I would suggest a good DVD writer. There is lots of room, you can schedule backups, and all the people need to do is to remember to put in a new DVD every week or on whatever schedule you/they set up.
As to Microsoft screwing up yet again, it's just funny. Very funny.
Think Allen has rubber chairs to throw around now?
Wow. You take only extreme examples to make your points. That makes your arguments worthless. Invest however you want to. If you think renting is such a good deal, go for it.
However, as previously pointed out, houses can appreciate. In the years before this ARM debacle, houses in some markets were appreciating in double digit percentages every year. It may not pay dividends, but when you sell, if the house has appreciated, you pocket significant change.
And your example of a payment being all interest totally misses the point that the ratio changes throughout the loan. Only if you get an interest-only loan is it all interest. On regular loans, with each payment, you are paying more and more principal and less and less interest. Your example works only for people who buy and sell within a time period such that the house does not appreciate and all they are paying is interest.
A simplistic argument from someone unclear on the concepts involved.
There is another benefit of owning - aside from the obvious restrictions on trashing it so it loses value for the lender (if it is still under a mortgage), you can do with it as you please.
Want to remodel? Do it. Want to add a room? Do it. And if you were smart enough to get a fixed-rate mortgage, you don't have some idiot landlord deciding it's time to milk you for everything they can before too many move out. The look for the maximum rent with maximum occupancy. Too bad for you if that means you (the parent poster renting for $700) have to move out or now you only have $500 to invest instead of the original $700.
I would think that making lending organizations tell borrowers the actual interest rate they are going to pay, how high that interest rate can go -- and that it is variable, not inflating appraisals, and that there is no escrow on taxes or insurance would be a good thing. You know - actually being honest with the consumer.
I would think that is a good thing and not leftist dogma. You disagree? You think it is ok for companies to deceive borrowers about what their monthly payment will be? It seems to me that for those that truly can't afford that variable rate loan, you not only have saved them the grief that goes along with losing a home, but you probably also kept them from declaring bankruptcy, kept them from losing their savings as a down payment they would never recover, etc.
All in all it seems that not letting some of these people into loans that they will default on and all the negative consequences that follow, when they have no hope of affording a house, is actually doing them a favor.
It may not seem like it to you, but if people really cannot afford a home loan, then preventing predatory and deceitful tactics to rob them of their savings they use as a down payment (if they even have savings to use as a down payment) is actually a good thing.
There is the rub. All someone or some company has to do is have an extremely basic backup policy in place and that argument goes away completely.
I realize, though, that probably almost nobody in the general public backs up their data, but what of real value does such a user have? Some lost letter to the editor won't ruffle anyone's feathers if they lost it. Probably the more valuable data would be the working files for tax applications.
But few home users will be putting much effort into a presentation, a database, or probably even spreadsheets except those that track bills, investments, etc.
But I would argue that the last place I want to store financial information is on some generic application server.
Sadly, I've been around a while. I had to rebuild a lot of people's computers when Microsoft put OS pieces in IE and let people find out on their own that if they uninstalled it, they bricked the OS. At the time I didn't know the real reasons that Microsoft was so intent on blowing Netscape out of the browser market when they were pretty much free, but found out later when I read the charges in the first Microsoft antitrust case.
Microsoft has always fought dirty and probably always will. I don't support them any more.
I remember reading that the big reason Microsoft went after Netscape by making Internet Explorer free, then cross-seeding parts into the OS, then their monopolistic trade practices was for exactly this reason - Microsoft saw Netscape as a way to undercut their desktop monopoly.
It's kind of fun to watch them get hit with it again and this time by a much more mature and cash-rich adversary.
Besides, with a perfectly good, free, open source alternative (i.e. OpenOffice) why should anyone put their data at risk by using some web based application? I'd rather have the software local so I can do the work online or not.
I think the web-based model falls flat as soon as people actually look at what is available for free.
Global climate change is real. Deny it until you are blue in the face, but it is real.
And now, as the world hits peak oil with countries like China and India radically increasing their energy consumption (and CO2 emissions), all of the people wasting energy (i.e. gas) in their big-assed SUVs and trucks are helping to push the price of oil and gas to record highs.
Discount global warming if you really need to clear your conscience, but you are also driving up the price for everyone else.
For all the people making fun of how technology levels the playing field, all you need to do is look at how the Iraqis use cell phones to remotely detonate IEDs. Apparently other technologies are being adapted and used as well.
