We have an Integrated Library System (a.k.a., ILS, i.e., the online catalog) that runs on MS SQL Server and it crashes probably once a day on average. When I have mentioned to the IT group that there are OSS alternatives I am literally answered with blank stares.
Maybe ILS doesn't run on any other databases (I don't know). Maybe it doesn't run on non-MS operating systems (I don't know). Maybe ILS on non-MS systems is 16 times the price, the IT people have argued often to switch for greater stability but the management decided a few crashes isn't so bad. Maybe the IT people you speak to are support desk people and haven't got the power or authority or budget to change platform. Maybe some fuckwit librarian made the original choice of system/OS in the first place and the IT group wait for you to leave the office and laugh, then get back to kernel hacking and Angband.
In my experience business IT departments are significantly more savvy than Joe Schmoe computer owner and also significantly more savvy about the issues they resolve and deal with than the rest of the business.
No, they are supremely aware of how one segment of the business works. An important segment, but still a limited view.
To be a successful CIO you have to support the business. The entire business. That's much easier to do if you know how the whole business works.
CIOs have a better view across the business than anybody exception the CFO, and maybe the CEO and COO. Maybe. If they don't, they can not do their job properly.
I'd rather work for a CIO that knows the business and relies on his direct reports for technical recommendations than a CIO that knows technology and doesn't know the business.
For most subjects I'd agree. For spam it's a quick and straightforward validation of my own views of why the suggestion is flawed, and saves time reading other responses.
In common with all versions of Windows this install (XP SP2) picks up "cruft" and after about 6 months the only real cure is a reinstall of Windows.
You put forward what on the surface sound like good points, but I'm afraid you lost all credibility with this statement.
XP Pro, main desktop : 18 months, no more startup processes than 14 months ago when I bought my G15 keyboard (which added three new ones). XP Home, laptop : one month short of 4 years, time to boot unchanged, runtime performance unchanged. Win2K, work desktop : I don't even get to control everything that's installed on this one. Still, 3 years, still only needs a reboot every 2 months.
I would not employ you as a desktop rollout engineer if you need to reinstall windows at home every six months.
Yes it will. It means that the ones who prioritise financial rewards above job satisfaction will be able to make a lot of money supporting businesses when their mashed up web apps that they've managed to incorporate into their business critical process go horribly wrong.
It also means that low-paid people in IT departments will start bringing large knives to work. It's already bad enough being asked to fix issues in the random excel or access 'applications' business people have built up.
Using a sniper for more than single-target assassination is good doctrine.
A sniper will want the highest value target for each shot. But taking out a single soldier at a roadblock causes a lot of disruption, so although the preference will be to take out any officer present, or a senior NCO, anybody will do.
But a good sniper can keep a large enemy force busy for relatively low effort. I completely agree he shouldn't stay in one location, but there's no reason he couldn't shoot-move-shoot-move harassing a wide area.
Arguably that's a more effective use of their skills than taking out individuals - not many specific targets are both high value and vulnerable.
Of course, snipers on our side are unhappy that their skills are being wasted and they aren't being used effectively. I suspect an element of that is the lack of a known targetable enemy.
What arrogant IT people sometimes forget is that the IT department does not make money.
Bullshit.
For a start, we could never forget. Every fucking day the business complain about how much IT costs. Of course, when we suggest they provide a proper business case to justify the complicated work they're asking us to do (in timescales that are (putting it politely) ambitious) then we're accused of blocking progress. When we ask them to document their business processes so that we can reflect them accurately in the IT systems they complain that they've already told us what they want. When the subsequent change requests come through (because we've given them exactly what they asked for) they refuse to allow the delivery date to change, or drop out other functionality.
And then they complain because things cost so much?
For another thing, our websites were written by IT people. They're hosted on IT equipment, maintained by IT people and use back-end systems written and run by IT staff. They take a significant proportion of our revenue, and do so for a far lower cost of acquisition than certain other people focussed channels. I'd call that making money.
