Systems have been created with the end user in mind, and you should know that being in the industry for 25 years. As for the people that give the rest of us a bad rap, who is more at fault the people who keep those bad attitudes around or the ones who keep the bad attitudes? Yes, it is a bad thing but again think of it from their side of the coin. Most of those people are dealing with people who often times choose not to learn about their tools and what influences them. If your job was to keep a Kentucky Derby champion well groomed and happy, but you had to keep going over to kick a dead smelly horse you just might start to have some bitterness creep up in you too. This is not an excuse, but rather a showing of the other side.
Yes, customer education, service, and interaction should be better when dealing with users. But on the same token, those users should show some interest in a tool that they either have to use or want to use. There is a duality to this situation and we all should remember that. So perhaps you should add to your list education.
I blame me. I blame every single American with negative feelings toward this outsourcing trend. Though we are not responsible for it happening, we are responsible for not seeing the major cause and attacking it instead. We are a representative democracy, and it is majorities that put people who vote and start/pass bills into offices. Offices where laws can be made to fix American problems. This American problem is the high ranking business officers and CEOs who think they deserve 7-8 digit salaries and 7 digit bonuses. I'm sure they work hard...but that hard? I'm sure reduction of those large numbers for all who have been reaping it's benefits would add up to some staggering costs as well. Is such flagrant luxury a suiting compensation or investment?
But this opens many many doors to many more arguments. For the sake of simplicity, here is my rambling opinion: I think legislation should be introduced to severly curtail and limit the amounts of salary paid out to high level executives and limit the bonuses paid out to high level executives. Just cap it at levels. This would place a large amount of money back into the company's budget. How they choose to use it, say research and development or start their own in-house training, would be up to the company. Outsource jobs they think are done better for cheaper, it will either benefit or bite them in the ass. Maybe it will spur a whole new job category based upon creativity with upper level and lower level coding. The money will be invested in the best, and where you align yourself is your choice. Would you be willing to invest countless personal hours drumming up support and campaigning and trying to spend what little you could and beating the street? Shit lets be honest, I'm not. Would you trust just anybody, and who is to say how they would act in office. We have created too many whats and ifs. That's why I blame us.
It is not the Indian's fault their cost of living and style of living is drastically cheaper affording cheaper rates. They were able to rapidly and efficiently build a custom tailored trade to specifically target and drain one thing. It has it's benefits and it has is losses, but regardless it's being done well enough to create a stir. Do I resent it, hell yes. But the only thing to do is try to find the next wave and hope it lasts longer. Maybe that means back to school or lower level jobs to work your way up, but only bitching about it or just attacking visas accomplishes nothing.
The concepts of Resumes and cover letters elude most people these days. It is as much an important fancy piece of paper as a degree from a college stating you can memorize books. I re-write resumes/cover letters for friends and wrote many a resume/cover letter myself. It's shocking what people consider a complete resume and effective cover letter aside from typical mistakes made by not using a word processor.
The first and most important thing as stated is break away from the mold. Using a template can be a great thing to structure your resume, but it is up to you to logical sort the information and present it in a manner that sells your skills and professionalism. Don't retain one generic resume to blast out to every place you apply to, custom tailor it by making small tweaks to best suit the position you are applying for. Try to keep the information useful and pertitent to the position, working at Subway does not interest somebody looking for a Perl programmer with ASP.NET experience. Portray the details of what you did at your job, would you be more interested in somebody that lists "System Administration" or "Managed user lists and group persmissions while maintaining system inegrity and performance to ensure maximum efficient availability on Linux Slackware servers." if you were looking for a System Admin? Present the information in a format that highlights your skills and achievments as close to the top as possible to hook quick glances for closer look. Think of how many of these are coming across a desk, so you want the skills and experience you have to catch that quick glimpse. Keep it as short as possible, remember a resume is submitted to get you an interview where you can really sell your personality along with your skills/experience. Pay attention not to cut out things again that relate to the job...but this is where trimming with customr tailoring to a position should create room for you.
Cover letters also should be a quick summary of yourself and your skills to show you do have communication skills and again, peak interest in your resume. It is a great chance to sell yourself and show you have some skills to be looked over on your well organized and thought out resume. Stated also, don't be afraid to show you have researched the company and have questions about it
Remember it's all a sales pitch for both parties to explore a match, so try to write something that sells!
MikeHunt.com - Being sued by Moe Szyslak, owner of Moe's Tavern for prank call infringement.
HenWeigh.com - Being sued by Jenny Craig, settlement offered of $15 in McDonalds Gift Certificates
ShoBullshit.org - Next on the list for SCO for misleading location of mystery source code backed up on mothership hiding behind Venus.
MyLittleBoy.net - Sued by Michael Jackson for misleading name. Settlement reached at 100 little Sailor outfits with various sizes.
