paul allen f00ked

[sporkme]

ms co-founder paul allen controls charter cable (tv) communications, and it is under suspicion from the US-SEC for an accounting scandal

ha-ha


this may have been hype, searching for some more sources

[ August 16, 2002: Message edited by: sporkme / bob ]

[voidmain]

That's my cable provider.  They just recently raised my rates.  And at the time I was having severe network packet loss. I called them up and chewed them out stating I shouldn't have to pay more when my service was getting crappier.  And I don't use Windows or any of their services so I should get a discount because I am sure they will not help me if I have a problem since I don't use a "supported by Charter" operating system thanks to their boss, Mr M$, Paul Allen.

To my amazement the guy I was chewing out, said they use a lot of Linux servers there and he was getting very in to it, and was becoming very anti-M$.  But yes, I have heard they are in trouble in more ways than one.  One thing that annoys me about them.  They spend huge amounts of money on advertising all over the area.  They sponsor IRL races, sporting events, and they advertise constantly on every channel on *their* cable network which I have yet to comprehend the point of. The message is "get Charter", but in order to receive the message you must already "have Charter".  Reminds me a lot of M$ the way they pound you with advertising, then raise the rates..

[choasforages]

yeah, my cable companys founder/ceo just got arrested. atleast i think he is the ceo

[sporkme]

http://money.cnn.com/2002/08/16/news/companies/charter/index.htm
....ehhh crappy link

cuts and pastes:

 Charter, the fourth-largest U.S. cable provider, said the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Missouri issued the grand jury subpoena related to current and disconnected customers and policies and procedures related to the way it capitalized or expensed certain costs.

Charter also said it expected to remove about 120,000 marginal customers from its basic account in the first quarter of 2002.

looking for ~~good~~ links

[badkarma]

[sarcasm]
Hmmm ... is it just me or is there something incredibly fucking wrong with the corporate system in america?
[/sarcasm]

[voidmain]

Heh heh, I wonder if I am one of the 120,000 "marginal" customers they plan to get rid of since I don't use M$ or any of the Charter services?

[pkd_lives]

So out of interest, which companies can provide non dial up, personal, internet connection that meets the following requirements.

1.Stable reliable service (or a close approximation).
2.Reasonable price (say $50 with no instal. fees).
3.Not partnered with Microsoft.
4.Not required to have a package (i.e ISP only purchased service).

I don't consider all of the above to be hard to meet. None of them are technically difficult, and none of them have strict financial barriers.

[dbl221]

It seems to me the problem with the big corperations is that the board is not overseeing the activities of the execs...which is the most basic function of the board.  This, most basic function is of course impossible if the execs to be overseen are on the board.

Now I may only be a humble computer-systems student but how on earth can a board oversee the execs activities with the board selected BY these same execs, and these same execs on the board in the first place??

Whay idiot thought that was NOT a conflict of interest.   :mad: