I did a project about 8 years ago that was frankly a little out of my wheelhouse. I mostly do research for private industry. But my client (who also mostly works in private industry) was hired to do a strategic plan for a State IT department, who wanted to use this plan as a tool to ask for a bigger budget. I looked at 5 states similar i…
I did a project about 8 years ago that was frankly a little out of my wheelhouse. I mostly do research for private industry. But my client (who also mostly works in private industry) was hired to do a strategic plan for a State IT department, who wanted to use this plan as a tool to ask for a bigger budget. I looked at 5 states similar in population and dug into their IT departments and spending, interviewed folks, and read a number of industry studies and publications. It was frankly scary just how bad it was.
Pay scales don't come even close to what you can make in private industry. So you get what you pay for. Just like the adage 25% of doctors finished in the bottom quartile of their class. Oh you get some who like the job security and benefits, but you also get refugees who couldn't cut it in the for profit world.
Security measures, software updates, and new tech is hard to fund. Cobbled together code makes integration next to impossible, lots of islands.
This was 2015, maybe things are better now, but every time I provide personal information to a govt entity, I do wonder just how secure it is.
Me too. Then there was the time the Red Cross was installing fire alarms, we only needed two. However as I wasn't there at the time. They installed an alarm in every room, five in a 1300 sq foot mobile home. Are they really listening devices? One of the many things I wonder about.
Probably lazy Red Cross volunteers or paid staffers trying to finish their work as fast as possible. Fewer homes to enter, faster they can unload the endless alarms paid for by donors who do no audits.
I can assure you that it isn't better. I've gotten more notifications in the last 6 months about serious hacks into private industry than I've ever gotten, big hacks and that's private industry. I suspect the gov't keeps their hacks more secret...
Yeah my son is in manufacturing. 22 plants - got hit with ransomware and not paying the ransom. Rebuilding systems from the ground up on a plant by plant basis and they are now running production using paper schedules. His is one of the smaller plants so still waiting. Working a lot of hours and he is salary but lots of hourly workers getting OT. The productivity hit on these hacks is a whole lot more than spending the money on good security up front. But a lot of companies learn that the hard way.
Wow. My brother's bank account at Truist got hacked this week. Some fireman in NJ was using fire department equipment to hack into bank accounts. My brother is a nobody in po dunk nowhere NC. He literally has never used a computer (he's a farmer, country bumpkin type) and only ever uses his cell phone to call people, doesn't text, never been on the internet, etc. Fortunately, the guy didn't get any money. My brother has been asking them for years to disable internet access to all of his accounts. They finally did it this week. He told them the same thing about how protecting "online banking" from hackers is going to cost them a lot more money than just going back to paper.
I hate the cloud, want nothing to do with it. BTW, I work in high tech, leading edge stuff.
Sorry to hear about your brother. My mom is the same way, not on the internet, but I handle all of her accounting stuff. We are in between a rock and a hard place though, as mail delivery has gone to h*ll in a handbasket the past few years too. I ended up setting up online access for some things just because she was not getting statements, tax documents, etc in the mail, or getting it weeks or even months late.
But that is comforting to know you hate the cloud. I am only as tech savvy as I need to be and I try to avoid any cloud based SW when I can. I have the perpetual license Office suite, not 365. Have several programs I use for work that are getting glitchy due to age but are now subscription based only, hard pass. Most of the time when I say I hate the cloud I just get the OK Boomer remark. And I am Gen X! Old before my time I guess. Get off my lawn, lol.
Another GenXer her myself, will also not use the cloud, hate upgrading anything Microsoft, just like Apple, they go only so far then stop updating the older systems so you have to get the updated model for anything to function.
Also Gen X. I do use subscription-based software and I don’t really like it. There is open source that can replace it. It’s looking more attractive every day. A lot of the open source programs can open files from the subscription-based software and save in those formats.
A lot of the issues with these companies is they don’t update their programs, so they are running very old, easy-to-hack programs. Or they just don’t update them even when they’ve been warned there’s a security issue.
Yes, I tried Open Office but glitchy as heck and kept getting error messages. Bit the bullet and bought perpetual license version of Office 2019, as my previous version of MS Office was no longer supported and had lots of glitches. I am self employed and have to use whatever my clients use, and occasionally get one that uses Google docs which I hate just because I don't trust Google and have to be signed in to use it.
