I tend to agree, on some level it's kind of cute, I had no idea that the BnL even existed before I found this news item. And of course a CD release would have left me in blissfull ignorance:-).
I also suspect that the USB stick would generate even more waste than the CDs if it would become somewhat standard.
But I do think this is just a "no news" publicity stunt, the 128kb USB sticks are being phased out, so I guess somebody told BnL where they could find a couple of 1000s of sticks "real cheap".
I would not compate the 30$ to the price of a regular release, but more to the price of a "premium release" of a CD with extra boocklet and Teeshirt or some other gadget.
This shows again as M. McLuhan said: The Media IS the Message.:-)
Well in some case raw antisemitism was a factor, like when the key Canadian official in charge of imigration, to the question: how many jew do you think could be the accepted in Canada, answered: None.
But the main reason is that the public would rather ignore unconfortable truthes, the "democracies" did not invade ANY dictatorship unless they could obtain some direct or indirect economical adventage (usually in the form of an excuse to waste their own taxpayers money).
Partly it seems callow, in part it is resonable, democracy imposed from outside is the worst tiranny. It has to come from the people, and people have to really want it, and understand what it really is.
Otherwhise the US would have democracy instead of a lobbytocracy, where the government is basically doing what the new feodals (head of corporations) want them to.
Actually the example works the same way on the Shoa, first of all it didn't occurs all at once, but progressivelly, concentration camps where first built for "enemies of the people and of the state", and then of course many people became known as "bad guys".
Every person sent to the camps had a special 3rd class train ticket: ONE WAY, so anybody connected to the railroad had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
Many "jokes" where passed arround.
But doing something was hard, and dangerous, so most people where happy to "focus on their own familly". but the only one who didn't know where the ones that made extra efforts to NO KNOW.
Of course after the war many people where shocked to see "how bad it really is", but they knew. And it took them about one generation to be able to analyse this.
(BTW i'm german)
Once upon a time somebody invented a way to use various set of hardwares to transmit data from one user to another, without really needing the users to be aware of what the hardware was. Most of the "intelligence" concerning what gets transmitted was on each users hw. The owner of the hardwares didn't like it, because it frees the user from dependence to a "connection" providers, almost all solutions to connect are equivalent, this creates competition and transforms Telcos into "commodities" (This means low margings) The owner of the "media" didn't like this because they saw that it enabled anybody to send out to anybody whatever they like, it removes control from them. So the Telcos and the media go to the governement and start to cry:
This internet is full of boggeymens of all sort, only if we control it can we hunt the boogeymens!
and we have all these "useful idiots" around ready to show you how bad the boggeymens are !! And since the government saw that this new tool could also be a tool to transfer control from a center to the people, and since the people who have the power in any government/party/etc... like some stability, and since they see that stability is easier to achieve if the center tells the people "how to behave", the governments like the media and the telco better than the people.
So we are loosing, most probably in a couple of years if you want to create a web site you will have to have attended the right schools, have the right connections, and then ask the web studio majors to bless your project. And of course your web site should take in account the best interest of the advertizers.
The article is misleading for three reasons:
1) In most developping countries the economy is much more segmented than in "G8" countries.
This means that comparing 100$ to the Per Capita Income is completly misleading because 80% of a population will NOT use any software
at any price. So even without concidering the impact of piracy you would need to compare the "Average Income" of the 10 to 20%
of the population that might actually want to use some software.
2) The main "Achile's Talon" of FOSS software is the need for broadband access, obvioulsy you can try to find a CD based Distro, and
Only download what you absolutelly need, but in practice, even (especially) with a Dev. C. targeted distro like Ubuntu, you need
a fairly fast link to be able to really setup and maintain your system.
3) In most developping countries the governments are the key buyers, and since a large part of their infrastructure is funded
by international "AID", they do not actually decide anything important.
For instance any government can make a "preference statement" for FOSS, and thus make the plebs happy, but if they buy a
Budget management system for the government, they will need a couple of Millions Dollards to set it up, and of course the World Bank
will explain that this is absolutelly necessary to be able to have a sound fiscal policy (kind of true).
