I am so happy -- I thought the next article from Katz was going to be about the plight of the Afghan day traders --- and how the taliban had put the hurt on their ability to get out before the dot coms went south.
Re:Why am I not surp.. -- Why it did not work
on
Last Word on Loki
·
· Score: 2
I agree with what you said and I did read your article. I just think it is a little easier of a temptation for someone to dual boot and maintain 2 software solutions -- rather than having to purchase a whole new computer (or have 2 computers).
Re:Why am I not surp.. -- Why it did not work
on
Last Word on Loki
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Another thing to keep in mind is that most mac users could not dual boot to play the new PC/Win game that they just purchased the week it came out. If I had a Mac -- I had to wait until the Mac version came out if I wanted to play. (Much different that dual booting on the same machine.) I think Loki would have survived if 3 things were in place:
A...If dual booters were really hardcore linux fans -- and refused to dual boot (even for games) -- Sales go up 50% for Loki -- because people would not have already purchased the "windows version".
B...If Loki were able to offer Linux games closer to the time they were released for the other platforms....(nothing like getting a "new" Linux game 12 months after the windows version had hit the cut out boxes for $9.99. -- Sales go up 25%.
C...If they had been able to port the games that people wanted to buy...The Starcrafts, Warcrafts, C&C, Red Alert, Diablo...Sales go up 75%
You can keep your fancy MS Office, IE 6 can crash elsewhere, Quickbooks and Quicken -- you can have em;, games are for kids...But man if I could have 1 "port" from the evil demons it would be wma8 encode/decode. I am a bit of a music freak...and can not help think I get the best "bang for the buck" out of WMA's encoded at 64. The perfect mix of size and quality -- granted through headphones I did not mind the sound of mp3's at 56 back when 32 meg players were the rage....(So I don't have a professional ear...But until then Lame is cooking up pretty good 64's for me I guess.
From where I am standing I see many more PDA devices running PalmOS. Microsoft may have the marketing power to create the illusion that they have big market share, but in reality any other company would be dead if it was based on moving an OS. The competition here has to be on PocketPC Vs. PalmOS Vs. ???. (Because for one thing Microsoft does not provide any hardware to run their PocketPC OS on). In reality I would bet that their are 50 PalmOS related devices sold for every 1 CE/PocketPC device.
Now do I think that Palm is slacking in their Hardware provisions and enhancments....Hell yes I do...But they are the AOL of the PDA world -- and it wont matter how many bells and whistles they have to compete with -- they still will be the king of the hill.
CF Rules. Nex II is a nice player. I was lucky enough to find one at CompUSA a few weeks ago for $99 with a 32MB Card....(32MB sucks for MP3 -- but it works great in my camera.) After purchasing a couple 256 Meg CF cards VIA pricewatch -- I am in good shape now.
I am an MP3 player junky and own many models ranging from MPMan, RIO500, RCA Lyra, RioVolt CD, Classic CD, Other various First gen CD's, Archos Jukebox, Etc..Etc..Etc. Bottom line:
1. The ability to use only external media is a plus. (I have fried 3 players via data transfer to internal memory. I purchased a CF reader to load data onto the cards so that the actual player never gets harmed during data transfer.)
1A. Compact Flash as the external media. (Has anyone seen Smart Media, MMC, or Sony Memory Sticks that hold 256 Meg, 512 Meg??? -- I dont think so.)
2. CD type MP3 players are nice...the riovolt is a cool player...however I have found that these type of players are 2 big, fragile, and skip prone to be of much use in most "outdoor" type situations.
3. No external program needed to copy files to memory card. Anyone who has tried to put mp3's...err...mpx's onto the RCA lyra knows what I mean...
4. Battery life must be good. 10+ hours. This excludes the "hard drive" type players. They are not only as fragile as the CD's, but they will suck batteries at a rate similar to a laptop.
So far the Nex II is the only player I have purchased that meets all the above.
At worst I will be reduced to converting my CD's into mp3's the same way I do my LP's and Tapes. Digitial out on the stereo to digital in on the sound card = 1 big WAV file / Broadcast 2000 to split the tracks + some fancy id3 tagger & lame...
