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Comment Re:Require pay and benefits parity (Score 1) 612

Give them full legal residency and give them the option to stay instead of sending them home after 6 years and perpetuating the "shortage".

I've been saying that for years! Right now if they lose their jobs they have 2 weeks to find another one or they have to leave. Of course they're willing to accept lower pay and all kinds of abuse from their employers. At the least, make the green card automatic after one year. Then it'll be obvious if there is really a skilled worker shortage or if employers are using H1Bs to undercut the job market. Employers don't have to pay competitive salaries to H1Bs (as required by law) unless the workers are free to accept a better offer.

Feed Techdirt: ATT CEO: We Don't Promote $10 DSL Because No One Wants It (techdirt.com)

Remember the story back in June about how ATT had extremely quietly started offering $10 DSL as was required in its deal to buy BellSouth? The company was promoting many other, more expensive, DSL options, but the only way you could get the required $10 version was if you specifically knew to ask about it. Broadband Reports points to an interview from an Atlanta newspaper with ATT CEO Randall Stephenson where he's asked about the $10 DSL. The interviewer points out that no story about ATT resulted in a more irate response from ATT customers as its story about the hidden offer for $10 DSL, suggesting that this was a huge issue for ATT customers. Stephenson's response? First he denies that the company made it hard to find, and then he says that they're not promoting it because customers don't want it. This, despite the clear response from customers to the very newspaper who was conducting the interview. Then, he basically admits that the $10 DSL doesn't work very well, saying that they don't promote it because they don't want to give customers a product that sucks. Of course, he says that as if it's not his company that has quite a bit of control over whether or not the product sucks. Yes, that's right. ATT actually thinks you'll believe that they're hiding their cheap broadband offering because, seriously, who wants cheap broadband when more expensive broadband is available? Of course, this isn't a new strategy from ATT. Back when it was SBC and refused to offer naked DSL, the claim was that customers didn't want naked DSL either, despite the success many other companies were having with it, and numerous articles with people clamoring for it. It appears that ATT has figured out that when there's really no competition, you get to decide what it is your customers really do or do not want.

Comment Wow, even on Slashdot (Score 3, Insightful) 297

This service shows how effectively promoting your service can really make a difference. While Mailinator has been around for a long time, somehow this 10minutemail has managed to get lots of exposure. I wonder did they really get all these mentions around the net just organically, or was there heavy promotion involved? If the success came organically, perhaps it's because 10minutemail is easier to understand. Just from the domain name it's easy to guess what the service is for.

Comment Re:What's the Problem? (Score 2, Insightful) 759

> If the authentication servers go offline there's no reason
> that Valve couldn't release a patch of some sort that didn't
> require activiation.

Tell that to the guy who picks up a Half-Life 2 CD in the bargain bin or secondhand, pops it in, and wonders why he can't play his game. Or the guy who bought it new right now and goes to reinstall it a couple years later but has no idea how to go about manually finding patches, downloading them, and updating a PC game--or even that PC games can be updated. Just because you and I are savvy enough to know that most PC games have downloadable patches and add-ons doesn't mean most people do. They don't.

The very concept of buying physical software media that are completely useless crippleware coasters without online server authentication every time you install it is repugnant. You can still play movies recorded 25 years ago to obscure RCA Selectavision CED vinyl discs, yet millions of DiVX discs are useless because of needless server authentication.

Crippleware Half-Life 2 CDs are no different. The time will come in several years when the server isn't there and the average user--who's more used to the console heritage of games that just work and don't need to register with a server to download keys or patches just to play single-player--will have no clue how to use the software he bought anymore.
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