I just mean that just because the price is going up doens't necessarily translate to monopoly abusing its powers. As almost everything in life gets more expensive over time (except for maybe memory chips;) for some reason or another.
As for the accord, 5 years ago, the Accord is still better than todays civics. And some of the models of the civics of today are more expensive than the top end model accord of 5 years ago, and nowhere near the same in terms of what you get. Besides, lets assume that this is a fact of life and true. (more expensive because more upscale).... You think Windows 2000 is the same quality product as Windows 3.1 ???????? Maybe Windows 2000 is more expensive because its a "upscale" product compared to Windows 3.1 or even Windows ME.
That is nonsense. MS is not the sole developer of applications for the windows platform. And it is not MS's responsibility/duty to develop apps for other platforms. If the office suites for Apple suck, that is not MS's problem/fault. That is the problem/fault of the people who develop for it. The fact that MS makes office for the Mac platform is great. All the better. So what's the prob then?
Not if we want to run standard applications. That's the whole point. Microsoft IS the standard today. If Microsoft wants to make Apple irrelevant they simply have to stop porting Office, IE, and a few other apps and Apple will be relegated to being just another niche OS
And what "standard" are you talking about? Lets say you are in the Graphics Design industry. You'll use Adobe... Not a MS product. Lets say you are in the semi-conductor business. You'll be using Orcad/Cadence, Powerview ViewLogic etc etc. Again, not an MS product... The list goes on and on... Just because MS makes a great office suite does not mean they own the market. Also, if MS stops making Office for the Mac, doesn't mean other people won't try to replace it. Its not like MS has the only people in the world who know how to design an office suite. Right now, I'm sure people just don't want to bother with it, because there are better things to be working on. If Cadence stopped making simulation software, does that mean all the semi-conducter companies are going to up and die? No, it will get replaced.
The other OSes ARE niche OSes. Microsoft has over 90% of the desktop OS market, x86 or otherwise. Linux isn't a viable desktop OS for the vast majority of people simply because Microsoft doesn't sell a version of Office for it and it doesn't have a big enough marketshare for developers to create top-teir apps and games for it. This is why barriers to entry are so important in determining what constitutes a monopoly. If an OS doesn't have enough marketshare, then nobody develops for it. If nobody develops for it, it won't gain marketshare.
Linux is not popular because many people don't want to deal with the relatively more difficult maintenence process for linux, and the fact that some distros required you to recompile the kernal when you install new drivers. Just becaues there is no office app for it doesn't make or break it. Over here, there is tons of development/support for linux, and probably not a single soul cares about the lack of "MS Word" for it. Also Barrier to Entry is BS in regards to Software. What, you think when windows first came out in like 1987 that it instantly had huge market share? No... You know how long it took for it to become mainstream? It did well, because contrary to popular belief, it is a good OS. Security holes aside, when something is that popular, its bound to be more scrutenized then others. I could code my own OS tonight, and since nobody in the world uses it, there is no security "hole" because nobody cares to exploit it. Nevermind the fact that root is the only logon priveledge for this. If somebody creates something better, people will buy it, if it is worth it to them. Don't you think maybe people bought it because they liked it??? General Motors and Ford used to own the US market. Did that mean they would forever hold their reign, like you seem to think MS will? No... If someone builds a better car that is worth it, people will buy it.
How long would Apple remain a competitor without MS Office and IE available on that platform? Apple competes at Microsoft's discretion. Hell, Microsoft invests in Apple! Do you really think they consider them to be real competition?
Thats irrelevent. Office and IE are applications. I'm talking about competition between platforms. From a user point of view, we have choices. We can choose to use: Windows, MacOS 9, Mac OSX, Linux, Unix, BeOS, etc etc etc.
However, the courts decides that they are only concerned with the x86 processor family, and only non niche OSes, (which is how they eliminated all the other OSes for x86). Defining the scope to be so narrow is stupid.
They are defining the scope to be as narrow as neccessary to make MS a monopoly. Thats like taking a company that hires people from all walks of life, and then saying: "We looked at all the people that were born between Jan 15, 1962 and Jan 20, 1962 in your company, in the Assembly Division, that were from Madison Wisconsin, and determined that since they are both males, your company is descriminating against women.
a. They cannot, despite sustained efforts, control prices of desktop operating systems or application level software.
You're living on another planet. Over the years the price of Microsoft's consumer OS has climbed steadily. It now costs more than a year's income for some people.
