Well my reasons are just as selfish. I use their service and work for them. Perhaps full disclosure was in order. hehe Since we didn't get the iPhone, it'd be nice to get a good relationship like this!
In a perfect world, I'd agree. And in this case, it should be the opposite. The world needs to adopt a standard and MS should be forced to have compatibility to it in order to get public contracts. Let them have all the proprietary formats they want in the private sector but for public transactions it should be required that standards be open. That way if MS decides to strong-arm the government involved or even EOL a format that government is not hamstrung to a corporate entity for information retrieval. This is a no-brainer here, Folks. Like kicking puppies: something inside you tells you it's just wrong!
If you're so disappointed in your country why stay? Why not go to Europe since everything you covet seems to be better represented there? BTW: You might be surprised that the level of racism in many European countries makes what we call "racism" here pale in comparison. And I don't mean eastern-block countries.
Yeah it's amazing how these idiots seem to stumble upon such solutions as defeating Nazism, winning the Cold War, and propelling the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen. Not to mention ENDING slavery and developing a political system that is the envy of everyone who values freedom. Guess if you give enough monkeys enough time....
Anonymous Coward:
Getting drunk on the cool-aide are we? I have the luxury of being right. It's a curse because there's always someone who wants to gun you down (ie thinks that you're wrong). Frankly, if the best you can do is "you're an idiot" then I'm doing just fine. Since most of your rhetoric is right out of the playbook I'm guessing responding is futile.
Actually, this one is easy. The U.S. has cleaned up industrial pollution every decade since the 70's. Even global warming alarmists will tell you that its underdeveloped nations that are the big problem. That doesn't stop environmentalists from capitalizing on the chaos they are themselves inciting. Just the other day I heard a reporter comment to an interviewee "Some say that global warming doesn't exist." That's inflammatory. Why? Because if you don't believe it's being caused by man then you are "guilty" of not thinking it's real at all. You're thrown in to bed with those who deny the holocaust. The U.S. and our industry isn't the problem and we shouldn't be bearing the brunt of the so-called "solution." I got news for you: the Earth is getting warmer with or without us. It's called a cycle. And if we go meddling with this process why aren't we just as guilty of disturbing mother nature as those the environmentalist want to keep out of ANWAR?
"Interestingly, I'm hearing from several people with teenagers that their kids are listening to a lot of 70s and 80s music now."
Can you really blame them with what's being trotted out as music today?:)
Running scared? Are they serious? Suddenly I see a scene in those old hero flicks where a woman in the crowd stands and says, "Is there no one? No one out there who will save us!?"
Don't get me wrong, I agree with that. I just don't buy new CD's because I don't want to feed the monster. I'd much rather have a true, uncompressed representation of the original and no DRM. It's the old business model I loath. I wasn't clear about that.
I accomplish the same thing by only listening to music that I rip myself or others give me, and renting movies and ripping them. The only money get from me is from CD's I bought long ago and stuff I rent. I haven't purchased new music in ages. I love iTunes but still don't purchase music from there. If I were to buy music it would be through that avenue. I'm not averse to buying music, I'm just opting out of the old model. I think more people should do that.
""We should first address the appalling lack of ownership of media outlets by women and people of color."
Why is there an inherent idea that women and people of color have an interest in ownership in every segment of society? How many people of color own companies in the tanning market? How many women own companies in the aftershave market? I realize this isn't a perfect comparison but could it be that women and "people of color" simply haven't attempted such ownership? The idea that equality means equal distribution is socialistic in nature. Equal treatment doesn't equate to equal distribution. Rather, it should mean equal access. If someone decides they have no interest in the access it's not "an appalling lack of ownership" it's an "appalling lack of interest."
Agreed. I can't for the life of me understand why when ID theft is identified your credit score isn't immediately returned to the state it was in on the date the theft is pinpointed. THAT should be in this bill.
At Gitmo the opposite has occurred. Torture was dumbed down to include being made to stand for long periods of time. I can't say anything about the CIA jails but I wouldn't doubt your assertion.
Enough with the torture in Gitmo. This myth was blown away by Democrats themselves when they sent several Dem lawmakers down there and returned to confirm this was not true. We're supposed to be more intelligent here as geeks. Enough with the "if we keep saying it, then it's true" mentality. I don't agree with everything this administration does but I'm not willing to perpetuate non-truths to show others I'm on their "team." This crap is tearing the country apart.
This article makes a simplistic argument but leaves out one other key reason: lawsuits. The big communication companies didn't just have an infrastructure in place for providing bandwidth, they had a litany of lawyers that often descended upon the municipality to attempt block them from providing these services.
Exactly. Microsoft continues to be the OS for the ignorant. I can simply pick Microsoft "because" and know I've made a choice that a lot of other people have made. Ultimately, I can rely on the ignorance of everyone else and know I'm risking very little. My ROI may not be as good as with another Linux but I, nor anyone else in my company with a voice, will likely ever know it. Hope these lemmings can swim.
"And with globalization, the "embedded taxation" doesn't fix the entire supply chain, which can easily be taxed at multiple locales and territories that utilize a different taxation model."
Which is a big problem with globalization. We shouldn't be moving to a consolidated global model because it simply isn't in the interest of autonomy. Ultimately countries need to be looking at self-interests first, as is their mandate, and thus make their markets attractive to foreign entities. This should be priority one. The recent Chinese toy fiasco only underscores the importance of this.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm confused are you suggesting women wear burkas to help prevent rapes?
Well my reasons are just as selfish. I use their service and work for them. Perhaps full disclosure was in order. hehe Since we didn't get the iPhone, it'd be nice to get a good relationship like this!
