So far the theory. In fact, investors will become uneasy far, far earlier. Apple would survive that, easily, but you'll see a very different C-Level lineup very, very soon.
And since C-Levels make decisions in such companies, that's not going to happen anytime soon. They'd probably sink the company before going out with a whimper.
Sorry if that was unclear, with "innovation" I meant "new and useful tools and features", not "flashy marketing gimmick nobody actually wants or even needs".
Huawei is still accelerating, their sales point is being cheap. And in this economy, that's what sells.
And let's be honest here, do you care whether your phone falls apart in 2 years? First of all, chances are good that it will anyway, even if it's from a big name. Manufacturing is so sloppy and manufacturers are cutting so many corners (hold the puns about round corners, please) that everyone's production is by now at the bottom of the barrel. Quality doesn't come into play anymore anyway.
And who cares? Your adhesive contract that got you this phone you have for "really cheap" will run out in 2 years, so you want a new phone at that point anyway. And this phone comes FREE with your new adhesive contract!
Ok, maybe I'm old. But I actually use my phone mostly for making phone calls. Not that I like talking to people that much, but... well, I'm old, most of the people I communicate with are as well, and they like talking to people.
Drivers for various gaming hardware. Extra buttons on mice, programmable buttons on keyboards, head tracking devices, programmable flight sticks and steering wheels, game controllers...
Someone suggested programming them in a Windows VM (which by itself isn't a given to work, by the way), unfortunately some of them don't retain their programming (fully) in the device but do rely on a separate program to function, which, again, does not exist for Linux.
I'm sure it is. Although, you pay for it with extra work.
Of course, any job perk must be paid for somehow. But I hope you don't think that if they do away with the cafeteria that I'd get a raise that could pay for my lunch, do you? The food I eat there costs them maybe 5 bucks, including staff. So that's what they could possibly raise my wage by, 5 bucks a day or about 100 a month. Trying to get the same kind of food out of a vendor outside would cost me at least twice that. In other words, I'd lose money if they lose the cafeteria.
And a bunch of people don't give a fuck whether you consider it your house. They need food. What's your point?
If you don't see the difference, I guess there is very little I can do to point it out. Please step out of the reality distortion field before continuing the discussion.
Manual labor will still exist. But you will need a LOT fewer people to do it. In my country, the unemployment rate for unlearned and unskilled labor is close to 50%, and that with a total of less than 5%. Automation is already here. Granted, the amount of people who have absolutely zero education is very low around these places so those 50% look horrible while we're actually talking about only a few ten-thousands people altogether, but these people have no job and also have no chance to get one. This will only get worse with automation.
But even these people will at some point in time need to replace something that broke down. Washing machines, dishwashers, they need replacement. And you can't get that on UBI done because UBI covers your current cost of living. There is no room for replacements or even trading up.
So you will have ample supply of people who can do these jobs. The fluctuation will be very high, because they'll have that job for those weeks or at the most months they have to work to accumulate the money they need to get the items they need to replace. But then again, the learning curve for those jobs is very close to zero, so fluctuation isn't really the problem.
First, how long I decide to make my break is my business. Unfortunately it's not paid, so I want to make it short. My employer doesn't really care how long I make my lunch break because, again, he doesn't pay for it. Not being required to drive somewhere is an asset for me, not a burden. Knowing my employer, though, I know that they wouldn't be too bothered if you opened up a restaurant right outside our door and people went to you instead of the cafeteria. As long as it's food good enough to not result in food poisoning.
Because the main reason my employer runs the cafeteria is that it's a job perk. Believe it or not. It's a job perk to have an option to not step out into the heat and stay in the well AC'ed building, get good food cheaply, and not waste a lot of time on it.
And frankly, I don't give a fuck whether you consider it anti-competitive. I need food. Preferably good food that's tasty, food that I can get hassle-free and without driving through stressing traffic. Our cafeteria offers that. Where exactly is the problem?
I have made that joke before, too, but yes, I'm confident they would. Some would probably notice the lack of connectivity first due to some other app (yes, making calls is just yet another app on most phones these days, go figure...) not getting a connection to some server, but one of the key features people use their phone for is still making calls.
Dead? Far from it. But Apple is doing what MS has been doing since the 90s: Moving through inertia. The engine is off.
Juggernauts like Apple can do this. Even with no new products, Apple would still make acceptable profits for a while. Apple store, accessories, repairs and add-on sales would certainly keep the revenue going. But they would be living off products that they already designed, created, made and sold. That can keep a company the size of Apple afloat for a couple years.
