> The more time that IBM and the Linux community have to look at the evidence, the more opportunities there are to find holes in it or to replace the offending code. If it had to happen, I bet the Linux kernel could be rewritten from scratch in C++ during the delays that IBM's lawyers could get on this case.
Fixing it now has nothing to do with it. As another poster put it, "Past infringement is still infringement." They can still sue for a billion and if they prove that it hurt them during that period, they can win (theoretically anyway). The fact that they won't let the community fix it suggests that it's not hurting that much, since they have the power to end the so-called infringement NOW. I do agree, however, it would allow IBM more time to build a defense. But if the infringement is costing them that much money, proving your case should be easy anway.;)
> You need a court to tell the Linux community to cease and desist.
You can send a cease and decist (ie, threat) letter without a court, threatening to take legal action. For small fish this often works. Obviously IBM wouldn't care, but my point was that the open source community could search for and hopefully rectify the alleged infringement.
> "The Linux community would have me publish it now, (so they can have it) laundered by the time we can get to a court hearing. That's not the way we're going to go."
So you don't want us to fix this so-called infringement? Most companies do a cease-and-decist before a lawsuit, allowing the accused to make changes. If this infringment HAS cost them a billion in damages, wouldn't you think they would want the infringement to stop right away? They could still make their case in court and use the same so-called evidence to show that previous infringment caused the damage, but not allowing the accused to fix the problem just shows that it's not the infringement they care about. It's just a means to getting money.
When you put it that way, you're probably right. I agree that something like this won't happen overnight, but I think people (artists and consumers alike) will only allow themselves to be fucked over for so long...
> I will never buy another cd or music from an RIAA affiliated label for the rest of my life. They have now lost thousands of dollars in sales because of this.
So, they lost thousands from you, but they just gained tens of thousands from these poor students. If they feel hurt, they'll just go and sue someone else. They win either way.
Perhaps the overclocking hicks are the loud minority? I never understood it either. Reliability is very important to me, and quietness is to a lesser extent - neigher of which mix well with OC.
I'm waiting for the day I see these burned out systems on blocks in people's front yards...
> Knockoffs of the printers? No point, the profit is in the consumables... Knockoffs of the cartridges? Severe suing of ass situation, due to DCMA.
Maybe they could sell them at a loss and make it up in volume...
Seriously though, how about a knockoff printer that they make no money on and their own cartdiges that average $5 cheaper per cartridge than any of their competitors, sans the expiration dates. I bet they would make a haul assuming they could get any sort of market recognition - that's the hard part. The easiest way would be some sort of consumer-friendly gimick...
"Our cartridges don't expire like the competition..."
"The cheapest price per page on the market..."
"Consumer friendly, business efficient - Your cartridges won't expire and it won't hurt your wallet!" ... etc etc...
If you don't think people care, believe me, I've heard enough bitching about printers from novices at Best Buy to know that PEOPLE CARE. Most of them aren't brand loyal - they just want the one that has the fewest problems, since they think all printers suck (and they're right).
Yeah, 128MB sucks, but it is Windows ME. 128MB will take your a lot further than it will with 2k+. Still a lame video editing machine, though. I could probably forgive the OS and memory if it had a decent processor for encoding.
> If all four national manufacturers of inkjet printers with suggested retail prices under $200 do this, then where can an informed home user turn?
I think this would be a problem in the short term. As I mentioned in this post, I think eventually other companies would step up to bat and fill the void. Any company to do so would have a great marketing gimick.
Likewise, I do not think Microsoft will have a stranglehold on the desktop market forever. It's only a matter of time. The public is dumb, but its patience for bad deals can only wear so thin.
> Problem is that once a company like HP sets a presidence like this others will think they can follow.
And that opens the door for companies like XFX, Goldstar, Leadtek, et. al. to enter the market and make cheap knockoffs without these limitations. Companies like this feed off of higher priced competitor products.
> if the ink hasn't dryed up by the time you get around to using it, the quality is going to be shit.
What, do you work for HP? So HP is looking after my best interest to make sure my documents always look their best. How nice of them. Perhaps they should cut the expiration date in half just in case...
