I think -if I can add to part of your point- that Apple plays a really important part in the industry, one that Apple-haters (or maybe, simply, avoiders should really be thankful for.
Apple is a marketing powerhouse, this we all know. And while at their core, Apple's phones aren't hugely more revolutionary than some others (and in some instances, they ARE unfathomably better), competing phones have to have a feature set and level of overall quality and functionality that are amazing, in order just to differentiate themselves from Apple- or maybe, just to get their product out from behind the Apple smokescreen.
Don't get me wrong, I am an iPhone fan (I don't have one because of AT&T and my unwillingness to pay $70/month for a phone), but I think now that several years in iPhone production, the rules of the game are becoming clear: if you're going up against Apple, you've got to bring a product that is better than the iPhone at everything, because its image factors in to its user experience, and that's a tremendous hurdle to overcome.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't anything new and at least a couple of companies already do this exact same thing. Go to Maps on your iPod touch and hit Locate. It'll put you right on the map and it doesn't have anything resembling a GPS chip in it. And let's say that you're standing in a field of 4 "linksys" and 5 "NETGEAR". It knows the MACs that are linked to those SSIDs, so it can look at the signal strength of each and triangulate your position. In fact, access to a service like this is built in to Location Services in Snow Leopard.
Let's not go crazy here, I mean, there's not a whole lot that's relatively modern about this if the thing was developed in the friggin' '70s and operates without an efficient backup system.
If anything, it's an example of how much society would _BENEFIT_ from a modern system.
Have the self-righteous pricks who made such a mess of IT at the turn of the decade stopped thinking that their unchecked and non-methodical actions are "glorious"?
http://osuosl.org/
I realize that page alone doesn't speak toward the everyman experiences of linux users on campus, but I can say, they [comp support services on campus] do a very good job.
I do realize that, because I grew up in Southern Oregon. Trust me, I lived 180 miles from Portland and most of the people in the state, let alone the country, don't even know it's there.
But we have to look at population centers, and I just don't think the population in the more-northern part of the state is large enough to warrant running the line all the way to the Siskiyous.
Everyone here is talking about the northeast and midwest, what about the damned west coast? Linking San Francisco to LA is huge, by itself. Linking Seattle to Eugene or Southern Oregon would be amazing. The commuter possibilities are endless here. Take Portland to Seattle, for example. Many people hop that via plane even though it's only about a 3 hour drive. Turn that in to a 1.5 hour train trip, and guess what? You've linked two cities with amazingly effective public transportation, cut down on the pollution of a plane or many individual autos, and perhaps increased the number of people who are willing to commute between the two large cities and their metro areas.
Someone mod this up, the original parent is completely missing the boat (train?)
Look at California: it takes a full 8 to 9 hours to get from the north end of that state to the south end. If they can connect the Bay Area to Los Angeles and make it a 2 or 2.5 hour trip, it'll be a huge boon (HUGE) to everyone from tourists to commuters to business people.
There are fantastic possibilities here, they're not trying to send little Johnny from NY to California by rail.
I need to re-evaluate my role in the world. I am 25 and try to consider myself young and relatively on top of things cultural... but this... this changes everything. I do not want to be either fuddy or duddy, but man, I think we need to consider ending the human race after this generation. Just, you know, give up.
Fox makes money off of churning its schedule over. It occasionally finds a long-running winner, something that is so wildly popular that they can milk it even after its popularity has waned a bit.
Here's the thing: Fox makes tons of money off of initial ad sales when its found the "next big thing".
"This will be the next Simpsons", "This will be the next 24", "This will be the next Idol".
Phrases like that are what get the ad dollars because companies want their product tied to something big at the very beginning. Fox gets those shows on the air, gets those ad dollars, and gets eyeballs looking at the time slot. Numbers start to wane, another "next big thing" ad opportunity rolls around, and they yank the show and slide in the new one.
Money, people, money money money. They don't give a rat's ass about satisfaction of a small-but-loyal viewer set, they care only about ad revenue.