Think you need an actual rocket for a guided missile? How about a big model airplane and a GPS? Did you know that one group of hobbyists a couple of years ago built a model airplane that flew autonomously across the Atlantic ocean? It used a GPS, gyros, and had a satellite radio uplink to report its location http://tam.plannet21.com/.
All the little gadgets and gizmos that are out there give the creative terrorist a lot of possibilities. Think this article is sensationalistic and stupid? Think again. This stuff isn't hard to do any more.
The PS3 CPU is a fairly parallel, very powerful multi-core processor. It has one supervisor and I think eight lessor but parallel CPUs built in. It's basically the future in CPU technology and is being used in some supercomputers. Yep - the PS3 CPU.
You can divvy up the navigation and flight control jobs among the CPUs and have them all talk to each other over a very high speed internal bus. It would probably work very well.
"Premium editions of Windows Vista include a redesigned user interface and visual style, named Windows Aero"
Wow! You mean eye candy that slows down your system and hogs resources is the best thing you can come up with for why people should upgrade to Vista?
And with that you get all the DRM that forces DVDs to lower resolution, slows everything down, and keeps you from even being able to enjoy some of the things you legitimately paid for?
No thanks.
Slashdot Mirror
I would suggest a good DVD writer. There is lots of room, you can schedule backups, and all the people need to do is to remember to put in a new DVD every week or on whatever schedule you/they set up.
As to Microsoft screwing up yet again, it's just funny. Very funny.
Think Allen has rubber chairs to throw around now?
You are correct!
It is a trojan!
Any story that puts MS in a bad light or makes fun of them almost always gets the story about some guy enjoying another's feces.
I guess it's just too early still in Seattle... Maybe they will post it later.
Merry Christmas Bill!
I think Sting has it pretty good - he is rich beyond belief, has a pretty wife, and is into Tantric sex with her. My life should be so bad... ;-)
It could be worse - your wife could be next door, you could be drinking heavily, *and* posting to Slashdot.
You mean bored?
I thought it was pretty cool. NI = National Instruments. I've used their software and hardware for years.
Nope. The robots are here to destroy us - especially our elderly.
That's why there is Old Glory Insurance. It will help to insure the elderly from robot attacks!
http://www.robotcombat.com/video_oldglory_hi.html
Wow. You take only extreme examples to make your points. That makes your arguments worthless. Invest however you want to. If you think renting is such a good deal, go for it.
However, as previously pointed out, houses can appreciate. In the years before this ARM debacle, houses in some markets were appreciating in double digit percentages every year. It may not pay dividends, but when you sell, if the house has appreciated, you pocket significant change.
And your example of a payment being all interest totally misses the point that the ratio changes throughout the loan. Only if you get an interest-only loan is it all interest. On regular loans, with each payment, you are paying more and more principal and less and less interest. Your example works only for people who buy and sell within a time period such that the house does not appreciate and all they are paying is interest.
A simplistic argument from someone unclear on the concepts involved.
There is another benefit of owning - aside from the obvious restrictions on trashing it so it loses value for the lender (if it is still under a mortgage), you can do with it as you please.
Want to remodel? Do it. Want to add a room? Do it. And if you were smart enough to get a fixed-rate mortgage, you don't have some idiot landlord deciding it's time to milk you for everything they can before too many move out. The look for the maximum rent with maximum occupancy. Too bad for you if that means you (the parent poster renting for $700) have to move out or now you only have $500 to invest instead of the original $700.
I agree completely, but as another poster put it, and I agree, most Americans are dumber than a box of hammers.
I believe that a number of them really did not understand that their monthly payment would change.
Are they stupid? Yes. But were companies preying on their stupidity? Yes. Did everyone get what they deserved? Basically yes.
I would think that making lending organizations tell borrowers the actual interest rate they are going to pay, how high that interest rate can go -- and that it is variable, not inflating appraisals, and that there is no escrow on taxes or insurance would be a good thing. You know - actually being honest with the consumer.
I would think that is a good thing and not leftist dogma. You disagree? You think it is ok for companies to deceive borrowers about what their monthly payment will be? It seems to me that for those that truly can't afford that variable rate loan, you not only have saved them the grief that goes along with losing a home, but you probably also kept them from declaring bankruptcy, kept them from losing their savings as a down payment they would never recover, etc.
All in all it seems that not letting some of these people into loans that they will default on and all the negative consequences that follow, when they have no hope of affording a house, is actually doing them a favor.
