June 5, 2006
hey appealing industries…
guess what?
you got it!
might want to be careful what you wish for, tho.
basically, you have admitted to:
- downloading a pirated/illegal version of windows vista via a p2p service
- being ignorant enough to try to activate said pirated version
- planning to download yet another pirated/illegal version of a soon-to-be-released microsoft product
your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy is quite certain that crazy ligman’s will be most interested in what you’ve posted.
you also claim to be an it professional, with staggering amounts of power & knowledge at your disposal.
so much power, in fact, that you believe microsoft should quake in fear at the very thought of what you could do to them.
yet you seem utterly ignorant of microsoft’s action pack, which is not only a full $200 cheaper than the cheapest subscription option you mention, but would also give you fully licensed copies of nearly any & all ms products.
perhaps the world’s just not ready for the unstoppable force you would become if you had access to such a magical superweapon like the action pack?
i could go on & on…
but quite frankly you’ve demonstrated amply enough the particular brand of professionalism folks are apt to receive if they contract with you for it service.
so, good luck with that it career…
|| posted by chris under community, it pro, mothership, opinion, rant || comments (1) ||
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May 26, 2006
or…
happyfunboy’s super awesome guide to not being a community nimrod
professional laziness in the it sector existing long before vladville (or its creator, for that matter) was even a twinkle in anyone’s eye.
so folks trying to pin the blame for clueless it nimrods on the vlad because of his contributions like vladville, orlando it pro, and sbs show makes even less sense than blaming it on something like fluoridated water.
if anything, it’s the distinct opinion of your friendly neighborhood happyunboy that mr. mazek is one of the few folks telling it like it really is in the community. these are not direct quotes, but more yours truly channelling the spirit & attitude, to wit:
- so basically, you are a glorified pencil sharpener.
- again, why do people pay you?
- a mailing list is a mailing list is a mailing list
- starting a user group will suck you dry faster than a vampire with two straws
when your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy first started up a user group, vlad’s guide, still in draft form at the time, was instrumental not just in helping kick off alabamasmb, but also to help plot a strategy for growth.
but the very first bits of advice in his guide, right up front, are not some kind of lollipops and gumdrops, pie in the sky, everything is beautiful, whitewashing job.
oh no…
his first advice consists of the following truths:
- running a user group is hard work, each and every day.
- you will see little to nothing in return for your efforts.
- get comfortable with that…or don’t even start one.
so no…the nimrod factory isn’t located in orlando.
personally, i think of the community like a poker game…
if you want to be dealt in at all, you need to ante up.
now, if you don’t know how to play…
folks will help you get the basics down for a hand or two…
if you don’t act like a jerk, that is.
but after that, it’s gonna be totally up to you. they’re not gonna want to give you advice all night long, or give you their chips for free just so you don’t feel like such a clueless, dead money loser.
and worst of all…
if you wanna watch tv, or yammer on the phone, or do something other than play cards…
go sit over there on the couch and don’t bother the rest of us.
the community works best when folks demonstrate respect for the value of someone else’s time & efforts.
a basic thank you is a very good start…
trust me on that.
but the reality is…
any amount of time someone spends helping someone else for free, is time that person has taken away from their own…
- job
- customers
- loved ones
- r&r
without expectation of anything in return.
so if you ask for something, at the very least you should have expended some honest effort trying to find the answer yourself.
or, if you have an area of expertise, an offer to reciprocate in kind for that person at a later time is a great way to pay the goodwill forward…
but do something.
demonstrate just a little bit that you’re not a lazy, crumb-munching leech…
that’s all anybody really expects.
|| posted by chris under community, opinion, rant || comments (1) ||
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May 10, 2006
sorry it took so long, but posting the q&a stream from a webcast is a lot of fracking work…
besides the little matter of the surgery yours truly recently underwent, which obviously added a good bit of delay…
ron had to first check with ms corporate to make sure it was kosher to post the q&a logs at all…
and then your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy had the joyous task of cleaning the q&a logs.
you see, there are a couple of misconceptions about q&a logs, i think…
if what i saw during the webcasts is any indication.
first…
yours truly answered, at best, only 1 or 2 questions the entire crown jewels series.
this is very common, particularly in webcasts with live demos.
think about it…
with a 1 hour webcast, there is a very limited amount of time to present anything.
if, as a presenter, i stopped to answer even 1 question in the middle…
i wouldn’t have been close to getting through all the content.
and doing a live demo is like entering a time warp….
where the clock runs at about 3x its normal speed.
second…
everybody wanted to know if the q&a would be posted after the webcast.
for some reason, i guess it’s too difficult to expect people to click in the q&a pane at the end, hit ctl+a, and the paste the q&a log into notepad.
honestly…
that is the fastest and best way to get a copy of any q&a log.
not only that…
it’s an uncensored copy.
remember, the ones i’ve posted have been cleaned.
now, said cleaning involved:
- removing any names or other identifiable info about attendees
- removing the redundancy of questions naturally appearing twice in the log
- cleaning up certain areas for clarity…like bundling followup questions together
- removing any privately answered questions that were simply “shoutouts” to friends, etc.
and, worst of all…
- removing all the lovely comments from a certain attendee i dubbed “the audio nazi”
nothing like doing a bunch of extra work after an event that forces you to read, all over again, the ravings of a nimrod.
if i wanted to do that, i’d go read a book by al franken or jon stewart.
anyway…the q&a logs are up, finally, on the crown jewels + post here at the funcave.
will be working on a couple of clarifications of some content in the webcasts, and gathering some answers for some questions that are still open.
i appreciate everybody’s patience with the time it’s taken for me to get this stuff done.
better late than never, right?
enjoy!
