It's funny; I doubt the average MEP (Member of the European Parliament) really gives that much of a shit about software patents.
However, I am sure as hell that they do not like being ignored. Having your powerlessness so exposed is like having someone insult your mother - it makes you very, very angry.
I wouldn't be surprised (well, I would, if only a little bit) if the EU Parliament (again) excercised their right to completely kick-out the Commission. It would be a constitutional crisis, albeit probably a welcome one.
That doesn't make him wrong. He doesn't pretend to be a scientist (he isn't a scientist). What he does is show that many of the statistics presented by the environmental movement are flawed. And, yes, he is a statistician.
For which he has been criticised beyond belief. The green community has behaved like Bill Gates does towards the open source community, and that's not right.
Just my rant: I'm more green than Mr Lomberg (as a lifelong supporter and donater to Friends of the Earth), but I feel he has been unduly ridiculed for making some very good points.
Phew, and that strategy of getting the console out early so it grabs vast amounts of market share worked so well for Sega, 3DO, Atari and so many others, right?
Are you suggesting that if Microsoft found profits and market share falling, that senior mangement would steal (tens of) billions of dollars? That's absurd.
If, and when, Microsoft's star starts to fade, they'll do exactly what EVERY OTHER COMPANY does at this point. They'll buy something big, and it'll be a complete disaster.
HP buying Compaq. Compaq buying DEC. IBM buying Monday (or whatever that ex-accountancy outsourcing/SI business was called).
And another thing: why on earth do you have the word "profit" in quotes? Is this affectation central? If there's one thing Microsoft has been good at making (and it's certainly not software) it's profits.
Are you really telling me that news sites can't dig and try and find out stuff? Are you really suggesting that if PC Week finds out about a Microsoft bug it shouldn't be allowed to publish it?
Apart from anything, ThinkSecret is not in any contractual agreement with Apple. An Apple employee broke an NDA (a civil contract), and Apple (understandably) wants to find out who it was. But ThinkSecret wants to keep getting scoops (as would any newspaper or journal) and so is (rightly) fighting Apple's lawsuit.
I love Apple. I just ordered a Mac Mini. But in this case, you have to support ThinkSecret.
I am a gadget freak. I own both the PSP and the DS. I have owned every Nintendo Console and handheld since the original GB and the SNES.
The PSP will win, unfortunately. It is the better machine. There really is no contest. The screen rocks. The movie playing rocks. Super Nintendo 64 DS has graphics slightly worse than the N64 version. Ridger Racers has better graphics than - the admittedly disappointing - Ridge Racer V launch title for the PS2.
I will mourn Nintendo losing the handheld throne. They truly are good guys in an industry full of punks.
But/.'ers need to understand: once you've seen the PSP, once you've played the PSP, you'll want to own one.
Well you've raised the interesting question: how much is the cheapness of Indian programmers the result of an overly weak Rupee (read strong US dollar), and how much the fact that Indian programmers are just cheaper.
If a programmer in India, earning $5,000 a year, can afford 2MB broadband, a nice appartment, food, etc. (i.e. as much as a programmer in the US), then who is to say that Indian programmers are underpaid. Perhaps the issue is solely one of the US dollar being too strong. As work moves offshore, the effect of this will be (in the long run) that money flows to India, the rupee rises, and US programmers become more competitive again.
(1) PSP does support AVI, and you can play AVIs straight off the Memory Stick Duo.
(2) The Yahoo! article is wrong. The PSP costs sub $200 in Japan, and *may* cost just $150 when it is released in the US. It certainly does not cost $460 in Japan.
Would that be the same way in which all the guys at 3M and IBM got laid off when making things moved to Taiwan and Malaysia... oooohhh... 25 years ago?
I would love to play with logic gates like these. Trying to create early computers, or just a simple "addition machine" with a series of logic games would be of immense intellectual interest.
*But* physical stuff is a pain; has anyone put together a program that allows me to simulate basic electronic gates, and "build" these things. It would help me understand a lot better how computers' internal logic work.
That's simply not true. I have been intimately involved with the PeopleSoft/Oracle bid, and I can tell you had PeopleSoft not put the customer protection plan in place, it's sales would have collapsed following the bid.
When Oracle first announced it was to acquire PeopleSoft, it said it would close it down. Big corporate customers literally could not buy PeopleSoft software with the sword of "no support" hanging over them. With the product roadmap taken away, they delayed purchasing or went to SAP.
PeopleSoft was left with a dilemma, offer some reassurance to customers who wanted to buy its software or watch sales wither. (In which case, Oracle would probably have withdrawn its bid having seen a competitor's sales collapse.)
