Other points about Ireland - just to provide the complete picture:
1. The only english speaking (first language) member of the eurozone 2. Pro-US (every soldier that went to Iraq stopped at Shannon for a pint). 3. Consistently one of the most politically right country in Europe - despite Bertie Ahern's declaration of being 'the only socialist in the Dail' (if Bertie's a socialist then George Bush is a communist). 4. Nice to place to live if you're an executive, fishing, horse racing, golf and plenty of high brow parties - (except this year as it's been pissing rain for a solid 8 months). 5. Pro-Microsoft - Charlie McCreevy (of software patent fame) was Finance Minster only 4 years ago - and he's not too good for a visit from BG. 6. Very strong partnership model (like having strong unionisation but where everybody gets along).
I'm not saying these are good points or that I'm happy about them - just that they are.
Well that's hardly rocket science - price isn't proportional to cost, price is dependent on what the market is willing to bear.
Problem is, when you have a monopoly (or effective monopoly) the market will bear an awful lot. Hence the music industry screws the punter for every penny they can get.
Thing is, the RIAA complaining with 'righteous indignation' when people have had enough sucks a bit. It'd be nice to hear of an RIAA board meeting where one of the executives says 'c'mon folks let's be reasonable, we knew this day was coming. We were never going to be able to butt-fuck them forev.....WAUGGGHGGGG!' (burns in Dr Evil-style under chair pit).
Freedom of speech really is intended to protect the citizen's ability to question his or her government Now that's a freedom worth having - but I wasn't criticizing what Free Speech was intended to protect, but what Free Speech actually protects. And how there are many important rights - such a being free from rape/murder - that all need to be weighed against each other, as sometimes rights are necessarily compatible. And the choices that societies make with respect to maintaining this balance has different meaning in different cultures.
As the original GP referred to the US is choosing to restrict some rights - ostensibly for freedom of speech, in that the media demands security while the populous follows. Whereas China is freeing some restrictions in order to move to a modern society - while at the same time it needs (or feels it needs) to restrict other freedoms in order to ensure the balance of its society. The difference is between absolutes and relatives.
PS: I hope you're not a Brit! That says a lot - in an ironic way, though.
From a European point of view the perspective is very different. Most of the 'freedoms' that are so important to Americans are considered totally trivial over here. 'Freedom of speech', for example, is not as important - there are other rights that come first. That would horrify an American.
On the flip side, you seem to gladly sacrifice rights (especially human rights) often for what appears to be frivolous or expeditious reasons - which just appalls people here.
I'm suggesting good or bad, just different - same as in China. As a great man once said '...many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view'.
That said little cartoon characters jumping up with 'Stay where you are, the police are on the way' scares me a little.
Seriously, though, what kind of organization are they running I think this is the nub of the problem. ISO standards are used all around the world to protect people - and they're certainly used for far more important things than document formats.
But in the case of car manufacturers or construction engineers or whoever else, the ISO protects the companies by providing highly quality standard by which to work. If Ford etc follow the standards for manufacturing their cars yet one of them still crashes or explodes or whatever, then Ford is covered (somewhat) by its adherence to the standards.
This organization works very well in the non-software model, as Ford don't want cars blowing up any more than the ISO does.
Thing is, throw Microsoft in there. They couldn't give a crap whether documents are unreadable in the future, no one is going to sue them anyway. So they can safely work against the principal of quality standards with no impunity.
Now if they could be sued every time they screwed up your document - then there'd be a different story here.
Absolutely agree about the popularity of Java - but I think that it's Java popularity with the Business side of the house as opposed to the Technical side which is the significant element.
My guess is that Business loves Java because you can throw developers at a problem and be seen to be dealing with it - because there isn't a problem that cannot be solved by piling on the bodies, right?
(Confession of bias: I like Java, don't love it - it's good enough).
There is a problem with the 'Analogy of the home with the door left open':
(1) If you leave your front door open, yes, the person who took from you broke the law, and yes, the police will file a report - but that is all they will do, you were warned and you chose not to employ the bare minimum to protect yourself. And the police will also, rightly, tell you off for encouraging crime in your area. And if you keep it up, they will probably call in call in Social Services to check if your responsible enough to look after your kids.
