Hmmm. I disagree with you. There can be all sorts of hangups with plan activation if there is anything funny with your credit report. For me it was a disputed medical bill from a number of years ago on an otherwise clean report.
Technicians in the store have the ability to call HQ to get clearance in situations like this while customer support phone service is much less efficient (my experience dealing with specifically with cell phone companies).
If I am launching a major new product with the potential for activation difficulties I want every customer to know exactly where they stand before they leave the store instead of getting home and finding that they only automatically qualify for a pre-paid or otherwise more cumbersome type of service.
A more tightly phased roll-out would have seemed wiser than this free-for-all, but Apple just putting product in customer's hands without checking for roadblocks to activation seems to be the poorly thought out strategy here.
Don't get me wrong... there was probably poor planning on the AT&T side as well, but I have had cell-phone difficulties and understand why the phone company wanted to deal with those issues up front. It's not like the most of the Apple store customers necessarily got anything faster in the end if the volume of activation problem postings on the net is any indication.
The reason the original site looked exactly like the Exxon site is because that is the group's schtick... and I have wondered before how long they could keep it up.
These guys were written up in Harpers Monthly (Nov '01) for creating a WTO web-site, convincing organizers for an international conference (textile manufacturers?) that they were legitimate reps, and actually carrying through with a presentation at the conference. The presentation apparently included a large inflatable penis, and a gold jumpsuit. The article reported that the presentation was met with a loud ovation and many attendees did not figure out they had been duped.
Fortune also ran a story on the feat which was apparently carried out with military precision down to the last detail.
I am amazed they have continued operating this long... but apparently they steer clear of making definitive remarks that they are official reps of an organization, relying instead on insinuation and the fact that so few people verify sources that appear to be 'real' on the web.
Most implementations of support forums are immature.
Some of the ideas I have seen for improving forum based support are basic... like paying your level 1 techs to hang out in the forums and elevate complex issues to L2 while resolving basic issues via the forum.
Other ideas are more complex and some require more active user involvement. One of the most intriguing ideas I have seen is the extension of in-program help files through integrating support forum threads. There is a lot of overhead involved in classifying the discussions, and some issues related to editing the discussions, but if you are going to answer questions for people it makes sense to make those answers available to everyone else... why maintain two different help knowledge bases (web forum/desktop help)? Why not combine.
In short, I like the potential behind forum support, it just needs more time to evolve.
You hit on the really funny part. There is no re-entry. So why did they send the specimens up at all? I read most of the article but did not hit on any scientific purpose...
TFA reads like Ad Copy. BTW, in case you didn't get as far as I did, one of the scorpions was named Antares by a fifth grade class in Pennsylvania. Aren't you glad I told you?
How do you think those fifth graders will feel when they find out that Antares is bound for a desolate grave orbiting earth for a (optimistic) company goal of 8-13 years.
When is the last time that a major company put security ahead of profits?
Wouldn't it be nice if the internet, the greatest resource created in our time, was actually treated as a vital community resource... to be protected and respected by institutions, public and private alike.
Unfortunately the net and all related tech will be exploited via the path of least resistance...
I am so jaded about my countrymen that the following quote actually made me chuckle:
"The American Civil Liberties Union, another longtime foe of Real ID, said the Real ID requirements were a 'poison pill that derailed this bill, and any future legislation should be written knowing the American people won't swallow it."
I would argue that there is a difference between the philosophy of branding and the reality. You nail the philosophy on the head... use a distinct brand to establish a 'relationship' based on trust with consumers. 'Informed' consumers operate on this wavelength.
Realistically, however, a brand's ability to produce high-quality results is not essential to the maintenance or a brand's power in the marketplace. Consumers routinely prove that trustworthy results are nowhere near as important as simple familiarity.
My primary example of this is simply a common sense example: the two party political system. Current approval ratings show majority discontent not only with the White House, but with Congress as well. This will not inspire most people to look for other 'brands' outside of the two dominant ones... The major political parties play along the same branding rules as most major products, and have been extremely successful in creating bias among voters about what a candidate stands for simply based on party affiliation.
There are many other examples but I think my point is clear. Your point about OSS branding is an excellent one, and I would hope that more and more users begin to educate themselves on the trustworthiness of the products they use. I believe my point about familiarity being as/more important than trust is borne out by the relatively few examples of widespread OSS adoption among casual computer users.
