Sounds a bit like caller ID. American Express has a system that knows who you are from your phone number, and pulls up your record before the agent picks up the call. They used to say "Hello, Mr. Smith" when they answered, but it freaked too many customers so now they just say "Hello."
Contrast this with the various companies who make my punch my account number into the phone before they let me talk to Customer Service, who then asks me for my account number!
Still, I want the people at the store to know me because I'm a happy customer who shops their often and they recognize my face, not because they scanned my underwear when I walked in the door. I mean, what if I'm wearing my wife's underwear that day?
The only stuff that doesn't is produce; it just has little stickers with a number the clerk types into the register; this is the equivalent of a barcode.
Yet another reason to microwave everything you buy. What you describe is NOT killing the RFID tag at checkout, just changing it's record in the store's database. The store still knows who bought it, and when, and which store, and what you paid, and what else you bought at the same time, and what color you prefer, ad nauseam.
Take your dollars to the vendor that makes you more comfortable. You _still_ have the freedom of choice.
Once WalMart requires RFIDs, everything you buy will have RFIDs no matter where you buy them. And if the store you shop at doesn't use the RFIDs, then they won't kill them at checkout, will they? So in a way you will have less privacy by shopping at those stores.
Think about what you're saying. Just because GM produces Chevys in great abundance does not diminish the value of Cadillacs. Just because Hershey's produces Kisses in great abundance does not diminish the value of Almond Joys. They're different products!
But I'm not making use of it. It's my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) that the Operating System is what makes use of it, when needed. So far I haven't seen it used (as reported by swapctl). Wolfriderreports similar findings (in thread above).
Even if what you say is not true (if the company produces the best software they can, with no attempt to make it bad just so you'll pay for more service down the road), there's a danger here. I call it the Ma Bell syndrome. Ma Bell used to own all the telephones; in fact, it was illegal in some areas for the customer to own their equipment, the theory being that if their equipment damaged the network then public safety could be affected -- only The Phone Company's equipment was known-good.
Software is similar in that the customer does not own the product they bought, they simply own a license to use that product. To me, that makes software more like the old telephone system. It's clearly not like a manufacturing industry, but it's not really a service industry if there's no service. Softwear is not either/or. It can be a service industry (virus scaners where you subscribe to the updates) or manufacturing (open software where you're free to do with it what you like). It's really up to the author (copyright holder) to decide what business model to follow.
If software was like manufacturing, then once you bought the software you would own it and be free to do whatever you wanted with it. As it is now, if you buy Windows with a Dell computer, you not only may only run that copy of Windows on a Dell, you may only run it on that particular Dell -- talk about not free to do what you want with it! If you load Linux on that Dell you cannot legally use the Windows that came with it on any other computer; to do so violates copyright law. And I'm not picking on Microsoft, either. My wife and I bought otherwise identical Dells, but we bought them a few months apart. They came with different bundled softwear (different picture viewing softwear, for example), and we cannot swap them unless we swap computers. Think of all the "free" softwear out there, such as Real, that you cannot give to a friend even though you got it for free. Your friends have to download it themselves. This is not a manufacturing model of softwear, even if it's also not a service model.
I think if more people understood this they'd be more inclined to support Open and Free software.
They keep claiming that DRM will be optional, so booting Windows 2010 (or whatever) on Linux BIOS sounds like a great way to ensure that DRM will never darken my door. And if it won't boot from a non-DRM BIOS, then we have proof they've been lying all along.
Personally, I'll never buy any DRM-based media (movies, music, cable TV, etc.), so I don't ever intend to have DRM-enabled hardware. So far, games are about the only reason I have to continue running Windows, and if the games of the future all require DRM then I'll just stick with the Windows I have today (I still run 98 for the games XP won't play. Hell, I still run DOS for the stuff XP won't play. It's far easier to boot into DOS to run "legacy" apps than it is to migrate my data to something else, especially since in some cases "someting else" doesn't exist.)
As a counter-example, I offer Ashton-Tate. They would sell you a copy of anything they ever made. Want a copy of DBase II version 1.03 for the Osborne? Sure, we'll sell you a copy, no problem!
Of course, fat lot of good it did them in the marketplace, but at least they understood the spirit of copyright law.
I'll bet. When barcodes came out they were able to raise the price of goods on the shelf without having to re-tag each item. Now, with RFID, they can charge you for that coat every time you wear it into the store!
Seriously, how many false shoplifting charges will it take to make them fry each and every RFID as it leaves the store, just to be safe? Personally, I'd love to have WalMart falsely arrest me for shoplifting. Can you say, "retired independently wealthy at an early age"?
So write Adobe and ask them to make it public domain. Not necessarily open source, just public domain. If they're not going to sell the binaries any more, then why would they care if people share them?
A lot of people here have repeated the old advice to make swap twice your RAM. OK, so in the days of 16Meg RAM that would mean 32Meg of swap, for a total of 48Meg. So why would a 64Meg machine need any swap?
I'm not flaming or trolling, I'm serious. Even if running a GUI (which never happened in the days of 16Meg machines, and don't mention X Windows because I know for a fact the serious number cruning workstations didn't waste their precious RAM on X -- remember, we're talking "back in the day" here) even if running a GUI sucks up the RAM we could go an order of magnitude higher these days, to 640Meg. That oghta cover KDE or Gnome. So why should a modern computer need any swap space, let alone twice as large as today's typical RAM?
