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Comment Re:Your biggest screw up (Score 3, Insightful) 452

> They've also completely failed to consider that just as quickly a one website may rise to prominence, another may equally quickly supplant it. Look at Facebook replacing MySpace for example.

Are you deliberately avoiding the elephant in the room? Reddit themselves owe their initial success to Digg spectacularly shooting themselves in the foot and then hobbling around trying to insist it's just a flesh wound.

All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again... again...

Comment Re:Outside help (Score 1) 431

> That is not uncommon in Europe when such training is extensive and expensive. It is often provided with a clause that if the employee is leaving the company within a x number of years, an equivalent share shall be reimbursed.

To a North American that's a pretty alien concept. What happens if someone is terminated instead of choosing to leave? Seems like there could be some abuse there if there isn't a provision for only paying from voluntary departure.

Comment Re:Outside help (Score 1) 431

> Furthermore Greece paid the developers education in the expectation it would be a wise investment in the future (education == long term investment).

So what is your point with this? You want to bring back modern slavery? If you get an education paid by the state, you are not allowed to leave the state? Like in Soviet times?

Or to localize it, how many people on Slashdot have had their employers pay for them to attend training, courses, even further their educations? Does that mean that those employees should be forced to pay back that education if they move to another company, or worse should they be prevented from leaving for X number of years to get the company their ROI? If the answer is no, then why even mention it about the Greek dev?

Comment Re:Efficient allocation of capital (Score 2) 230

>Does it really? Or does it make using a taxi service a better value so that the usage of taxis overall grows? Do we really want to subsidize a jobs program for taxi drivers or is there a better way to employ those resources? While there is some clear disruption going on it's not at all clear that that is a bad thing.

This is a problem. I mentioned this elsewhere that everyone's thinking about the taxis vs Uber problem, but nobody is thinking about the bigger issue coming down the road: Self driving cars. When those hit the streets there are going to be some enterprising companies that run fleets of self driving taxis, and more importantly a lot of the car cooperatives/collectives will have their own stocks of on-demand vehicles that people pay per-use instead of owning. By 2030 if not sooner, there aren't going to BE any taxi drivers. Or Uber drivers. And a lot less truck drivers, and delivery drivers, etc. There will be thousands of jobs in each city permanently gone. Something has to be done to plan for that.

Comment Re:Damn you Uber (Score 1) 230

It's very interesting to watch this unfold in France and elsewhere, but I think that the drivers and taxi companies are spending a ton of their powder fighting the immediate problem with companies like Uber and ignoring the medium term threat that will ultimately put them all out of business in the next 10-15 years. Self driving cars. There aren't going to be any jobs driving taxies by 2030 if not sooner in 1st world nations at the rate developments are going. There needs to be planning done now to handle what's going to happen when thousands of drivers are out of work, but of course nobody is thinking about it.

Comment Re:Boo hoo... (Score 1) 818

"Liberals"? I think you mean one overly sensitive butthurt idiot. I'm as liberal as they come and see nothing wrong with GWTW being available for people to watch. It's a historical artifact and should be protected like any other.

Now, if someone wanted to make another GWTW today with the same story and false romanticism for the Confederates..... I'd say it's their money, they can do whatever the hell they want. They just shouldn't expect commercial success or be surprised when they can't attract good talent because of the "negative optics".

I may disagree strongly with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it. And others' rights to criticize what you've said.

Comment Re:Boo hoo... (Score 5, Insightful) 818

There's a difference between letting a flag fly and yanking a historical wargame featuring the Confederates because of their flag. What's next? History books and textbooks with pictures of the Confederate flag will be pulled too?

At least I can still get a copy of Axis and Allies from the Play Store though, so Nazis are still cool apparently.

Comment Re:Never heard (Score 1) 272

If your girlfriends are Canadian and haven't heard of Lush in the last 20 years, I would question their Canadian credentials. There have been Lush stores in major cities for at least 25 years. Hell, if you get within 50 meters of them you can find your way there with your eyes closed by following the increasingly overpowering soapy aroma of their bath bombs.

Comment Re:What an embarrassment for Microsoft (Score 1) 204

To do my job I both need access to the corporate VPN as well as certain Windows programs. There have been tons of times it would have been more convenient for me to use my tablet instead of dragging out my laptop on the train in. The Surface Pro 3 is a very good in-between device that also fills the tablet role nicely. It's not for everyone of course, but my use case it would be very convenient. Unfortunately I am not going to spend $1000 out of pocket on a work device and my company laptop isn't scheduled for EOL for another year so for now I have to just think envious thoughts about it.

Comment Re:Or, alternately ... (Score 1) 389

By "outside the city" do you mean the burbs or actual rural locations? Rural locations people will still own cars and trucks at the same rate, but the burbs are where this will explode in popularity. Co-op programs have a problem with reaching into the burbs because of sprawl and lower density which makes getting to a co-op staging area for a car a problem. But putting staging areas a 5 minute drive or less away from customers where autonomous vehicles can congregate until they're called will drastically improve the service's reach. And they don't necessarily need to drive you into town, just to the closest subway, train or LRT station.

Think about it, you're getting ready in the morning, just about to take out the trash to the corner and have your last sip of coffee. You hit the "call" button on the app, the car wakes up and heads to your house while you finish the garbage run and put your coffee cup in the dishwasher. By the time you have your coat and laptop bag sorted, the car is already outside waiting for you. The app on your phone could even have a countdown timer until the car's arrival to allow you to plan every second.

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