MS wanted to sell more OSes so they shot their partner IBM in the back by openly supporting the clone companies in their dos and windows products. But in order for MS to make any money they had to keep x86 software commodity or risk facing the same troubles as Apple does. So in the end all the hardware makers are sharecroppers to MS OS.
Now that all that hardware is out there, cheap designed to basically run one program it's time to replace the most expensive single part--MS Windows!!! MS took the PC market away from IBM and they've basically given up. They make hardware, not OSes...MS took that market away. So their OS vendor can be anybody now!!! Given the sizable sales of IBM and how much power they have over the server room it's surprising this hasnt' happened sooner!
IBM is in perfect position... they alone have the equal monopolistic power to fight MS at it's own game and walk away unscathed...after all, PC sales are only a small part of IBM's overall business. Changes to MS licensing can't hurt them very much....and IBM has the lawyers to PUNISH any retaliation by MS because IBM is just 1 customer and MS is a monopoly they can't fight back!!!
After all, MS is out there telling the US govt that they need to crack down on "piracy" in Asia....
So their govts are cracking down on piracy! They're choosing software that everybody can afford so they won't have to pirate anymore!!! Remember, they ARE COMMUNISTS [for all those who call GPL Lovers commies] and most of SE asia is mildly socialist anyway due to the serious problems of overpopulation and feeding everyone.
Actually the "marines" are still under "earth" army ranking and the Starfleet is it's own elite thing.... Remember there is only 1 Enterprise! at this time it's the very top of the commands out there. Notice too how the "exploration"-oriented Starfleet "bookworm" officers are quickly catching up [and soon surpassing] the "trained professionals" at their own game. In the later series [think TNG or Voyager] the marines were beneath Starfleet ship officers in rank by a wide margin.
In my experience the shops I've been at that had unions they were more than amicable to doing what it takes to keep the business afloat. There isn't much ground for unions to give anymore. If you look at the business world, the large companies [megacorps] are raking it in with record numbers in the last 5 years and they are compensating Executives at double-digit increases yearly! But UNIONS are to blame?
The last shop I was at the Union people came in and did their jobs every day and mostly did well. but at every opportunity, the management did everything possible to "punish" the union people with the "letter of the law" scheduling work with the least possible notice, writing up for stupid "common sense" family emergencies, last minute OT without opportunity to get your kids...etc. Being in IT I watched them do it on a weekly basis! Often they would type the stuff up ahead and not post it "till the last minute" just out of spite.
Re:Perhaps Google ought to consider this...
on
Google IPO Swami
·
· Score: 1
but the only reason google is profitable is because they have a core team that sticks to their business and "to hell" with what wall street thinks.
Notice how Steve Jobs has returned to Apple in much the same way. Sure he's got voting shareholders, but he "just knows" the business and makes a profit so they've learned to let him run his company and not micromanage it. Google is afraid of much the same thing. From reports being printed they are managing their money very "non-wall street" like in that they are double-counting costs and overhead to make sure they pay the bills.... The first thing many mutual funds would do is to make a "money grab" and either buy up needless companies or chase fools-errands trying to "get richer quick" neither of which is good for Google the company.
I've worked at several places now that are only open because they followed "grandpa's business" rather than the showy wall street stuff. Particularly in this economy, it's good to keep money in the bank...I've seen my employers drop entire months worth of income on emergency repairs...but due to cautious accounting they could cover from cash rather than borrow from the bank...it's the difference between having a job and not.... The wall street "investors" are all about gambling anymore...not about the slow, steady growing of a business.
It includes Evolution connector I believe plus some other non-free stuff. It also includes licenses for Suse's [non-free] Exchange Server replacement and support. In short it's a complimenting desktop Linux to run with their servers and get end-to-end support!
Because it includes all the CALs you would need for Suse Server access it's still a much better deal than a windows license...which doens't include much of anything in terms of access anymore...
Windows doesn't include a DVD player either! That's considered a hardware "driver" that WMP grabs from what ever you get with your DVD-ROM drive.
