Where I live in Switzerland, they shut off dishwashers (as well as clothes washers, water heaters) every weekday for 2 hours over lunch time to compensate for the load of people cooking lunch.
Looks like your power company Excel wanted to do the same thing except wasn't willing to pay a fair rate. Peak power costs them a lot (50 cents or more per kwh) so if they can avoid buying peak power, they save big. You should get the benefit every time they shut off your A/C.
I would love to pay for power based on time of day use or cost. There are lots of things I could do to load shift.
I think that open source should be given preferred status since the source code is freely available and can be modified to meet the exact needs of the organization. This is a real advantage and should be given recognition. Most software meets 90+% of business needs. The other 10% are usually idiosyncratic requirements unique to the organization. Open source can meet that last 10% in situations where proprietary vendors are not willing or capable of modifying their software.
3) All sorts of webform autocompletion systems would be useful
4) Automated backup and system to system data migration tools
5) Quickbooks continues to sell very well.
People pay money for these things?
I use some of these tools but they are all free open source software.
6) The game market continues to grow
Since I'm not interested in games, I keep forgetting about them but I do suppose that this is a good software market. Aren't the game platforms (XBox, PS, Wiiii) better for games than PCs? I don't think low end netbooks are useful for games.
You must have a really old computer or some other problem. My 5 year old laptop (Dell Inspiron 700m with standard Ubuntu 8.10) always runs YouTube just fine. I have never noticed any tearing or lag. I even run multiple YouTube windows simultaneously (I had 5 going the other day).
The problem for Microsoft is that most users only need a browser and Google can provide everything else for free.
If you have a real 'power user', they might want a standalone email program, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics. Again, all of this is available for free.
Realistically, what software can you sell today? I haven't purchased any software in years. The last software I purchased was Windows antivirus which was replaced with free antivirus and then replaced with nothing when I got rid of Windows.
Clean room is a way to make sure that you don't have any copyrighted code in your project. This will prevent a programmer from 'inadvertently' including a copyrighted code sequence in his new implementation.
However, it does nothing to protect against patents on methods in the code. If the patented methods are reproduced in the new code, they will still have patent issues.
I already have a huge app store... it's called apt-get and I can find any software I need there... plus, it keeps everything on my computer up to date with the latest versions... and it's free... and I don't have to worry about malware...
We used to live in Geneva and didn't even have a car. Rich people here drive Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes, etc. but they are just a conspicuous minority. Most people drive small cars.
Happy to be an ass-hat where health and the environment is involved.
There is lots of research linking cost of cigarettes to reduction of smoking. Since you're too lazy to look it up (you could try Google) or allergic to facts, here are some references: (sorry about the sloppy formatting but I'm too lazy to format for trolls.)
1
Philip Morris document, "General Comments on Smoking and Health," Appendix I in The Perspective of PM
International on Smoking and Health Initiatives, March 29, 1985, Bates No. 2023268329-8348.
2
Ellen Merlo, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Philip Morris, 1994 draft speech to the Philip Morris USA Trade
Council, http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oyf35e00.
3
R.J. Reynolds Executive D. S. Burrows, âoeEstimated Change In Industry Trend Following Federal Excise Tax Increase,â
RJR Document No. 501988846 -8849, September 20, 1982.
4
Philip Morris Research Executive Myron Johnston, âoeTeenage Smoking and the Federal Excise Tax on Cigarettes,â PM
Document No. 2001255224, September 17, 1981.
5
Philip Morris Executive Jon Zoler, âoeHandling An Excise Tax Increase,â PM Document No. 2022216179, September 3, 1987.
6
Philip Morris Executive Claude Schwab, âoeCigarette Attributes and Quitting,â PM Doc. 2045447810, March 4, 1993.
7
Chaloupka, F, et al., âoeTax, Price and Cigarette Smoking: Evidence from the Tobacco Documents and implications for
tobacco company marketing strategies,â Tobacco Control 11: 62-72, March 2002.
8
See, e.g., Chaloupka, F, âoeMacro-Social Influences: The Effects of Prices and Tobacco Control Policies on the Demand
for Tobacco Products,â Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 1999; other studies at http://tigger.uic.edu/~fjc/; Tauras, J,
âoePublic Policy and Smoking Cessation Among Young adults in the United States,â Health Policy 6*:321-32, 2004;
Tauras, J, et al., âoeEffects of Price and Access Laws on Teenage Smoking Initiation: A National Longitudinal Analysis,â
Bridging the Gap Research, ImpacTeen, April 24, 2001, and others at http://www.impacteen.org/researchproducts.htm.
