Capitalism may not be perfect, but it's the best system around, and it's treated us very well.
Pure capitalism is not the best system around. Even the degree of capitalism practiced in the US is far too vicious and selfish to be tolerated by any civilised society. The best is a free market system combined with a robust social support system providing support for the unemployed, free education, free health care, strong employee-oriented labour laws etc. Of course this requires being willing to pay a reasonable level of tax and give some consideration to others; it also requires that the government targets its funds at what is important instead of military hardware and that it ruthlessly eliminates bureaucracy to keep its systems efficient.
Sadly science is being destroyed by government stupidity and business interests. I grew up in a police state and for years universities fought for freedom in what they researched, but today the government would rather spend money on weapons instead of education and universities are forced to go to businesses for funding, so they end up only doing research that has some immediate financial benefit. The same problem exists in the US - the government wastes money on the military, but cuts funding for education and general research.
All fine and well. This is one of the deceptions carried out by both the movie and music industries, on the one hand they claim you're paying for a license for a copy and not for the medium, but they change their story when the medium wears out leading you, the consumer, to request a replacement medium at cost. Technically you're fully entitled to one, but you try getting a replacement from these thieves.
Not living in the US I have to rely on e-mail support and I've noticed over the last couple of years the gradual disappearance of direct contact e-mail support. Sometimes it is there, but extremely well hidden and other companies have eliminated it completely leaving people like me with no support option.
Another aspect of the support problem is some companies trying to charge for what amount to fixes and updates.
Companies like Handspring, Amazon and HP stand out when it comes to actually replying to e-mail queries.
I do what amounts to cool graphics work although not games - like games the results look great, but the work is often quite tedious. At least in my country I'm protected against exploitation and my employer would have to pay me for an 80 hour week if they expected me to work that way constantly.
the code has to be documented
I should hope so. Nothing worse than lazy programmers who don't properly document their code. Documenting beyond commenting as you write is a pain, but it has to be done.
Companies are advertising for what they would like to get, but they also know they have little chance of getting what they want. If you want the job just apply anyway.
Shouldn't you be happy you have a job in the first place? Corporations aren't hiring you just for fun, you know. They expect you to work for your pay! You should be posting anonymous. I would never hire someone like you to my company.
A typical attitude. It's this kind of exploitive thinking that unions continue to fight against. The growing exploitation and abuse of IT workers clearly demonstrates the need for a union. It's also about time the US government started properly regulating and monitoring coporations; the bigger they are the more closely they should be watched and they should be severely punished for any contravention. Employees come first.
I have some friends in the recording industry here in Nova Scotia, who strive to make good folk music in the Scottish tradition. They sing in Gaelic. They are affected by napster, because it is a small market for such things. They can barely support themselves as it is, and are only kept afloat by sales of albums.
Firstly I find it hard to believe there is rampant piracy of their music, but more importantly any minor losses Napster might cause are nothing compared to how much of their earnings will be leeched by the record label.
Furthermore Napster makes it possible to hear music that would otherwise be out of reach, either because it is no longer in print and the label refuses to re-release or because it is too obscure for music stores to keep it on the shelves.
The recording industry is comprised of liars and thieves who use every trick to justify their theft from musicians; their manner of operation and tactics are indistinguishable from those of the Mafia and other organised crime organisations.
Actually my school had a layout that would have been nearly perfect for a FPS map - walkways looking down on others or open areas, small openings along some areas that allow you to see other areas without being seen etc. Most of the rooms even had interconnecting doors. A few minor changes and it would have been perfect for hunting and shooting.
Well someone should have informed farmers that they are now required to have any seeds they find genetically tested. What idiots assuming that seeds are just things that come from nature.
Monsanto products should be banned worldwide. Yet another scumsucking corporation screwing over the public with their worthless products.
Not much, maybe in is the normally retaliatory impulse exaggerated by extreme circumstances? Maybe bullying is worse now? Monkey boy Bush and his ilk encourage the harassment of anyone different. Maybe teachers care less today? I was certainly appalled by the complete lack of interest in children displayed by teachers - it was bad enough when I was at school and it's far worse now.
