"Lord No! Let's not give tax breaks to oil drilling, lets drive up California utility prices a little higher."
I don't know why this misperception keeps persisting. The problem in california is not one of supply. California used less energy this year then it did last year yet they pay 10 times more in energy prices this year then they did last year. In order for this to happen it would have mean that the supply in california should be less then one tenth of what it was last year. What heppened between last year and this one? Point to one or two or three events that cause the supply in california to drop by tenfold (or fivefold for that matter). I know I can point at one event deregulation that caused higher prices but I am looking forward to you explaining how is it that CA has so much less power this year then they did last year and how drilling for oil is going to ease that problem.
Yes. Now you get it. Nothing in this world is as black and white. Sorry to tax your brain but it's true!. Even evil people have done some good things and Mother Theresa probably did one bad thing in her lifetime.
As opposed to all those liberterians who are really republicans. Like the cato institute which is nothing more then a fund rasing arm of the republican party and has never met a democrat they likes and never met a republican they didn't like?
"I'm glad you asked. Is there more money or less wealth in the world then say 15 years ago? If you said, well it depends; you would be lucridiously wrong. "
It is you who is profoundly mistaken. Yes there is more money today then there was 15 years ago but where did it come from? It did not appear out of nowhere. It came out of the earth. The earth was pillaged in order to create wealth. The reason there is more money now then there was 15 years ago is because there are now less trees, less oil, less coal, less clean air, less clean water.
The economy is not some piece of fiction. There is not an infinite amount of money in some other dimension where it magically appears on this planet whenever we want it. It comes from turning natural resources into products. Even those magical "productivity" gains come at the expense of nature because productivity increases require machines (which require minerals and energy) and humans (which require food, water, shelter and energy). The earth somehow has to clothe, feed, shelter and keep warm all those human beings who shuffle the papers or program the internet infrasturcture. As a result we have massive deforestation, water shortages all over the world, depletion of soils and pollution in every square foot of this planet.
Only by carefully adjusting the use of natural resources to sustainable levels can the economy sustain itself. Anything more then that will eventually hit a brick wall collapse.
You make seem like the economy is some fantasy where there is an infinate amount of money and everybody can become billionaires. This is not true. Nothing in this universe exists in an infinate amount. Nothing.
Making fun of slashdot on slashdot is passe. Kind of like telling knock knock jokes. Of course you were right MS does not play nice with others. I would like to know just exactly what kind of convolutions you had to go through and how well it worked. Are you going to post it on the net someplace?
They have what amounts to an unlimited funds. That is to say they have more money then you and more money then AOL.
Having absolute control over the internet is not being stupid. Once MS convinces AOL to stick with IE and use MS media then MS will have locked up the internet. Nobody will be able to do anything if they don't have MS software. I think that is a goal worth spending your cash on and so does MS.
"Besides, MSN is already running specials to sign up people who are pissed that AOL raised its rates."
All the more reason it would be suicide for AOL to sign any deal with MS. MS is a monopoly competitor with unlimited funds. They can (and will) crush AOL and any deal AOL cuts with MS will only hasten that day. I say go out fighting and don't lay down and let them kill you easy.
"I presume that what Ballmer meant to say was "The only thing we have a problem with is when the government funds GPL'd work. Government funding should be for work that is available to everybody."
Hey I have an idea. Why presume what he meant. Why not actually listen to what he said. Either is is a moron and is unable to express what he means or he said exactly what he meant.
He said no such thing. He does not need people like you to spin his words for him. His words speak for him not you. He has paid minions if he wants to retreat or backtrack.
" Oh right, if people know you have a medical condition or that you are gay or that you have used drugs, then they can discriminate against you."
Yes that's the exact point. The world is still full of hateful people who would discriminate against you if you were gay (god forbid you have aids). Maybe they can deny you housing, or a job. Maybe it's even worse and they decide to teach you a lesson for moving into their neighborhood. Don't kid yourself this is still a racist country.
"It's going to be an intersting thing to watch, though."
Maybe more interesting then you think. First A disclaimer I don't believe in god or the bible but this actually gives me the willies.
From revelation chapter 13
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
"When you vote someone in, it is majority rules. When you hold a referendum, majority rules..."
