You mean you don't understand Microsoft not doing something? Legal action against Wine is just speculation, is there any sign that they have even considered it? What, exactly, are you not understanding?
"If no-one responded to junk e-mail and didn't buy products sold in this way, then spam would be as extinct as the dinosaurs."
This is a very simplistic view. It assumes that people measure their results carefully, and that it's the same people who keep selling. There's plenty of marketing channels out there that have a poor return on investment, but they keep alive for other reasons. Such reasons include: people don't measure the success properly, there's a new sucker born every minute, or other less financial reasons.
For instance, I had a friend who used to sell sponsorship to big golf tournaments. Companies would pay huge somes of money, and there was plenty of data around that there was a lousy ROI. They kept doing it because they wanted the perks - the premium positions & champagne, etc. He said in his few years, only saw one company actually utilise their investment well by tying it in with other promotions.
In the case of spam, it may possibly be true that it is profitable - it does appear to be the same people advertising all the time - but don't assume staying in business = good medium.
From my observations of lots of open source projects, and involvement in a few, this seems fairly typical. With only a few exceptions, it seems like most projects have the bulk of the work done by a very, very small number of people, usually just one. I often wonder how much the "many eyes makes all bugs shallow" maxim, while probably true, applies in practice when on most projects there simply aren't many eyes.
I think the problem is much broader than that. It's about the authoring experience. It's relatively easy to create some funky animations in flash, and relatively difficult to do so in java. I remember there were a few programs kicking around years ago which allowed non-programmers to produce animated java applets, but none of the ones I used even remotely touched flash for easy of use and power, much less performance.
Story: Australia passes anti-spam laws Comment: what difference will one country make?
Story: US passes anti-spam laws Comment: The spammers will move to another country
Story: New Zealand cracks down on spam Comment: What difference will one country make?
Story: Microsoft sues spammers Comment: All it will ultimately do is drive the spamming operations out of the country
It's like the picture of a hundred people all saying "but I'm just one person... what can I do?"
There IS no golden bullet for spam. The solution is a mixture of technical, legal, enforcement, and probably some other things as well. Keep chipping away, making it harder and harder to spam, and eventually it will decrease, a bit at a time, and eventually either go away or get to manageable levels. Microsoft just made one more chip - and a pretty big one at that I would say.
Interesting that most people are slagging off at a group who went through what was no doubt a very long and arduous decision making process before deciding to go with Microsoft. I guess the problem must be with THEM rather than with the alternatives - it's easier to find a problem with someone else than fix yourself.
The abstract suggests (or did to me) that Google are doing something new. No such thing (at least in this article). It's just an editorial piece that basically says "boy, aren't google doing lots of stuff - I guess Microsoft must be getting worried".
So, you made crap software and blame the demise of your company on someone else? How convenient. I bet you're one of those "it's always s fault" kinda people.
Don't tell anyone, but I'm using my Windows PC to run a pirate copy of Linux! I downloaded a copy from the internet and didn't pay a cent for it! Suckers...
This sounds like a great plan to me. Catching spammers isn't easy, and requires specialised skills that I'm guessing the government is fairly short on. An amount like this makes it viable for an appropriately skilled person to make a living out of it. Spend 3 months full time hunting down a spammer & putting a case together, and get $100K. Sounds like a good living to me. It's probably far cheaper than getting the government to do it - a motivated individual will always work much faster that a salaried person in a large organisation.
www.wfmu.org is your salvation. The most progressive radio station I've ever seen, and their streaming functionality is great - a good choice of reliable streams, archives, and many shows have live playlists which are searchable & streamable afterwards.
Sure,/. loves to hate MS. But isn't this at some level an inevitable problem? Network effects make dominance of a particular OS inevitable at some level.
Slashdot Mirror
You mean you don't understand Microsoft not doing something? Legal action against Wine is just speculation, is there any sign that they have even considered it? What, exactly, are you not understanding?
The after convention party would be a bit of a fizzer.
Bouncer: "Can I see some ID sir?"
Time traveller: "Sure"
Bouncer: "Sorry sir, you need to be over 21, according to your ID you are -62 years old"
Wow! Researched based on watching one movie from a highly biased source. GReat!
The last amateur star wars film I saw with light saber fighting in it wasn't so good...
"If no-one responded to junk e-mail and didn't buy products sold in this way, then spam would be as extinct as the dinosaurs."
