Don't go work for such a brain dead bureaucratic organization. Once brother had a similar requirement asking for 10 years of .NET experience, while .NET was only 4 years old. When he pointed out this impossibility, the HR people said that they always require 10 years of experience of everything.

For those who value the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech) and feel guilty banning a troll, this post is for you. The core issue to ban Trolls is the respect of private property. If I own a website, I have the right to choose what content to appear on my website. Nobody has the right to force me to host articles (or posts) I dislike. Banning a troll is not a violation of his right of free speech; the troll still has the freedom to create his own website and post whatever he wishes. If CodeProject dislikes my postings, they have the right to ban me permanently from their website at their sole discretion. Of course, banning people for no apparent reasons is not the best business model to retain members. Likewise, screaming out "Fire!" in a crowded theater is a violation of property – the property of the theater owner. The same would be if I would cause disturbance in any other place, such as a recording studio, a shopping mall or a restaurant. The only person who may scream out “Fire” is the owner of the theater, however if there are customers watching a movie, then he violated his implicit contract of respecting silence while the movie is playing. At best, he could refund the movie ticket to its customers. For details see http://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/fifteen.asp[^] about the “Fire” in a theater. The article uses “Greater Good” theory for supporting free speech, however it is a dangerous slippery slope. The "Greater Good" theory is the basis behind Communism. Cheers, -- Daniel.

For what is worth, feel free to listen the MP3s available at: http://www.genopro.com/cancer/[^]

What a waste of money. It is a good PR stunt for those who believe in BIG Government.

We have been using MailEnable for many years on a large volume of emails. MailEnable is easy to install and upgrade. By the way, the latest version cut spam by at least 99%. I used to receive nearly 1000 spam per day, and now I can count on my fingers the number of spam messages I get per day.

When the EU Commission needs more cash, it uses the law to steal money from companies. Since Microsoft has a lot of cash, Microsoft is an easy target for bureaucrats to increase their paychecks. Bureaucrats assume a God-like attitude toward citizens and the private sector, seeing themselves as representing “good” and fighting against “evil.” The irony is bureaucrats face no competition and have no idea about software quality. Their decisions are based on vested interests, including their selfish need for power and money.

Back in 1998, I was a consultant. Once I received an email from a recruiter having found the perfect job matching my skills. He wanted my phone number to call me ASAP. I gave him my phone number and this is our phone conversation: [Recruiter] "Hi Dan, this is {recruiter name} from {company}. I have the perfect job matching your skills!" [Me] "Can you tell me what skills you are looking for?" (I have many skills; I love writing C++ code, and also capable to lead a project) [Recruiter] "Well... your skills..." [Me] "Have you read my resume?" Then there was a long heavy silence. I could feel over the phone the guy was embarassed, because I am sure he never looked at my resume. My skills are written at the top of my resume. The silence lasted a full 12 seconds (my phone has a timer on it). Then, the recruiter told me about job benefits with the opportunity to contact him if I want further information about the job. The entire call lasted 38 seconds. [About Spam] I think I am now receiving spam from recruiters. I run my own business and currently hiring, yet I receive offers for "my perfect job". I receive about one job offer per month. This is the last offer I got. Nowhere in my resume suggests I am interested or skilled in UNIX. All I have is some experience in UNIX. What is more interesting is this spammer recruiter is asking me what job I am looking for. If this guy spent one minute on my resume, he would know I just released GenoPro 2007 (www.genopro.com[^]) a few weeks ago. Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 4:21 PM Subject: Great Resume Hi Daniel I would like to learn about what you are looking for. It is highly likely I can help you get what you want. I see you’re skilled in both C/C++ and UNIX. We are very interested in that combination as well as your experience in codes and multi-threading. Core Search Group, est. 1999, Specializes in connecting the top infrastructure software engineers in the world with the companies that provide the environment and tools you need to innovate. We are working with a number of companies now who would find your experience very attractive. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of working with recruiters who aren’t interested in you as a person. Please give us a try so you can see how our methodology is different. We start with discovering what you want and then work t

It is true the corporations are required to bring power to low-populated areas, however this is to make politicians look good. The myth is that without the politicians, there would be no power in low-populated areas and/or the prices would be very high. Think about it, why would a corporation want the government to force selling power to a low-populated area and lose money? Corporations want to make more money. If a law makes them lose money, they would not sponsor it and never beg (lobby) politicians to pass such law. In the case of power regulation, the law gives the power utility a monopoly over a geographical area. A good reading is "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat written in 1849. You can also find this masterpiece in MP3 format.

