But still, what if some shlub happened to have a playboy in his suitcase and his jet had to make a planned or unplanned stopover in some nation where such material was an arrestable offence? I think it's right to not applaud stakeouts based on airport stopovers.
If you step foot in a sovereign country, you are held accountable to those laws. Why should a portion of an airport not be subject to the same laws that govern the land surrounding it?
Honestly, I have no problem with it. If Bin Laden were to spend the rest of his life, flying around your airport "safe harbors" to plan out future attacks, I would sure as hell be pissed if he wasn't arrested because he was in "safety." The world is not a playground game. Learn the rules and either follow them, or face the consequences.
Also, I have to raise an eyebrow at arrests at airline stopovers. It might have been careless on part of the guy arrested, but it seems like a way for our government to do an end-run around extradition laws of other countries.
Why? He knowingly came into a country that wanted him arrested. And he got arrested. If you violate US laws, and the US gov't wants to arrest you, don't step foot inside the country. Not particularily hard to do. I find this problem of yours to be inconsistent with your nanny-state laws stance. You want to hold people accountable for their actions, and not protect them. Well, he wasn't protected, and now he's being held accountable for a choice on his part.
It took me a little under three years to get my MS while working full time. It was difficult at times (especially when I was working 60 hour weeks and travelling a lot), but it got done. Did I "enjoy" it? Hard to say, I've never really enjoyed school. I learned some good things, met some great professors, and it sequed me into a new job and a lot more pay.
It takes some discipline. I found that most people who give up, did so because they took too long. Take two classes at a time and finish the thing, don't take one at a time and drag it out for years on end.
I disagree in the work part-time and complete the MS for this reason: experience. With an MS and my 3 years of work experience, I was looked at as having 5-6 years of equivalent experience when interviewing for new jobs. If I had only worked part-time (which, at least for me, would have meant much less job responsibility), then I would just be a guy with an MS and very little work experience.
My suggestion when anybody asks is, suck it up. Do it right away (before kids, etc.) and get it over with. Now that I have my MS, my new boss is trying to talk me into a PhD and I'm really tempted to do it.
One thing to keep in mind is that Congress also has a great deal of say (possibly more than the President) in the federal budget. After all, they write it, the President approves it. And if you look at congressional control, I believe all six years of surplus were with a GOP controlled congress.
I do not think that the current administration and congress know how to balance a checkbook. But I wouldn't call the Democrats are more fiscally sound than Republicans. I think there is more than enough evidence to show that neither party is fiscally sound.
And from what I saw in my own public school education:
My math teachers - exceptional. My calculus teacher had formerly taught at the State's public university (U of MN). She taught us calculus incredibly well. So well in fact, that the entire class scored either a 4 or a 5 on the AP test that year. And this was her first year of teaching.
My grammar teacher - exceptional. What made him so interesting was that he was also an assistant football coach. So he got all of the football players to take the class because they liked him, and he convinced them it was a good course to take. They learned a lot because he brought his friendliness and relationships from the field, to the classroom. I learned a lot from him as well.
I never had any teachers that were like the ones you described. There were some hard ones, and ones who didn't provide much in the way of affection, but I can't recall a teacher ever calling a student "stupid" even if he or she was stupid.
Some of my fellow students were raging assholes, and some were incredibly nice people, just like society, there was a mix. And part of the experience was learning how you deal with people who are different than you are.
My point is that public schools are different all over the place. You complain about your child's schools, but how active were you in the School Board Meetings? If you were active, great, but if you weren't, it's like democracy, shaped by those who show up. Public schools are public, meaning that they are subject to a school board, elected by the population, of which anybody can run for a seat. Poor public schools are the fault of the public, not the teachers (though there are bad teachers and should be dealt with accordingly). I went to school in an affluent suburb of Minneapolis, which I'm sure means that I got a better public school education than a lot of people out there. But public education can, and does, work. The people I've found who have had the hardest time in a college and real-world atmosphere are the ones who were either home-schooled, or otherwise sheltered from society in some way, shape or form. Which isn't to say that all home-schooled students aren't successful, it's just that everyone I've met have had very poor social skills, to the point where they don't know how to respectfully interact with a customer. It's also been my experience that kids who went to private school run the full range from respectful and successful, to a failure who has a chip on his shoulder.
