"Yeah, I guess that little "almost" in there is the 6.2 BILLION DOLLARS in grants and donations. I guess this is what prevents him from being "completely" focused on Microsoft's monopoly, right?"
Bill Gates does not run his foundation, his father does. So does his wife, the former manager of Microsoft "Bob".
"I'm not exactly a Microsoft apologist, but for you to sit there an dismiss such a huge amount of philanthropy as a PR campaign or tantamount to billionaire one-upmanship angers the shit outta me -- regardless of who's in question."
Why does that anger you? Are you Mr. Gates? The fact remains that Mr. Gates did not get on the philanthropic exploits until Ted Turner started mocking him in the press. Turner has given more (as a ratio to his wealth) than Mr. Gates has. Turner gave the proceeds without anyone guilt-tripping him over it. And Turner doesn't go around to countries asking them to give Time Warner any contracts when he writes out his donations. It is unfortunate for Turner that Time Warner stock has devaluated so much which is capping his ability to maintain his donation commitments.
"Maybe I'll be more inclined listen to you bitch when you donate 13% of your net worth to charity."
Excuse me, but you don't know me and you don't know the amount of money or time that I've committed to charities, thank you very much. Now, back to the discussion on Gates...
Couldn't the RIAA just subpoena (theoretically) all the ISPs to find out which IP addresses are accessing this program? From what I gather, this program might be able to mask the actual downloads, but the RIAA could still prove that someone's computer was attached to the network (vs. the RIAA currently being able to state the actual music files being shared). I think the other concern would be that since each user is helping to transmit data files between users, it is probable that users will be hitting the downloading/uploading caps some of the broadband providers are instituting.
And for another question to the readers: why aren't people renaming the file types of MP3s shared? People have been doing this with "adult-oriented files" to fool AOL, Yahoo, Tripod, and other providers for years (i.e. labeling an MPEG file as a TXT or Word file and then have the end user rename them once the download is completed)...
"I;ve seen both sides of the union fence and I like the non union side better."
I'm not advocating unions for all types of work. I absolutely despise the union that represents me, but my whole posting was about what we see happening in companies such as Wal-Mart that do everything in their power to prevent unionization. I prefer to view unions as necessary-evils to balance out such organizations as the previously mentioned example.
Uhm, no. Bill Gates did not participate in any philanthropic activities until Ted Turner started criticizing him. And a lot of it had to do with PR since Microsoft was taking a lot of flack over being a convicted monopolist. Aside from Corbis, Gates is almost completely focused on Microsoft; expanding Microsoft's monopoly. Allen funds whatever he thinks is interesting and/or can possibly make a profit. Allen is not concerned about expanding Microsoft's empire. Allen was the UNIX enthusiast at Microsoft when he was there, by the way. While its fine and dandy that Gates is paying for vaccinations, his company is also the organization that has the audacity to audit poorly funded schools and non-profits for licensing compliance on donated computers. Its much like Jack the Pumpkin King trying to take over Christmas, if you ask me...
"The controversy is endless and this corporation makes Microsoft and the RIAA look friendly."
The irony is (and which you did not note) that Wal-Mart is working WITH Microsoft AND the RIAA on this endeavour. That is a whole lot of evil manifest in one place!
No. Music Downloads from Walmart.com are not compatible with any Macintosh computer. The music that you download requires Digital Rights Management 9 (DRM 9) software, which is not compatible with the Macintosh operating system.
So I guess they figure that the people buying the pre-loaded Linux machines from walmart.com weren't going to be interested in buying digital music from them...
"Actually. what happened was they rounded up all the meat cutters and their families and had them ground up into patties, and then sold them prepackaged. The only part that I'm confused on is how they found anyone qualified to grind them up if they killed all the meat cutters."
Did they label the meat "Good Burger"? Just thought I'd ask...:)
"Take it from someone that works there...Wal-Mart is EVIL!!!! But it's no different from the thousands of other retailers...Cosco? K-Mart? and the job is a McJob...but what do you expect?"
