Sadly, this fuels my belief that the human race undergoes periodic civilization collapses, where the technology and understanding of the day is almost completely wiped out. We never quiet figure out how to get to the next level of human understanding / civilization / what have you, do we? Every time it looks like technology is beginning to unravel some of the secrets of the universe (or ourselves), social order collapses and the library / book burnings begin anew.
I'm going to put on my plush gopher hat for the moment, and hypothesize that when the slightly more...curious members of the human race turn their attention to unraveling the universe, the slightly less curious members begin trying to f*ck up things. For example, the year that scientists / engineers perfect cold fusion will also be the year that the various politically / religiously inclined individuals succeed in creating a real World War. Can't seem to divert your attention for more than several moments before they start getting out of hand.
I'm starting to think the human race, like a kid who craves attention, hates being ignored.
This would explain why, in the decade since some of the greatest technological improvements mankind has seen in at least 1500 years, we have the TSA and various congress critters doing things that even Kublai Khan would frown on. Cellphones and multicore computers, the price of which is the Patriot Act and the bank bailouts.
There must be a better way of dealing with this kind of situation. I don't want my great, great, great grand-kids thinking that fire is magic, or my even greater descendants to think that their the first ones to create a printing press. Improvements, not ditch-digging (and the subsequent filling in thereof, ad infinitum).
Managed C++ != C#. Managed C++ is / was a variant of C++, with a garbage collector and some other things bolted on. C# is a new language, with a strong similarity to C++, that also has a garbage collector. Both languages are managed (from a memory standpoint), and I think both compile down to the CLR, but that's kind of it.
I don't know anyone who uses Managed C++ (I created a project in it once, gave up; this was back when I programmed in C++). I use C# all the time.
Metro is not the 'problem.' It's their announced shift to C++ (which pulls resources away from C#, as per the original timeline).
MS saying they want more focus on C++ is a tactful way of saying "we're deprecating C#, fuck you guys." And most of the people who have worked with and promoted MS technologies know how to read between the lines. Since the C# development community is huge for Windows development (extremely large, like it might eclipse C++ in terms of the number of people who actually develop deployed applications with it (not school projects, etc.)), they're essentially destroying a fair portion of their own developer base. Like have the artillery fire on your own supply airports; it's not just dumb, it doesn't make any rational sense.
C++ is fine, but many C/C++ programmers transitioned to C# a long time ago. That's in addition to the people from other languages that got pulled into C#. They choose C# over C/C++ and friends to get away from the inconveniences of those languages. Building an application in an afternoon is a fricking strength; being able to easily debug it is a strength; having Intellisense work and give useful information about a method you need to use just once in your career is a strength. Unless you are building device drivers or building something that isn't on a MS platform, there really isn't a point in using C or C++. Namespaces, bitches, learn to love them. Learn to enjoy strings being a first class primitive with full support, and not having to spend time chasing the '\0' that you forgot. And so on. Unless you're a masochist.
Unfortunately, there's this weird myth that C# programmers suck, but only among people who do not use the language. You'd think that despite the fact that it's a MS technology, C/C++ programmers transitioning to it would have been a strong sign that it's a better f*cking language. And C# isn't just a variant of Java; they are not that similar. I believe C#'s language specc alone has been eating Java for the last two generations.
C# is a core technology that keeps MS afloat. If I were a shareholder, I'd be frightened that they're doing this. Like sell my shares now frightened.
Please no. Education television has already ruined children's TV as it is, let's not compound the problem.
You want to help kids? Give them dreams. Give them a reason, a desire, a longing to do something great. When they get older, let them think through high-school about building star-ships or finding cures to perplexing diseases or even world peace.
Doing this simply gives kids the tools, but no motivation to use them. They will be intelligent, but unmotivated workers; willing to maintain the status quo, but not to improve it.
Let Mr. Wizard, or Bill Nye, or Beakman handle the fun science / math stuff. Even Batman fits here, though he's more sci-fi.
Waiting for those bloody SSDs to drop to a saner price.
