Openoffice or Staroffice can replace Micosoft Office today so the majority of things in the business world are taken care of. Get replacements for a few others and companies will be able to convert large numbers of users. And just like before with Microsoft, once it is used at the office users will take it home and use it there.
While OpenOffice is excellent and I use it for almost everything, it's not a replacement for MS Office for many companies. The advantage of MS Office is the ability to create apps on top of it with Visual Basic, etc. Whether or not you think this is the best technology in the world, it works well enough for many companies and OpenOffice has nothing like it. In fact OpenOffice still lacks a true replacement for Access, a key MS Office app.
Theres a fine line between "make it simple" and "make it stupid". It's a hard line to walk,
Only if you lack the skills to discern among these things, which in fact most programmers, especially younger ones, do.
The problem with KDE is that it's just thrown on top of most distributions with no attempt made to tweak and edit it for the intended user. So most default KDE desktops are a mess. I'm talking about organizing the menus, default-enabling the appropriate features, etc. Windows has the same problem, BTW.
I don't have too many problems with Windows either, but MS Office drives me insane. Word is fine for writing letters, and while many people use it for more sophisticated stuff, it has too many show-stopping bugs for us.
Fuel taxes are almost perfect as road user fees. Larger, heavier vehicles tear up the roads more, and also happen to use more fuel. If pollution is considered, the model holds up there well too.
High fuel taxes encourage people to use less fuel, and to buy more fuel efficient vehicles -- perhaps from other than (SUV heavy) US carmakers. But if road use were taxed by mileage, fuel use would be less affected, as would vehicle choice WRT fuel efficiency. SUV makers and oil companies would benefit. So they love this. And yes, it's partly their lobbyists and think tanks who are behind it.
Also, who do you think would be making the GPS units? Delco, perhaps? Hey, if you can't compete for consumer business effectively, go for the gov't contracts...
I agree with everything you said, but especially this:
As a sidenote -- the reason for training my customers in smart browsing techniques is a selfish one. As we reduce a company's cost of doing business, our referral rate skyrockets. The less we work/bill, the more work we have to bill. If you're a consultant and you're not seeing a decent increase in your customer base every year, you're not doing a good enough job. There is more work in the U.S. than is being tapped, and it is usually because companies aren't seeing things getting better.
I've found this applies to whatever business you're in. I've started, grown, and sold 4 different companies, in completely unrelated industries. The more we were able to make ourselves unnecessary, the more work we got.
...is force Microsoft to put effective popup blockers and spam filters into Windows software. I have this stuff with Linux, and I'm never invaded by unwanted porn.
Microsoft, Real, etc. won't do this themselves, because making it easy for porncasters ensures adoption of Microsoft software. Do a porn search with your favorite file sharing app, and see how many files are MS formats compared to others. This is because MS makes it easier to serve, and serve additional advertising with, Windows Media. I'm starting to see obnoxious popups with Real Media files now too. Even NPR is doing it!
I had a great system about 4 years ago with the Mandrake or Redhat du jour (I can't remember which) on a P133 w/ 64MB. With KDE it was impossibly slow, but it ran great with IceWM -- better than Win98, which was also installed. It was solid as a rock, too.
Engineering driven companies are nothing new, they're just normally not sustainable.
Bullshit. What's not sustainable are companies that get taken over by accountants and MBAs after their founding engineer/executives move on or retire. This has been true since the dawn of the industrial age. Read some industrial history -- from before 1999 -- especially if you can't remember back that far as an adult.
It takes too much configuring to sweep all the ads, adware, commercial start pages, etc., from clouding my workspace. Then when I've finally managed to get rid of all this shit, the bitrot hoses my system and it's back to the defaults again. I'm sick of it. So I've gone to Linux, permanently.
This is a big problem with science and engineering in the US. Careers are too unstable to bank on, or justify the tremendous amount of education (and debt!) required.
Engineering was once considered a very stable profession -- like medicine, law, accounting, etc. Parents encouraged their children to become engineers, so they wouldn't suffer the ups and downs of blue collar or creative work.
