Many states in the US are "at will" which means you do not have to have a contract or union or guild member to get a job. It also means that the employer can fire you any time for any reason except those prohibited by law (religion, minority status of some kind).
Companies try to put a lot of social heat on workers but companies have now been breaking the social contract so long (at least 10 to 15 years) that workers are starting to leave without notice, leave in the middle of big projects, etc.
Within 6 months, they will be pushing to lower overtime costs. They'll hire more people to avoid overtime.
This move will probably cost IBM their "best and brightest" who get hosed by this move.
With 33% of the work force retiring in the next 5 years and offshore wages going up 20% per year (raises + currency exchange), companies shouldn't be doing this to their potential work forces. IBM will regret this move a lot very soon.
You want to fix things. Stop these crazy compensation package.
That extra 90 million would support 900 employees a year. That 90 million would go back into the economy.
There is no justification for these compensation rates- if directors held the line on salaries for CEO's like they did for employees, CEO's would be making about 2 million. CEO pay has increased at orders of magnitude over the inflation rate for almost 20 years.
They could also lower salaries by about 80% for everyone but the lowest level workers on the films and have a movie they could sell profitably for $5 million.
Part of the problem is that due to the quasi-monopoly on movies by cartel distribution systems and the historically high cost of equipment to produce movies, salaries have gotten unrealistically high. No one in the movie business deserves to make more than $500k annual salary. That they do is just gravy for them and a very temporary situation that is correcting itself.
Seriously, I spent about 8 of my entertainment hours watching free fairly entertaining stuff on You Tube. My time available to spend on movies is way down.
I have one of these tags and love the "royal road".
That being said.. I think it is almost time that the populace is going to rise up and raise taxes on the well off and build free roads, free bridges, etc. again.
I had no idea our 8 billion dollar a year java order web entry system that supports 2500 simultaneous users just ain't it.
Okay- that's being a bit sarcastic.
Dude, I'm at a 30 billion dollar corp and we have many major systems written in java that handle very heavy enterprise loads (look up Documentum for example).
The code is truly generic and runs on any hardware. And on modern hardware, it runs well.
As a reference point, I've been abused by cops twice in my life (not physically-- just enormously unjustified rudeness that they could get away with because they were a cop). I've been treated well perhaps a dozen times. I donate to policeman survivors funds and when I have a year that I encounter a rude cop, I withhold my donation. It helps me feel better about cowing down to some rude asshat in a blue suit.
Cops are people. Some good- some bad. Most are at least a little corrupted by the power they hold.
I would agree with you (as a ron paul supporter) and add this...
If I am informed and *want* to buy a car without all the safety features for $14700 instead of $19900 then I should be able to. And I should understand that my insurance will be $1500 a year instead of $900 a year because I'm more likely to be injured.
The problem is when the government intervenes and forces me to buy these features and with people that lie. For example, if they sell it to me for $19900 and tell me it has all the safety features but it actually has none.
And the problem there is that people can do bad things and then walk on the consequences.
It sounds like he was not a major bigot but was actually mentally ill.
Any of us can go that way any time. It doesn't change who we were when we were sane. We should remember the good and forget the bad in this case I think.
I grew up with stories of his games though I was never into chess myself. I wonder what he was like as a person and what his legacy will be. Did he write any books or teach anyone or found any institutes or foundations? Did he have any children?
If you need 10,000 songs to fill your iPod and you can buy them for a reasonable amount of work then you will do that. You feel good about honestly paying for it.
If they make it impossible, then you will redefine your morality so that you feel good about it anyway.
If they are complete jerks while making it impossible, then a lot more people will redefine their morality. Once society reaches a tipping point, then it is all over. I think despite some pretty blatant propaganda, the kids coming up today have a very dim view of copyrighted material- giving it less respect than I do. Myself, I can afford to so I adhere to the 28 year period (but feel anything over 28 years is fair game). One way i do this is by staying 6 to 18 months behind the release curve. Why pay $19.99 for "Stardust" when I *KNOW* it is going to be $5.99 within 18 months. I'll buy it honestly then.
But try to charge me a premium for a song written by a dead man 40 years ago when copyright periods were not even 40 years yet (and it should have been in public domain now) and I will let out a little happy dance and laugh of joy every time I play it with a complete lack of guilt.
I agree with you entirely. I got paid a fair salary for the work done.
