I can't wait to see how people here try to twist this into something malevolent on MS' part. This is gonna be some mighty cool logical contortionism...
Just about everyone's stock chart looks bad when you start it during the boom and end it now. They've recently made a big push away from chemical film to digital, and it appears to be paying off. My point was this isn't some last ditch effort to save the company. Even without the lawsuit they have a viable business going.
Alright, these kinds of posts come up in every lawsuit story, and I just don't understand why. Company X sues someone, and instantly people make these grand announcements about how X is falling and relying on the patents in a last ditch effort to remain afloat.
Kodak is doing fine. They're a very, very big company. They are quite profitable.
Too bad we don't have some sort of vast network of worldwide computer systems over which one can quickly access such information.
I'm not defending their actions here, of course. The patents look pretty sketchy, but then again I've only read the abstracts. Maybe in the main body they elaborate something new, so I'll refrain from judgment.
Sadly enough, everyone knows who needs aid, and where they need it. The problem are political issues both in those countries, and in the first world countries who could actually offer help.
I remember a day where it took between 1 and 3 days to complete a raytrace in Povray, where it takes 2 hours tops today. You want to go back to that?
Well it did make you a LOT more careful when writing the POV files. Kind of how like some writers prefer to write books via typewriter or pen because it forces them to think about sentences carefully before they write them.
A Slashdot Channel would actually be pretty informative, covering lots of different aspects.
Oh, god, I can just see it now. Bad grammar, no fact checking, and of course the announcer constantly breaking in with "THIS JUST IN!" 10 times a day for the same duplicate story.
You know, I have no plans for buying one, and I think their design was a little dumb, but when I tried out an N-gage at the store the graphics were pretty damn impressive. As in they beat anything I've ever seen on a handheld before.
Direct from the G4 press release [g4tv.com], it looks like the only TechTV originals surviving are Anime Unleashed, X-Play, The Screen Savers, Fresh Gear, and Robot Wars.
Or you can just buy a new DVD player and make that one your region whatever player. Not as bad as it sounds, prices for players and DVD-ROM drives have gotten so low that it's probably worth it to get another one if you watch that many non-region 1 movies.
n a related story, I plan to file suit against all readers of Slashdot who did not by the DaHat SuperFoo as I feel that you are all conspiring against me and it to make it fail and that it has nothing to do with the fact that the price per SuperFoo is more then any of you would want to pay.
It's even stricter than that. Rule 5 says "The crew must return to the Earth's surface from both flights in good health as reasonably defined and judged by the X PRIZE Review Board."
That's a good way to avoid paying.
Successful Cosmonaut: Hi, I successfully piloted to outer space and back. I'm here for my 10 million.
X Prize Review Board Member: Uhh...sorry, you have to be in good health.
Cosmonaut: What? I'm in perfect health. The mission went off without a hitch.
Board Member: No, you definitely look a little peaked. And let me feel your forehead...Ah, yes, you're burning up.
Cosmonaut: No, I'm fine, I've never felt better.
Board Member: You're at death's door. No prize for you.
Uh uh. The problem is Katz explicitly stated that he was a pundit, not a journalist. Truth IS a little more subjective, but it doesn't go out the window, and if you're going to make grand claims you have to back them up. What he really seemed to want to be was a prophet, which was just weird.
I thought katz was a fine writer, but clearly some folks didnt care what he had to say, only that they where offended he said it eloquently.
I thought Jon Katz was a fine writer in print, but the problem is he just stopped following any sort of journalistic standards when he started to write for slashdot.
I care and I _still_ don't know the basic differences between Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, SuSe, Mandrake, Slackware, et cetera.
Debians the squiggly line, Fedora's the hat, Gentoo's the weird looking bird, SuSe is the lizard, Mandrake is the star, Slackware is the uhh...series of letters that spell out Slackware.
This is slashdot, for all I know you could have been some libertarian fruitcake, many of whom actually do believe that a) the liberals in government are trying to destroy their way of life, and b) politicians are all corrupt.
It is entombed along with me in gold CD-Rs, along with my wife, secondary wives, concubines, treasure, and guards in a vast pyramid of my own design. They shall all accompany me to the afterlife.
Governments already use taxes to discourage activities they don't like (such as having an income)
No, the government likes you having an income, otherwise they'd have to support you.
And if you're arguing against the income tax in general, that's precisely what I'm not talking about. The 75% on lawyers' contingency fees would be singling out one profession and one way to earn money. If you wanted to levy a 75% tax on contingency fees in general it might be legal if you applied it across the board to anyone whose pay is contingent on a certain transaction occurring; i.e. realtors, investment bankers, stockbrokers, etc. would also get hit.
1. An agency will be set up to oversee the state Bar... They will track how many frivilous suits a laywer is involved in and sanction attorneys who, say, take 5 of them to court that get tossed or they lose invoking loser pays. Sanctions should include suspensions and eventual disbarment.
The state bars already do this to a certain extent. And judges are given wide latitude to do whatever they want to lawyers who argue before them.
