Here is why I wonder. The software industry and the telco industry are TWO separate things. Even now with MS going with T-Online has Orange concerned. Orange networks had a MS device, but now is one of many providers of that "same" MS device.
Basically MS is giving punches before they are even established in the market. I am tempted to believe that they will not make it.
Here is why. My wife just got a new phone. It was an Ericsson T68. REAL sweet. Small, has colour and many other neat features. MS competitors are huge devices with little battery power. And having talked to my MS friend in the US he tells me only MS employees are the ones using these types of devices. BTW this includes the Palm devices as well. It seems that people want small devices....
What does this have to do with Sendo? I think that MS seriously has the lower hand and will loose this battle. And the reason is because they cannot get traction like they could in other markets.
Outside of the fact that the antique is sold in the next year, it is exactly what you say it is.
If I buy something I expect certain things. And getting it when is said is part of it. And in fact there is a law against what you mention. If somebody keeps delaying the delivery then you have the legal right to sue even though the seller did not explicitly sell no.
So in other words even though the idiot undersold, if the product does not ship then they dealt in bad faith.
Now I understand why Sendo delivered the phone and then scrapped it. They kept up their part of the contract and acted in good faith.
No the argument that Sendo is raising is very legit. Their argument is that they and Microsoft entered into a deal where the aim was to sell product. While they had backdoor clauses, MS, it would appear dealt in bad faith.
Bad Faith is not something to underestimate. Whenever you enter into a contract you have to actually pretend to support the contract. Because otherwise you will be in contempt and be VERY liable. In fact this could get very messy for MS if it is proven that they acted in bad faith.
This could be the case that kills MS. Think about it. This company had a once in a life time offer. They were ready, but the company they wanted to deal with was not. Result, you kill that company. You are liable because potentially the other party could have become very large and very rich.
Ok getting more popular, I agree. But in life many things get more popular. Moving from 1 percent to 3 percent is a huge leap. But it is still not critical mass. Like SONY mini-discs. They became more popular, but never reached critical mass. And MP3's stole the thunder.
For example I bought a new TV as well. An old 4/3 TV, which can adjust 16/9 broadcasts. So instead of looking at 80% of the shows on a wide screen I see 20% of the shows fatter than they would normally be.
My point is not that 16/9 is not better. It is, but it is not reaching critical mass and in the context of DRM it means people will not shift to the new things.
I agree with your comment, but as the other commentator said the problem is the "s" of application.
Now about applications coming and going because they are not maintained properly? I doubt that one. Some may fall into this category but not all.
The other problem that is not being remembered and I think this is extremely important is that you cannot change databases as simple as developers would like to have it.
For example lets say that you want to keep things flexible and change databases. Can you ensure that all of the data in database A will equal 100% database B? Answer no! I remember at a client once that they wanted to move data from a mainframe to an Oracle database. About 2 terrabytes. Oracle would not guarrenttee data correctness and hence the client did not make the move.
The problem is that developers look at software using a one off design issue, which is correct. But data is a production issue. It is sort of like the engineer who designs the car that cannot be built because of production constraints. In the industry the production constraints determine which car is built. Likewise in the software world the database needs to define what programs can be built, not the other way around.
What I really am not crazy about in the article is that it fails to realize that databases live on. Applications come and go. Databases just keep on living. Hence doing a bad database design comes back and haunts you forever....
The project Atlas that has worked for the past two years is a CPU cycle in terms of databases. I know at large corporations that they have databases that have been running for thirty years non stop. It is called a mainframe!
Well I see it with DVD's already. I look at the prices for renting a DVD and then compare it to buy DVD's on the cheap. The DVD rental costs about a third of the price and hence I end up buying DVD's.
HOWEVER, if the movie industry thinks they can control then people will not upgrade. That Plasma TV may look nice, but if I cannot tape then I WILL NOT BUY.
And because the Plasma TV costs a fortune right now, the price will not drop. Even now the US administration is having problems turning off analog TV senders. People are not seeing this as an urge to upgrade.
Case in point has been 16/9 TV in Europe. It has been around for 10 years now and the adoption rate is still about 1%. What has been the latest use of 16/9? I saw a TV that can show TV Text (Web for TV) and the TV program at the same time.
