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Microsoft, Starbucks To Offer Wireless Service
rfsayre writes: "Ever embed video in a Word 2000 file while drinking a venti half-caf low fat frappucino? You will." Think about this: if Microsoft and Starbucks provide their "customers with high-speed Internet access for their wireless laptops, smart phones and other hand-held device," how long would it be until no one is more than 30 feet from an access point? (And does this include Starbucks-serving Barnes and Noble Cafes?)
Small. . . portable. .
Ahem... Yes, I suppose. Sort of the way that a VAX looks small and portable when you park it next to ENIAC.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
That's exactly what is needed. Y'wanna cater to the masses, you implement the common denominator. 10/100 switched Ethernet, TCP/IP, and DHCP. Plug it in and go. That's how hotels do it, and that's how offices with "guest desks" for visiting execs do it.
This is part of the concept that Sun called 'WebTone' -- a set of commonly-available Internet standards that are as readily accessible as your typical POTS dial tone. (Microsoft countered with a 'WinTone' concept which quickly got laughed off by the industry.)
I'll gladly plug my laptop into an Ethernet jack at the coffee shop. I'll gladly pay a few bucks extra to hang out on the 'net while I drink my coffee. But I won't hook up to some bizarre wireless network, especially one controlled by the Devil of Redmond.
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Starbucks lattes are ass-nasty. Thank goodness there is no Starbucks in my town. I don't want one even near me.
They're coming to get you.
Soon, they'll be in the next town.
Then, they'll be in the shopping mall near your friend's house.
And before you know it, you'll be next door and downwind of one.
Get used to the burning plastic and hair smell, a Starbucks is coming to your area!
LIBERTYBOARD.ORG - News for Libertarians. Stuff that's about freedom.Cool site! Loved the link to the politics test.
If I hadn't already given up on Canada (you know, like your wonderful but tired old car, there's a time when it's just too broken to even bother trying to fix), I had been considering running as the Libertarian candidate for the Beaches-East York riding in the recent Canadian federal election.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Yes, I do work for a company that makes access points. No, I haven't done much work on that product line myself.
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I don't want free as in beer. I just want free beer.
. . . now we have PROOF that Starbucks is part of a Global Evil Empire. The only thing they missed, is that Gates isn't Bald, doesn't wear Grey Nehru jackets, and doesn't, to my knowledge, have a minature clone. . .yet.
Whave people *do* have is laptops/notebooks. Now, if Starbucks offered a 100 MHz local net with RJ45 connectors along the counter...
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Life's a bitch but somebody's gotta do it.
So I'll have to travel to a Starbucks location to use wireless Internet? Doesn't that kinda miss the point? What advantages, except for easier table-to-table movement, would this provide over just putting ethernet plugs everywhere? I don't think I'll buy into the whole wireless thing until there's more blinkenlights and less vapor.
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SecretAsianMan (54.5% Slashdot pure)
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
Is there a pronunciation guide for all this bizarre coffee jargon?
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Starbucks & Microsoft team up together, and produce a bastard evil offspring intent on taking over the entire world with bad coffee & bad software.
What next, AOL Time Warner merge with Microsoft Starbucks, and do battle against Pepsi Exon Coca Cola, while us little people cower in fear and dodge peices of sky scraper that are falling from the skys as the evil corporations Mega-Money-Rights-Stomping-Robots do battle in the cities (Especially Tokyo; robots always do battle in the streets of Tokyo).
I feel a film coming on. Warner Fox Disney Corp. would love it....
Syllable : It's an Operating System
I very seriously doubt it... unless this blows up, and b&n jumps on the bandwagon. The starbucks in b&n stores are not real starbucks (along with most of the kiosks in airports, hotels, etc), they are just sold coffee by starbucks, none of the starbucks corp. stuff applies to them.
The last few years have seen the rise and rise of OSS, but with moves like this is Microsoft looking to quash the rebellion ? By owning not only the software but the network will they achieve the subjugation of free software.
