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Economic Slump hits Open Source
adamjone writes: "C|NET and Yahoo! are running a story about the hit that open source software is taking during this economic slump. Open source development is a hobby for me, not my full-time job. I find that I have more time to work on my project during times when my full-time job is slow, or we don't have enough work. Is open source truly being driven by those who make it their full-time occupation? If so, is there a happy medium for keeping bread on the table and still working within the open source community?" At least Microsoft is doing well.
oh yes. fast and first.
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - open source hero Mike Bouma was found dead in his San Francisco home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to the open source comunity. Truly an American icon.
6th post! I'm an idiot
Sounds familiar...
However, for your next post, please allow me to donate you this free sack of army surplus <P> and <BR> tags!
Yep, Microsoft is doing spectacular. Tell that to the shareholders!
Sigh... how boring!
Wow! You managed to read the articles, formulate an intelligent opinion, type it down - and still get first post! I congratulate you. Now to the moderators who have already modded this guy up - wtf? Obvious karma-whoring with a copy-pasted response that isn't even on-topic?
Found dead lying next to Stephen King, right?
As if 'Talk Radio' had ever heard of Mike Bouma...
N/T
Isn't that part of the problem? That is to say, are people so blind that they don't see that "expanding beyond PC software" mean (for Microsoft) that they will leverage their grip on the consumer PC desktop to gain advantages in new markets and shove out competitors [sic]? This line of the article says, to me, "the antitrust settlement effectively frees Microsoft to continue to violate antitrust laws".
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
No fuckin' shit?! Man, I never noticed. You're a genius, mike.
It's modded down because it's offtopic and blatant karma-whoring and cluttering up the top of the comments where useful comments generally should go.
At least Microsoft is doing well.
2001-11-20 13:43:58 In typical microsoft fasion, they take over, not i (articles,news) (rejected)
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
This has a lot more spelling errors than I usually see. Deliberate spelling errors as a troll?
by THE_MESSENGER, Troll Staff Writer
REDMOND - Microsoft's groundbreaking new gaming console, the Microsoft XBox, has just been released to the general public. Gamers are raving about the system's fast graphics chip, manufactured by nVidia Corporation, and ergonomically designed controlling apparatus. However, as all gamers know, what makes or breaks a console is the available selection of software titles, not flashy hardware.
Blood Money
Sony's PlayStation 2, a competing platform, has successful increased its marketshare by actively promoting software intended for "older" audiences, rather than the toddler-to-teenage audience sought by Nintendo, a popular manufacturer of children's electronic toys, whose new "GameCube" console us being tauted as "The XBox of the Elementary School." Such software is rated as being "For Mature Audiences" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, and often features graphic violence and adult language. While much of this software -- such as Grand Theft Auto 3 ("GTA3"), a game which glorifies petty criminal behavior -- may seem crude, today's twenty- and thirty-year-olds are attracted to the gritty, realistic portrayal of the world that these games showcase. Because poverty-stricken, talentless Cheap Software advocates make up such a small part of this "older gamer" demographic, Sony's bet has paid off, and young people everywhere are spending their disposable incomes on games that simulate violence, instead of investing funds in traditional, low-yield investment strategies as the stock market and prostitution.
A Tradition of Excellence
Microsoft Corporation is known across the country and around the world for its innovative products and American-style business strategy. (Microsoft was most recently in the news when the "Code Red" Internet application demonstrated the fitness of the Windows operating system for distributed computing tasks.) One of the Redmond, Washington-based software behemoth's core principles is "embrace and extend"--a strategy in which Microsoft engineers analyze the successes of other computing pioneers and adopt them to Microsoft's patriotic, anti-terrorist business strategy. When the company first started designing the XBox, it knew that Sony's "older" audience would play a key role in the success of its product.
"The 'older' audience has monetary resources not available to Nintendo's average five-year-old customer," reports Dick Johnson, Microsoft's Chief Business Architect. "While Nintendo customers are often able to acquire hardware and software by nagging their parents, the sales are not guaranteed. Sony's audience, on the other hand, has the key combination of paying jobs and irrepsonsible spending habits. Observe how these scruffy young professionals paid in excess of $20,000 for PlayStation 2 consoles during the rush last winter."
Life Begins at $400.00
But Microsoft isn't satisfied. Sure, it could sell millions of consoles to the same folks who bought PlayStation 2 consoles, but Johnson says that this just wouldn't be Microsoft's way. "We pride ourself on adapting -- changing -- others' successful strategies before implementing them at Microsoft. Otherwise, we'd be like, you know, a bunch of lamer copy-offs."
But how can Microsoft embrace and extend Sony's "older" audience market? "Simple," says Johnson. "We'll sell games to old people!"
The lineup of new "really mature" games includes titles of interest for every old person, from baby-boomers to geriatrics: Xtreme Finance (and the Xtreme Federal Income Tax mission pack) makes paying bills fun with three-dimensional charts and a "rockin'" Eagles soundtrack, while Xtreme Crossword Puzzles builds seniors' self-esteem by repeating the phrase "You're not going to die, really!" in a calm voice over soothing music from new-age sensation Yanni. Even the names of the games are well thought-out. "As you can see, we're really sold on what we call the Xtreme Paradigm," Johnson explains. "This innovative misspelling of 'extreme' is sure to be mistaken by boomers as 'cool' and 'hip.' Also, it begins with 'x.' And it's the 'X'-box, get it? Ha ha!" As you can see, Microsoft has left no detail unexplored in its everlasting quest to provide quality products while fighting subversives and terrorists.
Linux is gay
Microsoft's invincible stock rises 14% every time that this article is published.
Troll Tuesday 2001.
--The Mess
Hello, you have reach Bank of America ATM. Please enter your account number and PIN to continue reading this story. While you're waiting to withdraw your money, how about the tasty taste of hot Fritos? They're available on Aisle 4, right next to the Slick 50. Here's your money. Your new account balance is: $210.43. Please take your card. Thank you for using Bank of America
Ask me about our reasonable finance rates!
I am a sentient ATM.
I know I shouldn't respond to trolls, but what the heck -- I feel like getting modded down as offtopic today. As a regular reader of the Wall Street Journal, I'd like to point out that they have generally been open to free software, if not downright friendly. A few months ago they even had an article on the front page of their market section about Ogg Vorbis. A lot of people on slashdot look at the slashdot flame wars about capitalist versus communist and assume everyone else thinks the same way. Therefore, they assume that as staunch supporters of capitalism newspapers and magazines like WSJ, Forbes, and The Economist will automatically take a knee jerk position that open source is evil, because it might harm the established capitalist big businesses out there. The truth, though, is that those papers & magazines care about the free market, not Big Corporation X. If you advocate elimination of copyright, or legislation that requires all software to be open source regardless of economic implications, then they will probably be against you (on the other hand, all three are generally impartial news sources who will report on both sides in a fair manner). On the other hand, if open source produces a better/cheaper product that ends up bankrupting Microsoft, Oracle and the other software giants, then they will applaud it for being innovative and raising the bar. Whether or not it looks like Marxist communism is irrelevant (it doesn't, but that's an argument for a different post in a different article).
"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone else."