Chaloupka, F & Pacula, R, An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price
and Tobacco Control Policies, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 6541, April 1998,
http://tigger.uic.edu/~fjc; Emery, S, et al., âoeDoes Cigarette Price Influence Adolescent Experimentation?,â Journal of
Health Economics 20:261-270, 2001; Evans, W & Huang, L, Cigarette Taxes and Teen Smoking: New Evidence from
Panels of Repeated Cross-Sections, working paper, April 15, 1998, www.bsos.umd.edu/econ/evans/wrkpap.htm; Harris,
J & Chan, S, âoeThe Continuum-of-Addiction: Cigarette Smoking in Relation to Price Among Americans Aged 15-29,â
Health Economics Letters 2(2):3-12, February 1998, www.mit.edu/people/jeffrey.
9
See, e.g., U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), âoeResponses to Cigarette Prices By Race/Ethnicity,
Income, and Age Groups â" United States 1976-1993,â Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 47(29):605-609, July 31,
1998, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00054047.htm; Chaloupka, F & Pacula, R, An Examination of
Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies, National
Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 6541, April 1998.
10
Ringel, J & Evans, W, âoeCigarette Taxes and Smoking During Pregnancy,â American Journal of Public Health, 2001
See also, TFK Factsheet, Harm Caused by Pregnant Women Smoking or Being Exposed to Secondhand Smoke,
http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0007.
I think you have articulated the solution to the problem. It's a folly to mandate fuel efficiency since people will try to find a way around the regulations. Your post shows that when you increase the price of fuel, there is a powerful incentive to get better mileage. Here in Switzerland we don't have CAFE but almost everyone drives small fuel efficient cars. Fuel is the equivalent of about $6.00 a gallon. Problem solved. All we need is a carbon tax or fuel tax and people will reduce CO2 emissions.
draconian measures, like taking homeless people to concentration camps
Switzerland seems to have solved the problem of homeless people by giving them a place to live and taking care of their health problems. It's actually quite humane. I haven't seen a single homeless person in the three years I've been here.
A lot of this can be done by moving to a proper rapid transit system. Such a thing doesn't exist yet...
Actually, Switzerland does have an excellent nationwide transit system. It's an integrated network of trains and buses that you can use to go literally anywhere in the country. All decidedly low tech (except for the networking that keeps everything in sync) but quite effective.
Sounds great, until you need to get some groceries. I don't know about you, but when I go shopping, I'm not capable of carrying a couple hundred pounds of goods home with me in two arms.
I guess that you live in some primitive society without shopping carts and conveniently located stores... (Carts...not the kind you find in grocery stores but the kind you use to pull your stuff home... Easily handle a full weeks shopping. We also have internet shopping and delivery at quite reasonable prices.
Re:The Achilles heel of this...
on
Phoenix BIOSOS?
·
· Score: 1
I don't know what your problem is with the eeePC and WiFi but I have lots of friends with them running both the native Linux distro and Ubuntu and WiFi 'just works'... (I do know that the native Linux version had problems when the first model 701 was new but this was fixed promptly.)
I've found that I have the best ideas and the best solutions to problems when I go for a long walk in the woods. It seems that every time I am stumped by a problem, all I need to do is take 30 minutes for a long walk and the solution will appear. I don't even try to think about the problem on the walk... I just let my mind wander.
Re:The Achilles heel of this...
on
Phoenix BIOSOS?
·
· Score: 1
Our office just bought a bunch of really nice Xerox Workcentre printers... high end print, scan, staple, punch, fax, etc.
The Windows drivers are flaky and often my print jobs don't come out right. OTOH, the Xerox provided Linux drivers are solid and give me better control of my print jobs.
Re:The Achilles heel of this...
on
Phoenix BIOSOS?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
My experience over the past 5 years has been that Linux has much better driver support than Windows. Most of the time when I plug something into Linux, it just works. When I plug something into Windows, it will work if I have the driver disk but fail otherwise.
Latest example is a webcam that I pulled out of my spare parts box for a project. Windows demanded the driver disk (which I didn't have) and couldn't find anything when I told it to go searching on the web. Ubuntu recognized it immediately and the driver was already on the system... instant joy. Gave up on Windows... another reason to delete Windows on my last remaining Windows computer.
I also hear lots of stories about WiFi not working but I have installed Linux on about 15 laptops (internal and external WiFi adapters) over the past few years and WiFi has "just worked" on all of them.
According to AAA, the cost per mile varies between about 55 and 79 cents a mile depending on car size and number of miles driven per year.
This would give a cost to drive the 133 mile distance of between $73 and $105. So he is already spending about $100 to drive the distance but just doesn't realize it. He must be insane for paying that to drive. The train would also save him time.
I was replying to the AC who said he regularly drove this route and would not pay $100 for a ticket. I merely made the point that it was probably already costing him about $100 to drive.
Your calculations and logic are interesting but irrelevant to his complaint.
