First, there is the issue of being a monopoly in a regional market. Then there is also the issue of a cartel, which is composed of multiple companies which are in collusion to create a monopoly. Either way, you end up with complete monopolistic control which is held by more than one company.
Way back in the 60's, after Superman was split permanently into Superman Blue and Superman Red by red kryptonite, and after they had put their Anti-Evil-Ray satellites into orbit, I recall they built a suspension bridge across the entire Atlantic Ocean, complete with gas stations, motels, and restaurants. Now THAT was a bridge!!
Of course, if you believe Star Trek and Star Wars (the original trilogy, before rampant CGI took over), you'd think that all intelligent life in the universe is composed of bipeds of roughly human size with bits of rubbery stuff glued to their heads to make them seem slightly different. This was, of course, explained in a Star Trek (movie? episode?) which showed that ancient bipeds spread their DNA all over the galaxy so that we'd all evolve to look somewhat alike. Nice way to explain away over 30 years of cheap makeup FX.
Why not let a group of snotty, attractive, self-absorbed idiots make the trip, along with a bone-headed master of ceremonies and a stoned film crew? Every week, they could see who could eat the most newly-discovered Mars bugs, or rappel down a 10,000-ft cliff, or cross the ice-cap in cut-offs and tight tank-tops. They could form alliances and back-stab each other, and then vote one person off the planet every week until only one is left. Televise it and sell ads for beer and feminine products, and it would not only pay for itself, NASA could actually turn a profit.
The University of Iowa has one of those really old natural history museums, one that was filled in the 1800's by world-travelling 'naturalists' who saw it as their sworn duty to kill, stuff, and bring back one of everything for their home museum. They've got bison and a narwhal, and even a stuffed whooping crane! But their dodo is a fake. Dodos went extinct long before the natural history craze of the 19th century, but as I understand it, there was quite a trade in fake dodos. Seems every museum wanted one and there weren't more than a handful in existence, so somebody made some bucks creating fake ones. The one the U of I museum has is kind of motheaten, but not much worse than the whooping crane, and looks darned convincing. Bottom line - it might be kind of difficult coming up with some real dodo DNA. If you just grab a random 'dodo' from a natural history collecion, you're likely to end up with DNA from a half-dozen totally unrelated birds!
We feed and take care of cats despite the fact that they do absolutely nothing for us. Do they have some kind of psychic mind control over us? It is believed by many that Egyptian culture was delivered to humanity by a race of alien beings. At just about the same time, Egyptians began worshipping cats. Coincidince? Even though they are supposedly mammals, cats have those weird slitty eyes. No other mammal has eyes like that. Are they really of this earth? The Discovery Channel should do one of their pseudo-science specials on this subject. I'm sure it has just as much credence as any of the other goofball theories they've broadcast 'documentaries' on.
I'm sick of broadcast TV, anyway. I'm waiting for TV on demand. No more schedules set by TV execs strictly looking for the best demographics, no more 8-minute breaks for commercials. Just a nice "preview" function and the ability to schedule your own playlist for anytime you want, and pay for the time you watch. All it takes is bandwidth, interactivity, and waiting for the entire TV industry to change its business model. Just like we're waiting for the music industry to change its business model. In other words, don't hold your breath.
Nope. Ewhac (Hi, Leo!) is a well-known Amiga pioneer, and he knows what he's talking about. I'm the former editor of.info magazine, which covered the Amiga, and we reported this story at the time. It was, unfortunately, representative of Commodore's "Let's Shoot Ourselves in the Foot Again" marketing philosophy of the time.
