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Comment Re:Will it run DOSBox and Doom? (Score 4, Insightful) 71

Not necessarily - the '...FLOPS' refers to FLOating Point Operations Per Second, and the hardware necessary to deal with this might conceivably not have the kind of processing capacity necessary for running DOS or Doom. It's like asking whether an aircraft carrier can sing you child to sleep; lots of power is not always relevant.

Good post, but bad analogy since "computers" are expected to run programs. I'd say it's more like asking whether an aircraft carrier can tow a skier. Maybe, but it won't do it well.

Comment Re:You're still getting what you were promised (Score 1) 354

I put up with the worst of it for about six weeks and then I cancelled. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I guessed that their algorithm was based upon how quickly they received things back, not overall time or throughput. If I returned too quickly, they would just slow down the whole process. I would get aggravated and try to return my DVD quicker hoping to speed things up and it had the opposite effect.

The final straw was when I received a DVD that was broken. It had a crack completely through it so that it looked like a big split washer. I noted it as broken from my account and returned it. I re-requested the same title and they sent me the same damn broken DVD. I threw my hands up and said enough. Two weeks wasted on the same title and I still haven't seen it.

I will note that this was around 2004 or 2005. I have no idea if they still throttle. The Post Office recently closed our local distribution center and moved it all to the other side of the state. Mail takes an additional day now, each direction. I would guess that DVDs by mail would be 7 day turnarounds minimum these days.

From a business standpoint, I understand Netflix's reasons. Give the best service to new customers and least cost customers. Screw the expensive customers because they aren't profitable.

Comment Re:You're still getting what you were promised (Score 1) 354

And you would be very wrong.

When I started noticing my turnaround times getting longer, I would purposely drive to a main distribution center post office to test if the post office was the culprit. I would watch my Netflix account report my return as received the next day and I would wait 2 days before the next DVD (any DVD) was shipped out. I would have tickled to get ANYTHING on my queue shipped out same day. If I would return two DVDs at the exact same time, Netflix reported them both received the following day. Sometimes they would then ship a disc one a day after receipt and then another the following day. Early on, all my next movies were shipped same day. My turn around times stretched out to a week, then 8 days. I tried reordering my queue and put low demand DVDs first to get faster turnarounds, but nothing helped.

As a result, I discovered "throttling" long before I knew there was a word for it or I ever heard about it online. It was no doubt a way to save on postage and to discourage "bad" customers. It worked; I cancelled. I was impressed with their service when I joined, but it turned out too good to be true in the long run.

Comment Re:You're still getting what you were promised (Score 1) 354

I don't have any issue with this. Netflix did the smart thing and under promised and over delivered. They said it would be between 1 and 3 days and strived to always be 1 day. Now, there will be a limited time when it will be more than 1 day (really, this only affects if they get a disc on Saturday as they would have went out on Monday and now will go out on Tuesday). This is still within the limits they promised. Sure, it's not ideal, but I just don't see any reason to get outraged over a change that will only affect 1 day out of 6 and still keeps them within their promised timelines.

I had a Netflix account back in the day when discs by mail was the ONLY option. Under promising and over delivering was NOT in their business model after your initial few months back then. If they declared you a heavy user (i.e. you asked for what they promised) your account was "throttled." I was lucky to have new envelopes in a week. They would intentionally sit on returned discs for 2 or 3 days before sending out the new ones. I dumped them and returned to Family Video. It was a shame to lose the selection, but their customer treatment sucked.

If there was a limit on the maximum returns per month, it should have been advertised. Instead, they were sneaky and underhanded in the way they resolved high demand customer.

Comment Re:Who couldn't see this coming? (Score 1) 300

Okay, Dickbreath,

Is Microsoft the equivalent of IBM, or is it more like...

Borland
Ashton Tate
Sun
Wang
Silicon Graphics
Lotus
AOL
Zenith
NeXT
Maxtor
Tandy
Atari


IBM was lucky that it was run by someone who had a plan and some strategic vision and it worked out. It could have just as easily dropped into the shitter alongside numerous other tech companies. Microsoft seems to be running out of tricks and has always been seen as a "me too" company. As Windows slides into irrelevance, they can't count on Office to keep them afloat forever. And if you think Xbox is the great savior, keep in mind that Atari was once a thing too.

Comment Re:Who couldn't see this coming? (Score 2) 300

Right on the nose.

This is what happens:

1) Company lays off employee "dead wood"
2) Morale among remaining employees sinks
3) Good employees bail out before things go too far to shit
4) Employees near retirement keep heads low and ride it out
5) Remaining shitty employees stay because they can't go
6) Company loses competitiveness and innovation
7) Company flounders
8) Company is bought out by smaller more efficient company.

Comment Re:Why did they have to study this? (Score 1) 710

Here in an area known for bitterly cold winters, every new home goes up with an air conditioner, every second big home investment is a pool,

Just picking nits. Swimming pools are usually not an investment, they are an expense. An investment (ideally) is expected to provide a return. Permanent swimming pools generally reduce the saleability and value of a home and therefore should be classified as an expense.

Comment Re:If anyone actually cared... (Score 1) 710

You found a typo in my post... wow... I'm just crushed.

Another error. It was clearly NOT a typo. A typo presupposes that you know the correct word. It explicitly excludes errors of ignorance. i.e. Two words vs. one and that chess and nut were spelled correctly. This was an mondegreen which exposed your ignorance. http://grammarist.com/mondegre...

You might want to review what a typo is too. You seem not to understand that either. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

Comment Re: No real surprise (Score 1) 710

Al Gore is a primary shareholder in some of the companies that have been formed to trade carbon credits

So...you're saying it's a bad thing he puts his money where his mouth is, right?

Well if he doesn't, I will. Yes, it's a bad thing. I have always viewed carbon offset trading as crap. It is a net sum game. If you want to shut down polluters, don't give them and out to purchase "papal indulgences" and make them clean up or close. If a business has "excess" carbon reductions, then fine. That is their own reward. To become a broker on the offset "business" is just plain wrong.

Comment Someone who gets it!!!!! (Score 1) 710

Finally. Someone who understands that saving time, gas, and energy is not always about hypermiling and driving 10 or 15 under the speed limit. I have argued on Slashdot many times this same point. It is invariably the hypermilers, blocking both lanes driving side by side that constipate the flow of traffic during the 5:00 rush for my 4.4 mile trek home through 15 traffic lights. And why do the idiots commuting by themselves in a F250 Supercab 4x4 or a Tahoe bother trying to hypermile anyway? Do they expect to get 12.7 MPG instead of the usual 12.1?

My municipality spent $180,000 for upgraded coordinated traffic lights two years ago and it only takes one idiot "saving gas" to ruin the flow for everyone else. They double my commute time.

Comment Re:Can't use duck test and rational argument (Score 2) 67

You need to do like I do. Wait two hours after broadcast and pick up your cleaned up, commercial free, HD copy free of charge from the Pirate Bay.

Is your local broadcast interrupted by bullshit - "it's raining outside" - emergency broadcasts?
Is your local broadcast preempted by football or baseball games that run too long?
Does your local broadcast shrink to half size to show the lottery results or other "important" information?

No problem... Pirate bay has a clean copy.

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