Danaher buys Keithley

If I can assume you're well-paid over there you probably won't even notice the extra few bucks missing from your wallet. :-)

While Macs aren't quite as good of a value for the money as PCs are, I do think the oft-heard point that, "with Macs you get a lot more software built-in than with Windows" has some credibility as well -- for a lot of people (certainly not everyone), there is value in it.

Agreed, at least long-term. I mean, most companies can and should do a certain amount of R&D that isn't necessarily intended to add to the bottom line -- but clearly you need to be careful to insure that those indulgences don't start to eat away at the part of the company that's bringing home the bacon too. (Wasn't this part of the problem at IBM? Basic R&D was eating up way too much of the income?)

As you're probably aware, Google pretty much devotes one day a week to having their programmers just experimenting around with whatever they're interested in, with the idea that a small amount of it will turn into an income stream. I once had a co-worker who had worked at an (electronic design) place where he said their Friday afternoons were treated that way -- work on a new ham radio project or something, learn some new skills, etc.

---Joel

You, sir, need to visit Powell's Technical Book Store next time you're in Portland, Oregon.

Although I would think there'd have to be something similar in the bay area too...

College bookstores are often worth checking out.

Oh, but it's For The Children! Nothing is too good for them! :-)

I was half-awake this morning listening to a radio station out of Los Angeles where a high school has now made C the minimum passing grade (previously D). The "oppossing viewpoint" from one student they interivewed was that, gee, instead of making them re-do an exam/homework assignment/etc. if they didn't receive a C or higher, couldn't they instead just provide individual tutors or at least smaller class sizes for such students? Since clearly they need extra help?

I wasn't very persuaded. I'm thinking that in the vast majority of the cases what they really need is to work harder. :-) -- The teachers should be able to identify the very few who are truly working as hard as they can as still just not getting it.

No objections there, but note that publishers have been working very hard for years to destroy the used book market -- in college textbooks today, even in classes that haven't changed much in decades if not centuries (e.g., calculus, economics, etc.), most publishers now issue a new textbook every year or two where 95%+ of the change is nothing more than a simple shuffling of problem set numbers. Most annoying...

And of course publishers are in love with the "rent an eBook" concept that's been catching on quite rapidly at colleges -- within 10 years, I suspect that fewer than 10% of college books will actually be printed. (Most publishers will sell you your college textbooks as well, but almost always they're filled with DRM so there's a very good chance that sooner or later they're be "lost forever.")

---Joel

Fair enough.

Although your kid would be considered a bit of a square if everyone else on his team has to be doing the "Save in Word 97 format" jig just because you won't pony up for Office 2012. :-)

Yeah, I know, it would just be rather better if somewhere along the line they gained an appreciation for IP rights as well -- particularly when free offerings often are "good enough" if not as good as the payware versions. This is particularly true given how IP generation is becoming a larger and larger fraction of the world economy.

---Joel

Electronics? What's that? They have an aisle of Windows books, though.

They also have an aisle of "alternate lifestyle" and another of "women's studies" books. Depressing.

Some pay for them, some don't. AIUI, one of the districts tried it here (it is a college town, so rather liberal). The budget went down in flames that year.

In primary and secondary school the district owned all the books. They used them for ten years or so. If you damaged a book beyond "normal wear and tear", you bought it.

I hate calling people on the phone. I'd rather drive across town and see them. No visual cues on the phone. With email I can answer when I want and after I've had time to think about a response. I don't use my phone much. ;-)

Mine is turned on but I only carry it when I'm out of the house. It's biggest use is to find SWMBO in the mall. ;-)

At 2X, I notice. I'd rather buy a couple of stationary woodworking tools than a damned computer.

Hmm, I guess I bought Agent-5. I can't remember any other software I've purchased (other than Turbo Tax).

I don't have too much of a problem with that. There should be some of that at all levels, IMO. When trying to squeeze every dime of productivity out of a company, it gets tough.

Not really, their problems were much worse than that. There were *many* complete failures that would have sunk any other company and management was as dumb as a stump. As maligned as Gerstner was, he saved the company after Akers did his best to kill it.

I had jobs where that's all I did - five days. That's when I got my largest raises and promotions, too. ;-) Those days are *long* gone.

Or one format. Any decent word processor can do .RTF (Rich Text Format) which has almost as many bells and whistles as word or open office, but even WordPad can work with it.

Cheers! Rich

DRM?

Thanks, Rich

They shouldn't have booked a hotel that ran Macs. ;-)

Before Macs. ;-)

It was the Grand Hyatt in Grand Central Station, opening week. The floors above 15, IIRC, weren't finished. It's rather surprising to see nothing but girders when the elevator doors open. The elevators were seriously screwed.

You can just plug a lot of new printers into your network. Some wireless routers have a USB printer port. A couple of my US Robotics do. I recently repaired a HP HP Photosmart 2575xi printer with an ethernet port to my home network. I have installed several HP networked printers at a friend's business, as well. Makes it very simple to send something to sales, manufacturing or the CEO's office.

going

(e.g.,

only

should

Intel was always good at getting ahead of themselves. ;-)

Of course. We all remember the 8086, (80186 was an embedded version with on-chip peripherals) 80286, 80386, 80486, 80585.999999993224492

and so on. ;-)

Cheers! Rich

going

(e.g.,

only

should

The *only* thing Intel has ever been good at is manufacturing.

certainly,

Printers with Ethernet ports. Most don't have Ethernet ports.

rs

The trick is to know when to quit. Tek I suspect waited to long, should have got out while they still had the cash to share aroung the shareholders/workforce.

going

(e.g.,

getting

only

the

should

Starting with the 4004? ;-)

Linux

certainly,

NAS

It's a lot more common than it used to be. Three of the last four I set up, did. The other was a HP 7760.

I have something even rarer: an OKI Microline 186 nine pin dot matrix with USB for 8.5" paper.

As a kid I always was a bit of a weirdo I guess. Like most electronics hobbyists back then :-)

How can you detect the real nerds when sitting for an exam at university? Easy: Watch for people who whip out a vintage calculator, lots of extension cord, a doorbell transformer and a hand-stitched regulator on perf-board.

True. But try to do that if the family barely has $150/month to pay for rent, food, medical and all other expenses. And 6-8 kids.