Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Not to put to fine a point on it, but wouldn't it be better to rephrase your sig (w/ which I agree, partially) as, "Athletic Scholarships from universities make less sense than academic scholarships from sports teams might, if they were created to subsidize inner-city youth who excel in mental gymnastics."
Pro-activity could have benefits if it were channeled... off-air.
Appearances are deceiving. Most people do not have anything but vaguest notions regarding the structure or costs of commercial food production, let alone the reasons that smaller decentralized organic growers might be required to charge more for their products in order to compete. The history of agricultural subsidy, the years of compounded profits and diversified investments and the efficiencies of coordinated distribution all play roles in the magical price advantage that "conventionally grown" produce enjoys.
Rather than criticizing the people you believe should be sacrificing more of their wages to support the likes of organic farmers, living wages and local distribution, why don't you help illuminate their ignorance with your informed and well reasoned discussion. Lack of information is a fundamental requirement of Free Market Capitalism. Without it, the ability of buyers to perform their policing function by making educated decisions is subverted, and financial triumph goes to those who feed the (minds of the)ignorant.
It's not doublethink on the part of most buyers, since they don't have access to the information necessary to make it through the initial round. It's just the lowing of cattle headed to the slaughter.
You "don't get it," because you don't read. Walmart's "benefits" are subsidized by the federal and state governments that provide food stamps and other welfare payments to the employees who provide the vast majority of the labor required by the company in their stores. In the mean time they supply U.S. with a nearly endless stream of cheap plastic crap that breaks long before it should.
Granted people exercise their freedom to choose to buy from this behemoth, but it's in no one's best interest that we allow Walmart to cheat people out of overtime, systematically discriminate against female employees by paying them lesser wages, or hire undocumented cleaning workers and lock them in the building in the wee hours while they work. Walmart has engaged in all of these practices, they have been successfully sued for the first and last, and it's been covered in the general press.
Stop politicking for your employer, and go read a book that's not connected with the University of Chicago's Busineess School. In short, pull your head out of * and your stock charts and look around.
Pretty pictures and amazing videos target technophiles, jingoists and children by highlighting the fantasty of man-the-intrepid space explorer. NASA (Need Another Seven Astronauts), needs to early indoctrination and better employee retention materials if they want to have hearts, minds and taxes perpetually devoted to their cause.
The next generation of qualified minds is in play on the web, and video is a compelling medium, as is the argument that space exploration is good for all of us. Also, once captured, even engineers need reinforcement, especially when the goal is the domination of space in the absence of any meaningful analysis of the opportunity costs. The relative value of the trickle-down spin-offs that accrue to the hoards that foot the bill (e.g. softer mattress materials or perchlorate in your drinking water) isn't discussed nearly as much as the flag-waving value of NASA's visible achievements.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the development and use of high technology, but I believe that until we have identified and solved the problems we are creating for ourselves and the rest of the natural world, here on Earth, we should curtail our efforts to hurtle little spacemen into the cosmos. Even finding better ways to justify sending nuclear weapons into orbit to protect us from the unlikely asteroid seems incredibly stupid. By all of NASA's best estimates, we'll never have the opportunity to use a system like this during a period of time when human life will still be present on this planet, let alone Mars.
I agree...
"...it will [should] be harder than ever to justify something like this..."
In the words of late night TV marketing... Stop the Insantity!
Gosh if you are going to use an open standard audio file, you can't be very a very important user. So, who cares if your network performance sucks... after all, M$ sold the OS to the OEM, and you only agreed to the EULA.
Vista audio problems were known prior to rollout. Pops, hissing... they probably heard applause! LOL
They must think people will be happy as long as it comes from such a big powerful wonderful company.
... as long as kids will grow up to fight and die for jingoism, without ever requiring philosophy, biology, Constitution ideals or meaningful participation in the social systems for which most of educational institutions fail to prepare them, there's no need to be concerned.
Move along... there's nothing to see here.
"I know it when I see it" -- Justice Potter Stewart from his concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio.
Go read a book entitled The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity by Maren. He was a man who spent years in Africa working for NGO's, and he talks candidly about the ineffectual programs, the assholes who ran them and the reasons these programs resulted in no net benefit for the people they were purported to help. The reasons included corruption, theft and the general ignorance of the young idealistic westerners who came with a complete lack of perspective on Africa, it's assets liabilities or requirements. It was not as you seem to IMAGINE.
