Ya know, I was thinking about this a little while I was walking to work today:
This really is a lot like the OS debate. You've got a huge installed base of an inferior product (Gasoline/Windows), an alternative that most would find preferable if it didn't always get such a bad rap (Diesel/Mac) and another that's technically superior in many ways, but requires more expertise and skill to use (Propane, Natural Gas/*NIX).
I bought a VW Jetta with the TDI Diesel engine, and think it's great. I get 50+ MPG and am paying $1.40/gal in Michigan where gas is still over 2 bucks. Diesels are more efficient, the fuel provides greater energy (greater BTU/s per Gal), and newer ones provide really low emissions.
My grandfather had 3 or 4 big GMC trucks that he had converted to run both gas and propane (dual-boot) and they were awesome. Of course there was a huge-ass propane tank in the bed, but he could go forever on it. That was back in the 70's & early 80's, and I've gotta think that the tech has gotten better since then.
The problem is that the average soccer mom would never be able to fill the tank without getting frostbite on her hands. Since these alternate fuels are all compressed gases, you can't just pour them into a tank. Until this process can be made idiot-proof, CNG and LPG probably don't have much of a future as auto fuels.
The other dude above was right too. There's buses. There's also trains, subways, bikes, carpooling, etc. I consider myself very fortunate that I am able to walk to work from home, but I've also had to commute 130 Mi/day so I understand that sometimes you can't help driving. It's just too bad that we can't have the quality of public transportation that most other Western countries enjoy. Shame on us.
...to whom the notion of "port numbers" under IP was completely unfamiliar (yes, the MS person in question did have the MS networking part...
No kidding...I took the MCSE TCP/IP exam, and was shocked that it didn't actually cover much with TCP/IP. I truly believe that somebody who could build a router from spare parts and run an ISP through it would still fail that test. The whole thing was WINS/NetBIOS and the correct spelling of P-I-N-G. (Although I must point out that the TCP port #'s for NetBIOS were never mentioned anywhere. The only time I saw ports mentioned was in the IIS test)
Still, I like the idea of certification, even if I don't like who's doing the certifying. I hope Red Hat does a better job than M$ and Novell did. I just wish certifictions were a little more like what you see with auto mechanics and electricians.
As somebody who used to be in the music business (as another underpaid artist) I totally agree. The people getting rich from the music business are the record labels and whoever owns the publishing rights to the music (usually the same entity).
Artists, especially new ones, don't make squat from their albums. They have to pay the record company for distribution, studio time, manufacturing, the CEO's coke habit, etc. Most of them would love to see as much as $0.50 per unit sold. Most of the time, it's much lower than that.
That's why the whole Metallica/Dr. Dre thing is so strange. (That is if you ignore the whole sellout/corporate bitch thing) For the first time, it's possible for an artist to record and widely distribute music WITHOUT having to sell his/her soul to a record company. It's just that nobody has made it big that way yet. Just wait...it will happen.
I really don't see what the difference is between "unsanctioned" MP3 distribution and trading bootlegs of live shows. Certainly, nobody can argue that the Grateful Dead, Phish, or anybody else who allows taping and bootlegging has suffered from this. The real threat isn't to the artists, it's to the record companies who are discovering that the value in their "value added" service to the poor artists is rapidly disappearing. It's disintermediation all over again. (And you thought you'd heard the last of that meme...)
Just like everything else in the new economy, the record companies will either adapt or die. It's going to take a little longer than it should because they have tons of lawyers to feed, but it will happen. The physical medium (CD's, flash-memory albums, or holographic storage) will always be here, but it won't be the primary revenue stream. It will be on the same level as sheet music is today.
PS: In case somebody from Metallica reads this...I don't like you since you sold out, but I'm going to download and upload every one of your songs as much as possible just because you're being dicks.
--------------------- I've got your sig right here.
Jeez, man...I've been thinking the same thing for years. The Federation is such a small part of the Start Trek universe. Some sort of Twilight Zone-like structure is exactly what would do it for me. There is such a strong sense of continuity and a large, detailed set of rules. It just makes a lot of sense.
I agree that the ensemble cast structure is too limiting. Any time you have a holodeck episode, it just proves that point. I like character development, but more like what was in Babylon 5, not the sappy soulless crap that was DS9 in the last season. I can see how Voyager might go down that same tragic path as it winds up.
As for the whole Sulu thing: WTF are they (Star Trek Groupies) thinking??? They need fresh ideas, not yet another pathetic trip down nostalgia lane. Paramount has a great formula going with the progression from series to movies. I really don't give a rat's ass about what Sulu did after he killed Kirk. And the thought of the rest of the aging original cast making guest appearances (and sponsored by Priceline.com with the Shatner ads) is scary.
