While I can see Motorola's reason for "protecting the user experience" by doing this, what really scares me is that Apple could just as easily do this to future iPhones and iPads, also in the guise of "protecting the user experience". And, to be honest, I could see their reason for wanting to do so.
The argument against this, which I have put to Apple before, is "What would be the backlash if you did this to your laptop range - made it impossible to install non-Apple approved software" - of course, the backlash would be the death-knell of the company. No-one in their right mind would purchase a laptop with those restrictions (and let's face it - hardware-wise Apple is a closed platform).
Why do it with the iPhone and iPad then ?
Where I live it is perfectly legal to advertise prostitution.
Where I live it is not, but that doesn't stop it happening- it just means it goes under some handy euphemism, such as 'escort services' or 'massage with release' or 'happy ending' or what have you.
My favorite was one from the Sydney Morning Herald - "Full body-to-body massage - No Sex"
It counts because *Australia has preferential voting*. If after the primary vote is counted, the party you voted for as your first preference has the lowest number of votes, that party is eliminated from the race and its votes are redistributed to other other parties according to your *second* preference. This continues until there are only two parties left.
And THIS is the seat of most of the dissatisfaction in Australia's political system - move to a "first past the post" system, no preferences, and it will make the bastards work harder.
John Howard has chosen to lead Australia by following George Bush into the flames of his phony "war on terror", and the rest of us will have to live in the hell they leave behind. Yes, Howard sure has. Now here's the thing... we (by which I mean Australia) have an election this year. We now have the chance to change things! Don't like Howard (hell, I sure don't)? Then vote him out. Vote green. Vote Democrat. Vote independent. Vote for a member with some backbone. Vote for someone who isn't beholden to the libs and the pseudo-libs (labour), someone who can hold the balance of power and force some accoutability for a change. Vote on the issues, not on ill-defined fear and hip pocket jitters. But most importantly... think about how you vote. Get informed. Do some research. Buck the trend, don't just blindly follow your fears and prejudices. Just for once, make an informed, considered decision about what sort of future you want. Unfortunately I haven't yet seen one politician that has a backbone, let alone the cohones to tell the USA where to get off.
Too much for them to loose - all them perks being in government... And as Australia has this wonderful COMPULSORY voting system, a lot tend to vote at random, just to get the hell out of the polling booth and on to the pub.
Seems to me that the US actually has part, only PART, of the electoral process right - people REGISTER to vote. No compulsion.
The Australian system needs to be similar - you REGISTER to vote, then if you want to complain about something to an elected member they require you to show your voter registration card. No card ? There's the door... Why should the politicians listen to someone who can't be bothered voting ?
It'll never happen - too much risk of the Australian populace finding out what the politicians are REALLY up to !!!
Your laws do not apply outside your borders. Unless you live in Australia where little Johnnie Howard (the Prime Minister) has signed a "free trade agreement" that (amongst other things) lets him think her can apply US laws to Australian citizens...
I have nothing abainst (most) Americans - some of my best friends live there - but your legal system sucks even worse than ours !
Or what happens when something bad happens, like ( highly unlikely, I know ) someone dies because they didn't receive proper medical attention because someone had to run and find a working phone instead of using their cell phone? This has been an ongoing dedate in Australia for years. Restaraunts and movie theatres want to be able to use jammers for the comfort / convenience of their patrons.
"Oh, but I'm a Doctor - I need my pager / cellphone to be accessable at all times"... So, go to another theatre !
The Telcos are screaming about the Bush visit - their argument goes something like "We paid for the EXCLUSIVE rights to that frequency spectrum and we will NOT ALLOW anyone to jam it" - i.e. you have no right to control what electronic signal enters your home.
That;s the argument a former employer of mine used years ago to get scanners legalised in Australia - the signal goes through my house, so I have the right to listen to it.
Where the Australian government screwed up, well one of many places, is that when they formed the ACA (Australian Communications Authority - now the Australian Communications and Media Authority) they didn't take the infrastructure from Telstra (copper cables, exchanges, etc) along with the staff to maintain them and make Telstra buy time on the network like every other telco in this country has to.
There is supposed to be an "arm's length" agreement between Telstra Wholesaye (who sell bandwidth to other ISPs, and Telstra Retail (a.k.a. Bigpond, who sell internet access to the great unwashed), and they are supposed to buy their bandwidth for the same or similar price as every other ISP.
Bullshit - you can't tellme that the wholesale division isn't giving the retail division a bigger discount... And the idiots who run the retail division (Bigpond, et al) can't even organize themselves to offer a decent plan !!.. My ISP (Exetel) offers 8Mb ADSL1 for $75/month with 36Gb downloads - Telstra can't come anywhere near that, and it's Telstra bandwidth that Exetel are reselling !!!
If I didn't need a landline to get ADSL (can't get wireless where I am) I'd cut the sucker down - we have 2 x Nokia N95's and our phone is outgoing-call blocked, except for 000 (911 to you Yanks !!). I can receive calls but never make them. Mobile coverage is fine (Vodafone) and allows me to video call when I need to.
