I can see it now - the great northern Canada land rush -- oil and energy interests in conflict with agri-business interests. And both completely oblivious to the impact on the indigenous people and wildlife (seals & polar bears).
Considering the impact upon the coastal regions of North America, Northern Europe and Northern Asia (where most human populations are situated, does this mean that we will all be living below sea level, like portions of the Netherlands are today? New Orleans (LA) is largely at sea level -- will they have to build dikes and install pumps to keep the "Big Easy" dry?
Large portions of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah used to be part of a vast inland sea. Are the majority of people moving to Colorado speculating on future climatic events?
Big question: At what point in the Artic melt- down will Crawford, TX (home to "Dubya" Bush) be under water (and finally get his attention)?
It would seem that just about every regulated monopoly wants to get into broadband internet access. In NYC, FTTP (Fiber To The Premis) is being run to older buildings through their sewer pipes (kindo seems appropriate for the p0rn, though). The parent has the right idea.
A public utility (power company) that has right- of-way access darn near everywhere would be better served to use that same access for hanging fiber cable, instead of the foolish waste of money to "teach an elephant to tap-dance". Unshielded HV power cables are one of the least suitable transmission modes for broadband data transfer.
Yes folks, the Wintel consortium has been busy killing off their competative microprocessors. Except that this plan of action has finally come around to bite Intel on the backside.
Q: Does karma also apply to corporations?
If so, Microsoft is building up to the
800 pound gorilla of karmic justice.
OTOH, Bill Gates's is wrong as regards capitalism. When the presumably democratic state is largely controlled by corporations that control market share, control large segments of the press, and engage in fascist repression of citizens' rights (**IA), it isn't capitalism anymore. The correct and proper "emperor has no clothes" term for such a society is: Corporate National Socialism.
The tax burden has been shifted from the rich to the poor. Good health care is only available to those that have the cash. IP and copyright are owned by the wealthy, who have trumped "fair use" with government regulations enforced by jackbooted stormtroopers. Wages are forced down on the majority, via H1-B & L-1 visas for white collar labor, and government's selective enforce- ment of illegal alien immigration and labor laws for blue collar workers. Monopolies and their government sactioned quasi-monopolies hold power over the greater public good. No, it isn't capitalism, and it sure isn't laissez faire capitalism. If it walks like a goose, talks like a goose, and acts like a goose, it isn't an elephant. But if goosesteps in jackboots, it could be fascism.
Judging by the difference in tone between your first and second paragraph, either two different people wrote them, you have stopped taking your meds for bipolar disorder, or you are a troll.
The idiot that illuminated the aircraft in NJ with a laser could have blinded the pilot and caused the plane to crash. The Patriot Act is an ideal tool for use in such cases. Personally, I think he should wind up breaking large rocks into pea gravel for about 10 years for his "shits & grins", preferably at Gitmo. In fact, one of the conditions of his release from prison at the end of 10 years should be castration, to help weed the "nincompoop" gene out of the gene pool.
We are a compassionate people -- if he had been caught doing this in the PRC, he would have gotten a speedy trial and a bullet to the back of his head.
Of course, you are right. Burning bio-diesel fuel is an intermediate step from reliance upon the non-renewable fuel source that petroleum represents. B100 fuel (100% vegetable oil) offers other advantages over petroleum-based diesel fuel -- no heavy metal, sulfer, or particulates to pollute our air, soil, and water.
In the past, many wars have been fought over natural resources, especially oil. As China and India (and other "emerging" economies) increase their dependence upon the importation of non-renewable energy such as oil, the chances for new and bloodier wars increases. Dependence upon Middle Eastern oil reserves puts money and political power into the hands of despots least deserving of such power, which has been used to fund the spread of violent radical fundamentalist religious sects (and the terrorists they breed). The political instability of the Middle East has (and will continue) to whip-saw Western economies.
As the cost of that instability begins to be a major factor in the price of petroleum, bio-diesel and other renewable alternative power sources will become more economically feasible. One thing that most of the major energy companies fear is the loss of their control over the sources of energy available to the public. IMHO, that is one of the primary reasons why hydrogen-based power has been promoted, especially as derived from natural gas instead of splitting water molecules. Cheaper production of hydrogen in the near future (with the down-side of continued production of greenhouse gases), versus the longer term construction of wind, wave, solar, geothermal (and yes, nuclear) methods of hydrogen (or electric) generation. Driving early demand generates increased market share, and with great enough market share other alternative energy sources will loose their appeal.
