Let's do some quick math: say that there are half a Million accounts here on/., and about 75K of them are active and those users actually read this site daily (more or less). Of those users, GUARENTEED 1/3 are either Democrats or Republicans. That leaves 50K.. still with me? Of those 50K left, I'll wager that 15K are outside the US (no flames, please) and 10K are under the US voting limit: BANG BANG, 25K gone. Those that remain, divided evenly among the 50 states (not realistic, but not wholly unso) you have only 500people in each state.
How many people are living in each state nowadays? I know that in the Va Beach/Hampton roads/Richmond area alone, there are 1 MILLION (Pinky to mouth) people. 500 is a drop in the bucket.
I havn't been around/. a lot recently, but I don't remember hearing anything about this hardware problem that they recently discovered.
Apparently some nincompoop on the Cassini design team decided that it would be smart to not design the reciever on the orbiting probe to have enough bandwidth to take in all of the data that the probes in the atmosphere/on the surface could send up. Not smart.
I know that this is offtopic, but since this article/thread is pretty much a repeat, I figure that we can use a bit of lively (and hopefully intelligent) debate.
I'm replying to your signature and not your post.
I hate to break it to ya buddy, but us big, bad Jews over here in the Middle East are not picking on anyone. This entire nonsense war started because there is a particularly nasty individual in our Government name Arik Sharon. He went to take a gander at a holy site shared by Jews and Muslims, knowing that it would provoke a reaction from some of the extremists in that region. He got it.
Palestinians all over the country have taken it upon themselves to make that incident a rallying point. There has been completely out of control rioting all over the country, first starting in areas where Jews and Arabs live closely together and the tensions are high, like in Haifa and in the North, and moving steadily to the larger cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (where I live and work).
Most of these casualties and deaths that the Palestinians are toting on TV as 'deaths of innocents' are RIOTERS getting shot while they are throwing rocks at people and private property and setting fire to houses and buildings.
Granted, Israelis havn't exactly been angels during this episode -- burning houses owned by Arabs and generally being assholes -- this was provoked by rioters coming to our very doorsteps and making our lives unsafe.
Let me leave you with a few questions:
Why hasn't Arafat publicly ordered the masses to calm down? (Hint: it has a lot to do with organizing a sovereign palestinian state)
Why is the media biased against Israel? (Could it be because of the IDF being a superior military force, and all those poor, little (uhm, ya, little.. i guess) countries completely surrounding us are defenseless, backwards third-world countries? Well, anyone that isn't the US MUST be third-world, right?)
Growing up in the South in the US, I heard a lot of uninformed and racist things but this takes the cake. It's not the USA and Israel that are big bullies, it's your media channels. They distort the facts to sell a war which sells ratings. Shame on you, you should know better than to listen to the media.
I really like how nintendo has stuck by the cartridge system even though every other company out there gave it up a long time ago.
For console systems, I guess that it makes sense to use CDs (or their kin), they are cheap to produce and have high capacity. For portables, the only way to go is solid state. There is less chance of killing the game due to travel (scratches are a bitch) and the machine takes less power to run (therefore can runlonger on the same amount of power) because there are no motors. Witness the pocket gameboy running 10 hours on two triple-A batteries.
I hope that the Nintendo GAMECUBE comes quickly to Europe, unlike the N64. It took forever to get here in Israel, and it *still* costs like $300. Madness I tell you! Madness!
And I fully intend to vote for him. Even though, I live in Israel right now, I am going to go wayt out of my way and head on down to the American Embassy JUST TO VOTE FOR NADER.
Today, I found this article on Memepool. In it is an editorial and a lengthy interview with Ralph Nader. That man has a serious (if not well-intentioned, as I would like to believe) chip on his shoulder when it comes to corporatist america and democracy in general.
I would LOVE to see him in the White House. Hell, I'd love to see him as just an ADVISOR in the White House.
I always was under the distinct impression that in the US there was this thing called 'due process'. You go to court and a judge doesn't rule in your favor.. so you appeal. Again and again until you get to the Supreme Court. That's the way it was designed, remember?
I am not too naive to understand that the US wants to push this case along as fast as possible so that there isn't too much turmoil within the economy, but isn't that what a capatilist society is supposed to be about? The survival of the fittest? The best companies with the best products that the consumer likes best WINS?!
