Not convinced the 25% is a true figure -- although admittedly download stats are not a true measure of anything other than downloads. Some people download several times if they have some problem, just as one example of skewness.
It would be interesting to see what the figures are for site visit stats and how that's grown, say for Google or similar. I imagine the Guardian's stats are now skewed by lots of Firefox users navigating to the article.
I have some concerns about the 12 point plan. As a non-profit organization I see no reason why Mozilla needs to follow the marketing-droid business model. More is not equal to better. New features are not equal to more.
I switched to Firefox in its 0.8x days because it was a great product that worked well. Most of the "improvements" since then have not been necessary.
Stay true to the original design, people will come. If they keep adding features they'll be losing as many loyal users as they gain in n00bs.
If I were Adobe, I would start to push Linux products out of the door like crazy.
I agree they should. That would make sense. However, note how long it took them to release products for Intel Macs. And note that only now they are trying to recapture some of the video editing market with Premiere Pro for Mac. I think it will be a long long time before they can get their act together for Linux.
This is a shame because this really hurts Linux. I'd love to upgrade my windows box to Linux - but I can't because I need the Adobe products. It's the only reason I don't.
Or maybe... maybe the new competition will make Adobe products a little cheaper, less complex and more adaptable. I may not like Microsoft but after many years of using, and needing to use, Adobe products every day, I welcome the first company that puts them out of business. I love what I can do with their software but I have no more respect for them than they have for me as a user.
I'll jump ship tomorrow for the better product and the cheaper price. I have no love of Adobe, they taught me that.
The scary downside of this is that it does seem that the DARPA guys spend most of their time trying to create stuff that was on Star Trek. I'm sure at least one of them is working on a Genesis device. A little worrying...
Mind you, the upside is that we do get to play with things from Star Trek. Let me know when they make a 7 of 9...
Now, I know myspace has been criticized for..., well many things really..., but mainly for having a population base that's considered lower IQ and social status. Where Facebook has been considered to be mainly a graduate type of network.
However...
I'm a filmmaker. I am a graduate, and have a pretty good social status. Much as I do agree Myspace is the place where web designers and anything considered good taste goes to die, as a filmmaker it is a very very good tool for networking.
Facebook on the other hand is absolutely worthless for film networking. (and I assume for music or other creative endeavors too) It seems to me that Facebook is full of legal and accountancy firms, and management consultancies -- at least in the UK.
Never cross the streams. These are two World's that must never meet. When that happens the spawn of satan appears -- or the RIAA as they are otherwise known.
The first is the business power user, for whom nothing matches Outlook+Exchange+Blackberry/WindowMobile. This is a huge market
It is. You're right. And actually this is the core issue with OSS versus MS. The OS doesn't matter to business users, but Office and Exchange are the key reasons MS has domination of the OS -- because business needs these to be compatible and familiar across the board.
Trouble is, most OSS developers don't work in that kind of World (which is good for them admittedly), which does mean though that they don't really have much insight into ways to improve these softwares. Exchange is practical, but it's sure as hell not sexy -- working on browsers is more fun.
I use Thunderbird out of loyalty to the principles of Mozilla. The name is cool, the logo's ok, and it mostly works -- but the product is not good.
Please tell me, in what other "profession" is it reasonable to expect that when you do one days work, you should continue to get paid for that days work for the rest of your life.
If your song is a success you will likely be adequately rewarded for that. If you are elderly and no longer recording (or "working" as that could be called), that's what most people call retirement. If you don't sort out your pension - it's your own problem.
As always -- do not buy music new from any record label. Buy secondhand, or buy direct from the artist.
So, you need to finely gauge your audience's exact level of knowledge of ancient Greek culture, then. They know 'Eureka', but think 'Theseus' is kind of like a dictionary. It's a tricky business, this...
It is indeed a tricky business. In fact it's very, very obvious that no-one at Yahoo! had ever read Swift. While it is one of the most appropriate names for the executives of what the company has become, it's highly likely that that word didn't mean what they thought it meant.
In fact, I see no reason not to blacklist anything that has an @hotmail domain. Once upon a time, about 10 years ago I guess, most people I knew used hotmail. Nowadays, no-one does. I can think of no legitimate mail I've received from an hotmail account in the past couple of years.
I suspect the reason for this is at least in part because hotmail's junk mail filters are lame, their mailbox size allowance is pathetic, and you have to keep signing in all the time to keep your account active. They clearly never put their customers first.
Now if only people could be persuaded to stop using Yahoo, at a faster rate...
While someone dumb enough to, say, screw over a Russian Mafiya buywer, I can see where there would be more than enough idiots out there who would happily try
Yeah, and this actually highlights the fundamental difference between this site and eBay. In this Swiss site the buyers are likely Russian/Ukrainian/Romanian mafia, whereas on eBay the sellers are Russian/Ukranian/Romanian mafia.