I have 4 HDs I'll replace with 1.5TB SSDs when the price drops a fair amount. And does AMD / ATI still make video cards? I can't tell these days.
As for the motherboard and CPU, that'll get replaced when AMD starts selling a PhenomX12 or something in the 4 Ghz range. The memory will be upgraded to motherboard maximum if / when that happens.
Blue-Ray drives when the price for those drops; same for the media. It's an adoption issue. Most people just barely have a DVD-burner, not something that reads Blue-Ray (unless it's a PS3)...
The mouse and keyboard will be replaced when I can find something that works as well as my old MS Bluetooth Elite Keyboard and Mouse. The signal on my Logitech stuff needs to receiver like a foot away from the mouse / keyboard to work. I liked the MS Elite, which could transmit from the other side of the room with no problems.
The case will stay until I can decide just what kind of liquid cooling system I might want, and whether it will fit.
I still care about sound cards, just need to find one that gives me less trouble than Creative.
Monitors I am already working on.
And the OS will be upgraded to MS Windows 8 or some version of Linux, depending on just how badly designed Windows 8 is. I'll be watching that one.
And I have a new pair of headphones (Steel series); thank you Tritton for closing my trouble / warranty ticket and not getting back to me when your (my old) headphones cracked.
How can they ask for something like this after doing everything in their power to ensure something like this can't be created?
Well, sure Mr. NSA, we can cobble together a secure phone for you...we'll just throw in an encryption / decryption chip and a process that prompts for a password every 5 minutes. And your agents will hate it, it will become compromised (journalists are so irresponsible), and it will become a waste of tax-payer money.
Did I mention it won't be secure? But don't worry; someone will tell you it can be done, and you'll pay them a lot of money, only to realize they lied.
Knowing one's destiny is not a curse. It's knowing one's destiny, and being unable to change it that is (especially if it's a bad one). There's probably a nasty equation we'll find out where peering into the future collapses all possible futures down to one, the one you just observed, and it's always the worst one out of all of them.
No, God no. If they want to improve things, they can focus on making their laptops bullet-proof. Focus on the hardware, and let the software guys do their things for now. I want a titanium or some other metal case on that laptop. I have a plastic one right now, and I melted part of it with pieces falling off.
Quiet you. It's not enough that you've sold them something material, they also want something intangible for doing business with you.
That something intangible is usually some form of rakeback. They want the money they just gave you, back.
Remember, when someone says they want someone else to do something for the community, it typically means they want someone else to do something for free. I.e. We want free services, that you pay for. A cash grab.
It's kind of what happened to Michael Dell. He built his company up to a decent size, and had a very, very good idea for how to run a computer company. Just-in-time manufacturing can be freaking awesome when done right. And it was, for a while.
His company went public, on the Nasdaq, if I remember correctly, and there was a silent change in operations. Not at first, but slowly, over time. His already efficient and extremely good-willed (you couldn't buy that kind of goodwill with a bottomless purse) company began shifting its priorities. They appeared to segment the consumer and corporate markets just a wee too much, and focused on bargain PCs as opposed to decent PCs. And slowly, they began to rot.
People ran away from Compaq, because they didn't listen to their customers. People ran away from Dell, because they didn't listen to their customers.
Dell is still around, but it's no longer the industry darling it once was. I think Apple currently has that place. Why? Because Apple hasn't been stupid enough (recently) to forget that the consumers decide what the corporations will ultimately buy. A CEO with an iPad is more likely to mandate things for the company than some flimsy knockoff that a vendor is trying to sell to some mid-level accountant. To put things more bluntly, once you lose the consumer market, you will slowly lose the other markets. It will take time, but if the hardware you're selling is anything but Big Iron or some other super-exotic device that costs a few million per device...yikes.