Not to mention other quirks, such as the corporate telephone bill appearing in the IT budget (but the IT Director having no influence on calls made by the rest of the business).
Maybe if the business people demonstrated invaluable field-specific expertise that outweighs their computer deficiencies I'd have some sympathy for them. In practice I have to learn their field-specific expertise so that I can apply my own field-specific expertise to their benefit, and do so in the face of hostility, misunderstanding, constant budget cuts and a total lack of appreciation.
Personally I find myself constantly amazed that these people actually think I like them. I guess my people-facing skills _are_ that good.
You may know more about computers, but you come across as knowing far less about managing a network full of them.
Incidentally, you were modded troll because frankly, the tone and content of your post is trolling.
IT people are like canteen staff, like executive PAs, like your local policeman and security guards at the front desk. Treat them nicely and life is much much simpler. Act like a complete cunt, pretend you're superior, and watch them reboot a server you need just as you need it.
As x2A spotted, I'm in the UK. Here the format shifting is more obviously against the law than the DRM violation. There is no fair-use at present in the UK (although as x2A also pointed out, it's on the way. hurrah!)
As for Pirate Bay, they aren't necessarily seeking to steal from people that produce marketable goods. They are merely offering an alternate means of discovering and acquiring digital media. Where people perceive value they will spend money, and if that means buying a game they initially played from a download, that's a gain to the software developer.
Is that legal? I'm sure a lawyer will refuse to say 'yes'. Is it morally wrong? Far dodgier ground. Is it theft? I have to say no.
Unfortunately ripping a DVD to hard disk is legally deemed copyright infringement in my country. This would thus be described as 'theft' or 'stealing' by the MPAA.
I would still contend (and you seem to agree) that I have stolen nothing, and that there is no inherent right for the creator of that work to receive additional payment for my format-switching activity.
Sealand can host whatever it likes. That's no use to anybody outside of Sealand unless there's a connection to the world at large.
That connection is what the WTO can target. If the WTO inform the UK that supporting that connection breaks international trade agreements then the UK may cut the link. France may follow suit. Everybody else within range of a cable may follow suit.
You're now down to launching your own satellite and finding a way to connect to the backbone. Even then you're relying on DNS servers to keep supporting you.
If anything you're more vulnerable in Sealand. Who cares about a dingy fort that should've been destroyed 60 years ago. At least hosting in Sweden there's an internationally respected country backing its own laws against the desires of other countries.
So Sealand being unconnected to the WTO is irrelevant. Sealand has to connect to countries that are part of the WTO, and those are the ones that can take the action.
I saw True Romance at the cinema. I own a copy on video. I own it on DVD. I own the directors cut unrated version on DVD. If I'm away from home and decide I want to watch it, and use a copy of the DVD I put onto my laptop hard disk, I put it to you that I am depriving nobody of their rightful income.
I am depriving them of income they'd like. But frankly they've been more than compensated by me for their effort and artistic output.
My thoughts may not match the law on this matter. I'd prefer to change the law.
if by June something strange happens and 3G is suddenly huge, they'll put it in there rather than waiting for v2 a year or so down the road
Sure, because design and implementation of a device that size is so trivial, and production runs so quick.
Nokia have been building mobile phones for a long long long time. They're very good at it. They also have extremely long lead-times on new hardware. The specifications of their phones are known, documented, published, advertised and committed to many months before the phones are available.
This may be possible to shorten. But a lot of that time is spent testing the phone with various networks, with various configurations, various options. These might be small devices, they might be pretty cheap (as compared to a mainframe or an Italian sports car) but they're also exceedingly complicated.
I'm sure Apple are already working on a 3G version. I'm also sure that if they expected it to be available for June they'd have mentioned it in their product launch.
An wireless capability is pretty much a phone thing.
You are aware of PDAs? They've been around a while. They have wireless capabilities.
