I have been running 10% ethanol in my truck since it was new. I have 55k miles on my plugs and no adverse performance. With ethanol I get slightly lower mileage per tank, but I have no water in my tank either. I also haven't had any problems with injectors or overheating. Not even on days like today when it's 103 and idling with the AC on.
Ethanol is also used in some summer blends of gasoline. Cities that have air quality problems are requiring it. It the past it was the same price as regular unleaded, with an 89 octane. Now, with the push for ethanol, high gas prices, and EPA requirements for cleaner fuel blends, ethanol prices are way up and I pay 4 cents a gallon more than regular.
It really goes a bit further than that, in a sci fi enviroment the empasis is on star ships interacting rather than individuals interacting (so strategy rather than role playing).
From my bookshelf I could find a number of Sci-Fi/Space Fantasy stories that would have the depth for a MMORPG. And in most, space itself would not be a requirement. It's about story line, not looking at the stars. I mentioned Ringworld in another post. Earth and Beyond had the space, but not the story (content). It would have been a whole lot better if getting out of your ship on various worlds was more than just run in, talk to NPC, and get a new quest. It could have linked into worlds of any type or allowable tech.
BTW, precentage wise, few players in MMORPGs do any roleplaying.
It's understandable that you gave up on EVE. Unlike most massives the content is heavily loaded towards the more advanced characters. I've never played WoW but I've heard from many people how it's lots of fun until they hit 50 and then it sucks.
I think I'd rather have a game overloaded with low end content than high end content. You can alway create a new character if you get bored. Short of eBay, it's kind of hard to start at level 50. FWIW, I've been playing WoW since the stress test and my highest level character is 42. But I think I explore more than most. I've been to most of the regions in WoW and have worked with every profession. I haven't quite tried all the classes yet (no shaman or priest), and have one or two more Horde races to try.
OTOH, Eve bored me. I never got past all the mining and I'm not a PVP player.
Not all sci-fi has to be done on different planets. There are plenty of great stories or ideas that don't even involve faster than light travel that would be fantastically interesting to explore.
I've always wanted to see one base on Larry Niven's Ringworld. There is room for all different levels of tech. FTL can safely be ignored. There are plenty of races to choose from (native or ball world). And a good back story to jumpstart the lore.
That really wouldn't work, alerts would need to be regional. EBS can be triggered by county. What you can expect is some type of broadcast message sent to specific cell towers. Makes you wonder how they're going to support any kind of opt-out, doesn't it? Of course, with the GPS chips that are required to be in your phone now (to 'support 911'), I suppose they could keep track of where all their subscribers are and send individual messages.
I wonder if this means we'll be getting monthly test message to verify the system is working like they do with the sirens?
Some require a UPC, some accept a photocopy of the UPC. Particularly when there are multiple rebates on an item. I've seen items have 4 separate rebates on a single sale.
Some want the original sales receipt (although this is rare now). If you order online, many aren't clear whether they accept the confirmation from the website, the one you receive in e-mail, or the packing slip that comes with the product.
I have seen rebates with very short periods for mailing the rebate. One online retailer (that I no longer do business with) has a 14 calendar day period on filing the rebate, and then takes 10 days to get the product to you. It's arrogant to expect a customer to immediately take care of rebate paperwork based on their delivery schedule, and then turn around and give themselves 8-12 weeks to process the rebate. Particularly when they are quite often late sending your check.
Any failure by the customer, retailer, or rebate processing center penalizes the customer.
Re:freedb2.org compatibility
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Freedb.org Ending
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· Score: 3, Informative
You can also pull the July 1 2006 version directly from freedb. Along with the source for the current release of the server, a link to sourceforge for the unstable code, and some sample clients in various languages. I'm pulling a copy from one of the mirrors right now, and I'm sure others are doing the same.
So what you are saying is that it's Ok to treat all of your customers like thieves because that's the simplest way to deal with the problem? I didn't say a thing about changing hardware, running it on more than one computer, or whether it was licensed for the PC or the person. I said quite clearly, I purchased a laptop PRE-INSTALLED with XP from a certified Microsoft OEM, Toshiba. There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for it to re-evaluate the validity of my license because NOTHING HAS CHANGED since that laptop was manufactured. To even be close to a valid approach, it should authenticate when a significant change has been made. Not every time the machine boots.
Microsoft's WGA would be just as effective if they checked only at install time. And in reality, any non-casual piracy is going to done using corporate versions that can't be validated through WGA.
