The top 1/10 of 1% of Americans drastically skew the results in lots of subtle ways.
This is a class that virtually no other nation has. It really should be discounted.
Actually.
You may be a bit paranoid. Clinton has actively pursued attention on this matter. Her office fax blasted statements to regional newsrooms (including one that I work near, which is why I have a copy of the fax) statements with handy dandy nuggets of quotes bold faced and underlined.
The bottom line is, that Clinton actively made a request of the FTC to investigate Take Two.
I've done it, it's not that easy, plus, no doc I've ever worked for is going to hire you to install and then expect nothing after that.
Supporting medical practices is a full-time job. I used to, and my wife still does, work at a small VAR that supports about 125 small private practices. It takes a staff of about 12 to keep them reasonably happy with their billing software which is about 1/10th as complicates as Vista.
If you do this, well, just be prepared. And also, get yourself some errors and omissions insurance. Like with a $2M or $5M coverage window. If you forget to setup good log rotation and the system doesn't come up one day because of a lack of disk space or whatever, well, you are probably going to get sued. Doctors have no problem getting legal on you if anything goes wrong.
If you only need the "last good" copy of the data, most services will do a diff backup, so your daily traffic is only the stuff that's changed. Plus, you may be able to set the schedule more than daily, say, hourly, which should make bandwidth requirements pretty even. I have about 1TB of critical data to backup, but on a given day, only about 100-200MB of that changes. After the initial upload that's pretty much a trivial amount of bandwidth.
Ahh.. actually..
Dell offers a "business" workstation that is:
P4 2.8GHz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 80GB HDD, DVD burner, 17" flat panel monitor, XP Pro, a 3yr warranty, for $900.
That's a pretty decent deal. I was look over Apple's site, and all of the G5's are dual processing, and start at close to $2k, no monitor. They have iMac's that start at $1299. They have Mac mini's which start at $499, which when decked with a monitor and memory upgrade would come just under, but I believe would probably not match it or come close in terms of performance.
Anyways. Based on what I saw today, it's not really what I'd call competitive. Equalish performance and specifications (memory, disk wise), I'd say 10%-15% is competitive, and that's not what I am seeing.
Of course, the rates for "home" PCs and not "workstations" are even lower, but I dont think it's fair comparison since the quality so very low on the home line.
The old version of xp should be more than enough for the new Hardware
Except, since the OEM's are required by contract to support their users in return for getting a 70% below retail rate for the software, the OLD hardware maker would have to support the NEW hardware makers users.
So, for example, you buy a Gateway, and Windows is hosed. And you toss that box out. Then you buy a Dell because you are ignornant that Windows is the reason, not the hardware. If they could just transfer that license, the user would have to call Gateway to get support for their Dell machine, since Gateway was the one who sold the copy of XP and agreed to support it.
See how crazy that is? What user wants that? It's the ultimate in finger pointing. Now matter what, Dell will say it's Windows, call Gateway. Gateway will always say the issue is hardware related. The user will be in the middle, and will be SOL more than ever.
The prohibition has everything to do with support.
If you buy a retail or open license version of XP for retail or nearly retail or whatever you can find it for, you get support direct from MS according to their terms, regardless of your hardware vendor. And yes, that is fully transferrable.
This is abuse of their almost monopoly.
And finally, this is an absurd statement. There in no prohibition against being an "almost monopoly". MS's business practices - even the ones that landed them in court before - are completely 100% legal for non-monopolies (which is why they skated for so long). When the settlement expires next year MS once again have no special restrictions on its business.
Any new suits regarding abuse of monopoly will have to first start by proving MS has a monopoly, which considering the beating MS takes at the hand of Linux, Apple, FireFox, etc is very very difficult.
Not only that, but they are about to have a population that is titled dramatically to the young male demographic.. which can only be a bad thing..
having a country with an "extra" 100M military aged males can't be a good thing.
The advertisers spend a lot of money determining what people like me like to watch. Sterotypes are generally accurate. Dirty and mean but true! If we start watching a show, the first ads come on, and they are selling Depends, I am outta there.
