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Comment Re: Incompetent contracting (Score 1) 190

by lucabrasi999 (#50263843) Attached to: U.K. Government Seeking To End Reliance On Oracle

I suspect that some of it is incompetence, and some of it is the fact that there isn't a single 'they' here. For small orgs, or super-regimented big ones, there is indeed a single Ministry Of Central Procurement through which all external commerce flows. When that isn't the case, purchasing is usually a patchwork of confused individuals with budgets tied to specific things buying stuff in scattered tiny lots.

Yep, and Software Vendors are experts at identifying who in that patchwork has purchasing authority and what their procurement limits are. They will craft their software sale to stay within certain limits in order to avoid the next level of procurement approval.

Comment Re:Incompetent contracting (Score 1) 190

by lucabrasi999 (#50263727) Attached to: U.K. Government Seeking To End Reliance On Oracle
In their defense, it is not just incompetence on the part of the customer. Software Vendors love to come up with intricate and convoluted licensing terms. They are experts at obfuscation. Of course, just using 'open source' as an answer isn't necessarily the right thing. It should be a combination of closely monitored procurement practices along with select open sourcing when it make sense.
Image

IT Worker's Revenge Lands Her In Jail 347

Posted by samzenpus from the bad-idea dept.
aesoteric writes "A 30-year-old IT worker at a Florida-based health centre was this week sentenced to 19 months in a US federal prison for hacking, and then locking, her former employer's IT systems. Four days after being fired from the Suncoast Community Health Centers' for insubordination, Patricia Marie Fowler exacter her revenge by hacking the centre's systems, deleting files, changing passwords, removing access to infrastructure systems, and tampering with pay and accrued leave rates of staff."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - The Analytics of Captain Kirk

Submitted by lucabrasi999
lucabrasi999 writes: I have always been a huge fan of the original Star Trek. No other Star Trek captain could match Kirk flamboyantly running around the galaxy, bedding every woman he saw, ignoring the Prime Directive, changing history through time travel, all while fighting the evil Klingon empire (I know, The Shatner's overacting was a huge part of the show). Even with all of it's style, the number of times a red-shirted crew member dies in the original Star Trek series became a bad joke a long time ago. The frequency made me wonder why the red-shirted crew members didn't just mutiny, rather than let Kirk lead them to a horrible death. Matt Baily, a speaker and trainer for Direct Marketing Association, has analyzed the episodes where red-shirted crew members died and discovered the primary reasons for their death. He even created a Power Point presentation. The reasons why they died? Well, among others, the very act of beaming down with Kirk increased the chance of a red-shirt death. But we already knew that. More interesting is a key reason for the survival of the red-shirt. If Kirk met and engaged in 'diplomacy' with an alien woman, the red-shirted crew member had a much greater chance of survival. See, Kirk wasn't just a sex-fiend. He was using the women in order to save the lives of his crew members!
Education

Submission + - Your Beliefs versus the Facts (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by lucabrasi999
lucabrasi999 writes: Professor Thomas W. Martin of Arizona State University has an interesting article in the Chritian Science Monitor and was picked up by Yahoo. The basis of the article is that despite all of the evidence to the contrary, many of his students still prefer to believe in creationism over the evolution. This leads him to question why there are people who refuse to consider the opposing point of view. Even in science, there are scientists that fight publication of opposition articles, because they don't believe in them. Professor Martin's main point is, what would it take for people to realize that being 'wrong' on an issue is not necessarily a bad thing, but is part of the way we all become more intelligent. Learning, by it's very nature, means that we must be taught when our opinions are incorrect and we must learn to accept the fact that our individual views are not always correct.
Businesses

Submission + - The 10 most overpaid jobs in the United States

Submitted by lucabrasi999
lucabrasi999 writes: Almost everyone can point to a co-worker and say, "They are overpaid". Maybe that co-worker is lazy. Maybe they work hard, but their results are say, lackluster. Maybe they are a great worker, but they landed in a nice, cushy job. Well, Chris Plummer from Marketwatch has identified what he thinks are the most overpaid jobs in the United States. Longshoremen? Motivational Speakers? This list may make you wonder if it is time for a career change. Especially for those of us in IT.

History of Slashdot Part 3- Going Corporate 126

Posted by CmdrTaco from the are-we-sick-of-this-yet dept.
When we last left off we were in early 1999- Slashdot had a small business behind it, known as Blockstackers Intergalactic. But we knew that we would need real infrastructure to handle the ever increasing traffic and needs of our readers as well as our employees. A number of suitors approached us with deal of varying sizes and shapes, and we settled on one nobody had never heard of: Andover. (As a reminder don't forget to get your charity bid up ... some items are still reasonably priced! But the EFF always needs cash!)

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