I just don't understand why you seem to think electric vehicles are the future, or why anyone would want one. Moving you + your vehicle from point A to B requires a certain amount of energy. You assume that because your energy is stored in a battery in your vehicle, as opposed to fuel, it somehow makes it 'clean'. Not only do I understand this may be a shoddy assumption to begin with given how electricity is most often generated, but internal combustion engines have made HUGE strides in reducing emissions. Further, the actual environmental impact of the oil industry is far lower than what you take for gospel from mainstream media.
I drive a clean diesel which barely emits any emissions at all, and the ability to drive 500 miles on a 'charge' and 'recharge' nearly instantaneously is light years ahead of the best EV. Fuel has so many advantages, why don't we focus on systems to remove the last of emissions from them (we're almost there)?
geekoid (ironically) hit the nail on the head. Learning social cues is the key to success in school and the business world once you get out. You never need to read people's minds when they display their emotions so clearly though tone and body language.
Learn to respond properly, and you will be very successful in life.
I am, by the way, speaking from my own experience. I was somewhat of a nerd, though I hung out with the 'cool' crowd (I was *definitely* the biggest nerd in my friend group), and I've been pretty successful through work as well. Who knows, maybe I'm a little too good at it, as I sometimes feel I can manipulate people by knowing what they're thinking.
Give me a break, price (or more precisely, cost) is definitely the largest factor in these two instances. Normally, in a large business, other factors such as current employee skillset come in to play but for schools and startups, cost is the big question.
University is not interested in teaching you any specific language syntax other than theory and algorithms. The university I went to switched our introductory language every 3 or 4 years (though Java has had a good run, as it's great for teaching OO). They never taught any Microsoft languages, which was 100% due to the fact they were expensive vs. the abundance of free tools available.
In the business I work at, I do all my work and coding in MS tools. They are *very* powerful... anyone thinking the FOSS world has something that stacks up vs. AD/Exchange/SharePoint/Office/Communicator/VS/Windows/blah blah, is lying to themselves, these tools deliver a ton of business functionality and are well worth the money.
I've started a couple small websites, and I always turn to MS's tools first being the easiest solution, but it always becomes a drawn out question of "Do I spend a huge amount of time doing coding and technical work to get the site I want or invest a good chunk of cash into Microsoft tools to get a great system out the door much quicker?"
I just love armchair environmentalists - you know, condo-living yuppies who might venture outside of their six-block down-town metropolis life once a year (to vacation to another city). Save the environment, please!!
I spend a great deal of time in very remote wilderness areas, and the thing that constantly amazes me is how life covers every square inch of our planet. Has for billions of years. No matter how harsh the environment, or what a particular area gets dealt in terms of weather that year, life always adapts. I've seen stories here in Canada (no references) that Polat Bears are adapting to less sea ice, and it's no surprise to me. We are making WAY too big of a deal out of a minute percentage change in temperatures year to year, the real world hands it much worse most of the time, and life pulls through fine.
I think a lot of that was due to the fact we were on dial-up modems, so Google loaded very quickly. Broadband access is everywhere now - honestly, ing with it's background image and all loads just as fast as Google now (instantly).
Take the anecdotal evidence for what it's worth, but I was surprised to hear both my parents (very non-tech savvy) had switched to using Bing. For no other reason that they liked the changing pretty picture every day. Personally, I think Google's search results are slightly better, but likely not noticeable to your avergae user.
The most popular sites are the most popular sites... most search engines return the same top 10 results nowadays (Wikipedia, etc.).
You assume a vehicle capable of 50 mpg is available for ther purpose needed. The 33 to 50 mpg example likely refers to commuter vehicles, while the 10 to 20 mpg seems fitting for vehicles regularly towing or hauling. I tow a number of recreational vehicles, and there are definitely no 50 mpg vehicles meeting my requirements. It seems to me a very valid point that if I kept an old GMC truck around for this purpose, that even buying a slightly more efficient vehicle for towing would save a lot more fuel than replacing my work vehicle.
