MP3 players need to be SIMPLE. What would be the most successful would be an integration of MP3 capabilities into current CD players in standard stereos (both those tiny shelf ones and component systems). Stereo manufacturers have long since perfected the design, and sound reproduction issues. There's no sense in re-inventing the wheel. And keep it simple! A TV interface? C'mon. That's ridiculous. It's music, for God's sake! Put the title of the track on the display on the CD player, and let it be.
Porn, by virtue of demand alone, will always be available. The conservative powers at the top of the gov't may want to shut it down, but it'll never happen. There's so much money and so much demand for porn, that people will find a way to buy and sell it. Heck, look at the marijuana laws in the US. They're not stopping anybody. It's the right of the people to ignore bad laws.
And what about when demand is low? Then you can get a bargain. It works both ways. In case you haven't noticed, most things in life are like this. Gas prices change daily, if not more often. Prices for food and clothing fluctuate. Computer prices fluctuate now for the same reasons, just slower. So this really isn't anything more revolutionary than the big boys using the technology they've been advertising for years in their own business (you know the ads: Our E-Business links your inventory to your web site!!)
Of course there are going to be a few people. But we're talking about literally a handful of people making a living, as opposed to an entire global industry with millions of workers and many billions of profit. Close, but not really comparable. For all of the years that Linux has been out (and according to the OSS community, 'successful'), there should at least be ONE company making a profit...
Re:Are you trolling me? ;) I'm gonna bite!
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Mundie Responds
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Lotus was bought out because they had a successful product. There's no chance on the immediate horizon of RedHat or VA Linux being bought by anybody. Nobody is remotely interested.
Novell was successful and profitable for 20 years. RedHat and VA Linux have made a total of $0 profit.
Oracle is NOT that much different. They most definately SELL their closed, proprietary software. They also sell consulting, as does MS, but they make money primarily from selling software.
There are many other that I could list as closed-source business successes.
Right. So no money is made off of OSS. I can assure you that missile guidance systems and thigns that people pay BIG money for are NOT open sourced. Essentially, you're saying that OSS is just a resume builder for companies? That seems like a pretty wasteful thing to spend time on, if that's the case.
Re:Are you trolling me? ;) I'm gonna bite!
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Mundie Responds
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But even in the Microsoft era, SOME survived. Microsoft did. Lotus. Novel. Oracle. Right now in the Open Source arena, there's not even a MODERATELY successful company, never mind a profitable one. Redhat is the closest thing to a success and they're still in the red. Again, there are NO open source companies (that I know of. I could be wrong) that are making any profit whatsoever from developing OSS.
And I would point out to you that all those companies you cited, every single one are becoming partially open-source companies.
Yes, those companies ARE as successful as MS (look at market capitalization). And if you look at the annual report of any of those companies, they'll all say that they make NO money on their open source ventures.
The point is, is that Mudie is wrong and if Open Source is such a finacial success, then where are all of the open source software companies?? There's not ONE 'big' company out there that's developing open source software. Hell, most are going under, or very close to it. RedHat is the closest thing to a large company, and they're still in the red. I'd like to see ONE, just ONE company making decent profit off of developing open source software.
Are you telling me that you can't name another successful closed-source software company? Every heard of Oracle? Sun? HP?...? Where are all of those successful open-source companies that I keep hearing about?
Re:Who's made the model work?
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Mundie Responds
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That's faulty logic. You can say that lots of companies have failed with the closed-source model. But how about Oracle? Sun? HP? IBM (until just a few months ago)? Should I go on? And on the flip side, how many multi-billion dollar open-source companies that you know? I can count all of them on the toes on my left hand.
Re:Commercial software: A drain on the world econo
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What Mundie and most others don't understand is that open source is going to win no matter what anyone says or does, because its ultimate basis is neither a fad nor a social movement, but the simple march of progress.
It's NOT a social movement? That's funny. I guess I must be misunderstanding every 3rd post here at Slashdot. And, why do you say it's the simple march of progress? In what other industry have things that cost money eventually become free? Any examples? Generally, it's the other way around.
Re:Commercial software: A drain on the world econo
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Mundie Responds
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Yup. And 1.35 million people would be out of work. You're not an econ major, are you...?
Well, since we all know that Hollywood never uses hype for any reason whatsoever (especially marketing), we can be rest assured that this story is true.
Now, isn't this a mass-media produced knee-jerk reaction? What about the fact that people have been genetically modifying plants for hundreds, if not thousands of years? How is this so different? Here's a little fact: the original 'corn' plant (found in the wild) has a single kernel on it. Think about that one.
Yeah, and what better place to go for legal advice than Slashdot, where the average poster is a 12 year old pimply-faced geek spanking in his dark room while trying to get his Linux box to play Quake 3 faster. Right. First place I'd go.
