One day a nation will simply enslave an unpopular minority and sell their labor to multinational corporations for next to nothing.
It's already happening in the US where prison populations are being contracted out to major corporations for dirt cheap but the US only imprisons about 2% of the population (sure it's more then anybody else but it's still a small number).
The ideal would be some sort of an apartheid like system where the majority are slaves to a minority. maybe in africa, maybe in the middle east, maybe in china. I also don't discount the possibility of it happening here in the good old U S of A where it has been shown exactly how easy it is to demonize an entire race or religion.
Only if there is an inifinate amount of money in the world. Only if there is an infininate amount of natural resources which can be turned into goods and an infinate amount of natural resources which humans can comsume to provide services.
Or I suppose economy itself could be bullshit construct that does not obey the laws of physics.
" I don't know about 1) but my last company, we had a bug, and a nice support contract with MS, this bug turned into something pretty major for us, and MS stepped in and had developers working 9-5 to find and fix it."
Better then having the MS trolls mod themselved to obvilion.
P.S. There is a thing called the internet and it contains millions of web sites. If you dislike what is happening here might I suggest someplace like gotdotnet.com where people will flame to hell for blaspheming against MS.
1) Does microsoft offer guarantees to the military. for example do they guarantee uptimes or security. Do their contracts stipulate that Microsoft is liable for defects in their software.
2) Do the contracts that MS sign specify that MS will always fix the problem if things go wrong. Do they guarantee it?
It would be interesting if MS offered such contracts to the military because in the commercial world their contracts disavow any kind of liability.
"Iraq does NOT produce oil quickly enough to meet our needs"
Not yet. But all the oil fields are occupied by the US military and are in control of US companies. Within a year or two Iraq will be outputing enough oil to offset any production cutbacks in OPEC. Iraq will not be allowed to join OPEC, iraq's oil production will be regulated to exert a downward pressure on oil prices for the US market. The iraqis will not be allowed to regulate the oil production to get maximum profit for their oil. It sucks to be invaded and occupied doesn't it.
"invading Saudi Arabia would be colossally stupid, regardless of how evil one is"
It was collosally stupid to invade iraq but it didn't stop Bush. Why would invading saudi arabia be any more stupid? Who would stop us? We can kill anybody we want, any time we want, in any way we want. Nobody has enough military might to stop us.
"I also love how lefties slam Fox - it must really offend you that one network out of hundreds isn't liberal."
First of there are not hundreds of networks. It's obvious you are completely ignorant of the current media topography. Also the only people who don't think Fox news is biased are hard core right wing republicans. They know it's biased (after all it's their favorite network) they just can't get themselves to admit it.
Instead they use really lame arguments like "Well they are biased too!" or "But it gets more ratings!" neither of which actually answers the charge. Fox news is biased, it's nothing but a PR dept for the republican party.
"We know the oil supply is diminishing, and we will have to rely on either hydro or wind power within the next decade if we want to be able to go outside without suits to protect us from the thinning ozone layer."
I will answer this for president bush.
1) If we ever start running out of oil we will simply invade other countries that have oil. It will take a long time for us to use up all the oil in iraq and saudi arabia does not have the military strength to stop our invasion.
2) There is no such thing as global warming, no such thing as ozone depletion, no such thing as pollution or environmental degradation. Those things are all pushed by radical communist hippie homosexual left wing. If you don't believe me just watch Fox TV.
You make a very good point. One thing we know about our law enforment officers is that they tend to fall down when shooting at unarmed people and are prone to uncontrolled exclamations of "he's gut a gun!" when people pull out their wallets.
Oh yes and it was all Ted Turner's fault. He called the local office to make sure they got your screwed up because he did not like you very much. This is because he is very interested in you as a person. He has followed you from your birth to today and has daily updates on what you do, who you talk to, where you go and of course what channels you watch on TV.
Some of his co-workers claim that his obession with you and your life is the reason aol-warner stock has taken a beating and there is probably some truth to that.
"Actually, Jesus used a parable in which the servants that get a return on what they invested are praised by their master, "
The bible is a big book full of contradictions. Most christians tend to concentrate on the parts that reinforce their own feelings and ignore the parts that they don't like. Sure jesus returned slaves to their owners but he also chased out the money changers and said that it's harder for a rich man to get into heaven then for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
This is what makes arguing about christianity so much fun.
""Capitalism is the worst of all economic systems, except for all the others."