I am interested in what medical techniques they might uncover by examining the evidence. It is reported that this lady not only had bone cancer, but probably liver cancer and diabetes.
What lengths did the Egyptians, so often given credit for advanced medicine for their era, go to to save a ruler considered divine?
Did anyone that modded me flamebait have experience with both systems I referenced? I doubt it. If so, please feel free to respond and thus remove your mod points from my post.
Because I choose pot over alcohol when I want to relax I am a dreg of society? Just out of curiosity, Troll, do you own your own business and support a household?
They were for real. My ass was saved by a 2600 reader who knew I was into code.
Your name was not required on the form, but the teachers issued specific instructions about how to hand the forms forward, but only *after* we had finished filling them out (my school had seating charts for every class). All of the forms were to be handed forward with the student in front placing their form on top of the student in back. Why should that have mattered if the results were to be anonymous?
I thought I was fucked after I heard that. Then I got a whap on the back of the head in the hallway after class. It was the kid who sat in front of me. He called me a fuck-wad and told me he had scratched the shit out of my form.
Other kids got expelled for telling the truth.
After word got around they discontinued the surveys and just brought in drug sniffing dogs. Yes, I was in one of *those* school districts. Too much cash and too little brains.
Kinda like the drug surveys we had to take in high school. They told us that all results would be anonymous... the information was only to help people understand what the 'real deal' was with teens and drugs. Then two weeks later all the kids who believed them got their lockers raided.
Tastes differ... so I will offer up some slightly contrary advice. American Gods was not nearly as good as Good Omens... the collaboration done with Terry Pratchett. Good Omens is a Douglas Adams like send up about the anti-christ and the end of the world.
Just my $.02 for someone looking into Gaiman for the first time.
At the top levels of competition the playing field should be level. If any person can compete at the top level they should be allowed to do so.
There are realities about physical form dictated by hormones that differ between the sexes, but there is also an incredible variation on both sides of the sex issue.
Many women have extremely athletic form, and many men have... uh... not athletic form. On the intelligence front we recently saw a study that suggested testosterone influenced mathematical abilities while lack of it increased verbal skills. But that does not mean that a particular man is better at math than a particular woman.
You can keep segregation in sports so long as there is the opportunity for all humans to reach their maximum potential at the top level of competition.
In America this would mean opening the NBA, NFL, NHL, etc.. to people of both sexes, but keeping the feeder leagues gender separated. And there are feeder leagues. The NBA has the male only NBADL for men unable to compete at the top level. The NFL has the World League which is mostly populated by Americans (I know several) who cannot compete at the top level. The NHL has a farm system as does MLB.
Keep those male only. Keep the WNBA, the WPGA, and all the other women's leagues (there are club hockey leagues, baseball leagues etc..) women only. But if someone begins to rise to the top of their gender separate league they deserve a shot at the true top level of competition. This is an issue similar to the Baseball integration. The 'negroes' had their own league, so why should they be allowed to play with whites?
I know many fem rights activists as my sister is an advocate for the cause (Berkeley based). Many of those ladies get offended by the constant separation of female achievement from male achievement.
So the question is when do we stop. Previously a woman spent 188 days in space. This woman broke that record. Another woman will break the new record. I get the feeling that people are holding up these records as some sort of validation that we now treat women equal to men.
Reality is, we are treating women equal to men when they are judged by the same criteria. The day that I see a story on the/. front page that a woman holds the *overall* record for time in space is the day I will start believing that humanity has come to terms with equality between the sexes.
Then again, my experience conversing with fem related activists shows me that as many women would disagree with this point as might agree.
Just something to think about. In my mind this story is kinda equivalent to the old example of hidden racism... the one related to calling a black person 'well spoken'... which is apparently offensive to many black people (for several reasons) but thought of as a compliment by most white people. If you are unfamiliar with this concept ask a sociology grad to explain it, as I do not have links to the studies.
Am I wrong in thinking this is another overly broad patent good only to intimidate others who want to innovate in the realm of secure computing with Linux interop?
Microsoft is not taking control away from users... Users are agreeing to MS terms when they purchase the product, therefore they are *giving* control to MS.
If your concern was control, then you were using the wrong OS from the start. Show me the version of a MS operating system that gave you more control than Vista, or that you were free to modify. If anything, UAC allows you to programatically control your system more so than ever before.
