Not quite. They did it voluntarily, and in a very explicit way. Bill Gates himself has said the following:
"Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, people don't pay for the software. Someday they will, though," Gates told an audience at the University of Washington. "And as long as they're going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."
Even the founder of Microsoft stated that the unauthorized (and free) distribution of Microsoft products is benefitial for a company such as his own. The totalitarian copyright enforcement crap only comes in as useful if a product already attained a reasonable market share, and therefore there is a copyright to enforce. Until there isn't a copyright to enforce, they simply turn a blind eye for convenience and due to business sense.
Which came first, the engineer or the engineering degree?
The engineering degree, obviously. The word "engineer" refers to a title which is granted to someone who demonstrates that he possesses the necessary technical skills recognized as minimum requirements for competency in a given technical field, whose application is fundamental to society. Therefore, before that title is granted to someone, the basic set of necessary techincal skills must be defined. Defining that set of skills implies the definition of engineering degrees which are able to meet those requirements. So, as it can easily be seen, the engineer (someone whose skill set has been officially recognized) can only come after the engineering degree (the definition of what that skill set might be).
And before you ask, it is quite possible that someone attained that skill set before being recognized as an engineer. Yet, having the necessary skills doesn't mean they have been officially recognized. And what defines an engineer, beyond his technical know-how, is if society officially recognizes them.
And no, having those skills is not enough to be considered an engineer. To put it in perspective, you might have spent half your life learning medicine stuff on your own, and you might even get a better hold of the subject than most medical doctors out there. Yet, unless you are able to get your medical license, which is the way used by society to officially recognize those who have the basic skill set to practice medicine, you are not a doctor.
Undoubtedly it is easy to start a new journal. The hard part is to turn it into a credible one, and the hardest part is to turn it into the "go to" forum for scientific and technical discussion of a specific subject.
This call by Tim Gowers isn't intended to fix the problem of starting a new journal. This problem has been fixed for decades now, with the inception of the internet as the main platform for knowledge access and distribution, cheap computers and cheaper software. What Tim Gowers intends to achieve is the hard part of the problem: how to turn freshly created or obscure foruns into the main forum for scientific discourse of every scientific and technical field, and destitute the current midlemen to those forums who are restricting access to those journals as old fashion trolls.
This is why Tim Gowers is appealing to the community to stop helping Elsevier out, and instead redirect their efforts to create or contribute to open access journals. Elsevier's power is in manipulating a flock of sheep to not only give them their work for free but also pay them hansomely to access that which they did themselves. Once Elsevier loses the ability to manipulate them to do their bidding, the scientific community, and therefore humanity, wins in multiple ways. So, it is a social problem, not a technical one, and to fix this problem then that specifc segment of society must change. This is what Tim Gowers (and others, too) ultimately intends to achieve.
In other words, you are saying that scientists in general have such low esteem of themselves that they crave for the respect of their own peers in order to survive
This makes as much sense as claiming that the only reason athletes accept an invitation to play in the all-star game is that "in general have such low esteem of themselves that they crave for the respect of their own peers in order to survive".
And this would also apply to prizes such as the fields medal and nobel prize.
To put it simply, there is a considerable difference between having a low self-esteem and receiving an honour of having our own work recognized by the community.
Not exactly. A person might be invited to edit some stuff in some journal although someone else, seen as a better option, might have been invited first and happened to be unavailable. Yet, just because some other option, seen as more suited, has been considered, it doesn't mean that the second pick is is the scientific or techincal equivalent to chopped liver. His job is still technically demanding and important to a community, and it still requires that the community recognizes and respects the candidate's scientific and technical chops. Therefore, even if an editor isn't the main choice, it still is an honour to receive such an invitation and the implicit public recognition of the candidate's accomplishments is still a considerable source of pride.
what is the magnetic allure of refereeing for Elsevier journals?
It isn't as much as refereeing for Elsevier journals, but to referee for well established and respected journals. Being invited to be a referee of one of those journals is seen as a sign of respect by the scientific community and a public acknowledgement of one's technical and scientific mastery. After all, if a community has to choose who will edit the scientific work done by their own community, they will choose the best in their field, not a snotty-nosed clueless newbie.
Then, the real problem is that Elsevier managed to control the publication and access to journals which are seen as humanity's forum for specific scientific areas. So, Elsevier manages to get that "magentic allure" by proxy, not for the company's own merit. As soon as journals are published elsewhere, Elsevier will lose any prestige they might have, and although scientific papers will continue to be published, the world will be a better place for not being forced to shelve 40 euros for individual papers or thousands of euros for a subscription. Let's hope this boycott represents the tipping point.
