I think he missed the point of the question, although it is still a stupid question. I think the real point of this hypothetical situation was to ask him what browser people would choose based completely off of the merits of the browser itself, ignoring previous knowledge of a browser and any branding or marketing, which would they choose. He correctly answered, I'm not a mind reader. But if he were to read minds, given that he works for Microsoft on IE, I think we all know what he's going to say.
For me, I would need some criteria to differentiate the products:
1. Security: FF and Opera will win on this front
2. Stability: I don't know all of stats on this, but would be nice to know
3. Speed: I think this depends on the version of each browser
4. Compatibility: given that at this point I have already chosen my OS, I'm talking about compatibility with various web sites. Despite the CSS issues, IE is clearly the winner here, but this could also be a "chicken or egg" argument.
I'm guessing you think that one solution fits all problems. You're criticism is very naive. First, there is never one broad sweeping solution to fit all problems. Second, the two problems/issues are very different in fundemental ways. Space exploration is technology driven. By privitizing space exploration, business will drive the advances in technology necessary to get us there. Healthcare and social security are not technology driven (at least where the problem with them is). The problem with these is the their system. Since social security and healthcare are a right (or at least should be) of all citizens, the payout needs to be equal (pretty much socialist) in order to guarantee these rights. By privitizing it, the capitalism will show its ugly side by make a few rich while screwing over many. The purpose of social security is to equally benefit all, not turn a profit for some. Government regulation and some sort of universal healthcare is a much better solution than privatizing. Plus, most of the poor (who really need social security) are generally not savvy investors. These are the people that will invest their social security in real-estate because they heard from someone that the market is hot and an infomercial at 4 am talked about how profitable flipping houses is. (for the uninformed, the real-estate bubble burst a year ago, but it is not until now that joe sixpack is hearing about it)
I currently run MythTV 0.19 on FC4. If I were to do it all again, I would probably run a distro that was extremely lightweight with an extremely lightweight window manager like XFCE, etc. Since Myth is so storage hungry (or rather your reocordings can be) it's good to save all the space you can. On top of that, the less processess running the better for smooth recording, especially if watching a something previiously recorded and recording another show (or more) simultaneiously. I did really like the yum install of myth though. Very easy using "Jared's" famous guide. (tweaking on the other hand is a never ending nightmare, but I'm sure you know this already).
Yes Microsoft's obligation is to its shareholders...JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY ON THE PLANET! Unfortunately, Microsoft has not been pleasing stockholders for some time now. Microsoft's stock price has been stagnant for years. The reason has nothing to do with profits. Stockholders don't care about profits as much as they care about growth. In fact, stockholder's don't even like it when a company over shoots their forcasted profits, stockholders like predictability. For example, stockholders love Dell because (at least last I heard) Dell has never missed it's projected sells. It has never gone under OR over, and stockholders like this. (Dell is able to achieve this using the promotions on the website like giving away flatpanel upgrades when he needs to generate more sales, and giving away nothing when he needs to throttle sales back) Sounds crazy, but that's the way it works. Growth is what it's all about. If stockholders don't think that a company will continue to grow, they will not be as interested. Afterall, without growth, there is a cap on the amount of profit you can achieve. Same reason why Starbucks was stagnant for a while. Stockholders weren't sure how many more Starbucks cafes they could put on this planet. Every mall already has about fifteen of them. Vista will not generate growth, only profits. The XBOX created growth, but no profits (signs of black with the 360 though), but shareholders liked this.
This would be funny, but unfortunately you did not read the summary, just the title. They are not giving away movies randomly in your mailbox like an aol trial, they are giving them away WITH THE PLAYER. When you buy a blue-ray player or an HD-DVD player (consoles included) you will also get a free movie to get you started. This is the same concept as your computer coming with a bunch of demo software or a console coming with a free game.
P.S. Anyone else have a blue-ray banner at the top of your page? WEIRD!...or not
I was shocked by this as well. For something as large and important as an election, Access just doesn't cut it. When I took a database class, for the final project (build a database for a fictional company of your choosing) I maxed out Access and had to scale the project down (apparently you can't have more than 30 relationships in an Access database).
Note: Yes it is ridiculous that we used Access in a college database course. I was not particularly satisfied with this element of the course. But to be fair, it got the job done at least conceptually. Besides, the department is still under the impression that MS is wonderful.