Well now the tide has turned. Engineers may be subject to the worst ups and downs of all. High tech industry has always been boom/bust. But now engineering jobs are so specialized that the chance of finding another for which one is "qualified" is slim. And because of the nature of the work -- requiring huge capital investment -- the typical engineer cannot just "go out on his own," as can the typical tradesman.
Not only that, I bet the average mid-career electrician or plumber makes a more than the average mid-career engineer.
I also think the social contract has changed. It used to be that a stable job was a reward for studying hard, and a willingness to attack hard problems. Now people trade job security for a job that's more interesting than average. If you're willing to be bored to tears, you can still make a killing in real estate! Good with numbers? How about mortgage banking? Or $99k a year to manage the In-and-Out Burger down the street from JPL? (It's true!)
If you're going to put up with a career that takes forever to get going, with lousy job security, you might as well go into the arts or entertainment. At least you'll have a fighting chance to get laid!
The main reason labels and the RIAA won't change their tune is that they *are not* in control -- distributors are. Traditional distributors still produce 94% of total sales, by making, stocking, shipping, and selling CDs. They're the Wal-Marts of music sales, literally and figuratively. Until digital/online distributors are generating enough sales to displace the traditional channels, the latter will be leading everyone around by the nose.
...what will happen in reality if they do that is they will have to start writing support on their OS for more than just their own hardware. This means they cannot control quality anymore. When you start introducing the third party hardware and accompanying drivers, the stability of Mac OSX will get shaky and it will start to act more like Windows.
Not necessarily. Dell could make OSX-specific computers just like Apple does, but cheaper, because Dell has the buying power. There's no reason OSX has to be made compatible with everything, like Windows, Linux, etc.
Business is tough, and not every situation is win-win. What's more important to you -- winning, or being a nice guy? Are you prepared to make such choices?
I've been using Act since the beginning of time. It's the closest thing to a paper calendar, but does everything Outlook does and more, with a much more intuitive user interface.
The problem with most of these apps, and especially open source ones, is that they all assume the same, very narrow workplace/workflow model -- someone who works mostly by themselves but has meetings occasionally, works for a medium to large company, and all their correspondence via email. These apps are not suitable for a consultant or someone running a business. They don't keep track of written correspondence or phone calls, or they don't do it well. They don't integrate with accounting software, etc. Act, Goldmine, and a few other old school players do.
I've been on a quest to find the ultimate PIM for 15 years. After trying everything else I could find, Act has always won out. For a smaller, lighter app I always liked Starfish, which I don't think is around anymore.
I've never thought of "performance" as being an issue with office apps. I never even open a word processor or spreadsheet unless I have something to do that's going to take awhile. So startup time isn't even a consideration. If a document is so long I can out-type the word processor, I do it in a text editor anyway so Word doesn't fsck it up, then cut and paste it in later.:-)
I really hope that you are joking here. Where I live (and I moved 2000 miles to here just for this job) houses average > $800,000, condos > $500,000 -- not something your average 27 year old can afford. A $1000/month 500 sq. ft. apartment is the best many of us can do. Living in an apt. or a condo is not something to hold against someone.
Well, the more mature among us go to where we can realistically build a life for ourselves, even if that means moving away from Mommy and Daddy.
It's a sign of maturity. Barring religious reasons, one should not wear any form of *visible* modifications outside of those that are generally acceptable (e.g. lobe piercings in women). Anything else shows you're immature and trying to be "different" when really you're just another idiot. Stand out of the crowd by what you do, not what you look like. Anything else is just juvenile.
Well said!
One thing I've noticed -- and it's not just that I'm getting older -- is that young adults are a lot less mature than 20 years ago. In many ways they're more sophisticated, have more general knowledge, and may even be smarter, but what they are not is "adult." College age people are much more like teenagers now than young adults. Professors I talk to bitch about this a lot, having witnessed the decline.
Where am I going with this? These days adolescence seems to last until about 35, with all the juvenile behavior that goes with it.
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Openoffice or Staroffice can replace Micosoft Office today so the majority of things in the business world are taken care of. Get replacements for a few others and companies will be able to convert large numbers of users. And just like before with Microsoft, once it is used at the office users will take it home and use it there.
