How about "right now" as it applies to always. I've been writing to my representatives (well, both senators and house rep) via email since I first heard about the SSSCA. (Sadly, I didn't do a damn thing about the DMCA when it came out. I hope I've learned my lesson.) All three have written back via snail mail to address my concerns. Accepting that Paul Ryan keeps sending me back form letters, both senators (Herb Kohl and Russ Fiengold, WI) have actually sent letters written by human beings which pretty much address all the points I've raised via email. I've been pretty happy about the responses, considering a year ago I probably couldn't even name my reps. It remains to be seen if they'll actually do any good, which is why I keep writing. At the very least some one in their offices is getting MY point of view on the situation. Which is, basically, if an industry requires new legislation to stay profitable, it shouldn't be profitable.
Squaresoft/Nintendo was one of the biggest juggernauts of my childhood, and I'm very happy to see them in the same bed again.
Errr... I dunno about you but I rather enjoyed watching Square bitchslap Nintendo. Square jumped into bed with Sony for a reason. Nintendo changed the specs for the N64 from a CD based system to a cartridge based system (rumors abound as to why) which didn't match the specs for FF7 which was going to contain piles of FMV. Unwilling to work with Square, Nintendo lost their 'favored partner' status and hasn't seen a Square title since.
I'm disappointed that Square is selling out and going back with 'those traitors' to increase revenue. For that matter, I'm further disappointed they are calling it FF11 as opposed to 'Final Fantasy Online' or something. This is going to be a MMORPG with vast differences between any of its sequels. It's like they're trading in the rich history of Final Fantasy tradition to increase sales into a new lucrative market.
I went out and bought a SNES because of FF6 (well, and street fighter 2). I bought a PS1 for FF7. I got a PS2 for FFX. And I stopped playing Evercrack for a reason. I feel so dirty now.
I feel that Blizzard, by providing great games for years, has earned the right to not have people floating around cracked copies of their games.
I'm not questioning their right to stop game cracks. If they want to shut down warez sites, more power to them. However, bnetd isn't only a way for people to play cracked copies of Blizzard's games online. It's also a way for legitimate owners of Blizzard's software to extend the functionality of the product. Valve recognized this with Halflife and released server-side hosting software which basically serves the same purpose of bnetd. The software is controlled by Valve and has CD key checking built into for public internet servers. As Blizzard forced us to use IPX for way to long, some programmers scratched their itch. Now the genie is out of the bottle, and it is foolish for Blizzard to try and put it away with these horse shit intimidation tactics. Rather than bust out with their lawyers and try and intimidate everyone into submission, why not mimic Halflife and work with the bnetd team (or their own private programming team) to create a closed source server program that does support CD key checking? That would give the legal software owners the ability to play where they want over networks closer to home on bandwidth that Blizzard doesn't even have to pay for.
So...it's time to cross the new Atlantic--and reach accross the solar system.
Err... it might not be quite time (or feasible) to jump planet just yet. How about we come to our collective senses and realize that if an industry needs frightening new legislation and mandated changes to existing hardware/software technology to stay profitable, we should consider letting the market do as it will. I belive the classic argument is the proposed legislation by the horse and buggy industry to prevent the new "horseless carriages" from squeezing them out of business. Or, to put it another way, if it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense.
Although my work on the LPC codebase didn't seem to interest any would-be employers, the actual experience of working on a large coding project as part of a team allowed me to hold my own against the guys who already had a few years experience against me. So while I would agree that it might not help you get a job OSS projects do serve two good purposes to college kids:
The first is that it allows you to get a taste for what real programming is like. I know a bunch of kiddies that found out later that programming wasn't there thing and then made the switch to network admin.
The second advantage is it does give you practical experience in working on real code as part of a team. This allows you see some non-textbook examples of code which taught me much more than anything I learned in school, and also might give you a taste for the communications skills that are important for any real programmer.
"If what I believe to be true regarding this matter is in fact true, I have no problem with Blizzard doing this, DMCA notwithstanding."
I shall interpret this to mean you accept the fact that Blizzard has the right to attempt to prevent the use of its (beta) software outside of its control. (ie. anywhere but battle.net) Blizzard would seem to agree with you. From their FAQ, "Blizzard products are intellectual property, and we are well within our legal rights to protect our products from software piracy."
I can agree with that. If Blizzard writes software, they should be free to do with it as they wish. Of course, I would also want to grant that same freedom to the guys writing the bnetd software. Where do we draw the line?
