Remember that most people who say they know something don't. Supporting Windows only makes sense in this case, because realistically, would YOU want to have to spend the money to train your helpdesk monkeys how to get every 14 year old who gets RedHat 5.1 with a book onto the internet?
Sometimes you're lucky and you get a person like me on the other end of the line who wants to help no matter what (I'm not in the computer industry anymore), but for the most part, you're going to get a guy who was trained to get people through lowest common denominator problems.
I don't know about you, but I have Cable TV *AND* Cable Internet. When I lived in Southern Ontario, I had Bell ExpressVu and internet from another provider.
TV and Internet are ***NOT*** en either/or proposition. Most people who have the latter have both.
I myself thought about the idea that the same kind of people who run meat packing plants (I hope you like minority with your cheeseburger) could concievably run other institutions like firefighting, police, and highway construction/maintinence.
Then I snap out of it and realize that most of these things WERE run by companies at SOME point, and it was such a horrible idea, we changed it.:P
We saw what libertarianism brought with the industrial revolution. I don't care to go back to that kind of world, where the people are slaves to the company which pays them. We have (most^H^H^H^Hsome) laws for a reason, after all.
With that said, the abolition of copyright would be the most trivial and pathetic consolation compared to the widespread corporate abuse which would likely spread from the wholesale application of such ideas.
Absolutely. For this same reason, I haven't just not downloaded music or movies, I haven't bought them either. That's a sizeable chunk of change I've sent to entertainment industries which at the very least, don't have the government in their pockets.
It's a shitty choice, but it is a choice. Supporting companies who think these kinds of attitudes are acceptable by watching their works is just the same whether you pay to do so or not.
CD-ROM drives, as well as DVD-ROM drives, both started out as heinously expensive, with limited availability. CDRs and DVDRs too.
I honestly wouldn't make any bets right now. This could be huge, it could be useless. However things turn out, it's going to go through the same process that has lead to 10 cent CDRs and 50 dollar CDR drives today.
To dissenters, to supporters, I have just one thing to say: Put up or shut up.
Simple as that. Open Source is just religion unless people are actually getting into it and working on stuff. Knocking Open Source is just trolling unless you're doing something to actually improve the situation.
Give me one good reason why borrowing money just because you can is a good idea.
Unlike loans, taxes have NO interest rate, NO maintinence fees, and do NOT have to be paid back.
Why do you so fervently believe that debt, in a society that can afford not to pay that extra overhead, is a good idea? Doesn't taking money from the future like that run counter to your ideals of smaller government?
This is a fundamental flaw in many of these ideologies, your own ideas included. Oh yeah, borrow! Borrow until your hands bleed from signing so many cheques! Except that someday, YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY IT BACK.
Now is that time that Canadians are being forced to pay back the excesses of the 80's.
BY THE WAY, you decided to ask a stupid question which I had already answered. Let me reiterate the question and the answer.
Q:[...] why should we cut back debt?
A:[...]the majority of our taxes go to paying MAINTINENCE on the debt.
Seriously, you don't borrow money just because you can!!! You DO have to pay that money back someday, and the fact that the idea of not doing so is so popular is evidence that something is seriously wrong with the ideology you profess!!!
Once again, look at what happened to Japan when the bubble burst. Their economy is very much like the american economy, in that it's artificially inflated by debt. The only difference is that their bubble has already burst.
I was 20 when I began the weight loss, and I was 21 when I completed it. It took 6 months to lose approximately 150 lbs. Those photos are completely real, and undoctored, except possibly for colour correction.
My skin was fairly loose directly afterwards, but it naturally tightens up with time(especially if you're young like me). The final picture there is from 6 months after I had hit my final goal.
Sadly, your views are dangerous, selfish, and stupid.
Dangerous - The government paying back it's debts is not an indication of overtaxation, it's an indication that the populous was undertaxed for a period of time, which caused the government to have to take a debt. Your ideas that defecits are ok fly in the face of the fact that the majority of our taxes go to paying MAINTINENCE on the debt.
Selfish - This is pretty damned obvious. "Oh, they're overtaxing us! Waah!! They should give back that money instead of paying down the federal debt!"
Stupid - When you take out a mortgage, you pay it back, or you lose your house. They have a word for people who live in defecit as you'd advocate: Bankrupt. Eventually the house gets paid off, and that's what people like you completely fail to recognise.