One of the leading CEO's of an energy company was interviewed by Charlie Rose recently. He stated that the most cost effective source of hydrogen was to strip it off of natural gas. I see a really big problem with that solution -- to be truly environmentally friendly, the new "hydrogen economy" cannot use a carbon-based source. The resultant byproduct, carbon dioxide, is also a greenhouse gas. The only way to have an effective "zero sum" energy solution is a non-polluting (hydro/wave/solar/geothermal) source of electrical generation to split water (H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Until such a process becomes economically competitive, an agricultural based bio-diesel solution is the better choice.
No human endeavor is completely free of error, and there is no such thing as software without any coding errors. If the robot pharmacist makes a mistake filling prescriptions, there will not be one dead patient, but perhaps 300.
Oops! There goes the medical malpractice insurance premiums, through the roof, as well as the demise of the robot manufacturer.
Anyone willing to start a pool? The long term odds are in favor of a catastrophe.
One of the saddest aspects of the Shuttle disaster is that it didn't need to happen. The originally designed foam insulation on the external fuel tanks never had the problem of ablation. The foam insulation was re- designed to eliminate the use of CFCs -- in trying to be completely politically correct and environmentally friendly (less damage to the ozone layer), NASA's managers sacrificed a very expensive SST (shuttle) and killed 7 astronauts. It also has very nearly killed off the shuttle program, and as a side effect negatively influenced the ISS (space station) and the HST (Hubble).
I am sure that as the external fuel tanks heated up during reentry after launch, that the negative environmental impact was far less than a major forest fire, let alone a shuttle burning up in reentry (in pieces).
One well deserved addition to the list of "Fallen Managers" : HP's Fiorna.
As a manager of numerous high tech companies, she could not have done a better job of killing the companies off if she were an enemy saboteur, or the agent of a hostile foreign power.
(1) Bell Labs / Lucent Technologies
(2) Digital Equipment Corp.
(3) Compaq Computer Corp.
(4) Hewlett Packard / Agilent Technologies
While I didn't RTFA, if she didn't make the "10 Worst Managers List", the list is incomplete.
From my understanding, you cannot get a job in India without a work permit/work visa. You must already have the job lined up in order to get that work visa.
You might want to visit there as a tourist first to scope out the local conditions before packing up and moving there.
Personally, there is nothing that could compell me to relocate to India, even 2Mb broadband for Rs100. Besides, if you really don't mind getting paid like an Indian worker, just stick around the good old USA for another decade, 'cause that's where our pay scale are heading (but without the way cheaper infrastructure, IMHO).
Sun has yet to creat a version of this fine product for Mac OSX, instead supporting MS Windows, Solaris (SPARC + Intel) and Linux.
If Apple were to help (paying Sun) for the native Quartz release of StarOffice, Sun would probably be happy to license it to Apple. I understand that most of the desktops at Sun Micro are already Apple Macs, not Solaris platforms, so there would be wide adoption just inside Sun.
I did RTFA, and the author has some skewed misconceptions about Microsoft. IMHO, the Windows "terminal server" or whatever passes for that in 5 years is exactly where MS expects to gain market share. There are a lot of odds and ends of MS strategies that are really the tenticles of the 800 pound squid that is MS. The Paladium "Trusted Computer" will be widely adopted in the corporate market under the pretext of reduced TCO, better DRM and license control, and (perceived) product stability. One of the few things holding back a MS push in "terminal servers" and application servers IS available bandwidth.
Think about what Microsoft has done with the MSN product, as well as the WebTV. Data storage will be at Microsoft, the applications will be at Microsoft, and the control will be at Microsoft. The (apparent) premature failure of "Passport" will definitely impact MS's timetable, but with Paladium on the rise, no more impact than the delayed release of "Longhorn".
Microsoft will be able to charge customers for data storage. Microsoft will be able to charge customers for data integrity (worms & viruses), and Microsoft will be able to charge a monthly fee for subscription, as well as an hourly fee for served applications. Many businesses would be happy to outsource all their IT support, and not be troubled with license issues. Imagine a CTO or CIO that didn't need to be too concerned about the number of licensed packages, their scheduled upgrades, or their support -- all would be taken care of by Microsoft for a monthly fee.
Microsoft will be assured of maximizing their profit, while eliminating most of the software piracy that is going on. And home computer users would have access to the latest and greatest of Microsoft's software offerings at a low, low monthly fee (once Paladium DRM gains the majority of market share). Imagine: no viruses, no worms, no spyware, no dubious F/OSS, and all the latest of the Microsoft product line, on-line.
No, instead of a threat to Microsoft's financial future, I see this as the culmination of many years of efforts in (1) changing the EULAs, (2) changing to License 6 (and beyond), (3) their efforts with the acceptance and standardization of the Paladium platform, and (4) their re- invigorated efforts of highjacking standards (, such as XML).
