"Analysts say Sony only prevailed following a heated bidding war against Toshiba, with the reward reaching as much as $400-million (U.S.). Neither side has confirmed the size of any bids or payments."
That's all they got??? Some "analysts say" ??? While at the same time admitting "Neither side has confirmed the size of any bids or payments." So how the hell do they get to claim it as fact. I could pull something out of my ass and "say" it. Don't worry about the "analysts get paid to analyze", yeah, right, we all know how too much of what "analysts say" is total fiction or FUD.
"Rope-a-dope is also commonly used to describe strategies in areas other than boxing, where one party purposely puts itself in what appears to be a losing position, and then becomes the eventual victor. Lying on the ropes had been, and still is, considered a "sin" in boxing, exposing a fighter to punishment because he cannot move away from his opponent."
I wonder what would happen if you walked in to a store, grabbed some random music CD, got out of the store without paying for it, then walked back in and announced to the nearest person with a nametag, "Hi, I just ripped off this whole CD and am presenting myself for the consequences."
Would you have to pay the $9000+/track that the RIAA busted that lady for, or would it be some kind of Class C misdemeanor and you would pay some paltry fine and be on probation for 6 months?
Seems the risk is better if you actually, physically, literally steal the CD, than if you download it online in the form of an organized set of magnetic charge densities distributed on your hardrive.
But maybe 'risk' is not just based on 'consequences', but 'likelihood x consequences' ? So maybe not.
"And is it really the best way for Microsoft to handle this problem? "
It is the only way they know how.
"I mean to lobby and complain? Why not attempt to save their business by changing their course and direction!? "
They can no more change this course and direction than we can change our own DNA (excluding retroviruses, etc). Besides, they'd have to want to change. And they don't. They pride themselves in this method and culture and approach.
"What is so bad about change?!
It hurts. It is unfamiliar. The outcome is not certain. Like Dell now trying to do retail. Don't think that was the first thing on their list. They are having to play in a game in which they are newcomers.
"Is actual competition too much for Microsoft to handle? "
Yes. They don't know how to compete the normal way. With an actual salable product, on the merits.
"Can't they just make a "better product" instead of playing all of these government games?"
This IS their product. It is what they do, what they are best at. What they do better than anyone else. Software is just the arena. They are not so much a software company as they are a "protect windows and office at all freaking costs" company. That is the bottom line to everything they do.
"Zune has occupied the top spot for quite some time. Is this a failure?"
I don't know how you define "for quite some time", but I watch that page frequently and it has only been like that for about a week. That is maybe the first time in over a year it has even been in the top 5, period.
Something else is going on. They didn't just all of a sudden start selling at that consistent a rate every hour, for the past 6-7 days, which is how often that ranking is updated, out of nowhere because they are suddenly the hot shopping item. Why the hell wasn't it selling like that at any time the past 12 months. Other factors must be in play : Edelman buying 50 of them every hour for the past week, Balmer buying 50 of them every hour for the past week, bargain hunters, ebay sellers looking to sell a piece of history (the infamous brown Zune!!), the price has dropped on amazon from original $250 to $160?? Come on, like that has nothing to do with it. Why aren't any of the new Zunes up there in sales rank? Also, iPods have held 15 of the top 20 solid for the past 1-2 years at least, with 3-4 Sandisks in there, and a Zen or so, but Zunes have been buried in the 80s-100s-200s for months now. It is highly suspect that now all of a sudden the gen1 model is the top selling product out there all because The People are hot for it. yeah, sure, someone is buying them, but I don't think it is the same class/type of buyers, maybe even some monke(boy) business going on in order to make it show. Just really fishy that right as the Chrismas shopping season is gearing up that this poor selling product for the past year, now all of a sudden is #1.
"a company that thinks decades out ( Microsoft may be slow, but they do have their long term strategies well planned out )"
Yeah, right. Zune was a long term strategy well planned out in advance. That's why it took them 5 years to put out that initial POS after the iPods had been out. And how long had THOSE been planned out before they came out?
MS don't think decades out. They REACT half-decades LATE, and try to spend the next 5-10 catching up.
"I hate phones for the same reason I hate instant messengers. I don't like things that demand my instant attention and interrupt what I'm doing."
