The nation comes first, the interest of greedy people, second.
Wow. If we would have had that attitude to begin with, Vonage never would have came out with the service at all. If it wasn't for "greed" they wouldn't have attempted this inovation and provided people with the choices they have today. This is a dangerous attitude to have.
Try thinking about this another way - people who provide public communications have a responsibility to make connectivity as broad as possible.
Absolutely, positively, untrue. People who create a product have zero responsibility to do anything with it. They can choose not sell it at all. They can sell it to their 5 friends. They can sell it to people who buy their other products only, etc.
This is why you can do things like go to Radio Shack to buy a phone. Is it fair that commercial companies like Samsung can piggyback on the service proviced by all the baby bells for free?
I know you're using this as an extreme example, but the difference here is that the PSTN is actually a public service. It is heavily regulated by the government. The IM network is *not* a public service. We do not (or should not) expect our government to provide each of us access to IM. The FCC was *wrong* to force AOL to open up their network. A private company can choose to close down their network - to their own peril.
if you don't agree with the licensing, don't use illegal copies
RTFA. They weren't using "illegal copies." What they were doing, in the example he gives, is handing computers down from one employee to another, which is somehow a violation of some absurd EULA. I also didn't see him acting resentful at the licensing terms either. His complaint was how they handled it:
"Call me first if you think we have a compliance issue. Let's do a voluntary audit and see what's there."
Instead of treating him (their customer) like a human being, they raided his business and made an example out of him. I'm not saying that Microsoft (or the Business Software Alliance) isn't within their *rights* to do that (they certainly are), but I don't think anyone can look at this and say "hey, this is just an honest company trying to make sure people are playing by the rules." No one's arguing that Ball didn't break the rules, but I think it is clear that it was a mistake on his part, and he seemed very open to helping correct it, had he not been treated so poorly.
A friend of mine works at a local computer retail store. They made a fortune last week with people brining in their infected computers and charging to have them patched and/or have the virus removed. I think it was like $40 just for them to install the patch, and $100 if they already caught the worm and needed it removed.
Talk about easy money! I personally would rather see my mother get automatic updates than be duped into spending this kind of money to have her computer patched (not that she would, but many mothers probably would).
Did you read the line right above the one you copied?
This product has been temporarily discontinued. We are currently working on...
That's interesting because it
didn't say that when I copied it... they must have updated the page after it started getting slashdotted.
Check out the google cache of that page you'll see it proves my point. It's funny that they changed it... I imagine they saw some of our comments and made the quick fix.
We are currently working on a version with faster processor speed. Please check back with us in a couple of months for more information.
These people should have learned the lesson Intel (coincidentally) learned. Don't announce faster products before they're released! All that does is cut into the sales of your current products. Why would I drop $1200 on this machine when I know it's faster successor will be out "in a couple of months"?
In the real world, Shirky's argument translates to: "No one will buy a candy bar for 50 cents because they will be paralyzed by the user overhead." And, of course, we know this wrong.
The tremendous difference you're overlooking between candy bars and micropayments for content (and he does discuss this in his article under "the Double-Standard of Value") is that with candy bars you know what you're getting. You know what it's worth to you already.
When I click on a link, I don't know what's behind it. Is the article I read interesting enough to be worth the money I'm spending? With a candy bar, you know precisely what you're getting and the value is an easy decision. See his discussion on paying for certain sections of the newspaper for a good example.
...be sure to check out Samsung's DLP rear projection TV. It's head and shoulders above the other rear projection sets out there.
Yeah, I had one of these (HLM437) and it didn't take a week before it totally died and wouldn't power up. Check out the numerous complaints about them at AVS Forums here. They have a serious QC problem with these sets. If you buy one, don't forget to pick up the retailer warranty (I'm glad I did). I know own one of the Sony LCD projection sets. Same compact size as the Samsung DLP, much better quality.
Re:Know why Linux will fail on the desktop?
on
Linux on the Desktop
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· Score: 1
GIMP doesn't hold a candle to Photoshop... I think this is pretty much accepted.
