I do not have a TV at all. Still sane the last time I checked (and I even asked myself for a second opinion).
If you find things to watch because you have time on your hands you need to get a life - or at least read a book. TV is just a mind numbing time killer and there are better things to do. Ars longa, vita brevis.
If someone sends me a spreadsheet with macros in it does that mean that they are a software developer and supplier?
If not, then what about an application written on top of a DBMS?
What about a web site containing dynamically generated pages?
If not any dynamic web site then what if it performs the same function as a piece of software - i.e. if it is a web front end to an application?
If the last is not what about a application provided by an ASP where users some other type of client? This could include most applications that could be provided as shrink wrapped software.
What about a Java applet in a web page?
I suspect that if this happens it will have to be narrowly defined. Ideally it will be targetted at software vendors so as to avoid hitting people who send out spreadsheets with macros in them. But the moment a word like sale is used it lets free software off the hook.
Maybe I am being optimistic but this could work out very well indeed if it happened - although I think it is unlikely that it will as the entire software industry will claim that they will go under (think of the jobs! think of the children!) if it does.
I can do a lot of things for free, but the my time becomes worth $0 by those calculations. When in reality it should be worth far more.
So you would never do voluntary work for a charity? or help a friend get something done for free?
As far as people who are trying to make profits you are ignoring the core of Spolsky's argument "All else being equal, demand for a product increases when the prices of its complements decrease". To put it another way IBM likes Linux because by cutting tthe cost of software they can get people to spend more on hardware.
They also gain by sharing development costs - e.g. IBM contributes something to Linux, but so do a lot of other people so it costs less for them to get Linux to do something than to get one of their proprietary OSes to do the same.
In the case of Linux anything that damages MS's grip on the OS market is good for all hardware manufacturers.
Our problem in the UK is that it is very difficult to block the plans of a government with such a huge majority in parliment.
Unless large number of MPs rebel, which will only happen over something outragous, whatever the government wants gets done.
At the moment there are too many excuses for the giovernment to hide behind for this (they will claim it helps fight paedophiles and terrorists). Civil rights in the UK will keep deteriorating until there is some major abuse (an equivalent to Watergate). Until then not enough people will care
All political parties are for better civil rights when in opposition. Once in power, i.e. once they are the people becoming more powerful as a result of reducing our rights, they see things differently.
The more we see of this the more likely the law is to favour free speech.
I have no idea if Zimabawe has an extradition treaty with the UK (It may have one dating back from before Mugabe went loopy). If it does can you imagine the reaction of a British court of Zimabwe does try to extradite this jounalist? Or the reaction of the British parliment?
It certainly makes a beter test case than the US tryig to pursue someone for a DCMA violation becuase the judges and the general public will understand it better, and the Zimbabwaen government has less credibility.
Anything that shows how absurd it is to think that someone who puts something on the internet has a responsibility to obey the laws of every country is good.
I hope Saudi Arabia now sues someone in the US for advocating Christianity on the internet.
So why are you are using Opera on a Zarus rather than IE on Pocket PC?
Handheld devices are where MS are likely to face the biggest problems. Nokia (especially), Ericsson, Motorola use, and invested in, Symbian because they do not want MS to turn them into commodity box makers like the PC manufacturers. Maintaining their margins depends on being able to continue differentiating their devices.
Andreesen is right about the importance of form factors, but they are more imprtant for handheld devices than for desktop devices - hence the huge variety of mobile phone and PDA designs but the success of MS, Apple being limited to niche markets, and the failure of internet appliances etc.
IE will face competition from browsers running on devices other than PCs. Mobile devices and (perhaps) games consoles. These are makets dominated by comapnies that have the resources to take on MS, and who know how dangerous MS is.
Although AOL may have bought Netscape as a bargaining chip to help negotiations with MS, they do have an interset keeping competition alive. If everyone designs to IE to the extent that other browser become unusable (not a problem yet), then they could cut off AOL with impunity. The higher IE's market share become the weaker AOL's position becomes.
There is a similar system is Sri Lanka. It seems to be what currently advised by multilateral organisations for 3rd world coutnries that can not afford the costs of examination. The result was that a company that I worked for briefly ( about 2 months) faced a competitor that had patented the idea of machinery for drying fruit for preservation. We simply ignored their letters and as far as I know it they never pursued it.