3. The losing lawyer should have to forefit all fees to the WINNING party if loser pays is invoked.
That would be unfair. Lawyers have stringent ethical standards about their relationships with their clients. If your client comes in, demands you file a lawsuit, and there's at least some merit to the case, you're supposed to file the lawsuit. Lawyers advise against their clients doing things all the time.
You also, like many slashdotters, seem convinced that the result of every lawsuit is easy to foresee, which just isn't the case.
5. Contingency fees should be subject to a 75% tax.
Very, very dangerous, and of doubtful legality. A government that starts selectively laying taxes against people it doesn't like will eventually get to you.
6.Judges should have greater lattitude in disposing of frivilous cases out of hand, INCLUDING forcing the plantiff to show sufficient evidence in initial discovery to show cause for there to be a valid claim for trial (think SCO here). This should be based on the theroy that if you DONT ALREADY HAVE EVIDENCE TO TRY SOMEONE, you don't belong in court!
Judges already have this.
I think the big problem is people here (and elsewhere) overreact to what they hear in the media.
Like, the news will report "X has filed a lawsuit against Y over ", and people go crazy. "How can they do this? The legal system is BROKEN". All it means is that X went to the courthouse, paid a small filing fee, and filled out a form. It doesn't mean the case will get to trial, or the complaint will even survive the defendant's initial answer.
The second thing that people go berserk over is when the media reports some insanely high damages award. "200 MILLION?! Those damn lawyers!" Again, overreaction. And a weird laying of blame. Juries decide cases. Juries decide awards, too. If 13 people who know about the case much better than you, and have been informed about all the relevant legal standards to apply pick a number, sometimes that number is actually a fair one.
But let's ignore all that, and just go on the assumption that high awards are never fair. Even then the slashdot crowd and the general viewing public are jumping the gun. Many states have statutory caps on damages. Even in those states which don't have statutory caps there are constitutionally mandated ones. Judges have interpreted the 5th and 14th amendments to limit unreasonably large settlements, and will routinely knock them down substantially.
So before you get upset over a lawsuit, wait and see if it survives the defendant's motion to dismiss, or motion for summary judgment.
And before you get upset over a high damage award, see if the judge knocks it down first.
Slashdot Mirror
If you're talking in pounds, then it's about the same price.
US lecturers just can't be bothered or aren't given the resources to teach their pupils properly
Hmm, we still are getting hordes of students from every country in the world, including yours, so I guess we're doing something right...
I can't wait to see how people here try to twist this into something malevolent on MS' part. This is gonna be some mighty cool logical contortionism...
Just about everyone's stock chart looks bad when you start it during the boom and end it now. They've recently made a big push away from chemical film to digital, and it appears to be paying off. My point was this isn't some last ditch effort to save the company. Even without the lawsuit they have a viable business going.
Wait a minute, did you read the patents or did you read the abstracts of the patents? There's a difference.
Alright, these kinds of posts come up in every lawsuit story, and I just don't understand why. Company X sues someone, and instantly people make these grand announcements about how X is falling and relying on the patents in a last ditch effort to remain afloat.
Kodak is doing fine. They're a very, very big company. They are quite profitable.
Too bad we don't have some sort of vast network of worldwide computer systems over which one can quickly access such information.
I'm not defending their actions here, of course. The patents look pretty sketchy, but then again I've only read the abstracts. Maybe in the main body they elaborate something new, so I'll refrain from judgment.
Sadly enough, everyone knows who needs aid, and where they need it. The problem are political issues both in those countries, and in the first world countries who could actually offer help.
Could this possibly be the answer to gaming on Linux?
If they're telling the truth. I wouldn't hold my breath.
I remember a day where it took between 1 and 3 days to complete a raytrace in Povray, where it takes 2 hours tops today. You want to go back to that?
Well it did make you a LOT more careful when writing the POV files. Kind of how like some writers prefer to write books via typewriter or pen because it forces them to think about sentences carefully before they write them.
A Slashdot Channel would actually be pretty informative, covering lots of different aspects.
Oh, god, I can just see it now. Bad grammar, no fact checking, and of course the announcer constantly breaking in with "THIS JUST IN!" 10 times a day for the same duplicate story.
You know, I have no plans for buying one, and I think their design was a little dumb, but when I tried out an N-gage at the store the graphics were pretty damn impressive. As in they beat anything I've ever seen on a handheld before.
Direct from the G4 press release [g4tv.com], it looks like the only TechTV originals surviving are Anime Unleashed, X-Play, The Screen Savers, Fresh Gear, and Robot Wars.
They have shows other than that? News to me...
Or you can just buy a new DVD player and make that one your region whatever player. Not as bad as it sounds, prices for players and DVD-ROM drives have gotten so low that it's probably worth it to get another one if you watch that many non-region 1 movies.
That is the greatest compliment I have ever received. Thank you.
n a related story, I plan to file suit against all readers of Slashdot who did not by the DaHat SuperFoo as I feel that you are all conspiring against me and it to make it fail and that it has nothing to do with the fact that the price per SuperFoo is more then any of you would want to pay.
Damn, he's on to us!
