I would have to agree with him. I've used Linux before but there are just some things that you can't do with it compared to Windows. It reminds me of a joke that I'm sure most of you heard: "Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was twice as fast, twice as easy to drive-but would only run on 5 percent of the roads."
That isn't exactly what Dell is saying. Anybody can go out and buy things from Dell and turn around and resell them to make money. Most likely, this guy bought a large volume of monitors from Dell, therefore got a large discount, and then sold one to you charging less than Dell, but more than he paid for himself. This is not the same as Dell hiring the guy to sell his product. Gateway on the other hand, has a deal with best buy to sell their computers in their retail stores.
I just signed up for this after I received the email about it. Yesterday I also received a voicemail that came directly from the Vonage system (so no outside caller) so I am pretty certain this is not a scam. Also, if they were wanting to scam you, wouldn't they want the money up front? When you sign up, all you have to do is tell them how many shares you want. Once they go public (later this month), you then have 3 dates to fork over the money for the shares you requested. Also, if you do a search on the NYSE for "VG", it shows up, even though it's not active yet.
On another note, I just noticed they are also offering free calls to a few European nations to their unlimited users. I'm only on the 14.99 400min plan so I'm not sure if that applies to me as well.
I just bought a Swiss Gear Synergy backpack for a trip to London that I just got back from. I was amazed at how much it would expand and contract depending on the load that I put in it. The outer pocket is a special section for just about anything smaller such as a cell phone, pocket knife, usb keys, business cards, etc. It even has a place to thread headphones though in case you want to listen to an MP3 player while you're wearing it. Even though I found out about it just a few weeks ago, I was amazed at how many people at the airport had similar ones as well. Best of all, it was only 80 dollars.
From what I gathered about this place, everything is pretty much upside down from "normal" practices. So I guess they are just thinking that once the company goes upside down because of these practices, they will be right side up? Hopefully someone understands what I'm saying.
It may not be "illegal" but it doesn't mean that it still can't look bad for them. If they kept the filter on, it would probably end up hurting them more than just removing it and saying "oops".
No matter what Sony or any other company does, someone is almost always going to come out with a better product after you release yours. Everybody knows that if you go out and spend top dollar to get a top of the line product, there is going to be something better in a month or so (depending on what product we're talking about). I don't see the point in waiting.
At an earlier hearing his lawyers suggested his actions were not malicious - he had been trying to expose lax computer security and access what he believed was withheld information about UFOs.
As a defense, he is claiming "The aliens made me do it."
I remember this same thing happening in Windows XP. One of the versions I tested was not a legit copy and when I tried to installed one of the service packs (I think it was SP1), it would not let me install it because it could not authenticate my copy. I wonder if this is the same thing?
I wonder if there will be a patch for this released on 4/11. I just got this email from MS a few minutes ago:
"Four Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft Windows.
The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. Some of these updates will require a restart. These updates will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and the Enterprise Scan Tool. One of the updates will be a cumulative Internet Explorer update that addresses the publicly known "CreateTextRange" vulnerability."
From the article...
"It remains to be seen whether residents will use the Wi-Fi system as a replacement for their existing wire-based Internet connections. Early fears by the mayor that the telecommunications industry would fight against the project by filing lawsuits have yet to materialize."
As we've seen with people willing to pay extra for the faster speeds of Cable over DSL, I doubt many people will use it as a replacement for broadband. You can also think about how many people use NetZero's free dialup server instead of paying for another dialup provider such as Earthlink. I guess time will tell though on what affect it has on competitors.
That may be true, I'll have to look into it. However, some universities allow students and faculty to purchase an operating system for $5 and that does not require any other license to be legal. Unfortunately, if they were to purchase a computer from Dell or anyone else that requires an OS, they would be forced to pay for a license they don't need.
They won't allow you to select it anymore. In the past you could select No OS, Linux, etc. but now they only let you choose Windows XP Home or Professional. I had to ask my Dell rep if it was possible and he ended up changing it for me. He said that they were no longer allowed to send a PC out without any operating system on it. You could try calling Dell and talking to a sales person to see if it is available for home users.
FreeDOS doesn't cost anything. So basically you're saving whatever the cost of an OEM license is. I believe it is somewhere around $150 per OEM license. Volume licensing is cheaper depending on how many PCs you get. Plus, the Volume license can be transferred to any PC. Since XP has been around for about 3 or 4 years, you only have to pay for a license each time a new OS comes out. If you order a PC, you would have to pay for a new OEM license each time.
I went through this problem when I just bought 10 new computers for my company. We have volume licensing agreements from Microsoft so we didn't want to pay for separate OEM licenses that Dell would provide. The only way we were allowed to do this was if we chose FreeDOS as our operating system. So MS would still get mad if I ordered a PC without an operating system preloaded even though I was going to load a legal version of their OS on it? That's pretty stupid!
Slashdot Mirror
I would have to agree with him. I've used Linux before but there are just some things that you can't do with it compared to Windows. It reminds me of a joke that I'm sure most of you heard: "Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was twice as fast, twice as easy to drive-but would only run on 5 percent of the roads."
