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User: dwarg

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  1. Re:Hell yes! on Psystar Wins a Round Against Apple · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The other possibility is that Apple might stop selling shrink-wrapped copies of OS X. Instead you get a copy when you buy a machine and that makes you eligible for upgrades. So every copy of the OS would be tied to a machine, in terms of sales, if not via hardware key.

    Then PsyStar would have to pirate the OS and that would definitively put them in the wrong.

    And that way everybody loses.

  2. Re:Hell yes! on Psystar Wins a Round Against Apple · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The kind of company they are is based on where they make their money. Apple makes some money selling high-end video software, but that's about it. iLife comes free with new macs. iWork doesn't have any copy protection on it. Steve Jobs has openly stated he doesn't care if you pirate OS X (he was assuming it would be used on Apple hardware at the time). iTunes barely breaks even, but it helps them sell iPods.

    And that's the point, Apple uses their software to get you to buy their absurdly overpriced hardware.

    The software IS the "Apple tax" and I think it's worth it when I use an Apple product and I think it isn't when it comes time to buy one. But the only way they offset the development costs is when you buy one of their machines because they just don't sell a lot of software.

  3. Re:Segway polo on Steve Wozniak To Appear On Dancing With the Stars · · Score: 1

    This guy has some intense personal hatred of Woz (I suspect he was molested by an Apple II), he's been been flamin' all over this thread.

  4. Re:not surprising on Is It Windows 7, Or KDE 4? · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bucking for some informative karma I've tracked down some visual aids for our comparison:

    Windows 7

    KDE 4

    Your welcome.

  5. Re:I thought we already had this option... on ESPN's Play To Make ISPs Pay · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also, go to the ESPN360.com site and at the bottom of the video page there is a link to file a bug report. It's the closest thing to a contact form I can see so we may as well use it.

  6. Call your ISP on ESPN's Play To Make ISPs Pay · · Score: 1

    Tell your ISP you don't want to pay an ESPN tax or any other content provider trying to force its product down their throat. If customers want ESPN360 they can pay for it themselves.

    If you can get someone to stay on the line long enough, you could try and explain where this is headed and why it's a bad thing. As in, how many companies do they want to start paying to provide their content? How will that effect their pricing and profitability in the long run?

  7. Re:There is a very good reason he didn't clone it. on Hackers Clone Passports In Driveby RFID Heist · · Score: 1

    It was a poem you insensitive clod!

  8. Re:Despite myself on Rescued Banks Sought Foreign Help During Meltdown · · Score: 1

    Half of all bankruptcies in the US are due to medical bills.

    And around 70% of those actually had insurance before their medical condition bankrupted them.

  9. Re:I could be sarcastic on A Gates Foundation Education Initiative Fizzles · · Score: 1

    Wow, a +5 interesting! I'm glad to see there are other that agree with this.

    I am amazed how much time people spend blaming parents, teachers and systems for the failure of children. It couldn't possibly be the children's fault could it? While parents, teachers and the system are all important for structuring and supporting an environment for children to succeed in, they can't do squat for a brat that won't to pay attention in class.

    Eduction should be as much a privilege as a right. If we were to establish a meritocracy among students and actually reward intelligence more than we reward athletic ability we might see some real advancements in learning.

    Everyone should have the opportunity to get an education but if they squander that opportunity, why keep them around to distract everyone else and waste the teacher's time? Put them to work and show them where their life is headed, if they want another chance at education put them in some remedial classes with the opportunity to work themselves up to better classes if they show some initiative and ability.

  10. Re:Time to tighten our belts on IBM Hides the Bodies, Eyes US Government Billions · · Score: 1

    You're mistaking the subject of the transaction. The politician isn't giving away his own money, he's giving away other people's money in the name of buying votes. The size of the loss in monetary terms is irrelevant because he can blame it on the company later if he has to.

    Not that I think it's really that calculated all the time. I try not to blame corruption or conspiracy when simple incompetence will suffice.

    That said, in your analogy you're using the subjects own money and they care about the monetary return on investment--which it isn't and they don't. And I say all this as a liberal.

  11. Re:Learn English on Startup Hopes To Crowd-Source the Developing World · · Score: 1

    You've been modded at least 4 times, as I right this, and not a single one of them was modded as funny--which I'm hoping you were going for.

    If not, I'd say something about monocultures--it's not just for operating systems and agriculture anymore.

    Also, it's funny no one has mentioned Esperanto yet.

  12. Re:A good application on Microsoft Surface To Coordinate SuperBowl Security · · Score: 1

    Exactly! The future is here... and it's a big-ass table.

  13. Re:there are two enemies of science and progress on Lie Detector Company Threatens Critical Scientists With Suit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Please don't try to bring rational thought to a debate with an "Educated" liberal. I really don't need the headache that will surely ensue.

