I actually hope windows doesn:t change the default root access it grants users. I dread the day when they change this I have to sit on the phone for hours with my family when they get their new computer, explaining to them what root access is compared to regular user settings, whats the difference,and why they should actually care to not be root. I believe this will happen just as my mom is trying to install an IM to talk with her sisters.
I dread the day when this happens, because no one on start up will read what microsoft puts up there, even if its in big bold type, and so every help line will be clogged with wanting to know how to fix this. I don`t know what would be a good fix though. Maybe certain parts of the system in home users should just be made almost completely inaccessible until many, many, many hoops are jumped through. The computer litterate could do this, but if you make it such that in daily use, these priveledges aren`t needed, few regular users that don`t worry about security will be struck. Of course, this is very difficult when you do foolish things like integrate your web browser. I`m sure if the best crackers went at it, they could expose many security holes in mozilla but the difference is htat its a lot more difficult to control a system from a mozilla security hole. At best, you could probably make mozilla act up.
Of course, I hope microsoft surprises us all by making IE *not integrated* come longhorn, becuase I think this would allow for much more comprehensive security, but I highly doubt this will happen, so we are just SOL, eh?
This has always been my problem with linux. I never learned a command line growing up but I am fine with using a computer adn typing at those 300 characters a minute. I`m not scared to learn anything new and I honestly made an effort to learn the command line in linux, but it just didn:t go to well so until I have a high quality linux guide I can turn to, thats out.
so then I go into the GUI, and I just can`t do everything I do in windows. Frankly, windows is set up to where you can do everything your OS is capable of from the GUI, this is not so with linux and it hurts someone like me. I love to tinker, but I`m not off to learn a command line just to tinker. XP does great in letting me do that.
And I must say in MS`s defense, a lot of viruses are spread on it due to end user ignorance and the funny thing is, everyone on slashdot gets up in arms but a lot of end users frankly don`t care. Once the computer slows down people think its getting old(as if a clean system just slows down over time with no software changes) and buy a new one. Also, Open source is not automatically a better product and I have had to deal with numerous open source programs that are pitiful(equally true for closed source).
personally, I think the problem with software is patents, not copyright, and this was adressed above. Patents mean that I can`t write a program that does exactly what your`s does. While copyright protects the expression of the idea(I`m all for when not out of control like campfire songs), patents should not be some overarching thing. I think patents stifle innovation because you can`t try to do the same thing better, and this at times leads to insight on other problems.
I usually manage and around several hundred large files(all in excess of 300 megs) and almost always, when accessing where they are or moving them from one harddrive to the next I finish my work fine but then for some reason, explorer continues to use 99% of my processor(2.4 p4). At first, I had no idea what it was doing so I let it run for a few hours and nothing happned so I crashed explorer and started it again, problem fixed but about as annoying as anything. Have you ever tried to bring up the task manager and do something when you processor is devoted to a program doing nothing!
I was wondering if anyone had/has this problem and if anything in SP2 adresses it. At least half the time I open a folder with large files or play a file(these are mostly movies), and every time I try to copy something this happens. It actually happens so much I always as a precaution regulate explorer to the lowest priority setting so in case I need to save info before ending explorer and brining it back up I can save data in important applications that are running. I think its ridiculous that i have to put up with this and I find it disgusting that when linux can handle those big, scary files, windows barfs on them every time.
Now that I am calm again, any help or recommendations would be appreciated and if SP2 actually adresses this. I wrote a pissy letter to MS about it when it happened and then realized, they don't actually care. I got my comptuer with windows on it, it was a laptop or else that would have never happened and I think they know that when they get a pissy, technically competent letter.
really, since your temper tantrum seems to be out of control, I will only make four points, one actually supports you in your ramblings(I think your version of lessons in economics to the general community, which I am sure you have studied in such incredible depth that you might be on the verge of a nobel prize break through).
As you said, "The CORRECT thing to do would be to spend that $50 billion (or at least as much of it as could be controlled - $50 billion is a LOT of money to control) on significant R&D. This would improve MS's chances of being even more profitable in the future, and thus an even better stock pick."
well, I think you should be informed, the spend billions every year on R&D, it just happnes that they make quite a bit more. As you said, 50 billion is a lot, but so is 10 billion, and its really hard to find a use for almost 37 billion dollars you pull in every year. There profit in one year is closer to 9 billion. There are few companies that boast these kinds of numbers. IBM sees profit like this but also sees over 20 billion dollars in debt, that at least gives you something to do with your money if you ever want to. Further, IBM does more than just software, a lot more, so they have many more routes to pursue. This is in no way a lesson in economics, just pointing out that for a purely software company, it might be difficult to spend this kind of money.
I personally think this money is being used wisely. In the end, it is the investor's money and successful companies should award shareholders with dividends. Most major companies do, it makes them true long term investments. I think Microsoft is admitting that it can't continue to expand its software industry at the amazing pace they did for nearly 20 years. One of many stocks I hold is microsoft and I'll be glad to see this dividend. I won't comment on the stock buyback because there are many reasons a company would engage in this but from what I have read, it usually means "hey, we don't need the investors as much and hey, are stock is lagging, lets take back some of those shares and make our company more independent again).
You also grace us with the genius comment "And all it cost them was giving away the company's R&D (and/or acquisition) nest egg.
Which cost them nothing because they have NO FUCKING CLUE how to spend it on R&D ANYWAY! "
well, I'll give you one example of what they are losing, interesting on all that money and yes, interest, even today, can be worth a lot. Frankly, if they are following econ 101, they don't invest it in R&D because the returns on those investments is below the return of interest yielding investments. Yes, this is an economics lesson because it should be considered as it always is by major companies before investing in something.
3. "Also, if you give away a big stock benefit, what happens? Morons buy your stock hoping it will happen again. This keeps your stock price up. " I hope no one, including you, would think a divident announced as a One time deal, and one that will eat through most of a companies cash, is likely to happen a second time. More likely, is people will buy the stock over the next 3 years of this happening to cash in on this dividend and the natural run up of a stock price during a buy back. and yes, this is a great way to buy time until Longhorn and Office whatever comes out.
4. "And they can't buy anybody because everybody else would rather die than work for Microsoft! "
Please, some form of proof before writing bull shit about a company. Every time I speak to my family in india, they see it as an amazing employment opportunity for young people to work for Microsoft and several other countries. Now if you are talking about solely developers, I have no idea but you have given me nothing to go by.
Now I will actually attempt to address some points made in the article which I personally think over exagerates the situation slightly. I think Microsoft represents a sm
I think there might be something deeper with flip flopping. Yes, it is ok in theory to admit you made a mistake, but since when has anyone in power done that??? If you admit a mistake, you admit your judgement could be flawed. This is detrimental.
Could you imagine what would happen if our politicians were honest. In Kerry actually said what he believes in or if Bush would stand up and be willing to say he regrets having given the American people false information on WMD programs in Iraq or an Al Quaeda connection?? This is why we haven't heard too much out of our president about the 9/11 panel, it says he made a decision that was characteristally wrong!! If all politicians weren't horribly arrogant, then we would actually see open revisions and real stances, but if they did this, americans would lose faith. Its so easy to sucker people in. I can make people think I'm a computer genius by doing simple things at high speed but I can't even use a command line in any efficient way.
If politians didn't flip flop, they would simply be voted out because they would seem "weak" and by god we would hate that. I mean, what a novel idea to be able to say you were wrong, but few people can do it. Before you accuse our politians of how terrible they are, they do what they need to do to be reelected. We are the only people that can change that. Hey, corporations might fund them, but last I checked, someone named RIAA doesn't go vote come november but we all can and that is the only way to change things. If you hate the way things are, go against the incumbents.
You know, I think this will be the only time I post this, but when we have articles like this, the community really gets fired but. But honestly, do any of you do anything. Of every slashdot member that doens't like this spreads the word to other forums and sends messages to their senators, you can get something done. Showing a willingness to do something in force can scare any senator. They get lots of money beyond their pay check from congress as long as they are in office, hit them hard. Do not vote for people that support things that you are vehemently against. When you see them tresspass where they shouldn't, fight back. Yes its hard, and you will probably be shot down, but just keep doing it, over and over. I personally have written 3 responses to my senator about this(yes, I neglected to right to the other one, that will be tonight). If you don't care enough to do something, then quit complaining. Democracy is supposed to be about getting your voice heard and corporations are doing their best to drown you out, I love how so many people just let them do it. Laziness never helped a democracy get anything worthwhile done.