Of course, this apparent Microsoft strategy IS dependent upon crushing GNU/Linux, invalidating the GPL license, great strides in improved broadband access, and the prevalence of Paladium based computer platforms. Don't you see the synergy behind this plan? I do.
Sounds great for the Korean market. I can just imagine that the rejected LCD panels go back to the manufacturer, only to be re-packaged for the Western market (eg. US).
And the rejects that fall considerably outside the specifications (eg. refresh rate) are all sold to the 2nd tier LCD distributors.
Too bad that there isn't some way to cut out the bad portions of the LCD panel, and splice in a new section, a bit like replacing a single pane of glass in a sectioned window.
There is, actually, a dark side to the PRC's adoption of IPv6. There will be no way for any dissident to hide behind a NATed IPv4 address. Everyone will have their own static IP address assigned to them, so there will not be any anonimity to hide behind.
At least with Mac OS X, I do have the option of totally and completely removing the included MS IE. And that is one of the very first things that I recommend new Mac owners do, and install the F/OSS FireFox & Thunderbird software.
With all the problems and vulnerabilities that are associated with Microsoft OSes, one must wonder why any US government agency (like the US Navy and the Dept. of Homeland Security) would even consider a MS product, let alone to base their agencies on.
The ISS has been largely abandoned, not by the Russians or the ESA but by the USA. Since "Dubya" and company has turned everything into a battle of neo-con politics versus the rest of the world, the most potent weapon against them is rational thought processes and the truth. Two items sorely missing in the American political landscape these days.
Again you are point-on-target with your assessment of the Ukrainian election. The struggle actually goes a bit deeper than that, because the Yukos oil fiasco is at the core of the bad relations between "Dubya" and Putin. (Just like the real reason why the USA is embroiled in the Iraqi conflict -- oil.) As an American, I am sorry to admit that we have a penchant for interference in other countries' internal affairs, especially when it comes to natural resources generally, and oil particularly. The "Dubya" neo-cons have been very busy trying to stoke up resentment for the current government in Venezuela, too. Venezuela has a duly elected left-of-center government that (1) is looking out for the welfare of their poor, and (2) providing some subsidized oil to Castro's Cuba. It wouldn't take much of an imagination to tie the oil worker strike in Venezuela (and the subsequent failed recall election) to "Dubya" and the CIA. You don't see this kind of USA interference in countries that don't have oil (or gas).
Unfortunately, that is NOT the way corporations work (at least in the USA). If you invent some- thing while working for your employer, then it is owned by the employer. However, many/most USA companies that hire you to be creative also expect that anything you work on on your own time also belongs to them, regardless of whether the innovation/invention is work-related or not.
Also, when you decide to leave the employ of that company (by choice or not), they might still own any innovation/invention of yours for 1 year afterwards, let alone control who you might want to work for. Try reading the fine print in the next Non-Compete Agreement you are asked to sign, with the assistance of a good lawyer.
You might just be surprised to find that the employer even has first rights to your offspring.
The entire issue of patents can boil down to just a few generally accepted (/.) statements:
(1) basic hardware patents are cool -- and
probably far too short in duration.
Nations that engage in patenting the
application of innovation "shotgun
method" in order to cover all possible
future uses are not. (Japan comes to mind
here.)
(2) software patents, particularly as implimented
in the USA, are predominantly un-cool, and
destructive. The entire notion of "prior
art" has been abandoned by the USPTO.
(Whatever happened to the concept "We stand
upon the shoulders of giants." ?) Almost
all software patents fall into the "absurd"
category.
This story perfectly illustrates one of the differences in patent law between the good old USA and Germany.
In the USA, the employee's invention & patent is owned by the employer.
In Germany, the employee's invention & patent is owned by the employee.
Most US corporations require that employees sign away all their rights to any innovation, regardless of whether it was developed on the job (or even job-related) or not. Even without relinquishing such rights, the employee has little legal recourse in American courts. In effect, the employer owns the employee.
Considering the direction that corporate pensions and benefits are headed in the USA, which is: none (now 401K), and shrinking (eg. medical), the imbalance in favor of the corporation is getting worse. When the increase in L-1 and H1-B visas, and the RIFs in favor of offshore outsourcing are taken into account, the future of innovation in the USA looks bleak. Finally, the whole issue of software patents and the ridiculous position adopted by the USPTO, it is apparent that the USA's corporations are trading in their long term financial and industry growth for potential short term profits.
BitTorrent(s) are the only way that many people can actually get large files D/Led without corruption. I actually have used this great technology on a dial-up connection just because of the ability to re-string packets into their correct order.
