You're wrong. The only thing that matters at all with any product anywhere is wrong with Vista; my customers don't want it and won't buy it. Therefore, it is a terrible product that I don't carry and have no interest in.
Now, with Windows 7 my customers have been showing some cautious optimism, so we'll see how it goes.
You know, people keep saying this as if the experience in their local area is the same everywhere. It's not. The maximum available (from the one single cable provider) bandwidth in my area is 6Mb/s, at $60/month. I've used it, at peak times it drops to around 1Mb/s, and the upload never exceeds 2Mb/s. My DSL service (I have a choice of three DSL providers; I use the smallish local one) is 10Mb/s, and I routinely download at a stable ~900KB/s - 1MB/s, which is around 80% of max.
DSL's role (in my area) is to provide the competition and thus superior level of service that cable doesn't.
...Except that it doesn't, at least in all cases. On my lowly Inspiron 8600 (32MB NVidia 5200 video) it was enable by default. Even knowing where to change the settings, it took 10 minutes, due to multiple instances of window corruption and crashes, just to disable it. This particular notebook has 2GB DDR and a Centrino 1.7GHz processor, and even with desktop effects disabled it was almost unusable. Pretty though.
How, as a "computer repairman," can you be so woefully incorrect regarding HDD manufacturers? Quantum was purchased by Maxtor, not IBM. Maxtor, in turn, was purchased by Seagate. In a related not, as of Jan 3, 2009, many of the Seagate HDDs (all of the internal OEM drives AFAICT) are moving to a three year warranty.
You're missing the point. I don't need (or even really want) 250+ GB in my notebook. I'm running an Asus EEE 900A these days. I replaced the internal 4GB mini PCI-E SSD with a 16GB drive manufactured by a company called runcore for about ~$70 shipped. Even this is expense I wouldn't have bothered with except that 4GB is a little too slim, even for me. If I need hundreds of GB of storage, I use a 2.5" USB or my desktop beast at home or at the office.
I was going to vote for Obama, but the scores of mindless drones has really turned me off. I'm off to vote in about 20 minutes, I think I'll throw my vote away on a 3rd party candidate.
Pick a candidate, and I'll show you supporters of that candidate who are mindless, idiotic, racist, etc. Have the balls to pick the candidate you want, and be honest about why you're picking them. If you don't like any of the candidates, write in someone else or stay home. Stating that you're changing your vote simply because you don't like the "mindless drones" lets the world know that issues mean nothing to you. It's absolutely disgusting that you know that you are throwing your vote away (it wouldn't be throwing your vote away if you actually did support a third party candidate, but that's not what you said), that you're voting for a candidate you don't give a shit about just to what? Make sure you're different then the "mindless drones?"
He'll hit +5 because he's right. I install Windows XP every day, multiple times per day, on every piece of hardware you can imagine. As a matter of fact, what he described as the windows setup (which you claim is overstated) actually left out a few steps. Starting at what he should have listed as step six, you still have to install device drivers (this requires multiple reboots as you cover all hardware), install AV software, product activation (may require a telephone call if you've re-installed too many times, or changed any hardware), windows updates (more reboots)...
He was modded up because he was right. The entire Ubuntu installation, configuration, and applying all updates takes less then 1/2 hr (no, I'm not exaggerating, try it) and is finished while Windows XP is still formatting the disk.
While I agree that the idea of enthroning Buffett, Soros, or anyone else for that matter is an insane proposition at best, I think that either you do not understand or are misrepresenting how the proposed tax increase would work. It increases the taxes on income over $250,000, yes, but income is calculated by subtracting your expenses from your revenue. I do not mean bogus expenses, I mean very real ones. If I sell a product for $800, I do not get taxed on $800 income. I get taxed on the profit margin, which is much smaller. I know of very few small businesses or entrepreneurs that are looking at over $250,000 profit at or near startup; most of their revenue is tied up in either expansion (hiring new staff, new facilities, etc.) or paying existing expenses (payroll is a massive expense for a small business). This is something many misunderstand, and politicians are abusing this misunderstanding intentionally.
