This strategy to meet President Bush (news - web sites)'s budget would
limit the international space station to a crew of three, its current
number, rather than the intended six or seven. That would drastically
curtail research aboard a laboratory described by NASA as the most
sophisticated one ever flown.
Isn't this like the National Park Service's threats to close the Washington Monument in case of budget cuts? Target the most politically popular programs first, so Congress will restore all the money, instead of cutting less important stuff.
Of course, I would think they should cut back ISS as far as possible and use the savings for more unmanned missions around the solar system. But manned flight is popular, so we keep sending 'em up there to do that oh-so-valuable zero-gravity research.
Subscribe to something and you can set it and forget it. Use micropayments and you are constantly having to think about whether to pay for something or not. Why would anyone willingly participate in such a scheme?! It just doesn't make sense.
I think the problem is with the term "micropayments." People think this means: I'll pay for every pageview, crap or not. And of course this is distasteful. Perhaps we should come up with a new term: "Simple Payments" (or some such) - a system where it's trivially easy to send someone cash, without wasting time filling in forms, waiting for the server, etc. Then this can be used to pay for non-crap content in a way that doesn't waste time.
Alternatively, a system of all-you-can-eat subscriptions, available to a wide range of content sites (compensated by share of pageviews), might be the answer. I think the pr0n biz has something like this in Adult Check Gold... has anyone on this thread tried it?
For some reason, probably because of conditioning, we choose to gamble time rather than money.
Too true. I do pay for certain content - old articles at NY Times and LA Times, for example. This is because I know they're good and I need them for some purpose. Normally, though, no dice.
Note also the other threads about the infrastructure of paying for shit. I don't want to give out ANY FUCKING INFORMATION! Bring back the old First Virtual Holdings, which offered anonymous payments but was sadly way ahead of its time (nobody charged for anything back then).
I was one of those who always used Webvan. I live in SF, where there are lots of corner stores, so I could get things like fresh milk there - I would then order all the staples from Webvan and not have to move my car while they were delivered.
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I can't be bothered to shop on price in the grocery store. Who fucking cares if a bag of potato chips is fifty cents off? My time is worth far more than that. Guess not enough people agreed with me.
Plus, their service was always extremely friendly, again unlike at Safeway. Again, I guess not enough customers cared about that.
Yeah, and you never read slashdot at work? Don't be so quick to jump on this guy, unless you are so scrupulous that you never use a work computer to send email to your girlfriend, book a plane flight home, or check the weather.
Okay, so Telocity LOANED the modem to you. And now they want it back! WTF is the problem with that?!
I work for a big ISP and we do this too. When customers RENT equipment from us, they have to give it back if they disconnect. If they BUY it from us, then they can do whatever the fsck they want with it. Customers who disconnect also can buy it, if they want to (most don't).
Your Rights Online indeed! At least with Napster nobody loses the original when you download copies.
The ICT (information and communication technology) governors of the WEF,
representing about 70 technology companies, drive the project. The committee
members include Cisco Systems' John Chambers, 3Com's Eric Benhamou and
Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina.
Anyone think these three CEOs might do better to spend their time fixing their companies than working on this interesting but not very important project? For the same reason that if I lived in a village without clean water, I would prefer clean water to a PS2, I would prefer my CEOs focus on shareholder value!
Like a lot of other small companies, Gnumatic got in
financial trouble during the Bust. Thanks to the GPL, the work done on GnuCash during 2000 was not lost...
Seriously. GPL allows the work to survive any individual company. If you're really serious about making the work available as widely as possible, and you understand how turbulent the tech business is (and has always been), it's an excellent choice - one that shows your commitment to the product.
Were I a developer (I'm not) I would be much more willing to use it, given this point.
can be obtained from Willoughby's Coffee in New Haven, CT. Their 1998 Kenya AA Karakuta was pure ambrosia - the best I have ever had, EVER. They also have fabulous Celebes-Kalossi and related Indonesian varieties.
(Ironic note: turn off java before going to their website.)
Ick. Percolators repeatedly pass overheated coffee through old grounds - getting you burnt coffee.
I strongly prefer a good drip maker, and really good coffee - preferably Sulawesi or Kenya AA. It depends on the year, though: this year's Starbucks Gazebo Blend is amazing.