The only thing that is declining is your ability to push PR crap onto slashdot and manipulate discussions through your sister sockpuppet accounts.
The bonch user account is a shill account which is used, along with other user accounts such as SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy, to astroturf slashdot in order to manipulate slashdot users with pro-Microsoft, anti-Google PR.
See how these accounts paste PR crap from the same corporate script in this post and this post, and in this post check how these accounts are employed together in the same discussion to karmawhore and to steer the discussion into a more corporate PR position.
As more evidence linking these accounts, particularly how they copy/paste the same PR script and reiterate it in different discussions, check out this post with a roundup of all propaganda copy/paste screwups
Mod this astroturfing sockpuppet account accordingly.
As more evidence linking these accounts, particularly how they copy/paste the same PR script and reiterate it in different discussions, check out this post with a roundup of all copy/paste screwups
HTML screwup. Check out this post for a roundup on how the same PR script is being copied verbatim and posted through the bonch/Overly Critical Guy/SharkLaser sockpuppet accounts.
The bonch user account is a shill account which is used, along with other user accounts such as SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy, to astroturf slashdot in order to manipulate slashdot users with pro-Microsoft, anti-Google PR.
See how these accounts paste PR crap from the same corporate script in this post and this post, and in this post check how these accounts are employed together in the same discussion to karmawhore and to steer the discussion into a more corporate PR position.
As more evidence linking these accounts, particularly how they copy/paste the same PR script and reiterate it in different discussions, check out this post with a roundup of all copy/paste screwups
Mod this astroturfing sockpuppet account accordingly.
The people manipulating the bonch, SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy are doing this as a reaction as a post I've made yesterday after I'd noticed this post showing that the bonch and Overly Critical Guy accounts are being used to paste the same PR script almost verbatim.
Once I've posted a message reiterating this, which you can find here, I started getting attacked throught the Overly Critical Guy account, as you can see in that post's followup discussions.
Once those accounts started getting flak for being outed as sockpuppet accounts employed to astroturf slashdot, the attacks directed at me were increased and started to be made through ACs, as you can see in this case. I've also noticed that in some discussions the first post has been none other than AC comments attacking me, just like this case, as you can see in this post. Also notice that the first message posted through the bonch account, which is the first post, was sent exactly at the same time that the slandering AC message was posted to that discussion.
Meanwhile, their assault campaign on me has backfired. Other users have chimed in and presented additional examples of how the bonch/SharkLaser/Overly Critical Guy accounts are being used to shovel the same astroturfing crap to slashdot, as seen in this discussion
It appears that now the people manipulating these sockpuppets are trying to muddy the waters, by accusing me of being a shill, sockpuppet or some other stuff. Maybe they are feeling the heat and intended to divert it towards the people who outed them, expecting that the backlash they are getting is enough to silence their critics.
The bonch account, together with bonch, Overly Critical Guy and SharkLaser accounts, are sockpuppet accounts employed to astroturf slashdot with corporate-friendly PR and karmawhore through fluff posts.
They are so heavily invested in pumping slashdot discussions with PR speak that they repeatedly post messages cut/pasted from the same PR script, as pointed out in this post.
They also engage in coordinated campaigns to steer discussions and attack users who post messages which are unfriendly to their sponsor corporation or threaten their karma, as pointed out in this discussion
The bonch / SharkLaser / Overly Critical Guy are shill accounts manipulated by the same organization to astroturf slashdot. They are used to post corporate stories and manipulate public discussion to a more corporate-friendly position, which is pro-Microsoft and anti-Google.
These accounts are employed to push so much PR crap into slashdot discussions that they even manage to paste the same script through different accounts, as shown in this post and this post.
They are also employed together in discussions in order to karmawhore, such as this case, and to deter unfavourable criticism. For a description check out this post.
The bonch user account is a shill account which is used, along with other user accounts such as SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy, to astroturf slashdot in order to manipulate slashdot users with pro-Microsoft, anti-Google PR.
See how these accounts paste PR crap from the same corporate script in this post and this post, and in this post check how these accounts are employed together in the same discussion to karmawhore and to steer the discussion into a more corporate PR position.
