As the original poster to whom you appear to refer I have to point out that I never said anything about the government's purchase of Microsoft software propping up the MS monopoly. What I said was that their failure to act in the public's interest despite the courts ruling them a monopoly is tacit acceptance of Microsoft as a monopoly.
Moreover, most state, local, and Federal agencies choose to purchase Microsoft software for the same reason most of us do; that is, we have little other choice unless we are prepared to deal with the incompatability issues that arise directly from Microsoft's strategy of undermining interoperability.
The irony of Bill Gates' anti-communist rhetoric in the wake of his recent crash and burn presentation on Windows Media Center is that Microsoft itself resembles a creaky Soviet-era state-run monopoly much more than a lean, mean emblem of free-trade capitalism.
In my opinion Microsoft is essentially a state-sponsored monopoly and, as such, represents, little more than a tweaked version of the classic communist state entity.
The rational for this position is the simple fact that although Microsoft has been found guilty of being a monopolistic barrier to free-trade in the software industry it was given tacit state sanction to operate as such when the courts and the DOJ failed to press for meaningful controls on their business practices.
From an objective perspective this is no more than a refined version of the classic communist state monopoly. Like Soviet era monopolies Microsoft must compete in the international market as a representative of the State economy while at home it is given tacit control of the market in exchange for loyalty to the political leadership. Also like Soviet era monopolies, state pressure for reform of business practices amounted to little reform but a large increase in the amount of money passed on to corrupt politicians. Take a look at Microsoft's political contributions post-trial and I think you'll see this pattern is quite obvious.
What's worse is that this "tweaked" form of state control can be conducted legally through Political Action Committees with little need to resort to passing money under the table as occurred in the old Soviet Union.
That's right folks, Microsoft's brand of communism is conducted right under your noses while real innovation and competition in the software industry is systematically squashed through monopolistic trade practices tacitly sanctioned by the state. It's high time that all you Democrats and Republicans out there swallow the blue pill and see things as they are, not how you want them to be. Either we believe in free trade or not and no matter how you dice it monopolies are antithetical to free trade. Those who acquire them will always attempt to redefine competition so that the rules don't apply to them. Ooogedy boogedy people! Look-out! International competition means we have to stick together and support our local monopoly. Oh no! Look over there people, those communist are trying to wreck our good capitalist monopoly. It's total nonsense if you just step back and take a look at it for what it really is.
I would recommend you look at the RB47 case in depth. I'm a hard nosed skeptic and agnostic but I will look at good (hard to find) UFO evidence since we (humans) are on track to "be" UFOs for some other culture if we can avoid killing ourselves first. (By this I mean we are discovering that life is an inevitable result of terrestrial chemistry and space exploration seems inevitable for us as a species.) The best place to read about the RB47 case is in Jerome Clark's UFO Encyclopedia but that two volume set runs $140.00 new on Amazon so the barrier to entry is high. Nevertheless, well worth the money if you have any interest in the subject.
I'm not sold on the alien idea but I'd say that it would appear that many fairly credible people have had their world rocked by some variety of experiences and seem to be trying to leak the story out. The problem is that none of them have physical evidence that you or I would accept as proof positive...all they have is their own eyewitness testimony.
I suppose this means all the government really would have to do to keep the lid on the subject is keep the highest level officials in line and make sure that no physical evidence leaks which is more doable than trying to keep all eye witness accounts from leaking. This plus disinformation and ridicule would do the job nicely.
I think we've made some progress then. I guess I'm optimistic about the future of space travel based on the amount of progress we've made so far in such a short time so what I think our knowledge suggests is that future breakthroughs are quite possible if not likely.
A little over a hundred years or so ago "known physics of air travel" would have indicated that human flight was impossible. Why would our current understanding of the physics of space flight apply to a civilization that might be thousands or millions of years more advanced than our own?
They kept MKULTRA a secret for a long time didn't they. And most of the subprojects are still undefined. If you underestimate the military industrial complex's ability to keep a secret if it's really important to them then you need to go re-read your history books about this part of our goverment.
I know next to nothing about Kecksburg but why debate the show's merits before it even plays? If there's something to it then let's see the proof. If there isn't then I guess we'll know after the show.
I think those who think the possibility that aliens have visited our planet is next to nothing have very little upon which to base their estimates upon except perhaps current space flight models which we might well find laughable in a few decades or centuries.
