Thank you, I was looking for an article like this. How anyone can not see H&R Block's lobbying efforts as the FUD that they are is beyond me. Like anyone would seriously think that "privacy" is the reason why people should keep forking over $30 a year for them to file some papers. I say tax preparers have had more than enough time to profit from filing simple tax returns, which is nothing more than routine gruntwork. Online filing has now made this obsolete, so they can do what many businsses have been forced to do when faced with obsolescence, and adapt. There are still plenty of people with tax returns that are too complex for e-filing, which they can make plenty of money preparing.
The only reason it's not national is due to pressure from tax preparers to prevent the loss of money that they make by doing peoples' taxes each year. H&R Block and other big tax preparers are huge roadblocks towards online filing directly with the IRS. I'm sure they are claiming it wouldn't be safe, or some nonsense like that. Really they don't want to give up the opportunity to sell those "refund anticipation loans", which have insane interest rates.
How do they make sure the truck driver doesn't unscrew the bulb? If they don't, then this idea would work for all of 5 seconds. Knowing Singapore, bulbs cannot be tampered with under penalty of caning, so perhaps the penalty of getting caught is enough of a deterrent.
There was a letter to the editor written to the Chicago Tribune last week (I would link to it if they still had it up) by some MPAA stooge that was trying to convince the public that the broadcast flag is some sort of consumer benefit. He argued that if digital content cannot be protected, it would not be broadcast. He even went as far as saying that MLB baseball games would no longer be broadcast because of "piracy". Like anyone is going to believe this. Broadcasts will continue to be protected in the same way they are now: not at all. This model has worked pretty well for the last 20 or so years and digital TV won't change it that much. What the industry wants is new protections to curb existing rights and create an artificial new revenue stream, so you can pay for anything that you don't get to watch the first time. Fortunately, I think the American public is a little smarter than this.
Actually poor people in the US do receive healthcare, after a bit of a wait of course. This is one reason everyone else pays a lot for their healthcare. In other words, healthcare for the poor in the US is about like the government health systems in many countries. Contrary to rumors, people in the US don't just have to die in the street if they don't have insurance. That being said, the US healthcare system is far from perfect and needs a lot of changes, but the link in the post you replied to speaks volumes about what we should NOT do.
In my opinion, this is the only real downside to launching a counter-attack (hitting back at the wrong person). If Joe Hacker attacks your company and costs you business, then you attack him back and destroy the contents of his machine, what's he going to do, sue you? Reveal his identity so you can launch the countersuit? Somehow I doubt it.
Sure, it's vigilante justice at it's finest, but the reason we don't do this in the physical world anymore is because we have a justice system to deal with it. The cops may not catch the person who broke into your house, but at least most people fear being caught enough to not break into houses.
If someone on the internet has the knowledge and lack of ethics to hack someone's machines and cost them a lot of money, they're probably not too afraid of getting caught considering the current state of online law enforcement affairs, being that if the case doesn't get the attention of the FBI, it's not getting solved at all. Local police have no ability or interest regarding computer crimes.
There's a lot of money to be made from the billions of people in China. That is why companies will be kissing the ass of the Chinese government if need be. Business decisions are mostly a matter of money, and it looks like it makes financial sense to do business in China, even with the laws the way they are.
Think of it this way: would it be better for Microsoft to simply shut down MSN China, and for other companies to do the same with their Chinese operations, and leave the Chinese people with no voice of expression as opposed to a limited one?
Many restaurants have abandoned delivery, citing cost as the main reason. If a delivery service can provide them with cost-effective delivery and show them that it will MAKE money for them rather than costing them money, they the service will succeed. Any businessman likes the idea of something that allows them to increase sales and profits, especially a cheapskate. Of course there will always be the penny wise and pound foolish owners, but what can you do about them.
This is because the ACLU is strictly left-wing, and would never support anything the left doesn't like, such as guns. When was the last time the ACLU stood up for a college student being disciplined for conservative speech?
If they get the delivery logistics right the first and manage to get started without blowing $250 million like Webvan did, I don't see how this would not work. Home delivery is an old concept, but there's always room for improvement in efficiency, and restaurants may decide it works far better to farm out their delivery service rather than try to manage it themselves.
Longhorn will be to XP what Win 98 was to Win 95: prettier screen effects and no real differences that can't be obtained through service packs, and stability will likely suffer. But people will buy it just because it's newer and supposedly better.
they would naturally want to put restrictions on people in Indonesia from exporting it
And then they would do it anyway, and who would stop them? Authorities in developing countries have much more pressing issues than dealing with software piracy.
Judging by the mod points he received, bashing right-wingers, regardless of relevance to the topic, appears to be a guaranteed way to get modded +5 Insightful.
Most houses are not some completely new design that has never been tried before. Sure, there may be different combinations of features, but chances are it's not something incredibly unique. If it is unique, the house will likely be slow and expensive to build with many problems discovered later.
Software on the other hand, is much more likely to be unique. Nobody requests a word processor to be made for them, they just go out and buy (or "borrow") a copy of Word. Most software development is largely unique, so there are naturally going to be more problems, delays and cost overruns. This is just one reason why software projects tend to be much harder to manage than other projects such as buildings.
