Imagine the benefits to the environment if we could just figure out a way to melt the ice caps completely. Our greenhouse emissions would plummet!
Of course they would. Melt the ice caps, flood the most populated areas of the planet, and bingo - mankind's greenhouse gas emissions drop dramatically!
If your pricing is wrong or advertising is inadequate, then the CMO is in trouble. If your games suck, then the COO is in trouble. If your company can't manage the overall economic decline, then the CEO is in trouble.
Is it any surprise, then, that when these guys get together to figure out why their sales suck they all collectively point to piracy, which conveniently keeps all of them employed?
And of course, the best part is that both I and the OP were both modded down for daring to suggest that the modding down that is going on is not legit.
That's easy: Moderators are either (a) making stupid mistakes, (b) like modding people troll, or (c) are trolls themselves. Meta-moderation was supposed to prevent that sort of thing, but my impression has been (given some of the mods I've seen) that they aren't covering enough of the moderations to make a difference, or the trolling moderators are gaming meta-moderation.
It wasn't "a few low-margin sales" they were after. Here's what Suger and XO really presented: computing to a large portion of the world in a way that wasn't at all dependent on them. Look at it this way - if kids grew up in Africa, South Asia, and South America with XOs, they'd grow up with a clear alternative to buying MS and Intel products when they wanted computing power. Should those kids ever become successful enough to make computers part of their daily living, they'd start using and advocating such anti-capitalist travesties (from the point of view of MS and Intel) as Ubuntu Linux running on home-grown hardware. Then first-world countries would start noticing that the third-world countries have figured out a way to get computers to every child without spending as much as the first-world countries, and start clamoring for the same stuff. Then first-world kids also grow up without Windows being the first thought when they think "computer", and thus look seriously at alternatives for their family's computers, their business's computers, and so forth.
In short, from MS's and Intel's point of view, had the OLPC done what it had set out to do, the whole mindset of the general public towards their products would have changed, and their businesses would be destroyed. That's why they were aggressive jerks about this. Of course, they could still lose this fight in a bunch of other ways, but that's why in the minds of Ballmer and the like the OLPC project had to be destroyed at all costs.
Of course the behavior wouldn't have corrected itself. Let's say, for instance, that Goldman Sachs goes out of business. What do you think all the former employees who enriched themselves by ripping off the country (this is before the bailouts started) are going to do, just lounge around? Most likely the worst offenders will simply form a new corporation with their ill-gotten gains, hire all their pals, and before you know it they're right back in business doing exactly the same thing.
Of course, any outside investors will be screwed, but these folks don't give a damn about how much damage they do to anyone else.
You are laboring under the mistaken assumption that the elected officials are the sole cause of this mess. Give some credit to the executives who happily run the entire economy into the ground while reaping big bonuses.
It's a direct result of the Henhouse Guarding Committee being completely dependent on foxes for its funding and right to exist. What's stranger to me is that anyone would be the least bit surprised as to the outcome.
Part of the reason is that pointless weapons programs are a major source of federal pork projects for many congresscritters' districts. Plus the lobbyists for Lockheed, Raytheon, etc make darn sure it's worth the congresscritters' while to vote for more contracts for each of them.
And actually, the beginnings of bureaucracy go far further back than the 1300's: basically, as soon as writing was developed, scribes became the bureaucrats of their day. Egyptians, Sumerians, Myceneans, Israelites, Chinese, and so forth all had their bureaucratic classes.
So cheer up, beancounters, because you're part of a glorious 3000+ year tradition!
See, I think, having worked with all of those languages, that they all suck, but each sucks in different ways and thus each has their uses. The mistake a lot of folks get into is "This is the language I'm most familiar with, so it's the best language ever".
Slashdot Mirror
So in short, you're saying that Al Gore is leading a vast left-wing conspiracy bent on world domination?
I'll take "The Rapists log on to WoW" for $400, Trebek.
Imagine the benefits to the environment if we could just figure out a way to melt the ice caps completely. Our greenhouse emissions would plummet!
Of course they would. Melt the ice caps, flood the most populated areas of the planet, and bingo - mankind's greenhouse gas emissions drop dramatically!
It could be much worse:
Wenn ist das Nunstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ja ... Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
Why not just create a dual-layer tin/aluminum foil hat?
Do not forget to pay your $699 GNU license fee you Windows using faggots!