For the record, Costco IS unionized AND they PAY MORE than Sams Club and Wal-Mart.
Your comment about the "why bother" with paying union dues at such a meager salary is the very reason why retailers like Wal-Mart can get away with abusing their employees. Sheesh, here in NorCal, we have supermarket cashieres (sic) making over $15/hr to do their job because they are unionized. Wake up and smell the Starbucks!
And this is coming from a Republican (me), no less. I at least have the sense of distinguishing between GOOD capitalism and the capitalism that is counterproductive for our country.
"So, using the same logic as the people who brought forth the original anti-trust suit, Apple has a monopoly in the OS market for Apple/ppc based computers."
Not quite. Apple hasn't crippled Yellow Dog Linux from running on Macs in each subsequent OS release (unlike what Microsoft has supposedly done to competing applications). I don't think they have a clause in their retailing agreements any restrictions on resellers bundling Yellow Dog with systems sold either. That would be similar to Microsoft's predatory practices. As it stands, Apple ships Macs with Safari AND Internet Explorer for yet another example of how Apple conducts itself differently from Microsoft...
"I'll buy from wherever is cheapest. If some guy is making minimum wage working for Wal-Mart, that's his business. If he doesn't want to be paid or feels he is being exploited, he can quit, change, form a union, get a lawyer, call the EEOC, file suit with the labor beauraus or whatever else he wants."
What a cop-out. A full-time employee SHOULD have health care coverage. That is one of the perks of full time employment. It is unethical that a company so profitable can deny benefits to their workers that most employed Americans take for granted. Wal-Mart pays their people so low that they actively encourage them to seek out food stamps which costs you and I (the tax payer) money that is supposed to be funding the unemployed. Wal-Mart also hires illegal aliens (ahem, "undocumented worker" in politically correct speak) so they can mistreat them because most illegals won't complain to the authorities.
It is just like Best Buy vs. the other electronics chains. Best Buy has caused Circuit City to eliminate commissioned employees. Best Buy brags about how nobody is on commission there, which is true if they only account for their sales people. Who they don't count are their managers who interfere with sales constantly and actually receive large bonuses that used to go to the sales staff. Best Buy makes their sales crews unload their trucks and essentially stock the shelves whereas Circuit had their own crew that did such things and not the sales staff. I'm sure this is a thing of the past at Circuit now. So there you have it, the Wal-Mart-esque Best Buy is causing its competitors to ape them in reducing staff wages and increasing their work duties. Consequently, this reduces the quality employees they all have and that hurts the customer experience.
And speaking as someone who has experience working retail, it is VERY hard to unionize. First off, in retail, there is a large share of part-time employees, mainly students, who generally aren't interested in "fighting the good fight." They are only a cut above the usual holiday staffers. They will rat out any unionizing sentiment for a free DVD. Second, companies such as Best Buy (and Wal-Mart) will simply close an entire store if unionization is successful. Apparently Best Buy shut down a store in Florida for the same reason. They waited two years to reopen in a location down the street from the old store. They evaded labor law by doing such shady activities.
Consumer antipathy (such as yours) is ruining retailing in America, which on the other hand will strengthen online retailing (much to the chagrin of states and local governments dependent upon sales taxes). It is kinda funny that what Marx wrote about managers in capitalism can be applied quite fittingly to a couple of large scale retailers here in America in the 21st Century...
Granted, I can't find myself crying over the fact that Microsoft will have to settle this out-of-court for probably $250 million in cold hard cash, not to mention EU penalties. Microsoft did penalize OEM's prior to the anti-trust settlement on bundling Real products as well as other software such as Netscape. It is a proven fact. However, as the chorus goes here on Slashdot, Real Player sucks. The video quality is sub-par at any level. If Apple would only stop charging for full-screen QuickTime, we'd all be better off and there would be more migration to QuickTime. Perhaps Apple should just take Real over and migrate the subscription services directly over to QuickTime and then concentrate on getting QuickTime shipped on every PC sold...
