The EU is quite strong about fair competition; in fact it is one of the few things that I have faith in from them. The EU unit led by Neelie Smit-Kroes, despite all the shoulder rubbing (in a previous job where she led a university, she gave Bill Gates a honorary PhD) and despite her (previous?) political affiliation for a party (VVD) that succumbs to stupid wishes by companies, she keeps an objective look at things plus she gets things done.
"This is of course until the EU gets their hands into them, and they will be born without an ability to browse.'
I think this would have been more accurate: And they no longer have a browser-pellet forcefed to them, but are made concious that they are free to browse as they like.
I use a computer for my work as a patent attorney. The word processor corrupts the file and I lose 2 hours of work for which the client would have been charged E400. Do I get that money? How do I prove it? The 2 hours loss of work makes that I do miss the deadline and I cannot file the application in time (before the end of the priority year). Can my client claim a milion in damages? Why not the hard disk manufacturer in case of a HD failure?
If I can get a monetary reward related to but not exceeding the price of the software. The software is working mostly OK. So, do I get a dollar, or so? How easy is it to cash it?
I'm all for bugs being fixed. I'm suffering from bugs in software that are there for years. Let's make a software maker responsible for not fixin them.
Bert If software makers would be responsible for damages, shouldn't they also get a cut of the profit made with the software?
Plus, tailgating saves both cars fuel, and him forcing the other driver a lower speed will have saved those drivers fuel too (less than if they knew how to decouple the drive-train, that's true)
There is supposed to be a devastating fragmentation problem if you have many small files on a SSD. Had hope the guy could report his experiences on that.
I'm very happy that Bill's company is so worried about the little money they have left us after all those years, but for my company I'm considering an Intel X25-E for my new server, hoping that the MySQL database will run faster. Currently that is on a Raid 1 disk. I like speed, but don't want to lose my data in the first place. So, I'm not that interested in cost. I'm interested in whether my data stays OK, whether I still should put those SSD in a Raid 1 configuration, and whether it will work OK for a couple of years (even with small files). (Mac OS X will continue to run from a regular HD). Experiences, anyone?
Basically I think the idea has merit. All flaming about no contribution: The problem with CO2 is that there is always something else that makes a bigger contribution. I could reason: Whatever I do it has no impact because there are 6 billion people that pollute also. It is a fact that the car gets hotter, it is a fact that the airco has to work harder/longer. It is a fact that more energy is used just because of colour.
Instead of a ban, there could be a tax incentive. Make darker cars $100 more expensive, make lighter cars cheaper. The market can do its work.
In the Netherlands cars are taxed with an additional tax. For gas guzzlers you pay more, and the fuel-efficient cars you pay less.
Bert Who lives in a relatively rainy country but already considered the colour of his next car in view of fuel consumption
I'm a Mac head since I bought an LC. My company is run with Macs only. However, I have A Lot To Complain About (TM). Sound goes missing after switching accounts (can be switched back on by changing source). Initiating iChat communications fail half the time. E-mail accounts don't stick in Mail. The cursor makes sudden sweeps across the screen. When you want to fax and type a number, it starts to assume some person from the address book, but when it is not that person, you end up with a mess that is Very Hard To Edit (TM) in the fax number field. Oh, and lots more. Well, OK, no viruses, so in that respect I'm still a happy camper.
Of course they could not. It was ORGANIZED religion in Russia (i.e. a church). And churches have power over people. And one power structure always wants to control another power structure for more power. Why do you think that churches in the US interfere with government while they could spend all their time praying to their god? It is a kind of conceding that praying doesn't work if you have to interfere directly.
Freedom of religions == desire to control other people's life (and without any shred of evidence for your flavour of religion. BTW, which of the thousands of religions do you have, in all good for even more gods. Let me guess, the only right one?).
To become a genius, you not only have to be smart, but also have to put in a lot of single-focus effort from a young age. And the latter is what has become hard, these days. Too many distractions, from games, TV, Internet, Slashdot, etc.
