Posts by Snark

I think that video is a little restrained in the real reaction to being told you are going to have to use Lotus Notes!

Re: So this a migration from Cloud back to On Premise?

It would probably have been cheaper (and simpler) for them to just buy out the cloud service that was being discontinued and make it 'private' to IBM only.

'We are too busy with customer systems' is a terrible excuse. Why would I trust my data with a company that can't keep its own moving.

But on the other side, I lasted about a few months being TUPE'd to IBM and having to use Lotus Notes was a pretty close tie to the management and culture as being 'the worst thing'. So maybe IBM is now suddenly a lot more efficient...

Re: I need a new laptop

I bought the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 touch screen AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, 12g, 256g SSD last year. Nothing came near it in Intel space for price and performance. Ryzen has moved on since to bigger, better, faster, but dammit for $600 (it's current Amazon price) I love this thing.

It's light, its fast and lets me go back and play Skyrim when I'm on the move. The memory cap (16G I think) may limit you, but there are some damn good Ryzen laptops out there which go higher if portability isn't your biggest concern.

You just need to shop around. I've never seen this with Ryzen in the UK so I bought mine on a US trip. Then bought another the next trip for my kid.

Re: Another day

Oh believe me. I am as pissed about the forced day to day patching as everyone. I got hit by that complete balls up of a DHCP patch when it came out and it took ages for them to come around to "we fucked up, we'll fix it sometime". It's crap, its dangerous and there is bugger all information about whats happening to your PC, let alone any control. Let me subscribe to fast channel security fixes and then choose other updates when I need to and know something is broken. Yeah security fixes may break stuff, but on my main PC I'd quite like them and have a less "always connected" one on a slower chain for my backup.

Maybe I'm just easily pleased at any company doing anything which resembles heading into a more proactive way of doing things, despite past sins ;-). If this gives them less headaches and better reaction, maybe corporate droids might decide its not a bad thing after all.

Re: How many Stormtroopers does it take to...?

The Empire is a very large organisation, everyone knows the middle-management block any and all training requests. Those poor Empire storm troopers are wondering who they are reporting to in the latest re-org and as for those training requests they put in to learn how to use the new blaster? Forget it, they've been given an online video telling them which way to point it and are wondering when they are going to get outsourced.

The Rebels however are that trendy startup that has the self-taught, highly motivated elites who have options in the new world order and know the only way to get paid is to give it everything.

Hold on, new email from the Empire. Apparently there is a new video on how to be "agile". Must be to stop everyone tripping over their armour.

Re: similar to Laura

Another occurs to me. Management "escalations" and panicking when no one knew where the problem was yet.

Management wanted everyone "ready to engage". So a 2am phone call telling me there might be a big problem, but no one was sure yet "just to make me prepared". Of course I didn't hear back from them spent the rest of the night unable to sleep and checking my phone to make sure it hadn't gone off and didn't hear a thing about it the next day to say the problem was fixed.

That job went progressively worse on-call. Expect to get any details on the call as to what the problem is or what has been done before? Forget it, if you were lucky you'd get a ticket number. If you were unlucky you'd have to login and start pinging people to see who knew what the system was that had issues. Not on-call and forgot to turn your phone off, expect to get random calls instead of the on-call person "because they are really grumpy and rude when you call them at 3am and you helpful".

My new job I'm not on-call. Whatever grief there maybe in the day, that makes it all worthwhile.

Don't think so, release notes seemed to indicate they were closing down the 3rd party APIs. Windows desktop users will have to move to the "app" version which takes up half your screen instead.

Re: Graft @RachelM

I'm in the UK but due to friends/family I tend to visit Oklahoma about twice a year. It is indeed a beautiful place and one of incredible contrasts and full of some of the most unexpected places.

Will Rogers Airport has to be one of the friendliest places I've thrown from (I shudder going back into Heathrow). The Okies have always been a welcoming bunch even if they can't understand a word I'm saying. OKC itself is a bit sprawling if you are used to more compact towns like over here, and you need to be there awhile to get an idea of its character rather than just think "another strip mall, another road". Midtown has had some awesome changes to it and a great vibe going on as well as a real community feeling amongst people. Every visit we find new places with great food and great atmosphere and something "unique" amongst them, you just have to look a little amongst all the chains.

It is indeed a great state and it and its people aren't deserving of being the butt of so many jokes. It's government on the other hand... This sort of move is so in character with the way the state is being run into the ground. The budget cuts are killing all the services, especially the education system. I wonder if the $1.3bn state budget deficit has anything to do with being so keen on seizing goods/money.... nah, couldn't be, could it?