And the US AID (Also called "Alliance to Save the US based Corporations" will be more than happy to offer some structural funds
provided that of course the majority of these funds are used with US corporations.
So some integrator will hire a human ressource company to provide a group of underpaid Indian or Pakistani programmer,
sell a profusion of HW, and of course use a Microsoft base (wich gives access to all the nice BSA, and OMC related lobbyist)
This will force all the number cruncher in the government to use Excel, and if the auditor is using Excel you will not use OO.org
And of course NO local company has the "needed experience to make a national budget management system"
So the "winner" gets paid by the US tax payer on the short term, and on the medium to long term the Tax Payer from the target
country will reimburse wastly inflated prices.
And this can happen because nobody really "sees the cost".
Well over the long term FOSS will win even in emerging countries, but it will take time, and lobbying.
And the SMSI in Tunis is certainly a program destined to work on slowing down this take of as much as possible.
Well, first of all the current difference is closer to 60$ than to 30$ (depending on quantities).
Moreover bundling OS software with hardware gives an huge edge to Microsoft to peddle other softwares to the customers, actually the "normal deal" should be 400$ for a "clean PC", and 150$ upfront and a set of rebate checks worth 500$ for a microsoft infested PC.
But the point you make is valid and describe exactly why the propritary model of software distribution is inherently unsustainable. Any vendor that has a temporary leadership can destroy any competition by lowering their price. And then by some trivial manipulation of data format standards it can force an upgrade to their customers.
So if you as a consumer want to have a decent deal in software, or if you as a creator of IT tools want to have some hope to keep a market where you can create. Do not give Microsoft any edge !
(Free and Open Source Software is not a perfect framework for creation, it is actually quite bad and irritating, it is just to software creation what democracy is to political systems: the least bad)
We did discuss this recently, and "obviously nothing changes:-)"
You might want to look at the work of the group to remove the "private microsoft tax " on PC.
(most of the content is in french but at least you have an english Intro)
https://www2.aful.org/sections/wikis/detaxe/GdTDet axeEnglish/cps_wiki_pageview
It is interesting to notice that the same IT vendors that are yelling against levy on harddisk and usb memory sticks to manage the rights of copyright owners, and prefer to push DRMS (with all the civic rights adverse impacts)
Do perfectly accept to pay a microsoft "levvy" for each and all of their PCs.
Well DMCA definitivelly forbid you to dissasemble, examine, etc... any (definitively unwanted) DRM code. So it is very probable that if the company can somehow pretend that they are doing "marketing" they could very well win.
After all no user of Microsoft software actually has any right on his/her computing equipment. Once you've installed the "mother of all virus and spyware" (or forgot to clean your computer) you anyway relinquished any right you might think you have on your computer.
Actually I do kind of hope that they win, it could change the impact of intelectual laziness on computer users (people that pretend that they do not have the time/possibility/etc to switch from M$ would either be made totally unable to work on the Internet (and therefore be effectivelly removed from any decision making process) or have to bit the bitter apple, and shake their lazy a...)
It is interesting to note that concern for "blind and visually impaired persons" was also used to justify the lack of paper trace for voting machines.
It seems that the/some/most important/one ? civil society organisation for Blind and Visualy Impaired Persons has been taken over by some very dangerous persons.
If I would be a blind american I would be feeling very concerned on how my "voice" is being used.
The gaming consoles are tools to sell games, their costs are subsidised and professional development kits are licenced to "authorized" developpers, this enables the game companies to control the market. They do not want somebody to make a game that could potentially compete with theirs.
An amateur development kit generates a risk of loss of customer control for the editor, and this is insufferable for them.
Once upon a time I worked with a group that wanted (with the support of a very large UN funded NGO) to develop a literacy program for a cheap gaming machine.
After six month of trying to get to "the right person(s)" it was clear that there was "zero" interest in this, (in all companies).
Actually I personally strongly disagree with the "mod people", from my point of view it is similar to trying to be the slightly independent sidekick of the big bully at school.
