04.13.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:01 by lnxwalt
When the pipeline is relatively empty and there are bills to pay, it is helpful to get some work directly, even if it means you may have less time for your business from time to time.
When you are in such a condition, or even if you have not yet started a business, you may need to seek out work. The question is, how?
There are a few different tools that should be in your toolbox when you are looking for work:
- Newspaper classified ads — this is probably still the most-used way to advertise a job opening, so you can not afford to ignore it. Many newspapers are affilliated with an online job search site as well, which means that some of the jobs in the paper will also be online. The negative about newspapers is that they tend to scatter some of the ad throughout the paper. This means that you either have to read / look through the entire paper or take the chance that the one job that fits was in the section you did not read.
- Free job search sites — there are a few majors that you should be on, as well as special-interest sites. Yahoo’s HotJobs tends to have a fair selection, but they frequently “refresh” older jobs to make them look like they just came in. This makes it possible to click on the “apply now” link, only to find that you applied for that position 5 months ago. CareerBuilder appears to do something similar. Monster also allows refreshing old jobs, but you can see “applied” next to jobs that you have already applied for. Monster and CareerBuilder each offer to store cover letters for you. CareerBuilder will not send the cover letter unless it is stored. Since the purpose of a cover letter is to tell the HR person something unique about how the applicant fits the requirements of the position (and thus to get the person to look at the resume), this is absolutely counter to the purpose of having a cover letter. Both Monster and CareerBuilder use ASP.Net and both have issues with Opera, Konqueror (and presumably other KHTML/WebKit browsers) and some Gecko-based browsers. Using Opera on CareerBuilder means that “apply now” buttons no longer work. What kind of bozo creates a Web application and doesn’t make sure that it works with Opera, Gecko, and KHTML/WebKit? That is inexcusable in today’s world. The other thing with these kinds of sites is that they are filled with “work at home” schemes. Maybe it is just me, but I have little confidence that I will be able to make $5,000 per day sitting at home in my underwear.
- Job placement agencies and temporary help agencies — these can be helpful for some fields. One friend moved from an $8.00 per hour job to a $10 or $11 job with benefits thanks to an agency. (The benefits part really makes a difference if you have a family of six to take care of.)
- Personal networking and contacts — this is the best and most effective way to get work.
The Department of Labor has conducted countless surveys over the years to track just how job seekers actually find employment. While statistics vary slightly, 75% to 80% of all jobs are found through networking and direct contact. This method is often referred to as the “hidden job market” — job openings that don’t appear in employment publications.
There is plenty of good advice there. It is frequently found that someone you know knows someone that can put you in touch with a hiring manager or HR staffer.
One final bit of advice: it is not very often that a candidate-paid agency can offer anything that an employer-paid agency cannot. Plus, the employer-paid agency will not get paid unless the employer hires a candidate, so they are probably more likely to do the work necessary to get suitable candidates before HR staffers and hiring managers. A candidate-paid agency tends to want its money up front, which takes away the incentive to do a good job.
If you have Linux or BSD-related (That includes PHP, Perl, Python, shell scripting, a little bit of Ruby, or Java) employment opportunities in the Victor Valley, Antelope Valley, Barstow, or the area from Pomona through Ontario and Rialto, to San Bernardino, Redlands, Yucaipa, and Riverside, you may contact me at default [at] webconnectconsulting [dot] com or huckstech [at] warmmail [dot] com.
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04.12.07
Posted in Small Business at 3:25 by lnxwalt
Right now, we are in the process of choosing a college. It is an interesting experience, in part because MJ changed his desired major in the last month. So most of our leading choices just changed.
We are finding that there are some trials that go with the last-minute decision-making process.
In your business, it is the same way. If you have a decision coming up, do not delay it. Start gathering the necessary information as soon as you know that the decision will have to be made. Dedicate some time each day or at least each week toward the process, so that you have everything ready to go when the time comes.
Putting it off will merely make it more painful when you finally have to do it, so get moving today!
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Posted in Industry News, Political at 3:06 by lnxwalt
Bytesfree and “o(blog n)” tell us how shocking it is that Microsoft is sending out an e-mail message trying to stir up a fake grassroots effort to keep California dependent upon their file formats (and therefore, their software).
