Under the Visa Waiver Program, an individual working in such a scenario is not considered "working in the US" until they hit 90 days. "The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables nationals of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa
Q: Who Is Eligible to Use the VWP?
A: To qualify for the VWP, you must:
* Intend to enter the United States for 90 days or less;
* Have a passport lawfully issued to you by a VWP country that is valid for six months beyond your intended visit;
* Be a national of the VWP country that issued your passport;
* Have been checked using an automated electronic database containing information about inadmissible aliens to the United States;
* Have a return trip ticket to any foreign destination other than a territory bordering on the United States or an adjacent island unless:
1. You are a resident of an adjacent island,
2. This requirement is waived by the Attorney General under regulations, or
3. You are a visitor for business who arrives aboard a private aircraft that maintains a valid agreement guaranteeing to transport you out of the United States, if you are found to be inadmissible or deportable;
* Present to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer a completed and signed Form I-94W, Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure Form. (Please see "How Do I Get an Arrival Departure Document?" for more information about arrival/departure records.);
* Not pose a safety threat to the United States;
* Not have failed to comply with the conditions of any previous admission under the Visa Waiver Program;
* If arriving by air or sea, you must arrive aboard a carrier that signed an agreement, "signatory carrier", guaranteeing to transport you out of the United States if you are found to be inadmissible or deportable;
* Convince the examining CBP officer that you are clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted and that you are not inadmissible under section 212 of the Act. For reasons that would make you inadmissible, please see the Immigration and Nationality Act at INA 212 (a);
* Waive any right to review or appeal a CBP officer's decision as to your admissibility, other than on the basis of an application for asylum or an application for withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and
* Waive any right to challenge your removal, other than on the basis of an application for asylum or an application for withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Overview of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
It's clear that this kind of conference is now impossible to gather in the US, so relocate it in a free country. Why not Mexico, South Am, East Asia, Russia?
What makes you think that border guards are trained - or inclined - to be less rule-bound and unsympathetic elsewhere? I'll pass on the chance to sweat out the arrival of the American consul at a Nicaraguan lock-up.
When I was an HS, WordPerfect was the "unalterable-never-ever-change-"Business Standard". I feel soooo fortunate that I'm well schooled in the "Business Standard".
Things change. But you have to be realistic. There hasn't been a significant commercial competitor to MS Office in almost fifteen years. MS Office 2007 has had good reviews and solid sales.
I kind of agree with what you're saying, even thought it sounds a bit trollish. OpenOffice doesn't have the sheer number of included templates, clipart, special fonts, etc, that people love using so much.
Compare MS Office Home with OpenOffice.org.
The MS site handsome, polished and professional, with its own tutorials, clip art, templates, etc. Chances are, you are only a click or two away from something that will solve your immediate problem.
They don't want people taking their work home and discovering that those nasty, smelly hippy, open source office programs can do most of what they need anyway.
I hate to break this to you. But home use under MS volume licensing predates any significant open office suite.
This is getting ridiculous.
People very rarely use MS Word beyond the functionality that Wordpad offers. And they very rarely use MS Excel as anything but a way to arrange text in columns and rows.
I've heard this mantra repeated endlessly on Slashdot.
It doesn't matter, fundamentally, whether a function is used rarely, what matters is that it is there when it is needed.
It's a mystery why so many organizations are fixated on Microsoft software.
There is no mystery here:
The temp comes into work stone cold. She is given a space and shown the heap of shit that has to be cleared from her desk before noon.
This is not a problem.
What she needs from Office will be in Office.
What she needs from the apps that integrate with Office will be in the apps that integrate with Office.
That's what they're used to, that's what they know, that's what they've learned to use through rote tasks, that's what they'll continue to try and use. Hell, they looked at 'ribbon' and thought it was the best thing that was ever created for an office suite, and one of them started giggling with glee
You know, I've heard that quite a few folks have taken a liking to the "ribbon." Makes me wonder if you shouldn't be treating your people with a little more respect.
who is going to go from house to house for the purpose of auditing software usage?