If the effort done to enhance "closed" consoles would be put into creating "open platforms", we might have a much more diverse and creative ecosystem for kids (and other gamers) to play with.
Have you noticed that the object of the patent was to calculate the compensation of managers.
Maybe due to this patent managers will have to do something actually useful in order to be paid (without having to fork over part of their "compensation" to the patent holder ?)
(well one can dream:-))
Somehow all this patent system looks like a privatization of taxation, which is interesting since we are all voting for the CEO's of large patent holding corporation (or maybe not ? hum I guess i'll have to check ??)
This is a good illustration of the sad situation of IT in the emerging contries, the "useful idiot" is calling his buddy from the "large us corporation" that has no idea about anything related to technology, but knows the right ropes.
In this particular case the only thing that is needed is a nice "press release" that shows that the local politician is doing something. And of course nothing should be done, the scams are bringing in about 200 Million US$ per year into Nigeria, why stop ?
So the choice of M$ for this is ideal, high visibility and a garanty that the scammer can go on working without any real security expert bothering them.
No this just proves that the Italian noodles are better, they ate them all. that is the rational explanation for the abscence of 4000 year old noodles in Italy.
I have a treo, I like my treo, but unfortunatelly it seems to run PalmOS, If I would know a PdaPhone with Linux that has a decent keyboard, and some european avaiability i'd run to buy one.
BTW: Niiiaaaakkkkkkkkhhhuuhahahaahahaahapfffffffff (sound of Euro FOSS activist at the though that a large amount of US based PHB will see their MicroManagement device morph into cheap piece of plastic due to random Jock activity).
And that for a short time at least it will not happen in Europe because THERE ARE NO SOFTWARE PATENTS.
Well first of all it is not that easy to find such a room, and that is the "really slow route". And it doesn't work on land:-) Nor is the timing even approximately accurate.
A blimp could potentially get you from a city center to another one 700 miles away in approx 4 hours (it makes much less noise, and needs no "runway").
Since, despite the unrelenting efforts of "G8" countries to keep gazoline price low, and keep a "gazoline led" economy, the prices are still going up. I believe that the question is not so much, can we go to XYZ fast ? but can we afford to go there ?
The Concorde crash was actually a "blessing" for Air France and British airway, since even with travel prices about 2,5 time regular FIRST CLASS the airlines had to subsidise heavily the flights.
So No i do not expect us to suddently see supersonic zeppelins (if would probably be an "interesting" example of waste of energy:-)), but I would like to see us try to combine some responsibility and some sense of fun.
And it is true that the Zeppelins took about 2/3 days to cross the atlantic (and a big chunk of europe), but the experience was closer to a boat cruise (apparently without the seasicness) than the current sardine can experience most of use have in planes.
Actually I would prefer to see a "really" cheaper way to travel, for instance I find it regretable that Dirigible are not more investigated. The Hindenburg crash killed them originally, but people do forget that the Dirigible was actually quite safe, and could probably be safer now (even hydrogen based dirigible) and they need much less infrastructure than planes. I believe that the state sponsored duopole (Boeing/Airbus) nature of aeroplane manufacturing is a strong factor stiffling innovation there.
Since for each ordered model dell has to ship the PC to china, get a specialized prison inmate to remove the "windows licence stiker" (in a way compatible with the internal dell specific microsoft refund program), and then to a high tech hub in Brno in the Czech republic to have the disk cleaned by a certified OS cleaning specialist.
Of course a random number is pulled out for final specialized checking in Oregon by a H1b intern with a phD gained in Bangalore, but supervised by a Miskatonic Institute of Technocracy MBA.
In addition the lack of spyware and virus compatible software makes the machine usable for a dangerously long time.
So the only surprising element is the fact that the added price is so low.
I agree that the HW issue is the single biggest problem with Linux, although I do not think that the GPL is the real issue there. If I have a gizmo that needs a specific driver, I make money on the Gizmo, I do not need to make money on the driver itself, and usually I will not.
