People seem to be missing the fact that a widescreen ratio lets them fit a full sized keyboard more naturally. I don't know about you, but I rather code with a full sized keyboard and less vertical space than a small keyboard and more vertical space. If you need vertical space, get a 17" screen on your laptop; if you're lucky there will be a full number pad thrown in for good measure.
$60 billion in revenue would probably be closer to $15 billion in profits (assuming generously high margins), so we have $15 billion in producer surplus lost. A bad thing for sure, but I'm curious about the increase in consumer surplus from OSS. It'd be the $60 billion (which goes directly to those who get those OSS alternatives for free), plus the utility generated by anyone who benefits from the OSS software that wouldn't have paid for the closed source counterparts. My guess is that second component is a lot. This could easily be a $100 billion net gain for society, maybe more.
Why would they need to support legacy hardware? They can just set the requirements so high that everyone needs to buy new hardware. Sounds familiar actually.
Perhaps this isn't relevant, but iphone hacking community already has a Last.FM client available (and it's wonderful). I'm not sure they'll be able to stop one from being developed, since there are bound to be ways to get non-apple approved, but still SDK-written apps on the phone.
Why don't you see this happening in real life? I used to work at a firm that did legal consulting and expert witnessing. It wasn't just corporations that hired us, it was the government too. We were called in for economic consulting, but many other kinds exist.
I think it's safe to assume that the scientists working on this are familiar with the basics of learning theory and modeling. Why, they're from the University of Alabama.
I don't think it's that big of a jump to include all biofuels. The energy efficiency of the best crops for biofuels is only ~15% better than corn, and this is coming from Brazil who's government is pushing this agenda in a big way (they'd love a world run on Brazilian biofuels), so I'm a little skeptical of their results. Regardless, if it's an improvement on fossil fuels, it's extremely modest at best, and the resources it takes up to produce (they're struggling to push the energy input below 80%) causes a ton more problems (e.g. government regulation forced demand for biofuels is already pushing the price of food up to the point that it's caused mild famine in poorer countries and some riots in Mexico).
Alternative energy is a good idea, but people shouldn't blindly jump on some proposed solution without checking if it solves anything first. Unfortunately too many people believe it's a good idea, and most of them don't follow this stuff as religiously as/. readers, which is inciting politicians to stoke the proverbial fires to garner votes from all the people who are terrified by the media's ever-present fear mongering.
You're completely right on all counts (though I'd argue the cheap part is also important). I think OLPC is wonderful and the XO is crazy awesome. I just don't think Intel's actions could be called Capitalism failing, or unjustified (on most levels).
The reason Capitalism doesn't fail normally is because consumers don't allow it to. If they don't like something they can immediately retaliate by not purchasing it.
That being said, we do see Capitalism fail frequently in this country because it is too closely tied to government. Capitalism fails when, to get a competitive edge, it is cheaper to buy a politician than make a better product. For example, our sugar prices are 5x the world price because of quotas paid for by the U.S. sugar industry and our corn prices are low because we've already paid most of their subsidized cost in taxes. As a result everything in America is made with corn syrup instead of sugar, even though it tastes worse and is one of the largest causes of obesity in this county because of the way our bodies metabolize it. That being said, this isn't Capitalism's failure so much as the separation of Capitalism and a free market. Similarly, Altruism is great, but if you separate from it the ability to distinguish between which actions help others and which actions hurt others then things can also get ugly. The difference is a free market is able to be set by policy where as it's part of being human to make frequent misjudgments about what others want.
Exactly. It should also be noted that not-for-profit refers only to the entity; it's goal isn't to make wealth that is distributed to its shareholders. Salaries are still paid to NFPs' employees including the principals who founded the institutions. Sometimes these salaries are very high.
However, this isn't a failure of capitalism. Capitalism allowed the OLPC to be created at all levels, and it was OLPC wanting Intel to cease it's production of more cheap laptops that caused Intel (who had previously done a great deal of good for the project) to step out. OLPC wanted to be the only game in town. Having more cheap laptops for children in the world is a good thing, regardless of who makes them. If the XO is a better laptop, then people will get those. If OLPC can't meet the demand because their product is too good, better to have a Classmate than nothing. So if you want to demonize someone for keeping cheap laptops out of childrens' hands, then demonize OLPC for biting the hand that feeds it.
... and Stories come and pass, leaving books that become sequels. sequels that fade to prequels, and even prequels are long since read when the Author that give it birth has died and been replaced. In one book, called the 12th book by some...
That is Bay actually believes this he would stop investing so much in the format war and start investing in a massive and well thought out media download system. If microsoft is encouraging a (naturally viable) market, this is where they should focus their attention.
It was a clever pun. I thought of saying "you Lost me", but I thought that would have been too obvious. Given that I was modded down a point, I guess is wouldn't have been. Oh well.
Slashdot Mirror
People seem to be missing the fact that a widescreen ratio lets them fit a full sized keyboard more naturally. I don't know about you, but I rather code with a full sized keyboard and less vertical space than a small keyboard and more vertical space. If you need vertical space, get a 17" screen on your laptop; if you're lucky there will be a full number pad thrown in for good measure.
