Great. We have 2 billion people living on less than $2 a day and we spend $16 billion on space exploration. (And $500 billion on a useless military...)
"Cured" slavery? Maybe--though not without the struggle of the abolitionist movement first.
Ended imperialism? What exactly do you call the United States of America and its 100+ overseas bases and routine economic & military interventions in foreign nations?
And all those other "isms?" War didn't end those because war can't end an idea.
What most of the wars of the past century or two did was kill a lot of working class people in the name of some interest of their respective ruling classes.
The only way to stop terrorism is to end the conditions that create it: oppression and injustice. War only creates more terrorists. The only way to end either terrorism or war is to end the brutal and massively inequitable capitalist system that fosters these and other evils.
I wouldn't be too proud of your company if I were you. Any business that assists the war effort is immoral (regardless of how novel or "cool" your technology is). The best way to keep people from getting killed by IED's is to withdraw all troops immediately. The US has no right to occupy Iraq and companies like yours simply make it easier for the war to continue--meaning more lives lost on both sides.
Sorry to sound like the troll... but do you really think there is any business that is pinning its future on cheapskate slackers like yourself?
Obviously there are people thay pay money for media products delivered via a variety of mediums & formats. It seems that the point of this article is that Netflix is making a high-profile leap into the future of film distribution and they see a profit in it.
Tricky balancing cost & needs. On the one hand, it's cool when kids get to learn with the best equipment. On the other hand, something just good enough would still work and leave some cash for the next cool class experiment.
Of course, then there's always showing up the rival science teacher...:)
I don't know a thing about Firebird, but I'm not prepared to dismiss it simply because of a name conflict with Firefox. Maybe it's a great database. Maybe they didn't treat Firefox fairly when disputing the duplicate name. Maybe they had a legitimate right to their name and the Mozilla folks should have been more diligent about picking a name.
Either way, I doubt the people at Firebird deserve the occasional vitriol from others on this thread.
What a novel idea. I wonder if there is a way to extend this to fighting spam. Perhaps not by using the actual "knocking" mechanism but by pairing a sent message with some information contained in another protocol.
Imagine: I send an email to a buddy, through my ISP's mail server. My email client also contacts my buddy's mail server directly, "knocks" on it and informs it to expect my message. If an unexpected message shows up it's flagged as spam.
I'm not sure how feasible this is-- I'm just trying to think outside the box on spam fighting.:)
I don't begrudge others around the world a living wage, but this trend of outsourcing is revealing one of the critical flaws in globalization (at least, as implemented by the US.) As long as the lost jobs aren't being replaced by new opportunities we're going to continue to have a backlash.
The author of the article posited that in the course of the US's economic development we moved from farming to manufacturing and manufacturing to knowledge but leaves open the question "where do we go from knowledge?" This is exactly where government can have a role. How about energy?
There are millions of jobs waiting to materialize in the field of sustainable (and independent) energy production. Probably millions more to repair much of our nation's infrastructure. To be sure, a lot of the work will be construction, but there is bound to be a certain amount of design, IT and integration work-- much of which would probably be more difficult to outsource.
The truth is that there will always be people unscrupulous people willing to hawk their wares. The technology enables such types to impose on people on an unprecedented scale (compare spam to a mass-mailing; the former has a flat cost, the latter a scaling cost.) There needs to be a technological solution so that you know your email comes from a trustworthy (or potentially so) source.
There might be an effective way to harness economic forces in such a technological solution. For instance, perhaps my email system (I can see this being implemented either at the client or server level) only accepts mail unquestioningly from people I know by some specifiable degree. Those not trusted would then be required to take some sort of costly action to send an email to the target. This action might be a small fee, some brief manual task that is difficult to automate via software, or contacting a friend of a friend to provide an introduction.
However, economics alone won't solve spam. Indeed, economics should surely *predict* spam. A free advertising medium combined with a potentially limitless audience means that nearly anyone can make some money.
He can't find Bin Laden, so he's going to save us from the evil martians and pay for it with our kids' taxes. I'm all for the space program, but this guy's priorities are clearly out of whack.
If you will recall, Microsoft lobbed the first volley in the "MIME war." Their media player took over some RealNetworks mime types. RealNetworks' response was to spearhead an initiative to encourage software makers to be more forthcoming to end users about which mime types they claim. In fact, these days just about every media player allows the user to configure this via the installer. This seems to be a benefit of their fight against Microsoft.
Furthermore, I think you're mistaken on your bullet points. But then, I would have a hard time convincing someone that has already made up his mind and has no facts to defend his standpoint.
In the meantime, please feel free to enjoy Microsoft's illegal monopoly and encourage them to trample any and all of their competitors. Real is by no means perfect, but regardless of how you perceive their past conduct they are obviously trying to be better community members. And at least they aren't Microsoft.
I don't think the high profit margin is offered as proof of their monopoly status. It's merely offered as another piece of the puzzle; monopolies are characterized by the ability to charge whatever they like. It also points out one manner in which consumers are harmed by this illegal monopoly-- they are forced to pay high prices.
