"The labor cost of my assembling it all, figuring two hours for assembly, installation, and drivers/troubleshooting is also pretty damn high, considering how much I make hourly."
As opposed to your reading Slashdot on company time?
"In Solution Unsatisfactory, written in 1940, Heinlein set out the following predictions: in 1941 the US government would start a large-scale secret project, which would make nuclear weapons available for use by the end of 1944 (radioactive dust rather than a bomb - but with much the same strategic implications); the weapon would be used to destroy an Axis city in 1945; this would bring WWII to an end, but start a nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union."
I thought the same thing until I read (probably in Expanded Universe or Grumbles from the Grave) that Heinlein rewrote a number of his early stories and books when they were collected for publication to attempt to bring them "up to date"--a practice he later abandoned; I bet that Solution Unsatifactory was one of these. (Later publications of Sixth Column (later retitled The Day After Tomorrow)contain references to the nuclear program that are not in my original 1941 pulp Astounding Science Fiction magazine edition.)
"AMD is not going to give away free CPUs to you for being a fanboy"
That's not entirely true. About 3 years ago, I showed up at a deserted mall parking lot at 6am, and did in fact recieve a AMD XP 1800, MoBo and heatsink as a doorprize, just be being enough of a fanboy to drive an hour before the crack of dawn to the middle of nowhere (they gave away ~100 processors, and many more T-Shirts).
As far as I'm concerned, if I write software for a guided missile for example, and that missile happens to kill innocent civilians (even if by mistake) then I feel like there'd be at least some blood on my hands too - which I don't want.
As opposed to just letting them use unguided missles (AKA "Bombs") which kill 1,000 times as many civilians?
Sheesh.
"Now it becomes almost trivally easy for people to resell internet access and break the backs of the monopolies of cable and DSL internet access providers. And if this were combined with satelite downlink, everybody could have some seriously fast access for a minimal cost."
That's right, because broadband infrastructure is actualy free, and the low cost of broad-band usage now isn't at all due to the high number of subscribers.../Idiot
Except that even if they were able to overcome their competition and be the only providers of some certain product, if they charge too much new companies will enter the market. The only way an *unearned* monopoly can exist is through government force.
Heh, speaking as a former CS major [and recent BA in Philosophy graduate] at the University of North Carolina, its CS program is famous for smearing undergrads across the wall. I'm sure it's a great program to go to for grad school, but the professors by and large don't have the slightest idea of how to teach an undergraduate-level class.
Good comment, I'd mod you up had I mod points.
Viz. "If capitalism is so evil, how come it works so well" where 'works' is in terms of raising the general standard of living (among other things, like "more freedom"...)
I've been having exactly the same problem with my Radeon 9500 Pro: Flawless experience on WinXP, crappy/visual artifacts on Linux. Per the post above, a freaking Quadro card shouldn't be necessary for a decent dual-monitor experience on Linux.
That is definitely something worth making a stink over. (I seem to remember a similar case, with people who didn't accept the license agreement for the copy that came with their new computer and wanted a refund.)
They are selling you the software contingent on your accepting the license, and you are paying for the software (directly or indirectly) through your accepting the license.
"A.) That means they can change the EULA on a whim."
NOT REALLY, because then you could potential sue them/make a stink/never deal with Co. again if the text they email you (non-binding, just an informative email) doesn't exactly match with the binding agreement you click-through or implicitly consent to (by opening final shrinkwrapped disks)
B.) That doesn't protect impulse buy products."
TRUE, but I believe in personal responsibility and personal freedom, for individuals AND companies:
A company should be able to offer it's products on whatever terms it wishes, and you should be free to purchase the product/service based on those terms or not--- as you wish.
You should be free to make your own decisions (rash & foolish or otherwise) and thus you should suffer the consequences of your actions (positive or negative).
What I said is contingent on your being able to get a cash/check refund if you refuse the EULA, or it being explicitly stated, in a prominent position, in legible type on the package that you are explicitly giving up this option. [i.e. "YOUR USE OF THIS PRODUCT IS CONTINGENT ON YOUR ACCEPTING THE INCLOSED EULA (SEE www.goatse.cx/eula for license agreement) NO REFUNDS FOR NOT ACCEPTING EULA WILL BE GIVEN!! PLEASE INITIAL HERE BEFORE PURCHASE.
*Huh?* If you are that concerned about EULA's (and I'm not saying that you are wrong to be) simply email the company asking to see their Eula before purchasing. Adobe (for example) lists their EULA on their webpage, and refers you there from the outside of the box [I think this is the way to go].
It used to be standard practice to print the EULA on the outside of the shrinkwrapped plastic disk package.
