Samba's Jeremy Allison On Linux's Future 193
TRNick writes "Jeremy Allison talks Ubuntu, why he loves Gnome, and the trials and tribulations of open source development in a wide-ranging interview on TechRadar."
Comment Everyone's got an alphabet... (Score 1) 1057
Yes, technical tests are fair, and required.
Recruiting agencies will put everything and anything on a candidate's resume. Their people are evaluated by how many interviews they can schedule, and how many placements they achieve. So, they will stack the applicant's CV with anything that's ever been in the same 10-mile radius as the individual in question.
The result is that you're faced with a piece of paper that looks identical to every other programmer's. It's an alphabet soup -
So, we make a first pass, weeding out those who a) can't write, even after the headhunter has spiffied their CV, b) are scant with details, and c) hop assignments every three months. The rest have to do a preliminary interview, and that mainly consists of determining whether or not they actually know any of the stuff that their resume's been padded with. Sure, we ask the traditional interview questions, but we also do a base knowledge test. You would be surprised how many
Programmer's resumes are becoming increasingly useless, especially when you're flooded with nearly identical H1-B applicants with the same vague academic credentials (ie: "BS Elec. Eng., India", "Masters of Computer Applications" - no institution listed, "Bachelor of Engineering" - no discipline given), identical alphabet soup, and interchangeable litanies of 6-month contracts scattered about the country. They all have widely varying levels of competence that is in no way obvious from their resume. They all have "7+ years experience." That's what makes up 90% of the programmer pool these days, and even if you're in the top 10% with verifiable credentials and a real track record, you're gonna have to go through the same process. Because those of us on the hiring end can't tell anymore from your paperwork, without giving you some sort of objective evaluation of skills, syntax, and basic concepts.
It's been the rule for some time now. Ten years ago, it was all of the newly minted MCSEs rolling out of the fly-by-night tech schools. Before that, it was the "paper CNA/CNE's" who were able to sit the Netware exams and pass by the grace of their deity of choice. And there have always been the code-monkey grindhouse diploma-mill shops, who crank out "programmers" in the language du jour - especially since the web boom - CGI, Java,
So, don't take it as a personal insult. You may be better than all of the above, but no one can determine that from a piece of paper, a firm handshake, and a good story about how you were the lead coding god on your last project. 'Cause there's a dozen other applicants out there with the same spiel.
Submission + - Hydrogen turbines generate clean electricity
Roland Piquepaille writes: "The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) has developed near-zero-emission gas turbines using pure hydrogen as a fuel. But because this LSI (low-swirl injector) technology also can use other fuels, it has the potential to help eliminate millions of tons of carbon dioxide and thousands of tons of nitrous oxides (NOx) from power plants each year. In fact, burners with the LSI emit 2 parts per million of NOx, more than five times less than conventional burners. The multi-patented technology is currently available for licensing. I sure hope that a utility company will be interested. But read more for many additional references and photographs comparing a high-swirl injector (HIS) and a low-swirl injector (LSI)."
Submission + - Laptop Anti-theft Software Options for Linux
yourexhalekiss writes: "I'm going back to school this fall, and I run GNU/Linux on my laptop. With school being what it is, I want to keep my Kubuntu-powered System76 Darter Ultra as safe as it can be. Checking through SourceForge and Freshmeat, I can't find a single laptop theft-prevention or tracking program that works with GNU/Linux and has published code.
What do other people use to protect their non-Windows or Mac laptops, and how effective is it?"
What do other people use to protect their non-Windows or Mac laptops, and how effective is it?"
Submission + - Interview: Fallout 3 lead designer Emil Pagliarul (play.tm)
jasoncart writes: play(TM) have an interview with Emil Pagliarulo the lead designer of Fallout 3. He touches on the series' past and misconceptions about the game from E3.
Submission + - Ghostscript unified, long live GPL v2 (kdedevelopers.org)
bmcage writes: Ghostscript is back, but does it still have a future for printing or on the Desktop with pdf going strong? Whatever happens, everybody should rejoice, as Ghostscript has a new version, a new license, and most importantly, the EPS Ghostscript fork has come to an end.
Welcome back in the fold, GPL Ghostscript! We'll make some room on the hard disk for you.
Welcome back in the fold, GPL Ghostscript! We'll make some room on the hard disk for you.
Submission + - Australian court rules eBay auctions as binding
Ellis D. Tripp writes: "An Australian court has ruled that an eBay seller cannot back out of an auction sale once it is successfully completed. The court has ordered a seller to hand over a vintage airplane to an eBayer who bid just over the reserve price of $128,000, despite a subsequent non-eBay offer of over $200,000. More details here:
http://www.comcast.net/news/technology/index.jsp?c at=TECHNOLOGY&fn=/2007/08/03/730424.html"
http://www.comcast.net/news/technology/index.jsp?
