The sheer size of Bezos's net worth isn't relevant to the question, which was concerned with its origin.
Success in retail depends on identifying potential customers, serving them well, building brand loyalty and encouraging future sales, while keeping your costs under control.
Which makes him worth 4.95 billion times more than Mother Teresa, right?
Mother Teresa's organization expanded to 570 missions, employing 4,000 nuns and 100,000 volunteers.
The saint and the entrepreneur often think very much alike. Remaining intensely focused on image-building, organization, fund-raising. and plain hard work.
there's no user community rallying around the platform
Not really true.
But with an installed base in the hundreds of millions, and perhaps a billion users worldwide, Windows is simply the air you breathe. You don't build communities around the O/S itself, you build them around the applications it supports.
How much press did iTunes, OpenOffice or Firefox get before being ported to Windows? When Google or Yahoo introduces a new service, on which O/S does it launch first?
As an example, how many people have played Civilization III
Games like Civ III are too abstracted to be of any use to the discussion here.
I think it remains fair to question to question the consequences of games like GTA that continually up the ante, drawing the player into ever more brutal and "realistically" staged modes of play.
At some point, will we be seeing children introduced into these games, as couriers, hostages, innocent bystanders, perhaps even as playable characters, not NPCs? If killings can be staged for realism or dramatic effect, why not rape?
There is distance between a reader and a book, a viewer and a movie, and in that lies some measure of safety.
The immersive first-person shooter is little more than ten years old.
I am not convinced that the psychology of play is understood well enough that any new element of play, no matter how violent or grotesque, can be introduced on the assumption that it is perfectly harmless.
If I'm not mistaken, all forms of drugs were legal up until around the turn of the century
Its amusing that we still think of ourselves as living in the 20th century.
In the late nineteeth century, the Sears, Roebuck catalog had page after page of patent drugs, cure-alls for every disease, contents unadvertised, but likely to be a potent mix of opium and alcohol.
Opium in U.S.P. strength was 28 cents for a four-once bottle, $3 a dozen, in 1897. Hypodermic syringes, sold in portable cases like that used by Sherlock Holmes, $2.75. By comparison, a household staple, a 49 pound sack of premium-grade flour, ordered out of the same catalog, cost $1.20.
The potential for addiction at all ages and in both sexes was immense, and the habit, then as now was expensive.
They also did a lot of censuring and even didn't air a couple of episodes of Cowboy Bebop
Links to CN's Cowboy Bebop edits can be found here: Cowboy Bebop I doubt much harm was done in showing a litle less clevage and a lot less blood. 9/11 forced postponent of one or two episodes, comic misadventures built around the pursuit of eco-terroists and a mad bomber, as I recall. Cowboy Bebop was a presttige acquisition for CN and proof-of-concept for Adult Swim. Focusing on the story and characters and not the shock value or fan service of specific scenes was the right decision to make.
Whilst I'm glad to see it being shown, I feel that having it on that channel won't do much good for the popular perception of animé in the US. I'd rather see it on some culture-oriented channel that shows foreign artsy films...
Art film distribution is where quality anime like Cowboy Bebop goes to die. You need CN, you need Disney. You may even need Fox. Joke all you want, but what other broadcast network in the last sixteen years has given animation prime time exposure?
Grokster, KaZaa, Morpheus, Napster, all those were/are closed source apps, so shutting down the company can have an effect on killing the software. BitTorrent is different because it's open source -- you can't stop it once it's out.
Which suggests that your liability may be open-ended if it can be shown that distribution of your source code was intended to encourage piracy or any other illegal act. It suggests as well that your code may be permanently tainted, there may be no way for anyone to use it or adapt it without exposing themselves to a lifetime of lawsuits and legal hassles.
it's been fairly obvious that the Windows/Intel duopoly has long been a mechanism to drive unnecessary computer upgrades under the guise of "innovation
You still playing Commander Keen on your 286?
I didn't think so. Complaints of "bloat" and "unecessary upgrades" on a gamer's forum is just so much hot air.
I can run a freenet node fully content in the knowlege that unless the billion people in China are suddenly all pedophiles, the Chinese blocks are statistically more likely to exist than the child porn blocks.
This assumes that the general Chinese population is a significant participant in Freenet. It is perfectly possible, and, I suspect, far more likely, that the origin of most Freenet blocks is Western.
