Tell it, brother. I don't know why people here think that the worst thing that could possibly happen is to buy an album where you don't like some of the songs. Life is full of uninformed and semi-informed purchasing decisions. Have you ever wandered through a sporting goods store wondering why you should buy the $180 tennis racket as opposed to the $120 tennis racket or the $60 racket? Have you ever bought a $20k car after a 5-10 minute test drive? Actually the choice of which CD to buy can be made with complete accuracy if you spend an hour at the CD store listening to it. But for $15 or so, who can really be bothered?
My manager asked me to work on some 'Best Practices' documents to define the consensus of the Right Way To Do Things. [...] I consciously mimic the style of RFCs (plain text, 72-char/line limit, with 3-character margin except for section heads)
So you don't use zero-based numbering because "most people can't handle it" and yet for the layout, you choose RFC-style 72-char/line plain text?!? Will most of your target audiences be reading these documents on a text-mode dumb terminal?
You must think you're really smart to use the geek format for your documents, but I'm tempted to think you're making it up. No sane person actually writes internet drafts in RFC format. You write them in Word or Latex and then print to a file before submission. (God forbid that someone should lose the template that was used to create the draft!)
While they may not give away their work for free, most tradespeople barter their skills with a different tradesman. No different than downloading someone else's application and contributing one of your own.
Sorry dude, that's just not the way the world works. What you're talking about relies on karma, sort of like that movie "Pay it Forward".
programmers need to stop thinking about themselves as some sort of "upper" class. yes, we have some very specialized knowledge and create things that have great value... but so do carpenters and electricians.
I think the difference between electricians and programmers is that electricians don't give away their work for free.
I also found that many of the assholes that were really being a danger on the road, driving really fast (20+MPH over the limit, weaving lanes a lot, etc) - quite often if they got off on the same ramp as me, they'd be like, 2 cars in front of me 10 minutes after they passed me. Big deal.
That's because you specifically remember those times, whereas you don't remember all the times when you didn't catch up to them.
Anyway, in Canada, we don't have a lot of 70 zones. For most highways, the speed limit is 100 kph (60 mph), and in BC it's 90(54) or less, which I find ridiculous. Anyway, when I lived near a highway, I used to drive 140-145 in a 100 zone. For long-distance trips (between cities), I did 150. I did so perfectly safely, and without getting into any accidents. I was only forced to stop because I got a couple of speeding tickets while driving through NY state and I was in danger of losing my license. (Some people love NY, but not me.)
I don't know about you, but I've got places to go and things to do. Spending 40% longer on the road every day is not appealing to me. Every minute longer I spend on the road is one minute earlier I have to get up in the morning, and I'm not a morning person.
When I was a 1st year student, my tuition cost $2,500, my dorm cost $3,000, my books cost $600, and my computer cost $4,500. Computers may be cheaper now, but the others probably cost more. $179 was a fair chunk of change for me then, but it wouldn't exactly break my wallet. I think I spent about that much to buy Borland/Turbo C++.
-a
Re:$179? No problem.
on
Red Hat Recap
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· Score: 2, Insightful
You're a student? How much is your tuition? And how did you afford to buy a computer in the first place?
How will people possibly deal with their road rage?! (And don't tell me that people won't have road rage if cars are self-driving.
Yeah.. whenever they automate or standardize something, they always go overboard with the safety. People wouldn't get road rage if the speed limits were higher. But the self driving car will always go the limit, navigate off-ramps at 25 kph, always leave the recommended 2 second gap from the car in front, never run a yellow light, brake for pedestrians half a block in advance, etc. I'll have road rage in 5 minutes.
It pisses me off when people that entertainers or athletes make so much money that they no longer have the right to bargain with their employers
Well, it pisses me off when atheletes get together and decide that they deserve so much money that half the teams in the league will go bankrupt. Remember, this is collective bargaining, not pure capitalism.
Likewise, with the Simpsons. Not all the voice actors are worth the same amount of money, and any one of them could probably be replaced (how many people out there can do Simpsons impressions). But if they all hold out at the same time and ask for the same amount of money then the show is probably toast. remember, for a lot of them, this may be the last significant job they ever have
Yeah right. No one's every going to hire Hank Azaria again. Poor, poor millionaires.
-a
Re:I used to work with Richard Stallman
on
Introducing RMS-Lint
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· Score: 0, Redundant
Hmmm... informative. Are April Fool's moderations subject to meta-moderation on days other than today?
Just more proof that open source software truly is a profitable industry!
Ooh... they just made half a mil or so of profit!! Microsoft has individual customers who pay more than Mandrakesoft's entire revenue stream. Hell, SCO has customers that pay more than that.
Open source will not "truly be a profitable industry" while/. is still celebrating pocket change.
