While IMAP and POP are supported by Exchange and Notes (and don't really require a seperate server), the issue is security. Many corporate environments only expose their email systems over VPN. BlackBerry and Microsoft Direct Push use certificate authentication & transport encryption, effectively giving a similar level of security to a normal VPN.
This approach is a lot harder to brute-force , and renders dictionary-attacks useless -- social engineering becomes the more effective way to circumvent.
Not that I'm claiming Apple supports enterprise use yet, but I don't think the features you list are much of a stretch.
I feel like the problem truly is that most, like the author of this article, have never used a Windows Mobile 5/6 Smartphone/PPC in a properly set up environment. Most people in fact that have used a Blackberry or Windows Mobile phone have never used them with an Exchange server or BES. Until you have used a WM5/6 phone with an Exchange 2003/7 server, I don't think that you are ready to actually critique the usefulness of Microsoft's platform.
I've used it. I've even set up a BES for one of my startups back in the early days of the Blackberry. It's nice.
1. I need to be able to send email back and forth with my colleagues without a 30 minute delay round-trip. Email sending and retrieval should be pushed (not polled) and it should be instant (i.e. direct push Exchange).
Microsoft's "Direct Push" protocol is proprietary. As is BlackBerry's.
Apple's at least trying to adopt a standard approach to mobile internet email (the IETF Lemonade profile). It would make push email possible via any server, without requiring an expensive add-on like BES.
2. I need to be able to accept/reject appointments/meetings from my phone and have replies sent instantly.
There's no evidence if iPhone can do this, but it's pretty easy to make it work given that iCal already does it on OS X.
3. I need to be able to wirelessly edit my to-do list (and have my assistant update it while I'm out running around during the day).
iCal's WebDAV support...
4. I need to have access to all of my email folders, and have them be indexed and instantly searchable.
Good idea. We'll have to see what the Yahoo! email integration is like to know if this will eventually come true for corporate email. With the IMAP protocol, I can't see why this would be a problem.
5. I need to be able to edit simple Word and Excel documents for tracking work while I'm in the field.
Likely not, better stay with Windows Mobile if this is crucial. Most excel spreadsheets I need to use are so macro'ed up that it's only reasonable to mod them on a laptop in my experience. And it's frustrating to get the true idea of a Word document's print layout on a mobile device. But, to each their own.
6. I need to be able to decrypt encrypted email and sign messages
While I'm sure it's a useful feature, encryption & signature has never been a well-integrated & seamless feature in any email client, even on PCs. This isn't a common request for Blackberry users, even in the financial industry, for example, given they use transport encryption already. But, then again, if you work in defense or homeland security, the regs are beginning to require this.
7. I need to be able to import and export certificates so that I can encrypt sessions with TLS/SSL
Depends what you mean by "session" of course. For a web browser, this seems plausible, particularly for use with two-way SSL. iPhone ain't going to have a terminal app any time soon (never say never though:)
8. I need an input system that allows me to type as fast as possible (if the iPhone can't be typed on as fast as an HTC/Blackberry phone, I would become incredibly frustrated)
Remains to be seen. The iPhone tour indicates that thumbs-typing is possible with their touch keyboard.
The iMac was the first personal computer to really introduce the mainstream to USB, back in 1997. I remember how nuts people thought Apple were. But the USB market was catalyzed by that first step.
Historically, the Blackberry Enterprise Server (or a Desktop Redirector) was needed because BlackBerries ran on the Mobitex network. So, you'd basically use BES to mount your exchange server, securely route email through a proprietary protocol to BB's central servers, which would then distribute it to the wireless network.
I'm not 100% on how the current GPRS/EDGE or CDMA systems work, but I believe it's the same centralized model, which is why BlackBerry has network-wide outages from time to time.
It seems that this model has been hard to replicate because programming plug-ins for Exchange and other corporate email systems isn't exactly child's play. It's not THAT hard, but many of these mobile device companies don't know how to build teams to create software like this (otherwise, why haven't they?)
Apple and Yahoo! , on the other hand, are adopting the draft IETF Push-IMAP standard, since GPRS/EDGE devices basically can ride on an IP network. It eliminates the middle-man of BES.
The roadblocks I can see here are: - it's not a ratified standard yet, which means single-source implementations will be the only guarantor of interop - supporting Exchange, Lotus, etc. with a plug-in that doesn't kill their native IMAP functionality - ensuring that the Push-IMAP exchange is secure
This latter point is important -- many corporate email systems are *not* available over the Internet, they're only on VPN. I gather they only added BlackBerries when they were demonstrated that it would be a secure transmission to the central RIM servers & device itself.
But, in the end, it's quite likely they'll make this happen by late 2008.
