Also, with few exceptions, Walmart will NOT sell videogames that get a Mature rating. (Exception: Diablo II for obviou$ rea$on$)
This is important since over 1/2 of all video game sales in the U.S. occur at WalMart. The funny thing about WalMart is this:
In Inglewood, CA (Spelling? I think thats right) WalMart wants to open in a city where 18-25 year olds have a 25% unemployment rate, and they want to open on what is currently a large empty parking lot (has been so for literally decades) They promised to bring with them a half-dozen restaurants as well, including an Outback Steakhouse.
Well... Inglewood decided that having jobs for teens and money flowing into the city (oh, heaven forbid!) would be an evil thing, so WalMart is disallowed from opening anywhere in the city... and then people complain that there are no jobs!!!!!!
The moral of this story? Companies are evil because they make money.
You see, the trouble is that right now today, an Indian programmer that made, say $10,000 a year would be making a lot of money. There is a very good reason that there are so many people lining up to take the jobs. They are better jobs (and pay better) than many alternatives.
Incidentally, the Indian economy is currently undergoing an interesting phenomenon... it is called inflation. Suddenly lots of people want to hire Indians, and thus, the value of their work goes up.
The value of your work is precisely the largest sum of money you can convince someone to pay you.
You will never hear me say (other then perhaps as sarcasm) that the Wall Street Journal, or any other conservative medium is unbiased.
In fact, I tend to find much of it more biased. In a way, that's good, because it is so obvious that I am never successfully misled into believing that I am getting a balanced report.
I find it humorous in the extreme that the New York Times is whining about other people putting forth an agenda, a big story, or humor before accuracy.
Regardless of their political beliefs, I would hope that any reader of the New York Times, the LA Times, or the overwhelming majority of big-time newspapers have a certain... political agenda... behind them.
The New York Times, for instance, has a tendancy to write with a pronounced liberal slant in any article that relates directly to politics.
In many other articles, any careful reader can spot a certain angle... a certain group or person that we are meant to side with.
Go grab a copy of the paper, and read looking for bias. you'll find it.
There is a program, called "Reading by 9" that is sponsored in part by the Los Angeles Times, IIRC.
The goal of this program is to get kids up to speed so that they are able to read at their grade level by age 9.
Go take a look at the nine-year-old booklist... last I checked there were books on it that I was reading at age 5 or 6. And I was at most 1 year ahead of most of the rest of my class in reading. But then, I went to elementary school in Pennsylvania, and I went to a private school that didn't completely suck like the LA public schools do.
The point isn't that I'm super smart or anything... maybe I am, maybe I'm not... my opinion changes daily. The point is that yes, it is actually not unusual for people to be pretty much illiterate until at least 9. After all, if the *goal* of the program is reading by age 9, that means that many people don't make it!
As for RTFM: I know nobody who has ever read a manual of any sort on Windows, and yet almost everyone I know can figure out how to do at least 95% of what they want to do with their system.
Also, if I am asking someone for help, there are 2 possibilities: 1. "I do not want to read the fucking manual its 2 million pages long, you claim to be here to help newbies, help me" or 2: "I read the manual or couldn't find the manual (typing "man" followed by the name of the command to get help is so helpful when I don't know that the name of the command I want is 'df'), so I ask you, oh friendly helper, help me"
RTFM is *never* an appropriate response to a request for help. ever.
P.S. what the hell *does* df do again? Hopefully it doesn't stand for disk fuck? And why is it so poorly named?
2: more important. Perhaps tehre is a teensy tiny little difference between making money selling software that you wrote and killing people? Just maybe?
Most of the people developing Linux understand exactly how it works. Thus, they don't need or want a nice usable interface that doesn't expect that you have memorized the organization of the kernel code.
Thus, they don't care, so they don't write it, so Linux is impossible for most people to use.
The key flaw in open source development is that only the features that programmers care about ever get created -- because thats all there are... programmers...
