You've obviously haven't had a Nissan for any amount of time, then.
Over the past twenty years I've owned nothing but (old used) Nissans. In every case the bodies rusted away while the engines just kept going and going and going and going...
Symantec, McAfee et al would scream bloody murder if MS starting shipping AV software bundled into their OS. They're probably only able to ship an anti-spyware tool because the other primary Windows anti-spyware tools are "free."
I believe - and I could be wrong that the administrators of Gates's charity make half a mil a year. If anyone knows for sure, please post references.
A parent suggested Gate's charity gave away close to fifty-billion dollars. If I was hiring a team to manage that amount of money I'd want to ensure they were paid very well too, for two key reasons:
1) Paying well ensures you get good-quality people skilled in managing this much money
2) The motivation for embezzlement is reduced if you are well-paid. (This is one of the reason that judges are well-paid in many jurisdictions - They're less susceptible to bribes).
I would argue that in the past (and even today) unions had / have their place. Dangerous jobs and the like. But in a modern environment like a car plant where the assembly-line guy won't / can't wipe up some spilled antifreeze because that's the job of the unionized cleaning staff? That's crazy-talk. As an employee (& a manager), it must also be very frustrating in a union environment when it's un-possible to reward excellence. If an employee does a great job you can't reward him with a promotion or a raise, you can't reward him with a better shift - Nothing. It all comes down to seniority.
The other thing that drives me crazy is when a union is on strike complaining about salaries and that's all the media reports on, when in reality it's the entire package that's important. Granted a hospital janitor might "only" be making $15 per hour, but they might also get six weeks of paid vacation, generous medical/dental plans, 100% job security and a pension plan. Factor all those things in and the actual salary might be worth $25 / hour.
Classifying Mac owners as trendy idiots who throw their money away is ridiculous
Yes and no. It seems like every year there's a bunch of stories about some new doo-dad introducted at Macworld that has Mac users salivating their way to the nearest Apple store. You don't hear the same thing about Wintel. Maybe that's just because there isn't a Wintel 'community' per se... Who knows?
everybody's grandparents have been whining for over the holidays
I'll believe it when I see it. After watching the development of PCs, VCRs, etc. etc. etc. over the past twenty years I've come to the conclusion that tech companies are *incapable* of developing technology that's grandma-friendly. They fail to do granny-testing, and when grannies complain that they can't work X,Y,Z manufacturers blame the end-users. Not their products.
I think this is a crucial point a lot of potential "immigrants" overlook. Even if you do get a visa for 3 years, and extend it for another 3, after 6 years you MUST leave the USA. The laws may change in 3 years, but that's how it is right now. Of course if you get one of the coveted green cards you can stay, but those are difficult to get. Of course if you marry an American (of the opposite sex) then things become a little easier.
they are going to move to blatant advertising inside programs via product placement
If I had to pick between product placement and commercials, product placement wins hands-down every time. I would MUCH rather watch President Bartlett drink a Pepsi during the course of The West Wing than be subjected to diaper ads every ten minutes. We have to pay for "free" TV some how, and if product placements are the way, then so be it.
Until Windows 95 came out (and 3.11 to a lesser extent)... NO ONE HAD PC's AT HOME.
????
I knew tons of people with DOS PCs at home. And they aren't all slashdotters today. Most of them were owned by families that had teens at home that used them for games, word processing and BBSes.
Lots of sellers care about a buyer's feedback. Also, if you both buy and sell a negative is a negative. So you might buy something, get negative feedback out of spite and it then affects your ability to sell.
I never, ever leave feedback until the seller has done so first
Right, so you wind up with a mess of transactions tha thave no feedback - As a buyer, the seller won't leave feedback until I do, and I won't leave feedback about the seller until they do... So it winds up as a stalemate with no feedback for the transaction.
does not care about its customers because it doesn't allow corrections of feedback
The other problem with feedback is the vast majority of sellers I have dealt with don't post feedback until the buyer has posted feedback. So if I'm unhappy with a transaction, I don't post negative feedback about the seller because I know I'll get negative feedback in return, even though I've paid promptly and honoured my end of the bargain. I've even had sellers threaten me with negative feedback as an incentive to get me to post positive feedback about them.
An easy solution to this would be for eBay to require a seller to leave feedback before they get their Paypal payment. As a buyer, once I've honoured my end of the deal (paid promptly) I should get feedback.
So every writer has to compromise their vision in order to sell a product within their script?
All depends how it's done - If a script requires a character to drive a car, have them drive a new Ford. If they have to buy soup, have them buy Campbell's. Obviously don't have them buy soup if the script is about a day at the beach.
Doesn't that imply also a self censorship that will take place over time? Nobody wants to offend any companies-- how would you ever product place anything afterwards?
