The IT industry does not owe anyone an interesting job or a fat pay packet just because they have a CS degree. If all a company wants is someone to crank out code all day why would they pay for a CS degree, outsourcers can get the same job done for less MONEY and in less TIME.
It kinda seems like "code monkey" is the only position for which someone with a CS degree can expect to be hired (I haven't done a whole lot of looking around I've just been to a few recruitment events), which is kinda disappointing. If I wanted to be a code monkey, I'd have gone to a trade school, not a university. Now I'm considering becoming a math major.
Validity of the patent isn't what's being questioned, but extent of punishment.
It is the validity of the patent that needs to be questioned. Patents in general needn't be altered.
This thing you're calling "intellectual property" didn't start out as property any more than any other government-granted monopoly.
Sure, there's a loss to the victim of patent infringement, but to say that patents make property out of an idea is a bit of a stretch.
Tanks on the American one, buildings on the Chinese one...
Nope, no difference at all.
While you're at it, try searching:
falun gong -- obvious difference in what is displayed
taiwan -- nothing too obvious at first, but the difference in the number of hits is 2 orders of magnitude
According to US Code 26 2001, the tax is imposed on every transfer of taxable estate from US Citizen decedents.
According to the Tax Policy Center, it is not.
Notice how no taxes were paid on inheritances under $1 million.
The amount of the inheritance is immaterial.
No, it really isn't. If you leave less than the minimum taxable amount, it doesn't get taxed.
The middle class do not have that option, and so that means that the laws serve only to affect them.
If the middle class isn't inheriting enough to have to pay the estate tax, how exactly is it limiting their social mobility?
An assignment for one of my classes (the assignment deals with measuring algorithm performance) has, in fact, grown in computing power requirements over the past few years. In its current state, it took several hours of letting my laptop sit there, working on that one task. Doubling the size of the problem would (at the absolute least) double the execution time, and being unable to use my laptop for other classes was rather inconvenient. If I used a 5-year old computer for this assignment, we could say (according to Moore's law, at least) that the task would have taken thirty-two times as long (i.e. laptop is dedicated to this task for days on end).
Now, if you're talking about simple word processing, sure. Tasks aren't getting all that much more difficult. However, in general, expectations of what computers can do increase over time, and some programs (especially computer-related ones) require reasonably up-to-date hardware and software.
My only objection to RHIT's laptop program is the price. I got a reasonably high-end Apple laptop for around $2000, which is a fair bit less than what I would have had to pay for RHIT's standard-issue laptop ($3200 - not exactly provided for students). IIRC, most of the cost would go to pay for proprietary software, which I wouldn't ever need to use (as a CS major).
and what about those raised as MAC people?
People who grew up using Macs (no, it's not an acronym, so stop capitalizing it) are going to have to learn to use Windows at some point. Or Linux. Or both. I ended up having to learn both.
At the moment, it does a specific job. It will be able to exactly the same job, just as well in 3 years.
Unfortunately, the jobs it is expected to do will keep getting bigger, and eventually, it will not be up to current tasks.
Which is more important, the government using an automated system to decrypt some e-mail, or NOT being murdered in a terrorist attack? Would you rather let a pedophile rape and murder a few kids, so long as your precious e-mail isn't decrypted and read by a computer?
FUD'D!!1!!!shift-one!!!
I think we must have a very public debate on the nature of cyberspace.
Well, then let's just start now:-P
Currently the police seams to treat cyberspace like a public area and does pretty much what they want to do in it. I'm against this attitude. However, is the solution really to have a "everything in cyberspace is private" policy? After all, most people accept police patrols and even think that they are a good thing, that they keep the streets safer.
Maybe what I have here will work as a viable "middle ground" between completely private and completely public internet.
E-mail is more like a post-card.
Continuing the analogy, is encrypted email like a sealed letter? Would that make it illegal to intercept and read it? And how strong must the encryption be? Does ROT13 count?
Is IM more like a phone call or like a conversion in the street?
I'd say that IM is more like a phone call. It (generally) happens between people who are in their private spaces (exceptions -- cell phone/laptop users).
