Heh, actually, I sometimes miss the portable version of the Model 4 that Radio Shack made for a while. (It was the Model 4P.) Probably just about as big an item to lug around as the Osborne computer was - but it seemed to be a generation or two more advanced, at least.
Been years since I messed with one of those things, but I recall thinking the Orchestra-90 music add-on board was really neat. I remember owning the Orch-90 cartridge on a Tandy Color Computer and exchanging music files for it with Model 4/4P owners who had their version of the same board. (You had to do some sort of data conversion to make them play between systems, but it wasn't a big deal.)
Ok, let's break down your accusations and take a closer look at them.
Slave labor? How do you define this one? Slavery hasn't existed in the U.S. for over 100 years, in the form most commonly recognized. I assume you're referring to WalMart hiring illegal immigrants? That happens everywhere, and really - I believe larger chains simply get caught more often, having so many stores and employees total. I know of several "mom and pop" restaurants in town that hire illegal aliens and pay them below minimum wage too. Lots of people consider these establishments to be "upper class" places for fine dining, too.
Fired for merely saying "Union"? Fired for saying negative things about the store? Guess what? Most states in the U.S. support "at will" employment. Unless you can show discrimination based on age, sex, race, or religion - you can quite legally and easily be fired for *any* other reason. I can be fired just because my boss doesn't like my car, my hairstyle, even on the first day of work - before I get a chance to work even 1 minute. Check with a lawyer specializing in "wrongful termination" if you don't believe me.
It may well be considered "one of the worst places to work" - but they sure do have lots of employees despite that. I'm betting WalMart *never* held a gun to anyone's head and forced them to apply for a position there. In fact, my wife used to work at WalMart for a while. She actually said it was a good experience, other than one manager that started long after she was already employed - who started giving her a hard time. (She asked the previous manager if she could have the Xmas holdiday off, well in advance, and he agreed. The new manager didn't... so she quit.)
Insurance should always be optional. An employer can't force you to buy their insurance plan. If it's a bad deal, just look into other options. (The insurance plan where I worked really sucked big ones. Several people opted out and bought their own personal plan that worked out better for their particular situation.)
Moving into a town and undercutting the competition happens all the time, too. It's bound to happen eventually, if everyone else charges more than the items really cost to obtain. I don't fault WalMart for being competitive. If you're a small business going up against a giant like WalMart, you need to do your research and *compete*. If you can't beat their pricing, fine - beat them in other areas. Maybe offer real low-priced home delivery of household goods and groceries. Maybe offer vastly superior customer service, so people don't want to shop at WalMart. Maybe offer extended hours. Lots of WalMart shoppers only go there because everything else is closed for the night!
I've been scanning the job postings on Monster.com and other sites, and one thing that comes up repeatedly is a need for JD Edwards or PeopleSoft administrators (with experience), or administrators for CRM (Customer Relations Management) packages.
Personally, I think both of these types of software packages are just "fads" right now - but they cost so much for corporations to implement that they easily justify hiring an additional person to keep them running.
If you're one of the few people lucky enough to have received some training (or hands-on experience designing forms or supporting) either ERP or CRM software, you're missing out right now if you don't leverage it to get a good-paying I.T. job for the next couple years. After that though, don't be surprised if this stuff fades away again.
Yeah, honestly, the "appropriate" dress for an interview is always something I struggle with.
The best advice I ever got (from a recruiter) is to try to take a look at how their own people dress, in advance - and copy their style.
(If, for example, you see most of the employees dressing casually - with only management in a suit and tie, then you're probably fine just dressing up with a plain shirt and tie, and no suit. That is, unless you're applying for one of those management positions.)
Much depends on the age of the people interviewing you, IMHO. I've been to places where the dress was quite casual - but the management was made up of older people who expected that all interviewees would show up in a suit and tie, and freshly polished dress shoes. Anything less told them you weren't the type who "goes the extra mile" to make a good impression, and that was a negative.
I'm not really convinced this does any more for someone than a well-written Pool simulation game on the computer. (AKA. Virtual Pool) These types of games already make promises on the box like "Guaranteed to improve your Pool game, or your money back!"
Everyone is quick to point out that the biggest flaw in PC-based Pool games is the fact that they don't simulate holding the cue and the skill required to shoot straight. So what? Same issue with this device. The skills they don't directly teach you have to be learned by practicing playing the real game.
Learning the angles, though? A $19.95 copy of Real Pool for the Playstation 2 or Virtual Pool for the PC will do it just fine.
Yeah, I'm running AVG also. I'm much happier with it since the latest update though. The previous version I tried seemed a little "rough around the edges" with the way it popped into a DOS screen to perform some of the scanning and then brought you back into a Windows GUI at every boot-up.
Seriously, the people spreading around this anti-capitalistic B.S. are the ones really destroying America.
People do vote with their dollars, and obviously, the majority are voting for large chains like Circuit City, WalMart, McDonalds, and many others. All of these began as a small business-owner's dream. (Or wait, did you think McDonalds just appeared one day with millions of restaurants and billions of dollars in advertising revenue?)