They are two of the most popular pieces of software in the world... shouldn't be overlooked
Mozilla will not work with many bank websites, nor will Opera even when I tell it to emulate IE. Not the browser's fault per se, but market share being what it is, many businesses do not test (and thus don't support) alternative browsers. When I'm doing a funds transfer, I am unwilling to run the risk (no matter how unlikely) that something gets screwed up because of my [unsupported] browser.
I hope you're right, and will wait patiently like everyone else
Re:Know why Linux will fail on the desktop?
on
Linux on the Desktop
·
· Score: 1
I would really love to see the list of programs needed for Linux in order to be a valid alternative to Windows on the Desktop. As far as I know, there are none!
Photoshop
Quicken (home) / QuickBooks (office)
A browser I can visit my bank's website with.
I chose not to list Office, although from my experience with OpenOffice it just doesn't feel right. Others must notice too. Why is there a grey background behind every bullet in the document? Just bizarre.
If something doesn't 'take off' in 3 years time it's now a failure? Lets not be silly...
I agree with you, and I would also argue that.NET hasn't been around for even close to three years. They just released the server platform for.NET a few months ago. I personally wouldn't start the clock ticking when the first person uttered the word ".NET". It takes a while to get the development and platform software built before you can get the rest of the world developing with the stuff.
The birth of an idea and the release of a platform are two different things. Although if you think life begins at conception, then maybe this 3-year viewpoint is consistent:)
That's the catch. You don't get to sign up. At least, not if you want the government to do it for you. They take the money and spend it how they wish.
Now, if you really wanted to give your money to the needy and be assured that it gets where it belongs *efficiently* (for well less than $0.36 every hour we all work) feel free to give to a local charity.
Spell-checking in textareas. No tpyos in this post!
Although I haven't used it (because I don't use IE), this app received a positive review in PC Magazine this month (and is free).
Re:Program base doesn't equal success
on
YOPY Arrives
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Look at the Handsprings. They ran Palm OS, but for some reason, I have never, ever seen one in use in the public (the local CompUSA's and Best Buys stopped selling a long, long time ago
If you go around that circular counter at most Best Buy's, you'll see the celluar phone section. There you'll most certainly see a Handspring Treo or two. If you go to their website it's pretty clear they're not competing in the plain 'ole handheld market anymore. Not surprising, if you ask me.
Re:And now, a translation...
on
Gentoo Reviewed
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I also have a Roomba, and that is my only vaccum cleaner currently. I live in a one bedroom apartment, and it is fantastic. The way these two machines work is fundamentally different, and I'm sure that reflects the price.
Roomba doesn't map the room with ultrasound. In fact, it doesn't map the room at all. It drives around starting by spiraling out from a room's center, and uses heuristics-based AI to decide when it has cleaned the room. It lightly bumps into everything to navigate around - there are no beams to keep it from bumping into things.
The self-charger is a good idea, and from what I've read the only thing that makes this vaccum superior to the Roomba (and does not justify the price difference). Roomba also can automatically detect a falloff like a stairway ledge, which this Electrolux cannot (without laying down strips).
The way you normally use the Roomba is you set the room up so the Roomba can't escape
This is true, but is also worth mentioning that you can arbitrarily decide where rooms begin and end because roomba comes with an invisible wall. You don't need to create barricades or shut doors.
It's a pretty neat little device. I sure as hell wouldn't be vaccuming under my bed and couch on a daily basis if it wasn't for this thing going in there by itself.
I've used a fair bit of X10 stuff in my lifetime, and I'm quite convinced that they need to fire their current quality control people.
I'm assuming by "they" you mean X10 the company, and not X10 the communication language (standard?). They are not one in the same. You can build an entire "X10" system without purchasing anything from the company that calls itself X10. There are plenty of companies out there that make higher quality X10 components.
Again, programmers are skilled laborers. Why should skilled laborers put up with poor foreigners driving the value of skilled labor down the point where it would make more sense to work at McDonalds than go to college to be a programmer?
Wait, if programmers are skilled laborers, and these poor foreigners are programmers, then aren't poor foreigners skilled laborers?
Why should THEY put up with being paid so little? Why are THEY any different? Why does one group of skilled laborers deserve two cars and a big house, while another group doesn't (and shouldn't)?
flaming sites that do stupid non-standards based things (like serving up different content for different browsers as a workaround for standards non-compliance).