As has everything else on this planet. How much does a movie cost at the local theatre here? $7.75
How much did it cost just 1 year ago? $7.00 How about just 2 years ago? $6.75. 5 years ago? $5.00
How much is matinee now? $5.75 How about just 3 years ago? $3.00 Now I know inflation isn't that high.... That's what a monopoly does to you, since over here, Regal Cinemas is the only theatre chain in town... Don't want to pay $7.75? Then you're SOL, don't watch a movie than....
So lets look at the price of cars, which shouldn't be a monopoly, because there are so many car manufacturers out there. Recently I was helping a friend shop for a car... A new Honda Accord V6 has an average price here of $27,000.00
Just 5 years ago, I remember shopping for a car with my GF, and a V6 accord could be had for $16,000.00 Kinda hard to believe that the cost of the car almost doubled in just 5 years. And before you tell me it costs more to build a car, you know and I know that is hogwash... The quality even appears to be falling compared to previous years...
Lets look at the insurance industry. That's probably the worst of em' all. That industry has the most BS and FUD up its pipes than any other. Trying to get something out of them requires arm twisting, and what you get from them is close to bending over and taking it from em'. Get into a fender bender, and try to get your car restored to pre-loss condition without paying extra. And then, go and do it again with an "older" car. They will declare the car totalled, and give you a fraction of what you paid for it and offer to sell it back to you. In the end, you have a fscked up car and enough money to fix maybe 50% of the damage. So you end up getting a cheaper car, or driving around with a car with different colored body panels, body filler everywhere, and primer everywhere.... Yeah, how's that for the insurance company making sure we are "covered".... Several years ago my wife's Public Storage locker got broken into. Someone made off with her satellite receiver so she can watch her foreign language soaps. She paid around $700.00 for it. PS's insurance company said because of depreciation they can only give us $200.00 What a joke. I told the guy, how about you just give us another satellite receiver. If you can get it for $200.00 than fine, if not, than shove it. They decided to be "nice" and give us $400.00 Of the $7,000.00 worth of stolen goods, we were compensated $2,500.00 even though we had receipts for about 2/3 of the stuff, which alone had value of around 6 grand. Imagine what the Health Insurance Industry would be like, if they copied the other Insurance Industries... Ooops, you need a new hip? Well, we'll fix part of the hip. We can't pay for a new hip, but we'll pay to have the partially broken hip from this here cadavre jury-rigged to work out, but we won't pay for the post-op surgery, so the hospital ends up using scotch-tape to seal up the surgery area.... You need a skin graft as part of the surgery and some blood. Since they won't pay for those, you end up getting a transfusion of the wrong blood type. You aren't even sure if it was human blood. And you got a skin graft from a person with skin tone being completely opposite of yours....
Now after all this, you tell me MS is the evil company/industry here....
The market is not Desktop OS for x86 hardware. That is far too narrow.
EXACTLY!!!!!!!
This reasoning must be stopped. Dind't the courts already say that Apple is not a competitor because it runs on different hardware? Isn't that such BS? Thats like defining another market as being Processors that run with i815 chipset. Since only intel makes processors that run with the i815 chipset, they must have a monopoly... Bzzzt, doesn't work that way....
I think you are lucky that you've seen great programmers that don't have computers at home. At my first job, all the programmers I saw that didn't have computers at home, were the ones writing ugly code that barely functioned correctly and had terrible scalability problems.
When I moved on to a "real" development company, anyone who's anyone needs to have a computer at home, otherwise their skills become out of date real fast, and they will get passed up. Then again, some people don't like a fast paced environment, I on the other hand strive in it...
I guess what I'm saying is that anyone can be a good programmer. But to be a truly great programmer, you have to have the passion for it. And those that do, its usually more than just a job.
There is a difference tho... I can understand a guy not knowing clusters from sectors in FAT16 (even tho they should talk about this in your Operating Systems class, which is a req'd undergrad class for CS students, ie we did...)
But anyways, not knowing where a simple control panel is a little different... Is is so simple... Even an idiot junior engineer fresh out of college should be able to figure out how to find it.
I mean, I would think that a software guy worth his beans should be able to have the knowledge to double as an IT guy, at least in his own home. As such, they should know where the Network Control Panel is....
Knowing the little details, is a little different. This is so basic.
What the hell makes you think.NET doesn't/can't run locally? Its just a framework... Wherever its installed,.net apps will run. By running "remotely" what is really going on, is SOAP, etc etc. You can have a remote.NET app not even being.NET For example I wrote.NET apps that interoperate with Java apps. Either can be local, either can be remote. It all works the same.