No one. Which is why Microsoft dropped even the pretense of demanding student ID for Office Home and Student - and why K-12 ID will get you academic pricing on Office Pro.
Where on earth did you get that idea? School is setup to make you learn to follow orders and be a good little worker bee so that you can take your place in society. They don't care about educating you.
You know, I sometimes think it is this attitude that perhaps best explains why no one ever quite listens to the Geek.
And they'll encounter any variety of things in the corporate world, not just Office. If their skills are good, they'll adjust to whatever they've got put in front of them.
Which will most likely be built on the foundation of MS Office. Search Google for "MS Office integration" and you'll get 80 million hits. Still unconvinced? Open the "Help Wanted" section in your metro Sunday paper.
But aside from all that, if schools start using, say, OpenOffice, you might start to see corporations do the same. And since it's taxpayers funding the software acquisition, I'd rather the district stick to the free option so long as it works well enough for the students' purposes.
"Well enough" isn't good enough for OpenOffice to gain any traction.
I've said this before, but it will bear repeating. There isn't an adult education program - on or off campus - within 150 miles that isn't offering courses in MS Office. Employers want these skills. The volunteer agencies want these skills. They are marketable at any age.
Your ticket out of welfare and SSI. I've seen it happen.
Teaching these courses - offering these courses - is money in the bank.
Fermilab is located in Batavia. Population about 25,000. In 2000 The median income for a household in the city was $68,656, and the median income for a family was $81,689. Batavia, Illinois
Yeah, it sucks that they are going to a non-free option where the cheapest version is about $150 USD
Assuming you qualify for no deeper discounts:
MS Office Home and Student 2007 is $122 at Amazon.com. Retail boxed. Three seat license. No. 1 in Amazon software sales. Excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote. No academic ID required.
Office Professional 2007 - Academic Edition $170. Excel, Word, Outlook, Power Point, Access, Publisher, Accounting Express. Bare minimum for academic pricing is student ID for grades K-12.
You can examine it for backdoors, concealed reporting etc, which you cannot do with a proprietary closed source OS
The Chinese government has had access to the Windows source code since 2003.
Now when China uses Windows in President Hu's office, or for that matter in its missile systems, it can install its own cryptography.How Microsoft conquered China.
> They can change strategy later on, when the 'Microsoft Tax' becomes a burden.
Someday the Geek may lose his fascination with talk of the "Microsoft Tax."
Today Gates openly concedes that tolerating piracy turned out to be Microsoft's best long-term strategy. That's why Windows is used on an estimated 90% of China's 120 million PCs. "It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not," Gates says. "Are you kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same price." Indeed, in China's back alleys, Linux often costs more than Windows because it requires more disks. And Microsoft's own prices have dropped so low it now sells a $3 package of Windows and Office to students.
Microsoft's China strategy is clearly paying off. More than 24 million PCs will be sold this year, adding to the 120 million already in place. Although the company's China revenues average no more than $7 for every PC in use (compared with $100 to $200 in developed countries), Gates says those figures will eventually converge.How Microsoft Conquered China [July 17, 2007]
> China's adoption of Microsoft's Products may be temporary.
Don't get your hopes up. From the same article:
In 2003 the company offered China and 59 other countries the right to look at the fundamental source code for its Windows operating system and to substitute certain portions with their own software - something Microsoft had never allowed in the past. Now when China uses Windows in President Hu's office, or for that matter in its missile systems, it can install its own cryptography.
But it was a relatively small step in 1998 - the opening of a research center in Beijing - that proved a turning point. "We just started it here because we thought they'd do great research," says Gates, who raves about the quality of the country's computer scientists. The lab was what Gates calls a "windfall" for Microsoft's image. It began accumulating an impressive record of academic publications, helped lure back smart émigré scientists, and contributed key components to globally released products like the Vista operating system. The lab soon became, according to polls, the most desirable place in the country for computer scientists to work.
