As someone who uses Gnucash (I'm an accountant, too) I had no idea the project was in trouble. This is one of the best programs I've come across in the Linux world, and I think it's superior to similar commercial packages. The operation is closer to how you're taught to do accounting, and I love it for that. Well, if someone out there knows how a sympathetic non-coder could lend a hand, let me know. Yes, I did RTFA, and I didn't see a way to contribute without knowing how to hack code.
Since the RIAA is filing a lot of actions now, here's a little bit of advice for anyone who gets sued.
First, *YOU DO NOT NEED TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY*, you are entitled to represent yourself. And you should.
Second, the Courts tend to give leniency to pro se parties. This means the laws of evidence aren't quite as strictly enforced and you can get away with a lot of stuff attorneys can't. Believe me, I know.
Third, there are few things attorneys hate more than dealing with pro se litigants. You never know what's going to turn up and whether or not the judge might allow it because he/she feels sorry for the pro se guy.
Fourth, this gives you the opportunity to create a circus atmosphere. Invite the media. Make angry speeches. Just go nuts.
Now, if the RIAA wants 5,000 cases like what I described above, their attorneys will literally tear their hair out. A lot of them will quit, a lot of them will boost their fees, and a lot of them are going to be pissed off at the RIAA for giving them such a headache.
DO NOT ROLL OVER AND SETTLE. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! If enough people respond this way, the RIAA will lose, and it will lose in a very, very ugly way. Don't think you need an expensive legal team to give them a problem. You, yourself, with $15 of copies at Kinko's can literally shove their crap back up the orifice it came from.
If you think I know not of what I speak, check my sig....
I've never bought a boxed set of Red Hat because it always seemed that whatever was on the shelf was an old version. Unlike other commercial operating systems (which will remain unnamed) Red Hat and most Linux distros are constantly changing. It would be next to impossible to keep the latest versions freshly in retail, and the constant changes would probably confuse the average retail shopper. What I would like to see them do is to sell hardcopies of books and manuals.
Though this idea has some merit, I don't know how useful it'd really be.
For me, I usually go through several revisions of my Google (or other) searches before I either hit on what I'm looking for or realize that it's not out there.
If I had to wait a day for each search query to come back, it'd take me a few weeks to do what I can accomplish in 10 minutes. Yeah, I know it's better than nothing, but "fine tuning" your query is a big part of what makes a search useful.
Does anyone realize how often foreign governments and entities are spying on US corporations? There's a lot of industrial espionage out there.
Of course, the government is not only collecting information on individuals, they collect it on anything we're involved in, including our jobs and businesses.
It's pretty well-documented that Microsoft's software is full of holes and that they're not particularly good at fixing them. Witness Microsoft's own computers being taken down by a worm. My concern is that we've just given not-so-well-intentioned foreign parties a free pass to take a look at everything that's going on in the United States. Holes and hacks will be found. If they really cared about "security," they'd use a blend of different programs and software. Sure, a little more work, but a lto more work to penetrate.
Device from "Weird Science"
on
Science Faction
·
· Score: 4, Funny
What we really need is a device that can be hooked to a mid-80s computer that will create really hot women from pictures we cut out of magazines and stuff.
What O'Reilly has to say is pretty much on target, but I'm not sure if open source will be entirely subsumed by corporations looking to profit. Perhaps for industrial applications, but not on the home level.
What's going to happen on the home level is what's already happened to the hardware market. Everyone is looking for the lowest price. When the PC first came out, a lot of people were concerned about the brand/reputation, et al., and were willing to pay a premium for an AT&T, IBM, or other high-line product. That's where the software market is right now. The high-end hardware makers got slaughtered by price. And now the high-end software market is about to get slaughtered. Microsoft (and lots of others) are going to have to compete against the software equivalent of incredibly cheap clone hardware... and they are going to lose.
Hmmm... anyone wonder why Microsoft is really doing this? No, it's not Gates' greed; he has enough and he knows it. This is a plan to ensure the long-term stability of the company. Linux is starting to get more press and is being increasing seen as a viable alternative. I think this is a strategy to increase investor confidence and tie the company's financial rewards more to the public. Everyone knows what the profit margin is on their products and that the corporation itself keeps almost all of that. I think this is a subtle way of saying that they're going to start sharing their big income.
