So low maintenance that I hereby offer to host the list and pay for all bandwidth out of my own pocket. Can't believe it would cost much to host a page with nothing between the BODY tags.
Absolutely correct - this bill IS going to make and keep things more expensive for Canadians. This same bill means that where a U.S. publisher has given a Canadian co. exclusive distribution rights, that all Canadian bookstores must BY LAW deal with this distributor. If you don't like the distributor, tough. If you can get the books cheaper in the U.S. or the U.K. - very commonly the case - you are not allowed to import it. Net effect, bookstores are not allowed to find the cheapest prices for books, they have to pay whatever the distributor dictates.
I previously owned a bookstore. A distributor decided not to sell to me simply because I sold online. WTF?
The overall bill is apparently designed to protect Canadian society, writers, publishers, etc. The real effect of the bill is that consumers are getting screwed for the benefit of liberal special interest groups.
(In true slashdot fashion, I haven't read the bill yet, I'm basing this on what I was told by an industry organization).
The hardcore tech's have already moved to Linux for tech reasons. I think I'm part of the next wave to slowly migrate over - the reasonably technically literate and the frustrated.
I'm using Linux on my web server, and have a dual boot at home. All my other desktops are 98. None will ever see a further upgrade to an MS product. I know it has to come - and know it should come now - but this thread is excellent; why *haven't* I moved already?
Three simple reasons: 1) Fear. I'm comfortable with my current system. I know every 3-6 months I do a complete OS reinstall to fix all my problems. I don't have this level of confidence in my abilities on Linux yet. 2) No time to learn. 3) Compatibility/software issues. I don't want to find out there is software I need but can't run, or I can't interface with my customers. In all honesty, I can't think of any customer transactions where it would be an issue. I would lose some software, but nothing that can't be replaced by something comparable.
Ultimately what I need is a swift kick in the a$$ to get me to convert. So what's the kick going to be? What's needed is an app that user's need but can't get unless they migrate - or if not that, an app that gets them thinking of moving. Forget the OS - give the world an application that requires the OS. A start would be getting some mainstream coverage of something like open office. Products like this should be getting coverage in the NY times or the Wash. Post. What would be better than 'free office suite - better than Office?' to perk the public's interest?
Let me preface my reply with the fact that I'm not trolling, and I'm not in the business (and I don't send out bulk emails).
I fail to see the real problem people have with spam. It's annoying? So what? Delete it, don't do business with the company if you don't like it.
Try comparing this to bulk mailings:
People don't like either, but there's no huge backlash against junk mail.
Nobody gets excited when your magazine subscription sells your address, again and again.
You get spam, you freak out. You get junk mail? You don't start a vendetta against the company that sent it to you. In fact, you probably get all excited over the latest Home Depot flyer that arrives every week in your mail box, unsolicited. Look Ma! A sale on drywall!
You sign up for a magazine or whatever, your name gets sold repeatedly without you being told. No one gets excited. How did the spammers get your email? Probably because YOU posted your email onto a worldwide public network. Guess what - it's no longer 'top secret' personal info when you do this.
get over it on the 'it costs money' argument. The costs to you are negligible. No more than the cost it takes you to dump your junk mail in the garbage. What's the waste factor on junk mail? Huge, thousands of people throwing out paper products.
generally speaking, spammers will unsubscribe you. Ever tried to unsubscribe to junk mail? Impossible. Go ahead and tell the federal govt to stop stuffing junkmail to your box. Good luck with that.
People need to realize that mass marketing is considered to be a reasonable way to offer your product. People have been doing this for a hundred years. Only the medium has changed. And in comparison to previous mass marketing methods (junk mail, telephone) spam is probably less expensive on society and far easier for you to ignore. Set up some filters and delete whatever gets through. You can't do THAT with junk mail.
Turn it around another way - what if charities could get their message out this way, instead of spending huge dollars on telemarketing?
Ultimately, I don't see what the fuss is. I get junkmail, I throw it in the garbage (except for the unsolicited grocery sale flyers that my wife just 'has to have'.) I get spam, I hit delete. No big deal.
You've made a couple of fundamental flaws in your assumptions.
For your commercial support, you know you are paying $XX per year. That's a fixed hard cost.
You're now comparing that to saying your local support person is going to spend one full day every two weeks doing nothing but reading the lists. Maybe for the first six months, but in year 10? No way.
The primary difference is that you ALWAYS pay the commericial vendor even if the knowledge base doesn't change. Conversely, if you have experienced support staff doing your own support then you only have the _possibility_ of having to pay for training (no updates to the software, what's the tech doing spending a day on the forums?). Figure out a number for the probability of needing to get updated on the software and multiply it times your $8,000, it should drop dramatically. Year 3; spend a generous 2 full weeks training on the product, your costs are halved for the opensource product.
In addition you are comparing hard costs against soft costs. They are not the same. In fact by using external support for commercial products you are adding costs. By using existing support staff's time you haven't added any hard costs. PHB translation: no additional money coming fromtheir budget, no hard dollars leaving the building.
