This actually has a slight bit of merit. In the extreme short run, it'll boost sales, as everyone will scurry to buy up figs from online retailers, and take advantage of liquidation sales and the like.
It just makes me glad that I've pretty much bought what figs I want, and don't have to drop large sums of money into the pit anymore.
And all you people complaining about lack of decent IT jobs, and then also complaining about the shoddy design of GW's online store.. send a resume. They apparently need help.
A stratification class I am in, demonstrated some rather alarming figures regarding the corporate elite, as compared to the corporate prole. In 2001, Lawrence Ellison made $706 million dollars for the year. Thats almost $2 million a -day-, 160 times that of the highest paid CEO in 1950 (Charles Wilson of General Motors). "The average CEO of a major corporation made $11 million in 2001, including salary, bonus and other compensation such as exercised stock options"
If workers pay increased with inflation, and productivity gains, average hourly earnings would be $21.71, not $14.33 that they are today. In fact, workers make on average, 9% -less- than they did in 1973, if you adjust for inflation. Minimum wage earners, earn 38% less than 1968 workers. "It takes more than 3 jobs at the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour -- $10,712 a year -- to support a family." Since the last minimum wage increase, Congress has raised their salaries by more than $16,400, and have another $5000 raise pending.
But I got off topic. The GATT, NAFTA, IMF and the World Bank are all attempts to allow the shipping of jobs to other, cheaper countries. It makes business sense to move that factory in El Paso, across the river to Juarez, and go from paying $8/hr, to $8/day for employees. Throw in corrupt officials, less stringent environmental controls, the dropping of benefits and retirement, and you have a vastly cheaper production cost.
Furthermore, if executives can shuffle more workload onto a smaller workforce, in an economy that has a large available workforce (too many of you damn CS ppl out there:), those who want to protest, can be replaced. So people bear the brunt, because they know they will be replaced. But People have no collective long-term memory. They remember when their skills were in demand, and they could set the bars that they wanted. Desks made from legos, workstations that pivot slightly over the course of the day, nerf guns strapped to their chairs, Aqua Joe in the water cooler.. People also got lazy. They knew that if they slacked off, the job'd still be there, because they were indispensible. Unfortunately, things changed.. and it seems that nobody remembers the 1980s. When there was struggle for the good paying jobs, and good paying jobs meant you worked your ass off.
Hell, computer professionals now get to realize the crush teachers have always felt. More and more work, without any added compensation.
"It's our hope that our affiliates would use whatever tactics are available to increase their premium penetration."
What scares me more than the wording of this, is the mentality. This is the same logic that online marketers share about spam email, popups, and clunky webbanners. Efforts to increase market share "through any means neccessary" is tantamount to letting government officials declare war personally on tryants in oil controlling countries, merely because their entire administrative staff used to/or does work for the oil industry.
Remember, George Bush Sr. was one of the lovely people that introduced crack to the US via the CIA (and probably sidelined a healthy percentage to fuel Junior's habit) under the premise of encouraging business growth. Fear the concept of increasing market penetration, by "us[ing] whatever tactics are available."
What I find amusing, is the "competent jurisdiction" part. The legalese here confuses me tho:
J. No provision of this Final Judgment shall:
1. Require Microsoft to document, disclose or license to third parties: (a) portions of APIs or Documentation or portions or layers of Communications Protocols the disclosure of which would compromise the security of a particular installation or group of installations of anti-piracy, anti-virus, software licensing, digital rights management, encryption or authentication systems, including without limitation, keys, authorization tokens or enforcement criteria; or (b) any API, interface or other information related to any Microsoft product if lawfully directed not to do so by a governmental agency of competent jurisdiction.
The judgement shall require microsuck to disclose crap, if lawfully directed not to do so?
So, US Gov't says, "dont disclose it".. and then the judgement holds that hey must disclose it? Interesting twist.. if this is a direct chop n paste from the judgement.
Actually.. Flickering, who owns cheeseplant.org is still online and around as well. Resort is a git filled talker, where Flickering is an admin (resort.org:2323).
Wasn't there a/. article a while back, about the potential EULA violation on Windows XP about the use of any 3rd party remote desktop software (such as VNC) on an XP machine, other than the one bundled in XP?
If so, wouldn't every ISP forcing a remote desktop utility into its own package, be wholesale violating the Microsoft EULA.. Which I would think would generate no end of problems, since most damn near every ISP is pretty OS loyal to the Microsoft line.