Actually, it seems the sun rises in the west for Ubuntu. I was a Fedora fan boy being my first linux distro ever was FC2. I used Fedora personally up to FC4, put FC5 on the gf's laptop without a problem (any points for converting her?) but when I put it on my desktop, I had some weird sound issues never before encountered. Granted, sound was the biggest pain in my ass out of all of the new to linux issues back in FC2, but FC4 seemed better than windows in that respect. This frustration led me to give Ubuntu a whirl. Sound issue and overall the OS seemed more complete and polished and more to what a former windows user might expect out of their operating system. Back on topic, Nvidia drivers. I used to go through the hassle of downloading the drivers from nvidia and running the script in runlevel 3 every time I upgraded my kernel. In ubuntu, not only is software updates a lot faster, more stable and in the end easier, but I can choose to use a kernel module that includes nvidia as well as atheros drivers (wireless) that automatically updates and compiles with the new kernels. The only thing I don't like about using Ubuntu, is that it is so easy and user friendly, that I feel like a pussy using it. There is just something about working from a commmand line and manually doing a lot of the maintnance and setup that the inner geek craves. I'm tempted to give the GF Ubuntu and try out FC6 (or maybe something like gentoo or slackware for a true uber-geek OS experienc).
Oh crap, I hope the boss doesn't read Slashdot! Better check this out...
hmmm...no slashdot activity today, BUT there is an unread e-mail just sent to him with a slashdot link it it!!
DELETED!
Ok everybody, we're safe. Move along, nothing to see here
Ok so before this discussion gets out of control with claims like "DUPE!" or "we arleady discussed this here" let me set a little focus to generate some more original discusstion.
Clearly Oracle is definitely going in the direction of creating a linux based appliance. Let's ignore the Oracle Linux Distro. debate and focus more one Appliances themselves. Does the greater slashdot community like the idea of an appliance or dislike. I remember in the MySQL interview last week, MySQL's CEO mentioned he did not like the idea of appliances because the company should focus on what they do best and allow the partners to do the same, thus creating a more robust stack.
Discuss...
Alternate topic: A peanut is neither a pea nor a nut
Any technology company that needs to hire more than 1,000 people a year is clearly doing something wrong.
Or you are in a high turnover industry like consulting and auditing. I recently joined a big five consulting company. At my orientation, there were at least 100 new hires. There is an orientation is every two weeks. Employee turnover in the tech. consulting industry is something like 20%. I have a friend working as an auditor for a big four accounting firm. He says most people don't last more than two years. He probably won't last more than two years. I might not last more than two years. This looks bad, but these companies are the biggest in the industry and have had this kind of turnover for a long time. Consulting is tough work and a lot of people either burn out or get hired by a client.
I have done some similar work, and yes they do ask if this is enough to protect themselves against an experienced hacker. Basically, I tell them this is only enough to protect you against the average wardriver. Being security savvy enough to know that if there is a will there is always a way, I am usually quite frank with my clients. However, there needs to be a will. Is there any reason in particular that someone wants YOUR network and the information on it. There might be, but for most of the clients I did this sort of work for, there really wasn't. The fact of the matter is, if you even have a week WEP key, the fact that you have something at all is enough for a wardriver to go elsewhere if there is an abundance of unsecured networks. Whenever I'm trying to pick up some internet access on the go, I don't bother trying to connect to the network with a uniquely named SSID and WPA enabled. I instictively go right towards "linksys" with no security (And if I'm feeling like an asshat, I'll change their router's password, MAC address filter everyone but myself and change the SSID to something that will piss off the owner). How many of you out there like to park your car next to a Mercedes or flashy sports car under the assumption that given the choice, the car-jacker will choose the nicer car?
While the do not call list is amazing, it's the loopholes to the do not call list that can be really annoying. Politicians are exempt. A while back during the New Jersey gubinatorial (please excuse my spelling) primary, my family and I went on vacation the week leading up to election day. When we returned, we had 18 messages on our answering machine. All but 2 of these messages were from politicians. We had at least five alone from Doug Forrester's mother (His mother! WTF!?). All were recordings and most of them repeated. Luckily, we were gone during all of this and were able to be amused by the answering machine (although that wore thin after Mrs. Forrester's 3rd message). If we were around, the phone ringing constantly would have been a nightmare. 18 might not seem like much for a weeks worth of phone calls, but remember, these were only the recordings that are told to leave messages. Who knows how many humans actually called reminding us to vote or asking for us to participate in a survey that gave up when there was no answer.
