Thank you for pointing out what should have been made know in the article. I've read two stories about this today on web site; neither one bothered to mention her political party. If she were Republican, it would have been (properly) affixed after her name in brackets.
And the person who responded to you that she's "probably" a Democrat in name only is just trying to justify his own world view.
The issue here is the 2011 MacBook Pro release, not the one you have. If I paid from $1200 to $2500 for a laptop, I kind of hope it...works.
The companies that have problems with build quality, both hardware and software, SHOULD take heat from consumers about defective products. When Microsoft released Vista, Apple ran with the "Vista Sucks" (I'm a Mac) ads for more than a year. What goes around, come around...
There is another reason for governments to escheat funds that I haven't seen posted. It is a fact that governments make a tidy sum of money off of these transactions, as many escheated funds are never claimed. For some governments, it is a material source of revenues.
For that reason, governments are not aggressive in alerting taxpayers that they are holding their funds. Some US states have an on line mechanism for submitting a claim, and most government put a legal notice in a paper once a year, but the actual process to secure such funds tends to be complex (due to security concerns) and lengthy (because we're dealing with the government, after all).
I personally see it as a fight between two entities (the corporate world v. the government), neither of which is thrilled about giving you your money back...
What does it matter if he's an apple or windows guy?
Well, it's pretty damn obvious you live in Germany, because if you lived in the material-obsessed and politically correct wasteland the US is becoming, the answer would be obvious...
I am curious about how you claim these deductions on your tax return. Are you deducting them on Schedule C (Sole Proprietorship) or Schedule A (Itemized Deductions)? If you are deducting them on Schedule C, I ask you to talk to your tax preparer about the IRS Hobby-Loss Rules. If you are deducting them on Schedule A, are you a non-profit organization as specified under Code Section 501(c), or directly working for one? If you are, I see nothing wrong with (most) of what you're attempting to deduct (although computers are considered "listed property" so you should be prepared to generate a log to prove no personal use, and your deduction of your primary telephone line could be problematic).
I'm not trying to attack you, I've never done a return for a FOSS developer, so I haven't done the research. I'm just trying to figure out which way your preparer is coming from to get you the deductions, it's not passing my "smell test" so far. Is there a Private Letter Ruling your preparer is relying on (remember that PLRs do not have the force and effect of IRS code or regulations)?
My question to the Slashdot community involves claiming this work as volunteering for tax purposes. Have any of you had any success with releasing free software and then writing off your time when April 15 rolls around?"
How exactly do you propose writing off your time? As a charitable deduction? On Schedule C (Sole Propietorhip Income & Loss)? No matter...I don't think the IRS will let you deduct this either way.
Generally, self-provided services are not eligible for charitable deduction, ditto Schedule C. It makes sense if you think about it. When you take a deduction on Schedule C, someone else must pick up income. If you were the creator of the labor "sold", you created both the income and deduction. If the IRS were to allow you to take a labor deduction for your own services on Schedule C, it logically would figure that you'd also have to include the income that resulted from such deduction, either also on Schedule C, or on Form 1040, Line 7 (the W-2 line).
Dell and HP have been minorly annoyed by Microsoft over the years, but the way Microsoft screwed the Vista release has to have both companies majorly pissed off. Especially irratating has to be that they're not supposed to sell Windows XP anymore to corporate accounts that insist on it.
If either one of these companies produce a commercial Linux on their own, they will fail miserably, because they will just be one company v. the rest of the industry. But if HP and Dell could pool resources to create a commercial Linux, they would almost immediately become a major force. Developers would gladly follow to give them another avenue besides Microsoft to sell their wares.
Microsoft will really need to watch its ass in the near future in order to avoid becoming irrelevant.
I had a couple of them...one disk based, another cartridge based. While they weren't bad, they didn't help Peachtree, which used random access to store its data (sorry, the sands of time clog my feeble memory). Also, by the time the really good accelerator cartridges came out, I had upgraded to an Amiga 1000 and a $950 40 MEG SCSI HD (ah, to be young and stupid again...).
I was out of college 3 years working in a small CPA firm when I started doing tax returns on the side with my C-64 (Quick Return, tax years 1983 through 1985). I barely did enough returns to pay for the software, mostly for relatives, but the tax program was professional strength and worked quite well. My boss, who had an Apple III with the HUGE 5 mb hard drive, used an Apple tax program that crashed frequently, usually resulting in loss of data. I would have volunteered my hardware/software but, of course, the moron would have fired me on the spot for competing against him. So, I basically sat near the computer, and cracked up every time he started cursing at it.