When you hold a lynching majority rules too. 10 while people for killing this nigger and one nigger against too bad for the nigger huh?
Fortunately for us modern republics have recognized such a thing as tyranny of the majority. We uphold the rights of everybody and recognize that the govt is here to serve all of it's citizens.
"If you ask me those other browsers should be more up to standards"
I would have no complaints if the system was written to standards. But it's not. If they just stuck to the W3C standards of HTML and CSS nobody would be complaining about anything. Here MS deliberately wrote the app to reject operating systems and browsers they didn't like. Lots of people demonstrated that by changing the user agent on their browser they were able to use the site. It's not that the browsers were not capable of displaying the page it's that the browsers were rejected by the site because the writers of the site did not like their operating system and name. This is discrimination plain and simple. I think it's outregaous that govt web sites don't comply with W3C standards and force people to pay for software they may not want just to participate in the process of governing themselves.
"Most people use IE anyway (let's face it...there aren't too many options)"
Most people in the UK are also white. Maybe the the govt should prevent the east indians from some things too. Maybe it should prevent them using convenient services and instead make them wait in lines instead. Sorry only white people can use this web site the rest of you can haul your assess off to the courthouse.
The Govt is there to serve everybody not just the majority. The rest of the people are citizens too arent they? Why didn't they insist on using cross platform browsers on the contract?
Even so. He has to survive 9-12 months before the cash starts flowing in. He is in debt of at least 3 million and his debt is growing by leaps and bounds every month because he has to pay outrageous fees himself and he has to keep paying programmers. 25 million in revenue seems like a whole lot but it's all dependent on what your expenses are. Paying a dozen programmers could rack up 100K per month in no time let alone managemenent, building, equipment, lawyers, accountants, marketing etc.
He provided no figures of anything so it's hard to guess.
The world got along just fine without Ip for thousands of years. IP is a recent invention. Somehow we got relativity, calculus, fire. wheel automobiles, airplanes, steam engines and the corron gin despite the lack of IP laws.
No you can not resell your software go read your license sometime.
Adam Smith is the most misquoted, least understood person in the history of mankind. If he knew the kind shit that was being shoveled in his name he would haunt you and you progeny for generations to come. Not only that but his understanding of ecosystems and scientific principles is from a couple of centuries ago. I would not let a doctor treat me by using medical techniques from the 18th century so why would I let some politician or economist handle my country using principles from them. We have learned a whole lot since the then my friend.
Thanks for the tip. For me it's not just java it's trying to connect to SQL server from linux using ANYTHING!. Does this software depend on windows libraries or can it run on Linux?
MS is the biggest lying copany on the planet. Whenever i see their "plays nice with others" ad I just want to spit on all their lying faces.
Well the reason black people are convicted of more crmes may not mean that black people actually commit more crimes. Black neighborhoods are very heavily policed so your typical black teenager will get busted for smoking a joint in an alley while your typical white teenager smoking a joint in the park or in the woods will never get cought. Same with all kinds of minor offenses like shoplifting (clerks watch blacks much more closely), littering, loitering, jaywalking, speeding etc. White kids can hand out the circle K or dairy queen all night but black kids get busted for standing around the burger king.
Also consider the fact that even if white Kids are busted they are routinely let go of by the cops with a scare talk or calling the parents but the black kids are much more likely to get charged with crimes and the DAs are much more likely to seek more severe penalties for them (charging them with felonies instead of misdemeanors for example).
Statistics are one thing the reality is something else.
When MS decided to cut off the air supply of Netscape by giving away every product Netscape made lots of people lost their jobs.
When MS decided to kill Novell by giving away NT licenses cheaper then Novell licenses lots of peole lost their jobs.
When MS killed stac by stealing their technologies lot's of people lost their jobs.
When MS killed OS/2 by pre-announcing windows 98 by 4 years lot's of people lost their jobs.
Whenever one corporation kills another one lots of people lose their jobs. That's capitalism for ya eventually they'll find other jobs.
If your software took $3 million in R&D AND you are paying thousands of dollars per month in developer fees that you are going to fail with a userbase of 500. You are basically going to have to charge 6K per install just to make up what you already spent. You are going to have to probably triple or quadriple that to make sure your bills are paid and your employees don't bail on you. Even then you will eventually saturate the small market you are going after. What then?