And consider this: a lot of companies, institutions, foundations, trusts, etc. regularly buy securities for endowments and other investment purposes. Now, if Microsoft stock is a good performer, it would give Microsoft an "in" with those companies and institutions for software sales.
No matter what you think of Microsoft (and for the record, I do not have a single Microsoft product under my roof) this is a smart business move. And I might add that Linux cannot compete on these grounds, either. Smart move... seriously.
As someone who has conducted more than a few trials and hearings, this decision, its implications, and so forth, are not easily summed up by one-liners and stereotypes taken from television and movies. How many of you out there carping about lawyers and judges have ever witnessed an actual trial from beginning to end? It's a lot more boring and procedural than what you see on TV, but of course, that doesn't make for good TV, so you're not going to see it.
At any rate, the first point I want to make is that someone has to be the gatekeeper. In most matters, it is the judge. I also want to point out that scientific evidence is not the ONLY thing that judges keep out of court. There's a lot of other stuff, too, that kicked out for one reason or another.
The second point I want to make is that judges DO NOT work in a vacuum. They are not just novices off the street and working solely what they are given. In most larger municipalities, there are judges with some technical training or expertise. Further, they know how to do their own research, where to find literature, and it is all at their disposal. They do not want to go into the case ignorant and they are the ones who are routinely assigned these cases. The assignments are not random, by the way. And if it is taking place in the Patent Court, the level of technical expertise they have on hand is quite high. So don't assume that these decisions are being made by the equivalent of someone plucked from the street, because they're not.
And for those of you who like to beat the drum of tort vampires, and so on, consider this: Your attitude is quite prevalent throughout the population. Now, juries are drawn from the general population, right? So the majority of jurors feel the same way you do, and awards are not nearly as high as you might think. In fact, if you ever take a look at types of injuries and the average awards (there are publications and services that compile these things) you'll probably find them quite reasonable.
As someone who deals with business stuff, this sort of heavy-handed corporatespeak really puts me off. It puts off others, too, but a lot of suits are reluctant to admit it.
People usually use this kind of language to somehow "prove" that whatever they have is "serious" and "businesslike."
Here's a better idea: Computers are so flippin' cheap these days. If you want to sell OSS services, get ahold of the IT manager, or even better, the CFO of the corporation and drop $200 to GIVE them a FREE box with FREE software on it. $200 is cheaper than most advertising, and I guarantee you that it would be booted, played with, kicked over to IT for awhile, and so on. If a CFO (or other high exec) sees that OSS genuinely works and how much money they can save... well, that's the kind of thing that will make a sale. Throwing a bunch of corporatespeak at people is well, what all the other corporations do. No one really pays attention to it, they only care about the bottom line. The effects have to be effectively demonstrated.
Did anyone out there notice that a Linux Installfest is mentioned? The link to it is right here:
http://installfest.linux.net.nz/
As you can tell, it's only going on in New Zealand. Good for the Kiwis, but is there anything of the sort being done in the United States? I think we need Installfests here, too.
As for the article, I think everyone should quit carping. This is good press for Linux. I had the same experience in March when I made the "switch" on my main PC. Only difference is that my machine does not dual boot, and I'd had Aurora Linux on a Sparc since December '02. At any rate, though, the message needs to get out that Linux *IS* a genuine alternative, and this article does just that.
For some reason, I don't think biometric face scans would hold up in Hollywood (well, Los Angeles for that matter) very well. Having lived there, people's faces just seem to keep changing. And so do hair and eye colors. It's almost like a hobby for some people.
First, does anyone have a mirror of these sites? They're suffering from the Slashdot Effect right now.
Second, I've been using a mini-ITX design (Shuttle) for over a year now and am completely satisfied. I'm not a gamer or power user, so it suits my needs just fine and I love the small footprint aluminum case. Best of all, it didn't come with the "Microsoft Tax," either.
I think the mini-ITX form is going to become increasingly standard over the next few years. The average user does not want a huge tower case when something smaller is available. If Dell, Gateway et al. were smart, they'd start offering a very compact computer, and watch their margins grow.
