B) Defense lawyers lose business by losing cases. For every lawsuit they lose, their next client shouldn’t be willing to pay them as much. Law firms compete with each other for business, so those with the best records can demand the highest prices.

C) The objection is not to penalizing companies for “bad and careless practices” (by which I assume you mean illegal practices). The objection is to awarding plaintiffs large sums of money based on a small amount of shoddy evidence or based on behavior that is only illegal because of convoluted legal “logic” or loopholes.

viking999 on March 28, 2008 at 9:02 PM

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Clearly viking999 you neither work in business nor in the legal system. I do both and the idea that managers are major stockholders is foolishness. Statistically the number is not significant.

Secondly, clearly you know nothng about GC budgets and the litigation or settlement process. Managers and executives spend shareholder money like Congressional Democrats and because of the agency effect, they very rarely pay any penalty for pissing away money foolishly; certainly they continue to get paid every month and year while the litigation goes on for years while concurrently the plaintiffs counsels and the plaintiff are just shelling out their own money. You must work for an insurance company. Really, you have not idea what you are talking about. You’re brainwashed

DrSteve on March 28, 2008 at 8:02 PM

I try lots of different linux distros, and swap things around and try lots of different things.. sometimes I just like a fresh install of windows, and I don’t want to have to download tons of updates, then the 30 minute install of a service pack(is that a crime?)

DrSteve on March 28, 2008 at 8:02 PM

First of all, all they have to do is use the serial # for the order of a new DVD.. WTH.

OR the proof of purchase off the box, however..(then what happens when SP2 comes out?)

I agree They need some form of verification system, but those like me that have actually bought the software should get updated DVD’s.

It is very easy to spend someone elses money that is exactly what companies do to defend against their bad and careless practices. The managers get paid no matter what happens with the lawsuits, as do the defense lawyers.

A) Managers and executives are major shareholders in their own companies. Options, RSUs, stock grants, etc. Not to mention that their pay is often largely made up of bonuses which are directly based on company performance. You still think they don’t care whether they win or lose a lawsuit?

B) Defense lawyers lose business by losing cases. For every lawsuit they lose, their next client shouldn’t be willing to pay them as much. Law firms compete with each other for business, so those with the best records can demand the highest prices.

C) The objection is not to penalizing companies for “bad and careless practices” (by which I assume you mean illegal practices). The objection is to awarding plaintiffs large sums of money based on a small amount of shoddy evidence or based on behavior that is only illegal because of convoluted legal “logic” or loopholes.

I understand the frustration about Vista. I hear it from colleagues all the time. Microsoft thinks its customers are (1) crooked, or (2) stupid.

There is no down side to being a pessimist on the economy.
If it tanks, you’re right. If it doesn’t no-one cares what you said cause they got the monies.

Our econ is simply a house of cards, and any one of several things can (will?) take us down.

thuja on March 28, 2008 at 5:21 PM

Customers who have purchased Retail copies of Vista, have paid enough money to be eligible for upgraded DVD IMHO.

I wouldn’t even be upset about this if they wouldn’t have messed with the slipstream process.

Now, you have to go though this whole convoluted process, of taking a installing to a second drive, installing SP1,taking a snapshot sheesh.. even then, it can’t be guaranteed that you have done it correctly..

Come on MS work with us.

Maybe, your Windows partition isn’t getting messed up.

thuja on March 28, 2008 at 5:21 PM

depends on what beta build you use, and IF that beta build decides to format the wrong drive(or partition).. on ya.. ;)

I have seen that happen before.

georgealbert on March 28, 2008 at 5:17 PM

Actualy you are incorrect as to who pays the cost.

The cost ends up with the CONSUMER, not with the shareholder. Companies either make money, or go out of business. If their cost is higher due to having to pay out legal fees, then they raise their price… its really that simple.

we engage economically in order to alleviate poverty and to spur modernization and moderation in otherwise closed societies.

An award of $400 billion has to come from somewhere; as our fathers remind us when we’re teenagers, the money doesn’t grow on trees. Successful lawsuits along these lines will sap stockholders, ruin investments, and severely reduce capital needed for economic expansion.

We reward bad actors and the global public into liking us by bribing them with the keys to the kingdom now.

We could produce our own oil but we buy foreign so Canada and Mexico will be our friends and we bribe Saudi oil interests to keep the dollar in play and we bribe China with unfair monetary and trade practices that drained our manufacturing industries to the tune of 300 billion annually.

Whats a few hundred more billion in bribes between friends?

Because I dual boot with Cr@plinux, it screws up my windows partitions from time to time and I’m forced to re-install.. I would like, the option of installing FRESH straight away into SP1 like the “Technet Subscribers” are able to do, without having to Install Vista, track down all the prerequisites then install the Standalone SP1 Standalone installer(that takes 20-30minutes to install)

.

If you are already dual booting with Vista, then your machine is probably quite new and you can probably put another hard drive in your machine for Vista alone. Hard drives are cheap these days.

By the way, I have a dual-boot Linux/Windows laptop. The laptop came with Windows and for some reason, I haven’t eliminated the Windows. I’ve played Linux Distro roulette with the Linux part of the machine and haven’t had any real problems with the Windows partition being messed up. I have had to play with the dual boot. Maybe, your Windows partition isn’t getting messed up.