In the financial sector people also use trademark law to make it harder for competitors to communicate with clients. For example although investment banks can not patent valuation techniques (AFAIK) what they do not is trademark the names of any they devise to make it harder for competitors to tell clients what they are doing.
Aunt Julia and the Script Writer, by Mario Varas Llosa.
This is something I have been meaning to read for a long time but to be honest a radio interview of him tipped the balance.
Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.
An abridged edition (still substatial enough) I ahve downloaded the full version from
Project Gutenberg in case it really whets my appetite. My main interest is curiosity as to whether there are interesting parallels between then and now.
The Growth Illusion by Richard Douthwaite
My impression so far is that it is interesting and it is nice to see someone thinking the same way as me about GDP. It does seem a little lacking in rigour though. Probably more worth reading for digestible data rather than analysis. It is the first book that I have bought purely on the basis of the desription + reviews on Amazon so it is a bit of a test for me of how well that works.
Weekend before last was a long weekend and we we went away. I took two books with me that I thought I would other wise not read but only skimmed them - one on game theory and the other on signals and information theory.
I am still looking for suggestions and if anyone on feels like suggesting a thought provoking/interesting book on programming it is next on my list. I was thinking of the Structure and Interpretation fo Computer Programs (as suggested on ask Slashdot recently) or perhaps Paul Graham's book, ANSI Common Lisp.
Mozilla is still unreliable and doesn't render some sites properly (they were designed for IE; live with it)
Very few - at least I have few problems with Koqueror and very few with Mozilla. I ahve had problems with IE 5 (which i sue at work) not rendering some sites properly (e.g www.w3c.org. The other browsers have advatages that more than outweigh the better testing sites get on IE - e.g. cookie management, seurity, supressing pop-ups etc.
StarOffice is still nowhere close to Microsoft Office.
Only really an issue for those doing Large spreadsheets. For wordprocessing Open Office is just as good for short documets. For long documets I find Lyx a lot better. Even for spreadsheets it is close, if not quite there.
GIMP is no substitute for Photoshop
How many people need photoshop? GIMP is more than adeqaute for most people (may be not professionals).
I use only Linux at home. I have done everying I would do in an office environemnt (excpet alrge spreadsheets. Neither I nor my wife (very much a naive user) ahve had any problems.
Having used Openoffice, Lyx, Mozilla, Konqueror fairly heavilly and a number of other programs lightly we have generally found no disadvantages over Windows. Lyx is wonderful and has definitely won me praise for good presentation on an Open University Course I am doing at the moment. There is a lot of very productive software that Linux encourages one to try even if (as in the case of Lyx) it is also avaiable for Windows.
Friends who use Windows and MacOS have had little diffculty in using Linux when visiting us
the default window manager on Linux and Solaris is mwm (Motif Window Manager), which is absolutely horrible
So your example shows that Linux and Solaris do not work when set up with an unfirendly user manger as default! How informative!
The biggest advantage is that I do not ahve to worry about all those email visuses friends who use windows keep sending me.
For those who seem intereseted in the move find out what advantages they would have from using Linux. Low risk of virus infection and other security advatages appeal to everyone. Some people may find it usedul to be able to generate PDFs and not have windows software that can do it (Acrobat Reader is common in most offices, Acrobat is not). The choise of different word processors may count for some - MS Word is better than Star Office, but some people (mysself included) love Lyx. People will like having choices.
The biggest barrier that I could see if we wanted to do this in my office is the existence of large complex Excel spreadsheets (some more like apps themselves). That said, some of these could probably be better written using something else - Excel is used for a lot of things that it is not suited to becuase people know it. Perhaps you could try suggesting a graudal migration to alternative tools (scipting languages for simple data maniputaion, maths software for statistical stuff etc.) but that will depend on willing ness to learn. The practicality will clearly depend on how much you have of these. even if you decide not to migrate now perhaps you should make some cross platform alternatives avaialble to amke a future migtarion easier.