MajorWoody.us - Major Horace Woody has apparently given Woody Woodpecker a bad name. The Pecker and Woody are working out a deal out of court however.
FamilyLove.net - Pending legislation by the State of Arkansas's Singles site, FamilyLovers.net.
SlashingDot.org - In close contact with Cowboy Neal as geeks to not want to be confused with a "News for Serial Killers" site.
gaggle.com - Upsetting google.com, but google is unwilling to start gang warfare as drive by DoSes sometimes comprimise innocent networks.
DeathRow.us - Death row inmates suing for misrepresentation of convicted criminals actually on Death Row.
Garbage.com - Also being sued by Microsoft for copyright infringement of copyright. Alleges that this name is a common slang for their products in knowledgable circles.
Wouldn't take Satellite "No TV when wind is blowing and/or sun is shining" if it was free for life...so never looked into it and don't really care to tell you the truth. Sorry.
I could build a better setup for more, but won't be paying for a "Lifetime Subscription" or 12 bux a month for life with only means of adding more space or features available is...buy a whole new unit instead of a piece of hardware or adding a new script. Same for improving performance of the system, upgrade mainboard/CPU and shouldn't have to do it again a year later AND than pay even more than the first time being lured in.
Long term is what I am thinking about here given trends regarding these types of services. Being Open Source, it is very possible of course to add compatibility for Satellite TV barring the reason there is none already is your provider locks down things requiring hacking and DMCA bullshit. Is it perfect now, of course not. Neither was Linux in the 2.0.x kernel days but now it is a solution being adopted by entire countries in contrast to forking out milions to M$ just to be crippled by the next virus. Ever thought about trying to make the contribution to these projects instead of trolling on/.?
Cable companies are very aware of the potential of TiVOisk services and offer DVR for much less than TiVO and no dialing through a phone line, with a DVR box integrated into your Digital Cable box capable of doing HDTV. But from a business standpoint, this could all be hype which would be wasted revenue if they attacked it with billions, especially with Open Source alternatives that are free and not only becoming clones but IMHO better than TiVO.
So if it does catch, you may see XML services included in your Cable TV DVR costs or easy networking to a PC wirelessly from your Digital Cable Box taking HDTV through a DVR. Or maybe what you will see are services related to DVR/Personal TV being offered by companies to fund their programming as opposed to commercials, hell I'd pay five bucks a month just to not see that stupid fucking AOL "movie trailer" commercial.
When there are lots of free alternatives out there which use Linux and bring you all the features of your PC such as DVD burners and internet access and RAID arrays of 120GB HDs for plenty of recording. (Damn Discovery Science Channel and History International and...)
This has been addressed several different ways under several different angles. Previous posts have even made the point boldly clear.
The people who need to take responsibility are the criminals who hide behind excuses at an attempt to ease their conscience and/or sentences. Holy shit, even if you choose not to make a choice you still have made a choice which you are directly responsible for. Blame TV, Movies, Games, Books, voices in your head, neighbor's dog...you still chose to act. Do I play violent games, hell yeah and it's a great stress releiver. Do I have violent thoughts, most people do though I don't think they wish they had a.45 to shoot the bastard that just cut you off...but I choose to keep these thoughts as just thoughts. Maybe the people who whine and cry about things like GTA and Unreal need to try paying more attention to their children so they are raised right. The problem is not games or Hollywood, the problem is as a society we do not take responsibility for our own actions or children and would rather cry about then litigate it, rather than fix it.
This should be the message pushed right back into the faces making these accusations. Games are not reality and should not be pushed as such in court. I would think if GTA had such an incredible CIA LSD Electroshock Therapy Brainwashing influence...we would have a great return investment in body bag companies.
This whole issue IMHO stems really from communications issues as well as service inhouse as well as perceived by the customer. Being able to understand the person you are working with cannot be emphasized enough when you are having a project coded out that will obviously have an impact on your business as it was worthy of an investment. In conjunction with this is being able to get timely reports and updates as well as modifications that usually get inserted from a deskside visit to ensure it can be done and the time factors involved given the employees knowledge of internal workings being onsite. Tag onto these problems the shot in the foot this all brings along with issues mentioned on previous posts and you are looking at an issue of taking whole operations overseas which is begging for government involvemnt possibly leading to tariffs etc.
Sure this could be great for those living in mudhuts who have fancy pieces of papers saying they know how to memorize books but are ignorant to the foreign business model and expectations. But before this can become any sort of real shuffling of work, communications issues need to be addressed and businesses doing this need to exercise their checkbooks and purchase the government officials needed to make it safe from fiscal penalties. In countries who can vote, the power of the constituent will eventually outweigh the foolish MBA if things are not protected and ironed out.