They must've been VB programmers;)
On a more serious note... If a "professional" programmer doesn't know where the network control panel is, they are not worth their beans, and are only kidding themselves by saying they are a "professional programmer"... But then again, if they were worth their beans, they would be a "Software Engineer"...:)
A pipeline can't make you worse off. You can only lose what the pipeline tried to let you gain.... Nothing more. So a 20 cycle penalty is not worse than a 7 cycle penalty. Its pretty much exactly the same.
Ever hear of a docking station or port replicator? At work I plug my thinkpad into a portreplicator, and use it with my 21" monitor and standard keyboard, and intellimouse explorer. Works real nice, and takes up very little space.... I need all the space I can get... I have 4 towers on the floor next to me:)
I frequently go to that bank, give them 5 twenties and ask for a $100.00 bill, especially around Chinese New Years time for those red envelopes... Are they now going to have me fill out a form in triplicate every time I want to do that? If they don't, their whole system will be flushed down the toilet right there... And the bank cannot say, "We cannot process that transaction for you if you don't fill out that form", because I can just point to the phrase on the twenty dollar bill that says that this is legal tender for all debts public and private. It does NOT say this is only legal if you fill out form #XYZ-123.
If a hospital has a cafeteria, than it is classified as a restuarant as well. What, you think just because it's a hospital that it's exempt from laws dealing with restaurants? I bet next you're going to say that Safeway is a grocery store, despite the fact it has a little pharmacy inside it, so they can give you whatever drugs they want, prescription or no prescription, because they are a grocery store, not a pharmacy...
As for partnerships.... Starting July 1st, in the good ol' US of A, banks can share our information with any subsidiaries or "partnership" businesses with or without our permission. So you know the first thing those guys will do is share our information with everybody and their brother, and when the feds come knocking on their door, they will say they are in a partnership with company _x_ for the purpose of selling our information...
This will never work. Since cash must be exepted for all debt public and private.... What if I owe the guy next door some money. Lets say we split the costs of a bbq... (reasonable right?) Is my neighbor going to have to lug out a cash scanner, and connect a modem to the bank, to accept my cash? The bank already charges for their credit card scanners, and take a cut of the transaction, usually 1.5 to 3%. So you know they will do the same with cash scanners. Some businesses already don't want to pay for credit card scanners, and some even pass on the fees to consumers. Some even do it illegally, as its illegal to have a surcharge to use credit. The correct loophole is to say there is a cash-discount, but I guess some business don't care. What do you think is going to happen with cash scanners? Everyone will say "fsck you" to the bank. What about businesses overseas that accept US currency? What about businesses in Mexico that accept US currency?
When I pay my neighbor, he is not obligated to take my Visa Card, but by federal law, he must accept US Currency as payment of my debt. Does this mean every person on this planet will be getting a US Cash-Scanning machine, and modem, in order to accept cash payment for debt owed by US-Residents? Shyeeeeeeeeeeeah right..... Since not everyone will be getting one of these new fangled machines, there is no hope of this working.
Have you ever rented a car from Hertz? Their GPS receiver once told me I was driving 377mph for a brief instant... Shyeah, right.... If it were Acme, I'd probably be getting a second mortage on my house to pay for all the "blips"....
And if you pull into the fast lane, and hold up traffic you are breaking the law... And if you slam on the brakes for tailgaters for no good reason then to "piss them off", you are breaking the law. Besides, what most people mean by speeding!=wrong, is this: Association != Causality. If I get drunk tonight, hop in my car, drive 70 in a 45, run a red light and kill somebody... Tomorrow everybody and their brother will be saying how speed was a factor, blah blah blah... What is really the cause of the accident? The fact that I was speeding? The fact that I was drunk? Or the fact that I ran a red light? Hey, 99.9999% of all people are clothed when they are involved in a fatal accident. Lets petition that wearing clothes should therefore be banned while operating a motor vehicle... This is the same with most cell-phone users... Just because they were on the phone doesn't mean that caused the accident... Morons will be morons, with or without a cell phone. I've seen drivers that look like they are looking at the road paying full attention, and yet they didn't know what the fsck they were doing. The real problem is that there are too many people on the roads that should've even have their licenses... Heck there are too many unlicenced drivers as well... If a moron doesn't know how to talk and drive at the same time, while still paying attention to the road, this is probably the same moron that swerves the car everytime they change radio stations, drops their cigarette in their lap and swerves, or wants to read the last page of the really good book while on the freeway, spill their cup of hot coffee all over themselves while pulling an illegal U-turn, or trying to put their lipstick on in the rearview mirrow and swerving in and out of their lane, etc etc etc....