Ok, please read a 1960`s history book at some point before you ask how guns can take out heavy weaponry. Seems to me we didn`t worry about too many vietcong attacks from B-52 equivalent bombers but hey, somehow, we were still beaten back from that country. Of course you can make many arguments about how the US did things wrong, but in the end, we still got beat with superior fire power in every category. There has always been a major differential between what the government had and what people had, even right after the revolution, almost no regular citizens owned cannons, which are quite superior to muskets, it didn`t mean muskets became illegal. I`m not sure what is the best way to find a balance between gun rights and gun controls, but I know I don`t agree with either extreme and you need at least some education on history before using extreme examples.
Ok, you sir, no longer are allowed to post about economics. You sound like our president and that, when it comes to anything academic, is not a good thing. It is not that your conclusions are wrong, but just like our president, you`ve outdone yourself in overstating the case here.
Your example. Lets say 1000 Radeon`s are sold every year(round numbers keep math simple) and ATI has to pay 1000$ in taxes. Lets say at this point this Radeon costs 10$ so 10% of what I pay goes to their income tax, this is by your logic. Thats fine and I can agree with that. Now lets say we get a new law that says ATI has to pay 2000$ a year in taxes. By your logic, every Radeon will now cost 11$. This price increase must happen because it all gets passed along to the consumer. This is completely wrong because you assume that ATI is not a profit maximizing business and no, it does not make sense to do this.
Quick argument, we all know ATI has competitors. Well, guess what , if you raise your price by 10% to pass along the tax burden to the consumer, well, people are going to shift away from your product. You will no longer sell 1000 Radeon`s and therefore, your overall profits will drop, I guarantee it. The only time they won`t is if no matter hte price, you will always sell exactly 1000 Radeons. So whats the outcome, the price will probably rise, but only by a small percent. And because we are in such a competitive graphics market, it will probably only go up by a very small amount and ATI will take the hit to their profits in order to remain competitive in this market.
Of course, I have neglected things like brand loyalty or the fact that a Radeon differs from its major competitors at all, but since you went with such a simplified version, I don`t plan on writing a thesis about the full effects.
Now this is not to say your actual argument doesn`t have base and I lack the information to refute or support what you have written their. I could not in any way guarantee a business boom or refute the possibility of it occurring. But I must say that taxes are not the major reason corporations will outsource to other countries. As was posted earlier though I cannot confirm it with hard evidence, Most corporations do not pay a great deal in taxes to the government. The real benefit of outsourcing is extremely cheap labor. And before everyone screams about how terrible outsourcing is, it does lead to lower production costs and this theoretically should lead to lower prices for the consumers(mainly us) and if they don`t, stock holders get more out of it. Anyways, outsourcing doesn`t bother me all that much because most developed countries destroy any chance of competitive farming in the rest of the world by subsidizing farmers at incredible rates. I guess if we are gonna bite them one way, they might as well bite us back another.
And for any argument for the abolition of taxes, its not a good one to say it will help the economy run more efficiently. Every tax hurts the efficiency of the economy but once things have settled to a status quo, people do adapt. And without taxes, our goverment would have a lot harder time staying out of debt or functioning for that matter. And no, there isn`t a time in history when by cutting taxes deeply, we have seen an economic boom that completely makes up for the lost tax revenue.
Oh well, just thought I`d post some realistic economics for those who care to not listen to overstatement.
I don:t really understand the controller issue everyone is talking about. When I started emulating games, I couldn:t stand playing console games with a mouse and keyboard(and frankly, if halo would work on my computer, I`d prefer it with a mouse/keyboard but go figure). But frankly, 25 dollars later, I had a USB controller for my computer with the exact setup of the PS1 controller and all the functionality of any controler out there. It works perfectly with all my games and I have tried them using both. Frankly though, most computer games are much to complex to play with a controller but then, some are more fun(spiderman 2, for example, is much to simple for a keyboard/mouse).
Anyone with this problem, I suggest doing the same thing. That 25$ controller is really useful in the end.
I think we should go one step further with the argument about whether or not the A bomb was a good decision, in either dropping it or the developement of a nuclear arsenal. Frankly, lets just agree that what ever source you site is BS when it comes to talking about how many lives were saved and how many were lost and how many have been permanently altered as compared to those who's lives remained the same. If someone cares to enlighten me, maybe we have found those alternate universes that Hawking talks about and therefore we can talk about lives saved/lost and do a real analysis, until then, just let it go.
One note though, if I am playing around in a large factory and someone gets hurt because I do something stupid, if I knew nothing of the workings of the factory should I still be held responsible for that person's suffereing? well, it depends but its kinda like what American was doing. Of course we knew that since we were playing with something so destructive there were bound to be some side effects, or else why would we test Nukes near people. Just something to think about, I personally think the US is a little responsible to its own people we tested this stuff on.
And as for the bombings of Japan, I have no idea if lives were saved or lost and if we can say the loss of civilian lives is worse than that of military lives and if a dead american is a greater loss than a dead Japanese person. But I'm sure they sat down and measured this along with things like how easy it would be to occupy the country afterwards, the value of seeing these weapons in action, and many other factors. You know, I'm not taking a stand, I'm just gonna settle for "I don't know, and I can only hope the right decision was made." In the end, the civilians we killed with those two bonds does not even come close to the number of civilians we purposely killed during the rest of the war. I think if you are going to be angry about one, be agry about them all. I mean, before the war, Tokyo and surroundings had a population of near 7 million, at the end of the war, it had dropped to around 2.5 million, my source is the Tokyo-Edo Museum in Ryougoku(a small part of Tokyo). So yeah, the aftermath adn civilian loss of the bombs sucked but you know, we did a whole lot worse and you shouldn't ignore that.
Slowly, the Linux CLI is becoming transparent, but I think a problem with it is that there isn:t great hardware support for linux. Yes I know if you are running linux, why not buy linux supported hardware but fact is, I want my hardware cheap and fast that means wal mart for most things. Frankly, I don:t think I have ever seen an overtly advertised linux compatible anything at wal mart.
I`m trying to ingrate the use of both windows and linux but frankly, its tough for me because my hardware now isn:t well supported by linux. to get small portions of my computer working, I had to have a friend knowledgable with the command line come help. This isn:t being allergic to the command line, but rather if I wanted to figure out how to do this myself, I was looking at probably 7 or 8 hours of reading and practice with the command line to do 5 minutes of work. Frankly, I love the GUI in linux becuase it doesn:t waste processor cycles on simple things, but I can:t spend all my free time for weeks on end just to get my hardware up adn running. This is my hurdle to adopting linux, I think if hardware support was fixed, you would get a lot of people like me to shift over. If I shift over, then I feel my parents can shift over and you start to get a general movement away from windows. I`m not computer expert by any means, but really any linux movement for the desktop needs to try to first work with people like me, with computer skills and knowledge, but without the time to dedicate to a completely new operating system.
And as security goes, I think linux users and advocates need to realize for probably half of people out there, the fact that windows isn:t secure doesn:t matter at all, why shoudl it when you only check email and play solitaire?? Yes, in customer data bases at places like amazon, there is sensitive information, but I personally try not to keep any sensitive data on my computer(though I know there are traces of it).
Another post said it best, yes my computer is just like my toaster and my Fridge and frankly, if my toaster didn:t work when I took it out of hte box and plugged it in, why keep it and throw out the semi faulty toaster? Especially if the problems with that toaster don:t really bother me at all?? That linux is free helps a lot, but still isn:t enough when my computer came with windows(in many people`s mind, this is effectively free as there doesn:t exist the alternatives of building the computer by your self).
But I must say, at the speed of advancement in linux, it will be something in 2 or 3 years, I`ve already seen drastic improvement of Redhat 9 to core 2. And maybe come core 4 or 5, I can make a compelte switch and abandon windows(I only play classic games that wine emulates just perfectly) but not just yet. For now, I`m in limbo, learning linux for the day when I`ll be free of MS.