The government sticks it's nose too much into the economy as it is. I say, "Good for Microsoft."
(Moderators who can't think for themselves: Do your worst! I'm at the 50 Cap and I need a challenge!)
Just out of curiousity, what's that all about, "Don't eat too much pasta."? Man, pasta is what keeps me going. It's moderately healthy, has tons of carbs and has greeat variety within it's class.
I can't think straight if I don't eat right.. you wouldn't believe how much of the energy you consume goes straight to your brain: something like 20%!
Rami
--
Re:Sun already pretty strong on the lowish-end, bu
on
Sun Buys Cobalt
·
· Score: 2
This may sound kind of way out there, but here goes: Why aren't there UltraSPARC chipsets for laptops? Our chipset designers here at work are using UltraSPARCs machines from Sun, and their machines not only fly along, they are so slick it's not funny (although Solaris leaves something to be desired..). The actual box is hardly twice the size of a laptop (component and space wise), and if you are right about that power consumption, they would be more than power efficient enough for a laptop.
I guess it's all about what the market wants and what will sell. Too bad, I'm all for small, fast, and integrated user machines.
It's kind of like the first version of Windows 98: you install the software.. and then it asks you for the agreement and key. It's not like you have any choice by then, right?
Or perhaps, when Napster gets pulled, and within that month or so in which all the clueless internet users fumble about trying to find a suitable replacement, the RIAA finds that CD and music sales dramatically plummet. I would say that this would be pretty conclusive evidence that the use of Napster is directly tied to the amount of CDs that are bought. That or millions of users go on a 'CD strike' and refuse to buy CDs based on the fact that the RIAA is a bullying monster.. but that will happen about the same time that pigs fly. The general populace doesn't seem to be smart enough to employ a boycott on it's own.
When I first saw the headline, I thought that Eudora was implementing something like Hotmail's bulkmail feature. Any emails that don't have your email address in the 'To:' field are automagically sent to either another BULKMAIL folder, or deleted immediately. A very nice feature for those of us that hate to spend time tweaking rulesets in our mail programs (let's not even get into having to redo them after a reinstall.. ARGH!). That would have been nice. (Ever wonder why more programs don't have a feature like this??)
This anti-flame thing sound like a load of malarky. A feature that no one else has, that Eudora can market; regardless of the fact that it has no real worth to the end user.
If all laws were passed by popular election, what we would have is a tyrrany of the majority. Minority rights would cease to exist.
I don't know how to break this to ya, bub, but we don't exactly live in an impartial world as it stands right now. Instead of having a tyranny of the majority (where the majority are at least free thinking, more or less, and the minority are a bunch of wacko extremists), we have a tyranny of the rich. If you have a lot of money, and you want to use it to buy the politicians, you can. If you have no money, then you can vote, but your vote doesn't really count anymore because the people and issues you are voting on are either on the take (money, power, whatever you want to call it) or the issue you are voting on can be overturned by those with money to spend on keeping thier interests intact (read: keeping money and power in their pockets).
we elect representatives to champion our interests in congress
.
I just wanted to let you know that coke came out of my nose when I read that.
BTW: By presuming to think me juvenile (and hence calling me schoolyard names) you only make yourself look stupid and weaken your already weak arguments further. You are right, you do not express an elitist attitude, an elitist attitude has more polish and punch than anything you could muster.
Call us back when you've logged in and stopped trolling.
Perhaps you are right. I have been toying with the idea of a representative-less government for a while. In this day and age where communication around the world is simply a matter of going to the next room, or the school gymnasium down the street, I don't see why ANY laws are still being voted on solely by representatives that are voted into office. I was under the impression that this system was devized (sp?) simply because 200+ years ago, people could not take the time to travel all over the country to vote on every issue, hence the representatives that are supposed to vote in your best interests. But now, we have the technology to vote on any topic from the comfort of our homes.. why aren't we doing this?
That's something that you should ask yourself the next time you read or hear something that congress or the senate does.
(Yes, I realise that not everyone has a degree in law, and therefore cannot know the intricacies of any given issue, but therein lies the problem. Law is too complicated and too obfuscated. It should be within the reach of the common man, after all, it is he/she that the burden of the law falls on. Also, everyone has an opinion, why not allow people to exercise theirs instaed of giving greedy politicians the continued opportunity to sell their votes.)
