Assuming that these figures are correct & MS has managed to grow their share of the netbook market....let's not forget:
1) They had to keep XP around to do so. 2) Linux has proved itself good enough that manufacturers will consider it. 3) Pulling the same stunt on the rash of $150 arm-based netbooks that will be hitting the shelves later this year will be much harder.
Comparing Cattle production (more CO2 equiv emissions than transport) and the alcohol industry? WTF?
Cattle production is a significant cause of soil compaction, topsoil degradation, coral reef degeneration, methane emissions, acid rain, water contamination (with cow shit / hormones / antibiotics).... I could go on & on.
One of the easiest things you can do to help the environment is consume less beef & dairy products.
The claim sounds like one of those overly dramatic statements that some journalists make in the hopes of creating controversy and increasing page hits.
s/journalists/bloggers/ and you've got this story.
"it has a 3G connection all the time." "There's HD, AUX, USB and iPod input to the car" "there's no start button. You just sit there and wait for the car to detect your RFID presence."
Keep on building kinda cool stuff that noone actually wants & they'll keep having their lunch eaten by the Japanese & Koreans.
moist-making and grin-producing...we-would-genuinely-consider-intercourse-with-these-headphones scale....Fo' shizzle...clarity was mesmerising....experiencing these headphones is akin to having your head oiled and massaged by Mother Nature herself.....Teflon-insulated oxygen-free cabling.....mouth-wateringly gorgeous and stunning
Honest to god, I can't tell real audiophile reviews from the parodies anymore:-(
I'm filthy stinking rich and have a REALLY nice sports car.
You know, most of the filthy rich sports car owners I know:
1) Don't sit round big noting themselves on Slashdot. 2) Don't refer to their sports car as a "really nice sports car", but rather something more specific like "a 1967 Jaguar E-type coupe".
I am prepared to believe that you're a smoker & obese.
Just because I hope to get modded up for a post containing the phrase 'skull fucking':
Microsoft Skull-fucks Iceland's Economy, Contracts Syphilis
Microsoft has made a business out of selling licenses to run software that can be copied at no marginal cost, this everybody knows. Essentially, they manufacture software, but their product isn't computer code, it's legal code. Contracts.
They make deals with companies, the most common type being three year non-exclusive non-transferable usage rights contracts for the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office software package. A severe amount of licenses for Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision Financials, and I shall refer to it as Navision) are sold as well.
The companies and institutions that buy these generally don't buy these directly through Microsoft. Instead, they sell contracts in bulk to Microsoft Certified Partners (MCP's), which are local companies that lobby the software, generally at a loss to themselves, as they know that Microsoft's lock-in is powerful enough that they can only get service contracts from the company if they offer a substantial discount on the Microsoft products.
Now, the licensing term is three years, but the licensing fee is made in the form of annual payments. Here is where the fun begins.
Now, say an economy collapses. Say some fifteen hundred companies in your local economy go bankrupt. Now, say that Microsoft comes to collect its annual fee from the MCP's. The MCP's say, of course, âoewait, the company that we sold this license to has gone bankrupt, we shouldn't have to pay.â
âoeAha!â says the suit from Redmond. âoeYou made a contract with us, and another with them. Their inability to uphold their end of the contract does not invalidate your commitment to us.â
This is what I've heard from pals in the industry. Pals who're being screwed over right now. In short, the MCP's have to pay the licensing fees for the bankrupted companies.
The sheer shock of having to do so is starting to hit the Icelandic economy, hard. Already battered by the collapse of almost all privately held financial institutions and the subsequent bust of nearly fifteen hundred companies, Iceland's MCP's are next.
The devil here is in the details. Microsoft was just collecting what was due, forcing an issue that, for most places would be perfectly reasonable to do. Well, no. But it could be argued. Hey, this is about revenue.
But the backlash effect has been astounding. Several of Iceland's largest MCP's are now fighting for survival in a sea already at significant turmoil due to the economic depression. Shit had already hit the fan, but now they're being skull-fucked by Microsoft to boot.
