Apparently, Second Life really sucks. Buggy, crashes all the time, and it's devs (there are 40ish) are busy shoveling PR bullshit onto NPR instead of fixing stuff. Recently it was announced someone made a 'copy bot', which can copy any object in game, which invalidates the entire 'permission scheme' that was supposed to enable people to make money by 'selling' their unique creations.

The thing is, these players buy 'land' in Second Life for like, you know, hundreds of dollars per month! Damn. And on top of that, the SL company (Linden Labs) is like, helping the people who made the copybot, and telling the players 'if someone copies your stuff, use the DMCA' (a copyright law).

And this guy, Wayfinder Wishbringer, got sick of the whole thing and disbanded his whole 'clan' (600 people!)

This fellow also thinks there should be some kind of in-game 'court system' and/or in-game dispute resolution system. Something that I have thought was needed since my late-1990s days in IRC chat - -- - when a channel owner was trading 'net sex' for giving 'operator' status to various people on a channel.

http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2006/11/elf_king_wayfin.html#more

"Typical bad officer story that we've heard so many times on SL. officer turned bad, was removed from office, appropriated (an extimated) 1 million+ L$ in group funds and assets. I took the evidence to LL, they refused to get involved, I told them to take a flipping hike. It was the last straw for me"

http://elfclan.net/
http://s183430029.onlinehome.us/From_Wayfinder.html

"
While problems are expected with any system... after two years of seeing the same
bugs, the same errors, the same lack of response, the same lack of caring for customer needs... and after paying thousands of dollars for such... I finally decided to take my life in another direction. When LL ignored the misappropriation of thousands of dollars in group donations, assets and lands from Elf Clan, that was the final back breaker. I had to recognize the reality that for me at least, there are more beneficial ways to spend one's life. Before the grid is overrun by large corporate-themed sims, before unidentified and unaccountable users totally take over the board, before Elf Clan loses yet more assets to unpredictable corporate whims and policies-- I decided to take back control of my life and give Second Life the boot. "

Makes me kind of glad that Guild is working on 'the basics'.

Anyways, what do you think people? And please no "SL was just sex & furries". No, it wasn't, maybe that's the only place you bothered to visit there, but there was a lot more to it (for example, this 'elf clan' group had races with giant snails, built a big cathedral, etc)

Heres something new: "Avatar Separation Anxiety" . . . lol

http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2006/11/where_is_jauani.html

Wow! They lay down some cash. In the words of William Shatner "Get a life!" people!

apple loves all its customers

[Quasi-Sarcasm]

Corperations, huh? Mayhaps there should be, i don't know, a federal government to keep them in line? Nah, I'd never work.

[/Quasi-Sarcasm]

who? me? Apple doesn't do too well with customers, at least I don't think so. I'll stick with them only because they make great products, but neither I nor anyone I know has had a good experience with customer service with Apple. I had my hard drive die in my iBook, and the 1 year warranty was over, and they wanted to charge me I forget how much (I think about $80) just to get an opinion. All the guy said was $280 to replace it with an identical 40GB drive, and CompUSA said the same. So I bought a 100GB drive on eBay brand new for $140, had it sent to my dad (mailed him my iBook, too) and he had a friend of his who works with him at BYU-Idaho on the Apples there fix it for free. Big business isn't the problem, (without a big business like eBay I'd have been screwed) but Apple sucks apart from making awesome stuff.

I know you were probably being sarcastic, but I felt like venting.

Phase one, collect underpants! Phase two.... Phase three, profit!
Yum tum yummy tum tay!

To keep them in line? They're merely organizations of productive minded individuals you communalist ninny.