My favorite business software for the C-64 was Peachtree Accounting (yep, THAT Peachtree). With the massive speed of the dual 1541 drives (!), it would take nearly a minute PER TRANSACTION to save an entered check or deposit. By the time you entered a year's worth of activity, it was next year.
BTW, did anyone mention my favorite C-64 game? M*U*L*E
This may defeat of purpose of cheap Raman noodles, but Wyler may still sell Instant Bouillion and Seasoning Shakers. The old jar I have in my cupboard indicates NO MSG added. Of course, it does contain partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, so using it instead of the included packets doesn't make you take a detour on Heart Attack Highway...
Well, Microsoft made Vista, and they made Zune, so why should you have to resort to hacks to get it working? Grandma won't know how to run an application in "Windows XP compatibility mode". Think of the poor users; not everyone is a geek.
You know, I can't see Grandma squirting "My Humps" to Steve Balmer; I don't think she's in the target market...
These cabs are driverless...what's to keep passengers from having sex and urinating/defecating in them? At least, with privately owned taxis, the owner will occasionally hose out the back seat...
I applaud Warner Home Video for trying this "experiment".
DVDs are a discretionary purchase. Consumers in every country have an individual price point where they will buy a DVD because the price is reasonable for the limited entertainment value it provides. I believe, in the US, that the optimum price point is about $5. Look at how many DVDs Wal-Mart sells at that price point.
The question, of course, is where is the optimum price point for DVDs to sell in China, given its consumers' standard of living. I believe WHV is on the right track here.
A quick personal note: I bought 6 old John Wayne films earlier this week for $5 each. How many would I have purchased if they were $10 each? None...
"The problem isn't that they charge for their product. The problem is that Linspire markets their product as a bait-and-switch scheme. You buy ubercheap PC, get it home, switch it on, and...surprise... we'll give you some software as soon as you pay an extra $50.
Any distro, pay or not, would be preferrable to Linspire. Linspire is a scam. For crying out loud....they try to sell a freakin virus scanner to their clueless users. They put the stupid thing right on the desktop panel to annoy them into paying up, to make them think it's the equivalent of NortonAV or Symantec. WTF is up with that!?!?!"
The only thing I agree with you on is WTF, as in WTF don't you understand?
First off, that Linspire computer you bring home has a fully functioning version of Linux on it. Uncomment the sources file, and you can use apt-get.
If you like Linspire and want to use Click-N-Run (and if you don't want to use it, you're probably better off with another distro), you have two options, one for $20 annually (unlimited use of C-N-R), and $50 (includes all OS updates and discounts on commercial linux software). They're not charging for free software; they're charging for the time involved in compiling and including the appropriate packages, so installing a program doesn't pooch your system. I consider that a fair deal.
What is your problem with them offering AV software? You don't have to buy it and with one click of the mouse, you'll never see the system tray icon again. As explained by Kevin Carmony, they offer it because several important commercial clients requested it. And, thanks to the recent creation of a virus (concept only at this stage) that can attack both Windows and linux, maybe an AV program isn't so silly after all.
I guess the biggest lie that got my back up was you calling their practices a scam and 'bait and switch'. That is simply unfair due to what I've explained above. You want 'bait and switch'? Buy a Compaq or Dell; you'll find out the AV software is only good for 90 days; to continue usually costs $30-$40 bucks.
Okay, Linspire isn't for you; I can accept that. It wasn't designed for you. But, if you have any intelligence at all, you'd know not to go around spreading FUD. Linspire isn't your enemy; it's a commercial distribution that gives back to the OSS community. Deal with it.
"I don't think anybody ever thought it wasn't linux, just that it was a CRAPPY version of linux."
That's bullshit-ese for "they dare to charge for their product".
I've been using Linspire for years; it's my third try at Linux (after Mandrake ver 7 and Lycoris Desktop L/X). It's stable, has lots of eye candy, runs KDE, and install and runs much Linux software with one click, thanks to Click 'N Run, the killer Linspire application. It supports many Internet file formats automatically, and lets me use my computer DVD player without becoming a pirate (per US laws).
I understand the OS is a bit slow loading, and some OS'es may be a bit quicker in spots, but this doesn't bother me much at all. Linspire is MY choice for linux; YMMV.
Really, these religous wars among distributions doesn't do Linux as a whole any good...