I liked the idea of the handspring modules...But they have never really taken off, and are hard to find in the stores. (and really expensive) -- I long for the day I could just simply take the PCMCIA modem or NIC card out of my laptop and use it with my "state of the art circa 1996" HP 200LX.. And in 2002 I am spending $100+ for a 33.6K springboard modem for my Handspring (granted you can find them in the stores -- hint, you may have some luck on the closeout table right next to the returned items that have been marked down.5%)
The palms are even worse -- I dont think the external devices have been compatible with the next gen models since day 1. (I.E. my palm V modem will not work with my palm m505 -- etc.)
If ever I have seen a market that was begging for a little standardization -- the PDA market is it.
I pay a fee to a (many) third party companie(s) to download files from not any of those companies -- but to another user like me who is in turn paying a fee -- and most of the bandwitdth exchanged is between the two user parties. Is this not akin to setting up a dating service in a nightclub. Or selling the recipe for ice....I mean there are already many, many, many alternative methods of P2P file transfer....This is akin to selling tickets to the game -- after the game....ROFL
I thought we were more concerned with emulating the PC on the Xbox...Now someone has to go and emulate the Xbox on the PC...BTW -- the link is dead. (Already!)
> , such a stark contrast to the Soviet's ill-
> fated invasion of Afghanistan just a decade ago.
The soviets had to go against ALL of a united and pissed off Afghanistan that was given weaponry and supplies by anti-soviet powerhouses such as the USA. That is a bit different than ALL of the world going in against a poorly armed and supplied Taliban sect -- that not only had isolated itself from and pissed of many of the population -- but also had managed to get a big section to take up arms against them (the Northern Allience.) Much different Katz.....Sorry
I have always been mildly impressed by reading Katz. But between this and the "buried C64 and baywatch tapes" from the last time he opened his mouth make me think that maybe a "war time" Katz is crazy and needs medication.
A robotic war this is not. For one thing the opposition's most advanced weaponry on the table is the land mine and AK47. In addition to the fact that the Northen Allience robots...errr...soldiers are doing most of the dirty work. All we are doing is dropping bombs uncontested -- and sending small groups of people in to point out the targets of oppurtunity -- and try not to step on any landmines. (Does not look like the Taliban had to many SAM's stockpiled.)
Don't get me wrong -- I love my country, and respect each and every soldier who goes into harms way for America....But the bottom line is that this is not a very formidible foe -- and chances are we will leave the third world with more friendly fire and accidental casulties than anything.
I am thinking a bit possitive about this for 1 reason. Michael Robertson did some neat things with mp3.com (before the bullies got to him) I think the idea of being able to purchase a CD online -- and then listen to all mp3's of that CD instantlly was a brilliant idea. So I will give him some credit. What is funny -- is that 1 1/2 years ago -- many of us NON-Windows users would have given some random left extremity in order to be able to run the latest version of IE on Linux. Now -- with a lot of money, blood, sweat and tears from the likes of Mozilla, Opera, Konq. -- et. all. Having IE on Linux now would really be no big deal. I think native Linux apps (ported or original) are more important and long term than the voodoo ideas of emulation, API manipulation, and smoke and mirrors. I may very well donate the hundred bucks to people working on KDE or such (Linux desktop apps that rise above hobbyist status and can compete at any level)-- rather than send $100 in Mike's direction.
> ). TiVo could have worked hard and become THE digital media company, but they pretty much paused their vision along with live TV. They remind me a lot of Palm.