Perhaps you've encountered the Nintendo DS. That has wireless capability.
Maybe you heard about the Microsoft Zune. That's a competitor to the iPod.. that has wireless capability.
You possibly haven't heard of the company Archos. They provide some particularly capable devices that store music, can capture, store and playback video, and have wireless capability.
You do realise that Nokia (and maybe others, I haven't checked) already have phones available with built-in SIP clients? I have one in my pocket at the moment.
I have a friend who swears by later versions of the Treo. I switched to a Nokia E70 and have been pretty happy with it. No touch-screen, and the calender doesn't show a whole day at once, and the contacts app isn't as good, but far far better phone, smaller form factor and I'd probably still pick it ahead of anything else currently on the market.
Which'll be why teenagers can type at 60wpm on a T9 keyboard*.
Admittedly not real words. Just ones they can understand. Personally I went for a Nokia E70, with its mobile phone form factor, PDA capabilities and full qwerty keyboard.
The lack of key-based entry will stop me buying this. It wont do enough that a device already in my pocket doesn't do to justify the loss of usability that I'd suffer.
Depends on the staff. Call centre/customer facing staff tend to need training on everything - not just how to use the various bespoke systems but also how to use things like standard office apps in the manner desired for customer contact activities.
Not to mention the back office staff productivity loss as they all individually figure it out by themselves. Even if they only lose a day each over the first few weeks for my company that's 7 man years of work lost. Lets pretend they're cheap and call it just $500k. That's worth including in the TCO calculations.
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We have an Integrated Library System (a.k.a., ILS, i.e., the online catalog) that runs on MS SQL Server and it crashes probably once a day on average. When I have mentioned to the IT group that there are OSS alternatives I am literally answered with blank stares.
Maybe ILS doesn't run on any other databases (I don't know). Maybe it doesn't run on non-MS operating systems (I don't know). Maybe ILS on non-MS systems is 16 times the price, the IT people have argued often to switch for greater stability but the management decided a few crashes isn't so bad. Maybe the IT people you speak to are support desk people and haven't got the power or authority or budget to change platform. Maybe some fuckwit librarian made the original choice of system/OS in the first place and the IT group wait for you to leave the office and laugh, then get back to kernel hacking and Angband.
In my experience business IT departments are significantly more savvy than Joe Schmoe computer owner and also significantly more savvy about the issues they resolve and deal with than the rest of the business.
No, they are supremely aware of how one segment of the business works. An important segment, but still a limited view.
To be a successful CIO you have to support the business. The entire business. That's much easier to do if you know how the whole business works.
CIOs have a better view across the business than anybody exception the CFO, and maybe the CEO and COO. Maybe. If they don't, they can not do their job properly.
I'd rather work for a CIO that knows the business and relies on his direct reports for technical recommendations than a CIO that knows technology and doesn't know the business.
For most subjects I'd agree. For spam it's a quick and straightforward validation of my own views of why the suggestion is flawed, and saves time reading other responses.
In common with all versions of Windows this install (XP SP2) picks up "cruft" and after about 6 months the only real cure is a reinstall of Windows.
You put forward what on the surface sound like good points, but I'm afraid you lost all credibility with this statement.
XP Pro, main desktop : 18 months, no more startup processes than 14 months ago when I bought my G15 keyboard (which added three new ones).
XP Home, laptop : one month short of 4 years, time to boot unchanged, runtime performance unchanged.
Win2K, work desktop : I don't even get to control everything that's installed on this one. Still, 3 years, still only needs a reboot every 2 months.
I would not employ you as a desktop rollout engineer if you need to reinstall windows at home every six months.
Go watch the movie again. He didn't miss the reference, he responded entirely appropriately.
Yes it will. It means that the ones who prioritise financial rewards above job satisfaction will be able to make a lot of money supporting businesses when their mashed up web apps that they've managed to incorporate into their business critical process go horribly wrong.
