Enlightened self-interest regulates the market, after all, except when spending someone else's money (like that collected from taxpayers) with no mind for the agency relationship of stewardship.
The frontier that currently needs to be successfully armed and secured is the Internet. It's currently like a border town creeping across almost every border in the world unchecked. Criminals and rogue governments are using that to infiltrate and damage their neighbors. I'm not for locking down the 'net and making it the property of this or that government or company. I am for some means of protection from and retaliation against the kinds of cracking, phishing, and government-directed selective filtering being perpetrated from China, Australia, and Iran among others.
At least some of IBM's stock IIRC pays dividends. The sales price isn't the only value in all equities. Also, the paper value of a stock is part of these vast net worth figures you keep hearing bandied about. When a stock goes up, you net worth goes up just by holding it. The money you can borrow against your holdings goes up, too. Liquid cash is not the only valuable asset.
The problem with being a mass exporter of cheap consumer goods is that when people stop buying cheap consumer goods, you stop exporting them.
The US right now is trying to save four to eight million jobs. China is under pressure to create around twenty to twenty-five million new jobs every year, and has been for some number of years. They promised people who were living simple agrarian lifestyles big new things in big new cities if they'd follow the party and move to these vast new urban centers. Now, the factories are not only being built more slowly but they might have to slow production in existing factories due to decreased demand in their favorite overseas markets.
It actually is a trickle-down effect, but from the government to the proletariat instead of the bourgeoisie to the proletariat. The difference is that when you run the government you can ensure the money gets spent, and by giving it to the bourgeoisie you can only hope they spend it.
If you think the Atlas V is the newest rocket technology the DoD can access, then you probably think that the F-16 didn't fly until the 1980s and that GPS is a recent invention. The DoD regularly has technology in use for decades before it is common knowledge, let alone cleared for civilian use.
Just because the technology is owned or the products manufactured by private companies does not mean those companies can sell it to civilians, either. Why do you think it takes a federal security clearance to work for so many divisions of those defense contractors?
When currencies go down, commodities tend upward. Buying gold, oil, strawberries, and corn futures when your currency is at peak strength and selling when your currency falls is a sound, if risky, idea.
You are, of course, right aboutt how to complain about price. That is exactly why I haven't bought Adobe software in some time. They may or may not be be the best products as Adobe claims (and why claim otherwise about your own products?), but other, less expensive software reads and writes the same formats and has similar feature sets. The older versions of Adobe software that don't have all the latest features are worth even less compared to newer versions of the competition's software.
Linux users usually don't like to pay... for things that aren't any better than what they can get for free. Have you looked at Ubuntu Studio at all? What about Studio 64? Are you at all familiar with what's there? Did you know that MainConcept has codecs and a codec support SDK for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Flash?
What are the big advantages of your specific product? Is it worth $137 more than what's available? The main uses for your product seem to be steganography or synthesis of unusual sounds. I use Power Station Industrializer and some other specialized synthesis software for that. I use specialized steganographic software if ever I want to do that.
If I was convinced that the professional (or casual) license fees for your software were worthwhile, I'd pay them no matter what platform I was going to run it on. If I have something that's good and free that covers the same needs, it undercuts your pricing. That doesn't mean that being a Linux user makes me unable to evaluate costs and benefits. Weighing costs vs. benefits is why I have a mix of Linux, OS X, and Windows around in the first place.
I might recommend something crazy like writing games for Linux on x86 and shipping them with a VM disk image of the preferred setup. New games could install themselves into the same image if they use the same libraries to keep disk bloat down. This way, Windows and Mac users could all play the same Linux version of the game so long as they have a compatible virtual machine package like, say, VMWare Desktop, VirtualBox, or Parallels. Linux users wouldn't need a VM at all.
I'll point out that technically which OS ran in the VM wouldn't matter with this setup. Since Linux can generally be shipped without paying hundreds of dollars in licensing fees, though, it's the only feasible choice.
As native hardware support gets better under the virtualization systems, the games would perform better on the non-native platforms. It's win-win. The portability stack under the game is being maintained elsewhere, and games make for interesting testing material.