Unfortunately, I think this is the same problem MS is facing. They're trying to splinter things between the consumer and the corporate consumer too much. Focus on good software, not bargain software, and when the other guys are burning, you'll be ahead. Focus on good hardware, that means as an IT guy, I can recommend your sh*t to family, friends, and various corporate types without wondering if it will haunt me later on. If that means building a $2,000 PC that runs for 10 years instead of the usual 5, so be it. I'll weigh that longevity into my calculations, and I'm sure the company accountants will as well.
So agree with this. What we're running into isn't that there aren't enough IT / CS / SE people out there, it's that they don't want to work in those fields for the pay that's being provided. If someone with a CS degree doesn't like the pay they're getting, guess what they do? They change fields.
What we are seeing now is nothing more than an attempt to place a false order for IT / CS / SE people, like placing a false order for stock at some ridiculous price. By the time the order looks about to be filled, it gets cancelled. And everyone else is left holding the bag. These people WANT a market distortion, because then they get to pick through the leftovers from the bloodbath, looking for highly-priced programmers working for a song. The problem isn't that there aren't enough programmers, it's that there aren't enough Porsche programmers working for Denny's Grand Slam prices.
You invest 4-5 years of your life in a degree, with the idea that the pay / benefits / etc. is better in your chosen field than in other fields. When those supposed payouts become anything less than trivial, especially with 'market distortions,' we begin to price in RISK. Hence, the payouts now must be higher than before, for someone to invest in said degree. If a half-decent developer was $120,000 / yr, 8 years ago, accounting for inflation and distortion, he / she is now going for $360,000 / yr or more.
Every dime-store business major wants to make the next Facebook these days. Fine, learn to program yourselves, and you'll quickly realize why programmers get paid. The stock options, equity sharing programs, and so on are nice, but since it's been an industry staple to see programmers getting the shaft here, it's not as enticing as before.
Sure, there are some people who like to program just for the giggles of it. And there are some people who run non-profits. They aren't the majority, and you lack any means of motivation at a large company when dealing with said people: remember, they like programming for fun, not because you're paying them, so offering them more money, when the company is in a pinch, may not be a motivating factor. Would you hire a stock-broker who wasn't focused on earning money?
But, it's fun to see this happen again. They placed a false order years ago, they went through the pickings afterwards, then they off-shored until recently, when they saw their bills climbing yet again. Now they want to do local, but still want a 'deal.' Hence, pay us according to the kind of work you want out of us. It's a bloody rule of the market, for God's sake.
That 99% of the intelligence gathering community is following the law to the letter is wonderful, but does not account for the damage that the 1% that are not following the law are doing. In so far as when things tend to go wrong, they go wrong catastrophically, you only need one agent in charge of important information to completely destroy the reason for having the agency in the first place. It's essentially a form of asymmetric warfare.
You're right. I mean, with gas prices being what they are now, why not completely box in the shipping companies? That'll fix things.
Higher prices for shipping = less people buying things (unless you are silly enough to believe demand is 'inelastic'). Less people buying things means a smaller economy.
It's kind of like how things worked in 'the good old days.' Master will take care of you, but he's going to take of your wages to help pay for your rent, your food, and your clothing. Don't worry, you are free to leave, if you can save up enough to buy your freedom.
Why do you complain so much about having to work out in the fields all day, in the blazing sun? Can't you see how hard Master works for you, ensuring that you have the finest rough-cotton clothing that Master can purchase for you? Or how he allows you to roam around the estate on Sundays after mandatory service? Hell, he's even gone so far as to file the paperwork, so that all your children can get in on this great deal, living their lives on the estate and not having to worry about their futures. Why, you should be so lucky!
Leave the thinking to Master, he has a degree from college, and is an expert in all things. It's for your sake that he has those lavish parties with friends, discussing the future of the estate, and what he should have planted next season. All of Master's friends agree that Master is the right person to do the thinking, so just do your part by abiding by Master's laws and working hard, and everything will turn out for the best. Without Master, or people like him, the whole world would descend into chaos! Master knows best.
