Sounds like a pointless existence, to me (for the next generation).
Besides, I tire of the "overpopulation" hype. Are you aware you could fit all 6 billion people on the planet in Texas - giving each one 1150 (or so) square feet? That is the size of my house.
Overpopulation is a myth. The reality is the US consumes too much. The other reality is the real problem is distribution. Work towards distributing resources equitably. Socialism doesn't work because there is no incentive to work hard. Capitalism inherently causes distribution problems. What compromises give incentives while still being fair?
Back to a point that/.'ers should appreciate - beware the Butlerian Jihad. Humans don't do to well with massive amounts of idleness. Have you ever put in a good hard day's work? For most readers, the answer is no. Try it - the satisfaction is nice. And I am not refering to hacking code - try something physical.
In his defense, the there is a point that there is a bias to google, and frankly, to everything on the web. 3l337 4ax0rs know this so much that they don't even think about it.
A better point is that Jane Smith doesn't know about the bias, and may have difficulties refining their search because of it. Heck, does your mother/father/grandparents understand refining web searches?
Of course, it was written as a "sky is falling" article, looking for knee-jerk reactions by attacking the cherished google. It doesn't hurt that it is posted on a site that is a competitor to google (gee, that bias took me by suprise).
Taken with a grain of salt, it poses a challenge to any search engine - how to improve results for the clueless N00b. And that is a valid point.
For instance, if the search is a single word, assume it is a wide search. Wide searches should show 1-3 results for each clearly marked category. Categories include
manufacturers (ie for specs)
distributors (where to buy)
reviews
research
hobbies
The categories are just off my head, and can be greatly refined, but get the idea across.
Except the legal profession has controlls on their racket.
In the internet boom days, any Tom, Dick or Sally could and did offer computer services, and their was no control over the "quality" of services they provided - no test for entry, no certification, nothing. (MSCEs don't count)
To practice law (or medicine) in any state, you must be accredited by the board in that state. That board will ensure that there aren't too many people joining their club to keep up prices. They will also lobey (ever hear of the ABA? AMA?) to keep foreigners/outsourcing out of the picture.
You can not keep a lawyers' hand out of the kitty! They make sure they get a cut of everything. And the more laws/lawyers exist, the more they are needed. (We wouldn't need EFF/Lessig if corps didn't have their lawyers sueing for ridiculous things).
So your personal car in the company lot isn't being used at the moment. I don't have a license to drive your car, but I want to test the roads in the hills. Since it will be returned before you need it, I am not depriving you of your car. Sure, I may wear your tires down some, but I will now sell a service describing the best roads in the area.
Commercial companies that sell a package or service built upon using another company's product should purchase the rights for the product's use. It doesn't matter if it is "rarely used". Maybe you can get a different license for it then (at a discount?). Most support contracts make obscene amounts of money for little cost.
This is much different than people copying stuff for their personal use. Consumers aren't making a buck off of it.
Those on top of the ecomic pyramid have the money. In order to convince them to invest it (which, by the way, employs you today, or a 'foreigner' tomorrow, giving them money), they need a reward to not just sit on their pile of money.
People sitting on money and not doing anything with it would cause huge problems. (rare today were most Americans are in debt)
The challenge is devise a plan where everyone's fortunes/lifestyles/etc benefits. Does it really matter if the owner is getting rich faster than you, as long as both of you are improving? Why should you be the only one to benefit?
The current system is painful, but on the whole, is working. I was out of work for at least 6 months last year. I had to pinch pennies. But someone in a foreign country got to bring their standard of living a little closer to mine.
For a down economy, homelessness sure isn't skyrocketing in the US. Poor, poor Americans that have to wait for that PS2 or XBox or iPod or newer car. Tough. We aren't starving.
These robots put people out of work. The people may be from your city, your state, your country, or even another continent.
If you are unlucky enough to be one of these displaced workers, with no income, what ethical options to you have?
