Now I understand we as Indians are happy to live our lives peacefully sometimes in deart poverty, sometimes in happiness. We never went and invaded countries on the name of exploration.
I hate to burst your bubble, but Indians are people too.
I have no idea what the solution is - we're under attack from the politicians on both national and international levels, the corporations on a global scale... I don't see us winning this fight. Best we can hope for is a draw.
Who's this we? I live in Europe. A place where the odds of a British, French, German and Italian Telco merger is only slightly higher than the second coming of Elvis. The only effects I'm likely to feel is a little sluggishness on Slashdot while CmdrTaco relocates the whole operation to Amsterdam.
Still, it cuts me up to hear about the plight of folks in net restricted countries like China and Fortress Bell.... I mean the US.
Actually, I sold my 1600 square foot home (worth over US$250,000) and bought a US$40,000 trailer with over 1600 square feet. Why? US$210,000 that I now have in my pocket to spend on vacations, business trips, and new ways to make me money.
Ahhh! You're one of those capitalists. Ehh.. I salute your....ingenuity...?
In the PC world, there is no regulations on the cost, quality or performance of PCs. We have hundreds of companies selling products -- big boys like Dell and HP, small guys like Ram's PC Shop. Guess what? Prices have fallen even against inflation.
And in that same PC world, intel x86 chips still dominate over the higher quality competition, microsoft still dominate desktops with an inferior OS and products, and EULA-isms ensure that from top to bottom, the entire computer industry is filled to bursting with cowboys, schisters, and dissatisfied customers. Dell is still the biggest seller of,inferior quality, PCs. When was the last time you heard of Ram's PC shop getting bigger and bringing the benefit to a world of customers? eMachines? Better talk to the boys at gateway about that one.
In the automotive world, we have heavy regulations -- steel tariffs, union requirements and other government mandates. Car prices have risen, faster than inflation.
Yet strangely, in stark contrast to our previous example, the automotive industry is filled with lane after shimmering lane of satisfied customers. People who've paid over the price of inflation for their moving machines, yet are pleased with their purchaces. How can this be? Could it be that the meager regulations present prevent the absolute chicanery of the less accountable computer industry. Better yet regulation has helped prevent actual death thanks to safety standards. YMMV depending on juristiction.
In the soda world, we have almost no regulations (except for some USDA/FDA ones). Soda prices have fallen against inflation, and generic versions taste as good as the real ones in some occasions. I can buy a 2 liter of diet cola for US$0.49 versus US$0.99 a few years ago.
Good for you! Did you also realise that the same diet cola cost what, $0.05 to produce? Take a short look at the soft drinks industry. What do you see? That's right! Coca-Cola. One of the biggest companies in the world! Selling the same inflated product in ovre 200 countries. Ask yourself how a company selling sugared water is now the second or third largest on planet earth.
In the medicine world, we have excessive regulations, and prices have climbed beyond inflation. Really? Because there are plenty of minor drugs companies that can make "generic" drugs at rock bottom prices. Turns out they can't though. Not because of market regulation as it turns out, but because of our old friend the USPTO. You may want to lump the USPTO under "financial regulators" but you'll find a lot of companies won't be quite so happy to see the regulators decommissioned if their old pal Patty is given a pink slip as well.
In the clothing world, we have few regulations (some tariffs on cotton and other materials). I can buy a nice, quality hoodie for US$10 at H&M. A few years back they were over US$50 at the mall.
Oh my god! Google Asian Sweatshop NOW! That hoodie is worth, like, $2. The free market has gone to China and brought back nothing but margins my friend.
Tell me again how regulations help and anarchy hurts?
Anarchy sucks. Just ask the people of New Orleans. Excessive Regulation also sucks. Just ask... ummm can't think of many really good examples. Maybe England? Pre Thatcher? But it would suck.
However letting private individuals do what they like would really, really suck. It has even been tried before. the results were less than stellar. See Barbarian Hordes, Feudalism, child labor, JD Rockerfeller, and in fact, most of the rest of the guide.
Chumps I tell yah!! READ A BOOK!!! I mean... read the frontpage once in a while.
FFS 'Taco. Pretty soon the Cappuccino Mac heads at Digg will start looking like budding Ben Bradleys compared to the Slashdot editorial team!
