the only thing you could NOT do was repurchase the cd's. If you bought it once, they kept it on record and won't let you buy anymore if you lose the disk.
I find it rather strange that you would care about such a thing, considering your have a link to a mirror of DeCSS in your.sig
Microsoft provides wondrous discounts for university students and faculty. They charge $5 per CD needed. I got Visual Studio 6 for $25, since it's a 5 cd pack.
and yet, those free software developers still need to get paid somehow. Most of them have dayjobs making closed source software that they sell, so they can make ends meet.
And while its true that some free software is better than closed source (apache is the best example)..these are the exception rather than the norm. In fact, most free software you see is just a shoddy attempt at remaking a commercial piece of software. This isnt always true, but it is for the most part.
The day all software is free is the day there arent anymore software developers and the entire industry (and the world, for that matter) collapses. As a developer and businessman myself, I sure as hell dont want all software to be free. Because then I'll be out of a job, and living on the streets when that happens, along with every other developer.
A business that doesnt exist can't deliver products to the consumer. Which is worse..paying money or just having something simply not exist? The company has to make money. They have workers to pay. This world is not a free one.
What stallman failed to address were the stark economics of it. I see stallman alot like marx. Good intentions, good ideas, but poor execution and a few glaring mistakes that in the end make it unworkable except in an ideal world.
Software costs ridiculous amounts of money to make..so much that traditional software companies not only charge for the software, they charge for the support too and all the things that your GPL company would supposedly make its money from.
This isnt from greed, it's from the sheer cost of making software. A company that doesnt charge for its software is always going to be at a disadvantaged compared to those who DO charge for it. And in the end, that kind of company can only grow so much and be only so successful.
You cannot make reasonable revenue from selling mere product complements (especially if most of those complements can be had for free also...ie, support from mailing lists and the like is often enough for most people).
It's much like a BBS, except served off a webserver. It preserves alot of the best community aspects of the old BBS while using the flexibility of HTML for display.
Remember that thing they just dumped garbage into at the end of the movie to fuel the car? I wondered if we'd ever see something like that. Now we will!
it's got everything you need in one very easy to setup package. And it's faster than tomcat, and without the annoying bugs (such as pages not recompiling when you update an included page...)
As the RIAA goes after napster, everyone bitched because 'it was really the users doing the infringing, not the network'.. well here's a case where the users are infringing..and guess what, the mpaa is going after them.
Rather than try and shut down gnutella completely, they'll go after the individuals commiting the crime, rather than some 3rd party scapegoat.
Of course, everyone here wants everything for free. Tough. The world doesn't work that way.
Theres a reason we all drive gas powered cars and not hydrogen. Hydrogen by itself carries far less energy than gas (all that carbon and oxygen makes a huge difference)
these cells are relatively tiny. Hydrogen, does not let off some kind of devastating explosion. Perhaps a little puff of a flame if compromised (one must assume these things are very well built..it would be far easier and more devastating to set off a grenade someone is carrying as opposed to this thing).
What does having to get hydrogen from gasoline have to do anything? Is the hydrogen from gasoline somehow different from plain ole' hydrogen? heh..
As someone pointed out, its alot easier (and more effective) to simply shoot someone in the head than try and hit the little power generator..
During the late 90's, the computer industry boomed. What companies that hadn't converted to doing most of their business electronically, did. And consumers jumped on and turned computers into mainstream tools.
At this point, the market is pretty much saturated. Those who would buy computers, have done so. Those company's who would have created electronic solutions, have also.
Thus, things are winding down a bit, from the frenzied pace.
However, as rob stated parts break and hardware is pretty poor nowadays (i dont expect this comp to last as long as my 386 which has been chugging merrily for over 10 years now) and software is pretty poor too. This is due mainly to the fast pace that things have been done in the past few years.
So the software industry will still be going strong, fixing the buggy software of the past few years, and the hardware will do the same.