Slashdot Mirror
Dynamics CRM is available to non-profits for a very small fee at techsoup.org
Windows 7 is undoubtedly the most exciting new operating system to come out of Microsoft within the past decade--
When the article starts out like this, you can guess where it's going.
My anecdotal experience trumps your anecdotal experience.
Looks like your power company Excel wanted to do the same thing except wasn't willing to pay a fair rate. Peak power costs them a lot (50 cents or more per kwh) so if they can avoid buying peak power, they save big. You should get the benefit every time they shut off your A/C.
I would love to pay for power based on time of day use or cost. There are lots of things I could do to load shift.
I think that open source should be given preferred status since the source code is freely available and can be modified to meet the exact needs of the organization. This is a real advantage and should be given recognition. Most software meets 90+% of business needs. The other 10% are usually idiosyncratic requirements unique to the organization. Open source can meet that last 10% in situations where proprietary vendors are not willing or capable of modifying their software.
Why shops at retail stores...?
I don't think 'why' shops at retail stores anymore which is 'why' they are re-launching the WEBSITE.
I know you are not supposed to read the story but you could at least read the summary...
They are going to re-launch the WEBSITE. The WEBSITE is not a retail store, it is a WEBSITE.
1) Task managers are getting popular
2) Information managers are picking up
3) All sorts of webform autocompletion systems would be useful
4) Automated backup and system to system data migration tools
5) Quickbooks continues to sell very well.
People pay money for these things?
I use some of these tools but they are all free open source software.
6) The game market continues to grow
Since I'm not interested in games, I keep forgetting about them but I do suppose that this is a good software market. Aren't the game platforms (XBox, PS, Wiiii) better for games than PCs? I don't think low end netbooks are useful for games.
You must have a really old computer or some other problem. My 5 year old laptop (Dell Inspiron 700m with standard Ubuntu 8.10) always runs YouTube just fine. I have never noticed any tearing or lag. I even run multiple YouTube windows simultaneously (I had 5 going the other day).
If you have a real 'power user', they might want a standalone email program, word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics. Again, all of this is available for free.
Realistically, what software can you sell today? I haven't purchased any software in years. The last software I purchased was Windows antivirus which was replaced with free antivirus and then replaced with nothing when I got rid of Windows.
Clean room is a way to make sure that you don't have any copyrighted code in your project. This will prevent a programmer from 'inadvertently' including a copyrighted code sequence in his new implementation.
However, it does nothing to protect against patents on methods in the code. If the patented methods are reproduced in the new code, they will still have patent issues.
I already have a huge app store... it's called apt-get and I can find any software I need there... plus, it keeps everything on my computer up to date with the latest versions... and it's free... and I don't have to worry about malware...
I know you have an agenda and are probably not interested in facts but someone else might be interested.
Percent of world transportation motor fuel consumption:
Europe + North America (not subsidized) 71%
South America (some subsidized) 4%
Middle East and North Africa (some subsidized) 6%
Central America and Caribbean (some subsidized) 3%
Hard to come up with your 45% of the world getting cheap gas and causing the problem.
BTW, California consumes more motor fuel than China.
We used to live in Geneva and didn't even have a car. Rich people here drive Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Mercedes, etc. but they are just a conspicuous minority. Most people drive small cars.
There is lots of research linking cost of cigarettes to reduction of smoking. Since you're too lazy to look it up (you could try Google) or allergic to facts, here are some references: (sorry about the sloppy formatting but I'm too lazy to format for trolls.)