Maybe ultimately this is why Microsoft will dominate, even if broken up. They own the computer (X-Box), the software... and now the network.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
We just got a Starbucks in our lil' downtown a few months ago. At night, it's the turf of the hip-n-trendy 90210 college students from south Florida. During the day, however, it is overrun w/ attorneys on their way to & fro the courthouse, judges doing the same, DEA faggots, etc...
Once these folks start slinking into Starbucks w/ their laptops & nursing steamy lattes while their insecure o/s does a NetBIOS broadcast over the 802.11 net--ooh, it's almost too much to bear.
Some nutcase could intercept all kinds of cool shit & really change the outcome of court cases, etc... Imagine if the DEA starts doing raids on the wrong houses (oops, they've already done that). The possibilites are endless.
I'd rather be a unix freak than a freaky eunuch
Ewige Blumenkraft!
hey, starbcuks expert, whats a...
quad/quattro breve latte
Another Starbucks product that is about as overmarketed and annoyingly named as a 1984 Cadillac Cimarron (read: 1984 Cavalier with heated leather seats), served in an annoying sleeved paper cup in a restaurant that stinks like plastic and hair burning, and comes with a wooden stir-stick that gives you a splinter when you lick it to save the last drop of precious caffeine.
Ugh. I hate Starbucks. Not that the coffee is bad, but from ordering with their really annoying names for everything (tall, venti, grande, etc.) to the stink of beans roasting in the store (and I can't figure out what they could possibly be doing to make coffee beans smell bad) to the really stupid hippy tree-hugger cups and stir-sticks, I avoid the place like the plague that it is.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
And you can't smoke in any of these places either.
No, they wouldn't want the familiar and relatively pleasant smell of tobacco to obscure their precious and Pavlovian this-place-smells-like-burning-hair marketing tool and trademark odor.
I'd still love to know how they make coffee beans roasting smell so incredibly bad.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
But at least you can get your email...
I can just see this...
Attempt to log into a POP server from Starbucks access:
"We're sorry, you can only access POP mail from the MSN.COM and HOTMAIL.COM domains. Have a nice day."
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
The only thing they missed, is that Gates isn't Bald, doesn't wear Grey Nehru jackets, and doesn't, to my knowledge, have a minature clone. .
I guess the trapdoor/disposal system malfunction in the first movie was just an "undocumented feature" in the Windows NT drivers?
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
"whole" milk is 4%
At Starbucks, "lowfat" is 2% - I know, I worked there, dumbass.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
but he is just a persian cat and a monocle away from being a james bond villian.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Anonymous client misbehavior via CyberCafe, or (name your favorite public access flavor).
How is the chain of accountability maintained in these arrangements where the public can temporarily connect to the net using their own systems? At home, I have a permanent relationship to my ISP, so my misbehavior is easily punished by terminating my service! I just can't imagine how this Starbucks service provider can control "foreign" clients - they just stroll in from the street and connect!
Maybe this could prove to be a useful form of civil protest in the future - especially if this break in accountability is never addressed.
oh....my!
that you will have to have a MSN account to use this. Don't expect the marketing droids to ever give up.
Then there's the security aspect. "Microsoft has installed monitoring software, with man-in-the-middle cacheing for SSL, for your Web surfing and e-mail convienence."
Skroom. By Seattle standards, at least, Starbuck's is bottom shelf coffee anyway.
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I have a Starbucks near my home that, if it had this service, would certainly have my patronage more often. Now if their coffee were just a bit better...
sulli
RTFJ.
I've been trying for some time to get DSL into the home and have been getting the run-around: ``Yes, you're close enough'' ``No. You're too far away''. Seems to depend on the phase of the moon. Either that or my neighborhood just happens to sit on a hitherto undiscovered and unusually active tectonic plate.
Now Starbuck comes along and offers wireless internet access. I'm pretty darned sure that there's a Starbucks closer than my local phone company's CO. (Heck, in Chicago, you can stand on most street corners in the Loop and see at least three Starbucks shops.) Could Starbucks be the high speed provider I've been looking for?