Only three comments and this thread has already been Godwin'ed. I'm sure he would be proud.
He's chosen the right Firm to work for now. The subject of Nazis and fascist behavior comes up faster in any discussion around Wikipedia than through any other. In fact, I'm sure the number of Wikipedia/Nazi comparisons triples every three months.
Maybe someone could write a Wales Corollary -- or a "Rand Corollary", perhaps more appropriately.
are an activist organisation who think any form of violence is justified because they THINK they have the moral high ground. They are nothing other then no science agenda pushing assholes
What a day not to have mod points...
Nice violent post by the way...
Ok, there are, admittedly, some grey areas over how Sea Shepherd have handled some situations. They do not, however, "think any form of violence is justified". They have been careful not to harm anyone physically, although they have rammed other ships and sabotaged property. Got proof to back up your unsubstantiated claim of "any form of violence", Mr Scientist? No, thought not... (sorry, I guess that should be "Dr Scientist", I should show you more respect than you have others.)
They do have scientists on their board of directors, and they do consult with scientists.
They are an activist group, and as such are pushing an agenda -- usually for fundraising purposes. This alone means that their position does have to be questioned and considered before taking any action. In that though, they are no different from every other pressure group or NGO on the planet, of any type, political leaning, no matter how accepted, conventional, conservative or tame that group may appear to be.
"The executive with an attitude like this should know that his outlets will soon be The Buildings That Used To Be Record Stores"
Perhaps it's a good thing that the record shops are closing, seem that at least some of them are bad employers. See this BBC article from today about FOPP.
Having employees work for a month for free before totally screwing them? Aren't record stores great! It's time more artists started disrespecting them.
Buy music secondhand or direct from the artist -- never buy it any other way.
I agree with your support of private industry, but a fucking tea company?
Sure, why not. There's an historic precedent. The fastest sailing ships of their time, and new sailing technologies, were developed as a by product of the tea industry in the 19th Century.
I think it's rather fitting, and all quite steampunk really.
Seriously though folks, as other posters have mentioned, there's not nearly enough Space Gigolo posts on this story.
Comparing modern Germany to Nazi Germany is much, much worse than comparing modern Germany to the modern US.
No, sorry. One of the problems with modern Germany is that there are many now who are somewhat distanced from history and are complacent in exactly the same way that decent Germans were in the 1930s.
The neo-Nazi party, the NPD - and others - are not banned. In parts of Germany they have elected members and considerable power and influence. They differ only slightly from the Nazi party - and that is only because aspects of what they believe in are censored by German Law (The censorship laws are actually part of the problem - they drive neo-Nazi's underground and mask their true numbers). In my experience, as one who is not German but has lived in Berlin for many years, the rise of the neo-Nazis is much greater than the average German in the street realises. There is a significant and growing problem with extreme right wing behavior modern Germany. The Nazi's seem to be smarter this time round. They are making legal changes much more slowly this time, but it is happening.
Seemingly small things, like the decision to mark the site of Hitler's bunker, or the decision to remove the Palast Der Republik in favour of a rebuilt Schloss, are all giving the extreme right more power and influence.
Modern Germans need to wake up to this before it is too late -- again.
Specifically to the Wikipedia thing though - yes, there is a real danger, nay likelihood, of neo-Nazis hijacking that. However, that is simply a function of the fundamental problem with Wikipedia -- cabals rule all. In this, Germany is no different to Microsoft, to Scientology, to the Ayn Rand lovers in the WikiFoundation itself, or indeed to any and all with an agenda and resources.
The fundamental problem with Wikipedia is its delusions of authority, and its designs on the same. If people stopped taking it seriously it would be one hell of a lot more useful and authoritative.
As one who adores steampunk, I'm extremely disappointed to find that this car looks positively modern and computer designed.
Of course I understand they are trying to break records and aerodynamics is a factor, but surely a few pipes, wrought iron and wood paneling wouldn't hurt too much? Fast it may be, but desirable? Nay sir, I fear this contraption is not for gentlemen.
Many of Babylon 5's sub stories could just as well have been placed in a fantasy setting with minor editing.
Quick! Run! It's the SciFi Police!
Look, "SciFi" just a marketing label designed to make it easy to compartmentalize media in order to maximize synergistic sales. There aren't rules, canons and precepts governed by some international SciFi Body. And there damn well should never be rules like that either. Nothing kills creativity more.
Episodes of Star Trek, for example, could just as easily be classed as romance or murder mystery rather than SciFi. Get over it! And get it into your head that your definition of SciFi, is just that -- yours.