-----
Mr. Bill Gates! Mr. Bill Gates!" a young woman shrieks as the black car pulls up. A pallid student in a nylon windbreaker pushes his way through the security line and hands the world's richest man a small envelope with a floral design. "It's very important," he pants.
Another day in China, another round of adulation. Today the Microsoft hairman is being named an honorary trustee of Peking University. Yesterday it was an honorary doctorate from Beijing's Tsinghua University - the 13th in the school's 82-year history. Gates, wearing the same lopsided grin he has had on his face for the past few days, takes the envelope from the young man. For him this is a triumphant visit to China, a victory lap of sorts, on which I've been invited to tag along. The country is his.
No other Fortune 500 CEO gets quite the same treatment in China. While most would count themselves lucky to talk with one of China's top leaders, Gates will meet with four members of the Politburo on this four-day April trip. As one government leader put it while introducing Gates at a business conference, the Microsoft chairman is "bigger in China than any movie star." Last spring President Hu Jintao toured the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., and was feted at a dinner at Gates' home. "You are a friend to the Chinese people, and I am a friend of Microsoft," Hu told his host. "Every morning I go to my office and use your software."
Let me see... I had to reinstall Windows 12 times on my son's computer>
I don't recall reinstalling Windows 95 twelve times - eight times - over the life of a 75 MHz Packard Bell. What the hell are you doing to these machines?
I think that the average household has more Unix systems running for them than Windows. For example - I know for sure that my DVD player and my ADSL modem have Linux running in them.
The embedded OS is never advertised.
Unless it is product from Apple or Microsoft and brand-name recognition is a marketable feature. Because the device is more interactive and engaging than a toaster. The iPhone. The Windows Automotive PC.
I hope Windows will be further sliding into irrelevancy.
There is no danger of Windows sliding into irrelevancy so long as it remains the conscious choice of hundreds of millions of users. How Microsoft Conquered China
The truth of the matter is that it's a lot easier to add complexity into a text based game, because the player's imagination will fill in so many of the details for you. Adding graphics, particularly ones that are trying to look photo-realistic, allows the player to shut off that part of their imagination, and so then you've got to fill it all in, which is a hell of a lot of work.
But - in your example - using text merely simplifies the depiction of the action. In your example - text isn't being used to tell a larger or a deeper story. The basic elements of game play remain the same.
Slashdot Mirror
Q: Who Is Eligible to Use the VWP?
A: To qualify for the VWP, you must:
* Intend to enter the United States for 90 days or less;
* Have a passport lawfully issued to you by a VWP country that is valid for six months beyond your intended visit;
* Be a national of the VWP country that issued your passport;
* Have been checked using an automated electronic database containing information about inadmissible aliens to the United States;
* Have a return trip ticket to any foreign destination other than a territory bordering on the United States or an adjacent island unless:
1. You are a resident of an adjacent island,
2. This requirement is waived by the Attorney General under regulations, or
3. You are a visitor for business who arrives aboard a private aircraft that maintains a valid agreement guaranteeing to transport you out of the United States, if you are found to be inadmissible or deportable;
* Present to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer a completed and signed Form I-94W, Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure Form. (Please see "How Do I Get an Arrival Departure Document?" for more information about arrival/departure records.);
* Not pose a safety threat to the United States;
* Not have failed to comply with the conditions of any previous admission under the Visa Waiver Program;
* If arriving by air or sea, you must arrive aboard a carrier that signed an agreement, "signatory carrier", guaranteeing to transport you out of the United States if you are found to be inadmissible or deportable;
* Convince the examining CBP officer that you are clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted and that you are not inadmissible under section 212 of the Act. For reasons that would make you inadmissible, please see the Immigration and Nationality Act at INA 212 (a);
* Waive any right to review or appeal a CBP officer's decision as to your admissibility, other than on the basis of an application for asylum or an application for withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and
* Waive any right to challenge your removal, other than on the basis of an application for asylum or an application for withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Overview of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
What makes you think that border guards are trained - or inclined - to be less rule-bound and unsympathetic elsewhere? I'll pass on the chance to sweat out the arrival of the American consul at a Nicaraguan lock-up.
