My evidence professor told us that one of the old IBM tactics was to respond quite liberally to discovery requests for "any and all documents relating to XXX".
As in trainloads full of documents.
Usually this made litigation go away.
In one case, however (CDC, iirc), the IBM employees noticed that the level of boxes in the warehouse was going down.
Turned out that opposing counsel was quite familiar with the tactic, had anticipated it, and had a small army of paralegals building an index on a DEC.
Much of the information was priviliged, and lawyer-client privilege doesn't have degrees--waiving it is like pregnancy.
The DOJ, in constant litigation with IBM at the time, was quite interested.
A rather ample settlemnt was reached--with the condidtion that the database be destroyed.
It occurred to me last night that I first learned about brake-pumping in the context of overheated brakes, not snow . . . so a steady algorithm would work.
I'd expect liability concenrs come into play in the choice of algorithm--if you can prove that the algorithm you use is superior to all but the very most highly skilled in all situations, you can't lose. If you have a situation in which a skilled (but not top expert) driver could do better, you might face liability. This is just an educated SWAG, though ..
It's been so long since I learned that . . . but I've always taken pumping to involve pushing it as close to the line as you can, and withdrawing before (or as soon aas) it caught up with you. Automatically pulling back was more the safety margin than anything else . ..
The Ford Econoline Van's ABS is a joke as far as stopping distance performance, and I've come to prefer the ABS deactivated in that vehicle even lacking the panic stop safety net
Ahh, swell. That's what mine is . ..
nonetheless, having been with my wife when they engaged, they certainly should have been engaging . ..
Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that an ABS can pump a brake an aweful lot faster than a human leg--I think it's better than 10 cycles/second. That can make up for a lot more disengaged time.
And while I'm tossing in odds and ends, about the worst thing you can do in a crisis is try to pump ABS brakes--you confuse the daylights out of them, making matters worse.
So that's when you say "how much more local than the local post office/my front door/etc can you get?"
I have yet to look at one where I could make a reasonable case that the web order met the criteria. They may well exist, but "local stock" pretty clearly doesn't mean "can be shipped to local" in most of them.
>company is based in New York, especially City (as in, NYC)....
I was nervous about htat one, too--why would anyone in their right mind put an inventory-based mail/web order business there?
However, I ended up paying about $100 less on my camera, and I risked it, and even got useful help (when I mentioned that it was only the wide-angle doubler I needed, he suggested splitting a set of the better adaptors and just taking the wide-angle [which would be the same price as the other pair]. He was wonderfully blunt about which products he did and didn't think were worth the price.).
Anway, fast shipping (I needed it in 2 days for vacation, iirc. It might have landed a day late, so he bumped it to overnight without extra charge) and goood service were certainly not something I'd expected from NYC . ..
Afterward the trip, I added the telephoto doubler (heck, I was having fun:), a set of filters, and another of the entire set for my father. At that point, he credited off most of the extended warranty (we'd found that it didn't cover water damage or being dropped, which was what we bought it for), as it was easier than returning it (the remaining $15 was worth it to me.)
I also checked their ratings on a couple of sites. The negative comments were quite illustrative--golly-gee, people got blurry pictures, and the review sites I encountered explained exactly how those happen with that model (the nut holding the wheel).
that used to abe a problem there, but now they sort by cost+shipping, rather than cost. However, they're not all the way there yet--they fail to eliminate those who have minimum quantities larger than 1 to get the price . ..
. . . those "special" shipping rates sometimes work the other way. I was looking at some batteries at NewEgg. I needed a few packs. They were going to charge me the "special" rate on each and every pack, rather than the *much* less expensive rate that would apply by weight . . . it was only special if you were only buying the batteries, and not anything else.
So you're going to spend an hour filling your cart, and abandon it because you have to wait 10 minutes,
I've abandonded carts even after checkout. In one case, after I wrote the check to get about $10 back, and the clerk snipped, "Writing over is a privilege we reserve for our regular customers." (regular meant having their check cashing card.)
I replied, as I tore up the check, "Selling groceries is a privilege I reserve for stores that let me write over." She didn't quite know how to react . ../.
. . . are abandoned after the shopper goes to netcraft and discovers that he's being asked to put his credit card number into an NT/IIis system? I've had flabbergasted customer support folks when I call to find about alternate payment--they tend to insist "there's no risk; this is a secure system."
I tend to pay the extra couple of bucks to buy elsewhere.
I am a lawyer, but this is not legal advice. If you are trying to get legal advice on slashdot, never mind--go see a shrink instead.
There's a difference between a MAP and a minimum price (which would usually be price fixing). MAP would also become a bigger problem if the manufacturer had market power.
While I'm at it, there may be an issue of not exposing your prices to your competitors' crawlers . . . (though they should be abovle to figure out the basket thing)
A day before I left for an interview, I noted that I'd *just* gone through the soles. Fortunately, the local craftscman could handle the emergency, and had me rebooted by the afternoon!