Typically out of the box, you can't usually connect to the either net either...because that requires additional software from your ISP, or Drivers for your Cable/DSL modem... Windows also doesn't do 3D graphics....those drivers are writen by ATI & NVidia. They don't do sound...that comes from your sound card manufacturer...or chipset drivers....Don't even get started on Applications!!!
None of that software "comes" with MS Windows either...but at least the Linux companies try! Sure, it comes with your hardware....but that's aonther company that put time and effort into writing those drivers/software....that credit doesn't belong to MS wholey.
I read the first article he didn't even mention using Virtual PC until 3/4 of the way thru! He went thru all that trouble trying to run a "hack" without simply grabbing a blank drive and giving linux a real go. For somebody who's a TECH writer, and trying to write a critical review using Virtual PC was simply out of line...espically Blaming the distro for his troubles! Not to mention which version he was using [i.e. some freebe MS handout == "broken"!] It's not too much to expect that he swap in a blank drive...or at least "really" install it.
I was right with him on some of the wrinkles with the setup gottchas and such...I've seen them elsewhere. But the fact he waited until the "decision" part of the article before anouncing using virtual PC pretty much ruined his credibility...after all, a normal user isn't going to use another $100+ program to run that $39 Linux on...are they!!!
OK...season 6 is done and gone. Michael Shanks came back and Corin left to do broadway? After a while he kinda grew on you. It was a great part specificly because it forced the writers to really WORK at it. You must be still watching syndication....Season 8 starts in the fall...It's gonna be the final season...an REALLY cool!!!
The news is that it's a common chip that now has the Memory management onboard! It's an tried and true architecture, but now it will be easier for "hobbiests" to use linux because you can use the built in memory functions in the kernel...rather than having to adapt every single program to manage it's own memory...
It's now able to "qualify" for something like the Gumstix project [for intel Xscale]...a quick and dirty hobby board that's easy to port common stuff [telnet, serial I/O, and run some programs] to and use in some kind of hobby project. Not that it couldn't before, but now it can use off-the-shelf programs simply recompiled rather than hacked up to cover for missing hardware functions that we mere mortals can't do easily!!!
Re:Perhaps Google ought to consider this...
on
Google IPO Swami
·
· Score: 1
It's no more "lopsided" than any other "blue chip" company. There are actually very few of the blue chips that you, the public, can buy prefered stock in. Most of that stuff never hits the market...what you see on the market is mostly common, or non-voting, stock. It's the stuff employers like MS & McDonalds sell to employees and print when they want more money.
Again, it's a nod to that the google guys are right on top of the game... Remember, Google doesn't NEED the money...they'd be perfectly happy being private but they have too many stock holders to remain private. So some stupid fed decided they HAD to open up and be public. So they are trying to make it as absolutely messy as possible so nobody would want to touch it on opening day!!! Also, being public lets the original VCs get their money out...They're the first to sell on opening day anyway so they're actually getting a better deal this way that the "traditional" IPO.
google is really smart!
on
Google IPO Swami
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Typically, a company IPOs and the brokerage houses get all the shares really cheap...$5 range... and then sell them off for $200/share on opening day.
That's bad for the company in many ways. The problem with that for the company is that there is now unrealistic valuations for their stock...what I've been calling the "beanie baby" effect. Much like the toy fads that sweep the nation with obscene prices for stupid $5 toys, IPO's have the same trouble. The initial price that the shares sell at is all that the company gets....Right now there are no "stockholders" to please....it's all about what the company needs/wants to be successful! This doesn't affect those VCs and angel investors wanting to leave...they already got their X% of company shares immediately available to sell off...This doesn't really hurt them.
What typically happens is that the "old boys" on wall street undervalue your company shares when they post them, then of course overvalue your shares to all the clients! It's actually the ultimate in "legal" inside trading. What they're trying to do is sell their shares for as close to "market value" as possible. That means the company gets the most money for selling itself and also gets a stable investor base instead of being victim to an immediate "downturn" from a larger company [say MS] that might use it's buying power to ruin them. They are also trying to get investors that want to be part of google, not just those looking for a quick buck.
In all it's a smart strategy because they are using the stock market like it was originally intended...for a company to gain capital!
They shouldn't be able to pass along the cost of these measures without loosing profit or marketshare.
