I'd venture for majority of people, insurance is a case of paying some money to prevent the occurence of something that will take ALL your money (or even bankruptcy). You may get into a situation that insurance will cover but you would not at that time have had the chance to save up enough money to cover.
At least that's how I think of it. e.g. sure maybe the entire sum of my auto accident damage is say 50 grand and I could easily save that over the next 10 years, but it may come in one hit next year when I have only five grand in my savings.
The casino always wins but for most people its better to be sure of taking a small loss than the possibility of a massive hit that may bankrupt or ruin you financially.
Can you explain why a java on windows 2 tier architecture is bad? I thought web front end + db back end was a very common implementation.
Also why is it bad for different servers handling different page types (though intuitively this seems unnecessarily complex and kludgy.... ).
I'm not trying to be funny, its a serious question, thanks in advance (I'm a routing and switching guy so I only have passing familiarity with server / app architecture and programming).
right, and US/French./UK intelligence operations in 3rd world countries are purely charitable and beneficial, they in no way try to directly manipulate the political situation up to and including arranging COUPS to further the ends of business interests.
The RIO act is wrong but people in glass houses.....
Every time I read about someone proclaiming the virtues of WoW and how it teaches reading, writing, math etc. I just have to laugh and wonder whether the OP is just trying to justify their own pathetic (yes, I think WoW addicts are pathetic) addictions
Get in the right company/environment (i.e. OPPORTUNITIES to move on up) and in the meantime do as much study as your finances / sanity will allow.
I was plucked from the helldesk into level 2 PABX config work and its been all level 3 stuff from here on end (now I'm a data/voip network engineer and I traded my PABX badges for cisco ones). The key was that I was lucky enough to be in an environment where there was such opportunities and I had managers who recognised talent and was willing to promote them onto bigger and better things. I also did my share of studying (to make the transition from TDM voice to IP networking).
Whether or not you are in a good position may be a bit hard to tell, I got close to quitting after a couple of years but it then took off and had I quit after 2 years I would have been back to square one. Also, if things are looking dicey e.g. layoffs, instability, things falling apart - these times may actually be the best time to angle for a step up as employing a young gung-ho turk who is willing to work for 20% less than the older guy is often an attractive option for the pointy eared types. Do not fixate about pay, as long as you're not being totally ripped off, for your purposes the position is more important than the salary. Once you're established then you start looking for the figures.
But to reiterate, the key is to get a chance to prove yourself and then grab it with both hands. Everything you do in the meantime (aside from looking for such position) is to ready yourself for the step up.
Being in a small environment you're already way ahead of those in dilbert corporate land helldesks, whose opportunities for real advancement (i.e. real IT engineering work as opposed to being 'senior' helldesk or one of the dreaded process monkeys) are much more limited, nevermind the fact that all the process red tape and job segmentation prevents them from gaining the kind of all round exposure you are getting. Keep agitating to be put on projects and stick your hand up for anything, even if its just grunt work for a larger project, if you impress the right peoeple they'll want you on board their next project and that's your ticket in. Of course corporate land can be a good outcome it all depends on your bosses and your specific environment, personally I cut my teeth in a bank's IT department (managing a bank's voice systems is the best way to learn the definition of five-nines uptime).
In the meantime, study as much as you can handle, and keep sticking your hand up for everything. Don't say no just because you think its beneath you (of course don't let yourself be exploited, its a fine line and you'll have to figure out the right balance yourself). And oh trust me you'll never get away from the users entirely....
Guys its probably a DISA they discovered NOT CLI ACCESS TO THE PABX.....
Many PABXs have a feature where a specific incoming extension (DISA) is configured to allow calls to be re-routed from the PABX if you enter the correct PIN.
e.g. you dial into the secret number, enter the secret PIN, then from there you have full access to the PABX's destination codes. so e.g. if your DISA extension is 333-88888, and PIN is 12345, and you dial 0 for external, then dialling this would work: 333-88888-12345-0-(number you want to dial). The call would then be originated from the PABX instead of the caller.
This is mostly used for troubleshooting because in PABX tie line networks your number codes determine how your calls route, with complex tie line networks you end up with destination codes upon destination codes which require a lot of thinking to get right as its basically a huge, layered sequence of static routes.