I think there is one way around this. Lets say we have a patent that is one step beyond obvious, I say that if someone says they thought about it, well , too bad. I`m sure years before we had AC someone thought about a machine that could cool a room off, especially down here in florida. But you know, I don`t think my day dreaming of something should matter to the court. Rather, if there is hard written proof of this idea being consider before the patent application,and the idea would actually have to show some form a knowledge into how it would be done, not just random ideas like hot air in, cold air out. Of course, there are levels where even this becomes complicated, but the judge should have the ability and be required to, if no proof is explicity shown immediately, throw the case out. This would keep someone like SCO from bothering IBM because they didn`t show any proof oringinally and still have yet to show more than a snippet of it.
This is just an overview of some ideas that have been pinging around slashdot and several other communities for a while. Namely, that because of some small changes that seemed to be for the better, patents are now under the jurisdiction of a court that loves them and the patent office is encouraged to rush patents through without thinking because they get their funding that way rather than from taxpayers.
The failings of this seem obvious after our discussions here, and I think that because the patent office is not supposed to be some pro business advocate but rather, a group of people set up to facilitate innovation into uncharted technologies(hence not obvious and no prior art) now just stifles innovation as obvious extensions of old ideas are inhibbiting their usage in useful R&D.
I think the review shows authors that really stand for a sane position, one that doesn`t completely remove the patent system but rather turns it back into what it was originally intended to be(not giving patents to companies for marketing the PB&J sandwich without crust, yes, its a patent according to the article). When this book comes out, I will be on the lookout because it seems these people have some ideas that need to get some attention and they have the clout to go somewhere with these ideas. Our representatives are only as sleavy as we permit them to be so we have to read up so we have some real knowledge and show our support for a complete overhall of the patent system and a review of many patents granted in the last 10 years(especially technology patents). Kudos to these authors for bringing this debate into what might become the main stream.
I don't know what you all are afraid of. Lets say we get to global warming first, I have the full proof solution that has been tried and tested in Florida for years, AC!!
And what if a meteor hits.... ignoring the suck possibility that it lands on me or near me, I figure the power companies would love it, we would need light 24/7 from the dust in the air and heaters woudl be running overitme. Of course, if you aren't american, you might feel for all the people without heat or AC but hey, its survival of the fittest.
I just got out to Japan and I'm here for the next 7 months. I think any etiquette you read on cell phones is really country specific.
For example, in the US, there are mixed feelings on the 2 way radio. I love it but a lot of people hate the thing. Unless someone is being rude about their conversation, usually we don't bother people on cell phones though.
Japan is a completely different story. I picked up a cell phone when I got out here a few weeks back and everyone just kind of stared at me while I was talking on it. I come to find out in Japan is not polite to talk on a cell phone in a public place(It might have to do with how crowded Tokyo is) and if you do talk, you must cover your mouthso it muffles your voice(which is actually engenious because more sound takes picked up by the reciever and you can actually talk softer).
As for telemarketers, I usually just say that I am not interested and hangup without giving them a chance. I don't want to be rude to them because I know people that have had to do that work, and it sucks. They really do hate bothering you, but for them, a sale really could mean eating ramen or eating something have decent.
If I know who is calling, I will usually answer with the caller's name but I have had some wierdness happen with it(like when my dad calls me with my mom's cell phone) but today, I think everyone understands. But if it isn't a close friend or family and I know the caller I still answer and ask for their name.
I don't think any loud discussions should be done in public, its really annoying for people around you. I usually try to keep the conversations to a minimum or when I get 2-wayed from a friend I just ask them to wait a bit unless its an emergency.
Oh well, just for your reference I'm 20 and in college.
cya
I just have to say, very very very few americans are working 12+ hours a day, for most Americans on average, we sit right around 40 hours a week, so unless people suddenly shifted to the 3 and 1/3 day schedule, I don't think we can blame the economic slowdown. (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm), its my only source I could google quickly, but it is the department of labor, which keeps great stats for this stuff.
Personally, I have been reading less but frankly, I went a couple years without finding good books to read. I think school had something to do with it when I had a long line of just terrible books I had to read. But then a couple years ago after some good books were assigned to read, I suddenly got my love of it back. I think what was most difficult about starting again was finding something I liked, and low adn behold, it has actually harry potter than came to the rescue during a really slow week in the summer before my senior year(yes, I actually spent a week reading all four). But then I realized something, to find good reading, you really have to figure out what you like to read adn because most people are too used to television giving them very few choices(compared to books), they don't know how to find that little nitch of books thats just for them. Recently, I've been reading Book of Five Rings, but every time I stop reading it gets really hard to start again. I think between tv and the net, I'm not used to dedicating as much time to one interesting thing. Slowly though, I'm coming back into it.
I highly suggest anyone that doesn't read to just go out and start on some book, any book, and don't make it a comic book, make it something with real plot developement and characters that are memorable. Of course, the only way you will know this is if you ask and trust people who read a lot. Its a real leap of faith because unlike tv or the net, it will take a few hours before you realize you love it or hate it.
I think the reason I started reading at all was because my mother saw it as something very important. It also helped that she read a variety of books to me when I was really young, between religious stories(I'm hindu, so there are a lot more) and things like Oliver Twist, it inspired me to want to read all the time. I suggest if you have kids and you want them to read, the best way is to do it with them. I mean, I started reading because of my mother and sister and I watched jeopardy religiously until I was about 14 with the hopes of one day outdoing my dad, of course, it never happened.
I don't know if its a question of underestimating my mother as much as I know where the computer and its improvement ranks on her list, somewhere behind buying a new car, which she has no thoughts of. Frankly, most people here on slashdot take pride in having a computer than runs well because I don't care if you have linux, or a mac, or windows, there is always improvements and fixes that have to be done. Example... Linux can't recongnize my monitor and I had no idea how to get it to display the widescreen, well, my buddy new how to edit a file to tell it to run at a certain resolution. I also had to search the web for ways to turn off certain things during my original install because it continued to lock up while starting the install.
But I know how to find the answers to these things, my mother does not. I think my dad put it best when I was trying to teach him how to keep up the computer, "If there was money to be made if I learned how to use a computer, in a month I would know more than you". I think its motivation for most people, my parents are only recently opening up to email and the web. It took a while, but finally they are starting to understand how to use search engines, but to do all of this I had to walk them through the exact steps several times and they took the time to write down exactly what I did so they could do it on their own.
Frankly, I don't think I could spend the hours and hours trying to teach them how to hunt down programs to do what they want, but I think after several years of only using email and spider solitaire, I can now start to show them how to find things that are useful. I don't consider my parents backward users at all, but simply they don't rank learning a computer high on their list and frankly, why should they if all they want to do is check email and play simple games? This I think is what windows does, it advertises lots of flashy programs and people think that for some reason, if you get office XP, that 200 word email will somehow look different or nicer, even if you use the same font and size. This is an amazingly powerful business strategy, to realize that american's aren't minimalists even on something that can cost over a thousand dollars and exploit it. Frankly, 70% of all computer usage isn't something that couldn't be done in dos, so why does everyone upgrade, its flashy. I hope one day to be that damn good at reading people..... its not as easy as it may seem in hindsight.
this incessantly rambling post did have a point, I just forgot it.
I of course, must give credit where it is due, it is very true that the software industry is extremely healthy(screw healthy, that`s like saying gluttony in america is healthy;) but they have earned it. I think it and the dvd business is proof a high quality product will still be bought and no matter what you do, a high quality product will be pirated.
My only knowledge on this, there were about 200 people on the torrent at suprnova for UT04 a couple weeks back but I`m sure thousands probably bought it in that time period. And of course, I am very glad I got a pirated version of Halo first, because contrary to what the box says, it will not run on my laptop even though I meet all the requirements and turn everything down to a minimum, I blue screen and restart. That saved me a good bit of money. And I can also say depending on the time, my money usually shifts between movies and computer games, the only CD in the last 10 years to intrigue me into buying was the Evanescense cd(no, I cannot spell) so I think it might be a good point to say the RIAA has lost sales to DVD`s and computer games because most kids that I know are working on a limited budget. and no, I hadn`t thought that was a real possibility but after hearing it and thinking about my experiences, it does make sense.
