"...are a convenient solution for companies who don't want to talk with their customers anymore."
Quote from an article in a German magazine about American service.
The main argument of that article's author was that while Americans pride themselves for their corporate culture of total customer service, the reality is often worse than in Europe, the place that Americans love to joke about in reference to bad service. The author also joked about the sales-droids who are ordered to say "Hi, my name is Suzy, how may I help you", smiling, yet leave no doubt that they really think "please, go away, don't ask any questions".
I sometimes think that Redhat et al is somewhat like shareware without the obligation to pay. You can get it for free, but if you have any self-respect, you get the commercial box to support the makers (and bill it to your client, of course:-)
i used to work in a computer store and it was only the people that had a vague idea about computers but were trying to pose as expert users that considered commercially packaged linux.
I'm a student of cs in Germany. All of my fellow students use Linux one way or the other and all of them have bought pre-packaged commercial Linuces in the past.
(Of course, one of them would buy Suse 5.1 and give it to the rest, then the next gets 5.2 and gives it to the rest etc., but there is no systematic borrowing going on. I had four boxes of consecutive Suse editions lying around here before I switched to Debian recently.)
But still, I think the ratio of buyers is quite high here. Probably mostly because downloading is more expensive and less convenient over here. Still, the morale is high, too. I enjoyed ordering Suse boxes for the companies that I worked for, because I knew it supported a product, a company and a distribution scheme I like.
Don't get me wrong, the movie had lots and lots of flaws, but someone who has read the books can genuinely enjoy the movie.
Don't know. I haven't read the books, I saw the movie and thought it was a major bore. Eyecandy, but not interesting, let alone thought-inspiring.
Then again, I saw 2001 before I read the book. It caught my interest, we talked about it for hours, I watched it again, later got the book, read it within a few nights because I just couldn't stop, then saw the movie again and enjoyed it even/more/.
(Of course, 2001 is regarded as one of the best Sci Fi movies ever made, so it's tough to compare any sf-movie with 2001.)
Shoulder pains from carrying around 8 lbs? Man, you definitely are a computing professional!
I challenge you to carry an 8 lbs laptop plus the necessairy gear (ac adapter, mouse, etc.) in a normal should-strap laptop-bag, all day long, for a week. You *will* have problems.
How useful are these things? Tiny keyboards, very very small screen sizes, Windows ME.
Here's my experience: Very, very useful.
I used to own a Toshiba Libretto 70ct and now have a Fujitsu Lifebook 112, both are very tiny laptops. The first was 850 gramms with about 90 minutes battery time, the second is around 1200 gramms with usually more than 3, sometimes 4 hours battery time, which is a lot if you look at the battery's size.
They both are "regular" PC-style laptops and I have Windows and Linux installed on them. Both offer substandard performance compared to "normal" laptops.
However, portability is more important to me than raw performance. The Lifebook is a Pentium 233 and it is enough for me to write Perl, PHP and Java stuff while on the road.
I don't have a car and don't have to, as I have a bike and there is an excellent public transportation system in my city and affordable trains in my country.
Without a car, I found myself *carrying* my laptop with me practically all the time. And believe me, 3 kilogramms (or usually more these days) is a *lot* once you carry it all day long.
And it's not just the weight, the size of these devices is also a problem. A regular laptop requires a special, rather big protective case. My Libretto literally did not need much more space than a big pocket calculator, my Lifebook still fits in a very small bag (originally made for photo gear) that I can wear easily while riding my bike.
I now smile at my colleagues who sigh about their heavy laptops, while I can easily afford having a 160 MB Ram, 12 Gigabyte laptop with me all the time, running my most important applications at decent speed. And yet it's so small that people ask me all the time how I like Windows CE.:-)
A device like that, even more lighter and with longer battery time, I couldn't ask for more.
The size of the keyboard is a problem, though. I touchtype, but that was impossible on the Libretto and the Lifebook is just the minimal size keyboard one can touchtype on, at least for my fingers.
It's similar to a PDA, though. Once I arrive at my destination, I usually have a normal keyboard and a large screen waiting for me, anyway, so that the laptop's input devices is mostly used on the road.
No, the UN does not have tanks. There is no UN military, there are military units of UN member states that are temporarily under UN command. Because of this, "UN tanks" are not owned by the UN. These UN tanks are in fact US tanks, French tanks, Mexican tanks, German tanks, Russian tanks or whereever this military unit came from.