LOL. I agree. The inovators or pioneers must continue to set the standard or be rushed under by someone who can take advantage of the core product -- with the features the consumers REALLY want. Case in point: RioVolt MP3 players. I almost bet that the fact that a small group of programmers (and their managers) at iRiver who have constantlly listened to consumers and implemented these requests into multiple firmware updates regularly for their products is the biggest reason that RioVolts (in the us) and Iriver's in the rest of the world -- have literally walked away with everyones dollars, in the wake of dozens of competing models. (I mean if you are already bleading millions of VC into a product -- it does not hurt to spend a bit on little pirks to the consumers -- it will pay back tenfold)
I think this has the chance to be the biggest (* non data center related) Linux success to date. It appears to have everything going for it..I guess the proof will be not only "in the pudding"...but also in availability, cost, and support. I would like to see these things on the shelf in mass quantity very soon. Based on how low on surplus the chains were on certain PDA's this passed holiday season....and still....I would say yesterday would be a good time to market. It seems that the right combination of price and options is what gives these things life in the marketplace. (When HP dropped the price of their "low end" color Pocket PC to $199.00 they were VERY hard to find in the stores. -- people figured that was a sweet spot...Not many people will be willing to pay as much for their PDA's as they have to for a desktop machine.)
I don't know. I bet if you spread that 3.5 million bucks profit around the Debian camp or give a couple million to the Slackware folks -- they would be more than happy.
Bottom line -- if you are spending 13 million on ANY linux based product and expecting to recoup that in sales....then you are crazy. First of all -- you are selling a free product that most people in the know are already getting for free....And 2nd of all -- as far as distributions go -- you are competing with other quality distributions, and that makes nice even slices into an already small pie.
I would like to see some (sane) business plans that focus on CURRENT user base -- rather than all computer users. I mean "Well we can make a profit based on current user base and 25% of current Windows users moving to Linux...."... It ain't gonna happen -- do we not have a big enough user base to make a profit?? The VMWare folks seem to be doing very well. Redhat is keeping their heads above water. Maybe the team working on Microsoft Word or Warcraft III can have operating expenses that are high -- and expect to recoup them, but anyone working on a linux based product has to have a realistic business plan that takes current user base into account. It is hard to exceed expectations and be pleasently surprised when your expectations where never realistic to start with. (I.E. -- THE EAZEL FOLKS)
Good reply. I wish more people would understand that Linux is not a product. Greed follows money...and money and greed lead to failed adventures in coding and unhappy and broke people who wonder why the stock market crushed them like a grape into wine.
Just when I was getting excited to reclaim those 7 gigs that I have Win 98 installed on....Someone had to remind me that someday there is going to be another Warcraft. This folks is the type of thing Linux needs to "make it" on the desktop. Right now we have 15 office suites that introduce 400 new file formats and 20+ games that they have ported from the cut-out bin. Can you imagine if you could get Blizzard games for Linux on the day of release....That would be a good day.
>> Lots of cool gadgets in there. Samsung 3G
prototypes, a car designed by Bella and Nokia, soft hardware by IDEO, Siemens wristphone, Compaq's project Mercury, the Agende VR3 Linux based PDA, the Pogo, Psion's über gadgets, Handspring's Treo, Fathammer's X-Forge, Samsungs YOPY (Linux PDA), Sharp's Zaurus SL-5500 including screenshots.
Yea Try "OggSter", then you can download them to your "OggPod" and play them in your car on your "OggPEG", or how about popping them into your "OggVD" player?
Really folks: I have been listening to MP3's away from my computer for years....would really like to do the same with OGG's...Any word on portable device support? Or car stereo support.
P.S. -- I have karma to burn.
1. More samba shares on the local networks at work as Comm Tech managers get bigger bonuses for saving oodles of Microsoft license dollars.
2. More IIS web servers replaced with Linux and apache as Web Group managers get bigger bonuses for saving oodles of Microsoft license dollars.
3. More Tomcat implementations as said managers save money on the Weblogic license dollars.
4. More failed companies who think they can "cash in" on this Linux thing....
5. The people that started in the garages and basements....(went to work for a few months at various linux startups and got bitter when the stock dipped below a dollar...and they got layed off...) --> will return to the garages and basements...God bless them.
6, VA decides that the only way to pay the/. bandwidth bills is to replace all content with one great big banner add on/..... and when that does not work they will be bought out by x10.com -- and www.slashdot.org will resolve to 10 popup windows for mini cams.
