If you use any x86 based registers with a custom (or shelf) application which "mimics" a real cash-register, you will immediately be caught in vendor lock-in.
My suggestion is to look at what is available from real cash-register manufacturers. Most if not all of these vendors will have a serial (or other) interface which will upload/download data using standard ASCII, comma-delimited files.
This should reduce your task to a simple import/export routine with perhaps a little data massaging to get it into/out-of whatever back end system you want to use/develop.
I successfully used Sharp cash registers for this over 15 years ago. All of the PLU (Price-Look-Up) codes and pricing (stock levels, re-order etc) was stored on a DEC-VAX, basic reporting data was stored on a PC based SQL and generated using Crystal, Access or whatever. A single PC application spoke to the VAX every night, then contacted every register, downloaded sales data and uploaded new/changed PLU data, then massaged the data from the registers and sent it back to the VAX and also dumped what stuff into the SQL database.
With ASCII PLU/pricing/sales data coming from the registers it was a snack and allowed the company to move from a mini-computer architecture to a PC/LAN/SQL environment seamlessly. I'd be surprised if the current offerings from register manufacturers was much different today than it was back then as there really is no reason for it to be any different.
It isn't about the cost, it's about the software or in particular the desktop software and how easy it is to install and get running, although perhaps of more importance is the availability and range of software (ne: programs) available, and how reliable they are.
As soon as Unix/Linux people realise this and look beyond their own nose (ne: favourite flavour of GNU/Linux), they will realise that the API is the real jewel. The reason that Microsoft beat IBM at its own game with the OS2/Windows war was because it won the API war. They convinced, or scammed (depending upon your point of view) programmers to write to the Win31 API and OS/2 was killed. Providing development tools such as Visual Basic and Access which removed the whole API schema just made their task a whole lot easier.
Forget the fancy esoteric languages and "scripted" (ne: interpreted) tools, because they are not what is needed to wrestle the end user away from Windows. What is required is a common platform (display, communications, and file API's to name just a few). Sure, let the system level person choose between a Gnome or KDE desktop. Let them run either RedHat, Suse, or Ubuntu (insert flavour of the week) but provide a common interface to of them all via a simple and straight-forward API. Then provide the killer application development tools like Visual Basic and/or Access which will let newbie programmers write their killer app with no knowledge of computers or programming and then GNU/Linux may just stand a chance.
It's a little like saying that Windows XP sucks (not for all the obvious reasons) because you've used Windows 1.0 (or even 3.1) and dislike all its limitations.
The difference is that Windowx XP does suck, for the obvious and not so obvious reasons. By comparison, Windows 1.0 (or even 3.1) were not really all that bad and didn't suck as much.
Just what do you think currently happens ?
Yeah, I can see it now. Everywhere I look all of my friends and colleauges in business are pulling stumps and moving to friendly China.
In Australia, you cannot patent artistic creations, mathematical models, plans, schemes or other purely mental processes. This rules out software and half of the other get rick quick patents that US companies apply for. The only protection available for these things is Copyright and computer programs falls within this area, as do other things like double-clicking the left mouse button to make something to happen.
The story also overlooks the basic principle whereby you need to register or file for a patent in each country you want it to be valid in. In short, if a US company has not filed for a patent in Australia, their US Patent isn't worth crap there. The same scenario exists for Australian companies who require patent protection in foreign lands.
Patents are not global, they are local.
If there were some magical retrospetive patent treaty which happened overnight,somehow I think there would be a much higher proportion of Australians lining up to sue US companies for Patent violations, than the other way around. It costs an absolute fortune to apply for a US patent from Australia. Most people and/or small busineses would not have the resources to do this. This means that once the patent application is lodged in Australia, it can be picked up and used by foreign companies without fear of retribution.
If SCO are successful with their actions against IBM, then they will be paid by IBM for the infringment. While not being based in the US, I'm pretty certain it would be the same there, in so far as they can't sue IBM for incurred losses and then attempt to sue innocent parties for the same losses. It just won't wash. Why won't media organisations, including Slashdot report this simple fact and put an end to all the hoop-la.