The issues are:
cross licencing with Microsoft or Microsoft friendly Hardware vendors that will use my Gizmo if I "play nice".
"secret": If i use an Open Source driver, not only do I help my competitors since they can clone my card, but I help "reviewers" that can
write articles saying: Oh by the way the ACME Gizmo is actually the same HW as the 30% cheaper EMCA Gizmo (see for instance the
Clone of the Linksys WRT54G (no I wont tell you I like the Linksys box:-))
And of course DRM
We will probably need some sort of "Black Box DRM machine" that can be interfaced with a "Open Standards API", but handles the payment methods "internally", this would enable "Open Source" or "Alternative OSes" driver implementation without the "risk" of somebody modifing the code to "say yes s/he paid" when they didnt.
At least until we evolve beyond the current Media Business models.
This invention is quite improper, it is based on a misunderstand on the proper use of Coasters, they are not supposed to support beer glasses, actually beer glasses are wetting the coasters. The real use of them is to make small castles on your table, this enables you to check if you are completelly drunk (or not). And possibly to attrack beautiful potential significant others (it doesn't work, but at least it keeps your mind occupied) It can also help you to hide from people you do not particularly want to see.
Unfortunatelly what most SciFi writers didnt acurately forecast (although Huxley came close), is that there are actually three casts - Brain Cell Extreme Users (They never use them so they are extremely rested, hence the name)
Their real use is as counter in the big game - Dumb Geeky Nerds (Useless people who do not know the current name of the current starlets boyfriend, are rude and will not fix your computer although it seems that they might be able to)
They are necessary to make the big game work, but should not be overpaid because otherwise they might have too much time, and want to
participate in the big game. - Real Men (Women in this category are honorary "Real Men", ex: Condi Rice) Right Family, Right School, Right "look and feel", no interest whatsoever on "details"
They are running the big game
The goal of the game is to take all the money that there is in the world.
So lets hope that if some younger nerds do not know that "multiplexed files wrapping an UUCP server are way cooler than sockets and TCP/IP" they are busy reading Max Weber and beefing up their Political Science:
Time to Strike Back ! And confiscate the big game from the con men
I feel the main issue, is not the shortage of geeks, but an excess of value put on jocks, as long as people who like to "administer business" without giving a damn about what business it is have power it will be hard for young people to understand the value of being passionate about anything.
What is needed is a concerted plan to oust the jocks:-)
When all the top jobs are occupied by strange, funky propeller headed geeks, geekettes and assorted nerds, the numbers will go up.:-)
In France (not sure its the best reference to use in the US:-) The Gendarmerie National (Militarized Police Forces) uses Open Office on all new stations and is in the process of upgrading all the old PCs. (its 70 000 PCs) The Customs Office is using OO on 16000 office.
City of Vienna, and Munich are in that process also.
The Junta de Extremadura in Spain (regional government) is using Linux/OO for everything (the Education dep only has 80 000 workstations).
Finally remember that there are three categories of CSS (Closed Source Software) supporting Public Servants: - Some are Corrupt - Many are incompetent - Some are Both.
(unfortunatelly to be truthfull, FOSS supporting Public Servants are not necesarelly Angels, it would be too simple otherwise)
So you have to find out in wich category your decision makers are:-)
Unfortunatelly, appart of the fact that not everybody want to make the fact that they flunked XYZ 101 public, the SSN in the US is the first element of a successful ID theft program.
An excelent but somewhat dated book is "data base nation".
Basically in name of convenience, and because of the federal structure of the US identity theft is quite easy.
Fixing it would probably not be that hard, on the other hand why solve a problem that creates so many jobs (in the security and jail industry).
Slashdot Mirror
I tend to agree, on some level it's kind of cute, I had no idea that the BnL even existed before I found this news item. :-).
:-)
And of course a CD release would have left me in blissfull ignorance
I also suspect that the USB stick would generate even more waste than the CDs if it would become somewhat standard.
But I do think this is just a "no news" publicity stunt, the 128kb USB sticks are being phased out, so I guess somebody told BnL where they could find a couple of 1000s of sticks "real cheap".