Anyhow, any person that believes the GPL should be respected (as I do) also needs to respect the TOS that MS sets forth.
You might notice, however, if you read the article, that we are both OT right now.
The point is that Linux seems to require people raising holy hell to get the treatment it merits. Now one of the most successful distros is lining up contrary to some of their biggest potential partners in America.
I am glad they are standing up, I am worried about the results.
the issue does not seem as simple to most the developers that I know. Anyone coming from the world of proprietary code is used to a very simple system of cooperation: pay for rights.
Numerous developers see the GPL licensing issues as a lot more complex than they actually are... but that does not change the fact that there are issues to consider.
Easy example: I wanted to use some custom GUI components to enhance the look of an app, but have no experience in that realm, and no time or inclination to get experienced. It took me a week of sampling packages from proprietary vendors to choose one. Then another week to decide whether to pay the low price for the right to redistribute, or the high price to actually have the code & rights to modify. Easy. What do I want? how important is access to the code? Pay. Done.
Doing the same thing with GPL code would have required me to review licenses already involved in my project, and my future plans for the project (would I have to excise large portions of code if my business model needs to change to be successful... or if someone wants to purchase my already successful company and change the business model?).
Anyhow, the GPL is very good at what it does, protecting code. But your simple statement that sums up the issues actually becomes complex in practice.
Canonical is out of range, but Ubuntu is partnering with U.S. companies who are signing on to this patent protection B.S. Like Dell, for instance.
I wonder what went on behind the scenes of Dell's decision to not allow a full range of support for the Ubuntu machines they are offering. I wonder what will go on behind the scenes of future Linux related decisions by distributors who are aligned on the other side of this issue.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmmm. I disagree with you. There can be all sorts of hangups with plan activation if there is anything funny with your credit report. For me it was a disputed medical bill from a number of years ago on an otherwise clean report.
Technicians in the store have the ability to call HQ to get clearance in situations like this while customer support phone service is much less efficient (my experience dealing with specifically with cell phone companies).
If I am launching a major new product with the potential for activation difficulties I want every customer to know exactly where they stand before they leave the store instead of getting home and finding that they only automatically qualify for a pre-paid or otherwise more cumbersome type of service.
A more tightly phased roll-out would have seemed wiser than this free-for-all, but Apple just putting product in customer's hands without checking for roadblocks to activation seems to be the poorly thought out strategy here.
Don't get me wrong... there was probably poor planning on the AT&T side as well, but I have had cell-phone difficulties and understand why the phone company wanted to deal with those issues up front. It's not like the most of the Apple store customers necessarily got anything faster in the end if the volume of activation problem postings on the net is any indication.
Regards.
The reason the original site looked exactly like the Exxon site is because that is the group's schtick... and I have wondered before how long they could keep it up.
These guys were written up in Harpers Monthly (Nov '01) for creating a WTO web-site, convincing organizers for an international conference (textile manufacturers?) that they were legitimate reps, and actually carrying through with a presentation at the conference. The presentation apparently included a large inflatable penis, and a gold jumpsuit. The article reported that the presentation was met with a loud ovation and many attendees did not figure out they had been duped.
Fortune also ran a story on the feat which was apparently carried out with military precision down to the last detail.
I am amazed they have continued operating this long... but apparently they steer clear of making definitive remarks that they are official reps of an organization, relying instead on insinuation and the fact that so few people verify sources that appear to be 'real' on the web.
Regards.
Most implementations of support forums are immature.
Some of the ideas I have seen for improving forum based support are basic... like paying your level 1 techs to hang out in the forums and elevate complex issues to L2 while resolving basic issues via the forum.
Other ideas are more complex and some require more active user involvement. One of the most intriguing ideas I have seen is the extension of in-program help files through integrating support forum threads. There is a lot of overhead involved in classifying the discussions, and some issues related to editing the discussions, but if you are going to answer questions for people it makes sense to make those answers available to everyone else... why maintain two different help knowledge bases (web forum/desktop help)? Why not combine.
In short, I like the potential behind forum support, it just needs more time to evolve.
Regards.
The point is that the article made no reference to the science of the experiment. It was an advertisement.
You hit on the really funny part. There is no re-entry. So why did they send the specimens up at all? I read most of the article but did not hit on any scientific purpose...