By helping to establish recognized boundries and promoting that absolute separation (Labels like Haitains instead of just American or HUMAN) you are in fact promoting bigotry and maybe even racism. But this is not about our ignorance as a species, but rather a small group of crybabies who cannot recognize this is a fucking game. Sure, for the most part parents these days are not parents, failed parents, but more accurately they are genetic donors providing very minor supervision to maybe just barely help kids avoid major accidents. Because most people have decided that schools, society, TV, movies, games, and cartoons should instill moral values and lifetime behavioral habits in their children does not mean everybody should suffer. If you are offended by the game for whatever reason, sell the game or don't buy it.
If you think this will "force" or "influcene" kids and/or people to act upon a giant wad of binary to make it a reality then maybe you should try addressing the real problem. Don't try to make the game disappear..it won't stupid, it's been released and copies will be traded, sold, and burned. How much more could be accomplished with a crusade to make parents parent again? How much could be accomplished by removing labels that force distinctions and differences? How about getting somebody mostly honest into a political office that comes from the working class that knows what reality is like living like %98 of how most Americans do? Best yet work on finding a way to help better things so both parents do not have to work to afford to survive in their hovel and just barely make it.
This suit is a waste of time and resources that should be used to put vermin where they belong, not cater to a cadre of narrow sighted whiners. Don't make the game go away, make the problem go away.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santanya
This strikes me very much familiar along with the "war" on drugs. A previous post touched on this lightly as well. Be it encryption, invite only LAN MP3 share parties, USENET, or any of the other countless work arounds out there...By brandishing their lawyers they are in fact creating an underground which society has demonstrated they want to exist, and it will. Instead of trying to make use of this phenomenon, they want to bully people and focus their creative energies on how they can sue. Sounds eerily familiar to the ban of alcohol which founded organized crime in the US and gave a beautiful model for drug running today. In an effort to slay a beast, a new monster was created and the beast was welcomed with open arms in the long run and taxed accordingly to make it profitable and put into a mostly controlled environment. Of course it's not possible to put music into a controlled environment, but iTunes was able to make downloading music a business. Guess they should have focussed on hedging that new market instead of helping to create an underground they will never be able to control or profit from. (Go to concerts if you want the artists to get your money, and boycott RIAA backed media)
Most ISPs now block port 25 so open relay spamming is on the decline. It is also part of the reason AOL implemented their blocking of non-registered or recognized mail servers. ISPs that do not often times do not are considered "Spammer Friendly" and placed on just about every BL out there for their IP block. (This also has the added advantage of curtailing SMTP engine toting virii) As also pointed out Email test probes will be added to the Spammer's aresenal of Poopsmith tools to verify they are able to send their shit out. This could however have a slight benefit of flawing their business model as it requires more time be invested for active true open relay verification and their email be routed through a mail server which might have spam filter running which may help to flag suspicious accounts sending the same or similar Spam to their box frequently.
What this also could be useful for is legitimate mail servers helping to track down Spammers as it runs the blackhole open relay to everything not in an approved IP scope or authenticating. Possibly allowing the single test email being routed back to the domain of the IP attempting to send and if a flurry of Spam comes reporting the IP to the abuse department of that domain along with the total attempt of Spam sent to the bit bucket. This could catch Spammers who get their email from their own servers and email from their ISP's mail servers or Spammer friendly servers to be BL and/or shutdown. Would be an interesting project as Spammers have to look for more ways to send their shit out and not use their ISPs mail servers and be shutdown. Lots of different ways to play with this program and the application of it to attack the business model of the Spammer and lure them into stupid mistakes that may lead to their imprisonment like they deserve so they can meet Bubba.
If a user downloads music or videos the system deems to be illegal, they will lose their connection and be punished by being forced to watch industry propaganda, lengthy suspensions of access, or even a written reprimand.
Reminds me of "A Clockwork Orange"...
The other little things such as lengthy suspensions of access and words on paper saying bad student will only encourage alternate means being found to accomplish what they want. In true university fashion they are encouraging research!
There should be a constant for that, I mean this is pop music. How many guys in the bar when chilling after a long day of slinging code comment on how nice Britney's voice is and her complete understanding of music and musical theory...and how many talk about her nice tits and fine ass as well as how hot she is.
Sexual appeal is a huge cornerstone for Pop, and a major factor in it's success.
I'm sorry I am going to have to get some of those pinhead moderators to waste points on me here as I hear crybaby gamers all the time whine and moan. (Usually over things they don't understand because they can't stop playing long enough to read and research.)