I have worked for a few companies with we-own-you type contracts.
However, I was provided the opportunity to explicitly declare any projects or other IP that I was working with, that I did not wish to give to my employer who shall remain namelesss. (Well, they have a name, but I'm not saying what it is)
The lawyers then consider each entry, and determine whether or not it threatens them in any way. In my case, none of my IP things did.
If they had, I would have discussed and tried to negotiate a special case. However, I wouldn't run screaming to a lawyer and try to rewrite their contract.
my point wasn't that all employers are unreasonable bastards, just that, with current market trends, employees must realize that they have to compromise sometimes, and that compromising doesn't mean saying "my way or the highway"
And larger companies tend to be more set in their ways, and less willing to bend. There are valid exceptions to all of this, as always.
It is not the case that everybody who disagrees with you is a Troll.
he has a completely valid point, and, just because it isn't a part of that everybody-loves-the-little-guy-screw-management utopian dream that you have doesn't mean that he is trolling.
Use you mod points just *a bit* more responsibly, eh?
You are entirely correct, but are missing one really important fact.
There are currently many more people who want jobs then there are jobs to be had. Especially the non-crappy high-paying kinds of jobs.
This means that we are in an "employer's market" because the employer has the bargaining power.
See, there are enough potential employees who are qualified (in most arenas) that all those who refuse to accept whatever they are given can just be ignored. All the available positions will still be filled.
So, yes, right now, in this job market, it is the employer who has the biggest say. Just like, about 5 years ago, it was the employee who could (and did) demand and get whatever they wanted.
Thats not to say that you have to agree to terms you do not like, just that, with a company of any size, you will simply be skipped, and the job will go to someone who doesn't care or doesn't read as carefully.
Being all confrontational isn't a good way to get a job.
In response to your comment about the dialog box that prevents a script from sending mail as you.
what about this real-life scenario. Microsoft Outlook has such a thing... you have to wait 5 seconds and then click a button for each message you want to send out.
What about when you really *do* need a program (such as, say, a mail-merge) to send a letter to 2500 people on your mailing list -- completely opt-in, they had to create a username/password, d *then* manually subscribe to the list.
well... thankfully, there was a quick little program called "click the freakin button" or something like that, that clicked the button automatically. This still means 5 seconds * 2500 messages = too damn much time to send mail. And, because the dialog takes input focus, the machine is completely unusable for the entire time the mailing is running.
Yet, there *is no way* to turn this "protection" off...
it *is* unlimited. They won't charge you a single red cent more for using too much bandwidth. They will simply exercise their option to terminate the service.
Theoretically (and probably in actuality) they have to refund you the pro-rated amount of any prepaid access you bought. If you paid $50 for April, and they cut you off on the 15th, they owe you about $25.
I imagine that if you screamed loudly enough, you could get that $25.
But they are under no obligation to continue to offer the service after the end of the month you prepaid for. And you probably agreed that they can cancel at any time if they give you a refund for unused amount.
and it is most certainly their right to refuse to sell their service to whoever they want -- within reasonable limits -- they can't have a policy of not selling service to, say, women (although, they probably could get away with not selling to white guys, the way current trends run in America)
And dammit, I'm not an "apologist" I'm not apologizing for them, I'm telling you why you have <1 clue.
No one advertises "We give you all of the Internet!"
Bullshit! Ever seen the AOL ads? "Get AOL and the entire internet"
besides, just because all internet services provide feature X doesn't mean that I can't advertise that I provide X. Even if it takes no action on my part to provide X.
they don't mean "Unlimited Bandwidth Usage" when they say unlimited access.
They probably mean "unlimited access" as in, there are no limitations or restrictions on when you use the service, nor what parts of the internet (or their network) you access.
While they *still* aren't being 100% correct, they will pass the legal standard, which is something to the effect that a reasonable individual would understand the intent of the advertising.