This is a very simplistic view. It assumes that people measure their results carefully, and that it's the same people who keep selling. There's plenty of marketing channels out there that have a poor return on investment, but they keep alive for other reasons. Such reasons include: people don't measure the success properly, there's a new sucker born every minute, or other less financial reasons.
For instance, I had a friend who used to sell sponsorship to big golf tournaments. Companies would pay huge somes of money, and there was plenty of data around that there was a lousy ROI. They kept doing it because they wanted the perks - the premium positions & champagne, etc. He said in his few years, only saw one company actually utilise their investment well by tying it in with other promotions.
In the case of spam, it may possibly be true that it is profitable - it does appear to be the same people advertising all the time - but don't assume staying in business = good medium.
From my observations of lots of open source projects, and involvement in a few, this seems fairly typical. With only a few exceptions, it seems like most projects have the bulk of the work done by a very, very small number of people, usually just one. I often wonder how much the "many eyes makes all bugs shallow" maxim, while probably true, applies in practice when on most projects there simply aren't many eyes.
[dons flame retardant suit]
Well, I've *never* seen a popup ad in gopher. Lynx, bah....
Take that, 1990's!
I give 'em 2 years till they get outsourced to lower cost Indian advanced robots.
There's already a trial in Australia for IP over powerlines at 200Mb/s. Article at http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php?id=1826952 087&fp=2&fpid=1
If the same article were submitted but used windows instead of linux, it would have either been rejected or severely criticised in the abstract.
I think the problem is much broader than that. It's about the authoring experience. It's relatively easy to create some funky animations in flash, and relatively difficult to do so in java. I remember there were a few programs kicking around years ago which allowed non-programmers to produce animated java applets, but none of the ones I used even remotely touched flash for easy of use and power, much less performance.
I hear this one a lot on slashdot.
Story: Australia passes anti-spam laws
Comment: what difference will one country make?
Story: US passes anti-spam laws
Comment: The spammers will move to another country
Story: New Zealand cracks down on spam
Comment: What difference will one country make?
Story: Microsoft sues spammers
Comment: All it will ultimately do is drive the spamming operations out of the country
It's like the picture of a hundred people all saying "but I'm just one person... what can I do?"
There IS no golden bullet for spam. The solution is a mixture of technical, legal, enforcement, and probably some other things as well. Keep chipping away, making it harder and harder to spam, and eventually it will decrease, a bit at a time, and eventually either go away or get to manageable levels. Microsoft just made one more chip - and a pretty big one at that I would say.
I had a look at 127.0.0.1 to see what "videos" you are talking about. There's some really kinky videos there - pervert.
I finally kow... it's not the sex part that makes me tired....
Interesting that most people are slagging off at a group who went through what was no doubt a very long and arduous decision making process before deciding to go with Microsoft. I guess the problem must be with THEM rather than with the alternatives - it's easier to find a problem with someone else than fix yourself.
The abstract suggests (or did to me) that Google are doing something new. No such thing (at least in this article). It's just an editorial piece that basically says "boy, aren't google doing lots of stuff - I guess Microsoft must be getting worried".
So, you made crap software and blame the demise of your company on someone else? How convenient. I bet you're one of those "it's always s fault" kinda people.
An easy to use OS, wide choice of applications, lack of snobbery... oh, you mean with SKYPE? Ok.
For the non-American:
£500 million - US$924 million
LOTS of countries use $ as their currency symbol.
The ultimate in irony? Choosing EFF as the charity to donate the money to.
Don't tell anyone, but I'm using my Windows PC to run a pirate copy of Linux! I downloaded a copy from the internet and didn't pay a cent for it! Suckers...
Sorry, which successful multi-million dollar business do you run that qualifies you to make informed decisions like this?
PS. A posting history of spouting 101 economics doesn't count.
This sounds like a great plan to me. Catching spammers isn't easy, and requires specialised skills that I'm guessing the government is fairly short on. An amount like this makes it viable for an appropriately skilled person to make a living out of it. Spend 3 months full time hunting down a spammer & putting a case together, and get $100K. Sounds like a good living to me. It's probably far cheaper than getting the government to do it - a motivated individual will always work much faster that a salaried person in a large organisation.
www.wfmu.org is your salvation. The most progressive radio station I've ever seen, and their streaming functionality is great - a good choice of reliable streams, archives, and many shows have live playlists which are searchable & streamable afterwards.
Sure, /. loves to hate MS. But isn't this at some level an inevitable problem? Network effects make dominance of a particular OS inevitable at some level.