But what is the difference of this and PayPal???? Ok there is some more math.
But I thought part of the problem was using PayPal is that PayPal is an external service that is not as recognized as Visa, Mastercard, or American Express (plus some others).
And this service does not seem to solve that problem for me. I thought when I started reading the article that it was going to somehow have some magic receipe for using my ALREADY accepted credit card....
Take a look at Avril or at Blink 42. These are not people from a generation who wants to adhere to society. Consider the following quote from the article: >>> After much negotiation, the labels OK'd musicmix, once Microsoft agreed to somewhat hobble its features. (Playlists have a maximum of 60 tunes, and the songs won't play unless the original owner is participating.)
This is not how it goes. While this stuff might be interesting for the 8-12 year olds, beyond that they will be savy enough to figure out how to do things on their own.
MS while the intention is good is also misdirected. They want to get AOL IM client back. Last I remember the teens do not seem to use AOL since, well, its, for old geezers.... You know those that cannot use a computer;)
If MS were to stop worrying about the legal implications and stopped looking over their shoulder then maybe this 3degrees will be popular....
But you are making my point. I was saying just because SPAM is costing the sender does not reduce the SPAM. And all of the examples I reference illustrate the point.
The point you mention is that the examples I refernece have mechanisms to stop the SPAM. But guess what, maybe for now.
Consider the following example. Lets say that I send you a mail saying "Hey bud buy this". I address the mail to you personally? Is this bulk? Maybe maybe not. Do you read the fine print of all the agreements? Also what happens if I happen to be resident in another country?
Answer, this is how the companies are getting around the bulk mailing laws in Europe. They send it via third countries and hence are not subject to bulk laws....
The thing is that right now the break-even point is 0.01%. But when it costs money then that breakeven point will move higher. What will that do? It will probably stop the "I need your help" emails that promise money.
The breakeven point will never need to reach 1-2 percent because that is print break-even. Which would indicate that emails cost about 30cents a pop to send. At those prices Internet usage would drop like a rock.
Here is a surprise. I have statistics on my SPAM and these days about 75% of my emails are legit businesses... This means people are buying into these SPAM emails.
I think the original poster wanted to highlight that fraudulent posters are not the issue. The point was that just because you have to pay does not reduce the SPAM. You still get plenty of SPAM through snailmail, or via the telephone. And these have real costs associated with them.
Therefore using these models as a reference making people pay for email does nothing to reduce the SPAM.
Oh wait, it does one thing. It makes it possible for one company to control content. One company decides what is good for me! Namely the POST or possibly Microsoft?
EG, maybe I really do want my penis enlarged! Because those emails are not sent out, with everybody ignoring it. Maybe, just maybe there are some people who really want their penis enlarged!
Would spammers really have a problem spending money to send emails?
Lets think about this:
1) Ever looked at your snail mailbox? No SPAM there, oh wait yes there is.... 2) Ever sat down at the dinner table and had somebody phone you? No SPAM there, oh wait there is too.... 3) Ever turn on TV in Europe late at night and had to watch during the commercials how you have the chance to talk to a "really mature and hot woman". No SPAM there, oh wait there is too...
The point is that because the Internet is free does not mean there is more or less SPAM. Even SPAMMER have costs, like finding a server, bandwidth, etc. I would even say that the ISP's contribute to the problem because often they turn a blind eye to SPAMMERS themselves. SPAMMERS chew up valuable bandwidth, which in turn makes money for the ISP.
Charging for SPAM will do nothing to lessen the SPAM. It will only increase the price of those that want to SPAM. Face it folks advertising, or OOPS SPAM is here to stay and it is getty nasty!
Seriously, I think this is a really nice plan. Sort of like a deposit program. Yes there will be abuses, but the fact is that it is a reasonable start and does NOT cost money.
The problem I have with paying to send an email is that it is yet another cost to add to your monthly bill.
People like to pay for things in all or nothing mode. Why do you think people get cell phones that say you can call for X minutes for free. Pay cable and you get X channels, etc.
When you are nickeled and dimed to death people become conservative when they should not. Witness in Europe the changing Internet usage when people switch to DSL or Cable.
But back to the point, REALLY nice idea....
Part correct and I think part incorrect
on
The Faded Sun
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I think to understand what is happening to Sun one has to look at the market.
Just recently the Java vendors have noticed that Open Source has taken their share of sales. And this makes them nervous. Sun, which has fought with Open Source is falling into the same problem.