It's interesting your bring up that point. In this case it looks like the standards are actually working - because Opera and IE can render the identical page (the IE-version) just fine. The "workaround" MS is using in this case appears completely unnecessary. They are working around a problem that does not exist.
Since many (if not most) applications for Web Services are b2b, the speed of your modem is fairly irrelevant. When you pull up sometravelsite.com, it will be gathering information from other systems more quickly -from it's servers to other servers- and the web service communication portion of the architecture doesn't run over your last mile at all.
Check out the fast forward button in Opera 7. If it detects a "next" button on the page your looking at (ex. Google search results) it detects that and allows you to jump to it. I'm not sure if it pre-fetches or not. Kind of neat.
As user of both Opera mouse gestures, and Windows Explorer, I know the difference between a "back" command and an "up" command. Both of these applications offer "back" and "up" and distinguish between them.
"Back" always takes you to the last place you were. Click it again, and it takes you to the place you were before that. "Up" in Windows explorer will take you to the parent directory of the current directory. "Up" in Opera will do the same, but on a website - it takes you to the parent virtual directory (from http://asdf.com/test/ to http://asdf.com, for example).
So I come into this article with those two concepts in mind, and when they tell me "back" should be called "up" I get really confused. These statements are also confusing:
They have replaced the current stacking system, which only records index pages, with one that records every page in the order it was visited.
What are "index pages"? I read that and think index.html - default pages. That can't be right though, because obviously the current system records more than just the default pages.
"The main problem with the current back button is that recently visited pages disappear," says computer scientist Andy Cockburn
This one I really don't understand. Pick a recent browser (Opera, Mozilla/Phoenix, IE) and you'll see the back button has an attached pull-down with your recently visited pages. As someone already mentioned, your history also lists your recently visited pages. Jeez, most people are pissed that their browser remembers TOO MANY recently visited pages (like when you start typing in the address bar and non-work-related sites pop up) rather than not enough.
Now if they're talking about a back button that can span browsing sessions, that might be interesting. It doesn't sound like they are though...
I mean it looks to me that these guys have some copy (or interface to it) of a database containing every existing record published by the music industry. Can this be true?
It's possible that the "fingerprint" includes the radio station and time the recording was taken, and what they actually look at is a database populated by radio stations about what songs they aired during the course of the day.
There have been other products that tried to do this type of thing. Checkout this keychain-type product that people could use to identify songs they heard on the radio when they later hooked up the device to their computer. There is a more complete story at wired here.
I tell you what, I didn't believe it so I ran that german article through Babelfish to see what it really said. Turns out the survey just found the US is #1 among countries with the hottest 17 year old girls.
Slashdot Mirror
Wow. If we would have had that attitude to begin with, Vonage never would have came out with the service at all. If it wasn't for "greed" they wouldn't have attempted this inovation and provided people with the choices they have today. This is a dangerous attitude to have.
Talk about easy money! I personally would rather see my mother get automatic updates than be duped into spending this kind of money to have her computer patched (not that she would, but many mothers probably would).
When I click on a link, I don't know what's behind it. Is the article I read interesting enough to be worth the money I'm spending? With a candy bar, you know precisely what you're getting and the value is an easy decision. See his discussion on paying for certain sections of the newspaper for a good example.
- Photoshop
- Quicken (home) / QuickBooks (office)
- A browser I can visit my bank's website with.
I chose not to list Office, although from my experience with OpenOffice it just doesn't feel right. Others must notice too. Why is there a grey background behind every bullet in the document? Just bizarre.The birth of an idea and the release of a platform are two different things. Although if you think life begins at conception, then maybe this 3-year viewpoint is consistent :)
damn, where do i sign up?
That's the catch. You don't get to sign up. At least, not if you want the government to do it for you. They take the money and spend it how they wish.
Now, if you really wanted to give your money to the needy and be assured that it gets where it belongs *efficiently* (for well less than $0.36 every hour we all work) feel free to give to a local charity.
Spell-checking in textareas. No tpyos in this post!
Although I haven't used it (because I don't use IE), this app received a positive review in PC Magazine this month (and is free).