We may not like the way PeopleSoft tried to evade Oracle's clutches, but - as far as customer assurance went - it really had no choice, either for its shareholders or its customers.
Disclaimer: up until August '04, I was a stock analyst advising fund managers on the software industry.
Completely agree. I loved this game, it had tonnes of features that modern RTS games copied, yet Eidos marketed it so poorly it hardly sold at all. Shocking.
Re:TV is actually worse than movies...
on
TV Piracy is Next
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Spare me the anti-capitalist bullshit.
Globalisation is aided and abetted by consumers and workers (who *gasp* are the same people). You buy a French wine in the US... you're supporting globalisation. Heck, you read a US web-site like Slashdot in the UK... that's globalisation.
Globalisation is an inevitable consequence of a levelling of the playing field (Indian programmers can now compete with US ones; good for them) due to falling costs of transporting goods and information. You can erect barriers if you like (Bhutan has), or tear down the technologies causing globalisation - but don't forget that when you buy a Sony TV, or a Dell PC, or a piece of Fench brie, or a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book.
Yep, you're supporting and encouraging globalisation.
Corporations have a duty to their shareholders to make money. This is nothing new.
Hooray. We got one up on the vast left wing conspiracy that is Slashdot, and who attempts to create myths about a vast right wing conspiracy that any right thinking American knows is just a communist, or foreign, or Jewish or Muslim conspiracy.
And this post itself is just a clever part of that. By appearing to parody the gianormous left wing conspiracy that is Slashdot we hope to persuade a few of the undecideds that there really isn't a massively enormously giganticly big LEFT WING CONSPIRACY to subvert and pervert and divert and distort the course of true Christian justice. Or was it Jewish justice or justice for people wih wheelchairs. Frankly I don't care. It does not make sense. And if it does not make sense, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, then you must acquit.
Look, I agree with you right up to the point where you say "the billions of dollars they've given his family businesses". You've offered no source.
I think Bush's problem is not incompetence but that he believes (like the Saudis to some extent) that he is God's man on earth, with a divine agenda. (Faith based, not narrow reality based policy making).
Likewise, I find the Saudi-Bush links deeply, deeply worrying.
But, back to reality, and to the original claim: when, where and how was $1.4bn handed to George W Bush?
This isn't informative. It is probably interesting.
What is your source for "the bin Ladens gave the Bush family $1.4bn before the 2000 election"? You make it sound like Mr bin Laden and George W are bestest friends. Even I don't believe conspiracy crap like that. And I believe a lot of conspiracy crap. This idea that George W knowingly conspired to see 1000s of his own people killed to... to... raise Halliburton's stock price is absurd.
When I was at University, I was friends with (and played a lot of poker with) the Bridge crowd.
Once, right at the end of term, the Bridge team was playing in a local tournament and was a player short. (The team had actually already won the county league, so this was strictly for fun.) Tom, one of my friends, and a member of the British Under-21 Bridge Team asked me if I'd like to come along and play. I pointed out that I didn't really understand Stayman, Blackwood, or any of that stuff. No problems, he said, this is all for fun, just play naturally.
So, there am I (a very average bridge player) paired with one of the country's best, playing a form of the game (duplicate pairs) I never even knew existed.
About our third table we came up against a very serious looking pair who presented us with cards explaining their bidding convention, and asked what we were using. Tom explained that we had no system, and was roundly disbelieved.
Anyway, I bid 2 Hearts, and was doubled. So, I redoubled.
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???!? WHAT CONVENTION ARE YOU USING???" asked the woman, very upset and thinking we're passing secret messages.
Tom replied "I believe it means he thinks he's going to make two hearts."
What these supposed challengers don't get is that Windows is not just a nifty operating system. It's part of a system that includes a browser, a set of server software, and the actual Windows platform. A "Windows killer" has to take on Windows on all of these points.
Slashdot Mirror
It's funny; I doubt the average MEP (Member of the European Parliament) really gives that much of a shit about software patents.
However, I am sure as hell that they do not like being ignored. Having your powerlessness so exposed is like having someone insult your mother - it makes you very, very angry.
I wouldn't be surprised (well, I would, if only a little bit) if the EU Parliament (again) excercised their right to completely kick-out the Commission. It would be a constitutional crisis, albeit probably a welcome one.
So, Bjorn Lomborg made some money.
That doesn't make him wrong. He doesn't pretend to be a scientist (he isn't a scientist). What he does is show that many of the statistics presented by the environmental movement are flawed. And, yes, he is a statistician.