Economic theory dictates that EVENTUALLY balance will be achieved. But the balance may be achieved via something like the Butlerian jihad (overthrow of the robots/proletariat/oppressors/etc.)
So this boils down to:
1)If you can produce more economically via outplacement/automation/robots, should you (and where is the balance point to make your decision)
2)If you lose your ability to support your family due to the above, what should your response be?
Bravo. Quite possibly the most intelligent post on/. in a looong time.
There are still people "claiming" that they spend more money because they can "sample" the music. Taking that premise, there are 2 conclusions:
1)User would pay to sample music, so music distributors are loosing that oportunity.
2)User doesn't care to pay for music, but feels entitle to music anyway. (or doesn't agree to pay that cost). "copyright infringement" is a semantic form of theft. Period.
The argument that sampling leads to more sales is as ridiculous as me complaining that I can't spend more money.
The only argument that stands on its own is where the music can't be obtained at ANY COST (out of print). The industry is missing an opportunity for these. But the BULK of music trading/sharing/stealing is in pop music that can be bought for $20 at the local store.
The RIAA deserves to die its own death because they price fix and increase the cost for digital music on CD. I believe the MPAA is right for lowering their prices to reasonable (10-15/movie which is more complex than an album) but they are wrong for their legislative meddling.
Or: the server that singles you out, and doesn't show you what you asked for.
"How can you trust a Service that intentionally doesn't show you what you asked for?... This is exceedingly unprofessional, and violates everything that a server is supposed to do."
I can't comment on Wipro, or its quality of work. But it seams to be focussing on known projects w/ known solutions. Cookie-cutter solutions. Stuff that American companies and their employees were getting paid fat amounts for very little ingenuity.
Look at Japan and remember the 80's. The Japanese are famous for duplicating and making smaller, cheaper (especially in electronics). Yet they haven't killed off companies in USA and Europe that make ingenious solutions, or are good at branding/marketing. They just trimmed some of the fat off of complacent companies/countries. Now they are facing countries doing the same to them (China, Korea, etc.)
Then there is the issue of 'good' engineers from India. The early ones leaving India had to be damned good to be taken seriously. And they were. That set up the reputation that they typical Indian in USA was better than the typical American. Early on, they were (top 1% of 1 country compared to full range of US). Once the reputation was in place, you didn't have to be in the top 1% from India to come - just want to cash in on a higher standard of living. So the 'typical' Indian in the US has been dropping, arguably to near 'typical' American levels.
The motivation has changed for the Indians in the mean time. The early ones were out to be the best they could be (blaze the path). Now the path is established, the incentive is to cash in, thus less brilliance/ingenuity. Now some of the bright Indians see the challenge of raising their country (instead of cashing in personally). So some want to stay home.
I don't know about the typical Indian IT worker in India vs. abroad, but the gap is closing.
This is based upon working for an American company starting its own dev center in India. Been there a bunch of times myself. Interviewing people for Indian office I discovered most wanted an opportunity to get to the US. If that was their motivation, I shouldn't have been suprised that their work wasn't excellent. It was below what was done in our US office.
The trick was on them, since a company outsourcing is looking for cheaper work - not to bring them to the US and higher salaries.
About 5 years ago I worked for a technical distributor and sat through a sales presentation for an RFID product.
The size was around a button. Not all were passive, and some even permitted storing data, such as a time stamp (of last access). No external antennae.
At the time, the cost was sufficient that the 2 best examples were for: (1) security guard rounds and (2) pallete inventory.
For security guards, some have barcode readers, and would scan barcodes at checkpoints at regular intervals to prove there were there. Only some of the guards were getting 'smart' and photocopied the barcodes into a page and would scan from the page while at their desk. The RFID would be more difficult to 'copy', so it would force the guards to do their rounds.
Inventory of palletes was to track a)what parts are in the bulk pallete and b)possibly a quantity. This appeared to be aimed at manufacturing wharehouses. But this showed the possibility of memory built into the RFID tag! Granted, the memory was small ?48 bits?, but it was still there.
