Guess I'm a little confused, but why *wouldn't* it make more sense to collect the money on the backend? Take advantage of people's inheirent laziness, yet their willingness to get off their ass to make a dime on a dollar investment.
Either establish a sliding scale (older pays more, so that all those 386's not already serving as BSD/Linux routers/firewalls can be recovered from basements and attics to be used in resource-strapped public facilities -- forest rangers playing Quake across state parks on homemade WiFi networks -- or salvaged for parts & materials); or on the other hand, simply pay by the pound (this sounds like something perfect for Fry's & the like: "Scrap computers for cash!").
Apply some money from other environmental side-projects involved in dump cleanups and turn this into an actual cash cow for the state instead of an albatross for the consumer.
Is there something in the nature of politicans that seem to enjoy bleeding voters like Plague victims?
The Big, Bad Wolf -- currently under indictment for eating Grandma and awaiting sentencing, after having bought off the judge -- goes out and decides to have a little snack:
* World's Largest Software Co. re-engineers the entire software industry overnight to meet their needs, fending off the motley band of Scumbag Thieves ("The Big, Bad Pirate is taking coins from my purse and those user-type people want to rob us blind in the meantime.") -- all to protect *their* Intellectual Property.
* Next, World's Largest Software Co. extends this to include trumpeting the soon-to-arrive savior of (Corporate) IP-owners everywhere: Digital Rights Management. Yet, said Co. still includes a CDR-burning app to make it "fun & easy for the kids to burn their bubble-gum pop tunes on those crazy CD things!"
* Now, World's Largest Software Co. wants to put out it's own (closed-source) audio format out there, since it has become blatently obvious that the only people who have a use for MP3's are those Slimy Brigands we mentioned earlier. So once the right-thinking, God-fearing, nothing-to-hide Public converts all their audio to WMA, they'll be free to use it on any M$-approved playback device (especially since any such properly licensed device would include a royalty fee for each and every one off the assembly line -- can you say "reoccuring revenue stream" boys & girls?)
* Finally, World's Largest Software Co., having applied its "powers of friendly persausion" and killed off all but the most renegade Open Source formats, suddenly looks around, scratches its collective head and says "Hmmm, we seem to be the only *real* game in town. Guess this means we win."
So, you wind up renting the OS from the guys who've locked down all your apps and files into their proprietary formats (with cement poured over it all in the form of DRM) which gets extended to other devices that are locked into agreements requiring their usage. Kind of like applying Agent Orange to the flora and fauna of the Intellectual Jungle.
Little something to think about the next time someone asks you why you're bothering to use a "fringe" system like BSD/Linux/etc.
Much like slime mold, M$ seems to be determined to creep into every last nook & cranny of any thing which has a microprocessor, with chutzba to spare. A frightening proposition should the future hold true cybernetic implants. ("This Inst-A-News update, projected directly into your visual cortex, brought to you by Microsoft: We own your ass anyway.")
...and that, boys and girls, is why we only use free (speech and beer...don't bogart that C compiler, dude!) software here at the Secret Underground Bunker beneath beautiful downtown Redmond, WA
RevDrKingstrum
"You can have my guns and my free OS when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers!"
Well, oddly enough, some of us have finally graduated to Slackware. I started out in Linux trying to get Slackware installed on an old 486 laying around, but had never messed with much UNIX outside of university student accounts here and there. After suffering through years of increasing bloat from RedHat and SuSE -- tons of free software stuffed in every nook and cranny is no better than having to pay extra for the privilidge -- I dumped Linux altogether for *BSD.
Personally, I prefer a nice, tight basic system where I can add software as I need and where I want.
Recently a friend at work re-introduced me to Slackware (7.1) and what a difference a few years of UNIX experience makes! I threw it on a laptop at work and tweaked it to hell and back:
tortured Enlightenment til it bleed;
easily installed/uninstalled dozens of new packages, since it doesn't use any assinine "proprietary" packaging system, just standard tar and gzip;
and discovered kindered spirits who seem to enjoy tight code and maximum freedom of choice.
All in all, a very enjoyable experience.
Now I'm still tempted by *BSD, but at least I know there is one Linux distro that exemplifies elegance and simplicity with all the kick-ass power of Linux. I usually donate an extra $50 or so everytime I buy a new version of OpenBSD...maybe this year I'll give to Theo AND Patrick...
I always find it interesting when nay-sayers peek into a given area without benefit of having any *real* grounding in the subject (doctoral canidate in English Lit is somehow a social scientist with a technical background?) So it is with great wonder that I can't figure out why he hasn't learned from history?
Oh, wait, they don't teach that in public schools anymore...my mistake.
The crux of what's troubling our poor, frustrated bard: technology -- *ALL* technology -- causes a "speeding up" relative to our surroundings:
The club freed the caveman from having to strangle his food...the spear made it easier to kill from a distance.
Our daily lives got faster because we could live farther away...along with 5 or 6 million of our closest friends, hence traffic jams.
Computers were going to set us free of the drudgery of everyday life; instead, we've all become techs forever tinkering and tweaking our box to be "just so."
Increases in efficency have only led to more thinking and scheming of how to get even more from a given tool, or how to build "the Next Great Thing!"
So, to steal a line from the late, great Clara Peller: "Where's the Beef?"
A virtual community is still a community of *people* -- whether it's neighbors who meet online in a chat room to discuss a Neighborhood Watch, or if it's a group of people scattered all over the planet discussing the newest PC game. "Virtual" just indicates that they aren't meeting in The Real World. Back in my day, we used to call that "writing a letter to a friend." Any shared space -- physical or metaphysical -- can be used to exchange ideas (or gossip or bullshit or whatever)...kinda like what your supposed to do when you matriculate at university.
Slashdot Mirror
Guess I'm a little confused, but why *wouldn't* it make more sense to collect the money on the backend? Take advantage of people's inheirent laziness, yet their willingness to get off their ass to make a dime on a dollar investment.
Either establish a sliding scale (older pays more, so that all those 386's not already serving as BSD/Linux routers/firewalls can be recovered from basements and attics to be used in resource-strapped public facilities -- forest rangers playing Quake across state parks on homemade WiFi networks -- or salvaged for parts & materials); or on the other hand, simply pay by the pound (this sounds like something perfect for Fry's & the like: "Scrap computers for cash!").
Apply some money from other environmental side-projects involved in dump cleanups and turn this into an actual cash cow for the state instead of an albatross for the consumer.
Is there something in the nature of politicans that seem to enjoy bleeding voters like Plague victims?
The Big, Bad Wolf -- currently under indictment for eating Grandma and awaiting sentencing, after having bought off the judge -- goes out and decides to have a little snack:
...and that, boys and girls, is why we only use free (speech and beer...don't bogart that C compiler, dude!) software here at the Secret Underground Bunker beneath beautiful downtown Redmond, WA
* World's Largest Software Co. re-engineers the entire software industry overnight to meet their needs, fending off the motley band of Scumbag Thieves ("The Big, Bad Pirate is taking coins from my purse and those user-type people want to rob us blind in the meantime.") -- all to protect *their* Intellectual Property.
* Next, World's Largest Software Co. extends this to include trumpeting the soon-to-arrive savior of (Corporate) IP-owners everywhere: Digital Rights Management. Yet, said Co. still includes a CDR-burning app to make it "fun & easy for the kids to burn their bubble-gum pop tunes on those crazy CD things!"
* Now, World's Largest Software Co. wants to put out it's own (closed-source) audio format out there, since it has become blatently obvious that the only people who have a use for MP3's are those Slimy Brigands we mentioned earlier. So once the right-thinking, God-fearing, nothing-to-hide Public converts all their audio to WMA, they'll be free to use it on any M$-approved playback device (especially since any such properly licensed device would include a royalty fee for each and every one off the assembly line -- can you say "reoccuring revenue stream" boys & girls?)
* Finally, World's Largest Software Co., having applied its "powers of friendly persausion" and killed off all but the most renegade Open Source formats, suddenly looks around, scratches its collective head and says "Hmmm, we seem to be the only *real* game in town. Guess this means we win."
So, you wind up renting the OS from the guys who've locked down all your apps and files into their proprietary formats (with cement poured over it all in the form of DRM) which gets extended to other devices that are locked into agreements requiring their usage. Kind of like applying Agent Orange to the flora and fauna of the Intellectual Jungle.
Little something to think about the next time someone asks you why you're bothering to use a "fringe" system like BSD/Linux/etc.
Much like slime mold, M$ seems to be determined to creep into every last nook & cranny of any thing which has a microprocessor, with chutzba to spare. A frightening proposition should the future hold true cybernetic implants. ("This Inst-A-News update, projected directly into your visual cortex, brought to you by Microsoft: We own your ass anyway.")
RevDrKingstrum
"You can have my guns and my free OS when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers!"
Personally, I prefer a nice, tight basic system where I can add software as I need and where I want.
Recently a friend at work re-introduced me to Slackware (7.1) and what a difference a few years of UNIX experience makes! I threw it on a laptop at work and tweaked it to hell and back:
All in all, a very enjoyable experience.
Now I'm still tempted by *BSD, but at least I know there is one Linux distro that exemplifies elegance and simplicity with all the kick-ass power of Linux. I usually donate an extra $50 or so everytime I buy a new version of OpenBSD...maybe this year I'll give to Theo AND Patrick...
Kingstrum
I always find it interesting when nay-sayers peek into a given area without benefit of having any *real* grounding in the subject (doctoral canidate in English Lit is somehow a social scientist with a technical background?) So it is with great wonder that I can't figure out why he hasn't learned from history?
Oh, wait, they don't teach that in public schools anymore...my mistake.
The crux of what's troubling our poor, frustrated bard: technology -- *ALL* technology -- causes a "speeding up" relative to our surroundings:
Increases in efficency have only led to more thinking and scheming of how to get even more from a given tool, or how to build "the Next Great Thing!"
So, to steal a line from the late, great Clara Peller: "Where's the Beef?"
A virtual community is still a community of *people* -- whether it's neighbors who meet online in a chat room to discuss a Neighborhood Watch, or if it's a group of people scattered all over the planet discussing the newest PC game. "Virtual" just indicates that they aren't meeting in The Real World. Back in my day, we used to call that "writing a letter to a friend." Any shared space -- physical or metaphysical -- can be used to exchange ideas (or gossip or bullshit or whatever)...kinda like what your supposed to do when you matriculate at university.