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User: goon+america

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  1. Re:I think the newspapers should lobby Congress... on How Craigslist Costs Newspapers Money · · Score: 1

    Don't be silly. This is completely possible under existing legislation.

    As pious slashdotters, we all know that methods of doing business are now patentable, right? So, all someone has to do is apply for a patent on what craigslist does, and...

  2. Re:Apples and Steamships on How Craigslist Costs Newspapers Money · · Score: 1

    You're confusing necessary and sufficient causes.

    If they were not losing money, that you put up ads you wouldn't have paid for would be necessary for this to be true.

    If they were not losing money, that you put up ads you wouldn't have paid for would not be sufficient for this to be true.

    It's possible that the market has expanded and some of what market had been has been taken away from the newspapers can both be true at the same time.

  3. Re:Cost the Newspapers? on How Craigslist Costs Newspapers Money · · Score: 1

    Extorting them? No one was going around, forcing people to buy classified ads -- at an extortionary price of what, $1.50/line?

    People bought classified ads in newspapers because it was worth it for them, because it cost almost nothing. Now, with craigslist it costs exactly nothing, but that doesn't make newspapers charging for printing on paper into some devious plot. Proof of this is that people bought them of their own free will.

  4. Re:The Microsoft Gap on Microsoft Class Action Suit Outcome: Indifference · · Score: 1

    I'd say at least 10 million would have claimed the money-- not because they needed it, but simply to hurt, and spite, MS. It would have been a little "death of a thousand cuts" for MS.

    No, that's not how it works. The total amount is allocated in advance, and the fixed amount of money is divided amongst the people that signed up. Microsoft has to pay the same amount regardless of how many people signed up in this phase of the suit.

    Damages in class action suits are usually not intended to provide restitution (refund of the harm caused), they are intended to punish the offender. That's why the amount is fixed and determined in advance. The damages are split between limited refunds to consumers and usually a number of varied other penalties, including their opponents legal fees -- because it's not a refund, it's punishment against the offender (Microsoft).

  5. Re:Why botther on Microsoft Class Action Suit Outcome: Indifference · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The damages are considered punitive. They are intended to primarily to punish Microsoft, not to provide a refund to consumers. That being the case, it doesn't really matter all that much to whom the money goes, they could set it on fire for that matter.

    Whether or not this makes sense on all levels is an open question, but this what the legal reasoning is.

  6. Re:Ya know. on Small Firm Claims Patents On e-Banking Processes · · Score: 1

    Oh, boy, the anthropomorphic reasoning game!

    Here's how to play! In the parent post, for instance, "CEOs" can as a whole reason and act with conscious intention. So, they desired patent protection for methods of doing business because of simple, human emotional foible of jealousy, as they "do not want to give up their power to those nerdy engineers."

    Also, it's cold out right now because the weather gods are angry. Piety, friends! Let us burn some incense to appease them.

  7. Re:AirForce-IM 1.2.19 on Air Force Launches Encrypted IM Service · · Score: 1

    It's hex. You've got all your basic hex digits there [0-9][a-f] and nothing else. I have no idea beyond that.

  8. Re:Tell that to Bikini Atoll... on Asteroid Flies Under the Radar, Literally · · Score: 1

    Lance Bass' agent called, he said Lance's got too many other big projects to save the Earth right now. He suggested contacting that guy who played A.C. Slater, or maybe the voice of Alf.

  9. I liked this line the best on Skunkworks At Apple -- The Graphing Calculator Story · · Score: 5, Funny
    I liked this line:
    I asked my friend Greg Robbins to help me. His contract in another division at Apple had just ended, so he told his manager that he would start reporting to me. She didn't ask who I was and let him keep his office and badge. In turn, I told people that I was reporting to him. Since that left no managers in the loop, we had no meetings and could be extremely productive.