Anyhow back in my TDM days I used to run PABXs for a large corporation. A few years before I started the EXACT SAME THING happened to us - someone phreaked the PIN code to the disa number - and was then selling calling cards in the phillipines that rerouted using one of our PABX's DISA lol.
As others have pointed out above: why the heck would anyone VPN to an untrusted network? The only way that would be remotely feasible is with some kind of DNS exploit.
Then that's assuming that you've got your 'trap' network setup to accept connections from whatever VPN software the target is using?!?!? (Cisco client? Juniper??!?! SSL web based? Nortel? what version??!?!?! What if split tunnelling is disabled??!!) And you know what credentials the end user is using so the connection is 'accepted'.
And you know what internal servers the end user is going to target.
If you know that much about your target's intranet then whats the point of doing this, you're already in anyway via other easier more deadly means. brunes69 (86786) sums it up nicely
And oh its obviously complete BS that there's only 1280 'non routable' private addresses, yes they're routable, yes there's more but the point is most people use 10.0.0.x/24, 10.1.1.x/24, 192.168.1.x/24 and the like. So effectively you only have to cover a dozen or so of the common/24s. But my above point still stands
Three letters: OWA. Now would you like to engage in a 'how smb4 + openldap + kerebos' stack can replace an AD stack and whether or not its very feasible to do?
So many products out there that take IE as granted and you don't always get to pick what you want, its often saddled upon you by either legacy or decisions made by some non tech idiot who has no business managing in tech as he can't manage and doesn't know tech either.... ask the entire SOuth Korean banking industry about online banking browser requirements, for example.
In this instance, no the app does not require a specific browser, you can use the client software instead. But its convenient to not have to deploy another app. Also casual users can easily access it (the whole point, apparently, is so end users can check status on their tickets themselves etc.) Anyhow not my decision, its a POS anyway in my opinion
"It's not surprising that an American company errs on the side of individual freedom while a European company is more inclined to favor an approach that relies on systems. As passengers, we should have the right to ask whether we're putting our lives in the hands of a computer rather than the battle-tested pilot sitting up front, and we should have right to deplane if we don't like the answer."
Remind me to ask specifically for a European aircraft next time I fly so I don't have to worry about sitting next to the OP, who is a shining stereotype come alive of an ill informed, Team America douchebag
There's merit to what you're saying but you're failing to take into account the scale of the difference.
Internet penetration in the altavista/lycos (remember them lol) days was far less than now. The internet and google are intertwined in people's heads. Was altavista ever a verb?
Now the first thing people do when they want to find something online is google. That's ordinary people, the kind who keep clicking on the blue E icon because it stands for interweb and that's how they've been wired. Google are forunate in that they've achieved overwhelming dominance at the 'critical mass' point of internet usage.
I agree that if something is better then it may displace google. However the odds are now magnitudes larger than back in 1999.
On a side note, I cannot believe how much money they make off advertising.... does anyone actually click on internet ads? (answer is obviously yes but personally I can't even recall more than half a dozen times in the last 10 years lol).
I've never had to actually go to court but I've gone through the motions before, called the ombudsman and looked up the provisions in our Trade Practices Act, etc., got a case lodged in the fair trading office etc. and then the retailer in question backed down when I waved it in their faces. But that wasn't for a telco contract.
Anyway I can understand your hatred for AT&T. If I lived in the US I would probably hate them too - but you can't blame them for not offering the iphone 3GS upgrade to existing contract users, or charging them a bit more. This clearly does not fall in the realm of the scenarios you were describing i.e. it does not constitute a breach nor does it fulfil any of the legal conditions that invalidates a contract (lack of real consent / coercion, etc.)
woohoo, sometimes you feed the troll and he bites back.
None of what you are arguing invalidates the original argument: that there is nothing wrong in AT&T not giving existing iphone contract holders the same cheap upgrade path as new customers.
So AT&T have crappy service and charge you stupid rates for stupid things. Good for them. Why are you with them again???
And oh I forgot to give you bonus points for invoking Gandhi in a discussion about consumer telco contracts: brilliant stuff.