I don't know why it hasn't been pointed out yet, but the people who wrote this article are with Olliance, which is *selling* open-source services. Now, before you light your torches and get your pitchforks, I use Linux on a daily basis and do what I can to evangelize the movement. I also have a small collection of aging but much loved Macs. There are no Microsoft products in my household. But as someone who works in business, the first thing I noticed is that this is a sales pitch. Nothing wrong with that, but I know that many others in the business community will see a bunch of red flags because of it.
I think the biggest reason keeping businesses from switching is inertia or fear of new things. Everything sort of works right now (if the system goes down, the CEO and/or Board of Directors blames IT, not management) but if management makes a switch to something else entirely and it doesn't work, they're going to lose thier jobs. Trust me, software decisions aren't just based on price, stability and features. Even though Microsoft products sort of work most of the time, they're still beating the fear of the unknown.
For this reason, I really think that Linux/OSS should be pushed on the desktop level. When consultants, like Olliance, come in to install OSS at a company, I think they should put up fliers offering to install Linux on employees' *home* computers, too, if they bring their boxes in. I think one of the greatest unrealized benefits is Walmart selling inexpensive Linux boxes in its stores. That reaches a lot of people, even executives. When they see that it's stable and working and not "scary," it will become viable alternative. Finally, I think some kind of gimmick, like maybe using Linus' birthday as "Linux Day" where everyone who uses it goes to the Mall or somewhere with a bunch of CD-Rs burned with a distro and gives them away to anyone who wants it. The media might even be persuaded to cover something like this. It would spread the costs of producing discs and distribution out over a lot of people. People regularly share their music, why not operating systems, too? I don't know if that would work, but something needs to be done to get OSS onto as many desktops as possible. That's where the real battle for hearts and minds is, and if a CEO (or other high exec) has Linux at home and loves it, you know what will happen at his/her business shortly.
Did anyone else notice that these prices are creeping awfully close to that of a laptop? I know they're bigger, but laptops are getting thinner and are usually fully-fledged computers. If I wanted to watch movies and do heavy media applications, I'd much rather have a laptop.
I don't have a PDA (I still keep a spiral bound small calendar, nothing I've seen beats it so far, though I keep hoping) but if I did, it'd be more for scheduling/calendar and keeping track of phone numbers.
I'm not a gamer, but I just don't see the point of modifying an Xbox. I know Fry's isn't everywhere, but there's one near where I live that's selling a Linux box (sans monitor) for $229 right now. That's in the ballpark of an Xbox, and I know which one I'd rather have. Since a cheap PC is about the same price, why not just buy a cheapie and run Linux (or whatever you want) on that instead? But like I said, I'm not a gamer, so maybe I'm missing something.
Hmmm... I don't see any libel in there. I'm not a player of online games, but I thought the article was somewhat sympathetic. A business bankruptcy isn't exactly private information. They're usually published in local newspapers and since they're filed in court, completely public information. It's not difficult to take *any* name and see if that person has filed. And as for not attending college, who cares? Lots of people don't attend, so why the hardcore whining? And for that matter, why does anyone care about this? It'll be a topic of discussion for players in their chatrooms for some time to come, but I don't think he realizes how little the rest of the public cares.
I don't know if I'd call Windows 2000 a good OS. Problems with it drove me, unwillingly at first, to give Linux a try. The first month was difficult (I'm geek by hobby, not profession) but I read everything I could, experimented a lot and got up to speed. No crashes, Windows weirdness or other crap for four months. Perhaps you've had better experiences, but every Windows system I've used (from 3.1 through NT) has done bizarre stuff and forced me to spend a lot of time fixing screwed up documents, rebooting, etc. Linux was a pain to configure for my peripherals, but once that was done, it's been nothing but smooth sailing. I am *NOT* going back, no matter what Microsoft releases.
