The kind of behavior engaged by the officers of the corporation must be seen in the context of the reality of the work environment in existence for the last 10 years (at least) in the US and unfortunately elsewhere. Corporations as private entities (individuals) have a right to protect their hardware, software, and other property which house these items. Countries which don't follow through on such a view are usually those same countries which don't believe in individual rights at the political or any other level either; no use naming them as their economies are following their reputations as valuable and trained persons leave them and go where their work and effort can "make a buck" while also allowing greater freedom, deeper research and advanced work environments.
When people feel that the only way of making a point is to blow themselves up, destroy others or declare nations have no right to exist -- there cannot be anything but proactive cautious defensiveness on the part of corporate officers. Educated professionals comprehending the world in which they find themselves, should respond accordingly with equanimous discipline and not see these defensive actions as personally reflecting against themselves.
Scientific and Technology professionals of all kinds around the world find themselves in a dream of unparalleled promise of personal reward and achievement while simultaneously witnessing the awful retrenchment of completely antiquated values. The propagation of slavery... the trade in children... the political and nearly total domination of women... and it goes on beyond that; yet there is no comprehension in many societies that the achievements made by the largest economies could not have been achieved without the effort of women being respected in their place of work at the same pay as any other male professional, could not have been achieved without an effort to protect children so that they went to school and have the opportunity to develop an education in a technological or other professional endeavor, could not have been achieved without the difference of opinions against the very real tendency of human stubborness which can often take the form of insisting the Government or State is superior at all costs and times to any individual view -- that the State knows best, the Government is always right. The traditional view that the educated can and should be trusted at all times, is replaced by the new role of the educated in explaining science and technology to everyone else so that better and perhaps wiser public policies are not just argued, but understood by as many as possible.
Democracy without the voices of dissension vibrant and socially and politically active is a "play" of democracy -- a farce. It is time for the super-class of scientific and technological professionals to assist in the birthing process of what this Earth may yet be, a saner and safer place for all people and children.
Very many people, at least in the US, don't understand the nature of the Y2K problems.
One could make a case perhaps of suing government for how the Public School system is run and the fact that many more people can't read or count or even support a logical sentence than ever before.
But it isn't just a matter of counting correctly that is the problem, it is also the fact that data is transferred across networks and many computers and software (such as "intelligent" databases) are designed now to send data to one another without human oversight or control. This ranges from interfaces between banks, insurance companies, government agencies and military systems. With that kind of intimacy without human intervention or review thousands, if not millions, of decisions are made without one human being. Often the one human being who designed the code or the logic upon which these various systems work may even be dead!
Even if the programmer were alive, it just is beyond human capacity to examine billions of lines of code -- alone. Rather many, many teams of programmers must comprehend the problem at hand and design a solution to avoid the problem. However, what is a solution in one age or period of time is likely to become a future problem anyway.
This will always occur because humans live within time and cannot supercede it. We cannot outdo or foresee all future outcomes. Certain mathematical models, even reliable for a narrow range of future time (a few days, or weeks or months ahead -- fail); the weather for all the modern talent available is still very much a thing most people refer to the yearly Farmer's Alamanac for.
The situation is not hopeless, as much as that for the first time in human history it will be and remain necessary to support and maintain a whole class of mathematics and programming professionals for the duration of human history across all human societies from this point in time to manage successfully these kind of problems and other's yet to be discovered! This is something unprecedented and unknown in thousands of years of human experience.
Y2K is just a tiny bit of this ice berg which humanity has yet to seriously wrestle with.
I guess this fellow isn't aware of Linux running on the iPod?
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/linux_on_ipod/ Linux_on_ipod_review.html
If he wants to talk about Lockout then the better model to look at is what HP is doing in cooperating in creating and supporting DRM which will obsolete the majority of DVD drive technology not because they are technically outclassed, but rather because they won't be able to support Microsoft's DRM across DVD AND MP3 mobile players which market subscription/DRM based music!
Besides, the issue really is how companies make money. If customers own the music like CDs and vinyl records were owned in the past, one can't resell that unless the owners choose (and with iPod it's unlikely that will happen as so many users are unique in musical taste). However with the subscription model a customer no matter how many times one pays per month or per year only has
use of the music and can play it ONLY as long as one subcribes to the providing service! Drop the "service" and you loose "your" access to hear or listen to "your" music!
Amazing how that little piece of information is left out of these "services". Look folks...there is nothing wrong with making money, and many, many times what is in a company's interest is NOT what is in the consumer's interest. Apple, as a company, has made a choice that comes closer to the consumer interest than Microsoft's DRM and their associated subscription services.