Like I said, though, it's crazy talk. Why would anyone put any stock in virtualization as a portability method?;-)
Option 1: Write it in C. Lua is C libraries. Objective C will compile C. C++ will compile C. C# can call C and C++ libraries, so at least part of it will be portable. C can be compiled to the JVM. ActionScript is for Flash, and you can compile C to AS3 bytecode (Slashdot story about Alchemy).
Option 2: Write it in Java and provide a JVM written in C on platforms that require C/C++/Objective C. Compile the JVM to AS3 bytecode. C# sucks anyway, but if it runs C# then it also runs software compiled by any of multiple Java to.Net CLR compilers.
Option 3: Choose your platforms more carefully, as almost any decent platform has tools available for more than one language.
I sure hope you're joking. I paid for my hardware, and I've paid repeatedly for versions of Linux that come with something I need whether that's support contracts or some piece of non-free software included. Mandriva, Novell, and Red Hat don't exist on goodwill alone.
Their are three main reasons I have Windows installed anywhere at all. One is because IE 7 and IE 8 under anything else is at best a pain and a gamble for a web application developer. Another is that I use it to play the games I buy for the PC. If I could play those games all on Linux, the gaming PC would not have Windows on it. The third is that my accounting software of choice runs on Windows. Again, if there was a Linux version of that there would be no reason for the accounting system in my office to use Windows.
Part of understanding market share is understanding cause and effect. Are applications (including games) written for Windows because Windows is installed, or is Windows installed because applications are written for it? It's some of both, but Steve Ballmer knows which one is more important. That's why you can see him at conferences dancing around on stage chanting about developers. People use Windows largely because that's where the software is. If the software was written for other platforms just as commonly, you'd see a much more balanced market share for the OSes.
I, for one, only complain about the prices people ask when they do naughty things like setting reseller minimums even on outdated versions.
If you need accounting software or DVD authoring software but don't need the newest version, you can probably find it for 10% or 20% of the cost by buying an older version sitting on a shelf in a warehouse.
If you want Windows XP it's getting harder to buy. If you need Adobe Creative Studio 2 or newer, go ahead and buy CS 4 because it's the same price. Both of these companies tell you you're buying from a reseller, but they treat the pricing as if they are selling on commission.
Okay, so now we're comparing growing, killing, and placing under pressure for millions of years a bunch of plant and animal matter vs. harvesting the sun, wind, and running water?
That's one of the best ideas I've heard for charging one of these things rapidly, and it's so simple everyone on/. should have thought of it. You get big points for that observation from me.
You have somewhat of a point, but you're using a slippery slope argument to get to it. Of course you don't want your heat and refrigeration turned off to charge the car. There's a big difference between using the whole 200 amps and only using 20 amps, though.
I would imagine those with the means and who are hooked up to a local utility with the capacity would have a second 200 amp service or 400 amp service installed just to charge the car. Many farms, garages, machine shops, and more have 480v 400 amp service or dual 200 amp services. I know people who have a second 200-amp service in their homes already to power welders, sandblasters, and more out in the workshop.
A local electrical coop will even hook up a separate service with a separate meter for an electric heat pump that's billed at half the regular rate. That's a good portion of your home's rated service that is no longer being used right there.
The taste left in your mouth from unplugging Joe's car and plugging yours in to his meter is a lot better than sucking on the siphon to get the gas out of Joe's tank.
20A at 220V is the maximum for some household circuits. It certainly isn't the limit for a household. My incoming service is 200 amps, broken down into 50, 30, and 15 amp circuits at 220V and 110V (actually, 230V and 115V average, 220V and 110V minimum, and 240V and 120V maximum).
Slashdot Mirror
Enlightened self-interest regulates the market, after all, except when spending someone else's money (like that collected from taxpayers) with no mind for the agency relationship of stewardship.
