Actually, I had this happen, although it wasn't a phone call.
My roommate set up a box and I guess he didn't finish patching it or something, because in less than a week, we got e-mail and snail mail from our ISP informing us of our PC that was scanning ports and more than likely had a virus. We took it off the network, but still haven't taken the time to wipe it and clean install it.
We've gone from trying to predict whether it will rain this afternoon to trying to predict the climate for 100 years. It's the complicated and difficult modelling challenge in human history and it's no wonder why people find it so hard to understand the issues
And we still don't always get the weather for the afternoon right.
Still, they have a habit of taking crap and actually making it pretty decent.
And then sometimes, they take a pretty decent product, make a less usable version of it and then crowd out the better product, by bundling their version with the OS.
"It would be nice to get away from the single-supplier issue, much like there are two major suppliers for processors, a half-dozen dozen chipset makers and so on."
As nice as that thought is, how would you go about forcing another OS vendor on the market to have an impact?
I listen to the Beatles quite a bit. My mom gave me her old records. Sometimes it's nice to hear it in digital quality, but other times it's nice to listen to character of the old records.
Plus I have old video tapes of Saturday morning cartoons from when I was a kid, my kids absolutely love some of those old shows. There they sit on VHS. Not that they were actually paid for, but you asked about playing 20 - 30 year old media.
See the earlier thread on politicians making themselves exempt from the CAN-SPAM law while they were drafting it. The logic boils down to "it's not spam when we do it!".
They did the same thing when they started the "Do Not Call" registry. Political groups were exempt from it.
A lot of the US debt is loaned to other countries; however, quite a bit of it is owned by the citizens as well. Usually people hold more bonds as they get older, looking for fixed income and stability from them. So it would put a lot of people out of income that they might possibly need. By defaulting on the debt, it would cause serious devaluation of the US dollar, because people in other countries would no longer feel that it is safe to keep their savings denominated in US dollars. That would greatly increase the price of imports. Debt issued by US companies would have to be at much higher rates to be competitive on the global market; however, the upside is our exports would seem more attractive due to the devaluated dollar.
Actually, they can't call the debt. The debt they own is in US Bonds. And bonds are not callable except by the issuer. (In this case the US Govt.) However, if the US was to ban all business with them. It would cause a spike in interest rates in the US, because if we are issuing the same number of bonds without China around to buy them, there would become excess supply, which would drive interest rates up. And if they decide to sell the bonds they currently have on the open market, this would cause interest rates to climb even further.
Add to the fact that once Chinese goods are pulled off the market, the cost of goods will skyrocket because they seem to be the cheapest producer out there. So it would probably cause a period of heavy inflation as well.
The higher intrest rates would help offset the inflationary pressures and keep things from overheating too much, but would definitely cause a serious economic slowdown.
Does anyone else remember going to the computer lab in elementary school and us learning vital computer knowledge, how to draw a box with that Turtle/triangle thing?
I was 5. I remember writing lines after lines of code in basic to get it to do some silly little thing I could store on my casette drive.
Maybe I should have become a programmer.
I'd like to think these guys are generally good, although the worrying issue is that they are basically a corporation, with the prime directive of making money. Lets hope social conscience stays a reality in google hq.
And it works for now. To me it's a matter of time though. Eventually the founders will move on, for whatever reasons and whoever is in charge will go, "Hey, we can make more money by doing xyz!" So to me it's more of a question of how long can it hold onto that social conscience.
Re:What do corporations have to do with it?
on
Can We Trust Google?
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I fully agree. I wait tables at a second job. One evening a lady said that she wanted to pay with a credit card, but since she had been the victim of credit card fraud a couple times, she wanted to swipe the card herself because her bank recommended her to do so. I let her swipe it, but let her know, that it would make little difference. That I can pull up any transaction made under my name in the restaurant computer. So it probably would deter a server to a target less likely to be monitoring their credit card transactions, it really does little to enhance any security. Think of the weakest link, and they are ususally ones with the greatest access. Servers in the restaurant get access to all their guests' credit card data. The janitor has the keys to every office in the building, so he can clean them. True security is a fallacy in the information age.
In the publiciity world perception is reality. It doesn't matter how "challenging" a game is, if public opinion is it's a "kids game" or "cute" the older game set will tend to ignore it. I wasn't speaking of Mature as in the game's rating, but more so as a public opinion on whether or not the game is percieved as a kid's game or not.
Personally, I'm a big fan of RPGs myself and Nintendo hasn't put out any non-handheld RPGs that have really attracted my attention in a long time, which is one of the main reasons they lost me after the SNES.
Generally, if there's any decent advertising, (which you know there will be) the make or break component for a game system is the game catolog. I think that was Nintendo's flaw. Very little of their game catalog grew up even as their gamers grew up. They kept marketing to kids, who have less purchasing power than some of the other gaming age groups. They lost some of their big names developers for more mature audiences to Sony and Microsoft. So as long as Sony hasn't burned any bridges with their game developers, they should have the great catolog they've had with the past two systems and still be a major player.
