Apple is a vertically integrated company. Its products work with each other pretty well as long as you follow the Apple way of things. Apple has a vested interest in making sure that has equivalents to compelling new products, like Amazon's music and books service. By controlling it themselves, they can focus on making sure that it works together with other Apple products.
Compare that with the Microsoft way, where they write a big part of it, but rely on partners to fill in the blanks. You have all these independent companies running around doing their own thing without a cohesive vision of what the whole system should be doing.
For people who don't want to mess with their computers and music players and websites etc., Mac is a natural choice. Windows offers a fractured broken system, and Linux is great for those who do like to mess with their computers and music players and websites, etc.
I use all three systems, and the Mac seems to have the fewest problems with Mac stuff working together, as long as you are adhering to the "Mac Way of Doing Things".
Easy to use, consumer stuff - Mac Can do what you want - Linux Corporate or Engineering software - Windows
When people go to buy a new computer in order to get iCloud support, they just might choose a Mac. Remember, the people are already interested in an Apple product.
Also, they simplify the development and support of the Windows client, by only supporting the most recent major release. Windows XP has 3 service packs out, some of which might be a nightmare to code workarounds for.
The previous generation of space contractors is focused around government jobs. This has created a broad patchwork of subcontractors that is organized to be in as many congressional districts as possible. All these layers create "profit stack-up" that bloats the price of a vehicle.
SpaceX is vertically integrated, which means that they don't have to pay as many subcontractors, which drives down the price. We'll see if they can withstand the assault from the entrenched players.
Simple. If making a good tablet isn't enough to sell a good tablet, that means that the demand for tablets is being driven by Apple rather than a need for tablets. That seems, to me, to be a classic indicator that a product is meeting a fad-driven need as opposed to a real need.
Or the tablet is only part of the equation. The iPad is an extension of same system that iPhone and iPod interface to. People don't buy an iPad, they buy into the iPad/iTunes/AppStore/MovieStore/MusicStore system.
Unless HP and RIM can replicate that system, their tablets will flounder.
Consider if you had a company that made a piece of code.You need to pay the developers to continue to work on that code. The code is licensed under the GPL, because it is free and the sources are posted on your website.
How do you convince people to give you money to pay your developers when they can download and compile it off of your website?
I went to religious schools from K-12, so I do know of what I am talking about.
I was speaking of the little-g god, which is some supernatural being that intercedes in human affairs. The angels are little-g gods. They may not be the creator or the ruling god, but they do interact with people and are distinct from the big-g God.
Consider that polytheism is defined as the belief in multiple little-g gods, and you come to the conclusion that many so-called monotheistic religions are not. They might declare themselves to worship only one god, but they in fact believe in a multitude of lesser gods (devil, angels, demons, etc) which intercede in human affairs. This conforms to the definition of polytheism.
As for the Trinity, there are many instances where the multiple faces are treated as separate and distinct. Father and Son does not imply the same being. Why does Jesus need to pray "to the Father". Why would one entity need to communicate to itself and ask questions? The fact that it needs to communicate indicates that it is not the same entity. There is also ample language of Jesus being seated next to the Father. These statements also indicate multiple distinct entities interacting in the after world. The whole Trinity explanation seems to me like a lot of hand waving so that they could still claim to only worship one god and maintain their Jewish traditions.
Inviting them to meetings and giving them authority over the project (and diluting your own authority) is not going to happen easily, even with orders from above.
It is more than putting some engineering window dressing in the spot. What they need are people who can visualize how the entire system should work. This typically spans various products. This is why Apple is successful. They realize that in order to make the iPhone appealing, they need to have iTunes clients that run a certain way and connect to a large store of data in the iTunes store. Also, Apple is more than happy to have one of their products kill off another. They had no problem letting the iPhone kill the iPod. It is better for your own products to do that then your competitor's.
At Microsoft, you'd have the device engineers, application software guys and the backend store folks all fighting each other to increase their division's profit and relevance. Old established systems would never die and they would also kill any up-and-coming projects that might unseat them by eating all of their resources.