I used to play multiplayer Quake, Quake GL, and Quake 2 a lot, and loved it. I have dabbled with games since 1998, but nothing really captured my time and imagination as the Quake era, where I would play almost every night after work for around 12-18 months straight.
WoW is the first game that's come close to that feeling. It's like 5 games in one: deathmatch FPS, co-operative teamplay like capture the flag & team fortress, solo RPG, co-operative RPG, and speculative trading (via the auction house, gathering, and crafting professions). After taking a year off, I rejoined in August 2006 and have played a fair amount (though not a lot by some standards -- I only have one level 70, a high-end-geared Warlock, and my alts are quite low).
Where WoW has really shined is in the social aspects of the game, particularly guilds.
The Warcraft guild I'm a part of consists of 14 through 60 year olds. Many family members play together (siblings, parents, and spouses).
The jobs are from all walks of life - Blue collar workers: roofers, construction workers, factory workers - Young thirty-something lawyers - College students - Some are just entering high school - At least three are U.S. Military personnel, one of which was recently on leave from the guild because he's in Iraq, another is stationed in Germany but still plays, others are in the U.S. - Several are in IT, ranging from Directors, managers, DBAs, programmers, project managers, and architects - At least two (including myself) are highly paid technology consultants - One is a financial fraud & digital forensics investigator for a major bank - Some are homemakers or retired - I would say that out of 40 regular players, around 7 are women (and yes, have female characters), including my real life girlfriend.
We play because it's a hobby. Sometimes we run 5-man dungeons and wind up chatting on Ventrilo afterwards about TV, life, music, etc. With 10 or 25-main raids, it's a bit more serious, though some goofing off happens.
Does it impact lives? Absolutely. Sometimes we fight. Often there is drama. Sometimes it's really freaking stupid. Other times it's just normal human b.s.
On Romance: - Some guild members are unhappy in their marriage and seriously have saught companionship with others through the game. Not that they'll pack up and move to another city or country, but flirting, definitely. - Some members are just 20-somethings that are naturally flirtatious. - Some are just nice people to talk to and don't cross any lines. - Couples that travel a lot for work spend time together through the game (I know I do).
On Marriage: - At least one guildie is separated from his wife, who's on the guild, leading to tension when he makes friends with the other female guildies - Another separated from her husband, who left the guild, but now she's dating someone else in the guild. They didn't meet through the game, though the game is one of their ways of spending time together - Some player's spouses don't play the game, and this can cause problems if the player overdoes it, particularly if they have kids.
Is it ridiculous? Well, no more than a bowling league, or golf club, I don't think. Except it tends to be more diverse, and less physically active. Plus, MMORPGs are a good substitute for reality TV -- guild drama always rears its head from time to time.
Credit cards are the epitome of insecure financial transactions.
For the merchant.
As the cardholder, they're very secure because you can repudiate illegitimate charges at any time, and won't be held responsible if , for example, the signatures don't match, or if the product was defective, or never shipped, etc.
While I've seen it before, using "ASK FOR ID" is risky because there's no reference signature to verify against, which is a violation of how card companies want you using that panel, and can cause problems at dispute time. However, the merchant typically should use another ID that does have a signature on it.
I did see in one (here, section 10.2.1 [ebizwebpages.com]) that the merchant is responsible for chargebacks when a cardholder disputes the validity of a transaction. (In the case of fraudulent use, the cardholder has a valid dispute of the validity of the transaction, even if the merchant had no hope of detecting the fraud.) Is this clause unusual?
That's the essential protection behind a credit card, and why it's been successful -- the cardholder can dispute any charge, and assuming the merchant can't prove it's legitimate, have to pay up.
There's a reason that many merchants ask for Photo ID when using a credit card.
The subtext here is that political freedom is founded on the principal that one individual cannot claim superior access to truth over another individual. As soon as you admit superiority of knowledge, there is no room for freedom -- the superior person (or group) should rule. In a free society, it follows that Democracy is predicated that the people are free to choose their government. They will choose poorly at times, but they are responsible for it.
Environmentalists that want to curtail freedoms globally because they somehow "know better" than others introduces major problems. There's a risk here, given the levels of extremism out there, to push an agenda that's far beyond what's necessary to curtail the threat of global warming.
For example, California, Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe are aiming to ban incandescent light-bulbs by 2012. is it really the government's place to dictate how people should light their homes? Wouldn't the economic efficiency of better bulbs lead consumers towards them over time? Or does the government require coercion to force change on a lazy populace, that neither cares about the cost savings nor the environmental impact?
After this, what's next on the banning list?
A pluralistic society requires strong government and social sector to look out for the common good, as few others will... but it carries risks in defining that which is "common" and "good".