Everyone here seems to be bemoaning the provision of the UCITA that allows exemption from liability. Personally, I don't think it's such a bad thing. Think about it this way, if all airline companies were able to disclaim liability for accidents, maintenace, and everything else, do you think anyone would fly? It'll happen here, too. This will lead to software companies either making guarantees even though they're not required to in order to capture market share. Either that, or everyone will start going open source since you can tinker with it and it doesn't cost anything, anyway. Also, does anyone know of a car company that DOESN'T offer a warranty on a new car? Now, the last time I checked, there's no law saying that car companies HAVE to offer a warranty. They do it just to stay competitive with the others. In time, it will happen with software, too. And if it doesn't, open source is going to eat them alive. Both are fine with me.
On another note, I've stopped worrying about all the legislative garbage and contract trickery some large companies are spewing out. It does a fantastic job of convincing people that they are not looking to benefit the paying customer. It's going to kill them. Maybe not tomorrow, but if they don't ease up, everyone who doesn't hate them right now will. Just remember, whenever you try to corner the market and drive up prices, people will either use an alternative or stop using your product. Don't worry... they have plenty of rope to hang themselves with. They're just putting the finishing touches on the knot.
Speaking of medical safety...did anyone notice that this device is running under Windows? I don't know about you, but I'd never hook anything running Windows up to my body.
I know exactly what he speaks of. I, too, was a Legislative Assistant to a Senator here in Oregon. Though this issue did not come up when I was there, I worked with a lot of lobbyists. They tend to be selected as such because they have excellent personal skills and are very affable. You almost *never* get a hard sell from a lobbyist. This is why it's so seductive. They simply show up, are very polite, and it's next to impossible to send them off rudely or be short with them. They're simply trying to make friends, so their point of view will be taken seriously and they might get access to the Senator. Lobbying and influence are not as clear cut as people might think. Like I said, it's seductive.
It seems that the US Code and the First Circuit make this one pretty clear. If you have to agree to some sort of "terms of use" to get onto a website, you are bound by what those "terms of use" say. By clicking through, you have agreed to a contract and you have to abide by it. If your competitor's site requires you to agree to such terms, and those terms prohibit data mining, then you can't data mine there. Simple.
As for the ethical part of telling your employer about this... well, first, remember, this is just a decision of the First Circuit. If you live in a different Circuit, then it may or may not be binding on you. I know this jurisdictional stuff can be a little confusing, but a decision by a Circuit only affects the jurisdictions within it. Only the US Supreme Court (generally, I know there are federal tax, patent, admiralty, etc. courts, too) can make decisions that are binding on the entire country. If you're not sure, check with your corporate counsel. And it might be a good idea to forward the case to him anyway, you might be able to pick up some "bonus points" from your boss for being an especially conscientious employee.
Before anyone tries doing this, check your local vehicle code. This is usually a subset of the statutes handed down from your state legislature. Typically, you can buy the book at a DMV, the AAA, or similar.
In many jurisdictions, it is a violation to have a video display device like this capable of being viewed by the driver. If you get pulled over, the officer IS going to take a look around inside and probably give you a "fix it" ticket to get the multimedia system out of there.
However, I have noticed that the laws haven't exactly stopped a lot of people. Seems like almost every day I'll see someone with a monitor in their sun visor or someplace else. And speaking as one who knows, don't get in an accident while the multimedia system is on. Depending on the jurisdiction and circumstances, that could be seen as some SERIOUS negligence, or possibly even as criminal negligence. And if the plaintiff's attorneys find out... well, your insurance policy probably won't cover what they'll be looking for. Just leave multimedia in your home.
As someone who lives in Oregon, this story is *not* going to go over well with the natives. As people may have noticed, the unemployment rate here is the highest in the nation, Oregon has the shortest school year, and even the courts are closed on Fridays. And now Multnomah County (where Portland is) is going to hire a Klingon interpreter after having laid off numerous school teachers, police officers, and others people see as "more necessary" public servants. There's going to be a fight over this... I can't wait to see the outfall.
Slashdot Mirror
As someone who uses Gnucash (I'm an accountant, too) I had no idea the project was in trouble. This is one of the best programs I've come across in the Linux world, and I think it's superior to similar commercial packages. The operation is closer to how you're taught to do accounting, and I love it for that. Well, if someone out there knows how a sympathetic non-coder could lend a hand, let me know. Yes, I did RTFA, and I didn't see a way to contribute without knowing how to hack code.