This is an all-round stupid comment. As another poster writes, most of MS's operating system issues are/were caused by their unrelenting need for backwards compatibility. This actually allowed IT departments to afford upgrades, as very little other software required same-time upgrades.
As for the market cap point, if you had worked for most any organization and saw how embedded Microsoft's business products are, you'd laugh at the prospect that a company making the current coolest cellphone is worth more. For the price Apple's shares are demanding, you could buy a company with two and a half times Apple's market share in smartphones (RIM), the worlds largest computer maker (Dell), the world's largest computer chip maker (Intel), and still have tens of billions left over to buy half the tech companies on Wall Street. Overvalued by a mile... hype does that.
I think the point is that owning the world's energy source is a stable, lasting source of earnings. Do you know how fast all the teenagers out there can find something different 'cool'?
Well, if true, I guess you could count my (rather large) organization as one that would never used Google Docs. Tracking changes alone is a feature used extensively by our business departments.
I honestly don't think any web-based document system will can compete with MS Office (desktop version). If you've ever worked for any type of large business lately, word processing is WAY past the basic formatting options I've seen in any online suite.
So if, as you put it, "IT'S A PHONE", why do people care so much about running lame applications on their phone? I think the whole 'apps' feature is incredible overrated, indeed some unscientific surveys confirmed this: iPhone app usability.
From the article: In the first part of each session, we asked users to walk us through their own iPhone apps. We frequently heard comments such as, "I downloaded this because [it sounded cool/a friend recommended it], but I haven't had time to try it." Users also often said something like, "I used this a few times right after I downloaded it, but I'm not using it anymore -- I just haven't gotten around to deleting it."
People are just buying these things because someone told them it was cool. I use my phone for, I dont know, COMMUNICATION PURPOSES? Calling, texting, and possibly email, those are the important features.
Re:But Apple is known for screwing up from time to
on
iPad Progress Report
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· Score: 3, Informative
Yes, Apple is 'worth' over $210 billion dollars. Reminds me of two years ago when my neighbor said his small bungalow house was 'worth' half a million dollars.
I'm not going to venture a guess as to what Apple is REALLY worth as a company, but when something is so extremely hyped in the media, it's stock is almost guaranteed to be overvalued.
Good analysis, I agree with most of your points.
I've also lead a few different development teams at large organizations. I'd like to point out that the cross-platform capability of Java is usually a very insignificant aspect; for business software, 99% of it has migrated to the web so it doesn't really matter what we run in the back end, we control it. Developing business software is a bit more fully functional (windows desktop integration) and easier (cheaper).
What a ridiculous comment. Not everyone uses their vehicle solely to drive to the local starbucks. There are many reasons large vehicles are required, such as recreational towing or equipment hauling. Obviously there are some idiots who buy huge trucks for no reason at all, and your solution is to charge people with manslaughter?
Unfortunately, they can do (try) this because they are our customers. Canada's place in the economic world revolves around one thing - we have lots of natural resources that we can sell to other countries.
We make so much money selling our stuff (oil, trees, etc.) that we try to place nice so you'll keep making us rich. You should know this as an Albertan;-) It's pretty much the reason we follow step what the US is doing.
Eurpoe doesn't have nearly as much leverage as the US, but Canada is looking to diversify trading partners...
These are the most horrible comparisons ever, please think harder. All the examples you mention are laws to protect the safety (and peace) of people other than you. You should be free to do whatever you want to your own person.
Killing yourself isn't illegal, why would putting anything in it of your own volition be?
I once held the same opinion as yourself, that a right to weaponry is outdated for our times. However, I had a debate on the subject with someone a little wiser than myself, and managed to change my point of view.