As for your legal nous, if I ever needed a lawyer then I sure hope you're not that guy. Why don't you go and check out the current status of contract law. This isn't design your own utopian future, this is about dealing with the situation as it stands, and right now, AT&T's contract with you is legally enforceable barring any of the legally recognised exceptions / breaches that may rule it invalid.
Maybe some of the points you raised are, maybe they aren't, IANAL but I know enough about contract law to know that it has NOTHING to do with mutual, equal renumeration. Its actually defined (in the British/Australian model anyway) as a voluntary binding agreement with consideration. Let me help you to a nice wikipedia quote: In common law systems, the five key requirements for the creation of a contract are: 1. offer and acceptance (agreement) 2. consideration 3. an intention to create legal relations 4. legal capacity 5. formalities. I did some contract law in uni and the point was rammed home
The point is not whether the current legal system is fair or whatever, its HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS AT PRESENT AND HOW WE AS INDIVIDUALS CAN DEAL WITH IT BEST. Yelling at the judge that you find the current laws on par with Victorian English levels of oppression will get you nowhere.
You're an idiot and with that level of outrage over something as minor (and avoidable lol) as signing up to what is known to be a crappy, gouging carrier in a free friggin market, makes you a class A self righteous geek martinet.
And for the record, I'm not a libertarian nor do I believe that the current common law interpretation of contract is the 'right' one, but I DO KNOW WHAT THE CURRENT INTERPRETATION IS AND HOW IT AFFECTS ME. What I would do in my own utopian fantasy world is irrelevant
Er, IE tab doesn't always work seamlessly esp. if said stupid enterprise software relies on a lot of popups, it starts behaving funny. Have you tested it against all the crappy.net custom apps out there?
Heck at work the all bling new BMC Remedy system they brought in, the web facing frontend doesn't work properly in firefox. Thats a serious $$$ app. IEtab? I refer you to my popup issues.
Also IETab is not a fully supported product, if something doesn't work well with it, tough.
"This whole "We can't use FireFox because of enterprise app X" is bullshit. People need to learn how to properly manage corporate computer systems without coming up with these pathetic excuses for not doing their jobs properly."
With that kind of attitude, I take it you don't run large enterprise environments (no, medium business with some branches or shops and one or two big sites doesn't count, where you get to be the grand wizard techie who overrules all).
Technical arguments aside there are plenty of practical reasons. Just resistance to change, lack of tangible benefits, lack of support (you already pay MS for support so thats 'free'), user inertia / retraining (yes every call to the helpdesk where they explain clicking on the orange icon not the blue E icon costs $$$). We're techies and we like our own browsers and love sh1tting on MS but that's not how management looks at it. What is the bottom line gain YOU CAN DEMONSTRATE to the company? zero, and don't start talking about security, the you can demonstrate bit is the most important bit.
Contrary to your name and your signature, you're not much of a libertarian are you?
And I love your straw man argument. Nobody reads the 244 pages but you read and understand the main bit, that charges are X for Y duration and to break the contract requires Z. And if you didn't get that basic bit frankly you deserve to be gouged.
And if you didn't read the contract then how are you EXPECTING to be rewarded with an upgrade option???
Either you're a bit thick or you're a troll (or both)
Yes but this is somewhat alleviated by the fact that anything from 2006 and later - heck even powerPC G5s - run leopard fine.
I am a 'recent' apple user (only bought my white macbook, 10.4 a year and a half ago) and recently upgraded to leopard due to the issues you've described above. Half expecting a xp --> vista type debacle, I was pleasantly surprised at how seamless it was. Heck even my dellmini9 with an Atom runs leopard fine. I fully expect to run snow leopard and the next one perfectly OK, by which time it will be kicking on 4 years and time to upgrade the HW.
They ARE good at making sure their old HW runs their latest SW, I know people running it on G5 imacs who have no complaints. Of course you're shelling out for the software upgrade, but at least they make sure its easily done. The contrast with MS and PCs (heck even linux and PCs.... ever relied on a distro upgrade via yum, apt-get or whatever? GAH)... is astounding.
