I dream of the day that we see the article titled: "A Windows distro needing Linux to install?!?!"
It doesn't???
Anybody remember how long it takes to partition and format a fresh hard drive on Windows as opposed to the minute or two it takes in Gparted from a liveCD? Doesn't need it, but it makes things a hell of a lot quicker.
Put yourself in the place of the average user. You just downloaded an app, played with it for an hour and it wants to upload "one megabyte of 'usage statistics'". What do you do?
At a guess. It depends on the user.
Windows user.. Ignore it. The internet lights look so pretty when they flash. And what's another meg or two among all the botnet traffic and spy ware calling home?
OSX user... It's the least I can do in return for being given the privelage of coming into contact with all this wonderfulness.
Linux user... Sure. So long as I can A) Opt in, not be opted in and have to go to the web site to get the thing turned off. And B) See exactly what is being sent.
But the thing is.. someone still has to look at it at the other end, and make use of it. A few million usage logs coming through every day is going to do what exactly?
This is why Ubuntu is so popular now - the same marketdroids making all those flashy "cool" names for Microsoft apps also have control over how the software is written.
Really? So which software is written by so differently for Canonical that other distros don't have then?
I read PDFs on my N810 sometimes, when I have some time to kill and don't have my laptop. Yes, turning pages is slow, but I think it works well enough.
I've done the same on my N800. Belive me.. I'm not knocking the Nokia tablets at all. I'm happy with my N800. And I have read proper e-books with FBreader and read PDFs. I got a 6 inch e-ink screen reader to read on though. Even though I already have the Nokia and a Palm T3.
My point is that it is ok in a pinch, but it is not a preferred way of doing it. If you were buying an N810 specifically to read PDFs would you still be as happy? And if you could freely choose between say a netbook and an N800 to read on at any given time, which would you choose?
How about the iNone? Until they figure out a way to KEEP the library of books that I apparently only "license" (for quite a pretty penny). For example, if I buy the Kindle now and "buy" some books - then in two years say Sony (OK, maybe not Sony, but someone) makes a better one and I want to upgrade - how do I transfer my books? Oh, that's right - they aren't "mine"; it's more like the VHS to DVD thing where you either stay on the old stuff (carry the Kindle as it slowly wears out AND your new reader) or buy everything again.
Simple.. Only use DRM free books. Then you can format shift to your heart's content. And there is definitely no shortage of books out there. Check out Mobileread.org for links to e-book stockists, public domain and creative commons stuff, as well as the authors who sometimes drop in and give free first parts to their series, or advertise the DRM free stuff they do.
Simple truth is that if you hand money over for DRM infected media, you do not own it. You rent it until such time as the owner decides you have had it long enough.
Eventually the two sides of the e-book reader concept will meet in the middle, and you will be able to buy DRM free freshly released books by major authors. But for now, we are at the "plays for sure and napster trial" stage.
I guess this is a non-issue for the folks who read something once and then are done with it (for example those that read a physical book then take it to the used bookstore). However, I read things over and over and I don't want one of these devices until I can be assured of having my "purchased" material through vendor changes, vendor going out of business, format shits, etc.
Agreed. I'm the same. I have 30 year old books that I got in my teens that I still read again. And just because it is electronic does not mean that I intend to have to buy the same thing twice.
All the current readers have at least one DRM free format, and once you have a DRM free file, you have a universal file.
It's cheaper, smaller, and it's pretty much a full Linux based computer... oh and it has a colour screen too!
I'm sorry, but at $500 you can buy any of a number of laptops, netbooks or PDAs that all do much more than the Kindle does. Their price point is definitely in the wrong place for such a limited device.
And it fails on the second property you mentioned. For PDF, a netbook is about the smallest practical display. Not to mention the fairly short battery life of the N series web tablets. I have an N800, and I agree. they are great for the proper tasks. But reading PDFs is not one of them. I know. I tried with my N800, and the screen size was only one of the drawbacks. Loading time was the worst.