They do get better. I hate Google Docs, too. They spy on you like everyone else. Matter of fact, they’ve just admitted they are going to add an AI feature that will read your text messages on Android.
iPhone text messages are being read already. Text about something very random that you never have had an interest in and then open Facebook. There it will be in an ad or in reels.
Lovely. I have been getting notice of a privacy update on my phone but have yet to open and read it. Dumb phones looking better all the time. Except for typing text messages.
Google Docs is a quick way to create something and share it, but as a longtime Microsoft Word user, I hate the lack of formatting options that Google Docs offers.
I agree with your assessment of the cloud for the most part. However, we live in a rule area and we have had mail stolen from our mailbox several times. So anything online has MFA sometimes Cisco dual whatever I can get to tighten it up.
I don’t know if you remember UCLA Medical Center getting hacked in the news because the security program they were using was 15 years old, and UCLA knew it was just a matter of time. Anyone who worked there or who had gone there most likely ended up with the information stolen. UCLA has the money to stay up to day, but they’d rather spend it on buying $300 million buildings.
yes, 25% of them, our president didn't exactly finish on top either!!! Remember all his lies and the news reporter saying well this is "bye bye Biden". Look at him now. just goes to show how rigged it all is. If they cannot be bought and paid for, the party won't let them win.
And we all know that Biden simply IS NOT running anything. Someone else, or groups of people, are making all the decisions. The occasional speech Biden gives is written by others and he is still somewhat able to read what others write. I'm really frustrated at how the media, even the conservative media, rattle on a and one about Biden's dementia but don't get more vocal about questioning who the real decision makers are. Biden really is a puppet. Harris too. They are merely placeholders. And the Dems get away with it because the situation is never really questioned. Biden should be forced into taking a mental cognition test to start with. Yet no one is apparently able to force even that. So on it goes.
Think about the number of people who never finish college. I think only 30% actually graduate. That doesn’t mean they aren’t smart. I know a lot of people who don’t have degrees, didn’t graduate, or didn’t even go who are smarter than college “educated” people. Matter of fact, all the school board president in our city has to do is open her mouth, and you know within a sentence she’s a dim bulb. She has a higher degree, although I’m unsure how she obtained it.
I did a project about 8 years ago that was frankly a little out of my wheelhouse. I mostly do research for private industry. But my client (who also mostly works in private industry) was hired to do a strategic plan for a State IT department, who wanted to use this plan as a tool to ask for a bigger budget. I looked at 5 states similar in population and dug into their IT departments and spending, interviewed folks, and read a number of industry studies and publications. It was frankly scary just how bad it was.
Pay scales don't come even close to what you can make in private industry. So you get what you pay for. Just like the adage 25% of doctors finished in the bottom quartile of their class. Oh you get some who like the job security and benefits, but you also get refugees who couldn't cut it in the for profit world.
Security measures, software updates, and new tech is hard to fund. Cobbled together code makes integration next to impossible, lots of islands.
This was 2015, maybe things are better now, but every time I provide personal information to a govt entity, I do wonder just how secure it is.
Me too. Then there was the time the Red Cross was installing fire alarms, we only needed two. However as I wasn't there at the time. They installed an alarm in every room, five in a 1300 sq foot mobile home. Are they really listening devices? One of the many things I wonder about.
Probably lazy Red Cross volunteers or paid staffers trying to finish their work as fast as possible. Fewer homes to enter, faster they can unload the endless alarms paid for by donors who do no audits.
Wow, that is overkill. Seems nothing is what you think it is these days.
Probably the MORE alarms they install, the more they get financially.
I can assure you that it isn't better. I've gotten more notifications in the last 6 months about serious hacks into private industry than I've ever gotten, big hacks and that's private industry. I suspect the gov't keeps their hacks more secret...
Yeah my son is in manufacturing. 22 plants - got hit with ransomware and not paying the ransom. Rebuilding systems from the ground up on a plant by plant basis and they are now running production using paper schedules. His is one of the smaller plants so still waiting. Working a lot of hours and he is salary but lots of hourly workers getting OT. The productivity hit on these hacks is a whole lot more than spending the money on good security up front. But a lot of companies learn that the hard way.
Remind me again why the cloud is so much better?
Wow. My brother's bank account at Truist got hacked this week. Some fireman in NJ was using fire department equipment to hack into bank accounts. My brother is a nobody in po dunk nowhere NC. He literally has never used a computer (he's a farmer, country bumpkin type) and only ever uses his cell phone to call people, doesn't text, never been on the internet, etc. Fortunately, the guy didn't get any money. My brother has been asking them for years to disable internet access to all of his accounts. They finally did it this week. He told them the same thing about how protecting "online banking" from hackers is going to cost them a lot more money than just going back to paper.