Well, for the first time, we watch the first ad break. Otherwise, we do skip commericals.
But why bother watching the rest of the show if they are advertising acne medication and Green Day conerts? We know it's just going to be full of useless T&A scenes, bad dialog, and poorly thought out "plot" elements. This way, we know within 10 minutes that the show is garabage, without going the extra 35 minutes to the end.
The first 6-8 minutes + ads will get it a second look. We have all kinds of other criteria that helps us past that point. But if you don't pass the "ad test", well, it's not going to make it very far. We have a limited time allocation for TV watching, and we just want to use it as solidly as possible.
You are right about ad demograhpics.
I finally convinced my wife that she is no longer the target market for MTV, which is why she now thinks most of the shows "are stupid".
It's not hard to figure out that you aren't the target market when they are advertising condoms, violent video games, music CDs of people you'll never listen to no matter what, fast food, and small cheaply made trendy cars with names the like "Matrix" and "Focus".
After reminding her that eating out for us means a nice family italian resturant and not Wendy's, that she drives an expensive-ish mid-size import, that we have never seen a movie with a rapper playing a lead role, that we don't use pre-paid mobile phones, and that we won't be buying any CDs featuring artists with names like Beyoncee or Nickleback she realized that MTV isn't a network for her anymore (and yes, there were tears involved.. she was one of the many who took turns calling the cable company and demanding "her MTV").
Now, we watch shows that advertise things that interest us, and it seems that we both agree that it's a much better fit! Ads for vacations, mid-size cars and SUVs, chain resturants, movies featuring Jude Law and all that.
That hardest thing is now remember to check what things are advertised when we watch the first episode of a new show (meaning, not instantly fast forward our DVR past the commericals). We can tell within about 6-8 minutes if the show is worth investing our time in!
It's not just about arable land, it's about hardiness.
Organically grown crops are natural - and naturally, homeogenous tracts of one type of plants get diseased or infested with pretty strident regularity.
You don't hear about it much in current organically based trendiness because there aren't a lot of places growing 100 acres of organic corno or whatever.
If Canada passes some moronic law banning tools like Google from being effective they should just redirect canadian users to a page with their MP's phone number on it.
"Sorry, XXXX has made Google illegal in your country. Please call and this discuss this with XXX at this phone number: {insert canadian equivalent of 555-1212 here}"
I am sure after the first 10-12M internet users in Canada called something would be done.
I think actually that Google should do that with the DMCA here in the US: pick a week, and shut off Google to US users.
The first thing we're doing now is Baning the use of the Intel compliers in our company; as some of our customers may be running AMD chips.
The first thing you should do is investigate the claim, and determine if it's true!
Java is handy for many, many things. One thing it's not going to help is a large scale migration from one platform to the next. Years ago I am sure Intel thought it was going to be bigger, but it's not. Meaning more trouble migrating to new hardware platforms!
Itanium was a huge project jointly developed with many partners, most of the significant ones have long since abandoned the effort.
It was supposed to be the future of Intel - shipping units on the order of the pentium line. A redesign from scratch of how processors "should" be designed.
It's taken far longer, cost far more, and yielded far less than promised.
That's basically it.
Also, I'd be willing to bet Intel staked a bigger part of its decision on the availablity of platform independent binaries making serious inroads, which hasn't really materialized. Platform independence of the major OSS and commerical apps is obtained through porting and source-level compatability.
The original manuscript would be worth well more than any gold. An exclusive dozen of the books available today, 7 days before the release would also be worth more than it's weight in gold, I imagine. Let's see, say a hardcover versions weights two pounds, thats, what, $15,000 or so worth of gold? I am sure you could sell one for more than that right now, today.
First, DRM of course means "DIGITAL", this is anything but digital.
Second, this has nothing to do with "rights". You have no right to a harry potter book. You have no right to a harry potter book before it's supposed to be released. You have no right to read a wrongly acquired book so you dont have to wait a few days.
Third, this type of crap dilutes the idea of a "right". You DO have the right to free speach, to freely assemble, to seek a redress of your grievances. You DO NOT have the right to steal someone elses physcial and yes intellectual property by getting a Harry Potter book (a) without paying for it and (b) against the express wishes of the author and publisher.