I agree, and I wholeheartedly think that these 'donations' ('bribe' is really a much more commonly accepted term) should be made illegal. How can we fight against a large corporation and a large corporation's interests if the playing field isn't level? It's not really in my best interest to send a 5K check to my representative, but the benefits for a large corp. to have a politician in it's pockets it well worth a 5 or 10 MILLION dollar donation.
My friend, you have obviously never worked a day of hard labor in your life.
I worked as a concrete layer for two years, after I dropped out of school. Being part of a Union, I was entitled to work everyday (or not, I got between 15 and 30 dollars an hour.. I didn't really HAVE to work everyday), be tought the ropes by people who were not only in the business for a long time, but were accomplished teachers. Also, I had the opportunity to go to conferences on advanced techniques (like coloring concrete, making it look like marble and other stones, patterning, generally artistic stuff) and meet new people all over the world.
Unions are a GOOD thing. They protect the employees and help the employers get good, qualified employees.
Next time, keep your trap shut when you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
but the rest of the world is watching to see how the DMCA is going to hold up in court and what the corporations intend to do with it. I already know of some bills that are being drafted in a number of countries in the EU that are suspiciously akin to the DMCA. The backers of the DMCA have a lot of power and their reach is certainly farther than the shores of the US.
I do, however, agree wholeheartedly with you that the responses the government (in the US, now, perhaps in the future, otherwise) recieves should be courteous and well-informed. I would personally like to see hundreds upon hundreds of well-written, thoughtful, and though-provoking letters pile up on the desks of the politicians in the US. Unfortunatly, the simple fact of the matter is that there is a distinct lack of informed and (this is the sad part) intelligent people that have the knowhow, ability, and urge to write to congress and their representatives.
I have read through this thread a few times, and I have come to the conclusion that the problems at hand won't be solved by votes. They will be solved by public awareness (do I hear a drum beating?) and a large campaign that is in the spotlight. There are thousands of kids out there that not only buy CDs (and they do, en masse) but downloads MP3s. It is in their best interests to be aware of the problem and at least take a stand. This is particularly important because we all know that most people over 30 DON'T CARE. (Fire? No, I don't smell fire. Flames? What? What?). Personally, I am writing to the papers and the media in the hopes that I can get in the editorials of maybe be able to get a reporter to do a good, honest, and unbiased story on the DMCA and it's repercussions.
Write your politicians,
Write your local media,
Vote,
Organize the young and untainted,
DO SOMETHING!
Leaving our the obvious fact that you'll have to buy all of the parts yourself, and then install them.
===
I cut and pasted this from another reply that I did. This proves that you were right and with your solution of buy minimal and then add on, you could probably get FUCKING good prices. (heh)
==
Apple machine that I would work with
------------------------------------
2 500Mhz G4
512Meg SDRAM
2 36 GB Hard drives
NO DISPLAY
DVD-ROM
2 Rage 128 PCI cards (about the same price as a Matrox dualhead..)
No Modem
Standard keyboard, mouse, software, etc.
Support
=================
TOTAL = $6248
Dell machine that I would work with
-----------------------------------
Dual 800Mhz Xeons
512 Megs RDRAM
Matrox G400 Dualhead
2 36Gb HD
Windows 2000 (no option to not select!)
No monitor
12X DVDROM
Service, keyboard, mouse, etc.
==============================
TOTAL = $6027
I guess I was overzealous in my attack on Apple. Hehe.
Apple machine that I would work with
------------------------------------
2 500Mhz G4
512Meg SDRAM
2 36 GB Hard drives
NO DISPLAY
DVD-ROM
2 Rage 128 PCI cards (about the same price as a Matrox dualhead..)
No Modem
Standard keyboard, mouse, software, etc.
Support
=================
TOTAL = $6248
Dell machine that I would work with
-----------------------------------
Dual 800Mhz Xeons
512 Megs RDRAM
Matrox G400 Dualhead
2 36Gb HD
Windows 2000 (no option to not select!)
No monitor
12X DVDROM
Service, keyboard, mouse, etc.
==============================
TOTAL = $6027
I guess I was overzealous in my attack on Apple. Hehe.
My friend, I hate to burst your bubble over there, but -- and I am not saying this to start a flamewar -- Apple hardware is fucking expensive. Not just plain expensive, it is FUCKING expensive.
