In a capitalist system, anyone would be entitled to manufacture and offer the goods for sale. Supply would then fluctuate with general interest in the goods and the profit that could be made from providing them, unlike the fixed pricing schemes we are seeing with today's monopolistic situation.
You are confusing capitalism with an idealized free market in commomplace goods and services.
One bushel of wheat is pretty much like every other bushel of wheat. In theory. Your costs are pretty much the same as everyone elses. In theory. Entry and exit from the market is easy. In theory.
The reality is that 4 million farmers feed 300 million people domestically and support a rich export market The reality is that most farm families have been in the business for generations, my own since 1690.
The cultural enterprise is a very different world.
It is and will remain hand-craft. Live performance. The production of a movie. The writing of a book. It is trivially easy to make the copy, it is hard to produce the master work. The Geek never seems to grasp the distinction.
--or he papers it over when it becomes an inconvenience.
if a 4+ billion dollar loss, tying for 2nd place in marketshare, and hoping to see a profit in the 10th year of running counts as a "huge success", then I don't know what would count as a failure? overheating power bricks actually killing users?
Microsoft is a debt-free company with $36-$40 billion in liguid reserves. Microsoft doesn't have to deliver results in the next quarter.
Unlike Nintendo Microsoft is broadly represented in the consumer market. It can leverage products and services to another's advantage. One click and your video file is "repackaged" and downloaded to your X-Box and Windows Mobile device.
The question is whether Nintendo cam hold its position in other markets like the states. This is probably the last generation of consoles that can succeed without a very strong HD component. Without a very strong online component.
DVD, CD technology are both crap, I'd say at least 25% of the time I have problems with playing a DVD (especially if children have been near it).
I am sure Edison heard the same complaints about his new wax cylinders.
You want to protect those collectable DVDs? Pristine vinyl LPs? Keep them out of the hands of your kids. That is why you buy ot build the media jukebox .
Except we're not. Less than 10% of the US has HD. Less than 50% of new TV sales are HD. HD has failed in the marketplace.
TIME magazine's estimate was 20% of American households. TIME's most interesting take on the subject was that HD is taking hold across the board, as color TV did in the mid-sixties.
Color TV was introduced into the American market in 1954.
Sets cost $1000 solid as The Rock post-war dollars. Vacuum tube technology. Never Twice The Same Color.
There was one manufactuer and one network broadcaster. Scheduled programming was very limited. Superman, Science Fiction Theater. There were the occasional and still memorable specials like Peter Pan and Cinderella. There was one studio, Disney, building a color programming library for the future.
Shift focus to today and what do you see?
The projection set that may need a replacement lamp but no other service for the next ten years.Prime time HD on all broadcast networks. Thirty or so more HD channels for the cable or sattelite subscriber. Wide-screen projection as standard. Multichannel digital sound as standard. Very large screen projection almost there, even at entry level. The digital PVR. The HD camcorder. The XBox 360. Vista, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD...
John Ford's The Searchers in HD for $20 at Amazon.com
China wants to protect its domestic film and video industry from cheap foreign imports. It's the usual mix of local politics, cultural and economic imperatives.
China would also like to be a net exporter of culture. It doesn't need to be told how successful that has been, politically and economically, for the West.
The American studios think in terms of worldwide production and distribution. You may not have noticed, but Disney has been getting a multicultural and Asian make-over.
Mulan was simply the beginning.
This is a frasmework under which deals can be made.
With piracy, no one profits off someone else's hard work.
There is always "profit" even if it is only the ego-boost the pirate gets in posting his latest rip to the P2P nets.
The profit-motive as a requirement for criminal prosecution of copyright infrigemrnt disappeared from American law with the signing of the NET Act (No Electronic Theft) ca 1998.
if a person in LA went down to the store, bought and cooked up some hot-dogs, and then sold them on the street corner - he would likely be in jail, taxed, and fined over 40K before the night was out - and then be forced to get permits and inspections at great expense to himself. I'm sorry, no argument about government protecting people can justify that kind of behavior.j
In Lemonade Stand a mistake doesn't put your customers in the morgue.
The street vendor began to disappear about the same time as clean and responsible fast-food outlets like White Castle began selling five burgers for ten cents as take-out. (ca. 1921)
It's nonsense to suggest that just because something happened in the past we should all simply accept the outcome and move on...past elections were rigged? Ah, well...better luck next time!
