Posts by Joe Drunk
102 posts • joined Saturday 23rd June 2007 16:55 GMT
Re: Forrester Gump versus Chauncey Gartner
Best comment yet!
Crappy field gets worse and worse. "I Work in IT" = equal "I'm a skilled laborer paid unskilled laborer wages". Same prestige as call center operator.
Re: Free investment advice from a recruitment consultant
Thanks for that! Nothing like a good laugh on a dreary Monday.
I've worked at many firms, most which allowed working from home 1 day per week.
It depends on the nature of your work. I found it more time consuming to coordinate meetings or contact people and get things done that required group effort / collaboration when you are not in the office. Those days I prefer to frown and bear the commute to work knowing I will have a more productive day in this respect.
On days where I will be spending the majority of my time updating charts, status reports, miscellaneous paperwork, billing with minimal phone contact I prefer to work from home. It's easier to get such work done without constantly being interrupted which happens at work. With the exception of Monday we get to choose our WFH days - most people here, myself included opt for Friday.
I am under the impression that Yahoo had no formal policy in place to manage telecommuters. Everywhere I've worked it was considered a privilege that could be revoked at any time so no slacking. We have a hard time reaching you when you are telecommuting? Privilege lost until further notice. No complaining to HR, it was made clear during orientation that WFH is not a right and not deemed necessary to perform your job.
I disagree with Mayer's mass punishment of telecommuters - the productive ones shouldn't be lumped in with the lazy slackers that abused the system. I've seen this knee-jerk reaction before, she won't last long at Yahoo!. But then again, who does?
Beer icon because WFH allows an early trip to the pub that day - once all my work is done of course!
Apple hater here, somewhat Fandroid. Not Apple approved you clueless AC (pretty much all AC are clueless tards unless they are posting something against the company they work for).
Apps with in app purchases have been around awhile on consoles and now IOS/Android.
Scumware.
Last nail in the coffin of Opera's irrevelance
No longer a browser - just a GUI like Maxthon. How much lower can Opera's marketshare go?
Re: The problem is not HP...
As big as an Apple overpriced wizmo gadget that underperforms compared to similar products hater that I am - they didn't invent this. I recall reading about how Nike paid underage kids in Paskistan $2 USD per day to hand sew soccer balls long before the invention of Ipod. Designer label clothes made in sweatshops cost $5 to make and are sold for $200.
It's standard business practice. Behind every fortune ever made there is a crime.
Duh.
I-thingys are also more popular in the USA because they're fashionable. Your typical I-person is buying one not because they have a specific use for them but because everyone else has one and they don't want to be left out..just like when they were in high school.
I tried copying some 5 megapixel photos from a friend's camera to an Ipad 2 purchased new spring 2012. Can you believe the overpriced Ipad2 can't handle 5 MP images? Really? (check Apple forums, that's where I found out). I had to lower the resolution for Icrap to accept them. I uploaded them to my 2009 Android phone AND my 2007 WM6 phone, both displayed 5MP images easily (although the WM6 rendering was slow as molasses).
But that's ok. It's shiny and a status symbol for people who are clueless or low self-esteem, much like those who drove the most ugly car in the world, the Hummer.
Well that stinks.
UPnP is not required but it sure makes things a lot easier! No reason to be used in corporate environment but can you imagine getting called every time your friends/relatives get a new game or gadget and they want you to either go there in person or guide them over the phone through manually permitting IP/Ports in their wireless router?
Re: Preferred
Back in the WIndows 3.0/3.1 era I made the transition from 1-2-3 to Excel once I learned the minor differences. I didn't take to Word for Windows and used Ami Pro instead because it had a feature new to word processing / desktop publishing and not yet present in Word for Windows - WYSIWYG editing. You had to print preview if you wanted to see layout/formatting in Word. Lack of WYSIWYG editing is another reason why I couldn't stand Wordperfect despite it being the DOS word processing standard, opting for Q&A 2.0 instead.
