Actually according to their wiki [http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo_FreeRunner] there will be two versions, to quote: Tri-band GSM and GPRS for North America (850/1800/1900 Mhz) and the rest of the world (900/1800/1900 Mhz)
A few choice quotes from the article:
[In 2003] The local government in Munich, Germany, [voted] to move 14,000 computers from Microsoft's Windows to the rival Linux operating system
[In 2008]Status quo of the LiMux project: 1000 work stations migrated to LiMux 6000 work stations using OpenOffice.org 90% work stations using Firefox and Thunderbird That means that during the five odd years that have elapsed since the decision was taken a grand 7% of the computers have been switched over to linux. And this on what the article states is the budget for the transition was 30 million euros.
Can people please stop making these incredibly misleading comparisons to nation's GDP. In this example, the comparison is even more egregious than usual. Those cash reserves are a one time stockpile. GDP is every year. You simply cannot really compare the two. Its meaningless.
In all seriousness I would say this is a much better way to spend that money. A solid state light with low energy consumption would have immense impacts for todays hot topic of global warming, not to mention that if it doesn't work then it won't cost them a thing, they will only pay if its successful. Also, given the LHC it makes sense to reduce spending on Fermilab slightly nowadays.
Unless I'm doing the sums wrong they get 60,000 euros per annum from their patrons & supporters alone: http://ev.kde.org/supporting-members.php (not that this is a reason not to donate more).
Reznor has already been involved in a similar online album release, namely he worked with Saul Williams on the latters album 'The Inevitable Rise of Niggy Tardust' which was sold online only as a download in either mp3 or FLAC (finally some flac action, I'm dissapointed he didn't offer flac on this NIN one).
What exactly are you expecting the Black Market to do with it? Look for people with healthy kidneys they can steal?
Its more if friends/family/employers are accidentally given access that it would be a problem.
Give us a break from you evangelizing. Yes, Led Zeppelin were a great band. There have also been great bands since and continue to be great bands now (eg. Bjork, Rage against the Machine, and The Herd are some personal favs). The idea that great music is not still being made is just bullshit spewed by people who are stuck in their own little 70s timewarp. If you listen out for great music you will find it, those who say its not there are not even trying to find it.
US Steel was not in a naturally-declining market, they just fucked up. They continued to build great big steel mills when the future of steel was in mini-mills. Other companies built mini-mills and as a result they kicked US Steels ass. The steel market itself was continued humming along. Likewise GM is just a company making poor decision (or has made) in an otherwise thriving market.
That said I'm otherwise in agreement with you.
In practice a democratic decision will strengthen the interest of the average at the expense of the above average. The problem with this is that it isn't your average Joe that makes society work. On the contrary, the people that produce and that create jobs are a small exceptional group that often get the short end of the stick in a democratic system.
I disagree.
Firstly I would say that it is your average Joe that makes society work (I don't quite see how you could have it without cleaners, factory workers & teachers) (they may not be important in moving society forward through technology and art but thats another issue).
Secondly, who are these exceptional people creating jobs and how are they being done over. Are they the executives of large firms that employ thousands? Because they seem to do pretty well for themselves. Or maybe they are small business owners? They can hardly be described as getting the short end of the stick, and I would hardly describe cafe/bar proprietors and hardware store owners as exceptional.
I would like to say one thing though, in most countries in Europe you vote for a party, not for a presidental candidate.. and a lot of the 'weirdness', like when Brown took over from Blaire stems from this fact.
If my understanding of the US system is correct then were the President (Bush) to step down then the Vice-President (Cheney) would be in charge. Thus this particular 'weirdness' is present in the US too.
Imagine a virus that has one goal... to find a computer with your name as a user. Then, with galactic sized patience, waits...one file per week...copying them to some unknown IP address across the globe somewhere. This virus looks like a computer program owned by and run by a user. It goes undetected for several years.
...and already this type of software is out there in the wild Google, right?
Correct. Basically they just use Sprints EVDO network to send the documents, and the charges for this are simply included in the purchase prices for books/newspapers.
Obvious major weakness, it currently doesn't work anywhere sprint doesn't, namely swathes of the US not to mention the whole rest of the world. Thinking of taking in on your holiday to Europe and recieving the latest newspaper issues. Forget it. Why they didn't pick wifi I don't understand: its free and worldwide, and lets face it, almost everywhere nowadays.
Thats true on the inhouse versus external programmer point. The one thing that does help avoid this situation is that many sales taxes are set up so that all non-final goods (like steel, plastic, most programming etc.: as opposed to final goods like tvs, radios, google search) basically pay that sales tax initially and then get it refunded at tax time so for example since programming is generally an input it is likely that the sales taxes paid will be refunded at the end of the tax year. The ways they generally try to set up the system is so that at the end of the day most transactions between firms don't get sales taxed while those to customers will be taxed. (Otherwise you get what is called cascading, that is the magnification of the size of the sales tax because it applies, for example, first to steel, then to engines, and then again to cars). This should help to avoid the incentive you mention of otherwise trying to do everything inhouse.
Ok, there seems to be a major misunderstanding of the difference between a sales tax and an income tax here.
A sales tax is paid on all sales (of both goods and services) and therefore is levied on revenue. An income tax on the other hand is paid only on profit(as dividends/appreciating shares) and wages, that is on revenues minus costs. Hence in this case it is not an income tax.
To illustrate why you want it applied to goods and services I give you the example of choosing between buying some computer program and getting it custom programmed for you. If the sales tax is only applied to one or the other then your choice will be 'distorted' towards the other item, hence you want it applied to both.
To quote wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax):
A sales tax is a consumption tax charged at the point of purchase for certain goods and services...Ideally, a sales tax is fair, has a high compliance rate, is difficult to avoid, is charged exactly once on any one item, and is simple to calculate and simple to collect. [Emphasis added]
In summary, yes any decent sales tax will be levied on mechanics and plumbers!