The frontier that currently needs to be successfully armed and secured is the Internet. It's currently like a border town creeping across almost every border in the world unchecked. Criminals and rogue governments are using that to infiltrate and damage their neighbors. I'm not for locking down the 'net and making it the property of this or that government or company. I am for some means of protection from and retaliation against the kinds of cracking, phishing, and government-directed selective filtering being perpetrated from China, Australia, and Iran among others.
At least some of IBM's stock IIRC pays dividends. The sales price isn't the only value in all equities. Also, the paper value of a stock is part of these vast net worth figures you keep hearing bandied about. When a stock goes up, you net worth goes up just by holding it. The money you can borrow against your holdings goes up, too. Liquid cash is not the only valuable asset.
The problem with being a mass exporter of cheap consumer goods is that when people stop buying cheap consumer goods, you stop exporting them.
The US right now is trying to save four to eight million jobs. China is under pressure to create around twenty to twenty-five million new jobs every year, and has been for some number of years. They promised people who were living simple agrarian lifestyles big new things in big new cities if they'd follow the party and move to these vast new urban centers. Now, the factories are not only being built more slowly but they might have to slow production in existing factories due to decreased demand in their favorite overseas markets.
That doesn't sound like where I want my money.
It actually is a trickle-down effect, but from the government to the proletariat instead of the bourgeoisie to the proletariat. The difference is that when you run the government you can ensure the money gets spent, and by giving it to the bourgeoisie you can only hope they spend it.
If you think the Atlas V is the newest rocket technology the DoD can access, then you probably think that the F-16 didn't fly until the 1980s and that GPS is a recent invention. The DoD regularly has technology in use for decades before it is common knowledge, let alone cleared for civilian use.
Just because the technology is owned or the products manufactured by private companies does not mean those companies can sell it to civilians, either. Why do you think it takes a federal security clearance to work for so many divisions of those defense contractors?
When currencies go down, commodities tend upward. Buying gold, oil, strawberries, and corn futures when your currency is at peak strength and selling when your currency falls is a sound, if risky, idea.
You are, of course, right aboutt how to complain about price. That is exactly why I haven't bought Adobe software in some time. They may or may not be be the best products as Adobe claims (and why claim otherwise about your own products?), but other, less expensive software reads and writes the same formats and has similar feature sets. The older versions of Adobe software that don't have all the latest features are worth even less compared to newer versions of the competition's software.
Linux users usually don't like to pay... for things that aren't any better than what they can get for free. Have you looked at Ubuntu Studio at all? What about Studio 64? Are you at all familiar with what's there? Did you know that MainConcept has codecs and a codec support SDK for Mac, Windows, Linux, and Flash?
What are the big advantages of your specific product? Is it worth $137 more than what's available? The main uses for your product seem to be steganography or synthesis of unusual sounds. I use Power Station Industrializer and some other specialized synthesis software for that. I use specialized steganographic software if ever I want to do that.
If I was convinced that the professional (or casual) license fees for your software were worthwhile, I'd pay them no matter what platform I was going to run it on. If I have something that's good and free that covers the same needs, it undercuts your pricing. That doesn't mean that being a Linux user makes me unable to evaluate costs and benefits. Weighing costs vs. benefits is why I have a mix of Linux, OS X, and Windows around in the first place.
I tend to look for a .deb or .rpm file in the /mnt/cd0/Linux directory.
I might recommend something crazy like writing games for Linux on x86 and shipping them with a VM disk image of the preferred setup. New games could install themselves into the same image if they use the same libraries to keep disk bloat down. This way, Windows and Mac users could all play the same Linux version of the game so long as they have a compatible virtual machine package like, say, VMWare Desktop, VirtualBox, or Parallels. Linux users wouldn't need a VM at all.
I'll point out that technically which OS ran in the VM wouldn't matter with this setup. Since Linux can generally be shipped without paying hundreds of dollars in licensing fees, though, it's the only feasible choice.
As native hardware support gets better under the virtualization systems, the games would perform better on the non-native platforms. It's win-win. The portability stack under the game is being maintained elsewhere, and games make for interesting testing material.