Wrong, they never stop - I ignored these thugs for 10 of my 12 years at school and then I did what I should have done when I was six, I responded, I smashed the ringleader's nose, cracked his jaw and gave him a very severe bump on the head. My last year and a half of school was bliss - no bully even came near me or anyone associated with me.
It isn't the guns per se, but the idea that guns are a solution to problems in general. Movies and maybe games do present this idea, but it exists in the culture and is being reflected by movies not created by them.
Actually your gun is of little value, even if you're highly skilled with it. If I wanted to kill you you'd be dead and I wouldn't even need a weapon other than my hands.
The US has a violent culture which has nothing to do with television, movies or games. The UK has the same problem. It is quick and easy for politicians to blame something unrelated, but simple to attack - their only concern is making sure they get re-elected not the welfare of the people and certainly not children (if they cared about children they would be improving the schools and spending more money on quality teachers not wasting it on expensive and pointless weapons that make their friends rich).
School is a vicious, brutal place where smaller children and those that are different are bullied and physically assaulted daily. The teachers collaborate and assist in this bullying as a rule even though they give the appearance of opposing it. Parents, particularly male parents of male children tend to discount bullying, tell children to stop whining and being wimps; never mind that it is hard for a little child to stand up to several large children without some assistance. Either most parents weren't bullied (unlikely) or they forgotten just how vicious it was
Bullies respond to only one thing - you have to hurt them, a lot. They are on average pathetic cowards who operate in groups - hurt them and they back off. I taught my child to fight when absolutely necessary, but when you fight you hurt the other person. He took out a bully twice his size and that pig and his friends will not touch my child again; nor will any other thugs because they now know he will defend himself. Initially the head of the school was very upset, but when it was made clear that we would expose him and his school as a place that condones bullying they backed off and they made a point of punishing the bullies.
It must do. The law doesn't say I'm required to own a tape player and I don't. OTOH there's nothing stopping me from making a high quality DAC and feeding the output into an ADC, taking the data and writing it to another CD, voila an unprotected digital copy, essentially indistinguishable from the original and the 500 billion copies I run off will all sound as good. The law obviously has to carry fair use over to whatever is the current portable technology - today that is CDs. Tape is a defunct format like vinyl.
I have the right to make an exact copy for backup purposes just as I do with my data and software. Unless the industry wants to change their criminal practices and provide replacement discs at cost when they wear out. Of course I'll pass my discs on to my descendents so they'll have to keep providing replacements.
Once again we have a lot of lies about protecting artists when they're just trying to protect their own ill-gotten gains. It's very telling that they say a songwriter has to have 2 or 3 hits before they can start making a living - we're talking 3 million or more copies sold before the artist even makes a single cent.
"Tons of us"?! Even if EVERY/. and computer geek on the planet went out and buy the Cd for the sake of figuring out how to break the CD, it will only be a mere of 1 or 2% of the CD buying population.
Yep, and the way royalties work old CP won't even see a single cent of it either. We'd have a buy at least a million copies, probably more.
This whole non-compete thing is ridiculous. I'm sure that same CEO wants to hire people with specific skills, preferably someone who has worked in a similar industry - where do they expect to find these people? I expect my company to treat me fairly, that means I won't divulge their trade secrets that they've spent time and money developing, I won't steal their source code (although I take my reference examples with me from job to job - since I brought many with me they'd have to be pretty underhanded to try to stop me taking with me further ones I've created during my employment) and I won't steal their customers, but if they try to screw me over I can hurt them and I will. My knowledge and skills go with me and I'll use them wherever and however I choose.
Now on the other hand if they wish to compensate me suitably that's a different story - my standard annual pay increase of 20% per annum, at least 1.5 times pay per year and an upfront payment of one year's salary, to make up for time and skills lost when unemployed, seems fair. If they're not willing to pay proper compensation then their real intent is to control and screw over their employees and I won't stand for that.
I owe my employer nothing. I brought skills with me and I'll take other skills away. I won't copy their source code and I won't steal their algorithms developed through months of painstaking research, but if they try to cripple my ability to work I'll make sure their secrets are spread worldwide.
Most business idiots don't realise the stupidity of non-compete agreements and fortunately the people I work for know they'd be unable to hire anyone with any skills if other companies used these stupid things - the whole industry they work in would collapse in a year if we had non-compete clauses because no-one would be able to hire anybody with any skills, they'd have to hire janitors to do their coding.
