If the entity is owned by the public, good. Everyone in it should be terrified to screw up and those not willing to be professional need shitcanning.
Let them live under military discipline, which would be appropriate for all sectors of government. Military discipline wouldn't cure everything, but civilians have no discipline and it's amazing they can function at all. I'm not saying to actually militarise the government, just amend the Federal code so government employees serve under a mirror system (including prison for infractions). Any company owned by the government should give the employees the choice of swearing in or being instantly fired. We should have a punitive attitude towards bad companies, with the goal of whipping them into compliance and breaking them up so they don't threaten honestly run businesses. Corrupt companies are enemies of the people, and should be given orders with the expectation that they will be obeyed or the malefactors will do hard time.
I stopped having a duty to any employer or his company when I became a civilian.
I can choose to stay or go, and within the limits of law I'll do what pleases me.
Fuck the stockholders, they mean nothing to me and I mean nothing to them. If I want to stay and get money, I humor whatever dumbshit I have to humor, but I'm free to intrigue against him too if that suits me.
When I work for those who are good to me, I am loyal by choice, not duty. As I discovered in the military, EARNED loyalty is powerful (and bidirectional). Worthy employers and smart bosses earn loyalty. If they don't, they won't get loyalty from me.
We can also discuss why we should not want products produced by corporations that oppose the rights some of us claim, and that rather than trying to modify their behavior in order to reward them with money...we should reject them entirely and seek
------------- Free and Open ----------- solutions from people who are NOT our enemies.
"Ohh, puleeze Uncle Sugar, make the nasty man sell soft I don't need but DO WANT on the terms I want him to sell it."
Howabout viewing BOTH Apple and Microsoft as amoral empires we shouldn't be handing money to in the first place?
How dare anyone who supports software freedom buy software from these companies? How dare they want to help propagate such software either by legal purchase or via warez?
Everyone supporting efforts to produce generic OX X boxes should admit that it's not about freedom, it's about "I want the shiny".
"I don't think its any great loss to the consumer to have to buy a copy of OSX to load on the machines,"
If someone doesn't mind defying the Apple license agreement, they have no reason to mind downloading a custom OS image via Pirate Bay, and a quick glance at seeders and leechers indicates that is just what happens.:)
People who really want freedom should use Free and Open software and spread their adoption, not find ways to avoid using them.
Even warez-based market share is still market share. Don't forget how swiftly Windows 9x and Office spread from workplace to home to market dominance through free copying. I suspect many folks from that era can still recite Windows product keys from memory.
"I seem to recall reading that they are actually ripping off an EFI-emulation boot loader that was open source, removing attribution, violating the license, and claiming it as their own. If this is true, they should not be given the dignity, in press articles or otherwise, of having it called "theirs"."
"Apple is engaging in anti-competitive behavior by tying its OS to its hardware."
Reading the fine print, Apple didn't tie the OS to the hardware. It DID object to the distribution of a MODIFIED image.
As for the desperate desire to run OS X against Apple opposition, I'd like to see Apple win so (some) people who profess to want freedom will consider a move to Free and Open software.
Craving closed source systems is really just bootlicking corporations who only want your money. Running Free and Open software helps spread the GIFT of software freedom their creators offer the public.
"Is there any reason why hardware companies like Asus can't use an aluminum body? "
Aluminum requires post-casting machining along with anti-corrosion coating. This costs money and has a reject rate at each step.
Another reason is product differentiation. If your cheap stuff works as well as your expensive item, the cheap stuff eats into that market.
It makes better business sense to make cheap netbooks, then offer faster netbooks with better specs, and produce "ultraportable" notebooks that are powerful and well made.
"I have to wonder if he isn't a non-Christian, since deceiving people is against Christian principles. "
Christian practice has eradicated any trust of professed Christian principles by anyone but Christians.
Only the most backward now believe in religion (examine Christian popularity in Latin American and Africa), while in the US the Catholic Church has dispensed roughly a billion dollars in pedo settlement hush money.
"I'd rather see my non-geek associates using dumbed-down, buggy ubuntu than windows, but let's face it -- those of us who use and love Debian, FreeBSD, etc just can't help but feel disappointed by the fact that we can't share our experience of vastly superior performance via these distros aimed at non-geeks."
