But there's nothing in IE to win my heart, either.
Firefox has some stuff that just makes my life easy. Middle clicking a link opens a new tab, I can carry on reading and then go to the next tab later. The "find" feature is a massive improvement on how IE does it.
I'd disagree with you about frequent releases. Frequent releases mean you get your customers something right now. Is Firefox poor because it lacks SVG? No. But SVG is a benefit that's been added. Adding Python for XUL is something I'm looking forward to, but it's not desired by everyone. Should Mozilla wait until they've built everything they want before releasing?
I've worked in a few industries, and some of these industries have run on really tight margins. The difference between the cost of materials, machinery and staff per unit and the actual prices was not that great. It was also the case that as volume rose, the costs went down, but not that much.
The content industry is completely different. The "per item" cost is almost nothing. The real cost is in the initial creation, and often, the promotion of the item.
The idea that the content industry wants to cut off the promotion by someone for short-term gains is counterproductive.
Hit them where it hurts. Take your business elsewhere.
I've switched a few things like my electricity supplier, told a car dealership that once they fix their website, I'll consider buying a car from them, but in the meantime, I'm going elsewhere.
The more Firefox users who gravitate to the businesses that support them, the more businesses will make sure their sites work.
Are you a Firefox user? I've got access to 5000+ search engines. If a site with a search engine isn't listed at http://mycroft.mozdev.org/, then it's probably your own.
There are real, practical uses of this technology for building these economies. Technology can bring more people together in terms of commerce.
I like the idea that the machines will be rolled out with Linux, and we'll see people all over the world doing their own development and support. Creating local jobs and software for their own needs.
Which also still means that you are tied to Windows and MS Office for 100% compatibility. If you want to autogenerate documents, it's a pain in the ass, and you have to have an Office license to do it. Want to do some analysis of a document? You'll need an Office license.
Get it? ODF is about promoting freedom. To use YOUR document when YOU want, in whatever way YOU want.
Enron had little to do with deregulation, and everything to do with accountancy rules.
Accountancy rules are incredibly complicated, and as a result, allow distortions to be created. When a rule is complicated, the number of people who are likely to understand it is less than if the rule is simple. These experts are then typically employed by large corporations and accountancy firms, in part because they want to ensure compliance, but also because they want the accounts to tell the best story.
Accounts are often not a true reflection. A lot of companies hit the wall after a few years of good accounts. The accountants broke no rules, but instead had made them look as good as possible by using the rules to their advantage.
Savvy businesspeople will tell you to "look behind the accounts" because they know what a distortion they can be, and yet they are presented as a government-approved view of a public company. The only way this will change is if the rules are made simple in terms of what you can do in a company, and how accounts are reported.
The thing to remember about people like Michael Moore and Ann Coulter is that they are like comfort food for people with certain political views. It's actually irrelevant to them whether there are factual inaccuracies. They aren't consuming this out of enlightenment, but out of entrenchment. All the people I knew who paid to see Fahrenheit 9/11 were socialist anti-Bush people already, seeking to have their views reinforced.
A lot of people choose their newspaper or literature to hear what they believe. They don't want debate that shows holes in their positions on global warming, the war on drugs or socialized medicine. When I have pointed things out about F9/11 to people who thought it was a good film, it fell on deaf ears.
The problems with increased regulation are that not only does it damage your economy, it still doesn't stop people who are willing to, and have the resources to commit a fraud. They just find another way.
It seems to me that part of the problem with Enron was complex regulation. Companies being able to own other companies, each reporting accounts. Simplify this and you can create greater transparency into how the corporation is really doing.
There should be one thing on the card - a key. That's all that should ever be on a card - the unique data that can be queried from a system.
If government wants to read my passport details, they can ask first. If the UK government suggests RFID in passports, I'll be storing it in a foil lined passport holder. They can read it when I take it out.
Whether it's Labour or Conservatives who win the next election, these are going to get dropped. It's a really half-baked idea, and the evidence is mounting that they will be expensive, inaccurate and fail to deal with terrorism.
If Blair had any ability at getting things done, he would get it implemented and it would be his poll tax.
Re:Securing Open Source Code
on
Mitnick on OSS
·
· Score: 2
I worked on a website and used a component which was open source (actually BSD licensed).