Seriously. Seriously. Genuinely. Cards on the table. I'm dead serious. What the hell has been going on at Slashdot lately? Is it something we should know about? Could you please deal with this in the next Slashback? Do you read the front page?!
Such a law does not stop what it is intended to stop. Pirates will still be able to break the encryption, replicate the media, and resell it on the open street in lands far away from where American law can reach. This law is useless anywhere other than America.
This law is in no way designed to go after the big guys. It's all about the small fish and keeping them in check.
Essentially the TV and Movie industry is terriffied that what happened to the music industry will happen to them. I.e., people will stop viewing entertainment as a commodity. Or at the very least, people will realise that the prices they pay for it are unreasonable.
How does this law try to change that? Essentially it makes it more difficult for Joe Consumer to view his music, movies, films, tv shows, etc as something he can do what he likes with,.i.e. share. These restrictions, along with big warnings along the lines of "You cannot record this program", "you do not have permission...." "It is an offense..." etc, etc, all reinforce the idea in his head that a video or sound recording is not his/hers. It is still someone elses, despite copyright law and any monies he/she may have paid for the product.
The movie industry is afraid of what's already happened. New technologies have made people realise that information is cheap, and even cheaper to duplicate. There is no justification for charging $20 per gigabyte when I can upload terrabytes for less than a dollar. And people have realised this. Even Joe sixpack cops it after a few days in front of his computer.
But, if you can legislate, you can slow this tide and perhaps even reverse it. It is possible. Rhetoric won't make people revolt. An example of this system failing, but having lasting effects, is alcohol prohibition in the 30's. An example of this system working well( for its proponents) is the illegalisation of marijuana.
Far too few people will ever even hear about this because they're being constantly flooded with news about the war(s), upcoming elections, etc.
What? Most people never even get around to watching this kind of programming. They're too busy watching some guy getting arrested for a shooting or a robbery... on the national news station.
The kind of programming you're talking about is becoming increasingly rare, and if this legislation and more like it gets passed, then it looks like you won't be able to record this stuff and watch it later. Ignorence is.... bliss?
Course, he lived in the same building and had vaguely the same skin colour as a suspected terrorist, and he went from that building to a tube station, so you can't really blame the police.
Absolutely. The police did nothing wrong at all. Their actions as both judge, jury and executioner has a long established precedent in British jurisprudence.
It only took two times of dropping to one knee in the middle of the grocery aisle, upending my son onto the other knee and a couple of quick whacks on his bottom to curtail whiny outbursts over whatever pretty shiny box with on it that he wanted....
The next time he see's that particular item in the store, he'll even reiterate the reasons I gave him for not wanting to buy whatever it was
IM clients are the obviousplace to strapon VOIP communication. The jabber system would be a perfect VOIP framework. Your "number" will simply be your JabberID. Which is similar to an email address, so it's easy to remember.
You'll simply dial something like "malda@slashdot.org" to complain to Taco about the preponderance of dupes, and Taco can simply add your address "slashbot@cheapisp.com" to his ignore list.
If telemarketers become a problem, some kind of del.ico.us system might enable VOIP users to share a list of banned domains or addresses. Potential for abuse etc, etc.
Key point here is that a system based on "email" like addresses would be batter and easier to remember than the current telecoms number based system.
Investors sueing to stop a takeover of a tech company. Slashdot doesn't have a legal section, but the YRO section is the proper home for a story of this kind. The games section is not, depite the fact that it involves two game industry companies.
This is./ frontpage material. The near complete lack of comments shows just how little the average games section frequenter actually cares about mergers and hostile takeovers. It would be nice if there was a way of moving this to the YRO section at the very least.
I mean, this story is far more industry and legal based than it is about games.
The commercial opportunities must far outweigh those potential problems.
No kidding. Branson's investement is pretty much a no brainer. Estimates of price per ticket are at around $200,000 dollars a seat, times seven passengers is $1.4 million dollars in cash per flight.
Branson's in the airline business already. I'm not sure about the specifics of it, but I seriously doubt that there are any regular commercial flights out there that pull in $1.4 million dollars per trip. Even those that come close would be 747 type aircraft that probably cost as much to run as SpaceShipTwo will anyway. Can we get some figures here?