She complains about our ABS on the van, claiming that it's pulling control away from her as it engages on ice. I've *tried* to explain that she's already lost control before they engaged, but . ..
[Yes, I am aware that there are a very small handful of drivers that can indeed brake more efficiently than ABS. I'm also aware that most people who believe themselves to be in this class are not . ..]
The biggest contributors to the discussions didn't like the idea of CNET charging people for 2-3 years' worth of content that they'd donated for free, with the understanding that others would be able to make use of it for free, and left.
That raises the question of whether or not CNET even *can* put it in a pay section . ..
I am a lawyer, but this is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, contact an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.
You've caught the point where it may indeed be possible to use open source to violate antitrust law.
*If* a company has a monopoly, or even significant market power, and that company releases or backs an open source product to distribute for zero price, and there is a competing "complete solution" for which part of the price is in software that gets replaced by the OSS, then the OSS could indeed be an antitrust violation.
Note, though, that the key here is that the OSS project is being used as a weapon to support or advance monopoly power in another product. There's nothing really shocking there--it would take some sort of special exemption in antitrust law to allow the fact that something is OSS to be a defense to otherwise legal behavior.
A free-standing OSS project would be another issue--it's just another competitor in the market.
The grey case that will take lots of litigation is a monopolist supporting an existing project, yet not becoming dominant, in order to damage a competitor to its own product. My initial guess (though it's quite possible I could be convinced otherwise) is that there could be liability for the company, but not for the project (unless it actively conspired with the monopolist to hurt the competitor).
you will find that when you inserted the key into the ignition, you waived all warrantees of suitability for purpose, waived all liability, and in the case that there was liability anyway, limited it to the price of the software . ..
Slashdot Mirror
I probably won't get all the details right . . .
My evidence professor told us that one of the old IBM tactics was to respond quite liberally to discovery requests for "any and all documents relating to XXX".
As in trainloads full of documents.
Usually this made litigation go away.
In one case, however (CDC, iirc), the IBM employees noticed that the level of boxes in the warehouse was going down.
Turned out that opposing counsel was quite familiar with the tactic, had anticipated it, and had a small army of paralegals building an index on a DEC.
Much of the information was priviliged, and lawyer-client privilege doesn't have degrees--waiving it is like pregnancy.
The DOJ, in constant litigation with IBM at the time, was quite interested.
A rather ample settlemnt was reached--with the condidtion that the database be destroyed.
hawk
And thus the need for a "just plain wrong" moderation category.
.
The mac interface runs on top of Darwin, a *bsd--not "some FreeBSD apps installed." Cygwin runs on top of windows.
OK, not a big difference--just the difference between an application and OS . .
hawk, off to eat soup with a fork, which is just a spoon with some holes attached
hawk
hawk
It occurred to me last night that I first learned about brake-pumping in the context of overheated brakes, not snow . . . so a steady algorithm would work.
.
I'd expect liability concenrs come into play in the choice of algorithm--if you can prove that the algorithm you use is superior to all but the very most highly skilled in all situations, you can't lose. If you have a situation in which a skilled (but not top expert) driver could do better, you might face liability. This is just an educated SWAG, though .
hawk
It's been so long since I learned that . . . but I've always taken pumping to involve pushing it as close to the line as you can, and withdrawing before (or as soon aas) it caught up with you. Automatically pulling back was more the safety margin than anything else . . .
hawk
The Ford Econoline Van's ABS is a joke as far as stopping distance performance, and I've come to prefer the ABS deactivated in that vehicle even lacking the panic stop safety net
.
.
Ahh, swell. That's what mine is . .
nonetheless, having been with my wife when they engaged, they certainly should have been engaging . .
Another thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that an ABS can pump a brake an aweful lot faster than a human leg--I think it's better than 10 cycles/second. That can make up for a lot more disengaged time.
And while I'm tossing in odds and ends, about the worst thing you can do in a crisis is try to pump ABS brakes--you confuse the daylights out of them, making matters worse.
hawk
So that's when you say "how much more local than the local post office/my front door/etc can you get?"
I have yet to look at one where I could make a reasonable case that the web order met the criteria. They may well exist, but "local stock" pretty clearly doesn't mean "can be shipped to local" in most of them.
hawk
hawk
>company is based in New York, especially City (as in, NYC)....
.
:), a set of filters, and another of the entire set for my father. At that point, he credited off most of the extended warranty (we'd found that it didn't cover water damage or being dropped, which was what we bought it for), as it was easier than returning it (the remaining $15 was worth it to me.)
I was nervous about htat one, too--why would anyone in their right mind put an inventory-based mail/web order business there?
However, I ended up paying about $100 less on my camera, and I risked it, and even got useful help (when I mentioned that it was only the wide-angle doubler I needed, he suggested splitting a set of the better adaptors and just taking the wide-angle [which would be the same price as the other pair]. He was wonderfully blunt about which products he did and didn't think were worth the price.).