As O(Blog N) puts it, “This bill is common sense. This will be in the best interest of any organization, any industry, and technology in general.” If Microsoft opposes the use of an open, standardized file format that is supported by multiple vendors and controlled by a standards group
Is Microsoft seriously attempting a campaign to kill AB 1668? This would be outrageous! Not only would it be counter to common sense, but the bill doesn’t preclude the use of Microsoft applications anyway. It would just mean that Microsoft would have to use a file format that meets some common sense requirements. Microsoft is currently lobbying for acceptance of its Office Open XML (OOXML) format. ECMA approved this and it’s now before ISO/IEC. The OOXML spec is an unprecedented 6000 pages and is ridiculously contradictory to openness and standards …
The text of the bill:
SECTION 1. Section 11541.1 is added to the Government Code, to read:
11541.1. (a) Beginning on or after January 1, 2008, all
documents, including, but not limited to, text, spreadsheets, and presentations, produced by any state agency shall be created, exchanged, and preserved in an open extensible markup language-based, XML-based file format, as specified by the department. When deciding
how to implement this section, the department in its evaluation of open, XML-based file formats shall consider all of the following features:
(1) Interoperable among diverse internal and external platforms and applications.
(2) Fully published and available royalty-free.
(3) Implemented by multiple vendors.
(4) Controlled by an open industry organization with a
well-defined inclusive process for evolution of the standard.
(b) Beginning on or after January 1, 2008, state agencies shall start to become equipped to accept all documents in an open, XML-based file format for office applications, and shall not adopt a file format used by only one entity.
(c) The department shall develop guidelines for state agencies to follow in determining whether existing electronic documents need to be converted to an open, XML-based file format. The department shall
consider all of the following:
(1) The cost of converting electronic documents.
(2) The need for the documents to be publicly accessible.
(3) The expected storage life of the documents.
California’s financial future is at stake. Microsoft is not the enemy—they just have a monopoly cash-cow to protect—but we, especially those of us who live and pay taxes in California, need to give our state the upper hand over its vendors.
For those who say, “I disagree with the state forcing Microsoft to change their file formats,” the state is doing no such thing. Microsoft will choose to support ODF (ISO/IEC 26300) because they want to continue selling software to government customers. Government customers, like any other customers, have the right to set criteria for their purchases.
In return, vendors have the right to decide whether to meet those criteria. In the case of AB 1668, the specific file format is not named. Instead, a few common-sense criteria are set, which are already met by ODF and which MS-OOXML (or Ecma 376, as it currently exists) can not currently meet. Since government purchases are about 10% of the market for shrink-wrap software, I would expect that Microsoft will give up their stubbornness and do what is best for customers, which is support the standard (ODF).
In this case, the interests of smaller businesses, state agencies, and citizens of California are all on the side of AB 1668. On the other side are the interests of Microsoft and them alone. California should choose the former and let Microsoft worry about the latter. Hearings begin April 17. For yourself, your children, and your neighbors, please contact your state senator and assemblyperson to express your support for AB 1668.
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04.07.07
Posted in FLOSS, Political, Small Business at 22:58 by lnxwalt
California and AB-1668: Why Do We Need It?
I have discussed the general politics of why California needs quick passage of AB-1668. It simply makes good social, political, and economic policy.
I want to speak to the impact on smaller businesses, and why I believe that small businesses in California stand to gain in the long run if AB-1668 is passed quickly, in its current form.
Follow The Money Trail
One thing that is always necessary when someone comes squawking for political action is to find out who benefits from it. A few years ago, there was a bill to mandate employer-paid health insurance in California. Suddenly, we saw commercials featuring tearful small business owners (such as restauranteurs) asking why they were being forced out of business. The problem was, those commercials were also helpful to certain large, wealthy, out-of-state companies. Which group do you think (small businesses or large ones) had the resources to fund a statewide political campaign? Why do you think they did it?
If you said they wanted to keep all the money for themselves, you get an “A” for the day.
Now when you hear someone asking for “choice” in file formats instead of open standards that can be used by anyone in the industry, (that is, someone who opposes bills like AB-1668), whose financial interests are at stake? Do their interests and the interests of the state and its citizens agree on it? Probably not, since they would not need to mount this opposition campaign if their own interests were not opposed to the interests of the general public.
Mandatory Shift Coming
Microsoft, rather than open up the specification for their legacy binary formats (e.g., .doc, .xls. .ppt), chose to move to a completely different set of formats for Office 2007 and beyond. It gave them the opportunity to clean out a bunch of cruft that had built up over the years. But they did not choose to do so. Instead, they brought all of that foulness into their file formats for the foreseeable future.
We already know that the current binary file formats that are commonly used in business are being killed off. There are two primary choices as to where your business may go in the future. The first, OASIS OpenDocument Format (ISO/IEC 26300:2006), is open–controlled by a standards organization which makes updates to it from time to time and is not beholden to a particular vendor–and has been selected by regional and national governments and their agencies all around the world. It is used by multiple vendors of office application suites, content management systems, and format transformation tools. It is used by online office sites like Google Docs and Zoho Office. It is an official international standard, approved by the ISO.