I fail to see how making someone adhere to the terms of a voluntary contract can be outrageous.
By offering you an upgrade its already a bonus.
When you signed a contract did you at any point consider the possibility of an upgrade within 24 months, and did you ask AT&T if there was an upgrade path? And they they promise you one at XYZ price? If no then as the internets says, STFU.
Part of your monthly fee is going towards the subsidy that enabled you to get your shiny iphone 3G for cheaper than straight retail unlocked. You signed a fixed contract to do so. How hard is that to understand?
And let me pose another question: all you people whining about this, is this the first mobile phone contract you have entered into and / or is this the first time you have discussed the in/outs of entering a carrier contract? Never listened to a coworked or friend moan about how they're being gouged? Or read comments (like on slashdot)? OMG the sense of entitlement is killing me.
Ha. Here typical is say 60AUD (50USD) for a month of ADSL2 with a download cap of say 40Gigabytes.
For enterprise grade and / or private network, triple/quadruple the figure for ADSL tail.
As soon as you want ethernet (ie fibre delivery) cost skyrockets. If there is no mux in your building the cost of the install will include running the fibre and building the mux.
ITs all about population density, also data charges to cross the 2 main undersea cables back to asia / US.
If 10Mb/s is not enough for you then you have some truly serious demands.
My ADSL2+ trains up to ~14Mbs downstream and I can pull a 1.4Gb movie in just over an hour or a 6 gig game in half an evening. You can't wait one sleep cycle? Or say kick it off before you go to work then come home to it???
Slashdot Mirror
Well yes and no
I'd venture for majority of people, insurance is a case of paying some money to prevent the occurence of something that will take ALL your money (or even bankruptcy). You may get into a situation that insurance will cover but you would not at that time have had the chance to save up enough money to cover.
At least that's how I think of it. e.g. sure maybe the entire sum of my auto accident damage is say 50 grand and I could easily save that over the next 10 years, but it may come in one hit next year when I have only five grand in my savings.
The casino always wins but for most people its better to be sure of taking a small loss than the possibility of a massive hit that may bankrupt or ruin you financially.
Thanks.
Your guess of legacy hindrances might be not far off the mark.
Can you explain why a java on windows 2 tier architecture is bad? I thought web front end + db back end was a very common implementation.
Also why is it bad for different servers handling different page types (though intuitively this seems unnecessarily complex and kludgy.... ).
I'm not trying to be funny, its a serious question, thanks in advance (I'm a routing and switching guy so I only have passing familiarity with server / app architecture and programming).
To paraphrase Ricky Gervais, 'at least that's the excuse I would have given'
right, and US/French./UK intelligence operations in 3rd world countries are purely charitable and beneficial, they in no way try to directly manipulate the political situation up to and including arranging COUPS to further the ends of business interests.
The RIO act is wrong but people in glass houses.....
Addicted to gym is worse than addicted to WoW?
Now I've heard it all.
Every time I read about someone proclaiming the virtues of WoW and how it teaches reading, writing, math etc. I just have to laugh and wonder whether the OP is just trying to justify their own pathetic (yes, I think WoW addicts are pathetic) addictions
I second (and also did the same thing) your course of action. Sometimes the simple way is the best lol.
Also as an added benefit you now have another backup of your music.
Get in the right company/environment (i.e. OPPORTUNITIES to move on up) and in the meantime do as much study as your finances / sanity will allow.
I was plucked from the helldesk into level 2 PABX config work and its been all level 3 stuff from here on end (now I'm a data/voip network engineer and I traded my PABX badges for cisco ones). The key was that I was lucky enough to be in an environment where there was such opportunities and I had managers who recognised talent and was willing to promote them onto bigger and better things. I also did my share of studying (to make the transition from TDM voice to IP networking).
Whether or not you are in a good position may be a bit hard to tell, I got close to quitting after a couple of years but it then took off and had I quit after 2 years I would have been back to square one. Also, if things are looking dicey e.g. layoffs, instability, things falling apart - these times may actually be the best time to angle for a step up as employing a young gung-ho turk who is willing to work for 20% less than the older guy is often an attractive option for the pointy eared types. Do not fixate about pay, as long as you're not being totally ripped off, for your purposes the position is more important than the salary. Once you're established then you start looking for the figures.
