The companies aren't hyping their activity for one very important reason: they don't want expectations to be too high for a technology they are not positive will take off. A silent flop is less painful than a loud one caught on camera and displayed on the 11 o'clock news.
Why oh why hasn't a certain large software company whose headquarters are located in Washington state figured this out yet?
In the Neuromancer trilogy he saw the top scientists (easily expanded to engineers, programmers, etc.) of the not-so-distant future belonging to one company which would give them security in exchange for their life's work.
He updated his version of cyberspace to include "clicking" in 1999's _All Tommorrow's Parties_.
I wanna know if Gibson is ready to revise his vision of the employer/researcher relationship yet.
"When we set up a business, we put in what makes sense. It's about tools and getting the job done. Not about religion."
Always remember (and never forget) this fact. Our primary goal is to make [non-MS solution] make sense for businesses. If my *alternative OS* doesn't support the printer on my desk, or the files people send me, then it does not make sense from a business standpoint to keep throwing my time and money at it.
Personally, I'm not that corporatist, but those are the people we need to be winning over.
The WINE logo on Slashdot is looking kinda ugly. Couldn't someone please smooth out those jagged edges?
Hemos, Malda, whoever: Use this: topicwine.gif or even better, this: topicwine.jpg Using a gif is just inexcusable here. The jpeg format compressed it much better, and have we forgotten about the UNISYS GIF patent issue so quickly?
OT RANT: It seems as if/. talks big about how they are going to boycott this, that, or the other, but then a couple weeks later we see movie reviews and gifs being used where they don't even belong. Come on! If we're going to seriously take on companies' bullying over IP issues, we need to have a unified front! /OT RANT KARMA--;
And really, who is responsible for that color scheme?
All else aside, I think WINE could be THE Killer App for Linux, as far as getting it established on the desktop of the average user is concerned.
What's the best way to keep deals like this from turning into boondoggles and pork-barrel projects? What's the best way to keep kids from being bombarded with Nike advertisements during algebra class?
The solution to pork is not to contract the manufacturing of computers through any one company, but rather have the students buy directly from the market. Perhaps have a variety of companies in the portal vying for the students' $$$.
There's already a great precedence for using advertising revenue to pay for goods in school: Channel 1 TV. There is a corporation that gives schools a TV and VCR for each classroom, installs them, and lets the school use them for any purpose, so long as the students watch a 15 minute news program which is broadcast once a day. The "Channel 1 News" is filled with advertisements, and presumably it is this revenue that pays for the project. The system must be working, as it exists in hundreds of schools across the country.
However, as TVs do not become obsolete as fast as PCs (at least not until HDTV...), Channel 1 had a good deal of time to recoup the intial expense of buying thousands of TV/VCRs, and continue making a profit. How much would such a program have to charge for advertising to pay for a $2000 laptop in 2-3 years?
All this coming from a recent high school graduate.
For all the flak the "tiny installation" has been getting, it does have a valuable purpose: cutting down on the download time. If you think Instant Messenger or Net2Phone qualifies as bloatware, DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM! It feels rather liberating, actually.
If you want a full download then use this (16 megs). Do the usual ftp1, ftp2, etc. This is for win9X people, obviously. It appears the Linux version is a full download, too (10 megs). Mac people can go to the "sea" directory, too.
What about the Microsoft Press? During the break-up attempt of '95 this was certainly going to be one of the Baby Bills. Now which division is going to get free access to the MS publications? And what about MSNBC?
Umm, I'm pretty sure at least visiting http://www.crouchingtiger.com/ should back up my original point (which was slashdot is being extremely hypocritical).
You'll see (C) Columbia Tristar as well as the Sony Pictures logo, both MPAA members (http://www.rodsbooks.com/decss/mpaa.html). It's basically impossible to release a major film nationwide without going through the MPAA. They own the ball and the ballpark, and they'll do anything they can to keep their profit margins up (hence the DeCSS case).
So next time how 'bout doing a little research before you run your mouth, thanks.
Slashdot Mirror
Why oh why hasn't a certain large software company whose headquarters are located in Washington state figured this out yet?