For instance: Unlimited Access (24/7/365) but, obviously not during outages. If outages got much beyond 1% of the time, you could probably sue, but... just because for first 30 minutes of each month the system is down for maintenance doesn't mean it isn't "unlimited" and "always on"
Incidentally, Cox Communications recently put an official limit on bandwidth usage. No more than 2GB/day or 30GB/Month
Now, at peak, I've hit 3.1GB in a day -- never heard a word. That said, I'm probably only in the 15-20GB/Month range most months.
Dear pedantic Slashbots: If cable theft is stealing, why is MP3 downloading "infringement?" Face it; it's stealing
Simple. "Cable Theft" isn't stealing, or theft at all... its reading data that's already pumped into your home. If they didn't want you to see it, they wouldn't send it to you.
These viewpoints may or may not reflect my actual beliefs, just those of the more annoying little kiddies, and those who made Canadian law work that way
(And if God had wanted us to go to the moon, we'd have been born with solid rocket boosters up our asses)
oh, yeah?... well... it... it... HA! Activation! That's gotta be spyware!!! I mean... it sends stuff out to the internet without letting you see it. its gotta be spying on you
Slashdot Mirror
Wanted: Will trade illusion of safety for slightly used governmental system w/ checks and balances
this is true.
Also, with few exceptions, Walmart will NOT sell videogames that get a Mature rating. (Exception: Diablo II for obviou$ rea$on$)
This is important since over 1/2 of all video game sales in the U.S. occur at WalMart.
The funny thing about WalMart is this:
In Inglewood, CA (Spelling? I think thats right)
WalMart wants to open in a city where 18-25 year olds have a 25% unemployment rate, and they want to open on what is currently a large empty parking lot (has been so for literally decades) They promised to bring with them a half-dozen restaurants as well, including an Outback Steakhouse.
Well... Inglewood decided that having jobs for teens and money flowing into the city (oh, heaven forbid!) would be an evil thing, so WalMart is disallowed from opening anywhere in the city... and then people complain that there are no jobs!!!!!!
The moral of this story? Companies are evil because they make money.
I disagree with the comment that you agree with.
You see, the trouble is that right now today, an Indian programmer that made, say $10,000 a year would be making a lot of money. There is a very good reason that there are so many people lining up to take the jobs. They are better jobs (and pay better) than many alternatives.
Incidentally, the Indian economy is currently undergoing an interesting phenomenon... it is called inflation. Suddenly lots of people want to hire Indians, and thus, the value of their work goes up.
The value of your work is precisely the largest sum of money you can convince someone to pay you.
there were previously "credible" thinkers who saw it as happening before the year 2000. Too bad for them, eh?
I have nothing to add to this line of talk, but I must thank you all for an excellent laugh!
You will never hear me say (other then perhaps as sarcasm) that the Wall Street Journal, or any other conservative medium is unbiased.
In fact, I tend to find much of it more biased. In a way, that's good, because it is so obvious that I am never successfully misled into believing that I am getting a balanced report.
I find it humorous in the extreme that the New York Times is whining about other people putting forth an agenda, a big story, or humor before accuracy.
Regardless of their political beliefs, I would hope that any reader of the New York Times, the LA Times, or the overwhelming majority of big-time newspapers have a certain... political agenda... behind them.
The New York Times, for instance, has a tendancy to write with a pronounced liberal slant in any article that relates directly to politics.
In many other articles, any careful reader can spot a certain angle... a certain group or person that we are meant to side with.
Go grab a copy of the paper, and read looking for bias. you'll find it.
Just for your information.
There is a program, called "Reading by 9" that is sponsored in part by the Los Angeles Times, IIRC.
The goal of this program is to get kids up to speed so that they are able to read at their grade level by age 9.
Go take a look at the nine-year-old booklist... last I checked there were books on it that I was reading at age 5 or 6. And I was at most 1 year ahead of most of the rest of my class in reading.
But then, I went to elementary school in Pennsylvania, and I went to a private school that didn't completely suck like the LA public schools do.
