The article does have some valid points but there's some stupid stuff in here as well.
In anti-trust law the actors are individuals, companies, and regulators. The clock rate of the overall system was defined no later than the 1930s when the most recent anti-trust laws were passed. The primary data bus is provided by the U.S. Mail.
Holy mixed metaphors Batman! This just makes no sense. Actors and clock rates! Please... don't overclock your actors! Also what is the US Mail doing in here? Maybe I missed something but I don't recall the USPS having anything to do with Microsoft's legal difficulties.
It looks tough, but Microsoft gets to appeal, remember, and this particular part of the EU bureaucracy has been reversed on appeal two out of the last three times. So whatever the fine, Microsoft has two-to-one odds of not having to pay it
I don't recall the proper term, but this is logical fallacy. The fact that the EU has a lousy record does not give MS 2:1 odds of beating the rap. This is not coin-flipping, this is complex legal stuff. Simple odds do not apply.
However, I really love the last paragraph, especially the suggestion that justice be meted out through death and maiming. I'm all for that!
There are only two ways for a society to address such taking advantage of a legal system. One way is to drag that legal system into the 21st century, which isn't going to happen in America. The other way is to dramatically simplify the legal system along the lines of nomadic justice where there are no prisons nor even capability for collecting damages, so all correction comes down to death or maiming. That isn't going to happen, either, so Microsoft wins.
I'm all for deprecating technology when it's time has come but parallel ports? WTF is wrong with parallel? It's more than fast enough for any home or small office printer and let's face it, printer technology has a longer lifetime than most of the other pieces in a typical network of computers. Killing off support for technology that is not yet dead is a good way to piss off your user base.
Huh! I didn't know that. All the news items even the ones on TechTV strongly imply (through the pictures accompanying the story) that it is the individual product packages that will be tagged. Live and learn...
I can't tell if it's for real (and I don't really care). But if a song is about 2.5 MB or so how the hell does one get a movie in 25 MB? I vote fake or written by an imbecile (or both).
It seems to me you're basically saying that hammers are bad because people with hammers tend to go around mindlessly bashing things.
Is that the hammer's fault? Or the guy who invented the hammer's fault? Or maybe it's just that people in general aren't as smart and logical as we wish they would be. I think the latter, unfortunately.
Bottom line: you can't say that a tool is bad/evil just because it's so powerful and/or easy to learn that people regularly abuse it.
Step back and relax. Your average car salesman doesn't know jack about computers and really doesn't care if you have a bug up your butt about Microsoft.
He sent you an xls because he probably (mostly unconciously!) figures that 99% of the time the customer will be able to read it. That's all.
Do think it's healthy that you extend your personal anti-MS crusade into every aspect of your life?:)
The French aren't the only "bad guys". As a Canadian I have some resentment against the US because in recent years several Canuck soldiers have been killed by American "friendly" fire. The US pilots involved were basically just slapped on the wrist.
"After retrieving the young man, Julie Danielson checked the mail that had piled up during frantic days of worry. She was shocked to see at least 12 envelopes -- postmarked only hours after her son's arrest -- from defense attorneys offering their services."
Yeah, sue the bastards! Someone did something to you? Sue them! Make them pay! Who cares what happened, just sue them into the ground.
WTF are you talking about? How do you know his "erratic" behavior wasn't something a little more serious than celebrity impersonations? Maybe he urinated on a slot machine, or accosted an old lady or somethig.
Sue first and ask questions later? How American...
"We need more people willing to face the consequences of their actions."
I agree but that is just so completely un-American. Americans in general are not good at taking personal responsibility. Nuisance lawsuits, people wasting court time (i.e. my tax dollars!) to avoid paying speeding tickets, etc. Why does every product I buy have a huge warning label on it telling me something so painfully obvious it hurts? Often because some idiot loser hurt themselves or allowed their child to be hurt and thanks to the horrific American civil system of justice was able to sue or force a settlement with the threat of a suit. It's pathetic and it makes me ill.
He said "remember when" - I think he's talking about the days when mainstream video cards cost $500, etc.
But to address your "troll":) uh... don't you think it reasonable that if you spend $2500 on a PC (which is a lot in today's dollars) that OF COURSE it will outperform a $200 piece of hardware? Or are you expecting to get better performance out of something that costs less than 10% of the price? The xbox is dedicated, sure but come on what do you expect?
A huge percentage of the Windows user base is people who do not have a clue how to use a computer. This forces MS to design their products so that these people do not call MS PSS eighteen times a day because they've broken something.