You make an excellent point, and I tip my hat to Apple for digging away at the market share, but sadly, they are still not competing on a commodity level. This is something that is very hard to do without the large volume sales to corporate customers and the server market. Furthermore, it is impossible to do with their pricing model. Dell is responsible for bringing the PC market to commodity status because they streamlined their operations and supply chain so well, that they could sell their product so cheap. Their competitors had to respond by dropping their prices too, and to still make any profit, streamline their operations as well. Dell is used all the time as a case study in Cost Accounting and Operations Management classes for this. The competition and price war got so tight that almost all of the profits have been squeezed out. Apple does not seem to be participating in this at all because they have a product that can differentiate itself so uniquely from Dell and HP.
I think you touch on a good point that brings up an even bigger problem. You say the reason comic book movies do so much better is that there is already character depth and back-story available to right off of while the video games do not have much in the form of plot. I completely agree, which is a big problem.
There are very few truly creative script writers out there these days, and the actually talented ones don't waste their time on the hollywood summer blockbusters. Look at the kinds of movies we've been given for the past couple summers. You have comic books and sequels and sequels of comic books and remakes and novels. There are very few original story ideas out there. So how do we expect one of the studios' "stock" writers to come up with an original script for a video game when none of the creative work has been done in advance? We need to get rid of the "movie-by-numbers" crap out there and start promoting scripts that have many layers, unique and interesting characters, and a plot that hasn't been done before. My suggestion to all of you sick of this crap is to start taking more chances on independent films. Sometimes you do get burned with some really boring artsy crap, but a lot of the times you may be pleasantly surprised and start thinking about things in a way you never had before.
I have some stats that would actually contradict your situation. I attended a 4 year university in their business school. Part of being in the business school, every student reveived a brand new laptop, and then two years later, you turn it in for another brand new one. When I was a freshment, the school had a deal with HP, and all of us received HP OmniBooks. Everyone complained. They were always causeing problems. The next year, Dell won the bid and now the CIO of the school will not even consider giving the contract to another manufacturer. The reason? The number of hardware related complaints/cases received by the schools help desk dropped 50% after switching to Dell Latitudes.
However, I think Dell needs to seriously reconsider its hard drive suppliers. Whenever I have seen any hardware related problems with a Dell laptop, it has always been the Harddrive. Most people with the school laptops ended up replacing the hard drive at some point during the 2 years the school suppported it. I'm a rare exception and it continues to chug along. The GF's hard drive also failed recently (bought herself, bargain laptop, but from Dell). I believe the hard drive I took out was a Seagate, but I think most of the latitudes have Toshiba, so not sure really what to say there. I have always had success with WD, so I'll be sticking with them.
Actually the parent is right. The PC market has become commoditized to the point where PC manufacturers are making very little profit per unit. Apple is kind of an exception. While they are a PC manufacturer in the sense that Macs are "Personal Computers", but they are a niche market, high end hardware with an alternate OS. Becaue they are a niche, they can charge a premium for their product. They are the only game in town if you want OS X. Apple is more of a home computer company, not too many server sales or large quantity sales to corporations with the exception of graphic design studios and the like.
I think the main problem is not that Microsoft (or anyone) wants to prevent/stop priacy. They have every right to. The problem is how they go about doing this. Basically, they are shooting themselves in the feet and are assuming their customers are guilty until proven innocent (see any parallels here to the RI/MPAA?). The way you deal with piracy is to address the demand for piracy. People are always going to pirate/counterfeit almost everything that's not already free (beer and speech). Look at the market for counterfeit merchandise. So what drives more people to use priated software or buy counterfeit goods? Price is a good starting place. Windows is DAMN expensive, and for those don't see Mac or Linux as an option (pussies) it's essential. So you get a cracked version. Just like the fashion obsessed MUST have a Louis Viton or Prada handbag, but can't afford it, so they buy the knock-off and hope no one notices. Second, you can go after the criminals without inconveniencing your customers. All you have to do is search for the distributers and shut them down/prosecute. There is no need for Microsoft to stay one step a head of the hacker's latest exploit, all they have to do (or the police have to do) is stay one step ahead of the latest ditribution methods. You find a site hosting cracked copies of XP, you have the ISP shut it down, you track who put it up, you prosecute. But like I said earlier, you have to address the demand as well. Microsoft really needs to lower the price. Afterall, they've already told you that you NEED Windows and that there is no substitute. If XP only cost $50, more people would buy it legitimately because they can afford it, less reason for them to knowingly break the law to get it.