And yes, I was being horribly melodramatic at the end of my post, I probably should more accurately say that if I was limited into only buying a BMW 5 series instead of that 7 series I always wanted, I would be pissed off;).
One slight problem, lets take this one step further, I can by a dvd player for 40 dollars(a floor model without a box) and it works great. But you know, I might just buy 1 dvd a month and suddenly in a year, at 20 dollars a dvd, I`ve paid 6x as much for dvd`s as I did the player. But you know what, like yoru barebones pc, with out these things, you just have a box, and for as cheap as the pc and my dvd player are, they aren`t even that pretty to look at. There is a nice rule in economics, I don`t care how much you complain, if you buy a product, no matter how loudly you complain, it was obviously worth the money. This actually includes if your teacher requires you to drop 60 dollars on MS Excel. You still got something out of that purchase(namely, a grade).
I love copyright arguments on Slashdot, for some reason people decide to forget the original points and argue about semantics so I`m just gonna use a slight disclaimer, IANAL so I don`t give a rat`s ass what any technical term I use means. Everyone here damn well knows what the speaker intends so we might as well just move on.
Personally, I don`t see why people say copyright infringement is ok if you find something wrong with what the person is offereing. Another disclaimer: no, not one post here has said it is ok. All that many slashdot users do is defend it by giving meaningless excuses like its too expensive or there are too many features that I don`t need. If this is all really the case, well, pick up and find a different program.
Unfortunately, I don`t by any of these arguments about how so many people feel this software is crap. There is really only one question to ask yourself and you`ll see my point, why would you waste time getting yourself a pirated copy of a program, possibly exposing yourself to great risks, when both the proprietary program is not good and there exist better open source alternatives. I`ll give you the most prevalent reason that so many people here won`t admit to, the software is perfectly fine and the reason you pirate is because it is good and you have found a reasonably safe way to get it illegally. Yes I do have some pirated software adn a lot of software that exists in a limbo like area(namely, I split the price of it and me and a friend share the thing). but you know, I didn`t get them for free because I thought the software was overpriced or not good, but rather I found a nice free alternative and I`m just not all that moral(UT04 is worth 50 bucks, I just had the option of getting it for free, go figure what I`m going to do). So I will admit it, software companies have lost money to my free alternatives.
Hey its the same with the movie theaters. If I want to check out a movie, I used to have to rent it. As I went to blockbuster, that was 4 dollars into their pocket, some of which makes its way back to the parent companies and movie studios. Well, every since I can get the movie for free, screw renting it, and when I find ultra high quality downloads, I don`t usually think about buying it either. If everyone on this site stopped arguing points like `they don:t know if I would buy it, so how can they say they lost money` and just took a long look at the things they ahve done, maybe they would see things a little different. I will admit that not all pirated versions of software are sales, but you know, I would bet a whole lot of them are and so while the industry might not have lost 29 billion, I will beleive they have lost a reasonable percent of that money.
and of course, my sematics tidbit: is it theft, I`m not quite sure, but I`m damn sure if I wrote an amazing computer game with incredible code and my program was so well set up that it didn`t require support, I would want some compensation for it. Now imagine I spent the last 5 years of my life working on this code and now everyone `infringes on my copyright` and uses it for free, I would be one pissed off person because my pleasure from seeing people like my game sure as hell wouldn`t feed me. Honestly, wouldn`t any of you be? ~Gordo3000
I have to say that I sit somewhere between the two of you. There are things that I love and hate in both linux and windows, though really I shouldn't say I hate anything in Linux but that's for later.
I love playing games on a rare basis, because I don't want to worry about getting the latest edition of wine and making the game work, I keep windows. It is solely for that purpose but it has other advantages. As an econ major, I deal for ages with excel files and usually I'm required to turn them in in a format that the teacher can easily read, any trouble he has could mean a lower grade and even though open office is great, it has lots of trouble on the randomest of things. I don't run into version problems with windows(between my computer and my teacher's, the computer lab is a completely different matter) but at least because of what my school does, we have version compatibility. This means I prefer to just do the spreadsheet work on windows rather than having to double check that everything on 20 or 30 excel sheets is exactly as I want it. Sometimes this isn't very easy as I might fill up 10000 cells on one sheet.
But then windows crashes constantly, can't move large files without explorer throwing up on me, has endless problems with compatibility of previous releases of their own software(Excel sheets can't port properly from the latest version to only 2 generations ago, and I don't use any new features, I versed enough to know that), I have to constantly be on the alert for the next major security exploit and lock down specific parts of my computer usage if as windows loves to do, wait for ages to come out with a patch.
So for many things, I just got fed up with windows and had a linux zealot as my good friend and neighbor at school get me started. When I say get me started, he gave me the install cd's. I'm not so ignorant as to have trouble with a right click functionality. Now get this, wtih my wierded out hardware, core 1 didn't want to install easily but I took about 2 minutes on the web and found the solution. It happens to be that any time I have a problem with windows I usually spend hours hunting down a solution, and that usually happens to be a functional program on sourceforge(example: VLC replaced windows media player when in order to get WMP to run I would have to spend hours hunting down the right codecs and how to use them while for some reason, they just flawlessly play on VLC).
So I'm caught in the transition between windows and Linux, I don't think I will ever fully migrate but slowly I use linux more and more. Anyone who has problems with the redhat desktop should probably crawl back under a rock. I can do everything on it and a helluva lot more than with windows, especially with that nice multiple desktop feature X does. My only real complaint with linux is what I had with windows years ago, I don't know it well. But oddly enough, I can almost do everything I do on windows. I know if I spend the time, I can make linux 100x more functional. I think the real problem is this, while linux users claim to be lazy people always looking for ways to save time and evergy, they aren't lazy when it comes to computers, they like the idea of learning something new. Anyone who defends windows way of doing this really just doens't want to learn something new. Because Windows is much older in most people's mind, its ways are cemented in. We actually associate their nonsensical names with certain program functions(no, excel and powerpoint in no way describe what the programs do, but after years of having the association drilled into our heads, it does). So of course, the argument that I like my program names to make sense really doesn't have any merit.
I think it any well versed windows user sat down and used X(not the mac) they would almost seemlessly integrate, all they would need to do is get used to programs being in different places. I love one thing about linux, you don't ever have to touch the command line if you don't want to(and frankly, because of
I have two major things to point out about this. A good friend of mine is a pilot(well, now co-pilot) for US Airways and he has told me that the reason for then ban on cell phones is simply due to a guess years ago when cell phones were first coming into real usage. No one really knew what they would do but he has said he has never seen any problem in flight, take off, or landing due to cell phones(I take this means he has used his before because he keeps it with him all the time).
Further, my father is a private pilot, similar to the poster above with a single engine plane with lots of those nice gadgets like GPS and such, and I can say from using my cell phone in flight countless times, it has no effect on any instruments he uses during flight. I'm not sure about takeoff because usually he will let me do it and even if he didn't, the engine is running near 100%, which is like a constant roar, I wouldn't be able to hear anything. By my experience, I'm inclined to believe my friend that this is merely bad science that just keeps persisting because airlines have no monetary reason to allow cell phone use.
As for the ruling, I think it was a great idea. There are several landlords that try to ban wireless networks, and I think its because with a little savvy, one person to get internet and broadcast to anyone in the building he so pleases. I know when I visit my sister, her neighbors have a completely unprotected wireless network so I just use that rather than my sister's dial-up. If I were to bring a repeater to my sister's place and set it up, I could extend that network to several other places.
actually, if you take certain political science classes(disclaimer: you could have learned differently), one of things you'll find out is that they have this nice little scale for determining where your beliefs stand. The range is extremely liberal(far left) to extremely conservative(far right). Actually, none of this applies to almost any politics you see in the US as almost everyone lies much closer to the center.
On the far left, you have communism and on the far right you have fascism.
Many groups misuse these name in this context but hey, who's to say the one context I've learned it in is somehow correct, but it is just as valid and probably where the user got the idea that far left means communist.
