The problem with the Ford Pinto is that nobody bothered to prosecute the executives criminally. Not that they couldn't have. They just didn't.
I worked at a company where a Vice President was merely forcing a vendor to put a relative on their payroll as a kickback. (It's bad, but nobody was physically hurt.) The FBI showed up at work and the guy went to prison for a few months. The corporation (and all the jobs) continued and the corporation actually grew, because they were the best at doing what they did and many people benefited greatly from their service.
It makes no sense to "punish the corporation" for the actions of a couple individuals. But there are far too few cases of prosecutors going after executives (or employees) for decisions that they knew would cause deaths or great harm and then signing off without making any attempt to fix it.
I used to work at a company that paid a 20% premium on hardware for support from HP that was COMPLETELY WORTHLESS. I told them they would be better off just ordering a 6th computer for every 5 that they bought.
The guy would show up with no tools, not even a screwdriver, and then he would need to come back the next day (with a screwdriver). Then he didn't have the part (say RAM) that we told them in the first call and the day before. Then he showed up the next day with RAMBUS instead of DDR RAM. After 3 weeks, we got the machine back online.
Which means, in the meantime, since the person whose machine it was had to have something to work on, we had to cobble together a PC from no spare parts and then try to transfer their stuff off of their drive (because nobody ever heeded the store everything on the U: and S: drive mantra) and we worked like crazy to do it, eating up our whole day.
If we had had spare machines instead, we could have just replaced her RAM in 1 minute. Or, if it was the motherboard, put her drive in an identical replacement machine in 1 minute.
But patent lawsuits don't deprive anyone of anything. Much like illegal file sharing, nobody is deprived so it's not the same as buying a stolen car without knowing it.
Patents are all about proper licensing, and as such, judges work very hard to punish only the guilty, and not the innocent bystander.
>>>hold the phone up in above the steering wheel while typing a couple letters at the time, so I can see brakelights
I can actually do this. I constantly hear (and process) every conversation in a room and every input that I am hearing and seeing. So I really could text, talk on the phone, drive with my knee and eat at the same time, if I had enough hands.
One time at work, I walked in an hour late (doctor's appointment) and it turned out that my boss was out sick. All 5 of our student workers asked me questions simultaneously over one another. I then proceeded to answer them each in turn from left to right. They all walked away, but one came back and said, "How did you do that?"
I also know when I cannot. I was talking to my wife (on Bluetooth) recently, and said, "hang on", because I needed all my brainpower to avoid a near-accident across all 3 lanes. Seemingly, most people are incapable of figuring this out as well, probably because they can't be aware of how much brainpower is required and how much is available while simultaneously using most of it.
But, I am also the ONLY person I know that can do this. So, while laws like this are a little bit annoying for me personally, I am completely in favor of them, because I have been in near-accidents dozens of times with complete drooling idiots that couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone hold a phone up to their ear and drive (and forget about texting).
But parents DO have an option for school. They can put their kids in private school or they can home school. The vouchers are just a way of saying that they don't want to pay in to the government-run system.
Similarly, if the health care system were optional, people could get their own private health care. But they wouldn't expect vouchers toward it.
Many heavily customized WMI installers don't work right. MS anticipated this and tried to add detection and automatic compatibility mode, but that doesn't work generally.
And people wonder why I have never switched from Inno Setup.
Easy, I do this at work to get access to all 4GB of RAM on a Dell system that won't do it any other way.
1. Look for and download the Chinese version of Gavrotte RAMDisk. This version has the ability to make RAMDisks out of RAM that can't be seen by Windows XP 32 any other way.
2. Now, you have a 1GB RAMDisk R:, made entirely out of RAM that you would otherwise never be able to see. Turn off your swapfile on C: and make a 1GB swapfile on R:.
Bingo. You now have access to all 4GB of RAM on Windows XP 32, no matter what whiny chipset you are using.
But if Microsoft defaulted to 64-bit, Canon would HAVE to release 64-bit drivers. (BTW, my Canon Pixma ip2000 printer works on Windows 7 64-bit. I can't remember if the driver came from Windows itself or from Canon Europe. Canon Europe always has better drivers.)
If you're jacking off in front of your window without curtains, well, geez, that's a problem. In fact, it's probably a felony and you will end up in the Megan's law database for all of eternity.
FTFY
Also, they get reported by disgruntled employees. Quite often, the employee that reported them is not the only disgruntled employee. I have only heard one time about a company that everyone loved getting reported. Every other time, it didn't shock anyone but was only "a matter of time".
Slashdot Mirror
But, but, it's open source. ANYONE can pick it up and continue it... Right?
The problem with the Ford Pinto is that nobody bothered to prosecute the executives criminally. Not that they couldn't have. They just didn't.
I worked at a company where a Vice President was merely forcing a vendor to put a relative on their payroll as a kickback. (It's bad, but nobody was physically hurt.) The FBI showed up at work and the guy went to prison for a few months. The corporation (and all the jobs) continued and the corporation actually grew, because they were the best at doing what they did and many people benefited greatly from their service.