That is not correct. In Australia we also have a blank media levy which is applied to all tape ( audio and video ), CD-R, DVD-R and similar media. You are permitted to make a copy for personal backup use.
What irks me is that most blank media is probably being used to record and copy original content and data, yet the vultures and leeches are getting paid via this levy for non-licensed works.
I just wish that someone in a position of power would realise this.
Sadly they don't have the faintest idea. Only recently John Tingle a member of the NSW Parliament wrote a letter to the Editor of a local Electronics Magazine. It was a few months ago and I don't have the article handy. From memory; In the letter he mentioned how distraught he was that a huge classical collection of CD's he owned was deteriorating now that they are some 15 years old. He was complaining that he couldn't buy replacements and had to resort to copying them although some were beyond recovery and the recording label could not sell him replacements.
What he missed was that he has already paid for a perpetual license to listen to this material. Therefore by offering to buy new copies, he would have been paying twice to listen to music he has already licensed. He also failed to realise that he is also paying a media levy for the blanks he is now using to duplicate his collection on, and therefore the recording company are once again, effectively charging him twice for the same license.
With goons like this passing legislation, what hope have we got.
> The speed issue had more to do with their odd choice to make the drives' data rate 19.2Kbps
This was because the Floppy Disk Drives actually contained a 6507 micro which was controlling the drive mechanism and communicating with the host. The 6507 clock speed was much lower than the 400/800 CPU. I forget what I/O peripheral chip the drive used, but there wasn't much RAM in there. As such, the 19k2 data rate would have been selected to ensure 100% reliability.
> Were the Apple disks double-sided?
> That would explain why they had more storage capacity.
No. Apple disk drives changed the rotational speed of the dependant upon the location of the head. This meant that Apple disks stored more data on the outer tracks.
You have to remember that the BBC series was the original. The book(s) was(were) written after the BBC series. Having read all of them, you could tell that DNA had run out of puff half way though book-4, where it became a cash-cow and a real hard read.
Some things are best left at their natural ending.
Personally, I like the original BBC series and I think they will have a hard time capturing the overall theme. In the same sort of way that they lost the plot with "Lot in Space". Besides, I think they're going to have a hard time finding a naturaly large girl to play the part of Trillian:)
Other than the statements made on their web site, I don't see any links to Atari substantiating the claims made by these people.
What proof is there that this isn't just a scam ?
Not being a US resident, I don't know how you could even check to see that they are a registered company as they claim. This could be a rather large ruse, working on the 1% principle. Has anyone actually been able to verify that this is legit ?
I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I think that game designers lost the plot years ago. Somewhere in the chase for ever better graphics, they forgot that gameplay, and story are the true keys to entertainment. Instead of developing novel game concepts, degsigners are now chasing reality, with blood curdling graphics, and horific images. If people want to be entertained by stuff like that, they will usually watch the nightly news, or the latest blockbuster release from Hollywood.
I only need to look at my own children as a way of highlighting this point. My eldest is child is 14, and the youngest is 8. The kids have a PlayStation, and their own PC's, which they play games on occasionally. I have built a MAME cabinet, which has a good cross section of games in it. The kids actually enjoy playing the older MAME games, more than the newer PS games, and are forever asking me to pull out my old Atari 2600. The key to the older games was that they focused more on game-play than whizz-bang realisim. In a way the chunky graphics are more realistic though, because they exist where the sun doesn't shine, the colours are always bright, and the perspective is perfect; inside your head.
Another trend I have noticed over the years, is that the machine ends up playing more than you do. I have often watch people playing what I call the newer style games, as on the Playstation, and X-Box. If you watch them, the character always seems to do more than the input from the player would seem to warrant. With many games, it seems that once you set a sequence in motion, the game takes over and completes the move, or sequence. There is nothing entertaining about that. In a similar way, a lot of games seem to be over sensitive in the area of user-input, and take ages to get a feel for the controls. This becomes very frustrating, very quickly.