Open Source is making inroads into the market. And the problem with Open Source is that it kills, nullifies the traditional software market. By traditional I mean give money get software. Open Source opens different markets and some people are coping, eg IBM or RedHat, etc.
When I see this I truly do see the end of days of MS. That is IF MS goes this route. If MS decides to accept Open Source, then things will probably change. But I see MS going the same route as Wang. Wang a now dead company that had truly interesting technology and products. But a company that failed to adapt to changing times. But before that happens it is going to get TRULY messy with IP (in America thought).
I just got my T68i with bluetooth. And my wife already has had the T68i for a while now. (We live in Europe). The T68i rocks. Tonight when I got my t68i the salesman showed me the T800. Nice, but too big. I have gotten used to putting my phone in my pocket instead of the "geeky" belt protector. And with bluetooth enabled Pocket PC, what more do you want. Bluetooth really is a godsend, with the devices.
What I am referring to is the scripting bit. I just checked with another Windows XP machine and Applets and Active X controls can be scripted, without any intervention of the user.
If there is a bug then a loophole has been created....
There is an expression 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me'. MS has its share of people hacking it and attacking it. But the problem is that with this amount of attention something should have changed!
Ok blame the admin's. But that is like saying a if somebody cuts off their leg with a chainsaw it is the owners fault for not being careful. Yes the chainsaw user is at fault. But the chainsaw manufacturers were also at fault because the saws kept running when the human let go. That intensified the problem. These days all of these "dangerous" tools have safety checks, etc so catastrophic things do not occur anymore. And it has made a huge difference. This is the same situation with MS and its security problems. At some point in time MS has to start changing its habits and thinking about how to address the issue. Because thus far it has not worked worth a DAMM!
I think I know where IE has a "loophole". The default setting for running a Java Applet is enable. I wonder if they are using Java as a piggy back for their toolbar?
I went through the settings and saw that was the only place where something more complicated could be downloaded.
1) The EMCA standard means squat. EG, I am going to standardize the language xyz at EMCA. Does that mean anything? Nope....
2) The FreeBSD port is a non-commercial port of rotor. This means FreeBSD does NOT have any commercial.NET implementation.
3) Helping Linux is that last thing MS wants to do.
Lets be very frank here. MS does not give a rats butt if.NET works on the LINUX platform. MS makes its money selling the software attached to.NET which only run on Windows and will always only run on Windows.
Also consider the following quote from another mailing list:
*******(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/win_tech_o ff _topic/message/13985) It is different as programming paradigm and prowides a lot more features than the current Windows Forms. It should be used instead of Windows Forms for native Longhorn apps. I don't know what the plans for Windows Forms are, but it's quite possible that on Longhorn they will lay on top of Avalon to support "legacy".NET programs. I don't think Windows Forms will go away though, as they are the managed UI for Win2K, XP and Windows Server 2003. And I don't know (but i highly doubt) whether Avalon will be ported to older platforms.
You realise that i've already said more than i can, especially considering the fact that i am not on the Avalon team and the information above may not be totally correct, right?:-) (Put standard disclaimer here...)
Does that clarify the things or makes them more vague?:-) ******
In the next generation of.NET generics and a new GUI platform will be introduced. How is Mono going to adapt? Oh yeah I forgot it is the old bait and switch routine.
Seriously though I like Mono and use Mono. BUT Mono is NOT a.NET on Linux. Mono is C# and runtime environment for all platforms. And when I code in Mono I code in Mono, GTK# and other Mono things. I do not even consider what MS is doing since trying to keep up is futile.
Think about it. People BUYING the product are having a hard time keeping up with the changes. How do you expect a guy with 150 programmers to keep up with several thousand in MS? In other words think of Mono as another platform that happens to have a C# compiler.
Yes it does make sense
on
Kazaa Fights Back
·
· Score: 4, Informative
This does make sense because in Europe the same thing happened with the car makers. Once a car's warrenty ran out people used to take their car to "non approved" mechanics. The mechanics used "illegal" computers to access the car computer and perform the maintenance necessary.
The car makers took the "non-approved" mechanics to court to stop them working on the cars. Result, they lost. The EU courts said that choice cannot be innibited by using a lock in. The car makers now has to provide all mechanics with the codes necessary to do maintenance.
The point of this story is that Kaaza does distribute legal content. However, if Kaaza cannot get access to this content, then copyright holders are abusing the copyright law. Kaaza has no choice, but distribute whatever content they can get their hands on. In effect Kaaza does have an anti-trust and monopoly issue with the big labels.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/01/13/ in tromcpp.html
What Exactly are Managed Extensions for C++?
