I don't know about the duckie, but the 'switch-off' button, the comparison points at...
Well, let me do a quick check, and... Yes! every remote I own has such a button.
Not that you are not right, but...
I bougth a couple of months ago a harddrive, 10 GB for $139. Now guys at this same joint sell a 20 GB for that much.
So maybe it really doesn't matter. At least not to the new buyers.
Well, to make a roasted turkey look nice on a picture you take one (dead) turkey (feathers, don't forget about getting rid of feathers), roast it just a bit, than brush it with some magic gel and then use a blowtorch on it.
Then it *really* looks roasted.
I am really surprised, there is a still a person around that actually believes, an advertisement can carry any truth. From working in this business I remember no case of actually photographing actual product with no 'beautification' added.
You know, torches used on turkeys, any beer would do as the beer you are really pushing etc.
I see no reason whatsoever for software or hardware to be different.
The article, you have mentioned was about Czech Republic I believe. Knowing a bit about the country I would rather assume, it is something from 'oddly enough' column, rather then a rule.
Besides, denying another human being the absolute best in medical technology is not considered inhuman. It is the very essence of what makes the big pharma so profitable.
Well, Americans really believe this. On the otehr hand, when one watches all this US war movies, there is no choice.
My Russian friends here tell me, that in their view major difference between Soviet and US propaganda is that Americans believe in it.
I don't mind open source. Actually, I like it. After all, I am writing this note using AbiWord on Linux. Both are free software. Besides, I am a programmer, not a suit. A good programmer. A very good one. I love to see my peers marveling over my ingenuity, over the clever algorithms I have conceived. Yes, my friend, unlike you, I am expected to create new solutions to problems, you have never heard about.
So, the free software is something, I love. We love. YOU should love. An expression of the free spirit that breaks all boundaries and makes walls crumble. It is great. But - on the other hand - if it is so great, how it can suck so bad. Seven hours ago I was trying hard to write a letter to a friend of mine. In his (and mine, for that matter) native Polish. You know, small country, Central Europe etc. However, the editor kept underlining everything in red, as a spelling mistake. I kept telling the stupid jerk, it was another language, no need to check it, I knew my spelling. No way. I didn?t find the switch. I couldn't switch it off. Mind you, I am not the cleverest person on this planet (my wife is); however, I was able to switch of this sodding paper clip at first shot.
But, the power of free software... So I went to Star Office. The freakin? thing was starting twice as long as MS Word does. Behold - StarOffice, the ultimate bloatware.
Alas, I managed to write the note without being offended by a program suggesting, it knows my mother tongue (that software authors never heard about) better than I do. So. you would say, total success of the free software.
Well, not exactly. You need to know, what the letter I wrote to my friend was all about. It was about a clever idea we had. An idea for software - a very specialized piece, that no one did before. I do not expect it to equal Linux (or Windows), but it will have its applications. A bit of elusive math is involved, so I don't expect legions of copycats - I could even quite safely publish a paper about the method. So, I am safe - unless of course I publish the method and the source. So, what I am supposed to do? Tell me. Opt for ?advancement of the humanity? and give my work away - or maybe patent the method and keep the source closed?
I choose the latter. My wife likes this antique russian jewelry too much. And besides, we were struggling long enough. Above all, I do not consider myself a salaryman; and as an entrepreneur I don?t want to be a taxi driver. Brewery owner - mniah, I love the taste.
Therefore, I am telling you, Bill will win. Bill will win just because he is right and his vision is accurate (and don't you dare talk bad about his Asperger's syndrome). Open Source (at least in American edition - KDE is certainly better in this department) doesn't pay attention to details (like 40 million people using Polish instead of English - what a bunch of whackos, eh?). Bill's guys do. The model he represents suits most people better. I prefer to sustain my family from my skills (theory, I have constructed and software I have written) rather than explaining this stuff to people, who won't understand it anyway (service). Had I wanted to be a teatcher, I would have stay with the academia.
Besides, good software needs no service, at list at the level I am aiming at. So, either I shall be crappy or hungry. Nice choice.
Umh, good Champaigne (even of Canadian origin) makes people write this kind of things. So, from my personal point of view and considering all ramifications, open:
1. Open source / free software (I know the difference) sometimes is an option, but usually it is not.
2. Bill Gates is not Satan. He is just a successful entrepreneur who happen to be on the other side of the fence.
3. Nicholas Petrleley sucks (not very much, just a bit, so peace be with him).
4. Happy new year.
For the record: Modula-2 was not conceived as 'teaching language'. That was Pascal. AFAIK Wirth intended Modula-2 to be something of industrial strength for the guys taught on Pascal.
