I used to be a network admin for a small community bank. The ugly secret of online banking is that most online banking apps are HORRIBLY designed.
The particular product we used was broken into many times (via SQL injection attacks). The vendor's fix was to add code to detect and block recognized SQL injection patterns instead of redesigning the application so it was not vulnerable. This "anti-virus" approach wasn't very effective.
When we spoke with other banks using other products, the consensus was similar - online banking software sucks.
Our solution was to require an RSA token on any account that had the ability to move money out of the bank (i.e. commercial accounts that had the ability to originate an Automated Clearing House transactions). We also made the RSA token optional for non-ACH customers.
Blaming customers for phishing, and insecure configurations is deplorable behavior by a bank. Who do you blame when your customer is on vacation and they use a compromised hotel computer to access their account?
Banks can effectively secure their online banking products, but it takes a little work, and money to do it effectively. Requiring RSA tokens is giant step to fixing the problem.
Vista in all of its flavors requires activation either at the mothership, or via an activation server on your network.
This one requirement, has ZERO benefit for the end user. Microsoft made this mandatory to close the "Volume License Key loophole" that allowed corporate copies of XP to be widely and easily pirated.
Now the anti-piracy cost falls to the end user. Corporations that deploy standard images must now manage the activation process in addition to all the other things that make a Microsoft network tick. There are a million ways that activation causes problems - remote users, computer rental companies that re-image after every use, schools that re-image labs frequently...etc.
Someone please explain to me why incumbent carriers like this need to exist. A government that can build and maintain a network of roads surely can build and maintain a network of wire.
It's time for governments to build out networks and let companies provide services over those wires - much like roads. Government can either use its own employees to maintain the wires, or hire companies to do that work (exactly like the way roads and bridges are built and maintained).
I've got a CS degree, and I've had the opportunity to write software, that said, I've seen too many programers (that do not own their own companies but, in fact, work for others) that feel they should have complete control over their development tools (software and hardware).
These individuals feel that they should be the masters of their own universe, and they dislike taking direction from those that employ them. I tell these programmers that if they dislike working for someone else and following their rules, they should start their own company and bear the responsibility of all that entails.
As a network manager, my responsibility is the safety and security of the network. It is my responsibility to put safeguards in to recover our systems in the event of a disaster, and to keep the network and attached systems running as reliably as possible. That may mean that you don't have administrative access to EVERYTHING....too bad.
If a business case can be made for that type of access, then most companies will have more flexible provisions in place (like a development lab where things can be allowed to blow up without impacting production).
The points I tried to make earlier are that, for most industries, IT is not the primary objective - it is a tool that makes others productive. The workers in those industries would be less productive if they had to maintain their own computer systems.
Do corporate attorneys and accountants take out their own trash? Do they sweep the cafeteria after lunch?
Should police officers tune up their own cruisers?
Should surgeons and doctors clean the bathrooms in a hospital or fix the air conditioning when it breaks?
All these people are hired to perform their specific jobs with their specific set of skills. Do you think these people would be more or less "productive" by doing jobs that are usually left to others?
IT is no different. IT should be left to those with the necessary skills. Let the other employees do the jobs they were hired to do.
Back in the day, if a hard drive failed under warranty, you sent it back (at your expense) waited a week, and then you got a replacement drive in return.
OR
If you needed a drive really fast, the manufacturer would advance ship you a drive (2-3 days instead of a week) if you gave them a credit card number so they could place a hold on the card for the amount of the drive. Then you returned the drive to them in their packaging (again at your expense).
Recently I was surprised to find out that Seagate no longer does advanced exchanges for free - they charge $20 for an advanced exchange. If that doesn't smell like greed, I don't know what does.
YOUR drive failed under YOUR warranty, and now I need to pay for the privilege of an advanced exchange. F.U. Seagate. You used to care about your customers, not any more.
This threat of suing if solid state disks become popular just confirms my belief that Seagate has lost their way. They no longer care about producing the best technology and making their customers happy. Now it's about profit at the expense of everyone else.