While OpenOffice is excellent and I use it for almost everything, it's not a replacement for MS Office for many companies. The advantage of MS Office is the ability to create apps on top of it with Visual Basic, etc. Whether or not you think this is the best technology in the world, it works well enough for many companies and OpenOffice has nothing like it. In fact OpenOffice still lacks a true replacement for Access, a key MS Office app.
Theres a fine line between "make it simple" and "make it stupid". It's a hard line to walk,
Only if you lack the skills to discern among these things, which in fact most programmers, especially younger ones, do.
The problem with KDE is that it's just thrown on top of most distributions with no attempt made to tweak and edit it for the intended user. So most default KDE desktops are a mess. I'm talking about organizing the menus, default-enabling the appropriate features, etc. Windows has the same problem, BTW.
...is the one that automatically fixes all the bugs in your program. I just can't remember the key combination!
Yah, this'll work...
That's what it's all about. Brilliant!
I don't have too many problems with Windows either, but MS Office drives me insane. Word is fine for writing letters, and while many people use it for more sophisticated stuff, it has too many show-stopping bugs for us.
...is to run websites and/or give lectures on how to make money with SEO. It's sorta like no-money-down real estate infomercials...
Fuel taxes are almost perfect as road user fees. Larger, heavier vehicles tear up the roads more, and also happen to use more fuel. If pollution is considered, the model holds up there well too.
High fuel taxes encourage people to use less fuel, and to buy more fuel efficient vehicles -- perhaps from other than (SUV heavy) US carmakers. But if road use were taxed by mileage, fuel use would be less affected, as would vehicle choice WRT fuel efficiency. SUV makers and oil companies would benefit. So they love this. And yes, it's partly their lobbyists and think tanks who are behind it.
Also, who do you think would be making the GPS units? Delco, perhaps? Hey, if you can't compete for consumer business effectively, go for the gov't contracts...
I agree with everything you said, but especially this:
As a sidenote -- the reason for training my customers in smart browsing techniques is a selfish one. As we reduce a company's cost of doing business, our referral rate skyrockets. The less we work/bill, the more work we have to bill. If you're a consultant and you're not seeing a decent increase in your customer base every year, you're not doing a good enough job. There is more work in the U.S. than is being tapped, and it is usually because companies aren't seeing things getting better.
I've found this applies to whatever business you're in. I've started, grown, and sold 4 different companies, in completely unrelated industries. The more we were able to make ourselves unnecessary, the more work we got.
...is force Microsoft to put effective popup blockers and spam filters into Windows software. I have this stuff with Linux, and I'm never invaded by unwanted porn.
Microsoft, Real, etc. won't do this themselves, because making it easy for porncasters ensures adoption of Microsoft software. Do a porn search with your favorite file sharing app, and see how many files are MS formats compared to others. This is because MS makes it easier to serve, and serve additional advertising with, Windows Media. I'm starting to see obnoxious popups with Real Media files now too. Even NPR is doing it!
I had a great system about 4 years ago with the Mandrake or Redhat du jour (I can't remember which) on a P133 w/ 64MB. With KDE it was impossibly slow, but it ran great with IceWM -- better than Win98, which was also installed. It was solid as a rock, too.
Engineering driven companies are nothing new, they're just normally not sustainable.
Bullshit. What's not sustainable are companies that get taken over by accountants and MBAs after their founding engineer/executives move on or retire. This has been true since the dawn of the industrial age. Read some industrial history -- from before 1999 -- especially if you can't remember back that far as an adult.
...gone to Linux. Seriously.
It takes too much configuring to sweep all the ads, adware, commercial start pages, etc., from clouding my workspace. Then when I've finally managed to get rid of all this shit, the bitrot hoses my system and it's back to the defaults again. I'm sick of it. So I've gone to Linux, permanently.
Engineering was once considered a very stable profession -- like medicine, law, accounting, etc. Parents encouraged their children to become engineers, so they wouldn't suffer the ups and downs of blue collar or creative work.
Well now the tide has turned. Engineers may be subject to the worst ups and downs of all. High tech industry has always been boom/bust. But now engineering jobs are so specialized that the chance of finding another for which one is "qualified" is slim. And because of the nature of the work -- requiring huge capital investment -- the typical engineer cannot just "go out on his own," as can the typical tradesman.