I used to feel the same way; my home page was about:blank for years. Now my home page is Astronomy Picture of the Day. I'm interested in astronomy and this page is different every day. That makes it a double bonus: I don't get bored with my home page, and I want to visit APOD anyway -- this way I don't forget.
How do the estimate that? I saw a meteor once. Left a beautiful blue-green streak in the sky. It looked like about the size of a car, and I swear it was just over the next hill. Turned out to be about the size of a baseball, and it was a couple hundred miles away.
Slashdot Mirror
So you're saying my only choice is to become a blank?
Contrast this with the various companies who make my punch my account number into the phone before they let me talk to Customer Service, who then asks me for my account number!
Still, I want the people at the store to know me because I'm a happy customer who shops their often and they recognize my face, not because they scanned my underwear when I walked in the door. I mean, what if I'm wearing my wife's underwear that day?
Do those scenarios cover the case where I simply microwave everything I buy?
Yet another reason to microwave everything you buy. What you describe is NOT killing the RFID tag at checkout, just changing it's record in the store's database. The store still knows who bought it, and when, and which store, and what you paid, and what else you bought at the same time, and what color you prefer, ad nauseam.
He made a mess, now he's saying "yes, it's my mess", but he still hasn't cleaned it up!
Think about what you're saying. Just because GM produces Chevys in great abundance does not diminish the value of Cadillacs. Just because Hershey's produces Kisses in great abundance does not diminish the value of Almond Joys. They're different products!
But I'm not making use of it. It's my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) that the Operating System is what makes use of it, when needed. So far I haven't seen it used (as reported by swapctl). Wolfrider reports similar findings (in thread above).
Software is similar in that the customer does not own the product they bought, they simply own a license to use that product. To me, that makes software more like the old telephone system. It's clearly not like a manufacturing industry, but it's not really a service industry if there's no service. Softwear is not either/or. It can be a service industry (virus scaners where you subscribe to the updates) or manufacturing (open software where you're free to do with it what you like). It's really up to the author (copyright holder) to decide what business model to follow.
If software was like manufacturing, then once you bought the software you would own it and be free to do whatever you wanted with it. As it is now, if you buy Windows with a Dell computer, you not only may only run that copy of Windows on a Dell, you may only run it on that particular Dell -- talk about not free to do what you want with it! If you load Linux on that Dell you cannot legally use the Windows that came with it on any other computer; to do so violates copyright law. And I'm not picking on Microsoft, either. My wife and I bought otherwise identical Dells, but we bought them a few months apart. They came with different bundled softwear (different picture viewing softwear, for example), and we cannot swap them unless we swap computers. Think of all the "free" softwear out there, such as Real, that you cannot give to a friend even though you got it for free. Your friends have to download it themselves. This is not a manufacturing model of softwear, even if it's also not a service model.
I think if more people understood this they'd be more inclined to support Open and Free software.
Personally, I'll never buy any DRM-based media (movies, music, cable TV, etc.), so I don't ever intend to have DRM-enabled hardware. So far, games are about the only reason I have to continue running Windows, and if the games of the future all require DRM then I'll just stick with the Windows I have today (I still run 98 for the games XP won't play. Hell, I still run DOS for the stuff XP won't play. It's far easier to boot into DOS to run "legacy" apps than it is to migrate my data to something else, especially since in some cases "someting else" doesn't exist.)
Of course, fat lot of good it did them in the marketplace, but at least they understood the spirit of copyright law.
Seriously, how many false shoplifting charges will it take to make them fry each and every RFID as it leaves the store, just to be safe? Personally, I'd love to have WalMart falsely arrest me for shoplifting. Can you say, "retired independently wealthy at an early age"?
So write Adobe and ask them to make it public domain. Not necessarily open source, just public domain. If they're not going to sell the binaries any more, then why would they care if people share them?
I'm not flaming or trolling, I'm serious. Even if running a GUI (which never happened in the days of 16Meg machines, and don't mention X Windows because I know for a fact the serious number cruning workstations didn't waste their precious RAM on X -- remember, we're talking "back in the day" here) even if running a GUI sucks up the RAM we could go an order of magnitude higher these days, to 640Meg. That oghta cover KDE or Gnome. So why should a modern computer need any swap space, let alone twice as large as today's typical RAM?
I used to feel the same way; my home page was about:blank for years. Now my home page is Astronomy Picture of the Day. I'm interested in astronomy and this page is different every day. That makes it a double bonus: I don't get bored with my home page, and I want to visit APOD anyway -- this way I don't forget.
That's GNU/KDE, you insensitive clod!
200 is overkill. It only takes 128 users to max out SCO OpenServer.
How do the estimate that? I saw a meteor once. Left a beautiful blue-green streak in the sky. It looked like about the size of a car, and I swear it was just over the next hill. Turned out to be about the size of a baseball, and it was a couple hundred miles away.
Metorite, eh? "Act of God." Claim rejected. Next!
Yeah, there's Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.
Meaning??? Are you implying that Swedish web sites all behave as if they're slashdotted? Even when they're not?