Why not make accepting campaign contributions illegal?
You don't necessarily have to go all the way out, but with accountability these things could backfire pretty badly for the politicians involved.
Sweden is running by 50+% at the moment and it sure isn't amking the economy boom. Sweden has lost out a lot the last 20 years compared to countries with more reasonable tax levels.
I guess the same applies to the music industry. If CD's were 10$ apiece I would buy a lot more. Burning / downloading (especially downloading) is just not the same as the real thing. In my case the high prices just lead to my listening to fewer records more times.
/ TLTS
"Quick analysis: The marginal cost of software is zero, therefore, price should be zero since price equals MC. Many people, unfortunately, have trouble understanding this."
You would be right... If the software industry was a commodity industry with software as uniform products that could be interchanged at will. This, however, is not the case, at least so far as "major" pieces of software are concerned. In sectors where lots of people need to exchange information with other people in other companies and not all of them are/.ers MS has a defacto monopoly on a number of products (Office, Outlook...). This in turn leads to another de facto monopoly on other products (Windows XXX...), which in turn can be used for gaining advantages on development of other products (C++...) (cutting that short since the ins and outs of MS behaviour is well known). I for one am not terribly upset about this, if I was BG I would do the same, but it's a fact of life.
This makes the challenge for Linux on the desktop a tougher one, but if they/we make it Linux will wield the same kind of monopoly power with the interesting effect that since Linux is available to any developers, once/if it is a Desktop standard we will have a very tough time breaking loose (much to the chagrin of the next generation of/.ers)
For small software however, you are right. When was the last time you went out and paid money for an MP3 player, a jpg viewer, a zip program...? That kind of software is now, and in the future essentially free (as in beer). The only trouble you will have is to go out and find it.
It's good to be in Sweden!
In Sweden you can file your phone number as "not wanting unsolicited sales calls". Anyone trying to cold sell to you after that is deemed as acting against good conduct of business, which can get them into all kinds of nice trouble with the law.
Wouldn't it be great to have the same thing for email adresses, preferably with legislation covering most of the world?
/ TLTS
Re:The timing may advance open source
on
PC Prices to Rise?
·
· Score: 1
From a corporate standpoint, table top PC hardware cost is peanuts. Corporations are concerned with total cost of ownership. I would guess that you can rank their costs as:
#1: Work loss due to user not understanding how to operate Software/Hardware
#2: Tech support due to same
#3: Software and development cost
#4: Hardware
/ TLTS
"There are also biological consequences of cloning, like the reduction of biodiveristy."
This is nonsence! 10 billion humans is probably 9.9999 more than is needed to conserve an adequate gene pool.
Since this technology will not be widely available in the third world for a long time there is no problem with that. Even then... The Jehovah's Witnesses are many enough to save us all. (Not going into what THAT might mean for the gene pool.)
/ TLTS
(trolling)
Haploid human life is life as well. Let's go out and protest against the murder of all the little ovums and sperms that never get the chance to join and live out their natural lives!
/ THS
How healthy were the first test tube babies?
If they weren't, was that suffering acceptable "for the greater good" or should those experiments never have taken place?
I guess it comes back to the omelettes and the eggs.
Of course I wish this child to be born healthy or otherwise not at all.
/ LTS
People being people, employers would not be to to surprised, nor disgruntled if one of their junior employees realize after a year at the first job that they want to travel for a while before settling down with family / kids / house etc.
Depending on the employer (as mentioned in other posts) and on how long you will be gone, it is not at all unlikely that they will grant you a laeva without pay. If not - then just part ways amically.
Future employers will also understand this kind of behaviour, and wont be concerned with it, especially since you will be able to tell them (truthfully) that you now have done your traveling and is happy to settle down in job life with a number of weeks per year vacation. (Vacation in Europe is much longer than in US, where you may have to take your vacation between jobs).
My two cents based on my 7 year working experience in Sweden.
I shudder at the thought of a TV series based on Dune, the computer games. Think about episode after episode with hordes of nondescript soldiers and vehicles flogging it out in a repetitive desert environment. Budget would be really low since lots of episodes would take place in the exact same locations as well.
I would think Myst sucks even more as a basis for a TV series than the Dune games.
Discaimer: I LIKE the Dune games, and I like Herbert's books and I also like Lynch's Dune movie. My primary dislike of the TV series was that it didn't have as clourful characters and actors as Lynch's epic work.
Slashdot Mirror
Why not make accepting campaign contributions illegal? You don't necessarily have to go all the way out, but with accountability these things could backfire pretty badly for the politicians involved.