Slashdot Mirror
At least according to the NY Times. (I haven't seen it yet.)
Then you better start making Micropayments...
Wow, what a blast from the past. Wasn't that dead as a doornail?
Oh yeah?! Mozilla crashes on me all the time...
I'm sure the submitter meant "piracy" - but maybe not so inaccurate?
$97M = $0.097B. Less than one-tenth of a billion.
This strategy to meet President Bush (news - web sites)'s budget would limit the international space station to a crew of three, its current number, rather than the intended six or seven. That would drastically curtail research aboard a laboratory described by NASA as the most sophisticated one ever flown.
Isn't this like the National Park Service's threats to close the Washington Monument in case of budget cuts? Target the most politically popular programs first, so Congress will restore all the money, instead of cutting less important stuff.
Of course, I would think they should cut back ISS as far as possible and use the savings for more unmanned missions around the solar system. But manned flight is popular, so we keep sending 'em up there to do that oh-so-valuable zero-gravity research.
Subscribe to something and you can set it and forget it. Use micropayments and you are constantly having to think about whether to pay for something or not. Why would anyone willingly participate in such a scheme?! It just doesn't make sense.
I think the problem is with the term "micropayments." People think this means: I'll pay for every pageview, crap or not. And of course this is distasteful. Perhaps we should come up with a new term: "Simple Payments" (or some such) - a system where it's trivially easy to send someone cash, without wasting time filling in forms, waiting for the server, etc. Then this can be used to pay for non-crap content in a way that doesn't waste time.
Alternatively, a system of all-you-can-eat subscriptions, available to a wide range of content sites (compensated by share of pageviews), might be the answer. I think the pr0n biz has something like this in Adult Check Gold... has anyone on this thread tried it?
oh yes you do, if you have a safeway club card...
Too true. I do pay for certain content - old articles at NY Times and LA Times, for example. This is because I know they're good and I need them for some purpose. Normally, though, no dice.
Note also the other threads about the infrastructure of paying for shit. I don't want to give out ANY FUCKING INFORMATION! Bring back the old First Virtual Holdings, which offered anonymous payments but was sadly way ahead of its time (nobody charged for anything back then).
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I can't be bothered to shop on price in the grocery store. Who fucking cares if a bag of potato chips is fifty cents off? My time is worth far more than that. Guess not enough people agreed with me.
Plus, their service was always extremely friendly, again unlike at Safeway. Again, I guess not enough customers cared about that.
Yeah, and you never read slashdot at work? Don't be so quick to jump on this guy, unless you are so scrupulous that you never use a work computer to send email to your girlfriend, book a plane flight home, or check the weather.
I work for a big ISP and we do this too. When customers RENT equipment from us, they have to give it back if they disconnect. If they BUY it from us, then they can do whatever the fsck they want with it. Customers who disconnect also can buy it, if they want to (most don't).
Your Rights Online indeed! At least with Napster nobody loses the original when you download copies.
(waiting ... 20 ... seconds)
Anyone think these three CEOs might do better to spend their time fixing their companies than working on this interesting but not very important project? For the same reason that if I lived in a village without clean water, I would prefer clean water to a PS2, I would prefer my CEOs focus on shareholder value!
yeah, guess they're desperate for revenue
Well, you should at least be glad CmdrTaco doesn't speak Deutsch! Fewer errors.
well, I thought it was funny. no mod points, but a laugh, anyway
hey, at least it's not in Deutsch :-0
Neat. For next year's April Fools, someone needs to implement RFC2324 using this ... it could certainly be done.
Were no other Quickies submitted?!
Seriously. GPL allows the work to survive any individual company. If you're really serious about making the work available as widely as possible, and you understand how turbulent the tech business is (and has always been), it's an excellent choice - one that shows your commitment to the product.
Were I a developer (I'm not) I would be much more willing to use it, given this point.
(Ironic note: turn off java before going to their website.)
I strongly prefer a good drip maker, and really good coffee - preferably Sulawesi or Kenya AA. It depends on the year, though: this year's Starbucks Gazebo Blend is amazing.
Is it RFC 2324 compliant?