Gaming is *NOT* a sport!! Shit, you waste away hours leading to weeks of your life twitching only a few muscles for a digital score...sporty as a Gremlin next to a Porsche. The use of the term "professional" when speaking about a gamer is just sickening and demeaning to *REAL* professionals like the programmers who coded the game or the Network engineers at the ISP who maintain connections so the _game_ can be played. Tournaments are great, but lets put things in perspective. If you win a ribbon at your local or even state fair for your chili, do you think that gives you the right to start putting yourself on the same level as a real professional such as Emril Lagasse?
I love to spend a good 3 hours playing an online game, but in keeping touch with reality it's just a game. When I'm done thats it, I don't try to make it more than what it really is to compensate for a critical lacking in my life. Personally, I would not watch this sort of stuff online or in person with free admission, free food, and free beer. Strikes me kinda like watching golf...you have to be the right kind of person.
To extort money from a 15 year old and before that a 12 year old? WTF is that about and WTF is that going to solve? Law is Law, even if it is complete shit and designed to help line the pockets of the greedy and toss the scraps to the artists. But to leverage money out of a teenager/child even at the amount of $3,500 is just plain stupid. Even if they had a silver spoon in their mouth and mommy and daddy could pay it, nothing has been accomplished. It's this flagrant display of greed that makes me sick.
I'm not saying I have a solution, I'm not saying you should get off unscathed for breaking the law. I beleive there is a better solution to them addressing this then feeding lawyers and pissing a lot of people off despite words on paper that say you are in the right. Just because words say you are in the right, does not make your actions right. I'm not even saying I have a solution here, but with the amount of money they have already extorted and ripped off from bloated prices...you think they would have hired at least an MBA to figure out, "Hey lets try to save face and instead of trying to get money from the people who probably don't have and won't have it...have them repay it by working community service." As much as I wish horrid things upon everybody associated with the RIAA, I would be hard pressed to keep such a view were they to make their point and show they are not a greedy giant too important to see the humanity side of things.
On a personal note, I think the kid would learn their lesson sucking exhaust up their nose for a month picking up trash on a local highway or freeway.
Having capitalism and knowing how to apply it are two totally different things, and the result of piss poor governmental decisions. As vast as the resources of Russia is there really is no other excuse aside from somebody being stupid or on the bankroll for not being able to kick up your economy and local/global markets. As for wiring the country like South Korea, sounds like you need to get more backbones in first to drop the cost. More supply than demand leads to cheaper prices.;) You also seem to immediately discount the overloaded network theory...I really can't imagine you are the priveledged few Russkis that want broadband services maybe you should pop a few tracerts out there to look for a bottleneck.
Course, we haven't sealed our borders yet and I am sure you could find a state you would enjoy living in...perhaps Montana? Think about, even the ignorant sand fleas eventually learn how good life is in America...despite coming here to make a pathetic attempt at terrorism.:) But seriously, it sux to hear the state of internet access there in St. Petersburg...no good for geeks anywhere.:( Fuckers
Bandwidth limitations on cable systems are going to be in the upstream, think about it for a second. It is using a system designed to deliver information not send it. It also depends upon the bandwidth at the backbone levels and distribution of network burdens on those backbones. The more people who want a slice of the pie, the smaller the slices get until to get another pie.:) True, the coax there may be outdated and in need of updating but to the best of my knowledge coax is not rated like UTP going CAT5 and CAT6 but older wiring is less apt to be able to support high bandwidth. So does your island have the bandwidth provided to it that in turn can be provided to broadband customers. You may also be looking at poor bandwidth management if you have people allowed to run UBRs and set their own config files choking down nodes. Consider also crown limits similar to our FCC which lays down all sorts of restrictions and limits. It could be any number of possibilities, but it will boil down to the business model of your ISP and how much they are willing to spend/invenst/partner for bandwidth.
But seriously folks, I would not pay 2 Rubles for 128Kbps down and 32 Kbps up. Single ISDN channel there practically. Thats just pathetic comrade, I feel your pain with my 3M down and 300Kbps up. And a traffic cap at that, ouch. Is it your area of the city? ISP? Vintage 1970s coax or copper phone lines? Could it be your 386 with 16M of RAM? Cheapest access package for cable? Overloaded network? Bottlenecked backbones?
When I read this kind of post, I start feeling warm and fuzzy towards capitalism and the bounty it brings of DS3s and OC12s and bundled T1s and bandwidth a plenty for all...sorry, most.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Systems have been created with the end user in mind, and you should know that being in the industry for 25 years. As for the people that give the rest of us a bad rap, who is more at fault the people who keep those bad attitudes around or the ones who keep the bad attitudes? Yes, it is a bad thing but again think of it from their side of the coin. Most of those people are dealing with people who often times choose not to learn about their tools and what influences them. If your job was to keep a Kentucky Derby champion well groomed and happy, but you had to keep going over to kick a dead smelly horse you just might start to have some bitterness creep up in you too. This is not an excuse, but rather a showing of the other side.
