if your idea came true, you can bet it would be the final nail in linux's coffin. All businesses would steer clear of it.
I seriously doubt it. Microsoft software, by it's very EULA, absolves Microsoft of all liabilities to damage as resulting from use of their software. It's always been a USE AT YOUR OWN RISK situation.
However, Technical Support departments can be thought of as some sort of unofficial liability mechanisms. They are not required by law to do this. Most companies will provide technical support if you pay for the software. It's a marketing thing disguised as warm and fuzzy customer support. Just so you'll come back to them when they want to sell you an upgrade.
If I buy software that ends up wrecking my computer through no fault of my own, I expect some sort of recourse. But today's EULA type agreements prevent me from legally requiring the company to pay to have my hard drive data recovered or something (This is the reason why I never use anything with Norton's in the name anymore). If I want to be a cheapskate and use free software, I shouldn't expect any legal recourse for damage it does to my computer.
If the free software vendor built a good reputation on producing solid software, then businesses will not necessarily steer clear of it. If the free software vendor offers OPTIONAL support contracts, insurance policies of sorts, that establishes an acceptable level of liability should anything bad happen, businesses would probably consider free software options just like commercial software with the added benefit of lower software only costs.
If you purchase software in which the purchase amount benefits the commercial entity who develops the software, you are entitled to legal recourse in the event of failure due to the software. A guarantee of serviceability if you will.
On the other hand, if you wish to be absolved(sp?) of legal liability for software you create, then offer it for free, like most GPL software is.
I think this would be great for some of the excuses for shareware out there. If you charge a shareware fee, it better work. I've found better working freeware compared to shareware alternatives.
On my Sharp Zaurus, I just use WGET to download my favorite web pages for offline browsing. I'm still tweaking the command line parameters to drop as much useless content on the pages (ads and such).
When I find a new page I like to download, I add it to a script for future use.
Didn't Jim Sachs do most of his excellent animations in DPaint only? If you remember some of his work, you'll appreciate the patience he must have had in doing them.
Then of course, Eric Schwartz did wonders with MovieSetter (I think)
Whining about BeOS not having a chance because of exposure is bullshit. Exposure is not and should not be free. Advertising, product placement, money, its all required to earn a place in the market. Microsoft's OS fought a lot of other OSes out there when PCs were becoming popular in the early nineties. (OS/2, etc.) Are we to take away that market share they earned through being smart businessmen because BeOS is a day late and a dollar short? I don't think so.
Let me be the first to say that this is a pointless remark. Exposure, sure as h*ll can be free. More power to the companies that can make use of free exposure for their products.
But companies like Microsoft force feed it to you with rhetoric that causes the average consumer to become dizzy enough to buy their products for fear of the uncertain.
As a card carrying member of the 'John Q. Public Consumer Guild', I've wised up to the flashy and pushy advertisements for products. I've learned to look past all that and try to understand how the product really works. There will be more consumers like me in the near future. Pretty soon flashy advertising won't work anymore. Then Microsoft will have to stand on their own merits.
BeOS may have been a day late and dollar short, but they did set a precidence that all consumers may not be aware of now, but will be soon. Then you'll see future 'BeOS' getting a fair chance due to free exposure.
Maybe someday a new advertising concept of some sort will come out and will be licensed as GPL or BSD-like to offer the free chance these companies need on a fair playfield.
I remember an early season ST:TNG episode where Data mentioned "Television was a fad that didn't last much into the 21st century".
It seems to me if all this copy protection is put in place, that might just become a reality. I'm certainly going to change my entertainment lifestyle if all of this takes place. At least I have a choice, and a right (for now) to time shift a television show with no additional obligation than having to buy a VCR.
"I don't recall seeing legislation requiring you to go buy a Honda."
But all the good 'Riceboy mods' are only available for Hondas..... You can wire the trunk release button on the remote starter to the cleverly mounted fire extinguisher to put out the electrical fire caused by improper installation of the car starter
Jim Brain (we all know who he is, right?) had once published a Commodore Trivia question pool. In this archived segment of trivia questions, Read question 216 and 217 for stated fact.
I understand that you may have intended your post to be funny. I can't mod it up as so, but I still want to say my piece just in case you were actually serious.
The ratio of M$ insecurities to Linux insecurities is still quite high. I still stand by the fact that "Microsoft-is-insecure".
This insecurity appears to have been discovered before it was largely exploited. Unlike M$ insecurities which are exploited and systems compromised before M$ figures out that the exploit even existed.
Once again, the open source peer review system works as it should.
With the price of broadband getting cheaper (or more accepted), and as M$ chokes off compatibility to the services on the Internet, why not make a shareable translation system which will keep other systems compatible.
I recommend a co-op of sorts. A group bands together to get one (1) copy of a M$ product, a server. Someone in the group w/ broadband can run the server as a proxy whose sole job is to proxy web services and translate them to/from RFC standards on the fly. All members surf through the proxy. They can use whatever browser they want. The whole system SHOULD be Lynx compatible.
I mention the M$ product because the M$ standards will most likely be already installed and useable. A custom application can be coded to leverage the new "standards" and translate them as needed. Just buying the one copy puts less money into M$ pockets than every user buying a copy of an M$ operating system.
Disclaimer: These are just thoughts. A spark of an idea if you will. I'm sure there will be AC responses describing any flaws in it.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll project it over an original IBM PC keyboard missing it's cord so I can get a nice 'Clakity-Clack" feel for my Palm 105
I remember cutting out 45 RPM flimsy records from the back of my cereal boxes in the 70's. Does this mean my kids will have a similar experience?