Why settle? Why not continually re-invent capitalism so that it's actually good.
Morally speaking communism and socialism are better, they are both closer to th eideals thought by all the major philosophers and religious leaders throughout history. The sermon on the mount is nothing less then a call to socialism. The problem is that for communism and socialism to work people have to be good. They have to work to make others lives better. People are not good.
Capitalism works because all it demands is that people are greedy. Very few people are good but everybody is greedy.
Why should you be able to un-say what you have said?
BTW. In the future you will not publish books but rent them. People who buy them will be able to read them a fixed number of times (most likely once) and then they will disappear. So you won't have to worry about those books floating out there.
I don't think you are thinking far enough. In the future all knowledge will be encoded. All books will be transient and will be rented. There is a very real chance that information will not be available to future generations.
Our ability to speak and transmit information to future generations is what separates us from the animals. you may soon lose that.
" First, your implication is that those seven deadly sins are universally accepted rather than what the truly are, the moral fixtures of your own mundane, dime-a-dozen religion."
I am an atheist. I don't believe in god. But the vast majority of the people in this country are christians and certainly christians and budhist make up a large majority of the world. For them a corporation is an inherently evil device.
If you are an atheist and think that greed, and gluttony are not bad things then sure you will think that corporations are good things.
BTW I think we should be honest and admit that corporations are nothing but devices designed to shirk personal responsibility. In that they function very well. They also devices to make money and in that they function very well.
I don't however think either one of those activities are moral.
" Presumably, then, you feel any participation in a free-market economy is evil, since at some level the desire to accrue a profit is in a sense greed and gluttony? "
I do think that capitalism is in direct opposition to christianity especially as it was preached by jesus. For example all three of the major religions teach that usury is a sin. Capitalism exists in large part on interest so one of the major pillars of capitalism is based on a sin.
" A corporation can not be evil. I said it before, but clearly it did not sink in. The people who make decisions for it certainly can, but the idea of corporate spirit is inherently fallacious."
You are splitting hairs. People make evil decisions but the corporation gives them the power to implement those decisions. Bill Gates did not spend his own money stabbing corporate partners in the back and breaking the law he spent MS money. The fact is that when evil people run corporations and make evil decisions they are empowered by the corporation and are acting in the name of the corporation. Most importantly they are shielded from their decisions by the corporation which is designed to absorb all responsiblity for those actions and decisions. So yes corporations can be evil.
BTW Corporations are not humans but they are beings. They don't die, they have no souls, but they are beings with constitutional rights just like you and me.
"Are you a subscriber to the monastic, acetic philosophies which dictate a life free of materialistic possessions? Presumably you do, in fact, have a computer (or are interfacing with Slashdot through a jack implanted in your brain)."
No I am an atheist.
"It would arguably be unethical for a corporation to not seek profit;"
I think this is known as moral relativism. From the prespective of the corporation seeking unlimited profit is a goal from the perspective of a christian or a budhist it's evil.
There was a trial. MS was found guilty. There was an appeal. The next court also found them guilty.
Not every businessman breaks the law.
It's not fair to the millions of honest business people in the world to say that they would all be as slimy and unethical as Bill Gates and it's certainly not fair to lable them as criminals just because Bill Gates broke the law.
It's impossible to talk about morality without talking about religion. For the vast majority of the people on this planet morality comes from religious teachings and philosophy.
If you are christian or a budhist then making (excessive) money is in and of itself immoral.
If you are a muslim then making money is not so bad, if you are satanist then making money is actually good.
Corporations are inherently evil because they advance the seven deadly sins. They are born of greed, gluttony, envy, pride and the rest of the deadly sins. unless of course you are a satanist then they are actually good.
"In all honesty, if Netscape could do that, then they WOULD."
I goet so tired of MS apologist saying shit like this. I don't think it's fair to smear every businessman in the world by saying that they are as evil as Bill Gates. Some people have ethics and morals don't resort to illegal, slimy and underhanded tactics to run their business.
Slashdot Mirror
The vast majority of software written is never sold. There is nothing to worry about.
One day a nation will simply enslave an unpopular minority and sell their labor to multinational corporations for next to nothing.
It's already happening in the US where prison populations are being contracted out to major corporations for dirt cheap but the US only imprisons about 2% of the population (sure it's more then anybody else but it's still a small number).
The ideal would be some sort of an apartheid like system where the majority are slaves to a minority. maybe in africa, maybe in the middle east, maybe in china. I also don't discount the possibility of it happening here in the good old U S of A where it has been shown exactly how easy it is to demonize an entire race or religion.
