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Comment Re:Big Data (Score 0) 181

It's extortion plain and simple

Please show me the gun that's being used.

Netflix does not have to pay ATT/Comcast/Verizon a single dime. All it needs to do is hire a few clever network engineers that are capable of a little bit of traffic engineering, and buy proper transit. Oh, and it would be nice if the US government would not make it so damned difficult for me to start a proper ISP.

--
Sabri
JNCIE #261
ECE-IPN #2

Comment Re:we don't need no stinkin' badges (Score 4, Informative) 81

it's the bullshit classes that universities are offering.

So you go somewhere where you don't have that. I recently earned my MSc at Western Governors University (wgu.edu) which is competency based. There is no need to take classes, they are strictly optional. If you think you already have the competency to pass, go ahead and take the test. If you're not sure or need to fresh up, take the class, part of it, or just read the material. All online and distance learning with dedicated course and program mentors. It took me 18 months to complete a 24 month program.

So, it can be done right. As to the question whether or not my degree is worth anything in the market: only time will tell.

Comment Re:They do mind. (Score 1) 113

And you aren't willing to pay for it.

I'm willing to pay for good news. But, the last time I paid for a Newsweek and a Time Magazine before a flight, I got 45% ads and 25% useless content. Only 30% of the actual print was interesting to me. I'd be more than happy to pay double the price if that helps me get rid of the penile erection dysfunction ads on every other page (what the F that says about your reader base...)

Oh, and in other news: the US is now considering a DVD tax to support the 3.5" floppy industry.

Comment Re:Read the source code (Score 4, Insightful) 430

I think several here have different expectations of what constitutes "good documentation". Being a Linux sysadmin, I work in FOSS day in, day out, and documentation is always available and clear.

Without knowing, you've hit the nail with the hammer.

Here is why FOSS docs are so nice to you, but proprietary ones are not: audience analysis.

The people who create FOSS documentation are often either the developers themselves, or very early adopters who spend a lot of time with the developers. They have a technical mindset, and will write documentation in that way. You have a very technical mindset, and like me, will probably prefer a well-commented configuration example over a nicely formatted .pdf document with all possible options.

In large enterprises, things are different. That's where the professional technical writers come in (yes, that's a full-time job). These folks will come up with a target audience, secondary audience, initial outline for the documentation and (in their minds) well-written content and examples. Since this gets reviewed many times by people who all have an ego telling them that they must make at least some changes in order to show productivity to their bosses, the documentation ends up being a piece of crap. It may be correct, but it usually is a piece of crap. For example, let's take any routing vendor's documentation. You are looking to configure something as simple as an L3VPN. The easiest way to do this is by getting an example configuration and just change some IP addresses to match your own network, right? Well, the "professionals" think not. They will come up with this:

Step 1: configure an IGP. For more information on how to configure an IGP, see chapter 12, section 3.
Step 2: enable the appropriate interfaces for MPLS. For more information on how to enable interfaces for MPLS, see chapter 2, section 1.
Step 3: create an LSP between the two PE nodes. For more information an how to configure LSPs, see chapter 2, section 10.
Step 4: enable a signaling protocol such as BGP or LDP. For more information on how to configure BGP as an L3VPN signaling protocol, see chapter 10, section 9. For more information on how to configure (targeted) LDP as your L3VPN signaling protocol, see chapter 7, section 1.
Step 5: configure the route-target: set route-target 12345:1. For more information on route-target configuration, see chapter 8, section 2.
Step 6: configure the route-distinguisher: set route-distinguisher 12345:100. For more information on route-distinguisher configuration, see chapter 8, section 3.

And that, my friend, is why commercial documentation sucks a monkey's ass.

Comment Re:The American Dream (Score -1, Troll) 570

if Britannia was still a big imperialist bully, it just might take over Europe

Brr, now that's a scary thought. We'd all be reading the Daily Mail and die in an NHS approved shithole that they call a "hospital". Oh, not to mention the fact that there would be 150 CCTV cameras per person. Including one in your bedroom. For the safety of the children, of course.

Comment Re:The American Dream (Score 1) 570

52% is quite normal tax for higher incomes in the EU, but we're not a communist country, although if you're from the US you might think differently.

I'd almost think you are from some fly-over state in the U.S.

The E.U. is a union of several countries, it is not a single countries. All of those countries have their own tax policies. Like France, where the highest tax bracket is 75%.

Comment Re:The American Dream (Score 2, Insightful) 570

even in communist countries, they didn't have much but at the very least they had an apartment for themselves!

Yes, because in communistic countries, you don't get to keep what you make. I fled one of those countries. My income tax was 52% and the sales tax was 21%. The government would happily fund up to the equivalent of $2000 to those who had no job (regardless of whether or not that was by choice).

You want to live in a communistic country? Putin will welcome you. Perhaps you can press that little red button next time a Malaysian Airlines flight flies of Ukraine.

Support the country you live in, or go live in the country you support.

Comment Re:Wait for it... (Score 1) 752

People who live in the same area.

Well, I'd like to see the innocent ones evacuated. No need for more people who have nothing to do with the conflict to die. But those pro-Russian separatists and every single civilian supporter (how can you still support them after this?) can get a nice one way trip to hell as far as I am concerned. I'm sure the folks in western Ukraine agree with me. Seal off that self-imposed border, get your own people out and nuke the damned place. Let's spend our vacation money elsewhere then Crimea.

Comment Re:Did he just notice that? (Score 1) 529

Heck, even the concept of health "insurance" as we have it today seems broken - does my car insurance pay for tune-ups? I'd like nothing more than being able to buy catastrophic care insurance (what was once called "major medical") like I buy car insurance (including the government-mandated high-risk pool so that no one gets priced out - we made that work for car insurance after all), and let all the day-to-day medical stuff be a cash transaction no different from an oil change.

Well, I did just that. I have an individual health insurance package with a very high family deductible. After meeting the family deductible: no copay, no coinsurance, no thing. Insurer pays all.

By doing it like this, I'm using insurance as it is meant to be: I pay the small stuff myself, but should I get into an accident or get very sick, I'm covered.

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