Uhmm. While I think WMP11 has gotten better from predecessors, I still tend to come back to iTunes. It's a pig, but it's a cute pig. And it still has the best search & organization capabilities, from my experience.
* I can install whatever software I want on it (wow, just like a Microsoft smartphone or a PDA)
Probably will happen once they figure out the security model.
* I can play ogg-vorbis, mp3, avi, and other media formats on it
Check. It is OS X, so a VLC port may not be far off. Remember, they ported Linux to the iPod.
The interesting question is if you can use the navigation features for music/movies and then use VLC to render them. Somehow I doubt it. Alternatively, someone would have to create a seperate "navigation application". A lot of this depends on if Apple's SDK will be extensible.
* It comes with a standard stereo headphone jack in addition to a headset one
Check. It is an iPod. I do expect to use my high-end Shure earplugs.
* It comes with 3G and bluetooth is not locked down at ALL
Bluetooth 2.0 today, 3G by Late 2008. EDGE isn't awful, I use it on my BlackBerry often enough. Plain GPRS was awful.
As for locked down, time will tell. Likely it will be locked down for AT&T but that like any phone model, that rarely lasts. Europeans won't stand for lock downs, either, so that model will differ as well. So, by 2008, I could see other GSM networks gaining illegitimate iPhone access though they'd lack some of the exclusive features like visual voicemail.
Via Push-IMAP. Though only Yahoo! mail will be initially supported, apparently. I definitely could see this extended to Exchange, as some have speculated.
A lot of the "zomg it's so hard to support business email" is FUD generated by Research in Motion, due to the complexity of the Blackberry Enterprise Server. BES originally was needed because the original BlackBerries used the Mobitex network, and didn't have IP connectivity. So, BES or the Desktop Redirector had to chat to RIM's centralized servers (on the IP network), which would translate/push the email to Mobitex.
Nowadays, GPRS or EDGE devices can be "on" the Internet, so there's not really a need for an add-on server. You just need to register the client for Push-IMAP.
The major obstacle I could see is the need for VPN connectivity on the iPhone since many businesses only allow IMAP or POP3 access on a private network. This may change, depending on the growth. I think a lot of business executives that are into "fashion" (how many own BMW's?) will get an iPhone for vanity and demand their email on it eventually.
On sector seven (passcode CODEBLACK), there's a video of surveillance cameras in a garage. They show a short clip of him crushing another car. You don't see the VW logo though. Cute.
Live TV is not dead. It just requires a live event to make you want to watch: sports, concerts, debates, fights, etc.
Communications is an eyes & ears business... Some media moguls understand this -- buying up or getting exclusive deals with sports teams & venues ensures revenue stream from eyeballs no matter how it happens.
Appointment TV is also not dead, it's just a bit different. For 12 million people, the season finale of Heroes is appointment-worthy. In an on-demand world, viewings just might be spread out across 2-3 days instead of a single hour.
I think I'd move back to the Valley if I had a good enough opportunity, but I must admit that if I started a company (which is a serious possibility), I likely would stay in Toronto. There's a good community of VC's, engineering talent, etc. The cost of living isn't great (houses average C$ 350k), but it's better than Cali. And I'd probably find ways to use people in lower-cost areas where there's local talent, like Sudbury, North Bay, Ottawa, etc., though it depends on the business model as to whether that would work.
Cringley is not referring to "Lean Thinking", the Toyota Way, etc. He's referring to the IBM-internal program that has been code-named LEAN. "It has to be since the very essence of LEAN is foreign hiring." within IBM's use of the term.
It's sad they're poluting the names of one of the best ideas in business with their bad management, but, it happens...
The only reason anyone in their right mind would use javascript today is because it is the only option. Personally, I'm hoping JavaFX has something more like Python's syntax i.e, easily understood by someone who does not owe their employment to the understanding of it.
There are many, many professionals that enjoy JavaScript, that are in their right minds. Your hope for the end of AJAX will not happen for many years.
I'm neither some change-resistant uber-geek nor am I an ignorant neophyte. I simply reject your interpretation of the importance, nay, the relevance of blogs as a distinct Thing.
At a basic technical level, the specifications like RSS and/or Atom are "new things". Look at them, and ask yourself, what benefit does it add to the web? From a technological standpoint, the change is pretty minor -- it adds some metadata (author, date, title, etc.) to what is basically a web page. From a sociological & interoperability standpoint, a little metadata goes a long way. That requires an eye to recognizing patterns of behaviour.
Starting out with a nice red herring as a solid distractor, then moving on to the wonderfully condescending "oh, you just dont get it" defense, with a solid backing of "arent you going to look the fool in 5 years when *I'm* right and you're not," really was a genius way of not engaging in any kind of meaningful discussion while still trashing on me personally.