Slashdot Mirror
I am so happy -- I thought the next article from Katz was going to be about the plight of the Afghan day traders --- and how the taliban had put the hurt on their ability to get out before the dot coms went south.
I agree with what you said and I did read your article. I just think it is a little easier of a temptation for someone to dual boot and maintain 2 software solutions -- rather than having to purchase a whole new computer (or have 2 computers).
Another thing to keep in mind is that most mac users could not dual boot to play the new PC/Win game that they just purchased the week it came out. If I had a Mac -- I had to wait until the Mac version came out if I wanted to play. (Much different that dual booting on the same machine.) I think Loki would have survived if 3 things were in place:
A...If dual booters were really hardcore linux fans -- and refused to dual boot (even for games) -- Sales go up 50% for Loki -- because people would not have already purchased the "windows version".
B...If Loki were able to offer Linux games closer to the time they were released for the other platforms....(nothing like getting a "new" Linux game 12 months after the windows version had hit the cut out boxes for $9.99. -- Sales go up 25%.
C...If they had been able to port the games that people wanted to buy...The Starcrafts, Warcrafts, C&C, Red Alert, Diablo...Sales go up 75%
Blizzaed needs to tap into this oil well we call "Gaming On My Firewall". Better get those mail servers geared up for some Warcraft III!!!
You can keep your fancy MS Office, IE 6 can crash elsewhere, Quickbooks and Quicken -- you can have em;, games are for kids...But man if I could have 1 "port" from the evil demons it would be wma8 encode/decode. I am a bit of a music freak...and can not help think I get the best "bang for the buck" out of WMA's encoded at 64. The perfect mix of size and quality -- granted through headphones I did not mind the sound of mp3's at 56 back when 32 meg players were the rage....(So I don't have a professional ear...But until then Lame is cooking up pretty good 64's for me I guess.
From where I am standing I see many more PDA devices running PalmOS. Microsoft may have the marketing power to create the illusion that they have big market share, but in reality any other company would be dead if it was based on moving an OS. The competition here has to be on PocketPC Vs. PalmOS Vs. ???. (Because for one thing Microsoft does not provide any hardware to run their PocketPC OS on). In reality I would bet that their are 50 PalmOS related devices sold for every 1 CE/PocketPC device.
Now do I think that Palm is slacking in their Hardware provisions and enhancments....Hell yes I do...But they are the AOL of the PDA world -- and it wont matter how many bells and whistles they have to compete with -- they still will be the king of the hill.
CF Rules. Nex II is a nice player. I was lucky enough to find one at CompUSA a few weeks ago for $99 with a 32MB Card....(32MB sucks for MP3 -- but it works great in my camera.) After purchasing a couple 256 Meg CF cards VIA pricewatch -- I am in good shape now.
I am an MP3 player junky and own many models ranging from MPMan, RIO500, RCA Lyra, RioVolt CD, Classic CD, Other various First gen CD's, Archos Jukebox, Etc..Etc..Etc. Bottom line:
1. The ability to use only external media is a plus. (I have fried 3 players via data transfer to internal memory. I purchased a CF reader to load data onto the cards so that the actual player never gets harmed during data transfer.)
1A. Compact Flash as the external media. (Has anyone seen Smart Media, MMC, or Sony Memory Sticks that hold 256 Meg, 512 Meg??? -- I dont think so.)
2. CD type MP3 players are nice...the riovolt is a cool player...however I have found that these type of players are 2 big, fragile, and skip prone to be of much use in most "outdoor" type situations.
3. No external program needed to copy files to memory card. Anyone who has tried to put mp3's...err...mpx's onto the RCA lyra knows what I mean...
4. Battery life must be good. 10+ hours. This excludes the "hard drive" type players. They are not only as fragile as the CD's, but they will suck batteries at a rate similar to a laptop.
So far the Nex II is the only player I have purchased that meets all the above.
At worst I will be reduced to converting my CD's into mp3's the same way I do my LP's and Tapes. Digitial out on the stereo to digital in on the sound card = 1 big WAV file / Broadcast 2000 to split the tracks + some fancy id3 tagger & lame...