I would not compate the 30$ to the price of a regular release, but more to the price of a "premium release" of a CD with extra boocklet and Teeshirt or some other gadget.
This shows again as M. McLuhan said: The Media IS the Message.
Well in some case raw antisemitism was a factor, like when the key Canadian official in charge of imigration, to the question: how many jew do you think could be the accepted in Canada, answered: None.
But the main reason is that the public would rather ignore unconfortable truthes, the "democracies" did not invade ANY dictatorship unless they could obtain some direct or indirect economical adventage (usually in the form of an excuse to waste their own taxpayers money).
Partly it seems callow, in part it is resonable, democracy imposed from outside is the worst tiranny.
It has to come from the people, and people have to really want it, and understand what it really is.
Otherwhise the US would have democracy instead of a lobbytocracy, where the government is basically doing what the new feodals (head of corporations) want them to.
Actually the example works the same way on the Shoa, first of all it didn't occurs all at once, but progressivelly, concentration camps where first built for "enemies of the people and of the state", and then of course many people became known as "bad guys". Every person sent to the camps had a special 3rd class train ticket: ONE WAY, so anybody connected to the railroad had a pretty good idea of what was happening. Many "jokes" where passed arround. But doing something was hard, and dangerous, so most people where happy to "focus on their own familly". but the only one who didn't know where the ones that made extra efforts to NO KNOW. Of course after the war many people where shocked to see "how bad it really is", but they knew. And it took them about one generation to be able to analyse this. (BTW i'm german)
Once upon a time somebody invented a way to use various set of hardwares to transmit data from one user to another, without really needing the users to be aware of what the hardware was.
:-)
Most of the "intelligence" concerning what gets transmitted was on each users hw.
The owner of the hardwares didn't like it, because it frees the user from dependence to a "connection" providers, almost all solutions to connect are equivalent, this creates competition and transforms Telcos into "commodities" (This means low margings)
The owner of the "media" didn't like this because they saw that it enabled anybody to send out to anybody whatever they like, it removes control from them.
So the Telcos and the media go to the governement and start to cry:
This internet is full of boggeymens of all sort, only if we control it can we hunt the boogeymens!
and we have all these "useful idiots" around ready to show you how bad the boggeymens are !!
And since the government saw that this new tool could also be a tool to transfer control from a center to the people, and since the people who have the power in any government/party/etc... like some stability, and since they see that stability is easier to achieve if the center tells the people "how to behave", the governments like the media and the telco better than the people.
So we are loosing, most probably in a couple of years if you want to create a web site you will have to have attended the right schools, have the right connections, and then ask the web studio majors to bless your project.
And of course your web site should take in account the best interest of the advertizers.
And you know what it will be all YOUR fault
The article is misleading for three reasons: 1) In most developping countries the economy is much more segmented than in "G8" countries. This means that comparing 100$ to the Per Capita Income is completly misleading because 80% of a population will NOT use any software at any price. So even without concidering the impact of piracy you would need to compare the "Average Income" of the 10 to 20% of the population that might actually want to use some software. 2) The main "Achile's Talon" of FOSS software is the need for broadband access, obvioulsy you can try to find a CD based Distro, and Only download what you absolutelly need, but in practice, even (especially) with a Dev. C. targeted distro like Ubuntu, you need a fairly fast link to be able to really setup and maintain your system. 3) In most developping countries the governments are the key buyers, and since a large part of their infrastructure is funded by international "AID", they do not actually decide anything important. For instance any government can make a "preference statement" for FOSS, and thus make the plebs happy, but if they buy a Budget management system for the government, they will need a couple of Millions Dollards to set it up, and of course the World Bank will explain that this is absolutelly necessary to be able to have a sound fiscal policy (kind of true). And the US AID (Also called "Alliance to Save the US based Corporations" will be more than happy to offer some structural funds provided that of course the majority of these funds are used with US corporations. So some integrator will hire a human ressource company to provide a group of underpaid Indian or Pakistani programmer, sell a profusion of HW, and of course use a Microsoft base (wich gives access to all the nice BSA, and OMC related lobbyist) This will force all the number cruncher in the government to use Excel, and if the auditor is using Excel you will not use OO.org And of course NO local company has the "needed experience to make a national budget management system" So the "winner" gets paid by the US tax payer on the short term, and on the medium to long term the Tax Payer from the target country will reimburse wastly inflated prices. And this can happen because nobody really "sees the cost". Well over the long term FOSS will win even in emerging countries, but it will take time, and lobbying. And the SMSI in Tunis is certainly a program destined to work on slowing down this take of as much as possible.