"Ah, but you're forgetting that QuickTime comes with OSX - I'm sure there's ground for MS to have an anticompetitive stab at them..."
Ah, but Apple only has 3% of the total personal computer market so it does not matter at all because that is not a monopoly under the wider market definition. Same goes with bundling Apple's iChat with OS X. Its not even a proprietary Apple product because it is just AIM with a few other features included. Again, 3% market share. On the other hand, Microsoft controls 94% of the operating system market and bundles an IM client as well as a media player directly with the OS. Now let's compare that again, 94% vs. 3%. You do the math.
"is BOINC really the best acronym they could come up with?"
I hope the screensaver program opens with the noise made by the power droids of the original *Star Wars* movie (Episode IV - A New Hope)...the power droids would walk around and say "bonk!"
My CPU runs 5 degrees Centigrade hotter when running seti@home than if a basic screensaver is running.
Are you really complaining on Slashdot about increased wear and tear on your computer purchases? Are you really going to use your same hardware for more than 5 years? Because if not, then all you are doing is increasing your computer's efficiency by making it do work even when you yourself have nothing to give your own computer to do. You'd be better to complain about higher utility bill costs instead...
"That I've had with friends - why the hell are you using your computer to look for little green men...when they could be running something like the UD Cancer Project."
I've encountered the same thing, but unfortunately for UD (United Devices), they limited themselves by only centering on the WinTel platform. For the longest, their website referred to the x86 platform as "Intel." They wouldn't say "Intel-compatible" or even mention AMD. So sure, I could've went ahead and downloaded their client and tried it, but I didn't want to take the chance of submitting completed work units with errors due to my computers using AMD chips. (the same goes for overclocking with SETI@home).
United Devices still does not support Mac OSX, and the last time I checked they didn't support Linux on x86. There are plenty of distributed computing platforms that are more universal so UD is doing this to their own selves.
I'm hoping BOINC will be released with support for the G5 and the AMD64 chips...
I take that back on the term "cloaking device." Too Americanized with the *Star Trek* and *Star Wars* cannons. How about if I say "chamelion circuit" instead? (judging from your spelling of "civilisations" and "colonisation" you might be British so a *Doctor Who* reference would be in order...).:)
"So where are the probes? Where are the space stations?"
To qute Lord Vader, "all too easy." Ever heard of a *cloaking device*? Perhaps outer space is just as dangerous as here on Earth with various factions fighting one another. We encrypt data all the time on this planet and go to great lengths to make aircraft undetectable to our own devices, let alone the devices of beings not of our species.
"The problem of why ET would not have visited us is a serious one (the Fermi Paradox), and is a compelling argument for SETI being a waste of time. Lack of visits implies that either there are ETs out there and not one of them is even slightly interested in space flight (the entire galaxy could be colonised at sublight speeds within tens of millions of years), or that there are none there at all."
Wait a sec. Your comment about "lack of visits" should be clarified. It is quite conceivable that extra terrestrials have visited Earth without one being labeled as a "tin foil hat" brigade. Just because no aliens have landed in New York City near the U.N. and asked to be *taken to our leader* does not mean they haven't been here. It is not hard to believe that aliens would conduct themselves like our own Special Ops does; sneak in and sneak out with as little detection as possible. This is highly probable since a single alien ship landing on our planet would be outnumbered greatly by the amount of humans (5 billion?) and any one of us could be labeled as "hostile."
From what I gather, you are from the school of thought that complains about not having any tangible evidence in your hand of a visitation to our planet. But let's use a *real world* example to show how foolish that is. There are numerous items that our Department of Defense builds each year that have no real paper trail due to being part of the "black projects" (and I'm not talking about flying UFOs at Area 51 but *actual* classified weapons). Just because you don't have access to those records does not mean that they don't exist.
