So very sad. Debian is what got me started with Linux. I remember dd'ing base images to floppy disks since the BIOS on the PC I was experimenting on didn't support bootable CDs. From then doing a net install seemed so futuristic at the time.
I believe the 20% cut that the manager make is after they clear a benchmark like the S&P 500 to ensure they get paid when they produce a superior return compared to what an index fund could deliver.
I had a similar experience. I purchased a GoPro to use for a trip to Mexico. I had heard great stories about how durable and reliable they were from friends. So I didn't hesitate to buy one on Amazon.
Long story short all the footage from my vacation were unusable as many of the videos and pictures were corrupted/distorted which was annoying. Tried customer support but weren't able to fix the issue so I ended up returning it.
I felt that Lotus Notes was trying to do too many things when in reality most people were using it for email and calendaring.
The UI looked terrible and it was overall slow and crashed often. You had to manually kill the zombie process or else you would not be able to re-open Lotus Notes.
I always thought about the engineering complexities of sending someone to the moon that I overlooked the operational aspects of managing such a trip. This article was enlightening.
For simplicity let's say that IBM charges $300/hr for a consultant (developer/PM/etc). That would be about 100,000 hours of work. Let's say a consultant bills 2,000 hours a year and it takes them 18-24 months to build this thing. That would be a team of 25-30 (developers, PMs, account managers, etc).
The time frame is realistic considering poor original design, scope creep and federal government counterparts not being particularly quick in gettings things done (getting access/fighting through bureaucracy, etc).
So why would the federal government hire IBM over you; who can build a totally bug free version of this in half the time for half the price? IBM is:
- Not likely go out of business anytime soon.
- Not be unavailable for support work because you decided to start/join a startup
- Not be able to deal with turnover since they have 100k+ employees, steady stream of college recruits and have been around for 100 years.
I believe multiple exchanges do foster competition and innovation. I believe NASDAQ was one of the first computerized exchanges in an era when human traded in the pits.
Multiple exchanges allow customers to choose from better trading fees, execution times, colocation offering, etc.
As someone with not a lot of experience in low level languages and I can't wait to play around with this. I think it will be fun way to learn and maybe even try building hardware implementation using a FPGA.
I remember being fascinated how cool supercomputers looked when I was getting into computers in the mid 90s. The Connection Machine supercomputers come into mind. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connection_Machine
The product that GoDaddy offers is a commodity. You can get domain registration with hundreds of companies unlike the NFL which offers a very unique product. Also GoDaddy has been harboring a lot of ill will with things like hidden fees over the years.
I think competing on price alone against behemoth like Amazon is a losing strategy for local businesses. For example I could be buying a case of wine online but I go to my local wine store because even though it is a little more expensive the owners are good at recommending wines and they constantly refresh their selection. Which is great for someone like me who isn't a connoisseur.
Thanks for the great article. Counter Strike was the game that really got me interested in programming. I got introduced to it in early 2000 and was blown away that this game was made by hobbyists who created a mod (expansion package) for Half Life which in itself was revolutionary at the time. Eventually Valve acquired Counter Strike and the rest is history. I still think fondly of the many hours spent on de_dust and cs_assault.
The $200k price tag is unsurprising if you factor in the cost of non-coding work like requirements gathering, travels, expenses, benefits, etc. This seems like a simple app but when you have a design by committee, approvals, etc it can be quite manpower intensive.
The OSHA document is not rendering for me so I can't tell if there's a cost breakdown.
I've been using Spotify for 2 weeks now after using Rdio for 6 months and I rather like Spotify's Radio feature a lot. The recommendations I get from it seems no better or worse than Rdio's (for me) but I don't mind it and skipping tracks seems so seamless that I barely notice it. What really sold me on Spotify was Boxee support.