You missed the third option, which was the whole point of this entire thread: Move operations to another country and avoid the tax altogether.
In a way, taxpayers STILL pay the tax (since the government -will- get that money one way or another) but the corporation no longer has anything to do with it, and in addition jobs and money are going overseas now. It's a worse scenario than just not taxing the corporation in the first place.
Exactly. A certificate -certifies- something. If it doesn't, it's not a certificate.
The real question here is: What should happen to the certifier if their certificate proves false.
I don't think this is a government question. If there's nothing in the contract about this scenario, then you paid for -nothing-. And if there is, you already know the solution to the problem... It's right in the contract.
It occurs to me that the loss of productivity for those few days around every audit is probably costly enough to just pay for all the stolen software. This is a really, really bonehead move.
The DS doesn't have enough battery life to handle that kind of usage, so it's foolish to try to sell those things for it. PSP is in the same boat, as are most notebooks, netbooks, etc.
Hell, my Android phone -barely- has enough power to get through work, let alone a whole day. I've taken to carrying a rechargeable usb battery recharger with me when I won't be home all day. (Which, other than being heavy in your pocket, works quite well.)
As the others have noted, this would have meant 'tons of money' for 'big businesses' either way. Since that is the same on both sides of the equation, this ruling is really about the people and not the companies.
It hasn't really changed a lot since launch. The 1.5 update brought a few visual changes, it's a little snappier (less lag on the menus, etc), it has an on-screen keyboard, and can capture video.
The previous update brought some cool features like being able to see where your friends are on the maps program.
All-in-all, the new features are never mind-blowing, but then... It isn't a whole version upgrade.
As a kid, I'd have told the bus driver. If they were idiotic, I'd have called my mom (because she'd be the one home, in my family) and told her what happened immediately. I doubt I'd have played hockey, but if it was something I'd enjoy... Maybe. I was awful shy.
I'm still trying to figure out how the scenario in the summary played out, though... Okay, so the kid's on the wrong bus... She got off at the wrong stop, too? Why and how?
Perhaps you don't understand what he linked to. Let me reproduce the very first sentence again.
"A free market is a theoretical term that economists use to describe a market which is free from government intervention (i.e. no regulation, no subsidization, no single monetary system and no governmental monopolies)."
Yeah, I said it. This actually hurt sales of TheSims3 this time. I was going to pre-order it, then heard there was a pirate version before release. One of my friends tried it and she said it was awful. Not enough items, too small, buggy, etc etc. At that point, I decided not only to not pirate it, but not to pre-order it either.
Now, if I don't hear rave reviews about it, I'm not going to buy it. And I'm not going to bother pirating it, either, for that matter.
So it's quite possible they'd lost my sale on the game... Only being extremely good will save it. (Without this, being merely 'good' would have been enough.) I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
"We don't see any problem without our accountant writing and signing all the checks because we've never had a problem with it before. They're perfectly trustworthy, and so much better than -unknown entity- probably is!"
The time to take control away from someone is -before- they abuse the power, not after. If there's a world-wide organization that can impartially handle this, and handle it well, then it should be done by them. UN was suggested, and while they are weak, they are the strongest international organization I know of that is supposed to be impartial.
Do I want it taken away from us? Heck no. We hold all the power in this area right now. But if we're talking about fair and right, then it really should be handled by the UN rather than any single country.
That's probably true, for those who bothered to fill out the survey. Obviously, the '6 figure' friend above didn't fill it out because there isn't even an income bracket for him.
In case that isn't clear: People that make a lot of money don't go around telling random people about it.
Also, let's talk about numbers... 64% of MMO players are single. You've also said the 'largest group' of MMO players 'has no personal income'. How do they manage both? Even if we assume minimal overlap, there's > 14% of them that are married and have no income.
By the same token, we can find your lardball the same way.
I think if you actually studied the population of WoW, you'd find it heavily biased towards males... But little else. The rest of the population is probably represented pretty well.
Now, if you want to make the case that most of the people in the world are lardballs, that's a different story.
480x272 is 'HD Output'? Surely they are joking. Or maybe they've somehow made it so your speakers/headphones work better magically, and they mean HD audio output.
Smoothboard is neat, but I'd rather see an app that can work with a couple wired cameras, instead. Having to mount and unmount the Wiimotes constantly to charge them seems like a major hassle, plus the whole issue with the bluetooth stack needed, etc.
His analogy is to for the 'getting what they want, when they want it, how they want it'... In this case, the users want it the songs digital and now. Prior to the 'release' of the album, they can only get it through BitTorrent, so they 'smash the windows and take it'. Or if he only offers it on CD, and not digital, same thing.
In other words, he's trying to restrict what users can get, and they're reacting by just taking it, since it's not worth anything to them the way he offers it.