Re: java was a bad idea

Java really isn't a problem. It's a great language to learn the concepts of object orientation, classes, abstraction and all that jazz. Take that and walk straight into the OO stuff in perl or any number of different languages. Once you have the why and mindset, the rest is syntax and practice, practice, practice (just like any writing).

I can understand the frustration of the original OP and I think that's part of this "we need more CS grads" when really they want more software developers. You don't need a degree for that, you need overall training in methods and practice, lots of practice.

CS (and many other) degrees are mis-sold. I wanted a CS degree because I was passionately interested in computing and wanted to know about as many parts of it as possible, not to get me a job as a developer or sysadmin. That just came as a result of the skills I had learnt and has kept me hopping around in a dozen different industries since.

I knew people who did software engineering degrees too, hell some of those were 4 years, and they were pretty much the same tone as my CS degree. They did follow the "engineering" approach and not the knock it together and throw it out the door. They didn't care what languages they learnt, it was concepts, approaches, mindset.

They are never going to be your developer who comes in the door and slogs along with the rest in the team, they'll be the ones that set the tone for the team, standards, best practices, aid the design and make sure it fits together. Not everyone needs to be a software engineer or a competent CS grad who can pull things together, but add one or two to the rest who can burn through the code and you may end up with something a damn sight better at the end.

That's not to belittle the developer who slogs through and produces the code, you really need both in a big project to get the best out of each other.

Re: Why are so many celebrities depressed and/or suicidal??

"The whole point is, dear chum, that it's irrational. That's the point. That's why it's a mental illness, and not just a dour attitude ;-)"

Perfectly said. The saddest, bitterest thing about depression is how much it makes us lie to ourselves. I remember having nightmares (and staying in an abusive marriage) for those very reasons you've said, I'll end up alone in a bedsit, trying to cling onto some sense of value by the "successful image" projected around me and each moment getting more bitter and twisted inside that everything screamed "what a fake you are" and "if only they knew how you really were". Success was the antithesis of happiness, it's what I beat myself with to tell myself how shit I really was.

You know what? The bedsit isn't so bad, the being alone not so terrible. Dark days yes but there is a certain "screw you" you can develop to that black dog when it lies to you and whispers in your ears at night, I've beaten you down before and I can do it again, and when I do it's not all so terrible and all the little good moments can be enjoyed.

The funny thing is, I remember those dark nights and the thoughts going round in circles (and those who say drugs don't fix things, they don't, but they can sure as hell help stop that eternal cycling round and around in a spiral til your head wants to explode so you can try to appreciate things again rather than being exhausted constantly with the fight) and the one thing I remember most would be waking up in the morning and not being able to relate to them or explain them or verbalize them or really be able to comprehend how bad it had felt. It felt like another person, til the next evening or night. In the end I took to writing a blog whilst I had those feelings, incoherent screams as they were and took that to the doctor and let them read it as I was too good at hiding how it felt even from myself, from intellectualizing and making it an interesting topic of conversation but not about me.

I hope you find your place to enjoy those little inconsequential moments soon and the dark nights don't swallow them up for much longer. It's those stupid little things that make you smile in the day that make life.

Re: The Royal Society Christmas Lectures on computers

Most definitely... Or just go back to the BBC's The Computer Programme. That inspired these things to be interesting!

Re: UK?

I too bought the little Roku box thanks to a commentard here. It's back down to £29.99 in Currys/PC World again so I've just got one for a friend too. It does indeed do 4oD now as well as Iplayer and Channel 5 and netflix. Best though is the plex app which (along with a plex server) which really does work well and gives a very rich "view your own media" experience. Just wish it did LoveFilm.

Netflix Open Connect caching

That is a really neat solution, they cope with both peering and caching (and caching in a well-engineered sensible passive lets not impact non-netflix users way). Interesting to see BT and Virgin both peer. It's almost like Netflix designed their solution with the knowledge that if they can't get decent response to their customers their customers won't stay...

Re: You'd be amazed at how many changes are made on the fly...

Amen, I remember that in my coding days linking up to the OMLX and DTB. The beta markets were dead, had no prices in them, had no volatility, no rate of change, no where near the amount of derivatives listed, etc, etc, it was a nightmare. Plus, as you say, the way a market kicks off when the AMM kicked in. In the end the only solution was to stub the in/out of the exchange and record real data over a period and then play it into the system and compare the "new" systems behaviour to how it should have worked. Couldn't capture API problems to the exchange (hopefully the beta site did that) but at least we knew how our system would react to certain inputs from external systems. It sounds like this would have spotted that one of the systems wasn't giving back what it should have done in this case but, it costs money, it costs time, it delays things.