Yes, customer education, service, and interaction should be better when dealing with users. But on the same token, those users should show some interest in a tool that they either have to use or want to use. There is a duality to this situation and we all should remember that. So perhaps you should add to your list education.
I blame me. I blame every single American with negative feelings toward this outsourcing trend. Though we are not responsible for it happening, we are responsible for not seeing the major cause and attacking it instead. We are a representative democracy, and it is majorities that put people who vote and start/pass bills into offices. Offices where laws can be made to fix American problems. This American problem is the high ranking business officers and CEOs who think they deserve 7-8 digit salaries and 7 digit bonuses. I'm sure they work hard...but that hard? I'm sure reduction of those large numbers for all who have been reaping it's benefits would add up to some staggering costs as well. Is such flagrant luxury a suiting compensation or investment?
But this opens many many doors to many more arguments. For the sake of simplicity, here is my rambling opinion: I think legislation should be introduced to severly curtail and limit the amounts of salary paid out to high level executives and limit the bonuses paid out to high level executives. Just cap it at levels. This would place a large amount of money back into the company's budget. How they choose to use it, say research and development or start their own in-house training, would be up to the company. Outsource jobs they think are done better for cheaper, it will either benefit or bite them in the ass. Maybe it will spur a whole new job category based upon creativity with upper level and lower level coding. The money will be invested in the best, and where you align yourself is your choice. Would you be willing to invest countless personal hours drumming up support and campaigning and trying to spend what little you could and beating the street? Shit lets be honest, I'm not. Would you trust just anybody, and who is to say how they would act in office. We have created too many whats and ifs. That's why I blame us.
It is not the Indian's fault their cost of living and style of living is drastically cheaper affording cheaper rates. They were able to rapidly and efficiently build a custom tailored trade to specifically target and drain one thing. It has it's benefits and it has is losses, but regardless it's being done well enough to create a stir. Do I resent it, hell yes. But the only thing to do is try to find the next wave and hope it lasts longer. Maybe that means back to school or lower level jobs to work your way up, but only bitching about it or just attacking visas accomplishes nothing.
And I don't mean like a French Whore.
The concepts of Resumes and cover letters elude most people these days. It is as much an important fancy piece of paper as a degree from a college stating you can memorize books. I re-write resumes/cover letters for friends and wrote many a resume/cover letter myself. It's shocking what people consider a complete resume and effective cover letter aside from typical mistakes made by not using a word processor.
The first and most important thing as stated is break away from the mold. Using a template can be a great thing to structure your resume, but it is up to you to logical sort the information and present it in a manner that sells your skills and professionalism. Don't retain one generic resume to blast out to every place you apply to, custom tailor it by making small tweaks to best suit the position you are applying for. Try to keep the information useful and pertitent to the position, working at Subway does not interest somebody looking for a Perl programmer with ASP.NET experience. Portray the details of what you did at your job, would you be more interested in somebody that lists "System Administration" or "Managed user lists and group persmissions while maintaining system inegrity and performance to ensure maximum efficient availability on Linux Slackware servers." if you were looking for a System Admin? Present the information in a format that highlights your skills and achievments as close to the top as possible to hook quick glances for closer look. Think of how many of these are coming across a desk, so you want the skills and experience you have to catch that quick glimpse. Keep it as short as possible, remember a resume is submitted to get you an interview where you can really sell your personality along with your skills/experience. Pay attention not to cut out things again that relate to the job...but this is where trimming with customr tailoring to a position should create room for you.
Cover letters also should be a quick summary of yourself and your skills to show you do have communication skills and again, peak interest in your resume. It is a great chance to sell yourself and show you have some skills to be looked over on your well organized and thought out resume. Stated also, don't be afraid to show you have researched the company and have questions about it
Remember it's all a sales pitch for both parties to explore a match, so try to write something that sells!
MikeHunt.com - Being sued by Moe Szyslak, owner of Moe's Tavern for prank call infringement.
HenWeigh.com - Being sued by Jenny Craig, settlement offered of $15 in McDonalds Gift Certificates
ShoBullshit.org - Next on the list for SCO for misleading location of mystery source code backed up on mothership hiding behind Venus.
MyLittleBoy.net - Sued by Michael Jackson for misleading name. Settlement reached at 100 little Sailor outfits with various sizes.
MajorWoody.us - Major Horace Woody has apparently given Woody Woodpecker a bad name. The Pecker and Woody are working out a deal out of court however.
FamilyLove.net - Pending legislation by the State of Arkansas's Singles site, FamilyLovers.net.
SlashingDot.org - In close contact with Cowboy Neal as geeks to not want to be confused with a "News for Serial Killers" site.
gaggle.com - Upsetting google.com, but google is unwilling to start gang warfare as drive by DoSes sometimes comprimise innocent networks.