I've seen so many notebooks (mostly HP dv6000 and dv9000 series) being hit with this lately that it's unbelievable. And yes, HP did release an extended service offer for a few specific models; it tacks one year to the end of your current warranty. Even if you have an HP notebook that is one of the affected models, they won't touch it unless it fails within that 24-month period. Month 25? Sorry, time to shop for a new one.
Well, in my state there is an implied warranty law that applies here: Consumer Law Guide. Check it out if you live in Maine and you need it, or look into similar laws in your own state/province/territory/etc. All of my customers who are hit with this issue get a copy of the implied warranty section printed when they go.
I'll chime in and agree with this one as well. I currently work in one of these small, local shops. We spend so much of our time in the backup/wipe/reload cycle due to malware infection that even the opportunity to talk to someone with any know-how and interest in the nuts and bolts is a nice diversion. We do make it clear that we can't price-match every part, but if you're buying a complete system, often we can match the overall cost due to deals from our distributors. I've even been known to throw in complete assembly for free.
It's worth a try, and the previous posters were right about the hardware; I can't speak for all local shops, but we've been around for 10 years now, and the only way we've made it is by being almost overkill on honoring warranties and providing support after the sale.
Besides all that, you'll also be supporting you immediate local economy. Everybody wins!
if someone has to spend 1.95 million to get the 2 million paycheck
No, no, no...if I invest $1.95M (let's say to get a business off the ground), and I make $2M my first year, my profit is $500,000, and will be taxed as such, at whatever the rate is, not $2M. Stop misleading people.
There were actually quite a few issues with the Fairpoint takeover beyond the broadband. One major, screaming example: EIGHT outages in the 911 system in the largest metro area in Maine (Portland metro area) since the takeover.
Anyone who has had dealings with Fairpoint (at least in maine) was dead-set against this deal going through. Up until very recently the fastest broadband DSL available in Fairpoint serviced areas (pre-Verizon takeover at least) was 3Mb at around ~$60/month.
Did you really think it would be about anything else? The "justice" machine has been looking for decades for precedent setting cases to overturn or sidestep the constitutional protections we have. One at a time, they fall like dominoes.
Our nation's preoccupation with child pornography is greater, perhaps, then even our irrational fear of terrorists. Of course it's going to be child pornography. If not this guy, then someone else, truth of the matter not withstanding.
Those of us who can think, who read, understand that most child sexual abuse comes from the people they know and trust (family, family friends, etc.), not kiddy porn rings or myspace predators. This is about power, pure unadulterated power, and nothing else.
It's getting to the point, at least for me, where I automatically disbelieve and distrust every law enforcement official on every single statement they make. I view them all as worthless scum first, and leave it up to them to prove otherwise. Some of them even have.
If any of you out there are or have been police officers, and feel insulted, let me ask you: How many people have you pulled over and issued tickets (sometimes in the hundreds of dollars)? And how many times have you let another police cruiser get away with speeding, reckless driving, rolling stops, failure to signal, etc.? I'm not talking about when they are going lights-and-sirens, I mean when they're out 'cruising'. Yeah, thought so. Until the legal system actually starts policing itself (hah!) we're just going to see them continue hand in hand, doing the government's dirty work and getting away with whatever the fuck they want to.
No, it's more that it won't run well on your P4 2.4GHz processor with 1GB RAM and it won't play with your Lexmark/Dell printer from 2006.
Windows XP, at release, ran well on my Athlon 1GHz with 256MB RAM, and featured better hardware support then Windows 98SE. I currently do not have a system that will run Vista well, as my Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook has 'only' a 1.7GHz processor and 768MB RAM. It runs Windows XP like a champ, as well as Ubuntu 8.04.
Depends on location; in some US states (Maine in particular), there is an "Implied Warranty" which covers the hardware, regardless of the seller's warranty. Can be a PITA to actually get, however I've seen it work (specifically with Dell) three years into ownership on a one year warranty.
