Having studied mathematical finance, I immediately noticed a flaw in this analysis:
The underlying price--the price you'd have to pay if you didn't have an option--we'll leave at $100. The next version will be priced the same as this one. Because you're upgrading, you have an option with a strike price of, let's say, $50. That is, you'll be able to upgrade to the new version for only $50. A five-year option for a $100 underlying price with a strike price of $50 and a volatility of 30 percent (with a 5 percent risk-free rate) is about $62.50.
Why is this option so valuable? Because you can purchase the software for $50 -- and then turn around and sell it at a large profit on the open market. However, although you can do this with stocks, you cannot do this with software upgrades. It would be, almost certainly, illegal (i.e. a license violation) to sell an upgrade to a user who was not already entitled to the upgrade.
You know, if they were privatized, you'd be able to drive them any hour of the day as much as you want, but since they're owned by the public, you have to ration your usage of them.
I know you're trying to be sarcastic, but this is actually truer than you think: it's called traffic. Despite the fact that costs-per-additional-car are much higher during rush hour than during non-peak times, these costs aren't borne (directly) by the driver. The result is that people drive even when they don't "need" to, resulting in more traffic for those who really DO need to use the roads at those times. Private toll roads have become popular in some metro areas because they keep traffic low for those who care enough to pay the premium; people who don't mind the traffic as much can stick to the normal roads.
I guess this just re-emphasizes that even in space there are scarce resources which people are going to end up fighting over, and which will necessitate extending national power into outer space, in order to enforce any claims on territoriality.
So you're saying that these latest Star Wars may be commercially profitable, but remain morally and aesthetically distasteful? I completely agree.
If a software's UI is attractive and well-designed, it's more enjoyable to use. But if you enjoy something, then it's not really work. Ergo, Mac users never get any work done, and Windows makes people more productive!
Quantum behaviour is governed by probabilities. Before something has actually been observed, there are a number of possibilities regarding its state. But once its state has been measured those possibilities shrink to one - uncertainty is eliminated.
So basically, anything's possible -- unless it's impossible. And the Nobel goes to...:)
A fire breaks out in the mathematician's room. The mathematician wakes up and sees the fire, does some lengthy calculations on paper, lights a match and drops it in a glass of water, says "It can be done", and goes back to bed.
A mathematician doing an experiment? Never! (And yes, I am one.) The mathematician sees the fire, notices a glass of water on his nightstand, proclaims, "A solution exists!" and goes back to bed.
On the other hand, science like this would never be funded with out politics. There's only a limited amount of money out there to fund endevours like this, and someone has to decide how to divy that money up.
Gee, someone has to decide how to spend my money? Who should that be? How about me? Seriously, it always astounds me when people make arguments about public funding that would reveal their absurdity if made about any other expenditure. "There's only a limited amount of money for breakfast cereal... how can we decide who gets Cheerios and who gets Lucky Charms?"
And it's not like science wouldn't get funded this way. There's a huge market for private charity organizations, not to mention the individual sugar daddies like Paul Allen who would love to throw a few mil at a project like this. Heck, sell colorful plastic bracelets at 10000% markup and make them the must-have geek accessory of the season, using the proceeds to fund space exploration. There are a million ways to do this one without having the IRS reach into my paycheck....
16GB? How much is that in Libraries of Congress? Dammnit I can't understand these fancy units like these GBs!
Libraries of Congress? I measure my information the old fashioned way: print out all the 0s and 1s and see how many Volkswagen Beetles it takes to hold all the paper.
Nor does it take very long to mop a floor- 2 minutes, if you include filling the bucket with warm water.
But how long does it take, including moving all of your things out of the way because you can't mop around them? Anyone can mop or vacuum an empty room in no time flat... the real pain is working around stuff, which these products (supposedly) do painlessly.
Not trying to troll, but what's the point of linking to a story when most of your readership can't/won't subscribe to read it?
I'll bite: because those who can/will may be interested in the story, while everyone else is free to ignore it. If you don't like those links, just don't click on them -- just like you can change the channel if you don't like what's on TV. If alternative news sources are covering the same story, you're welcome to Google for them and place a link in the comments as a public service.
My Porsche 3L Porsche 968 (at 11 years and 91,000 miles old) gets 32+ MPG on the freeway, and mid-20s in city traffic. My BMW motorcycle gets over 70MPG.
Well, helloooo, Mr. Fancy Pants! And I don't even need to change your subject line -- perfect.:)
Geez, it seems you can't go 2 days without reading an article about how America is lagging behind 37 other countries on (insert random metric for technological progress). Won't somebody do something? Our children are falling behind!!!!
Now, I'm sure some of these things truly do deserve concern -- but this kind of scare tactic has been around since the early days of the Cold War, and probably long before that. Last time I checked, though, we haven't been conquered by the Soviets/Japanese/nation-du-jour -- sure, we may be worse at some things, and better at others, but things in general have hummed along pretty well for the last half-century.