I'm not saying the users are right, legal or ethical. But you can't just ignore their message simply because they do something illegal or unethical. In fact, it should be a HUGE RED FLAG saying that you're not satisfying demand and they're willing to break the law/their own ethics to satisfy that demand. (Keep in mind I'm only talking about the people who -would- otherwise buy, and not the ones that would steal anyhow. They don't count.)
For the right price, and the right games, I'd go for this. I currently buy a $60 game and play it for -maybe- a week. I can count on 1 hand the games I've played longer than that in the last 5 years.
Currently, my solution to this is GameFly. But even then... My GF account has gone largely unused for the past 3 or 4 months. There's just -nothing- I care about right now and I'm renting a few old games that I might play once and send back.
I guess what I'm saying is that this would work not because it's a great idea, but because the game industry is in a slump right now. Heck, I've had more fun with FreeRealms lately than anything since Fallout 3.
While I agree it's a -bit- soon to be calling the reboot of the franchise a 'success', they have proven that it's possible. All they have to do is keep doing what they did.
Of course, I make that sound much simpler than it actually is, even assuming they really -know- why it's so successful. I've seen many franchises that get the first one spot-on, but then don't understand why. (Matrix, I'm looking at you!)
Haven't been around long, eh? There have been tons of them out there, mostly before Adobe got their butts in gear and actually made a working Linux Flash plugin. Before even that, though, there were ActiveX ones. And there are IE-only ones, etc etc.
The questions have to be so easy that the owner will -never- forget them... That means they pretty much have to be a defining characteristic in a person's life.
Favorite color, birth city, mother's maiden name, location of first job, favorite pet, etc etc.
While my friends couldn't name a couple of those, it'd be stupidly easy for them to get those answers from me in a normal conversation. Even strangers, around friends, have a good chance at it.
Also, my bank takes this a step further... Sometimes when you log in, it asks you one of the security questions after you put in the name and password. I've never felt this made much sense, but oh well.
They aren't messing with the -results- of the search. They are merely adding advertisements around the search. You'll still be able to find all the wacky Al Harrington products you want.
Slashdot Mirror
You missed the third option, which was the whole point of this entire thread: Move operations to another country and avoid the tax altogether.
In a way, taxpayers STILL pay the tax (since the government -will- get that money one way or another) but the corporation no longer has anything to do with it, and in addition jobs and money are going overseas now. It's a worse scenario than just not taxing the corporation in the first place.
Exactly. A certificate -certifies- something. If it doesn't, it's not a certificate.
The real question here is: What should happen to the certifier if their certificate proves false.
I don't think this is a government question. If there's nothing in the contract about this scenario, then you paid for -nothing-. And if there is, you already know the solution to the problem... It's right in the contract.
It occurs to me that the loss of productivity for those few days around every audit is probably costly enough to just pay for all the stolen software. This is a really, really bonehead move.
The DS doesn't have enough battery life to handle that kind of usage, so it's foolish to try to sell those things for it. PSP is in the same boat, as are most notebooks, netbooks, etc.
Hell, my Android phone -barely- has enough power to get through work, let alone a whole day. I've taken to carrying a rechargeable usb battery recharger with me when I won't be home all day. (Which, other than being heavy in your pocket, works quite well.)
As the others have noted, this would have meant 'tons of money' for 'big businesses' either way. Since that is the same on both sides of the equation, this ruling is really about the people and not the companies.
It hasn't really changed a lot since launch. The 1.5 update brought a few visual changes, it's a little snappier (less lag on the menus, etc), it has an on-screen keyboard, and can capture video.
The previous update brought some cool features like being able to see where your friends are on the maps program.
All-in-all, the new features are never mind-blowing, but then... It isn't a whole version upgrade.
http://source.android.com/release-features should be what you're looking for.
I love the priorities chosen. ;)
As a kid, I'd have told the bus driver. If they were idiotic, I'd have called my mom (because she'd be the one home, in my family) and told her what happened immediately. I doubt I'd have played hockey, but if it was something I'd enjoy... Maybe. I was awful shy.
I'm still trying to figure out how the scenario in the summary played out, though... Okay, so the kid's on the wrong bus... She got off at the wrong stop, too? Why and how?
"Why the hell would Apple leak it when it can just as easily make the front page of Slashdot next week"
Because now they've made the front page twice. Or more, knowing Slashdot.
I own a G1, and since the 1.5 update, it -can- capture video.
Perhaps you don't understand what he linked to. Let me reproduce the very first sentence again.
"A free market is a theoretical term that economists use to describe a market which is free from government intervention (i.e. no regulation, no subsidization, no single monetary system and no governmental monopolies)."
Yeah, I said it. This actually hurt sales of TheSims3 this time. I was going to pre-order it, then heard there was a pirate version before release. One of my friends tried it and she said it was awful. Not enough items, too small, buggy, etc etc. At that point, I decided not only to not pirate it, but not to pre-order it either.