-dave
One of the problems I always have with the Mac vs. PC price arguments (and I've been in enough of them myself) is that the Mac users always assume that you need exactly the features the Mac has. Let me give you my scenario. I want a laptop to surf the web, write word documents on, and upload/manage digital pictures. My Mac option is a $1000 MacBook (which I will admit I like how they look), or I can go with a $500 HP or Dell laptop. Now the HP or Dell may not have the same specs as the MacBook, but it meets the needs of the end user. In terms of quality, I highly doubt (based on my experience at least), that the Mac is going to last twice as long as the PC. In addition, I have a lot of options on that $500 PC (external accessories, maybe spend a little more for a bigger screen, etc.) that I can go through and still stay under $1000, whereas my options on the Mac start at that $1000 level and go up from there.
I guess my point is, the price arguments seem to be drastically flawed and are usually heavily handicapped to make the Mac look like it's priced competitively.
Lastly, shame on NPR for letting the ISPs place a paid spokesmouth to argue their case!
Yes, shame on NPR for allowing the voice of a viewpoint that is different than yours from being heard.
One of the reasons I like NPR is that I do hear the viewpoint that I disagree with. It helps me understand the issue deeper and see why the other guys feels that way. Whether or not he is paid is largely irrelevant. People campaign for their beliefs for multiple reasons. Whether or not it's money influencing them (which is exactly what a lawyer does, represent a cause for a fee) or some other motive, it doesn't matter. The part that's important is that the different (note: very often is more than two) sides can be heard.
If you truly want to see good discussion on the issues, watch the Newshour on PBS. Everytime I lose faith in the media, the newshour lets me know there is some hope. They present multiple sides of an issue, and not yelling and screaming and calling names, but well thought out and articulated arguments. If you don't want discussion, but merely somebody to affirm your current beliefs, then by all means, the internet and cable tv can provide you with more than enough of that.
Assuming for the moment that everything you state is true, that neither you nor your partner are receiving these calls, to me it seems like a billing error and here's why. Have you ever had a friend call you to tell you that a call they made to your phone number was answered by a strange person? Do you receive many calls from people who are expecting somebody else (particularly the same somebody else) instead?
If neither of these things happen, than it's pretty unlikely that somebody is using your number for incoming calls.
No, just bitching about the group think around here. Overall I think both companies are pretty good actually, but even if they became the epitome of evil, seems like a lot of folks here on Slashdot would let them slide.
Everybody who I know who's had it done loves the results. It was done years ago and do not have any side effects. The problem with the people you are quoting is that they purchased medical surgery from somebody advertising on price. Hell, I wouldn't buy home improvement work based on price, why the hell would I have medical surgery done by the lowest bidder.
I do agree with your first two points though. It is surgery, there are risks, and any doctor worth his weight in dog crap will make you well aware of the risks. And you should always research a doctor before any medical procedure.
Well, considering how expensive medical school is, one option is to have the military pay for it. You come out without all of the debt, you do your 5 years (I think it's 5) of service, and when you are discharged you have your education, no debt, and 5 years of experience as a doctor. Looks pretty good to me (if I were interested in becoming a doctor).
Also, the doctors who treat the President are from the Navy, and Bethesda Naval and Walter Reed are known to be very good medical centers. So I think your post is basically quoting people who have some slant against the military.
I agree. I mainly dislike wearing glasses when it's raining or if I begin to sweat. I clean my glasses nearly every day and it's a pain. But at the end of the day I know that I can see - with my glasses.
Sure, eye surgery can solve these problems and it's not very likely that the surgery will "backfire". But that just is not a risk I would like to take with my eyesight.
Can't the same be said about every medical condition/procedure?
Sure, the remedies aren't going to be 100%, but if we waited for them to be perfect, we'd still have extremely short life expectancies.
Yet he is also a tough-minded executive who knows when to cut and run. That's why Apple Computer Inc. has shelved plans to build a sprawling technical support center in Bangalore, even as IBM (IBM ) and other tech powers are ramping up.
Doesn't the part of knowing when to cut and run imply that it was the right decision? The way I've always looked at outsourcing as an engineer is that you want to have people of varying backgrounds in any large organization. I think that India and China are part of this along with the US and others. Other countries will come into the fold as well, but I think that it'll be for the better of the company to have multiple groups with different backgrounds and experiences.
Now, it sounded like this venture was purely for help desk, which I think is being performed at a commodity level nowadays (in the sense that all service seems to suck, given that good service costs money). In that case, moving to wherever it is cheapest is probably a good move. Though maybe they'll just add to the number of workers woring 15-hour days in China.
Yes, and if the students had the time and money that is spent in the product design cycle to interact with engineers, get feedback from marketing, etc. I'm sure you'd see the design change. What this example was, was the first iteration of the artists design.
Do you honestly think the first design iteration of the iPod (or MacBook Pro, etc.) was exactly like it is now? Absolutely not.
