Sharing things with people has two components: what it does for the giver and what it does for the receiver. Most people recognize from life experience that the giver usually expects something back even if only a thank you. That is part of the motivation not just "altruism". I pose that pure altruism, where the giver expects nothing back, rarely exists. I further pose that a file sharer who takes somebody else's work and gives it away for free is expecting somebody else to think well of them for giving it away. This happens only in the mind of the giver, of course, because they don't know for sure what the receiver is doing, but it still makes the giver feel good. If all the receivers accepting the gift send an email to the sharer saying s/he is a jerk, then it is unlikely the sharer would continue his/her work. Sharing something on the internet that you got yourself for free is probably nothing but upside in terms of emotional payback, unless the RIAA comes knocking. Sharing something you bought yourself is less likely to continue unabated but there is still that mental expectation of a payback. File sharing as altruism? I say file sharing as cerebral j/o. But it does feel good. I've tried it!
Hands-off approach to business yes, but hands on approach to one's private life, sexuality, religion, access to information, etc., etc. I.e. more freedom for the wealthy conformist and less freedom for the poor or non-conformist. The average standard of living of all but the uber rich has declined not increased since the Reagan years started.
I think what he was saying was that Linux (in the larger sense of GNU/Linux/open-source) is trying to do something that has already been done. It isn't original in the sense of creating something nobody had thought of before. It may be able to do the underlying architecture better and cheaper but it hasn't done the desktop metaphor well enough to make a dent in the Apple/Microsoft market. Now comes Android, another attempt to do something that has already been done. Lot's of back-slapping congratulations on the ability to copy but none for originality.
Now I'll admit I'm a Mac fanboy (in a good sense) and an M$ hater (in a bad sense) but this comment really clicks with me.
I've found iTunes frustrating to use and I've found movement of data between iTunes, GarageBand and iDVD obtuse when first learning it. In one application the files are in one place in another application they are in another kind of place and you have to go dig through menus to import the files. Once you've learned it, it works but it is far from intuitive. I think that Apple software has been skating on the edge of unfriendly lately altho there are certainly startlingly innovative interfaces being created by them.
I've been a programmer for 40 years and I'm f*ing tired of continuously battling computers. That's why I switched to Macs a while ago at home. When I'm doing my stuff at home, I don't want to have to worry about some bleeding registry or parameters buried in some/etc file that I can't find or read. But when I'm at work, I don't want to have to dig through a hierarchy of menus, dialogs and "Advanced" buttons to find out where to change something. When configuring system software on an M$ machine I don't know whether to laugh at the incompetence of the creators or cry in my frustration. On a Mac it is marginally better but still convoluted. Since I don't have to do it so often on a Mac, it doesn't hurt as much.
We bought a duct tape software to run our internet business. The sellers said (and I quote) "We don't use industry best practices." Not proudly but matter-of-factly.
The up side is that the thing is the right price. $1.5k vs $50k.
The down side is that it is spaghetti code, uses global data to pass information around, is not object oriented, doesn't use unit-of-work database transactions and gives error messages all day long. We manage to survive because we have somebody who is tech savy, me, but it is the source for plenty of aggravation but probably less than $48.5K worth of aggravation.
Amazingly we have not lost any significant amount of data.
"When they release unemployment figures, there are a variety of reasons those numbers are just false. I know quite a few people who "lost their jobs" only to incorporate a small sole proprietorship, and they're considered unemployed, even though they're earning more money."
Unless they're not reporting income taxes at their new company, the government knows they are employed.
"I'd pay them $2 per hour if I could, and I know my employees would rather earn $2 per hour and a 70% job bonus than earn $31 per hour with no bonus."
You're a business owner? 70% bonus on $2/hr = $3.40/hr. Where do you find people who prefer $3.40/hr over $31/hr? We could use them, provided they do good work. That cream sounds like it's past its use date.
Re:The predicted chain of events according to me
on
Giant Sucking Noise
·
· Score: 1
I used to believe this cycle would happen but then I realized I'd forgotten a piece of the cycle: the (formerly) gawdalmighty Dollar.
1. As we send more bucks overseas they become worth less. 2. Americans can buy less from overseas. 3. Companies can afford to make less overseas.
The only question I have is how much inflation this will cause and how fast. If it is too fast, will it trigger a recession like we haven't seen in a long time?
I couldn't believe it when customer relations at Apple told me they wouldn't pony up the $500 rebate I sent in.
Reason? I sent it in 3 days late (including 2 postoffice holidays). Unbelievable, read on? They only gave me 11 days to send it in and that was burried in the fine print.
It's odd how so many people think that the Mac OS is not alterable or customizable. Obviously it is not open-source-customizable but I don't know how many share-ware add-ons, bells and whistles I have added over the years. The really good ones have gotten incorporated into the OS, even into Windoze and then into Unix. So many, in fact, that I don't really need many add-ons any more, especially since they tend to de-stabilize things.
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Sharing things with people has two components: what it does for the giver and what it does for the receiver.