As for retraining, a lot of these people who want to stiock with what they know have manged to move from DOS to Win 3.1 to Win 95 etc. They may have moved from 1-2-3 to Excel or from Wordperfect to MS word. This transition shouldbe easier as Star Office/ open Office is very like MS word. My wife who knows as little as she can about computers is quite happy with OpenOffice. Since we started being sent a lot of email infected viruses recently she has really apperciated not being vulnerable to them.
You should also ask the financial people to sit down and calculate what the company could lsoe from a software audit incuding disruption to the business- of course they can not but an unquantificable liability is the most unsettling type. The amount of time saved by not having to track licences (or having to track fewer licences) shoudl also be part of the business case.
Slashdot Mirror
I do not have a TV at all. Still sane the last time I checked (and I even asked myself for a second opinion).
If you find things to watch because you have time on your hands you need to get a life - or at least read a book. TV is just a mind numbing time killer and there are better things to do. Ars longa, vita brevis.
If someone sends me a spreadsheet with macros in it does that mean that they are a software developer and supplier?
If not, then what about an application written on top of a DBMS?
What about a web site containing dynamically generated pages?
If not any dynamic web site then what if it performs the same function as a piece of software - i.e. if it is a web front end to an application?
If the last is not what about a application provided by an ASP where users some other type of client? This could include most applications that could be provided as shrink wrapped software.
What about a Java applet in a web page?
I suspect that if this happens it will have to be narrowly defined. Ideally it will be targetted at software vendors so as to avoid hitting people who send out spreadsheets with macros in them. But the moment a word like sale is used it lets free software off the hook.
Maybe I am being optimistic but this could work out very well indeed if it happened - although I think it is unlikely that it will as the entire software industry will claim that they will go under (think of the jobs! think of the children!) if it does.
So you would never do voluntary work for a charity? or help a friend get something done for free?
As far as people who are trying to make profits you are ignoring the core of Spolsky's argument "All else being equal, demand for a product increases when the prices of its complements decrease". To put it another way IBM likes Linux because by cutting tthe cost of software they can get people to spend more on hardware.
They also gain by sharing development costs - e.g. IBM contributes something to Linux, but so do a lot of other people so it costs less for them to get Linux to do something than to get one of their proprietary OSes to do the same.
In the case of Linux anything that damages MS's grip on the OS market is good for all hardware manufacturers.
Unless large number of MPs rebel, which will only happen over something outragous, whatever the government wants gets done.
At the moment there are too many excuses for the giovernment to hide behind for this (they will claim it helps fight paedophiles and terrorists). Civil rights in the UK will keep deteriorating until there is some major abuse (an equivalent to Watergate). Until then not enough people will care
All political parties are for better civil rights when in opposition. Once in power, i.e. once they are the people becoming more powerful as a result of reducing our rights, they see things differently.
The more we see of this the more likely the law is to favour free speech.
I have no idea if Zimabawe has an extradition treaty with the UK (It may have one dating back from before Mugabe went loopy). If it does can you imagine the reaction of a British court of Zimabwe does try to extradite this jounalist? Or the reaction of the British parliment?
It certainly makes a beter test case than the US tryig to pursue someone for a DCMA violation becuase the judges and the general public will understand it better, and the Zimbabwaen government has less credibility.
Anything that shows how absurd it is to think that someone who puts something on the internet has a responsibility to obey the laws of every country is good.
I hope Saudi Arabia now sues someone in the US for advocating Christianity on the internet.
Handheld devices are where MS are likely to face the biggest problems. Nokia (especially), Ericsson, Motorola use, and invested in, Symbian because they do not want MS to turn them into commodity box makers like the PC manufacturers. Maintaining their margins depends on being able to continue differentiating their devices.
Andreesen is right about the importance of form factors, but they are more imprtant for handheld devices than for desktop devices - hence the huge variety of mobile phone and PDA designs but the success of MS, Apple being limited to niche markets, and the failure of internet appliances etc.
IE will face competition from browsers running on devices other than PCs. Mobile devices and (perhaps) games consoles. These are makets dominated by comapnies that have the resources to take on MS, and who know how dangerous MS is.
