Sony just paid $65 Million for small-time videosharing outfit 'Grouper'. That site has around 1% of the videosharing market. The article asks, at that price, what might YouTube's 43% be worth?
I would think the answer is $65m * 43 = $2,795,000,000.
The thing that is most scary about this attack is that it leaves no trace of the crime, unlike a broken window. This means that some unfortunate people won't be able to convince their insurance company to pay up because there is no evidence of forced entry. The insurance company will try to claim that you forgot to lock your door and refuse to pay up.
It was already stated above. Linux fixes, in general, are fixed within hours.
Tell that to the users that got stuck at a command line with no way of knowing how to use apt-get to get the fixes.
At least this update error from Microsoft didn't leave the computer in an unusable state. Luckily most Ubuntu users are knowledgable enough to be able to use Lynx (or dual-boot Windows) to read the forums to get the fix.
On the same day Netizens fumed over the trademarking of Web 2.0 (R), lawyers for O'Reilly were beating a path to the USPTO to file for a trademark on MAKER FAIRE, lest some Irish scallywag try to co-opt that catchy phrase for a conference. Speaking of NETIZENS, USPTO records show O'Reilly once sought a trademark for that term. And while details are sketchy, USPTO records also indicate that O'Reilly not only sought to trademark the term WEBSITE, it was the plaintiff in a scheduled Trademark Trial involving a defendant who laid claim to the phrase WEB CITE.
So what does this have to do with Patents? It's the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Are you trying to confuse us on purpose?
I hate to use the term Total Cost of Ownership because certain companies have abused it so much, but have they considered how much the eBooks will cost? If they are doing this to save money the eBooks better be a lot cheaper than textbooks. In my experience DRM'd digital stuff can get very expensive, especially if you end up getting yourself locked into a single company's way of doing things and letting yourself get taken hostage by the upgrade cycle. Textbooks can last years but DRM can be disabled at any moment unless 'ransom money' is paid.
I think that the laptop idea is great but I just hope that they think it through carefully before buying otherwise there will be a lot of fallout from this, and then the usual suspects will be going on about how Linux has a high TCO.
they're not going to make money without customers, and if customers demand moral companies by not giving any money to amoral companies, well, they don't have much choice, do they?
Wow.... I think Anonymous Coward actually has a valid point here.
You can even extend the same argument to the music industry. If customers stopped buying CDs then the RIAA lawyers would have no choice but to allow fair use! Genius. Such a simple idea but so effective. Now all we have to do is convince the rest of the world to stop buying CDs...
You mean a direct democracy? In a democracy the majority tries to take privileges away from the minorities for their own advantage. This works OK for countries where it is very difficult to leave but it's hardly a good way to run a company. A company is supposed to be a team that works together. The people that get taken advantage of can easily quit and then you end up with a smaller company with the same problem.
It's OK to do bad things as long as you promise to give most of your money to charity when you die, so that you go to heaven. The more money they obtain, the more they can give back and therefore the more good they are. Good-hearted corporationists (of which there are many) keep just a mere $5 or 10 million of their loot after their death, so that their kids who are less well of than them can feed their kids and get a roof over their heads. Very thoughtful of them.
The problem is poor people. If each poor person would give as much to charity as rich people usually do, this world would be a nicer place to live.
"It could be at 25% would not consider Linux, 33% don't know what Linux is, 30% don't know if they would consider it or not, and 2% would consider using Linux."
Why would only 2% consider Linux? I think that's just more FUD. It's higher than that. You are just making an example but disguising it as a fact and hoping people won't notice. You could have picked any number. Why 2%?
FUD, FUD, FUD! Even Anonymous Coward is FUDing. Slashdot is really going downhill...
Slashdot has too much FUD. 99.999% of people wouldn't consider reading Slashdot.
It's not what you say, it's the way you say it. The statement may be true but it's misleading. It's like saying that 25% of companies would not consider using Linux. Sounds bad for Linux, right? But really it means 75% of companies would considering using Linux. So even though their statement is true, it's still a deliberate attempt at FUD.
a) Standards allow small and large companies to compete on the same terms. b) Proprietary protocols allow companies to lock other companies out using "intellectual property" laws for copyright, patents, trademarks, DMCA, etc... b) Big companies have the most power and therefore get to choose the rules. c) Companies try to use their power to get more power.
You should now understand why making standards is hard. Small companies (and consumers) want standards, but larger companies want to keep people locked in to their way. Having a standard way to export mail would make it too easy to switch to an alternative mail provider.
Look at the so called "Web Standards" to see the difficulty of making standards in action. Almost everyone agrees that a web standard woud be a good thing, but many years later progress is still very slow.
Slashdot Mirror
The same logic you use is why some people claim that all Muslims are evil.
Ohhh I love maths questions!
Sony just paid $65 Million for small-time videosharing outfit 'Grouper'. That site has around 1% of the videosharing market. The article asks, at that price, what might YouTube's 43% be worth?
I would think the answer is $65m * 43 = $2,795,000,000.
The thing that is most scary about this attack is that it leaves no trace of the crime, unlike a broken window. This means that some unfortunate people won't be able to convince their insurance company to pay up because there is no evidence of forced entry. The insurance company will try to claim that you forgot to lock your door and refuse to pay up.
