because the vast accumulation of wealth is in the hands of individuals, not some "mythological beast" you seem to want to make corporations into.
Only large organizations can efficiently serve large populations. Governments certainly can't, go look to areas of the world beholden to government entities, most aren't anyplace you want to live. The primary reason is that governments don't have to get better and improve, they only have to maintain the status quo. Companies on the other hand grow because the people in charge want to succeed. This leads to innovations, more employment, better qualitiy of life, and yes more money.
Oh, but that evil money, where is it? Well the bulk of corporate wealth is held by retirement concerns, yup those evil teachers, firemen, police, and maybe even your coworkers are all part of the system.
Sorry, its childish to apply human traits to something that is not alive. Its a form of organization, nothing more. It succeed because of individuals and it fails because of them too.
at least where I am at. The need to see "you" because they can't stay focused themselves. Hell if my dire project didn't get interrupted at least twice a week I would think management died, note I did not say on vacation because they crackberry me to death from the days off.
Too many in management are insecure, they feel they just have to be doing something and unfortunately that means doing it to someone.
I would still TC even if it meant some slowness in career progression, if not just for the peace and mind
sorry but a PvP environment in any MMORPG doesn't hold a candle to the standard FPS environment. Any game where your skill can be overriden by someones accumulation of stuff by simply being in game longer isn't good PvP.
I could never understand the fascination with PvP in MMORPGs, let alone "white servers" where people go PvP on a whim, till I realized they don't want a challenge, they want to win. "Real challenge" - sheesh, if they wanted one they wouldn't be doing PvP in a MMORPG!
As far as Eve goes, yeah its great if you been in there forever, but new players aren't going to be much more than cannon fodder.
Obviously more people prefer WOW than Eve, so where's the desire for a "real challenge"?
Expect more of it. Slowy the press will shift their attention and when that happens there will be claims of a bias towards the right in the press.
Still I truly expected McCain to have been one of the Republicans, he isn't any friend to our rights, especially after trying to hamstring the public's ability to get into politics.
There are very few executives versus peons, and only one CEO.
They earned their position by going through the ranks either at the company they are at or others. They don't work 40 hour weeks, 60 to 80 is the norm. They have to anwser for many things outside of their control.
In the end its up to the investors to determine what is appropriate pay. Not any government. Any other course is setting us up for disaster.
Amazing all the people who cry about CEO's getting big paychecks totally ignore sports stars and actors/actresses who rake in large amounts of dough. Sorry, but I have far more respect for any CEO that those other groups.
it had horrid mileage,wasn't cheap, and carried 2 people.
It had to die. It was more of an attempt to prove what could be done, what people wanted, and how the technology would hold up.
Most people don't have the luxury of having a "commuter car". Most of those who do that I know are people others here would sneer at. They have the money to toss on the commuter car while at the same time keeping their SUVs and such at home.
EV-1 was made into something it wasn't by a film relying on the publics lack of knowledge of the area being represented. IOW - it relied on ignorance to make GM out to be evil, after all its far easier to do that then present a true discussion on the issue. For some reason there are way too many people out there who believe any action by a corp they don't like is for nefarious reasons. This line of thinking runs rampant on many tech based discussion sites for some reason.
One thing Apple could do is sell business Mac's running Windows (either through Bootcamp or just Windows). Why? Because they have such a tight grip on what does and does not work on their machines they can eliminate many of the issues that plague windows PCs.
or they could just try to get into the backend servers... but thats even more locked up than the PCs themselves at most places
pSeries, iSeries, and zSeries, are still hard at work doing same they have always done, running banks, distribution centers, and the like. The difference is that mini's and mainframes don't need glossy magazines so that people know they get work done, they just do it.
If you look at the direction AMD is going you will see the archietecture so common in the mini/mainframe areana is coming down to the home.