Managed Extensions for C++ are extensions to the Visual C++ compiler and language to allow them to create.NET code and enable access to the functionality of the.NET Framework. They include a set of Keywords and Attributes to extend the C++ language to work with, and generate, managed code.
I am not arguing that C# is not an improvement over Java. As said in my original posting I like C# and Java.
What I am arguing is that C# is one thing that Java is not. People say that C# is open and standards, etc, etc, etc...
Well guess what it is not. C# base classes are open. But base classes is not what you use to build applications. Base classes are good for demos.
Is Java open? Absolutely! You can get Java VM's from multiple vendors (and they work). You can get X different libraries that work across the platforms, etc. The choice is there.
Mono is a nice project and I hope it does well. But it is nowhere near as open as Java. And the rotor sources are demo sources, where MS saves the real stuff for themselves. And that is a mistake.
Now about Sun dying of. Ok maybe, maybe not. One never knows. Would anybody have thought that IBM is an Open Source company? Not a chance...
Oh come on... I do know about IL and Java ByteCode because I work in both areas.
Java ByteCode - stack based IL - stack based
Java ByteCode - no registers IL - no registers
They are the same! The difference is that the IL instruction set is larger and that the JavaByte code is limited to 255 instructions (design mistake).
And yes you can write Managed C++ extensions to generate IL. BUT have you read the C++ spec lately? Because there are some restrictions in the managed C++ that is possible with regular C++. Therefore managed C++ is not C++!
Now about writing IL, oh come you can do the same with java bytecode. It is no big trick.
C# and IL are not dependent on each other, true. But C# is the best implementation of a usable IL. Just like Java is best implementation of usable Java Byte Code.
And yes I did look at IL. In fact I look at IL quite a bit because what the C# compiler generates is quite interesting in compiler theory.... And I have inspected the Rotor and Mono sources.
What you are talking about is Managed C++ and beyond. That is != C++.... Once a 100% specification of C++ is implemented in.NET then I will believe it....
Java VM byte code that gets compiled and executed on the fly.NET VM IL code that gets compiled and executed executed on the fly
Java single inheritance model C# single inheritance model
Java interfaces C# interfaces
Ahh.... If it walks like a duck, quakes like a duck and tastes like a duck, then it is a DUCK!
These arguments that.NET allows "other" languages, is pure BS. Does.NET allow IL like C++? NOPE! But so long as the language behaves like C# everything possible. Well gee DUH! The same goes in the Java world.
I like C# and I like Java, but lets leave it that they are the same darn thing! Except one was created to compete against the other!
You know I do not know if Open Office needs to go further. I like it already now. And to be frank I am not simple user. I am a technical book author. As an experiment for this book I decided to switch and it worked out well.
Well gee whiz, you are actually making my point more apparent. Open Source has helped you build something that is useful.
The article was discussing that buying licenses from companies like Microsoft Oracle, does not help the local software industry. Using Open Source would, like I am guessing in your case? So in other words the decision of the SA government was the right one? Yes?
What bothers SA is that they buy licenses of software, but yet not one company develops software in SA. Using Open Source they are giving the chances to future generations of developers. In other words they are becoming self reliant.
Lets put it in their context. Would you not do the same? Would you not want to have your people be part of the digital revolution? Buying software does not make you part of that revolution.
How do you really know that this does not work? Did you happen to spend any time at all on the workings of their security mechanism?
Because you see as a foreigner living in Switzerland I tend to think if they can do it via the Internet then I know it works.
Swiss are conservative cautious people, who oddly enough embrace technology. Hence if it works in Switzerland then I know it will work. Case in point is 100% attendless gas stations. They are all over Switzerland now. They were introduced in 1995, but caught on really quick. And let me tell you how nice it is to have a gas station that is open 100% percent of the time. Sure people in North America have 24x7 gas stations. But I live in the country and hence that is not always the case.
Ok I think it has to be said. Can we not give them Internet Exploder? I mean it regularly gives me grief, so how different would aliens REALLY be. But since we have been already immunized using the three finger salute the aliens might have issues with this immunization....
Slashdot Mirror
But what is the difference of this and PayPal???? Ok there is some more math.
But I thought part of the problem was using PayPal is that PayPal is an external service that is not as recognized as Visa, Mastercard, or American Express (plus some others).