If you're concerned with the usage-restrictions in a EULA, take the time to find out. And if you don't agree with the terms (quite reasonable in the case of spyware etc.) don't accept the EULA and send back the software for a refund; that is: don't use the software.
It is the software maker's perogative to offer their software on whatever conditions they want, and it is your perogative to NOT USE THEIR SOFTWARE (and instead consider giving your money to a competing product).
Which DVDs are the big sellers? Apart from blockbusters (LOTR etc,) it's the oldies. The classics. People are buying them because they are either replacing their video collection, or because they want movies that aren't played on TV.
You'd think that wouldn't you? [and I'd wish that were so...] But looking at actual sales figures, or at what Blockbuster has the most copies on its shelf of (and makes the most money off of) isn't older movies [which, speaking from a purely statistical (and obviously oversimplified) standpoint should be "better"--because there are more movies to select from] but whatever the most recent new release is.
To whit, why does my digital cable package have only 1 classic movie channel and a zillion current-ish movie channels? Sure, I wish that more people would watch Casablanca and less people would watch Gigli, but that just how it is: appeal to the lowest common denominator...
"The problem is protectionism bolstered by greed. Congress, of course, is supposed to represent the people in creating systems that allow the people to engage in profit making enterprises without abrogating the rights of the people."
The "rights" of "the people" (read 'Society') to repossess the ideas the somebody else came up with? Sorry, but this country was founded on individual rights, not on any so-called rights of 'Society'.
Doesn't matter. They can just get Mary Alice to replace him, and then throw in some jive bullshit about why he looks different and how "there was a cost".
Oh, if I had moderation points!
And it's what's keeping Microsoft in business -- because by Goddess, they may write crappy insecure overpriced shoddy software, but on this one issue their half-assed semi-competent best is an order of magnitude better than we usually manage.'
What this quote (and ESR's overall attitude) fail to indicate, is that, for 95% of users ease of use combined with the appropriate functionality are 100% of what they are concerned with. Why should Joe-computer user get over the considerable learning curve of vi or emacs, when Wordpad/Office has more functionality than they will ever use, and an elegant intuitive interface? For Joseph T. Schmo's purposes WinOffice *is* a better product.
"The Unfinished Sonata" by Orson Scott Card, recently republished in tradepaperback form of his "Maps in a Mirror" short-story collection.
Haunting tale.
Slashdot Mirror
"The labor cost of my assembling it all, figuring two hours for assembly, installation, and drivers/troubleshooting is also pretty damn high, considering how much I make hourly." As opposed to your reading Slashdot on company time?
Of course, in many other ways Heinlein was very amazingly prescient--nothing I've said here diminishes that.
I thought the same thing until I read (probably in Expanded Universe or Grumbles from the Grave) that Heinlein rewrote a number of his early stories and books when they were collected for publication to attempt to bring them "up to date"--a practice he later abandoned; I bet that Solution Unsatifactory was one of these. (Later publications of Sixth Column (later retitled The Day After Tomorrow)contain references to the nuclear program that are not in my original 1941 pulp Astounding Science Fiction magazine edition.)
"AMD is not going to give away free CPUs to you for being a fanboy" That's not entirely true. About 3 years ago, I showed up at a deserted mall parking lot at 6am, and did in fact recieve a AMD XP 1800, MoBo and heatsink as a doorprize, just be being enough of a fanboy to drive an hour before the crack of dawn to the middle of nowhere (they gave away ~100 processors, and many more T-Shirts).
"Does that mean the biggest scariest most violent thugs with the biggest guns rule and everybody else gets to be their slaves?" Yes
You truncated it and and mispelled it:
/noob =D
"Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." 'Whataever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they are bearing gifts'
Or 'Ein Danaergeschenk' (the Greek Gift) in German.
As far as I'm concerned, if I write software for a guided missile for example, and that missile happens to kill innocent civilians (even if by mistake) then I feel like there'd be at least some blood on my hands too - which I don't want.
As opposed to just letting them use unguided missles (AKA "Bombs") which kill 1,000 times as many civilians? Sheesh.
Except that even if they were able to overcome their competition and be the only providers of some certain product, if they charge too much new companies will enter the market. The only way an *unearned* monopoly can exist is through government force.
Heh, speaking as a former CS major [and recent BA in Philosophy graduate] at the University of North Carolina, its CS program is famous for smearing undergrads across the wall. I'm sure it's a great program to go to for grad school, but the professors by and large don't have the slightest idea of how to teach an undergraduate-level class.
Good comment, I'd mod you up had I mod points. Viz. "If capitalism is so evil, how come it works so well" where 'works' is in terms of raising the general standard of living (among other things, like "more freedom"...)
