Expensive is relative. In the U.S., I would say that it is pretty cheap at the meter, most people can pay for their monthly electric with ~1/2 or 1 days wages. The conveniences provided save a great deal more time than that(each month).
Not song and dance. 40 greater than 16. Not shareholder. Not employee. Mild exposure through S&P500 index fund. Trying desperately to cure you of your inability to understand. Failing.
(Last year net invested in company this year->profit disappear)
There are about 9 billion shares outstanding, and there has been the entire time they have been paying dividends, so we can calculate that they have given ~$40 billion dollars to shareholders since 2003.
Earlier, you complained that their cash on hand went from $50 billion to $17 billion, a decrease of $33 billion dollars, and used that to claim that they were not showing a profit. I am pointing out that they have taken more than that $33 billion off of their balance sheet in a way that is good for shareholders(this is what a dividend does, it transfers assets from the company to the shareholders), so you can't use that number to show that they are doing some sort of tricky accounting.
If you total up their net income over that same period(2003-2006):
You end up with another $40 billion dollars. So out of $90 billion(your 50 on hand and my 40 in income), it is easy to account for the $40 billion in dividends paid, and the $34 billion that they had in cash and short term assets at the end of fiscal 2006, a total of $74 billion.
That leaves at least $16 billion to figure out what happened to(more if you want to factor in income before 2003), but that's a good deal less than the $40 billion that shareholders got paid(If shareholders had got paid $24 billion, there wouldn't be anything to figure out), so it doesn't demonstrate a loss(just some potential imprudence). It wouldn't be all that shocking for a $200+ billion dollar company to invest $16 billion back in itself over 4 years(or so, maybe more, over a longer period), so I wouldn't sweat it.
What it amounts to is that Microsoft is among the most profitable companies in the world. Their growth is amazing; they add as much new business each quarter as Google is adding in a year, but they are already so big, no one notices.
There are more than 9 billion shares of Microsoft outstanding; in 2004 they paid a special dividend of $3 a share; that's a $27 billion reduction in cash at hand that went straight to shareholders, not tricky accounting. Do I need to go on?
It's only dilutive if Yahoo! is worth less than $45 Billion. The drop in the stock price is an indicator that some people think so(especially short term).
They currently have ~$1 billion a month in cash coming in, so even if it is a complete failure, they will have paid for it in a year or three.
For all the stupid shit people in the US say and do, complaining about the people who say "hey, we are the best at this-specific-game", when they are in fact the best at that specific game is just over the top.
Also, baseball is remarkably popular in Japan, the Caribbean, and various countries in Central and South Americas. I find it terribly boring to watch, but I had a lot of fun playing baseball as a kid.
The first time I flew after 9/11, I wondered if the National Guardsmen with M16's were really planning on shooting anything. I was checked for explosive residue once, and my bag was searched, but I didn't think they did a very good job. The M16's were intimidating, in an off putting way. The other stuff seemed crazy.
The second time I flew after 9/11, I was somewhat amused that I had to take my shoes off but didn't even really notice the TSA people. Sure, they were there putting on their serious act, but they had it down, and things moved along smoothly.
Maybe comparing 1 US airport to 1 French airport does not a survey make.
So put #!/usr/bin/python2.6 or whatever in your scripts and don't worry about it for 5 years(probably much longer, due to the significant changes, 2.6 will probably last nearly forever, or at least until basically nobody is using it anywhere).
Or does Ubuntu launch things based on file extensions?
They think that they can improve management at Yahoo! to the extent that, over an extended period, they will make more money than the deal is costing them.
It's tangentially about putting Google out of business; not for the emotional satisfaction or to prove they are better, but because Google makes a lot of money, and that is something Microsoft likes to do, so they tend to always be looking for ways to do it.
The phrase was OK until idiots misunderstood it and shortened it. It's about things like customer perception of value being at least as important as actual value, because if the customer can't see the value, they are going to make the same decision that they would make if the value weren't there.
And, since you missed the point, sure, the tree falling will cause vibrations, but is that all sound is?
Paying for it probably won't be a problem(If you spend a lot of money, you spend a smaller, yet still significant some making sure that the contract is 'good', which largely means very specific), but the time it takes for somebody to get out there and actually do it, who knows.
I don't find it shocking that fine motor control is involved in activities related to fine motor control(which seems to be all the article is saying, somebody should tell me if I am reading it wrong). There are lots of advantages in fine motor control in a world without tools, so the body part of the equation isn't that interesting to me.