Now since I mentioned it, let's look at the digital music industry parallel. Given that I'm a cheap bastard and don't want to pay for my music downloads, I'm not ready to stop downloading pirated music (Although I do buy CD's still). Others (lots of Slashdotters) however, object morally to the DRM that infests all of the legit music downloads. They don't have the freedom to do what you want with the music like you do with CD's and mp3's. Hackers are still cracking the DRM and will continue to do so no matter how much DRM you put in. Solution, don't give people a reason to pirate it. Sell mp3's, no AAC or WMA. The people will explore ways of using/sharing/whatever the music that no one ever thought of and further advance the way we handle media.
Jerry's Final Word: Stop treating the consumers like two cent whores out to make a quick buck and screw you over! Most of us dont' want to break the law, but if you push us beyond reasonable means, you better be ready to accept the consequences.
No, just simply send all of your medicine to me, and I'll take good care of it. Those medicine eating robots can bite my shiny metal....oh crap i've said too much. ERROR! ERROR! YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED!
But on a serious note, this will not work, because when someone goes on their favorite P2P, looking for a full lenght Jay-Z concert, the search results will have some options. Here we have a file that is 8min long, and another that is 1 hour long (or if there is no "length" category, they will see one is 10mb and one is 700mb) and come to the realization that "hmmm...I was searching for a full lenght concert. Most concerts are more than 8 minutes long, better go with the 1 hour file." This inevitably increases the number of sources available for the pirated file. This increases the number of people who download that particular file, cuase I always sort by number of sources to get the best download speed (and hopefully a more credible file). Those who inadvertantly get the advertisement will say "WTF? this isn't what I wanted" and delete the file from their computers, go back to their P2P app. and find a better one. They have to remember, not everyone is a moron. Now if they want to put the whole concert on the p2p site, but include maybe some advertisements in it like "Pick up Jay-Z's latest album "" now at Tower Records" and then saying that it is a free download, I think you might have something there. But if you give people a teaser when they think they are already breaking the law, but don't care, they are just going to either a) ignore it and download the pirated version, or b) watch it and say, that was great, but I'd really like to see how it ends, better find the full length version"
And you wonder why the United States has an obesity problem that seems to be getting worse with the younger generations. They keep banning everything that gives them any excercise. The reason tag is so great is because it is so simple and meets an immediate need for hyperactive kids (read "all kids") to release all of that energy being balled up while they are sitting still in class and also starts them off young with a good perception of excercise. No wonder so many kids are "diagnosed" with ADD and put in special classes these days. In my day (born in '83) when a kid couldn't sit still in class, they would have him/her do some laps around the playground instead of pumping him full of drugs. After a couple laps the kid was more than happy to sit still and listen. Playing tag on the playground was the only thing keeping those kids attentive. Now they are told that all running and chasing activities are too dangerous, so therefore sports and excercise must be too dangerous, therefore, I should sit inside and simulate it on an xbox or ps[#] eating candy to occupy my time.
Anyone out there with mod points, please use them here. The grandparent quote was clearly taken out of context. The point is to make a cleaner fuel, hydrogen isn't necessarilly cleaner because of how you make it, so presumably the question is..."What's the point?"
I can understand why Microsoft wants to lock out the third party vendors. These vendors have convinced everyone that Windows is so insecure by default that whenever you buy a copy of windows, or a computer with windows on it, you must automatically buy their product as well as sign up for their subscription services. AV and firewalls are expensive (for a home user, tack on an extra $70 upon purchase on your new computer and another $30 or so every year after) and when Microsoft tries to make its Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) claims (which is total FUD anyway) it looks really bad when you must factor in security services into that cost, while Mac and the *NIXes have not such costs. If Microsoft can convince people that they don't need these third party vendors, they are much better off. I for one would really like to see a Windows release that really does not require third party security and once and for all mitigates the virus threat by design, not duct tape. Sure Windows will be specifically targeted as long as they hold the most market share, but this virus crap is rediculous.
Follow-up question for all of the linux and mac gurus out there. I've always heard that Mac and Linux are inherently protected from viruses, meaning that if one were to actually catch a Linux or Mac virus, the damage done would be very minimal. How true is this, keeping in mind that a lot of viruses today are not necessarily there to vandalize, but to carry out ID theft?