Now, I'll be the first to say that part of being a "smart shopper", "educated consumer", or whatever term you prefer - is learning to buy from the stores with the best prices AND service. That means when I need something specialized (like computer parts), I'd rather deal with a store that knows computers. Nonetheless, I shop at WalMart for misc. items. (I went there with my wife 2 days ago and we bought a couple of cake pans, some business-casual clothes for her to wear to her new job, and a couple baby items.)
Yeah, personally - I'd rather see a popular/common standard Linux distro like Mandrake or RedHat pre-loaded on these type of inexpensive PCs and sold as what it is, Linux.
I can already see the whole "Lindows" product name confusing people. "Umm, excuse me sir? Can you tell me what this Lindows machine is all about? I guess this is a clone of Windows. Does it run everything 100% compatible?" (To which the average Wal-Mart clerk will either respond "I don't know. I think it's supposed to." or "No, it's like the old days of computers - when stores like Radio Shack sold "PC compatibles" that were a lot cheaper than IBM but only ran about half of the programs properly."
In the end, these things probably won't sell very well to their target market. Instead, college students on a tight budget who already are Linux-savvy will grab them on clearance sales.
This topic is of considerable interest to me right now. After almost 6 years of work for the same company, I find myself out of a job.
With no explanation given (and no advance notice), I was informed that "my services will no longer be needed", and that afternoon was my last paid day with them.
About a year ago, I did find another job that was paying better (and had a slightly better benefits package too), and took it. My work counter-offered (matching the salary, but no change in the benefits), and against the advice of the recruiter who found me the new job - I accepted the counter-offer.
Honestly, the main reason I accepted the counter-offer was because the new job I found was a contract position. Even though the economy was booming at the time, I wasn't confident it would still be easy to find my next job after the contract ran out.
Thinking about it now, perhaps that counter-offer is why I was ultimately let go? I'm really not sure. They were very careful to avoid giving me any kind of concrete reason for my dismissal. (In fact, I was promised by two managers that they'd give me a good recommendation.)
In any case, I think in my situation, it was probably pretty much a wash. I would have held a job with comparable pay for about the same length of time if I took the counter-offer, or if I took the new contract position.
I'll tell you *my* problem with Liquid Audio! It's a format created and supported by only one software development firm. How many software programs have you seen that play Liquid Audio format files? I'm betting none, other than the one produced by Liquid Audio themselves.
MP3, on the other hand (and even more and more, Microsoft's.WMA format) play on quite a few devices and software packages. If I purchase online music from a vendor, I'd like to be able to dump it straight into my car MP3 player (Rio MP3 Car).
Actually, I bet comic books really lend themselves well to online sale via eBay and so forth.
The big advantage is their light weight. The nagging problem I've always had trying to sell books online is the cost of postage (with hardbacks especially!) prevents you from making much on the sale. I could toss a comic book in a cardboard mailer and send it via 1st. class mail for under $1.00.
The U.S. post office is once again raising prices at the end of this month - so it's only going to get worse.
It used to be, people always said postage was pretty much a non-issue, because by mail ordering (or buying on eBay), you avoided sales tax. It's getting so now, that's no longer true for anything that's somewhat heavy but not worth a high dollar value.
Yeah, but the thing is - art was traded off as "a matter of commerce" the moment the artist made the decision to sign up with a record label.
The resulting situations you find so repugnant (using the overtune from The Who's "Tommy" for example, to sell medicine on TV) only happen because the artists allowed their recorded works to be individually resold for these purposes.
Honestly, I think there are few very situations where an artist has control over the context of his/her art after their death. Perhaps many of the now-famous painters (Picasso, Rembrandt, etc.) would find it disgusting that their work is sold for millions of dollars to rich business-owners who hang it on their walls as an act of snobbery too. Still, does it really diminish the value of the original work?
I think these works retain their value because people know and fondly remember the *original* context they were developed in and for. Nobody I know listens to a classic rock song in the background of a Ford or Chevy truck commercial and thinks "Wow - those car dealers sure have a snappy tune there." People only like it because of the memories the song brings up in their heads.
This isn't a copyright/lack of copyright issue at all, IMHO. These things would happen either way.
Re:How is the Brooks article unintentionally funny
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The Almighty Buck
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· Score: 2
Sure, I agree it's a fact that we spend more than most of the world makes, here in the USA.
Where I think you're missing something, though, is with your accusations of items such as "paper plates and disposable diapers" being evidence of our wastefulness.
The old adage "time is money" holds a lot of truth, and most of these disposable items are used because they free up our valuable time for better things. Even with something as simple as an office that holds a "food day" of some sort in the cafeteria -- which makes more economic sense; let several employees clean all the dishes and cups afterwards, or toss out the paper ones and get back to work?
Furthermore, I can speak personally on the disposable diaper issue, now that we have our first kid. We looked hard at avoiding disposables - but you know what? It's just not worthwhile. Most babies have skin irritations if you use the cheap laundry soap. If you want to avoid that, you have to buy something like Ivory or Dreft detergent, at double the price of Tide or All. Then you figure in the cost of all the extra dryer sheets, electricity used for the washer and dryer, and all of your time spent cleaning the extra loads of cloth diapers in the wash. If you don't get them cleaned right away, you've got this mess of used diapers stinking up the house - so consider that another possible negative. Buying the "store brand" disposable diapers started making a *lot* more sense for us - and "convenience" was merely a secondary bonus to it.