Mexican drug cartels take road trips to the US to buy weapons and ammo. It's crazy
That is not exactly how it works. They do have some of their US members go to the local gun store and purchase semi automatic guns and ammo for the lower echelons. But a large number of the weapons seized are fully automatic heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, etc. These weapons are not readily available on the US side of the border but are stolen from Mexican armories. The Mexicans are making a big stink about our gun stores to deflect blame about the fact that the drug cartels can simply purchase or steal whatever weapons they want using corrupt Mexican government officials. Why go through some elaborate smuggling scheme, when you can have Hector, who works at the state police department, order some M4s and have them delivered to a warehouse at a particular time and place?
That is because they have already disarmed the population and jailed or killed anyone who opposes them. As the grandparent said, speech is the last right to fall, and by the time the assault on that right begins, it is already too late.
I agree. They probably think that stopping Chinese hackers means disconnecting the connection to China. They do not realize that it is their (our) computers that are doing the attacking and that the internet kill switch will interrupt their eBaying and porn surfing.
it is no longer voluntarily supplied information when it is impossible to live a regular life without disclosing significant amounts of information The article and the discussion is about companies scraping blogs and forums and mining the data. None of these sites are "mandatory" or "involuntary".
As far as your argument that public activities will get amassed into a massive public database, I don't think there is a clear line where you can say this is right and this is wrong. A property owner who puts up a security camera in his store's parking lot has every right to do so. You have no right to tell him he can't. But in the "too far" side of things, if the government had retinal checkpoints at stoplights, I think we agree that this is not appropriate.
Where do you draw the line?
How do you reconcile your privacy that with the freedom to record things in public places? At some point, you need to realize that when you are out in public, people can and will observe and record you. You might not like it, but what remedy do you take? Forced deletion of data? Who enforces this? What authority do they have regarding seizure of property? Could this be used in other nefarious ways, such as to suppress journalists or scientists who are collecting data?
To me, claims to privacy everywhere are like demanding that the sun not rise because you have sensitive skin. At some point you need to accept that the sun comes out, and take the appropriate precautions so you don't get burnt.
And when the practice gets to the point where it is impossible to even purchase basic necessities without having your presence logged, you are fine with that? When it ultimately becomes a choice between the life of a shut in and having your every movement beyond your own property permanently logged how can that make for a healthy society? You can claim to have a right to privacy, but that does not mean that others are forbidden to watch you. You do not have a right to invisibility. At some point you have to accept that people you don't know will know things about you from watching you. Don't call up the privacy police to regulate an entity that uses voluntarily supplied information.
I figured you would come down to that argument - that's why I threw it in there. Remember, this whole discussion was about businesses scraping blogs and social sites, NOT about the forced extraction of information. You're getting off to a different (but related) topic.
When facebook retro-actively changes what they promise to do and not do with the information people give them? The point isn't what a company promises to do, but rather what you give the company. Even if a company "promises" not to sell my data, I know that that promise isn't worth the paper it is printed on, so I provide as little information as possible, or bogus information, in order to get the service. Or I don't get the service. But I don't try to shift the responsibility of my privacy to someone else. I take responsibility for it myself.
What about say, a store, quietly installing a system to read and record the license plate of every car that enters their parking lot? That is their parking lot and a public place, where I have no expectation of privacy. Why should they be banned from this behavior? Consider the flip side. Am I allowed to put up a camera on my property that photographs everyone that comes to my door?
Or when an entire industry becomes so used to routine privacy violations that even walk-in medical clinics refuse service to cash-only patients who won't disclose their name, address, etc? Bogus name and address solves this problem. You're not doing this under oath, and as long as you are paying the entire bill before you leave, there is no fraud.
Slashdot Mirror
Apple is a vertically integrated company. Its products work with each other pretty well as long as you follow the Apple way of things. Apple has a vested interest in making sure that has equivalents to compelling new products, like Amazon's music and books service. By controlling it themselves, they can focus on making sure that it works together with other Apple products.
Compare that with the Microsoft way, where they write a big part of it, but rely on partners to fill in the blanks. You have all these independent companies running around doing their own thing without a cohesive vision of what the whole system should be doing.
For people who don't want to mess with their computers and music players and websites etc., Mac is a natural choice. Windows offers a fractured broken system, and Linux is great for those who do like to mess with their computers and music players and websites, etc.