Some people just want to write code that allows them to play their warez copy of Warcraft III. What about those of us who just want to use it to play our bought and paid for copies of Starcraft via Lan?
Hurts Consumers: Mebe we should ask the consumers about this instead?
You're undoubtedly correct, most people don't want junk mail/spam. This does not change the fact that there is presently a multi-billion dollar industry associated with it. An industry which is now going to actively avoid sending their snake oil into VT. Now, I quit out of this industry because I just didn't believe in what I was doing. As a former insider I'm not against the idea of the entire direct marketing industry going out of business. However I also accept what this would mean. Namely a whole lot of people losing their jobs. In the end the money which was circulating in the direct marketing industry will be channeled in new directions, and everyone will have a job again. So we'll just have to take it slow... like maybe starting with Vermont?
why is it that when the corps want to make money off of our data that "information wants to be free" -- but when the public wants to trade/make money off of their data that we need stringent IP protections??
There's no double standard here, the megacorps merely want information they "own" to be protected. They argue they possess "Intellectual Property" and should therefore be able to monopolize profits from same. They also argue that any personal data you give them or they collect about you becomes part of their "Intellectual Property", wash, rinse, repeat.
The idea here is that common citizens can not be trusted with information. It is far to dangerous. I think a wise man once said, "There is no information that is not power." Unfortunately he's dead now.
it is an absolutely unworkable law... When they stoop to unenfiorceable laws like this, it is a sure sign they are running scared.
They're not scared, they're deadly smart. They know they can't arrest all of us. And once we're all criminals they won't have to. They make a few arrests to scare the sheep, and a few more to stop the clever onces who are making the easy to use software packages that allow the sheep to copy/view 'protected' content. The rest will fall into line. Humans have a herd mentality.
The point here is that no matter what law gets passed we'll always find a way to get around it.
That is not the point. They *know* we'll find a way around it. The point is when we do find a way, we become criminals.
I'm sure not going to buy a harddisk or other media that check's the content of whatever I want to put on it.
If the SSSCA gets passed the only type of hardware or software you can legally buy WILL have "certified security technologies." And once all the 'hackers' are criminals, they can selectively lock us up at their leisure.
Although both redundant and late I'd like to make the attempt to advise caution before spending the money on Civ3. I'm reminded of all the god-damn wonderful reviews that helped convince me to buy Black and White, and then being totally disappointed with the game itself.
As a long time fan of Civ, Civ2, and SMAC I was rather disappointed with Civ3. Especially with all the tiny features that helped build Alpha Centuari into a great game, many of the features I've come to expect in the Civilization line are conspicuously absent.
The wonder cinemas are gone, keyboard shortcuts feel clunky and missing, the tech tree feels a bit bare as they've cut out a few techs and reduced a few others to mere filler roles, air power is radically changed and feels a bit lite, and the new quirks with Corruption and Culture and the throwback combat system make Civ3 a totally different game than it's predecessors.
While not a bad game by any means, it doesn't really give me the same feel of quit-my-job-and-leave-my-wife addiction that the originals did. I tried giving myself the time to get used to the new changes, but I'm afraid I just can't get into this version. Maybe I'm just old now.:(
Err... as the story points out, there are bunches of Cubes available (especially if you possess mind bullets) while both the XBox and PS2 debuted in short supply. Plenty of people may want that cursed Microsoft console, but just don't have access to one yet.
Of course, it is nice to know that Nintendo is starting out with strong sales. I was predicting that Nintendo's niche market wouldn't be able to support them and they would eventually follow suit with Sega and go software only. Although it's still early, perhaps this will be a three-way race after all.
I was expecting more of an automated form letter, so I was pleasantly surprised by the personalization of the complaint letter. Are we gun shy now and flinching whenever someone challenges their "property" rights? Obviously their attitude of "please don't be curious about things we own" backed by the DMCA smells like rotten fruit, but I'd rather see them hand pick their targets and send friendly "We're Out to Get You" letters rather than putting on the gorilla suit and squishing everything in sight. Until the world discovers a better way to handle "intellectual property" what more can we expect from large companies like Sony?
I still recall the trouble I had when I finally "upgraded" from Netscape 4.7 to 6.0 on my windowz boxen. When I finally made the jump to the more recent Mozilla I had everything Netscape provided in a more stable format, without the annoying install process.
I know I am part of the small minority still trying to suffer with the non-MS browser. I fail to see why anyone in this small majority (which should include only the geek fringe) would want to suffer with more Netscape. At least Mozilla says it is still in beta, which holds the promise of an eventual stable release.
