I think a good structure with something amounting to code comments might do the trick. Have the short version be a breakdown of the practicle implications. Write up a document of what each piece means, then write the lawyer speak translation in a sub-section.
I think keeping the lawyer language seperated and in confined and in smaller sections if necessary for someone who doesn't already understand it to figure it out.
Well people have been taking stupidity seriously in the tech industry for long enough, it was inevitable that it would spread. Either by other stupid people thinking its a good idea or by greedy bastards deciding they can make bank by acting stupid.
People need to accept that no one has an inherrant right to have a successful business. It is their job to make whatever method of money making they use work, and only when a law is broken should they turn to the law for help. It's not theft that's making TV ads less effective, it's changing technology. Maybe your going to have to do something differently.
Cardinal Law does deserve to share in the punishment. Yes, the higher ups screwed up, and deserve to feel the heat. The average priest neither knew anything about what was going on nor could he have done anything about it if he had.
But wouldn't required pay cuts breach contract somewhere? I'm no expert, and I don't work there, but I would expect that when you sign on to work they are required to pay you for that work.
"St. Louis County modeled its ordinance after one in Indianapolis. That ordinance has been invalidated by a federal appeals court in Chicago."
The way the courts work, this almost gaurantees that this thing will get smashed in appeal.
A coworker of mine said something interesting about the current situation. Microsoft has the ultimate trump card. All they have to do is claim that the punishment has made them loose their desire to further inovate. Regardless of how nice it would be for the tech community to be rid of Microsoft influence, if Microsoft falls it will take the American economy with it.
As for my opinion, most of the major problems would be fixed by simply taking away their leverage in the market. Force them to set a flat fee for all products and set a specific volume discount that applies to all customers. Allow them to give a set discount to non-profit orginizations. No more extortion based on discounts. Probably have to have a government commity set up to approve their TOS type agreements too though.
I'm seeing a lot of people who seem to be mistaking this as an attempt by Microsoft to get more money. They won't actually profit from this thing, what they are trying to do is extend their influence into the schools. It's directly related to their little stunt with the computer donations to schools. Remember when they said they would pay off the individual state anti-trust suits by donating computers to schools?
you're using common sense. In America theives can complain if they get hurt trying to steal. Haven't you ever heard of the robber who cut himself on someones kitchen knife and sued? (that might not have been the exact story, but you know what I mean)
Stupid legal system. If only they paid more attention to intent.
Besides, Microsoft has already made clear that the GPL is a threat to capitalism; hence, their desire to have nothing to do with it.
Look at the direct effect. The most successful open source project out there is Linux, right? Take a look at what they are directly competeing with: Unix. Ask the people at Sun what they think of Linux. Look at closed source development for Unix systems. I don't have the numbers, but I'm fairly certain that Unix is gone, and it's primarily because Linux replaced it.
Microsoft is a special case. They have a monopoly, and hence the added leverage that being free gives Linux allows it to compete where any closed source product could not. I think it's essentially two sides both breaking the rules.
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More to the point, the problem was presented, and they seem to think that fixing it makes everything better.
"You can't punish me for that, I stopped doing it when I got caught!" Bah.
I think a good structure with something amounting to code comments might do the trick. Have the short version be a breakdown of the practicle implications. Write up a document of what each piece means, then write the lawyer speak translation in a sub-section.
I think keeping the lawyer language seperated and in confined and in smaller sections if necessary for someone who doesn't already understand it to figure it out.
In that case Phantom Menace must have been close to destoying western culture as we know it.
Well people have been taking stupidity seriously in the tech industry for long enough, it was inevitable that it would spread. Either by other stupid people thinking its a good idea or by greedy bastards deciding they can make bank by acting stupid.
People need to accept that no one has an inherrant right to have a successful business. It is their job to make whatever method of money making they use work, and only when a law is broken should they turn to the law for help. It's not theft that's making TV ads less effective, it's changing technology. Maybe your going to have to do something differently.
Insightful my @^&$*
Cardinal Law does deserve to share in the punishment. Yes, the higher ups screwed up, and deserve to feel the heat. The average priest neither knew anything about what was going on nor could he have done anything about it if he had.
But wouldn't required pay cuts breach contract somewhere? I'm no expert, and I don't work there, but I would expect that when you sign on to work they are required to pay you for that work.
"St. Louis County modeled its ordinance after one in Indianapolis. That ordinance has been invalidated by a federal appeals court in Chicago." The way the courts work, this almost gaurantees that this thing will get smashed in appeal.
A coworker of mine said something interesting about the current situation. Microsoft has the ultimate trump card. All they have to do is claim that the punishment has made them loose their desire to further inovate. Regardless of how nice it would be for the tech community to be rid of Microsoft influence, if Microsoft falls it will take the American economy with it. As for my opinion, most of the major problems would be fixed by simply taking away their leverage in the market. Force them to set a flat fee for all products and set a specific volume discount that applies to all customers. Allow them to give a set discount to non-profit orginizations. No more extortion based on discounts. Probably have to have a government commity set up to approve their TOS type agreements too though.
I'm seeing a lot of people who seem to be mistaking this as an attempt by Microsoft to get more money. They won't actually profit from this thing, what they are trying to do is extend their influence into the schools. It's directly related to their little stunt with the computer donations to schools. Remember when they said they would pay off the individual state anti-trust suits by donating computers to schools?
you're using common sense. In America theives can complain if they get hurt trying to steal. Haven't you ever heard of the robber who cut himself on someones kitchen knife and sued? (that might not have been the exact story, but you know what I mean) Stupid legal system. If only they paid more attention to intent.
Besides, Microsoft has already made clear that the GPL is a threat to capitalism; hence, their desire to have nothing to do with it. Look at the direct effect. The most successful open source project out there is Linux, right? Take a look at what they are directly competeing with: Unix. Ask the people at Sun what they think of Linux. Look at closed source development for Unix systems. I don't have the numbers, but I'm fairly certain that Unix is gone, and it's primarily because Linux replaced it. Microsoft is a special case. They have a monopoly, and hence the added leverage that being free gives Linux allows it to compete where any closed source product could not. I think it's essentially two sides both breaking the rules.