Black Isle Studios is LONG dead, killed by the once-mighty and now defunct hand of Interplay.
The closest remaining to BIS is Obsidian Entertainment, which was founded by some of the old BIS people. Their credit is Neverwinter Nights II, while some would also argue that Obsidian has shown it is Full of Fail with KOTOR II.
I too started WoT in high school (actually, it might have been my last year of Jr. High)
And while I'll agree that reading them now is just not the same...on the same token, the majority of the books are not bad...just average.
The new book...I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and Sanderson has done a good job at capturing the flavor of the books. And there is definite movement to the end (Book 14 I believe? Expected November 2011)
I accept that the books now suck for you...but they're not really bad books. Jordan milked the series for all its worth without a doubt, and a couple of the books were almost painful to read, and I swear to god if I have to read about the character's opinions about blades of grass again I might resurrect Jordan just to kill him again, but still, its decent fantasy.
Now if ony George R. R. Martin could get out a book faster than 1 every 6 years, I'd be happier. Fucking 4 1/2 years since Feast of Crows and still no next book in sight.
There is one (and only one) exception to this statement.
You work...you want Roast Beast of some sort for supper. So you put said once-living-animal into your oven when you leave for work, and want to turn it on at X:xx so that you walk into your house to fully ready-to-eat dead animal flesh.
Of course, you are increasing your chances to walk into the firey abyss that once was your house by doing so.
(And not to mention, even my 92 year old grandmother's oven, circa 1950-something, has a timer which will turn on and off the oven per schedule).
"Just 3.8 percent of respondents said they wouldn't buy another Xbox because of system failures, according to Game Informer. And 36.4 percent of people who had an Xbox 360 fail have purchased more than one Xbox."
I went through the SAM process as well this spring...leave it to Microsoft to find another revenue stream during a recession...
But regardless, the rep I had was pleasant to deal with, taught me a little bit about licensing, and in the end we discovered that I was legitimately short one license of MS Office. So I bought it.
He could have been a jerk and given me hell about some CAL's that were not exactly perfect, but he didn't.
I run a clean shop...sure a SAM audit sucks, but all in all, it was as pleasant as a software audit could possibly be. And I know numerous other sysadmins who had perfect SAM audits, not requiring a single purchase.
If you are in an industry where your internal communications/documents/etc should or must remain confidential, than you cannot trust Google Apps as your free platform for email/document creation/document storage.
If you don't mind the possibility that the world may get your data, then by all means feel free to use Google, or any other SaaS type offering.
If you buy an Open License today for Windows Vista (you can only buy open licenses for the "Currently Shipping Version") with Software Assurance you have the ability to downgrade to pretty much ANY prior-released Microsoft operating system. As well, as long as you continue to pay your SA subscription, you will receive the new versions as they become available...so as long as you have an active SA subscription you will get Windows 7 licenses when they ship for "free" as part of your SA.
Now, if I recall correctly, unless you are a mass enterprise customer, you're not getting rates of $90/pc/year for SA. Normally SA is around 40% of the retail price per year...so for MS Office (which I know better), the Open License is around $600 (CAD), and SA is actually around $200/year. So if you know that theres a new version hitting within about 2 years, the SA makes sense. If you know the next version is longer than 2 years off, then the SA starts to not be money-smart.
No, for $90/PC/year, plus the cost of the open license of Windows, you can run any Microsoft OS you want, technically all the way down to MS-DOS & Windows 3.0.
Hey, if a retailer wants to put in an aftermarket widget, so be it. But it should be my business right that all WidgetCars come with a WidgetCar Widget installed at the factory, and if you want an aftermarket widget it is bought and installed at your own expense.
I know the analogy falls apart, since I the responsible and realistic business owner wouldn't say install free widgets in my cars but sell widgets for your cars so that I'm cheaper and drive you, the NonWidgetCar Company out of business. I also know that Microsoft is full of evil bastards who have done exactly that.
But irregardless, I do not support any government telling a private business that they have to point their customers to competetors. In my analogy, I'm actually assuming that I'm the superior widget, but even when applied to Microsoft...superior OS/Browser or not (and we all know they're not the superior product), they are the best known product, through making a poduct that is generally easy to use & appeals to the masses. Forcing them to for all purposes advertise their competetors within their product is the government abusing the power and brand name of Microsoft to others' advantage.
In my own analogy of the WidgetCar, if the premise was real, and I owned the WidgetCar company, I would be seriously tempted to just say to hell with it all, take the money I've made in the past, and close it all down...I'd personally rather be the bastard than the shill of my competetor.
And hell, Microsoft giving the big middle finger and shutting down (per the analogy) would probably have most/.'ers dancing in the streets. I don't think very highly of Microsoft to be sure, and they've definetely been corporate bastards in the past, and probably will again in the future. But the EU crap here is just facist bullshit as far as I'm concerned.
I'm sorry, but who the fuck thinks its wrong for a company to say "Hey, you need a browser, want ours?" IN THEIR OWN FUCKING PRODUCT?
I used this analogy once on another forum...lets see if I can get flamed here too...
