In that case, forms are your friend. You might even include a little note that you use the form because publishing your e-mail address directly would result in it being flooded with junk mail. Users will understand that, even if (like me) they aren't fond of using web forms to make contacts.
I know next to nothing about JavaScript, but I'm wondering whether there's a good way to obfuscate an e-mail address using JS or some other client-side script so that the spam crawlers don't see it because it would only show up on mouseover or something like that. Guess I need to learn JS and see if I can make something like that work...
Thankfully, we just replaced all our switches (well, the 95% that aren't cheap SOHO switches) so we're ready for Vista.
We're considering making the switch to Vista in summer 2008. Two very good reasons:
1) We need a way to pressure the school board into buying about 500 new PCs to replace a large portion of our inventory that dates to the late 1990's. Vista and its requirements are currently the best way we have to do it, since all other attempts have failed.
2) We tested a number of our aging and poorly-written edutainment titles on RC2, and most of them didn't work. The network admin was delighted at the prospect of forcibly retiring these support nightmares, allowing him to take down two old servers and freeing up the whole IT staff for more important work than fixing video drivers every time Little Billy clicks the wrong button (why there is a button in this software that hoses the video drivers is beyond me, but it's there and doesn't seem to do anything else)
"Okay, I'd like to send you some more information and need to verify your e-mail address."
"Alright"
"Is it jay ewe inn kay at blah blah blah dot com?"
"uhh...Yep, that's me. John Unk."
Only trusted vendors get real e-mail addresses here. I don't even get spam on my home e-mail. Absolutely none, after three years of having the same e-mail.
Seems like it would be pretty simple to release a patent to PD. But, then, this is the government we're talking about here. Simple is a dirty word to them. It takes an obscene amount of time just to give them money.
...was that supposed to be difficult? The point of your post eludes me.
It does remind me, though, of a conversation I had with an Italian friend of mine concerning just such math. Because he'd been raised on the metric system, fractions and their conversion to decimals didn't come as easily to him as they do me. It was almost reflex for me to come up with the answer to that.
Because their domain is used to host pretty much everything, they're blocked on most education content filters due to pornography. Which means dozens of major sites fail to load properly when their CSS and images are hosted on akamai. This sort of hosting makes it hard on organizations with a need for content filtering because legitimate sites are broken in order to block that content which should be blocked.
The end result has been that those sites who depend on hosting that refers back to akamai's domain lose hits.
I was going to say the same thing. It's a pity, because a lot of teachers would use social networking sites if they could do so from work.
I'm a network technician for a school district, and half of my contacts on Facebook are students at the schools I work frequently.
It's a matter of balance. Users can't anticipate all of their own needs, much less the needs of thousands of other consumers, but then programmers can't single-handedly design an interface and feature set that meets the wants and needs of all those consumers either.
Look at Office 2007. Microsoft is trying to remove the confusion of menus, option windows, and toolbars by implementing a much more simplified (and hopefully more robust) interface. For the power user, it puts more information on the screen and removes steps in using features. For the newbie, it makes options easier to find and groups them more intuitively--at least that's the theory behind it.
...but I enjoy games that put me in scenarios I could never see in the real world, and most of which I would never want to. Scenarios that test my ability to think quickly and make complex tactical decisions.
In other words, RTS (CoH is my current favorite) and tactical FPS.
No, the best part is that you download 600 KB of crap to read 1.5 KB of article, and that's with adblock and a content filter chewing up most of the mess.
I have a better interpretation (and possibly an idea for MS to hunt these guys down):
It's extortion. Someone identified a security flaw that Microsoft missed, and wants money for it. I'd wager their army of lawyers could spin it in such a way as to get these black hats locked up for a good long time for racketeering charges or something similar.
How MS can use this: broker deals with these guys under the table. Get any relevant law enforcement involved to ensure it's legality, and nail the guys when the transaction is made. $50k is pocket change to MS, they could shell it out hundreds of times over and not feel a pinch.
If MS was successful in prosecuting these guys, it would make exploit sales a much riskier business, always wondering if the Nigerian offering money for the latest exploit isn't in reality a MS agent.
What irks me about it is the change of product AFTER PURCHASE. This isn't a patch or an addon, it's a fundamental change in the game with the sole purpose of netting Valve more money.
I think it might be best described as a mild form of obsessive behavior, and that there may be an underlying cause to the varied addictions. There are chat fiends, MMORPG junkies, social network (MySpace) addicts, media collectors, et cetera. This same sort of behavior can be seen directed toward any number of activities, from complusive exercising (that doesn't stem from a warped self-image) to habitual TV viewing to electric train construction.