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CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
Actually, I heard that:
d -defeat-your-headache-while-eating-your-power-lunc h-and-taking-advantage-of-the-latest-rate-cut-on-t he-market, they've made a strategic partnership with the FBI to have you shot. At half price, of course.
Starbucks will provide high speed access, Microsoft will provide the software,
Dell will provide the computer,
The Gap will provide the clothes,
Bayers will provide the drugs (trust us, you'll need em),
McDonalds will provide the food,
Etrade will provide the stock trading services you will need to afford all this,
and if you ever go anywhere else to drink-coffee-while-you-browse-and-look-stylish-an
If something has never been said/seen/heard before, best stop to think about why that is.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Nah. It'll just be a comprehensive disclaimer that reminds you that coffee is hot and that Starbucks isn't responsible if you are stupid enough to take the lid off while driving in traffic.
Also, Starbucks won't be held responsible if you spill coffee all over your keyboard while you trying to press Ctrl-Alt-Del.
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CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
At the moment I can just point my Psion or laptop at my mobile phone anywhere that has a modern GSM network (Which means pretty much everywhere but America) and connect to the Internet to pick up mail/news etc.
Deleted
At Singapore Airport they're building this kind of thing up too. They've had little access points all over the place for Palms a long time (which is neat if you have software installed that can make use of it - like a ssh client (mmmhm)).
Now they're setting up a place with several round desks with flat screens, mouse and keyboard, infra red ports for Palms, notebooks, etc., wires to plug your notebook into the screen/mouse/keyboard and all hooked up to high speed internet access. I believe you can use those terminals without your own PC too, but I may be wrong there.
In any case, it's all quite neat if you have some time there (I just returned from 45 hours of flying/sitting in airports).
Starbucks.
Coffee.
WireLESS.
krystal_blade
It will be easy to motivate our fellow man; there is hardly anything people treasure more than not being annihilated.
Come on, do we need this? Let's just solder motherboards and cellphones into our brains and get it over with already...
"Yeah, I'll have a half-caf, no-fat, double latte, mocha swirl with the Firewire upgrade." Sheesh!
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
"We have reached our cruising altitude of 29,000 feet...you may now frag."
Neutron
I get my kicks above the
Seen what Kinkos and the like charge for web usage? I think if I nedded this Id go for a Metricom modem ($100 for the modem, $100 or so a month for unlimited wiresl 128K-top-speed internet acess.). Its sure to be cheaper in the long run.
I'm just picturing the joys of wireless coming up through my floor and the extra bandwidth available after they close for the night.
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. - G.B. Shaw
My question was, and still is, will access be limited to MSN only? (Thursdays CBS Marketwatch article) Note: Customers will be able to access Microsoft's MSN...
Personally, I think Austin Powers 2 was more factual than we were lead to believe. Obviously this is Dr. Evil and Mr. Bill getting ready for world domination. What next, wireless broadband in the mall, at McDonald's, on the jet? The possibilities are endless. I suggest dubbing this 'eKudzu'.
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Maximum Number of Professors: *Refer to printed "EULA"*
END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT/STARBUCKS COFFEE __________________________________________________ _____________________
IMPORTANT-READ CAREFULLY: This End-User License Agreement ("EULA") is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and the manufacturer ("Coffee Manufacturer" or "Manufacturer") of the Coffee or Caffeine system component ("WETWARE") with which you acquired the Microsoft liquid product(s) identified above ("LIQUID PRODUCT" or "JOE"). If the LIQUID PRODUCT is not accompanied by a new caffeine system (coffee pot)or caffeine system component,(coffee mug) you may not use or drink the LIQUID PRODUCT. The LIQUID PRODUCT includes caffeine wetware, the associated media it is served in, any printed materials used to soak up spills, and any "online" or electronic documentation of how such "JOE" is made. By drinking, brewing or otherwise using the WETWARE PRODUCT, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, Manufacturer and Starbucks/Microsoft Corporation ("Microbucks") are unwilling to license the WETWARE PRODUCT to you. In such event, you may not use or brew the WETWARE PRODUCT, and you should promptly contact Manufacturer for instructions on return of the product(s) for a refund, unless it is cold.
krystal_blade
It will be easy to motivate our fellow man; there is hardly anything people treasure more than not being annihilated.