For me, Babylon 5 developed characters and story arcs in a credible and realistic way. People are stupid, weak, selfish and greedy. They believe in things that may not be true. Babylon 5 reflected that, whereas most TV SciFi prior to B5 did not. It asked old and new questions about the nature of belief and existence. And nota bene, that JMS did say online somewhere, that just because the Minbari believe in souls etc does not make it necessarily true.
Which does not mean it is invalid to explore those ideas around a SciFi context.
Leave the labeling and compartmentalization to the marketing drones, or to librarians -- and we all know librarians have something to hide.
I say good riddance to EBay's crappy Google ads. For a while there, you couldn't search for anything without 3 EBay affiliate ads offering to sell it to you. "Find people selling 'babies' on EBay!" "Lowest prices on 'babies'!"
Ironically, eBay's Safeharbor team does such a poor job that there are most certainly days when you actually can, in fact, buy babies on eBay.
However, I daresay the "lowest prices" part is misleading. If eBay scammers are selling babies, they are almost certainly shill bidding on them too.
I pirate an album and Britney Spears loses 2 dollars. A girl gets violently raped and her entire life is damaged and she may never
> recover. Which of these two things are more important?
If I pirate a Britney Spears album, my entire life is damaged and I may never recover.
The good news is that, judging by her recent behavior, everyone buying Britney Spears' albums seems to have caused damage to her life and she may never recover.
Now we just need to find a way to ensure that not buying her CD's damages the RIAA and ensures that they never recover. Then, and only then, is everything finally fair.
Slashdot Mirror
Does it have blackjack and hookers?
Not convinced the 25% is a true figure -- although admittedly download stats are not a true measure of anything other than downloads. Some people download several times if they have some problem, just as one example of skewness.
It would be interesting to see what the figures are for site visit stats and how that's grown, say for Google or similar. I imagine the Guardian's stats are now skewed by lots of Firefox users navigating to the article.
I have some concerns about the 12 point plan. As a non-profit organization I see no reason why Mozilla needs to follow the marketing-droid business model. More is not equal to better. New features are not equal to more.
I switched to Firefox in its 0.8x days because it was a great product that worked well. Most of the "improvements" since then have not been necessary.
Stay true to the original design, people will come. If they keep adding features they'll be losing as many loyal users as they gain in n00bs.
This is a shame because this really hurts Linux. I'd love to upgrade my windows box to Linux - but I can't because I need the Adobe products. It's the only reason I don't.
Or maybe... maybe the new competition will make Adobe products a little cheaper, less complex and more adaptable. I may not like Microsoft but after many years of using, and needing to use, Adobe products every day, I welcome the first company that puts them out of business. I love what I can do with their software but I have no more respect for them than they have for me as a user.
I'll jump ship tomorrow for the better product and the cheaper price. I have no love of Adobe, they taught me that.
The scary downside of this is that it does seem that the DARPA guys spend most of their time trying to create stuff that was on Star Trek. I'm sure at least one of them is working on a Genesis device. A little worrying...
Mind you, the upside is that we do get to play with things from Star Trek. Let me know when they make a 7 of 9...
Yes, I think you are right.
Now, I know myspace has been criticized for..., well many things really..., but mainly for having a population base that's considered lower IQ and social status. Where Facebook has been considered to be mainly a graduate type of network.
However...
I'm a filmmaker. I am a graduate, and have a pretty good social status. Much as I do agree Myspace is the place where web designers and anything considered good taste goes to die, as a filmmaker it is a very very good tool for networking.
Facebook on the other hand is absolutely worthless for film networking. (and I assume for music or other creative endeavors too) It seems to me that Facebook is full of legal and accountancy firms, and management consultancies -- at least in the UK.
Never cross the streams. These are two World's that must never meet. When that happens the spawn of satan appears -- or the RIAA as they are otherwise known.
Trouble is, most OSS developers don't work in that kind of World (which is good for them admittedly), which does mean though that they don't really have much insight into ways to improve these softwares. Exchange is practical, but it's sure as hell not sexy -- working on browsers is more fun.
I use Thunderbird out of loyalty to the principles of Mozilla. The name is cool, the logo's ok, and it mostly works -- but the product is not good.
.... when it answers...
...it's time to escape.
"ikky wikky gaga googoo hehe hoohoo gaga, Dave"
Beatles or not...
Please tell me, in what other "profession" is it reasonable to expect that when you do one days work, you should continue to get paid for that days work for the rest of your life.
If your song is a success you will likely be adequately rewarded for that. If you are elderly and no longer recording (or "working" as that could be called), that's what most people call retirement. If you don't sort out your pension - it's your own problem.
As always -- do not buy music new from any record label. Buy secondhand, or buy direct from the artist.
It seems the the Siberian mammoth population has tripled in the past 6 months...
...are you sure it's not maybe the mice abusing humans that's really the problem here?
Benji may just be experimenting again.
I agree.