After that, the Juggernaut is dead in the water. And as any oil tanker captain will tell you, getting a huge thing like that moving again takes a LOT of fuel for very, very little gain in the first couple days.
The X is only the icing on the shit sundae. The problem runs far deeper, and if Cook doesn't get his head out of his ass (or the proverbial stick) this is not going to end well for Apple.
Jobs had it right. He created a well designed phone with a very comfortable interface that was easy to use for computer illiterates, packaged it in a perfectly fashionable form and hyped the style just enough to make the item fashionable, likable and wanted with young trend leaders. This move was awesome.
Apple still lives off this air of being fashionable, modern and usable created back then. Even though it no longer is the case for their later products. The road Cook took the company (and hence the design of the phone) down was a weird combination of the creed that removal of non-essentials should be enforced until only the "pure" function remains, while at the same time introducing flashy gimmicks nobody asked for and nobody knew how to use sensibly in the name of being progressive and innovative.
And that's the wrong approach, if you ask me.
Jobs knew that in the end, these things have to be used. He wanted to create well designed and good looking gadgets that would be useful to people so they feel good about using them and want to use them more, with the intent to convince them that this means they will have to buy the next generation, too. Cook forgot that people who can't use your gadgets won't buy the next one, no matter how good they're looking. That only works for gadgets people don't buy to actually use, like Gucci handbags. Nobody expects such an accessory to actually serve a purpose, like being able to store anything inside.
That's not the case for phones. People at least want to make phone calls with them.
Pressure? Let's see.... I have the choice between going to the in-house cafeteria, have a choice between 4 or 5 dishes that are generally very edible, pay about 10 bucks for it and have ample time to eat it, or I could go out, stand in a traffic jam for half my lunch break, stand in a line at whatever restaurant I chose for the other half, pay 20+ for it, wolf it down so I can maybe, MAYBE, be back before my boss asks what I did for an hour out.
Yeah, you'd really have to force me to choose option 1.
And this is a corporate canteen, not some shabby fast food joint. Do you know what you're suggesting? Instead of eating healthy (which is something the corporation itself would want from its workers, because a healthy worker is a busy worker, something an outside eatery doesn't give a shit about) you want them to stuff their face with greaseballs?
And don't tell me "but there are alternatives". Show me one lunch restaurant that doesn't live by the philosophy "cheapest grub is good enough because we know you won't have the time to complain and demand your money back".
Not to mention that they couldn't compete with our cafeteria anyway. You get good food and a drink for less than 10 bucks.
Our regulation dictates that you MUST take a 30 minute break after working for 6 hours, but it doesn't say anything about how long it may be. Of course it's unpaid, so if you spend 2 hours at lunch (preferably telling your coworkers beforehand that it's gonna take that long), you should probably tack those 2 hours to the end of your day.
Real estate does so because of the tech companies. What do you think the situation for real estate will be like once the tech corporations that gobble up that real estate are gone and you have a lot of unused land plots that nobody could possibly afford at the asking price. Except tech corporations, who were just kicked out, that is...
It is voluntary as long as there is no monopoly and you don't have to have a good or service (either because it's actually legally mandated or because you cannot provide your goods and services without).
You might notice that the number of things you can actually get voluntarily from corporations is getting smaller and smaller.
This. When I eat lunch, I care about 3 things: Speed, price, amount. Taste comes in as a close fourth, but the quality level "edible" is sufficient for a lunch place to see me again. But I only have a limited amount of time at my disposal, so optimally my lunch is already ready when I decide I want it. It should be reasonably priced so that it's not more sensible for me to bring my own stuff. And it should be sufficient to last 'til dinner.
Our campus cafeteria offers exactly that. Nothing fancy, nothing that you'll come back for seconds for, but it's ready when I get there (because they cook permanently through lunch time), the price is all right and it's filling.
Plus, as an added bonus, your company is VERY interested in you not getting sick to your stomach from the grub because people who vomit don't work.
Slashdot Mirror
So far the theory. In fact, investors will become uneasy far, far earlier. Apple would survive that, easily, but you'll see a very different C-Level lineup very, very soon.
And since C-Levels make decisions in such companies, that's not going to happen anytime soon. They'd probably sink the company before going out with a whimper.
Sorry if that was unclear, with "innovation" I meant "new and useful tools and features", not "flashy marketing gimmick nobody actually wants or even needs".