If you take a moment to think about the reality, before hitting the reply or comment button. This really falls into the category of calling Wolf before you've sighted one. The truth is that the cameras in Mobile Phones are so pathetic that they phone companies should be charged for false advertising when they sell the market the product. You can't photograph anything which is usable, the chances of being able to actually make sense of a printed page photographed with a mobile phone camera, is absolutely zero. The story posted a week or so ago, about banning mobile phones from public swimming pools, falls into the same category. Take a photo of anyone with a mobile phone, and you'd be lucky if you can tell if it was a boy or a girl. As for reading any text from a magazine... good luck.
At the best, this is bad reporting.
At the worst, it is scare-mongering.
Sadly, the media all over the world, seem to be blindly follow the leader. There is one minor problem here, they don't know who is leading.
I haven't read the story, but this bloke is on the right track. When we buy music CD's, we are in fact purchasing a license to listen to the audio content, along with a fee for the media the licensed content is supplied on. What we end up owning is the media, and a perpetual license to listen to the content. If the media becomes damaged, our license to listen to the content is still valid. Therefore, we should be able to duplicate the content ro protect our investment in the license fee we have paid to listen to it.
In summary, we are paying to listen to the music, not the media it is supplied on. By not allowing us to protect our investment, we are in fact being ripped-off.
I for one, wish that more people would realise this. If they did, then perhaps more people would start to take a stance to protect their rights, when they realise that we are in fact being ripped off. The real pirates are the companies who are forcing us to purchase multiple licenses to listen to music, for which we have already paid.
We need to make the courts, and policitians aware of this double-dipping that is being snuck in under the guise of "protection from pirates"
In my view "Media Pirates", are people who duplicate and sell for profit, not individuals who are simply trying to listen to something they have paid a license for.
In all fairness, I've got to question the claim that Mark has made. I am a self un-employable person who works from home. I have been using the Internet for about 5 years, and for the last three years have been using Telstra Bigpond cable.
As part of my profession, I send and receive Email every day. I participate in a couple of "closed" mail lists.
I don't run my own mail server, and simply use my Bigpond mailbox. My spam filtering software consists of absolutely nothing. On average, I receive 1 spam message a month.
The simple fact is that if you do not participate in newsgroups, or other "open" forums, don't frequent porn sites, or buy stuff on the net, you won't get spam. In short, I treat my Email address as I do my mobile phone number, which means that it isn't handed out to just anyone.
If the topic was the slow response times you get on Bigpond Broadband, and how a 10Mb cable-modem link still can't handle 160x120 movies in real time. Or, that surfing the net is still painful on Telstra cable, then the complaint might be valid.
This time they are on a transaction which is being promoted as being a "cash" one. Folding stuff works. It is simple, does not impose any third-party service-provider fees, so why on earth would any sane person want to pay a transaction fee every time they bought a cup of coffee, or caught a bus. It's got me bear.
It looks like Sovtek 6922 dual-triode tube, which will provide a 2 channel stereo output. This tube is quite common and can be sourced in the States from almost anywhere at about US$8-
I full agree. One of the things that annoys me the most about product activation as is now being used by Microsoft, is what happens when they decide that the product is no longer supported.
You have paid good money for a license to use the software ( Win-XP, Office-XP et-al ), but at asome point in the future, Microsoft can very easily not activate it. Your reasons for needing a new activation code, could be as simple as a total machine rebuild. However, there is a very good chance that because the product is "no longer supported", they won't or perhaps even can't reactivate it. I wonder if they'll give you a refund:)
The abrasive tone wasn't meant Steve. Although no matter how I read your original post, the inference is that Microsoft discovered it. Probably much like, no matter how you read my post, it sounds hash:)
I really get annoyed when I hear people continually sprouting the Microsoft line that they discoverd how to clutch start the 286 processor to get back to real mode. What most Lemmings forget is that Novell had been doing this for years with their Non-Dedicated version of Advanced Netware 2.0
Let's get it clear, like many other great technological breakthroughs which Microsoft make claim to, they simply copied it from someone else who wasn't into all the self-promotion. This sort of thing happens so often in this industry, and it is really annoying.
