MS has 25 million live subscribers. @ $50 each, that's $1.25bil. Plus, they have likely sold more than 600mil worth of downloads (citation), so call it 1.85 $bil/yr.
Sony has announced that they will also be adding a $50 subscription fee, so that benefit is gone.
So MS might be losing small market share, but 'getting laughed at by gamers' might be a bit of an exaggeration.
Exactly. Enforce the reckless endangerment and distracted driving laws already on the books. No need to come up with a specific version of a law that is already in effect but not enforced well. The solution isn't new laws, it's better enforcement.
exactly how many jobs would be created in the American economy? How much money would be pumped back into the economy that is teetering between recovery and disaster #2?
None. They'd all go out of business when they raised their prices and could no longer afford to compete with Walmart's crappy knock off versions of everything they sell.
The only way to change that is to change the economic equation. Stop shopping at walmart. Refuse to buy products from companies not producing here in the US (good luck with that). Refuse to sign up for internet if the company outsources its call center, and be sure to let the CEO know why you refuse to buy. Start a campaign at your employer to buy American.
they just don't want to work for $5 or $6 an hour AFTER taxes
You've made my point. Why pay $6/hour when China or India will do it for $6/day or week. Upper management collects a bonus, and the stock dividend goes up.
Back on Topic: India demanding access to your IP may certainly change the economic equation based on the amount of risk you're willing to take. I know I wouldn't want my sensitive, money-making IP going through those wires.
I almost never look for specific skill sets. When smart people have a solid knowledge of the field as a whole, they can pick up anything quickly. I use their resume as a starting point of judging this because they wrote the thing. This is their chance to market themselves to me.
That's great, if you get to see every resume. The problem is with the HR filter. They usually don't know that a resume with multiple years of Java, C++, PHP and VB.net development means you could probably do C# work without a problem, especially if you've actually done some minor C# work but didn't list it because you're not an expert. The job description says C# preferred, so the hiring manager never get to see that resume.
That said, I usually do your approach as well: list out a ranking of your skills. e.g "Very proficient in C# and Java, Some experience with C++, PHP, and Perl". The resumes that are a real problem are the ones that include a full page of programs because 'my C# program once called a stored procedure so I'm going to list SQL Server as a skill'. I've seen a lot of these that either came from a recruiter or are contractors (especially foreign).
Exactly my thoughts. For all of the intended uses in the summary (tablets, in car media, and remote controls), you would be close enough to actually touch it, thus avoiding all the extra movement. It's also a safety risk in the car; we use steering wheel controls and voice command in the car in order to keep our hands ON the wheel. People can't even check their mirrors without swerving in the direction they're looking, I don't have much hope for the use of something like this.
No criminal intent is like me saying 'I didn't intend to shoot that guy! I just fired the gun and didn't realize the bullet would go that far". I'm pretty sure the judge would say "I don't give a crap what you intended to do"
Right, because train operators never get distracted (texting or otherwise), bus driver's are never tired, and certainly no one (including aircraft pilots) has ever been drunk on the job!
I wouldn't be surprised if it was statistically safer, but let's be honest, mass transit is still run by people.
Well said, and explains the entire reason behind these scams (also pretty much explains every situation in which someone gets taken advantage of in an area they know little about). The real question now is what to do about it.
What technology has been invented/produced recently (say, a decade or so) that has made such a fundamental shift as these? (Honestly, if you can think of one, please post a reply. I'd love to hear your opinion)
I think the problem with this statement is that we genuinely don't know if certain things are just a fad or if they are truly world-shifting. For example, the internet was up and running in what, the early 60's? But it wasn't really until the 90's that it grew with such wide adoption and with world-changing implications. So it would have been difficult to say in 1970 if it would revolutionary because we didn't really understand the potential and impact it would have. Same goes for the telephone, LCD panels, or dozens of other technologies that have taken decades to develop.