It was always hilarious to hear the network guys brag about their 4-way network tower with its 8gb plus of ram, they loved to lord those numbers over the iseries folks, too bad that the 512mb uniprocessor iseries box served more people. It took a while to educate the pc-nuts (and I am a pc nut as much as an i/p/zseries nut) that processor and memory do not make a computer. It is design and integration that makes a computer.
plus having a real OS doesn't hurt either.
Besides IBM never needed Apple's marketshare, they conquered the world of home entertainment without ever exposing themselves to much risk
when Microsoft gets treated to the same very few care, in fact some seem to relish in it.
Now comes the fun, if a bug is reported to Apple how long do they get to fix it? Who will determine when enough time has passed?
I look at it this way, Apple still is well off. They haven't a big enough installed base to get the "Average user" which Microsoft has to both sell to and suffer with. When they do penetrate the "Average user" market and get into double digits of popularity then they attract attention they don't want. Do not under estimate the creativity and capability of the hackers out there.
to get into the game. Simply put the iPod has had time to establish dominance. It has become part of culture. I know many people who refer to buying an iPod but don't consider it the same as an MP3 player. Being late to enter the market of any product which sparks public interest will leave all others behind, it doesn't hurt that most of the early competitors were trapped under MusicMatch (or whatever that horrid product was)
I think another thing the gave Microsoft issues, and it continues to hit the other players, is that there are too many competeing services for those machines whereas for an iPod the only thing most consumers will associate with it is iTunes.
Honestly it would not matter how good the Zune is, whether in features or price, I just cannot give someone any old MP3 player, kids want iPods and thats all they are going to settle for. With prices below $100 its hard to justify the little you save by not buying one. You would really just have to hate Apple not to buy one. Now when Apple can inspire this type of loyalty for their PC products it will be time for Microsoft to be wary. Right now I know of only 1 new MAC over out of dozens upon dozens of iPod users at work, new and old. The so called "halo" effect the iPod is claimed to have on this site and elsewhere doesn't seem to exist where I live.
PS: I am still waiting on a MacBook Pro is something similar to either the plain Macbook or smaller.
I haven't had a VCR hooked up to my entertainment system for years. When my parents recently asked if I had one they could use in the RV I had to dig it out. I never really did the rental routine and as such I found myself using one less and less, until one day I put in a new rack for my entertainment system and never migrated the VCR to it.
I long ago switched to only DVDs. I have 300+ in my collection, finally surpassing my CD collection. Now with a DVR provided by my satellite service I have no need. My parents have moved much of their VCR collection to DVD with the use of an entertainment system DVD burner. I have friends at work who moved their Disney collections for their children to DVD, taken straight from the VCR tapes. Some they bought as DVD for the extras but most moved over.
It really comes down to ease of use. Just like cassettes died eventually to CD so has VCR to DVD. When you can buy DVD recorders for less than 100 and DVRs coming as nearly standard equipment for Cable and Satellite systems it makes we wonder just how many years VCR has left.
Plus, nothing looks worse on my HD than a VCR'd movie, 'cept maybe CD based movies
tell that to those living in many South American countries, some areas of Africa, and even the pacific rim.
Invasion of other countries is very rare these days because of the exhorbinant costs and logistics, simply put most countries don't have any more capability that to cross their neighbors borders. This of course will change when more countries develop nuclear weapons, the fear being you get a country that has leaders who don't care.
Citizen revolts sound so nice but rarely happen as most oppressive regimes make sure the citizens are unarmed. The worst use "gangs" to help cower the population. Roaming the street fully armed and dispensing justice when they see fit. Sometimes these gangs don't even take on government look but are all too readily tolerated as it gives the government a reason to further clamp down.
Military getting fed up too is rare. It was far easier in a world where communication was readily available. Still this happens in mostly smaller countries.
No what usually happens is that they transform into something else. Sure they may act a little different on the surface but in the end its all the same. Western democracies seem to be filled with too many sheep, people who want the government to do others that they cannot do themselves. Take their money, their right to say things not liked by others, and eventually take their ability to resist.