The only thing the current process does is allow them to gather information on their customers PC without their knowledge or consent. And the content of this data collection can change at the whim of MS. Personally, I'd like to see some Attorneys General use this as an excuse to go after post sale EULA changes. One thing I distinctly remember from my business law course many years ago, is that for a contract to be valid it requires consideration for both parties. I don't see how implying consent by continuing to honor a pre-existing contract is consideration for the purchaser.
Only one thing about it annoys me. XP came pre-installed on my Toshiba laptop. It has the hologram sticker on the bottom to show that it's genuine. I acted in good faith when I purchased XP with my laptop, and I don't feel I need to keep reminding them that I have acted appropriately. There is absolutely no reason why it should ever have to check more than once if it is properly licensed. The only plausible reason they would want to do so is so that at some point they can revoke the license that I purchased.
Sadly, there was an apt analogy in the GPs message, and it wasn't about whether the door was locked.
Actually, in my neighborhood, they sent around an officer to advise people on how to save money on their insurance, pointing out stuff like window security, deadbolt strength, just general stuff. Things you wouldn't necessarily think of.
In other words, if you've got an open WAP and there isn't any evidence on your systems you have little to fear and a lesson learned, freedom comes at a price;
Little to fear, unless you need all of your electronic equipment for the next few months. The people who check the equipment will not be the ones that knock on your door. They will bring big boxes and take everything that looks like it might be a computer, and they have no motivation for releasing your hardware quickly.
Having said that, as far as the article is concerned, I don't see a problem if the proper controls are in place. The notice should be nicely worded, so that people who intentionally leave their wireless open are not harassed. And you should only get one notice. It should be a public service not any attempt at policy enforcement. And it should not put a burden on their regular duties.
I live in a small town and our police department still patrols. Unlike larger cities where they run from call to call their entire shift. Kind of nice to be working in the yard on weekends and see them wave as the drive by. I'm more concerned with my ISP penalizing me for an open WAP than the police.
Is anyone else concerned that the problem is becoming common enough that the standard response is now (except in this case) a year of credit monitoring? In fact, I have to wonder if having credit monitoring alone isn't going to end up hurting people. What happens when some wiz at the reporting agency decides monitored accounts are higher risk and adjusts your FICO accordingly? They already downgrade your score for having too many inquiries.
I've got TW RoadRunner too. I used to pay $44.95, then Unite started competing with them and they offered me $29 if I upgraded to digital cable. I went from $85 a month for RR and basic cable to $70 for RR and digital cable with HBO. At the same time, my cable has gone from 2m when I signed up 6-8 years ago to something over 5m. (not sure, I rarely hit the DL cap, I don't P2P and only grab ISOs when I need them) I'm surprised you didn't get a competitive offer from TW/RR.
I do wish they would increase the UL cap though. It would make it faster copying things to my hosted site.
This only works if you get a really good job early in life. If you've had to work up to a good job, build experience, or work your way through college, then start early may not be a choice you can make. Getting an early start is a great idea, if you can afford it.
Typical retirement advice is to set aside 10% of your income throughout your entire career... If you were willing to bust your hump for 5 years and set aside 5 times as much as you normally would...
Are you really suggesting it's feasible to set aside 50% of your income for retirement? Then again, some people like eating Ramen noodles and living like a poor college student. But also, keep in mind that there are limits on what you can put into a retirement plan. 20% of your salary or $15k for 2006 for a 401k. Of course you can save in a non-retirement account, you just won't get the tax benefits and get to pay income tax on the earnings too. But most people would be better off just being smarter about how they manage their debt.
Possibly you could afford to retire, but one thing many people don't take into consideration when they say this is the cost of health insurance. When you're approaching 60 and you are no longer part of an employer's group policy, you could be looking at an $800 per month premium. Go without? You're now in the stage of your life when you will be most likely to need it. Even once you reach 'retirement age', you can expect nearly $100 a month for MediGap coverage. It would be a shame to save all that money only to get sick and pay it out to doctors.
Who knows, maybe that's why US medical costs are so high. It keeps the workers in their jobs as long as possible because they can't afford to go without health care/perscription coverage on their own. I know it has complicated (hasn't quite killed them) my plans to start my own business.