And no, it's not quite *that* common. It approaches addiction when you start to consistently choose it over more important things, like getting to work on time (like I've done in the past) or spending time with your family or paying bills. Addiction is unhealthy.
I think they're making a mistake in isolating "internet addiction" as a particular disorder/neurosis/whatever. They need to lump it and a few hundred other "addictions" into one category called "behavioral addiction" or something like that. It's not a dependency on the internet, it's a dependency on the regular behavior, the same as a gambling addiction.
We can call it the Just One More Disorder, because that phrase seems to characterize the behavior pretty well (and yes, I have issues with it myself, I've made myself late for work saying "five more minutes" one time too many)
1. Move as many of your applications as possible to the web
One of our major apps costs something like $30k PER YEAR to switch to web-based. We pay about $4k a year for maintenance now. It's hard to justify that cost, as much as we like web-based apps.
No offense, but why would you need training to do a job you were hired to do in the first place?
Oddly enough, I was hired to support some 500 Windows-based PCs. I'm also the only person actively advocating the possibility of moving some of those over to Linux. For that to happen, the OTHER THREE PEOPLE IN MY DEPARTMENT would need training.
I know, I know - it's strange when people do things of their own free will to better themselves and their prospects.
And I'm doing that with Linux. But not everyone wants to spend the time to learn it on their own; they're happy with the status quo if they can't get a crash course in good Linux admin.
Have you ever needed to call tech support on your IT-supported desktops for Windows?
Yes. I've been in contact with a Microsoft rep several times about cleaning up our deployment process so that we can make better use of our time during the summer.
If you answered "yes" for anything other than an RMA, you're either an idiot or - well, an idiot..
Ahh, the famed friendliness of the Linux community strikes again.
make your desktop Linux.
Not possible. I have to use Windows-only apps and don't have the time to spend on the clock making them (maybe) work under Linux, nor can I take them home with me since they're network-based. We don't have the budget to buy me extra computers (and I'd object to tax money being spent that way anyway, it could be better used in a classroom) so I don't get any toys.
I would prefer my children be taught on a very versatile operating system which will keep their interest
Yet you seem determined to put me, the only FOSS-friendly voice in an entire school district, off by calling me an idiot.
What would make Linux the killer desktop app that it almost is, is a seamless way to run Windows programs, including installers.
If I could drop an application CD in a Linux system and install a Windows app with minimal fuss, that'd pretty much be the end of Windows in my household. I'm not talking about using Wine (which I tried once, didn't take to it and never went back), I'm talking about just running the.exe or clicking "Install" in the autorun box (yes, those should work too) and getting my app the same way I do in Windows.
Is it easy to do? I seriously doubt it. Would it go a long way toward making Linux a major desktop OS? Probably.
I work at a school district. I'm the most Linux-saavy of the four IT employees, and I'm still very much a novice. For us to make a transition to Linux, we'd need training and good support. It's been talked about, but sticking with MS has (at least on paper) come out being cheaper for the time being. And that's not even addressing the problem of teachers who are scared enough of Windows, IE, and MS Office; it's pulling teeth to get them to use StarOffice.
So how about it? What's a good way for us to make the leap into Linux without dropping a load of cash?
Umm...The Americans can draw from context better? I don't know. I can tell you I've never had a basic communication problem with American tech support, even those who aren't native English speakers. When I'm trying to convey a lot of information in a hurry, I tend to use big words and complex grammar; this can completely shut down a conversation with a foreign call center, but the American (and Canadian, to be fair) support manages to get the job done.
I'll just put it this way: I've never had to explain the same situation three times to the same person or had a tech doggedly stick to the script regardless of what I told them when talking to an American. I've worked in tech support before and have *seen* some American script monkeys at work, but it's almost a policy for the Indian (and other) call centers to rely entirely on scripts.
Example: if I tell "Joe" that I've got a problem with my new wireless NIC and I need to know where I can enter the SSID in the software, it should be clear to him that I know what the problem is and what I need to do to fix it. What does he do? Force me to go through twenty minutes of uninstalling, reinstalling, PULLING THE CARD TO GET THE MODEL NUMBER, before finally putting me on hold for ten minutes to get someone else on the phone who knows the answer to my question.
Maybe the problem is what is talked about in the article: they're trained on rote memorization, not troubleshooting. They don't know how to deviate from the norm and jump straight to a solution.
Slashdot Mirror
In that case, forms are your friend. You might even include a little note that you use the form because publishing your e-mail address directly would result in it being flooded with junk mail. Users will understand that, even if (like me) they aren't fond of using web forms to make contacts.
I know next to nothing about JavaScript, but I'm wondering whether there's a good way to obfuscate an e-mail address using JS or some other client-side script so that the spam crawlers don't see it because it would only show up on mouseover or something like that. Guess I need to learn JS and see if I can make something like that work...