I'm a keen e-book reader. Got myself an e-ink based reader last year, and I love it. For it's intended task, it's fantastic. That task being reading fiction. NOTHING ELSE
But I have a grand total of zero PDF files on it. Because when it comes to using PDF files, the current range of readers are all basically crap. Including the Kindle DX. The screen updates far too slowly. so paging back and forth is irritating. Search if it works, is slow. looking up the index is also slow, and usually set over several pages if it even has links..
If you want to read fiction, great. You will get onto the habit of pressing the next page button mid way in the last sentence of the current page, so you don't even notice the page refresh blink after a few chapters. And as fiction is read one page after the other, it is perfectly suited to this. Graphic novels may be ok. A bit small on a 6 inch screen, but the bigger Kindle screen might work out ok. These too are page by page, not random access.
But if you need to read a few paragraphs here, look in the index, and read a few pages somewhere else.. All common tasks with manuals.. Forget it. Get a netbook for portability or a tablet for functionality. Both great choices for manuals and text books. Do yourself a favour. Avoid e-ink displays unless the primary function is fiction reading. No matter how big the screen. You will either be disappointed, or worse.. end up justifying the extra cost of a 9 inch book reader that only works for manuals in the same way an iPhone works as a camera.
There are supposed to be a few new displays coming out that are better suited to fast access, but you are realistically looking at several years before they are on sale anywhere. The current generation are a dead loss for PDF files.
Despite all these lawsuits their business practices are the same and they're still a monopoly. The only real problem they've got out of the lawsuits was paying their lawyers.
Not true...
look at everything from the DOJ settlement onwards. Microsft has paid a lot of money in fines, but it has paid much more in restrictions on business and more on information it has been forced to release.
Not supplying the Java VM they wrote, and giving Samba access to their protocols along with a patent list and an obligation to keep them up to date with changes and details of new patents.. Not keeping super secret APIs that they used to use to make Microsoft software inexplicably more stable than other software.. Microsoft have lost quite a few important cases,and they have faced quite a few penalties that hurt more than financially.
The financial settlements make the headlines. The penalties don't.
All that said, Firefox tends to be a fairly decent UI, no matter what platform it's on, so I think that disproves the "open source can't design" theory.
Talking about Firefox Inconsistency, why the heck is the Preferences window option under "Edit/Preferences" in Linux and under "Tools/Options" in Windows?? is it different in Mac?
What kind of feitche do they have with moved menues?
At a guess. The same reason that the window control buttons are on the top right side of the title bar. It's an OS convention. Open any Linux app, and the preferences option is usually under the edit menu. When in Rome etc. Consistency with the OS, not the app.
Develop an omboudsman office; Have said office declare that any previous work within the public domain must remain there; once there. You'd kill Disney since the brothers grimm were published god knows when; but at least a century before Walt stepped into the United States.
Nope. Derivative works are one of the things that PD encourages. Remove them, and you are nearly back at copyright again.
Disney using the Snow White story is fine. Derivative works are essentially new works. Even if the source is public domain. They have standard copyright protection. But the work they are derived from remains in the public domain. So I'm still free to put on a Snow white puppet show based on the original story rather than Disney's version.
Disney own the mechanical reproduction rights to the cartoon they made, but not to one I might make.
Disney own the rights to their image of Sleeping beauty, but not to any depiction I might create myself.
Disney may own the rights to the names of the seven dwarves if they were a Disney creation. But not if they were named in the original story.
Disney own the rights to the music, because books don't usually come with a sound track. So if someone did a porn version with Snow white and the seven dildos, A song bearing a similar tune, but with the words "Whistle while you wank" may be infringing on Disney's copyright.
Which is a fantastic idea. Lets put all the 'elite' (Bush/Blair/etc) on a spaceship and send them off to the moon or elsewhere. Then maybe we can start fixing whats wrong with this world.
I second that..
The moon is the big burny bright thing that comes out during the day.. Right?
>No, like how a Panasonic DVD burner would stifle your ability to burn non-Panasonic discs, if one did that.
Correction: if you *bought* one that did that.
The expression "caveat emptor" predates "electronics" by at least a thousand years.
The responsibility is on you to not buy a Panasonic camera.
