Normally, I just leave out of discussions like this, but I need to comment on a common misconception.
The marketing of physical products vs. intellectual property isn't as different as you might think. A lot of people forget that zero marginal cost is NOT equal to zero total cost. Just because there it is harder to see the correlation between the expenses a company incurs to create a product and the amount they charge does not mean you can steal their product.
Look at this way: You are essentially arguing that consumers should only be responsible for paying for marginal costs. With software, since marginal costs equal almost zero, you therefore argue that you can steal it.
But does that mean that I can just walk into my local clothing store, grab a few new shirts, pay the cashier just enough to cover the actual cost of the cloth plus enough to pay for whatever labor went directly into the production of the shirts, and walk out? Of course not! If we did that, every business on the planet would go out of business.
Now, you may reply that we can't do that since there are buildings to maintain and all that. Exactly. Just like the software vendors have fixed costs to hire their employees and get them to write software. Just because there is a level of abstraction between the price of a product and its need to offset these fixed costs, does not mean that you can disregard it.
So, now everybody repeat after me, "Zero marginal cost != Zero fixed cost."
until then, follow your concionce! its a far better guide than current american laws.
Holly bejesus! I hope nobody follows that advice. Do you want anarchy? You can't just disregard a law if you don't like it. If you don't like the laws, call your Senator. In the mean time, you have live with them. There is a process for disagreeing with the system. You can't just go off on your own every time you disagree.
I just find it ironic that there have been a couple stories on Slashdot over the last month about security holes resulting from unchanged default passwords (i.e. Microsoft SQL), and now Slashdot falls to the same issue.
With the number of comments being added here by the second, hopefully this isn't redundant...
I was reading the Wall Street Journal and they made a couple interesting comments about sending the appeal right to the Supreme Court. First, the DOJ cannot make this request. It must come from the U.S. Solicitor General. Second the Supreme Court does not have to accept the case at this point.
On another note, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has already overturned a similar ruling by Judge Jackson.
Point 1 is correct, but I believe that you are still just a bit off on point 2.
Lets say you don't know any form of advanced math. Therefore, you would calculate this the long way by.01(Day 1 earnings) +.01(Day 2 earnings) +... +.01(Last Day earnings).
If I remember my math correctly, by the distributed property, you could then express that as.01(Day 1 earnings + Day 2 earnings +... + Last day earnings). Or you could write that as.01(Year's earnings).
Therefore, no matter how much you earn, you will only pay 1%. No fancy math necessary.
Just FYI: I have no monetary gain in doing these reviews... I only get the opportunity to play with a bunch of software for a while in exchange for a review...
The version control system theoretically can tie into CVS. The necessary software is not yet written, but the necessary APIs are published on their web site at www.metrowerks.com/desktop/versi on_control/.
Apparently at one point in time, Metrwerks was working on such support, but the project went nowhere. The rep that I asked played the "Blame it on the intern" card.:)
Metrowerks itself has not been very clear about the the target audience for CodeWarrior. My initial review for the product actually trashed them a little bit for lacking some of the features of their competitors. After doing some fact checking to confirm that these features were in fact lacking, they sent me the following information stating that this release is targetted towards individuals.
"CodeWarrior for Red Hat or SuSE Linux, GNU Edition is targeted at individual programmers experimenting with the Linux OS and looking to either adapt their previously learned platforms to Linux or those who are programming novices. The GNU Edition blends CodeWarrior's powerful project manager, editor, and search engines with the familiar code generation and debugging tools found in GNU/EGCS technology, thus achieving a seamless transition for newcomers to the Linux OS. In fact, Metrowerks' overall goal in creating the GNU Edition was to create an entry path for newcomers to the Linux OS that is palatable and easy to implement. As an added incentive, we have priced this entry-level edition at $99.00 anticipated street price, a price much below what would be paid for our CodeWarrior Professional Edition. Metrowerks does not presume that commercial-grade applications will be the primary reason users will employ CodeWarrior for Red Hat or SuSE Linux, GNU Edition for their projects. The GNU Editions have been developed to help make the transition to the Linux OS a smooth ride for the programming community.
"CodeWarrior for Linux, Professional Edition, to be released later this year, is intended for the more seasoned programmer and will be used primarily in industry. The Professional Edition is a comprehensive set of development tools featuring the CodeWarrior IDE encompassing Metrowerks' blazing fast compilers and integrated debuggers. With this edition, programmers can create applications for C, C++, and Java with unparalleled ease, increasing productivity and getting their products to market faster."