Guys, listen, it is genius and it's why the Republicans have it right:
Tax cuts. More tax cuts and tax rebates and tax credits. It really works, I've seen it.
You get your tax cuts, you take your receipts to that little 4x5 H&R Block kiosk in the middle of Walmart, you walk around while they prepare them, they cut you an advance refund check, and you take it over and buy a new flatscreen Vizio TV to hang on the wood panelling in your trailer. And that stimulates the economy.
"My teacher had beef so I gave her a smack"
Seriously, and I have worked in schools and am studying to be a teacher... what a gross -disgusting, really- use of power. I respect educators 100% when they make the noble effort, but good-gravy, someone needs to sit that woman down and read her the riot act.
Maybe I've missed the people saying this, but it seems obvious why Steve (yeah, we're on a first name basis) is stepping out of the picture. He's not going to live forever, nor do I imagine that he wants to remain CEO until his death.
It seems like bad business practice (a liability?) for the fate of an entire company to be tied to one man, but there it is: people do not trust Apple to innovate sans Jobs. Rather than wait for the guy to drop dead or decide to quit. They have to start weening the public off of the idea that Steve Jobs sits in a big room, thinking up ideas that later become the products people crave.
The fact of the matter is Jobs has brought an atmosphere and mindset to Apple that they'd been lacking for a long time. And while people are -often legitimately- prone to question how truly innovative Apple's products are, it's hard to argue that the hype is often legitimate, and they at least have designs that contain and lack just the right number of features with the right amount of polish for a majority of users, to the point where they are willing to pay a premium for the product.
Separating the Steve Jobs from the idea that Apple is what has to be done, and it's going to be rough.
You make a good point, and I think one of the most rational here. I'd like to add to this, however, that I don't think the population of viruses and OS X malware is going to explode overnight.
If it gradually starts creeping in, as I suspect it someday might, I hope that Apple WILL start preaching virus protection to its users, and maybe even take a page from the MS playbook and start offering virus protection with the OS itself (and in a better implementation than the lame thing they tried with.Mac a few years ago...)
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Apple is a marketing powerhouse, this we all know. And while at their core, Apple's phones aren't hugely more revolutionary than some others (and in some instances, they ARE unfathomably better), competing phones have to have a feature set and level of overall quality and functionality that are amazing, in order just to differentiate themselves from Apple- or maybe, just to get their product out from behind the Apple smokescreen.
Don't get me wrong, I am an iPhone fan (I don't have one because of AT&T and my unwillingness to pay $70/month for a phone), but I think now that several years in iPhone production, the rules of the game are becoming clear: if you're going up against Apple, you've got to bring a product that is better than the iPhone at everything, because its image factors in to its user experience, and that's a tremendous hurdle to overcome.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't anything new and at least a couple of companies already do this exact same thing. Go to Maps on your iPod touch and hit Locate. It'll put you right on the map and it doesn't have anything resembling a GPS chip in it. And let's say that you're standing in a field of 4 "linksys" and 5 "NETGEAR". It knows the MACs that are linked to those SSIDs, so it can look at the signal strength of each and triangulate your position. In fact, access to a service like this is built in to Location Services in Snow Leopard.
Questions are spot-on. Would mod + if I had points.
This is a really good idea. I just can't say enough good things about this idea and the common sense in which it seems to be rooted.
... I remember DirectX 7 quite well.
Well if you tested every scenario, you'd know about all of the bugs and vulnerabilities, now, wouldn't you? ;)
Let's not go crazy here, I mean, there's not a whole lot that's relatively modern about this if the thing was developed in the friggin' '70s and operates without an efficient backup system. If anything, it's an example of how much society would _BENEFIT_ from a modern system.
I sure hope that DHS knows exactly what a cybersecurity expert is...
The shit-disturber side of me says, "Take that, Redmond."
Have the self-righteous pricks who made such a mess of IT at the turn of the decade stopped thinking that their unchecked and non-methodical actions are "glorious"?
http://osuosl.org/ I realize that page alone doesn't speak toward the everyman experiences of linux users on campus, but I can say, they [comp support services on campus] do a very good job.