Sweden is running by 50+% at the moment and it sure isn't amking the economy boom. Sweden has lost out a lot the last 20 years compared to countries with more reasonable tax levels. I guess the same applies to the music industry. If CD's were 10$ apiece I would buy a lot more. Burning / downloading (especially downloading) is just not the same as the real thing. In my case the high prices just lead to my listening to fewer records more times. / TLTS
Of course I could afford a SUV if I wanted one, but I much prefer my little BMW compact.
You are right about nuclear power, though.
/ TLTS
You would be right ... If the software industry was a commodity industry with software as uniform products that could be interchanged at will. This, however, is not the case, at least so far as "major" pieces of software are concerned. In sectors where lots of people need to exchange information with other people in other companies and not all of them are /.ers MS has a defacto monopoly on a number of products (Office, Outlook...). This in turn leads to another de facto monopoly on other products (Windows XXX...), which in turn can be used for gaining advantages on development of other products (C++...) (cutting that short since the ins and outs of MS behaviour is well known). I for one am not terribly upset about this, if I was BG I would do the same, but it's a fact of life.
This makes the challenge for Linux on the desktop a tougher one, but if they/we make it Linux will wield the same kind of monopoly power with the interesting effect that since Linux is available to any developers, once/if it is a Desktop standard we will have a very tough time breaking loose (much to the chagrin of the next generation of /.ers)
For small software however, you are right. When was the last time you went out and paid money for an MP3 player, a jpg viewer, a zip program...? That kind of software is now, and in the future essentially free (as in beer). The only trouble you will have is to go out and find it.
Yes! Remember the old Startrek joke? http://users.owt.com/lazrchet/humor/startrek.htm
It's good to be in Sweden! In Sweden you can file your phone number as "not wanting unsolicited sales calls". Anyone trying to cold sell to you after that is deemed as acting against good conduct of business, which can get them into all kinds of nice trouble with the law. Wouldn't it be great to have the same thing for email adresses, preferably with legislation covering most of the world? / TLTS
From a corporate standpoint, table top PC hardware cost is peanuts. Corporations are concerned with total cost of ownership. I would guess that you can rank their costs as: #1: Work loss due to user not understanding how to operate Software/Hardware #2: Tech support due to same #3: Software and development cost #4: Hardware / TLTS
... except of course that not all sterility is due to genetic factors. / TLTS
This would have been much more interesting if it wasn't by an AC. / TLTS
Luckily the experiment took place in Italy instead of USA, so there is little chance for a mega law suit :-)
/ TLTS
"There are also biological consequences of cloning, like the reduction of biodiveristy." This is nonsence! 10 billion humans is probably 9.9999 more than is needed to conserve an adequate gene pool. Since this technology will not be widely available in the third world for a long time there is no problem with that. Even then ... The Jehovah's Witnesses are many enough to save us all. (Not going into what THAT might mean for the gene pool.)
/ TLTS
(trolling) Haploid human life is life as well. Let's go out and protest against the murder of all the little ovums and sperms that never get the chance to join and live out their natural lives! / THS
How healthy were the first test tube babies? If they weren't, was that suffering acceptable "for the greater good" or should those experiments never have taken place? I guess it comes back to the omelettes and the eggs. Of course I wish this child to be born healthy or otherwise not at all. / LTS
People being people, employers would not be to to surprised, nor disgruntled if one of their junior employees realize after a year at the first job that they want to travel for a while before settling down with family / kids / house etc.
Depending on the employer (as mentioned in other posts) and on how long you will be gone, it is not at all unlikely that they will grant you a laeva without pay. If not - then just part ways amically.
Future employers will also understand this kind of behaviour, and wont be concerned with it, especially since you will be able to tell them (truthfully) that you now have done your traveling and is happy to settle down in job life with a number of weeks per year vacation. (Vacation in Europe is much longer than in US, where you may have to take your vacation between jobs).
My two cents based on my 7 year working experience in Sweden.
I shudder at the thought of a TV series based on Dune, the computer games. Think about episode after episode with hordes of nondescript soldiers and vehicles flogging it out in a repetitive desert environment. Budget would be really low since lots of episodes would take place in the exact same locations as well. I would think Myst sucks even more as a basis for a TV series than the Dune games. Discaimer: I LIKE the Dune games, and I like Herbert's books and I also like Lynch's Dune movie. My primary dislike of the TV series was that it didn't have as clourful characters and actors as Lynch's epic work.