Hey Seagate, you may not have heard but there are a few companies in the hard drive business besides you. Those companies will get my (and my company's business) from now on.
My cat was recently treated for a hyperactive thyroid. The vet injected the cat with radioactive iodine and kept the cat in isolation for two weeks.
After I was allowed to take the cat home, I was told to avoid having the cat sit on my lap, and I had to collect the cat's litter box scoopings and store them outside for two weeks. The vet told me if I discard the litter box contents into the trash, I would probably get a visit from homeland security. Evidently, they also scan garbage, and if they find any radioactive trash, HS tries to figure out where it came from.
If they trace it back to your house, they will show up with a warrant to search the premises.
When I told her she must be joking, she told me it happened to one of her clients.
That's creepy on a bunch of levels - the fact that HS can trace garbage back to your house, and the fact that HS can "pay you a visit" after snooping through your garbage.
We run Sophos Anti Virus at my company since it runs on Mac OS and Windows. We've actually caught Windows viruses on removable media from home users and alerted them about their infection.
In theory, that user went home and dealt with the problem - maybe preventing an issue for someone else down the road.
We also caught a virus on a BRAND NEW digital picture frame. Again, it was a windows virus, but we may have prevented a windows infection by detecting it on a Mac.
If everyone was diligent about security - including those that "don't need to be concerned", we might have less of this crap floating around.
I've personally seen a company go out of business due to a failed backup system and catastrophic data loss. That company folded simply due to the threat of stakeholder lawsuits.
A decent backup system coupled with a disaster recovery plan and routine testing would have saved that particular company.
Yet another company was almost taken over by federal regulators. Years of IT neglect put customer data and accounts at risk. After repeated failed IT audits, the feds were about 6 months away from taking over operations of the "business". Luckily, the CEO saw the writing on the wall, hired me, and a year later was passing federal IT audits with flying colors.
I've yet to see a company with shabby IT that had the rest of its house in order. Neglected IT is a symptom of a bigger, systemic, problem in the company. Bad IT is not the only symptom of a badly run company, low-morale, high-employee turnover, and executives constantly putting out fires instead of growing the business are signs of management that needs to go.
OK, maybe there are some businesses that can run with IT systems held together with duct tape, but eventually as business becomes more reliant on technology, the long term health of those businesses will suffer.
Risk mitigation is the key here. A good executive team reduces a company's exposure to risk both internally and externally. Dilapidated IT is an internal risk that can be minimized with good budgeting and sound planning. Bad executives look at IT as "the guys that fix the phones and printers". They should be looking at IT as an important part of operations and growth strategy.
Sure there are a lot of providers for now - their telecom market is in its infancy.
Somalia was the last African country to access the Internet in August 2000, with only 57 web sites known as of 2003.[37] Internet usage in Somalia grew 44,900% from 2000 to 2007, registering the highest growth rate in Africa.
* Golis Telecom Somalia
* Somali Telecom Group
* Galkom
* Global Internet Company
* Hormuud
* Telcom
* NationLink Telecom
* Netco
* Somafone
Somalia's current telecom market is not even a decade old!
Competition is great thing when you can get it. If Somalia's telecom market matures and grows, consolidation will follow. Give this telecom market 50 years to mature. Eventually after the consolidation happens, prices will rise, and service will decline.
It always happens.
In mature markets - like the US. There are very large incumbent telecoms. These companies, even after being broken up (remember Ma Bell) reconsolidated due to lack of regulatory control. Eventually, as young markets mature, monopolies and duopolies emerge - for the sole reason of controlling those markets.
Why would Somalia be any different from any other telecom market? Are their telecom companies run by altruistic people that do not know greed, power, and wealth?
Are you suggesting that we run our Government like Somalia runs theirs?
Apples and oranges my friend.
Good government regulation ensures that all players in a given sector play by the same rules (i.e. not killing your workers, not ripping off your customers....etc). If you need to break the rules to play in a given market, then you probably shouldn't be in the business. Some barriers to entry are a good thing, if those barriers prevent damage to society as a whole.