And the responsibility is on the retailer and the manufacturer to make products of merchantable quality and fit for purpose. Caveat emptor has been superseded by consumer regulations. Legally, the most recent ruling takes precedence.
My point is not that you should buy one to hurt amazon, just that you can use the kindle and avoid DRM. I don't care whether I stick it to the man or not, I just want the best value for my dollar. And currently the Kindle DX is that.
If you need the large screen, fair enough. But currently that is like saying that the only phone worth getting is an iPhone, because you have listed being made by Apple as a show stopping requirement. The cheapest of two, the other one being an over priced model from a company that has not really shifted that many units due to being over priced and not particularly good.
The Kindle DX is by far the cheapest and best Eink reader of that size at the moment. Go compare them yourself: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix The only other current options are the iRex products. The reviews for those read like a horror show, and they're quite a bit more expensive.
Again, the only other one in the newest sub segment. I really hope you are not considering reading text books or manuals in PDF on this..
Using the kindle also gives me the option of buying ebooks from others vendors, or Amazon if I decide. There's many books I probably won't reread, and a copy on my Kindle and iPod touch are enough for me, no matter whether I can download it again later or not. So yes, I use it much like I did the iPod before it went completely non-DRM.. Buy the music I want in the least restrictive content available.
To each their own. I think you are very unwise, but that is just my opinion. I waited to get the right reader for me, And I waited until they hit a price I deemed acceptable. Personally, I don't see the Kindle DX as acceptable just yet, and I definitely don't see the terms of use as being anything near that.
Or buy a kindle and use it to read non-DRM content from other providers. The kindle is good hardware, just the amazon kindle store has some problems.
Yep.. that is sure to hit em where it hurts.. Buy the expensive reader with a nice markup. They must be shaking in their boots.
For pity's sake. The Kindle is not the only reader.
There are a couple of Sonys, The Cybook from a French company called Bookeen, Irex has a few, Foxit, Hanlin, and many of the major consumer electronics companies are making readers this year or next. 5 inch, 6 inch, 9 inch. And they all use the same technology.
So all have e-ink screens, all use small low powered ARM processors, all have battery life measured in weeks, not hours. The only thing that sets the Kindle apart is the link to Amazon. Otherwise it is just another reader.
"If I'm buying a Kindle from Amazon that enables me to buy books from Amazon, I'm broadcasting a desire to buy Kindle books. I would welcome some subsidization of the hardware since I'm going to be buying content anyway. No, I really think Amazon priced the Kindle the way they did because they thought they could get away with doing so..."
Why is it only in the tech-gadget industry that people expect manufacturers to sell items for *less than cost*?
What industry other than the tech gadget industry has companies who want to sell you both the player and reserve the exclusive right to sell you the content too?
If you were offered a normal DVD player, or a DVD player that only played Sony disks would you expect to pay full price for the limited one?
If this were a big win for Amazon, it would show up in their numbers.
It's a new market. It will take time to show as more than a blip. Remember how it used to be a running joke about Amazon ever making a profit? Funny how times change. I do remember reading somewhere that they are selling something like a third of ebooks as opposed to paper for titles where both exist, so this is a substitution rather than extra sales, but an ebook costs less to stock, as it's just a file on a hard drive somewhere, not a specific number of items that need the be warehoused, inventoried, packed and dispatched.
Now, how many of you *actually* stuff another device in your laptop bag to read books?
You do know that you are actually allowed to read at home too? I use my reader (not a kindle) at home predominantly. Have a look at the majority age demographic these things are selling to.. 40s and 50s plus. Not teens and 20 somethings. People who read quite a bit, but who are getting to the point where eyesight is failing, and who have a need for a device with scalable fonts.
Or, maybe it will be like the days when Apple introduced the ipod and many on/. said it was doomed, only with Amazon the expectations are backwards.
Yet every e-book article that comes up, there are a hoard of people proclaiming it doomed, and that it is useless if it doesn't have colour/A4 screen/work with textbooks or manuals, play movies etc.. So far, I'd say it is exactly like the iPod scenario. Right down to the "digital media will never catch on because people want something tactile to hold" bullshit.
