Other than the naughty bit about paying his pet doctor $7 for each non-exam script, this was a stand-up guy. He did exactly what he claimed he would. How many so-called spammers out there can say that? This guy had _thousands_ of satisified, repeat customers. Nobody was getting ripped off, in fact I'd wager the majority of the scripts that were filled were cheaper to the customer than if they went to Walgreens/Target/whatever and had it filled.
This guy SAVED the health industry millions and he's demonized for fraud. Fraud? In what way? How did he defraud customers? Didn't he supply them with exactly what they were ordering at a fraction of the usual cost?
Spamming? How is he different than Ford or GM putting their commercials on every 6 minutes during your prime time show?
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It wouldn't take much to turn this guy into a modern day Robin Hood. You all act like he's satan incarnate, in reality it's nothing but a very successful businessman with an overly invasive advertising scheme (but no spyware or adware!) who gave his customers exactly what they wanted at a price both parties were happy with.
How many other businesses can match that?
My problem is that they patented a *concept*, per se. This is just so wrong.
It's like someone coming along with a better way to make ammonia, at 1/4 of the current cost. So they go to the patent office and instead of patenting "making ammonia using A, B & C using process X", they patent "making ammonia cheaper than any thing else out on the market at this time." Bull, bull, bullshit.
When I say I don't understand how they were awarded a patent for the general idea of this, I'm not saying "please someone explain how this is legal", I'm saying this is *wrong, and our system is *broken. We need to fix it now before the fix entails storing M16's in the loft at your uncle's farm and your neighbors and you form resistance cells.
How can I "innovate" on this? How can I do the same concept but in a different way? Our patent system is giving them the general concept of an idea, without the ability for us to innovate or offer alternatives. Does this seem wrong to anyone else, or am I crazy? Patents should be protection on the technology itself, not on a 30,000 foot grand view of it all.
Somedays, the one thing I wish for more than anything is if we could bring a couple people out of time and to the present, and let them see what is going on around here, to see how the incredible invention they wrought that's called America has twisted into a self-immolating machine run on the greed for money and power. Bring in Jefferson, or Adams, or a few others forward in time and let them see what is going on. I would hope they would put a damn righteous smack-down on our so-called leaders for doing this.
This is just another sign of the times, and I am really starting to dislike these times.
Hmmm, I guess it's not coming through or something.
Regardless of what happens (and someone can spout off about Super-DCMA or whatever flavour of craziness is hot this week), traditional music revenues are going to plummet. With MP3's, Oggs, a CDRW in every machine on the planet and portable players under $40US, the ~$20 CD @ Best Buy model isn't cutting it and the producers (and the hundred middlemen) aren't going to make the same amount of cash. Pure and simple. RIAA can't put the genie back in the bottle, no matter how much they demand reality to shape itself to their wailings. If your business model depends on the genie being in the bottle, then you need to convince the genie to move in to new digs. Apple started their little online music store at 99 cents a song in a not-as-hostile-as-everyone-else's format (but let's be honest here, still not good enough), and the genie took a microstep to his new bottle. He more leaned in the direction of it that anything else. But it's a start.
RIAA better give a shit, too. The new bottle the genie needs to move in to will not say "Property of RIAA" on the bottom of it like our parents generation's did.
And finally, while the same amount of cash may flow, per unit prices won't be the same, I guarantee it. I really think the days of the CD in a plastic case with some folded up cover art to look at while you listen to your one good track + 65 more minutes of filler are at a close. I don't want to pay $20 for that, and I'm not going to. To borrow a few of Eminem's words, there's a million people just like me, who listen to music just like me, who download just like me. Ironic, considering his Baghdad Bob approach to the reality of digital music downloads.
If RIAA thought Napster/Gnucleus/Kazaa/etc took a bite out of their sales, wait until they see what peeps selling music online will do.
I guarantee it - a successful business model selling music/tracks online will utterly destroy the current model of ~$20 CD's sold at Best Buy.
AMD's speed rating system is excellent. On average, AMD has _undercut_ the speed rating by 100-200mhz.
Yes, you can probably pick out a few benchmarks that rely heavily on SSE2 so your precious P4 can "whomp" on an AthlonXP with the equivelent speed rating. (realize, whomp usually = beat by 5-10%)
I can also pick out ten standard benchmarks for each one of yours that show the speed rating equiv. AthlonXP whomping your P4.
----
Don't get me wrong, I'm not an AMD booster, nor do I own _any_ of their stock. I'm just sensitive to peeps ripping on AMD's speed rating system - they did the best they could and they even put in plenty of margin for cranky people like you.
This should send (yet another) wake up call to the music industry. Online music trading is so pervasive only because it beats the hell out of paying $18US for a music cd.
This is merely a step in the right direction - this is by no means perfect or even viable long term. I don't give this good chances over time - a pioneer is the guy (or gal) laying in the field with an arrow in their back. But, it's a start, and maybe it'll whack some of the riaa/mpaa execs with a cluebat.
Consider the AthlonMP line dead. Sorry if you feel screwed, but it was never very effective. It makes no sense for AMD to put another dollar towards the AthlonMP line. AMD has has a very weak MP lineup for as long as I know, so releasing the MP Hammer (Opteron) first made alot of sense, shoring up where they are weakest first.
It also makes alot of sense for them to stop the AthlonXP line with the 3200 or so (no more major jumps).
The Athlon64/Opteron line is the entire farm, and AMD is betting it all. So far it looks really, really good. Twelve months from now, we'll probably know if AMD is going go bankrupt or get their stock back up to the $40 range. (currently trading around $8.50, fyi).