The downside to this (if you really think of this as a downside) is that company's are getting alot more picky about who they hire. Simply saying "i know computers!" isn't enough anymore. If you dropped out of college to join the industry, you might want to think about dropping back in and finishing up that degree (i know several people doing this).
uh, what the hell do they use for transmission of data through air and space? A big wire and fiber optic cable? How do you think that television feed from across the world gets to you? Or DirecTv comes from? Or how ships/planes/virtually everything military keeps in contact?
There is a special tax on blank recording mediums such as videotapes and cassettes that goes into a fund which is distributed among the various recording companies. It's been in place for years, following the betamax decision.
if i go download linux, i get exactly what i will find on the cd. With napster, songs have varying quality, from very good to piss-poor. Also, with the linux shrinkwrap, what do you get..a cool expensive box? Not quite the same as having a music cd with the art in it. Also, on napster, it's very hard to find every song from an album. I usually can only find the more popular ones. If i could find every song from an album on napster, i probably *wouldnt* buy any cd's.
The company spends thousands of dollars to pay developers to work on it, simply because developers are very expensive people. Very high input price.
Legally they cannot charge anything for it, so they try and make it up by charging for paper, shrinkwrap and support.
A traditional software company being traded does that too, but also charges for the software itself. There is a reason for this, and no, it's not because they are "greedy".
The reason is because you cannot offset the development costs for software with mere shrinkwrap and support (unless your software is so crappy customers must spend hours on the phone with you a day). Also given the fact that anyone can simply download the software and read the book online, something of a disincentive to even buy the shrinkwrap.
Thus the rate of return for a traditional software corp is going to be much higher than for any linux software corp. As an investor, I would of course go for the high rate-of-return place.
The days of the linux software corp are numbered. Linux should be developed along with other products..such as how ibm distributes servers with linux on them. They make the money from the server, not the software.
My prediction: redhat is going to merge with somebody like IBM, or perhaps even someone like microsoft (sounds crazy, but remember..this isn't about morals it's about money)
I'm no economist or anything, but thats the most likely scenario I can see. Don't make investment choices based on this post.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I find it rather strange that you would care about such a thing, considering your have a link to a mirror of DeCSS in your .sig
Microsoft provides wondrous discounts for university students and faculty. They charge $5 per CD needed. I got Visual Studio 6 for $25, since it's a 5 cd pack.
And while its true that some free software is better than closed source (apache is the best example)..these are the exception rather than the norm. In fact, most free software you see is just a shoddy attempt at remaking a commercial piece of software. This isnt always true, but it is for the most part.
The day all software is free is the day there arent anymore software developers and the entire industry (and the world, for that matter) collapses. As a developer and businessman myself, I sure as hell dont want all software to be free. Because then I'll be out of a job, and living on the streets when that happens, along with every other developer.
A business that doesnt exist can't deliver products to the consumer. Which is worse..paying money or just having something simply not exist? The company has to make money. They have workers to pay. This world is not a free one.
Software costs ridiculous amounts of money to make..so much that traditional software companies not only charge for the software, they charge for the support too and all the things that your GPL company would supposedly make its money from.
This isnt from greed, it's from the sheer cost of making software. A company that doesnt charge for its software is always going to be at a disadvantaged compared to those who DO charge for it. And in the end, that kind of company can only grow so much and be only so successful.
You cannot make reasonable revenue from selling mere product complements (especially if most of those complements can be had for free also...ie, support from mailing lists and the like is often enough for most people).
GPL is bad if your business is based solely off a GPL'd product. Finally, economic sense enters the world of .com's...
It's much like a BBS, except served off a webserver. It preserves alot of the best community aspects of the old BBS while using the flexibility of HTML for display.
It's GPL'd, and available at sourceforge.
It's working pretty well. The code behind it is GPL'd and is easy to setup.
Anyway, check out The Machine, which is my personal site that runs it. The software is on sourceforge at http://cogunity.sourceforge.net
Remember that thing they just dumped garbage into at the end of the movie to fuel the car? I wondered if we'd ever see something like that. Now we will!
Check out One of the first computers to play music. The way it was done was amazing with what they had to work with.