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Pure capitalism is not the best system around. Even the degree of capitalism practiced in the US is far too vicious and selfish to be tolerated by any civilised society. The best is a free market system combined with a robust social support system providing support for the unemployed, free education, free health care, strong employee-oriented labour laws etc. Of course this requires being willing to pay a reasonable level of tax and give some consideration to others; it also requires that the government targets its funds at what is important instead of military hardware and that it ruthlessly eliminates bureaucracy to keep its systems efficient.
Sadly science is being destroyed by government stupidity and business interests. I grew up in a police state and for years universities fought for freedom in what they researched, but today the government would rather spend money on weapons instead of education and universities are forced to go to businesses for funding, so they end up only doing research that has some immediate financial benefit. The same problem exists in the US - the government wastes money on the military, but cuts funding for education and general research.
So what, Mundie is scum like all others of his ilk. Good for Linus for just coming out and saying what he thinks.
All fine and well. This is one of the deceptions carried out by both the movie and music industries, on the one hand they claim you're paying for a license for a copy and not for the medium, but they change their story when the medium wears out leading you, the consumer, to request a replacement medium at cost. Technically you're fully entitled to one, but you try getting a replacement from these thieves.
Not living in the US I have to rely on e-mail support and I've noticed over the last couple of years the gradual disappearance of direct contact e-mail support. Sometimes it is there, but extremely well hidden and other companies have eliminated it completely leaving people like me with no support option.
Another aspect of the support problem is some companies trying to charge for what amount to fixes and updates.
Companies like Handspring, Amazon and HP stand out when it comes to actually replying to e-mail queries.
I do what amounts to cool graphics work although not games - like games the results look great, but the work is often quite tedious. At least in my country I'm protected against exploitation and my employer would have to pay me for an 80 hour week if they expected me to work that way constantly.
the code has to be documentedI should hope so. Nothing worse than lazy programmers who don't properly document their code. Documenting beyond commenting as you write is a pain, but it has to be done.
Companies are advertising for what they would like to get, but they also know they have little chance of getting what they want. If you want the job just apply anyway.
Clearly.
Shouldn't you be happy you have a job in the first place? Corporations aren't hiring you just for fun, you know. They expect you to work for your pay! You should be posting anonymous. I would never hire someone like you to my company.A typical attitude. It's this kind of exploitive thinking that unions continue to fight against. The growing exploitation and abuse of IT workers clearly demonstrates the need for a union. It's also about time the US government started properly regulating and monitoring coporations; the bigger they are the more closely they should be watched and they should be severely punished for any contravention. Employees come first.
Firstly I find it hard to believe there is rampant piracy of their music, but more importantly any minor losses Napster might cause are nothing compared to how much of their earnings will be leeched by the record label.
Furthermore Napster makes it possible to hear music that would otherwise be out of reach, either because it is no longer in print and the label refuses to re-release or because it is too obscure for music stores to keep it on the shelves.
The recording industry is comprised of liars and thieves who use every trick to justify their theft from musicians; their manner of operation and tactics are indistinguishable from those of the Mafia and other organised crime organisations.
Actually my school had a layout that would have been nearly perfect for a FPS map - walkways looking down on others or open areas, small openings along some areas that allow you to see other areas without being seen etc. Most of the rooms even had interconnecting doors. A few minor changes and it would have been perfect for hunting and shooting.
RIght so I can use Intel code in my products without getting permission. So I didn't give them credit, but they haven't lost anything.
Well someone should have informed farmers that they are now required to have any seeds they find genetically tested. What idiots assuming that seeds are just things that come from nature.
Monsanto products should be banned worldwide. Yet another scumsucking corporation screwing over the public with their worthless products.
Not much, maybe in is the normally retaliatory impulse exaggerated by extreme circumstances? Maybe bullying is worse now? Monkey boy Bush and his ilk encourage the harassment of anyone different. Maybe teachers care less today? I was certainly appalled by the complete lack of interest in children displayed by teachers - it was bad enough when I was at school and it's far worse now.