And you're engaging in the "troll pretending to want a meaningful discussion" practice. If you wanted a real discussion, you would have asked for one, instead of trolling the way you did.
I mean, could you not have offered a stronger response to my argument than that bit about blogs are the web busting out of the browser?
Absolutely. Let's look at the impact of political blogs on news stories or on U.S. Campaign Finance, or blogs questioning journalist source protection (such as in the Apple v. O'Grady and ThinkSecret case, where Apple lost), or in the ability hold conversations via trackbacks instead of having a centralized message board.
So really, until i hear a decent explanation to feel otherwise, I will continue to feel completely justified in my low opinion of groups and individuals that seek, or seem to seek by their attitudes, special attention or awareness over their cohorts.
This is an unfortunate aspect of reality -- hype will often outstrip it, but eventually the hype will changes the nature of what his being observed. What's the point of having such an opinion anyway? Does is somehow hurt you that blogs are popular and seem to be changing many attitudes?
Having the balls to be contrarian is a noble virtue, but wisdom is in knowing what battles to pick.
Sorry, you're not flamebait, but you certainly are foolish.
Back in 1994, people thought there was nothing about the concept of an HTTP server that deserved anything so audacious or ridiculous as calling it a "World Wide Web". Who did these people think they were? It's just a TCP address! FTP and Gopher have been doing that for years! And who the hell wants to see a bunch of people's personal web pages!?
Such an argument is the ridiculous one today - supremely arrogant, out of touch with the magnitude of the change the Web would bring.
The Blogsophere is not about the web sites, it's about extending the web to new media types for syndication. It's the first major extension of the web that breaks it *OUT* of the browser as user agent + web page combo.
It's not about self-aggrandizement, it's about recognizing actual social & technical change on the Internet and labeling that change. In 5 years, your comment above is going to look about as silly as those in 1994. I'm glad you got it out of your system, of course.
New words come and go. Get used to it. The 'blogosphere' is a reasonable term for an extension of the web that's grown around new syndication media formats. It's used by quite a lot of intelligent people.
Are we going to suggest Jon Udell is a know-nothing, even though he's had very successful runs at BYTE and Infoworld? How about Tim Bray? Mark Pilgrim? The folks at BoingBoing?
I remember back around 1995 when people thought the "Web" was a ridiculous word, because it really was all about the Internet, the Web was just a popular fad soon to be supplanted by other & better applications.
There are a number of articles being released today (for example) that suggest Vista has sold 20 million copies in its first month of release. That doesn't sound bad. To put that in perspective, there are around 22 million Mac OS X users total. And *NIX+BSD+Linux has an even smaller desktop share, though it's quite hard to know the exact number (I've heard 10-15 million).
I'm a Mac user, and a Windows user, and a Linux user (since 0.99). I enjoy a good poke at Microsoft's missteps, and the media certainly has jumped on the supposed yawnfest surrounding the Vista launch... but sometimes we need a bit of perspective about how huge they really are, and how successful Vista likely is going to be, despite its warts.
The unwritten statement here that's implied by these sorts of studies is: "spend money on IT, increase productivity".
Which we know is false. IT and computing is squandered everywhere. Huge ERP installations go tits up regularly. Large systems integrators waste gobs of company's cash by running projects with clueless hordes & over-assertive managers that somehow mask that something that should take 3 people x 3 months should take 90 people x 2 years.
It also implies that IT vendors are responsible for the appropriate channeling of IT investment. This is like suggesting that weapons, communication, and transportation manufacturers should have been given credit for the Allied victory in WW2.
Investing - in anything - requires thought and management. It is good management that leads to an increase in productivity. Technology and computing capacity are just a means.
The paper is correct that technology can transform industries and markets, and that is a good source of productivity. But the catch is that there is no correlation between IT spending and transformation. Technology & computing capacity is "necessary but not sufficient" for transformation. Thus, it strikes me as a propaganda piece to squander billions with hardware & global services outsourcing.
A great source is Paul Strassmann's profitability & productivity studies, which he has conducted since the 1980's. He has plotted spending vs. productivity or profitability, in what is the now famous "scatter plot": there is *NO* correlation between IT spending and productivity & profitability. Yes, one CAN gain increases in both of these in concert with IT (witness the work of Toyota's lean approach, or Wal-Mart's data warehouse), but I'd attribute that gain to smart management plus technology over just IT.
Slashdot Mirror
We've never seen the phone, and we don't know what Apple will/will not do, I'm just exchanging pessimism with optimism.
Out of curiosity, does Outlook handle this? What calendering app does?
(I've developed systems that involve multi calendars like Julian, Gregorian , etc and have always wondered why PIMs never supported it)
While IMAP and POP are supported by Exchange and Notes (and don't really require a seperate server), the issue is security. Many corporate environments only expose their email systems over VPN. BlackBerry and Microsoft Direct Push use certificate authentication & transport encryption, effectively giving a similar level of security to a normal VPN.