There's a really easy solution to the cheating problem, and it wouldn't even require TI to do anything different: have the school provide calculators for use during a test. If the school bought 60 calculators, they would ensure they are clear of any programs, hand them out before the test and collect them with the test. If students cheat on homework, it'll be easily reflected when they don't know how to solve the problems on the test. To prevent student's from looking at previous tests online, use different tests (the teacher should be doing this anyway)
They could even take extra steps like hot-gluing the comm ports so there can't be wires going to a cheating device, and make them look different so a teacher walking around during a test can easily tell if the student is not using the same device they were given (like etch a number into each). Assuming the teacher is even remotely paying attention, students can't swap the calculator, and it'll be pretty obvious if they're doing anything to it.
Now that student's can't use their own calculators during the test, TI doesn't have to do anything to prevent people from hacking at the devices they physically own as long it's difficult enough that a teacher would notice (like plugging in a cable) during a test. And the school only needs enough calculators to share between the math classes, so it's not even that much investment. For tests like the SAT they could add $5 to the fee and they're paid for.
1999 Trading stock price high: over 180, just before being declared a monopoly
2010 Trading stock price high: no where near 180; perhaps 35, with a bicycle pump and some extra headwind
Um.... the stock split twice in that time period, so your comparison is worth nothing. It might not be worth a lot more, but let's face it, MS isn't a growth stock. What they should do, is either Grow (new products, acquisitions, which they're trying), or return value to shareholders (increase dividend).
It's actually quite funny to see how similar and in some aspects even better it is (and for a product 12 years ago!). Apart from the obvious (larger price and more weight), the older product actually has 12-16 hour life compared to iPad's 8 hour life. There's also dial-up modem (remember how bulky those were?), more apps, syncing software, and multitasking. 640x480 resolution and touch display.
Pretty awesome for a product in the 1998, considering it even beats iPad at some aspects. Oh and Windows CE also let you install any app you wanted (there was a lot of freeware apps too), not just something Apple didn't block from AppStore or where you have to pay for every app you want, no matter how simple task it does. And you also could program your own apps to it.
It hardly matters how much better it is if it's frustrating to use. Greatest app X doesn't matter unless it's easy to use, which is what apple has really done well (partly by restricting the things us nerds love- hardware specs and openness).
It's not a micromanaging style though. The project managers only get access to the team rollup, not to the individual stats, and recoding the time has actually made the team better at estimating and better at seeing date slippage earlier. The stats of 'on task time' are personal, not compared between employees, and only ever brought up if there's a problem. As an added bonus, it's gotten us more 'work at home' days and 'no meeting days', which has lead to happier developers and more productive use of my time. I'm not saying it can't be abused, butt if used properly, it can be good tool.
I should also mention that that time doesn't include code/design/document reviews, which could easily take up another 2-3 hours a week depending on the development cycle.
It depends. If he spends 10 hours getting supplies from the store, picking out plants, drawing a layout of the plan, and meeting with me, then I have no problem with the gardener doing 10 hours of actual manual labor planting and cutting. I think similar situation applies, it's just that instead of all those things it's reading requirements, meeting stakeholders, answering questions about older projects, participating in training activities, etc.
At my place of employment we use TSP/PSP and we're expected to maintain 12-14 hours of 'on task time', meaning time actually writing code or design documents. Contractors (who have less meetings and are less involved in requirements/design and department training/meetings) are expected to get around 20. The rest of the time is due to meetings, demos, research, answering questions, answering the phone, status meetings, setting up test equipment, etc. Someone stops by your cube to ask a question, you stop the timer.
My high school did this. They only allowed it if you completed all the classes they offered. So, for example, I took AP Comp Sci junior year and they had nothing past that, so I got to take half days Senior year and went to college in the afternoon.
The large Microsoft products seem to go through the same pattern. First version with a very large change kind of sucks but it works well enough to release and get bug reports on, and the second version is a polished, faster, more robust version of the same. See: Windows ME->XP, Vista->Win7, and now Office2007->Office 2010.
Slashdot Mirror
MS has 25 million live subscribers. @ $50 each, that's $1.25bil. Plus, they have likely sold more than 600mil worth of downloads (citation), so call it 1.85 $bil/yr.
Sony has announced that they will also be adding a $50 subscription fee, so that benefit is gone. So MS might be losing small market share, but 'getting laughed at by gamers' might be a bit of an exaggeration.