Could not agree more. The people in this thread are hitting it right on the head. I wish we could tag this question as "troll".
I do realize that, because I grew up in Southern Oregon. Trust me, I lived 180 miles from Portland and most of the people in the state, let alone the country, don't even know it's there. But we have to look at population centers, and I just don't think the population in the more-northern part of the state is large enough to warrant running the line all the way to the Siskiyous.
Everyone here is talking about the northeast and midwest, what about the damned west coast? Linking San Francisco to LA is huge, by itself. Linking Seattle to Eugene or Southern Oregon would be amazing. The commuter possibilities are endless here. Take Portland to Seattle, for example. Many people hop that via plane even though it's only about a 3 hour drive. Turn that in to a 1.5 hour train trip, and guess what? You've linked two cities with amazingly effective public transportation, cut down on the pollution of a plane or many individual autos, and perhaps increased the number of people who are willing to commute between the two large cities and their metro areas.
Look at California: it takes a full 8 to 9 hours to get from the north end of that state to the south end. If they can connect the Bay Area to Los Angeles and make it a 2 or 2.5 hour trip, it'll be a huge boon (HUGE) to everyone from tourists to commuters to business people.
There are fantastic possibilities here, they're not trying to send little Johnny from NY to California by rail.
Prefer sizzle sounds? O.M.G.
Here's the thing: Fox makes tons of money off of initial ad sales when its found the "next big thing".
"This will be the next Simpsons", "This will be the next 24", "This will be the next Idol".
Phrases like that are what get the ad dollars because companies want their product tied to something big at the very beginning. Fox gets those shows on the air, gets those ad dollars, and gets eyeballs looking at the time slot. Numbers start to wane, another "next big thing" ad opportunity rolls around, and they yank the show and slide in the new one.
Money, people, money money money. They don't give a rat's ass about satisfaction of a small-but-loyal viewer set, they care only about ad revenue.
That's the point, man, he doesn't know and it's not obvious.
Tax cuts. More tax cuts and tax rebates and tax credits. It really works, I've seen it.
You get your tax cuts, you take your receipts to that little 4x5 H&R Block kiosk in the middle of Walmart, you walk around while they prepare them, they cut you an advance refund check, and you take it over and buy a new flatscreen Vizio TV to hang on the wood panelling in your trailer. And that stimulates the economy.
Duh.
"My teacher had beef so I gave her a smack" Seriously, and I have worked in schools and am studying to be a teacher... what a gross -disgusting, really- use of power. I respect educators 100% when they make the noble effort, but good-gravy, someone needs to sit that woman down and read her the riot act.
It seems like bad business practice (a liability?) for the fate of an entire company to be tied to one man, but there it is: people do not trust Apple to innovate sans Jobs. Rather than wait for the guy to drop dead or decide to quit. They have to start weening the public off of the idea that Steve Jobs sits in a big room, thinking up ideas that later become the products people crave.
The fact of the matter is Jobs has brought an atmosphere and mindset to Apple that they'd been lacking for a long time. And while people are -often legitimately- prone to question how truly innovative Apple's products are, it's hard to argue that the hype is often legitimate, and they at least have designs that contain and lack just the right number of features with the right amount of polish for a majority of users, to the point where they are willing to pay a premium for the product.
Separating the Steve Jobs from the idea that Apple is what has to be done, and it's going to be rough.
Everyone always blames the bridging function...
Seriously, this has hoax written all over it. I can't for 2 seconds believe that people are taking this seriously.
Bwahahaha, I'm so glad someone caught this.
You make a good point, and I think one of the most rational here. I'd like to add to this, however, that I don't think the population of viruses and OS X malware is going to explode overnight. If it gradually starts creeping in, as I suspect it someday might, I hope that Apple WILL start preaching virus protection to its users, and maybe even take a page from the MS playbook and start offering virus protection with the OS itself (and in a better implementation than the lame thing they tried with .Mac a few years ago...)