Most people recognize from life experience that the giver usually expects something back even if only a thank you.
That is part of the motivation not just "altruism". I pose that pure altruism, where the giver expects nothing back, rarely exists.
I further pose that a file sharer who takes somebody else's work and gives it away for free is expecting somebody else to think well of them for giving it away. This happens only in the mind of the giver, of course, because they don't know for sure what the receiver is doing, but it still makes the giver feel good. If all the receivers accepting the gift send an email to the sharer saying s/he is a jerk, then it is unlikely the sharer would continue his/her work.
Sharing something on the internet that you got yourself for free is probably nothing but upside in terms of emotional payback, unless the RIAA comes knocking.
Sharing something you bought yourself is less likely to continue unabated but there is still that mental expectation of a payback.
File sharing as altruism? I say file sharing as cerebral j/o. But it does feel good. I've tried it!
Hands-off approach to business yes, but hands on approach to one's private life, sexuality, religion, access to information, etc., etc. I.e. more freedom for the wealthy conformist and less freedom for the poor or non-conformist.
The average standard of living of all but the uber rich has declined not increased since the Reagan years started.
I think what he was saying was that Linux (in the larger sense of GNU/Linux/open-source) is trying to do something that has already been done. It isn't original in the sense of creating something nobody had thought of before. It may be able to do the underlying architecture better and cheaper but it hasn't done the desktop metaphor well enough to make a dent in the Apple/Microsoft market.
Now comes Android, another attempt to do something that has already been done. Lot's of back-slapping congratulations on the ability to copy but none for originality.
So it feels like he owns it and can do what he wants with it but actually he can't do what he wants with it. At least he actually owns it!
Now I'll admit I'm a Mac fanboy (in a good sense) and an M$ hater (in a bad sense) but this comment really clicks with me.
I've found iTunes frustrating to use and I've found movement of data between iTunes, GarageBand and iDVD obtuse when first learning it. In one application the files are in one place in another application they are in another kind of place and you have to go dig through menus to import the files. Once you've learned it, it works but it is far from intuitive. I think that Apple software has been skating on the edge of unfriendly lately altho there are certainly startlingly innovative interfaces being created by them.
I've been a programmer for 40 years and I'm f*ing tired of continuously battling computers. That's why I switched to Macs a while ago at home. When I'm doing my stuff at home, I don't want to have to worry about some bleeding registry or parameters buried in some /etc file that I can't find or read. But when I'm at work, I don't want to have to dig through a hierarchy of menus, dialogs and "Advanced" buttons to find out where to change something. When configuring system software on an M$ machine I don't know whether to laugh at the incompetence of the creators or cry in my frustration. On a Mac it is marginally better but still convoluted. Since I don't have to do it so often on a Mac, it doesn't hurt as much.
We bought a duct tape software to run our internet business. The sellers said (and I quote) "We don't use industry best practices." Not proudly but matter-of-factly.
The up side is that the thing is the right price. $1.5k vs $50k.
The down side is that it is spaghetti code, uses global data to pass information around, is not object oriented, doesn't use unit-of-work database transactions and gives error messages all day long. We manage to survive because we have somebody who is tech savy, me, but it is the source for plenty of aggravation but probably less than $48.5K worth of aggravation.
Amazingly we have not lost any significant amount of data.
"When they release unemployment figures, there are a variety of reasons those numbers are just false. I know quite a few people who "lost their jobs" only to incorporate a small sole proprietorship, and they're considered unemployed, even though they're earning more money."
Unless they're not reporting income taxes at their new company, the government knows they are employed.
"I'd pay them $2 per hour if I could, and I know my employees would rather earn $2 per hour and a 70% job bonus than earn $31 per hour with no bonus."
You're a business owner? 70% bonus on $2/hr = $3.40/hr. Where do you find people who prefer $3.40/hr over $31/hr? We could use them, provided they do good work. That cream sounds like it's past its use date.
I used to believe this cycle would happen but then I realized I'd forgotten a piece of the cycle: the (formerly) gawdalmighty Dollar.
1. As we send more bucks overseas they become worth less.
2. Americans can buy less from overseas.
3. Companies can afford to make less overseas.
The only question I have is how much inflation this will cause and how fast. If it is too fast, will it trigger a recession like we haven't seen in a long time?
I couldn't believe it when customer relations at Apple told me they wouldn't pony up the $500 rebate I sent in.
Reason? I sent it in 3 days late (including 2 postoffice holidays). Unbelievable, read on? They only gave me 11 days to send it in and that was burried in the fine print.
Make that Dubious and Asscroft...
sorry, couldn't resist that...
bad troll...
It's odd how so many people think that the Mac OS is not alterable or customizable. Obviously it is not open-source-customizable but I don't know how many share-ware add-ons, bells and whistles I have added over the years. The really good ones have gotten incorporated into the OS, even into Windoze and then into Unix. So many, in fact, that I don't really need many add-ons any more, especially since they tend to de-stabilize things.