Hmm... I'm not really sure. The part I found most interesting is when Bowie said he believes music will become like "running water".
That seems to imply he feels copyright really will cease to exist (at least as far as music is concerned?).
If that's his theory, I'd personally disagree. There will still be a need to protect individual songs from being blatantly ripped off, counterfeited, and transposed by other "artists" trying to find easy ways out to sell music. (Why write your own song when you can steal all the good riffs out of someone else's work, claim it's really your own, and make a quick buck?)
I do, however, envision a time when music artists go to a business model more like sports stars have. You pay them in advance to secure an exclusive contract with them for X number of years - and whatever they write is what you get to market and sell. They don't produce anything respectable? Tough luck record company... That was a bad pick then. Don't renew a deal with them and try again with someone else.
(You could still, of course, sue an artist for breach of contract, if they wrote music *completely* unlike the demos they gave you when you were negotiating with them - or refused to produce the number of albums you both agreed upon in the time period.)
Umm, do YOU work anyplace that uses Oracle? In case you hadn't noticed, they've been releasing new versions... several in the last 5 years.
Where I last worked, we were in the process of doing a LOT of work to get everything working properly with 9i, as an upgrade from v8.0, which we upgraded to from v7.03/04 not that long before....
Oracle isn't actively selling any of their old versions.... certainly nothing they've developed over 5 years ago. This is true of every software package I can think of. If nothing else, changes in operating systems force developers to release upgrades.
Well, considering your obvious dislike and complete disregard for any of the points Ayn Rand tried to make - perhaps any argument I make will fall on deaf ears.
(For what it's worth, no, I never considered her a "personal hero" or someone to idolize. I agreed with quite a few basic points she made, but her writing style bores me. She exaggerates everything to hammer home points that could be much better made if done so more subtly.)
The fact is, the United States moves further and further away from a capitalist society all the time. As we move towards a common denominator of hybrid socialism/capitalism - individuals are expected to freely give up more of their work to the community.
Who do you think these folks are who are "in power", trying to spread the concept of the citizen having control of his/her own ideas? I think the problem is quite the opposite. The people in power find they can best stay there by convincing society that we somehow *need* them and their laws in order to survive. The more governmnet assistance programs and perceived need to "beef up" their anti-crime organizations (look at the FBI since 9-11) they can get us to agree to, the better stance they have to manipulate us for their own gain.
And no, you don't *need* control to innovate. That was never the issue. You *want* control to innovate. Otherwise, you're left with a relative few that innovate because they either A) believe in socialism and the idea that they only exist to serve the greater whole, or B) do so for some sort of personal satisfaction, despite not being rewarded in other ways for their efforts.
There's an important balance that needs to be struck. I completely agree that there's no good that comes from forever letting someone hang onto exclusive rights to an intellectual work. (Let's face it. The old adage that "There's nothing new under the sun." holds some truth. Nobody is just born with knowledge. They're taught by people who came before them.) But that doesn't mean there isn't a greater good in giving people a window of opportunity to profit from new concepts/inventions/publications.
You'd be right, except even IE can't adhere to its own standards from version to version. (Well, ok, in all fairness, perhaps they just tightened up the rules for some things that used to allow more sloppy HTML coding.) But still, with IE 6, I get lots of errors that don't happen with IE 5.x. That's not too cool.
Where do you draw the line for IE compatibility? 100% IE 6 compatible? Fine, but that means MS dictates all your required updates when they release IE 7 and modify things - or else you're "outdated and incompatible" again.
Instead, I say stick to all the rules of HTML and scripting that make good common sense, and conform to published standards. Beyond that, implement IE specific tags if it's a "no brainer" to do - but don't knock yourself out to be perfectly compatible.
You know, everyone keeps quoting that as though it's an undeniable fact. "a 15" LCD panel is equivalent to a 17" CRT"
I disagree. I understand the theory behind the statement; CRT monitors are measured diagonally, so a 17" isn't really a full 17" across.
I just don't find it completely accurate. For example, my Viewsonic 17" monitor measures 16" across, not 15" across. Unless you're buying the low-end 17" monitors, most decent ones have perfect-flat tube technology and come within 1 inch or less of the quoted tube size.
I used a 15" LCD flat panel for a short time, and found I preferred a good quality 17" CRT.
I know I'd never fork out the money for an iMac that didn't have at least a 17" flat panel attached to it. That was why I had such little initial interest in the product.... Macs are, after all, primarily the domain of graphics arts and design people. It seems un-Mac-like to offer a small display screen with one.
The very idea of "forcibly placing" ones work into the "public domain by law" is quite distasteful.
If you spent 10 years developing a superior compression routine because you were sure it would revolutionize the graphics industry, wouldn't you expect to have some ability to control the sale of your work afterwards? I sure as hell would. I didn't invest 10 years of my life on a project just to have governmnet rip it away from me and say "Sorry pal, we're forcing that into the public domain."