And this service does not seem to solve that problem for me. I thought when I started reading the article that it was going to somehow have some magic receipe for using my ALREADY accepted credit card....
Take a look at Avril or at Blink 42. These are not people from a generation who wants to adhere to society. Consider the following quote from the article:
;)
>>>
After much negotiation, the labels OK'd musicmix, once Microsoft agreed to somewhat hobble its features. (Playlists have a maximum of 60 tunes, and the songs won't play unless the original owner is participating.)
This is not how it goes. While this stuff might be interesting for the 8-12 year olds, beyond that they will be savy enough to figure out how to do things on their own.
MS while the intention is good is also misdirected. They want to get AOL IM client back. Last I remember the teens do not seem to use AOL since, well, its, for old geezers.... You know those that cannot use a computer
If MS were to stop worrying about the legal implications and stopped looking over their shoulder then maybe this 3degrees will be popular....
But you are making my point. I was saying just because SPAM is costing the sender does not reduce the SPAM. And all of the examples I reference illustrate the point.
The point you mention is that the examples I refernece have mechanisms to stop the SPAM. But guess what, maybe for now.
Consider the following example. Lets say that I send you a mail saying "Hey bud buy this". I address the mail to you personally? Is this bulk? Maybe maybe not. Do you read the fine print of all the agreements? Also what happens if I happen to be resident in another country?
Answer, this is how the companies are getting around the bulk mailing laws in Europe. They send it via third countries and hence are not subject to bulk laws....
The thing is that right now the break-even point is 0.01%. But when it costs money then that breakeven point will move higher. What will that do? It will probably stop the "I need your help" emails that promise money.
The breakeven point will never need to reach 1-2 percent because that is print break-even. Which would indicate that emails cost about 30cents a pop to send. At those prices Internet usage would drop like a rock.
Here is a surprise. I have statistics on my SPAM and these days about 75% of my emails are legit businesses... This means people are buying into these SPAM emails.
I think the original poster wanted to highlight that fraudulent posters are not the issue. The point was that just because you have to pay does not reduce the SPAM. You still get plenty of SPAM through snailmail, or via the telephone. And these have real costs associated with them.
Therefore using these models as a reference making people pay for email does nothing to reduce the SPAM.
Oh wait, it does one thing. It makes it possible for one company to control content. One company decides what is good for me! Namely the POST or possibly Microsoft?
EG, maybe I really do want my penis enlarged! Because those emails are not sent out, with everybody ignoring it. Maybe, just maybe there are some people who really want their penis enlarged!
Would spammers really have a problem spending money to send emails?
Lets think about this:
1) Ever looked at your snail mailbox? No SPAM there, oh wait yes there is....
2) Ever sat down at the dinner table and had somebody phone you? No SPAM there, oh wait there is too....
3) Ever turn on TV in Europe late at night and had to watch during the commercials how you have the chance to talk to a "really mature and hot woman". No SPAM there, oh wait there is too...
The point is that because the Internet is free does not mean there is more or less SPAM. Even SPAMMER have costs, like finding a server, bandwidth, etc. I would even say that the ISP's contribute to the problem because often they turn a blind eye to SPAMMERS themselves. SPAMMERS chew up valuable bandwidth, which in turn makes money for the ISP.
Charging for SPAM will do nothing to lessen the SPAM. It will only increase the price of those that want to SPAM. Face it folks advertising, or OOPS SPAM is here to stay and it is getty nasty!
Seriously, I think this is a really nice plan. Sort of like a deposit program. Yes there will be abuses, but the fact is that it is a reasonable start and does NOT cost money.
The problem I have with paying to send an email is that it is yet another cost to add to your monthly bill.
People like to pay for things in all or nothing mode. Why do you think people get cell phones that say you can call for X minutes for free. Pay cable and you get X channels, etc.
When you are nickeled and dimed to death people become conservative when they should not. Witness in Europe the changing Internet usage when people switch to DSL or Cable.
But back to the point, REALLY nice idea....
I think to understand what is happening to Sun one has to look at the market.
Just recently the Java vendors have noticed that Open Source has taken their share of sales. And this makes them nervous. Sun, which has fought with Open Source is falling into the same problem.
Open Source is making inroads into the market. And the problem with Open Source is that it kills, nullifies the traditional software market. By traditional I mean give money get software. Open Source opens different markets and some people are coping, eg IBM or RedHat, etc.