Why is everybody so negative about the designs. Guess what, designers create based on form. Engineers create based on function. An end product is a meld of the two. If the designers only designed a cell phone that was the same shape and form as an old rotary phone, the engineers would design the electronics to go inside, and we'd all have phones bigger than the old bag phones of the 80s.
It is a designers job to create something that appeals to the market in terms of form. It is the engineers job to create something that works. And together with many others they create a product that has parts of both worlds.
Also, for everybody talking about "well, I just want a phone that gets good reception" that's a network design problem for the most part, not a device problem.
Why do you assume that I fit your stereotype of selfish people? Am I selfish, sure to an extent. I don't go out donating every last cent I bring home, but at the end of the day, I'm a pretty considerate person.
I in fact do pay more than I have to for a product if there is a difference (in this case the difference being labor). I do not shop at Walmart. I don't like what they do, I don't like how they treat their employees or their suppliers, so I vote with my wallet. Do I pay more, I honestly don't think so, but even if I did, I wouldn't care. Last time I was in a Walmart (a couple of years back) the prices didn't look all that great, especially considering that the products generally looked like crap.
I won't buy a PS3 period, I don't understand why anybody would even pay $300 for it, but that's just me. I especially don't buy products that I don't need that are built with slave labor, and an iPod certainly falls into this category.
And your example of hypocrisy is terrible. It is only an example of hypocrisy if the same people who are against slave/child/whatever labor change their minds after the price drop and are willing to "sell" that conviction.
Am I hypocritical? Yes, everybody is to some point. But I have yet to be hypocritical in this regard.
I think your sig says a lot about your bias: People who have a clean conscience are happy. People who don't have a conscience are the happiest motherfuckers alive.
Fact of the matter is, sometimes one doesn't have a choice of where the item is made. If I know that a company uses slave labor, then I won't purchase their product. Unfortunately, large companies (like Apple, Nike, etc.) will work hard to hide the fact that they use slave or questionable labor, and that is why it's so important for the press to dig up these stories and bring them to attention. Sure a lot of people won't change, but some will.
I remember hearing about a consumer home show in China, with toilets in the ten's of thousands of dollars. The rich don't neccesarily spend and invest domestically. In fact, smart investors diversify, which will most certainly mean at least some of the money is going outside of China.
The theory is that by allowing companies to exploit cheap labour, the state is given enough money to invest in infrastructure, publich schooling, police and other things that are needed to bring in more companies to the country, which will in turn create higher demand for labour, which will drive up the cost of labour. This is a slow and painful process, where the future of a country is built on the broken backs of people living today, but we have seen countries like South Korea and Taiwan raise themselves from poverty to prosperity over the course of a few decades using this method. All the foreign aid and all the U2 concerts against poverty in the world have yet to raise a single country out of poverty.
You make the assumption that the profits from the exploited labor are reinvested in infrastructure, rather than being siphoned off by the rich and elite. While a noble thought and it does happen from time to time, China is not a poster child for fairness towards citizens.
If he's babysitting *your* VCR while away, then there is no location-shift in your example. And it is the location shift that becomes the illegal action. Think of it this way, Cablevision is a for-profit company, trying to make money off of somebody elses content without their permission. It's analogous to someone charging a monthly fee for others to listen to their illegally downloaded MP3s. If Cablevision wants to provide this service, then fine, they can negotiate for the rights to do so, but until they buy/rent those rights, the rights to broadcast are owned by the content owners.
I think that you might be able to better compare it if you skip the Applications and Drivers DVD and actually try installing it properly.
Which I've done numerous times, and it's never taken more than a couple of hours.
You're comparing two different situations here. You're comparing Windows at 1 (preinstalled) to Linux at 3 (seeking it out).
But to the average Joe, they aren't different situations. When Joe buys a computer it comes with Windows, it comes with the drivers he needs, and most of the software he needs. Now for an "Ordinary PC user to ditch windows for linux" which this thread was (supposed to be) about, the user would have to do one of two things.
Purchase a computer with Linux installed
Install Linux on his own
Until major vendors (Dell, HP, etc.) start to sell Linux to the masses, number 1 isn't likely. So Joe must install linux on his own. Is it a fair apples-to-apples comparison? No. But the average Joe doesn't care about that. The average Joe knows that windows does what he needs. He has it, and he is probably familiar enough with it. Why should he change? There are new things to learn, there are hardware dependencies to worry about. Currently there is no reason for the average Joe to change.
Now. If vendors/manufacturers provided linux drivers so that it would be easier for the average Joe to install/use, then it's a different issue. Unfortunately we're not at that point currently. I think it's a shame too. I like Windows. I think it works well. XP is rock solid, easy to use, and does everything I and my wife need it to do. If I were able to get drivers for Linux, that would mean I would have more of a choice in operating systems. And choice is always good.