Anybody can walk up and, with no real effort, listen to a conversation in the street. Work is required for both phone calls and IM conversations.
Is a webpage like a journal, a mall or a playing ground? Does it depend on the website?
I would argue that content made available to the general public is public content, and nothing else. Private/access-restricted blog entries are not made available to all -- the information is clearly being kept confined to a select few.
If a run a webserver on my home computer, is this like having something in my house, on my lawn, or something else?
IIRC, some court has already declared that unauthorized access to a computer system is best described as trespassing. Either way, I am inclined to set file access permissions as the standard. If you have an ftp server in your basement, anything available to Joe Public is "out in the open." If only certain accounts can access it, it's private.
The most confusing part of your post was the fox and the henhouses reference. Are you seriously suggesting that Microsoft auditors would install pirated versions of their OS on school computers so they could later fine the school for the violations? I'm all for MS hate but if you go over the top with it you just look ridiculous.
Trelane is doing nothing more than pointing out a conflict of interest. The post does not imply an accusation any more than pointing out a conflict of interest normally would.
IANAL, but...
Attorney-client privilege seems like acceptable justification if the client says, "I've done ____, and then I realized that it might be illegal. Can you help me?" It's even more justified if the client asks, "I'm considering doing ____, but I want to make sure it's legal before I do."
It gets questionable when the client says, "I've done ____, knowing it was illegal. I just want to make sure I can get away with it."
University of Chicago for me, Northwestern University for her. Granted, big schools. Then again, that's where the science graduate programs tend to be, in big schools. Or am I being woefully naive?:)
I hope not -- University of Chicago is on my list of possible grad schools
Slashdot Mirror
Just out of curiosity, why the algebra?
The IT industry does not owe anyone an interesting job or a fat pay packet just because they have a CS degree. If all a company wants is someone to crank out code all day why would they pay for a CS degree, outsourcers can get the same job done for less MONEY and in less TIME.
It kinda seems like "code monkey" is the only position for which someone with a CS degree can expect to be hired (I haven't done a whole lot of looking around I've just been to a few recruitment events), which is kinda disappointing. If I wanted to be a code monkey, I'd have gone to a trade school, not a university. Now I'm considering becoming a math major.
The faithful have a strong history of looking for proof of their beliefs.
Is slashdotting an inbox really a good idea?
Validity of the patent isn't what's being questioned, but extent of punishment.
It is the validity of the patent that needs to be questioned. Patents in general needn't be altered.
This thing you're calling "intellectual property" didn't start out as property any more than any other government-granted monopoly.
Sure, there's a loss to the victim of patent infringement, but to say that patents make property out of an idea is a bit of a stretch.
They are justified by the current system
The fact that an action is legal does not make it justified.
Pretty much any means of communication has security flaws. That's what encryption is for.
No, you sue according to the applicable breach of contract and/or defamation laws.
That is because I am more concerned with the effects of the law than I am with what a piece of the law says might happen.
Tanks on the American one, buildings on the Chinese one...
Nope, no difference at all.
While you're at it, try searching:
falun gong -- obvious difference in what is displayed
taiwan -- nothing too obvious at first, but the difference in the number of hits is 2 orders of magnitude
According to US Code 26 2001, the tax is imposed on every transfer of taxable estate from US Citizen decedents.
According to the Tax Policy Center, it is not.
Notice how no taxes were paid on inheritances under $1 million.
The amount of the inheritance is immaterial.
No, it really isn't. If you leave less than the minimum taxable amount, it doesn't get taxed.
The middle class do not have that option, and so that means that the laws serve only to affect them.
If the middle class isn't inheriting enough to have to pay the estate tax, how exactly is it limiting their social mobility?
An assignment for one of my classes (the assignment deals with measuring algorithm performance) has, in fact, grown in computing power requirements over the past few years. In its current state, it took several hours of letting my laptop sit there, working on that one task. Doubling the size of the problem would (at the absolute least) double the execution time, and being unable to use my laptop for other classes was rather inconvenient. If I used a 5-year old computer for this assignment, we could say (according to Moore's law, at least) that the task would have taken thirty-two times as long (i.e. laptop is dedicated to this task for days on end).