As an abused VERIZON customer, I can tell you that I DO HAVE *DSL service available to my home, which I will NOT subscribe to. The problem is that VERIZON (and most "baby bells") have made the absolute minimal infrastructure improvements to the the end-user/residence. I have approximately 18,000 feet of mostly buried Cu POTS wiring from the CO (Central Office) to my home that is 30 + years old. The last attempt at DSL service here was a bust -- the distance involved required ADSL
service rather than DSL and the sustained U/L-D/L rates were about 20% BETTER than dial-up, at ~250% of dial-up costs. Between the distance from the CO and the (mostly) buried wiring, any wired DSL service to my residence was a waste of time and money. Yet, I could subscribe to VERIZON Business Wireless DSL and get good bandwidth (at ~400% of the cost of their "home" DSL service). The telcos' primary competition, the cable companies, are generally held to higher standards for deploy- ment of services, and at the county level. If they do not meet the access goals set by the local government, they can and will be replaced by another cable company -- something the state regulators are unwilling to do with the telcos.
IMHO, the worst thing to happen to the USA's telco infrastructure in the past 50 years has been the breakup of Ma Bell. Sometimes, a single government controlled monopoly is far better than a bunch of regional monopolies, especially when something as important as infrastructure is involved. The baby "bells" have been "skimming the cream" of profits from their monopolies, while ignoring the majority of users. This is the reason why many other countries have better broadband service to their taxpayers. The situation in the USA regarding the regional telco monopolies is not too unlike the problems that our deregulated airlines are suffering, and for similar reasons.
A public forum (for a public punishment), in which "subscribers/bettors" can help determine the exact cause of death.
History provides some wonderful examples of appropriate punishment, most of which derive from the Middle Ages (draw-and- quarter, rack, impalement, tar-and-feather, burn at stake, beheading, hanging, etcetera).
There was a case several years ago regarding an illegal alien who had a habit of riding freight trains all over the USA. Granted that he is not a terrorist, but he is a psychopathic serial murderer. He killed more US citizens from California to Florida than the infamous Metro DC sniper team. Many times he was caught for vagrancy or petty crimes; sometimes he was detained by INS and then deported. But he kept crossing the border and committing these murders because the proceeds made for easy living. He is now serving multiple life sentences in Arizona (or on death row in Texas). Might just as well have been a terrorist.
BTW: Most USA jurisdictions do not either keep, or publically reveal, the number or percentage of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens. I think that if they did, more people would be in an uproar over the government and employers pandering to this country's illegal "guests". I do know that NY State just revoked the CDLs (Commercial Driver Licenses) of more than 6,000 commercial drivers because they were illegal aliens. Those must be the ice cream truck drivers that you were alluding to, right?
Of the 15 9-11-2001 hijackers, most either traveled to the USA on false documents, or else overstayed their tourist visas, some for years.
By your definition of statistical relevance, the heinous terrorist incidents of 9-11-2001 don't matter -- instead the DoJ should be focusing all their attention on drunk drivers. I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing repeat DUI drivers stood up against a wall and shot.
Actually, having the government KNOW your fingerprints, as well as your retinal scan (and perhaps even your DNA sequence) MIGHT just be a good thing. Both illegal immigration AND identity theft have gone up since 9-11-2001. Every billion dollars that the government wastes on a totally non-functional anti-ballistic missile defense system is a billion dollars not spent on improved border, seaport, and air cargo security. (You don't really think that the crazy lunatic running North Korea will launch 1 or 2 of his 8 ballistic missiles against the USA, do you? When he is bound to know that our spy birds would trace them back to him, and invite massive retaliation. Or is he more likely to smuggle a WMD or two across our borders, or in our incoming cargo?)
Just because the government would have such info does not mean that anybody and everybody would have that same access. An improved method of verifying people's identity would go a long way toward weeding out the illegal aliens (and the terrorists that are hiding amongst them).
Unfortunately, the attitude expressed in the parent comment is part of the problem that was expressed by Bush/Ashcroft/Tenet/Ridge -- "not a matter of IF there will be another terrorist attack on USA soil, but of WHEN".
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I can see it now - the great northern Canada
land rush -- oil and energy interests in
conflict with agri-business interests. And
both completely oblivious to the impact on
the indigenous people and wildlife (seals &
polar bears).
Considering the impact upon the coastal
regions of North America, Northern Europe and
Northern Asia (where most human populations
are situated, does this mean that we will all
be living below sea level, like portions of
the Netherlands are today? New Orleans (LA)
is largely at sea level -- will they have to
build dikes and install pumps to keep the
"Big Easy" dry?
Large portions of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada
and Utah used to be part of a vast inland sea.
Are the majority of people moving to Colorado
speculating on future climatic events?
Big question: At what point in the Artic melt-
down will Crawford, TX (home to "Dubya" Bush)
be under water (and finally get his attention)?
