yeah its called firefox. It even adds an nifty little fox icon so you can start browsing in firefox mode right away. Simply delete the redundant blue 'e' from the desktop if it confuses you.
OMG. 4-digit ID AND a subscriber to boot. SHAME ON YOU!
You, of all people, should know better than to jump to conclusions about a slashdot posting even IF you did RTFA....
As another poster noted, the ruling only enforces a company's right to protect its image by limiting off-duty fraternization "while in uniform". Of course, the biased article that was linked doesn't mention that little bit.;)
Are not the ads themselves killing the free internet?
Bear with me here because I have limited knowledge of economics but it seems to be a simple capitalist economy game to me.
An ISP, like any company, wants to maximize profits. Back in the day, before ads were everywhere, hosting costs were fairly cheap and anybody and their dog could throw up a website. Along comes ads to generate revenue for site operators. Now the sites operators are making profits! The ISPs therefore can now raise the hosting costs to grab a share of those profits. This kills off all the sites who don't display ads, but that's ok, because those that are left can now afford the higher ISP costs resulting in a net increase in profits for the ISPs.
If the ad revenues disappear, it seems reasonable to expect that ISPs will have to lower their hosting costs or lose their customers. Lower hosting costs may then allow more do-it-yourselfers who don't want or need the ad revenues to be able to afford putting up free sites again.
The example you give about movements to not show shows is quite far removed from this case. Such movements are usually backed by religious groups, church organizations and such, center around "moral" opposition to controversial topics and have a regular Sunday audience with which to reach out and recruit their action committees from. Unless 'we' (the slashdot readership) can somehow get ordained as Mormon ministers and convince the citizens of Utah to threaten boycotts against anyone supporting or using the measures provided for in the DMCA... well... I don't see it happening anytime soon. We, as a collective entity will have to place our hopes in the public being sufficiently outraged by the Music Industry taking 12 year olds to court.
As long as patents like these keep getting enforced against the big players like MS, we'll all be better off sooner. No, it's not because it's nice to see MS et al getting their just deserts (though there is some humour derived there from, I must admit) - we all know these kinds of patents are basically... crummy. And having the big pushers for these kinds of patents actually getting stung by them... repeatedly... from "unexpected sources", may convince them that it was all a bad idea to begin with and THEN perhaps they'll reverse there positions and actually use their immense political purchasing powers to reverse the laws.
It's not "really" about choice, it's about the bundled software working better than any third party software ever could because of its use of hidden APIs built into the operating system that no competitor can use or work around. Choice is still there. I can still buy and install some third party media player/browser or even one of the free one's, but when's the last time you've seen any that load and respond and just plain interact with the rest of the system as snappily as MS's bundled apps? It gives the impression that they're not as good when the truth is the MS is giving its own apps an unfair advantage right at the OS level. And THAT is where they're abusing their monopoly.
With Linux, there are no hidden apis - it's all there and documented and anyone and their dog can write their own media application that works just as well as anything that comes "bundled" should they have the time and skill to do so.
Ok.. I'm sorry, but I have to ask. why is this modded up as informative? It's a rhetorical rant with a link to a site with more rhetorical rants. This is guerilla politics at its worst and the problem with guerilla politics is the people listening to it become so overtaken with their own vitriol that they start to see "intentions" where there are none. I'm not saying that there are no greedy corporations who don't have their employees best interests in mind, but to think they have any kind of significant mainstream public or political support worth making a stink over in this day and age is getting a little fetched. Do you honestly believe there's some conservative conspiracy encouraging rascism? Hello? These are fringe groups at best who get bitch-slapped whenever they try to enter politics. The west is where it is today because of it's labour laws and concern for the welfare of the common worker and no sane person is going to try to roll back the clock just to get cheap IT workers.
Free Trade is great not because of the cheap labour but because it exports a better standard of living to the third world. Why would anyone believe that third world workers are going to accept low wages forever? Labour movements sprang up in the 1st world, fought the system and turned it into what it is today and the same process will happen in the third world as well... just don't be unreasonable and expect it to happen over night.
I find it oddly ironic that the most ardent conservatives like those described in the parent post tend to have the greatest support from blue-color communities - the same ones being "held over the barrel" so to speak.
I'm SOOOOO with you and no need to apologize. You're only saying what is on a lot of minds.
The only thing you don't get for free is the code to the actual sun implementation of the JVM. Whoopdeefriggindoo.