If you had any clue you'd realize that MS doesn't want to force people into a mold. They want to give the idiots of the world a software experience that is powerful enough to be useful and "powerless" enough so that they can't hurt themselves. Microsoft wants to give people the richest possible experience but unfortunately it has learned that doing so is often a recipe for a support distaster.
"If you want proof that quality of television programming has fallen, check out the lineups of the three major networks, compare them to a decade ago, and get back to me."
Your problem is this: you are old. I know, because I'm old too. I listen to today's music and I think "this is shit, man back in the day we had good music". I watch TV and I think "man this is shit, back in the day we had good TV". You know what? Our parents thought exactly the same about our generation. And so on (minus TV, of course).
It's quite possible that human society is going to hell in a handbasket, but let's face it: you and I won't appreciate the media of today until the media of yesterday becomes fashionable again in 30-40 years.
That said, this trend towards 100% reality programming is starting to make me physically ill. And why didn't Firefly have a better run? Dammit!
The reason why we have so much spam is that the protocol is shit, not that people run it at home. Spam cannot be blocked unless we fix the protocol, or at least band-aid it with some kind of OOB lookup.
If every mail sender had to pay $2000 a year to send email that had a chance of getting through it would be the beginning of true corporitization (is that a word?) of the internet. Currently big and small entities can have a web presence, including email. This would ensure that only major players can host a series web presence. Who in their right mind wants that?
The next thing someone would come up with is a $2000/year fee to host a web server.
What do you mean when you say "quality decreased" for cable?
Air travel are completely fucked. It amazes me that we (the human race) have taken something that should be so amazingly cool and turned it into the most unpleasant, inefficient thing possible. What a bunch of morons we are!
Funny... I'm going through this right now with Verizon. Apparently their DSL provider screwed up and didn't cancel our account so they keep submitting bills to Verizon. And because Verizon is so clever they keep sending us bills even though they know the account is closed.
As far as customer service goes, it seems all corporations suck these days.
Slashdot Mirror
"The forced open-sourcing of Windows is the way to go!"
I hope to God you are kidding. Not only would this be completely unfair, but it would also be an admission that Open Source cannot compete with MS.
If you think forcing MS to open source is fair, maybe you wouldn't mind if the state turned your lawn into a public park? Property is property.
The article does have some valid points but there's some stupid stuff in here as well.
In anti-trust law the actors are individuals, companies, and regulators. The clock rate of the overall system was defined no later than the 1930s when the most recent anti-trust laws were passed. The primary data bus is provided by the U.S. Mail.
Holy mixed metaphors Batman! This just makes no sense. Actors and clock rates! Please... don't overclock your actors! Also what is the US Mail doing in here? Maybe I missed something but I don't recall the USPS having anything to do with Microsoft's legal difficulties.
It looks tough, but Microsoft gets to appeal, remember, and this particular part of the EU bureaucracy has been reversed on appeal two out of the last three times. So whatever the fine, Microsoft has two-to-one odds of not having to pay it
I don't recall the proper term, but this is logical fallacy. The fact that the EU has a lousy record does not give MS 2:1 odds of beating the rap. This is not coin-flipping, this is complex legal stuff. Simple odds do not apply.
However, I really love the last paragraph, especially the suggestion that justice be meted out through death and maiming. I'm all for that!
There are only two ways for a society to address such taking advantage of a legal system. One way is to drag that legal system into the 21st century, which isn't going to happen in America. The other way is to dramatically simplify the legal system along the lines of nomadic justice where there are no prisons nor even capability for collecting damages, so all correction comes down to death or maiming. That isn't going to happen, either, so Microsoft wins.
We're talking about MP3s that are mostly listned to on walkman headphones. A slight quality loss is not an issue.
?
:)
They could be very short songs too, thus negating your "argument".
I'm all for deprecating technology when it's time has come but parallel ports? WTF is wrong with parallel? It's more than fast enough for any home or small office printer and let's face it, printer technology has a longer lifetime than most of the other pieces in a typical network of computers. Killing off support for technology that is not yet dead is a good way to piss off your user base.
Yeah right. I thought we were all supposed to own flying cars by now, too.
Huh! I didn't know that. All the news items even the ones on TechTV strongly imply (through the pictures accompanying the story) that it is the individual product packages that will be tagged. Live and learn...
I can't tell if it's for real (and I don't really care). But if a song is about 2.5 MB or so how the hell does one get a movie in 25 MB? I vote fake or written by an imbecile (or both).
It seems to me you're basically saying that hammers are bad because people with hammers tend to go around mindlessly bashing things.
Is that the hammer's fault? Or the guy who invented the hammer's fault? Or maybe it's just that people in general aren't as smart and logical as we wish they would be. I think the latter, unfortunately.