Now factor in the costs of needing to do some custom work in year 5 with a vendor who's no longer in business (and you forget to count in the cost of an escrow service right?). Probably saved some cash there as well.
Ultimately I don't see how an open source product over a long period of time is going to be anywhere near as expensive as a commericial product. If your spin predicts that it will be more expensive, it's time to start asking "how much is it worth to 'own' the code, be able to use whatever vendor we like, only pay if we use their services, and not be dependent upon a vendor's existence in 2/5/10 years'?
Yes, it's legal in Canada. Only one side needs to know that it's being recorded. (IANAL, but I'm still certain). Remember, just because you're not taping the conversation doesn't mean it's not being taped.
Two problems with this, first U.S. law doesn't apply to 'the internet', and secondly enacting a law is not the same as enforcing it.
If they bring in spam laws in the U.S. everyone will either ignore it or just move offshore. How are they going to enforce their spam laws on email sent from Zimbabwe to someone in the U.S.? As for the spammers in the U.S. I suspect they will just ignore this, figuring the reward > risk.
Spam can't be stopped, only controlled through ISP policies and decent filtering software.
The failing that LCD's still have is related to displaying anything with fast motion. But really - how many use anything like that in their drudge-a-day spreadsheet or development world? Not many, so in that respect the primary issue with LCD's is of little concern.
The huge thing with LCD's is that they aren't nearly as bright as CRT's. Doesn't sound like much until you spend 8-10 hours looking at one. Then the impact is drastic. After one day of using LCD's in a work environment, my eyes didn't burn at the end of the day. If I'd known this, I'd have bought one a year ago. And if you're spending your day in front of a tube, it's worth every dollar for you to get one too.
In 550AD, and again in 2600AD and 3880AD, for a while it will become a true satellite of our planet, in effect Earth's second moon, although technically it will remain under the gravitational control of the Sun.
Yes, Samsung is doing a great job in the cost-effective market. Same thing - I'm running on their monitors and have lots of their printers around. And as soon as they get their all-in-one laser fax unit in Canada, I'll have one of those too.
It's worth noting that Samsung's lasers have been coming out-of-the-box with linux drivers for quite a while now. This isn't something you see on most user-level printers, and it inspired a lot of confidence with me, knowing that it would be compatible in the future when I switch fully over to Linux.
Not to be confrontational, but isn't that the point? It's straining under 2000 clients.If you're touting high end knowledge, you should be doing better than that.
The first thing you need to do is get rid of the flash. That alone should allow you to serve orders of magnitute higher numbers than what you are doing now. And that's what some here are suggesting - there's far more effective ways to serve high volumes than tackling hardware.
You can get certs for $100US annually, and they work every bit as good as any other cert. You're really paying for the process the issuing company has to do to ensure 'you' are in fact who you say you are. They don't want to issue a cert to you that says you are MS, do they? (though it has been done....).
The $199 from Thawte may be worth it if you want the Thawte logo on your site. Their logo is pretty well recognized by consumers, other companies may have impressive logos as well that aren't as well recognized.
Slashdot Mirror
So low maintenance that I hereby offer to host the list and pay for all bandwidth out of my own pocket. Can't believe it would cost much to host a page with nothing between the BODY tags.
Absolutely correct - this bill IS going to make and keep things more expensive for Canadians. This same bill means that where a U.S. publisher has given a Canadian co. exclusive distribution rights, that all Canadian bookstores must BY LAW deal with this distributor. If you don't like the distributor, tough. If you can get the books cheaper in the U.S. or the U.K. - very commonly the case - you are not allowed to import it. Net effect, bookstores are not allowed to find the cheapest prices for books, they have to pay whatever the distributor dictates.
I previously owned a bookstore. A distributor decided not to sell to me simply because I sold online. WTF?
The overall bill is apparently designed to protect Canadian society, writers, publishers, etc. The real effect of the bill is that consumers are getting screwed for the benefit of liberal special interest groups.
(In true slashdot fashion, I haven't read the bill yet, I'm basing this on what I was told by an industry organization).
The hardcore tech's have already moved to Linux for tech reasons. I think I'm part of the next wave to slowly migrate over - the reasonably technically literate and the frustrated.
I'm using Linux on my web server, and have a dual boot at home. All my other desktops are 98. None will ever see a further upgrade to an MS product. I know it has to come - and know it should come now - but this thread is excellent; why *haven't* I moved already?
Three simple reasons:
1) Fear. I'm comfortable with my current system. I know every 3-6 months I do a complete OS reinstall to fix all my problems. I don't have this level of confidence in my abilities on Linux yet.
2) No time to learn.
3) Compatibility/software issues. I don't want to find out there is software I need but can't run, or I can't interface with my customers. In all honesty, I can't think of any customer transactions where it would be an issue. I would lose some software, but nothing that can't be replaced by something comparable.
Ultimately what I need is a swift kick in the a$$ to get me to convert. So what's the kick going to be? What's needed is an app that user's need but can't get unless they migrate - or if not that, an app that gets them thinking of moving. Forget the OS - give the world an application that requires the OS. A start would be getting some mainstream coverage of something like open office. Products like this should be getting coverage in the NY times or the Wash. Post. What would be better than 'free office suite - better than Office?' to perk the public's interest?