Ignorant sods like you who think that the government doesn't follow the same basic rules as a household WILL end up destroying the nations you're most prominent in. It happened in Japan when the yen collapsed, it will happen in the USA when their house of cards collapses, and when that happens, you'll be too caught up in your philosophy to notice that our little country managed to be the only country to achieve real GDP growth in the 2001-2002 recession.
So you're saying it's justified to redistribute wealth to appease the wishes of a group that does not have the financial means to attain their demands?
Yes. We build hospitals in norther communities too. We also give money to college students, build roads for people who couldn't afford to build them on their own, and maintain police forces, fire departments, and democratic institutions, all with taxpayer dollars.
That is theft. It is immoral.
No, you stupid fucker, that's government, a social contract of sorts in which certain ventures are funded by taxpayer money, even though they won't help 100% of the people. I don't need hospitals or police or roads, seeing as I'm in the fittest shape of my life, I ride my bike or walk to most places(you don't need a big road for that, just a trail), and can defend myself against most people who would do me harm. Oddly enough, I can and do make use of subsidies on college education, because I'm a canadian citizen and it's available(in fact, it's mandatory -- International students pay 6 thousand dollars more per year in tuition than I do by default).
I believe that a private highway system would have been far more efficient.
America would not be the place it is today if the automotive industry hadn't been subsidized in this way. The automobile wouldn't have taken off as quickly, and several major developments in their culture never would have happened.
Had it occurred to you that a million original games have been passed over because this one is a clone of a popular game?
Having developed two (admittedly not terribly original or polished) games myself, I can attest that there ARE games that aren't direct clones of others, but the clones will get more publicity because of the built-in fanbase.
While the creators of original games need to get the word of their creation out there because nobody has ever heard of "Rambo vs. Kitty Cat", news of a freeware/gpl version of civilization, or stunts or whatever will spread through the communities of people still enjoying older games.
Making you wander up a treadmill while threatening to take it away is NOT the solution to this.
I believe a new look at the system used in MMORPGs is in order. Levelling is great for the bank accounts of companies charging per month fees, but it's just not fun to most people.
If I were to make a new mmorpg, I'd remove the concept of levelling entirely, and replace it with more tangible things; make it so the newbie has to hunt for his weapons and such, so pacing can be controlled that way, rather than being allowed to use Sword X after you pay Y Credits as long as you've killed Z creatures so you're at the appropriate level.
Also, make it so the game is easy to learn but hard to master, possibly by making the battle system more subtle than "I attack! You attack! I get attacked! You get attacked!".
This would make the playing curve for getting deep into a mmorpg much smaller, which would get more people to enjoy it sooner. More importantly, people could invite their freinds to play and after showing them how to defend themselves, they could go on adventures right away, instead of either being forced to babysit a level 1 CrappyMage or ditching their character to create a new one.
Comparing the US to Canada with a single number like that is ignorant. Despite of their proximity, there are two different cultures at work, as well as a variety of non-trivial factors to include when considering the wealth of either nation -- the Federal Government of Canada has had a balanced budget for the better part of a decade, for example.
Broadband is an infastructure which the market can't decide it wants -- Either someone brings it in or they don't get it. Geektown NWT, with 5000 people willing to pay for broadband won't have broadband just because they want it, they won't get it until it is provided. Furthermore, small private enterprise can't provide it unless the infastructure already exists. That's where things like these are useful.
The same was true when the interstate highway system was installed in the US half a century back. You could have millions clamouring for roads crossing the nation, but it wouldn't exist until someone made it. Luckily for America, the government stepped up to plate and funded the interstate highway system.
Slashdot Mirror
Or...they could...just...you know....not let their kids play the games...
But hey, razor thin safety barrier vs. getting off your ass and parenting for once, I know I'd choose the razor thin safety barrier too...right?
Yes, I'm sure the CEOs of those three companies are sitting around surfing slashdot, and they're definitely quaking in their boots.
Remember that most people who say they know something don't. Supporting Windows only makes sense in this case, because realistically, would YOU want to have to spend the money to train your helpdesk monkeys how to get every 14 year old who gets RedHat 5.1 with a book onto the internet?
Sometimes you're lucky and you get a person like me on the other end of the line who wants to help no matter what (I'm not in the computer industry anymore), but for the most part, you're going to get a guy who was trained to get people through lowest common denominator problems.