Cheers,
Sean
Slashdot Mirror
I actually hope windows doesn:t change the default root access it grants users. I dread the day when they change this I have to sit on the phone for hours with my family when they get their new computer, explaining to them what root access is compared to regular user settings, whats the difference,and why they should actually care to not be root. I believe this will happen just as my mom is trying to install an IM to talk with her sisters.
I dread the day when this happens, because no one on start up will read what microsoft puts up there, even if its in big bold type, and so every help line will be clogged with wanting to know how to fix this. I don`t know what would be a good fix though. Maybe certain parts of the system in home users should just be made almost completely inaccessible until many, many, many hoops are jumped through. The computer litterate could do this, but if you make it such that in daily use, these priveledges aren`t needed, few regular users that don`t worry about security will be struck. Of course, this is very difficult when you do foolish things like integrate your web browser. I`m sure if the best crackers went at it, they could expose many security holes in mozilla but the difference is htat its a lot more difficult to control a system from a mozilla security hole. At best, you could probably make mozilla act up.
Of course, I hope microsoft surprises us all by making IE *not integrated* come longhorn, becuase I think this would allow for much more comprehensive security, but I highly doubt this will happen, so we are just SOL, eh?
This has always been my problem with linux. I never learned a command line growing up but I am fine with using a computer adn typing at those 300 characters a minute. I`m not scared to learn anything new and I honestly made an effort to learn the command line in linux, but it just didn:t go to well so until I have a high quality linux guide I can turn to, thats out.
so then I go into the GUI, and I just can`t do everything I do in windows. Frankly, windows is set up to where you can do everything your OS is capable of from the GUI, this is not so with linux and it hurts someone like me. I love to tinker, but I`m not off to learn a command line just to tinker. XP does great in letting me do that.
And I must say in MS`s defense, a lot of viruses are spread on it due to end user ignorance and the funny thing is, everyone on slashdot gets up in arms but a lot of end users frankly don`t care. Once the computer slows down people think its getting old(as if a clean system just slows down over time with no software changes) and buy a new one. Also, Open source is not automatically a better product and I have had to deal with numerous open source programs that are pitiful(equally true for closed source).
personally, I think the problem with software is patents, not copyright, and this was adressed above. Patents mean that I can`t write a program that does exactly what your`s does. While copyright protects the expression of the idea(I`m all for when not out of control like campfire songs), patents should not be some overarching thing. I think patents stifle innovation because you can`t try to do the same thing better, and this at times leads to insight on other problems.
I usually manage and around several hundred large files(all in excess of 300 megs) and almost always, when accessing where they are or moving them from one harddrive to the next I finish my work fine but then for some reason, explorer continues to use 99% of my processor(2.4 p4). At first, I had no idea what it was doing so I let it run for a few hours and nothing happned so I crashed explorer and started it again, problem fixed but about as annoying as anything. Have you ever tried to bring up the task manager and do something when you processor is devoted to a program doing nothing!
I was wondering if anyone had/has this problem and if anything in SP2 adresses it. At least half the time I open a folder with large files or play a file(these are mostly movies), and every time I try to copy something this happens. It actually happens so much I always as a precaution regulate explorer to the lowest priority setting so in case I need to save info before ending explorer and brining it back up I can save data in important applications that are running. I think its ridiculous that i have to put up with this and I find it disgusting that when linux can handle those big, scary files, windows barfs on them every time.
Now that I am calm again, any help or recommendations would be appreciated and if SP2 actually adresses this. I wrote a pissy letter to MS about it when it happened and then realized, they don't actually care. I got my comptuer with windows on it, it was a laptop or else that would have never happened and I think they know that when they get a pissy, technically competent letter.
really, since your temper tantrum seems to be out of control, I will only make four points, one actually supports you in your ramblings(I think your version of lessons in economics to the general community, which I am sure you have studied in such incredible depth that you might be on the verge of a nobel prize break through).
As you said, "The CORRECT thing to do would be to spend that $50 billion (or at least as much of it as could be controlled - $50 billion is a LOT of money to control) on significant R&D. This would improve MS's chances of being even more profitable in the future, and thus an even better stock pick."
well, I think you should be informed, the spend billions every year on R&D, it just happnes that they make quite a bit more. As you said, 50 billion is a lot, but so is 10 billion, and its really hard to find a use for almost 37 billion dollars you pull in every year. There profit in one year is closer to 9 billion. There are few companies that boast these kinds of numbers. IBM sees profit like this but also sees over 20 billion dollars in debt, that at least gives you something to do with your money if you ever want to. Further, IBM does more than just software, a lot more, so they have many more routes to pursue. This is in no way a lesson in economics, just pointing out that for a purely software company, it might be difficult to spend this kind of money.
I personally think this money is being used wisely. In the end, it is the investor's money and successful companies should award shareholders with dividends. Most major companies do, it makes them true long term investments. I think Microsoft is admitting that it can't continue to expand its software industry at the amazing pace they did for nearly 20 years. One of many stocks I hold is microsoft and I'll be glad to see this dividend. I won't comment on the stock buyback because there are many reasons a company would engage in this but from what I have read, it usually means "hey, we don't need the investors as much and hey, are stock is lagging, lets take back some of those shares and make our company more independent again).
You also grace us with the genius comment
"And all it cost them was giving away the company's R&D (and/or acquisition) nest egg.
Which cost them nothing because they have NO FUCKING CLUE how to spend it on R&D ANYWAY!
"
well, I'll give you one example of what they are losing, interesting on all that money and yes, interest, even today, can be worth a lot. Frankly, if they are following econ 101, they don't invest it in R&D because the returns on those investments is below the return of interest yielding investments. Yes, this is an economics lesson because it should be considered as it always is by major companies before investing in something.
3. "Also, if you give away a big stock benefit, what happens? Morons buy your stock hoping it will happen again. This keeps your stock price up.
"
I hope no one, including you, would think a divident announced as a One time deal, and one that will eat through most of a companies cash, is likely to happen a second time. More likely, is people will buy the stock over the next 3 years of this happening to cash in on this dividend and the natural run up of a stock price during a buy back. and yes, this is a great way to buy time until Longhorn and Office whatever comes out.
4. "And they can't buy anybody because everybody else would rather die than work for Microsoft!
"
Please, some form of proof before writing bull shit about a company. Every time I speak to my family in india, they see it as an amazing employment opportunity for young people to work for Microsoft and several other countries. Now if you are talking about solely developers, I have no idea but you have given me nothing to go by.
Now I will actually attempt to address some points made in the article which I personally think over exagerates the situation slightly. I think Microsoft represents a sm
I think there might be something deeper with flip flopping. Yes, it is ok in theory to admit you made a mistake, but since when has anyone in power done that??? If you admit a mistake, you admit your judgement could be flawed. This is detrimental.
Could you imagine what would happen if our politicians were honest. In Kerry actually said what he believes in or if Bush would stand up and be willing to say he regrets having given the American people false information on WMD programs in Iraq or an Al Quaeda connection?? This is why we haven't heard too much out of our president about the 9/11 panel, it says he made a decision that was characteristally wrong!! If all politicians weren't horribly arrogant, then we would actually see open revisions and real stances, but if they did this, americans would lose faith. Its so easy to sucker people in. I can make people think I'm a computer genius by doing simple things at high speed but I can't even use a command line in any efficient way.
If politians didn't flip flop, they would simply be voted out because they would seem "weak" and by god we would hate that. I mean, what a novel idea to be able to say you were wrong, but few people can do it. Before you accuse our politians of how terrible they are, they do what they need to do to be reelected. We are the only people that can change that. Hey, corporations might fund them, but last I checked, someone named RIAA doesn't go vote come november but we all can and that is the only way to change things. If you hate the way things are, go against the incumbents.
You know, I think this will be the only time I post this, but when we have articles like this, the community really gets fired but. But honestly, do any of you do anything. Of every slashdot member that doens't like this spreads the word to other forums and sends messages to their senators, you can get something done. Showing a willingness to do something in force can scare any senator. They get lots of money beyond their pay check from congress as long as they are in office, hit them hard. Do not vote for people that support things that you are vehemently against. When you see them tresspass where they shouldn't, fight back. Yes its hard, and you will probably be shot down, but just keep doing it, over and over. I personally have written 3 responses to my senator about this(yes, I neglected to right to the other one, that will be tonight). If you don't care enough to do something, then quit complaining. Democracy is supposed to be about getting your voice heard and corporations are doing their best to drown you out, I love how so many people just let them do it. Laziness never helped a democracy get anything worthwhile done.
