Based on the comments on this article, and the linked article itself, it seems like no one even has a clue what Windows Home Server is/does. Everyone seems to be concentrating on the media aspects, but according to many of the other articles regarding Windows Home Server available on the web, I think the media serving capabilities are a rather minor feature.
The true power (yes, to me Windows Home Server sounds very powerful) of this product is how easy and safe it will make data storage. Windows Home Server will automatically back up each PC on your home network every night. It will be able to restore an entire system or just specific files. It will keep redundant copies of your valuable data (digital photos, financial records, email, etc). If you need additional storage space, just buy a drive and install it--it will automatically be recognized and added to your storage pool.
And here's the real key: it will be dead simple. Pretty much a plug and play solution. The hardware will be completely headless (no keyboard/mouse/monitor). You just plug it into your network and install the client software on each PC in your network.
I feel Windows Home Server is the most exciting consumer product announced at CES. Yes, there are still a lot of people who may not need this product, but I think there is a lot of value for a lot of people. Anyone with a home network is going to want this product (or one with similar functionality).
For a lot of people, this product will have a greater impact (and be more important) than Vista itself.
The summary for this news post states the reorg is to "help get Vista out the door". This isn't anywhere in the press release from MS and doesn't even make sense. You don't reorg a company to ship a single product (even if it's the company's single most important product). This reorg appears to be laying a foundation for the next several years, and has nothing to do with getting Vista shipped.
Many of the posts here are very anti-MS, which is to be expected, but most of them just don't make sense when you think about them for a moment. For example, many posts see this reorg as adding bureauacracy. It does nothing of the sort. If anything it seems to be reducing organizational bureauacracy, by taking the 7 core business divisions and bringing them under the 3 new divisions. High-level decisions will now be made by fewer people, not more.
Anyway, I don't expect most Slashdot readers to agree with this, but that's my take on it.
Internet taxes should go for internet improvements
on
Internet Tax Ban Extended
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The internet, in a way, is somewhat like a new nation. No existing government should be collecting taxes on the internet.
If taxes are collected for internet transactions, those taxes should be put to use to improve internet infrastructure, not existing government infrastructure.
Personally, I don't want to see any taxes on internet transactions, ever. But I would be much more willing to pay a small tax if I had a say in what the tax was used for.
Please see http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum1/HTML/001666 .html for the official word from a TiVo employee on why this is taking place. I'm not going to fault them for this. They need to be able to work with these other companies (specifically DirecTV) so that they can send a user a single bill for all services. IMO, not such a bad thing.
I don't necessarily like having my personal information floating everwhere, but if you read their privacy policy, it doesn't seem to be such a bad thing.
It doesn't matter if comic strips like UserFriendly make fun of clueless newbies. Such individuals will never see the strips anyway. They're too busy talking with AOL's tech support trying to figure out how to 'get online.'
To most everyone out there, patents are meaningless. I use google because it is the best search engine I have found so far. I don't care about patents. I care about search engines that return good results. I use the best tool that I am aware of to get the job done.
It's the same with amazon.com. Some are advocating boycotting amazon because of the lame patent on one-click shopping. To be sure, the patent never should have been issued, but I'll let other corporations fight that battle in the courts. As a consumer, I like the convenience of one-click shopping and will therefore take advantage of it.
There's no doubt about it, folks. Someone at IBM knows what it takes to deliver a successful product.
With computers becoming ever more a consumer product, and laptops often the choice platform, IBM has taken a page from other successful companies, such as Apple and Nokia--give the customer something that looks COOL!
These machines are bound to be a success, given the quality of IBM's machines in addition to a nice-looking exterior.
Slashdot Mirror
Based on the comments on this article, and the linked article itself, it seems like no one even has a clue what Windows Home Server is/does. Everyone seems to be concentrating on the media aspects, but according to many of the other articles regarding Windows Home Server available on the web, I think the media serving capabilities are a rather minor feature.
The true power (yes, to me Windows Home Server sounds very powerful) of this product is how easy and safe it will make data storage. Windows Home Server will automatically back up each PC on your home network every night. It will be able to restore an entire system or just specific files. It will keep redundant copies of your valuable data (digital photos, financial records, email, etc). If you need additional storage space, just buy a drive and install it--it will automatically be recognized and added to your storage pool.
And here's the real key: it will be dead simple. Pretty much a plug and play solution. The hardware will be completely headless (no keyboard/mouse/monitor). You just plug it into your network and install the client software on each PC in your network.
I feel Windows Home Server is the most exciting consumer product announced at CES. Yes, there are still a lot of people who may not need this product, but I think there is a lot of value for a lot of people. Anyone with a home network is going to want this product (or one with similar functionality).
For a lot of people, this product will have a greater impact (and be more important) than Vista itself.
The summary for this news post states the reorg is to "help get Vista out the door". This isn't anywhere in the press release from MS and doesn't even make sense. You don't reorg a company to ship a single product (even if it's the company's single most important product). This reorg appears to be laying a foundation for the next several years, and has nothing to do with getting Vista shipped.
Many of the posts here are very anti-MS, which is to be expected, but most of them just don't make sense when you think about them for a moment. For example, many posts see this reorg as adding bureauacracy. It does nothing of the sort. If anything it seems to be reducing organizational bureauacracy, by taking the 7 core business divisions and bringing them under the 3 new divisions. High-level decisions will now be made by fewer people, not more.
Anyway, I don't expect most Slashdot readers to agree with this, but that's my take on it.
Courtesy of http://www.bugmenot.com/
username: debater20057
password: antimatter
The internet, in a way, is somewhat like a new nation. No existing government should be collecting taxes on the internet.
If taxes are collected for internet transactions, those taxes should be put to use to improve internet infrastructure, not existing government infrastructure.
Personally, I don't want to see any taxes on internet transactions, ever. But I would be much more willing to pay a small tax if I had a say in what the tax was used for.
With new GUI interfaces built into devices such as TiVo, satellite receivers, and digital cable boxes, the logo no longer serves a useful purpose.
In the past, the networks needed to provide a way for the viewer to know what station they were watching. Now the set top box does that for them.
And believe me, every viewer in the world would love to see the logo go away.
I don't necessarily like having my personal information floating everwhere, but if you read their privacy policy, it doesn't seem to be such a bad thing.
It doesn't matter if comic strips like UserFriendly make fun of clueless newbies. Such individuals will never see the strips anyway. They're too busy talking with AOL's tech support trying to figure out how to 'get online.'
To most everyone out there, patents are meaningless. I use google because it is the best search engine I have found so far. I don't care about patents. I care about search engines that return good results. I use the best tool that I am aware of to get the job done.
It's the same with amazon.com. Some are advocating boycotting amazon because of the lame patent on one-click shopping. To be sure, the patent never should have been issued, but I'll let other corporations fight that battle in the courts. As a consumer, I like the convenience of one-click shopping and will therefore take advantage of it.
There's no doubt about it, folks. Someone at IBM knows what it takes to deliver a successful product.
With computers becoming ever more a consumer product, and laptops often the choice platform, IBM has taken a page from other successful companies, such as Apple and Nokia--give the customer something that looks COOL!
These machines are bound to be a success, given the quality of IBM's machines in addition to a nice-looking exterior.