Comment I feel sorry for Tesla (Score 1) 253
Its not like they had a famous actor die in one of their cars recently.... or anyone
Comment Re:Old Thinking Kills New Ideas? (Score 1) 39
Or maybe they bought the company for the tech? O2 (a Telefonica subsiuary) just launched the TUGO app on android and ios that allows users to place calls and send texts from their phones over any WiFI connection, using their own phone number rather than an extra 'skype in' type of number.
I live in the sticks and a service like that is very useful when you can't get a connection in your house....
Comment Service Offering (Score 1) 167
I am an open source BI consultant, we use loads of different open source software when developing solutions for clients. Sadly clients don't always pay for the open source software, they believe open source is free.
That being said we also offer a piece of open source BI software, until yesterday (this is true) we were GPL based, and to be honest dealing with requests regadding embedding, in a SAAS solution, not in a SAAS solution, was a pain in the ass. So we changed it to Apache 2 now to make our lives easier. All that aside, we have found that our clients really pay for open source software when they feel they will need support, people don't like to support other peoples software, so sell support packages.
On top of support we find that people are happy to pay for extra functionality, we offer cheaper development rates for people happy to include the new feature back into the open source version, if not we charge standard consulting rates. And last but not least, clients then find we offer a wider range of Bi consulting and we gain more work from that.
So we find that offering extra services on top of the software is what makes us our money, the software itself, whilst people pay for, isn't what keeps us afloat.
That being said we also offer a piece of open source BI software, until yesterday (this is true) we were GPL based, and to be honest dealing with requests regadding embedding, in a SAAS solution, not in a SAAS solution, was a pain in the ass. So we changed it to Apache 2 now to make our lives easier. All that aside, we have found that our clients really pay for open source software when they feel they will need support, people don't like to support other peoples software, so sell support packages.
On top of support we find that people are happy to pay for extra functionality, we offer cheaper development rates for people happy to include the new feature back into the open source version, if not we charge standard consulting rates. And last but not least, clients then find we offer a wider range of Bi consulting and we gain more work from that.
So we find that offering extra services on top of the software is what makes us our money, the software itself, whilst people pay for, isn't what keeps us afloat.
Comment Pay cut? (Score 1) 374
Why is there not an option for taking a pay cut for a more satisfying job?
I'd happily take a cut for a more entertaining job.
Comment Lies! Damn Lies! (Score 1) 523
I actually had the same issue, I knew i was very competent with computers but had no experience to get me a job. So I put some white lies on my CV, nothing too outrageous I knew I could back up my psuedo experience with my ability and demonstrate it if required, and I got a mate of mine to act as a reference, turns out i didn't need him. Anyway long story short, once I got the job I stuck at it for a few years to get the real experience i needed, after all once you are in the profession, qualifications count for just about nothing.
Tom
Pentaho 3.2 Data Integration 103
diddy81 writes "A book about the open source ETL tool Kettle (Pentaho Data Integration) is finally available. Pentaho 3.2 Data Integration: Beginner's Guide by María Carina Roldán is for everybody who is new to Kettle. In a nutshell, this book will give you all the information that you need to get started with Kettle quickly and efficiently, even if you have never used it before.The books offers loads of illustrations and easy-to-follow examples. The code can be downloaded from the publisher website and Kettle is available for free from the SourceForge website. In sum, the book is the best way to get to know the power of the open source ETL tool Kettle, which is part of the Pentaho BI suite. Read on for the rest of diddy81's review.
Comment Arsenal (Score 1) 310
He supports Arsenal.... so he can do as he pleases :)
Comment Local? Try Global.... (Score 1) 605
I just left a company after 3 years. What amazed me(as a developer) was that not only did we have local admin rights, we had global rights. This was ok for me as I have an element of sysadmin understanding, but my ex boss who used to be an administrator but now runs the BI systems did quite 'get' admin rights and the systems we ran.
Every day he'd randomly reboot servers, install different software in different places and generally make administration and licencing a nightmare. Also as a developer he didn't really have a clue as to how to organize things properly so things like SQL Server could only run one database on one machine, if he'd actually asked around (ie the sys admins) things would have been far easier, and I wouldn't have quit.
