"If I have this correctlty, ASP.Net is executed server side 100% of the time and returns HTML and javascript to the browser. How would this not work on every single operating system and browser out there? Am I missing something? I mean Office 2007 you have a point; but.NET?"
First, is you RTFA and the EU press release they are clear they are just investigating--not filing charges...yet.
Second,.NET must required for many services that clients need not just HTML to a browser and it is encumbered with IP patent protection so no one can use it without MS permission. If what you say is true and.NET is of trivial importance, Miguel de Icaza and Novell have been wasting their time with Mono and Moonlight. What don't you go tell then--I am sure the trivial importance of.NET will be news to them.
This is absolutely not true. IE has had debugger hooks since forever (at least IE4, which is the earliest IE that mattered). You simply need an external debugger in order to use them. Visual Studio works great, but you can use one of the free Express versions like Visual Web Developer Express [microsoft.com], or you can use the archaic Microsoft Script Debugger [microsoft.com]. I develop on Linux and OS X and none of those tools run on anything but Windows. But you seem to be myopic in that regard--not only are there other browsers besides those from Microsoft, but there are other operating systems and tools. And fortunately the market usage of the alternatives is growing.
While you are correct in what you say, you are shifting the argument. The original issues is why people differ in their worry honestly. Lying or concealing is whole different topic.
Not always. Many times it's the other way around. Take, for example, genetically modified food. Most scientists working in this area see no harmful effects from GM food, yet many in the general public think GM food is going to kill them, cause cancer, or other such nonsense. Or human cloning. Not the same issue at all. When the general public is more concerned than scientists, it is born of a combination of things: ignorance, poor reading comprehension, poor listening skills, or emotion. When scientists are more concerned than the general public is usually due to empirical scientific analysis, facts, or cold hard logic.
"Apparently he was having an affair with a direct subordinate."
And most corporate HR and legal departments consider that a serious sexual harassment violation because of the supervisory relationship. It is a key element of a prima facie case of sexual harassment. It makes the firm liable for big judgments should the subordinate employee sue if the relationship goes sour one day. I have taken sexual harassment training at several large tech firms and all of them taught us that it would be grounds for summary dismissal.
"Okay, to clarify, I'm not a fan of M$. They obviously have been involved in anti-competitive practices in the past, and I don't doubt that if they get the chance to use their market dominance to thwart competition again, they'll do it. However, there's a bigger issue than that involved; namely, the EU regulatory commission has an incredible anti-American bias. Basically, it's oldschool nationalist protectionism."
You dredge up the Boeing v. Airbus analogy. Okay, I'll bite. Please enlighten me as to which EU business the EU Commission is protecting? Sun? IBM? the other tech companies who filed friends of the court briefs? Ahem. Almost all are US companies. Your theory has no basis in fact whatsoever.
My wife works in city government. The salary ranges and what a called control points (maximums for a position) are indeed public knowledge although some of the high level execs hide their bonuses, but not pay levels, in obscure documents. Wonder why;-) But as many hear have stated, an individual's pay stub isn't a position pay range--it is uniquely personal and contains information about taxation, vacation. PTO, health insurance, life insurance, possibly bank information, possibly social security information, maybe addresses, dependents, etc. The city is divulging way too much information and that should be shut down ASAP.
Second, on another note, criticism that is fair (in this case the fact the many scientists consider creationists crackpots) on a matter of public interest (whcich literature is) is a defense:
(2) FAIR COMMENT ON A MATTER OF PUBLIC INTEREST
The defence of fair comment is frequently relied upon by the press, as it is designed to protect statements of opinion on matters of public concern. Lord Esher, in Merivale v Carson (1887) 20 QBD 275, stated that the test was:
"Would any fair man, however prejudiced he may be, however exaggerated or obstinate his views, have said that which this criticism has said of the work which is criticised?"
However, Lord Porter, in Turner v MGM Pictures [1950] 1 All ER 449 at 461, said that he would adopt this test, but substitute 'honest' for 'fair' in order to avoid the suggestion that the comment must be reasonable. See also Lord Nicholls in Reynolds v Times Newspapers [1999] 4 All ER 609 (below).
The defence only applies to comments made on matters of public interest, eg comments on works of literature, music, art, plays, radio and television; and also the activities of public figures.
