Like many others, I own both a DVD player and a VHS recorder/player. While I occasionally buy films in the VHS format (even less frequently now that I have my DVD player), I bought my VHS player primarily for watching rental films and for recording stuff on TV. DVD, on the other hand, has been heavily marketed as a player of purchased films, and although I now rent films in the DVD format, I bought my DVD player primarily to watch purchased DVD films.
The DVD may have better image quality, and room for more hi-fi audio channels (stereo sound quality on the VHS is excellent, though), but the main reason I prefer DVD is media durabilty. Every time I watch one of my VHS films, it wears down. Image and sound quality deteriorate over time and with use. I'm reluctant to let people borrow my favourite VHS films. With DVD i have no such hesitations.
I think this accounts for a lot of the difference in sales. The VHS is marketed as a recorder, the DVD is marketed (at least in Sweden) as the hub of your home cinema. While all newer films are available on rental DVD, purchasable DVD's are much more visibly available than their VHS counterparts.
Excellent marketing by the filmmakers. They recognised that the change of technology generations gave them a chance to push for a change in consumer patterns.
It would be nice if they see the advent of Internet media distribution as an opportunity as well, and not a threat.
What I meant was that you should look at it as a total cost of the system. Server and OS together. I don't want to díscredit Bentley, but many spare parts ("upgrades"?) for expensive cars are of insignificantly better quality than their Hyundai counterparts (Hyundai's are actually of quite decent quality). Still, they cost many times more simply because they carry an expensive brand name. This way the customer's wallet size is taken into account (which I personally have no problem with).
Sun has customers in a very wide spectrum of the market. I actually think it's nice of them to deliver the same top quality product at a lower price to customers with less wallet power (Which is what they're attempting to determine by this licensing scheme)
Of course they do. The rich pay much more for their Bentleys than do the poor for their Hyundais. They pay more for their quail eggs than do the poor for their spam, and they pay more for their two hundred cpu Solaris servers than do we for our Linux driven 486:es.
After browsing this thread I am astonished to realise that it's legal to ride bikes on American sidewalks! That sounds friggin lethal to me. Where I'm from (Sweden), sidewalks are for walking. Since bicycles travel at 25-30kph (~20mph) and have limited maneuverability, they clearly do not mix well with pedestrians traveling at 4-5 kph.
The only reasonable conclusions I can draw from this is either that bicylces are rare enough in American urban traffic to be negligible, or that you have enormous sidewalks.
I notice this thread is filled with rather creative interpretations of the history of computing
First of all, Charles Babbage was very British.
While the Difference Engine wasn't much of a computer (but it was built, not by Babbage in the 1820's, but by Georg and Edvard Scheutz in 1843), the Analytical Engine, designed in 1834, was a punch card programmable mechanical computer with memory and an output printer. The Analytical Engine was never completed, however.
As for Konrad Zuse's "Z" line of computers, they where revolutionary in that they were the first binary computers. The Z3, built in 1943, might be considered the first general purpose computer. The Z3 was a 250 mFLOPS 22-bit computer with 1408 bits of RAM (64 words).
If you want to do professional business or academic work, there are only two options. TeX or Microsoft Office.
A lot of posts have this same theme, naming one or two word processors as being the only choice. This often seems to be caused by the poster only having used one word processor besides MS Office, and somehow concludes that all the others must be crap.
The truth of the matter is that there are of course several really good professional word processors out there. Personally, I prefer WordPerfect (yes, it is still a modern and competent professional tool) and FrameMaker. I dislike MSWord because of the user interface, which doesn't quite agree with me, and the imprecise layout control, but that doesn't make me dismiss it altogether.
And this goes beyond word processors, you know. There are nearly always several top notch alternatives to choose from, whatever tool you're looking for (applications, OS, cars, appliances...). It's just a question of how hard you look.
A friend of mine was able to get hold of five silencing cabinets that had been used at a library. These cabinets cost us 50 swedish crowns (~5 USD) each, and are very effective. I have one of these in my bedroom holding my open-case, twin PSU, six disk monster of a server, and the only sound that can be heard is the very soft hum of the cabinet exhaust fan, to which I have fitted a switch for lowering the speed (and thus noise level) at night.
Now even if your not as lucky as we were, you needn't dispair. The construction is fairly simple, and should be easy enough to replicate on your own, to a much lower price than a low-noise PC. Next time you get a chance, give one of these cabinets a closer look and take a few notes.
I'm on the "Youth Council" of my church, and the secretary uses Outlook. Aware that not all people have Microsoft Office, she asked us in what format we'd prefer to receive meeting notes and such. As we all have software to view both MSWord and MSExcel files, and those are the programs she uses, it wasn't that tough a decision.
After finally figuring out why I recieved "application/ms-tnef" (which I could not decipher) instead of "app../msword", and then trying to explain that she was attaching files "the wrong way", I now recieve the notes in plain ascii (which is not a preferable format).
The natural reaction for a lot of people is to stay away from all those troublesome programs which require the sender to use special settings, and stick with good ol' Outlook, cause you know it works.
First, people don't think in the language they speak in.
I don't quite agree with this theory. Perhaps ideas and such are formed in a non-lingual "mentalese", but a lot of thinking is actually being done using a language.
I was once more or less bilingual, although my English is not what it used to be anymore. If I am
confronted on the street by an English-speaking tourist asking for directions, I have no problem understanding and replying in English. However, I will almost certainly be unable to use words or grammatical constructs without a Swedish equivalent, as in my head all the work is being done in Swedish. Catch me while reading an English novel, and my English will be at a completely different level.
Actually, there is an all-destroying weapon. I am not sure of the name, but after making a balled fist (as in "rock"), you present it to your opponent with great force and speed. Of course, this could lead to all sorts of displeasantries if abused.
