sheesh, that somewhat disgusted me last Nov because I live in District 3 which was specifically gerrymandered to elect a minority representative, currently Bob Scott. It has been ruled unconstitutional in court but so far nothing has changed. Nothing against Scott personally, seems like an ok rep.
one thing that wasn't mentioned, and the article probably left OUT a lot, is not just govt. but what ADVERTISERS do to track your behaviour. It's been reported that once digital TV starts rolling out the media networks will be able to monitor peoples viewing habits, for the purpose of gathering 'ratings'. Yep, everytime your change the channel or watch a program it'll be logged. And those discount cards that bookstores and grocerys hand out? Nice way to build up a database of your buying habits, too.
Have a pleasant day. o)
Chuck - Application Software Secretary, Home Office License Enforcement
I know it's difficult to cut thru the politics but it's not at all a matter of 'I like this' and 'I hate that' - facts are facts and the cases must be decided on that basis, not on a popularity or vilification contest. The issues is, did/does Microsoft use illegal/unethical tactics to tie in and promote their products and shut out potential competitors, in their hubris arrogantly thinking they are too smart or too good to get caught at it? The analysis of the AARD code says to me: YES, they did/do. A civilized marketplace cannot allow one opportunistic monopolist to become so obsessed with success that they think they're somehow exempt, special or above the laws that the rest of us are held to.
As the twig is bent, so the tree inclines - sometimes I think M$ got where they are today due to US fear in the early 80's about Japan and Germany, all the rhetoric about the US being 'globally competitive' seemed to justify the creation of a domestic monopoly, M$ political supporters allowed them to get away with questionable tactics as long as it created jobs, paid taxes, etc even tho some economists warned: a domestic monopoly is a monopoly is a monopoly, it's just bad bad bad and isn't capitalism; patriotism and nationalism but not competitive capitalism.
but I just couldn't read that beyond '... the elegance of Windows 98...'
I think their talking about conspicuous consumption and flaunting wealth - "Hey, everybody , I have a 9Gb disk and just fill it up with stuff that I don't even use, yeah!"
actually, watching all the duplicity, subterfuge and billion dollar marketing they have to use so that consumers 'freely choose' their products; s'like watching a record company pick a loud, lousy band (BG & the BASIC's, they only know 3 chords!) and foisting it on us with repetitive media saturation (listen to ANYTHING long enough and you'll learn to like it), people who don't know 'boogie fever' from beethoven buy it, play it on their boom-pc's thinking how cool and 'with it' they are. Then, serious musicians never had a lot of respect for pop music - once the advertising stops people will see it for what it is and it'll be consigned to the 'golden moldies' kitsch culture bargin bin. Meanwhile, keepers of the True Faith® will have some good software cloistered away for such time as when society is ready for it.
Gak.... sounds like the story going around several years ago about the song "Happy Birthday" being copyrighted.
if you have a lawyer to write scary letters, you are in the right unless the person getting the letters is also sitting on a pile of cash to hire his own lawyers.
Someone had a book out once, about how to write your own scary letters - maybe one of the cheapo home legal kits at the office supply store might have some std boilerplates.
Well, there's real history - a deliberate effort to understand what truly happened from evidence and records, and there's 'pop' history, which is written by the consortium with the biggest advt/production budget for the casual media consumer.
Chuck
"People who think they know everything are particularly annoying to those of us who do"
Heee - bias, *anybody* can repeat the results - I just installed a less espensive product with a great Netware client utility suite and everything written for dos/win3 ran better than expected. So just tell me bud, and I'll try to verify it in my lab - what does DR-DOS fail to do that MS-DOS was such a whiz at that gave MS 100% market share, other than pure marketing bs, fud and a few intentionally planted innoculous bugs, hmmmmm? We anxiously await any factual and verifiable answer.
