Hey, I have a great idea. How about you not telling us what we should spend our money on.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but every time an article is posted about a faster chip, bigger hard drive, or overclocking, you mofos come out of the woodwork and tell us we are stupid. It just gets really old.
I personally have a K6-500 that I use as a file server. I have used it to surf the internet, but with new software (Mozilla, KDE, WinXP, etc...) it really bogs. I could probably use an older version of Windows or KDE and swap out Mozilla for lynx, but I don't want to. I want to use the latest, bug ridden software. And I want to have a fast computer.
Stop telling us that our hobbies sicken you. Stop telling us where our money is best spent. Let us have our fun.
A school is not in the buisness of providing charity to anyone who thinks they deserve to attend Harvard. The school is there to make money. That's it.
Now, if I can afford to attend, and I have grades that suggest I can hack it, then why should I be denied?
I never had to deal with testing for entry to a school. I did take one test for math placement, but the school basicly said, "If you can afford it, you can attend."
I don't see why every school isn't set up this way. If I can afford to take classes at MIT or Berkley(sp?), then why would they turn me away? In a capatilist system, demand drives supply. If MIT has 1000 slots open for Intro to C++, and 10000 people apply, then the price for the semester should rise until the applicant base falls to a reasonable level.
I do think that a school should look at your highschool GPA when you apply, but I don't see why any "4.0" student shouldn't be able to get into any school they can afford. The schools should either expand their services or boost their prices until they meet a balance. If they need an additional system of balance, then make the classes uberfuckinghard. Let Darwin sort it out.
I'm not bitter (I love my school, U. of Maryland), but if I have the money for a service, it is bullshit for that service to be denied. Kinda like WalMart saying that they have Nike shoes, but not for you.
First, the American legal system is fucked. I don't know about the details of your case, but I find it hard to belive that 12 people found you liable for $9000 just for bumping into someone. Unless there was intentional malice (get outta my way, bitch), or incompetence (you walking backwards, talking with friends), or maybe unintentional personal injury (you bumped her, she fell down stairs). If you settled out of court, I'm sorry. Everyone in this country has the right to vote, and the right to have a jury decide their fate. If you give up the right to vote, you can't complain about the president. If you give up the right to a trial, you can't complain about the legal system.
Second, and this is sketchy. If I buy a car that records everything, I don't think the law requires you to surrender this data. There is an ammendment to the constitution that, basicly, says you cannot be called on to testify agianst yourself. If you go out and kill 20 people, the prosicution can't call you to the stand. For anything. At all. If your lawyer call you to the stand, the prosicution cann cross-examine you, but he cannot call you on his own.
So by that accord, data that your car collects shouldn't be able to be entered as evidence agianst you. Yes, corporations have documents entered agianst them all the time, but a corporation is not granted rights under the constitution. You are.
I'm probably wrong, but I think a judge might see it as a constitutional rights issue and not allow it to be entered.
I don't think it's the same at all. Cameras in a house will show a lot about your family. Who they see. When they go to bed. How often they have sex. This id a lot more detail than a "Black Box".
If I could see how often a car was driven. How far was the average trip. What was the maximum speed the car hit. These are all good things that most buyers ask, and most sellers tell anyway.
That is way different than having video of me and my friends smoking a joint inside the car.
You are assuming a non-catastrophic failure. What if you are doing 80mph on the freeway and your front tire (which has been running on low pressure for 2 months) blows out.
Right there, you are doing 2 things which directly contribute to the accident, speeding and low tire pressure. Should you be held accountable for that? What if someone dies in the accident? Does the family of the victim deserve to know that you killed their loved one? Do the cops deserve to have access to information that could prove you commited a crime which caused an accident?
People need to take their cars more seriously. They need to learn how to drive, not by dad, but by people who are professional drivers. They need to know that the oil, water, wiper fluid, tire pressure, tread, and a myrid of other things are important.
I'd love to see one case on Court TV where someone was held liable for an accident in a rain storm where the person couldn't see because their wipers were 4 years old.
The real question here is not about the usefulness of the device. It is about the specs for the device.
Remember way back in the day, when Discovery and TLC used to be all about cool shit. Remember Connections? It was 'turn on the TV and learn about the mysteries of the universe'. Now it is 'turn on the TV and watch cops chase a criminal in a homemade vehicle while some lady with bad teeth gets liposuction and her house is redecorated'.