Exactly. Enforce the reckless endangerment and distracted driving laws already on the books. No need to come up with a specific version of a law that is already in effect but not enforced well. The solution isn't new laws, it's better enforcement.
exactly how many jobs would be created in the American economy? How much money would be pumped back into the economy that is teetering between recovery and disaster #2?
None. They'd all go out of business when they raised their prices and could no longer afford to compete with Walmart's crappy knock off versions of everything they sell.
The only way to change that is to change the economic equation. Stop shopping at walmart. Refuse to buy products from companies not producing here in the US (good luck with that). Refuse to sign up for internet if the company outsources its call center, and be sure to let the CEO know why you refuse to buy. Start a campaign at your employer to buy American.
they just don't want to work for $5 or $6 an hour AFTER taxes
You've made my point. Why pay $6/hour when China or India will do it for $6/day or week. Upper management collects a bonus, and the stock dividend goes up.
Back on Topic: India demanding access to your IP may certainly change the economic equation based on the amount of risk you're willing to take. I know I wouldn't want my sensitive, money-making IP going through those wires.
I almost never look for specific skill sets. When smart people have a solid knowledge of the field as a whole, they can pick up anything quickly. I use their resume as a starting point of judging this because they wrote the thing. This is their chance to market themselves to me.
That's great, if you get to see every resume. The problem is with the HR filter. They usually don't know that a resume with multiple years of Java, C++, PHP and VB.net development means you could probably do C# work without a problem, especially if you've actually done some minor C# work but didn't list it because you're not an expert. The job description says C# preferred, so the hiring manager never get to see that resume.
That said, I usually do your approach as well: list out a ranking of your skills. e.g "Very proficient in C# and Java, Some experience with C++, PHP, and Perl". The resumes that are a real problem are the ones that include a full page of programs because 'my C# program once called a stored procedure so I'm going to list SQL Server as a skill'. I've seen a lot of these that either came from a recruiter or are contractors (especially foreign).
Exactly my thoughts. For all of the intended uses in the summary (tablets, in car media, and remote controls), you would be close enough to actually touch it, thus avoiding all the extra movement. It's also a safety risk in the car; we use steering wheel controls and voice command in the car in order to keep our hands ON the wheel. People can't even check their mirrors without swerving in the direction they're looking, I don't have much hope for the use of something like this.
No criminal intent is like me saying 'I didn't intend to shoot that guy! I just fired the gun and didn't realize the bullet would go that far". I'm pretty sure the judge would say "I don't give a crap what you intended to do"
Right, because train operators never get distracted (texting or otherwise), bus driver's are never tired, and certainly no one (including aircraft pilots) has ever been drunk on the job!
I wouldn't be surprised if it was statistically safer, but let's be honest, mass transit is still run by people.
Well said, and explains the entire reason behind these scams (also pretty much explains every situation in which someone gets taken advantage of in an area they know little about). The real question now is what to do about it.
Start charging them going rates and I'll bet you they become a lot more interested in security...
What technology has been invented/produced recently (say, a decade or so) that has made such a fundamental shift as these? (Honestly, if you can think of one, please post a reply. I'd love to hear your opinion)
I think the problem with this statement is that we genuinely don't know if certain things are just a fad or if they are truly world-shifting. For example, the internet was up and running in what, the early 60's? But it wasn't really until the 90's that it grew with such wide adoption and with world-changing implications. So it would have been difficult to say in 1970 if it would revolutionary because we didn't really understand the potential and impact it would have. Same goes for the telephone, LCD panels, or dozens of other technologies that have taken decades to develop.
There's a really easy solution to the cheating problem, and it wouldn't even require TI to do anything different: have the school provide calculators for use during a test. If the school bought 60 calculators, they would ensure they are clear of any programs, hand them out before the test and collect them with the test. If students cheat on homework, it'll be easily reflected when they don't know how to solve the problems on the test. To prevent student's from looking at previous tests online, use different tests (the teacher should be doing this anyway)
They could even take extra steps like hot-gluing the comm ports so there can't be wires going to a cheating device, and make them look different so a teacher walking around during a test can easily tell if the student is not using the same device they were given (like etch a number into each). Assuming the teacher is even remotely paying attention, students can't swap the calculator, and it'll be pretty obvious if they're doing anything to it.