It's even stricter than that. Rule 5 says "The crew must return to the Earth's surface from both flights in good health as reasonably defined and judged by the X PRIZE Review Board."
That's a good way to avoid paying.
Successful Cosmonaut: Hi, I successfully piloted to outer space and back. I'm here for my 10 million.
X Prize Review Board Member: Uhh...sorry, you have to be in good health.
Cosmonaut: What? I'm in perfect health. The mission went off without a hitch.
Board Member: No, you definitely look a little peaked. And let me feel your forehead...Ah, yes, you're burning up.
Cosmonaut: No, I'm fine, I've never felt better.
Board Member: You're at death's door. No prize for you.
Uh uh. The problem is Katz explicitly stated that he was a pundit, not a journalist. Truth IS a little more subjective, but it doesn't go out the window, and if you're going to make grand claims you have to back them up. What he really seemed to want to be was a prophet, which was just weird.
I thought katz was a fine writer, but clearly some folks didnt care what he had to say, only that they where offended he said it eloquently.
I thought Jon Katz was a fine writer in print, but the problem is he just stopped following any sort of journalistic standards when he started to write for slashdot.
All in all, she calls it linux and I don't argue with her - its safer for me that way since she wears combat boots and carries and M16...
Ah, she's a public school teacher then...
I care and I _still_ don't know the basic differences between Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, SuSe, Mandrake, Slackware, et cetera.
Debians the squiggly line, Fedora's the hat, Gentoo's the weird looking bird, SuSe is the lizard, Mandrake is the star, Slackware is the uhh...series of letters that spell out Slackware.
Understand now?
See, that's why New Yorkers don't have cars.
This is slashdot, for all I know you could have been some libertarian fruitcake, many of whom actually do believe that a) the liberals in government are trying to destroy their way of life, and b) politicians are all corrupt.
It is entombed along with me in gold CD-Rs, along with my wife, secondary wives, concubines, treasure, and guards in a vast pyramid of my own design. They shall all accompany me to the afterlife.
Governments already use taxes to discourage activities they don't like (such as having an income)
No, the government likes you having an income, otherwise they'd have to support you.
And if you're arguing against the income tax in general, that's precisely what I'm not talking about. The 75% on lawyers' contingency fees would be singling out one profession and one way to earn money. If you wanted to levy a 75% tax on contingency fees in general it might be legal if you applied it across the board to anyone whose pay is contingent on a certain transaction occurring; i.e. realtors, investment bankers, stockbrokers, etc. would also get hit.
The problem is of the blood you give, only 50% goes to the needy, the rest goes to administrative costs...
1. An agency will be set up to oversee the state Bar... They will track how many frivilous suits a laywer is involved in and sanction attorneys who, say, take 5 of them to court that get tossed or they lose invoking loser pays. Sanctions should include suspensions and eventual disbarment.
The state bars already do this to a certain extent. And judges are given wide latitude to do whatever they want to lawyers who argue before them.
3. The losing lawyer should have to forefit all fees to the WINNING party if loser pays is invoked.
That would be unfair. Lawyers have stringent ethical standards about their relationships with their clients. If your client comes in, demands you file a lawsuit, and there's at least some merit to the case, you're supposed to file the lawsuit. Lawyers advise against their clients doing things all the time.
You also, like many slashdotters, seem convinced that the result of every lawsuit is easy to foresee, which just isn't the case.
5. Contingency fees should be subject to a 75% tax.
Very, very dangerous, and of doubtful legality. A government that starts selectively laying taxes against people it doesn't like will eventually get to you.
6.Judges should have greater lattitude in disposing of frivilous cases out of hand, INCLUDING forcing the plantiff to show sufficient evidence in initial discovery to show cause for there to be a valid claim for trial (think SCO here). This should be based on the theroy that if you DONT ALREADY HAVE EVIDENCE TO TRY SOMEONE, you don't belong in court!
Judges already have this.
I think the big problem is people here (and elsewhere) overreact to what they hear in the media.
Like, the news will report "X has filed a lawsuit against Y over ", and people go crazy. "How can they do this? The legal system is BROKEN". All it means is that X went to the courthouse, paid a small filing fee, and filled out a form. It doesn't mean the case will get to trial, or the complaint will even survive the defendant's initial answer.
The second thing that people go berserk over is when the media reports some insanely high damages award. "200 MILLION?! Those damn lawyers!" Again, overreaction. And a weird laying of blame. Juries decide cases. Juries decide awards, too. If 13 people who know about the case much better than you, and have been informed about all the relevant legal standards to apply pick a number, sometimes that number is actually a fair one.
But let's ignore all that, and just go on the assumption that high awards are never fair. Even then the slashdot crowd and the general viewing public are jumping the gun. Many states have statutory caps on damages. Even in those states which don't have statutory caps there are constitutionally mandated ones. Judges have interpreted the 5th and 14th amendments to limit unreasonably large settlements, and will routinely knock them down substantially.
So before you get upset over a lawsuit, wait and see if it survives the defendant's motion to dismiss, or motion for summary judgment.
And before you get upset over a high damage award, see if the judge knocks it down first.