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Information Builders / IWay UGH UGH UGH
At least three companies I have worked at have fallen for the sales pitch from these guys and spent a ton of money on a product that just does not do what they said it would.
It is the worst.
I end up writing a quick and dirty reporting system in something like SSRS or SAS and putting that together for the upper bees and it just works. Without all the money and time wasted.
To err is human to really elephant it up you need a computer
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I've seen a company insist on open source (it's FREE) only to immediately branch the source code thereby locking us out of future developments on the open source project - and hiring dozens of programmers to manage the FREE software - that doesn't really do what we need but it was FREE.
I've seen FREE software cost us millions.
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You are expecting intelligence from people where none is to be found...
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
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In my "travels", I have found another issue at work here leading to this bloatware. There seems to be this flawed belief that going out and buying a tool will magically make the real problems and inefficiencies of the business disappear - things like poor project management and processes, poorly defined or non-existent project and development workflows, lack of development conventions, non-existent or ignored review processes, no oversight, and on and on - a tool isn't going to solve these problems...they often just waste people's time. Often, the CEO/CIOs are pretty disconnected from exactly what problems the employees are facing and get "sold a bill of goods" by IT or a sales person (with zero evaluation by the employees who have the most "skin in the game") that some tool that he/she can buy will solve all these problems with a stroke of a pen to a purchase order instead of buckling down and doing the real work needed to create an efficient working environment and a functional business.
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As a Developer, I am the first one to say, BUY software.
We don't write our own office apps (Despite some sales guy telling us he could describe a better Excel, with more word processing features)
But know what you are buying.
I've seen small project spin up to become black holes at Dow Chemical. In the end, the just needed a MAC and PC Terminal into the mainframe with additional features to extract the data, etc. But it just kept growing/consuming them.
Now, for smaller companies. I've seen 12yr SAP implementations FAIL to make the 12yr cut and run strategy. LOL
So, it depends on the complexity And the core skills of the developers. (never liked BizTalk, FWIW).
AND if they are better spent making the companies products, or internal "tools"... Both have their pros/cons.
30 years doing back office software. Small companies have tiny needs, and no spare cycles to implement/optimize packaged software well. They need help. it's amazing what using Quickbooks properly, and have a little custom software can do.
But I cannot say that buying a packaged solution is ALWAYS the wrong answer. Didn't US Steel go bankrupt hiring IBM to write custom software for them... I think the package route would have cost less... Although Steel is a really custom world!
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As far as Christmas songs go, "Please be home by Christmas" by Charles Brown is my favorite.
We only have about 2 weeks of "Winter" here in Nola, usually in February.
C.M.O.T. Dibbler
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And I have a copy (Electronic, I don't "do" paper books anymore).
But ... I find myself strangely unwilling to read it, probably because it's the final book of the Expanse story. I dunno, I guess I'm just reluctant to let the story end, even though I want to know what happens.
And next week ... the same problem, with the final TV series on Amazon. Damnit!
Thinking about it, December looks to be good for "decent releases": Expanse 2Discovery, the Witcher, ... anything you are looking forward too this month (other than a visit from Santa)?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: anything you are looking forward too this month Watching "Goliath", "Wheel of Time", "Foundation" and "Great British Baking Show"!
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I'm just the opposite I only buy hardbound books, currently about 450 of them.
The less you need, the more you have.
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut...occasionally.
JaxCoder.com
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I see your 450 hardcover books, and raise you 1,500 softcover books, and 1,200 e-books.
I never judge a book by its binding.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Ah another avid reader. I read about 4 hours or so a day since I retired and work on our house has slowed down.
The less you need, the more you have.
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut...occasionally.
JaxCoder.com
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You bunch of amateurs . When my wife and I moved into our previous house, the moving company wanted to charge us a premium to move our books: over 200 boxes of them, at 25-40 books per box for a total somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000.
Since then I've pared my collection way down. I'm down to about 1,000 and I only keep books that I'm sure I'll want to read again more than once.
My wife unfortunately can't seem to do it. She uses all of the bookcases in the house, except for the nook off our kitchen where mine live.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Does the local fire department know about your fire hazard?
I know of public libraries with fewer books than you had!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I doubt they'd even notice the books. Parts of my house were built in 1872, 1892, and the early 1920's. The plaster in the oldest part of the house contains horse hair. I imagine the whole place is pretty flammable.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Do yourself a favor and buy yourself some Easton Press books.
I've been collecting these for years.
You're worth it.
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At those prices, I can't afford them!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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I don't do a lot of TV, but I've been looking forward to The Wheel of Time tv series. I'm hopeful it hooks me like the first few seasons of GoT did.
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I am sitting on a balcony in Hawaii after watching the sun set. I have been looking forward to it for months.
Does that count?
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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Now THAT is what I call a trump...
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Lost in Space season 3 is just out. I hope to get started on it this weekend.
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The Expanse series is one of my all-time favorite series of books. For the most part I like how Amazon has put the story onscreen, though it's really puzzling why they killed off Alex. Like you, I don't like the idea of either the books or the Amazon series ending.
Are you at all interested in Apple's attempt to film Asimov's Foundation series?
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Duke Carey wrote: though it's really puzzling why they killed off Alex
Not really: 'The Expanse' Star Accused of Sexual Assault[^]
In the current climate, and given multiple accusations they had little choice but to drop him like a brick - and stroking him out was the simplest way as it just left editing a few scenes judiciously and some limited re-filming.
Since the book series authors are executive producers on the TV series, they would have been consulted I suspect.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Yowsa. That explains a lot. Never saw that bit of news. Thanks
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When I build web apps. I purposely discourage business users from injecting popups into pages and risk the loss of repeat visits. Many of today's web pages have become absolutely irritating to the point that I stop accessing them.
One of the biggest news networks, CNN, is the most egregious offender. You are reading a link and then - pop, a large popup right in the middle of the page. Use some nasty words, click the close button, and watch it fade away.
CNN also has a large collection of links to other sites that look appealing/interesting. But dare one venture to some of those sites and you may find yourself in 'clicking hell'. Most of these linked sites have tons of flashing ads, moving buttons so you will accidentally click an ad instead. One site actually crashed my desktop via Edge.
What are these people thinking? I keep seeing visions of Snidely Whiplash in my head. The lure of the initial ad to access the site many times is not included in the page after page of TMI, thus, going way beyond the initial link verbiage.
It's really a shame, CNN has a basic good page format. But their greed to attract someone somewhere is over the top.
Anyone know of a good news site without the traps?
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