Oh, and when Telstra tell you that the DSLAM in your exchange can't do ADSL2+ ? More bullshit - they've been capable of it from day one, but Telstra won't roll out the firmware to enable the higher speed, keep telling people "We have to upgrade the DSLAM for you to get ADSL2+" and try to sell you on their NextG cell network - all the while knowing that those DSLAMs have been capable of 8Mb ADSL1 from day one, and a firmware upgrade would give you ADSL2+ tomorrow...
The service from Telstra sucks now - if they sell the last bit off God alone knows what crap we'll be enduring here in Australia.
Management sees the Bottom Line Price and tends not to listen to IT telling them that, no, you can't just copy all the applications over to the IBM box just because IBM told you that UNIX is UNIX.
In management's defense, this is Oz we're talking about. I assume there was beer involved. And sheilas. When yer stonkered, even AIX can start looking pretty attractive. Hey, I resemble that remark.... Supporting AIX is how I learned to drink !
But there is a problem with the "transitioning of knowledge to other employees". My immediate-former employer tried to force me to do that - I was hired because I had certain skills that no-one else in the group had, skills that I had learned BEFORE commencing employment with them. I used those skills to do the job that no-one else they had could, and caused their systems to run like clockwork.
When I left (or rather, when I was pushed) they tried to force me to document all the "knowledge" I had used so they could benefit from it having provided no training in 4 years.
Of course I refused, given that they were going to "let me go" anyway. Things were documented in the most superficial way - like "build a Windows server", rather than a step-by-step... They were not happy, but saw no problem in screwing me out of training and other benefits.
You need to look atter No 1 - YOURSELF.
Applicable to Australia only: here you must give notice equivalent to your pay period (two weeks, a month etc), or forfiet the equivalent in pay (from your accumulated leave, etc). That is termed "sufficient notice". The definition of "garden leave" (wee Wikipedia) doesn't apply, as if you resign they can't force you on any sort of leave - I suspect this is also the case in the USA as well.
Your employer can ask you to leave immediately, paying you the equivalent amount in lieu of notice, and generally in the IT field being escorted off the premesis immediately is pretty standard in this situation, and sometimes even if you resign WITH notice.
Recent employment by a Catholic University ended badly for me - I was on contract and they decided not to renew it 6 weeks before the end (after 4 years of renewals, and there was a lot more to it - lies and hypocracy by them, but that's for another time). They paid my contract out (6 weeks), paid almost three times that in "redundancy" (not a legal requirement, but they do it to cover their asses) and had me escorted off the premesis immediately. Their reasoning was "We don't want you to 'do anything' to the payroll system" (I managed their payroll application and network) "or take copies of anything".
Get real - if I was going to resign I would have "done something" or "taken copies" weeks before - not that I did, it didn't interest me in any way and I don't work like that.
This is very common here and, I suspect, in the USA as well. Generates a lot of anomosity where none existed before.
Problem is that no amount of government meddling... err, LEGISLATION... can protect idiots from themselves.
Doesn't Windows XP automatically connect to an open access point if it finds it ?
Talk about screwing it up... Look at this from the MealplusPay website;
Your Browser Is Currently Not Supported
Your browser is not supported for use with this site. This site requires one of the following browsers:
* Internet Explorer 5.5 or above (5.1 or above on Mac)
* Firefox 1.0 or above
* Maxthon 1.2 or above
* Netscape 8.0 or above
Your current browser: Firefox Version 1.5.0.5
Now, what's wrong with the above ? Anyone ?? Anyone ?? Beuller ??
Slashdot Mirror
While I can see Motorola's reason for "protecting the user experience" by doing this, what really scares me is that Apple could just as easily do this to future iPhones and iPads, also in the guise of "protecting the user experience". And, to be honest, I could see their reason for wanting to do so. The argument against this, which I have put to Apple before, is "What would be the backlash if you did this to your laptop range - made it impossible to install non-Apple approved software" - of course, the backlash would be the death-knell of the company. No-one in their right mind would purchase a laptop with those restrictions (and let's face it - hardware-wise Apple is a closed platform). Why do it with the iPhone and iPad then ?
Bugger the museums, why can't *I* have them ?
My favorite was one from the Sydney Morning Herald - "Full body-to-body massage - No Sex"
And THIS is the seat of most of the dissatisfaction in Australia's political system - move to a "first past the post" system, no preferences, and it will make the bastards work harder.
Too much for them to loose - all them perks being in government... And as Australia has this wonderful COMPULSORY voting system, a lot tend to vote at random, just to get the hell out of the polling booth and on to the pub.
Seems to me that the US actually has part, only PART, of the electoral process right - people REGISTER to vote. No compulsion.
The Australian system needs to be similar - you REGISTER to vote, then if you want to complain about something to an elected member they require you to show your voter registration card. No card ? There's the door... Why should the politicians listen to someone who can't be bothered voting ?
