Whenever people say about Apple as having no real original ideas and nothing more than perceived "coolness", or at most compliment it as just a good design firm, I have to wonder. So the same people admire and buy Dell purely because they are cheap? Certainly not because Dell is known for the tech inventions they contribute to hi-tech industry nor for the award winning designs. And for coolness - if people really wanted cool wouldn't half of all computer users use Linux? Isn't it being tech savvy and the geek really cool nowadays with dotCom billionaires and CSI?....
Yeah, I guess having worked in Windows/Solaris world for more than a decade, and played with Linux on the side for about as much, it finally dawned on me that "coolness" was what I needed... Funny with all the engineers and engineering force behind Windows and Blackberry that I'm equipped with in my day job, working in those environments are 90% frustration, as opposed to the consistency, efficiency, and reliability I've found with my own Mac and iPhone.
So according to people who have nothing better to do except write about technology, Jobs' only talent besides song and dance is that he dares to make the right decisions in critical moments? Sounds like a rare leader that you don't find in 99% of industry.
Sure, Apple didn't invent anything, and Jobs just picked up what others neglected and overlooked (GUI, firewire, touch screen, digital content, NeXT...) and made winners out of them, and set trends others are forced to follow - that's why people can't stand him. When the mouse finally gets replaced by touch pads, and GPU and ZFS become household terms, others will say hah they didn't invent any of it - but so what? It's the first time I will find them practical and usable. Refinement is just as much part of engineering as inventing the initial concept and prototyping.
Google only care about personalization so they can say they hold more consumer data than anyone and tell that to their advertisers to sell more ads. If you tell them I want a personalized web resource with absolutely no ads, they'll just smile and walk away.
The problem is with OEMs and marketers, not MSFT. If past year serves a good experience, MSFT does not have to convince OEMs to put Windows first. Wal-Mart shelved the gPC, and Acer and Eee both start advertising more XP books than Linux. The failings of Vista should have given Dell and HP a good window of opportunity to push for Linux OS, but what did they do? CHARGE MORE FOR DOWNGRADE TO XP! The turning point will come only if there is 1) a clear profitability from Linux netbooks; 2) there is a ton of volunteer army of Linux geeks willing to help the average citizens; 3) there is a great consumer "Killer App" only available to Linux; or 4) Google come out with a gNetbook. Otherwise consumers vote with their pocket books will go for what they are used to (Windows) every time.
90% monopoly brainwashes a LOT of people. And getting people to change their habits is the hardest thing in the world.
Damn - if only they fiire Jobs 7 years ago and put this guy in charge of Apple, what fantastic products the consumers could have benefitted from - the year of the Linux today? Hmmm... would Google provide Android and maps for free if it wasn't the WWWs' biggest ad money maker? Should Google also open source their search engine, in-house Linux built, and proprietary cluster infrastructure technology too?
I don't understand why if you know C# you would be put off by Java, since they have lots of similarities. If you know ASP.NET/VS you probably been exposed to VB too, so the white-space/indent in Python should be no biggie. Once you start playing with command line Python scripting might as well touch on all 3 Ps in LAMPPP - Perl/PHP/Python - which powers half of the web and can be used more dynamically than C# for anything from desktop scripting to web dev. If the Ps got you excited you would almost want to go lower and learn more about the Cs - C/C++ which are their foundation.
... the marketing department came up with the name - WARP - before they started creating the software, right? Now Ballmer or Ozzie can stand up on stage some point in the future and say, "... and for Windows 7 (SP2) we introduce WARP 11! Even the USS Enterprise couldn't go that fast! (..hey I bet the geeks will love us now, yeah!)
I can hear The Man chastising now: Perhaps it's because everybody was surfing and nobody was working that our economy-productivity-innovativity-earnings are down, eh? Kidding aside, I think the Market just demonstrated that in our economy value is entirely relative. Even if the ecommerce volume is up this year, the bottom line may not be enough come January.
I surmise, that the LHC, so far, is already acting like a black hole. I look at my blank BIONC screensaver daily with disappointment. Oh well, switching back to boring grid computing problems like world health and hunger.
MSFT has finally unveiled its long term strategy. They already own the market for browser, office, and development platform and server wares on their own OS, might as well corner the antii-virus business too. Somebody at M$ marketing finally figured out how to turn a weakness into strength, a losing battle into a business opportunity and profitability. Pure genius, I tell you! Pray that MSFT shares do not go down or they'll hit up the government with a bailout threat too.