Now I expect a full apology and retraction for the demonization P2P has gotten from the RIAA, et. al. They should be trying to increase downloads like radio stations try to increase listeners.
If you want to prove something from this, you have to let the market decide. If some labels allow file sharing and the P2P networks actually had mechanisms to enforce copyrights, we would soon see whether file sharing really has a positive or negative effect.
Are you sure the thing you for which you got your degree will always be "the right thing?" My interests certainly changed over time.
Well, as I mentioned before I didn't actually finish my degree. I used university as a springboard to get the job I wanted. Then I learned how to deal with office politics and human behaviour while making a lot of money at the same time.
As far as I'm concerned, what I studied in university is almost useless; everything I'm most interested in, I learned on my own. But I'm not naive enough to think that money isn't important. Pursuing my personal technical interests is definitely not the way to advance in my career.
And for the record, I worked my way up from a helpdesk job through the tech bubble... And I got paid crap until I paid my dues and demonstrated competency and motivation.
And you don't think that slow ascent could have been because you studied the wrong thing in school?
I, on the other hand, studied the right thing. Then I leveraged it into a summer job, dropped out of school, and got rich quick (well, fairly well off anyway).
What are the particular reasons Europeans hate Bush? Could anyone be fairly explicit and mature in their response?
1. "If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists." 2. The opinions of "old Europe" do not matter. 3. Freedom fries. 4. British and Spanish troops in Iraq, counter to public opinion.
Now, why do *I* (a Canadian) hate Bush? He wins an election by about 500 votes. He has the good fortune to be president on 9/11, which turns him into a pariah. Then he manipulates public sentiment about 9/11 to push forward the most extreme right-wing agenda in recent history.
Slashdot Mirror
Welcome to the free market. Thanks for playing.
Is that insightful? So tax evasion is now just considered "capitalism"? (I'm sure Gordon Gecko would be proud.)
-a
Tell it, brother. I don't know why people here think that the worst thing that could possibly happen is to buy an album where you don't like some of the songs. Life is full of uninformed and semi-informed purchasing decisions. Have you ever wandered through a sporting goods store wondering why you should buy the $180 tennis racket as opposed to the $120 tennis racket or the $60 racket? Have you ever bought a $20k car after a 5-10 minute test drive? Actually the choice of which CD to buy can be made with complete accuracy if you spend an hour at the CD store listening to it. But for $15 or so, who can really be bothered?
-a
You say it was meant to be a joke, but I notice that you have the first post and it was modded up to +5.
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My manager asked me to work on some 'Best Practices' documents to define the consensus of the Right Way To Do Things. [...] I consciously mimic the style of RFCs (plain text, 72-char/line limit, with 3-character margin except for section heads)
So you don't use zero-based numbering because "most people can't handle it" and yet for the layout, you choose RFC-style 72-char/line plain text?!? Will most of your target audiences be reading these documents on a text-mode dumb terminal?
You must think you're really smart to use the geek format for your documents, but I'm tempted to think you're making it up. No sane person actually writes internet drafts in RFC format. You write them in Word or Latex and then print to a file before submission. (God forbid that someone should lose the template that was used to create the draft!)
-a
While they may not give away their work for free, most tradespeople barter their skills with a different tradesman. No different than downloading someone else's application and contributing one of your own.
Sorry dude, that's just not the way the world works. What you're talking about relies on karma, sort of like that movie "Pay it Forward".
-a
programmers need to stop thinking about themselves as some sort of "upper" class. yes, we have some very specialized knowledge and create things that have great value... but so do carpenters and electricians.
I think the difference between electricians and programmers is that electricians don't give away their work for free.
-a
I also found that many of the assholes that were really being a danger on the road, driving really fast (20+MPH over the limit, weaving lanes a lot, etc) - quite often if they got off on the same ramp as me, they'd be like, 2 cars in front of me 10 minutes after they passed me. Big deal.
That's because you specifically remember those times, whereas you don't remember all the times when you didn't catch up to them.
Anyway, in Canada, we don't have a lot of 70 zones. For most highways, the speed limit is 100 kph (60 mph), and in BC it's 90(54) or less, which I find ridiculous. Anyway, when I lived near a highway, I used to drive 140-145 in a 100 zone. For long-distance trips (between cities), I did 150. I did so perfectly safely, and without getting into any accidents. I was only forced to stop because I got a couple of speeding tickets while driving through NY state and I was in danger of losing my license. (Some people love NY, but not me.)
-a
Hey, good point. It would be cool to get a nice, easy to remember e-mail address. On they other hand, won't they be the first ones to get spam?
-a
E-mail? Who needs another free e-mail account? Thank you Google for giving me an unlimited supply of network attached storage!
