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Vista SP1: Still lagging behind the Linux desktop
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Comments (15)
http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_(A_to_Z)/Stocks_M/t...
> MS prohibits the use of this hack/crack in their literature and EULA, then encourages violation of the EULA and invites criminal violation of the DMCA by acknowledging the built in code rather than removing it?
Seems to me to be a recognition (although they can't say so openly) that Microsoft's best marketing effort has always been piracy.
Talk big about "locking down" Windows, and then do nothing real about it. Except the unutterably annoying Windows Upgrade thing.
This way the carrot of having "free Windows at home" continues to build demand, while the stick of the BSA continues to maintain profits by prosecuting anyone big enough to be profitable in doing so.
Even in one of the little companies that used Windows where I worked, where Windows was just the desktops and everything else was done by Linux, one major task was making sure that there was a live copy of Windows on file for every Windows installed.
I think they had one copy of RedHat in the entire shop, used on a couple dozen machines.
How can any "real" IT department not notice just how destructive MS is to the profit margin?
Seems to me to be a recognition (although they can't say so openly) that Microsoft's best marketing effort has always been piracy.
Talk big about "locking down" Windows, and then do nothing real about it. Except the unutterably annoying Windows Upgrade thing.
This way the carrot of having "free Windows at home" continues to build demand, while the stick of the BSA continues to maintain profits by prosecuting anyone big enough to be profitable in doing so.
Even in one of the little companies that used Windows where I worked, where Windows was just the desktops and everything else was done by Linux, one major task was making sure that there was a live copy of Windows on file for every Windows installed.
I think they had one copy of RedHat in the entire shop, used on a couple dozen machines.
How can any "real" IT department not notice just how destructive MS is to the profit margin?
"How can any "real" IT department not notice just how destructive MS is to the profit margin?"
Because the IT department often has power in proportion to how large its budget is. It should be the other bean counters who notice how expensive all those software licenses are. Unfortunately, it seems like the typical pointy haired boss answer to cutting IT budgets is usually cutting staff rather than software, hardware or maintenance expenditures. Linux could significantly cut all three of those, as most of the software is free, it typically requires less hardware that is viable longer and you can often get by with ala-carte maintenance rather than expensive fixed price maintenance contracts. But it is often a very hard sell to management at anything other than small startups because of fear, complacency, etc.
Because the IT department often has power in proportion to how large its budget is. It should be the other bean counters who notice how expensive all those software licenses are. Unfortunately, it seems like the typical pointy haired boss answer to cutting IT budgets is usually cutting staff rather than software, hardware or maintenance expenditures. Linux could significantly cut all three of those, as most of the software is free, it typically requires less hardware that is viable longer and you can often get by with ala-carte maintenance rather than expensive fixed price maintenance contracts. But it is often a very hard sell to management at anything other than small startups because of fear, complacency, etc.
Quoting:But it is often a very hard sell to management at anything other than small startups because of fear, complacency, etc.
Dead on. That's why start-ups are going to become more and more important in the near future.
> Dead on. That's why start-ups are going to become more and more important in the near future.
Start-ups have always been important, where allowed.
The lower the "barrier to entry" in a given market segment, the lower the price and higher the quality of service.
Taking extremes:
Roads: delays, inconvenient work zones, low quality and immense cost. Or an even more extreme case, "Amtrack" which is all that in spades.
Email: reliable, inexpensive, fast, ubiquitous.
Barriers to entry are usually erected by vested interests to guard themselves from competition. Why guard? Because otherwise they would have to keep up with the "start-ups". Much easier to buy a senator or two.
Labor unions are a good example, which it is illegal to sew shirts at home. When it becomes illegal to code web pages from home, we'll know the 'Net has become truly main-stream.
Start-ups have always been important, where allowed.
The lower the "barrier to entry" in a given market segment, the lower the price and higher the quality of service.
Taking extremes:
Roads: delays, inconvenient work zones, low quality and immense cost. Or an even more extreme case, "Amtrack" which is all that in spades.
Email: reliable, inexpensive, fast, ubiquitous.
Barriers to entry are usually erected by vested interests to guard themselves from competition. Why guard? Because otherwise they would have to keep up with the "start-ups". Much easier to buy a senator or two.
Labor unions are a good example, which it is illegal to sew shirts at home. When it becomes illegal to code web pages from home, we'll know the 'Net has become truly main-stream.
Quoting:Labor unions are a good example, which it is illegal to sew shirts at home.
Say what? Why can't I sew my own shirts?
You can sew shirts, just not for profit.
Quoting:You can sew shirts, just not for profit.
Seriously?
Its the same reason you have to sell any excess energy you create back to the Electric Company.
> Seriously?
Seriously. The "Ladies Garment Workers Union" couldn't "organize" (and therefore extract dues from) people who worked out of their homes. Can't work up how the boss is robbing you of the value of your labor when you're the boss, eh?
So the Union got sewing declared a trade that required licensing, must have a store-front, etc. Just like cutting hair is. Only established firms could handle the regulation overhead, so there was no other option for the individual than to go outside the home to work for someone else.
(The kids had no one at home, so they're off to public school. There are now two "earned wages" for the income tax, in fact every layer of bureaucracy wins.)
Programming and other 'Net based work is simply so "new" that the regulations haven't been invented yet to crush it. However, I fully expect the sewing, cooking, laundry and hair-cutting templates to be used eventually to stop these "unaccountable hobbyists" from "harming their customers".
Ever look at the IRS regulations behind working out of your home? It's miserable! The vested interests don't _want_ individuals to work independently.
Seriously. The "Ladies Garment Workers Union" couldn't "organize" (and therefore extract dues from) people who worked out of their homes. Can't work up how the boss is robbing you of the value of your labor when you're the boss, eh?
So the Union got sewing declared a trade that required licensing, must have a store-front, etc. Just like cutting hair is. Only established firms could handle the regulation overhead, so there was no other option for the individual than to go outside the home to work for someone else.
(The kids had no one at home, so they're off to public school. There are now two "earned wages" for the income tax, in fact every layer of bureaucracy wins.)
Programming and other 'Net based work is simply so "new" that the regulations haven't been invented yet to crush it. However, I fully expect the sewing, cooking, laundry and hair-cutting templates to be used eventually to stop these "unaccountable hobbyists" from "harming their customers".
Ever look at the IRS regulations behind working out of your home? It's miserable! The vested interests don't _want_ individuals to work independently.
Quoting:Ever look at the IRS regulations behind working out of your home? It's miserable! The vested interests don't _want_ individuals to work independently.
Meh. Move to Europe. We don't have such draconian trade union laws here. There are plenty if independant in-home barbers, cooks, laundtry and other things here.
Quoting:Ever look at the IRS regulations behind working out of your home? It's miserable! The vested interests don't _want_ individuals to work independently.
And here in the Land of Socialism and trade Unions such enterprises are encouraged.
I love my country.
I loath the government that claims jurisdiction over me.
I loath the government that claims jurisdiction over me.
Sidenote: The libertine's forum is not over here. May I suggest the following site for that kind of discussions:
http://mises.org/Community
Probably I may not, it's against TOS ;)
http://mises.org/Community
Probably I may not, it's against TOS ;)
Ah, Mises.org. One of my favorite sites.
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