You don't say! Maybe you should stop then...
I am not interested in a semantic argument, which is what you are attempting. Read and understand:
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fed10.htm http://www.trimonline.org/website/deceived.htm
Oh, so you think then that the US is a pure democracy? Or that a few democratic features make a democracy?
Sorry, you'd best brush up on your poli sci. And no, I did not follow your link. As you seem capable only of baseless criticism I didn't feel much need...probably a lesson in that about "tone".:)
Incompetent management is pretty much required now in order to create work through inefficiency during the slow collapse in capitalism we are seeing.
If not for idiot managers who like to see everything done incorrectly at least three times before the job is done right, then many of us simply would be out of work.
Intelligence, knowledge, wisdom, skill and efficiency are NOT desirable qualities in management (in a failing capitalist democracy).
Be glad all our managers are idiots, it makes work for us.
A pity I've used all my mod points, that is darn insightful. But I must offer one small correction, the US is not a democracy -- it's a "democratic republic", a form of representative government which incorporates some features of a democracy. The most commonly seen pure democracy would be a lynch mob, which is why the founding fathers devised the system they did. Not a bad system really, but it requires a tad better than rampant apathy and cynicism to to make it work for us.
Now Corporate America, they really know how to use representative government, so they get excellent results. Maybe some day "we the people" will wake up to the power of that example and reclaim our rightful place as the true citizens of this land...and demote capitalism from the official religion of the US to it's proper, original, status of economic tool.
True. Also the lead additive provided a small amount of top cylinder (valvetrain) lubrication, which many ICEs actually needed until hardened stainless steel valve seats became more common (they used to be considered a "heavy duty" spec).
When lead additives were finally banned in the US many of us who owned vintage cars were forced to supplement our fuel with other lubricating additives. Of course for many years now if you take your vintage
cylinder heads to a machine shop for a valve job they will automatically install the hardened SS valve seats, so most old cars are fine with unleaded by now.
Wow, sounds to me like having to go to openoffice.org is the least of Big Pond subscribers' problems... Also it strikes me as a bit weird, having such a crappy ISP and the one thing singled out for complaint is what they do and do not offer for download on their site.
No way, it has to be ion3 for a geek like me -- pure tab city! No more wasted real estate, and saves me from neurotically having to position everything 'just so'. Just hit F3 and type your command. Consumes next to no resources.
Ahh, so much better...
You're not.
For me it's an OS X Desktop for multimedia production/home entertainment and FreeBSD laptop and server for the geek paychecks. I would hate to have to do without either one. It would be possible of course, just very inconvenient.
I am getting fed up with people who after installing some convoluted set of emulation/virtualization layers get a Windows-only proprietary crapola to limp along pathetically, following which they go around exclaiming that "its working!".
One of my favorite audio streams uses mms; not being a windows user I am able to access it with mplayer on my FreeBSD and Mac boxen, but it's buggy and sucks a lot of resources.
I strongly recommend VMWare to them. Its a far better way to make things "work" in that fashion. Just boot XP in a VM and presto! 100% "workiness" of proprietary crap plugins.
That, or use a Mac for web browsing/multimedia.
I do look forward to the day we have something better than OSS or ALSA for the FOSS world, but that's another thread...
Oops. I apologise then, you know it can be hard to tell sometimes -- and actually it was pretty funny, but there are so many people these days saying such things in earnest.
"Stealing something" and "theft" aren't synonyms, no matter how hard you wish for it to be. Stealing something is taking something that you shouldn't. Theft is depriving someone of something he owns.
You are delusional. I suppose statistically speaking, that makes you normal in today's USA.
Still, I prefer honesty and reality. The "system" you rationalise is dishonest and false. It really is just as simple as that, no matter how many straw men you build or how emotional you become.
Piracy is not theft. Piracy is stealing. Learn what words mean.
Good Lord, where did you go to school -- the Ministry of Truth?
Your argument would have been fantastic if you'd made it a hundred years ago. Nowadays, however, a lot of items aren't physical and are still considered to be owned. Your view of ownership being limited to the possession of a physical artifact is what makes your take on the current state of affairs ridiculous.
That is an incorrect assessment. Have the laws of physics changed? No. And neither has the definition of theft. It is you who are the dinosaur bleating about how unfair your impending extinction is.
What you're saying is if I hacked into my bank account and changed the balance from $10 to 10,000,000 dollars, because no physical property is involved it's not a crime
No, that is most certainly not what I said, that is what you said.
Presumably because it served your desire to spew rhetoric rather than have an actual debate. Go on already with your irrational sputtering of insane ideas. I'm done with you. You are neither rational nor honest.
If you have an apple and I take it without your permission that is stealing because I deprive you of that apple.
If you have a file I can see on the network and I copy it you will probably never know it happened. Therefore, no theft has occurred.
