Vista will even do the image for you. In the new backup utility included with the OS there is an option for a full system backup. Vista creates a VHD (Microsoft's Virtual Hard Disk format from their virtualization products) file of the entire disk and saves it where you tell it to. It's easy enough to boot up to restore mode and drop that image back on.
I just bought an E521 (with Windows Media Center and a Vista upgrade) for home.
As I customize an E521n, I notice that you have to buy a monitor and a video card. (These have on-board video.) So it comes out about $170 more with items I didn't want. (I'll probably buy a vid card with less markup some day from newegg.)
Also, there's a warning that the "16x DVD+/-RW Drive" is not Vista compatible. Yet they sold me one with my E521 that was. !?
In short, they need to make themselves cost competitive with P2P. How do you make yourself cost competitive with something that is free?... Don't market the product itself, market convenience associated with that product.
Yes! Convenience. People will pay for convenience!
Look at individually wrapped cheese. Bottled water. Pudding cups: Pudding was cheap and easy to make before pudding cups. Who would have guessed (before it happened) that people would pay significantly more for disposable serving-size packages?
DVDs: I'm convinced that the success of DVDs is more about features (including convenience) and pricing than quality. They are so much easier to use than tapes. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will not take off anytime soon because people will not pay extra for that quality increase.
Music: People want it on their computers and DAPs. People want to follow the law if it's not to onerous. Make it easy and cheap enough and they will come.
He may be a liberal. He may have been a democrat once. He may vote like one now. But if you join the Republican party and run on a Republican ticket, you're a Republican. (R)
I have a CD case full of Windows games from 1998-2002 and a CD case full of Linux (Loki, mostly) games from years gone...
the total number that actually operate today is probably 15.
Compatibility over time is is not a problem for the industry. It is your problem. It may even be a benefit for the industry, as you will go on to consume more products.
An exception might be the online games with a monthly income model. But I haven't seen one of them fail yet because the OS or graphics technology left them behind.
Phatbox, an mp3 hard-drive box for the car, has had audio menus for years.
It plugs into a CD changer interface and using the buttons on most head units, you can go forward/backward through playlists, genres, artists, albums, etc.
It tells you where you are in the menus, so you don't have to look at it. (Another good reason is that the CD changer interface is not sophisticated enough to show that data on the head unit...)
I think there's some alternative/oss text-to-speech sw out there, too.
Parent is right. You can't call them on it. But you might be able to lead by example: Refuse to speak it, even to the point of summarizing in "real language".
So I just moved to a new cell phone company, and I plan on staying with them for the next two years (length of the contract, even without buying a phone from them, because it's their cheapest plan).
FWIW, you should know that the cheapest plan in the brochures is often not the cheapest plan they have.
I used prepaid even when I was in the US -- more expensive per minute, but cheaper with my usage patterns -- with Verizon I paid less than $20 a month
I don't get it. When I look for prepaid at verizon, I find plans that start with a $.99/day access fee that is charged every day, regardless of access. So basically a $30/month fee before you start paying per minute.
So how do you get $20/month?
I'm a Linux user who occasionally boots a Windows machine just to view/print a Word doc or Powerpoint. They always seem to look like ass in Open Office.
What VMM should I be looking at, vmware, Xen, or something else?
SO what? Only a tiny percentage of customers ever used lifetime anyway.
Got a source for that?
I for one was ready to pay a lot to be an early adopter of the Series 3 -- but not without the lifetime subscription.
Reading various forums, it seems that there's a lot of people upset about the lifetime subs going away. Maybe those forums aren't representative, but can Tivo afford to alienate those users?
I agree that the Tivo is great. I was an early adopter and a fanboy. But with this change they're asking too much compared to the competition (my cable co's HD DVR). I can't even recommend it to friends at those rates.
Make sure that every one of your "community of developers" assigns copyright to you for every mod they make. Otherwise you can't sell their GPL code under another license.
Of course, if you make them do that, they'll be less likely to contribute at all.
And make sure they didn't borrow their mods from somewhere inappropriate. It'll be your product and company that is in trouble if they do.
Slashdot Mirror
that should be worn in front of a fast food restaurant when passing out coupons.
LB
As I customize an E521n, I notice that you have to buy a monitor and a video card. (These have on-board video.) So it comes out about $170 more with items I didn't want. (I'll probably buy a vid card with less markup some day from newegg.)
Also, there's a warning that the "16x DVD+/-RW Drive" is not Vista compatible. Yet they sold me one with my E521 that was. !?
Look at individually wrapped cheese. Bottled water. Pudding cups: Pudding was cheap and easy to make before pudding cups. Who would have guessed (before it happened) that people would pay significantly more for disposable serving-size packages?
DVDs: I'm convinced that the success of DVDs is more about features (including convenience) and pricing than quality. They are so much easier to use than tapes. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will not take off anytime soon because people will not pay extra for that quality increase.
Music: People want it on their computers and DAPs. People want to follow the law if it's not to onerous. Make it easy and cheap enough and they will come.
LB
He may be a liberal. He may have been a democrat once. He may vote like one now. But if you join the Republican party and run on a Republican ticket, you're a Republican. (R)
I believe that's one of the boxes Myth can control via firewire.
If not, you'll need an IR emmiter (Tivo would need this too).
LB
An exception might be the online games with a monthly income model. But I haven't seen one of them fail yet because the OS or graphics technology left them behind.
Phatbox, an mp3 hard-drive box for the car, has had audio menus for years.
It plugs into a CD changer interface and using the buttons on most head units, you can go forward/backward through playlists, genres, artists, albums, etc.
It tells you where you are in the menus, so you don't have to look at it. (Another good reason is that the CD changer interface is not sophisticated enough to show that data on the head unit...)
I think there's some alternative/oss text-to-speech sw out there, too.
Parent is right. You can't call them on it. But you might be able to lead by example: Refuse to speak it, even to the point of summarizing in "real language".
What VMM should I be looking at, vmware, Xen, or something else?
I for one was ready to pay a lot to be an early adopter of the Series 3 -- but not without the lifetime subscription.
Reading various forums, it seems that there's a lot of people upset about the lifetime subs going away. Maybe those forums aren't representative, but can Tivo afford to alienate those users?
I agree that the Tivo is great. I was an early adopter and a fanboy. But with this change they're asking too much compared to the competition (my cable co's HD DVR). I can't even recommend it to friends at those rates.
Good stuff, but your price is way off. At B&Ms like BestBuy, regular USB cables cost $24.95. Shocking, I know, if you buy online.
Of course, if you make them do that, they'll be less likely to contribute at all.
And make sure they didn't borrow their mods from somewhere inappropriate. It'll be your product and company that is in trouble if they do.
20+ years ago..
Talus. Click the one on the right for a demo.
because it's worked so well at home!
Still playing it.