The office I work in, is an all MS shop (Well 2 macs in the graphic design department). I'm responsible for supporting everyone on a daily basis. And believe me, there is NO way any of the users here would last a day with a *nix box. The people that we hire here are professionals that do a fairly specific job function for our clients. And technology CAN'T get in the way of that. They don't know anything about computers, but they aren't supposed to.
Further, they exchange documents all day long, with other Windows users. And that isn't going to change either.
At home, I use my machine for email, IRC, and games. The first 2 functions can be done on any platform. The third, is by far a Windows selling point. The gammes I play, simply don't come out for *nix.
Everyone seems to be terribly insensed, that the goventment will no longer be providing these documents for "free" to everyone.
News flash. The government doesn't really provide ANYTHING for free. We all pay for everything the government does, with taxes. And when the government does things, typically it does it in a horrifically inefficient manner.
My basic rule of thumb, is that the government should exist to do ONLY those functions that cannot be done in a reasonable manner at all by private companies. The primary purpose of government, should be to protect citizens from others. Virtually any other function is either unnecessary completely (saving citizens from themselves aka war on drugs etc) or better done by the private sector.
Police, Military, SEC (maybe), Judicial System, are all valid functions of government. The bulk of what the government does, to me falls under the "it shouldn't" category.
It's a private project. If you read around about it, you'll find that the city isn't paying for it, at all. It's financed by a whackload of bonds, that will be paid off the revenues generated by fares.
SO they didn't have to dip into the road repair funds at all. That's all still in the city coffers.
One of the VP's here complains about getting too much porn spam at his work address. Not because he's opposed necessarily, just because it's all straight, and he's definitely NOT. I browsed his bookmarks accidentally when I was messing with Outlook for him. He's got quite the collection of favorites.
And apparently at the company staff only Xmas party a year before I started, he was tanked enough to scream "holy shit, she's got tits" about one of the interns that had only been around a few months.
I love my job. However, I think our HR manager hates hers.
Lets see. Factor in the exchange rate, and you're down to $35,000US a year. Then when you remember that the annual cost of an employee is alot more than their base salary alone. Typically youy can assume that an employee costs about twice his salary, with taxes, overhead, benefits, etc. Now we're down to 17,500 roughly. That's $8.75/hr.
The Starbucks the next block over, is hiring Barista's for $9.
At least for Symantec. When you buy a retail copy of Norton AV, you get updates for a year. That's it. If you want to continue getting signature updates, you need to pay again.
Technically you're right. You will still be able to run the software itself. It just won't be any use at all, since new virii pose the threats. Not year old ones, typically.
All they lose out on, is the OS License. Which when purchased from a Dell, et al, isn't that significant. When a Mac gets roped into the AD network seamlessly, they still get revenue from a copy of Office so the user can share docs with other users (LOTS more profitable than Windows). Plus a few more CAL's as well, for the file server(s) as well as the exchange server(s). All in all, it's still a good revenue stream for MS.
Because when they went into the store, they'd see that while they can save $200 (unrealistically high) on the system, they won't be able to run ANY of the apps that the store sells.
None of the programs they've been using for years will run. None of the hot new games will run.
And none of the Linux boxen will sell, because of that. The end user absolutely will care what OS is on the machine because they don't want to just get a computer. They want to run things on it too.
Windows has NEVER been free to new PC buyers. It's been "included" yes. But MS charges the manufacturer of the PC, and ALWAYS has. And I guarantee that Michael Dell isn't fronting the cost for you. It's absolutely included in the price of the computer. And for that matter, has grown to become one of the largest single costs of a new computer. How do you think WalMart can afford to sell the No-OS PC's so cheap. Because they don't have to give MS over $100 for a copy of XP. That's how.
And why in gods name would MS care about drumming up interest in hardware upgrades? Last I checked they didn't market any of the parts that actually need to be upgraded regularly. Intel, Seagate, and the Dramurai owe their businesses to MS pushing upgrades. But MS doesn't get squat from that side of things.
ALL radio stations pay fee's for being on the air. Statistics are compiled on how often songs are played, and the copyright holders of those songs get cash money from the fee's that the stations pay. The money that the stations use for this, comes from advertisers, of course.
So radio is a paid medium. Just like TV. It just so happens that the payer, is not the consumer.