If your car is not built to go 180, I think it'll be a little difficult to get it up to 180;) I mean, I don't think many AMC gremlins will let you take her up to 180mph:p
If there is no cop there to assess you the ticket was the law broken? (sound of a tree....)
6th ammendment guarantees your right to face your accussor/witnesses. If nobody was there to witness/accuse you of your "crime" than no "crime" took place.
This is like trying to convict a murderer for which no body was discovered, and no witnesses to account for it, or accuse the murder. All they have is a picture of a dead person...
I'm not sure about your digital speedo, but I've seen some from that era, (not necessarily yours, but other makes/models), that simply flash 85 when you exceed 85. Something to do with the crazy laws the US had with speedos back in the 80s... Remember how EVERY car on the road had speedos that only go to 85, even Porsche/BMW/etc...
Most speedos these days ARE digital, even if they are analog. Meaning, they are no longer cable driven off the tranny. They are fed digital data from the engine PCM, and either display the data with numerical digits, or conventional methods...
Also, since you have a Grand Am with digital speedo, which is not present on the current platform, or previous J-Body, you must have a pre-1992 grand am. As such, those grand ams have a fuel cut-off at 106mph, since they came with POS tires. Unless you had the HO Quad 4, but with how much racket that engine makes before it got balance shafts in 1995, the car will let you know you are going 113mph... Besides, Grand Ams didn't get magnetic coil power steering until 1995 in the GTs, so if you really were driving 113, you would've been struggling with the car....
More than likely the police cruiser's radar wasn't tuned correctly.... In my experience most of the time they aren't. Besides, he showed you the readout on his radar? That is illegal At least in Oregon, California, and Washington. It is illegal to store the readout. In fact it is illegal to even have a means to hold the readout in these states, because whats to stop the cop from nailing someone for going 90 in a 70, and then holding the readout, and pulling over some random innocent guy, and telling him he was going 90 as well?
I've had the cruise control set on I-680 doing 72, and CHP gave me a ticket for going 89mph. He claims he clocked me at 85, and paced me, and saw me accelerating to 85. That liar.... I managed to get the thing thrown out tho on technicalities...
They always post two speed signs... A minimum speed, and a maximum speed. surprisingly, the fine for violating the minimum speed is worse than violating the maximum speed. Though, usually if they deem it possible for you to drive between the two speeds. If there is a traffic jam or something, they'll go straight to the source, not the poor soles in the middle/back of the jam...
In states where they have the "basic" rule....
If everybody is going 85 in a 65, and you are the sole driver going 65... YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW
You are an obsticle/traffic impediment. Law requires you to pull over, and let everyone pass. Besides, are you some sort of saint? I bet you never break any laws then do you?
They have those on I-5 in california too!:) Too bad they are in Shasta though... They put em' in the middle of the twisties, with a big sign saying, "caution, curves ahead, slow to 50mph" "Your speed is xxx"...
They should put another sign below it, that flashes, "Hey idiot, look out!"
One time I was driving through there at a gingerly 70mph, and a car blew by me... I saw the sign light up, saying "Your speed is 93mph".... A few moments later, I saw the guy upside down in the embankment... moron.....
(Don't worry, I pulled over...)
On some of the freeways here, they have police cars parked on the side of the freeway with an inflatable cop on the inside... You pretty much have to slow down when you pass it, because that car is there almost every day, but some days its an inflata-cop, and on other days its an actual cop.... grrr.... What that stupid thing ends up doing is:
1.) Cars slow down thinking its a real cop.
2.) They slow down too much, and make everyone behind them drive 45-50
3.) People on the otherside of the freeway start rubber-necking
4.) Traffic jam gridlocking both sides of the freeway.
Speaking of traffic jams, I hate how people daze off when they drive, and forget to push the accelerator a little harder when the freeway goes up a slight incline, as they end up slowing everybody else behind them down to 35-45mph... It happens almost EVERY DAY!!! grrr.....
In california, (as my friends have been ticketed), and in Oregon, (as they touted it all over the news)......
It is illegal to wait in the intersection to make a left turn. You have to wait where you normally are stopped at a red light.
HOWEVER the 6th ammendment to the US constitution says you have a right to face your accusor/witnesses. In a red-light/photo-radar camera situation, there is no witness, as you can't exactly subpoena the camera to testify against you, so if you plead not guilty, it almost always gets thrown out in court. Too bad many people don't know their rights:/
Slashdot Mirror
I just mean that just because the price is going up doens't necessarily translate to monopoly abusing its powers. As almost everything in life gets more expensive over time (except for maybe memory chips ;) for some reason or another.