If MS would take just a tiny fraction of capital it uses in marketing and lawyering and put it into QoS, then I believe their products would show an exponential increase in quality and realiability.
You might be missing an important part of the MS strategy. As the greatest competitor to MS is MS itself, it is to their advantage to release shoddy software. This way Joe Sixpack is motivated to pay for the 'upgrade' which features "increased reliability!"
I thought the "anti-skip" protection used by many car and laptop CD players treated an audio CD like a PC disk for the extra CRC bits. Which would cause such players to be unable to play the disk with this type of "copy protection" on it.
I also find it intresting that they don't what to reveal which CD title has this protection scheme. What do YOU think they're afraid of?
1. How did collecting to spirits allow them to generate 'the wave'?
The basic premise of the movie is that every living thing has an "energy wave" or spirit (or soul or chi) which forms their life essence. Basic wave theory states that an inverse wave form can cancel out an existing energy wave. The plan is to find a combination of life energy which together form 'the wave'.
2. How would the Zeus cannon damage Gaia?
The Zeus cannon is a huge bioetheric (sp?) laser, the same technology which powers their weapons and keeps the barrier shields in place. Since these lasers can damage and 'kill' the Phantoms (which are merely spirits) a large cannon would be able to damage and 'kill' the spirit of the earth itself.
3. Why was the general such an ass?
His wife and daughter were killed by the Phantoms. Their loss has pushed him 'over the edge' and left him with only one driving goal: Kill the Phantoms at any cost.
4. How did the humans manage to build the barrier cities when the aliens were so very effective at killing them?
Although the aliens were effective at killing humans that is not their goal. The meteor which crashed into Earth is a piece of an alien world which was destroyed. It carried some spirits (ghosts) of the aliens as well as a piece of the alien homeworld spirit. They are not invading the earth, they are merely lost spirits looking for their final resting place. As such they're not making a military effort to wipe out humanity, but they are drawn to the life energy of those they come into contact with. As such their progess in spreading across the planet was likely rather slow, giving humanity time to invent the tools needed to defend themselves.
Frankly, I think the plot could have been brilliant...had the put the same amount of detail into it as they invested in to the computer generated actors...
I thought the plot was almost brilliant and, at the very least, consistant. I'm hoping that just as with the Final Fantasy games I will uncovered additional bits of plot I missed the first or second time through. I still question why they used the Final Fantasy name without using the usual elements. The classic battle music, Biggs and Wedge, and the ever popular chocobo are conspicually absent. I was also hoping that the familiar "Start/Continue" prompt would fade in under the game... I mean movie logo.
they wont sell it to you unless you give them the info (with the system they use, the cash wont register a transaction unless it knows who's making the purchase)
Piffle. They have an Anonymous Coward account. Just tell the cashier that "You're just a guy with a $20 bill." I haven't been turned away yet.
Lets stop trying to make analogies for every single issue? They're only useful when trying to explain an issue to someone who doesn't understand it; I think that the issue of rootkits is generally pretty well understood by this community. Rootkits are designed to aide criminal activity - I can't think of any other purpose for them except to make sys admins afraid and thus more vigilant.
Pardon my continued use of an analogy, but it seems you are missing the common point which should be "generally understood" by the community.
Let us say I have a bullet proof vest. How safe is the vest? How do I determine how safe the vest is?
We can try and wish the problem away by saying, "If there are no guns, we don't need to protect ourselves from them!"
But criminals do have guns. And script kiddies still have root kits.
Now, the irony that the sysadmin will make the world safer by testing her new firewall with her homemade rootkit isn't lost on me. But this mistaken belief that obscurity is security annoys me. Security is a state of mind. And while you might feel more secure NOT knowing your boxen has been rooted, what does that really accomplish?
It has been said that the price of security is eternal vigilance. Pay the toll or get off the highway.
Rather than trying to convince the trademark offices that various words shouldn't be trademarked, why can't the various open-source projects come up with more original project names?
Cuz we're not clever enough to trademark the "original" names the closed source blighters are using. You know, like "Office", "Explorer", "Windows", "Illustrator", "Paint", "Word", etc.
Bugger your plan to play nice with the big boys. They're scared of what we're writing and want us to go away. I'm tired of playing by their rules. It's past time to get the rules changed.