Some of the tags they showed us required contact (reader device supplied power to the button) while others did use RF signals for power over short distances.
What about all the little mom & pop shops that have already closed because their customers shifted to the internet?
You will buy what you want, and find someone to do the transaction. Local (brick & mortar), phone, mail, internet. You will find the seller (or use a service like eBay to give you a list of sellers).
The bottom line is that if you don't purchase via the internet, you will find another place to purchase from. Currently, internet sellers have an unnatural advantage over phone/mail order houses.
The states are the governments getting screwed. The federal government keeps reducing its revenue sharing with the states, but the states provide the most government services we appreciate daily (manage power, phones, build roads, cops, etc.)
Cool topic. Having worked in developing and using a content management system before, I think I have some perspective on this. First of all, the usefullness increases by an order of magnitude or more when in the perspective of networking. If a file is shared, others can take advantage of it (think business situations). To make this easier in an organization context, there needs to be guidelines if not a fixed standard. And think in terms of a library card catalog.
The Strengths of his approach Manuel's system permits grouping by arbitrarty metadata in an arbitrary order - huge plus
It appears to fit inside existing file systems - gives simplicity and portability
Integration with existing applications
Hiearchical organization is also useful - think poor man's AI.
Areas for Improvement While it fits in the existing HFS, it doesn't take advantage of existing metadata in HFS. Filenames are now numbers (not helpful). Build it to still take a standard HFS filename and path, and maybe automatically glean info from the filename and path (uncategorized metadata)
It should automatically grab a minimum set of metadata based upon file type (MIME type). Pictures have size, color depth, etc. Documents have word counts, page counts. All files have creation dates, edit dates, edit bys, etc.
Completely arbitrary metadata becomes a jungle. Set up a way to manage desireable metadatas for each file type/MIME type.
Another approach that could be just as useful would be a standalone librarian/card catalog application. It would have a daemon scanning all new files to automatically find standard metadata. Heck, use the Library of Congress hierarchical topic system and start with card catalog metadata - grow from there. The pro of this approach is less intrusiveness (on existing data, filesystems, etc.). The con is another application, which means it is less integrated with existing applications.
For all you "population control" believers - did you know you could fit every single person on the planet inside the state of Texas? And give them each roughly 1600 sq ft (bigger than my house).
The problem isn't population - it is resource allocation. Some regions (and thus the people inside it) will always have surpluses for a given resource. In many cases, that region will have a deficit for a different resource.
Free market economies should balance this out. Except there are no free markets. There are cartels, tariffs, copyrights, patents, and other barriers to re-allocation of resources. Greed also gets in the way. Therefore, we have wars to balance out the barriers.
The fact that ANY stem cell is truly 'functional' (a medical Silver Bullet) is also in doubt.
Just like.Net won't solve all computer problems, though many would claim it can, stem cells are purely therotical cures - which may never work in a practical world, and even then, in limited cases.
The existance of adult stem cells provides an ethical solution to expand the research in this arean. (Assuming they exist) We can find out if they act the same as embryonic ones. If they do, we can use them instead. If not, we can focus on the difference to better understand this biological technology.
It's best that I disclose these trade secrets here on Slashdot, where they won't be deleted. Information longs to be free.
As cute and smarmy as 'Info longs to be free', we live in a digital world, where 'Information is Power'.
Apple/Jobs likes having the power of providing information during his presentations. Apple is trying to stop people from stealing that power.
And for those who doubt that there is lost sales, try this - Apple sells by innovation/first to market. The other manufactures (of hardware or software) copy the best ideas. It is in Apple's best interest to maximize their lead before others copy them. Thus, leaks can cost them money.
Just don't wear Harley-style chaps. For those riding cruisers, and already have your but lower and feet forward, an exposed bum provides no protection. Imagine your glutious maximas ground off by a sander. Extremely painful rehabilitation.
Protective gear isn't a visual statement - it is a must.
