It's not only that. Companies in the U.S. want a premium for the good that they sell, BUT they don't want to pay their employee's anything near a living wage (hence, 2 or 3 income families).
I hear people every day whining about a damn depression. Well guys, it's the fault of the companies. They'd post bigger profits if they paid their workers more so those workers had the spending power they could buy products from other companies so those workers could be paid more so they could buy from the former company and other companies.... ad nauseum.
But they dont' do that. Their cutting their own throat and they just don't see it. So what happens, Dubya pushes through a child care tax credit that's immediately refundable to those with claimable children on their taxes in hopes people spend that money in the economy. Short term fix, and in the long term we're still fucked.
"I can buy a pack of cigarettes here for the equivalent of less than 50 US cents. A home-cooked meal of chicken or other meat costs around 75 US cents per person. My daily commute to work is slightly less than one US dollar. Water and electric bills amount to roughly US$8-$10 per month. Rent, US$60 per month. That's what life's like in the Third World, folks. Come by and visit sometime."
Oh, boo hoo
I'd LOVE to pay US 50 cents for a pack of smokes. Pay $60 per month for rent? You bet!
Ok, so your not pullin down $40 an hour, or even $10 an hour. Too bad, your living dirt cheap in comparison to ANYWHERE in the USA.
If I lived where you lived I'd sure as hell consider such 'pathetic' wages. BUT, your country probably has a law that protects your workers from foreign competition also. Unlike our government that is so tightly in bed with big companies that they encourage foreigners to steal jobs from Americans.
Look at it this way. After hiring him, if the Canadian military has computer trouble, at least they'll have someone that can get their Vic-20 up and working.
Where I freelance the storefront shops are notorious(sp) for screwing things up. Their incompetance is my best asset as a freelance tech. I'm always being called to fix their screwups, and you would not believe how some of the shops are ripping their customers/clients off.
But, then again, I'm not Jimmy Schmoe that just happens to be the neighborhood kid that knows how to get a computer case open. Unlike other freelancers I have a business license, state tax id, insurance, etc... Unfortunately there are a lot of freelancers that don't think of running a business legitimately. Those are also my best asset.
Naw, Burning Man is what the idiots out there make it collectively. Herd mentality. It's like looking at a bunch of 'punks' that proclaim they dress the way they do to 'proclaim individuality', but in essense they look just like the other one next to him. It's like the volume control in Spinal Tap that goes to 11.
I never said that the person(s) that have mod points now are also posters.
"maybe the mods just thought you were being mean and nasty for it's own sake"
Nope, just being blunt, to the point, and honest. BUT, considering Burning Man fan boys with mod points to burn... honesty isn't high on their list of 'good things'.
Being around Burning Man fan boys is just as distatefull as being around Ronald Reagan fan boys.
There are a hell of a lot better things to do and see than Burning Man in the USA, and those things do not take drugs to 'enjoy'.
Well, as much as Microsofts operating systems are crap.... that crap keeps me in a job.
Every single tech who makes his/her/its living dealing with Microsoft software should send a letter of thanks to Bill Gates that what microsoft puts out is crap.
Burning Man is where all the real assholes go every year to hone their skills at being even bigger, greater, assholes.
Like everything else in this god forsaken country it's something that was good when it started, but then got ruined by pretentious suburbanites. It's so fucked up that the only original people there are the ones wearing normal clothes. Everyone else is just a sad representation of each other. It's an fuck fest of the worst kind of American herd mentality you'll ever see.
Every single person that receives a demand from SCO goes to the local prosecutors office and see's if SCO breaks any local or state laws regarding extortion.
It would be in essense a distributed legal attack that would cost SCO a great deal of money.
"I don't see why you think the FTC should handle it; they'd likely do nothing at all. A class action suit is more likely to get something done, and i for one wouldn't mind if it shut down double click forever."
The only thing a class action suit is make the lawyer(s) rich, everyone else get's what? a buck or two, if that?
The motherboards on HP machines are 'tattoed' so that when you use the restore cd's the drivers for that particular machine are loaded. Otherwise you have to hunt down the drivers and load them manually.
"The reality is that companies are afraid of IT because of the crap we pulled in 1996-2000. "
What do you mean 'we' white man?
The only people that I saw that were pulling crap were mainly assholes with MBA's who were out only to pull in huge amounts of vc and collect insane salaries before that money ran out. That doesn't even include the non-tech's who went into web design using Frontpage and other crap that soaked the clients. And the ever wonderfull paper MCSE's.
I don't know what you were doing, but I was working my ass off actually producing things, AND I wasn't pulling down huge figures.
Actually, when you consider that all objects in the universe are moving away from each other at a determined rate... the earth can actualy be considered the center of the universe and still be scientifically correct. NOW, that doesn't mean that it's philosophically correct.
Everyone seems to be pretty much caught off guard on this. Not one to be found in this area, and when I called the local 'book store' (which also sells more games/videos/etc... than books) the 'book loser' there talked like I was crazy when I asked if it was in and was dead set that the release date was next year because a gaming magazine said so. Finally got hold of the manager and it seems they have 6 'in transit'.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not only that. Companies in the U.S. want a premium for the good that they sell, BUT they don't want to pay their employee's anything near a living wage (hence, 2 or 3 income families).
I hear people every day whining about a damn depression. Well guys, it's the fault of the companies. They'd post bigger profits if they paid their workers more so those workers had the spending power they could buy products from other companies so those workers could be paid more so they could buy from the former company and other companies.... ad nauseum.
But they dont' do that. Their cutting their own throat and they just don't see it. So what happens, Dubya pushes through a child care tax credit that's immediately refundable to those with claimable children on their taxes in hopes people spend that money in the economy. Short term fix, and in the long term we're still fucked.