Your best bet is going to be licensing the software on a per year basis so you can still get cashflow after the saturation occurs. I don't know what you monthly expenses are but if you have dozen or so programmers it's going to be pretty massive just in payroll.
It seems to me that eventually somone is going to jump in here and kill you. Maybe by using GPLed software instead of the software costing thousands of dollars per month, maybe by using shortcuts who knows. If it's a lucrative market then MS may jump in and give away their product to kill you off. Really it's very, very hard to make money selling software anymore especially if are not already established. Three out of four businesses fail within a couple of years and in the software market it's even worse. Go to the library and get a three or four year old computer magazine and look at the software ads. How many of those companies still exist?
If I were you I'd start looking for contingencies.
But you can never be assured that the waiter did not spit on your food (cos you pissed him off), that the fish is five days old, and that the hollendaise dressing was made this morning and has been sitting under a heat lamp for 6 hours (a recipe for illness).
If you cook yourself you can pick and choosee the freshest and most flavorful ingredients and can control the degree of cleanliness of your own kitchen.
"but propietery closed sourced is here to stay, and there is really nothing inherently evil or wrong with it."
Well according to RMS there is something inherently wrong and evil about it. He cites for example that you don't have the right to use the software in the manner you want nor do you have the right to redistribute the software (re-sell it or give it away). I agree with him that both of these things are WRONG and EVIL. If I can resell my car, give my toaster to my mom, or use my screwdriver as a chisel I ought to have the same freedoms with my software. Propietery software companies strip you of rights you would have with ordinary products and that is wrong, wrong,wrong.
PS. The GPL is not for businesses, it's not for moguls, it's not for CEOS, it's not for investors, it's not for stock brokers. The GPL exists to do the greates good for the society and ordinary people. Maybe you disagree that it's good but it's goal is not to further profit of corporations.
Slashdot Mirror
"Lord No! Let's not give tax breaks to oil drilling, lets drive up California utility prices a little higher."
I don't know why this misperception keeps persisting. The problem in california is not one of supply. California used less energy this year then it did last year yet they pay 10 times more in energy prices this year then they did last year. In order for this to happen it would have mean that the supply in california should be less then one tenth of what it was last year. What heppened between last year and this one? Point to one or two or three events that cause the supply in california to drop by tenfold (or fivefold for that matter). I know I can point at one event deregulation that caused higher prices but I am looking forward to you explaining how is it that CA has so much less power this year then they did last year and how drilling for oil is going to ease that problem.
"dog liberal communist anti-capitalist pro-government anti-achievement idiot scum."
My dog is a superior being then you in every way imaginable.
Hey wait a minute you are asking a republican to think.
Yes. Now you get it. Nothing in this world is as black and white. Sorry to tax your brain but it's true!. Even evil people have done some good things and Mother Theresa probably did one bad thing in her lifetime.
As opposed to all those liberterians who are really republicans. Like the cato institute which is nothing more then a fund rasing arm of the republican party and has never met a democrat they likes and never met a republican they didn't like?
"I'm glad you asked. Is there more money or less wealth in the world then say 15 years ago? If you said, well it depends; you would be lucridiously wrong. "
It is you who is profoundly mistaken. Yes there is more money today then there was 15 years ago but where did it come from? It did not appear out of nowhere. It came out of the earth. The earth was pillaged in order to create wealth. The reason there is more money now then there was 15 years ago is because there are now less trees, less oil, less coal, less clean air, less clean water.
The economy is not some piece of fiction. There is not an infinite amount of money in some other dimension where it magically appears on this planet whenever we want it. It comes from turning natural resources into products. Even those magical "productivity" gains come at the expense of nature because productivity increases require machines (which require minerals and energy) and humans (which require food, water, shelter and energy). The earth somehow has to clothe, feed, shelter and keep warm all those human beings who shuffle the papers or program the internet infrasturcture. As a result we have massive deforestation, water shortages all over the world, depletion of soils and pollution in every square foot of this planet.
Only by carefully adjusting the use of natural resources to sustainable levels can the economy sustain itself. Anything more then that will eventually hit a brick wall collapse.