In the process of using it, I found a small bug, and fixed it and notified the author.
While I didn't need to tell the author, I had a number of reasons for telling him:-
To ensure that any further revisions he made included my changes
Out of public spiritedness.
Also, sometimes in companies I've found bugs by accident. Like, if the configuration database is wrong, and in the process of debugging, I've noticed something.
Same price as a DVD? Wake up. Why should I pay the same for something more restricted?
Do content producers think they can do the same thing they did with CD and DVD, and just keep/raise prices with formats? You've got to add something to earn a premium.
This doesn't seem to get an "OBVIOUS" tag to me, as other things could be involved.
As for your Scotland scheme, you don't expect the government to be able to get a per-copy duplication deal for 250,000 as good as what most MySpace-level bands would negotiate for 100 copies, do you?;)
It's interesting that environmental science took off about the same time as the decline of communism. Pre-environment, the issue was nuclear weapons.
I'd like to see the source code for the models sometime. Predicting something 1,000 years away sounds downright silly to me, and as open to abuse as someone trying to tell people to vote for them because of what their party has planned 25 years from now.
Someone should produce a model based on 5-10 years. Then we can test the hypothesis.
... is not the climate scientists. I actually believe they are doing important work, and should be listened to. If the science is sound, it will have findings, models and predictions that can be tested. People like James Lovelock
What really concerns me is the manipulation of climate science for political ends. When a politician talks about an event 1,000 years away as "shocking", it's time to look at what their intentions are.
Socialism failed. So, the advocates of the command economy adopted environmental science, and are trying to blind the populace. The message has become that individuality is bad, but instead of being because it makes others poor (because that got busted), it is because it is damaging our planet.
This means more nannies in charge of us, because we can't have that free market taking care of you. More regulation of people's activities, more government jobs to centralise activities to save the planet. Lots of unionised jobs for the boys driving park-and-ride buses, more rail and making an extra "green" refuse collection (even though the park-and-ride is less environmentally friendly than the same car use).
That's part of the problem with all technologies. They are designed to be tools to help talented people.
Blogs right now are where home page designers were 10 years ago. Every man and his dog wants to tell you their favourite Lost episodes, share photos of their cat or their views on GW Bush.
Personally, I have one, but I try and write things that people might find useful. I know my list of favourite post-Easy Rider movie directors, and I figure the world don't really want to hear about them.
I'm not sure about truths, but facts are what are needed. As many as possible.
It is best to keep opinions out, or at least cite as many opinions as possible. George W Bush is president of the USA. That is fact. Whether he is an idiot or not is a matter of opinion.
Slashdot Mirror
Firefox has some stuff that just makes my life easy. Middle clicking a link opens a new tab, I can carry on reading and then go to the next tab later. The "find" feature is a massive improvement on how IE does it.
I'd disagree with you about frequent releases. Frequent releases mean you get your customers something right now. Is Firefox poor because it lacks SVG? No. But SVG is a benefit that's been added. Adding Python for XUL is something I'm looking forward to, but it's not desired by everyone. Should Mozilla wait until they've built everything they want before releasing?
The content industry is completely different. The "per item" cost is almost nothing. The real cost is in the initial creation, and often, the promotion of the item.
The idea that the content industry wants to cut off the promotion by someone for short-term gains is counterproductive.
Personally, it makes me feel very uncomfortable. Why should we, as a generation apologise for the sins of those who lived 200 years ago?
I've switched a few things like my electricity supplier, told a car dealership that once they fix their website, I'll consider buying a car from them, but in the meantime, I'm going elsewhere.
The more Firefox users who gravitate to the businesses that support them, the more businesses will make sure their sites work.
Are you a Firefox user? I've got access to 5000+ search engines. If a site with a search engine isn't listed at http://mycroft.mozdev.org/, then it's probably your own.
There are real, practical uses of this technology for building these economies. Technology can bring more people together in terms of commerce.
I like the idea that the machines will be rolled out with Linux, and we'll see people all over the world doing their own development and support. Creating local jobs and software for their own needs.
Hey, be careful of overpromising, Bill.