That's unfortunate, although it may speak more to your teacher than to martial arts training in general.
I started studying Isshinryu Karate about four years ago, and I've never felt better in my life. I don't have the constant little nagging aches and pains I used to, I was actually able to do a split a few months ago for the first time, and it didn't cause any pain.
On the other hand, while my technique is getting pretty good, and I have the strength and flexibility to use what I've learned effectively, I have no illusions about my ability to take on multiple opponents, or even one opponent with real experience (real as opposed to sparring). Happily, I've never had to test my skill level in that way.
I think your pricing on DSL is drastically off. Around here, the cable is Timewarner at $50/month for 5 megabit. My DSL service is $60/month for 20 down/1 up. $30/month gets you 3 down/1 up. I haven't even SEEN 256k advertised since I had to use Suscom (which is cable, BTW) in 2003/2004. I am not in a major metro area, there are less then 20,000 people in my 'city.'
That having been said, I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post. As a heavy net user I still find my ISP uptime to be perfectly sufficient for my needs, and can't really foresee a situation where I would need that kind of redundancy, unless I had a terrible ISP to start with.
No, it's not that we're just discovering it. It's that we can now RTFM, in a quite literal sense, and confirm what many of us just assumed or guessed at. That's the difference.
At this point, while I (in general) sympathize with your dislike of both parties, I feel comfortable saying that yes, I'll take the Democratic bullshit thank you very much.
The last eight years have been absolutely unprecedented. Yes, many of these issues have occurred at other times under other administrations, but I'm hard pressed to come up with another that has been this brazen and covered this many different angles. The Republican party has either stood by or actively impeded any attempt to stop (or even investigate) these activities.
This is what makes the Democratic bullshit better, bullshit though much of it is, in my opinion.
No, I am not insulted by being called poor. I am insulted by being referred to contemptuously, as though people without large excesses of money to blow on entertainment are below consideration.
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You're wrong. The only thing that matters at all with any product anywhere is wrong with Vista; my customers don't want it and won't buy it. Therefore, it is a terrible product that I don't carry and have no interest in.
Now, with Windows 7 my customers have been showing some cautious optimism, so we'll see how it goes.
You know, people keep saying this as if the experience in their local area is the same everywhere. It's not. The maximum available (from the one single cable provider) bandwidth in my area is 6Mb/s, at $60/month. I've used it, at peak times it drops to around 1Mb/s, and the upload never exceeds 2Mb/s. My DSL service (I have a choice of three DSL providers; I use the smallish local one) is 10Mb/s, and I routinely download at a stable ~900KB/s - 1MB/s, which is around 80% of max. DSL's role (in my area) is to provide the competition and thus superior level of service that cable doesn't.
...Except that it doesn't, at least in all cases. On my lowly Inspiron 8600 (32MB NVidia 5200 video) it was enable by default. Even knowing where to change the settings, it took 10 minutes, due to multiple instances of window corruption and crashes, just to disable it. This particular notebook has 2GB DDR and a Centrino 1.7GHz processor, and even with desktop effects disabled it was almost unusable. Pretty though.
I can tell you from my decade of experience as a technician and running a small shop that Seagate HDDs have the lowest failure rate in the business.
See how that works? This is why anecdotes are useless.
Sadly, many of the Seagate HDDs are losing the 5 year warranty and moving to three. Here.
How, as a "computer repairman," can you be so woefully incorrect regarding HDD manufacturers? Quantum was purchased by Maxtor, not IBM. Maxtor, in turn, was purchased by Seagate. In a related not, as of Jan 3, 2009, many of the Seagate HDDs (all of the internal OEM drives AFAICT) are moving to a three year warranty.
You're missing the point. I don't need (or even really want) 250+ GB in my notebook. I'm running an Asus EEE 900A these days. I replaced the internal 4GB mini PCI-E SSD with a 16GB drive manufactured by a company called runcore for about ~$70 shipped. Even this is expense I wouldn't have bothered with except that 4GB is a little too slim, even for me. If I need hundreds of GB of storage, I use a 2.5" USB or my desktop beast at home or at the office.