Will I have to use Microsoft Windows on my laptop in order to use this?
Not very long indeed.
No, to the other question, as well.
Keeping
won't find me at starbucks. my local coffee-shop just ordered their new computers. What makes this better than starbucks? well.. it's a dutch coffee-shop..the main product is NOT coffee.
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
If you could be arsed registering. The story's here.
Speaking as someone who admins in a Cyber Cafe, I can say that the idea is cool, as long as you can overlook the mega-corporations aspect. Many customers come in with their Palm Pilots replete with passwords; if they could use their own machines it'd be great. I know I get sick of de-securing the password list on my pilot, looking it username and passwd, logging on and then going back five minutes after I left because I forgot to log off again.
This will open the door to a new Windows feature: the Green Screen of Caffeinated Death.
Hhmmm... I think I should start stocking up on Yaucono...
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
Now don't get me wrong. I'm running Win2K in a VMware box and I haven't gotten it to crash yet, which means it took Microsoft about five or so years to get Windows close to what Linux is now. They also merged alot of Win98's ease in, which is much better than WinNT 4. Securing a box is probably easier in Win2k (but I haven't tried it yet). Ideal? No, but probably stable enough that 90% of the masses are confortable with it.
Now if they have both wireless and IR connectivity, *THEN* they got 98% of the market covered (including the PalmOS devices).
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Lovely. Something to give Starbucks even more money. And I'll bet that this little deal won't help those of us who like coffee-flavored coffee any.
You know.
Coffee that tastes like coffee.
And you can't smoke in any of these places either.
::sigh::
But at least you can get your email...
Starbucks is one of those places where you go not to buy a good cup of coffee, but to pay four dollars for poorly flavored water in order to appear cool, because you can afford four dollars for poorly flavored water.
Either that or you aren't a troll and just have a seriously whacked set of taste buds.
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seumas.com
it took Microsoft about five or so years to get Windows close to what Linux is now
If my information is correct one could say it took MS 9-11 years to get to this level. Technically NT 4.0 was not supposed to have been a product when the NT timeline came up, it was a "we need this is in the market NOW so take what we have and try to stablize it." NT 3.51 was supposed to be the only steping stone, then the leap to what is now NT 5.0, err Windows 2000. But even so, the NT product started development sometime between 1989-91. Also, technically Windows 3.11 was supposed to end the DOS line, then 95, then 98, now Me.
Disclamer - Opinion of Person
... in Florida, I was not surprised to see that most of the plazas (plazae?) now have micro-StarBucks in them. (That's the small ones, not the forthcoming offspring.) My parents, whom I was travelling with, laughed at the prices. "People actually pay that much for coffee?!? hahahahah!" (I've gone from paying 0.485 cents per cup to about 0.68 cents per cup - and it's damn good! (except for when the roast is overdone, but you can usually tell if you were there the night before.)) And, though some wouldn't like it, I can smoke in my favorite coffee shop. So, I don't yet have a wireless connection for my laptop - though people seem to think I'm connected through my AC line - but I can almost always find an outlet, or something more interesting than the net; like people! oh, wait, nevermind that ... The only place that compares is Waffle House - and mostly b/c of the price (~$1.00 for infinite refills?) and hours (26^H4). Now, maybe there's an idea ... internet connections in the booths at Waffle House? (Out of spite, they could charge only customers using a certain non-free (non-) operating system.) Hmm, maybe I could talk the owner of the coffee shop into a similar setup? Perhaps as a preemptive move? (Just make everyone bring an ethernet card or rent them *hehe*) (WedontneednostinkinIRdevices!)
To end this rant:
MicroSoft + StarBucks
= Little Quality + Astronomical Prices
!= Astronomical Quality + Little Prices
(now maybe someone will make that into a haiku)
Luckily for me ... I live in Seattle, and my Linksys card is on the way.