How about another example: With rising gas prices, do you see stuff at the grocery store raise by 10% overnight to cover the extra REAL shipping costs they are paying? Do Auto part suppliers get to raise prices for cost of health insurance of steel prices going up 20% in the last year? Of couse not! Those buinsesses live in competitive markets and the first one to "blink" on price will often loose sales or violate pricing contracts with their customers. Heck, right now many business are actually LOWERING prices to stay afloat instead of raising them when they really NEED the increases to be profitable!
Sure, MS can raise it's prices...but the fact that their management can openly tell that to the news...because they got fined by the govt no doubt... only reinforces the fact that they are operating outside the bounds of "real" capitalism. It reinforces the fact that they are a preditory company and that suggestion that prices would increase instead of mearly paying it from cash-on-hand means that they are not even sorry for abusing the market position they have!
It's like Michael Jackson showing up to court riding in a bus full of boy scouts!
no, it's protection money. Software companies like MS leared this years ago.. the RIAA is just looking for the same deal. Years ago the software companies went after Unis for illegal software posessed by students, shared on the network. The "compromise" was that the Unis would all buy massive site licenese enough to cover all their students and faculty...then the students are "entitled" to buy said software products at a reduced rate "legally". It also has the side effect of putting the Unis in an all-or-nothing mode of software purchase. They can't run half OSS on campus and reap the savings because the Software companies will cry "piracy" so they might as well use what they're paying for anyway...with now way to back out.
The RIAA just wants in on the deal! I've said before that Unis will start looking into music piracy if the RIAA was simply to put a little "dime" in their pockets...Heck most Uni presidents would gladly volunteer to inspect all the students' hard drives...you just gotta PAY them to do it!!!
Repeat after me: America was founded to avoid religous procecution, but primarily because the religions that settled here wanted to be the ones deciding who to prosecute...not because they valued religous "Freedom". The U. S. of A. is about freedom to do what I want, how I want, and freedom from tolerating anything I might not like. It's never been about real Freedom for all!
Even though I'm Christian I feel exactly the same way! Personally, I'd prefer that stuff like the ten commandments be left up and another body allowed to contribute, but realize that many of these "religous outrages" have been deliberately perpetuated by members of the Far Right within the last 20 years or so... the 10 commandment thing is only 4-5 years old and the Judge in question was told up front by other Judges not do order the monument in the first place!!!! The "Under God" thing in the Pledge of Allegiance was also recently ADDED BY religous people in the 1950's changing the Pledge after more than 50 years....but it's an "outrage" to change it back.
If the "Conservitive Christians" weren't condoning the rape and tourture of HomoSexuals by police, the framing and police murder of suspected [and guilty] drug dealers, and the terrorist bombings of law abiding abortion clinics the ACLU wouldn't be nearly as powerful as it is now.
The last 10 years in particular, "conservitive" DAs and lawmakers have been making more and more extreme laws that violate the rights of every single citizen, not just the "bad guys".
Of other note, every single one of the "Christian Conservatives" spouting such trash has spiritually fallen into dispare... Guys like Fallwell and Swaggert were only the tip of the iceberg..I know Many, many "normal" pastors and decons that spouted such extreme trash and they all ended up living the very way they condemned!!!!
Frankly, I oppose where this is going because one day very soon the pendulem is going to swing the other way and those "Conservitive Christians" are going to be Public Enemy #1 and We'll be the ones who actually get rounded up and shot...under these very rules we're passing to "protect" the country!!!
That's a fair call to make because those are the people that Mr. Bush chose to act on his behalf as heads of the various departments....it's perfectly fair to hold him personally responsible for their works and actions.
I think much of what's happening also is result of the "corperatization" of the republican party. Bush is stuck in the same boat as Nixon [Who didn't break the law until he tried to cover-up rather than being straight forward and accepting the concequences of his leutinant's misactions]. People beneath him are saying stuff to promote the "party's" agenda and he's being a "good" executive and putting attack against them down as "theats" to his personal authority. As a show of good faith he needs to throw out half the White House staff and do the work himself rather than back up the staff that is backing him into a corner. If he's a coward like Nixon, then the country will suffer immensly because his Department heads are running rough-shot over us using his authority and payback will be a B**ch.
