Actually I bought mine (one for each employee) with this reasoning: Every gallon I save is one less gallon the US buys from one of our with-friends-like-these-you-don't-need-enemies.
But, let's check the numbers on mine (the one I drive):
120,000 Mi ÷ 52 MPG $3.17/Gal = $7,315 120,000 Mi ÷ 5,000 Mi/oil change $30/oil change = $720 120,000 Mi ÷ 120,000 Mi/brake job $300 = $300 (estimated -- no brake job yet) car: $26,000 Total: $34,335
120,000 Mi ÷ 26 MPG $3.17/Gal = $14,630 120,000 Mi ÷ 3,000 Mi/oil change $30/oil change = $1,200 120,000 Mi ÷ 60,000 Mi/brake job $300 = $600 similar car: $17,500 (estimated) Total: $33,930
Good point. NY could slap a use tax on downloads. It would then be the responsibility of the self-policing citizens of NY to report that they had paid for the downloads and to then pay taxes on them.
I guarantee you, though, if NY asks, pleads, or demands that we collect software download information for them (assuming they decide to tax that next), their letter will go in the same trash-can that the other out-of-state taxation letters do.
Article I, 9: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
If you make these items in the state, and sell it there, then the state can tax it. If you buy it wholesale, from in-state or out-of-state, and then resell it, then the state can tax it. If you buy it at retail, from out-of-state, then the state can't tax it.
1) The US Constitution prohibits states from taxing anything crossing state lines. 2) A server can be located anywhere. 3) People will minimize their tax paid.
If NY puts this law into effect, then the affected servers will be moved out of state, and no tax will be due or collected.
As a side-note, we produce and sell packaged software. We're in California. We get sales-tax returns mailed to us from Louisiana. We throw them out, unopened.
Way back in 1978, the US JPO (military's Joint Projects Office) had a project named BETA (Battlefield Exploitation and Target Aquisition) which had a shipping container with a data center in it. (BTW, the project didn't go anywhere, because the correlations they were trying to do were useless, and also because they tried to make a bunch of PDP11s do what a VAX should have been doing.)
Eeco flight navigation system, some time in the '80s or '90s. Contact me at mailto:sol@linker.com for expenses-only expert or factual testimony if anyone sues you on this nonsense. I've been sued on this sort of nonsense before (and won), and I'll do whatever I can to abate it. Maybe/. can set up an area where patent-fighting experts can help out/.ers on this stuff.
Unlike most cars, the Prius gives enough feedback to actually help. By learning how the car works, I'm actually getting 2 MPG better than the posted ratings for city driving.
On the flip side of this, I just got back from a trip, Irvine to Phoenix and back, and the actual MPG was 3 MPG less than the posted ratings. However, that was with the air conditioner set at 72F and High.
A few years ago, we (a small company of 3 people) and hundreds of other companies (including Microsoft) were sued by EFI. EFI's claim was that we had violated their patent. The algorithm in question had been unpatented when I saw at work at JPL in 1971. I later included it into a product in 1994. In 2003, they sued us for using the algorithm, which they claimed that their 1989 patent covered. I did a full patent search, but found nothing previous, since EFI was the first one to claim a patent on it. Luckily, a local bookstore had a copy of Descarte's book on the subject on display, which described the algorithm in 1736.
The current law states that the patent must be a new invention or discovery, and not obvious to a practitioner of the art. If we change to this new patent law proposal, then anyone can patent anything and sue you over it, purely because they were the first to file a patent for it.
Many states in the United States are replublics. Some (I have no idea how many) are hybrid republics and democracies. One such state is California. In California, one can petition to have a measure put on the ballot. Once sufficient signatures are gathered, the measure goes on the ballot. If the measure is submitted to the ballot as a proposed law, then 50%+1 voters can make it a law, although the law can still be overturned by a supermajority of the legislature, I think 75%. However, if the measure is sumbitted to the ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment, and it passes (I think the number then required is 60%, but I'm not sure), there's nothing the legislature can do about it. This is how, in the so-called "Proposition 13 revolution", we took away the legislature's ability to levy tax at all.
In California, legislators and the governor must also be wary of a second democratic power: The power to recall any or all of them. When ex-governor Grey Davis pulled a stunt similar to the one described above, his term as governor was terminated abruptly.
So, what can you do about it if you live in a republic? You can move to a democracy, or you can only vote for people who promise to turn the republic into a democracy.
One of the nice things about Prius brakes: Most of the breaking is done with a magnetic field. Magnetic fields are pretty cheap to replace. And the 64 cost was assuming I have to throw the car away as soon as it needs breaks or a battery.
I have a Prius with 46,000 miles it. I average 52MPG. Gas costs $3.13 today. Here are my total costs:
Purchase: $26,000 or so. That's 56.5 per mile. Gas: 6 per mile. Oil: 0.5 per mile. Tires: 1 per mile.
TOTAL: 64 per mile, so far.