Damn straight. Especially when it is for something trivial. I've gotten to where I hate the damn thing. Unless I'm calling someone else of course....;-)
But still I try to get with them by email first and give them a day. That stupid phone is demanding, insistent, "interrupt driven", and if someone is calling me it better be good. And if their call is not important enough for them to leave a message then it is not important enough for me to drop everything I'm doing, halt my train of thought or code-groove, just to answer something that could have waited.
Well freeking finally; Someone at least managed to have a pair;
A pair of cerebral lobes, of course, what were you thinking!!!
Oh, THOSE cerebral lobes....never mind....I guess those would work also
Damn right. Corporates and governments are eating themselves up inside now for that mistake. They would never have allowed it to come to this. It is way too open and uncontrollable by those in power and this can't be allowed.
They messed up the first time and built something that by design is difficult to take out of the hands of the people. The new one will fix that problem. Pesky plebes.
The theme "not our fault". When will these jokers die? Wasn't it SCO suing it's own customers that might have had something to do with their profit loss? Or their millions spent on flimsy legal activities? Might it have been... oh what's the point, it is all too ridiculous anymore. There's just about nothing that can be said that hasn't not been said ad infinitum already. This stuff almost doesn't rate as 'news' anymore, just another spewing forth from the absurd. The news will be when this is over and their corpse rotting.
Slashdot Mirror
"'When you see something decline with increasing velocity, it's a concern.'
No, it's called gravity!"
Either that or the Viagra wore off.
"Does the poster have a chair?"
Not any more.....
"Analysts say Sony only prevailed following a heated bidding war against Toshiba, with the reward reaching as much as $400-million (U.S.). Neither side has confirmed the size of any bids or payments."
That's all they got??? Some "analysts say" ??? While at the same time admitting "Neither side has confirmed the size of any bids or payments." So how the hell do they get to claim it as fact. I could pull something out of my ass and "say" it. Don't worry about the "analysts get paid to analyze", yeah, right, we all know how too much of what "analysts say" is total fiction or FUD.
"Fool me once, shame on you.
:
Fool me twice, shame on me."
Oh, sorry, I've heard it as
"Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice..." (then a long pause, then) "...won't get fooled again."
You'll sound much more presidential, I think.
Nah, the "legal" term for it is "Guantanamo", from the Greek, meaning "a right prpoer buggering".
Miguel?? Is that you??
I believe it's called "Rope a dope" :
I'll even link it for you : Google rope a dope"
"Rope-a-dope is also commonly used to describe strategies in areas other than boxing, where one party purposely puts itself in what appears to be a losing position, and then becomes the eventual victor. Lying on the ropes had been, and still is, considered a "sin" in boxing, exposing a fighter to punishment because he cannot move away from his opponent."
"I'm more concerned about the mean temperature of squirrel testicles in north-western Canada."
Ok, here you go : Maturation and Reproduction of Northern Flying Squirrels in Pacific Northwest Forests
I know for a fact that some have made it into mainland China. Don't know how many, but there are some going to other non-official countries.
"So god is a giant hermaphroditic bacterium?"
Actually that would explain a lot of things....
I wonder what would happen if you walked in to a store, grabbed some random music CD, got out of the store without paying for it, then walked back in and announced to the nearest person with a nametag, "Hi, I just ripped off this whole CD and am presenting myself for the consequences."
Would you have to pay the $9000+/track that the RIAA busted that lady for, or would it be some kind of Class C misdemeanor and you would pay some paltry fine and be on probation for 6 months?
Seems the risk is better if you actually, physically, literally steal the CD, than if you download it online in the form of an organized set of magnetic charge densities distributed on your hardrive.
But maybe 'risk' is not just based on 'consequences', but 'likelihood x consequences' ? So maybe not.
"And is it really the best way for Microsoft to handle this problem? "
It is the only way they know how.
"I mean to lobby and complain? Why not attempt to save their business by changing their course and direction!? "
They can no more change this course and direction than we can change our own DNA (excluding retroviruses, etc). Besides, they'd have to want to change. And they don't. They pride themselves in this method and culture and approach.
"What is so bad about change?!
It hurts. It is unfamiliar. The outcome is not certain. Like Dell now trying to do retail. Don't think that was the first thing on their list. They are having to play in a game in which they are newcomers.