Yes, the laptop manufacturer (in this case HP) put it together. Now, had they not put it together, everything would have worked (including the wireless), but may not have the ideal drivers. Worst case scenario, if you don't have a "drivers" disc, windows update will locate the drivers for you. But in any case, an install of windows does not take long at all, and it's stable. Everybody (though not you) talks about stability and up-time in Linux, but Windows XP has been rock solid for me on the two machines that I run it on. I can't remember ever having a bluescreen (though I'm not saying it hasn't happened, just is extremely rare). And I don't care about uptime, as if it's not in use, there's no point in keeping the computer on.
So all in all, Windows (by this I don't mean MS, I mean the experience, which includes the ability to have driver CDs, etc.) gives users an easy means to install software, an easy means to perform tasks with their computers (whether it be gaming, web surfing, office, playing a DVD, even programming) and is much easier for them to use than Linux (see my comment above about getting wireless to work). All in all, linux just isn't there.
I will admit that many of the reasons I don't think Linux is set to convert people is not the fault of Linus or any distribution. If hardware manufacturers would release Linux drivers, and if you didn't have the IP issues related to viewing DVDs and playing MP3s, I think Linux would be 99% of the way there and could do everything Windows does and more, for less money. But unfortunately the world isn't a vaccuum and there are external forces at work.
Even Windows without preinstallation requires huge amounts of time to install software - you'd set aside a day to do it properly.
When was the last time you installed windows? My laptops hard drive failed, so when I replaced it I needed to reinstall windows. I take the handy CD labeled "Windows XP Installation Disk", put it into the CD drive, and start the computer, I follow a few prompts, formatting the drive, asking me for my preferences, then I go do something for 20 minutes while it installs.
I now have windows installed, and it took me a total of maybe 45-60 minutes. I then insert the DVD entitled "Applications and Device Drivers" which asks me to select what I want to install (default is everything). I make my choices, walk away for another 20 minutes, and the computer is set up. I fire up windows update, it pulls down and installs all of the updates, and I am good to go. All in all, I've "invested" less than 2 hours, of which I only had to be in front of the computer for maybe an hour.
Compare this to my installation experience with Ubuntu. I boot to the CD, and Ubuntu installs in roughly an hour (including formatting). But, my wireless card doesn't work. So I look into my options and find NDIS wrapper. Ok. I download the files (on another computer onto a USB key, since I don't have internet access on that laptop yet), and start going through the well written instructions. Only problem, I run into an error. Looks to be a gcc error. I know what gcc is, but I don't know why I'm getting the error. So I look online for the error. Use google, ubuntu forums, and the NDIS wiki. No luck. I post on ubuntu forums for help. Nothing. Give up for the day. Come back the next day, no replies to my post, spend another hour searching. No luck.
Like it or not, Windows has been made to be easy. Sure, my hardware works under windows because the manufacturers wanted it to work under windows. But that's a benefit for windows and if Linux can't match that ease of use, then people will stick with Windows. I would love to get Ubuntu to work, but if I can't get wireless working on the laptop, it's a no-go for me.
I'm sure I'll try linux when I build up a DVR, probably with MythTV. I don't mind working at it, it's fun, I enjoy that. But if in a reasonable amount of time, trivial tasks can't be accomplished, then it's just not worth it.
Wrong. Because Word can read the format, and there are good accessibility tools for Word, there are good accessibility tools for OpenDocument. In other words, the complaint is moot, which is an important point.
An unreleased to the public, and possibly non-existant at the time of writing plug-in that may or may not work with Word's accessability features does not mean that his complaint is moot. If the plug-in does work with Word's accessibility features and is available to those that need it, then that would make it a solution to his problem. But it would not make the complaint "moot".
However, the open format makes it much easier for accessibility components to be developed than it would be to build the same things for a closed format. So the fact that an open format is better is valid, and there's every reason to expect that we'll see a market for ODF-compliant applications that focus on the needs of the disabled, and that it will be larger and healthier than the market for similar apps that use proprietary formats.
You are trying to argue that something that may (and probably will) come about in the future is better than something that is available now. Presently a disabled person can read a DOC using MS Word according to the gentleman. And also according to him, there is no way for him to currently read the ODF file. Again, if OSS provides a way for him to read the ODF, then great, it's another solution to his problem.
With present technology, the disabled have two primary options to read ODF documents:
If they use Windows, they must also use Microsoft Office, and the ODF plugin.
If they use OS X, Linux, Solaris, *BSD, etc., they can use OpenOffice (NeoOffice for Mac), or KOffice, with the accessibility features provided by the environment.