Only two browsers left for Android
Firefox and Webkit. Android has a built-in Webkit-based browser and all the so-called third party browsers for Android are nothing but GUI wrappers that use the built-in browser's core. Opera Mobile and Firefox were the only ones with their own rendering core. They definitely aren't perfect and have their glitches but it's good to have choices. So now Opera Mobile on Android will be just another GUI like Maxthon, Dolphin, X-Scope etc.
A web browser consists of its own rendering core and GUI. Maxthon on Windows is not a browser but a GUI for IE.
Looks like downloading any further updates of Opera Mobile will be pointless since I already have a GUI I have settled on for my Android device. Hopefully Firefox for Android won't go the coreless route and continue improving as it's the only third party Android browser left.
Re: Agreed.
@Esskay
Agree 100% - I already spend enough hours with my co-workers too, both at work, sometimes lunch and the occasional after hours pub crawl. The only connection they have to me after hours is via work cell phone or work email.
I live here in the states, NYC area and not once has any employer inquired about my absence on social networking in general - I have been subject to fingerprinting and background checks for all but a few contracts but no interest has been taken in my internet life with the exception of co-workers. When asked why I don't use FB, twitter et al I always reply:
A) I have a life
B) I'm not an attention span-disadvantaged teenager
Somehow they always take offense to this which is pretty much the way it was intended.
Posted in Which qualifications are worthwhile?
DON'T DO IT!!!!
This field is pretty much the same as medicinal. It sucks.
The only people that I've ever met who actually enjoy working in the field are those who are married with children and can't stand being around them and therefore welcome the long hours / mandatory weekends that are indigenous.
If you enjoy life, friends (real, not chat room/Facebook friends), the opposite sex, hobbies, outdoor activities and being treated like a human being by your employer this is absolutely not the field for you (or me).
Turn back while you still can!
Babylon 5 dissappointment
I started out as a fan during season 1..but then the writing started to fall apart, like they were desperate for new ideas and were just making things up as they went along - either that or the show's writers' 5 year old kids were the one coming up with the premises.
That episode when Delenn was going through some transcendental transformation..the transformation? She grew hair. Probably the most anti-climactic episode of any series I had the misfortune to see. Last episode of B5 I ever watched.
Slap on the wrist. Used to work there, worst place I ever worked in my entire life, worse than fast food joint in my teens. Very high turnover rate while I was there.
Oh well, not surprising really, US polits receive considerable contributions from Wall Street mega-corps like this so par for the course. They'll get this money back in no time from the next investors they'll fleece.
Filer, email quota hog
For work I have folders, sub-folders, sub-sub-folders, etc.. I keep everything. Having worked in several Fortune 50 firms (the financial firms being the worst) and surrounded by clueless idiots I have no choice. I keep getting notices about my email going over my quota, I keep ignoring them. I don't have to delete anything thanks to Sarbanes-Oxley. Sorry servers admins. Besides, it's not my fault clueless idiots keep sending me Word documents chock full of bloated graphics and their endless stream of constant subsequent revisions.
You might suggest, "Just keep the latest revision." Ahh but this is corporate IT and this environment does not allow for simple solutions.
"Why is this project taking so long?"
"Well the constant changes to the original plan kept changing the scope."
"What changes?"
"You were copied on all correspondence, check your email."
"Umm, I can't find them right now, I have so many emails, could you re-forward them along with the bloated attachments?"
"Give me a few minutes and you'll have them."
This scenario happens regularly throughout the course of the day. In all fairness we all are juggling more projects than we can handle so I don't blame them for amnesia, happens to me too. Another reason why I keep everything. Those emails I just forwarded? Yea, I'm keeping them too along with their bloated attachments as proof this conversation happened. Oops, another email quota notification. Ignore.
In an environment where when something goes wrong the first priority is placing blame email is your CYA armor.
Some people just shouldn't breed
See title.