And as for the Fermi Paradox, that's nice to try to explain extra terrestrials with, but you are judging alleged advanced beings by our own scientific knowledge. If you rely upon that, in 100 years you might look as foolish as the people who claimed if a human drove a car faster than 35 mph they'd die, or even better, a Biblical passage where Joshua commands the sun to stand still...
make up your mind!
on
Global Dimming
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
First we have global warming with ozone depletion and excess greenhouses and polar ice meltdowns, then we hear news about another ice age setting in and/or being counter-acted, etc., and now we have global dimming as well? Hey scientific community, make up your minds and let's keep it to one planetary apocalypse at a time!:)
So, what happens if SCO were to purchase Optima Technology? I'd be willing to bet they could get a new licensing fee from Microsoft to help them in their other legal pursuits...
"I am starting to think that this sue-crazy atmosphere that just gets thicker and thicker with lawyers will be the downfall of Western Civilization."
You missed your chance at extra Slashdot points by not mentioning the obvious CD burning software called "NERO" which would've been funny considering the subject line of your post...
"I'm in the same boat. I've tried time and time again to get put on the e-billing system for all of my Comcast services and failed each and EVERY time."
Just don't even bother trying their e-billing. When you "feel" like paying them (like the day before they shut off your service), call up their telephone number and do a payment over the phone. You can do it without having to speak to customer service.
I too am fed up with Comcast. I liked AT&T Broadband and I was against the buyout. Unfortunately in my area (like most of the U.S.), there isn't another cable modem competitor. I've had DSL before and was dissatisfied with the service and the speed.
I would like to dump Comcast for television, keep them for the cable modem service, switch to DirecTV for programming, and use a VoIP service like Vonage for my phone. Unfortunately, I haven't yet checked with DirecTV to see if their set-top boxes will work with VoIP or a home network to bypass their stupid telephone line connection...
Slashdot Mirror
"Yeah, I guess that little "almost" in there is the 6.2 BILLION DOLLARS in grants and donations. I guess this is what prevents him from being "completely" focused on Microsoft's monopoly, right?"
Bill Gates does not run his foundation, his father does. So does his wife, the former manager of Microsoft "Bob".
"I'm not exactly a Microsoft apologist, but for you to sit there an dismiss such a huge amount of philanthropy as a PR campaign or tantamount to billionaire one-upmanship angers the shit outta me -- regardless of who's in question."
Why does that anger you? Are you Mr. Gates? The fact remains that Mr. Gates did not get on the philanthropic exploits until Ted Turner started mocking him in the press. Turner has given more (as a ratio to his wealth) than Mr. Gates has. Turner gave the proceeds without anyone guilt-tripping him over it. And Turner doesn't go around to countries asking them to give Time Warner any contracts when he writes out his donations. It is unfortunate for Turner that Time Warner stock has devaluated so much which is capping his ability to maintain his donation commitments.
"Maybe I'll be more inclined listen to you bitch when you donate 13% of your net worth to charity."
Excuse me, but you don't know me and you don't know the amount of money or time that I've committed to charities, thank you very much. Now, back to the discussion on Gates...
Couldn't the RIAA just subpoena (theoretically) all the ISPs to find out which IP addresses are accessing this program? From what I gather, this program might be able to mask the actual downloads, but the RIAA could still prove that someone's computer was attached to the network (vs. the RIAA currently being able to state the actual music files being shared). I think the other concern would be that since each user is helping to transmit data files between users, it is probable that users will be hitting the downloading/uploading caps some of the broadband providers are instituting.
And for another question to the readers: why aren't people renaming the file types of MP3s shared? People have been doing this with "adult-oriented files" to fool AOL, Yahoo, Tripod, and other providers for years (i.e. labeling an MPEG file as a TXT or Word file and then have the end user rename them once the download is completed)...
"I am nobody...therefore...."
:)
Someone apparently has a Ulysses complex...
"I;ve seen both sides of the union fence and I like the non union side better."