(2) Your insurance company will pay you the sum total of 0 - and at the same time up your premium.
Though I can claim to coming to this conclusion independently as I only searched for this reference after reading your insightful piece (for which I feel it would do you a disservice to class you as a grammar super-Nazi).
If you look at old maps and the like you can see the origin of the possessive form of nouns.
For example, off the South East coast of Ireland is an area called St George's Channel (named presumably by the English after their lightweight pseudo-saint) - but if you look at older maps you will see it marked as 'St George his Channel' meaning the channel of Saint George. Shorten that and you end up with St George's Channel.
Likewise Bob his computer. The dog its bone etc. Obviously there's a problem with Eve - but I presume this is because she wouldn't have been entitled to own anything at the time this ended up in the language.
So I think the GP is correct - though I'm sure some grammar super-Nazi will pull me up on this.
The value of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights outside the borders of the United States is substantially less than that of toilet paper.
And when you are outside the borders of the United States, you can be damn sure that your government supported by your courts, constitution and bill of rights will consider you substantially less valuable than its international trade agreements.
I disagree(-ish), the UberProgrammer should be able to write the code and walk away. The bad programmer will do the same, however, the bad programmer will come back again again and again to fix the problems. So on paper, it appears that the two are much the same. Thereby justifying the poor hiring choice.
However, if the accounting was done correctly, the truth would out.
A pure example of this is that the Uber programmer will produce unit-tests. The bad programmer will not. The outcome is the same - apparently.
Slashdot Mirror
Other points about Ireland - just to provide the complete picture:
1. The only english speaking (first language) member of the eurozone
2. Pro-US (every soldier that went to Iraq stopped at Shannon for a pint).
3. Consistently one of the most politically right country in Europe - despite Bertie Ahern's declaration of being 'the only socialist in the Dail' (if Bertie's a socialist then George Bush is a communist).
4. Nice to place to live if you're an executive, fishing, horse racing, golf and plenty of high brow parties - (except this year as it's been pissing rain for a solid 8 months).
5. Pro-Microsoft - Charlie McCreevy (of software patent fame) was Finance Minster only 4 years ago - and he's not too good for a visit from BG.
6. Very strong partnership model (like having strong unionisation but where everybody gets along).
I'm not saying these are good points or that I'm happy about them - just that they are.
Well that's hardly rocket science - price isn't proportional to cost, price is dependent on what the market is willing to bear.
Problem is, when you have a monopoly (or effective monopoly) the market will bear an awful lot. Hence the music industry screws the punter for every penny they can get.
Thing is, the RIAA complaining with 'righteous indignation' when people have had enough sucks a bit. It'd be nice to hear of an RIAA board meeting where one of the executives says 'c'mon folks let's be reasonable, we knew this day was coming. We were never going to be able to butt-fuck them forev.....WAUGGGHGGGG!' (burns in Dr Evil-style under chair pit).
I could not concur more. This kind of behavior is just not the done thing in polite society.
Mister Darcy and I simply do not approve.
As the original GP referred to the US is choosing to restrict some rights - ostensibly for freedom of speech, in that the media demands security while the populous follows. Whereas China is freeing some restrictions in order to move to a modern society - while at the same time it needs (or feels it needs) to restrict other freedoms in order to ensure the balance of its society. The difference is between absolutes and relatives.
From a European point of view the perspective is very different. Most of the 'freedoms' that are so important to Americans are considered totally trivial over here. 'Freedom of speech', for example, is not as important - there are other rights that come first. That would horrify an American.
On the flip side, you seem to gladly sacrifice rights (especially human rights) often for what appears to be frivolous or expeditious reasons - which just appalls people here.
I'm suggesting good or bad, just different - same as in China. As a great man once said '...many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view'.
That said little cartoon characters jumping up with 'Stay where you are, the police are on the way' scares me a little.
