Slashdot Mirror

As of June was probably too late to keep them from going completely insane:

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/07/ap5521464.html

Seems like the 'cruel and unusual' punishment part of the Constitution was completely ignored ....

Russia is almost immune to this crisis.

I hope you were being sarcastic because Russia is nowhere near immune from what is going on. In fact, they keep closing their stock market because of what's going on.

With many african states effectively landlocked and with poor or insecure infrastructure this could be the data boom that africa has been waiting for. That is if it isn't choked off by self serving governments.

Governments are a problem, true. But in my experience, the problem is the telcos. I've spent the last five years helping out in a collective effort to improve communications by liberalising the telecoms market in a developing country. Once we got even the threat of competition into the market, prices dropped through the floor.

Two years ago, about 30% of the country I live in had access to telephone services. That number is now 85%. The next step is Internet. No sooner did the government announce a new round of licenses for ISPs then the local telco dropped prices by 50%.

Governments can be the problem sometimes. It's true that without the political will, there's very little you can do to improve communications. But more often than not, the officials blocking any movement in that regard are in the pocket of the companies sucking the country dry.

Not all telecoms companies are created equal. Denis O'Brien and Digicel have based their entire business on supplying services in areas that other companies couldn't or wouldn't bother with. They turned $505 million in operating profit on $1.6 billion in business last year.

These days I spend most of my time convincing people that ubiquitous coverage works. Network Effects (using the right technologies) can make even the most cash-poor areas profitable, because wealthy familiy members always call home to the village. Or they would, if they could. In short, you don't make your money by originating connections in marginal areas, you make your money terminating them there.

Creating ubiquitous LEO-based satellite service in tropical regions is a great idea. If the idea is implemented properly, it will be revolutionary. The best part is, the other telcos can't block you from deploying the network. Which means that governments have no incentives (or means) to nationalise your infrastructure, skim off your profits or regulate you out of existence. Just focus on the countries where the regulatory environment is good and let the others come online in their own good time.

I saw a good quote from a games company's enlightened Chief Executive recently -

"DRM can encourage the best customers to behave slightly better. It will never address the masses of non-customers downloading your product."

Why the others haven't understood this I don't know. And note the 'DRM can encourage...'. I'd say I'm a good customer (I spend a bunch anyway), but I'm increasingly drawn to warez, because they - and I can't believe I'm writing this - are less likely to screw my gaming PC. What is the world coming to?

Only a few of the World's richest people got there by copyright.

But Forbes list is protected by copyright. So that has to mean something !

billionaires are ALL making their money off off the 1970's copyright act

No, Carlos Slim, a Mexican who edged out Bill Gates to be the world's second richest person didn't make his wealth from copyrights. His fortune is based on telephones, both landline and cellphones. Warren Buffet, the world's richest person, didn't make his wealth in copyright either. Only a few of the World's richest people got there by copyright.

Falcon

Yes I have. That and the stained glass window. But divorcement from reality is not a healthy sign for a tech site:

Sept 22 - Earlier today, Microsoft Corp. joined only five other nonfinancial corporate debt issuers to be assigned a 'AAA' rating by Standard & Poor's. This is also the first new 'AAA' in 10 years.

Microsoft appears to be bucking an almost three-decade trend that has shown U.S. industrials' movement away from 'AAA's--and from higher ratings in general.

In addition to Automatic Data Processing, Exxon Mobil Corp. , General Electric Co., Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc., and now Microsoft all carry a 'AAA' rating.

Against this background, assigning a 'AAA' to Microsoft is a rare development in U.S. credit history, and represents an unusual combination of qualities that are shared by few other companies. In addition to the size and scope of its operation, its dominant competitive position, and its strong growth capability, Microsoft has also maintained a level of financial conservatism that reflects very limited credit risk. However, Microsoft and the few other 'AAA' companies are likely to be part of an increasingly smaller group due to the expected ongoing trend toward reduced credit quality. Considering the move to higher-risk financial strategies by issuers, it's not likely that there will be any additional 'AAA's anytime soon. S&P on Microsoft

Microsoft closes the week with a big win in court:

Alcatel-Lucent loses $1.5bn MP3 patent claim against MS [Sept 26]

Can a dead tree publication survive?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

The horse racing lobby controls KY. That's why there's no casinos in the state. This is just a continuation of that control.
Forbes.com article about Steve Beshears attempt to ban internet gambling sites

As a native Kentuckian, this is truly embarrassing.