On the other hand, as I already posted here - I do think the copyright protection on digital works should expire after a limited time period. (Let's say we agree that 5 years is more than adequate?) This is all the time a developer should ever need as a "window" to make all the money he or she can from their work. After that, the balance shifts.... It causes more problems than it solves to let the developer retain rights to the old code. By now, he/she has surely developed something newer/fresher, because it's no longer possible to make a profit from the 5 year old software.
It seems that a large part of the original article attempts to make comparisons between medicines and document file formats. The first thought that comes to my mind is that it's not a valid comparison at all - simply because medicines are subject to government regulation and file formats aren't.
Personally, I believe the complaints about filetypes remaining proprietary long after the original developers have a use for them is just one more illustration of a larger issue. Copyrights on computer software are being granted for excessively long periods of time. Unlike "traditional" works (such as a fiction novel), a piece of software isn't likely to be marketable for more than a few years. If there really is any difference between "digital media" and "traditional media" that requires updated laws, this is it.
I think the current laws are quite workable to cover patents, copyrights, and trademarks for computer software/hardware - with this one exception. There's really no compelling reason to grant a software author (or hardware designer) exclusive rights to their work beyond the window of "financial opportunity" they can enjoy from it.
Actually, if you're looking for good info on lockpicks, I just saw yesterday that there's a Yahoo group on lockpicks with really good tutorials on their usage.
I forget the URL, but the www.lockpicks.com site provides it as a link off their site.
Re:The business model from hell
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Remembering the BBS
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· Score: 5, Informative
I ran my BBS for over 10 years, in one form or another. During its "low point", I was stuck with only 1 phone line and a system shoved in a bedroom closet because the apartment I was living in would only allow a maximum of 2 phone lines - and we needed a voice line.
Despite all that, I put up with a *lot* to keep it running, but never looked at it as some sort of "business model" for making a monetary profit.
I also wouldn't say it was "just for fun", because believe me - staying up all those late nights validating users, correcting spelling mistakes and incomplete file upload descriptions and keeping everything updated wasn't exactly a picnic.
There was a sort of profit to it, but it was more intangible. For me, it was the thrill of going to the local computer store and having techs come running out of the back room to meet me when they heard I was the sysop. It was the opportunity to meet some of the most interesting and intelligent people I've ever run across (some of whom are still good friends of mine today). It was the personal satisfaction of knowing I was doing something that enriched so many other people's lives in some small way.
Near the end, yes, I did gladly accept donations and even did optional "subscriptions" that bought the user some extra online time and download credits -- but I never so much as broke even on it. I never expected to. Most hobbies are like that. If there's a mistake people were/are making with Internet sites today - it's being too obsessed with making it into a business. Do it because you enjoy and love it, and because the mere presence of it satisfies you in some personal way. If you do this, the money may well follow.... but people can tell if your heart is in a given web site or not.
Re:What really killed the BBSes (56K and up)
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Remembering the BBS
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· Score: 2
I'd agree with you basically, but I think there's another factor:
When the 56K modem came out, it wouldn't connect at speeds above 33.6K unless one end of the phone circuit was a digital line. BBS sysops couldn't afford to pay upwards of $100 per month for ISDN circuits, just to put 56K modems on them so people could call in and get their 42K, 44K, or 48K connects.
On the other hand, the ISPs did -- so you got quicker file transfer rates doing a PPP connection over the Internet than you did connecting straight to a local BBS.
As a sysop myself, back in the day, I saw BBS's evolve (devolve perhaps?) into file sharing systems first and foremost. Multi-line chat was always better on large information services (AKA. Compuserve CB chat) because you simply had a lot more people online at the same time to talk with. BBS multi-line chat sort of petered out as users discovered IRC, AOL chat rooms, etc. Some BBS's still made messages their primary focus, but the trend went towards people using BBS's to get their "warez fix", download GIF and JPG photos (pre-Internet porn), and other types of data. This meant a fast transfer speed was critical, expecially as the average program size grew and grew.
Everyone says this, but my response to that is "Get with the program, telcos/cable co's!" America is becoming more advanced with its Internet usage. A recent Yahoo Internet Life survey showed that most people using the web nowdays spend the vast majority of their time on the same 8 or 9 web sites. That tells me people have figured out where the content is that they find truly useful, and instead of idle "surfing" - they're trying to really get things done.
If the revenue model doesn't take into account these changing habits of Internet users, then the revenue model needs to be re-evaluated. Trying to make everyone conform to their ideal customer who "only uses the net to check his/her email and look at a homepage now and then" is just going to piss off more and more of their customer base.
Heh... I know what you mean, I really do. I just lost my job last Thursday due to "budget cuts" (after 6 years of doing computer support for them!) - but despite that, they have not one, not two, but *3* office managers who insist on printing just about everything to a color laser printer just so their Excel spreadsheets can have little yellow and green boxes instead of greyscale, and so the emails they print can have URLs and such printed in blue.
Then, they used to throw a fit when I told them they needed to buy a new fuser or imaging unit for the printer, at hundreds of dollars a pop. (That doesn't seem right! We just replaced some expensive stuff on that printer a few months ago! Are you sure about that?)
