Both parties screw the peasants. One does it with a smile, the other with a wink.

*yawn* Yes, we hear this over and over and over. Thank you for pointing this out, but please come to grips with the fact that distributing is something you DO with the code. It is in fact a way to USE the code.

Now, that statement may cause you to think that I dislike the GPL or the LGPL. I don't dislike them at all. What I strongly dislike is this pointless semantics crap.

The GPL restricts the conditions under which you may distribute modified and created code. Therefore the GPL has restrictions and is not 100% freedom.

It's just the way things are. Deal with it.

Saying, "but, that distrbution and not use," does not in anyway at all cause this to suddenly not be a restriction.

You, my fellow American, can fuck right off.

I have many friends that live internationally, and several family members. Eight years ago, was common to get three or four visits a year. Within four years, it became one a year (they came for my wedding). Since then nothing, because of crap like this.

You can speak for yourself, but don't you even begin to think you can speak for all of us.

Is it worth it? No, not in my opinion. The iPhone lacks the single most useful feature of any mobile phone, a built in LED flashlight. I still use seven year old phone because it has this. I use it way more than anything else.

What to do when it finally breaks... ...hack a luxeon LED into my skype phone maybe...

I know this meme with the I'm a *insert* has gotten out of hand, but this whole concept reminds me of the fact that no one ever seems to remember that linux isn't an OS. Red Hat is, Debian is, Ubuntu is... nevertheless my idea was this:

(wannabe hipster walks up): I'm a Mac.

(up steps the old middle management guy): I'm a PC.

(scene FILLS with people, 200-300, all dressed in various profession/regional/ethnic attire): *in unison* We, are Ubuntu.

Novel may have info, but people don't pay attention to info. Get their attention with the bagel, then hit them with the book, it's the only way to keep them from eating the pages.

Admittedly, I've not managed employees in a corporate environment, but I have in a call center (granted, a rather small one). In that situation it was drastically cheaper to hire two or three part timers than one full timer. Perhaps this is due to the state we were in, but the taxes we paid weren't large and part time employees didn't qualify for unemployment unless they worked more than 35 hours a week. What with income tax actually being taken from the employees wages and not an extra expense for us, it worked out like follows.

12 part employees making $9 an hour, could work a total of 30 hours each per week, equaling 360 work hours.
For every employee we had over 3 the state treasury charged us $35 per quarter ($85 for full time), minus the 12 part timers we had 1 owner and 2 managers (yes, small call center).
Since we paid no other fees at all, no medical and no taxes that weren't deduced from the employees wages, and the cost of 8 extra telephones and smart terminals was tiny ($250 or so for each, and in 4 years we had to replace one, once) the cost was roughly $170,160 a year. Hell, let's pretend we bought new phones and fancy computers every year for, say, $800 a piece. Add that in and it comes to $179,760.

Now, Had that been 6 full timers, granted we'd have bought fewer phones, but, each one of them would be getting 20 hours a week at time and a half, each working 60 hours a week.
Plus, they *do* qualify for unemployment so we'd have had to pay into that, as well provide them with some manner of health care most likely (who works 60 hours a week without benefits?).
Let's add up the basics before even bothering with unemployment, 6 people at 40 hours regular pay plus the 20 at time and a half comes to $196,560...

Wow, haven't even stated adding in state and federal fees and part timers are cheaper *after* fees for the same number of work hours by $26,000 ($16k if you figure the new machines) annually. The costs to the business for 12 even full time employees from the state/fed don't even remotely come close to costing more than $20k a year. Start adding in those fees and the costs just go up.

In most work environments, part time is cheaper by far. That's why part time exists. But, if you have a desk, and an access card, and your own email address... remember, you are not in an average work environment.

Indeed, as an employee one always must consider what the needs of the boss are. Company first. Self second. After all... it's not like there is anything else to do, and if you don't do it, someone else will.

On the other hand...

It's in most cases actually cheaper to pay two part-time employees than one full-time. For one, you are paying the same hourly rate regardless of how many checks you write. You pay for 60 hours of work, it's the same amount if you pay one person or if you pay three. Also, part-time gets no overtime, so no wage increase. Part-time also gets no benefits or stock options and such-like.

Um, no. The common usage of the phrase "pipe dream" most often was a reference to the crazy whims and idea a person would talk about after smoking opium. Freud doesn't matter to enough people to become vernacular.

Japanese is good at it too, they even take it one step further and adopt/add on other alphabets.