When are hackers going to learn that you can't route around the law?
So, you have to accept things as they are, just because that's how they are?
No, thanks. I prefer people who fight for their rights.
Laws are words written in paper, and thankfully, they can be changed. Just like they've changed "for bad", they can also be changed "for good". But they won't, with mindsets like yours.
And "you can't route around the law", lol, man... that's what lawyers do! Bend the laws as much as they can, and that's OK as long as they don't break them.
these people have absolute power, and very little accountability. Third world countries are often corrupt, and the last thing you want to do is paint a target on your forehead. No telling if McAfee is behind it or not, but any way you look at it... he's pissed somebody off.
Depending on what I post. Some posts (comic book-related) reach 350 users, others (yu gi oh trading cards) reach over 500. But I'm sure all posts get at least 300 views. (I have a comic book shop, btw).
But, I'm good at virality i guess. I went in a guerrilla marketing campaign and took photos of people at the zombie walk and posted them in my facebook page. I got tens of likes in each pic, and lots of comments, and quite a few shares. Won't tell me the reach for that album but i'm sure it's very high.
I have a FB business account and a page with 1800 fans. I can reach them just fine and pay nothing. Now, facebook also offers me that, if i pay, I can reach more people (non-fans). I did it - it worked. I don't do it anymore because I'm, let's say, "restructuring" my business. But I'll do it again sometime.
FWIW: I'm bidding up to 3 cents per click, but on average I pay 1 cent per click.
These things are regulated. Argentina tried to buy a few (5!) of their previous line, I think it was Tesla. The US government wouldn't allow it. Guess you have to be a NATO member to buy these.
You are assuming that, since the distributor has lower costs, he sells at a lower price. He doesn't. The publisher sets the suggested price and all shops have to sell at that price. Also, there are conflicting interests when you are a distributor and retail store: there's a publisher that prints their books in Spain. I'm in Argentina and right now we have some import restrictions so the amount of books is limited. The distributor "reserves" a minimum for their retail stores, leaving all the small stores without stock. A distributor should, ideally, remain neutral and sell in a "first come first serve" basis, or at least "ration" them, like supermarkets do when there's a shortage of something. But they don't. The publisher doesn't care: they sell all their stock anyway.
This is a centralized country: a very big city (Buenos Aires) holds over 30% of the population, and the rest is scattered around the country. The distributor has no means, or interest, of expanding to the interior, and the publisher, in the long term, loses the remaining 70% they can't reach.
Read the other comments in this article. Most tend to agree that retail business is dead and you can shop for everything online and have a "better experience". This may or may not be true. It depends on the item in question. Some are better suited to "analysis" and "reviews".
In my case, a review has never convinced me of anything. Video card reviews? All cards suck and you're better off spending $50 more on the next one in line. Hard drive reviews? Lol, as if they mean anything Comic books reviews? Movie reviews? NO THANKS. I don't take anyone's opinion.
There was another douche answering earlier, claiming that "it's a matter of time" until we cut "all" middle men. Yeah right. Imagine visiting every manufacturer's website to buy GROCERIES! And we're not talking about visiting kraft food's site and do half your shopping there. I mean buying straight from the manufacture. From the farmer, the fisherman, whatever.
There is a reason why things are how they are. And mostly it's about efficiency. It's the same reason why Microchip (manufacturer of microcontrollers) now also makes voltage regulators, sensors, operational amplifiers, RAM, and many other things you need: one-stop shopping.
And there is a reason why salesmen act like that: people.
I think everyone should do an "internship" in retail sale for a few months, and see just how stupid some people are, and how difficult it is to see what they actually want.
Sometimes you greet a customer (and I just say "hi", i don't believe in the "hi welcome to the shop, i'm your sales specialist Douchy how can i be of assistance? is there anything you're looking for" blah). you can have two situations: 1) the customer goes in defense mode and says I'M JUST LOOKING. to which i answer "cool, just let me know if you have any questions" and then ignore him for the rest of this visit. i try to remember his face so next time i'll give him the same treatment 2) the customer goes in "lost" mode and looks a little and goes out the door soon - i've learned the hard way that this kind of customer then goes online and rants with friends that "the attention at that place is really bad".