It makes no sense to "punish the corporation" for the actions of a couple individuals. But there are far too few cases of prosecutors going after executives (or employees) for decisions that they knew would cause deaths or great harm and then signing off without making any attempt to fix it.
No, they just have to visit Slashdot, where geeks brag about their "unbreakable" passwords.
(Note: to avoid any unsightly "whoosh" moments, I know that that isn't really his password. It's a joke, people!)
Is your phone off, or in standby? Does the 911 GPS still work in that state?
If you remove the battery, I would say you have a reasonable chance. But that's too inconvenient for most people.
I used to work at a company that paid a 20% premium on hardware for support from HP that was COMPLETELY WORTHLESS. I told them they would be better off just ordering a 6th computer for every 5 that they bought.
The guy would show up with no tools, not even a screwdriver, and then he would need to come back the next day (with a screwdriver). Then he didn't have the part (say RAM) that we told them in the first call and the day before. Then he showed up the next day with RAMBUS instead of DDR RAM. After 3 weeks, we got the machine back online.
Which means, in the meantime, since the person whose machine it was had to have something to work on, we had to cobble together a PC from no spare parts and then try to transfer their stuff off of their drive (because nobody ever heeded the store everything on the U: and S: drive mantra) and we worked like crazy to do it, eating up our whole day.
If we had had spare machines instead, we could have just replaced her RAM in 1 minute. Or, if it was the motherboard, put her drive in an identical replacement machine in 1 minute.
I don't know. I just looked at the pilot on Hulu. Looks more like Idiocracy meets Star Trek.
$17,000 NZD= $15,000 USD?
But patent lawsuits don't deprive anyone of anything. Much like illegal file sharing, nobody is deprived so it's not the same as buying a stolen car without knowing it.
Patents are all about proper licensing, and as such, judges work very hard to punish only the guilty, and not the innocent bystander.
I can actually do this. I constantly hear (and process) every conversation in a room and every input that I am hearing and seeing. So I really could text, talk on the phone, drive with my knee and eat at the same time, if I had enough hands.
One time at work, I walked in an hour late (doctor's appointment) and it turned out that my boss was out sick. All 5 of our student workers asked me questions simultaneously over one another. I then proceeded to answer them each in turn from left to right. They all walked away, but one came back and said, "How did you do that?"
I also know when I cannot. I was talking to my wife (on Bluetooth) recently, and said, "hang on", because I needed all my brainpower to avoid a near-accident across all 3 lanes. Seemingly, most people are incapable of figuring this out as well, probably because they can't be aware of how much brainpower is required and how much is available while simultaneously using most of it.
But, I am also the ONLY person I know that can do this. So, while laws like this are a little bit annoying for me personally, I am completely in favor of them, because I have been in near-accidents dozens of times with complete drooling idiots that couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone hold a phone up to their ear and drive (and forget about texting).
The heroin user kills the person who surprised him when he entered his house looking for something to steal.
Seriously, if you don't think heroin addiction affects others, you are as deluded than the texter.
But parents DO have an option for school. They can put their kids in private school or they can home school. The vouchers are just a way of saying that they don't want to pay in to the government-run system.
Similarly, if the health care system were optional, people could get their own private health care. But they wouldn't expect vouchers toward it.
Yeah, you would think so. And that's what I keep saying. But every company/client I've worked at has had at least one somewhere.
Everywhere I have worked, there is some vendor that still only supports Access 2.0.
And another one that only supports IE6 (but that's usually the intranet team)
And people wonder why I have never switched from Inno Setup.
Somebody with a RAMDisk driver (Gavrotte RAMDisk) that can build ram disks out of the memory that Windows XP 32 can't otherwise see.
Easy, I do this at work to get access to all 4GB of RAM on a Dell system that won't do it any other way.
1. Look for and download the Chinese version of Gavrotte RAMDisk. This version has the ability to make RAMDisks out of RAM that can't be seen by Windows XP 32 any other way.
2. Now, you have a 1GB RAMDisk R:, made entirely out of RAM that you would otherwise never be able to see. Turn off your swapfile on C: and make a 1GB swapfile on R:.
Bingo. You now have access to all 4GB of RAM on Windows XP 32, no matter what whiny chipset you are using.
Makes sense to me.
But if Microsoft defaulted to 64-bit, Canon would HAVE to release 64-bit drivers. (BTW, my Canon Pixma ip2000 printer works on Windows 7 64-bit. I can't remember if the driver came from Windows itself or from Canon Europe. Canon Europe always has better drivers.)
The Jedi WERE the special forces. The Emperor killed them all.
Notice that they did hire Bounty Hunters to track and kill them all.
Wrong. You must physically disable a security system. Otherwise,what is trespassing?
0 is where saltwater freezes, which is much more important for shipping. Where does saltwater freeze on the Celsius scale?
Just a satisfied customer.
Also, they get reported by disgruntled employees. Quite often, the employee that reported them is not the only disgruntled employee. I have only heard one time about a company that everyone loved getting reported. Every other time, it didn't shock anyone but was only "a matter of time".
They have 85 octane at high altitudes like Colorado and Salt Lake City.
Was his name Jervis Tetch?