It's going to take some thinking to see it all out, but people are really nasty when Mr. Flim-Flam does nothing day and night but figure new ways to empty money from working people's pockets. Consumers don't like it when the government does it; the public won't appreciate it either when it becomes clearer that this DRM and Microsoft subscription setup is just one more way to catch consumers sleeping.
Look at it this way, Microsoft is losing ground to open source products more and more; as open source get's better the worse it is for their business model especially as they nor anyone else can hang onto the concept of "IBM compatible" anymore. This means that the pc has no more status than the
paperclip; keep in mind that business model and you'll have all the inducement Microsoft and others need to find a new "angle".
Since the earliest civilizations folks, what was true then remains true today, REMEMBER:
CAVEAT EMPTOR
BUYER BEWARE
The hardest thing about being "professional" is having to accept what wastes time and knowing the tools one really needs as opposed to the tools one actually has or can afford. If one is "in business", ie. employed, then there is no problem charging others so that one can eventually purchase the tools one really wants to use.
In professional photography and video it means one of two computers: a. an SGI box or b. a G5 based Mac. Most people are going to go for the G5 both for themselves and their work; the interface as everyone knows is what makes the issue very simple. As the SGI and Mac are now both Unix systems, whatever runs on one Unix box pretty much runs on another that is IF one is also familiar with Darwin. The saavy user has effectively tripled the software available to him/her as there is more Unix software than any amount of Windows PCs on the planet.
The Pros know this already. What may have been overlooked however was an article comparing 11 scanners in the October 2004 issue of MacAddict.
The information there may prove helpful in developing an acceptable strategy.
Verizon says that it doesn't support Linux, but I run Linux all the time on Verizon's DSL and it's just fine. Verizon also says that it doesn't support MacOS 9, but I occasionally have to access Flash based sites via Explorer. It works fine then too.
If you understand what Linux expects and what Verizon expects then setting the correct parameters at the appropriate places is not a problem. A challenge, perhaps, but not a problem. A disciplined thinker can do it.
I know, I know...some people are really sensitive about not thinking or being identified as non compos mentis, i.e., as being among those who choose NOT to use their mind. These just want to push this button or that and just have it work. They wish to think of nothing, they wish to NOT THINK AT ALL. That's ok for the many who wish to imitate the rest of the natural world but it is not ok if one identifies oneself as a human being utilizing technology. Utilizing technology of any sort requires thought and planning.
So what if Verizon doesn't support Linux...you, as a Thinker, support yourself! Let the rest forage and herd as they will.
Slashdot Mirror
There is one sure fire solution to this silliness. Sell any and all Ford vehicles; buy something else. Then send then their photos.
The kind of behavior engaged by the officers of the corporation must be seen in the context of the reality of the work environment in existence for the last 10 years (at least) in the US and unfortunately elsewhere. Corporations as private entities (individuals) have a right to protect their hardware, software, and other property which house these items. Countries which don't follow through on such a view are usually those same countries which don't believe in individual rights at the political or any other level either; no use naming them as their economies are following their reputations as valuable and trained persons leave them and go where their work and effort can "make a buck" while also allowing greater freedom, deeper research and advanced work environments.
When people feel that the only way of making a point is to blow themselves up, destroy others or declare nations have no right to exist -- there cannot be anything but proactive cautious defensiveness on the part of corporate officers. Educated professionals comprehending the world in which they find themselves, should respond accordingly with equanimous discipline and not see these defensive actions as personally reflecting against themselves.
Scientific and Technology professionals of all kinds around the world find themselves in a dream of unparalleled promise of personal reward and achievement while simultaneously witnessing the awful retrenchment of completely antiquated values. The propagation of slavery ... the trade in children ... the political and nearly total domination of women ... and it goes on beyond that; yet there is no comprehension in many societies that the achievements made by the largest economies could not have been achieved without the effort of women being respected in their place of work at the same pay as any other male professional, could not have been achieved without an effort to protect children so that they went to school and have the opportunity to develop an education in a technological or other professional endeavor, could not have been achieved without the difference of opinions against the very real tendency of human stubborness which can often take the form of insisting the Government or State is superior at all costs and times to any individual view -- that the State knows best, the Government is always right. The traditional view that the educated can and should be trusted at all times, is replaced by the new role of the educated in explaining science and technology to everyone else so that better and perhaps wiser public policies are not just argued, but understood by as many as possible.
Democracy without the voices of dissension vibrant and socially and politically active is a "play" of democracy -- a farce. It is time for the super-class of scientific and technological professionals to assist in the birthing process of what this Earth may yet be, a saner and safer place for all people and children.
But it isn't just a matter of counting correctly that is the problem, it is also the fact that data is transferred across networks and many computers and software (such as "intelligent" databases) are designed now to send data to one another without human oversight or control. This ranges from interfaces between banks, insurance companies, government agencies and military systems. With that kind of intimacy without human intervention or review thousands, if not millions, of decisions are made without one human being. Often the one human being who designed the code or the logic upon which these various systems work may even be dead!