The problem is that Connections doesn't sell anymore. And you have to be willing to put up with a weeks worth of 'On the Inside' US military propaganda in order to see the one cool show you want to see. Whatever they need to do to stay in buisness is OK with me.
The only thing I watch on TechTV is 'The Screensavers'. Well, that's not true, I also watch 'Extended Play' and some kinda musical show. I could give two shits what else they play. If they need to play reruns of 'While you were Out', so be it. So long as I still get the shows I like.
That's just the starter kit. After the first 12 months, how much will the charge be? What options are avalible? Are there seperate pricing tiers which will unlock specific games, or just one flat fee.
The price of the starter kit is nice, but if the renewal price is $39.95 for a 6 month block of tier 1 (Halo and 14 other crap games) or $99.95 for tier 2 (tier 1 + MechAssault + 10 other games), then what's the point.
I sense something shady approaching. Almost like crack...the first one is free.:)
I have a Kyosho eletric car, 1/12 scale, and I love the thing. It can run about 25mph (motor is old and cells haven't been matched in a long time), jump 6' off the ground, and generally just tear shit up like a mofo. I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Now, I work in a Network Control Center. If I even considered bringing anything that transmits RF, I'd be so fired. That is where my DigiQ Micro IR car comes into play. The car is all of about 1.5" long. It has a small dome on top to receive input from the transmitter.
The transmitter I have cost more than the radio gear for my Kyosho. It has tons of control functions like stepped acceleration and anti-lock breaking. The car itself has 2 motors connected directly to the rear drive wheels. The transmitter keeps track of what these motors are doing and can adjust each one seperately.
Now, I keep 2 of these things in my drawer at work. We can have a small race in the space of a single 2' square floor tile. Everyone at the office loves them. We have even started talking about forming DigiQ leagues for races during lunch.
Sure, big cars are more fun, but these things can be a blast anywhere. Hell, I even had a small race on the coach tray table of a damn airplane.
I'm still trying to come up with a good reason to replace Wife 1.0. All the newer models look so much cooler.
Re:Just an FYI....NO FLAME
on
Build Your Own Mac
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Just like car enthusiasts:
Some people buy from a dealer. Some buy parts from JC Whittney. Some hand polish the cylinder walls themselves.
If I buy a video card and then rip off the heatsink to replace it with another, then I have done more work than most. If I spend days looking at charts and graphs to decide which MoBo is the best, I have done more work than most. If I take the time to tiewrap power cables and ensure good airflow, then I have done more work than most.
Like sex, there is a lot more to "building a PC" than "insert tab A into slot B". Or at least there can be if you do it right.
You said older parts are more likely to fail. I have to disagree. After a part has been in use for 6 months, the rate of failure drops signifigantly. This is due to all the parts being put under load for the first time as a unit. A transistor may pass it's own QoS test, but it may fail when it is combined with the heat produced by other components.
After having worked in the telecom industry for about 10 years, I am more wary of a router fresh off the boat from Cisco than an old Cabletron Switch that has been in place longer than I have. I have DSFUs (telephone signalling equipment) that have been processing calls longer than I have been alive. But the new (still just as old, but never been out of the box) DSFUs that fail tend to do so within the first month.
I'll trust the old video card I pull out of the bottom of my parts bin (which is currently stacked higher than most men stand) over a brand new GeForceFX any day. As long as the part wasn't crap to begin with, after 6 months of use, it'll last forever.
And I feel for you. I once bought a Star Wars game that kept crashing after the second level. Something about a Matrox driver issue. The publisher had no plans to fix it and Matrox releases drivers wheneverthefuck they feel like it.
The retailer refused to accept the return. I came in with tons of documentation and even offered to bring in my PC to prove the game was crashing.
Long story, short, the retailer acknowledged the problem. Then he said he would accept the return and give me 75% of the purchace price towards store credit.
Now, I wait till I know a game is good and will work on my system before I buy it. Also, I usually refuse to buy a game till it has at least 2 months on the market, or 3 patches. Whichever comes first.
OK, what is your excuse for returning a console game? Did it crash your system? Was it not compatible with your video card? Every once in a while, this may be an issue.
Returning something because it is crap is a bullshit excuse. That's like saying all those fat people can return the electroshock abb thingy because it hurts. Or returning a computer because it isn't fast enough.
Do your research BEFORE you make a purchace. Then you will rarely get burned. And when you do, return the shit ASAP. That day if possible. Then they will be more likely to accomidate your wishes.