Thankfully, we just replaced all our switches (well, the 95% that aren't cheap SOHO switches) so we're ready for Vista.
We're considering making the switch to Vista in summer 2008. Two very good reasons:
1) We need a way to pressure the school board into buying about 500 new PCs to replace a large portion of our inventory that dates to the late 1990's. Vista and its requirements are currently the best way we have to do it, since all other attempts have failed.
2) We tested a number of our aging and poorly-written edutainment titles on RC2, and most of them didn't work. The network admin was delighted at the prospect of forcibly retiring these support nightmares, allowing him to take down two old servers and freeing up the whole IT staff for more important work than fixing video drivers every time Little Billy clicks the wrong button (why there is a button in this software that hoses the video drivers is beyond me, but it's there and doesn't seem to do anything else)
"Okay, I'd like to send you some more information and need to verify your e-mail address."
"Alright"
"Is it jay ewe inn kay at blah blah blah dot com?"
"uhh...Yep, that's me. John Unk."
Only trusted vendors get real e-mail addresses here. I don't even get spam on my home e-mail. Absolutely none, after three years of having the same e-mail.
Seems like it would be pretty simple to release a patent to PD. But, then, this is the government we're talking about here. Simple is a dirty word to them. It takes an obscene amount of time just to give them money.
From the patent:
Filing date: Jul 10, 1998
Does more really need to be said?
...was that supposed to be difficult? The point of your post eludes me.
It does remind me, though, of a conversation I had with an Italian friend of mine concerning just such math. Because he'd been raised on the metric system, fractions and their conversion to decimals didn't come as easily to him as they do me. It was almost reflex for me to come up with the answer to that.
Wait a month and buy the real version of Vista instead of using an old, unfinished release candidate.
Because their domain is used to host pretty much everything, they're blocked on most education content filters due to pornography. Which means dozens of major sites fail to load properly when their CSS and images are hosted on akamai. This sort of hosting makes it hard on organizations with a need for content filtering because legitimate sites are broken in order to block that content which should be blocked.
The end result has been that those sites who depend on hosting that refers back to akamai's domain lose hits.
I was going to say the same thing. It's a pity, because a lot of teachers would use social networking sites if they could do so from work. I'm a network technician for a school district, and half of my contacts on Facebook are students at the schools I work frequently.
It's a matter of balance. Users can't anticipate all of their own needs, much less the needs of thousands of other consumers, but then programmers can't single-handedly design an interface and feature set that meets the wants and needs of all those consumers either.
Look at Office 2007. Microsoft is trying to remove the confusion of menus, option windows, and toolbars by implementing a much more simplified (and hopefully more robust) interface. For the power user, it puts more information on the screen and removes steps in using features. For the newbie, it makes options easier to find and groups them more intuitively--at least that's the theory behind it.
Your mouth is talking. You might want to see to that.
The president has a way of flapping his gums and then letting his aids sort out the facts later. It's kind of like having a CEO running the country.
...but I enjoy games that put me in scenarios I could never see in the real world, and most of which I would never want to. Scenarios that test my ability to think quickly and make complex tactical decisions.
In other words, RTS (CoH is my current favorite) and tactical FPS.
The 3D buildings in Google Earth aren't nearly as detailed as those in MSFSX. At least, not in the cities I've looked at on both.
No, the best part is that you download 600 KB of crap to read 1.5 KB of article, and that's with adblock and a content filter chewing up most of the mess.
1) Who said they'd know who they are dealing with?
2) MS can find ways to make Russia play ball on extradition or prosecution.
I have a better interpretation (and possibly an idea for MS to hunt these guys down):
It's extortion. Someone identified a security flaw that Microsoft missed, and wants money for it. I'd wager their army of lawyers could spin it in such a way as to get these black hats locked up for a good long time for racketeering charges or something similar.
How MS can use this: broker deals with these guys under the table. Get any relevant law enforcement involved to ensure it's legality, and nail the guys when the transaction is made. $50k is pocket change to MS, they could shell it out hundreds of times over and not feel a pinch.
If MS was successful in prosecuting these guys, it would make exploit sales a much riskier business, always wondering if the Nigerian offering money for the latest exploit isn't in reality a MS agent.
What irks me about it is the change of product AFTER PURCHASE. This isn't a patch or an addon, it's a fundamental change in the game with the sole purpose of netting Valve more money.
I think it might be best described as a mild form of obsessive behavior, and that there may be an underlying cause to the varied addictions. There are chat fiends, MMORPG junkies, social network (MySpace) addicts, media collectors, et cetera. This same sort of behavior can be seen directed toward any number of activities, from complusive exercising (that doesn't stem from a warped self-image) to habitual TV viewing to electric train construction.