:)
Also, how will the CD player handle the penny that needs to be placed on the special spot to allow the media to spin properly
Welcome!! - You Got Scales!!!
I seriously doubt it. Microsoft software, by it's very EULA, absolves Microsoft of all liabilities to damage as resulting from use of their software. It's always been a USE AT YOUR OWN RISK situation.
However, Technical Support departments can be thought of as some sort of unofficial liability mechanisms. They are not required by law to do this. Most companies will provide technical support if you pay for the software. It's a marketing thing disguised as warm and fuzzy customer support. Just so you'll come back to them when they want to sell you an upgrade.
If I buy software that ends up wrecking my computer through no fault of my own, I expect some sort of recourse. But today's EULA type agreements prevent me from legally requiring the company to pay to have my hard drive data recovered or something (This is the reason why I never use anything with Norton's in the name anymore). If I want to be a cheapskate and use free software, I shouldn't expect any legal recourse for damage it does to my computer.
If the free software vendor built a good reputation on producing solid software, then businesses will not necessarily steer clear of it. If the free software vendor offers OPTIONAL support contracts, insurance policies of sorts, that establishes an acceptable level of liability should anything bad happen, businesses would probably consider free software options just like commercial software with the added benefit of lower software only costs.
Maybe it should be looked at this way....
If you purchase software in which the purchase amount benefits the commercial entity who develops the software, you are entitled to legal recourse in the event of failure due to the software. A guarantee of serviceability if you will.
On the other hand, if you wish to be absolved(sp?) of legal liability for software you create, then offer it for free, like most GPL software is.
I think this would be great for some of the excuses for shareware out there. If you charge a shareware fee, it better work. I've found better working freeware compared to shareware alternatives.
On my Sharp Zaurus, I just use WGET to download my favorite web pages for offline browsing. I'm still tweaking the command line parameters to drop as much useless content on the pages (ads and such).
When I find a new page I like to download, I add it to a script for future use.
OK... getting off topic here, but in reply:
Didn't Jim Sachs do most of his excellent animations in DPaint only? If you remember some of his work, you'll appreciate the patience he must have had in doing them.
Then of course, Eric Schwartz did wonders with MovieSetter (I think)
I know I would....
I have an Accounts Receivable balancing application I'd like to slap upside the head....
I was happy as a clam that only 6 years later, I was doing similar CG on my Amiga (minus the 'light trails' from the flying discs)
Let me be the first to say that this is a pointless remark. Exposure, sure as h*ll can be free. More power to the companies that can make use of free exposure for their products.
But companies like Microsoft force feed it to you with rhetoric that causes the average consumer to become dizzy enough to buy their products for fear of the uncertain.
As a card carrying member of the 'John Q. Public Consumer Guild', I've wised up to the flashy and pushy advertisements for products. I've learned to look past all that and try to understand how the product really works. There will be more consumers like me in the near future. Pretty soon flashy advertising won't work anymore. Then Microsoft will have to stand on their own merits.
BeOS may have been a day late and dollar short, but they did set a precidence that all consumers may not be aware of now, but will be soon. Then you'll see future 'BeOS' getting a fair chance due to free exposure.
Maybe someday a new advertising concept of some sort will come out and will be licensed as GPL or BSD-like to offer the free chance these companies need on a fair playfield.
It was hardened by flaming it up to extremely high temperatures and then immediately thrown into cold water.
"Tempered UNIX Kernal" was too short of a phrase for marketing to use. It also sounds less aggressive
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But man, you NEED to get yourself a hobby....
I hope you don't talk in details like that to the chicks on a first date
BTW, French Fries RULE!!!
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Sounds like you're talking about sex, not guns. If yer shootin' blanks, you won't need to worry about diapers come October.
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That's the reason it's called a "BS" degree :)
But all the good 'Riceboy mods' are only available for Hondas..... You can wire the trunk release button on the remote starter to the cleverly mounted fire extinguisher to put out the electrical fire caused by improper installation of the car starter
I always start my rantings off with four letter words...
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Lately, the Z-80 CPU in there only gets to boot the machine and never does any other computing.
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It figures that I had to wait 25 years to be able to do the same thing with $1000 worth of computer hardware.
Still, I wonder if I can use this technique to calibrate an HF tranceiver.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011120/202744_1.html
Sorry... That's all this voice recognition software knows what to type for MicroSoft....
Damn, it did it again!!!!
I understand that you may have intended your post to be funny. I can't mod it up as so, but I still want to say my piece just in case you were actually serious.
The ratio of M$ insecurities to Linux insecurities is still quite high. I still stand by the fact that "Microsoft-is-insecure".
This insecurity appears to have been discovered before it was largely exploited. Unlike M$ insecurities which are exploited and systems compromised before M$ figures out that the exploit even existed.
Once again, the open source peer review system works as it should.
With the price of broadband getting cheaper (or more accepted), and as M$ chokes off compatibility to the services on the Internet, why not make a shareable translation system which will keep other systems compatible.
I recommend a co-op of sorts. A group bands together to get one (1) copy of a M$ product, a server. Someone in the group w/ broadband can run the server as a proxy whose sole job is to proxy web services and translate them to/from RFC standards on the fly. All members surf through the proxy. They can use whatever browser they want. The whole system SHOULD be Lynx compatible.
I mention the M$ product because the M$ standards will most likely be already installed and useable. A custom application can be coded to leverage the new "standards" and translate them as needed. Just buying the one copy puts less money into M$ pockets than every user buying a copy of an M$ operating system.
Disclaimer: These are just thoughts. A spark of an idea if you will. I'm sure there will be AC responses describing any flaws in it.
Thought that would be more suitable for the programmers on /. than the hardware gurus