He was labeled a zealot and largely ignored. An educated guess says there is a connection--you cannot load an I/O chain with a complex architecture that constantly sniffs the entire chain for malfeasance without some performance impact. That said, I believe it is likely any impact will be significantly reduced over time since this is Vista DRM 1.0 and so it is the first version of the code. I have no doubt Microsoft knows this is a problem and that poor performance vis a vis XP could limit the adoption of their new platform.
One would think that an operating system under development for years by an "innovative" company would have been vetted of this kind of plodding code. But then one remembers this is a monopolist that heretofore has had little competitive challenge to its desktop dominance and therefore little incentive to either produce efficient elegant designs or face market share erosion to competitors. I think Microsoft honestly thinks the world will take Vista no matter what it is and are relishing the thought of being able to pull that off. And I see no sign so far they have anything to worry about either despite the faux outrage at the growing list of flaws in Vista.
Fake Steve Jobs scooped it: he claims SCO has filed a new lawsuit--it's suing itself and its executives for incompetence in bringing about and losing the UNIX lawsuits.
He's kidding, but I'll bet they thought about it a least for a minute or two;-)
Let's assume earth is a typical intelligent-life-bearing planet of average age in the universe--even that's a stretch--we might well be the farthest along in the MIlky Way for all we know. Assuming the evolution of life on Earth is representation of the evolution on most other planets that means most other life giving planets have life no more advanced than we are here. And we have made only paltry communications--mostly all limited to our sola system. Assuming most other life-bearing planets are no farther along, their communications are no better and have not come close to reaching us or ours them. We and they have a long way to go before we ever have even a remote chance of detecting one another let alone meeting. Fermii's fault lies in his assumption that other life forms are more. While he might assume a bell curve with our advancement at the middle thus assuming more advanced life, he has no evidence whatsoever for that assumption. Our advancement might be 3 sigmas out on the leading edge meaning we are one of the most advanced at this age of the universe. So Fermi's paradox is not one at all. It's a theory in disguise--it states then that Earth, as an advanced life bearing planet, has a life form (humans) that are one of the most advanced in a galaxy for this age of the universe. I don't have no more trouble assuming us 3 sigmas or 20 sigmas out as Fermi does assuming we are at the mean. In fact, the evidence is on my side. Once one looks at it my way--there is no longer a paradox at all.
Not a chance--even if that is China's plan. Microsoft has a concerted strategy to frustrate interoperability of their product and services core by any other vendor's product as well as FOSS. Once China adopts Vista and Office 2007, even with second class converters for OOXML to UDF, they will be addicted and dependent. THe Microsoft addiction is strongest addiction known in technology--perhaps more powerful than addiction to fossil fuels. China may think they can walk away any time they want but the whole ECMA/OOXML/ISO/ODF war in government around the world with Microsoft slowly winning belies such foolish and wishful thinking.
The first movie listed for voting is incorrectly titled in the English translation. It should be The Battle of Marathon.
First, "bataille" means battle not giant. even a non-French speaker should get a clue from the spelling a lot of English is influenced by French.
Second, anyone who has a decent knowledge of history knows about the famous battle on the Plains of Marathon--and the story of the runner who ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens in order to bring the news about the Persian Army's defeat, then collapsed and died. Which is how the marathon race was named.
I wonder how funny these guys are if they are that ignorant.
Archaic thinking, solving a problem in a cumbersome way that has already be solved more elegantly. With the iPhone showing the way, software keyboards are coming and will only get better. The limitations of mechanical buttons, poor touch screens, and tiny screens are almost behind us. Why press five keys playing "Twister" with you keyboard when a simple software UI can give you all the buttons you need--and can be updated/changed via a download? If the rest of the mobile phone dinosaurs would catch up with Apple that is.
You are still new here and too recent to realize your "buyers remorse". Give it time and the euphoria brought by newness will wear of and you detect a better taste in your mouth. Even poor Cuba has a lower infant mortality and higher literacy rate than the US. Just give yourself a while to grow old enough to need medical care and you'll realize that living in a country that ranks first in per capital health care costs yet ranks 37th in quality of care has serious problems. I hope your realization doesn't come during a life-threatening health crisis because the substandard care here might mean you won't live to see the light. Good luck.
"...with people using the lower-priced versions of Vista in virtualization environments they don't understand - on any platform - and then expecting support in such environments."
Microsoft doesn't support end users. Ever. Have you ever tried to get support from Microsoft other than the Knowledge Base?