But to reiterate, the key is to get a chance to prove yourself and then grab it with both hands. Everything you do in the meantime (aside from looking for such position) is to ready yourself for the step up.
Being in a small environment you're already way ahead of those in dilbert corporate land helldesks, whose opportunities for real advancement (i.e. real IT engineering work as opposed to being 'senior' helldesk or one of the dreaded process monkeys) are much more limited, nevermind the fact that all the process red tape and job segmentation prevents them from gaining the kind of all round exposure you are getting. Keep agitating to be put on projects and stick your hand up for anything, even if its just grunt work for a larger project, if you impress the right peoeple they'll want you on board their next project and that's your ticket in. Of course corporate land can be a good outcome it all depends on your bosses and your specific environment, personally I cut my teeth in a bank's IT department (managing a bank's voice systems is the best way to learn the definition of five-nines uptime).
In the meantime, study as much as you can handle, and keep sticking your hand up for everything. Don't say no just because you think its beneath you (of course don't let yourself be exploited, its a fine line and you'll have to figure out the right balance yourself). And oh trust me you'll never get away from the users entirely....
Guys its probably a DISA they discovered NOT CLI ACCESS TO THE PABX.....
Many PABXs have a feature where a specific incoming extension (DISA) is configured to allow calls to be re-routed from the PABX if you enter the correct PIN.
e.g. you dial into the secret number, enter the secret PIN, then from there you have full access to the PABX's destination codes.
so e.g. if your DISA extension is 333-88888, and PIN is 12345, and you dial 0 for external, then dialling this would work: 333-88888-12345-0-(number you want to dial). The call would then be originated from the PABX instead of the caller.
This is mostly used for troubleshooting because in PABX tie line networks your number codes determine how your calls route, with complex tie line networks you end up with destination codes upon destination codes which require a lot of thinking to get right as its basically a huge, layered sequence of static routes.
Anyhow back in my TDM days I used to run PABXs for a large corporation. A few years before I started the EXACT SAME THING happened to us - someone phreaked the PIN code to the disa number - and was then selling calling cards in the phillipines that rerouted using one of our PABX's DISA lol.
As others have pointed out above: why the heck would anyone VPN to an untrusted network? The only way that would be remotely feasible is with some kind of DNS exploit.
Then that's assuming that you've got your 'trap' network setup to accept connections from whatever VPN software the target is using?!?!? (Cisco client? Juniper??!?! SSL web based? Nortel? what version??!?!?! What if split tunnelling is disabled??!!) And you know what credentials the end user is using so the connection is 'accepted'.
And you know what internal servers the end user is going to target.
If you know that much about your target's intranet then whats the point of doing this, you're already in anyway via other easier more deadly means. brunes69 (86786) sums it up nicely
And oh its obviously complete BS that there's only 1280 'non routable' private addresses, yes they're routable, yes there's more but the point is most people use 10.0.0.x/24, 10.1.1.x/24, 192.168.1.x/24 and the like. So effectively you only have to cover a dozen or so of the common /24s. But my above point still stands
Three letters: OWA. Now would you like to engage in a 'how smb4 + openldap + kerebos' stack can replace an AD stack and whether or not its very feasible to do?
So many products out there that take IE as granted and you don't always get to pick what you want, its often saddled upon you by either legacy or decisions made by some non tech idiot who has no business managing in tech as he can't manage and doesn't know tech either.... ask the entire SOuth Korean banking industry about online banking browser requirements, for example.
In this instance, no the app does not require a specific browser, you can use the client software instead. But its convenient to not have to deploy another app. Also casual users can easily access it (the whole point, apparently, is so end users can check status on their tickets themselves etc.) Anyhow not my decision, its a POS anyway in my opinion
"It's not surprising that an American company errs on the side of individual freedom while a European company is more inclined to favor an approach that relies on systems. As passengers, we should have the right to ask whether we're putting our lives in the hands of a computer rather than the battle-tested pilot sitting up front, and we should have right to deplane if we don't like the answer."