As I stated above, that plug-in is not currently available to the public, and is unknown (at least to me) if it has been tested for compatibility with the accessability features in Word. In regards to your second way, you may be right, I don't know anything about those office suites nor the accessibility features provided by those environments and may be a solution to his problem.
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But still, what if some shlub happened to have a playboy in his suitcase and his jet had to make a planned or unplanned stopover in some nation where such material was an arrestable offence? I think it's right to not applaud stakeouts based on airport stopovers.
If you step foot in a sovereign country, you are held accountable to those laws. Why should a portion of an airport not be subject to the same laws that govern the land surrounding it?
Honestly, I have no problem with it. If Bin Laden were to spend the rest of his life, flying around your airport "safe harbors" to plan out future attacks, I would sure as hell be pissed if he wasn't arrested because he was in "safety." The world is not a playground game. Learn the rules and either follow them, or face the consequences.
-dave
Why? He knowingly came into a country that wanted him arrested. And he got arrested. If you violate US laws, and the US gov't wants to arrest you, don't step foot inside the country. Not particularily hard to do. I find this problem of yours to be inconsistent with your nanny-state laws stance. You want to hold people accountable for their actions, and not protect them. Well, he wasn't protected, and now he's being held accountable for a choice on his part.
-dave
It took me a little under three years to get my MS while working full time. It was difficult at times (especially when I was working 60 hour weeks and travelling a lot), but it got done. Did I "enjoy" it? Hard to say, I've never really enjoyed school. I learned some good things, met some great professors, and it sequed me into a new job and a lot more pay.
It takes some discipline. I found that most people who give up, did so because they took too long. Take two classes at a time and finish the thing, don't take one at a time and drag it out for years on end.
I disagree in the work part-time and complete the MS for this reason: experience. With an MS and my 3 years of work experience, I was looked at as having 5-6 years of equivalent experience when interviewing for new jobs. If I had only worked part-time (which, at least for me, would have meant much less job responsibility), then I would just be a guy with an MS and very little work experience.
My suggestion when anybody asks is, suck it up. Do it right away (before kids, etc.) and get it over with. Now that I have my MS, my new boss is trying to talk me into a PhD and I'm really tempted to do it.
-dave
Except that every Taurus I've driven (way too many as rentals) has gotten worse mileage (by 3mpg) than my Escape V6 AWD gets.
-dave
One thing to keep in mind is that Congress also has a great deal of say (possibly more than the President) in the federal budget. After all, they write it, the President approves it. And if you look at congressional control, I believe all six years of surplus were with a GOP controlled congress.
I do not think that the current administration and congress know how to balance a checkbook. But I wouldn't call the Democrats are more fiscally sound than Republicans. I think there is more than enough evidence to show that neither party is fiscally sound.
-dave
And from what I saw in my own public school education: My math teachers - exceptional. My calculus teacher had formerly taught at the State's public university (U of MN). She taught us calculus incredibly well. So well in fact, that the entire class scored either a 4 or a 5 on the AP test that year. And this was her first year of teaching. My grammar teacher - exceptional. What made him so interesting was that he was also an assistant football coach. So he got all of the football players to take the class because they liked him, and he convinced them it was a good course to take. They learned a lot because he brought his friendliness and relationships from the field, to the classroom. I learned a lot from him as well. I never had any teachers that were like the ones you described. There were some hard ones, and ones who didn't provide much in the way of affection, but I can't recall a teacher ever calling a student "stupid" even if he or she was stupid. Some of my fellow students were raging assholes, and some were incredibly nice people, just like society, there was a mix. And part of the experience was learning how you deal with people who are different than you are. My point is that public schools are different all over the place. You complain about your child's schools, but how active were you in the School Board Meetings? If you were active, great, but if you weren't, it's like democracy, shaped by those who show up. Public schools are public, meaning that they are subject to a school board, elected by the population, of which anybody can run for a seat. Poor public schools are the fault of the public, not the teachers (though there are bad teachers and should be dealt with accordingly). I went to school in an affluent suburb of Minneapolis, which I'm sure means that I got a better public school education than a lot of people out there. But public education can, and does, work. The people I've found who have had the hardest time in a college and real-world atmosphere are the ones who were either home-schooled, or otherwise sheltered from society in some way, shape or form. Which isn't to say that all home-schooled students aren't successful, it's just that everyone I've met have had very poor social skills, to the point where they don't know how to respectfully interact with a customer. It's also been my experience that kids who went to private school run the full range from respectful and successful, to a failure who has a chip on his shoulder. -dave
One of the problems I always have with the Mac vs. PC price arguments (and I've been in enough of them myself) is that the Mac users always assume that you need exactly the features the Mac has. Let me give you my scenario. I want a laptop to surf the web, write word documents on, and upload/manage digital pictures. My Mac option is a $1000 MacBook (which I will admit I like how they look), or I can go with a $500 HP or Dell laptop. Now the HP or Dell may not have the same specs as the MacBook, but it meets the needs of the end user. In terms of quality, I highly doubt (based on my experience at least), that the Mac is going to last twice as long as the PC. In addition, I have a lot of options on that $500 PC (external accessories, maybe spend a little more for a bigger screen, etc.) that I can go through and still stay under $1000, whereas my options on the Mac start at that $1000 level and go up from there.