The web stuff was a goo invented by Parket. In one comic, he even tries to solve his perennial money problems by selling the formula to a chemical company for glue. Problem is, the stuff dissolves after a few minutes, so it has no commercial value, and it would take months for Peter to rework the formula to be more persistent. Poor Peter Parker! The story of his life!:)
If ordered by the court to release a "stripped down" version of Windows, Microsoft's response will be clear. They will stall, drag their feet, appeal, etc., as long as possible. Then, when finally ordered to do what they were told to do in the first place, they will release a totally useless, bug-riddled, zero-feature, only $10 less than full-blown Windows version. Of course, no one will want it because it's so crippled, and because you can get the real thing for just a few bucks more. And Microsoft will say, "See, we told you it couldn't be done." Face it, Microsoft is so evil and devious that there is simply no way that they will ever follow the intent of any court-ordered remedy.
I could see a system where you'd have a bunch of variables that would set your driving privileges, and they would be enforced by the box and wireless. For example, you'd take a reaction time test, and faster reaction times would allow a greater speed limit for you. That would be programmed into your black box. Wireless signals from speed limit signs would set the speed limit range for a stretch of road. You might be able to go 85, while somebody else could only go 70. If you had vision problems, a setting on your black box might not let you start your car after dark. Etc. Maybe there'd be timed functions, too. Like after 24 months, your allowable speed limit would drop by 10 mph until you go to the shop and get a brake job, where they'd also reset your box. If they'd all communicate with each other on the road, you might even be able to set up a safe and reliable autopilot.
Truly open APIs would go a long way towards levelling the playing field for Windows applications developers. But I think the DoJ should require that M$ apps (and all other apps in the world, IMHO) should have an open file format. This would make applications OS-independent and platform-independent. With Office the driving force behind most Windows users lock-in to Windows, I think it could break Windows stranglehold on the OS market in 18 months.
What blows me away isn't the fact that he demonstrated gravitational force in his basement, it's the second demonstration that showed how Archimedes (or any other Greek natural philosopher) could have done the very same thing with sticks, string, and stones. Incredible! I've always been very, very intersted in history and raw information (or, generally, the lack of it). It's pretty well been shown that the Egyptians could have created a pretty powerful computer using fluidics bricks, and that the Chinese could have build hang gliders using silk and bamboo. Now it turns out we could have had Newton 1900 years earlier. Amazing how much difference just a little bit of knowledge can make.
I've always thought it would be cool if an alien emissary landed on the White House lawn, then with all the TV cameras rolling and the president and dignitaries standing there in grave anticipation, it bent down and started talking to the ants. Who's the dominant life form now?:)
I personally have always liked the "Foundation" type galaxy that Asimov wrote about - one with billions of inhabitable planets, all uninhabited and just waiting for us to colonize them. If, as this book suggests, it takes a very, very tight set of circumstances for life to evolve, that may be the way the galaxy is. We can live on a much wider variety of planets than the one we evolved on. We've got at least one (Mars) right here in the solar system that we can adapt to our needs, albeit with a lot of work. Even Venus might be okay with a huge amount of terraforming. To me,that means there is probably at least one marginally livable hunk of rock in just about every star system. Even if it's only 1 in 100, that's a lot of expansion room. Heck, I hope we ARE the only ones here. I like the idea of all that elbow room.
I wish the book publishing paradigm would change, and the music industry, too. What you really should be paying for is the right to content, not a lump of silvery plastic or a block of dead tree. The profits from both of those go mainly to the publishers, not the artists or authors. The artist or author should get money from every user (not USE) of their material for unlimited use rights. And each new user should have to pay, too. The fee should be small and proportional to its real worth to the user. I've sold a lot of books at full retail (where I've received a very small royalty proportional to the selling price), and I've seen a lot of my books sold on remainder tables (where I've received less than nothing - remainders are actually logged as 'returns' and counted AGAINST your sales!) Do I buy used and remaindered books? Yes. Many of the books I buy are out of print, and frankly I buy so many books I could never afford to pay full price for all of them. But I try not to buy a used or remaindered book if it's still in-print (though I DO still comparison shop). Why? Because I want the author to get at least his paltry royalty, even though the majority goes to the publisher. I don't pirate music, either. Unfortunately, until we come up with a new content-based (rather than media-based) distribution system, I don't think there's a solution. Of course, book and music publishers DO NOT want a new system! The current one allows them to legally steal from artists, authors, and consumers alike.