Not only that, I bet the average mid-career electrician or plumber makes a more than the average mid-career engineer.
I also think the social contract has changed. It used to be that a stable job was a reward for studying hard, and a willingness to attack hard problems. Now people trade job security for a job that's more interesting than average. If you're willing to be bored to tears, you can still make a killing in real estate! Good with numbers? How about mortgage banking? Or $99k a year to manage the In-and-Out Burger down the street from JPL? (It's true!)
If you're going to put up with a career that takes forever to get going, with lousy job security, you might as well go into the arts or entertainment. At least you'll have a fighting chance to get laid!
So now you have to sue a bonding company to get paid, and believe me, they can afford better lawyers than two-bit junk dealers.
...has really killed off the sleazy car salesmen and predatory financing.
The main reason labels and the RIAA won't change their tune is that they *are not* in control -- distributors are. Traditional distributors still produce 94% of total sales, by making, stocking, shipping, and selling CDs. They're the Wal-Marts of music sales, literally and figuratively. Until digital/online distributors are generating enough sales to displace the traditional channels, the latter will be leading everyone around by the nose.
...what will happen in reality if they do that is they will have to start writing support on their OS for more than just their own hardware. This means they cannot control quality anymore. When you start introducing the third party hardware and accompanying drivers, the stability of Mac OSX will get shaky and it will start to act more like Windows.
Not necessarily. Dell could make OSX-specific computers just like Apple does, but cheaper, because Dell has the buying power. There's no reason OSX has to be made compatible with everything, like Windows, Linux, etc.
Evian water 9 oz $1.49..........$21.19 per gallon?!
And "Evian" spelled backwards is?
Business is tough, and not every situation is win-win. What's more important to you -- winning, or being a nice guy? Are you prepared to make such choices?
I've been using Act since the beginning of time. It's the closest thing to a paper calendar, but does everything Outlook does and more, with a much more intuitive user interface.
The problem with most of these apps, and especially open source ones, is that they all assume the same, very narrow workplace/workflow model -- someone who works mostly by themselves but has meetings occasionally, works for a medium to large company, and all their correspondence via email. These apps are not suitable for a consultant or someone running a business. They don't keep track of written correspondence or phone calls, or they don't do it well. They don't integrate with accounting software, etc. Act, Goldmine, and a few other old school players do.
I've been on a quest to find the ultimate PIM for 15 years. After trying everything else I could find, Act has always won out. For a smaller, lighter app I always liked Starfish, which I don't think is around anymore.
I've never thought of "performance" as being an issue with office apps. I never even open a word processor or spreadsheet unless I have something to do that's going to take awhile. So startup time isn't even a consideration. If a document is so long I can out-type the word processor, I do it in a text editor anyway so Word doesn't fsck it up, then cut and paste it in later. :-)
I really hope that you are joking here. Where I live (and I moved 2000 miles to here just for this job) houses average > $800,000, condos > $500,000 -- not something your average 27 year old can afford. A $1000/month 500 sq. ft. apartment is the best many of us can do. Living in an apt. or a condo is not something to hold against someone.
Well, the more mature among us go to where we can realistically build a life for ourselves, even if that means moving away from Mommy and Daddy.
It's a sign of maturity. Barring religious reasons, one should not wear any form of *visible* modifications outside of those that are generally acceptable (e.g. lobe piercings in women). Anything else shows you're immature and trying to be "different" when really you're just another idiot.
Stand out of the crowd by what you do, not what you look like. Anything else is just juvenile.
Well said!
One thing I've noticed -- and it's not just that I'm getting older -- is that young adults are a lot less mature than 20 years ago. In many ways they're more sophisticated, have more general knowledge, and may even be smarter, but what they are not is "adult." College age people are much more like teenagers now than young adults. Professors I talk to bitch about this a lot, having witnessed the decline.
Where am I going with this? These days adolescence seems to last until about 35, with all the juvenile behavior that goes with it.
...by some private contractor crony of the Bush administration and/or powerful members of Congress. Who will it be? Lexis-Nexis?