TFA reads like Ad Copy. BTW, in case you didn't get as far as I did, one of the scorpions was named Antares by a fifth grade class in Pennsylvania. Aren't you glad I told you?
How do you think those fifth graders will feel when they find out that Antares is bound for a desolate grave orbiting earth for a (optimistic) company goal of 8-13 years.
Regards.
When is the last time that a major company put security ahead of profits?
Wouldn't it be nice if the internet, the greatest resource created in our time, was actually treated as a vital community resource... to be protected and respected by institutions, public and private alike.
Unfortunately the net and all related tech will be exploited via the path of least resistance...
Regards.
I am so jaded about my countrymen that the following quote actually made me chuckle:
"The American Civil Liberties Union, another longtime foe of Real ID, said the Real ID requirements were a 'poison pill that derailed this bill, and any future legislation should be written knowing the American people won't swallow it."
The emphasis is mine.
*sigh*
Regards.
I would argue that there is a difference between the philosophy of branding and the reality. You nail the philosophy on the head... use a distinct brand to establish a 'relationship' based on trust with consumers. 'Informed' consumers operate on this wavelength.
Realistically, however, a brand's ability to produce high-quality results is not essential to the maintenance or a brand's power in the marketplace. Consumers routinely prove that trustworthy results are nowhere near as important as simple familiarity.
My primary example of this is simply a common sense example: the two party political system. Current approval ratings show majority discontent not only with the White House, but with Congress as well. This will not inspire most people to look for other 'brands' outside of the two dominant ones... The major political parties play along the same branding rules as most major products, and have been extremely successful in creating bias among voters about what a candidate stands for simply based on party affiliation.
There are many other examples but I think my point is clear. Your point about OSS branding is an excellent one, and I would hope that more and more users begin to educate themselves on the trustworthiness of the products they use. I believe my point about familiarity being as/more important than trust is borne out by the relatively few examples of widespread OSS adoption among casual computer users.
Regards.
I am interested in what medical techniques they might uncover by examining the evidence. It is reported that this lady not only had bone cancer, but probably liver cancer and diabetes.
What lengths did the Egyptians, so often given credit for advanced medicine for their era, go to to save a ruler considered divine?
Regards.
Did anyone that modded me flamebait have experience with both systems I referenced? I doubt it. If so, please feel free to respond and thus remove your mod points from my post.
UAC is not a piece of crap. It is a pain in the ass, same as SELinux.
Because I choose pot over alcohol when I want to relax I am a dreg of society? Just out of curiosity, Troll, do you own your own business and support a household?
STFU.
Regards.
"We can't move them up without amending the Constitution (which is very impractical)."
a rriage/index.html
We came within a couple of votes of amending the constitution with regards to gay marriage.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/07/same.sex.m
Regards.
They were for real. My ass was saved by a 2600 reader who knew I was into code.
Your name was not required on the form, but the teachers issued specific instructions about how to hand the forms forward, but only *after* we had finished filling them out (my school had seating charts for every class). All of the forms were to be handed forward with the student in front placing their form on top of the student in back. Why should that have mattered if the results were to be anonymous?
I thought I was fucked after I heard that. Then I got a whap on the back of the head in the hallway after class. It was the kid who sat in front of me. He called me a fuck-wad and told me he had scratched the shit out of my form.
Other kids got expelled for telling the truth.
After word got around they discontinued the surveys and just brought in drug sniffing dogs. Yes, I was in one of *those* school districts. Too much cash and too little brains.
Regards.
Kinda like the drug surveys we had to take in high school. They told us that all results would be anonymous... the information was only to help people understand what the 'real deal' was with teens and drugs. Then two weeks later all the kids who believed them got their lockers raided.
Regards.
Tastes differ... so I will offer up some slightly contrary advice. American Gods was not nearly as good as Good Omens... the collaboration done with Terry Pratchett. Good Omens is a Douglas Adams like send up about the anti-christ and the end of the world.
Just my $.02 for someone looking into Gaiman for the first time.
Regards.
At the top levels of competition the playing field should be level. If any person can compete at the top level they should be allowed to do so.
There are realities about physical form dictated by hormones that differ between the sexes, but there is also an incredible variation on both sides of the sex issue.
Many women have extremely athletic form, and many men have... uh... not athletic form. On the intelligence front we recently saw a study that suggested testosterone influenced mathematical abilities while lack of it increased verbal skills. But that does not mean that a particular man is better at math than a particular woman.