If you'd stop for a second to remove your head from between Ballmer's legs, you'd notice that Microsoft's monopoly on the browser market has long crumbled and they're constantly losing market share. Microsoft's power to blatantly ignore standards and have everyone have to grudgingly follow behind is but a mere shadow of what it once was, and it doesn't look like they'll be regaining such a position any time soon, if ever.
Which is why a Silverlight plugin for Firefox exists. IE is headed to live on a farm with a nice family right now.. So unless they can pull off Silverlight and a few other things that get Windows specific stuff commonly used on the net, in a few years time, expect IE to be abandoned again. Microsoft may not be able to instantly deliver 90%+ install base of any codec or media playing system any more, but they can still do enough to bugger the net up for the rest of us given enough time. And they can afford to throw money at such things for much longer than most companies outside open source.
Just in case anyone decides to post the parent as informative, I'll point out Moonlight which is an implementation of Silverlight that runs on Linux. There is also Mac support in Firefox and Safari.
And I'll point out that it doesn't bloody work on video sites. So pretty much pointless. Offer Moonlight as a token effort, and then try to take over Adobe's niche. SOP pretty much.. Why yes Mr customer.. Silverlight is cross platform.. (It works with Vista and XP..) So your customers will be able to view the rich multimedia experience no matter what platform they use..
Air on the other hand, works great with the BBC iPlayer on Linux AND Windows. No idea if it is available for Apple.
Slashdot Mirror
I dream of the day that we see the article titled: "A Windows distro needing Linux to install?!?!"
It doesn't???
Anybody remember how long it takes to partition and format a fresh hard drive on Windows as opposed to the minute or two it takes in Gparted from a liveCD? Doesn't need it, but it makes things a hell of a lot quicker.
Shame that linux won't run all your software, so that puts it out of the equation all together.
Shame you can't use the standard meme here. Man did you pick the wrong thread to crow about Windows in..
Put yourself in the place of the average user. You just downloaded an app, played with it for an hour and it wants to upload "one megabyte of 'usage statistics'". What do you do?
At a guess. It depends on the user. Windows user.. Ignore it. The internet lights look so pretty when they flash. And what's another meg or two among all the botnet traffic and spy ware calling home? OSX user... It's the least I can do in return for being given the privelage of coming into contact with all this wonderfulness. Linux user... Sure. So long as I can A) Opt in, not be opted in and have to go to the web site to get the thing turned off. And B) See exactly what is being sent. But the thing is.. someone still has to look at it at the other end, and make use of it. A few million usage logs coming through every day is going to do what exactly?
This is why Ubuntu is so popular now - the same marketdroids making all those flashy "cool" names for Microsoft apps also have control over how the software is written.
Really?
So which software is written by so differently for Canonical that other distros don't have then?
I read PDFs on my N810 sometimes, when I have some time to kill and don't have my laptop. Yes, turning pages is slow, but I think it works well enough.
I've done the same on my N800. Belive me.. I'm not knocking the Nokia tablets at all. I'm happy with my N800. And I have read proper e-books with FBreader and read PDFs. I got a 6 inch e-ink screen reader to read on though. Even though I already have the Nokia and a Palm T3. My point is that it is ok in a pinch, but it is not a preferred way of doing it. If you were buying an N810 specifically to read PDFs would you still be as happy? And if you could freely choose between say a netbook and an N800 to read on at any given time, which would you choose?
How about the iNone? Until they figure out a way to KEEP the library of books that I apparently only "license" (for quite a pretty penny). For example, if I buy the Kindle now and "buy" some books - then in two years say Sony (OK, maybe not Sony, but someone) makes a better one and I want to upgrade - how do I transfer my books? Oh, that's right - they aren't "mine"; it's more like the VHS to DVD thing where you either stay on the old stuff (carry the Kindle as it slowly wears out AND your new reader) or buy everything again.
Simple.. Only use DRM free books. Then you can format shift to your heart's content. And there is definitely no shortage of books out there. Check out Mobileread.org for links to e-book stockists, public domain and creative commons stuff, as well as the authors who sometimes drop in and give free first parts to their series, or advertise the DRM free stuff they do.