It gets tiring when I'm constantly picking up other people's messes because I'm the only one who knows how
This is precisely my angle - we know M$ got a free ride from WAY back by taking advantage of the new breed of computer hackers made possible by inexpensive hardware - i.e., the legions of hobbyists who are willing to fix M$ bugs and quirks for free. And that's exactly what I'm doing whenever one of their latest and greatest products pukes - 1) make it perfectly clear to the person who bought the license or stole a copy that it comes with no warrenty or guarentee that it'll even run and if it damages any important info, too bad, and that it is M$ property. 2) After convencing them that the product isn't all that it's cracked up to be, ask why they purchased it. If they reply that 'why, everybody is using it', I'll ask if it isn't dangerous for a company with such an obvious quality problem to have a default monopoly on the consumer market? What if the product 'just doesn't work on my machine' and there are no alternatives available? Then I'll try to get them to shop around a little more and maybe find something a little more 'open' that we can work with, otherwise call the M$ tech support # and MAYBE they can help you. Have fun!
In other words, I'm personally avoiding fixing M$ messes as much as possible. I'm not wasting my life fixing some billionair company's broken property for nothing!
No, it's not just a lawsuit for the sake of lawsuits or court TV entertainment tonight - it goes to the very heart of dasterdly uncompetitive practices, intentionally introducing 'bugs' that somehow pop up when using a Microsoft product with a product from a competitor; M$ is a jealous deity and tolerates no rivals! It's just blantly illegal, like kicking the legs of a competitor in a foot race because you don't think anyone is looking. It's just bad, bad, BAD!!
In the early 90's, after finally giving in and getting a PeeC, I tried out DR-Dos and was quite impressed (except for the emm386 crashing) and pleased that an alternative existed, w/ an excellent set of Novell client utilities. Of course M$ dare not compete on QUALITY of software!
one you go out to get on your own freewill with some freedom of choice and the other is forced into your mailbox against your wishes.
I think some of what happens is pro spammers 'sell' advertising services to unsuspecting, gullible small business folks (your typical M$ customer) who have heard about this nifty Internet stuff but don't really understand it - all Mr. or Mrs. small businessperson knows is some Internet company sold them "get your message to 25 million eyeballs for only $250!!" and they bought it, just like they buy ad space in a local paper or time on a radio station. The only ones who profit are the screwball spamming scumbags.
That's really funny - choice is *exactely* want we want in the face of encroaching M$ market monopolies, the very antithesis of capitalism; M$ does everything in their deep pocket/marketing power to take away consumer choice and make themselves the default standard("Windows everywhere!") The last thing I'd want personally is to have Linux (or ANYthing) enjoy the 'preloaded os default' that Win9x has among uninformed appliance computer buyers. *I* enjoy many choices, and would love to share the wonderful experience with others who aren't computer professionals (and as a pro I'm *REALLY* resenting more and more the M$ consumers perpetual ly trying to get 'free' advice on how to deal with the problems they keep having).
M$ hatred is informed by direct personal experience with their lousy, overhyped, liability disclaimered, closed source, vendor locked in, perpetually upgrading whether you want it or not, so-called products! Good for M$, bad for consumers, period.
to compare the two - one produces a few very high quality, highly regarded, well reviewed, albeit expensive products like the Next box or WebObjects for a select, well heeled clientel, while the other produces a flood of cheap, buggy doggerel intended to prey upon the gullibilities of any moron who want's to appear to be computer savvy
I think, on how well one organizes their thinking into a logical, hierarchical associative structure (whew) - there are various mnemonic devices that can help one remember - such as visualizing a street (memory lane) or the inside of a castle (Interior Castle). I've met only 2, maybe three people I could say had 'encyclopedic' memories and was amazed, whenever I asked a question, they'd sort of close their eyes, maybe tilt the head back, and if you wait a few seconds they'd come back with the answer everytime (one was a priest, one an Electrical Engineering prof. and the other a Unix guy I worked with). It was amazing to watch but you'd have to give them a little time to think.
'd be neat if there was enough intact DNA to inject into a calf egg and grow an Einstein clone w/ large hat size - Then maybe he can figure out why my NT drag&drop is broken.
Seems there was a 'Wired' cover of Richard Dawkins with the projected head size humans will have years hence.
Ack - I'm sure it won't be long before some rouge scientist clones some wealthy individual (like you know who, heheh - I mean Mr. Burns) in an underground lab and the public won't find out about it untill the bugger is over 10 years old or something.