These are the simple facts of life, no matter which socio-economic-political ideology you
choose to subscribe to. Therefore, one can eassily conclude that people who believe as you do have chosen poorly and have lost. I do not pay taxes to assuage the feelings or recoup the "damages" claimed by incompetent proponents of unnatural ideologies, period. Go get a sustainable business model! Where is the sense of personal responsibility in your "capitalist" foolishness? Get real! The USA is already a socialist state for corporations, and a feudalist state for humans, what more do you people want?
Now please leave me alone and go get yourself an education.
They built a product, they can charge whatever the hell they want for it, and its their right that people aren't stealing it.
Okay, now you refer to copying a file as "stealing". Therefore you are probably delusional due to your irrational faith in capitalism and there is no point trying to discuss this with you. What can I say? Game over, get well soon.
Microsoft's not any more or less evil than any other large-cap corporation out there. The whiners better just face up to that fact and move the hell on. You are getting tiring to listen to.
I was just thinking that very thought, but it was about the hardcore capitalist greed mongers who think society owes them the right to exploit whatever resources necessary in order to "manufacture wealth". I sure do wish you all would grow up and stop being so selfish. The business model is obsolete because it cannot work anymore without creating some *artificial* arrangement, okay genius? It ain't my job to solve MS' (or the **AA's) problems, but given the resources at their disposal I'm quite confident I'd do better than they are doing.
The real whiners are the stupid people for whom capitalism is a religion.
Sadly that appears to be the vast majority of people in the US these days...
No, you're comparing Apples and oranges -- Apple sells complete computers (hard and software), so their model is not obsolete so long as it remains non-trivial to copy a Mac.
MS is basing their business model on software which can be easily copied and downloaded.
A company that fancies itself a "tech leader" has no business attempting to enforce such an obsolete business model. The fact that MS still does not get this will be their undoing.
Simpler solution. Don't pirate software. They wouldn't pirate guitars...
Using software you bought is not piracy, no matter what idiocy the EULA tries to present as "law". Copyright and patent law is completely broken in the US now, thanks to asshats like the BSA, RIAA, and MPAA (and thanks to sheep like you going along with them).
Nevertheless, most of us feel just as we always did -- and it's just common sense after all -- You buy the thing, you own it. Fair use means no state or corporate agency can tell me what to do with *my* copy, as long as I don't redistribute it.
I really don't get what all the fuss is about.
For over a year now I've used gmail with an MUA (sylpheed)
for all email. It was no harder than setting up ISP email.
There are no magic tricks or anything, just enter settings and use email! I have to wonder, what would these people do in case of a real problem? And who set up their email the first time?
Actually, if the Feds don't regulate the net then it's the telcos and cablecos who will set policy -- and we can see just how well the whole "free market" foolishness works for everything else (how 'bout that Ivory Coast for example). The thing people seem to miss is the fact that free market means if I want your head for my hood ornament it's just a question of having the money. So while I do have qualms about gov't regulation in general it beats the heck out of the alternative.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't say! Maybe you should stop then... I am not interested in a semantic argument, which is what you are attempting. Read and understand:
http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fed10.htm
http://www.trimonline.org/website/deceived.htm
Oh, so you think then that the US is a pure democracy? Or that a few democratic features make a democracy? Sorry, you'd best brush up on your poli sci. And no, I did not follow your link. As you seem capable only of baseless criticism I didn't feel much need...probably a lesson in that about "tone". :)
Yes, and I really am a bit tired of delivering it. But so long as there are so many who believe they live in a democracy it still needs to be said.
Yep, we do know -- that's why we live there and just visit y'all for the holidays!
A pity I've used all my mod points, that is darn insightful. But I must offer one small correction, the US is not a democracy -- it's a "democratic republic", a form of representative government which incorporates some features of a democracy. The most commonly seen pure democracy would be a lynch mob, which is why the founding fathers devised the system they did. Not a bad system really, but it requires a tad better than rampant apathy and cynicism to to make it work for us.
Now Corporate America, they really know how to use representative government, so they get excellent results. Maybe some day "we the people" will wake up to the power of that example and reclaim our rightful place as the true citizens of this land...and demote capitalism from the official religion of the US to it's proper, original, status of economic tool.
Deprogammers Needed!
True. Also the lead additive provided a small amount of top cylinder (valvetrain) lubrication, which many ICEs actually needed until hardened stainless steel valve seats became more common (they used to be considered a "heavy duty" spec). When lead additives were finally banned in the US many of us who owned vintage cars were forced to supplement our fuel with other lubricating additives. Of course for many years now if you take your vintage cylinder heads to a machine shop for a valve job they will automatically install the hardened SS valve seats, so most old cars are fine with unleaded by now.
Wow, sounds to me like having to go to openoffice.org is the least of Big Pond subscribers' problems... Also it strikes me as a bit weird, having such a crappy ISP and the one thing singled out for complaint is what they do and do not offer for download on their site.
