So much for writing to the Judge, my state
attorney general (Michigan) and others to
keep the pressure on the MSFT case.
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly should stick to cases
involving Candian geese and other unimportant
cases like that.
"Attorney General Granholm has asked that I respond to your recent
communication regarding the State of Michigan's lawsuit against Microsoft.
As you may know, the State of Michigan was one of nine states that
recently entered into a settlement with Microsoft that modified (and in our
view, improved upon) an earlier settlement reached between Microsoft
and the United States Department of Justice.
Over the three years of Microsoft litigation, their has been
significant input to our office from some citizens requesting that we settle the
Microsoft case immediately and from others who were convinced that we
should continue to aggressively litigate. The United States Department
of Justice, former Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley and eighteen
other states, originally filed the antitrust lawsuit. In the trial and
appellate courts, eight different judges reviewed and evaluated
Microsoft's conduct. All eight judges unanimously held that Microsoft's
conduct broke the law through the illegal use and maintenance of the
company's monopoly power. At the same time, however, the appellate court
ordered that additional hearings take place to determine what an
appropriate remedy for Microsoft's illegal activity should be.
In settling the action, the Attorney General's office agreed to a
remedy that will curb Microsoft's illegal behavior and will hopefully avoid
the additional years of litigation that might have occurred without a
settlement. For example, the settlement prohibits Microsoft from using
monopoly power to retaliate against personal computer manufacturers who
install competitive software products on their computers. The
settlement will also require that Microsoft disclose certain communications
protocols and other information that will make both the computer operating
system and computer server markets more competitive.
It is the constitutional responsibility of the Michigan Attorney
General's office to enforce the laws of this state. Michigan law forbids
the use of monopoly power to diminish competition. Without strong
antitrust laws, and strong enforcement of those laws, the free competitive
market cannot function as it was intended and consumers won't receive the
benefits of a free market system. When those laws have been broken, as
the courts have held in this case, it is the Attorney General's
obligation to ensure that the illegal and anticompetitive acts are remedied.
Although many may take issue with the specific provisions of the remedy
that has been agreed upon in the settlement, we feel that it addresses
the illegal behavior which was at issue in the suit and requires
Microsoft to take appropriate corrective action. Further, it will accomplish
those objectives without spending additional years in protracted
litigation where little is accomplished to address the activity that t!
!
he courts have already found illegal.
I thank you for expressing your interest in the action."
Now Granholm is running for govenror...hmmm.
Wonder how much MSFT helped with Granholm's
election fund?
This isn't the first time I've heard of MAJOR
problems with PayPal and their terms of agreement
for their customers. To put it simply, PayPals
terms relieve them of all liabilty. Even if its
their faulty for not having the correct protection
mechanism for their customers. The day Ebay and PayPal merged is the day I became wary of Ebay,
I brought this up with a professor in the School
of Information researching information ecomomics
on the internet. This doesn't bode well for Ebays
reputation and this is another example why users
shouldn't use PayPal.
http://www.paypalwarning.com/
"A thorough reading of the Paypal terms of service will reveal that you cannot even sue them should you have a legitimate claim. Their terms of service make it very hard to sue them! There have been several class-action lawsuits filed against Paypal."
Revolt in the Den: DVD Sends the VCR Packing to the Attic This NY Times articles (account needed)
highlights the growth of the DVD industry and how
its helped the movie industry. Dreamworks isn't
complaining about its sales of Shrek DVDs and neither will Disney/Pixar with its Monsters Inc DVDs. Rick McCallum's
apocryphal predictions are a shameless attempt by the movie industry to garner public concern and stricter legislation. If Lucasfilms is so concerned
about it they shouldn't release the DVD.
My 2 cents.
-Diganta
Giving it an interface that resembles a
GIMP / Rhino blend would be incredibly useful.
Experienced Blender users should be allowed to
select a "Classic" interface, so that their
productivity isn't hampered with the UI changes.
All the new comers should have a GIMP/Rhino UI.
When I get the time next year I might actually
thing about contributing to the UI of Blender project
Blender would be better accepted with a better UI
on
Blender Is GPL
·
· Score: 1
> Blender is the 'vi of 3D modelling'
I'd say thats nailing it on the head.
I've had one of our TA's (Teaching Assistants)
in the VR Lab swear by Blender and he took the time to show us how to use it. Blender was powerful, fast and free on our SGIs, it just took too long
to train anyone with it and there was no way the
professor of the intro to VR class could have taught that to the students. All Blender needs is a decent UI. It doesn't have to be the best, all most people need a a few icons and text to let them know what those colored buttons on the screen actually do. Instead of having us guess and be frustrated.
