It does when people phone up to ask why their copy of Norton Anti-virus won't install on Linux. I've had people ask me that.
You should just say that it comes ready-included for free with Linux, and runs seamlessly in the background so that you never have to worry about it. Then charge them a $100 "certified Linux technician" consultancy fee.
I realise this may not be strictly ethical, but hey, a man's got to eat.
Did anyone expect better from Dell? They have a history of doing this with Linux laptops.
Think of it as a convenience fee for not having loads of junkware preinstalled on it, and not needing to be annoyed, humiliated and betrayed by Windows.
It's a piece of software, not your evil ex-girlfriend who ran off with your best friend on your wedding day and cleared out your bank account then posted pictures of your micro-penis on her facebook page.
Actually, it might be the way to do it. Linux is out there, for free, in many forms, and people who see free as being a major point have already downloaded it. Whilst *we* know that the extra $50 is probably because they don't receive the same crap-ware subsidies, it'd be easy to pitch it as "it's $50 more because it's a better operating system". Sometimes charging more will automatically make something seem better...I can see it now..."Well sir, yes, you could have the Windows option, but for a measly $50 we can upgrade you to a more secure, stable operating system that comes with a huge library of free software and all future upgrades will be free, you'll save money the first time Microsoft brings out a new Windows."
Might very well work.
And every other support call would be along the lines of "why can't I install Microsoft Office on this operating system I paid $50 extra for?"
So, "My laptop has a broken part" = "Well buy a new part!" Whereas "My laptop acts funny" = "Reinstall the OS!" ( = brand new software). Same shit.
What precisely would you expect them to say in response to "my laptop has a broken screen"? Glue it back together with superglue? Make your own replacement out of an old car windscreen and duct tape?
Not to mention--I assume Dell doesn't get any money for crapware on the Linux variant. (I have no idea how much money Dell gets for crapware, so I don't know if it is enough to totally offset the license for Windows, but it's a thought anyway)
I bet it will still have a copy of McAfee fucking anti-virus on it somewhere, probably in its own VM running Windows ME for that authentic Shitty Windows Experience.
Teachers are not highly paid like programmers, but neither are they exactly on minimum wage, so I would expect the average teacher's salary to be higher than the overall median salary.
This is all missing the point that we are not talking about just programmers. If the average programmer's salary is (say) $150K, that says nothing about whether $80K is impossible to live well on where the median is $35K.
I would love to see you look for doctors that only make $35k.
He didn't say that $35K was the median in every profession. The point is that if the overall median wage is $35K, then a lot of people are getting by on less than $35K, so $80K must by any definition be comfortably off.
There are other solutions for those problems, most notably lawsuits.
Bullshit. If you don't have health and safety laws, the employer will just say "tough, you must have done something wrong to lose your hand, it's not my fault you're clumsy" and let his highly-paid lawyers walk over the poor schmuck.
Part of the reason why I don't patronize Costco is because they overpay their employees. Why should I pay higher prices from a company unwilling to take competitive measures?
Their prices aren't higher, genius. Do you really think that everyone shops there because of the warm, fuzzy feeling they get funding the employees' champagen-and-yacht lifestyles?
Look at John Lewis here in the UK. Everyone who works there is a "partner", they have excellent pay and conditions for staff, but their motto is "never knowingly undersold" i.e. they're cheap as well as being very good too.
Not all CEOs have an Ivy League (or even college) education, or work for multi-billion dollar corporations, or are particularly literate, numerate or anything else. What they're good at is being a CEO.
If the GP poster has hands on knowledge of one individual programmer's ability and salary, I seriously doubt he's in charge of more than about 10 people.
Enabled by the internet, small businesses will be able to sell their wares anywhere.
I don't wish to burst your cosy bubble, but how do you think all those small internet businesses are going to compete with someone like Amazon who can sell cheaper than you and with faster delivery?
There is a reason why corporations exist. "Economies of scale" isn't just a management buzzphrase.
Not everyone can be a software developer selling their stuff directly over the net.
But the really fun part is what 120,000 workers at IBM being unionized would mean to them: 120,000 * $1,300 = $156M/year in additional income to the union.
So what?
Your whole argument is begging the question that unions are bad to start with, and would therefore be worse with more money and therefore influence.