I sure as hell know BellSouth's FastAccess people will pretty much clam up if you even so much as mention you have a Linux machine somewhere in your house.
gh1 offers a low cost linux option.. They run off RedHat, using Apache. Their cheapest route is $10 a month, or $110 a year. Its worth a look. I've been hunting myself, as I am now in the market as well for a new host.
I too have noted the tendency for some sites to switch to a pay model. I however, agree with the idea to an extent. The trade-off is though, if I'm paying for site content, I want the ability to set preferences for content displayed. I want the ability to have an effective suggestions forum. I want to be free from banner ads. I want comprehensive information. I want a site to coddle me. I want my money's worth.
Blue Mountain won't see my patronage (and I dont think it ever had anyway).. simply because if I'm going to pay money for a card, I might as well go that extra few steps, and send a real card. Afterall, the increased cost of that paper card, shows in some degree, an increased effort and meaning. Sadly enough, atleast here in the States, society has grown increasingly more materialistic.. and a paper card, costing more, carries more "value" than an e-card, of the exact same thing.
as for the whole bait and switch concept...to quote a popular tv commercial..
"What just happened here Davey?"
"We got hosed Tommy, we got hosed..."
I didn't notice it before, but in a similar line of things, most programs do NOT need a "systray" icon. If you are running, and you're meant to be a TSR-styled program, all well and good. But if you are not actively doin anything.. get the hell out of the tray.
For example, I gotta stare at this damn ATI icon in my Systray that..oooh.. allows me to change resolutions and adapter properties.. -i can already do that-.. what i -cant- do, is turn the friggin icon off. same thing with Creative Lab's Audio Device Manager.. how many people actually have multiple sound cards? get rid of the damn thing!.. Toss in AOLIM and ICQ's status markers.. if i got the friggin buddylist up, chances are I can see what my status is.. and I dont need a little marker up top to tell me. If yer gonna have a systray icon.. make it worthwhile, or make it hideable (like winamp)
and everyone else is stressing good documentation, which i agree with.. but for heaven's sake.. DONT make it only available via the web. sometimes an internet connection isnt available. -all- documentation should be locally available.
Hey maybe if things go well, we can look forward to seeing a Red Hat Intellimouse, or a Mandrake Natural Keyboard.. or some other distribution branded hardware item.
The fact is, a lot of companies are loyal to their current architecture. I worked for a company that designed and built the casings for Sun Microsystems. Did our engineers switch to linux? No. Did they even have 1 linux machine in the office to handle the material that Sun sent us (note: not in any Windows format).. no. We got StarOffice for Windows. Linux was an absolute last ditch effort for the IT dept I worked in.
Its mindsets like that, as well as commercialization in some form, that will take Linux to the desktop and really pose as a significant threat to the Windows world. That, and hardware vendor support of the operating system.
If I was an IT Manager, faced with the decision of buying 1000 MS licenses, or distributing RedHat (or something) across the same number of PCs for the cost of maybe 10 CDRs, I'd still more than likely use MS, simply because I know, that despite all the variant hardware in those machines, somewhere I can find a driver for it. Linux.. I gotta -pray- that either the vendor made one, or someone else hacked out the ability to use it.
Maybe in 7-8 years, as Linux stays on top of things, and as vendors see the market grow, we'll have Linux on the desktop, but as it stands.. there is no way in hell its gonna happen in 4.
The vendor support isnt there. The end-user knowledge isnt there. And there is way too much legacy hardware that hasn't adequately been supported.
On the linux partitions, are they still doing the same crap that they opted to do for XP? Do we not get "recovery" or OS disks, but instead just get a nifty other partition wasting disk space, so they don't have to bother pressing a few more cds?
granted, being shipped with 7.1, i would assume most linux using buyers would be going out and getting their preferred distribution (and the most current one) to use instead..
Particularly in the case of HP. That was the whole reason for their line of computers like the Vectra, the ePC, and the Brio. In fact, HP Product Specialists aren't even allowed to mention HP Pavillions to business customers. The mentality is that, the "business" desktops come with software bundled/installed to allow the use of HP's desktop auditing software.
Also the ePC and Brio's have incredibly small cases, and I can even come floppy-less for that "added security"
I used to work with tonhe, albeit in a different department, the customer information section. i know with the business pc, and netserver line of products, the harddrive stated, is the harddrive issued. if its saying its 80gb, then thats what it is, and any bit of space yoinked for recovery purposes, is yoinked.
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This actually has a slight bit of merit. In the extreme short run, it'll boost sales, as everyone will scurry to buy up figs from online retailers, and take advantage of liquidation sales and the like.
