...one of the latest additions to their arsenal: business method/software patents.
One of the more repugnant aspects of laws that allow the kinds of abuse we've seen is that if they are allowed to continue for any length of time, correcting it is next to impossible, since it will entail fighting the massive numbers of entrenched interests that have been allowed to accumulate. A trained monkey can create horrible, even destructive legal policy. Cleaning up the mess...well, that will require more than we can probably get from many of our current legislators.
Let's not forget that WE, as consumers, as humans capable of exercising various degress of discipline, hold the key as to whether or not ANY of these policies and/or practices will survive. Hint: a company can't survive long without revenue, no matter how many laws are in place to "protect" it. This will always be the ace up our sleeve- we just need to be prepared to play our hand.
if C# works better than Visual Basic for a specific task, so be it.
I always see mention of "suitability for specific tasks" with respect to different programming languages, I've never seen anyone explain which languages are best for which tasks, much less why. If anyone can spill some wisdom, I'm all ears (er, eyes, I guess).
You just gave me an idea - if you really want to screw up the demographics and render the information they collect completely useless (or nearly so), it would be damned funny to set up the means to swap cards with complete strangers. Of course, this would presume that no personally identifying information was used to acquire the card to begin with, but I imagine it's entirely possible.
Get up off your ass and SERVE YOUR CUSTOMERS. Do business in a way that will make customers WANT to keep you as their source.
That's what really gets me about this crap- it's just another form of vendor lock-in. I can't do it one way because someone "owns" it, so I either pay them to do their job for them, or I find another way. The reason people want method patents is simple...they want to be able to stop after only half the job is done and still walk away with a pile of money.
Remember something...the US did superbly WITHOUT business method patents up until 1998. Here's a good article that appeared in The New Yorker Magazine, that explains the issue quite nicely.
If any of that data is indexed, I'd imagine the indexes alone could require a substantial amount of storage space. When you factor out the indexes and other interim data (used for management or aggregation), how much REAL data is left?
It also makes me wonder if Walmart isn't either buying or aggregating data from other sources. I can't say it would surprise me, since no legislator seems to give a rats ass about protecting consumers.
I have proposed simple solutions to these issues several times. 1. No editing after 10 minutes. 2. If, within that 10- minute period the post is edited, any mod received up to that point points are lost. 3. No need for points to go back to a moderator. Simple stuff.
It might interest people to know that according to an article in USA Today, EA CEO, Mr. Lawrence Probst, III, pocketed $696,535 in salary last year, with an additional $1.1 million in bonuses. Mr. Probst also retained $15.2 million in options in 2003, bringing the total compensation to well over $17 million.
Seems to me that Mr. Probst needs to have his wang reeled in.
The same kind of thing happened to me, only the culprit was some half-baked company in California who claimed that I had authorized them to list my company on their website - for a small monthly fee of course. I just called the phone company and told them that the charges were unauthorized. after which they promptly adjusted the balance. The only problem is that they can't block charges, they can only remove them. Eventually I had to call the company and rip someone a new one...it was quite an amusing conversation...they told me that I had authorized them to bill me by cashing a $2.00 check they had sent. Yeah, like I'm that hard up. Only thing is they were at a loss for words when I pointed out that my company wasn't even listed as they had claimed. Case closed.
That's like saying that in order for IBM to sell mainframes to large and medium-sized corporate customers, they have to gain the mindshare of home users. There are two different markets here, and the one of interest is business-to-business. While I might agree that getting mindshare of the home user might be important in some cases, I don't think an enterprise information system is one of them.
I thought it was common knowledge that rural America is the hotbed of education and intellectual acuity needed for today's technology.
Joking aside, if Sun and Microsoft keep up their push for "graphic programmers" (ala the 'visual' stuff), anyone with a brain can draw boxes and connect the dots.
I guess I'more unamerican than you are. I use a debit card, which means that I only upgrade when, and only when, the money is in my account.
As far has the practicality of it it all - it depends on what you're using it for. If you're producing 3D raytraced renderings, then you'll be upgrading any time it makes sense to take advantage of the increased CPU power and higher memory capacity. If you're just fetching email and checking out sports scores, well, you can get by with a lot less.
Their disposition is what they deserve. I have pursued programming/computer-related endeavors as a passion practically since I entered the workforce. Though I could have made a killing during the internet boom, I didn't. Why? Because it wasn't too long before I realized what was going on. Working with a bunch of people with "skillz" on a project that had no real business model, even if it would have made me a lot of money, did not appeal to me.
I anticipate being in the market soon, either looking for employment, or bringing my company back to life. It will be interesting to see what things are like now.
English may not be his first language, but the point he makes is worth considering. "IT" seems to be a catch-all phrase that has anything to computers - from the very technical, to the very non-technical. To say that "IT jobs are declining" is like saying that "fewer people are dying". Both cases may be accurate, but the vagueness severely limits their usefulness to make any reasonable determination about what's really going on.