There is no free lunch.
That is where the AO rated PC games are now and always have been.
MS Office Home and Student is retail boxed, not OEM. Three seat license. No academic ID required. $122 at Amazon.com.
Things change. But you have to be realistic. There hasn't been a significant commercial competitor to MS Office in almost fifteen years. MS Office 2007 has had good reviews and solid sales.
Compare MS Office Home with OpenOffice.org.
The MS site handsome, polished and professional, with its own tutorials, clip art, templates, etc. Chances are, you are only a click or two away from something that will solve your immediate problem.
I hate to break this to you. But home use under MS volume licensing predates any significant open office suite.
People very rarely use MS Word beyond the functionality that Wordpad offers. And they very rarely use MS Excel as anything but a way to arrange text in columns and rows.
I've heard this mantra repeated endlessly on Slashdot.
It doesn't matter, fundamentally, whether a function is used rarely, what matters is that it is there when it is needed.
It's a mystery why so many organizations are fixated on Microsoft software.
There is no mystery here:
The temp comes into work stone cold. She is given a space and shown the heap of shit that has to be cleared from her desk before noon.
This is not a problem.
What she needs from Office will be in Office.
What she needs from the apps that integrate with Office will be in the apps that integrate with Office.
The Concorde was retired because it burnt through fuel and money like there was no tomorrow. The future belonged to the air bus.
You know, I've heard that quite a few folks have taken a liking to the "ribbon." Makes me wonder if you shouldn't be treating your people with a little more respect.
It couldn't be because MS Office remains the gold standard for Office suites - and that damn near every voter in the district uses it at work.
And in the end, where are the parents not pushing back?
Because they see their kids using the same tools they use.
Way more people look at an MCSE as "advanced education" than simply using google to find OSS alternatives that work.
Good god. There is nothing "simple" about using a search engine effectively.
No one. Which is why Microsoft dropped even the pretense of demanding student ID for Office Home and Student - and why K-12 ID will get you academic pricing on Office Pro.
You know, I sometimes think it is this attitude that perhaps best explains why no one ever quite listens to the Geek.
Which will most likely be built on the foundation of MS Office. Search Google for "MS Office integration" and you'll get 80 million hits. Still unconvinced? Open the "Help Wanted" section in your metro Sunday paper.
But aside from all that, if schools start using, say, OpenOffice, you might start to see corporations do the same. And since it's taxpayers funding the software acquisition, I'd rather the district stick to the free option so long as it works well enough for the students' purposes.
"Well enough" isn't good enough for OpenOffice to gain any traction.
I've said this before, but it will bear repeating. There isn't an adult education program - on or off campus - within 150 miles that isn't offering courses in MS Office. Employers want these skills. The volunteer agencies want these skills. They are marketable at any age.
Your ticket out of welfare and SSI. I've seen it happen.
Teaching these courses - offering these courses - is money in the bank.
Fermilab is located in Batavia. Population about 25,000. In 2000 The median income for a household in the city was $68,656, and the median income for a family was $81,689. Batavia, Illinois
Yeah, it sucks that they are going to a non-free option where the cheapest version is about $150 USD
Assuming you qualify for no deeper discounts:
MS Office Home and Student 2007 is $122 at Amazon.com. Retail boxed. Three seat license. No. 1 in Amazon software sales. Excel, PowerPoint, Word, OneNote. No academic ID required.
Office Professional 2007 - Academic Edition $170. Excel, Word, Outlook, Power Point, Access, Publisher, Accounting Express. Bare minimum for academic pricing is student ID for grades K-12.
To the outsider, Linux can look like a system whose ideology is shaped by a technocratic elite not by the market, not by the end user.
To its business customers for some years now.
Just don't expect to see a Geek shouting "You are getting Ubuntu, Dude!" on cable TV and in their four-color adds
The Chinese government has had access to the Windows source code since 2003.