Also, look up the fact that CARE recently announced cessation of the acceptance of donations of food from the U.S. Food Aid program. This is because the tax dollars, which subsidize surplus production of agricultural commodities, depress prices both here and abroad. In the U.S. we perceive the benefits as cheap (low-quality) food, but in countries like Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, where the food staples are dumped on their markets at artificially low prices by NGO's like CARE the result is that local African farmers can't make a market or a living from their own crops. They can't even cover the cost of production, let alone make a profit. The system perpetuates poverty and dependence on hand-outs. No markets develop, no jobs are sustained, and the cycle is repeated.
And what good does low-cost, high-fructose corn syrup based sugary crap do for your health anyway? Nothing. What relative benefit does cheap vitamin-deficient processed white rice bring to you? Certainly it is less that of the brown rice, the quinoa or the millet you could be eating. Perhaps while you are lounging around collecting SSI benefits and supplementing your pancreatic failure, you'll have time to read about the theory of free market capitalism or even begin to appreciate the difference between what you believe to be good and right and that which your super-power government foists on the world. (See: Confessions of an Ecnonmic Hitman by Perkins or Fiasco by Ricks)
Aside from all that, I believe the monkeys have every right to communicate their displeasure and flip the bird at all of humanity. We are over-populating the land, threatening the existence of the rest of the natural world and hogging an unsustainable and growing majority of every natural resource required by life in general. If the monkeys continue to develop their capacity for communication, perhaps they will convey the U.N. about their needs. I have the feeling that it would have more to do with curtailing all the extremist violence of mankind and telling us to back off from our incredibly short-sighted, polluting and wasteful ways than with the ineffectual efforts development Africa's artificial fiat-money-based economies. And they wouldn't be alone. The Vervets could speak for the poor marginalized humans in the slums of civilization, too.
BTW, what's a "zillion?" Is that the requisite number of Hail Mary's that God will make all the know-nothing "Christians" write on the blackboard of intergalactic nothingness before they get to ask St. Peter why they are still in Purgatory after their first eternity waiting for someone to pray for their soul? Or is it your best guess regarding the likely magnitude of our collective cosmic fuck-up here on the paradise formerly known as Earth?
"What do you think of Western Civilization," asked the reporter? "I think it would be a good idea!" -- Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi
The President grants executive powers to do what he wants.
First of all, the Constitution grants executive power to the president. If he steps beyond the constitutional limits of that power, it is the responsibility of the Congress to call him on it and, if necessary, impeach him for the abuse. That is why all elected federal officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution. They don't swear to protect the presidency or the interests of their constituents.
Seriously though, it shouldn't even really be one U.S. citizen that they do this with.
It is that way until the Constitution is amended. Get over it, or get involved in constructing and promoting an alternative.
When does the fear mongering to get broad reaching government powers end?
It never ends... The more important question is whether your Representatives and members of Congress are living up to their responsibility to protect the Constitution and your rights from people who use such techniques (Goebbels' style propaganda) in order to avoid democratic debate.
If Congress had held an informed debate over the U.S. unilateral invasion of Iraq, including the reasons and rationale for and against as well as the protential consequences, we'd most likely be living in a different world. (And many more Iraqis would still be here, too.) Then perhaps many of the questions around the subsequent abuses of power from the Bushies might have been avoided because the administration's use of Rovian style propaganda might have been nipped in the bud. As it is, this administration has done its best to hide their illegal actions from open scrutiny. Subsequently, it hasn't taken much to stall, stonewall or bamboozle this Congress while promoting the same abuses of warrantless surveilance that the the FISA Court was created to avoid, and little or no attention is paid domestically to what our pseudo-Texan cowboy president has done to the concept of international cooperation.
Fear is a tool in the hands of those who wish to use power indiscriminately and without opposition. The difficulty is in recognizing that the story teller is spinning a yarn. Bush has succeeded in convincing too may of us that we are under greater threat externally than he presents internally.
I'm so damned tired of it, and this country has slid so far downhill in the last 5 or so years due to it. Just about every other nation looks at the U.S. in a bad light these days because we're prudish, invasive, annoying, and hipocritical (sic).
Good... but if you think that members of Congress read Slashdot, then you are probably as deluded as any of the loyal Bushies who think they have done great things for "National Security" by subverting the Constitution, waging a massively destructive war in the Middle East without a plan or a clue, and outspending even Reagan. It's time to take your concerns back to your government, and tell them what you support. Aimless whining without thoughtful involved action is just aimless whining.
