Microsoft Seeking Hot-Or-Not Patent

theodp writes "In its just-disclosed patent application for the Online Personal Appearance Advisor, Microsoft describes the 'invention' of its three Microsoft Research employees in these words: 'The contributor uploads self images for viewing and rating (or voting) by viewers who choose provide an opinion on different fashion and/or cosmetic looks of the contributor.' So what do you think — is Microsoft's invention really Hot or Not?"

Comments

Re:In other news

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not news, it's Slashdot.

I'm sure here are reams of sites with news on the Iran shenanigans. As important as the potential revolt may be, there *are* other things happening on planet Earth.

Re:Desperate for Future Income?

[hairyfeet]

I've been telling my customers to wait until Win7 SP1, preferably SP2. Most have had me build them new XP machines with easy expandability so they can sit out Win7 if it turns out to be another Vista turkey. I personally used some of my profits to build a new AMD that will go up to quad Phenom II and 32Gb of RAM so I can hang onto XP X64 and ride out Win7 if it turns out to be a turkey.

So while I have been hearing lots of good things about Win7, I also remember all the good things I heard about pre release Vista. And never underestimate the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset either. The new Vista driver model broke a whole lot of apps, and I kinda doubt that Win7 will make that situation any better. After switching to XP X64 I personally have no desire to switch to Win7. I have tons of RAM, all my apps work, everything just runs smooth, so why switch?

I'll wait until SP2 when the bugs have been worked out like I did with Win2k to WinXP SP2. Let some other sucker be the beta tester. Me and my customers (most of whom aren't even using 2Gb of RAM in XP, so I doubt the 32bit RAM limit will be a problem) will wait until SP2. And talking with some of my friends running corporate networks many have adopted the same attitude. XP is easy to lock down with GPO, all the apps they need work, and XP will be supported until 2014. Most have site licenses so they can run what they want, so why deal with all the headaches of switching? By the time Win7 SP2 rolls out we will see most of the bugs squished, most of the problems with needing to install apps as an admin will hopefully be gone, and the users are quite happy with their XP machines. So I think in this case a wait and see approach is probably the most prudent one to take.