Well, first of all the current difference is closer to 60$ than to 30$ (depending on quantities).
Moreover bundling OS software with hardware gives an huge edge to Microsoft to peddle other softwares to the customers, actually the "normal deal" should be
400$ for a "clean PC", and 150$ upfront and a set of rebate checks worth 500$ for a microsoft infested PC.
But the point you make is valid and describe exactly why the propritary model of software distribution is inherently unsustainable.
Any vendor that has a temporary leadership can destroy any competition by lowering their price.
And then by some trivial manipulation of data format standards it can force an upgrade to their customers.
So if you as a consumer want to have a decent deal in software, or if you as a creator of IT tools want to have some hope to keep a market where you can create.
Do not give Microsoft any edge !
(Free and Open Source Software is not a perfect framework for creation, it is actually quite bad and irritating, it is just to software creation what democracy is to political systems: the least bad)
We did discuss this recently, and "obviously nothing changes :-)"
You might want to look at the work of the group to remove the "private microsoft tax " on PC.
(most of the content is in french but at least you have an english Intro)
https://www2.aful.org/sections/wikis/detaxe/GdTDet axeEnglish/cps_wiki_pageview
It is interesting to notice that the same IT vendors that are yelling against levy on harddisk and usb memory sticks to manage the rights of copyright owners, and prefer to push DRMS (with all the civic rights adverse impacts)
Do perfectly accept to pay a microsoft "levvy" for each and all of their PCs.
Well DMCA definitivelly forbid you to dissasemble, examine, etc... any (definitively unwanted) DRM code.
So it is very probable that if the company can somehow pretend that they are doing "marketing" they could very well win.
After all no user of Microsoft software actually has any right on his/her computing equipment.
Once you've installed the "mother of all virus and spyware" (or forgot to clean your computer) you anyway relinquished any right you might think you have on your computer.
Actually I do kind of hope that they win, it could change the impact of intelectual laziness on computer users (people that pretend that they do not have the time/possibility/etc to switch from M$ would either be made totally unable to work on the Internet (and therefore be effectivelly removed from any decision making process) or have to bit the bitter apple, and shake their lazy a...)
Cheers
It is interesting to note that concern for "blind and visually impaired persons" was also used to justify the lack of paper trace for voting machines.
It seems that the/some/most important/one ? civil society organisation for Blind and Visualy Impaired Persons has been taken over by some very dangerous persons.
If I would be a blind american I would be feeling very concerned on how my "voice" is being used.
-----------
Lobbycracy stinks....
It's the business model stupid!
The gaming consoles are tools to sell games, their costs are subsidised and professional development kits are licenced to "authorized" developpers, this enables the game companies to control the market.
They do not want somebody to make a game that could potentially compete with theirs.
An amateur development kit generates a risk of loss of customer control for the editor, and this is insufferable for them.
Once upon a time I worked with a group that wanted (with the support of a very large UN funded NGO) to develop a literacy program for a cheap gaming machine.
After six month of trying to get to "the right person(s)" it was clear that there was "zero" interest in this, (in all companies).
Actually I personally strongly disagree with the "mod people", from my point of view it is similar to trying to be the slightly independent sidekick of the big bully at school.
If the effort done to enhance "closed" consoles would be put into creating "open platforms", we might have a much more diverse and creative ecosystem for kids (and other gamers) to play with.