Like I said, though, it's crazy talk. Why would anyone put any stock in virtualization as a portability method? ;-)
Sorry about the poor copy/paste job on the URL. story on /. about Alchemy
Option 1: Write it in C. Lua is C libraries. Objective C will compile C. C++ will compile C. C# can call C and C++ libraries, so at least part of it will be portable. C can be compiled to the JVM. ActionScript is for Flash, and you can compile C to AS3 bytecode (Slashdot story about Alchemy).
Option 2: Write it in Java and provide a JVM written in C on platforms that require C/C++/Objective C. Compile the JVM to AS3 bytecode. C# sucks anyway, but if it runs C# then it also runs software compiled by any of multiple Java to .Net CLR compilers.
Option 3: Choose your platforms more carefully, as almost any decent platform has tools available for more than one language.
I sure hope you're joking. I paid for my hardware, and I've paid repeatedly for versions of Linux that come with something I need whether that's support contracts or some piece of non-free software included. Mandriva, Novell, and Red Hat don't exist on goodwill alone.
Their are three main reasons I have Windows installed anywhere at all. One is because IE 7 and IE 8 under anything else is at best a pain and a gamble for a web application developer. Another is that I use it to play the games I buy for the PC. If I could play those games all on Linux, the gaming PC would not have Windows on it. The third is that my accounting software of choice runs on Windows. Again, if there was a Linux version of that there would be no reason for the accounting system in my office to use Windows.
Part of understanding market share is understanding cause and effect. Are applications (including games) written for Windows because Windows is installed, or is Windows installed because applications are written for it? It's some of both, but Steve Ballmer knows which one is more important. That's why you can see him at conferences dancing around on stage chanting about developers. People use Windows largely because that's where the software is. If the software was written for other platforms just as commonly, you'd see a much more balanced market share for the OSes.
I, for one, only complain about the prices people ask when they do naughty things like setting reseller minimums even on outdated versions.
If you need accounting software or DVD authoring software but don't need the newest version, you can probably find it for 10% or 20% of the cost by buying an older version sitting on a shelf in a warehouse.
If you want Windows XP it's getting harder to buy. If you need Adobe Creative Studio 2 or newer, go ahead and buy CS 4 because it's the same price. Both of these companies tell you you're buying from a reseller, but they treat the pricing as if they are selling on commission.
You mean Senator Joseph McCarthy's memory lives on?
In an all-switched network that has any chance of being secure, a hub is a snooping device.
Okay, so now we're comparing growing, killing, and placing under pressure for millions of years a bunch of plant and animal matter vs. harvesting the sun, wind, and running water?
That's one of the best ideas I've heard for charging one of these things rapidly, and it's so simple everyone on /. should have thought of it. You get big points for that observation from me.
Oracle seems to be doing fine.
You have somewhat of a point, but you're using a slippery slope argument to get to it. Of course you don't want your heat and refrigeration turned off to charge the car. There's a big difference between using the whole 200 amps and only using 20 amps, though.
I would imagine those with the means and who are hooked up to a local utility with the capacity would have a second 200 amp service or 400 amp service installed just to charge the car. Many farms, garages, machine shops, and more have 480v 400 amp service or dual 200 amp services. I know people who have a second 200-amp service in their homes already to power welders, sandblasters, and more out in the workshop.
A local electrical coop will even hook up a separate service with a separate meter for an electric heat pump that's billed at half the regular rate. That's a good portion of your home's rated service that is no longer being used right there.
Crude oil needs to be transported, refined, and transported again before it's at your filling station. Electricity only has the grid losses.
There are locking outlet covers that require a key. They make them even for 110V outlets.
The taste left in your mouth from unplugging Joe's car and plugging yours in to his meter is a lot better than sucking on the siphon to get the gas out of Joe's tank.
20A at 220V is the maximum for some household circuits. It certainly isn't the limit for a household. My incoming service is 200 amps, broken down into 50, 30, and 15 amp circuits at 220V and 110V (actually, 230V and 115V average, 220V and 110V minimum, and 240V and 120V maximum).