When I see this I truly do see the end of days of MS. That is IF MS goes this route. If MS decides to accept Open Source, then things will probably change. But I see MS going the same route as Wang. Wang a now dead company that had truly interesting technology and products. But a company that failed to adapt to changing times. But before that happens it is going to get TRULY messy with IP (in America thought).
I just got my T68i with bluetooth. And my wife already has had the T68i for a while now. (We live in Europe). The T68i rocks. Tonight when I got my t68i the salesman showed me the T800. Nice, but too big. I have gotten used to putting my phone in my pocket instead of the "geeky" belt protector. And with bluetooth enabled Pocket PC, what more do you want. Bluetooth really is a godsend, with the devices.
What I am referring to is the scripting bit. I just checked with another Windows XP machine and Applets and Active X controls can be scripted, without any intervention of the user.
If there is a bug then a loophole has been created....
There is an expression 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me'. MS has its share of people hacking it and attacking it. But the problem is that with this amount of attention something should have changed!
Ok blame the admin's. But that is like saying a if somebody cuts off their leg with a chainsaw it is the owners fault for not being careful. Yes the chainsaw user is at fault. But the chainsaw manufacturers were also at fault because the saws kept running when the human let go. That intensified the problem. These days all of these "dangerous" tools have safety checks, etc so catastrophic things do not occur anymore. And it has made a huge difference. This is the same situation with MS and its security problems. At some point in time MS has to start changing its habits and thinking about how to address the issue. Because thus far it has not worked worth a DAMM!
I think I know where IE has a "loophole". The default setting for running a Java Applet is enable. I wonder if they are using Java as a piggy back for their toolbar?
I went through the settings and saw that was the only place where something more complicated could be downloaded.
Thoughts?
1) The EMCA standard means squat. EG, I am going to standardize the language xyz at EMCA. Does that mean anything? Nope....
.NET implementation.
.NET works on the LINUX platform. MS makes its money selling the software attached to .NET which only run on Windows and will always only run on Windows.
o ff _topic/message/13985) .NET programs. I don't think Windows Forms will go away though, as
:-) (Put standard disclaimer here...)
:-)
.NET generics and a new GUI platform will be introduced. How is Mono going to adapt? Oh yeah I forgot it is the old bait and switch routine.
.NET on Linux. Mono is C# and runtime environment for all platforms. And when I code in Mono I code in Mono, GTK# and other Mono things. I do not even consider what MS is doing since trying to keep up is futile.
2) The FreeBSD port is a non-commercial port of rotor. This means FreeBSD does NOT have any commercial
3) Helping Linux is that last thing MS wants to do.
Lets be very frank here. MS does not give a rats butt if
Also consider the following quote from another mailing list:
*******(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/win_tech_
It is different as programming paradigm and prowides a lot more features than
the current Windows Forms. It should be used instead of Windows Forms for
native Longhorn apps. I don't know what the plans for Windows Forms are, but
it's quite possible that on Longhorn they will lay on top of Avalon to support
"legacy"
they are the managed UI for Win2K, XP and Windows Server 2003. And I don't know
(but i highly doubt) whether Avalon will be ported to older platforms.
You realise that i've already said more than i can, especially considering the
fact that i am not on the Avalon team and the information above may not be
totally correct, right?
Does that clarify the things or makes them more vague?
******
In the next generation of
Seriously though I like Mono and use Mono. BUT Mono is NOT a
Think about it. People BUYING the product are having a hard time keeping up with the changes. How do you expect a guy with 150 programmers to keep up with several thousand in MS? In other words think of Mono as another platform that happens to have a C# compiler.
This does make sense because in Europe the same thing happened with the car makers. Once a car's warrenty ran out people used to take their car to "non approved" mechanics. The mechanics used "illegal" computers to access the car computer and perform the maintenance necessary.
The car makers took the "non-approved" mechanics to court to stop them working on the cars. Result, they lost. The EU courts said that choice cannot be innibited by using a lock in. The car makers now has to provide all mechanics with the codes necessary to do maintenance.
The point of this story is that Kaaza does distribute legal content. However, if Kaaza cannot get access to this content, then copyright holders are abusing the copyright law. Kaaza has no choice, but distribute whatever content they can get their hands on. In effect Kaaza does have an anti-trust and monopoly issue with the big labels.
This will be a really interesting case to follow.
Sam Gentile wrote the following:
/ in tromcpp.html
.NET code and enable access to the functionality of the .NET Framework. They include a set of Keywords and Attributes to extend the C++ language to work with, and generate, managed code.
http://www.ondotnet.com/pub/a/dotnet/2003/01/13
What Exactly are Managed Extensions for C++?