Windows XP SP2 is, um, the current version of Windows.... If it breaks your 5-year-old applications, replace them. If your internally-generated code isn't ready, fix it.
Or, you could carefully weigh the costs of running an outdated version of Windows against the costs of replacing all of your custom code and apps -- and then make an informed decision. Is it worth spending money and hours redoing your work to run the latest XP? If so, do it; if not, don't. It's a business decision with pros and cons -- there's no Eleventh Commandment that "Thou shalt keep thy OS up-to-date," no matter what the cost.
Whats the equivalent monkeys per typewriter power of this software?
Good thinking! I hereby propose a new unit for measuring intelligence: the MBOTY (monkey-banging-on-typewriter-years). From basic probability theory, this number is certainly always finite -- and in some cases, very much so.
Does anyone else see the MEAA's decision as anti-competitive?
Of course. They're a union; it's their job to be anti-competitive. (That is, to protect their members from competition with non-members.) Essentially, the MEAA is a labor cartel, placing restrictions on members' output to boost the asking price.
Is that abstract stuff really "art"? My 7-year-old niece draws better than that!
What's up with that hippity-hop the kids are listening to? Is that really "music"? I can't even understand half of what Fifty Cents or M.C. Hammers are saying, much less make out a melody!
I don't feel like I have enough control over the product when I use Microsoft programming environments.
Translation: "I have limited knowledge and experience with Microsoft programming environments, and I don't feel like learning." Is this the message you want to send to future employers?
They don't know of anything else, and Windows came with the computer.
Not quite, but close. People know there are other options out there, but they assume that the problems they have are just "computer problems," as opposed to problems with Windows specifically. When family members ask me what anti-virus and spyware programs I use on my Mac -- and I tell them I don't need any -- they are completely shocked. The general public just doesn't know this.
Slashdot Mirror
Having studied mathematical finance, I immediately noticed a flaw in this analysis:
The underlying price--the price you'd have to pay if you didn't have an option--we'll leave at $100. The next version will be priced the same as this one. Because you're upgrading, you have an option with a strike price of, let's say, $50. That is, you'll be able to upgrade to the new version for only $50. A five-year option for a $100 underlying price with a strike price of $50 and a volatility of 30 percent (with a 5 percent risk-free rate) is about $62.50.
Why is this option so valuable? Because you can purchase the software for $50 -- and then turn around and sell it at a large profit on the open market. However, although you can do this with stocks, you cannot do this with software upgrades. It would be, almost certainly, illegal (i.e. a license violation) to sell an upgrade to a user who was not already entitled to the upgrade.
Cheers,
IT
You know, if they were privatized, you'd be able to drive them any hour of the day as much as you want, but since they're owned by the public, you have to ration your usage of them.
I know you're trying to be sarcastic, but this is actually truer than you think: it's called traffic. Despite the fact that costs-per-additional-car are much higher during rush hour than during non-peak times, these costs aren't borne (directly) by the driver. The result is that people drive even when they don't "need" to, resulting in more traffic for those who really DO need to use the roads at those times. Private toll roads have become popular in some metro areas because they keep traffic low for those who care enough to pay the premium; people who don't mind the traffic as much can stick to the normal roads.
Cheers,
IT
I guess this just re-emphasizes that even in space there are scarce resources which people are going to end up fighting over, and which will necessitate extending national power into outer space, in order to enforce any claims on territoriality.
So you're saying that these latest Star Wars may be commercially profitable, but remain morally and aesthetically distasteful? I completely agree.
Cheers,
IT
I would never ... aw, dammit.
Cheers,
IT
If a software's UI is attractive and well-designed, it's more enjoyable to use. But if you enjoy something, then it's not really work. Ergo, Mac users never get any work done, and Windows makes people more productive!
Cheers,
IT
Quantum behaviour is governed by probabilities. Before something has actually been observed, there are a number of possibilities regarding its state. But once its state has been measured those possibilities shrink to one - uncertainty is eliminated.
... :)
So basically, anything's possible -- unless it's impossible. And the Nobel goes to
Cheers,
IT
Well, I think it's safe to say this thread has bottomed out.
Cheers,
IT
A fire breaks out in the mathematician's room. The mathematician wakes up and sees the fire, does some lengthy calculations on paper, lights a match and drops it in a glass of water, says "It can be done", and goes back to bed.
A mathematician doing an experiment? Never! (And yes, I am one.) The mathematician sees the fire, notices a glass of water on his nightstand, proclaims, "A solution exists!" and goes back to bed.
Cheers,
IT
On the other hand, science like this would never be funded with out politics. There's only a limited amount of money out there to fund endevours like this, and someone has to decide how to divy that money up.
... how can we decide who gets Cheerios and who gets Lucky Charms?"