Wrong, they never stop - I ignored these thugs for 10 of my 12 years at school and then I did what I should have done when I was six, I responded, I smashed the ringleader's nose, cracked his jaw and gave him a very severe bump on the head. My last year and a half of school was bliss - no bully even came near me or anyone associated with me.
It isn't the guns per se, but the idea that guns are a solution to problems in general. Movies and maybe games do present this idea, but it exists in the culture and is being reflected by movies not created by them.
Actually your gun is of little value, even if you're highly skilled with it. If I wanted to kill you you'd be dead and I wouldn't even need a weapon other than my hands.
School is a vicious, brutal place where smaller children and those that are different are bullied and physically assaulted daily. The teachers collaborate and assist in this bullying as a rule even though they give the appearance of opposing it. Parents, particularly male parents of male children tend to discount bullying, tell children to stop whining and being wimps; never mind that it is hard for a little child to stand up to several large children without some assistance. Either most parents weren't bullied (unlikely) or they forgotten just how vicious it was
Bullies respond to only one thing - you have to hurt them, a lot. They are on average pathetic cowards who operate in groups - hurt them and they back off. I taught my child to fight when absolutely necessary, but when you fight you hurt the other person. He took out a bully twice his size and that pig and his friends will not touch my child again; nor will any other thugs because they now know he will defend himself. Initially the head of the school was very upset, but when it was made clear that we would expose him and his school as a place that condones bullying they backed off and they made a point of punishing the bullies.
It must do. The law doesn't say I'm required to own a tape player and I don't. OTOH there's nothing stopping me from making a high quality DAC and feeding the output into an ADC, taking the data and writing it to another CD, voila an unprotected digital copy, essentially indistinguishable from the original and the 500 billion copies I run off will all sound as good. The law obviously has to carry fair use over to whatever is the current portable technology - today that is CDs. Tape is a defunct format like vinyl.
I have the right to make an exact copy for backup purposes just as I do with my data and software. Unless the industry wants to change their criminal practices and provide replacement discs at cost when they wear out. Of course I'll pass my discs on to my descendents so they'll have to keep providing replacements.
Once again we have a lot of lies about protecting artists when they're just trying to protect their own ill-gotten gains. It's very telling that they say a songwriter has to have 2 or 3 hits before they can start making a living - we're talking 3 million or more copies sold before the artist even makes a single cent.
Yep, and the way royalties work old CP won't even see a single cent of it either. We'd have a buy at least a million copies, probably more.
This whole non-compete thing is ridiculous. I'm sure that same CEO wants to hire people with specific skills, preferably someone who has worked in a similar industry - where do they expect to find these people? I expect my company to treat me fairly, that means I won't divulge their trade secrets that they've spent time and money developing, I won't steal their source code (although I take my reference examples with me from job to job - since I brought many with me they'd have to be pretty underhanded to try to stop me taking with me further ones I've created during my employment) and I won't steal their customers, but if they try to screw me over I can hurt them and I will. My knowledge and skills go with me and I'll use them wherever and however I choose.
Now on the other hand if they wish to compensate me suitably that's a different story - my standard annual pay increase of 20% per annum, at least 1.5 times pay per year and an upfront payment of one year's salary, to make up for time and skills lost when unemployed, seems fair. If they're not willing to pay proper compensation then their real intent is to control and screw over their employees and I won't stand for that.
I owe my employer nothing. I brought skills with me and I'll take other skills away. I won't copy their source code and I won't steal their algorithms developed through months of painstaking research, but if they try to cripple my ability to work I'll make sure their secrets are spread worldwide.
Most business idiots don't realise the stupidity of non-compete agreements and fortunately the people I work for know they'd be unable to hire anyone with any skills if other companies used these stupid things - the whole industry they work in would collapse in a year if we had non-compete clauses because no-one would be able to hire anybody with any skills, they'd have to hire janitors to do their coding.
Give me a break, if they're that stupid they shouldn't be allowed to own a computer.
And surely these morons should subsidise the rest of us who are more intelligent than plants?
Not until they ditch the stupid keyboard. Handwriting is the only way to go on a handheld.
It's just DataViz's Documents to Go which I already have. I already have an improved Calendar so I don't care about that either.
The Handspring's still win hands down.