Rather than passing laws to deal with a problem of public nuisance like this, why not rely on markets instead? Most movie theaters and play houses I've been in have strict guidelines governing the use of cell phones, pagers, etc. If you don't like the way in which matters of public decorum are governed at a public performance, either make your voice heard by complaining to management, or simply patronize a different business.
It's important to remember that much of Linux's competition comes not from the dreaded MS, but from commercial UNIX vendors, like Sun and IBM.
Most companies that currently employ Linux tend to use it for things like DNS, Web servers, and file sharing. Fitting Linux with enterprise features is critical in moving beyond these types of services and truly entering the enterprise world of hot plugging, scalability, and *proven* reliability.
While I realize that its reliability is more than proven to most of us here, it's important that it be proven to executives as well. Not only must it be reliable, but proven companies must have track records of standing behind the product 100%.
One concern I've heard voiced is that no company providing support for Linux will take ultimate responsiblity for a product that isn't theirs.
Get a few more years and services behind Linux, and we should see it explode.
As far as heat is concerned, I wouldn't worry too much. Given the extreme lack of sexual activity associated with wiring your house with switches, UPSes, and god-knows what other geek toys, your house should stay plenty cold throughout the year, especially during the winter.
That's quite possibly one of the most asinine comments I've ever read. Using your "logic", one could reason that car theft is OK, as it would only affect the profits of the most wealthy stockholders and company directors. After all, your logic says, car salesman, factory manufacturers, accountants for car companies, etc. aren't paid based on the number of cars sold, they're paid a flat wage based on the number of hours worked.
Of course, despite our best efforts, reason eventually wins out, and we realize that if the demand for cars goes down (or more importantly the number of cars *purchased* decreases), the number of people employed in a given industry goes down as well, costing jobs.
Finally, it's an issue of ethics. If you don't feel that a piece of software is worth its price, treat it as you would any other commodity for which you feel too much is being asked - don't buy it.
My great fear is that every country in the world is going to pass its own version of a "decency" law, then attempt to require the conformance of every other country in the world. Soon enough, the Internet will have been watered down to contain only that content which is deemed acceptable, world-wide.
One of the great challenges our world faces over the next century is our ability to accept a global Internet/marketplace, and yet maintain some semblance of independent societies, complete with our own mores and values.
This type of attitude is extremely dangerous. I don't do anything illegal in my house, yet I'm not prepared to let the federal government erect video monitors inside my bedroom. Simply because you have "nothing to hide" doesn't mean that you should let them look.
Naw, that'd never work. In fact, that'd likely have the opposite effect - anybody bidding with a name like those suggested by "BJH" would instantly give him or herself away as an adolescent sure bet to be ripped off by some 4th grader peddling his ficticous 1999 archive of "Stroke" magazine...
In fact, I can see it now...
4th grader: "'Stroke' magazin, in goode kondishin. Hiest bid wins!!!"
"Large Penis": (coveting "Stroke" magazine, takes complete leave of his senses): "I'll bid $500!!!!"
15 days later, the magazines still haven't arrived...
"Large Penis" by way of explaining the $500 charge on his mom's Mastercard, says his copies of "Stroke" magazine never arrived, and he has been forced to temporarily stuff the space between his mattress and bedspring with his copies of "Victoria's Secret" catalogs instead.
"Large Penis" has his AOL account indefinitely suspended by mom.
...is privatize NASA, since the agency has been inexorably pushed in that direction for the last twenty years anyway.
I wouldn't say that what NASA has accomplished has been without value; rather, I'd like to see private industry take over, because they'd undoubtedly do it more effeciently.
There are others who can argue this position far better than I - for a taste, visit here:
Ah yes, just found my "MSspin2english" translator. Let's see how those comments look now:
"It's high time that the security industry stopped pointing out all of the blatant security flaws in our programs", Culp writes. "Since we insist on developing OSes and highly-integrated applications tuned for usability, rather than security, we can't make as much money as we're accustomed to making, what with all of these viruses/worms targeted at our products."
Culp adds, "it's time that the security industry be held responsible for these worms and viruses, rather than the companies who make products such as ours. By pointing the finger at the amorphous 'security industry', we're better able to deflect blame for the recent rash of high-profile MS OS and web server exploits."
Even more annoying than the predictive dialers are the latest dialers - they deliberately dial 4 or so numbers at once, then disconnect everybody they're calling, with the exception of the person that was first to the phone.
In the event that you pick up the phone after 3 or so rings, and hear nothing on the other end, you'll typically have your number placed right back into the queue. Expect another phone call within 5 minutes or so.
I consulted for a company that used these in their AR department (read: collections), and they apparently saved the company an incredible amount of money.
