This is why the developer community for the SK imploded. While there's still a core of hard-core SK developers out there, the majority of them moved on to greener pastures after the whole fiasco with Danger and their multiple personality disorder with regards to developers.
This, and their shit hardware QC, are why the Sidekick stopped being a real, going concern several years ago.
I wonder what the break even point is for your system
It's pretty much given that most current systems will never pay back their installation costs. So what is this mythical "break even" point you talk of?
Who are they going to go to, to implement this supposed system.
The same jackasses they did the last time. The major telecoms!
What happened the last time the major telecoms got handed a big fat wad of cash for expanding their broadband infrastructures?
1: The money was taken. 2: The promised broadband (hell, even improvements to their EXISTING networks) didn't happen. 3: The public was butt-fucked out of a broadband system.
What's going to happen this time? Take three guesses from the options below.
1: The money will be taken. 2: The promised broadband (hell, even improvements to their EXISTING networks) won't happen. 3: The public will be butt-fucked out of a broadband system.
But look on the bright side!
We'll still have bundled cable internet for $80 a month (or unbundled for $85 a month) for 1.5/768. We'll still have cheap-ass 768/384 DSL for $20 a month, with the head-end oversubscribed to the point where DIALUP would be faster. And the phone and cable companies will be bitching because they can't feed umpty-bajillion channels of crappy, compressed digital TV into those tiny "tubes".
Wow. I haven't actually wanted an ABit board since the BX/P/E-6 era (mostly because a lot of their newer boards didn't deliver in a format I liked, of if they did, they had reputations for being squirelly. Still, to see the brand just up and "go away" so suddenly, with no real indicators that there were problems, is still shocking.
Actually no. I haven't been "propagandized since birth" to think that unions were bad.
My father was an IBEW member of long standing. So was my maternal grandfather.
My dislike of unions stems from my observations of how both of them were treated.
My grandfather was, to be brutally honest, a barely functional alcoholic during the time he worked. He's also a gregarious SOB who makes friends as easily as most people breathe. His job performance consisted of coming into work, drinking his lunch, and sitting around most of the day doing nothing. And he got well paid for it! Never had a problem keeping a job.
My father, OTOH, was a fairly quiet "do it and get it over with" kinda guy. He didn't make friends easily, but didn't go out of his way to make enemies. Yet several more senior members took a dislike to him. So, every time he'd be put in a position where he had a decent job, a bit of overtime, and sometimes really nice pay, one of these guys would transfer in for a couple weeks to "manage" a site.
Then my father'd get laid off, being told "there's no work here", when there damn well WAS work there. Enough for three full crews! The last time this happened was in 2000, and pretty much forced him into early retirement. The absolute capper though, was the fact that a week later, this guy's kid was on that jobsite filling the position my father had been forced out of.
Sorry, but fuck that noise.
I know I'm not protected from this kind of abuse and nepotism as a non-union worker. But at least it's coming directly from the employer themselves and allowances can be made. It's not coming from some jackass who is extorting part of my paycheck for "protection money" and then bending me over.
"But it's not bad for a new kid on the block. It took silicon 40 years to get this far. By contrast, the first graphene transistor was built only last year. "
Sorry, but this is completely and utterly POINTLESS.
The state of materials engineering technology now is orders of magnitutde ahead of where it was in the late 60's and early 70's. So why is it such an "achievement" that a new technology, built upon the foundation of an established technology for an older material is so much better than the first generation of the old technology?
That's like comparing a McLaren F1 to a Model T instead of a a Lamborghini.
I've tried, in the past, dealing with stupid people via the "polite and correct" method. Yes, in a couple occasions, when they're not COMPLETELY clueless, it'll work.
These rare occasions are the exception, rather than the rule.
Unfortunately, those firmly entrenched in their idiocies cannot have their views "corrected". At that point, the best you can hope for is the "smack across the nose" approach to set up a pain-aversion response in them. This way, when they go to open their mouths and remove all doubt, the mere memory of the last "smack" they got for "yapping where they know naught" will usually cause them a moment or two of hesitation (and in some cases, actual amelioration) of their unacceptable behavior.