I make widgets. Now, not only do I make widgets, but I'm a smart and greedy son of a bitch. So I own the mine where the metal comes from for my widget, I own the patents on the mining equipment, I own the transportation...I own it fucking all.
Now, imagine that exactly 1 widget is required in every single automobile. So I'm still a smart yet evil business son of a bitch...so I start making cars. And convieliently, since I own the entire widget process, my widgets work perfectly in my cars.
So between my own car brand and others, I own 85% of the widget business. Sure, there are a couple of other widget builders out there, and one group dedicated to building your own widgets, but I'm king shit of the widget world.
Now, suddenly and without explanation, the EU comes in and tells me that I'm an anti-competitive fuckwit. So, as punishment, they fine me a shitpile of money, and force me to provide, with every WidgetCar sale, that I ask you if you want my widget or my competetor's widget or the build-your-own widget in the cars I make. So now they're fucking with my profit margins, so they can artifically inflate the numbers of "inferior" widgets sold.
Now, I know that IE is the inferior widget in our eyes...but who the fuck do these fascist twats think they are if they can demand me to package my competetor's product in my own? If the competition wants their product to succeed, it damn well better be better than mine, and they have to go to the effort to market it. I sure as fuck ain't going to market it for them.
That might be "evil" and "wrong" - but if people don't want to know about something else out there, or switch to it, why the fuck should I help them?
Oh, I know that can't pull their product...and if they did do it & Linux won as a result it would be regarded as the most fucking inane business decision ever.
But you're entirely correct...its a total "tax grab" in the guise of "The Big Bad American Corporation shit on our businesses, so now we'll shit on them."
As much as I hate Microsoft, this pinko fascist anti-business bullshit goes way too far. I honestly feel sorry for people who have to live under the EU "rule".
If I was Ballmer, I'd tell the EC to go fuck themselves, and then yank every Microsoft product from the shelves in the EU.
Either Linux will (finally) hit the mainstream, and/. people will be happy, or the populations of the EU will shit their fucking pants and tell the EC to go fuck themselves.
Either way, the people win, and this anti-corporation EU bullshit ends.
And Microsoft sucks, and is evil, and blah blah blah free software rules!
You know what? Outside of the pure IT crowd (like us here on/.), nobody gives two shits about Linux yet. I'm one of mabye 10 voices in a group of 20,000 installed locations asking for Linux for this application.
Do you really believe, in this economic climate, they're going to waste their efforts to port the application for 0.05% of their installed base? Never going to happen.
And yes, I've exaggerated, I have a couple of Linux boxes floating in my environment for doing some tasks (most notably: Spam Filtering), so I'm not pure Microsoft. And yes, I love Linux. But, bottom line, despite all our wishes, it just ain't ready for alot of businesses yet.
I hope that changes, and I'm doing what I can to add my voice to the chorus...but to restate again, unless the companies out there that make real solutions that businesses use every day that finally run on Linux, we're never going to ditch Microsoft.
Correct my licensing thoughs if I'm wrong, but doesn't Citrix in this case, since it has to run a true Windows environment, require a Windows license for every connecting PC?
So in this case, I can deploy Linux to the desktop, and pay the MS Tax at the Citrix level, as well as Citrix licenses, so I can do what I'm already doing with Windows on the desktop.
I love Citrix, I've used it in the past, but I don't think I'm gaining a damn thing with this one.
Sure, sometimes that non-technical bureaucrat will still go with an option that most tech-savvy people wouldn't (such as going open source), more times than not "free" + "works almost the same" is enough to get the higher-ups on board.
"Works almost the same" just doesn't cut it in the real world most of the time.
I work in IT, and I would *LOVE* to deploy Linux/OO/etc as a way to dramatically kill my budget.
The problem is, my accounting software is propriatary and does not run on Linux - Windows Only (and I've tried WINE, no dice on this one).
So fine, I'm stuck on Windows, but bring in OO.
Again, no dice...my same accounting package hooks into Office itself for reporting functions, and will not work without Office.
And I can't make it work with MySQL, so I'm stuck with SQL Server, which means I'm stuck with Windows Server as my backend. Sure, I could migrate my other server services to Linux, but for all the Microsoft that I'm absolutely stuck with there's absolutely no reason to not just have it all on Windows.
And I know what the child poster is going to say...ditch the sad propriatary accounting package and find an open license alternative. Well, we're a specalized enough industry that there is no way in hell I can get an open alternative that does more than 25% of what I'm doing today with my propriatary system.
So I'm stuck with my crappy windows application which keeps me on windows and office for the frontend, and microsoft on the back end of my network.
So its all fine and good to rally the Linux troops, and try to make inroads into the mainstream, but until they convince "real" vendors with "real" products to support Linux, its all just a fucking pipe dream.
You do know what will happen in this specific case, don't you? The Swiss will now do an open bidding process, and all the linux/open community will bid on it, and they'll be rejected regardless of the fact that it will be WAY cheaper than the Micorosoft bid, on the sole basis that some application that timmy from accounting requires won't work on Linux, and rather than wait through 3 new sourceforge projects with 11 forks over 3 years, they'll buy Microsoft.
