What rebates are you seeing that take six months to come back? The longest I've seen is 12 weeks (three months, more or less). More usually it's six to eight weeks.
Anyway, even if it does take six months to get back the $100, and you miss out on charging them 6% APR (outrageously high for such a short-term, low-amount loan right now), you're out three whole dollars. BFD.
Yeah, I know, it's an evil marketing tool, and they're hoping I'm too incompetent to get the submission right, or too lazy to submit the rebate in the first place. But if it gets me a drive that cheap, then so be it.
...the ABC TV network is looking for a sports venue that wants corporate-naming sponsorship, so they can promote one of their sitcoms: "Dharma Stadium".
It has been known for a long time (mid-80s, probably) that copy protecting software is expensive, ineffective, and alienating. That's why there's hardly any of it around. Oh, sure, every now and then, someone gets a bee in their bonnet and decides they're going to try something new and stupid (XP/TurboTax/etc. Activation, anyone?) (or even old and stupid -- your story is a case in point), but all in all, the software industry's known this for a long time.
Too bad the music and movie people are so much slower on the uptake.
Having to memorise keyboard commands is not an intuitive interface.
So? The benefit of an interface being intuitive only lasts till you need to do something non-intuitive in the first place. If, after that point, all you have is the ability to do intuitive things, you're screwed. WYSIAYG (What You See Is All You Get) syndrome.
If, on the other hand, you want to start getting useful and complex things done quickly, memorizing cryptic commands is your best bet. (Hello, Unix/Linux users?)
Case in point: modern PC games. Commands are all cryptic keypresses which must be memorized. If you had to play by selecting commands with a mouse from a categorized menu -- you'd be dead before you pressed the first command.
P.S. YAY VIM! I've been using it for years (and plain VI before that).
They sent you a link; obviously they want you to click it!
They sent a link to a million people; what could make them happier than if each and every one of those million people clicked the link -- over and over and over and over and over and over and over?
Wouldn't retrieving web beacons show your address was live?
Yes, so that might bring more spam. But it would also make web beacons stop working as an index of open rates. And you'd be clicking on unsubscribe links as well, which FFBs would make more popular.
That's the point of the blacklist. A site doesn't get pounded simply by being mentioned in a spam. It has to be mentioned in a spam and be on the blacklist.
This is a bad idea because it just uses up more bandwidth.
That's like arguing that we shouldn't have police, because in addition to all the losses caused by crime, we have people taken away from productive work to chase criminals. If FFBs make working unsubscribe links universal, the result is net less use of bandwidth.
I'm not proposing that FFBs should be used by people on dialup lines, just by users who have bandwidth to spare-- people at universities and corporations, and on DSL lines.
...but only for their employees with a lot of clout.
I used to work at a financial company that had a trading desk. Each of these guys had THREE of the biggest LCD monitors I'd ever seen. Big real-time stock monitor program on the left, news feed/research on the right, random stuff in the middle. (And this was a couple years ago, when a really big LCD monitor would put a serious dent in anyone's wallet.)
I, on the other hand, being a lowly programmer, only got one 17-inch CRT. (I prefer CRT anyway, but that's another story.)
...is exactly why I haven't signed up (and don't plan to) with the no-call list. Seems like a giant reverse honeypot. "Get on our website [tracker bug] so you can sign up [provide all your juicy contact & demographic info] so we can make sure you don't get bothered again [make sure ultra-crosslinked, up-to-date data on you is in all our 'affiliates'' clutches so you'll never recover from the flood you're about to get]."
It's like the occasional spams I get with the subject "Tired of spam?".
I'll take filtering any day.
(On the other hand, suing the bejesus out of spammers (of the phone or email persuasion) for boucoup bucks does sound tempting...)
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I know COBOL. I've worked in COBOL shops. Trust me, you don't want to work in those shops. I stand by my imperative: RUN AWAY.
It's called "Windows XP".
(The boot screen says "(C)1985-2001"...that makes it 18 years old, right?)