1: Technically the software isn't free. However, if the things they're asking you to "pay" have little to no value for you, the cost is negligible. Things like "if you sell the software, you have to provide copies of the source, don't claim the software as your own", etc.
2: Computers ARE like that. You DO have to reboot them once in a while. The power distribution systems in most countries aren't dependable to five nines like computers are. So, once the power burps, if you aren't running a decent UPS, you have to reboot.
Don't even pretend that most bit torrent traffic is legitimate and legal.
So what? Piracy is a social problem. Blocking BT, which IS being used legitimately, is a wrong-headed attempt to use technology to "solve" a social problem.
And in this case, they're trying to do it on the most flexible network in the world, one that's SUPPOSED to route around problem areas.
GenCon is a gaming convention held in Indianapolis. If it's a game, it's played at GenCon.
It the highest drawing (money-wise) convention in Indianapolis, pulling more than even the Indy500 crowd. This actually stunned the crap outta them a couple years back. Gamers and all that disposable income.....
Slashdot Mirror
What part if *GUFFAW!* wasn't clear?
That heapin' helpin' of "we own you" butt-hurt that Microsoft can smack down on any given Windows/MS Product user.
Without that, most users might go absolutely insane from all the power available to them!
Right? RIGHT?
This is why the developer community for the SK imploded. While there's still a core of hard-core SK developers out there, the majority of them moved on to greener pastures after the whole fiasco with Danger and their multiple personality disorder with regards to developers.
This, and their shit hardware QC, are why the Sidekick stopped being a real, going concern several years ago.
Subject line says it all.
Also considering the relative size and land-mass coverage, drawing an equation to the US is...complete shenanigans at best.
Sorry, Westboro Baptist is less like a tree and more like a 2x4.
Except a 2x4 is occasionally useful.
It's pretty much given that most current systems will never pay back their installation costs. So what is this mythical "break even" point you talk of?
But this is the US Government we're talking about here.
You really think this isn't going to wind up as a pork telecom subsidy? Whoops! Sorry about the redundancy there.
Who are they going to go to, to implement this supposed system.
The same jackasses they did the last time. The major telecoms!
What happened the last time the major telecoms got handed a big fat wad of cash for expanding their broadband infrastructures?
1: The money was taken.
2: The promised broadband (hell, even improvements to their EXISTING networks) didn't happen.
3: The public was butt-fucked out of a broadband system.
What's going to happen this time? Take three guesses from the options below.
1: The money will be taken.
2: The promised broadband (hell, even improvements to their EXISTING networks) won't happen.
3: The public will be butt-fucked out of a broadband system.
But look on the bright side!
We'll still have bundled cable internet for $80 a month (or unbundled for $85 a month) for 1.5/768.
We'll still have cheap-ass 768/384 DSL for $20 a month, with the head-end oversubscribed to the point where DIALUP would be faster.
And the phone and cable companies will be bitching because they can't feed umpty-bajillion channels of crappy, compressed digital TV into those tiny "tubes".
Wow. I haven't actually wanted an ABit board since the BX/P/E-6 era (mostly because a lot of their newer boards didn't deliver in a format I liked, of if they did, they had reputations for being squirelly. Still, to see the brand just up and "go away" so suddenly, with no real indicators that there were problems, is still shocking.
Lasers are fine. Now FRICKIN' lasers... That'd be bad. Like Paris Hilton bad...
She kenna take much more of this!
Actually no. I haven't been "propagandized since birth" to think that unions were bad.
My father was an IBEW member of long standing.
So was my maternal grandfather.
My dislike of unions stems from my observations of how both of them were treated.
My grandfather was, to be brutally honest, a barely functional alcoholic during the time he worked. He's also a gregarious SOB who makes friends as easily as most people breathe. His job performance consisted of coming into work, drinking his lunch, and sitting around most of the day doing nothing. And he got well paid for it! Never had a problem keeping a job.