I hate Microsoft as much as the next geek, I really do...but the Open community has a LONG LONG way to go before they becaome an accepted player at the table for any company/organization that can't afford to spend the time, energy, resources, and dollars to get programmers building them their "open" applications.
I fail at typing thoughts today....
(a) and (b) should both read...that [erroneously/correctly] states that what they need won't work...
We now return you to your regularly scheduled linux vs microsoft rant:)
Actually, the sad part is there is probably truth in the parent.
Somebody in the procurement department either
(a) Has a report from someone in their IT Department that erroneously states that they need won't work with Linux, and therefore has to be excluded from the procurement process.
or
(b) Has a report from someone in their IT Department that correctly states that they need won't work with Linux, and therefore has to be excluded from the procurement process.
Unfortunately, that's not a Microsoft Monopoly, in either case. If its (a) then their IT staff suck, not Microsoft's fault, and not making Microsoft a monopoly. If its (b) then Linux sucks for their needs, which again is not Microsoft's fault and does not make Microsoft a monopoly.
Now, for the record, I agree with Parent...that overall, we probably do not need to panic over this strain.
Now, to give my affiliation, I previously was an elected member of a city council in Canada. I'll leave it at that. Part of my duty was serving on the "Disaster Services Comittee". Effectively, the DSC (or whatever it happens to be called in your juristiction) are the people who are in charge when the shit hits the fan. We're the poor bastards running the show.
Now, pandemic flu is something we've been worrying about for a number of years now. I know I did at least 2 or 3 tabletop exercises regarding a pandemic in my time on the DSC.
Now, the problem is, when a real pandemic hits, we're really in a bad bad situation. I noticed in this thread that Tamiflu is allegedly a successful treatment of this strain of flu going around. The problem though is that there are a limited number of doses of Tamiflu to go around, even with the production and stockpiling going on. And in a real pandemic...I can tell you bluntly that there will NOT be enough to go around, especially since all major pandemic planning that I know of requires that the front-line emergency workers get dosed with anything effective automatically, regardless of whether or not they're actually sick. So the police, medical practicioners, EMT's, fire services, utility services (thats right, Joe at the power company gets Tamiflu before you), politicians....hell, there's probably not enough Tamiflu for even these people. So you, plain old you, are pretty much fucked if you hope that the magical Tamiflu will be there for you if you get sick. Imagine hockey arenas being used as temporary morgues to handle the dead. Imagine the economy grinding to an absolute halt in the worst case scenario, because poeple are either dead/dying or refusing to leave their houses.
A real actual Pandemic is fucking scary, and I'm REALLY hopeful that when it does it the strain has a low morbidity rate...at 5% morbidity we've got a serious problem. At 30% (which was the maximum number we ever used for our tabletop exercises), society damn near grinds to a halt for months or even years, and probably would take decades to recover completely.
Seriously, think about it for a moment...imagine a flu strain being passed unchecked from person to person...lets estimate an infection rate of 50% (copying the 1918 Spanish Flu). So, in a true pandemic, thats a GLOBAL figure. Over the course of 6-18 months, 3 Billion people will become sick at some point. Now tack on a 5% morbidity rate. That is 150 Million people dead globally. The estimated population of the United States is 303 Million, give or take a few. Thats 151 Million people sick, and 7 1/2 million dead. Now contemplate the lost productivity in the economy. Contemplate how to handle 7 1/2 million bodies accross the USA. And thats at 50% infection and 5% morbidity.
I'm not scared about this outbreak yet. But pandemic influenza in general scares the hell out of me.
I don't disagree with what you propose, in theory.
In pratice, do you have any idea how pissed off the general population would be if, god forbid, they had to do {something} to make their new {whatever} work with their Windows computer.
Lets face it, we all here live in the world of geek, and running an install utility to put a filesystem driver on windows is trivial and nothing.
Now put that out in the wild. The average dumbass user would freak the fuck out. There would be reports of virii on mass produced CF cards. Or people wouldn't do it, despite the readme, and then their shit wouldn't work.
Then you have to convince everyone...and I mean EVERYONE...to rewrite the software for their cameras, digital photo frames, Wii's, WHATEVER takes WHATEVER media format to support the new standard. And to flash the firmware of every existing device so that it can read the new format (and then you have to tell the population at large how the fuck to change their digital photo frame's firmware, and somehow get them to do it). And lets face it, the first time something doesn't work with a new media card...well, its either the media card manufacturer's fault, or their device's fault, and either way the tech support calls will be many and furious.
I admire your idea, I REALLY do. But the logistics of what you propose are so enormously, well, fucked, that there is NO way in hell it will ever happen. We're stuck with the LFN FUD from Microsoft until we can get people off of Microsoft products...which IMHO is NOT going to happen anytime soon. It sucks, but its just not going to happen:(
Why not apply that to airlines too? If you can't search someone when you have good reason to there might as well be no rules on what you can carry around, because they'd all be impossible to implement
You do not have a constitutional right to get on an airplane. They can request to search you, and you have a CHOICE. You can agree to the search, or you can find another mode of transportation. The airlines/security screeners cannot search you without your consent.
