While upgrading is convenient, won't this actually give European users a better start with Windows 7? Windows is always better when it's clean and recently installed.
At least my experience with upgrading from one version of Windows to another has been "mixed". I prefer to install from scratch.
As someone living in France, where law is created by representatives and not judges, I would like to respectfully disagreee on the 'people being less likely to get abused by the legal system' when law come fro the legislative power.
Speaking as a European lawyer I find it interesting that it's only in France that I've seen this kind of legislation survive (in any form), and there are plenty of other European countries where legislation is created by representatives. Note that I said "survive", because it has been suggested in other countries as well. I don't remember it surviving in any other countries, however please correct me if I am wrong. As far as I can see your statement is too broad and wide ranging with France as the only example. I still believe legislation created by representatives is better than courts doing so.
It probably doesnt hurt that norway is dark and encased in ice for a huge chunk of the year.
Nope. That's a simple and untrue depiction of my country. If you knew anything about Norway you would know that there is a great deal of variety from arctic Finnmark county to the summer paradise of our southern coastal regions. It's a very long country. You seem to think there's some kind of total winter darkness here? That's only in the far north, the majority of the country experiences four regular seasons. And the winters vary a lot, some regions don't even experience snow.
You do realize we do not have polar bears in our streets? The last weeks we've had great sunny days with temperatures above 86 F (30 C) - 95 F (35 C). Winters can be cold of course.
In fact the major factors behind newspaper readership in Norway is the high levels of education, grassroots political and organizational involvement. It helps living in a country where the majority of the population is college educated [for generations], and education is free. Even the least academic workers attend vocational schools here.
Also volunteering and involvement in organizations from sports clubs to the Red Cross/Lions/Kiwanis is extremely common. Everyone takes part. It helps create debate and involvement on issues and politics from local to national levels. Remember, it's a "socialist" country.
While that is true for many American newspapers it's not the same for European newspapers. And Europeans read more newspapers than the average US American (according to the int'l newspaper association).
Then again Europe is not a country and with over 47 countries there are a whole lot of variety in newspapers (and sources).
In my own country newspapers are seen as an important public function and are subsidized to support independent, varied and local reporting. It's given to support political views and cultural issues such as publishing in the regional language (official language, not dialect). Small, regional newspapers are seen as part of the democratic foundation of my country. I suppose that's why my countrymen and I read the most newspaper per capita in the world.
The GUI is plain, but works. Compiz-tuned gnome or recent KDE beats it in looks and effects but it works. The file requester is the second best I've encountered, the best being the ReqTools requester for AmigaOS 15years ago.
Here's where us techies usually get it wrong. The user does not want or need a flashy interface like Compiz, it is actually very unhelpful when what simple users need is a clear, concise and easily understandable interface.
They need fewer options, less flashy distractions and background "noise".
I use all major operating systems and hardware, I like them all, but I know how my parents and less advanced friends work. Give them less options, less flashy features.
Like many other people on Slashdot, I'm a developer, and I have strong opinions on user interfaces. I develop for a Microsoft ERP-system, Dynamics AX, one of the features I really like is the way you add custom forms and classes. All the extra windows and forms are dynamically redrawn and only use standard designs and components. They scale well and they always feel like a part of the same system. The users never get distracted by different styles and colors, and they learn/use it faster and more effectively. Of course the system was not developed by Microsoft, they just bought it from Denmark.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The EU is not a federal government, power still lies with the national governments. In fact the EU is only an association of sovereign states, a supranational state. The European Parliament is powerless, the Commission has some powers. And the EU only has 27 member countries out of 47 European countries! The EU is in NO way synonymous with Europe. This is a common mistake that many Americans make nowadays, assuming that the EU is some kind of federal government of Europe. It is most certainly not.
I wonder if abenamer even knows what SIM cards are? Does he know that they are subject to "approval" from the network? So unless he wants to send a GSM network as well they are useless. There are ways of spoofing and cloning of course, but that would also be quite simple to fix from an Iranian point of view; shut down the whole GSM phone network. Of course if they gave them satellite phones that would work! For both voice and data communications.
You do realize that European legal systems in no way compensate or award damages like American courts?
An example from my own country, Norway, if you harm yourself while walking by an icy storefront you are not entitled to any compensation for your pain and misery. You can claim actual economic loss such as the doctors bill and lost income (sick days).