This approach is a lot harder to brute-force , and renders dictionary-attacks useless -- social engineering becomes the more effective way to circumvent.
Not that I'm claiming Apple supports enterprise use yet, but I don't think the features you list are much of a stretch.
:)
I feel like the problem truly is that most, like the author of this article, have never used a Windows Mobile 5/6 Smartphone/PPC in a properly set up environment. Most people in fact that have used a Blackberry or Windows Mobile phone have never used them with an Exchange server or BES. Until you have used a WM5/6 phone with an Exchange 2003/7 server, I don't think that you are ready to actually critique the usefulness of Microsoft's platform.
I've used it. I've even set up a BES for one of my startups back in the early days of the Blackberry. It's nice.
1. I need to be able to send email back and forth with my colleagues without a 30 minute delay round-trip. Email sending and retrieval should be pushed (not polled) and it should be instant (i.e. direct push Exchange).
Microsoft's "Direct Push" protocol is proprietary. As is BlackBerry's.
Apple's at least trying to adopt a standard approach to mobile internet email (the IETF Lemonade profile). It would make push email possible via any server, without requiring an expensive add-on like BES.
2. I need to be able to accept/reject appointments/meetings from my phone and have replies sent instantly.
There's no evidence if iPhone can do this, but it's pretty easy to make it work given that iCal already does it on OS X.
3. I need to be able to wirelessly edit my to-do list (and have my assistant update it while I'm out running around during the day).
iCal's WebDAV support...
4. I need to have access to all of my email folders, and have them be indexed and instantly searchable.
Good idea. We'll have to see what the Yahoo! email integration is like to know if this will eventually come true for corporate email. With the IMAP protocol, I can't see why this would be a problem.
5. I need to be able to edit simple Word and Excel documents for tracking work while I'm in the field.
Likely not, better stay with Windows Mobile if this is crucial. Most excel spreadsheets I need to use are so macro'ed up that it's only reasonable to mod them on a laptop in my experience. And it's frustrating to get the true idea of a Word document's print layout on a mobile device. But, to each their own.
6. I need to be able to decrypt encrypted email and sign messages
While I'm sure it's a useful feature, encryption & signature has never been a well-integrated & seamless feature in any email client, even on PCs. This isn't a common request for Blackberry users, even in the financial industry, for example, given they use transport encryption already. But, then again, if you work in defense or homeland security, the regs are beginning to require this.
7. I need to be able to import and export certificates so that I can encrypt sessions with TLS/SSL
Depends what you mean by "session" of course. For a web browser, this seems plausible, particularly for use with two-way SSL. iPhone ain't going to have a terminal app any time soon (never say never though
8. I need an input system that allows me to type as fast as possible (if the iPhone can't be typed on as fast as an HTC/Blackberry phone, I would become incredibly frustrated)
Remains to be seen. The iPhone tour indicates that thumbs-typing is possible with their touch keyboard.
The iMac was the first personal computer to really introduce the mainstream to USB, back in 1997. I remember how nuts people thought Apple were. But the USB market was catalyzed by that first step.
I agree, except that it only works between Exchange and Windows Mobile devices, using Microsoft's push technology.
What about
- sendmail or postfix
- Lotus or Novell Groupwise
- Symbian devices
etc....
Technically, Push-IMAP is proprietary as well, but at least it has a published (and expired) Internet Draft.
Historically, the Blackberry Enterprise Server (or a Desktop Redirector) was needed because BlackBerries ran on the Mobitex network. So, you'd basically use BES to mount your exchange server, securely route email through a proprietary protocol to BB's central servers, which would then distribute it to the wireless network.
I'm not 100% on how the current GPRS/EDGE or CDMA systems work, but I believe it's the same centralized model, which is why BlackBerry has network-wide outages from time to time.
It seems that this model has been hard to replicate because programming plug-ins for Exchange and other corporate email systems isn't exactly child's play. It's not THAT hard, but many of these mobile device companies don't know how to build teams to create software like this (otherwise, why haven't they?)
Apple and Yahoo! , on the other hand, are adopting the draft IETF Push-IMAP standard, since GPRS/EDGE devices basically can ride on an IP network. It eliminates the middle-man of BES.
The roadblocks I can see here are:
- it's not a ratified standard yet, which means single-source implementations will be the only guarantor of interop
- supporting Exchange, Lotus, etc. with a plug-in that doesn't kill their native IMAP functionality
- ensuring that the Push-IMAP exchange is secure
This latter point is important -- many corporate email systems are *not* available over the Internet, they're only on VPN. I gather they only added BlackBerries when they were demonstrated that it would be a secure transmission to the central RIM servers & device itself.