Nishant Sivakumar wrote:

Why would any government pass such a law?

There is a win-win situation of having a regulation. First, the corporation does not have to worry about competition, thus boosting its profits by charging a much higher fee and reducing its costs by lowering the quality of its products & services. On the other hand the politicians receive more money from "owning" a percentage of the corporation. Politicians also claim they have control over that industry, which is good to gather votes from economic-ignorant voters (the majority of the population knows nothing about economics, and it is not in a government-funded school that you learn sound economic theories). As in politics, there is always a looser. This time, the looser is the resident which has to foot the bill with the extra costs. Why would any corporation want to be regulated, if there is no benefit? If you have a great idea, such as producing electricity or offering long distance calls, why involve politicians and have the state/government own a percentage of your enterprise? Would you prefer to keep all the profits for yourself, instead of "sharing" profits with politicians after paying all the applicable taxes. There is no benefit of having politicians and bureaucrats in your business, unless you can receive privileges from the government, such as a competition-free environment and special loans and subsidies from the government. Then, it makes sense to have a state-owned enterprise where you keep the profits when things go right, and the government pays if there are deficits. Of course, the "government" is funded by taxpayers, so when the government pays something to a corporation, it is our money given to the corporation. Big corporations need regulation so suppress small companies (competition). Large corporations are inefficient and the only way to keep their large market share is to prevent small companies to enter their market. This is a long debate, but to get started you are welcome to take a look at the article "Why is Medical Care so Expensive?" (http://www.mises.org/story/2285[^]).

Nishant Sivakumar wrote:

I wonder why my rate is twice yours

The answer is Government Regulation, the same as telecoms used to be regulated. The government passes a law preventing competition of production and/or distribution of electricity, thus granting the power utility a monopoly over a geographical area. The corporation can charge almost as much as they want - there is no price cap. This is analogous to telecom regulations. In the 80's we used to pay long distances $0.35 per minute. Since the telecommunications have been de-regulated, there is more competition which drives prices down. Bell Canada no longer has the monopoly.

Nishant Sivakumar wrote:

Though I don't know my rate

The cost per KWh is written on your utility bill. On my last bill, I has to pay $0.0522 per KWh, which would cost about $5 per month for operating your device.

132 Watts * 24 Hours = 3.17 KWh. If you pay $0.10 per KWh, then your device costs you about $0.32 per day which is a bit less than $10 per month.

Joe Woodbury wrote:

This whole EU episode is like dealing with the mob.

What do you expect from the EU Commission? That's what bureaucracy is all about - legal plunder. All money which government has comes from the citizenry through the coercive process, either taxation, regulation, tarif or another clever mechanism. Government officials understand that they are parasitic, and they survive and flourish through the earnings that are sucked out of the pockets of the citizens. They comprehend, that if the citizenry suddenly decided to stop paying taxes, the bureaucracy's lifeline would, at the same time, dry up. The EU Commission has to fund itself. Since they offer no value to their paying "customers" (how many people say "Thanks" after being fined by a bureaucrat), they have to rely on extorsion and the threat of force to bring in money. The EU Commission decided Microsoft would be a good source of funds, so they are just doing their job to stay alive. Question of the day: What do bureaucrats know about competition? What about software competition? I bet none of the bureaucrats at the EU Commission ever wrote an application in C++.