You want to "keep them in line"? Let's see what we already do keep things all nice and legal: Lanham Act, preventing false advertising and ensuring that hundreds of millions of dollars get wasted yearly in strategic, bad faith litigation... yup, got that; '33/'34/Sarb-Ox Securities Regulations Acts, ensuring that no New York attorney will ever be poor and that no investor can blame anything other than their own lack of understanding for money lost in the stock market... yep, that too; more environmental protection regulations than I care to think about, uh huh, those are still contributing to a thriving market in emissions trading... yay for making millionaires out of those who have the pull to get a legal permission they don't need granted by an administrative agency without any serious legislative oversight, which they can then sell to those who actually produce things (hey, it's redistributive, it has GOTTA be good!); patent and copyright systems which incorporate Russian roulette style equitable exceptions to exclusivity rights, yes indeed!... what's that? you spent several billion dollars innovating that nifty new drug, and you'd like to recoup expenses based on the patent rights you relied upon when you innovated in the first place? Well, I'm sorry, there's a real need for this in the market right now, so genericide is going to happen. But please, don't let that worry you when you're deciding whether or not to invest a few billion more in that new R&D possibility. We promise you'll be allowed to profit off that one!

... I could go on, but I'd rather go puke for a while.

Indeed. To ripoff the movie Joe Dirt:
Apple Store: Total hard drive replacement fees come to $280... Plus 80 bucks for the estimate.
Prof: $360? That's more I paid for the whole laptop!
Apple Store: Interesting. Want it or not?
Prof: Well, yeah, but...I think all I got's like 150 bucks.
Apple Store: This is a business, not a charity. Maybe one day UNICEF will get into the computer business, but until then, we're the people to see.

You think Apple is bad with its customers because it intends to turn a profit for services. Nothing could be further from the truth. So you bought a part off of eBay and had your father badger a co-worker into fixing it for free, which I'm sure the co-worker did because he's got nothing better to do and doesn't mind not getting paid for his time. What is shipping costing your dad? $30 each way with package insurance?

Do you want to do business with a company that doesn't make a profit in everything that it does? How long will Apple be around if it loses 40% on every computer repair?

I've had problems with my current laptop (an iBook G4, 14" 1.2GHz) over the past couple of years, and every time I had an issue that I had to call customer/tech support for I never had any problems like the people above. Maybe some of you didn't purchase AppleCare? If you didn't, you have only yourself to blame--the extra 200-300$ tacked onto the purchase price is well worth it in the long run.

About two months after I got the laptop, the PMU fried and I couldn't recharge the laptop's batteries. (we all know how much that sucks. >_>) They replaced my motherboard for free, problem solved.

Just a few months ago, the laptop's hard drive started acting up. I called, and was told "reinstall the OS, if it continues to have problems, call again and we'll get you a replacement". After that, I have had no problems, and I suspect that if I *did* need to replace the HD for some reason they'd do it for free--the AppleCare for the laptop runs out next year, by which time I'll have gotten a new computer.

MSKanaka: I didn't opt for the AppleCare for more than the standard 1 year, because I could barely afford the computer as it was. The fees they were quoting me were because I didn't have that. As it was, I spent less than that anyway.

Lexicon: Don't take me for an anti-Big-Business-gimme-a-freebie-'cause-I'm-the-little-guy communist. If there's any company I want to see make a profit, it's Apple; and I support them because, like I said, I love their products. I, however, did not have the $360. I only justified the $150 because I use my laptop so much for school. The guy at the school is a friend of my dad's, and offered to fix it when my dad just mentioned in conversation that I was having trouble. If not, I had found lengthy, complicated, discouraging instructions involving at least 30 microscopic screws and a specialied tool, and I was ready to fix (break) it myself.

I don't know the numbers, but I suspect that Apple would have still made a profit fixing my computer, and I'd have gladly paid $200-250 total to put in a 100GB HD. Your 40% figure is off because it assumes I bought the same HD. I upgraded from 40GB to 100. I think you're right about the shipping, and my dad wouldn't let me pay for it because he wanted to help out a poor college student. I think the reason Apple's repair cost was so high is to encourage me to buy AppleCare next time, which I will if I have the money. One of the reasons I love Apple so much, though, is that though I've had my computer for 2 years now, I won't need to upgrade for at least 2 more (though I'm drooling over the MacBook Pro), so who knows whether I'll buy one then or not. Business is about competition, and in the case of the HD, Apple lost to some guy on eBay who gave me an inexpensive product I'm completely satisfied with (and I can finally fit my entire music library on my laptop). Also, $80 for an estimate? I think that's the price, and that's ridiculous.