And let's put some things into perspective: XP Pro is $300. Jaguar is $130. RedHat is $40 (or $150 for the de-luxe version.) So why is XP $300? Because they can get away with it.
And with the billions of dollars of CASH in the bank and the sky-high profit margins I'd say its pretty obvious they are charging more than the market would bear, were they not a monopoly.
Furthermore, the example of your coke can is misleading. Coke actually has competitors. Also, I think you are vastly underestimating the cost of creating the product and very importantly the cost of stocking your nearby vending machine. It simply isn't an adequate analogy for the software industry.
Linux still has a long way to go until its interface is as clean and easy as Windows. I'm no fan of MS, but my productivity is much higher on Windows and I have fewer headaches (especially with regard to configuration.)
Something the open source community seems to forget is that as cool as free software is, none of you would have jobs if the companies you actually work for don't have some means of generating revenue. I don't see how RealNetworks can be blamed for trying to make money off of their software. Is it the case that any company that gives away their source code (read: intellectual property) is blessed from up on high by the benevolent gods of the FSF and any company that decides to keep their cards close to their chest is an evil enemy of freedom? (Hey Ashcroft, better investigate nearly every software company in the US!)
That said, why are you complaining that they make cross-platform products? Doesn't that help undermine Microsoft? Is your complaint that they release their Unix and Mac players after the Windows one? Well, do you have any idea how much revenue those platforms generate compared to Windows? Not much, as most companies that produce *only* Windows software can attest.
Get off your high horse. They are an innovative company trying their hardest not to get destroyed by the real enemy of innovation, Microsoft. Maybe they aren't perfect, but they are obviously trying to be a good member of the software industry and make a profit at the same time. Their open source announcement and their recent drive for incorporating RealVideo9 technology into MPEG4 is at least a huge step in the right direction.
FYI: Real did announce that they are going to be submitting their RealVideo9 for incorporation into MPEG4. RV9 is an outstanding codec and I look forward to seeing MPEG4 being improved by it.
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Great. We have 2 billion people living on less than $2 a day and we spend $16 billion on space exploration. (And $500 billion on a useless military...)
Your assessment of war is laughable.
"Cured" slavery? Maybe--though not without the struggle of the abolitionist movement first.
Ended imperialism? What exactly do you call the United States of America and its 100+ overseas bases and routine economic & military interventions in foreign nations?
And all those other "isms?" War didn't end those because war can't end an idea.
What most of the wars of the past century or two did was kill a lot of working class people in the name of some interest of their respective ruling classes.
The only way to stop terrorism is to end the conditions that create it: oppression and injustice. War only creates more terrorists. The only way to end either terrorism or war is to end the brutal and massively inequitable capitalist system that fosters these and other evils.
hear hear!
I wouldn't be too proud of your company if I were you. Any business that assists the war effort is immoral (regardless of how novel or "cool" your technology is). The best way to keep people from getting killed by IED's is to withdraw all troops immediately. The US has no right to occupy Iraq and companies like yours simply make it easier for the war to continue--meaning more lives lost on both sides.
Sorry to sound like the troll... but do you really think there is any business that is pinning its future on cheapskate slackers like yourself?
Obviously there are people thay pay money for media products delivered via a variety of mediums & formats. It seems that the point of this article is that Netflix is making a high-profile leap into the future of film distribution and they see a profit in it.
Yeah, let's have only one format instead. Why would anyone ever need anything other than Microsoft software?
Tricky balancing cost & needs. On the one hand, it's cool when kids get to learn with the best equipment. On the other hand, something just good enough would still work and leave some cash for the next cool class experiment.
:)
Of course, then there's always showing up the rival science teacher...
I think my media player has an oscilloscope...
this space intentionally left blank
I don't know a thing about Firebird, but I'm not prepared to dismiss it simply because of a name conflict with Firefox. Maybe it's a great database. Maybe they didn't treat Firefox fairly when disputing the duplicate name. Maybe they had a legitimate right to their name and the Mozilla folks should have been more diligent about picking a name.
Either way, I doubt the people at Firebird deserve the occasional vitriol from others on this thread.
What a novel idea. I wonder if there is a way to extend this to fighting spam. Perhaps not by using the actual "knocking" mechanism but by pairing a sent message with some information contained in another protocol.
:)
Imagine: I send an email to a buddy, through my ISP's mail server. My email client also contacts my buddy's mail server directly, "knocks" on it and informs it to expect my message. If an unexpected message shows up it's flagged as spam.
I'm not sure how feasible this is-- I'm just trying to think outside the box on spam fighting.
Just what did steelworkers re-invent themselves into? Walmart employees?
The government should help replace the evaporating jobs with targetted spending. It's hard to outsource healthcare, education and infrastructure jobs.