I have been reading in business week that the telco's have only utilized about 15% of all the capacity that they have. So now comes my question, what gives?
Here in Europe (Switzerland specifically) it used to be fixed bandwidth and extra costs. Now most providers for a higher price are giving unlimited. And it seems to have worked.
Germany just sold one of the world's first production magnetic train to China. The train ran for the first time Jan 1, 2003 at 450 KPH. As a scientist and engineer I sure want to see what they did....
There is always a tendenancy to support nationalist measures. Totally understandable! BUT and this is a big BUT. Is it a good idea?
Look at Einstein. He was a German, who rennounced his citzenship, then became Swiss and finally American. However, he only became American once he lived in the US on a permament basis.
So according to this logic Einstein should have been excluded. Really would that have been a smart move?
Now before one raises the argument, but that was Einstein. Lets remember this is about scientific research where an Einstein may be found. And also lets remember the people who actually are loyal and the least to worry about are the scientists. They generally do not tend to be activists or dictators....
Forget the spelling since there are many ways to write the same thing eg Canadian vs British vs American English.
As per my posting. I mentioned that so long as you did not make noise, then why does the professeur care? If it does not make noise then the student beside should not notice? However, if the student does not notice then it must mean that the topic is boring and hence totally uninteresting.
Guess what I am a paid professional speaker and trainer. And like you people pay me to stand in front of them to teach them something. So regarding interruptions, etc I know them all too well. My students typically have wireless, lans, etc beside them.
But unlike being a professeur I cannot say, Hey STOP THAT EMAIL. I could, but then my ratings would go down the tubes and I would not be hired again. So the only option I have is that I have to make everything interesting. And I have to pace the material.
What many professeurs fail to realize that is that teaching is a very complex skill. It takes many years to figure out. You pace the student, you put in breaks at the right time. You raise and lower your voice at the right moments to break the boredom and day dreams.
Now about dry material? There is no such thing. There is only dry teachers. Any material can be made interesting. In software engineering there are some very dry and boring items. The trick is to make it interesting.
Now about the professeur knowing more than you. That is a given, but the trick of a successful teacher is making it appear that the professeur is just like you!
Yes this is a spelling war. Remember you started it!
I spelled professor using the French spelling because after all I speak French, English and German. And since I live in Switzerland and have a place in Quebec I am extremely used to speaking in the three languages at the same time. This often reflects in my writing because I will write what I was last speaking.
Now you should not be one to talk about your spelling. Because where did you learn to write "realize"? You see where I grew up Canada, we spelled it "realise". So MAYBE YOU should have paid attention that maybe in this world there could be people who spell things different than you, but is still correct nonetheless!
Ok there is a GPL'd Web Server. Kickass and fast. So I develop an ISAPI interface onto the GPL'd Web Server. The ISAPI interface can then execute plugin's from both IIS and this kickass Web Server. So now comes the question, does the ISAPI plugins need to be Open Source? According to your previous comment no. But yet I linked into the Web Server, albeit a standard interface. Therefore I can sell my product with both IIS and the Kick Ass Web Server since IIS is already distributed for free.
In other words I have found a loophole? And I think this is the issue that the original article is trying to raise.
BTW a part decision in this has already been made by a judge. She said that using standard interfaces to interact with a GPL program does not constitute a breech of contract. This is because the program does not depend on the other program.
Therefore all you have to do is create standard interfaces for public consumption....
No I think that the EULA is not being contested. What is being said is that if the judges need to use copyright law to define the GPL, then linking may not be enforceable under the copyright paradigm.
Regarding point 2, where the GPL expressly forbids it. The question is can the GPL actually do that. The problem of the GPL in that instance is that it forbids something that cannot be clearly defined. For example it is allowed by the GPL for you to create an executable and call that executable from a propriatary program. In legal terms how does that differ from doing a library call? Ok at a technical level HUGE difference. But what I think the person was arguing is that at a legal level that distinction is not so clear.
And in part GPL decision (I think MySQL) a judge made the decision that if the program could be substituded with another then there is no binding. Therefore it could be concluded that if I create a neutral API a'la ODBC I could bind to a GPL program, without having to give up my sources.
Of course all of this is yet to be decided in a court of law....
