Don't get legal on this. Leave IP to your employer. If/when you leave, ask for a copy of your work, just in case you need it somewhere else, and remove sensitive information from it (passwords, logos, name of the company). Chances are that they won't mind.
Anyway when you have more experience you will soon discover that each time you move from one company to another there will be no actual value to those three backup shell scripts or this intranet thingy where the receptionist publish the address book.
Your value is in your knowledge, not on a few lines of code.
If you have a solid VPN link between your sites you could go with Microsoft Small Business Server. In this edition you get Exchange and Windows server licensing at once, and the GPOs are ok. Also with SBS you can setup Exchange to download POP3 emails from your ISP, so you can use Exchange locally without having to worry about the web front-end.
If you do not have a reliable VPN then you have to come up with a mixed environment. In this scenario not only will you have to master each component, you will also need to learn how they can interact. Quite a learning curve if you don't have hands-on experience.
Finally if you have the big bucks you can always go with Sun software; they have stuff to cover all your possible needs. The Directory Server, included in the JES, is quite impressive.
"When I started programming, we didn't have any of those sissy windows and GUIs. We had to use zeroes and ones. Sometimes we ran out - I once programmed an entire database using only zeroes."
"You had zeroes? I had to use the letter 'O' "...
Seriously. If you are so happy with C then good luck, I hope you will find yourself a nice place in Bombay when your job is outsourced, like most low-level, no-value-added positions.
Magnetic medias can be wiped by EMR so it is a no-go. The only remaining mainstream digital storage technology is optical (CD or DVDs), but even those are not reliable. Cheap DVDs (like princo) can be unreadable within 2 years, often before.
Apart from stone engraving, paper is probably the most reliable long-term archive solution, as long as it is stored properly. Of course it is difficult to seach and index but this is a different issue.
This is deceiving. From the title I thought they had java software recompiled in space:-)
People should add either TM (Trademark) or RL (Real Life) when they use confusing terminology.
This way nobody would be confused reading headlines like Self-Repairing Spacecraft Uses Ant (RL) Logic or Bug Found In Ant (TM)
Actually this is a bad idea. Since Microsoft has copyrights on the whole english dictionnary it would be difficult to use english anymore: Windows, Office, Word, Excel, Access, Exchange, Notepad (etc).
Maybe I am just too tired and I need a cup of java (RL).
I used Wordpad to edit my "helloworld.c" file. Now my file won't compile anymore but when I open it in Wordpad I see no problem so it must be the C language that is not working on Windows. I think this is why they released this new version called C++.
Anyway Open source software on Windows is not a good idea. Since I installed my anonymous FileZilla FTP Server I have no more room on my 250GB hard-disk. I found out that FileZilla has a lot of huge hidden system folders like ___[0Wn3d]___ or _%%_$k1dd13_p0rn$.
France president has been involved in corruption scandals but won't be tried as long as he is in office because of the controversial presidential immunity.
Canada prime minister is a well-known crook, and his companies are famous for being based in tax heavean. He is the leader of a party who was involved in many corruption scandals.
Israel prime minister is a war criminal and has more blood on his hands than the whole Bush family. And people in his party find him too moderate (former PM Yithzak Rabin was too moderate as well and he ended up killed for this sin).
Why are all these people re-elected? For the same reason that Windows is the most popular O/S, and the same reason why cars are still running on combustible fossil fuel. (Feel free to add Wal-Mart, Celine Dion, tobacco and SUV popularity to this list)
I would call this the Fox News Syndrome but let's not get political and let's call it the Mystery of Democracy.
The problem is not "oracle", it is "oracle expertise".
IT was wrong if they selected a technology their staff could not support, unless it was a turn-key deal with consultants available for training and helpdesk.
So don't blame Oracle. Their database is quite outstanding, it is just not as user-friendly as lower-scale alternatives like SQL Server or Access. Obviously without proper training it can be a big headache.
What I don't get about your company is how the end user is interacting with Oracle, and why they should have been involved in the selection of a back-end technology. Did someone sold you an Oracle Forms solution? (Then I would understand your bitterness).
If you're going to use Windows, use IIS and SQL Server
For someone who has the budget and the staff to maintain it, Oracle is a much better choice. And it is quite solid on Windows. (We talk about the database, not the other software like Forms or Reports).
As for IIS, it is never a good choice unless the web architecture is based on Sharepoint or ASP.NET.