I don't begrudge others around the world a living wage, but this trend of outsourcing is revealing one of the critical flaws in globalization (at least, as implemented by the US.) As long as the lost jobs aren't being replaced by new opportunities we're going to continue to have a backlash.
The author of the article posited that in the course of the US's economic development we moved from farming to manufacturing and manufacturing to knowledge but leaves open the question "where do we go from knowledge?" This is exactly where government can have a role. How about energy?
There are millions of jobs waiting to materialize in the field of sustainable (and independent) energy production. Probably millions more to repair much of our nation's infrastructure. To be sure, a lot of the work will be construction, but there is bound to be a certain amount of design, IT and integration work-- much of which would probably be more difficult to outsource.
http://www.apolloalliance.org/
Nice to see that Gallagher is keeping up with technology. :)
The truth is that there will always be people unscrupulous people willing to hawk their wares. The technology enables such types to impose on people on an unprecedented scale (compare spam to a mass-mailing; the former has a flat cost, the latter a scaling cost.) There needs to be a technological solution so that you know your email comes from a trustworthy (or potentially so) source.
There might be an effective way to harness economic forces in such a technological solution. For instance, perhaps my email system (I can see this being implemented either at the client or server level) only accepts mail unquestioningly from people I know by some specifiable degree. Those not trusted would then be required to take some sort of costly action to send an email to the target. This action might be a small fee, some brief manual task that is difficult to automate via software, or contacting a friend of a friend to provide an introduction.
However, economics alone won't solve spam. Indeed, economics should surely *predict* spam. A free advertising medium combined with a potentially limitless audience means that nearly anyone can make some money.
Uh, you mean "elected" right?
He can't find Bin Laden, so he's going to save us from the evil martians and pay for it with our kids' taxes. I'm all for the space program, but this guy's priorities are clearly out of whack.
he's with satan now.
Why drop PPC and focus on x86? Don't we already have several solid flavors of BSD for x86? What does Darwin have over FreeBSD?
If you will recall, Microsoft lobbed the first volley in the "MIME war." Their media player took over some RealNetworks mime types. RealNetworks' response was to spearhead an initiative to encourage software makers to be more forthcoming to end users about which mime types they claim. In fact, these days just about every media player allows the user to configure this via the installer. This seems to be a benefit of their fight against Microsoft.
Furthermore, I think you're mistaken on your bullet points. But then, I would have a hard time convincing someone that has already made up his mind and has no facts to defend his standpoint.
In the meantime, please feel free to enjoy Microsoft's illegal monopoly and encourage them to trample any and all of their competitors. Real is by no means perfect, but regardless of how you perceive their past conduct they are obviously trying to be better community members. And at least they aren't Microsoft.
I don't think the high profit margin is offered as proof of their monopoly status. It's merely offered as another piece of the puzzle; monopolies are characterized by the ability to charge whatever they like. It also points out one manner in which consumers are harmed by this illegal monopoly-- they are forced to pay high prices.
And let's put some things into perspective: XP Pro is $300. Jaguar is $130. RedHat is $40 (or $150 for the de-luxe version.) So why is XP $300? Because they can get away with it.
And with the billions of dollars of CASH in the bank and the sky-high profit margins I'd say its pretty obvious they are charging more than the market would bear, were they not a monopoly.
Furthermore, the example of your coke can is misleading. Coke actually has competitors. Also, I think you are vastly underestimating the cost of creating the product and very importantly the cost of stocking your nearby vending machine. It simply isn't an adequate analogy for the software industry.
Linux still has a long way to go until its interface is as clean and easy as Windows. I'm no fan of MS, but my productivity is much higher on Windows and I have fewer headaches (especially with regard to configuration.)
To what spyware are you referring?
Something the open source community seems to forget is that as cool as free software is, none of you would have jobs if the companies you actually work for don't have some means of generating revenue. I don't see how RealNetworks can be blamed for trying to make money off of their software. Is it the case that any company that gives away their source code (read: intellectual property) is blessed from up on high by the benevolent gods of the FSF and any company that decides to keep their cards close to their chest is an evil enemy of freedom? (Hey Ashcroft, better investigate nearly every software company in the US!)
That said, why are you complaining that they make cross-platform products? Doesn't that help undermine Microsoft? Is your complaint that they release their Unix and Mac players after the Windows one? Well, do you have any idea how much revenue those platforms generate compared to Windows? Not much, as most companies that produce *only* Windows software can attest.
Get off your high horse. They are an innovative company trying their hardest not to get destroyed by the real enemy of innovation, Microsoft. Maybe they aren't perfect, but they are obviously trying to be a good member of the software industry and make a profit at the same time. Their open source announcement and their recent drive for incorporating RealVideo9 technology into MPEG4 is at least a huge step in the right direction.
FYI: Real did announce that they are going to be submitting their RealVideo9 for incorporation into MPEG4. RV9 is an outstanding codec and I look forward to seeing MPEG4 being improved by it.
s es /2002/mpeg.html
http://www.realnetworks.com/company/press/relea