The reason schools spend so much money on computer gear now is due to e-rate funding (ie that $5 "universal service fee" on your monthly phone bill). There was a Slashdot article about it a few months ago. Basically it's yet another huge government pork barrel project with most of the money going to politically connected vendors.
Entering private property when you should have good reason to believe you are not supposed to be there (not sure exactly how the law words this) is trespass, whether you broke in or not. This could be applied to computer systems as well as physical property.
It's a shame that this once great company is now running on fumes, clinging to an old reputation of high quality while they now pump out crap. I haven't had, or heard of anyone having, a good Sony experience in the last 7 years, the PS2 being about the only exception.
Who you should really blame are the voters (or lack thereof). Political contributions and lobbying efforts can only get someone exposure; they can't get elected without votes. The only reason congressmen can be bought is because the public allows it, since they won't vote responsible people in.
Moral of the story: vote out the corrupt public officials who were using this as an obvious moneymaker. If there were a legitimate need to reduce the speed in the area, larger warning signs and an advanced notice would have been far more effective in getting people to actually slow down, as opposed to just being able to catch a lot of people speeding. What was the true purpose, slowing cars down or collecting $$$?
Wait, you were serious? I thought your earlier post was a joke. Taxes may be progressive, but government service fees are not. I pay the same to ride the bus as the homeless person next to me. Of course you could argue that a monitor disposal tax is regressive anyway, since poor people will be buying few or no monitors and rich people will probably be buying them more often and therefore paying more often.
Why not take it a step further and have a sliding scale price system on the monitors themselves? And everything else for that matter, then everyone can buy the same amount of stuff no matter how much money they make:)
At the same time, new consulting opportunities will come up for support and/or migration of SCO systems once the company has folded. There are a lot of legacy systems out there running UnixWare, and there would likely be a decent-sized market for support.
It's more of a defensive strategy. If you're not willing to tell the occaisional little lie to get a better price, get used to being ripped off, because a vendor will sure as hell lie to you. Ever told a car dealer you will only pay up to $25,000? Was it a lie, would you have paid more if necessary, probably so. Falsifying certain information would be criminal if it involves ripping off the merchant, like fake credit cards or something, but as far as your motivation as a customer, it's a game. The dealer is trying to size you up and determine how much they can get you to pay, and you're trying to determine how little they'll sell for. Salesmen both tell and expect certain little lies, so play along with no ethical qualms, or choose to get ripped off.
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Thank you, I was looking for an article like this. How anyone can not see H&R Block's lobbying efforts as the FUD that they are is beyond me. Like anyone would seriously think that "privacy" is the reason why people should keep forking over $30 a year for them to file some papers. I say tax preparers have had more than enough time to profit from filing simple tax returns, which is nothing more than routine gruntwork. Online filing has now made this obsolete, so they can do what many businsses have been forced to do when faced with obsolescence, and adapt. There are still plenty of people with tax returns that are too complex for e-filing, which they can make plenty of money preparing.
The only reason it's not national is due to pressure from tax preparers to prevent the loss of money that they make by doing peoples' taxes each year. H&R Block and other big tax preparers are huge roadblocks towards online filing directly with the IRS. I'm sure they are claiming it wouldn't be safe, or some nonsense like that. Really they don't want to give up the opportunity to sell those "refund anticipation loans", which have insane interest rates.
How do they make sure the truck driver doesn't unscrew the bulb? If they don't, then this idea would work for all of 5 seconds. Knowing Singapore, bulbs cannot be tampered with under penalty of caning, so perhaps the penalty of getting caught is enough of a deterrent.
There was a letter to the editor written to the Chicago Tribune last week (I would link to it if they still had it up) by some MPAA stooge that was trying to convince the public that the broadcast flag is some sort of consumer benefit. He argued that if digital content cannot be protected, it would not be broadcast. He even went as far as saying that MLB baseball games would no longer be broadcast because of "piracy". Like anyone is going to believe this. Broadcasts will continue to be protected in the same way they are now: not at all. This model has worked pretty well for the last 20 or so years and digital TV won't change it that much. What the industry wants is new protections to curb existing rights and create an artificial new revenue stream, so you can pay for anything that you don't get to watch the first time. Fortunately, I think the American public is a little smarter than this.
Actually poor people in the US do receive healthcare, after a bit of a wait of course. This is one reason everyone else pays a lot for their healthcare. In other words, healthcare for the poor in the US is about like the government health systems in many countries. Contrary to rumors, people in the US don't just have to die in the street if they don't have insurance. That being said, the US healthcare system is far from perfect and needs a lot of changes, but the link in the post you replied to speaks volumes about what we should NOT do.
In my opinion, this is the only real downside to launching a counter-attack (hitting back at the wrong person). If Joe Hacker attacks your company and costs you business, then you attack him back and destroy the contents of his machine, what's he going to do, sue you? Reveal his identity so you can launch the countersuit? Somehow I doubt it.