If this "case" was brought to the courts it would result in a trivial amount in any currency.
We already have at least one tidal power plant operational here in Norway. We are also working on osmotic power.
Like our national oil company Statoil (state oil) that was mentioned above, our other national power company, Statkraft (state power), is innovating these kinds of projects:
So what? Norway and Iceland are not members of the EU either. In fact we're in EFTA with Switzerland. And we're also part of the Schengen area, it was not a EU project at first.
The UK and Ireland, both EU members, are not part of the Schengen agreement.
Norwegian newspapers have managed the transition and are now making almost half their money from the online version.
How did they do it? You make it free and accessible, you add services and features. Exclusive video content and articles. The online and print divisions are separate, with dedicated staff and management.
Obviously it helps that Scandinavians read more newspapers than the rest of the world, and that high-speed Internet is widely available and affordable!
Advertising is the most important revenue source, however they now make more money from services like social networking etc. People pay monthly fees for services they actually want.
So at least in Scandinavia online news will continue to be free, hopefully the US and UK will find business models that work for them.
No, this is not a case for the "EU Court of Justice" but the "European Court of Human Rights".
One is a part of the EU, the other is a non-EU Pan-European court for the European Human Rights Convention.
And the ECHR court does not accept cases that have not been tried all the way to the top in the domestic system. And even then it has to be the last option for the plaintiff.
Yes, I can detail some of it. I would like to point out exhibit A, IBAN. This is a copy of another comment I wrote.
Europe has a single system for bank transfers. It has even been adopted by other countries outside Europe (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Mauritius etc.)
"The IBAN was originally developed to facilitate payments within the European Union but the format is flexible enough to be applied globally. Customers, especially individuals and SMEs, are frequently confused by differing national standards for bank account numbers. IBAN imposes a flexible but regular format for account identification and contains validation information to avoid errors of transcription. The standard IBAN is intended to carry all the routing information needed to get a payment from one bank to another wherever it may be." Quote from Wikipedia
Please remember that Europe has 47 countries, at least that many languages, different currencies and still we have a working system. Why are American banks not doing something similar, perhaps because they make more money by not?
My American friends that live in the US and here in Europe have shared their experiences, that's why I feel we have major differences in our systems. Even just sending money to a friend in the US is a hassle.
I have always found it rather odd that cheques are still in use in the US. In my part of the world debit cards are the norm, I only use credit cards for company expenses. In fact I hardly even touch cash. My paycheck is transferred automatically to my account, the last time I went to a bank was to sign for my car loan (horrible taxes on cars). And even that will soon be gone due to the government's Digital Signatures Act. Tax returns are automatic, employers provide the information. And so most people just receive an SMS stating their returns, if they have additional information they can log on and change it using their digital ID. The paragraph above was just my personal experience as an illustration, do you have a similar system?
Which i would LOVE to see come to the US in a meaningful way. Not likely to happen soon though.
Well, it might happen sooner rather than later.
From Wikipedia: "Banks in the United States do not provide IBAN format account numbers. Any adoption of the IBAN standard by U.S. banks would likely be initiated by ANSI ASC X9, the U.S. financial services standards development organization but to date it has not done so. Hence payments to U.S. bank accounts from outside the U.S. are prone to errors of routing."
I did make you eat your words regarding #6;)
Yes, geopolitical Europe can be said to include parts of European Russia, Turkey, Caucasus etc. It's never been defined definitively.
You might have 528 million people living on the North American continent, but the difference is that European countries actually work together today;)
And we are still more people than you, so why is your size such a problem like you claimed in #6?
We have even more barriers with multiple currencies, languages, different legal systems etc. Despite the enormous numbers and barriers we have working solutions. I think you should have even less problems creating a working system for the US at least!
The US is bigger than any single European country and like getting the entire EU on a single system, getting the US to change a working (if imperfect) financial system doesn't happen overnight.
Actually Europe does have a single system for bank transfers (IBAN). It's even been adopted by other countries outside Europe (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Mauritius etc.)
"The IBAN was originally developed to facilitate payments within the European Union but the format is flexible enough to be applied globally. Customers, especially individuals and SMEs, are frequently confused by differing national standards for bank account numbers. IBAN imposes a flexible but regular format for account identification and contains validation information to avoid errors of transcription. The standard IBAN is intended to carry all the routing information needed to get a payment from one bank to another wherever it may be."