There is a point of diminishing returns.
Ubuntu works far better than Windows for what I want, is lighter, faster, and easier to install than Windows, and if it fails to serve me I'll install something different. The "dumb" bits are easily dealt with. making Ubuntu a convenient way to get Debianesque goodness without the hassle of a traditional Debian installation and configuration.
"I expect not, or if so, they buried the results, because the probable outcome to that would have scared too many people. I.e. he shoots his buddy, opens the doors, and lets in his accomplice(s)."
Still no launch, and the loss of a missile or few was an acceptable risk.
When one is prepared to sustain millions of dead in a nuclear exchange, so what if a missile burns in a silo without launching or detonating?
It could be a deliberate ploy to manipulate what the enemy "sees". Why not have a "leak"? It's a bit like leaving USB keys around for the unsuspecting to pick up...
Slashdot Mirror
If the entity is owned by the public, good. Everyone in it should be terrified to screw up and those not willing to be professional need shitcanning.
Let them live under military discipline, which would be appropriate for all sectors of government. Military discipline wouldn't cure everything, but
civilians have no discipline and it's amazing they can function at all. I'm not saying to actually militarise the government, just amend the Federal
code so government employees serve under a mirror system (including prison for infractions). Any company owned by the government should give the
employees the choice of swearing in or being instantly fired. We should have a punitive attitude towards bad companies, with the goal of whipping them into compliance and breaking them up so they don't threaten honestly run businesses. Corrupt companies are enemies of the people, and should be given orders with the expectation that they will be obeyed or the malefactors will do hard time.
Maybe Google should do what it will, and tell the people who run libraries to piss up a rope.
Libraries sell off or throw away many books so they have space for new ones. With digitization, there is no need to sacrifice old material.
I stopped having a duty to any employer or his company when I became a civilian.
I can choose to stay or go, and within the limits of law I'll do what pleases me.
Fuck the stockholders, they mean nothing to me and I mean nothing to them. If I want to stay and get money, I humor whatever dumbshit I have to humor, but I'm free to intrigue against him too if that suits me.
When I work for those who are good to me, I am loyal by choice, not duty. As I discovered in the military, EARNED loyalty is powerful (and bidirectional). Worthy employers and smart bosses earn loyalty. If they don't, they won't get loyalty from me.
"There are way too many people in this debate who think that "anti-competitive behavior" == "Waaaaah, they won't do what I want!"."
There are too many people in this debate who want OS X.
If ya don't like what Apple does with it, spit out their corporate cock and don't use their software or their hardware be it paid for or otherwise.
We can also discuss why we should not want products produced by corporations that oppose the rights some of us claim, and that rather than trying to modify their behavior in order to reward them with money...we should reject them entirely and seek
------------- Free and Open ----------- solutions from people who are NOT our enemies.
"Ohh, puleeze Uncle Sugar, make the nasty man sell soft I don't need but DO WANT on the terms I want him to sell it."
Howabout viewing BOTH Apple and Microsoft as amoral empires we shouldn't be handing money to in the first place?
How dare anyone who supports software freedom buy software from these companies?
How dare they want to help propagate such software either by legal purchase or via warez?
Everyone supporting efforts to produce generic OX X boxes should admit that it's not about freedom, it's about "I want the shiny".
"I don't think its any great loss to the consumer to have to buy a copy of OSX to load on the machines,"
If someone doesn't mind defying the Apple license agreement, they have no reason to mind downloading a custom OS image via Pirate Bay, and a quick :)
glance at seeders and leechers indicates that is just what happens.
People who really want freedom should use Free and Open software and spread their adoption, not find ways to avoid using them.
Even warez-based market share is still market share. Don't forget how swiftly Windows 9x and Office spread from workplace to home to market dominance through free copying. I suspect many folks from that era can still recite Windows product keys from memory.
"I seem to recall reading that they are actually ripping off an EFI-emulation boot loader that was open source, removing attribution, violating the license, and claiming it as their own. If this is true, they should not be given the dignity, in press articles or otherwise, of having it called "theirs"."
http://www.geektechnica.com/2009/10/psystar-steals-open-source-bootloader-and-sells-it-for-50/
"Apple is engaging in anti-competitive behavior by tying its OS to its hardware."