I liked the idea of the handspring modules...But they have never really taken off, and are hard to find in the stores. (and really expensive) -- I long for the day I could just simply take the PCMCIA modem or NIC card out of my laptop and use it with my "state of the art circa 1996" HP 200LX .. And in 2002 I am spending $100+ for a 33.6K springboard modem for my Handspring (granted you can find them in the stores -- hint, you may have some luck on the closeout table right next to the returned items that have been marked down .5%)
The palms are even worse -- I dont think the external devices have been compatible with the next gen models since day 1. (I.E. my palm V modem will not work with my palm m505 -- etc.)
If ever I have seen a market that was begging for a little standardization -- the PDA market is it.
Usually my analogies are top notch. I am just having a bad day today.
I pay a fee to a (many) third party companie(s) to download files from not any of those companies -- but to another user like me who is in turn paying a fee -- and most of the bandwitdth exchanged is between the two user parties. Is this not akin to setting up a dating service in a nightclub. Or selling the recipe for ice....I mean there are already many, many, many alternative methods of P2P file transfer....This is akin to selling tickets to the game -- after the game....ROFL
The first portable jukebox that will funtion flawlessly under Linux using standard run of the mill: "insmod usb-storage".
I thought we were more concerned with emulating the PC on the Xbox...Now someone has to go and emulate the Xbox on the PC...BTW -- the link is dead. (Already!)
> , such a stark contrast to the Soviet's ill-
> fated invasion of Afghanistan just a decade ago.
The soviets had to go against ALL of a united and pissed off Afghanistan that was given weaponry and supplies by anti-soviet powerhouses such as the USA. That is a bit different than ALL of the world going in against a poorly armed and supplied Taliban sect -- that not only had isolated itself from and pissed of many of the population -- but also had managed to get a big section to take up arms against them (the Northern Allience.) Much different Katz.....Sorry
I have always been mildly impressed by reading Katz. But between this and the "buried C64 and baywatch tapes" from the last time he opened his mouth make me think that maybe a "war time" Katz is crazy and needs medication.
A robotic war this is not. For one thing the opposition's most advanced weaponry on the table is the land mine and AK47. In addition to the fact that the Northen Allience robots...errr...soldiers are doing most of the dirty work. All we are doing is dropping bombs uncontested -- and sending small groups of people in to point out the targets of oppurtunity -- and try not to step on any landmines. (Does not look like the Taliban had to many SAM's stockpiled.) Don't get me wrong -- I love my country, and respect each and every soldier who goes into harms way for America....But the bottom line is that this is not a very formidible foe -- and chances are we will leave the third world with more friendly fire and accidental casulties than anything.
I am thinking a bit possitive about this for 1 reason. Michael Robertson did some neat things with mp3.com (before the bullies got to him) I think the idea of being able to purchase a CD online -- and then listen to all mp3's of that CD instantlly was a brilliant idea. So I will give him some credit. What is funny -- is that 1 1/2 years ago -- many of us NON-Windows users would have given some random left extremity in order to be able to run the latest version of IE on Linux. Now -- with a lot of money, blood, sweat and tears from the likes of Mozilla, Opera, Konq. -- et. all. Having IE on Linux now would really be no big deal. I think native Linux apps (ported or original) are more important and long term than the voodoo ideas of emulation, API manipulation, and smoke and mirrors. I may very well donate the hundred bucks to people working on KDE or such (Linux desktop apps that rise above hobbyist status and can compete at any level)-- rather than send $100 in Mike's direction.
> ). TiVo could have worked hard and become THE digital media company, but they pretty much paused their vision along with live TV. They remind me a lot of Palm.