Pffft. I'LL be the judge of when my cartridge is due to be replaced. If your goal is to truely make sure your customer's prints are quality, how about innovation instead of limitation. Try to figure out a way to make the carts last longer. If your printers have the reputation of "lasting forever", I gaurentee your sales will go up.
> Nope, last week, I actually replaced a 7 year old cartridge from my HPDeskjet 510 (bought in Nov1993)... HP has sold me a printer for the last time, next one will be another brand...
Perhaps this will inspire change. After all, it's repeat customers like yourself that HP relies on...;)
> We bought an hp last month. Why does bestbuy force this sevice plan? It's all about $$ isn't it?
Yep, they make big bucks on the service plans. A lot of people don't use them, so it's pure profit. For those that do use them, it's a crap shoot. For your service plan, you might incur repairs above or below the cost of the original plan, but in the end they come out ahead in most cases (sure, I'm seen plenty of cases where the customer came out ahead, but it's not the majority - like gambling).
To be fair, there are a lot of benefits to having a service plan. You (usually) get much better support if something does happen, and you get the no lemon policy. However, it's a matter of deciding whether the extra expense is worth these benefits. I personally wouldn't get one on a computer, but I would on a printer or speakers. It's usually only $20-$30 extra for printers, and printers tend to suck.
Aside from the company making money as a whole, service plans really make the stores percentages look good, so the bonuses just keep trickling down the chain for the store. They use the numbers to make it a competition. It's all part of their brainwashing to get people who could care less about their job to put forth their best effort. AND BELIEVE ME, IT'S BRAINWASHING. You should see some of the videos they make you watch. You almost start to buy into the bullshit, but then reality hits you.
> I currently work for BB, as the lead tech at a best buy in the northern Chicago area (i'm actually typeing this while on the clock).
Since you'll probably be getting your pink slip in a few days, I just wanted to remind you that your discount will usually work for up to two weeks after your employment is terminated. I'm still trying to pay off my damn Discover card...
Re:They're not so hot because they're so hot.
on
VPR Matrix 200A5 Reviewed
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
> The Best Buy computer guy told me that genuine failure returns are running around 10%.
Did he tell you this while he was trying to sell you a service plan with your brand new laptop? I used lines like that all the time when I used to work at Best Buy, not because I believed them, but because I would get SERIOUSLY HASSLED if a machine went out the door without service. *sigh* That's 3 months of my life I will never get back. Sometimes it was so bad that if a customer was hard-pressed against buying service, I would try to disappear or lose them so they would either leave or someone else would get the "bad" sale, just to avoid getting yelled at.
First you tell them why the computer you're selling is so great, and once they're sold, you tell them why it's a piece of shit that requires an expensive service plan.
"When I make a mistake, I have 8 different people comin' by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of loosing my job. But you know Bob that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired." --Peter Gibbons, Office Space
> High-performance workstations are still *personal* computers. There's always that one app someone wants. Or there's that one app that hasn't been ported... see Quark and Mac OS X.
As I suggested in my original message, you can still run your Microsoft Outlook and WordPerfect, but who cares if they don't run as fast as your 64-bit apps? How fast do you need your e-mail? I dare to say the average person would notice no lag at all.
> And when everyone is changing over, that's CRITICAL.
Pffft. If you want to run 32-bit, get a P4 or Xeon. If you want to run 64-bit, you're most important application(s) is/are 64-bit anyway, right?
What uses would a company have to go 64-bit? Big ass database? High performance workstation perhaps? In the database scenario, you'd probably be running a 64-bit database anyway (or you'd be wasting your time and money). It is likely this would be your only, or at least most important, service running on the box.
How about a high performance workstation, like CAD or something. Well, that CAD engineer will probably have 64-bit CAD, which is what he/she will use most of the day. Who cares if MS Outlook or WordPerfect run at only the speed of a 1GHz processor (or whatever the actual emulation speed equivalent is)?
I don't see what the big deal is, but I know the average Slashdotter has a "AMD inside" bumper sticker on his modded chassis.
> Uhh, wasn't this EXACTLY the reason for the change?