Now, if I don't hear rave reviews about it, I'm not going to buy it. And I'm not going to bother pirating it, either, for that matter.
So it's quite possible they'd lost my sale on the game... Only being extremely good will save it. (Without this, being merely 'good' would have been enough.) I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
Analogy time:
"We don't see any problem without our accountant writing and signing all the checks because we've never had a problem with it before. They're perfectly trustworthy, and so much better than -unknown entity- probably is!"
The time to take control away from someone is -before- they abuse the power, not after. If there's a world-wide organization that can impartially handle this, and handle it well, then it should be done by them. UN was suggested, and while they are weak, they are the strongest international organization I know of that is supposed to be impartial.
Do I want it taken away from us? Heck no. We hold all the power in this area right now. But if we're talking about fair and right, then it really should be handled by the UN rather than any single country.
That's probably true, for those who bothered to fill out the survey. Obviously, the '6 figure' friend above didn't fill it out because there isn't even an income bracket for him.
In case that isn't clear: People that make a lot of money don't go around telling random people about it.
Also, let's talk about numbers... 64% of MMO players are single. You've also said the 'largest group' of MMO players 'has no personal income'. How do they manage both? Even if we assume minimal overlap, there's > 14% of them that are married and have no income.
Seriously, your numbers don't make sense.
By the same token, we can find your lardball the same way.
I think if you actually studied the population of WoW, you'd find it heavily biased towards males... But little else. The rest of the population is probably represented pretty well.
Now, if you want to make the case that most of the people in the world are lardballs, that's a different story.
480x272 is 'HD Output'? Surely they are joking. Or maybe they've somehow made it so your speakers/headphones work better magically, and they mean HD audio output.
Smoothboard is neat, but I'd rather see an app that can work with a couple wired cameras, instead. Having to mount and unmount the Wiimotes constantly to charge them seems like a major hassle, plus the whole issue with the bluetooth stack needed, etc.
His analogy is to for the 'getting what they want, when they want it, how they want it'... In this case, the users want it the songs digital and now. Prior to the 'release' of the album, they can only get it through BitTorrent, so they 'smash the windows and take it'. Or if he only offers it on CD, and not digital, same thing.
In other words, he's trying to restrict what users can get, and they're reacting by just taking it, since it's not worth anything to them the way he offers it.
I'm not saying the users are right, legal or ethical. But you can't just ignore their message simply because they do something illegal or unethical. In fact, it should be a HUGE RED FLAG saying that you're not satisfying demand and they're willing to break the law/their own ethics to satisfy that demand. (Keep in mind I'm only talking about the people who -would- otherwise buy, and not the ones that would steal anyhow. They don't count.)
Unless you live in England. This site -is- accessed internationally, you know.
For the right price, and the right games, I'd go for this. I currently buy a $60 game and play it for -maybe- a week. I can count on 1 hand the games I've played longer than that in the last 5 years.
Currently, my solution to this is GameFly. But even then... My GF account has gone largely unused for the past 3 or 4 months. There's just -nothing- I care about right now and I'm renting a few old games that I might play once and send back.
I guess what I'm saying is that this would work not because it's a great idea, but because the game industry is in a slump right now. Heck, I've had more fun with FreeRealms lately than anything since Fallout 3.
While I agree it's a -bit- soon to be calling the reboot of the franchise a 'success', they have proven that it's possible. All they have to do is keep doing what they did.
Of course, I make that sound much simpler than it actually is, even assuming they really -know- why it's so successful. I've seen many franchises that get the first one spot-on, but then don't understand why. (Matrix, I'm looking at you!)
It's a pretty rare thing in the computer world to gain convenience without sacrificing security.
In fact... Drop 'computer' out of that sentence and it's still true.
It's all about a balancing act. You have to take risks to be efficient... It's just part of life.
Haven't been around long, eh? There have been tons of them out there, mostly before Adobe got their butts in gear and actually made a working Linux Flash plugin. Before even that, though, there were ActiveX ones. And there are IE-only ones, etc etc.
The questions have to be so easy that the owner will -never- forget them... That means they pretty much have to be a defining characteristic in a person's life.
Favorite color, birth city, mother's maiden name, location of first job, favorite pet, etc etc.
While my friends couldn't name a couple of those, it'd be stupidly easy for them to get those answers from me in a normal conversation. Even strangers, around friends, have a good chance at it.
Also, my bank takes this a step further... Sometimes when you log in, it asks you one of the security questions after you put in the name and password. I've never felt this made much sense, but oh well.
Or maybe a book...
http://www.uofupress.com/store/product395.html
They aren't messing with the -results- of the search. They are merely adding advertisements around the search. You'll still be able to find all the wacky Al Harrington products you want.