The other choice is Microsoft-Ecma Office Open XML, known as ECMA 376 or ISO/IEC DIS 29500. The DIS part indicates that it is being discussed for possible acceptance as a standard. There is only one product that supports it, Microsoft Office 2007. When Ecma International received their charter to standardize the format, they were given a predesigned format and told to rubber-stamp it. In the current ISO discussion, 19 nations lodged objections to the format or the fast-track process being used to push it through the standards group.
… to produce a formal standard for office productivity applications within the Ecma International standards process which is fully compatible with the Office Open XML Formats….
How Does This Affect You?
But let us discuss why this is important to your business. You have older documents from 1994, don’t you? Good. See if you can open it today. There is a good chance that you can not. Why? Well, you saved them on 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, and now you do not have any equipment that can read them. Or maybe you were dilligent about moving your data to newer storage. But you were probably using WordPerfect 5.1 on MS-DOS back then. Today’s Word may not be capable of reading that format. Or maybe your data was saved in the then-current version of Word. That does not necessarily mean that you can read it with your current version.
Maybe that file includes your rich uncle’s will, you know, the one where he left everything to you? If you can not find a way to open that file, everything goes to your cousin Fred. So you hire the neighborhood teen whiz kid, but he has recently been visited by the copyright enforcers. He refuses to get your data into a format you can use today unless you get a signed letter from the CEO of the company that made the software that you used to create that file. (Blasted DMCA! You stand to lose millions and you can not even break into your own files to get your own data!)
This will be repeated with today’s data unless you select a format that is open, and which has explicit permission for anyone to use it for any application for any reason at any time.
I am not a legal beagle, but those who are have not been convinced that MS-OOXML is a safe bet for implementers.
You already know what happens when one of your suppliers gets a monopoly share in the market. After a while, prices rise and quality falls. The supplier stops improving the product and it becomes a “cash cow” for them. Perhaps they use the cash for executive bonuses. Maybe they use it to subsidize money-losing ventures that would otherwise close.
This has already happened with office application suite software, but we now have a chance to reverse it. Our monopoly supplier is making major, incompatible changes in their office software, including new file formats. Regardless of what else you do, you will pay big bucks. So now, you can move all at once to a new format that is not controlled by any single vendor. Suddenly, anyone’s products can read and write your documents in an accurate way. You no longer need one particular vendor’s products–if they refuse to give you the pricing and features that you want, you can find someone else who can–because the applications’ native file format becomes irrelevant to the decision.
But there is more reason for you to make your stand for ODF. One of the richest companies in the world has your state and your company in its grasp. The vendor has every reason to fight a proposal that would reduce your costs and the costs to taxpayers. On the other hand, you business and your state have every reason to support this proposal. Why? Because an industry-wide standard means that you can use almost any vendor’s product and still get the same result. It puts control in your hands instead of the vendor’s hands.
Certainly, you could choose to sit idly on the sidelines while others decide your future. However, our audience, or at least our target audience, has a high percentage of both business owners and technical people who are able to recognize the potential benefit to us all and who recognize that Microsoft is threatened by this because it would reduce the profitability of one of their cash cows.
Smaller businesses benefit from open standards.
In the course of everyday business, users of open standards have the ability to mix and match products from different vendors to achieve their desired result. This means that your business does not become dependent upon any particular vendor’s products, but instead maintains the ability to swap a product with other vendors’s products at any time.
This is the reason why the World Wide Web works so well. You used to have to use special AOL software for their network, special Compuserve software for their network, special MSN software for their network, and special Prodigy software for their network. If you were an active member of all of them, you had to have several different programs installed in order to do the same things. When commercial use of the Web exploded ten or twelve years ago, suddenly, these “walled gardens” could not keep up and began to lose their allure. The freedom to use any network with the any set of software made it very attractive to build Web sites versus Compuserve-only sites. To be sure, many sites had both a Web component and a part that was only inside of one of those walled garden networks. But the freedom in the Internet enabled all sorts of things (both good and bad) that had never been considered before.
Your business, by selecting an open, XML-based file format (and I do not mean Microsoft’s not-so-open-xml format), makes it possible to create all sorts of unexpected uses for the data that had previously been locked up in your documents.
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04.05.07
Posted in News and Announcements at 5:20 by lnxwalt
A fire near Hesperia this weekend burned over 1,400 acres and caused the evacuation of about 200 homes.
A brush fire in the Las Flores Ranch area was estimated at 1,400 acres with five percent containment at 9:45 p.m. on Saturday. Despite that, officials believe it will be at full containment by 6 p.m. Sunday.