For $200 (USD), you can get a high quality back protector. I know people whose lives have been saved by these. Considering the cost of new bikes, $1000 is the minimum to spend on quality gear (helmet, gloves, jacket, boots, pants, extra armor - probably in that order). And it will save you at least that in doctor bills, not counting misery.
Depending on your direction, there still isn't time to teach them everything on a topic in a week (and let it stick).
Unix culture likes to say RTFM. Teach them how and where to find the manual. It has taken me a considerable length of time to become comfortable with finding that information for myself.
Point out other sources of mentoring after the class. You can mention/. and K5, but also go into LUG's.
Open their horizon and let them explore on their own.
Slashdot Mirror
Besides, I tire of the "overpopulation" hype. Are you aware you could fit all 6 billion people on the planet in Texas - giving each one 1150 (or so) square feet? That is the size of my house.
Overpopulation is a myth. The reality is the US consumes too much. The other reality is the real problem is distribution. Work towards distributing resources equitably. Socialism doesn't work because there is no incentive to work hard. Capitalism inherently causes distribution problems. What compromises give incentives while still being fair?
Back to a point that /.'ers should appreciate - beware the Butlerian Jihad. Humans don't do to well with massive amounts of idleness. Have you ever put in a good hard day's work? For most readers, the answer is no. Try it - the satisfaction is nice. And I am not refering to hacking code - try something physical.
I was aware of that. I intended to place a tag, but didn't look at the preview and sent it - my xml got chopped.
why oh why can't slashdotters spell?
You should know better than to RTA prior to posting. This is /.
A better point is that Jane Smith doesn't know about the bias, and may have difficulties refining their search because of it. Heck, does your mother/father/grandparents understand refining web searches?
Of course, it was written as a "sky is falling" article, looking for knee-jerk reactions by attacking the cherished google. It doesn't hurt that it is posted on a site that is a competitor to google (gee, that bias took me by suprise).
Taken with a grain of salt, it poses a challenge to any search engine - how to improve results for the clueless N00b. And that is a valid point.
For instance, if the search is a single word, assume it is a wide search. Wide searches should show 1-3 results for each clearly marked category. Categories include
manufacturers (ie for specs)
distributors (where to buy)
reviews
research
hobbies The categories are just off my head, and can be greatly refined, but get the idea across.
In the internet boom days, any Tom, Dick or Sally could and did offer computer services, and their was no control over the "quality" of services they provided - no test for entry, no certification, nothing. (MSCEs don't count)
To practice law (or medicine) in any state, you must be accredited by the board in that state. That board will ensure that there aren't too many people joining their club to keep up prices. They will also lobey (ever hear of the ABA? AMA?) to keep foreigners/outsourcing out of the picture.
You can not keep a lawyers' hand out of the kitty! They make sure they get a cut of everything. And the more laws/lawyers exist, the more they are needed. (We wouldn't need EFF/Lessig if corps didn't have their lawyers sueing for ridiculous things).
Commercial companies that sell a package or service built upon using another company's product should purchase the rights for the product's use. It doesn't matter if it is "rarely used". Maybe you can get a different license for it then (at a discount?). Most support contracts make obscene amounts of money for little cost.
This is much different than people copying stuff for their personal use. Consumers aren't making a buck off of it.
The institute will still collect money, keep some for itself, give the rest to doctors. Where is the generosity?
Those on top of the ecomic pyramid have the money. In order to convince them to invest it (which, by the way, employs you today, or a 'foreigner' tomorrow, giving them money), they need a reward to not just sit on their pile of money.
People sitting on money and not doing anything with it would cause huge problems. (rare today were most Americans are in debt)
The challenge is devise a plan where everyone's fortunes/lifestyles/etc benefits. Does it really matter if the owner is getting rich faster than you, as long as both of you are improving? Why should you be the only one to benefit?
The current system is painful, but on the whole, is working. I was out of work for at least 6 months last year. I had to pinch pennies. But someone in a foreign country got to bring their standard of living a little closer to mine.