    Is that because they are unwilling to listen to your rationale, or because you are unwilling to listen to theirs?

    Chances are it's both so I don't see any solution myself, but giving up on talking to one another seems like a poor third option.

  14. Re:Hard evidence on More Claims From NSA Whistleblower Russell Tice · · Score: 4, Informative

    The CEO of Qwest Communications made the same claim and he ended up in jail. They were the only telco that refused to turn over caller records without a proper subpoena. He also claims that the wiretapping program began before 9-11. And he isn't the only one.

  15. Re:Why? on Family Dog Cloned, Thanks To Dolly Patents · · Score: 1

    Pigs are bled to death to preserve the flavor of the meat. They are usually electrocuted first to render them unconscious, then the throat is slit.

  16. Re:Think of it as health insurance on Umbilical Cord Blood Banking? · · Score: 1

    Unless he's a Republican or a Libertarian, in which case he blames illegal immigrants... and votes accordingly.

  17. Re:Not banning plasmas. on Efficiency Gains Could Prove Proposed Plasma Ban Shortsighted · · Score: 1

    Awesome. I wasn't trying to be critical, I was genuinely fascinated by your post and agreed whole-heartedly with your point about using taxes as an incentive to move the so called invisible hand. I was also trying to make a joke about the extremist philosophies that are running rampant these days (free-market infallibility vs. the government should solve all our problems) which kind of muddied the issue. Their seem to be fewer of us in the middle trying to find common ground.

    Thanks for clearing up the bit about Teacher's Unions and The Chamber of Commerce I was genuinely confused by that. But it makes sense now that you explain it.

    As for the swearing, that's great. I've never heard my father swear once and I've always been impressed by that. I'm trying to attain that level of discipline with my first child on the way.

    Keep posting.

  18. Re:so, to summarize... on Windows 7 Taskbar Not So Similar To OS X Dock After All · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the summary.

    I only got two pages into TFA before I bailed since it wasn't even an analyzes of the Tasckbar vs. Dock but talking about the document model vs. the application model which Apple has been using long before they even had a dock (when running apps were shown under the Apple menu in the upper left) and Windows apps have used for as long as I can remember.

    Seems like Ars is really reaching to make a story out of this.

  19. Re:Now unveiling... on Trojan Hides In Pirated Copies of Apple iWork '09 · · Score: 1

    Judging by your username I'd say you probably aren't the most objective person to ask about Apple products or services.

    That said, he did sound like an ass.

  20. Re:Now unveiling... on Trojan Hides In Pirated Copies of Apple iWork '09 · · Score: 1

    That's why I write the more erudite "v1rixies!" FTW!

  21. Re:First sensible decision in a decade on UK Child Abuse Investigators Resent Being Charged For ISP Data · · Score: 1

    Feel free to disagree with the parent comment, but it is this opinion that dominates the population and is the reason we have agencies like Child Protection in the first place, so you can't just dismiss the argument as a troll.

    We just need to find the rational middle ground between those that think no cost is too high to "save the children" and those that would turn a blind eye because it costs something.

  22. Re:Not banning plasmas. on Efficiency Gains Could Prove Proposed Plasma Ban Shortsighted · · Score: 1

    Wow, you just advocated the power of the invisible hand (free-market infallibility) alongside the need to raise taxes to move said invisible hand.

    It's actually a very well reasoned approach but I don't think your ideology is extremist enough to gain any traction... Thanks for playing though.

    You then blame a conspiracy by the politicians to drive lobbying dollars into their pockets, which isn't too crazy when it comes to conspiracies. But for your grand finale it appears you conflate the Teacher's Union with The Chamber of Commerce and elect to censor your own use of the word "damn."

    This might be one of the most fascinating posts I've read.

  23. Re:Perfectly normal on Layoffs at Microsoft, Intel, and IBM · · Score: 1

    (although in the USA job market this is not such a big deal)

    It most certainly is when you take into account all the different companies that are laying people off, combined with hiring freezes at most of the others, combined with outsourcing to try and cut costs in a bad economy, combined with competing with (cheaper) recent graduates for whatever jobs are left.

    I feel sorry for any poor bastard in tech (or any industry) who loses his job in the next year.

  24. Re:Some perspective. on Layoffs at Microsoft, Intel, and IBM · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do the words "Smoot-Hawley" mean anything to you?

    Well Smoot was a cornerback with the Minnesota Vikings for a while, but he's best known for the "love-boat" scandal that made the team a laughing stock.

    And Hawley Minnesota is a small town near my hometown that we played high school football against.

    So I guess it has something to do with international recognition of Minnesota football?

  25. Re:FACTS, not "truth". on Britannica Goes After Wikipedia and Google · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wooosh...