It would seem that just about every regulated
monopoly wants to get into broadband internet
access. In NYC, FTTP (Fiber To The Premis) is
being run to older buildings through their
sewer pipes (kindo seems appropriate for the
p0rn, though). The parent has the right idea.
A public utility (power company) that has right-
of-way access darn near everywhere would be
better served to use that same access for hanging
fiber cable, instead of the foolish waste of
money to "teach an elephant to tap-dance".
Unshielded HV power cables are one of the least
suitable transmission modes for broadband data
transfer.
Missed one!
That should be:
except Itanium,
and Alpha,
and PowerPC,
AND MIPS.
Yes folks, the Wintel consortium has been busy
killing off their competative microprocessors.
Except that this plan of action has finally
come around to bite Intel on the backside.
Q: Does karma also apply to corporations?
If so, Microsoft is building up to the
800 pound gorilla of karmic justice.
Parent is "point on target".
OTOH, Bill Gates's is wrong as regards capitalism.
When the presumably democratic state is largely
controlled by corporations that control market
share, control large segments of the press, and
engage in fascist repression of citizens' rights
(**IA), it isn't capitalism anymore. The correct
and proper "emperor has no clothes" term for
such a society is: Corporate National Socialism.
The tax burden has been shifted from the rich
to the poor. Good health care is only available
to those that have the cash. IP and copyright
are owned by the wealthy, who have trumped "fair
use" with government regulations enforced by
jackbooted stormtroopers. Wages are forced down
on the majority, via H1-B & L-1 visas for white
collar labor, and government's selective enforce-
ment of illegal alien immigration and labor laws
for blue collar workers. Monopolies and their
government sactioned quasi-monopolies hold power
over the greater public good. No, it isn't
capitalism, and it sure isn't laissez faire
capitalism. If it walks like a goose, talks
like a goose, and acts like a goose, it isn't
an elephant. But if goosesteps in jackboots,
it could be fascism.
Correct term : Corporate National Socialism
Judging by the difference in tone between your
first and second paragraph, either two different
people wrote them, you have stopped taking your
meds for bipolar disorder, or you are a troll.
The idiot that illuminated the aircraft in NJ
with a laser could have blinded the pilot and
caused the plane to crash. The Patriot Act is
an ideal tool for use in such cases. Personally,
I think he should wind up breaking large rocks
into pea gravel for about 10 years for his
"shits & grins", preferably at Gitmo. In fact,
one of the conditions of his release from prison
at the end of 10 years should be castration, to
help weed the "nincompoop" gene out of the gene
pool.
We are a compassionate people -- if he had been
caught doing this in the PRC, he would have
gotten a speedy trial and a bullet to the back
of his head.
Of course, you are right. Burning bio-diesel
fuel is an intermediate step from reliance upon
the non-renewable fuel source that petroleum
represents. B100 fuel (100% vegetable oil)
offers other advantages over petroleum-based
diesel fuel -- no heavy metal, sulfer, or
particulates to pollute our air, soil, and water.
In the past, many wars have been fought over
natural resources, especially oil. As China
and India (and other "emerging" economies)
increase their dependence upon the importation
of non-renewable energy such as oil, the chances
for new and bloodier wars increases. Dependence
upon Middle Eastern oil reserves puts money and
political power into the hands of despots least
deserving of such power, which has been used to
fund the spread of violent radical fundamentalist
religious sects (and the terrorists they breed).
The political instability of the Middle East has
(and will continue) to whip-saw Western economies.
As the cost of that instability begins to be a
major factor in the price of petroleum, bio-diesel
and other renewable alternative power sources
will become more economically feasible. One
thing that most of the major energy companies
fear is the loss of their control over the
sources of energy available to the public.
IMHO, that is one of the primary reasons why
hydrogen-based power has been promoted, especially
as derived from natural gas instead of splitting
water molecules. Cheaper production of hydrogen
in the near future (with the down-side of
continued production of greenhouse gases), versus
the longer term construction of wind, wave, solar,
geothermal (and yes, nuclear) methods of hydrogen
(or electric) generation. Driving early demand
generates increased market share, and with great
enough market share other alternative energy
sources will loose their appeal.
One of the leading CEO's of an energy company
was interviewed by Charlie Rose recently. He
stated that the most cost effective source of
hydrogen was to strip it off of natural gas.
I see a really big problem with that solution --
to be truly environmentally friendly, the new
"hydrogen economy" cannot use a carbon-based
source. The resultant byproduct, carbon dioxide,
is also a greenhouse gas. The only way to have
an effective "zero sum" energy solution is a
non-polluting (hydro/wave/solar/geothermal)
source of electrical generation to split water
(H2O) into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Until
such a process becomes economically competitive,
an agricultural based bio-diesel solution is
the better choice.