The one way I've seen this work is through well defined seperation of work. In other words, the instructor should provide each group with a well-defined project definition, and describe the work that each student needs to do for their part of their group's project.
For example, we wrote a simple web server in my CS class, and each member of the group had a different responsibility - I was responsible for writing most of the network code, and another student had to write the parsing of the HTML, etc. Each student works on their section individually, but you must work as a group to define APIs, and to integrate each disparate module of code. This doesn't *truly* mimic the real world, but it comes close.
Slightly off-topic, but most CS departments look at group projects with a certain amount of scorn - in their opinion, it's not the job of the CS department to teach software enginnering (which is what a group project proports to do); they'd rather teach fundamentals of CS (algorithms, data structures, etc), and leave the theories of software engineering to the workplace.
Rebates are simply a way to offer a product at a price higher than for which it is seemingly offered. Rebates benefit companies in several ways:
(1) They can advertise a product that costs $200 for $150, mentioning in fine print (after they have your attention) that the product really IS $200, but that you'll receive a $50 rebate. So it assists companies in marketing their products.
(2) Some MBA crunches numbers, and figures out that, hey, only 45% of people (number pulled from as$) entitled to rebates actually fill them out correctly and mail them in, so the $50 rebate is really like discounting the product by (.45 * $50), or $22.50.
(3) Time value of money. The longer the company can sit on that extra $50, the better off they are. Cash flow is a big issue with companies, especially when the amount of money is large. Typically, the third-party companies that process these rebates are located in the middle of nowhere (slowing mail delivery), and purposedly process rebates very slowly. I mean, does it REALLY take 90 days to process a rebate? Nope, the company just wants to sit on your money as long as possible.
So, with all these benefits, rebates are all the rage, especially with things like electronics. Knowing this, I usually avoid buying a product on the basis of a promised reciept of a rebate. However, this doesn't help much once you've already bought the damn thing and the company won't honor the rebate. Get on the phone with the company that promised the rebate, don't accept a different phone number to call, don't allow somebody to call you back, become the biggest pain in their as$; they'll give you the rebate just to get rid of you.
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Rather than passing laws to deal with a problem of public nuisance like this, why not rely on markets instead? Most movie theaters and play houses I've been in have strict guidelines governing the use of cell phones, pagers, etc. If you don't like the way in which matters of public decorum are governed at a public performance, either make your voice heard by complaining to management, or simply patronize a different business.
It's important to remember that much of Linux's competition comes not from the dreaded MS, but from commercial UNIX vendors, like Sun and IBM.
Most companies that currently employ Linux tend to use it for things like DNS, Web servers, and file sharing. Fitting Linux with enterprise features is critical in moving beyond these types of services and truly entering the enterprise world of hot plugging, scalability, and *proven* reliability.
While I realize that its reliability is more than proven to most of us here, it's important that it be proven to executives as well. Not only must it be reliable, but proven companies must have track records of standing behind the product 100%.
One concern I've heard voiced is that no company providing support for Linux will take ultimate responsiblity for a product that isn't theirs.
Get a few more years and services behind Linux, and we should see it explode.
As far as heat is concerned, I wouldn't worry too much. Given the extreme lack of sexual activity associated with wiring your house with switches, UPSes, and god-knows what other geek toys, your house should stay plenty cold throughout the year, especially during the winter.
That's quite possibly one of the most asinine comments I've ever read. Using your "logic", one could reason that car theft is OK, as it would only affect the profits of the most wealthy stockholders and company directors. After all, your logic says, car salesman, factory manufacturers, accountants for car companies, etc. aren't paid based on the number of cars sold, they're paid a flat wage based on the number of hours worked.
Of course, despite our best efforts, reason eventually wins out, and we realize that if the demand for cars goes down (or more importantly the number of cars *purchased* decreases), the number of people employed in a given industry goes down as well, costing jobs.
Finally, it's an issue of ethics. If you don't feel that a piece of software is worth its price, treat it as you would any other commodity for which you feel too much is being asked - don't buy it.
My great fear is that every country in the world is going to pass its own version of a "decency" law, then attempt to require the conformance of every other country in the world. Soon enough, the Internet will have been watered down to contain only that content which is deemed acceptable, world-wide.
One of the great challenges our world faces over the next century is our ability to accept a global Internet/marketplace, and yet maintain some semblance of independent societies, complete with our own mores and values.
This type of attitude is extremely dangerous. I don't do anything illegal in my house, yet I'm not prepared to let the federal government erect video monitors inside my bedroom. Simply because you have "nothing to hide" doesn't mean that you should let them look.
I'd post something negative, but I'm afraid Larry Elison would have me sent away for "Political Re-education".