It also means that low-paid people in IT departments will start bringing large knives to work. It's already bad enough being asked to fix issues in the random excel or access 'applications' business people have built up.
Maybe mp3s and a set of headphones cuts out all the extraneous noise that would distract him from correctly interpreting the images.
Works when programming - another attention-to-detail pattern-identification exercise..
Using a sniper for more than single-target assassination is good doctrine.
A sniper will want the highest value target for each shot. But taking out a single soldier at a roadblock causes a lot of disruption, so although the preference will be to take out any officer present, or a senior NCO, anybody will do.
But a good sniper can keep a large enemy force busy for relatively low effort. I completely agree he shouldn't stay in one location, but there's no reason he couldn't shoot-move-shoot-move harassing a wide area.
Arguably that's a more effective use of their skills than taking out individuals - not many specific targets are both high value and vulnerable.
Of course, snipers on our side are unhappy that their skills are being wasted and they aren't being used effectively. I suspect an element of that is the lack of a known targetable enemy.
or tell plant that all doors should open in a certain direction.
off-topic, but I was under the impression that this was the case.
Shouldn't all doors be push-to-open in the direction of the nearest fire-escape?
What arrogant IT people sometimes forget is that the IT department does not make money.
Bullshit.
For a start, we could never forget. Every fucking day the business complain about how much IT costs. Of course, when we suggest they provide a proper business case to justify the complicated work they're asking us to do (in timescales that are (putting it politely) ambitious) then we're accused of blocking progress. When we ask them to document their business processes so that we can reflect them accurately in the IT systems they complain that they've already told us what they want. When the subsequent change requests come through (because we've given them exactly what they asked for) they refuse to allow the delivery date to change, or drop out other functionality.
And then they complain because things cost so much?
For another thing, our websites were written by IT people. They're hosted on IT equipment, maintained by IT people and use back-end systems written and run by IT staff. They take a significant proportion of our revenue, and do so for a far lower cost of acquisition than certain other people focussed channels. I'd call that making money.
Not to mention other quirks, such as the corporate telephone bill appearing in the IT budget (but the IT Director having no influence on calls made by the rest of the business).
Maybe if the business people demonstrated invaluable field-specific expertise that outweighs their computer deficiencies I'd have some sympathy for them. In practice I have to learn their field-specific expertise so that I can apply my own field-specific expertise to their benefit, and do so in the face of hostility, misunderstanding, constant budget cuts and a total lack of appreciation.
Personally I find myself constantly amazed that these people actually think I like them. I guess my people-facing skills _are_ that good.
You may know more about computers, but you come across as knowing far less about managing a network full of them.
Incidentally, you were modded troll because frankly, the tone and content of your post is trolling.
IT people are like canteen staff, like executive PAs, like your local policeman and security guards at the front desk. Treat them nicely and life is much much simpler. Act like a complete cunt, pretend you're superior, and watch them reboot a server you need just as you need it.
As x2A spotted, I'm in the UK. Here the format shifting is more obviously against the law than the DRM violation. There is no fair-use at present in the UK (although as x2A also pointed out, it's on the way. hurrah!)
As for Pirate Bay, they aren't necessarily seeking to steal from people that produce marketable goods. They are merely offering an alternate means of discovering and acquiring digital media. Where people perceive value they will spend money, and if that means buying a game they initially played from a download, that's a gain to the software developer.
Is that legal? I'm sure a lawyer will refuse to say 'yes'. Is it morally wrong? Far dodgier ground. Is it theft? I have to say no.
Unfortunately ripping a DVD to hard disk is legally deemed copyright infringement in my country. This would thus be described as 'theft' or 'stealing' by the MPAA.
I would still contend (and you seem to agree) that I have stolen nothing, and that there is no inherent right for the creator of that work to receive additional payment for my format-switching activity.
Loot the servers, ravage the.. kitchen?
Sealand can host whatever it likes. That's no use to anybody outside of Sealand unless there's a connection to the world at large.