"and not killing people in fiery laptop-related explosions."
Nothing like a bit of flamebait to start some lively discussions!
Do we really need these sorts of comments in the summaries?
It was already stated above. Linux fixes, in general, are fixed within hours.
Tell that to the users that got stuck at a command line with no way of knowing how to use apt-get to get the fixes.
At least this update error from Microsoft didn't leave the computer in an unusable state. Luckily most Ubuntu users are knowledgable enough to be able to use Lynx (or dual-boot Windows) to read the forums to get the fix.
4) Check that the GUI appears.
Haha! This sort of thing would never happen if you used Ubuntu!
So what does this have to do with Patents? It's the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Are you trying to confuse us on purpose?
Pretend we're talking a year from now and MS is trying to roll out Vista...
Wow - food must taste better where you live too!
Nah... I don't think it's that unrealistic that Vista will be almost ready next year.
I hate to use the term Total Cost of Ownership because certain companies have abused it so much, but have they considered how much the eBooks will cost? If they are doing this to save money the eBooks better be a lot cheaper than textbooks. In my experience DRM'd digital stuff can get very expensive, especially if you end up getting yourself locked into a single company's way of doing things and letting yourself get taken hostage by the upgrade cycle. Textbooks can last years but DRM can be disabled at any moment unless 'ransom money' is paid.
I think that the laptop idea is great but I just hope that they think it through carefully before buying otherwise there will be a lot of fallout from this, and then the usual suspects will be going on about how Linux has a high TCO.
Did Slashdot decide to get some editors whilst I wasn't watching? I must have missed the memo...
I'm going to miss complaining about all the dupes and typos. For me, it's a part of what Slashdot is.
I can only assume that you haven't tried EasyUbuntu yet.
they're not going to make money without customers, and if customers demand moral companies by not giving any money to amoral companies, well, they don't have much choice, do they?
Wow.... I think Anonymous Coward actually has a valid point here.
You can even extend the same argument to the music industry. If customers stopped buying CDs then the RIAA lawyers would have no choice but to allow fair use! Genius. Such a simple idea but so effective. Now all we have to do is convince the rest of the world to stop buying CDs...
It can't fail!
You mean a direct democracy? In a democracy the majority tries to take privileges away from the minorities for their own advantage. This works OK for countries where it is very difficult to leave but it's hardly a good way to run a company. A company is supposed to be a team that works together. The people that get taken advantage of can easily quit and then you end up with a smaller company with the same problem.
... it's a quite worthless gadget, while neat that it's possible, it shouldn't be big news.
You must be new here.
The discussion on this bug which was eventually resolved as WONTFIX is quite interesting, IMHO.
Don't diss corporations.
It's OK to do bad things as long as you promise to give most of your money to charity when you die, so that you go to heaven. The more money they obtain, the more they can give back and therefore the more good they are. Good-hearted corporationists (of which there are many) keep just a mere $5 or 10 million of their loot after their death, so that their kids who are less well of than them can feed their kids and get a roof over their heads. Very thoughtful of them.
The problem is poor people. If each poor person would give as much to charity as rich people usually do, this world would be a nicer place to live.
"It could be at 25% would not consider Linux, 33% don't know what Linux is, 30% don't know if they would consider it or not, and 2% would consider using Linux."
Why would only 2% consider Linux? I think that's just more FUD. It's higher than that. You are just making an example but disguising it as a fact and hoping people won't notice. You could have picked any number. Why 2%?
FUD, FUD, FUD! Even Anonymous Coward is FUDing. Slashdot is really going downhill...
Slashdot has too much FUD. 99.999% of people wouldn't consider reading Slashdot.
It's not what you say, it's the way you say it. The statement may be true but it's misleading. It's like saying that 25% of companies would not consider using Linux. Sounds bad for Linux, right? But really it means 75% of companies would considering using Linux. So even though their statement is true, it's still a deliberate attempt at FUD.
that's 30 gigs right there. Not too cost effective there.
Not cost effective? You can get a 30Gig harddrive for $21.99
Why not just backup to another hard disk?
It's hard to create standards because:
a) Standards allow small and large companies to compete on the same terms.
b) Proprietary protocols allow companies to lock other companies out using "intellectual property" laws for copyright, patents, trademarks, DMCA, etc...
b) Big companies have the most power and therefore get to choose the rules.
c) Companies try to use their power to get more power.
You should now understand why making standards is hard. Small companies (and consumers) want standards, but larger companies want to keep people locked in to their way. Having a standard way to export mail would make it too easy to switch to an alternative mail provider.
Look at the so called "Web Standards" to see the difficulty of making standards in action. Almost everyone agrees that a web standard woud be a good thing, but many years later progress is still very slow.
Standards = hard.
"Would it really be that difficult to create a universal standard..."
Yes.
I stood up and lifted my toes and I immediately fell over!
Parent is not off-topic. It was sarcastic. He was proving that the following statement is false:
without toes you cannot remain standing or walk, btw
Stupid moderators...
Backup ~
Job done.