And if you manage to somehow garner enough money to buy your freedom (you sneaky devil, you must have shortchanged the other serfs / slaves somewhere or stolen something of Master's), Master reserves the right to your income for the next ten years (after you have purchased your freedom, and moved off the estate), in case you were moving off the estate just to stop paying Master his money. Master is so kind!
Oh, but before you leave, we need to search through all your possessions to make sure nothing of Master's got mixed up in there. We just find it highly suspicious that someone would want to leave such a wonderful place (best place on Earth!), so we feel that there must be an ulterior motive. Well, look at that, it appears Master's red stapler found its way into your cart, we'll just take that back for him. And I know you're leaving next week, but could you work on Saturday? Thhhhhhaaaannnnkkkkkkkkkksss.
TLDR; You steal people's money, and tell them it's going to a good cause (a public service). People protest this theft, but you make an 'ends justify the means' argument. Without the money you just stole from them, people can't afford to choose a competitor to yourself. Because they now can't afford service from someone else, they are given the options of either not having no service, or going with your service because it's now 'free.' You then use the fact that some people decided to go with your service as a justification for having taken the funds in the first place (because if people are now using your service, it's proof that there is a need for it). Kind of looks like a circle, doesn't it?
It would have been cheap ten years ago. Now, it's severely overpriced.
Basically, it's gouging the customer, and will probably result in a massive increase in contract defaults when customers start going over the limit.
Basically, whoever came up with this scheme needs to be fired and forgotten. It's ill-fated, and it's a short-term gain, long-term loss. Like selling stock in Berkshire Hathaway to pay the monthly rent: it's a bad deal.
Slashdot Mirror
Sadly, this fuels my belief that the human race undergoes periodic civilization collapses, where the technology and understanding of the day is almost completely wiped out. We never quiet figure out how to get to the next level of human understanding / civilization / what have you, do we? Every time it looks like technology is beginning to unravel some of the secrets of the universe (or ourselves), social order collapses and the library / book burnings begin anew.
I'm going to put on my plush gopher hat for the moment, and hypothesize that when the slightly more...curious members of the human race turn their attention to unraveling the universe, the slightly less curious members begin trying to f*ck up things. For example, the year that scientists / engineers perfect cold fusion will also be the year that the various politically / religiously inclined individuals succeed in creating a real World War. Can't seem to divert your attention for more than several moments before they start getting out of hand.
I'm starting to think the human race, like a kid who craves attention, hates being ignored.
This would explain why, in the decade since some of the greatest technological improvements mankind has seen in at least 1500 years, we have the TSA and various congress critters doing things that even Kublai Khan would frown on. Cellphones and multicore computers, the price of which is the Patriot Act and the bank bailouts.
There must be a better way of dealing with this kind of situation. I don't want my great, great, great grand-kids thinking that fire is magic, or my even greater descendants to think that their the first ones to create a printing press. Improvements, not ditch-digging (and the subsequent filling in thereof, ad infinitum).
They should have finished pulling things into the new managed classes. They didn't finish. Now it appears they never will. So much for a clean break.
Managed C++ != C#.
Managed C++ is / was a variant of C++, with a garbage collector and some other things bolted on. C# is a new language, with a strong similarity to C++, that also has a garbage collector. Both languages are managed (from a memory standpoint), and I think both compile down to the CLR, but that's kind of it.
I don't know anyone who uses Managed C++ (I created a project in it once, gave up; this was back when I programmed in C++). I use C# all the time.
Managed C++-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managed_Extensions_for_C%2B%2B
C# -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Sharp_%28programming_language%29
Metro is not the 'problem.' It's their announced shift to C++ (which pulls resources away from C#, as per the original timeline).
MS saying they want more focus on C++ is a tactful way of saying "we're deprecating C#, fuck you guys." And most of the people who have worked with and promoted MS technologies know how to read between the lines. Since the C# development community is huge for Windows development (extremely large, like it might eclipse C++ in terms of the number of people who actually develop deployed applications with it (not school projects, etc.)), they're essentially destroying a fair portion of their own developer base. Like have the artillery fire on your own supply airports; it's not just dumb, it doesn't make any rational sense.
