Re:And here's the US government's response...
on
Happy Spamiversary!
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· Score: 0, Offtopic
Can't we just permanently ban those people ?
I almost puked on my desk.
Sheesh, I don't know what drove mankind to those extremes... it's sick.
jdif
Re:Why not use these skills for something useful ?
on
Linux for iPod Matures
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· Score: 1
That's the explanation I was looking for.
The website is not that explicit about the fact that it would be used to actually enhanced the functionalities of the iPod ; instead it is presented as some geeky work.
Thanks, anyway, for clarifying the situation.
Regards, jdif
Re:Why not use these skills for something useful ?
on
Linux for iPod Matures
·
· Score: 1
That's a good point.
But do we need all the Unix-like mechanisms (file browser with Unix fs) ? Or is it just something transitional ?
Regards,
jdif
Re:Why not use these skills for something useful ?
on
Linux for iPod Matures
·
· Score: 1
hey hey hey, I'm not arguing about whether that project should keep going or not. It's a good thing in the overall, but my point was to say that a file browser would be more useful to handle the files on your pod, without all the unix filesystem hierarchy (as shown on one of the shots).
And I don't see what's the point of your comparison. iPod has a good enough firmware for common customers, which apparently caters too to geeks. I'm just doubtful about the overall utility of this new firmware ; whereas Linux is struggling to achieve a usability level similar what has reached the Apple firmware.
After all, it can be cool to have this new firmware to upgrade to cool things, but still I think it deserves more strategic orientations.
Regards, jdif
Re:Why not use these skills for something useful ?
on
Linux for iPod Matures
·
· Score: 1
For sure ; that's what I'm doing right now.
But, as I'm doing it with Linux (gtkpod + sbp2), it's often awkward for some reasons : renaming files with UTF encoding (don't know why this is still not working, I must have missed a step somewhere), the fact that my IEEE1394 port is not powered, hence sucking my iPod battery in less than an hour...
Furthermore, it is always handy to be able to delete/rename/move files from your iPod alone, since it can save you a lot of time in certain circumstances (deleting files because it's full and you need some space to put your digital pictures, for instance...)
Regards,
jdif
Why not use these skills for something useful ?
on
Linux for iPod Matures
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I know the 'subject' seems flamebait, but let me explain.
Linux on an Ipod is basically pointless. Especially on this very device, which is what hip people buy in the first place (don't get me wrong, I have one). That doesn't mean people can't tweak with it, but it's not that useful, since the geek population using iPods is outnumbered by the common consumers.
On the other hand, what about making a file browser that allow you to go through the files you stored on your pod ? I usually store isos, books, games, and the like on my 30Gb, and I really would like to be able to rename, delete, transfer to my comp directly from the iPod...
Of course, I could move my ass, but I'm not a techie. My 2 cents.
There is definitely something interesting in this rant.
Bashing Eric Raymond because he advocates usability for AT and at the same time bashes Windows developers for catering to dumb users is detrimental to everyone : to GNU/Linux developers trying to improve usability, and to 'dumb users''s pride. Raymond is full of contradictions, the very contradictions of the open source world : let's advocate for the people, even if we just don't think that they deserve it, because they're just dorks.
Indeed, the CUPS episode is ironical, because it is blatant evidence that Linux usability is still to be worked, and worked hard.
And, last but not least, the migration of nerdy nerds to the MacOS world, which explains in some way the growing tensions between those two communities (and Darwin doesn't help that much, no)(on a second side note, it is interesting to see that GNU/Linux defenders don't seem that involved anymore in the very principles of free software when they see a nice GUI... hence the opportunity of sticking to OSS and bashing RMS for being a zealot...).
But come on, guy, why did you make yourself so weak on some other points ? Don't you know that the geeky population will bash you because you overcame the limits of reason ?
Free software doesn't cater to a market, for the moment. It caters to individuals. There is no such thing as Wal-Mart low-end PCs bought for using GNU/Linux. Why ? Because retailers don't ship Linux (not that much, at least... yes, I read/., too). I bought a high-end Acer laptop, and installed GNU/Linux on it. Which computer you buy has nothing to do with the fact that you want to install GNU/Linux on it.