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Heh, actually, I sometimes miss the portable version of the Model 4 that Radio Shack made for a while. (It was the Model 4P.) Probably just about as big an item to lug around as the Osborne computer was - but it seemed to be a generation or two more advanced, at least.
Been years since I messed with one of those things, but I recall thinking the Orchestra-90 music add-on board was really neat. I remember owning the Orch-90 cartridge on a Tandy Color Computer and exchanging music files for it with Model 4/4P owners who had their version of the same board. (You had to do some sort of data conversion to make them play between systems, but it wasn't a big deal.)
Ok, let's break down your accusations and take a closer look at them.
Slave labor? How do you define this one? Slavery hasn't existed in the U.S. for over 100 years, in the form most commonly recognized. I assume you're referring to WalMart hiring illegal immigrants? That happens everywhere, and really - I believe larger chains simply get caught more often, having so many stores and employees total. I know of several "mom and pop" restaurants in town that hire illegal aliens and pay them below minimum wage too. Lots of people consider these establishments to be "upper class" places for fine dining, too.
Fired for merely saying "Union"? Fired for saying negative things about the store? Guess what? Most states in the U.S. support "at will" employment. Unless you can show discrimination based on age, sex, race, or religion - you can quite legally and easily be fired for *any* other reason. I can be fired just because my boss doesn't like my car, my hairstyle, even on the first day of work - before I get a chance to work even 1 minute. Check with a lawyer specializing in "wrongful termination" if you don't believe me.
It may well be considered "one of the worst places to work" - but they sure do have lots of employees despite that. I'm betting WalMart *never* held a gun to anyone's head and forced them to apply for a position there. In fact, my wife used to work at WalMart for a while. She actually said it was a good experience, other than one manager that started long after she was already employed - who started giving her a hard time. (She asked the previous manager if she could have the Xmas holdiday off, well in advance, and he agreed. The new manager didn't... so she quit.)
Insurance should always be optional. An employer can't force you to buy their insurance plan. If it's a bad deal, just look into other options. (The insurance plan where I worked really sucked big ones. Several people opted out and bought their own personal plan that worked out better for their particular situation.)
Moving into a town and undercutting the competition happens all the time, too. It's bound to happen eventually, if everyone else charges more than the items really cost to obtain. I don't fault WalMart for being competitive. If you're a small business going up against a giant like WalMart, you need to do your research and *compete*. If you can't beat their pricing, fine - beat them in other areas. Maybe offer real low-priced home delivery of household goods and groceries. Maybe offer vastly superior customer service, so people don't want to shop at WalMart. Maybe offer extended hours. Lots of WalMart shoppers only go there because everything else is closed for the night!
I've been scanning the job postings on Monster.com and other sites, and one thing that comes up repeatedly is a need for JD Edwards or PeopleSoft administrators (with experience), or administrators for CRM (Customer Relations Management) packages.
Personally, I think both of these types of software packages are just "fads" right now - but they cost so much for corporations to implement that they easily justify hiring an additional person to keep them running.
If you're one of the few people lucky enough to have received some training (or hands-on experience designing forms or supporting) either ERP or CRM software, you're missing out right now if you don't leverage it to get a good-paying I.T. job for the next couple years. After that though, don't be surprised if this stuff fades away again.
Yeah, honestly, the "appropriate" dress for an interview is always something I struggle with.
The best advice I ever got (from a recruiter) is to try to take a look at how their own people dress, in advance - and copy their style.
(If, for example, you see most of the employees dressing casually - with only management in a suit and tie, then you're probably fine just dressing up with a plain shirt and tie, and no suit. That is, unless you're applying for one of those management positions.)
Much depends on the age of the people interviewing you, IMHO. I've been to places where the dress was quite casual - but the management was made up of older people who expected that all interviewees would show up in a suit and tie, and freshly polished dress shoes. Anything less told them you weren't the type who "goes the extra mile" to make a good impression, and that was a negative.
I'm not really convinced this does any more for someone than a well-written Pool simulation game on the computer. (AKA. Virtual Pool) These types of games already make promises on the box like "Guaranteed to improve your Pool game, or your money back!"
Everyone is quick to point out that the biggest flaw in PC-based Pool games is the fact that they don't simulate holding the cue and the skill required to shoot straight. So what? Same issue with this device. The skills they don't directly teach you have to be learned by practicing playing the real game.
Learning the angles, though? A $19.95 copy of Real Pool for the Playstation 2 or Virtual Pool for the PC will do it just fine.
Yeah, I'm running AVG also. I'm much happier with it since the latest update though. The previous version I tried seemed a little "rough around the edges" with the way it popped into a DOS screen to perform some of the scanning and then brought you back into a Windows GUI at every boot-up.
Seriously, the people spreading around this anti-capitalistic B.S. are the ones really destroying America.
People do vote with their dollars, and obviously, the majority are voting for large chains like Circuit City, WalMart, McDonalds, and many others. All of these began as a small business-owner's dream. (Or wait, did you think McDonalds just appeared one day with millions of restaurants and billions of dollars in advertising revenue?)