I was going to vote for Obama, but the scores of mindless drones has really turned me off. I'm off to vote in about 20 minutes, I think I'll throw my vote away on a 3rd party candidate.
Pick a candidate, and I'll show you supporters of that candidate who are mindless, idiotic, racist, etc. Have the balls to pick the candidate you want, and be honest about why you're picking them. If you don't like any of the candidates, write in someone else or stay home. Stating that you're changing your vote simply because you don't like the "mindless drones" lets the world know that issues mean nothing to you. It's absolutely disgusting that you know that you are throwing your vote away (it wouldn't be throwing your vote away if you actually did support a third party candidate, but that's not what you said), that you're voting for a candidate you don't give a shit about just to what? Make sure you're different then the "mindless drones?"
He'll hit +5 because he's right. I install Windows XP every day, multiple times per day, on every piece of hardware you can imagine. As a matter of fact, what he described as the windows setup (which you claim is overstated) actually left out a few steps. Starting at what he should have listed as step six, you still have to install device drivers (this requires multiple reboots as you cover all hardware), install AV software, product activation (may require a telephone call if you've re-installed too many times, or changed any hardware), windows updates (more reboots)...
He was modded up because he was right. The entire Ubuntu installation, configuration, and applying all updates takes less then 1/2 hr (no, I'm not exaggerating, try it) and is finished while Windows XP is still formatting the disk.
While I agree that the idea of enthroning Buffett, Soros, or anyone else for that matter is an insane proposition at best, I think that either you do not understand or are misrepresenting how the proposed tax increase would work. It increases the taxes on income over $250,000, yes, but income is calculated by subtracting your expenses from your revenue. I do not mean bogus expenses, I mean very real ones. If I sell a product for $800, I do not get taxed on $800 income. I get taxed on the profit margin, which is much smaller. I know of very few small businesses or entrepreneurs that are looking at over $250,000 profit at or near startup; most of their revenue is tied up in either expansion (hiring new staff, new facilities, etc.) or paying existing expenses (payroll is a massive expense for a small business). This is something many misunderstand, and politicians are abusing this misunderstanding intentionally.
I've seen so many notebooks (mostly HP dv6000 and dv9000 series) being hit with this lately that it's unbelievable. And yes, HP did release an extended service offer for a few specific models; it tacks one year to the end of your current warranty. Even if you have an HP notebook that is one of the affected models, they won't touch it unless it fails within that 24-month period. Month 25? Sorry, time to shop for a new one.
Well, in my state there is an implied warranty law that applies here: Consumer Law Guide. Check it out if you live in Maine and you need it, or look into similar laws in your own state/province/territory/etc. All of my customers who are hit with this issue get a copy of the implied warranty section printed when they go.
I'll chime in and agree with this one as well. I currently work in one of these small, local shops. We spend so much of our time in the backup/wipe/reload cycle due to malware infection that even the opportunity to talk to someone with any know-how and interest in the nuts and bolts is a nice diversion. We do make it clear that we can't price-match every part, but if you're buying a complete system, often we can match the overall cost due to deals from our distributors. I've even been known to throw in complete assembly for free.
It's worth a try, and the previous posters were right about the hardware; I can't speak for all local shops, but we've been around for 10 years now, and the only way we've made it is by being almost overkill on honoring warranties and providing support after the sale.
Besides all that, you'll also be supporting you immediate local economy. Everybody wins!
Yup, you're right. Math was apparently broken for me that day.
if someone has to spend 1.95 million to get the 2 million paycheck
No, no, no...if I invest $1.95M (let's say to get a business off the ground), and I make $2M my first year, my profit is $500,000, and will be taxed as such, at whatever the rate is, not $2M. Stop misleading people.
There were actually quite a few issues with the Fairpoint takeover beyond the broadband. One major, screaming example: EIGHT outages in the 911 system in the largest metro area in Maine (Portland metro area) since the takeover.