Slashdot Mirror
What exactly are the problems that have plagued electron microscopes for years?
Do they know for sure that the snow is H20 snow. Or could it be snow made of something else?
Actually according to their wiki [http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Neo_FreeRunner] there will be two versions, to quote: Tri-band GSM and GPRS for North America (850/1800/1900 Mhz) and the rest of the world (900/1800/1900 Mhz)
1000 work stations migrated to LiMux
6000 work stations using OpenOffice.org
90% work stations using Firefox and Thunderbird That means that during the five odd years that have elapsed since the decision was taken a grand 7% of the computers have been switched over to linux. And this on what the article states is the budget for the transition was 30 million euros.
Can people please stop making these incredibly misleading comparisons to nation's GDP.
In this example, the comparison is even more egregious than usual. Those cash reserves are a one time stockpile. GDP is every year. You simply cannot really compare the two. Its meaningless.
In all seriousness I would say this is a much better way to spend that money. A solid state light with low energy consumption would have immense impacts for todays hot topic of global warming, not to mention that if it doesn't work then it won't cost them a thing, they will only pay if its successful. Also, given the LHC it makes sense to reduce spending on Fermilab slightly nowadays.
Unless I'm doing the sums wrong they get 60,000 euros per annum from their patrons & supporters alone:
http://ev.kde.org/supporting-members.php
(not that this is a reason not to donate more).
From wikipedia: Wikileaks is hosted by PRQ, an internet service provider in Sweden
Also: Wikileaks information is distributed across many jurisdictions, organizations and individuals. [From: http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks:About%5D
The study actually finds a correlation between a countries HDI (human development index) and the size of its cabinet.
Reznor has already been involved in a similar online album release, namely he worked with Saul Williams on the latters album 'The Inevitable Rise of Niggy Tardust' which was sold online only as a download in either mp3 or FLAC (finally some flac action, I'm dissapointed he didn't offer flac on this NIN one).
Now if only they will be followed in this by the World Bank, IMF, OECD... Not to mention all those national level organisations.
Its there for anyone who cares to look, eg. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods.htm
What exactly are you expecting the Black Market to do with it? Look for people with healthy kidneys they can steal? Its more if friends/family/employers are accidentally given access that it would be a problem.
Give us a break from you evangelizing. Yes, Led Zeppelin were a great band. There have also been great bands since and continue to be great bands now (eg. Bjork, Rage against the Machine, and The Herd are some personal favs). The idea that great music is not still being made is just bullshit spewed by people who are stuck in their own little 70s timewarp. If you listen out for great music you will find it, those who say its not there are not even trying to find it.
US Steel was not in a naturally-declining market, they just fucked up. They continued to build great big steel mills when the future of steel was in mini-mills. Other companies built mini-mills and as a result they kicked US Steels ass. The steel market itself was continued humming along. Likewise GM is just a company making poor decision (or has made) in an otherwise thriving market. That said I'm otherwise in agreement with you.
I disagree.
Firstly I would say that it is your average Joe that makes society work (I don't quite see how you could have it without cleaners, factory workers & teachers) (they may not be important in moving society forward through technology and art but thats another issue).
Secondly, who are these exceptional people creating jobs and how are they being done over. Are they the executives of large firms that employ thousands? Because they seem to do pretty well for themselves. Or maybe they are small business owners? They can hardly be described as getting the short end of the stick, and I would hardly describe cafe/bar proprietors and hardware store owners as exceptional.
If my understanding of the US system is correct then were the President (Bush) to step down then the Vice-President (Cheney) would be in charge. Thus this particular 'weirdness' is present in the US too.
...and already this type of software is out there in the wild Google, right?Correct. Basically they just use Sprints EVDO network to send the documents, and the charges for this are simply included in the purchase prices for books/newspapers.
Obvious major weakness, it currently doesn't work anywhere sprint doesn't, namely swathes of the US not to mention the whole rest of the world. Thinking of taking in on your holiday to Europe and recieving the latest newspaper issues. Forget it. Why they didn't pick wifi I don't understand: its free and worldwide, and lets face it, almost everywhere nowadays.
Thats true on the inhouse versus external programmer point. The one thing that does help avoid this situation is that many sales taxes are set up so that all non-final goods (like steel, plastic, most programming etc.: as opposed to final goods like tvs, radios, google search) basically pay that sales tax initially and then get it refunded at tax time so for example since programming is generally an input it is likely that the sales taxes paid will be refunded at the end of the tax year. The ways they generally try to set up the system is so that at the end of the day most transactions between firms don't get sales taxed while those to customers will be taxed. (Otherwise you get what is called cascading, that is the magnification of the size of the sales tax because it applies, for example, first to steel, then to engines, and then again to cars). This should help to avoid the incentive you mention of otherwise trying to do everything inhouse.
Ok, there seems to be a major misunderstanding of the difference between a sales tax and an income tax here. A sales tax is paid on all sales (of both goods and services) and therefore is levied on revenue. An income tax on the other hand is paid only on profit(as dividends/appreciating shares) and wages, that is on revenues minus costs. Hence in this case it is not an income tax. To illustrate why you want it applied to goods and services I give you the example of choosing between buying some computer program and getting it custom programmed for you. If the sales tax is only applied to one or the other then your choice will be 'distorted' towards the other item, hence you want it applied to both. ...Ideally, a sales tax is fair, has a high compliance rate, is difficult to avoid, is charged exactly once on any one item, and is simple to calculate and simple to collect. [Emphasis added]
To quote wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax): A sales tax is a consumption tax charged at the point of purchase for certain goods and services
In summary, yes any decent sales tax will be levied on mechanics and plumbers!