As for the accord, 5 years ago, the Accord is still better than todays civics. And some of the models of the civics of today are more expensive than the top end model accord of 5 years ago, and nowhere near the same in terms of what you get. Besides, lets assume that this is a fact of life and true. (more expensive because more upscale).... You think Windows 2000 is the same quality product as Windows 3.1 ???????? Maybe Windows 2000 is more expensive because its a "upscale" product compared to Windows 3.1 or even Windows ME.
Platforms aren't viable without applications.
That is nonsense. MS is not the sole developer of applications for the windows platform. And it is not MS's responsibility/duty to develop apps for other platforms. If the office suites for Apple suck, that is not MS's problem/fault. That is the problem/fault of the people who develop for it. The fact that MS makes office for the Mac platform is great. All the better. So what's the prob then?
Not if we want to run standard applications. That's the whole point. Microsoft IS the standard today. If Microsoft wants to make Apple irrelevant they simply have to stop porting Office, IE, and a few other apps and Apple will be relegated to being just another niche OS
And what "standard" are you talking about? Lets say you are in the Graphics Design industry. You'll use Adobe... Not a MS product. Lets say you are in the semi-conductor business. You'll be using Orcad/Cadence, Powerview ViewLogic etc etc. Again, not an MS product... The list goes on and on... Just because MS makes a great office suite does not mean they own the market. Also, if MS stops making Office for the Mac, doesn't mean other people won't try to replace it. Its not like MS has the only people in the world who know how to design an office suite. Right now, I'm sure people just don't want to bother with it, because there are better things to be working on. If Cadence stopped making simulation software, does that mean all the semi-conducter companies are going to up and die? No, it will get replaced.
The other OSes ARE niche OSes. Microsoft has over 90% of the desktop OS market, x86 or otherwise. Linux isn't a viable desktop OS for the vast majority of people simply because Microsoft doesn't sell a version of Office for it and it doesn't have a big enough marketshare for developers to create top-teir apps and games for it. This is why barriers to entry are so important in determining what constitutes a monopoly. If an OS doesn't have enough marketshare, then nobody develops for it. If nobody develops for it, it won't gain marketshare.
Linux is not popular because many people don't want to deal with the relatively more difficult maintenence process for linux, and the fact that some distros required you to recompile the kernal when you install new drivers. Just becaues there is no office app for it doesn't make or break it. Over here, there is tons of development/support for linux, and probably not a single soul cares about the lack of "MS Word" for it. Also Barrier to Entry is BS in regards to Software. What, you think when windows first came out in like 1987 that it instantly had huge market share? No... You know how long it took for it to become mainstream? It did well, because contrary to popular belief, it is a good OS. Security holes aside, when something is that popular, its bound to be more scrutenized then others. I could code my own OS tonight, and since nobody in the world uses it, there is no security "hole" because nobody cares to exploit it. Nevermind the fact that root is the only logon priveledge for this. If somebody creates something better, people will buy it, if it is worth it to them. Don't you think maybe people bought it because they liked it??? General Motors and Ford used to own the US market. Did that mean they would forever hold their reign, like you seem to think MS will? No... If someone builds a better car that is worth it, people will buy it.
How long would Apple remain a competitor without MS Office and IE available on that platform? Apple competes at Microsoft's discretion. Hell, Microsoft invests in Apple! Do you really think they consider them to be real competition?
Thats irrelevent. Office and IE are applications. I'm talking about competition between platforms. From a user point of view, we have choices. We can choose to use: Windows, MacOS 9, Mac OSX, Linux, Unix, BeOS, etc etc etc. However, the courts decides that they are only concerned with the x86 processor family, and only non niche OSes, (which is how they eliminated all the other OSes for x86). Defining the scope to be so narrow is stupid. They are defining the scope to be as narrow as neccessary to make MS a monopoly. Thats like taking a company that hires people from all walks of life, and then saying: "We looked at all the people that were born between Jan 15, 1962 and Jan 20, 1962 in your company, in the Assembly Division, that were from Madison Wisconsin, and determined that since they are both males, your company is descriminating against women.
a. They cannot, despite sustained efforts, control prices of desktop operating systems or application level software. You're living on another planet. Over the years the price of Microsoft's consumer OS has climbed steadily. It now costs more than a year's income for some people. As has everything else on this planet. How much does a movie cost at the local theatre here? $7.75 How much did it cost just 1 year ago? $7.00 How about just 2 years ago? $6.75. 5 years ago? $5.00
How much is matinee now? $5.75 How about just 3 years ago? $3.00 Now I know inflation isn't that high.... That's what a monopoly does to you, since over here, Regal Cinemas is the only theatre chain in town... Don't want to pay $7.75? Then you're SOL, don't watch a movie than....