You should have called your Sales Rep and told them you were returning 50 laptops. With a purchase like that, if you aren't getting acceptable support, you aren't sufficiently torturing your Rep. The support guys will happily give you all kinds of 'solutions' to solve a problem. We once had one ship us a new motherboard for a PC that didn't work right out of the box. But your sales representative sees that you've just spent $50k with them, and would like to see you do it again in the near future.
(or if it is PoE and the Ethernet is still usable it would be the same)
I'm confused by this statement. PoE (Power over Ethernet) is power over the same cable that provides your ethernet connection. In most cases you are only using 4 (out of 8) wires in your ethernet cable. PoE takes the other 4 and provides power and ground for the device. I believe the standard is 48 volts. I have some pre-standard custom ones that have 12v injectors.
Like you, I'd be more comfortable with this device if it ran an OS operating system. I've got a couple Linux based thin clients already. And it would be real nice to scatter these throughout a new house.
It's funny, the MP3 player capability is the only new feature in the last 10 years that I have had any interest in. I don't want (don't have) a camera. Don't need internet access. Don't want games, or AOL IM. Don't need bluetooth, if it comes with a cable to load the MP3s, whatever is cheapest. The ability to connect my laptop to the internet seems useful, except being practical I have to admit that my laptop hasn't left the coffee table in 6 months.
And a feature I used to have with my old Sprint Qualcomm phone would be nice to have again... None of the Nokia or Samsung phones that I've had with Cingular or TMobile set their clock from the network. Which wouldn't be so bad if someone could figure out how to make a phone (or computer) that kept correct time these days.
There are A LOT of other companies that have the same set-ups for their VAR's. This is not an uncommon practice. You can get a Linux box from Dell, I think thats the biggest End User to PC maker out there.
How many of those other companies have been classified as monopolists?
Go to Dell.com, type Linux in the search box (which is more than most buyers would do), and you will get 31 pages of results with 3 precision workstations (Business systems, not Home), a hand full of servers, and hundreds of component products. Dell offers token systems to customers that require Linux. As a consumer, I'm going to be looking for a system that falls within a specific price range or set of requirements (IE 2.8 P4, 512m RAM, 80g HD). Try shopping that way and finding a system with an option for Linux.
Actually, barrier to entry into the OS market is now as easy as getting a version of Linux and then making your own distro, one guy could do it.
Linux has billions of dollars invested in it. It is simply spread across thousands of stakeholders. You can not simply take a copy of Linux, roll it into a distro and call yourself a competitor to Windows. You don't have control over the IP in Linux and until you invest big $$$ you can't influence it's future path. If you can't control your product, you can't be a competitor. Linux as a whole can be, but then you're back to billions invested to compete. And if you can't compete, you are not a competitor in the market. RedHat (RHAT) has a market cap of $4.87b. RedHat competes in the smaller server market, but not in the desktop market.
As far as competing in the search engine market, advertising tends to be grass roots. Google does pay Mozilla, but that wasn't until after they became a dominant player, and I suspect the amount they pay Mozilla is insignificant. But what really counts is Google doesn't have a means to hamper competitors. Microsoft continues to damage competition even after losing their anti-trust cases. That is why the oversight period is being extended in the US and why they are being fined by the EU.
How many households had web access when Alta Vista was the king? Out of those households, how many had a broadband connection?
You're trying to build a strawman. It doesn't matter how many customers there are in the market, and broadband is not and never has been a requirement for USING a search engine.
You don't seem to understand, for a dominate player to be an anti competitive monopolist, they 1st have to be a monopoly (and we'll just have to disagree that Google is capable of becoming a monopoly), and 2nd they have to do something that leverages their monopoly to the detriment of a competitor. Changing a search engine is as simple as typing a different URL. I use Google for searches, yet I'm not hampered in any way when I use my Yahoo home page for news. I use both Yahoo and Google IM. I use Yahoo and Google email, and there my only limitation is I can't do POP with Yahoo, and that is Yahoo's limitation because it's not a free service.
I fail to see how adding services to their portal (in many cases just catching up to the competition) is Google leveraging their market position to lock you into other services.
Let me show you a real life instance of using a monopoly to leverage another market. (assuming you'll agree that MS is a monopoly) On my W2K desktop on the start menu is a Search option. If I click on that and tell it to search the internet it will open IE (despite Firefox being my default browser) and go to MSN search. Is there a way to change that? Possibly. But I've already set my default browser and it ignored that. If there is a way to change it, it's not readily apparent to the average user. Giving IE and MSN a much favorable position as a result of the user having Windows. Now lets apply it to Google, can Google do anything, other than putting links on their web site, to discourage me from using their competition's products?
