I'm okay with not depriving them of their free speech as long as they don't try to deprive me of my right to use public highways and roads to drive myself to work.
Whenever I hear people moan about the price of CDs, I feel like laughing. Don't you understand that no one is forcing you to buy them nor do you need to purchase CDs to survive (i.e., they do not provide sustenance or shelter)? CDs are luxury items - plain and simple - and the potential consumer price associated with them, therefore, is uncapped. The bottom line: if you don't want to pay the price for a luxury item, then don't buy it. The only morality issue at hand here is whether or not you believe you are entitled to steal copies of the music through unauthorized copying.
Back in the mid-90's, I worked for Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) on a project that used the very-cool Rational R1000 platform for development and source-code control. In summary, the R1000 was a custom Ada-oriented development platform (even the hardware was custom-made, I believe). The operating system was fully implemented in Ada and featured a "command prompt" that required you to write snippets of Ada code (expressed as anonymous blocks) instead of shell commands. All errors were thrown as Ada exceptions. The "command prompt" editor even featured code completion and had a built-in debugger. It was even possible to auto-generate custom DOD-STD-2167A design documents (SDDs, IDDs, etc.) by embedding specialized comments in your Ada code (ala Javadoc) and using the built-in document generation modules. It was definitely cool for its time!
I'm thinking about building one a ECS DeskNote, which seems to have the best of both worlds: a notebook form factor with a degree of desktop upgradability - and no OS! There's no battery, though - although an external one is available.
I saw the movie recently and, although I can't remember it being mentioned explicitly, I do remember having the impression that the Panic Room was not a recent addition to the house (like, say, it was built 7-15 years ago). That would explain the lack of modern security measures such as cell phone access, network connections, etc.
I just saw a discussion on WGN news where the reporters were speaking with a representative of the Illinois Petroleum Council (I may have the organization's name slightly wrong). The reporters were pressing him pretty hard about price gouging and he all but admitted that that's basically what was going since:
1) Wholesale petroleum prices had not increased significantly.
2) The only shortages that were being experienced were caused by people flocking to the pumps in greater numbers than normal.
3) The widely varying increases statewide in Illinois (from nothing to upwards of $4.00 extra per gallon) indicates "dealer profiteering" driven by hysteria.
In my immediate area (Shiloh, Illinois), gas prices for 87 octane unleaded presently range from $1.49 (Casey's) to $2.05 (Mobil). Friends of mine in Edwardsville, Illinois saw prices shoot up during rush hour to $2.99 for 87 octane unleaded at an Amoco station.
My advice: remember these "price gouging" gas stations and avoid buying gas (or anything else, for that matter) from them when times aren't so tough.
The last thing our nation needs right now is a pack of bottom-feeding, opportunistic gas stations.
YOU can uninstall Warp. And YOU can uninstall HotJava. And some really clever individual may be able uninstall IE (without harming Windows). And the majority of the people out there (if the members of my average non-techie family and extended family are representative examples of the typical consumer PC end-user who are not necessarily lazy or apathetic) have no interest in installing or de-installing the software that was pre-installed on their Dell/Compaq/HP bundled-all-to-heck desktops.
From my experience, the average PC end-user does not give a rat's-a$$ about whether or not IE can be de-installed from Windows. If they discover that Netscape/Opera/AOL/etc. is much more pleasing to use, then they will leave IE alone (with the possible exception of deleting the icon from the desktop, thus giving them the illusion that it has been removed) and install an alternate browser. That doesn't mean they're "dumb" - on the contrary, they're usually busy being productive or enjoying their PCs to be concerned about whether or not a specific piece of software can be de-installed.
I certainly believe MS is guilty of some monopolistic activities, but I think directing the attention to the de-installability of their products is the wrong way to attack the problem. Instead, why not attack the questionable relationships they have forged with such monopoly-enabling partners as Dell, Compaq, and Intel?
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I'm okay with not depriving them of their free speech as long as they don't try to deprive me of my right to use public highways and roads to drive myself to work.
It's about time someone mentioned this. Also, RHN knows a whole heck of a lot about the machines you've registered.
