Eldar University - IT and Economy

March 29, 2024 Yesterday, I've got a warning that unless I use my Google Voice account for outgoing calls, my Google Voice number will be taken away. For outgoing calls. And so I won't be able to receive calls and SMSs… Please, hold with me for a moment to see what It really says about modern Google as a company. 12 years ago, when I joined Google, it was very hard to get into the company. In fact, it was harder than to get admitted into Harvard. The company employed the smartest people in the world and it was very proud of that. And so were googlers. With that came trust and loyalty. Tens of thousands engineers were watching confidential TGIFs worldwide with nearly no leaks. And there was enough confidential stuff there, but… no leaks.The company trusted employees. The employees trusted the company. The company was loyal to the employees. The employees were loyal to the company. Did I mention, it was 12 years ago? A quick Universal Evolution 101 Reminder A friend of mine was t...

  IT#1 What "Computer Science" is for? #science #ComputerScience #IT #SoftwareEngineering  Summary:   Computer Science is not that much about computers, it's about limitations of humans that makes using computers so hard. In the previous post we discussed what that "science" thing is. And here is the reminder: Science is about modeling repeatable verifiable things which allows humans  to recognize, predict and, if possible, control those things or their consequences. The key word is "allows humans". Allow what? You see, all the computers that we deal with are von Neuman computers. And it so happens that humans are not very good at dealing with von Neuman computers… Or, more precisely, controlling computers, making them do what we, humans, want them to do. Each time your favorite site does something stupid is an example of that. And if you think that explaining to your grandma, where this "Any" key is on the keyboard, is a good example of it,...

  #ITManagement #Economy #layoffs See it on YouTube:   I wanted to start this series with very basic questions like "What is 'science'?" or "What is 'Computer Science'?". But today, in early 2023, the topic of layoffs is unfortunately dominating the minds of people in IT. So here we are. Prehistory In the early 17th Century the English and the Dutch sent their first trading expeditions to India (in 1600 and 1602). The sea trade was not a novel idea at that time, well known to Phonecians, Greeks, Arabs (have you heard of Sinbad the Sailor?), but the terms that we speak about came from Europe. A ship fully loaded with goods to trade was an expensive enterprise, so often several traders joined their funds to finance one. That was the first prototype of a corporation. Essentially it was a partnership, which was well known before the word "corporation" was used. The companions put their shares together and that's why shares, which we can tra...