THink about it. If all a e-tailer offers, is an online version of a retail store. Then he truly does have to worry about things like salestaxes making the "experience" the same as retail, and thus not worth doing.
However, a smart businessman, will actually differentiate his store, be it online of offline, so that there's a compelling reason to shop with him.
I'm not in favor of more taxes, certainly. But arguing this strictly on the basis of "it'll kill generic online storefronts" doesn't sell with me at all. The government should NEVER be in the business of favoring one segment over another. If the online merchants have a reason to exist they will. But an artificial government subsidy shouldn't be in place.
Remote merchants use FAR less resources than local ones. The SFPD rarely has to respond to problems at the Amazon offices in Seattle, etc. Any wear and tear to roads, etc caused by delivery trucks should be borne by the freight handlers, and passed onto the merchants that way. By and large, a remote vendor will use basically no local resources.
I do so enjoy it, when people comment without reading the articles first.
It QUTIE clearly says, that in order to get on board with this plan, states have to harmonize their sales tax regimes. So that the state, and local taxes are the same.
If the greeting card popped up with a dialog that said "I will spam everyone in your contacts, and I will install spy-ware on your machine" when you tried to execute it, then nobody in their right mind would. The problem is, that the vendor buried what the application really does, in a bunch of legalese that they *know* end-users never read. And packaged the whole mess up as an innocuous greeting card.
I have yet to see ANY GPL software that is distributed this way.
You really think something as petty as impending doom will get people to drag their lazy selves through that much legalese? You give the average consumer FAR more credit than they deserve.
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Bounty Hunter, is a PS2 only game. It QUITE clearly mentions Galaxies, as being a game for PC's.
The office I work in, is an all MS shop (Well 2 macs in the graphic design department). I'm responsible for supporting everyone on a daily basis. And believe me, there is NO way any of the users here would last a day with a *nix box. The people that we hire here are professionals that do a fairly specific job function for our clients. And technology CAN'T get in the way of that. They don't know anything about computers, but they aren't supposed to.
Further, they exchange documents all day long, with other Windows users. And that isn't going to change either.
At home, I use my machine for email, IRC, and games. The first 2 functions can be done on any platform. The third, is by far a Windows selling point. The gammes I play, simply don't come out for *nix.
Everyone seems to be terribly insensed, that the goventment will no longer be providing these documents for "free" to everyone.
News flash. The government doesn't really provide ANYTHING for free. We all pay for everything the government does, with taxes. And when the government does things, typically it does it in a horrifically inefficient manner.
My basic rule of thumb, is that the government should exist to do ONLY those functions that cannot be done in a reasonable manner at all by private companies. The primary purpose of government, should be to protect citizens from others. Virtually any other function is either unnecessary completely (saving citizens from themselves aka war on drugs etc) or better done by the private sector.
Police, Military, SEC (maybe), Judicial System, are all valid functions of government. The bulk of what the government does, to me falls under the "it shouldn't" category.
It's a private project. If you read around about it, you'll find that the city isn't paying for it, at all. It's financed by a whackload of bonds, that will be paid off the revenues generated by fares.
SO they didn't have to dip into the road repair funds at all. That's all still in the city coffers.
One of the VP's here complains about getting too much porn spam at his work address. Not because he's opposed necessarily, just because it's all straight, and he's definitely NOT. I browsed his bookmarks accidentally when I was messing with Outlook for him. He's got quite the collection of favorites.
And apparently at the company staff only Xmas party a year before I started, he was tanked enough to scream "holy shit, she's got tits" about one of the interns that had only been around a few months.
I love my job. However, I think our HR manager hates hers.
Try putting "about:xxxxx" (replace x's with a word" then compare that to "about:mozilla"
Kinda interesting, at least.
looking for "inappropriate" material, usually need look no further than their own history folders.
I just walk past it on the way to the office every day.
Hell, I don't even drink the free coffee here. I'm relatively caffiene free, and damn glad.
Lets see. Factor in the exchange rate, and you're down to $35,000US a year. Then when you remember that the annual cost of an employee is alot more than their base salary alone. Typically youy can assume that an employee costs about twice his salary, with taxes, overhead, benefits, etc. Now we're down to 17,500 roughly. That's $8.75/hr.
The Starbucks the next block over, is hiring Barista's for $9.