The thing about megacities is that even though they're more expensive to live in, it's also a lot easier to find work there. That's sort of the point of them.
Here in the UK, yes you probably do get a higher standard of living in a small town instead of Londonas long as you keep your well paying job. But when that job goes and you have to look for another similar one, it's much harder to find in your area.
I've lived in both, and in dodgy economic times, London is far preferable, simply because of the number of jobs there, even if you won't have such a nice car or house.
I don't watch Fox, or any MSM news. I prefer my news raw, unedited, before bias is applied.
Even if you read the live blogs of local residents, you are still receiving news with a bias. If you see something happen in the street outside your house, you are viewing it with a bias.
Human beings can not apprehend reality directly, it is always filtered through our limited senses.
The best way to get a sensible view of the news is to use as many different sources as possible. If a leftwing newspaer, middle of the road TV station and rightwing radio show all say that it is raining in Seattle, it's fair to believe that it's raining in Seattle.
If you cannot differentiate yourself, and therefore become common labor, your life will be as good as your society is capable of providing for you through charity.
Sharing out the wealth that society as a whole has created and which you have contributed to is not charity.
If you are "common labour" you are still contributing to the economy of your society.
If you start talking about supporting people who aren't working, then that becomes a conversation about equality, fairness and hopefully socialism.
And before you go there with any apocalyptic scenarios, We have large dogs, assault weapons, tons of ammo & quite a few close neighbors to make sure no would-be thief gets any smart ideas.
The government has artillery, tanks, assault helicopters, fighter jets and cruise missiles. You're going to lose if they decide to nationalise your farm.
Slashdot Mirror
That's one of the unlikeliest, but most comforting things I think I've ever read about a politician.
N/T
Proper Carlsberg in Denmark is a fine beer (albeit eyewateringly expensive), it's not the same as the shitty stuff you get on draft in the UK.
Nobody asked you if it was begging the question, we said begs the question.
Nobody gives a damn about your mistranslation of petitio principii.
"Begs the question" is just a variation on "begging the question", you silly arse.
"This prompts the question whether..." versus "Prompting the question whether..."
It's Friday afternoon and I'm bored at work.
It does when people phone up to ask why their copy of Norton Anti-virus won't install on Linux. I've had people ask me that.
You should just say that it comes ready-included for free with Linux, and runs seamlessly in the background so that you never have to worry about it. Then charge them a $100 "certified Linux technician" consultancy fee.
I realise this may not be strictly ethical, but hey, a man's got to eat.
Did anyone expect better from Dell? They have a history of doing this with Linux laptops.
Think of it as a convenience fee for not having loads of junkware preinstalled on it, and not needing to be annoyed, humiliated and betrayed by Windows.
It's a piece of software, not your evil ex-girlfriend who ran off with your best friend on your wedding day and cleared out your bank account then posted pictures of your micro-penis on her facebook page.
Actually, it might be the way to do it. Linux is out there, for free, in many forms, and people who see free as being a major point have already downloaded it. Whilst *we* know that the extra $50 is probably because they don't receive the same crap-ware subsidies, it'd be easy to pitch it as "it's $50 more because it's a better operating system". Sometimes charging more will automatically make something seem better...I can see it now..."Well sir, yes, you could have the Windows option, but for a measly $50 we can upgrade you to a more secure, stable operating system that comes with a huge library of free software and all future upgrades will be free, you'll save money the first time Microsoft brings out a new Windows." Might very well work.
And every other support call would be along the lines of "why can't I install Microsoft Office on this operating system I paid $50 extra for?"
So, "My laptop has a broken part" = "Well buy a new part!" Whereas "My laptop acts funny" = "Reinstall the OS!" ( = brand new software). Same shit.
What precisely would you expect them to say in response to "my laptop has a broken screen"? Glue it back together with superglue? Make your own replacement out of an old car windscreen and duct tape?
Not to mention--I assume Dell doesn't get any money for crapware on the Linux variant. (I have no idea how much money Dell gets for crapware, so I don't know if it is enough to totally offset the license for Windows, but it's a thought anyway)
I bet it will still have a copy of McAfee fucking anti-virus on it somewhere, probably in its own VM running Windows ME for that authentic Shitty Windows Experience.
This is all missing the point that we are not talking about just programmers. If the average programmer's salary is (say) $150K, that says nothing about whether $80K is impossible to live well on where the median is $35K.
