"At that point the platform that is better at doing things for free is pretty much sure to win out."
Or better yet the platform that is pretty good at doing things for cheap or free is good enough.
I love it that there is now becoming competition and market for something that does not have 2 gigs of ram and a 500 gig hard drive and a gigaflop super duper core processor and blue lightScribe DVD running through a battery in 45 minutes to power a $400 OS from Microsoft or Mac.
Most people could (and want to) make do with 512 Megs of memory, 5 gigs of hard drive space, a couple of flash slots and whatever free operating system can fire a up a web browser and music player.....and let them wirelessly browse the web, watch youtube and listen to music for a few hours between re-charges.
Using ink jet printers at home on any regular basis is akin to living off a diet consisting only of vaccuum packed survival meals that cost about $9 a serving.
I guess stealing music must be a cultural activity and not money driven. I mean if anybody had the means (money or otherwise) to legally obtain tunez, you would think it would be his kids.
This makes about as much sense as Bill Gates' kids pirating copies of Word or Excel.
I think Nintendo has made a brilliant move. Let Sony and Microsoft cater to the people (drones) who are going to buy the next gen consoles anyway, no matter how bad or good they are.....Nintendo is taking it to the next level and catering to an untapped market -- actually 2 markets.
1. The people like me that are casual gamers but do not rush out to buy any console in the first year or even 2 -- but may pick up second hand or once the price point has dropped a level or 3. But are intrigued enough by the unique "one of a kind" breakthroughs that Nintendo is pushing to actually go out and get one at full price within 6 months of launch.
2. People that were never really in the market for a console because of a variety of reasons -- not the least being the lethargic nature of the gamer being pinned down to the couch as mold grows under his/hers ass.
This is only fueled by the rave reviews the wii is getting.
as soon as any medium goes commericial -- I.E. -- "has a payroll, makes money, etc." it enters the same realm of censoring and forced ignorance as the rest of them. Mainly because people go into a self preservation mode to protect their ability to keep "getting paid" or "staying out of jail".
BIG web sites and blogging services are the latest victim of this effect.
As an "honest" consumer -- I thought it was the best win/win situation ever. I whip out my credit card and pay $15 for a CD, and I get to download and listen to the songs I just bought right away until the CD itself showed up in the mail in a week or so. Everyone gets paid the full amount and everyone is happy.
Yet -- they chose to take mp3.com down to the ground because of it.
In this case they are marketing the ipod to people who are also paying the full price for the physical media......
This is said....I don't shed tear 1 when they "take down" the criminals that stealing movies or music where the content makers don't profit....But to take down the people who are selling your product at full price seems pretty stupid to me. The people that suffer the most are the honest consumers.
Divorce when only the man and woman are involved is OK...No harm no foul. You involve a child in that marriage -- and then choose divorce on the grounds that "you work to much at your job" is a stupid excuse. (How will things be better for your child when you are divorced and spend time with him even less?)
You are not only divorcing your wife -- you are divorcing your child to. Don't try to spin it and blame it on your job. Money is king -- if you were working 30 hrs. a week for minimum wage turning burgers would your marriage be better? I don't think so....
Excellent reply! In the corporate environment these days, if it don't work in my browser over standard HTTP port 80 - it won't work period. Everything is locked down so tight, that even installing the "plugin of the day" is not an option.
Last I remember...Videos were for promotional purposes, and Youtube looks like the perfect avenue to get them out there.
NOTE to anybody that pays for a music video -- I have some commercials for sale. They come in 30 second blocks, some of them mildy funny and can be had for $1.99 a piece ($3.50 for the Apple commercials). Act today and we will throw in a Steve Jobs bobble head doll with every purchase over 20 dollars.
So many people are trying to grasp at straws to "will" the PSP to be a success.
Even a marginal success. "The games are not that bad", "I did not count on using it to watch UMD movies anyway", etc, etc, etc. Meanwhile -- the DS is moving along kicking ass and taking names.
DISCLAIMER: I own neither. have used both, and am strictly using the inertia of the possitive DS stories and successes to VS. proven PSP failures and deficiencies to compare.
Plus, the video game market is huge, there was plenty of room to have "2" success stories at once. People so wanted the PSP to be huge. It just did not deliver. Sure it was sony, the same company that brought you the PS1 and the PS2 -- how could it not be a success?, we must be missing something. So many of the PS* fanboys have this beaten woman like syndrome -- to where they almost would rather take blame themselves than admit that Sony dropped the ball.
Ok, I won't buy the theory that Ubuntu is killing Redhat.