Banking is a good example. Sure, there are lots of regulations and many regulatory bodies that need to be satisfied, but the end result is people, more or less, have faith that money deposited in banks will be there when they need it. Without those regulatory bodies, banks would be going out of business and stealing the money from the customers.
It has happened in the past.
If you need to break the rules to play in a given market, then you probably shouldn't be in the business. Some barriers to entry are a good thing, if those barriers prevent damage to society as a whole.
How many ISP choices do you have at your location? What drives your ISP of choice to provide good service at a good price?
Most residential users of data services in the US have a choice of one or two providers. Do you think unregulated monopolies or duopolies have an incentive to provide good service at a reasonable price?
Step back one minute and ask yourself the following questions: Do you believe that good quality, reasonably priced, data services are essential to our nation's economy and well being? Do you think accessibility to those services will help to keep our nation growing and competitive with other industrialized nations?
If the answer is yes, then you NEED to have government regulation for those services. Businesses exist to make profit, not to provide essential services at reasonable cost. Roads, power generation, and voice communications are essential to the prosperity of our nation. I argue that high-speed data service, and healthcare are equally important - and therefore merit government regulation.
There is plenty of unregulated stuff for businesses to make obscene profits. The really important stuff needs to be regulated.
It seems that America is losing its ethical way. For the most part, our government's "hands off" approach to regulating businesses and enforcing the law with respect to corporations is coming at a huge cost to the average American citizen.
Europe and the "nation-state" of California may be our only hope of leveling the playing field with regard to how corporations do business.
We, as a nation, need to demand that our elected leaders start regulating these companies for the good of the country and the planet. It should not be wrong to force telecom companies to open their networks to competition, or to require stricter air quality and fuel economy from the energy and transportation sectors of our economy. How about regulating banks and credit institutions with regard to credit risk? Then punishing banks that make stupid decisions - and then sell those stupid decisions to other investors.
To those that say that more Government will only screw things up: Look around you. Corporations left to their own devices have screwed things up royally in the last 8 years.
Football games have referees for a reason - the same reason that businesses need government regulation. You can not have a level playing field without government regulation.
Step back a minute and use your brain. Under what health care system would mandatory genetic testing be more likely to be misused? A system where insurance premiums and profits are maximized by reducing or refusing care; or a system where everyone pays, everyone participates, and everyone benefits?
In the current system, mandatory DNA testing would be used to refuse coverage or care - to maximize profits and weed out costly/sickly individuals.
In a universal system, it benefits the system to give you preventative care - that reduces costs for all. In that situation DNA testing benefits all.
I'm so sick of hearing everyone claim the United States is the greatest country in the world, yet we can't care for our sick or elderly, and we sure as hell can't educate our young (the parent post illustrates the education problem).
What the hell makes us so great? Military hardware?
If we are to be a great nation, we need to find a way to provide health care and education for all. A sick and stupid population is not the way to greatness.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC's jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.
From the FTC's website:
The FTC deals with issues that touch the economic life of every American. It is the only federal agency with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy. The FTC pursues vigorous and effective law enforcement; advances consumers' interests by sharing its expertise with federal and state legislatures and U.S. and international government agencies; develops policy and research tools through hearings, workshops, and conferences; and creates practical and plain-language educational programs for consumers and businesses in a global marketplace with constantly changing technologies.
The FCC is clearly responsible for regulating how communications companies deploy their technologies, but clearly defining how those technologies are sold, and ensuring the customer gets what he/she paid for seems to be the responsibilty of the FTC.
My cable company told me that I purchased a 30mbps/10mbps internet connection. They also told me that I purchased the right to run a server on that connection. A couple of times, they have throttled my connection. I can't imagine why - I can't exceed the 30/10 limit, and I was connected to hosts on the internet. The cable company never defined who I could connect to, and they never told me if there was a limit other than the 30/10 hard limit that was sold to me.
If I am not getting what I paid for, shouldn't the FTC be involved?