I use all three systems, and the Mac seems to have the fewest problems with Mac stuff working together, as long as you are adhering to the "Mac Way of Doing Things".
Easy to use, consumer stuff - Mac
Can do what you want - Linux
Corporate or Engineering software - Windows
When people go to buy a new computer in order to get iCloud support, they just might choose a Mac. Remember, the people are already interested in an Apple product.
Also, they simplify the development and support of the Windows client, by only supporting the most recent major release. Windows XP has 3 service packs out, some of which might be a nightmare to code workarounds for.
AOL should plead innocence through reason of diminished mental capacity.
You couldn't learn to set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier? Jeez. You'd think the message would get through after the first expulsion.
The previous generation of space contractors is focused around government jobs. This has created a broad patchwork of subcontractors that is organized to be in as many congressional districts as possible. All these layers create "profit stack-up" that bloats the price of a vehicle.
SpaceX is vertically integrated, which means that they don't have to pay as many subcontractors, which drives down the price. We'll see if they can withstand the assault from the entrenched players.
Simple. If making a good tablet isn't enough to sell a good tablet, that means that the demand for tablets is being driven by Apple rather than a need for tablets. That seems, to me, to be a classic indicator that a product is meeting a fad-driven need as opposed to a real need.
Or the tablet is only part of the equation. The iPad is an extension of same system that iPhone and iPod interface to. People don't buy an iPad, they buy into the iPad/iTunes/AppStore/MovieStore/MusicStore system.
Unless HP and RIM can replicate that system, their tablets will flounder.
Many of these users are already running Windows, so they don't mind burdensome pieces of crap.
Car analogy. Great.
Perhaps a more specific question is in order.
Consider if you had a company that made a piece of code.You need to pay the developers to continue to work on that code. The code is licensed under the GPL, because it is free and the sources are posted on your website.
How do you convince people to give you money to pay your developers when they can download and compile it off of your website?
Because they have old people and homeowners associations. Gotta keep that lawn emerald green or face a stiff fine.
I went to religious schools from K-12, so I do know of what I am talking about.
I was speaking of the little-g god, which is some supernatural being that intercedes in human affairs. The angels are little-g gods. They may not be the creator or the ruling god, but they do interact with people and are distinct from the big-g God.
Consider that polytheism is defined as the belief in multiple little-g gods, and you come to the conclusion that many so-called monotheistic religions are not. They might declare themselves to worship only one god, but they in fact believe in a multitude of lesser gods (devil, angels, demons, etc) which intercede in human affairs. This conforms to the definition of polytheism.
As for the Trinity, there are many instances where the multiple faces are treated as separate and distinct. Father and Son does not imply the same being. Why does Jesus need to pray "to the Father". Why would one entity need to communicate to itself and ask questions? The fact that it needs to communicate indicates that it is not the same entity. There is also ample language of Jesus being seated next to the Father. These statements also indicate multiple distinct entities interacting in the after world. The whole Trinity explanation seems to me like a lot of hand waving so that they could still claim to only worship one god and maintain their Jewish traditions.
Mono = 1
Trinity = 3 = poly.
Christians are polytheistic.
Nevermind that they believe in lesser gods (devil, angels, etc).
Or this...
http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cables/USBTTLSerial.htm
Inviting them to meetings and giving them authority over the project (and diluting your own authority) is not going to happen easily, even with orders from above.
It is more than putting some engineering window dressing in the spot. What they need are people who can visualize how the entire system should work. This typically spans various products. This is why Apple is successful. They realize that in order to make the iPhone appealing, they need to have iTunes clients that run a certain way and connect to a large store of data in the iTunes store. Also, Apple is more than happy to have one of their products kill off another. They had no problem letting the iPhone kill the iPod. It is better for your own products to do that then your competitor's.
At Microsoft, you'd have the device engineers, application software guys and the backend store folks all fighting each other to increase their division's profit and relevance. Old established systems would never die and they would also kill any up-and-coming projects that might unseat them by eating all of their resources.