I haven't seen any 'mainstream' news organizations print anything about this OSS reply. I have seen the MS statement written everywhere. Think about it... does Joe User know the name 'Microsoft' or 'GNU' better? Those guys can make statement until they're blue in the face, but they won't come close to making the impact that MS has when they make a statement.
Re:"Just delete it" argument flawed
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RFC for Spammers
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"Costs"? Last I checked, my ISP is charging me $15/month for unlimited access. I sincerely doubt that ISP's could get much cheaper than they are now. Besides, which do you think costs more... the bandwidth for a few thousands spams, or the bandwidth for one guy who keeps streaming radio going on his box? Hmm....
That's a great analysis. Very dismissive, and very shallow. I appreciate your insight. But really, hasn't it crossed your mind that maybe this kid was just fucked in the head? If you read the article, the kid was obviously a child prodigy. Last I checked, most child prodigies ARE whack in the head in some way or another. Besides, a normal, mentally healthy kid would NOT kill himself over a suspension or even a stern "you could get thrown in jail for this". This kid obviously had problems, and it's disgusting to see a pack of morons try to sum up this situation with a few trite lines and use it as some kind of geek rallying cry. The kid had problems, he was very smart, he happened to be a geek, and he killed himself. Period. Whether these things were related to each other in any way, we'll never know. Trying to make some connection betweeen his geekiness and his suicide is just pathetic.
As a former help desk jockey, I can tell you that even that job was at least ten times better than my job at the local fast food joint. Unions are need when pay is low and work is dangerous. Is helpdesk work pay low (relatively speaking), or is the work dangerous?
And why would you want to fight for your fellow workers? Why not fight for your own job? Unions are designed to protect the incompetent, no offense intended. Let the market separate the weed from the chaff. The only thing a union would do in the US is drive out business.
The only protection? How about being a good, productive, unreplaceable employee?? I don't care how bad the economy gets, the best people are always employed if they want to be.
Even if you aren't in a union you benefit from their existance because they tend to normalize the employment market and keep corporations from acting too avariciously. Do you enjoy only working 5 days a week? How about getting medical insurance and retirement support? Do you like paid vacation? Thank the union movement.
Yes, I do. But at least in our industry, these things aren't due to unions. They're due to supply and demand.
Slashdot Mirror
MP3 players need to be SIMPLE. What would be the most successful would be an integration of MP3 capabilities into current CD players in standard stereos (both those tiny shelf ones and component systems). Stereo manufacturers have long since perfected the design, and sound reproduction issues. There's no sense in re-inventing the wheel. And keep it simple! A TV interface? C'mon. That's ridiculous. It's music, for God's sake! Put the title of the track on the display on the CD player, and let it be.
That's funny. Religion sent me spiraling into a sea of anger, hatred, depression. Can we ban religion, too, while we're at it?
Porn, by virtue of demand alone, will always be available. The conservative powers at the top of the gov't may want to shut it down, but it'll never happen. There's so much money and so much demand for porn, that people will find a way to buy and sell it. Heck, look at the marijuana laws in the US. They're not stopping anybody. It's the right of the people to ignore bad laws.
IMHO, AVS doesn't really work anyway. If pr0n exists and horny pimple-faced 15yr olds exist, then it will be accessed by minors, period.
That's exactly why the Supreme Court struck it down several years back, and that's why they're going to strike it down again.
And what about when demand is low? Then you can get a bargain. It works both ways. In case you haven't noticed, most things in life are like this. Gas prices change daily, if not more often. Prices for food and clothing fluctuate. Computer prices fluctuate now for the same reasons, just slower. So this really isn't anything more revolutionary than the big boys using the technology they've been advertising for years in their own business (you know the ads: Our E-Business links your inventory to your web site!!)
Of course there are going to be a few people. But we're talking about literally a handful of people making a living, as opposed to an entire global industry with millions of workers and many billions of profit. Close, but not really comparable. For all of the years that Linux has been out (and according to the OSS community, 'successful'), there should at least be ONE company making a profit...
Lotus was bought out because they had a successful product. There's no chance on the immediate horizon of RedHat or VA Linux being bought by anybody. Nobody is remotely interested.
Novell was successful and profitable for 20 years. RedHat and VA Linux have made a total of $0 profit.
Oracle is NOT that much different. They most definately SELL their closed, proprietary software. They also sell consulting, as does MS, but they make money primarily from selling software.
There are many other that I could list as closed-source business successes.
Right. So no money is made off of OSS. I can assure you that missile guidance systems and thigns that people pay BIG money for are NOT open sourced. Essentially, you're saying that OSS is just a resume builder for companies? That seems like a pretty wasteful thing to spend time on, if that's the case.