$60 billion in revenue would probably be closer to $15 billion in profits (assuming generously high margins), so we have $15 billion in producer surplus lost. A bad thing for sure, but I'm curious about the increase in consumer surplus from OSS. It'd be the $60 billion (which goes directly to those who get those OSS alternatives for free), plus the utility generated by anyone who benefits from the OSS software that wouldn't have paid for the closed source counterparts. My guess is that second component is a lot. This could easily be a $100 billion net gain for society, maybe more.
And as an added bonus, the plants use molten salt to store the heat so you'd have a source for that too.
Why would they need to support legacy hardware? They can just set the requirements so high that everyone needs to buy new hardware. Sounds familiar actually.
Well I can do cock push-ups.
I bet the Slylandro beg to differ.
Perhaps this isn't relevant, but iphone hacking community already has a Last.FM client available (and it's wonderful). I'm not sure they'll be able to stop one from being developed, since there are bound to be ways to get non-apple approved, but still SDK-written apps on the phone.
Why don't you see this happening in real life? I used to work at a firm that did legal consulting and expert witnessing. It wasn't just corporations that hired us, it was the government too. We were called in for economic consulting, but many other kinds exist.
Interesting, or insightful, maybe. But funny? You guys must have either very subtle or very bad senses of humor.
No wonder the need to mention "first".
I don't think it's that big of a jump to include all biofuels. The energy efficiency of the best crops for biofuels is only ~15% better than corn, and this is coming from Brazil who's government is pushing this agenda in a big way (they'd love a world run on Brazilian biofuels), so I'm a little skeptical of their results. Regardless, if it's an improvement on fossil fuels, it's extremely modest at best, and the resources it takes up to produce (they're struggling to push the energy input below 80%) causes a ton more problems (e.g. government regulation forced demand for biofuels is already pushing the price of food up to the point that it's caused mild famine in poorer countries and some riots in Mexico).
Alternative energy is a good idea, but people shouldn't blindly jump on some proposed solution without checking if it solves anything first. Unfortunately too many people believe it's a good idea, and most of them don't follow this stuff as religiously as /. readers, which is inciting politicians to stoke the proverbial fires to garner votes from all the people who are terrified by the media's ever-present fear mongering.
Business as usual :-/
or was it?
You're completely right on all counts (though I'd argue the cheap part is also important). I think OLPC is wonderful and the XO is crazy awesome. I just don't think Intel's actions could be called Capitalism failing, or unjustified (on most levels).
The reason Capitalism doesn't fail normally is because consumers don't allow it to. If they don't like something they can immediately retaliate by not purchasing it.
That being said, we do see Capitalism fail frequently in this country because it is too closely tied to government. Capitalism fails when, to get a competitive edge, it is cheaper to buy a politician than make a better product. For example, our sugar prices are 5x the world price because of quotas paid for by the U.S. sugar industry and our corn prices are low because we've already paid most of their subsidized cost in taxes. As a result everything in America is made with corn syrup instead of sugar, even though it tastes worse and is one of the largest causes of obesity in this county because of the way our bodies metabolize it. That being said, this isn't Capitalism's failure so much as the separation of Capitalism and a free market. Similarly, Altruism is great, but if you separate from it the ability to distinguish between which actions help others and which actions hurt others then things can also get ugly. The difference is a free market is able to be set by policy where as it's part of being human to make frequent misjudgments about what others want.
Exactly. It should also be noted that not-for-profit refers only to the entity; it's goal isn't to make wealth that is distributed to its shareholders. Salaries are still paid to NFPs' employees including the principals who founded the institutions. Sometimes these salaries are very high.
However, this isn't a failure of capitalism. Capitalism allowed the OLPC to be created at all levels, and it was OLPC wanting Intel to cease it's production of more cheap laptops that caused Intel (who had previously done a great deal of good for the project) to step out. OLPC wanted to be the only game in town. Having more cheap laptops for children in the world is a good thing, regardless of who makes them. If the XO is a better laptop, then people will get those. If OLPC can't meet the demand because their product is too good, better to have a Classmate than nothing. So if you want to demonize someone for keeping cheap laptops out of childrens' hands, then demonize OLPC for biting the hand that feeds it.
Sure, these techies make it sound easy, but there's more to it than that. You'll need a bottle of whiteout for your name too.
If they show you it before you print it, I suppose you could always hit the print screen button and paste in into your favorite image editor as well.
And it certainly can be considered a web game
... and Stories come and pass, leaving books that become sequels. sequels that fade to prequels, and even prequels are long since read when the Author that give it birth has died and been replaced. In one book, called the 12th book by some...
...it means another 11 tedious volumes (plus a prequal).
That is Bay actually believes this he would stop investing so much in the format war and start investing in a massive and well thought out media download system. If microsoft is encouraging a (naturally viable) market, this is where they should focus their attention.
It was a clever pun. I thought of saying "you Lost me", but I thought that would have been too obvious. Given that I was modded down a point, I guess is wouldn't have been. Oh well.
4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42? Sorry, you lost me.
Doesn't seem to fit. Also, wish I had an interobang for the subject :(