So what do I want? I want to see what it's REALLY like to live in the Federation. How about a story about a Ferengi trading vessel stranded without warp drive? What about a con man who makes his living cheating other life forms? Explorers from other galaxies just passing through? I mean, there's just so much that could be done. It would even be a better outlet for fan fiction and stories. They could go a whole season without a holodeck program gaining control of a ship and scaring people. Personally, I would write a big check to Paramount if they would only quit beating that particular dead horse.
I say we lobby for something like that. If Star Trek fans (and I'm a big one, although I wouldn't wear the uniform to jury duty) got behind something inventive and creative that allowed more contribution from fans, I think they could get the best series yet.
Isn't that better than some crap about how the Federation was born? Come on...do you REALLY think they will have the short skirts and political incorrectness that was a hallmark of the early Federation? Puhleaze!
I thought this would be a cool thing to do, too. Sure makes it a whole lot easier than Hotline, but I wonder about security...especially in light of the way Napster gives drive paths to the files it transfers. How many Windows registries could I download?
I know you can configure Napster to only share specific directories, but there are plenty of people who don't bother with those things.
There's also the issue of viruses and trojans. How long before somebody has an army of Netbus'ed machines because the owners wanted Quake 3 for free?
I'm not sure, but this could be a bad thing in the end. If sysadmins need a reason to block Napster, the "Evil Hacker" threat is always good for instant credibility.
I think I'll wait for a little more security before going this route. On the other hand, maybe I should download Back Orifice....
I agree. If you want to see who's depriving artists of revenue, take a look at the record companies. The lucky ones who have had good legal representation might get as much as $0.10 per CD sold. Now, with the current price of a popular CD hovering around $17 or so, who do you think gets the rest of that money?
That's right...members of the RIAA. The only reason they're upset about Napster and Gnutella, etc. is that they don't like the idea of anybody else exploiting artists. It's kind of like, "I'll beat my kids all I want, but if you lay a finger on them, I'll kill you!"
It's that kind of crap that made me get out of the music business. (Well, that and an incurable addiction to eating on a regular basis)
Slashdot Mirror
Ya know, I was thinking about this a little while I was walking to work today:
This really is a lot like the OS debate. You've got a huge installed base of an inferior product (Gasoline/Windows), an alternative that most would find preferable if it didn't always get such a bad rap (Diesel/Mac) and another that's technically superior in many ways, but requires more expertise and skill to use (Propane, Natural Gas/*NIX).
I bought a VW Jetta with the TDI Diesel engine, and think it's great. I get 50+ MPG and am paying $1.40/gal in Michigan where gas is still over 2 bucks. Diesels are more efficient, the fuel provides greater energy (greater BTU/s per Gal), and newer ones provide really low emissions.
My grandfather had 3 or 4 big GMC trucks that he had converted to run both gas and propane (dual-boot) and they were awesome. Of course there was a huge-ass propane tank in the bed, but he could go forever on it. That was back in the 70's & early 80's, and I've gotta think that the tech has gotten better since then.
The problem is that the average soccer mom would never be able to fill the tank without getting frostbite on her hands. Since these alternate fuels are all compressed gases, you can't just pour them into a tank. Until this process can be made idiot-proof, CNG and LPG probably don't have much of a future as auto fuels.
The other dude above was right too. There's buses. There's also trains, subways, bikes, carpooling, etc. I consider myself very fortunate that I am able to walk to work from home, but I've also had to commute 130 Mi/day so I understand that sometimes you can't help driving. It's just too bad that we can't have the quality of public transportation that most other Western countries enjoy. Shame on us.
-------------------------------
Wrong. It's "D"
I'm really surprised that M$ didn't use that as part of their propaganda: "It's the next step up from C"
By the way, I thought of that, and I'm releasing it under GPL. So there, Bill...serves you right for retiring my MCSE two days after I got it.
...to whom the notion of "port numbers" under IP was completely unfamiliar (yes, the MS person in question did have the MS networking part...
No kidding...I took the MCSE TCP/IP exam, and was shocked that it didn't actually cover much with TCP/IP. I truly believe that somebody who could build a router from spare parts and run an ISP through it would still fail that test. The whole thing was WINS/NetBIOS and the correct spelling of P-I-N-G. (Although I must point out that the TCP port #'s for NetBIOS were never mentioned anywhere. The only time I saw ports mentioned was in the IIS test)
Still, I like the idea of certification, even if I don't like who's doing the certifying. I hope Red Hat does a better job than M$ and Novell did. I just wish certifictions were a little more like what you see with auto mechanics and electricians.
-----------------------------------
My wife is going to kill me when I bring a mainframe home...provided I can find one at a garage sale somewhere.