I'm getting to the point where I want to purge the entire administration from the lowest congressman all the way up and start over. Take out the special interest groups, no corporate sponsorships for campaigns, and get rid of the all the harpy lobbyists. I'm just so sick of it.
Good... When you actually get to that point, see if you can find an electable candidate who wants to support a reasoned alternative that will meet your discriminating sense to Constitutional justice. Then support their candidacy, and if elected, make sure that he/she/it knows your mind.
-- People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better. -- (Ray Bradbury)
The linked article quotes Consumer Reports as claiming that, "Computer viruses have prompted 1.8 million households to junk their PCs over the past two years, while spyware has claimed another 850,000 machines in just the past six months."
That's 2.65 million computers... Even at only $1k/computer, that's nearly 1/2 the $7 Billion loss claimed. Why, because people can't figure out how to rid their hard drives of viruses or root kits? And how was the loss figure calculated? It certainly wasn't on the depreciated value of the asset that was scrapped.
"Give a liberal a ride to an abortion clinic, then have her spayed."!?
Evolution is truly remarkable.... (BTW Were you speaking of a 19th or 20th century liberal?)
Obviously you are an anaerobic extremophile who has developed the ability to swim up through the scum on the swamp of life and commandeer a dumb terminal long enough to display your ignorance in hopes of attracting a mate.
I believe my hyperbole is matched only by your whitewash. You are correct, of course, in that there has been no crime committed in the sense no Chinese law was broken. However, there are U.S. laws broken by Google, Yahoo and Cisco regarding bribery. They are not out the millions of which you speak because those laws are difficult to enforce, even when the IRS has direct evidence. All that aside, aiding a repressive government is at best questionable and at worst wrong in every sense I was taught.
I'm sure the average, Internet-using Chinese citizen would agree that Google had first to choose to ally themselves with that government and then to play by it's rules. We all know that this was profit first; the rationalization comes later. The deeply gray areas of which you speak seem rather darker than lighter, to me. It's only my opinion.
As to the question of fixing the society in which the average Chinese finds themself, there is no question that Google has not the power. However they were not required to assist it either.
"Business seems to know no reason. Get the profit; it's the season! Fa-la-la-la, la la la, la!"
How you come to believe that Google is reasonable or that they are doing "the most good," would make for an interesting discussion.
True enough... Google has a choice to contend with. Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous opportunity, or take arms against the sea of trouble and thereby miss out on maximization of share holder value.
Legal != Evil
IT seems to me that Google IS supporting the Chinese government's internet CENSORSHIP.
The Chinese government controls the routers and IP traffic thereby keeping people from reaching the sites they find objectionable. Google keeps people from finding out about the existence of those sites by striking them from their search engine results.
Last time I checked, aiding and abetting was a crime in this country.
What does no evil mean to you?
God's busy right now. Can I help you? {-: Muahahahaha!!!!
---- Satan ----
How did this POS article become worthy of the title, "News for Nerds?" C|Net doesn't provide news, reviews or insight. Its motto should be, "Advertising is Content!"
Is this what we have to look forward to when editors employed by Rupert Murdoch/News Corp. take over management and dictate policy for the Wall Street Journal?
Less importantly, who really cares what the kiddies think about communication except the people trying to live off the stream of money flowing from their parents' bank accounts, through their vacuous little heads and into someone else's receivables ledger?
Analyzing my hard drive in order to improve the Windoze of Opportunity for the (M)admen is only one step from allowing the Central Screwtinizer into my bedroom to read my diary. Apparently, the founding fathers stopped far short of defining an adequate defense from tyranny, as I cannot find safe harbor from unreasonable search or seizure even on my p0wned hard drive.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the "information" you voluntarily (and/or necessarily) provide to your electronic communications and "service" contractors in order that they connect your calls (phone numbers), route your internet transmissions (IP, HTTP, FTP headers), etc. is NOT protected and NOT private... That's how the phone companies escape liability for turning over all call routing information to the Gov without a warrant.
Since, by the terms of the EULA (thanks Bill), you don't actually own the copy of WinDoze installed on "your" computer, and you must provide information to the OS (a proxy for M$) in order to use your computer, then, in the absence of protective legislation, any information you "willingly" divulge to said provider could arguably be treated as common property. (BTW, you get the burning end.)
I have 3 words for you... TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS
Of course, you have nothing to fear, as long as you are doing nothing wrong, right?
--- Quickly Winston, call the the Savage! And forget the dust mote, get me my Soma! ---
Slashdot Mirror
Not to put to fine a point on it, but wouldn't it be better to rephrase your sig (w/ which I agree, partially) as, "Athletic Scholarships from universities make less sense than academic scholarships from sports teams might, if they were created to subsidize inner-city youth who excel in mental gymnastics."