The police have the right to "molest" children then? She is protected by constitutional rights, but the police can break those rights all of a sudden? If they had handed her over to the police and the police had performed the search would there be no outrage here?
There'd still be outrage, because you'd still see "Strip-search" and "13 year old" and stop checking the facts
If the police strip searched her without consent, without probable cause, and without a warrant, then yes, people would still be pissed. The police can not voilate your constitutional rigghts any more than anyone else can. But if they followed proper due process of constitutional law, there would be no grounds for a lawsuit against the police for breaking her 4th ammendment rights.
To summarize:Kid is caught with a prescription strength advil. Not missing in the school, not "within a group of 13 year old goth girls". One kid is found with (one?) prescription strength advil. Said kid says she got it from other kid.
Asshat school administrator searches accused's stuff, with Accused's Consent. (Whether Accused has the legal authority to consent to a search of her belongings is arguable, but hey, lets say it was proper consent). Nothing was found.
Generally speaking, we are all in agreement that searching her belongings, especially with consent, is a reasonable search.
School administrator, without any further probable cause, and without a warrant, and without legal presence for the accused, or the legal guardian of the accused's consent, or without official police presence, unlawfully confines accused in a small room, and forces the 13 year old girl, in the presence of 2 adults, to remove (most) of her clothing. She is then ordered to "pull her underwear away from her body", exposing her naughty bits to 2 adults.
Thats what happened here.
Now, I'm personally under the belief that the assistant principal isn't a pervert. I believe the 2 female employees are not perverts. I don't think anyone got off on this search. I believe that, at the time, the vice principal probably thought in her mind that the search WAS necessary.
That doesn't mean that this search wasn't 100% fucking WRONG on every fucking level.
I have a phrase for you...and anyone else in the new fascist america to learn. "I do not consent to a search". Repeat after me..."I do not consent to a search".
When you utter those magical words...or even more specifically when you do NOT say "Yes" when asked if you may be searched, NOBODY CAN FUCKING SEARCH YOU WITHOUT A WARRANT. There is of course an exception to this rule - if you are caught with illegal or in the commission of a crime, you can then be searched without a warrant. Otherwise, "I DO NOT CONSENT TO A SEARCH". And refusal to consent to a search is not grounds for a warrant either. Learn your fucking civil liberties people.
This girl did NOT consent to be strip searched. She was not caught in the comission of a crime, nor was she caught with anything "illegal" in the portion of the search she consented to (again, assuming she had the legal authority over herself to even consent to that search). No matter how you look at this case, whether you think a sex crime took place or not, this girl's 4th ammendment rights were grossly violated. Thats what this court case is about, and as far as I'm concerned its the school wasting my tax money, not the girl.
The school is wrong, plain and simple. If it was my kid, your damn right that I would want the book thrown at these people, probably after I threw a few punches. I personally think that despite the fact that no sexual conduct took place that this was still a sex crime...the girl was forced to disrobe in front of two adults for no justified reason. I think all 3 people involved should be tried, and if found guilty sent to prison for a very long time.
And for the record, I don't give two fucks if she was accused of having meth or heroin up her cooch...it is NOT the school's place to conduct a search of this nature. This is the responsibility of law enforcement, under the proper legal guidelines. Hell, I dont give two shits if the girl actually did have meth or heroin in her cooch...it is STILL the responsibility of law enforcement alone, under proper legal guidelines, to conduct this search. Period, end of fucking discussion.
And also, for the record, you're an idiot to think that you can compare changing for gym class to this gross misconduct. Yeah, you have to change into swimwear for gym...but you're doing that without 2 school officials checking out your junk, and you're doing this without 2 school officials illegally searching you for contraband. BIG FUCKING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SCENARIOS.
Microsoft is still doing en-masse audits under the guise of "Software Asset Management". I just went thorugh one at my work.
They're really bastards about it too...you essentially have 2 choices:
#1. Ignore them, or tell them to fuck off. After about 2-3 months they call the BSA and then the BSA comes in and audits everything. And the BSA can be righteous pricks. Own 2 licenses of Adobe Acrobat, and have 2 copies in production...but have both production running copies with 1 CD Key? Thats a tazering (well, not quite a tazering, but they're evil evil pricks who will always find something wrong, and its your ass as the IT Manager/Lone IT Pleeb).
#2. Comply and fork out fistfulls of dollars to Microsoft for licenses you are short, but at least they don't fine you or hit you with punitive damages of some sort.
Thank god I run a clean house...I knew we were legal, and I fired off the audit in about a week, all came back clean, life goes on. But yeah, Microsoft is still being pricks with the audits, and suggesting FOSS is fine and dandy...just get it 100% implementated BEFORE the audit, or you're still fucked.
Slashdot Mirror
Black Isle Studios is LONG dead, killed by the once-mighty and now defunct hand of Interplay.
The closest remaining to BIS is Obsidian Entertainment, which was founded by some of the old BIS people. Their credit is Neverwinter Nights II, while some would also argue that Obsidian has shown it is Full of Fail with KOTOR II.