And what would you do? Well. My sources tell me a lot is afoot. Several MCP's are bailing out, switching over to Free Software and restructuring their business model. Keep the revenue inside Iceland, sell better technical services for less money and yet double their revenue. âoeWhy didn't we do this earlier?â
Why indeed. With Microsoft's stranglehold on the economy, a long series of lock-ins has made life difficult for the dozens of people involved in trying to push free software in Iceland. With the government alone spending in the vicinity of 1 billion Icelandic kronas annually on Microsoft's wares â" a number not even taken together separately in the accounting books, as it is all written up as âoemiscellaneous running costsâ â" it'd be a really smart move to switch, if only they could.
The easiest switch would be to go to OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Office. This switch is easy because not only is OpenOffice.org superior software in every respect, it's also feature-compatible with Microsoft Office, supports reading and writing of Microsoft's file formats â" even the ones that Microsoft Office itself no longer supports â" and is free to boot, both free as in freedom and free as in price. The only imp
Slashdot Mirror
$150 ARM-based netbooks they can't do anything interesting with
They're consumer electronics devices, suitable for web surfing & email. Basically, like a modern phone, with a bigger screen & keyboard.
They're uninteresting in the way a toaster is uninteresting. But useful for their function.
that they haven't been ripped off.
For $150, they won't give a shit.
Assuming that these figures are correct & MS has managed to grow their share of the netbook market....let's not forget:
1) They had to keep XP around to do so.
2) Linux has proved itself good enough that manufacturers will consider it.
3) Pulling the same stunt on the rash of $150 arm-based netbooks that will be hitting the shelves later this year will be much harder.
I can't decide if the person who modded you insightful is doing some subtle trolling or simply doesn't get the joke....
Comparing Cattle production (more CO2 equiv emissions than transport) and the alcohol industry? WTF?
Cattle production is a significant cause of soil compaction, topsoil degradation, coral reef degeneration, methane emissions, acid rain, water contamination (with cow shit / hormones / antibiotics).... I could go on & on.
One of the easiest things you can do to help the environment is consume less beef & dairy products.
No 'more' than cattle. Yeesh!
I'm getting bloody sick of his internet vandalism.
Me too! He should be forced to scrub his vandalism off & return the Internet to its original pure / virginal white.
Star Trek will always do well at the box office; there's enough die hard trekkies that will go & watch regardless of quality.
Paramount would have been planning another feature even if they were confident this trek was going to bomb.
In the second paragraph, the blogger says:
s/journalists/bloggers/ and you've got this story.
Quote from the third link:
"it has a 3G connection all the time."
"There's HD, AUX, USB and iPod input to the car"
"there's no start button. You just sit there and wait for the car to detect your RFID presence."
Keep on building kinda cool stuff that noone actually wants & they'll keep having their lunch eaten by the Japanese & Koreans.
Nor have they seen people cycling to work at the Shell Centre on the south bank.
What? You think 2% of Shell employees cycling to work balances out the fact that shell is one of the most polluting companies in the world?
Edit your hosts file to block all ad servers. Its quick and painless.
Not as quick & painless as Adblock. Especially when it comes to maintenance.
The onus isn't on me.
Yes it is. You're the one who made a claim (BoingBoing is lying).
How do you propose we prove the negative?
Is the real story of the post above.
What disappoints me is that Boing Boing get on the front page of /.
Wrong. It was iLounge & CNET. BoingBoing did not make the front page of slashdot.
for lying,
Oh grow up fanboy. They linked to someone elses story, with caveats. They were wrong & admitted it. Making a mistake is not lying.
The real story is Boing Boing is an unreliable site:
This at least is true.
From TFA:
Honest to god, I can't tell real audiophile reviews from the parodies anymore :-(
I'm filthy stinking rich and have a REALLY nice sports car.
You know, most of the filthy rich sports car owners I know:
1) Don't sit round big noting themselves on Slashdot.
2) Don't refer to their sports car as a "really nice sports car", but rather something more specific like "a 1967 Jaguar E-type coupe".
I am prepared to believe that you're a smoker & obese.
Looks like a nice impartial artice.
You had to read 13 paragraphs of an article titled "Microsoft Skull-fucks Iceland's Economy, Contracts Syphilis" to decide it's not impartial?
Just because I hope to get modded up for a post containing the phrase 'skull fucking':
Microsoft Skull-fucks Iceland's Economy, Contracts Syphilis
Microsoft has made a business out of selling licenses to run software that can be copied at no marginal cost, this everybody knows. Essentially, they manufacture software, but their product isn't computer code, it's legal code. Contracts.
