From economics, a free market is based on the following assumptions.
Read these assumptions and decide for yourself, does free software or propriatory software fit the free market model the closest?
In my opinion many of the industries crying out in the name of free market economics are in fact the industries furthest away from these assumptions.
1. First, markets must be economically competitive - meaning the numbers of buyers and sellers must be so large that no single buyer or seller can have any noticeable effect on the overall market.
2. It must be easy for new sellers to enter enterprises that are profitable and easy for sellers to get out of unprofitable enterprises, so that producers are able to respond to market signals of consumers' wants and needs.
3. Consumers must have clear, informative and accurate information concerning whether the things they buy will actually meet their wants and needs.
4. And finally, consumers must be sovereigns - their tastes and preferences must reflect their basic values - their tastes and preferences, untainted by persuasive influences.
If you _need_ to rely on others to make your defence system work (as opposed to choosing to rely on small parts after considering the options) then the military is a house cards.
There is nothing wrong in selecting MS over FOSS, but if MS is seen as the only choice (due to time/resources or whatever) then there is a BIG problem.
Quick! quick! Look there are people installing some weird technology which has rays coming out of it.
Hand me my CELL PHONE so i can start a class action against it. I am glad that my kids are watching the safe TELEVISON and talking on the safe CORDLESS PHONE while resting on an ELECTRIC BLANKET wating for the food to heat up in the MICROWAVE OVEN.
its all just a case of people attaching their bandwagon to the latest issue in order to get a free ride. Ironically in this particular issue it is a free ride to try and get ahead of free competition...
Just take the slashdot community as an example. One time its boycott x product from MPAA/RIAA/MS. However the very next time that one of those companies is behind a flashy gimmic we are all lined up to get it...
not in the distributed / grid... Insted of Matlab there is Octive which is quite good. You can pretty much use your matlab code directly. Some of the tool boxes aren't there.
If you go into a competition and everyone expects you to loose, but you don't loose as badly as expected then people will notice that and take more notice of you the next time.
Hilary may well have thought that they wouldn't out and out win a debate in such an environment but thought that it was still worth the effort. A strategic defeat perhaps.
The other posts have already mentioned that sheilding should not be needed for DC.
The other issue is the resistance of the wire itself. Once way arround it is to use lots of copper (as mentioned above).
If you are up for a bit of experimentation or you have a bit of technical know how then you can also do the following:
Find the power outputs within the PSU. Find the feedback within the PSU. Cut that connection (for each of the supplies(5, 12 -5 etc).
Now run the outputs as per normal to your computer. Now run a return wire from your computer back to the PSU feedback track that you cut before. The return wire will be carrying very little current.
This works fine as the PSU is now compensating for the V-Drop across the wire since the measurement point is now at the computer.
WARNING - the insides of switching PSUs are deadly. also you can break stuff and break your computer.
the whole i want to be a better bank then the banks (ie take a little bit of money for each transaction / authentication or whatever) works out. If it does work out then the whole software development thing that Microsoft does will seem pretty unimportant MS wont care if you are running win or lin or whatever... MS will be raking it in anyhow and will no longer have to maintain a big pile 'o code known as an operating system.
Of course if it doesn't work out then they will be glad that they didnt port anything else and help linux gain popularity and market share at the expense of windows.
I really like your argument of the market being the white knight and saving the day- but there is a force that is more powerfull in the medium term than the market. The Law.
Get a law passed forcing DRM and goodbye freemarket and its ability to correct in this situation.
Perhaps market realities will impose themselves EVENTAUALLY- but you can't count on that being any time soon.
till the electronic voting has at least the same safegards as manual voting.
With manual voting people oversee people. Not perfect but at least if there is wide spread corruption the knowledge of that corruption at least leaks out somewhere.
With the electronic voting, it is in its infancy and there is easily the ability to implement a corrupt system with far less chance of being caught.
Its not that computers are less accurate or less reliable that people- quite the opposite- its just that having fewer people involved means less scrutiny and a greater chance of being able to be undetectably corrupt.
Even if you can check the source code used (which should be essential otherwise you know nothing at all about the systems integrity) you can't be guarenteed that that same source is the stuff used on the day.
Basically i wont be surprised when we find out that a government somewhere was in power for a decade or more winning every election only to find that the elections were a scam.
Ok there are plenty of scam elections now but we can see for ourselves that they are rigged.