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Other than the naughty bit about paying his pet doctor $7 for each non-exam script, this was a stand-up guy. He did exactly what he claimed he would. How many so-called spammers out there can say that? This guy had _thousands_ of satisified, repeat customers. Nobody was getting ripped off, in fact I'd wager the majority of the scripts that were filled were cheaper to the customer than if they went to Walgreens/Target/whatever and had it filled. This guy SAVED the health industry millions and he's demonized for fraud. Fraud? In what way? How did he defraud customers? Didn't he supply them with exactly what they were ordering at a fraction of the usual cost? Spamming? How is he different than Ford or GM putting their commercials on every 6 minutes during your prime time show? --- It wouldn't take much to turn this guy into a modern day Robin Hood. You all act like he's satan incarnate, in reality it's nothing but a very successful businessman with an overly invasive advertising scheme (but no spyware or adware!) who gave his customers exactly what they wanted at a price both parties were happy with. How many other businesses can match that?
My problem is that they patented a *concept*, per se. This is just so wrong.
It's like someone coming along with a better way to make ammonia, at 1/4 of the current cost. So they go to the patent office and instead of patenting "making ammonia using A, B & C using process X", they patent "making ammonia cheaper than any thing else out on the market at this time." Bull, bull, bullshit.
When I say I don't understand how they were awarded a patent for the general idea of this, I'm not saying "please someone explain how this is legal", I'm saying this is *wrong, and our system is *broken. We need to fix it now before the fix entails storing M16's in the loft at your uncle's farm and your neighbors and you form resistance cells.
How can I "innovate" on this? How can I do the same concept but in a different way? Our patent system is giving them the general concept of an idea, without the ability for us to innovate or offer alternatives. Does this seem wrong to anyone else, or am I crazy?
Patents should be protection on the technology itself, not on a 30,000 foot grand view of it all.
Somedays, the one thing I wish for more than anything is if we could bring a couple people out of time and to the present, and let them see what is going on around here, to see how the incredible invention they wrought that's called America has twisted into a self-immolating machine run on the greed for money and power. Bring in Jefferson, or Adams, or a few others forward in time and let them see what is going on. I would hope they would put a damn righteous smack-down on our so-called leaders for doing this.
This is just another sign of the times, and I am really starting to dislike these times.
Hmmm, I guess it's not coming through or something.
Regardless of what happens (and someone can spout off about Super-DCMA or whatever flavour of craziness is hot this week), traditional music revenues are going to plummet. With MP3's, Oggs, a CDRW in every machine on the planet and portable players under $40US, the ~$20 CD @ Best Buy model isn't cutting it and the producers (and the hundred middlemen) aren't going to make the same amount of cash. Pure and simple. RIAA can't put the genie back in the bottle, no matter how much they demand reality to shape itself to their wailings. If your business model depends on the genie being in the bottle, then you need to convince the genie to move in to new digs. Apple started their little online music store at 99 cents a song in a not-as-hostile-as-everyone-else's format (but let's be honest here, still not good enough), and the genie took a microstep to his new bottle. He more leaned in the direction of it that anything else. But it's a start.
RIAA better give a shit, too. The new bottle the genie needs to move in to will not say "Property of RIAA" on the bottom of it like our parents generation's did.
And finally, while the same amount of cash may flow, per unit prices won't be the same, I guarantee it. I really think the days of the CD in a plastic case with some folded up cover art to look at while you listen to your one good track + 65 more minutes of filler are at a close. I don't want to pay $20 for that, and I'm not going to. To borrow a few of Eminem's words, there's a million people just like me, who listen to music just like me, who download just like me. Ironic, considering his Baghdad Bob approach to the reality of digital music downloads.
If RIAA thought Napster/Gnucleus/Kazaa/etc took a bite out of their sales, wait until they see what peeps selling music online will do. I guarantee it - a successful business model selling music/tracks online will utterly destroy the current model of ~$20 CD's sold at Best Buy.
AMD's speed rating system is excellent. On average, AMD has _undercut_ the speed rating by 100-200mhz. Yes, you can probably pick out a few benchmarks that rely heavily on SSE2 so your precious P4 can "whomp" on an AthlonXP with the equivelent speed rating. (realize, whomp usually = beat by 5-10%) I can also pick out ten standard benchmarks for each one of yours that show the speed rating equiv. AthlonXP whomping your P4. ---- Don't get me wrong, I'm not an AMD booster, nor do I own _any_ of their stock. I'm just sensitive to peeps ripping on AMD's speed rating system - they did the best they could and they even put in plenty of margin for cranky people like you.
This should send (yet another) wake up call to the music industry. Online music trading is so pervasive only because it beats the hell out of paying $18US for a music cd. This is merely a step in the right direction - this is by no means perfect or even viable long term. I don't give this good chances over time - a pioneer is the guy (or gal) laying in the field with an arrow in their back. But, it's a start, and maybe it'll whack some of the riaa/mpaa execs with a cluebat.
Consider the AthlonMP line dead. Sorry if you feel screwed, but it was never very effective. It makes no sense for AMD to put another dollar towards the AthlonMP line. AMD has has a very weak MP lineup for as long as I know, so releasing the MP Hammer (Opteron) first made alot of sense, shoring up where they are weakest first.
It also makes alot of sense for them to stop the AthlonXP line with the 3200 or so (no more major jumps).
The Athlon64/Opteron line is the entire farm, and AMD is betting it all. So far it looks really, really good. Twelve months from now, we'll probably know if AMD is going go bankrupt or get their stock back up to the $40 range. (currently trading around $8.50, fyi).