You make seem like the economy is some fantasy where there is an infinate amount of money and everybody can become billionaires. This is not true. Nothing in this universe exists in an infinate amount. Nothing.
Making fun of slashdot on slashdot is passe. Kind of like telling knock knock jokes. Of course you were right MS does not play nice with others. I would like to know just exactly what kind of convolutions you had to go through and how well it worked. Are you going to post it on the net someplace?
They have what amounts to an unlimited funds. That is to say they have more money then you and more money then AOL.
Having absolute control over the internet is not being stupid. Once MS convinces AOL to stick with IE and use MS media then MS will have locked up the internet. Nobody will be able to do anything if they don't have MS software. I think that is a goal worth spending your cash on and so does MS.
"Besides, MSN is already running specials to sign up people who are pissed that AOL raised its rates."
All the more reason it would be suicide for AOL to sign any deal with MS. MS is a monopoly competitor with unlimited funds. They can (and will) crush AOL and any deal AOL cuts with MS will only hasten that day. I say go out fighting and don't lay down and let them kill you easy.
"I presume that what Ballmer meant to say was "The only thing we have a problem with is when the government funds GPL'd work. Government funding should be for work that is available to everybody."
Hey I have an idea. Why presume what he meant. Why not actually listen to what he said. Either is is a moron and is unable to express what he means or he said exactly what he meant.
He said no such thing. He does not need people like you to spin his words for him. His words speak for him not you. He has paid minions if he wants to retreat or backtrack.
" Oh right, if people know you have a medical condition or that you are gay or that you have used drugs, then they can discriminate against you."
Yes that's the exact point. The world is still full of hateful people who would discriminate against you if you were gay (god forbid you have aids). Maybe they can deny you housing, or a job. Maybe it's even worse and they decide to teach you a lesson for moving into their neighborhood. Don't kid yourself this is still a racist country.
Not bad one out of a million. Too bad we can't skate by on that kind of performance in our lives.
"It's going to be an intersting thing to watch, though."
Maybe more interesting then you think. First A disclaimer I don't believe in god or the bible but this actually gives me the willies.
From revelation chapter 13
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Wasn't there something about this in revelations. Go re-read it sometime.
"When you vote someone in, it is majority rules. When you hold a referendum, majority rules..."
When you hold a lynching majority rules too. 10 while people for killing this nigger and one nigger against too bad for the nigger huh?
Fortunately for us modern republics have recognized such a thing as tyranny of the majority. We uphold the rights of everybody and recognize that the govt is here to serve all of it's citizens.
"If you ask me those other browsers should be more up to standards"
I would have no complaints if the system was written to standards. But it's not. If they just stuck to the W3C standards of HTML and CSS nobody would be complaining about anything. Here MS deliberately wrote the app to reject operating systems and browsers they didn't like. Lots of people demonstrated that by changing the user agent on their browser they were able to use the site. It's not that the browsers were not capable of displaying the page it's that the browsers were rejected by the site because the writers of the site did not like their operating system and name. This is discrimination plain and simple. I think it's outregaous that govt web sites don't comply with W3C standards and force people to pay for software they may not want just to participate in the process of governing themselves.
"Most people use IE anyway (let's face it...there aren't too many options)"
Most people in the UK are also white. Maybe the the govt should prevent the east indians from some things too. Maybe it should prevent them using convenient services and instead make them wait in lines instead. Sorry only white people can use this web site the rest of you can haul your assess off to the courthouse.
The Govt is there to serve everybody not just the majority. The rest of the people are citizens too arent they? Why didn't they insist on using cross platform browsers on the contract?
Even so. He has to survive 9-12 months before the cash starts flowing in. He is in debt of at least 3 million and his debt is growing by leaps and bounds every month because he has to pay outrageous fees himself and he has to keep paying programmers. 25 million in revenue seems like a whole lot but it's all dependent on what your expenses are. Paying a dozen programmers could rack up 100K per month in no time let alone managemenent, building, equipment, lawyers, accountants, marketing etc.
He provided no figures of anything so it's hard to guess.
Where to start....
The world got along just fine without Ip for thousands of years. IP is a recent invention. Somehow we got relativity, calculus, fire. wheel automobiles, airplanes, steam engines and the corron gin despite the lack of IP laws.