"One of the things we're discovering is that people are not aware that that they are engaging in conduct which is clearly illegal," said RIAA lawyer Cary Sherman.
I like the clearly illegal comment which comes directly after saying that people are not aware that it is illegal.
That sounds like it was clear to me!
But if the backbone providers don't really care too much either way- if they block or not- then this may just be enough to tip the balance.
Re:That is very unwise
on
Baked Alaska
·
· Score: 2
because if the effects are true, once they have taken hold then it is suggested that they are essentailly irreversible.
The magnitue of the possible effects are what makes it wise to be cautious.
For example you may be willing to play a blindfold game in your own living room (because you would assume that the worst you can do is stub your toe) but you would be unlikley to play the same game on the highway (because you would assume that the worst that could happen is that you can be squished by a car) note that we don't KNOW that either bad event will occur but the magnitude of 'badness' in the second case (playing blindfold on the road) means that you probably wouldn't do it.
Eric the viking anyone?
on
Baked Alaska
·
· Score: 2
Anyone else seen Eric the viking (not especially good) has some of Monty python characters in it.
One part that is apt:
As the island was sinking the 'king' and his followers are happily singing ignoring the sinking fact, They are urged to leave (or die) and they happily say no, its not sinking.... sing song sing song....
We don't know for SURE about temp rise etc or if it is caused by industrial activity, but it seems wise to assume that we should be cautious to ensure future liberties.
It is difficault thou', as it seems that many events are taken advantage of to press too far for power grabs rather than actually helping the situation (eg terrorism) and thus destroying current hard won liberties.
The ROX Desktop, however, is based around the file system. It's core component is ROX-Filer, a powerful graphical file manager which, in addition to being a pretty neat filer in its own right (IMHO!), provides a couple of extra features which allow it to solve the above problems.
The first of these features is support for `Application Directories'. An application directory is a directory which contains an entire application - its documentation, binaries, source code and so on. When you open an application directory in the filer the application is run. This has some interesting implications:
Installing an application is the same as copying a directory. No need for special setup programs (or root access). For example, let's suppose that your friend has the latest version of ROX-Filer and you want it. She simply copies the directory onto a floppy disk and hands it to you. You can run the program directory from the floppy if you want, or you can drag it onto your hard disk to `install' it. Uninstalling is the same as deleting a directory. Want to install two different versions of the same application? Just copy them to different directories on your hard disk. To read an application's help usually involves hunting around for man-pages, info pages, directories in/usr/doc and so on. With an application directory the help is inside it - just choose Help from the filer menu to see it (all this does is to open a subdirectory inside the application called 'Help' - simple, eh?). There is no need for a separate filer and application launcher. The filer does both, and you always know where your programs are.
I think that the above line is the critical thing, a service was advertised, some people are using it AS advertised and now the ISP is complaining that their custormers are using it as advertised.
Surely we arent all going to be expected to accept that people can say one thing and mean another... er ok maybe already do.
Yeah, i guess that is kinda funny, i guess you are taking rug as a peice of floor carpet or something?
I guess rug has slightly different meanings in different parts of the world. (over here we often just use it to mean a cover. eg: blanket or even a jumper / shirt eg: dont forget to rug up! meaning don't forget to put a jumper on its cold outside!)
However if you have the law, you have the power to victimise anyone who you don't like. And if the laws are crap then people are victimised for immoral reasons. I can envisage some close future political media event going like so:
So Candidate xxxx, in 2003 you were in posession of PIRATED material and thus supported terrorist groups blah blah blah.
It wouldn't matter if everyone and there dog did the same thing that would be the end of that political endevor.
Alternatly, perhaps you get on someones bad side, they know you have a couple of copied movies etc (maybe they have to) well they do a quick notification the the appropriate authorities and your life is now hell.
Bad laws let almost random people in society be taken out and victimised.
Authorship of the work apparently did not matter. Instead, a guild member could claim a monopoly in this registry for six pence (no idea what that translates to in today's dollars).
I guess on the authorship Vs control issue, nothing has changed since the late 1500s...
Slashdot Mirror
From economics, a free market is based on the following assumptions.
Read these assumptions and decide for yourself, does free software or propriatory software fit the free market model the closest?
In my opinion many of the industries crying out in the name of free market economics are in fact the industries furthest away from these assumptions.
1. First, markets must be economically
competitive - meaning the numbers of buyers and sellers must be so large
that no single buyer or seller can have any noticeable effect on the
overall market.
