I'm curious to know what the opinions on this matter are from Slashdotters who happen to live in these developing countries where piracy is rampant.
I was in Nicaragua this weekend, and there were dozens of sidewalk shops selling movies and software for a dollar or two per disk. This a place where, for instance, a construction worker makes $3 a day, and a particularly skilled one makes $5. My cab fare from the bus station to the hotel was 10 Cordoba. (The exchange rate is C18 to $1.) Buying retail for these people is completely out of the question.
Real techies use bare wires and a screwdriver to open ground, remove the screwdriver and the socket holds the wires in place.
I was in Nicaragua last year and the air conditioner in the hotel had frozen over. The maintenance guy looked perplexed when an hour later it still hadn't melted, so I suggested using a hair dryer. The guy and his assistant laughed like I was making a joke, then got quiet when they realized that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. The only problem was that the hair dryer in the bathroom was wired into the socket. To my amazement this guy shrugged, popped open the socket and disconnected the live wires, as I guess it was too much of a bother to go throw the circuit breaker.
So now he had a hair dryer with bare wires dangling from it. And the air conditioner was high on the wall, so he sent his assistant to get an extension cord. He plugged that into the wall, then stuck the bare wires into the other end, and told his assistant to hold them there while he defrosted the ice. So he's up there with the dryer, and his assistant is standing below him with these wires shoved into the socket, and water's pouring down, and it's a big mess just waiting to get worse...and amazingly, *nothing* went wrong.
The MacOS population represents a rounding error to the botnet "community."
Except that there's a lot of competition for those WIndows machines. There's none for the OS X machines. So if you can "own" the Macs you own a nice, stable, and extremely rentable fleet of bots.
The thing is, actors decompose faster than writers.
So they exhume Beethoven and when they pop open the casket there he is, surrounded by musical scores, and he's erasing them!
"Mr. Beethoven, what are you doing?!," they exclaim.
"What else would I be doing? I'm decomposing!"
There are several examples of independent inventions where the product is nearly identical.
I don't just mean that they achieve the same end or have the same functions, I mean the step-by-step walkthrough is nearly identical, right down to the dialog boxes.
I almost including a line at the bottom saying something like "ok, cue the list of people who will explain that he never actually said that," but I figured it wasn't really necessary. I see I was mistaken. Actually it turns out he did say it, but it was, like I said in my post, about kilometers and had nothing to do with computers.
I don't need to have seen the exact car to know that it has at least 5 digits in its odo. ALL CARS DO.
I think Bill Gates has one with three digits, and it's in kilometers, not miles. The car was custom built, and they explained there wasn't room for more digits. Gates, of course, said (and who doesn't see this coming) "No problem. 640k should be enough for anybody."
It would be more helpful if his brain power could be used for more important tasks such as how to cure cancer, save the environment, efficient energy storage and so on.
People are not ants. They do what interests them. Your time would be better spent, say, feeding the poor, yet here you are on slashdot.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you're missing the point of the story.
Illinois Bill - Minnesota Fats' little-known brother with the less catchy name.
I was in Nicaragua this weekend, and there were dozens of sidewalk shops selling movies and software for a dollar or two per disk. This a place where, for instance, a construction worker makes $3 a day, and a particularly skilled one makes $5. My cab fare from the bus station to the hotel was 10 Cordoba. (The exchange rate is C18 to $1.) Buying retail for these people is completely out of the question.
I agree with your sentiments, but folding@home is a solid investment, seti is like buying tickets to a million-ball lottery.
I was in Nicaragua last year and the air conditioner in the hotel had frozen over. The maintenance guy looked perplexed when an hour later it still hadn't melted, so I suggested using a hair dryer. The guy and his assistant laughed like I was making a joke, then got quiet when they realized that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. The only problem was that the hair dryer in the bathroom was wired into the socket. To my amazement this guy shrugged, popped open the socket and disconnected the live wires, as I guess it was too much of a bother to go throw the circuit breaker.
So now he had a hair dryer with bare wires dangling from it. And the air conditioner was high on the wall, so he sent his assistant to get an extension cord. He plugged that into the wall, then stuck the bare wires into the other end, and told his assistant to hold them there while he defrosted the ice. So he's up there with the dryer, and his assistant is standing below him with these wires shoved into the socket, and water's pouring down, and it's a big mess just waiting to get worse...and amazingly, *nothing* went wrong.
Are they going to pay for two years of service, too?
Except that there's a lot of competition for those WIndows machines. There's none for the OS X machines. So if you can "own" the Macs you own a nice, stable, and extremely rentable fleet of bots.
So they exhume Beethoven and when they pop open the casket there he is, surrounded by musical scores, and he's erasing them!
"Mr. Beethoven, what are you doing?!," they exclaim.
"What else would I be doing? I'm decomposing!"
Thanks. Do you have a spare invitation?
+1, Much More Clever than the Parent
srettam taht ffuts, sdren rof swen.
- The White Knight
I don't just mean that they achieve the same end or have the same functions, I mean the step-by-step walkthrough is nearly identical, right down to the dialog boxes.
I think they needed some to negotiate that slippery slope in China.
Yeah ok. He currently owns 977,924,000 shares. MSFT dividends are $0.40 per share. Even ignoring everything else, I think he's doing ok.
In British English corporations are referred to in the plural.
I guess this isn't as well known as I or the GP thought.
That was one of the most worthless comments I've ever read.
I almost including a line at the bottom saying something like "ok, cue the list of people who will explain that he never actually said that," but I figured it wasn't really necessary. I see I was mistaken. Actually it turns out he did say it, but it was, like I said in my post, about kilometers and had nothing to do with computers.
I think Bill Gates has one with three digits, and it's in kilometers, not miles. The car was custom built, and they explained there wasn't room for more digits. Gates, of course, said (and who doesn't see this coming) "No problem. 640k should be enough for anybody."
You're missing out. It's really good. My main browser is Safari, but for web development nothing beats FF + Firebug.
How many people have been nominated multiple times? Is it a lot? (I'm asking. I don't know the answer.)
I'd say his conclusion at the end, where he doubts that MS could have developed something similar, seems well grounded.
Not exactly. It's more like a visitors pass into Hell instead of being a permanent resident - you can always leave when it all becomes too much.
An interesting idea, but I'm pretty sure you have to be alive to be nominated, too.
People are not ants. They do what interests them. Your time would be better spent, say, feeding the poor, yet here you are on slashdot.