Slashdot Mirror
Normally, I just leave out of discussions like this, but I need to comment on a common misconception.
The marketing of physical products vs. intellectual property isn't as different as you might think. A lot of people forget that zero marginal cost is NOT equal to zero total cost. Just because there it is harder to see the correlation between the expenses a company incurs to create a product and the amount they charge does not mean you can steal their product.
Look at this way: You are essentially arguing that consumers should only be responsible for paying for marginal costs. With software, since marginal costs equal almost zero, you therefore argue that you can steal it.
But does that mean that I can just walk into my local clothing store, grab a few new shirts, pay the cashier just enough to cover the actual cost of the cloth plus enough to pay for whatever labor went directly into the production of the shirts, and walk out? Of course not! If we did that, every business on the planet would go out of business.
Now, you may reply that we can't do that since there are buildings to maintain and all that. Exactly. Just like the software vendors have fixed costs to hire their employees and get them to write software. Just because there is a level of abstraction between the price of a product and its need to offset these fixed costs, does not mean that you can disregard it.
So, now everybody repeat after me, "Zero marginal cost != Zero fixed cost."
until then, follow your concionce! its a far better guide than current american laws.
Holly bejesus! I hope nobody follows that advice. Do you want anarchy? You can't just disregard a law if you don't like it. If you don't like the laws, call your Senator. In the mean time, you have live with them. There is a process for disagreeing with the system. You can't just go off on your own every time you disagree.
I just find it ironic that there have been a couple stories on Slashdot over the last month about security holes resulting from unchanged default passwords (i.e. Microsoft SQL), and now Slashdot falls to the same issue.
I was reading the Wall Street Journal and they made a couple interesting comments about sending the appeal right to the Supreme Court. First, the DOJ cannot make this request. It must come from the U.S. Solicitor General. Second the Supreme Court does not have to accept the case at this point.
On another note, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has already overturned a similar ruling by Judge Jackson.
Lets say you don't know any form of advanced math. Therefore, you would calculate this the long way by .01(Day 1 earnings) + .01(Day 2 earnings) + ... + .01(Last Day earnings).
If I remember my math correctly, by the distributed property, you could then express that as .01(Day 1 earnings + Day 2 earnings + ... + Last day earnings). Or you could write that as .01(Year's earnings).
Therefore, no matter how much you earn, you will only pay 1%. No fancy math necessary.
Anybody see any problems with these calcs?
Just FYI: I have no monetary gain in doing these reviews... I only get the opportunity to play with a bunch of software for a while in exchange for a review...
The version control system theoretically can tie into CVS. The necessary software is not yet written, but the necessary APIs are published on their web site at www.metrowerks.com/desktop/versi on_control/.
Apparently at one point in time, Metrwerks was working on such support, but the project went nowhere. The rep that I asked played the "Blame it on the intern" card. :)
Metrowerks itself has not been very clear about the the target audience for CodeWarrior. My initial review for the product actually trashed them a little bit for lacking some of the features of their competitors. After doing some fact checking to confirm that these features were in fact lacking, they sent me the following information stating that this release is targetted towards individuals.
"CodeWarrior for Red Hat or SuSE Linux, GNU Edition is targeted at individual programmers experimenting with the Linux OS and looking to either adapt their previously learned platforms to Linux or those who are programming novices. The GNU Edition blends CodeWarrior's powerful project manager, editor, and search engines with the familiar code generation and debugging tools found in GNU/EGCS technology, thus achieving a seamless transition for newcomers to the Linux OS. In fact, Metrowerks' overall goal in creating the GNU Edition was to create an entry path for newcomers to the Linux OS that is palatable and easy to implement. As an added incentive, we have priced this entry-level edition at $99.00 anticipated street price, a price much below what would be paid for our CodeWarrior Professional Edition. Metrowerks does not presume that commercial-grade applications will be the primary reason users will employ CodeWarrior for Red Hat or SuSE Linux, GNU Edition for their projects. The GNU Editions have been developed to help make the transition to the Linux OS a smooth ride for the programming community.
"CodeWarrior for Linux, Professional Edition, to be released later this year, is intended for the more seasoned programmer and will be used primarily in industry. The Professional Edition is a comprehensive set of development tools featuring the CodeWarrior IDE encompassing Metrowerks' blazing fast compilers and integrated debuggers. With this edition, programmers can create applications for C, C++, and Java with unparalleled ease, increasing productivity and getting their products to market faster."
Hopefully this clarifies their position.