Remember the Polgar sisters. Intelligence and hard dedicated work made them into chess grandmasters. Interestingly, I thought I'd look at Wikipedia for her, to see how she is doing now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polgar
Quote from her father: "Geniuses are made, not born"
Write a law that says that if an artist/group of artists doesn't get at least 10% of the gross revenue after a period of 5 years, then the copyright returns them. That will make sure that artitsts get rewarded. If the companies don't comply any copyright they own is returned to the original artist/artist. Artists themselves will not need the ridiculous long copyright terms.
Also, let's add a thing to copyright law that if an artist infringes on the copyright of another artist, he owes them half his royalties. That will make sure they don't want terms longer than reasonable.
Interestingly, if a client of mine sends me a Word document with drawings in them made with Visio, Word doesn't display them correctly at all. NeoOffice does a much better job (but still may show gray I asked the client to remove while the client says the drawing is purely black and white). Word is not compatible with Word. And that is just one example of the result of years of writing obfuscating code for market protection instead of trying to compete by providing a better product.
I think it would be better if the {the other) machines they sold ran both Windows and Linux (such that customers could run both concurrently). It would be great if a PC manufacturer could say: "Yes, you can run that Windows-ony business app of yours, but you also get (access to) a boat load of free useful software. It would sell. And buyers could throw off Linux if they insist.
That not being the case is still a tail of MS's monopoly abuse still present, I'm afraid.
Slashdot Mirror
Daredevil!
That postcard will probably be a EULA ("By receiving this postcard, you agree to ....")
Bert
"How is that more accurate?"
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/05/30/2011248/EU-Wants-Multiple-Browser-Bundling-On-New-PCs
I rest my case.
The EU is quite strong about fair competition; in fact it is one of the few things that I have faith in from them. The EU unit led by Neelie Smit-Kroes, despite all the shoulder rubbing (in a previous job where she led a university, she gave Bill Gates a honorary PhD) and despite her (previous?) political affiliation for a party (VVD) that succumbs to stupid wishes by companies, she keeps an objective look at things plus she gets things done.
Bert
"This is of course until the EU gets their hands into them, and they will be born without an ability to browse.'
I think this would have been more accurate: And they no longer have a browser-pellet forcefed to them, but are made concious that they are free to browse as they like.
Bert
"Rumsfeld T1000, now report to the headmaster for consistently not paying attention!"
Bert
I use a computer for my work as a patent attorney. The word processor corrupts the file and I lose 2 hours of work for which the client would have been charged E400. Do I get that money? How do I prove it? The 2 hours loss of work makes that I do miss the deadline and I cannot file the application in time (before the end of the priority year). Can my client claim a milion in damages? Why not the hard disk manufacturer in case of a HD failure?
If I can get a monetary reward related to but not exceeding the price of the software. The software is working mostly OK. So, do I get a dollar, or so? How easy is it to cash it?
I'm all for bugs being fixed. I'm suffering from bugs in software that are there for years. Let's make a software maker responsible for not fixin them.
Bert
If software makers would be responsible for damages, shouldn't they also get a cut of the profit made with the software?
It means they're earning money even while decomposing.
Bert
(derivative joke stolen from Roger von Oech)
Plus, tailgating saves both cars fuel, and him forcing the other driver a lower speed will have saved those drivers fuel too (less than if they knew how to decouple the drive-train, that's true)
Bert
There is supposed to be a devastating fragmentation problem if you have many small files on a SSD. Had hope the guy could report his experiences on that.
Bert
Thanks for your input. Any comments on possible small files problems?
Bert
I'm very happy that Bill's company is so worried about the little money they have left us after all those years, but for my company I'm considering an Intel X25-E for my new server, hoping that the MySQL database will run faster. Currently that is on a Raid 1 disk. I like speed, but don't want to lose my data in the first place. So, I'm not that interested in cost. I'm interested in whether my data stays OK, whether I still should put those SSD in a Raid 1 configuration, and whether it will work OK for a couple of years (even with small files). (Mac OS X will continue to run from a regular HD). Experiences, anyone?
Bert
How true. People don't believe anything when they are born. I.e. they are all born atheist.
Bert
(Exclamation at the maternity ward: Oh, look at all those cute little atheists!)