I hate to sound like a Microsoft Shill... But is MS really the issue? Last I looked MS had about 10,000 programmers. And I REALLY doubt that MS needs Open Source to make them successful.
I like Open Source like the rest of us, but we really need to get over the MS (chip on the shoulder)....
What people do not realize is that people have become multi-tasking capable.
I run two computers concurrently. And have two screens for one so that I can log remotely into another couple of machines. Usually I have the TV going as I work.
My point? I multi-task and it was something I honed over years. If I had to solely listen to the professeur I would daydream and get bored because he would not speak fast enough. These days most people are very verbose and 60% of what they say is a repeat of the original text.
Do the professors have a right to limit distractions? NO! If the student does not make noises then the professeur has no right to say anything. When I was in university I used to doodle, talk, sleep while the professeur was talking. When the professeur was interesting then I listened. And that is the key, the professeur has to get you excited about learning. Classes do not have to be boring! That is what many professeurs do not understand. Remember a professeur is there to teach you, not be in awe of their "brillance".
They gave away IE and used the OS to subsidize the costs of IE development.
In XBox this is not entirely possible since there are actual costs. If you skip on the hardware costs then the games are more expensive. If you make the hardware more expensive then the games could be cheaper.
The problem that I see in the XBox market is that it has turned mature and I would even think that it will begin to collapse again.
I read how certain toy chains are starting to stop carrying the games because the games are for 16+ year old only. Now before one says, oh this is different because there is more penetration, please remember Atari and others who had console games as well. And likewise once people got over the initial hype it died off.
The problem with gaming these days is that it has become dull. Online gaming is a new and interesting twist, but that will carry the games only so far. Who knows what that will be....
Slashdot Mirror
Here is why I wonder. The software industry and the telco industry are TWO separate things. Even now with MS going with T-Online has Orange concerned. Orange networks had a MS device, but now is one of many providers of that "same" MS device.
Basically MS is giving punches before they are even established in the market. I am tempted to believe that they will not make it.
Here is why. My wife just got a new phone. It was an Ericsson T68. REAL sweet. Small, has colour and many other neat features. MS competitors are huge devices with little battery power. And having talked to my MS friend in the US he tells me only MS employees are the ones using these types of devices. BTW this includes the Palm devices as well. It seems that people want small devices....
What does this have to do with Sendo? I think that MS seriously has the lower hand and will loose this battle. And the reason is because they cannot get traction like they could in other markets.
Outside of the fact that the antique is sold in the next year, it is exactly what you say it is.
If I buy something I expect certain things. And getting it when is said is part of it. And in fact there is a law against what you mention. If somebody keeps delaying the delivery then you have the legal right to sue even though the seller did not explicitly sell no.
So in other words even though the idiot undersold, if the product does not ship then they dealt in bad faith.
Now I understand why Sendo delivered the phone and then scrapped it. They kept up their part of the contract and acted in good faith.
No there is a law against this. It is dealing in bad faith. Here is a link http://www.zreclaim.com/badfaith/contract.asp.
It states very clearly that you must act in good faith. Ok it deals with insurance and indivdual things, but law is the law...
No the argument that Sendo is raising is very legit. Their argument is that they and Microsoft entered into a deal where the aim was to sell product. While they had backdoor clauses, MS, it would appear dealt in bad faith.
Bad Faith is not something to underestimate. Whenever you enter into a contract you have to actually pretend to support the contract. Because otherwise you will be in contempt and be VERY liable. In fact this could get very messy for MS if it is proven that they acted in bad faith.
This could be the case that kills MS. Think about it. This company had a once in a life time offer. They were ready, but the company they wanted to deal with was not. Result, you kill that company. You are liable because potentially the other party could have become very large and very rich.
I guess finally history is catching up to MS.
Ok getting more popular, I agree. But in life many things get more popular. Moving from 1 percent to 3 percent is a huge leap. But it is still not critical mass. Like SONY mini-discs. They became more popular, but never reached critical mass. And MP3's stole the thunder.
For example I bought a new TV as well. An old 4/3 TV, which can adjust 16/9 broadcasts. So instead of looking at 80% of the shows on a wide screen I see 20% of the shows fatter than they would normally be.