Managed Extensions for C++ are extensions to the Visual C++ compiler and language to allow them to create
******
Therefore Managed C++ != C++
Managed C++ is not C++.
Managed C++ introduces a number of changes into the language so that it can work with IL. This in turn does not make it C++ specific.
Ok, lets turn the table. If I take a managed C++ application, can I compile it with gcc? No? That is what I thought because it is not C++....
I am not arguing that C# is not an improvement over Java. As said in my original posting I like C# and Java.
What I am arguing is that C# is one thing that Java is not. People say that C# is open and standards, etc, etc, etc...
Well guess what it is not. C# base classes are open. But base classes is not what you use to build applications. Base classes are good for demos.
Is Java open? Absolutely! You can get Java VM's from multiple vendors (and they work). You can get X different libraries that work across the platforms, etc. The choice is there.
Mono is a nice project and I hope it does well. But it is nowhere near as open as Java. And the rotor sources are demo sources, where MS saves the real stuff for themselves. And that is a mistake.
Now about Sun dying of. Ok maybe, maybe not. One never knows. Would anybody have thought that IBM is an Open Source company? Not a chance...
Oh come on... I do know about IL and Java ByteCode because I work in both areas.
Java ByteCode - stack based
IL - stack based
Java ByteCode - no registers
IL - no registers
They are the same! The difference is that the IL instruction set is larger and that the JavaByte code is limited to 255 instructions (design mistake).
And yes you can write Managed C++ extensions to generate IL. BUT have you read the C++ spec lately? Because there are some restrictions in the managed C++ that is possible with regular C++. Therefore managed C++ is not C++!
Now about writing IL, oh come you can do the same with java bytecode. It is no big trick.
C# and IL are not dependent on each other, true. But C# is the best implementation of a usable IL. Just like Java is best implementation of usable Java Byte Code.
And yes I did look at IL. In fact I look at IL quite a bit because what the C# compiler generates is quite interesting in compiler theory.... And I have inspected the Rotor and Mono sources.
What you are talking about is Managed C++ and beyond. That is != C++.... Once a 100% specification of C++ is implemented in .NET then I will believe it....
Lets see.....
.NET VM IL code that gets compiled and executed executed on the fly
.NET allows "other" languages, is pure BS. Does .NET allow IL like C++? NOPE! But so long as the language behaves like C# everything possible. Well gee DUH! The same goes in the Java world.
Java c syntax
C# c syntax
Java VM byte code that gets compiled and executed on the fly
Java single inheritance model
C# single inheritance model
Java interfaces
C# interfaces
Ahh.... If it walks like a duck, quakes like a duck and tastes like a duck, then it is a DUCK!
These arguments that
I like C# and I like Java, but lets leave it that they are the same darn thing! Except one was created to compete against the other!
You know I do not know if Open Office needs to go further. I like it already now. And to be frank I am not simple user. I am a technical book author. As an experiment for this book I decided to switch and it worked out well.
So I think Open Office is already here....
Well gee whiz, you are actually making my point more apparent. Open Source has helped you build something that is useful.
The article was discussing that buying licenses from companies like Microsoft Oracle, does not help the local software industry. Using Open Source would, like I am guessing in your case? So in other words the decision of the SA government was the right one? Yes?
What bothers SA is that they buy licenses of software, but yet not one company develops software in SA. Using Open Source they are giving the chances to future generations of developers. In other words they are becoming self reliant.
Lets put it in their context. Would you not do the same? Would you not want to have your people be part of the digital revolution? Buying software does not make you part of that revolution.
How do you really know that this does not work? Did you happen to spend any time at all on the workings of their security mechanism?
Because you see as a foreigner living in Switzerland I tend to think if they can do it via the Internet then I know it works.
Swiss are conservative cautious people, who oddly enough embrace technology. Hence if it works in Switzerland then I know it will work. Case in point is 100% attendless gas stations. They are all over Switzerland now. They were introduced in 1995, but caught on really quick. And let me tell you how nice it is to have a gas station that is open 100% percent of the time. Sure people in North America have 24x7 gas stations. But I live in the country and hence that is not always the case.
Ok I think it has to be said. Can we not give them Internet Exploder? I mean it regularly gives me grief, so how different would aliens REALLY be. But since we have been already immunized using the three finger salute the aliens might have issues with this immunization....