So, to me, the question is, is developing the ability to model the world and manipulate the model rather than the real world advantageous. It happens to be for humans(because we are social, understanding others is a huge advantage) and crows(because of the niche they occupy, 'cleverness' is a big deal for them as far as how much food they have available). We both live in situations where having a better model(bigger, finer, etc.), or being able to manipulate it more accurately(or more), result in advantages over others.
If you accept that such a model, one that was insufficient for tools, could exist and confer an advantage in a given niche, and if you view tools as a very fine manipulation of a very accurate model, you end up with a decent gradual explanation.
Check out "The Nurture Assumption" by Judith Rich Harris. It's controversial, but it contains the most coherent explanation of why human intelligence emerged that I have seen.
Slashdot Mirror
Expensive is relative. In the U.S., I would say that it is pretty cheap at the meter, most people can pay for their monthly electric with ~1/2 or 1 days wages. The conveniences provided save a great deal more time than that(each month).
Look here:
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY08/earn_rel_q2_08.mspx#cash
Not song and dance. 40 greater than 16. Not shareholder. Not employee. Mild exposure through S&P500 index fund. Trying desperately to cure you of your inability to understand. Failing.
(Last year net invested in company this year->profit disappear)
Apparently too hard for you...
Or is demodratic in there to help fix the election?
Well no, it can't be sustained, but there isn't any intention to sustain it, it was a one time thing to move that money off of their balance sheet.
Anyway, here is a page listing all the dividends Microsoft has paid to shareholders:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=MSFT&a=02&b=13&c=1986&d=01&e=3&f=2008&g=v
There are about 9 billion shares outstanding, and there has been the entire time they have been paying dividends, so we can calculate that they have given ~$40 billion dollars to shareholders since 2003.
Earlier, you complained that their cash on hand went from $50 billion to $17 billion, a decrease of $33 billion dollars, and used that to claim that they were not showing a profit. I am pointing out that they have taken more than that $33 billion off of their balance sheet in a way that is good for shareholders(this is what a dividend does, it transfers assets from the company to the shareholders), so you can't use that number to show that they are doing some sort of tricky accounting.
If you total up their net income over that same period(2003-2006):
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/reports/ar06/staticversion/10k_fh_fin.html
You end up with another $40 billion dollars. So out of $90 billion(your 50 on hand and my 40 in income), it is easy to account for the $40 billion in dividends paid, and the $34 billion that they had in cash and short term assets at the end of fiscal 2006, a total of $74 billion.
That leaves at least $16 billion to figure out what happened to(more if you want to factor in income before 2003), but that's a good deal less than the $40 billion that shareholders got paid(If shareholders had got paid $24 billion, there wouldn't be anything to figure out), so it doesn't demonstrate a loss(just some potential imprudence). It wouldn't be all that shocking for a $200+ billion dollar company to invest $16 billion back in itself over 4 years(or so, maybe more, over a longer period), so I wouldn't sweat it.
What it amounts to is that Microsoft is among the most profitable companies in the world. Their growth is amazing; they add as much new business each quarter as Google is adding in a year, but they are already so big, no one notices.
Yeah, all that cash just up and evaporated(no, it actually didn't):
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/309852_software02.html
There are more than 9 billion shares of Microsoft outstanding; in 2004 they paid a special dividend of $3 a share; that's a $27 billion reduction in cash at hand that went straight to shareholders, not tricky accounting. Do I need to go on?
Where are you getting your numbers? Here are good places to look for the net income for the last quarter and last year:
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/earnings/FY08/earn_rel_q2_08.mspx#income
http://www.microsoft.com/msft/reports/ar06/staticversion/10k_fh_fin.html
I see ~$4 billion for the quarter ~$12.5 billion for the year(2006, they have not reported 2007 yet).
Note that those numbers are after taxes and such, so they are the 'net' numbers, the operating income is somewhat higher.
Maybe you were talking about Yahoo!'s earnings?
It's only dilutive if Yahoo! is worth less than $45 Billion. The drop in the stock price is an indicator that some people think so(especially short term).
They currently have ~$1 billion a month in cash coming in, so even if it is a complete failure, they will have paid for it in a year or three.
Correctin spalling on /./
You shall call it 'whining'.