Commentards - this isn't about Apple vs. Samsung
"Multinationals are increasingly opting for outsourcing for various reasons. But at Samsung, out of over 200,000 staff worldwide, more than half are manufacturing jobs, which indicates we are very much a manufacturing-driven company and it is where our core strength is," Mok said.
Everybody does it - slave labor is what made the southern US rich in its infancy and continues to make multinationals rich today. Slavery was abolished here and now there are laws in place but the incredibly high demand for slave labor persists. Outsourcing to third world nations where life is cheap is the perfect way to wash your hands of the whole affair and maintain the image of an upstanding corporate citizen.
Honest guv, we had no idea how something that costs $300 to make here in the US only costs $25 in that other country - we thought it was magic!
From the clothes on your back to that PC you're typing this on - All made in 'Santa's Sweatshop".
Just be thankful you weren't born in one of those countries or you likely would be one of those 'elves'.
At least the premium beers I enjoy aren't made in sweatshops.
Re: White v Hispanic and Black
Typical AC grey matter-disadvantaged racist. AC because you're afraid to get downvoted and if it weren't for the internet you wouldn't know anything about the outside world.
If you had ever completed education past the third grade and didn't look to family reunions as potential hookup time you would remember that this country is supposed to be the largest melting pot in the world.
Bahahahahaha!!!!
Another super l337 badboy gets punishment that he should consider a gift. No jailtime and by removing internet from his life he will get back something meaningful. He'll be able to see the sun and finally get some color on his ghastly complexion. He'll develop a personality (real, not internet avatar personality). He may even get a (GASP) girlfriend that he met on his own! He'll see that the internet actually kept him from enjoying the fun things in life, travelling, exploring etc.
When his probabtion s over he will realize that the internet is a toilet, useful only for pr0n and scams...and occasionally news, weather and sports scores.
I pity those AC commentards who consider this cruel and unusual punishment. See a therapist (real, not internet bot) immediately.
Ballmer and company clearly have no idea about how enterprise IT works. No matter what trick or carrot you dangle convincing these enterprises that their OS/PC refresh should align themselves with Microsoft's OS release cycles just isn't going to happen. Like many large MS shops we just upgraded to Win 7 this past summer from XP and there's still some kinks with some departments' apps that have surfaced.
Updating an OS and updating an application are two fundamentally different beasts, something that needs to be apparently explained in simple language to Mr. Baller and co. (possibly via a Powerpoint presentation).
Beer icon because it's Friday and I thank God for that and for the fact that I no longer do production support.
United States of (insert corporation name here)
Mildly surprised and disappointed. I like to think of myself as cynical but life proves me to be a realist more and more each day.
The current patent system is nothing more than a business made to keep lawyers rich. Nothing to do with innovation or protecting anyone's ideas. If it were there wouldn't be any patent holding companies.
The time will come when some corporation will patent the wheel. The sad thing is I probably won't be surprised.
Need a lawyer icon.
Spawn of Satan icon will do nicely.
Re: @ AC 13:19 Merely getting old, maybe?
Just as Captain Save-a-ho says, it's now more competitive than ever and you need to evolve. Or become extinct.
If it seems harsh that's because working in IT is now harsh.
There was a time in IT where you would leave one high-paying gig for another high-paying gig because one offered a better commute or you simply didn't like your boss (me, circa 1997). Those were the days when demand outweighed talent by a huge margin. The magical time when you didn't have to look for jobs, jobs looked for you and you could dictate both compensation and working conditions (I don't work nights or weekends).
Quality of life has been and ever shall be important to me - 3 things that were essential were health, disposable income and time to enjoy spending said income. The past decade IT was severely cutting into QOL by adversely affecting those 3 things and I begrudgingly decided it was time to end my marriage to this career after maybe two thirds of my life devoted to her. It was a beautiful wedding and honeymoon but lately all we do is argue and fight.