(both kind of customers, after a bit of talking, can be turned into "normal" customers - like people going into a supermarket, and browse for things themselves and do a little chat, where you can quickly profile them and offer them other stuff they might like, which i don't stock but can order. #1 is very hard to break ice but once you do it, you've earned a loyal customer)
so you have to "feel" the customer, and treat him accordingly. I, personally, don't mind "losing" a sale, because I don't have a manager that counts "could have beens" as a metric for my performance. I've learned that there are sales, and there aren't. there are no "could have been". but sellers of more expensive things (I just sell comic books and trading cards), like cars, need to push the customer to actually buy something. if they don't sell, it's counted as a lost sale. and if your manager sees many of those, you're fired.
Hint: the biggest online retailer is Amazon. They're a middleman. You don't buy from the factory - you buy from them.
The world will be a better place without idiots like you who talk about OVERABUNDANCE in a world where only the top billion have all their needs satisfied, and the remaining 6bn is nowhere near that.
Also: tone it down with "stupid", and "ignorant". It just proves how wrong you are: you think you're better than everyone else. You're not. You're a complete tool.
If you were Seagate and your biggest competitor was pricing their product at $x and you COULD price yours at $x/2, but were able to sell all of your capacity at $x/(0.99), why would you charge the lower price?
Oversimplify much? You think you just sit around and wait for people, to just BUY a car? Just take your share and go on your merry way? You have to SELL. Selling is a job. We storeowners are not "middlemen". We wake up every day, go to work, pay taxes, have debts. We WORK.
And unlike you, we actually have risks. You? You're clearly an employee. you have an assured check at the end of the month. Me? If I don't sell, I have to touch the "rainy day fund". Something you only do when you're fired.
Following your logic, you have no argument to get mad when the company you work for replaces you for an indian working for a fraction of your salary. Do you?
Slashdotters are just short-sighted employees (with a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the month), that only care about the smaller price. They don't run a retail business and they don't know what the "game" really is. They only see a store owner as a "greedy middleman". And they think it's ok (simply because it's not illegal) to walk into a store and get advise and try a product, only to run home and buy it on amazon. (OH but they do CRY when they are outsourced by someone in india who gets paid less!)
I have a comic book shop. The comic distributor actually has a shop too and they sell, at the same price I do. Does that seem fair? They make more profit than me, and the publisher won't sell directly to me because they aren't interested (unless I'm willing to buy by the tens of thousands).
On the other hand, I also sell trading cards (Magic the gathering, yugioh). They have a "tiered" system where a shop, to have organized tournaments needs to have a certain "level". So, I put money into them and I have at least a small guarantee that the shop across the street won't be taking all my customers overnight simply undercutting me (after I spent months, maybe years, promoting the product and building the local market).
And the word ecosystem is thrown in as if Apple is the only company that can pull that one.
I don't have a Surface and I don't intend to, but I heard it's supposed to discover an XBOX at your house and connect to it, and do things such as show maps on the display, etc. Not bad - and not impossible to make.
Same thing with the Zune. I don't know what was bad about it - it just got bad press from Apple blogger/cocksuckers. But it had interesting features (like sharing music with other zunes in the room). And it didn't look bad, and the UI didn't look bad either. Zune is an example of a product that failed because of bad press from competition.
I'm not a microsoft apologist - but I don't think it's fair to say only apple can make an "ecosystem".
Slashdot Mirror
Why is it illegal to "export" iphones anyway?
Who is the good guy?
What mission? You sound like you think megaupload was the only file locker out there.
So, you have to accept things as they are, just because that's how they are?
No, thanks. I prefer people who fight for their rights.
