Some countries allow to vote "blank", this means "I want to vote, I disagree with all your candidates/propositions". The "blank" votes are very important to measure, first the number of people willing to vote (blank + non-blank), and also it estimates the number of people who are not represented otherwise by the usual candidates/propositions.
That's why I always say to people to vote "blank" if they think unsure or not informed enough. Maybe US should think about having "blank" vote available...
I can't agree more !
Keep it simple guys. papers + envelope + curtain is the key. No pencil, just paper, like that there is no problem mis-interpretation. Just put papers you agree on (Yes for prop. 87, No for prop. 92, etc.) in on single envelope, and put the envelope in the box. The curtain is important too. It means that you and only you decided without third-party influence what to put in your envelope. Once the envelope is in the box, it is totally anonymous, nobody can figure out what you voted for.
Then the counting with scrutineers is easy, and if there is some issue, it is always possible to re-count.
The electronic system can't satisfy those requirements. Most of the electronic systems are paperless, so it is impossible to recount or check anything after the election, if there was a glitch, nobody can prove anything or fix it. Some systems propose to vote remotely from home ?!? There is then no guarantee that you are not under the influence of a third-party (someone from your family forcing you to vote a certain way). And the ultimate reason for not using e.voting systems, is they don't solve any problem. Actually, there is no problem with the paper/envelope/curtain. They are trying to find a solution for a non-existing problem. If there is no problem there is no solution, period.
Well, in most countries the pipes are owned by the telecom companies, so to use Skype you will still need the Telecom companies.
Actually, in France, since already 11% (in 2005) of all phone calls are VoIP (only 4% 2004, and expectations for the end of 2006 are 30%), all major Telecom companies changed their core business from analog phone service to IP services (this includes Internet obviously, but also VoIP, TV, VoD, HDTV, even mobile phone, etc.) That's why they need bigger pipes. All those services require lots of bandwith. Telecom companies become a mix of Cable Operator (providing TV, VoD, PVR, HDTV), ISP (providing Internet) and old-telecom company (providing phone calls through VoIP). Even, in Europe (Belgium for instance) some so called Telecom companies even started to become TV Network by providing their own TV content. In Belgium, if you want to see the soccer championship, you have to get TV overIP with one of the Telecom company, since this company bought the all championship.
So, yes, Telecom companies as we know are dead, we should call them Network or IP companies maybe, but they are still there for a while, they just changed their core business. It is a huge shift. Those who don't shift, will be dead. France Telecom is an interesting example. They decided in 1999 to turn the whole company in IP based company. Now they are in the last phase to merge all their subsidiaries (mobile companies, ISPs, phone, etc.) worldwide in one single company called "Orange" (more than 200.000 employees). Now Orange offers a box (called LiveBox) which is in a single box, a DSL modem, router, Wifi router, VoIP, TV tuner, PVR, and even a mobile phone base station !
I don't get it... An ISP in France, called "Free" (sic) http://free.fr/ offers for 30 euros/month Internet (DSL 20mb/sec), TV (80 channels including HD TV and VoD) and phone (local, national and international (US fix/mobile, China, UK, etc.) for free/unlimited).
Why people still pays for phone calls ?!?
ISPs would argue that they're only able to offer national flat rate because they're getting a free ride.
Then they would be liars. ISP in Europe, provide flat rate for national *and* international calls (even on mobile phones). So, A french with his phone can call an american or chinese on his mobile for free (well a monthy flat rate that include internet access, TV, VoD, etc.).
It is possible. In countries were there are competition between ISP, it is possible. Here in US we have local ISP monopolies that prevents such innovative services. We screwed !
Just to let you know that in Europe (France for instance), phone service is available as a flat-rate service, and it include unlimitted national *and* international calls (including mobile phones). So, my brother who lives in France can call me for free (the flat-rate includes Internet access 20Mb/sec + unlimitted phone calls + more than 100 TV channels + HD-TV + VoD... for only 30 euros/month (tax included)) on my cingular mobile here in San Francisco ?!?
In Europe ISP tend to increase the number of services (TV, phone, HD-TV, VoD, even WiFi mobile phone) rather than complain about Google or other Web companies. Here in US there are local monopolies that prevents competition and innovation! So, we stick to our low bandwith Internet access (i.e. 8Mb/sec) thus we can't access TV, HD-TV, VoD over Internet, even the VoIP is underdeveloped. In France, 11% of the call are VoIP calls. And they do not count the software like Skype, GTalk, etc. They only count VoIP phones ?!? They expect to reach 30% by the end of the year. Here only companies use VoIP phones, very few end-users do. And don't tell me that US is special, with lots of very remote places. I live in the bay area, around 10 Million people live here, we have the Silicon Valley... but still we have a poor, low-bandwith, internet access (8Mb/sec)! No naked/unbundled DSL available, no ADSL2+ available, no fiber available...