Proceed with caution - there's a lot of politics and public image involved, and so far M$ has the bigger bull horn - be careful not to play into their hands. Those guys have a LOOOOONG history of taking some event and twisting it around to appear to be something else - or of 'strategically partnering' with some other entity which ends up getting the royal shaft. It would look too much like a command performance (See, when the King calls, ya gotta go!) When Ralph Nader had his conference on software monopolies and invited Gates to come and speak, did he? Nooooooo!! Personally I'd say thanks but no thanks, I'm too busy, but you can come to the next Linux Expo I'm appearing at and listen in, or here's some of my brochures you can look thru while waiting on ME.
The parallel is, just as a certain gene, such as the one for 'blue eyes' controls certain aspects of one's physical build, a meme is an idea that influences one's behavior or decision making, what advertising is pretty much about - so if the boss says to put an SQL server up and you kneejerkingly write a purchase order for a M$ product without any thought, then you have the M$ meme - your mind is no longer in control, just a slave robot to someone else's selfish desires. Of course this process depends on the meme having/some/ benefit for the host organism ("we bought M$ products before and it was cheaper, for the most part works, and had enuff bugs to keep me employed fixing them").
Slashdot Mirror
As our local paper put it: it's not so much piracy as it is mutiny.
Chuck
sheesh, that somewhat disgusted me last Nov because I live in District 3 which was specifically gerrymandered to elect a minority representative, currently Bob Scott. It has been ruled unconstitutional in court but so far nothing has changed. Nothing against Scott personally, seems like an ok rep.
Chuck
one thing that wasn't mentioned, and the article probably left OUT a lot, is not just govt. but what ADVERTISERS do to track your behaviour. It's been reported that once digital TV starts rolling out the media networks will be able to monitor peoples viewing habits, for the purpose of gathering 'ratings'. Yep, everytime your change the channel or watch a program it'll be logged.
And those discount cards that bookstores and grocerys hand out? Nice way to build up a database of your buying habits, too.
Have a pleasant day. o)
Chuck - Application Software Secretary, Home Office License Enforcement
I know it's difficult to cut thru the politics but it's not at all a matter of 'I like this' and 'I hate that' - facts are facts and the cases must be decided on that basis, not on a popularity or vilification contest. The issues is, did/does Microsoft use illegal/unethical tactics to tie in and promote their products and shut out potential competitors, in their hubris arrogantly thinking they are too smart or too good to get caught at it? The analysis of the AARD code says to me: YES, they did/do. A civilized marketplace cannot allow one opportunistic monopolist to become so obsessed with success that they think they're somehow exempt, special or above the laws that the rest of us are held to.
Chuck
As the twig is bent, so the tree inclines - sometimes I think M$ got where they are today due to US fear in the early 80's about Japan and Germany, all the rhetoric about the US being 'globally competitive' seemed to justify the creation of a domestic monopoly, M$ political supporters allowed them to get away with questionable tactics as long as it created jobs, paid taxes, etc even tho some economists warned:
a domestic monopoly is a monopoly is a monopoly, it's just bad bad bad and isn't capitalism; patriotism and nationalism but not competitive capitalism.
But I could be hallucinating.
Chuck
but I just couldn't read that beyond '... the elegance of Windows 98...'
I think their talking about conspicuous consumption and flaunting wealth - "Hey, everybody , I have a 9Gb disk and just fill it up with stuff that I don't even use, yeah!"
Chuck
Error #1287: tag line file corrupt or missing
Well, I'm going to put my collection of Wired in storage and then sell them for a fortune on eBay 30 years from now.
L@@K! Rare! Wow! Ancient Internet Mag
Chuck
Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it: log onto slashdot and post some wise ass remarks.
actually, watching all the duplicity, subterfuge and billion dollar marketing they have to use so that consumers 'freely choose' their products; s'like watching a record company pick a loud, lousy band (BG & the BASIC's, they only know 3 chords!) and foisting it on us with repetitive media saturation (listen to ANYTHING long enough and you'll learn to like it), people who don't know 'boogie fever' from beethoven buy it, play it on their boom-pc's thinking how cool and 'with it' they are. Then, serious musicians never had a lot of respect for pop music - once the advertising stops people will see it for what it is and it'll be consigned to the 'golden moldies' kitsch culture bargin bin. Meanwhile, keepers of the True Faith® will have some good software cloistered away for such time as when society is ready for it.