Europe has over 700 million citizens, compared with just 300 million Americans. The US being "larger" geographically and united under one government is an argument in favor of making it happen! Europe has 47 countries, at least that many languages, different currencies and still we managed to agree on something.
Read my comment again, I never once claimed anything related to security.
My point was that I found it strange to have to use a third party to pay your bills. I never said it was safer, just simpler and more effective. It would however reduce the number of potential unsafe websites you have to visit to get your business done.
European banks work closer together from what I have read (and experienced), transfers are more easily done between banks and countries now than at any time before. That's a good thing, and I think Americans should have access to the same. Why the rant about "unsafe" banks?
P.S. I love the fact that banks from my country are less accessible [in practice] for foreign hackers and phishing because we don't use a major international language (Norwegian). It makes all those phishing mails instantly recognizable as fake, and if you do fall for an English speaking email from "your" bank you deserve to get robbed. And, no, you can't translate using an online tool at least not for writing that phishing email...:)
There certainly are major differences between the US and Europe in terms of banking. I have never even heard of a "bill paying" service before, when I want to pay my bills I log on to my bank.
In fact I don't actually receive invoices in the mail any longer, they're all automatically available in my bank regardless of what bank I use or who sent the invoice. And I don't mean PDFs in the email either, I'm one click away from paying/scheduling the bill.
It's probably another case of Americans getting screwed by their own banks because they can. If we can create unitary and open banking systems in Europe, why can't American consumers have access to the same?
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While upgrading is convenient, won't this actually give European users a better start with Windows 7? Windows is always better when it's clean and recently installed.
At least my experience with upgrading from one version of Windows to another has been "mixed". I prefer to install from scratch.
As someone living in France, where law is created by representatives and not judges, I would like to respectfully disagreee on the 'people being less likely to get abused by the legal system' when law come fro the legislative power.
Speaking as a European lawyer I find it interesting that it's only in France that I've seen this kind of legislation survive (in any form), and there are plenty of other European countries where legislation is created by representatives.
Note that I said "survive", because it has been suggested in other countries as well. I don't remember it surviving in any other countries, however please correct me if I am wrong.
As far as I can see your statement is too broad and wide ranging with France as the only example. I still believe legislation created by representatives is better than courts doing so.
It probably doesnt hurt that norway is dark and encased in ice for a huge chunk of the year.
Nope. That's a simple and untrue depiction of my country. If you knew anything about Norway you would know that there is a great deal of variety from arctic Finnmark county to the summer paradise of our southern coastal regions. It's a very long country. You seem to think there's some kind of total winter darkness here? That's only in the far north, the majority of the country experiences four regular seasons. And the winters vary a lot, some regions don't even experience snow.
You do realize we do not have polar bears in our streets? The last weeks we've had great sunny days with temperatures above 86 F (30 C) - 95 F (35 C). Winters can be cold of course.
In fact the major factors behind newspaper readership in Norway is the high levels of education, grassroots political and organizational involvement. It helps living in a country where the majority of the population is college educated [for generations], and education is free. Even the least academic workers attend vocational schools here.
Also volunteering and involvement in organizations from sports clubs to the Red Cross/Lions/Kiwanis is extremely common. Everyone takes part. It helps create debate and involvement on issues and politics from local to national levels. Remember, it's a "socialist" country.
While that is true for many American newspapers it's not the same for European newspapers. And Europeans read more newspapers than the average US American (according to the int'l newspaper association).
Then again Europe is not a country and with over 47 countries there are a whole lot of variety in newspapers (and sources).
In my own country newspapers are seen as an important public function and are subsidized to support independent, varied and local reporting. It's given to support political views and cultural issues such as publishing in the regional language (official language, not dialect). Small, regional newspapers are seen as part of the democratic foundation of my country. I suppose that's why my countrymen and I read the most newspaper per capita in the world.
Is that you Michael Dell?
Here's where us techies usually get it wrong. The user does not want or need a flashy interface like Compiz, it is actually very unhelpful when what simple users need is a clear, concise and easily understandable interface.
They need fewer options, less flashy distractions and background "noise".
I use all major operating systems and hardware, I like them all, but I know how my parents and less advanced friends work. Give them less options, less flashy features.
