This assembly line type of legal attack on a corporation or government will only do bad in the long run because each and every corporation/government entity with an insurance policy will be driven out of business by a continuous parade of frivioulous lawsuits.
Cry me a river. They run an 'assembly line' sending unsolicited faxes, which is (I believe) a civil offense. The appropriate remedy is for the victims to file civil or small claims suits.
If certain attorneys are making it easy to do that, then good! They need to find a business model that allows them to be profitable without breaking the law, and they won't have to worry about going out of business.
Come on Lego, don't throw the baby (Technic & Mindstorms) out with the bath water (Bionicle, Harry Potter, et al).
If Lego was making mad cash on Mindstorms and Technic, they'd produce them forever, regardless of their 'back-to-basics' focus. I bet if everyone who rhapsodized on Slashdot about Technic or Mindstorms boughta set or two, they wouldn't have been discontinued.
Vote with your dollars and support the products you like, and they'll be around for a long time.
A corporation moving back toward imagination and away from limiting corporate tie-ins, don't see too much flowing in that direction these days.
I wonder how much of their decision is based on the licensing fees that Lucas, etc. were charging. I can easily see them saying "Your license isn't bringing enough sales to justify the money you want for it. Thanks, but no thanks.
Now would be a good time to put together a petition and send it to the various candidates and demand that there be some restrictions to all the tech jobs going overseas.
Good luck. Unless you accompany your petition with big sacks full of money, don't expect any results (other than a polite letter -- maybe). Those same candidates/elected officals didn't act when manufacturing jobs went offshore, why would they act now?
As a rule, I treat everything that a 'technologist/author' says as worthless until they prove otherwise. It seems that 'technologist' is one of those titles that people attach to themselves when they don't posess any useful skills (to me, anyway).
As the parent said, this guys facts seem solid, but his attitude makes it difficult to take him seriously.
If the Federal Government is going to pass any law that addresses spam, it should be a law that says that every user of email is required to use a Bayesian filter. That would lead to a virtually zero response rate within months which would lead to spam going away. And, wow, all without new taxes!
The Federal Government should stay out of it. With or without a tax, a new law would cost money. You'd need enforcement to ensure that the tax is paid (or, in your example, the Bayesian filter is installed), etc . ..
In the end, the Feds would bungle every aspect of any attempted law (except maybe collecting the tax -- they're good at that).
What I am saying is that given almost any application space the Mac has either the gold standard programs or really good alternatives.
How about high-end MCAD? Is there an alternativer for Pro/E, Catia, Solidworks, etc for the Mac? Last time I looked there wasn't, but I'm interested in seeing if that's changed.
I hope congress and the FCC see Viacom's threat to halt HDTV broadcast for what it is: an attempt to ursurp the governement's power.
The government's power comes from the people (at least in theory), and cannot be usurped. If the people decide that copy-protected HDTV isn't acceptable, even a crooked regulatory agency can't make them purchase the receivers in question.
As always, voting with our wallets is our last (and in this case, maybe only) resort.
Would you want to employ a lawyer that sued a 12 year-old for downloading music?
Absolutely.
If I'm in a situation where I have no choice but to retain counsel, I sure as hell want an attorney who is going to win on my behalf, not fight fair. Once a matter ends up in the courts, the gloves are off.
Sadly, an RIAA email to an ISP, eBay, or college is all it takes to have them remove 'infringing' material, and give up all your user info.
"Assuming" copyright is an RIAA specialty. Unfortunately, it doesn't work the other way 'round.
That's because the RIAA has shown that they'll back up their threats with an army of attorneys. If Jody Whitesides had set the same precedent I'm sure he (she?) would have gotten a similar response.
I agree with you, to a point. With the timid people on the list, some telemarketers will go belly-up (or lay off a large portion of their staff). Others, however, will adapt and develop new and effective ways of selling their products (or products on behaf of their clients). Some might even resort to offering a good value *gasp*. The reason they don't do this now is because high-pressure is cheap and effective.
Another industry with a doomed business model resorting to litigation to address its (short-term) problems.
If I were a telemarketer, I'd be overjoyed at the prospect of a national do-not-call list. It should be seen as a list of people who aren't likely to buy anything from me, thus reducing the time I waste calling people who probably won't buy. The feds even pay to maintain it!
Also . ..
The suit's argument that jobs will be lost is worthless. If they were motivated by providing jobs, I wouldn't get so many pre-recorded solicitations. I'm sure the industry would eliminate almost all their employees if they thought it would bring them more profit.
Slashdot Mirror
I think electrocution has just made him dumber.
Or tougher.
They have a hard time finding older (5+ years old) used videogames with intact original packaging with the documentation present!
As opposed to all the other old used products on the shelves with well-preserved packaging . . .
This assembly line type of legal attack on a corporation or government will only do bad in the long run because each and every corporation/government entity with an insurance policy will be driven out of business by a continuous parade of frivioulous lawsuits.
Cry me a river. They run an 'assembly line' sending unsolicited faxes, which is (I believe) a civil offense. The appropriate remedy is for the victims to file civil or small claims suits.
If certain attorneys are making it easy to do that, then good! They need to find a business model that allows them to be profitable without breaking the law, and they won't have to worry about going out of business.