No, Microsoft is no worried about support costs--that isn't a material part of their business model. what they are worried, even paranoid about, is losing control--losing the linkage between Exchange and Outlook, between Sharepoint and Office. Microsoft's entire business model for desktop computing is based on monopolistic tying. If the ties are broken, Microsoft's mediocre products will lose share quickly
"Actually since its running Linux it does everything your Mac Book does."
Yeah sure it does.
Then I cannot wait to run Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Shake, Lightwave, Maya, and Illustrator on it. Plus open up Xcode and write some Cocoa apps.
Yeah, forget that expensive, slick, dual core MacbookPro with 3GB of memory. This puppy will run circles around teh MacbookPro.
Mr. Ballmer, please post under your real name next time and throw a chair also. "Developers developers developers!"
...and escape all punishment for having knowingly and egregiously broken the law before the promise.
From the SEC press release: "Without admitting or denying the Commission's findings, HP consented to an order that it cease and desist from committing or causing violations of these provisions."
Oh, wait I get it! Knowing something is illegal and doing it anyway is not grounds for punishment as long as you, once cuaght, just promise to cease and desist violating the law thereafter.
Defendant: "Gosh Your Honor. If, despite the prosecution's proving I broke the law and robbed a bank, I neither admit nor deny doing it and further I promise to cease and desist robbing banks in the future, can I just go free now?"
Judge: "Certainly. I think you've learned your lesson. Defendant dimissed. Son you are free to go"
Corporations and the rich are held to far lower standards than the rest of us.
" The government has nothing to do with this combination license/credit card other than the fact that they provide the piece of plastic it uses. "
WHat? The government provides the data on the strip Bucko. They conllected from us as the government, they stored our information in a databse as the government, they maintain that database as the government, and they maintain the ligeitimacy of that ID as the government . How are they NOT involved. Without the government, that card, its's striped data, and its validity would be non-existent. Big brother will definitely have to be involved and colluding with business for this to work.
"That's not cross-platform. Does it run on a PS3 or a Wii? How about on cell phones?"
First, it DOES run on cell phones (http://www.sun.com/software/javafx/mobile/).
Second, PS3 or Wii? WTF? Set an impossibly high standard so nothing meets it LOL? Mr Ballmer, stop posting to Sladot and get back to work whipping your Microserfs into fixing that flawed Vista 1.0 reelase. Accept or deny?
"Won't you feel silly if it turns out this was the sort of thing they wanted prosecuted and couldn't get to happen until they started firing prosecutors?"
Ah, yeah, sure. I am not owrried about that possibility, I am more worried about how I'l spend my lottery millions since winning the lottery is more likely than your scenario. The Republicans fighting corporate corruption. Yeah, just like they did with that Jack Abramoff guy eh? Hey Mr. Lott, I didn't know you read Slashdot. How's retirement?
While she might have public sector skills the Democrats could certainly gain from having on their side, given her organization's (and no doubt her own) agenda, I would be very concerned about the back-channel influence she is going to have on the DNC, the candidates, and their supporters from the executvie and legislative branches. They will be 'rubbing shoulders
a lot in the preparation and at the event and one would have to be naive to think she won't be lobbying for the RIAA.
The Democrats rightly chastized Dick Cheney for his closed-door energy policy meetings with his energy industry cronies and then they turn around and act similarly by allowing a corporate special interest inside access to candiates--before they are even in office. Why don't they pick someone from a non-profit? Sure there will always be some agenda with any person they choose, but why choose someone frm an organization that is so blatant, so hated, and so mercenary?
Ah, I wouldn't generalize those numbers as better at all. 'Back of the envelope, the average improvment was less thatn 5%. That's almosti n the the error bars frankly.
Oracle's entry did not hurt Red Hat as much as it legitimized Linux all the more in the enterprise market. Multiple trustworthy vendors are needed to make a market. Microsoft saw this coming which is why they entered into the agreement with Novell to provide a legal base for a future intellectual-property-based attack. This is about to get very, very interesting indeed. It will make the SCO-IBM fight look like a warm-up bout before the title bout.
Suppose instead of being able to call anyone in world for a fixed fee on you cell phone becuase fo carrier agreements to help each other, you had to pay an additional toll each time you crossed a carrier or your call was downgraded at each juntion. Cross enough carrier boundries and you might not recevie an adequae connection to converse. As it stands today, when you call Aunt Martha in Sarasota FL from Bellvue WA, you cross many networks but you never see fees added and service down-graded nor does Aunt Martha. But on the 'net', unlike telephone connection guarantees, there is no guarantee you'll even be able to connect--the bandwidth to the lowest tiers might be so limited that most connections simply time out and fail! After all, not only is bandwidth apportioned, but I get this bad feeling it will eventually lead to connectivity being effectively apportioned as well sicne each connection consumes a portion of that scarce bandwidth. More than two HTTP GETs at the same time might result in a being 'slahdotted'. We'll be back to the old dark days of AOL, when AOL users couldn't access the whole net. Big conglomerate content providers restricting access to content and media channels? It is a successful model for the RIAA and MPAA, so expect it to propagate to the net.