Fuck you, sir, for attempting to jeopardize me and my family by taking away my gun.
People like you are the reason why I am happy that I do not live in the US. You folks have a unhealthy fascination for guns.
By the way, since some people said it half-jokingly: Yes, copying machines are affected by a similar pseudo-tax, but paper, pens and similar trivial things are not.
People here are discussing this as if this was a new law and some outragious thing.
It isn't. Here in Germany, every recordable media and recording equipment is affected by this pseudo-tax, since decades. The money is collected by royalty agencies such as GEMA.
This, btw, includes audio equipment such as audio tape, mini discs as well as paper copiers, e.g. copying machines, telefax machines, scanners etc. For paper copiers, the often used example is the copier in the local library. Everyone is allowed to make a copy for private use and since every copy is indirectly pseudo-taxed, the authors of printed books get their share.
The money is then distributed to companies and the authors of copyable works (books, music, film, tv and radio broadcasts).
I see this system from two perspectives.
On the one hand, yes, it is a strange, bureaucratic conglomerate of royalty collecting agencies taking money from consumers.
On the other hand, I am a semi-professional singer who has done some small studio jobs with my band. We have written a song that aired in a children's show on National German TV and - boom - we got an extra check from the GEMA royalty agency (that very same agency that is responsible for the HP story above). Our album was played on some small radio stations and again, the GEMA got notified and we got a little extra income.
There is another royalty agency collecting money from those using my band's vocal work (e.g. for jingles or dubbing work), so if we did the vocals for an advertisement song and that advertisement would be broadcast a gazillion times, we'd benefit from that (we're not that professional, though).
And a friend of mine, a freelance radio journalist, gets extra money through an agency that is exclusively collects money for spoken radio broadcasts, so that whenever a radio stations airs some of his work as a repeat, het gets a little share from that.
So yes, the system works. It is a strange and scary system, but the authors, composers, singers, speakers and actors who create the content for recordable media benefit from it.
With analog media, all this kind of (*) made of sense. But with digital media, things start to become strange. In fact, there are now two different versions of CD-Rs on the market, one for computer data (no GEMA-pseudo-tax) at around 2 DM/disc and one for audio data (GEMA included) for around 5-6 DM/disc. Techically, these discs are identical. This shows that the system does not work as intended anymore.
Or, more importantly, would they have opened up StarOffice if they didn't think that moving to this business model would be effective?
Exactly. Star Office in its current form is free only to annoy Microsoft. Future versions will probably have added featured based on a subscription model.
And boohoo, Eazel is doing the same thing. As do many other open source companies - offer additional services for a regular fee.
Btw, althouh I hate Microsoft, I still don't think that subscription software is a bad idea. I *wish* a company would have had the option of choosing office software on a subscription model years ago.
To rehash the old argument: Currently, MS et al have to add needless feature creep to make an upgrade worth looking at.
A subscription system forces a different view and lets software developers care more for their user base - if they don't, users will be able leave to a competitor's product in an instant.
Right now, users don't switch because it's hundreds or thousands of dollars of investments to throw away and to make anew. A one- or two-digit monthly subscription makes switching the product easy if you are unsatisfied with support, bug fixing or missing features.
So PLEASE don't post crap like this when you have NO idea of what your talking about.
Don't flame the guy asking the original question, since he's right. There *is* a clear symptom: IRC is being DOSed more often than other services on the net. It is only right to ask why. I personally think that it is a combination of both a) it's easier to DOS than with other services and b) chats attracts a younger, less mature audience that is easier pissed and does not know yet where they should limit their anger. (Hold on - I am not saying that *anyone* on IRC is a clueless teen without ethics. It's just my own experience of the IRC demographics that these kids are more likely to be found on IRC than on other services.)
I'm hunting high and low for an old game called "Epic" by Ocean, made by Digital Image Design in 1991. Because of its generic name, a search such as "epic space game" will turn with 1000s of useless links.
Anyway, I found download links for the Amiga version of that game, but noone (not even Ocean) was able to point me to the PC game. Yes, I asked Ocean for the possibility to buy it...
Well, I tried to defend my position in a reasonable manner, despite the out right bigotry and name calling from people who are supposed to be educated and intelligent. I am not a shill, I am just someone contributing my view.