However, I would say that Ubuntu is pushing many of the other distros into obscurity.
From a business standpoint the Redhat solution is really the main option and will remain so for the long term. They have earned that -- and the choices made to commercialize Linux prove that they are cashing in on what they have earned - fair enough.
From a hobbyist/desktop perspective -- it is fairly evident that Ubuntu is cleaning everyone elses clock in a sense. They have inertia, strong user support, great reviews and are the darling of the free software industry (alternative desktop) right now -- and these kudos pay the same dividends in "street cred" that Redhat has turned into dollars and cents.
Ubuntu could end up being the best option at the best time for desktop users. Who knows, history will tell. A few years ago I would have said that Mandrake was prime for that position....But the lack of mass acceptance of Linux seems to have killed off Mandrake....Which would most likely have died off anyway, because most of the mass accepters (sic) would be in it for the cost:) which at $0 tends to grease the wheels better than a possitive dollar amount....(yet as Mandrake found out -- does not pay the light bill:)
So bottom line -- Anybody with deep enough pockets, a love for linux, and no need to profit could at one time in history be the kings of the Linux desktop.
I played around with about 10 or 11 CMS systems last year. The only one that had all of the features, good community support, and actually installed and worked fairly straight forward was Xoops. Nothing else even came close or was in the same ballbark.
At the risk of sounding politically uncorrect (especially considering I make a living of off selling software):
After purchasing my Commodore 128 for more money then I had ever seen -- I spent about 6 months wondering what to do with it besides program (which of course in the long run pays the bills today) -- I was pumped to no end when I found someone who had a whole box (hundreds) of "pirated" games that I could copy and play to my hearts content for nothing more than the price of floppies. (Take that $50 Frogger copy that I had to work all summer to purchase:)
Warcraft II (online) and building my first "retro" arcade cabinet rank up there also.
A data CD of 600 Megs takes at least 2 hours to download on my connection. (Sometimes it is on my side, sometimes the source is slower) -- Oh yea, and if I am downloading from a fat pipe on the other end -- my IP phone sounds like I am in a echo chamber. Now this is perfectlly acceptible every couple of months when I want to try out a new Linux distribution or something -- It would be a major PITA to go through this every time I wanted to watch a movie.
oops...I forgot about that one. And I guess it was worth an extra $39.95 to see that my hero Han Solo really did not kill poor Greedo in cold blood. I slept better at night.
The rental model (netflix, blockbusters, etc) seems perfect for movies - the ending does not change the 10th time through.
Who wants to own all of these things? What kind of persona is sitting down right now putting in that Pauly Shore flix for the 14th time going, sure am glad I own this one, pass the popcorn.
I am actually surprised DVD's sell so well. Kids movies are one thing, those little rascals can sit down and watch the same thing a hundred times. But what is the drive for adults to actually own so many movies? Sure, if you did not see it in the theatre -- and it is cheaper to buy than rent, and you need to fill in all of those ugly empty storage spots in your entertainment center...I guess so.
Online movie purchases are even weirder -- for something to be DVD quality, I think would put it in the 2 or 3 GB range....I could watch 2 or 3 movies in the time it would take one of those to download on my connection. Let alone the time it would take me to burn it onto hard copy media. Sounds like a lot of work for something I can just have show up in the mail from Netflix and watch in my DVD player -- and then send back for another one that I have not seen, and do not know how it ends:)
Putting the OQO on that list was flat WRONG. There has yet to be one device since in that category that is any better. I have an OQO and it is a great little device.
"Also, it would be even more financially responsible to add to your music collection by buying used CDs-- $150 a year would get you at least 15-17 of them, you can rip those tracks to whatever format and quality level you prefer, and they're yours to keep forever with no DRM."
Ya -- the RIAA is intent on making "fair use" people pay the price also. Much like the MPAA making me sit through a gut wrenching "anti piracy" trailer/commercial that will only ever be seen by people that have already paid $10 bucks for their ticket....What pansies.
They loosly tie together the episodes. When Baltar stole the Nuke (and for reasons never explained) gave it to Gina as a Cloud Nine houswarming gift....We did not here or see again of said nuke until it was used to destroy cloud nine for no apparent reason or motive other than Gina's suicide. I always get the feeling that any/most plot development ends up on the cutting room floor....Only to be pieced back together again 6 episodes later in a way that makes me think I missed a few crucial episodes....(Even though I know I did not miss a minute.)
I think you missed one time frame. That is the time frame where the "domestic/worker" cylons of the peacful colonies are used as an army in the war between the colonies (ala Attack Of The Clones).
So we have.