I would love to see you look for doctors that only make $35k.
He didn't say that $35K was the median in every profession. The point is that if the overall median wage is $35K, then a lot of people are getting by on less than $35K, so $80K must by any definition be comfortably off.
You know what decreases costs even further? Legalized slavery.
Don't give the bastards any ideas. I've seen plenty of "libertarians" here say that anti-slavery laws are unconstitutional and should be repealed.
There are other solutions for those problems, most notably lawsuits.
Bullshit. If you don't have health and safety laws, the employer will just say "tough, you must have done something wrong to lose your hand, it's not my fault you're clumsy" and let his highly-paid lawyers walk over the poor schmuck.
Part of the reason why I don't patronize Costco is because they overpay their employees. Why should I pay higher prices from a company unwilling to take competitive measures?
Their prices aren't higher, genius. Do you really think that everyone shops there because of the warm, fuzzy feeling they get funding the employees' champagen-and-yacht lifestyles?
Look at John Lewis here in the UK. Everyone who works there is a "partner", they have excellent pay and conditions for staff, but their motto is "never knowingly undersold" i.e. they're cheap as well as being very good too.
I would have come out maybe a couple thousand a head, but would have gone from 19 days vacation to 5.
No wonder you have so many murders in America.
I sure hope they figure out a way to outsource your job as all CEO'S do is usually fuck up shit and get paid for it.
Well, apart from the ones who make the company a huge amount of money like they're employed to do and get rewarded for achieving, yes.
If the GP poster has hands on knowledge of one individual programmer's ability and salary, I seriously doubt he's in charge of more than about 10 people.
Their large was smaller than a medium here.
As an American, you will find this is the same in any other country in the world that you visit.
Enabled by the internet, small businesses will be able to sell their wares anywhere.
I don't wish to burst your cosy bubble, but how do you think all those small internet businesses are going to compete with someone like Amazon who can sell cheaper than you and with faster delivery?
There is a reason why corporations exist. "Economies of scale" isn't just a management buzzphrase.
Not everyone can be a software developer selling their stuff directly over the net.
But the really fun part is what 120,000 workers at IBM being unionized would mean to them: 120,000 * $1,300 = $156M/year in additional income to the union.
So what?
Your whole argument is begging the question that unions are bad to start with, and would therefore be worse with more money and therefore influence.
Here in the UK, yes you probably do get a higher standard of living in a small town instead of Londonas long as you keep your well paying job. But when that job goes and you have to look for another similar one, it's much harder to find in your area.
I've lived in both, and in dodgy economic times, London is far preferable, simply because of the number of jobs there, even if you won't have such a nice car or house.
I don't watch Fox, or any MSM news. I prefer my news raw, unedited, before bias is applied.
Even if you read the live blogs of local residents, you are still receiving news with a bias. If you see something happen in the street outside your house, you are viewing it with a bias.
Human beings can not apprehend reality directly, it is always filtered through our limited senses.
The best way to get a sensible view of the news is to use as many different sources as possible. If a leftwing newspaer, middle of the road TV station and rightwing radio show all say that it is raining in Seattle, it's fair to believe that it's raining in Seattle.
Of course, even Kennedy knew that lowering taxes was good for the economy. But by today's standard, you'd call him a right wing loon.
By today's US political standards Kennedy was a fucking communist.
Being well educated, hard working, intelligent, and using those attributes in a creative way will continue to be the path to job security.
You Americans really do believe all that "anyone can be President" bollocks don't you?
Until singularity that is, and I don't think anyone can credibly predict what will happen after that.
I can predict that it will never happen, because only lunatics believe it will.
If you cannot differentiate yourself, and therefore become common labor, your life will be as good as your society is capable of providing for you through charity.
Sharing out the wealth that society as a whole has created and which you have contributed to is not charity.
If you are "common labour" you are still contributing to the economy of your society.
If you start talking about supporting people who aren't working, then that becomes a conversation about equality, fairness and hopefully socialism.
And before you go there with any apocalyptic scenarios, We have large dogs, assault weapons, tons of ammo & quite a few close neighbors to make sure no would-be thief gets any smart ideas.
The government has artillery, tanks, assault helicopters, fighter jets and cruise missiles. You're going to lose if they decide to nationalise your farm.