There is a concept from marketing known as branding. Brands are not merely a convenient name by which your company or product is known. Consumers respond to brands themselves, either positively or negatively. This is known as brand equity.

A brand with good equity will sell a product simply by having its name attached to it. A Calvin Klein shirt will sell for more than a comparable shirt from a less famous brand. Likewise, a brand with bad equity will inhibit sales of an otherwise good product.

Brands that become toxic are abandoned. The company will change its name, or change the name of the product, or release a new product under a new name. Phillip Morris changed its name to Altria for example. IBM sold off its hard drive business to another firm when their "Deathstar" line of drives became irredeemably associated with poor quality.

Ideas also have brands.

When an idea keeps getting rebranded under new names, it means the people peddling that idea are having a hard time. The more familiar potential consumers (believers) of that idea become with it, the more likely they are to reject it. So the people who want to push that idea repackage it under a new name and try to pretend it is something different.

I'm not surprised that global warming / climate change / climate chaos / etc has been given yet another name. I'm just surprised that it took them so long to think one up.

It is the market that will determine whether Tesla has potential, not its competitors.

If you're working with people who are comfortable with technology, then making such a transition should not cause too much pain. Annoyances yes, especially with file format compatibility issues, but nothing too serious. You'll be answering lots of questions, but the questions themselves will be from a position of needing some details filled in, not failure to understand basic concepts.

On the other hand, if you're working with people for whom computers and technology are PFM (Pure @#%$ing Magic) then ANY CHANGE, no matter how trivial, will lead to nervous breakdowns. For such people, use of a computer involves memorized incantations (if not outright prayers) based on mouse movements, clicks, and magic words typed into the screen. If these change, even slightly, they will be utterly lost and terrified -- and they'll blame YOU.

If this is the case, then you're going to have to create a standardized installation of Linux with a normal desktop interface (Cinnamon, KDE) and then TRAIN your employees on how to use it. Mint is a good choice. I'm using the KDE version of Mint 16 on all my workstations. The cinnamon version is also perfectly usable. There are of course other options. The key is to create an environment that is as close to what they know as possible. Not necessarily in terms of how it looks, but how it BEHAVES.

Even so, there will always be some differences that will trip such users up. You guys might have to hire a temp worker whose sole job will be to train and support your employees until they learn the new incantations.

The good news is that moving from XP/Vista/7 to a normal desktop Linux distro will actually be easier than trying to retrain these employees to use the malware that is Windows 8.

Future victims of this criminal organization should sue Symantec.

Class action lawsuit.

I also think that criminal charges for aiding and abetting would apply as well.

"Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn't live up to it," executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker wrote. "We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it's because we haven't stayed true to ourselves. We didn't act like you'd expect Mozilla to act. We didn't move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We're sorry. We must do better."

The only way this statement would make the least bit of rational sense is as an apology for capitulating to the mob who called for Eich's head.

But sadly, that isn't how this statement was intended.

I'm genuinely disgusted that the Mozilla Foundation would behave this way. How can I trust a group to produce valid products when they have no integrity?

How will this affect the central mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Muslim outreach?

There are lots of Muslims in Russia NASA might not be able to reach now.

http://www.foxnews.com/politic...

He called it "Much ado about nothing."

Insensitive clods, idiots, and outright jackasses get to express themselves just like everyone else.

That they do so is not a crisis to be solved.

But it is a great excuse and cover story for efforts to deny freedom of expression.

Not all are fooled.

You make a lot of great points....that have been made for decades now.

Hasn't discouraged hustlers like Jackson from their perpetual shake downs.

They're not interested in the truth. They're not even interested in pursuing the goals they claim to have. They're interested in playing the race card for profit.

The best way to deal with them is with ridicule.

Is it horrible how those black students at your high school and university discriminated against themselves by choosing not to pursue CS opportunities? /sarc

The very notion of a "minority" is a scam.

It is just a made up word that seems to mean someone who isn't "white."

People are encouraged to fret over whether some person or another is a "minority" or not, instead of just treating them like a human being.

What is more, in fields that tap a global talent pool, people who aren't "white" are the numerical majority.

Ever watch "Winter's Bone?"

You can thank LBJ's "great society" for this.

Depends on which "American" culture you're talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/Coming-A...

There is a profound difference between the upper middle class educated professional communities that many of us grew up in, and those communities populated by what used to be called "trailer trash."

If intelligence and academic achievement were not "cool" where you went to school, then you need to make sure that your kids grow up in a place where they are.

You're making the mistake of assuming that Jackson is the least bit honest in what he is saying.

He is a hustler.

He goes around and shakes down companies for money, under the threat that failure to pay will result in his legion of useful idiots making trouble for them.

The guy is a walking cancer.

It doesn't help anyone.

You can't judge people by which group they belong to. That this group or that group is "underrepresented" does not mean that there is a problem to be solved, let alone a problem that can be solved by manipulating admissions and hiring standards.

People from whatever group you want to bring up who have the chops to pursue a challenging carreer, and are actually interested in pursuing it, will do so, and they will do as well as anyone else in that field. Their membership in such and such a group does not define who they are, their individual abilities and inclinations do that.

The only valid way of judging someone is as an individual.

Social engineering efforts based on group membership backfire. The people behind such efforts are fools, and all too often villains.