Have you noticed that the object of the patent was to calculate the compensation of managers.
:-))
Maybe due to this patent managers will have to do something actually useful in order to be paid (without having to fork over part of their "compensation" to the patent holder ?)
(well one can dream
Somehow all this patent system looks like a privatization of taxation, which is interesting since we are all voting for the CEO's of large patent holding corporation (or maybe not ? hum I guess i'll have to check ??)
This is a good illustration of the sad situation of IT in the emerging contries, the "useful idiot" is calling his buddy from the "large us corporation" that has no idea about anything related to technology, but knows the right ropes.
In this particular case the only thing that is needed is a nice "press release" that shows that the local politician is doing something.
And of course nothing should be done, the scams are bringing in about 200 Million US$ per year into Nigeria, why stop ?
So the choice of M$ for this is ideal, high visibility and a garanty that the scammer can go on working without any real security expert bothering them.
No this just proves that the Italian noodles are better, they ate them all. that is the rational explanation for the abscence of 4000 year old noodles in Italy.
;-)
But of course Spaetzle are better
I have a treo, I like my treo, but unfortunatelly it seems to run PalmOS, If I would know a PdaPhone with Linux that has a decent keyboard, and some european avaiability i'd run to buy one.
BTW: Niiiaaaakkkkkkkkhhhuuhahahaahahaahapfffffffff (sound of Euro FOSS activist at the though that a large amount of US based PHB will see their MicroManagement device morph into cheap piece of plastic due to random Jock activity).
And that for a short time at least it will not happen in Europe because THERE ARE NO SOFTWARE PATENTS.
What happens in a thunderstorm ? to a blimp, bad things, just as bad as with a plane :-{
Well first of all it is not that easy to find such a room, and that is the "really slow route". :-)
And it doesn't work on land
Nor is the timing even approximately accurate.
A blimp could potentially get you from a city center to another one 700 miles away in approx 4 hours (it makes much less noise, and needs no "runway").
Since, despite the unrelenting efforts of "G8" countries to keep gazoline price low, and keep a "gazoline led" economy, the prices are still going up.
:-)), but I would like to see us try to combine some responsibility and some sense of fun.
I believe that the question is not so much, can we go to XYZ fast ? but can we afford to go there ?
The Concorde crash was actually a "blessing" for Air France and British airway, since even with travel prices about 2,5 time regular FIRST CLASS the airlines had to subsidise heavily the flights.
So No i do not expect us to suddently see supersonic zeppelins (if would probably be an "interesting" example of waste of energy
And it is true that the Zeppelins took about 2/3 days to cross the atlantic (and a big chunk of europe), but the experience was closer to a boat cruise (apparently without the seasicness) than the current sardine can experience most of use have in planes.
Actually I would prefer to see a "really" cheaper way to travel, for instance I find it regretable that Dirigible are not more investigated.
The Hindenburg crash killed them originally, but people do forget that the Dirigible was actually quite safe, and could probably be safer now (even hydrogen based dirigible) and they need much less infrastructure than planes.
I believe that the state sponsored duopole (Boeing/Airbus) nature of aeroplane manufacturing is a strong factor stiffling innovation there.
Obviously the "n" model has to be more expensive,
Since for each ordered model dell has to ship the PC to china, get a specialized prison inmate to remove the "windows licence stiker" (in a way compatible with the internal dell specific microsoft refund program), and then to a high tech hub in Brno in the Czech republic to have the disk cleaned by a certified OS cleaning specialist.
Of course a random number is pulled out for final specialized checking in Oregon by a H1b intern with a phD gained in Bangalore, but supervised by a Miskatonic Institute of Technocracy MBA.
In addition the lack of spyware and virus compatible software makes the machine usable for a dangerously long time.
So the only surprising element is the fact that the added price is so low.
I agree that the HW issue is the single biggest problem with Linux, although I do not think that the GPL is the real issue there.
:-))
If I have a gizmo that needs a specific driver, I make money on the Gizmo, I do not need to make money on the driver itself, and usually I will not.