:)
Chuck
Gak .... sounds like the story going around several years ago about the song "Happy Birthday" being copyrighted.
if you have a lawyer to write scary letters, you are in the right unless the person getting the letters is also sitting on a pile of cash to hire his own lawyers.
Someone had a book out once, about how to write your own scary letters - maybe one of the cheapo home legal kits at the office supply store might have some std boilerplates.
Chuck
Your tuned to the BDI network.
traceroute 208.166.177.37 from here doesn't get past border1-hssi2-0.minneapolis.usinternet.com
Chuck
Cheezus, for the past year and ½ we've been watching seminal fluid on the seal of the US white house.
Well, there's real history - a deliberate effort to understand what truly happened from evidence and records, and there's 'pop' history, which is written by the consortium with the biggest advt/production budget for the casual media consumer.
Chuck
"People who think they know everything are particularly annoying to those of us who do"
Heee - bias, *anybody* can repeat the results - I just installed a less espensive product with a great Netware client utility suite and everything written for dos/win3 ran better than expected. So just tell me bud, and I'll try to verify it in my lab - what does DR-DOS fail to do that MS-DOS was such a whiz at that gave MS 100% market share, other than pure marketing bs, fud and a few intentionally planted innoculous bugs, hmmmmm? We anxiously await any factual and verifiable answer.
Chuck
It gets tiring when I'm constantly picking up other people's messes because I'm the only one who knows how
This is precisely my angle - we know M$ got a free ride from WAY back by taking advantage of the new breed of computer hackers made possible by inexpensive hardware - i.e., the legions of hobbyists who are willing to fix M$ bugs and quirks for free. And that's exactly what I'm doing whenever one of their latest and greatest products pukes - 1) make it perfectly clear to the person who bought the license or stole a copy that it comes with no warrenty or guarentee that it'll even run and if it damages any important info, too bad, and that it is M$ property. 2) After convencing them that the product isn't all that it's cracked up to be, ask why they purchased it. If they reply that 'why, everybody is using it', I'll ask if it isn't dangerous for a company with such an obvious quality problem to have a default monopoly on the consumer market? What if the product 'just doesn't work on my machine' and there are no alternatives available? Then I'll try to get them to shop around a little more and maybe find something a little more 'open' that we can work with, otherwise call the M$ tech support # and MAYBE they can help you. Have fun!
In other words, I'm personally avoiding fixing M$ messes as much as possible. I'm not wasting my life fixing some billionair company's broken property for nothing!
Chuck
No, it's not just a lawsuit for the sake of lawsuits or court TV entertainment tonight - it goes to the very heart of dasterdly uncompetitive practices, intentionally introducing 'bugs' that somehow pop up when using a Microsoft product with a product from a competitor; M$ is a jealous deity and tolerates no rivals! It's just blantly illegal, like kicking the legs of a competitor in a foot race because you don't think anyone is looking. It's just bad, bad, BAD!!
In the early 90's, after finally giving in and getting a PeeC, I tried out DR-Dos and was quite impressed (except for the emm386 crashing) and pleased that an alternative existed, w/ an excellent set of Novell client utilities. Of course M$ dare not compete on QUALITY of software!
Chuck
one you go out to get on your own freewill with some freedom of choice and the other is forced into your mailbox against your wishes.
I think some of what happens is pro spammers 'sell' advertising services to unsuspecting, gullible small business folks (your typical M$ customer) who have heard about this nifty Internet stuff but don't really understand it - all Mr. or Mrs. small businessperson knows is some Internet company sold them "get your message to 25 million eyeballs for only $250!!" and they bought it, just like they buy ad space in a local paper or time on a radio station. The only ones who profit are the screwball spamming scumbags.
