Having worked in a tech shop for a similarly hated company, I will say that there was no agreement preventing techs from removing auto-starts and other crapware from a computer after a customer has purchased it. The conflict of interest wasn't from modifying software from the OEMs-- it was from tying support income to sales income and sales management setting goals for the tech shops.
Of course, the *reason* the techies don't remove autostarts and really do anything meaningful to these machines isn't so sinister. The staff at these places are generally high-school kids who typically lack the professionalism and experience to solve a lot of these problems (trust me... it's appalling some of the things I worked on that were so over my head). Don't get me wrong- it's great to get the bright kids next door to mow your lawn and fix your computer for $20 extra lunch money. Not so great when they charge professional rates for lackluster service.
As always, your mileage may vary. My old shop had one extremely competent technician. He hit the top of the (very low) payscale quickly and moved on.
While I can't really argue with anything you're saying-- you're missing that most computers come off the shelf with Windows and all the other crapware pre-installed. Reinstalling windows is something you and I can do in our sleep (and I'm sure we both have done just that), but many users can't. This certainly doesn't make "optimization" services worthwhile, it's still just a means of separating people from their money. I worked in a big box tech shop and know how useless a *lot* of these add ons are.
All sorts of people find all sorts of things distasteful. It doesn't make anybody wrong or right. There's no reason to get judgmental over something so trivial as humor. I think our ability to sit back and chuckle at life rather than get offended is a tremendously useful trait.
Certainly there's some risk of fire or explosion from a li-ion battery cell. I imagine just as there is risk of explosion from that propane tank in your BBQ grill, hot water heater, camp stove/lantern fuel, car tank full of gas, air compressor, and explosive diarrhea that you certainly no longer keep in or around your home!
But y'know, mindless paranoia has saved you from all those hybrid (NiMH) car battery explosions (that don't really happen... ever...). Phew, glad you dodged that bullet. Not to mention your link! God forbid ATT's equipment *outside* your house should fail catastrophically.
It's one thing to have a healthy fear of something that you can use it *safely*-- like say a gun or vacuum cleaner. It's entirely another to be ignorantly paranoid.
Given tthat it's coming from a country where the diet consists of chocolate, beer, waffles (with chocolate on) and fries (with mayonnaise) I'd say they aren't exactly anorexic.
Interested in losing weight without changing your diet? Boy have I got the product for you! The HeadFlex 3000 will burn calories while you go about your day, no exercise needed, and power your iPod, cell phone, or portable dialysis unit! Just strap it on, plug it in, and burn those calories!
What I'm pointing out is the "big block" motor is a different beast from the common GM V8s (the 350cc "small block" discontinued a few years ago and the new LS series). It's used in commercial trucks and by enthusiasts-- GM doesn't market it in any of their mainstream vehicles.
The way everybody is posting in this thread, you'd think GM stopped making V8 engines entirely. The LS V8s aren't going anywhere for a while, and it's available in sizes from 5.7l all the way up to 7.0.
Ignorant service station personnel indeed... You would be hard pressed to put diesel in a gas-powered car, the nozzle doesn't fit.
Considering anecdotes have been around since the 1970s (who knows, maybe even earlier??), I'll keep a little bit of hope. After all, if my dad can figure out which of his cars use diesel and which don't (2 of the 3), I'm sure others can as well.
Maybe we can take this a step further and say "24 hour news makes me want to puke." Really, my life is not *that* boring that I need to know every detail about somebody who did that one thing that was kind of interesting that one time....
Getting sick of replying to these posts in this discussion. You are way off topic. The engine they're talking about has been largely a specialty item for quite some time, built for *commercial* (and sometimes marine I spose) applications, not mainstream automobiles. Sure, people put them in their cars and trucks to go fast-- people will always do that-- and gas price really don't have much impact on them. GM has made a whole lot of mistakes to get where they are now-- this engine is barely on the radar.
I won't get into the F1 requirements much -- the rules there are to level the playing field and keep some semblance of a handle on development costs.
For straight six engines- get your motors right-- there are plenty of great straight six powerplants. They aren't as common these days and I'd wager that's largely due to them being poorly suited to transverse mounting with a transaxle (front wheel drive cars). With most major automakers preferring to standardize engines, you end up with V6 instead of straight six for both front and rear drive applications. I think the only major holdout would be BMW who has, as I recall, a largely rear-drive lineup. The majority of BMWs you see on the road in the US have a straight-six engine (sometimes turbo, though usually not).
Grand parent is also wrong, however. A V8 can do just as well in the "looks good hauls ass" department as a turbo straight six. It's a pity auto enthusiasts can't just be enthusiastic about all autos.
This is where we could use a mod "Factually inaccurate." GM has a *long* list of issues. Some are resolved, some aren't. The big block V8 really is not one of those issues.