So lets look at the price of cars, which shouldn't be a monopoly, because there are so many car manufacturers out there. Recently I was helping a friend shop for a car... A new Honda Accord V6 has an average price here of $27,000.00 Just 5 years ago, I remember shopping for a car with my GF, and a V6 accord could be had for $16,000.00 Kinda hard to believe that the cost of the car almost doubled in just 5 years. And before you tell me it costs more to build a car, you know and I know that is hogwash... The quality even appears to be falling compared to previous years...
Lets look at the insurance industry. That's probably the worst of em' all. That industry has the most BS and FUD up its pipes than any other. Trying to get something out of them requires arm twisting, and what you get from them is close to bending over and taking it from em'. Get into a fender bender, and try to get your car restored to pre-loss condition without paying extra. And then, go and do it again with an "older" car. They will declare the car totalled, and give you a fraction of what you paid for it and offer to sell it back to you. In the end, you have a fscked up car and enough money to fix maybe 50% of the damage. So you end up getting a cheaper car, or driving around with a car with different colored body panels, body filler everywhere, and primer everywhere.... Yeah, how's that for the insurance company making sure we are "covered".... Several years ago my wife's Public Storage locker got broken into. Someone made off with her satellite receiver so she can watch her foreign language soaps. She paid around $700.00 for it. PS's insurance company said because of depreciation they can only give us $200.00 What a joke. I told the guy, how about you just give us another satellite receiver. If you can get it for $200.00 than fine, if not, than shove it. They decided to be "nice" and give us $400.00 Of the $7,000.00 worth of stolen goods, we were compensated $2,500.00 even though we had receipts for about 2/3 of the stuff, which alone had value of around 6 grand. Imagine what the Health Insurance Industry would be like, if they copied the other Insurance Industries... Ooops, you need a new hip? Well, we'll fix part of the hip. We can't pay for a new hip, but we'll pay to have the partially broken hip from this here cadavre jury-rigged to work out, but we won't pay for the post-op surgery, so the hospital ends up using scotch-tape to seal up the surgery area.... You need a skin graft as part of the surgery and some blood. Since they won't pay for those, you end up getting a transfusion of the wrong blood type. You aren't even sure if it was human blood. And you got a skin graft from a person with skin tone being completely opposite of yours....
Now after all this, you tell me MS is the evil company/industry here....
The market is not Desktop OS for x86 hardware. That is far too narrow. EXACTLY!!!!!!! This reasoning must be stopped. Dind't the courts already say that Apple is not a competitor because it runs on different hardware? Isn't that such BS? Thats like defining another market as being Processors that run with i815 chipset. Since only intel makes processors that run with the i815 chipset, they must have a monopoly... Bzzzt, doesn't work that way....
I think you are lucky that you've seen great programmers that don't have computers at home. At my first job, all the programmers I saw that didn't have computers at home, were the ones writing ugly code that barely functioned correctly and had terrible scalability problems. When I moved on to a "real" development company, anyone who's anyone needs to have a computer at home, otherwise their skills become out of date real fast, and they will get passed up. Then again, some people don't like a fast paced environment, I on the other hand strive in it... I guess what I'm saying is that anyone can be a good programmer. But to be a truly great programmer, you have to have the passion for it. And those that do, its usually more than just a job.
There is a difference tho... I can understand a guy not knowing clusters from sectors in FAT16 (even tho they should talk about this in your Operating Systems class, which is a req'd undergrad class for CS students, ie we did...) But anyways, not knowing where a simple control panel is a little different... Is is so simple... Even an idiot junior engineer fresh out of college should be able to figure out how to find it. I mean, I would think that a software guy worth his beans should be able to have the knowledge to double as an IT guy, at least in his own home. As such, they should know where the Network Control Panel is.... Knowing the little details, is a little different. This is so basic.
What the hell makes you think .NET doesn't/can't run locally? Its just a framework... Wherever its installed, .net apps will run. By running "remotely" what is really going on, is SOAP, etc etc. You can have a remote .NET app not even being .NET For example I wrote .NET apps that interoperate with Java apps. Either can be local, either can be remote. It all works the same.