No human endeavor is completely free of error,
and there is no such thing as software without
any coding errors. If the robot pharmacist
makes a mistake filling prescriptions, there
will not be one dead patient, but perhaps 300.
Oops! There goes the medical malpractice
insurance premiums, through the roof, as
well as the demise of the robot manufacturer.
Anyone willing to start a pool? The long term
odds are in favor of a catastrophe.
One of the saddest aspects of the Shuttle
disaster is that it didn't need to happen.
The originally designed foam insulation on
the external fuel tanks never had the problem
of ablation. The foam insulation was re-
designed to eliminate the use of CFCs --
in trying to be completely politically
correct and environmentally friendly (less
damage to the ozone layer), NASA's managers
sacrificed a very expensive SST (shuttle)
and killed 7 astronauts. It also has very
nearly killed off the shuttle program, and
as a side effect negatively influenced the
ISS (space station) and the HST (Hubble).
I am sure that as the external fuel tanks
heated up during reentry after launch, that
the negative environmental impact was far
less than a major forest fire, let alone
a shuttle burning up in reentry (in pieces).
One well deserved addition to the list
of "Fallen Managers" : HP's Fiorna.
As a manager of numerous high tech companies,
she could not have done a better job of killing
the companies off if she were an enemy saboteur,
or the agent of a hostile foreign power.
(1) Bell Labs / Lucent Technologies
(2) Digital Equipment Corp.
(3) Compaq Computer Corp.
(4) Hewlett Packard / Agilent Technologies
While I didn't RTFA, if she didn't make the
"10 Worst Managers List", the list is incomplete.
Since my German tutor broke my heart,
I would rather learn Klingon, thank you.
From my understanding, you cannot get a job
in India without a work permit/work visa.
You must already have the job lined up in
order to get that work visa.
You might want to visit there as a tourist
first to scope out the local conditions
before packing up and moving there.
Personally, there is nothing that could
compell me to relocate to India, even
2Mb broadband for Rs100. Besides, if you
really don't mind getting paid like an
Indian worker, just stick around the good
old USA for another decade, 'cause that's
where our pay scale are heading (but without
the way cheaper infrastructure, IMHO).
... just ONE word: StarOffice!
Sun has yet to creat a version of this fine
product for Mac OSX, instead supporting MS
Windows, Solaris (SPARC + Intel) and Linux.
If Apple were to help (paying Sun) for the
native Quartz release of StarOffice, Sun
would probably be happy to license it to
Apple. I understand that most of the desktops
at Sun Micro are already Apple Macs, not
Solaris platforms, so there would be wide
adoption just inside Sun.
I did RTFA, and the author has some skewed
misconceptions about Microsoft. IMHO, the
Windows "terminal server" or whatever passes
for that in 5 years is exactly where MS expects
to gain market share. There are a lot of odds
and ends of MS strategies that are really the
tenticles of the 800 pound squid that is MS.
The Paladium "Trusted Computer" will be widely
adopted in the corporate market under the
pretext of reduced TCO, better DRM and license
control, and (perceived) product stability.
One of the few things holding back a MS push in
"terminal servers" and application servers IS
available bandwidth.
Think about what Microsoft has done with the MSN
product, as well as the WebTV. Data storage will
be at Microsoft, the applications will be at Microsoft, and the control will be at Microsoft.
The (apparent) premature failure of "Passport"
will definitely impact MS's timetable, but with
Paladium on the rise, no more impact than the
delayed release of "Longhorn".
Microsoft will be able to charge customers for
data storage. Microsoft will be able to charge
customers for data integrity (worms & viruses),
and Microsoft will be able to charge a monthly
fee for subscription, as well as an hourly
fee for served applications. Many businesses
would be happy to outsource all their IT support,
and not be troubled with license issues. Imagine
a CTO or CIO that didn't need to be too concerned
about the number of licensed packages, their
scheduled upgrades, or their support -- all would
be taken care of by Microsoft for a monthly fee.
Microsoft will be assured of maximizing their
profit, while eliminating most of the software
piracy that is going on. And home computer
users would have access to the latest and greatest
of Microsoft's software offerings at a low, low
monthly fee (once Paladium DRM gains the majority
of market share). Imagine: no viruses, no
worms, no spyware, no dubious F/OSS, and all
the latest of the Microsoft product line, on-line.
No, instead of a threat to Microsoft's financial
future, I see this as the culmination of many
years of efforts in (1) changing the EULAs, (2)
changing to License 6 (and beyond), (3) their
efforts with the acceptance and standardization
of the Paladium platform, and (4) their re-
invigorated efforts of highjacking standards
(, such as XML).