I am not accusing the bonch/Overly Critical Guy/SharkLaser user accounts of being shills just because they are engaged in a system to manipulate PR favourable to Microsoft. It's a bit more blatant than that.
These bonch/Overly Critical Guy accounts are patently engaged in a cooperative effort to push MS propaganda and astroturf slashdot because they have been repeatedly caught posting from the same script, as pointed out in this post and in this post. They screwed up and now they were outed, and now they are persecuting me for pointing out the obvious in a previouis discussion.
You are pathetic. You can't risk the karma of your precious Bonch/SharkLaser/Overly Critical Guy user accounts, which you need to pull your PR crap of a job astroturfing slashdot, so you resort to ridiculous personal attacks through an AC to see if I get modbombed.
And all this to try to get some revenge for me pointing out the obvious: that all those accounts are controlled by the same person/organization, which I've made here and here.
But as it appears you are enjoying it, I'll repeat what I've said before: The Overly Critical Guy account and bonch accounts are continously used to push the same propaganda points, to the point that they are even used post messages based on the same script. See this post from Overly Critical Guy and compare it to this post by bonch. Notice the similarities pointed out in this post.
And the best part, you don't even realize that your recent full-fledged persecution on me and coordenated modbombing campaign, even in discussions where aforementioned your shill accounts have been used to post, is a clear sign that I stuck a nerve in calling out your coordinated astroturfing and manipulation campaign.
So keep up the trolling, whether you post through your Bonch/SharkLaser/Overly Critical Guy accounts or through AC. The more you cringe, the more people will be aware of how your organization have been engaged in manipulating slashdot users.
Meanwhile I've also stumbled on this post, which raises the suspicion that the bonch and SharkLazer accounts are also controlled by the same people. This post also points out that suspicion. Could it be that you also made the same mistake with messages posted from the SharkLazer account as the ones made from the Overly Critical Guy one?
These sockpuppet accounts follow the same posting pattern: one account starts a discussion, either karma-whoring or astroturfing, and the other accounts then quickly intervene to either support the previous message or publicly attack any poster which contradicts the official POV adopted by this shill organization. Here are a couple of examples:
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
Slashdot Mirror
They did it involuntarily.
Not quite. They did it voluntarily, and in a very explicit way. Bill Gates himself has said the following:
Even the founder of Microsoft stated that the unauthorized (and free) distribution of Microsoft products is benefitial for a company such as his own. The totalitarian copyright enforcement crap only comes in as useful if a product already attained a reasonable market share, and therefore there is a copyright to enforce. Until there isn't a copyright to enforce, they simply turn a blind eye for convenience and due to business sense.
The engineering degree, obviously. The word "engineer" refers to a title which is granted to someone who demonstrates that he possesses the necessary technical skills recognized as minimum requirements for competency in a given technical field, whose application is fundamental to society. Therefore, before that title is granted to someone, the basic set of necessary techincal skills must be defined. Defining that set of skills implies the definition of engineering degrees which are able to meet those requirements. So, as it can easily be seen, the engineer (someone whose skill set has been officially recognized) can only come after the engineering degree (the definition of what that skill set might be).
And before you ask, it is quite possible that someone attained that skill set before being recognized as an engineer. Yet, having the necessary skills doesn't mean they have been officially recognized. And what defines an engineer, beyond his technical know-how, is if society officially recognizes them.
And no, having those skills is not enough to be considered an engineer. To put it in perspective, you might have spent half your life learning medicine stuff on your own, and you might even get a better hold of the subject than most medical doctors out there. Yet, unless you are able to get your medical license, which is the way used by society to officially recognize those who have the basic skill set to practice medicine, you are not a doctor.
Did you ever took the time to watch an all-star game? There is as much competition in those matches as in professional wrestling matches.
And by the way, just as in all-star games, the competition isn't in the game itself: the competition is in getting invited to be in one.
Undoubtedly it is easy to start a new journal. The hard part is to turn it into a credible one, and the hardest part is to turn it into the "go to" forum for scientific and technical discussion of a specific subject.
This call by Tim Gowers isn't intended to fix the problem of starting a new journal. This problem has been fixed for decades now, with the inception of the internet as the main platform for knowledge access and distribution, cheap computers and cheaper software. What Tim Gowers intends to achieve is the hard part of the problem: how to turn freshly created or obscure foruns into the main forum for scientific discourse of every scientific and technical field, and destitute the current midlemen to those forums who are restricting access to those journals as old fashion trolls.