Naw, that'd never work. In fact, that'd likely have the opposite effect - anybody bidding with a name like those suggested by "BJH" would instantly give him or herself away as an adolescent sure bet to be ripped off by some 4th grader peddling his ficticous 1999 archive of "Stroke" magazine...
In fact, I can see it now...
4th grader: "'Stroke' magazin, in goode kondishin. Hiest bid wins!!!"
"Large Penis": (coveting "Stroke" magazine, takes complete leave of his senses): "I'll bid $500!!!!"
15 days later, the magazines still haven't arrived...
"Large Penis" by way of explaining the $500 charge on his mom's Mastercard, says his copies of "Stroke" magazine never arrived, and he has been forced to temporarily stuff the space between his mattress and bedspring with his copies of "Victoria's Secret" catalogs instead.
"Large Penis" has his AOL account indefinitely suspended by mom.
I'd try bidding with a username like "Tony Soprano", or "Michael Corleone". I'm guessing that people would think twice about defrauding you.
...is privatize NASA, since the agency has been inexorably pushed in that direction for the last twenty years anyway.
I wouldn't say that what NASA has accomplished has been without value; rather, I'd like to see private industry take over, because they'd undoubtedly do it more effeciently.
There are others who can argue this position far better than I - for a taste, visit here:
http://www.cato.org/dailys/7-16-97.html
and here:
http://www.cato.org/events/space/index.html
Ah yes, just found my "MSspin2english" translator. Let's see how those comments look now:
"It's high time that the security industry stopped pointing out all of the blatant security flaws in our programs", Culp writes. "Since we insist on developing OSes and highly-integrated applications tuned for usability, rather than security, we can't make as much money as we're accustomed to making, what with all of these viruses/worms targeted at our products."
Culp adds, "it's time that the security industry be held responsible for these worms and viruses, rather than the companies who make products such as ours. By pointing the finger at the amorphous 'security industry', we're better able to deflect blame for the recent rash of high-profile MS OS and web server exploits."
Even more annoying than the predictive dialers are the latest dialers - they deliberately dial 4 or so numbers at once, then disconnect everybody they're calling, with the exception of the person that was first to the phone.
In the event that you pick up the phone after 3 or so rings, and hear nothing on the other end, you'll typically have your number placed right back into the queue. Expect another phone call within 5 minutes or so.
I consulted for a company that used these in their AR department (read: collections), and they apparently saved the company an incredible amount of money.
...at your time/expense, of course.
#!/bin/sh
cat *.java > *.c#
The one way I've seen this work is through well defined seperation of work. In other words, the instructor should provide each group with a well-defined project definition, and describe the work that each student needs to do for their part of their group's project.
For example, we wrote a simple web server in my CS class, and each member of the group had a different responsibility - I was responsible for writing most of the network code, and another student had to write the parsing of the HTML, etc. Each student works on their section individually, but you must work as a group to define APIs, and to integrate each disparate module of code. This doesn't *truly* mimic the real world, but it comes close.
Slightly off-topic, but most CS departments look at group projects with a certain amount of scorn - in their opinion, it's not the job of the CS department to teach software enginnering (which is what a group project proports to do); they'd rather teach fundamentals of CS (algorithms, data structures, etc), and leave the theories of software engineering to the workplace.
The kernel.org main ftp site is being hammered, but if you follow the link here, you'll be taken to a pretty exhaustive list of mirrors.
http://www.kernel.org/mirrors/
Rebates are simply a way to offer a product at a price higher than for which it is seemingly offered. Rebates benefit companies in several ways:
(1) They can advertise a product that costs $200 for $150, mentioning in fine print (after they have your attention) that the product really IS $200, but that you'll receive a $50 rebate. So it assists companies in marketing their products.
(2) Some MBA crunches numbers, and figures out that, hey, only 45% of people (number pulled from as$) entitled to rebates actually fill them out correctly and mail them in, so the $50 rebate is really like discounting the product by (.45 * $50), or $22.50.
(3) Time value of money. The longer the company can sit on that extra $50, the better off they are. Cash flow is a big issue with companies, especially when the amount of money is large. Typically, the third-party companies that process these rebates are located in the middle of nowhere (slowing mail delivery), and purposedly process rebates very slowly. I mean, does it REALLY take 90 days to process a rebate? Nope, the company just wants to sit on your money as long as possible.
So, with all these benefits, rebates are all the rage, especially with things like electronics. Knowing this, I usually avoid buying a product on the basis of a promised reciept of a rebate. However, this doesn't help much once you've already bought the damn thing and the company won't honor the rebate. Get on the phone with the company that promised the rebate, don't accept a different phone number to call, don't allow somebody to call you back, become the biggest pain in their as$; they'll give you the rebate just to get rid of you.