Of course it is not ironic the kentucky would play hardball to stop offshore gambling, as Gambling is often seen a zero sum game, i.e. no value is added, and therefore every dollar used in offshore gambling is one dollar less that can be taxed by the state. Texas, for instance, would unlikely take such stand since everyone in texas tends to go to Louisiana.

In the end, this is only a matter for those who to circumvent united states laws for profit. This is not some blogger who is trying to get his or her message out to the world, or some troupe creating edgy political satire. These are businesses trying to make a quick buck, and Kentucky says it can't be done in this state. The seizure of domains is just like the seizure of any other property. Again, i necessarily agree with it, like I don't necessarily agree with the seizure of so-called drug trade profits. But the offshore gambling industry has been challenges these laws for a while, and clearly have the resources to defend themselves, and maybe make some equitable changes in law. I don't see why anyone should feel sorry or get freaked because one battle has been lost in war that they are clearly willing to fight.

Microsoft was given AAA rating when they announced the issuance of $6 billion in bonds.

From the Economic Times:

23 Sep, 2008 NEW YORK: Software giant Microsoft has been assigned the highest investment grade of 'AAA' by global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's, making it the first American non-financial corporate debt issuer to receive this rating in a decade.

Also from Forbes:

09.22.08 - Moody's Investors Service said it assigned an 'AAA' senior unsecured debt rating to Microsoft Corp. reflecting the company's position as the world's largest software company with a strong and defensible market position throughout its diverse core offerings. The rating outlook is stable.

I wonder.

Microsoft seems to be weathering the financial storms rather well - and there are others which come to mind.

With investors fleeing from the corporate bond market, this seems an odd time for Microsoft to be borrowing money, but the software maker is planning to do just that, taking advantage of its status as one of the tech sector's bluest blue chips.

The Microsoft announcement had some interesting elements, including the news that it would seek to raise funds in the debt market. The company does not currently have any bonds outstanding.

Crowell, Weedon analyst James D. Ragan said that although Microsoft has plenty of cash and doesn't need to tap the debt markets, it may be able to borrow at lower rates than the interest it earns. Also, Ragan said, Microsoft may be ensuring the debt authority is in place for the future but may not plan on using it immediately. "It will be interesting to see how much of the debt they really use."

On Monday, rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's put triple-A gradings on Microsoft's credit. That top-level rating means that Microsoft can borrow money at lower interest rates than most other companies. "The company's strong credit quality coupled with investors' current appetite for high-quality paper provides a unique opportunity for the company to establish its first-ever commercial paper program and enhance its capital structure," said George Zinn, treasurer of Microsoft. Microsoft Shows Its Financial Muscle

I'd say Microsoft is in a pretty good position to weather the financial storms:

High-profile exporters dependent on the market logged big losses. Sony plunged 10.7%, to 3,270 yen ($31.28), its lowest point since 2003; rival Nintendo slid by 6.9%, to 43,250 yen Panic Selling Eases By Day's End In Asia [Sept 18]

Microsoft 4th quarter profit soars 42 percent; Office, Windows sales strong [July]

...there isn't a reason to even allow them to speak.

So, the Liberals are responsible for this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone
travesty becoming a standard part of the American political landscape... Dirty red HIPPIES!

"... nothing is certain but Death and Change"
so take a deep breath, relax and deal with it.
I refuse to be dominated by my own fear;
I refuse to be limited by yours.

er... Waidaminit; nowadays, I guess its the Conservative Republican states[1] that are "Red" [2]
Times , they ARE a-changin'[3]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reds
[3] http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/09/dylan-amazon-music-face-markets-cx_lal_0908autofacescan03.html

The only forests that do liberate oxygen and store carbon are young, growing forests. Mature forests are done -- they are in carbon equilibrium.

A study from 40 years ago reported that info. More recent studies have shown that even mature forests continue to absorb CO2.

...once most forests get more than 15 years old they absorb more carbon dioxide than they release, and continue doing so for centuries...

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/11/ap5412821.html

Actually he is. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Forbes/TheForbes400.aspx?GT1=10423

... he said, linking to the Richest Americans. Sorry, just because Warren Buffet lost > $10 billions in the last couple of months doesn't mean so has Carlos Slim Helu (& family).

"billg is not the richest man in the world."

Actually he is

Actually, AC may have a point, and I may have mis-spoke on this matter. Seems at some point this year, he was dethroned.