I'm not advocating unions for all types of work. I absolutely despise the union that represents me, but my whole posting was about what we see happening in companies such as Wal-Mart that do everything in their power to prevent unionization. I prefer to view unions as necessary-evils to balance out such organizations as the previously mentioned example.
"Ahh, you mean like set up something like this?"
Uhm, no. Bill Gates did not participate in any philanthropic activities until Ted Turner started criticizing him. And a lot of it had to do with PR since Microsoft was taking a lot of flack over being a convicted monopolist. Aside from Corbis, Gates is almost completely focused on Microsoft; expanding Microsoft's monopoly. Allen funds whatever he thinks is interesting and/or can possibly make a profit. Allen is not concerned about expanding Microsoft's empire. Allen was the UNIX enthusiast at Microsoft when he was there, by the way. While its fine and dandy that Gates is paying for vaccinations, his company is also the organization that has the audacity to audit poorly funded schools and non-profits for licensing compliance on donated computers. Its much like Jack the Pumpkin King trying to take over Christmas, if you ask me...
Why can't Bill Gates be more like Paul Allen and then more people would actually like him? Or maybe more like Sir Richard Branson... Just a thought...
"The controversy is endless and this corporation makes Microsoft and the RIAA look friendly."
The irony is (and which you did not note) that Wal-Mart is working WITH Microsoft AND the RIAA on this endeavour. That is a whole lot of evil manifest in one place!
No. Music Downloads from Walmart.com are not compatible with any Macintosh computer. The music that you download requires Digital Rights Management 9 (DRM 9) software, which is not compatible with the Macintosh operating system.
So I guess they figure that the people buying the pre-loaded Linux machines from walmart.com weren't going to be interested in buying digital music from them...
"Actually. what happened was they rounded up all the meat cutters and their families and had them ground up into patties, and then sold them prepackaged. The only part that I'm confused on is how they found anyone qualified to grind them up if they killed all the meat cutters."
:)
Did they label the meat "Good Burger"? Just thought I'd ask...
"Take it from someone that works there...Wal-Mart is EVIL!!!! But it's no different from the thousands of other retailers...Cosco? K-Mart? and the job is a McJob...but what do you expect?"
For the record, Costco IS unionized AND they PAY MORE than Sams Club and Wal-Mart.
Your comment about the "why bother" with paying union dues at such a meager salary is the very reason why retailers like Wal-Mart can get away with abusing their employees. Sheesh, here in NorCal, we have supermarket cashieres (sic) making over $15/hr to do their job because they are unionized. Wake up and smell the Starbucks!
And this is coming from a Republican (me), no less. I at least have the sense of distinguishing between GOOD capitalism and the capitalism that is counterproductive for our country.
"So, using the same logic as the people who brought forth the original anti-trust suit, Apple has a monopoly in the OS market for Apple/ppc based computers."
Not quite. Apple hasn't crippled Yellow Dog Linux from running on Macs in each subsequent OS release (unlike what Microsoft has supposedly done to competing applications). I don't think they have a clause in their retailing agreements any restrictions on resellers bundling Yellow Dog with systems sold either. That would be similar to Microsoft's predatory practices. As it stands, Apple ships Macs with Safari AND Internet Explorer for yet another example of how Apple conducts itself differently from Microsoft...
"I'll buy from wherever is cheapest. If some guy is making minimum wage working for Wal-Mart, that's his business. If he doesn't want to be paid or feels he is being exploited, he can quit, change, form a union, get a lawyer, call the EEOC, file suit with the labor beauraus or whatever else he wants."
What a cop-out. A full-time employee SHOULD have health care coverage. That is one of the perks of full time employment. It is unethical that a company so profitable can deny benefits to their workers that most employed Americans take for granted. Wal-Mart pays their people so low that they actively encourage them to seek out food stamps which costs you and I (the tax payer) money that is supposed to be funding the unemployed. Wal-Mart also hires illegal aliens (ahem, "undocumented worker" in politically correct speak) so they can mistreat them because most illegals won't complain to the authorities.