And I think writers, actors, producers got a deal in the past which was fair and as the number of people served scaled up, the deal became ridiculously good. And they are all still unhappy with it.
And with grossly inflated prices, they howl when people pirate their material. And they do everything they can to suppress competition (guilds and unions these days mainly being about suppressing the potential number of writers, etc. as much as anything).
The dam is slowly breaking. It won't be long. Some "fan" produced material is extremely entertaining now and more worth my time than "pro" stuff.
You are also ignoring the fact that other grossly overpriced items invite theft and law abuse.
There is such a glut of entertainment that there is no reason that Tom Cruise gets $20 million for a $100 million movie when a movie (and a host of people involved with the movie also get 7 figure and 6 figure salaries as well).
The fact is that a movie -- the hard technology of it, the writing, the editing, can be done at a 10th the cost it is currently done at (probably 1/100th).
Sane people do not pirate $6 dvd's. However $89 DVD is something different. Especially for a movie that made it's profits years ago and is in the "all gravy" phase.
Do people have a *right* to infringe (steal) creator's works? No. But to think they will not when they can easily do so for $1 and two hours of their time is insane.
Also... I used to write software which was used to earn my company 8 billion dollars. Why are movie and television writers so special that they get paid for the rest of their life when they write yet another boilerplate television script?
Actors... writers... everyone in hollywood is in for a wakeup call. Multi-million dollar salaries are going to be unsupportable very soon. Already, I spend 30% of my entertainment time on free things like Star Wreck, Fan Movies, and so on. A huge chunk of my time goes to Mmorg's at $15 a month (maybe 50 cents per hour). And then DVD's of series like Mission impossible and Heroes run me about $1 per hour for entertainment. Why does a movie justify $15 per hour? It doesn't.
The compensation in the entertainment industry is grossly inflated.
You have some good points Cherney and I think you misread my first point.
In a recession, employers cut head count at a much higher rate and demand measurable profitability from projects since the company has to survive until the recession is over.
Addressing your unique points Son, I cracked pest patrol on the appleII+, wrote commercial software for the Apple III, and still remember what the sweet 16 assembler was about. I am a little shaky on if it was 3d0g to restart from the interpreter or not-- but it has been a couple decades.
Sourceforge and other large sites with massive storage and bandwidth are vital for linux if it is going to be used by more than 1% of the population.
I have to agree with the other folks who responded to you on depression. I've known multiple people who were depressed and they tend to just sit and do nothing (sometimes they even sit in a dark room and do nothing). I agree that people who are at peace do little but people who are happy and enthusiastic tend to do a lot more than sad folks. However, there is a nub of truth in your statement- I think the titles are off. Perhaps you are trying to say that unhappy people who are not depressed are going to work harder to get to a better place-- that I agree with.
I agree with you that sometimes working on older hardware gives you a stronger skill set when you get to modern hardware. Russian coders were famous back in the 80's because they had to make sure it was right by hand before they got a shot to run on a computer. So their code was a lot less sloppy and tended to be less buggy back then.
1) Employees of major corporations assigned to opensource could be laid off or reassigned to directly profitable projects.
2) People who work on opensource in their spare time could be laid off and
a) Be unable to buy computers, maintain an internet connection, etc.
b) OR... have lots of spare time and do a lot of cool stuff to build their resume.
3) Folks who are depressed are not every productive. In a deep recession there will be a lot of fear, anxiety, and depression.
4) Donations to opensource bandwidth, download sites, and so on could falter and lead to blackouts of key opensource resources.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/12/AQXZ.html
$21.30 mil (#56)
Many states in the US are "at will" which means you do not have to have a contract or union or guild member to get a job. It also means that the employer can fire you any time for any reason except those prohibited by law (religion, minority status of some kind).
Companies try to put a lot of social heat on workers but companies have now been breaking the social contract so long (at least 10 to 15 years) that workers are starting to leave without notice, leave in the middle of big projects, etc.
I, for one, welcome our new "fixed that for you" overlords.
;)
Lol... Hittman, it's a slashdot meme.
As an old-timer like yourself tho, you may have even seen some rise, become popular, and die.
Perhaps your negative push will help to extinguish it.
I think, as with some grammar issues, you are fighting a loosing battle.
Managers do not think that way.
Within 6 months, they will be pushing to lower overtime costs.
They'll hire more people to avoid overtime.
