Have you been reading the news lately? Every indication is that Microsoft is VERY concerned about losing market share. All we here are veiled threats to sue Linux (users, developers, advocates, etc...), Ballmer spouting off about increased efficiency and reports and analysis of the first dividend payout.
I would be surprised you don't think Redmond is nervous about something.
The "Berkley is full of liberal Lefties!" line some may say isn't really reliable...
Umm.... if you find the 'some' that believe that, please present them. Personally I can agree with the assumption that Berkley has historically been a very liberal place. If you disagree with that statement, maybe you should offer some data to the contrary.
Of course, this would presume that no personally identifying information was used to acquire the card to begin with, but I imagine it's entirely possible.
Actually I'm not sure it does. I don't know if there is any way a person with a card can get any information other than a name ( My mother's name always comes up for me ).
Should set up a site where people can send in their old or unused cards and a self-addressed envelope. People could periodically switch cards - maybe we can screw up this whole loyalty card thiing.
Me too. The local incarnation of Krogers where I live is King Soopers. They are the WORST about the cards. Prices without them are astronomical, and they rarely will punch in an override code. I think the clerks actually are embarrassed by the prices without the card sometimes. I had one give me a card without filling any info out - not sure if it would actually work or not, haven't ever tried it.
The real kicker is that the independant grocery store that was a block from my house sold out to Walgreens (who are attempting to take over the world) and Kings is the next closest place to my house. The only other store I know of in town that doesn't use 'loyalty cards' is a tiny little mom&pop place that doesn't quite have the selection I'm looking for.
Normally I go to one of the Safeway stores in town. With Safeway's cards you can use your phone number for the discount - I just put in my Parent's number. I'm sure this screws up all of the demographic information. There are at least 3, maybe 4, families buying groceries and gasoline on this one card. The department of Homeland Security will probably show up one of these days at my parents house because they have obviously been feeding an army, or something...
Now, not only do I have to rememeber 40 passwords, I'm going to have to carry 40 smart cards and remember 40 keys.
I know, I know, it's not supposed to work that way, but I already have one, and I don't think my datacenter ID is going to work with Mr. Gates'.Net architecture. So now it will be two, then Apache will require a different card for secure access to my bank's site, each credit card company will want to use their own credit card, my mortgage company will have to issue their own, then there's the cable company, satellite TV (and radio), cell phone, gas, electric, water... It will never end.
I'll have to buy a bigger SUV to carry all this crap!!!
Your point is just plain stupid if you spend more than a knee-jerk thinking about it.
Maybe... but how cool is that going to be when the next cheesey sci-fi channel movie has a scene like this with lasers popping out of the back of some guy's head like an inverted Cyclops?
why can't they use a laser that only outputs a few microwatts of power?
They can, but what happens when the power supply is hit by lightning and those microvolts turn to 10,000 volts. It might burn a hole right through your head.
Enforcing trade regulations is perhaps one of the truest, most age-old, most fundamental duties of government.
Looks to me like your post should be an argument for LESS government involvment. Not only did the government NOT fulfill their duty to your aunt and uncle in your story, but they could have lowered their costs, made it to market more quickly and potentially made money if it wasn't for the government red tape.
It appears that your case, and the Rubik's cube case are prime examples of what's wrong with the government. It would have required work and effort to actually pursue a patent violation by a Malaysian company, plus the damage was already done. OTOH it's quite easy to harrass some poor shop owner about a toy that enjoyed brief notoriety 25 years ago who have probably already made millions off of the toy.
Well, you don't see Standard Oil selling kerosene as such since it was broken up as a monopoly in 1911
- but you can bet SOMEBODY sells a heck of a lot of kerosene since it's used as jet fuel.
Your strategie seems to be that Longhorn will suck. I got news for you. Every fucking windows release ever has sucked.
I'm as anti-microsoft as the next slashdotter, but I have to disagree with you here. In it's time Windows 3.1 was good. A decent graphical interface to the computer at a reasonable cost. Windows NT was a good server platform. When Windows 95 came out it was fantastic. Sure it had it's problems, but it was much easier to use. Finally Windows 2000 came out, gave us the stability of NT with the cool interface of 95/98. Microsoft really made personal computing accessible to the masses.
The same could be said for MS Word. If you used wordperfect back in it's DOS version you remember - it was powerful, but painful. Word really broke the market open for wysiwyg word processors.