Although AOL may have bought Netscape as a bargaining chip to help negotiations with MS, they do have an interset keeping competition alive. If everyone designs to IE to the extent that other browser become unusable (not a problem yet), then they could cut off AOL with impunity. The higher IE's market share become the weaker AOL's position becomes.
In the financial sector people also use trademark law to make it harder for competitors to communicate with clients. For example although investment banks can not patent valuation techniques (AFAIK) what they do not is trademark the names of any they devise to make it harder for competitors to tell clients what they are doing.
Aunt Julia and the Script Writer, by Mario Varas Llosa.
This is something I have been meaning to read for a long time but to be honest a radio interview of him tipped the balance.
Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon.
An abridged edition (still substatial enough) I ahve downloaded the full version from Project Gutenberg in case it really whets my appetite. My main interest is curiosity as to whether there are interesting parallels between then and now.
The Growth Illusion by Richard Douthwaite
My impression so far is that it is interesting and it is nice to see someone thinking the same way as me about GDP. It does seem a little lacking in rigour though. Probably more worth reading for digestible data rather than analysis. It is the first book that I have bought purely on the basis of the desription + reviews on Amazon so it is a bit of a test for me of how well that works.
Weekend before last was a long weekend and we we went away. I took two books with me that I thought I would other wise not read but only skimmed them - one on game theory and the other on signals and information theory.
I am still looking for suggestions and if anyone on feels like suggesting a thought provoking/interesting book on programming it is next on my list. I was thinking of the Structure and Interpretation fo Computer Programs (as suggested on ask Slashdot recently) or perhaps Paul Graham's book, ANSI Common Lisp.
Very few - at least I have few problems with Koqueror and very few with Mozilla. I ahve had problems with IE 5 (which i sue at work) not rendering some sites properly (e.g www.w3c.org. The other browsers have advatages that more than outweigh the better testing sites get on IE - e.g. cookie management, seurity, supressing pop-ups etc.
Only really an issue for those doing Large spreadsheets. For wordprocessing Open Office is just as good for short documets. For long documets I find Lyx a lot better. Even for spreadsheets it is close, if not quite there.
How many people need photoshop? GIMP is more than adeqaute for most people (may be not professionals).
I use only Linux at home. I have done everying I would do in an office environemnt (excpet alrge spreadsheets. Neither I nor my wife (very much a naive user) ahve had any problems.
Having used Openoffice, Lyx, Mozilla, Konqueror fairly heavilly and a number of other programs lightly we have generally found no disadvantages over Windows. Lyx is wonderful and has definitely won me praise for good presentation on an Open University Course I am doing at the moment. There is a lot of very productive software that Linux encourages one to try even if (as in the case of Lyx) it is also avaiable for Windows.
Friends who use Windows and MacOS have had little diffculty in using Linux when visiting us
So your example shows that Linux and Solaris do not work when set up with an unfirendly user manger as default! How informative!
The biggest advantage is that I do not ahve to worry about all those email visuses friends who use windows keep sending me.
The biggest barrier that I could see if we wanted to do this in my office is the existence of large complex Excel spreadsheets (some more like apps themselves). That said, some of these could probably be better written using something else - Excel is used for a lot of things that it is not suited to becuase people know it. Perhaps you could try suggesting a graudal migration to alternative tools (scipting languages for simple data maniputaion, maths software for statistical stuff etc.) but that will depend on willing ness to learn. The practicality will clearly depend on how much you have of these. even if you decide not to migrate now perhaps you should make some cross platform alternatives avaialble to amke a future migtarion easier.
As for retraining, a lot of these people who want to stiock with what they know have manged to move from DOS to Win 3.1 to Win 95 etc. They may have moved from 1-2-3 to Excel or from Wordperfect to MS word. This transition shouldbe easier as Star Office/ open Office is very like MS word. My wife who knows as little as she can about computers is quite happy with OpenOffice. Since we started being sent a lot of email infected viruses recently she has really apperciated not being vulnerable to them.
You should also ask the financial people to sit down and calculate what the company could lsoe from a software audit incuding disruption to the business- of course they can not but an unquantificable liability is the most unsettling type. The amount of time saved by not having to track licences (or having to track fewer licences) shoudl also be part of the business case.