And I don't believe you, nonetheless, especially since you are posting as an Anonymous. Anonymous trolls defending CoS but not coming up with details when asked for it have been a standard technique on alt.religion.scientology.
They should make all the Scientologists wear yellow stars, that way ordinary Germans would know how to treat them without the bother of having to think for themselves.
How come that this is the usual Godwin's law-applying response by Scientology shills in alt.religion.scientology?
Why am I not surprised that you are an anonymous poster?
Co$ is not a religion in Germany. It's classified as some kind of a criminal organization.
Well, not quite. CoS is not a religion in Germany, although they love to refer to other countries where they have this status.
But it is just an "organization" here, and while many German government officials call it criminal and openly discuss about banning the cult, the CoS is not forbidden in Germany.
Btw, being an "organization" is very easy in Germany. I can get together with a few buddies and form a legal, official organization, which includes a few, yet very little tax improvements on our organization's money.
------------------
Diskeeper user stunnes by denial of tech support
on
FRG on W2K: No CoS
·
· Score: 2
For your information, Executive software, the company in question, also uses the right to choose its business partners based on their religious beliefs.
It's Scientology doctrine that all evil in the world is caused by Psychiatrists. That previous link came from the CoS operated lobby group Citizen Commission on Human Rights. Visit their homepage and take some time to appreciate the whole wackyness there, then you'll better understand the following article:
-----------------------------------------------
DISKEEPER USER STUNNED BY DENIAL OF TECH SUPPORT
Nancy Kelly, Digital News. Feb 4, 1991
Ciba-Geigy was refused technical support for its disk defragmenter after the supplier, Executive Software Inc., learned that the Swiss chemical company made Ritalin, a drug sometimes prescribed for hyperactive children.
Executive Software, maker of the dominant disk defragmenter for the VAX, Diskepper, objects to the production of Ritalin as a drug that is prescribed by psychiatrists. The drug has provoked controversy based upon some studies that document several cases of suicides among young adolescents who had been given the drug as children. The Physicians' Desk Reference indicates that the side effects of Ritalin withdrawal include paranoia with thoughts of
suicide.
The Glendale, Calif. software firm has a longstanding policy against selling its products to psychiatrists and psychiatric institutions. On Jan. 9 the firm's board of directors voted to expand that policy to include psychiatric drug manufacturers, after a company employee brought it to President Craig Jensen's attention that the makers of Ritalin had purchased a copy of Diskeeper.
"Ciba-Geigy ranks with the scum of the earth in my opinion," said Jensen.
"The primary effect of Ritalin is suicide. When some of our employees heard we sold our software to them, I agreed to cancel that license, if necessary, and refuse to do business with drug manufacturers in the future."
The U.S.-based Ciba-Geigy MIS manager who bought Diskeeper late last year is not part of the pharmaceutical division of the company, which has eight seperate divisions that produce products ranging from pigments to plastics.
He asked that he and his division not be identified. He said that he sought technical support when his employees ran into difficulty installing Diskeeper and that he was referred by the support staff to Dave Kluge [no relation- s.d.] Executive Software's corporate affairs manager.
He said Kluge told him Executive Software would not provide Ciba-Geigy with any technical support. "He told me 'You people make psychiatric drugs and implements of torture.'
"I said, 'You're kidding.' I thought he was putting me on.
"He said we're responsible for people taking these drugs and don't we know they commit suicide. I told him we have nothing to do with the pharmaceutical division but he said it was the company policy," said the Ciba-Geigy official.
Kluge sent the MIS manager a letter outlining Executive Software's policy and the means by which Ciba-Geigy could obtain a refund for its purchase.
Jensen told Digital News that Executive Software would honor its contractual obligations with Ciba-Geigy, which had purchased a 12-month update
service. However, it would not renew the service or the software once the agreement expired.
"Ciba-Geigy slipped through," said Jensen. "But I think someone should take a stand on this, and I'm willing to do so."
Meanwhile the Ciba-Geigy MIS manager, who had worked with Diskeeper at a previous job and had decided to purchase it after experiencing problems with a competitor's product is essentially without a disk defragmenter.
"There's no point in using it if this is what they are going to do," he said, referring to the eventual loss of technical support and upgrades. He also expressed dismay at Executive Software's stand on Ritalin.
"Thousands of kids can attend school because of Ritalin," he said. "Those parents thank us. There are problems with every drug on the market. It is up to the doctor to decide who it should be prescribed to."