Ok, please read a 1960`s history book at some point before you ask how guns can take out heavy weaponry. Seems to me we didn`t worry about too many vietcong attacks from B-52 equivalent bombers but hey, somehow, we were still beaten back from that country. Of course you can make many arguments about how the US did things wrong, but in the end, we still got beat with superior fire power in every category. There has always been a major differential between what the government had and what people had, even right after the revolution, almost no regular citizens owned cannons, which are quite superior to muskets, it didn`t mean muskets became illegal. I`m not sure what is the best way to find a balance between gun rights and gun controls, but I know I don`t agree with either extreme and you need at least some education on history before using extreme examples.
Ok, you sir, no longer are allowed to post about economics. You sound like our president and that, when it comes to anything academic, is not a good thing. It is not that your conclusions are wrong, but just like our president, you`ve outdone yourself in overstating the case here.
Your example. Lets say 1000 Radeon`s are sold every year(round numbers keep math simple) and ATI has to pay 1000$ in taxes. Lets say at this point this Radeon costs 10$ so 10% of what I pay goes to their income tax, this is by your logic. Thats fine and I can agree with that. Now lets say we get a new law that says ATI has to pay 2000$ a year in taxes. By your logic, every Radeon will now cost 11$. This price increase must happen because it all gets passed along to the consumer. This is completely wrong because you assume that ATI is not a profit maximizing business and no, it does not make sense to do this.
Quick argument, we all know ATI has competitors. Well, guess what , if you raise your price by 10% to pass along the tax burden to the consumer, well, people are going to shift away from your product. You will no longer sell 1000 Radeon`s and therefore, your overall profits will drop, I guarantee it. The only time they won`t is if no matter hte price, you will always sell exactly 1000 Radeons. So whats the outcome, the price will probably rise, but only by a small percent. And because we are in such a competitive graphics market, it will probably only go up by a very small amount and ATI will take the hit to their profits in order to remain competitive in this market.
Of course, I have neglected things like brand loyalty or the fact that a Radeon differs from its major competitors at all, but since you went with such a simplified version, I don`t plan on writing a thesis about the full effects.
Now this is not to say your actual argument doesn`t have base and I lack the information to refute or support what you have written their. I could not in any way guarantee a business boom or refute the possibility of it occurring. But I must say that taxes are not the major reason corporations will outsource to other countries. As was posted earlier though I cannot confirm it with hard evidence, Most corporations do not pay a great deal in taxes to the government. The real benefit of outsourcing is extremely cheap labor. And before everyone screams about how terrible outsourcing is, it does lead to lower production costs and this theoretically should lead to lower prices for the consumers(mainly us) and if they don`t, stock holders get more out of it. Anyways, outsourcing doesn`t bother me all that much because most developed countries destroy any chance of competitive farming in the rest of the world by subsidizing farmers at incredible rates. I guess if we are gonna bite them one way, they might as well bite us back another.
And for any argument for the abolition of taxes, its not a good one to say it will help the economy run more efficiently. Every tax hurts the efficiency of the economy but once things have settled to a status quo, people do adapt. And without taxes, our goverment would have a lot harder time staying out of debt or functioning for that matter. And no, there isn`t a time in history when by cutting taxes deeply, we have seen an economic boom that completely makes up for the lost tax revenue.
Oh well, just thought I`d post some realistic economics for those who care to not listen to overstatement.
I don:t really understand the controller issue everyone is talking about. When I started emulating games, I couldn:t stand playing console games with a mouse and keyboard(and frankly, if halo would work on my computer, I`d prefer it with a mouse/keyboard but go figure). But frankly, 25 dollars later, I had a USB controller for my computer with the exact setup of the PS1 controller and all the functionality of any controler out there. It works perfectly with all my games and I have tried them using both. Frankly though, most computer games are much to complex to play with a controller but then, some are more fun(spiderman 2, for example, is much to simple for a keyboard/mouse). Anyone with this problem, I suggest doing the same thing. That 25$ controller is really useful in the end.
I think we should go one step further with the argument about whether or not the A bomb was a good decision, in either dropping it or the developement of a nuclear arsenal. Frankly, lets just agree that what ever source you site is BS when it comes to talking about how many lives were saved and how many were lost and how many have been permanently altered as compared to those who's lives remained the same. If someone cares to enlighten me, maybe we have found those alternate universes that Hawking talks about and therefore we can talk about lives saved/lost and do a real analysis, until then, just let it go.
One note though, if I am playing around in a large factory and someone gets hurt because I do something stupid, if I knew nothing of the workings of the factory should I still be held responsible for that person's suffereing? well, it depends but its kinda like what American was doing. Of course we knew that since we were playing with something so destructive there were bound to be some side effects, or else why would we test Nukes near people. Just something to think about, I personally think the US is a little responsible to its own people we tested this stuff on.
And as for the bombings of Japan, I have no idea if lives were saved or lost and if we can say the loss of civilian lives is worse than that of military lives and if a dead american is a greater loss than a dead Japanese person. But I'm sure they sat down and measured this along with things like how easy it would be to occupy the country afterwards, the value of seeing these weapons in action, and many other factors. You know, I'm not taking a stand, I'm just gonna settle for "I don't know, and I can only hope the right decision was made." In the end, the civilians we killed with those two bonds does not even come close to the number of civilians we purposely killed during the rest of the war. I think if you are going to be angry about one, be agry about them all. I mean, before the war, Tokyo and surroundings had a population of near 7 million, at the end of the war, it had dropped to around 2.5 million, my source is the Tokyo-Edo Museum in Ryougoku(a small part of Tokyo). So yeah, the aftermath adn civilian loss of the bombs sucked but you know, we did a whole lot worse and you shouldn't ignore that.
Slowly, the Linux CLI is becoming transparent, but I think a problem with it is that there isn:t great hardware support for linux. Yes I know if you are running linux, why not buy linux supported hardware but fact is, I want my hardware cheap and fast that means wal mart for most things. Frankly, I don:t think I have ever seen an overtly advertised linux compatible anything at wal mart.
I`m trying to ingrate the use of both windows and linux but frankly, its tough for me because my hardware now isn:t well supported by linux. to get small portions of my computer working, I had to have a friend knowledgable with the command line come help. This isn:t being allergic to the command line, but rather if I wanted to figure out how to do this myself, I was looking at probably 7 or 8 hours of reading and practice with the command line to do 5 minutes of work. Frankly, I love the GUI in linux becuase it doesn:t waste processor cycles on simple things, but I can:t spend all my free time for weeks on end just to get my hardware up adn running. This is my hurdle to adopting linux, I think if hardware support was fixed, you would get a lot of people like me to shift over. If I shift over, then I feel my parents can shift over and you start to get a general movement away from windows. I`m not computer expert by any means, but really any linux movement for the desktop needs to try to first work with people like me, with computer skills and knowledge, but without the time to dedicate to a completely new operating system.
And as security goes, I think linux users and advocates need to realize for probably half of people out there, the fact that windows isn:t secure doesn:t matter at all, why shoudl it when you only check email and play solitaire?? Yes, in customer data bases at places like amazon, there is sensitive information, but I personally try not to keep any sensitive data on my computer(though I know there are traces of it).
Another post said it best, yes my computer is just like my toaster and my Fridge and frankly, if my toaster didn:t work when I took it out of hte box and plugged it in, why keep it and throw out the semi faulty toaster? Especially if the problems with that toaster don:t really bother me at all?? That linux is free helps a lot, but still isn:t enough when my computer came with windows(in many people`s mind, this is effectively free as there doesn:t exist the alternatives of building the computer by your self).
But I must say, at the speed of advancement in linux, it will be something in 2 or 3 years, I`ve already seen drastic improvement of Redhat 9 to core 2. And maybe come core 4 or 5, I can make a compelte switch and abandon windows(I only play classic games that wine emulates just perfectly) but not just yet. For now, I`m in limbo, learning linux for the day when I`ll be free of MS.