As you stated with your link to mpt's article, free software usability tends to suck. That doesn't mean it sucks. I could even say that the overall impression is that free software usability sucks, because every software is made by programers that don't earn money with it (or at least, 90% of them). Just go on download.com, and rebuild your Windows desktop with freeware, you are going to understand. Nonetheless, some software are designed with great usability. Rox-Filer is a great fm, XFCE makes up perfectly for the rest of the desktop. GMplayer rocks, so as Rhythmbox (I know, iTunes like), so as sOffice (very comparable with Mircosoft Office), so as gpdf, so as k3b, so as pigeon, so as so as... There are a few softwares that rock, and a bunch of them that suck. Diluating wine in water makes the taste of the former disappear ; but it's still there if you are skilled enough to filter it.
What is really frustrating is that every criticism towards the feres software community ends up in a uncontrolled rant, which is then automatically self-invalidated. Too bad... There were good points in that article, though, more than in Eric Raymond's for sure...
Giving away 1Gb is, as previously said, the perfect way to attract warez, and affiliated nasty stuff.
I get 100Mb available on my very french provider, I've been using this address for five years, and I'm still at 30% of the total capacity.
Binary attachments, furthermore, are rarely re-used over time, and only constitute evidence against you in court...:)
Tip : when you visit pr0n, or any kind of sensitive contente / untrusted source, just use another email address previously registered only for that specific use. So far, only 2 spams a week on my normal mail : and this is only because I began to work (ah... the basement.).
Because the punishment is about law, not about money.
It will be a reference point for all the governments that could wish to sue Microsoft.
Landmarks in the judiciary system are important. The EU ruling is the first one concerning Microsoft.
And some people at the Comission just asked to apply the highest fine, ie 10% of the benefits. But the EU can't afford an open war like that, at least not for the moment...
New fantasmatic topic for helpless script kiddies !
-Man, I couldn't use that fscking buffer overflow written in my last l337 e-zine to punish that sux0rZ bastard named cYb3R-h4cK3r. So you know what I did ?
-Huh ?
-I just went there, and I burnt his pc.
-l337 ! hax0rZ man, you 0wn3d his box.
(evil laugh)...
It seems that here, only computer stuff has ties with freedom....
To all the/.ers, for your informations, here is the EFF summary of the problem.
Satellite TV giant DirecTV has sent ominous letters to an estimated 100,000 individuals, accusing them of purchasing "pirate access devices" and threatening to haul them into court for stealing television channels. The letters tell the unlucky recipients that the prospect of an expensive legal battle will go away if they pay up, usually to the tune of $3,500. Yet, in too many cases, the targets of the letters never intercepted DTV's signal; they're only guilty of owning smart card technology. This dragnet is catching innocent security professionals, hobbyists, and entrepreneurs. Without proof of a violation of law, DTV's unsubstantiated threats to sue are an abuse of the legal system.
As if that's not bad enough, DirecTV has filed over 20,000 lawsuits against purchasers of smartcard technology, employing an army of lawyers to squeeze even more costly settlements out of individuals nationwide. Ask your Members of Congress to initiate an investigation into DirecTV's misuse of the law and blatant disregard for the public's right to use technology.
This is sad to see that they are supposed to be *the* tech site backing up free software.
Whatever.
Your situation is a fucking shame : however, I don't think the eds did that manually. There must be something in Slashcode (just like : too much controversial moderation --> bing bong !), some kind of nice easteregg implemented in the very version of/.'s Slashcode (which you won't see on downloads, for sure...:)
Ok, so let's take another example. Pearl Harbor. It's been more than 60 years ago. There are strong reasons to believe that President Roosevelt knew something was gonna happen. And some high-end military officers knew it too.
And, despite the enormous work of some historians, it is a clue that hasn't been well explored.
