The margin on Windows & Office (revenue vs. development/support costs) is generally estimated to be around 70-80%; this is what's underwriting their money-LOSING gaming & media (MSN/MSNBC/etc.) efforts.
This still makes you wonder how many bodies they have working on 'checklist features' and answering the support lines, that they're eating up that much money.
The problem most SF fans have with Bradbury is his generally pessimistic tone; we/they expect the genre to be basically the opposite, given it presumes we've made it to the future and expanded into space.
That said, the Peter Hamilton and George R.R. Martin books mentioned above are good, and you might also want to look into David Brin's work.
SCO is expecting to have their collective ass handed to them Friday in the IBM suit, and need something to keep the stock propped up while they unwind.
Looking at the correspondence Novell's put up, and given that SCO has acknowledged paying Novell royalties for SysV recently, it's hard to see how they can be serious. We can only hope that the judge here doesn't allow McBride & Co. to drag out the disclosure process as they have in the IBM case.
You don't get a nickel from the former employer under COBRA; in fact, you have to pick up whatever portion they used to pay. All you get is a break on rates based on whatever deal they cut with the insurance company, and no re-qualifications needed. You can keep this up for up to 18 months while you find new work/coverage.
Having had three kids in (and one through) magnet programs, I can comment that it isn't about 'leaving some students behind' so much as about not letting a talented kid drown in the crapfest that the typical HS has become. Most all the local schools offer at least some AP courses, but the academic magnets offer Int'l Baccalaureate curricula. Nice having an environment where being the 'smart kid' doesn't get you stuffed into lockers or bullied for the test answers, and for the one in the arts magnet, getting a double-block dance class daily along with her AP courses. (For some of her classmates, where they don't have to worry about regular gay-bashing from the jock squad.)
It worked flawlessly at the office talking to an Ex2K server under Red Hat 9; previous comments apply about the server needing Outlook Web Access enabled.
Then updating to Fedora Core 1 broke it, and Ximian is only saying Real Soon Now on a fix. So if you're using latest-n-greatest, you too may be hosed for now.
Re:That's how discovery works in litigation
on
SCOrched Earth
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
That's one of the ludicrous things in this case: the trade-secret laws say once it's out in the open, it's no longer a trade secret. You can sue for damages for revealing it, but you can't put the genie back in the bottle. But SCO, after offering source for years, is now trying to claim trade-secret protection on this as-yet-undislosed code.
Groklaw pointed out the other day that for years, the AT&T Unix code had *NO* copyright notices for just this reason - they were trying to protect it as trade secret. It was only after the breakup when they were trying to 'marketize' it that the "THIS IS UNPUBLISHED SOURCE CODE OF AT&T" comment blocks went in.
I think one possible outcome is that IBM asks the court to examine the USL/BSD case and find that the SysV codebase is in fact public-domain, which would presumably torpedo SCO's ability to make claims with it.
Online mentions in IBM filing
on
SCOrched Earth
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Kinda cool to see a reference to a Groklaw URL in IBM's filing. At least ONE of the legal teams knows where to look.
SCO's team, on the other hand, probably starts chewing the rug everytime there's an update...
People, the Bioware folks have worked hard to give us a strong, true-to-the-rules AD&D on our PCs, Linux support for a tier-one game, given us free toolkits, game servers, and modules for expansion; for Ghu's sake, open your damn wallets for once.
I'm all for file-sharing, but these guys deserve some support...
I'm dating myself here, but back in my HS days (early 70's), I wrote a note to the service bureau my school was connected to asking for prices for manuals on the DEC boxes we were talking to. A week later a mid-sized carton landed on my doorstep with a *complete* set of manuals for the PDP-8 & -11 boxes. Definitely helped when we bought our own boxes my senior year.
When I got into the workplace, guess whose systems I recommended...
What's more likely is "We, Novell, are the TRUE owners of Unix, we now have a Linux distro, and you, SCO, are irrelevant. Have fun with IBM's lawyers. B'bye."
Slight diversion: you can walk into any Big Box Store and get an "Teachers and Students" copy of MS Office for between $125-150, when the "business" version runs between $400-500. I don't see many cashiers checking IDs that you're entitled to the educational discount. I only noticed this surfacing in the stores after Sun started selling shrink-wrapped copies of StarOffice 6.0 for $60...
Old SF series, Venus Equilateral by George Smith, dealt with something like this. Trying to develop a teleporter, they instead come up with a Trek-style replicator. The economy quickly collapses until they come up with a synthetic non-replicable material for currency, and the economy rebuilds based on services and certified "Uniques".
C'mon folks, Darl & Co EXPECTED to be bought out to shut them up. The problem with them being bought out now by some other deeper-pocketed company is that it would let them drag this farce out even longer.