Now, I'll be the first to say that part of being a "smart shopper", "educated consumer", or whatever term you prefer - is learning to buy from the stores with the best prices AND service. That means when I need something specialized (like computer parts), I'd rather deal with a store that knows computers. Nonetheless, I shop at WalMart for misc. items. (I went there with my wife 2 days ago and we bought a couple of cake pans, some business-casual clothes for her to wear to her new job, and a couple baby items.)
Yeah, personally - I'd rather see a popular/common standard Linux distro like Mandrake or RedHat pre-loaded on these type of inexpensive PCs and sold as what it is, Linux.
I can already see the whole "Lindows" product name confusing people. "Umm, excuse me sir? Can you tell me what this Lindows machine is all about? I guess this is a clone of Windows. Does it run everything 100% compatible?" (To which the average Wal-Mart clerk will either respond "I don't know. I think it's supposed to." or "No, it's like the old days of computers - when stores like Radio Shack sold "PC compatibles" that were a lot cheaper than IBM but only ran about half of the programs properly."
In the end, these things probably won't sell very well to their target market. Instead, college students on a tight budget who already are Linux-savvy will grab them on clearance sales.
This topic is of considerable interest to me right now. After almost 6 years of work for the same company, I find myself out of a job.
With no explanation given (and no advance notice), I was informed that "my services will no longer be needed", and that afternoon was my last paid day with them.
About a year ago, I did find another job that was paying better (and had a slightly better benefits package too), and took it. My work counter-offered (matching the salary, but no change in the benefits), and against the advice of the recruiter who found me the new job - I accepted the counter-offer.
Honestly, the main reason I accepted the counter-offer was because the new job I found was a contract position. Even though the economy was booming at the time, I wasn't confident it would still be easy to find my next job after the contract ran out.
Thinking about it now, perhaps that counter-offer is why I was ultimately let go? I'm really not sure. They were very careful to avoid giving me any kind of concrete reason for my dismissal. (In fact, I was promised by two managers that they'd give me a good recommendation.)
In any case, I think in my situation, it was probably pretty much a wash. I would have held a job with comparable pay for about the same length of time if I took the counter-offer, or if I took the new contract position.
I'll tell you *my* problem with Liquid Audio!
.WMA format) play on quite a few devices and software packages. If I purchase online music from a vendor, I'd like to be able to dump it straight into my car MP3 player (Rio MP3 Car).
It's a format created and supported by only one software development firm. How many software programs have you seen that play Liquid Audio format files? I'm betting none, other than the one produced by Liquid Audio themselves.
MP3, on the other hand (and even more and more, Microsoft's
Actually, I bet comic books really lend themselves well to online sale via eBay and so forth.
The big advantage is their light weight. The nagging problem I've always had trying to sell books online is the cost of postage (with hardbacks especially!) prevents you from making much on the sale. I could toss a comic book in a cardboard mailer and send it via 1st. class mail for under $1.00.
The U.S. post office is once again raising prices at the end of this month - so it's only going to get worse.
It used to be, people always said postage was pretty much a non-issue, because by mail ordering (or buying on eBay), you avoided sales tax. It's getting so now, that's no longer true for anything that's somewhat heavy but not worth a high dollar value.
Yeah, but the thing is - art was traded off as "a matter of commerce" the moment the artist made the decision to sign up with a record label.
The resulting situations you find so repugnant (using the overtune from The Who's "Tommy" for example, to sell medicine on TV) only happen because the artists allowed their recorded works to be individually resold for these purposes.
Honestly, I think there are few very situations where an artist has control over the context of his/her art after their death. Perhaps many of the now-famous painters (Picasso, Rembrandt, etc.) would find it disgusting that their work is sold for millions of dollars to rich business-owners who hang it on their walls as an act of snobbery too. Still, does it really diminish the value of the original work?
I think these works retain their value because people know and fondly remember the *original* context they were developed in and for. Nobody I know listens to a classic rock song in the background of a Ford or Chevy truck commercial and thinks "Wow - those car dealers sure have a snappy tune there." People only like it because of the memories the song brings up in their heads.
This isn't a copyright/lack of copyright issue at all, IMHO. These things would happen either way.
Sure, I agree it's a fact that we spend more than most of the world makes, here in the USA.
Where I think you're missing something, though, is with your accusations of items such as "paper plates and disposable diapers" being evidence of our wastefulness.
The old adage "time is money" holds a lot of truth, and most of these disposable items are used because they free up our valuable time for better things. Even with something as simple as an office that holds a "food day" of some sort in the cafeteria -- which makes more economic sense; let several employees clean all the dishes and cups afterwards, or toss out the paper ones and get back to work?
Furthermore, I can speak personally on the disposable diaper issue, now that we have our first kid. We looked hard at avoiding disposables - but you know what? It's just not worthwhile. Most babies have skin irritations if you use the cheap laundry soap. If you want to avoid that, you have to buy something like Ivory or Dreft detergent, at double the price of Tide or All. Then you figure in the cost of all the extra dryer sheets, electricity used for the washer and dryer, and all of your time spent cleaning the extra loads of cloth diapers in the wash. If you don't get them cleaned right away, you've got this mess of used diapers stinking up the house - so consider that another possible negative. Buying the "store brand" disposable diapers started making a *lot* more sense for us - and "convenience" was merely a secondary bonus to it.