Submission + - 150 dollar laptop - true or scam? (computersweden.idg.se)
An anonymous reader writes: Medison, a small Swedish PC company, claims they will sell a basic Linux-based laptop for only 150 US dollars. But the company has been called in question in blogs, forums, and news articles, because the computer shown on the company's web site seems very similar to a laptop from another producer. Two days ago Medison met the Swedish press to straighten things out.
Submission + - Google sidesteps mobile reports
Klaidas writes: "The BBC reports that Google has refused to deny mounting speculation that it is working to produce its own brand mobile phone. Reports suggest that the web giant is developing a "GPhone", centred on its mobile services, such as search, e-mail and maps. In a statement, Google said it was working with carriers, phone makers and content providers to "bring its services to users everywhere". "What our users and partners are telling us is that they want Google search and Google applications on mobile, and we are working hard every day to deliver that.", the statement said. The firm would not clarify if its efforts included plans for a handset."
Submission + - Is There Any Room For E-Mail in 'Enterprise 2.0'? (socialcomputingmagazine.com) 2
jg21 writes: According to this article in Social Computing Magazine, the increasingly widely used label Enterprise 2.0 signifies, above all, software enabling collaboration — what TFA calls "a many-to-many communication medium that creates interaction" – and therefore does *NOT* really include email, which the author characterizes as a "one-to-one communication medium ... more about instruction." What are the realistic chances that actual collaboration will become the number one form of communication in the enterprise, displacing email?
Submission + - Unencrypted passwords at "secure" sites 1
linear a writes: I've noticed that quite a few web sites do *not* encrypt user passwords. I've gotten into the habit of hitting the "email me my password" from them to see what happens. So far I've found maybe 6 that must store passwords in clear since they were able to return the original password back to me. Clearly this is Bad Security Practice. Also, I've had notably bad progress when I ask them to fix this practice. Some of these are sites one would clearly expect to have better security (e.g., a software vendor and an online bank).
Do you have thoughts on how to better encourage better password practice at these places? Also, is this is really as common as it seems to be for me?
Submission + - KDE 4.0 Beta 1 Released 1
mernil writes: "The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the first Beta release for KDE 4.0. This release marks the beginning of the integration process which will bring the powerful new technologies included in the now frozen KDE 4 libraries to the applications."
Submission + - Plans for the Rich Web Application Backplane 2
IndioMan writes: Both mashups and Ajax are now firmly entrenched in the Web landscape. Put them together and you have the makings for Rich Web applications. This article explains the Rich Web Application Backplane, currently a W3C Note, which is designed to bring standardization to the field, proving a set of common building blocks, or components, these applications tend to use.
Submission + - Dell begins their largest layoff ever. 3
cyphercell writes: Dell has begun their largest series of layoffs ever. This morning at about 10:00am more than two hundred employees at Dell's Roseburg Oregon Call center found out that they no longer had jobs. Sparking what appears to be the beginning of year long run of layoffs for the company.
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070802/NEWS/7 0802014
Refuting local suspicions of malice Dell spokesman David Frink states:
7 0213020
and later says
Their plans to reduce employment can be found here:
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business /stories/technology/06/01/1dell.html
Here are some highlights:
Refuting local suspicions of malice Dell spokesman David Frink states:
... the closure has nothing to do with a lawsuit filed by employees of the Roseburg center in February, claiming Dell violated federal and state wage and hour laws.
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070213/NEWS/and later says
...plans to reduce employment worldwide by 10 percent at the end of May.
Their plans to reduce employment can be found here:
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/busines
Here are some highlights:
Dell set to shed 8,800 workers...
Dell has 82,200 permanent workers, including 18,000 in Central Texas, and 5,300 temporary workers worldwide. The layoffs are expected to affect both groups...
In its last large-scale layoffs, Dell cut more than 5,000 jobs in Austin after the high-tech bust in 2001.
...many of the layoffs could come in Central Texas, where Dell is headquartered. In a March 29 report to clients, Goldman Sachs analysts said Dell might reduce the work force at its test and assembly facilities in the U.S. and Malaysia.
Dell has 82,200 permanent workers, including 18,000 in Central Texas, and 5,300 temporary workers worldwide. The layoffs are expected to affect both groups...
In its last large-scale layoffs, Dell cut more than 5,000 jobs in Austin after the high-tech bust in 2001.
...many of the layoffs could come in Central Texas, where Dell is headquartered. In a March 29 report to clients, Goldman Sachs analysts said Dell might reduce the work force at its test and assembly facilities in the U.S. and Malaysia.
Feed Science Daily: Ultraclean Combustion Technology Developed For Electricity Generation (sciencedaily.com)
An experimental gas turbine simulator equipped with an ultralow-emissions combustion technology called LSI has been tested successfully using pure hydrogen as a fuel -- a milestone that indicates a potential to help eliminate millions of tons of carbon dioxide and thousands of tons of NOx from power plants each year.