According to two former Executive Software employees, the company's policy in part stems from Jensen's membership in the Church of Scientology. "He doesn't believe in anything that has to do with psychiatry because the church doesn't," said Michael Sigourney, president of Aviv Software Inc. and a former director of marketing at Executive Software. A second employee, who asked not to be identified, confirmed Jensen's affiliation with the church, adding that, "The Church of Scientology is against the distribution of Ritalin to school
children. They're opposed to a variety of drugs."
In an October 1989 letter to his employees, Jensen detailed the company's policy in refusing to license software to psychiatrists or psychiatric institutions, stating that the policy reflected his own personal views.
That policy states in part that to do business with psychiatrists "would condone political mental treatment such as electric shocks, lobotomy and convulsive drugs. We condemn utterly this fascist approach to 'mental health' by extermination of the insane, and we will not agree to brutality and murder in the guise of mental healing or to the easy and lawless seizure of persons in the name of 'mental health' for political reasons."
The latter further elaborated that, to counter the action of some psychiatrists who purchase the product, Jensen personally donates "large sums" to organizations such as the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, "which is doing an excellent job of documenting and publicizing psychiatric crimes."
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was founded by the Church of Scientology in 1969 to protect individuals from psychiatric abuse. It frequently lobbies against the practice of frescribing Ritalin as a means to control hyperactive children.
I was just shocked by the casualness with which most posters seemed to accept banning or mucking around with the sale of software that involved an individual associated with a "bad" organization.
Well, as someone else mentioned in this thread, it is CoS doctrine that laws do not apply to Scientologists and that members are encouraged to use unlawful measures to hurt the CoS' enemies, especially intelligence operations and infiltration which is part of upper-level Scientolgy training (no kidding).
Also, a few years ago, the software company in question itself absolutely denied any support to a medical corporation that manufactures a psycho-drug, for religious reasons. (The CoS believes that Psychology and Psychiatry are both evil and that there is a hidden conspiracy of psychologists running the world. Reading some of Hubbards ramblings, you'll realize that Psychologists are the Jews of Scientology.)
As far as I know, no movie has ever been banned for reasons of Scientology in Germany.
However, CoS Germany tries again and again to use "their" movie stars as advertisement for their recruitment and both Tom Cruise and John Travolta openly advertised their CoS membership in interviews over here in the past. (Cruise has stopped doing so, but I read that for any interview, his management now insists on having no CoS-related questions and that every question must be sent to his press agent in advance...)
Anyway, since both CoS and the CoS-related stars use their movies for Scientology recruitment efforts, many Cruise- and Travolta-movies are not just seen as simple, mindless entertainment over here. The youth organization of the CDU (CDU is the conservartive of the two major parties here in Germany) has even picketed some of these movies, but back then, the German press thought that this was neither effective nor smartly done.
However, a script like "Phenomenon" (where Travolta turns into some kind of superman and does a few CoS-inspired nonsense) raises a few eyebrows over here. Movies with CoS-stars are always looked at for some potential subtext. If I am not mistaken, the German voice actor who used to dub Cruise in the past has given up this job because he was disgusted by Cruise's continuing CoS recruitment propaganda.
BTW, Battlefield Earth will appear as a video premiere in Germany. It seems that noone is happy about it, but a contract is a contract. It appears to me that the American release was also part of a contractual deal that forced Warner Brothers to do it, no matter if it was any good.
On the other hand, MI:2 was a huge success in Germany and while some critics mentioned Cruise's involvement with the CoS, it was no big deal for the audience.
A friend of mine used to run nuclearweapons.com (apperantly, it is offline now). All it contained was a big explosion, the slogan "we go for the big bang" and an email address.
There *were* people asking him if they could buy such a device. No kidding.
Slashdot Mirror
"...are a convenient solution for companies who don't want to talk with their customers anymore."
Quote from an article in a German magazine about American service.
The main argument of that article's author was that while Americans pride themselves for their corporate culture of total customer service, the reality is often worse than in Europe, the place that Americans love to joke about in reference to bad service. The author also joked about the sales-droids who are ordered to say "Hi, my name is Suzy, how may I help you", smiling, yet leave no doubt that they really think "please, go away, don't ask any questions".
------------------
Just what is Redhat's business model?
