The weird thing to consider is how much people end up working. I've found what when I'm working hard on a project and I approach it without a schedule, I end up working for a few extra hours without even noticing. It means that people keep their morale up while still maybe being willing to work more hours.
Basically, this is taking salaried work to a whole new level: they acknowledge that people have responsibilities to maintain and judge them based on whether or not the job is done, rather than whether or not they are in the office at a given time. I say bravo. What will be weird is seeing if they can implement this in retail stores like one of the later paragraphs suggests.
don't know much about migo, but i've got a 4gb sandisk cruzer micro in my hand with u3 on it. i don't recommend u3 at all and maybe migo's different, but the first thing i ever do on these drives is uninstall the preinstalled software.
U3 doesn't work any better than any other encryption. in fact, if anything, a corporate level encryption is always going to have better product quality control than U3.
Plus, U3 doesn't work on probably 50% of the machines i have to put it into (tech support=putting in jump drive 50+ times a day), which means that if it doesn't work then there's no way to get it unencrypted. Basically any computer system which doesn't permit access to the AppData folder means it doesn't load the U3 software. (It claims it doesn't install anything, but it's definitely there). The other thing is that there are a lot of programs which just don't like U3 and will crash it even if you have the right permissions.
Plus, it doesn't work on mac or linux.
not to make you think that i support the war in iraq and all the "iraqi oil" we've gained (and also not to be a troll), but it's most definately american people who put the satellite there. the US has lost an absurd amount of money into the war in iraq and has gotten nothing out of it. if we were getting a plethora of oil from iraq, do you really think that we'd be paying $3 a gallon when before the war it was in the mid $1 range?
But to the topic at hand.
I know that hubble has a great impact on what people think about the astronomy community, but I think that it's necessary to truly assess the benefits of the system before we begin to worship it. The true discoveries are being made by newer, more advanced satellites with higher level optical and radar and x-ray sensors. Sure, Hubble has made some pretty pictures, but it has been a veritable engineering disaster since it was built (remember that whole deal with the mirror not being calibrated correctly on the ground and having to do a spacewalk in order to fix it?), which is part of why NASA was considering taking it out of the sky: it is simply not cost effective, nor is it producing the results necessary to justify its existence.
So it's great that we've been able to preserve a relic of the early space-telescope era. But we shouldn't fool ourselves into believing that it will make an enormous difference in current day telescope power. Those discoveries are being made by ground-based telescopes which now have higher refinement than Hubble as well as ESA and new NASA telescopes orbiting the earth. Hubble has become a temple, as another user put it. It is beautiful to look at, but it very rarely produces dramatically pragmatic results which could not be received elsewhere.
to create a new (self-sufficient) home would be impossible because of the gender issue. there's only one reproducing female in a group of ants. Granted, the one to roam the earth would definately be female as the workers are all females, but there would be no way to populate this new home. Chances are that there would at some point be another ant to come along the path of that poor misguided lost ant and help it on its way home. otherwise, it would probably boil in the hot desert sun and cease to be.
it's a shame there isn't any other evidence supporting darwinian principles, but I really think the different ant mechanisms for locating their homes is pretty conclusive... think about it. normal ants use a scent trail to travel home because their pheromes don't get dispersed into the wild and disappear very well. in the hot sand, the ants kept stumbling around trying to find their way home like a guy leaving a bar at 3 in the morning... not a pretty site. so eventually they learned how to count (or possibly measure time or whatnot). Regardless, it definately shows that there's finally at least one study that has conclusive proof of evolution.
now... if only we could find something else.
i'm still thinking of doing A+ for the pay grade increase, but there's no way that they'll give me the fun little car and let me drive around... I'm pretty sure for insurance purposes you have to be at least 21 (or maybe even 25). So maybe in a few years I'll be able to pull some strings and get into a car, but for right now I'm really happy just working in the store. Just out of curiosity and because I forget how to use google... do you know how much A+ costs off-hand?
i second your statement, and i wrote some long spiel below... i just got off my 7 hour shift as well. good times.