Hang on a sec...did you say you're taking COBOL? As in, taking a class on it? Learning it???
RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!!!
What rebates are you seeing that take six months to come back? The longest I've seen is 12 weeks (three months, more or less). More usually it's six to eight weeks.
Anyway, even if it does take six months to get back the $100, and you miss out on charging them 6% APR (outrageously high for such a short-term, low-amount loan right now), you're out three whole dollars. BFD.
Yeah, I know, it's an evil marketing tool, and they're hoping I'm too incompetent to get the submission right, or too lazy to submit the rebate in the first place. But if it gets me a drive that cheap, then so be it.
That's what we Atarians used to call the Commodore users back then. "Commies".
Remember the demo-type programs that ran on each one, slamming all the others?
Debates about color text modes vs. player-missle support?
Disk drive speeds?
Sound chip quality?
Good times.
250GB for $149.99 (after rebate) = less than $0.60/GB. (And 8MB buffer/7200RPM at that...)
...how to avoid being smirked at and called a "Mac Weenie(tm)"?
US-centric?
Maybe?
...the ABC TV network is looking for a sports venue that wants corporate-naming sponsorship, so they can promote one of their sitcoms: "Dharma Stadium".
Thank you. Try the veal.
At least not in the software field.
It has been known for a long time (mid-80s, probably) that copy protecting software is expensive, ineffective, and alienating. That's why there's hardly any of it around. Oh, sure, every now and then, someone gets a bee in their bonnet and decides they're going to try something new and stupid (XP/TurboTax/etc. Activation, anyone?) (or even old and stupid -- your story is a case in point), but all in all, the software industry's known this for a long time.
Too bad the music and movie people are so much slower on the uptake.
If, on the other hand, you want to start getting useful and complex things done quickly, memorizing cryptic commands is your best bet. (Hello, Unix/Linux users?)
Case in point: modern PC games. Commands are all cryptic keypresses which must be memorized. If you had to play by selecting commands with a mouse from a categorized menu -- you'd be dead before you pressed the first command.
P.S. YAY VIM! I've been using it for years (and plain VI before that).
...to how loudly/obnoxiously the cretin is yapping into it.
Spidering...even better! People must be looking all over the site, looking for more terrific bargains just like the one they saw advertised!
Law? What law?
They sent you a link; obviously they want you to click it!
They sent a link to a million people; what could make them happier than if each and every one of those million people clicked the link -- over and over and over and over and over and over and over?
...I still keep a folder called "Napster".
...but only for their employees with a lot of clout.
I used to work at a financial company that had a trading desk. Each of these guys had THREE of the biggest LCD monitors I'd ever seen. Big real-time stock monitor program on the left, news feed/research on the right, random stuff in the middle. (And this was a couple years ago, when a really big LCD monitor would put a serious dent in anyone's wallet.)
I, on the other hand, being a lowly programmer, only got one 17-inch CRT. (I prefer CRT anyway, but that's another story.)
Apology accepted sir. I shall shake your hand for gracefully admitting mistakes. Would that all who err were likewise.
In case you hadn't noticed, your rant was exactly what I was saying: That's supposed to imply that we're interested in it, and don't take pride in not knowing.
(Talk about whoosing over one's head...)
...is exactly why I haven't signed up (and don't plan to) with the no-call list. Seems like a giant reverse honeypot. "Get on our website [tracker bug] so you can sign up [provide all your juicy contact & demographic info] so we can make sure you don't get bothered again [make sure ultra-crosslinked, up-to-date data on you is in all our 'affiliates'' clutches so you'll never recover from the flood you're about to get]."
It's like the occasional spams I get with the subject "Tired of spam?".
I'll take filtering any day.
(On the other hand, suing the bejesus out of spammers (of the phone or email persuasion) for boucoup bucks does sound tempting...)
...goes the sound of this news flying at Mach 1.3 over the heads of 99.99% of everyone reading it.
Well, at least here on Slashdot I expect people (read: us geeks) will gape in awe instead of happily ignoring it.