And you know why ? Because it is high-end secrecy. It is in noone interest to have such information unveiled. Exactly like the nuclear bombs on Japan. Because it only changes for people who are willing to find the truth. It won't bring back people to life.
If you know that your boat/submarine/green monkey just launched a missile and destroyed a plane, well it won't be that hard for a persuasive officer to make you understand that it's better for you and the national security not to tell a thing.
And your too many beers you give me, I got five words for that : people never believe drunk people.
Some had change of heart, and they are fighting right now, in front of courts.
Evidence has been put away from curious eyes. And that's it.
Give a chance to what you pejoratively describe as a "conspiracy theroy", and you will see that it sounds possible. Again, I'm not saying it happened that way, I'm saying that, at least, we have to question the government version of that accident.
And it's really not possible that green monkeys may fly out of your ass. You are using some poor comparisons just to make your poor arguments prevail.
Too bad for you that you don't want to remove your blinders.
Native Flash rendering under *nix could be a very very big step forward towards getting mainstream acceptance for *nix as a mainstream desktop platform.
Huh ?
The typical desktop user wouldn't go to Linux because of not having flash running on it ?
I agree it would be a good step for professional Web developers, using extensively the capabilities of Flash (there is OO for basic works), but for the desktop ?
IMHO, no. What we need for the desktop is GUI interoperability and more device drivers.
With a good amount of pressure, salted with some confident smiles, I'm definitely confident in the fact that yes, something like that may have happened.
I mean, every pilot is saying that the government version is bogus, and they are not talking about it. So, in the same fashion, one crew could know that everything was bogus, and then shut the fuck up.
Fortunately, a trial has reopened last december, and I hope it will screw all your sarcasms.
You just can't deny that the official version is definitely wrong. If so, then you have blinders on. I'm just supporting the fact that a training, explosive charge free, missile from the Navy may have hit that plane.
Some time ago, I just decided to leave/. exactly because of that, fucking censorship.
And them, I came back, because there are some pretty amazing people out there, and you are one of them.
It's a shame : mankind is always the same. Just start to fight for freedom, and in that name, someone will eventually come and ask to shut the fuck up.
I don't even know why those people are defending free software (oh wait... they're defending open source)
Regards to you, and to you only this morning,
jdifool
On the second link provided, there are serious evidence of odd behavior from the Navy. Just looking for the black boxes 20 miles away from the crash when it was found just under their main boat, at the very crash site. Just denying that three submareines were cruising at that time.
The government just made its best to hide the fact that a missile hit the plane (which would have been strange if made by a terrorist group, since at that time already, terrorism would have been a quite good excuse) : just suing a third party that made some impartial test (remember the red glue on the seats ?) of having stolen pieces of the plane.
As you rightly put it, Navy is full of young kids, who can be easily made quite confident that nothing happened, that this missile was launched but that nothing wrong happened to it. They may have known that a missile had been launched, how would they know that it hit the plane ? No clue for them, it's just a question of persuasion.
And please, RTFP. I didn't say the Patriot Act came around after TWA 800, I said that Patriot Act came around for defending the exact same principle, State security over the truth.
And I'm not saying it happened that way, I'm saying there is strong reasons to believe so.
As previously said, you have the right to think whatever you want. But please make your common sense work. At least, something really strange took place, and some people had interest not to uncover it.
I actually gave you a mod point, but after reflexion, it's better to show you support by writing down what I think too.
You are being labelled as a flamer for implying that the Navy is the responsible for that crash. However, as one might notice, there are some really serious reasons to believe it really happened.
What is really amazing is that those exactly same people that ask you to take your medicine are also flaming the Patriot Act, which is the very follow-up for such behavior...
But everyone is free to keep blinders, indeed.
And, BTW, I wanted to thank you for your sig link, I've been enjoying it for months.
You are just the perfect embodiment of people that piss me off on/.
I *never* said it was a solution in itself, neither that Eric Meyer was able to slap SVG in the face.
I just said that if you want to make non-rectangular area, you have a way to tackle it, and I give a link, saying "Hope it will help".