I think Worst Buy actually came after Circuit City and CompUSA, both now knocked off the block by it. When Best Buy started it sold crap selection that was no better than Walmart or Sears, but they did went for big warehouse locations. I guess they built on the Amazon model - staying in red and undercut all your competition until you you generate the volume. Once you have the volume you improve your merchandise and pricing structure. Then Profit! Still can't stand how they can sell a simple miniDV pack for $20 while the same product is $10 at Fry's. Guess the big bright yellow sign makes people trust them like K-mart or something.
Here's what I think happened:
Papermaster(PM): I'm quitting to work for Apple.
IBM: We'll give you a raise. We'll pay you for a year to stay home.
PM: Jobs just doubled your offer. Plus it's a chance of the lifetime. I'm leaving.
IBM: OK. we'll throw you a party. (...while secretly calling the legal department to prepare the suit).
... after all these years for that 1984 commercial. Heck, if IBM really wanted to keep Papermaster they should've slapped a 'franchise' tag on the guy like the NFL.
So is the court and IBM gonna keep him at house arrest? How are they going to keep him from talking to Jobs still?
I'v heard scenarios where Jobs will just call up IBM and pay hardball. "Here's the deal - we're already designing our own chip. If you give up the Master we'll give you a contract to build the chip. Otherwise, deal with the lawyers backed by $21b cash, and a recruitment office that will headhunt every one of your top execs."
Think IBM is just looking for a buyout. I think a dozen more non-signing IBM employees just applied to Apple.
I can see how this trend can continue. I would personally give up my land line, high-speed Internet, my satellite TV, and many other niceties and extras before I drop my iPhone. It has been an all-in-one device for me everywhere I go for the last 3 months, more practical and portable than my OLPC.
Geographically lots of low-income folks live in inner cities, where 3G is available, so a 3G phone is a good choice for an multi-use media/information device.
I already have multiple PCs at work and at home to tweak and geek out on all I want. I don't have time or care to spend more time tweaking my phone that I just want to simply use. So I cannot use Opera on my iPhone, so what? Most Blackberry users that I showed my iPhone to wouldn't care either.
Until you can explain how Apple has become "too big to fail" like the banks the Feds is bailing out with your children's future, or why you are forced to buy the iPhone, don't event mention the word antitrust.
IF our languages have not disappear, that's good enough. Throw away everything else. Do we not have enough crap around us already? The real question should be where are we going to find the resources to keep up all the personally important but ultimately non-essential materialism around us, lest we disappear leaving nothing more than stone heads.
1) Dragging this out, even behind doors, does not help Psystar. I doubt their profit is keeping up with their legal fees unless they have lawyers doing pro bono. And the longer Apple is mounting legal fees the greater the potential final damages Psysters may have to pay. And if you can't make enough money to fend off Apple, it doesn't inspire others to invest in the same business.
2) It's only a matter of time when technology matures to the point where the only way to purchase a Mac OS media is by mail or download through a registered Apple computer purchaser account. How is any 3rd party hope to "legally" redistribute a Mac OS media?
Apple is pretty savy in locking down software through various means and proprietary hardware tricks too. Anything less than a clear court ruling against Apple, I can see Apple's position just gets stronger the longer this goes on.
Mac heads are apt to say they are proud to own Macs. Now MSFT is "taking back the PC brand" and having people say they ARE "a PC?" So MSFT is saying they OWN you - and I guess that is true - 90% of you are owned by MSFT.
If MSFT has any real guts or genius they'd have the ad that shows people say "I'm a Vista." Let's see Deepak volunteer on that one. I'm sure he fully approved of the Mojave deception experiment.
HP has the resources to do it, but the question is do they really have the guts, plus the advertising creativity down the road to switch average consumers to its Linux? Linux traction has always been a chicken-egg problem: if your PC customers are conditioned to use and demand (because they've grown dependent on) Windows software, how do you convince entire government and enterprise contracts to just switch to a Linux desktop? Seems like a 12-Step program for Windows addicts is what the FOSS community really need to develop to popularize Linux.
