See, what I don't get about this "stored value" thing is this - why is it necessary to have credit for every trip? Why can't the system total up each trip (therefore only needing an account number, same as ATM or store cards) then at the end of the month or quarter or whatever, send the account holder a bill? It works for your phone or electricity account right? What is the big deal with having to have already paid for your trip? Sure there will be deadbeats who don't pay their bill, but what you do then is cancel their card.
There. Solved the problem!!
Which planet do you come from then? Speed is *EVERYTHING* to the average user. If I had a dollar for every time I heard "This computer is so slow!!" then I could retire.
The government has absolutely no right to watch over its citizenry (with the possible exception of criminals in a jail setting). They are an *elected* representative government, not King Louis XIV or Stalin. They govern with *our* consent, not the other way around. True surveillance (of suspected criminals) can be undertaken, but only upon receipt of a court order, with a defined expiry date. Furthermore, anyone should be able to query the court to see if they are being watched. Hey, if you are a suspected criminal, and you know you're being watched, then you'll be even less likely to commit a crime.
Mass surveillance is the beginning of the slide into totalitarianism. We need to do everthing possible to discourage it.
You'd be surprised at what people like to keep. In a previous life I was sysadmin for a (smallish) research centre. About 90 users, 75% of them phDs. One guy (nice, intelligent fellow, phD in maths or something like that), had a *set* of about 10 5Gb mail files (PSTs). When I asked him what was in them (what could he possibly want with all this data?!!) his reply (which I will never forget), "I keep all email that I ever send or receive!". Yes, this included spam. He never *ever* deleted anything.
As a member of society, I am all for giving the child molesters and rapists a fair go once released from prison
As a parent, I wouldn't have one living within 10 miles of my family if I could help it
Here, let me enlighten you.
It's called Open Office and it is free. Not $300.
I'll let you in on a little secret - what they (Microsoft) "sell" is worth nothing at all. Software is not equivalent to (for example) a bike. To make a bike, I need someone to mine the metals, form them into the correct shape, harvest the rubber, make it into tyres, and then I need someone to bolt it all together. The materials (rubber, metal, glass) all "cost" money. They don't just magically appear. They have to be grown or wrought from the ground. Sure, under our current system of economics, there is a cost for labor, marketing, and distribution as well. So your bike is not free. You can pay the $300 you saved from not buying MS Office, and you have a new bike.
But to create my office suite, all I really need is my brain. Where once there was nothing, now behold! there is an office suite. Sure, it cost some material as well (electricity for my computer, some food for me, maybe a coffee or two) but really these are things that I need anyway - I have to eat no matter what job I do, and if I own a computer I need electricity. So the cost for my office suite only inclues labor, marketing, and distribution. Oh and a couple of bucks for a CD and a cover.
Here is the difference. One item, a bike, created from a heap of hard-won materials. The other, an office suite, essentially created from nothing.
And another thing - If I steal your bike, you no longer can ride it. You are "out" 300 bucks. If I *copy* your Office suite, what harm have I done to you? (Assuming I only copy the programs and not your data!).
The whole "let's charge 300 bucks for Office 2007" (or whatever crap M$ is pushing nowadays) has to be doomed. I mean, I have burnt heaps of CDs with Open Office for friends, co-workers, family etc. Who wants to pay hundreds of bucks to be able to write a few letters and do a term paper or two and have their weekly budget on a spreadsheet?
How is your post modded insightful? It doesn't matter what the blogger did, Google was not required by law to provide the IP address, yet took it upon itself to do so.
Since when are Google the police, or since when do they work for them?
I for one welcome our new insect overlords, and I would like them to know, as a respected TV presenter, that I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
Probably consumers *don't* need to care about partitioning. But, at the very least, they should care about their operating system. And they *really* should care about their browser. Yes, the argument that "it's all tech, why should Joe Sixpack care about it"? "Oh Joe User doesn't care to know the details of his car engine, so why his browser"? Well, I'll tell you why. Think about it for a minute. Yes, the internal workings of a car are extremely complicated. Yes, your body is extremely complicated. So you see a mechanic, or you see a doctor. But in neither of those cases is the expert using his knowledge to spy on what you are doing. Yes, OK, the mechanic may try to overcharge you, same with the doctor, you chalk it up to experience and never go there again. But then that's the end of it.