    Someone should write a novel about this. ... Come to think of it, this is exactly the sort of thing Chuck Palahniuk would write (author of Fight Club).
  10. Re:Karma points to.. on Linux To Ring Up $35B By 2008 · · Score: 1

    If you read the article, it says in the preceding paragraph that the number refers to "overall revenue for servers, desktops, and packaged software running on Linux." This is what might lead someone to believe they are counting the hardware on which linux is installed as being spent on linux. The rest of the article discusses hardware on which linux will run and software that will run under linux, but does not mention spending on linux itself anywhere.

  11. Re:Karma points to.. on Linux To Ring Up $35B By 2008 · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the article:
    The numbers are higher than earlier estimates by most analysts, in part, said IDC, because it changed it methodology to account for not just Linux on new hardware, but also Linux that's redeployed on existing hardware, and even cases when the open-source OS is used as a guest operating system, such as in a server partitioned with virtualization software to run multiple OSes.

    So, not only are they counting the hardware that linux is running on as being "spent on linux," they're also counting existing hardware on which linux will be installed as being "spent" on linux as well.
  12. Re:A Response on Legal Rights for Computers · · Score: 1

    Apparently the computer left your keyboard connected as a warning to others.

  13. Re:Legal Rights & Partners on Legal Rights for Computers · · Score: 0

    Maybe overly promiscuous computers will be criticized for keeping their software firewalls configured at bare minimum levels. That way, if it catches a virus, the computer itself can be held responsible for its behavior.

  14. Re:The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide on Geek Books as Holiday Gifts · · Score: 1

    Yes, but what is the question that 42 is the answer to?

  15. Re:Funny... on Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure Voting Machines · · Score: 1

    You obviously know nothing about lobbying. Diebold ought to try some military contracting.

  16. Re:$2.6 million... on Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure Voting Machines · · Score: 1

    I'm just glad they settled this before it could affect an election.

  17. Re:No, no no. on Examining Bittorrent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think this is the basic idea behind the PATRIOT Act, the Clear Skies initiative, the Healthy Forests Proposal, No Child Left Behind act, CAN-SPAM act, etc. The forces of evil are way ahead of you on this.

  18. Re:Macintosh 1 button mouse...now the 1 button pho on More on Apple/Motorola Joint Cell Phone Venture · · Score: 4, Funny

    I bet you'll have to madly spin around a little touch wheel in order to dial it. Like a rotary phone.

  19. Thanks again, Microsoft! on Microsoft Acquires Spyware Removal Company · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thank you Microsoft, for valiently saving us from the dangers you created!

    Microsoft: Acting more and more like a government every day.

  20. Re:Google search on Mathematics and Sex · · Score: 1

    The cover of her book is ... interesting, too

  21. Re:bzkitty on BZFlag goes Platinum · · Score: 1

    It's just limecat...

  22. it's all just a little bit of history repeating on Internet Kills LA Times National Edition · · Score: 2, Interesting

    yadda, yadda, yadda. Video killed the radio star, the internet killed the video star, the sub-etha net will kill the internet star and soon the government brain implants will kill that. Wake me when the paradigm has shifted again.

  23. Re:I already have a pretty good dictionary on Universal Free Dictionary · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's also free/libre wordnet, wiktionary...

    Why can't these projects work together? Seems like a lot of wheel-reinvention to me...

  24. Re:Limit download to new content on Is RSS Doomed by Popularity? · · Score: 1

    I do this with my web site... it's dynamically generated by PHP, but it sets the HTTP headers to appear like a static file, setting the Last modified: date to the latest item in the list (and it will not execute the remainder of the file if it's getting a HEAD request).

    So that saves a little bit of bandwidth. Now all we need is RSS readers that actually obey this protocol.

  25. Re:Too commercial? on Firefox New York Times Ad, Soon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They have every incentive to charge legitimate nonprofits less, because this lets them split the ad market up and charge each segment the maximum that it is willing to pay. If the NYT allowed pseudo-nonprofits like the hypothetical "Friends of Sam Walton" then they will lose money. It's pretty clear that the system will be accurate based on the nature of market forces here.