Because they are laying the foundation for such abuses setting this country back 50 years in civil rights in a matter of months!! They are simply trying to do the "right thing" because the "liberals" have done too much "moral damage".. I'm sure these guys have good intentions....and often "good intentions" do far more damage in the long run that blatat hatred.
One thing about the current administration is that they may be "moral" but they're not "nice" people. I grew up with far too many of that type [preachers, lawyers, businessmen]...and while they may have "morals" and self-discipline they are every bit as angry and hate-filled as the gang members in that brawl the other day...they just don't use curse words to get back.
Of course neither were those "bodyguards" that got butchered... so why did we feel bad about them.
One other key problem I had with the whole "enemy combatant" thing is that WE INVADED a soverign country and the citizens defended their land! Remember, the "enemy combatant" argument was also used in 1776 by the british against American soldiers under George Washington! Let the tragedy of that comming from an United States president sink in for a minute!!!
I think the idea of the "fuzzy math" programs is to get "smarter" kids to excel and less math inclined kids to just keep up. Like many posters have said, usually tech-related people find their own way so to speak and that seems to apply to other fields also, people like social workers typically find their way as councilers at summer camp for smaller kids, etc..
Americans in particular tend to resist the "labeling" of students into careers at "too early" an age even though it's proven from other countries that it's much better. I think the problem with the education system is too many "teachers" and not enough "masters of trade".
I think a more creative approach would be to take the 5 individual teachers a kid would have till 4th grade and have them be very experienced in specific diciplines...an engineer, doctor, policeman, businessman, farmer, etc. Go thru 5 years of general studies and do activities that bring out student's natural skills! If you have people that are in the field and LIKE the field, they will be able to pick out those students very easily at the 4th grade level.
The difference between the $40k workers and the $100k workers in all fields is how early they got hooked on it! Look at guys like Anand [from ananandtech] He got interested in that web thingy early on and his parents definately suported him to get going. Sure, it wasn't what he ended up going to school for, but he got going early and people didn't try to tell him he was "too young" or "inexperienced" My point is that the "good jobs" are being filled by kids that know entering high school what they really want to do...and what they need to get it! Too many schools are falling to the "pick a major in college" mindset rather than giving kids the motivation to get there!!!
What about a programmer's idea blog section on Sourceforge. A place where users or programmers can post their crazy ideas publicly? At that point the "idea" would be considered public domain and not patentable. Once there was enough of a body of work built up, it would be relitively easy to disprove patents in a court of law. Given enough shot down patents, the PTO would HAVE to change it's practices or have it's credibility laughed out.
the other reform we could ask for is a competition-styled patent system. Rather than issuing a great many poorly thought out ones, just issue a limited number per year and make companies compete to win those spots. You'd give them 3 tries to win then tell them time's up! It would cause more attention to be paid to fewer applications making the burden of proof much higher than in the past.
So he could have been punished even after he thought he rightfully deleted them!!! That's right folks, if they want they'll not only go thru your caches, but also run an undelete program against your disks! That's simply not fair!!! because at that point, your not "posessing" the material anymore.. even your intent was to remove them! that's a VERY dangerous slope!!
The problem is that these are crimes of posession, not action. There is some nieve notion lawmakers have created that "absolute rule" of possession rather than using any reason at all.
This is comparable to what's happened in the "war" on drugs... cops planting evidence to sieze property illegally, using the overwhelming legal fees to sieze property by default [we won't charge you with a crime if you give us your car], or seizing 70 year old grandmas property because of the actions of a teenager they're trying to support. Another problem is the idea of "posession" by consumption passed by many of the state legislatures.... That's blatantly unconstitutional... even when the amendment for prohibition of alchol was in force that was considered an unthinkable 5th amendmendment violation....my how times have changed. If you actually look carefully at the prohibition amendment "posession" of alchol was not actually illegal. manufacture, sale, transport was...but not posession or consumption they had their constitutional bounds almost straight... it was definately not the way it is handled now. Also, they tend to forget---it didn't work then. Why would they expect "prohibitions" to work now in the digigal age?