Yeah, and IBM bought Lotus when they realized Lotus was good at what it did... Now they've turned it into the toilet it is today. They may have good intentions at the beginning, but the underlying philosophies remain.
> I still have email, but I'd be happy to use this protocol instead, if only there was an effective reference implementation.
I agree, instead of hunting the people who exploit the problem, why not fix the problem by removing the exploits? A new, standardized protocol is in order. It would not be an easy transition, but it would probably be better down the road than bounty hunting.
> I don't want Firebird to bloat up at all! If anything, it should go *more* in the faster/smaller direction, not the other way!
Simple. Firebird/Phoenix will become as bloated as Mozilla, which will leave the ex-Phoenix developers scratching their heads and wondering what happened. They will then develop a new branch that fits their needs (and mine too) just as they did with Phoenix. Too bad we lost Phoenix, though, as it had a lot of development and bug testing behind it. A new branch will need to start over in that area, but I'm in no rush as long as Pheonix.5 is working on my machines:)
If you don't think this will happen, then why were there two project to begin with? There are clearly two different ideas about how the browser should be implemented. What makes anyone think this philosophy will change with the new acquisition? "Oh, you were right, your code was better than ours all along! We'll just throw ours away and use yours."
Oops, I was wrong. A whois at their registrar brought up the results:
Registrant:
mark felstein
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
Registered through: Go Daddy Software (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: EMARKETERSAMERICA.ORG
Created on: 16-Jan-03
Expires on: 16-Jan-05
Last Updated on: 16-Jan-03
Administrative Contact:
felstein, mark mefels@aol.com
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
9542887575
Technical Contact:
felstein, mark mefels@aol.com
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
9542887575
Domain servers in listed order:
PARK3.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK4.SECURESERVER.NET
Slashdot Mirror
> The more time that IBM and the Linux community have to look at the evidence, the more opportunities there are to find holes in it or to replace the offending code. If it had to happen, I bet the Linux kernel could be rewritten from scratch in C++ during the delays that IBM's lawyers could get on this case.
Fixing it now has nothing to do with it. As another poster put it, "Past infringement is still infringement." They can still sue for a billion and if they prove that it hurt them during that period, they can win (theoretically anyway). The fact that they won't let the community fix it suggests that it's not hurting that much, since they have the power to end the so-called infringement NOW. I do agree, however, it would allow IBM more time to build a defense. But if the infringement is costing them that much money, proving your case should be easy anway. ;)
> You need a court to tell the Linux community to cease and desist.
You can send a cease and decist (ie, threat) letter without a court, threatening to take legal action. For small fish this often works. Obviously IBM wouldn't care, but my point was that the open source community could search for and hopefully rectify the alleged infringement.
I love this quote:
> "The Linux community would have me publish it now, (so they can have it) laundered by the time we can get to a court hearing. That's not the way we're going to go."
So you don't want us to fix this so-called infringement? Most companies do a cease-and-decist before a lawsuit, allowing the accused to make changes. If this infringment HAS cost them a billion in damages, wouldn't you think they would want the infringement to stop right away? They could still make their case in court and use the same so-called evidence to show that previous infringment caused the damage, but not allowing the accused to fix the problem just shows that it's not the infringement they care about. It's just a means to getting money.
When you put it that way, you're probably right. I agree that something like this won't happen overnight, but I think people (artists and consumers alike) will only allow themselves to be fucked over for so long...
Cheers.
> I will never buy another cd or music from an RIAA affiliated label for the rest of my life. They have now lost thousands of dollars in sales because of this.
So, they lost thousands from you, but they just gained tens of thousands from these poor students. If they feel hurt, they'll just go and sue someone else. They win either way.
Perhaps the overclocking hicks are the loud minority? I never understood it either. Reliability is very important to me, and quietness is to a lesser extent - neigher of which mix well with OC.
I'm waiting for the day I see these burned out systems on blocks in people's front yards...
> Knockoffs of the printers? No point, the profit is in the consumables ... Knockoffs of the cartridges? Severe suing of ass situation, due to DCMA.
Maybe they could sell them at a loss and make it up in volume...