Mexican drug cartels take road trips to the US to buy weapons and ammo. It's crazy
That is not exactly how it works. They do have some of their US members go to the local gun store and purchase semi automatic guns and ammo for the lower echelons. But a large number of the weapons seized are fully automatic heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, etc. These weapons are not readily available on the US side of the border but are stolen from Mexican armories. The Mexicans are making a big stink about our gun stores to deflect blame about the fact that the drug cartels can simply purchase or steal whatever weapons they want using corrupt Mexican government officials. Why go through some elaborate smuggling scheme, when you can have Hector, who works at the state police department, order some M4s and have them delivered to a warehouse at a particular time and place?
That is because they have already disarmed the population and jailed or killed anyone who opposes them. As the grandparent said, speech is the last right to fall, and by the time the assault on that right begins, it is already too late.
The problem is that those that pay for it want to have a say in how the money is spent and we end up with a system that benefits those people.
The health care mandate does not "bring in" money. It is simply a forced redistribution from the people to the insurance companies.
I agree. They probably think that stopping Chinese hackers means disconnecting the connection to China. They do not realize that it is their (our) computers that are doing the attacking and that the internet kill switch will interrupt their eBaying and porn surfing.
How do you think the conservative right gets their porn? Any other way risks public exposure and ridicule.
Most tax returns are because you have overpaid, not because you are getting net income from the government.
No, We'll be able to do it with the (finger to lip) One Million Dollars*
*Contract to be negotiated will be a Cost-Plus with no penalty for overruns.
What would you propose for your example of security cameras scanning license plates?
it is no longer voluntarily supplied information when it is impossible to live a regular life without disclosing significant amounts of information
The article and the discussion is about companies scraping blogs and forums and mining the data. None of these sites are "mandatory" or "involuntary".
As far as your argument that public activities will get amassed into a massive public database, I don't think there is a clear line where you can say this is right and this is wrong. A property owner who puts up a security camera in his store's parking lot has every right to do so. You have no right to tell him he can't. But in the "too far" side of things, if the government had retinal checkpoints at stoplights, I think we agree that this is not appropriate.
Where do you draw the line?
How do you reconcile your privacy that with the freedom to record things in public places? At some point, you need to realize that when you are out in public, people can and will observe and record you. You might not like it, but what remedy do you take? Forced deletion of data? Who enforces this? What authority do they have regarding seizure of property? Could this be used in other nefarious ways, such as to suppress journalists or scientists who are collecting data?
To me, claims to privacy everywhere are like demanding that the sun not rise because you have sensitive skin. At some point you need to accept that the sun comes out, and take the appropriate precautions so you don't get burnt.
And when the practice gets to the point where it is impossible to even purchase basic necessities without having your presence logged, you are fine with that? When it ultimately becomes a choice between the life of a shut in and having your every movement beyond your own property permanently logged how can that make for a healthy society?
You can claim to have a right to privacy, but that does not mean that others are forbidden to watch you. You do not have a right to invisibility. At some point you have to accept that people you don't know will know things about you from watching you. Don't call up the privacy police to regulate an entity that uses voluntarily supplied information.
I figured you would come down to that argument - that's why I threw it in there.
Remember, this whole discussion was about businesses scraping blogs and social sites, NOT about the forced extraction of information. You're getting off to a different (but related) topic.
When facebook retro-actively changes what they promise to do and not do with the information people give them?
The point isn't what a company promises to do, but rather what you give the company. Even if a company "promises" not to sell my data, I know that that promise isn't worth the paper it is printed on, so I provide as little information as possible, or bogus information, in order to get the service. Or I don't get the service. But I don't try to shift the responsibility of my privacy to someone else. I take responsibility for it myself.
What about say, a store, quietly installing a system to read and record the license plate of every car that enters their parking lot?
That is their parking lot and a public place, where I have no expectation of privacy. Why should they be banned from this behavior? Consider the flip side. Am I allowed to put up a camera on my property that photographs everyone that comes to my door?
Or when an entire industry becomes so used to routine privacy violations that even walk-in medical clinics refuse service to cash-only patients who won't disclose their name, address, etc?
Bogus name and address solves this problem. You're not doing this under oath, and as long as you are paying the entire bill before you leave, there is no fraud.