My mother regularly saves 30%~50% on groceries because she clips coupons and uses her frequent shopper card. She saves the reciepts to show me and everytime, I ask her when the supermarkets will just start giving her food for free.
With all due respect to your Mom, did it occur to either of you that the reason she saves 30-50% on her food purchases is because she's buying items she didn't go into the store for in the first place? When the wife or kids tell me something is 30% off, I let them know it is 100% off if they don't need it and don't buy it.
Also, prices are definitely adjusted upwards during sales (especially with meat prices, where supermarkets really can price the stuff at whatever they want). A local supermarket routinely prices meats high per pound prior to their "Buy One, Get One (or Two) Free!"
Slashdot Mirror
I hope they don't block me trying to price check at a Whole Foods Market in the future.
I love the smell of the future in the morning...it smells like antitrust...
I was always of the mind set that Pink Floyd should apologize to US for The Wall...
Also... http://www.amazon.com/X-Ray-Unauthorized-Autobiography-Ray-Davies/dp/0879516119
Ask the Chinese government...they have the schematics.
Thank you for pointing out what should have been made know in the article. I've read two stories about this today on web site; neither one bothered to mention her political party. If she were Republican, it would have been (properly) affixed after her name in brackets. And the person who responded to you that she's "probably" a Democrat in name only is just trying to justify his own world view.
The issue here is the 2011 MacBook Pro release, not the one you have. If I paid from $1200 to $2500 for a laptop, I kind of hope it...works. The companies that have problems with build quality, both hardware and software, SHOULD take heat from consumers about defective products. When Microsoft released Vista, Apple ran with the "Vista Sucks" (I'm a Mac) ads for more than a year. What goes around, come around...
There is another reason for governments to escheat funds that I haven't seen posted. It is a fact that governments make a tidy sum of money off of these transactions, as many escheated funds are never claimed. For some governments, it is a material source of revenues.
For that reason, governments are not aggressive in alerting taxpayers that they are holding their funds. Some US states have an on line mechanism for submitting a claim, and most government put a legal notice in a paper once a year, but the actual process to secure such funds tends to be complex (due to security concerns) and lengthy (because we're dealing with the government, after all).
I personally see it as a fight between two entities (the corporate world v. the government), neither of which is thrilled about giving you your money back...
I'd be happy to support a memorial statue of Colbert, if only he'd do his part...
What does it matter if he's an apple or windows guy?
Well, it's pretty damn obvious you live in Germany, because if you lived in the material-obsessed and politically correct wasteland the US is becoming, the answer would be obvious...
-----
P.S. Get off my lawn!
I'm not trying to attack you, I've never done a return for a FOSS developer, so I haven't done the research. I'm just trying to figure out which way your preparer is coming from to get you the deductions, it's not passing my "smell test" so far. Is there a Private Letter Ruling your preparer is relying on (remember that PLRs do not have the force and effect of IRS code or regulations)?
My question to the Slashdot community involves claiming this work as volunteering for tax purposes. Have any of you had any success with releasing free software and then writing off your time when April 15 rolls around?"
How exactly do you propose writing off your time? As a charitable deduction? On Schedule C (Sole Propietorhip Income & Loss)? No matter...I don't think the IRS will let you deduct this either way.
Generally, self-provided services are not eligible for charitable deduction, ditto Schedule C. It makes sense if you think about it. When you take a deduction on Schedule C, someone else must pick up income. If you were the creator of the labor "sold", you created both the income and deduction. If the IRS were to allow you to take a labor deduction for your own services on Schedule C, it logically would figure that you'd also have to include the income that resulted from such deduction, either also on Schedule C, or on Form 1040, Line 7 (the W-2 line).
Then again, what do I know?
Dell and HP have been minorly annoyed by Microsoft over the years, but the way Microsoft screwed the Vista release has to have both companies majorly pissed off. Especially irratating has to be that they're not supposed to sell Windows XP anymore to corporate accounts that insist on it.
If either one of these companies produce a commercial Linux on their own, they will fail miserably, because they will just be one company v. the rest of the industry. But if HP and Dell could pool resources to create a commercial Linux, they would almost immediately become a major force. Developers would gladly follow to give them another avenue besides Microsoft to sell their wares.
Microsoft will really need to watch its ass in the near future in order to avoid becoming irrelevant.
This is really the worst of two worlds for Microsoft.
First they announce it'll come out in 2010, effectively killing what little market they had for the OS.
Second, there's no way it will come out then, effectively cutting off their future income.
Yeah, I could really see Microsoft going the way of Kaypro...