C++ is fine, but many C/C++ programmers transitioned to C# a long time ago. That's in addition to the people from other languages that got pulled into C#. They choose C# over C/C++ and friends to get away from the inconveniences of those languages. Building an application in an afternoon is a fricking strength; being able to easily debug it is a strength; having Intellisense work and give useful information about a method you need to use just once in your career is a strength. Unless you are building device drivers or building something that isn't on a MS platform, there really isn't a point in using C or C++. Namespaces, bitches, learn to love them. Learn to enjoy strings being a first class primitive with full support, and not having to spend time chasing the '\0' that you forgot. And so on. Unless you're a masochist.
Unfortunately, there's this weird myth that C# programmers suck, but only among people who do not use the language. You'd think that despite the fact that it's a MS technology, C/C++ programmers transitioning to it would have been a strong sign that it's a better f*cking language. And C# isn't just a variant of Java; they are not that similar. I believe C#'s language specc alone has been eating Java for the last two generations.
C# is a core technology that keeps MS afloat. If I were a shareholder, I'd be frightened that they're doing this. Like sell my shares now frightened.
DIAF
Excellent. A little more government control, and I can begin gaming them into acting my enemies.
I think I've seen some of that help in action, and would prefer to spend a weekend with Hitler and Stalin as my bunk-mates in preference to that.
At least the two of them could acknowledge being possibly wrong about a thing or two. The people who want to 'help' never do.
And my penis counts as a credit card.
Writing sh*t into minor laws does not counteract superior laws. There is a set procedure for changing superior laws; not following it is treason.
Please no. Education television has already ruined children's TV as it is, let's not compound the problem.
You want to help kids? Give them dreams. Give them a reason, a desire, a longing to do something great. When they get older, let them think through high-school about building star-ships or finding cures to perplexing diseases or even world peace.
Doing this simply gives kids the tools, but no motivation to use them. They will be intelligent, but unmotivated workers; willing to maintain the status quo, but not to improve it.
Let Mr. Wizard, or Bill Nye, or Beakman handle the fun science / math stuff. Even Batman fits here, though he's more sci-fi.
Waiting for those bloody SSDs to drop to a saner price.
I have 4 HDs I'll replace with 1.5TB SSDs when the price drops a fair amount. And does AMD / ATI still make video cards? I can't tell these days.
As for the motherboard and CPU, that'll get replaced when AMD starts selling a PhenomX12 or something in the 4 Ghz range. The memory will be upgraded to motherboard maximum if / when that happens.
Blue-Ray drives when the price for those drops; same for the media. It's an adoption issue. Most people just barely have a DVD-burner, not something that reads Blue-Ray (unless it's a PS3)...
The mouse and keyboard will be replaced when I can find something that works as well as my old MS Bluetooth Elite Keyboard and Mouse. The signal on my Logitech stuff needs to receiver like a foot away from the mouse / keyboard to work. I liked the MS Elite, which could transmit from the other side of the room with no problems.
The case will stay until I can decide just what kind of liquid cooling system I might want, and whether it will fit.
I still care about sound cards, just need to find one that gives me less trouble than Creative.
Monitors I am already working on.
And the OS will be upgraded to MS Windows 8 or some version of Linux, depending on just how badly designed Windows 8 is. I'll be watching that one.
And I have a new pair of headphones (Steel series); thank you Tritton for closing my trouble / warranty ticket and not getting back to me when your (my old) headphones cracked.
*facepalms*
How can they ask for something like this after doing everything in their power to ensure something like this can't be created?
Well, sure Mr. NSA, we can cobble together a secure phone for you...we'll just throw in an encryption / decryption chip and a process that prompts for a password every 5 minutes. And your agents will hate it, it will become compromised (journalists are so irresponsible), and it will become a waste of tax-payer money.
Did I mention it won't be secure? But don't worry; someone will tell you it can be done, and you'll pay them a lot of money, only to realize they lied.