2. It must be easy for new sellers to
enter enterprises that are profitable and easy for sellers to get out of
unprofitable enterprises, so that producers are able to respond to market
signals of consumers' wants and needs.
3. Consumers must have clear, informative
and accurate information concerning whether the things they buy will
actually meet their wants and needs.
4. And finally, consumers must be
sovereigns - their tastes and preferences must reflect their basic values
- their tastes and preferences, untainted by persuasive influences.
(source http://www.pl.net/6business/marrul.htm)
WOW! The 'government' does not have time???
If you _need_ to rely on others to make your defence system work (as opposed to choosing to rely on small parts after considering the options) then the military is a house cards.
There is nothing wrong in selecting MS over FOSS, but if MS is seen as the only choice (due to time/resources or whatever) then there is a BIG problem.
traffic jams -> scarcity of alternative transportation
Quick! quick! Look there are people installing some weird technology which has rays coming out of it.
Hand me my CELL PHONE so i can start a class action against it. I am glad that my kids are watching the safe TELEVISON and talking on the safe CORDLESS PHONE while resting on an ELECTRIC BLANKET wating for the food to heat up in the MICROWAVE OVEN.
Well, when i was at school there were very different systems than what are used now, Apple IIe, microbee, Dos etc.
The fundamentals were the same though...
Pretty much certain that when the current group of kids leave school whatever they used at school will be long gone.
So it comes down to the fundamentals. Learn the fundamentals.
It doesn't matter what system you choose to do this (within reason).
I hope school isn't just about vocational task oriented learning...
Except, if i took the widget you dont have the widget anymore. Comparing information to physical material isn't always correct.
its all just a case of people attaching their bandwagon to the latest issue in order to get a free ride. Ironically in this particular issue it is a free ride to try and get ahead of free competition...
People are too lazy or blinded by flashy things.
Just take the slashdot community as an example. One time its boycott x product from MPAA/RIAA/MS. However the very next time that one of those companies is behind a flashy gimmic we are all lined up to get it...
not in the distributed / grid...
Insted of Matlab there is Octive which is quite good. You can pretty much use your matlab code directly. Some of the tool boxes aren't there.
NO WAY! nothing is invented until MS says it is.
has slashdot just discovered Reuters? Seems a oft quoted source recently (and by and large a good source)
If you go into a competition and everyone expects you to loose, but you don't loose as badly as expected then people will notice that and take more notice of you the next time.
Hilary may well have thought that they wouldn't out and out win a debate in such an environment but thought that it was still worth the effort. A strategic defeat perhaps.
Or...
The other posts have already mentioned that sheilding should not be needed for DC.
The other issue is the resistance of the wire itself. Once way arround it is to use lots of copper (as mentioned above).
If you are up for a bit of experimentation or you have a bit of technical know how then you can also do the following:
Find the power outputs within the PSU. Find the feedback within the PSU. Cut that connection (for each of the supplies(5, 12 -5 etc).
Now run the outputs as per normal to your computer. Now run a return wire from your computer back to the PSU feedback track that you cut before. The return wire will be carrying very little current.
This works fine as the PSU is now compensating for the V-Drop across the wire since the measurement point is now at the computer.
WARNING - the insides of switching PSUs are deadly. also you can break stuff and break your computer.
the whole i want to be a better bank then the banks (ie take a little bit of money for each transaction / authentication or whatever) works out. If it does work out then the whole software development thing that Microsoft does will seem pretty unimportant MS wont care if you are running win or lin or whatever... MS will be raking it in anyhow and will no longer have to maintain a big pile 'o code known as an operating system.
Of course if it doesn't work out then they will be glad that they didnt port anything else and help linux gain popularity and market share at the expense of windows.
I really like your argument of the market being the white knight and saving the day- but there is a force that is more powerfull in the medium term than the market. The Law.
Get a law passed forcing DRM and goodbye freemarket and its ability to correct in this situation.
Perhaps market realities will impose themselves EVENTAUALLY- but you can't count on that being any time soon.
till the electronic voting has at least the same safegards as manual voting.
With manual voting people oversee people. Not perfect but at least if there is wide spread corruption the knowledge of that corruption at least leaks out somewhere.
With the electronic voting, it is in its infancy and there is easily the ability to implement a corrupt system with far less chance of being caught.
Its not that computers are less accurate or less reliable that people- quite the opposite- its just that having fewer people involved means less scrutiny and a greater chance of being able to be undetectably corrupt.