*sigh* The brilliance of slashdoters...
-the wunderhorn
-the wunderhorn
#define OH_YES_INDEED 1
Would William Gibson say?
In the Neuromancer trilogy he saw the top scientists (easily expanded to engineers, programmers, etc.) of the not-so-distant future belonging to one company which would give them security in exchange for their life's work.
He updated his version of cyberspace to include "clicking" in 1999's _All Tommorrow's Parties_.
I wanna know if Gibson is ready to revise his vision of the employer/researcher relationship yet.
wunderhorn
this is the article you want.
...from the yahoo articl e:
"When we set up a business, we put in what makes sense. It's about tools and getting the job done. Not about religion."
Always remember (and never forget) this fact. Our primary goal is to make [non-MS solution] make sense for businesses. If my *alternative OS* doesn't support the printer on my desk, or the files people send me, then it does not make sense from a business standpoint to keep throwing my time and money at it.
Personally, I'm not that corporatist, but those are the people we need to be winning over.
Hemos, Malda, whoever: Use this: topicwine.gif or even better, this: topicwine.jpg
Using a gif is just inexcusable here. The jpeg format compressed it much better, and have we forgotten about the UNISYS GIF patent issue so quickly?
OT RANT: It seems as if /. talks big about how they are going to boycott this, that, or the other, but then a couple weeks later we see movie reviews and gifs being used where they don't even belong. Come on! If we're going to seriously take on companies' bullying over IP issues, we need to have a unified front!
/OT RANT
KARMA--;
And really, who is responsible for that color scheme?
All else aside, I think WINE could be THE Killer App for Linux, as far as getting it established on the desktop of the average user is concerned.
Cheers,
Tim
What's the best way to keep deals like this from turning into boondoggles and pork-barrel projects?
What's the best way to keep kids from being bombarded with Nike advertisements during algebra class?
The solution to pork is not to contract the manufacturing of computers through any one company, but rather have the students buy directly from the market. Perhaps have a variety of companies in the portal vying for the students' $$$.
There's already a great precedence for using advertising revenue to pay for goods in school: Channel 1 TV. There is a corporation that gives schools a TV and VCR for each classroom, installs them, and lets the school use them for any purpose, so long as the students watch a 15 minute news program which is broadcast once a day. The "Channel 1 News" is filled with advertisements, and presumably it is this revenue that pays for the project. The system must be working, as it exists in hundreds of schools across the country.
However, as TVs do not become obsolete as fast as PCs (at least not until HDTV...), Channel 1 had a good deal of time to recoup the intial expense of buying thousands of TV/VCRs, and continue making a profit. How much would such a program have to charge for advertising to pay for a $2000 laptop in 2-3 years?
All this coming from a recent high school graduate.
For all the flak the "tiny installation" has been getting, it does have a valuable purpose: cutting down on the download time. If you think Instant Messenger or Net2Phone qualifies as bloatware, DON'T DOWNLOAD THEM!
It feels rather liberating, actually.
If you want a full download then use this (16 megs).
Do the usual ftp1, ftp2, etc.
This is for win9X people, obviously. It appears the Linux version is a full download, too (10 megs). Mac people can go to the "sea" directory, too.
I like the new ftp interface, btw. Classy!
I wonder how much the "grammar checker" features of Ms Word dilute the style of the original author©
Undoubtedly this sort of software will grow more sophisticated in changing individual's grammatical quirks into whatever Gates decides is "proper english©"
Maybe after the next version of Office comes out all you'll have to do is run you documents through Word to make them appear to have come from Microsoft's press office©
What about the Microsoft Press? During the break-up attempt of '95 this was certainly going to be one of the Baby Bills. Now which division is going to get free access to the MS publications? And what about MSNBC?
You'll see (C) Columbia Tristar as well as the Sony Pictures logo, both MPAA members (http://www.rodsbooks.com/decss/mpaa.html). It's basically impossible to release a major film nationwide without going through the MPAA. They own the ball and the ballpark, and they'll do anything they can to keep their profit margins up (hence the DeCSS case).
So next time how 'bout doing a little research before you run your mouth, thanks.
-the wunderhorn