A corporation's only interest is money. There is noone there who's looking out for your interests.
Luckily though, the corporate pursuit of money is also the pursuit of what I want, since often I want to give my money to corporation for something in return.
The government, on the other hand, has as you put it, a few people who want to help. Great. That's not say they are equipped to help, just that they want to help. Good intentions with a lack of skill or precision often lead to bad stuff happening - unintended consequences.
At least with a corporation you know what thier goal is: money. Get money. Make money. Keep money. MONEY MONEY MONEY.
With the government, you never know. You deal with some government employee what's their motive? Revenge, hate, laziness, greed.. what?
why hasnt he attacked Saudi Arabia even once? why isnt he going after the royal family since they are clearly the ones he should have the biggest beef with. There were attacks against Saudi Arabia. (sorry, login required)
There has been an extensive 2 year long battle against bin laden inspired terrorists within the Kingdom - this article gives some good background.
Second, about the whole "black sheep" thing. He was expelled from the Kingdom in the 1990's and hasn't been back since. He would have been executed for except that his family is very powerful (he has 50 some odd brothers and sisters, all in good standing). His father was a famed construction magnate who rebuilt and refurbished much of Mecca's holy buildings and a friend of the King.
So here is the thing about your comment.
You have no grasp of Middle-Eastern politics. Even dedicatd amatuers have a hard time keeping up with it, and it's why we have a State Department with analysts who watch this all the time. This is meant as no insult.
Basically, what you have to understand is this: the Saudi royal family is pro-Western. However, they are not in complete dictorial control of the country as you may imagine. They rule only at the grace of clerics who are dedicated Wahabists and are decidely anti-Western. If the royal family fell from power the Kingdom would quickly fall into the hands of Taliban-esque clerics with *piles* and *piles* and *piles* of money at their command. Wealth that is, frankly, astounding. Plus more to be mined every day. Imagine the Taliban complete with half a trillion dollars in cash.
Clearly, the royals are not our best "allys". They do not have a free hand to rule as they would wish. And even if they did, they'd probably be bastards. They should have no problem providing jobs, yet 25% of the workforce is unemployed. Yet if the balance of power tilts to far to the clerics, they will be deposed and the new regime will not just be a little bit worse, but rather, violently anti-American.
The Saudi royal family are the ones you see on TV, smeared and linked to the 9/11 bombers by special interest groups. Bush took heat for being easy on them. What none of these groups understand is how precarious their position is. If the Saud family loses control of the Kingdom the US's security interests would be massively hurt, for one, in terms of oil, but two, in terms of an Afganistan like safe-haven but with massive income and revenue. Just because we would stop buying oil from them doesn't mean Europe or China would. After the US was let into the Kingdom during Gulf War I they nearly lost control to the clerics. Bitter repression was required to control them and maintain power.
This whole power struggle is why you see Bush walking and talking with the royals and holding hands and all that and at the same time read about madrasa's that won't let girls leave a burning building because they weren't covered properly. They are secular leaders running a nation cowed into blind subserviance by iron fisted religious leaders.
Anyways, I hope this helps you to understand just a little what the situation in Saudia Arabia consists of.
For windows users, try WebDrive. They dont even have to drag and drop.
It maps DAV or FTP sites to a standard Windows drive letter, and handles everything transparently in the background. Users can use any application to edit files, etc.
I have some users who need to upload photos from a digital camera to a website; it's perfect for them. You can even set Windows to transfer files to that "Drive" anytime they plug in the camera via that little wizard that pop-ups.
Slashdot Mirror
The top 1/10 of 1% of Americans drastically skew the results in lots of subtle ways. This is a class that virtually no other nation has. It really should be discounted.
Actually. You may be a bit paranoid. Clinton has actively pursued attention on this matter. Her office fax blasted statements to regional newsrooms (including one that I work near, which is why I have a copy of the fax) statements with handy dandy nuggets of quotes bold faced and underlined.
The bottom line is, that Clinton actively made a request of the FTC to investigate Take Two.