I thought we were a bunch of underground programmers writing code because we enjoyed doing so and because we didn't feel like using the closed source alternatives. Now we're freedom fighters for the right to write and have large 'Decoy' signs painted on our blaze orange jackets as closed source companies who charge money for the stuff they write don't like what we're doing? I used to be a nice guy. Now I *want* to put these god damn companies out of business. Who's stifling who's creativity here?
This is great! Once the marketriods know which specific demographic I belong to, they'll start sending me commericals about things I STILL don't care about.
Trying to stuff us into demographic groups might work on the masses, but those of us who are a bit "off" don't fit easily into any catagory.
When the hell do I get to click the check boxes on the types of commericals *I* want to see, rather than having mindless megacorps spend billions at trying to guess?!
If you're actually cool, you don't need an asterisk by your name, for cryin' out loud.
I agree that cool people don't need people to tell them that they're cool. (Or do they? If no one calls you cool, are you actually cool?) However, the idea here is not to tell people if they are cool, but to let the slightly chilled find people who Are cool. The trick behind such a system is, how do you define cool? This system proposes a system to actually try and track it.
Now, if there are cases where you can be salaried *and* get overtime, well, then that's a different story... I've just never seen that actually happen.
I'm salaried for 40 flex hours a week. I get paid overtime for any time over 45 hours, meaning the first 5 hours of overtime are 'free'. Myself and two others carry an off-duty pager although we are not contractually obligated to respond to calls after hours. The VP of our IS department is the one who goes in if the rest of us are unavailable.
Slashdot Mirror
How about "right now" as it applies to always. I've been writing to my representatives (well, both senators and house rep) via email since I first heard about the SSSCA. (Sadly, I didn't do a damn thing about the DMCA when it came out. I hope I've learned my lesson.) All three have written back via snail mail to address my concerns. Accepting that Paul Ryan keeps sending me back form letters, both senators (Herb Kohl and Russ Fiengold, WI) have actually sent letters written by human beings which pretty much address all the points I've raised via email. I've been pretty happy about the responses, considering a year ago I probably couldn't even name my reps. It remains to be seen if they'll actually do any good, which is why I keep writing. At the very least some one in their offices is getting MY point of view on the situation. Which is, basically, if an industry requires new legislation to stay profitable, it shouldn't be profitable.
Errr... I dunno about you but I rather enjoyed watching Square bitchslap Nintendo. Square jumped into bed with Sony for a reason. Nintendo changed the specs for the N64 from a CD based system to a cartridge based system (rumors abound as to why) which didn't match the specs for FF7 which was going to contain piles of FMV. Unwilling to work with Square, Nintendo lost their 'favored partner' status and hasn't seen a Square title since.
I'm disappointed that Square is selling out and going back with 'those traitors' to increase revenue. For that matter, I'm further disappointed they are calling it FF11 as opposed to 'Final Fantasy Online' or something. This is going to be a MMORPG with vast differences between any of its sequels. It's like they're trading in the rich history of Final Fantasy tradition to increase sales into a new lucrative market.
I went out and bought a SNES because of FF6 (well, and street fighter 2). I bought a PS1 for FF7. I got a PS2 for FFX. And I stopped playing Evercrack for a reason. I feel so dirty now.
I'm not questioning their right to stop game cracks. If they want to shut down warez sites, more power to them. However, bnetd isn't only a way for people to play cracked copies of Blizzard's games online. It's also a way for legitimate owners of Blizzard's software to extend the functionality of the product. Valve recognized this with Halflife and released server-side hosting software which basically serves the same purpose of bnetd. The software is controlled by Valve and has CD key checking built into for public internet servers. As Blizzard forced us to use IPX for way to long, some programmers scratched their itch. Now the genie is out of the bottle, and it is foolish for Blizzard to try and put it away with these horse shit intimidation tactics. Rather than bust out with their lawyers and try and intimidate everyone into submission, why not mimic Halflife and work with the bnetd team (or their own private programming team) to create a closed source server program that does support CD key checking? That would give the legal software owners the ability to play where they want over networks closer to home on bandwidth that Blizzard doesn't even have to pay for.
Err... it might not be quite time (or feasible) to jump planet just yet. How about we come to our collective senses and realize that if an industry needs frightening new legislation and mandated changes to existing hardware/software technology to stay profitable, we should consider letting the market do as it will. I belive the classic argument is the proposed legislation by the horse and buggy industry to prevent the new "horseless carriages" from squeezing them out of business. Or, to put it another way, if it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense.
The first is that it allows you to get a taste for what real programming is like. I know a bunch of kiddies that found out later that programming wasn't there thing and then made the switch to network admin.