For which he has been criticised beyond belief. The green community has behaved like Bill Gates does towards the open source community, and that's not right.
Just my rant: I'm more green than Mr Lomberg (as a lifelong supporter and donater to Friends of the Earth), but I feel he has been unduly ridiculed for making some very good points.
Enough said.
Phew, and that strategy of getting the console out early so it grabs vast amounts of market share worked so well for Sega, 3DO, Atari and so many others, right?
How about...
Any of the Matrix games from Atari/Infogrames...
The latest Tomb Raider (although maybe that deservers 2/10...)
Why is this insightful?
Are you suggesting that if Microsoft found profits and market share falling, that senior mangement would steal (tens of) billions of dollars? That's absurd.
If, and when, Microsoft's star starts to fade, they'll do exactly what EVERY OTHER COMPANY does at this point. They'll buy something big, and it'll be a complete disaster.
HP buying Compaq.
Compaq buying DEC.
IBM buying Monday (or whatever that ex-accountancy outsourcing/SI business was called).
And another thing: why on earth do you have the word "profit" in quotes? Is this affectation central? If there's one thing Microsoft has been good at making (and it's certainly not software) it's profits.
Nice. Unfortunately, from your link at least, not obviously true. Or am I being exceptionally stupid and wrongly accusing you of a heinous crime?
Lucky escape for Arsenal if it did.
No, not really.
What???
Are you really telling me that news sites can't dig and try and find out stuff? Are you really suggesting that if PC Week finds out about a Microsoft bug it shouldn't be allowed to publish it?
Apart from anything, ThinkSecret is not in any contractual agreement with Apple. An Apple employee broke an NDA (a civil contract), and Apple (understandably) wants to find out who it was. But ThinkSecret wants to keep getting scoops (as would any newspaper or journal) and so is (rightly) fighting Apple's lawsuit.
I love Apple. I just ordered a Mac Mini. But in this case, you have to support ThinkSecret.
I am a gadget freak. I own both the PSP and the DS. I have owned every Nintendo Console and handheld since the original GB and the SNES.
/.'ers need to understand: once you've seen the PSP, once you've played the PSP, you'll want to own one.
The PSP will win, unfortunately. It is the better machine. There really is no contest. The screen rocks. The movie playing rocks. Super Nintendo 64 DS has graphics slightly worse than the N64 version. Ridger Racers has better graphics than - the admittedly disappointing - Ridge Racer V launch title for the PS2.
I will mourn Nintendo losing the handheld throne. They truly are good guys in an industry full of punks.
But
Except, of course, that the Times is no longer a broadsheet.
Is it?
In 1985 you got 11 rupees to the US Dollar. Now you get 44. That's a four fold *strengthening* of the dollar in the last 20 years.
If we returned to 1985 exchange rates against the rupee, then Indian programmers would cost $20,000 a year to employ.
Well you've raised the interesting question: how much is the cheapness of Indian programmers the result of an overly weak Rupee (read strong US dollar), and how much the fact that Indian programmers are just cheaper.
If a programmer in India, earning $5,000 a year, can afford 2MB broadband, a nice appartment, food, etc. (i.e. as much as a programmer in the US), then who is to say that Indian programmers are underpaid. Perhaps the issue is solely one of the US dollar being too strong. As work moves offshore, the effect of this will be (in the long run) that money flows to India, the rupee rises, and US programmers become more competitive again.
Just a thought...
Cheers,
Robert
OK, I'm not even sure where to start.
(1) PSP does support AVI, and you can play AVIs straight off the Memory Stick Duo.
(2) The Yahoo! article is wrong. The PSP costs sub $200 in Japan, and *may* cost just $150 when it is released in the US. It certainly does not cost $460 in Japan.
Thanks,
Robert
TVtorrents.net could not be found.
Weep.
Would that be the same way in which all the guys at 3M and IBM got laid off when making things moved to Taiwan and Malaysia... oooohhh... 25 years ago?
I would love to play with logic gates like these. Trying to create early computers, or just a simple "addition machine" with a series of logic games would be of immense intellectual interest.
*But* physical stuff is a pain; has anyone put together a program that allows me to simulate basic electronic gates, and "build" these things. It would help me understand a lot better how computers' internal logic work.
Thanks,
Robert
That's simply not true. I have been intimately involved with the PeopleSoft/Oracle bid, and I can tell you had PeopleSoft not put the customer protection plan in place, it's sales would have collapsed following the bid.
When Oracle first announced it was to acquire PeopleSoft, it said it would close it down. Big corporate customers literally could not buy PeopleSoft software with the sword of "no support" hanging over them. With the product roadmap taken away, they delayed purchasing or went to SAP.