First, *YOU DO NOT NEED TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY*, you are entitled to represent yourself. And you should.
Second, the Courts tend to give leniency to pro se parties. This means the laws of evidence aren't quite as strictly enforced and you can get away with a lot of stuff attorneys can't. Believe me, I know.
Third, there are few things attorneys hate more than dealing with pro se litigants. You never know what's going to turn up and whether or not the judge might allow it because he/she feels sorry for the pro se guy.
Fourth, this gives you the opportunity to create a circus atmosphere. Invite the media. Make angry speeches. Just go nuts.
Now, if the RIAA wants 5,000 cases like what I described above, their attorneys will literally tear their hair out. A lot of them will quit, a lot of them will boost their fees, and a lot of them are going to be pissed off at the RIAA for giving them such a headache.
DO NOT ROLL OVER AND SETTLE. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! If enough people respond this way, the RIAA will lose, and it will lose in a very, very ugly way. Don't think you need an expensive legal team to give them a problem. You, yourself, with $15 of copies at Kinko's can literally shove their crap back up the orifice it came from.
If you think I know not of what I speak, check my sig....
I've never bought a boxed set of Red Hat because it always seemed that whatever was on the shelf was an old version. Unlike other commercial operating systems (which will remain unnamed) Red Hat and most Linux distros are constantly changing. It would be next to impossible to keep the latest versions freshly in retail, and the constant changes would probably confuse the average retail shopper. What I would like to see them do is to sell hardcopies of books and manuals.
For me, I usually go through several revisions of my Google (or other) searches before I either hit on what I'm looking for or realize that it's not out there.
If I had to wait a day for each search query to come back, it'd take me a few weeks to do what I can accomplish in 10 minutes. Yeah, I know it's better than nothing, but "fine tuning" your query is a big part of what makes a search useful.
Of course, the government is not only collecting information on individuals, they collect it on anything we're involved in, including our jobs and businesses.
It's pretty well-documented that Microsoft's software is full of holes and that they're not particularly good at fixing them. Witness Microsoft's own computers being taken down by a worm. My concern is that we've just given not-so-well-intentioned foreign parties a free pass to take a look at everything that's going on in the United States. Holes and hacks will be found. If they really cared about "security," they'd use a blend of different programs and software. Sure, a little more work, but a lto more work to penetrate.
What we really need is a device that can be hooked to a mid-80s computer that will create really hot women from pictures we cut out of magazines and stuff.
What's going to happen on the home level is what's already happened to the hardware market. Everyone is looking for the lowest price. When the PC first came out, a lot of people were concerned about the brand/reputation, et al., and were willing to pay a premium for an AT&T, IBM, or other high-line product. That's where the software market is right now. The high-end hardware makers got slaughtered by price. And now the high-end software market is about to get slaughtered. Microsoft (and lots of others) are going to have to compete against the software equivalent of incredibly cheap clone hardware... and they are going to lose.
And consider this: a lot of companies, institutions, foundations, trusts, etc. regularly buy securities for endowments and other investment purposes. Now, if Microsoft stock is a good performer, it would give Microsoft an "in" with those companies and institutions for software sales.
No matter what you think of Microsoft (and for the record, I do not have a single Microsoft product under my roof) this is a smart business move. And I might add that Linux cannot compete on these grounds, either. Smart move... seriously.
At any rate, the first point I want to make is that someone has to be the gatekeeper. In most matters, it is the judge. I also want to point out that scientific evidence is not the ONLY thing that judges keep out of court. There's a lot of other stuff, too, that kicked out for one reason or another.
The second point I want to make is that judges DO NOT work in a vacuum. They are not just novices off the street and working solely what they are given. In most larger municipalities, there are judges with some technical training or expertise. Further, they know how to do their own research, where to find literature, and it is all at their disposal. They do not want to go into the case ignorant and they are the ones who are routinely assigned these cases. The assignments are not random, by the way. And if it is taking place in the Patent Court, the level of technical expertise they have on hand is quite high. So don't assume that these decisions are being made by the equivalent of someone plucked from the street, because they're not.