Cheers

> John McCain, who has never used email,

Wow... Not to go too off-topic here, but I'm surprised people are still parroting that. It's been rather clearly shown that McCain understands and uses email he just can't type it himself. Here's an article from 2000; ctrl-f "Vietnam" to jump to the relevant paragraph.

Back on topic, age has nothing to do with it. The fact of the matter is that most Americans do not care about these copyright issues. Most are only barely aware of their existence. It's therefore not too surprising that most people in office don't really care either. If this became a hot issue than you can damn well expect that the politicians would start caring, but right now things like health care and what-have-you are what count.

None of the asian games are unbalanced. The bonuses usually come in the form of experience point bonuses, etc. Not things that would undermine player v player. ... is the wonderful ideal.

Have you played any of these "asian games"?

Of course they all promised it would never happen but once they started sucking on this evil teat of pay-for-items, the usual corporate greed kicked in and now essentially all of them are nothing but a spending competition.
Try any Chinese MMO, they're basically all the same now, hence many people here end up becoming disgruntled and shift to WoW or quit entirely.

If they are a grind, they are only even that at the highest level; once you have spent enough to get into the top tiers.

And yet the suckers just keep lining up, who could blame them for selling out when it works so well?
http://www.forbes.com/global/2007/1112/076.html
(Sorry, hard to find much info in English but you'll find "free" MMOs in China are raking in billions by pitting players against each other in exactly these spending matches)

Yes, I'm sure EA have made all sorts of promises of this not happening, but it's a slippery slope... and it is EA we're talking about, not exactly a great history of taking any ideal over profit.

In any case, the value of oil is only going to go up.

What gives you that impression? Oil prices have been falling. If China stops subsidizing the stuff (in China, gasoline costs about $2.49 per gallon, cheaper than the US pre-tax price), oil consumption could actually fall.

Historically, while nominal prices of oil have increased over time, they haven't kept pace with inflation. See http://inflationdata.com/inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasoline_inflation_chart.htm for an inflation adjusted graph of gasoline prices. Note that we are currently above the long term trend. It's quite possible that this is the highest that oil will ever be again. If we have viable alternatives before the next oil shock, then oil won't have its current monopoly on transport.

Microsoft, for one. As of three years ago, 60% of supercomputers were running Linux and I can only imagine that figure has gotten higher subsequently. Nobody trusts Microsoft for high-end applications, and what's more, it's expensive, too. Microsoft needs a reference application to show its customers that they aren't being left in the penguin's dust.

He does use email. He cannot type because of the pain, so his wife does that part for him..

Boston Globe (2000)

http://graphics.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/McCain_character_loyal_to_a_fault+.shtml

"McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes.

Forbes (2000)

http://www.forbes.com/asap/2000/0529/053_print.html

'In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate's savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. "She's a whiz on the keyboard, and I'm so laborious," McCain admits.'

Eh, this might or might now work. PC games seem to be a shrinking industry as it is. This is probably another check mark in the EA 'never again do a PC game' spreadsheet.

Oh, and yes, passive aggressive, I'm from Seattle. That's what we do here.

Rather than (or perhaps in addition to) taking this passive-aggressive route, why not contact EA directly and say "Hey, I bought this game, I like it, but I can't deal with these bullshit restrictions." That way you make your opinion known unambiguously without having to rely on their interpretation of pirating information.

I'd actually like to do that, but that doesn't work. Not unless the population of something the size of Slashdot does it. A campaign could be mounted, organized, and communicate in massive numbers...but, all we wanted to do was buy a game and play it. Besides, I think the 2300+ 1-star Amazon reviews, Forbes article, Slashdot, and the rest of the internet is doing the job quite fiercely.

The tens of thousands of pirated copies seeded before the game hit retail, should have told them something to begin with...

Instead of trying to convert pirates (or consumers made into pirates) they just try to prevent them from doing the deed. This, in some form or another, has been going on since before recorded history. The software industry (games, specifically) just never studied their history, it seems (no one ever wins.)

The FUD machine? Really? Fear may be justified, Uncertainty is reasonable if trends are visibly changing, Doubt is about observing bad trends. FUD is bad if unsupported, but is it unsupported? Lets talk cases.

First, why should there be so much potential FUD? It would be ever so simple to point out some third party benchmarks to easily make the point, rather than parroting the company line, but you failed to provide a link. I find plenty of references in articles to the EULA restrictions, articles that benchmark other VM platforms, but absolutely no other third party VMWare benchmarks. None. I'm sure there are some reputable comparative benchmarks out there somewhere since "allmost all submissions get approved" but I searched again today, still nothing. Why?