I think there is one way around this. Lets say we have a patent that is one step beyond obvious, I say that if someone says they thought about it, well , too bad. I`m sure years before we had AC someone thought about a machine that could cool a room off, especially down here in florida. But you know, I don`t think my day dreaming of something should matter to the court. Rather, if there is hard written proof of this idea being consider before the patent application,and the idea would actually have to show some form a knowledge into how it would be done, not just random ideas like hot air in, cold air out. Of course, there are levels where even this becomes complicated, but the judge should have the ability and be required to, if no proof is explicity shown immediately, throw the case out. This would keep someone like SCO from bothering IBM because they didn`t show any proof oringinally and still have yet to show more than a snippet of it.
This is just an overview of some ideas that have been pinging around slashdot and several other communities for a while. Namely, that because of some small changes that seemed to be for the better, patents are now under the jurisdiction of a court that loves them and the patent office is encouraged to rush patents through without thinking because they get their funding that way rather than from taxpayers.
The failings of this seem obvious after our discussions here, and I think that because the patent office is not supposed to be some pro business advocate but rather, a group of people set up to facilitate innovation into uncharted technologies(hence not obvious and no prior art) now just stifles innovation as obvious extensions of old ideas are inhibbiting their usage in useful R&D.
I think the review shows authors that really stand for a sane position, one that doesn`t completely remove the patent system but rather turns it back into what it was originally intended to be(not giving patents to companies for marketing the PB&J sandwich without crust, yes, its a patent according to the article). When this book comes out, I will be on the lookout because it seems these people have some ideas that need to get some attention and they have the clout to go somewhere with these ideas. Our representatives are only as sleavy as we permit them to be so we have to read up so we have some real knowledge and show our support for a complete overhall of the patent system and a review of many patents granted in the last 10 years(especially technology patents). Kudos to these authors for bringing this debate into what might become the main stream.
I don't know what you all are afraid of. Lets say we get to global warming first, I have the full proof solution that has been tried and tested in Florida for years, AC!! And what if a meteor hits.... ignoring the suck possibility that it lands on me or near me, I figure the power companies would love it, we would need light 24/7 from the dust in the air and heaters woudl be running overitme. Of course, if you aren't american, you might feel for all the people without heat or AC but hey, its survival of the fittest.
I just got out to Japan and I'm here for the next 7 months. I think any etiquette you read on cell phones is really country specific. For example, in the US, there are mixed feelings on the 2 way radio. I love it but a lot of people hate the thing. Unless someone is being rude about their conversation, usually we don't bother people on cell phones though. Japan is a completely different story. I picked up a cell phone when I got out here a few weeks back and everyone just kind of stared at me while I was talking on it. I come to find out in Japan is not polite to talk on a cell phone in a public place(It might have to do with how crowded Tokyo is) and if you do talk, you must cover your mouthso it muffles your voice(which is actually engenious because more sound takes picked up by the reciever and you can actually talk softer). As for telemarketers, I usually just say that I am not interested and hangup without giving them a chance. I don't want to be rude to them because I know people that have had to do that work, and it sucks. They really do hate bothering you, but for them, a sale really could mean eating ramen or eating something have decent. If I know who is calling, I will usually answer with the caller's name but I have had some wierdness happen with it(like when my dad calls me with my mom's cell phone) but today, I think everyone understands. But if it isn't a close friend or family and I know the caller I still answer and ask for their name. I don't think any loud discussions should be done in public, its really annoying for people around you. I usually try to keep the conversations to a minimum or when I get 2-wayed from a friend I just ask them to wait a bit unless its an emergency. Oh well, just for your reference I'm 20 and in college. cya
I just have to say, very very very few americans are working 12+ hours a day, for most Americans on average, we sit right around 40 hours a week, so unless people suddenly shifted to the 3 and 1/3 day schedule, I don't think we can blame the economic slowdown. (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm), its my only source I could google quickly, but it is the department of labor, which keeps great stats for this stuff.
Personally, I have been reading less but frankly, I went a couple years without finding good books to read. I think school had something to do with it when I had a long line of just terrible books I had to read. But then a couple years ago after some good books were assigned to read, I suddenly got my love of it back. I think what was most difficult about starting again was finding something I liked, and low adn behold, it has actually harry potter than came to the rescue during a really slow week in the summer before my senior year(yes, I actually spent a week reading all four). But then I realized something, to find good reading, you really have to figure out what you like to read adn because most people are too used to television giving them very few choices(compared to books), they don't know how to find that little nitch of books thats just for them. Recently, I've been reading Book of Five Rings, but every time I stop reading it gets really hard to start again. I think between tv and the net, I'm not used to dedicating as much time to one interesting thing. Slowly though, I'm coming back into it.
I highly suggest anyone that doesn't read to just go out and start on some book, any book, and don't make it a comic book, make it something with real plot developement and characters that are memorable. Of course, the only way you will know this is if you ask and trust people who read a lot. Its a real leap of faith because unlike tv or the net, it will take a few hours before you realize you love it or hate it.
I think the reason I started reading at all was because my mother saw it as something very important. It also helped that she read a variety of books to me when I was really young, between religious stories(I'm hindu, so there are a lot more) and things like Oliver Twist, it inspired me to want to read all the time. I suggest if you have kids and you want them to read, the best way is to do it with them. I mean, I started reading because of my mother and sister and I watched jeopardy religiously until I was about 14 with the hopes of one day outdoing my dad, of course, it never happened.
well, I'm off, done rambling
I don't know if its a question of underestimating my mother as much as I know where the computer and its improvement ranks on her list, somewhere behind buying a new car, which she has no thoughts of. Frankly, most people here on slashdot take pride in having a computer than runs well because I don't care if you have linux, or a mac, or windows, there is always improvements and fixes that have to be done. Example... Linux can't recongnize my monitor and I had no idea how to get it to display the widescreen, well, my buddy new how to edit a file to tell it to run at a certain resolution. I also had to search the web for ways to turn off certain things during my original install because it continued to lock up while starting the install. But I know how to find the answers to these things, my mother does not. I think my dad put it best when I was trying to teach him how to keep up the computer, "If there was money to be made if I learned how to use a computer, in a month I would know more than you". I think its motivation for most people, my parents are only recently opening up to email and the web. It took a while, but finally they are starting to understand how to use search engines, but to do all of this I had to walk them through the exact steps several times and they took the time to write down exactly what I did so they could do it on their own. Frankly, I don't think I could spend the hours and hours trying to teach them how to hunt down programs to do what they want, but I think after several years of only using email and spider solitaire, I can now start to show them how to find things that are useful. I don't consider my parents backward users at all, but simply they don't rank learning a computer high on their list and frankly, why should they if all they want to do is check email and play simple games? This I think is what windows does, it advertises lots of flashy programs and people think that for some reason, if you get office XP, that 200 word email will somehow look different or nicer, even if you use the same font and size. This is an amazingly powerful business strategy, to realize that american's aren't minimalists even on something that can cost over a thousand dollars and exploit it. Frankly, 70% of all computer usage isn't something that couldn't be done in dos, so why does everyone upgrade, its flashy. I hope one day to be that damn good at reading people..... its not as easy as it may seem in hindsight. this incessantly rambling post did have a point, I just forgot it.
I of course, must give credit where it is due, it is very true that the software industry is extremely healthy(screw healthy, that`s like saying gluttony in america is healthy;) but they have earned it. I think it and the dvd business is proof a high quality product will still be bought and no matter what you do, a high quality product will be pirated.
My only knowledge on this, there were about 200 people on the torrent at suprnova for UT04 a couple weeks back but I`m sure thousands probably bought it in that time period. And of course, I am very glad I got a pirated version of Halo first, because contrary to what the box says, it will not run on my laptop even though I meet all the requirements and turn everything down to a minimum, I blue screen and restart. That saved me a good bit of money. And I can also say depending on the time, my money usually shifts between movies and computer games, the only CD in the last 10 years to intrigue me into buying was the Evanescense cd(no, I cannot spell) so I think it might be a good point to say the RIAA has lost sales to DVD`s and computer games because most kids that I know are working on a limited budget. and no, I hadn`t thought that was a real possibility but after hearing it and thinking about my experiences, it does make sense.