1. Peaceful colonies invent first cylon prototypes
2. Prototypes mature to the level of domestic servents, field workers, crop pickers, etc.
3. Colonies go to war and convert domestic robots to warrior robots.
4. Colonies settle differences, find peace.
5. Disgruntled robots begin to rebel against their creators.
6. War between the Cylons and Colonies
Now granted, the current BSG takes many freedoms in skipping anywhere from 30 days to a year between episodes.....But this looks like enough ground to cover for about 20 seasons:) All indications is that it will be more similar to "Dynasty meets Buffy meets LA Law meets 90210 on some other planet than earth" -- instead of typical Meat and Potatoes SCI-FI....oh well.
Being in a position as an ex-programmer / now PHB.....We hire 3 or 4 programmers a quarter. They send us the resumes, and we weed through them paying attention to experience, accomplishments and education, ignorant of the race, culture or country of birth. Many of these that look promising get invited for an interview.
The sad part is -- There are many American "trained" programmers that have been making a living as "programmers" for many years....And they don't know very much about computers or programming.
I always use the example of comparing the programming field to such skilled professions as plumbing and landscaping. If you have a plumbing problem in your house, or need a sprinkler system installed in your yard -- you can open the yellow pages and be pretty sure that the people listed under each profession are going to be able to solve your problem (no matter how "unique" and "undefined" it is) -- and your decision usually boils down to cost and availability.
In direct contrast to this, you find many people offering themselves out as contract programmers that are not problem solvers -- and do not know very much about programming. They would not last a week as a plumber or landscaper.
To make a long story short -- I don't know what it is, but even though we are not outsourcing or having our work shipped off shore -- most of the qualified applicants (to put it bluntly) are not born nor primarily educated in America. To put it even more blunty -- on a scale of 1 to 10 points, if we gave 3 bonus points for being born and educated in the US....We would still be hiring 95% of people from India or China.
And my eyes might be playing tricks on me -- but I think that is my upgrade fee for "Frontpage 95" -- he has framed in the middle top part of that picture.
Slashdot Mirror
"At that point the platform that is better at doing things for free is pretty much sure to win out."
Or better yet the platform that is pretty good at doing things for cheap or free is good enough.
I love it that there is now becoming competition and market for something that does not have 2 gigs of ram and a 500 gig hard drive and a gigaflop super duper core processor and blue lightScribe DVD running through a battery in 45 minutes to power a $400 OS from Microsoft or Mac.
Most people could (and want to) make do with 512 Megs of memory, 5 gigs of hard drive space, a couple of flash slots and whatever free operating system can fire a up a web browser and music player.....and let them wirelessly browse the web, watch youtube and listen to music for a few hours between re-charges.
Using ink jet printers at home on any regular basis is akin to living off a diet consisting only of vaccuum packed survival meals that cost about $9 a serving.
I have been experimenting With DRM-free MP3's for years -- and they work
pretty good.
I guess stealing music must be a cultural activity and not
money driven. I mean if anybody had the means (money or otherwise) to
legally obtain tunez, you would think it would be his kids.
This makes about as much sense as Bill Gates' kids pirating copies of Word or Excel.
I think Nintendo has made a brilliant move. Let Sony and Microsoft cater to the people (drones) who are going to buy the next gen consoles anyway, no matter how bad or good they are.....Nintendo is taking it to the next level and catering to an untapped market -- actually 2 markets.
1. The people like me that are casual gamers but do not rush out to buy any console in the first year or even 2 -- but may pick up second hand or once the price point has dropped a level or 3. But are intrigued enough by the unique "one of a kind" breakthroughs that Nintendo is pushing to actually go out and get one at full price within 6 months of launch.
2. People that were never really in the market for a console because of a variety of reasons -- not the least being the lethargic nature of the gamer being pinned down to the couch as mold grows under his/hers ass.
This is only fueled by the rave reviews the wii is getting.
as soon as any medium goes commericial -- I.E. -- "has a payroll, makes money, etc." it enters the same realm of censoring and forced ignorance as the rest of them. Mainly because people go into a self preservation mode to protect their ability to keep "getting paid" or "staying out of jail".
BIG web sites and blogging services are the latest victim of this effect.
This reminds me of mp3.com
As an "honest" consumer -- I thought it was the best win/win situation ever.
I whip out my credit card and pay $15 for a CD, and I get to download and
listen to the songs I just bought right away until the CD itself showed up
in the mail in a week or so. Everyone gets paid the full amount and everyone
is happy.
Yet -- they chose to take mp3.com down to the ground because of it.
