In the linked article Fyodor calls MySpace the "new AOL." I can see it. It certainly seems to encourage people to throw all caution to the wind.
As to what MySpace did, I'm honestly surprised how incredibly angry that makes me. I thought I was jaded by the petulance of businesses at this point. And Godaddy's response -- geez. I don't understand how a business can take your money and then refuse to talk to you.
Well, no -- I understand how they can do it. I understand it perfectly well. They do it because they figure they can get away with it, because even if they piss off one customer, how are the rest ever going to find out? Or care?
... but isn't the economy supposed to be a secondary part of it? I thought it was basically a graphical MUSH -- i.e., you create your avatar, wander around and build stuff. Isn't the "virtual economy that translates into the real world" just a secondary feature that seems to be taking on a life of its own?
If that's the case, I can't really consider it a pyramid scheme because that wouldn't be the primary selling point of the game. If it *is* the primary selling point of the game then the author's argument is a lot more compelling to me.
We already have a household appliance that can reach much higher temperatures than that. Just hook your computer up to your kitchen stove and you're good to go!
is if they switch to a different kernel -- unless Linux and all the other copyright holders of the various bits and pieces of the kernel have changed their collective minds, the kernel is distributed under a modified GPL v2 -- the modification being that you can't distribute the kernel under anything but v2... (they removed the "or higher" verbiage.)
If only people didn't WRITE PROGRAMS to run on OPERATING SYSTEMS.
Why I should be a highly paid spin consultant.
on
Giant Ice Shelf Snaps
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Scientists say it is the largest event of its kind in 30 years and point their fingers at climate change as a major contributing factor.
The implication is that 30 years ago there was a larger event. So if a smaller sheet of ice broke off now than the one from 30 years back, doesn't that mean the problem is going away?:)
... why would we really want to move to an online desktop in the first place? The PC revolution moved us away from a mainframe/terminal environment. Why would we want to move back to a similiar model?
Isn't this exactly what people were afraid Doubleclick was going to do six or seven years ago when they bought that mass junk mail database? Public outcry was so huge then that Doubleclick had to very publically back off.
I wonder if the majority of people even care now? I do, and I suspect a fair number of Slashdotters do, but I don't think most people even notice these days. Or they've given up.
if Microsoft were to meet your standards, they would have sent the bloggers comp copies of Vista -- that would be their "review unit." These were not "review units." These were explicitly classified as gifts, with no strings attached.
Microsoft chooses to send laptops to a select number of bloggers who are inclined to review them favorably anyway.
Maybe one or two out of that number don't write straight-down-the-line praises of microsoft products. Most, however, find their enthusiasm for Microsoft somewhat re-enforced by the arrival of a beautiful, beautiful machine. And the bloggers don't write cood Microsoft copy because they have to. They do it because they want to.
As far as I can tell there's nothing grossly unethical about it. It's not like Microsoft is paying anyone to write anything they don't already write. But for want of a better word, 'bribery' still works.
But my hat is off to Microsoft anyway. It's just... brilliant. Damn them. Brilliant.
Think instead of remote rural communities where the cost of setting up the infrastructure is too high for big companies to want to bother when they can spend all their time making money off of cities.
Rural communities already went through this with cable tv -- cable companies wouldn't put down the cable because it was too far away, and then when some communities tried to go with satellite TV instead the cable companies got a COURT ORDER forbidding them to do so because the cable companies had exclusive agreements with the states.
Profit is made off of these services because the companies that sell them want the services to be *indespensible*. Trying to market a service as indespensible while refusing to provide it to certain segments of society does not make for a healthy society.
So in answer to the question:
And just why should we want companies to have to market in areas where there are small / no profits to be made?
When a company decides to claim a monopoly on a service (and when you purchase a franchise from a community or state government you generally wind up having a monopoly in that area) then they have a responsibility to make that service available to all citizens. A monopoly is a different beast from standard business practices, because there are no other choices to make.
Sure, but most of the time companies prefer to go after existing customers, because there's already an infrastructure and a market there.
Very rarely do you hear a company say "hey, we're going to market our wireless internet service in the slums, where no-one can afford the rates we want to charge!"
I'd like to see the GPL upheld in court once and for all. A valid license is a valid license, and it'd be nice to see at least some of the FUD surrounding it smacked down via a court ruling.
They've got it backwards. Those complex steering wheels are attempts at simplicity, just from the other direction: simplicity for the driver.
Put all these things on the steering wheel so they don't have to grope for them on the dashboard. From an interface perspective it has some logic to it (though I've seen some downright TERRIBLE attempts to implement this).
These guys are apparently equating a steering wheel (which is a piece of a larger 'application') with the application itself. A car is already a ridiculously complicated application, especially with all the plugins. It's about time they made some attempt at sorting all the plugins and cleaning up the toolbar...
(that sound you hear -- that desperate, helpless screaming -- comes from a metaphor being carried too far...)
Well OK, maybe that's what did it. I heard "synthetic rubber" somewhere and immediately leapt to the conclusion that it was therefore not real rubber. Sort of like vegan burgers. Or Tofurkery.
I was under the impression that for the last 10-15 years at least they stopped making tires out of rubber. A 10 year old tire is pretty old for a tire.
Slashdot Mirror
In the linked article Fyodor calls MySpace the "new AOL." I can see it. It certainly seems to encourage people to throw all caution to the wind.
As to what MySpace did, I'm honestly surprised how incredibly angry that makes me. I thought I was jaded by the petulance of businesses at this point. And Godaddy's response -- geez. I don't understand how a business can take your money and then refuse to talk to you.
