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Comment Be highly available in software, not hardware (Score 4, Insightful) 86

I suspect open compute project welcomes additional testing resources for the benefit of everyone... as long as it doesn't involve an oppressive amount of process that simply serve to slow down progress.

But... Web scale IS different, so I can't blame the main sponsors for not prioritizing what isn't as important to them. Once you accept that ALL hardware fails, and that you can either pay more for more reliable hardware, or you can develop better software architecture to handle failures, you look at things differently. Spend your money once on good software engineering, instead of over and over on every server.

Comment a little insight into what the issue could be... (Score 1) 301

Back in the early two thousands, we had V.P. level access to Paypal, because a client of ours was kind of a big deal. It was a multi-million dollar deal -- and Paypal HAD to turn it down. Why? They stoned lipped us at the time and didn't tell us why. We got the story from the V.P. after he left the company later.

You see, Paypal once wanted to be a bank. In order to be a bank, they had to be FDIC insured. And therein lies the hitch. You see, back then, the Bush administration frowned on certain adult orientated entertainment. The US government told Paypal, under no uncertain terms, that if they wanted to even be considered for FDIC insurance, they had to give up all monetary benefits from adult orientated entertainment.

I would speculate that this is less bank or Paypal driven (Banks don't have any problem taking porn money, after all, they just charge the porn companies more for taking it) then it does government driven and Paypal having inked a deal with the US government.

Of course, this is pure speculation and heresy and I'm sure if you asked any of the parties involved, everyone would deny it.

Comment Re:also reduces IT costs (Score 1) 232

> Is modern IT taught how to do what you just said? Do they learn how to strike the right balance between Security and Usability?

The enlightened ones know about DevOps and design thinking. Everyone else who believes draconian IT desktop control is the right solution is simply wrong.

People are more productive when they have an environment they like / want / choose.

IT simply can't control all tablets, phones, home computers, and more and more workers telecommute and work remotely, so... the battle is already lost for total control. Next best thing it to step back, take a holistic view on priorities, risks, the new status quo, and how IT can HELP your customers and business succeed... and plot a new course based on making PEOPLE productive first.

Comment Re:Why do you want to be hired? (Score 3, Informative) 523

Bill Gates might had have rich parents, but Steve Jobs certainly didn't. He was adoption child and really poor in his young adult years, even up to the point that he collected money for food by returning empty bottles to a store. He also dropped out of school.

No, but he did have an angel investor named Mike Markkula. Funny how that is also neglected. He didn't just "build it from the ground up in his garage" as is often touted. He received a serious dose of cash from his angel investor.

Comment Google Apps got shafted (Score 1) 519

... those of us who use google apps (and we tend to be early adopters and push new technology and/or high tech business entities) still don't have access to google+.

Essentially, as long as you don't pay google, you'll get google+. If you fork over money to google, you won't. It's really quite bizarre.

When asked, all we hear is "Soon.. no really, SOON!". They also provide this "helpful" hint:

If you already signed up for Google+ with your Google Apps email address, you've created a conflicting account -- essentially a personal Google Account that uses the same email address as your Google Apps account. In the future, you'll be prompted to rename this conflicting account to an email address that is not already associated with an existing Google Account, for example a new Gmail address.

Sigh. So, as much as I would love to join this discussion about the merits or demerits of google+, I can't.

Comment Re:Media Companies (Score 1) 219

Verizon: Verizon launched its FiOS Video service in Keller, Texas on September 22, 2005. FiOS TV[18] uses an optical fiber network to deliver more than 500 total channels, more than 180 digital music channels, more than 95 high-definition channels, and 10,000 video-on-demand titles. Verizon also provides DirecTV service as well. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon#Video)

AT&T: U-verse TV is delivered via IPTV from the head-end to the consumer's Total Home DVR or standard set-top box.[2] U-verse uses H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) encoding which compresses video more efficiently than the traditional MPEG-2 codec. Broadcast channels are distributed via IP multicast, allowing a single stream (channel) to be sent to any number of recipients. The system is also designed for individual unicasts for video on demand, central time shifting, start-over services and other programs desired by only one home at that particular time. The set-top box does not have a conventional tuner, but is an IP multicast client which requests the stream desired. In the IP multicast model, only the streams the customer uses are sent. The customer's connection need not have the capacity to carry all available channels simultaneously. U-Verse TV, however, only supports up to 4 active streams at once. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-verse#U-verse_TV)

Time Warner: Time Warner (formerly AOL Time Warner) is one of the world's largest media companies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner)

So, how about five out of five?

Comment Fun times.. (Score 1) 480

1) Cisco is naturally the big boy. Most companies come close to emulating ios. Learning it won't hurt.

2) I wouldn't do courses. Based on (admittedly old) experience, they are a joke.

3) Sign up to NANOG, it won't help your knowledge directly, but will keep you updated on the latest trends/concerns/flame wars.

4) If you thought there were "more than one way to do it" in programming, you are going to love networking.

5) A host is a host, From coast to coast And nobody talks to a host that's close, Unless the host that isn't close Is busy, hung, or dead.

Comment you aren't the target market stop thinking you are (Score 1) 631

blah blah blah, this hurts consumers, blah blah blah, developers are stupid because the put DRM in expecting to end piracy, blah blah blah.

Developers aren't stupid; they know the bottom line. That DRM drives away a certain type of customer. And guess what? That's fine with them. They aren't interested in customers who are gamers. They are interested in customers who put up with their shit and still pay for it. You aren't their target market. Their target market is Grandma who buys whatever little Johnny wants. Or the guy who doesn't care about archiving games because he'll be onto the next one within a week.

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