:-)
I sometimes think that Redhat et al is somewhat like shareware without the obligation to pay. You can get it for free, but if you have any self-respect, you get the commercial box to support the makers (and bill it to your client, of course
------------------
i used to work in a computer store and it was only the people that had a vague idea about computers but were trying to pose as expert users that considered commercially packaged linux.
I'm a student of cs in Germany. All of my fellow students use Linux one way or the other and all of them have bought pre-packaged commercial Linuces in the past.
(Of course, one of them would buy Suse 5.1 and give it to the rest, then the next gets 5.2 and gives it to the rest etc., but there is no systematic borrowing going on. I had four boxes of consecutive Suse editions lying around here before I switched to Debian recently.)
But still, I think the ratio of buyers is quite high here. Probably mostly because downloading is more expensive and less convenient over here. Still, the morale is high, too. I enjoyed ordering Suse boxes for the companies that I worked for, because I knew it supported a product, a company and a distribution scheme I like.
------------------
Don't get me wrong, the movie had lots and lots of flaws, but someone who has read the books can genuinely enjoy the movie.
/more/.
Don't know. I haven't read the books, I saw the movie and thought it was a major bore. Eyecandy, but not interesting, let alone thought-inspiring.
Then again, I saw 2001 before I read the book. It caught my interest, we talked about it for hours, I watched it again, later got the book, read it within a few nights because I just couldn't stop, then saw the movie again and enjoyed it even
(Of course, 2001 is regarded as one of the best Sci Fi movies ever made, so it's tough to compare any sf-movie with 2001.)
------------------
Shoulder pains from carrying around 8 lbs? Man, you definitely are a computing professional!
I challenge you to carry an 8 lbs laptop plus the necessairy gear (ac adapter, mouse, etc.) in a normal should-strap laptop-bag, all day long, for a week. You *will* have problems.
------------------
How useful are these things? Tiny keyboards, very very small screen sizes, Windows ME.
:-)
Here's my experience: Very, very useful.
I used to own a Toshiba Libretto 70ct and now have a Fujitsu Lifebook 112, both are very tiny laptops. The first was 850 gramms with about 90 minutes battery time, the second is around 1200 gramms with usually more than 3, sometimes 4 hours battery time, which is a lot if you look at the battery's size.
They both are "regular" PC-style laptops and I have Windows and Linux installed on them. Both offer substandard performance compared to "normal" laptops.
However, portability is more important to me than raw performance. The Lifebook is a Pentium 233 and it is enough for me to write Perl, PHP and Java stuff while on the road.
I don't have a car and don't have to, as I have a bike and there is an excellent public transportation system in my city and affordable trains in my country.
Without a car, I found myself *carrying* my laptop with me practically all the time. And believe me, 3 kilogramms (or usually more these days) is a *lot* once you carry it all day long.
And it's not just the weight, the size of these devices is also a problem. A regular laptop requires a special, rather big protective case. My Libretto literally did not need much more space than a big pocket calculator, my Lifebook still fits in a very small bag (originally made for photo gear) that I can wear easily while riding my bike.
I now smile at my colleagues who sigh about their heavy laptops, while I can easily afford having a 160 MB Ram, 12 Gigabyte laptop with me all the time, running my most important applications at decent speed. And yet it's so small that people ask me all the time how I like Windows CE.
A device like that, even more lighter and with longer battery time, I couldn't ask for more.
The size of the keyboard is a problem, though. I touchtype, but that was impossible on the Libretto and the Lifebook is just the minimal size keyboard one can touchtype on, at least for my fingers.
It's similar to a PDA, though. Once I arrive at my destination, I usually have a normal keyboard and a large screen waiting for me, anyway, so that the laptop's input devices is mostly used on the road.
------------------
And the difference is?
read up about what peace-keeping forces and their duties are, moron.
------------------
UN has fucking TANKS, dude.
No, the UN does not have tanks. There is no UN military, there are military units of UN member states that are temporarily under UN command. Because of this, "UN tanks" are not owned by the UN. These UN tanks are in fact US tanks, French tanks, Mexican tanks, German tanks, Russian tanks or whereever this military unit came from.
Fuck you, sir, for attempting to jeopardize me and my family by taking away my gun.
People like you are the reason why I am happy that I do not live in the US. You folks have a unhealthy fascination for guns.