And for those of you who like to beat the drum of tort vampires, and so on, consider this: Your attitude is quite prevalent throughout the population. Now, juries are drawn from the general population, right? So the majority of jurors feel the same way you do, and awards are not nearly as high as you might think. In fact, if you ever take a look at types of injuries and the average awards (there are publications and services that compile these things) you'll probably find them quite reasonable.
People usually use this kind of language to somehow "prove" that whatever they have is "serious" and "businesslike."
Here's a better idea: Computers are so flippin' cheap these days. If you want to sell OSS services, get ahold of the IT manager, or even better, the CFO of the corporation and drop $200 to GIVE them a FREE box with FREE software on it. $200 is cheaper than most advertising, and I guarantee you that it would be booted, played with, kicked over to IT for awhile, and so on. If a CFO (or other high exec) sees that OSS genuinely works and how much money they can save... well, that's the kind of thing that will make a sale. Throwing a bunch of corporatespeak at people is well, what all the other corporations do. No one really pays attention to it, they only care about the bottom line. The effects have to be effectively demonstrated.
http://installfest.linux.net.nz/
As you can tell, it's only going on in New Zealand. Good for the Kiwis, but is there anything of the sort being done in the United States? I think we need Installfests here, too.
As for the article, I think everyone should quit carping. This is good press for Linux. I had the same experience in March when I made the "switch" on my main PC. Only difference is that my machine does not dual boot, and I'd had Aurora Linux on a Sparc since December '02. At any rate, though, the message needs to get out that Linux *IS* a genuine alternative, and this article does just that.
For some reason, I don't think biometric face scans would hold up in Hollywood (well, Los Angeles for that matter) very well. Having lived there, people's faces just seem to keep changing. And so do hair and eye colors. It's almost like a hobby for some people.
Second, I've been using a mini-ITX design (Shuttle) for over a year now and am completely satisfied. I'm not a gamer or power user, so it suits my needs just fine and I love the small footprint aluminum case. Best of all, it didn't come with the "Microsoft Tax," either.
I think the mini-ITX form is going to become increasingly standard over the next few years. The average user does not want a huge tower case when something smaller is available. If Dell, Gateway et al. were smart, they'd start offering a very compact computer, and watch their margins grow.
I think the biggest reason keeping businesses from switching is inertia or fear of new things. Everything sort of works right now (if the system goes down, the CEO and/or Board of Directors blames IT, not management) but if management makes a switch to something else entirely and it doesn't work, they're going to lose thier jobs. Trust me, software decisions aren't just based on price, stability and features. Even though Microsoft products sort of work most of the time, they're still beating the fear of the unknown.
For this reason, I really think that Linux/OSS should be pushed on the desktop level. When consultants, like Olliance, come in to install OSS at a company, I think they should put up fliers offering to install Linux on employees' *home* computers, too, if they bring their boxes in. I think one of the greatest unrealized benefits is Walmart selling inexpensive Linux boxes in its stores. That reaches a lot of people, even executives. When they see that it's stable and working and not "scary," it will become viable alternative. Finally, I think some kind of gimmick, like maybe using Linus' birthday as "Linux Day" where everyone who uses it goes to the Mall or somewhere with a bunch of CD-Rs burned with a distro and gives them away to anyone who wants it. The media might even be persuaded to cover something like this. It would spread the costs of producing discs and distribution out over a lot of people. People regularly share their music, why not operating systems, too? I don't know if that would work, but something needs to be done to get OSS onto as many desktops as possible. That's where the real battle for hearts and minds is, and if a CEO (or other high exec) has Linux at home and loves it, you know what will happen at his/her business shortly.
I don't have a PDA (I still keep a spiral bound small calendar, nothing I've seen beats it so far, though I keep hoping) but if I did, it'd be more for scheduling/calendar and keeping track of phone numbers.
I'm not a gamer, but I just don't see the point of modifying an Xbox. I know Fry's isn't everywhere, but there's one near where I live that's selling a Linux box (sans monitor) for $229 right now. That's in the ballpark of an Xbox, and I know which one I'd rather have. Since a cheap PC is about the same price, why not just buy a cheapie and run Linux (or whatever you want) on that instead? But like I said, I'm not a gamer, so maybe I'm missing something.