The point isn't that I'm super smart or anything... maybe I am, maybe I'm not... my opinion changes daily. The point is that yes, it is actually not unusual for people to be pretty much illiterate until at least 9. After all, if the *goal* of the program is reading by age 9, that means that many people don't make it!
As for RTFM: I know nobody who has ever read a manual of any sort on Windows, and yet almost everyone I know can figure out how to do at least 95% of what they want to do with their system.
Also, if I am asking someone for help, there are 2 possibilities: 1. "I do not want to read the fucking manual its 2 million pages long, you claim to be here to help newbies, help me" or 2: "I read the manual or couldn't find the manual (typing "man" followed by the name of the command to get help is so helpful when I don't know that the name of the command I want is 'df'), so I ask you, oh friendly helper, help me"
RTFM is *never* an appropriate response to a request for help. ever.
P.S. what the hell *does* df do again? Hopefully it doesn't stand for disk fuck? And why is it so poorly named?
Two things:
1: why bite on such an obvious troll
2: more important. Perhaps tehre is a teensy tiny little difference between making money selling software that you wrote and killing people? Just maybe?
You just hit the nail on the head with that one.
Most of the people developing Linux understand exactly how it works. Thus, they don't need or want a nice usable interface that doesn't expect that you have memorized the organization of the kernel code.
Thus, they don't care, so they don't write it, so Linux is impossible for most people to use.
The key flaw in open source development is that only the features that programmers care about ever get created -- because thats all there are... programmers...
Mod Parent Up!
Mainly because there are too many thousands of people -- mostly OSS Zealots -- who actually believe about 90% of this stuff.
-- Fareq
As for why they are not killing it now:
The End-User License Agreement guarantees that the player base will be notified a minimum of 90 days before they pull the plug on the servers.
As for why 6 months? probably so that the people who bought 6 month packages don't demand a refund for the 3 months remaining...
check out http://www.ebportal.com if you want to read what all of the players have to say...
-- Fareq
Try CD-Rs that are "Ink-jet printable"
They all come with a nice blank white surface on them. And if you have a spiffy printer, you can print on them.
The top, of course, has a surface much like paper -- but it doesn't say anything on it...
I tend to agree with this approach.
I have worked for a few companies with we-own-you type contracts.
However, I was provided the opportunity to explicitly declare any projects or other IP that I was working with, that I did not wish to give to my employer who shall remain namelesss. (Well, they have a name, but I'm not saying what it is)
The lawyers then consider each entry, and determine whether or not it threatens them in any way. In my case, none of my IP things did.
If they had, I would have discussed and tried to negotiate a special case. However, I wouldn't run screaming to a lawyer and try to rewrite their contract.
my point wasn't that all employers are unreasonable bastards, just that, with current market trends, employees must realize that they have to compromise sometimes, and that compromising doesn't mean saying "my way or the highway"
And larger companies tend to be more set in their ways, and less willing to bend. There are valid exceptions to all of this, as always.
HEY MODERATORS!
It is not the case that everybody who disagrees with you is a Troll.
he has a completely valid point, and, just because it isn't a part of that everybody-loves-the-little-guy-screw-management utopian dream that you have doesn't mean that he is trolling.
Use you mod points just *a bit* more responsibly, eh?
and if you want to eat, you'll have to accept a job offer that some company provides.
And they are unlikely to be kind when there are many thousands of other people who can do your job.
Even worse in tech support where there are even more than thousands of unemployed folk.
negotiation is all about power, and since there are more people than jobs right now, the employers have the power.
You are entirely correct, but are missing one really important fact.
There are currently many more people who want jobs then there are jobs to be had. Especially the non-crappy high-paying kinds of jobs.
This means that we are in an "employer's market" because the employer has the bargaining power.
See, there are enough potential employees who are qualified (in most arenas) that all those who refuse to accept whatever they are given can just be ignored. All the available positions will still be filled.
