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I provide IT development and support to a large UK-based consumer financial services company. I've written one system single-handed and supported it, dealing with several thousand transactions per hour. For reasons beyond me they decided to outsource it to a China-based company of 15 developers. The Chinese co decided 1st October would be "handover" day. Handover consisted of me supplying the source code; they've asked for nothing else.
I was at a client meeting yesterday (2nd October). They were in a flap as on the evening of 30th Sept they'd received an email from said Chinese company that they were ALL going on holiday for the next 8 days, and would be unavailable. (Seems the Chinese have just started an 8-day national holiday, and are following that directly with a further 4 days to be treated as a "weekend").
Some reallocation of task priorities has taken place...   
Moral: If outsourcing offshore, find out if the offshore country has a total of 29 National Holidays and 5 "weekend" days per year, as China do...
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Moral #2: if you find yourself suddenly needing to ask the previous support individual to extend their support past the agreed end date at short notice be prepared to write a very large cheque! 
I hope you enjoy your new car and world cruise!
Andy B
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You should be a happy man. Not that there was chance for long term relation between your client and "Chinese" company.
There is a joke "Why China Wall is very famous? Because of it sheer length..! Naah..Its because that's the only Chinese thing lasted" That's true for their support SLAs too !!
Thanks,
Milind
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MT_ wrote: Its because that's the only Chinese thing lasted
Yup. iphones, ipods, and ipads don't last five minutes.
Nor do Mercedes cars (or most other German cars, for that matter).
Nor do any of the other "prestige" products that are manufactured either in China, or according to designs created in China before it became cheaper to manufacture stuff in the Philippines, Thailand, et al.
And having a culture that has lasted longer, and stayed purer, than any other in the world is irrelevant.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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That was a joke Mark !! It was in context of lots of cheap Chinese products being dumped into international market without any quality checks !!
There are positives and negatives of all countries and all culture and that's true for India/China/US/Europe.
Thanks,
Milind
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MT_ wrote: That was a joke Mark !!
So is the concept of "prestige" products.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Hey - don't worry about it. He's on retainer by the Chinese as their embassy's unofficial PR Liason.
Along with Panda sh^t, nothing stinks within their borders.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: He's on retainer by the Chinese as their embassy's unofficial PR Liason.
Careful!
Spreading rumours on the Internet like that can get you arrested![^]
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Or Simply Involved in the Spring Harvest[^]
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: Or Simply Involved in the Spring Harvest[^]
You didn't really fall for that bullsh1t, did you?
Within ten minutes of it being "leaked" on the Internet, it was discredited.
Hell, the "inside source" couldn't even decide whether the "offender" was male or female -- and published pictures of both!
Of course, the daily mail published a story about it several days after it was discredited, but they're complete friggin' idiots...
... And you still believe it, four years down the line.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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DerekTP123 wrote: Seems the Chinese have just started an 8-day national holiday
Yes, and it was kept a big secret from everyone, wasn't it? National holidays are always kept secret. Nobody knows about them.
I know what questions I'd be asking in the next project meeting, starting with "Can we have a major release on 25th December?"
DerekTP123 wrote: Moral: If outsourcing offshore, find out if the offshore country has a total of 29 National Holidays and 5 "weekend" days per year, as China do...
... Make sure that the person in charge of the project knows what he's doing.
If the planning has been thought out this badly, you should start preparing disaster contingencies, on the quiet.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Quite. Hence the moral. The problem here was that whilst the "front man" is very westernised and easily accepted into BigCo, what BigCo easily forget is that the culture and customs are very different. Not better or worse, just different. And that includes holidays. The irony is that this BigCo (for whom I still provide UK support) was recently trying to get me to sign a contract to commit (as a 1-man consultancy) to providing 7-day a week support, with oncall support response to ALWAYS be within 30 minutes! Day or night!
I don't do anything on the quiet. You don't get paid for stuff you keep quiet about. If you mean planning for alternative work should they really go belly-up, don't worry, I have a queue... 
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Unfortunately there are still many overseas outsourcing evangelists. They reside mostly in countries that provide outsourcing. I am fascinated that many pundits here say it's merely the choice of country that is wrong. No. Overseas outsourcing has been shown to be a very bad model for many project types. Some studies show that up to 70% of projects fail to meet objectives.
In my opinion your case study just shows a complete lack of research by people who considered price above other criteria. The hidden costs for example are immense. You may well be offered work as a project manager. This company is about to learn some hard lessons. Watch the buck passing begin.
http://www.sterlinghoffman.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?p=newsletter/articles/article112.html[^]
http://www.zdnet.com/outsourcing-exec-urges-stop-outsourcing-your-software-development-7000004315/[^]
Peter Wasser
Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.
Frank Zappa
modified 3-Oct-13 9:12am.
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My current main employer had a contractor who subcontracted to have a database created in India.
It was text-book quality in design. That, unfortunately, is why it was basically useless.