Large corporates with their computer and web "experts" use the expertise to continually spy on you and track your habits. In this case expertise is not only being used to rip you off once in a while but to set you up for a pattern of ripping off if you like.
Joe User needs to know how his browser works. He needs to care about what is being done with his data, how his habits are tracked and analyzed. Otherwise he is just like the zebra, being chased by a lion. Together, the zebras could defeat a couple of lions. Separately, each zebra is doomed.
Exactly. WTF are we paying M$ for? Get with the program guys, Linux is FREE as in beer. Why pay for licenses you don't need? Yeah, the computer is a tool, it justs works, yada fucking yada. Here's the deal folks - these are computers for KIDS. Now, how many slashdotters have kids? I do, and if you did too you would know that they are very adaptable little creatures. Try teaching them a second language, they will run rings around you. Give em Ubuntu, in 6 months they will be able to use it better than Linus himself (well maybe not but you get the idea!!)Get em while they're young!!. Introduce Linux into the classroom and in 10 years at the outside M$ will be history.
Yeah, they're creepy. Real good reason to imprison them without trial, torture them, and maybe kill them huh?
I have quite a few Chinese friends, and they all agree that yes, Falun Gong are a pretty whacked out cult, more like Jehovah's witnesses than Scientologists. However, in a *free* society you are able to ignore them, let them go on their way.
The Chinese government is scared of any threat to their sovereignty. Similar to JW, one of teh core beliefs of FG is non-allegiance to any "earthly" government. Now do you see the problem here???
And yet -- even in that case -- when I near-bricked my PC from installing Ubuntu, what did they advise? "Go get your Windows CD."
not AGAIN?!
Have you ever heard of Fred Phelps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps/? You know, like how he is so sickeningly anti-everything? Like how he is just so over the top that people can't really believe that he could be for real? Like perhaps he is really an agent provocateur, you know, he's really an atheist who is trying to make fundamentalists Christians all look like loonies??
I think perhaps that you perform the same service for Ubuntu:-)
I have been reading Slashdot for about 5 years, and I think that I have read a total of two articles in that time.
Pretty much I'm here for the comments, which can be funny, entertaining, insightful, educational, boring, stupid, and sometimes even wise beyond belief.
So who else is like me? Anyone?
Locks on contract phones are probably fair enough, since (in theory anyway) the "cost" of the phone is being subsidised by your contract to the service provider.
What's not fair is that the same service provider, after your contract has run out, does not provide you with an unlock code or any other means to unlock the phone. This makes the phone less attractive as a second-hand purchase, so people just toss it and then go and buy another locked phone with another contract....
Once your contract is over, your commitment (if there ever was one) to the service provider should be over and the phone should be unlocked.
Compared to XP, MS Office is not an 800lb gorilla, but more like King Kong.
Come on now, don't you think that if Open Office was 100% compatible with MS Office, companies would use it? And by extension Linux? Why the f*ck would you pay for software when instead you could use other software that would work exactly the same for free?
It is MS Office and Outlook and (by extension) Exchange that crowns Microsoft's dominance, and not XP.
No, you actually have more privacy if government operates it. Government is subject to various ammendments, but individuals or corporations are not. Also, there are various privacy acts that apply to government but not individuals or corporations.
You're kidding, right? Sure the laws apply to the government. But who *makes* and enforces those laws?
I am very opposed to a government monopoly on any kind of information medium. Private corporations, sure. Let them have it. There will always be ways around it, ways to beat it. Who knows, the free market might even "correct itself" and eventually a competitor would come along and provide an alternative service and bingo! no more monopoly. But try and circumvent the government monopoly internet? That's a crime!!
Your trust in the government is naive at best.