Don't take me for an anti-Big-Business-gimme-a-freebie-'cause-I'm-the-little-guy communist.

Oh I don't think that would ever happen. An ignorant republican perhaps. :)

Anyway, you guys wanna talk about getting the shaft on secondary services, take a good look at the printer business. "Here! We'll sell you an inkjet printer for only 90 bucks! Excellent, good to business with you. Oh, by the way, we forgot to tell you the ink cartridges are only half full. Oh yeah, and it'll cost you 65 bucks to replace them all when they run out in a couple weeks."

Now that's a scam.

ha tell me about it!

i want to buy a lazer printer just cause epson is so mind numbingly greedy.

Epson aren't the only ones being greedy...
Also, 'cheap' laser printers don't come cheap when refilling toner cartridges, either, they costing about as much as the printer did. Granted, it's an increase of value compared to inkjet printers, but it's not the holy grail or anything.

I'm not sure the ink thing quite amounts to a scam, it's just lame. These companies compete with each other, and the best way to attract new customers is with a cheap (or free, like crappy one) printer. They very likely lose profit on the low end entry-level printers, and they have to make that up with ink/paper and high-end equipment. It's the same with cell phones. They lose a lot of money with their crazy promotions. I got my RAZR for free, because they were trying to get me to sign a contract. You just have to be careful, and read the contract. I signed with T-Mobile for two years, got a free RAZR after rebates, and I'm quite happy with it. They make up the cost by keeping you as a customer paying the monthly bill, and it's the same with printer companies. You get what you pay for, just be a smart consumer.

a federal govt to keep them in line? sheesh, it cant even keep itself in line, how the hell do you expect it to keep others in line?

"Government at its best is a necessary evil"

at its worst? well... beauracracy(sp) gone amok.

believe it or not, there are privately owned companies that actually know how to earn money.. government only knows how to spend it.. and spend it, it will.

Personally I think this whole new age ideology that a government is supposed to be run like a business, and turn a profit, is one of the most damaging side effects of capitalism.

Well said, Snax.

For the record: It's 'bureaucracy'; this is meant in a friendly way, not derisive in the least.

As for printers: No, it's not because they lose money with it. The problem is that they need a steady source of income. And the printers aren't what generates that, because it's kind of unethical to make them break after only a few months of use. Thus, they charge hellish fees for the thing that every printer needs to run: ink, or toner. But, as said, if you print lots of text (like most students), you're best off with an entry-level laser printer, since they even have refurbished cartridges that let you save about 50%.
I don't think it's a scam, either, though...

I love that analogy, Government being less dependent on the ever-increasing taxation of its citizens.

As long as the government doesn't make TOO much money. Cause, well, as soon as the government doesn't NEED us, well, then it's medical experiments for the lot of us.

Another good point in favor of citizens owning weaponry. So that revolution is close enough to keep the government on its toes.

Oh, and on the printer thing: The printers themselves are generally sold at a loss or at near-cost, assuming that you will buy at LEAST one cartridge refill, thereby making up the profit. By displacing the profit margin into the consumables, the product lines are marginally more profitable overall. (Trading some irate customers for more profit on the repeat-buy items.)

Oh, and if you're a student, use the printers in the computer labs ya morons. They're FREE! (Well, they were back in the late 80's and early 90's... are they still free?)

They were for me. And that was in a cheapass school.

Well. Of course you can use those at school (although where I was, they impose page limits per job). But, if you're at home and do not live close to school, having a laser printer is very convenient, if not necessary.