So in a nutshell testing servers with admin rights, fair enough, online servers with admin rights, don't let developers near them.
Every day he'd randomly reboot servers, install different software in different places and generally make administration and licencing a nightmare. Also as a developer he didn't really have a clue as to how to organize things properly so things like SQL Server could only run one database on one machine, if he'd actually asked around (ie the sys admins) things would have been far easier, and I wouldn't have quit.
So in a nutshell testing servers with admin rights, fair enough, online servers with admin rights, don't let developers near them.
Comment Vancouver (Score 1) 123
Well when I was visiting Vancouver I decided to pay a visit to the police museum. Ironically I walked down a street full of druggies and day time hookers, which was about 300 yards from the main police station. Maybe its keeping your friends close and your enemies closer ;)
An Early Look At New Features In OpenOffice.org 3.1 260
ahziem writes "With the final release two months away and an alpha version available, it's time to look at OpenOffice.org 3.1's new features: eye candy, better charts, replying to notes in the margin, overlining, macros in Base, RTL improvements for Arabic and Hebrew, and (believe it or not) better sorting. Download and report any bugs you find."
New Google Favicon Deja Vu All Over Again? 227
theodp writes "Last June, Google rolled out a new favicon, the small branding icon that graces your URL bar when you visit Google. Which, as it turned out, bore a striking similarity to Garth Brooks' Circle-G logo. Well, Google went back to the drawing board and has come back with a new favicon, which it says was inspired by — not copied from, mind you — its users' submitted ideas. Some are also seeing inspiration elsewhere for the new favicon, which consists of white 'g' on a background of four color swatches. Take the AVG antivirus icon, for instance. Or everybody's favorite memory toy, Simon. Or — in perhaps the unkindest cut of all — the four-color Microsoft Windows logo, shown here with a superimposed white '7'. Anything else come to mind?" What comes to mind for me is just how obsessed many people are with the Google favicon.
The State of UK Broadband — Not So Fast 279
Barence writes "The deplorable speed of British broadband connections has been revealed in the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, which show that 42.3% of broadband connections are slower than 2Mb/sec. More worryingly, the ONS statistics are based on the connection's headline speed, not actual throughput, which means that many more British broadband connections are effectively below the 2Mb/sec barrier. Better still, a separate report issued yesterday by Ofcom revealed that the majority of broadband users had no idea about the speed of their connection anyway."
Submission + - Which Countries Have An IT Skills Shortage?
bugg_tb writes: "I am a programmer based in England and after a few years in the same job have finally got itchy feet. I don't want to leave the industry but I would like a change in scenery.
So my question is, if the destination really isn't an issue(I've done some contract work in Afghanistan), which countries have an IT skill shortage where I could put my skills to good use?"
So my question is, if the destination really isn't an issue(I've done some contract work in Afghanistan), which countries have an IT skill shortage where I could put my skills to good use?"
Submission + - Study shows file sharing has no effect on CD sales
jibjibjib writes: "Ars Technica reports that a study by Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf, recently published in the Journal of Political Economy, shows that file sharing is not responsible for declining CD sales figures.
The study, entitled "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis," claims that "a one-standard-deviation increase in file sharing reduces an album's weekly sales by a mere 368 copies, an effect that is too small to be statistically distinguishable from zero.""
The study, entitled "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis," claims that "a one-standard-deviation increase in file sharing reduces an album's weekly sales by a mere 368 copies, an effect that is too small to be statistically distinguishable from zero.""
Submission + - Microsoft serves up malware via Messenger Ads
aussienemesis writes: WARNING: Winfixer and Errorsafe were being distributed via MSN Messenger
banner advertisements
Sandi Hardmeier, Microsoft MVP, reports that ErrorSafe and Winfixer were being pimped via the Flash banner ads that are part of the Windows Live Messenger contact pane.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresucks/archive/2007/ 02/18/591493.aspx
Sandi Hardmeier, Microsoft MVP, reports that ErrorSafe and Winfixer were being pimped via the Flash banner ads that are part of the Windows Live Messenger contact pane.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresucks/archive/2007