Get it? ODF is about promoting freedom. To use YOUR document when YOU want, in whatever way YOU want.
Accountancy rules are incredibly complicated, and as a result, allow distortions to be created. When a rule is complicated, the number of people who are likely to understand it is less than if the rule is simple. These experts are then typically employed by large corporations and accountancy firms, in part because they want to ensure compliance, but also because they want the accounts to tell the best story.
Accounts are often not a true reflection. A lot of companies hit the wall after a few years of good accounts. The accountants broke no rules, but instead had made them look as good as possible by using the rules to their advantage.
Savvy businesspeople will tell you to "look behind the accounts" because they know what a distortion they can be, and yet they are presented as a government-approved view of a public company. The only way this will change is if the rules are made simple in terms of what you can do in a company, and how accounts are reported.
A lot of people choose their newspaper or literature to hear what they believe. They don't want debate that shows holes in their positions on global warming, the war on drugs or socialized medicine. When I have pointed things out about F9/11 to people who thought it was a good film, it fell on deaf ears.
It seems to me that part of the problem with Enron was complex regulation. Companies being able to own other companies, each reporting accounts. Simplify this and you can create greater transparency into how the corporation is really doing.
If government wants to read my passport details, they can ask first. If the UK government suggests RFID in passports, I'll be storing it in a foil lined passport holder. They can read it when I take it out.
Whether it's Labour or Conservatives who win the next election, these are going to get dropped. It's a really half-baked idea, and the evidence is mounting that they will be expensive, inaccurate and fail to deal with terrorism.
If Blair had any ability at getting things done, he would get it implemented and it would be his poll tax.
In the process of using it, I found a small bug, and fixed it and notified the author.
While I didn't need to tell the author, I had a number of reasons for telling him:-
To ensure that any further revisions he made included my changes Out of public spiritedness.Also, sometimes in companies I've found bugs by accident. Like, if the configuration database is wrong, and in the process of debugging, I've noticed something.
Same price as a DVD? Wake up. Why should I pay the same for something more restricted?
Do content producers think they can do the same thing they did with CD and DVD, and just keep/raise prices with formats? You've got to add something to earn a premium.
As for your Scotland scheme, you don't expect the government to be able to get a per-copy duplication deal for 250,000 as good as what most MySpace-level bands would negotiate for 100 copies, do you? ;)
I'd like to see the source code for the models sometime. Predicting something 1,000 years away sounds downright silly to me, and as open to abuse as someone trying to tell people to vote for them because of what their party has planned 25 years from now.
Someone should produce a model based on 5-10 years. Then we can test the hypothesis.
What really concerns me is the manipulation of climate science for political ends. When a politician talks about an event 1,000 years away as "shocking", it's time to look at what their intentions are.
Socialism failed. So, the advocates of the command economy adopted environmental science, and are trying to blind the populace. The message has become that individuality is bad, but instead of being because it makes others poor (because that got busted), it is because it is damaging our planet.
This means more nannies in charge of us, because we can't have that free market taking care of you. More regulation of people's activities, more government jobs to centralise activities to save the planet. Lots of unionised jobs for the boys driving park-and-ride buses, more rail and making an extra "green" refuse collection (even though the park-and-ride is less environmentally friendly than the same car use).
English wine is growing right now, and they are doing quite well.
In the grand scheme of things, not a bad blog. Original content and your own observations.
Blogs right now are where home page designers were 10 years ago. Every man and his dog wants to tell you their favourite Lost episodes, share photos of their cat or their views on GW Bush.
Personally, I have one, but I try and write things that people might find useful. I know my list of favourite post-Easy Rider movie directors, and I figure the world don't really want to hear about them.
Personally, I think it's wrong. At that age, kids are better off playing with their friends and exploring their world.
For most things now, even C++ is too low. By the time you leave, even less work will be C++ based, and more will be in java or .net.
In the companies I've worked in for the past 5 years, the only C++ has been some old legacy C++ kicking around. None are building new C++.
It is best to keep opinions out, or at least cite as many opinions as possible. George W Bush is president of the USA. That is fact. Whether he is an idiot or not is a matter of opinion.
This politician and his promise were probably little known, and his page was probably low-traffic until this.