Does anyone else think that users will try Starter Edition, find out it has all these restrictions and assume that all versions of Windows must suck and just load a free, non-crippled OS (mentioning no names!).
No. I think you are overestimating the target audience. Honestly. Most users don't know what their systems can't do. They just know what they are told they can/should do with it.
Except that you will be in violation of your TOS if you run any services on your broadband connection
Pick a different ISP. Mine (sonic.net) explicitly states in the TOS that you are allowed to run servers. They provide multiple static IP addresses at no additional charge. They even have a helpful support staff.
They actualy called me the -one- time my service went out and told me what was wrong, and when they expected it to be fixed. When I started my service I was busy and didnt set up my systems right away, on day four they called to ask if I needed help.
I didnt pick the cheapest ISP in my area. I picked the one that fit my needs best. I read the TOS on the various ISP homepages. I skimmed some newsgroup posts about ISPs I was considering.
Dont pay for inferior service. If your ISP doesnt value your business, switch... and take your friends with you. Its all a $$ game in the business world. Pay well for what you want, and refuse the bullshit at any price.
My employers used to appreciate the work I do for them, the hours of investigation and study I put into solving their problems and creating new ways to do things. People said please and thank you.
Now, I am treated like shit. My work has become an necessary evil: They know they need it, but they wish they didnt. The return on investment is no longer in their minds, just the pain of spending. All I hear are complaints.
For MMORPG players 30 hours a week is a low number.
I played EQ from early 2000 thru 2003 -about 3 1/2 years. I typicaly spent 8-9 hours a day at work, 8-10 hours in-game, with the remaining split between sleep, eating, showering, travel time, etc. Most nights I slept 5-6 hours. Dinner choices were based on how much time away from the keyboard was required to prepare it, and if it could easily be eaten while playing. I usualy skipped lunch at work in order to get home a little sooner. On weekends I would spend 15-20 hours a day online.
Thats up to 90 hours a week in-game: more than double what I spent on my job. All of my friends were playing -the people I knew who werent playing stopped being friends because I had no time for them. Even at work, more of my conversations were game related than not.
My housing choice was based on the quality of the internet connection available. My budget was planned around equipment upgrades, and game expansions. Vacation days were scheduled so that I could participate in all day events in-game.
My friends and my family I support for no charge. Thats part of being friends and family: helping one another as needed.
My friends families, friends of family members, friends of friends I charge US$50.00 per hour including my travel time, shopping time, telephone time, etc. If they have other options I encourage their use. I dont want to be their tech support, but if they really need the help I wont say no. I charge them enough that in many cases its more cost effective for them to buy a replacement than call me for help.
If they are looking for advice on buying a new machine I point them to a vendor such as Dell and advise them to get the three year warranty with accidental damage coverage. Sure they will pay more up-front, but they will get what they need and they will have someone (other than myself) to call in the middle of the night when it doesnt work.
Thanks. Do you honestly think that any ISP's admin gets to make revenue decisions. If I started shutting off customers because they are inept netadmins, I'll get fired. What good will that do. The only way that it's going to change is if the government makes the ISP liable for spam sent from it's ISP block. When that happens, technologies that can stop the spam cold will finally start to seem cost effective and rational. I suspect that many small ISP's will simply go out of business if it happens. In the end you'll be able to have AOL, Earthlink, or Comcast. Is that what you want?
The problem isnt you -the individual employee. No one is advocating you go cowboy and start changing configurations all on your own. Its you -as in the company you represent. The money hungry, backstabbing, lying, cheating, shortsighted, assholes who see to it that the rest of us spend part of our day deleting spam.
If you want to talk revenue, if you need the "big picture", think of it in these terms:
When I recomend an ISP to an individual or a business, I first check that neither their name nor any portion of their IP range is associated with anything on my prefered spam-block lists.