Slashdot Mirror
I think he missed the point of the question, although it is still a stupid question. I think the real point of this hypothetical situation was to ask him what browser people would choose based completely off of the merits of the browser itself, ignoring previous knowledge of a browser and any branding or marketing, which would they choose. He correctly answered, I'm not a mind reader. But if he were to read minds, given that he works for Microsoft on IE, I think we all know what he's going to say.
For me, I would need some criteria to differentiate the products:
1. Security: FF and Opera will win on this front
2. Stability: I don't know all of stats on this, but would be nice to know
3. Speed: I think this depends on the version of each browser
4. Compatibility: given that at this point I have already chosen my OS, I'm talking about compatibility with various web sites. Despite the CSS issues, IE is clearly the winner here, but this could also be a "chicken or egg" argument.
I'm guessing you think that one solution fits all problems. You're criticism is very naive. First, there is never one broad sweeping solution to fit all problems. Second, the two problems/issues are very different in fundemental ways. Space exploration is technology driven. By privitizing space exploration, business will drive the advances in technology necessary to get us there. Healthcare and social security are not technology driven (at least where the problem with them is). The problem with these is the their system. Since social security and healthcare are a right (or at least should be) of all citizens, the payout needs to be equal (pretty much socialist) in order to guarantee these rights. By privitizing it, the capitalism will show its ugly side by make a few rich while screwing over many. The purpose of social security is to equally benefit all, not turn a profit for some. Government regulation and some sort of universal healthcare is a much better solution than privatizing. Plus, most of the poor (who really need social security) are generally not savvy investors. These are the people that will invest their social security in real-estate because they heard from someone that the market is hot and an infomercial at 4 am talked about how profitable flipping houses is. (for the uninformed, the real-estate bubble burst a year ago, but it is not until now that joe sixpack is hearing about it)
No one ever pays full price. All corporate prices are negotiable, be it a database, ERP or a new batch of NIC's.
I currently run MythTV 0.19 on FC4. If I were to do it all again, I would probably run a distro that was extremely lightweight with an extremely lightweight window manager like XFCE, etc. Since Myth is so storage hungry (or rather your reocordings can be) it's good to save all the space you can. On top of that, the less processess running the better for smooth recording, especially if watching a something previiously recorded and recording another show (or more) simultaneiously. I did really like the yum install of myth though. Very easy using "Jared's" famous guide. (tweaking on the other hand is a never ending nightmare, but I'm sure you know this already).
Yes Microsoft's obligation is to its shareholders...JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY ON THE PLANET! Unfortunately, Microsoft has not been pleasing stockholders for some time now. Microsoft's stock price has been stagnant for years. The reason has nothing to do with profits. Stockholders don't care about profits as much as they care about growth. In fact, stockholder's don't even like it when a company over shoots their forcasted profits, stockholders like predictability. For example, stockholders love Dell because (at least last I heard) Dell has never missed it's projected sells. It has never gone under OR over, and stockholders like this. (Dell is able to achieve this using the promotions on the website like giving away flatpanel upgrades when he needs to generate more sales, and giving away nothing when he needs to throttle sales back) Sounds crazy, but that's the way it works. Growth is what it's all about. If stockholders don't think that a company will continue to grow, they will not be as interested. Afterall, without growth, there is a cap on the amount of profit you can achieve. Same reason why Starbucks was stagnant for a while. Stockholders weren't sure how many more Starbucks cafes they could put on this planet. Every mall already has about fifteen of them. Vista will not generate growth, only profits. The XBOX created growth, but no profits (signs of black with the 360 though), but shareholders liked this.
This would be funny, but unfortunately you did not read the summary, just the title. They are not giving away movies randomly in your mailbox like an aol trial, they are giving them away WITH THE PLAYER. When you buy a blue-ray player or an HD-DVD player (consoles included) you will also get a free movie to get you started. This is the same concept as your computer coming with a bunch of demo software or a console coming with a free game.
/.?
P.S. Anyone else have a blue-ray banner at the top of your page? WEIRD!...or not
P.P.S. Anyone else experiencing weird login issues on
I was shocked by this as well. For something as large and important as an election, Access just doesn't cut it. When I took a database class, for the final project (build a database for a fictional company of your choosing) I maxed out Access and had to scale the project down (apparently you can't have more than 30 relationships in an Access database).