Slashdot Mirror
"If I have this correctlty, ASP.Net is executed server side 100% of the time and returns HTML and javascript to the browser. How would this not work on every single operating system and browser out there? Am I missing something? I mean Office 2007 you have a point; but .NET?"
First, is you RTFA and the EU press release they are clear they are just investigating--not filing charges...yet.
Second, .NET must required for many services that clients need not just HTML to a browser and it is encumbered with IP patent protection so no one can use it without MS permission. If what you say is true and .NET is of trivial importance, Miguel de Icaza and Novell have been wasting their time with Mono and Moonlight. What don't you go tell then--I am sure the trivial importance of .NET will be news to them.
While you are correct in what you say, you are shifting the argument. The original issues is why people differ in their worry honestly. Lying or concealing is whole different topic.
"Apparently he was having an affair with a direct subordinate." And most corporate HR and legal departments consider that a serious sexual harassment violation because of the supervisory relationship. It is a key element of a prima facie case of sexual harassment. It makes the firm liable for big judgments should the subordinate employee sue if the relationship goes sour one day. I have taken sexual harassment training at several large tech firms and all of them taught us that it would be grounds for summary dismissal.
"Okay, to clarify, I'm not a fan of M$. They obviously have been involved in anti-competitive practices in the past, and I don't doubt that if they get the chance to use their market dominance to thwart competition again, they'll do it. However, there's a bigger issue than that involved; namely, the EU regulatory commission has an incredible anti-American bias. Basically, it's oldschool nationalist protectionism."
You dredge up the Boeing v. Airbus analogy. Okay, I'll bite. Please enlighten me as to which EU business the EU Commission is protecting? Sun? IBM? the other tech companies who filed friends of the court briefs? Ahem. Almost all are US companies. Your theory has no basis in fact whatsoever.
My wife works in city government. The salary ranges and what a called control points (maximums for a position) are indeed public knowledge although some of the high level execs hide their bonuses, but not pay levels, in obscure documents. Wonder why ;-) But as many hear have stated, an individual's pay stub isn't a position pay range--it is uniquely personal and contains information about taxation, vacation. PTO, health insurance, life insurance, possibly bank information, possibly social security information, maybe addresses, dependents, etc. The city is divulging way too much information and that should be shut down ASAP.
Second, on another note, criticism that is fair (in this case the fact the many scientists consider creationists crackpots) on a matter of public interest (whcich literature is) is a defense: (2) FAIR COMMENT ON A MATTER OF PUBLIC INTEREST The defence of fair comment is frequently relied upon by the press, as it is designed to protect statements of opinion on matters of public concern. Lord Esher, in Merivale v Carson (1887) 20 QBD 275, stated that the test was: "Would any fair man, however prejudiced he may be, however exaggerated or obstinate his views, have said that which this criticism has said of the work which is criticised?" However, Lord Porter, in Turner v MGM Pictures [1950] 1 All ER 449 at 461, said that he would adopt this test, but substitute 'honest' for 'fair' in order to avoid the suggestion that the comment must be reasonable. See also Lord Nicholls in Reynolds v Times Newspapers [1999] 4 All ER 609 (below). The defence only applies to comments made on matters of public interest, eg comments on works of literature, music, art, plays, radio and television; and also the activities of public figures.
He was labeled a zealot and largely ignored. An educated guess says there is a connection--you cannot load an I/O chain with a complex architecture that constantly sniffs the entire chain for malfeasance without some performance impact. That said, I believe it is likely any impact will be significantly reduced over time since this is Vista DRM 1.0 and so it is the first version of the code. I have no doubt Microsoft knows this is a problem and that poor performance vis a vis XP could limit the adoption of their new platform. One would think that an operating system under development for years by an "innovative" company would have been vetted of this kind of plodding code. But then one remembers this is a monopolist that heretofore has had little competitive challenge to its desktop dominance and therefore little incentive to either produce efficient elegant designs or face market share erosion to competitors. I think Microsoft honestly thinks the world will take Vista no matter what it is and are relishing the thought of being able to pull that off. And I see no sign so far they have anything to worry about either despite the faux outrage at the growing list of flaws in Vista.