For those that don't know Multiple Activation Keys(MAK), are part of the volume licensing program. You can either run a key management server on your network, or you can let the Vista machines call home to Microsoft.
Our company bought 5 copies of Vista to try out in the lab using MAK. We installed Vista on 3 machines, one was a Dell laptop. Last week, I replaced the hard drive with a solid state drive (used ghost to move the vista install to the new drive), and installed a new 802.11n wireless card. WGA decided that my laptop was out of tolerance, and decided to re-activate my MAK automatically.
Here's the interesting part - you can check the status of your MAK online. You can see how many activations you have against your MAK count. We have 3 installed copies of Vista, but Microsoft's license management site says we have 4 copies activated.
A small business that allows Microsoft to manage their MAK will be really screwed when their users or IT guys start upgrading computers. It is easy to see that a company that occasionally upgrades its hardware will falsely run out their MAK count, and be required to buy more MAK.
WGA is good for Microsoft's bottom line. Getting businesses to buy multiple activations for each computer is a good way to raise profits.
Example: Biotech company developes two new treatments for diabetes. One is administered daily in pill form and costs $10 a pill to make but can be sold at $100 a pill comercially. The other is a one time treatment that would cost $200, most of which would go to the doctors performing the procedure.
This is total conspiracy theory bullshit. Do you honestly think that a true cure would only sell for 2 times the amount of a treatment regimen? Markets don't work that way.
A cure is always worth more than a treatment regimen - how much more? Whatever the market will bear. If your treatment regimen costs $100, you can bet the cure will cost $100,000. Drug companies would price the cure so they make money. Thanks to insurance companies footing the bill, they will get every dollar of that amount while the cure is under patent protection.
Front-Row/Apple TV is easy to navigate with one simple remote.
All the windows based devices i've seen are too complicated with ugly interfaces.
Apple TV passes the "wife and daughter" test. The windows based products I looked at did not.
The linksys device does not have internal storage. That's nice to have so I don't have to rely on server software or another machine to play my media. I just sync it to the box, and it is always there regardless of any other computer on the network. Apple TV does not "stream" the content from another PC, it has a built in hard drive. It plays the media right of its own hard drive.
By the way, my Vista box is a Vista Business edition x64 box (not premium or ultimate), but that does not matter. iTunes runs on any vista machine.
You do realize the purpose of medical/scientific research is to eventually have treatments or medical processes that actually benefit patients and all humans in general, right? That is the long-term goal of all medical research. There are no therapies derived from embryonic stem cell research YET, but the field is in its infancy. Who knows what knowledge will be discovered in 20 years?
The point I was trying to illustrate is that if the Pope firmly believes that a clump of cells is a human life, then he, and all Catholics that believe that nonsense should refuse all treatments derived from knowledge acquired using embryonic stem cell experiments. It's called not being a hypocrite.
Adult stem cells may or may not work in specific medical studies or applications. That is an unknown at this point. It is possible that some therapies will only come from embryonic stem cells. Would you be willing to sacrifice your life, (or a family member's / loved one's life) by refusing treatments based on embryonic stem cell research for the opinions of the Catholic Church?
I know I wouldn't. Not for the Catholic Church, or any other.
It could also be that the "commoditization" of operating systems through virtualization will relegate Microsoft to an application vendor, not an operating system vendor.
They do some things well. Exchange is pretty good, users seem to like office, xbox is doing well....etc. Maybe it is time for Microsoft to move focus away from operating systems.
Slashdot Mirror
I used to be a network admin for a small community bank. The ugly secret of online banking is that most online banking apps are HORRIBLY designed.
The particular product we used was broken into many times (via SQL injection attacks). The vendor's fix was to add code to detect and block recognized SQL injection patterns instead of redesigning the application so it was not vulnerable. This "anti-virus" approach wasn't very effective.
When we spoke with other banks using other products, the consensus was similar - online banking software sucks.
Our solution was to require an RSA token on any account that had the ability to move money out of the bank (i.e. commercial accounts that had the ability to originate an Automated Clearing House transactions). We also made the RSA token optional for non-ACH customers.
