"there's always been something sleazy about Linspire"
Not so. They are up front about being a "for profit" business. The charge for their click and run library is how they survive. Their business plan/market is directed to non techi Windows convertees to Linux. I see nothing sleazy about charging for simplicity and convenience.
I think the religion has an effect on culture. What activities are prohibited and encouraged, pronouncents of what is good and evil in religious texts, the relationship of men and women, etc. How can you say that religion is independent to culture?
Bad or good, who cares. It's a game. It's not intended to develop skills useful in the real world. Do all the shooter games provide useful skills? Wait a minute!
"Apparently there is a common belief among English speaking players that most non-English speakers are gold farmers and are only playing for commercial gain."
Ironic that Comunist Chinese are critized by English speaking capitalits working for economic profit.
Give them job satisfaction, not some BS cartoons. Give people respect for doing challeging work where they can see results of their contribution. Unfortunately there are too many talented people without the courage to leave their PHB in a Dilbert work enviornment.
Two comments: Tax brackets are graduated. A charitable deduction may reduce your marginal tax bracket but won't lower the tax bracket on the income after the deduction. You're right with respect to gates being far into the maximum brackets. His cap gains on MS stock sales is still 15% however. (Thats another issue).
There's a bill pending which would allow MS or any other company to donate merchandise (inventory) to charity and write off the full market value even though their cost could be much less -e.g. copies of windows.
Linus and Gates are an apples/oranges comparison. Gates' contributions do more for relief of poverty, medical cures etc while Linus does more for improving software. The fact that they're both in the software development business doesn't address the issue of the benefits of their respective charitable contributions.
I can't think of many (any) who have done more to relieve poverty than Gates. I can think of many w/ "insanely hugh wealth" who do a lot less. My guess is that Gates has done more than the combined annual readers of/.
The release of vaporware and buggy software to solve a temporary cash shortage doesn't convince me of the co-dependency of marketing and quality products. Google shows us that a good product trumps a big marketing campaign. Compare Google's ratio of marketing costs to sales with that of other large but less successful companies. That said, marketing does compliment ultimate sales.
Yes, good riddance. While there are different types (property vs. physical) and degrees of crimes this jerk is a bona fide "real criminal" for spamming as well as other more serious offences.
Neither flame bait nor insightful. G already has a growing and steady source of advertising revenue from it's leading search engine. AOL has eyeballs - lots of them to be channeled into users of other G services. Further, don't forget about AOL's Instant Messenger which G doesn't want to see getting into M$'s hands.
Maybe, but looking back on their history, they're doing everything right. Brains and discipline are a winning combination. Their second stock issuance will be fuel for even more growth. Put a bunch of super smart people together with direction and you've got to come up with a winning strategy.
"You want to see Linux go the the big time? Make it easy to use. Don't give the user a choice between KDE and Gnome. Don't even let them see the packages to install...the names will confuse them. Make applications easy to install...maybe even make them install dependecies automatically. Never mention anything about a root account...the end user doesn't need to know. Basically, let them drive the car without explaining how it all works."
Like punitive damages, you base the award on an amount which will punish the wrongdoer. I can assure you that taking all his property will be a deterrant to other big time spammers who will not just on on their merry way.
"This ruling could threaten to 'turn your friendly neighborhood computer repair technician into a government informer' "
Back in the days when photographs had to be sent to a shop for developing and printing there was a push to require the shops to report illegal photos (porn, evidence of a crime etc.) The administration of these laws boggs down because everyone has a different opinion as to what to report.
"Sometimes a highly visable arrest is enough to deter people from an activity, without allocating many law officers. All the FBI has to do is make an example of one person, charge him with everything, throw the kitchen sink at the guy and make sure he never gets outside of a jail, and that might stop other people from doing the same act."
Strict and widespread enforcement of property crimes (copyright) has a deterrent effect but has no deterrent effect on a group of terrorists who are willing to blow themselves up to further their goals.
You appear to be just starting out in your working career. I hope you do get a job w/ a co. that "wants and respects you." However, more likely, you'll find corporate culture throughout the US more or less the same - loyalty and respect defer to profits, cost savings, company politics etc. Welcome to the world of Dilbert.
You're getting into proximate cause (legal speak for knowing what could happen as a result of what you are doing. It's harder to prove than creating liability for just hicking in. Also you don't want to give a free ride to a hacker who breaks in for fun and doesn't do damage - this time!
The obvious rmemdy is to build a hacker proof system.
Efficacy of punishment is a function of BOTH probability of being caught and severity of punishment. Stats on drunk driving here in CA seems to show that increased punishment had a deterrent effect even though probability of being caught is low.
Increased punishment doesn't seem to deter crimes of passion though.
Maybe cutting off fingers so crackers can't use a keyboard might be effective.??
It's John Henry all over again. Computers can add, divide, calculate, compare etc. faster than us humans. Humans also build the machines to lift and drive steel better than their creators. It's the design and creation which distinguishes from the machines we create.
Slashdot Mirror
"there's always been something sleazy about Linspire"
Not so. They are up front about being a "for profit" business. The charge for their click and run library is how they survive. Their business plan/market is directed to non techi Windows convertees to Linux. I see nothing sleazy about charging for simplicity and convenience.