It's been stated several times in this discussion-- the big block V8 is not a general use automobile engine (you're thinking the LS series small blocks-- probably specifically the 5.7L variants). It's only off the shelf automotive use is in big commercial trucks (and not the Silverado/Sierra kind folks buy to haul their boat around with). Anybody putting this in an car-- and there are some-- are using it exactly as a specialty item.
For one reason or another it didn't make business sense to keep the big block V8 around. It really isn't a commentary on GM's business practices.
I'd never underestimate stupidity, but if Europe can have half their cars run on diesel without the world ending, I'm sure Americans could figure it out. Y'know... with time... and a few broken cars...
The thing is, they are getting these odd lots of parts for well below wholesale price. I imagine these are probably some other vendor overstock or outdated hardware that some other manufacturer has already written off a loss on. *That* manufacturer doesn't have the infrastructure in place to repackage these into something marketable (at least something that's up to par with its current products), so they can recoup *some* cost by selling off the old stuff.
As for random hardware configurations, it is extremely unlikely they are supporting individual one-off machines. To be profitable, they'd need to have a lot of hundreds of the same configuration to rebuild their OS for and ship out. I'm curious what they get in these random lots though-- laptop motherboards and cases aren't exactly known for being interchangeable.
Or perhaps getting them enough infrastructure to manufacture their own computers? We're going to do to them with technology what we did with cheap charity food-- price locals out of the market and make them *reliant* on us for cheap crap.
Three things which were not in the original trilogy. A trilogy which, as I recall, has had a bit of success marketing toys and other goods. Can you name *one* video game featuring young Anakin or Jar Jar that was a success? I can't, but I can think of several original games that were both commercial successes *and* generally regarded as good games.
Marketing may have been an excuse, but it is a misguided one at best.
Slashdot Mirror
Having worked in a tech shop for a similarly hated company, I will say that there was no agreement preventing techs from removing auto-starts and other crapware from a computer after a customer has purchased it. The conflict of interest wasn't from modifying software from the OEMs-- it was from tying support income to sales income and sales management setting goals for the tech shops.
Of course, the *reason* the techies don't remove autostarts and really do anything meaningful to these machines isn't so sinister. The staff at these places are generally high-school kids who typically lack the professionalism and experience to solve a lot of these problems (trust me... it's appalling some of the things I worked on that were so over my head). Don't get me wrong- it's great to get the bright kids next door to mow your lawn and fix your computer for $20 extra lunch money. Not so great when they charge professional rates for lackluster service.
As always, your mileage may vary. My old shop had one extremely competent technician. He hit the top of the (very low) payscale quickly and moved on.
While I can't really argue with anything you're saying-- you're missing that most computers come off the shelf with Windows and all the other crapware pre-installed. Reinstalling windows is something you and I can do in our sleep (and I'm sure we both have done just that), but many users can't. This certainly doesn't make "optimization" services worthwhile, it's still just a means of separating people from their money. I worked in a big box tech shop and know how useless a *lot* of these add ons are.
...especially if they don't want to be tech support for the rest of the friendship ;)
Which certainly won't last long with friendly advice like that!
Never attribute to malice what could be ascribed to incompetence.
I just don't believe it. That sounds like something CompUSA would do!
All sorts of people find all sorts of things distasteful. It doesn't make anybody wrong or right. There's no reason to get judgmental over something so trivial as humor. I think our ability to sit back and chuckle at life rather than get offended is a tremendously useful trait.
I think he meant they took'd his jearb.
ATT recommended the highest speed (12 mbps) for online gamine. Ironically, streaming video only required 6!
On the bright side, if you're just sending and receiving emails, a 3mbps connection will suffice.
Certainly there's some risk of fire or explosion from a li-ion battery cell. I imagine just as there is risk of explosion from that propane tank in your BBQ grill, hot water heater, camp stove/lantern fuel, car tank full of gas, air compressor, and explosive diarrhea that you certainly no longer keep in or around your home!
But y'know, mindless paranoia has saved you from all those hybrid (NiMH) car battery explosions (that don't really happen... ever...). Phew, glad you dodged that bullet. Not to mention your link! God forbid ATT's equipment *outside* your house should fail catastrophically.
It's one thing to have a healthy fear of something that you can use it *safely*-- like say a gun or vacuum cleaner. It's entirely another to be ignorantly paranoid.
Given tthat it's coming from a country where the diet consists of chocolate, beer, waffles (with chocolate on) and fries (with mayonnaise) I'd say they aren't exactly anorexic.
Interested in losing weight without changing your diet? Boy have I got the product for you! The HeadFlex 3000 will burn calories while you go about your day, no exercise needed, and power your iPod, cell phone, or portable dialysis unit! Just strap it on, plug it in, and burn those calories!
