This has been this way since I can remember. 17 years in this business and I think I have received maybe two formal training sessions, both two days. Not to mention the real value of what is being delivered for that $2495.00 session is sh*t. The costs of IT to the business and individual is incredible. If an individual were to go out and get a current MCSE, what is the expected life span of that certification? What are the real costs in terms of fees, tests, software, and hardware to achieve such accredidation. If you are working for a company, you really can't deduct those expenses. If you are on your own, you won't see that return until the next year. And when the economy tanks, what you used to be worth is double digits less that what you were before. I am self tought by in large because I love to help people, I love to solve issues, and I love to build things, but what I am experiencing in terms of my lack of paper pedigree is hurting my future prospects and at this point I can't really afford to spend thousands on what I already know or if I don't, I know where to find it. To business on the otherhand, this is all a write off. Pay well, educate, support and respect your IT staff and you won't have a lot to worry about.

Then there are people like me who actually went out bought a Wilson Amplifier and realized pretty good connections speeds compared to the lowely satellite alternative as I suffer to live in a quite, peaceful, rural area. My only problem is I get 2 GB monthly (Verizon) over my HTC Incredible and since the introduction of the iPhone (coincidentally?) have seen my 1.0+ mbps drop to about 512K (up and down). Still fast enough to work. But after watching just a handful of video (and all the freaking prefixed ads) I hit my cap really quickly. I guess I wouldn't mind paying more if I could use this like a good ole DSL circuit, use it without fear and freely. I am very frustrated with this and I just know, and it really does smell like, market manipulation and collusion between carriers. Telco's have ALWAYS been like that. You might think T-1's would be cheaper now that so many of the landline phones are wireless now and the dedicated copper to service them lies dormant. But T-1's have always had the something special tag to them and appear to still do. So frustrating to be in data jail. I still pay an arm and a leg for service and often stare at my phone thinking what am I getting for all this money other than frustration? Not sure about AT&T, but Verizon had 108+ million subscribers with an average cell phone bill around (excluding the never calcuable taxes, surcharges, and taking into account 60% cell and 40% smartphone) is about $80, that makes there revenue in one month 8.6 billion. Not too bad if you ask me. Why do they insist they are the victims when in fact, it is the consumer...

This is a very clear indication that we are inching closer and closer to one world order regardless of the fact it will never work. Until governments and religious groups of the world drop fanatical, hysterical, authoritarian rule, this planet will not see the kind of societal framework necessary to exist under one world government. Very scary notion of the UN controlling something so important to free expression as the net is. Distributed responsibility works best. Lets hope we see something like the SOPA incident to prevent this from happening. If not, I am staying home, canceling anything internet and making like a hole in the wall. Sad really. But then again, I will save boat loads of money...

I am so sick of watching commercials, doesn't matter which carrier, of watch this, watch that, surf, surf, surf, unlimited (sort of), etc, etc, etc. Then they turn around and blame the users, their customers? Build a better network and quit bitching. Better yet, stop telling your customers they should really use your network and we are the fastest, the best, more coverage when there are plans to limit use not encourage it. Truth in advertising needs to make a come back and have some bite. Corporatocracy needs to end and consumer rights re-emerge as the standards bearer.

So in the effort to prevent bad things from happening we will take x and if that doesn't work we'll take y. We will keep taking to protect women, children, and the nation until we are all stripped of everything. The only problem with that is so will the bad thing. I am avoiding the obvious use of the term of this topic, but get my drift? What will prevent the bad thing is unity and dilligence of the community, not stipping the community of what makes them unique. This has become sport in some circles.

We are f*cked, seriously. If this kind of thing gets out and is exploited for commercial or polical purposes there will not be enough room in the "hills" for everyone. I think my next career will be in techological responsibility and law. I don't need to remind anyone here that the "man" has finally taken ownership of policing technology. The day I have feared for most of my career is finally here.

No, not unless it is completely transparent. They wouldn't even allow review of their source code. Not to mention that all election results would presumably end up under the control of one company. Not a good idea, sorry.

Yet more proof that the machine is still churning. Cosm, you taking applications? ;-)

I has been my expereince that many verticle market applications are poorly written with security being the least of their concerns. Now that *everything* is seemingly connected, extended and exposed to the internet it is only compounding the problem. Security needs to be built in to the core development tools tightly in order to stop these kind of things from happening. The last thing an application developer wants to worry about is security getting in the way of his/her code development. If I see another VB6 app out there I am going to, well, it's not pretty.

Unless something really bad happens to destroy the technological revolution that we are all a part of, it's here to stay. There needs to be stronger, iron clad privacy, individual, and economic legislation in place to provide due process in a time where decisions are made in an instant. The Occupy protests, although very visable, have little chance on making a serious impact on what they are protesting. Rather, you have to be in the game to change the game. I had a thought the other day, if they really wanted to make an impact, why didn't they put together a petition, circulate it, send it to D.C., make it a matter of historical public record, and see what happens? As it stands they are remarkably forgetable. To that end, citizens need to, from within the game, *demand* protections from this inevitable reality before it is too late.

I'm afraid if some one is asking for metrics of three people supporting 350 in international terms does not know what the hell they are asking for or what it is that you 3 do. That being said, it can be expected you will be scrutinized over every little detail. Be careful. I won't ask, but I do wonder who you work for. I have been a similar situation and it is completely frustrating. Good luck...

Affordable health care is a pipe dream. The more efficient healthcare becomes the more margin there is for profit. I liken it to the cost of gas...

...for the day when Judges tell these people, "Will you do something productive and stop wasting the resources of the court, the people, and the government? Case dismissed with prejudice."

IMHO you would be remiss if you didn't look at and consider Pentax.

Content "creation" and being able to validate whatever information is said to have been collected by "authorities" when you face any kind of inquiry is critically important. Can you prove it was me, can you prove it wasn't cracked credentials, can you prove this data wasn't fabricate, etc. There are all kinds of concerns here. No, the controls on all of this data is quite loose at best.