I have been using a dedicated hosting solution at Peer1.com for 5 years and I had no problems. In the past, I tried many other ISPs and has problems on a weekly basis. Peer1.com has excellent service (say to reboot your machine at 3 A.M. when you screw up) and have very competitive prices. I use basic dedicated hosting plan with the 1 TB of bandwidth per month. http://www.dedicatedhosting.com/dedicated.php[^]

The problem of poverty and slavery is directly linked to the lack of liberty. In China, as in Romania, there is little personal freedom. There is a lot of red tape, making it virtually impossible for the common man to start his own business. As a result, those individuals are reduced to work for large corporations paying very little salaries. The solution to this poverty problem is reducing the red tape and bureaucracy. To be legal in China, it takes 11 procedures to open a business and a minimum capital of $36,245.46 (USD-equivalent). Think about how the common Chinese citizen can afford to start his business if he earns only a few thousand dollars each year. In the US, starting a business requires 5 steps (Register the business, Apply for firm IDs for tax and employer purposes, Register online for sales tax, Arrange for unemployment insurance, register for worker's compensation insurance) and a capital of $210.00. In Canada, there are only 2 steps (Incorporate the company, Register for GST) and a capital of $127.44 (USD-equivalent). Source: http://rru.worldbank.org/DoingBusiness/Methodology/EntryRegulations.aspx (2003). Guess which countries people are the most prosper? The more businesses, the more employment and the less poverty.

First of all, who said it was your idea? Being the first to pay someone else (a politician or bureaucrat) does not mean it is your idea. There are probalby many othershaving this idea before you, however those never paid, either because the idea was too simple (in their mind) to worth a patent, or they could not afford the legal paperwork. Ideas should not belong only to the "wealthy" capable to afford paying politicians. The idea of a patent was to promote innovation. If someone came with some NEW way of doing something, then good for him/her. You claim someone copied your idea, but those guys propably went to the same learning process as you did. In fact, I would venture they are not aware of your work, so how could they have copied anything from you? If you are so smart, why didn't you came with the NEW way of doing something better than they did?

I am not against laws at all. The law should be there to prevent injustice. The law should not be a tool for [legal] plunder.

Oh well, some individuals have no respect for individual liberty. They love tyranny and legal plunder... as long as they can benefit from it. By the way, I don't have my head in the sand. I know the law, as well as the meaning and reach of a jurisdiction.

danmorin wrote: Am I a criminal?

John Cardinal wrote:

Well technically, yes you might be. You may be infringing on the patent of the forementioned someone who devoted their life to coming up with something which ethically is worse.

If someone spent his life producing something that took me a few weeks of work, then he is an idiot. I know I am not a criminal, and I never stole anything from anyone. Was the purpose of patents for protecting the inventor? I am the inventor of my own code, since I created it myself without copying from anyone else. I should have the right to enjoy the fruit of my labor without being harrassed by a greedy idiot. On the other hand, someone extorting money from inventors by claiming he is the owner of an idea because he "first" paid politicians (the government) for his right to legal plunder is not ethical.

John Cardinal wrote:

We are in Canada and a long time ago we were infringing on someone else's trademark, completely unknowingly, we got a very large package one day in the mail full of legal documents and complied immediately when we realized what we had done.

A trademark is a different issue, as it involves the identity of the product. If I pretend my product was built by Microsoft, then I am defrauding the customers purchasing the product as well as abusing the identity of another entity (Microsoft). A trademark infringement is somewhat similar to identity theft, and there must be provisions within the law to protect one's identity.

John Cardinal wrote:

...there are people in the world who devote their lives to actually coming up with original ideas and they should be able to protect that idea if they developed it themselves.

I would agree with the following: ...there are people in the world who devote their lives to actually coming up with original work and they should be able to protect their work/intellectual property if they developed it themselves.

John Cardinal wrote:

The problem with patents is they are increasingly being used as a weapon in the war of business rather than their original intended purpose.

I agree. My biggest fear is being sued by some large corporation. This is why my company, GenoPro Inc. is not registered in the US - and never will be. All the work I have done came entirely from me, since I never read a single patent from the USPTO. Personally, I find it faster and better to think of a solution instead of searching within the patent database hoping to find something useful. On the other hand, I am almost certain some other developers (or corporations) have filed patents on the ideas I developed, either for serialization of circular data, thread polling, or something else. Am I a criminal?