?
This happens now all the time, and has been happening since the dawn of commercial television - Programs are constantly editing their content so as not to offend advertisers. That's the nature of the medium.
If I had to pick between product placement and commercials, product placement wins hands-down every time. I would MUCH rather watch President Bartlett drink a Pepsi during the course of The West Wing than be subjected to diaper ads every ten minutes. We have to pay for "free" TV some how, and if product placements are the way, then so be it.
Yeah, but the big question remains: How to trust someone online?
Simple. If you're buying a commodity item like a camera, buy it from an established, well-known online retailer like Amazon, Best Buy, Future Shop (here in Canada). If an item is $50 less at website B than it is at some large well-known retailer there's probably a reason. Caveat emptor.
Why the hell are people trying to fix something that's not broken?
The RIAA is, and this guy is trying to come up with an alternate to their solution of "just charge more." By going to an auction system the RIAA can get a more accurate sense of what their music is actually worth, based on how much people are willing to pay for it.
Why not train a bright entry level person to be a Linux Admin?
Mod parent up! I agree 100% - I don't understand this "must have experience" business. If someone is clever and has tinkered with computers it can't be that hard to teach them SSH everything else. I had zero *nix experience when I came where I am now, and now I can get around. Heck the linux crowd are so eager to evangelize about how easy it is to use - Prove it by hiring someone and spend a few days showing them around.
I've figured out, women really look at SHOES that you wear
Very true! Some geeks just have to realize that many women are wired to judge a guy based on his shoes and whether his shoes matches his belt and whether he's wearing a pressed-shirt or some anime T shirt featuring some weirdass tentacle monster. Just like a large percentage of geeks like video games, a large percentage of women like men who only wear runners at the gym or who only wear tevas at the beach. Without socks. There's a single guy I work with who is smart and funny, and I know lots of single, clever, cute women, but I'm not going to put the effort into setting him up until he gets a pair of leather shoes and stops wearing T shirts 24/7. The message he conveys with his wardrobe is one of "I don't care." (Oh yeah and lose the digital watch:)
All this talk of "Smart" hotel rooms drives me crazy. Before you give me a room that automatically knows that I need another ten-dollar can of coke, how about addressing the basics?
1) Give me a room that is QUIET when I want to sleep. I don't want to hear the AC whooshing, I don't want to hear the domestic dispute in the room next door, I don't want to hear the ice machine in the hall gurgling all night long, I don't want to hear the night club at the pool. It amazes me how noisy some brand-new hotels are
2) Give me enough frikken electrical outlets! Run a power bar next to the desk. I don't want to have to unplug the desk lamp just so I can plug in my laptop. And I don't want to have to charge my cell phone in the bathroom.
3) Get rid of the damn armchair. If your hotel room is the size of a handicapped bathroom stall don't put a damn armchair in there. I'd just as soon have a place to put my suitcase.
This is Microsoft...its the way they have always been.
I know defending Microsoft isn't really permitted here, but this is common business practice, particularly in the auto industry. For example, here in Canada, the supply of Smart Cars (http://www.thesmart.ca/) is kept artificially low in order to keep prices high. IIRC Chrysler did the same with the PT Cruiser when it was introduced, and BMW did the same with the "new" Mini.
I haven't read The Hacker's Diet in a year or so, but IIRC what surprised me at the time I read it was its comments about exercise, i.e. it said something like "If you exercise hard for an hour you'll only burn off a can of Coke so don't waste your time with exercise, just don't drink the Coke."
What this overlooks is the fact that if you exercise regularly you'll build muscle, and once you have more muscle you'll burn more calories just sitting around (muscle cells need more calories than fat). So yes, although the hour's exercise won't burn a huge amount of calories it will have an effect throughout every day, not just for the hour.
OK, let's put it another way. You're out of town. The wife wants to set up the machine to "tape" CSI / Desperate Houswives / You Name It. Why should this be hard? She should be able to click click click, comfortable in the knowledge that she'll be able to watch "her show." You could just as easily call it the grand-dad aceeptance factor.
In the USA, are people liable for potentially fraudulent transactions on their credit cards?
Here in Canada, If I check my visa statement and there are charges on it that aren't mine I'm not liable for them. I realize it's a hassle to call Visa or MasterCard etc. and deal with it, but in the big scheme of things it's not really an issue for me financially. Last February my wallet was stolen in Spain. On my statement I was able to watch my credit card number travel through tollbooths throughout western and eastern Europe. It didn't cost me a nickel and my credit rating wasn't impacted one iota.
This is why I'll almost never pay for anything with my ATM card. The less I use my ATM card, the less chance there is my PIN will get out into the public domain. Once my PIN is out there the "protection" found with my credit card is gone.