Note: Yes it is ridiculous that we used Access in a college database course. I was not particularly satisfied with this element of the course. But to be fair, it got the job done at least conceptually. Besides, the department is still under the impression that MS is wonderful.
Actually, it seems the sun rises in the west for Ubuntu. I was a Fedora fan boy being my first linux distro ever was FC2. I used Fedora personally up to FC4, put FC5 on the gf's laptop without a problem (any points for converting her?) but when I put it on my desktop, I had some weird sound issues never before encountered. Granted, sound was the biggest pain in my ass out of all of the new to linux issues back in FC2, but FC4 seemed better than windows in that respect. This frustration led me to give Ubuntu a whirl. Sound issue and overall the OS seemed more complete and polished and more to what a former windows user might expect out of their operating system. Back on topic, Nvidia drivers. I used to go through the hassle of downloading the drivers from nvidia and running the script in runlevel 3 every time I upgraded my kernel. In ubuntu, not only is software updates a lot faster, more stable and in the end easier, but I can choose to use a kernel module that includes nvidia as well as atheros drivers (wireless) that automatically updates and compiles with the new kernels. The only thing I don't like about using Ubuntu, is that it is so easy and user friendly, that I feel like a pussy using it. There is just something about working from a commmand line and manually doing a lot of the maintnance and setup that the inner geek craves. I'm tempted to give the GF Ubuntu and try out FC6 (or maybe something like gentoo or slackware for a true uber-geek OS experienc).
Oh crap, I hope the boss doesn't read Slashdot! Better check this out... hmmm...no slashdot activity today, BUT there is an unread e-mail just sent to him with a slashdot link it it!! DELETED! Ok everybody, we're safe. Move along, nothing to see here
Ok so before this discussion gets out of control with claims like "DUPE!" or "we arleady discussed this here" let me set a little focus to generate some more original discusstion.
Clearly Oracle is definitely going in the direction of creating a linux based appliance. Let's ignore the Oracle Linux Distro. debate and focus more one Appliances themselves. Does the greater slashdot community like the idea of an appliance or dislike. I remember in the MySQL interview last week, MySQL's CEO mentioned he did not like the idea of appliances because the company should focus on what they do best and allow the partners to do the same, thus creating a more robust stack.
Discuss...
Alternate topic: A peanut is neither a pea nor a nut
I have done some similar work, and yes they do ask if this is enough to protect themselves against an experienced hacker. Basically, I tell them this is only enough to protect you against the average wardriver. Being security savvy enough to know that if there is a will there is always a way, I am usually quite frank with my clients. However, there needs to be a will. Is there any reason in particular that someone wants YOUR network and the information on it. There might be, but for most of the clients I did this sort of work for, there really wasn't. The fact of the matter is, if you even have a week WEP key, the fact that you have something at all is enough for a wardriver to go elsewhere if there is an abundance of unsecured networks. Whenever I'm trying to pick up some internet access on the go, I don't bother trying to connect to the network with a uniquely named SSID and WPA enabled. I instictively go right towards "linksys" with no security (And if I'm feeling like an asshat, I'll change their router's password, MAC address filter everyone but myself and change the SSID to something that will piss off the owner). How many of you out there like to park your car next to a Mercedes or flashy sports car under the assumption that given the choice, the car-jacker will choose the nicer car?
While the do not call list is amazing, it's the loopholes to the do not call list that can be really annoying. Politicians are exempt. A while back during the New Jersey gubinatorial (please excuse my spelling) primary, my family and I went on vacation the week leading up to election day. When we returned, we had 18 messages on our answering machine. All but 2 of these messages were from politicians. We had at least five alone from Doug Forrester's mother (His mother! WTF!?). All were recordings and most of them repeated. Luckily, we were gone during all of this and were able to be amused by the answering machine (although that wore thin after Mrs. Forrester's 3rd message). If we were around, the phone ringing constantly would have been a nightmare. 18 might not seem like much for a weeks worth of phone calls, but remember, these were only the recordings that are told to leave messages. Who knows how many humans actually called reminding us to vote or asking for us to participate in a survey that gave up when there was no answer.