Basically I think the idea has merit. All flaming about no contribution: The problem with CO2 is that there is always something else that makes a bigger contribution. I could reason: Whatever I do it has no impact because there are 6 billion people that pollute also. It is a fact that the car gets hotter, it is a fact that the airco has to work harder/longer. It is a fact that more energy is used just because of colour.
Instead of a ban, there could be a tax incentive. Make darker cars $100 more expensive, make lighter cars cheaper. The market can do its work.
In the Netherlands cars are taxed with an additional tax. For gas guzzlers you pay more, and the fuel-efficient cars you pay less.
Bert
Who lives in a relatively rainy country but already considered the colour of his next car in view of fuel consumption
How does it work? I'm curious because I'd expect any sensor to be subject to fouling by body proteins and fats.
Bert
If the other women were more willing. He should sue every non-prostitute-woman, I guess.
Bert
I'm a Mac head since I bought an LC. My company is run with Macs only. However, I have A Lot To Complain About (TM). Sound goes missing after switching accounts (can be switched back on by changing source). Initiating iChat communications fail half the time. E-mail accounts don't stick in Mail. The cursor makes sudden sweeps across the screen. When you want to fax and type a number, it starts to assume some person from the address book, but when it is not that person, you end up with a mess that is Very Hard To Edit (TM) in the fax number field. Oh, and lots more. Well, OK, no viruses, so in that respect I'm still a happy camper.
Bert
Think of all those souls that are lost.
Bert
Who expects to see lots of embryos walking around in heaven.
Who resents them for being there, because they didn't have a chance at sinning.
The EU should for PC manufacturers to include another OS (say, a Linux distro).
Bert
Who thinks that the most evident proof of monopoly abuse is that dual boot systems are not available on the market.
Of course they could not. It was ORGANIZED religion in Russia (i.e. a church). And churches have power over people. And one power structure always wants to control another power structure for more power. Why do you think that churches in the US interfere with government while they could spend all their time praying to their god? It is a kind of conceding that praying doesn't work if you have to interfere directly.
Bert
Freedom of religions == desire to control other people's life (and without any shred of evidence for your flavour of religion. BTW, which of the thousands of religions do you have, in all good for even more gods. Let me guess, the only right one?).
Bert
Who regrets there is no hell
So people will work less time with Linux.
Bert
Your laptop has an acceleration sensor. It can be used to detect earthquakes.
http://qcn-web.stanford.edu/
Bert
To become a genius, you not only have to be smart, but also have to put in a lot of single-focus effort from a young age. And the latter is what has become hard, these days. Too many distractions, from games, TV, Internet, Slashdot, etc.
Remember the Polgar sisters. Intelligence and hard dedicated work made them into chess grandmasters.
Interestingly, I thought I'd look at Wikipedia for her, to see how she is doing now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polgar
Quote from her father: "Geniuses are made, not born"
Bert
Write a law that says that if an artist/group of artists doesn't get at least 10% of the gross revenue after a period of 5 years, then the copyright returns them. That will make sure that artitsts get rewarded. If the companies don't comply any copyright they own is returned to the original artist/artist. Artists themselves will not need the ridiculous long copyright terms.
Also, let's add a thing to copyright law that if an artist infringes on the copyright of another artist, he owes them half his royalties. That will make sure they don't want terms longer than reasonable.
Bert
Interestingly, if a client of mine sends me a Word document with drawings in them made with Visio, Word doesn't display them correctly at all. NeoOffice does a much better job (but still may show gray I asked the client to remove while the client says the drawing is purely black and white). Word is not compatible with Word. And that is just one example of the result of years of writing obfuscating code for market protection instead of trying to compete by providing a better product.
Bert
I think it would be better if the {the other) machines they sold ran both Windows and Linux (such that customers could run both concurrently). It would be great if a PC manufacturer could say: "Yes, you can run that Windows-ony business app of yours, but you also get (access to) a boat load of free useful software. It would sell. And buyers could throw off Linux if they insist.
That not being the case is still a tail of MS's monopoly abuse still present, I'm afraid.
Bert