The vote 355-21 came AFTER Clinton had asked the FTC to investigate.
Sorry, but the Hillary is a victim of an agenda routine falls flat this time. She singled herself out on this one.
I've done it, it's not that easy, plus, no doc I've ever worked for is going to hire you to install and then expect nothing after that.
Supporting medical practices is a full-time job. I used to, and my wife still does, work at a small VAR that supports about 125 small private practices. It takes a staff of about 12 to keep them reasonably happy with their billing software which is about 1/10th as complicates as Vista.
If you do this, well, just be prepared. And also, get yourself some errors and omissions insurance. Like with a $2M or $5M coverage window. If you forget to setup good log rotation and the system doesn't come up one day because of a lack of disk space or whatever, well, you are probably going to get sued. Doctors have no problem getting legal on you if anything goes wrong.
Well..
If you only need the "last good" copy of the data, most services will do a diff backup, so your daily traffic is only the stuff that's changed. Plus, you may be able to set the schedule more than daily, say, hourly, which should make bandwidth requirements pretty even. I have about 1TB of critical data to backup, but on a given day, only about 100-200MB of that changes. After the initial upload that's pretty much a trivial amount of bandwidth.
Ahh.. actually.. Dell offers a "business" workstation that is: P4 2.8GHz, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 80GB HDD, DVD burner, 17" flat panel monitor, XP Pro, a 3yr warranty, for $900. That's a pretty decent deal. I was look over Apple's site, and all of the G5's are dual processing, and start at close to $2k, no monitor. They have iMac's that start at $1299. They have Mac mini's which start at $499, which when decked with a monitor and memory upgrade would come just under, but I believe would probably not match it or come close in terms of performance. Anyways. Based on what I saw today, it's not really what I'd call competitive. Equalish performance and specifications (memory, disk wise), I'd say 10%-15% is competitive, and that's not what I am seeing. Of course, the rates for "home" PCs and not "workstations" are even lower, but I dont think it's fair comparison since the quality so very low on the home line.
The old version of xp should be more than enough for the new Hardware
Except, since the OEM's are required by contract to support their users in return for getting a 70% below retail rate for the software, the OLD hardware maker would have to support the NEW hardware makers users.
So, for example, you buy a Gateway, and Windows is hosed. And you toss that box out. Then you buy a Dell because you are ignornant that Windows is the reason, not the hardware. If they could just transfer that license, the user would have to call Gateway to get support for their Dell machine, since Gateway was the one who sold the copy of XP and agreed to support it.
See how crazy that is? What user wants that? It's the ultimate in finger pointing. Now matter what, Dell will say it's Windows, call Gateway. Gateway will always say the issue is hardware related. The user will be in the middle, and will be SOL more than ever.
The prohibition has everything to do with support.
If you buy a retail or open license version of XP for retail or nearly retail or whatever you can find it for, you get support direct from MS according to their terms, regardless of your hardware vendor. And yes, that is fully transferrable.
This is abuse of their almost monopoly.
And finally, this is an absurd statement. There in no prohibition against being an "almost monopoly". MS's business practices - even the ones that landed them in court before - are completely 100% legal for non-monopolies (which is why they skated for so long). When the settlement expires next year MS once again have no special restrictions on its business.
Any new suits regarding abuse of monopoly will have to first start by proving MS has a monopoly, which considering the beating MS takes at the hand of Linux, Apple, FireFox, etc is very very difficult.
Not only that, but they are about to have a population that is titled dramatically to the young male demographic.. which can only be a bad thing.. having a country with an "extra" 100M military aged males can't be a good thing.
The advertisers spend a lot of money determining what people like me like to watch. Sterotypes are generally accurate. Dirty and mean but true! If we start watching a show, the first ads come on, and they are selling Depends, I am outta there.
Well, for the first time, we watch the first ad break. Otherwise, we do skip commericals. But why bother watching the rest of the show if they are advertising acne medication and Green Day conerts? We know it's just going to be full of useless T&A scenes, bad dialog, and poorly thought out "plot" elements. This way, we know within 10 minutes that the show is garabage, without going the extra 35 minutes to the end.
