CC companies do this kinda stuff all the time. You get a letter of an upcoming policy change, and you throw it out not even bothering to read it, since your options are usually A) Agree to the new terms, or B) Pay off and close your account.
I guess what I'm saying is, I've lost all faith in large companies to do the right thing. After I saw my tax dollars pay CEOs large bonuses, I just gave up. Game's over man.
Of course, this happens right as people start forgetting about how much Verizon sucks at math.
...and I have had experience with both Einstein's Notes and classes with "text" from Faulkner press.
Firstly, I believe Faulkner is one of the seediest text companies in existence. They're very cheaply produced, and usually not text at all, but a CD with the class information on it.
I've had two classes like that: a basic computer skills course (taught by the business college), and another course titled Age of the Dinosaurs - which I took to complete Florida's General Education requirement for Science.
Professors at the University of Florida are supposed to publish their required and recommended textbooks on UF's ISIS, to allow all the area bookstores the ability to order and stock the book (nearly all college book stores orders materials on the shelf by the course number). None of the Faulkner Press-related professors ever do this, they'll directly inform one bookstore of the requirement, and inform students they can only purchase the text at said store.
Faulkner Press materials are rarely, if ever, re-usable. Any Faulkner Press text includes a CD with some kind of online component to it, with a one-time-use code, which you need to complete in order to participate in the class (Age of the Dinosaurs used online tests). While it's common for most textbooks to include some kind of online component with a one-time use code, most publishers will also sell you just the code, so students can purchase the textbooks used (if they so wish).
The software on the disc is absolutely horrible. It'll run on Mac or Windows, with an interface that doesn't fit in either environment. It's amazingly difficult to navigate, I went through a whole month in the Age of the Dinosaurs class without knowing the "Notes" component was actually the class text! The documentation is next-to-none, covering only how to install it. On install, it copies nearly all the contents of the CD to the hard drive, and requires you have the CD in the drive to run the software.
The only professors that use any materials from Faulkner are the professors published by Faulkner.
The Age of the Dinosaurs professor stated he wanted to write a textbook, and wanted to include lots of pictures and sounds. He loved the idea of distributing it on CD, since the costs for that are significantly lower that a book with all those colors from the pictures.
I'm not even going to delve into how the text materials were horribly written, contained glaring typos (both spelling and graphical errors), etc. It's a poor-quality product.
I would have accepted that in 1995. All UF students either have, or have free access to high-speed internet, and UF provides all professors with access to WebCT, which provides hosting, discussion, tests/quizzes, etc. All of the contents and features of a Faulkner Press text could be easily implemented in an online system, which lowers the costs (I imagine UF could provide the bandwidth and storage for the professor) of publishing, and includes the added benefit of things like, encrypted sessions, students being able to use the OS/Browser of their choice, etc.
The immediate benefit for all parties is cost. It could be, I dunno, free, as opposed to 90 bucks.
The only professors that use Faulkner are either a) idiots or b) sleazeballs, and I say fuck any class that requires a Faulkner text, and fuck any professor that uses them.
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I guess what I'm saying is, I've lost all faith in large companies to do the right thing. After I saw my tax dollars pay CEOs large bonuses, I just gave up. Game's over man.
Of course, this happens right as people start forgetting about how much Verizon sucks at math.
Am I the only one that recalls Steve Jobs announcing they'd support PowerPC for two more years after the launch of Intel Macs?
I've been reading tons of comments about how "Apple can't possibly abandon PowerPC."
Seems to me like it's right on schedule.
I'm at work, so I can't currently watch it, so I'll leave it up to somebody else to watch it and tell me I'm wrong -
http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/jun/wwdc2005/m_wwdc_2005_all_ref.mov
Firstly, I believe Faulkner is one of the seediest text companies in existence. They're very cheaply produced, and usually not text at all, but a CD with the class information on it.
I've had two classes like that: a basic computer skills course (taught by the business college), and another course titled Age of the Dinosaurs - which I took to complete Florida's General Education requirement for Science.
Professors at the University of Florida are supposed to publish their required and recommended textbooks on UF's ISIS, to allow all the area bookstores the ability to order and stock the book (nearly all college book stores orders materials on the shelf by the course number). None of the Faulkner Press-related professors ever do this, they'll directly inform one bookstore of the requirement, and inform students they can only purchase the text at said store.
Faulkner Press materials are rarely, if ever, re-usable. Any Faulkner Press text includes a CD with some kind of online component to it, with a one-time-use code, which you need to complete in order to participate in the class (Age of the Dinosaurs used online tests). While it's common for most textbooks to include some kind of online component with a one-time use code, most publishers will also sell you just the code, so students can purchase the textbooks used (if they so wish).
The software on the disc is absolutely horrible. It'll run on Mac or Windows, with an interface that doesn't fit in either environment. It's amazingly difficult to navigate, I went through a whole month in the Age of the Dinosaurs class without knowing the "Notes" component was actually the class text! The documentation is next-to-none, covering only how to install it. On install, it copies nearly all the contents of the CD to the hard drive, and requires you have the CD in the drive to run the software.
The only professors that use any materials from Faulkner are the professors published by Faulkner.
The Age of the Dinosaurs professor stated he wanted to write a textbook, and wanted to include lots of pictures and sounds. He loved the idea of distributing it on CD, since the costs for that are significantly lower that a book with all those colors from the pictures.
I'm not even going to delve into how the text materials were horribly written, contained glaring typos (both spelling and graphical errors), etc. It's a poor-quality product.
I would have accepted that in 1995. All UF students either have, or have free access to high-speed internet, and UF provides all professors with access to WebCT, which provides hosting, discussion, tests/quizzes, etc. All of the contents and features of a Faulkner Press text could be easily implemented in an online system, which lowers the costs (I imagine UF could provide the bandwidth and storage for the professor) of publishing, and includes the added benefit of things like, encrypted sessions, students being able to use the OS/Browser of their choice, etc.
The immediate benefit for all parties is cost. It could be, I dunno, free, as opposed to 90 bucks.
The only professors that use Faulkner are either a) idiots or b) sleazeballs, and I say fuck any class that requires a Faulkner text, and fuck any professor that uses them.