Pro-activity could have benefits if it were channeled... off-air.
-- Potential is not what you make of it. --
...doublethink at farmers' markets up here...Appearances are deceiving. Most people do not have anything but vaguest notions regarding the structure or costs of commercial food production, let alone the reasons that smaller decentralized organic growers might be required to charge more for their products in order to compete. The history of agricultural subsidy, the years of compounded profits and diversified investments and the efficiencies of coordinated distribution all play roles in the magical price advantage that "conventionally grown" produce enjoys.
Rather than criticizing the people you believe should be sacrificing more of their wages to support the likes of organic farmers, living wages and local distribution, why don't you help illuminate their ignorance with your informed and well reasoned discussion. Lack of information is a fundamental requirement of Free Market Capitalism. Without it, the ability of buyers to perform their policing function by making educated decisions is subverted, and financial triumph goes to those who feed the (minds of the)ignorant.
It's not doublethink on the part of most buyers, since they don't have access to the information necessary to make it through the initial round. It's just the lowing of cattle headed to the slaughter.
You "don't get it," because you don't read. Walmart's "benefits" are subsidized by the federal and state governments that provide food stamps and other welfare payments to the employees who provide the vast majority of the labor required by the company in their stores. In the mean time they supply U.S. with a nearly endless stream of cheap plastic crap that breaks long before it should.
Granted people exercise their freedom to choose to buy from this behemoth, but it's in no one's best interest that we allow Walmart to cheat people out of overtime, systematically discriminate against female employees by paying them lesser wages, or hire undocumented cleaning workers and lock them in the building in the wee hours while they work. Walmart has engaged in all of these practices, they have been successfully sued for the first and last, and it's been covered in the general press.
Stop politicking for your employer, and go read a book that's not connected with the University of Chicago's Busineess School. In short, pull your head out of * and your stock charts and look around.
Pretty pictures and amazing videos target technophiles, jingoists and children by highlighting the fantasty of man-the-intrepid space explorer. NASA (Need Another Seven Astronauts), needs to early indoctrination and better employee retention materials if they want to have hearts, minds and taxes perpetually devoted to their cause.
The next generation of qualified minds is in play on the web, and video is a compelling medium, as is the argument that space exploration is good for all of us. Also, once captured, even engineers need reinforcement, especially when the goal is the domination of space in the absence of any meaningful analysis of the opportunity costs. The relative value of the trickle-down spin-offs that accrue to the hoards that foot the bill (e.g. softer mattress materials or perchlorate in your drinking water) isn't discussed nearly as much as the flag-waving value of NASA's visible achievements.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the development and use of high technology, but I believe that until we have identified and solved the problems we are creating for ourselves and the rest of the natural world, here on Earth, we should curtail our efforts to hurtle little spacemen into the cosmos. Even finding better ways to justify sending nuclear weapons into orbit to protect us from the unlikely asteroid seems incredibly stupid. By all of NASA's best estimates, we'll never have the opportunity to use a system like this during a period of time when human life will still be present on this planet, let alone Mars.
I agree...
"...it will [should] be harder than ever to justify something like this..."In the words of late night TV marketing... Stop the Insantity!
Gosh if you are going to use an open standard audio file, you can't be very a very important user. So, who cares if your network performance sucks... after all, M$ sold the OS to the OEM, and you only agreed to the EULA.
Vista audio problems were known prior to rollout. Pops, hissing... they probably heard applause! LOL
They must think people will be happy as long as it comes from such a big powerful wonderful company.
... as long as kids will grow up to fight and die for jingoism, without ever requiring philosophy, biology, Constitution ideals or meaningful participation in the social systems for which most of educational institutions fail to prepare them, there's no need to be concerned.
Move along... there's nothing to see here.
"I know it when I see it" -- Justice Potter Stewart from his concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio.
Hey...
Go read a book entitled The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity by Maren. He was a man who spent years in Africa working for NGO's, and he talks candidly about the ineffectual programs, the assholes who ran them and the reasons these programs resulted in no net benefit for the people they were purported to help. The reasons included corruption, theft and the general ignorance of the young idealistic westerners who came with a complete lack of perspective on Africa, it's assets liabilities or requirements. It was not as you seem to IMAGINE.