In world war two a dangerous power that had invaded numerous neighbouring countries and was armed to to teeth posed a threat to world peace. This is not true of china YET
Slashdot Mirror
See, what I don't get about this "stored value" thing is this - why is it necessary to have credit for every trip? Why can't the system total up each trip (therefore only needing an account number, same as ATM or store cards) then at the end of the month or quarter or whatever, send the account holder a bill? It works for your phone or electricity account right? What is the big deal with having to have already paid for your trip? Sure there will be deadbeats who don't pay their bill, but what you do then is cancel their card.
There. Solved the problem!!
I hate to do a Godwin on ya bro, but this guy had pretty much the same idea.
Which planet do you come from then? Speed is *EVERYTHING* to the average user. If I had a dollar for every time I heard "This computer is so slow!!" then I could retire.
The government has absolutely no right to watch over its citizenry (with the possible exception of criminals in a jail setting). They are an *elected* representative government, not King Louis XIV or Stalin. They govern with *our* consent, not the other way around. True surveillance (of suspected criminals) can be undertaken, but only upon receipt of a court order, with a defined expiry date. Furthermore, anyone should be able to query the court to see if they are being watched. Hey, if you are a suspected criminal, and you know you're being watched, then you'll be even less likely to commit a crime. Mass surveillance is the beginning of the slide into totalitarianism. We need to do everthing possible to discourage it.
That is called doublethink
You'd be surprised at what people like to keep. In a previous life I was sysadmin for a (smallish) research centre. About 90 users, 75% of them phDs. One guy (nice, intelligent fellow, phD in maths or something like that), had a *set* of about 10 5Gb mail files (PSTs). When I asked him what was in them (what could he possibly want with all this data?!!) his reply (which I will never forget), "I keep all email that I ever send or receive!". Yes, this included spam. He never *ever* deleted anything.
As a member of society, I am all for giving the child molesters and rapists a fair go once released from prison
As a parent, I wouldn't have one living within 10 miles of my family if I could help it
Here, let me enlighten you.
It's called Open Office and it is free. Not $300.
I'll let you in on a little secret - what they (Microsoft) "sell" is worth nothing at all. Software is not equivalent to (for example) a bike. To make a bike, I need someone to mine the metals, form them into the correct shape, harvest the rubber, make it into tyres, and then I need someone to bolt it all together. The materials (rubber, metal, glass) all "cost" money. They don't just magically appear. They have to be grown or wrought from the ground. Sure, under our current system of economics, there is a cost for labor, marketing, and distribution as well. So your bike is not free. You can pay the $300 you saved from not buying MS Office, and you have a new bike.
But to create my office suite, all I really need is my brain. Where once there was nothing, now behold! there is an office suite. Sure, it cost some material as well (electricity for my computer, some food for me, maybe a coffee or two) but really these are things that I need anyway - I have to eat no matter what job I do, and if I own a computer I need electricity. So the cost for my office suite only inclues labor, marketing, and distribution. Oh and a couple of bucks for a CD and a cover.
Here is the difference. One item, a bike, created from a heap of hard-won materials. The other, an office suite, essentially created from nothing.
And another thing - If I steal your bike, you no longer can ride it. You are "out" 300 bucks. If I *copy* your Office suite, what harm have I done to you? (Assuming I only copy the programs and not your data!).
The whole "let's charge 300 bucks for Office 2007" (or whatever crap M$ is pushing nowadays) has to be doomed. I mean, I have burnt heaps of CDs with Open Office for friends, co-workers, family etc. Who wants to pay hundreds of bucks to be able to write a few letters and do a term paper or two and have their weekly budget on a spreadsheet?
How is your post modded insightful? It doesn't matter what the blogger did, Google was not required by law to provide the IP address, yet took it upon itself to do so.
Since when are Google the police, or since when do they work for them?
Maddox, is that you?