Remind me to ask specifically for a European aircraft next time I fly so I don't have to worry about sitting next to the OP, who is a shining stereotype come alive of an ill informed, Team America douchebag
And GTA caused it. riiiiiiight
Not crack, not unemployment, not urban decay, but a video game made decades after the issue first starting appearing.
but you gotta wonder too at how all J-porn involves submissive women and has strong 'rape' overtones.
There's something definitely going on with the male dominance - female submission theme.
There's merit to what you're saying but you're failing to take into account the scale of the difference.
Internet penetration in the altavista/lycos (remember them lol) days was far less than now. The internet and google are intertwined in people's heads. Was altavista ever a verb?
Now the first thing people do when they want to find something online is google. That's ordinary people, the kind who keep clicking on the blue E icon because it stands for interweb and that's how they've been wired. Google are forunate in that they've achieved overwhelming dominance at the 'critical mass' point of internet usage.
I agree that if something is better then it may displace google. However the odds are now magnitudes larger than back in 1999.
On a side note, I cannot believe how much money they make off advertising.... does anyone actually click on internet ads? (answer is obviously yes but personally I can't even recall more than half a dozen times in the last 10 years lol).
I can't believe you equate Robot Chicken (or any of seth macfarlane's work) with Futurama
They're both goofy but robot chicken is a sequence of short attention span non-sequiteurs ditto w/ family guy.
Futurama has tonnes of very intelligent and subversive themes, and actual plots.
I've never had to actually go to court but I've gone through the motions before, called the ombudsman and looked up the provisions in our Trade Practices Act, etc., got a case lodged in the fair trading office etc. and then the retailer in question backed down when I waved it in their faces. But that wasn't for a telco contract.
Anyway I can understand your hatred for AT&T. If I lived in the US I would probably hate them too - but you can't blame them for not offering the iphone 3GS upgrade to existing contract users, or charging them a bit more. This clearly does not fall in the realm of the scenarios you were describing i.e. it does not constitute a breach nor does it fulfil any of the legal conditions that invalidates a contract (lack of real consent / coercion, etc.)
woohoo, sometimes you feed the troll and he bites back.
None of what you are arguing invalidates the original argument: that there is nothing wrong in AT&T not giving existing iphone contract holders the same cheap upgrade path as new customers.
So AT&T have crappy service and charge you stupid rates for stupid things. Good for them. Why are you with them again???
And oh I forgot to give you bonus points for invoking Gandhi in a discussion about consumer telco contracts: brilliant stuff.
As for your legal nous, if I ever needed a lawyer then I sure hope you're not that guy. Why don't you go and check out the current status of contract law. This isn't design your own utopian future, this is about dealing with the situation as it stands, and right now, AT&T's contract with you is legally enforceable barring any of the legally recognised exceptions / breaches that may rule it invalid.
Maybe some of the points you raised are, maybe they aren't, IANAL but I know enough about contract law to know that it has NOTHING to do with mutual, equal renumeration. Its actually defined (in the British/Australian model anyway) as a voluntary binding agreement with consideration. Let me help you to a nice wikipedia quote: In common law systems, the five key requirements for the creation of a contract are: 1. offer and acceptance (agreement) 2. consideration 3. an intention to create legal relations 4. legal capacity 5. formalities. I did some contract law in uni and the point was rammed home
The point is not whether the current legal system is fair or whatever, its HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS AT PRESENT AND HOW WE AS INDIVIDUALS CAN DEAL WITH IT BEST. Yelling at the judge that you find the current laws on par with Victorian English levels of oppression will get you nowhere.
You're an idiot and with that level of outrage over something as minor (and avoidable lol) as signing up to what is known to be a crappy, gouging carrier in a free friggin market, makes you a class A self righteous geek martinet.
And for the record, I'm not a libertarian nor do I believe that the current common law interpretation of contract is the 'right' one, but I DO KNOW WHAT THE CURRENT INTERPRETATION IS AND HOW IT AFFECTS ME. What I would do in my own utopian fantasy world is irrelevant
Er, IE tab doesn't always work seamlessly esp. if said stupid enterprise software relies on a lot of popups, it starts behaving funny. Have you tested it against all the crappy .net custom apps out there?
