Posts by Old_Polish_Proverb 16 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Mar 2012
When the Y2K panic hit it was because many companies were still using old Cobal and Fortran programs from 20 years ago to run their businesses. Why go to the expense of upgrading something that was working? Change only came because economic panic forced them to review, repair and upgrade their infrastructure. I expect a steady transition away from old hardware onto the newest platform, only if the newest platform is not radically different from the old.
At the website for CarTalk.com there is an ever increasing list of questionable staff members.
Here are a few:
Director of Computer Diagnostics Gus O'Genn
Director of Computer Services Dot Matrix
Director of Deep Sea Research Marianna Trench
Director of Delicate Electronics Repair Anita Hammer
Director of Desert Food Supplies Sandy Berger
Director of E-mail Responses Peggy Flaming
Statistician Marge Innovera
Shop Foreman Luke Bizzy
Shop Foreman II Constance Ubervision
Chief Information Officer Otto Delupe
Chief Justice Harry Mental, aka Judge Mental
Creative Director Drew A. Blank
Credit Counselor Max Stout
Criminal Justice Expert Lauren Order
I work in a college and having the software update quickly can be a problem. Software textbooks are usually written six to twelve months before the "official" release of a program. Teachers design classes based on the texts. I hate the thought of a major revision being pushed out in the middle of a semester.
Adobe just announced its academic licensing program in May. There are new tools that I am now going to need to implement in order filter what software will be installed, where it will go and how it will be updated.
There is a dual structured licensing in place now with different price points and capabilities. A per individual licensing schema and a per seat licensing schema. The individual licensing is what the standard user gets. A personalized account, cloud storage and access to Adobe tech support. The per seat license gets the software and allows for multiple users to use the same software. In order to do this you cannot have individualized cloud storage or any of the cloud collaboration tools. It is also cheaper.
I see development of "The Machine" to be the equivalent of an automobile manufacturer's race car division. The engineers get to experiment with the exotic while the managers see if any of it can be exported to standard production vehicles. In the meantime, HP as a company, gets a huge boost of employee morale and lots of media attention for its cutting edge innovation
I would love to purchase some Toughbooks and Toughpads for my college's automotive repair students to use. Being able to take their PC's out to the workshop floor with them would be highly beneficial. With the full windows OS it would make running the software they have an easy install. But the cost is so prohibitive. I could get a half a dozen Chromebooks for the cost of one full sized Toughpad. When the software they run moves off the PC and starts running in a browser I'll look again, but if an Android tablet in a hardened case can do the same job I can't justify the cost of a Toughpad.
Went on vacation to the lovely island of St. Marten last year. Hotel had the option of wireless in the room for only $15 per day. I said no, I was on vacation. I was surprised at how quickly the craving for a connection hit me. I quickly became very fidgety without my devices. Luckily some time in the sun on the beach cleared that up. Later I discovered free internet at the hotel/lounge and I limited myself to about an hour a night. When the cocktail glass was empty it was time to quit. Before the trip I never realized how much I was on line. It was a concerted effort to go on line.
Rush's dirty little secret as to how he became so popular. The company he works for pretty much bartered his radio show to hundreds of small stations for free in exchange for commercial time.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mann/limbaughs-dirty-little-se_b_185965.html
His talk has has proven to be so toxic that advertisers are refusing to be associated with his show. He is turning into a profit drain for his syndication company. Stations are required to broadcast his show as a part of a package deal, but are putting riders in their contracts with the syndication company that their commercials will not be broadcast during his show. No money is coming in for his bosses. The best guess among the analyst's is that his contract with his current bosses will not be renewed and he will lose the business he has now. Some are hoping that he will be dropped even sooner. Will he go away altogether, probably not. There are still lots of other smaller companies that would be glad to have him.
It looks like market place capitalism is making an adjustment.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