I for one welcome our new insect overlords, and I would like them to know, as a respected TV presenter, that I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
Probably consumers *don't* need to care about partitioning. But, at the very least, they should care about their operating system. And they *really* should care about their browser. Yes, the argument that "it's all tech, why should Joe Sixpack care about it"? "Oh Joe User doesn't care to know the details of his car engine, so why his browser"? Well, I'll tell you why. Think about it for a minute. Yes, the internal workings of a car are extremely complicated. Yes, your body is extremely complicated. So you see a mechanic, or you see a doctor. But in neither of those cases is the expert using his knowledge to spy on what you are doing. Yes, OK, the mechanic may try to overcharge you, same with the doctor, you chalk it up to experience and never go there again. But then that's the end of it. Large corporates with their computer and web "experts" use the expertise to continually spy on you and track your habits. In this case expertise is not only being used to rip you off once in a while but to set you up for a pattern of ripping off if you like. Joe User needs to know how his browser works. He needs to care about what is being done with his data, how his habits are tracked and analyzed. Otherwise he is just like the zebra, being chased by a lion. Together, the zebras could defeat a couple of lions. Separately, each zebra is doomed.
Hello, I'm Smokes-too-much
Well, you'd better cut down then!
Meh. We'll all be out of a job soon anyway when the singularity hits!
Exactly. WTF are we paying M$ for? Get with the program guys, Linux is FREE as in beer. Why pay for licenses you don't need? Yeah, the computer is a tool, it justs works, yada fucking yada. Here's the deal folks - these are computers for KIDS. Now, how many slashdotters have kids? I do, and if you did too you would know that they are very adaptable little creatures. Try teaching them a second language, they will run rings around you. Give em Ubuntu, in 6 months they will be able to use it better than Linus himself (well maybe not but you get the idea!!)Get em while they're young!!. Introduce Linux into the classroom and in 10 years at the outside M$ will be history.
Yeah, they're creepy. Real good reason to imprison them without trial, torture them, and maybe kill them huh?
I have quite a few Chinese friends, and they all agree that yes, Falun Gong are a pretty whacked out cult, more like Jehovah's witnesses than Scientologists. However, in a *free* society you are able to ignore them, let them go on their way.
The Chinese government is scared of any threat to their sovereignty. Similar to JW, one of teh core beliefs of FG is non-allegiance to any "earthly" government. Now do you see the problem here???
Well Bouvet Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouvet_Island also has one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.bv. And no-one lives there but seals and penguins.
I'm surprised that they don't give Sealand one either. Not to mention the Hutt River Province http://www.principality-hutt-river.com/.
not AGAIN?!
Have you ever heard of Fred Phelps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps/? You know, like how he is so sickeningly anti-everything? Like how he is just so over the top that people can't really believe that he could be for real? Like perhaps he is really an agent provocateur, you know, he's really an atheist who is trying to make fundamentalists Christians all look like loonies??
I think perhaps that you perform the same service for Ubuntu
I have been reading Slashdot for about 5 years, and I think that I have read a total of two articles in that time.
Pretty much I'm here for the comments, which can be funny, entertaining, insightful, educational, boring, stupid, and sometimes even wise beyond belief.
So who else is like me? Anyone?
Locks on contract phones are probably fair enough, since (in theory anyway) the "cost" of the phone is being subsidised by your contract to the service provider.
What's not fair is that the same service provider, after your contract has run out, does not provide you with an unlock code or any other means to unlock the phone. This makes the phone less attractive as a second-hand purchase, so people just toss it and then go and buy another locked phone with another contract....
Once your contract is over, your commitment (if there ever was one) to the service provider should be over and the phone should be unlocked.
Compared to XP, MS Office is not an 800lb gorilla, but more like King Kong.
Come on now, don't you think that if Open Office was 100% compatible with MS Office, companies would use it? And by extension Linux? Why the f*ck would you pay for software when instead you could use other software that would work exactly the same for free?
It is MS Office and Outlook and (by extension) Exchange that crowns Microsoft's dominance, and not XP.
You're kidding, right? Sure the laws apply to the government. But who *makes* and enforces those laws?
I am very opposed to a government monopoly on any kind of information medium. Private corporations, sure. Let them have it. There will always be ways around it, ways to beat it. Who knows, the free market might even "correct itself" and eventually a competitor would come along and provide an alternative service and bingo! no more monopoly. But try and circumvent the government monopoly internet? That's a crime!!
Your trust in the government is naive at best.
I know! I can't believe that I am feeling good about Telstra right now. Ohh, I feel all dirty, time for a shower...
In Soviet Russia, squid catches YOU!!!