Huawei is still accelerating, their sales point is being cheap. And in this economy, that's what sells.
And let's be honest here, do you care whether your phone falls apart in 2 years? First of all, chances are good that it will anyway, even if it's from a big name. Manufacturing is so sloppy and manufacturers are cutting so many corners (hold the puns about round corners, please) that everyone's production is by now at the bottom of the barrel. Quality doesn't come into play anymore anyway.
And who cares? Your adhesive contract that got you this phone you have for "really cheap" will run out in 2 years, so you want a new phone at that point anyway. And this phone comes FREE with your new adhesive contract!
Ok, maybe I'm old. But I actually use my phone mostly for making phone calls. Not that I like talking to people that much, but... well, I'm old, most of the people I communicate with are as well, and they like talking to people.
Without having to install additional apps.
Drivers for various gaming hardware. Extra buttons on mice, programmable buttons on keyboards, head tracking devices, programmable flight sticks and steering wheels, game controllers...
Someone suggested programming them in a Windows VM (which by itself isn't a given to work, by the way), unfortunately some of them don't retain their programming (fully) in the device but do rely on a separate program to function, which, again, does not exist for Linux.
They shut down public toilets there?
Wow, how shitty can a town be?
I'm sure it is. Although, you pay for it with extra work.
Of course, any job perk must be paid for somehow. But I hope you don't think that if they do away with the cafeteria that I'd get a raise that could pay for my lunch, do you? The food I eat there costs them maybe 5 bucks, including staff. So that's what they could possibly raise my wage by, 5 bucks a day or about 100 a month. Trying to get the same kind of food out of a vendor outside would cost me at least twice that. In other words, I'd lose money if they lose the cafeteria.
And a bunch of people don't give a fuck whether you consider it your house. They need food. What's your point?
If you don't see the difference, I guess there is very little I can do to point it out. Please step out of the reality distortion field before continuing the discussion.
It needs fine tuning, that's a given. But the general idea is that you can survive on UBI, anything you want extra, go find work.
Manual labor will still exist. But you will need a LOT fewer people to do it. In my country, the unemployment rate for unlearned and unskilled labor is close to 50%, and that with a total of less than 5%. Automation is already here. Granted, the amount of people who have absolutely zero education is very low around these places so those 50% look horrible while we're actually talking about only a few ten-thousands people altogether, but these people have no job and also have no chance to get one. This will only get worse with automation.
But even these people will at some point in time need to replace something that broke down. Washing machines, dishwashers, they need replacement. And you can't get that on UBI done because UBI covers your current cost of living. There is no room for replacements or even trading up.
So you will have ample supply of people who can do these jobs. The fluctuation will be very high, because they'll have that job for those weeks or at the most months they have to work to accumulate the money they need to get the items they need to replace. But then again, the learning curve for those jobs is very close to zero, so fluctuation isn't really the problem.
First, how long I decide to make my break is my business. Unfortunately it's not paid, so I want to make it short. My employer doesn't really care how long I make my lunch break because, again, he doesn't pay for it. Not being required to drive somewhere is an asset for me, not a burden. Knowing my employer, though, I know that they wouldn't be too bothered if you opened up a restaurant right outside our door and people went to you instead of the cafeteria. As long as it's food good enough to not result in food poisoning.
Because the main reason my employer runs the cafeteria is that it's a job perk. Believe it or not. It's a job perk to have an option to not step out into the heat and stay in the well AC'ed building, get good food cheaply, and not waste a lot of time on it.
And frankly, I don't give a fuck whether you consider it anti-competitive. I need food. Preferably good food that's tasty, food that I can get hassle-free and without driving through stressing traffic. Our cafeteria offers that. Where exactly is the problem?
None. But they're dirt cheap and their batteries don't explode.
Yes, sadly that's enough to beat the two leading cellphone makers...
I have made that joke before, too, but yes, I'm confident they would. Some would probably notice the lack of connectivity first due to some other app (yes, making calls is just yet another app on most phones these days, go figure...) not getting a connection to some server, but one of the key features people use their phone for is still making calls.
Dead? Far from it. But Apple is doing what MS has been doing since the 90s: Moving through inertia. The engine is off.
Juggernauts like Apple can do this. Even with no new products, Apple would still make acceptable profits for a while. Apple store, accessories, repairs and add-on sales would certainly keep the revenue going. But they would be living off products that they already designed, created, made and sold. That can keep a company the size of Apple afloat for a couple years.