Blaming customers for phishing, and insecure configurations is deplorable behavior by a bank. Who do you blame when your customer is on vacation and they use a compromised hotel computer to access their account?
Banks can effectively secure their online banking products, but it takes a little work, and money to do it effectively. Requiring RSA tokens is giant step to fixing the problem.
Mandatory activation.
Vista in all of its flavors requires activation either at the mothership, or via an activation server on your network.
This one requirement, has ZERO benefit for the end user. Microsoft made this mandatory to close the "Volume License Key loophole" that allowed corporate copies of XP to be widely and easily pirated.
Now the anti-piracy cost falls to the end user. Corporations that deploy standard images must now manage the activation process in addition to all the other things that make a Microsoft network tick. There are a million ways that activation causes problems - remote users, computer rental companies that re-image after every use, schools that re-image labs frequently...etc.
I don't see Microsoft "fixing" this problem ever.
-ted
Someone please explain to me why incumbent carriers like this need to exist. A government that can build and maintain a network of roads surely can build and maintain a network of wire.
It's time for governments to build out networks and let companies provide services over those wires - much like roads. Government can either use its own employees to maintain the wires, or hire companies to do that work (exactly like the way roads and bridges are built and maintained).
-ted
I've got a CS degree, and I've had the opportunity to write software, that said, I've seen too many programers (that do not own their own companies but, in fact, work for others) that feel they should have complete control over their development tools (software and hardware).
These individuals feel that they should be the masters of their own universe, and they dislike taking direction from those that employ them. I tell these programmers that if they dislike working for someone else and following their rules, they should start their own company and bear the responsibility of all that entails.
As a network manager, my responsibility is the safety and security of the network. It is my responsibility to put safeguards in to recover our systems in the event of a disaster, and to keep the network and attached systems running as reliably as possible. That may mean that you don't have administrative access to EVERYTHING....too bad.
If a business case can be made for that type of access, then most companies will have more flexible provisions in place (like a development lab where things can be allowed to blow up without impacting production).
The points I tried to make earlier are that, for most industries, IT is not the primary objective - it is a tool that makes others productive. The workers in those industries would be less productive if they had to maintain their own computer systems.
-ted
These are serious questions:
Do UPS drivers change their own oil?
Do corporate attorneys and accountants take out their own trash? Do they sweep the cafeteria after lunch?
Should police officers tune up their own cruisers?
Should surgeons and doctors clean the bathrooms in a hospital or fix the air conditioning when it breaks?
All these people are hired to perform their specific jobs with their specific set of skills. Do you think these people would be more or less "productive" by doing jobs that are usually left to others?
IT is no different. IT should be left to those with the necessary skills. Let the other employees do the jobs they were hired to do.
-ted
It's been a few years since college, but what I loathed was having to almost learn Mandarin, or Hindi to understand my math teachers.
-ted
Back in the day, if a hard drive failed under warranty, you sent it back (at your expense) waited a week, and then you got a replacement drive in return.
OR
If you needed a drive really fast, the manufacturer would advance ship you a drive (2-3 days instead of a week) if you gave them a credit card number so they could place a hold on the card for the amount of the drive. Then you returned the drive to them in their packaging (again at your expense).
Recently I was surprised to find out that Seagate no longer does advanced exchanges for free - they charge $20 for an advanced exchange. If that doesn't smell like greed, I don't know what does.
YOUR drive failed under YOUR warranty, and now I need to pay for the privilege of an advanced exchange. F.U. Seagate. You used to care about your customers, not any more.
This threat of suing if solid state disks become popular just confirms my belief that Seagate has lost their way. They no longer care about producing the best technology and making their customers happy. Now it's about profit at the expense of everyone else.
Hey Seagate, you may not have heard but there are a few companies in the hard drive business besides you. Those companies will get my (and my company's business) from now on.
-ted
My cat was recently treated for a hyperactive thyroid. The vet injected the cat with radioactive iodine and kept the cat in isolation for two weeks.