Finally, someone who gets it. At this point, they may not be considered a Monopoly, but they are well on their way.
You also have to consider barriers to enter the market too. What MS did was lock in computer OEMs so that they couldn't load another OS without risking their license to load Windows. Not something they were likely to do. And the fact remains, you have to have OEMs load your OS to complete with Windows. To compete in the OS market you need to invest billions of dollars.
What are the barriers to entry in the search market? You need to write a search engine. Can Google limit search engine knowledge? You need computers. $100k? $200k? Sun, IBM, Compaq. Can Google limit the sale of servers? Internet access. Can Google limit who gets high bandwidth Internet access? Finally, the consumer. What do Google customers have that creates a barrier to using a different search site? I remember when Altavista was THE search engine. Or Yahoo.
Google could lose their dominance if Microsoft's search is imbedded into the next version of Windows. Google could lose if someone does Internet searching better. What Google is doing is called diversifying.
There is always going to be some type of leveling. Your level is just a numeric representation of the accomplishments your character has achieved. It represents your skills, talents, and accumulated equipment. And players want to compare their characters. It's much easier to say I have a level xx Warrior than it is to say I have a Warrior with xxx sword skill, xxx blacksmithing, and all my armor is purple....
If you take away leveling, every character is brand new every time you log in. That would mean a less persistant world, and I think most players would like a more persistant one. Developers don't like that, it's harder to code for and harder to test. Right now you can take 100 different WoW servers, and the only difference between them is the players.
Ok, I'll waste those mod points I used... Problems 1 and 2, the item itself doesn't care if it's been sold, the store's security system does. The register marks item 245435 as sold in inventory, and the security system queries the inventory. If the database says sold, no need to sound an alarm. If the item is returned, it's added back to the store's inventory. All you have to do is verify that the tag can't be destroyed or removed, and that the security system is capable of scanning any tag leaving the store. They already have experience with that kind of thing.
Simply because I hand out free pepperoni pizza to people on the street today does not obligate me to do it tomorrow.
Horrible Slashdot analogy. If you hand out pizza, you absolutely are responsible if it is defective in a way that makes anyone sick. That is a legal responsibility, we're talking about a social responsibility.
Let me give you an example, since we have a common BBS background. Once upon a time I had my BBS online, tied into Fidonet and had a number of users. I payed all the bills, never took a dime from a user, and provided echomail and local message boards. I wasn't required to, but I took it on as a resposibilty that I would provide a reliable system and I wouldn't take away those services without giving my users sufficient notice to get them somewhere else. They couldn't require me to continue to provide them. But the fact that I made the choice made it no less of a responsibility.
Now apply this to an OS project. I've put the code on Sourceforge, set up the CVS, support forums, and I'm accepting bug reports. I might even have forward looking statements about what I want the project to become. Am I required to fix bugs and provide support and updates? No. But based on my statements I now have some of those dreaded users that are providing peer support, writing how-tos, and encouraging others to use my software. There is still no legal responsiblity for me to write another line of code, although morally I might have a responsiblity to fix problems or delegate them to someone else. You can't force people to act morally, but you can't have a community if they don't.
I see, and if "it was fixed in CVS two weeks ago" is not civil enough for you then you have a warped sense of reality.
This is completely dependent on context. "Have a nice day" can be either thoughtful or incredibly sarcastic, all depending on the tone of voice. If you mean "fixed in CVS" as "we found the problem, fixed it, and are working towards getting it to it's public form", then it's great. But if you're in the habit of making releases in binary form or a package, and you mean it like "I've fixed the bug, now leave me alone", then no, it's not particularly civil.
And that's what the article is about. Everyone wants to push OSS onto business servers. But I'll never have a toolchain on a production server. And with the push for Desktop Linux, a whole lot of people who depend on binaries will be left out in the cold with simply a 'fixed in CVS' response. They aren't being ungrateful when they start a discussion about what they feel is lacking, they are just putting forth a different perspective. And I don't think it's particularly helpful to the OSS community when people are labeled as ungrateful leaches simply because they haven't provided code to a particular OS project.
We see some of those people on stories like this, shouting at the top of their lungs trying to change the nature of the community, but it is of course impossible, and serves little but to generate more heat than light.