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Like many others, I own both a DVD player and a VHS recorder/player. While I occasionally buy films in the VHS format (even less frequently now that I have my DVD player), I bought my VHS player primarily for watching rental films and for recording stuff on TV. DVD, on the other hand, has been heavily marketed as a player of purchased films, and although I now rent films in the DVD format, I bought my DVD player primarily to watch purchased DVD films.
The DVD may have better image quality, and room for more hi-fi audio channels (stereo sound quality on the VHS is excellent, though), but the main reason I prefer DVD is media durabilty. Every time I watch one of my VHS films, it wears down. Image and sound quality deteriorate over time and with use. I'm reluctant to let people borrow my favourite VHS films. With DVD i have no such hesitations.
I think this accounts for a lot of the difference in sales. The VHS is marketed as a recorder, the DVD is marketed (at least in Sweden) as the hub of your home cinema. While all newer films are available on rental DVD, purchasable DVD's are much more visibly available than their VHS counterparts.
Excellent marketing by the filmmakers. They recognised that the change of technology generations gave them a chance to push for a change in consumer patterns.
It would be nice if they see the advent of Internet media distribution as an opportunity as well, and not a threat.
I guess that means my dual 55MHz SS10 shouldn't require to expensive a license, seeing as a 1050MHz Ultra III can run Solaris for free.
What I meant was that you should look at it as a total cost of the system. Server and OS together. I don't want to díscredit Bentley, but many spare parts ("upgrades"?) for expensive cars are of insignificantly better quality than their Hyundai counterparts (Hyundai's are actually of quite decent quality). Still, they cost many times more simply because they carry an expensive brand name. This way the customer's wallet size is taken into account (which I personally have no problem with).
Sun has customers in a very wide spectrum of the market. I actually think it's nice of them to deliver the same top quality product at a lower price to customers with less wallet power (Which is what they're attempting to determine by this licensing scheme)
"Cars, food, what not, don't have this system."
Of course they do. The rich pay much more for their Bentleys than do the poor for their Hyundais. They pay more for their quail eggs than do the poor for their spam, and they pay more for their two hundred cpu Solaris servers than do we for our Linux driven 486:es.
After browsing this thread I am astonished to realise that it's legal to ride bikes on American sidewalks! That sounds friggin lethal to me. Where I'm from (Sweden), sidewalks are for walking. Since bicycles travel at 25-30kph (~20mph) and have limited maneuverability, they clearly do not mix well with pedestrians traveling at 4-5 kph.
The only reasonable conclusions I can draw from this is either that bicylces are rare enough in American urban traffic to be negligible, or that you have enormous sidewalks.
I notice this thread is filled with rather creative interpretations of the history of computing
First of all, Charles Babbage was very British.
While the Difference Engine wasn't much of a computer (but it was built, not by Babbage in the 1820's, but by Georg and Edvard Scheutz in 1843), the Analytical Engine, designed in 1834, was a punch card programmable mechanical computer with memory and an output printer. The Analytical Engine was never completed, however.
As for Konrad Zuse's "Z" line of computers, they where revolutionary in that they were the first binary computers. The Z3, built in 1943, might be considered the first general purpose computer. The Z3 was a 250 mFLOPS 22-bit computer with 1408 bits of RAM (64 words).
The truth of the matter is that there are of course several really good professional word processors out there. Personally, I prefer WordPerfect (yes, it is still a modern and competent professional tool) and FrameMaker. I dislike MSWord because of the user interface, which doesn't quite agree with me, and the imprecise layout control, but that doesn't make me dismiss it altogether.
And this goes beyond word processors, you know. There are nearly always several top notch alternatives to choose from, whatever tool you're looking for (applications, OS, cars, appliances...). It's just a question of how hard you look.
A friend of mine was able to get hold of five silencing cabinets that had been used at a library. These cabinets cost us 50 swedish crowns (~5 USD) each, and are very effective. I have one of these in my bedroom holding my open-case, twin PSU, six disk monster of a server, and the only sound that can be heard is the very soft hum of the cabinet exhaust fan, to which I have fitted a switch for lowering the speed (and thus noise level) at night.
Now even if your not as lucky as we were, you needn't dispair. The construction is fairly simple, and should be easy enough to replicate on your own, to a much lower price than a low-noise PC. Next time you get a chance, give one of these cabinets a closer look and take a few notes.
I'm on the "Youth Council" of my church, and the secretary uses Outlook. Aware that not all people have Microsoft Office, she asked us in what format we'd prefer to receive meeting notes and such. As we all have software to view both MSWord and MSExcel files, and those are the programs she uses, it wasn't that tough a decision.
After finally figuring out why I recieved "application/ms-tnef" (which I could not decipher) instead of "app../msword", and then trying to explain that she was attaching files "the wrong way", I now recieve the notes in plain ascii (which is not a preferable format).
The natural reaction for a lot of people is to stay away from all those troublesome programs which require the sender to use special settings, and stick with good ol' Outlook, cause you know it works.
First, people don't think in the language they speak in.
I don't quite agree with this theory. Perhaps ideas and such are formed in a non-lingual "mentalese", but a lot of thinking is actually being done using a language.
I was once more or less bilingual, although my English is not what it used to be anymore. If I am confronted on the street by an English-speaking tourist asking for directions, I have no problem understanding and replying in English. However, I will almost certainly be unable to use words or grammatical constructs without a Swedish equivalent, as in my head all the work is being done in Swedish. Catch me while reading an English novel, and my English will be at a completely different level.
Perhaps the brain works in several layers?
Actually, there is an all-destroying weapon. I am not sure of the name, but after making a balled fist (as in "rock"), you present it to your opponent with great force and speed. Of course, this could lead to all sorts of displeasantries if abused.