My father, OTOH, was a fairly quiet "do it and get it over with" kinda guy. He didn't make friends easily, but didn't go out of his way to make enemies. Yet several more senior members took a dislike to him. So, every time he'd be put in a position where he had a decent job, a bit of overtime, and sometimes really nice pay, one of these guys would transfer in for a couple weeks to "manage" a site.
Then my father'd get laid off, being told "there's no work here", when there damn well WAS work there. Enough for three full crews! The last time this happened was in 2000, and pretty much forced him into early retirement. The absolute capper though, was the fact that a week later, this guy's kid was on that jobsite filling the position my father had been forced out of.
Sorry, but fuck that noise.
I know I'm not protected from this kind of abuse and nepotism as a non-union worker. But at least it's coming directly from the employer themselves and allowances can be made. It's not coming from some jackass who is extorting part of my paycheck for "protection money" and then bending me over.
"But it's not bad for a new kid on the block. It took silicon 40 years to get this far. By contrast, the first graphene transistor was built only last year. "
Sorry, but this is completely and utterly POINTLESS.
The state of materials engineering technology now is orders of magnitutde ahead of where it was in the late 60's and early 70's. So why is it such an "achievement" that a new technology, built upon the foundation of an established technology for an older material is so much better than the first generation of the old technology?
That's like comparing a McLaren F1 to a Model T instead of a a Lamborghini.
I've tried, in the past, dealing with stupid people via the "polite and correct" method. Yes, in a couple occasions, when they're not COMPLETELY clueless, it'll work.
These rare occasions are the exception, rather than the rule.
Unfortunately, those firmly entrenched in their idiocies cannot have their views "corrected". At that point, the best you can hope for is the "smack across the nose" approach to set up a pain-aversion response in them. This way, when they go to open their mouths and remove all doubt, the mere memory of the last "smack" they got for "yapping where they know naught" will usually cause them a moment or two of hesitation (and in some cases, actual amelioration) of their unacceptable behavior.
1: Technically the software isn't free. However, if the things they're asking you to "pay" have little to no value for you, the cost is negligible. Things like "if you sell the software, you have to provide copies of the source, don't claim the software as your own", etc.
2: Computers ARE like that. You DO have to reboot them once in a while. The power distribution systems in most countries aren't dependable to five nines like computers are. So, once the power burps, if you aren't running a decent UPS, you have to reboot.
3: Windows IS the best OS evar. At lock-in.
4: They are. Just ask them!
[/snark]
Nothing says "moral high ground" like cyberstalking eh?
I can understand wanting to take this arrogant woman down a peg. But this sort of thing isn't the way to do it.
Don't even pretend that most bit torrent traffic is legitimate and legal.
So what? Piracy is a social problem. Blocking BT, which IS being used legitimately, is a wrong-headed attempt to use technology to "solve" a social problem.
And in this case, they're trying to do it on the most flexible network in the world, one that's SUPPOSED to route around problem areas.
Because group-think is the way to go!
And they'll figure out how to impose their will on the individual programmers.
????
PROFIT?
You should only live so long.
Even if they were to somehow manufacture even a significant budget surplus, it'd be decades (at least) before the debt was paid down.
Actually yes, I have. All sorts of games that didn't necessarily have their roots in tabletop variants have been hawked at GenCon too.
No. I mean highest drawing money-wise for Indy itself. Sure, the Indy 500 makes more money off TV deals, but the city doesn't see most of that.
Yet computer gaming goes on there too.
One of the big sponsors of 2008's GenCon was Cryptic Studios who was hawking their upcoming Champions Online product.
Warhammer Online was also there as well.
Grow a thicker skin?
GenCon is a gaming convention held in Indianapolis. If it's a game, it's played at GenCon.
It the highest drawing (money-wise) convention in Indianapolis, pulling more than even the Indy500 crowd. This actually stunned the crap outta them a couple years back. Gamers and all that disposable income.....
Bouncing up and down on the judge's desk, facing the courtroom screaming "DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!"
Now let's see if they can actually make this stick.
If they do, I'll be clapping till my hands fall off.