What needs to happen to this particular corporate blood-sucker is a stake through the heart, beheading with a silver dagger, stuffing the mouth with garlic & sewing it shut, burning the corpse at a crossroads and scattering the ashes at sea to make sure it doesn't rise again...
They figure enought Big Companies will fork over the (to them) piddling amount of money rather than pay their lawyers to contest it. This will give their bottom line a quick bump and make it more likely the exec's will get the three profitable quarters they need to cash in their options and bail for Bermuda.
If they went after the home/small business users, there's enough outrage that one or more state AGs would get a nice PR bonanza of their own dragging some Big Software Company (yah right) into court for trying to squeeze consumers out of their money...
The Memorex dual-format 4x burner I bought was rated well by a couple of the consumer PC mags, right behind the TDK dual-format, normally sold at Best Buy for $200, and I got it last weekend on sale for $160 up front, with a $30 rebate. I expect the prices to drop even faster than CD-RW drives have the last couple of years (it's probably WHY they've come down, come to think).
I was waiting to jump in, not wanting to get the DVD equivalent of a Betamax, but found a Memorex dual-format burner for about $130 after rebate at one of the local Big Box Stores. My officemate gave me $25 for the 16x DVD-ROM it replaced, so my net is just over $100. By the holidays, that will probably be street price for these things, at which point I expect the single-format burners will just go away, making this whole argument as moot as SCO's case.
Darl expected a quiet buyout from Armonk after which he could open his golden parachute and take up residence somewhere offshore where he couldn't be extradited back to the States.
He didn't realize dangling a case like this in front of IBM's legal department was like dangling raw meat in front of a pack of tigers. At this point, the attention could also bring in the SEC for potential stock manipulation, and a raft of shareholder suits for mis-representation of the company's situation.
So they've adopted the predictable tactic of dodge-and-delay and hoping they can keep the stock pumped up long enough to cash out their options. The MSFT & SUNW 'royalties' if applied at the right times may just let them get away with it...
If SCO is lucky, the judge will simply look over the USL v BSD history and declare the SysV codebase public-domain, making SCO's claims legally moot. If they're unlucky, the SEC and a swarm of shareholder lawsuits will be waiting for them outside the Delaware courtroom, leading to a group perp-walk, some cozy Federal accomodations and a executive's name change to "Darlene, Mac's bride".
IBM's betting the farm on Linux, true, but if SCO's we-own-derivative-works game was validated in court, OS/390 is certified by Open Group as Unix-compatible because of their POSIX support...
you KNOW they aren't going to open that up for SCO to claim against...
And those DMA don't-call/don't-mail lists cost $5 to sign up for (OK, you get two numbers covered for your $5), so having a govt-run FREE no-call list deflates their bottom line.
Slashdot Mirror
The margin on Windows & Office (revenue vs. development/support costs) is generally estimated to be around 70-80%; this is what's underwriting their money-LOSING gaming & media (MSN/MSNBC/etc.) efforts.
This still makes you wonder how many bodies they have working on 'checklist features' and answering the support lines, that they're eating up that much money.
That said, the Peter Hamilton and George R.R. Martin books mentioned above are good, and you might also want to look into David Brin's work.
Looking at the correspondence Novell's put up, and given that SCO has acknowledged paying Novell royalties for SysV recently, it's hard to see how they can be serious. We can only hope that the judge here doesn't allow McBride & Co. to drag out the disclosure process as they have in the IBM case.
SCO delenda est!
You don't get a nickel from the former employer under COBRA; in fact, you have to pick up whatever portion they used to pay. All you get is a break on rates based on whatever deal they cut with the insurance company, and no re-qualifications needed. You can keep this up for up to 18 months while you find new work/coverage.
Having had three kids in (and one through) magnet programs, I can comment that it isn't about 'leaving some students behind' so much as about not letting a talented kid drown in the crapfest that the typical HS has become. Most all the local schools offer at least some AP courses, but the academic magnets offer Int'l Baccalaureate curricula. Nice having an environment where being the 'smart kid' doesn't get you stuffed into lockers or bullied for the test answers, and for the one in the arts magnet, getting a double-block dance class daily along with her AP courses. (For some of her classmates, where they don't have to worry about regular gay-bashing from the jock squad.)
It worked flawlessly at the office talking to an Ex2K server under Red Hat 9; previous comments apply about the server needing Outlook Web Access enabled.
Then updating to Fedora Core 1 broke it, and Ximian is only saying Real Soon Now on a fix. So if you're using latest-n-greatest, you too may be hosed for now.
That's one of the ludicrous things in this case: the trade-secret laws say once it's out in the open, it's no longer a trade secret. You can sue for damages for revealing it, but you can't put the genie back in the bottle. But SCO, after offering source for years, is now trying to claim trade-secret protection on this as-yet-undislosed code.