My point is not that 16/9 is not better. It is, but it is not reaching critical mass and in the context of DRM it means people will not shift to the new things.
I agree with your comment, but as the other commentator said the problem is the "s" of application.
Now about applications coming and going because they are not maintained properly? I doubt that one. Some may fall into this category but not all.
The other problem that is not being remembered and I think this is extremely important is that you cannot change databases as simple as developers would like to have it.
For example lets say that you want to keep things flexible and change databases. Can you ensure that all of the data in database A will equal 100% database B? Answer no! I remember at a client once that they wanted to move data from a mainframe to an Oracle database. About 2 terrabytes. Oracle would not guarrenttee data correctness and hence the client did not make the move.
The problem is that developers look at software using a one off design issue, which is correct. But data is a production issue. It is sort of like the engineer who designs the car that cannot be built because of production constraints. In the industry the production constraints determine which car is built. Likewise in the software world the database needs to define what programs can be built, not the other way around.
And I am not a DBA...
Good comment.
What I really am not crazy about in the article is that it fails to realize that databases live on. Applications come and go. Databases just keep on living. Hence doing a bad database design comes back and haunts you forever....
The project Atlas that has worked for the past two years is a CPU cycle in terms of databases. I know at large corporations that they have databases that have been running for thirty years non stop. It is called a mainframe!
Well I see it with DVD's already. I look at the prices for renting a DVD and then compare it to buy DVD's on the cheap. The DVD rental costs about a third of the price and hence I end up buying DVD's.
HOWEVER, if the movie industry thinks they can control then people will not upgrade. That Plasma TV may look nice, but if I cannot tape then I WILL NOT BUY.
And because the Plasma TV costs a fortune right now, the price will not drop. Even now the US administration is having problems turning off analog TV senders. People are not seeing this as an urge to upgrade.
Case in point has been 16/9 TV in Europe. It has been around for 10 years now and the adoption rate is still about 1%. What has been the latest use of 16/9? I saw a TV that can show TV Text (Web for TV) and the TV program at the same time.
I have been reading in business week that the telco's have only utilized about 15% of all the capacity that they have. So now comes my question, what gives?
Here in Europe (Switzerland specifically) it used to be fixed bandwidth and extra costs. Now most providers for a higher price are giving unlimited. And it seems to have worked.
Send me an email on what your signature means. I think I understand it, but send me what it means.
Germany just sold one of the world's first production magnetic train to China. The train ran for the first time Jan 1, 2003 at 450 KPH. As a scientist and engineer I sure want to see what they did....
What we forget is that scientists != activists.
There is always a tendenancy to support nationalist measures. Totally understandable! BUT and this is a big BUT. Is it a good idea?
Look at Einstein. He was a German, who rennounced his citzenship, then became Swiss and finally American. However, he only became American once he lived in the US on a permament basis.
So according to this logic Einstein should have been excluded. Really would that have been a smart move?
Now before one raises the argument, but that was Einstein. Lets remember this is about scientific research where an Einstein may be found. And also lets remember the people who actually are loyal and the least to worry about are the scientists. They generally do not tend to be activists or dictators....
Forget the spelling since there are many ways to write the same thing eg Canadian vs British vs American English.
As per my posting. I mentioned that so long as you did not make noise, then why does the professeur care? If it does not make noise then the student beside should not notice? However, if the student does not notice then it must mean that the topic is boring and hence totally uninteresting.
Guess what I am a paid professional speaker and trainer. And like you people pay me to stand in front of them to teach them something. So regarding interruptions, etc I know them all too well. My students typically have wireless, lans, etc beside them.
But unlike being a professeur I cannot say, Hey STOP THAT EMAIL. I could, but then my ratings would go down the tubes and I would not be hired again. So the only option I have is that I have to make everything interesting. And I have to pace the material.
What many professeurs fail to realize that is that teaching is a very complex skill. It takes many years to figure out. You pace the student, you put in breaks at the right time. You raise and lower your voice at the right moments to break the boredom and day dreams.
Now about dry material? There is no such thing. There is only dry teachers. Any material can be made interesting. In software engineering there are some very dry and boring items. The trick is to make it interesting.
