And this is why trying to cut programs is really hard - because a large portion of the population wants most / all the programs. I also think it's well known in Washington DC that the people they're supposed to be representing want many / most of the programs so it's a bit cynical to keep talking about cutting programs, or at least about being able to do so selectively. The across the board cut seemed to work, though I don't know that anyone was happy with it.

I'm not real up to date on this, but I think we are able to get a quantity of the WunderWeapons too. i.e. we have like 120 F22s. That seems like a lot of airplanes to me, especially if you add in all the F16s etc we still have, that are probably about 1:1 to the MiG29s.

What isn't mentioned in the fiasco of the F35 is we're unlikely to use them, heck we barely use the F22s. We're likely to use Drones at this point, and we have a LOT of those too, and they're much cheaper than an F35 is.

I really think it's just a GOP form of welfare.(I was going to say conservative, but I don't know that the GOP is really Conservative anymore).

Oh, I'm not forcing anyone into a Windows environment. I strongly push them towards Linux and tell them it's the preferred environment at the lab, and all our infrastructure is Linux based. We just wanted to set up a data download station, and suggested Linux, but were told the external users aren't familar with Linux (I don't know how they run the experiment, where lots of it is based on Linux, but hey, not something I get to change), and will need Windows there.

We have plenty of Labview stuff which I'm told by staff must use Windows, as well as some Matlab stuff, even though I'm pretty sure quite a lot of it runs on Linux, I don't get to override them.

And then there are the Mac users who insisted on using onenote for logging on a separate Windows computer, when their experiment controls were all Linux and their laptops are Macs, but why not use a Windows only program for this note-taking? Because it's easier than a web based logging tool to copy pictures into. (This was 2008ish, carries forward to now, though there now is a Mac OneNote client, it's still not to my knowledge multi user or runable on Linux)...

Most of the insanity comes from people who *don't care* about the technical reality and substitute their own. And are apparently OK with a lot of cluged together solutions. At least I get a job out of it.

Well, there's the experimental data, and then the administrative data. Those word docs need to be shared, backed up, etc. The various matlab and labview files need to be accessible from Sun Grid Engine nodes and local Windows, Scientific Linux and Mac OSX workstations.

We currently use a RedHat HA cluster that provides NFS and CIFS / SMB access to disk stored on iSCSI devices. So sort of a home build SAN I guess. We looked into better known commercial offerings, but basically they were 10x our budget. Unlikely to happen. One of the "Wins" we got was budgeting to buy actual 1U servers with IPMI and the like. Even build your own costs a good chunk of IT budget for 5 years.

Scientists and Professors are a bit unreasonable I guess - they want high performance, reliability, and all that without having to spend a lot of money or change their workflow at all. They also flat out don't read documentation about stuff that's unimportant to their research, and to them, computers should be like mains power - it's unimportant how it works, and it should magically "do the right thing"...

If they have to know more than "plug it in", there's likely to be trouble. IT certainly can't ask any user to ... stop being a user because they don't know what a network share is, or what a computer power button is. They user is a world class scientist here to do important research - they don't have time for "unnecessarily complicated" systems. Sadly, this is of course why we have jobs. But it does generally keep us to the lowest common denominator for software and solutions.

Honestly, I'm not sure if you're a troll, or just someone who strongly believes if you don't do it your way, you're wrong.

I'm working in a research institution. We have limited funding from grants. We are doing X-Ray research, with detectors that output data on the order of 30GB a run, and there can be more than one run a day. This data, once generated, needs to be accessible by compute nodes, without hitting the acquisition disk. There isn't reliable down time between acquisitions, so rsyncs are hard to schedule. We also need to schedule backups, which is easier on central storage, as these acquisition machines move around, and aren't always up.

Laptops have trouble carrying around 30TB for analysis, and desktops aren't cost effective with that storage load. I could also go into the issue with data walking out the door, which may be prohibited, or desired depending on the situation.

On top of binary research data, there's all the program source, program binaries, infrastructure data, standard office documents etc.

I'm not sure about a content management system - we have a Wiki which is great, and SVN which is great, and Vault for Inventor source control, which is also great. For office documents, the closest thing I'm aware of is Sharepoint, which doesn't seem like anything I want to touch with a 10 ft pole. What else should I be looking at?

And how does it work for users who barely understand "save to this network folder"?

I'd love to know the better solution for Mac, Windows and Linux access to network shares, and the network shares have to be performant, local (i.e no cloud sync), not require paid software, and support several tens of terabytes per shared filesystem. Oh, and use Active Directory permissions...