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Whenever people say about Apple as having no real original ideas and nothing more than perceived "coolness", or at most compliment it as just a good design firm, I have to wonder. So the same people admire and buy Dell purely because they are cheap? Certainly not because Dell is known for the tech inventions they contribute to hi-tech industry nor for the award winning designs. And for coolness - if people really wanted cool wouldn't half of all computer users use Linux? Isn't it being tech savvy and the geek really cool nowadays with dotCom billionaires and CSI?....
Yeah, I guess having worked in Windows/Solaris world for more than a decade, and played with Linux on the side for about as much, it finally dawned on me that "coolness" was what I needed... Funny with all the engineers and engineering force behind Windows and Blackberry that I'm equipped with in my day job, working in those environments are 90% frustration, as opposed to the consistency, efficiency, and reliability I've found with my own Mac and iPhone.
So according to people who have nothing better to do except write about technology, Jobs' only talent besides song and dance is that he dares to make the right decisions in critical moments? Sounds like a rare leader that you don't find in 99% of industry.
Sure, Apple didn't invent anything, and Jobs just picked up what others neglected and overlooked (GUI, firewire, touch screen, digital content, NeXT...) and made winners out of them, and set trends others are forced to follow - that's why people can't stand him. When the mouse finally gets replaced by touch pads, and GPU and ZFS become household terms, others will say hah they didn't invent any of it - but so what? It's the first time I will find them practical and usable. Refinement is just as much part of engineering as inventing the initial concept and prototyping.
What a concept!
Google only care about personalization so they can say they hold more consumer data than anyone and tell that to their advertisers to sell more ads. If you tell them I want a personalized web resource with absolutely no ads, they'll just smile and walk away.
I cannot be personalized.
The problem is with OEMs and marketers, not MSFT. If past year serves a good experience, MSFT does not have to convince OEMs to put Windows first. Wal-Mart shelved the gPC, and Acer and Eee both start advertising more XP books than Linux. The failings of Vista should have given Dell and HP a good window of opportunity to push for Linux OS, but what did they do? CHARGE MORE FOR DOWNGRADE TO XP! The turning point will come only if there is 1) a clear profitability from Linux netbooks; 2) there is a ton of volunteer army of Linux geeks willing to help the average citizens; 3) there is a great consumer "Killer App" only available to Linux; or 4) Google come out with a gNetbook. Otherwise consumers vote with their pocket books will go for what they are used to (Windows) every time.
90% monopoly brainwashes a LOT of people. And getting people to change their habits is the hardest thing in the world.
Damn - if only they fiire Jobs 7 years ago and put this guy in charge of Apple, what fantastic products the consumers could have benefitted from - the year of the Linux today? Hmmm... would Google provide Android and maps for free if it wasn't the WWWs' biggest ad money maker? Should Google also open source their search engine, in-house Linux built, and proprietary cluster infrastructure technology too?
I don't understand why if you know C# you would be put off by Java, since they have lots of similarities. If you know ASP.NET/VS you probably been exposed to VB too, so the white-space/indent in Python should be no biggie. Once you start playing with command line Python scripting might as well touch on all 3 Ps in LAMPPP - Perl/PHP/Python - which powers half of the web and can be used more dynamically than C# for anything from desktop scripting to web dev. If the Ps got you excited you would almost want to go lower and learn more about the Cs - C/C++ which are their foundation.
I think your Python list is missing quotation marks.
...IronPerl
... the marketing department came up with the name - WARP - before they started creating the software, right? Now Ballmer or Ozzie can stand up on stage some point in the future and say, "... and for Windows 7 (SP2) we introduce WARP 11! Even the USS Enterprise couldn't go that fast! (..hey I bet the geeks will love us now, yeah!)
I can hear The Man chastising now: Perhaps it's because everybody was surfing and nobody was working that our economy-productivity-innovativity-earnings are down, eh? Kidding aside, I think the Market just demonstrated that in our economy value is entirely relative. Even if the ecommerce volume is up this year, the bottom line may not be enough come January.
I'm sure the new free security software in Windows 7 will take care of it.
what the budget for the Death Star might be like. Imagine Luke and the Rebel Alliance saved by technical difficulty. :)
I surmise, that the LHC, so far, is already acting like a black hole. I look at my blank BIONC screensaver daily with disappointment. Oh well, switching back to boring grid computing problems like world health and hunger.
