Peripheral cons, unintelligible property, bipolar markets, & a political rant (actually somewhat on

[Bill Haught]

Yes, and sadly, practically all consumers want the cheapest price point
on everything related to consumer electronics, not only computers and
peripherals. Prior to computers becoming a mainstream and commodity
product, prices were high for everything. Remember the days of a
Seagate ST-225 20MB hard drive at a price point of $300???

I think DOS 3.3 for my second computer (first was a Commodore 128 (I
refuse to count the VIC 20)) was around $380 I think. Now I realize I
had been "corn holed" (see below).

Without a doubt, Microsoft certainly has its faults. But, without the
gang from Redmond, WA, we would all still be paying ultra-premium prices
for everything related to computing. With the commodity mentality of
computer marketing today, low-end products are everywhere, especially in
the ink-jet printer market.

Not if the universities betrayed us by going commercial with UNIX and
the software written for it. They T.O.ed people such as Richard
Stallman. Patents and even copyrights are wholly inappropriate in the
software world. All the new enclosure movement has done is make a few
more wealthy monopolists such as Bill Gates.

THE SECOND ENCLOSURE MOVEMENT AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PUBLIC
DOMAIN
JAMES BOYLE
http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/lcp/articles/lcp66dWinterSpring2003p33.htm

You can still buy high-quality industrial-strength products that meet
the original poster's basic technical requirements, but you do have to
pay the price. A high-quality color laser printer is the best solution,
but be prepared to pay multi-thousand dollar pricing for it. However,
it will outlast a myriad of cheap inkjets, and be ultimately cheaper to
operate.

Anything not geared to consumers looking for a toy is being sold to
big corporations with thousands of employees and deep pockets. Small
businesses and wannabes are an underserved market.

Linux is a fine operating system, but it really needs to get its act
together regarding up-to-date hardware compatibility and drivers. Much
of Linux development tends to target European standards, and most
consumer computer users here in the USA don't use Postscript-based
printers - rather PCL-based printers. Up until recently, some Linux
distros did not include PCL drivers for popular HP LaserJets! And, if
your using a 3Com/USR controller-based PCI internal dial-up modem, good
luck on finding a proper driver under Linux.

Distros do seem to often be behind. Many are one person crack jobs
based on a distro that is based on a distro (or something like that).

Also, making the proprietary technology a carefully guarded secret
requiring licensing of technology and encrypted binary code doesn't
make things any easier. What do you expect? Digital Restrictions
Mismanagement support? Flat-out illegal, even if clearly
constitutional to anyone except a radical such as Rupert Murdock or
Toilet Asscoft and most other Boomers who have no respect for our
elders such as Tom Paine (if I'm lucky the rest are merely silent out
of fear and not zonked out still). I already knew I was being lied to
in the mid-80s, but only recently did I find out the true nature and
extent of the underlying problems. Read up on "The Project for the
New American Century," and geo-libertarianism (georgism, geoism "Henry
George," "land value tax," and "single tax"), the history of corporate
law, and the history of "The Pledge of Allegiance".

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/ The view I subscribe to
http://www.newamericancentury.org/ The view "they" subscribe to

and numerous other places for neo-conservatism

Dan Sullivan's
Geolibertarian Home Page
http://geolib.pair.com/

http://progress.org Has a geo-libertarian section

Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy
http://www.poclad.org/

American Friends Service Committee,
Northeast Ohio office
http://www.afsc.net/default.htm

To Whom it May Concern, Part Two
David vs. Goliath
How we might fend off or ultimately overcome technologically superior
human invaders, conquerors, or dictators in decades to come, with
minimal casualties and financial loss on all sides
http://www.jmooneyham.com/empdef.html

See Rex Curry's site: http://members.ij.net/rex/
http://rexcurry.net/ Regarding "The Pledge"

Amazingly, people who still want to keep the pledge for whatever
reason (http://www.keepthepledge.com/history.php) openly admit most of
what Rex Curry says. Notice the following mastery of understatement:

Bellamy wanted to include equality, but the term could have created
potential issues with the leaders of the program for which he wrote.

Of course, Bellamy's ideas of what constitute "equality" are different
from yours or mine.



Bill Haught
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[Bill Haught]

Subject: The word "cons" was an editing mistake that should have read
"consumer item" or something to that effect-honest!



Bill Haught
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