Let me preface my reply with the fact that I'm not trolling, and I'm not in the business (and I don't send out bulk emails).
I fail to see the real problem people have with spam. It's annoying? So what? Delete it, don't do business with the company if you don't like it.
Try comparing this to bulk mailings:
People need to realize that mass marketing is considered to be a reasonable way to offer your product. People have been doing this for a hundred years. Only the medium has changed. And in comparison to previous mass marketing methods (junk mail, telephone) spam is probably less expensive on society and far easier for you to ignore. Set up some filters and delete whatever gets through. You can't do THAT with junk mail.
Turn it around another way - what if charities could get their message out this way, instead of spending huge dollars on telemarketing?
Ultimately, I don't see what the fuss is. I get junkmail, I throw it in the garbage (except for the unsolicited grocery sale flyers that my wife just 'has to have'.) I get spam, I hit delete. No big deal.
You've made a couple of fundamental flaws in your assumptions.
For your commercial support, you know you are paying $XX per year. That's a fixed hard cost. You're now comparing that to saying your local support person is going to spend one full day every two weeks doing nothing but reading the lists. Maybe for the first six months, but in year 10? No way.
The primary difference is that you ALWAYS pay the commericial vendor even if the knowledge base doesn't change. Conversely, if you have experienced support staff doing your own support then you only have the _possibility_ of having to pay for training (no updates to the software, what's the tech doing spending a day on the forums?). Figure out a number for the probability of needing to get updated on the software and multiply it times your $8,000, it should drop dramatically. Year 3; spend a generous 2 full weeks training on the product, your costs are halved for the opensource product.
In addition you are comparing hard costs against soft costs. They are not the same. In fact by using external support for commercial products you are adding costs. By using existing support staff's time you haven't added any hard costs. PHB translation: no additional money coming fromtheir budget, no hard dollars leaving the building.
Now factor in the costs of needing to do some custom work in year 5 with a vendor who's no longer in business (and you forget to count in the cost of an escrow service right?). Probably saved some cash there as well.
Ultimately I don't see how an open source product over a long period of time is going to be anywhere near as expensive as a commericial product. If your spin predicts that it will be more expensive, it's time to start asking "how much is it worth to 'own' the code, be able to use whatever vendor we like, only pay if we use their services, and not be dependent upon a vendor's existence in 2/5/10 years'?
Yes, it's legal in Canada. Only one side needs to know that it's being recorded. (IANAL, but I'm still certain). Remember, just because you're not taping the conversation doesn't mean it's not being taped.
Two problems with this, first U.S. law doesn't apply to 'the internet', and secondly enacting a law is not the same as enforcing it.
If they bring in spam laws in the U.S. everyone will either ignore it or just move offshore. How are they going to enforce their spam laws on email sent from Zimbabwe to someone in the U.S.? As for the spammers in the U.S. I suspect they will just ignore this, figuring the reward > risk.
Spam can't be stopped, only controlled through ISP policies and decent filtering software.
The failing that LCD's still have is related to displaying anything with fast motion. But really - how many use anything like that in their drudge-a-day spreadsheet or development world? Not many, so in that respect the primary issue with LCD's is of little concern. The huge thing with LCD's is that they aren't nearly as bright as CRT's. Doesn't sound like much until you spend 8-10 hours looking at one. Then the impact is drastic. After one day of using LCD's in a work environment, my eyes didn't burn at the end of the day. If I'd known this, I'd have bought one a year ago. And if you're spending your day in front of a tube, it's worth every dollar for you to get one too.
In 550AD, and again in 2600AD and 3880AD, for a while it will become a true satellite of our planet, in effect Earth's second moon, although technically it will remain under the gravitational control of the Sun.
2600? Ooooh, I can hardly wait.
Yes, Samsung is doing a great job in the cost-effective market. Same thing - I'm running on their monitors and have lots of their printers around. And as soon as they get their all-in-one laser fax unit in Canada, I'll have one of those too. It's worth noting that Samsung's lasers have been coming out-of-the-box with linux drivers for quite a while now. This isn't something you see on most user-level printers, and it inspired a lot of confidence with me, knowing that it would be compatible in the future when I switch fully over to Linux.
Not to be confrontational, but isn't that the point? It's straining under 2000 clients.If you're touting high end knowledge, you should be doing better than that. The first thing you need to do is get rid of the flash. That alone should allow you to serve orders of magnitute higher numbers than what you are doing now. And that's what some here are suggesting - there's far more effective ways to serve high volumes than tackling hardware.
You can get certs for $100US annually, and they work every bit as good as any other cert. You're really paying for the process the issuing company has to do to ensure 'you' are in fact who you say you are. They don't want to issue a cert to you that says you are MS, do they? (though it has been done....).
The $199 from Thawte may be worth it if you want the Thawte logo on your site. Their logo is pretty well recognized by consumers, other companies may have impressive logos as well that aren't as well recognized.