I don't see this article as someone shouting from the 'top of their lungs', more like constructive criticism. It simply says that for the majority of people now using Linux, saying "it's fixed in CVS" doesn't mean it's fixed for users. Open Source projects are maturing, and as a result it may no longer be enough to commit a fix to CVS. Someone needs to follow through and build/package a release.
When RMS wrote his essay The Luxury of Ignorance, nobody called him a leach or suggested he fix the problem himself. If his article had been written by just an average user, would they have been considered an ungrateful leach?
Slashdot Mirror
I have been running 10% ethanol in my truck since it was new. I have 55k miles on my plugs and no adverse performance. With ethanol I get slightly lower mileage per tank, but I have no water in my tank either. I also haven't had any problems with injectors or overheating. Not even on days like today when it's 103 and idling with the AC on.
Ethanol is also used in some summer blends of gasoline. Cities that have air quality problems are requiring it. It the past it was the same price as regular unleaded, with an 89 octane. Now, with the push for ethanol, high gas prices, and EPA requirements for cleaner fuel blends, ethanol prices are way up and I pay 4 cents a gallon more than regular.
From my bookshelf I could find a number of Sci-Fi/Space Fantasy stories that would have the depth for a MMORPG. And in most, space itself would not be a requirement. It's about story line, not looking at the stars. I mentioned Ringworld in another post. Earth and Beyond had the space, but not the story (content). It would have been a whole lot better if getting out of your ship on various worlds was more than just run in, talk to NPC, and get a new quest. It could have linked into worlds of any type or allowable tech.
BTW, precentage wise, few players in MMORPGs do any roleplaying.
I think I'd rather have a game overloaded with low end content than high end content. You can alway create a new character if you get bored. Short of eBay, it's kind of hard to start at level 50. FWIW, I've been playing WoW since the stress test and my highest level character is 42. But I think I explore more than most. I've been to most of the regions in WoW and have worked with every profession. I haven't quite tried all the classes yet (no shaman or priest), and have one or two more Horde races to try.
OTOH, Eve bored me. I never got past all the mining and I'm not a PVP player.
I've always wanted to see one base on Larry Niven's Ringworld. There is room for all different levels of tech. FTL can safely be ignored. There are plenty of races to choose from (native or ball world). And a good back story to jumpstart the lore.
That really wouldn't work, alerts would need to be regional. EBS can be triggered by county. What you can expect is some type of broadcast message sent to specific cell towers. Makes you wonder how they're going to support any kind of opt-out, doesn't it? Of course, with the GPS chips that are required to be in your phone now (to 'support 911'), I suppose they could keep track of where all their subscribers are and send individual messages.
I wonder if this means we'll be getting monthly test message to verify the system is working like they do with the sirens?
Some require a UPC, some accept a photocopy of the UPC. Particularly when there are multiple rebates on an item. I've seen items have 4 separate rebates on a single sale.
Some want the original sales receipt (although this is rare now). If you order online, many aren't clear whether they accept the confirmation from the website, the one you receive in e-mail, or the packing slip that comes with the product.
I have seen rebates with very short periods for mailing the rebate. One online retailer (that I no longer do business with) has a 14 calendar day period on filing the rebate, and then takes 10 days to get the product to you. It's arrogant to expect a customer to immediately take care of rebate paperwork based on their delivery schedule, and then turn around and give themselves 8-12 weeks to process the rebate. Particularly when they are quite often late sending your check.
Any failure by the customer, retailer, or rebate processing center penalizes the customer.
You can also pull the July 1 2006 version directly from freedb. Along with the source for the current release of the server, a link to sourceforge for the unstable code, and some sample clients in various languages. I'm pulling a copy from one of the mirrors right now, and I'm sure others are doing the same.
So what you are saying is that it's Ok to treat all of your customers like thieves because that's the simplest way to deal with the problem? I didn't say a thing about changing hardware, running it on more than one computer, or whether it was licensed for the PC or the person. I said quite clearly, I purchased a laptop PRE-INSTALLED with XP from a certified Microsoft OEM, Toshiba. There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for it to re-evaluate the validity of my license because NOTHING HAS CHANGED since that laptop was manufactured. To even be close to a valid approach, it should authenticate when a significant change has been made. Not every time the machine boots.
Microsoft's WGA would be just as effective if they checked only at install time. And in reality, any non-casual piracy is going to done using corporate versions that can't be validated through WGA.