And you are just coming babbling saying Wrong, bla bla bla, just being offensive and rude, bosating about what you know (I too know that you can't do something more complex than that, thanks), when all I was trying to do is help.
You know, there are some other things than/. for you : frustration therapists.
because by definition, more than one party is required to fix the prices!
If I remember my economics correctly, this is not true.
The competition between various economic entities just lower the prices, until reaching in perfect competition the cost of the last unit you will produce (marginal cost). But a monopoly can just fix the price, then swallowing a part of the customer saving, and wasting a part of the overall income (because fixing the price higher is just taking away some money the customer would have saved otherwise, and because raising the price automatically lower the quantities sold, thus triggering what has been called the Dead Weight Loss). It's really hard, actually, to determine how a price is fixed. From a neo-classissist point of view, which is probably one of the wrongest one, but probably the less disturbing one too, it is the value of how much work you put to produce that unit (FIXME if I'm wrong).
So, indeed, competition is good for pricing, but monopolies and oligopolies (?) are present, and sometimes justified when they are selling public goods with strong scale savings, in economic sectors that require huge investments (plane construction, water, electricity, etc.).
Monopoly isn't, as far as I know, forbidden in itself. This is preventing other companies from entering your market that is strictly forbidden (such as lowering the price so that new companies just can't bear the investment costs at such rates, or fusionning, or agreeing to keep prices high, or...)
And the original question is well valid, because when examining the legislations, you just notice that public goods monopolies aside, trials were intented when companies infringed on the very interest of the government, and when the government *could* have a chance to make those suits become effective.
Just to add my 0.002$, didn't you wonder why you just can't know how much you will pay your plane ticket, depending on when you buy it, from where (internet, phone, cashier) you buy it, and from which social class you belong ? It's just because those companies make their best to make you pay the max price for your ticket. Some very precise microeconomics studies are made to understand how much you are ready to pay for this seat on this plane. And this why, when you discuss, you can find people next seat who paid 30-50% more than you. For just the same crappy food, and tight seat...
This is the power of business !:)
My economics english is bad, I know it. I never used such terms. Sorry...
Slashdot Mirror
You don't need a lawyer when your common sense is enough to protect you... or at least you shouldn't need it.
Regards,
jdif
Hope you will die in relief.
I almost puked on my desk.
Sheesh, I don't know what drove mankind to those extremes... it's sick.
jdif
The website is not that explicit about the fact that it would be used to actually enhanced the functionalities of the iPod ; instead it is presented as some geeky work.
Thanks, anyway, for clarifying the situation.
Regards,
jdif
But do we need all the Unix-like mechanisms (file browser with Unix fs) ? Or is it just something transitional ?
Regards,
jdif
I'm not arguing about whether that project should keep going or not. It's a good thing in the overall, but my point was to say that a file browser would be more useful to handle the files on your pod, without all the unix filesystem hierarchy (as shown on one of the shots).
And I don't see what's the point of your comparison. iPod has a good enough firmware for common customers, which apparently caters too to geeks. I'm just doubtful about the overall utility of this new firmware ; whereas Linux is struggling to achieve a usability level similar what has reached the Apple firmware.
After all, it can be cool to have this new firmware to upgrade to cool things, but still I think it deserves more strategic orientations.
Regards,
jdif
But, as I'm doing it with Linux (gtkpod + sbp2), it's often awkward for some reasons : renaming files with UTF encoding (don't know why this is still not working, I must have missed a step somewhere), the fact that my IEEE1394 port is not powered, hence sucking my iPod battery in less than an hour...
Furthermore, it is always handy to be able to delete/rename/move files from your iPod alone, since it can save you a lot of time in certain circumstances (deleting files because it's full and you need some space to put your digital pictures, for instance...)
Regards,
jdif
Linux on an Ipod is basically pointless. Especially on this very device, which is what hip people buy in the first place (don't get me wrong, I have one). That doesn't mean people can't tweak with it, but it's not that useful, since the geek population using iPods is outnumbered by the common consumers.
