Remember that income tax isn't the only tax the Federal government collects. The Libertarian position is that duties and excise taxes would be sufficient to cover the Federal functions that are allowed by the constitution.
$25-50 billion could easily be covered by duties alone. Keep in mind though that if the Federal government was smaller, we would have to have a whole new model for our society. It's all do-able but can be scary if you don't have a plan for the transition. For example, if the government isn't fixing the roads, somebody has to do it. And somebody has to be paid to do it. That means some sort of sytem where people that want to use the roads have to kick in for repairs. This could be overseen by state and local governments, but I would like to see some sort of private model.
The point is, state and local governments can still do what they want. If Libertarians are everywhere then damn near everything gets privatized. That means competition. Nobody is competing with the government in most areas so people in government bureaucracies have no real incentive to be efficient. In the private sector, you can't get away with that for long because somebody leaner and meaner will have you for breakfast.
Flaming seems to be a way of defending/establishing a person's psychic-verbal territory. Primates will repel invaders with physical attacks and by throwing feces at invaders. I believe flames and other ad hominem attacks are the verbal equivalents of throwing feces.
I think the Mr. Murdoch (from Dark City?) asks a legitimate question. He clearly smells which way the wind is blowing. It isn't over a field of daisies.
However, I also have to agree that openness is the only way to win. As long as software writers can be the David vs. the corporate Goliath, we have a chance to sway public opinion. There are two problems to overcome. The first is that the people with political power owe their position to the people with money, i.e. korporate Amerika. The good news is that politcians have to pay attention to public opinion.
The other piece of bad news is that the general public doesn't have a lot of sympathy for techies. We could easily become the modern equivalent of Salem witches if someone with enough juice decided to push the right buttons.
That brings us back to openness. People distrust what they can't see. People also believe what they see in the media. I'm sure the average person believes that a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and writes viruses. Writing underground software is only going to further those misconceptions.
That said, we could really be headed for a dystopia a la Shadowrun. I know that I won't be working for a megacorp. I could be asking these same questions in a few years.
I disagree with the author's definition of what an operating system is. Well, he is a Mac person, so his brain is probably atrophied from lack of use.
Still, even if you accept his definition of what an operating system is, don't most *nix distributions come with a GUI and a browser etc? All commercial Unices come with some form of CDE or something like it. All major prepackaged Linux distributions come with X and enough software to choke a horse. Just because they are not nailed to the kernel doesn't make *nix any less of an operating system by his definition.
The modularity found in *nices is a superior design. Who wants everything integrated. When one part fails it all fails. Any audiophile will tell you that a separate tuner/preamp/amp setup is better than a reciever. And don't get me started on integrated video chipsets on motherboards. Puh-leeeeze!
Mossberg makes some valid criticisms. The lack of a wireless standard has been a big handicap to innovation here. He doesn't, however, take into account our geographical and cultural disadvantages.
When I decided on which PCS phone to buy, I had to see what areas were covered and try to pick the one that covered most of the placed I'd be. The US has a fairly low popluation density compared to Europe or Japan. That means that more wireless towers have to be built to cover more real estate but with fewer subscribers to pay back those costs.
Tokyo has millions of people within a few square miles. You could say the same about a few major metropolitan areas in the US, but most of the people in the US don't live in NYC, LA or Chicago. Try getting really cool wireless stuff in Wisconsin. I wanted to get a Sprint or Primeco phone but they had gaps where I needed coverage. Instead I bought a PCS from a local carrier that doesn't have a hell of a lot of coverage, but covers the spots I really need. Oh, and I can get stock quotes or sports score off my Nokia. Ho, hum. I want broadband wireless data, dammit.
I have to agree that the lack of a standard is a big problem. Unfortunately our culture seems to incorporate a strange amalgamation of anarchy and fascism. We want absolutes but can't agree on what those absolutes are. We have software companies that "embrace and extend" standards until you can't get a decent web browser anymore. It's not surprising that wireless data is a fragmented mess.
I think this response was a bit harsh. Yeah, let's dump on the corporate programmers who are trying to bring free software into wider use. I think I read that in the Linux Advocacy HOW-TO.