In a perfect world, I'd agree. And in this case, it should be the opposite. The world needs to adopt a standard and MS should be forced to have compatibility to it in order to get public contracts. Let them have all the proprietary formats they want in the private sector but for public transactions it should be required that standards be open. That way if MS decides to strong-arm the government involved or even EOL a format that government is not hamstrung to a corporate entity for information retrieval. This is a no-brainer here, Folks. Like kicking puppies: something inside you tells you it's just wrong!
Yahoo! reports it's down to Verizon and Sprint. I'm hoping Sprint! :)
Can I rip the content (read: steal) and play on other devices? Sorry, NBC, we want our video our way!
If you're so disappointed in your country why stay?
Why not go to Europe since everything you covet seems to be better represented there? BTW: You might be surprised that the level of racism in many European countries makes what we call "racism" here pale in comparison. And I don't mean eastern-block countries.
Yeah it's amazing how these idiots seem to stumble upon such solutions as defeating Nazism, winning the Cold War, and propelling the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen. Not to mention ENDING slavery and developing a political system that is the envy of everyone who values freedom. Guess if you give enough monkeys enough time....
Place your bets, Fellas! Which happens first: a viral pandemic or starvation and other cool Gore-isms from Global Warming?
Anonymous Coward:
Getting drunk on the cool-aide are we? I have the luxury of being right. It's a curse because there's always someone who wants to gun you down (ie thinks that you're wrong). Frankly, if the best you can do is "you're an idiot" then I'm doing just fine. Since most of your rhetoric is right out of the playbook I'm guessing responding is futile.
Very clever! Too bad you're anonymous! ;)
Maybe that's why they're "running scared" from the Storm Worm!
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/24/1532240
Actually, this one is easy. The U.S. has cleaned up industrial pollution every decade since the 70's. Even global warming alarmists will tell you that its underdeveloped nations that are the big problem. That doesn't stop environmentalists from capitalizing on the chaos they are themselves inciting. Just the other day I heard a reporter comment to an interviewee "Some say that global warming doesn't exist." That's inflammatory. Why? Because if you don't believe it's being caused by man then you are "guilty" of not thinking it's real at all. You're thrown in to bed with those who deny the holocaust. The U.S. and our industry isn't the problem and we shouldn't be bearing the brunt of the so-called "solution." I got news for you: the Earth is getting warmer with or without us. It's called a cycle. And if we go meddling with this process why aren't we just as guilty of disturbing mother nature as those the environmentalist want to keep out of ANWAR?
"Interestingly, I'm hearing from several people with teenagers that their kids are listening to a lot of 70s and 80s music now." :)
Can you really blame them with what's being trotted out as music today?
Running scared? Are they serious? Suddenly I see a scene in those old hero flicks where a woman in the crowd stands and says, "Is there no one? No one out there who will save us!?"
Don't get me wrong, I agree with that. I just don't buy new CD's because I don't want to feed the monster. I'd much rather have a true, uncompressed representation of the original and no DRM.
It's the old business model I loath. I wasn't clear about that.
I accomplish the same thing by only listening to music that I rip myself or others give me, and renting movies and ripping them. The only money get from me is from CD's I bought long ago and stuff I rent. I haven't purchased new music in ages. I love iTunes but still don't purchase music from there. If I were to buy music it would be through that avenue. I'm not averse to buying music, I'm just opting out of the old model. I think more people should do that.
""We should first address the appalling lack of ownership of media outlets by women and people of color."
Why is there an inherent idea that women and people of color have an interest in ownership in every segment of society? How many people of color own companies in the tanning market? How many women own companies in the aftershave market? I realize this isn't a perfect comparison but could it be that women and "people of color" simply haven't attempted such ownership? The idea that equality means equal distribution is socialistic in nature. Equal treatment doesn't equate to equal distribution. Rather, it should mean equal access. If someone decides they have no interest in the access it's not "an appalling lack of ownership" it's an "appalling lack of interest."
Agreed. I can't for the life of me understand why when ID theft is identified your credit score isn't immediately returned to the state it was in on the date the theft is pinpointed. THAT should be in this bill.
At Gitmo the opposite has occurred. Torture was dumbed down to include being made to stand for long periods of time.
I can't say anything about the CIA jails but I wouldn't doubt your assertion.
Enough with the torture in Gitmo. This myth was blown away by Democrats themselves when they sent several Dem lawmakers down there and returned to confirm this was not true. We're supposed to be more intelligent here as geeks. Enough with the "if we keep saying it, then it's true" mentality. I don't agree with everything this administration does but I'm not willing to perpetuate non-truths to show others I'm on their "team." This crap is tearing the country apart.
You'd think exercise of the wrist would mitigate this.
That was "fucking" brilliant!
This article makes a simplistic argument but leaves out one other key reason: lawsuits. The big communication companies didn't just have an infrastructure in place for providing bandwidth, they had a litany of lawyers that often descended upon the municipality to attempt block them from providing these services.
Exactly. Microsoft continues to be the OS for the ignorant. I can simply pick Microsoft "because" and know I've made a choice that a lot of other people have made. Ultimately, I can rely on the ignorance of everyone else and know I'm risking very little. My ROI may not be as good as with another Linux but I, nor anyone else in my company with a voice, will likely ever know it. Hope these lemmings can swim.
"And with globalization, the "embedded taxation" doesn't fix the entire supply chain, which can easily be taxed at multiple locales and territories that utilize a different taxation model."
Which is a big problem with globalization. We shouldn't be moving to a consolidated global model because it simply isn't in the interest of autonomy. Ultimately countries need to be looking at self-interests first, as is their mandate, and thus make their markets attractive to foreign entities. This should be priority one. The recent Chinese toy fiasco only underscores the importance of this.