The profit margins of MS are not a natural occurrence, they are so high in a large part due to the fact that they have governmental protections that allow them to thrive.
Do you really think that without the treaties enforcing international copyright laws MS would make so much money?
Operating systems are still not entirely replaceable, and MS has a monopoly on its own one. The assumption that taxes are immediately passed to the consumer requires one to first assume that prices are at their lowest profitable amount (with some allowance for the risk factor). MS Windows and MS Office are not in this situation, they can charge the most people are willing to pay. I would say that the fact that the Home version is less than the Office version proves this even.
The fact that the price is set to the highest possible amount would mean taxes would not be passed along at all.
A company with a 25% profit margin is not pricing it's products based on cost of business.
MS products are priced to maximize revenue within each segment of customer. If software was a true commodity, the situation would be somewhat different, but it isn't. You can't go buy an OS that will run 90+% of the software in the local electronics store from any other source.
Your treating software as a commodity, but it isn't, and the government helps keep things that way.
I actually think that is the point of the post you are responding to.
Saying "Wouldn't it be better if there simply were no guns?" is not saying to ban them, it is pointing out the absurdity of saying there shouldn't be censorship.
As guns do and continue to exist, ways to deal with them need to be considered. Gun control is one way, allowing people to carry them is another. But it is a discussion that is relevant, because you can't just make them go away. The story essentially starts with the premise that censorship will exist, how do we get around it while making third parties pay.
I have an Okurat account, it is decent, but not great. What I feel is it's greatest failure is lack of integration with google as a whole.
I want to post pictures in picassa, and have Okurat be a way for my friends to find them. I really thought google would get that right when i signed up 6 or so months ago, but there was no integration at all. I was highly disappointed, but this new push could be what I want.
How well does it sync with google apps (my sole is already sold)?
I have a G1 that I am getting ready to replace and was thinking I would hold out for the Nexus 2 (allegedly will have longer battery life and a keyboard). The thing I like most on my G1 that I would really miss, is that my contacts sync in real time between gmail, phone, and google voice. Including grabbing peoples pictures if they have specified them, and letting me snap one on the phone and it shows up in those other places. Perhaps it is all luxury, but it is luxury I want. I don't want to worry about not having a number/email address in a certain situation.
T-mobile lets you buy your phone over 20 months too. Which allows the plan to essentially be used like a subsidy, but for 20 months (a little more per a month too, but no $150 for the phone).
T-zones was a cheap data plan with a walled garden model (it was essentially custom mobile site to buy things like ringtones), except the garden wasn't walled, you could type in whatever.com and go there.
They would only let you get it with phones that could only sort-of internet, with the idea being it was low usage. When I purchased my G1 I had to drop it for Android data plan, which was $25, but it did cover my messages too, so it was $25 replacing $13. Kind of annoying, of course my data usage went from a few MB to a few GB.
Later it looks like the dropped the $25 for unlimited data and 400 messages though, and it's a strait $30 for just the data.
T-mobile has been trying to push people to unlimited plans though.
worth noting, T-mobile will let you pay for a phone on your phone bill over 20 months too.
So a $400 phone (for example 1.5 generation Android) puts you back to the full price, but it's for only 20 months, and no money up front (well sales tax and 1/20th of price).
Considering phone subsidies rarely surpass $400, at the worse, it is essentially a 20 months contract vs 24.
I have a G1 using the new T-mobile plus plan (no contract), and I am paying $85/month for the most expensive plan (unlimited everything).
I guess I could add $5/month for cheaper international calls, but they still cost triple google voice per minute.
And, t-mobile let me switch for a $35 fee, with no penalties for breaking contract (I was still in the $150 range). They are actually quite customer oriented I think.
FWIW, cash for clunkers was not just a subsidy to car makers (though it mostly was).
It was also a way to reduce gas usage in the US, and a way to soak up already built cars (see the nissan test track covered with cars that didn't sell). The car makers can cut manufacturing, but they still had inventory to move.
Cash for clunkers moved sales that were going to come in a few years to now, when they were needed.
Note, the last sentance assumes you buy into the concept of stimulus at all, which intelligent people are not required to do. The point is, that it was more than a strait subsidy, it was money given out to encourage "good" behavior (buying cars now, using less gas), and not a strait payment to the car makers.
Further more, graphic designers and many many artists are some of the least free exchange of ideas people I know.
I don't think the line How can a company whose philosophy of information sharing is so at odds with that of most of its customers be so successful? is a fair characterization of the vast majority of creative types.