DeathRow.us - Death row inmates suing for misrepresentation of convicted criminals actually on Death Row.
Garbage.com - Also being sued by Microsoft for copyright infringement of copyright. Alleges that this name is a common slang for their products in knowledgable circles.
Apples and oranges
Now get a free oil change service that needs some polishing and your thinking on the right line.
Wouldn't take Satellite "No TV when wind is blowing and/or sun is shining" if it was free for life...so never looked into it and don't really care to tell you the truth. Sorry.
/.?
I could build a better setup for more, but won't be paying for a "Lifetime Subscription" or 12 bux a month for life with only means of adding more space or features available is...buy a whole new unit instead of a piece of hardware or adding a new script. Same for improving performance of the system, upgrade mainboard/CPU and shouldn't have to do it again a year later AND than pay even more than the first time being lured in.
Long term is what I am thinking about here given trends regarding these types of services. Being Open Source, it is very possible of course to add compatibility for Satellite TV barring the reason there is none already is your provider locks down things requiring hacking and DMCA bullshit. Is it perfect now, of course not. Neither was Linux in the 2.0.x kernel days but now it is a solution being adopted by entire countries in contrast to forking out milions to M$ just to be crippled by the next virus. Ever thought about trying to make the contribution to these projects instead of trolling on
Cable companies are very aware of the potential of TiVOisk services and offer DVR for much less than TiVO and no dialing through a phone line, with a DVR box integrated into your Digital Cable box capable of doing HDTV. But from a business standpoint, this could all be hype which would be wasted revenue if they attacked it with billions, especially with Open Source alternatives that are free and not only becoming clones but IMHO better than TiVO.
;)
So if it does catch, you may see XML services included in your Cable TV DVR costs or easy networking to a PC wirelessly from your Digital Cable Box taking HDTV through a DVR. Or maybe what you will see are services related to DVR/Personal TV being offered by companies to fund their programming as opposed to commercials, hell I'd pay five bucks a month just to not see that stupid fucking AOL "movie trailer" commercial.
My $.02, down to the Euro
When there are lots of free alternatives out there which use Linux and bring you all the features of your PC such as DVD burners and internet access and RAID arrays of 120GB HDs for plenty of recording. (Damn Discovery Science Channel and History International and...)
I personally feel TiVO is a dead company as it's idea was great but can be offered with nearly as many options and more if you are Code/Script inclined. So look for cheap 400Mhz system to start on and enjoy personalized TV in most countries.
Translation for the Technically Challenged(MBA): Liquidate TIVO from your portfolio.
Is complete horseshit especially when you can find other links. Take for instance this link.
Enjoy the reading fellow /.ers.
This has been addressed several different ways under several different angles. Previous posts have even made the point boldly clear.
The people who need to take responsibility are the criminals who hide behind excuses at an attempt to ease their conscience and/or sentences. Holy shit, even if you choose not to make a choice you still have made a choice which you are directly responsible for. Blame TV, Movies, Games, Books, voices in your head, neighbor's dog...you still chose to act. Do I play violent games, hell yeah and it's a great stress releiver. Do I have violent thoughts, most people do though I don't think they wish they had a .45 to shoot the bastard that just cut you off...but I choose to keep these thoughts as just thoughts. Maybe the people who whine and cry about things like GTA and Unreal need to try paying more attention to their children so they are raised right. The problem is not games or Hollywood, the problem is as a society we do not take responsibility for our own actions or children and would rather cry about then litigate it, rather than fix it.
This should be the message pushed right back into the faces making these accusations. Games are not reality and should not be pushed as such in court. I would think if GTA had such an incredible CIA LSD Electroshock Therapy Brainwashing influence...we would have a great return investment in body bag companies.
This whole issue IMHO stems really from communications issues as well as service inhouse as well as perceived by the customer. Being able to understand the person you are working with cannot be emphasized enough when you are having a project coded out that will obviously have an impact on your business as it was worthy of an investment. In conjunction with this is being able to get timely reports and updates as well as modifications that usually get inserted from a deskside visit to ensure it can be done and the time factors involved given the employees knowledge of internal workings being onsite. Tag onto these problems the shot in the foot this all brings along with issues mentioned on previous posts and you are looking at an issue of taking whole operations overseas which is begging for government involvemnt possibly leading to tariffs etc.
Sure this could be great for those living in mudhuts who have fancy pieces of papers saying they know how to memorize books but are ignorant to the foreign business model and expectations. But before this can become any sort of real shuffling of work, communications issues need to be addressed and businesses doing this need to exercise their checkbooks and purchase the government officials needed to make it safe from fiscal penalties. In countries who can vote, the power of the constituent will eventually outweigh the foolish MBA if things are not protected and ironed out.