Simple truth is that if you hand money over for DRM infected media, you do not own it. You rent it until such time as the owner decides you have had it long enough.
Eventually the two sides of the e-book reader concept will meet in the middle, and you will be able to buy DRM free freshly released books by major authors. But for now, we are at the "plays for sure and napster trial" stage.
I guess this is a non-issue for the folks who read something once and then are done with it (for example those that read a physical book then take it to the used bookstore). However, I read things over and over and I don't want one of these devices until I can be assured of having my "purchased" material through vendor changes, vendor going out of business, format shits, etc.
Agreed. I'm the same. I have 30 year old books that I got in my teens that I still read again. And just because it is electronic does not mean that I intend to have to buy the same thing twice.
All the current readers have at least one DRM free format, and once you have a DRM free file, you have a universal file.
It's cheaper, smaller, and it's pretty much a full Linux based computer... oh and it has a colour screen too!
I'm sorry, but at $500 you can buy any of a number of laptops, netbooks or PDAs that all do much more than the Kindle does. Their price point is definitely in the wrong place for such a limited device.
And it fails on the second property you mentioned. For PDF, a netbook is about the smallest practical display. Not to mention the fairly short battery life of the N series web tablets. I have an N800, and I agree. they are great for the proper tasks. But reading PDFs is not one of them. I know. I tried with my N800, and the screen size was only one of the drawbacks. Loading time was the worst.
I'm a keen e-book reader. Got myself an e-ink based reader last year, and I love it. For it's intended task, it's fantastic. That task being reading fiction. NOTHING ELSE
But I have a grand total of zero PDF files on it. Because when it comes to using PDF files, the current range of readers are all basically crap. Including the Kindle DX. The screen updates far too slowly. so paging back and forth is irritating. Search if it works, is slow. looking up the index is also slow, and usually set over several pages if it even has links..
If you want to read fiction, great. You will get onto the habit of pressing the next page button mid way in the last sentence of the current page, so you don't even notice the page refresh blink after a few chapters. And as fiction is read one page after the other, it is perfectly suited to this. Graphic novels may be ok. A bit small on a 6 inch screen, but the bigger Kindle screen might work out ok. These too are page by page, not random access.
But if you need to read a few paragraphs here, look in the index, and read a few pages somewhere else.. All common tasks with manuals.. Forget it. Get a netbook for portability or a tablet for functionality. Both great choices for manuals and text books. Do yourself a favour. Avoid e-ink displays unless the primary function is fiction reading. No matter how big the screen. You will either be disappointed, or worse.. end up justifying the extra cost of a 9 inch book reader that only works for manuals in the same way an iPhone works as a camera.
There are supposed to be a few new displays coming out that are better suited to fast access, but you are realistically looking at several years before they are on sale anywhere. The current generation are a dead loss for PDF files.
Firefox noisily, but without the option to tell it not to, makes itself the default browser. I don't see any real difference there.
Firefox asks first, and has to be downloaded by the user or someone working on their behalf. So a slight difference there.
Despite all these lawsuits their business practices are the same and they're still a monopoly. The only real problem they've got out of the lawsuits was paying their lawyers.
Not true...
look at everything from the DOJ settlement onwards. Microsft has paid a lot of money in fines, but it has paid much more in restrictions on business and more on information it has been forced to release.
Not supplying the Java VM they wrote, and giving Samba access to their protocols along with a patent list and an obligation to keep them up to date with changes and details of new patents.. Not keeping super secret APIs that they used to use to make Microsoft software inexplicably more stable than other software.. Microsoft have lost quite a few important cases,and they have faced quite a few penalties that hurt more than financially.
The financial settlements make the headlines. The penalties don't.
seems like the UK is treating 1984 like an instruction manual
And don't forget Animal Farm. Orwell must be spinning in his grave.
All that said, Firefox tends to be a fairly decent UI, no matter what platform it's on, so I think that disproves the "open source can't design" theory.