Now I would have said that Branson's best bet was to set up shop in some middle of nowhere location, to dodge regulations. But the fact that he's setting up shop inside the US shows that he's serious about doing things professionally. Nonetheless I expect customers will be expected to sign off in the event of an accident.
As to potential customers. Does anyone seriously suggest that Branson won't be able to find people willing to spend $200,000 on a trip into orbit. There are thousands of people who spend ten times that on a boat. I think he'll manage to fill a plane once a week at least.
Step 1: Wait for private group to develop initial technology. Step 2: Buy group and its technology. Step 3: Scale up development Step 4: Charge suckers $200,000 per flight AND satisfy them Step 3: PROFIT!!
Was this a slow submissions day or something? You're telling me no single submitter decided to post this?
Well, you can see why Zonk had to take affirmative action! Never mind those stories in the submissions box!! This one had Master Chief AANDD The Dead or Alive Girls!!
...a waste of money. Here's one player that never wins at monopoly!
Seriously, wait 18 months and the price of this rig drops by 50%. Until then, I'm quite content to play in 1024x768 at 60Hz with medium textures; and you know, it doesn't bother me in the least.
See you in the land of the lagless low ping times!
They'll just ship the show uncut, and no one will care. If any consumer watchdog shrills, they'll be quietly hushed up and the German economy will expierience a massive consumer boom, but there will be a corressponding increase in the bankruptcy and suicide rates.
Slashdot Mirror
Now I understand we as Indians are happy to live our lives peacefully sometimes in deart poverty, sometimes in happiness. We never went and invaded countries on the name of exploration.
I hate to burst your bubble, but Indians are people too.
"So! In the end it will be We, ze french, who will 'áve zese 'igher ping times!
Ve shall share 'La Marseilles' endlessly on e-'âne' while you foo-els wallow in your stupide slow Bell-net!
Now I go to browse ze web with mon wireless ISP during my two hour coffee break. Adieu... mes amie!!
Á HÁWW HU HÁWW HU HÁWW HU HÁWW!! "
I have no idea what the solution is - we're under attack from the politicians on both national and international levels, the corporations on a global scale... I don't see us winning this fight. Best we can hope for is a draw.
... I mean the US.
Who's this we? I live in Europe. A place where the odds of a British, French, German and Italian Telco merger is only slightly higher than the second coming of Elvis. The only effects I'm likely to feel is a little sluggishness on Slashdot while CmdrTaco relocates the whole operation to Amsterdam.
Still, it cuts me up to hear about the plight of folks in net restricted countries like China and Fortress Bell.
I don't understand how they can block Skype. Imagine if AOL decided to block all porn. People would be outraged. The ACLU would sue.
You see!! This is why Skype should have offered adult chat!
Actually, I sold my 1600 square foot home (worth over US$250,000) and bought a US$40,000 trailer with over 1600 square feet. Why? US$210,000 that I now have in my pocket to spend on vacations, business trips, and new ways to make me money.
Ahhh! You're one of those capitalists. Ehh.. I salute your....ingenuity...?
...Fire!
,inferior quality, PCs. When was the last time you heard of Ram's PC shop getting bigger and bringing the benefit to a world of customers? eMachines? Better talk to the boys at gateway about that one.
In the PC world, there is no regulations on the cost, quality or performance of PCs. We have hundreds of companies selling products -- big boys like Dell and HP, small guys like Ram's PC Shop. Guess what? Prices have fallen even against inflation.
And in that same PC world, intel x86 chips still dominate over the higher quality competition, microsoft still dominate desktops with an inferior OS and products, and EULA-isms ensure that from top to bottom, the entire computer industry is filled to bursting with cowboys, schisters, and dissatisfied customers. Dell is still the biggest seller of
In the automotive world, we have heavy regulations -- steel tariffs, union requirements and other government mandates. Car prices have risen, faster than inflation.
Yet strangely, in stark contrast to our previous example, the automotive industry is filled with lane after shimmering lane of satisfied customers. People who've paid over the price of inflation for their moving machines, yet are pleased with their purchaces. How can this be? Could it be that the meager regulations present prevent the absolute chicanery of the less accountable computer industry. Better yet regulation has helped prevent actual death thanks to safety standards. YMMV depending on juristiction.