....
Gee, someone has to decide how to spend my money? Who should that be? How about me? Seriously, it always astounds me when people make arguments about public funding that would reveal their absurdity if made about any other expenditure. "There's only a limited amount of money for breakfast cereal
And it's not like science wouldn't get funded this way. There's a huge market for private charity organizations, not to mention the individual sugar daddies like Paul Allen who would love to throw a few mil at a project like this. Heck, sell colorful plastic bracelets at 10000% markup and make them the must-have geek accessory of the season, using the proceeds to fund space exploration. There are a million ways to do this one without having the IRS reach into my paycheck
Cheers,
IT
16GB? How much is that in Libraries of Congress? Dammnit I can't understand these fancy units like these GBs!
Libraries of Congress? I measure my information the old fashioned way: print out all the 0s and 1s and see how many Volkswagen Beetles it takes to hold all the paper.
Cheers,
IT
Nor does it take very long to mop a floor- 2 minutes, if you include filling the bucket with warm water.
... the real pain is working around stuff, which these products (supposedly) do painlessly.
But how long does it take, including moving all of your things out of the way because you can't mop around them? Anyone can mop or vacuum an empty room in no time flat
Cheers,
IT
Using RFID to track inmates? What are they trying to do, turn our jails into prisons?
Cheers,
IT
Not trying to troll, but what's the point of linking to a story when most of your readership can't/won't subscribe to read it?
I'll bite: because those who can/will may be interested in the story, while everyone else is free to ignore it. If you don't like those links, just don't click on them -- just like you can change the channel if you don't like what's on TV. If alternative news sources are covering the same story, you're welcome to Google for them and place a link in the comments as a public service.
Cheers,
IT
everything sucks
:)
or in its alternate form
everything is a load of shite
So I take it that these are the differential and integral formulations, respectively?
Cheers,
IT
My Porsche 3L Porsche 968 (at 11 years and 91,000 miles old) gets 32+ MPG on the freeway, and mid-20s in city traffic. My BMW motorcycle gets over 70MPG.
:)
Well, helloooo, Mr. Fancy Pants! And I don't even need to change your subject line -- perfect.
Cheers,
IT
Geez, it seems you can't go 2 days without reading an article about how America is lagging behind 37 other countries on (insert random metric for technological progress). Won't somebody do something? Our children are falling behind!!!!
Now, I'm sure some of these things truly do deserve concern -- but this kind of scare tactic has been around since the early days of the Cold War, and probably long before that. Last time I checked, though, we haven't been conquered by the Soviets/Japanese/nation-du-jour -- sure, we may be worse at some things, and better at others, but things in general have hummed along pretty well for the last half-century.
Cheers,
IT
Windows XP SP2 is, um, the current version of Windows.... If it breaks your 5-year-old applications, replace them.
If your internally-generated code isn't ready, fix it.
Or, you could carefully weigh the costs of running an outdated version of Windows against the costs of replacing all of your custom code and apps -- and then make an informed decision. Is it worth spending money and hours redoing your work to run the latest XP? If so, do it; if not, don't. It's a business decision with pros and cons -- there's no Eleventh Commandment that "Thou shalt keep thy OS up-to-date," no matter what the cost.
Cheers,
IT
Whats the equivalent monkeys per typewriter power of this software?
Good thinking! I hereby propose a new unit for measuring intelligence: the MBOTY (monkey-banging-on-typewriter-years). From basic probability theory, this number is certainly always finite -- and in some cases, very much so.
Cheers,
IT
"But Professor, my original essay was really good! I just had to add a bunch of crap to get past the lameness filter ..."
Cheers,
IT
If I wanted to keep a record of my life, I'd be much more likely to keep a private journal.
... ;-)
So you rapidly posted that opinion to a high-traffic blog/message board? God, I wish I could give this +1, Irony
Cheers,
IT
Does anyone else see the MEAA's decision as anti-competitive?
Of course. They're a union; it's their job to be anti-competitive. (That is, to protect their members from competition with non-members.) Essentially, the MEAA is a labor cartel, placing restrictions on members' output to boost the asking price.
Cheers,
IT
Cheers,
IT
I don't feel like I have enough control over the product when I use Microsoft programming environments.
Translation: "I have limited knowledge and experience with Microsoft programming environments, and I don't feel like learning." Is this the message you want to send to future employers?
Cheers,
IT
They don't know of anything else, and Windows came with the computer.
Not quite, but close. People know there are other options out there, but they assume that the problems they have are just "computer problems," as opposed to problems with Windows specifically. When family members ask me what anti-virus and spyware programs I use on my Mac -- and I tell them I don't need any -- they are completely shocked. The general public just doesn't know this.
Cheers,
IT
Try not to run any Linux distributions on the way to the parking lot! Hey, you ... get back here!
I'm not even supposed to be here today.
Cheers,
IT