Thank heavens I don't work in that industry any more as I really don't think I could stomach the JFDI attitudes knowing what was at stake if you make a mistake. Complete failure of management controls or risk assessment, sadly common across most industries.

Re: Author here (again)

Thank you for giving real life experiences, its really good to hear the goods and bads from "inside", including what those donuts in HR made you do. I've been reading the comments here with interest on everyones viewpoints and also (unsurprisingly) how many people in IT share common traits with Aspies.

I think thats a positive we can take. Some of the traits we have (liking problem solving, liking logical solutions, liking details, being slightly antisocial) are part of what got us into IT in the first place and I think they are part of the attraction for Aspies too, so we have common ground. It takes a little bit of understanding though to get over the faux pas caused by the differences in those traits though. I guess I am saying how hard-wired some of those traits are in Aspies. As a typical IT geek I am shy and like to work through problems without distractions, I get stressed when multitasking but hey I get by, its not how I want it. I hate interminate deadlines and conflicting priorities. My partner's daughter though, its not something you can dislike and "get over". I know I get stressed when idiot PMs conflict, she though doesn't relate those two things together. The feelings of indefinite deadlines (oh later, as soon as you can) induce real stress in her to the point of not being able to function, but that link to "that PM is an idiot" isn't there and so they just don't correlate.

It's simple things that make a world of difference when you understand that the person isn't just being obsintate they need things addressed differently. From our side, say definites, I need this by Xpm, we will do so and so in half an hour. Little things that don't take much effort. From her side, as she has been diagnosed it's the making conscious efforts to correlate what is being a difficulty as it doesn't come naturally (and as others have said, thats hard when you are concentrating) and so by understanding her brain works differently being able to try and jump that gap to "why is that other person being so obtuse its obvious why this is wrong", when well, its not. Also understanding that yes, I could quite happily go on talking about this subject for the next 8hrs but consciously deciding that maybe other people can't and putting a halt to it. I know it can be quite tiring for her but by meeting in the middle then you can bring out some fantastic talent. By her understanding quite why somethings are difficult then a lot of the frustrations go away.

The classic one is "I can't do that". Again, a simple black/white statement which can come across as obstinate, but by broaching the subjects differently, breaking it down to where the problem is (which might be as simple as I need XXX to do that or I have something else to do or any other number of other things) . Routine, things being consistent (I'd never ask an Aspie to hotdesk for instance) its all quite little, simple things which make a whole world of difference. Anyway thanks again for the article and getting people talking about it.

Re: Picture Ballmer in a big chair, stroking a cat....

You beat me to it! Though I was going to add "you can come home now..."

Re: Yet to see one in the wild

I'd heard about "ipad photos" but didn't believe it til I saw someone stopping outside the MGM in Vegas in the middle of the walkway and holding up their ipad. I guess there is nowt as queer as folk.

Re: You get overtime?

I believe the argument goes along the line of refusing to work stupid hours without it and "we won't hire anyone else who can do it and our penalties for not doing the work are way more than paying you overtime costs". I am sure at some point insanity will prevail and they'll assume they can get it all done offshore to "save money".

Re: One downside

This is Microsoft, you think they cared about what developers thought in the same way they cared about consumers thoughts?

A whole chunk of functionality is changed, i.e. having to have a disk based game installed and the disk no longer used. It wouldn't surprise me if the whole "sharing games" on the cloud was tightly integrated in the fact that the console/cloud knew what games you had. Turn it off for one, turn it off for all. Yes it doesn't have to be coded like that but what are the odds that MS (in their we are right attitude) didn't decide it wasn't necessary to have it as a per game feature? It's much easier just to take out the whole subsystem than rewrite it. This stinks to me of that, which makes the "lend them the disk, the disk must be in the drive" at the core of this.

It's still a shame though, and frankly I don't feel that sorry for the developers in this. It had a deliberate limitation, only one person could be sharing it at a time. I know with my kid and their friends as soon as some of them had played a good game a few times they would have been frustrated by not all being able to play together and would have nagged their parents for the game or saved up. With games at the prices they are you want to be damn sure you want to play the game before forking out, this would have been great advertising. I know my kid was excited by the prospect of if he got a game he could play with a friend and not wait until everyone was going to buy it, so would have wanted to buy more.

Re: Janet Ellis?

Caron Keating, so sad when she died in 2004 of Breast Cancer at just 41 :(