Anyone who has had dealings with Fairpoint (at least in maine) was dead-set against this deal going through. Up until very recently the fastest broadband DSL available in Fairpoint serviced areas (pre-Verizon takeover at least) was 3Mb at around ~$60/month.
>> Hell, I'd convict on that.
And that's why, thank christ, you aren't a judge. At least, I hope not.
Did you really think it would be about anything else? The "justice" machine has been looking for decades for precedent setting cases to overturn or sidestep the constitutional protections we have. One at a time, they fall like dominoes.
Our nation's preoccupation with child pornography is greater, perhaps, then even our irrational fear of terrorists. Of course it's going to be child pornography. If not this guy, then someone else, truth of the matter not withstanding.
Those of us who can think, who read, understand that most child sexual abuse comes from the people they know and trust (family, family friends, etc.), not kiddy porn rings or myspace predators. This is about power, pure unadulterated power, and nothing else.
It's getting to the point, at least for me, where I automatically disbelieve and distrust every law enforcement official on every single statement they make. I view them all as worthless scum first, and leave it up to them to prove otherwise. Some of them even have.
If any of you out there are or have been police officers, and feel insulted, let me ask you: How many people have you pulled over and issued tickets (sometimes in the hundreds of dollars)? And how many times have you let another police cruiser get away with speeding, reckless driving, rolling stops, failure to signal, etc.? I'm not talking about when they are going lights-and-sirens, I mean when they're out 'cruising'. Yeah, thought so. Until the legal system actually starts policing itself (hah!) we're just going to see them continue hand in hand, doing the government's dirty work and getting away with whatever the fuck they want to.
No, it's more that it won't run well on your P4 2.4GHz processor with 1GB RAM and it won't play with your Lexmark/Dell printer from 2006.
Windows XP, at release, ran well on my Athlon 1GHz with 256MB RAM, and featured better hardware support then Windows 98SE. I currently do not have a system that will run Vista well, as my Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook has 'only' a 1.7GHz processor and 768MB RAM. It runs Windows XP like a champ, as well as Ubuntu 8.04.
Sorry, link ----> Implied Warranty
Depends on location; in some US states (Maine in particular), there is an "Implied Warranty" which covers the hardware, regardless of the seller's warranty. Can be a PITA to actually get, however I've seen it work (specifically with Dell) three years into ownership on a one year warranty.
That's unfortunate, although it may speak more to your teacher than to martial arts training in general.
I started studying Isshinryu Karate about four years ago, and I've never felt better in my life. I don't have the constant little nagging aches and pains I used to, I was actually able to do a split a few months ago for the first time, and it didn't cause any pain.
On the other hand, while my technique is getting pretty good, and I have the strength and flexibility to use what I've learned effectively, I have no illusions about my ability to take on multiple opponents, or even one opponent with real experience (real as opposed to sparring). Happily, I've never had to test my skill level in that way.
I think your pricing on DSL is drastically off. Around here, the cable is Timewarner at $50/month for 5 megabit. My DSL service is $60/month for 20 down/1 up. $30/month gets you 3 down/1 up. I haven't even SEEN 256k advertised since I had to use Suscom (which is cable, BTW) in 2003/2004. I am not in a major metro area, there are less then 20,000 people in my 'city.' That having been said, I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post. As a heavy net user I still find my ISP uptime to be perfectly sufficient for my needs, and can't really foresee a situation where I would need that kind of redundancy, unless I had a terrible ISP to start with.
No, it's not that we're just discovering it. It's that we can now RTFM, in a quite literal sense, and confirm what many of us just assumed or guessed at. That's the difference.
The last eight years have been absolutely unprecedented. Yes, many of these issues have occurred at other times under other administrations, but I'm hard pressed to come up with another that has been this brazen and covered this many different angles. The Republican party has either stood by or actively impeded any attempt to stop (or even investigate) these activities.
This is what makes the Democratic bullshit better, bullshit though much of it is, in my opinion.
No, I am not insulted by being called poor. I am insulted by being referred to contemptuously, as though people without large excesses of money to blow on entertainment are below consideration.