For a down economy, homelessness sure isn't skyrocketing in the US. Poor, poor Americans that have to wait for that PS2 or XBox or iPod or newer car. Tough. We aren't starving.
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/9612.Rube .one.html
I believe it is headquartered at Purdue, but other universities also participate.
These robots put people out of work. The people may be from your city, your state, your country, or even another continent.
If you are unlucky enough to be one of these displaced workers, with no income, what ethical options to you have?
Economic theory dictates that EVENTUALLY balance will be achieved. But the balance may be achieved via something like the Butlerian jihad (overthrow of the robots/proletariat/oppressors/etc.)
So this boils down to:
1)If you can produce more economically via outplacement/automation/robots, should you (and where is the balance point to make your decision)
2)If you lose your ability to support your family due to the above, what should your response be?
There are still people "claiming" that they spend more money because they can "sample" the music. Taking that premise, there are 2 conclusions:
1)User would pay to sample music, so music distributors are loosing that oportunity.
2)User doesn't care to pay for music, but feels entitle to music anyway. (or doesn't agree to pay that cost). "copyright infringement" is a semantic form of theft. Period.
The argument that sampling leads to more sales is as ridiculous as me complaining that I can't spend more money.
The only argument that stands on its own is where the music can't be obtained at ANY COST (out of print). The industry is missing an opportunity for these. But the BULK of music trading/sharing/stealing is in pop music that can be bought for $20 at the local store.
The RIAA deserves to die its own death because they price fix and increase the cost for digital music on CD. I believe the MPAA is right for lowering their prices to reasonable (10-15/movie which is more complex than an album) but they are wrong for their legislative meddling.
If you profit off of something, then you also should have a liability in the services provided. The profit is the incentive to overcome the liability.
Or: the server that singles you out, and doesn't show you what you asked for.
"How can you trust a Service that intentionally doesn't show you what you asked for?... This is exceedingly unprofessional, and violates everything that a server is supposed to do."
But are they easier to use? Real users use applications, not the OS, not the WindowManager, not the distro.
Say along with me: Easy to use applications!
Look at Japan and remember the 80's. The Japanese are famous for duplicating and making smaller, cheaper (especially in electronics). Yet they haven't killed off companies in USA and Europe that make ingenious solutions, or are good at branding/marketing. They just trimmed some of the fat off of complacent companies/countries. Now they are facing countries doing the same to them (China, Korea, etc.)
Then there is the issue of 'good' engineers from India. The early ones leaving India had to be damned good to be taken seriously. And they were. That set up the reputation that they typical Indian in USA was better than the typical American. Early on, they were (top 1% of 1 country compared to full range of US). Once the reputation was in place, you didn't have to be in the top 1% from India to come - just want to cash in on a higher standard of living. So the 'typical' Indian in the US has been dropping, arguably to near 'typical' American levels.
The motivation has changed for the Indians in the mean time. The early ones were out to be the best they could be (blaze the path). Now the path is established, the incentive is to cash in, thus less brilliance/ingenuity. Now some of the bright Indians see the challenge of raising their country (instead of cashing in personally). So some want to stay home.
I don't know about the typical Indian IT worker in India vs. abroad, but the gap is closing.
This is based upon working for an American company starting its own dev center in India. Been there a bunch of times myself. Interviewing people for Indian office I discovered most wanted an opportunity to get to the US. If that was their motivation, I shouldn't have been suprised that their work wasn't excellent. It was below what was done in our US office.
The trick was on them, since a company outsourcing is looking for cheaper work - not to bring them to the US and higher salaries.
The size was around a button. Not all were passive, and some even permitted storing data, such as a time stamp (of last access). No external antennae.
At the time, the cost was sufficient that the 2 best examples were for: (1) security guard rounds and (2) pallete inventory.