And yes, I was being horribly melodramatic at the end of my post, I probably should more accurately say that if I was limited into only buying a BMW 5 series instead of that 7 series I always wanted, I would be pissed off;).
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One slight problem, lets take this one step further, I can by a dvd player for 40 dollars(a floor model without a box) and it works great. But you know, I might just buy 1 dvd a month and suddenly in a year, at 20 dollars a dvd, I`ve paid 6x as much for dvd`s as I did the player. But you know what, like yoru barebones pc, with out these things, you just have a box, and for as cheap as the pc and my dvd player are, they aren`t even that pretty to look at. There is a nice rule in economics, I don`t care how much you complain, if you buy a product, no matter how loudly you complain, it was obviously worth the money. This actually includes if your teacher requires you to drop 60 dollars on MS Excel. You still got something out of that purchase(namely, a grade).
I love copyright arguments on Slashdot, for some reason people decide to forget the original points and argue about semantics so I`m just gonna use a slight disclaimer, IANAL so I don`t give a rat`s ass what any technical term I use means. Everyone here damn well knows what the speaker intends so we might as well just move on.
Personally, I don`t see why people say copyright infringement is ok if you find something wrong with what the person is offereing. Another disclaimer: no, not one post here has said it is ok. All that many slashdot users do is defend it by giving meaningless excuses like its too expensive or there are too many features that I don`t need. If this is all really the case, well, pick up and find a different program.
Unfortunately, I don`t by any of these arguments about how so many people feel this software is crap. There is really only one question to ask yourself and you`ll see my point, why would you waste time getting yourself a pirated copy of a program, possibly exposing yourself to great risks, when both the proprietary program is not good and there exist better open source alternatives. I`ll give you the most prevalent reason that so many people here won`t admit to, the software is perfectly fine and the reason you pirate is because it is good and you have found a reasonably safe way to get it illegally. Yes I do have some pirated software adn a lot of software that exists in a limbo like area(namely, I split the price of it and me and a friend share the thing). but you know, I didn`t get them for free because I thought the software was overpriced or not good, but rather I found a nice free alternative and I`m just not all that moral(UT04 is worth 50 bucks, I just had the option of getting it for free, go figure what I`m going to do). So I will admit it, software companies have lost money to my free alternatives.
Hey its the same with the movie theaters. If I want to check out a movie, I used to have to rent it. As I went to blockbuster, that was 4 dollars into their pocket, some of which makes its way back to the parent companies and movie studios. Well, every since I can get the movie for free, screw renting it, and when I find ultra high quality downloads, I don`t usually think about buying it either. If everyone on this site stopped arguing points like `they don:t know if I would buy it, so how can they say they lost money` and just took a long look at the things they ahve done, maybe they would see things a little different. I will admit that not all pirated versions of software are sales, but you know, I would bet a whole lot of them are and so while the industry might not have lost 29 billion, I will beleive they have lost a reasonable percent of that money.
and of course, my sematics tidbit: is it theft, I`m not quite sure, but I`m damn sure if I wrote an amazing computer game with incredible code and my program was so well set up that it didn`t require support, I would want some compensation for it. Now imagine I spent the last 5 years of my life working on this code and now everyone `infringes on my copyright` and uses it for free, I would be one pissed off person because my pleasure from seeing people like my game sure as hell wouldn`t feed me. Honestly, wouldn`t any of you be?
~Gordo3000
I have to say that I sit somewhere between the two of you. There are things that I love and hate in both linux and windows, though really I shouldn't say I hate anything in Linux but that's for later.
I love playing games on a rare basis, because I don't want to worry about getting the latest edition of wine and making the game work, I keep windows. It is solely for that purpose but it has other advantages. As an econ major, I deal for ages with excel files and usually I'm required to turn them in in a format that the teacher can easily read, any trouble he has could mean a lower grade and even though open office is great, it has lots of trouble on the randomest of things. I don't run into version problems with windows(between my computer and my teacher's, the computer lab is a completely different matter) but at least because of what my school does, we have version compatibility. This means I prefer to just do the spreadsheet work on windows rather than having to double check that everything on 20 or 30 excel sheets is exactly as I want it. Sometimes this isn't very easy as I might fill up 10000 cells on one sheet.
But then windows crashes constantly, can't move large files without explorer throwing up on me, has endless problems with compatibility of previous releases of their own software(Excel sheets can't port properly from the latest version to only 2 generations ago, and I don't use any new features, I versed enough to know that), I have to constantly be on the alert for the next major security exploit and lock down specific parts of my computer usage if as windows loves to do, wait for ages to come out with a patch.
So for many things, I just got fed up with windows and had a linux zealot as my good friend and neighbor at school get me started. When I say get me started, he gave me the install cd's. I'm not so ignorant as to have trouble with a right click functionality. Now get this, wtih my wierded out hardware, core 1 didn't want to install easily but I took about 2 minutes on the web and found the solution. It happens to be that any time I have a problem with windows I usually spend hours hunting down a solution, and that usually happens to be a functional program on sourceforge(example: VLC replaced windows media player when in order to get WMP to run I would have to spend hours hunting down the right codecs and how to use them while for some reason, they just flawlessly play on VLC).
So I'm caught in the transition between windows and Linux, I don't think I will ever fully migrate but slowly I use linux more and more. Anyone who has problems with the redhat desktop should probably crawl back under a rock. I can do everything on it and a helluva lot more than with windows, especially with that nice multiple desktop feature X does. My only real complaint with linux is what I had with windows years ago, I don't know it well. But oddly enough, I can almost do everything I do on windows. I know if I spend the time, I can make linux 100x more functional. I think the real problem is this, while linux users claim to be lazy people always looking for ways to save time and evergy, they aren't lazy when it comes to computers, they like the idea of learning something new. Anyone who defends windows way of doing this really just doens't want to learn something new. Because Windows is much older in most people's mind, its ways are cemented in. We actually associate their nonsensical names with certain program functions(no, excel and powerpoint in no way describe what the programs do, but after years of having the association drilled into our heads, it does). So of course, the argument that I like my program names to make sense really doesn't have any merit.
I think it any well versed windows user sat down and used X(not the mac) they would almost seemlessly integrate, all they would need to do is get used to programs being in different places. I love one thing about linux, you don't ever have to touch the command line if you don't want to(and frankly, because of
I have two major things to point out about this. A good friend of mine is a pilot(well, now co-pilot) for US Airways and he has told me that the reason for then ban on cell phones is simply due to a guess years ago when cell phones were first coming into real usage. No one really knew what they would do but he has said he has never seen any problem in flight, take off, or landing due to cell phones(I take this means he has used his before because he keeps it with him all the time). Further, my father is a private pilot, similar to the poster above with a single engine plane with lots of those nice gadgets like GPS and such, and I can say from using my cell phone in flight countless times, it has no effect on any instruments he uses during flight. I'm not sure about takeoff because usually he will let me do it and even if he didn't, the engine is running near 100%, which is like a constant roar, I wouldn't be able to hear anything. By my experience, I'm inclined to believe my friend that this is merely bad science that just keeps persisting because airlines have no monetary reason to allow cell phone use. As for the ruling, I think it was a great idea. There are several landlords that try to ban wireless networks, and I think its because with a little savvy, one person to get internet and broadcast to anyone in the building he so pleases. I know when I visit my sister, her neighbors have a completely unprotected wireless network so I just use that rather than my sister's dial-up. If I were to bring a repeater to my sister's place and set it up, I could extend that network to several other places.
actually, if you take certain political science classes(disclaimer: you could have learned differently), one of things you'll find out is that they have this nice little scale for determining where your beliefs stand. The range is extremely liberal(far left) to extremely conservative(far right). Actually, none of this applies to almost any politics you see in the US as almost everyone lies much closer to the center. On the far left, you have communism and on the far right you have fascism. Many groups misuse these name in this context but hey, who's to say the one context I've learned it in is somehow correct, but it is just as valid and probably where the user got the idea that far left means communist. Cheers, Sean