And boy, it was good. I wrote some pretty decent software with Modula-2 (using GEM). There is nothing you could do in C that you couldn't do in Modula-2. Amen.
And besides, if you took 'a quickie little 2-year college program instead of a full CS degree' then you are a guy after 'a quickie little 2-year college program'. You have my pity.
No, you got it quite wrong. The rule of the thumb is that if a free service is rendered to you (mean business) you are supposed to figure out its value and pay the tax accordingly.
If you state no value or decline to provide relevant data, the tax board will do you this service and establish the value using their own methods.
This is a method for busting certain tax evasions schema (I can provide examples, if you want me to). They just overdid it. But this has nothing to do with evil goverment supporting even more evil corporations or forcing price-collusion.
BTW. At this very moment http://www.gazetaprawna.infor.pl/ (Polish 'Law Yournal', only for those reading in Polish and not afraid of legalese) holds short note debunking the issue.
The points are:
1. You should pay tax on free (beer) programs (as I stated above - this is the general rule)
2. The tax man got it quite wrong and base value was established in wrong way.
3. You can avoid paying taxes on free software if you take certain measures (the suggest, what to do).
Disclaimer: I don't live in Poland anymore, but I used to. By owning a business there I got quite familiar with local tax system. It sucked, but mostly because taxes suck in general.
It entirely depends on whether the organization's run by the friends of people in power, then they can borrow money and stuff and not return it. Communism may be formally outlawed here, but the communist way of thinking is still popularn among the governemnt and it's employees.
Actually, speaking from my personal experience (about five years ago), I can tell, that what you stated above is highly unfair. The law regarding non-profit organisations (at the time, I am referring to) used to be quite well conceived and rather lax. The latter made the whole system prone to abuse by unscrupulous criminals. But - at the same time - non-profit organisations did enjoy reasonable privileges and were rather advantaged.
Anyway, they organisation I had been dealing with could do its job - and this is what it was all about.
I had exactly the same problem with Win98 hanging on shutdown. Some two months later HDD went down and newer awakened again.
After puting a new HDD in (with exactly the same dual-boot config on it) the problem disappear. So, it may be a hardware problem after all.
You follow common myths:
1. VB programmers are idiots, who write shitty code, whilst worthwile projects are written in C/C++.
2. There is something bad in 9-5
3. Frontend is of lesser importance.
I argue that:
1. Language used is not of the essence.
2. I do mind having to work on improving shitty code written by someone on 9-5 basis. However, I would rather have this that to get stuck on shitty code written by a hard working guy on "70 hours week" basis. There is nothing worse then idiots with initiative.
3. Front-end is something of utmost importance as it decides how a user perceives the program. Neglecting UI is neglecting the user. Programs are for primarily for users.
By the way: 'worthwile enterprise solution in C/C++' - nowadays approaching 'enterprise solutions' with C/C++ should be considered industrial sabotage.
-M-
Re:See what happens when you rely on NT
on
Microsoft Cracked
·
· Score: 2
Everyone is guilty. Except the thief. The poor guy just had to do it, hadn't he. Can we from now on describe crime as 'crime' regardles who is the victim.
Please...
And for the people needing some good laughter: The Futurolgical Congress. Worth reading, even though the ending is not that good, as it could be.
M.
Re:Lem is one of the greats
on
Solaris
·
· Score: 1
Yes, Lem is still alive. He Currently lives in Cracow, Poland. I don't thing, he is writing anything of SF right now, though.
As about Solaris, there was a rumor some time ago that some guys in Hollywood figured out, a remake of the movie would be due.
You can read about this here:
http://www.k26.com/solaris/SOLARIS_INTRO/solaris _intro.html
I do. I even wrote some software for this thingee. In Modula-2. Anyone remeber that?
-M-
Re:License wars are a waste of energy
on
KDE Strikes Back
·
· Score: 2
the REAL licensing problem with KDE, is that you cna't write commercial (non open-source) apps for it, without paying Troll Tech. now, we free software hackers don't care much about this, but companies do. that's why you won't see Sun or IBM telling its ISVs that they should code for KDE, which is probably one of the big reasons why GNOME was picked over KDE for the onslaught of big-corp support. The only way Troll Tech could fix this would be LGPLing (not GPLing) Qt, but that would be quite squarely against their interests, so they won't do it.
Yes, and steep cost of commercial Qt would prevent IBM or Sun from developing software. Give me a break, will you?
I would make a guess: it the commercialy supported Gnome takes off, it would be easier for big corporations to gain control over small commercial company like HelixCode then over a bunch of freelancers from Europe.