I too started WoT in high school (actually, it might have been my last year of Jr. High)
And while I'll agree that reading them now is just not the same...on the same token, the majority of the books are not bad...just average.
The new book...I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, and Sanderson has done a good job at capturing the flavor of the books. And there is definite movement to the end (Book 14 I believe? Expected November 2011)
I accept that the books now suck for you...but they're not really bad books. Jordan milked the series for all its worth without a doubt, and a couple of the books were almost painful to read, and I swear to god if I have to read about the character's opinions about blades of grass again I might resurrect Jordan just to kill him again, but still, its decent fantasy.
Now if ony George R. R. Martin could get out a book faster than 1 every 6 years, I'd be happier. Fucking 4 1/2 years since Feast of Crows and still no next book in sight.
There is one (and only one) exception to this statement.
You work...you want Roast Beast of some sort for supper. So you put said once-living-animal into your oven when you leave for work, and want to turn it on at X:xx so that you walk into your house to fully ready-to-eat dead animal flesh.
Of course, you are increasing your chances to walk into the firey abyss that once was your house by doing so.
(And not to mention, even my 92 year old grandmother's oven, circa 1950-something, has a timer which will turn on and off the oven per schedule).
From the Article:
"Just 3.8 percent of respondents said they wouldn't buy another Xbox because of system failures, according to Game Informer. And 36.4 percent of people who had an Xbox 360 fail have purchased more than one Xbox."
I went through the SAM process as well this spring...leave it to Microsoft to find another revenue stream during a recession... But regardless, the rep I had was pleasant to deal with, taught me a little bit about licensing, and in the end we discovered that I was legitimately short one license of MS Office. So I bought it. He could have been a jerk and given me hell about some CAL's that were not exactly perfect, but he didn't. I run a clean shop...sure a SAM audit sucks, but all in all, it was as pleasant as a software audit could possibly be. And I know numerous other sysadmins who had perfect SAM audits, not requiring a single purchase.
If you are in an industry where your internal communications/documents/etc should or must remain confidential, than you cannot trust Google Apps as your free platform for email/document creation/document storage.
If you don't mind the possibility that the world may get your data, then by all means feel free to use Google, or any other SaaS type offering.
I regret to inform you that Canada has NOT decriminalized the posession or use of cannibis.
The cops here may not arrest you for it, but I can assure you that it IS still illegal, and in theory you could be prosecuted and jailed for it.
You're posting on Shashdot. Thats enough of an anti-mater for any girl out there.
Now anti-matter energy....that would be cool :)
Sorry, but no. Well, sorta.
If you buy an Open License today for Windows Vista (you can only buy open licenses for the "Currently Shipping Version") with Software Assurance you have the ability to downgrade to pretty much ANY prior-released Microsoft operating system. As well, as long as you continue to pay your SA subscription, you will receive the new versions as they become available...so as long as you have an active SA subscription you will get Windows 7 licenses when they ship for "free" as part of your SA.
Now, if I recall correctly, unless you are a mass enterprise customer, you're not getting rates of $90/pc/year for SA. Normally SA is around 40% of the retail price per year...so for MS Office (which I know better), the Open License is around $600 (CAD), and SA is actually around $200/year. So if you know that theres a new version hitting within about 2 years, the SA makes sense. If you know the next version is longer than 2 years off, then the SA starts to not be money-smart.
No, for $90/PC/year, plus the cost of the open license of Windows, you can run any Microsoft OS you want, technically all the way down to MS-DOS & Windows 3.0.
Hey, if a retailer wants to put in an aftermarket widget, so be it. But it should be my business right that all WidgetCars come with a WidgetCar Widget installed at the factory, and if you want an aftermarket widget it is bought and installed at your own expense.
I know the analogy falls apart, since I the responsible and realistic business owner wouldn't say install free widgets in my cars but sell widgets for your cars so that I'm cheaper and drive you, the NonWidgetCar Company out of business. I also know that Microsoft is full of evil bastards who have done exactly that.
But irregardless, I do not support any government telling a private business that they have to point their customers to competetors. In my analogy, I'm actually assuming that I'm the superior widget, but even when applied to Microsoft...superior OS/Browser or not (and we all know they're not the superior product), they are the best known product, through making a poduct that is generally easy to use & appeals to the masses. Forcing them to for all purposes advertise their competetors within their product is the government abusing the power and brand name of Microsoft to others' advantage.
In my own analogy of the WidgetCar, if the premise was real, and I owned the WidgetCar company, I would be seriously tempted to just say to hell with it all, take the money I've made in the past, and close it all down...I'd personally rather be the bastard than the shill of my competetor.
And hell, Microsoft giving the big middle finger and shutting down (per the analogy) would probably have most /.'ers dancing in the streets. I don't think very highly of Microsoft to be sure, and they've definetely been corporate bastards in the past, and probably will again in the future. But the EU crap here is just facist bullshit as far as I'm concerned.
I'm sorry, but who the fuck thinks its wrong for a company to say "Hey, you need a browser, want ours?" IN THEIR OWN FUCKING PRODUCT?