The real problem is Microsoft has outlived it's usefulness. Where else can they go. XP is a joke, not really any better than 2000, just more expensive, which is why there hasn't been a widespread corporate acceptance to XP. Compared to Linux,it is a vastly inferior product. Less stable, less powerful, and the usability gap is closing rapidly.
Microsoft is trying to keep it's control on the desktop PC with things like DRM, but in the end it can't compete against a better product that's free.
Ah. So do the teamsters get a waiver for drivers licenses due to their political connections?
I'm not sure about teamsters, but I had a friend that went to work for one of the local towing companies several years ago. After he went on a few long tow jobs his boss asked him why he was taking so long. He said he was driving the speed limit and that's how long it took. His boss told him to drive faster. The State Patrols wouldn't stop one of their tow trucks...
So, you don't think that requiring automobile drivers to pass a (very) basic skill and knowledge test (the passing of which a driver's license is proof) is a good idea?...
No, actually I don't think passing a very basic skill and knowledge test is a good idea. I think that there is not nearly enough training/testing that goes into licensing drivers. I also think that the city/state law enforcement uses the regulation of traffic to belittle and harrass what are generally law abiding, upstanding citizens. There is something wrong with a society that can turn me into a criminal just because I happen to cross paths with a grumpy traffic cop on the way to work.
Beyond that, as is typical with government regulation, this regulation is very rarely served out equitably. Most traffic cops around here will profile you by age. They will pull a teenager that is obeying the law over for some imagined offense while they let some 98 year old woman turn across three lanes of traffic and kill 18 people.
Finally, when was the last time you voted on a traffic law. I remember EXACTLY when the last time was that I had an opportunity to vote on it. Our city council decided they should make not wearing your seat belt a primary offense that the nice police officer could pull you over for (currently it is a secondary offense where a ticket can only be issued after a driver has already been stopped). The citizens of my fine city petitioned it for a vote, and we defeated it soundly. Other than that, I have never had anyone ask me my opinion on traffic laws in my city. No one ever asked me what the speed limit should be on my street, no one ever asked me if they should put a new stoplight in, about emissions laws, about insurance rates, about much of anything. You and the voters didn't make the laws, your representatives did, just like they do in every other segment of out fine country.
Yes, but the FCC cannot control CONTENT on Satellite radio, Internet or Cable. What fun is it just regulating the bandwidth, they really get their kicks by rattling their saber over one of Janet Jackson's boobs.
Intresting this comes up during the same time period where the FCC is making a big deal about all of the fines that they are passing out. The FCC commissioner was even interviewed at halftime during Monday Night Football (was that this week, or last week) and was spouting off about what a bastion of decency the FCC is. How glamorous will the job of FCC commissioner be when he's only handing out fines because Verizon was using the wrong cell phone frequencies.
This is much more than a simple issue of consumers not being able to record their favorite shows, not being able to use a homemade PVR or any basic consumer rights.
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but we are walking a very dangerous path with government regulation of this type. Our government is telling private companies that they cannot create a particular product not because it's dangerous and not because it interferes with areas in the public domain (e.g. transmitting on unauthorized frequencies). Government is regulating production of equipment by private companies only because another private organization doesn't like it and may lose money without it.
How long is our government is burning books that tell how to circumvent this technology and locking up the authors. The US Government is starting to remind me of the Inquisition and Gallileo - persecuting anyone that might innovate or discover anything new just to keep the status quo.
I believe that anyone should be able to build any type of Television (or any other machine or electronic device) and sell it as long as it meets some reasonable guidelines of public safety, and traditionally this has ben the case. If the MPAA has a problem with the way any item is manufactured, what it does and what it's used for they are free to pursue the case under a civil suit.
I would agree. PSP can do some amazing things. Even though this may get me modded into oblivion - I think it's functionality is at least as good as GIMP, and the interface is more intuitive.
If Jasc would come out with a linux version, it would probably be the first commercial product for linux I would buy.
Seriously, I'm a forth generation Coloradoan. All of you Nebraskans, Iowans and anyone who's family didn't move here during the dust bowl GET THE FUCK OUT - or stop bitching.
Slashdot Mirror
Have you been reading the news lately? Every indication is that Microsoft is VERY concerned about losing market share. All we here are veiled threats to sue Linux (users, developers, advocates, etc...), Ballmer spouting off about increased efficiency and reports and analysis of the first dividend payout.
I would be surprised you don't think Redmond is nervous about something.
The "Berkley is full of liberal Lefties!" line some may say isn't really reliable...
