So when exactly is Netflix going to be available in Europe? I have a couple of devices which are Netflix-capable (PC, LG BD390, now the Wii), yet despite all the technological advances we are still limited by the same geographical restricted licensing models.
We had DVD region encoding, but nowadays most DVD players can be made region-free. We are switching to online content, which is great, but this also means that they know where you are and decide what you are or not allowed to view - or not.
Free market my ass.
Why didn't I think of that?! Let me register for Netflix.... oh wait, only available in USA. No, I don't want to buy the DVD or Bluray, not at these prices - and how come all these newly released discs cost the same, don't most countries have laws against price fixing?
I live in Romania and the wather has gone bad here too. And I'm not talking about "oh, I didn't get my perfect tan" changes. I'm talking about floodings on a massive scale. I'm talking about thousands of people loosing EVERYTHING they have: houses, animals, crops. I'm talking about people dying. I'm talking about parents desperatly looking for their children for days, only to find them dead - if they find their bodies at all.
Definetly gives you an entirely new view on the global warming, because now it hits very close to home. It's not just another story in the evening news, it's something that affects you and the ones close to you.
So now when I read about this in Siberia, my first thought was: "Great! So in following years even more people will die or loose their houses..."
I'm getting married this year. And I find myself alarmingly often asking myself if I really want to raise a child in this world...
I remember an article some time ago, saying basically that after Sept. 11 there was a growth in the number of idiot bosses.
The reasoning was this: after that fatal day many bosses/managers/etc. were able to hide their incompetence by blaming the downturn in economy caused by Sept. 11.
I personally worked for such a company, which managed to get from 300 employees to less than 70 in two years. And I'm not talking about some "dot com" startup, that was an well established company, owned by a bigger corporate, with good products and satisfied customers.
But a new management was put in place and strange (and obviously stupid) decissions started to be made. Customers started complaining, the books got red.
Management's strategy when the owners started to ask questions? Just keep blaming "Sept. 11" and keep sacking people to save the costs - starting with the best techs. So the company is dying because of idiot bosses.
Has anyone else had bosses using Sept. 11 to hide their own incompetence?
It is funny how sometimes concepts like "FREEDOM" start to be ammended when they start to bite back. Many countries (USA being among the champions) make a very big deal out of it - and many times for good reasons. However, when FREEDOM shows the other side of the coin, people tend to back off and you start hearing things like "ok, maybe we should lessen the FREEDOM a little, so we can have some more security/money/whatever".
Of course, it's hard to blame americans for this when they see their jobs going abroad and their children attacked (both by foreigners and by their own people). But at least be honest and admit that concepts like "Freedom", "Pursue of happiness" etc. have a small fine print that say "yes, but only for us, not for everybody".
USA (and others) have always promoted the capitalism and the freedom of trade while it suited them, when they wanted more markets for their exports. But now when the tables start to turn...
Why wouldn't Indians, Eastern Europeans, Arabs and others have the same right to try and do their best to improve their life? Don't they have the same right? Aren't they playing by the rules which were set in the beginning by the big powers like USA?
People in wealthy countries where happy when they could buy things cheaper because they were produced in low-cost countries. But, as they see now, this was actually a loan and now they have to pay.
I agree with the principle stating that each country has to take care first of its own people. Just as every company has to take care of its owners and its employees, and just as every family must first protect its own members.
But let's not make the mistake of thinking that USA and a few others have more rights to uphold this principle.
Instead of that, americans should play by the rules which were set by themselves: find a competitive advantage and prove that you (as an American employee) can deliver more than others.
This, in my opinion, is the only way to go and in time it will stimulate more and more a healthy competition between people and countries - which, hopefully, will lead to good things for eveybody.
Speaking in the line of Exchange alternatives, one might also have a look at Teamware Office (www.teamware.com) - a commercial solution.
It runs on Solaris, Linux and Windows. Has a whole array of features: mail, library (document storage), discussion forums, distributed enterprises. It supports the usual set of standards: IMAP, POP3, NNTP, LDAP (not in the Linux version though:( etc.
Slashdot Mirror
So when exactly is Netflix going to be available in Europe? I have a couple of devices which are Netflix-capable (PC, LG BD390, now the Wii), yet despite all the technological advances we are still limited by the same geographical restricted licensing models. We had DVD region encoding, but nowadays most DVD players can be made region-free. We are switching to online content, which is great, but this also means that they know where you are and decide what you are or not allowed to view - or not. Free market my ass.
Why didn't I think of that?! Let me register for Netflix.... oh wait, only available in USA. No, I don't want to buy the DVD or Bluray, not at these prices - and how come all these newly released discs cost the same, don't most countries have laws against price fixing?
I live in Romania and the wather has gone bad here too. And I'm not talking about "oh, I didn't get my perfect tan" changes. I'm talking about floodings on a massive scale. I'm talking about thousands of people loosing EVERYTHING they have: houses, animals, crops. I'm talking about people dying. I'm talking about parents desperatly looking for their children for days, only to find them dead - if they find their bodies at all.
Definetly gives you an entirely new view on the global warming, because now it hits very close to home. It's not just another story in the evening news, it's something that affects you and the ones close to you.
So now when I read about this in Siberia, my first thought was: "Great! So in following years even more people will die or loose their houses..."
I'm getting married this year. And I find myself alarmingly often asking myself if I really want to raise a child in this world...
I remember an article some time ago, saying basically that after Sept. 11 there was a growth in the number of idiot bosses.
The reasoning was this: after that fatal day many bosses/managers/etc. were able to hide their incompetence by blaming the downturn in economy caused by Sept. 11.
I personally worked for such a company, which managed to get from 300 employees to less than 70 in two years. And I'm not talking about some "dot com" startup, that was an well established company, owned by a bigger corporate, with good products and satisfied customers.
But a new management was put in place and strange (and obviously stupid) decissions started to be made. Customers started complaining, the books got red.
Management's strategy when the owners started to ask questions? Just keep blaming "Sept. 11" and keep sacking people to save the costs - starting with the best techs. So the company is dying because of idiot bosses.
Has anyone else had bosses using Sept. 11 to hide their own incompetence?
Of course, it's hard to blame americans for this when they see their jobs going abroad and their children attacked (both by foreigners and by their own people). But at least be honest and admit that concepts like "Freedom", "Pursue of happiness" etc. have a small fine print that say "yes, but only for us, not for everybody".
USA (and others) have always promoted the capitalism and the freedom of trade while it suited them, when they wanted more markets for their exports. But now when the tables start to turn...
Why wouldn't Indians, Eastern Europeans, Arabs and others have the same right to try and do their best to improve their life? Don't they have the same right? Aren't they playing by the rules which were set in the beginning by the big powers like USA?
People in wealthy countries where happy when they could buy things cheaper because they were produced in low-cost countries. But, as they see now, this was actually a loan and now they have to pay.
I agree with the principle stating that each country has to take care first of its own people. Just as every company has to take care of its owners and its employees, and just as every family must first protect its own members.
But let's not make the mistake of thinking that USA and a few others have more rights to uphold this principle.
Instead of that, americans should play by the rules which were set by themselves: find a competitive advantage and prove that you (as an American employee) can deliver more than others.
This, in my opinion, is the only way to go and in time it will stimulate more and more a healthy competition between people and countries - which, hopefully, will lead to good things for eveybody.
Artificial inteligence is artificial. And so is the human one sometimes.
It runs on Solaris, Linux and Windows. Has a whole array of features: mail, library (document storage), discussion forums, distributed enterprises. It supports the usual set of standards: IMAP, POP3, NNTP, LDAP (not in the Linux version though :( etc.