I feel sometimes living in a third-world country:)
A little french car maker called Venturi did a real sport car (i.e. with all the comfort and security of a mass production car).
http://www.venturi.fr/us/fetish/specs/specs.php3
Specs are:
- power: 180Kw (~300 HP)
- torque: 220 Nm
- acceleration: 0-100km/h in 4.5 sec.
- autonomie: 250 km
- top speed: 170 km/h
So, it is not a top car in term of speed, but sounds more reasonable anyway to hit the road.
Hope my next car to be 100% electric. I've been in the Honda EV, it is just great to drive, especially for city travelling and commuting.
In Europe, ISP offer what they call quad-play boxes. It is a set-top box, which is basically a DSL modem, running linux. This box is also a WiFi router. DSL in Europe allows 20Mb/sec bandwith. So, ISP offer through such boxes Internet, but also TV (more 180 channels) and telephone (usually free and unlimited, even for international calls, for fix and mobile phone, I know it is crazy). And now they offer also network access through power line.
This allows the user to put his set-top box close to the TV (the set-top box have TV outpout), and keeps provide Internet access through either wifi or power line in the house. It is really great. The set-top box is also a media center that can display movies or play music from computers online in your home network.
The set-top box is free, and the subscription for the service (Internet/TV/telephone) is 30 euros/month (~$40). It is naked DSL, so you don't even need to pay for a phone line. Now, in addition of the 180 channels, they offer Pay-Per-View movies. And with 20Mb/sec you can have DVD quality streaming video. So, it is possible. It already exists for quite long time. But unfortunately not in US.
Sometimes, I wish we could have such thing here in US (or at least in the bay area!). But I doubt that SBC-ATT-BellSouth-? is willing to provide such service, or let anybody else provides such service. So, we will stay with our 3Mb/sec DSL line... no naked DSL... no set-top box... no power line private network... and cry...
And have theatre subscription ! In France, they can subscribe to some theatre chain (like Century, AMC, Mann) for 20euros/month. For those 25 bucks, they can watch as many movies as they want in all theatres of the chain. There is a minimum of one year subscription. And people who subscribes does not have the priority if a show is sold out. People paying the full price have the priority.
I think it is a really good idea to make people going back to theatres. And it wont hurt the sale since the subscribers never take the place of people who pays the full price. They only use available seats...
Google maps is great in US (okay Canada, UK, Japan and the city of Torino to make sure that US Olympic team does not get lost), but for the rest of the world it is pretty much useless (no directions, no street numbers, metro stations, etc.). In Europe, mappy.com provides satellite maps but for some cities it also provides pictures of the front of buildings and for several years now. I heard that Google tried to do the same with some buildings in San Francisco, last year or so, but I don't see the result in Google maps.
You are right NTP has no business. But NTP is in relationship with Visto. Visto is a RIM competitor. Visto and NTP are suing Microsoft as well (this is a new business model, don't bother to make money, just sue companies that make some). And strangely Visto received 120M$ from VCs in last october. And VCs agreed to use this money to sue Microsoft.
Actually, it is not a parasite business model (maybe it was back in 2002). Now, NTP (licenses) and Visto (business) are together. NTP kills RIM (99% of the market share) and Visto will take RIM's place. Visto is suing Microsoft to keep them away of the business, during the replacement phase. Sounds like a plan.
Guess how much did it cost to US for migrate from Windows 95 to Windows 98, to Windows 2000, and finally to Windows XP ?
Even if it costs 50B it is really nothing compare to what we waste (time and money) with crapy software.
Apple already sold black iPods in the past. Mostly in Tokyo or Paris fashion stores.
The fashion store "Colette + Comme des Garcons" sold those black iPod last summer:
"Black iPod 20 Go + Comme des Garcons case
A customised 20Go Apple iPod in black color with a very special case by Comme des Garcons in leather and aluminium. Limited edition of 10.
1,500 USD"
Okay it was a very limited edition and pretty expensive.
Hope for those crazy 10 people who bought those early black iPod, that the new black iPod won't be exactly the same:)
I think it really shows how stupid some governments and corporate managers are when they actually have to form committee to decide whether or not to use open source. Instead of trying to decide whether to use open source why not try to figure out what problems you have, if and how a computing solution can solve those problems, what software is available to solve the problems, and then finally, and only if there are multiple solutions, decide which one offers the most benefit for the TCO. What'll end up happening is that France (and others) will move to an open source only solution and they'll end up spending more money trying to integrate an OSS solution than if those cheap asses just would have bought the commercial equivalent (eg Microsoft Office).
I agree with you OSS solution are not the silver bullet.
But, they did not say they will move to an open source only solution (or even partial solution). They just said they will now consider open source. Microsoft solutions will still be considered.