But, in the end, it's quite likely they'll make this happen by late 2008.
I used to play multiplayer Quake, Quake GL, and Quake 2 a lot, and loved it. I have dabbled with games since 1998, but nothing really captured my time and imagination as the Quake era, where I would play almost every night after work for around 12-18 months straight.
WoW is the first game that's come close to that feeling. It's like 5 games in one: deathmatch FPS, co-operative teamplay like capture the flag & team fortress, solo RPG, co-operative RPG, and speculative trading (via the auction house, gathering, and crafting professions). After taking a year off, I rejoined in August 2006 and have played a fair amount (though not a lot by some standards -- I only have one level 70, a high-end-geared Warlock, and my alts are quite low).
Where WoW has really shined is in the social aspects of the game, particularly guilds.
The Warcraft guild I'm a part of consists of 14 through 60 year olds. Many family members play together (siblings, parents, and spouses).
The jobs are from all walks of life
- Blue collar workers: roofers, construction workers, factory workers
- Young thirty-something lawyers
- College students
- Some are just entering high school
- At least three are U.S. Military personnel, one of which was recently on leave from the guild because he's in Iraq, another is stationed in Germany but still plays, others are in the U.S.
- Several are in IT, ranging from Directors, managers, DBAs, programmers, project managers, and architects
- At least two (including myself) are highly paid technology consultants
- One is a financial fraud & digital forensics investigator for a major bank
- Some are homemakers or retired
- I would say that out of 40 regular players, around 7 are women (and yes, have female characters), including my real life girlfriend.
We play because it's a hobby. Sometimes we run 5-man dungeons and wind up chatting on Ventrilo afterwards about TV, life, music, etc. With 10 or 25-main raids, it's a bit more serious, though some goofing off happens.
Does it impact lives? Absolutely. Sometimes we fight. Often there is drama. Sometimes it's really freaking stupid. Other times it's just normal human b.s.
On Romance:
- Some guild members are unhappy in their marriage and seriously have saught companionship with others through the game. Not that they'll pack up and move to another city or country, but flirting, definitely.
- Some members are just 20-somethings that are naturally flirtatious.
- Some are just nice people to talk to and don't cross any lines.
- Couples that travel a lot for work spend time together through the game (I know I do).
On Marriage:
- At least one guildie is separated from his wife, who's on the guild, leading to tension when he makes friends with the other female guildies
- Another separated from her husband, who left the guild, but now she's dating someone else in the guild. They didn't meet through the game, though the game is one of their ways of spending time together
- Some player's spouses don't play the game, and this can cause problems if the player overdoes it, particularly if they have kids.
Is it ridiculous? Well, no more than a bowling league, or golf club, I don't think. Except it tends to be more diverse, and less physically active. Plus, MMORPGs are a good substitute for reality TV -- guild drama always rears its head from time to time.
Credit cards are the epitome of insecure financial transactions.
For the merchant.
As the cardholder, they're very secure because you can repudiate illegitimate charges at any time, and won't be held responsible if , for example, the signatures don't match, or if the product was defective, or never shipped, etc.
While I've seen it before, using "ASK FOR ID" is risky because there's no reference signature to verify against, which is a violation of how card companies want you using that panel, and can cause problems at dispute time. However, the merchant typically should use another ID that does have a signature on it.
I did see in one (here, section 10.2.1 [ebizwebpages.com]) that the merchant is responsible for chargebacks when a cardholder disputes the validity of a transaction. (In the case of fraudulent use, the cardholder has a valid dispute of the validity of the transaction, even if the merchant had no hope of detecting the fraud.) Is this clause unusual?
That's the essential protection behind a credit card, and why it's been successful -- the cardholder can dispute any charge, and assuming the merchant can't prove it's legitimate, have to pay up.
There's a reason that many merchants ask for Photo ID when using a credit card.
The subtext here is that political freedom is founded on the principal that one individual cannot claim superior access to truth over another individual. As soon as you admit superiority of knowledge, there is no room for freedom -- the superior person (or group) should rule. In a free society, it follows that Democracy is predicated that the people are free to choose their government. They will choose poorly at times, but they are responsible for it.
Environmentalists that want to curtail freedoms globally because they somehow "know better" than others introduces major problems. There's a risk here, given the levels of extremism out there, to push an agenda that's far beyond what's necessary to curtail the threat of global warming.
For example, California, Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe are aiming to ban incandescent light-bulbs by 2012. is it really the government's place to dictate how people should light their homes? Wouldn't the economic efficiency of better bulbs lead consumers towards them over time? Or does the government require coercion to force change on a lazy populace, that neither cares about the cost savings nor the environmental impact?
After this, what's next on the banning list?