On the other hand, what about making a file browser that allow you to go through the files you stored on your pod ? I usually store isos, books, games, and the like on my 30Gb, and I really would like to be able to rename, delete, transfer to my comp directly from the iPod...
Of course, I could move my ass, but I'm not a techie. My 2 cents.
Regards,
jdif
Bashing Eric Raymond because he advocates usability for AT and at the same time bashes Windows developers for catering to dumb users is detrimental to everyone : to GNU/Linux developers trying to improve usability, and to 'dumb users''s pride. Raymond is full of contradictions, the very contradictions of the open source world : let's advocate for the people, even if we just don't think that they deserve it, because they're just dorks.
Indeed, the CUPS episode is ironical, because it is blatant evidence that Linux usability is still to be worked, and worked hard.
And, last but not least, the migration of nerdy nerds to the MacOS world, which explains in some way the growing tensions between those two communities (and Darwin doesn't help that much, no)(on a second side note, it is interesting to see that GNU/Linux defenders don't seem that involved anymore in the very principles of free software when they see a nice GUI... hence the opportunity of sticking to OSS and bashing RMS for being a zealot...).
But come on, guy, why did you make yourself so weak on some other points ? Don't you know that the geeky population will bash you because you overcame the limits of reason ?
Free software doesn't cater to a market, for the moment. It caters to individuals. There is no such thing as Wal-Mart low-end PCs bought for using GNU/Linux. Why ? Because retailers don't ship Linux (not that much, at least... yes, I read /., too). I bought a high-end Acer laptop, and installed GNU/Linux on it. Which computer you buy has nothing to do with the fact that you want to install GNU/Linux on it.
As you stated with your link to mpt's article, free software usability tends to suck. That doesn't mean it sucks. I could even say that the overall impression is that free software usability sucks, because every software is made by programers that don't earn money with it (or at least, 90% of them). Just go on download.com, and rebuild your Windows desktop with freeware, you are going to understand. Nonetheless, some software are designed with great usability. Rox-Filer is a great fm, XFCE makes up perfectly for the rest of the desktop. GMplayer rocks, so as Rhythmbox (I know, iTunes like), so as sOffice (very comparable with Mircosoft Office), so as gpdf, so as k3b, so as pigeon, so as so as... There are a few softwares that rock, and a bunch of them that suck. Diluating wine in water makes the taste of the former disappear ; but it's still there if you are skilled enough to filter it.
What is really frustrating is that every criticism towards the feres software community ends up in a uncontrolled rant, which is then automatically self-invalidated. Too bad... There were good points in that article, though, more than in Eric Raymond's for sure...
Regards, jdif
I get 100Mb available on my very french provider, I've been using this address for five years, and I'm still at 30% of the total capacity.
Binary attachments, furthermore, are rarely re-used over time, and only constitute evidence against you in court... :)
Tip : when you visit pr0n, or any kind of sensitive contente / untrusted source, just use another email address previously registered only for that specific use. So far, only 2 spams a week on my normal mail : and this is only because I began to work (ah... the basement.).
Regards,
jdif
It will be a reference point for all the governments that could wish to sue Microsoft.
Landmarks in the judiciary system are important. The EU ruling is the first one concerning Microsoft.
And some people at the Comission just asked to apply the highest fine, ie 10% of the benefits. But the EU can't afford an open war like that, at least not for the moment...
Regards,
jdif
New fantasmatic topic for helpless script kiddies ! -Man, I couldn't use that fscking buffer overflow written in my last l337 e-zine to punish that sux0rZ bastard named cYb3R-h4cK3r. So you know what I did ? -Huh ? -I just went there, and I burnt his pc. -l337 ! hax0rZ man, you 0wn3d his box. (evil laugh) ...
Thank you.
It seems that here, only computer stuff has ties with freedom....
To all the /.ers, for your informations, here is the EFF summary of the problem.