For security guards, some have barcode readers, and would scan barcodes at checkpoints at regular intervals to prove there were there. Only some of the guards were getting 'smart' and photocopied the barcodes into a page and would scan from the page while at their desk. The RFID would be more difficult to 'copy', so it would force the guards to do their rounds.
Inventory of palletes was to track a)what parts are in the bulk pallete and b)possibly a quantity. This appeared to be aimed at manufacturing wharehouses. But this showed the possibility of memory built into the RFID tag! Granted, the memory was small ?48 bits?, but it was still there.
Some of the tags they showed us required contact (reader device supplied power to the button) while others did use RF signals for power over short distances.
You will buy what you want, and find someone to do the transaction. Local (brick & mortar), phone, mail, internet. You will find the seller (or use a service like eBay to give you a list of sellers).
The bottom line is that if you don't purchase via the internet, you will find another place to purchase from. Currently, internet sellers have an unnatural advantage over phone/mail order houses.
The states are the governments getting screwed. The federal government keeps reducing its revenue sharing with the states, but the states provide the most government services we appreciate daily (manage power, phones, build roads, cops, etc.)
The Strengths of his approach
Manuel's system permits grouping by arbitrarty metadata in an arbitrary order - huge plus
It appears to fit inside existing file systems - gives simplicity and portability
Integration with existing applications
Hiearchical organization is also useful - think poor man's AI.
Areas for Improvement
While it fits in the existing HFS, it doesn't take advantage of existing metadata in HFS. Filenames are now numbers (not helpful). Build it to still take a standard HFS filename and path, and maybe automatically glean info from the filename and path (uncategorized metadata)
It should automatically grab a minimum set of metadata based upon file type (MIME type). Pictures have size, color depth, etc. Documents have word counts, page counts. All files have creation dates, edit dates, edit bys, etc.
Completely arbitrary metadata becomes a jungle. Set up a way to manage desireable metadatas for each file type/MIME type.
Another approach that could be just as useful would be a standalone librarian/card catalog application. It would have a daemon scanning all new files to automatically find standard metadata. Heck, use the Library of Congress hierarchical topic system and start with card catalog metadata - grow from there. The pro of this approach is less intrusiveness (on existing data, filesystems, etc.). The con is another application, which means it is less integrated with existing applications.
The problem isn't population - it is resource allocation. Some regions (and thus the people inside it) will always have surpluses for a given resource. In many cases, that region will have a deficit for a different resource.
Free market economies should balance this out. Except there are no free markets. There are cartels, tariffs, copyrights, patents, and other barriers to re-allocation of resources. Greed also gets in the way. Therefore, we have wars to balance out the barriers.
Just like .Net won't solve all computer problems, though many would claim it can, stem cells are purely therotical cures - which may never work in a practical world, and even then, in limited cases.
The existance of adult stem cells provides an ethical solution to expand the research in this arean. (Assuming they exist) We can find out if they act the same as embryonic ones. If they do, we can use them instead. If not, we can focus on the difference to better understand this biological technology.
As cute and smarmy as 'Info longs to be free', we live in a digital world, where 'Information is Power'.
Apple/Jobs likes having the power of providing information during his presentations. Apple is trying to stop people from stealing that power.
And for those who doubt that there is lost sales, try this - Apple sells by innovation/first to market. The other manufactures (of hardware or software) copy the best ideas. It is in Apple's best interest to maximize their lead before others copy them. Thus, leaks can cost them money.
Protective gear isn't a visual statement - it is a must.
For $200 (USD), you can get a high quality back protector. I know people whose lives have been saved by these. Considering the cost of new bikes, $1000 is the minimum to spend on quality gear (helmet, gloves, jacket, boots, pants, extra armor - probably in that order). And it will save you at least that in doctor bills, not counting misery.
Unix culture likes to say RTFM. Teach them how and where to find the manual. It has taken me a considerable length of time to become comfortable with finding that information for myself.
Point out other sources of mentoring after the class. You can mention /. and K5, but also go into LUG's.
Open their horizon and let them explore on their own.