"Google is a private company with a private database." Oh no! Is GOOG some other company I bought stock in by mistake?
I think the religion has an effect on culture. What activities are prohibited and encouraged, pronouncents of what is good and evil in religious texts, the relationship of men and women, etc. How can you say that religion is independent to culture?
Bad or good, who cares. It's a game. It's not intended to develop skills useful in the real world. Do all the shooter games provide useful skills? Wait a minute!
Love is also remembering the good times.
"Apparently there is a common belief among English speaking players that most non-English speakers are gold farmers and are only playing for commercial gain."
Ironic that Comunist Chinese are critized by English speaking capitalits working for economic profit.
Give them job satisfaction, not some BS cartoons. Give people respect for doing challeging work where they can see results of their contribution. Unfortunately there are too many talented people without the courage to leave their PHB in a Dilbert work enviornment.
Two comments:
Tax brackets are graduated. A charitable deduction may reduce your marginal tax bracket but won't lower the tax bracket on the income after the deduction. You're right with respect to gates being far into the maximum brackets. His cap gains on MS stock sales is still 15% however. (Thats another issue).
There's a bill pending which would allow MS or any other company to donate merchandise (inventory) to charity and write off the full market value even though their cost could be much less -e.g. copies of windows.
Linus and Gates are an apples/oranges comparison. Gates' contributions do more for relief of poverty, medical cures etc while Linus does more for improving software. The fact that they're both in the software development business doesn't address the issue of the benefits of their respective charitable contributions.
I can't think of many (any) who have done more to relieve poverty than Gates. I can think of many w/ "insanely hugh wealth" who do a lot less. My guess is that Gates has done more than the combined annual readers of /.
The release of vaporware and buggy software to solve a temporary cash shortage doesn't convince me of the co-dependency of marketing and quality products. Google shows us that a good product trumps a big marketing campaign. Compare Google's ratio of marketing costs to sales with that of other large but less successful companies. That said, marketing does compliment ultimate sales.
Yes, good riddance. While there are different types (property vs. physical) and degrees of crimes this jerk is a bona fide "real criminal" for spamming as well as other more serious offences.
Neither flame bait nor insightful. G already has a growing and steady source of advertising revenue from it's leading search engine. AOL has eyeballs - lots of them to be channeled into users of other G services. Further, don't forget about AOL's Instant Messenger which G doesn't want to see getting into M$'s hands.
Let anyone disseminating information have shield law protection. Let the libel laws and reputation of the author take care the rest.
Maybe, but looking back on their history, they're doing everything right. Brains and discipline are a winning combination. Their second stock issuance will be fuel for even more growth. Put a bunch of super smart people together with direction and you've got to come up with a winning strategy.
"You want to see Linux go the the big time? Make it easy to use. Don't give the user a choice between KDE and Gnome. Don't even let them see the packages to install...the names will confuse them. Make applications easy to install...maybe even make them install dependecies automatically. Never mention anything about a root account...the end user doesn't need to know. Basically, let them drive the car without explaining how it all works."
Isn't that just what Linspire is all about?
Like punitive damages, you base the award on an amount which will punish the wrongdoer. I can assure you that taking all his property will be a deterrant to other big time spammers who will not just on on their merry way.
OK. How do we know "C" is constant and exactly 186,000mps? I can only go about 80mph on the freeway and outrun my headlights on a foggy night.
"This ruling could threaten to 'turn your friendly neighborhood computer repair technician into a government informer' "
Back in the days when photographs had to be sent to a shop for developing and printing there was a push to require the shops to report illegal photos (porn, evidence of a crime etc.) The administration of these laws boggs down because everyone has a different opinion as to what to report.
"Sometimes a highly visable arrest is enough to deter people from an activity, without allocating many law officers. All the FBI has to do is make an example of one person, charge him with everything, throw the kitchen sink at the guy and make sure he never gets outside of a jail, and that might stop other people from doing the same act."
Strict and widespread enforcement of property crimes (copyright) has a deterrent effect but has no deterrent effect on a group of terrorists who are willing to blow themselves up to further their goals.
I think the $50.00 includes a year of their click and run downloads which provides a ton of easy to intall software applications along with upgrades.
For a non-tech Windows desktop user, this provides an easy transistion to Linux with a good GUI.
You appear to be just starting out in your working career. I hope you do get a job w/ a co. that "wants and respects you." However, more likely, you'll find corporate culture throughout the US more or less the same - loyalty and respect defer to profits, cost savings, company politics etc. Welcome to the world of Dilbert.
You're getting into proximate cause (legal speak for knowing what could happen as a result of what you are doing. It's harder to prove than creating liability for just hicking in. Also you don't want to give a free ride to a hacker who breaks in for fun and doesn't do damage - this time!
The obvious rmemdy is to build a hacker proof system.
Efficacy of punishment is a function of BOTH probability of being caught and severity of punishment. Stats on drunk driving here in CA seems to show that increased punishment had a deterrent effect even though probability of being caught is low.
Increased punishment doesn't seem to deter crimes of passion though.
Maybe cutting off fingers so crackers can't use a keyboard might be effective.??
It's John Henry all over again. Computers can add, divide, calculate, compare etc. faster than us humans. Humans also build the machines to lift and drive steel better than their creators. It's the design and creation which distinguishes from the machines we create.