Likewise, those who think eye-witness testimony is good enough to prove a whole range of crazy theories have minds way too open for their own good...they're lucky their brains don't fall out.
To (sorta) quote the sage, "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreampt of in our philosophies." I believe this is an apt saying and our age of technological progress proves that it is more true now than it ever has been. Could aliens be visiting the earth? Sure, I suppose. I mean, we would visit other planets if we could and we are sorta heading in that direction with NASA. Are they actually visiting us? Maybe only the government knows but I can tell you I sure as heck don't.
Peace folks...let's just watch the show and find out if they have something worth saying. If not, time to switch to The Simpsons then!
The real problem here is that corporations will begin to understand that the open nature of the Linux (and other OS projects) leaves them subject to legal action.
If Microsoft were to steal code no one would ever know it since their codebase is proprietary. With open source projects not only is this not the case but it is entirely conceivable that dishonest individuals (lots of them these days it seems) would deliberately insert offending code and later claim intellectual property theft.
With billions of dollars at stake do you honestly think this won't happen? The better question to start asking is how can open source survive this kind of attack? Is it possible that some IP vetting process can be establish that will eliminate this possibility to the satisfaction of companies already stung by a major Linux scandal?
The whole situation sickens me and I despair for the race of man when I witness the greed of a few bringing so many good people trying to help one another and their community to their knees. There is no future for our society when injustice and corruption are protected by laws bought and paid for by the rich. Why isn't Ken Leigh in jail? If I were to break a window with my elbow and steal a TV I'd suffer more than the man responsible for billions of dollar of economic harm.:-(
It's a sad day. If you're religious it might be time to say a prayer for this country.
:-P If you believe the conservative christians then answer is a resounding yes. Of course, as a liberal democrat I'd have to say that the Christian social ethic jives well with my liberalism and is a much closer match in fact.
I agree, community colleges are the way to go. I'm not sure about the "none of the liberalism" comment though as I went from being a conservative christian to a liberal democrat after attending community college in VA for a few years. I see this as an added bonus but I doubt the original poster would agree.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
As the original poster to whom you appear to refer I have to point out that I never said anything about the government's purchase of Microsoft software propping up the MS monopoly. What I said was that their failure to act in the public's interest despite the courts ruling them a monopoly is tacit acceptance of Microsoft as a monopoly.
Moreover, most state, local, and Federal agencies choose to purchase Microsoft software for the same reason most of us do; that is, we have little other choice unless we are prepared to deal with the incompatability issues that arise directly from Microsoft's strategy of undermining interoperability.
You know, I was just too lazy to look it up and make sure. I'll update my bog entry according though so thanks for the catch!
The irony of Bill Gates' anti-communist rhetoric in the wake of his recent crash and burn presentation on Windows Media Center is that Microsoft itself resembles a creaky Soviet-era state-run monopoly much more than a lean, mean emblem of free-trade capitalism.
In my opinion Microsoft is essentially a state-sponsored monopoly and, as such, represents, little more than a tweaked version of the classic communist state entity.
The rational for this position is the simple fact that although Microsoft has been found guilty of being a monopolistic barrier to free-trade in the software industry it was given tacit state sanction to operate as such when the courts and the DOJ failed to press for meaningful controls on their business practices.
From an objective perspective this is no more than a refined version of the classic communist state monopoly. Like Soviet era monopolies Microsoft must compete in the international market as a representative of the State economy while at home it is given tacit control of the market in exchange for loyalty to the political leadership. Also like Soviet era monopolies, state pressure for reform of business practices amounted to little reform but a large increase in the amount of money passed on to corrupt politicians. Take a look at Microsoft's political contributions post-trial and I think you'll see this pattern is quite obvious.
What's worse is that this "tweaked" form of state control can be conducted legally through Political Action Committees with little need to resort to passing money under the table as occurred in the old Soviet Union.
That's right folks, Microsoft's brand of communism is conducted right under your noses while real innovation and competition in the software industry is systematically squashed through monopolistic trade practices tacitly sanctioned by the state. It's high time that all you Democrats and Republicans out there swallow the blue pill and see things as they are, not how you want them to be. Either we believe in free trade or not and no matter how you dice it monopolies are antithetical to free trade. Those who acquire them will always attempt to redefine competition so that the rules don't apply to them. Ooogedy boogedy people! Look-out! International competition means we have to stick together and support our local monopoly. Oh no! Look over there people, those communist are trying to wreck our good capitalist monopoly. It's total nonsense if you just step back and take a look at it for what it really is.