It may not seem like it to you, but if people really cannot afford a home loan, then preventing predatory and deceitful tactics to rob them of their savings they use as a down payment (if they even have savings to use as a down payment) is actually a good thing.
There is the rub. All someone or some company has to do is have an extremely basic backup policy in place and that argument goes away completely.
I realize, though, that probably almost nobody in the general public backs up their data, but what of real value does such a user have? Some lost letter to the editor won't ruffle anyone's feathers if they lost it. Probably the more valuable data would be the working files for tax applications.
But few home users will be putting much effort into a presentation, a database, or probably even spreadsheets except those that track bills, investments, etc.
But I would argue that the last place I want to store financial information is on some generic application server.
What a succulent target for industrial espionage - work as it is happening, innovations as they happen, possibly patentable ideas.
You can bet everything you have that the Chinese and French would be all over breaking into something like that.
Sadly, I've been around a while. I had to rebuild a lot of people's computers when Microsoft put OS pieces in IE and let people find out on their own that if they uninstalled it, they bricked the OS. At the time I didn't know the real reasons that Microsoft was so intent on blowing Netscape out of the browser market when they were pretty much free, but found out later when I read the charges in the first Microsoft antitrust case.
Microsoft has always fought dirty and probably always will. I don't support them any more.
Ahhh -- the ever present, always predictable attempt to poison any Slashdot forum that puts Microsoft in a bad light.
Which moron are you? Is it Bill or Paul making these kinds of posts?
I remember reading that the big reason Microsoft went after Netscape by making Internet Explorer free, then cross-seeding parts into the OS, then their monopolistic trade practices was for exactly this reason - Microsoft saw Netscape as a way to undercut their desktop monopoly.
It's kind of fun to watch them get hit with it again and this time by a much more mature and cash-rich adversary.
I agree.
Besides, with a perfectly good, free, open source alternative (i.e. OpenOffice) why should anyone put their data at risk by using some web based application? I'd rather have the software local so I can do the work online or not.
I think the web-based model falls flat as soon as people actually look at what is available for free.
How much fun would it be to beam things at politicos speaking at rallies? Confuse them and make them say things they didn't mean?
Or, by targeting the microphone itself, just speak directly to their audience?
Global climate change is real. Deny it until you are blue in the face, but it is real.
And now, as the world hits peak oil with countries like China and India radically increasing their energy consumption (and CO2 emissions), all of the people wasting energy (i.e. gas) in their big-assed SUVs and trucks are helping to push the price of oil and gas to record highs.
Discount global warming if you really need to clear your conscience, but you are also driving up the price for everyone else.
Are like the wild west.
I wonder if advertisers will start talking about blacklisting ISPs that modify content? Or maybe try to find some way to charge them extra?
For all the people making fun of how technology levels the playing field, all you need to do is look at how the Iraqis use cell phones to remotely detonate IEDs. Apparently other technologies are being adapted and used as well.
Think you need an actual rocket for a guided missile? How about a big model airplane and a GPS? Did you know that one group of hobbyists a couple of years ago built a model airplane that flew autonomously across the Atlantic ocean? It used a GPS, gyros, and had a satellite radio uplink to report its location http://tam.plannet21.com/.
How about model airplanes that give you the view from the cockpit for remote piloting to the intended target? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2237947353453839215
All the little gadgets and gizmos that are out there give the creative terrorist a lot of possibilities. Think this article is sensationalistic and stupid? Think again. This stuff isn't hard to do any more.
The PS3 CPU is a fairly parallel, very powerful multi-core processor. It has one supervisor and I think eight lessor but parallel CPUs built in. It's basically the future in CPU technology and is being used in some supercomputers. Yep - the PS3 CPU.
You can divvy up the navigation and flight control jobs among the CPUs and have them all talk to each other over a very high speed internal bus. It would probably work very well.
Nope. Just the master boot record.
"This "article" also shows why you don't let college students write productions systems."
It also shows why you shouldn't trust Microsoft products for critical work.
Their 16-bit error in Excel was just another example. I wonder how many people got tripped up by that?
"Premium editions of Windows Vista include a redesigned user interface and visual style, named Windows Aero"
Wow! You mean eye candy that slows down your system and hogs resources is the best thing you can come up with for why people should upgrade to Vista?
And with that you get all the DRM that forces DVDs to lower resolution, slows everything down, and keeps you from even being able to enjoy some of the things you legitimately paid for? No thanks.