MSFT has finally unveiled its long term strategy. They already own the market for browser, office, and development platform and server wares on their own OS, might as well corner the antii-virus business too. Somebody at M$ marketing finally figured out how to turn a weakness into strength, a losing battle into a business opportunity and profitability. Pure genius, I tell you! Pray that MSFT shares do not go down or they'll hit up the government with a bailout threat too.
I think Worst Buy actually came after Circuit City and CompUSA, both now knocked off the block by it. When Best Buy started it sold crap selection that was no better than Walmart or Sears, but they did went for big warehouse locations. I guess they built on the Amazon model - staying in red and undercut all your competition until you you generate the volume. Once you have the volume you improve your merchandise and pricing structure. Then Profit! Still can't stand how they can sell a simple miniDV pack for $20 while the same product is $10 at Fry's. Guess the big bright yellow sign makes people trust them like K-mart or something.
Here's what I think happened:
Papermaster(PM): I'm quitting to work for Apple.
IBM: We'll give you a raise. We'll pay you for a year to stay home.
PM: Jobs just doubled your offer. Plus it's a chance of the lifetime. I'm leaving.
IBM: OK. we'll throw you a party. (...while secretly calling the legal department to prepare the suit).
... after all these years for that 1984 commercial. Heck, if IBM really wanted to keep Papermaster they should've slapped a 'franchise' tag on the guy like the NFL.
So is the court and IBM gonna keep him at house arrest? How are they going to keep him from talking to Jobs still?
I'v heard scenarios where Jobs will just call up IBM and pay hardball. "Here's the deal - we're already designing our own chip. If you give up the Master we'll give you a contract to build the chip. Otherwise, deal with the lawyers backed by $21b cash, and a recruitment office that will headhunt every one of your top execs."
Think IBM is just looking for a buyout. I think a dozen more non-signing IBM employees just applied to Apple.
I can see how this trend can continue. I would personally give up my land line, high-speed Internet, my satellite TV, and many other niceties and extras before I drop my iPhone. It has been an all-in-one device for me everywhere I go for the last 3 months, more practical and portable than my OLPC.
Geographically lots of low-income folks live in inner cities, where 3G is available, so a 3G phone is a good choice for an multi-use media/information device.
I already have multiple PCs at work and at home to tweak and geek out on all I want. I don't have time or care to spend more time tweaking my phone that I just want to simply use. So I cannot use Opera on my iPhone, so what? Most Blackberry users that I showed my iPhone to wouldn't care either.
Until you can explain how Apple has become "too big to fail" like the banks the Feds is bailing out with your children's future, or why you are forced to buy the iPhone, don't event mention the word antitrust.
IF our languages have not disappear, that's good enough. Throw away everything else. Do we not have enough crap around us already? The real question should be where are we going to find the resources to keep up all the personally important but ultimately non-essential materialism around us, lest we disappear leaving nothing more than stone heads.
1) Dragging this out, even behind doors, does not help Psystar. I doubt their profit is keeping up with their legal fees unless they have lawyers doing pro bono. And the longer Apple is mounting legal fees the greater the potential final damages Psysters may have to pay. And if you can't make enough money to fend off Apple, it doesn't inspire others to invest in the same business.
2) It's only a matter of time when technology matures to the point where the only way to purchase a Mac OS media is by mail or download through a registered Apple computer purchaser account. How is any 3rd party hope to "legally" redistribute a Mac OS media?
Apple is pretty savy in locking down software through various means and proprietary hardware tricks too. Anything less than a clear court ruling against Apple, I can see Apple's position just gets stronger the longer this goes on.
Will it help them find Waldo?
...Can't wait for the politically incorrect illegal worker and outsourcing jokes to follow...
Mac heads are apt to say they are proud to own Macs. Now MSFT is "taking back the PC brand" and having people say they ARE "a PC?" So MSFT is saying they OWN you - and I guess that is true - 90% of you are owned by MSFT.
If MSFT has any real guts or genius they'd have the ad that shows people say "I'm a Vista." Let's see Deepak volunteer on that one. I'm sure he fully approved of the Mojave deception experiment.
HP has the resources to do it, but the question is do they really have the guts, plus the advertising creativity down the road to switch average consumers to its Linux? Linux traction has always been a chicken-egg problem: if your PC customers are conditioned to use and demand (because they've grown dependent on) Windows software, how do you convince entire government and enterprise contracts to just switch to a Linux desktop? Seems like a 12-Step program for Windows addicts is what the FOSS community really need to develop to popularize Linux.