I used this analogy once on another forum...lets see if I can get flamed here too...
I make widgets. Now, not only do I make widgets, but I'm a smart and greedy son of a bitch. So I own the mine where the metal comes from for my widget, I own the patents on the mining equipment, I own the transportation...I own it fucking all.
Now, imagine that exactly 1 widget is required in every single automobile. So I'm still a smart yet evil business son of a bitch...so I start making cars. And convieliently, since I own the entire widget process, my widgets work perfectly in my cars.
So between my own car brand and others, I own 85% of the widget business. Sure, there are a couple of other widget builders out there, and one group dedicated to building your own widgets, but I'm king shit of the widget world.
Now, suddenly and without explanation, the EU comes in and tells me that I'm an anti-competitive fuckwit. So, as punishment, they fine me a shitpile of money, and force me to provide, with every WidgetCar sale, that I ask you if you want my widget or my competetor's widget or the build-your-own widget in the cars I make. So now they're fucking with my profit margins, so they can artifically inflate the numbers of "inferior" widgets sold.
Now, I know that IE is the inferior widget in our eyes...but who the fuck do these fascist twats think they are if they can demand me to package my competetor's product in my own? If the competition wants their product to succeed, it damn well better be better than mine, and they have to go to the effort to market it. I sure as fuck ain't going to market it for them.
That might be "evil" and "wrong" - but if people don't want to know about something else out there, or switch to it, why the fuck should I help them?
Oh, I know that can't pull their product...and if they did do it & Linux won as a result it would be regarded as the most fucking inane business decision ever.
But you're entirely correct...its a total "tax grab" in the guise of "The Big Bad American Corporation shit on our businesses, so now we'll shit on them."
As much as I hate Microsoft, this pinko fascist anti-business bullshit goes way too far. I honestly feel sorry for people who have to live under the EU "rule".
If I was Ballmer, I'd tell the EC to go fuck themselves, and then yank every Microsoft product from the shelves in the EU.
Either Linux will (finally) hit the mainstream, and /. people will be happy, or the populations of the EU will shit their fucking pants and tell the EC to go fuck themselves.
Either way, the people win, and this anti-corporation EU bullshit ends.
And Microsoft sucks, and is evil, and blah blah blah free software rules!
As if I hadn't already asked/pressed for this :)
You know what? Outside of the pure IT crowd (like us here on /.), nobody gives two shits about Linux yet. I'm one of mabye 10 voices in a group of 20,000 installed locations asking for Linux for this application.
Do you really believe, in this economic climate, they're going to waste their efforts to port the application for 0.05% of their installed base? Never going to happen.
And yes, I've exaggerated, I have a couple of Linux boxes floating in my environment for doing some tasks (most notably: Spam Filtering), so I'm not pure Microsoft. And yes, I love Linux. But, bottom line, despite all our wishes, it just ain't ready for alot of businesses yet.
I hope that changes, and I'm doing what I can to add my voice to the chorus...but to restate again, unless the companies out there that make real solutions that businesses use every day that finally run on Linux, we're never going to ditch Microsoft.
Correct my licensing thoughs if I'm wrong, but doesn't Citrix in this case, since it has to run a true Windows environment, require a Windows license for every connecting PC?
So in this case, I can deploy Linux to the desktop, and pay the MS Tax at the Citrix level, as well as Citrix licenses, so I can do what I'm already doing with Windows on the desktop.
I love Citrix, I've used it in the past, but I don't think I'm gaining a damn thing with this one.
Sure, sometimes that non-technical bureaucrat will still go with an option that most tech-savvy people wouldn't (such as going open source), more times than not "free" + "works almost the same" is enough to get the higher-ups on board.
"Works almost the same" just doesn't cut it in the real world most of the time.
I work in IT, and I would *LOVE* to deploy Linux/OO/etc as a way to dramatically kill my budget.
The problem is, my accounting software is propriatary and does not run on Linux - Windows Only (and I've tried WINE, no dice on this one).
So fine, I'm stuck on Windows, but bring in OO.
Again, no dice...my same accounting package hooks into Office itself for reporting functions, and will not work without Office.
And I can't make it work with MySQL, so I'm stuck with SQL Server, which means I'm stuck with Windows Server as my backend. Sure, I could migrate my other server services to Linux, but for all the Microsoft that I'm absolutely stuck with there's absolutely no reason to not just have it all on Windows.
And I know what the child poster is going to say...ditch the sad propriatary accounting package and find an open license alternative. Well, we're a specalized enough industry that there is no way in hell I can get an open alternative that does more than 25% of what I'm doing today with my propriatary system.
So I'm stuck with my crappy windows application which keeps me on windows and office for the frontend, and microsoft on the back end of my network.
So its all fine and good to rally the Linux troops, and try to make inroads into the mainstream, but until they convince "real" vendors with "real" products to support Linux, its all just a fucking pipe dream.
You do know what will happen in this specific case, don't you? The Swiss will now do an open bidding process, and all the linux/open community will bid on it, and they'll be rejected regardless of the fact that it will be WAY cheaper than the Micorosoft bid, on the sole basis that some application that timmy from accounting requires won't work on Linux, and rather than wait through 3 new sourceforge projects with 11 forks over 3 years, they'll buy Microsoft.