------------------
By the way, since some people said it half-jokingly: Yes, copying machines are affected by a similar pseudo-tax, but paper, pens and similar trivial things are not.
------------------
People here are discussing this as if this was a new law and some outragious thing.
It isn't. Here in Germany, every recordable media and recording equipment is affected by this pseudo-tax, since decades. The money is collected by royalty agencies such as GEMA.
This, btw, includes audio equipment such as audio tape, mini discs as well as paper copiers, e.g. copying machines, telefax machines, scanners etc. For paper copiers, the often used example is the copier in the local library. Everyone is allowed to make a copy for private use and since every copy is indirectly pseudo-taxed, the authors of printed books get their share.
The money is then distributed to companies and the authors of copyable works (books, music, film, tv and radio broadcasts).
I see this system from two perspectives.
On the one hand, yes, it is a strange, bureaucratic conglomerate of royalty collecting agencies taking money from consumers.
On the other hand, I am a semi-professional singer who has done some small studio jobs with my band. We have written a song that aired in a children's show on National German TV and - boom - we got an extra check from the GEMA royalty agency (that very same agency that is responsible for the HP story above). Our album was played on some small radio stations and again, the GEMA got notified and we got a little extra income.
There is another royalty agency collecting money from those using my band's vocal work (e.g. for jingles or dubbing work), so if we did the vocals for an advertisement song and that advertisement would be broadcast a gazillion times, we'd benefit from that (we're not that professional, though).
And a friend of mine, a freelance radio journalist, gets extra money through an agency that is exclusively collects money for spoken radio broadcasts, so that whenever a radio stations airs some of his work as a repeat, het gets a little share from that.
So yes, the system works. It is a strange and scary system, but the authors, composers, singers, speakers and actors who create the content for recordable media benefit from it.
With analog media, all this kind of (*) made of sense. But with digital media, things start to become strange. In fact, there are now two different versions of CD-Rs on the market, one for computer data (no GEMA-pseudo-tax) at around 2 DM/disc and one for audio data (GEMA included) for around 5-6 DM/disc. Techically, these discs are identical. This shows that the system does not work as intended anymore.
------------------
Go to the library, look up Shakespeare
:-)
Or watch the movie.
------------------
Or, more importantly, would they have opened up StarOffice if they didn't think that moving to this business model would be effective?
Exactly. Star Office in its current form is free only to annoy Microsoft. Future versions will probably have added featured based on a subscription model.
And boohoo, Eazel is doing the same thing. As do many other open source companies - offer additional services for a regular fee.
Btw, althouh I hate Microsoft, I still don't think that subscription software is a bad idea. I *wish* a company would have had the option of choosing office software on a subscription model years ago.
To rehash the old argument: Currently, MS et al have to add needless feature creep to make an upgrade worth looking at.
A subscription system forces a different view and lets software developers care more for their user base - if they don't, users will be able leave to a competitor's product in an instant.
Right now, users don't switch because it's hundreds or thousands of dollars of investments to throw away and to make anew. A one- or two-digit monthly subscription makes switching the product easy if you are unsatisfied with support, bug fixing or missing features.
------------------
Someone who still uses these tactics as an adult as usually told to "grow up". Go figure.
------------------
So PLEASE don't post crap like this when you have NO idea of what your talking about.
Don't flame the guy asking the original question, since he's right. There *is* a clear symptom: IRC is being DOSed more often than other services on the net. It is only right to ask why. I personally think that it is a combination of both a) it's easier to DOS than with other services and b) chats attracts a younger, less mature audience that is easier pissed and does not know yet where they should limit their anger. (Hold on - I am not saying that *anyone* on IRC is a clueless teen without ethics. It's just my own experience of the IRC demographics that these kids are more likely to be found on IRC than on other services.)
------------------
I'm hunting high and low for an old game called "Epic" by Ocean, made by Digital Image Design in 1991. Because of its generic name, a search such as "epic space game" will turn with 1000s of useless links.
Anyway, I found download links for the Amiga version of that game, but noone (not even Ocean) was able to point me to the PC game. Yes, I asked Ocean for the possibility to buy it...
------------------
Well, I tried to defend my position in a reasonable manner, despite the out right bigotry and name calling from people who are supposed to be educated and intelligent. I am not a shill, I am just someone contributing my view.
And I don't believe you, nonetheless, especially since you are posting as an Anonymous. Anonymous trolls defending CoS but not coming up with details when asked for it have been a standard technique on alt.religion.scientology.