This being said, there is no direct relation between Apache and Oracle, there must be another technology involved: php, perl, or plain cgi.
use IIS and SQL Server, and interface with your unix systems through http/web services
This kind of setup is not only sluggish and error-prone, it is also difficult to debug and require staff with double expertise.
The travelling salesman problem is a textbook example of neuronal networks application.
Now please don't ask me about those neuronal networks theories. My knowledge of neuronal networks does not go any further than the travelling salesman problem because I found out a while ago that there is now way I will ever need to know more about it, and still I could use it to impress my dates or the mouth-breather in the adjacent cubicle.
Now if you are skilled in the field of analytical behaviorism you could guess from the above paragraph that I am indeed a very good Perl programmer.
And in order to win (or at least do well) in a programming contest, how would a good Perl programmer solve the travelling salesman problem in one hour?
He would spend 5 minutes writing a fairly reliable random function and spend 55 minutes obfuscating the code. In the end the output would be somehow similar to whatever crap other people wrote using STL or QBasic and at least half of the fun would be to look at judges while they try to extract a solution from an ascii chef-d'oeuvre.
People, am I missing something here, or would it not just be best to just go to Linux with openOffice functionality directly, and not even bother with this middle step? If you ask me, it sounds like something else here is amiss, as their reasoning seems flawed to me..
For the IT department, switching the O/S is more complicated than switching the office suite because of all the details (user accounts, profiles, mail, printers, and so on).
But for a end user which spend most of its time in the mail client, spreadsheet or word processor the O/S is not such a big issue, as long as they have icons on the desktop, similar behavior from widgets and basic information on how to get the files they are using on the network.
For the end user, the big issue is all about the software, being it the office suite, the C++ IDE or the accounting package. (How do I merge documents? How can I convert this 30 MB Word file bloated with bitmaps that the customer sent to me? How come the CTRL-B won't put the text in bold?)
I think the two-steps migration is quite wise and to me it is obvious that those people know what they are doing. After a couple of months they will either rollback to M$ or move fullsteam to Linux, and this will be a very, very interesting story to follow-up.
End users will bitch, which is unavoidable, but with a strong commitment from the top levels of the hierarchy and from the IT department the move can be successful.
Anybody who experienced an SAP implementation or a M&A will tell you that: the challenge of the migration process is the user inertia and fear of change. How Munchen face this challenge will be textbook material for future generations of MBAs.
All of these things are dismissed by the other shills as "unecessary" "fluff" and "bloat", but businesses use them, and heavily.
I agree. As an example, a lot of payrolls systems are based on Excel macros with extensive VBA coding. Most of it sucks and was done by non-skilled techies, but it is doing the job and the amount of work required to replace these homemade solutions is gigantic.
It's not enough (no, it's not) to just sing the Open And Free Standards Song when I have to tell a user that there's no built-in research feature, the help system sucks to high heaven and the template system is kind of iffy.
I've been in this situation. We tried to deploy OpenOffice to users that are not sharing files with customers, and very shortly people called the software "Broken Office" and asked us why we had to "downgrade" them.
Most users do not care about standards or formats; they will use any software provided to them as long as it has the features and stability they are used to (or better). The "I had this feature before" is very annoying for them and for the IT department.
These sites are not online planning tools for specific groups, they are mostly part of a mass media promoting hate and violence, and explaining (as an example) How to Strike a European City.
I guess that tracking and shutting them down will not eliminate terrorism, but at least it might reduce its influence over weak-minded people.
I oppose Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. I MUST be a terrorist.
No, to be a terrorist you have to put bombs in the subway or crash planes in buildings. It takes a little more than posting stupid comments.
I oppose Britain's involvement in Iraq! There. That should qualify it being a terrorist statement.
If one day the actual terrorists win, you won't have the opportunity to expose your lack of wits. So I guess it is a good thing to do it now, while you are still protected by these people you are bashing.
If Linux was so stable, or any *nix for that matter, would you need to have (you@yourbox)# kill [process id] in your toolbox never mind the legendary issues with the quirks of the most common *nix tools?
Killing a process has nothing to do with the o/s stability, unless you talk about Windows where a demented process can bring down the whole machine.
All that said, I use FC3 every day at home. But I have no blinders on that it is a techies' OS and NOT a casual end-user OS. I've been supporting Windows since before most of the anti-Microsoft crowd began their inane tinfoil hat FUD ranting against Redmond and if there is one central truth to it that I've learned, that it is very stable and secure IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING
Ok, so basically what is the alternative for non-techie people who don't know what they are doing?
They won't have truck with RPMs and dependency never mind makefiles and builds
I don't agree, my cousin has a truck with a RPM on his dashboard and he is definitely not a linux zealot.