It is just like Best Buy vs. the other electronics chains. Best Buy has caused Circuit City to eliminate commissioned employees. Best Buy brags about how nobody is on commission there, which is true if they only account for their sales people. Who they don't count are their managers who interfere with sales constantly and actually receive large bonuses that used to go to the sales staff. Best Buy makes their sales crews unload their trucks and essentially stock the shelves whereas Circuit had their own crew that did such things and not the sales staff. I'm sure this is a thing of the past at Circuit now. So there you have it, the Wal-Mart-esque Best Buy is causing its competitors to ape them in reducing staff wages and increasing their work duties. Consequently, this reduces the quality employees they all have and that hurts the customer experience.
And speaking as someone who has experience working retail, it is VERY hard to unionize. First off, in retail, there is a large share of part-time employees, mainly students, who generally aren't interested in "fighting the good fight." They are only a cut above the usual holiday staffers. They will rat out any unionizing sentiment for a free DVD. Second, companies such as Best Buy (and Wal-Mart) will simply close an entire store if unionization is successful. Apparently Best Buy shut down a store in Florida for the same reason. They waited two years to reopen in a location down the street from the old store. They evaded labor law by doing such shady activities.
Consumer antipathy (such as yours) is ruining retailing in America, which on the other hand will strengthen online retailing (much to the chagrin of states and local governments dependent upon sales taxes). It is kinda funny that what Marx wrote about managers in capitalism can be applied quite fittingly to a couple of large scale retailers here in America in the 21st Century...
Granted, I can't find myself crying over the fact that Microsoft will have to settle this out-of-court for probably $250 million in cold hard cash, not to mention EU penalties. Microsoft did penalize OEM's prior to the anti-trust settlement on bundling Real products as well as other software such as Netscape. It is a proven fact. However, as the chorus goes here on Slashdot, Real Player sucks. The video quality is sub-par at any level. If Apple would only stop charging for full-screen QuickTime, we'd all be better off and there would be more migration to QuickTime. Perhaps Apple should just take Real over and migrate the subscription services directly over to QuickTime and then concentrate on getting QuickTime shipped on every PC sold...
"Ah, but you're forgetting that QuickTime comes with OSX - I'm sure there's ground for MS to have an anticompetitive stab at them..."
Ah, but Apple only has 3% of the total personal computer market so it does not matter at all because that is not a monopoly under the wider market definition. Same goes with bundling Apple's iChat with OS X. Its not even a proprietary Apple product because it is just AIM with a few other features included. Again, 3% market share. On the other hand, Microsoft controls 94% of the operating system market and bundles an IM client as well as a media player directly with the OS. Now let's compare that again, 94% vs. 3%. You do the math.
"is BOINC really the best acronym they could come up with?"
i d/ index.html
I hope the screensaver program opens with the noise made by the power droids of the original *Star Wars* movie (Episode IV - A New Hope)...the power droids would walk around and say "bonk!"
http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid/powerdro
My CPU runs 5 degrees Centigrade hotter when running seti@home than if a basic screensaver is running.
Are you really complaining on Slashdot about increased wear and tear on your computer purchases? Are you really going to use your same hardware for more than 5 years? Because if not, then all you are doing is increasing your computer's efficiency by making it do work even when you yourself have nothing to give your own computer to do. You'd be better to complain about higher utility bill costs instead...
"That I've had with friends - why the hell are you using your computer to look for little green men...when they could be running something like the UD Cancer Project."
I've encountered the same thing, but unfortunately for UD (United Devices), they limited themselves by only centering on the WinTel platform. For the longest, their website referred to the x86 platform as "Intel." They wouldn't say "Intel-compatible" or even mention AMD. So sure, I could've went ahead and downloaded their client and tried it, but I didn't want to take the chance of submitting completed work units with errors due to my computers using AMD chips. (the same goes for overclocking with SETI@home).