Like many other people on Slashdot, I'm a developer, and I have strong opinions on user interfaces. I develop for a Microsoft ERP-system, Dynamics AX, one of the features I really like is the way you add custom forms and classes. All the extra windows and forms are dynamically redrawn and only use standard designs and components. They scale well and they always feel like a part of the same system. The users never get distracted by different styles and colors, and they learn/use it faster and more effectively. Of course the system was not developed by Microsoft, they just bought it from Denmark.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The EU is not a federal government, power still lies with the national governments. In fact the EU is only an association of sovereign states, a supranational state.
The European Parliament is powerless, the Commission has some powers.
And the EU only has 27 member countries out of 47 European countries! The EU is in NO way synonymous with Europe.
This is a common mistake that many Americans make nowadays, assuming that the EU is some kind of federal government of Europe. It is most certainly not.
I wonder if abenamer even knows what SIM cards are? Does he know that they are subject to "approval" from the network? So unless he wants to send a GSM network as well they are useless. There are ways of spoofing and cloning of course, but that would also be quite simple to fix from an Iranian point of view; shut down the whole GSM phone network. Of course if they gave them satellite phones that would work! For both voice and data communications.
You do realize that European legal systems in no way compensate or award damages like American courts?
An example from my own country, Norway, if you harm yourself while walking by an icy storefront you are not entitled to any compensation for your pain and misery. You can claim actual economic loss such as the doctors bill and lost income (sick days).
If this "case" was brought to the courts it would result in a trivial amount in any currency.
According to StatoilHydro "the floating structure consists of a steel jacket filled with ballast. This floating element will extend 100 metres beneath the surface and will be fastened to the seabed by three anchor piles".
There are plenty of details and videos about the project on their website:
http://www.statoilhydro.com/en/TechnologyInnovation/NewEnergy/RenewablePowerProduction/Onshore/Pages/Karmoy.aspx
We already have at least one tidal power plant operational here in Norway. We are also working on osmotic power.
Like our national oil company Statoil (state oil) that was mentioned above, our other national power company, Statkraft (state power), is innovating these kinds of projects:
Tidal power project
Osmotic power installation
In fact I can go further and inform you that Swiss law is the only real issue here.
Switzerland did not enter into the EEA-agreement and only has bilateral agreements with the EU on trade etc.
All EU related law is processed by the EFTA Court (not the EU equivalent).
The Schengen agreement only relates to travel.
See more at http://www.efta.int/
The UK and Ireland, both EU members, are not part of the Schengen agreement.
The countries featured on the Euro coins are Sweden and Finland because Norway does not want to become a member of the EU.
Norwegian newspapers have managed the transition and are now making almost half their money from the online version.
How did they do it? You make it free and accessible, you add services and features. Exclusive video content and articles. The online and print divisions are separate, with dedicated staff and management.
Obviously it helps that Scandinavians read more newspapers than the rest of the world, and that high-speed Internet is widely available and affordable!
Advertising is the most important revenue source, however they now make more money from services like social networking etc. People pay monthly fees for services they actually want.
So at least in Scandinavia online news will continue to be free, hopefully the US and UK will find business models that work for them.
Here are my sources:
http://whatsnewmedia.org/2007/09/23/newspaper-v-internet-if-you-cant-beat-âem-join-âem/
http://abluteau.wordpress.com/2009/04/01/european-newspapers-find-creative-ways-to-thrive-in-the-internet-age/
Hey, they thanked the US for the inspiration a long time ago!
Remember, they sent that statue to New York to remind you how much they liked your ideals.
P.S. The French don't use the Anglo-American Common Law system, so the similarities end here (with regards to litigation).
.
No, this is not a case for the "EU Court of Justice" but the "European Court of Human Rights".
One is a part of the EU, the other is a non-EU Pan-European court for the European Human Rights Convention.
And the ECHR court does not accept cases that have not been tried all the way to the top in the domestic system. And even then it has to be the last option for the plaintiff.
Old news! They're already building the first European 4G network in Oslo, Norway (TeliaSonera).
Currently the EU has ca. 500 million people, while Europe as a whole has closer to 700 million citizens.
Did somebody buy his award, or was the committee having a joke like when they gave awards to Kissinger and Arafat?
That's not the same committee as we are talking about here. The Norwegian parliament hands out the Peace Prize, the Swedes have all the others.