I don't fault the developers, themselves - they filled the specs they were given. They simply lacked
(1)Cultural insight . . . which perhaps should have been supplied
(2)The Stones . . . to point out that the design could be more effective with half as many tables
Lesson learned - and hence, as an in-house resource, I'm busier than ever.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Hello,
So finally I have decided to purchase DSLR and need your help here. Has anyone used Nikon D3200? Which is better Nikon or Canon. I can a go with a little high budget but not a lot.
Thanks 
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Quite a matter of taste actually.
Answer yourself two questions:
1. Which camera is the easier and more natural to handle for you?
2. Which brand has the lenses that you want?
If question one is hard to answer you can go to a camera shop and rent a camera for a day. At least I can do that where I live. And If I tell them the purpose of the rental I get the money back when I buy a camera.
Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
Abraham Lincoln
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As with Jorgen, it is really a matter of usability. I love my Canons [I now have three different bodies] and I went with them originally because Nikon didn't feel 'right' to me. For everyone like me, there will be another that says the opposite.
speramus in juniperus
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I am a Nikon person, have been for many years because they feel right to me but as Jorgen has pointed out it depends on many factors including budget.
When I originally went to upgrade my film camera to digital I intended on buying the D3100 but when I got to the store the sales person handled me a D5000 and talked about the benefits over the D3100 so I got it instead and am really glad I did, it's been a great camera. Recently I upgraded to the D7000 and also purchased a couple of good lenses and the level of my photography has improved dramatically.
I will make one recommendation whatever body you end up with invest in good glass it makes all the difference in the world.
Good luck in your decision and most of all enjoy shooting!
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Supporting your good-glass notion:
Kodak's bridging cameras (super-telephotos) mostly used Schneider-Kreuznach lens. Those anal-rententive German lens-grinders are awesome.
I had, one Black Friday, purchased a Nikon camera equivalent to this class of Kodak, but, of course, with their Nikor lens. It went back to the store the next morning. It was also a matter of usability and poor low-light focusing (vis-a-vis a much older Kodak DZ710). I now have a principle camera of a Kodak Z990 - sadly they no longer are in the camera business.
Relating back to DSLR: It may be a good option to find the one with the most 3rd-party support for lens, etc.
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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If he goes with either Canon or Nikon Tamron, Sigma and Tokina make very fine affordable lenses. Of course the manufacturer's lenses are the best but you pay dearly for them.
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All entry level dSLR cameras are the same; all have some features that are unique.
The Pentax k30, for example, offer an entry level dSLR with weather resistance (with matching lenses) that other brands of the same level do not. ( I have a Pentax k5 and use it in all weather).
If you want to use the video mode, Canon is very good, even at entry level.
Nikon, IMO, have the best auto-focus.
Olympus offer nice 4/3 mirrorless cameras, same thing with Fujifilm. (and Nikon)
Go to a brick and mortar specialized store and try them all.
I'd rather be phishing!
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So I will provide two choices and defend my personal choice while scorning the other : )
Buy an expense lens and then whatever camera you can afford. My dream lens is the Canon 70-200mm/2.8 L II with IS or whatever the full description is. A drool worthy choice. As for camera I have an aging Canon 50D but again, camera is not as important as lens.
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Bow locks and such. I have found a nice little place that will fix my cracked mudguard for a very reasonable amount with one caveat. I must remove the said mudguard and deliver it to them.
Four bolts and the indicator unit. Simples.
Abso-bloody-elephant-lutly not! The four bolts are so badly rusted that even freeze-release spray isn't working. I can't torch them as I [0] am worried about damaging the mudguard and [1] don't have a blow-torch.
Is drilling out the only option? The bolts have a cross screw end and a 10mm bolt. The cross screw won't take ANY of my screwdrivers. Woe is me, woe and woe again. 
speramus in juniperus
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I would persist with WD40 or the equivalent - give a good spray using the fine straw, leave, come back, spray again a few times .. also (I dont know how big these bolts are), give them a good thump with maybe a hammer, spray with wd40, then try again...
drilling them out is a pita - if you can drill a decent hole, you may be able to use a bolt extractor, but its a sh*tty job
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Drill is a good option, if you can - it depends on what kind of fixing it is:
If it's a screw head at one end and a 10mm nut at the other, then a nut splitter is a good option, or saw the bolt flush to the nut, then drill the bolt from that end - you should be able to drill out the bolt and some of the nut thread so it quickly loosens. As soon as it loosens, make a little space and start with a hammer to free the bolt itself, using the nut as a drift to prevent you hammering the material it's screwed through.
If its a "blind hole" with a 10mm and cross head on the same end, its a PITA - as you have got to get the whole bolt out to refit it after, and while drilling is an easy way to remove the mudguard, you end up with a bolt that is virtually flush to the thread surface it it stuck into. That means easy-outs (which should be called easy-snap-swear-plasma-arc-removal instead) I'm afraid - or a long careful drill and probably a helicoil afterwards.
The only instant messaging I do involves my middle finger.
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