That much for the conspiracy theory...
Slashdot Mirror
These weren't real bucks. I am from Canada ;-).
-m-
I don't know about the duckie, but the 'switch-off' button, the comparison points at... ... Yes! every remote I own has such a button.
Well, let me do a quick check, and
-m-
Not that you are not right, but...
I bougth a couple of months ago a harddrive, 10 GB for $139. Now guys at this same joint sell a 20 GB for that much.
So maybe it really doesn't matter. At least not to the new buyers.
-m-
I fail to see, how the interface is "Mac OS-ish". Has the use of silly pastel colors been copyrighted by Apple?
-m-
Well, to make a roasted turkey look nice on a picture you take one (dead) turkey (feathers, don't forget about getting rid of feathers), roast it just a bit, than brush it with some magic gel and then use a blowtorch on it.
Then it *really* looks roasted.
-m-
I am really surprised, there is a still a person around that actually believes, an advertisement can carry any truth. From working in this business I remember no case of actually photographing actual product with no 'beautification' added.
You know, torches used on turkeys, any beer would do as the beer you are really pushing etc.
I see no reason whatsoever for software or hardware to be different.
-m-
You have never been there, have you?
-m-
There is no _state_ income tax in Toronto.
-
The article, you have mentioned was about Czech Republic I believe. Knowing a bit about the country I would rather assume, it is something from 'oddly enough' column, rather then a rule.
Besides, denying another human being the absolute best in medical technology is not considered inhuman. It is the very essence of what makes the big pharma so profitable.
-m-
What makes you think that coming to the USA with H1B in one's pocket may get a person exposed to "Advanced Techniques"?
-m-
Well, Americans really believe this. On the otehr hand, when one watches all this US war movies, there is no choice.
My Russian friends here tell me, that in their view major difference between Soviet and US propaganda is that Americans believe in it.
-m-
I don't mind open source. Actually, I like it. After all, I am writing this note using AbiWord on Linux. Both are free software. Besides, I am a programmer, not a suit. A good programmer. A very good one. I love to see my peers marveling over my ingenuity, over the clever algorithms I have conceived. Yes, my friend, unlike you, I am expected to create new solutions to problems, you have never heard about.
So, the free software is something, I love. We love. YOU should love. An expression of the free spirit that breaks all boundaries and makes walls crumble. It is great. But - on the other hand - if it is so great, how it can suck so bad. Seven hours ago I was trying hard to write a letter to a friend of mine. In his (and mine, for that matter) native Polish. You know, small country, Central Europe etc. However, the editor kept underlining everything in red, as a spelling mistake. I kept telling the stupid jerk, it was another language, no need to check it, I knew my spelling. No way. I didn?t find the switch. I couldn't switch it off. Mind you, I am not the cleverest person on this planet (my wife is); however, I was able to switch of this sodding paper clip at first shot.
But, the power of free software... So I went to Star Office. The freakin? thing was starting twice as long as MS Word does. Behold - StarOffice, the ultimate bloatware.
Alas, I managed to write the note without being offended by a program suggesting, it knows my mother tongue (that software authors never heard about) better than I do. So. you would say, total success of the free software.
Well, not exactly. You need to know, what the letter I wrote to my friend was all about. It was about a clever idea we had. An idea for software - a very specialized piece, that no one did before. I do not expect it to equal Linux (or Windows), but it will have its applications. A bit of elusive math is involved, so I don't expect legions of copycats - I could even quite safely publish a paper about the method. So, I am safe - unless of course I publish the method and the source. So, what I am supposed to do? Tell me. Opt for ?advancement of the humanity? and give my work away - or maybe patent the method and keep the source closed?
I choose the latter. My wife likes this antique russian jewelry too much. And besides, we were struggling long enough. Above all, I do not consider myself a salaryman; and as an entrepreneur I don?t want to be a taxi driver. Brewery owner - mniah, I love the taste.
Therefore, I am telling you, Bill will win. Bill will win just because he is right and his vision is accurate (and don't you dare talk bad about his Asperger's syndrome). Open Source (at least in American edition - KDE is certainly better in this department) doesn't pay attention to details (like 40 million people using Polish instead of English - what a bunch of whackos, eh?). Bill's guys do. The model he represents suits most people better. I prefer to sustain my family from my skills (theory, I have constructed and software I have written) rather than explaining this stuff to people, who won't understand it anyway (service). Had I wanted to be a teatcher, I would have stay with the academia.
Besides, good software needs no service, at list at the level I am aiming at. So, either I shall be crappy or hungry. Nice choice.