You mean caffeine can still make you shake? Those were the days...
Of that 63%, 50% were promised that they would not be deported if they answered yes.
That isn't exactly what Dell is saying. Anybody can go out and buy things from Dell and turn around and resell them to make money. Most likely, this guy bought a large volume of monitors from Dell, therefore got a large discount, and then sold one to you charging less than Dell, but more than he paid for himself. This is not the same as Dell hiring the guy to sell his product. Gateway on the other hand, has a deal with best buy to sell their computers in their retail stores.
First thing in the article:"Yes, we are still all about search". So THAT is what google is! I almost forgot!
I just signed up for this after I received the email about it. Yesterday I also received a voicemail that came directly from the Vonage system (so no outside caller) so I am pretty certain this is not a scam. Also, if they were wanting to scam you, wouldn't they want the money up front? When you sign up, all you have to do is tell them how many shares you want. Once they go public (later this month), you then have 3 dates to fork over the money for the shares you requested. Also, if you do a search on the NYSE for "VG", it shows up, even though it's not active yet.
On another note, I just noticed they are also offering free calls to a few European nations to their unlimited users. I'm only on the 14.99 400min plan so I'm not sure if that applies to me as well.
I just bought a Swiss Gear Synergy backpack for a trip to London that I just got back from. I was amazed at how much it would expand and contract depending on the load that I put in it. The outer pocket is a special section for just about anything smaller such as a cell phone, pocket knife, usb keys, business cards, etc. It even has a place to thread headphones though in case you want to listen to an MP3 player while you're wearing it. Even though I found out about it just a few weeks ago, I was amazed at how many people at the airport had similar ones as well. Best of all, it was only 80 dollars.
From what I gathered about this place, everything is pretty much upside down from "normal" practices. So I guess they are just thinking that once the company goes upside down because of these practices, they will be right side up? Hopefully someone understands what I'm saying.
It may not be "illegal" but it doesn't mean that it still can't look bad for them. If they kept the filter on, it would probably end up hurting them more than just removing it and saying "oops".
No matter what Sony or any other company does, someone is almost always going to come out with a better product after you release yours. Everybody knows that if you go out and spend top dollar to get a top of the line product, there is going to be something better in a month or so (depending on what product we're talking about). I don't see the point in waiting.
I remember this same thing happening in Windows XP. One of the versions I tested was not a legit copy and when I tried to installed one of the service packs (I think it was SP1), it would not let me install it because it could not authenticate my copy. I wonder if this is the same thing?
Yet another reason AMD is better than Intel! I wonder if this affects the new Intel Macs?
I wonder if they count people getting cut for reading slashdot instead of doing their job?
So did anyone register slashdot.eu yet?
But! But! I thought Linux was immune to viruses? *confused*
Two words: Blame Canada
Isn't that a solution to everything?
http://www.netzero.net/
Click Join Now at the top right
Go to the bottom and click on the Free Internet
If you choose to sign up, it is in fine print at the bottom for free dialup. Here is a link: http://account.netzero.net/s/landing?action=viewPr oduct&productId=free
I wonder if there will be a patch for this released on 4/11. I just got this email from MS a few minutes ago:
From the article... "It remains to be seen whether residents will use the Wi-Fi system as a replacement for their existing wire-based Internet connections. Early fears by the mayor that the telecommunications industry would fight against the project by filing lawsuits have yet to materialize." As we've seen with people willing to pay extra for the faster speeds of Cable over DSL, I doubt many people will use it as a replacement for broadband. You can also think about how many people use NetZero's free dialup server instead of paying for another dialup provider such as Earthlink. I guess time will tell though on what affect it has on competitors.
That may be true, I'll have to look into it. However, some universities allow students and faculty to purchase an operating system for $5 and that does not require any other license to be legal. Unfortunately, if they were to purchase a computer from Dell or anyone else that requires an OS, they would be forced to pay for a license they don't need.
They won't allow you to select it anymore. In the past you could select No OS, Linux, etc. but now they only let you choose Windows XP Home or Professional. I had to ask my Dell rep if it was possible and he ended up changing it for me. He said that they were no longer allowed to send a PC out without any operating system on it. You could try calling Dell and talking to a sales person to see if it is available for home users.
FreeDOS doesn't cost anything. So basically you're saving whatever the cost of an OEM license is. I believe it is somewhere around $150 per OEM license. Volume licensing is cheaper depending on how many PCs you get. Plus, the Volume license can be transferred to any PC. Since XP has been around for about 3 or 4 years, you only have to pay for a license each time a new OS comes out. If you order a PC, you would have to pay for a new OEM license each time.
I went through this problem when I just bought 10 new computers for my company. We have volume licensing agreements from Microsoft so we didn't want to pay for separate OEM licenses that Dell would provide. The only way we were allowed to do this was if we chose FreeDOS as our operating system. So MS would still get mad if I ordered a PC without an operating system preloaded even though I was going to load a legal version of their OS on it? That's pretty stupid!