It's all explained here.
Yes, I can detail some of it. I would like to point out exhibit A, IBAN. This is a copy of another comment I wrote.
Europe has a single system for bank transfers. It has even been adopted by other countries outside Europe (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Mauritius etc.)
"The IBAN was originally developed to facilitate payments within the European Union but the format is flexible enough to be applied globally. Customers, especially individuals and SMEs, are frequently confused by differing national standards for bank account numbers. IBAN imposes a flexible but regular format for account identification and contains validation information to avoid errors of transcription. The standard IBAN is intended to carry all the routing information needed to get a payment from one bank to another wherever it may be." Quote from Wikipedia
Please remember that Europe has 47 countries, at least that many languages, different currencies and still we have a working system. Why are American banks not doing something similar, perhaps because they make more money by not?
My American friends that live in the US and here in Europe have shared their experiences, that's why I feel we have major differences in our systems. Even just sending money to a friend in the US is a hassle.
I have always found it rather odd that cheques are still in use in the US. In my part of the world debit cards are the norm, I only use credit cards for company expenses. In fact I hardly even touch cash. My paycheck is transferred automatically to my account, the last time I went to a bank was to sign for my car loan (horrible taxes on cars). And even that will soon be gone due to the government's Digital Signatures Act. Tax returns are automatic, employers provide the information. And so most people just receive an SMS stating their returns, if they have additional information they can log on and change it using their digital ID. The paragraph above was just my personal experience as an illustration, do you have a similar system?
Well, it might happen sooner rather than later.
From Wikipedia: "Banks in the United States do not provide IBAN format account numbers. Any adoption of the IBAN standard by U.S. banks would likely be initiated by ANSI ASC X9, the U.S. financial services standards development organization but to date it has not done so. Hence payments to U.S. bank accounts from outside the U.S. are prone to errors of routing."
I did make you eat your words regarding #6 ;)
Yes, geopolitical Europe can be said to include parts of European Russia, Turkey, Caucasus etc. It's never been defined definitively.
You might have 528 million people living on the North American continent, but the difference is that European countries actually work together today ;)
And we are still more people than you, so why is your size such a problem like you claimed in #6?
We have even more barriers with multiple currencies, languages, different legal systems etc. Despite the enormous numbers and barriers we have working solutions. I think you should have even less problems creating a working system for the US at least!
Actually Europe does have a single system for bank transfers (IBAN). It's even been adopted by other countries outside Europe (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Mauritius etc.)
"The IBAN was originally developed to facilitate payments within the European Union but the format is flexible enough to be applied globally. Customers, especially individuals and SMEs, are frequently confused by differing national standards for bank account numbers. IBAN imposes a flexible but regular format for account identification and contains validation information to avoid errors of transcription. The standard IBAN is intended to carry all the routing information needed to get a payment from one bank to another wherever it may be."
Europe has over 700 million citizens, compared with just 300 million Americans. The US being "larger" geographically and united under one government is an argument in favor of making it happen! Europe has 47 countries, at least that many languages, different currencies and still we managed to agree on something.
Read my comment again, I never once claimed anything related to security.
My point was that I found it strange to have to use a third party to pay your bills. I never said it was safer, just simpler and more effective. It would however reduce the number of potential unsafe websites you have to visit to get your business done.
European banks work closer together from what I have read (and experienced), transfers are more easily done between banks and countries now than at any time before. That's a good thing, and I think Americans should have access to the same. Why the rant about "unsafe" banks?
P.S. I love the fact that banks from my country are less accessible [in practice] for foreign hackers and phishing because we don't use a major international language (Norwegian). It makes all those phishing mails instantly recognizable as fake, and if you do fall for an English speaking email from "your" bank you deserve to get robbed. And, no, you can't translate using an online tool at least not for writing that phishing email... :)
There certainly are major differences between the US and Europe in terms of banking. I have never even heard of a "bill paying" service before, when I want to pay my bills I log on to my bank.
In fact I don't actually receive invoices in the mail any longer, they're all automatically available in my bank regardless of what bank I use or who sent the invoice. And I don't mean PDFs in the email either, I'm one click away from paying/scheduling the bill.
It's probably another case of Americans getting screwed by their own banks because they can. If we can create unitary and open banking systems in Europe, why can't American consumers have access to the same?