The dominance of MS Office isn't because of its technical superiority
IMHO the reason MS Office is so dominant in people's homes is that Office 2000 was so easily pirated. Almost everyone seems to have a burned copy of 2000 in their stack of CDs. Now that office isn't as easily "pirateable" any more I think (at least at home) you'll see two things happening:
1) People staying on Office 2000 for a LONG time 2) People moving to other, cheaper alternatives like Star Office, WordPerfect and Works.
Slashdot Mirror
Over the past twenty years I've owned nothing but (old used) Nissans. In every case the bodies rusted away while the engines just kept going and going and going and going...
Symantec, McAfee et al would scream bloody murder if MS starting shipping AV software bundled into their OS. They're probably only able to ship an anti-spyware tool because the other primary Windows anti-spyware tools are "free."
A parent suggested Gate's charity gave away close to fifty-billion dollars. If I was hiring a team to manage that amount of money I'd want to ensure they were paid very well too, for two key reasons:
1) Paying well ensures you get good-quality people skilled in managing this much money
2) The motivation for embezzlement is reduced if you are well-paid. (This is one of the reason that judges are well-paid in many jurisdictions - They're less susceptible to bribes).
I would argue that in the past (and even today) unions had / have their place. Dangerous jobs and the like. But in a modern environment like a car plant where the assembly-line guy won't / can't wipe up some spilled antifreeze because that's the job of the unionized cleaning staff? That's crazy-talk. As an employee (& a manager), it must also be very frustrating in a union environment when it's un-possible to reward excellence. If an employee does a great job you can't reward him with a promotion or a raise, you can't reward him with a better shift - Nothing. It all comes down to seniority.
The other thing that drives me crazy is when a union is on strike complaining about salaries and that's all the media reports on, when in reality it's the entire package that's important. Granted a hospital janitor might "only" be making $15 per hour, but they might also get six weeks of paid vacation, generous medical/dental plans, 100% job security and a pension plan. Factor all those things in and the actual salary might be worth $25 / hour.
Yes and no. It seems like every year there's a bunch of stories about some new doo-dad introducted at Macworld that has Mac users salivating their way to the nearest Apple store. You don't hear the same thing about Wintel. Maybe that's just because there isn't a Wintel 'community' per se... Who knows?
I'll believe it when I see it. After watching the development of PCs, VCRs, etc. etc. etc. over the past twenty years I've come to the conclusion that tech companies are *incapable* of developing technology that's grandma-friendly. They fail to do granny-testing, and when grannies complain that they can't work X,Y,Z manufacturers blame the end-users. Not their products.
I think this is a crucial point a lot of potential "immigrants" overlook. Even if you do get a visa for 3 years, and extend it for another 3, after 6 years you MUST leave the USA. The laws may change in 3 years, but that's how it is right now. Of course if you get one of the coveted green cards you can stay, but those are difficult to get. Of course if you marry an American (of the opposite sex) then things become a little easier.
If I had to pick between product placement and commercials, product placement wins hands-down every time. I would MUCH rather watch President Bartlett drink a Pepsi during the course of The West Wing than be subjected to diaper ads every ten minutes. We have to pay for "free" TV some how, and if product placements are the way, then so be it.
????
I knew tons of people with DOS PCs at home. And they aren't all slashdotters today. Most of them were owned by families that had teens at home that used them for games, word processing and BBSes.
Lots of sellers care about a buyer's feedback. Also, if you both buy and sell a negative is a negative. So you might buy something, get negative feedback out of spite and it then affects your ability to sell.
I never, ever leave feedback until the seller has done so first
Right, so you wind up with a mess of transactions tha thave no feedback - As a buyer, the seller won't leave feedback until I do, and I won't leave feedback about the seller until they do... So it winds up as a stalemate with no feedback for the transaction.
The other problem with feedback is the vast majority of sellers I have dealt with don't post feedback until the buyer has posted feedback. So if I'm unhappy with a transaction, I don't post negative feedback about the seller because I know I'll get negative feedback in return, even though I've paid promptly and honoured my end of the bargain. I've even had sellers threaten me with negative feedback as an incentive to get me to post positive feedback about them.
An easy solution to this would be for eBay to require a seller to leave feedback before they get their Paypal payment. As a buyer, once I've honoured my end of the deal (paid promptly) I should get feedback.
All depends how it's done - If a script requires a character to drive a car, have them drive a new Ford. If they have to buy soup, have them buy Campbell's. Obviously don't have them buy soup if the script is about a day at the beach.
Doesn't that imply also a self censorship that will take place over time? Nobody wants to offend any companies-- how would you ever product place anything afterwards?
?
This happens now all the time, and has been happening since the dawn of commercial television - Programs are constantly editing their content so as not to offend advertisers. That's the nature of the medium.