Even if the programmer were alive, it just is beyond human capacity to examine billions of lines of code -- alone. Rather many, many teams of programmers must comprehend the problem at hand and design a solution to avoid the problem. However, what is a solution in one age or period of time is likely to become a future problem anyway.
This will always occur because humans live within time and cannot supercede it. We cannot outdo or foresee all future outcomes. Certain mathematical models, even reliable for a narrow range of future time (a few days, or weeks or months ahead -- fail); the weather for all the modern talent available is still very much a thing most people refer to the yearly Farmer's Alamanac for.
The situation is not hopeless, as much as that for the first time in human history it will be and remain necessary to support and maintain a whole class of mathematics and programming professionals for the duration of human history across all human societies from this point in time to manage successfully these kind of problems and other's yet to be discovered! This is something unprecedented and unknown in thousands of years of human experience.
Y2K is just a tiny bit of this ice berg which humanity has yet to seriously wrestle with.
I guess this fellow isn't aware of Linux running on the iPod? http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/feedback/linux_on_ipod/ Linux_on_ipod_review.html
If he wants to talk about Lockout then the better model to look at is what HP is doing in cooperating in creating and supporting DRM which will obsolete the majority of DVD drive technology not because they are technically outclassed, but rather because they won't be able to support Microsoft's DRM across DVD AND MP3 mobile players which market subscription/DRM based music!
Besides, the issue really is how companies make money. If customers own the music like CDs and vinyl records were owned in the past, one can't resell that unless the owners choose (and with iPod it's unlikely that will happen as so many users are unique in musical taste). However with the subscription model a customer no matter how many times one pays per month or per year only has use of the music and can play it ONLY as long as one subcribes to the providing service! Drop the "service" and you loose "your" access to hear or listen to "your" music! Amazing how that little piece of information is left out of these "services". Look folks...there is nothing wrong with making money, and many, many times what is in a company's interest is NOT what is in the consumer's interest. Apple, as a company, has made a choice that comes closer to the consumer interest than Microsoft's DRM and their associated subscription services.
It's going to take some thinking to see it all out, but people are really nasty when Mr. Flim-Flam does nothing day and night but figure new ways to empty money from working people's pockets. Consumers don't like it when the government does it; the public won't appreciate it either when it becomes clearer that this DRM and Microsoft subscription setup is just one more way to catch consumers sleeping. Look at it this way, Microsoft is losing ground to open source products more and more; as open source get's better the worse it is for their business model especially as they nor anyone else can hang onto the concept of "IBM compatible" anymore. This means that the pc has no more status than the paperclip; keep in mind that business model and you'll have all the inducement Microsoft and others need to find a new "angle".
Since the earliest civilizations folks, what was true then remains true today, REMEMBER: CAVEAT EMPTOR BUYER BEWARE
The hardest thing about being "professional" is having to accept what wastes time and knowing the tools one really needs as opposed to the tools one actually has or can afford. If one is "in business", ie. employed, then there is no problem charging others so that one can eventually purchase the tools one really wants to use. In professional photography and video it means one of two computers: a. an SGI box or b. a G5 based Mac. Most people are going to go for the G5 both for themselves and their work; the interface as everyone knows is what makes the issue very simple. As the SGI and Mac are now both Unix systems, whatever runs on one Unix box pretty much runs on another that is IF one is also familiar with Darwin. The saavy user has effectively tripled the software available to him/her as there is more Unix software than any amount of Windows PCs on the planet. The Pros know this already. What may have been overlooked however was an article comparing 11 scanners in the October 2004 issue of MacAddict. The information there may prove helpful in developing an acceptable strategy.
Verizon says that it doesn't support Linux, but I run Linux all the time on Verizon's DSL and it's just fine. Verizon also says that it doesn't support MacOS 9, but I occasionally have to access Flash based sites via Explorer. It works fine then too. If you understand what Linux expects and what Verizon expects then setting the correct parameters at the appropriate places is not a problem. A challenge, perhaps, but not a problem. A disciplined thinker can do it. I know, I know...some people are really sensitive about not thinking or being identified as non compos mentis, i.e., as being among those who choose NOT to use their mind. These just want to push this button or that and just have it work. They wish to think of nothing, they wish to NOT THINK AT ALL. That's ok for the many who wish to imitate the rest of the natural world but it is not ok if one identifies oneself as a human being utilizing technology. Utilizing technology of any sort requires thought and planning. So what if Verizon doesn't support Linux...you, as a Thinker, support yourself! Let the rest forage and herd as they will.