Seriously though, how about a knockoff printer that they make no money on and their own cartdiges that average $5 cheaper per cartridge than any of their competitors, sans the expiration dates. I bet they would make a haul assuming they could get any sort of market recognition - that's the hard part. The easiest way would be some sort of consumer-friendly gimick...
"Our cartridges don't expire like the competition..."
... etc etc ...
"The cheapest price per page on the market..."
"Consumer friendly, business efficient - Your cartridges won't expire and it won't hurt your wallet!"
If you don't think people care, believe me, I've heard enough bitching about printers from novices at Best Buy to know that PEOPLE CARE. Most of them aren't brand loyal - they just want the one that has the fewest problems, since they think all printers suck (and they're right).
Yeah, 128MB sucks, but it is Windows ME. 128MB will take your a lot further than it will with 2k+. Still a lame video editing machine, though. I could probably forgive the OS and memory if it had a decent processor for encoding.
> If all four national manufacturers of inkjet printers with suggested retail prices under $200 do this, then where can an informed home user turn?
I think this would be a problem in the short term. As I mentioned in this post, I think eventually other companies would step up to bat and fill the void. Any company to do so would have a great marketing gimick.
Likewise, I do not think Microsoft will have a stranglehold on the desktop market forever. It's only a matter of time. The public is dumb, but its patience for bad deals can only wear so thin.
> Problem is that once a company like HP sets a presidence like this others will think they can follow.
And that opens the door for companies like XFX, Goldstar, Leadtek, et. al. to enter the market and make cheap knockoffs without these limitations. Companies like this feed off of higher priced competitor products.
> Thanks to the DMCA, we are powerless to do anything to prevent this.
How about buying a printer from a different manufacturer?
> Imagine if GM did the following: ... Enforced the DMCA so you could only buy replacement parts from them ...
Yeah, and I'm sure all the Japanese manufacturers would sit back and ignore this enormous marketing opportunity.
It's still a free (as in cancer) country.
> if the ink hasn't dryed up by the time you get around to using it, the quality is going to be shit.
What, do you work for HP? So HP is looking after my best interest to make sure my documents always look their best. How nice of them. Perhaps they should cut the expiration date in half just in case...
Pffft. I'LL be the judge of when my cartridge is due to be replaced. If your goal is to truely make sure your customer's prints are quality, how about innovation instead of limitation. Try to figure out a way to make the carts last longer. If your printers have the reputation of "lasting forever", I gaurentee your sales will go up.
> Nope, last week, I actually replaced a 7 year old cartridge from my HPDeskjet 510 (bought in Nov1993) ... HP has sold me a printer for the last time, next one will be another brand...
Perhaps this will inspire change. After all, it's repeat customers like yourself that HP relies on... ;)
> We bought an hp last month. Why does bestbuy force this sevice plan? It's all about $$ isn't it?
Yep, they make big bucks on the service plans. A lot of people don't use them, so it's pure profit. For those that do use them, it's a crap shoot. For your service plan, you might incur repairs above or below the cost of the original plan, but in the end they come out ahead in most cases (sure, I'm seen plenty of cases where the customer came out ahead, but it's not the majority - like gambling).
To be fair, there are a lot of benefits to having a service plan. You (usually) get much better support if something does happen, and you get the no lemon policy. However, it's a matter of deciding whether the extra expense is worth these benefits. I personally wouldn't get one on a computer, but I would on a printer or speakers. It's usually only $20-$30 extra for printers, and printers tend to suck.
Aside from the company making money as a whole, service plans really make the stores percentages look good, so the bonuses just keep trickling down the chain for the store. They use the numbers to make it a competition. It's all part of their brainwashing to get people who could care less about their job to put forth their best effort. AND BELIEVE ME, IT'S BRAINWASHING. You should see some of the videos they make you watch. You almost start to buy into the bullshit, but then reality hits you.
> I currently work for BB, as the lead tech at a best buy in the northern Chicago area (i'm actually typeing this while on the clock).
Since you'll probably be getting your pink slip in a few days, I just wanted to remind you that your discount will usually work for up to two weeks after your employment is terminated. I'm still trying to pay off my damn Discover card...
> The Best Buy computer guy told me that genuine failure returns are running around 10%.