Knowing one's destiny is not a curse. It's knowing one's destiny, and being unable to change it that is (especially if it's a bad one). There's probably a nasty equation we'll find out where peering into the future collapses all possible futures down to one, the one you just observed, and it's always the worst one out of all of them.
Part of it, apparently.
No, God no. If they want to improve things, they can focus on making their laptops bullet-proof. Focus on the hardware, and let the software guys do their things for now. I want a titanium or some other metal case on that laptop. I have a plastic one right now, and I melted part of it with pieces falling off.
Yes, focus on the hardware.
Thank you.
Quiet you. It's not enough that you've sold them something material, they also want something intangible for doing business with you.
That something intangible is usually some form of rakeback. They want the money they just gave you, back.
Remember, when someone says they want someone else to do something for the community, it typically means they want someone else to do something for free. I.e. We want free services, that you pay for. A cash grab.
Well, they've already burnt down the White House once...
It's kind of what happened to Michael Dell. He built his company up to a decent size, and had a very, very good idea for how to run a computer company. Just-in-time manufacturing can be freaking awesome when done right. And it was, for a while.
His company went public, on the Nasdaq, if I remember correctly, and there was a silent change in operations. Not at first, but slowly, over time. His already efficient and extremely good-willed (you couldn't buy that kind of goodwill with a bottomless purse) company began shifting its priorities. They appeared to segment the consumer and corporate markets just a wee too much, and focused on bargain PCs as opposed to decent PCs. And slowly, they began to rot.
People ran away from Compaq, because they didn't listen to their customers. People ran away from Dell, because they didn't listen to their customers.
Dell is still around, but it's no longer the industry darling it once was. I think Apple currently has that place. Why? Because Apple hasn't been stupid enough (recently) to forget that the consumers decide what the corporations will ultimately buy. A CEO with an iPad is more likely to mandate things for the company than some flimsy knockoff that a vendor is trying to sell to some mid-level accountant. To put things more bluntly, once you lose the consumer market, you will slowly lose the other markets. It will take time, but if the hardware you're selling is anything but Big Iron or some other super-exotic device that costs a few million per device...yikes.
Unfortunately, I think this is the same problem MS is facing. They're trying to splinter things between the consumer and the corporate consumer too much. Focus on good software, not bargain software, and when the other guys are burning, you'll be ahead. Focus on good hardware, that means as an IT guy, I can recommend your sh*t to family, friends, and various corporate types without wondering if it will haunt me later on. If that means building a $2,000 PC that runs for 10 years instead of the usual 5, so be it. I'll weigh that longevity into my calculations, and I'm sure the company accountants will as well.
Indeed.
So agree with this. What we're running into isn't that there aren't enough IT / CS / SE people out there, it's that they don't want to work in those fields for the pay that's being provided. If someone with a CS degree doesn't like the pay they're getting, guess what they do? They change fields.
What we are seeing now is nothing more than an attempt to place a false order for IT / CS / SE people, like placing a false order for stock at some ridiculous price. By the time the order looks about to be filled, it gets cancelled. And everyone else is left holding the bag. These people WANT a market distortion, because then they get to pick through the leftovers from the bloodbath, looking for highly-priced programmers working for a song. The problem isn't that there aren't enough programmers, it's that there aren't enough Porsche programmers working for Denny's Grand Slam prices.
You invest 4-5 years of your life in a degree, with the idea that the pay / benefits / etc. is better in your chosen field than in other fields. When those supposed payouts become anything less than trivial, especially with 'market distortions,' we begin to price in RISK. Hence, the payouts now must be higher than before, for someone to invest in said degree. If a half-decent developer was $120,000 / yr, 8 years ago, accounting for inflation and distortion, he / she is now going for $360,000 / yr or more.
Every dime-store business major wants to make the next Facebook these days. Fine, learn to program yourselves, and you'll quickly realize why programmers get paid. The stock options, equity sharing programs, and so on are nice, but since it's been an industry staple to see programmers getting the shaft here, it's not as enticing as before.