I can not understand why people persist with the misguided benefits of a cashless society, and blindly advocate development down this path. For a moment, forget about the tracking and profiling that will eventually spawn from this, developing an entire new generation of spam and junk mail. Also forget about the total loss of anonimity when you want to pop into that adult shop to buy a toy to share with your partner, or make some other once-off purchase that is totally out of character for you. Instead, think about the transaction charges and fees you will be paying. This cashless society is not something which will be provided freely by benevolant organisations. It is a money making exercise with the most incideous motives. You will in effect be paying another tax on every single item you purchase or spend money on. Everything from a bus ride, to a cup of coffee, will have a transaction fee associated with it. It may not be there to start with, but it will come.
Do you remember how the financial institutions introduced credit and charge cards ? They started with eitehr no fees, or very low fees. They did not charge the stores or merchants. Then the taxing began. Now we have fees and charges which are totally out of line with the service provided, and EVERY retailer or merchant that accepts cards has increased their prices to cover their expenses or fees imposed to accept the card.
The result of this is that we are already being nickled and dimed to death when we use cards. Moving to a smart-card or other form of cashless society is just the method that the Financial Institutions are promoting in an effort to skim a few bucks from every transaction made by everyone, everywhere.
Don't fall for it. Keep your cash. Spend your cash. Don't blindly fall into line behind the other Lemmings to prop up the leeches and vultures who do nothing to contribute to society, yet somehow seem to be the only ones benefiting from everyone else hard work....Just something to think about...
Slashdot Mirror
If you use any x86 based registers with a custom (or shelf) application which "mimics" a real cash-register, you will immediately be caught in vendor lock-in.
My suggestion is to look at what is available from real cash-register manufacturers. Most if not all of these vendors will have a serial (or other) interface which will upload/download data using standard ASCII, comma-delimited files.
This should reduce your task to a simple import/export routine with perhaps a little data massaging to get it into/out-of whatever back end system you want to use/develop.
I successfully used Sharp cash registers for this over 15 years ago. All of the PLU (Price-Look-Up) codes and pricing (stock levels, re-order etc) was stored on a DEC-VAX, basic reporting data was stored on a PC based SQL and generated using Crystal, Access or whatever. A single PC application spoke to the VAX every night, then contacted every register, downloaded sales data and uploaded new/changed PLU data, then massaged the data from the registers and sent it back to the VAX and also dumped what stuff into the SQL database.
With ASCII PLU/pricing/sales data coming from the registers it was a snack and allowed the company to move from a mini-computer architecture to a PC/LAN/SQL environment seamlessly. I'd be surprised if the current offerings from register manufacturers was much different today than it was back then as there really is no reason for it to be any different.
It isn't about the cost, it's about the software or in particular the desktop software and how easy it is to install and get running, although perhaps of more importance is the availability and range of software (ne: programs) available, and how reliable they are.
As soon as Unix/Linux people realise this and look beyond their own nose (ne: favourite flavour of GNU/Linux), they will realise that the API is the real jewel. The reason that Microsoft beat IBM at its own game with the OS2/Windows war was because it won the API war. They convinced, or scammed (depending upon your point of view) programmers to write to the Win31 API and OS/2 was killed. Providing development tools such as Visual Basic and Access which removed the whole API schema just made their task a whole lot easier.