The second advantage is it does give you practical experience in working on real code as part of a team. This allows you see some non-textbook examples of code which taught me much more than anything I learned in school, and also might give you a taste for the communications skills that are important for any real programmer.
I shall interpret this to mean you accept the fact that Blizzard has the right to attempt to prevent the use of its (beta) software outside of its control. (ie. anywhere but battle.net) Blizzard would seem to agree with you. From their FAQ, "Blizzard products are intellectual property, and we are well within our legal rights to protect our products from software piracy."
I can agree with that. If Blizzard writes software, they should be free to do with it as they wish. Of course, I would also want to grant that same freedom to the guys writing the bnetd software. Where do we draw the line?
Some people just want to write code that allows them to play their warez copy of Warcraft III. What about those of us who just want to use it to play our bought and paid for copies of Starcraft via Lan?
You're undoubtedly correct, most people don't want junk mail/spam. This does not change the fact that there is presently a multi-billion dollar industry associated with it. An industry which is now going to actively avoid sending their snake oil into VT. Now, I quit out of this industry because I just didn't believe in what I was doing. As a former insider I'm not against the idea of the entire direct marketing industry going out of business. However I also accept what this would mean. Namely a whole lot of people losing their jobs. In the end the money which was circulating in the direct marketing industry will be channeled in new directions, and everyone will have a job again. So we'll just have to take it slow... like maybe starting with Vermont?
There's no double standard here, the megacorps merely want information they "own" to be protected. They argue they possess "Intellectual Property" and should therefore be able to monopolize profits from same. They also argue that any personal data you give them or they collect about you becomes part of their "Intellectual Property", wash, rinse, repeat.
The idea here is that common citizens can not be trusted with information. It is far to dangerous. I think a wise man once said, "There is no information that is not power." Unfortunately he's dead now.
They're not scared, they're deadly smart. They know they can't arrest all of us. And once we're all criminals they won't have to. They make a few arrests to scare the sheep, and a few more to stop the clever onces who are making the easy to use software packages that allow the sheep to copy/view 'protected' content. The rest will fall into line. Humans have a herd mentality.
Baah.
That is not the point. They *know* we'll find a way around it. The point is when we do find a way, we become criminals.
I'm sure not going to buy a harddisk or other media that check's the content of whatever I want to put on it.
If the SSSCA gets passed the only type of hardware or software you can legally buy WILL have "certified security technologies." And once all the 'hackers' are criminals, they can selectively lock us up at their leisure.
As a long time fan of Civ, Civ2, and SMAC I was rather disappointed with Civ3. Especially with all the tiny features that helped build Alpha Centuari into a great game, many of the features I've come to expect in the Civilization line are conspicuously absent.
The wonder cinemas are gone, keyboard shortcuts feel clunky and missing, the tech tree feels a bit bare as they've cut out a few techs and reduced a few others to mere filler roles, air power is radically changed and feels a bit lite, and the new quirks with Corruption and Culture and the throwback combat system make Civ3 a totally different game than it's predecessors.
While not a bad game by any means, it doesn't really give me the same feel of quit-my-job-and-leave-my-wife addiction that the originals did. I tried giving myself the time to get used to the new changes, but I'm afraid I just can't get into this version. Maybe I'm just old now. :(
Of course, it is nice to know that Nintendo is starting out with strong sales. I was predicting that Nintendo's niche market wouldn't be able to support them and they would eventually follow suit with Sega and go software only. Although it's still early, perhaps this will be a three-way race after all.
I was expecting more of an automated form letter, so I was pleasantly surprised by the personalization of the complaint letter. Are we gun shy now and flinching whenever someone challenges their "property" rights? Obviously their attitude of "please don't be curious about things we own" backed by the DMCA smells like rotten fruit, but I'd rather see them hand pick their targets and send friendly "We're Out to Get You" letters rather than putting on the gorilla suit and squishing everything in sight. Until the world discovers a better way to handle "intellectual property" what more can we expect from large companies like Sony?
I know I am part of the small minority still trying to suffer with the non-MS browser. I fail to see why anyone in this small majority (which should include only the geek fringe) would want to suffer with more Netscape. At least Mozilla says it is still in beta, which holds the promise of an eventual stable release.
You might be missing an important part of the MS strategy. As the greatest competitor to MS is MS itself, it is to their advantage to release shoddy software. This way Joe Sixpack is motivated to pay for the 'upgrade' which features "increased reliability!"