Umm.... if you find the 'some' that believe that, please present them. Personally I can agree with the assumption that Berkley has historically been a very liberal place. If you disagree with that statement, maybe you should offer some data to the contrary.
Of course, this would presume that no personally identifying information was used to acquire the card to begin with, but I imagine it's entirely possible.
Actually I'm not sure it does. I don't know if there is any way a person with a card can get any information other than a name ( My mother's name always comes up for me ).
Should set up a site where people can send in their old or unused cards and a self-addressed envelope. People could periodically switch cards - maybe we can screw up this whole loyalty card thiing.
...they let the patents go unchallenged and simply enforced them in an effort to stifle competition.
Isn't that what patents are for?
Me too. The local incarnation of Krogers where I live is King Soopers. They are the WORST about the cards. Prices without them are astronomical, and they rarely will punch in an override code. I think the clerks actually are embarrassed by the prices without the card sometimes. I had one give me a card without filling any info out - not sure if it would actually work or not, haven't ever tried it.
The real kicker is that the independant grocery store that was a block from my house sold out to Walgreens (who are attempting to take over the world) and Kings is the next closest place to my house. The only other store I know of in town that doesn't use 'loyalty cards' is a tiny little mom&pop place that doesn't quite have the selection I'm looking for.
Normally I go to one of the Safeway stores in town. With Safeway's cards you can use your phone number for the discount - I just put in my Parent's number. I'm sure this screws up all of the demographic information. There are at least 3, maybe 4, families buying groceries and gasoline on this one card. The department of Homeland Security will probably show up one of these days at my parents house because they have obviously been feeding an army, or something...
Only outlaws will have mice
Now, not only do I have to rememeber 40 passwords, I'm going to have to carry 40 smart cards and remember 40 keys.
.Net architecture. So now it will be two, then Apache will require a different card for secure access to my bank's site, each credit card company will want to use their own credit card, my mortgage company will have to issue their own, then there's the cable company, satellite TV (and radio), cell phone, gas, electric, water... It will never end.
I know, I know, it's not supposed to work that way, but I already have one, and I don't think my datacenter ID is going to work with Mr. Gates'
I'll have to buy a bigger SUV to carry all this crap!!!
If anyone out there's latin is any good, translate
"Bite my shiny metal ass"
for me. Would be a good sig.
For example, did you know that Kim was born with "an enlarged head...
My mother always said I had an enlarged head...
France doesn't seem to have a problem with it, and gets most of their power from nukes
Plus, if we get a little short on cash we can sell that weapons grade material to Middle Eastern countries - like France does.
Dilithium Crystals
Didn't you see Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days later?
Zombies don't shamble around anymore - They RUN!!!
Your point is just plain stupid if you spend more than a knee-jerk thinking about it.
Maybe... but how cool is that going to be when the next cheesey sci-fi channel movie has a scene like this with lasers popping out of the back of some guy's head like an inverted Cyclops?
why can't they use a laser that only outputs a few microwatts of power?
They can, but what happens when the power supply is hit by lightning and those microvolts turn to 10,000 volts. It might burn a hole right through your head.
Enforcing trade regulations is perhaps one of the truest, most age-old, most fundamental duties of government.
Looks to me like your post should be an argument for LESS government involvment. Not only did the government NOT fulfill their duty to your aunt and uncle in your story, but they could have lowered their costs, made it to market more quickly and potentially made money if it wasn't for the government red tape.
It appears that your case, and the Rubik's cube case are prime examples of what's wrong with the government. It would have required work and effort to actually pursue a patent violation by a Malaysian company, plus the damage was already done. OTOH it's quite easy to harrass some poor shop owner about a toy that enjoyed brief notoriety 25 years ago who have probably already made millions off of the toy.
Well, you don't see Standard Oil selling kerosene as such since it was broken up as a monopoly in 1911
- but you can bet SOMEBODY sells a heck of a lot of kerosene since it's used as jet fuel.
Your strategie seems to be that Longhorn will suck. I got news for you. Every fucking windows release ever has sucked.
I'm as anti-microsoft as the next slashdotter, but I have to disagree with you here. In it's time Windows 3.1 was good. A decent graphical interface to the computer at a reasonable cost. Windows NT was a good server platform. When Windows 95 came out it was fantastic. Sure it had it's problems, but it was much easier to use. Finally Windows 2000 came out, gave us the stability of NT with the cool interface of 95/98. Microsoft really made personal computing accessible to the masses.
The same could be said for MS Word. If you used wordperfect back in it's DOS version you remember - it was powerful, but painful. Word really broke the market open for wysiwyg word processors.