I guess my point is, the price arguments seem to be drastically flawed and are usually heavily handicapped to make the Mac look like it's priced competitively.
-dave
One of the reasons I like NPR is that I do hear the viewpoint that I disagree with. It helps me understand the issue deeper and see why the other guys feels that way. Whether or not he is paid is largely irrelevant. People campaign for their beliefs for multiple reasons. Whether or not it's money influencing them (which is exactly what a lawyer does, represent a cause for a fee) or some other motive, it doesn't matter. The part that's important is that the different (note: very often is more than two) sides can be heard.
If you truly want to see good discussion on the issues, watch the Newshour on PBS. Everytime I lose faith in the media, the newshour lets me know there is some hope. They present multiple sides of an issue, and not yelling and screaming and calling names, but well thought out and articulated arguments. If you don't want discussion, but merely somebody to affirm your current beliefs, then by all means, the internet and cable tv can provide you with more than enough of that.
-dave
Assuming for the moment that everything you state is true, that neither you nor your partner are receiving these calls, to me it seems like a billing error and here's why. Have you ever had a friend call you to tell you that a call they made to your phone number was answered by a strange person? Do you receive many calls from people who are expecting somebody else (particularly the same somebody else) instead?
If neither of these things happen, than it's pretty unlikely that somebody is using your number for incoming calls.
-dave
No, just bitching about the group think around here. Overall I think both companies are pretty good actually, but even if they became the epitome of evil, seems like a lot of folks here on Slashdot would let them slide.
-dave
Everybody who I know who's had it done loves the results. It was done years ago and do not have any side effects. The problem with the people you are quoting is that they purchased medical surgery from somebody advertising on price. Hell, I wouldn't buy home improvement work based on price, why the hell would I have medical surgery done by the lowest bidder.
I do agree with your first two points though. It is surgery, there are risks, and any doctor worth his weight in dog crap will make you well aware of the risks. And you should always research a doctor before any medical procedure.
-dave
Well, considering how expensive medical school is, one option is to have the military pay for it. You come out without all of the debt, you do your 5 years (I think it's 5) of service, and when you are discharged you have your education, no debt, and 5 years of experience as a doctor. Looks pretty good to me (if I were interested in becoming a doctor).
Also, the doctors who treat the President are from the Navy, and Bethesda Naval and Walter Reed are known to be very good medical centers. So I think your post is basically quoting people who have some slant against the military.
-dave
Can't the same be said about every medical condition/procedure?
Sure, the remedies aren't going to be 100%, but if we waited for them to be perfect, we'd still have extremely short life expectancies.
-dave
Doesn't the part of knowing when to cut and run imply that it was the right decision? The way I've always looked at outsourcing as an engineer is that you want to have people of varying backgrounds in any large organization. I think that India and China are part of this along with the US and others. Other countries will come into the fold as well, but I think that it'll be for the better of the company to have multiple groups with different backgrounds and experiences.
Now, it sounded like this venture was purely for help desk, which I think is being performed at a commodity level nowadays (in the sense that all service seems to suck, given that good service costs money). In that case, moving to wherever it is cheapest is probably a good move. Though maybe they'll just add to the number of workers woring 15-hour days in China.
-dave
Yes, and if the students had the time and money that is spent in the product design cycle to interact with engineers, get feedback from marketing, etc. I'm sure you'd see the design change. What this example was, was the first iteration of the artists design.
Do you honestly think the first design iteration of the iPod (or MacBook Pro, etc.) was exactly like it is now? Absolutely not.
-dave
Why is everybody so negative about the designs. Guess what, designers create based on form. Engineers create based on function. An end product is a meld of the two. If the designers only designed a cell phone that was the same shape and form as an old rotary phone, the engineers would design the electronics to go inside, and we'd all have phones bigger than the old bag phones of the 80s.
It is a designers job to create something that appeals to the market in terms of form. It is the engineers job to create something that works. And together with many others they create a product that has parts of both worlds.