Try this tactic instead: 1. Act really, really enthused about the product. 2. Say "This sounds like the total solution we've been looking for. I think we need a face-to-face." 3. Ask them to fly someone out to give a presentation. Better, ask them to send a team out to give a presentation. 4. When they get there, make them take you out to dinner and drinks the night before the presentation. 5. After 5 minutes of the presentation, say "This isn't at all what we need. It sounded completely different on the phone. Goodbye!" The company is out thousands of dollars and a couple of days of lost time. Repeat every time you get a telemarketing call. Even if they call you at home for a magazine subscription. "Say, this sounds like a valuable resource for our business. I think all 10,000 of our employees could use this magazine! Can you send a rep out to give a presenatation to our staff?" If everyone in America would do this for a month, telemarketers would be bankrupt in a month. Oh, yeah, and never, ever buy anything from a telemarketer. Not even if they offer you solid gold bricks for a penny. It just encourages them.
The best way to do this would be to take each source language sentence and first SPELLCHECK it (something rarely done on/.) then mark it up as to meaning and sentence structure. For example:
"I went to the store."
might become:
<noun struct="subject" def="first person pronoun">I</noun><verb tense="past" def="to go">went</verb>...
etc. Granted, the first markup pass would be a killer, but subsequent translations could be automated. As an added bonus, kids would get to learn grammar again. (Definitions should really be a URI to a universal dictionary, but then you knew that...)
I've always wondered why anyone would want to shoot John Lennon, but if he just had bad aim, that would explain a lot. Heck, we ALL wanted to shoot Yoko!
Slashdot Mirror
First, there is the issue of being a monopoly in a regional market. Then there is also the issue of a cartel, which is composed of multiple companies which are in collusion to create a monopoly. Either way, you end up with complete monopolistic control which is held by more than one company.
Oh wait, I'm sorry, I just remembered!! That was an IMAGINARY story!!!
:)
Way back in the 60's, after Superman was split permanently into Superman Blue and Superman Red by red kryptonite, and after they had put their Anti-Evil-Ray satellites into orbit, I recall they built a suspension bridge across the entire Atlantic Ocean, complete with gas stations, motels, and restaurants. Now THAT was a bridge!!
Of course, if you believe Star Trek and Star Wars (the original trilogy, before rampant CGI took over), you'd think that all intelligent life in the universe is composed of bipeds of roughly human size with bits of rubbery stuff glued to their heads to make them seem slightly different.
This was, of course, explained in a Star Trek (movie? episode?) which showed that ancient bipeds spread their DNA all over the galaxy so that we'd all evolve to look somewhat alike. Nice way to explain away over 30 years of cheap makeup FX.
Of course, we know what the final number will be : 42.
:)
Why not let a group of snotty, attractive, self-absorbed idiots make the trip, along with a bone-headed master of ceremonies and a stoned film crew? Every week, they could see who could eat the most newly-discovered Mars bugs, or rappel down a 10,000-ft cliff, or cross the ice-cap in cut-offs and tight tank-tops. They could form alliances and back-stab each other, and then vote one person off the planet every week until only one is left. Televise it and sell ads for beer and feminine products, and it would not only pay for itself, NASA could actually turn a profit.
The University of Iowa has one of those really old natural history museums, one that was filled in the 1800's by world-travelling 'naturalists' who saw it as their sworn duty to kill, stuff, and bring back one of everything for their home museum. They've got bison and a narwhal, and even a stuffed whooping crane! But their dodo is a fake. Dodos went extinct long before the natural history craze of the 19th century, but as I understand it, there was quite a trade in fake dodos. Seems every museum wanted one and there weren't more than a handful in existence, so somebody made some bucks creating fake ones. The one the U of I museum has is kind of motheaten, but not much worse than the whooping crane, and looks darned convincing. Bottom line - it might be kind of difficult coming up with some real dodo DNA. If you just grab a random 'dodo' from a natural history collecion, you're likely to end up with DNA from a half-dozen totally unrelated birds!
Having grown up in Iowa, I don't think I'd want to sort throught the "output" of a herd of supercomputing cows or sheep. :)
We feed and take care of cats despite the fact that they do absolutely nothing for us. Do they have some kind of psychic mind control over us?
It is believed by many that Egyptian culture was delivered to humanity by a race of alien beings. At just about the same time, Egyptians began worshipping cats. Coincidince?
Even though they are supposedly mammals, cats have those weird slitty eyes. No other mammal has eyes like that. Are they really of this earth?
The Discovery Channel should do one of their pseudo-science specials on this subject. I'm sure it has just as much credence as any of the other goofball theories they've broadcast 'documentaries' on.
I'm sick of broadcast TV, anyway. I'm waiting for TV on demand. No more schedules set by TV execs strictly looking for the best demographics, no more 8-minute breaks for commercials. Just a nice "preview" function and the ability to schedule your own playlist for anytime you want, and pay for the time you watch. All it takes is bandwidth, interactivity, and waiting for the entire TV industry to change its business model.
Just like we're waiting for the music industry to change its business model.
In other words, don't hold your breath.
Nope. Ewhac (Hi, Leo!) is a well-known Amiga pioneer, and he knows what he's talking about. I'm the former editor of .info magazine, which covered the Amiga, and we reported this story at the time. It was, unfortunately, representative of Commodore's "Let's Shoot Ourselves in the Foot Again" marketing philosophy of the time.
The web stuff was a goo invented by Parket. In one comic, he even tries to solve his perennial money problems by selling the formula to a chemical company for glue. Problem is, the stuff dissolves after a few minutes, so it has no commercial value, and it would take months for Peter to rework the formula to be more persistent. Poor Peter Parker! The story of his life! :)
If ordered by the court to release a "stripped down" version of Windows, Microsoft's response will be clear. They will stall, drag their feet, appeal, etc., as long as possible. Then, when finally ordered to do what they were told to do in the first place, they will release a totally useless, bug-riddled, zero-feature, only $10 less than full-blown Windows version. Of course, no one will want it because it's so crippled, and because you can get the real thing for just a few bucks more. And Microsoft will say, "See, we told you it couldn't be done."
Face it, Microsoft is so evil and devious that there is simply no way that they will ever follow the intent of any court-ordered remedy.
My great hope is that this will go to court, maybe all the way to the Supremes. I'd love to have them examine the legality of EULAs.
I could see a system where you'd have a bunch of variables that would set your driving privileges, and they would be enforced by the box and wireless. For example, you'd take a reaction time test, and faster reaction times would allow a greater speed limit for you. That would be programmed into your black box. Wireless signals from speed limit signs would set the speed limit range for a stretch of road. You might be able to go 85, while somebody else could only go 70. If you had vision problems, a setting on your black box might not let you start your car after dark. Etc. Maybe there'd be timed functions, too. Like after 24 months, your allowable speed limit would drop by 10 mph until you go to the shop and get a brake job, where they'd also reset your box.
If they'd all communicate with each other on the road, you might even be able to set up a safe and reliable autopilot.
Truly open APIs would go a long way towards levelling the playing field for Windows applications developers. But I think the DoJ should require that M$ apps (and all other apps in the world, IMHO) should have an open file format. This would make applications OS-independent and platform-independent. With Office the driving force behind most Windows users lock-in to Windows, I think it could break Windows stranglehold on the OS market in 18 months.