I agree that piracy is a retailer excuse. I also agree that retailers don't plan on going back to accepting returns on software. But if we can remove their excuses, then people will see it for what it really is. Then the healing can begin:)
Last thing I bought was John Digweed and Korn. Before that, I bought a CD back in 1995 or 1996. I think it was PearlJam.
The thing is, I don't just go out and buy the latest 311 or Eminem as soon as it hits the shelf. I download the entire CD from Kazaa and burn it to an audio CD in the correct order. Then I play it a while. If I like the energy and flow of the tracks and I think the lyrics are insightful, I'll buy the CD. If not, I keep the tracks I like in mp3 format and promise to give the band a few bucks if I ever meet them:)
I agree that returns could be tracked and if someone has a bad habit, it'll show up.
But then you have the guy who makes the occasional return. Will he claim an invasion of privacy? Will he claim that his purchaces are being tracked illegaly? Will the EFF or ACLU get involved?
About the consumer hostile bit, if you refuse to see both sides of a problem, you are part of the problem. Try and put yourself in the shoes of a Mom&Pop boutique trying to survive. How do they deal with 10 returns a week? 100? 1000? Can they survive and continue to serve the community?
A t-shirt cannot be coppied. You aren't going to make a backup of your Levi jeans. The retailer knows you didn't play your toaster oven till you were bored and then return it.
The marketing drones are not the same as the retailer. The retailer pays to purchace the stock, places the product, and makes a small commission on the sale. Every copy of Starcraft you see on the shelf represents a sale according to Blizzard. It is then up to the retailer to recoup that money by selling it to you for a small profit. I see no reason why a retailer should refund your money because you made a bad purchace decision.
If anything, the publisher should be forced to accept returns direct from the customer. But that will never happen. Look at the Microsoft Return Day. Publishers will never allow a shoddy product to be returned.
But we still have the power. It's our money. Don't buy Warcraft3 or Doom2 the day it comes out. Wait till you have seen at least 3 reviews before you buy a product. Force the publisher to release a demo to perk interest. Don't buy early.
As for the abuse by some, would you rather see a company with a great product go bankrupt because 100,000 people bought something, copied it, then returned it? Or would you rather be stuck with an occasional bad product because you weren't smart enough to do research before you laid your money on the counter?
So, don't buy shitty music. In any event, DRM will give the consumer some integrity in the eyes of the retailer. If the RIAA says it can't be coppied, then the retailer has no choice but to accept a return.
It's a tough call, but I kinda agree with retailers not accepting music and software returns.
If you buy a CD, you know that you are paying $17 for the 2 hits on it. The other 10~12 songs are just fluf. If you don't like it, don't buy music.
If you buy software, the requirements are listed on the box. If you decide that the game wasn't worth it (Diakatana), too bad. You should have waited for the review before you bought the game.
Basicly, it is too easy for anyone to buy a CD or a game, make a copy, and then return the original. There is no real way for a retailer to demand integrity from the customer. And a few bad customers will eat away at the profit margin till the companies you love are no longer able to produce products you value.
I think this is why DRM will prevail. When the RIAA has the music locked down, then you can return a crap CD just because it was crap. When palladium has software locked down, you can return a game just because it crashes. Until then, the retailer will continue to think you are a thief.
The solution to spam is easy...Just use whitelists. Tell grandma that she needs to open her email proggy, click through 3 menus, then add your address to a line. A couple of 'OK's later, and no more spam.
This will ensure that no one gets unsolicited email. Ever.
Yes, it would suck for a while. Yes, there would be a lot of returned emails at first. Yes, somewhere the bandwidth is still being used.
But after about 2 months, the problem would dissappear. Completely. Anyone who ever made money off of spam would dry up and blow away.
If the author doens't like the publishers terms, he can always put the work on a web site and sell adverts.
I'd think that already popular authors could make a killing doing this. And up and coming authors shouldn't find it too difficult to make at least some money out of the deal.
Imagine a smart guy opening storydot.org where an author can post a chapter of his story at a time. Instead of sections about apple, linux, and M$, you could have a section for each book.
I really cannot see what, exactly, publishers do these days besides exploiting 99.9% of the authors out there just to pay Oprah to reccomend 0.1% on her show.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, I have a great idea. How about you not telling us what we should spend our money on.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but every time an article is posted about a faster chip, bigger hard drive, or overclocking, you mofos come out of the woodwork and tell us we are stupid. It just gets really old.