Obviously, it's a plan9 fossil setup -- duh!
Please turn in your geek cards on the way out.
No way, it has to be ion3 for a geek like me -- pure tab city! No more wasted real estate, and saves me from neurotically having to position everything 'just so'. Just hit F3 and type your command. Consumes next to no resources.
Ahh, so much better...
You're not. For me it's an OS X Desktop for multimedia production/home entertainment and FreeBSD laptop and server for the geek paychecks. I would hate to have to do without either one. It would be possible of course, just very inconvenient.
One of my favorite audio streams uses mms; not being a windows user I am able to access it with mplayer on my FreeBSD and Mac boxen, but it's buggy and sucks a lot of resources.
That, or use a Mac for web browsing/multimedia. I do look forward to the day we have something better than OSS or ALSA for the FOSS world, but that's another thread...
Oops. I apologise then, you know it can be hard to tell sometimes -- and actually it was pretty funny, but there are so many people these days saying such things in earnest.
Not just a straw man, a drama queen straw man!
You are delusional. I suppose statistically speaking, that makes you normal in today's USA. Still, I prefer honesty and reality. The "system" you rationalise is dishonest and false. It really is just as simple as that, no matter how many straw men you build or how emotional you become.
Good Lord, where did you go to school -- the Ministry of Truth?
That is an incorrect assessment. Have the laws of physics changed? No. And neither has the definition of theft. It is you who are the dinosaur bleating about how unfair your impending extinction is.
No, that is most certainly not what I said, that is what you said. Presumably because it served your desire to spew rhetoric rather than have an actual debate. Go on already with your irrational sputtering of insane ideas. I'm done with you. You are neither rational nor honest.
If you have an apple and I take it without your permission that is stealing because I deprive you of that apple.
If you have a file I can see on the network and I copy it you will probably never know it happened. Therefore, no theft has occurred.
These are the simple facts of life, no matter which socio-economic-political ideology you choose to subscribe to. Therefore, one can eassily conclude that people who believe as you do have chosen poorly and have lost. I do not pay taxes to assuage the feelings or recoup the "damages" claimed by incompetent proponents of unnatural ideologies, period. Go get a sustainable business model! Where is the sense of personal responsibility in your "capitalist" foolishness? Get real! The USA is already a socialist state for corporations, and a feudalist state for humans, what more do you people want?
Now please leave me alone and go get yourself an education.
I'm laughing at you MS fanbois who wasted your modpoints to mod me down for speaking the truth. Y'all astro turfers disgust me, eat truth!
Okay, now you refer to copying a file as "stealing". Therefore you are probably delusional due to your irrational faith in capitalism and there is no point trying to discuss this with you. What can I say? Game over, get well soon.
I was just thinking that very thought, but it was about the hardcore capitalist greed mongers who think society owes them the right to exploit whatever resources necessary in order to "manufacture wealth". I sure do wish you all would grow up and stop being so selfish. The business model is obsolete because it cannot work anymore without creating some *artificial* arrangement, okay genius? It ain't my job to solve MS' (or the **AA's) problems, but given the resources at their disposal I'm quite confident I'd do better than they are doing.
The real whiners are the stupid people for whom capitalism is a religion. Sadly that appears to be the vast majority of people in the US these days...
No, you're comparing Apples and oranges -- Apple sells complete computers (hard and software), so their model is not obsolete so long as it remains non-trivial to copy a Mac. MS is basing their business model on software which can be easily copied and downloaded.
A company that fancies itself a "tech leader" has no business attempting to enforce such an obsolete business model. The fact that MS still does not get this will be their undoing.
So that's one (nearly) down, just a few million to go. Well, it has to start somewhere...
Using software you bought is not piracy, no matter what idiocy the EULA tries to present as "law". Copyright and patent law is completely broken in the US now, thanks to asshats like the BSA, RIAA, and MPAA (and thanks to sheep like you going along with them).
Nevertheless, most of us feel just as we always did -- and it's just common sense after all -- You buy the thing, you own it. Fair use means no state or corporate agency can tell me what to do with *my* copy, as long as I don't redistribute it.
I really don't get what all the fuss is about. For over a year now I've used gmail with an MUA (sylpheed) for all email. It was no harder than setting up ISP email. There are no magic tricks or anything, just enter settings and use email! I have to wonder, what would these people do in case of a real problem? And who set up their email the first time?
Actually, if the Feds don't regulate the net then it's the telcos and cablecos who will set policy -- and we can see just how well the whole "free market" foolishness works for everything else (how 'bout that Ivory Coast for example). The thing people seem to miss is the fact that free market means if I want your head for my hood ornament it's just a question of having the money. So while I do have qualms about gov't regulation in general it beats the heck out of the alternative.