I have no problem telling a client, a friend, or some random person that I would not recomend you as their ISP choice because it might be on some spam-block lists.. I will take the time to explain that this could mean that their website or e-mails may be blocked -that their customers may not be able to see their site, that they may not be able to send e-mails to their friends and family.
There are already several companies running cables to my house. I have one that provides electricity. I have one that provides telephone service. I have one that provides television. There is yet another that put in a line for high bandwidth internet. Plenty of people are willing to put in cables if I will just use their service.
Lately these companies have realized that they have built an infrastructure that can support the same services as the others. Cable companies are offering telephone service! Power companies are offering net access! Competition between the monopolies. They are losing their monopoly status as more and more services are delivered via IP. Some businesses have even realized they can offer services without pulling any cables to my house!
Of course it is more profitable for one company to pull one cable to my house than for several to pull individual cables to my house. But as technology advances it becomes plausible for even individuals to set up services using whatever data pipe is available. If adaptive routing and mesh networks catch on it could make even the huge backbone infrastructure providers obsolete.
Asking the "What if..." questions, and coming up with an answer. Even if the odds are one in a billion or more, a good admin wil have an answer. A better admin will have written the answer down for someone else in case they arent around.
The right answer is not to simply say that it will never happen.
Now, if there were cases where seeds had inadvertantly spread, and people were getting in trouble for said seeds spreading to their land and them replanting
This has happened. And Mosanto actualy has WON the lawsuits they bring against neighbors whos stock has been contaiminated by the Mosanto seeds.
If your plants produce seeds/pollens which are carried by wind/animals/insects onto my field and thus mix with my crops.. I am liable for violating your IP. Or at least that was the court decision Mosanto won (purchased/bribed/extorted) from the Canadian courts.
You cant always tell. At first glance the information can be misleading.
Example: I am sitting in California, USA. The IP address I am using is commonly identified as originating in France. Unless I tell them otherwise, many common services (google, yahoo, etc.) display the french version by default when I connect to them.
The US is a Replublic. Not a Democracy. In the US we elect representatives to make decisions for us.
Unfortunately power corrupts. Those representatives make decisions based not on the needs of all the people they represent, but based on their own personal needs. Of course the thing that anyone in power needs most is to stay in power.
The primary purpose of the beurocracy is to maintain itself. The larger it grows the more resources are required to maintain it. Thus we have regulatory panels, review boards, oversite commitees, and departments dedicated to managing communication between other departments!
Governments act to protect themselves just like any other organism. New segments (regulations and personell) will be formed to protect against any new threat -citizens having easy access to information which might make the government look bad, for example. This is a bad thing. Ergo government is bad.
We need government. That much is true. But only because we havent discovered anything better, yet.
Its not that I care what your e-mail says. I just need to inspect the data flowing across my network in several ways.
Does the anti-virus software I implemented count as reading your e-mail? How about the anti-spam filters? Most filters are automated, but questionable messages are quarrantined for (potential) human review. What about when I am monitoring packet traffic (load balancing/troubleshooting hardware/tracking viruses/etc) and your plain-text e-mail scrolls by on my screen?
I have never been billed for a $7.00 doctor visit.
Never.
Your basing your entire calculations off of a ficticious situation.
Lets base it off of what a doctor actualy charges shall we?
Use real numbers, post the calculations again, and then maybe someone will cry for you.
"Well, if people expect Windows to provide massive security holes, then you're absolutely right - it's not broken. If they expect Windows to break all the standards it can in favor of customer lock-in, they're getting exactly what they pay for."
The vast majority do not expect, know of, or care about any such thing.
Its all about buying a piece of software/hardware taking it home, plugging it in, and playing with it. Everything else is irelevant to most of the population.
Slashdot Mirror
No. I think you are overestimating the target audience. Honestly. Most users don't know what their systems can't do. They just know what they are told they can/should do with it.
Pick a different ISP. Mine (sonic.net) explicitly states in the TOS that you are allowed to run servers. They provide multiple static IP addresses at no additional charge. They even have a helpful support staff.