If it were not a right to own firearms, legislation will eventually make thei ownership illegal. Now, it happens very slowly, though taxes, permits, restrictions, etc., but eventually you have an unarmed an pacified population. The citizens need firearms as a method of keeping the government in check via threat of revolution. If you think *this* is an outdated concept, well then, maybe you have been fooled.
Takeover offers are always, ALWAYS at a large premium to current share prices. This is what entices the shareholders to sell their shares to Microsoft (or whoever).
Puh-leeze! Someone is misguided here, and it ain't the GP.
Ever hear of the commodities cycle? Commodities prices have been spiking and falling for hundreds of years - the current situation is identical. Found a quick graph searching google here. The price of a commodity slowly increases, gaining momentum, until it hits a super-spike then falls flat.
Production not increasing right now is nothing but the Energy sector sitting back enjoying one hell of a ride. Check the stock markets.
How they hell does anyone make a house payment like that on $89K/yr? They don't.
Hence the current credit crisis. These people were offered jumbo loans at predatory interest rates, which were unrealistically low during the introductory period. Often these loans had negative amoritization schedules, meaning people were sinking more into debt every month. The rates are resetting now, and payments cannot be met.
I don't know, I think you are confusing intelligence with other human traits. I would consider a computer that is able to correctly answer any yes/no question asked of it to be intelligenty (though this was obviously not possible via his database method).
Please, from now on, could these articles have references to reliable news sources instead of some joe blow blog? I don't read blogs for a reason - these people are not reporters and the content is not fact, but rather opinion.
Ahh, the world of slashdot is full of brilliant academics so I would hope you can understand this point: Microsoft is a Business. An what does this mean? Their obligations are to shareholders, not what you or I think is best. In that regard, they MUST do everything they can to ensure their flagship product, Windows, maintains domination of the marketplace.
I think if you were intelligent at all, you would do the exact same things as current MS management if you were in their shoes. You may think it's underhanded, but it's in Microsoft's best interests so that is all that matters.
It would be interesting to know how many people on here that bitch about MS actual hold mutual funds with significant positions in Microsoft. I bet it would be a lot larger than you think...
Slashdot Mirror
I just don't understand why you seem to think electric vehicles are the future, or why anyone would want one. Moving you + your vehicle from point A to B requires a certain amount of energy. You assume that because your energy is stored in a battery in your vehicle, as opposed to fuel, it somehow makes it 'clean'. Not only do I understand this may be a shoddy assumption to begin with given how electricity is most often generated, but internal combustion engines have made HUGE strides in reducing emissions. Further, the actual environmental impact of the oil industry is far lower than what you take for gospel from mainstream media.
I drive a clean diesel which barely emits any emissions at all, and the ability to drive 500 miles on a 'charge' and 'recharge' nearly instantaneously is light years ahead of the best EV. Fuel has so many advantages, why don't we focus on systems to remove the last of emissions from them (we're almost there)?
geekoid (ironically) hit the nail on the head. Learning social cues is the key to success in school and the business world once you get out. You never need to read people's minds when they display their emotions so clearly though tone and body language.
Learn to respond properly, and you will be very successful in life.
I am, by the way, speaking from my own experience. I was somewhat of a nerd, though I hung out with the 'cool' crowd (I was *definitely* the biggest nerd in my friend group), and I've been pretty successful through work as well. Who knows, maybe I'm a little too good at it, as I sometimes feel I can manipulate people by knowing what they're thinking.
Give me a break, price (or more precisely, cost) is definitely the largest factor in these two instances. Normally, in a large business, other factors such as current employee skillset come in to play but for schools and startups, cost is the big question.
University is not interested in teaching you any specific language syntax other than theory and algorithms. The university I went to switched our introductory language every 3 or 4 years (though Java has had a good run, as it's great for teaching OO). They never taught any Microsoft languages, which was 100% due to the fact they were expensive vs. the abundance of free tools available.