Forget the fancy esoteric languages and "scripted" (ne: interpreted) tools, because they are not what is needed to wrestle the end user away from Windows. What is required is a common platform (display, communications, and file API's to name just a few). Sure, let the system level person choose between a Gnome or KDE desktop. Let them run either RedHat, Suse, or Ubuntu (insert flavour of the week) but provide a common interface to of them all via a simple and straight-forward API. Then provide the killer application development tools like Visual Basic and/or Access which will let newbie programmers write their killer app with no knowledge of computers or programming and then GNU/Linux may just stand a chance.
It's a little like saying that Windows XP sucks (not for all the obvious reasons) because you've used Windows 1.0 (or even 3.1) and dislike all its limitations.
The difference is that Windowx XP does suck, for the obvious and not so obvious reasons. By comparison, Windows 1.0 (or even 3.1) were not really all that bad and didn't suck as much.
Funny, the post above your claims exactly the reverse
If it does, it is wrong.
This page on http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/ip/introduction.htm might help clarify it for you.
Just what do you think currently happens ? Yeah, I can see it now. Everywhere I look all of my friends and colleauges in business are pulling stumps and moving to friendly China.
In Australia, you cannot patent artistic creations, mathematical models, plans, schemes or other purely mental processes. This rules out software and half of the other get rick quick patents that US companies apply for. The only protection available for these things is Copyright and computer programs falls within this area, as do other things like double-clicking the left mouse button to make something to happen.
The story also overlooks the basic principle whereby you need to register or file for a patent in each country you want it to be valid in. In short, if a US company has not filed for a patent in Australia, their US Patent isn't worth crap there. The same scenario exists for Australian companies who require patent protection in foreign lands.
Patents are not global, they are local.
If there were some magical retrospetive patent treaty which happened overnight,somehow I think there would be a much higher proportion of Australians lining up to sue US companies for Patent violations, than the other way around. It costs an absolute fortune to apply for a US patent from Australia. Most people and/or small busineses would not have the resources to do this. This means that once the patent application is lodged in Australia, it can be picked up and used by foreign companies without fear of retribution.
If SCO are successful with their actions against IBM, then they will be paid by IBM for the infringment. While not being based in the US, I'm pretty certain it would be the same there, in so far as they can't sue IBM for incurred losses and then attempt to sue innocent parties for the same losses. It just won't wash. Why won't media organisations, including Slashdot report this simple fact and put an end to all the hoop-la.
That is not correct. In Australia we also have a blank media levy which is applied to all tape ( audio and video ), CD-R, DVD-R and similar media. You are permitted to make a copy for personal backup use.
What irks me is that most blank media is probably being used to record and copy original content and data, yet the vultures and leeches are getting paid via this levy for non-licensed works.
I just wish that someone in a position of power would realise this.
Sadly they don't have the faintest idea. Only recently John Tingle a member of the NSW Parliament wrote a letter to the Editor of a local Electronics Magazine. It was a few months ago and I don't have the article handy. From memory; In the letter he mentioned how distraught he was that a huge classical collection of CD's he owned was deteriorating now that they are some 15 years old. He was complaining that he couldn't buy replacements and had to resort to copying them although some were beyond recovery and the recording label could not sell him replacements.
What he missed was that he has already paid for a perpetual license to listen to this material. Therefore by offering to buy new copies, he would have been paying twice to listen to music he has already licensed. He also failed to realise that he is also paying a media levy for the blanks he is now using to duplicate his collection on, and therefore the recording company are once again, effectively charging him twice for the same license.
With goons like this passing legislation, what hope have we got.
> The speed issue had more to do with their odd choice to make the drives' data rate 19.2Kbps
This was because the Floppy Disk Drives actually contained a 6507 micro which was controlling the drive mechanism and communicating with the host. The 6507 clock speed was much lower than the 400/800 CPU. I forget what I/O peripheral chip the drive used, but there wasn't much RAM in there. As such, the 19k2 data rate would have been selected to ensure 100% reliability.
> Were the Apple disks double-sided? > That would explain why they had more storage capacity. No. Apple disk drives changed the rotational speed of the dependant upon the location of the head. This meant that Apple disks stored more data on the outer tracks.