Bottom line: you can't say that a tool is bad/evil just because it's so powerful and/or easy to learn that people regularly abuse it.
Step back and relax. Your average car salesman doesn't know jack about computers and really doesn't care if you have a bug up your butt about Microsoft.
:)
He sent you an xls because he probably (mostly unconciously!) figures that 99% of the time the customer will be able to read it. That's all.
Do think it's healthy that you extend your personal anti-MS crusade into every aspect of your life?
Yeah and that someone was Microsoft. It's an easter egg and it's not "written in Excel".
The French aren't the only "bad guys". As a Canadian I have some resentment against the US because in recent years several Canuck soldiers have been killed by American "friendly" fire. The US pilots involved were basically just slapped on the wrist.
War is hell.
Try RTFA. :)
"After retrieving the young man, Julie Danielson checked the mail that had piled up during frantic days of worry. She was shocked to see at least 12 envelopes -- postmarked only hours after her son's arrest -- from defense attorneys offering their services."
Yeah, sue the bastards! Someone did something to you? Sue them! Make them pay! Who cares what happened, just sue them into the ground.
WTF are you talking about? How do you know his "erratic" behavior wasn't something a little more serious than celebrity impersonations? Maybe he urinated on a slot machine, or accosted an old lady or somethig.
Sue first and ask questions later? How American...
"We need more people willing to face the consequences of their actions."
I agree but that is just so completely un-American. Americans in general are not good at taking personal responsibility. Nuisance lawsuits, people wasting court time (i.e. my tax dollars!) to avoid paying speeding tickets, etc. Why does every product I buy have a huge warning label on it telling me something so painfully obvious it hurts? Often because some idiot loser hurt themselves or allowed their child to be hurt and thanks to the horrific American civil system of justice was able to sue or force a settlement with the threat of a suit. It's pathetic and it makes me ill.
He said "remember when" - I think he's talking about the days when mainstream video cards cost $500, etc.
:) uh... don't you think it reasonable that if you spend $2500 on a PC (which is a lot in today's dollars) that OF COURSE it will outperform a $200 piece of hardware? Or are you expecting to get better performance out of something that costs less than 10% of the price? The xbox is dedicated, sure but come on what do you expect?
But to address your "troll"
"Or do you work for Microsoft?"
A huge percentage of the Windows user base is people who do not have a clue how to use a computer. This forces MS to design their products so that these people do not call MS PSS eighteen times a day because they've broken something.
If you had any clue you'd realize that MS doesn't want to force people into a mold. They want to give the idiots of the world a software experience that is powerful enough to be useful and "powerless" enough so that they can't hurt themselves. Microsoft wants to give people the richest possible experience but unfortunately it has learned that doing so is often a recipe for a support distaster.
"If you want proof that quality of television programming has fallen, check out the lineups of the three major networks, compare them to a decade ago, and get back to me."
Your problem is this: you are old. I know, because I'm old too. I listen to today's music and I think "this is shit, man back in the day we had good music". I watch TV and I think "man this is shit, back in the day we had good TV". You know what? Our parents thought exactly the same about our generation. And so on (minus TV, of course).
It's quite possible that human society is going to hell in a handbasket, but let's face it: you and I won't appreciate the media of today until the media of yesterday becomes fashionable again in 30-40 years.
That said, this trend towards 100% reality programming is starting to make me physically ill. And why didn't Firefly have a better run? Dammit!
"Government intererence is always bad."
The real world is not this simple.
Yeah and that sucks. Digital cable blows. I see compression artifacts all the time, yuck.!
I would vote for any politician at any level who was for:
.spam domain
:)
1) all UCE must be sent from a
2) mandatory capitol punishment for any violation
I'm 98% serious.
The reason why we have so much spam is that the protocol is shit, not that people run it at home. Spam cannot be blocked unless we fix the protocol, or at least band-aid it with some kind of OOB lookup.
If every mail sender had to pay $2000 a year to send email that had a chance of getting through it would be the beginning of true corporitization (is that a word?) of the internet. Currently big and small entities can have a web presence, including email. This would ensure that only major players can host a series web presence. Who in their right mind wants that?
The next thing someone would come up with is a $2000/year fee to host a web server.
No thanks!
What do you mean when you say "quality decreased" for cable?
Air travel are completely fucked. It amazes me that we (the human race) have taken something that should be so amazingly cool and turned it into the most unpleasant, inefficient thing possible. What a bunch of morons we are!
Funny... I'm going through this right now with Verizon. Apparently their DSL provider screwed up and didn't cancel our account so they keep submitting bills to Verizon. And because Verizon is so clever they keep sending us bills even though they know the account is closed.
As far as customer service goes, it seems all corporations suck these days.