Anyway, i think you make a good point about the bureaucracy of the system. slashdotters need to know that we have to put up with a lot of junk and can't just fix a system; we have to fix it in a certain way by following certain procedures and going through the right channels. Our record keeping software is about the worst software ever written, though it's been getting better since when i started working. we're having issues with getting things done because we have to make budget and all that jazz rather than just provide a superior service. I don't know if those are the situations you're dealing with, but from my experience, the problem is more about the higher-ups not knowing what's going on with the inner workings of computers and less about the technical competence of the general staff.
i know i'll probably get flamed for this, but w/e. i am a member of the geeksquad; I've worked there for a little less than a year, and from my experience, here's what we do. Essentially, the in-store people do low level work. I'm constantly bored because I'm doing virus removal after virus removal from people who have messed up their computers and no longer know how to get on the internet. The job is redundant and menial and it gets old pretty quickly. We actually do have a data backup that we try to convince people to do, but generally speaking, they opt out because, yes, our prices are too high. If i could change them, i would, so don't bitch at me. The main brunt of work that we do though is basic setup (i.e. av install and antispyware install). it's menial dull and boring, and more than half of my time during the day is spent sitting watching little trackbars scrolling across a screen despite the fact that i have an 8 port KVM running full of machines. From my experience, there are two types of "agents" who work in store as we're forced by SOP to call each other. there are the fairly smart ones, who know what's going on for the most part and can figure out just about anything wrong with a system. then there are the ones who are good with customers. they know nothing about computers, but often they think that they can fix problems. i don't trust them. most of the good agents that i work with also don't trust them, and as such they don't work on computers very often. in the stores which are understaffed, however, there is not this luxury. This is why the geeksquad has such a bad reputation among the ivory tower of computer intellectuals. In-home and in-office technicians are a bit of a different case; they're at least required to have A+ cert for in-home working, and i'm fairly certain (but don't quote me on this) that the in-office are required to be MCSE. It may not be the same as having a masters or just being an all around badass, but they're at least generally qualified. Some people slide through the cracks in the system, though, and still give the organization a bad name. I wish the geek squad would have more openings for people like me, though. I'm not certified, but i definately know my way around a system better than anyone I work with. I'm also the youngest at my store by far; I'm just now going to college next year. Basically the deal is that the people I work with are older and don't care as much about making an impression, which I believe is a fatal flaw. They don't want to ensure that management likes them as much because they have become disillusioned with the way the world works. That's my 2 cents, sorry for the long comment.
That won't work though, because there would have to be some restriction limiting the "value of the software" to be what you could (in theory) get it for over the internet... without paying for the packaging, shipping, etc.
Linux builds, because of their nature would not be effected because you can still get them for free (legitimately) from the vendor.
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The weird thing to consider is how much people end up working. I've found what when I'm working hard on a project and I approach it without a schedule, I end up working for a few extra hours without even noticing. It means that people keep their morale up while still maybe being willing to work more hours. Basically, this is taking salaried work to a whole new level: they acknowledge that people have responsibilities to maintain and judge them based on whether or not the job is done, rather than whether or not they are in the office at a given time. I say bravo. What will be weird is seeing if they can implement this in retail stores like one of the later paragraphs suggests.
don't know much about migo, but i've got a 4gb sandisk cruzer micro in my hand with u3 on it. i don't recommend u3 at all and maybe migo's different, but the first thing i ever do on these drives is uninstall the preinstalled software.
U3 doesn't work any better than any other encryption. in fact, if anything, a corporate level encryption is always going to have better product quality control than U3. Plus, U3 doesn't work on probably 50% of the machines i have to put it into (tech support=putting in jump drive 50+ times a day), which means that if it doesn't work then there's no way to get it unencrypted. Basically any computer system which doesn't permit access to the AppData folder means it doesn't load the U3 software. (It claims it doesn't install anything, but it's definitely there). The other thing is that there are a lot of programs which just don't like U3 and will crash it even if you have the right permissions. Plus, it doesn't work on mac or linux.
not to make you think that i support the war in iraq and all the "iraqi oil" we've gained (and also not to be a troll), but it's most definately american people who put the satellite there. the US has lost an absurd amount of money into the war in iraq and has gotten nothing out of it. if we were getting a plethora of oil from iraq, do you really think that we'd be paying $3 a gallon when before the war it was in the mid $1 range? But to the topic at hand. I know that hubble has a great impact on what people think about the astronomy community, but I think that it's necessary to truly assess the benefits of the system before we begin to worship it. The true discoveries are being made by newer, more advanced satellites with higher level optical and radar and x-ray sensors. Sure, Hubble has made some pretty pictures, but it has been a veritable engineering disaster since it was built (remember that whole deal with the mirror not being calibrated correctly on the ground and having to do a spacewalk in order to fix it?), which is part of why NASA was considering taking it out of the sky: it is simply not cost effective, nor is it producing the results necessary to justify its existence. So it's great that we've been able to preserve a relic of the early space-telescope era. But we shouldn't fool ourselves into believing that it will make an enormous difference in current day telescope power. Those discoveries are being made by ground-based telescopes which now have higher refinement than Hubble as well as ESA and new NASA telescopes orbiting the earth. Hubble has become a temple, as another user put it. It is beautiful to look at, but it very rarely produces dramatically pragmatic results which could not be received elsewhere.