I see no point in letting them boast about hight speed connections unless they acutely let people use it
Of course they will let you use it. Just ask their sales representative about moving to premium residential or business class service. Entry level here is $60/mo.
Now if you consider that the 16% margin has an upfront cost of $100,000, but the 50% margin has an upfront cost of only $1,000, how do you think that effects the risk/reward ratio
I suspect that in the real world a $60K return requires a minimum $50K investment not $1K. There are huge economies of scale in mass production. I also suspect that it can be easier to raise (and less painful to lose) $100K than $1K.
Re:And Paramount's response?
on
P2P and TV
·
· Score: 1
if the point of copyright is to encourage more content to be created and released (which it is), then we should consider the copyright system a bit broken if it causes large amounts of good stuff to get suppressed
The "good stuff" meaning unlicensed derivatives based on the work of other artists? Its always been easier to slam Disney and the Mouse than come up when an idea of your own.
Re:Then how is the production funded?
on
P2P and TV
·
· Score: 1
Check out "Star Wreck" or "Star Trek the new Voyages" for an idea of what you can do with merely 15 grand
I believe it took fans seven years to recreate the forty-year old sets, props, and costumes used in Voyages.
It is illegal to publish, in the USA, for example, the purely-political works of an Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner
There is no ban.
Shirin Ebadi (2003) was the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Shirin Ebadi Her essay on child and family law can be found in the Encyclopedia Iranica, available in English from Amazon.
Hemp for marine cordage has been superseded by abaca (Manila hemp) because the abaca ropes, cables, and hawsers are lighter and will float in water and this hard fiber is resistant to injury from salt water without being tarred...The term "hemp rope" has lost its significance for in America ropes are no longer made of hemp.
the domestic production amounting to 800 to 1,00 tons per annum is only about one-half that of the years between 1908 and 1913.
The major labels have been around since the days of Edison's wax cylinders. Their backlist titles and artists are the core of any serious collection of recorded music in any genre you could name.
That being the case, another way to phrase might be "It says something when Wal-Mart considers Linux with Windows emulation marketable"
I would lay odds that WalMart-Skype-Linux at $600 will go the way of JDS and Linspire. The middle class isn't buying Windows emulation, it is buying Windows.
While waiting, how about having a look at Project Gutenberg, I'm sure you'll find most of them there
Penquin has been publishing modern English translations for fifty years. I have no desire to return to the Victorian editions of Brittanica's Great Books.
Slashdot Mirror
Success in retail depends on identifying potential customers, serving them well, building brand loyalty and encouraging future sales, while keeping your costs under control.
Amazon does this better than almost anyone. Study: Online Shoppers Consider More Than Price
The legal system will be of little help to you, if you haven't mastered the fundamentals.
And is preventing others from doing likewise also considered a good thing?
You could, of course, purchase a license from Amazon or find a better solution on your own.
Mother Teresa's organization expanded to 570 missions, employing 4,000 nuns and 100,000 volunteers.
The saint and the entrepreneur often think very much alike. Remaining intensely focused on image-building, organization, fund-raising. and plain hard work.
Not really true.
But with an installed base in the hundreds of millions, and perhaps a billion users worldwide, Windows is simply the air you breathe. You don't build communities around the O/S itself, you build them around the applications it supports.
How much press did iTunes, OpenOffice or Firefox get before being ported to Windows? When Google or Yahoo introduces a new service, on which O/S does it launch first?
Games like Civ III are too abstracted to be of any use to the discussion here.
I think it remains fair to question to question the consequences of games like GTA that continually up the ante, drawing the player into ever more brutal and "realistically" staged modes of play.
At some point, will we be seeing children introduced into these games, as couriers, hostages, innocent bystanders, perhaps even as playable characters, not NPCs? If killings can be staged for realism or dramatic effect, why not rape?
There is distance between a reader and a book, a viewer and a movie, and in that lies some measure of safety.
The immersive first-person shooter is little more than ten years old.
I am not convinced that the psychology of play is understood well enough that any new element of play, no matter how violent or grotesque, can be introduced on the assumption that it is perfectly harmless.
Its amusing that we still think of ourselves as living in the 20th century.