Only if there is an inifinate amount of money in the world. Only if there is an infininate amount of natural resources which can be turned into goods and an infinate amount of natural resources which humans can comsume to provide services.
Or I suppose economy itself could be bullshit construct that does not obey the laws of physics.
" I don't know about 1) but my last company, we had a bug, and a nice support contract with MS, this bug turned into something pretty major for us, and MS stepped in and had developers working 9-5 to find and fix it."
ZOIKS. How much did that support contract cost?
Better then having the MS trolls mod themselved to obvilion.
P.S. There is a thing called the internet and it contains millions of web sites. If you dislike what is happening here might I suggest someplace like gotdotnet.com where people will flame to hell for blaspheming against MS.
"Enter Microsoft with contracts in hand."
I am very serious in asking this.
1) Does microsoft offer guarantees to the military. for example do they guarantee uptimes or security. Do their contracts stipulate that Microsoft is liable for defects in their software.
2) Do the contracts that MS sign specify that MS will always fix the problem if things go wrong. Do they guarantee it?
It would be interesting if MS offered such contracts to the military because in the commercial world their contracts disavow any kind of liability.
"Even if GWB felt the way you said he did,"
Either he does or he is a puppet of those who do.
"Iraq does NOT produce oil quickly enough to meet our needs"
Not yet. But all the oil fields are occupied by the US military and are in control of US companies. Within a year or two Iraq will be outputing enough oil to offset any production cutbacks in OPEC. Iraq will not be allowed to join OPEC, iraq's oil production will be regulated to exert a downward pressure on oil prices for the US market. The iraqis will not be allowed to regulate the oil production to get maximum profit for their oil. It sucks to be invaded and occupied doesn't it.
"invading Saudi Arabia would be colossally stupid, regardless of how evil one is"
It was collosally stupid to invade iraq but it didn't stop Bush. Why would invading saudi arabia be any more stupid? Who would stop us? We can kill anybody we want, any time we want, in any way we want. Nobody has enough military might to stop us.
"I also love how lefties slam Fox - it must really offend you that one network out of hundreds isn't liberal."
First of there are not hundreds of networks. It's obvious you are completely ignorant of the current media topography. Also the only people who don't think Fox news is biased are hard core right wing republicans. They know it's biased (after all it's their favorite network) they just can't get themselves to admit it.
Instead they use really lame arguments like "Well they are biased too!" or "But it gets more ratings!" neither of which actually answers the charge. Fox news is biased, it's nothing but a PR dept for the republican party.
"We know the oil supply is diminishing, and we will have to rely on either hydro or wind power within the next decade if we want to be able to go outside without suits to protect us from the thinning ozone layer."
I will answer this for president bush.
1) If we ever start running out of oil we will simply invade other countries that have oil. It will take a long time for us to use up all the oil in iraq and saudi arabia does not have the military strength to stop our invasion.
2) There is no such thing as global warming, no such thing as ozone depletion, no such thing as pollution or environmental degradation. Those things are all pushed by radical communist hippie homosexual left wing. If you don't believe me just watch Fox TV.
"The date is 2199"
You think it will take that long for us to invade the french?
You make a very good point. One thing we know about our law enforment officers is that they tend to fall down when shooting at unarmed people and are prone to uncontrolled exclamations of "he's gut a gun!" when people pull out their wallets.
They are media guys. They are probably as ignorant of MS history of backstabbing partners as the average consumer.
They reached a settlement on the punishment phase. The verdict was a uninanimous one by the appalate court. They were judeged to be guilty.
Oh yes and it was all Ted Turner's fault. He called the local office to make sure they got your screwed up because he did not like you very much. This is because he is very interested in you as a person. He has followed you from your birth to today and has daily updates on what you do, who you talk to, where you go and of course what channels you watch on TV.
Some of his co-workers claim that his obession with you and your life is the reason aol-warner stock has taken a beating and there is probably some truth to that.
"Umm, thats the way it works for all businesses,"
that does not make it right but then again you think corporations should not be taxed at all.
If anybody thinks the US will sit idly by while other nations develop space technology they are dreaming. They will be knocked out.
Those were not iraqis.