Case in point: I am moving to a new company in a few weeks, and I was told that I could choose between an Apple and an Intel clone. Just out of curiosity, I checked up on some prices; an apple machine with all the trimmings came out to over 8 THOUSAND dollars. That's without the 4000 dollar display! A comparable machine (equals 1Ghz, 512 megs ram, yada yada) on the x86 architecture runs about 2500 dollars less.
I'm sorry to say that an apple machine is just too bloody expensive with too little gain. Parts are expensive to replace, support is hell to get, here in Israel at least, and the initial price is too high.
While the Apple machines look nice (and they do!), I don't want to pay that much for that little. Not only that, but MacOS X isn't out yet, and I wouldn't want to work on OS 9. (It's just as crash happy as Windows, don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
Clock for clock, the G4 may wack a p3/4/athlon, but dollar for dollar, that Apple machine is getting smacked in the hoopla like nobodies business.
(Don't even start me on the iMacs, no Graphic designer, decent or otherwise, would work on that machine.
The only problem with this is that right now, MS makes software (in the case of IE5.5, fscking good software) for the MacOS. I don't remember seeing apple on the list of claimants(sp?) bring suit against MS. I don't think that we will, simply because MSOffice and IE for the MacOS are some very good pieces of software and that Apple would lose out on a lot of customers if MS just *happened* to decide to not continue porting the new releases to Apple hardware/software.
Don't laugh, MS is vengeful in a market of hyenas. All it takes is a tiny bit of legal scorn, and you may find yourself on the wrong side of a very big player in a very liquid market.
The obvious and immediate repercussions of this is that Debian will be able to include an option for KDE now that the liscensing issues with QT being non-free are solved.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think so.
/., and about 75K of them are active and those users actually read this site daily (more or less). Of those users, GUARENTEED 1/3 are either Democrats or Republicans. That leaves 50K.. still with me? Of those 50K left, I'll wager that 15K are outside the US (no flames, please) and 10K are under the US voting limit: BANG BANG, 25K gone. Those that remain, divided evenly among the 50 states (not realistic, but not wholly unso) you have only 500people in each state.
:)
Let's do some quick math: say that there are half a Million accounts here on
How many people are living in each state nowadays? I know that in the Va Beach/Hampton roads/Richmond area alone, there are 1 MILLION (Pinky to mouth) people. 500 is a drop in the bucket.
Just wanted to point out the futility.
Rami
--
I havn't been around /. a lot recently, but I don't remember hearing anything about this hardware problem that they recently discovered.
Apparently some nincompoop on the Cassini design team decided that it would be smart to not design the reciever on the orbiting probe to have enough bandwidth to take in all of the data that the probes in the atmosphere/on the surface could send up. Not smart.
Rami
--
I know that this is offtopic, but since this article/thread is pretty much a repeat, I figure that we can use a bit of lively (and hopefully intelligent) debate.
I'm replying to your signature and not your post.
I hate to break it to ya buddy, but us big, bad Jews over here in the Middle East are not picking on anyone. This entire nonsense war started because there is a particularly nasty individual in our Government name Arik Sharon. He went to take a gander at a holy site shared by Jews and Muslims, knowing that it would provoke a reaction from some of the extremists in that region. He got it.
Palestinians all over the country have taken it upon themselves to make that incident a rallying point. There has been completely out of control rioting all over the country, first starting in areas where Jews and Arabs live closely together and the tensions are high, like in Haifa and in the North, and moving steadily to the larger cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (where I live and work).
Most of these casualties and deaths that the Palestinians are toting on TV as 'deaths of innocents' are RIOTERS getting shot while they are throwing rocks at people and private property and setting fire to houses and buildings.
Granted, Israelis havn't exactly been angels during this episode -- burning houses owned by Arabs and generally being assholes -- this was provoked by rioters coming to our very doorsteps and making our lives unsafe.
Let me leave you with a few questions:
Why hasn't Arafat publicly ordered the masses to calm down? (Hint: it has a lot to do with organizing a sovereign palestinian state)
Why is the media biased against Israel? (Could it be because of the IDF being a superior military force, and all those poor, little (uhm, ya, little.. i guess) countries completely surrounding us are defenseless, backwards third-world countries? Well, anyone that isn't the US MUST be third-world, right?)