Reading the fine print, Apple didn't tie the OS to the hardware. It DID object to the distribution of a MODIFIED image.
As for the desperate desire to run OS X against Apple opposition, I'd like to see Apple win so (some) people who profess to want freedom
will consider a move to Free and Open software.
Craving closed source systems is really just bootlicking corporations who only want your money.
Running Free and Open software helps spread the GIFT of software freedom their creators offer the public.
"Is there any reason why hardware companies like Asus can't use an aluminum body? "
Aluminum requires post-casting machining along with anti-corrosion coating. This costs money and has a reject rate at each step.
Another reason is product differentiation. If your cheap stuff works as well as your expensive item, the cheap stuff eats into that market.
It makes better business sense to make cheap netbooks, then offer faster netbooks with better specs, and produce "ultraportable" notebooks that are powerful and well made.
Europe obviously has fewer fatties because it has a longer tradition of good food that is good for you.
USians are marketed what is profitable for business, so we get fatburgers, sugary snacks, and feminizing soy-product endocrine disruptors.
"It certainly wasn't something an honorable Christian would do."
There are no "honorable" Christians, because their superstition exists to empower those who would enslave the rest of us to their social vision.
The only people who speak of honor in conjunction with religion are superstitionists themselves.
"All we need now a GNAA Troll."
Given the choice between GNAA and Christianity, the GNAA seem quite a rational bunch.
"I have to wonder if he isn't a non-Christian, since deceiving people is against Christian principles. "
Christian practice has eradicated any trust of professed Christian principles by anyone but Christians.
Only the most backward now believe in religion (examine Christian popularity in Latin American and Africa), while in the US the Catholic Church has dispensed roughly a billion dollars in pedo settlement hush money.
One of the "finest displays of technological excess" my arse.
It's just a bunch of gear stuffed into a shitbox car in a manner not conducive to usability.
"Get your house in order before you tell us how to get ours in order."
Don't confuse law with order, or order with any desirable state.
International law itself is a surrender of sovereignty and should be viewed as such.
It's a way for outsiders to govern your country without your country having a national referendum on the law in question.
"No it isn't you insensitive clod I make my living from those films thank you very much."
On percentage of theater revenue or are you on salary?
If the first, you don't need my money.
If the second, you get paid no matter what I do.
"I'd rather see my non-geek associates using dumbed-down, buggy ubuntu than windows, but let's face it -- those of us who use and love Debian, FreeBSD, etc just can't help but feel disappointed by the fact that we can't share our experience of vastly superior performance via these distros aimed at non-geeks."
There is a point of diminishing returns.
Ubuntu works far better than Windows for what I want, is lighter, faster, and easier to install than Windows, and if it fails to serve me I'll install something different. The "dumb" bits are easily dealt with. making Ubuntu a convenient way to get Debianesque goodness without the hassle of a traditional Debian installation and configuration.
"Where this is going is they can outsource monitoring to another country with lower cost labor."
Iran or North Korea?
Just another reason to avoid theaters and download a ripped copy instead.
It does have copy/paste to shared folders.
"The only problems I've found are the lack of a simple way to share files between them."
True. I just use a shared folder on the host.
"I expect not, or if so, they buried the results, because the probable outcome to that would have scared too many people. I.e. he shoots his buddy, opens the doors, and lets in his accomplice(s)."
Still no launch, and the loss of a missile or few was an acceptable risk.
When one is prepared to sustain millions of dead in a nuclear exchange, so what if a missile burns in a silo without launching or detonating?
It could be a deliberate ploy to manipulate what the enemy "sees". Why not have a "leak"?
It's a bit like leaving USB keys around for the unsuspecting to pick up...
I strongly agree!
On Windows, "portable" Virtualbox is sweet and doesn't even require normal installation.
I did a clean install to VM, then .rar'ed a copy as backup. If I have problems, I can easily replace both program files and VM in one shot.
http://www.vbox.me/
On Ubuntu, installing the PUEL version of Virtualbox was easy and allows me to try out other Linux distros and run XP for when I need that.