1 Philip Morris document, "General Comments on Smoking and Health," Appendix I in The Perspective of PM International on Smoking and Health Initiatives, March 29, 1985, Bates No. 2023268329-8348. 2 Ellen Merlo, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Philip Morris, 1994 draft speech to the Philip Morris USA Trade Council, http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/oyf35e00. 3 R.J. Reynolds Executive D. S. Burrows, âoeEstimated Change In Industry Trend Following Federal Excise Tax Increase,â RJR Document No. 501988846 -8849, September 20, 1982. 4 Philip Morris Research Executive Myron Johnston, âoeTeenage Smoking and the Federal Excise Tax on Cigarettes,â PM Document No. 2001255224, September 17, 1981. 5 Philip Morris Executive Jon Zoler, âoeHandling An Excise Tax Increase,â PM Document No. 2022216179, September 3, 1987. 6 Philip Morris Executive Claude Schwab, âoeCigarette Attributes and Quitting,â PM Doc. 2045447810, March 4, 1993. 7 Chaloupka, F, et al., âoeTax, Price and Cigarette Smoking: Evidence from the Tobacco Documents and implications for tobacco company marketing strategies,â Tobacco Control 11: 62-72, March 2002. 8 See, e.g., Chaloupka, F, âoeMacro-Social Influences: The Effects of Prices and Tobacco Control Policies on the Demand for Tobacco Products,â Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 1999; other studies at http://tigger.uic.edu/~fjc/; Tauras, J, âoePublic Policy and Smoking Cessation Among Young adults in the United States,â Health Policy 6*:321-32, 2004; Tauras, J, et al., âoeEffects of Price and Access Laws on Teenage Smoking Initiation: A National Longitudinal Analysis,â Bridging the Gap Research, ImpacTeen, April 24, 2001, and others at http://www.impacteen.org/researchproducts.htm. Chaloupka, F & Pacula, R, An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 6541, April 1998, http://tigger.uic.edu/~fjc; Emery, S, et al., âoeDoes Cigarette Price Influence Adolescent Experimentation?,â Journal of Health Economics 20:261-270, 2001; Evans, W & Huang, L, Cigarette Taxes and Teen Smoking: New Evidence from Panels of Repeated Cross-Sections, working paper, April 15, 1998, www.bsos.umd.edu/econ/evans/wrkpap.htm; Harris, J & Chan, S, âoeThe Continuum-of-Addiction: Cigarette Smoking in Relation to Price Among Americans Aged 15-29,â Health Economics Letters 2(2):3-12, February 1998, www.mit.edu/people/jeffrey. 9 See, e.g., U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), âoeResponses to Cigarette Prices By Race/Ethnicity, Income, and Age Groups â" United States 1976-1993,â Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 47(29):605-609, July 31, 1998, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00054047.htm; Chaloupka, F & Pacula, R, An Examination of Gender and Race Differences in Youth Smoking Responsiveness to Price and Tobacco Control Policies, National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 6541, April 1998. 10 Ringel, J & Evans, W, âoeCigarette Taxes and Smoking During Pregnancy,â American Journal of Public Health, 2001 See also, TFK Factsheet, Harm Caused by Pregnant Women Smoking or Being Exposed to Secondhand Smoke, http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0007.
I think you have articulated the solution to the problem. It's a folly to mandate fuel efficiency since people will try to find a way around the regulations. Your post shows that when you increase the price of fuel, there is a powerful incentive to get better mileage. Here in Switzerland we don't have CAFE but almost everyone drives small fuel efficient cars. Fuel is the equivalent of about $6.00 a gallon. Problem solved. All we need is a carbon tax or fuel tax and people will reduce CO2 emissions.
Tree Style Tab
Why are you decorating????
Who is forcing you to decorate?
Back to your basement and put on your tinfoil hat and don't even think of decorating.
draconian measures, like taking homeless people to concentration camps
Switzerland seems to have solved the problem of homeless people by giving them a place to live and taking care of their health problems. It's actually quite humane. I haven't seen a single homeless person in the three years I've been here.
A lot of this can be done by moving to a proper rapid transit system. Such a thing doesn't exist yet...
Actually, Switzerland does have an excellent nationwide transit system. It's an integrated network of trains and buses that you can use to go literally anywhere in the country. All decidedly low tech (except for the networking that keeps everything in sync) but quite effective.
Sounds great, until you need to get some groceries. I don't know about you, but when I go shopping, I'm not capable of carrying a couple hundred pounds of goods home with me in two arms.
I guess that you live in some primitive society without shopping carts and conveniently located stores... (Carts...not the kind you find in grocery stores but the kind you use to pull your stuff home... Easily handle a full weeks shopping. We also have internet shopping and delivery at quite reasonable prices.
I don't know what your problem is with the eeePC and WiFi but I have lots of friends with them running both the native Linux distro and Ubuntu and WiFi 'just works'... (I do know that the native Linux version had problems when the first model 701 was new but this was fixed promptly.)
I've found that I have the best ideas and the best solutions to problems when I go for a long walk in the woods. It seems that every time I am stumped by a problem, all I need to do is take 30 minutes for a long walk and the solution will appear. I don't even try to think about the problem on the walk... I just let my mind wander.
The Windows drivers are flaky and often my print jobs don't come out right. OTOH, the Xerox provided Linux drivers are solid and give me better control of my print jobs.
Latest example is a webcam that I pulled out of my spare parts box for a project. Windows demanded the driver disk (which I didn't have) and couldn't find anything when I told it to go searching on the web. Ubuntu recognized it immediately and the driver was already on the system... instant joy. Gave up on Windows... another reason to delete Windows on my last remaining Windows computer.
I also hear lots of stories about WiFi not working but I have installed Linux on about 15 laptops (internal and external WiFi adapters) over the past few years and WiFi has "just worked" on all of them.
This would give a cost to drive the 133 mile distance of between $73 and $105. So he is already spending about $100 to drive the distance but just doesn't realize it. He must be insane for paying that to drive. The train would also save him time.
Your calculations and logic are interesting but irrelevant to his complaint.
I think we all need to review this: Don't talk to the cops