Anyone reading Scientology's documents and documented statements by CoS officials will see that what you said contradicts Scientology's official standpoint.
------------------
They should make all the Scientologists wear yellow stars, that way ordinary Germans would know how to treat them without the bother of having to think for themselves.
How come that this is the usual Godwin's law-applying response by Scientology shills in alt.religion.scientology?
Why am I not surprised that you are an anonymous poster?
------------------
and I contributte to the Linux kernel.
Good for you. Since your source isn't closed, there is little chance that a backdoor could be added (and if someone did, it will be found).
Or maybe I'm in a progressive branch. who knows?
You must be an OSA shill*. There is no progressive branch. Being a Scientologist means being 100% "tech" - everything else means you're a squirrel.
* However, the Scientology intelligence branch OSA has a history of adding distracting noise to discussions.
------------------
Scientology is not outlawed in Germany. It hasn't been granted the status of a religion, but it isn't banned.
------------------
Co$ is not a religion in Germany. It's classified as some kind of a criminal organization.
Well, not quite. CoS is not a religion in Germany, although they love to refer to other countries where they have this status.
But it is just an "organization" here, and while many German government officials call it criminal and openly discuss about banning the cult, the CoS is not forbidden in Germany.
Btw, being an "organization" is very easy in Germany. I can get together with a few buddies and form a legal, official organization, which includes a few, yet very little tax improvements on our organization's money.
------------------
It's Scientology doctrine that all evil in the world is caused by Psychiatrists. That previous link came from the CoS operated lobby group Citizen Commission on Human Rights. Visit their homepage and take some time to appreciate the whole wackyness there, then you'll better understand the following article:
-----------------------------------------------
DISKEEPER USER STUNNED BY DENIAL OF TECH SUPPORT
Nancy Kelly, Digital News. Feb 4, 1991
Ciba-Geigy was refused technical support for its disk defragmenter after the supplier, Executive Software Inc., learned that the Swiss chemical company made Ritalin, a drug sometimes prescribed for hyperactive children.
Executive Software, maker of the dominant disk defragmenter for the VAX, Diskepper, objects to the production of Ritalin as a drug that is prescribed by psychiatrists. The drug has provoked controversy based upon some studies that document several cases of suicides among young adolescents who had been given the drug as children. The Physicians' Desk Reference indicates that the side effects of Ritalin withdrawal include paranoia with thoughts of
suicide.
The Glendale, Calif. software firm has a longstanding policy against selling its products to psychiatrists and psychiatric institutions. On Jan. 9 the firm's board of directors voted to expand that policy to include psychiatric drug manufacturers, after a company employee brought it to President Craig Jensen's attention that the makers of Ritalin had purchased a copy of Diskeeper.
"Ciba-Geigy ranks with the scum of the earth in my opinion," said Jensen.
"The primary effect of Ritalin is suicide. When some of our employees heard we sold our software to them, I agreed to cancel that license, if necessary, and refuse to do business with drug manufacturers in the future."
The U.S.-based Ciba-Geigy MIS manager who bought Diskeeper late last year is not part of the pharmaceutical division of the company, which has eight seperate divisions that produce products ranging from pigments to plastics.
He asked that he and his division not be identified. He said that he sought technical support when his employees ran into difficulty installing Diskeeper and that he was referred by the support staff to Dave Kluge [no relation- s.d.] Executive Software's corporate affairs manager.
He said Kluge told him Executive Software would not provide Ciba-Geigy with any technical support. "He told me 'You people make psychiatric drugs and implements of torture.'
"I said, 'You're kidding.' I thought he was putting me on.
"He said we're responsible for people taking these drugs and don't we know they commit suicide. I told him we have nothing to do with the pharmaceutical division but he said it was the company policy," said the Ciba-Geigy official.
Kluge sent the MIS manager a letter outlining Executive Software's policy and the means by which Ciba-Geigy could obtain a refund for its purchase.
Jensen told Digital News that Executive Software would honor its contractual obligations with Ciba-Geigy, which had purchased a 12-month update
service. However, it would not renew the service or the software once the agreement expired.
"Ciba-Geigy slipped through," said Jensen. "But I think someone should take a stand on this, and I'm willing to do so."
