Comment Re:Simple (Score 1) 635
Your notice of that was appreciated. Thank you for spotting my unexpected syntax.
Comment Re:Simple (Score 2) 635
That's why real pros backpedal with
sed 's/\%variablename\%/\$variablename/'
Comment Re:Cable Lacing (Score 1) 635
If you have an opportunity to try it, it can be actually relaxing, almost meditative. Granted, it is rough on the hands on a large job, but for me, it is worth the pain.
Check out section 9 of this NASA manual: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/...
Comment Cable Lacing (Score 5, Interesting) 635
I love cable lacing with waxed linen string.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
I've never seen a more elegant way to bundle cables. Velcro is close, but maybe I'm just old-fashioned.
Comment Re:Simple (Score 5, Funny) 635
Only amateurs use emacs, vi, or ed. Real pros use 'echo %variablename% > filename'. After all, who needs to change anything when what you type is already perfection?
Comment Re:pine (Score 1) 635
Give me pine, lynx, and ytalk and a cozy VMS shell account and I'll be fine.
Comment Re:Pen (Score 2) 635
Ah, you new-fanlged young-un with your fancy ink-sticks and sticky-papers. I still use a retractable 1.2mm lead pencil and a pocket notepad.
Comment Not Forgotten (Score 2) 192
Many don't realize the impact the much forgotten Amiga 2000
Forgotten? Not by anyone who was in broadcasting in the early 90's. It was quite a machine for us, even though it took all night to render an animated flame-effect title overlay.
Comment Re:Automotive (Score 1) 158
Not only that, but custom engine control computers are making performance tweaking a great place for an experienced computer professional. A friend of mine built a truck with such a controller and asked me to help him install and use the software for configuring the system. It is amazing how tweak-able everything is. It feels like somehow building an RPG character using a network monitoring suite, which is a little bizarre, but could be interesting.
Comment Are we getting THAT old??? (Score 1) 1191
I normally try to be constructive, but WTF is up with the giant font for the headlines? I may be old enough to remember when Slashdot was a newborn, but I'm not so old I can't see a more reasonably-sized font. The old style with a smaller contrasting font on a colored bar would make scanning the page for items of interest much more enjoyable.
Comment ADB (Score 2) 665
I loved the power key on the old Apple ADB keyboards. I didn't enjoy the operating system back then, but I remember wishing PC's had such a key.
Comment A real game changer... (Score 2) 200
Really? Outlook's what's going to save the day? Well, there's a first time for anything.
Submission + - I've been asked for a review of the boss, by the boss's boss.
An anonymous reader writes: I'm a software engineer for a small company. The development team is composed of only a handful of people, I'm the newest of them. We have a very low turn over rate, the last hire in our dept. has been there for 9 years, and the one before that 22. A 'new' version of our software has been in development for over 8 years, without having an official release version. Ok, that's the meat and potatoes of the story. The conundrum comes in when the boss's boss comes into my office toward the end of the day (after everyone else had left) and asks me if i would have a beer with him sometime after work and discuss my impressions of the company. (I've been there just long enough to get a real feel for the culture and people there). Specifically, he wants to know what i think of the development environment/people and how the culture of it the work place may be affecting the development process (8 years for a 1st official release is ridiculous, so the question is entirely appropriate).
I'm not a very diplomatic person, and I'm aware of that quality in myself. That said, I realize that situations like this usually need to be handled with the utmost diplomacy. I want to be very careful not to burn any bridges, as this is my first job after college, and references are important. At the same time, I see many places where changes in policy/habits/culture could have a positive impact on what we produce and how we get there.
Of course i told the boss's boss i would be happy to sit down and talk with him, but a time/date wasn't set, and I specified that I first wanted to collect my thoughts on the matter.
So my question to all of you, is really about past experiences with similar situations, and any advice you might have to a newbie in the industry.
thanks for reading my post.
I'm not a very diplomatic person, and I'm aware of that quality in myself. That said, I realize that situations like this usually need to be handled with the utmost diplomacy. I want to be very careful not to burn any bridges, as this is my first job after college, and references are important. At the same time, I see many places where changes in policy/habits/culture could have a positive impact on what we produce and how we get there.
Of course i told the boss's boss i would be happy to sit down and talk with him, but a time/date wasn't set, and I specified that I first wanted to collect my thoughts on the matter.
So my question to all of you, is really about past experiences with similar situations, and any advice you might have to a newbie in the industry.
thanks for reading my post.
Comment Re:Good (Score 2) 451
...Oracle [...] unchecks the default boxes to opt out. That's greedy. To an even greater extent that's sleazy and just...trashy.
Thank you! It's amazing how many customers bring in their computers for a tuneup who have no idea how they got the Ask toolbar. Granted it is just as much the user's fault for not reading, but at the same time, the user puts a lot of trust in such a major-name product and shouldn't have to worry about having something slipped by them.
Comment Net10 (Score 1) 246
I've had good luck with Net10 and quite like their pricing plan. I know folks buy the Net10 SIM for unlocked GSM iPhones, but I don't know how well they would work in the scenario you describe. I think their SIM is something like $15-$20. I pay a little over $45/month for an auto-renewing 'unlimited' prepaid plan.
And, if you use their forum for support and don't mind waiting a day or two for a response, the support isn't bad. Calling their support line can sometimes be a frustrating experience (like any other cell provider nowadays), so I just use the forum.