You have to remember that the BBC series was the original. The book(s) was(were) written after the BBC series. Having read all of them, you could tell that DNA had run out of puff half way though book-4, where it became a cash-cow and a real hard read.
:)
Some things are best left at their natural ending.
Personally, I like the original BBC series and I think they will have a hard time capturing the overall theme. In the same sort of way that they lost the plot with "Lot in Space". Besides, I think they're going to have a hard time finding a naturaly large girl to play the part of Trillian
Other than the statements made on their web site, I don't see any links to Atari substantiating the claims made by these people. What proof is there that this isn't just a scam ? Not being a US resident, I don't know how you could even check to see that they are a registered company as they claim. This could be a rather large ruse, working on the 1% principle. Has anyone actually been able to verify that this is legit ?
I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I think that game designers lost the plot years ago. Somewhere in the chase for ever better graphics, they forgot that gameplay, and story are the true keys to entertainment. Instead of developing novel game concepts, degsigners are now chasing reality, with blood curdling graphics, and horific images. If people want to be entertained by stuff like that, they will usually watch the nightly news, or the latest blockbuster release from Hollywood.
I only need to look at my own children as a way of highlighting this point. My eldest is child is 14, and the youngest is 8. The kids have a PlayStation, and their own PC's, which they play games on occasionally. I have built a MAME cabinet, which has a good cross section of games in it. The kids actually enjoy playing the older MAME games, more than the newer PS games, and are forever asking me to pull out my old Atari 2600. The key to the older games was that they focused more on game-play than whizz-bang realisim. In a way the chunky graphics are more realistic though, because they exist where the sun doesn't shine, the colours are always bright, and the perspective is perfect; inside your head.
Another trend I have noticed over the years, is that the machine ends up playing more than you do. I have often watch people playing what I call the newer style games, as on the Playstation, and X-Box. If you watch them, the character always seems to do more than the input from the player would seem to warrant. With many games, it seems that once you set a sequence in motion, the game takes over and completes the move, or sequence. There is nothing entertaining about that. In a similar way, a lot of games seem to be over sensitive in the area of user-input, and take ages to get a feel for the controls. This becomes very frustrating, very quickly.
If you take a moment to think about the reality, before hitting the reply or comment button. This really falls into the category of calling Wolf before you've sighted one. The truth is that the cameras in Mobile Phones are so pathetic that they phone companies should be charged for false advertising when they sell the market the product. You can't photograph anything which is usable, the chances of being able to actually make sense of a printed page photographed with a mobile phone camera, is absolutely zero. The story posted a week or so ago, about banning mobile phones from public swimming pools, falls into the same category. Take a photo of anyone with a mobile phone, and you'd be lucky if you can tell if it was a boy or a girl. As for reading any text from a magazine ... good luck.
At the best, this is bad reporting.
At the worst, it is scare-mongering.
Sadly, the media all over the world, seem to be blindly follow the leader. There is one minor problem here, they don't know who is leading.
I haven't read the story, but this bloke is on the right track. When we buy music CD's, we are in fact purchasing a license to listen to the audio content, along with a fee for the media the licensed content is supplied on. What we end up owning is the media, and a perpetual license to listen to the content. If the media becomes damaged, our license to listen to the content is still valid. Therefore, we should be able to duplicate the content ro protect our investment in the license fee we have paid to listen to it. In summary, we are paying to listen to the music, not the media it is supplied on. By not allowing us to protect our investment, we are in fact being ripped-off. I for one, wish that more people would realise this. If they did, then perhaps more people would start to take a stance to protect their rights, when they realise that we are in fact being ripped off. The real pirates are the companies who are forcing us to purchase multiple licenses to listen to music, for which we have already paid. We need to make the courts, and policitians aware of this double-dipping that is being snuck in under the guise of "protection from pirates" In my view "Media Pirates", are people who duplicate and sell for profit, not individuals who are simply trying to listen to something they have paid a license for.