Now that student's can't use their own calculators during the test, TI doesn't have to do anything to prevent people from hacking at the devices they physically own as long it's difficult enough that a teacher would notice (like plugging in a cable) during a test. And the school only needs enough calculators to share between the math classes, so it's not even that much investment. For tests like the SAT they could add $5 to the fee and they're paid for.
1999 Trading stock price high: over 180, just before being declared a monopoly
2010 Trading stock price high: no where near 180; perhaps 35, with a bicycle pump and some extra headwind
Um.... the stock split twice in that time period, so your comparison is worth nothing. It might not be worth a lot more, but let's face it, MS isn't a growth stock. What they should do, is either Grow (new products, acquisitions, which they're trying), or return value to shareholders (increase dividend).
You can't charge (additional) licensing fees to accessory manufacturers using a standard connector.
I see your Outlook Express and raise you a Lotus Notes.
It's not that hard, but you won't find them on a $600 laptop.
It's actually quite funny to see how similar and in some aspects even better it is (and for a product 12 years ago!). Apart from the obvious (larger price and more weight), the older product actually has 12-16 hour life compared to iPad's 8 hour life. There's also dial-up modem (remember how bulky those were?), more apps, syncing software, and multitasking. 640x480 resolution and touch display.
Pretty awesome for a product in the 1998, considering it even beats iPad at some aspects. Oh and Windows CE also let you install any app you wanted (there was a lot of freeware apps too), not just something Apple didn't block from AppStore or where you have to pay for every app you want, no matter how simple task it does. And you also could program your own apps to it.
It hardly matters how much better it is if it's frustrating to use. Greatest app X doesn't matter unless it's easy to use, which is what apple has really done well (partly by restricting the things us nerds love- hardware specs and openness).
It's not a micromanaging style though. The project managers only get access to the team rollup, not to the individual stats, and recoding the time has actually made the team better at estimating and better at seeing date slippage earlier. The stats of 'on task time' are personal, not compared between employees, and only ever brought up if there's a problem. As an added bonus, it's gotten us more 'work at home' days and 'no meeting days', which has lead to happier developers and more productive use of my time. I'm not saying it can't be abused, butt if used properly, it can be good tool.
I should also mention that that time doesn't include code/design/document reviews, which could easily take up another 2-3 hours a week depending on the development cycle.
It depends. If he spends 10 hours getting supplies from the store, picking out plants, drawing a layout of the plan, and meeting with me, then I have no problem with the gardener doing 10 hours of actual manual labor planting and cutting. I think similar situation applies, it's just that instead of all those things it's reading requirements, meeting stakeholders, answering questions about older projects, participating in training activities, etc.
At my place of employment we use TSP/PSP and we're expected to maintain 12-14 hours of 'on task time', meaning time actually writing code or design documents. Contractors (who have less meetings and are less involved in requirements/design and department training/meetings) are expected to get around 20. The rest of the time is due to meetings, demos, research, answering questions, answering the phone, status meetings, setting up test equipment, etc. Someone stops by your cube to ask a question, you stop the timer.
My high school did this. They only allowed it if you completed all the classes they offered. So, for example, I took AP Comp Sci junior year and they had nothing past that, so I got to take half days Senior year and went to college in the afternoon.
Not good enough. I don't want to bother the cops when I can bother the ISP, or the people hosting that ISP, and upwards.
Isn't that the RIAA thought as well?
At real parties, people use those condoms for other things.... like sex.
I know, I know, this is slashdot.
Those are the coalition's principles, not the proposed law(s).
The large Microsoft products seem to go through the same pattern. First version with a very large change kind of sucks but it works well enough to release and get bug reports on, and the second version is a polished, faster, more robust version of the same. See: Windows ME->XP, Vista->Win7, and now Office2007->Office 2010.
"find kitten"
"date" = March 32nd