Meanwhile the Ciba-Geigy MIS manager, who had worked with Diskeeper at a previous job and had decided to purchase it after experiencing problems with a competitor's product is essentially without a disk defragmenter.
"There's no point in using it if this is what they are going to do," he said, referring to the eventual loss of technical support and upgrades. He also expressed dismay at Executive Software's stand on Ritalin.
"Thousands of kids can attend school because of Ritalin," he said. "Those parents thank us. There are problems with every drug on the market. It is up to the doctor to decide who it should be prescribed to."
According to two former Executive Software employees, the company's policy in part stems from Jensen's membership in the Church of Scientology. "He doesn't believe in anything that has to do with psychiatry because the church doesn't," said Michael Sigourney, president of Aviv Software Inc. and a former director of marketing at Executive Software. A second employee, who asked not to be identified, confirmed Jensen's affiliation with the church, adding that, "The Church of Scientology is against the distribution of Ritalin to school
children. They're opposed to a variety of drugs."
In an October 1989 letter to his employees, Jensen detailed the company's policy in refusing to license software to psychiatrists or psychiatric institutions, stating that the policy reflected his own personal views.
That policy states in part that to do business with psychiatrists "would condone political mental treatment such as electric shocks, lobotomy and convulsive drugs. We condemn utterly this fascist approach to 'mental health' by extermination of the insane, and we will not agree to brutality and murder in the guise of mental healing or to the easy and lawless seizure of persons in the name of 'mental health' for political reasons."
The latter further elaborated that, to counter the action of some psychiatrists who purchase the product, Jensen personally donates "large sums" to organizations such as the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, "which is doing an excellent job of documenting and publicizing psychiatric crimes."
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was founded by the Church of Scientology in 1969 to protect individuals from psychiatric abuse. It frequently lobbies against the practice of frescribing Ritalin as a means to control hyperactive children.
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Well, I think that one of the things that the German governmen wanted was to see the source of the software in question.
So, yes, this is only the question of "closed-source software from a company we better not trust".
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I was just shocked by the casualness with which most posters seemed to accept banning or mucking around with the sale of software that involved an individual associated with a "bad" organization.
Well, as someone else mentioned in this thread, it is CoS doctrine that laws do not apply to Scientologists and that members are encouraged to use unlawful measures to hurt the CoS' enemies, especially intelligence operations and infiltration which is part of upper-level Scientolgy training (no kidding).
Also, a few years ago, the software company in question itself absolutely denied any support to a medical corporation that manufactures a psycho-drug, for religious reasons. (The CoS believes that Psychology and Psychiatry are both evil and that there is a hidden conspiracy of psychologists running the world. Reading some of Hubbards ramblings, you'll realize that Psychologists are the Jews of Scientology.)
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As far as I know, no movie has ever been banned for reasons of Scientology in Germany.
However, CoS Germany tries again and again to use "their" movie stars as advertisement for their recruitment and both Tom Cruise and John Travolta openly advertised their CoS membership in interviews over here in the past. (Cruise has stopped doing so, but I read that for any interview, his management now insists on having no CoS-related questions and that every question must be sent to his press agent in advance...)
Anyway, since both CoS and the CoS-related stars use their movies for Scientology recruitment efforts, many Cruise- and Travolta-movies are not just seen as simple, mindless entertainment over here. The youth organization of the CDU (CDU is the conservartive of the two major parties here in Germany) has even picketed some of these movies, but back then, the German press thought that this was neither effective nor smartly done.
However, a script like "Phenomenon" (where Travolta turns into some kind of superman and does a few CoS-inspired nonsense) raises a few eyebrows over here. Movies with CoS-stars are always looked at for some potential subtext. If I am not mistaken, the German voice actor who used to dub Cruise in the past has given up this job because he was disgusted by Cruise's continuing CoS recruitment propaganda.
BTW, Battlefield Earth will appear as a video premiere in Germany. It seems that noone is happy about it, but a contract is a contract. It appears to me that the American release was also part of a contractual deal that forced Warner Brothers to do it, no matter if it was any good.
On the other hand, MI:2 was a huge success in Germany and while some critics mentioned Cruise's involvement with the CoS, it was no big deal for the audience.
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A friend of mine used to run nuclearweapons.com (apperantly, it is offline now). All it contained was a big explosion, the slogan "we go for the big bang" and an email address.
There *were* people asking him if they could buy such a device. No kidding.
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