In fact Apple's closed culture is completely inline with the creative field as a whole. The fact that it is a design driven company (this is not an insult, Apple products are generally very well designed, and often the hardware matches the design e.g. Intel and thin laptops).
Please note, I am not trying to be dismissive of Apple, and design goes beyond aesthetics too.
I have T-mobile (yeah, not a great network, and terrible 3G, but it was the only carrier with good voice where I needed it for some reason).
unlimited everything is only $79.99, but I don't get phone subsidies.
I thought it was a good deal, as the phone subsidies rarely break $400 for 24 months, and the plan was $99.99 with them.
They also let me split a phone into 20 payments on my bill, and let me out of the contract I had to switch (6 months left). All in all, I like T-mobile, with AT&T for voice roaming, it's not so bad in coverage either, just the data.
At work we got a new Mac Pro, with 10.6, half our printers do not have drivers any more.
Additionally, with Intel macs, there were plenty of problems with Adobe CS3 (hardly obscure software), that would change from point release to point release (some fixed, some new ones introduced). Had to run it in Rosetta.
For all the it "just works", I hear about, I would expect better.
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Am I the only person that likes the Ubuntu color scheme?
I think it is fantastic.
Though with transparency I prefer http://compiz-themes.org/content/show.php/Wombat+Blue?content=70900
Also, the extra buttons help too.
No, it has a monopoly on MS windows.
The profit margins of MS are not a natural occurrence, they are so high in a large part due to the fact that they have governmental protections that allow them to thrive.
Do you really think that without the treaties enforcing international copyright laws MS would make so much money?
Operating systems are still not entirely replaceable, and MS has a monopoly on its own one. The assumption that taxes are immediately passed to the consumer requires one to first assume that prices are at their lowest profitable amount (with some allowance for the risk factor). MS Windows and MS Office are not in this situation, they can charge the most people are willing to pay. I would say that the fact that the Home version is less than the Office version proves this even.
The fact that the price is set to the highest possible amount would mean taxes would not be passed along at all.
A company with a 25% profit margin is not pricing it's products based on cost of business.
MS products are priced to maximize revenue within each segment of customer. If software was a true commodity, the situation would be somewhat different, but it isn't. You can't go buy an OS that will run 90+% of the software in the local electronics store from any other source.
Your treating software as a commodity, but it isn't, and the government helps keep things that way.
Wouldn't it be great for residents of WA state, if they could stealthily raise taxes on the entire world though?
Also, I don't entirely buy that a tax increase on a monopoly would inherently increase the price of their product correspondingly.
And MS has a monopoly (protected and enforced with tax money) on selling MS software. That monopoly is was keeps the price over a few USD a copy.
Perhaps because factually the constitution is a living document.
You can agree or disagree with whether or not it should be, but that is separate from accurately describing its history.
I actually think that is the point of the post you are responding to.
Saying "Wouldn't it be better if there simply were no guns?" is not saying to ban them, it is pointing out the absurdity of saying there shouldn't be censorship.
As guns do and continue to exist, ways to deal with them need to be considered. Gun control is one way, allowing people to carry them is another. But it is a discussion that is relevant, because you can't just make them go away. The story essentially starts with the premise that censorship will exist, how do we get around it while making third parties pay.
I have an Okurat account, it is decent, but not great. What I feel is it's greatest failure is lack of integration with google as a whole.
I want to post pictures in picassa, and have Okurat be a way for my friends to find them. I really thought google would get that right when i signed up 6 or so months ago, but there was no integration at all. I was highly disappointed, but this new push could be what I want.
How well does it sync with google apps (my sole is already sold)?
I have a G1 that I am getting ready to replace and was thinking I would hold out for the Nexus 2 (allegedly will have longer battery life and a keyboard). The thing I like most on my G1 that I would really miss, is that my contacts sync in real time between gmail, phone, and google voice. Including grabbing peoples pictures if they have specified them, and letting me snap one on the phone and it shows up in those other places. Perhaps it is all luxury, but it is luxury I want. I don't want to worry about not having a number/email address in a certain situation.
The N900 is tempting too though.
interesting.
I generally use 1000+ messages, and 1500+ minutes though, so I am content with my unlimited everything plan.
T-mobile lets you buy your phone over 20 months too. Which allows the plan to essentially be used like a subsidy, but for 20 months (a little more per a month too, but no $150 for the phone).