The article said something about corporations being mainly concerned this enriching their shareholders. As a shareholder in a few companies, I can say that corporations are doing a better job of enriching their CEO's than the shareholders. If the minimum wage went up as fast as CEO pay, you could get $22/hour for flipping burgers at Mac 'n' Don's.
It also said that the era of the megacorp is killing magic. I disagree. There is more magic in the world than ever. Have you seen how many "new age" publications and websites there are now? Plus, everything gives rise to its opposite. The stultifying corporate culture will eventually engender more creativity to combat it. It's the way of the Tao.
I think the UCITA and these bogus software licenses can only help open source software. It may take a few months or a year, but sooner or later we're going to see articles on FUDNet about unhappy consumers. When word starts to get out, more and more people and companies will be flocking to open source software.
Further, I haven't seen much closed source software that doesn't have an open source analog. Obviously there are going to be programs that people need that don't have OS equivalents. The people that need them will get screwed. Maybe that will spur more OS projects.
And, how many times in the last year have we seen a headline like "Linux: Not Ready for the Desktop." That's bullshit. I've been using Linux as a desktop almost exclusively for over 2 years. It keeps getting friendlier. After my latest Linux install (I tried SUSE 6.4 this time), I realized that it is now easier to install Linux than that "operating system" from Redmond.
I don't support these licensing shenanigans either, but when life hands you lemons.....
I can only speak from my own experience. I got my first programming job at 29. I'm now 32 and I think I still have a lot of opportunities ahead of me.
I live in the midwest and work in the IS department of a major university. I'm pretty sure you won't find any age discrimination in academia. Of course, I'm not making the same money I would in the private sector.
It's my impression that Silicon Valley is somewhat different. I wouldn't worry about it though. If you have 20+ years of experience, there will be opportunities. If worse comes to worst, there's always management.
We use a program called Keystone to do bug tracking in various products. Keystone uses a mySQL back end and PHP to drive the web pages. It's not as feature-rich as something like Clarify, but it gives you the ability to manage bug reports.
I think the use of the word murder here is an example of the type of rhetoric Katz was complaining about. And religions haven't exactly shirked from murder when it suited them. Look at the Inquisition, the Crusades, the purge of the Albigensians, etc. Also, by definition, terminally ill newborns will not go on to lead productive lives.
The Wired article mentions that conservationists have raised the same point. It is a good point, however you could look at it another way.
$20-30M would be a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to conserve everything. On the other hand, we could invest the money in cloning technologies and keeping as many DNA samples as possible. If we did that, we would always be able to re-populate species.
My point is that the cloning idea seems like more of a forward-looking approach. True, there is the risk of it not working. I think it's worth a try.
I believe the decline in CD sales has more to do with the outrageous prices and the lack of interesting music than with MP3's.
I got into the CD revolution fairly late in the game. I got my first CD player in 1992. Since then I have purchased a little over 200 cds. I figure that's about a $2500 investment. A CD can't cost more than a few pennies to produce. They don't pay that much to the artist. So who is making the money here? Probably the stores and the record labels.
A CD club can sell you CD's for $3-4 each and I know that includes royalties to the artists. They are still making a profit. That means that the $12.00 CD I got at Best Buy (with the inevitable cracked case) was overpriced by $8.00.
I can tell you that I would like to own a couple of hundred more CD's. There is a lot of good music out there (This isn't a rant about the unimaginative "alternative" bands that get the airplay) but I can't afford to shell out thousands of dollars for CD's.
I have been using Red Hat Linux since 5.0. I chose RH because everyone I knew was using it. Now with all the buggy RPM's and all the business deals Red Hat has been making, I am starting to see some disturbing parallels.
Unfortunately, Red Hat is still one of the better distributions and I really don't want to rework my whole file system to accomodate another distro.
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Remember that income tax isn't the only tax the Federal government collects. The Libertarian position is that duties and excise taxes would be sufficient to cover the Federal functions that are allowed by the constitution.
$25-50 billion could easily be covered by duties alone. Keep in mind though that if the Federal government was smaller, we would have to have a whole new model for our society. It's all do-able but can be scary if you don't have a plan for the transition. For example, if the government isn't fixing the roads, somebody has to do it. And somebody has to be paid to do it. That means some sort of sytem where people that want to use the roads have to kick in for repairs. This could be overseen by state and local governments, but I would like to see some sort of private model.