Now about the professeur knowing more than you. That is a given, but the trick of a successful teacher is making it appear that the professeur is just like you!
Merci!
Yes this is a spelling war. Remember you started it!
I spelled professor using the French spelling because after all I speak French, English and German. And since I live in Switzerland and have a place in Quebec I am extremely used to speaking in the three languages at the same time. This often reflects in my writing because I will write what I was last speaking.
Now you should not be one to talk about your spelling. Because where did you learn to write "realize"? You see where I grew up Canada, we spelled it "realise". So MAYBE YOU should have paid attention that maybe in this world there could be people who spell things different than you, but is still correct nonetheless!
And here is the kicker in your third point.
Ok there is a GPL'd Web Server. Kickass and fast. So I develop an ISAPI interface onto the GPL'd Web Server. The ISAPI interface can then execute plugin's from both IIS and this kickass Web Server. So now comes the question, does the ISAPI plugins need to be Open Source? According to your previous comment no. But yet I linked into the Web Server, albeit a standard interface. Therefore I can sell my product with both IIS and the Kick Ass Web Server since IIS is already distributed for free.
In other words I have found a loophole? And I think this is the issue that the original article is trying to raise.
BTW a part decision in this has already been made by a judge. She said that using standard interfaces to interact with a GPL program does not constitute a breech of contract. This is because the program does not depend on the other program.
Therefore all you have to do is create standard interfaces for public consumption....
No I think that the EULA is not being contested. What is being said is that if the judges need to use copyright law to define the GPL, then linking may not be enforceable under the copyright paradigm.
Regarding point 2, where the GPL expressly forbids it. The question is can the GPL actually do that. The problem of the GPL in that instance is that it forbids something that cannot be clearly defined. For example it is allowed by the GPL for you to create an executable and call that executable from a propriatary program. In legal terms how does that differ from doing a library call? Ok at a technical level HUGE difference. But what I think the person was arguing is that at a legal level that distinction is not so clear.
And in part GPL decision (I think MySQL) a judge made the decision that if the program could be substituded with another then there is no binding. Therefore it could be concluded that if I create a neutral API a'la ODBC I could bind to a GPL program, without having to give up my sources.
Of course all of this is yet to be decided in a court of law....
I hate to sound like a Microsoft Shill... But is MS really the issue? Last I looked MS had about 10,000 programmers. And I REALLY doubt that MS needs Open Source to make them successful.
I like Open Source like the rest of us, but we really need to get over the MS (chip on the shoulder)....
What people do not realize is that people have become multi-tasking capable.
I run two computers concurrently. And have two screens for one so that I can log remotely into another couple of machines. Usually I have the TV going as I work.
My point? I multi-task and it was something I honed over years. If I had to solely listen to the professeur I would daydream and get bored because he would not speak fast enough. These days most people are very verbose and 60% of what they say is a repeat of the original text.
Do the professors have a right to limit distractions? NO! If the student does not make noises then the professeur has no right to say anything. When I was in university I used to doodle, talk, sleep while the professeur was talking. When the professeur was interesting then I listened. And that is the key, the professeur has to get you excited about learning. Classes do not have to be boring! That is what many professeurs do not understand. Remember a professeur is there to teach you, not be in awe of their "brillance".
Ok so they start buying chips from China (which just created their own chips). At that point they are totally independent.
And once that happens, rest of the world watch out. Because at that point you have about 2.5 billion people using technology developed by themselves!
They gave away IE and used the OS to subsidize the costs of IE development.
In XBox this is not entirely possible since there are actual costs. If you skip on the hardware costs then the games are more expensive. If you make the hardware more expensive then the games could be cheaper.
The problem that I see in the XBox market is that it has turned mature and I would even think that it will begin to collapse again.
I read how certain toy chains are starting to stop carrying the games because the games are for 16+ year old only. Now before one says, oh this is different because there is more penetration, please remember Atari and others who had console games as well. And likewise once people got over the initial hype it died off.
The problem with gaming these days is that it has become dull. Online gaming is a new and interesting twist, but that will carry the games only so far. Who knows what that will be....
That is what I found more interesting than the job description itself....
But there is next year an international bargin carrier aka Easy Jet. They are planning to offer Europe to North America one way 100 USD.