Laws are words written in paper, and thankfully, they can be changed. Just like they've changed "for bad", they can also be changed "for good". But they won't, with mindsets like yours.
And "you can't route around the law", lol, man... that's what lawyers do! Bend the laws as much as they can, and that's OK as long as they don't break them.
She had the support, last year, when she won the elections. We don't know now, as she manipulates the statistics.
Yes.
Greetings from Argentina.
Depending on what I post. Some posts (comic book-related) reach 350 users, others (yu gi oh trading cards) reach over 500. But I'm sure all posts get at least 300 views. (I have a comic book shop, btw).
But, I'm good at virality i guess. I went in a guerrilla marketing campaign and took photos of people at the zombie walk and posted them in my facebook page. I got tens of likes in each pic, and lots of comments, and quite a few shares. Won't tell me the reach for that album but i'm sure it's very high.
I have a FB business account and a page with 1800 fans. I can reach them just fine and pay nothing. Now, facebook also offers me that, if i pay, I can reach more people (non-fans). I did it - it worked. I don't do it anymore because I'm, let's say, "restructuring" my business. But I'll do it again sometime.
FWIW: I'm bidding up to 3 cents per click, but on average I pay 1 cent per click.
These things are regulated. Argentina tried to buy a few (5!) of their previous line, I think it was Tesla. The US government wouldn't allow it. Guess you have to be a NATO member to buy these.
You are assuming that, since the distributor has lower costs, he sells at a lower price. He doesn't. The publisher sets the suggested price and all shops have to sell at that price.
Also, there are conflicting interests when you are a distributor and retail store: there's a publisher that prints their books in Spain. I'm in Argentina and right now we have some import restrictions so the amount of books is limited. The distributor "reserves" a minimum for their retail stores, leaving all the small stores without stock. A distributor should, ideally, remain neutral and sell in a "first come first serve" basis, or at least "ration" them, like supermarkets do when there's a shortage of something. But they don't.
The publisher doesn't care: they sell all their stock anyway.
This is a centralized country: a very big city (Buenos Aires) holds over 30% of the population, and the rest is scattered around the country. The distributor has no means, or interest, of expanding to the interior, and the publisher, in the long term, loses the remaining 70% they can't reach.
It's not so simple.
Then don't call it a distributor/wholesaler.
I don't sell cars.
Read the other comments in this article. Most tend to agree that retail business is dead and you can shop for everything online and have a "better experience". This may or may not be true. It depends on the item in question. Some are better suited to "analysis" and "reviews".
In my case, a review has never convinced me of anything. Video card reviews? All cards suck and you're better off spending $50 more on the next one in line. Hard drive reviews? Lol, as if they mean anything
Comic books reviews? Movie reviews? NO THANKS. I don't take anyone's opinion.
There was another douche answering earlier, claiming that "it's a matter of time" until we cut "all" middle men. Yeah right. Imagine visiting every manufacturer's website to buy GROCERIES! And we're not talking about visiting kraft food's site and do half your shopping there. I mean buying straight from the manufacture. From the farmer, the fisherman, whatever.
There is a reason why things are how they are. And mostly it's about efficiency. It's the same reason why Microchip (manufacturer of microcontrollers) now also makes voltage regulators, sensors, operational amplifiers, RAM, and many other things you need: one-stop shopping.
Salesman is not the same as middleman.
And there is a reason why salesmen act like that: people.
I think everyone should do an "internship" in retail sale for a few months, and see just how stupid some people are, and how difficult it is to see what they actually want.
Sometimes you greet a customer (and I just say "hi", i don't believe in the "hi welcome to the shop, i'm your sales specialist Douchy how can i be of assistance? is there anything you're looking for" blah). you can have two situations:
1) the customer goes in defense mode and says I'M JUST LOOKING. to which i answer "cool, just let me know if you have any questions" and then ignore him for the rest of this visit. i try to remember his face so next time i'll give him the same treatment
2) the customer goes in "lost" mode and looks a little and goes out the door soon - i've learned the hard way that this kind of customer then goes online and rants with friends that "the attention at that place is really bad".