Slashdot Mirror
MS wanted to sell more OSes so they shot their partner IBM in the back by openly supporting the clone companies in their dos and windows products. But in order for MS to make any money they had to keep x86 software commodity or risk facing the same troubles as Apple does. So in the end all the hardware makers are sharecroppers to MS OS.
Now that all that hardware is out there, cheap designed to basically run one program it's time to replace the most expensive single part--MS Windows!!! MS took the PC market away from IBM and they've basically given up. They make hardware, not OSes...MS took that market away. So their OS vendor can be anybody now!!! Given the sizable sales of IBM and how much power they have over the server room it's surprising this hasnt' happened sooner!
IBM is in perfect position... they alone have the equal monopolistic power to fight MS at it's own game and walk away unscathed...after all, PC sales are only a small part of IBM's overall business. Changes to MS licensing can't hurt them very much....and IBM has the lawyers to PUNISH any retaliation by MS because IBM is just 1 customer and MS is a monopoly they can't fight back!!!
So their govts are cracking down on piracy! They're choosing software that everybody can afford so they won't have to pirate anymore!!! Remember, they ARE COMMUNISTS [for all those who call GPL Lovers commies] and most of SE asia is mildly socialist anyway due to the serious problems of overpopulation and feeding everyone.
Actually the "marines" are still under "earth" army ranking and the Starfleet is it's own elite thing.... Remember there is only 1 Enterprise! at this time it's the very top of the commands out there. Notice too how the "exploration"-oriented Starfleet "bookworm" officers are quickly catching up [and soon surpassing] the "trained professionals" at their own game. In the later series [think TNG or Voyager] the marines were beneath Starfleet ship officers in rank by a wide margin.
You realize that that is "only" $30 million right! You know how "poor" that would make those guys?
The last shop I was at the Union people came in and did their jobs every day and mostly did well. but at every opportunity, the management did everything possible to "punish" the union people with the "letter of the law" scheduling work with the least possible notice, writing up for stupid "common sense" family emergencies, last minute OT without opportunity to get your kids...etc. Being in IT I watched them do it on a weekly basis! Often they would type the stuff up ahead and not post it "till the last minute" just out of spite.
Notice how Steve Jobs has returned to Apple in much the same way. Sure he's got voting shareholders, but he "just knows" the business and makes a profit so they've learned to let him run his company and not micromanage it. Google is afraid of much the same thing. From reports being printed they are managing their money very "non-wall street" like in that they are double-counting costs and overhead to make sure they pay the bills.... The first thing many mutual funds would do is to make a "money grab" and either buy up needless companies or chase fools-errands trying to "get richer quick" neither of which is good for Google the company.
I've worked at several places now that are only open because they followed "grandpa's business" rather than the showy wall street stuff. Particularly in this economy, it's good to keep money in the bank...I've seen my employers drop entire months worth of income on emergency repairs...but due to cautious accounting they could cover from cash rather than borrow from the bank...it's the difference between having a job and not.... The wall street "investors" are all about gambling anymore...not about the slow, steady growing of a business.
Because it includes all the CALs you would need for Suse Server access it's still a much better deal than a windows license...which doens't include much of anything in terms of access anymore...
Typically out of the box, you can't usually connect to the either net either...because that requires additional software from your ISP, or Drivers for your Cable/DSL modem... Windows also doesn't do 3D graphics....those drivers are writen by ATI & NVidia. They don't do sound...that comes from your sound card manufacturer...or chipset drivers....Don't even get started on Applications!!!
None of that software "comes" with MS Windows either...but at least the Linux companies try! Sure, it comes with your hardware....but that's aonther company that put time and effort into writing those drivers/software....that credit doesn't belong to MS wholey.
I was right with him on some of the wrinkles with the setup gottchas and such...I've seen them elsewhere. But the fact he waited until the "decision" part of the article before anouncing using virtual PC pretty much ruined his credibility...after all, a normal user isn't going to use another $100+ program to run that $39 Linux on ...are they!!!
OK...season 6 is done and gone. Michael Shanks came back and Corin left to do broadway? After a while he kinda grew on you. It was a great part specificly because it forced the writers to really WORK at it. You must be still watching syndication....Season 8 starts in the fall...It's gonna be the final season...an REALLY cool!!!