I've been having exactly the same problem with my Radeon 9500 Pro: Flawless experience on WinXP, crappy/visual artifacts on Linux. Per the post above, a freaking Quadro card shouldn't be necessary for a decent dual-monitor experience on Linux.
That is definitely something worth making a stink over. (I seem to remember a similar case, with people who didn't accept the license agreement for the copy that came with their new computer and wanted a refund.) They are selling you the software contingent on your accepting the license, and you are paying for the software (directly or indirectly) through your accepting the license.
"A.) That means they can change the EULA on a whim."
NOT REALLY, because then you could potential sue them/make a stink/never deal with Co. again if the text they email you (non-binding, just an informative email) doesn't exactly match with the binding agreement you click-through or implicitly consent to (by opening final shrinkwrapped disks)
B.) That doesn't protect impulse buy products."
TRUE, but I believe in personal responsibility and personal freedom, for individuals AND companies:
A company should be able to offer it's products on whatever terms it wishes, and you should be free to purchase the product/service based on those terms or not--- as you wish.
You should be free to make your own decisions (rash & foolish or otherwise) and thus you should suffer the consequences of your actions (positive or negative).
Replying to my own post:
What I said is contingent on your being able to get a cash/check refund if you refuse the EULA, or it being explicitly stated, in a prominent position, in legible type on the package that you are explicitly giving up this option. [i.e. "YOUR USE OF THIS PRODUCT IS CONTINGENT ON YOUR ACCEPTING THE INCLOSED EULA (SEE www.goatse.cx/eula for license agreement) NO REFUNDS FOR NOT ACCEPTING EULA WILL BE GIVEN!! PLEASE INITIAL HERE BEFORE PURCHASE.
*Huh?* If you are that concerned about EULA's (and I'm not saying that you are wrong to be) simply email the company asking to see their Eula before purchasing. Adobe (for example) lists their EULA on their webpage, and refers you there from the outside of the box [I think this is the way to go].
It used to be standard practice to print the EULA on the outside of the shrinkwrapped plastic disk package.
If you're concerned with the usage-restrictions in a EULA, take the time to find out. And if you don't agree with the terms (quite reasonable in the case of spyware etc.) don't accept the EULA and send back the software for a refund; that is: don't use the software .
It is the software maker's perogative to offer their software on whatever conditions they want, and it is your perogative to NOT USE THEIR SOFTWARE (and instead consider giving your money to a competing product).
I haven't even seen the DVD yet (saw it at the theater) will have to do that.
Indeed there is a betamax version of at least the original Star Wars, I have seen it. Don't know about Empire or Jedi
Damn you British people! :-)
Do you have any idea how odd "Fag lighter socket" sounds to non-British ears?
mod parent up, this is the first explanation I've seen that makes any sense.
Which DVDs are the big sellers? Apart from blockbusters (LOTR etc,) it's the oldies. The classics. People are buying them because they are either replacing their video collection, or because they want movies that aren't played on TV.
You'd think that wouldn't you? [and I'd wish that were so...] But looking at actual sales figures, or at what Blockbuster has the most copies on its shelf of (and makes the most money off of) isn't older movies [which, speaking from a purely statistical (and obviously oversimplified) standpoint should be "better"--because there are more movies to select from] but whatever the most recent new release is.
To whit, why does my digital cable package have only 1 classic movie channel and a zillion current-ish movie channels? Sure, I wish that more people would watch Casablanca and less people would watch Gigli, but that just how it is: appeal to the lowest common denominator...
"The problem is protectionism bolstered by greed. Congress, of course, is supposed to represent the people in creating systems that allow the people to engage in profit making enterprises without abrogating the rights of the people." The "rights" of "the people" (read 'Society') to repossess the ideas the somebody else came up with? Sorry, but this country was founded on individual rights, not on any so-called rights of 'Society'.
Doesn't matter. They can just get Mary Alice to replace him, and then throw in some jive bullshit about why he looks different and how "there was a cost". Oh, if I had moderation points!
And it's what's keeping Microsoft in business -- because by Goddess, they may write crappy insecure overpriced shoddy software, but on this one issue their half-assed semi-competent best is an order of magnitude better than we usually manage.' What this quote (and ESR's overall attitude) fail to indicate, is that, for 95% of users ease of use combined with the appropriate functionality are 100% of what they are concerned with. Why should Joe-computer user get over the considerable learning curve of vi or emacs, when Wordpad/Office has more functionality than they will ever use, and an elegant intuitive interface? For Joseph T. Schmo's purposes WinOffice *is* a better product.
"The Unfinished Sonata" by Orson Scott Card, recently republished in tradepaperback form of his "Maps in a Mirror" short-story collection. Haunting tale.