They must've been VB programmers ;)
On a more serious note... If a "professional" programmer doesn't know where the network control panel is, they are not worth their beans, and are only kidding themselves by saying they are a "professional programmer"... But then again, if they were worth their beans, they would be a "Software Engineer"... :)
A pipeline can't make you worse off. You can only lose what the pipeline tried to let you gain.... Nothing more. So a 20 cycle penalty is not worse than a 7 cycle penalty. Its pretty much exactly the same.
Ever hear of a docking station or port replicator? At work I plug my thinkpad into a portreplicator, and use it with my 21" monitor and standard keyboard, and intellimouse explorer. Works real nice, and takes up very little space.... I need all the space I can get... I have 4 towers on the floor next to me :)
I frequently go to that bank, give them 5 twenties and ask for a $100.00 bill, especially around Chinese New Years time for those red envelopes... Are they now going to have me fill out a form in triplicate every time I want to do that? If they don't, their whole system will be flushed down the toilet right there... And the bank cannot say, "We cannot process that transaction for you if you don't fill out that form", because I can just point to the phrase on the twenty dollar bill that says that this is legal tender for all debts public and private. It does NOT say this is only legal if you fill out form #XYZ-123.
If a hospital has a cafeteria, than it is classified as a restuarant as well. What, you think just because it's a hospital that it's exempt from laws dealing with restaurants? I bet next you're going to say that Safeway is a grocery store, despite the fact it has a little pharmacy inside it, so they can give you whatever drugs they want, prescription or no prescription, because they are a grocery store, not a pharmacy... As for partnerships.... Starting July 1st, in the good ol' US of A, banks can share our information with any subsidiaries or "partnership" businesses with or without our permission. So you know the first thing those guys will do is share our information with everybody and their brother, and when the feds come knocking on their door, they will say they are in a partnership with company _x_ for the purpose of selling our information...
This will never work. Since cash must be exepted for all debt public and private.... What if I owe the guy next door some money. Lets say we split the costs of a bbq... (reasonable right?) Is my neighbor going to have to lug out a cash scanner, and connect a modem to the bank, to accept my cash? The bank already charges for their credit card scanners, and take a cut of the transaction, usually 1.5 to 3%. So you know they will do the same with cash scanners. Some businesses already don't want to pay for credit card scanners, and some even pass on the fees to consumers. Some even do it illegally, as its illegal to have a surcharge to use credit. The correct loophole is to say there is a cash-discount, but I guess some business don't care. What do you think is going to happen with cash scanners? Everyone will say "fsck you" to the bank. What about businesses overseas that accept US currency? What about businesses in Mexico that accept US currency?
When I pay my neighbor, he is not obligated to take my Visa Card, but by federal law, he must accept US Currency as payment of my debt. Does this mean every person on this planet will be getting a US Cash-Scanning machine, and modem, in order to accept cash payment for debt owed by US-Residents? Shyeeeeeeeeeeeah right..... Since not everyone will be getting one of these new fangled machines, there is no hope of this working.
Have you ever rented a car from Hertz? Their GPS receiver once told me I was driving 377mph for a brief instant... Shyeah, right.... If it were Acme, I'd probably be getting a second mortage on my house to pay for all the "blips"....
And if you pull into the fast lane, and hold up traffic you are breaking the law... And if you slam on the brakes for tailgaters for no good reason then to "piss them off", you are breaking the law. Besides, what most people mean by speeding!=wrong, is this: Association != Causality. If I get drunk tonight, hop in my car, drive 70 in a 45, run a red light and kill somebody... Tomorrow everybody and their brother will be saying how speed was a factor, blah blah blah... What is really the cause of the accident? The fact that I was speeding? The fact that I was drunk? Or the fact that I ran a red light? Hey, 99.9999% of all people are clothed when they are involved in a fatal accident. Lets petition that wearing clothes should therefore be banned while operating a motor vehicle... This is the same with most cell-phone users... Just because they were on the phone doesn't mean that caused the accident... Morons will be morons, with or without a cell phone. I've seen drivers that look like they are looking at the road paying full attention, and yet they didn't know what the fsck they were doing. The real problem is that there are too many people on the roads that should've even have their licenses... Heck there are too many unlicenced drivers as well... If a moron doesn't know how to talk and drive at the same time, while still paying attention to the road, this is probably the same moron that swerves the car everytime they change radio stations, drops their cigarette in their lap and swerves, or wants to read the last page of the really good book while on the freeway, spill their cup of hot coffee all over themselves while pulling an illegal U-turn, or trying to put their lipstick on in the rearview mirrow and swerving in and out of their lane, etc etc etc....