You make an excellent point, and I tip my hat to Apple for digging away at the market share, but sadly, they are still not competing on a commodity level. This is something that is very hard to do without the large volume sales to corporate customers and the server market. Furthermore, it is impossible to do with their pricing model. Dell is responsible for bringing the PC market to commodity status because they streamlined their operations and supply chain so well, that they could sell their product so cheap. Their competitors had to respond by dropping their prices too, and to still make any profit, streamline their operations as well. Dell is used all the time as a case study in Cost Accounting and Operations Management classes for this. The competition and price war got so tight that almost all of the profits have been squeezed out. Apple does not seem to be participating in this at all because they have a product that can differentiate itself so uniquely from Dell and HP.
I think you touch on a good point that brings up an even bigger problem. You say the reason comic book movies do so much better is that there is already character depth and back-story available to right off of while the video games do not have much in the form of plot. I completely agree, which is a big problem.
There are very few truly creative script writers out there these days, and the actually talented ones don't waste their time on the hollywood summer blockbusters. Look at the kinds of movies we've been given for the past couple summers. You have comic books and sequels and sequels of comic books and remakes and novels. There are very few original story ideas out there. So how do we expect one of the studios' "stock" writers to come up with an original script for a video game when none of the creative work has been done in advance? We need to get rid of the "movie-by-numbers" crap out there and start promoting scripts that have many layers, unique and interesting characters, and a plot that hasn't been done before. My suggestion to all of you sick of this crap is to start taking more chances on independent films. Sometimes you do get burned with some really boring artsy crap, but a lot of the times you may be pleasantly surprised and start thinking about things in a way you never had before.
I have some stats that would actually contradict your situation. I attended a 4 year university in their business school. Part of being in the business school, every student reveived a brand new laptop, and then two years later, you turn it in for another brand new one. When I was a freshment, the school had a deal with HP, and all of us received HP OmniBooks. Everyone complained. They were always causeing problems. The next year, Dell won the bid and now the CIO of the school will not even consider giving the contract to another manufacturer. The reason? The number of hardware related complaints/cases received by the schools help desk dropped 50% after switching to Dell Latitudes.
However, I think Dell needs to seriously reconsider its hard drive suppliers. Whenever I have seen any hardware related problems with a Dell laptop, it has always been the Harddrive. Most people with the school laptops ended up replacing the hard drive at some point during the 2 years the school suppported it. I'm a rare exception and it continues to chug along. The GF's hard drive also failed recently (bought herself, bargain laptop, but from Dell). I believe the hard drive I took out was a Seagate, but I think most of the latitudes have Toshiba, so not sure really what to say there. I have always had success with WD, so I'll be sticking with them.
Actually the parent is right. The PC market has become commoditized to the point where PC manufacturers are making very little profit per unit. Apple is kind of an exception. While they are a PC manufacturer in the sense that Macs are "Personal Computers", but they are a niche market, high end hardware with an alternate OS. Becaue they are a niche, they can charge a premium for their product. They are the only game in town if you want OS X. Apple is more of a home computer company, not too many server sales or large quantity sales to corporations with the exception of graphic design studios and the like.
I think the main problem is not that Microsoft (or anyone) wants to prevent/stop priacy. They have every right to. The problem is how they go about doing this. Basically, they are shooting themselves in the feet and are assuming their customers are guilty until proven innocent (see any parallels here to the RI/MPAA?). The way you deal with piracy is to address the demand for piracy. People are always going to pirate/counterfeit almost everything that's not already free (beer and speech). Look at the market for counterfeit merchandise. So what drives more people to use priated software or buy counterfeit goods? Price is a good starting place. Windows is DAMN expensive, and for those don't see Mac or Linux as an option (pussies) it's essential. So you get a cracked version. Just like the fashion obsessed MUST have a Louis Viton or Prada handbag, but can't afford it, so they buy the knock-off and hope no one notices. Second, you can go after the criminals without inconveniencing your customers. All you have to do is search for the distributers and shut them down/prosecute. There is no need for Microsoft to stay one step a head of the hacker's latest exploit, all they have to do (or the police have to do) is stay one step ahead of the latest ditribution methods. You find a site hosting cracked copies of XP, you have the ISP shut it down, you track who put it up, you prosecute. But like I said earlier, you have to address the demand as well. Microsoft really needs to lower the price. Afterall, they've already told you that you NEED Windows and that there is no substitute. If XP only cost $50, more people would buy it legitimately because they can afford it, less reason for them to knowingly break the law to get it.