They make deals with companies, the most common type being three year non-exclusive non-transferable usage rights contracts for the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office software package. A severe amount of licenses for Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision Financials, and I shall refer to it as Navision) are sold as well.
The companies and institutions that buy these generally don't buy these directly through Microsoft. Instead, they sell contracts in bulk to Microsoft Certified Partners (MCP's), which are local companies that lobby the software, generally at a loss to themselves, as they know that Microsoft's lock-in is powerful enough that they can only get service contracts from the company if they offer a substantial discount on the Microsoft products.
Now, the licensing term is three years, but the licensing fee is made in the form of annual payments. Here is where the fun begins.
Now, say an economy collapses. Say some fifteen hundred companies in your local economy go bankrupt. Now, say that Microsoft comes to collect its annual fee from the MCP's. The MCP's say, of course, âoewait, the company that we sold this license to has gone bankrupt, we shouldn't have to pay.â
âoeAha!â says the suit from Redmond. âoeYou made a contract with us, and another with them. Their inability to uphold their end of the contract does not invalidate your commitment to us.â
This is what I've heard from pals in the industry. Pals who're being screwed over right now. In short, the MCP's have to pay the licensing fees for the bankrupted companies.
The sheer shock of having to do so is starting to hit the Icelandic economy, hard. Already battered by the collapse of almost all privately held financial institutions and the subsequent bust of nearly fifteen hundred companies, Iceland's MCP's are next.
The devil here is in the details. Microsoft was just collecting what was due, forcing an issue that, for most places would be perfectly reasonable to do. Well, no. But it could be argued. Hey, this is about revenue.
But the backlash effect has been astounding. Several of Iceland's largest MCP's are now fighting for survival in a sea already at significant turmoil due to the economic depression. Shit had already hit the fan, but now they're being skull-fucked by Microsoft to boot.
And what would you do? Well. My sources tell me a lot is afoot. Several MCP's are bailing out, switching over to Free Software and restructuring their business model. Keep the revenue inside Iceland, sell better technical services for less money and yet double their revenue. âoeWhy didn't we do this earlier?â
Why indeed. With Microsoft's stranglehold on the economy, a long series of lock-ins has made life difficult for the dozens of people involved in trying to push free software in Iceland. With the government alone spending in the vicinity of 1 billion Icelandic kronas annually on Microsoft's wares â" a number not even taken together separately in the accounting books, as it is all written up as âoemiscellaneous running costsâ â" it'd be a really smart move to switch, if only they could.
The easiest switch would be to go to OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Office. This switch is easy because not only is OpenOffice.org superior software in every respect, it's also feature-compatible with Microsoft Office, supports reading and writing of Microsoft's file formats â" even the ones that Microsoft Office itself no longer supports â" and is free to boot, both free as in freedom and free as in price. The only imp
If I wrote down all the files in 1s and 0s, how many football fields would that occupy?
Depends on the font size.
IANAL
Clearly. A lawyer would have considered the fact that this is not in the US & US law doesn't apply.
Ghana is actually one of the most stable countries in Africa.
That was precisely my point. Talking about the threat of banditry in one of the safest countries in the world, is.... well stupid.
but I am at this moment in Africa and it is true that such light (or modern technology) in a tent for example, can indeed attract freelancing bandits.
Oh ffs. You are currently in 'Africa' are you? Do you realise that Africa is of a comparable size to the EU, China, Alaska & contiguous US combined?
So... Where are you in relation to Ghana? Give us a quick breakdown of how crime in your area relates to crime in rural Ghana.
It is utterly typical africa==bandits US groupthink that got your "tech in Africa means you get robbed" got modded up.
Both vi and EMACS seem to have taken the "fuck the users" approach to heart.
There is a difference between being easy-to-use-first-time and usable. You appear to be confusing the two.
clicky!
all i heard was blah blah blah.
I'd consider getting new text to speech software then.
I am not the AC you're replying to, but:
What makes you think for a second that I was advocating they be shot?
Maybe because you said "Why not just shoot them?"
Wonder around enough and you'll wonder into a town.
Yeah, but we're not talking about wandering into town, we're talking about them going back to the same place they've been removed from.
Honestly - if you'd read the article, you'd have had no reason to ask the questions you did.
There are no Crocodiles in Florida.
Wrong.