If your car is not built to go 180, I think it'll be a little difficult to get it up to 180 ;) I mean, I don't think many AMC gremlins will let you take her up to 180mph :p
If there is no cop there to assess you the ticket was the law broken? (sound of a tree....) 6th ammendment guarantees your right to face your accussor/witnesses. If nobody was there to witness/accuse you of your "crime" than no "crime" took place. This is like trying to convict a murderer for which no body was discovered, and no witnesses to account for it, or accuse the murder. All they have is a picture of a dead person...
I'm not sure about your digital speedo, but I've seen some from that era, (not necessarily yours, but other makes/models), that simply flash 85 when you exceed 85. Something to do with the crazy laws the US had with speedos back in the 80s... Remember how EVERY car on the road had speedos that only go to 85, even Porsche/BMW/etc...
Most speedos these days ARE digital, even if they are analog. Meaning, they are no longer cable driven off the tranny. They are fed digital data from the engine PCM, and either display the data with numerical digits, or conventional methods... Also, since you have a Grand Am with digital speedo, which is not present on the current platform, or previous J-Body, you must have a pre-1992 grand am. As such, those grand ams have a fuel cut-off at 106mph, since they came with POS tires. Unless you had the HO Quad 4, but with how much racket that engine makes before it got balance shafts in 1995, the car will let you know you are going 113mph... Besides, Grand Ams didn't get magnetic coil power steering until 1995 in the GTs, so if you really were driving 113, you would've been struggling with the car.... More than likely the police cruiser's radar wasn't tuned correctly.... In my experience most of the time they aren't. Besides, he showed you the readout on his radar? That is illegal At least in Oregon, California, and Washington. It is illegal to store the readout. In fact it is illegal to even have a means to hold the readout in these states, because whats to stop the cop from nailing someone for going 90 in a 70, and then holding the readout, and pulling over some random innocent guy, and telling him he was going 90 as well? I've had the cruise control set on I-680 doing 72, and CHP gave me a ticket for going 89mph. He claims he clocked me at 85, and paced me, and saw me accelerating to 85. That liar.... I managed to get the thing thrown out tho on technicalities...
They always post two speed signs... A minimum speed, and a maximum speed. surprisingly, the fine for violating the minimum speed is worse than violating the maximum speed. Though, usually if they deem it possible for you to drive between the two speeds. If there is a traffic jam or something, they'll go straight to the source, not the poor soles in the middle/back of the jam...
In states where they have the "basic" rule.... If everybody is going 85 in a 65, and you are the sole driver going 65... YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW
You are an obsticle/traffic impediment. Law requires you to pull over, and let everyone pass. Besides, are you some sort of saint? I bet you never break any laws then do you?
They have those on I-5 in california too! :) Too bad they are in Shasta though... They put em' in the middle of the twisties, with a big sign saying, "caution, curves ahead, slow to 50mph"
"Your speed is xxx"... They should put another sign below it, that flashes, "Hey idiot, look out!" One time I was driving through there at a gingerly 70mph, and a car blew by me... I saw the sign light up, saying "Your speed is 93mph".... A few moments later, I saw the guy upside down in the embankment... moron..... (Don't worry, I pulled over...)
On some of the freeways here, they have police cars parked on the side of the freeway with an inflatable cop on the inside... You pretty much have to slow down when you pass it, because that car is there almost every day, but some days its an inflata-cop, and on other days its an actual cop.... grrr.... What that stupid thing ends up doing is: 1.) Cars slow down thinking its a real cop. 2.) They slow down too much, and make everyone behind them drive 45-50 3.) People on the otherside of the freeway start rubber-necking 4.) Traffic jam gridlocking both sides of the freeway. Speaking of traffic jams, I hate how people daze off when they drive, and forget to push the accelerator a little harder when the freeway goes up a slight incline, as they end up slowing everybody else behind them down to 35-45mph... It happens almost EVERY DAY!!! grrr.....
In california, (as my friends have been ticketed), and in Oregon, (as they touted it all over the news)...... It is illegal to wait in the intersection to make a left turn. You have to wait where you normally are stopped at a red light. HOWEVER the 6th ammendment to the US constitution says you have a right to face your accusor/witnesses. In a red-light/photo-radar camera situation, there is no witness, as you can't exactly subpoena the camera to testify against you, so if you plead not guilty, it almost always gets thrown out in court. Too bad many people don't know their rights :/