coComments related to dmarti

Google also decided to reduce

2008-04-22T01:16:48.893+02:00

Google also decided to reduce the clickable area of the ads and to increase the bid threshold for some low-priced keywords -- giving up some low-value clicks and messing up everyone's clicks/dollar ratios.

@W^L+, Sure, I wouldn't mind

2008-04-01T21:41:16.160+02:00

@W^L+, Sure, I wouldn't mind paying $10 less if I don't turn on the TV during my stay. I don't use it either. But the hotel needs some way to discriminate between a higher price for business travelers and a lower price for others. Net access is a handy place to put the "tollbooth." Maybe the solution is to make the net access free and open, and charge $10 to anyone who doesn't watch TV for at least two hours (time on "mute" doesn't count.) Or a "minibar" for the power outlets.

I don't get it. Why should a f

2008-03-31T17:10:09.300+02:00

I don't get it. Why should a family of 6 who all have to fly to Grandma's funeral pay more in order to subsidize a business traveler's IMAP access to huge email attachments, or photo hobbyist's access to Flickr? I know I want fast net access at the airport, but I also want free coffee and a pony. Putting a price on net access looks like a way to put some costs on the travelers who can pay, or their employers. There's an obvious externality in blocking access to the toilet, but charging for wireless access just looks like a way to get more money from those who have it.

I have started several PBWiki

2008-03-14T02:46:12.648+01:00

I have started several PBWiki wikis for people with a variety of skill levels, and they take to it quickly. This service is a painless introduction to the wiki way. The other advantage to PBWiki is that they manage to keep the wiki spam problem under control. Google's web and blog hosting projects have been full of spam.

Simple answer...watch what
2008-03-13T05:41:18.006+01:00
Simple answer...watch what Jonathan Coulton does and do that.

There's a huge file of negativ

2008-03-05T19:20:19.653+01:00

There's a huge file of negative stuff on Hillary Clinton. Example: cattle futures. The Republicans are too smart to use it now, but if she's the nominee, the 527 organizations that spring up to spam us all with negative Clinton stories will make "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" look like a Boy Scout color guard.

David Wong explains this:
2007-10-24T06:29:55.050+02:00
David Wong explains this: Inside the Monkeysphere.

Stormy, David searched 612 pac

2007-09-30T23:00:08.749+02:00

Stormy, David searched 612 packages from Red Hat, and 55% of those were GPL. If you have 300 at 20% GPL, someone who installs all of everything will have about 44% GPL by package count. rittmey, you're right about the Java effect. Apache has a lot of popular Java projects, and until Java went GPL and Red Hat bought JBoss, Red Hat wasn't including them as part of its distribution. That created a niche for the "stack" companies to do for Java on the Java VM what Red Hat did for C on x86.

Back in 2002, David Wheeler pointed out that about 50% of the software in the Red Hat distribution was under GPL. Since the OpenLogic list is by customer request, what if the customers are mostly requesting stuff that they don't already have preinstalled with their distributions?

Matt, if the RIAA gets a court

2007-09-26T19:18:18.206+02:00

Matt, if the RIAA gets a court order they can probably make the site log the info of anyone who confesses to having illegal copies but doesn't pay. You could do it as a stand-alone download that only keeps the info locally, and then sell placement rights to Amazon and any other vendor who wants to fulfil the order.

The problem with this, if run

2007-09-19T14:53:21.641+02:00

The problem with this, if run as a network service, is that the copyright holders can just subpoena one place and get a a huge list of infringers. On the other hand, I can see a legal MP3 service such as allofmp3.ru offering a downloadable tool that will build the list and give you a chance to place the order.

Seriously, why not just honor

2007-09-14T15:31:35.978+02:00

Seriously, why not just honor the Windows refund offer in the Microsoft EULA? You wouldn't have to create an extra SKU for a Linux version of a product, just send people a card that where can stick their Microsoft license sticker, write in their serial number, and mail it back. You could even give the refund in merchandise credit that people could spend on an extra battery or a power supply or something. The device driver issue is a no-brainer. Since the manufacturer doesn't know when some Sales person will close a big deal to deliver Linux laptops for a big EDA or software development customer, nobody knows what's going to need Linux support, so you have to apply a Linux driver filter for specifying parts anyway (as Matt Domsch from Dell points out they're already doing).

Did someone forget to hire
2007-08-29T17:09:49.879+02:00
Did someone forget to hire Corporate Beavis?

Do you know John Buckman at Ma

2007-07-14T01:15:07.105+02:00

Do you know John Buckman at Magnatune? Magnatune has a low-overhead music licensing system that might be a good jumping-off point for something like this. Magnatune's business model is to let people listen to CC-nc music, then buy rights if they want more. BTW, you could probably get all the venture capitalist meetings you wanted if you promised to do the pitch as a song instead of a PowerPoint presentation.

Expensive, yes, but spam prose

2007-04-11T19:55:39.711+02:00

Expensive, yes, but spam prosecutions get lots of media coverage, since journalists are heavy email users. Making a case against a big spam gang could be a great political move for a computer crimes prosecutor interested in running for higher office.