Talking about Firefox Inconsistency, why the heck is the Preferences window option under "Edit/Preferences" in Linux and under "Tools/Options" in Windows?? is it different in Mac?
What kind of feitche do they have with moved menues?
At a guess. The same reason that the window control buttons are on the top right side of the title bar. It's an OS convention. Open any Linux app, and the preferences option is usually under the edit menu. When in Rome etc. Consistency with the OS, not the app.
Develop an omboudsman office; Have said office declare that any previous work within the public domain must remain there; once there. You'd kill Disney since the brothers grimm were published god knows when; but at least a century before Walt stepped into the United States.
Nope. Derivative works are one of the things that PD encourages. Remove them, and you are nearly back at copyright again.
Disney using the Snow White story is fine. Derivative works are essentially new works. Even if the source is public domain. They have standard copyright protection. But the work they are derived from remains in the public domain. So I'm still free to put on a Snow white puppet show based on the original story rather than Disney's version.
Disney own the mechanical reproduction rights to the cartoon they made, but not to one I might make.
Disney own the rights to their image of Sleeping beauty, but not to any depiction I might create myself.
Disney may own the rights to the names of the seven dwarves if they were a Disney creation. But not if they were named in the original story.
Disney own the rights to the music, because books don't usually come with a sound track. So if someone did a porn version with Snow white and the seven dildos, A song bearing a similar tune, but with the words "Whistle while you wank" may be infringing on Disney's copyright.
Which is a fantastic idea. Lets put all the 'elite' (Bush/Blair/etc) on a spaceship and send them off to the moon or elsewhere. Then maybe we can start fixing whats wrong with this world.
I second that.. The moon is the big burny bright thing that comes out during the day.. Right?
>No, like how a Panasonic DVD burner would stifle your ability to burn non-Panasonic discs, if one did that. Correction: if you *bought* one that did that. The expression "caveat emptor" predates "electronics" by at least a thousand years. The responsibility is on you to not buy a Panasonic camera.
And the responsibility is on the retailer and the manufacturer to make products of merchantable quality and fit for purpose. Caveat emptor has been superseded by consumer regulations. Legally, the most recent ruling takes precedence.
Did you just post the script for a new Uwe Boll movie?
Did you just imply Uwe Boll movies had scripts?
My point is not that you should buy one to hurt amazon, just that you can use the kindle and avoid DRM. I don't care whether I stick it to the man or not, I just want the best value for my dollar. And currently the Kindle DX is that.
If you need the large screen, fair enough. But currently that is like saying that the only phone worth getting is an iPhone, because you have listed being made by Apple as a show stopping requirement. The cheapest of two, the other one being an over priced model from a company that has not really shifted that many units due to being over priced and not particularly good.
The Kindle DX is by far the cheapest and best Eink reader of that size at the moment.
Go compare them yourself: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix
The only other current options are the iRex products. The reviews for those read like a horror show, and they're quite a bit more expensive.
Again, the only other one in the newest sub segment. I really hope you are not considering reading text books or manuals in PDF on this..
Using the kindle also gives me the option of buying ebooks from others vendors, or Amazon if I decide. There's many books I probably won't reread, and a copy on my Kindle and iPod touch are enough for me, no matter whether I can download it again later or not.
So yes, I use it much like I did the iPod before it went completely non-DRM.. Buy the music I want in the least restrictive content available.
To each their own. I think you are very unwise, but that is just my opinion. I waited to get the right reader for me, And I waited until they hit a price I deemed acceptable. Personally, I don't see the Kindle DX as acceptable just yet, and I definitely don't see the terms of use as being anything near that.
Or buy a kindle and use it to read non-DRM content from other providers.
The kindle is good hardware, just the amazon kindle store has some problems.
Yep.. that is sure to hit em where it hurts.. Buy the expensive reader with a nice markup. They must be shaking in their boots.
For pity's sake. The Kindle is not the only reader.
There are a couple of Sonys, The Cybook from a French company called Bookeen, Irex has a few, Foxit, Hanlin, and many of the major consumer electronics companies are making readers this year or next. 5 inch, 6 inch, 9 inch. And they all use the same technology.
