Throughout my computer "science" career (which now is more business than science), I always felt that I was just more comfortable having the math behind me. I have often heard people in software development lamenting that they never had the hard math - even if they really didn't need it.
So take the math to help your self-esteem.
More choices means they get more of your money.
on
The Paradox of Choice
·
· Score: 1
It is simple really.
If you want a hamburger and everybody only sells identical hamburgers then it is easy to shop - buy the cheapest hamburger.
But when you have cheeseburgers and bacon-burgers and burgers with complete meal and freeze-dried-burgers-by-mail(TM) then you are no longer buying a commodity and the price goes up.
1) Artificially de-commoditize product (creating too many choices).
2) ??????
3) Profit!
Makes me wonder what 15 cents worth of a good clear sealer would do to help preserve my investment. Better than a dark marker around the edge I imagine.
Yes, Microsoft loves forking. The value of a collaboration is proportional to the square of the number of collaborators. Say this fork splits the efforts down the middle, instead of n^2 we have 2 * (n/2)^2. Same number of collaborators but half of the value.
Remember the Halloween Memos and the desire for Microsoft to do some "de-commoditizing" of the competing products?
Open Source Developers should do everything they can to un-fork themselves.
You want to see the manual for a stereo before you buy it? I would say that most stereos and most software is sold without the buyer previewing the manual.
I started blocking ads with a web-proxy when they started opening up windows and strobing/flashing and blocking where I wanted to read or click. I do not mind text ads.
It is the lack of individualization that seems to come with the more annoying ads that I dislike the most. I do not need another web-cam, no matter how many times they pop up that ad, but I am interested in the ad for a company that sells micro-ITX motherboards.
I do not write my own user docs. I assert that even well written documentation mostly gathers dust. Maybe the problem is that too many bad documents got out there and because of the user's expectations of more of the same, users have given up looking at them. More likely it is the same syndrome that keeps people from reading the instructions when assembling a tricycle on Christmas Eve.
It seems that no matter how much I spend creating documentation, the users of the system don't use it, don't know how to access it, won't use it.
I say take your money and buy a book on user interface design. The problem is not how well written the docucumentation is; it is the fact that we NEED the documentation.
I usually associate a contract of adhesion with big dollar cases where the plaintiff has agreed to binding arbitration. Like my doctor example, or agreements with insurance companies. I think that applying that to a $7/month issue is a bit of a stretch. however I found this:
Plaintiffs brought suit against AT&T, alleging that AT&T's Consumer Services Agreement ("CSA") violated California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Practices Act by barring customers from, among other things, suing AT&T on a class-wide basis. The district court found the CSA unconscionable. AT&T appealed on the ground that the state laws were preempted by the Federal Communications Act and the Federal Arbitration Act. The court of appeals, affirming in part and reversing in part, affirmed the portion of the district court's conclusion that the class-action ban was unconscionable. Darcy Ting, et al., v. AT&T, No. 02-15416 (9th Cir. Feb. 11, 2003) 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 2395
Many "agreements" I have made are unilateral in that sense. If I want water piped to my house I have to sign over water rights for my property - or no water. If I want to see a doctor, I have to sign an agreement that I won't sue the doctor - or I won't be seen.
I guess I just see it as the natural order. I don't like it, but I am not going to let them steal my ethics too. I don't illegally copy software or music either.
My ISP contract does not talk about paying for the number of holes in my wall; it concerns the number of computers that can reach the internet through that hole. The main point is the same.
If you sign a contract saying no NAT, or no multiple machines on your connection then you have agreed to it. My wife and I pay an extra 7 bucks/mo for two connections instead of one.
If you have agreed to one connection or machine and have multiple connections or machines then you are cheating your ISP. If you want to change it then call your ISP and negotiate, or sign-up with someone else, or move somewhere where you can get an ISP to agree to your terms, or form a buying group, or start a boycott, or picket. Do you think breaking a contract is OK?
You can measure the rotation by measuring the centrifical forces that are exerted on the universe. 1st calculate the density of matter in the universe then the rate of expansion. Trivial.
Think of servers as a fixed cost and clients as a variable cost. With thin client models you only have to support a browser on the client machines. It is the end to a management headache: all those apps configured on all those clients.
Think about all those companies that are paying big bucks for all of those client OS's and Apps. Now they can get, for less than $200, loaded PC's (1.1 GHz PC w/Linux installed, no monitor). Walmarts $199.98 PC.
Slashdot Mirror
If Balmer is right then Microsoft has just proved that they hold a monopoly in operating systems.
The Justice Department needs to remedy this by breaking Microsoft into tiny pieces and placing their patents into the public domain.
Then somebody needs to fix the USPTO.
Throughout my computer "science" career (which now is more business than science), I always felt that I was just more comfortable having the math behind me. I have often heard people in software development lamenting that they never had the hard math - even if they really didn't need it.
So take the math to help your self-esteem.
It is simple really.
If you want a hamburger and everybody only sells identical hamburgers then it is easy to shop - buy the cheapest hamburger.
