Word: costly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...computer buffs visiting Pakistan's historic city of Lahore, it seemed too good a bargain to pass up. A shop called Brain Computer Services was selling brand-name computer programs, such as Lotus 1-2-3 and WordStar, which can cost several hundred dollars in the U.S., for as little as $1.50 each. During a period of nearly two years, from early 1986 to late 1987, scores of Americans -- most of them students and backpackers -- paraded through the small carpeted store, snapping up cut-rate disks for use on their computers back home...
They took away a lot more than a piece of low-cost software. Hidden in nearly every disk was an extra program not supplied by any manufacturer: a snippet of computer code many consider to be the world's most sophisticated computer virus. Every time an unsuspecting user lent his new disk to a friend or colleague, and every time the disk was run on a machine shared by other users, the code spread from one computer to another. Before long, the so- called Brain or Pakistani virus had found its way onto at least 100,000 floppy disks, sometimes...
...giant and most of its competitors have adhered to a follow-the- leader tradition. IBM's product line has set the basic standards, while the smaller companies -- at least those that were not following Apple Computer's lead -- have manufactured compatible versions offering advantages like greater speed or lower cost. The copycats, though they have snared some of Big Blue's potential sales, have actually helped sustain the company's PC system as the industry standard by expanding the market for IBM-compatible machines and encouraging software companies to write thousands of programs for them...
...there is no master list of convicted felons, no way to make such data quickly and widely available, and no speedy means of sending and matching fingerprints. A network to provide such information could take years to create and cost up to $500 million; making it available to gun dealers could violate civil liberties. Beyond that, McCollum's system would not prevent gun sales to illegal aliens and the mentally...
...cost is not the issue. The issue is whether Americans will collectively bear the burden of treating illness, just as we share the burden of defense and police protection. Or will we simply tell the sick and injured of the working class, "tough luck...