I am quite a few others can see little reason for paying for something I can get free. Pay radio seems like a RIAA dream.
If anything the ability to take YOUR music with you will lead to less and less radio. Cars these days are being designed with MP3 players in mind and that to me is more important than satellite. Besides I still use the radio for local news, talk radio, and to hear new songs. A lot of songs I hear on top40, country, and rock stations, I later and go buy off of iTunes or similar. Sometimes I still buy the CDs.
CD buying is still spurred by radio play and I don't think the record companies will give that up. Sure I can hear music on satellite but then I would be paying for someone to broadcast to me. Living in a big city (Atlanta) I have a large number of stations to choose from. Sure many are Clearchannel owned or similar (I don't recall the names of the other large holding companies) but I still have more stations than I have presets.
Satellite will augment radio but never replace it. Maybe when someone comes up with an ad supported model that is free except for equipment it might make a real dent. If they want me to pay for satellite radio then nearly any station that I want needs to be available. In a way it might morp into something akin to cable/sattelite tv.
a local municipality here was doing exactly what the FCC blocked, trying to get some sweetness to permit some services.
of course who would be wired first? well, gee, the government itself, followed by certain neighborhoods that a paper determined to be, guess where, the same people voting to approve it lived.
sorry, but I understand that it may annoy people that businesses putting down high speed means of access should be allowed to determine where their market is, let alone where they start deployment. It only makes sense to take it where you will make the most of your money back the quickest and then deploy from there. High speed internet service is not a right and locals should have no say in how its deployed unless said local government is going to subsidies it or pay for it outright.
In other words, its not being paid for with government money then the government should not be able to set service requirements, the market will clobber anyone who doesn't do it right. It has before and is quite capable of doing it again
you complain about them reading and email on someone's computer but say nothing about them fleecing you daily by taking your earnings?
Sorry, but the two are both the same, they are about personal freedom. You give up so quickly on one they are bound to be encouraged to take another.
You want the government to take care of health care but you don't want them storing personal information or getting it without your personal information. Yet at the same time no one blinks when the IRS makes a claim that you failed to pay taxes on something only invasive government inquiry would dig up?
Fuck that.
While this case is iffy, I am not quite sure if I give something to someone that I have a right to control who reads it afterward, I do believe it becomes the property of the person I sent it to. Now, is their legal right trampled by the government taking it from them? Well if it doesn't incriminate them then I best hope they like me.
Uh no, why? Because those who were going to buy it or get it as a gift will still get it in January 07. Parents will get it for their children regardless.
Hell a lady here at work bought her sons each a 32" LCD and she mentioned World of Warcraft as the primary reason for it. (granted she got them at brand smart) but still...
Topic related : I do like the idea of the "community" essentially buying the code and releasing it to the public. Ryzom did not have some neat ideas and it was a "professionally developed" MMORPG. I am only curious if there are many dependant libraries that are commercial that are required to make the code work.
On a side note, yet another game Jessica Mulligan joined that closed. She/he came about during AC2s early days with the promise of improving the game and keeping it going. AC2 closed, but only after selling its players a new expansion and annoucing that close less than 4 months after selling the expansion (they closed later that same year). Perhaps past history with computer games (Jessica's stretches back to compuserv ) is not guarantee you can help the current generation survive. Of course its hard to survive today when the behemoths are so highly polished. The bar has been raised considerably and anyone without a highly defined and functional support system is going to fall flat on their faces.
Ryzom was cool in some ways but honestly it sucked otherwise. Another game released too early and with horrid support. Most of the people I knew who played it beyond beta (I didn't go retail) dropped it quite quickly.
Whats inherently wrong with signed drivers? That they charge for the service? Why shouldn't they, it cost them money to verify that the vendor has a clue.
If anything the only problem I have ever really had with windows is some damn 3rd party driver.
Does PAP stop me from listening or viewing to my stuff? I don't think so. Its a deployment for stuff that doesn't really exist yet.
Apologist is one thing, stuffing FUD is another. If someone did this to Apple (which the FSF does but with not nearly as much zeal or inflammatory text) the threads would all be up for crucifying that someone.
The problem microsoft faces is that people want their computers to do practically everything and not make them think about doing it. Top it off that they want it pretty and they want anything they add to it to work and the problem becomes amazingly complex. Compare this to Apple, who rigourously (sp) controls both the hardware and software. If Microsoft tried dictating you could only use manufactuer X the lawsuits and screaming would reach all new levels. They are in a hole because they don't control the hardware. As such they have to take steps to minimize the impact most hardware has on them (signed drivers). Compared to Linux at least I can find drivers for practically any piece of current hardware for my windows machines, the same cannot be said of trying to get my Linux stuff up and running. Since I cannot write whatI need I have to wait till someone with the skill decides to take a crack at it and I then have to hope he really knows what he is doing.
Don't take this as saying we should have sympathy for Microsoft. I just think the FSF could come up with less inflammatory ways of getting their point across. Hell it seems as if they are taking the worst of/. posters and foisting their ideas onto the rest of us.
Slashdot Mirror
because the vast accumulation of wealth is in the hands of individuals, not some "mythological beast" you seem to want to make corporations into.
Only large organizations can efficiently serve large populations. Governments certainly can't, go look to areas of the world beholden to government entities, most aren't anyplace you want to live. The primary reason is that governments don't have to get better and improve, they only have to maintain the status quo. Companies on the other hand grow because the people in charge want to succeed. This leads to innovations, more employment, better qualitiy of life, and yes more money.
Oh, but that evil money, where is it? Well the bulk of corporate wealth is held by retirement concerns, yup those evil teachers, firemen, police, and maybe even your coworkers are all part of the system.
Sorry, its childish to apply human traits to something that is not alive. Its a form of organization, nothing more. It succeed because of individuals and it fails because of them too.
at least where I am at. The need to see "you" because they can't stay focused themselves. Hell if my dire project didn't get interrupted at least twice a week I would think management died, note I did not say on vacation because they crackberry me to death from the days off.
Too many in management are insecure, they feel they just have to be doing something and unfortunately that means doing it to someone.
I would still TC even if it meant some slowness in career progression, if not just for the peace and mind
sorry but a PvP environment in any MMORPG doesn't hold a candle to the standard FPS environment. Any game where your skill can be overriden by someones accumulation of stuff by simply being in game longer isn't good PvP.
I could never understand the fascination with PvP in MMORPGs, let alone "white servers" where people go PvP on a whim, till I realized they don't want a challenge, they want to win. "Real challenge" - sheesh, if they wanted one they wouldn't be doing PvP in a MMORPG!
As far as Eve goes, yeah its great if you been in there forever, but new players aren't going to be much more than cannon fodder.
Obviously more people prefer WOW than Eve, so where's the desire for a "real challenge"?
Actually its because they are in power now.
Expect more of it. Slowy the press will shift their attention and when that happens there will be claims of a bias towards the right in the press.
Still I truly expected McCain to have been one of the Republicans, he isn't any friend to our rights, especially after trying to hamstring the public's ability to get into politics.
well it would expedite the knowing when, and doing of, kissing your ass goodbye
circumvent the naming rights?
7 9889-ap.html
If this article is right Apple needs to be burned a little
http://money.canoe.ca/News/TopPhoto/2007/01/10/32
There are very few executives versus peons, and only one CEO.
They earned their position by going through the ranks either at the company they are at or others. They don't work 40 hour weeks, 60 to 80 is the norm. They have to anwser for many things outside of their control.
In the end its up to the investors to determine what is appropriate pay. Not any government. Any other course is setting us up for disaster.
Amazing all the people who cry about CEO's getting big paychecks totally ignore sports stars and actors/actresses who rake in large amounts of dough. Sorry, but I have far more respect for any CEO that those other groups.