But when you have cheeseburgers and bacon-burgers and burgers with complete meal and freeze-dried-burgers-by-mail(TM) then you are no longer buying a commodity and the price goes up.
1) Artificially de-commoditize product (creating too many choices).
2) ??????
3) Profit!
Makes me wonder what 15 cents worth of a good clear sealer would do to help preserve my investment.
Better than a dark marker around the edge I imagine.
I use these high-quality carriers for all my computer gear. GearGrip.com
ok this reply is late, but I got up late today
Yes, Microsoft loves forking. The value of a collaboration is proportional to the square of the number of collaborators. Say this fork splits the efforts down the middle, instead of n^2 we have 2 * (n/2)^2. Same number of collaborators but half of the value.
Remember the Halloween Memos and the desire for Microsoft to do some "de-commoditizing" of the competing products?
Open Source Developers should do everything they can to un-fork themselves.
I wouldn't be able to stop myself from saying "You will be assimilated" when I answer the phone while sitting in that chair.
How I got to see it after it was Slashdotted?
1) click on link from slashdot - darn already Slashdotted
2) Google(TM) it and view cache - darn no pics and info is old.
3) Go to next item on Google. - darn it is slashdotted too.
4) Repeat 3
You want to see the manual for a stereo before you buy it? I would say that most stereos and most software is sold without the buyer previewing the manual.
Slashdot has ads? I didn't know. If they had had text ads I would have seen them.
I started blocking ads with a web-proxy when they started opening up windows and strobing/flashing and blocking where I wanted to read or click. I do not mind text ads.
It is the lack of individualization that seems to come with the more annoying ads that I dislike the most. I do not need another web-cam, no matter how many times they pop up that ad, but I am interested in the ad for a company that sells micro-ITX motherboards.
So I only get the text ads.
I do not write my own user docs. I assert that even well written documentation mostly gathers dust. Maybe the problem is that too many bad documents got out there and because of the user's expectations of more of the same, users have given up looking at them. More likely it is the same syndrome that keeps people from reading the instructions when assembling a tricycle on Christmas Eve.
It seems that no matter how much I spend creating documentation, the users of the system don't use it, don't know how to access it, won't use it.
I say take your money and buy a book on user interface design. The problem is not how well written the docucumentation is; it is the fact that we NEED the documentation.
AT&T's contract of adhesion
Many "agreements" I have made are unilateral in that sense. If I want water piped to my house I have to sign over water rights for my property - or no water. If I want to see a doctor, I have to sign an agreement that I won't sue the doctor - or I won't be seen.
I guess I just see it as the natural order. I don't like it, but I am not going to let them steal my ethics too. I don't illegally copy software or music either.
My ISP contract does not talk about paying for the number of holes in my wall; it concerns the number of computers that can reach the internet through that hole. The main point is the same.
If you sign a contract saying no NAT, or no multiple machines on your connection then you have agreed to it. My wife and I pay an extra 7 bucks/mo for two connections instead of one.
If you have agreed to one connection or machine and have multiple connections or machines then you are cheating your ISP. If you want to change it then call your ISP and negotiate, or sign-up with someone else, or move somewhere where you can get an ISP to agree to your terms, or form a buying group, or start a boycott, or picket. Do you think breaking a contract is OK?
You can measure the rotation by measuring the centrifical forces that are exerted on the universe. 1st calculate the density of matter in the universe then the rate of expansion. Trivial.
at around 4 1000th's of a degree for each leap second, it will take a while before it makes any difference; my sundial will be ok.
We should set our clocks based on the rate that the universe is rotating instead.
The answer to the question that Douglas Adam's fans know: "WHAT DO YOU GET IF YOU MULTIPLY SIX BY NINE".
(True in base 13)
AT&T is at fault. They have not provided at minimum, "random" passwords.
I did not unsubscribe! Maybe that is why I get so much spam.
Could this announcement simply be a move to support the damage claims against IBM. I mean Linux at $999 is like a 20-times-damages modifier.
Think of servers as a fixed cost and clients as a variable cost. With thin client models you only have to support a browser on the client machines. It is the end to a management headache: all those apps configured on all those clients.
Think about all those companies that are paying big bucks for all of those client OS's and Apps. Now they can get, for less than $200, loaded PC's (1.1 GHz PC w/Linux installed, no monitor).
Walmarts $199.98 PC.
Do you mean geometrically? I graphed it; so far it looks linear. More data will tell. I based my analysis on data from:
the World Health Organization
Annual Deaths 2002
Heart Disease 724,915
Malignant Neoplasms (Cancer) 549,787
Stroke (cerebrovascular disease) 167,340
Chronic Lower Respiratory disease 124,153
Accidents (Car Accidents* - 42,437) 97,298
Diabetes Mellitus 68,379
Pneumonia & Influenza 63,686
Alzheimer's Disease 44,507
Kidney disease (Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, & nephrosis) 35,524
Septicemia (toxins in the blood - known as "blood poisoning") 30,670
I estimate that SARS may cause 1800 deaths the per year, a layman's view.