-a
I don't know about you, but I've got places to go and things to do. Spending 40% longer on the road every day is not appealing to me. Every minute longer I spend on the road is one minute earlier I have to get up in the morning, and I'm not a morning person.
-a
When I was a 1st year student, my tuition cost $2,500, my dorm cost $3,000, my books cost $600, and my computer cost $4,500. Computers may be cheaper now, but the others probably cost more. $179 was a fair chunk of change for me then, but it wouldn't exactly break my wallet. I think I spent about that much to buy Borland/Turbo C++.
-a
You're a student? How much is your tuition? And how did you afford to buy a computer in the first place?
-a
How will people possibly deal with their road rage?! (And don't tell me that people won't have road rage if cars are self-driving.
Yeah.. whenever they automate or standardize something, they always go overboard with the safety. People wouldn't get road rage if the speed limits were higher. But the self driving car will always go the limit, navigate off-ramps at 25 kph, always leave the recommended 2 second gap from the car in front, never run a yellow light, brake for pedestrians half a block in advance, etc. I'll have road rage in 5 minutes.
-a
It pisses me off when people that entertainers or athletes make so much money that they no longer have the right to bargain with their employers
Well, it pisses me off when atheletes get together and decide that they deserve so much money that half the teams in the league will go bankrupt. Remember, this is collective bargaining, not pure capitalism.
Likewise, with the Simpsons. Not all the voice actors are worth the same amount of money, and any one of them could probably be replaced (how many people out there can do Simpsons impressions). But if they all hold out at the same time and ask for the same amount of money then the show is probably toast.
remember, for a lot of them, this may be the last significant job they ever have
Yeah right. No one's every going to hire Hank Azaria again. Poor, poor millionaires.
-a
Hmmm... informative. Are April Fool's moderations subject to meta-moderation on days other than today?
-a
Not only that it has to compete against other Linux distributions (which is the really hard part)
No kidding. Regardless, you're just making excuses for them. The OP's reports about Mandrake's profit potential are still exaggerated.
-a
someone reply with "You must be new here" for your free +5 Funny
Okay, I'm game. You must be new here.
Okay, now someone post it again for your free -1 Redundant.
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OMG, that is priceless!! If I were the CEO of Enron or Worldcom, I would definitely use that one.
"Sir, in your tenure, you drove a profitable company right into bankruptcy..."
"The profits aren't gone, they're just elsewhere."
-a
Just more proof that open source software truly is a profitable industry!
/. is still celebrating pocket change.
Ooh... they just made half a mil or so of profit!! Microsoft has individual customers who pay more than Mandrakesoft's entire revenue stream. Hell, SCO has customers that pay more than that.
Open source will not "truly be a profitable industry" while
-a
Although the open-source project is cool.
Yeah, with a name like PeopleAggregator it sounds *so* cool. I bet they spent a whole 5 minutes on that one.
-a
Now I expect a full apology and retraction for the demonization P2P has gotten from the RIAA, et. al. They should be trying to increase downloads like radio stations try to increase listeners.
If you want to prove something from this, you have to let the market decide. If some labels allow file sharing and the P2P networks actually had mechanisms to enforce copyrights, we would soon see whether file sharing really has a positive or negative effect.
-a
Are you sure the thing you for which you got your degree will always be "the right thing?" My interests certainly changed over time.
Well, as I mentioned before I didn't actually finish my degree. I used university as a springboard to get the job I wanted. Then I learned how to deal with office politics and human behaviour while making a lot of money at the same time.
As far as I'm concerned, what I studied in university is almost useless; everything I'm most interested in, I learned on my own. But I'm not naive enough to think that money isn't important. Pursuing my personal technical interests is definitely not the way to advance in my career.
-a
And for the record, I worked my way up from a helpdesk job through the tech bubble... And I got paid crap until I paid my dues and demonstrated competency and motivation.
And you don't think that slow ascent could have been because you studied the wrong thing in school?
I, on the other hand, studied the right thing. Then I leveraged it into a summer job, dropped out of school, and got rich quick (well, fairly well off anyway).
-a
Yes, you are right. I used the word "pariah" incorrectly.
-a
What are the particular reasons Europeans hate Bush? Could anyone be fairly explicit and mature in their response?
1. "If you're not with us, you're with the terrorists."
2. The opinions of "old Europe" do not matter.
3. Freedom fries.
4. British and Spanish troops in Iraq, counter to public opinion.
Now, why do *I* (a Canadian) hate Bush? He wins an election by about 500 votes. He has the good fortune to be president on 9/11, which turns him into a pariah. Then he manipulates public sentiment about 9/11 to push forward the most extreme right-wing agenda in recent history.
-a