"Is actual competition too much for Microsoft to handle? "
Yes. They don't know how to compete the normal way. With an actual salable product, on the merits.
"Can't they just make a "better product" instead of playing all of these government games?"
This IS their product. It is what they do, what they are best at. What they do better than anyone else. Software is just the arena. They are not so much a software company as they are a "protect windows and office at all freaking costs" company. That is the bottom line to everything they do.
"Zune has occupied the top spot for quite some time. Is this a failure?"
I don't know how you define "for quite some time", but I watch that page frequently and it has only been like that for about a week. That is maybe the first time in over a year it has even been in the top 5, period.
Something else is going on. They didn't just all of a sudden start selling at that consistent a rate every hour, for the past 6-7 days, which is how often that ranking is updated, out of nowhere because they are suddenly the hot shopping item. Why the hell wasn't it selling like that at any time the past 12 months. Other factors must be in play : Edelman buying 50 of them every hour for the past week, Balmer buying 50 of them every hour for the past week, bargain hunters, ebay sellers looking to sell a piece of history (the infamous brown Zune!!), the price has dropped on amazon from original $250 to $160?? Come on, like that has nothing to do with it. Why aren't any of the new Zunes up there in sales rank? Also, iPods have held 15 of the top 20 solid for the past 1-2 years at least, with 3-4 Sandisks in there, and a Zen or so, but Zunes have been buried in the 80s-100s-200s for months now. It is highly suspect that now all of a sudden the gen1 model is the top selling product out there all because The People are hot for it. yeah, sure, someone is buying them, but I don't think it is the same class/type of buyers, maybe even some monke(boy) business going on in order to make it show. Just really fishy that right as the Chrismas shopping season is gearing up that this poor selling product for the past year, now all of a sudden is #1.
"a company that thinks decades out ( Microsoft may be slow, but they do have their long term strategies well planned out )"
Yeah, right. Zune was a long term strategy well planned out in advance. That's why it took them 5 years to put out that initial POS after the iPods had been out. And how long had THOSE been planned out before they came out?
MS don't think decades out. They REACT half-decades LATE, and try to spend the next 5-10 catching up.
Speaking of confused....or maybe just comatose...here's a quote from The Didiot :
"'It is clearly a red light,' said Laura DiDio, an analyst at The Yankee Group in Boston. 'If I were an investor, I would be very concerned.'
yeah, "technical issues" such as how much money is "technically" in the accounts of those voting. Always seems to work so far.
"I hate phones for the same reason I hate instant messengers. I don't like things that demand my instant attention and interrupt what I'm doing."
;-)
Damn straight. Especially when it is for something trivial. I've gotten to where I hate the damn thing. Unless I'm calling someone else of course....
But still I try to get with them by email first and give them a day. That stupid phone is demanding, insistent, "interrupt driven", and if someone is calling me it better be good. And if their call is not important enough for them to leave a message then it is not important enough for me to drop everything I'm doing, halt my train of thought or code-groove, just to answer something that could have waited.
"I love the smell of Wi-Fi in the morning. Smells like....bandwith."
Well freeking finally; Someone at least managed to have a pair;
A pair of cerebral lobes, of course, what were you thinking!!!
Oh, THOSE cerebral lobes....never mind....I guess those would work also
Ok, well, if that's the only way, I guess having short, white, mouse hair instead of my natural hair will have to do. :-D translated : (^_^)
Damn right. Corporates and governments are eating themselves up inside now for that mistake. They would never have allowed it to come to this. It is way too open and uncontrollable by those in power and this can't be allowed.
They messed up the first time and built something that by design is difficult to take out of the hands of the people. The new one will fix that problem. Pesky plebes.
""God does not play dice" - Albert Einstein"
Maybe not, but he/she/it plays blackjack like, well, like a god!!
The theme "not our fault". When will these jokers die? Wasn't it SCO suing it's own customers that might have had something to do with their profit loss? Or their millions spent on flimsy legal activities? Might it have been... oh what's the point, it is all too ridiculous anymore. There's just about nothing that can be said that hasn't not been said ad infinitum already. This stuff almost doesn't rate as 'news' anymore, just another spewing forth from the absurd. The news will be when this is over and their corpse rotting.
"Would you do Bill Gates? In his prime?"
He's not 'prime', just 'odd'.
(sorry....I can't help meself)