Even if you can check the source code used (which should be essential otherwise you know nothing at all about the systems integrity) you can't be guarenteed that that same source is the stuff used on the day.
Basically i wont be surprised when we find out that a government somewhere was in power for a decade or more winning every election only to find that the elections were a scam.
Ok there are plenty of scam elections now but we can see for ourselves that they are rigged.
"One of the things we're discovering is that people are not aware that that they are engaging in conduct which is clearly illegal," said RIAA lawyer Cary Sherman.
I like the clearly illegal comment which comes directly after saying that people are not aware that it is illegal.
That sounds like it was clear to me!
But if the backbone providers don't really care too much either way- if they block or not- then this may just be enough to tip the balance.
because if the effects are true, once they have taken hold then it is suggested that they are essentailly irreversible.
The magnitue of the possible effects are what makes it wise to be cautious.
For example you may be willing to play a blindfold game in your own living room (because you would assume that the worst you can do is stub your toe) but you would be unlikley to play the same game on the highway (because you would assume that the worst that could happen is that you can be squished by a car) note that we don't KNOW that either bad event will occur but the magnitude of 'badness' in the second case (playing blindfold on the road) means that you probably wouldn't do it.
Anyone else seen Eric the viking (not especially good) has some of Monty python characters in it.
One part that is apt:
As the island was sinking the 'king' and his followers are happily singing ignoring the sinking fact, They are urged to leave (or die) and they happily say no, its not sinking.... sing song sing song....
We don't know for SURE about temp rise etc or if it is caused by industrial activity, but it seems wise to assume that we should be cautious to ensure future liberties.
It is difficault thou', as it seems that many events are taken advantage of to press too far for power grabs rather than actually helping the situation (eg terrorism) and thus destroying current hard won liberties.
you might want to check this software for linux:
/usr/doc and so on. With an application directory the help is inside it - just choose Help from the filer menu to see it (all this does is to open a subdirectory inside the application called 'Help' - simple, eh?).
http://rox.sourceforge.net/
Some background (from the website)
The ROX Desktop, however, is based around the file system. It's core component is ROX-Filer, a powerful graphical file manager which, in addition to being a pretty neat filer in its own right (IMHO!), provides a couple of extra features which allow it to solve the above problems.
The first of these features is support for `Application Directories'. An application directory is a directory which contains an entire application - its documentation, binaries, source code and so on. When you open an application directory in the filer the application is run. This has some interesting implications:
Installing an application is the same as copying a directory. No need for special setup programs (or root access). For example, let's suppose that your friend has the latest version of ROX-Filer and you want it. She simply copies the directory onto a floppy disk and hands it to you. You can run the program directory from the floppy if you want, or you can drag it onto your hard disk to `install' it.
Uninstalling is the same as deleting a directory.
Want to install two different versions of the same application? Just copy them to different directories on your hard disk.
To read an application's help usually involves hunting around for man-pages, info pages, directories in
There is no need for a separate filer and application launcher. The filer does both, and you always know where your programs are.
for using the unlimited connection we paid for
I think that the above line is the critical thing, a service was advertised, some people are using it AS advertised and now the ISP is complaining that their custormers are using it as advertised.
Surely we arent all going to be expected to accept that people can say one thing and mean another... er ok maybe already do.
Yeah, i guess that is kinda funny, i guess you are taking rug as a peice of floor carpet or something?
I guess rug has slightly different meanings in different parts of the world. (over here we often just use it to mean a cover. eg: blanket or even a jumper / shirt eg: dont forget to rug up! meaning don't forget to put a jumper on its cold outside!)
However if you have the law, you have the power to victimise anyone who you don't like. And if the laws are crap then people are victimised for immoral reasons. I can envisage some close future political media event going like so:
So Candidate xxxx, in 2003 you were in posession of PIRATED material and thus supported terrorist groups blah blah blah.
It wouldn't matter if everyone and there dog did the same thing that would be the end of that political endevor.
Alternatly, perhaps you get on someones bad side, they know you have a couple of copied movies etc (maybe they have to) well they do a quick notification the the appropriate authorities and your life is now hell.
Bad laws let almost random people in society be taken out and victimised.
Authorship of the work apparently did not matter. Instead, a guild member could claim a monopoly in this registry for six pence (no idea what that translates to in today's dollars).
I guess on the authorship Vs control issue, nothing has changed since the late 1500s...