Whenever I hear people moan about the price of CDs, I feel like laughing. Don't you understand that no one is forcing you to buy them nor do you need to purchase CDs to survive (i.e., they do not provide sustenance or shelter)? CDs are luxury items - plain and simple - and the potential consumer price associated with them, therefore, is uncapped. The bottom line: if you don't want to pay the price for a luxury item, then don't buy it. The only morality issue at hand here is whether or not you believe you are entitled to steal copies of the music through unauthorized copying.
Back in the mid-90's, I worked for Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) on a project that used the very-cool Rational R1000 platform for development and source-code control. In summary, the R1000 was a custom Ada-oriented development platform (even the hardware was custom-made, I believe). The operating system was fully implemented in Ada and featured a "command prompt" that required you to write snippets of Ada code (expressed as anonymous blocks) instead of shell commands. All errors were thrown as Ada exceptions. The "command prompt" editor even featured code completion and had a built-in debugger. It was even possible to auto-generate custom DOD-STD-2167A design documents (SDDs, IDDs, etc.) by embedding specialized comments in your Ada code (ala Javadoc) and using the built-in document generation modules. It was definitely cool for its time!
I have tested sharpdevelop under Windows 98, Windows 98SE, and Windows ME. No problems.
Hmm. Actually, 'engdy' sounds like a good name. Or, how about 'lethal domain'?
I'm thinking about building one a ECS DeskNote, which seems to have the best of both worlds: a notebook form factor with a degree of desktop upgradability - and no OS! There's no battery, though - although an external one is available.
You can get'em barebones at Newegg pretty cheap.
I saw the movie recently and, although I can't remember it being mentioned explicitly, I do remember having the impression that the Panic Room was not a recent addition to the house (like, say, it was built 7-15 years ago). That would explain the lack of modern security measures such as cell phone access, network connections, etc.
I just saw a discussion on WGN news where the reporters were speaking with a representative of the Illinois Petroleum Council (I may have the organization's name slightly wrong). The reporters were pressing him pretty hard about price gouging and he all but admitted that that's basically what was going since:
1) Wholesale petroleum prices had not increased significantly.
2) The only shortages that were being experienced were caused by people flocking to the pumps in greater numbers than normal.
3) The widely varying increases statewide in Illinois (from nothing to upwards of $4.00 extra per gallon) indicates "dealer profiteering" driven by hysteria.
In my immediate area (Shiloh, Illinois), gas prices for 87 octane unleaded presently range from $1.49 (Casey's) to $2.05 (Mobil). Friends of mine in Edwardsville, Illinois saw prices shoot up during rush hour to $2.99 for 87 octane unleaded at an Amoco station.
My advice: remember these "price gouging" gas stations and avoid buying gas (or anything else, for that matter) from them when times aren't so tough.
The last thing our nation needs right now is a pack of bottom-feeding, opportunistic gas stations.
Yes, the problem is...
YOU can uninstall Warp. And YOU can uninstall HotJava. And some really clever individual may be able uninstall IE (without harming Windows). And the majority of the people out there (if the members of my average non-techie family and extended family are representative examples of the typical consumer PC end-user who are not necessarily lazy or apathetic) have no interest in installing or de-installing the software that was pre-installed on their Dell/Compaq/HP bundled-all-to-heck desktops.
From my experience, the average PC end-user does not give a rat's-a$$ about whether or not IE can be de-installed from Windows. If they discover that Netscape/Opera/AOL/etc. is much more pleasing to use, then they will leave IE alone (with the possible exception of deleting the icon from the desktop, thus giving them the illusion that it has been removed) and install an alternate browser. That doesn't mean they're "dumb" - on the contrary, they're usually busy being productive or enjoying their PCs to be concerned about whether or not a specific piece of software can be de-installed.
I certainly believe MS is guilty of some monopolistic activities, but I think directing the attention to the de-installability of their products is the wrong way to attack the problem. Instead, why not attack the questionable relationships they have forged with such monopoly-enabling partners as Dell, Compaq, and Intel?