But that is precisely how the American system works. You look forward, not back, and the system remains stable. 43 Presidents since 1789.
in a sane system you would ask "Show me the documentation that is the basis for Microsoft SQL Server's approval, and we'll provide equal documentation." The reason it probably does not work is that the documentation involves a large check.
a trivial response and lazy.
if you do not understand your own procurement system you are not ready to compete with Microsoft Federal Systems
This would explain why the disjointed, disorganized, and divided Democratic party lost an election to an incumbent. Lets just keep making excuses if it makes us feel better.
The first rule of American politics is that the vote is final.
There is excitement in the initial re-count, the moment of uncertainty. But that is as far as most of us really want to go.
Maybe redirect them to OSS software sites & Creative Commons music sites where people can legally explore & download music.
This generation of gamers is showing a distinct lack of interest in Nethack.
--- and while it would be nice to think that listeners are more interested in product from the independent labels, I suspect the "top of the chart" hits on BT pretty much track those posted by Billboard.
I live in a small town which has been an anchorage for my family for two hundred years.
There is nowhere I can go without being recognized. My actions are neither private or anonymous the moment I step out the door.
That is the way most people have lived for millennia.
Privacy and anonymity as the Geek understands it is only possible in the modern mega-city and suburb and only when the social order has broken down. You are not anonymous if your neighborhood is intimate and stable. The Life and Death of Great American Cities
Precisely.. why should cheating at roulette be a matter of law? If they catch you they can eject you. If they don't.. well that's their problem - nothing the state should be worried about.
Casino gaming and casino revenues are important in tourist centers.
Once the word gets around that cheats are tolerated, those yens, dollars, francs, and pounds go elsewhere.
They want to use terminology ("genuine", "advantage") that communicates to Joe User that a pirated copy of Windows may contain malware, spyware, etc. You have no idea what it has, so you better not install it on your computer.
and this isn't the same lesson the geek has been trying to hammer into the heads of users for the past twenty-five years?
Lawers abusing the system can shut down entire industries, for example light aircraft manufacturing.
The light aircraft industry went into decline after World War II and never really recovered. The technology was stagnant at entry level. There were dramatic improvememnts in travel by road, by commercial air. Take away the lawsuits and nothing much changes, General Aviation - An Overview
Slashdot Mirror
In short: Did Israel achieve any of it objectives in the war? Has it gained ground or lost ground, politically, economically, militarily?
But they didn't get their asses kicked. That is what has shaken Israel to the core.
You are confusing capitalism with an idealized free market in commomplace goods and services.
One bushel of wheat is pretty much like every other bushel of wheat. In theory. Your costs are pretty much the same as everyone elses. In theory. Entry and exit from the market is easy. In theory.
The reality is that 4 million farmers feed 300 million people domestically and support a rich export market The reality is that most farm families have been in the business for generations, my own since 1690.
The cultural enterprise is a very different world.
It is and will remain hand-craft. Live performance. The production of a movie. The writing of a book. It is trivially easy to make the copy, it is hard to produce the master work. The Geek never seems to grasp the distinction.
--or he papers it over when it becomes an inconvenience.
Microsoft is a debt-free company with $36-$40 billion in liguid reserves. Microsoft doesn't have to deliver results in the next quarter.
Unlike Nintendo Microsoft is broadly represented in the consumer market. It can leverage products and services to another's advantage. One click and your video file is "repackaged" and downloaded to your X-Box and Windows Mobile device.
Nintendo has solid anchorage in Japan.
The question is whether Nintendo cam hold its position in other markets like the states. This is probably the last generation of consoles that can succeed without a very strong HD component. Without a very strong online component.
I am sure Edison heard the same complaints about his new wax cylinders.
You want to protect those collectable DVDs? Pristine vinyl LPs? Keep them out of the hands of your kids. That is why you buy ot build the media jukebox .
Take a look at the A-list HD titles at Amazon.com. Tell me how much more you are paying for HD content today.
TIME magazine's estimate was 20% of American households. TIME's most interesting take on the subject was that HD is taking hold across the board, as color TV did in the mid-sixties.
Color TV was introduced into the American market in 1954.