It's now able to "qualify" for something like the Gumstix project [for intel Xscale]...a quick and dirty hobby board that's easy to port common stuff [telnet, serial I/O, and run some programs] to and use in some kind of hobby project. Not that it couldn't before, but now it can use off-the-shelf programs simply recompiled rather than hacked up to cover for missing hardware functions that we mere mortals can't do easily!!!
Again, it's a nod to that the google guys are right on top of the game... Remember, Google doesn't NEED the money...they'd be perfectly happy being private but they have too many stock holders to remain private. So some stupid fed decided they HAD to open up and be public. So they are trying to make it as absolutely messy as possible so nobody would want to touch it on opening day!!! Also, being public lets the original VCs get their money out...They're the first to sell on opening day anyway so they're actually getting a better deal this way that the "traditional" IPO.
That's bad for the company in many ways. The problem with that for the company is that there is now unrealistic valuations for their stock...what I've been calling the "beanie baby" effect. Much like the toy fads that sweep the nation with obscene prices for stupid $5 toys, IPO's have the same trouble. The initial price that the shares sell at is all that the company gets ....Right now there are no "stockholders" to please....it's all about what the company needs/wants to be successful! This doesn't affect those VCs and angel investors wanting to leave...they already got their X% of company shares immediately available to sell off...This doesn't really hurt them.
What typically happens is that the "old boys" on wall street undervalue your company shares when they post them, then of course overvalue your shares to all the clients! It's actually the ultimate in "legal" inside trading. What they're trying to do is sell their shares for as close to "market value" as possible. That means the company gets the most money for selling itself and also gets a stable investor base instead of being victim to an immediate "downturn" from a larger company [say MS] that might use it's buying power to ruin them. They are also trying to get investors that want to be part of google, not just those looking for a quick buck.
In all it's a smart strategy because they are using the stock market like it was originally intended...for a company to gain capital!
I happen to agree with you that there should be penalty for less than a day sales, but it's not in the law.
How about another example: With rising gas prices, do you see stuff at the grocery store raise by 10% overnight to cover the extra REAL shipping costs they are paying? Do Auto part suppliers get to raise prices for cost of health insurance of steel prices going up 20% in the last year? Of couse not! Those buinsesses live in competitive markets and the first one to "blink" on price will often loose sales or violate pricing contracts with their customers. Heck, right now many business are actually LOWERING prices to stay afloat instead of raising them when they really NEED the increases to be profitable!
Sure, MS can raise it's prices...but the fact that their management can openly tell that to the news...because they got fined by the govt no doubt... only reinforces the fact that they are operating outside the bounds of "real" capitalism. It reinforces the fact that they are a preditory company and that suggestion that prices would increase instead of mearly paying it from cash-on-hand means that they are not even sorry for abusing the market position they have!
It's like Michael Jackson showing up to court riding in a bus full of boy scouts!
The RIAA just wants in on the deal! I've said before that Unis will start looking into music piracy if the RIAA was simply to put a little "dime" in their pockets...Heck most Uni presidents would gladly volunteer to inspect all the students' hard drives...you just gotta PAY them to do it!!!
Even though I'm Christian I feel exactly the same way! Personally, I'd prefer that stuff like the ten commandments be left up and another body allowed to contribute, but realize that many of these "religous outrages" have been deliberately perpetuated by members of the Far Right within the last 20 years or so... the 10 commandment thing is only 4-5 years old and the Judge in question was told up front by other Judges not do order the monument in the first place!!!! The "Under God" thing in the Pledge of Allegiance was also recently ADDED BY religous people in the 1950's changing the Pledge after more than 50 years....but it's an "outrage" to change it back.
If the "Conservitive Christians" weren't condoning the rape and tourture of HomoSexuals by police, the framing and police murder of suspected [and guilty] drug dealers, and the terrorist bombings of law abiding abortion clinics the ACLU wouldn't be nearly as powerful as it is now.
The last 10 years in particular, "conservitive" DAs and lawmakers have been making more and more extreme laws that violate the rights of every single citizen, not just the "bad guys".