So, yes, right now, in this job market, it is the employer who has the biggest say. Just like, about 5 years ago, it was the employee who could (and did) demand and get whatever they wanted.
Thats not to say that you have to agree to terms you do not like, just that, with a company of any size, you will simply be skipped, and the job will go to someone who doesn't care or doesn't read as carefully.
Being all confrontational isn't a good way to get a job.
In response to your comment about the dialog box that prevents a script from sending mail as you.
what about this real-life scenario. Microsoft Outlook has such a thing... you have to wait 5 seconds and then click a button for each message you want to send out.
What about when you really *do* need a program (such as, say, a mail-merge) to send a letter to 2500 people on your mailing list -- completely opt-in, they had to create a username/password, d *then* manually subscribe to the list.
well... thankfully, there was a quick little program called "click the freakin button" or something like that, that clicked the button automatically. This still means 5 seconds * 2500 messages = too damn much time to send mail. And, because the dialog takes input focus, the machine is completely unusable for the entire time the mailing is running.
Yet, there *is no way* to turn this "protection" off...
dammit.
That's my idea, you idea thief!
Oh well, I guess there's room for 2 geek-run software firms out there...
as for the nay-sayers? Let 'em nay-say. More business for me.
it *is* unlimited. They won't charge you a single red cent more for using too much bandwidth. They will simply exercise their option to terminate the service.
Theoretically (and probably in actuality) they have to refund you the pro-rated amount of any prepaid access you bought. If you paid $50 for April, and they cut you off on the 15th, they owe you about $25.
I imagine that if you screamed loudly enough, you could get that $25.
But they are under no obligation to continue to offer the service after the end of the month you prepaid for. And you probably agreed that they can cancel at any time if they give you a refund for unused amount.
and it is most certainly their right to refuse to sell their service to whoever they want -- within reasonable limits -- they can't have a policy of not selling service to, say, women (although, they probably could get away with not selling to white guys, the way current trends run in America)
And dammit, I'm not an "apologist" I'm not apologizing for them, I'm telling you why you have <1 clue.
No one advertises "We give you all of the Internet!"
Bullshit! Ever seen the AOL ads? "Get AOL and the entire internet"
besides, just because all internet services provide feature X doesn't mean that I can't advertise that I provide X. Even if it takes no action on my part to provide X.
they don't mean "Unlimited Bandwidth Usage" when they say unlimited access.
They probably mean "unlimited access" as in, there are no limitations or restrictions on when you use the service, nor what parts of the internet (or their network) you access.
While they *still* aren't being 100% correct, they will pass the legal standard, which is something to the effect that a reasonable individual would understand the intent of the advertising.
For instance: Unlimited Access (24/7/365)
but, obviously not during outages. If outages got much beyond 1% of the time, you could probably sue, but... just because for first 30 minutes of each month the system is down for maintenance doesn't mean it isn't "unlimited" and "always on"
Incidentally, Cox Communications recently put an official limit on bandwidth usage. No more than 2GB/day or 30GB/Month
Now, at peak, I've hit 3.1GB in a day -- never heard a word. That said, I'm probably only in the 15-20GB/Month range most months.
Dear pedantic Slashbots: If cable theft is stealing, why is MP3 downloading "infringement?" Face it; it's stealing
Simple. "Cable Theft" isn't stealing, or theft at all... its reading data that's already pumped into your home. If they didn't want you to see it, they wouldn't send it to you.
These viewpoints may or may not reflect my actual beliefs, just those of the more annoying little kiddies, and those who made Canadian law work that way
(And if God had wanted us to go to the moon, we'd have been born with solid rocket boosters up our asses)
oh, yeah?...
well... it... it...
HA! Activation! That's gotta be spyware!!!
I mean... it sends stuff out to the internet without letting you see it. its gotta be spying on you
and guess what.
during all that time the republicans were pissing and moaning about it too.