In the business I work at, I do all my work and coding in MS tools. They are *very* powerful... anyone thinking the FOSS world has something that stacks up vs. AD/Exchange/SharePoint/Office/Communicator/VS/Windows/blah blah, is lying to themselves, these tools deliver a ton of business functionality and are well worth the money.
I've started a couple small websites, and I always turn to MS's tools first being the easiest solution, but it always becomes a drawn out question of "Do I spend a huge amount of time doing coding and technical work to get the site I want or invest a good chunk of cash into Microsoft tools to get a great system out the door much quicker?"
I just love armchair environmentalists - you know, condo-living yuppies who might venture outside of their six-block down-town metropolis life once a year (to vacation to another city). Save the environment, please!!
I spend a great deal of time in very remote wilderness areas, and the thing that constantly amazes me is how life covers every square inch of our planet. Has for billions of years. No matter how harsh the environment, or what a particular area gets dealt in terms of weather that year, life always adapts. I've seen stories here in Canada (no references) that Polat Bears are adapting to less sea ice, and it's no surprise to me. We are making WAY too big of a deal out of a minute percentage change in temperatures year to year, the real world hands it much worse most of the time, and life pulls through fine.
What are we worrying about?
I think a lot of that was due to the fact we were on dial-up modems, so Google loaded very quickly. Broadband access is everywhere now - honestly, ing with it's background image and all loads just as fast as Google now (instantly).
Take the anecdotal evidence for what it's worth, but I was surprised to hear both my parents (very non-tech savvy) had switched to using Bing. For no other reason that they liked the changing pretty picture every day. Personally, I think Google's search results are slightly better, but likely not noticeable to your avergae user.
The most popular sites are the most popular sites... most search engines return the same top 10 results nowadays (Wikipedia, etc.).
You assume a vehicle capable of 50 mpg is available for ther purpose needed. The 33 to 50 mpg example likely refers to commuter vehicles, while the 10 to 20 mpg seems fitting for vehicles regularly towing or hauling. I tow a number of recreational vehicles, and there are definitely no 50 mpg vehicles meeting my requirements. It seems to me a very valid point that if I kept an old GMC truck around for this purpose, that even buying a slightly more efficient vehicle for towing would save a lot more fuel than replacing my work vehicle.
This is an all-round stupid comment. As another poster writes, most of MS's operating system issues are/were caused by their unrelenting need for backwards compatibility. This actually allowed IT departments to afford upgrades, as very little other software required same-time upgrades.
As for the market cap point, if you had worked for most any organization and saw how embedded Microsoft's business products are, you'd laugh at the prospect that a company making the current coolest cellphone is worth more. For the price Apple's shares are demanding, you could buy a company with two and a half times Apple's market share in smartphones (RIM), the worlds largest computer maker (Dell), the world's largest computer chip maker (Intel), and still have tens of billions left over to buy half the tech companies on Wall Street. Overvalued by a mile... hype does that.
I think the point is that owning the world's energy source is a stable, lasting source of earnings. Do you know how fast all the teenagers out there can find something different 'cool'?
Well, if true, I guess you could count my (rather large) organization as one that would never used Google Docs. Tracking changes alone is a feature used extensively by our business departments.
I honestly don't think any web-based document system will can compete with MS Office (desktop version). If you've ever worked for any type of large business lately, word processing is WAY past the basic formatting options I've seen in any online suite.
This is where you and many others fundamentally misunderstand the tablet space
I'm sure you held this opinion before the iPad marketing machine went into effect, right?
So if, as you put it, "IT'S A PHONE", why do people care so much about running lame applications on their phone? I think the whole 'apps' feature is incredible overrated, indeed some unscientific surveys confirmed this: iPhone app usability.
From the article:
In the first part of each session, we asked users to walk us through their own iPhone apps. We frequently heard comments such as, "I downloaded this because [it sounded cool/a friend recommended it], but I haven't had time to try it." Users also often said something like, "I used this a few times right after I downloaded it, but I'm not using it anymore -- I just haven't gotten around to deleting it."