Currently in project management/sales working 8 hour days (not that bullshit 10-hour "Professional Work Day" that has become the norm in IT) and my QOL is back to 1997 levels. For now. As part of my evolution I have learned to embrace volatility and transience, nothing is guaranteed in life and always be prepared to fight for what is yours.
My job doesn't define me, it is a means to an end, nothing more. I could care less if I was juggling bowling pins in a circus - as long as my quality of life is high all is well!
Best of luck to those of you stuck in the rent-a-tech world - you're gonna need it!
Re: DRM = Draconian Rights Management
That pretty much sums up not only DRM but any EULA or as I prefer to call them End LOSER License Agreement. All EULAs are can be summed up as 'We win, you lose'.
Hoarding = don't leave the house often
Junk is junk. Is it taking up lots of space? No? fine, stash it somewhere. The Sony Walkman can be put in a drawer. It's filling up the attic/basement? Garbage.
You have one Commodore 64, a few drives, monitor. Fine. Each and every variety/color of Commodore that ever came out and drives stacked to the ceiling? Get help. You're one step away from being found dead in a house with 50 cats, some feasting on your corpse and garbage piled to the ceiling.
Beer icon because quite frankly, you need to get out of the house more often.
Re: cool!, but depressing
I take offense to that remark about managing/supervising. Well OK not really, like I give a rat's ass what anybody here or anywhere thinks of me. Some of us started as techs but it is true that you're just a glorified babysitter for those reporting to you and but-kiss/liar to those you report to.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/manager-achieves-full-mastery-of-pointless-manager,2622/
Parody yes but not far from the truth.
Beer icon because it's Friday and nearing that time!
Now this is a Friday article!!
Well done El Reg!!!
I'm a contractor/consultant and I take offense to that!
To every corporation's HR manager whom I've contracted for past and present:
I'm as committed to you as you are to me.
Re: iMuppets
In my late teens and early twenties we would wait in line overnight to get good seats for concert tickets (before ticketmaster monopoly) so this is probably not too different.
I guess that's a sign of getting old, there's nothing currently that I would be willing to wait in line for..other than waiting in line at motor vehicle services to renew my driver's license.
Why? Why? Why?
Would anyone download such useless apps to their device? Aren't IOS/Android market already full of useless/worthless apps?
Hahahha yes but then they would run right back inside, frightened by that bright yellow thing in the sky!
Re: Missing stuff
I signed up for an account but was disappointed with both lack of IMAP and mobile support. Every email provider I use has a mobile webpage for speedy access but somehow outlook's doesn't work properly. Try m.outlook.com and it will initially open a mobile-looking outlook site but quickly re-direct you to the full website.
Re: I've got say this is bulls***
Yes it will replace a PC for many users. How many people do you know who only use their PC for email, Facebook, Youtube, Netflix, Pandora and simple games? This type of consumer who bought PCs before the tablet craze are now buying Ipads because for them it IS a PC replacement. Plus it's shiny. And all their friends have one so they want one too.
It's also likely that these figures reflect those who have a PC from 2007 or earlier are buying tablets instead of upgrading their PC.
Let's face it most PC users are not power users so the limitations of tablets aren't a factor. The fact that Ipads are "trendy and hip" are another reason it outsells all other tablets.
Re: sacked for making dodgy Facebook posts
Yes employers do have the right to protect themselves from potential employees' liability. Users of social networking sites need to stop being so naive about what they broadcast, and for that matter, why.
EMT work is not easy and yes there are some very belligerent patients who will get on your last nerve. I have heard horror stories from friends who do and used to do EMT, search and see for yourself.
People vent and say things they don't mean to all the time but why put it in writing where it can be viewed by a wide audience? Unfortunately it seems to be in vogue to put your entire life on the internet and getting sacked for what you post is nothing new, happens all the time.
Re: iPads in the enterprise
Thank you Quentin you nailed it. Present day Ipads and tablets in general aren't meant to be desktop replacements. They were originally created as a shiny toy for consuming content. I believe their evolution will lead to eventual replacement of desktops if Windows 8, the increasing sales of tablets and all-in-one PCs with touch screen are any indication.
