could get a job as a hardware designer.
I would probably be happier as a professor, but I may not find a tenure-track position at a university I like. In that case, I would try to find a job in the industry, but I wanted to see if getting a Ph.D. would close more doors than it would open.
If you don't already have an MS, then you'll need to take additional classes to make up for it, so in the end, you'll be doing the work for an MS but not getting the degree per se. If for some reason you fail to get your Ph.D., you'll have almost nothing to show for it.
A lot of colleges have a program where you can get an MS in two years taking classes only on the weekends. I recommend that you do that first.
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I know a dozen professional graphic designers, each of whom had a 4-year university degree. Every one would think you're an idiot if they read this. You really have no idea what you're talking about. Someone please mod the parent as a troll. He is definitely not insightful.
Not necessarily. In order for your RS232-USB converter to work, you need to have device drivers not only for USB, but for the converter as well. On the hardware end it may be simple, but on the software end it's very complicated.
When the Linux kernel boots, it can be configured to send boot messages to the serial port. This feature will NOT work with USB serial devices, because the kernel talks to the RS232 registers directly.
If you work in biotech but never patent anything, you'll be soon fired.
Bzzzt. Wrong answer.
You're not entitled to a refund. You knew at the time of purchase what the terms were. If you weren't certain that you would enjoy the product, then you shouldn't have puchased it.
Mod the parent up! I have no sympathy for criminals, and people who sharing copyrighted works illegal are committing a crime, it's that simple. The RIAA is doing the right thing by going after individuals, instead of trying to pass draconian laws that harm the innocent more than the guilty.
Nothing.
A BSOD occurs only when a device driver tries to do something that it can't. When an app tries it, the process is just terminated, but no BSOD.
Yes, I'm 100% positive. I used to be a BIOS developer and I have 10 years' experience in device drivers. The whole point behind a modern OS like Linux and Windows 2000/XP is to prevent apps from talking to any hardware resource (and memory and BIOS count as hardware resources) without the OS's permission. An app can't issue an interrupt, nor can it make a call into some fixed memory location in the BIOS. The CPU will just not allow these operations.
An application could insist that it be run on a specific version of Windows that supports the BIOS DRM. Of course, that wouldn't stop some enterprising hacker from writing a driver that pretends to be the BIOS.
An app can't talk to the BIOS unless the OS lets it. If your OS doesn't provide an API that the app can use to get the DRM information, then the DRM feature of your BIOS is effectively disabled.
I'm going to be modded down as a troll, but I believe that software patents protect developer jobs in the U.S. and Europe from being outsourced to India. If you're a software developer and you file patents, you're much more valuable to your company than some Indian programmer. These Indians are not going to be working on stuff than can be patented, so any developers who worked on patentable software development is much less likely to lose his job to overseas outsourcing.
How is this any different than James Bond?
Commercial software vendors should be held liable for bugs in their code.
Texas has a $9 billion budget deficit, partly because we don't have a state income tax. Instead, property and sales taxes are increased, which does little to increase the budget but does a lot to burden the poor and middle-class. Sales tax burdens the poor, property taxes burden the middle class, and income taxes burden the rich. You need to have all three.
How many of those who can't find jobs are unwilling to move to another part of the country? In my experience, the vast majority of people who have education, experience, and talent but can't find any jobs are unemployed because they're unwilling to relocate. I plan on moving once I get my Ph.D., and I'm willing to consider any city in the U.S, Canada, and even Europe.
I already have 10 years' experience as a software engineer and an MS, and so based on that I already qualify for senior-level development jobs.
I know someone who has a BA degree from Vanderbilt, and it was basically a complete waste of her time. But I'm talking about Ph.D.s in computer science or computer engineering. The fact that someone with a Ph.D. in Economics can't get a job doesn't affect me, because it's a completely different field.
I would say an MS is better than two BAs. My MS has definitely opened doors for me, and I've never been "overqualified" because of it.
One trend that I'm seeing in the posts is the education vs. experience angle. What I didn't mention in my submission is that I already have 10 years' experience as a system software developer (device drivers, embedded systems, etc), and I'm very good at it. I like coding, provided I can design the code that I write, which is what I've always been able to do. I'm usually the top developer in whatever team I'm put on.
Having said that, one of the reasons why I want to get a Ph.D. is to help me switch to a career in hardware design, in which I have very little experience. Of course, I would rather be a professor, but that may not work out. And that's why I submitted this Ask Slashdot.
When I got my MS, I easily got a teaching fellowship. I taught one lab every semester, and I got free tuition and a stipend.
I would probably be happier as a professor, but I may not find a tenure-track position at a university I like. In that case, I would try to find a job in the industry, but I wanted to see if getting a Ph.D. would close more doors than it would open.
A lot of colleges have a program where you can get an MS in two years taking classes only on the weekends. I recommend that you do that first.
- 2003-08-18 19:46:10 Ph.D.: Good or bad for career? (askslashdot,ed) (accepted)
I never said anything about IT in my post, because I don't consider a computer engineering or computer science to be part of IT.On a side note, apparently persistence helps when submitting stories:
They latest is 10.2.6