I hate Microsoft as much as the next geek, I really do...but the Open community has a LONG LONG way to go before they becaome an accepted player at the table for any company/organization that can't afford to spend the time, energy, resources, and dollars to get programmers building them their "open" applications.
I fail at typing thoughts today.... (a) and (b) should both read ...that [erroneously/correctly] states that what they need won't work...
We now return you to your regularly scheduled linux vs microsoft rant :)
Actually, the sad part is there is probably truth in the parent.
Somebody in the procurement department either
(a) Has a report from someone in their IT Department that erroneously states that they need won't work with Linux, and therefore has to be excluded from the procurement process.
or
(b) Has a report from someone in their IT Department that correctly states that they need won't work with Linux, and therefore has to be excluded from the procurement process.
Unfortunately, that's not a Microsoft Monopoly, in either case. If its (a) then their IT staff suck, not Microsoft's fault, and not making Microsoft a monopoly. If its (b) then Linux sucks for their needs, which again is not Microsoft's fault and does not make Microsoft a monopoly.
This appears to be where I need to comment.
Now, for the record, I agree with Parent...that overall, we probably do not need to panic over this strain.
Now, to give my affiliation, I previously was an elected member of a city council in Canada. I'll leave it at that. Part of my duty was serving on the "Disaster Services Comittee". Effectively, the DSC (or whatever it happens to be called in your juristiction) are the people who are in charge when the shit hits the fan. We're the poor bastards running the show.
Now, pandemic flu is something we've been worrying about for a number of years now. I know I did at least 2 or 3 tabletop exercises regarding a pandemic in my time on the DSC.
Now, the problem is, when a real pandemic hits, we're really in a bad bad situation. I noticed in this thread that Tamiflu is allegedly a successful treatment of this strain of flu going around. The problem though is that there are a limited number of doses of Tamiflu to go around, even with the production and stockpiling going on. And in a real pandemic...I can tell you bluntly that there will NOT be enough to go around, especially since all major pandemic planning that I know of requires that the front-line emergency workers get dosed with anything effective automatically, regardless of whether or not they're actually sick. So the police, medical practicioners, EMT's, fire services, utility services (thats right, Joe at the power company gets Tamiflu before you), politicians....hell, there's probably not enough Tamiflu for even these people. So you, plain old you, are pretty much fucked if you hope that the magical Tamiflu will be there for you if you get sick. Imagine hockey arenas being used as temporary morgues to handle the dead. Imagine the economy grinding to an absolute halt in the worst case scenario, because poeple are either dead/dying or refusing to leave their houses.
A real actual Pandemic is fucking scary, and I'm REALLY hopeful that when it does it the strain has a low morbidity rate...at 5% morbidity we've got a serious problem. At 30% (which was the maximum number we ever used for our tabletop exercises), society damn near grinds to a halt for months or even years, and probably would take decades to recover completely.
Seriously, think about it for a moment...imagine a flu strain being passed unchecked from person to person...lets estimate an infection rate of 50% (copying the 1918 Spanish Flu). So, in a true pandemic, thats a GLOBAL figure. Over the course of 6-18 months, 3 Billion people will become sick at some point. Now tack on a 5% morbidity rate. That is 150 Million people dead globally. The estimated population of the United States is 303 Million, give or take a few. Thats 151 Million people sick, and 7 1/2 million dead. Now contemplate the lost productivity in the economy. Contemplate how to handle 7 1/2 million bodies accross the USA. And thats at 50% infection and 5% morbidity.
I'm not scared about this outbreak yet. But pandemic influenza in general scares the hell out of me.
While I know some exist, most professors these days don't give two shits about "lessons tailored to each class".
Its still a canned script. You're just changing the delivery method.
I don't disagree with what you propose, in theory. In pratice, do you have any idea how pissed off the general population would be if, god forbid, they had to do {something} to make their new {whatever} work with their Windows computer. Lets face it, we all here live in the world of geek, and running an install utility to put a filesystem driver on windows is trivial and nothing. Now put that out in the wild. The average dumbass user would freak the fuck out. There would be reports of virii on mass produced CF cards. Or people wouldn't do it, despite the readme, and then their shit wouldn't work. Then you have to convince everyone...and I mean EVERYONE...to rewrite the software for their cameras, digital photo frames, Wii's, WHATEVER takes WHATEVER media format to support the new standard. And to flash the firmware of every existing device so that it can read the new format (and then you have to tell the population at large how the fuck to change their digital photo frame's firmware, and somehow get them to do it). And lets face it, the first time something doesn't work with a new media card...well, its either the media card manufacturer's fault, or their device's fault, and either way the tech support calls will be many and furious. I admire your idea, I REALLY do. But the logistics of what you propose are so enormously, well, fucked, that there is NO way in hell it will ever happen. We're stuck with the LFN FUD from Microsoft until we can get people off of Microsoft products...which IMHO is NOT going to happen anytime soon. It sucks, but its just not going to happen :(
Why not apply that to airlines too? If you can't search someone when you have good reason to there might as well be no rules on what you can carry around, because they'd all be impossible to implement
You do not have a constitutional right to get on an airplane. They can request to search you, and you have a CHOICE. You can agree to the search, or you can find another mode of transportation. The airlines/security screeners cannot search you without your consent.