Management who is more concerned with the process than the product
Management who never met a feature they didn't have to have added
Management who sets rules for design lockdown but permits themselves exceptions
Management who never seems to discipline those who don't work but loads obligation upon obligation on those who do work
Management who is more concerned with initials on parking spaces, titles, and new furniture.
Explains our 3 year project currently in its 6th year with 3 more years scoped out !!!
it had horrid mileage,wasn't cheap, and carried 2 people.
It had to die. It was more of an attempt to prove what could be done, what people wanted, and how the technology would hold up.
Most people don't have the luxury of having a "commuter car". Most of those who do that I know are people others here would sneer at. They have the money to toss on the commuter car while at the same time keeping their SUVs and such at home.
EV-1 was made into something it wasn't by a film relying on the publics lack of knowledge of the area being represented. IOW - it relied on ignorance to make GM out to be evil, after all its far easier to do that then present a true discussion on the issue. For some reason there are way too many people out there who believe any action by a corp they don't like is for nefarious reasons. This line of thinking runs rampant on many tech based discussion sites for some reason.
Apple, its what Windows runs best on.
One thing Apple could do is sell business Mac's running Windows (either through Bootcamp or just Windows). Why? Because they have such a tight grip on what does and does not work on their machines they can eliminate many of the issues that plague windows PCs.
or they could just try to get into the backend servers... but thats even more locked up than the PCs themselves at most places
the consulting group or whomwever spun up the new project wanted a paticular result so they aimed for it.
Most likely they didn't know how to program the mainframe to get the results they wanted but they did know how to use the solution they came up with
or
they knew how to do the mainframe side to the fullest potential of the machine but that wasn't cool enough so they redefined what good results were.
pSeries, iSeries, and zSeries, are still hard at work doing same they have always done, running banks, distribution centers, and the like. The difference is that mini's and mainframes don't need glossy magazines so that people know they get work done, they just do it.
If you look at the direction AMD is going you will see the archietecture so common in the mini/mainframe areana is coming down to the home.
It was always hilarious to hear the network guys brag about their 4-way network tower with its 8gb plus of ram, they loved to lord those numbers over the iseries folks, too bad that the 512mb uniprocessor iseries box served more people. It took a while to educate the pc-nuts (and I am a pc nut as much as an i/p/zseries nut) that processor and memory do not make a computer. It is design and integration that makes a computer.
plus having a real OS doesn't hurt either.
Besides IBM never needed Apple's marketshare, they conquered the world of home entertainment without ever exposing themselves to much risk
can see what its like to be noticed.
when Microsoft gets treated to the same very few care, in fact some seem to relish in it.
Now comes the fun, if a bug is reported to Apple how long do they get to fix it? Who will determine when enough time has passed?
I look at it this way, Apple still is well off. They haven't a big enough installed base to get the "Average user" which Microsoft has to both sell to and suffer with. When they do penetrate the "Average user" market and get into double digits of popularity then they attract attention they don't want. Do not under estimate the creativity and capability of the hackers out there.
That old adage about a bunch of monkeys is apt
to get into the game. Simply put the iPod has had time to establish dominance. It has become part of culture. I know many people who refer to buying an iPod but don't consider it the same as an MP3 player. Being late to enter the market of any product which sparks public interest will leave all others behind, it doesn't hurt that most of the early competitors were trapped under MusicMatch (or whatever that horrid product was)
I think another thing the gave Microsoft issues, and it continues to hit the other players, is that there are too many competeing services for those machines whereas for an iPod the only thing most consumers will associate with it is iTunes.
Honestly it would not matter how good the Zune is, whether in features or price, I just cannot give someone any old MP3 player, kids want iPods and thats all they are going to settle for. With prices below $100 its hard to justify the little you save by not buying one. You would really just have to hate Apple not to buy one. Now when Apple can inspire this type of loyalty for their PC products it will be time for Microsoft to be wary. Right now I know of only 1 new MAC over out of dozens upon dozens of iPod users at work, new and old. The so called "halo" effect the iPod is claimed to have on this site and elsewhere doesn't seem to exist where I live.