Anway, fast shipping (I needed it in 2 days for vacation, iirc. It might have landed a day late, so he bumped it to overnight without extra charge) and goood service were certainly not something I'd expected from NYC . .
Afterward the trip, I added the telephoto doubler (heck, I was having fun
I also checked their ratings on a couple of sites. The negative comments were quite illustrative--golly-gee, people got blurry pictures, and the review sites I encountered explained exactly how those happen with that model (the nut holding the wheel).
hawk
If it isn't selling, label it "limit 3."
.
Watch it go fast . .
hawk
We have a word for those people in Las Vegas:
"Welcome."
hawk
There's always
1. Skip price comparison. Wally-world is either less or not enough more to pay for the gas and time you spent.
2. Buy at Wally-world.
3. Watch item break because it was a cheap wally-world item.
4. Bang head against wall, remembering why you keep promising to never go there again.
5. Repeat.
For longer version, see http://dochawk.org/column.041230.html
hawk
> Any store that advdertises a price match policy has to honour it.
.
True--but the policy usually includes phrases like "local merchant" and "in stock" . .
hawk
that used to abe a problem there, but now they sort by cost+shipping, rather than cost. However, they're not all the way there yet--they fail to eliminate those who have minimum quantities larger than 1 to get the price . . .
hawk
. . . those "special" shipping rates sometimes work the other way. I was looking at some batteries at NewEgg. I needed a few packs. They were going to charge me the "special" rate on each and every pack, rather than the *much* less expensive rate that would apply by weight . . . it was only special if you were only buying the batteries, and not anything else.
hawk
So you're going to spend an hour filling your cart, and abandon it because you have to wait 10 minutes,
./.
I've abandonded carts even after checkout. In one case, after I wrote the check to get about $10 back, and the clerk snipped, "Writing over is a privilege we reserve for our regular customers." (regular meant having their check cashing card.)
I replied, as I tore up the check, "Selling groceries is a privilege I reserve for stores that let me write over." She didn't quite know how to react . .
hawk
. . . are abandoned after the shopper goes to netcraft and discovers that he's being asked to put his credit card number into an NT/IIis system? I've had flabbergasted customer support folks when I call to find about alternate payment--they tend to insist "there's no risk; this is a secure system."
I tend to pay the extra couple of bucks to buy elsewhere.
hawk
I am a lawyer, but this is not legal advice. If you are trying to get legal advice on slashdot, never mind--go see a shrink instead.
There's a difference between a MAP and a minimum price (which would usually be price fixing). MAP would also become a bigger problem if the manufacturer had market power.
While I'm at it, there may be an issue of not exposing your prices to your competitors' crawlers . . . (though they should be abovle to figure out the basket thing)
hawk
A day before I left for an interview, I noted that I'd *just* gone through the soles. Fortunately, the local craftscman could handle the emergency, and had me rebooted by the afternoon!
hawk
She complains about our ABS on the van, claiming that it's pulling control away from her as it engages on ice. I've *tried* to explain that she's already lost control before they engaged, but . . .
.]
[Yes, I am aware that there are a very small handful of drivers that can indeed brake more efficiently than ABS. I'm also aware that most people who believe themselves to be in this class are not . .
hawk
The biggest contributors to the discussions didn't like the idea of CNET charging people for 2-3 years' worth of content that they'd donated for free, with the understanding that others would be able to make use of it for free, and left.
.
:)
That raises the question of whether or not CNET even *can* put it in a pay section . .
Feel free to drop by sometime and say Hey.)
And what's the fee for that?
hawk
I am a lawyer, but this is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, contact an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.
You've caught the point where it may indeed be possible to use open source to violate antitrust law.
*If* a company has a monopoly, or even significant market power, and that company releases or backs an open source product to distribute for zero price, and there is a competing "complete solution" for which part of the price is in software that gets replaced by the OSS, then the OSS could indeed be an antitrust violation.
Note, though, that the key here is that the OSS project is being used as a weapon to support or advance monopoly power in another product.
There's nothing really shocking there--it would take some sort of special exemption in antitrust law to allow the fact that something is OSS to be a defense to otherwise legal behavior.
A free-standing OSS project would be another issue--it's just another competitor in the market.
The grey case that will take lots of litigation is a monopolist supporting an existing project, yet not becoming dominant, in order to damage a competitor to its own product. My initial guess (though it's quite possible I could be convinced otherwise) is that there could be liability for the company, but not for the project (unless it actively conspired with the monopolist to hurt the competitor).
hawk
you will find that when you inserted the key into the ignition, you waived all warrantees of suitability for purpose, waived all liability, and in the case that there was liability anyway, limited it to the price of the software . . .
hawk
Quite clearly, it's April 1.
Slashdot, article about cars not crashing, and new windows software to do this.
Clearly my calendar is wrong.
hawk