Slashdot Mirror
"Attorney General Granholm has asked that I respond to your recent communication regarding the State of Michigan's lawsuit against Microsoft. As you may know, the State of Michigan was one of nine states that recently entered into a settlement with Microsoft that modified (and in our view, improved upon) an earlier settlement reached between Microsoft and the United States Department of Justice. Over the three years of Microsoft litigation, their has been significant input to our office from some citizens requesting that we settle the Microsoft case immediately and from others who were convinced that we should continue to aggressively litigate. The United States Department of Justice, former Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley and eighteen other states, originally filed the antitrust lawsuit. In the trial and appellate courts, eight different judges reviewed and evaluated Microsoft's conduct. All eight judges unanimously held that Microsoft's conduct broke the law through the illegal use and maintenance of the company's monopoly power. At the same time, however, the appellate court ordered that additional hearings take place to determine what an appropriate remedy for Microsoft's illegal activity should be. In settling the action, the Attorney General's office agreed to a remedy that will curb Microsoft's illegal behavior and will hopefully avoid the additional years of litigation that might have occurred without a settlement. For example, the settlement prohibits Microsoft from using monopoly power to retaliate against personal computer manufacturers who install competitive software products on their computers. The settlement will also require that Microsoft disclose certain communications protocols and other information that will make both the computer operating system and computer server markets more competitive. It is the constitutional responsibility of the Michigan Attorney General's office to enforce the laws of this state. Michigan law forbids the use of monopoly power to diminish competition. Without strong antitrust laws, and strong enforcement of those laws, the free competitive market cannot function as it was intended and consumers won't receive the benefits of a free market system. When those laws have been broken, as the courts have held in this case, it is the Attorney General's obligation to ensure that the illegal and anticompetitive acts are remedied. Although many may take issue with the specific provisions of the remedy that has been agreed upon in the settlement, we feel that it addresses the illegal behavior which was at issue in the suit and requires Microsoft to take appropriate corrective action. Further, it will accomplish those objectives without spending additional years in protracted litigation where little is accomplished to address the activity that t! ! he courts have already found illegal. I thank you for expressing your interest in the action."
Now Granholm is running for govenror...hmmm. Wonder how much MSFT helped with Granholm's election fund?
This isn't the first time I've heard of MAJOR problems with PayPal and their terms of agreement for their customers. To put it simply, PayPals terms relieve them of all liabilty. Even if its their faulty for not having the correct protection mechanism for their customers. The day Ebay and PayPal merged is the day I became wary of Ebay, I brought this up with a professor in the School of Information researching information ecomomics on the internet. This doesn't bode well for Ebays reputation and this is another example why users shouldn't use PayPal.
http://www.paypalwarning.com/
"A thorough reading of the Paypal terms of service will reveal that you cannot even sue them should you have a legitimate claim. Their terms of service make it very hard to sue them! There have been several class-action lawsuits filed against Paypal."
Revolt in the Den: DVD Sends the VCR Packing to the Attic This NY Times articles (account needed) highlights the growth of the DVD industry and how its helped the movie industry. Dreamworks isn't complaining about its sales of Shrek DVDs and neither will Disney/Pixar with its Monsters Inc DVDs. Rick McCallum's apocryphal predictions are a shameless attempt by the movie industry to garner public concern and stricter legislation. If Lucasfilms is so concerned about it they shouldn't release the DVD. My 2 cents. -Diganta
Giving it an interface that resembles a GIMP / Rhino blend would be incredibly useful. Experienced Blender users should be allowed to select a "Classic" interface, so that their productivity isn't hampered with the UI changes. All the new comers should have a GIMP/Rhino UI. When I get the time next year I might actually thing about contributing to the UI of Blender project
> Blender is the 'vi of 3D modelling' I'd say thats nailing it on the head. I've had one of our TA's (Teaching Assistants) in the VR Lab swear by Blender and he took the time to show us how to use it. Blender was powerful, fast and free on our SGIs, it just took too long to train anyone with it and there was no way the professor of the intro to VR class could have taught that to the students. All Blender needs is a decent UI. It doesn't have to be the best, all most people need a a few icons and text to let them know what those colored buttons on the screen actually do. Instead of having us guess and be frustrated.