The real stupid thing was to only consider close source (mainly Microsoft) before...
SeanTobin wrote: -----------------
"This will also help us sell our solutions to other governments," he said, adding that he believed the German, Israeli and Malasian governments also envisaged shifting to open-source software.
BINGO! We have a winner! Evil country A develops software for a fraction of the cost it would normally take in the closed-source land, sells it to Good Countries B through T and V through Z, and makes more money than they would have been able to otherwise. --------------------
I think it is bad translation. "To sell" ("vendre" in french) could also mean "to convience" or "to promote", it does not mean necessary that money is involved.
Slashdot Mirror
Some countries allow to vote "blank", this means "I want to vote, I disagree with all your candidates/propositions". The "blank" votes are very important to measure, first the number of people willing to vote (blank + non-blank), and also it estimates the number of people who are not represented otherwise by the usual candidates/propositions. That's why I always say to people to vote "blank" if they think unsure or not informed enough. Maybe US should think about having "blank" vote available...
I can't agree more ! Keep it simple guys. papers + envelope + curtain is the key. No pencil, just paper, like that there is no problem mis-interpretation. Just put papers you agree on (Yes for prop. 87, No for prop. 92, etc.) in on single envelope, and put the envelope in the box. The curtain is important too. It means that you and only you decided without third-party influence what to put in your envelope. Once the envelope is in the box, it is totally anonymous, nobody can figure out what you voted for. Then the counting with scrutineers is easy, and if there is some issue, it is always possible to re-count. The electronic system can't satisfy those requirements. Most of the electronic systems are paperless, so it is impossible to recount or check anything after the election, if there was a glitch, nobody can prove anything or fix it. Some systems propose to vote remotely from home ?!? There is then no guarantee that you are not under the influence of a third-party (someone from your family forcing you to vote a certain way). And the ultimate reason for not using e.voting systems, is they don't solve any problem. Actually, there is no problem with the paper/envelope/curtain. They are trying to find a solution for a non-existing problem. If there is no problem there is no solution, period.
Well, in most countries the pipes are owned by the telecom companies, so to use Skype you will still need the Telecom companies. Actually, in France, since already 11% (in 2005) of all phone calls are VoIP (only 4% 2004, and expectations for the end of 2006 are 30%), all major Telecom companies changed their core business from analog phone service to IP services (this includes Internet obviously, but also VoIP, TV, VoD, HDTV, even mobile phone, etc.) That's why they need bigger pipes. All those services require lots of bandwith. Telecom companies become a mix of Cable Operator (providing TV, VoD, PVR, HDTV), ISP (providing Internet) and old-telecom company (providing phone calls through VoIP). Even, in Europe (Belgium for instance) some so called Telecom companies even started to become TV Network by providing their own TV content. In Belgium, if you want to see the soccer championship, you have to get TV overIP with one of the Telecom company, since this company bought the all championship. So, yes, Telecom companies as we know are dead, we should call them Network or IP companies maybe, but they are still there for a while, they just changed their core business. It is a huge shift. Those who don't shift, will be dead. France Telecom is an interesting example. They decided in 1999 to turn the whole company in IP based company. Now they are in the last phase to merge all their subsidiaries (mobile companies, ISPs, phone, etc.) worldwide in one single company called "Orange" (more than 200.000 employees). Now Orange offers a box (called LiveBox) which is in a single box, a DSL modem, router, Wifi router, VoIP, TV tuner, PVR, and even a mobile phone base station !
Lightning, pharaon... http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060718/ids_photos_ts/r 347734292.jpg
Las Vegas did it already !
I don't get it... An ISP in France, called "Free" (sic) http://free.fr/ offers for 30 euros/month Internet (DSL 20mb/sec), TV (80 channels including HD TV and VoD) and phone (local, national and international (US fix/mobile, China, UK, etc.) for free/unlimited). Why people still pays for phone calls ?!?
Now I understand why ATT refuses to use ADSL2+ (24mb/sec downstream). It would be too much data to collect...