It just makes me glad that I've pretty much bought what figs I want, and don't have to drop large sums of money into the pit anymore.
And all you people complaining about lack of decent IT jobs, and then also complaining about the shoddy design of GW's online store.. send a resume. They apparently need help.
The bottom line is the bottom line.
A stratification class I am in, demonstrated some rather alarming figures regarding the corporate elite, as compared to the corporate prole. In 2001, Lawrence Ellison made $706 million dollars for the year. Thats almost $2 million a -day-, 160 times that of the highest paid CEO in 1950 (Charles Wilson of General Motors). "The average CEO of a major corporation made $11 million in 2001, including salary, bonus and other compensation such as exercised stock options"
If workers pay increased with inflation, and productivity gains, average hourly earnings would be $21.71, not $14.33 that they are today. In fact, workers make on average, 9% -less- than they did in 1973, if you adjust for inflation. Minimum wage earners, earn 38% less than 1968 workers. "It takes more than 3 jobs at the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour -- $10,712 a year -- to support a family." Since the last minimum wage increase, Congress has raised their salaries by more than $16,400, and have another $5000 raise pending.
But I got off topic. The GATT, NAFTA, IMF and the World Bank are all attempts to allow the shipping of jobs to other, cheaper countries. It makes business sense to move that factory in El Paso, across the river to Juarez, and go from paying $8/hr, to $8/day for employees. Throw in corrupt officials, less stringent environmental controls, the dropping of benefits and retirement, and you have a vastly cheaper production cost.
Furthermore, if executives can shuffle more workload onto a smaller workforce, in an economy that has a large available workforce (too many of you damn CS ppl out there :), those who want to protest, can be replaced. So people bear the brunt, because they know they will be replaced. But People have no collective long-term memory. They remember when their skills were in demand, and they could set the bars that they wanted. Desks made from legos, workstations that pivot slightly over the course of the day, nerf guns strapped to their chairs, Aqua Joe in the water cooler.. People also got lazy. They knew that if they slacked off, the job'd still be there, because they were indispensible. Unfortunately, things changed.. and it seems that nobody remembers the 1980s. When there was struggle for the good paying jobs, and good paying jobs meant you worked your ass off.
Hell, computer professionals now get to realize the crush teachers have always felt. More and more work, without any added compensation.
Quotes are from a commentary by Holly Sklar, co-author of Raise The Floor: Wages and Policies That Work for All Of Us and can be reached via email: hsklarATaolDOTcom (she had it at the end of the commentary, so i figured i'd share)
What scares me more than the wording of this, is the mentality. This is the same logic that online marketers share about spam email, popups, and clunky webbanners. Efforts to increase market share "through any means neccessary" is tantamount to letting government officials declare war personally on tryants in oil controlling countries, merely because their entire administrative staff used to/or does work for the oil industry.
Remember, George Bush Sr. was one of the lovely people that introduced crack to the US via the CIA (and probably sidelined a healthy percentage to fuel Junior's habit) under the premise of encouraging business growth. Fear the concept of increasing market penetration, by "us[ing] whatever tactics are available."
What I find amusing, is the "competent jurisdiction" part. The legalese here confuses me tho:
J. No provision of this Final Judgment shall:
1. Require Microsoft to document, disclose or license to third parties: (a) portions of APIs or Documentation or portions or layers of Communications Protocols the disclosure of which would compromise the security of a particular installation or group of installations of anti-piracy, anti-virus, software licensing, digital rights management, encryption or authentication systems, including without limitation, keys, authorization tokens or enforcement criteria; or (b) any API, interface or other information related to any Microsoft product if lawfully directed not to do so by a governmental agency of competent jurisdiction.
The judgement shall require microsuck to disclose crap, if lawfully directed not to do so?
So, US Gov't says, "dont disclose it".. and then the judgement holds that hey must disclose it? Interesting twist.. if this is a direct chop n paste from the judgement.
Actually.. Flickering, who owns cheeseplant.org is still online and around as well. Resort is a git filled talker, where Flickering is an admin (resort.org:2323).
Wasn't there a /. article a while back, about the potential EULA violation on Windows XP about the use of any 3rd party remote desktop software (such as VNC) on an XP machine, other than the one bundled in XP?
If so, wouldn't every ISP forcing a remote desktop utility into its own package, be wholesale violating the Microsoft EULA .. Which I would think would generate no end of problems, since most damn near every ISP is pretty OS loyal to the Microsoft line.