Sure, it's vigilante justice at it's finest, but the reason we don't do this in the physical world anymore is because we have a justice system to deal with it. The cops may not catch the person who broke into your house, but at least most people fear being caught enough to not break into houses.
If someone on the internet has the knowledge and lack of ethics to hack someone's machines and cost them a lot of money, they're probably not too afraid of getting caught considering the current state of online law enforcement affairs, being that if the case doesn't get the attention of the FBI, it's not getting solved at all. Local police have no ability or interest regarding computer crimes.
There's a lot of money to be made from the billions of people in China. That is why companies will be kissing the ass of the Chinese government if need be. Business decisions are mostly a matter of money, and it looks like it makes financial sense to do business in China, even with the laws the way they are.
Think of it this way: would it be better for Microsoft to simply shut down MSN China, and for other companies to do the same with their Chinese operations, and leave the Chinese people with no voice of expression as opposed to a limited one?
Many restaurants have abandoned delivery, citing cost as the main reason. If a delivery service can provide them with cost-effective delivery and show them that it will MAKE money for them rather than costing them money, they the service will succeed. Any businessman likes the idea of something that allows them to increase sales and profits, especially a cheapskate. Of course there will always be the penny wise and pound foolish owners, but what can you do about them.
This is because the ACLU is strictly left-wing, and would never support anything the left doesn't like, such as guns. When was the last time the ACLU stood up for a college student being disciplined for conservative speech?
If they get the delivery logistics right the first and manage to get started without blowing $250 million like Webvan did, I don't see how this would not work. Home delivery is an old concept, but there's always room for improvement in efficiency, and restaurants may decide it works far better to farm out their delivery service rather than try to manage it themselves.
Longhorn will be to XP what Win 98 was to Win 95: prettier screen effects and no real differences that can't be obtained through service packs, and stability will likely suffer. But people will buy it just because it's newer and supposedly better.
Or di-hydrogen monoxide?
they would naturally want to put restrictions on people in Indonesia from exporting it
And then they would do it anyway, and who would stop them? Authorities in developing countries have much more pressing issues than dealing with software piracy.
Judging by the mod points he received, bashing right-wingers, regardless of relevance to the topic, appears to be a guaranteed way to get modded +5 Insightful.
Most houses are not some completely new design that has never been tried before. Sure, there may be different combinations of features, but chances are it's not something incredibly unique. If it is unique, the house will likely be slow and expensive to build with many problems discovered later.
Software on the other hand, is much more likely to be unique. Nobody requests a word processor to be made for them, they just go out and buy (or "borrow") a copy of Word. Most software development is largely unique, so there are naturally going to be more problems, delays and cost overruns. This is just one reason why software projects tend to be much harder to manage than other projects such as buildings.
The reason schools spend so much money on computer gear now is due to e-rate funding (ie that $5 "universal service fee" on your monthly phone bill). There was a Slashdot article about it a few months ago. Basically it's yet another huge government pork barrel project with most of the money going to politically connected vendors.
Next article: how to convert a BMW M3 into a Ford Focus.
Entering private property when you should have good reason to believe you are not supposed to be there (not sure exactly how the law words this) is trespass, whether you broke in or not. This could be applied to computer systems as well as physical property.
It's a shame that this once great company is now running on fumes, clinging to an old reputation of high quality while they now pump out crap. I haven't had, or heard of anyone having, a good Sony experience in the last 7 years, the PS2 being about the only exception.
Who you should really blame are the voters (or lack thereof). Political contributions and lobbying efforts can only get someone exposure; they can't get elected without votes. The only reason congressmen can be bought is because the public allows it, since they won't vote responsible people in.
Moral of the story: vote out the corrupt public officials who were using this as an obvious moneymaker. If there were a legitimate need to reduce the speed in the area, larger warning signs and an advanced notice would have been far more effective in getting people to actually slow down, as opposed to just being able to catch a lot of people speeding. What was the true purpose, slowing cars down or collecting $$$?
Wait, you were serious? I thought your earlier post was a joke. Taxes may be progressive, but government service fees are not. I pay the same to ride the bus as the homeless person next to me. Of course you could argue that a monitor disposal tax is regressive anyway, since poor people will be buying few or no monitors and rich people will probably be buying them more often and therefore paying more often.
Why not take it a step further and have a sliding scale price system on the monitors themselves? And everything else for that matter, then everyone can buy the same amount of stuff no matter how much money they make :)
At the same time, new consulting opportunities will come up for support and/or migration of SCO systems once the company has folded. There are a lot of legacy systems out there running UnixWare, and there would likely be a decent-sized market for support.
It's more of a defensive strategy. If you're not willing to tell the occaisional little lie to get a better price, get used to being ripped off, because a vendor will sure as hell lie to you. Ever told a car dealer you will only pay up to $25,000? Was it a lie, would you have paid more if necessary, probably so. Falsifying certain information would be criminal if it involves ripping off the merchant, like fake credit cards or something, but as far as your motivation as a customer, it's a game. The dealer is trying to size you up and determine how much they can get you to pay, and you're trying to determine how little they'll sell for. Salesmen both tell and expect certain little lies, so play along with no ethical qualms, or choose to get ripped off.