Why yes, I uh.. have several customers who bought pc's without an OS.. so can I get a whole backyard set?
it's got everything you need in one very easy to setup package. And it's faster than tomcat, and without the annoying bugs (such as pages not recompiling when you update an included page...)
Rather than try and shut down gnutella completely, they'll go after the individuals commiting the crime, rather than some 3rd party scapegoat.
Of course, everyone here wants everything for free. Tough. The world doesn't work that way.
they said the laser had no practical uses either.
and the hindenbergh was how large? several football fields? and made of flammable materials to boot. This is a tiny canister :)
these cells are relatively tiny. Hydrogen, does not let off some kind of devastating explosion. Perhaps a little puff of a flame if compromised (one must assume these things are very well built..it would be far easier and more devastating to set off a grenade someone is carrying as opposed to this thing).
What does having to get hydrogen from gasoline have to do anything? Is the hydrogen from gasoline somehow different from plain ole' hydrogen? heh..
As someone pointed out, its alot easier (and more effective) to simply shoot someone in the head than try and hit the little power generator..
i watched it religiously. It is a british show..perhaps it's still on in the UK...
At this point, the market is pretty much saturated. Those who would buy computers, have done so. Those company's who would have created electronic solutions, have also.
Thus, things are winding down a bit, from the frenzied pace.
However, as rob stated parts break and hardware is pretty poor nowadays (i dont expect this comp to last as long as my 386 which has been chugging merrily for over 10 years now) and software is pretty poor too. This is due mainly to the fast pace that things have been done in the past few years.
So the software industry will still be going strong, fixing the buggy software of the past few years, and the hardware will do the same.
The downside to this (if you really think of this as a downside) is that company's are getting alot more picky about who they hire. Simply saying "i know computers!" isn't enough anymore. If you dropped out of college to join the industry, you might want to think about dropping back in and finishing up that degree (i know several people doing this).
heh, uni's dont have the money to build it. Lots of corporations involved.
sure. for point to point. ever heard of a laser broadcast? Neither have I. Hm, dont think that would work.
uh, what the hell do they use for transmission of data through air and space? A big wire and fiber optic cable? How do you think that television feed from across the world gets to you? Or DirecTv comes from? Or how ships/planes/virtually everything military keeps in contact?
There is a special tax on blank recording mediums such as videotapes and cassettes that goes into a fund which is distributed among the various recording companies. It's been in place for years, following the betamax decision.
They've been on 60 minutes and been very honest and up-front about it. Try reading next time, and don't bitch on slashdot for your failure to do so.
if i go download linux, i get exactly what i will find on the cd. With napster, songs have varying quality, from very good to piss-poor. Also, with the linux shrinkwrap, what do you get..a cool expensive box? Not quite the same as having a music cd with the art in it. Also, on napster, it's very hard to find every song from an album. I usually can only find the more popular ones. If i could find every song from an album on napster, i probably *wouldnt* buy any cd's.
The company spends thousands of dollars to pay developers to work on it, simply because developers are very expensive people. Very high input price.
Legally they cannot charge anything for it, so they try and make it up by charging for paper, shrinkwrap and support.
A traditional software company being traded does that too, but also charges for the software itself. There is a reason for this, and no, it's not because they are "greedy".
The reason is because you cannot offset the development costs for software with mere shrinkwrap and support (unless your software is so crappy customers must spend hours on the phone with you a day). Also given the fact that anyone can simply download the software and read the book online, something of a disincentive to even buy the shrinkwrap.
Thus the rate of return for a traditional software corp is going to be much higher than for any linux software corp. As an investor, I would of course go for the high rate-of-return place.
The days of the linux software corp are numbered. Linux should be developed along with other products..such as how ibm distributes servers with linux on them. They make the money from the server, not the software.
My prediction: redhat is going to merge with somebody like IBM, or perhaps even someone like microsoft (sounds crazy, but remember..this isn't about morals it's about money)
I'm no economist or anything, but thats the most likely scenario I can see. Don't make investment choices based on this post. :)