This move will probably cost IBM their "best and brightest" who get hosed by this move.
With 33% of the work force retiring in the next 5 years and offshore wages going up 20% per year (raises + currency exchange), companies shouldn't be doing this to their potential work forces. IBM will regret this move a lot very soon.
You want to fix things. Stop these crazy compensation package.
That extra 90 million would support 900 employees a year. That 90 million would go back into the economy.
There is no justification for these compensation rates- if directors held the line on salaries for CEO's like they did for employees, CEO's would be making about 2 million. CEO pay has increased at orders of magnitude over the inflation rate for almost 20 years.
Well... except the ones that marry 13 year olds and follow discredited mormon beliefs.
The mainstream mormons are no more loony that your average catholic these days tho.
They could also lower salaries by about 80% for everyone but the lowest level workers on the films and have a movie they could sell profitably for $5 million.
Part of the problem is that due to the quasi-monopoly on movies by cartel distribution systems and the historically high cost of equipment to produce movies, salaries have gotten unrealistically high. No one in the movie business deserves to make more than $500k annual salary. That they do is just gravy for them and a very temporary situation that is correcting itself.
Seriously, I spent about 8 of my entertainment hours watching free fairly entertaining stuff on You Tube. My time available to spend on movies is way down.
I have one of these tags and love the "royal road".
That being said.. I think it is almost time that the populace is going to rise up and raise taxes on the well off and build free roads, free bridges, etc. again.
Man,
I had no idea our 8 billion dollar a year java order web entry system that supports 2500 simultaneous users just ain't it.
Okay- that's being a bit sarcastic.
Dude,
I'm at a 30 billion dollar corp and we have many major systems written in java that handle very heavy enterprise loads (look up Documentum for example).
The code is truly generic and runs on any hardware. And on modern hardware, it runs well.
+10 insightful.
Plus.. and then you'll pay $1 per year extra forever because the corporation will just pass the cost of the settlement on to you.
the only people that will make out will be the lawyers who get about 2 mil or more each.
As a reference point, I've been abused by cops twice in my life (not physically-- just enormously unjustified rudeness that they could get away with because they were a cop). I've been treated well perhaps a dozen times.
I donate to policeman survivors funds and when I have a year that I encounter a rude cop, I withhold my donation. It helps me feel better about cowing down to some rude asshat in a blue suit.
Cops are people. Some good- some bad. Most are at least a little corrupted by the power they hold.
I would agree with you (as a ron paul supporter) and add this...
If I am informed and *want* to buy a car without all the safety features for $14700 instead of $19900 then I should be able to. And I should understand that my insurance will be $1500 a year instead of $900 a year because I'm more likely to be injured.
The problem is when the government intervenes and forces me to buy these features and with people that lie. For example, if they sell it to me for $19900 and tell me it has all the safety features but it actually has none.
And the problem there is that people can do bad things and then walk on the consequences.
First... I agree that shutting someone else up is not a great way to have a conversation...
But if you are going to do something like this, then have a little panache.
For example, you could upload a few Mp3's with links to download them from the site.
Or upload some key quotes "Copyright should be good for forever less one day".
Or upload Jefferson's statements on copyright.
ah well...
It sounds like he was not a major bigot but was actually mentally ill.
Any of us can go that way any time. It doesn't change who we were when we were sane. We should remember the good and forget the bad in this case I think.
I grew up with stories of his games though I was never into chess myself.
I wonder what he was like as a person and what his legacy will be.
Did he write any books or teach anyone or found any institutes or foundations?
Did he have any children?
How does it compare to taking all the flyers instead of just one?
Or say purchasing a newspaper, and then taking all of them instead of just one?
Man! Harsh moderation today on .
I have put it this way in the past...
People are as moral as they can afford to be.
If you need 10,000 songs to fill your iPod and you can buy them for a reasonable amount of work then you will do that. You feel good about honestly paying for it.
If they make it impossible, then you will redefine your morality so that you feel good about it anyway.
If they are complete jerks while making it impossible, then a lot more people will redefine their morality. Once society reaches a tipping point, then it is all over. I think despite some pretty blatant propaganda, the kids coming up today have a very dim view of copyrighted material- giving it less respect than I do. Myself, I can afford to so I adhere to the 28 year period (but feel anything over 28 years is fair game). One way i do this is by staying 6 to 18 months behind the release curve. Why pay $19.99 for "Stardust" when I *KNOW* it is going to be $5.99 within 18 months. I'll buy it honestly then.