I add that I am no security expert however, with the box fully patched and a strong password set, I have had NO security incidences, well, at least none that I am aware of, I also do not run any kind of firewall.
Yeah, as for me I meet strangers in bars, sometimes hookers, and I have sex with them without protection. I am no doctor, but hey, I keep my mouth closed when I kiss them! And until now I've got no STD... that I know of.
Seriously, the Soekris boards are cool, but on some of them the NIC is quite buggy and you actually need to patch them if you want to use a cable shorter than +100ft. (No joke, google the "soekris short cable patch").
Slashdot Mirror
Anyway when you have more experience you will soon discover that each time you move from one company to another there will be no actual value to those three backup shell scripts or this intranet thingy where the receptionist publish the address book.
Your value is in your knowledge, not on a few lines of code.
This titanium thinkpad is good news for crooks, it makes it easier for them to spot people eager to waste money.
Very good comments
If you do not have a reliable VPN then you have to come up with a mixed environment. In this scenario not only will you have to master each component, you will also need to learn how they can interact. Quite a learning curve if you don't have hands-on experience.
Finally if you have the big bucks you can always go with Sun software; they have stuff to cover all your possible needs. The Directory Server, included in the JES, is quite impressive.
I can find a lot of other reasons not to go to Burning Man. The most important reason would be that I don't like phony people.
Reminds me of this Dilbert strip.
"When I started programming, we didn't have any of those sissy windows and GUIs. We had to use zeroes and ones. Sometimes we ran out - I once programmed an entire database using only zeroes."
"You had zeroes? I had to use the letter 'O' "...
Seriously. If you are so happy with C then good luck, I hope you will find yourself a nice place in Bombay when your job is outsourced, like most low-level, no-value-added positions.
FreeBSD is sure a great linux distribution, but sadly it does not use the linux kernel.
Apart from stone engraving, paper is probably the most reliable long-term archive solution, as long as it is stored properly. Of course it is difficult to seach and index but this is a different issue.
As Voltaire said: Il n'est de plaisir plus subtil que de passer pour un sot aux yeux d'un imbécile.
This is deceiving. From the title I thought they had java software recompiled in space :-)
People should add either TM (Trademark) or RL (Real Life) when they use confusing terminology. This way nobody would be confused reading headlines like Self-Repairing Spacecraft Uses Ant (RL) Logic or Bug Found In Ant (TM)
Actually this is a bad idea. Since Microsoft has copyrights on the whole english dictionnary it would be difficult to use english anymore: Windows, Office, Word, Excel, Access, Exchange, Notepad (etc).
Maybe I am just too tired and I need a cup of java (RL).
Great idea, they could definitely get more steam out of their HVAC.
Anyway Open source software on Windows is not a good idea. Since I installed my anonymous FileZilla FTP Server I have no more room on my 250GB hard-disk. I found out that FileZilla has a lot of huge hidden system folders like ___[0Wn3d]___ or _%%_$k1dd13_p0rn$.
Canada prime minister is a well-known crook, and his companies are famous for being based in tax heavean. He is the leader of a party who was involved in many corruption scandals.
Israel prime minister is a war criminal and has more blood on his hands than the whole Bush family. And people in his party find him too moderate (former PM Yithzak Rabin was too moderate as well and he ended up killed for this sin).
Why are all these people re-elected? For the same reason that Windows is the most popular O/S, and the same reason why cars are still running on combustible fossil fuel. (Feel free to add Wal-Mart, Celine Dion, tobacco and SUV popularity to this list)
I would call this the Fox News Syndrome but let's not get political and let's call it the Mystery of Democracy.
I am pretty confident that you Mysql/XP alternative would allow a terrific performance for the few thousand end users.
IT was wrong if they selected a technology their staff could not support, unless it was a turn-key deal with consultants available for training and helpdesk.
So don't blame Oracle. Their database is quite outstanding, it is just not as user-friendly as lower-scale alternatives like SQL Server or Access. Obviously without proper training it can be a big headache.
What I don't get about your company is how the end user is interacting with Oracle, and why they should have been involved in the selection of a back-end technology. Did someone sold you an Oracle Forms solution? (Then I would understand your bitterness).
For someone who has the budget and the staff to maintain it, Oracle is a much better choice. And it is quite solid on Windows. (We talk about the database, not the other software like Forms or Reports).
As for IIS, it is never a good choice unless the web architecture is based on Sharepoint or ASP.NET.