They actualy called me the -one- time my service went out and told me what was wrong, and when they expected it to be fixed. When I started my service I was busy and didnt set up my systems right away, on day four they called to ask if I needed help.
I didnt pick the cheapest ISP in my area. I picked the one that fit my needs best. I read the TOS on the various ISP homepages. I skimmed some newsgroup posts about ISPs I was considering.
Dont pay for inferior service. If your ISP doesnt value your business, switch... and take your friends with you. Its all a $$ game in the business world. Pay well for what you want, and refuse the bullshit at any price.
Take a second look and you'll notice that most of us seem like that to those outside of the CI field.
Have you ever tried turning down a request from the NSA? Talk about an offer you cant refuse...
I dont get no respect.
My employers used to appreciate the work I do for them, the hours of investigation and study I put into solving their problems and creating new ways to do things. People said please and thank you.
Now, I am treated like shit. My work has become an necessary evil: They know they need it, but they wish they didnt. The return on investment is no longer in their minds, just the pain of spending. All I hear are complaints.
Exactly.
Make my phone a phone. I already have a laptop. Just make the phone work more reliably and for longer periods at a time.
For MMORPG players 30 hours a week is a low number.
I played EQ from early 2000 thru 2003 -about 3 1/2 years. I typicaly spent 8-9 hours a day at work, 8-10 hours in-game, with the remaining split between sleep, eating, showering, travel time, etc. Most nights I slept 5-6 hours. Dinner choices were based on how much time away from the keyboard was required to prepare it, and if it could easily be eaten while playing. I usualy skipped lunch at work in order to get home a little sooner. On weekends I would spend 15-20 hours a day online.
Thats up to 90 hours a week in-game: more than double what I spent on my job. All of my friends were playing -the people I knew who werent playing stopped being friends because I had no time for them. Even at work, more of my conversations were game related than not.
My housing choice was based on the quality of the internet connection available. My budget was planned around equipment upgrades, and game expansions. Vacation days were scheduled so that I could participate in all day events in-game.
I would describe that as an addiction.
Sure it could. It could have been a paperclip...
My friends and my family I support for no charge. Thats part of being friends and family: helping one another as needed.
My friends families, friends of family members, friends of friends I charge US$50.00 per hour including my travel time, shopping time, telephone time, etc. If they have other options I encourage their use. I dont want to be their tech support, but if they really need the help I wont say no. I charge them enough that in many cases its more cost effective for them to buy a replacement than call me for help.
If they are looking for advice on buying a new machine I point them to a vendor such as Dell and advise them to get the three year warranty with accidental damage coverage. Sure they will pay more up-front, but they will get what they need and they will have someone (other than myself) to call in the middle of the night when it doesnt work.
The problem isnt you -the individual employee. No one is advocating you go cowboy and start changing configurations all on your own. Its you -as in the company you represent. The money hungry, backstabbing, lying, cheating, shortsighted, assholes who see to it that the rest of us spend part of our day deleting spam.
If you want to talk revenue, if you need the "big picture", think of it in these terms:
When I recomend an ISP to an individual or a business, I first check that neither their name nor any portion of their IP range is associated with anything on my prefered spam-block lists.
I have no problem telling a client, a friend, or some random person that I would not recomend you as their ISP choice because it might be on some spam-block lists.. I will take the time to explain that this could mean that their website or e-mails may be blocked -that their customers may not be able to see their site, that they may not be able to send e-mails to their friends and family.
Is that good for your business?
Thats a flawed and obsolete mode of thinking.
There are already several companies running cables to my house. I have one that provides electricity. I have one that provides telephone service. I have one that provides television. There is yet another that put in a line for high bandwidth internet. Plenty of people are willing to put in cables if I will just use their service.