We have meetings where some bring Ipads and some bring laptops - I belong to the latter category although my netbook weighs about the same as an Ipad. It's just more versatile and can do more than any tablet can do - presently.
I've always wondered why tablet manufacturers and devs haven't been more focused in trying to seize a bigger chunk of the corporate pie. Limited hardware resources?
Beer icon because it's Friday and pub o'clock approacheth!
The only fail is on Google's behalf. Granted, I haven't used Opera on the desktop since V8 but if changing user agent string magically makes the website function as it should then this is just a Google scam. Your typical non-IE user is above average technically and won't fall for this sham so I'm wondering who they are targetting since the message doesn't seem to appear in IE8 (I just tried).
Re: Test the updates ?
Indeed - as some wsus updates have caused problems in the past we have lab machines that get automatic updates and only after they have been deemed safe are they then rolled out enterprise-wide from our own servers.
If wsus broke several of your machines AND you're in the middle of an IT audit you're obviously in the wrong line of work and you should consider a career change - maybe pastry chef.
Not surprising
Considering Adobe had annouced they were discontinuing development of the Mobile Adobe Flash this isn't exactly a news flash.
Ok I'm going..but before I do I just want to add the only thing I find surprising is IE10 will have embedded Adobe Flash. Does anyone know if Windows 8 phones or tablets have adobe flash?
AC @10:23 GMT
You are correct sir there are only 4 browsers available for Android - stock, Firefox, Opera and Chrome beta. The rest are just fancy shells that use stock webkit to render pages.
It's like saying you don't use IE you use Maxthon.
I hated Android Firefox 10, 11, relcutantly installed 12 and skipped 13 altogether. This is a vast improvement especially in the area of speed. I haven't tried the flash support but it does crash frequently on my stock android 2.2 device.
Crossing fingers for version 15.
Yeah. Reminds me of when Monster.com got hacked. I had an email account used solely for Monster, never ever got spam. After the hack, so much spam I cancelled the email.
LinkedIn users can expect the same I suppose.
This is definitely a HUGE gamble by MS. I don't think your average home user will care - 'Wow, this works almost like my IPad - my Facebook, twitter, email all work! Yay!!!'
Power users? I really doubt it.
Corporate users? Probably will be fine since start menu is still there but I wonder what the costs will be for user training on new Metro UI. I Also wonder about the costs for apps that may have to be re-written. The migration costs for Win 8 could be unprecedented.
I agree that this looks like it may be a disaster for the PC industry - more and more consumers are buying tablets instead of laptops and with Win 8 most consumers won't be able to differenatiate between either. Tablet will become laptop without keyboard.
>Speaking of which, will windows 7 still be available to buy, and will it be available on new machines >when 8 is out?
I doubt it. MS wants everyone on the new OS (whichever one just came out) so no Win 7 on new machines and stores will stop stocking Win 7 as sales diminish.
Who knows. Maybe the era of desktop/laptop is slowly coming to an end. We may be entering the era of strictly tablet/thin client and servers/clouds.
It's anyone's guess as to how this movie will end so just break out the popcorn.
It's Friday and nearly pub o'clock!
But how can anyone NOT living in a cave still fall victim to this well-publicized scam? Zero sympathy for these people. Just means these bottom-feeding victims will have less money to spend on lottery tickets.
More likely they fessed up and fingered cohorts in the face of jail time/heavy fines and the threat that would cause any leet wanna-be to ponder suicide - having their internet taken away.
I had forgotten that 2000/XP couldn't play DVDs. I do remember an XP Thinkpad I had came with WInDVD 4 and a subsequent XP Dell Laptop with PowerDVD 4.