This being said, there is no direct relation between Apache and Oracle, there must be another technology involved: php, perl, or plain cgi.
use IIS and SQL Server, and interface with your unix systems through http/web services
This kind of setup is not only sluggish and error-prone, it is also difficult to debug and require staff with double expertise.
Now please don't ask me about those neuronal networks theories. My knowledge of neuronal networks does not go any further than the travelling salesman problem because I found out a while ago that there is now way I will ever need to know more about it, and still I could use it to impress my dates or the mouth-breather in the adjacent cubicle.
Now if you are skilled in the field of analytical behaviorism you could guess from the above paragraph that I am indeed a very good Perl programmer.
And in order to win (or at least do well) in a programming contest, how would a good Perl programmer solve the travelling salesman problem in one hour?
He would spend 5 minutes writing a fairly reliable random function and spend 55 minutes obfuscating the code. In the end the output would be somehow similar to whatever crap other people wrote using STL or QBasic and at least half of the fun would be to look at judges while they try to extract a solution from an ascii chef-d'oeuvre.
For the IT department, switching the O/S is more complicated than switching the office suite because of all the details (user accounts, profiles, mail, printers, and so on).
But for a end user which spend most of its time in the mail client, spreadsheet or word processor the O/S is not such a big issue, as long as they have icons on the desktop, similar behavior from widgets and basic information on how to get the files they are using on the network.
For the end user, the big issue is all about the software, being it the office suite, the C++ IDE or the accounting package. (How do I merge documents? How can I convert this 30 MB Word file bloated with bitmaps that the customer sent to me? How come the CTRL-B won't put the text in bold?)
I think the two-steps migration is quite wise and to me it is obvious that those people know what they are doing. After a couple of months they will either rollback to M$ or move fullsteam to Linux, and this will be a very, very interesting story to follow-up.
End users will bitch, which is unavoidable, but with a strong commitment from the top levels of the hierarchy and from the IT department the move can be successful.
Anybody who experienced an SAP implementation or a M&A will tell you that: the challenge of the migration process is the user inertia and fear of change. How Munchen face this challenge will be textbook material for future generations of MBAs.
I agree. As an example, a lot of payrolls systems are based on Excel macros with extensive VBA coding. Most of it sucks and was done by non-skilled techies, but it is doing the job and the amount of work required to replace these homemade solutions is gigantic.
It's not enough (no, it's not) to just sing the Open And Free Standards Song when I have to tell a user that there's no built-in research feature, the help system sucks to high heaven and the template system is kind of iffy.
I've been in this situation. We tried to deploy OpenOffice to users that are not sharing files with customers, and very shortly people called the software "Broken Office" and asked us why we had to "downgrade" them.
Most users do not care about standards or formats; they will use any software provided to them as long as it has the features and stability they are used to (or better). The "I had this feature before" is very annoying for them and for the IT department.
I guess that tracking and shutting them down will not eliminate terrorism, but at least it might reduce its influence over weak-minded people.
No, to be a terrorist you have to put bombs in the subway or crash planes in buildings. It takes a little more than posting stupid comments.
I oppose Britain's involvement in Iraq! There. That should qualify it being a terrorist statement.
If one day the actual terrorists win, you won't have the opportunity to expose your lack of wits. So I guess it is a good thing to do it now, while you are still protected by these people you are bashing.
The tax is on the purchase, not on the operation, so I guess that the customers as well will have to move to Nassau.
Killing a process has nothing to do with the o/s stability, unless you talk about Windows where a demented process can bring down the whole machine.
All that said, I use FC3 every day at home. But I have no blinders on that it is a techies' OS and NOT a casual end-user OS. I've been supporting Windows since before most of the anti-Microsoft crowd began their inane tinfoil hat FUD ranting against Redmond and if there is one central truth to it that I've learned, that it is very stable and secure IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING
Ok, so basically what is the alternative for non-techie people who don't know what they are doing?
They won't have truck with RPMs and dependency never mind makefiles and builds
I don't agree, my cousin has a truck with a RPM on his dashboard and he is definitely not a linux zealot.
I think I'll design a poster "I want to believe" with a big fading G in the background.
Yeah, as for me I meet strangers in bars, sometimes hookers, and I have sex with them without protection. I am no doctor, but hey, I keep my mouth closed when I kiss them! And until now I've got no STD... that I know of.
Seriously, the Soekris boards are cool, but on some of them the NIC is quite buggy and you actually need to patch them if you want to use a cable shorter than +100ft. (No joke, google the "soekris short cable patch").