Not to mention that bitchslap from the federal courts while trying to bully Verizon. So they have accomplished what exactly?
::Waits for the fluffed up unsupported cannot possibly be backed up claim to be inserted here.::
By helping to establish recognized boundries and promoting that absolute separation (Labels like Haitains instead of just American or HUMAN) you are in fact promoting bigotry and maybe even racism. But this is not about our ignorance as a species, but rather a small group of crybabies who cannot recognize this is a fucking game. Sure, for the most part parents these days are not parents, failed parents, but more accurately they are genetic donors providing very minor supervision to maybe just barely help kids avoid major accidents. Because most people have decided that schools, society, TV, movies, games, and cartoons should instill moral values and lifetime behavioral habits in their children does not mean everybody should suffer. If you are offended by the game for whatever reason, sell the game or don't buy it.
If you think this will "force" or "influcene" kids and/or people to act upon a giant wad of binary to make it a reality then maybe you should try addressing the real problem. Don't try to make the game disappear..it won't stupid, it's been released and copies will be traded, sold, and burned. How much more could be accomplished with a crusade to make parents parent again? How much could be accomplished by removing labels that force distinctions and differences? How about getting somebody mostly honest into a political office that comes from the working class that knows what reality is like living like %98 of how most Americans do? Best yet work on finding a way to help better things so both parents do not have to work to afford to survive in their hovel and just barely make it.
This suit is a waste of time and resources that should be used to put vermin where they belong, not cater to a cadre of narrow sighted whiners. Don't make the game go away, make the problem go away.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -George Santanya
This strikes me very much familiar along with the "war" on drugs. A previous post touched on this lightly as well. Be it encryption, invite only LAN MP3 share parties, USENET, or any of the other countless work arounds out there...By brandishing their lawyers they are in fact creating an underground which society has demonstrated they want to exist, and it will. Instead of trying to make use of this phenomenon, they want to bully people and focus their creative energies on how they can sue. Sounds eerily familiar to the ban of alcohol which founded organized crime in the US and gave a beautiful model for drug running today. In an effort to slay a beast, a new monster was created and the beast was welcomed with open arms in the long run and taxed accordingly to make it profitable and put into a mostly controlled environment. Of course it's not possible to put music into a controlled environment, but iTunes was able to make downloading music a business. Guess they should have focussed on hedging that new market instead of helping to create an underground they will never be able to control or profit from. (Go to concerts if you want the artists to get your money, and boycott RIAA backed media)
Most ISPs now block port 25 so open relay spamming is on the decline. It is also part of the reason AOL implemented their blocking of non-registered or recognized mail servers. ISPs that do not often times do not are considered "Spammer Friendly" and placed on just about every BL out there for their IP block. (This also has the added advantage of curtailing SMTP engine toting virii) As also pointed out Email test probes will be added to the Spammer's aresenal of Poopsmith tools to verify they are able to send their shit out. This could however have a slight benefit of flawing their business model as it requires more time be invested for active true open relay verification and their email be routed through a mail server which might have spam filter running which may help to flag suspicious accounts sending the same or similar Spam to their box frequently.
What this also could be useful for is legitimate mail servers helping to track down Spammers as it runs the blackhole open relay to everything not in an approved IP scope or authenticating. Possibly allowing the single test email being routed back to the domain of the IP attempting to send and if a flurry of Spam comes reporting the IP to the abuse department of that domain along with the total attempt of Spam sent to the bit bucket. This could catch Spammers who get their email from their own servers and email from their ISP's mail servers or Spammer friendly servers to be BL and/or shutdown. Would be an interesting project as Spammers have to look for more ways to send their shit out and not use their ISPs mail servers and be shutdown. Lots of different ways to play with this program and the application of it to attack the business model of the Spammer and lure them into stupid mistakes that may lead to their imprisonment like they deserve so they can meet Bubba.
IMHO
*Yawn*
If a user downloads music or videos the system deems to be illegal, they will lose their connection and be punished by being forced to watch industry propaganda, lengthy suspensions of access, or even a written reprimand.
Reminds me of "A Clockwork Orange"...
The other little things such as lengthy suspensions of access and words on paper saying bad student will only encourage alternate means being found to accomplish what they want. In true university fashion they are encouraging research!
You said it! I could not agree more. But what about underwater basketweaving tournements? ;)
There should be a constant for that, I mean this is pop music. How many guys in the bar when chilling after a long day of slinging code comment on how nice Britney's voice is and her complete understanding of music and musical theory...and how many talk about her nice tits and fine ass as well as how hot she is.
Sexual appeal is a huge cornerstone for Pop, and a major factor in it's success.