Actually, my wife e-mailed me, and told me that Focus is an old person. Scion, Lancer, Eclipse, you know the names!
The first 6-8 minutes + ads will get it a second look. We have all kinds of other criteria that helps us past that point. But if you don't pass the "ad test", well, it's not going to make it very far. We have a limited time allocation for TV watching, and we just want to use it as solidly as possible.
You are right about ad demograhpics. I finally convinced my wife that she is no longer the target market for MTV, which is why she now thinks most of the shows "are stupid". It's not hard to figure out that you aren't the target market when they are advertising condoms, violent video games, music CDs of people you'll never listen to no matter what, fast food, and small cheaply made trendy cars with names the like "Matrix" and "Focus". After reminding her that eating out for us means a nice family italian resturant and not Wendy's, that she drives an expensive-ish mid-size import, that we have never seen a movie with a rapper playing a lead role, that we don't use pre-paid mobile phones, and that we won't be buying any CDs featuring artists with names like Beyoncee or Nickleback she realized that MTV isn't a network for her anymore (and yes, there were tears involved.. she was one of the many who took turns calling the cable company and demanding "her MTV"). Now, we watch shows that advertise things that interest us, and it seems that we both agree that it's a much better fit! Ads for vacations, mid-size cars and SUVs, chain resturants, movies featuring Jude Law and all that. That hardest thing is now remember to check what things are advertised when we watch the first episode of a new show (meaning, not instantly fast forward our DVR past the commericals). We can tell within about 6-8 minutes if the show is worth investing our time in!
It's not just about arable land, it's about hardiness. Organically grown crops are natural - and naturally, homeogenous tracts of one type of plants get diseased or infested with pretty strident regularity. You don't hear about it much in current organically based trendiness because there aren't a lot of places growing 100 acres of organic corno or whatever.
No, seriously, Google is very powerful.
If Canada passes some moronic law banning tools like Google from being effective they should just redirect canadian users to a page with their MP's phone number on it.
"Sorry, XXXX has made Google illegal in your country. Please call and this discuss this with XXX at this phone number: {insert canadian equivalent of 555-1212 here}"
I am sure after the first 10-12M internet users in Canada called something would be done.
I think actually that Google should do that with the DMCA here in the US: pick a week, and shut off Google to US users.
Surprisingly robust! I had a system that I probably hibernated, ohh, say, 300 times (once daily for a year or so), no problems, no reboots needed.
The first thing we're doing now is Baning the use of the Intel compliers in our company; as some of our customers may be running AMD chips.
The first thing you should do is investigate the claim, and determine if it's true!
It's a failure because Intel shrunk the market,. and doesn't sell any chips. Reducing competition is only half the battle.
The number Itanium chips shipped is usually reported in hundreds, not the hundreds of thousands they anticipated.
I can't find the numbers probably because Intel would be embarrased, but they've likely spent billions on development, with little appreciable sales.
Sparc, as far as I can see, drastically outsells Itanium.
Java. Mainly.
Java is handy for many, many things. One thing it's not going to help is a large scale migration from one platform to the next. Years ago I am sure Intel thought it was going to be bigger, but it's not. Meaning more trouble migrating to new hardware platforms!
Itanium was a huge project jointly developed with many partners, most of the significant ones have long since abandoned the effort.
It was supposed to be the future of Intel - shipping units on the order of the pentium line. A redesign from scratch of how processors "should" be designed.
It's taken far longer, cost far more, and yielded far less than promised.
That's basically it.
Also, I'd be willing to bet Intel staked a bigger part of its decision on the availablity of platform independent binaries making serious inroads, which hasn't really materialized. Platform independence of the major OSS and commerical apps is obtained through porting and source-level compatability.
This is has little to do with "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY" and all to do with "PROPERTY".
The original manuscript would be worth well more than any gold. An exclusive dozen of the books available today, 7 days before the release would also be worth more than it's weight in gold, I imagine. Let's see, say a hardcover versions weights two pounds, thats, what, $15,000 or so worth of gold? I am sure you could sell one for more than that right now, today.