"I can buy a pack of cigarettes here for the equivalent of less than 50 US cents. A home-cooked meal of chicken or other meat costs around 75 US cents per person. My daily commute to work is slightly less than one US dollar. Water and electric bills amount to roughly US$8-$10 per month. Rent, US$60 per month. That's what life's like in the Third World, folks. Come by and visit sometime."
Oh, boo hoo
I'd LOVE to pay US 50 cents for a pack of smokes. Pay $60 per month for rent? You bet!
Ok, so your not pullin down $40 an hour, or even $10 an hour. Too bad, your living dirt cheap in comparison to ANYWHERE in the USA.
If I lived where you lived I'd sure as hell consider such 'pathetic' wages. BUT, your country probably has a law that protects your workers from foreign competition also. Unlike our government that is so tightly in bed with big companies that they encourage foreigners to steal jobs from Americans.
Look at it this way. After hiring him, if the Canadian military has computer trouble, at least they'll have someone that can get their Vic-20 up and working.
Where I freelance the storefront shops are notorious(sp) for screwing things up. Their incompetance is my best asset as a freelance tech. I'm always being called to fix their screwups, and you would not believe how some of the shops are ripping their customers/clients off.
But, then again, I'm not Jimmy Schmoe that just happens to be the neighborhood kid that knows how to get a computer case open. Unlike other freelancers I have a business license, state tax id, insurance, etc... Unfortunately there are a lot of freelancers that don't think of running a business legitimately. Those are also my best asset.
I don't think he was counting overhead, OR he was working 'under the table'.
This is why you do one of, or both of two things...
1) get a million dollars worth of liability insurance. Cheap enough really.
2) Form your service as a Limited Liability Corporation that has no assets.
So, if you do get sued, and they do gain ownership of your LLC; they get nothing. And, you can happily go off, form another LLC and continue business.
Remember, your dealing with idiots, and when dealing with idiots you can't do enough CYA.
Naw, Burning Man is what the idiots out there make it collectively. Herd mentality. It's like looking at a bunch of 'punks' that proclaim they dress the way they do to 'proclaim individuality', but in essense they look just like the other one next to him. It's like the volume control in Spinal Tap that goes to 11.
I never said that the person(s) that have mod points now are also posters.
"maybe the mods just thought you were being mean and nasty for it's own sake"
Nope, just being blunt, to the point, and honest. BUT, considering Burning Man fan boys with mod points to burn... honesty isn't high on their list of 'good things'.
Being around Burning Man fan boys is just as distatefull as being around Ronald Reagan fan boys.
There are a hell of a lot better things to do and see than Burning Man in the USA, and those things do not take drugs to 'enjoy'.
And then the asshole fanboys of Burning Man come here and mod the truth down as Troll.
They said that ntfs doesn't need to be deframented either.
Well, as much as Microsofts operating systems are crap.... that crap keeps me in a job.
Every single tech who makes his/her/its living dealing with Microsoft software should send a letter of thanks to Bill Gates that what microsoft puts out is crap.
In every pile of crap is a diamond.
Burning Man is where all the real assholes go every year to hone their skills at being even bigger, greater, assholes.
Like everything else in this god forsaken country it's something that was good when it started, but then got ruined by pretentious suburbanites. It's so fucked up that the only original people there are the ones wearing normal clothes. Everyone else is just a sad representation of each other. It's an fuck fest of the worst kind of American herd mentality you'll ever see.
Don't go.
You confuse liberalism with liberty. Liberty is about individualism, liberalism is about collectivism.
And, yes it is an insult.
I hope to hell that was satire.
How about this...
Every single person that receives a demand from SCO goes to the local prosecutors office and see's if SCO breaks any local or state laws regarding extortion.
It would be in essense a distributed legal attack that would cost SCO a great deal of money.
Looks like something out of a fucking Mafia movie.
Look yous guys, pays us what we wants and nobody gets hurt.
The 'protection scam' is a protection scam no matter what industry.
"I don't see why you think the FTC should handle it; they'd likely do nothing at all. A class action suit is more likely to get something done, and i for one wouldn't mind if it shut down double click forever."
The only thing a class action suit is make the lawyer(s) rich, everyone else get's what? a buck or two, if that?
"It is like shaving cream. There are like X varieties and they are are all about same price per quanity (+-20%). That is a monopoly..."
No, it's called "price fixing". which, incidentally, is also illegal.
The motherboards on HP machines are 'tattoed' so that when you use the restore cd's the drivers for that particular machine are loaded. Otherwise you have to hunt down the drivers and load them manually.
Of course, those engines are powered by Slashdot postings!
Shut your mouth you cowardly French piece of shit.
"The reality is that companies are afraid of IT because of the crap we pulled in 1996-2000.
"
What do you mean 'we' white man?
The only people that I saw that were pulling crap were mainly assholes with MBA's who were out only to pull in huge amounts of vc and collect insane salaries before that money ran out. That doesn't even include the non-tech's who went into web design using Frontpage and other crap that soaked the clients. And the ever wonderfull paper MCSE's.
I don't know what you were doing, but I was working my ass off actually producing things, AND I wasn't pulling down huge figures.
Actually, when you consider that all objects in the universe are moving away from each other at a determined rate... the earth can actualy be considered the center of the universe and still be scientifically correct. NOW, that doesn't mean that it's philosophically correct.
Everyone seems to be pretty much caught off guard on this. Not one to be found in this area, and when I called the local 'book store' (which also sells more games/videos/etc... than books) the 'book loser' there talked like I was crazy when I asked if it was in and was dead set that the release date was next year because a gaming magazine said so. Finally got hold of the manager and it seems they have 6 'in transit'.
GAH!
"Pave the Planet!"
A better suggestion.