I really feel that spam falls into the same category with phone solicitation. Currently you can pay the phone company a little bit more and they add a bullet next to your name in the phone book. This makes it illegal for you to make any kind of unsolicited phone calls that weren't initiated by the owner of the phone.
I think that is what this article is about. It's a way of telling spammers "I don't want spam" and putting some teeth behind it. I would love to see this happen, and there is already a precedence set for it. Now if we could just find a way of getting rid of Junk snail-Mail I would be a happy camper.
In our company the CIO directs all of the computer/server maintanence for the company. He works with what we lovingly call our CECO (Chief E-Comm Officer). When we joined the internet our E-Comm department was such a massive change (we run mail order/phone sales/internet orders for 6 different catalog companies) that a new officer was required. Then they created the CTO position over both of them to kind of bring the two departments back together. Before E-Comm, though we only had our CIO who took care of everything.
Truthfully, I think they would get rid of the CIO distinction if they could find a way of doing it without making it look like a demotion. The CECO is only a nickname we gave him so he didn't have to feel left out of the alphabet game.
From what I've seen in other companies, though, it all comes down to personal taste. Are you working primarily with information (a large Mainfram with a bunch of workstations [this seems to be a dying breed]) or mostly technology (a fair number of individual servers setup to handle specific tasks [i.e. Printing, Data, File Sharing, etc.])?
I believe that this is the question that these states were trying to iron out. While I agree with you, I hope that it is based on the buyer's home state (I live in Oregon and we don't have a sales tax), I really believe that the government will side with the state that the seller resides in. Since they are simplifing the tax code, I would think that it would be easier to use the corporate address (since large companies are less likely to move around). But then this opens up another question. If I order the same Dell computer from Texas and they ship it out of a distribution center in Ohio, do they use the Texas adress or the Ohio address?
I don't think splitting the tax would be a good idea, that would create one heck of a headache when they are trying to make things easier. I can just imagine the ream of tax tables that would create.
As for verifying the location of the purchaser, all they need to do is use the billing address of the credit card the buyer uses (or the address on the check if this is a catalog order, if it's a money order or cash [like anyone is crazy enough to send cash through the mail] then it would have to fall to the mailing address). In fact, some credit card authorization software will not give an authorization code unless the address on the order matches the billing address on the card.
By the way, I believe Washington requires state sales tax to be paid no matter where the purchase is to be made
Actually, I'm an Oregon resident and I can walk into any Washington store, pick up whatever I want, and I don't have to pay the sales tax. All I have to do is flash my Oregon Drivers License and they wave the tax. I've found this to be true of most (not all) states I've visited.
I'm an American. If I go online and order a CD-R from a German company (or any other country with a similar tax/fee) and have it shipped to me in the states (thus paying more for import duties, shipping fees etc.), does that give me the right to create legal copies of my CD's? From what I understand, the tax is there to pay to pay for just such an instance. I would have paid the artist (in Germany/Canada/etc), paid the government (through import duties), and paid the record industry (when I purchased the IP on my CD), so ultimatly everyone's palms will have been greased.
Will that wad of paper, then, keep the cops at bay when they bust down my door? Will this keep the Record Industry from bending me over in front of a Court of Law? The logic is there (except for mabey a couple of holes I have ironed out yet), but Industry and Government don't always follow logical concepts.
This is primarily hypotheticle, not only would I not bother with dealing with all of the paperwork involved, but I would hate to have to defend myself in court because of a legal loophole. It is really just a wilder pondering to keep the record execs on their toes.
My question (or fear) is about the agreement when you pickup the subscription. Are they going to treat this like a rentor/rentee contract? Is this going to give them the right to revoke your program if they find you doing something that MS doesn't like: "MS Office has detected anti-MS web pages in your MSIE history. Your Office license is hearby revoked" or some non-sense like this. And once they move onto Office 11, will they stop selling subscriptions to Office 10 an force users to upgrade or lose it?
I realize that this is probably going to be flamebait, but I think I'm just asking the questions that everyone else seems to be tripping over. Sadly, I did not see anything in the Press Release that answered these kinds of questions, and I don't really forsee MS answering them until they absolutly have to.