Also, for everybody talking about "well, I just want a phone that gets good reception" that's a network design problem for the most part, not a device problem.
-dave
Why do you assume that I fit your stereotype of selfish people? Am I selfish, sure to an extent. I don't go out donating every last cent I bring home, but at the end of the day, I'm a pretty considerate person.
I in fact do pay more than I have to for a product if there is a difference (in this case the difference being labor). I do not shop at Walmart. I don't like what they do, I don't like how they treat their employees or their suppliers, so I vote with my wallet. Do I pay more, I honestly don't think so, but even if I did, I wouldn't care. Last time I was in a Walmart (a couple of years back) the prices didn't look all that great, especially considering that the products generally looked like crap.
I won't buy a PS3 period, I don't understand why anybody would even pay $300 for it, but that's just me. I especially don't buy products that I don't need that are built with slave labor, and an iPod certainly falls into this category.
And your example of hypocrisy is terrible. It is only an example of hypocrisy if the same people who are against slave/child/whatever labor change their minds after the price drop and are willing to "sell" that conviction.
Am I hypocritical? Yes, everybody is to some point. But I have yet to be hypocritical in this regard.
-dave
I think your sig says a lot about your bias:
People who have a clean conscience are happy. People who don't have a conscience are the happiest motherfuckers alive.
Fact of the matter is, sometimes one doesn't have a choice of where the item is made. If I know that a company uses slave labor, then I won't purchase their product. Unfortunately, large companies (like Apple, Nike, etc.) will work hard to hide the fact that they use slave or questionable labor, and that is why it's so important for the press to dig up these stories and bring them to attention. Sure a lot of people won't change, but some will.
-dave
And where will they spend and invest it? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7241780/site/newsweek/
I remember hearing about a consumer home show in China, with toilets in the ten's of thousands of dollars. The rich don't neccesarily spend and invest domestically. In fact, smart investors diversify, which will most certainly mean at least some of the money is going outside of China.
-dave
The theory is that by allowing companies to exploit cheap labour, the state is given enough money to invest in infrastructure, publich schooling, police and other things that are needed to bring in more companies to the country, which will in turn create higher demand for labour, which will drive up the cost of labour. This is a slow and painful process, where the future of a country is built on the broken backs of people living today, but we have seen countries like South Korea and Taiwan raise themselves from poverty to prosperity over the course of a few decades using this method. All the foreign aid and all the U2 concerts against poverty in the world have yet to raise a single country out of poverty.
You make the assumption that the profits from the exploited labor are reinvested in infrastructure, rather than being siphoned off by the rich and elite. While a noble thought and it does happen from time to time, China is not a poster child for fairness towards citizens.
-dave
If he's babysitting *your* VCR while away, then there is no location-shift in your example. And it is the location shift that becomes the illegal action. Think of it this way, Cablevision is a for-profit company, trying to make money off of somebody elses content without their permission. It's analogous to someone charging a monthly fee for others to listen to their illegally downloaded MP3s. If Cablevision wants to provide this service, then fine, they can negotiate for the rights to do so, but until they buy/rent those rights, the rights to broadcast are owned by the content owners.
-dave
Which I've done numerous times, and it's never taken more than a couple of hours.
You're comparing two different situations here. You're comparing Windows at 1 (preinstalled) to Linux at 3 (seeking it out).
But to the average Joe, they aren't different situations. When Joe buys a computer it comes with Windows, it comes with the drivers he needs, and most of the software he needs. Now for an "Ordinary PC user to ditch windows for linux" which this thread was (supposed to be) about, the user would have to do one of two things.
Until major vendors (Dell, HP, etc.) start to sell Linux to the masses, number 1 isn't likely. So Joe must install linux on his own. Is it a fair apples-to-apples comparison? No. But the average Joe doesn't care about that. The average Joe knows that windows does what he needs. He has it, and he is probably familiar enough with it. Why should he change? There are new things to learn, there are hardware dependencies to worry about. Currently there is no reason for the average Joe to change.
Now. If vendors/manufacturers provided linux drivers so that it would be easier for the average Joe to install/use, then it's a different issue. Unfortunately we're not at that point currently. I think it's a shame too. I like Windows. I think it works well. XP is rock solid, easy to use, and does everything I and my wife need it to do. If I were able to get drivers for Linux, that would mean I would have more of a choice in operating systems. And choice is always good.
