Truly Scary Part
on
e-Denounce
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· Score: 4, Insightful
The really scary part is this: (from the linked article):
The company makes money through corporate and industry membership fees. Companies like the international engineering, construction and services group, Balfour Beatty PLC, and Yorkshire Electricity Group PLC pay yearly fees beginning at $863, depending on the size of the company, to have FAST audit the company to ensure that all of the software the company is using is legal.
Seems like a bit of a conflict to me: sure, pay us to confirm that you don't have illegal software, and we won't tell ourselves.
It's like having to pay protection money, so they won't come and break our kneecaps.
Anyone know anything about how long LCDs will last? CRTs have a tendency to become fuzzy with age. I assume CRTs won't do this, but do they have any long term issues?
Intel acknowledge in the article that it's not likely to look good, but they say they have to defend their trademark. From the article:
..knows it could come off looking to some like a bully.
"We're certainly sensitive about that," he said. "But our hands are tied because of the way the law is structured."
Mulloy said the nature of trademark law requires a vigorous defense of one's brand at all times, whether or not the perceived violator competes in the same industry.
"We can't let a precedent be set," he explained. " 'Yoga Inside' might not sound bad, but what happens when someone comes along with 'Apple Inside'?
Seems a pretty reasonable explanation- maybe we should be blaming Washington..
True- but at least no one has to pay for a shoddy piece of open source software. And if they are using an 'out-of-date' version & find a bug, they can easily fix it themselves, or hire someone on contract to do so.
One thing I've never figured out, is how magazines survive. There are all kinds of trade publications/small market magazines out there that can't have as many readers as Salon.. Do the web advertisers pay that much less for web advertising than they do for magazine ads? Did web content people shoot themselves in the foot by charging way too little?
Web delivery was supposed to be a whole lot cheaper than mailing out a bunch of dead trees every month, and putting up lots of copies at newsstands that never get sold. Is it?
Anyone know about the relative costs for a magazine versus a site like Salon?
Although I'm a little bit worried about the typical Microsoft-isms (poor security, undesired 'linking' of data, forcing us all to buy Office, etc..), I have to say that the passport IDEA is a good one, at least from the point of view of the consumer. THis way, I can enter a fake name only once, instead of racking my brain each time for a witty fake name.
I hate having to remember my various accounts on various web sites (NY Times, Sun, even Slashdot) when I change machines or wipe out my Cookies.
My question is: if not microsoft, then who should be responsible for such a service? the US Postal Service/Canada Post? the CIA?
Slashdot Mirror
The really scary part is this: (from the linked article):
The company makes money through corporate and industry membership fees. Companies like the international engineering, construction and services group, Balfour Beatty PLC, and Yorkshire Electricity Group PLC pay yearly fees beginning at $863, depending on the size of the company, to have FAST audit the company to ensure that all of the software the company is using is legal.
Seems like a bit of a conflict to me: sure, pay us to confirm that you don't have illegal software, and we won't tell ourselves.
It's like having to pay protection money, so they won't come and break our kneecaps.
Anyone know anything about how long LCDs will last? CRTs have a tendency to become fuzzy with age. I assume CRTs won't do this, but do they have any long term issues?
Seems a pretty reasonable explanation- maybe we should be blaming Washington..
Considering this thread is posted by someone who is (used to be?) at SGI, it sure says something about SGI's state of affairs.
True- but at least no one has to pay for a shoddy piece of open source software. And if they are using an 'out-of-date' version & find a bug, they can easily fix it themselves, or hire someone on contract to do so.
One thing I've never figured out, is how magazines survive. There are all kinds of trade publications/small market magazines out there that can't have as many readers as Salon.. Do the web advertisers pay that much less for web advertising than they do for magazine ads? Did web content people shoot themselves in the foot by charging way too little?
Web delivery was supposed to be a whole lot cheaper than mailing out a bunch of dead trees every month, and putting up lots of copies at newsstands that never get sold. Is it?
Anyone know about the relative costs for a magazine versus a site like Salon?
Although I'm a little bit worried about the typical Microsoft-isms (poor security, undesired 'linking' of data, forcing us all to buy Office, etc..), I have to say that the passport IDEA is a good one, at least from the point of view of the consumer. THis way, I can enter a fake name only once, instead of racking my brain each time for a witty fake name.
I hate having to remember my various accounts on various web sites (NY Times, Sun, even Slashdot) when I change machines or wipe out my Cookies.
My question is: if not microsoft, then who should be responsible for such a service? the US Postal Service/Canada Post? the CIA?