What I'm pointing out is the "big block" motor is a different beast from the common GM V8s (the 350cc "small block" discontinued a few years ago and the new LS series). It's used in commercial trucks and by enthusiasts-- GM doesn't market it in any of their mainstream vehicles.
The way everybody is posting in this thread, you'd think GM stopped making V8 engines entirely. The LS V8s aren't going anywhere for a while, and it's available in sizes from 5.7l all the way up to 7.0.
Ignorant service station personnel indeed... You would be hard pressed to put diesel in a gas-powered car, the nozzle doesn't fit.
Considering anecdotes have been around since the 1970s (who knows, maybe even earlier??), I'll keep a little bit of hope. After all, if my dad can figure out which of his cars use diesel and which don't (2 of the 3), I'm sure others can as well.
Come on, have the faith!
Maybe we can take this a step further and say "24 hour news makes me want to puke." Really, my life is not *that* boring that I need to know every detail about somebody who did that one thing that was kind of interesting that one time....
Getting sick of replying to these posts in this discussion. You are way off topic. The engine they're talking about has been largely a specialty item for quite some time, built for *commercial* (and sometimes marine I spose) applications, not mainstream automobiles. Sure, people put them in their cars and trucks to go fast-- people will always do that-- and gas price really don't have much impact on them. GM has made a whole lot of mistakes to get where they are now-- this engine is barely on the radar.
my point was that anyone thats serious about performance wouldn't chose an inline configuration for an engine
Why would that be? There are plenty of pros and cons to any engine layout. Blanket statements without analysis do not strengthen your position.
I won't get into the F1 requirements much -- the rules there are to level the playing field and keep some semblance of a handle on development costs.
For straight six engines- get your motors right-- there are plenty of great straight six powerplants. They aren't as common these days and I'd wager that's largely due to them being poorly suited to transverse mounting with a transaxle (front wheel drive cars). With most major automakers preferring to standardize engines, you end up with V6 instead of straight six for both front and rear drive applications. I think the only major holdout would be BMW who has, as I recall, a largely rear-drive lineup. The majority of BMWs you see on the road in the US have a straight-six engine (sometimes turbo, though usually not).
Grand parent is also wrong, however. A V8 can do just as well in the "looks good hauls ass" department as a turbo straight six. It's a pity auto enthusiasts can't just be enthusiastic about all autos.
This is where we could use a mod "Factually inaccurate." GM has a *long* list of issues. Some are resolved, some aren't. The big block V8 really is not one of those issues.
It's been stated several times in this discussion-- the big block V8 is not a general use automobile engine (you're thinking the LS series small blocks-- probably specifically the 5.7L variants). It's only off the shelf automotive use is in big commercial trucks (and not the Silverado/Sierra kind folks buy to haul their boat around with). Anybody putting this in an car-- and there are some-- are using it exactly as a specialty item.
For one reason or another it didn't make business sense to keep the big block V8 around. It really isn't a commentary on GM's business practices.
I'd never underestimate stupidity, but if Europe can have half their cars run on diesel without the world ending, I'm sure Americans could figure it out. Y'know... with time... and a few broken cars...
"All" ??
I won't argue that cash for clunkers was a great idea or anything, but there are still plenty of used cars (and parts) to go around.
And radial piston engines... Hell, I didn't know there was such a thing as a "rotary piston engine," boy are they weird.
Has anybody RTFA'd yet? Most costliest... invented by through...
God, since when did they let just anybody post something on the interwebs?
WinME was the best of the 9x line
hee hee
/wipes tear
hehehahahahaha
hoo hooo
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Thanks, I needed some cheer this morning!
The thing is, they are getting these odd lots of parts for well below wholesale price. I imagine these are probably some other vendor overstock or outdated hardware that some other manufacturer has already written off a loss on. *That* manufacturer doesn't have the infrastructure in place to repackage these into something marketable (at least something that's up to par with its current products), so they can recoup *some* cost by selling off the old stuff.
As for random hardware configurations, it is extremely unlikely they are supporting individual one-off machines. To be profitable, they'd need to have a lot of hundreds of the same configuration to rebuild their OS for and ship out. I'm curious what they get in these random lots though-- laptop motherboards and cases aren't exactly known for being interchangeable.
Or perhaps getting them enough infrastructure to manufacture their own computers? We're going to do to them with technology what we did with cheap charity food-- price locals out of the market and make them *reliant* on us for cheap crap.
Three things which were not in the original trilogy. A trilogy which, as I recall, has had a bit of success marketing toys and other goods. Can you name *one* video game featuring young Anakin or Jar Jar that was a success? I can't, but I can think of several original games that were both commercial successes *and* generally regarded as good games.
Marketing may have been an excuse, but it is a misguided one at best.