A pluralistic society requires strong government and social sector to look out for the common good, as few others will... but it carries risks in defining that which is "common" and "good".
The latest WebKit (www.webkit.org) is much more stable, and is pretty much identical in L&F to Safari 2. I got sick of Safari 2 spinning & crashing.
Uhmm. While I think WMP11 has gotten better from predecessors, I still tend to come back to iTunes. It's a pig, but it's a cute pig. And it still has the best search & organization capabilities, from my experience.
* I can install whatever software I want on it (wow, just like a Microsoft smartphone or a PDA)
Probably will happen once they figure out the security model.
* I can play ogg-vorbis, mp3, avi, and other media formats on it
Check. It is OS X, so a VLC port may not be far off. Remember, they ported Linux to the iPod.
The interesting question is if you can use the navigation features for music/movies and then use VLC to render them. Somehow I doubt it. Alternatively, someone would have to create a seperate "navigation application". A lot of this depends on if Apple's SDK will be extensible.
* It comes with a standard stereo headphone jack in addition to a headset one
Check. It is an iPod. I do expect to use my high-end Shure earplugs.
* It comes with 3G and bluetooth is not locked down at ALL
Bluetooth 2.0 today, 3G by Late 2008. EDGE isn't awful, I use it on my BlackBerry often enough. Plain GPRS was awful.
As for locked down, time will tell. Likely it will be locked down for AT&T but that like any phone model, that rarely lasts. Europeans won't stand for lock downs, either, so that model will differ as well. So, by 2008, I could see other GSM networks gaining illegitimate iPhone access though they'd lack some of the exclusive features like visual voicemail.
Via Push-IMAP. Though only Yahoo! mail will be initially supported, apparently. I definitely could see this extended to Exchange, as some have speculated.
A lot of the "zomg it's so hard to support business email" is FUD generated by Research in Motion, due to the complexity of the Blackberry Enterprise Server. BES originally was needed because the original BlackBerries used the Mobitex network, and didn't have IP connectivity. So, BES or the Desktop Redirector had to chat to RIM's centralized servers (on the IP network), which would translate/push the email to Mobitex.
Nowadays, GPRS or EDGE devices can be "on" the Internet, so there's not really a need for an add-on server. You just need to register the client for Push-IMAP.
The major obstacle I could see is the need for VPN connectivity on the iPhone since many businesses only allow IMAP or POP3 access on a private network. This may change, depending on the growth. I think a lot of business executives that are into "fashion" (how many own BMW's?) will get an iPhone for vanity and demand their email on it eventually.
On sector seven (passcode CODEBLACK), there's a video of surveillance cameras in a garage. They show a short clip of him crushing another car. You don't see the VW logo though. Cute.
Live TV is not dead. It just requires a live event to make you want to watch: sports, concerts, debates, fights, etc.
Communications is an eyes & ears business... Some media moguls understand this -- buying up or getting exclusive deals with sports teams & venues ensures revenue stream from eyeballs no matter how it happens.
Appointment TV is also not dead, it's just a bit different. For 12 million people, the season finale of Heroes is appointment-worthy. In an on-demand world, viewings just might be spread out across 2-3 days instead of a single hour.
What, Joe, you don't like gov'nor Arnold? :D
I think I'd move back to the Valley if I had a good enough opportunity, but I must admit that if I started a company (which is a serious possibility), I likely would stay in Toronto. There's a good community of VC's, engineering talent, etc. The cost of living isn't great (houses average C$ 350k), but it's better than Cali. And I'd probably find ways to use people in lower-cost areas where there's local talent, like Sudbury, North Bay, Ottawa, etc., though it depends on the business model as to whether that would work.
Cringley is not referring to "Lean Thinking", the Toyota Way, etc. He's referring to the IBM-internal program that has been code-named LEAN. "It has to be since the very essence of LEAN is foreign hiring." within IBM's use of the term.
It's sad they're poluting the names of one of the best ideas in business with their bad management, but, it happens...
The only reason anyone in their right mind would use javascript today is because it is the only option. Personally, I'm hoping JavaFX has something more like Python's syntax i.e, easily understood by someone who does not owe their employment to the understanding of it.
There are many, many professionals that enjoy JavaScript, that are in their right minds. Your hope for the end of AJAX will not happen for many years.
I'm neither some change-resistant uber-geek nor am I an ignorant neophyte. I simply reject your interpretation of the importance, nay, the relevance of blogs as a distinct Thing.
At a basic technical level, the specifications like RSS and/or Atom are "new things". Look at them, and ask yourself, what benefit does it add to the web? From a technological standpoint, the change is pretty minor -- it adds some metadata (author, date, title, etc.) to what is basically a web page. From a sociological & interoperability standpoint, a little metadata goes a long way. That requires an eye to recognizing patterns of behaviour.