Fake Steve Jobs scooped it: he claims SCO has filed a new lawsuit--it's suing itself and its executives for incompetence in bringing about and losing the UNIX lawsuits. He's kidding, but I'll bet they thought about it a least for a minute or two ;-)
Let's assume earth is a typical intelligent-life-bearing planet of average age in the universe--even that's a stretch--we might well be the farthest along in the MIlky Way for all we know. Assuming the evolution of life on Earth is representation of the evolution on most other planets that means most other life giving planets have life no more advanced than we are here. And we have made only paltry communications--mostly all limited to our sola system. Assuming most other life-bearing planets are no farther along, their communications are no better and have not come close to reaching us or ours them. We and they have a long way to go before we ever have even a remote chance of detecting one another let alone meeting. Fermii's fault lies in his assumption that other life forms are more. While he might assume a bell curve with our advancement at the middle thus assuming more advanced life, he has no evidence whatsoever for that assumption. Our advancement might be 3 sigmas out on the leading edge meaning we are one of the most advanced at this age of the universe. So Fermi's paradox is not one at all. It's a theory in disguise--it states then that Earth, as an advanced life bearing planet, has a life form (humans) that are one of the most advanced in a galaxy for this age of the universe. I don't have no more trouble assuming us 3 sigmas or 20 sigmas out as Fermi does assuming we are at the mean. In fact, the evidence is on my side. Once one looks at it my way--there is no longer a paradox at all.
Not a chance--even if that is China's plan. Microsoft has a concerted strategy to frustrate interoperability of their product and services core by any other vendor's product as well as FOSS. Once China adopts Vista and Office 2007, even with second class converters for OOXML to UDF, they will be addicted and dependent. THe Microsoft addiction is strongest addiction known in technology--perhaps more powerful than addiction to fossil fuels. China may think they can walk away any time they want but the whole ECMA/OOXML/ISO/ODF war in government around the world with Microsoft slowly winning belies such foolish and wishful thinking.
Spoke French and knows history.
The first movie listed for voting is incorrectly titled in the English translation. It should be The Battle of Marathon.
First, "bataille" means battle not giant. even a non-French speaker should get a clue from the spelling a lot of English is influenced by French.
Second, anyone who has a decent knowledge of history knows about the famous battle on the Plains of Marathon--and the story of the runner who ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens in order to bring the news about the Persian Army's defeat, then collapsed and died. Which is how the marathon race was named.
I wonder how funny these guys are if they are that ignorant.
Archaic thinking, solving a problem in a cumbersome way that has already be solved more elegantly. With the iPhone showing the way, software keyboards are coming and will only get better. The limitations of mechanical buttons, poor touch screens, and tiny screens are almost behind us. Why press five keys playing "Twister" with you keyboard when a simple software UI can give you all the buttons you need--and can be updated/changed via a download? If the rest of the mobile phone dinosaurs would catch up with Apple that is.
You are still new here and too recent to realize your "buyers remorse". Give it time and the euphoria brought by newness will wear of and you detect a better taste in your mouth. Even poor Cuba has a lower infant mortality and higher literacy rate than the US. Just give yourself a while to grow old enough to need medical care and you'll realize that living in a country that ranks first in per capital health care costs yet ranks 37th in quality of care has serious problems. I hope your realization doesn't come during a life-threatening health crisis because the substandard care here might mean you won't live to see the light. Good luck.
"...with people using the lower-priced versions of Vista in virtualization environments they don't understand - on any platform - and then expecting support in such environments."
Microsoft doesn't support end users. Ever. Have you ever tried to get support from Microsoft other than the Knowledge Base? No, Microsoft is no worried about support costs--that isn't a material part of their business model. what they are worried, even paranoid about, is losing control--losing the linkage between Exchange and Outlook, between Sharepoint and Office. Microsoft's entire business model for desktop computing is based on monopolistic tying. If the ties are broken, Microsoft's mediocre products will lose share quickly
"Actually since its running Linux it does everything your Mac Book does." Yeah sure it does. Then I cannot wait to run Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Shake, Lightwave, Maya, and Illustrator on it. Plus open up Xcode and write some Cocoa apps. Yeah, forget that expensive, slick, dual core MacbookPro with 3GB of memory. This puppy will run circles around teh MacbookPro. Mr. Ballmer, please post under your real name next time and throw a chair also. "Developers developers developers!"