At least for Symantec. When you buy a retail copy of Norton AV, you get updates for a year. That's it. If you want to continue getting signature updates, you need to pay again.
Technically you're right. You will still be able to run the software itself. It just won't be any use at all, since new virii pose the threats. Not year old ones, typically.
All they lose out on, is the OS License. Which when purchased from a Dell, et al, isn't that significant. When a Mac gets roped into the AD network seamlessly, they still get revenue from a copy of Office so the user can share docs with other users (LOTS more profitable than Windows). Plus a few more CAL's as well, for the file server(s) as well as the exchange server(s). All in all, it's still a good revenue stream for MS.
Because when they went into the store, they'd see that while they can save $200 (unrealistically high) on the system, they won't be able to run ANY of the apps that the store sells.
None of the programs they've been using for years will run. None of the hot new games will run.
And none of the Linux boxen will sell, because of that. The end user absolutely will care what OS is on the machine because they don't want to just get a computer. They want to run things on it too.
is 2-3 times stronger than the right.
Keep in mind, that MS makes FAR more profits off Office and applications, than they do off of the OS.
Windows has NEVER been free to new PC buyers. It's been "included" yes. But MS charges the manufacturer of the PC, and ALWAYS has. And I guarantee that Michael Dell isn't fronting the cost for you. It's absolutely included in the price of the computer. And for that matter, has grown to become one of the largest single costs of a new computer. How do you think WalMart can afford to sell the No-OS PC's so cheap. Because they don't have to give MS over $100 for a copy of XP. That's how.
And why in gods name would MS care about drumming up interest in hardware upgrades? Last I checked they didn't market any of the parts that actually need to be upgraded regularly. Intel, Seagate, and the Dramurai owe their businesses to MS pushing upgrades. But MS doesn't get squat from that side of things.
I bet the average geek would think a lot harder about crossing Vinnie, and risking death, than just risking a little jail time.
question, is a VERY simple one.
ALL radio stations pay fee's for being on the air. Statistics are compiled on how often songs are played, and the copyright holders of those songs get cash money from the fee's that the stations pay. The money that the stations use for this, comes from advertisers, of course.
So radio is a paid medium. Just like TV. It just so happens that the payer, is not the consumer.
If they use virtually no local resources, why is it they should pay local taxes of any sort?
Mail order houses don't pay sales tax either, typically. Unless they have a physical presence in your state.
While this article is pitching the target as e-commerce. I'm positive that they will attempt to aim the taxes at catalog sales as well.
THink about it. If all a e-tailer offers, is an online version of a retail store. Then he truly does have to worry about things like salestaxes making the "experience" the same as retail, and thus not worth doing.
However, a smart businessman, will actually differentiate his store, be it online of offline, so that there's a compelling reason to shop with him.
I'm not in favor of more taxes, certainly. But arguing this strictly on the basis of "it'll kill generic online storefronts" doesn't sell with me at all. The government should NEVER be in the business of favoring one segment over another. If the online merchants have a reason to exist they will. But an artificial government subsidy shouldn't be in place.
Remote merchants use FAR less resources than local ones. The SFPD rarely has to respond to problems at the Amazon offices in Seattle, etc. Any wear and tear to roads, etc caused by delivery trucks should be borne by the freight handlers, and passed onto the merchants that way. By and large, a remote vendor will use basically no local resources.
I do so enjoy it, when people comment without reading the articles first.
It QUTIE clearly says, that in order to get on board with this plan, states have to harmonize their sales tax regimes. So that the state, and local taxes are the same.
If the greeting card popped up with a dialog that said "I will spam everyone in your contacts, and I will install spy-ware on your machine" when you tried to execute it, then nobody in their right mind would. The problem is, that the vendor buried what the application really does, in a bunch of legalese that they *know* end-users never read. And packaged the whole mess up as an innocuous greeting card.
I have yet to see ANY GPL software that is distributed this way.
As of yesterday afternoon, Trend was classifying this as a virus, and will catch it.
I knew there was a reason I migrated us from Symantec to Trend at the office here.
You really think something as petty as impending doom will get people to drag their lazy selves through that much legalese? You give the average consumer FAR more credit than they deserve.
I'd say it's entirely their perrogative too. Valve opened their tools up, and that was their choice.