But, then again, how quickly is it going to be before some fast thinking kid cracks the code to the subscription process and offers free subscriptions to the world? Not everyone has Internet connections, so they couldn't (or should I say shouldn't) be depending on a.NET database to maintain who has a current subscription, so the most logical solution is to store the information localaly. And again, MS looses out on more revenue because of cracked keys/CD floating around in cyber-space.
I have to admit, it is a good concept for the home user, giving them the option to pay a nominal fee for a subscription instead of the full amount. But, IMHO, there are to many questions on both sides of this issue.
Don't compare it to software the way the original poster does--new versions are upgrades, not ports.
I don't know about everyone else, but I have recieved ports from software companies as well. My original copy of Windows95 was on abou 20 floppies and did not have all of the functions that came on the CD copy. When I got the upgrade to Windows98 from M$ it came on a CD and had all of the extra functions and tools that were not available to me originally.
I think this is the kind of thing the original message was asking about. Not only did I get more functionality, but it was also ported to a new media. And all of this for a nominal fee (when compared to going out and buying a brand new copy of Windows98). I think what we're looking for is why we cannot do the same, trade in our VHS copy of a movie and get the DVD (which has more functions and is on a new media) for a cheaper price?
I bought the rights to wear these boots. As soon as they wear out I should be entitled to a new pair.
You are talking about physical items that you have purchased. The company that sold you your boots did not sell you "the right to walk in our boots," you purchased the boots. The record companies have (on more than one occasion) said that consumers are "purchasing the right to listen to the music." So, if we have a right to listen to the music (which does not have a listed expiration date... so far), why do we need to pay again for that right just because the record or tape craps out?
The Electorial College does not work
on
eLection '04
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· Score: 1
I live in Oregon, and for as long as I can remember, Oregonians have been treated as if their votes don't count. Before the polls have even had a chance to close, the networks have usually declared the new president. Before a single vote has been counted from Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, or Hawaii a new president has been declared because he has collected enough Electoral votes and no one could give a rats ass what we had to say. In many cases this causes people to give up on the whole fiasco and they end up missing out on the local measures and elections. This year Oregon went with a complete mail in ballot system, everyone mailed their ballots into the polls days before the election came about. We didn't have to put up with the last minute butt-kissing, the political hype, or any of that. For the first time I think we had the oportunity to actually vote on the issues, and not vote for the candidate with the best haircut.
This whole idea of the Electoral college changing their vote has got to be the craziest idea I have ever heard. Most states actually have a fine/jail time system built up for delegates who do not vote as they have been elected to. Besides, if anyone found out that the delegates had not voted as they should, we would probably see a series of stonings. The delegates are usually intelligent people who realize that they wouldn't survive very long after casting their ballots.
In a country where technology and communication have outgrown anything that our founding fathers could have dreamed of in their wildest dreams, I find it funny that we are using such an archaic and obsolete system as the Electoral College. It has outlived its day, the founding father's realized it would, and that is why they built in a system that allows us to make changes to the constitution. As long as we're talking about making changes to the actual ballot, I really think it's time to rethink the entire process. If you're going to fix one thing, you might as well fix it all while you're at it.
When Windows 2k came out M$ pretty much cancelled MCSE for NT 4.0 (yes, I know that you could take the test once for free etc, etc, etc, but it was still an Atomic Wedgie to the Tech-world). Does this mean we can expect another pantsing come this time next year when they start requiring a new piece of paper to say you know how to use Windows (and that you're M$'s butt-monkey)?
"We know that you paid $x to get your MCSE for NT and 2*$x for your Windows 2k MCSE, but you're just going to have to pay out of the nose like everyone else to get your Whistler Professional MCSE. But we're not in it for the money. We're just trying to keep the standard up to date."
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I think that is what this article is about. It's a way of telling spammers "I don't want spam" and putting some teeth behind it. I would love to see this happen, and there is already a precedence set for it. Now if we could just find a way of getting rid of Junk snail-Mail I would be a happy camper.
Truthfully, I think they would get rid of the CIO distinction if they could find a way of doing it without making it look like a demotion. The CECO is only a nickname we gave him so he didn't have to feel left out of the alphabet game.
From what I've seen in other companies, though, it all comes down to personal taste. Are you working primarily with information (a large Mainfram with a bunch of workstations [this seems to be a dying breed]) or mostly technology (a fair number of individual servers setup to handle specific tasks [i.e. Printing, Data, File Sharing, etc.])?