I sure as hell know BellSouth's FastAccess people will pretty much clam up if you even so much as mention you have a Linux machine somewhere in your house.
fishgh1 offers a low cost linux option.. They run off RedHat, using Apache. Their cheapest route is $10 a month, or $110 a year. Its worth a look. I've been hunting myself, as I am now in the market as well for a new host.
fishI too have noted the tendency for some sites to switch to a pay model. I however, agree with the idea to an extent. The trade-off is though, if I'm paying for site content, I want the ability to set preferences for content displayed. I want the ability to have an effective suggestions forum. I want to be free from banner ads. I want comprehensive information. I want a site to coddle me. I want my money's worth.
Blue Mountain won't see my patronage (and I dont think it ever had anyway).. simply because if I'm going to pay money for a card, I might as well go that extra few steps, and send a real card. Afterall, the increased cost of that paper card, shows in some degree, an increased effort and meaning. Sadly enough, atleast here in the States, society has grown increasingly more materialistic.. and a paper card, costing more, carries more "value" than an e-card, of the exact same thing.
as for the whole bait and switch concept...to quote a popular tv commercial.."What just happened here Davey?"
"We got hosed Tommy, we got hosed..."
fish
I didn't notice it before, but in a similar line of things, most programs do NOT need a "systray" icon. If you are running, and you're meant to be a TSR-styled program, all well and good. But if you are not actively doin anything.. get the hell out of the tray.
.. what i -cant- do, is turn the friggin icon off. same thing with Creative Lab's Audio Device Manager.. how many people actually have multiple sound cards? get rid of the damn thing! .. Toss in AOLIM and ICQ's status markers .. if i got the friggin buddylist up, chances are I can see what my status is.. and I dont need a little marker up top to tell me. If yer gonna have a systray icon.. make it worthwhile, or make it hideable (like winamp)
For example, I gotta stare at this damn ATI icon in my Systray that..oooh.. allows me to change resolutions and adapter properties.. -i can already do that-
and everyone else is stressing good documentation, which i agree with.. but for heaven's sake.. DONT make it only available via the web. sometimes an internet connection isnt available. -all- documentation should be locally available.
fish
Hey maybe if things go well, we can look forward to seeing a Red Hat Intellimouse, or a Mandrake Natural Keyboard.. or some other distribution branded hardware item.
The fact is, a lot of companies are loyal to their current architecture. I worked for a company that designed and built the casings for Sun Microsystems. Did our engineers switch to linux? No. Did they even have 1 linux machine in the office to handle the material that Sun sent us (note: not in any Windows format).. no. We got StarOffice for Windows. Linux was an absolute last ditch effort for the IT dept I worked in.
Its mindsets like that, as well as commercialization in some form, that will take Linux to the desktop and really pose as a significant threat to the Windows world. That, and hardware vendor support of the operating system.
If I was an IT Manager, faced with the decision of buying 1000 MS licenses, or distributing RedHat (or something) across the same number of PCs for the cost of maybe 10 CDRs, I'd still more than likely use MS, simply because I know, that despite all the variant hardware in those machines, somewhere I can find a driver for it. Linux.. I gotta -pray- that either the vendor made one, or someone else hacked out the ability to use it.
Maybe in 7-8 years, as Linux stays on top of things, and as vendors see the market grow, we'll have Linux on the desktop, but as it stands.. there is no way in hell its gonna happen in 4.
The vendor support isnt there. The end-user knowledge isnt there. And there is way too much legacy hardware that hasn't adequately been supported.
fish
On the linux partitions, are they still doing the same crap that they opted to do for XP? Do we not get "recovery" or OS disks, but instead just get a nifty other partition wasting disk space, so they don't have to bother pressing a few more cds?
granted, being shipped with 7.1, i would assume most linux using buyers would be going out and getting their preferred distribution (and the most current one) to use instead..
Particularly in the case of HP. That was the whole reason for their line of computers like the Vectra, the ePC, and the Brio. In fact, HP Product Specialists aren't even allowed to mention HP Pavillions to business customers. The mentality is that, the "business" desktops come with software bundled/installed to allow the use of HP's desktop auditing software.
Also the ePC and Brio's have incredibly small cases, and I can even come floppy-less for that "added security"
I used to work with tonhe, albeit in a different department, the customer information section. i know with the business pc, and netserver line of products, the harddrive stated, is the harddrive issued. if its saying its 80gb, then thats what it is, and any bit of space yoinked for recovery purposes, is yoinked.
so yeah, yet gettin screwed.