But in the case of car manufacturers or construction engineers or whoever else, the ISO protects the companies by providing highly quality standard by which to work. If Ford etc follow the standards for manufacturing their cars yet one of them still crashes or explodes or whatever, then Ford is covered (somewhat) by its adherence to the standards.
This organization works very well in the non-software model, as Ford don't want cars blowing up any more than the ISO does.
Thing is, throw Microsoft in there. They couldn't give a crap whether documents are unreadable in the future, no one is going to sue them anyway. So they can safely work against the principal of quality standards with no impunity.
Now if they could be sued every time they screwed up your document - then there'd be a different story here.
Sure...
Absolutely agree about the popularity of Java - but I think that it's Java popularity with the Business side of the house as opposed to the Technical side which is the significant element.
My guess is that Business loves Java because you can throw developers at a problem and be seen to be dealing with it - because there isn't a problem that cannot be solved by piling on the bodies, right?
(Confession of bias: I like Java, don't love it - it's good enough).
This sucks:
GM/Ford/BMW (or whoever) patents putting information on the windscreen -- Hmmm useful.
Microsoft [attempts to] patents putting more information on the windscreen -- WTF?!
Wasting the patent office's time should be a crime. I wonder could patent a bigger wheel - I'd make a fortune.
There is a problem with the 'Analogy of the home with the door left open':
(1) If you leave your front door open, yes, the person who took from you broke the law, and yes, the police will file a report - but that is all they will do, you were warned and you chose not to employ the bare minimum to protect yourself. And the police will also, rightly, tell you off for encouraging crime in your area. And if you keep it up, they will probably call in call in Social Services to check if your responsible enough to look after your kids.
(2) Your insurance company will pay you the sum total of 0 - and at the same time up your premium.
When it becomes Windows software, it becomes 'Limited'.
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?"
(Not meant as anti-anybody comment, Iraq's just the Guerre d'jour).
http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/yhst-3464 0480252896_1963_117522
...my arse! It's been pissing rain here since April - and I'm getting a bit sick of it.
I thank you for your compliment, however, while my thinking may be logical, alas it is not original:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_genitive
Though I can claim to coming to this conclusion independently as I only searched for this reference after reading your insightful piece (for which I feel it would do you a disservice to class you as a grammar super-Nazi).
'fraid not.
If you look at old maps and the like you can see the origin of the possessive form of nouns.
For example, off the South East coast of Ireland is an area called St George's Channel (named presumably by the English after their lightweight pseudo-saint) - but if you look at older maps you will see it marked as 'St George his Channel' meaning the channel of Saint George. Shorten that and you end up with St George's Channel.
Likewise Bob his computer. The dog its bone etc. Obviously there's a problem with Eve - but I presume this is because she wouldn't have been entitled to own anything at the time this ended up in the language.
So I think the GP is correct - though I'm sure some grammar super-Nazi will pull me up on this.
It's not the winning but the taking part that counts.
Well done Vista - good effort.
...and without his box of leftover pieces, he's gonna be sorry come the post-apocalypse.
The value of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights outside the borders of the United States is substantially less than that of toilet paper.
And when you are outside the borders of the United States, you can be damn sure that your government supported by your courts, constitution and bill of rights will consider you substantially less valuable than its international trade agreements.
Vinegar can be used as a replacement for all these products. Check out www.101usesforvinegarinsteadofjohnsonsandjohnsonpr oductsforthespendthrift.com.
By your reasoning, Isaac Newton, for example, was not human as he was unable to travel into space using only tools that he built (or could build).
Just read the Metro version of this story: 'African find upsets theory of evolution'.
My guess is that there was a third species, Homo Stupidus that evolved into journalists.
DAMN YOU SLASHDOT!
I disagree(-ish), the UberProgrammer should be able to write the code and walk away. The bad programmer will do the same, however, the bad programmer will come back again again and again to fix the problems. So on paper, it appears that the two are much the same. Thereby justifying the poor hiring choice.
However, if the accounting was done correctly, the truth would out.
A pure example of this is that the Uber programmer will produce unit-tests. The bad programmer will not. The outcome is the same - apparently.