I don't think splitting the tax would be a good idea, that would create one heck of a headache when they are trying to make things easier. I can just imagine the ream of tax tables that would create.
As for verifying the location of the purchaser, all they need to do is use the billing address of the credit card the buyer uses (or the address on the check if this is a catalog order, if it's a money order or cash [like anyone is crazy enough to send cash through the mail] then it would have to fall to the mailing address). In fact, some credit card authorization software will not give an authorization code unless the address on the order matches the billing address on the card.
But that's my two cents.
Actually, I'm an Oregon resident and I can walk into any Washington store, pick up whatever I want, and I don't have to pay the sales tax. All I have to do is flash my Oregon Drivers License and they wave the tax. I've found this to be true of most (not all) states I've visited.
Will that wad of paper, then, keep the cops at bay when they bust down my door? Will this keep the Record Industry from bending me over in front of a Court of Law? The logic is there (except for mabey a couple of holes I have ironed out yet), but Industry and Government don't always follow logical concepts.
This is primarily hypotheticle, not only would I not bother with dealing with all of the paperwork involved, but I would hate to have to defend myself in court because of a legal loophole. It is really just a wilder pondering to keep the record execs on their toes.
I realize that this is probably going to be flamebait, but I think I'm just asking the questions that everyone else seems to be tripping over. Sadly, I did not see anything in the Press Release that answered these kinds of questions, and I don't really forsee MS answering them until they absolutly have to.
But, then again, how quickly is it going to be before some fast thinking kid cracks the code to the subscription process and offers free subscriptions to the world? Not everyone has Internet connections, so they couldn't (or should I say shouldn't) be depending on a .NET database to maintain who has a current subscription, so the most logical solution is to store the information localaly. And again, MS looses out on more revenue because of cracked keys/CD floating around in cyber-space.
I have to admit, it is a good concept for the home user, giving them the option to pay a nominal fee for a subscription instead of the full amount. But, IMHO, there are to many questions on both sides of this issue.
I don't know about everyone else, but I have recieved ports from software companies as well. My original copy of Windows95 was on abou 20 floppies and did not have all of the functions that came on the CD copy. When I got the upgrade to Windows98 from M$ it came on a CD and had all of the extra functions and tools that were not available to me originally.
I think this is the kind of thing the original message was asking about. Not only did I get more functionality, but it was also ported to a new media. And all of this for a nominal fee (when compared to going out and buying a brand new copy of Windows98). I think what we're looking for is why we cannot do the same, trade in our VHS copy of a movie and get the DVD (which has more functions and is on a new media) for a cheaper price?
You are talking about physical items that you have purchased. The company that sold you your boots did not sell you "the right to walk in our boots," you purchased the boots. The record companies have (on more than one occasion) said that consumers are "purchasing the right to listen to the music." So, if we have a right to listen to the music (which does not have a listed expiration date ... so far), why do we need to pay again for that right just because the record or tape craps out?
This whole idea of the Electoral college changing their vote has got to be the craziest idea I have ever heard. Most states actually have a fine/jail time system built up for delegates who do not vote as they have been elected to. Besides, if anyone found out that the delegates had not voted as they should, we would probably see a series of stonings. The delegates are usually intelligent people who realize that they wouldn't survive very long after casting their ballots.
In a country where technology and communication have outgrown anything that our founding fathers could have dreamed of in their wildest dreams, I find it funny that we are using such an archaic and obsolete system as the Electoral College. It has outlived its day, the founding father's realized it would, and that is why they built in a system that allows us to make changes to the constitution. As long as we're talking about making changes to the actual ballot, I really think it's time to rethink the entire process. If you're going to fix one thing, you might as well fix it all while you're at it.
When Windows 2k came out M$ pretty much cancelled MCSE for NT 4.0 (yes, I know that you could take the test once for free etc, etc, etc, but it was still an Atomic Wedgie to the Tech-world). Does this mean we can expect another pantsing come this time next year when they start requiring a new piece of paper to say you know how to use Windows (and that you're M$'s butt-monkey)? "We know that you paid $x to get your MCSE for NT and 2*$x for your Windows 2k MCSE, but you're just going to have to pay out of the nose like everyone else to get your Whistler Professional MCSE. But we're not in it for the money. We're just trying to keep the standard up to date."