Of course, this apparent Microsoft strategy IS
dependent upon crushing GNU/Linux, invalidating
the GPL license, great strides in improved
broadband access, and the prevalence of Paladium
based computer platforms. Don't you see the
synergy behind this plan? I do.
Sounds great for the Korean market. I can just
imagine that the rejected LCD panels go back
to the manufacturer, only to be re-packaged for
the Western market (eg. US).
And the rejects that fall considerably outside
the specifications (eg. refresh rate) are all
sold to the 2nd tier LCD distributors.
Too bad that there isn't some way to cut out the
bad portions of the LCD panel, and splice in a
new section, a bit like replacing a single pane
of glass in a sectioned window.
There is, actually, a dark side to the PRC's
adoption of IPv6. There will be no way for
any dissident to hide behind a NATed IPv4
address. Everyone will have their own static
IP address assigned to them, so there will
not be any anonimity to hide behind.
In the Soviet PRC, the Internet owns YOU!
At least with Mac OS X, I do have the option
of totally and completely removing the included
MS IE. And that is one of the very first things
that I recommend new Mac owners do, and install
the F/OSS FireFox & Thunderbird software.
With all the problems and vulnerabilities that
are associated with Microsoft OSes, one must
wonder why any US government agency (like the
US Navy and the Dept. of Homeland Security) would
even consider a MS product, let alone to base
their agencies on.
You are point-on-target.
The ISS has been largely abandoned, not by the
Russians or the ESA but by the USA. Since
"Dubya" and company has turned everything into
a battle of neo-con politics versus the rest of
the world, the most potent weapon against them
is rational thought processes and the truth.
Two items sorely missing in the American political
landscape these days.
Again you are point-on-target with your assessment
of the Ukrainian election. The struggle actually
goes a bit deeper than that, because the Yukos
oil fiasco is at the core of the bad relations
between "Dubya" and Putin. (Just like the real
reason why the USA is embroiled in the Iraqi
conflict -- oil.) As an American, I am sorry to
admit that we have a penchant for interference
in other countries' internal affairs, especially
when it comes to natural resources generally,
and oil particularly. The "Dubya" neo-cons
have been very busy trying to stoke up resentment
for the current government in Venezuela, too.
Venezuela has a duly elected left-of-center
government that (1) is looking out for the
welfare of their poor, and (2) providing some
subsidized oil to Castro's Cuba. It wouldn't
take much of an imagination to tie the oil worker
strike in Venezuela (and the subsequent failed
recall election) to "Dubya" and the CIA. You
don't see this kind of USA interference in
countries that don't have oil (or gas).
Unfortunately, that is NOT the way corporations
work (at least in the USA). If you invent some-
thing while working for your employer, then it
is owned by the employer. However, many/most
USA companies that hire you to be creative also
expect that anything you work on on your own
time also belongs to them, regardless of whether
the innovation/invention is work-related or not.
Also, when you decide to leave the employ of that
company (by choice or not), they might still own
any innovation/invention of yours for 1 year
afterwards, let alone control who you might
want to work for. Try reading the fine print
in the next Non-Compete Agreement you are asked
to sign, with the assistance of a good lawyer.
You might just be surprised to find that the
employer even has first rights to your offspring.
The entire issue of patents can boil down to
just a few generally accepted (/.) statements:
(1) basic hardware patents are cool -- and
probably far too short in duration.
Nations that engage in patenting the
application of innovation "shotgun
method" in order to cover all possible
future uses are not. (Japan comes to mind
here.)
(2) software patents, particularly as implimented
in the USA, are predominantly un-cool, and
destructive. The entire notion of "prior
art" has been abandoned by the USPTO.
(Whatever happened to the concept "We stand
upon the shoulders of giants." ?) Almost
all software patents fall into the "absurd"
category.
This story perfectly illustrates one of the
differences in patent law between the good
old USA and Germany.
In the USA, the employee's invention & patent
is owned by the employer.
In Germany, the employee's invention & patent
is owned by the employee.
Most US corporations require that employees
sign away all their rights to any innovation,
regardless of whether it was developed on the
job (or even job-related) or not. Even without
relinquishing such rights, the employee has
little legal recourse in American courts. In
effect, the employer owns the employee.
Considering the direction that corporate pensions
and benefits are headed in the USA, which is:
none (now 401K), and shrinking (eg. medical), the
imbalance in favor of the corporation is getting
worse. When the increase in L-1 and H1-B visas,
and the RIFs in favor of offshore outsourcing are
taken into account, the future of innovation in
the USA looks bleak. Finally, the whole issue
of software patents and the ridiculous position
adopted by the USPTO, it is apparent that the
USA's corporations are trading in their long term
financial and industry growth for potential
short term profits.