For all the stupid shit people in the US say and do, complaining about the people who say "hey, we are the best at this-specific-game", when they are in fact the best at that specific game is just over the top.
Also, baseball is remarkably popular in Japan, the Caribbean, and various countries in Central and South Americas. I find it terribly boring to watch, but I had a lot of fun playing baseball as a kid.
Well, ya see, if you take the marrow from one woman, and the egg from another, ya see.
The first time I flew after 9/11, I wondered if the National Guardsmen with M16's were really planning on shooting anything. I was checked for explosive residue once, and my bag was searched, but I didn't think they did a very good job. The M16's were intimidating, in an off putting way. The other stuff seemed crazy.
The second time I flew after 9/11, I was somewhat amused that I had to take my shoes off but didn't even really notice the TSA people. Sure, they were there putting on their serious act, but they had it down, and things moved along smoothly.
Maybe comparing 1 US airport to 1 French airport does not a survey make.
If you are running a software business that needs to be more conservative than the python release schedule, you aren't running it correctly.
Tools like py2exe and py2app at least make it straightforward to force your users to install the right version of python.
Not multi-platform, it stomps on makernotes, and even requires .net3, but a decent gui:
http://itagsoftware.com/download.php
The tags end up in the iptc and XMP headers, not a database. It isn't a big deal to get them out with something like Exiftool:
http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
and I think iPhoto even understands them.
(Exiftool has great support for makernotes, so something like iTag->IPTC-in-damaged-photo->Exiftool->Undamaged-photo should be possible)
So put #!/usr/bin/python2.6 or whatever in your scripts and don't worry about it for 5 years(probably much longer, due to the significant changes, 2.6 will probably last nearly forever, or at least until basically nobody is using it anywhere).
Or does Ubuntu launch things based on file extensions?
There is a new iteration of delicious in development/testing:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/06/exclusive-screen-shots-and-feature-overview-of-delicious-20-preview/
Its at delicious.com too:
http://preview.delicious.com/
(that second link doesn't really go anywhere useful unless you have been selected for the preview, I haven't...)
So they haven't changed it *yet*.
They think that they can improve management at Yahoo! to the extent that, over an extended period, they will make more money than the deal is costing them.
It's tangentially about putting Google out of business; not for the emotional satisfaction or to prove they are better, but because Google makes a lot of money, and that is something Microsoft likes to do, so they tend to always be looking for ways to do it.
http://ypopsemail.com/
(In case you aren't already aware of it or something similar)
Are your lights on? The combined Microsoft and Yahoo won't have any controlling market positions that Microsoft doesn't have on their own.
The biggest customer impact of the deal will be all the flickr-angst, and that is pretty much preexisting anyway.
Three Gorges has a large practical reason to exist -- irrigation. It makes power , as a side effect, because it would be silly not to.
The phrase was OK until idiots misunderstood it and shortened it. It's about things like customer perception of value being at least as important as actual value, because if the customer can't see the value, they are going to make the same decision that they would make if the value weren't there.
And, since you missed the point, sure, the tree falling will cause vibrations, but is that all sound is?
I just tagged it 'somethingfinallywentwrong'.
This type of event seems like a golden opportunity to go stick in a splice. Huh.
I doubt things have changed all that much:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html
Paying for it probably won't be a problem(If you spend a lot of money, you spend a smaller, yet still significant some making sure that the contract is 'good', which largely means very specific), but the time it takes for somebody to get out there and actually do it, who knows.
I don't find it shocking that fine motor control is involved in activities related to fine motor control(which seems to be all the article is saying, somebody should tell me if I am reading it wrong). There are lots of advantages in fine motor control in a world without tools, so the body part of the equation isn't that interesting to me.
So, to me, the question is, is developing the ability to model the world and manipulate the model rather than the real world advantageous. It happens to be for humans(because we are social, understanding others is a huge advantage) and crows(because of the niche they occupy, 'cleverness' is a big deal for them as far as how much food they have available). We both live in situations where having a better model(bigger, finer, etc.), or being able to manipulate it more accurately(or more), result in advantages over others.
If you accept that such a model, one that was insufficient for tools, could exist and confer an advantage in a given niche, and if you view tools as a very fine manipulation of a very accurate model, you end up with a decent gradual explanation.
Check out "The Nurture Assumption" by Judith Rich Harris. It's controversial, but it contains the most coherent explanation of why human intelligence emerged that I have seen.