In this case they are marketing the ipod to people who are also paying the full
price for the physical media......
This is said....I don't shed tear 1 when they "take down" the criminals that stealing movies
or music where the content makers don't profit....But to take down the people who are selling
your product at full price seems pretty stupid to me. The people that suffer the most
are the honest consumers.
Are a coward!
Divorce when only the man and woman are involved is OK...No harm no foul. You involve a child in that marriage -- and then choose divorce on the grounds that "you work to much at your job" is a stupid excuse. (How will things be better for your child when you are divorced and spend time with him even less?)
You are not only divorcing your wife -- you are divorcing your child to. Don't try to spin it and blame it on your job. Money is king -- if you were working 30 hrs. a week for minimum wage turning burgers would your marriage be better? I don't think so....
I am truely proud to be old school.
My mooosic player plays old fasioned MP3's and I pay $10 a month for a good news group subscription.
Excellent reply! In the corporate environment these days, if it don't work in my browser over standard HTTP port 80 - it won't work period. Everything is locked down so tight, that even installing the "plugin of the day" is not an option.
Last I remember...Videos were for promotional purposes, and Youtube looks like the perfect avenue to get them out there.
NOTE to anybody that pays for a music video -- I have some commercials for sale. They come in 30 second blocks, some of them mildy funny and can be had for $1.99 a piece ($3.50 for the Apple commercials). Act today and we will throw in a Steve Jobs bobble head doll with every purchase over 20 dollars.
So many people are trying to grasp at straws to "will" the PSP to be a success.
Even a marginal success. "The games are not that bad", "I did not count on using it to watch UMD movies anyway", etc, etc, etc. Meanwhile -- the DS is moving along kicking ass and taking names.
DISCLAIMER: I own neither. have used both, and am strictly using the inertia of the possitive DS stories and successes to VS. proven PSP failures and deficiencies to compare.
Plus, the video game market is huge, there was plenty of room to have "2" success stories at once. People so wanted the PSP to be huge. It just did not deliver. Sure it was sony, the same company that brought you the PS1 and the PS2 -- how could it not be a success?, we must be missing something. So many of the PS* fanboys have this beaten woman like syndrome -- to where they almost would rather take blame themselves than admit that Sony dropped the ball.
Ok, I won't buy the theory that Ubuntu is killing Redhat.
:) which at $0 tends to grease the wheels better than a possitive dollar amount....(yet as Mandrake found out -- does not pay the light bill :)
However, I would say that Ubuntu is pushing many of the other distros into obscurity.
From a business standpoint the Redhat solution is really the main option and will remain so for the long term. They have earned that -- and the choices made to commercialize Linux prove that they are cashing in on what they have earned - fair enough.
From a hobbyist/desktop perspective -- it is fairly evident that Ubuntu is cleaning everyone elses clock in a sense. They have inertia, strong user support, great reviews and are the darling of the free software industry (alternative desktop) right now -- and these kudos pay the same dividends in "street cred" that Redhat has turned into dollars and cents.
Ubuntu could end up being the best option at the best time for desktop users. Who knows, history will tell. A few years ago I would have said that Mandrake was prime for that position....But the lack of mass acceptance of Linux seems to have killed off Mandrake....Which would most likely have died off anyway, because most of the mass accepters (sic) would be in it for the cost
So bottom line -- Anybody with deep enough pockets, a love for linux, and no need to profit could at one time in history be the kings of the Linux desktop.
I played around with about 10 or 11 CMS systems last year. The only one that had
all of the features, good community support, and actually installed and worked fairly straight forward was Xoops. Nothing else even came close or was in the same ballbark.
At the risk of sounding politically uncorrect (especially considering I make a living of off selling software):
:)
After purchasing my Commodore 128 for more money then I had ever seen -- I spent about 6 months wondering what to do with it besides program (which of course in the long run pays the bills today) -- I was pumped to no end when I found someone who had a whole box (hundreds) of "pirated" games that I could copy and play to my hearts content for nothing more than the price of floppies. (Take that $50 Frogger copy that I had to work all summer to purchase
Warcraft II (online) and building my first "retro" arcade cabinet rank up there also.
A data CD of 600 Megs takes at least 2 hours to download on my connection. (Sometimes it is on my side, sometimes the source is slower) -- Oh yea, and if I am downloading from a fat pipe on the other end -- my IP phone sounds like I am in a echo chamber. Now this is perfectlly acceptible every couple of months when I want to try out a new Linux distribution or something -- It would be a major PITA to go through this every time I wanted to watch a movie.
oops...I forgot about that one. And I guess it was worth an extra $39.95 to see that my hero Han Solo really did not kill poor Greedo in cold blood. I slept better at night.