But try to charge me a premium for a song written by a dead man 40 years ago when copyright periods were not even 40 years yet (and it should have been in public domain now) and I will let out a little happy dance and laugh of joy every time I play it with a complete lack of guilt.
I agree with you entirely. I got paid a fair salary for the work done.
And I think writers, actors, producers got a deal in the past which was fair and as the number of people served scaled up, the deal became ridiculously good. And they are all still unhappy with it.
And with grossly inflated prices, they howl when people pirate their material.
And they do everything they can to suppress competition (guilds and unions these days mainly being about suppressing the potential number of writers, etc. as much as anything).
The dam is slowly breaking. It won't be long. Some "fan" produced material is extremely entertaining now and more worth my time than "pro" stuff.
One problem...
Make the lock as strong as you want it. But if one person.. anywhere in the world breaks it, then it is broken for everyone.
It would be like if one person figured out how to jimmy a chevy in london and all chevy locks throughout the world unlocked.
You are also ignoring the fact that other grossly overpriced items invite theft and law abuse.
There is such a glut of entertainment that there is no reason that Tom Cruise gets $20 million for a $100 million movie when a movie (and a host of people involved with the movie also get 7 figure and 6 figure salaries as well).
The fact is that a movie -- the hard technology of it, the writing, the editing, can be done at a 10th the cost it is currently done at (probably 1/100th).
Sane people do not pirate $6 dvd's. However $89 DVD is something different. Especially for a movie that made it's profits years ago and is in the "all gravy" phase.
Do people have a *right* to infringe (steal) creator's works? No.
But to think they will not when they can easily do so for $1 and two hours of their time is insane.
Also... I used to write software which was used to earn my company 8 billion dollars. Why are movie and television writers so special that they get paid for the rest of their life when they write yet another boilerplate television script?
Actors... writers... everyone in hollywood is in for a wakeup call. Multi-million dollar salaries are going to be unsupportable very soon. Already, I spend 30% of my entertainment time on free things like Star Wreck, Fan Movies, and so on. A huge chunk of my time goes to Mmorg's at $15 a month (maybe 50 cents per hour). And then DVD's of series like Mission impossible and Heroes run me about $1 per hour for entertainment. Why does a movie justify $15 per hour? It doesn't.
The compensation in the entertainment industry is grossly inflated.
This is a good point-- except in about 3-4 years american programmers will be at the same salary as overseas salaries-- and it will be a good one too.
At my company the estimate is that the next contract with infosys they will be more expensive than local resources.
Eeee-yeewww!
You have some good points Cherney and I think you misread my first point.
In a recession, employers cut head count at a much higher rate and demand measurable profitability from projects since the company has to survive until the recession is over.
Addressing your unique points
Son, I cracked pest patrol on the appleII+, wrote commercial software for the Apple III, and still remember what the sweet 16 assembler was about. I am a little shaky on if it was 3d0g to restart from the interpreter or not-- but it has been a couple decades.
Sourceforge and other large sites with massive storage and bandwidth are vital for linux if it is going to be used by more than 1% of the population.
I have to agree with the other folks who responded to you on depression. I've known multiple people who were depressed and they tend to just sit and do nothing (sometimes they even sit in a dark room and do nothing). I agree that people who are at peace do little but people who are happy and enthusiastic tend to do a lot more than sad folks. However, there is a nub of truth in your statement- I think the titles are off. Perhaps you are trying to say that unhappy people who are not depressed are going to work harder to get to a better place-- that I agree with.
I agree with you that sometimes working on older hardware gives you a stronger skill set when you get to modern hardware. Russian coders were famous back in the 80's because they had to make sure it was right by hand before they got a shot to run on a computer. So their code was a lot less sloppy and tended to be less buggy back then.
1) Employees of major corporations assigned to opensource could be laid off or reassigned to directly profitable projects.
2) People who work on opensource in their spare time could be laid off and
a) Be unable to buy computers, maintain an internet connection, etc.
b) OR... have lots of spare time and do a lot of cool stuff to build their resume.
3) Folks who are depressed are not every productive. In a deep recession there will be a lot of fear, anxiety, and depression.
4) Donations to opensource bandwidth, download sites, and so on could falter and lead to blackouts of key opensource resources.