Well, no -- I understand how they can do it. I understand it perfectly well. They do it because they figure they can get away with it, because even if they piss off one customer, how are the rest ever going to find out? Or care?
... but isn't the economy supposed to be a secondary part of it? I thought it was basically a graphical MUSH -- i.e., you create your avatar, wander around and build stuff. Isn't the "virtual economy that translates into the real world" just a secondary feature that seems to be taking on a life of its own?
If that's the case, I can't really consider it a pyramid scheme because that wouldn't be the primary selling point of the game. If it *is* the primary selling point of the game then the author's argument is a lot more compelling to me.
We already have a household appliance that can reach much higher temperatures than that. Just hook your computer up to your kitchen stove and you're good to go!
...you mean that they move to GPLv3 in the areas where they can -- i.e., non-kernel software that they develop on their own.
It's much too easy to think of "Linux" as being one thing with one license, and I need to stop thinking that way...
is if they switch to a different kernel -- unless Linux and all the other copyright holders of the various bits and pieces of the kernel have changed their collective minds, the kernel is distributed under a modified GPL v2 -- the modification being that you can't distribute the kernel under anything but v2... (they removed the "or higher" verbiage.)
My first troll rating! In... good Lord, what took me so long?
It's more like a hand-cart with a sticky wheel.
If only people didn't WRITE PROGRAMS to run on OPERATING SYSTEMS.
The implication is that 30 years ago there was a larger event. So if a smaller sheet of ice broke off now than the one from 30 years back, doesn't that mean the problem is going away?
My computer doesn't require the internet to function, and I don't need the internet in order to use my computer effectively.
:)
Come to think of it, I use my computer more effectively when the internet isn't available.
... why would we really want to move to an online desktop in the first place? The PC revolution moved us away from a mainframe/terminal environment. Why would we want to move back to a similiar model?
Isn't this exactly what people were afraid Doubleclick was going to do six or seven years ago when they bought that mass junk mail database? Public outcry was so huge then that Doubleclick had to very publically back off.
I wonder if the majority of people even care now? I do, and I suspect a fair number of Slashdotters do, but I don't think most people even notice these days. Or they've given up.
if Microsoft were to meet your standards, they would have sent the bloggers comp copies of Vista -- that would be their "review unit." These were not "review units." These were explicitly classified as gifts, with no strings attached.
Yep -- looks like that did it.
Er... if this comment seems out of context, it's because it's supposed to be attached to someone else's post. Don't know what happened there. Oh well.
Microsoft chooses to send laptops to a select number of bloggers who are inclined to review them favorably anyway.
Maybe one or two out of that number don't write straight-down-the-line praises of microsoft products. Most, however, find their enthusiasm for Microsoft somewhat re-enforced by the arrival of a beautiful, beautiful machine. And the bloggers don't write cood Microsoft copy because they have to. They do it because they want to.
As far as I can tell there's nothing grossly unethical about it. It's not like Microsoft is paying anyone to write anything they don't already write. But for want of a better word, 'bribery' still works.
But my hat is off to Microsoft anyway. It's just... brilliant. Damn them. Brilliant.
When Microsoft decides to bribe a blogger, they don't screw around. Damn...
I would be protesting this blatant attempt to reward the faithful if my mouth weren't watering so heavily.
(This may be a secondary ploy -- not only do they get to reward the faithful, but all their blogging enemies die off in saliva-related drownings...)
Rural communities already went through this with cable tv -- cable companies wouldn't put down the cable because it was too far away, and then when some communities tried to go with satellite TV instead the cable companies got a COURT ORDER forbidding them to do so because the cable companies had exclusive agreements with the states.
Profit is made off of these services because the companies that sell them want the services to be *indespensible*. Trying to market a service as indespensible while refusing to provide it to certain segments of society does not make for a healthy society.
So in answer to the question:
When a company decides to claim a monopoly on a service (and when you purchase a franchise from a community or state government you generally wind up having a monopoly in that area) then they have a responsibility to make that service available to all citizens. A monopoly is a different beast from standard business practices, because there are no other choices to make.
Sure, but most of the time companies prefer to go after existing customers, because there's already an infrastructure and a market there.
Very rarely do you hear a company say "hey, we're going to market our wireless internet service in the slums, where no-one can afford the rates we want to charge!"
I'd like to see the GPL upheld in court once and for all. A valid license is a valid license, and it'd be nice to see at least some of the FUD surrounding it smacked down via a court ruling.
They've got it backwards. Those complex steering wheels are attempts at simplicity, just from the other direction: simplicity for the driver.
Put all these things on the steering wheel so they don't have to grope for them on the dashboard. From an interface perspective it has some logic to it (though I've seen some downright TERRIBLE attempts to implement this).
These guys are apparently equating a steering wheel (which is a piece of a larger 'application') with the application itself. A car is already a ridiculously complicated application, especially with all the plugins. It's about time they made some attempt at sorting all the plugins and cleaning up the toolbar...
(that sound you hear -- that desperate, helpless screaming -- comes from a metaphor being carried too far...)
Well OK, maybe that's what did it. I heard "synthetic rubber" somewhere and immediately leapt to the conclusion that it was therefore not real rubber. Sort of like vegan burgers. Or Tofurkery.
Some kind of weird faux rubber.
I was under the impression that for the last 10-15 years at least they stopped making tires out of rubber. A 10 year old tire is pretty old for a tire.
But I better learn quick, because this screams PLEASE GOD, PLEASE SOMEBODY PARODY ME, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE and by GOD I will ANSWER THAT CALL.