Hmmm... I don't see any libel in there. I'm not a player of online games, but I thought the article was somewhat sympathetic. A business bankruptcy isn't exactly private information. They're usually published in local newspapers and since they're filed in court, completely public information. It's not difficult to take *any* name and see if that person has filed. And as for not attending college, who cares? Lots of people don't attend, so why the hardcore whining? And for that matter, why does anyone care about this? It'll be a topic of discussion for players in their chatrooms for some time to come, but I don't think he realizes how little the rest of the public cares.
I don't know if I'd call Windows 2000 a good OS. Problems with it drove me, unwillingly at first, to give Linux a try. The first month was difficult (I'm geek by hobby, not profession) but I read everything I could, experimented a lot and got up to speed. No crashes, Windows weirdness or other crap for four months. Perhaps you've had better experiences, but every Windows system I've used (from 3.1 through NT) has done bizarre stuff and forced me to spend a lot of time fixing screwed up documents, rebooting, etc. Linux was a pain to configure for my peripherals, but once that was done, it's been nothing but smooth sailing. I am *NOT* going back, no matter what Microsoft releases.
On another note, I've stopped worrying about all the legislative garbage and contract trickery some large companies are spewing out. It does a fantastic job of convincing people that they are not looking to benefit the paying customer. It's going to kill them. Maybe not tomorrow, but if they don't ease up, everyone who doesn't hate them right now will. Just remember, whenever you try to corner the market and drive up prices, people will either use an alternative or stop using your product. Don't worry... they have plenty of rope to hang themselves with. They're just putting the finishing touches on the knot.
Speaking of medical safety...did anyone notice that this device is running under Windows? I don't know about you, but I'd never hook anything running Windows up to my body.
I know exactly what he speaks of. I, too, was a Legislative Assistant to a Senator here in Oregon. Though this issue did not come up when I was there, I worked with a lot of lobbyists. They tend to be selected as such because they have excellent personal skills and are very affable. You almost *never* get a hard sell from a lobbyist. This is why it's so seductive. They simply show up, are very polite, and it's next to impossible to send them off rudely or be short with them. They're simply trying to make friends, so their point of view will be taken seriously and they might get access to the Senator. Lobbying and influence are not as clear cut as people might think. Like I said, it's seductive.
The aliens gave me one of these a long time ago. Didn't cost a thing, either.
As for the ethical part of telling your employer about this... well, first, remember, this is just a decision of the First Circuit. If you live in a different Circuit, then it may or may not be binding on you. I know this jurisdictional stuff can be a little confusing, but a decision by a Circuit only affects the jurisdictions within it. Only the US Supreme Court (generally, I know there are federal tax, patent, admiralty, etc. courts, too) can make decisions that are binding on the entire country. If you're not sure, check with your corporate counsel. And it might be a good idea to forward the case to him anyway, you might be able to pick up some "bonus points" from your boss for being an especially conscientious employee.
In many jurisdictions, it is a violation to have a video display device like this capable of being viewed by the driver. If you get pulled over, the officer IS going to take a look around inside and probably give you a "fix it" ticket to get the multimedia system out of there.
However, I have noticed that the laws haven't exactly stopped a lot of people. Seems like almost every day I'll see someone with a monitor in their sun visor or someplace else. And speaking as one who knows, don't get in an accident while the multimedia system is on. Depending on the jurisdiction and circumstances, that could be seen as some SERIOUS negligence, or possibly even as criminal negligence. And if the plaintiff's attorneys find out... well, your insurance policy probably won't cover what they'll be looking for. Just leave multimedia in your home.
As someone who lives in Oregon, this story is *not* going to go over well with the natives. As people may have noticed, the unemployment rate here is the highest in the nation, Oregon has the shortest school year, and even the courts are closed on Fridays. And now Multnomah County (where Portland is) is going to hire a Klingon interpreter after having laid off numerous school teachers, police officers, and others people see as "more necessary" public servants. There's going to be a fight over this... I can't wait to see the outfall.