I hate the cloud, want nothing to do with it. BTW, I work in high tech, leading edge stuff.
Sorry to hear about your brother. My mom is the same way, not on the internet, but I handle all of her accounting stuff. We are in between a rock and a hard place though, as mail delivery has gone to h*ll in a handbasket the past few years too. I ended up setting up online access for some things just because she was not getting statements, tax documents, etc in the mail, or getting it weeks or even months late.
But that is comforting to know you hate the cloud. I am only as tech savvy as I need to be and I try to avoid any cloud based SW when I can. I have the perpetual license Office suite, not 365. Have several programs I use for work that are getting glitchy due to age but are now subscription based only, hard pass. Most of the time when I say I hate the cloud I just get the OK Boomer remark. And I am Gen X! Old before my time I guess. Get off my lawn, lol.
Another GenXer her myself, will also not use the cloud, hate upgrading anything Microsoft, just like Apple, they go only so far then stop updating the older systems so you have to get the updated model for anything to function.
Also Gen X. I do use subscription-based software and I don’t really like it. There is open source that can replace it. It’s looking more attractive every day. A lot of the open source programs can open files from the subscription-based software and save in those formats.
A lot of the issues with these companies is they don’t update their programs, so they are running very old, easy-to-hack programs. Or they just don’t update them even when they’ve been warned there’s a security issue.
Yes, I tried Open Office but glitchy as heck and kept getting error messages. Bit the bullet and bought perpetual license version of Office 2019, as my previous version of MS Office was no longer supported and had lots of glitches. I am self employed and have to use whatever my clients use, and occasionally get one that uses Google docs which I hate just because I don't trust Google and have to be signed in to use it.
They do get better. I hate Google Docs, too. They spy on you like everyone else. Matter of fact, they’ve just admitted they are going to add an AI feature that will read your text messages on Android.
iPhone text messages are being read already. Text about something very random that you never have had an interest in and then open Facebook. There it will be in an ad or in reels.
It’s worse than that. Siri is listening to your conversations. Just TALK about something and it shows up in ads the next day!
Yep, that too!
Lovely. I have been getting notice of a privacy update on my phone but have yet to open and read it. Dumb phones looking better all the time. Except for typing text messages.
Oh, yeah, I get it. This is why I frequently leave my phone at home when I just going to local places.
Google Docs is a quick way to create something and share it, but as a longtime Microsoft Word user, I hate the lack of formatting options that Google Docs offers.
Gen X here too.
Not sure what a gen X is, but I'll join you.
I agree with your assessment of the cloud for the most part. However, we live in a rule area and we have had mail stolen from our mailbox several times. So anything online has MFA sometimes Cisco dual whatever I can get to tighten it up.
I don’t know if you remember UCLA Medical Center getting hacked in the news because the security program they were using was 15 years old, and UCLA knew it was just a matter of time. Anyone who worked there or who had gone there most likely ended up with the information stolen. UCLA has the money to stay up to day, but they’d rather spend it on buying $300 million buildings.
Yes, With all the hacks these days, seems we are already at war, the media just has not acknowledged it.
yes, 25% of them, our president didn't exactly finish on top either!!! Remember all his lies and the news reporter saying well this is "bye bye Biden". Look at him now. just goes to show how rigged it all is. If they cannot be bought and paid for, the party won't let them win.
And we all know that Biden simply IS NOT running anything. Someone else, or groups of people, are making all the decisions. The occasional speech Biden gives is written by others and he is still somewhat able to read what others write. I'm really frustrated at how the media, even the conservative media, rattle on a and one about Biden's dementia but don't get more vocal about questioning who the real decision makers are. Biden really is a puppet. Harris too. They are merely placeholders. And the Dems get away with it because the situation is never really questioned. Biden should be forced into taking a mental cognition test to start with. Yet no one is apparently able to force even that. So on it goes.
And it’s shocking how many people think he’s doing a great job.
Think about the number of people who never finish college. I think only 30% actually graduate. That doesn’t mean they aren’t smart. I know a lot of people who don’t have degrees, didn’t graduate, or didn’t even go who are smarter than college “educated” people. Matter of fact, all the school board president in our city has to do is open her mouth, and you know within a sentence she’s a dim bulb. She has a higher degree, although I’m unsure how she obtained it.
I doubt things are better now. I’m guessing worse.