After I was allowed to take the cat home, I was told to avoid having the cat sit on my lap, and I had to collect the cat's litter box scoopings and store them outside for two weeks. The vet told me if I discard the litter box contents into the trash, I would probably get a visit from homeland security. Evidently, they also scan garbage, and if they find any radioactive trash, HS tries to figure out where it came from.
If they trace it back to your house, they will show up with a warrant to search the premises.
When I told her she must be joking, she told me it happened to one of her clients.
That's creepy on a bunch of levels - the fact that HS can trace garbage back to your house, and the fact that HS can "pay you a visit" after snooping through your garbage.
-ted
Microsoft has a slipstreamed DVD ISO available from the eopen website for volume license customers.
-ted
I guess Microsoft felt left out of the Apple party and wanted a spinning beach ball/wheel of death for Windows Mobile.
Flash is guaranteed to bring a windows mobile device to its knees.
-ted
We run Sophos Anti Virus at my company since it runs on Mac OS and Windows. We've actually caught Windows viruses on removable media from home users and alerted them about their infection.
In theory, that user went home and dealt with the problem - maybe preventing an issue for someone else down the road.
We also caught a virus on a BRAND NEW digital picture frame. Again, it was a windows virus, but we may have prevented a windows infection by detecting it on a Mac.
If everyone was diligent about security - including those that "don't need to be concerned", we might have less of this crap floating around.
-ted
I've personally seen a company go out of business due to a failed backup system and catastrophic data loss. That company folded simply due to the threat of stakeholder lawsuits.
A decent backup system coupled with a disaster recovery plan and routine testing would have saved that particular company.
Yet another company was almost taken over by federal regulators. Years of IT neglect put customer data and accounts at risk. After repeated failed IT audits, the feds were about 6 months away from taking over operations of the "business". Luckily, the CEO saw the writing on the wall, hired me, and a year later was passing federal IT audits with flying colors.
I've yet to see a company with shabby IT that had the rest of its house in order. Neglected IT is a symptom of a bigger, systemic, problem in the company. Bad IT is not the only symptom of a badly run company, low-morale, high-employee turnover, and executives constantly putting out fires instead of growing the business are signs of management that needs to go.
OK, maybe there are some businesses that can run with IT systems held together with duct tape, but eventually as business becomes more reliant on technology, the long term health of those businesses will suffer.
Risk mitigation is the key here. A good executive team reduces a company's exposure to risk both internally and externally. Dilapidated IT is an internal risk that can be minimized with good budgeting and sound planning. Bad executives look at IT as "the guys that fix the phones and printers". They should be looking at IT as an important part of operations and growth strategy.
-ted
does not guarantee that your business will be successful, but having the wrong Information Technology guarantees that your business will fail.
Executives that fail to see that truth, will not have long careers.
-ted
Sure there are a lot of providers for now - their telecom market is in its infancy.
Somalia was the last African country to access the Internet in August 2000, with only 57 web sites known as of 2003.[37] Internet usage in Somalia grew 44,900% from 2000 to 2007, registering the highest growth rate in Africa.
Companies providing telecommunication services are:
* Golis Telecom Somalia
* Somali Telecom Group
* Galkom
* Global Internet Company
* Hormuud
* Telcom
* NationLink Telecom
* Netco
* Somafone
Somalia's current telecom market is not even a decade old!
Competition is great thing when you can get it. If Somalia's telecom market matures and grows, consolidation will follow. Give this telecom market 50 years to mature. Eventually after the consolidation happens, prices will rise, and service will decline.
It always happens.
In mature markets - like the US. There are very large incumbent telecoms. These companies, even after being broken up (remember Ma Bell) reconsolidated due to lack of regulatory control. Eventually, as young markets mature, monopolies and duopolies emerge - for the sole reason of controlling those markets.
Why would Somalia be any different from any other telecom market? Are their telecom companies run by altruistic people that do not know greed, power, and wealth?
-ted
Are you suggesting that we run our Government like Somalia runs theirs?