I personally have a K6-500 that I use as a file server. I have used it to surf the internet, but with new software (Mozilla, KDE, WinXP, etc...) it really bogs. I could probably use an older version of Windows or KDE and swap out Mozilla for lynx, but I don't want to. I want to use the latest, bug ridden software. And I want to have a fast computer.
Stop telling us that our hobbies sicken you. Stop telling us where our money is best spent. Let us have our fun.
What? The ones where he is bangin' his 12 yeay old cousin?
A school is not in the buisness of providing charity to anyone who thinks they deserve to attend Harvard. The school is there to make money. That's it.
Now, if I can afford to attend, and I have grades that suggest I can hack it, then why should I be denied?
The best way is to admit all the 4.0 students and then let the achedimic program sort out thoes that will succede.
Hi all,
I never had to deal with testing for entry to a school. I did take one test for math placement, but the school basicly said, "If you can afford it, you can attend."
I don't see why every school isn't set up this way. If I can afford to take classes at MIT or Berkley(sp?), then why would they turn me away? In a capatilist system, demand drives supply. If MIT has 1000 slots open for Intro to C++, and 10000 people apply, then the price for the semester should rise until the applicant base falls to a reasonable level.
I do think that a school should look at your highschool GPA when you apply, but I don't see why any "4.0" student shouldn't be able to get into any school they can afford. The schools should either expand their services or boost their prices until they meet a balance. If they need an additional system of balance, then make the classes uberfuckinghard. Let Darwin sort it out.
I'm not bitter (I love my school, U. of Maryland), but if I have the money for a service, it is bullshit for that service to be denied. Kinda like WalMart saying that they have Nike shoes, but not for you.
Oh man, I hate games where you have to walk around and do stuf.
I have two issues with your post:
First, the American legal system is fucked. I don't know about the details of your case, but I find it hard to belive that 12 people found you liable for $9000 just for bumping into someone. Unless there was intentional malice (get outta my way, bitch), or incompetence (you walking backwards, talking with friends), or maybe unintentional personal injury (you bumped her, she fell down stairs). If you settled out of court, I'm sorry. Everyone in this country has the right to vote, and the right to have a jury decide their fate. If you give up the right to vote, you can't complain about the president. If you give up the right to a trial, you can't complain about the legal system.
Second, and this is sketchy. If I buy a car that records everything, I don't think the law requires you to surrender this data. There is an ammendment to the constitution that, basicly, says you cannot be called on to testify agianst yourself. If you go out and kill 20 people, the prosicution can't call you to the stand. For anything. At all. If your lawyer call you to the stand, the prosicution cann cross-examine you, but he cannot call you on his own.
So by that accord, data that your car collects shouldn't be able to be entered as evidence agianst you. Yes, corporations have documents entered agianst them all the time, but a corporation is not granted rights under the constitution. You are.
I'm probably wrong, but I think a judge might see it as a constitutional rights issue and not allow it to be entered.
I don't think it's the same at all. Cameras in a house will show a lot about your family. Who they see. When they go to bed. How often they have sex. This id a lot more detail than a "Black Box".
If I could see how often a car was driven. How far was the average trip. What was the maximum speed the car hit. These are all good things that most buyers ask, and most sellers tell anyway.
That is way different than having video of me and my friends smoking a joint inside the car.
You are assuming a non-catastrophic failure. What if you are doing 80mph on the freeway and your front tire (which has been running on low pressure for 2 months) blows out.
Right there, you are doing 2 things which directly contribute to the accident, speeding and low tire pressure. Should you be held accountable for that? What if someone dies in the accident? Does the family of the victim deserve to know that you killed their loved one? Do the cops deserve to have access to information that could prove you commited a crime which caused an accident?
People need to take their cars more seriously. They need to learn how to drive, not by dad, but by people who are professional drivers. They need to know that the oil, water, wiper fluid, tire pressure, tread, and a myrid of other things are important.
I'd love to see one case on Court TV where someone was held liable for an accident in a rain storm where the person couldn't see because their wipers were 4 years old.
The real question here is not about the usefulness of the device. It is about the specs for the device.
Remember way back in the day, when Discovery and TLC used to be all about cool shit. Remember Connections? It was 'turn on the TV and learn about the mysteries of the universe'. Now it is 'turn on the TV and watch cops chase a criminal in a homemade vehicle while some lady with bad teeth gets liposuction and her house is redecorated'.