Of other note, every single one of the "Christian Conservatives" spouting such trash has spiritually fallen into dispare... Guys like Fallwell and Swaggert were only the tip of the iceberg..I know Many, many "normal" pastors and decons that spouted such extreme trash and they all ended up living the very way they condemned!!!!
Frankly, I oppose where this is going because one day very soon the pendulem is going to swing the other way and those "Conservitive Christians" are going to be Public Enemy #1 and We'll be the ones who actually get rounded up and shot...under these very rules we're passing to "protect" the country!!!
I think much of what's happening also is result of the "corperatization" of the republican party. Bush is stuck in the same boat as Nixon [Who didn't break the law until he tried to cover-up rather than being straight forward and accepting the concequences of his leutinant's misactions]. People beneath him are saying stuff to promote the "party's" agenda and he's being a "good" executive and putting attack against them down as "theats" to his personal authority. As a show of good faith he needs to throw out half the White House staff and do the work himself rather than back up the staff that is backing him into a corner. If he's a coward like Nixon, then the country will suffer immensly because his Department heads are running rough-shot over us using his authority and payback will be a B**ch.
One thing about the current administration is that they may be "moral" but they're not "nice" people. I grew up with far too many of that type [preachers, lawyers, businessmen] ...and while they may have "morals" and self-discipline they are every bit as angry and hate-filled as the gang members in that brawl the other day...they just don't use curse words to get back.
One other key problem I had with the whole "enemy combatant" thing is that WE INVADED a soverign country and the citizens defended their land! Remember, the "enemy combatant" argument was also used in 1776 by the british against American soldiers under George Washington! Let the tragedy of that comming from an United States president sink in for a minute!!!
And THAT is the real problem!! Too many people see the abuse that's happened and say "oh well"... That's the first step.
Americans in particular tend to resist the "labeling" of students into careers at "too early" an age even though it's proven from other countries that it's much better. I think the problem with the education system is too many "teachers" and not enough "masters of trade".
I think a more creative approach would be to take the 5 individual teachers a kid would have till 4th grade and have them be very experienced in specific diciplines...an engineer, doctor, policeman, businessman, farmer, etc. Go thru 5 years of general studies and do activities that bring out student's natural skills! If you have people that are in the field and LIKE the field, they will be able to pick out those students very easily at the 4th grade level.
The difference between the $40k workers and the $100k workers in all fields is how early they got hooked on it! Look at guys like Anand [from ananandtech] He got interested in that web thingy early on and his parents definately suported him to get going. Sure, it wasn't what he ended up going to school for, but he got going early and people didn't try to tell him he was "too young" or "inexperienced" My point is that the "good jobs" are being filled by kids that know entering high school what they really want to do...and what they need to get it! Too many schools are falling to the "pick a major in college" mindset rather than giving kids the motivation to get there!!!
the other reform we could ask for is a competition-styled patent system. Rather than issuing a great many poorly thought out ones, just issue a limited number per year and make companies compete to win those spots. You'd give them 3 tries to win then tell them time's up! It would cause more attention to be paid to fewer applications making the burden of proof much higher than in the past.
So he could have been punished even after he thought he rightfully deleted them!!! That's right folks, if they want they'll not only go thru your caches, but also run an undelete program against your disks! That's simply not fair!!! because at that point, your not "posessing" the material anymore.. even your intent was to remove them! that's a VERY dangerous slope!!
This is comparable to what's happened in the "war" on drugs... cops planting evidence to sieze property illegally, using the overwhelming legal fees to sieze property by default [we won't charge you with a crime if you give us your car], or seizing 70 year old grandmas property because of the actions of a teenager they're trying to support. Another problem is the idea of "posession" by consumption passed by many of the state legislatures.... That's blatantly unconstitutional... even when the amendment for prohibition of alchol was in force that was considered an unthinkable 5th amendmendment violation....my how times have changed. If you actually look carefully at the prohibition amendment "posession" of alchol was not actually illegal. manufacture, sale, transport was...but not posession or consumption they had their constitutional bounds almost straight... it was definately not the way it is handled now. Also, they tend to forget---it didn't work then. Why would they expect "prohibitions" to work now in the digigal age?