Heck at work the all bling new BMC Remedy system they brought in, the web facing frontend doesn't work properly in firefox. Thats a serious $$$ app. IEtab? I refer you to my popup issues.
Also IETab is not a fully supported product, if something doesn't work well with it, tough.
"This whole "We can't use FireFox because of enterprise app X" is bullshit. People need to learn how to properly manage corporate computer systems without coming up with these pathetic excuses for not doing their jobs properly."
With that kind of attitude, I take it you don't run large enterprise environments (no, medium business with some branches or shops and one or two big sites doesn't count, where you get to be the grand wizard techie who overrules all).
Technical arguments aside there are plenty of practical reasons. Just resistance to change, lack of tangible benefits, lack of support (you already pay MS for support so thats 'free'), user inertia / retraining (yes every call to the helpdesk where they explain clicking on the orange icon not the blue E icon costs $$$). We're techies and we like our own browsers and love sh1tting on MS but that's not how management looks at it. What is the bottom line gain YOU CAN DEMONSTRATE to the company? zero, and don't start talking about security, the you can demonstrate bit is the most important bit.
Contrary to your name and your signature, you're not much of a libertarian are you?
And I love your straw man argument. Nobody reads the 244 pages but you read and understand the main bit, that charges are X for Y duration and to break the contract requires Z. And if you didn't get that basic bit frankly you deserve to be gouged.
And if you didn't read the contract then how are you EXPECTING to be rewarded with an upgrade option???
Either you're a bit thick or you're a troll (or both)
Yes but this is somewhat alleviated by the fact that anything from 2006 and later - heck even powerPC G5s - run leopard fine.
I am a 'recent' apple user (only bought my white macbook, 10.4 a year and a half ago) and recently upgraded to leopard due to the issues you've described above. Half expecting a xp --> vista type debacle, I was pleasantly surprised at how seamless it was. Heck even my dellmini9 with an Atom runs leopard fine. I fully expect to run snow leopard and the next one perfectly OK, by which time it will be kicking on 4 years and time to upgrade the HW.
They ARE good at making sure their old HW runs their latest SW, I know people running it on G5 imacs who have no complaints. Of course you're shelling out for the software upgrade, but at least they make sure its easily done. The contrast with MS and PCs (heck even linux and PCs.... ever relied on a distro upgrade via yum, apt-get or whatever? GAH)... is astounding.
I fail to see how making someone adhere to the terms of a voluntary contract can be outrageous.
By offering you an upgrade its already a bonus.
When you signed a contract did you at any point consider the possibility of an upgrade within 24 months, and did you ask AT&T if there was an upgrade path? And they they promise you one at XYZ price? If no then as the internets says, STFU.
Part of your monthly fee is going towards the subsidy that enabled you to get your shiny iphone 3G for cheaper than straight retail unlocked. You signed a fixed contract to do so. How hard is that to understand?
And let me pose another question: all you people whining about this, is this the first mobile phone contract you have entered into and / or is this the first time you have discussed the in/outs of entering a carrier contract? Never listened to a coworked or friend moan about how they're being gouged? Or read comments (like on slashdot)? OMG the sense of entitlement is killing me.
Ha. Here typical is say 60AUD (50USD) for a month of ADSL2 with a download cap of say 40Gigabytes.
For enterprise grade and / or private network, triple/quadruple the figure for ADSL tail.
As soon as you want ethernet (ie fibre delivery) cost skyrockets. If there is no mux in your building the cost of the install will include running the fibre and building the mux.
ITs all about population density, also data charges to cross the 2 main undersea cables back to asia / US.
Ha, never move to Australia is my tip.
We pay thousands of AUD a month for a 20Mbit ethernet service for work - servicing 4000 endpoints.
Needless to say its full all the time. But youtube still works so nobody complains lol
If 10Mb/s is not enough for you then you have some truly serious demands.
My ADSL2+ trains up to ~14Mbs downstream and I can pull a 1.4Gb movie in just over an hour or a 6 gig game in half an evening. You can't wait one sleep cycle? Or say kick it off before you go to work then come home to it???