This is a joke.
First, DRM of course means "DIGITAL", this is anything but digital.
Second, this has nothing to do with "rights". You have no right to a harry potter book. You have no right to a harry potter book before it's supposed to be released. You have no right to read a wrongly acquired book so you dont have to wait a few days.
Third, this type of crap dilutes the idea of a "right". You DO have the right to free speach, to freely assemble, to seek a redress of your grievances. You DO NOT have the right to steal someone elses physcial and yes intellectual property by getting a Harry Potter book (a) without paying for it and (b) against the express wishes of the author and publisher.
GROW UP.
A corporation's only interest is money. There is noone there who's looking out for your interests.
Luckily though, the corporate pursuit of money is also the pursuit of what I want, since often I want to give my money to corporation for something in return.
The government, on the other hand, has as you put it, a few people who want to help. Great. That's not say they are equipped to help, just that they want to help. Good intentions with a lack of skill or precision often lead to bad stuff happening - unintended consequences.
At least with a corporation you know what thier goal is: money. Get money. Make money. Keep money. MONEY MONEY MONEY.
With the government, you never know. You deal with some government employee what's their motive? Revenge, hate, laziness, greed.. what?
why hasnt he attacked Saudi Arabia even once? why isnt he going after the royal family since they are clearly the ones he should have the biggest beef with.
There were attacks against Saudi Arabia. (sorry, login required) There has been an extensive 2 year long battle against bin laden inspired terrorists within the Kingdom - this article gives some good background.
Second, about the whole "black sheep" thing. He was expelled from the Kingdom in the 1990's and hasn't been back since. He would have been executed for except that his family is very powerful (he has 50 some odd brothers and sisters, all in good standing). His father was a famed construction magnate who rebuilt and refurbished much of Mecca's holy buildings and a friend of the King.
So here is the thing about your comment.
You have no grasp of Middle-Eastern politics. Even dedicatd amatuers have a hard time keeping up with it, and it's why we have a State Department with analysts who watch this all the time. This is meant as no insult.
Basically, what you have to understand is this: the Saudi royal family is pro-Western. However, they are not in complete dictorial control of the country as you may imagine. They rule only at the grace of clerics who are dedicated Wahabists and are decidely anti-Western. If the royal family fell from power the Kingdom would quickly fall into the hands of Taliban-esque clerics with *piles* and *piles* and *piles* of money at their command. Wealth that is, frankly, astounding. Plus more to be mined every day. Imagine the Taliban complete with half a trillion dollars in cash.
Clearly, the royals are not our best "allys". They do not have a free hand to rule as they would wish. And even if they did, they'd probably be bastards. They should have no problem providing jobs, yet 25% of the workforce is unemployed. Yet if the balance of power tilts to far to the clerics, they will be deposed and the new regime will not just be a little bit worse, but rather, violently anti-American.
The Saudi royal family are the ones you see on TV, smeared and linked to the 9/11 bombers by special interest groups. Bush took heat for being easy on them. What none of these groups understand is how precarious their position is. If the Saud family loses control of the Kingdom the US's security interests would be massively hurt, for one, in terms of oil, but two, in terms of an Afganistan like safe-haven but with massive income and revenue. Just because we would stop buying oil from them doesn't mean Europe or China would. After the US was let into the Kingdom during Gulf War I they nearly lost control to the clerics. Bitter repression was required to control them and maintain power.
This whole power struggle is why you see Bush walking and talking with the royals and holding hands and all that and at the same time read about madrasa's that won't let girls leave a burning building because they weren't covered properly. They are secular leaders running a nation cowed into blind subserviance by iron fisted religious leaders.
Anyways, I hope this helps you to understand just a little what the situation in Saudia Arabia consists of.
For windows users, try WebDrive. They dont even have to drag and drop.
It maps DAV or FTP sites to a standard Windows drive letter, and handles everything transparently in the background. Users can use any application to edit files, etc.
I have some users who need to upload photos from a digital camera to a website; it's perfect for them. You can even set Windows to transfer files to that "Drive" anytime they plug in the camera via that little wizard that pop-ups.