I don't know about you, but I have Cable TV *AND* Cable Internet. When I lived in Southern Ontario, I had Bell ExpressVu and internet from another provider.
TV and Internet are ***NOT*** en either/or proposition. Most people who have the latter have both.
I myself thought about the idea that the same kind of people who run meat packing plants (I hope you like minority with your cheeseburger) could concievably run other institutions like firefighting, police, and highway construction/maintinence.
:P
Then I snap out of it and realize that most of these things WERE run by companies at SOME point, and it was such a horrible idea, we changed it.
We saw what libertarianism brought with the industrial revolution. I don't care to go back to that kind of world, where the people are slaves to the company which pays them. We have (most^H^H^H^Hsome) laws for a reason, after all.
With that said, the abolition of copyright would be the most trivial and pathetic consolation compared to the widespread corporate abuse which would likely spread from the wholesale application of such ideas.
I could be wrong though.
Absolutely. For this same reason, I haven't just not downloaded music or movies, I haven't bought them either. That's a sizeable chunk of change I've sent to entertainment industries which at the very least, don't have the government in their pockets.
It's a shitty choice, but it is a choice. Supporting companies who think these kinds of attitudes are acceptable by watching their works is just the same whether you pay to do so or not.
What can be said to someone who refuses to pay his debts, who actively OPPOSES balanced budgets?
Enjoy your meltdown. You'll have collectively earned it.
Nobody around here has a sense of humor...
*SJ Zero shakes his fist
CURSE YOU SLASHDOT!!!!!
The spanish granted me the title. No one expected it.
CD-ROM drives, as well as DVD-ROM drives, both started out as heinously expensive, with limited availability. CDRs and DVDRs too.
I honestly wouldn't make any bets right now. This could be huge, it could be useless. However things turn out, it's going to go through the same process that has lead to 10 cent CDRs and 50 dollar CDR drives today.
To dissenters, to supporters, I have just one thing to say: Put up or shut up.
Simple as that. Open Source is just religion unless people are actually getting into it and working on stuff. Knocking Open Source is just trolling unless you're doing something to actually improve the situation.
That is all.
You know what else would be funny? If radiation gave you superpowers instead of cancer.
Oh.
*SJ Zero waves his fist in anger!
CURSE YOU RUPERT MURDOCH!
I'm not understanding why market share matters in this case.
On the other hand, I'm not sure why you think open source has to be Linux.
Dunno. Why do you have a CD burner? ;p
Give me one good reason why borrowing money just because you can is a good idea.
Unlike loans, taxes have NO interest rate, NO maintinence fees, and do NOT have to be paid back.
Why do you so fervently believe that debt, in a society that can afford not to pay that extra overhead, is a good idea? Doesn't taking money from the future like that run counter to your ideals of smaller government?
Do you never plan to return the money you borrow?
This is a fundamental flaw in many of these ideologies, your own ideas included. Oh yeah, borrow! Borrow until your hands bleed from signing so many cheques! Except that someday, YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY IT BACK.
Now is that time that Canadians are being forced to pay back the excesses of the 80's.
BY THE WAY, you decided to ask a stupid question which I had already answered. Let me reiterate the question and the answer.
Q:[...] why should we cut back debt?
A:[...]the majority of our taxes go to paying MAINTINENCE on the debt.
Seriously, you don't borrow money just because you can!!! You DO have to pay that money back someday, and the fact that the idea of not doing so is so popular is evidence that something is seriously wrong with the ideology you profess!!!
Once again, look at what happened to Japan when the bubble burst. Their economy is very much like the american economy, in that it's artificially inflated by debt. The only difference is that their bubble has already burst.
eMule definitely helps you better yourself.
Patience is a virtue, right?
Because even though the game is a clone, it's an original clone which uses no copyrighted material from the original.
Do I get a prize?
I was 20 when I began the weight loss, and I was 21 when I completed it. It took 6 months to lose approximately 150 lbs. Those photos are completely real, and undoctored, except possibly for colour correction.
My skin was fairly loose directly afterwards, but it naturally tightens up with time(especially if you're young like me). The final picture there is from 6 months after I had hit my final goal.
Ah, a "Conservative".
Sadly, your views are dangerous, selfish, and stupid.