The only thing the current process does is allow them to gather information on their customers PC without their knowledge or consent. And the content of this data collection can change at the whim of MS. Personally, I'd like to see some Attorneys General use this as an excuse to go after post sale EULA changes. One thing I distinctly remember from my business law course many years ago, is that for a contract to be valid it requires consideration for both parties. I don't see how implying consent by continuing to honor a pre-existing contract is consideration for the purchaser.
Only one thing about it annoys me. XP came pre-installed on my Toshiba laptop. It has the hologram sticker on the bottom to show that it's genuine. I acted in good faith when I purchased XP with my laptop, and I don't feel I need to keep reminding them that I have acted appropriately. There is absolutely no reason why it should ever have to check more than once if it is properly licensed. The only plausible reason they would want to do so is so that at some point they can revoke the license that I purchased.
Little to fear, unless you need all of your electronic equipment for the next few months. The people who check the equipment will not be the ones that knock on your door. They will bring big boxes and take everything that looks like it might be a computer, and they have no motivation for releasing your hardware quickly.
Having said that, as far as the article is concerned, I don't see a problem if the proper controls are in place. The notice should be nicely worded, so that people who intentionally leave their wireless open are not harassed. And you should only get one notice. It should be a public service not any attempt at policy enforcement. And it should not put a burden on their regular duties.
I live in a small town and our police department still patrols. Unlike larger cities where they run from call to call their entire shift. Kind of nice to be working in the yard on weekends and see them wave as the drive by. I'm more concerned with my ISP penalizing me for an open WAP than the police.
the new Chief Justice what's-his-name
Now this is the way to authoritatively pound your point home.
Is anyone else concerned that the problem is becoming common enough that the standard response is now (except in this case) a year of credit monitoring? In fact, I have to wonder if having credit monitoring alone isn't going to end up hurting people. What happens when some wiz at the reporting agency decides monitored accounts are higher risk and adjusts your FICO accordingly? They already downgrade your score for having too many inquiries.
I've got TW RoadRunner too. I used to pay $44.95, then Unite started competing with them and they offered me $29 if I upgraded to digital cable. I went from $85 a month for RR and basic cable to $70 for RR and digital cable with HBO. At the same time, my cable has gone from 2m when I signed up 6-8 years ago to something over 5m. (not sure, I rarely hit the DL cap, I don't P2P and only grab ISOs when I need them) I'm surprised you didn't get a competitive offer from TW/RR.
I do wish they would increase the UL cap though. It would make it faster copying things to my hosted site.
This only works if you get a really good job early in life. If you've had to work up to a good job, build experience, or work your way through college, then start early may not be a choice you can make. Getting an early start is a great idea, if you can afford it.
Typical retirement advice is to set aside 10% of your income throughout your entire career... If you were willing to bust your hump for 5 years and set aside 5 times as much as you normally would...
Are you really suggesting it's feasible to set aside 50% of your income for retirement? Then again, some people like eating Ramen noodles and living like a poor college student. But also, keep in mind that there are limits on what you can put into a retirement plan. 20% of your salary or $15k for 2006 for a 401k. Of course you can save in a non-retirement account, you just won't get the tax benefits and get to pay income tax on the earnings too. But most people would be better off just being smarter about how they manage their debt.
Possibly you could afford to retire, but one thing many people don't take into consideration when they say this is the cost of health insurance. When you're approaching 60 and you are no longer part of an employer's group policy, you could be looking at an $800 per month premium. Go without? You're now in the stage of your life when you will be most likely to need it. Even once you reach 'retirement age', you can expect nearly $100 a month for MediGap coverage. It would be a shame to save all that money only to get sick and pay it out to doctors.
Who knows, maybe that's why US medical costs are so high. It keeps the workers in their jobs as long as possible because they can't afford to go without health care/perscription coverage on their own. I know it has complicated (hasn't quite killed them) my plans to start my own business.
You should have called your Sales Rep and told them you were returning 50 laptops. With a purchase like that, if you aren't getting acceptable support, you aren't sufficiently torturing your Rep. The support guys will happily give you all kinds of 'solutions' to solve a problem. We once had one ship us a new motherboard for a PC that didn't work right out of the box. But your sales representative sees that you've just spent $50k with them, and would like to see you do it again in the near future.
(or if it is PoE and the Ethernet is still usable it would be the same)
I'm confused by this statement. PoE (Power over Ethernet) is power over the same cable that provides your ethernet connection. In most cases you are only using 4 (out of 8) wires in your ethernet cable. PoE takes the other 4 and provides power and ground for the device. I believe the standard is 48 volts. I have some pre-standard custom ones that have 12v injectors.