This is why Tim Gowers is appealing to the community to stop helping Elsevier out, and instead redirect their efforts to create or contribute to open access journals. Elsevier's power is in manipulating a flock of sheep to not only give them their work for free but also pay them hansomely to access that which they did themselves. Once Elsevier loses the ability to manipulate them to do their bidding, the scientific community, and therefore humanity, wins in multiple ways. So, it is a social problem, not a technical one, and to fix this problem then that specifc segment of society must change. This is what Tim Gowers (and others, too) ultimately intends to achieve.
This makes as much sense as claiming that the only reason athletes accept an invitation to play in the all-star game is that "in general have such low esteem of themselves that they crave for the respect of their own peers in order to survive".
And this would also apply to prizes such as the fields medal and nobel prize.
To put it simply, there is a considerable difference between having a low self-esteem and receiving an honour of having our own work recognized by the community.
Not exactly. A person might be invited to edit some stuff in some journal although someone else, seen as a better option, might have been invited first and happened to be unavailable. Yet, just because some other option, seen as more suited, has been considered, it doesn't mean that the second pick is is the scientific or techincal equivalent to chopped liver. His job is still technically demanding and important to a community, and it still requires that the community recognizes and respects the candidate's scientific and technical chops. Therefore, even if an editor isn't the main choice, it still is an honour to receive such an invitation and the implicit public recognition of the candidate's accomplishments is still a considerable source of pride.
It isn't as much as refereeing for Elsevier journals, but to referee for well established and respected journals. Being invited to be a referee of one of those journals is seen as a sign of respect by the scientific community and a public acknowledgement of one's technical and scientific mastery. After all, if a community has to choose who will edit the scientific work done by their own community, they will choose the best in their field, not a snotty-nosed clueless newbie.
Then, the real problem is that Elsevier managed to control the publication and access to journals which are seen as humanity's forum for specific scientific areas. So, Elsevier manages to get that "magentic allure" by proxy, not for the company's own merit. As soon as journals are published elsewhere, Elsevier will lose any prestige they might have, and although scientific papers will continue to be published, the world will be a better place for not being forced to shelve 40 euros for individual papers or thousands of euros for a subscription. Let's hope this boycott represents the tipping point.
The only thing that is declining is your ability to push PR crap onto slashdot and manipulate discussions through your sister sockpuppet accounts.
The bonch user account is a shill account which is used, along with other user accounts such as SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy, to astroturf slashdot in order to manipulate slashdot users with pro-Microsoft, anti-Google PR.
See how these accounts paste PR crap from the same corporate script in this post and this post, and in this post check how these accounts are employed together in the same discussion to karmawhore and to steer the discussion into a more corporate PR position.
As more evidence linking these accounts, particularly how they copy/paste the same PR script and reiterate it in different discussions, check out this post with a roundup of all propaganda copy/paste screwups
Mod this astroturfing sockpuppet account accordingly.
HTML screwup. Check out this post for a roundup on how the same PR script is being copied verbatim and posted through the bonch/Overly Critical Guy/SharkLaser sockpuppet accounts.
The bonch user account is a shill account which is used, along with other user accounts such as SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy, to astroturf slashdot in order to manipulate slashdot users with pro-Microsoft, anti-Google PR.
See how these accounts paste PR crap from the same corporate script in this post and this post, and in this post check how these accounts are employed together in the same discussion to karmawhore and to steer the discussion into a more corporate PR position.
As more evidence linking these accounts, particularly how they copy/paste the same PR script and reiterate it in different discussions, check out this post with a roundup of all copy/paste screwups
Mod this astroturfing sockpuppet account accordingly.
The people manipulating the bonch, SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy are doing this as a reaction as a post I've made yesterday after I'd noticed this post showing that the bonch and Overly Critical Guy accounts are being used to paste the same PR script almost verbatim.
Once I've posted a message reiterating this, which you can find here, I started getting attacked throught the Overly Critical Guy account, as you can see in that post's followup discussions.
Once those accounts started getting flak for being outed as sockpuppet accounts employed to astroturf slashdot, the attacks directed at me were increased and started to be made through ACs, as you can see in this case. I've also noticed that in some discussions the first post has been none other than AC comments attacking me, just like this case, as you can see in this post. Also notice that the first message posted through the bonch account, which is the first post, was sent exactly at the same time that the slandering AC message was posted to that discussion.