United Devices still does not support Mac OSX, and the last time I checked they didn't support Linux on x86. There are plenty of distributed computing platforms that are more universal so UD is doing this to their own selves.
I'm hoping BOINC will be released with support for the G5 and the AMD64 chips...
I take that back on the term "cloaking device." Too Americanized with the *Star Trek* and *Star Wars* cannons. How about if I say "chamelion circuit" instead? (judging from your spelling of "civilisations" and "colonisation" you might be British so a *Doctor Who* reference would be in order...). :)
"So where are the probes? Where are the space stations?"
To qute Lord Vader, "all too easy." Ever heard of a *cloaking device*? Perhaps outer space is just as dangerous as here on Earth with various factions fighting one another. We encrypt data all the time on this planet and go to great lengths to make aircraft undetectable to our own devices, let alone the devices of beings not of our species.
"The problem of why ET would not have visited us is a serious one (the Fermi Paradox), and is a compelling argument for SETI being a waste of time. Lack of visits implies that either there are ETs out there and not one of them is even slightly interested in space flight (the entire galaxy could be colonised at sublight speeds within tens of millions of years), or that there are none there at all."
Wait a sec. Your comment about "lack of visits" should be clarified. It is quite conceivable that extra terrestrials have visited Earth without one being labeled as a "tin foil hat" brigade. Just because no aliens have landed in New York City near the U.N. and asked to be *taken to our leader* does not mean they haven't been here. It is not hard to believe that aliens would conduct themselves like our own Special Ops does; sneak in and sneak out with as little detection as possible. This is highly probable since a single alien ship landing on our planet would be outnumbered greatly by the amount of humans (5 billion?) and any one of us could be labeled as "hostile."
From what I gather, you are from the school of thought that complains about not having any tangible evidence in your hand of a visitation to our planet. But let's use a *real world* example to show how foolish that is. There are numerous items that our Department of Defense builds each year that have no real paper trail due to being part of the "black projects" (and I'm not talking about flying UFOs at Area 51 but *actual* classified weapons). Just because you don't have access to those records does not mean that they don't exist.
And as for the Fermi Paradox, that's nice to try to explain extra terrestrials with, but you are judging alleged advanced beings by our own scientific knowledge. If you rely upon that, in 100 years you might look as foolish as the people who claimed if a human drove a car faster than 35 mph they'd die, or even better, a Biblical passage where Joshua commands the sun to stand still...
First we have global warming with ozone depletion and excess greenhouses and polar ice meltdowns, then we hear news about another ice age setting in and/or being counter-acted, etc., and now we have global dimming as well? Hey scientific community, make up your minds and let's keep it to one planetary apocalypse at a time! :)
So, what happens if SCO were to purchase Optima Technology? I'd be willing to bet they could get a new licensing fee from Microsoft to help them in their other legal pursuits...
"I am starting to think that this sue-crazy atmosphere that just gets thicker and thicker with lawyers will be the downfall of Western Civilization."
You missed your chance at extra Slashdot points by not mentioning the obvious CD burning software called "NERO" which would've been funny considering the subject line of your post...
"I'm in the same boat. I've tried time and time again to get put on the e-billing system for all of my Comcast services and failed each and EVERY time."
Just don't even bother trying their e-billing. When you "feel" like paying them (like the day before they shut off your service), call up their telephone number and do a payment over the phone. You can do it without having to speak to customer service.
I too am fed up with Comcast. I liked AT&T Broadband and I was against the buyout. Unfortunately in my area (like most of the U.S.), there isn't another cable modem competitor. I've had DSL before and was dissatisfied with the service and the speed.
I would like to dump Comcast for television, keep them for the cable modem service, switch to DirecTV for programming, and use a VoIP service like Vonage for my phone. Unfortunately, I haven't yet checked with DirecTV to see if their set-top boxes will work with VoIP or a home network to bypass their stupid telephone line connection...
...although I never pay my bill on time so what do I know? :)