If I had to pick between product placement and commercials, product placement wins hands-down every time. I would MUCH rather watch President Bartlett drink a Pepsi during the course of The West Wing than be subjected to diaper ads every ten minutes. We have to pay for "free" TV some how, and if product placements are the way, then so be it.
Simple. If you're buying a commodity item like a camera, buy it from an established, well-known online retailer like Amazon, Best Buy, Future Shop (here in Canada). If an item is $50 less at website B than it is at some large well-known retailer there's probably a reason. Caveat emptor.
The RIAA is, and this guy is trying to come up with an alternate to their solution of "just charge more." By going to an auction system the RIAA can get a more accurate sense of what their music is actually worth, based on how much people are willing to pay for it.
Mod parent up! I agree 100% - I don't understand this "must have experience" business. If someone is clever and has tinkered with computers it can't be that hard to teach them SSH everything else. I had zero *nix experience when I came where I am now, and now I can get around. Heck the linux crowd are so eager to evangelize about how easy it is to use - Prove it by hiring someone and spend a few days showing them around.
Very true! Some geeks just have to realize that many women are wired to judge a guy based on his shoes and whether his shoes matches his belt and whether he's wearing a pressed-shirt or some anime T shirt featuring some weirdass tentacle monster. Just like a large percentage of geeks like video games, a large percentage of women like men who only wear runners at the gym or who only wear tevas at the beach. Without socks. There's a single guy I work with who is smart and funny, and I know lots of single, clever, cute women, but I'm not going to put the effort into setting him up until he gets a pair of leather shoes and stops wearing T shirts 24/7. The message he conveys with his wardrobe is one of "I don't care." (Oh yeah and lose the digital watch :)
1) Give me a room that is QUIET when I want to sleep. I don't want to hear the AC whooshing, I don't want to hear the domestic dispute in the room next door, I don't want to hear the ice machine in the hall gurgling all night long, I don't want to hear the night club at the pool. It amazes me how noisy some brand-new hotels are
2) Give me enough frikken electrical outlets! Run a power bar next to the desk. I don't want to have to unplug the desk lamp just so I can plug in my laptop. And I don't want to have to charge my cell phone in the bathroom.
3) Get rid of the damn armchair. If your hotel room is the size of a handicapped bathroom stall don't put a damn armchair in there. I'd just as soon have a place to put my suitcase.
PS And DeBeers has been doing it with sparkly bits of rock for a hundred years.
I know defending Microsoft isn't really permitted here, but this is common business practice, particularly in the auto industry. For example, here in Canada, the supply of Smart Cars (http://www.thesmart.ca/) is kept artificially low in order to keep prices high. IIRC Chrysler did the same with the PT Cruiser when it was introduced, and BMW did the same with the "new" Mini.
I haven't read The Hacker's Diet in a year or so, but IIRC what surprised me at the time I read it was its comments about exercise, i.e. it said something like "If you exercise hard for an hour you'll only burn off a can of Coke so don't waste your time with exercise, just don't drink the Coke."
What this overlooks is the fact that if you exercise regularly you'll build muscle, and once you have more muscle you'll burn more calories just sitting around (muscle cells need more calories than fat). So yes, although the hour's exercise won't burn a huge amount of calories it will have an effect throughout every day, not just for the hour.
OK, let's put it another way. You're out of town. The wife wants to set up the machine to "tape" CSI / Desperate Houswives / You Name It. Why should this be hard? She should be able to click click click, comfortable in the knowledge that she'll be able to watch "her show." You could just as easily call it the grand-dad aceeptance factor.
http://tinyurl.com/bjkvt
In the USA, are people liable for potentially fraudulent transactions on their credit cards?
Here in Canada, If I check my visa statement and there are charges on it that aren't mine I'm not liable for them. I realize it's a hassle to call Visa or MasterCard etc. and deal with it, but in the big scheme of things it's not really an issue for me financially. Last February my wallet was stolen in Spain. On my statement I was able to watch my credit card number travel through tollbooths throughout western and eastern Europe. It didn't cost me a nickel and my credit rating wasn't impacted one iota. This is why I'll almost never pay for anything with my ATM card. The less I use my ATM card, the less chance there is my PIN will get out into the public domain. Once my PIN is out there the "protection" found with my credit card is gone.
IMHO the reason MS Office is so dominant in people's homes is that Office 2000 was so easily pirated. Almost everyone seems to have a burned copy of 2000 in their stack of CDs. Now that office isn't as easily "pirateable" any more I think (at least at home) you'll see two things happening:
1) People staying on Office 2000 for a LONG time
2) People moving to other, cheaper alternatives like Star Office, WordPerfect and Works.