The issues are:
cross licencing with Microsoft or Microsoft friendly Hardware vendors that will use my Gizmo if I "play nice".
"secret": If i use an Open Source driver, not only do I help my competitors since they can clone my card, but I help "reviewers" that can
write articles saying: Oh by the way the ACME Gizmo is actually the same HW as the 30% cheaper EMCA Gizmo (see for instance the
Clone of the Linksys WRT54G (no I wont tell you I like the Linksys box
And of course DRM
We will probably need some sort of "Black Box DRM machine" that can be interfaced with a "Open Standards API", but handles the payment methods "internally", this would enable "Open Source" or "Alternative OSes" driver implementation without the "risk" of somebody modifing the code to "say yes s/he paid" when they didnt.
At least until we evolve beyond the current Media Business models.
This invention is quite improper, it is based on a misunderstand on the proper use of Coasters, they are not supposed to support beer glasses, actually beer glasses are wetting the coasters.
/ \ /\
/ \/ \ /\ /\
/ \/ \/ \ :-)
The real use of them is to make small castles on your table, this enables you to check if you are completelly drunk (or not).
And possibly to attrack beautiful potential significant others (it doesn't work, but at least it keeps your mind occupied)
It can also help you to hide from people you do not particularly want to see.
So here is a real "e-coaster".
/\
/\
/\
Etc... Ad bibitum
Unfortunatelly what most SciFi writers didnt acurately forecast (although Huxley came close), is that there are actually three casts
- Brain Cell Extreme Users (They never use them so they are extremely rested, hence the name)
Their real use is as counter in the big game
- Dumb Geeky Nerds (Useless people who do not know the current name of the current starlets boyfriend, are rude and will not fix your computer although it seems that they might be able to)
They are necessary to make the big game work, but should not be overpaid because otherwise they might have too much time, and want to
participate in the big game.
- Real Men (Women in this category are honorary "Real Men", ex: Condi Rice) Right Family, Right School, Right "look and feel", no interest whatsoever on "details"
They are running the big game
The goal of the game is to take all the money that there is in the world.
So lets hope that if some younger nerds do not know that "multiplexed files wrapping an UUCP server are way cooler than sockets and TCP/IP" they are busy reading Max Weber and beefing up their Political Science:
Time to Strike Back ! And confiscate the big game from the con men
I feel the main issue, is not the shortage of geeks, but an excess of value put on jocks, as long as people who like to "administer business" without giving a damn about what business it is have power it will be hard for young people to understand the value of being passionate about anything.
:-)
:-)
What is needed is a concerted plan to oust the jocks
When all the top jobs are occupied by strange, funky propeller headed geeks, geekettes and assorted nerds, the numbers will go up.
In France (not sure its the best reference to use in the US :-)
:-)
The Gendarmerie National (Militarized Police Forces) uses Open Office on all new stations and is in the process of upgrading all the old PCs. (its 70 000 PCs)
The Customs Office is using OO on 16000 office.
City of Vienna, and Munich are in that process also.
The Junta de Extremadura in Spain (regional government) is using Linux/OO for everything (the Education dep only has 80 000 workstations).
You migth want to check out: http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/chapter/452 (the IDABC Open Source Observatory)
And http://adullact.org/breve.php3?id_breve=361 is a link in French about Massachusetts's migration to Open Formats.
Finally remember that there are three categories of CSS (Closed Source Software) supporting Public Servants:
- Some are Corrupt
- Many are incompetent
- Some are Both.
(unfortunatelly to be truthfull, FOSS supporting Public Servants are not necesarelly Angels, it would be too simple otherwise)
So you have to find out in wich category your decision makers are
Good Luck
Unfortunatelly, appart of the fact that not everybody want to make the fact that they flunked XYZ 101 public, the SSN in the US is the first element of a successful ID theft program. An excelent but somewhat dated book is "data base nation". Basically in name of convenience, and because of the federal structure of the US identity theft is quite easy. Fixing it would probably not be that hard, on the other hand why solve a problem that creates so many jobs (in the security and jail industry).