Did he tell you this while he was trying to sell you a service plan with your brand new laptop? I used lines like that all the time when I used to work at Best Buy, not because I believed them, but because I would get SERIOUSLY HASSLED if a machine went out the door without service. *sigh* That's 3 months of my life I will never get back. Sometimes it was so bad that if a customer was hard-pressed against buying service, I would try to disappear or lose them so they would either leave or someone else would get the "bad" sale, just to avoid getting yelled at.
First you tell them why the computer you're selling is so great, and once they're sold, you tell them why it's a piece of shit that requires an expensive service plan.
"When I make a mistake, I have 8 different people comin' by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of loosing my job. But you know Bob that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired." --Peter Gibbons, Office Space
> this guy must think slashdotters are a bunch of morons- its news for nerds, not definitions for dumbasses.
Have you seen the way some of these people spell/speak?
Now, if only they would unite on instant messaging protocols...
> High-performance workstations are still *personal* computers. There's always that one app someone wants. Or there's that one app that hasn't been ported... see Quark and Mac OS X.
As I suggested in my original message, you can still run your Microsoft Outlook and WordPerfect, but who cares if they don't run as fast as your 64-bit apps? How fast do you need your e-mail? I dare to say the average person would notice no lag at all.
> And when everyone is changing over, that's CRITICAL.
Pffft. If you want to run 32-bit, get a P4 or Xeon. If you want to run 64-bit, you're most important application(s) is/are 64-bit anyway, right?
What uses would a company have to go 64-bit? Big ass database? High performance workstation perhaps? In the database scenario, you'd probably be running a 64-bit database anyway (or you'd be wasting your time and money). It is likely this would be your only, or at least most important, service running on the box.
How about a high performance workstation, like CAD or something. Well, that CAD engineer will probably have 64-bit CAD, which is what he/she will use most of the day. Who cares if MS Outlook or WordPerfect run at only the speed of a 1GHz processor (or whatever the actual emulation speed equivalent is)?
I don't see what the big deal is, but I know the average Slashdotter has a "AMD inside" bumper sticker on his modded chassis.
> Uhh, wasn't this EXACTLY the reason for the change?
Yeah, and IBM bought Lotus when they realized Lotus was good at what it did... Now they've turned it into the toilet it is today. They may have good intentions at the beginning, but the underlying philosophies remain.
> I still have email, but I'd be happy to use this protocol instead, if only there was an effective reference implementation.
I agree, instead of hunting the people who exploit the problem, why not fix the problem by removing the exploits? A new, standardized protocol is in order. It would not be an easy transition, but it would probably be better down the road than bounty hunting.
> I don't want Firebird to bloat up at all! If anything, it should go *more* in the faster/smaller direction, not the other way!
Simple. Firebird/Phoenix will become as bloated as Mozilla, which will leave the ex-Phoenix developers scratching their heads and wondering what happened. They will then develop a new branch that fits their needs (and mine too) just as they did with Phoenix. Too bad we lost Phoenix, though, as it had a lot of development and bug testing behind it. A new branch will need to start over in that area, but I'm in no rush as long as Pheonix .5 is working on my machines :)
If you don't think this will happen, then why were there two project to begin with? There are clearly two different ideas about how the browser should be implemented. What makes anyone think this philosophy will change with the new acquisition? "Oh, you were right, your code was better than ours all along! We'll just throw ours away and use yours."
> MS: We own Windows *and* UNIX.
Oh yeah, that would go over well. After their done moving their headquarters to a country that would allow the acquisition, that is...
Oops, I was wrong. A whois at their registrar brought up the results:
Registrant:
mark felstein
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
Registered through: Go Daddy Software (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: EMARKETERSAMERICA.ORG
Created on: 16-Jan-03
Expires on: 16-Jan-05
Last Updated on: 16-Jan-03
Administrative Contact:
felstein, mark mefels@aol.com
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
9542887575
Technical Contact:
felstein, mark mefels@aol.com
P.O.Box 667933
Pompano Beach, Florida 33066
United States
9542887575
Domain servers in listed order:
PARK3.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK4.SECURESERVER.NET