After that, the Juggernaut is dead in the water. And as any oil tanker captain will tell you, getting a huge thing like that moving again takes a LOT of fuel for very, very little gain in the first couple days.
The X is only the icing on the shit sundae. The problem runs far deeper, and if Cook doesn't get his head out of his ass (or the proverbial stick) this is not going to end well for Apple.
Jobs had it right. He created a well designed phone with a very comfortable interface that was easy to use for computer illiterates, packaged it in a perfectly fashionable form and hyped the style just enough to make the item fashionable, likable and wanted with young trend leaders. This move was awesome.
Apple still lives off this air of being fashionable, modern and usable created back then. Even though it no longer is the case for their later products. The road Cook took the company (and hence the design of the phone) down was a weird combination of the creed that removal of non-essentials should be enforced until only the "pure" function remains, while at the same time introducing flashy gimmicks nobody asked for and nobody knew how to use sensibly in the name of being progressive and innovative.
And that's the wrong approach, if you ask me.
Jobs knew that in the end, these things have to be used. He wanted to create well designed and good looking gadgets that would be useful to people so they feel good about using them and want to use them more, with the intent to convince them that this means they will have to buy the next generation, too. Cook forgot that people who can't use your gadgets won't buy the next one, no matter how good they're looking. That only works for gadgets people don't buy to actually use, like Gucci handbags. Nobody expects such an accessory to actually serve a purpose, like being able to store anything inside.
That's not the case for phones. People at least want to make phone calls with them.
You might want to add that living expenses in Germany are also way lower than in SF. Living off 1500 a month is very doable in Germany. Not so in SF.
Well, that's basically what happens now. Welcome to the Dutch Auction for Moviepass, make your offer when you run out of nerves.
Pressure? Let's see.... I have the choice between going to the in-house cafeteria, have a choice between 4 or 5 dishes that are generally very edible, pay about 10 bucks for it and have ample time to eat it, or I could go out, stand in a traffic jam for half my lunch break, stand in a line at whatever restaurant I chose for the other half, pay 20+ for it, wolf it down so I can maybe, MAYBE, be back before my boss asks what I did for an hour out.
Yeah, you'd really have to force me to choose option 1.
And this is a corporate canteen, not some shabby fast food joint. Do you know what you're suggesting? Instead of eating healthy (which is something the corporation itself would want from its workers, because a healthy worker is a busy worker, something an outside eatery doesn't give a shit about) you want them to stuff their face with greaseballs?
And don't tell me "but there are alternatives". Show me one lunch restaurant that doesn't live by the philosophy "cheapest grub is good enough because we know you won't have the time to complain and demand your money back".
Not to mention that they couldn't compete with our cafeteria anyway. You get good food and a drink for less than 10 bucks.
You .... you TERRORIST!!!!
Astonishing how restaurants can survive the world over with minimum wages but not in the US.
Our regulation dictates that you MUST take a 30 minute break after working for 6 hours, but it doesn't say anything about how long it may be. Of course it's unpaid, so if you spend 2 hours at lunch (preferably telling your coworkers beforehand that it's gonna take that long), you should probably tack those 2 hours to the end of your day.
That's racist. Why shouldn't we learn their languages?
Domus mea, praecepta mea
Real estate does so because of the tech companies. What do you think the situation for real estate will be like once the tech corporations that gobble up that real estate are gone and you have a lot of unused land plots that nobody could possibly afford at the asking price. Except tech corporations, who were just kicked out, that is...
It is voluntary as long as there is no monopoly and you don't have to have a good or service (either because it's actually legally mandated or because you cannot provide your goods and services without).
You might notice that the number of things you can actually get voluntarily from corporations is getting smaller and smaller.
This. When I eat lunch, I care about 3 things: Speed, price, amount. Taste comes in as a close fourth, but the quality level "edible" is sufficient for a lunch place to see me again. But I only have a limited amount of time at my disposal, so optimally my lunch is already ready when I decide I want it. It should be reasonably priced so that it's not more sensible for me to bring my own stuff. And it should be sufficient to last 'til dinner.
Our campus cafeteria offers exactly that. Nothing fancy, nothing that you'll come back for seconds for, but it's ready when I get there (because they cook permanently through lunch time), the price is all right and it's filling.
Plus, as an added bonus, your company is VERY interested in you not getting sick to your stomach from the grub because people who vomit don't work.