Groklaw pointed out the other day that for years, the AT&T Unix code had *NO* copyright notices for just this reason - they were trying to protect it as trade secret. It was only after the breakup when they were trying to 'marketize' it that the "THIS IS UNPUBLISHED SOURCE CODE OF AT&T" comment blocks went in.
I think one possible outcome is that IBM asks the court to examine the USL/BSD case and find that the SysV codebase is in fact public-domain, which would presumably torpedo SCO's ability to make claims with it.
Kinda cool to see a reference to a Groklaw URL in IBM's filing. At least ONE of the legal teams knows where to look.
SCO's team, on the other hand, probably starts chewing the rug everytime there's an update...
In IBM's latest memo, they reference Groklaw for some quotes, so at least ONE of the teams knows about her.
[And SCO's probably starts chewing the carpet every time something new is posted there...]
People, the Bioware folks have worked hard to give us a strong, true-to-the-rules AD&D on our PCs, Linux support for a tier-one game, given us free toolkits, game servers, and modules for expansion; for Ghu's sake, open your damn wallets for once.
I'm all for file-sharing, but these guys deserve some support...
I'm dating myself here, but back in my HS days (early 70's), I wrote a note to the service bureau my school was connected to asking for prices for manuals on the DEC boxes we were talking to. A week later a mid-sized carton landed on my doorstep with a *complete* set of manuals for the PDP-8 & -11 boxes. Definitely helped when we bought our own boxes my senior year.
When I got into the workplace, guess whose systems I recommended...
He's resident in the U.S. which means the subpoena works, but last I heard, he's not a U.S. citizen, which frankly doesn't matter here anyway.
What's more likely is "We, Novell, are the TRUE owners of Unix, we now have a Linux distro, and you, SCO, are irrelevant. Have fun with IBM's lawyers. B'bye."
Slight diversion: you can walk into any Big Box Store and get an "Teachers and Students" copy of MS Office for between $125-150, when the "business" version runs between $400-500. I don't see many cashiers checking IDs that you're entitled to the educational discount. I only noticed this surfacing in the stores after Sun started selling shrink-wrapped copies of StarOffice 6.0 for $60...
Old SF series, Venus Equilateral by George Smith, dealt with something like this. Trying to develop a teleporter, they instead come up with a Trek-style replicator. The economy quickly collapses until they come up with a synthetic non-replicable material for currency, and the economy rebuilds based on services and certified "Uniques".
C'mon folks, Darl & Co EXPECTED to be bought out to shut them up. The problem with them being bought out now by some other deeper-pocketed company is that it would let them drag this farce out even longer.
What needs to happen to this particular corporate blood-sucker is a stake through the heart, beheading with a silver dagger, stuffing the mouth with garlic & sewing it shut, burning the corpse at a crossroads and scattering the ashes at sea to make sure it doesn't rise again...
If they went after the home/small business users, there's enough outrage that one or more state AGs would get a nice PR bonanza of their own dragging some Big Software Company (yah right) into court for trying to squeeze consumers out of their money...
The Memorex dual-format 4x burner I bought was rated well by a couple of the consumer PC mags, right behind the TDK dual-format, normally sold at Best Buy for $200, and I got it last weekend on sale for $160 up front, with a $30 rebate. I expect the prices to drop even faster than CD-RW drives have the last couple of years (it's probably WHY they've come down, come to think).
I was waiting to jump in, not wanting to get the DVD equivalent of a Betamax, but found a Memorex dual-format burner for about $130 after rebate at one of the local Big Box Stores. My officemate gave me $25 for the 16x DVD-ROM it replaced, so my net is just over $100. By the holidays, that will probably be street price for these things, at which point I expect the single-format burners will just go away, making this whole argument as moot as SCO's case.
He didn't realize dangling a case like this in front of IBM's legal department was like dangling raw meat in front of a pack of tigers. At this point, the attention could also bring in the SEC for potential stock manipulation, and a raft of shareholder suits for mis-representation of the company's situation.
So they've adopted the predictable tactic of dodge-and-delay and hoping they can keep the stock pumped up long enough to cash out their options. The MSFT & SUNW 'royalties' if applied at the right times may just let them get away with it...
If SCO is lucky, the judge will simply look over the USL v BSD history and declare the SysV codebase public-domain, making SCO's claims legally moot. If they're unlucky, the SEC and a swarm of shareholder lawsuits will be waiting for them outside the Delaware courtroom, leading to a group perp-walk, some cozy Federal accomodations and a executive's name change to "Darlene, Mac's bride".
Pulled the PDF manuals from their home website, D-Link TW, and in both firmware versions of the 707, the queue name is lp.
you KNOW they aren't going to open that up for SCO to claim against...
Awwwww...