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> -----Original Message-----
> From: KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com
> [mailto:KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 2:44 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: RE: More ethics...
>
>
> Who's the enemy? ... the "enemy" might also be your
> neighbor the dry-cleaner, or the plumber or the
> plasterer/drywaller, or the carpenter who installed
> your new rec room.
> There's an important point that all these people,
> in their daily work, have in common. When they
> finish a job, and get paid for it, they move on.
> Most of 'em produce something physical that is
> often unique (within the parameters that it's
> still plumbing, say, it happens to solve this
> particular plumbing problem in an imaginative,
> practical way).
Expect them to soon take a page out of the Microsoft NET playbook.
Once the plumber has installed your new toilet, they'll want to start
collecting royalties on your water bill based on how often you flush and
whether the flushing was for a number 1 or a number 2.
Or maybe they'll install it for free, but lease it to you with payments
made as part of your rent/mortgage payment.
If you decide that it is silly to lease something that used to be
included in your home, de-installing it causes the shower, garbage
disposal, and dishwasher to back-up. The error message will say
something about missing or incompatible shared components.
Of course the handyman will attach a micropayment to your electricity
bill for every time your electric garage door opener is activated. The
dry cleaner will embed a chip into your leather coat that can detect
radical changes in temperature -- an indication that the coat is being
worn outside; you'll be charged extra at the cleaners for each instance
of excessive exposure to sunlight, moisture, or cold.
Soon everyone will be like Microsoft with a means of collecting
royalties for doing nothing much except shrink wrapping a pressed CD and
inserting it into a cardboard box. Money will lose its meaning and we'll
all have to start working on real things again.
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A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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