You may use the Software to conduct internal performance testing and benchmarking studies, the results of which you (and not unauthorized third parties) may publish or publicly disseminate; provided that VMware has reviewed and approved of the methodology, assumptions and other parameters of the study. Please contact VMware at benchmark@vmware.com to request such review.

The only Fear I see is that somebody will test the products and publish results. Feel free though, you can download trials and test for yourself, good luck getting permission to publish. If you want to see the version from XenSource, google cache will provide. (Search for hypervisor_performance_comparison_1_0_5_with_esx-data.pdf) Here are some highlights:

As expected the SPECjbb2005 [on Windows] performance for a single vCPU VM on both ESX and XenEnterprise are both excellent and within only 0.5% of the native score. Figure 9 shows that XenEnterprise outperforms ESX for the two-vCPU test with close to a 1.5% lead, but ESX is slightly ahead on the four-vCPU test with a lead of just under 1%. We conclude that both platforms perform these tests very well, with basically equivalent performance. ...
SPECjbb2005 on Linux... XenEnterprise outperforms ESX for the 2 vCPU test by a margin of 13%. In fact, XenEnterprise is only 2% slower than native RHEL 4.4, whereas ESX is 15% slower than native. On the four-vCPU test, XenEnterprise performs even better, being 24% better than ESX. ...

As for Doubt, VMWare stock has been pretty much tanking. ("Tanking", like "killed" is a statement of opinion, not a technical term.) Really, I don't expect this to turn around for EMC's VMWare, and apparently neither do investors. Shares have gone from $125 in 2004, to $33.95 according to Forbes. Not what I'd call marketplace confidence. The Doubt part is certainly well established.

I like to plan to get good support in five years, but will EMC really be invested in supporting it if the stock becomes worthless? An independent company might reinvent itself, but a subsidiary of EMC, probably not so much. I suppose that is Uncertainty: will VMWare still be for sale and/or supported in 5 years? If I worked for VMWare, I'd be concerned about my job. Consider those already jumping ship: Diane Greene (co-founder, CEO), Mendel Rosenblum (co-founder, visionary and scientist), Richard Sarwal (exec from Oracle who went back to Oracle), and now Paul Chan, Vice President of Product Development.

Honestly, good benchmarks and solid technical comparisons by independent parties would go a long way. I say they aren't there because the Corporate Overlords fear them and aren't driven to improve the products, just sell them, and without improvements, VMWare will die. I expect EMC will abandon VMWare rather than investing in improving it. I expect that there are no current benchmarks published because EMC doesn't want them published. Please show me that I'm wrong. Please show me that EMC isn't killing what was once a great company with good products.

Show me the numbers, somewhere besides on VMWare's site.

The FUD machine? Really? Fear may be justified, Uncertainty is reasonable if trends are visibly changing, Doubt is about observing bad trends. FUD is bad if unsupported, but is it unsupported? Lets talk cases.

First, why should there be so much potential FUD? It would be ever so simple to point out some third party benchmarks to easily make the point, rather than parroting the company line, but you failed to provide a link. I find plenty of references in articles to the EULA restrictions, articles that benchmark other VM platforms, but absolutely no other third party VMWare benchmarks. None. I'm sure there are some reputable comparative benchmarks out there somewhere since "allmost all submissions get approved" but I searched again today, still nothing. Why?

You may use the Software to conduct internal performance testing and benchmarking studies, the results of which you (and not unauthorized third parties) may publish or publicly disseminate; provided that VMware has reviewed and approved of the methodology, assumptions and other parameters of the study. Please contact VMware at benchmark@vmware.com to request such review.

The only Fear I see is that somebody will test the products and publish results. Feel free though, you can download trials and test for yourself, good luck getting permission to publish. If you want to see the version from XenSource, google cache will provide. (Search for hypervisor_performance_comparison_1_0_5_with_esx-data.pdf) Here are some highlights:

As expected the SPECjbb2005 [on Windows] performance for a single vCPU VM on both ESX and XenEnterprise are both excellent and within only 0.5% of the native score. Figure 9 shows that XenEnterprise outperforms ESX for the two-vCPU test with close to a 1.5% lead, but ESX is slightly ahead on the four-vCPU test with a lead of just under 1%. We conclude that both platforms perform these tests very well, with basically equivalent performance. ...
SPECjbb2005 on Linux... XenEnterprise outperforms ESX for the 2 vCPU test by a margin of 13%. In fact, XenEnterprise is only 2% slower than native RHEL 4.4, whereas ESX is 15% slower than native. On the four-vCPU test, XenEnterprise performs even better, being 24% better than ESX. ...