What blows me away isn't the fact that he demonstrated gravitational force in his basement, it's the second demonstration that showed how Archimedes (or any other Greek natural philosopher) could have done the very same thing with sticks, string, and stones. Incredible! I've always been very, very intersted in history and raw information (or, generally, the lack of it). It's pretty well been shown that the Egyptians could have created a pretty powerful computer using fluidics bricks, and that the Chinese could have build hang gliders using silk and bamboo. Now it turns out we could have had Newton 1900 years earlier. Amazing how much difference just a little bit of knowledge can make.
You forgot ecologically sound, naturally-replenishing hot tubs for everyone!
I've always thought it would be cool if an alien emissary landed on the White House lawn, then with all the TV cameras rolling and the president and dignitaries standing there in grave anticipation, it bent down and started talking to the ants. :)
Who's the dominant life form now?
I personally have always liked the "Foundation" type galaxy that Asimov wrote about - one with billions of inhabitable planets, all uninhabited and just waiting for us to colonize them. If, as this book suggests, it takes a very, very tight set of circumstances for life to evolve, that may be the way the galaxy is.
We can live on a much wider variety of planets than the one we evolved on. We've got at least one (Mars) right here in the solar system that we can adapt to our needs, albeit with a lot of work. Even Venus might be okay with a huge amount of terraforming. To me,that means there is probably at least one marginally livable hunk of rock in just about every star system. Even if it's only 1 in 100, that's a lot of expansion room.
Heck, I hope we ARE the only ones here. I like the idea of all that elbow room.
I wish the book publishing paradigm would change, and the music industry, too. What you really should be paying for is the right to content, not a lump of silvery plastic or a block of dead tree. The profits from both of those go mainly to the publishers, not the artists or authors. The artist or author should get money from every user (not USE) of their material for unlimited use rights. And each new user should have to pay, too. The fee should be small and proportional to its real worth to the user.
I've sold a lot of books at full retail (where I've received a very small royalty proportional to the selling price), and I've seen a lot of my books sold on remainder tables (where I've received less than nothing - remainders are actually logged as 'returns' and counted AGAINST your sales!)
Do I buy used and remaindered books? Yes. Many of the books I buy are out of print, and frankly I buy so many books I could never afford to pay full price for all of them. But I try not to buy a used or remaindered book if it's still in-print (though I DO still comparison shop). Why? Because I want the author to get at least his paltry royalty, even though the majority goes to the publisher. I don't pirate music, either.
Unfortunately, until we come up with a new content-based (rather than media-based) distribution system, I don't think there's a solution. Of course, book and music publishers DO NOT want a new system! The current one allows them to legally steal from artists, authors, and consumers alike.
A hundred years from now, Morlock-like slaves work their lives away deep underground in the hydrogen mines...
Try this tactic instead:
1. Act really, really enthused about the product.
2. Say "This sounds like the total solution we've been looking for. I think we need a face-to-face."
3. Ask them to fly someone out to give a presentation. Better, ask them to send a team out to give a presentation.
4. When they get there, make them take you out to dinner and drinks the night before the presentation.
5. After 5 minutes of the presentation, say "This isn't at all what we need. It sounded completely different on the phone. Goodbye!"
The company is out thousands of dollars and a couple of days of lost time.
Repeat every time you get a telemarketing call. Even if they call you at home for a magazine subscription. "Say, this sounds like a valuable resource for our business. I think all 10,000 of our employees could use this magazine! Can you send a rep out to give a presenatation to our staff?"
If everyone in America would do this for a month, telemarketers would be bankrupt in a month.
Oh, yeah, and never, ever buy anything from a telemarketer. Not even if they offer you solid gold bricks for a penny. It just encourages them.
"I went to the store."
might become:etc.
Granted, the first markup pass would be a killer, but subsequent translations could be automated. As an added bonus, kids would get to learn grammar again.
(Definitions should really be a URI to a universal dictionary, but then you knew that...)
I've always wondered why anyone would want to shoot John Lennon, but if he just had bad aim, that would explain a lot. Heck, we ALL wanted to shoot Yoko!