So all have e-ink screens, all use small low powered ARM processors, all have battery life measured in weeks, not hours. The only thing that sets the Kindle apart is the link to Amazon. Otherwise it is just another reader.
"If I'm buying a Kindle from Amazon that enables me to buy books from Amazon, I'm broadcasting a desire to buy Kindle books. I would welcome some subsidization of the hardware since I'm going to be buying content anyway. No, I really think Amazon priced the Kindle the way they did because they thought they could get away with doing so..." Why is it only in the tech-gadget industry that people expect manufacturers to sell items for *less than cost*?
What industry other than the tech gadget industry has companies who want to sell you both the player and reserve the exclusive right to sell you the content too? If you were offered a normal DVD player, or a DVD player that only played Sony disks would you expect to pay full price for the limited one?
If this were a big win for Amazon, it would show up in their numbers.
It's a new market. It will take time to show as more than a blip. Remember how it used to be a running joke about Amazon ever making a profit? Funny how times change.
I do remember reading somewhere that they are selling something like a third of ebooks as opposed to paper for titles where both exist, so this is a substitution rather than extra sales, but an ebook costs less to stock, as it's just a file on a hard drive somewhere, not a specific number of items that need the be warehoused, inventoried, packed and dispatched.
Now, how many of you *actually* stuff another device in your laptop bag to read books?
You do know that you are actually allowed to read at home too? I use my reader (not a kindle) at home predominantly. Have a look at the majority age demographic these things are selling to.. 40s and 50s plus. Not teens and 20 somethings. People who read quite a bit, but who are getting to the point where eyesight is failing, and who have a need for a device with scalable fonts.
Or, maybe it will be like the days when Apple introduced the ipod and many on /. said it was doomed, only with Amazon the expectations are backwards.
Yet every e-book article that comes up, there are a hoard of people proclaiming it doomed, and that it is useless if it doesn't have colour/A4 screen/work with textbooks or manuals, play movies etc..
So far, I'd say it is exactly like the iPod scenario. Right down to the "digital media will never catch on because people want something tactile to hold" bullshit.
If you'd stop for a second to remove your head from between Ballmer's legs, you'd notice that Microsoft's monopoly on the browser market has long crumbled and they're constantly losing market share. Microsoft's power to blatantly ignore standards and have everyone have to grudgingly follow behind is but a mere shadow of what it once was, and it doesn't look like they'll be regaining such a position any time soon, if ever.
Which is why a Silverlight plugin for Firefox exists. IE is headed to live on a farm with a nice family right now.. So unless they can pull off Silverlight and a few other things that get Windows specific stuff commonly used on the net, in a few years time, expect IE to be abandoned again. Microsoft may not be able to instantly deliver 90%+ install base of any codec or media playing system any more, but they can still do enough to bugger the net up for the rest of us given enough time. And they can afford to throw money at such things for much longer than most companies outside open source.
Just in case anyone decides to post the parent as informative, I'll point out Moonlight which is an implementation of Silverlight that runs on Linux. There is also Mac support in Firefox and Safari.
And I'll point out that it doesn't bloody work on video sites. So pretty much pointless. Offer Moonlight as a token effort, and then try to take over Adobe's niche. SOP pretty much.. Why yes Mr customer.. Silverlight is cross platform.. (It works with Vista and XP..) So your customers will be able to view the rich multimedia experience no matter what platform they use..
Air on the other hand, works great with the BBC iPlayer on Linux AND Windows. No idea if it is available for Apple.
ThePirateBay is owned by a right wing racist millionaire. You think pirateparty voters are freedom loving? ha!
Walt Disney owns the Pirate Bay? You astound me..
These things have been hyped on trade shows for over a year now. Call me when they actually have something a consumer can buy in a store.
Does this count.. http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=261613
Don't worry about it. We are talking about OS X here. The most Secure And Robust And THE MOST AMAZING operating system out there.
Yep.. security through denial.
AmazonMP3 trying to compete with Itunes. Few will hear about the new store, and even fewer will switch.
The RDF is strong in this one..