Who is buying all of these movies?
:)
The rental model (netflix, blockbusters, etc) seems perfect for movies - the ending does not change the 10th time through.
Who wants to own all of these things? What kind of persona is sitting down right now putting in that Pauly Shore flix for the 14th time going, sure am glad I own this one, pass the popcorn.
I am actually surprised DVD's sell so well. Kids movies are one thing, those little rascals can sit down and watch the same thing a hundred times. But what is the drive for adults to actually own so many movies? Sure, if you did not see it in the theatre -- and it is cheaper to buy than rent, and you need to fill in all of those ugly empty storage spots in your entertainment center...I guess so.
Online movie purchases are even weirder -- for something to be DVD quality, I think would put it in the 2 or 3 GB range....I could watch 2 or 3 movies in the time it would take one of those to download on my connection. Let alone the time it would take me to burn it onto hard copy media. Sounds like a lot of work for something I can just have show up in the mail from Netflix and watch in my DVD player -- and then send back for another one that I have not seen, and do not know how it ends
A Bundle Package for $59.95
It will include DNF, a copy of Chinese Democracy and a sweater. (Hell will be a bit chilly)
Putting the OQO on that list was flat WRONG. There has yet to be one device since in that category that is any better. I have an OQO and it is a great little device.
"Also, it would be even more financially responsible to add to your music collection by buying used CDs-- $150 a year would get you at least 15-17 of them, you can rip those tracks to whatever format and quality level you prefer, and they're yours to keep forever with no DRM."
Ya -- the RIAA is intent on making "fair use" people pay the price also. Much like the MPAA making me sit through a gut wrenching "anti piracy" trailer/commercial that will only ever be seen by people that have already paid $10 bucks for their ticket....What pansies.
They loosly tie together the episodes. When Baltar stole the Nuke (and for reasons never explained) gave it to Gina as a Cloud Nine houswarming gift....We did not here or see again of said nuke until it was used to destroy cloud nine for no apparent reason or motive other than Gina's suicide. I always get the feeling that any/most plot development ends up on the cutting room floor....Only to be pieced back together again 6 episodes later in a way that makes me think I missed a few crucial episodes....(Even though I know I did not miss a minute.)
I think you missed one time frame. That is the time frame where the "domestic/worker" cylons of the peacful colonies are used as an army in the war between the colonies (ala Attack Of The Clones).
:) All indications is that it will be more similar to "Dynasty meets Buffy meets LA Law meets 90210 on some other planet than earth" -- instead of typical Meat and Potatoes SCI-FI....oh well.
So we have.
1. Peaceful colonies invent first cylon prototypes
2. Prototypes mature to the level of domestic servents, field workers, crop pickers, etc.
3. Colonies go to war and convert domestic robots to warrior robots.
4. Colonies settle differences, find peace.
5. Disgruntled robots begin to rebel against their creators.
6. War between the Cylons and Colonies
Now granted, the current BSG takes many freedoms in skipping anywhere from 30 days to a year between episodes.....But this looks like enough ground to cover for about 20 seasons
Being in a position as an ex-programmer / now PHB.....We hire 3 or 4 programmers a quarter. They send us the resumes, and we weed through them paying attention to experience, accomplishments and education, ignorant of the race, culture or country of birth. Many of these that look promising get invited for an interview.
The sad part is -- There are many American "trained" programmers that have been making a living as "programmers" for many years....And they don't know very much about computers or programming.
I always use the example of comparing the programming field to such skilled professions as plumbing and landscaping. If you have a plumbing problem in your house, or need a sprinkler system installed in your yard -- you can open the yellow pages and be pretty sure that the people listed under each profession are going to be able to solve your problem (no matter how "unique" and "undefined" it is) -- and your decision usually boils down to cost and availability.
In direct contrast to this, you find many people offering themselves out as contract programmers that are not problem solvers -- and do not know very much about programming. They would not last a week as a plumber or landscaper.
To make a long story short -- I don't know what it is, but even though we are not outsourcing or having our work shipped off shore -- most of the qualified
applicants (to put it bluntly) are not born nor primarily educated in America.
To put it even more blunty -- on a scale of 1 to 10 points, if we gave 3 bonus points for being born and educated in the US....We would still be hiring 95% of people from India or China.
I wonder how long he saved for the tablet PC.
And my eyes might be playing tricks on me -- but I think that is my upgrade fee for "Frontpage 95" -- he has framed in the middle top part of that picture.