Sets cost $1000 solid as The Rock post-war dollars. Vacuum tube technology. Never Twice The Same Color.
There was one manufactuer and one network broadcaster. Scheduled programming was very limited. Superman, Science Fiction Theater. There were the occasional and still memorable specials like Peter Pan and Cinderella. There was one studio, Disney, building a color programming library for the future.
Shift focus to today and what do you see?
The projection set that may need a replacement lamp but no other service for the next ten years.Prime time HD on all broadcast networks. Thirty or so more HD channels for the cable or sattelite subscriber. Wide-screen projection as standard. Multichannel digital sound as standard. Very large screen projection almost there, even at entry level. The digital PVR. The HD camcorder. The XBox 360. Vista, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD...
John Ford's The Searchers in HD for $20 at Amazon.com
China wants to protect its domestic film and video industry from cheap foreign imports. It's the usual mix of local politics, cultural and economic imperatives.
China would also like to be a net exporter of culture. It doesn't need to be told how successful that has been, politically and economically, for the West.
The American studios think in terms of worldwide production and distribution. You may not have noticed, but Disney has been getting a multicultural and Asian make-over.
Mulan was simply the beginning.
This is a frasmework under which deals can be made.
Copyright infringement was being defined as piracy while the Black Flag still flew over the Carribean. Electronic Piracy FAQ
The usage is now deeply entrenched and in common usage. The Geek is not going to win this war of words.
There is always "profit" even if it is only the ego-boost the pirate gets in posting his latest rip to the P2P nets.
The profit-motive as a requirement for criminal prosecution of copyright infrigemrnt disappeared from American law with the signing of the NET Act (No Electronic Theft) ca 1998.
In Lemonade Stand a mistake doesn't put your customers in the morgue.
Every year there are 76 million foodbourne illnesses in the U,S, 325,000 hospitalizations, 5,000 deaths. Foodborne illness In Russia this week 103 children hospitalized in Belgorod region with food poisoning In India this month Orissa village faces boycott after food poisoning deaths
The street vendor began to disappear about the same time as clean and responsible fast-food outlets like White Castle began selling five burgers for ten cents as take-out. (ca. 1921)
But that is precisely how the American system works. You look forward, not back, and the system remains stable. 43 Presidents since 1789.
The North Atlantic is one of the most hostile environments on earth
---and they plan to make the crossing in January on solar power at a speed of 5 knots?
This is nuts.
a trivial response and lazy.
if you do not understand your own procurement system you are not ready to compete with Microsoft Federal Systems
---which does nothing on its own, but partners with the big boys on projects like the Reagan. Microsoft Appoints Federal Business VP"
The first rule of American politics is that the vote is final.
There is excitement in the initial re-count, the moment of uncertainty. But that is as far as most of us really want to go.
This generation of gamers is showing a distinct lack of interest in Nethack.
--- and while it would be nice to think that listeners are more interested in product from the independent labels, I suspect the "top of the chart" hits on BT pretty much track those posted by Billboard.
I live in a small town which has been an anchorage for my family for two hundred years.
There is nowhere I can go without being recognized. My actions are neither private or anonymous the moment I step out the door.
That is the way most people have lived for millennia.
Privacy and anonymity as the Geek understands it is only possible in the modern mega-city and suburb and only when the social order has broken down. You are not anonymous if your neighborhood is intimate and stable. The Life and Death of Great American Cities
Casino gaming and casino revenues are important in tourist centers.
Once the word gets around that cheats are tolerated, those yens, dollars, francs, and pounds go elsewhere.
The open-source geek gives his project a name so obscure that even he can't make sense of later.
and this surprises you, why?
It surprises me a little that no one else seems to remember Le Chuck's audiobook course in everything Pirate.
Each month you receive a parrot...
It's Saturday night. It's a chance to take a shot at Microsoft? What else is there for a Geek to do?
and this isn't the same lesson the geek has been trying to hammer into the heads of users for the past twenty-five years?
now that is a touch unkind.
my own Irish roots lie in the Protestant north. no more than a waystation, perhaps, for highland Scots driven out by the Clearances
The light aircraft industry went into decline after World War II and never really recovered. The technology was stagnant at entry level. There were dramatic improvememnts in travel by road, by commercial air. Take away the lawsuits and nothing much changes, General Aviation - An Overview