In the soda world, we have almost no regulations (except for some USDA/FDA ones). Soda prices have fallen against inflation, and generic versions taste as good as the real ones in some occasions. I can buy a 2 liter of diet cola for US$0.49 versus US$0.99 a few years ago.
Good for you! Did you also realise that the same diet cola cost what, $0.05 to produce? Take a short look at the soft drinks industry. What do you see? That's right! Coca-Cola. One of the biggest companies in the world! Selling the same inflated product in ovre 200 countries. Ask yourself how a company selling sugared water is now the second or third largest on planet earth.
In the medicine world, we have excessive regulations, and prices have climbed beyond inflation.
Really? Because there are plenty of minor drugs companies that can make "generic" drugs at rock bottom prices. Turns out they can't though. Not because of market regulation as it turns out, but because of our old friend the USPTO. You may want to lump the USPTO under "financial regulators" but you'll find a lot of companies won't be quite so happy to see the regulators decommissioned if their old pal Patty is given a pink slip as well.
In the clothing world, we have few regulations (some tariffs on cotton and other materials). I can buy a nice, quality hoodie for US$10 at H&M. A few years back they were over US$50 at the mall.
Oh my god! Google Asian Sweatshop NOW! That hoodie is worth, like, $2. The free market has gone to China and brought back nothing but margins my friend.
Tell me again how regulations help and anarchy hurts?
Anarchy sucks. Just ask the people of New Orleans. Excessive Regulation also sucks. Just ask... ummm can't think of many really good examples. Maybe England? Pre Thatcher? But it would suck.
However letting private individuals do what they like would really, really suck. It has even been tried before. the results were less than stellar. See Barbarian Hordes, Feudalism, child labor, JD Rockerfeller, and in fact, most of the rest of the guide.
Chumps I tell yah!! READ A BOOK!!! I mean... read the frontpage once in a while.
FFS 'Taco. Pretty soon the Cappuccino Mac heads at Digg will start looking like budding Ben Bradleys compared to the Slashdot editorial team!
Seriously. Seriously. Genuinely. Cards on the table. I'm dead serious. What the hell has been going on at Slashdot lately? Is it something we should know about? Could you please deal with this in the next Slashback? Do you read the front page?!
Such a law does not stop what it is intended to stop. Pirates will still be able to break the encryption, replicate the media, and resell it on the open street in lands far away from where American law can reach. This law is useless anywhere other than America.
.i.e. share. These restrictions, along with big warnings along the lines of "You cannot record this program", "you do not have permission...." "It is an offense..." etc, etc, all reinforce the idea in his head that a video or sound recording is not his/hers. It is still someone elses, despite copyright law and any monies he/she may have paid for the product.
This law is in no way designed to go after the big guys. It's all about the small fish and keeping them in check.
Essentially the TV and Movie industry is terriffied that what happened to the music industry will happen to them. I.e., people will stop viewing entertainment as a commodity. Or at the very least, people will realise that the prices they pay for it are unreasonable.
How does this law try to change that? Essentially it makes it more difficult for Joe Consumer to view his music, movies, films, tv shows, etc as something he can do what he likes with,
The movie industry is afraid of what's already happened. New technologies have made people realise that information is cheap, and even cheaper to duplicate. There is no justification for charging $20 per gigabyte when I can upload terrabytes for less than a dollar. And people have realised this. Even Joe sixpack cops it after a few days in front of his computer.
But, if you can legislate, you can slow this tide and perhaps even reverse it. It is possible. Rhetoric won't make people revolt. An example of this system failing, but having lasting effects, is alcohol prohibition in the 30's. An example of this system working well( for its proponents) is the illegalisation of marijuana.
Far too few people will ever even hear about this because they're being constantly flooded with news about the war(s), upcoming elections, etc.
.... bliss?
What? Most people never even get around to watching this kind of programming. They're too busy watching some guy getting arrested for a shooting or a robbery... on the national news station.
The kind of programming you're talking about is becoming increasingly rare, and if this legislation and more like it gets passed, then it looks like you won't be able to record this stuff and watch it later. Ignorence is
Course, he lived in the same building and had vaguely the same skin colour as a suspected terrorist, and he went from that building to a tube station, so you can't really blame the police.