Growing up in the South in the US, I heard a lot of uninformed and racist things but this takes the cake. It's not the USA and Israel that are big bullies, it's your media channels. They distort the facts to sell a war which sells ratings. Shame on you, you should know better than to listen to the media.
Rami
--
I really like how nintendo has stuck by the cartridge system even though every other company out there gave it up a long time ago.
For console systems, I guess that it makes sense to use CDs (or their kin), they are cheap to produce and have high capacity. For portables, the only way to go is solid state. There is less chance of killing the game due to travel (scratches are a bitch) and the machine takes less power to run (therefore can runlonger on the same amount of power) because there are no motors. Witness the pocket gameboy running 10 hours on two triple-A batteries.
I hope that the Nintendo GAMECUBE comes quickly to Europe, unlike the N64. It took forever to get here in Israel, and it *still* costs like $300. Madness I tell you! Madness!
Rami
--
And I fully intend to vote for him. Even though, I live in Israel right now, I am going to go wayt out of my way and head on down to the American Embassy JUST TO VOTE FOR NADER.
And if he's not on the ballot, I will rip it up.
Rami
--
Indeed.
Today, I found this article on Memepool. In it is an editorial and a lengthy interview with Ralph Nader. That man has a serious (if not well-intentioned, as I would like to believe) chip on his shoulder when it comes to corporatist america and democracy in general.
I would LOVE to see him in the White House. Hell, I'd love to see him as just an ADVISOR in the White House.
Rami
--
I always was under the distinct impression that in the US there was this thing called 'due process'. You go to court and a judge doesn't rule in your favor.. so you appeal. Again and again until you get to the Supreme Court. That's the way it was designed, remember?
I am not too naive to understand that the US wants to push this case along as fast as possible so that there isn't too much turmoil within the economy, but isn't that what a capatilist society is supposed to be about? The survival of the fittest? The best companies with the best products that the consumer likes best WINS?!
The government sticks it's nose too much into the economy as it is. I say, "Good for Microsoft."
(Moderators who can't think for themselves: Do your worst! I'm at the 50 Cap and I need a challenge!)
Rami
--
Just out of curiousity, what's that all about, "Don't eat too much pasta."? Man, pasta is what keeps me going. It's moderately healthy, has tons of carbs and has greeat variety within it's class.
I can't think straight if I don't eat right.. you wouldn't believe how much of the energy you consume goes straight to your brain: something like 20%!
Rami
--
This may sound kind of way out there, but here goes: Why aren't there UltraSPARC chipsets for laptops? Our chipset designers here at work are using UltraSPARCs machines from Sun, and their machines not only fly along, they are so slick it's not funny (although Solaris leaves something to be desired..). The actual box is hardly twice the size of a laptop (component and space wise), and if you are right about that power consumption, they would be more than power efficient enough for a laptop.
I guess it's all about what the market wants and what will sell. Too bad, I'm all for small, fast, and integrated user machines.
Rami
--
"hours and hours of sheer boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer terror."
:)
funny, that's pretty much my life.
how about: "hours and hours of coding, punctuated by moments of delirium."
or: "hours and hours of sheer boredom, puctuated by lunch."
Rami
--
It's kind of like the first version of Windows 98: you install the software.. and then it asks you for the agreement and key. It's not like you have any choice by then, right?
Rami
--
Or perhaps, when Napster gets pulled, and within that month or so in which all the clueless internet users fumble about trying to find a suitable replacement, the RIAA finds that CD and music sales dramatically plummet. I would say that this would be pretty conclusive evidence that the use of Napster is directly tied to the amount of CDs that are bought. That or millions of users go on a 'CD strike' and refuse to buy CDs based on the fact that the RIAA is a bullying monster.. but that will happen about the same time that pigs fly. The general populace doesn't seem to be smart enough to employ a boycott on it's own.
Too bad, that.
Rami
--
When I first saw the headline, I thought that Eudora was implementing something like Hotmail's bulkmail feature. Any emails that don't have your email address in the 'To:' field are automagically sent to either another BULKMAIL folder, or deleted immediately. A very nice feature for those of us that hate to spend time tweaking rulesets in our mail programs (let's not even get into having to redo them after a reinstall.. ARGH!). That would have been nice. (Ever wonder why more programs don't have a feature like this??)