The problem is that Connections doesn't sell anymore. And you have to be willing to put up with a weeks worth of 'On the Inside' US military propaganda in order to see the one cool show you want to see. Whatever they need to do to stay in buisness is OK with me.
The only thing I watch on TechTV is 'The Screensavers'. Well, that's not true, I also watch 'Extended Play' and some kinda musical show. I could give two shits what else they play. If they need to play reruns of 'While you were Out', so be it. So long as I still get the shows I like.
I always assumed it was that damn hole that killed 'em.
That's just the starter kit. After the first 12 months, how much will the charge be? What options are avalible? Are there seperate pricing tiers which will unlock specific games, or just one flat fee.
:)
The price of the starter kit is nice, but if the renewal price is $39.95 for a 6 month block of tier 1 (Halo and 14 other crap games) or $99.95 for tier 2 (tier 1 + MechAssault + 10 other games), then what's the point.
I sense something shady approaching. Almost like crack...the first one is free.
I have a Kyosho eletric car, 1/12 scale, and I love the thing. It can run about 25mph (motor is old and cells haven't been matched in a long time), jump 6' off the ground, and generally just tear shit up like a mofo. I wouldn't give it up for anything.
Now, I work in a Network Control Center. If I even considered bringing anything that transmits RF, I'd be so fired. That is where my DigiQ Micro IR car comes into play. The car is all of about 1.5" long. It has a small dome on top to receive input from the transmitter.
The transmitter I have cost more than the radio gear for my Kyosho. It has tons of control functions like stepped acceleration and anti-lock breaking. The car itself has 2 motors connected directly to the rear drive wheels. The transmitter keeps track of what these motors are doing and can adjust each one seperately.
Now, I keep 2 of these things in my drawer at work. We can have a small race in the space of a single 2' square floor tile. Everyone at the office loves them. We have even started talking about forming DigiQ leagues for races during lunch.
Sure, big cars are more fun, but these things can be a blast anywhere. Hell, I even had a small race on the coach tray table of a damn airplane.
I'm still trying to come up with a good reason to replace Wife 1.0. All the newer models look so much cooler.
Just like car enthusiasts:
Some people buy from a dealer. Some buy parts from JC Whittney. Some hand polish the cylinder walls themselves.
If I buy a video card and then rip off the heatsink to replace it with another, then I have done more work than most. If I spend days looking at charts and graphs to decide which MoBo is the best, I have done more work than most. If I take the time to tiewrap power cables and ensure good airflow, then I have done more work than most.
Like sex, there is a lot more to "building a PC" than "insert tab A into slot B". Or at least there can be if you do it right.
You said older parts are more likely to fail. I have to disagree. After a part has been in use for 6 months, the rate of failure drops signifigantly. This is due to all the parts being put under load for the first time as a unit. A transistor may pass it's own QoS test, but it may fail when it is combined with the heat produced by other components.
After having worked in the telecom industry for about 10 years, I am more wary of a router fresh off the boat from Cisco than an old Cabletron Switch that has been in place longer than I have. I have DSFUs (telephone signalling equipment) that have been processing calls longer than I have been alive. But the new (still just as old, but never been out of the box) DSFUs that fail tend to do so within the first month.
I'll trust the old video card I pull out of the bottom of my parts bin (which is currently stacked higher than most men stand) over a brand new GeForceFX any day. As long as the part wasn't crap to begin with, after 6 months of use, it'll last forever.
And I feel for you. I once bought a Star Wars game that kept crashing after the second level. Something about a Matrox driver issue. The publisher had no plans to fix it and Matrox releases drivers wheneverthefuck they feel like it.
The retailer refused to accept the return. I came in with tons of documentation and even offered to bring in my PC to prove the game was crashing.
Long story, short, the retailer acknowledged the problem. Then he said he would accept the return and give me 75% of the purchace price towards store credit.
Now, I wait till I know a game is good and will work on my system before I buy it. Also, I usually refuse to buy a game till it has at least 2 months on the market, or 3 patches. Whichever comes first.
OK, what is your excuse for returning a console game? Did it crash your system? Was it not compatible with your video card? Every once in a while, this may be an issue.
:)
Returning something because it is crap is a bullshit excuse. That's like saying all those fat people can return the electroshock abb thingy because it hurts. Or returning a computer because it isn't fast enough.