Like you, I'd be more comfortable with this device if it ran an OS operating system. I've got a couple Linux based thin clients already. And it would be real nice to scatter these throughout a new house.
It's funny, the MP3 player capability is the only new feature in the last 10 years that I have had any interest in. I don't want (don't have) a camera. Don't need internet access. Don't want games, or AOL IM. Don't need bluetooth, if it comes with a cable to load the MP3s, whatever is cheapest. The ability to connect my laptop to the internet seems useful, except being practical I have to admit that my laptop hasn't left the coffee table in 6 months.
And a feature I used to have with my old Sprint Qualcomm phone would be nice to have again... None of the Nokia or Samsung phones that I've had with Cingular or TMobile set their clock from the network. Which wouldn't be so bad if someone could figure out how to make a phone (or computer) that kept correct time these days.
There are A LOT of other companies that have the same set-ups for their VAR's. This is not an uncommon practice. You can get a Linux box from Dell, I think thats the biggest End User to PC maker out there.
How many of those other companies have been classified as monopolists?
Go to Dell.com, type Linux in the search box (which is more than most buyers would do), and you will get 31 pages of results with 3 precision workstations (Business systems, not Home), a hand full of servers, and hundreds of component products. Dell offers token systems to customers that require Linux. As a consumer, I'm going to be looking for a system that falls within a specific price range or set of requirements (IE 2.8 P4, 512m RAM, 80g HD). Try shopping that way and finding a system with an option for Linux.
Actually, barrier to entry into the OS market is now as easy as getting a version of Linux and then making your own distro, one guy could do it.
Linux has billions of dollars invested in it. It is simply spread across thousands of stakeholders. You can not simply take a copy of Linux, roll it into a distro and call yourself a competitor to Windows. You don't have control over the IP in Linux and until you invest big $$$ you can't influence it's future path. If you can't control your product, you can't be a competitor. Linux as a whole can be, but then you're back to billions invested to compete. And if you can't compete, you are not a competitor in the market. RedHat (RHAT) has a market cap of $4.87b. RedHat competes in the smaller server market, but not in the desktop market.
As far as competing in the search engine market, advertising tends to be grass roots. Google does pay Mozilla, but that wasn't until after they became a dominant player, and I suspect the amount they pay Mozilla is insignificant. But what really counts is Google doesn't have a means to hamper competitors. Microsoft continues to damage competition even after losing their anti-trust cases. That is why the oversight period is being extended in the US and why they are being fined by the EU.
How many households had web access when Alta Vista was the king? Out of those households, how many had a broadband connection?
You're trying to build a strawman. It doesn't matter how many customers there are in the market, and broadband is not and never has been a requirement for USING a search engine.
You don't seem to understand, for a dominate player to be an anti competitive monopolist, they 1st have to be a monopoly (and we'll just have to disagree that Google is capable of becoming a monopoly), and 2nd they have to do something that leverages their monopoly to the detriment of a competitor. Changing a search engine is as simple as typing a different URL. I use Google for searches, yet I'm not hampered in any way when I use my Yahoo home page for news. I use both Yahoo and Google IM. I use Yahoo and Google email, and there my only limitation is I can't do POP with Yahoo, and that is Yahoo's limitation because it's not a free service.
I fail to see how adding services to their portal (in many cases just catching up to the competition) is Google leveraging their market position to lock you into other services.
Let me show you a real life instance of using a monopoly to leverage another market. (assuming you'll agree that MS is a monopoly) On my W2K desktop on the start menu is a Search option. If I click on that and tell it to search the internet it will open IE (despite Firefox being my default browser) and go to MSN search. Is there a way to change that? Possibly. But I've already set my default browser and it ignored that. If there is a way to change it, it's not readily apparent to the average user. Giving IE and MSN a much favorable position as a result of the user having Windows. Now lets apply it to Google, can Google do anything, other than putting links on their web site, to discourage me from using their competition's products?
Finally, someone who gets it. At this point, they may not be considered a Monopoly, but they are well on their way.
You also have to consider barriers to enter the market too. What MS did was lock in computer OEMs so that they couldn't load another OS without risking their license to load Windows. Not something they were likely to do. And the fact remains, you have to have OEMs load your OS to complete with Windows. To compete in the OS market you need to invest billions of dollars.