Slashdot Mirror
My roommate set up a box and I guess he didn't finish patching it or something, because in less than a week, we got e-mail and snail mail from our ISP informing us of our PC that was scanning ports and more than likely had a virus. We took it off the network, but still haven't taken the time to wipe it and clean install it.
It is entirely possible to be a geek and like basketball.
Go Duke!
And we still don't always get the weather for the afternoon right.
And then sometimes, they take a pretty decent product, make a less usable version of it and then crowd out the better product, by bundling their version with the OS.
I'd rather vote for Carnac the Magnificent
Will I have to get Vista to run Zork?
Sure you can use the first two. At least until the grand jury indicts you.
As nice as that thought is, how would you go about forcing another OS vendor on the market to have an impact?
Get hired as a temp somewhere, walk in with a USB drive with something nasty on it. Not that I'd try that sort of thing.
So for the ultimate debate of all time, which is worse: Windows ME or MS Bob?
Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken. I always saw heard this as "Kinky is when you use the whole chicken."
I listen to the Beatles quite a bit. My mom gave me her old records. Sometimes it's nice to hear it in digital quality, but other times it's nice to listen to character of the old records. Plus I have old video tapes of Saturday morning cartoons from when I was a kid, my kids absolutely love some of those old shows. There they sit on VHS. Not that they were actually paid for, but you asked about playing 20 - 30 year old media.
Yet...
See the earlier thread on politicians making themselves exempt from the CAN-SPAM law while they were drafting it. The logic boils down to "it's not spam when we do it!". They did the same thing when they started the "Do Not Call" registry. Political groups were exempt from it.
A lot of the US debt is loaned to other countries; however, quite a bit of it is owned by the citizens as well. Usually people hold more bonds as they get older, looking for fixed income and stability from them. So it would put a lot of people out of income that they might possibly need. By defaulting on the debt, it would cause serious devaluation of the US dollar, because people in other countries would no longer feel that it is safe to keep their savings denominated in US dollars. That would greatly increase the price of imports. Debt issued by US companies would have to be at much higher rates to be competitive on the global market; however, the upside is our exports would seem more attractive due to the devaluated dollar.
Add to the fact that once Chinese goods are pulled off the market, the cost of goods will skyrocket because they seem to be the cheapest producer out there. So it would probably cause a period of heavy inflation as well.
The higher intrest rates would help offset the inflationary pressures and keep things from overheating too much, but would definitely cause a serious economic slowdown.
Does anyone else remember going to the computer lab in elementary school and us learning vital computer knowledge, how to draw a box with that Turtle/triangle thing?
I was 5. I remember writing lines after lines of code in basic to get it to do some silly little thing I could store on my casette drive. Maybe I should have become a programmer.
And it works for now. To me it's a matter of time though. Eventually the founders will move on, for whatever reasons and whoever is in charge will go, "Hey, we can make more money by doing xyz!" So to me it's more of a question of how long can it hold onto that social conscience.
I fully agree. I wait tables at a second job. One evening a lady said that she wanted to pay with a credit card, but since she had been the victim of credit card fraud a couple times, she wanted to swipe the card herself because her bank recommended her to do so. I let her swipe it, but let her know, that it would make little difference. That I can pull up any transaction made under my name in the restaurant computer. So it probably would deter a server to a target less likely to be monitoring their credit card transactions, it really does little to enhance any security. Think of the weakest link, and they are ususally ones with the greatest access. Servers in the restaurant get access to all their guests' credit card data. The janitor has the keys to every office in the building, so he can clean them. True security is a fallacy in the information age.
Hey...I don't play WOW! I play EQ! Thank you very much!
Really? This is my first day ever commenting at Slashdot. And I only ever got up to +3 Insightful.
In the publiciity world perception is reality. It doesn't matter how "challenging" a game is, if public opinion is it's a "kids game" or "cute" the older game set will tend to ignore it. I wasn't speaking of Mature as in the game's rating, but more so as a public opinion on whether or not the game is percieved as a kid's game or not. Personally, I'm a big fan of RPGs myself and Nintendo hasn't put out any non-handheld RPGs that have really attracted my attention in a long time, which is one of the main reasons they lost me after the SNES.
SBC bought AT&T and then took the name, deciding that AT&T had more consumer appeal. Ma Bell was eaten by a baby bell...
Generally, if there's any decent advertising, (which you know there will be) the make or break component for a game system is the game catolog. I think that was Nintendo's flaw. Very little of their game catalog grew up even as their gamers grew up. They kept marketing to kids, who have less purchasing power than some of the other gaming age groups. They lost some of their big names developers for more mature audiences to Sony and Microsoft. So as long as Sony hasn't burned any bridges with their game developers, they should have the great catolog they've had with the past two systems and still be a major player.