The problem with the Slashdot crowd is that not as many/.'ers play with legos and one might think. Most of us have jobs and lives that prevent us from playing with cool toys.
On the other hand, Lego's problems lay deeper than a bloated product line. Lego toys are way, way too expensive. Even when I was a little kid twenty years ago, my parents bought me high quality knockoffs at Sears for like 1/3 the cost of Legos. I imagine that it's worse today.
If I'm skimming the Captive homepage to quickly, but it seems to me like Captive is using Microsoft DLL's to read/write NTFS filesystems.
Seems to me like that would or will violate the Microsoft EULA and leave Knoppix users open to problems if MS changes parts of these DLLs in subsequent service packs or releases.
Humans have been around for a long time, far longer than the 3 or 4 thousand years that our history recalls. The earliest cave drawings that we can find only extend back for some 25,000 of the estimated 100,000 years that modern humans have walked the earth.
You need to be supremely arrogant to presume that 2000 years of western civilization has accomplished feats that 98,000 years of human beings failed to.
Henry Clay's "internal improvements" were canals, roads and the postal service. In 19th century America, rivers were the sole means of transport which presents obvious difficulties for a nation expanding across a continent.
In the 19th Century, most Federal taxes were tariffs and levies on liquor and imports. Collecting taxes to build national infrastructure isn't some 'evil' form of "corporate welfare" -- it's providing for the defense and general welfare of the people, a key power of government espoused in the Constitution.
Now if you want to argue that the process of selecting road builders was full of corruption and graft, I'll heartilly agree with you. But the concept of building post roads is in no way related to merchantilism.
The organization that I work for spends about $14 million on IBM services alone.
$7 million to a corporation like IBM, whose sales are greater than the GDP of most nations, is like you hitting the gumball machine at the supermarket.
The 3% target is mostly new machines... 40% of the public still doesn't have a modern computer and many families are now purchasing multiple computers as schools require that more work be completed with a word processor.
A sale is a sale. Your argument that Microsoft is merely "cannibalizing" existing users hold no water... by your standards Windows is a failure because it merely cannibalized DOS users.
The growth of Linux, on the other hand, is mainly to the detriment of commercial UNIX vendors like Sun, HP/Compaq/Digital and IBM. People are migrating old Alpha and SPARC servers to Intel & Linux.
Instead of buying obnoxious alarm clocks and waking up your neighbors, why don't you just try sleeping like a normal person?
Your brain produces various chemicals that signal your body when it is time to sleep. Sleep runs in cycles that run between 3-4 hours... the more regular the cycle, the better everything works.
Pick a 30 minute window that will be your bedtime and stick to it. If things in your life make that impossible, change them. A healthy adult require something between 6-8 hours of sleep. The more regular your sleep pattern, the less sleep you need. Eventually you'll automatically wake up whenever, and will actually feel good in the morning, instead of being the walking zombie that you are now.
Sleep patterns are incredibly important to your body. In studies of shift workers, people who rotate shifts "backwards" (ie working 12AM to 8AM one week, 4PM to 12AM the next) have accident rates 40% higher than people who rotate "forwards" (ie working 4PM to 12AM one week, 12AM to 8AM the next). Other studies linked increased risks of heart attacks & high blood pressure and car accidents to irregular sleep patterns.
Don't let the excuse "I'm too busy" or "I work better at night" stop you from getting a good night's rest.
You can be replaced. If you work @ GE and need a new toner cartridge, you have to call some guy in Mexico or India to open a ticket. A week later he calls some dude in your building (who knows where, they use hot desking) who may or may not appear with a toner cart.
Better not buy anything then -- when you purchase components as part of a larger system, the components are never covered individually.
For example, spark plug wires on cars are sold with lifetime warranties. Yet when you purchase a new car, those wires are covered for the length of the new car warranty only!
Instead of yelling at the guy on the phone who was just doing his job, you should have saved your breath and purchased a laptop hard disk on ebay for $100.
Whether it's milk, gasoline, housing, electricity or any other commodity, price controls are a lousy idea.
They don't need to be imposed by governments either. Look at the chilling effects that Wal-Mart has had on consumer manufacturing or Big Agribusiness has had on food supplies and farmers.
Economics, on Earth, argues that no wise government will try to control prices. In an avatar economy, however, the government can effortlessly peg many prices at any value.
Real, unwise governments institute price controls all of the time with devastating effect. Witness how the US healthcare industry is reacting to price ceilings instituted via insurance and government health programs and how the oil markets reacted to Nixon's attempts to curb inflation in the 1970's.
Slashdot Mirror
It's NIMBY time!
What about the children who live downwind of the rockets?
Shouldn't we be spending money on feeding the homeless instead of plotting our nuclear doom?
If it's bad for Arabs to have nuclear bombs, why should americans have nuclear rockets?
Visualize world peace!
The problem with the Slashdot crowd is that not as many /.'ers play with legos and one might think. Most of us have jobs and lives that prevent us from playing with cool toys.
On the other hand, Lego's problems lay deeper than a bloated product line. Lego toys are way, way too expensive. Even when I was a little kid twenty years ago, my parents bought me high quality knockoffs at Sears for like 1/3 the cost of Legos. I imagine that it's worse today.
Sorry to get your goat dude. The post was a joke.
I have never seen Emacs installed on a computer outside of an educational institution.
ESR is a pagan wizard and a genius. Without the spiritual influence of ESR, Larry Wall and Linus would be drinking two buck chuck under a bridge.