Also, look up the fact that CARE recently announced cessation of the acceptance of donations of food from the U.S. Food Aid program. This is because the tax dollars, which subsidize surplus production of agricultural commodities, depress prices both here and abroad. In the U.S. we perceive the benefits as cheap (low-quality) food, but in countries like Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, where the food staples are dumped on their markets at artificially low prices by NGO's like CARE the result is that local African farmers can't make a market or a living from their own crops. They can't even cover the cost of production, let alone make a profit. The system perpetuates poverty and dependence on hand-outs. No markets develop, no jobs are sustained, and the cycle is repeated.
And what good does low-cost, high-fructose corn syrup based sugary crap do for your health anyway? Nothing. What relative benefit does cheap vitamin-deficient processed white rice bring to you? Certainly it is less that of the brown rice, the quinoa or the millet you could be eating. Perhaps while you are lounging around collecting SSI benefits and supplementing your pancreatic failure, you'll have time to read about the theory of free market capitalism or even begin to appreciate the difference between what you believe to be good and right and that which your super-power government foists on the world. (See: Confessions of an Ecnonmic Hitman by Perkins or Fiasco by Ricks)
Aside from all that, I believe the monkeys have every right to communicate their displeasure and flip the bird at all of humanity. We are over-populating the land, threatening the existence of the rest of the natural world and hogging an unsustainable and growing majority of every natural resource required by life in general. If the monkeys continue to develop their capacity for communication, perhaps they will convey the U.N. about their needs. I have the feeling that it would have more to do with curtailing all the extremist violence of mankind and telling us to back off from our incredibly short-sighted, polluting and wasteful ways than with the ineffectual efforts development Africa's artificial fiat-money-based economies. And they wouldn't be alone. The Vervets could speak for the poor marginalized humans in the slums of civilization, too.
BTW, what's a "zillion?" Is that the requisite number of Hail Mary's that God will make all the know-nothing "Christians" write on the blackboard of intergalactic nothingness before they get to ask St. Peter why they are still in Purgatory after their first eternity waiting for someone to pray for their soul? Or is it your best guess regarding the likely magnitude of our collective cosmic fuck-up here on the paradise formerly known as Earth?
"What do you think of Western Civilization," asked the reporter? "I think it would be a good idea!"
-- Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi
First of all, the Constitution grants executive power to the president. If he steps beyond the constitutional limits of that power, it is the responsibility of the Congress to call him on it and, if necessary, impeach him for the abuse. That is why all elected federal officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution. They don't swear to protect the presidency or the interests of their constituents.
Seriously though, it shouldn't even really be one U.S. citizen that they do this with.It is that way until the Constitution is amended. Get over it, or get involved in constructing and promoting an alternative.
When does the fear mongering to get broad reaching government powers end?It never ends... The more important question is whether your Representatives and members of Congress are living up to their responsibility to protect the Constitution and your rights from people who use such techniques (Goebbels' style propaganda) in order to avoid democratic debate.
If Congress had held an informed debate over the U.S. unilateral invasion of Iraq, including the reasons and rationale for and against as well as the protential consequences, we'd most likely be living in a different world. (And many more Iraqis would still be here, too.) Then perhaps many of the questions around the subsequent abuses of power from the Bushies might have been avoided because the administration's use of Rovian style propaganda might have been nipped in the bud. As it is, this administration has done its best to hide their illegal actions from open scrutiny. Subsequently, it hasn't taken much to stall, stonewall or bamboozle this Congress while promoting the same abuses of warrantless surveilance that the the FISA Court was created to avoid, and little or no attention is paid domestically to what our pseudo-Texan cowboy president has done to the concept of international cooperation.
Fear is a tool in the hands of those who wish to use power indiscriminately and without opposition. The difficulty is in recognizing that the story teller is spinning a yarn. Bush has succeeded in convincing too may of us that we are under greater threat externally than he presents internally.
I'm so damned tired of it, and this country has slid so far downhill in the last 5 or so years due to it. Just about every other nation looks at the U.S. in a bad light these days because we're prudish, invasive, annoying, and hipocritical (sic).Good... but if you think that members of Congress read Slashdot, then you are probably as deluded as any of the loyal Bushies who think they have done great things for "National Security" by subverting the Constitution, waging a massively destructive war in the Middle East without a plan or a clue, and outspending even Reagan. It's time to take your concerns back to your government, and tell them what you support. Aimless whining without thoughtful involved action is just aimless whining.
I'm getting to the point where I want to purge the entire administration from the lowest congressman all the way up and start over. Take out the special interest groups, no corporate sponsorships for campaigns, and get rid of the all the harpy lobbyists. I'm just so sick of it.