I had a couple of them...one disk based, another cartridge based. While they weren't bad, they didn't help Peachtree, which used random access to store its data (sorry, the sands of time clog my feeble memory). Also, by the time the really good accelerator cartridges came out, I had upgraded to an Amiga 1000 and a $950 40 MEG SCSI HD (ah, to be young and stupid again...).
My favorite business software for the C-64 was Peachtree Accounting (yep, THAT Peachtree). With the massive speed of the dual 1541 drives (!), it would take nearly a minute PER TRANSACTION to save an entered check or deposit. By the time you entered a year's worth of activity, it was next year.
BTW, did anyone mention my favorite C-64 game? M*U*L*E
This may defeat of purpose of cheap Raman noodles, but Wyler may still sell Instant Bouillion and Seasoning Shakers. The old jar I have in my cupboard indicates NO MSG added. Of course, it does contain partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, so using it instead of the included packets doesn't make you take a detour on Heart Attack Highway...
You know, I can't see Grandma squirting "My Humps" to Steve Balmer; I don't think she's in the target market...
Microsoft reneging on their guarantees? Impossible!
Signed,
Gary Chow, Former President, Stac Electronics
These cabs are driverless...what's to keep passengers from having sex and urinating/defecating in them? At least, with privately owned taxis, the owner will occasionally hose out the back seat...
DVDs are a discretionary purchase. Consumers in every country have an individual price point where they will buy a DVD because the price is reasonable for the limited entertainment value it provides. I believe, in the US, that the optimum price point is about $5. Look at how many DVDs Wal-Mart sells at that price point.
The question, of course, is where is the optimum price point for DVDs to sell in China, given its consumers' standard of living. I believe WHV is on the right track here.
A quick personal note: I bought 6 old John Wayne films earlier this week for $5 each. How many would I have purchased if they were $10 each? None...
First off, that Linspire computer you bring home has a fully functioning version of Linux on it. Uncomment the sources file, and you can use apt-get.
If you like Linspire and want to use Click-N-Run (and if you don't want to use it, you're probably better off with another distro), you have two options, one for $20 annually (unlimited use of C-N-R), and $50 (includes all OS updates and discounts on commercial linux software). They're not charging for free software; they're charging for the time involved in compiling and including the appropriate packages, so installing a program doesn't pooch your system. I consider that a fair deal.
What is your problem with them offering AV software? You don't have to buy it and with one click of the mouse, you'll never see the system tray icon again. As explained by Kevin Carmony, they offer it because several important commercial clients requested it. And, thanks to the recent creation of a virus (concept only at this stage) that can attack both Windows and linux, maybe an AV program isn't so silly after all.
I guess the biggest lie that got my back up was you calling their practices a scam and 'bait and switch'. That is simply unfair due to what I've explained above. You want 'bait and switch'? Buy a Compaq or Dell; you'll find out the AV software is only good for 90 days; to continue usually costs $30-$40 bucks.
Okay, Linspire isn't for you; I can accept that. It wasn't designed for you. But, if you have any intelligence at all, you'd know not to go around spreading FUD. Linspire isn't your enemy; it's a commercial distribution that gives back to the OSS community. Deal with it.
It's brain-dead morons like this guy spreading bald-faced lies that makes it hard for any commercial linux distribution to succeed...
I've been using Linspire for years; it's my third try at Linux (after Mandrake ver 7 and Lycoris Desktop L/X). It's stable, has lots of eye candy, runs KDE, and install and runs much Linux software with one click, thanks to Click 'N Run, the killer Linspire application. It supports many Internet file formats automatically, and lets me use my computer DVD player without becoming a pirate (per US laws).
I understand the OS is a bit slow loading, and some OS'es may be a bit quicker in spots, but this doesn't bother me much at all. Linspire is MY choice for linux; YMMV.
Really, these religous wars among distributions doesn't do Linux as a whole any good...
With all due respect to your Mom, did it occur to either of you that the reason she saves 30-50% on her food purchases is because she's buying items she didn't go into the store for in the first place? When the wife or kids tell me something is 30% off, I let them know it is 100% off if they don't need it and don't buy it.
Also, prices are definitely adjusted upwards during sales (especially with meat prices, where supermarkets really can price the stuff at whatever they want). A local supermarket routinely prices meats high per pound prior to their "Buy One, Get One (or Two) Free!"
Responding to recent unprovoked attacks, US President George W. Bush has formally declared war on the country of Octopussia...