What are the barriers to entry in the search market? You need to write a search engine. Can Google limit search engine knowledge? You need computers. $100k? $200k? Sun, IBM, Compaq. Can Google limit the sale of servers? Internet access. Can Google limit who gets high bandwidth Internet access? Finally, the consumer. What do Google customers have that creates a barrier to using a different search site? I remember when Altavista was THE search engine. Or Yahoo.
Google could lose their dominance if Microsoft's search is imbedded into the next version of Windows. Google could lose if someone does Internet searching better. What Google is doing is called diversifying.
There is always going to be some type of leveling. Your level is just a numeric representation of the accomplishments your character has achieved. It represents your skills, talents, and accumulated equipment. And players want to compare their characters. It's much easier to say I have a level xx Warrior than it is to say I have a Warrior with xxx sword skill, xxx blacksmithing, and all my armor is purple....
If you take away leveling, every character is brand new every time you log in. That would mean a less persistant world, and I think most players would like a more persistant one. Developers don't like that, it's harder to code for and harder to test. Right now you can take 100 different WoW servers, and the only difference between them is the players.
Ok, I'll waste those mod points I used... Problems 1 and 2, the item itself doesn't care if it's been sold, the store's security system does. The register marks item 245435 as sold in inventory, and the security system queries the inventory. If the database says sold, no need to sound an alarm. If the item is returned, it's added back to the store's inventory. All you have to do is verify that the tag can't be destroyed or removed, and that the security system is capable of scanning any tag leaving the store. They already have experience with that kind of thing.
Simply because I hand out free pepperoni pizza to people on the street today does not obligate me to do it tomorrow.
Horrible Slashdot analogy. If you hand out pizza, you absolutely are responsible if it is defective in a way that makes anyone sick. That is a legal responsibility, we're talking about a social responsibility.
Let me give you an example, since we have a common BBS background. Once upon a time I had my BBS online, tied into Fidonet and had a number of users. I payed all the bills, never took a dime from a user, and provided echomail and local message boards. I wasn't required to, but I took it on as a resposibilty that I would provide a reliable system and I wouldn't take away those services without giving my users sufficient notice to get them somewhere else. They couldn't require me to continue to provide them. But the fact that I made the choice made it no less of a responsibility.
Now apply this to an OS project. I've put the code on Sourceforge, set up the CVS, support forums, and I'm accepting bug reports. I might even have forward looking statements about what I want the project to become. Am I required to fix bugs and provide support and updates? No. But based on my statements I now have some of those dreaded users that are providing peer support, writing how-tos, and encouraging others to use my software. There is still no legal responsiblity for me to write another line of code, although morally I might have a responsiblity to fix problems or delegate them to someone else. You can't force people to act morally, but you can't have a community if they don't.
I see, and if "it was fixed in CVS two weeks ago" is not civil enough for you then you have a warped sense of reality.
This is completely dependent on context. "Have a nice day" can be either thoughtful or incredibly sarcastic, all depending on the tone of voice. If you mean "fixed in CVS" as "we found the problem, fixed it, and are working towards getting it to it's public form", then it's great. But if you're in the habit of making releases in binary form or a package, and you mean it like "I've fixed the bug, now leave me alone", then no, it's not particularly civil.
And that's what the article is about. Everyone wants to push OSS onto business servers. But I'll never have a toolchain on a production server. And with the push for Desktop Linux, a whole lot of people who depend on binaries will be left out in the cold with simply a 'fixed in CVS' response. They aren't being ungrateful when they start a discussion about what they feel is lacking, they are just putting forth a different perspective. And I don't think it's particularly helpful to the OSS community when people are labeled as ungrateful leaches simply because they haven't provided code to a particular OS project.
We see some of those people on stories like this, shouting at the top of their lungs trying to change the nature of the community, but it is of course impossible, and serves little but to generate more heat than light.
I don't see this article as someone shouting from the 'top of their lungs', more like constructive criticism. It simply says that for the majority of people now using Linux, saying "it's fixed in CVS" doesn't mean it's fixed for users. Open Source projects are maturing, and as a result it may no longer be enough to commit a fix to CVS. Someone needs to follow through and build/package a release.
When RMS wrote his essay The Luxury of Ignorance, nobody called him a leach or suggested he fix the problem himself. If his article had been written by just an average user, would they have been considered an ungrateful leach?