Good... When you actually get to that point, see if you can find an electable candidate who wants to support a reasoned alternative that will meet your discriminating sense to Constitutional justice. Then support their candidacy, and if elected, make sure that he/she/it knows your mind.-- People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better. -- (Ray Bradbury)
The linked article quotes Consumer Reports as claiming that, "Computer viruses have prompted 1.8 million households to junk their PCs over the past two years, while spyware has claimed another 850,000 machines in just the past six months."
That's 2.65 million computers... Even at only $1k/computer, that's nearly 1/2 the $7 Billion loss claimed. Why, because people can't figure out how to rid their hard drives of viruses or root kits? And how was the loss figure calculated? It certainly wasn't on the depreciated value of the asset that was scrapped.
When did /. get into the FUD game?
--- Get off my lawn! ---
"Give a liberal a ride to an abortion clinic, then have her spayed." !?
Evolution is truly remarkable.... (BTW Were you speaking of a 19th or 20th century liberal?)
Obviously you are an anaerobic extremophile who has developed the ability to swim up through the scum on the swamp of life and commandeer a dumb terminal long enough to display your ignorance in hopes of attracting a mate.
I believe my hyperbole is matched only by your whitewash. You are correct, of course, in that there has been no crime committed in the sense no Chinese law was broken. However, there are U.S. laws broken by Google, Yahoo and Cisco regarding bribery. They are not out the millions of which you speak because those laws are difficult to enforce, even when the IRS has direct evidence. All that aside, aiding a repressive government is at best questionable and at worst wrong in every sense I was taught.
I'm sure the average, Internet-using Chinese citizen would agree that Google had first to choose to ally themselves with that government and then to play by it's rules. We all know that this was profit first; the rationalization comes later. The deeply gray areas of which you speak seem rather darker than lighter, to me. It's only my opinion.
As to the question of fixing the society in which the average Chinese finds themself, there is no question that Google has not the power. However they were not required to assist it either.
"Business seems to know no reason. Get the profit; it's the season! Fa-la-la-la, la la la, la!"
How you come to believe that Google is reasonable or that they are doing "the most good," would make for an interesting discussion.
True enough... Google has a choice to contend with. Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous opportunity, or take arms against the sea of trouble and thereby miss out on maximization of share holder value. Legal != Evil
Are any of the ads for Open Office, or is this "strategy" just one large advertising campaign?
IT seems to me that Google IS supporting the Chinese government's internet CENSORSHIP.
The Chinese government controls the routers and IP traffic thereby keeping people from reaching the sites they find objectionable. Google keeps people from finding out about the existence of those sites by striking them from their search engine results. Last time I checked, aiding and abetting was a crime in this country.
What does no evil mean to you?
God's busy right now. Can I help you? {-: Muahahahaha!!!!
---- Satan ----
How did this POS article become worthy of the title, "News for Nerds?" C|Net doesn't provide news, reviews or insight. Its motto should be, "Advertising is Content!"
Is this what we have to look forward to when editors employed by Rupert Murdoch/News Corp. take over management and dictate policy for the Wall Street Journal?
Less importantly, who really cares what the kiddies think about communication except the people trying to live off the stream of money flowing from their parents' bank accounts, through their vacuous little heads and into someone else's receivables ledger?
Get Off My Lawn!
Analyzing my hard drive in order to improve the Windoze of Opportunity for the (M)admen is only one step from allowing the Central Screwtinizer into my bedroom to read my diary. Apparently, the founding fathers stopped far short of defining an adequate defense from tyranny, as I cannot find safe harbor from unreasonable search or seizure even on my p0wned hard drive.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the "information" you voluntarily (and/or necessarily) provide to your electronic communications and "service" contractors in order that they connect your calls (phone numbers), route your internet transmissions (IP, HTTP, FTP headers), etc. is NOT protected and NOT private... That's how the phone companies escape liability for turning over all call routing information to the Gov without a warrant.
Since, by the terms of the EULA (thanks Bill), you don't actually own the copy of WinDoze installed on "your" computer, and you must provide information to the OS (a proxy for M$) in order to use your computer, then, in the absence of protective legislation, any information you "willingly" divulge to said provider could arguably be treated as common property. (BTW, you get the burning end.)
I have 3 words for you... TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS
Of course, you have nothing to fear, as long as you are doing nothing wrong, right?
--- Quickly Winston, call the the Savage! And forget the dust mote, get me my Soma! ---