Chuck
Hmmpf. Well, while waiting for the crowd to die down here's the skinny on a cirrus MP3 DEcoder in Si.
I've been real happy w/ bladenc, but haven't tried any others.
Chuck
per Bob 'Ethernet' Metcalfe.
I didn't know we were all squeezing in thru a single B channel...
For Internet stocks, there's bound to be profits in promoting Software that Doesn't Suck®
Chuck
That's really funny - choice is *exactely* want we want in the face of encroaching M$ market monopolies, the very antithesis of capitalism; M$ does everything in their deep pocket/marketing power to take away consumer choice and make themselves the default standard("Windows everywhere!") The last thing I'd want personally is to have Linux (or ANYthing) enjoy the 'preloaded os default' that Win9x has among uninformed appliance computer buyers.
*I* enjoy many choices, and would love to share the wonderful experience with others who aren't computer professionals (and as a pro I'm *REALLY* resenting more and more the M$ consumers perpetual ly trying to get 'free' advice on how to deal with the problems they keep having).
M$ hatred is informed by direct personal experience with their lousy, overhyped, liability disclaimered, closed source, vendor locked in, perpetually upgrading whether you want it or not, so-called products! Good for M$, bad
for consumers, period.
Chuck
Hmm, it just so happens that my web site has (and about ALL it has) is an old scan of a DEC ad mentioning ARPA (2 dozen computers).
A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always
valuable. -- Thomas Jefferson
to compare the two - one produces a few very high quality, highly regarded, well reviewed, albeit expensive products like the Next box or WebObjects for a select, well heeled clientel, while the other produces a flood of cheap, buggy doggerel intended to prey upon the gullibilities of any moron who want's to appear to be computer savvy
:)
Chuck
I think, on how well one organizes their thinking into a logical, hierarchical associative structure (whew) - there are various mnemonic devices that can help one remember - such as visualizing a street (memory lane) or the inside of a castle (Interior Castle). I've met only 2, maybe three people I could say had 'encyclopedic' memories and was amazed, whenever I asked a question, they'd sort of close their eyes, maybe tilt the head back, and if you wait a few seconds they'd come back with the answer everytime (one was a priest, one an Electrical Engineering prof. and the other a Unix guy I worked with). It was amazing to watch but you'd have to give them a little time to think.
Chuck
'd be neat if there was enough intact DNA to inject into a calf egg and grow an Einstein clone w/ large hat size - Then maybe he can figure out why my NT drag&drop is broken.
Seems there was a 'Wired' cover of Richard Dawkins with the projected head size humans will have years hence.
Chuck
The only thing free are the commercials
Ack - I'm sure it won't be long before some rouge scientist clones some wealthy individual (like you know who, heheh - I mean Mr. Burns) in an underground lab and the public won't find out about it untill the bugger is over 10 years old or something.
Chuck
Proceed with caution - there's a lot of politics and public image involved, and so far M$ has the bigger bull horn - be careful not to play into their hands. Those guys have a LOOOOONG history of taking some event and twisting it around to appear to be something else - or of 'strategically partnering' with some other entity which ends up getting the royal shaft. It would look too much like a command performance (See, when the King calls, ya gotta go!) When Ralph Nader had his conference on software monopolies and invited Gates to come and speak, did he? Nooooooo!! Personally I'd say thanks but no thanks, I'm too busy, but you can come to the next Linux Expo I'm appearing at and listen in, or here's some of my brochures you can look thru while waiting on ME.
Hehehe
Chuck
Well, now that memetics is itself a meme...
/some/ benefit for the host organism ("we bought M$ products before and it was cheaper, for the most part works, and had enuff bugs to keep me employed fixing them").
The parallel is, just as a certain gene, such as the one for 'blue eyes' controls certain aspects of one's physical build, a meme is an idea that influences one's behavior or decision making, what advertising is pretty much about - so if the boss says to put an SQL server up and you kneejerkingly write a purchase order for a M$ product without any thought, then you have the M$ meme - your mind is no longer in control, just a slave robot to someone else's selfish desires. Of course this process depends on the meme having
Chuck