Hmm... I'm not really sure. The part I found most interesting is when Bowie said he believes music will become like "running water".
That seems to imply he feels copyright really will cease to exist (at least as far as music is concerned?).
If that's his theory, I'd personally disagree. There will still be a need to protect individual songs from being blatantly ripped off, counterfeited, and transposed by other "artists" trying to find easy ways out to sell music. (Why write your own song when you can steal all the good riffs out of someone else's work, claim it's really your own, and make a quick buck?)
I do, however, envision a time when music artists go to a business model more like sports stars have. You pay them in advance to secure an exclusive contract with them for X number of years - and whatever they write is what you get to market and sell. They don't produce anything respectable? Tough luck record company... That was a bad pick then. Don't renew a deal with them and try again with someone else.
(You could still, of course, sue an artist for breach of contract, if they wrote music *completely* unlike the demos they gave you when you were negotiating with them - or refused to produce the number of albums you both agreed upon in the time period.)
Umm, do YOU work anyplace that uses Oracle?
In case you hadn't noticed, they've been releasing new versions... several in the last 5 years.
Where I last worked, we were in the process of doing a LOT of work to get everything working properly with 9i, as an upgrade from v8.0, which we upgraded to from v7.03/04 not that long before....
Oracle isn't actively selling any of their old versions.... certainly nothing they've developed over 5 years ago. This is true of every software package I can think of. If nothing else, changes in operating systems force developers to release upgrades.
Well, considering your obvious dislike and complete disregard for any of the points Ayn Rand tried to make - perhaps any argument I make will fall on deaf ears.
(For what it's worth, no, I never considered her a "personal hero" or someone to idolize. I agreed with quite a few basic points she made, but her writing style bores me. She exaggerates everything to hammer home points that could be much better made if done so more subtly.)
The fact is, the United States moves further and further away from a capitalist society all the time. As we move towards a common denominator of hybrid socialism/capitalism - individuals are expected to freely give up more of their work to the community.
Who do you think these folks are who are "in power", trying to spread the concept of the citizen having control of his/her own ideas? I think the problem is quite the opposite. The people in power find they can best stay there by convincing society that we somehow *need* them and their laws in order to survive. The more governmnet assistance programs and perceived need to "beef up" their anti-crime organizations (look at the FBI since 9-11) they can get us to agree to, the better stance they have to manipulate us for their own gain.
And no, you don't *need* control to innovate. That was never the issue. You *want* control to innovate. Otherwise, you're left with a relative few that innovate because they either A) believe in socialism and the idea that they only exist to serve the greater whole, or B) do so for some sort of personal satisfaction, despite not being rewarded in other ways for their efforts.
There's an important balance that needs to be struck. I completely agree that there's no good that comes from forever letting someone hang onto exclusive rights to an intellectual work. (Let's face it. The old adage that "There's nothing new under the sun." holds some truth. Nobody is just born with knowledge. They're taught by people who came before them.) But that doesn't mean there isn't a greater good in giving people a window of opportunity to profit from new concepts/inventions/publications.
You'd be right, except even IE can't adhere to its own standards from version to version.
(Well, ok, in all fairness, perhaps they just tightened up the rules for some things that used to allow more sloppy HTML coding.) But still, with IE 6, I get lots of errors that don't happen with IE 5.x. That's not too cool.
Where do you draw the line for IE compatibility? 100% IE 6 compatible? Fine, but that means MS dictates all your required updates when they release IE 7 and modify things - or else you're "outdated and incompatible" again.
Instead, I say stick to all the rules of HTML and scripting that make good common sense, and conform to published standards. Beyond that, implement IE specific tags if it's a "no brainer" to do - but don't knock yourself out to be perfectly compatible.
You know, everyone keeps quoting that as though it's an undeniable fact. "a 15" LCD panel is equivalent to a 17" CRT"
I disagree. I understand the theory behind the statement; CRT monitors are measured diagonally, so a 17" isn't really a full 17" across.
I just don't find it completely accurate. For example, my Viewsonic 17" monitor measures 16" across, not 15" across. Unless you're buying the low-end 17" monitors, most decent ones have perfect-flat tube technology and come within 1 inch or less of the quoted tube size.
I used a 15" LCD flat panel for a short time, and found I preferred a good quality 17" CRT.
I know I'd never fork out the money for an iMac that didn't have at least a 17" flat panel attached to it. That was why I had such little initial interest in the product.... Macs are, after all, primarily the domain of graphics arts and design people. It seems un-Mac-like to offer a small display screen with one.
I respectfully beg to disagree.
The very idea of "forcibly placing" ones work into the "public domain by law" is quite distasteful.
If you spent 10 years developing a superior compression routine because you were sure it would revolutionize the graphics industry, wouldn't you expect to have some ability to control the sale of your work afterwards? I sure as hell would. I didn't invest 10 years of my life on a project just to have governmnet rip it away from me and say "Sorry pal, we're forcing that into the public domain."