In all fairness, I've got to question the claim that Mark has made. I am a self un-employable person who works from home. I have been using the Internet for about 5 years, and for the last three years have been using Telstra Bigpond cable. As part of my profession, I send and receive Email every day. I participate in a couple of "closed" mail lists. I don't run my own mail server, and simply use my Bigpond mailbox. My spam filtering software consists of absolutely nothing. On average, I receive 1 spam message a month. The simple fact is that if you do not participate in newsgroups, or other "open" forums, don't frequent porn sites, or buy stuff on the net, you won't get spam. In short, I treat my Email address as I do my mobile phone number, which means that it isn't handed out to just anyone. If the topic was the slow response times you get on Bigpond Broadband, and how a 10Mb cable-modem link still can't handle 160x120 movies in real time. Or, that surfing the net is still painful on Telstra cable, then the complaint might be valid.
I hope virus creators don't find out about this one...
This time they are on a transaction which is being promoted as being a "cash" one. Folding stuff works. It is simple, does not impose any third-party service-provider fees, so why on earth would any sane person want to pay a transaction fee every time they bought a cup of coffee, or caught a bus. It's got me bear.
It looks like Sovtek 6922 dual-triode tube, which will provide a 2 channel stereo output. This tube is quite common and can be sourced in the States from almost anywhere at about US$8-
I full agree. One of the things that annoys me the most about product activation as is now being used by Microsoft, is what happens when they decide that the product is no longer supported. You have paid good money for a license to use the software ( Win-XP, Office-XP et-al ), but at asome point in the future, Microsoft can very easily not activate it. Your reasons for needing a new activation code, could be as simple as a total machine rebuild. However, there is a very good chance that because the product is "no longer supported", they won't or perhaps even can't reactivate it. I wonder if they'll give you a refund :)
The abrasive tone wasn't meant Steve. Although no matter how I read your original post, the inference is that Microsoft discovered it. Probably much like, no matter how you read my post, it sounds hash :)
I really get annoyed when I hear people continually sprouting the Microsoft line that they discoverd how to clutch start the 286 processor to get back to real mode. What most Lemmings forget is that Novell had been doing this for years with their Non-Dedicated version of Advanced Netware 2.0
Let's get it clear, like many other great technological breakthroughs which Microsoft make claim to, they simply copied it from someone else who wasn't into all the self-promotion. This sort of thing happens so often in this industry, and it is really annoying.
I can not understand why people persist with the misguided benefits of a cashless society, and blindly advocate development down this path. For a moment, forget about the tracking and profiling that will eventually spawn from this, developing an entire new generation of spam and junk mail. Also forget about the total loss of anonimity when you want to pop into that adult shop to buy a toy to share with your partner, or make some other once-off purchase that is totally out of character for you. Instead, think about the transaction charges and fees you will be paying. This cashless society is not something which will be provided freely by benevolant organisations. It is a money making exercise with the most incideous motives. You will in effect be paying another tax on every single item you purchase or spend money on. Everything from a bus ride, to a cup of coffee, will have a transaction fee associated with it. It may not be there to start with, but it will come. Do you remember how the financial institutions introduced credit and charge cards ? They started with eitehr no fees, or very low fees. They did not charge the stores or merchants. Then the taxing began. Now we have fees and charges which are totally out of line with the service provided, and EVERY retailer or merchant that accepts cards has increased their prices to cover their expenses or fees imposed to accept the card. The result of this is that we are already being nickled and dimed to death when we use cards. Moving to a smart-card or other form of cashless society is just the method that the Financial Institutions are promoting in an effort to skim a few bucks from every transaction made by everyone, everywhere. Don't fall for it. Keep your cash. Spend your cash. Don't blindly fall into line behind the other Lemmings to prop up the leeches and vultures who do nothing to contribute to society, yet somehow seem to be the only ones benefiting from everyone else hard work. ...Just something to think about...