You can keep segregation in sports so long as there is the opportunity for all humans to reach their maximum potential at the top level of competition.
In America this would mean opening the NBA, NFL, NHL, etc.. to people of both sexes, but keeping the feeder leagues gender separated. And there are feeder leagues. The NBA has the male only NBADL for men unable to compete at the top level. The NFL has the World League which is mostly populated by Americans (I know several) who cannot compete at the top level. The NHL has a farm system as does MLB.
Keep those male only. Keep the WNBA, the WPGA, and all the other women's leagues (there are club hockey leagues, baseball leagues etc..) women only. But if someone begins to rise to the top of their gender separate league they deserve a shot at the true top level of competition. This is an issue similar to the Baseball integration. The 'negroes' had their own league, so why should they be allowed to play with whites?
Regards.
There are so many things wrong with your post it is insane.
Regards.
I know many fem rights activists as my sister is an advocate for the cause (Berkeley based). Many of those ladies get offended by the constant separation of female achievement from male achievement.
/. front page that a woman holds the *overall* record for time in space is the day I will start believing that humanity has come to terms with equality between the sexes.
So the question is when do we stop. Previously a woman spent 188 days in space. This woman broke that record. Another woman will break the new record. I get the feeling that people are holding up these records as some sort of validation that we now treat women equal to men.
Reality is, we are treating women equal to men when they are judged by the same criteria. The day that I see a story on the
Then again, my experience conversing with fem related activists shows me that as many women would disagree with this point as might agree.
Just something to think about. In my mind this story is kinda equivalent to the old example of hidden racism... the one related to calling a black person 'well spoken'... which is apparently offensive to many black people (for several reasons) but thought of as a compliment by most white people. If you are unfamiliar with this concept ask a sociology grad to explain it, as I do not have links to the studies.
Regards.
then the creators went and filed this patent: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7103914.html.
Am I wrong in thinking this is another overly broad patent good only to intimidate others who want to innovate in the realm of secure computing with Linux interop?
Regards.
Microsoft is not taking control away from users... Users are agreeing to MS terms when they purchase the product, therefore they are *giving* control to MS.
If your concern was control, then you were using the wrong OS from the start. Show me the version of a MS operating system that gave you more control than Vista, or that you were free to modify. If anything, UAC allows you to programatically control your system more so than ever before.
Anyhow, any person that believes the GPL should be respected (as I do) also needs to respect the TOS that MS sets forth.
You might notice, however, if you read the article, that we are both OT right now.
Just thought I would raise a point.
Regards.
My understanding is that both sides have engaged in tainted, sensationalist reporting related to Arab/Israeli issues.
Kaplan is the pro-Israel writer.
Regards.
The point is that Linux seems to require people raising holy hell to get the treatment it merits. Now one of the most successful distros is lining up contrary to some of their biggest potential partners in America.
I am glad they are standing up, I am worried about the results.
Regards.
the issue does not seem as simple to most the developers that I know. Anyone coming from the world of proprietary code is used to a very simple system of cooperation: pay for rights.
Numerous developers see the GPL licensing issues as a lot more complex than they actually are... but that does not change the fact that there are issues to consider.
Easy example: I wanted to use some custom GUI components to enhance the look of an app, but have no experience in that realm, and no time or inclination to get experienced. It took me a week of sampling packages from proprietary vendors to choose one. Then another week to decide whether to pay the low price for the right to redistribute, or the high price to actually have the code & rights to modify. Easy. What do I want? how important is access to the code? Pay. Done.
Doing the same thing with GPL code would have required me to review licenses already involved in my project, and my future plans for the project (would I have to excise large portions of code if my business model needs to change to be successful... or if someone wants to purchase my already successful company and change the business model?).
Anyhow, the GPL is very good at what it does, protecting code. But your simple statement that sums up the issues actually becomes complex in practice.
Regards.
Canonical is out of range, but Ubuntu is partnering with U.S. companies who are signing on to this patent protection B.S. Like Dell, for instance.
I wonder what went on behind the scenes of Dell's decision to not allow a full range of support for the Ubuntu machines they are offering. I wonder what will go on behind the scenes of future Linux related decisions by distributors who are aligned on the other side of this issue.
Regards.