PeopleSoft was left with a dilemma, offer some reassurance to customers who wanted to buy its software or watch sales wither. (In which case, Oracle would probably have withdrawn its bid having seen a competitor's sales collapse.)
We may not like the way PeopleSoft tried to evade Oracle's clutches, but - as far as customer assurance went - it really had no choice, either for its shareholders or its customers.
Disclaimer: up until August '04, I was a stock analyst advising fund managers on the software industry.
Completely agree. I loved this game, it had tonnes of features that modern RTS games copied, yet Eidos marketed it so poorly it hardly sold at all. Shocking.
Spare me the anti-capitalist bullshit.
Globalisation is aided and abetted by consumers and workers (who *gasp* are the same people). You buy a French wine in the US... you're supporting globalisation. Heck, you read a US web-site like Slashdot in the UK... that's globalisation.
Globalisation is an inevitable consequence of a levelling of the playing field (Indian programmers can now compete with US ones; good for them) due to falling costs of transporting goods and information. You can erect barriers if you like (Bhutan has), or tear down the technologies causing globalisation - but don't forget that when you buy a Sony TV, or a Dell PC, or a piece of Fench brie, or a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book.
Yep, you're supporting and encouraging globalisation.
Corporations have a duty to their shareholders to make money. This is nothing new.
And the woman in question was Lady Astor.
They had two other famous exchanges (and strangely always seemed to find themselves next to each other at dinner):
Winston Churchill: Madam, you are ugly.
Lady Astor: And you, Winston, are drunk.
Winston Churchill: Ah yes, but in the morning I shall be sober.
&
Lady Astor: If you were my husband Winston, I should poison your soup.
Winston Churchill: And if you were my wife, I'd drink it.
"This time they got egg on their faces"!
Hooray. We got one up on the vast left wing conspiracy that is Slashdot, and who attempts to create myths about a vast right wing conspiracy that any right thinking American knows is just a communist, or foreign, or Jewish or Muslim conspiracy.
And this post itself is just a clever part of that. By appearing to parody the gianormous left wing conspiracy that is Slashdot we hope to persuade a few of the undecideds that there really isn't a massively enormously giganticly big LEFT WING CONSPIRACY to subvert and pervert and divert and distort the course of true Christian justice. Or was it Jewish justice or justice for people wih wheelchairs. Frankly I don't care. It does not make sense. And if it does not make sense, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, then you must acquit.
And one last thing. Gloating is so November 3.
Look, I agree with you right up to the point where you say "the billions of dollars they've given his family businesses". You've offered no source.
I think Bush's problem is not incompetence but that he believes (like the Saudis to some extent) that he is God's man on earth, with a divine agenda. (Faith based, not narrow reality based policy making).
Likewise, I find the Saudi-Bush links deeply, deeply worrying.
But, back to reality, and to the original claim: when, where and how was $1.4bn handed to George W Bush?
This isn't informative. It is probably interesting.
What is your source for "the bin Ladens gave the Bush family $1.4bn before the 2000 election"? You make it sound like Mr bin Laden and George W are bestest friends. Even I don't believe conspiracy crap like that. And I believe a lot of conspiracy crap. This idea that George W knowingly conspired to see 1000s of his own people killed to... to... raise Halliburton's stock price is absurd.
And you should know it.
Totally OT... but I thought you'd enjoy this.
When I was at University, I was friends with (and played a lot of poker with) the Bridge crowd.
Once, right at the end of term, the Bridge team was playing in a local tournament and was a player short. (The team had actually already won the county league, so this was strictly for fun.) Tom, one of my friends, and a member of the British Under-21 Bridge Team asked me if I'd like to come along and play. I pointed out that I didn't really understand Stayman, Blackwood, or any of that stuff. No problems, he said, this is all for fun, just play naturally.
So, there am I (a very average bridge player) paired with one of the country's best, playing a form of the game (duplicate pairs) I never even knew existed.
About our third table we came up against a very serious looking pair who presented us with cards explaining their bidding convention, and asked what we were using. Tom explained that we had no system, and was roundly disbelieved.
Anyway, I bid 2 Hearts, and was doubled. So, I redoubled.
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???!? WHAT CONVENTION ARE YOU USING???" asked the woman, very upset and thinking we're passing secret messages.
Tom replied "I believe it means he thinks he's going to make two hearts."
Beautiful!
What these supposed challengers don't get is that Windows is not just a nifty operating system. It's part of a system that includes a browser, a set of server software, and the actual Windows platform. A "Windows killer" has to take on Windows on all of these points.