I also find it intresting that they don't what to reveal which CD title has this protection scheme. What do YOU think they're afraid of?
1. How did collecting to spirits allow them to generate 'the wave'?
The basic premise of the movie is that every living thing has an "energy wave" or spirit (or soul or chi) which forms their life essence. Basic wave theory states that an inverse wave form can cancel out an existing energy wave. The plan is to find a combination of life energy which together form 'the wave'.
2. How would the Zeus cannon damage Gaia?
The Zeus cannon is a huge bioetheric (sp?) laser, the same technology which powers their weapons and keeps the barrier shields in place. Since these lasers can damage and 'kill' the Phantoms (which are merely spirits) a large cannon would be able to damage and 'kill' the spirit of the earth itself.
3. Why was the general such an ass?
His wife and daughter were killed by the Phantoms. Their loss has pushed him 'over the edge' and left him with only one driving goal: Kill the Phantoms at any cost.
4. How did the humans manage to build the barrier cities when the aliens were so very effective at killing them?
Although the aliens were effective at killing humans that is not their goal. The meteor which crashed into Earth is a piece of an alien world which was destroyed. It carried some spirits (ghosts) of the aliens as well as a piece of the alien homeworld spirit. They are not invading the earth, they are merely lost spirits looking for their final resting place. As such they're not making a military effort to wipe out humanity, but they are drawn to the life energy of those they come into contact with. As such their progess in spreading across the planet was likely rather slow, giving humanity time to invent the tools needed to defend themselves.
Frankly, I think the plot could have been brilliant...had the put the same amount of detail into it as they invested in to the computer generated actors...
I thought the plot was almost brilliant and, at the very least, consistant. I'm hoping that just as with the Final Fantasy games I will uncovered additional bits of plot I missed the first or second time through. I still question why they used the Final Fantasy name without using the usual elements. The classic battle music, Biggs and Wedge, and the ever popular chocobo are conspicually absent. I was also hoping that the familiar "Start/Continue" prompt would fade in under the game... I mean movie logo.
Piffle. They have an Anonymous Coward account. Just tell the cashier that "You're just a guy with a $20 bill." I haven't been turned away yet.
Pardon my continued use of an analogy, but it seems you are missing the common point which should be "generally understood" by the community.
Let us say I have a bullet proof vest. How safe is the vest? How do I determine how safe the vest is?
We can try and wish the problem away by saying, "If there are no guns, we don't need to protect ourselves from them!" But criminals do have guns. And script kiddies still have root kits.
Now, the irony that the sysadmin will make the world safer by testing her new firewall with her homemade rootkit isn't lost on me. But this mistaken belief that obscurity is security annoys me. Security is a state of mind. And while you might feel more secure NOT knowing your boxen has been rooted, what does that really accomplish?
It has been said that the price of security is eternal vigilance. Pay the toll or get off the highway.
Cuz we're not clever enough to trademark the "original" names the closed source blighters are using. You know, like "Office", "Explorer", "Windows", "Illustrator", "Paint", "Word", etc.
Bugger your plan to play nice with the big boys. They're scared of what we're writing and want us to go away. I'm tired of playing by their rules. It's past time to get the rules changed.
I thought we were a bunch of underground programmers writing code because we enjoyed doing so and because we didn't feel like using the closed source alternatives. Now we're freedom fighters for the right to write and have large 'Decoy' signs painted on our blaze orange jackets as closed source companies who charge money for the stuff they write don't like what we're doing? I used to be a nice guy. Now I *want* to put these god damn companies out of business. Who's stifling who's creativity here?
Trying to stuff us into demographic groups might work on the masses, but those of us who are a bit "off" don't fit easily into any catagory.
When the hell do I get to click the check boxes on the types of commericals *I* want to see, rather than having mindless megacorps spend billions at trying to guess?!
I agree that cool people don't need people to tell them that they're cool. (Or do they? If no one calls you cool, are you actually cool?) However, the idea here is not to tell people if they are cool, but to let the slightly chilled find people who Are cool. The trick behind such a system is, how do you define cool? This system proposes a system to actually try and track it.
At the very least, it is an interesting idea.
I'm salaried for 40 flex hours a week. I get paid overtime for any time over 45 hours, meaning the first 5 hours of overtime are 'free'. Myself and two others carry an off-duty pager although we are not contractually obligated to respond to calls after hours. The VP of our IS department is the one who goes in if the rest of us are unavailable.
Yes. Welcome to America. :P