"Actually, Jesus used a parable in which the servants that get a return on what they invested are praised by their master, "
The bible is a big book full of contradictions. Most christians tend to concentrate on the parts that reinforce their own feelings and ignore the parts that they don't like. Sure jesus returned slaves to their owners but he also chased out the money changers and said that it's harder for a rich man to get into heaven then for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
This is what makes arguing about christianity so much fun.
""Capitalism is the worst of all economic systems, except for all the others."
Why settle? Why not continually re-invent capitalism so that it's actually good.
Morally speaking communism and socialism are better, they are both closer to th eideals thought by all the major philosophers and religious leaders throughout history. The sermon on the mount is nothing less then a call to socialism. The problem is that for communism and socialism to work people have to be good. They have to work to make others lives better. People are not good.
Capitalism works because all it demands is that people are greedy. Very few people are good but everybody is greedy.
Why should you be able to un-say what you have said?
BTW. In the future you will not publish books but rent them. People who buy them will be able to read them a fixed number of times (most likely once) and then they will disappear. So you won't have to worry about those books floating out there.
I don't think you are thinking far enough. In the future all knowledge will be encoded. All books will be transient and will be rented. There is a very real chance that information will not be available to future generations.
Our ability to speak and transmit information to future generations is what separates us from the animals. you may soon lose that.
" First, your implication is that those seven deadly sins are universally accepted rather than what the truly are, the moral fixtures of your own mundane, dime-a-dozen religion."
I am an atheist. I don't believe in god. But the vast majority of the people in this country are christians and certainly christians and budhist make up a large majority of the world. For them a corporation is an inherently evil device.
If you are an atheist and think that greed, and gluttony are not bad things then sure you will think that corporations are good things.
BTW I think we should be honest and admit that corporations are nothing but devices designed to shirk personal responsibility. In that they function very well. They also devices to make money and in that they function very well.
I don't however think either one of those activities are moral.
" Presumably, then, you feel any participation in a free-market economy is evil, since at some level the desire to accrue a profit is in a sense greed and gluttony? "
I do think that capitalism is in direct opposition to christianity especially as it was preached by jesus. For example all three of the major religions teach that usury is a sin. Capitalism exists in large part on interest so one of the major pillars of capitalism is based on a sin.
" A corporation can not be evil. I said it before, but clearly it did not sink in. The people who make decisions for it certainly can, but the idea of corporate spirit is inherently fallacious."
You are splitting hairs. People make evil decisions but the corporation gives them the power to implement those decisions. Bill Gates did not spend his own money stabbing corporate partners in the back and breaking the law he spent MS money. The fact is that when evil people run corporations and make evil decisions they are empowered by the corporation and are acting in the name of the corporation. Most importantly they are shielded from their decisions by the corporation which is designed to absorb all responsiblity for those actions and decisions. So yes corporations can be evil.
BTW Corporations are not humans but they are beings. They don't die, they have no souls, but they are beings with constitutional rights just like you and me.
"Are you a subscriber to the monastic, acetic philosophies which dictate a life free of materialistic possessions? Presumably you do, in fact, have a computer (or are interfacing with Slashdot through a jack implanted in your brain)."
No I am an atheist.
"It would arguably be unethical for a corporation to not seek profit;"
I think this is known as moral relativism. From the prespective of the corporation seeking unlimited profit is a goal from the perspective of a christian or a budhist it's evil.
There was a trial. MS was found guilty. There was an appeal. The next court also found them guilty.
Not every businessman breaks the law.
It's not fair to the millions of honest business people in the world to say that they would all be as slimy and unethical as Bill Gates and it's certainly not fair to lable them as criminals just because Bill Gates broke the law.
It's impossible to talk about morality without talking about religion. For the vast majority of the people on this planet morality comes from religious teachings and philosophy.
If you are christian or a budhist then making (excessive) money is in and of itself immoral.
If you are a muslim then making money is not so bad, if you are satanist then making money is actually good.
Corporations are inherently evil because they advance the seven deadly sins. They are born of greed, gluttony, envy, pride and the rest of the deadly sins. unless of course you are a satanist then they are actually good.
don't install them. Install mozilla instead.
"In fact, it's kind of Stalinist logic."
Yes. People who use linux are exactly like people who murder 12 million people.
There is no appreciable difference between a linux user and Josef Stalin.
"In all honesty, if Netscape could
do that, then they WOULD."
I goet so tired of MS apologist saying shit like this. I don't think it's fair to smear every businessman in the world by saying that they are as evil as Bill Gates. Some people have ethics and morals don't resort to illegal, slimy and underhanded tactics to run their business.