Wow, that post gets funnier every time I see it.
Roomba doesn't map the room with ultrasound. In fact, it doesn't map the room at all. It drives around starting by spiraling out from a room's center, and uses heuristics-based AI to decide when it has cleaned the room. It lightly bumps into everything to navigate around - there are no beams to keep it from bumping into things.
The self-charger is a good idea, and from what I've read the only thing that makes this vaccum superior to the Roomba (and does not justify the price difference). Roomba also can automatically detect a falloff like a stairway ledge, which this Electrolux cannot (without laying down strips). This is true, but is also worth mentioning that you can arbitrarily decide where rooms begin and end because roomba comes with an invisible wall. You don't need to create barricades or shut doors.
It's a pretty neat little device. I sure as hell wouldn't be vaccuming under my bed and couch on a daily basis if it wasn't for this thing going in there by itself.
I'm assuming by "they" you mean X10 the company, and not X10 the communication language (standard?). They are not one in the same. You can build an entire "X10" system without purchasing anything from the company that calls itself X10. There are plenty of companies out there that make higher quality X10 components.
There's no way I'm buying one of these things until they make them waterproof.
Again, programmers are skilled laborers. Why should skilled laborers put up with poor foreigners driving the value of skilled labor down the point where it would make more sense to work at McDonalds than go to college to be a programmer?
Wait, if programmers are skilled laborers, and these poor foreigners are programmers, then aren't poor foreigners skilled laborers?
Why should THEY put up with being paid so little? Why are THEY any different? Why does one group of skilled laborers deserve two cars and a big house, while another group doesn't (and shouldn't)?
flaming sites that do stupid non-standards based things (like serving up different content for different browsers as a workaround for standards non-compliance).
It's interesting your bring up that point. In this case it looks like the standards are actually working - because Opera and IE can render the identical page (the IE-version) just fine. The "workaround" MS is using in this case appears completely unnecessary. They are working around a problem that does not exist.
Since many (if not most) applications for Web Services are b2b, the speed of your modem is fairly irrelevant. When you pull up sometravelsite.com, it will be gathering information from other systems more quickly -from it's servers to other servers- and the web service communication portion of the architecture doesn't run over your last mile at all.
Check out the fast forward button in Opera 7. If it detects a "next" button on the page your looking at (ex. Google search results) it detects that and allows you to jump to it. I'm not sure if it pre-fetches or not. Kind of neat.
As user of both Opera mouse gestures, and Windows Explorer, I know the difference between a "back" command and an "up" command. Both of these applications offer "back" and "up" and distinguish between them.
"Back" always takes you to the last place you were. Click it again, and it takes you to the place you were before that. "Up" in Windows explorer will take you to the parent directory of the current directory. "Up" in Opera will do the same, but on a website - it takes you to the parent virtual directory (from http://asdf.com/test/ to http://asdf.com, for example).
So I come into this article with those two concepts in mind, and when they tell me "back" should be called "up" I get really confused. These statements are also confusing:
What are "index pages"? I read that and think index.html - default pages. That can't be right though, because obviously the current system records more than just the default pages.This one I really don't understand. Pick a recent browser (Opera, Mozilla/Phoenix, IE) and you'll see the back button has an attached pull-down with your recently visited pages. As someone already mentioned, your history also lists your recently visited pages. Jeez, most people are pissed that their browser remembers TOO MANY recently visited pages (like when you start typing in the address bar and non-work-related sites pop up) rather than not enough.
Now if they're talking about a back button that can span browsing sessions, that might be interesting. It doesn't sound like they are though...It's possible that the "fingerprint" includes the radio station and time the recording was taken, and what they actually look at is a database populated by radio stations about what songs they aired during the course of the day.
There have been other products that tried to do this type of thing. Checkout this keychain-type product that people could use to identify songs they heard on the radio when they later hooked up the device to their computer. There is a more complete story at wired here.
USA auf Index für Pressefreiheit nur auf Platz 17
I tell you what, I didn't believe it so I ran that german article through Babelfish to see what it really said. Turns out the survey just found the US is #1 among countries with the hottest 17 year old girls.