In fact, I see no reason not to blacklist anything that has an @hotmail domain. Once upon a time, about 10 years ago I guess, most people I knew used hotmail. Nowadays, no-one does. I can think of no legitimate mail I've received from an hotmail account in the past couple of years.
I suspect the reason for this is at least in part because hotmail's junk mail filters are lame, their mailbox size allowance is pathetic, and you have to keep signing in all the time to keep your account active. They clearly never put their customers first.
Now if only people could be persuaded to stop using Yahoo, at a faster rate...
Maybe someone could write a Wales Corollary -- or a "Rand Corollary", perhaps more appropriately.
"um, hello? ... I'm standing right here!" - God.
Nice violent post by the way...
Ok, there are, admittedly, some grey areas over how Sea Shepherd have handled some situations. They do not, however, "think any form of violence is justified". They have been careful not to harm anyone physically, although they have rammed other ships and sabotaged property. Got proof to back up your unsubstantiated claim of "any form of violence", Mr Scientist? No, thought not... (sorry, I guess that should be "Dr Scientist", I should show you more respect than you have others.)
They do have scientists on their board of directors, and they do consult with scientists.
They are an activist group, and as such are pushing an agenda -- usually for fundraising purposes. This alone means that their position does have to be questioned and considered before taking any action. In that though, they are no different from every other pressure group or NGO on the planet, of any type, political leaning, no matter how accepted, conventional, conservative or tame that group may appear to be.
At the end of the day it's just about money.
Having employees work for a month for free before totally screwing them? Aren't record stores great! It's time more artists started disrespecting them.
Buy music secondhand or direct from the artist -- never buy it any other way.
and most importantly, the 6th -- Wow! (pr0n)
I think it's rather fitting, and all quite steampunk really.
Seriously though folks, as other posters have mentioned, there's not nearly enough Space Gigolo posts on this story.
yes, but with blackjack and hookers...
The neo-Nazi party, the NPD - and others - are not banned. In parts of Germany they have elected members and considerable power and influence. They differ only slightly from the Nazi party - and that is only because aspects of what they believe in are censored by German Law (The censorship laws are actually part of the problem - they drive neo-Nazi's underground and mask their true numbers). In my experience, as one who is not German but has lived in Berlin for many years, the rise of the neo-Nazis is much greater than the average German in the street realises. There is a significant and growing problem with extreme right wing behavior modern Germany. The Nazi's seem to be smarter this time round. They are making legal changes much more slowly this time, but it is happening.
Seemingly small things, like the decision to mark the site of Hitler's bunker, or the decision to remove the Palast Der Republik in favour of a rebuilt Schloss, are all giving the extreme right more power and influence.
Modern Germans need to wake up to this before it is too late -- again.
Specifically to the Wikipedia thing though - yes, there is a real danger, nay likelihood, of neo-Nazis hijacking that. However, that is simply a function of the fundamental problem with Wikipedia -- cabals rule all. In this, Germany is no different to Microsoft, to Scientology, to the Ayn Rand lovers in the WikiFoundation itself, or indeed to any and all with an agenda and resources.
The fundamental problem with Wikipedia is its delusions of authority, and its designs on the same. If people stopped taking it seriously it would be one hell of a lot more useful and authoritative.
As one who adores steampunk, I'm extremely disappointed to find that this car looks positively modern and computer designed.
Of course I understand they are trying to break records and aerodynamics is a factor, but surely a few pipes, wrought iron and wood paneling wouldn't hurt too much? Fast it may be, but desirable? Nay sir, I fear this contraption is not for gentlemen.
Look, "SciFi" just a marketing label designed to make it easy to compartmentalize media in order to maximize synergistic sales. There aren't rules, canons and precepts governed by some international SciFi Body. And there damn well should never be rules like that either. Nothing kills creativity more.
Episodes of Star Trek, for example, could just as easily be classed as romance or murder mystery rather than SciFi. Get over it! And get it into your head that your definition of SciFi, is just that -- yours.
For me, Babylon 5 developed characters and story arcs in a credible and realistic way. People are stupid, weak, selfish and greedy. They believe in things that may not be true. Babylon 5 reflected that, whereas most TV SciFi prior to B5 did not. It asked old and new questions about the nature of belief and existence. And nota bene, that JMS did say online somewhere, that just because the Minbari believe in souls etc does not make it necessarily true.
Which does not mean it is invalid to explore those ideas around a SciFi context.
Leave the labeling and compartmentalization to the marketing drones, or to librarians -- and we all know librarians have something to hide.
However, I daresay the "lowest prices" part is misleading. If eBay scammers are selling babies, they are almost certainly shill bidding on them too.
Now we just need to find a way to ensure that not buying her CD's damages the RIAA and ensures that they never recover. Then, and only then, is everything finally fair.