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Comment Re: There is only one way... (Score 2) 195

Then you good sir: are an asshole.

As a poorly paid IT admin that manages thousands of devices across every province in Canada, I'm happy to answer questions about anything I've worked on YEARS later.

I agree... to a point. If its more than a quick 10-15 minute call they can expect to be billed for my time. Well, that is unless I was terminated, then the consulting clock starts ticking the minute the phone rings.

There is a fine line between an ongoing piece-meal brain dump, and raping you by asking you to come in for an hour or more to consult. Dont want to pay me for my time? Figure it out for yourself. *shrug*

I've been in both situations... happily answered the phone several times a day several times a week to answer quick questions. But when they wanted me to come in and spend several hours of MY time and gallons of gasoline (note its no longer THEIR time so I deserve compensation for something I am giving to them) damn skippy they can pay me just like they do the other consultants that come and go.

Felt sorry for one poor soul I used to work with. Was the only one in the company that could do what he did, and it was needed at least 3x a year. He let them walk all over him after they terminated him for no good reason. When the time rolled around to do the recurring programming tweak/task/report, they asked him to come in and he did... FOR FREE! *SMH*

Comment Imppssible... (Score 1) 258

Something this precise cant possibly be maintained.

Reminds me of the Top Thrill dragster. At every run it weighs the passengers + cars and exerts the exact force to get them JUST over the top without flying off or rolling back. The few times I have been there it has gone down several times a day for maintenance.

If Cedar Point cant keep something complex, yet not nearly so of this proposed venture running smoothly for its 1000 FEET of track, how in the hell do you expect something this mammoth to run smoothly over 3000 MILES of "track".

Just another pie in the sky "flying cars for everyone" vision.

Comment or hardware vendors... (Score 1) 614

...Who refuse to upgrade software configuration tools used to program their hardware?

I work in the fire protection business. Fire alarm panels require special software to configure them for the specific needs of your building. The need to be tweaked periodically as the building is renovated, etc. so its not a one shot deal for the configuration.

Once a panel is released, unless there are glaring functionality problems, the software never gets maintained beyond a v1.0. In a vast number of cases, the custom software is OS dependent. So when the world moves from 98 to xp, xp to 7, etc. it actually breaks the programming software. The vendors take a honey badger approach and refuse to spend money developing new versions to keep up with the new OSes.

The vendor's suggestion? "Sell them a new panel!" Right. So because you are lazy and refuse to maintain your software (or for that matter make it so that its not OS dependent) you expect us to tell the customer "Yes we know the $100,000 solid state system you invested in 7 years ago works flawlessly, but we cant program it properly with our new equipment since we upgraded to the latest version of windows. You need to spend another 100K. We are flatly told "I dont care about your computers, my system works fine. Find a way to program my existing system or I'll find somebody who CAN!"

I have guys who have to lug around up to 3 or 4 laptops of varying age in their trucks because we have 10-20+ year old panels which work great and are mechanically sound, but the software to program it only run in the version of the OS that was current at the time it was released! (we even have a few that are DOS based)

Comment Re:Why play games? (Score 1) 232

or better yet, similar to the story a couple days ago about the app that "accidentally" shipped with a bitcoin miner...

As the IT God, script out a C&C structure to distribute the miner to all workstations across the company. between 5p and 8a you bring them to life and mine the hell out of the hundreds of PCs at your disposal... and run for cover when your bean counters start wondering why the power usage (and bills) at all of your facilities across the country suddenly shot through the roof. LOL

Comment Three words... (Score 4, Insightful) 564

Screen Real Estate.

There is some stuff you Just. Cant Do. On a phone. The screen is too small.

IF his idea that phones will be a little bigger, do we really want to look like an idiot walking around with a giant brick to our head? Or have to wory about always using a bluetooth earpiece? And where will you stick that larger than you prefer phone?

IMHO an iPhone 5 is starting to get a little too big. The larger samsungs are even worse.

Comment Dont forget Microsoft's lame attempt (Score 1) 187

I havent seen it in a while, but for a while we kept having issues with some implementations of Exchange refusing email based on our perfectly valid SPF records. The problem only occurred if we had both SPF AND SenderID (M$' so called "SPF 2.0") records for our domain. If we deleted our SPF records and only left the SenderID record, the mail would be delivered.

Way to go Microsoft in taking a perfectly good standard and deciding its not QUITE good enough and muddying the waters with your own crap.

Comment Re:Automatic refrigerator/blender? (Score 2) 118

On a related note they do have a pro model that the motor base is mounted UNDER your counter. (think permanent install)

Nice, but sorry, $650 is a ripoff. I dont care if it can shit tiffany cufflinks. I just want to make a smoothie.

http://www.blendtec.com/products/professional_series

(Still want one after seeing a similar setup on a former boss' cabin cruiser. kinda cool to remove the bit of removable countertop that plugged the hole and just drop the pitcher onto the base. No messing with the motor, plugging it in, etc. and motor storage was the best part... it was permanently in what would have been dead space under the counter.)

Comment Re:How to make a fool of yourself with the cops. (Score 1) 157

And on a side note - if the computer recording your cameras is in a place where a 3 year old can access it, this computer will probably be the very first thing stolen - so i think you are making this crap up.

Nobody said Grandpa was smart or thought his cunning plan through... LOL

Comment Re:How to make a fool of yourself with the cops. (Score 1) 157

yep. I can see that happening again... and coincidentally I just finished firing off an email to an up and coming IP camera and managed wifi vendor that provides free NVR and WAP controller software... too bad none of their "server" software installs as a service. So not even a CHANCE of hiding it from little hands. (unless you want to jump through a bunch of hoops to force it into service mode)

And in this case all the kid would have had to do was THREE clicks to log grandpa's PC off. (thus shutting down the NVR... DOH!)

Comment Re:WTB Cisco Switch (Score 1) 284

(reposted, because I forgot to login)

No good consumer router on the market? Are you MAD?

Total cost for these buggers? $99. Warning, they are on backorder with all the distributors until roughly middle of Feb.

Oh, and you're welcome.

I swear by this company's gear. They have their annoyances of announcing product before they should, but its solid stuff.

They keep pricing low because they purposefully don't spend cash on advertising. They get their best promotions via word of mouth like this.

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