;)
Now I just need to find a map big enough for a 14,000-player Quake 3 CTF game.
As somebody who used to be in the music business (as another underpaid artist) I totally agree. The people getting rich from the music business are the record labels and whoever owns the publishing rights to the music (usually the same entity).
Artists, especially new ones, don't make squat from their albums. They have to pay the record company for distribution, studio time, manufacturing, the CEO's coke habit, etc. Most of them would love to see as much as $0.50 per unit sold. Most of the time, it's much lower than that.
That's why the whole Metallica/Dr. Dre thing is so strange. (That is if you ignore the whole sellout/corporate bitch thing) For the first time, it's possible for an artist to record and widely distribute music WITHOUT having to sell his/her soul to a record company. It's just that nobody has made it big that way yet. Just wait...it will happen.
I really don't see what the difference is between "unsanctioned" MP3 distribution and trading bootlegs of live shows. Certainly, nobody can argue that the Grateful Dead, Phish, or anybody else who allows taping and bootlegging has suffered from this. The real threat isn't to the artists, it's to the record companies who are discovering that the value in their "value added" service to the poor artists is rapidly disappearing. It's disintermediation all over again. (And you thought you'd heard the last of that meme...)
Just like everything else in the new economy, the record companies will either adapt or die. It's going to take a little longer than it should because they have tons of lawyers to feed, but it will happen. The physical medium (CD's, flash-memory albums, or holographic storage) will always be here, but it won't be the primary revenue stream. It will be on the same level as sheet music is today.
PS: In case somebody from Metallica reads this...I don't like you since you sold out, but I'm going to download and upload every one of your songs as much as possible just because you're being dicks.
---------------------
I've got your sig right here.
Jeez, man...I've been thinking the same thing for years. The Federation is such a small part of the Start Trek universe. Some sort of Twilight Zone-like structure is exactly what would do it for me. There is such a strong sense of continuity and a large, detailed set of rules. It just makes a lot of sense.
I agree that the ensemble cast structure is too limiting. Any time you have a holodeck episode, it just proves that point. I like character development, but more like what was in Babylon 5, not the sappy soulless crap that was DS9 in the last season. I can see how Voyager might go down that same tragic path as it winds up.
As for the whole Sulu thing: WTF are they (Star Trek Groupies) thinking??? They need fresh ideas, not yet another pathetic trip down nostalgia lane. Paramount has a great formula going with the progression from series to movies. I really don't give a rat's ass about what Sulu did after he killed Kirk. And the thought of the rest of the aging original cast making guest appearances (and sponsored by Priceline.com with the Shatner ads) is scary.
So what do I want? I want to see what it's REALLY like to live in the Federation. How about a story about a Ferengi trading vessel stranded without warp drive? What about a con man who makes his living cheating other life forms? Explorers from other galaxies just passing through? I mean, there's just so much that could be done. It would even be a better outlet for fan fiction and stories. They could go a whole season without a holodeck program gaining control of a ship and scaring people. Personally, I would write a big check to Paramount if they would only quit beating that particular dead horse.
I say we lobby for something like that. If Star Trek fans (and I'm a big one, although I wouldn't wear the uniform to jury duty) got behind something inventive and creative that allowed more contribution from fans, I think they could get the best series yet.
Isn't that better than some crap about how the Federation was born? Come on...do you REALLY think they will have the short skirts and political incorrectness that was a hallmark of the early Federation? Puhleaze!
I thought this would be a cool thing to do, too. Sure makes it a whole lot easier than Hotline, but I wonder about security...especially in light of the way Napster gives drive paths to the files it transfers. How many Windows registries could I download?
I know you can configure Napster to only share specific directories, but there are plenty of people who don't bother with those things.
There's also the issue of viruses and trojans. How long before somebody has an army of Netbus'ed machines because the owners wanted Quake 3 for free?
I'm not sure, but this could be a bad thing in the end. If sysadmins need a reason to block Napster, the "Evil Hacker" threat is always good for instant credibility.
I think I'll wait for a little more security before going this route. On the other hand, maybe I should download Back Orifice....
I agree. If you want to see who's depriving artists of revenue, take a look at the record companies. The lucky ones who have had good legal representation might get as much as $0.10 per CD sold. Now, with the current price of a popular CD hovering around $17 or so, who do you think gets the rest of that money?
That's right...members of the RIAA. The only reason they're upset about Napster and Gnutella, etc. is that they don't like the idea of anybody else exploiting artists. It's kind of like, "I'll beat my kids all I want, but if you lay a finger on them, I'll kill you!"
It's that kind of crap that made me get out of the music business. (Well, that and an incurable addiction to eating on a regular basis)