This anti-flame thing sound like a load of malarky. A feature that no one else has, that Eudora can market; regardless of the fact that it has no real worth to the end user.
Rami
--
And all the indignant, insular posts in the world will do nothing to stop them.
Ever get the feeling you're being watched?
Rami
--
States reviewing donations cap: (hmm..why would they need a cap if you can't get such big donations..)
Perhaps $5-10M is in excess, but I'm sure that in the past politicians have recieved huge ($100K+) donations by 'interested parties'.
Rami
--
I don't know how to break this to ya, bub, but we don't exactly live in an impartial world as it stands right now. Instead of having a tyranny of the majority (where the majority are at least free thinking, more or less, and the minority are a bunch of wacko extremists), we have a tyranny of the rich. If you have a lot of money, and you want to use it to buy the politicians, you can. If you have no money, then you can vote, but your vote doesn't really count anymore because the people and issues you are voting on are either on the take (money, power, whatever you want to call it) or the issue you are voting on can be overturned by those with money to spend on keeping thier interests intact (read: keeping money and power in their pockets).
.
I just wanted to let you know that coke came out of my nose when I read that.
BTW: By presuming to think me juvenile (and hence calling me schoolyard names) you only make yourself look stupid and weaken your already weak arguments further. You are right, you do not express an elitist attitude, an elitist attitude has more polish and punch than anything you could muster.
Call us back when you've logged in and stopped trolling.
Rami
--
Perhaps you are right. I have been toying with the idea of a representative-less government for a while. In this day and age where communication around the world is simply a matter of going to the next room, or the school gymnasium down the street, I don't see why ANY laws are still being voted on solely by representatives that are voted into office. I was under the impression that this system was devized (sp?) simply because 200+ years ago, people could not take the time to travel all over the country to vote on every issue, hence the representatives that are supposed to vote in your best interests. But now, we have the technology to vote on any topic from the comfort of our homes.. why aren't we doing this?
That's something that you should ask yourself the next time you read or hear something that congress or the senate does.
(Yes, I realise that not everyone has a degree in law, and therefore cannot know the intricacies of any given issue, but therein lies the problem. Law is too complicated and too obfuscated. It should be within the reach of the common man, after all, it is he/she that the burden of the law falls on. Also, everyone has an opinion, why not allow people to exercise theirs instaed of giving greedy politicians the continued opportunity to sell their votes.)
Rami
--
I agree, and I wholeheartedly think that these 'donations' ('bribe' is really a much more commonly accepted term) should be made illegal. How can we fight against a large corporation and a large corporation's interests if the playing field isn't level? It's not really in my best interest to send a 5K check to my representative, but the benefits for a large corp. to have a politician in it's pockets it well worth a 5 or 10 MILLION dollar donation.
Rami
--
My friend, you have obviously never worked a day of hard labor in your life.
I worked as a concrete layer for two years, after I dropped out of school. Being part of a Union, I was entitled to work everyday (or not, I got between 15 and 30 dollars an hour.. I didn't really HAVE to work everyday), be tought the ropes by people who were not only in the business for a long time, but were accomplished teachers. Also, I had the opportunity to go to conferences on advanced techniques (like coloring concrete, making it look like marble and other stones, patterning, generally artistic stuff) and meet new people all over the world.
Unions are a GOOD thing. They protect the employees and help the employers get good, qualified employees.
Next time, keep your trap shut when you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
Rami
--
but the rest of the world is watching to see how the DMCA is going to hold up in court and what the corporations intend to do with it. I already know of some bills that are being drafted in a number of countries in the EU that are suspiciously akin to the DMCA. The backers of the DMCA have a lot of power and their reach is certainly farther than the shores of the US.
I do, however, agree wholeheartedly with you that the responses the government (in the US, now, perhaps in the future, otherwise) recieves should be courteous and well-informed. I would personally like to see hundreds upon hundreds of well-written, thoughtful, and though-provoking letters pile up on the desks of the politicians in the US. Unfortunatly, the simple fact of the matter is that there is a distinct lack of informed and (this is the sad part) intelligent people that have the knowhow, ability, and urge to write to congress and their representatives.