Apples and oranges my friend.
Good government regulation ensures that all players in a given sector play by the same rules (i.e. not killing your workers, not ripping off your customers....etc). If you need to break the rules to play in a given market, then you probably shouldn't be in the business. Some barriers to entry are a good thing, if those barriers prevent damage to society as a whole.
Banking is a good example. Sure, there are lots of regulations and many regulatory bodies that need to be satisfied, but the end result is people, more or less, have faith that money deposited in banks will be there when they need it. Without those regulatory bodies, banks would be going out of business and stealing the money from the customers.
It has happened in the past.
If you need to break the rules to play in a given market, then you probably shouldn't be in the business. Some barriers to entry are a good thing, if those barriers prevent damage to society as a whole.
-ted
How many ISP choices do you have at your location? What drives your ISP of choice to provide good service at a good price?
Most residential users of data services in the US have a choice of one or two providers. Do you think unregulated monopolies or duopolies have an incentive to provide good service at a reasonable price?
Step back one minute and ask yourself the following questions: Do you believe that good quality, reasonably priced, data services are essential to our nation's economy and well being? Do you think accessibility to those services will help to keep our nation growing and competitive with other industrialized nations?
If the answer is yes, then you NEED to have government regulation for those services. Businesses exist to make profit, not to provide essential services at reasonable cost. Roads, power generation, and voice communications are essential to the prosperity of our nation. I argue that high-speed data service, and healthcare are equally important - and therefore merit government regulation.
There is plenty of unregulated stuff for businesses to make obscene profits. The really important stuff needs to be regulated.
-ted
It seems that America is losing its ethical way. For the most part, our government's "hands off" approach to regulating businesses and enforcing the law with respect to corporations is coming at a huge cost to the average American citizen.
Europe and the "nation-state" of California may be our only hope of leveling the playing field with regard to how corporations do business.
We, as a nation, need to demand that our elected leaders start regulating these companies for the good of the country and the planet. It should not be wrong to force telecom companies to open their networks to competition, or to require stricter air quality and fuel economy from the energy and transportation sectors of our economy. How about regulating banks and credit institutions with regard to credit risk? Then punishing banks that make stupid decisions - and then sell those stupid decisions to other investors.
To those that say that more Government will only screw things up: Look around you. Corporations left to their own devices have screwed things up royally in the last 8 years.
Football games have referees for a reason - the same reason that businesses need government regulation. You can not have a level playing field without government regulation.
-ted
Do you happen to be a Fox News pundit?
Step back a minute and use your brain. Under what health care system would mandatory genetic testing be more likely to be misused? A system where insurance premiums and profits are maximized by reducing or refusing care; or a system where everyone pays, everyone participates, and everyone benefits?
In the current system, mandatory DNA testing would be used to refuse coverage or care - to maximize profits and weed out costly/sickly individuals.
In a universal system, it benefits the system to give you preventative care - that reduces costs for all. In that situation DNA testing benefits all.
I'm so sick of hearing everyone claim the United States is the greatest country in the world, yet we can't care for our sick or elderly, and we sure as hell can't educate our young (the parent post illustrates the education problem).
What the hell makes us so great? Military hardware?
If we are to be a great nation, we need to find a way to provide health care and education for all. A sick and stupid population is not the way to greatness.
-ted
From the FCC's website:
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC's jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.
From the FTC's website:
The FTC deals with issues that touch the economic life of every American. It is the only federal agency with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy. The FTC pursues vigorous and effective law enforcement; advances consumers' interests by sharing its expertise with federal and state legislatures and U.S. and international government agencies; develops policy and research tools through hearings, workshops, and conferences; and creates practical and plain-language educational programs for consumers and businesses in a global marketplace with constantly changing technologies.
The FCC is clearly responsible for regulating how communications companies deploy their technologies, but clearly defining how those technologies are sold, and ensuring the customer gets what he/she paid for seems to be the responsibilty of the FTC.