And no, it's not quite *that* common. It approaches addiction when you start to consistently choose it over more important things, like getting to work on time (like I've done in the past) or spending time with your family or paying bills. Addiction is unhealthy.
I think they're making a mistake in isolating "internet addiction" as a particular disorder/neurosis/whatever. They need to lump it and a few hundred other "addictions" into one category called "behavioral addiction" or something like that. It's not a dependency on the internet, it's a dependency on the regular behavior, the same as a gambling addiction.
We can call it the Just One More Disorder, because that phrase seems to characterize the behavior pretty well (and yes, I have issues with it myself, I've made myself late for work saying "five more minutes" one time too many)
On the subject of them "copying" a Yahoo page:
Has anyone thought that maybe, just maybe, that's a template provided by Microsoft? You know, since it's pitching the IE7 upgrade and all that.
1. Move as many of your applications as possible to the web
One of our major apps costs something like $30k PER YEAR to switch to web-based. We pay about $4k a year for maintenance now. It's hard to justify that cost, as much as we like web-based apps.
No offense, but why would you need training to do a job you were hired to do in the first place?
Oddly enough, I was hired to support some 500 Windows-based PCs. I'm also the only person actively advocating the possibility of moving some of those over to Linux. For that to happen, the OTHER THREE PEOPLE IN MY DEPARTMENT would need training.
I know, I know - it's strange when people do things of their own free will to better themselves and their prospects.
And I'm doing that with Linux. But not everyone wants to spend the time to learn it on their own; they're happy with the status quo if they can't get a crash course in good Linux admin.
Have you ever needed to call tech support on your IT-supported desktops for Windows?
Yes. I've been in contact with a Microsoft rep several times about cleaning up our deployment process so that we can make better use of our time during the summer.
If you answered "yes" for anything other than an RMA, you're either an idiot or - well, an idiot..
Ahh, the famed friendliness of the Linux community strikes again.
make your desktop Linux.
Not possible. I have to use Windows-only apps and don't have the time to spend on the clock making them (maybe) work under Linux, nor can I take them home with me since they're network-based. We don't have the budget to buy me extra computers (and I'd object to tax money being spent that way anyway, it could be better used in a classroom) so I don't get any toys.
I would prefer my children be taught on a very versatile operating system which will keep their interest
Yet you seem determined to put me, the only FOSS-friendly voice in an entire school district, off by calling me an idiot.
What would make Linux the killer desktop app that it almost is, is a seamless way to run Windows programs, including installers.
.exe or clicking "Install" in the autorun box (yes, those should work too) and getting my app the same way I do in Windows.
If I could drop an application CD in a Linux system and install a Windows app with minimal fuss, that'd pretty much be the end of Windows in my household. I'm not talking about using Wine (which I tried once, didn't take to it and never went back), I'm talking about just running the
Is it easy to do? I seriously doubt it. Would it go a long way toward making Linux a major desktop OS? Probably.
...for training?
I work at a school district. I'm the most Linux-saavy of the four IT employees, and I'm still very much a novice. For us to make a transition to Linux, we'd need training and good support. It's been talked about, but sticking with MS has (at least on paper) come out being cheaper for the time being. And that's not even addressing the problem of teachers who are scared enough of Windows, IE, and MS Office; it's pulling teeth to get them to use StarOffice.
So how about it? What's a good way for us to make the leap into Linux without dropping a load of cash?
Umm...The Americans can draw from context better? I don't know. I can tell you I've never had a basic communication problem with American tech support, even those who aren't native English speakers. When I'm trying to convey a lot of information in a hurry, I tend to use big words and complex grammar; this can completely shut down a conversation with a foreign call center, but the American (and Canadian, to be fair) support manages to get the job done.
I'll just put it this way: I've never had to explain the same situation three times to the same person or had a tech doggedly stick to the script regardless of what I told them when talking to an American. I've worked in tech support before and have *seen* some American script monkeys at work, but it's almost a policy for the Indian (and other) call centers to rely entirely on scripts.
Example: if I tell "Joe" that I've got a problem with my new wireless NIC and I need to know where I can enter the SSID in the software, it should be clear to him that I know what the problem is and what I need to do to fix it. What does he do? Force me to go through twenty minutes of uninstalling, reinstalling, PULLING THE CARD TO GET THE MODEL NUMBER, before finally putting me on hold for ten minutes to get someone else on the phone who knows the answer to my question.
Maybe the problem is what is talked about in the article: they're trained on rote memorization, not troubleshooting. They don't know how to deviate from the norm and jump straight to a solution.