Now since I mentioned it, let's look at the digital music industry parallel. Given that I'm a cheap bastard and don't want to pay for my music downloads, I'm not ready to stop downloading pirated music (Although I do buy CD's still). Others (lots of Slashdotters) however, object morally to the DRM that infests all of the legit music downloads. They don't have the freedom to do what you want with the music like you do with CD's and mp3's. Hackers are still cracking the DRM and will continue to do so no matter how much DRM you put in. Solution, don't give people a reason to pirate it. Sell mp3's, no AAC or WMA. The people will explore ways of using/sharing/whatever the music that no one ever thought of and further advance the way we handle media.
Jerry's Final Word: Stop treating the consumers like two cent whores out to make a quick buck and screw you over! Most of us dont' want to break the law, but if you push us beyond reasonable means, you better be ready to accept the consequences.
No, just simply send all of your medicine to me, and I'll take good care of it. Those medicine eating robots can bite my shiny metal....oh crap i've said too much. ERROR! ERROR! YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED!
Yes, it's a trap.
But on a serious note, this will not work, because when someone goes on their favorite P2P, looking for a full lenght Jay-Z concert, the search results will have some options. Here we have a file that is 8min long, and another that is 1 hour long (or if there is no "length" category, they will see one is 10mb and one is 700mb) and come to the realization that "hmmm...I was searching for a full lenght concert. Most concerts are more than 8 minutes long, better go with the 1 hour file." This inevitably increases the number of sources available for the pirated file. This increases the number of people who download that particular file, cuase I always sort by number of sources to get the best download speed (and hopefully a more credible file). Those who inadvertantly get the advertisement will say "WTF? this isn't what I wanted" and delete the file from their computers, go back to their P2P app. and find a better one. They have to remember, not everyone is a moron. Now if they want to put the whole concert on the p2p site, but include maybe some advertisements in it like "Pick up Jay-Z's latest album "" now at Tower Records" and then saying that it is a free download, I think you might have something there. But if you give people a teaser when they think they are already breaking the law, but don't care, they are just going to either a) ignore it and download the pirated version, or b) watch it and say, that was great, but I'd really like to see how it ends, better find the full length version"
...and they eat old people's medicine for fuel
And you wonder why the United States has an obesity problem that seems to be getting worse with the younger generations. They keep banning everything that gives them any excercise. The reason tag is so great is because it is so simple and meets an immediate need for hyperactive kids (read "all kids") to release all of that energy being balled up while they are sitting still in class and also starts them off young with a good perception of excercise. No wonder so many kids are "diagnosed" with ADD and put in special classes these days. In my day (born in '83) when a kid couldn't sit still in class, they would have him/her do some laps around the playground instead of pumping him full of drugs. After a couple laps the kid was more than happy to sit still and listen. Playing tag on the playground was the only thing keeping those kids attentive. Now they are told that all running and chasing activities are too dangerous, so therefore sports and excercise must be too dangerous, therefore, I should sit inside and simulate it on an xbox or ps[#] eating candy to occupy my time.
Seriously I think my head is going to explode
Anyone out there with mod points, please use them here. The grandparent quote was clearly taken out of context. The point is to make a cleaner fuel, hydrogen isn't necessarilly cleaner because of how you make it, so presumably the question is..."What's the point?"
I can understand why Microsoft wants to lock out the third party vendors. These vendors have convinced everyone that Windows is so insecure by default that whenever you buy a copy of windows, or a computer with windows on it, you must automatically buy their product as well as sign up for their subscription services. AV and firewalls are expensive (for a home user, tack on an extra $70 upon purchase on your new computer and another $30 or so every year after) and when Microsoft tries to make its Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) claims (which is total FUD anyway) it looks really bad when you must factor in security services into that cost, while Mac and the *NIXes have not such costs. If Microsoft can convince people that they don't need these third party vendors, they are much better off. I for one would really like to see a Windows release that really does not require third party security and once and for all mitigates the virus threat by design, not duct tape. Sure Windows will be specifically targeted as long as they hold the most market share, but this virus crap is rediculous.
Follow-up question for all of the linux and mac gurus out there. I've always heard that Mac and Linux are inherently protected from viruses, meaning that if one were to actually catch a Linux or Mac virus, the damage done would be very minimal. How true is this, keeping in mind that a lot of viruses today are not necessarily there to vandalize, but to carry out ID theft?