The police have the right to "molest" children then? She is protected by constitutional rights, but the police can break those rights all of a sudden? If they had handed her over to the police and the police had performed the search would there be no outrage here? There'd still be outrage, because you'd still see "Strip-search" and "13 year old" and stop checking the facts
If the police strip searched her without consent, without probable cause, and without a warrant, then yes, people would still be pissed. The police can not voilate your constitutional rigghts any more than anyone else can. But if they followed proper due process of constitutional law, there would be no grounds for a lawsuit against the police for breaking her 4th ammendment rights.
See, you're wrong.
To summarize:Kid is caught with a prescription strength advil. Not missing in the school, not "within a group of 13 year old goth girls". One kid is found with (one?) prescription strength advil. Said kid says she got it from other kid.
Asshat school administrator searches accused's stuff, with Accused's Consent. (Whether Accused has the legal authority to consent to a search of her belongings is arguable, but hey, lets say it was proper consent). Nothing was found.
Generally speaking, we are all in agreement that searching her belongings, especially with consent, is a reasonable search.
School administrator, without any further probable cause, and without a warrant, and without legal presence for the accused, or the legal guardian of the accused's consent, or without official police presence, unlawfully confines accused in a small room, and forces the 13 year old girl, in the presence of 2 adults, to remove (most) of her clothing. She is then ordered to "pull her underwear away from her body", exposing her naughty bits to 2 adults.
Thats what happened here.
Now, I'm personally under the belief that the assistant principal isn't a pervert. I believe the 2 female employees are not perverts. I don't think anyone got off on this search. I believe that, at the time, the vice principal probably thought in her mind that the search WAS necessary.
That doesn't mean that this search wasn't 100% fucking WRONG on every fucking level.
I have a phrase for you...and anyone else in the new fascist america to learn. "I do not consent to a search". Repeat after me..."I do not consent to a search".
When you utter those magical words...or even more specifically when you do NOT say "Yes" when asked if you may be searched, NOBODY CAN FUCKING SEARCH YOU WITHOUT A WARRANT. There is of course an exception to this rule - if you are caught with illegal or in the commission of a crime, you can then be searched without a warrant. Otherwise, "I DO NOT CONSENT TO A SEARCH". And refusal to consent to a search is not grounds for a warrant either. Learn your fucking civil liberties people.
This girl did NOT consent to be strip searched. She was not caught in the comission of a crime, nor was she caught with anything "illegal" in the portion of the search she consented to (again, assuming she had the legal authority over herself to even consent to that search). No matter how you look at this case, whether you think a sex crime took place or not, this girl's 4th ammendment rights were grossly violated. Thats what this court case is about, and as far as I'm concerned its the school wasting my tax money, not the girl.
The school is wrong, plain and simple. If it was my kid, your damn right that I would want the book thrown at these people, probably after I threw a few punches. I personally think that despite the fact that no sexual conduct took place that this was still a sex crime...the girl was forced to disrobe in front of two adults for no justified reason. I think all 3 people involved should be tried, and if found guilty sent to prison for a very long time.
And for the record, I don't give two fucks if she was accused of having meth or heroin up her cooch...it is NOT the school's place to conduct a search of this nature. This is the responsibility of law enforcement, under the proper legal guidelines. Hell, I dont give two shits if the girl actually did have meth or heroin in her cooch...it is STILL the responsibility of law enforcement alone, under proper legal guidelines, to conduct this search. Period, end of fucking discussion.
And also, for the record, you're an idiot to think that you can compare changing for gym class to this gross misconduct. Yeah, you have to change into swimwear for gym...but you're doing that without 2 school officials checking out your junk, and you're doing this without 2 school officials illegally searching you for contraband. BIG FUCKING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SCENARIOS.
Microsoft is still doing en-masse audits under the guise of "Software Asset Management". I just went thorugh one at my work.
They're really bastards about it too...you essentially have 2 choices:
#1. Ignore them, or tell them to fuck off. After about 2-3 months they call the BSA and then the BSA comes in and audits everything. And the BSA can be righteous pricks. Own 2 licenses of Adobe Acrobat, and have 2 copies in production...but have both production running copies with 1 CD Key? Thats a tazering (well, not quite a tazering, but they're evil evil pricks who will always find something wrong, and its your ass as the IT Manager/Lone IT Pleeb).
#2. Comply and fork out fistfulls of dollars to Microsoft for licenses you are short, but at least they don't fine you or hit you with punitive damages of some sort.
Thank god I run a clean house...I knew we were legal, and I fired off the audit in about a week, all came back clean, life goes on. But yeah, Microsoft is still being pricks with the audits, and suggesting FOSS is fine and dandy...just get it 100% implementated BEFORE the audit, or you're still fucked.