An option that seemed a little less evil was to to use Albertson's, which has the cards, but has never required anyone to fill in the information. The only thing tha still bothers me about this is that it's easy to aggregate all the purchases under that one ID, even if you don't know who they belong to. Also, I don't make the mistake of paying with a credit card - it's cash all the way.
I had a friend buy several computer parts from Newegg. He returned his graphics card about 3 different times - once because it didn't work, another because it didn't work well enough, and I forget the other reason. He still ended up with a graphics card from Newegg, it was just that it took him three tries to get one that worked, and that he liked. I don't see a problem with this.
Just the same, I believe that retailers have every right to limit their dealings with abusive customers. I knew one guy who purchased a leather couch (probably over $1500), and got a young cat shortly thereafter. The cat took to sharpening its claws on the back corner, so after he discovered this, he got rid of the cat, and returned the couch, telling them that the damage there when he received it.
After seeing this and other similar incidents, I firmly believe that most true-blooded Americans will avoid taking responsibility when they can get away with it, and try to get whatever they can without paying for it (not just monetarily, either). There's no reason retailers should have to fund this nonsense.
boggles my mind that electronic voting was ever considered without them.
And is still being considered. That's what happens when you get self-serving politicians making very unfortunate decisions. After all that's been said about Diebold, security, the dangers of having proprietary software govern the voting process, and the lack of quality control, I can't believe that ANY government in the US is still buying. But they are.
Actually that would be an interesting OS project - voting software.
... every time I fetch my mail from one of my accounts with a well-known service provider. According to these phishing schemes, my account with my provider has been cancelled for failing to "update my credit card information" at least five times now. In this case, all it takes is just a second or two to THINK before acting. Admittedly this is a far cry from the extortion mentioned in the article, but people need to start taking some responsibility.
"You must accept the enclosed License Agreement before you can use this product. If you do not accept thte terms of the License Agreement, you should promptly return the product for a refund.",
I tried this once at CompUSA...the manager of the store at which purchased the software told me he couldn't take it back because it had been opened, and I had to open it to see the license. How totally , utterly, and completely STUPID. But, factoring into the equation that it was a Microsoft product, it all makes sense.
Eventually I did get the manager at another location to take it back if I did not agree with the licensing terms.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe someone else can patent isNot, or isnot, or isNOT, or ISnot, or....
One of the more repugnant aspects of laws that allow the kinds of abuse we've seen is that if they are allowed to continue for any length of time, correcting it is next to impossible, since it will entail fighting the massive numbers of entrenched interests that have been allowed to accumulate. A trained monkey can create horrible, even destructive legal policy. Cleaning up the mess...well, that will require more than we can probably get from many of our current legislators.
Let's not forget that WE, as consumers, as humans capable of exercising various degress of discipline, hold the key as to whether or not ANY of these policies and/or practices will survive. Hint: a company can't survive long without revenue, no matter how many laws are in place to "protect" it. This will always be the ace up our sleeve- we just need to be prepared to play our hand.
if C# works better than Visual Basic for a specific task, so be it.
I always see mention of "suitability for specific tasks" with respect to different programming languages, I've never seen anyone explain which languages are best for which tasks, much less why. If anyone can spill some wisdom, I'm all ears (er, eyes, I guess).
You just gave me an idea - if you really want to screw up the demographics and render the information they collect completely useless (or nearly so), it would be damned funny to set up the means to swap cards with complete strangers. Of course, this would presume that no personally identifying information was used to acquire the card to begin with, but I imagine it's entirely possible.
Sorry - I neglected to take into account any potential geographic differences...I'm in the US so there could easily be a major discrepancy.
The difference between using the card and not using the card can be anywhere from 25% - 40% depending on what's on sale, and how badly I need it.
It's because of the cards that I haven't stepped foot in a Kroger store for a few years now.
Get up off your ass and SERVE YOUR CUSTOMERS. Do business in a way that will make customers WANT to keep you as their source.
That's what really gets me about this crap- it's just another form of vendor lock-in. I can't do it one way because someone "owns" it, so I either pay them to do their job for them, or I find another way. The reason people want method patents is simple...they want to be able to stop after only half the job is done and still walk away with a pile of money.
Remember something...the US did superbly WITHOUT business method patents up until 1998. Here's a good article that appeared in The New Yorker Magazine, that explains the issue quite nicely.
If any of that data is indexed, I'd imagine the indexes alone could require a substantial amount of storage space. When you factor out the indexes and other interim data (used for management or aggregation), how much REAL data is left?
It also makes me wonder if Walmart isn't either buying or aggregating data from other sources. I can't say it would surprise me, since no legislator seems to give a rats ass about protecting consumers.
I have proposed simple solutions to these issues several times. 1. No editing after 10 minutes. 2. If, within that 10- minute period the post is edited, any mod received up to that point points are lost. 3. No need for points to go back to a moderator. Simple stuff.