It'll never happen - too much risk of the Australian populace finding out what the politicians are REALLY up to !!!
Peace....
moldor.the.flatulent
I wouldn't worry - it'd be a damn short list..:-)
Where the Australian government screwed up, well one of many places, is that when they formed the ACA (Australian Communications Authority - now the Australian Communications and Media Authority) they didn't take the infrastructure from Telstra (copper cables, exchanges, etc) along with the staff to maintain them and make Telstra buy time on the network like every other telco in this country has to.
There is supposed to be an "arm's length" agreement between Telstra Wholesaye (who sell bandwidth to other ISPs, and Telstra Retail (a.k.a. Bigpond, who sell internet access to the great unwashed), and they are supposed to buy their bandwidth for the same or similar price as every other ISP.
Bullshit - you can't tellme that the wholesale division isn't giving the retail division a bigger discount... And the idiots who run the retail division (Bigpond, et al) can't even organize themselves to offer a decent plan !!.. My ISP (Exetel) offers 8Mb ADSL1 for $75/month with 36Gb downloads - Telstra can't come anywhere near that, and it's Telstra bandwidth that Exetel are reselling !!!
If I didn't need a landline to get ADSL (can't get wireless where I am) I'd cut the sucker down - we have 2 x Nokia N95's and our phone is outgoing-call blocked, except for 000 (911 to you Yanks !!). I can receive calls but never make them. Mobile coverage is fine (Vodafone) and allows me to video call when I need to.
Oh, and when Telstra tell you that the DSLAM in your exchange can't do ADSL2+ ? More bullshit - they've been capable of it from day one, but Telstra won't roll out the firmware to enable the higher speed, keep telling people "We have to upgrade the DSLAM for you to get ADSL2+" and try to sell you on their NextG cell network - all the while knowing that those DSLAMs have been capable of 8Mb ADSL1 from day one, and a firmware upgrade would give you ADSL2+ tomorrow...
The service from Telstra sucks now - if they sell the last bit off God alone knows what crap we'll be enduring here in Australia.
I had a similar experience (the bullying without the money) from a University (a CATHOLIC one) here in Australia.
Should your former employer ever attempt to persuade you to remove the article again, PM me and I'll host it for you.
Jon
But there is a problem with the "transitioning of knowledge to other employees". My immediate-former employer tried to force me to do that - I was hired because I had certain skills that no-one else in the group had, skills that I had learned BEFORE commencing employment with them. I used those skills to do the job that no-one else they had could, and caused their systems to run like clockwork. When I left (or rather, when I was pushed) they tried to force me to document all the "knowledge" I had used so they could benefit from it having provided no training in 4 years. Of course I refused, given that they were going to "let me go" anyway. Things were documented in the most superficial way - like "build a Windows server", rather than a step-by-step... They were not happy, but saw no problem in screwing me out of training and other benefits. You need to look atter No 1 - YOURSELF.
Applicable to Australia only: here you must give notice equivalent to your pay period (two weeks, a month etc), or forfiet the equivalent in pay (from your accumulated leave, etc). That is termed "sufficient notice". The definition of "garden leave" (wee Wikipedia) doesn't apply, as if you resign they can't force you on any sort of leave - I suspect this is also the case in the USA as well.
Your employer can ask you to leave immediately, paying you the equivalent amount in lieu of notice, and generally in the IT field being escorted off the premesis immediately is pretty standard in this situation, and sometimes even if you resign WITH notice.
Recent employment by a Catholic University ended badly for me - I was on contract and they decided not to renew it 6 weeks before the end (after 4 years of renewals, and there was a lot more to it - lies and hypocracy by them, but that's for another time). They paid my contract out (6 weeks), paid almost three times that in "redundancy" (not a legal requirement, but they do it to cover their asses) and had me escorted off the premesis immediately. Their reasoning was "We don't want you to 'do anything' to the payroll system" (I managed their payroll application and network) "or take copies of anything".
Get real - if I was going to resign I would have "done something" or "taken copies" weeks before - not that I did, it didn't interest me in any way and I don't work like that.
This is very common here and, I suspect, in the USA as well. Generates a lot of anomosity where none existed before.
Crap - it offers Windows or FreeDOS - both equally useless.
Travoltus, your post has just earned a place in my permenant signature file...:-)
Problem is that no amount of government meddling ... err, LEGISLATION... can protect idiots from themselves.
Doesn't Windows XP automatically connect to an open access point if it finds it ?
Talk about screwing it up... Look at this from the MealplusPay website; Your Browser Is Currently Not Supported Your browser is not supported for use with this site. This site requires one of the following browsers: * Internet Explorer 5.5 or above (5.1 or above on Mac) * Firefox 1.0 or above * Maxthon 1.2 or above * Netscape 8.0 or above Your current browser: Firefox Version 1.5.0.5 Now, what's wrong with the above ? Anyone ?? Anyone ?? Beuller ??