I work for a German company and talk with our IT dept (stateside) daily. They are always telling me how hard it is for the IT group in Germany to grab anything linux. Our guys have been running an experimental (redhat 6 something) server with zero problems for almost 2 years and Germany still calls "the experiment" inconclusive.
Go figure!!!!!!!!!!!

Thymox said:

>> quote:
It's a bit like talking about which way you want to die, none of the options are actually desireable!

Oh, that's good! You've gotta use that as your signature. <<

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment, but I really can't go round quoting myself, how pretentious would that be? <g>

Yeah Bob,

Weird to hear inside jokes on the outside.

I keep mentioning the O'reilly Sendmail book being used as a bludgeoning device. Honestly it comes from the time I picked it up, and then quickly had to set it back down because my hand nearly broke.

Yeah, I also hate it too when the IT people act like condescending prats.

So the point of this post... er, there is one, where did I put that... the point, the point, the point... Oh, How's Slackware workin out for you?

Cheers,

Finegan

Slackware's great thanks - not having RPMs is forcing me to learn how to compile programs!

I got called an anorak when I told someone (one of our customers) I'd been messing around with Linux and that I'd got a a couple of different distributions going and set up Smoothwall.

Get this though:

When we walked in to see this customer of ours he was in the process of rebooting all the machines on his Windows network because he reckoned that having different flavours of Windoze on the same network sometimes causes them all to stop working network wise.

Serves the f*****r right! <eg>

LOL That's pretty funny. IT people always know everything and then screw it all up. Well, I must say I was once an IT "professional" (LOL) for a local newspaper co. a few years back with a small 200 client intranet. Those guys were the most condescending people i'd ever met and the answer to everything was reboot reboot reboot. I knew that, and reinstall yadda yadda yadda. Sheesh, why did I spend money on a cert. when anyone could have done that? As a comp. tech., my co. sent me to a major lawfirm customer to help with an NT 3.51 -- NT 4 migration. Thier IT's were yahoos, man I tell yuh they all talked the talk, but they were asking me how to fix it. I'm noone special, i'm not tooting my horn, thier are some great IT's out there and those who know alot more than I, but on the average of my experience, I am dumbfounded at the closed-mindedness of most of these people....
Ok that's my last rant for the day! Sorry if I went off a little cockeyed. And DiBosco; what's an anorak? Can't be a compliment i'm sure? Just curious, never heard that one.

No, no, rant away! :-)

An anorak isn't complimentary! I guess it must be a British term if you don't know it. Do you have trainspotters over there? People who have a little book filled with the serial numbers or whatever you call the identifying numbers of trains. They go to railway stations and spend all day just "spotting" - looking - at the trains and writing the numbers in their little books. They became infamous for wearing Parka type anoraks, and so an anorak has become a phrase for a person who gets a bit anal about something. Someone who spends too much time doing something peceived as being sad! So this shows the public perception of Linux users!

Someone who puts up with poor, unreliable operating systems that need rebooting because they get thier knickers in a twist is sad in my book! <g>

I suppose the biggest irony of him calling me an anorak is that tonight, he will be on his own, indoors, working on his FPGA design, whereas I've been out playing footy (soccer) and now am going out on the beers. :-)

Trainspotters, nope... at least not in the cities I've lived. You have to remember that the US isn't exactly well know for having brilliant public transport like the majority of Europe. With the exception of some cities like New York, San Francisco and the like, there is a severe class distinction in not having a car and having to take the train or bus.

The only time I had heard Anorak was in the BOFH stories, and I thought it was just a clothing style associated with the 3l33t3 |-|aX0R types, but I guess I was way off.

At least now I understand what Irvine Welsh was on about.

Cheers,

Finegan

Ain't that the truth. You take the bus and you're as low class as you can get. I'd take a train now, but only cause you idn't gitten me on a plane anytime soon! LOL Here in Seattle, in the metro area, the busses are free so it's actually quite common, but in the suburbs, yikes...I never knew what a trainspotter was until now and I now also know what an anorak is. So thnks you, my vocab doth expand. I can't even think of anything close to train spotting over here. Hmm? I guess it sounds as silly (to me) as cow tipping for a giggle.

Whereas train services in mainland Europe are pretty fantastic, in the UK they are sadly underfunded. It's a huge political hot potato. Margaret Bloody Thatcher encouraged everyone in the "me, me, me" 80s to own a car and did her best to ruin the railways. The subsequent Tory governments carried on the same and much as Labour made promises to sink more into the railways, they have been very disappointing.

We have way too many cars on our tiny island and not good enough rail services. Many people here view trains as a second class method of travel. (Though low cost airlines don't seem to have suffered in the aftermath of the twin towers.)

Thatcher may have saved Britain from the grip of striking trade unions, but she ruined the rest of it. She's a cartoon character these days and the Tories do their best to distance themselves from the old witch.

Labour need to pull their fingers out and try to resurrect these almost dead public services.

Oooh, sorry that became a political rant! Hope that's not taboo!

Taboo? Naw, I don't think so anyhow. I can't say I know much about England. I have always thought that the Prime Minister was the "man" in charge? I don't know what Margaret Thatcher does and why is there still a Queen in a democratic gubment? Just curious, i don't know these things. I'm a 26 year old anti-political guy in the states who can't stand hearing these senators and political yahoos talk, and i don't vote. Other than that, I do think we need a better system of trans. over here like the UK. Trains are almost specifically only used for an alternative long distance travel method and freighting. Like finegan said, some cities have subways but here in Seattle, everyone has to have a car of their own. So polution is on the rise and we've become number two in the states as worst traffic. We are paying state taxes for a rail system that hasn't even gotten off the ground yet after voted in 2-3 years ago. Outside of that, it's a great place! LOL There's my rant, and hope IT'S not too offensive to anyone, it's not meant to be. Just my own opinion and knowledge.

Interesting, I thought Thatch was still well known State-side.

Anyway. you're partly right, the prime minister is the *person* in charge! <g> Thatch was our first female (well, she slipped in on a technicality! <g>) PM. She ruled the roost at the same time that ex-actor of yours was pres. of the US. Her and Ronnie had love ins all the time and got on great - shared the same capitalist ideals 'n' all. The PM is similar to your president in political status.

Queenie's way separate and has no political powers.

You're similar to may twenty somethings over here who are totally disenfranchised when it comes to politics. They see everyone as being as bad as each other. IMHO, our political system is too combatorial, people never work together and someone on the opposite side of the political fence can never have a good idea(l) on principle. Well that's not how real life is. Until we get PR (proportional representation), that's probably how it will stay. Scotland (who still have representatives in the *British* government) have PR and people are working together more, putting political differences aside when they share the same belief on a certain topic.

As someone in some film once said:

Why can't we just get on together?!