But even in the Microsoft era, SOME survived. Microsoft did. Lotus. Novel. Oracle. Right now in the Open Source arena, there's not even a MODERATELY successful company, never mind a profitable one. Redhat is the closest thing to a success and they're still in the red. Again, there are NO open source companies (that I know of. I could be wrong) that are making any profit whatsoever from developing OSS.
Thank GOD The Lone Gunmen is gone! It was so bad it made us geeks look stupid!
And I would point out to you that all those companies you cited, every single one are becoming partially open-source companies.
Yes, those companies ARE as successful as MS (look at market capitalization). And if you look at the annual report of any of those companies, they'll all say that they make NO money on their open source ventures.
The point is, is that Mudie is wrong and if Open Source is such a finacial success, then where are all of the open source software companies?? There's not ONE 'big' company out there that's developing open source software. Hell, most are going under, or very close to it. RedHat is the closest thing to a large company, and they're still in the red. I'd like to see ONE, just ONE company making decent profit off of developing open source software.
Are you telling me that you can't name another successful closed-source software company? Every heard of Oracle? Sun? HP?...? Where are all of those successful open-source companies that I keep hearing about?
That's faulty logic. You can say that lots of companies have failed with the closed-source model. But how about Oracle? Sun? HP? IBM (until just a few months ago)? Should I go on? And on the flip side, how many multi-billion dollar open-source companies that you know? I can count all of them on the toes on my left hand.
What Mundie and most others don't understand is that open source is going to win no matter what anyone says or does, because its ultimate basis is neither a fad nor a social movement, but the simple march of progress.
It's NOT a social movement? That's funny. I guess I must be misunderstanding every 3rd post here at Slashdot. And, why do you say it's the simple march of progress? In what other industry have things that cost money eventually become free? Any examples? Generally, it's the other way around.
Yup. And 1.35 million people would be out of work. You're not an econ major, are you...?
Well, since we all know that Hollywood never uses hype for any reason whatsoever (especially marketing), we can be rest assured that this story is true.
Now, isn't this a mass-media produced knee-jerk reaction? What about the fact that people have been genetically modifying plants for hundreds, if not thousands of years? How is this so different? Here's a little fact: the original 'corn' plant (found in the wild) has a single kernel on it. Think about that one.
Yeah, and what better place to go for legal advice than Slashdot, where the average poster is a 12 year old pimply-faced geek spanking in his dark room while trying to get his Linux box to play Quake 3 faster. Right. First place I'd go.
I haven't seen any 'mainstream' news organizations print anything about this OSS reply. I have seen the MS statement written everywhere. Think about it... does Joe User know the name 'Microsoft' or 'GNU' better? Those guys can make statement until they're blue in the face, but they won't come close to making the impact that MS has when they make a statement.
"Costs"? Last I checked, my ISP is charging me $15/month for unlimited access. I sincerely doubt that ISP's could get much cheaper than they are now. Besides, which do you think costs more... the bandwidth for a few thousands spams, or the bandwidth for one guy who keeps streaming radio going on his box? Hmm....
That's a great analysis. Very dismissive, and very shallow. I appreciate your insight. But really, hasn't it crossed your mind that maybe this kid was just fucked in the head? If you read the article, the kid was obviously a child prodigy. Last I checked, most child prodigies ARE whack in the head in some way or another. Besides, a normal, mentally healthy kid would NOT kill himself over a suspension or even a stern "you could get thrown in jail for this". This kid obviously had problems, and it's disgusting to see a pack of morons try to sum up this situation with a few trite lines and use it as some kind of geek rallying cry. The kid had problems, he was very smart, he happened to be a geek, and he killed himself. Period. Whether these things were related to each other in any way, we'll never know. Trying to make some connection betweeen his geekiness and his suicide is just pathetic.
So, a union would help? And besides, if somebody was that good, would they EVER have trouble finding another job? Nah.
As a former help desk jockey, I can tell you that even that job was at least ten times better than my job at the local fast food joint. Unions are need when pay is low and work is dangerous. Is helpdesk work pay low (relatively speaking), or is the work dangerous?
And why would you want to fight for your fellow workers? Why not fight for your own job? Unions are designed to protect the incompetent, no offense intended. Let the market separate the weed from the chaff. The only thing a union would do in the US is drive out business.
The only protection? How about being a good, productive, unreplaceable employee?? I don't care how bad the economy gets, the best people are always employed if they want to be.
Even if you aren't in a union you benefit from their existance because they tend to normalize the employment market and keep corporations from acting too avariciously. Do you enjoy only working 5 days a week? How about getting medical insurance and retirement support? Do you like paid vacation? Thank the union movement.
Yes, I do. But at least in our industry, these things aren't due to unions. They're due to supply and demand.