As for Doubt, VMWare stock has been pretty much tanking. ("Tanking", like "killed" is a statement of opinion, not a technical term.) Really, I don't expect this to turn around for EMC's VMWare, and apparently neither do investors. Shares have gone from $125 in 2004, to $33.95 according to Forbes. Not what I'd call marketplace confidence. The Doubt part is certainly well established.

I like to plan to get good support in five years, but will EMC really be invested in supporting it if the stock becomes worthless? An independent company might reinvent itself, but a subsidiary of EMC, probably not so much. I suppose that is Uncertainty: will VMWare still be for sale and/or supported in 5 years? If I worked for VMWare, I'd be concerned about my job. Consider those already jumping ship: Diane Greene (co-founder, CEO), Mendel Rosenblum (co-founder, visionary and scientist), Richard Sarwal (exec from Oracle who went back to Oracle), and now Paul Chan, Vice President of Product Development.

Honestly, good benchmarks and solid technical comparisons by independent parties would go a long way. I say they aren't there because the Corporate Overlords fear them and aren't driven to improve the products, just sell them, and without improvements, VMWare will die. I expect EMC will abandon VMWare rather than investing in improving it. I expect that there are no current benchmarks published because EMC doesn't want them published. Please show me that I'm wrong. Please show me that EMC isn't killing what was once a great company with good products.

Show me the numbers, somewhere besides on VMWare's site.

Vista doesn't seem to be hurting HP's bottom line:

After the bell, Hewlett-Packard reported a 14.0% increase in third-quarter profits on strong laptop sales and growth in its international markets.

Investors have been worried HP was losing market share to rivals Dell and Apple but so far that has not happened. The company has been helped by cost cuts and strong sales outside the United States.

But nothing in the company's numbers speaks of a downturn. HP reported fiscal third-quarter net earnings of $2.0 billion, or 80 cents a share, up 14% from $1.8 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the prior year. HP Holds Its Own {August 19]

HP seems to showing more interest in European styling:

Instead of building workhorse machines in utilitarian cases, Hewlett-Packard strives to create sleeker, more stylish PCs by looking to the fabrics and shapes in Italy's furniture showrooms, said Stacy Wolff, director of notebook-computer design.

Putting form and function before component costs mirrors a strategy by Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, whose aluminum-clad desktops and notebooks have propelled the company to its highest PC market share in at least a decade.

Hewlett-Packard had 19 percent of worldwide PC shipments in the second quarter, compared with Dell's 16 percent, according to technology researcher IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts. Hewlett- Packard has increased its share every quarter since taking the lead from Dell in 2006. Apple had 3.6 percent. Hewlett-Packard's Cues From Milan Lift PC Profit [Updated August 19]

Cats were feared, driven out of human habitations and killed en mass.

Maybe that is because cats cause schizophrenia.

The article makes clear that Google's news bot only noticed the old story because it has been voted up in popularity on the site of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

Hmmm... Quick! Everybody click this link!

This smells like a case of the Frankenstein complex to me. Although Google News may have linked the article in its recent results because of the fresh link on the Sun Sentinel home page, both the WSJ article and the Forbes investigation make it very clear that the problem was a human editor who misinterpreted the original article and posted it as new information (with a freshly written headline) in a by-subscription-only investor information service that is carried on Bloomberg trading terminals.

A human saw the story, failed to check the date (there was no date line at the top of the article), refreshed it with a new headline, and republished it on a trading service that was believed to be a source of credible journalism by its readers.

File-sharing of copyrighted material: A creates a pattern of bits the same as one B has. A has been enriched. B has been neither damaged nor enriched. Third party C claims to have been damaged to the tune of $100,000.

B and C are the same parties, but nice try attempting to portray the **AA as "mean and bad" without appearing to demean the beloved musicians.

Some musicians sell the rights to their creations to others. Some choose to market them themselves. It does not matter — for this argument — the B and C in your example are one and the same, and B is damaged — at least some of the people, who got their music for free, would've paid for it.