Sure, there are some people who like to program just for the giggles of it. And there are some people who run non-profits. They aren't the majority, and you lack any means of motivation at a large company when dealing with said people: remember, they like programming for fun, not because you're paying them, so offering them more money, when the company is in a pinch, may not be a motivating factor. Would you hire a stock-broker who wasn't focused on earning money?
But, it's fun to see this happen again. They placed a false order years ago, they went through the pickings afterwards, then they off-shored until recently, when they saw their bills climbing yet again. Now they want to do local, but still want a 'deal.' Hence, pay us according to the kind of work you want out of us. It's a bloody rule of the market, for God's sake.
Murphy's law, anyone?
That 99% of the intelligence gathering community is following the law to the letter is wonderful, but does not account for the damage that the 1% that are not following the law are doing. In so far as when things tend to go wrong, they go wrong catastrophically, you only need one agent in charge of important information to completely destroy the reason for having the agency in the first place. It's essentially a form of asymmetric warfare.
You're right. I mean, with gas prices being what they are now, why not completely box in the shipping companies? That'll fix things.
Higher prices for shipping = less people buying things (unless you are silly enough to believe demand is 'inelastic'). Less people buying things means a smaller economy.
Going to accelerate the problem, not fix it.
I was going to say, last I checked, we were on course for 100% (soonish).
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Hmm, where have I heard that argument before...
It's kind of like how things worked in 'the good old days.' Master will take care of you, but he's going to take of your wages to help pay for your rent, your food, and your clothing. Don't worry, you are free to leave, if you can save up enough to buy your freedom.
Why do you complain so much about having to work out in the fields all day, in the blazing sun? Can't you see how hard Master works for you, ensuring that you have the finest rough-cotton clothing that Master can purchase for you? Or how he allows you to roam around the estate on Sundays after mandatory service? Hell, he's even gone so far as to file the paperwork, so that all your children can get in on this great deal, living their lives on the estate and not having to worry about their futures. Why, you should be so lucky!
Leave the thinking to Master, he has a degree from college, and is an expert in all things. It's for your sake that he has those lavish parties with friends, discussing the future of the estate, and what he should have planted next season. All of Master's friends agree that Master is the right person to do the thinking, so just do your part by abiding by Master's laws and working hard, and everything will turn out for the best. Without Master, or people like him, the whole world would descend into chaos! Master knows best.
And if you manage to somehow garner enough money to buy your freedom (you sneaky devil, you must have shortchanged the other serfs / slaves somewhere or stolen something of Master's), Master reserves the right to your income for the next ten years (after you have purchased your freedom, and moved off the estate), in case you were moving off the estate just to stop paying Master his money. Master is so kind!
Oh, but before you leave, we need to search through all your possessions to make sure nothing of Master's got mixed up in there. We just find it highly suspicious that someone would want to leave such a wonderful place (best place on Earth!), so we feel that there must be an ulterior motive. Well, look at that, it appears Master's red stapler found its way into your cart, we'll just take that back for him. And I know you're leaving next week, but could you work on Saturday? Thhhhhhaaaannnnkkkkkkkkkksss.
TLDR; You steal people's money, and tell them it's going to a good cause (a public service). People protest this theft, but you make an 'ends justify the means' argument. Without the money you just stole from them, people can't afford to choose a competitor to yourself. Because they now can't afford service from someone else, they are given the options of either not having no service, or going with your service because it's now 'free.' You then use the fact that some people decided to go with your service as a justification for having taken the funds in the first place (because if people are now using your service, it's proof that there is a need for it). Kind of looks like a circle, doesn't it?
It would have been cheap ten years ago. Now, it's severely overpriced.
Basically, it's gouging the customer, and will probably result in a massive increase in contract defaults when customers start going over the limit.
Basically, whoever came up with this scheme needs to be fired and forgotten. It's ill-fated, and it's a short-term gain, long-term loss. Like selling stock in Berkshire Hathaway to pay the monthly rent: it's a bad deal.