Not exactly like these players arn't getting anything out of the deal..

Even knowing the likely outcome, I suspect many would still do it for the kind of money they make.

That's a really beautiful way of putting it, and I totally agree :)

Looking back, while I didn't realize it, I definitely fell under category one. I saw university as a requirement to get a job in computers. I looked at what it would cost, looked at how much debt I would have at the end, and looked at about how much I expected to make (I was way off.. but I was in high school so I think I should get some slack!). At this point, it almost becomes a business decision. The thought that I might actually get something out of the experience wasn't even there (and I like to think I did).

The kind who won't be gunning for your job after a few years? ;p

Kidding aside, I pretty much gave my "I'm a wage slave but don't see that as a bad thing" bit in the interview for my current job and found out (years later) that it went over pretty well.. so I guess that's a plus for actually being honest in job interviews.

I have drive to create stuff, I don't have the drive to go through all the required "other stuff" of running a business.

I've found a nice middle ground. A job that lets me do mostly what I love, while someone else deals with all the "business stuff" (I keep up on the business knowledge required for the product, I'm talking about all the marketting/networking/sales shit), and a decent wage.

Some people have entrepreneurial drive, some don’t and probably never will. I am one without. I have no interest in starting my own business and no serious career ambition.

That said I make one hell of a wage slave. I love what I do, and I get shit done.

I guess my point is that college isn’t so much about learning to "knuckle under and get stuff done" as a required part of the process for us that lack the drive to go out and do our own thing and instead just want to get a job working for someone else and do the thing we are good at.

I’m all for the elimination of college/university as an almost necessity to get a decent job.

That said, for every tech millionaire dropout, there are probably 1000 guys with good technical knowledge eking out a living on a hell desk. At a minimum, not having a degree is going to make things harder and reduce your options. Again, for every small startup you can wow with your cool open source contributions, there's a dozen companies who will just shredder your resume (and before you say "who wants to work for such a company", keep in mind HR is usually not reflective of the working environment at most places).

Much as it sucks, I still think the best bet is to learn on your own, then sweat out the degree.

Then again, here in Canada tuitions are high but not insane. I worked a McJob part time through highschool, full time through summers, and was able to pay off the remainder of my debt fairly quickly after graduating.

There is also something to be said about college/university as a good thing. It forces you to take stuff you’d have no interest in otherwise, there is some social development, you learn to deal with different personalities, etc..

I wish I had mod points, that was excellent :>

I suspect that's a big part of the reason why adoption has been so slow. IPv6 is annoyingly different. You pretty much just have to force yourself to accept that you have to do things differently, and a lot of people don't like that.

NAT is ugly, but people are very comfortable with the way it works.

On the other end of the scale, it's a lot like speeding tickets.

As I said in an earlier comment, while I do try to buy most of my media, I have occasionally downloaded without buyin a legit copy. If I got caught and fined somewhere in the $100 to $500 range .. chances are I'm just going to pay it as fighting it is probably going to be a hassle, and I actually "did the crime". Sure you'll have people who will fight it just because (same as you have people who know they were speeding and will still try to fight it in court as they have nothing to lose but time) but I think most people are just gonna pay a reasonable fine for something they know they actually did and get on with their life.

I'm actually ok with this.

$5000 is a bit steep, but as said that's the max. The actual fines sound a lot closer to what you'd get for say, a speeding ticket. I try to buy media (usually via DVD, which I then rip to my computer) and have a netflix subscription, but I'll admit I have downloaded movies in the past and still do occasionally while never buying a copy. If I got caught, I'd be perfectly ok with paying a fine in the $100 to $500 range.. it seems reasonable and I actually "did the crime".

I really would support that.

He really is a voice of reason amongst annoying extremists (in both directions).

The real difference is that the cards are usually invalidated when the guest leaves, so copying the card is mostly useless, unlike a traditional key where they are unlikely to change the lockset after every stay incase the previous guest made a copy of his key.

Good grief man..

First off the Canadian thanksgiving isn't tied to such genocide .. and for that matter neither is the American thanksgiving (it's supposed to be a harvest festival).

And why get hung up on the association of Christmas with religion. Are you that tied into your identity as an athiest that you can't just treat it as a "time off work and spend time with family" holiday like most people (including myself) do.

Some people feel the need to extend their geek persona into everything (including family stuff).

Personally I'm not so inclined. Christmas (I'm Canadian so that's our next turkey day) and (our) thanksgiving are occasions when I like to put down the tech and spend the day hanging out at my mothers place with family. But I guess if someone wants to make an arduino controlled stuffing management system or something, to each their own!

I don’t do anything geeky with the Christmas dinner (I’m Canadian, it’s our next turkey day). Wouldn’t even occur to me to try. I can’t even think of anything one could do that would qualify as geeky, but then I lack creativity.

I have a really nifty electric carving knife but that’s about it.