I've seen a ton of bsa ads show up in my slashdot rss feeds, and they are often pretty onerous, looking for people to turn in their employers. So why is there a Slashdot article that tries to be somewhat backhandedly sympathetic to the BSA? I hope its just a coincidence.
I consider them to be a protection racket much like the RIAA is, and one that is much easier to step in. If you never run file-sharing software, you will probably never hear from the RIAA. If you have a disgruntled and misinformed employee, you may hear from the BSA, and they can get you for essentially not keeping records the way they want you to.
I think all members of the BSA should be required to include clear and obvious documentation with all of their products about just exactly what is considered proof of license, how to deal with audits, and how to get replacement proof if needed, and also clearly label their web home-pages and product packaging with the fact they are members. Consumers can then make an informed choice to either opt out and not buy from BSA members, or to take steps to protect themselves from this racket.
Our economy is collapsing around us in a series of bubbles. Advertising, although hit hard, may have further down to go, as companies looking to save money realize what works and what doesn't. Just think of your own usage of the web. What sort of advertising do you respond to, what do you find annoying and useless? There comes a point when the ad industry can no longer hold up under its own self perpetuating hype and is cut back. As revenue from this dries up as a result, how do you replace it?
I do like the idea of news sources independent to potential influence by advertisers, I don't really like the idea of different universes of news being behind different walls. With the huge amount of choice people have lately, most of us cope by sticking to sources we feel align well with and reinforce our own views. Fox News exploits this fact brilliantly on cable. The fact that I won't watch it is just as important as the fact that so many people do. But even though I am not someone interested in paying for News Corporation anything, I can still go over there and take a look at what they are saying when I feel like, and get a different point of view to consider. With these pay walls, I think there needs to be care to not also create walls around discourse and ideas, where self selected fragmentation gets even worse.
Although it does beg the question, if you have to pay with money, instead of time, to be in each "club", how much would people invest to belong? How many would drop out entirely?
If we are going to have to pay for content, I would like to see something like the cable television model, but without the local monopolies. You can pay content providers directly, al la cart, but those same providers can make bulk deals with content aggregators, and I can then pay the aggregator for discounted access to a wide range of content. This is kind of AOL used to be before it imploded, because they didn't get that when people pay, they expect a certain amount of respect and objectivity in return.
In the end, I would like everything to be freely available to everyone. But making news takes money, and if the ad bubble bursts, where will that money come from? I would hope there could be a strong not-for-profit component in whatever happens, like we have in TV with PBS, that can be free for all.
So the whole ad blocker issue may be moot, for precisely the reason why people use them in the first place.
I think a general problem with education today is we get really caught up with making "good workers" instead of "good people".
College is there to make you a better person. To make you aware of the world and how to think, question, and create, both in a specific field, and in general. The particular language and the depth of how it is taught and how useful that is for employment are secondary to learning the concepts behind letting your create something useful with whatever tools you may be using. Of course concrete examples and hands on experience are part of this, but they are just part of the means and not the ends.
Of course we all need to work for a living, but you never know what the future holds. Job requirements and environments change, our interests change, our abilities develop, and we keep on being presented with new challenges. While in college you have a chance to explore and not get bogged down in the details that may be required for survival. Learn all you can from other subjects especially the humanities, because they give you background on ways to look at the world and examine your place in it. With this background you'll find you can pick up any specifics you need rather quickly, but more so, you'll be able to apply them that much better.
Good employers do recognise good people who can solve problems, communicate well, and be creative within their field, and reward them. If you need to "pay your dues" to get in the door and get some experience with some deep knowledge of something particular (like a certification or the like), don't let the pursuit of that detract from the kind of personal development that you now have a unique opportunity to gain.
Slashdot Mirror
I've seen a ton of bsa ads show up in my slashdot rss feeds, and they are often pretty onerous, looking for people to turn in their employers. So why is there a Slashdot article that tries to be somewhat backhandedly sympathetic to the BSA? I hope its just a coincidence.
I consider them to be a protection racket much like the RIAA is, and one that is much easier to step in. If you never run file-sharing software, you will probably never hear from the RIAA. If you have a disgruntled and misinformed employee, you may hear from the BSA, and they can get you for essentially not keeping records the way they want you to.
I think all members of the BSA should be required to include clear and obvious documentation with all of their products about just exactly what is considered proof of license, how to deal with audits, and how to get replacement proof if needed, and also clearly label their web home-pages and product packaging with the fact they are members. Consumers can then make an informed choice to either opt out and not buy from BSA members, or to take steps to protect themselves from this racket.
Our economy is collapsing around us in a series of bubbles. Advertising, although hit hard, may have further down to go, as companies looking to save money realize what works and what doesn't. Just think of your own usage of the web. What sort of advertising do you respond to, what do you find annoying and useless? There comes a point when the ad industry can no longer hold up under its own self perpetuating hype and is cut back. As revenue from this dries up as a result, how do you replace it?
I do like the idea of news sources independent to potential influence by advertisers, I don't really like the idea of different universes of news being behind different walls. With the huge amount of choice people have lately, most of us cope by sticking to sources we feel align well with and reinforce our own views. Fox News exploits this fact brilliantly on cable. The fact that I won't watch it is just as important as the fact that so many people do. But even though I am not someone interested in paying for News Corporation anything, I can still go over there and take a look at what they are saying when I feel like, and get a different point of view to consider. With these pay walls, I think there needs to be care to not also create walls around discourse and ideas, where self selected fragmentation gets even worse.
Although it does beg the question, if you have to pay with money, instead of time, to be in each "club", how much would people invest to belong? How many would drop out entirely?
If we are going to have to pay for content, I would like to see something like the cable television model, but without the local monopolies. You can pay content providers directly, al la cart, but those same providers can make bulk deals with content aggregators, and I can then pay the aggregator for discounted access to a wide range of content. This is kind of AOL used to be before it imploded, because they didn't get that when people pay, they expect a certain amount of respect and objectivity in return.
In the end, I would like everything to be freely available to everyone. But making news takes money, and if the ad bubble bursts, where will that money come from? I would hope there could be a strong not-for-profit component in whatever happens, like we have in TV with PBS, that can be free for all.
So the whole ad blocker issue may be moot, for precisely the reason why people use them in the first place.
I think a general problem with education today is we get really caught up with making "good workers" instead of "good people".
College is there to make you a better person. To make you aware of the world and how to think, question, and create, both in a specific field, and in general. The particular language and the depth of how it is taught and how useful that is for employment are secondary to learning the concepts behind letting your create something useful with whatever tools you may be using. Of course concrete examples and hands on experience are part of this, but they are just part of the means and not the ends.
Of course we all need to work for a living, but you never know what the future holds. Job requirements and environments change, our interests change, our abilities develop, and we keep on being presented with new challenges. While in college you have a chance to explore and not get bogged down in the details that may be required for survival. Learn all you can from other subjects especially the humanities, because they give you background on ways to look at the world and examine your place in it. With this background you'll find you can pick up any specifics you need rather quickly, but more so, you'll be able to apply them that much better.
Good employers do recognise good people who can solve problems, communicate well, and be creative within their field, and reward them. If you need to "pay your dues" to get in the door and get some experience with some deep knowledge of something particular (like a certification or the like), don't let the pursuit of that detract from the kind of personal development that you now have a unique opportunity to gain.