Just to let you know that in Europe (France for instance), phone service is available as a flat-rate service, and it include unlimitted national *and* international calls (including mobile phones). So, my brother who lives in France can call me for free (the flat-rate includes Internet access 20Mb/sec + unlimitted phone calls + more than 100 TV channels + HD-TV + VoD... for only 30 euros/month (tax included)) on my cingular mobile here in San Francisco ?!? In Europe ISP tend to increase the number of services (TV, phone, HD-TV, VoD, even WiFi mobile phone) rather than complain about Google or other Web companies. Here in US there are local monopolies that prevents competition and innovation! So, we stick to our low bandwith Internet access (i.e. 8Mb/sec) thus we can't access TV, HD-TV, VoD over Internet, even the VoIP is underdeveloped. In France, 11% of the call are VoIP calls. And they do not count the software like Skype, GTalk, etc. They only count VoIP phones ?!? They expect to reach 30% by the end of the year. Here only companies use VoIP phones, very few end-users do. And don't tell me that US is special, with lots of very remote places. I live in the bay area, around 10 Million people live here, we have the Silicon Valley... but still we have a poor, low-bandwith, internet access (8Mb/sec)! No naked/unbundled DSL available, no ADSL2+ available, no fiber available... I feel sometimes living in a third-world country :)
A little french car maker called Venturi did a real sport car (i.e. with all the comfort and security of a mass production car). http://www.venturi.fr/us/fetish/specs/specs.php3 Specs are: - power: 180Kw (~300 HP) - torque: 220 Nm - acceleration: 0-100km/h in 4.5 sec. - autonomie: 250 km - top speed: 170 km/h So, it is not a top car in term of speed, but sounds more reasonable anyway to hit the road. Hope my next car to be 100% electric. I've been in the Honda EV, it is just great to drive, especially for city travelling and commuting.
In Europe, ISP offer what they call quad-play boxes. It is a set-top box, which is basically a DSL modem, running linux. This box is also a WiFi router. DSL in Europe allows 20Mb/sec bandwith. So, ISP offer through such boxes Internet, but also TV (more 180 channels) and telephone (usually free and unlimited, even for international calls, for fix and mobile phone, I know it is crazy). And now they offer also network access through power line.
This allows the user to put his set-top box close to the TV (the set-top box have TV outpout), and keeps provide Internet access through either wifi or power line in the house. It is really great. The set-top box is also a media center that can display movies or play music from computers online in your home network.
The set-top box is free, and the subscription for the service (Internet/TV/telephone) is 30 euros/month (~$40). It is naked DSL, so you don't even need to pay for a phone line. Now, in addition of the 180 channels, they offer Pay-Per-View movies. And with 20Mb/sec you can have DVD quality streaming video. So, it is possible. It already exists for quite long time. But unfortunately not in US.
Sometimes, I wish we could have such thing here in US (or at least in the bay area!). But I doubt that SBC-ATT-BellSouth-? is willing to provide such service, or let anybody else provides such service. So, we will stay with our 3Mb/sec DSL line... no naked DSL... no set-top box... no power line private network... and cry...
And have theatre subscription !
In France, they can subscribe to some theatre chain (like Century, AMC, Mann) for 20euros/month. For those 25 bucks, they can watch as many movies as they want in all theatres of the chain. There is a minimum of one year subscription. And people who subscribes does not have the priority if a show is sold out. People paying the full price have the priority.
I think it is a really good idea to make people going back to theatres. And it wont hurt the sale since the subscribers never take the place of people who pays the full price. They only use available seats...
Google maps is great in US (okay Canada, UK, Japan and the city of Torino to make sure that US Olympic team does not get lost), but for the rest of the world it is pretty much useless (no directions, no street numbers, metro stations, etc.).
In Europe, mappy.com provides satellite maps but for some cities it also provides pictures of the front of buildings and for several years now. I heard that Google tried to do the same with some buildings in San Francisco, last year or so, but I don't see the result in Google maps.
You are right NTP has no business. But NTP is in relationship with Visto. Visto is a RIM competitor. Visto and NTP are suing Microsoft as well (this is a new business model, don't bother to make money, just sue companies that make some). And strangely Visto received 120M$ from VCs in last october. And VCs agreed to use this money to sue Microsoft.
Actually, it is not a parasite business model (maybe it was back in 2002). Now, NTP (licenses) and Visto (business) are together. NTP kills RIM (99% of the market share) and Visto will take RIM's place. Visto is suing Microsoft to keep them away of the business, during the replacement phase. Sounds like a plan.
Guess how much did it cost to US for migrate from Windows 95 to Windows 98, to Windows 2000, and finally to Windows XP ? Even if it costs 50B it is really nothing compare to what we waste (time and money) with crapy software.
I agree with you OSS solution are not the silver bullet.
But, they did not say they will move to an open source only solution (or even partial solution). They just said they will now consider open source.
Microsoft solutions will still be considered.
The real stupid thing was to only consider close source (mainly Microsoft) before...
SeanTobin wrote:
-----------------
"This will also help us sell our solutions to other governments," he said, adding that he believed the German, Israeli and Malasian governments also envisaged shifting to open-source software.
BINGO! We have a winner! Evil country A develops software for a fraction of the cost it would normally take in the closed-source land, sells it to Good Countries B through T and V through Z, and makes more money than they would have been able to otherwise.
--------------------
I think it is bad translation. "To sell" ("vendre" in french) could also mean "to convience" or "to promote", it does not mean necessary that money is involved.