I'm sorry I am going to have to get some of those pinhead moderators to waste points on me here as I hear crybaby gamers all the time whine and moan. (Usually over things they don't understand because they can't stop playing long enough to read and research.)
Gaming is *NOT* a sport!! Shit, you waste away hours leading to weeks of your life twitching only a few muscles for a digital score...sporty as a Gremlin next to a Porsche. The use of the term "professional" when speaking about a gamer is just sickening and demeaning to *REAL* professionals like the programmers who coded the game or the Network engineers at the ISP who maintain connections so the _game_ can be played. Tournaments are great, but lets put things in perspective. If you win a ribbon at your local or even state fair for your chili, do you think that gives you the right to start putting yourself on the same level as a real professional such as Emril Lagasse?
I love to spend a good 3 hours playing an online game, but in keeping touch with reality it's just a game. When I'm done thats it, I don't try to make it more than what it really is to compensate for a critical lacking in my life. Personally, I would not watch this sort of stuff online or in person with free admission, free food, and free beer. Strikes me kinda like watching golf...you have to be the right kind of person.
To extort money from a 15 year old and before that a 12 year old? WTF is that about and WTF is that going to solve? Law is Law, even if it is complete shit and designed to help line the pockets of the greedy and toss the scraps to the artists. But to leverage money out of a teenager/child even at the amount of $3,500 is just plain stupid. Even if they had a silver spoon in their mouth and mommy and daddy could pay it, nothing has been accomplished. It's this flagrant display of greed that makes me sick.
I'm not saying I have a solution, I'm not saying you should get off unscathed for breaking the law. I beleive there is a better solution to them addressing this then feeding lawyers and pissing a lot of people off despite words on paper that say you are in the right. Just because words say you are in the right, does not make your actions right. I'm not even saying I have a solution here, but with the amount of money they have already extorted and ripped off from bloated prices...you think they would have hired at least an MBA to figure out, "Hey lets try to save face and instead of trying to get money from the people who probably don't have and won't have it...have them repay it by working community service." As much as I wish horrid things upon everybody associated with the RIAA, I would be hard pressed to keep such a view were they to make their point and show they are not a greedy giant too important to see the humanity side of things.
On a personal note, I think the kid would learn their lesson sucking exhaust up their nose for a month picking up trash on a local highway or freeway.
Once you step in it, you smear it and smell it everywhere you go until you scrape it off and wash the soles of your shoes.
Having capitalism and knowing how to apply it are two totally different things, and the result of piss poor governmental decisions. As vast as the resources of Russia is there really is no other excuse aside from somebody being stupid or on the bankroll for not being able to kick up your economy and local/global markets. As for wiring the country like South Korea, sounds like you need to get more backbones in first to drop the cost. More supply than demand leads to cheaper prices. ;) You also seem to immediately discount the overloaded network theory...I really can't imagine you are the priveledged few Russkis that want broadband services maybe you should pop a few tracerts out there to look for a bottleneck.
:) But seriously, it sux to hear the state of internet access there in St. Petersburg...no good for geeks anywhere. :( Fuckers
Course, we haven't sealed our borders yet and I am sure you could find a state you would enjoy living in...perhaps Montana? Think about, even the ignorant sand fleas eventually learn how good life is in America...despite coming here to make a pathetic attempt at terrorism.
Bandwidth limitations on cable systems are going to be in the upstream, think about it for a second. It is using a system designed to deliver information not send it. It also depends upon the bandwidth at the backbone levels and distribution of network burdens on those backbones. The more people who want a slice of the pie, the smaller the slices get until to get another pie. :) True, the coax there may be outdated and in need of updating but to the best of my knowledge coax is not rated like UTP going CAT5 and CAT6 but older wiring is less apt to be able to support high bandwidth. So does your island have the bandwidth provided to it that in turn can be provided to broadband customers. You may also be looking at poor bandwidth management if you have people allowed to run UBRs and set their own config files choking down nodes. Consider also crown limits similar to our FCC which lays down all sorts of restrictions and limits. It could be any number of possibilities, but it will boil down to the business model of your ISP and how much they are willing to spend/invenst/partner for bandwidth.
The choice is made FOR you!
:)
But seriously folks, I would not pay 2 Rubles for 128Kbps down and 32 Kbps up. Single ISDN channel there practically. Thats just pathetic comrade, I feel your pain with my 3M down and 300Kbps up. And a traffic cap at that, ouch. Is it your area of the city? ISP? Vintage 1970s coax or copper phone lines? Could it be your 386 with 16M of RAM? Cheapest access package for cable? Overloaded network? Bottlenecked backbones?
When I read this kind of post, I start feeling warm and fuzzy towards capitalism and the bounty
it brings of DS3s and OC12s and bundled T1s and bandwidth a plenty for all...sorry, most.