Dangerous - The government paying back it's debts is not an indication of overtaxation, it's an indication that the populous was undertaxed for a period of time, which caused the government to have to take a debt. Your ideas that defecits are ok fly in the face of the fact that the majority of our taxes go to paying MAINTINENCE on the debt.
Selfish - This is pretty damned obvious. "Oh, they're overtaxing us! Waah!! They should give back that money instead of paying down the federal debt!"
Stupid - When you take out a mortgage, you pay it back, or you lose your house. They have a word for people who live in defecit as you'd advocate: Bankrupt. Eventually the house gets paid off, and that's what people like you completely fail to recognise.
Ignorant sods like you who think that the government doesn't follow the same basic rules as a household WILL end up destroying the nations you're most prominent in. It happened in Japan when the yen collapsed, it will happen in the USA when their house of cards collapses, and when that happens, you'll be too caught up in your philosophy to notice that our little country managed to be the only country to achieve real GDP growth in the 2001-2002 recession.
So you're saying it's justified to redistribute wealth to appease the wishes of a group that does not have the financial means to attain their demands?
Yes. We build hospitals in norther communities too. We also give money to college students, build roads for people who couldn't afford to build them on their own, and maintain police forces, fire departments, and democratic institutions, all with taxpayer dollars.
That is theft. It is immoral.
No, you stupid fucker, that's government, a social contract of sorts in which certain ventures are funded by taxpayer money, even though they won't help 100% of the people. I don't need hospitals or police or roads, seeing as I'm in the fittest shape of my life, I ride my bike or walk to most places(you don't need a big road for that, just a trail), and can defend myself against most people who would do me harm. Oddly enough, I can and do make use of subsidies on college education, because I'm a canadian citizen and it's available(in fact, it's mandatory -- International students pay 6 thousand dollars more per year in tuition than I do by default).
I believe that a private highway system would have been far more efficient.
America would not be the place it is today if the automotive industry hadn't been subsidized in this way. The automobile wouldn't have taken off as quickly, and several major developments in their culture never would have happened.
Had it occurred to you that a million original games have been passed over because this one is a clone of a popular game?
Having developed two (admittedly not terribly original or polished) games myself, I can attest that there ARE games that aren't direct clones of others, but the clones will get more publicity because of the built-in fanbase.
While the creators of original games need to get the word of their creation out there because nobody has ever heard of "Rambo vs. Kitty Cat", news of a freeware/gpl version of civilization, or stunts or whatever will spread through the communities of people still enjoying older games.
Is the art I made in GiMP GPL? I used a filter, after all!
Making you wander up a treadmill while threatening to take it away is NOT the solution to this.
I believe a new look at the system used in MMORPGs is in order. Levelling is great for the bank accounts of companies charging per month fees, but it's just not fun to most people.
If I were to make a new mmorpg, I'd remove the concept of levelling entirely, and replace it with more tangible things; make it so the newbie has to hunt for his weapons and such, so pacing can be controlled that way, rather than being allowed to use Sword X after you pay Y Credits as long as you've killed Z creatures so you're at the appropriate level.
Also, make it so the game is easy to learn but hard to master, possibly by making the battle system more subtle than "I attack! You attack! I get attacked! You get attacked!".
This would make the playing curve for getting deep into a mmorpg much smaller, which would get more people to enjoy it sooner. More importantly, people could invite their freinds to play and after showing them how to defend themselves, they could go on adventures right away, instead of either being forced to babysit a level 1 CrappyMage or ditching their character to create a new one.
Comparing the US to Canada with a single number like that is ignorant. Despite of their proximity, there are two different cultures at work, as well as a variety of non-trivial factors to include when considering the wealth of either nation -- the Federal Government of Canada has had a balanced budget for the better part of a decade, for example.
Broadband is an infastructure which the market can't decide it wants -- Either someone brings it in or they don't get it. Geektown NWT, with 5000 people willing to pay for broadband won't have broadband just because they want it, they won't get it until it is provided. Furthermore, small private enterprise can't provide it unless the infastructure already exists. That's where things like these are useful.
The same was true when the interstate highway system was installed in the US half a century back. You could have millions clamouring for roads crossing the nation, but it wouldn't exist until someone made it. Luckily for America, the government stepped up to plate and funded the interstate highway system.