Stallman's whole Java Trap crap is just that.. crap. Doncha just love his whole "don't use features that gcj hasn't implemented yet" BS? Here's an idea: Get GCJ up-to-date and "usable" and people will use it. Until then, I don't see how Sun should be under any obligation to reduce functionality in a FREE application because not every JVM or library implementation is up to spec.
I doubt that very much. It's about profit margin, not the amount on the final bill. Improve your efficiency and you improve your profit margin. At least in any other industry I can think of.
Think about it... the big law firms compete to get accounts like IBM. Do you think they'd win by being innefficient heel-draggers?
This is an excellent point too many 'experts' fail to "get". I would add to your point that in most modern work environment you're dealing with not one but many passwords. For example: In my office we have passwords for each of the following:
- workstation login
- network login
- time tracking login
- voiecemail login 4 passwords, just to get logged in and caught up with messages. We haven't even gotten to the password protected applications for doing our business. Of course, this is JUST the workplace mandated passwords. But we all know everyone checks home-email from work, logs onto password-protected internet portals and shopping sites during coffee-breaks, and so on. Users can't be expected to use and remember crypto-whatever-safe password for all these systems and if you even tried to enforce it you're going to end up even more insecure as they start getting written down on sticky tabs attacked to the monitor. I've seen it happen. I don't know what the solution is, but making your passwords harder to crack and changed often is NOT one of them. You end up fighting human-nature and that's a very difficult battle to win.
Except where the goverment is a minority one as in this case - not to mention one in dire straits currently due to a corruption scandal. In times like these, opposition parties have more clout as long as a) the issue matters to the general public, and b) they're not the NDP. Oh well. Maybe next time.
1. In probably most cases management DID come through the ranks - just not the "IT" ranks, and why would they? IT departments "serve" the business, they are rarely "THE" business itself. I would be quite concerned if the managers of the Lab where I work came from IT - what the hell would they know about running a lab?
2. As far as expectations go, many of these are driven by "demand" - often economic but in many cases they are often legislated. For example, some "shit" happens, peaople die, public is outraged and so Government X passes regulation Y dictating such and such must now be done. Business Z now has to implement Y by deadline T REGARDLESS as to how long the IT dept. says it will take. If IT says it will take a year and it takes a year, then they think they are on time. But the Business may have been dealing the repercussions of the "late" implementation for several months.
As Patrick Watson said on the CBC last night: "You cannot win a battle of Ultimatums against an Institution, They will get their pound of flesh"
Might not be an exact quote but it's close enough. He was referring to his arrogance against the CBC in his early years but I believe the analogy holds here as well. Microsoft, for all its money and influence, is still the little guy when compared to the whole of the EU. Keep in mind also, that this is Europe and Microsoft is an American entity. At the very least, old world pride will kick in and bitchslap Bill back to Redmond.
On the other hand. We know it won't work. The Russians and Chinese know it won't work. Hell... everyone BUT the Americans know it won't work. So what do we lose? Canada's involvement in a missile defence shield is relatively no-risk and cost-free in terms of commitment versus placating an ornery paranoid regime. Give em little token help like a pat on the back and some godforesaken swath of muskeg up North to build something that won't work - they get their "support" from us, we get a good laugh... "Oh sure, here ya go, bud" then dash around the corner and snicker with our Russian friends.
Yeah, well what I want to know it... he has to go to the bathroom at some point. How's he gonna ensure that someone doesn't take his spot the second he's not looking?
Oh, wait. It's Episode III. I don't think he has to worry.
Re:please don't misuse the term "goes gold"
on
Bugzilla 2.18 Goes Gold
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
My, aren't we pedantic.
Actually, what you've described is the origin of this particular "figure of speech", but that's all that it is now and most people here understand it as simply meaning that a product has been released. The term is not being misused, it's simply grown beyond its original usage. English is full of figures of speech and if we had to carefully examine every thing we say and write to ensure that the expressions we use are exactly congruous with the original usage...well English would be pretty slow and boring as would most English speeking people.
It's not like it's a trademarked expression like "Lego" or "Elevator" or "Spam".
How about everyone who reads slashdot simply file a small trivial lawsuit against each one. Sure it will probably get thrown out of court, but these companies will still have to pay their lawyers and court fees simply to respond to anything at all. It might add up.
You guys start. I'll watch and see how it turns out.
Slashdot Mirror
yeah its called firefox. It even adds an nifty little fox icon so you can start browsing in firefox mode right away. Simply delete the redundant blue 'e' from the desktop if it confuses you.
OMG.
;)
4-digit ID AND a subscriber to boot.
SHAME ON YOU!
You, of all people, should know better than to jump to conclusions about a slashdot posting even IF you did RTFA....