...and escape all punishment for having knowingly and egregiously broken the law before the promise. From the SEC press release: "Without admitting or denying the Commission's findings, HP consented to an order that it cease and desist from committing or causing violations of these provisions." Oh, wait I get it! Knowing something is illegal and doing it anyway is not grounds for punishment as long as you, once cuaght, just promise to cease and desist violating the law thereafter. Defendant: "Gosh Your Honor. If, despite the prosecution's proving I broke the law and robbed a bank, I neither admit nor deny doing it and further I promise to cease and desist robbing banks in the future, can I just go free now?" Judge: "Certainly. I think you've learned your lesson. Defendant dimissed. Son you are free to go" Corporations and the rich are held to far lower standards than the rest of us.
" The government has nothing to do with this combination license/credit card other than the fact that they provide the piece of plastic it uses. " WHat? The government provides the data on the strip Bucko. They conllected from us as the government, they stored our information in a databse as the government, they maintain that database as the government, and they maintain the ligeitimacy of that ID as the government . How are they NOT involved. Without the government, that card, its's striped data, and its validity would be non-existent. Big brother will definitely have to be involved and colluding with business for this to work.
"That's not cross-platform. Does it run on a PS3 or a Wii? How about on cell phones?"
First, it DOES run on cell phones (http://www.sun.com/software/javafx/mobile/).
Second, PS3 or Wii? WTF? Set an impossibly high standard so nothing meets it LOL?
Mr Ballmer, stop posting to Sladot and get back to work whipping your Microserfs into fixing that flawed Vista 1.0 reelase. Accept or deny?
"Won't you feel silly if it turns out this was the sort of thing they wanted prosecuted and couldn't get to happen until they started firing prosecutors?" Ah, yeah, sure. I am not owrried about that possibility, I am more worried about how I'l spend my lottery millions since winning the lottery is more likely than your scenario. The Republicans fighting corporate corruption. Yeah, just like they did with that Jack Abramoff guy eh? Hey Mr. Lott, I didn't know you read Slashdot. How's retirement?
While she might have public sector skills the Democrats could certainly gain from having on their side, given her organization's (and no doubt her own) agenda, I would be very concerned about the back-channel influence she is going to have on the DNC, the candidates, and their supporters from the executvie and legislative branches. They will be 'rubbing shoulders
a lot in the preparation and at the event and one would have to be naive to think she won't be lobbying for the RIAA.
The Democrats rightly chastized Dick Cheney for his closed-door energy policy meetings with his energy industry cronies and then they turn around and act similarly by allowing a corporate special interest inside access to candiates--before they are even in office. Why don't they pick someone from a non-profit? Sure there will always be some agenda with any person they choose, but why choose someone frm an organization that is so blatant, so hated, and so mercenary?
Have they given leave of their sense?
Ah, I wouldn't generalize those numbers as better at all. 'Back of the envelope, the average improvment was less thatn 5%. That's almosti n the the error bars frankly.
Oracle's entry did not hurt Red Hat as much as it legitimized Linux all the more in the enterprise market. Multiple trustworthy vendors are needed to make a market. Microsoft saw this coming which is why they entered into the agreement with Novell to provide a legal base for a future intellectual-property-based attack. This is about to get very, very interesting indeed. It will make the SCO-IBM fight look like a warm-up bout before the title bout.
Suppose instead of being able to call anyone in world for a fixed fee on you cell phone becuase fo carrier agreements to help each other, you had to pay an additional toll each time you crossed a carrier or your call was downgraded at each juntion. Cross enough carrier boundries and you might not recevie an adequae connection to converse. As it stands today, when you call Aunt Martha in Sarasota FL from Bellvue WA, you cross many networks but you never see fees added and service down-graded nor does Aunt Martha. But on the 'net', unlike telephone connection guarantees, there is no guarantee you'll even be able to connect--the bandwidth to the lowest tiers might be so limited that most connections simply time out and fail! After all, not only is bandwidth apportioned, but I get this bad feeling it will eventually lead to connectivity being effectively apportioned as well sicne each connection consumes a portion of that scarce bandwidth. More than two HTTP GETs at the same time might result in a being 'slahdotted'. We'll be back to the old dark days of AOL, when AOL users couldn't access the whole net. Big conglomerate content providers restricting access to content and media channels? It is a successful model for the RIAA and MPAA, so expect it to propagate to the net.