The jury system is a voting system and a justice system. By trying to limit the ability of the average person on juries to vote, you play right into the hands of big government types like Clinton and Obama. Most abuse of the legal system comes from companies using shareholder money to defend in-house management against the repercussions of their incompetency and bungling and sometimes outright criminality

Large companies use pay obscene rates to big corporate defense law firms and the money they use to pay these obscene fees comes from unwitting shareholders who have lost their rights years ago. It is very easy to spend someone elses money that is exactly what companies do to defend against their bad and careless practices. The managers get paid no matter what happens with the lawsuits, as do the defense lawyers. The only people that usually do not get paid are the plaintiffs and their attorneys who have to pay their own fees and expenses out of their own pockets to prosecute the perpetrators of these bad acts.

It is just amazing to me that conservatives who are usually the ones that actually want to use facts and truth to make good decisions, and are the ones who actually believe in the goodness and fairness of the American people, are so easily fooled by the multi-million dollars PR campaigns of the insurance companies.

As conservatives we are supposed to be the ones that acutally trust the people and it is average people that sit on juries.

Now you can sit by and trash the American people as being idiots not being able to tell right from wrong or to do justice, but I will not sit by and watch the money machines take away the rights of the American people and trash longstanding and just values of the United States of America.

Let’s convince Microsoft and Intel to stop manufacturing their products in, and selling their products to, Europe.

No announcements, no warnings, no threats. Complete secrecy. Just do it.

The price to return?

1) Standards of proof , similar to that in the US

2) The standards of proof are to be respected, in all courts, all cases and all times, in perpetuity.

3) Bureaucrats and lawyers who try to circumvent, subvert or ignore these standards will be fired/disbarred, and the involved parties possibly subject to civil and criminal penalties (same as anyone else).

I suspect that many activists will get the message.

I ended up quiting the Sierra Club over its “Blue/Green” alliance with organized labor, though I’m thinking of rejoining as an impoverished person to go on a few hikes. I’m going to ask that they not send me their leftist propaganda magazine. I’m going to claim I don’t want it out of environmental concerns and not because it makes me sick to think I’m helping to pay for such garbage. These are the problems of a right-wing environmentalist.

thuja on March 28, 2008 at 4:50 PM

.
thuja, might I suggest the Nature Conservancy? They are a conservation group that rationally goes about protecting areas of environmental concern the old fashioned way – they buy the land, and then don’t develop it. I have contributed for a few years.

Then you have to re-install Windows.. then what.. install all the updates, install SP1 that takes FOREVER.. BS..

SEND ME THE INTEGRATED SP1 DVD!

–Henry VI (Part 2), Act 4, Scene 2

I suggest the way, the truth, and the light, Linux to everyone. (DesktopBSD is a cool alternative to Linux for the adventuresome.) Still, why do users of the WinTrash Vista need a DVD? Can’t they just use Window Updates? What am I missing?

thuja on March 28, 2008 at 4:56 PM

Because I dual boot with Cr@plinux, it screws up my windows partitions from time to time and I’m forced to re-install.. I would like, the option of installing FRESH straight away into SP1 like the “Technet Subscribers” are able to do, without having to Install Vista, track down all the prerequisites then install the Standalone SP1 Standalone installer(that takes 20-30minutes to install)

Why should I have to? WTH.. I paid over $300 for this product! The Retail Version, MS should give the user an updated DVD or at least the Image.. just D@MN..

Microsoft, has made the “Windows Vista SP1 Integrated DVD” available, to “TechNet subscribers”(that costs lots of money)

Normal users that have purchased the retail product should have access to the Image as well so that they can burn to to DVD, or post a phone # so that a DVD can be shipped to them.

Chakra Hammer on March 28, 2008 at 3:54 PM

I suggest the way, the truth, and the light, Linux to everyone. (DesktopBSD is a cool alternative to Linux for the adventuresome.) Still, why do users of the WinTrash Vista need a DVD? Can’t they just use Window Updates? What am I missing?

MirCat on March 28, 2008 at 3:30 PM

Algore and Big Climate. They got plenty o’ money to share

VolMagic on March 28, 2008 at 3:51 PM

I’m an environmentalist and this is what so frustrates me about environmentalism. If you want to impose environmental rules, you have to realize the cost to the rules and do everything your power to eliminate other costs like these insane lawsuits from the lawyer-parasites. The environmental movement just doesn’t get it. I ended up quiting the Sierra Club over its “Blue/Green” alliance with organized labor, though I’m thinking of rejoining as an impoverished person to go on a few hikes. I’m going to ask that they not send me their leftist propaganda magazine. I’m going to claim I don’t want it out of environmental concerns and not because it makes me sick to think I’m helping to pay for such garbage. These are the problems of a right-wing environmentalist.

led by NGO’s like Amazon Watch, swept in.

Are these NGO’s getting taxpayer funded subsidies from American’s? I bet yes.

Normal users that have purchased the retail product should have access to the Image as well so that they can burn to to DVD, or post a phone # so that a DVD can be shipped to them.