|| posted by chris under community, crown jewels, it pro, rant, webcast || comments (2) ||
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May 8, 2006
much more important than the fact of orange being the most beautiful color in the world…
is the reason why it’s garnered that reputation here at the funcave.
and that is all thanks to the titular med…
namely pyridium.
write that down.
seriously.
if you ever need it, you will want to do more than thank me for telling you about this.
you’ll be more likely to give me your first-born…
disclaimer: this post might get a tad graphic. queenie, that means i will not be using the word wee at all. consider yourself warned.
obviously, your friendly neighborhood happyorangeboy had some very important work done recently.
as part of that, yours truly was catheterized during surgery.
now, i had no recollection of this whatsoever, as it was blessedly done after i was put under, and removed before i woke up in recovery.
however, job #1 for each and every patient is to make sure their plumbing is working before they can be discharged.
and since yours truly was due to leave the hospital the next day, i was on a bit of a deadline.
now, for those of you who have never had the particular pleasure of being catheterized…
my first attempt to use the bathroom after surgery was accompanied by pain that i can only describe as trying to piss razorblades.
of course, i immediately asked dumbass nurse #1 if that was normal.
and…of course…she had no idea.
worse yet…
she pretty much ignored completely what i was telling her.
which was that i could go more, and needed to go more…
but could not because it hurt so fracking badly.
because of some insider info, yours truly learned about sweet sweet pyridium
in a nutshell, pyridium is an analgesic, which soothes pain.
and its particularly helpful mode of transport in this case?
well, i’ll give you 3 guesses…
and the first 2 don’t count.
but one of its primary side effects is…
you piss a bright bright, heavenly orange while it is in your system.
thanks, however…to the sheer stupidity of the nursing staff at that time…
it was 4 horrific hours from asking for it before i received the first dose of pyridium at all.
during that time, i had to endure:
a bladder scan…
which included dumbass nurse #3 prodding and pushing on my bladder the entire time, because she didn’t believe i really needed to go.
when the ultrasound reading indicated in excess of 1 liter, she actually had the nerve to say…
well whaddya know, you wuz right.
re-catheterization…
which involved the singularly worst pain i have ever experienced in my entire life, bar none.
as in…
take those aforementioned razor blades…
heat them until they are red-hot…
dip them in acid…
light them on fire…
and then stuff them from whence they came.
now, said pain was neither the insertion, nor even the removal of the catheter…
no, the worst pain occurred when…
dumbass nurse #2 picked up the bag and yanked on it!
her reason?
she needed to read how much was in there.
obviously, her stupid hick ass couldn’t just kind of watch and think dayum, that thar shore is filling up right quick.
which why your friendly neighborhood happyorangeboy has now decided to start a scholarship fund at whatever bobbi sue beth school of nursing & truck stop it was that deemed these fracking morons healthcare professionals.
watch for more details soon…
better yet, buy a t-shirt!
btw…
big huge thanks to the mastermind, who promised to punch them all in the face if she’s ever here in town.
so i’ve got that going for me…
|| posted by chris under rant, rx || comments (2) ||
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May 4, 2006
so…
thanks to its recent legal troubles
and mounting pressure from ms and palm devices…
research in motion has finally decided to offer a version of its blackberry enterprise server aka bes for free.
now…before anyone starts dancing & skipping about this news…
there are a whole host of caveats & conditions.
primary among these:
- only 1 client license is included; additional licenses for additional devices cost $99 per.
- only 1 copy of the software per mail server.
- hardcoded max of 15 licenses; upgrade to full version costs $2800
so…basically…
even tho some write-ups have loudly trumpeted the value of this package at over $3000…
it isn’t.
not by a long shot.
at the most basic level, the express version is nothing more than the small business version that is currently available, as proven by note #2 on the first link above.
since the current small business version costs $1100, but includes 5 licenses…
at most, the value of bes express is $600 then, give or take.
but in a much larger sense, even that “savings” disappears in a hurry.
and here’s why:
any installation of blackberry enterprise server, when done correctly…
as in, a solid install that will run dependably, and stay running…
can take a long time, potentially over 8 hours.
that is not an insignificant investment of time & money, particularly for small businesses, who are the intended target of this offer according to rim themselves.
seriously…
1 license?
that’s almost insulting.
now, your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy has installed & used both blackberry & windows mobile, including devices running wm 5.0…
and connectivity is just one of several areas where windows mobile devices totally kick the ass of their fruit-flavored competition.
assuming that one has completed the proper planning for using either a self-signed or 3rd-party ssl certificate…
connecting a windows mobile device to an existing sbs server takes, on average, less than 15 minutes.
don’t believe me?
check out the recorded archive of crown jewels #3…
wherein yours truly actually connects & configures a windows mobile 5.0 ppc to sync with an sbs server, including installing a self-signed certificate, live during the demo portion of the webcast!
now let’s see….
8+ hours versus 15 minutes?
not only that…
but blackberry’s support documentation has always insisted that bes must be installed on a server separate from exchange.
here in sbs-land…that’s asking someone to kiss another $2K in hardware and os costs goodbye…
just for the privilege of using a blackberry.
now, i believe there’s some info floating around the community outlining how to install bes on sbs.
but if it’s not supported by rim, then if a problem arises…
that install, and you, would be given a kiss-off by the folks at rim’s t-support group.
personally, i’m not a fan of kludging together non-supported solutions for customers, especially when it’s something like connectivity for mobile devices, which need to run like clockwork, with no muss & no fuss, 24×7.
seriously…
you don’t even have to be a cpa to see the value proposition of windows mobile from the perspective of infrastructure costs alone.
but stay tuned folks…
your friendly neighborhood happyfunboy will be posting up even more reasons that windows mobile decimates blackberry…
once he’s able, that is.
|| posted by chris under it pro, mobility, mothership, rant || comments (1) ||
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