The point is, state and local governments can still do what they want. If Libertarians are everywhere then damn near everything gets privatized. That means competition. Nobody is competing with the government in most areas so people in government bureaucracies have no real incentive to be efficient. In the private sector, you can't get away with that for long because somebody leaner and meaner will have you for breakfast.
tell them about my customers Jack Meoff, Heywood Jablowme, Hugh Jorgens etc.
Flaming seems to be a way of defending/establishing a person's psychic-verbal territory. Primates will repel invaders with physical attacks and by throwing feces at invaders. I believe flames and other ad hominem attacks are the verbal equivalents of throwing feces.
Just a thought.
I think the Mr. Murdoch (from Dark City?) asks a legitimate question. He clearly smells which way the wind is blowing. It isn't over a field of daisies.
However, I also have to agree that openness is the only way to win. As long as software writers can be the David vs. the corporate Goliath, we have a chance to sway public opinion. There are two problems to overcome. The first is that the people with political power owe their position to the people with money, i.e. korporate Amerika. The good news is that politcians have to pay attention to public opinion.
The other piece of bad news is that the general public doesn't have a lot of sympathy for techies. We could easily become the modern equivalent of Salem witches if someone with enough juice decided to push the right buttons.
That brings us back to openness. People distrust what they can't see. People also believe what they see in the media. I'm sure the average person believes that a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and writes viruses. Writing underground software is only going to further those misconceptions.
That said, we could really be headed for a dystopia a la Shadowrun. I know that I won't be working for a megacorp. I could be asking these same questions in a few years.
I disagree with the author's definition of what an operating system is. Well, he is a Mac person, so his brain is probably atrophied from lack of use.
Still, even if you accept his definition of what an operating system is, don't most *nix distributions come with a GUI and a browser etc? All commercial Unices come with some form of CDE or something like it. All major prepackaged Linux distributions come with X and enough software to choke a horse. Just because they are not nailed to the kernel doesn't make *nix any less of an operating system by his definition.
The modularity found in *nices is a superior design. Who wants everything integrated. When one part fails it all fails. Any audiophile will tell you that a separate tuner/preamp/amp setup is better than a reciever. And don't get me started on integrated video chipsets on motherboards. Puh-leeeeze!
Mossberg makes some valid criticisms. The lack of a wireless standard has been a big handicap to innovation here. He doesn't, however, take into account our geographical and cultural disadvantages.
When I decided on which PCS phone to buy, I had to see what areas were covered and try to pick the one that covered most of the placed I'd be. The US has a fairly low popluation density compared to Europe or Japan. That means that more wireless towers have to be built to cover more real estate but with fewer subscribers to pay back those costs.
Tokyo has millions of people within a few square miles. You could say the same about a few major metropolitan areas in the US, but most of the people in the US don't live in NYC, LA or Chicago. Try getting really cool wireless stuff in Wisconsin. I wanted to get a Sprint or Primeco phone but they had gaps where I needed coverage. Instead I bought a PCS from a local carrier that doesn't have a hell of a lot of coverage, but covers the spots I really need. Oh, and I can get stock quotes or sports score off my Nokia. Ho, hum. I want broadband wireless data, dammit.
I have to agree that the lack of a standard is a big problem. Unfortunately our culture seems to incorporate a strange amalgamation of anarchy and fascism. We want absolutes but can't agree on what those absolutes are. We have software companies that "embrace and extend" standards until you can't get a decent web browser anymore. It's not surprising that wireless data is a fragmented mess.
I think this response was a bit harsh. Yeah, let's dump on the corporate programmers who are trying to bring free software into wider use. I think I read that in the Linux Advocacy HOW-TO.
People will believe anything because they want it to be true or are afraid it might be true.
Something to keep in mind when reading anything on the net (or in a newspaper). Even smart people can be fooled.
I'd like to quibble with two points.
The article said something about corporations being mainly concerned this enriching their shareholders. As a shareholder in a few companies, I can say that corporations are doing a better job of enriching their CEO's than the shareholders. If the minimum wage went up as fast as CEO pay, you could get $22/hour for flipping burgers at Mac 'n' Don's.