People are just buying these things because someone told them it was cool. I use my phone for, I dont know, COMMUNICATION PURPOSES? Calling, texting, and possibly email, those are the important features.
Yes, Apple is 'worth' over $210 billion dollars. Reminds me of two years ago when my neighbor said his small bungalow house was 'worth' half a million dollars.
I'm not going to venture a guess as to what Apple is REALLY worth as a company, but when something is so extremely hyped in the media, it's stock is almost guaranteed to be overvalued.
Good analysis, I agree with most of your points. I've also lead a few different development teams at large organizations. I'd like to point out that the cross-platform capability of Java is usually a very insignificant aspect; for business software, 99% of it has migrated to the web so it doesn't really matter what we run in the back end, we control it. Developing business software is a bit more fully functional (windows desktop integration) and easier (cheaper).
What a ridiculous comment. Not everyone uses their vehicle solely to drive to the local starbucks. There are many reasons large vehicles are required, such as recreational towing or equipment hauling. Obviously there are some idiots who buy huge trucks for no reason at all, and your solution is to charge people with manslaughter?
Unfortunately, they can do (try) this because they are our customers. Canada's place in the economic world revolves around one thing - we have lots of natural resources that we can sell to other countries. We make so much money selling our stuff (oil, trees, etc.) that we try to place nice so you'll keep making us rich. You should know this as an Albertan ;-) It's pretty much the reason we follow step what the US is doing.
Eurpoe doesn't have nearly as much leverage as the US, but Canada is looking to diversify trading partners...
These are the most horrible comparisons ever, please think harder. All the examples you mention are laws to protect the safety (and peace) of people other than you. You should be free to do whatever you want to your own person. Killing yourself isn't illegal, why would putting anything in it of your own volition be?
I once held the same opinion as yourself, that a right to weaponry is outdated for our times. However, I had a debate on the subject with someone a little wiser than myself, and managed to change my point of view. If it were not a right to own firearms, legislation will eventually make thei ownership illegal. Now, it happens very slowly, though taxes, permits, restrictions, etc., but eventually you have an unarmed an pacified population. The citizens need firearms as a method of keeping the government in check via threat of revolution. If you think *this* is an outdated concept, well then, maybe you have been fooled.
Takeover offers are always, ALWAYS at a large premium to current share prices. This is what entices the shareholders to sell their shares to Microsoft (or whoever).
Yawn. It costs $30 or less for 2 GB of RAM now. Why should applications - especially an operating system designed for home users - not maximize this?
Puh-leeze! Someone is misguided here, and it ain't the GP. Ever hear of the commodities cycle? Commodities prices have been spiking and falling for hundreds of years - the current situation is identical. Found a quick graph searching google here. The price of a commodity slowly increases, gaining momentum, until it hits a super-spike then falls flat. Production not increasing right now is nothing but the Energy sector sitting back enjoying one hell of a ride. Check the stock markets.
I don't know, I think you are confusing intelligence with other human traits. I would consider a computer that is able to correctly answer any yes/no question asked of it to be intelligenty (though this was obviously not possible via his database method).
Please, from now on, could these articles have references to reliable news sources instead of some joe blow blog? I don't read blogs for a reason - these people are not reporters and the content is not fact, but rather opinion.
Ahh, the world of slashdot is full of brilliant academics so I would hope you can understand this point: Microsoft is a Business. An what does this mean? Their obligations are to shareholders, not what you or I think is best. In that regard, they MUST do everything they can to ensure their flagship product, Windows, maintains domination of the marketplace.
I think if you were intelligent at all, you would do the exact same things as current MS management if you were in their shoes. You may think it's underhanded, but it's in Microsoft's best interests so that is all that matters.
It would be interesting to know how many people on here that bitch about MS actual hold mutual funds with significant positions in Microsoft. I bet it would be a lot larger than you think...