-dave
Yes, the laptop manufacturer (in this case HP) put it together. Now, had they not put it together, everything would have worked (including the wireless), but may not have the ideal drivers. Worst case scenario, if you don't have a "drivers" disc, windows update will locate the drivers for you. But in any case, an install of windows does not take long at all, and it's stable. Everybody (though not you) talks about stability and up-time in Linux, but Windows XP has been rock solid for me on the two machines that I run it on. I can't remember ever having a bluescreen (though I'm not saying it hasn't happened, just is extremely rare). And I don't care about uptime, as if it's not in use, there's no point in keeping the computer on.
So all in all, Windows (by this I don't mean MS, I mean the experience, which includes the ability to have driver CDs, etc.) gives users an easy means to install software, an easy means to perform tasks with their computers (whether it be gaming, web surfing, office, playing a DVD, even programming) and is much easier for them to use than Linux (see my comment above about getting wireless to work). All in all, linux just isn't there.
I will admit that many of the reasons I don't think Linux is set to convert people is not the fault of Linus or any distribution. If hardware manufacturers would release Linux drivers, and if you didn't have the IP issues related to viewing DVDs and playing MP3s, I think Linux would be 99% of the way there and could do everything Windows does and more, for less money. But unfortunately the world isn't a vaccuum and there are external forces at work.
-dave
Even Windows without preinstallation requires huge amounts of time to install software - you'd set aside a day to do it properly.
When was the last time you installed windows? My laptops hard drive failed, so when I replaced it I needed to reinstall windows. I take the handy CD labeled "Windows XP Installation Disk", put it into the CD drive, and start the computer, I follow a few prompts, formatting the drive, asking me for my preferences, then I go do something for 20 minutes while it installs.
I now have windows installed, and it took me a total of maybe 45-60 minutes. I then insert the DVD entitled "Applications and Device Drivers" which asks me to select what I want to install (default is everything). I make my choices, walk away for another 20 minutes, and the computer is set up. I fire up windows update, it pulls down and installs all of the updates, and I am good to go. All in all, I've "invested" less than 2 hours, of which I only had to be in front of the computer for maybe an hour.
Compare this to my installation experience with Ubuntu. I boot to the CD, and Ubuntu installs in roughly an hour (including formatting). But, my wireless card doesn't work. So I look into my options and find NDIS wrapper. Ok. I download the files (on another computer onto a USB key, since I don't have internet access on that laptop yet), and start going through the well written instructions. Only problem, I run into an error. Looks to be a gcc error. I know what gcc is, but I don't know why I'm getting the error. So I look online for the error. Use google, ubuntu forums, and the NDIS wiki. No luck. I post on ubuntu forums for help. Nothing. Give up for the day. Come back the next day, no replies to my post, spend another hour searching. No luck.
Like it or not, Windows has been made to be easy. Sure, my hardware works under windows because the manufacturers wanted it to work under windows. But that's a benefit for windows and if Linux can't match that ease of use, then people will stick with Windows. I would love to get Ubuntu to work, but if I can't get wireless working on the laptop, it's a no-go for me.
I'm sure I'll try linux when I build up a DVR, probably with MythTV. I don't mind working at it, it's fun, I enjoy that. But if in a reasonable amount of time, trivial tasks can't be accomplished, then it's just not worth it.
-dave
Wrong. Because Word can read the format, and there are good accessibility tools for Word, there are good accessibility tools for OpenDocument. In other words, the complaint is moot, which is an important point.
An unreleased to the public, and possibly non-existant at the time of writing plug-in that may or may not work with Word's accessability features does not mean that his complaint is moot. If the plug-in does work with Word's accessibility features and is available to those that need it, then that would make it a solution to his problem. But it would not make the complaint "moot".
However, the open format makes it much easier for accessibility components to be developed than it would be to build the same things for a closed format. So the fact that an open format is better is valid, and there's every reason to expect that we'll see a market for ODF-compliant applications that focus on the needs of the disabled, and that it will be larger and healthier than the market for similar apps that use proprietary formats.
You are trying to argue that something that may (and probably will) come about in the future is better than something that is available now. Presently a disabled person can read a DOC using MS Word according to the gentleman. And also according to him, there is no way for him to currently read the ODF file. Again, if OSS provides a way for him to read the ODF, then great, it's another solution to his problem.
With present technology, the disabled have two primary options to read ODF documents:
If they use Windows, they must also use Microsoft Office, and the ODF plugin.
If they use OS X, Linux, Solaris, *BSD, etc., they can use OpenOffice (NeoOffice for Mac), or KOffice, with the accessibility features provided by the environment.
As I stated above, that plug-in is not currently available to the public, and is unknown (at least to me) if it has been tested for compatibility with the accessability features in Word. In regards to your second way, you may be right, I don't know anything about those office suites nor the accessibility features provided by those environments and may be a solution to his problem.
-dave