Mandatory evacuations were made for roughly 200 homes and 30 ranches, said San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez. Everyone west of Arrowhead Lake Road from Hesperia Lakes south to the spillway is to evacuate. At 6 p.m. evacuations were ordered for everything south of Ranchero between Farmdale on the west and I Avenue on the east is also to evacuate, Martinez said.
Martinez said that at 10 p.m. Saturday the evacuation order will be lifted for those in the Ranchero Road area because headway has been made on the northern-most flank of the fire.
The early start to the fires caught many people by surprise.
First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt added that because this fire came so early in the year, several agencies were caught off guard.
“It’s not fire season yet, so we don’t have our standing army ready to fight,” Mitzelfelt said.
Mitzelfelt said that a fire information line has been established by the county that residents can call for updates. The number is (909) 355-8800.
Another fire on Friday burned about 150 acres in the Hollywood hills, causing fears that it could lead to a repeat of the Malibu fire of a few years ago.
If you have not yet done so, contact your local fire department for the local standards on fire prevention. Wherever you are, you should make sure that you have picked up and disposed of flamable debris and fluids on your property. You should clear the area around your home of weeds and brush for a distance of at least thirty feet (I believe short, well-watered grass is acceptable). In fact, clear off the tumbleweeds and other dry weeds all over your property.
Some areas offer burn permits for weeds. Check your local fire department for more information. If you must dispose of weeds in the trash, be sure to use the designated container. Your city is evaluated on how well its waste is separated, with fines possible for non-compliance. Suffice it to say that they may get testy if you have a large volume of mis-classified waste.
Be sure to follow all of the above as well for your business. Remember, if a widespread & destructive fire begins on your property and it is shown that you did not do your part to reduce the danger, you could be assessed fines. Preparation for undesirable events is a prudent course which could reduce your insurance premiums as well as reduce the amount of damage your business suffers.
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04.02.07
Posted in Industry News at 18:23 by lnxwalt
PC World - Attacks Increase; Windows Patch Due Early
Microsoft has decided to rush out a fix for a flaw in its Windows operating system, saying that the problem has become too serious to ignore.
The flaw,which will be patched on Tuesday, was originally disclosed to Microsoft in December, but it was not publicly reported until last week. The bug lies in the way Windows processes .ani Animated Cursor files, which are used to create cartoon-like cursors in Windows.
What this means is that going to a site with your browser or opening an HTML e-mail message will allow your computer to be infected. If your mail reader is set to use the “Preview Pane,” for example, it may automatically open a message and infect your computer without your knowledge.
Microsoft responded to requests by enterprise IT administrators to release its patches on a regular and predictable schedule, which led to the current monthly “Patch Tuesday” system. However, in situations like this one, where serious infecting code is “in the wild”, Microsoft will occasionally release an early patch.
All software has unknown flaws, many of which can be exploited to give unintended access or control to crackers (bad-guy hackers). There are some practices which may reduce the likelihood of a flaw leading to control, but they are not foolproof.
According to the article, there are now more than 100 sites hosting infected cursors and a new worm propagating the infection has been discovered in China.
Because simply previewing an HTML e-mail message can result in an infection, Microsoft also provided additional details late Thursday on which of its e-mail clients are safest to use. According to Adrian Stone, an MSRC program manager, Outlook 2007 is invulnerable, as is Vista’s Windows Mail–as long as users don’t reply or forward the attacker’s messages. The SANS Institute’s testing, however,contradicted Microsoft; by SANS’ account, Outlook Express in Windows XP, Windows Mail in Vista, and Outlook 2003 in any version of Windows puts users at risk when they simply preview a malicious message. They don’t have to actually open the message to be in danger of an infection.
In-the-wild attacks, said Dunham, have been limited so far to those against Windows XP SP2 through Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 and 7 (IE6 and IE7) browsers. But that won’t likely remain the case for long. “Our tests prove that trivial modification is all that’s required to update the payload and functionality on multiple operating system builds,” he said.
And while Microsoft Thursday said Vista’s version of IE7 protects users, eEye’s Brown added that browser-based attacks aren’t the only game in town. “I get the PR [public relations] angle they’re going down, but there are all sorts of ways this can come in, including HTML e-mail. Vista’s not immune.”
We would strongly urge Windows users to use Microsoft’s update site tomorrow, at the earliest possible time, and get this patch. We will also keep an eye out to see if any other operating systems are at risk with this vulnerability.
In the meantime, get the newest antivirus and antispyware definitions for your software. Symantec, at least, has added the worm to their list of attackers.
technorati tags:vulnerabilities, Windows
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