Now when China uses Windows in President Hu's office, or for that matter in its missile systems, it can install its own cryptography. How Microsoft conquered China.
Someday the Geek may lose his fascination with talk of the "Microsoft Tax."
Today Gates openly concedes that tolerating piracy turned out to be Microsoft's best long-term strategy. That's why Windows is used on an estimated 90% of China's 120 million PCs. "It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not," Gates says. "Are you kidding? You can get the real thing, and you get the same price." Indeed, in China's back alleys, Linux often costs more than Windows because it requires more disks. And Microsoft's own prices have dropped so low it now sells a $3 package of Windows and Office to students.
Microsoft's China strategy is clearly paying off. More than 24 million PCs will be sold this year, adding to the 120 million already in place. Although the company's China revenues average no more than $7 for every PC in use (compared with $100 to $200 in developed countries), Gates says those figures will eventually converge. How Microsoft Conquered China [July 17, 2007]
> China's adoption of Microsoft's Products may be temporary.
Don't get your hopes up. From the same article:
In 2003 the company offered China and 59 other countries the right to look at the fundamental source code for its Windows operating system and to substitute certain portions with their own software - something Microsoft had never allowed in the past. Now when China uses Windows in President Hu's office, or for that matter in its missile systems, it can install its own cryptography.
But it was a relatively small step in 1998 - the opening of a research center in Beijing - that proved a turning point. "We just started it here because we thought they'd do great research," says Gates, who raves about the quality of the country's computer scientists. The lab was what Gates calls a "windfall" for Microsoft's image. It began accumulating an impressive record of academic publications, helped lure back smart émigré scientists, and contributed key components to globally released products like the Vista operating system. The lab soon became, according to polls, the most desirable place in the country for computer scientists to work.
-----
Mr. Bill Gates! Mr. Bill Gates!" a young woman shrieks as the black car pulls up. A pallid student in a nylon windbreaker pushes his way through the security line and hands the world's richest man a small envelope with a floral design. "It's very important," he pants.
Another day in China, another round of adulation. Today the Microsoft hairman is being named an honorary trustee of Peking University. Yesterday it was an honorary doctorate from Beijing's Tsinghua University - the 13th in the school's 82-year history. Gates, wearing the same lopsided grin he has had on his face for the past few days, takes the envelope from the young man. For him this is a triumphant visit to China, a victory lap of sorts, on which I've been invited to tag along. The country is his.
No other Fortune 500 CEO gets quite the same treatment in China. While most would count themselves lucky to talk with one of China's top leaders, Gates will meet with four members of the Politburo on this four-day April trip. As one government leader put it while introducing Gates at a business conference, the Microsoft chairman is "bigger in China than any movie star." Last spring President Hu Jintao toured the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., and was feted at a dinner at Gates' home. "You are a friend to the Chinese people, and I am a friend of Microsoft," Hu told his host. "Every morning I go to my office and use your software."
You know you have entered the Twilight Zone when a billy club is described as a kinder and gentler weapon than a blinding flash of light.
"Subdued" with a nightstick means "beaten into submission" if that is what it takes.
I don't recall reinstalling Windows 95 twelve times - eight times - over the life of a 75 MHz Packard Bell. What the hell are you doing to these machines?
The embedded OS is never advertised.
Unless it is product from Apple or Microsoft and brand-name recognition is a marketable feature. Because the device is more interactive and engaging than a toaster. The iPhone. The Windows Automotive PC.
I hope Windows will be further sliding into irrelevancy.
There is no danger of Windows sliding into irrelevancy so long as it remains the conscious choice of hundreds of millions of users. How Microsoft Conquered China
Yes.
In 2005, China alone had 110,000 Internet Cafes. Windows is used on an estimated 90% of China's 120 million PCs. How Microsoft Conquered China [July 17, 2007]
But - in your example - using text merely simplifies the depiction of the action. In your example - text isn't being used to tell a larger or a deeper story. The basic elements of game play remain the same.