Now, if you're talking about simple word processing, sure. Tasks aren't getting all that much more difficult. However, in general, expectations of what computers can do increase over time, and some programs (especially computer-related ones) require reasonably up-to-date hardware and software.
My only objection to RHIT's laptop program is the price. I got a reasonably high-end Apple laptop for around $2000, which is a fair bit less than what I would have had to pay for RHIT's standard-issue laptop ($3200 - not exactly provided for students). IIRC, most of the cost would go to pay for proprietary software, which I wouldn't ever need to use (as a CS major).
and what about those raised as MAC people? People who grew up using Macs (no, it's not an acronym, so stop capitalizing it) are going to have to learn to use Windows at some point. Or Linux. Or both. I ended up having to learn both.
At the moment, it does a specific job. It will be able to exactly the same job, just as well in 3 years.
Unfortunately, the jobs it is expected to do will keep getting bigger, and eventually, it will not be up to current tasks.
Do Microsoft's lawyers/Board of Directors post here too?
.... Huh?
You lost me here. I don't get it.
Which is more important, the government using an automated system to decrypt some e-mail, or NOT being murdered in a terrorist attack? Would you rather let a pedophile rape and murder a few kids, so long as your precious e-mail isn't decrypted and read by a computer?
FUD'D!!1!!!shift-one!!!
I think we must have a very public debate on the nature of cyberspace. :-P
Well, then let's just start now
Currently the police seams to treat cyberspace like a public area and does pretty much what they want to do in it. I'm against this attitude. However, is the solution really to have a "everything in cyberspace is private" policy? After all, most people accept police patrols and even think that they are a good thing, that they keep the streets safer.
Maybe what I have here will work as a viable "middle ground" between completely private and completely public internet.
E-mail is more like a post-card.
Continuing the analogy, is encrypted email like a sealed letter? Would that make it illegal to intercept and read it? And how strong must the encryption be? Does ROT13 count?
Is IM more like a phone call or like a conversion in the street?
I'd say that IM is more like a phone call. It (generally) happens between people who are in their private spaces (exceptions -- cell phone/laptop users).
Anybody can walk up and, with no real effort, listen to a conversation in the street. Work is required for both phone calls and IM conversations.
Is a webpage like a journal, a mall or a playing ground? Does it depend on the website?
I would argue that content made available to the general public is public content, and nothing else. Private/access-restricted blog entries are not made available to all -- the information is clearly being kept confined to a select few.
If a run a webserver on my home computer, is this like having something in my house, on my lawn, or something else?
IIRC, some court has already declared that unauthorized access to a computer system is best described as trespassing. Either way, I am inclined to set file access permissions as the standard. If you have an ftp server in your basement, anything available to Joe Public is "out in the open." If only certain accounts can access it, it's private.
The most confusing part of your post was the fox and the henhouses reference. Are you seriously suggesting that Microsoft auditors would install pirated versions of their OS on school computers so they could later fine the school for the violations? I'm all for MS hate but if you go over the top with it you just look ridiculous.
Trelane is doing nothing more than pointing out a conflict of interest. The post does not imply an accusation any more than pointing out a conflict of interest normally would.
IANAL, but...
Attorney-client privilege seems like acceptable justification if the client says, "I've done ____, and then I realized that it might be illegal. Can you help me?" It's even more justified if the client asks, "I'm considering doing ____, but I want to make sure it's legal before I do."
It gets questionable when the client says, "I've done ____, knowing it was illegal. I just want to make sure I can get away with it."
Capable? They're still just as capable as they were before. They're just either too wimpy to do it or already in somebody's pocket.
Open water is still governed by international law.
University of Chicago for me, Northwestern University for her. Granted, big schools. Then again, that's where the science graduate programs tend to be, in big schools. Or am I being woefully naive? :)
I hope not -- University of Chicago is on my list of possible grad schools