No you can not resell your software go read your license sometime.
Adam Smith is the most misquoted, least understood person in the history of mankind. If he knew the kind shit that was being shoveled in his name he would haunt you and you progeny for generations to come. Not only that but his understanding of ecosystems and scientific principles is from a couple of centuries ago. I would not let a doctor treat me by using medical techniques from the 18th century so why would I let some politician or economist handle my country using principles from them. We have learned a whole lot since the then my friend.
Thanks for the tip. For me it's not just java it's trying to connect to SQL server from linux using ANYTHING!. Does this software depend on windows libraries or can it run on Linux?
MS is the biggest lying copany on the planet. Whenever i see their "plays nice with others" ad I just want to spit on all their lying faces.
Well the reason black people are convicted of more crmes may not mean that black people actually commit more crimes. Black neighborhoods are very heavily policed so your typical black teenager will get busted for smoking a joint in an alley while your typical white teenager smoking a joint in the park or in the woods will never get cought. Same with all kinds of minor offenses like shoplifting (clerks watch blacks much more closely), littering, loitering, jaywalking, speeding etc. White kids can hand out the circle K or dairy queen all night but black kids get busted for standing around the burger king.
Also consider the fact that even if white Kids are busted they are routinely let go of by the cops with a scare talk or calling the parents but the black kids are much more likely to get charged with crimes and the DAs are much more likely to seek more severe penalties for them (charging them with felonies instead of misdemeanors for example).
Statistics are one thing the reality is something else.
Hey I knew a James Lanfear once. He was a professor and owned a huge dog with a greek name.
When MS decided to cut off the air supply of Netscape by giving away every product Netscape made lots of people lost their jobs.
When MS decided to kill Novell by giving away NT licenses cheaper then Novell licenses lots of peole lost their jobs.
When MS killed stac by stealing their technologies lot's of people lost their jobs.
When MS killed OS/2 by pre-announcing windows 98 by 4 years lot's of people lost their jobs.
Whenever one corporation kills another one lots of people lose their jobs. That's capitalism for ya eventually they'll find other jobs.
If your software took $3 million in R&D AND you are paying thousands of dollars per month in developer fees that you are going to fail with a userbase of 500. You are basically going to have to charge 6K per install just to make up what you already spent. You are going to have to probably triple or quadriple that to make sure your bills are paid and your employees don't bail on you. Even then you will eventually saturate the small market you are going after. What then?
Your best bet is going to be licensing the software on a per year basis so you can still get cashflow after the saturation occurs. I don't know what you monthly expenses are but if you have dozen or so programmers it's going to be pretty massive just in payroll.
It seems to me that eventually somone is going to jump in here and kill you. Maybe by using GPLed software instead of the software costing thousands of dollars per month, maybe by using shortcuts who knows. If it's a lucrative market then MS may jump in and give away their product to kill you off. Really it's very, very hard to make money selling software anymore especially if are not already established. Three out of four businesses fail within a couple of years and in the software market it's even worse. Go to the library and get a three or four year old computer magazine and look at the software ads. How many of those companies still exist?
If I were you I'd start looking for contingencies.
But you can never be assured that the waiter did not spit on your food (cos you pissed him off), that the fish is five days old, and that the hollendaise dressing was made this morning and has been sitting under a heat lamp for 6 hours (a recipe for illness).
If you cook yourself you can pick and choosee the freshest and most flavorful ingredients and can control the degree of cleanliness of your own kitchen.
"but propietery closed sourced is here to stay, and there is really nothing inherently evil or wrong with it."
,wrong.
Well according to RMS there is something inherently wrong and evil about it. He cites for example that you don't have the right to use the software in the manner you want nor do you have the right to redistribute the software (re-sell it or give it away). I agree with him that both of these things are WRONG and EVIL. If I can resell my car, give my toaster to my mom, or use my screwdriver as a chisel I ought to have the same freedoms with my software. Propietery software companies strip you of rights you would have with ordinary products and that is wrong, wrong
PS. The GPL is not for businesses, it's not for moguls, it's not for CEOS, it's not for investors, it's not for stock brokers. The GPL exists to do the greates good for the society and ordinary people. Maybe you disagree that it's good but it's goal is not to further profit of corporations.