That connection is what the WTO can target. If the WTO inform the UK that supporting that connection breaks international trade agreements then the UK may cut the link. France may follow suit. Everybody else within range of a cable may follow suit.
You're now down to launching your own satellite and finding a way to connect to the backbone. Even then you're relying on DNS servers to keep supporting you.
If anything you're more vulnerable in Sealand. Who cares about a dingy fort that should've been destroyed 60 years ago. At least hosting in Sweden there's an internationally respected country backing its own laws against the desires of other countries.
So Sealand being unconnected to the WTO is irrelevant. Sealand has to connect to countries that are part of the WTO, and those are the ones that can take the action.
I saw True Romance at the cinema. I own a copy on video. I own it on DVD. I own the directors cut unrated version on DVD. If I'm away from home and decide I want to watch it, and use a copy of the DVD I put onto my laptop hard disk, I put it to you that I am depriving nobody of their rightful income.
I am depriving them of income they'd like. But frankly they've been more than compensated by me for their effort and artistic output.
My thoughts may not match the law on this matter. I'd prefer to change the law.
if by June something strange happens and 3G is suddenly huge, they'll put it in there rather than waiting for v2 a year or so down the road
Sure, because design and implementation of a device that size is so trivial, and production runs so quick.
Nokia have been building mobile phones for a long long long time. They're very good at it. They also have extremely long lead-times on new hardware. The specifications of their phones are known, documented, published, advertised and committed to many months before the phones are available.
This may be possible to shorten. But a lot of that time is spent testing the phone with various networks, with various configurations, various options. These might be small devices, they might be pretty cheap (as compared to a mainframe or an Italian sports car) but they're also exceedingly complicated.
I'm sure Apple are already working on a 3G version. I'm also sure that if they expected it to be available for June they'd have mentioned it in their product launch.
An wireless capability is pretty much a phone thing.
You are aware of PDAs? They've been around a while. They have wireless capabilities.
Perhaps you've encountered the Nintendo DS. That has wireless capability.
Maybe you heard about the Microsoft Zune. That's a competitor to the iPod.. that has wireless capability.
You possibly haven't heard of the company Archos. They provide some particularly capable devices that store music, can capture, store and playback video, and have wireless capability.
Wireless capability is not just a phone thing.
You do realise that Nokia (and maybe others, I haven't checked) already have phones available with built-in SIP clients? I have one in my pocket at the moment.
Would GPS reception really hurt the battery more than a continuous-transfer Bluetooth connection to a separate device?
I have a friend who swears by later versions of the Treo. I switched to a Nokia E70 and have been pretty happy with it. No touch-screen, and the calender doesn't show a whole day at once, and the contacts app isn't as good, but far far better phone, smaller form factor and I'd probably still pick it ahead of anything else currently on the market.
I charge my phone once every 7-10 days. It's also got full PDA capabilities.
Why on earth should I be unable to use the device, just because I was either away from home overnight, or forgot to charge it one night?
Less than a day's battery life is frankly atrocious.
Which'll be why teenagers can type at 60wpm on a T9 keyboard*.
Admittedly not real words. Just ones they can understand. Personally I went for a Nokia E70, with its mobile phone form factor, PDA capabilities and full qwerty keyboard.
The lack of key-based entry will stop me buying this. It wont do enough that a device already in my pocket doesn't do to justify the loss of usability that I'd suffer.
*this statistic made up on the spot
Depends on the staff. Call centre/customer facing staff tend to need training on everything - not just how to use the various bespoke systems but also how to use things like standard office apps in the manner desired for customer contact activities.
Not to mention the back office staff productivity loss as they all individually figure it out by themselves. Even if they only lose a day each over the first few weeks for my company that's 7 man years of work lost. Lets pretend they're cheap and call it just $500k. That's worth including in the TCO calculations.
I will personally beat you sensless.
ooh, aren't you the hard man.