My cable company told me that I purchased a 30mbps/10mbps internet connection. They also told me that I purchased the right to run a server on that connection. A couple of times, they have throttled my connection. I can't imagine why - I can't exceed the 30/10 limit, and I was connected to hosts on the internet. The cable company never defined who I could connect to, and they never told me if there was a limit other than the 30/10 hard limit that was sold to me.
If I am not getting what I paid for, shouldn't the FTC be involved?
-ted
For those that don't know Multiple Activation Keys(MAK), are part of the volume licensing program. You can either run a key management server on your network, or you can let the Vista machines call home to Microsoft.
Our company bought 5 copies of Vista to try out in the lab using MAK. We installed Vista on 3 machines, one was a Dell laptop. Last week, I replaced the hard drive with a solid state drive (used ghost to move the vista install to the new drive), and installed a new 802.11n wireless card. WGA decided that my laptop was out of tolerance, and decided to re-activate my MAK automatically.
Here's the interesting part - you can check the status of your MAK online. You can see how many activations you have against your MAK count. We have 3 installed copies of Vista, but Microsoft's license management site says we have 4 copies activated.
A small business that allows Microsoft to manage their MAK will be really screwed when their users or IT guys start upgrading computers. It is easy to see that a company that occasionally upgrades its hardware will falsely run out their MAK count, and be required to buy more MAK.
WGA is good for Microsoft's bottom line. Getting businesses to buy multiple activations for each computer is a good way to raise profits.
-ted
Example: Biotech company developes two new treatments for diabetes. One is administered daily in pill form and costs $10 a pill to make but can be sold at $100 a pill comercially. The other is a one time treatment that would cost $200, most of which would go to the doctors performing the procedure.
This is total conspiracy theory bullshit. Do you honestly think that a true cure would only sell for 2 times the amount of a treatment regimen? Markets don't work that way.
A cure is always worth more than a treatment regimen - how much more? Whatever the market will bear. If your treatment regimen costs $100, you can bet the cure will cost $100,000. Drug companies would price the cure so they make money. Thanks to insurance companies footing the bill, they will get every dollar of that amount while the cure is under patent protection.
-ted
Sadly, full exchange support and 3G are still missing.
I can't wait to ditch Windows Mobile....
-ted
Front-Row/Apple TV is easy to navigate with one simple remote.
All the windows based devices i've seen are too complicated with ugly interfaces.
Apple TV passes the "wife and daughter" test. The windows based products I looked at did not.
The linksys device does not have internal storage. That's nice to have so I don't have to rely on server software or another machine to play my media. I just sync it to the box, and it is always there regardless of any other computer on the network. Apple TV does not "stream" the content from another PC, it has a built in hard drive. It plays the media right of its own hard drive.
By the way, my Vista box is a Vista Business edition x64 box (not premium or ultimate), but that does not matter. iTunes runs on any vista machine.
-ted
Oh wait, there aren't any
You do realize the purpose of medical/scientific research is to eventually have treatments or medical processes that actually benefit patients and all humans in general, right? That is the long-term goal of all medical research. There are no therapies derived from embryonic stem cell research YET, but the field is in its infancy. Who knows what knowledge will be discovered in 20 years?
The point I was trying to illustrate is that if the Pope firmly believes that a clump of cells is a human life, then he, and all Catholics that believe that nonsense should refuse all treatments derived from knowledge acquired using embryonic stem cell experiments. It's called not being a hypocrite.
Adult stem cells may or may not work in specific medical studies or applications. That is an unknown at this point. It is possible that some therapies will only come from embryonic stem cells. Would you be willing to sacrifice your life, (or a family member's / loved one's life) by refusing treatments based on embryonic stem cell research for the opinions of the Catholic Church?
I know I wouldn't. Not for the Catholic Church, or any other.
-ted
It could also be that the "commoditization" of operating systems through virtualization will relegate Microsoft to an application vendor, not an operating system vendor.
They do some things well. Exchange is pretty good, users seem to like office, xbox is doing well....etc. Maybe it is time for Microsoft to move focus away from operating systems.
-ted