Absolutely. The police did nothing wrong at all. Their actions as both judge, jury and executioner has a long established precedent in British jurisprudence.
I was speaking more against the advantages over the H.323 system using 10 digit phone numbers.
It only took two times of dropping to one knee in the middle of the grocery aisle, upending my son onto the other knee and a couple of quick whacks on his bottom to curtail whiny outbursts over whatever pretty shiny box with on it that he wanted....
The next time he see's that particular item in the store, he'll even reiterate the reasons I gave him for not wanting to buy whatever it was
You're a Monster...
IM clients are the obviousplace to strapon VOIP communication. The jabber system would be a perfect VOIP framework. Your "number" will simply be your JabberID. Which is similar to an email address, so it's easy to remember.
You'll simply dial something like "malda@slashdot.org" to complain to Taco about the preponderance of dupes, and Taco can simply add your address "slashbot@cheapisp.com" to his ignore list.
If telemarketers become a problem, some kind of del.ico.us system might enable VOIP users to share a list of banned domains or addresses. Potential for abuse etc, etc.
Key point here is that a system based on "email" like addresses would be batter and easier to remember than the current telecoms number based system.
it is also entirely unrelated to rights online.
Investors sueing to stop a takeover of a tech company. Slashdot doesn't have a legal section, but the YRO section is the proper home for a story of this kind. The games section is not, depite the fact that it involves two game industry companies.
This is ./ frontpage material. The near complete lack of comments shows just how little the average games section frequenter actually cares about mergers and hostile takeovers. It would be nice if there was a way of moving this to the YRO section at the very least.
I mean, this story is far more industry and legal based than it is about games.
What happened to this post
Zonk: "Tell them there are limits to even my power!"
The commercial opportunities must far outweigh those potential problems.
No kidding. Branson's investement is pretty much a no brainer. Estimates of price per ticket are at around $200,000 dollars a seat, times seven passengers is $1.4 million dollars in cash per flight.
Branson's in the airline business already. I'm not sure about the specifics of it, but I seriously doubt that there are any regular commercial flights out there that pull in $1.4 million dollars per trip. Even those that come close would be 747 type aircraft that probably cost as much to run as SpaceShipTwo will anyway. Can we get some figures here?
Now I would have said that Branson's best bet was to set up shop in some middle of nowhere location, to dodge regulations. But the fact that he's setting up shop inside the US shows that he's serious about doing things professionally. Nonetheless I expect customers will be expected to sign off in the event of an accident.
As to potential customers. Does anyone seriously suggest that Branson won't be able to find people willing to spend $200,000 on a trip into orbit. There are thousands of people who spend ten times that on a boat. I think he'll manage to fill a plane once a week at least.
Step 1: Wait for private group to develop initial technology.
Step 2: Buy group and its technology.
Step 3: Scale up development
Step 4: Charge suckers $200,000 per flight AND satisfy them
Step 3: PROFIT!!
honestly, does anyone actually understand what the heck they're going on about here???
More or less. Essentially the author is saying:
"Buy My Book....Buy My Book...."
Was this a slow submissions day or something? You're telling me no single submitter decided to post this?
Well, you can see why Zonk had to take affirmative action! Never mind those stories in the submissions box!! This one had Master Chief AANDD The Dead or Alive Girls!!
...a waste of money. Here's one player that never wins at monopoly!
Seriously, wait 18 months and the price of this rig drops by 50%. Until then, I'm quite content to play in 1024x768 at 60Hz with medium textures; and you know, it doesn't bother me in the least.
See you in the land of the lagless low ping times!
He's not really out there so much as acting like a packet kiddy on IRC who thinks he can bully everyone.
Did he ever act otherwise?
Who the hell is Stan Williams!?
they'll have to push the higher resolution but the general public doesn't really understand that much so it's something really abstract to them.
Oh the general public understands HD very well alright. They really just don't care, and at current prices, honestly counldn't be bothered with it.
They'll just ship the show uncut, and no one will care. If any consumer watchdog shrills, they'll be quietly hushed up and the German economy will expierience a massive consumer boom, but there will be a corressponding increase in the bankruptcy and suicide rates.
Debugging perl? Doesn't that defeat the whole point?