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Monday, March 29, 2010

Programmer's blog(from SQL Central): Editorial - Open Source is Not a Career Path

I Agree with a lot of the sentiments the author wrote about open source. I too tend to 'walk in the middle'.

Steve is on vacation for the next couple of days in the UK. We are re-running the February 3, 2005 editorial.

Linus Torvalds, the founder and father of Linux said this week that "Open Source is not a career path" at the ODSL's summit. That's funny, because I think most of you reading this and many people that are devout Linux users are thinking exactly that they can make a career of open source.

I've seen many open source writings about the ways you can make things work with examples such as Linus, the authors of Apache, the folks that wrote the Berkley-db, etc. and make a living. But most of these examples are people that are great programmers or technical individuals, the sort of which are rare and would probably succeed in many of their endeavors.

For the average Joe or Jane out there, we do need a career path. We are people that are happy to work and earn our money, but we're not the brightest of best stars in our areas, just competent or even very skilled individuals. For many of us, professionalism is the way and reason that we work. We take pride in what we do, and want to do well, but we don't do it for some ideal. And many of us aren't interested in continually lobbying our management that they should be spending resources and money on that ideal.

I'm sorry, I don't believe all software should be free. If people were more honest and upstanding in how they deal with code, and maybe a little less greedy, then maybe I'd be more for open source, but I think that closed source, proprietary code has a place in this world. I think programmers should be paid for their time as should companies. I think things can go too far in any direction and I'm not a huge fan of some of Microsoft's tactics to keep their platform closed or force upgrades, but I do feel that they have done lots to bring computing to the masses.

I know I'm walking the middle here, but that's how I feel. I like the idea of open source. I've learned many things from examples and other people's code, but I've also written some things that I don't want to give away for free. Nothing in this world is free. We all pay in some way. Free TV has commercials, free giveaways from a store or radio station have some marketing appeal, free newspapers and other media rely on advertising, which in turn raises the prices we pay for everything. Free is non-existent and in many cases I think the Internet is conditioning too many of our younger people that things should be free as in beer when the intent was always free as in speech.

Steve Jones from SQLServerCentral.com

Monday, March 22, 2010

The migrant story : What not to do in Australia

Got this from my high school message loop. Before this bits and after this bits are"censored" due to ..."the inability to discuss it openly or will lead to a flaming discussion."

"We as migrants and especially the new arrivals also are partly contributory to this kind of resentment. Unfortunately they bring with them their peculiar cultural habits which may be acceptable from where they come from, but considered rather rude here. Such examples are talking loudly in public areas in their own language, spitting, not queuing or jumping queues in restaurants and supermarkets, not responding to smiles or greetings at checkouts, not following road rules and signs, and lack of manners when driving on public roads, piling up a huge amount of food at buffets and wasting half of it most of the time, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. "

So for my migrant friends who have just arrived , will be arriving, and applying or thinking to apply ... this is for you!(and me)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Balance sheet of life

Got this from a forwarded email.



BALANCE SHEET OF LIFE


Our Birth is our Opening Balance!
Our Death is our Closing Balance!
Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities
Our Creative Ideas are our Assets

Heart is our Current Asset
Soul is our Fixed Asset
Brain is our Fixed Deposit
Thinking is our Current Account

Achievements are our Capital
Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade
Friends are our General Reserves
Values & Behavior are our Goodwill

?

Patience is our Interest Earned
Love is our Dividend
Children are our Bonus Issues
Education is Brands / Patents

Knowledge is our Investment
Experience is our Premium Account
The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.
The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.

Some very Good and Very bad things ...
The most destructive habit....... ........ .....Worry
The greatest Joy......... ......... ............ ...Giving

The greatest loss........ Loss of self-respect

The most satisfying work........ .......Helping others
The ugliest personality trait....... ... .....Selfishness
The most endangered species..... ....Dedicated leaders
Our greatest natural resource.... .......... ...Our youth

The greatest 'shot in the arm'........ ..Encouragement
The greatest problem to overcome.... ........ ...Fear
The most effective sleeping pill....... Peace of mind
The most crippling failure disease..... ... .......Excuses

The most powerful force in life........ ............ . Love
The most dangerous act...... ..A gossip
The world's most incredible computer.... . ....The brain
The worst thing to be without..... ............ ..... Hope

The deadliest weapon...... ........ ..........The to ngue
The two most power-filled words....... ........ 'I Can'
The greatest asset....... .......... ........ ....Faith
The most worthless emotion.... ......... ....Self- pity

The most beautiful attire...... ......... ........SMILE!
The most prized possession.. ........ .....Integrity
The most powerful channel of communication. ......Prayer
The most contagious spirit...... .......... ......Enthusiasm

Life ends; when you stop Dreaming,
Hope ends; when you stop Believing,
Love ends; when you stop Caring,

And Relationship ends; when you stop Sharing...!! !


So please share this balance sheet of life.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Update from schmap

Schmap Sydney Tenth Edition: Photo Inclusion


Hi Anthony,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released tenth edition of our Schmap Sydney Guide:

Sydney Harbour Bridge
www.schmap.com/sydney/tours_tour1/p=31742/i=31742_208.jpg

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then this same link will take you directly to your photo in the iPhone version of our guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how your photo is displayed and credited in the iPhone version of our guide at:

Sydney Harbour Bridge
www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=sydney&sid=tours_tour1&p=31742&i=31742_208

Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Sarah B. Edwards
Editor, Schmap Guides

P.S. If you're a Twitter user, please check out our latest release, a tool for sharing events, places, and local reviews on Twitter:
www.schmap.it

We also have two Twitter accounts for Sydney, well worth following:

Twitter-trending Sydney restaurants and bars:
www.twitter.com/sydneypicks

Live music, parties and more happening right now in Sydney:
www.twitter.com/sydney_today