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Submission + - Dell is Now a Private Company Again

Gunfighter writes: StreetInsider.com reports: Dell, Inc. completed its go-private tranaction by Michael Dell, Dell’s Founder, Chairman and CEO, and Silver Lake Partners, a leading global technology investment firm. Stockholders will receive $13.75 in cash for each share of Dell common stock they hold, plus payment of a special cash dividend of $0.13 per share to stockholders of record as of the close of business on Oct. 28, 2013, for total consideration of $13.88 per share in cash. The total transaction is valued at approximately $24.9 billion.

Comment 1980's Elementary School (Score 1) 299

I just turned 39. When I was in elementary school in the 1980's, going to the computer lab to learn about computers entailed learning the following:

* Basics of the computer system
-- Input
-- Output
-- Storage
-- Bits and bytes

* Booting the computer

* Programming in the BASIC programming language
-- Operations (mostly arithmetic)
-- Printing output to the screen/printer
-- Conditionals
-- Loops
-- Subroutines
-- and... the dreaded GOTO

As a result, I knew how to "program" before I even started junior high. I didn't take any other program-related courses until high school (BASIC and then Pascal), but I continued studying on my own at home. Contrast that with today: My children will have a lot of computer courses teaching them how to use the computer for research, office automation, etc.; but they mostly likely will not be exposed to computer programming until high school.

Comment Re:I applaud them (Score 1) 592

I use roads, including both private and public roads.
I depend on regulation from both the government and private entities.
I am, in some ways, a self made man; however, that's not to say I have not relied on others to get to where I am today.
You may think me naive or an idiot if you like. Keep in mind, though, that the government already taxes the income earned by the individuals who work at the company. The company's retained earnings will eventually be taxed when they are paid out in the form of dividends or wages down the line.... or I guess the company could just lay off a bunch of people and hand the money over to the government as a corporate tax now? Personally, I think the money is better off staying with the company and they owe it to their employees and other stakeholders to try and make sure they can continue to make payroll and deliver the goods and services expected of them. If that means taking legal steps to avoid taxes, then that's what needs to happen.

P.S. Your comment made me laugh when it conjured up this image:
http://184.173.194.236/~worm64/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/statistRoadsZombies.jpg

Comment Government Already Operates in a Fog (Score 5, Insightful) 263

With the discombobulated nature of the believable information and misinformation, who will be tracking the differences to make sure an intelligence report doesn't result in a military course of action against a non-existent foe (or something similar)?

Translation: What could possibly go wrong?

Comment Acceptable Use Policy (Score 1) 388

Monitoring the use of some systems is required to ensure the end user is abiding by the Acceptable Use Policy. Examples I can think of right off the top of my head:

* Keeping personal use of company resources to a minimum
* Not being used for fraud or embezzlement
* Not being used for illegal or illicit activities
* Evaluating and scanning for security threats and vulnerabilities

You are bound to stumble upon some sensitive information in the performance of some of these duties. There are probably plenty more examples. Anyone else want to chime in here?

Comment Password Safe + Physical Safe Combo (Score 1) 402

My wife and I each have Password Safe (or Password Gorilla on my Linux boxes) installed. You can download it at http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/. We store our logins and sensitive digital information inside the encrypted password safe. The password safe files are stored on our hard disk drives and a cloud service (Dropbox). Inside the password safe is instructions on how to access each others password safe. These instructions are also stored in a physical safe along with other important documents and a list of where we keep our wills, birth certificates, etc. The combination to the physical safe is stored in each of our password safes. The combination to the physical safe is also shared with relatives we trust to take care of our affairs should both of us die unexpectedly or be otherwise incapacitated.

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