It also said that the era of the megacorp is killing magic. I disagree. There is more magic in the world than ever. Have you seen how many "new age" publications and websites there are now? Plus, everything gives rise to its opposite. The stultifying corporate culture will eventually engender more creativity to combat it. It's the way of the Tao.
I think the UCITA and these bogus software licenses can only help open source software. It may take a few months or a year, but sooner or later we're going to see articles on FUDNet about unhappy consumers. When word starts to get out, more and more people and companies will be flocking to open source software.
Further, I haven't seen much closed source software that doesn't have an open source analog. Obviously there are going to be programs that people need that don't have OS equivalents. The people that need them will get screwed. Maybe that will spur more OS projects.
And, how many times in the last year have we seen a headline like "Linux: Not Ready for the Desktop." That's bullshit. I've been using Linux as a desktop almost exclusively for over 2 years. It keeps getting friendlier. After my latest Linux install (I tried SUSE 6.4 this time), I realized that it is now easier to install Linux than that "operating system" from Redmond.
I don't support these licensing shenanigans either, but when life hands you lemons.....
I can only speak from my own experience. I got my first programming job at 29. I'm now 32 and I think I still have a lot of opportunities ahead of me.
I live in the midwest and work in the IS department of a major university. I'm pretty sure you won't find any age discrimination in academia. Of course, I'm not making the same money I would in the private sector.
It's my impression that Silicon Valley is somewhat different. I wouldn't worry about it though. If you have 20+ years of experience, there will be opportunities. If worse comes to worst, there's always management.
We use a program called Keystone to do bug tracking in various products. Keystone uses a mySQL back end and PHP to drive the web pages. It's not as feature-rich as something like Clarify, but it gives you the ability to manage bug reports.
I thought I read somewhere that the crystal skulls turned out to be a hoax. They were apparently made using modern carving techniques.
Sorry I don't have any links handy.
I think the use of the word murder here is an example of the type of rhetoric Katz was complaining about. And religions haven't exactly shirked from murder when it suited them. Look at the Inquisition, the Crusades, the purge of the Albigensians, etc. Also, by definition, terminally ill newborns will not go on to lead productive lives.
The Wired article mentions that conservationists have raised the same point. It is a good point, however you could look at it another way.
$20-30M would be a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to conserve everything. On the other hand, we could invest the money in cloning technologies and keeping as many DNA samples as possible. If we did that, we would always be able to re-populate species.
My point is that the cloning idea seems like more of a forward-looking approach. True, there is the risk of it not working. I think it's worth a try.
I thought this was a wonderful parody, but as I read it, I kept having nagging doubts that maybe this person was serious.
When I saw the Inquisition graphic I thought, okay, definitely parody. Then after all the bible quotes I began to doubt that hypothesis.
If this guy is serious, he is a poster child for intolerance and religious bigotry. Thank God I'm an atheist!
I think the best thing about the site is its ambiguity. Real or parody? Does it matter?
I believe the decline in CD sales has more to do with the outrageous prices and the lack of interesting music than with MP3's.
I got into the CD revolution fairly late in the game. I got my first CD player in 1992. Since then I have purchased a little over 200 cds. I figure that's about a $2500 investment. A CD can't cost more than a few pennies to produce. They don't pay that much to the artist. So who is making the money here? Probably the stores and the record labels.
A CD club can sell you CD's for $3-4 each and I know that includes royalties to the artists. They are still making a profit. That means that the $12.00 CD I got at Best Buy (with the inevitable cracked case) was overpriced by $8.00.
I can tell you that I would like to own a couple of hundred more CD's. There is a lot of good music out there (This isn't a rant about the unimaginative "alternative" bands that get the airplay) but I can't afford to shell out thousands of dollars for CD's.
I have been using Red Hat Linux since 5.0. I chose RH because everyone I knew was using it. Now with all the buggy RPM's and all the business deals Red Hat has been making, I am starting to see some disturbing parallels.
Unfortunately, Red Hat is still one of the better distributions and I really don't want to rework my whole file system to accomodate another distro.