As another poster noted, the ruling only enforces a company's right to protect its image by limiting off-duty fraternization "while in uniform". Of course, the biased article that was linked doesn't mention that little bit.
Are not the ads themselves killing the free internet?
Bear with me here because I have limited knowledge of economics but it seems to be a simple capitalist economy game to me.
An ISP, like any company, wants to maximize profits. Back in the day, before ads were everywhere, hosting costs were fairly cheap and anybody and their dog could throw up a website. Along comes ads to generate revenue for site operators. Now the sites operators are making profits! The ISPs therefore can now raise the hosting costs to grab a share of those profits. This kills off all the sites who don't display ads, but that's ok, because those that are left can now afford the higher ISP costs resulting in a net increase in profits for the ISPs.
If the ad revenues disappear, it seems reasonable to expect that ISPs will have to lower their hosting costs or lose their customers. Lower hosting costs may then allow more do-it-yourselfers who don't want or need the ad revenues to be able to afford putting up free sites again.
The example you give about movements to not show shows is quite far removed from this case.
Such movements are usually backed by religious groups, church organizations and such, center around "moral" opposition to controversial topics and have a regular Sunday audience with which to reach out and recruit their action committees from. Unless 'we' (the slashdot readership) can somehow get ordained as Mormon ministers and convince the citizens of Utah to threaten boycotts against anyone supporting or using the measures provided for in the DMCA... well... I don't see it happening anytime soon. We, as a collective entity will have to place our hopes in the public being sufficiently outraged by the Music Industry taking 12 year olds to court.
Hrm. I can't shake this suspicion (sp?) that you're not actually a married man, but... an ugly girl.
As long as patents like these keep getting enforced against the big players like MS, we'll all be better off sooner. No, it's not because it's nice to see MS et al getting their just deserts (though there is some humour derived there from, I must admit) - we all know these kinds of patents are basically... crummy. And having the big pushers for these kinds of patents actually getting stung by them... repeatedly... from "unexpected sources", may convince them that it was all a bad idea to begin with and THEN perhaps they'll reverse there positions and actually use their immense political purchasing powers to reverse the laws.
Or not.
Actually, even that's not quite correct.
It's not "really" about choice, it's about the bundled software working better than any third party software ever could because of its use of hidden APIs built into the operating system that no competitor can use or work around. Choice is still there. I can still buy and install some third party media player/browser or even one of the free one's, but when's the last time you've seen any that load and respond and just plain interact with the rest of the system as snappily as MS's bundled apps? It gives the impression that they're not as good when the truth is the MS is giving its own apps an unfair advantage right at the OS level. And THAT is where they're abusing their monopoly.
With Linux, there are no hidden apis - it's all there and documented and anyone and their dog can write their own media application that works just as well as anything that comes "bundled" should they have the time and skill to do so.
It'll have beedy eyes glowing from under a cowl, stubby hairy arms, flipper feet, and armed with a stoneage spear.. "Wicket, the JarJarJawa".
"Meesa gonna pokes you witha me sticks"
Oh sure... then he'd be fired for certain.
People in power don't kiss ass and resent the suggestion to do so.
Ok.. I'm sorry, but I have to ask. why is this modded up as informative? It's a rhetorical rant with a link to a site with more rhetorical rants. This is guerilla politics at its worst and the problem with guerilla politics is the people listening to it become so overtaken with their own vitriol that they start to see "intentions" where there are none. I'm not saying that there are no greedy corporations who don't have their employees best interests in mind, but to think they have any kind of significant mainstream public or political support worth making a stink over in this day and age is getting a little fetched. Do you honestly believe there's some conservative conspiracy encouraging rascism? Hello? These are fringe groups at best who get bitch-slapped whenever they try to enter politics. The west is where it is today because of it's labour laws and concern for the welfare of the common worker and no sane person is going to try to roll back the clock just to get cheap IT workers.
Free Trade is great not because of the cheap labour but because it exports a better standard of living to the third world. Why would anyone believe that third world workers are going to accept low wages forever? Labour movements sprang up in the 1st world, fought the system and turned it into what it is today and the same process will happen in the third world as well... just don't be unreasonable and expect it to happen over night.
I find it oddly ironic that the most ardent conservatives like those described in the parent post tend to have the greatest support from blue-color communities - the same ones being "held over the barrel" so to speak.
Emacs and Gnome. duh.
No. It's the HTML.
*ducks*
I betcha the oil is bubbling away at it's boiling point right about now....
I'm SOOOOO with you and no need to apologize. You're only saying what is on a lot of minds.