Satellite TV giant DirecTV has sent ominous letters to an estimated 100,000 individuals, accusing them of purchasing "pirate access devices" and threatening to haul them into court for stealing television channels. The letters tell the unlucky recipients that the prospect of an expensive legal battle will go away if they pay up, usually to the tune of $3,500. Yet, in too many cases, the targets of the letters never intercepted DTV's signal; they're only guilty of owning smart card technology. This dragnet is catching innocent security professionals, hobbyists, and entrepreneurs. Without proof of a violation of law, DTV's unsubstantiated threats to sue are an abuse of the legal system. As if that's not bad enough, DirecTV has filed over 20,000 lawsuits against purchasers of smartcard technology, employing an army of lawyers to squeeze even more costly settlements out of individuals nationwide. Ask your Members of Congress to initiate an investigation into DirecTV's misuse of the law and blatant disregard for the public's right to use technology.
Regards,
jdif
This is sad to see that they are supposed to be *the* tech site backing up free software.
Whatever.
Your situation is a fucking shame : however, I don't think the eds did that manually. There must be something in Slashcode (just like : too much controversial moderation --> bing bong !), some kind of nice easteregg implemented in the very version of /.'s Slashcode (which you won't see on downloads, for sure... :)
Regards,
jdif
Nice way to exchange opinions. I thank you.
Ok, so let's take another example. Pearl Harbor. It's been more than 60 years ago. There are strong reasons to believe that President Roosevelt knew something was gonna happen. And some high-end military officers knew it too.
And, despite the enormous work of some historians, it is a clue that hasn't been well explored.
And you know why ? Because it is high-end secrecy. It is in noone interest to have such information unveiled. Exactly like the nuclear bombs on Japan. Because it only changes for people who are willing to find the truth. It won't bring back people to life.
If you know that your boat/submarine/green monkey just launched a missile and destroyed a plane, well it won't be that hard for a persuasive officer to make you understand that it's better for you and the national security not to tell a thing.
And your too many beers you give me, I got five words for that : people never believe drunk people.
Some had change of heart, and they are fighting right now, in front of courts.
Evidence has been put away from curious eyes. And that's it.
Give a chance to what you pejoratively describe as a "conspiracy theroy", and you will see that it sounds possible. Again, I'm not saying it happened that way, I'm saying that, at least, we have to question the government version of that accident.
And it's really not possible that green monkeys may fly out of your ass. You are using some poor comparisons just to make your poor arguments prevail.
Too bad for you that you don't want to remove your blinders.
Now get away from me, you sick monkey swallower.
No regards,
jdif
Huh ?
The typical desktop user wouldn't go to Linux because of not having flash running on it ?
I agree it would be a good step for professional Web developers, using extensively the capabilities of Flash (there is OO for basic works), but for the desktop ?
IMHO, no. What we need for the desktop is GUI interoperability and more device drivers.
Regards,
jdif
With a good amount of pressure, salted with some confident smiles, I'm definitely confident in the fact that yes, something like that may have happened.
I mean, every pilot is saying that the government version is bogus, and they are not talking about it. So, in the same fashion, one crew could know that everything was bogus, and then shut the fuck up.
Fortunately, a trial has reopened last december, and I hope it will screw all your sarcasms.
You just can't deny that the official version is definitely wrong. If so, then you have blinders on. I'm just supporting the fact that a training, explosive charge free, missile from the Navy may have hit that plane.
Period.
jdif
Some time ago, I just decided to leave /. exactly because of that, fucking censorship.
And them, I came back, because there are some pretty amazing people out there, and you are one of them.
It's a shame : mankind is always the same. Just start to fight for freedom, and in that name, someone will eventually come and ask to shut the fuck up.
I don't even know why those people are defending free software (oh wait... they're defending open source)
Regards to you, and to you only this morning,
jdifool
On the second link provided, there are serious evidence of odd behavior from the Navy. Just looking for the black boxes 20 miles away from the crash when it was found just under their main boat, at the very crash site. Just denying that three submareines were cruising at that time.