I think the potential mistake here is that welfare isn't just a benefit for the people who don't pay. The people paying in to welfare get a benefit also. Less people dying in the streets. Less load on them for any family relative who hits hard times. Lower crime (the I have to steal this bread to eat today variety). Less disease going around due to no access to modern vaccines and antibiotics... Less revolutions and stupid guillotining people.

I don't know about you, but that's a pretty big benefit to me.

I always knew more than my parents about computers and the Internet. I never thought I'd say this, but I was lucky to grow up in the 90s when the Internet was less trollish and in a small town where the bullying was "only" physical and ended when you went home as there was no "Social Media". I never thought I'd think bullying had gotten worse since I was in school, but here it is - it's worse now.

I'm not the OP, but I do the same thing. If you're any good, you'll network at least a bit at least online. You'll see job postings on mailing lists from mailing list members, you'll be contacted by companies from the community, etc. That will usually help you get through some of the buzzword bingo, and talking to people who understand the tech, or are the people hiring for the position.

I feel the same way about Macs - they have issues with SAMBA, they can't run lots of software I use, and for lots of the FLOSS I use they don't have a useable installer - or when they do, it fails to do something critical.

For instance, Fusion Inventory Agent. On Windows, run .exe with configure flags. On Linux yum install RPM and give conf file. In this case, it's all set up, and will check in every 24 hours, and grab all other settings from the server.

On Mac? lol for the longest time you couldn't get it to install. Last time I tried, it installed, but only ran on boot. No way to get it to run every hour or whatever. Of course, I'm not a Mac guy, but I didn't need to do anything beyond software install + config file on Windows or Linux so . . .

Puppet? Run MSI with installer flags. yum install rpm with conf file. On Mac? It installs as the user, who, even when admin, doesn't have permissions to run systemwide, or run on a schedule.

So now I still can't really manage the macs like I can Windows and Linux.

Snark over - it's what you're used to. There are problems with all OSs...

if you're trying to use a DJI Phantom to take photos, I'm sure the local police and others have plenty to get you on

I'd want the rules to be similar to taking pictures with a hand held camera - i.e. if taking the picture isn't breaking some law, then "taking the picture with a drone" probably shouldn't be illegal either, barring saftey issues...

Honestly, the stuff like the DJI Phantom seems like it ought to be preferred vs the radio helicopters you can buy from the mall because it seems to be able to help you not crash it.

Oh, I have one of the newer USB version of the Model M keyboard. I don't use it because it seems to cause carpal tunnel where I have more prosaic keyboards. But my main keyboards are very similar to the Model M in layout and key travel, they just are quieter, and one has less outside plastic - but the keys are the same size, or near enough I can't see the difference.

By full size keyboard, I have generally took it to mean the standard keyboard including 12 F keys, the print screen, pause break etc, the 6 key insert/home etc block, arrow keys and numeric keyboard. I much prefer the narrow enter key with backspace above it like on the Model M.

"Full size" keyboards are necessary for me for typing speed. I can type about as fast as I can compose thoughts on one of those. On the tablet touch screens? It's an exercise in frustration how slow and error prone it is to "type" on those. Decent laptop keyboards are somewhere in between, though the touchpads often interfere with typing in a way the mouse does not.

I'm convinced that people do this on purpose, not out of forgetfulness.

Ok - why would people do this on purpose? They want to enhance the danger of their driving? They're afraid they'll wear out the mechanism? They want to keep other drivers guessing?

I can get forgetting to do so, very occasionally I'll forget, or make a mistake etc. But why would I actively choose to make it more likely someone will misunderstand what I'm doing and hit my car, possibly injuring me?

You can, but it doesn't mean it's the best for everyone. I prefer a full size, "real" keyboard and mouse. I like being able to keep my PC for 4+ years by upgrading the RAM and Video Card halfway through. I like being able to replace the DVD RW with a BDRW if I want. I can swap the PSU if it dies.

Laptops always have compromises. The closest to these desktops in that sort of features tended to be the W series Thinkpads. But they weight ~ 7lbs, and get ~ 4.5Hrs battery life at best. That's not the sort of device you're talking about.

Tablets have even more compromises. No upgrading RAM, many don't let you upgrade storage via SD cards, or don't have USB for external anything. If you want your main computing device to have a 10" or so screen, then yes, a tablet will potentially do for you - but many many people want larger screens. Many of those people don't need portability, or at least prefer cheaper over portability. And I doubt Windows Tablets are ever going to work out to be cheaper than a "Best Buy Special" sale for $300 that can get someone on the Internet and likely last them 3-4 years...