The real problem is Microsoft has outlived it's usefulness. Where else can they go. XP is a joke, not really any better than 2000, just more expensive, which is why there hasn't been a widespread corporate acceptance to XP. Compared to Linux,it is a vastly inferior product. Less stable, less powerful, and the usability gap is closing rapidly.
Microsoft is trying to keep it's control on the desktop PC with things like DRM, but in the end it can't compete against a better product that's free.
Ah. So do the teamsters get a waiver for drivers licenses due to their political connections?
I'm not sure about teamsters, but I had a friend that went to work for one of the local towing companies several years ago. After he went on a few long tow jobs his boss asked him why he was taking so long. He said he was driving the speed limit and that's how long it took. His boss told him to drive faster. The State Patrols wouldn't stop one of their tow trucks...
Ahhh.... one of my favorite rants.
So, you don't think that requiring automobile drivers to pass a (very) basic skill and knowledge test (the passing of which a driver's license is proof) is a good idea?...
No, actually I don't think passing a very basic skill and knowledge test is a good idea. I think that there is not nearly enough training/testing that goes into licensing drivers. I also think that the city/state law enforcement uses the regulation of traffic to belittle and harrass what are generally law abiding, upstanding citizens. There is something wrong with a society that can turn me into a criminal just because I happen to cross paths with a grumpy traffic cop on the way to work.
Beyond that, as is typical with government regulation, this regulation is very rarely served out equitably. Most traffic cops around here will profile you by age. They will pull a teenager that is obeying the law over for some imagined offense while they let some 98 year old woman turn across three lanes of traffic and kill 18 people.
Finally, when was the last time you voted on a traffic law. I remember EXACTLY when the last time was that I had an opportunity to vote on it. Our city council decided they should make not wearing your seat belt a primary offense that the nice police officer could pull you over for (currently it is a secondary offense where a ticket can only be issued after a driver has already been stopped). The citizens of my fine city petitioned it for a vote, and we defeated it soundly. Other than that, I have never had anyone ask me my opinion on traffic laws in my city. No one ever asked me what the speed limit should be on my street, no one ever asked me if they should put a new stoplight in, about emissions laws, about insurance rates, about much of anything. You and the voters didn't make the laws, your representatives did, just like they do in every other segment of out fine country.
If this ship is not heading where you want it to go, you won't correct that problem by dropping the sail. You have to adjust the rudder.
But a torpedo might work nicely...
Yes, but the FCC cannot control CONTENT on Satellite radio, Internet or Cable. What fun is it just regulating the bandwidth, they really get their kicks by rattling their saber over one of Janet Jackson's boobs.
Intresting this comes up during the same time period where the FCC is making a big deal about all of the fines that they are passing out. The FCC commissioner was even interviewed at halftime during Monday Night Football (was that this week, or last week) and was spouting off about what a bastion of decency the FCC is. How glamorous will the job of FCC commissioner be when he's only handing out fines because Verizon was using the wrong cell phone frequencies.
This is much more than a simple issue of consumers not being able to record their favorite shows, not being able to use a homemade PVR or any basic consumer rights. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but we are walking a very dangerous path with government regulation of this type. Our government is telling private companies that they cannot create a particular product not because it's dangerous and not because it interferes with areas in the public domain (e.g. transmitting on unauthorized frequencies). Government is regulating production of equipment by private companies only because another private organization doesn't like it and may lose money without it.
How long is our government is burning books that tell how to circumvent this technology and locking up the authors. The US Government is starting to remind me of the Inquisition and Gallileo - persecuting anyone that might innovate or discover anything new just to keep the status quo.
I believe that anyone should be able to build any type of Television (or any other machine or electronic device) and sell it as long as it meets some reasonable guidelines of public safety, and traditionally this has ben the case. If the MPAA has a problem with the way any item is manufactured, what it does and what it's used for they are free to pursue the case under a civil suit.
I would agree. PSP can do some amazing things. Even though this may get me modded into oblivion - I think it's functionality is at least as good as GIMP, and the interface is more intuitive.
If Jasc would come out with a linux version, it would probably be the first commercial product for linux I would buy.
What about Slackware? It's truly American and one of the more secure and responsive distributions out there.
If it's not commercially viable, don't tell my boss. We are running around 30 Slack servers both internally and externally.
Seriously, I'm a forth generation Coloradoan. All of you Nebraskans, Iowans and anyone who's family didn't move here during the dust bowl GET THE FUCK OUT - or stop bitching.