I have read through this thread a few times, and I have come to the conclusion that the problems at hand won't be solved by votes. They will be solved by public awareness (do I hear a drum beating?) and a large campaign that is in the spotlight. There are thousands of kids out there that not only buy CDs (and they do, en masse) but downloads MP3s. It is in their best interests to be aware of the problem and at least take a stand. This is particularly important because we all know that most people over 30 DON'T CARE. (Fire? No, I don't smell fire. Flames? What? What?). Personally, I am writing to the papers and the media in the hopes that I can get in the editorials of maybe be able to get a reporter to do a good, honest, and unbiased story on the DMCA and it's repercussions.
Write your politicians,
Write your local media,
Vote,
Organize the young and untainted,
DO SOMETHING!
Rami
--
You, of course, are right.
Leaving our the obvious fact that you'll have to buy all of the parts yourself, and then install them.
===
I cut and pasted this from another reply that I did. This proves that you were right and with your solution of buy minimal and then add on, you could probably get FUCKING good prices. (heh)
==
Apple machine that I would work with
------------------------------------
2 500Mhz G4
512Meg SDRAM
2 36 GB Hard drives
NO DISPLAY
DVD-ROM
2 Rage 128 PCI cards (about the same price as a Matrox dualhead..)
No Modem
Standard keyboard, mouse, software, etc.
Support
=================
TOTAL = $6248
Dell machine that I would work with
-----------------------------------
Dual 800Mhz Xeons
512 Megs RDRAM
Matrox G400 Dualhead
2 36Gb HD
Windows 2000 (no option to not select!)
No monitor
12X DVDROM
Service, keyboard, mouse, etc.
==============================
TOTAL = $6027
I guess I was overzealous in my attack on Apple. Hehe.
====
I bend to your will, mighty Janus.
Rami
--
Apple machine that I would work with
------------------------------------
2 500Mhz G4
512Meg SDRAM
2 36 GB Hard drives
NO DISPLAY
DVD-ROM
2 Rage 128 PCI cards (about the same price as a Matrox dualhead..)
No Modem
Standard keyboard, mouse, software, etc.
Support
=================
TOTAL = $6248
Dell machine that I would work with
-----------------------------------
Dual 800Mhz Xeons
512 Megs RDRAM
Matrox G400 Dualhead
2 36Gb HD
Windows 2000 (no option to not select!)
No monitor
12X DVDROM
Service, keyboard, mouse, etc.
==============================
TOTAL = $6027
I guess I was overzealous in my attack on Apple. Hehe.
Rami
--
My friend, I hate to burst your bubble over there, but -- and I am not saying this to start a flamewar -- Apple hardware is fucking expensive. Not just plain expensive, it is FUCKING expensive.
Case in point: I am moving to a new company in a few weeks, and I was told that I could choose between an Apple and an Intel clone. Just out of curiosity, I checked up on some prices; an apple machine with all the trimmings came out to over 8 THOUSAND dollars. That's without the 4000 dollar display! A comparable machine (equals 1Ghz, 512 megs ram, yada yada) on the x86 architecture runs about 2500 dollars less.
I'm sorry to say that an apple machine is just too bloody expensive with too little gain. Parts are expensive to replace, support is hell to get, here in Israel at least, and the initial price is too high.
While the Apple machines look nice (and they do!), I don't want to pay that much for that little. Not only that, but MacOS X isn't out yet, and I wouldn't want to work on OS 9. (It's just as crash happy as Windows, don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
Clock for clock, the G4 may wack a p3/4/athlon, but dollar for dollar, that Apple machine is getting smacked in the hoopla like nobodies business.
(Don't even start me on the iMacs, no Graphic designer, decent or otherwise, would work on that machine.
Rami
--
The only problem with this is that right now, MS makes software (in the case of IE5.5, fscking good software) for the MacOS. I don't remember seeing apple on the list of claimants(sp?) bring suit against MS. I don't think that we will, simply because MSOffice and IE for the MacOS are some very good pieces of software and that Apple would lose out on a lot of customers if MS just *happened* to decide to not continue porting the new releases to Apple hardware/software.
Don't laugh, MS is vengeful in a market of hyenas. All it takes is a tiny bit of legal scorn, and you may find yourself on the wrong side of a very big player in a very liquid market.
Rami
--
The obvious and immediate repercussions of this is that Debian will be able to include an option for KDE now that the liscensing issues with QT being non-free are solved.
Excellent.
Rami
--