Giving away and using copies of somebody else's works without permission is much closer to theft, than, for example, the right to sell pornography is to free speech. Stop blaming other people's common sense, when they disagree with you — American schools aren't that bad...

Jesus. If you want to drive offshoring, that's the way to do it. Make American IT more expensive and less efficient than everywhere else in the world, and the work will flee this country and leave us longing for the days of H1-Bs and mere outsourcing.

We're almost at that point anyway! Unfortunately, we have a country that's more interested in supplying businesses with cheap labor and making it almost impossible to compete with 3rd world countries where the average yearly salary is $3,556.63!

I'm willing to bet that many "senior pros" out there do NOT have computer science degrees. I think I'd rather have my peers setting the bar than a clueless HR department who posts jobs like they're ordering a pizza with all the toppings!

I'm not trying to be all "look for the union label" here; I don't even know that it would solve anything at this point. You'd have to have an administration who was willing to set tariffs on overseas products coming to the US. They'd have to make it more profitable for a company to stay here than leave. Part of the problem with IT, however, is that many jobs can be done from just about anywhere. That's good if you want to buy a house in the Bahamas and work from there. But it also means American companies don't even have to import workers, just send them a paycheck. I think the main folly companies have is that they just trust all these workers not to divulge secrets to their government or other companies. It may be (at least in IT) that the thing that brings IT jobs back home would be if there were terrorist attacks to where the companies couldn't trust their overseas employees.

You appear to believe that it means reducing emissions "just in case", while many of us believe it means not crippling the US's economic and military power.

Bush is doing quite well crippling the US's economic and military power. As for reducing emissions meaning crippling economic power what many don't or won't see is that it could actually increase the US's economic power. Businesses developing alternative energy sources would mushroom creating well paying jobs then the technology can be exported. Even Texas Oil Billionaire T. Boone Pickens has proposed a plan. Saying "Don't get the idea that I've turned green. My business is making money, and I think this is going to make a lot of money" he's planned on investing $10 billion on wind power. Environmental Engineering is a growing field as well. How many jobs has NanoSolar created? Whether it being solar, wind, or another area renewable energy jobs are being created today, even in installation.

Falcon

And let me add to this. Business mags are making noise on how much Chinese labor prices are going up! (Don't know if "mi" will believe this since it didn't come from Wikipedia!)

"The mean annual wage for a typical urban Chinese employee grew by a blistering 18.72% in 2007, to 24,932 yuan ($3,556.63), or 99.32 yuan ($14.17) per day, the National Bureau of Statistics said, adding that it was the fastest growth in six years and higher than the 14% on average of the preceding six years."

OMG, they're making $14.17 a DAY! How WILL the overseas companies ever cope! Keep in mind that's the wage for the urbanite, where wages are higher, not the people living out in the country.

If Microsoft is not threatening to sue over patents, why would they hand Novell a boatload of money to sign a patent deal with royalties going back to Microsoft for every Novell Linux sold? Microsoft paid Novell a bunch of money to do this deal, and all of this after remarks about patent violations in Linux.

It's quite obvious Microsoft wants people to pay for Linux with royalties going to Microsoft, under the threat of lawsuit. And in case you need the threat spelled out for you, Ballmer did so, multiple times:

http://www.forbes.com/home/enterprisetech/2006/03/22/ballmer-microsoft-linux-cz_df_0322microsoft.html
"Well, I think there are experts who claim Linux violates our intellectual property. I'm not going to comment. But to the degree that that's the case, of course we owe it to our shareholders to have a strategy."

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Ballmer_repeats_threats_against_Linux/0,130061733,339273726,00.htm
"I would not anticipate that we make a huge additional revenue stream from our Novell deal, but I do think it clearly establishes that open source is not free, and open source will have to respect the intellectual property rights of others just as any other competitor will."

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2200717/microsoft-sharpens-aims-patent
"People who use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us"

It's starting to happen. Give it another 20 years and Indian wages will be high enough that this sort of stuff won't happen because Indian wages will be almost as high as a US worker's wages.

Then the problem will simply move elsewhere. There will always be someone at the bottom of the wage food chain, willing to work for relative peanuts.
This is already happening.

How does this translate into normal transfer speed units like MB/s? Otherwise I have no point of reference to tell if I am impressed or indifferent.

I'll try to help.

MB/s is a measure of IO throughput. Often this isn't the most relevant figure for 'enterprise' storage. Certain applications do a lot of random access IO so IOPS becomes more important than throughput.