Lately these companies have realized that they have built an infrastructure that can support the same services as the others. Cable companies are offering telephone service! Power companies are offering net access! Competition between the monopolies. They are losing their monopoly status as more and more services are delivered via IP. Some businesses have even realized they can offer services without pulling any cables to my house!
Of course it is more profitable for one company to pull one cable to my house than for several to pull individual cables to my house. But as technology advances it becomes plausible for even individuals to set up services using whatever data pipe is available. If adaptive routing and mesh networks catch on it could make even the huge backbone infrastructure providers obsolete.
and has 7-11 sued yet?
Its called contingency planning.
Asking the "What if..." questions, and coming up with an answer. Even if the odds are one in a billion or more, a good admin wil have an answer. A better admin will have written the answer down for someone else in case they arent around.
The right answer is not to simply say that it will never happen.
Hey! I worked that project too... it was fun, but mindnumbing. They actualy sent me to New Orleans for an install on fat tuesday.
Mardi Gras on an expense account
This has happened. And Mosanto actualy has WON the lawsuits they bring against neighbors whos stock has been contaiminated by the Mosanto seeds.
If your plants produce seeds/pollens which are carried by wind/animals/insects onto my field and thus mix with my crops.. I am liable for violating your IP. Or at least that was the court decision Mosanto won (purchased/bribed/extorted) from the Canadian courts.
VMS is a 64 bit OS, as is True64 Unix.
Unless, of course, you arent running a DEC standard OS on your doorstop...er...VAX.
No, they did not have any "pirated stuff" on them.
The sites in question hosted lists of content, which, depending on your local laws, might or might not be legal for you to download.
Why?
Simple really, FUD sells.
You cant always tell. At first glance the information can be misleading.
Example: I am sitting in California, USA. The IP address I am using is commonly identified as originating in France. Unless I tell them otherwise, many common services (google, yahoo, etc.) display the french version by default when I connect to them.
The US is a Replublic. Not a Democracy. In the US we elect representatives to make decisions for us.
Unfortunately power corrupts. Those representatives make decisions based not on the needs of all the people they represent, but based on their own personal needs. Of course the thing that anyone in power needs most is to stay in power.
The primary purpose of the beurocracy is to maintain itself. The larger it grows the more resources are required to maintain it. Thus we have regulatory panels, review boards, oversite commitees, and departments dedicated to managing communication between other departments!
Governments act to protect themselves just like any other organism. New segments (regulations and personell) will be formed to protect against any new threat -citizens having easy access to information which might make the government look bad, for example. This is a bad thing. Ergo government is bad.
We need government. That much is true. But only because we havent discovered anything better, yet.
Now picture the angry mob of suburbanites turning on the amatuer radio operator...
Licenses dont protect you from your neighbors wrath. Mobs are stupid, but dangerous.
Sometimes, I need to read your e-mail.
Its not that I care what your e-mail says. I just need to inspect the data flowing across my network in several ways.
Does the anti-virus software I implemented count as reading your e-mail? How about the anti-spam filters? Most filters are automated, but questionable messages are quarrantined for (potential) human review. What about when I am monitoring packet traffic (load balancing/troubleshooting hardware/tracking viruses/etc) and your plain-text e-mail scrolls by on my screen?
At what point am I reading your e-mail?
I have never been billed for a $7.00 doctor visit. Never. Your basing your entire calculations off of a ficticious situation. Lets base it off of what a doctor actualy charges shall we? Use real numbers, post the calculations again, and then maybe someone will cry for you.
"Well, if people expect Windows to provide massive security holes, then you're absolutely right - it's not broken. If they expect Windows to break all the standards it can in favor of customer lock-in, they're getting exactly what they pay for."
The vast majority do not expect, know of, or care about any such thing.
Its all about buying a piece of software/hardware taking it home, plugging it in, and playing with it. Everything else is irelevant to most of the population.
Yes, its true!
Salaries are increasing across the board.
This past year the wonderful company that employs me gave all (remaining) staff members a 2% raise!