Enforceable or not, who has the resources to go toe to tow with MS legal.
So Knoppix isn't violating the EULA, the user is by running Knoppix?
Seems like a bad idea to me.
If I'm skimming the Captive homepage to quickly, but it seems to me like Captive is using Microsoft DLL's to read/write NTFS filesystems.
Seems to me like that would or will violate the Microsoft EULA and leave Knoppix users open to problems if MS changes parts of these DLLs in subsequent service packs or releases.
Humans have been around for a long time, far longer than the 3 or 4 thousand years that our history recalls. The earliest cave drawings that we can find only extend back for some 25,000 of the estimated 100,000 years that modern humans have walked the earth.
You need to be supremely arrogant to presume that 2000 years of western civilization has accomplished feats that 98,000 years of human beings failed to.
Certainly not establishing a colony.
Take off your blinders and observe the whole export of American industry to East Asia and Latin America.
Henry Clay's "internal improvements" were canals, roads and the postal service. In 19th century America, rivers were the sole means of transport which presents obvious difficulties for a nation expanding across a continent.
In the 19th Century, most Federal taxes were tariffs and levies on liquor and imports. Collecting taxes to build national infrastructure isn't some 'evil' form of "corporate welfare" -- it's providing for the defense and general welfare of the people, a key power of government espoused in the Constitution.
Now if you want to argue that the process of selecting road builders was full of corruption and graft, I'll heartilly agree with you. But the concept of building post roads is in no way related to merchantilism.
Ancient Indian mythology also talks about nuclear war and attack aircraft. Interesting stuff.
Try looking up the meaning of mercantilism, although you are probaly too dumb to understand:
t il ism&r=67
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mercan
Mercantilism is all about establishing colonies and vassal states to exploit raw materials and create markets while building industry at home.
In case you haven't noticed, the US is doing the exact opposite since WW2.
The organization that I work for spends about $14 million on IBM services alone.
$7 million to a corporation like IBM, whose sales are greater than the GDP of most nations, is like you hitting the gumball machine at the supermarket.
The 3% target is mostly new machines... 40% of the public still doesn't have a modern computer and many families are now purchasing multiple computers as schools require that more work be completed with a word processor.
A sale is a sale. Your argument that Microsoft is merely "cannibalizing" existing users hold no water... by your standards Windows is a failure because it merely cannibalized DOS users.
The growth of Linux, on the other hand, is mainly to the detriment of commercial UNIX vendors like Sun, HP/Compaq/Digital and IBM. People are migrating old Alpha and SPARC servers to Intel & Linux.
Could you clarify just how that user base of Windows users is shrinking?
Perl 4, while dated for newer Perl programmers is a very effective language and weighs in around 400k.
I can think of a couple of big, $$ applications that embed it.
Bull.... that is "normal" behavior for college students and the unemployed.
Instead of buying obnoxious alarm clocks and waking up your neighbors, why don't you just try sleeping like a normal person?
Your brain produces various chemicals that signal your body when it is time to sleep. Sleep runs in cycles that run between 3-4 hours... the more regular the cycle, the better everything works.
Pick a 30 minute window that will be your bedtime and stick to it. If things in your life make that impossible, change them. A healthy adult require something between 6-8 hours of sleep. The more regular your sleep pattern, the less sleep you need. Eventually you'll automatically wake up whenever, and will actually feel good in the morning, instead of being the walking zombie that you are now.
Sleep patterns are incredibly important to your body. In studies of shift workers, people who rotate shifts "backwards" (ie working 12AM to 8AM one week, 4PM to 12AM the next) have accident rates 40% higher than people who rotate "forwards" (ie working 4PM to 12AM one week, 12AM to 8AM the next). Other studies linked increased risks of heart attacks & high blood pressure and car accidents to irregular sleep patterns.
Don't let the excuse "I'm too busy" or "I work better at night" stop you from getting a good night's rest.
You can be replaced. If you work @ GE and need a new toner cartridge, you have to call some guy in Mexico or India to open a ticket. A week later he calls some dude in your building (who knows where, they use hot desking) who may or may not appear with a toner cart.
Better not buy anything then -- when you purchase components as part of a larger system, the components are never covered individually.
For example, spark plug wires on cars are sold with lifetime warranties. Yet when you purchase a new car, those wires are covered for the length of the new car warranty only!
Instead of yelling at the guy on the phone who was just doing his job, you should have saved your breath and purchased a laptop hard disk on ebay for $100.
Name a positive application of price controls...
Whether it's milk, gasoline, housing, electricity or any other commodity, price controls are a lousy idea.
They don't need to be imposed by governments either. Look at the chilling effects that Wal-Mart has had on consumer manufacturing or Big Agribusiness has had on food supplies and farmers.
Real, unwise governments institute price controls all of the time with devastating effect. Witness how the US healthcare industry is reacting to price ceilings instituted via insurance and government health programs and how the oil markets reacted to Nixon's attempts to curb inflation in the 1970's.
The phrase is based on a statement made by Queen Marie Antionette of France.
When her advisors requested that she assist starving peasants who had no meat or grain, her reply was "then let them eat cake"
Just wait until the day finally comes that you plow into some little kid while posting on slashdot and reading the morning paper.
The witnesses watching you fiddling with a PDA or oogling some milf's tits will no doubt seal the verdict in your manslaughter trial.