Today a typical desktop disk is capable of about 100-150 IOPS. That's a rule of thumb range that varies based on operation size, cache, etc. It works pretty well usually. You can aggregate disks and get almost linear scaling; 12 disks, for instance in a device like this, will give you a maximum of 1200 IOPs, roughly. A common USB Flash device can break 1000 IOPS with certain access patterns.

The second graph on this page illustrates the extreme IOPS advantage of Flash for certain applications. Disks are limited by head actuation and rotation latency. This is why enterprise storage vendors have been pursuing Flash aggressively. That's what this story is all about.

The dream is to host the same IOPS in with an order of magnitude less physical space, power, heat, etc. If you don't need thousands of IOPS (and most PC users don't) then it isn't very interesting. If you happen to run an OLTP system with thousands of reads/write per second it means a great deal.

Msie, apparently, has a firefox like drop-down box of search engines, and wikipedia, etc. But the msie drop-down menu does not include google. Ouuu what a burn! Also, if you highlight a street address, msie will take you to msft maps, not google maps.

Just one more reason to use firefox instead of msie. BTW: according to the same article, firefox installed base is up 6% to 19% while msie fell 6% to 73% of the installed base, or something like that.

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/08/27/microsoft-google-browsers-cx_vmb_0827ie.html?feed=rss_technology

The problem is that obesity causes 1) my health insurance to go up to pay for obesity-related health problems, and 2) huge losses in productivity due to obesity-related health problems, which results in a weaker economy. Read this.

I agree with you that if people want to engage in risky or unhealthy lifestyles they should be able to, but not when it costs everyone else.

BTW, smoking is worse, as it is no longer just about money. After Scotland banned smoking in public places heart attacks in NONSMOKERS decreased by 21%.

Nice how you didn't mention the income disparity - it's at the highest rate since just before the great depression - along with tax rates. The top .1% of Americans earned almost as much as the bottom 150 million Americans. And focusing only on income taxes is a classic dodge that ignores the taxes that make a significant percentage of the middle classes tax burden.

Speaking of tax burdens, those who make their income through investments rather than a wage pay a much lower tax rate - 15%. Warren Buttet bet Fortune 400 CEO's a million dollars if they proved they paid a higher tax rate than their secretaries. So far no one has collected.

Why this obsession with income inequality?

Because it's at the highest rate since the late 1920's. What happened then, stork? Something really Great.

Seriously. If you want a billion dollars, start a company that can make a billion dollars. If you don't, then don't bitch about your laziness, stupidity, or lack of luck.

Spare us the elitism. Worker productivity has increased dramatically while wages have stagnated. Giant companies like IBM lay off thousands of American workers at a time while continuing to import H1-B workers. Investment firms take crazy risks and get bailed out by the government when they crash and burn, yet the middle class is SOL on credit card debt and ARMs. Billionaire CEO's and hedge fund managers pay a lower tax rate than the janitors that clean their office bathrooms. Warren Buffet bet Forture 400 CEO's a million dollars if they could prove they paid a higher tax rate than their secretaries. Guess how many have collected so far? Zero.

Absolutely wrong. It's unfortunate that people who make things up get modded up on Slashdot.

Liberty Media is a TV company. It has nothing to do with the Tribune Company, which owns the Los Angeles Times. The Tribune Company was taken private in a buyout led by Sam Zell, a real estate entrepreneur.

The Times has not "fired most of the staff." It has cut about 20 percent of its news staff. That's less than its circulation decline from 983,727 in 2004 to 773,884 in the most recent reports. It still has plenty of good people on its payroll.

The new publisher is Eddy Hartenstein, who is not from the newspaper business. He's the former CEO of DirecTV.

BUZZ!

http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/05/buffett-worlds-richest-cx_mm_0229buffetrichest.html

Well, somehow I think that Elaine just might be able to afford it.

http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/10/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=DDGH&datatype=Person

If companies can't recoup the often hundreds of millions of dollars that it costs to create and test a new drug, then there's no incentive to develop new drugs (drug patents, BTW, generally last 15-20 years). But in order to prevent large-scale deaths and piracy that inevitably result from over-priced drugs, they are generally happy to offer discounts to developing countries (this creates other problems, like corrupt governments selling those drugs back to wealthy countries at a discount instead of using them to help their own people).

Of course, this doesn't help poor people in the countries where those drugs are made, but there are often government or private monies available to help those people.