PS: I am still waiting on a MacBook Pro is something similar to either the plain Macbook or smaller.
From the EPA site itself http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/420f06009.htm#fuele stimates
u estVehicle
u estVehicle
A site to enter your own observed information http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=addG
or lookup what others have recorded http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg/MPG.do?action=addG
I haven't had a VCR hooked up to my entertainment system for years. When my parents recently asked if I had one they could use in the RV I had to dig it out. I never really did the rental routine and as such I found myself using one less and less, until one day I put in a new rack for my entertainment system and never migrated the VCR to it.
I long ago switched to only DVDs. I have 300+ in my collection, finally surpassing my CD collection. Now with a DVR provided by my satellite service I have no need. My parents have moved much of their VCR collection to DVD with the use of an entertainment system DVD burner. I have friends at work who moved their Disney collections for their children to DVD, taken straight from the VCR tapes. Some they bought as DVD for the extras but most moved over.
It really comes down to ease of use. Just like cassettes died eventually to CD so has VCR to DVD. When you can buy DVD recorders for less than 100 and DVRs coming as nearly standard equipment for Cable and Satellite systems it makes we wonder just how many years VCR has left.
Plus, nothing looks worse on my HD than a VCR'd movie, 'cept maybe CD based movies
tell that to those living in many South American countries, some areas of Africa, and even the pacific rim.
Invasion of other countries is very rare these days because of the exhorbinant costs and logistics, simply put most countries don't have any more capability that to cross their neighbors borders. This of course will change when more countries develop nuclear weapons, the fear being you get a country that has leaders who don't care.
Citizen revolts sound so nice but rarely happen as most oppressive regimes make sure the citizens are unarmed. The worst use "gangs" to help cower the population. Roaming the street fully armed and dispensing justice when they see fit. Sometimes these gangs don't even take on government look but are all too readily tolerated as it gives the government a reason to further clamp down.
Military getting fed up too is rare. It was far easier in a world where communication was readily available. Still this happens in mostly smaller countries.
No what usually happens is that they transform into something else. Sure they may act a little different on the surface but in the end its all the same. Western democracies seem to be filled with too many sheep, people who want the government to do others that they cannot do themselves. Take their money, their right to say things not liked by others, and eventually take their ability to resist.
I am quite a few others can see little reason for paying for something I can get free. Pay radio seems like a RIAA dream.
If anything the ability to take YOUR music with you will lead to less and less radio. Cars these days are being designed with MP3 players in mind and that to me is more important than satellite. Besides I still use the radio for local news, talk radio, and to hear new songs. A lot of songs I hear on top40, country, and rock stations, I later and go buy off of iTunes or similar. Sometimes I still buy the CDs.
CD buying is still spurred by radio play and I don't think the record companies will give that up. Sure I can hear music on satellite but then I would be paying for someone to broadcast to me. Living in a big city (Atlanta) I have a large number of stations to choose from. Sure many are Clearchannel owned or similar (I don't recall the names of the other large holding companies) but I still have more stations than I have presets.
Satellite will augment radio but never replace it. Maybe when someone comes up with an ad supported model that is free except for equipment it might make a real dent. If they want me to pay for satellite radio then nearly any station that I want needs to be available. In a way it might morp into something akin to cable/sattelite tv.
and I was worried that the pilots would be yacking and not flying
a local municipality here was doing exactly what the FCC blocked, trying to get some sweetness to permit some services.
of course who would be wired first? well, gee, the government itself, followed by certain neighborhoods that a paper determined to be, guess where, the same people voting to approve it lived.
sorry, but I understand that it may annoy people that businesses putting down high speed means of access should be allowed to determine where their market is, let alone where they start deployment. It only makes sense to take it where you will make the most of your money back the quickest and then deploy from there. High speed internet service is not a right and locals should have no say in how its deployed unless said local government is going to subsidies it or pay for it outright.