If I threw the thing away today, and bought a new one (which I'm not likely to do, so don't check my dumpster), that would still be 64 per mile. Assuming it will last 250,000 miles, like the rest of my Toyotas, the cost will be WAY lower.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually I bought mine (one for each employee) with this reasoning: Every gallon I save is one less gallon the US buys from one of our with-friends-like-these-you-don't-need-enemies.
But, let's check the numbers on mine (the one I drive):
120,000 Mi ÷ 52 MPG $3.17/Gal = $7,315
120,000 Mi ÷ 5,000 Mi/oil change $30/oil change = $720
120,000 Mi ÷ 120,000 Mi/brake job $300 = $300 (estimated -- no brake job yet)
car: $26,000
Total: $34,335
120,000 Mi ÷ 26 MPG $3.17/Gal = $14,630
120,000 Mi ÷ 3,000 Mi/oil change $30/oil change = $1,200
120,000 Mi ÷ 60,000 Mi/brake job $300 = $600
similar car: $17,500 (estimated)
Total: $33,930
Hey! You're right! I'm still $405 behind.
Good point. NY could slap a use tax on downloads. It would then be the responsibility of the self-policing citizens of NY to report that they had paid for the downloads and to then pay taxes on them.
I guarantee you, though, if NY asks, pleads, or demands that we collect software download information for them (assuming they decide to tax that next), their letter will go in the same trash-can that the other out-of-state taxation letters do.
Article I, 9: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
If you make these items in the state, and sell it there, then the state can tax it.
If you buy it wholesale, from in-state or out-of-state, and then resell it, then the state can tax it.
If you buy it at retail, from out-of-state, then the state can't tax it.
NY and you are ignoring three very basic points:
1) The US Constitution prohibits states from taxing anything crossing state lines.
2) A server can be located anywhere.
3) People will minimize their tax paid.
If NY puts this law into effect, then the affected servers will be moved out of state, and no tax will be due or collected.
As a side-note, we produce and sell packaged software. We're in California. We get sales-tax returns mailed to us from Louisiana. We throw them out, unopened.
Way back in 1978, the US JPO (military's Joint Projects Office) had a project named BETA (Battlefield Exploitation and Target Aquisition) which had a shipping container with a data center in it. (BTW, the project didn't go anywhere, because the correlations they were trying to do were useless, and also because they tried to make a bunch of PDP11s do what a VAX should have been doing.)
Eeco flight navigation system, some time in the '80s or '90s. Contact me at mailto:sol@linker.com for expenses-only expert or factual testimony if anyone sues you on this nonsense. I've been sued on this sort of nonsense before (and won), and I'll do whatever I can to abate it. Maybe /. can set up an area where patent-fighting experts can help out /.ers on this stuff.
That didn't take long -- My boss was dinking around on that when I was there in 1971.
Unlike most cars, the Prius gives enough feedback to actually help. By learning how the car works, I'm actually getting 2 MPG better than the posted ratings for city driving.
On the flip side of this, I just got back from a trip, Irvine to Phoenix and back, and the actual MPG was 3 MPG less than the posted ratings. However, that was with the air conditioner set at 72F and High.
Findland, Findland, Finland
That's the country for me...
The current law states that the patent must be a new invention or discovery, and not obvious to a practitioner of the art. If we change to this new patent law proposal, then anyone can patent anything and sue you over it, purely because they were the first to file a patent for it.
I wonder if sleeping in a bed had been patented.
Many states in the United States are replublics. Some (I have no idea how many) are hybrid republics and democracies. One such state is California. In California, one can petition to have a measure put on the ballot. Once sufficient signatures are gathered, the measure goes on the ballot. If the measure is submitted to the ballot as a proposed law, then 50%+1 voters can make it a law, although the law can still be overturned by a supermajority of the legislature, I think 75%. However, if the measure is sumbitted to the ballot as a proposed constitutional amendment, and it passes (I think the number then required is 60%, but I'm not sure), there's nothing the legislature can do about it. This is how, in the so-called "Proposition 13 revolution", we took away the legislature's ability to levy tax at all.
In California, legislators and the governor must also be wary of a second democratic power: The power to recall any or all of them. When ex-governor Grey Davis pulled a stunt similar to the one described above, his term as governor was terminated abruptly.
So, what can you do about it if you live in a republic? You can move to a democracy, or you can only vote for people who promise to turn the republic into a democracy.
One of the nice things about Prius brakes: Most of the breaking is done with a magnetic field. Magnetic fields are pretty cheap to replace. And the 64 cost was assuming I have to throw the car away as soon as it needs breaks or a battery.
I have a Prius with 46,000 miles it. I average 52MPG. Gas costs $3.13 today. Here are my total costs:
Purchase: $26,000 or so. That's 56.5 per mile.
Gas: 6 per mile.
Oil: 0.5 per mile.
Tires: 1 per mile.
TOTAL: 64 per mile, so far.
If I threw the thing away today, and bought a new one (which I'm not likely to do, so don't check my dumpster), that would still be 64 per mile. Assuming it will last 250,000 miles, like the rest of my Toyotas, the cost will be WAY lower.