On the other hand, as I already posted here - I do think the copyright protection on digital works should expire after a limited time period. (Let's say we agree that 5 years is more than adequate?) This is all the time a developer should ever need as a "window" to make all the money he or she can from their work. After that, the balance shifts.... It causes more problems than it solves to let the developer retain rights to the old code. By now, he/she has surely developed something newer/fresher, because it's no longer possible to make a profit from the 5 year old software.
It seems that a large part of the original article attempts to make comparisons between medicines and document file formats. The first thought that comes to my mind is that it's not a valid comparison at all - simply because medicines are subject to government regulation and file formats aren't.
Personally, I believe the complaints about filetypes remaining proprietary long after the original developers have a use for them is just one more illustration of a larger issue. Copyrights on computer software are being granted for excessively long periods of time. Unlike "traditional" works (such as a fiction novel), a piece of software isn't likely to be marketable for more than a few years. If there really is any difference between "digital media" and "traditional media" that requires updated laws, this is it.
I think the current laws are quite workable to cover patents, copyrights, and trademarks for computer software/hardware - with this one exception. There's really no compelling reason to grant a software author (or hardware designer) exclusive rights to their work beyond the window of "financial opportunity" they can enjoy from it.
Actually, if you're looking for good info on lockpicks, I just saw yesterday that there's a Yahoo group on lockpicks with really good tutorials on their usage.
I forget the URL, but the www.lockpicks.com site provides it as a link off their site.
I ran my BBS for over 10 years, in one form or another. During its "low point", I was stuck with only 1 phone line and a system shoved in a bedroom closet because the apartment I was living in would only allow a maximum of 2 phone lines - and we needed a voice line.
Despite all that, I put up with a *lot* to keep it running, but never looked at it as some sort of "business model" for making a monetary profit.
I also wouldn't say it was "just for fun", because believe me - staying up all those late nights validating users, correcting spelling mistakes and incomplete file upload descriptions and keeping everything updated wasn't exactly a picnic.
There was a sort of profit to it, but it was more intangible. For me, it was the thrill of going to the local computer store and having techs come running out of the back room to meet me when they heard I was the sysop. It was the opportunity to meet some of the most interesting and intelligent people I've ever run across (some of whom are still good friends of mine today). It was the personal satisfaction of knowing I was doing something that enriched so many other people's lives in some small way.
Near the end, yes, I did gladly accept donations and even did optional "subscriptions" that bought the user some extra online time and download credits -- but I never so much as broke even on it. I never expected to. Most hobbies are like that. If there's a mistake people were/are making with Internet sites today - it's being too obsessed with making it into a business. Do it because you enjoy and love it, and because the mere presence of it satisfies you in some personal way. If you do this, the money may well follow.... but people can tell if your heart is in a given web site or not.
I'd agree with you basically, but I think there's another factor:
When the 56K modem came out, it wouldn't connect at speeds above 33.6K unless one end of the phone circuit was a digital line. BBS sysops couldn't afford to pay upwards of $100 per month for ISDN circuits, just to put 56K modems on them so people could call in and get their 42K, 44K, or 48K connects.
On the other hand, the ISPs did -- so you got quicker file transfer rates doing a PPP connection over the Internet than you did connecting straight to a local BBS.
As a sysop myself, back in the day, I saw BBS's evolve (devolve perhaps?) into file sharing systems first and foremost. Multi-line chat was always better on large information services (AKA. Compuserve CB chat) because you simply had a lot more people online at the same time to talk with. BBS multi-line chat sort of petered out as users discovered IRC, AOL chat rooms, etc. Some BBS's still made messages their primary focus, but the trend went towards people using BBS's to get their "warez fix", download GIF and JPG photos (pre-Internet porn), and other types of data. This meant a fast transfer speed was critical, expecially as the average program size grew and grew.
Everyone says this, but my response to that is "Get with the program, telcos/cable co's!" America is becoming more advanced with its Internet usage. A recent Yahoo Internet Life survey showed that most people using the web nowdays spend the vast majority of their time on the same 8 or 9 web sites. That tells me people have figured out where the content is that they find truly useful, and instead of idle "surfing" - they're trying to really get things done.
If the revenue model doesn't take into account these changing habits of Internet users, then the revenue model needs to be re-evaluated. Trying to make everyone conform to their ideal customer who "only uses the net to check his/her email and look at a homepage now and then" is just going to piss off more and more of their customer base.
Heh... I know what you mean, I really do. I just lost my job last Thursday due to "budget cuts" (after 6 years of doing computer support for them!) - but despite that, they have not one, not two, but *3* office managers who insist on printing just about everything to a color laser printer just so their Excel spreadsheets can have little yellow and green boxes instead of greyscale, and so the emails they print can have URLs and such printed in blue.
Then, they used to throw a fit when I told them they needed to buy a new fuser or imaging unit for the printer, at hundreds of dollars a pop.
(That doesn't seem right! We just replaced some expensive stuff on that printer a few months ago! Are you sure about that?)