It might interest people to know that according to an article in USA Today, EA CEO, Mr. Lawrence Probst, III, pocketed $696,535 in salary last year, with an additional $1.1 million in bonuses. Mr. Probst also retained $15.2 million in options in 2003, bringing the total compensation to well over $17 million.
Seems to me that Mr. Probst needs to have his wang reeled in.
The same kind of thing happened to me, only the culprit was some half-baked company in California who claimed that I had authorized them to list my company on their website - for a small monthly fee of course. I just called the phone company and told them that the charges were unauthorized. after which they promptly adjusted the balance. The only problem is that they can't block charges, they can only remove them. Eventually I had to call the company and rip someone a new one...it was quite an amusing conversation...they told me that I had authorized them to bill me by cashing a $2.00 check they had sent. Yeah, like I'm that hard up. Only thing is they were at a loss for words when I pointed out that my company wasn't even listed as they had claimed. Case closed.
That's like saying that in order for IBM to sell mainframes to large and medium-sized corporate customers, they have to gain the mindshare of home users. There are two different markets here, and the one of interest is business-to-business. While I might agree that getting mindshare of the home user might be important in some cases, I don't think an enterprise information system is one of them.
I thought it was common knowledge that rural America is the hotbed of education and intellectual acuity needed for today's technology.
Joking aside, if Sun and Microsoft keep up their push for "graphic programmers" (ala the 'visual' stuff), anyone with a brain can draw boxes and connect the dots.
Next up: Medicine.
I guess I'more unamerican than you are. I use a debit card, which means that I only upgrade when, and only when, the money is in my account.
As far has the practicality of it it all - it depends on what you're using it for. If you're producing 3D raytraced renderings, then you'll be upgrading any time it makes sense to take advantage of the increased CPU power and higher memory capacity. If you're just fetching email and checking out sports scores, well, you can get by with a lot less.
Their disposition is what they deserve. I have pursued programming/computer-related endeavors as a passion practically since I entered the workforce. Though I could have made a killing during the internet boom, I didn't. Why? Because it wasn't too long before I realized what was going on. Working with a bunch of people with "skillz" on a project that had no real business model, even if it would have made me a lot of money, did not appeal to me.
I anticipate being in the market soon, either looking for employment, or bringing my company back to life. It will be interesting to see what things are like now.
English may not be his first language, but the point he makes is worth considering. "IT" seems to be a catch-all phrase that has anything to computers - from the very technical, to the very non-technical. To say that "IT jobs are declining" is like saying that "fewer people are dying". Both cases may be accurate, but the vagueness severely limits their usefulness to make any reasonable determination about what's really going on.
An option that seemed a little less evil was to to use Albertson's, which has the cards, but has never required anyone to fill in the information. The only thing tha still bothers me about this is that it's easy to aggregate all the purchases under that one ID, even if you don't know who they belong to. Also, I don't make the mistake of paying with a credit card - it's cash all the way.
I had a friend buy several computer parts from Newegg. He returned his graphics card about 3 different times - once because it didn't work, another because it didn't work well enough, and I forget the other reason. He still ended up with a graphics card from Newegg, it was just that it took him three tries to get one that worked, and that he liked. I don't see a problem with this.
Just the same, I believe that retailers have every right to limit their dealings with abusive customers. I knew one guy who purchased a leather couch (probably over $1500), and got a young cat shortly thereafter. The cat took to sharpening its claws on the back corner, so after he discovered this, he got rid of the cat, and returned the couch, telling them that the damage there when he received it.
After seeing this and other similar incidents, I firmly believe that most true-blooded Americans will avoid taking responsibility when they can get away with it, and try to get whatever they can without paying for it (not just monetarily, either). There's no reason retailers should have to fund this nonsense.
boggles my mind that electronic voting was ever considered without them.
And is still being considered. That's what happens when you get self-serving politicians making very unfortunate decisions. After all that's been said about Diebold, security, the dangers of having proprietary software govern the voting process, and the lack of quality control, I can't believe that ANY government in the US is still buying. But they are.
Actually that would be an interesting OS project - voting software.
Buy it for the same price at Nerdbooks.com
Unlike Amazon, they don't hold any stupid "one-click" patents, and I've received EXCELLENT service every time I've ordered from them.
Maybe it was nature's way of telling me to take the metro to work that day. ...or to lay off the sauce.
Then when they sue you for breach of there contract you've got a counter claim.
Interesting idea. : )
"You must accept the enclosed License Agreement before you can use this product. If you do not accept thte terms of the License Agreement, you should promptly return the product for a refund.",
I tried this once at CompUSA...the manager of the store at which purchased the software told me he couldn't take it back because it had been opened, and I had to open it to see the license. How totally , utterly, and completely STUPID. But, factoring into the equation that it was a Microsoft product, it all makes sense.
Eventually I did get the manager at another location to take it back if I did not agree with the licensing terms.