In the late nineteeth century, the Sears, Roebuck catalog had page after page of patent drugs, cure-alls for every disease, contents unadvertised, but likely to be a potent mix of opium and alcohol.
Opium in U.S.P. strength was 28 cents for a four-once bottle, $3 a dozen, in 1897. Hypodermic syringes, sold in portable cases like that used by Sherlock Holmes, $2.75. By comparison, a household staple, a 49 pound sack of premium-grade flour, ordered out of the same catalog, cost $1.20.
The potential for addiction at all ages and in both sexes was immense, and the habit, then as now was expensive.
Links to CN's Cowboy Bebop edits can be found here: Cowboy Bebop I doubt much harm was done in showing a litle less clevage and a lot less blood. 9/11 forced postponent of one or two episodes, comic misadventures built around the pursuit of eco-terroists and a mad bomber, as I recall.
Cowboy Bebop was a presttige acquisition for CN and proof-of-concept for Adult Swim. Focusing on the story and characters and not the shock value or fan service of specific scenes was the right decision to make.
Art film distribution is where quality anime like Cowboy Bebop goes to die.
You need CN, you need Disney. You may even need Fox. Joke all you want, but what other broadcast network in the last sixteen years has given animation prime time exposure?
Bezos net worth in 2003 was $4.95 billion dollars.
I'm now boycotting Amazon.com and will recommend to all my friends to do likewise.
In most circles, getting a parcel delivered on time and to the right address is considered a good thing.
Which suggests that your liability may be open-ended if it can be shown that distribution of your source code was intended to encourage piracy or any other illegal act. It suggests as well that your code may be permanently tainted, there may be no way for anyone to use it or adapt it without exposing themselves to a lifetime of lawsuits and legal hassles.
But to a judge it will sound like reprisal for a court decision you did not like.
Courts are not in the business of dispensing poetic justice.
You still playing Commander Keen on your 286? I didn't think so. Complaints of "bloat" and "unecessary upgrades" on a gamer's forum is just so much hot air.
This assumes that the general Chinese population is a significant participant in Freenet. It is perfectly possible, and, I suspect, far more likely, that the origin of most Freenet blocks is Western.
Child pornography is illegal in Japan. Japan: Law for Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and for Protecting Children (1999)
depictions of naked kids
Child pornography is not "a picture of a naked kid."
Child pornography is the rape of a child for the sexual entertainment of an adult.
Of course they will let you use it.
Just ask their sales representative about moving to premium residential or business class service. Entry level here is $60/mo.
I suspect that in the real world a $60K return requires a minimum $50K investment not $1K. There are huge economies of scale in mass production. I also suspect that it can be easier to raise (and less painful to lose) $100K than $1K.
The "good stuff" meaning unlicensed derivatives based on the work of other artists? Its always been easier to slam Disney and the Mouse than come up when an idea of your own.
I believe it took fans seven years to recreate the forty-year old sets, props, and costumes used in Voyages.
There is no ban.
Shirin Ebadi (2003) was the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Shirin Ebadi
Her essay on child and family law can be found in the Encyclopedia Iranica, available in English from Amazon.
The market for hemp was marginalized long before the introduction of nylon. Hemp Fiber Losing Ground, Despite Its Valuable Qualities (1931 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture)
Hemp for marine cordage has been superseded by abaca (Manila hemp) because the abaca ropes, cables, and hawsers are lighter and will float in water and this hard fiber is resistant to injury from salt water without being tarred...The term "hemp rope" has lost its significance for in America ropes are no longer made of hemp.
the domestic production amounting to 800 to 1,00 tons per annum is only about one-half that of the years between 1908 and 1913.
The major labels have been around since the days of Edison's wax cylinders. Their backlist titles and artists are the core of any serious collection of recorded music in any genre you could name.
I would lay odds that WalMart-Skype-Linux at $600 will go the way of JDS and Linspire. The middle class isn't buying Windows emulation, it is buying Windows.
Well, that is damning with faint praise, if you are trying to sell Linspire+Caldega to a PC gamer.
For twenty years Apple has tried every possible combination of technology and marketing to gain ground on Microsoft but, in the end, nothing changes.
The reality is that world cinema is going Hollywood. Playing David to Hollywood's Goliath
Penquin has been publishing modern English translations for fifty years. I have no desire to return to the Victorian editions of Brittanica's Great Books.