T-zones was a cheap data plan with a walled garden model (it was essentially custom mobile site to buy things like ringtones), except the garden wasn't walled, you could type in whatever.com and go there.
They would only let you get it with phones that could only sort-of internet, with the idea being it was low usage. When I purchased my G1 I had to drop it for Android data plan, which was $25, but it did cover my messages too, so it was $25 replacing $13. Kind of annoying, of course my data usage went from a few MB to a few GB.
Later it looks like the dropped the $25 for unlimited data and 400 messages though, and it's a strait $30 for just the data.
T-mobile has been trying to push people to unlimited plans though.
worth noting, T-mobile will let you pay for a phone on your phone bill over 20 months too.
So a $400 phone (for example 1.5 generation Android) puts you back to the full price, but it's for only 20 months, and no money up front (well sales tax and 1/20th of price).
Considering phone subsidies rarely surpass $400, at the worse, it is essentially a 20 months contract vs 24.
I have a G1 using the new T-mobile plus plan (no contract), and I am paying $85/month for the most expensive plan (unlimited everything).
I guess I could add $5/month for cheaper international calls, but they still cost triple google voice per minute.
And, t-mobile let me switch for a $35 fee, with no penalties for breaking contract (I was still in the $150 range). They are actually quite customer oriented I think.
yes, as I said parts are back-ported.
bullet from about cyanogen mod:
* Based on Android 1.6, many bugfixes and enhancements from AOSP, XDA, and me
and from the description of the new one:
* Music and DeskClock apps from Eclair
* Eclair graphics, apps, and other guts
Parts are back-ported, but it is not by any means a 2.x ROM.
Is that true?
I know parts of it are backported, but a quick google search is not finding me links to any stories about a funtional Android 2.x on the G1
FWIW, the multi-touch I've used on my G1 (with custom ROM), does not infringe.
It does the zoom in increments so that your pinch/depinch is equivalent to pushing the zoom button.
Well, I can imagine them fighting for 3 workers per a car at least.
FWIW, cash for clunkers was not just a subsidy to car makers (though it mostly was).
It was also a way to reduce gas usage in the US, and a way to soak up already built cars (see the nissan test track covered with cars that didn't sell). The car makers can cut manufacturing, but they still had inventory to move.
Cash for clunkers moved sales that were going to come in a few years to now, when they were needed.
Note, the last sentance assumes you buy into the concept of stimulus at all, which intelligent people are not required to do. The point is, that it was more than a strait subsidy, it was money given out to encourage "good" behavior (buying cars now, using less gas), and not a strait payment to the car makers.
Interesting, if it works this way it can not be used with a favorites type plan to skip minutes.
Further more, graphic designers and many many artists are some of the least free exchange of ideas people I know.
I don't think the line How can a company whose philosophy of information sharing is so at odds with that of most of its customers be so successful? is a fair characterization of the vast majority of creative types.
In fact Apple's closed culture is completely inline with the creative field as a whole. The fact that it is a design driven company (this is not an insult, Apple products are generally very well designed, and often the hardware matches the design e.g. Intel and thin laptops).
Please note, I am not trying to be dismissive of Apple, and design goes beyond aesthetics too.
Perhaps a software suite should not break between point releases (as in 10.5.x to 10.5.x+1).
My memory of Canada (it was a while ago), has all the signs bilingual except Quebec.
Quebecois are worse than the French in pretending to not speak English too.
I have T-mobile (yeah, not a great network, and terrible 3G, but it was the only carrier with good voice where I needed it for some reason).
unlimited everything is only $79.99, but I don't get phone subsidies.
I thought it was a good deal, as the phone subsidies rarely break $400 for 24 months, and the plan was $99.99 with them.
They also let me split a phone into 20 payments on my bill, and let me out of the contract I had to switch (6 months left). All in all, I like T-mobile, with AT&T for voice roaming, it's not so bad in coverage either, just the data.
At work we got a new Mac Pro, with 10.6, half our printers do not have drivers any more.
Additionally, with Intel macs, there were plenty of problems with Adobe CS3 (hardly obscure software), that would change from point release to point release (some fixed, some new ones introduced). Had to run it in Rosetta.
For all the it "just works", I hear about, I would expect better.
Well, it actually assumes 10% of them would. This may or may not be true.
the 75% of apps being pirated is what sounds least likely to me.
I have actually read something to that effect.
As the Indian economy grows, they will likely have demand for IT jobs grow faster than they can produce graduates.