The government just made its best to hide the fact that a missile hit the plane (which would have been strange if made by a terrorist group, since at that time already, terrorism would have been a quite good excuse) : just suing a third party that made some impartial test (remember the red glue on the seats ?) of having stolen pieces of the plane.
As you rightly put it, Navy is full of young kids, who can be easily made quite confident that nothing happened, that this missile was launched but that nothing wrong happened to it. They may have known that a missile had been launched, how would they know that it hit the plane ? No clue for them, it's just a question of persuasion.
And please, RTFP. I didn't say the Patriot Act came around after TWA 800, I said that Patriot Act came around for defending the exact same principle, State security over the truth.
And I'm not saying it happened that way, I'm saying there is strong reasons to believe so.
As previously said, you have the right to think whatever you want. But please make your common sense work. At least, something really strange took place, and some people had interest not to uncover it.
Regards,
jdif
You stupid. The radar report was leaked, this is why every periodical, even French, could have got it if quick enough.
You are being labelled as a flamer for implying that the Navy is the responsible for that crash. However, as one might notice, there are some really serious reasons to believe it really happened.
What is really amazing is that those exactly same people that ask you to take your medicine are also flaming the Patriot Act, which is the very follow-up for such behavior...
But everyone is free to keep blinders, indeed.
And, BTW, I wanted to thank you for your sig link, I've been enjoying it for months.
Keep going !
Regards,
jdif
Ok, i just confused price fixing, and the absolute mechanism that builds up a price...
Sorry, for that.
Regards,
jdif
You are just the perfect embodiment of people that piss me off on /.
I *never* said it was a solution in itself, neither that Eric Meyer was able to slap SVG in the face.
I just said that if you want to make non-rectangular area, you have a way to tackle it, and I give a link, saying "Hope it will help".
And you are just coming babbling saying Wrong, bla bla bla, just being offensive and rude, bosating about what you know (I too know that you can't do something more complex than that, thanks), when all I was trying to do is help.
You know, there are some other things than /. for you : frustration therapists.
Regards,
jdif
If I remember my economics correctly, this is not true.
The competition between various economic entities just lower the prices, until reaching in perfect competition the cost of the last unit you will produce (marginal cost). But a monopoly can just fix the price, then swallowing a part of the customer saving, and wasting a part of the overall income (because fixing the price higher is just taking away some money the customer would have saved otherwise, and because raising the price automatically lower the quantities sold, thus triggering what has been called the Dead Weight Loss). It's really hard, actually, to determine how a price is fixed. From a neo-classissist point of view, which is probably one of the wrongest one, but probably the less disturbing one too, it is the value of how much work you put to produce that unit (FIXME if I'm wrong).
So, indeed, competition is good for pricing, but monopolies and oligopolies (?) are present, and sometimes justified when they are selling public goods with strong scale savings, in economic sectors that require huge investments (plane construction, water, electricity, etc.).
Monopoly isn't, as far as I know, forbidden in itself. This is preventing other companies from entering your market that is strictly forbidden (such as lowering the price so that new companies just can't bear the investment costs at such rates, or fusionning, or agreeing to keep prices high, or...)
And the original question is well valid, because when examining the legislations, you just notice that public goods monopolies aside, trials were intented when companies infringed on the very interest of the government, and when the government *could* have a chance to make those suits become effective.
Just to add my 0.002$, didn't you wonder why you just can't know how much you will pay your plane ticket, depending on when you buy it, from where (internet, phone, cashier) you buy it, and from which social class you belong ? It's just because those companies make their best to make you pay the max price for your ticket. Some very precise microeconomics studies are made to understand how much you are ready to pay for this seat on this plane. And this why, when you discuss, you can find people next seat who paid 30-50% more than you. For just the same crappy food, and tight seat...
This is the power of business ! :)
My economics english is bad, I know it. I never used such terms. Sorry...
Regards,
jdif
I know this is not perfect, but you can't call it a hack, since it's perfectly regular CSS.
Regarding the non-rectangular : overhere
Regards,
jdifool