In other words, its not being paid for with government money then the government should not be able to set service requirements, the market will clobber anyone who doesn't do it right. It has before and is quite capable of doing it again
you complain about them reading and email on someone's computer but say nothing about them fleecing you daily by taking your earnings?
Sorry, but the two are both the same, they are about personal freedom. You give up so quickly on one they are bound to be encouraged to take another.
You want the government to take care of health care but you don't want them storing personal information or getting it without your personal information. Yet at the same time no one blinks when the IRS makes a claim that you failed to pay taxes on something only invasive government inquiry would dig up?
Fuck that.
While this case is iffy, I am not quite sure if I give something to someone that I have a right to control who reads it afterward, I do believe it becomes the property of the person I sent it to. Now, is their legal right trampled by the government taking it from them? Well if it doesn't incriminate them then I best hope they like me.
Uh no, why? Because those who were going to buy it or get it as a gift will still get it in January 07. Parents will get it for their children regardless.
Hell a lady here at work bought her sons each a 32" LCD and she mentioned World of Warcraft as the primary reason for it. (granted she got them at brand smart) but still...
Topic related : I do like the idea of the "community" essentially buying the code and releasing it to the public. Ryzom did not have some neat ideas and it was a "professionally developed" MMORPG. I am only curious if there are many dependant libraries that are commercial that are required to make the code work.
On a side note, yet another game Jessica Mulligan joined that closed. She/he came about during AC2s early days with the promise of improving the game and keeping it going. AC2 closed, but only after selling its players a new expansion and annoucing that close less than 4 months after selling the expansion (they closed later that same year). Perhaps past history with computer games (Jessica's stretches back to compuserv ) is not guarantee you can help the current generation survive. Of course its hard to survive today when the behemoths are so highly polished. The bar has been raised considerably and anyone without a highly defined and functional support system is going to fall flat on their faces.
Ryzom was cool in some ways but honestly it sucked otherwise. Another game released too early and with horrid support. Most of the people I knew who played it beyond beta (I didn't go retail) dropped it quite quickly.
"Fake think tanks, dubious sponsored research, and Astroturf are not considered but should be"
Sounds like this applies to many areas of interest today, whether its politics, the environment, or terrorism.
OK I'll bite.
/. posters and foisting their ideas onto the rest of us.
Whats inherently wrong with signed drivers? That they charge for the service? Why shouldn't they, it cost them money to verify that the vendor has a clue.
If anything the only problem I have ever really had with windows is some damn 3rd party driver.
Does PAP stop me from listening or viewing to my stuff? I don't think so. Its a deployment for stuff that doesn't really exist yet.
Apologist is one thing, stuffing FUD is another. If someone did this to Apple (which the FSF does but with not nearly as much zeal or inflammatory text) the threads would all be up for crucifying that someone.
The problem microsoft faces is that people want their computers to do practically everything and not make them think about doing it. Top it off that they want it pretty and they want anything they add to it to work and the problem becomes amazingly complex. Compare this to Apple, who rigourously (sp) controls both the hardware and software. If Microsoft tried dictating you could only use manufactuer X the lawsuits and screaming would reach all new levels. They are in a hole because they don't control the hardware. As such they have to take steps to minimize the impact most hardware has on them (signed drivers). Compared to Linux at least I can find drivers for practically any piece of current hardware for my windows machines, the same cannot be said of trying to get my Linux stuff up and running. Since I cannot write whatI need I have to wait till someone with the skill decides to take a crack at it and I then have to hope he really knows what he is doing.
Don't take this as saying we should have sympathy for Microsoft. I just think the FSF could come up with less inflammatory ways of getting their point across. Hell it seems as if they are taking the worst of