Meanwhile, their assault campaign on me has backfired. Other users have chimed in and presented additional examples of how the bonch/SharkLaser/Overly Critical Guy accounts are being used to shovel the same astroturfing crap to slashdot, as seen in this discussion
It appears that now the people manipulating these sockpuppets are trying to muddy the waters, by accusing me of being a shill, sockpuppet or some other stuff. Maybe they are feeling the heat and intended to divert it towards the people who outed them, expecting that the backlash they are getting is enough to silence their critics.
The bonch account, together with bonch, Overly Critical Guy and SharkLaser accounts, are sockpuppet accounts employed to astroturf slashdot with corporate-friendly PR and karmawhore through fluff posts.
They are so heavily invested in pumping slashdot discussions with PR speak that they repeatedly post messages cut/pasted from the same PR script, as pointed out in this post.
They also engage in coordinated campaigns to steer discussions and attack users who post messages which are unfriendly to their sponsor corporation or threaten their karma, as pointed out in this discussion
So, mod this astroturfing account accordingly.
I haven't posted this, but I appreciate the effort. Kudos.
The bonch / SharkLaser / Overly Critical Guy are shill accounts manipulated by the same organization to astroturf slashdot. They are used to post corporate stories and manipulate public discussion to a more corporate-friendly position, which is pro-Microsoft and anti-Google.
These accounts are employed to push so much PR crap into slashdot discussions that they even manage to paste the same script through different accounts, as shown in this post and this post.
They are also employed together in discussions in order to karmawhore, such as this case, and to deter unfavourable criticism. For a description check out this post.
So, mod these sockpuppet accounts accordingly.
The bonch user account is a shill account which is used, along with other user accounts such as SharkLaser and Overly Critical Guy, to astroturf slashdot in order to manipulate slashdot users with pro-Microsoft, anti-Google PR.
See how these accounts paste PR crap from the same corporate script in this post and this post, and in this post check how these accounts are employed together in the same discussion to karmawhore and to steer the discussion into a more corporate PR position.
I am not accusing the bonch/Overly Critical Guy/SharkLaser user accounts of being shills just because they are engaged in a system to manipulate PR favourable to Microsoft. It's a bit more blatant than that.
These bonch/Overly Critical Guy accounts are patently engaged in a cooperative effort to push MS propaganda and astroturf slashdot because they have been repeatedly caught posting from the same script, as pointed out in this post and in this post. They screwed up and now they were outed, and now they are persecuting me for pointing out the obvious in a previouis discussion.
You are pathetic. You can't risk the karma of your precious Bonch/SharkLaser/Overly Critical Guy user accounts, which you need to pull your PR crap of a job astroturfing slashdot, so you resort to ridiculous personal attacks through an AC to see if I get modbombed.
And all this to try to get some revenge for me pointing out the obvious: that all those accounts are controlled by the same person/organization, which I've made here and here.
But it appeas that what got you rilled up was my post where I point out that the bonch/SharkLaser/Overly Critical Guy accounts are used to manipulate discussions.
But as it appears you are enjoying it, I'll repeat what I've said before: The Overly Critical Guy account and bonch accounts are continously used to push the same propaganda points, to the point that they are even used post messages based on the same script. See this post from Overly Critical Guy and compare it to this post by bonch. Notice the similarities pointed out in this post.
And the best part, you don't even realize that your recent full-fledged persecution on me and coordenated modbombing campaign, even in discussions where aforementioned your shill accounts have been used to post, is a clear sign that I stuck a nerve in calling out your coordinated astroturfing and manipulation campaign.
So keep up the trolling, whether you post through your Bonch/SharkLaser/Overly Critical Guy accounts or through AC. The more you cringe, the more people will be aware of how your organization have been engaged in manipulating slashdot users.
Meanwhile I've also stumbled on this post, which raises the suspicion that the bonch and SharkLazer accounts are also controlled by the same people. This post also points out that suspicion. Could it be that you also made the same mistake with messages posted from the SharkLazer account as the ones made from the Overly Critical Guy one?
These sockpuppet accounts follow the same posting pattern: one account starts a discussion, either karma-whoring or astroturfing, and the other accounts then quickly intervene to either support the previous message or publicly attack any poster which contradicts the official POV adopted by this shill organization. Here are a couple of examples:
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.
For a headsup, the bonch account and Overly Critical Guy accounts are sockpuppets operated by the same organization. See this post and a previous post I've made here for evidence that these user accounts are used to push the same script, sometimes even copy/paste versions of it.