I would recommend you look at the RB47 case in depth. I'm a hard nosed skeptic and agnostic but I will look at good (hard to find) UFO evidence since we (humans) are on track to "be" UFOs for some other culture if we can avoid killing ourselves first. (By this I mean we are discovering that life is an inevitable result of terrestrial chemistry and space exploration seems inevitable for us as a species.) The best place to read about the RB47 case is in Jerome Clark's UFO Encyclopedia but that two volume set runs $140.00 new on Amazon so the barrier to entry is high. Nevertheless, well worth the money if you have any interest in the subject.
Didn't mean to appear condescending.
I'm not sold on the alien idea but I'd say that it would appear that many fairly credible people have had their world rocked by some variety of experiences and seem to be trying to leak the story out. The problem is that none of them have physical evidence that you or I would accept as proof positive...all they have is their own eyewitness testimony.
I suppose this means all the government really would have to do to keep the lid on the subject is keep the highest level officials in line and make sure that no physical evidence leaks which is more doable than trying to keep all eye witness accounts from leaking. This plus disinformation and ridicule would do the job nicely.
What do you think?
I think we've made some progress then. I guess I'm optimistic about the future of space travel based on the amount of progress we've made so far in such a short time so what I think our knowledge suggests is that future breakthroughs are quite possible if not likely.
A little over a hundred years or so ago "known physics of air travel" would have indicated that human flight was impossible. Why would our current understanding of the physics of space flight apply to a civilization that might be thousands or millions of years more advanced than our own?
They kept MKULTRA a secret for a long time didn't they. And most of the subprojects are still undefined. If you underestimate the military industrial complex's ability to keep a secret if it's really important to them then you need to go re-read your history books about this part of our goverment.
I know next to nothing about Kecksburg but why debate the show's merits before it even plays? If there's something to it then let's see the proof. If there isn't then I guess we'll know after the show.
I think those who think the possibility that aliens have visited our planet is next to nothing have very little upon which to base their estimates upon except perhaps current space flight models which we might well find laughable in a few decades or centuries.
Likewise, those who think eye-witness testimony is good enough to prove a whole range of crazy theories have minds way too open for their own good...they're lucky their brains don't fall out.
To (sorta) quote the sage, "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreampt of in our philosophies." I believe this is an apt saying and our age of technological progress proves that it is more true now than it ever has been. Could aliens be visiting the earth? Sure, I suppose. I mean, we would visit other planets if we could and we are sorta heading in that direction with NASA. Are they actually visiting us? Maybe only the government knows but I can tell you I sure as heck don't.
Peace folks...let's just watch the show and find out if they have something worth saying. If not, time to switch to The Simpsons then!
Will
The real problem here is that corporations will begin to understand that the open nature of the Linux (and other OS projects) leaves them subject to legal action.
:-(
If Microsoft were to steal code no one would ever know it since their codebase is proprietary. With open source projects not only is this not the case but it is entirely conceivable that dishonest individuals (lots of them these days it seems) would deliberately insert offending code and later claim intellectual property theft.
With billions of dollars at stake do you honestly think this won't happen? The better question to start asking is how can open source survive this kind of attack? Is it possible that some IP vetting process can be establish that will eliminate this possibility to the satisfaction of companies already stung by a major Linux scandal?
The whole situation sickens me and I despair for the race of man when I witness the greed of a few bringing so many good people trying to help one another and their community to their knees. There is no future for our society when injustice and corruption are protected by laws bought and paid for by the rich. Why isn't Ken Leigh in jail? If I were to break a window with my elbow and steal a TV I'd suffer more than the man responsible for billions of dollar of economic harm.
It's a sad day. If you're religious it might be time to say a prayer for this country.
:-P If you believe the conservative christians then answer is a resounding yes. Of course, as a liberal democrat I'd have to say that the Christian social ethic jives well with my liberalism and is a much closer match in fact.
I agree, community colleges are the way to go. I'm not sure about the "none of the liberalism" comment though as I went from being a conservative christian to a liberal democrat after attending community college in VA for a few years. I see this as an added bonus but I doubt the original poster would agree. :-)