Umh, good Champaigne (even of Canadian origin) makes people write this kind of things. So, from my personal point of view and considering all ramifications, open:
1. Open source / free software (I know the difference) sometimes is an option, but usually it is not.
2. Bill Gates is not Satan. He is just a successful entrepreneur who happen to be on the other side of the fence.
3. Nicholas Petrleley sucks (not very much, just a bit, so peace be with him).
4. Happy new year.
-m-
These countries never ever were part of the USSR. You are confused. Maybe you ment Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus?
Check your source, Luke.
For the record: Modula-2 was not conceived as 'teaching language'. That was Pascal. AFAIK Wirth intended Modula-2 to be something of industrial strength for the guys taught on Pascal.
And boy, it was good. I wrote some pretty decent software with Modula-2 (using GEM). There is nothing you could do in C that you couldn't do in Modula-2. Amen.
And besides, if you took 'a quickie little 2-year college program instead of a full CS degree' then you are a guy after 'a quickie little 2-year college program'. You have my pity.
-m-
No, you got it quite wrong. The rule of the thumb is that if a free service is rendered to you (mean business) you are supposed to figure out its value and pay the tax accordingly.
If you state no value or decline to provide relevant data, the tax board will do you this service and establish the value using their own methods.
This is a method for busting certain tax evasions schema (I can provide examples, if you want me to). They just overdid it. But this has nothing to do with evil goverment supporting even more evil corporations or forcing price-collusion.
BTW. At this very moment http://www.gazetaprawna.infor.pl/ (Polish 'Law Yournal', only for those reading in Polish and not afraid of legalese) holds short note debunking the issue.
The points are:
1. You should pay tax on free (beer) programs (as I stated above - this is the general rule)
2. The tax man got it quite wrong and base value was established in wrong way.
3. You can avoid paying taxes on free software if you take certain measures (the suggest, what to do).
Disclaimer: I don't live in Poland anymore, but I used to. By owning a business there I got quite familiar with local tax system. It sucked, but mostly because taxes suck in general.
-m-
Actually, speaking from my personal experience (about five years ago), I can tell, that what you stated above is highly unfair. The law regarding non-profit organisations (at the time, I am referring to) used to be quite well conceived and rather lax. The latter made the whole system prone to abuse by unscrupulous criminals. But - at the same time - non-profit organisations did enjoy reasonable privileges and were rather advantaged.
Anyway, they organisation I had been dealing with could do its job - and this is what it was all about.
I think, you are just bitching too much.
Regards,
-m-
To compete effectively, you need both...
-m-
I had exactly the same problem with Win98 hanging on shutdown. Some two months later HDD went down and newer awakened again.
After puting a new HDD in (with exactly the same dual-boot config on it) the problem disappear. So, it may be a hardware problem after all.
Regards,
M.
You follow common myths:
1. VB programmers are idiots, who write shitty code, whilst worthwile projects are written in C/C++.
2. There is something bad in 9-5
3. Frontend is of lesser importance.
I argue that:
1. Language used is not of the essence.
2. I do mind having to work on improving shitty code written by someone on 9-5 basis. However, I would rather have this that to get stuck on shitty code written by a hard working guy on "70 hours week" basis. There is nothing worse then idiots with initiative.
3. Front-end is something of utmost importance as it decides how a user perceives the program. Neglecting UI is neglecting the user. Programs are for primarily for users.
By the way: 'worthwile enterprise solution in C/C++' - nowadays approaching 'enterprise solutions' with C/C++ should be considered industrial sabotage.
-M-
Everyone is guilty. Except the thief. The poor guy just had to do it, hadn't he. Can we from now on describe crime as 'crime' regardles who is the victim.
Please...
-M-
And for the people needing some good laughter: The Futurolgical Congress. Worth reading, even though the ending is not that good, as it could be.
M.
Yes, Lem is still alive. He Currently lives in Cracow, Poland. I don't thing, he is writing anything of SF right now, though.
s _intro.html
As about Solaris, there was a rumor some time ago that some guys in Hollywood figured out, a remake of the movie would be due.
You can read about this here:
http://www.k26.com/solaris/SOLARIS_INTRO/solari
M.
I fail to see any good reason to move from Canada to the US. There is really not so much of a difference. And local beer is much better.
-motek-
I do. I even wrote some software for this thingee. In Modula-2. Anyone remeber that?
-M-
Yes, and steep cost of commercial Qt would prevent IBM or Sun from developing software. Give me a break, will you?
I would make a guess: it the commercialy supported Gnome takes off, it would be easier for big corporations to gain control over small commercial company like HelixCode then over a bunch of freelancers from Europe.
That much for the conspiracy theory...
-M-