You know, I hate to be a politically correct jerk, but why the heck are you calling gay people "Windows using"?
If your pricing is wrong or advertising is inadequate, then the CMO is in trouble. If your games suck, then the COO is in trouble. If your company can't manage the overall economic decline, then the CEO is in trouble.
Is it any surprise, then, that when these guys get together to figure out why their sales suck they all collectively point to piracy, which conveniently keeps all of them employed?
Hey, leave the stars out of this one, you insensitive clod!
How long have been watching this debate repeat itself over and over and over again in the precise and exact same and identical manner?
Oh, right, only since we have Slashdot.
No, Usenet predates Slashdot by quite a bit.
So in that case, replace "drive their stock up" with "convince an idiot venture capitalist to give them money".
And of course, the best part is that both I and the OP were both modded down for daring to suggest that the modding down that is going on is not legit.
That's easy: Moderators are either (a) making stupid mistakes, (b) like modding people troll, or (c) are trolls themselves. Meta-moderation was supposed to prevent that sort of thing, but my impression has been (given some of the mods I've seen) that they aren't covering enough of the moderations to make a difference, or the trolling moderators are gaming meta-moderation.
No, it's called beer.
It wasn't "a few low-margin sales" they were after. Here's what Suger and XO really presented: computing to a large portion of the world in a way that wasn't at all dependent on them. Look at it this way - if kids grew up in Africa, South Asia, and South America with XOs, they'd grow up with a clear alternative to buying MS and Intel products when they wanted computing power. Should those kids ever become successful enough to make computers part of their daily living, they'd start using and advocating such anti-capitalist travesties (from the point of view of MS and Intel) as Ubuntu Linux running on home-grown hardware. Then first-world countries would start noticing that the third-world countries have figured out a way to get computers to every child without spending as much as the first-world countries, and start clamoring for the same stuff. Then first-world kids also grow up without Windows being the first thought when they think "computer", and thus look seriously at alternatives for their family's computers, their business's computers, and so forth.
In short, from MS's and Intel's point of view, had the OLPC done what it had set out to do, the whole mindset of the general public towards their products would have changed, and their businesses would be destroyed. That's why they were aggressive jerks about this. Of course, they could still lose this fight in a bunch of other ways, but that's why in the minds of Ballmer and the like the OLPC project had to be destroyed at all costs.
Of course the behavior wouldn't have corrected itself. Let's say, for instance, that Goldman Sachs goes out of business. What do you think all the former employees who enriched themselves by ripping off the country (this is before the bailouts started) are going to do, just lounge around? Most likely the worst offenders will simply form a new corporation with their ill-gotten gains, hire all their pals, and before you know it they're right back in business doing exactly the same thing.
Of course, any outside investors will be screwed, but these folks don't give a damn about how much damage they do to anyone else.
You are laboring under the mistaken assumption that the elected officials are the sole cause of this mess. Give some credit to the executives who happily run the entire economy into the ground while reaping big bonuses.
That's Major Major Major Major to you, mister.
Oh, that's easy. Once you send a ship to Alpha Centauri, the game ends and you win!
No, that's an imaginary mathematician (e.g. Will Hunting).
It's a direct result of the Henhouse Guarding Committee being completely dependent on foxes for its funding and right to exist. What's stranger to me is that anyone would be the least bit surprised as to the outcome.
Part of the reason is that pointless weapons programs are a major source of federal pork projects for many congresscritters' districts. Plus the lobbyists for Lockheed, Raytheon, etc make darn sure it's worth the congresscritters' while to vote for more contracts for each of them.
What's that you're hacking off? Is it my torso? It is! My precious torso!
Well, Apple did use Motorola chips for a while, some of which actually do have an HCF instruction.
And actually, the beginnings of bureaucracy go far further back than the 1300's: basically, as soon as writing was developed, scribes became the bureaucrats of their day. Egyptians, Sumerians, Myceneans, Israelites, Chinese, and so forth all had their bureaucratic classes.
So cheer up, beancounters, because you're part of a glorious 3000+ year tradition!
See, I think, having worked with all of those languages, that they all suck, but each sucks in different ways and thus each has their uses. The mistake a lot of folks get into is "This is the language I'm most familiar with, so it's the best language ever".
Of course, the real contest will be the length of the language designers' beard:
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/tamir/archive/2008/04/28/computer-languages-and-facial-hair-take-two.aspx