Come on Lego, don't throw the baby (Technic & Mindstorms) out with the bath water (Bionicle, Harry Potter, et al).
If Lego was making mad cash on Mindstorms and Technic, they'd produce them forever, regardless of their 'back-to-basics' focus. I bet if everyone who rhapsodized on Slashdot about Technic or Mindstorms boughta set or two, they wouldn't have been discontinued.
Vote with your dollars and support the products you like, and they'll be around for a long time.
A corporation moving back toward imagination and away from limiting corporate tie-ins, don't see too much flowing in that direction these days.
I wonder how much of their decision is based on the licensing fees that Lucas, etc. were charging. I can easily see them saying "Your license isn't bringing enough sales to justify the money you want for it. Thanks, but no thanks.
Perhaps you should call Customer Service and demand a refund . . .
Sidewinder Computers has a page with sound measurements and audio files for a wide variety of fans.
In my experience, they also have decent prices and great customer service.
Now would be a good time to put together a petition and send it to the various candidates and demand that there be some restrictions to all the tech jobs going overseas.
Good luck. Unless you accompany your petition with big sacks full of money, don't expect any results (other than a polite letter -- maybe). Those same candidates/elected officals didn't act when manufacturing jobs went offshore, why would they act now?
. . . with a total payroll of what? about $50k?
As a rule, I treat everything that a 'technologist/author' says as worthless until they prove otherwise. It seems that 'technologist' is one of those titles that people attach to themselves when they don't posess any useful skills (to me, anyway).
As the parent said, this guys facts seem solid, but his attitude makes it difficult to take him seriously.
If anyone should pay for cleaning up MTBE, it should be the EPA and the Sierra Club. I don't think the oil companies should pay one red cent.
It doesn't matter. The consumer will end up paying one way or the other.
According to Open Secrets, a lot.
1997-1998 PAC Contributions
1999-2000 PAC Contributions
2003-2004 PAC Contributions
Important to note:
1. there's no data available for 2001-2002 Cycle
2. The 2003-2004 is a running total
If the Federal Government is going to pass any law that addresses spam, it should be a law that says that every user of email is required to use a Bayesian filter. That would lead to a virtually zero response rate within months which would lead to spam going away. And, wow, all without new taxes!
.
The Federal Government should stay out of it. With or without a tax, a new law would cost money. You'd need enforcement to ensure that the tax is paid (or, in your example, the Bayesian filter is installed), etc . .
In the end, the Feds would bungle every aspect of any attempted law (except maybe collecting the tax -- they're good at that).
Don't forget MILLIONS of AOL CDs sent to mailboxes worldwide. That's a lot of ones and zeros.
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
What I am saying is that given almost any application space the Mac has either the gold standard programs or really good alternatives.
How about high-end MCAD? Is there an alternativer for Pro/E, Catia, Solidworks, etc for the Mac? Last time I looked there wasn't, but I'm interested in seeing if that's changed.
I hope congress and the FCC see Viacom's threat to halt HDTV broadcast for what it is: an attempt to ursurp the governement's power.
The government's power comes from the people (at least in theory), and cannot be usurped. If the people decide that copy-protected HDTV isn't acceptable, even a crooked regulatory agency can't make them purchase the receivers in question.
As always, voting with our wallets is our last (and in this case, maybe only) resort.
Would you want to employ a lawyer that sued a 12 year-old for downloading music?
Absolutely.
If I'm in a situation where I have no choice but to retain counsel, I sure as hell want an attorney who is going to win on my behalf, not fight fair. Once a matter ends up in the courts, the gloves are off.
The question of course is WHICH 50 million was 'wrong' ;-)
They both were.
. . . how long will it take the article's host to recover from the slashdot effect?
Simple. Without interrupting work, say in loud, firm (but courteous) voice "FUCK OFF! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M WORKING??".
Starting with its latest release, ProE runs on Linux.
It's proprietary (and expensive), though.
Sadly, an RIAA email to an ISP, eBay, or college is all it takes to have them remove 'infringing' material, and give up all your user info.
"Assuming" copyright is an RIAA specialty. Unfortunately, it doesn't work the other way 'round.
That's because the RIAA has shown that they'll back up their threats with an army of attorneys. If Jody Whitesides had set the same precedent I'm sure he (she?) would have gotten a similar response.
I agree with you, to a point. With the timid people on the list, some telemarketers will go belly-up (or lay off a large portion of their staff). Others, however, will adapt and develop new and effective ways of selling their products (or products on behaf of their clients). Some might even resort to offering a good value *gasp*. The reason they don't do this now is because high-pressure is cheap and effective.
The DNC registry will just cull the herd a bit.
Another industry with a doomed business model resorting to litigation to address its (short-term) problems.
.
If I were a telemarketer, I'd be overjoyed at the prospect of a national do-not-call list. It should be seen as a list of people who aren't likely to buy anything from me, thus reducing the time I waste calling people who probably won't buy. The feds even pay to maintain it!
Also . .
The suit's argument that jobs will be lost is worthless. If they were motivated by providing jobs, I wouldn't get so many pre-recorded solicitations. I'm sure the industry would eliminate almost all their employees if they thought it would bring them more profit.