The only thing you don't get for free is the code to the actual sun implementation of the JVM. Whoopdeefriggindoo.
Stallman's whole Java Trap crap is just that.. crap. Doncha just love his whole "don't use features that gcj hasn't implemented yet" BS? Here's an idea: Get GCJ up-to-date and "usable" and people will use it. Until then, I don't see how Sun should be under any obligation to reduce functionality in a FREE application because not every JVM or library implementation is up to spec.
I doubt that very much. It's about profit margin, not the amount on the final bill. Improve your efficiency and you improve your profit margin. At least in any other industry I can think of.
Think about it... the big law firms compete to get accounts like IBM. Do you think they'd win by being innefficient heel-draggers?
This is an excellent point too many 'experts' fail to "get". I would add to your point that in most modern work environment you're dealing with not one but many passwords. For example: In my office we have passwords for each of the following:
- workstation login
- network login
- time tracking login
- voiecemail login
4 passwords, just to get logged in and caught up with messages. We haven't even gotten to the password protected applications for doing our business. Of course, this is JUST the workplace mandated passwords. But we all know everyone checks home-email from work, logs onto password-protected internet portals and shopping sites during coffee-breaks, and so on. Users can't be expected to use and remember crypto-whatever-safe password for all these systems and if you even tried to enforce it you're going to end up even more insecure as they start getting written down on sticky tabs attacked to the monitor. I've seen it happen. I don't know what the solution is, but making your passwords harder to crack and changed often is NOT one of them. You end up fighting human-nature and that's a very difficult battle to win.
Except where the goverment is a minority one as in this case - not to mention one in dire straits currently due to a corruption scandal. In times like these, opposition parties have more clout as long as a) the issue matters to the general public, and b) they're not the NDP. Oh well. Maybe next time.
Would you F-off with the April Fool's jokes already! We Get it! We've figured it out already. It's April Fools!FOOLS!
God I hate this day.
I have two thoughts concerning this statement:
1. In probably most cases management DID come through the ranks - just not the "IT" ranks, and why would they? IT departments "serve" the business, they are rarely "THE" business itself. I would be quite concerned if the managers of the Lab where I work came from IT - what the hell would they know about running a lab?
2. As far as expectations go, many of these are driven by "demand" - often economic but in many cases they are often legislated. For example, some "shit" happens, peaople die, public is outraged and so Government X passes regulation Y dictating such and such must now be done. Business Z now has to implement Y by deadline T REGARDLESS as to how long the IT dept. says it will take. If IT says it will take a year and it takes a year, then they think they are on time. But the Business may have been dealing the repercussions of the "late" implementation for several months.
As Patrick Watson said on the CBC last night:
"You cannot win a battle of Ultimatums against an Institution, They will get their pound of flesh"
Might not be an exact quote but it's close enough.
He was referring to his arrogance against the CBC in his early years but I believe the analogy holds here as well. Microsoft, for all its money and influence, is still the little guy when compared to the whole of the EU. Keep in mind also, that this is Europe and Microsoft is an American entity. At the very least, old world pride will kick in and bitchslap Bill back to Redmond.
That's "Sir William" to you, peasant.
On the other hand. We know it won't work. The Russians and Chinese know it won't work. Hell... everyone BUT the Americans know it won't work. So what do we lose? Canada's involvement in a missile defence shield is relatively no-risk and cost-free in terms of commitment versus placating an ornery paranoid regime. Give em little token help like a pat on the back and some godforesaken swath of muskeg up North to build something that won't work - they get their "support" from us, we get a good laugh... "Oh sure, here ya go, bud" then dash around the corner and snicker with our Russian friends.
Yeah, well what I want to know it... he has to go to the bathroom at some point. How's he gonna ensure that someone doesn't take his spot the second he's not looking?
Oh, wait. It's Episode III. I don't think he has to worry.
My, aren't we pedantic.
Actually, what you've described is the origin of this particular "figure of speech", but that's all that it is now and most people here understand it as simply meaning that a product has been released. The term is not being misused, it's simply grown beyond its original usage. English is full of figures of speech and if we had to carefully examine every thing we say and write to ensure that the expressions we use are exactly congruous with the original usage...well English would be pretty slow and boring as would most English speeking people.
It's not like it's a trademarked expression like "Lego" or "Elevator" or "Spam".
How about everyone who reads slashdot simply file a small trivial lawsuit against each one. Sure it will probably get thrown out of court, but these companies will still have to pay their lawyers and court fees simply to respond to anything at all. It might add up.
You guys start. I'll watch and see how it turns out.