(both kind of customers, after a bit of talking, can be turned into "normal" customers - like people going into a supermarket, and browse for things themselves and do a little chat, where you can quickly profile them and offer them other stuff they might like, which i don't stock but can order. #1 is very hard to break ice but once you do it, you've earned a loyal customer)
so you have to "feel" the customer, and treat him accordingly. I, personally, don't mind "losing" a sale, because I don't have a manager that counts "could have beens" as a metric for my performance. I've learned that there are sales, and there aren't. there are no "could have been". but sellers of more expensive things (I just sell comic books and trading cards), like cars, need to push the customer to actually buy something. if they don't sell, it's counted as a lost sale. and if your manager sees many of those, you're fired.
Is that you, sheldon?
I sell comic books and trading cards. Amazon does too.
Good luck having Amazon organize tournaments and meetups in your local town.
You, sir, are a retard.
Hint: the biggest online retailer is Amazon. They're a middleman. You don't buy from the factory - you buy from them.
The world will be a better place without idiots like you who talk about OVERABUNDANCE in a world where only the top billion have all their needs satisfied, and the remaining 6bn is nowhere near that.
Also: tone it down with "stupid", and "ignorant". It just proves how wrong you are: you think you're better than everyone else. You're not. You're a complete tool.
To put my competition out of business.
Oversimplify much?
You think you just sit around and wait for people, to just BUY a car? Just take your share and go on your merry way?
You have to SELL. Selling is a job. We storeowners are not "middlemen". We wake up every day, go to work, pay taxes, have debts. We WORK.
And unlike you, we actually have risks. You? You're clearly an employee. you have an assured check at the end of the month. Me? If I don't sell, I have to touch the "rainy day fund". Something you only do when you're fired.
Following your logic, you have no argument to get mad when the company you work for replaces you for an indian working for a fraction of your salary. Do you?
Slashdotters are just short-sighted employees (with a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the month), that only care about the smaller price. They don't run a retail business and they don't know what the "game" really is. They only see a store owner as a "greedy middleman". And they think it's ok (simply because it's not illegal) to walk into a store and get advise and try a product, only to run home and buy it on amazon. (OH but they do CRY when they are outsourced by someone in india who gets paid less!)
I have a comic book shop. The comic distributor actually has a shop too and they sell, at the same price I do. Does that seem fair? They make more profit than me, and the publisher won't sell directly to me because they aren't interested (unless I'm willing to buy by the tens of thousands).
On the other hand, I also sell trading cards (Magic the gathering, yugioh). They have a "tiered" system where a shop, to have organized tournaments needs to have a certain "level". So, I put money into them and I have at least a small guarantee that the shop across the street won't be taking all my customers overnight simply undercutting me (after I spent months, maybe years, promoting the product and building the local market).
Yes. 100% agreed.
But the one that was hit most severely was WD. Seagate not so much. Yet, seagate and WD are priced accordingly. How come?
Oil prices went way over $100/barrel and fuel prices rose accordingly. Then went much lower than that, yet fuel prices didn't. At all.
I'm 100% certain Facebook and Google don't need the RAW SPEEDZ 10k SAS gives, but the sheer size and small price of 3.5 SATA
Here in Argentina they don't reduce the prices after they go up.
And the word ecosystem is thrown in as if Apple is the only company that can pull that one.
I don't have a Surface and I don't intend to, but I heard it's supposed to discover an XBOX at your house and connect to it, and do things such as show maps on the display, etc. Not bad - and not impossible to make.
Same thing with the Zune. I don't know what was bad about it - it just got bad press from Apple blogger/cocksuckers. But it had interesting features (like sharing music with other zunes in the room). And it didn't look bad, and the UI didn't look bad either. Zune is an example of a product that failed because of bad press from competition.
I'm not a microsoft apologist - but I don't think it's fair to say only apple can make an "ecosystem".