Where the system becomes crappy for U.S. taxpayers is that drugs are often designed using massive government subsidies and/or grant-funded research. So the government ends up being billed twice -- once for the research to help create the drug, and again in Medicare or other programs to help people afford it.

Last month I asked the aging Bob Johnsonâ"former CTO of Burroughs Corporation when it was a leading mainframe company in Minneapolis where he developed the magnetic ink you see on the bottom of your checksâ"what he thought caused the loss of the Midwestern high tech leadership to the coasts, and he said it was the financial dominance of the coasts.

That squares with what I observed while at Control Data Corporation/Cray Research, Inc.

The reason Bill Norris and Seymour Cray were able to start CDC thence Cray Research was because they violated SEC regs and went around selling stock at PTA meetings, making a lot of middle class people retire very comfortably. My late father bought some Cray stock early on which helped greatly with his retirement.

When I was at CDC in Arden Hills, MN attempting to deploy the mass market version of the PLATO network with Internet-like capabilities (the system that Ray Ozzie (Bill Gates' replacement at Microsoft) cut his teeth on) in 1980 the primary resistance was from a middle management that, due to the financial press' hostility toward Norris's vision of a society disintermediated by computer networking, small high-tech farms and locally produced and consumed essentialsâ"had itself grown hostile to Norris.

My proposed solution is simple to state but will perhaps require a war to institute:

Replace all taxes on economic activity with a tax on net-assets, assessed at their in-place liquidation value, at the risk free interest rate (which according to modern portfolio theory is the short-term US Treasury rate) so as to extract all economic rents from the private sector, and then, to prevent public sector rent-seeking in pork-barrel politics, disperse those funds evenly in a dividend to all citizens, as the beneficiaries of the land-trust called the United States.

That will not only stop the vicious centralization of power in the private and public sectors, but it will clarify the role of immigrationâ"it is a dilution of the benefits intended for the Posterity of the Founders of the land trust called The United States of America.

Remember tho in the US, power companies aren't allowed to be profitable.

really? I had no idea.

It could have to do with the mad quantities of stock options Apple issues to its employees, if those are counted in the market cap. I think there is a clause that requires them to hold their shares for at least a year. In that case some of those shares might represent capital that is "locked in."

But how do they keep so many shares out there without diluting their share price? As of today Apple shares seem to be trading at a ridiculously high multiple of 34.5 http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/Ratios.jsp?tkr=AAPL, while the average for the US tech sector is less than 20. http://www.crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2006/07/sp_500_pe_ratio.html. (The price/earnings ratio is a measure of share price against predicted earnings per share in the coming year). Why are Apple shares so ridiculously overpriced?

I know exactly what's driving Lucas on this. Cash. Period. Whatever motivations he may have once had for this story and this franchise, his sole concern now seems to be the bank account.

I disagree. According to Forbes, George's personal fortune is immense. He's worth $3.5 billion, making him #61 on the list of the 400 Richest people in America. He could buy a new Ferrari every day for the rest of his life and still have billions left over. Ditto for yachts, mansions, and jets. What possible motivation would he have to try and amass more wealth? As Bill Gates once said, at some point, no matter how much you're able to pay for a hamburger, does it taste any better?

What's driving Lucas here is that he thinks his films are the highest art in the land. He truly thinks he can write good dialogue (he can't), touching love scenes (dear God, no), and witty humor (for a three-year-old, maybe). He puts out this execrable dreck because, in his mind, it's all the other films that are execrable dreck. His wealth allows him to live in his own world, and I'm quite sure all those around him -- who are dependent upon him for a paycheck -- nod respectfully and praise his work as that of a master even when they'd probably rather wipe their asses with it.

No, it's not greed that drives Lucas to destroy our cherished childhood memories of one of the most seminal films ever made. It's his pride. He simply refuses to believe he's as awful of a filmmaker as he really is, and stuff like Clone Wars is the result.

rather then make sure they have a techie in attendance so that they may learn something and find a workaround the issue, Boston's lawyers suggested that burying your head in the sand

Remember, it's Boston: the city that is terrified of Cartoon Network. The city that went $8.6 billion over budget on "The Big Dig" which should have cost $6 billion, and it's a piece of crap. Did you really expect competence from that government?

European taxes aren't much higher than in many US states.

Some European countries are worse than others. In France, top tax rates are 51% income, 60% for both sides of social security, and 20% VAT. Even California can't beat that.