to create a new (self-sufficient) home would be impossible because of the gender issue. there's only one reproducing female in a group of ants. Granted, the one to roam the earth would definately be female as the workers are all females, but there would be no way to populate this new home. Chances are that there would at some point be another ant to come along the path of that poor misguided lost ant and help it on its way home. otherwise, it would probably boil in the hot desert sun and cease to be.
it's a shame there isn't any other evidence supporting darwinian principles, but I really think the different ant mechanisms for locating their homes is pretty conclusive... think about it. normal ants use a scent trail to travel home because their pheromes don't get dispersed into the wild and disappear very well. in the hot sand, the ants kept stumbling around trying to find their way home like a guy leaving a bar at 3 in the morning... not a pretty site. so eventually they learned how to count (or possibly measure time or whatnot). Regardless, it definately shows that there's finally at least one study that has conclusive proof of evolution. now... if only we could find something else.
i'm still thinking of doing A+ for the pay grade increase, but there's no way that they'll give me the fun little car and let me drive around... I'm pretty sure for insurance purposes you have to be at least 21 (or maybe even 25). So maybe in a few years I'll be able to pull some strings and get into a car, but for right now I'm really happy just working in the store. Just out of curiosity and because I forget how to use google... do you know how much A+ costs off-hand?
if tech isn't my specialty then i don't know what my world is coming to... i appreciate the kind words though.
i second your statement, and i wrote some long spiel below... i just got off my 7 hour shift as well. good times. Anyway, i think you make a good point about the bureaucracy of the system. slashdotters need to know that we have to put up with a lot of junk and can't just fix a system; we have to fix it in a certain way by following certain procedures and going through the right channels. Our record keeping software is about the worst software ever written, though it's been getting better since when i started working. we're having issues with getting things done because we have to make budget and all that jazz rather than just provide a superior service. I don't know if those are the situations you're dealing with, but from my experience, the problem is more about the higher-ups not knowing what's going on with the inner workings of computers and less about the technical competence of the general staff.
i know i'll probably get flamed for this, but w/e.
i am a member of the geeksquad; I've worked there for a little less than a year, and from my experience, here's what we do.
Essentially, the in-store people do low level work. I'm constantly bored because I'm doing virus removal after virus removal from people who have messed up their computers and no longer know how to get on the internet. The job is redundant and menial and it gets old pretty quickly.
We actually do have a data backup that we try to convince people to do, but generally speaking, they opt out because, yes, our prices are too high. If i could change them, i would, so don't bitch at me.
The main brunt of work that we do though is basic setup (i.e. av install and antispyware install). it's menial dull and boring, and more than half of my time during the day is spent sitting watching little trackbars scrolling across a screen despite the fact that i have an 8 port KVM running full of machines.
From my experience, there are two types of "agents" who work in store as we're forced by SOP to call each other. there are the fairly smart ones, who know what's going on for the most part and can figure out just about anything wrong with a system. then there are the ones who are good with customers. they know nothing about computers, but often they think that they can fix problems. i don't trust them. most of the good agents that i work with also don't trust them, and as such they don't work on computers very often. in the stores which are understaffed, however, there is not this luxury. This is why the geeksquad has such a bad reputation among the ivory tower of computer intellectuals.
In-home and in-office technicians are a bit of a different case; they're at least required to have A+ cert for in-home working, and i'm fairly certain (but don't quote me on this) that the in-office are required to be MCSE. It may not be the same as having a masters or just being an all around badass, but they're at least generally qualified. Some people slide through the cracks in the system, though, and still give the organization a bad name.
I wish the geek squad would have more openings for people like me, though. I'm not certified, but i definately know my way around a system better than anyone I work with. I'm also the youngest at my store by far; I'm just now going to college next year. Basically the deal is that the people I work with are older and don't care as much about making an impression, which I believe is a fatal flaw. They don't want to ensure that management likes them as much because they have become disillusioned with the way the world works.
That's my 2 cents, sorry for the long comment.
That won't work though, because there would have to be some restriction limiting the "value of the software" to be what you could (in theory) get it for over the internet... without paying for the packaging, shipping, etc. Linux builds, because of their nature would not be effected because you can still get them for free (legitimately) from the vendor.