I don't know how I feel about this - myself and most power users have always used third party apps such as VLC so this would have no effect. I did ask most of the noobs I know and they watch DVDs on a dedicated player and never knew that their Vista PC could play DVDs. This feature will probably be missed by the masses as much as SLIP.
Even though I hate the new WIndows 8 interface maybe MS is on to something here - The majority simply won't care that their new PC can't play DVDs.
Opera for PC lost me at around V9..
Became too bloated and certain websites just wouldn't render properly. Firefox lost me after V3 because of bloat. Chrome is ok is definitely aimed at noobs - you can tell because as someone else here mention they go out of their way to make it unconfigurable. These days I don't really care, a browser is a browser. Security and speed is all that matters and they all do it much the same..IE9 is starting to look good, we'll have to wait and see...
For handsets it depends. Opera mobile doesn't offer any advantage on Android 2.2+ devices over the stock browser with wrappers (most android browsers Dolphin, Miren, etc are just wrappers for the stock browser). Opera Mobile 12 doesn't render some pages correctly, Flash websites are choppier and changing from mobile to desktop view often has no effect. Still in development so I'll keep an eye on it.
Opera Mobile however was the best on my Windows Mobile 6 handset and most of the J2ME feature phones I've owned.
Posted in Indiana cops arrest violent 6-year-old
Defective parents produce defective kids
A six year-old kid acting that way? Ouch. Here in the US kids like that are classified as E.D. (emotionally disturbed) and get put in special classes with teachers certified in special education. My mon is a retired special ed teacher and tells me most of these kids act out because they are physically/emotionally abused, neglected and come mostly from broken homes. There's always the exception of a spoiled brat who's taught to get their way whenever they act out but mostly it's what happens at home.
Crappy home life always equals crappy school life for children.
Re: "Sued my ex-company"
Bahahahahhahahahahhahahahaha!!!!!!
Hrmm....sorry...I always burst out laughing when I read about someone who works in IT who expects fair treatment and respect.
You can always spot the newbs in this field.
Class action here in US against corporations
Typically equals corporate monoliths paying a settlement while admitting no wrongdoing which means nothing will change for current or future employees. I expect corporate monoliths will do a better job of hiding this collusion as a result of this class action. Naturally plaintiffs' will lawyers get majority of settlement while plaintiffs themselves get tiny fraction. And as AC 10:39 GMT pointed out suing your ex-company is always good to have on your CV.
Incidentally some of my past gigs required me to sign a non-compete agreement valid for 6 months after my last day.
Posted in WTF is... UltraViolet
Re: Control Freaks
You must be new on the internet to think that any media that is virtual or streamed can't be made into physical. You must also not travel often to think that the internet is available everywhere with a reliable high-speed connection thus ensuring the content you paid for will display without sputtering or buffering.
I understand from a business perspective the content owners wanting to make as much money from their products as possible but until 'high-speed internet everywhere' truly becomes that this UV model is destined to fail. If you can only watch movies when you have good internet you will end up with a lof of disgruntled customers.
Some movies come with a digital copy and although DRM'ed is a better alternative. Personally I rip my own DVDs/Blu-rays sans DRM then delete from my tablet after viewing.
If you really want a good Windows 3.1/WFW 3.11 experience AND you are running a Windows host OS use MS Virtual PC 2007. No weird mouse jumping problems, copy/paste works well and you can choose video drivers with resolutions up to 1280x1024 32bit. I still have a VM that I like to fire up every once in a while when I feel nostalgic.
Like many others here I used DOS for most of my tasks, running Windows only when I needed fancy fonts or graphics (MS Publisher for Win 3.1).
I also agree with those comments comparing Word back then and Word now. A few more features were added but the resource requirements have increased by unprecedented amounts. Think about it. You were using Word back then in Windows 3.1. You time travel from 1994 to 2012 and are shown a modern era PC. Wow, cool flat screen! You fire up WIndows then Word and after checking them both out you ask, "Cool, what else does it do? THAT'S IT?!?". I'm going back to 1994!"