Starting out with a nice red herring as a solid distractor, then moving on to the wonderfully condescending "oh, you just dont get it" defense, with a solid backing of "arent you going to look the fool in 5 years when *I'm* right and you're not," really was a genius way of not engaging in any kind of meaningful discussion while still trashing on me personally.
And you're engaging in the "troll pretending to want a meaningful discussion" practice. If you wanted a real discussion, you would have asked for one, instead of trolling the way you did.
I mean, could you not have offered a stronger response to my argument than that bit about blogs are the web busting out of the browser?
Absolutely. Let's look at the impact of political blogs on news stories or on U.S. Campaign Finance, or blogs questioning journalist source protection (such as in the Apple v. O'Grady and ThinkSecret case, where Apple lost), or in the ability hold conversations via trackbacks instead of having a centralized message board.
So really, until i hear a decent explanation to feel otherwise, I will continue to feel completely justified in my low opinion of groups and individuals that seek, or seem to seek by their attitudes, special attention or awareness over their cohorts.
This is an unfortunate aspect of reality -- hype will often outstrip it, but eventually the hype will changes the nature of what his being observed. What's the point of having such an opinion anyway? Does is somehow hurt you that blogs are popular and seem to be changing many attitudes?
Having the balls to be contrarian is a noble virtue, but wisdom is in knowing what battles to pick.
Sorry, you're not flamebait, but you certainly are foolish.
Back in 1994, people thought there was nothing about the concept of an HTTP server that deserved anything so audacious or ridiculous as calling it a "World Wide Web". Who did these people think they were? It's just a TCP address! FTP and Gopher have been doing that for years! And who the hell wants to see a bunch of people's personal web pages!?
Such an argument is the ridiculous one today - supremely arrogant, out of touch with the magnitude of the change the Web would bring.
The Blogsophere is not about the web sites, it's about extending the web to new media types for syndication. It's the first major extension of the web that breaks it *OUT* of the browser as user agent + web page combo.
It's not about self-aggrandizement, it's about recognizing actual social & technical change on the Internet and labeling that change. In 5 years, your comment above is going to look about as silly as those in 1994. I'm glad you got it out of your system, of course.
Bullshit.
New words come and go. Get used to it. The 'blogosphere' is a reasonable term for an extension of the web that's grown around new syndication media formats. It's used by quite a lot of intelligent people.
Are we going to suggest Jon Udell is a know-nothing, even though he's had very successful runs at BYTE and Infoworld? How about Tim Bray? Mark Pilgrim?
The folks at BoingBoing?
I remember back around 1995 when people thought the "Web" was a ridiculous word, because it really was all about the Internet, the Web was just a popular fad soon to be supplanted by other & better applications.
There are a number of articles being released today (for example) that suggest Vista has sold 20 million copies in its first month of release. That doesn't sound bad. To put that in perspective, there are around 22 million Mac OS X users total . And *NIX+BSD+Linux has an even smaller desktop share, though it's quite hard to know the exact number (I've heard 10-15 million).
I'm a Mac user, and a Windows user, and a Linux user (since 0.99). I enjoy a good poke at Microsoft's missteps, and the media certainly has jumped on the supposed yawnfest surrounding the Vista launch... but sometimes we need a bit of perspective about how huge they really are, and how successful Vista likely is going to be, despite its warts.
The unwritten statement here that's implied by these sorts of studies is: "spend money on IT, increase productivity".
Which we know is false. IT and computing is squandered everywhere. Huge ERP installations go tits up regularly. Large systems integrators waste gobs of company's cash by running projects with clueless hordes & over-assertive managers that somehow mask that something that should take 3 people x 3 months should take 90 people x 2 years.
It also implies that IT vendors are responsible for the appropriate channeling of IT investment. This is like suggesting that weapons, communication, and transportation manufacturers should have been given credit for the Allied victory in WW2.
Investing - in anything - requires thought and management. It is good management that leads to an increase in productivity. Technology and computing capacity are just a means.
The paper is correct that technology can transform industries and markets, and that is a good source of productivity. But the catch is that there is no correlation between IT spending and transformation. Technology & computing capacity is "necessary but not sufficient" for transformation. Thus, it strikes me as a propaganda piece to squander billions with hardware & global services outsourcing.
A great source is Paul Strassmann's profitability & productivity studies, which he has conducted since the 1980's. He has plotted spending vs. productivity or profitability, in what is the now famous "scatter plot": there is *NO* correlation between IT spending and productivity & profitability. Yes, one CAN gain increases in both of these in concert with IT (witness the work of Toyota's lean approach, or Wal-Mart's data warehouse), but I'd attribute that gain to smart management plus technology over just IT.