Do your research BEFORE you make a purchace. Then you will rarely get burned. And when you do, return the shit ASAP. That day if possible. Then they will be more likely to accomidate your wishes.
I agree that piracy is a retailer excuse. I also agree that retailers don't plan on going back to accepting returns on software. But if we can remove their excuses, then people will see it for what it really is. Then the healing can begin
Last thing I bought was John Digweed and Korn. Before that, I bought a CD back in 1995 or 1996. I think it was PearlJam.
:)
The thing is, I don't just go out and buy the latest 311 or Eminem as soon as it hits the shelf. I download the entire CD from Kazaa and burn it to an audio CD in the correct order. Then I play it a while. If I like the energy and flow of the tracks and I think the lyrics are insightful, I'll buy the CD. If not, I keep the tracks I like in mp3 format and promise to give the band a few bucks if I ever meet them
I agree that returns could be tracked and if someone has a bad habit, it'll show up.
But then you have the guy who makes the occasional return. Will he claim an invasion of privacy? Will he claim that his purchaces are being tracked illegaly? Will the EFF or ACLU get involved?
About the consumer hostile bit, if you refuse to see both sides of a problem, you are part of the problem. Try and put yourself in the shoes of a Mom&Pop boutique trying to survive. How do they deal with 10 returns a week? 100? 1000? Can they survive and continue to serve the community?
I try and see both sides of every argument.
A t-shirt cannot be coppied. You aren't going to make a backup of your Levi jeans. The retailer knows you didn't play your toaster oven till you were bored and then return it.
The marketing drones are not the same as the retailer. The retailer pays to purchace the stock, places the product, and makes a small commission on the sale. Every copy of Starcraft you see on the shelf represents a sale according to Blizzard. It is then up to the retailer to recoup that money by selling it to you for a small profit. I see no reason why a retailer should refund your money because you made a bad purchace decision.
If anything, the publisher should be forced to accept returns direct from the customer. But that will never happen. Look at the Microsoft Return Day. Publishers will never allow a shoddy product to be returned.
But we still have the power. It's our money. Don't buy Warcraft3 or Doom2 the day it comes out. Wait till you have seen at least 3 reviews before you buy a product. Force the publisher to release a demo to perk interest. Don't buy early.
As for the abuse by some, would you rather see a company with a great product go bankrupt because 100,000 people bought something, copied it, then returned it? Or would you rather be stuck with an occasional bad product because you weren't smart enough to do research before you laid your money on the counter?
So, don't buy shitty music. In any event, DRM will give the consumer some integrity in the eyes of the retailer. If the RIAA says it can't be coppied, then the retailer has no choice but to accept a return.
At least, that's how I hope it will go down...
It's a tough call, but I kinda agree with retailers not accepting music and software returns.
If you buy a CD, you know that you are paying $17 for the 2 hits on it. The other 10~12 songs are just fluf. If you don't like it, don't buy music.
If you buy software, the requirements are listed on the box. If you decide that the game wasn't worth it (Diakatana), too bad. You should have waited for the review before you bought the game.
Basicly, it is too easy for anyone to buy a CD or a game, make a copy, and then return the original. There is no real way for a retailer to demand integrity from the customer. And a few bad customers will eat away at the profit margin till the companies you love are no longer able to produce products you value.
I think this is why DRM will prevail. When the RIAA has the music locked down, then you can return a crap CD just because it was crap. When palladium has software locked down, you can return a game just because it crashes. Until then, the retailer will continue to think you are a thief.
The solution to spam is easy...Just use whitelists. Tell grandma that she needs to open her email proggy, click through 3 menus, then add your address to a line. A couple of 'OK's later, and no more spam.
This will ensure that no one gets unsolicited email. Ever.
Yes, it would suck for a while. Yes, there would be a lot of returned emails at first. Yes, somewhere the bandwidth is still being used.
But after about 2 months, the problem would dissappear. Completely. Anyone who ever made money off of spam would dry up and blow away.
If the author doens't like the publishers terms, he can always put the work on a web site and sell adverts.
I'd think that already popular authors could make a killing doing this. And up and coming authors shouldn't find it too difficult to make at least some money out of the deal.
Imagine a smart guy opening storydot.org where an author can post a chapter of his story at a time. Instead of sections about apple, linux, and M$, you could have a section for each book.
I really cannot see what, exactly, publishers do these days besides exploiting 99.9% of the authors out there just to pay Oprah to reccomend 0.1% on her show.