BitTorrent(s) are the only way that many
people can actually get large files D/Led
without corruption. I actually have used
this great technology on a dial-up connection
just because of the ability to re-string
packets into their correct order.
As an abused VERIZON customer, I can tell you
that I DO HAVE *DSL service available to my
home, which I will NOT subscribe to. The
problem is that VERIZON (and most "baby bells")
have made the absolute minimal infrastructure
improvements to the the end-user/residence.
I have approximately 18,000 feet of mostly
buried Cu POTS wiring from the CO (Central
Office) to my home that is 30 + years old.
The last attempt at DSL service here was a
bust -- the distance involved required ADSL
service rather than DSL and the sustained
U/L-D/L rates were about 20% BETTER than
dial-up, at ~250% of dial-up costs. Between
the distance from the CO and the (mostly)
buried wiring, any wired DSL service to my
residence was a waste of time and money. Yet,
I could subscribe to VERIZON Business Wireless
DSL and get good bandwidth (at ~400% of the
cost of their "home" DSL service). The telcos'
primary competition, the cable companies, are
generally held to higher standards for deploy-
ment of services, and at the county level. If
they do not meet the access goals set by the
local government, they can and will be replaced
by another cable company -- something the state
regulators are unwilling to do with the telcos.
IMHO, the worst thing to happen to the USA's
telco infrastructure in the past 50 years has
been the breakup of Ma Bell. Sometimes, a
single government controlled monopoly is far
better than a bunch of regional monopolies,
especially when something as important as
infrastructure is involved. The baby "bells"
have been "skimming the cream" of profits from
their monopolies, while ignoring the majority
of users. This is the reason why many other
countries have better broadband service to their
taxpayers. The situation in the USA regarding
the regional telco monopolies is not too unlike
the problems that our deregulated airlines are
suffering, and for similar reasons.
A public forum (for a public punishment),
in which "subscribers/bettors" can help
determine the exact cause of death.
History provides some wonderful examples
of appropriate punishment, most of which
derive from the Middle Ages (draw-and-
quarter, rack, impalement, tar-and-feather,
burn at stake, beheading, hanging, etcetera).
Your vote counts! Vote early and often!
Define terrorist.
There was a case several years ago regarding
an illegal alien who had a habit of riding
freight trains all over the USA. Granted that
he is not a terrorist, but he is a psychopathic
serial murderer. He killed more US citizens
from California to Florida than the infamous
Metro DC sniper team. Many times he was
caught for vagrancy or petty crimes; sometimes
he was detained by INS and then deported. But
he kept crossing the border and committing these
murders because the proceeds made for easy
living. He is now serving multiple life
sentences in Arizona (or on death row in Texas).
Might just as well have been a terrorist.
BTW: Most USA jurisdictions do not either keep,
or publically reveal, the number or percentage
of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens.
I think that if they did, more people would be
in an uproar over the government and employers
pandering to this country's illegal "guests".
I do know that NY State just revoked the CDLs
(Commercial Driver Licenses) of more than 6,000
commercial drivers because they were illegal
aliens. Those must be the ice cream truck
drivers that you were alluding to, right?
Of the 15 9-11-2001 hijackers, most either
traveled to the USA on false documents, or else
overstayed their tourist visas, some for years.
By your definition of statistical relevance,
the heinous terrorist incidents of 9-11-2001
don't matter -- instead the DoJ should be
focusing all their attention on drunk drivers.
I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing repeat DUI
drivers stood up against a wall and shot.
Actually, having the government KNOW your
fingerprints, as well as your retinal scan
(and perhaps even your DNA sequence) MIGHT
just be a good thing. Both illegal immigration
AND identity theft have gone up since 9-11-2001.
Every billion dollars that the government
wastes on a totally non-functional anti-ballistic
missile defense system is a billion dollars not
spent on improved border, seaport, and air cargo
security. (You don't really think that the crazy
lunatic running North Korea will launch 1 or 2
of his 8 ballistic missiles against the USA, do
you? When he is bound to know that our spy birds
would trace them back to him, and invite massive
retaliation. Or is he more likely to smuggle
a WMD or two across our borders, or in our
incoming cargo?)
Just because the government would have such
info does not mean that anybody and everybody
would have that same access. An improved method
of verifying people's identity would go a long
way toward weeding out the illegal aliens (and
the terrorists that are hiding amongst them).
Unfortunately, the attitude expressed in the
parent comment is part of the problem that
was expressed by Bush/Ashcroft/Tenet/Ridge --
"not a matter of IF there will be another
terrorist attack on USA soil, but of WHEN".