LOL. I agree. The inovators or pioneers must continue to set the standard or be rushed under by someone who can take advantage of the core product -- with the features the consumers REALLY want. Case in point: RioVolt MP3 players. I almost bet that the fact that a small group of programmers (and their managers) at iRiver who have constantlly listened to consumers and implemented these requests into multiple firmware updates regularly for their products is the biggest reason that RioVolts (in the us) and Iriver's in the rest of the world -- have literally walked away with everyones dollars, in the wake of dozens of competing models. (I mean if you are already bleading millions of VC into a product -- it does not hurt to spend a bit on little pirks to the consumers -- it will pay back tenfold)
I think this has the chance to be the biggest (* non data center related) Linux success to date. It appears to have everything going for it..I guess the proof will be not only "in the pudding"...but also in availability, cost, and support. I would like to see these things on the shelf in mass quantity very soon. Based on how low on surplus the chains were on certain PDA's this passed holiday season....and still....I would say yesterday would be a good time to market. It seems that the right combination of price and options is what gives these things life in the marketplace. (When HP dropped the price of their "low end" color Pocket PC to $199.00 they were VERY hard to find in the stores. -- people figured that was a sweet spot...Not many people will be willing to pay as much for their PDA's as they have to for a desktop machine.)
I don't know. I bet if you spread that 3.5 million bucks profit around the Debian camp or give a couple million to the Slackware folks -- they would be more than happy.
... It ain't gonna happen -- do we not have a big enough user base to make a profit?? The VMWare folks seem to be doing very well. Redhat is keeping their heads above water. Maybe the team working on Microsoft Word or Warcraft III can have operating expenses that are high -- and expect to recoup them, but anyone working on a linux based product has to have a realistic business plan that takes current user base into account. It is hard to exceed expectations and be pleasently surprised when your expectations where never realistic to start with. (I.E. -- THE EAZEL FOLKS)
Bottom line -- if you are spending 13 million on ANY linux based product and expecting to recoup that in sales....then you are crazy. First of all -- you are selling a free product that most people in the know are already getting for free....And 2nd of all -- as far as distributions go -- you are competing with other quality distributions, and that makes nice even slices into an already small pie.
I would like to see some (sane) business plans that focus on CURRENT user base -- rather than all computer users. I mean "Well we can make a profit based on current user base and 25% of current Windows users moving to Linux...."
Good reply. I wish more people would understand that Linux is not a product. Greed follows money...and money and greed lead to failed adventures in coding and unhappy and broke people who wonder why the stock market crushed them like a grape into wine.
Ahh...My time is cheap...But I pay for my bandwidth.
Just when I was getting excited to reclaim those 7 gigs that I have Win 98 installed on....Someone had to remind me that someday there is going to be another Warcraft. This folks is the type of thing Linux needs to "make it" on the desktop. Right now we have 15 office suites that introduce 400 new file formats and 20+ games that they have ported from the cut-out bin. Can you imagine if you could get Blizzard games for Linux on the day of release....That would be a good day.
>> Lots of cool gadgets in there. Samsung 3G prototypes, a car designed by Bella and Nokia, soft hardware by IDEO, Siemens wristphone, Compaq's project Mercury, the Agende VR3 Linux based PDA, the Pogo, Psion's über gadgets, Handspring's Treo, Fathammer's X-Forge, Samsungs YOPY (Linux PDA), Sharp's Zaurus SL-5500 including screenshots.
Or in other words -- a tribute to vaporware 2001.
Yea Try "OggSter", then you can download them to your "OggPod" and play them in your car on your "OggPEG", or how about popping them into your "OggVD" player?
Really folks: I have been listening to MP3's away from my computer for years....would really like to do the same with OGG's...Any word on portable device support? Or car stereo support.
P.S. -- I have karma to burn.
1. More samba shares on the local networks at work as Comm Tech managers get bigger bonuses for saving oodles of Microsoft license dollars.
/. bandwidth bills is to replace all content with one great big banner add on /. .... and when that does not work they will be bought out by x10.com -- and www.slashdot.org will resolve to 10 popup windows for mini cams.
2. More IIS web servers replaced with Linux and apache as Web Group managers get bigger bonuses for saving oodles of Microsoft license dollars.
3. More Tomcat implementations as said managers save money on the Weblogic license dollars.
4. More failed companies who think they can "cash in" on this Linux thing....
5. The people that started in the garages and basements....(went to work for a few months at various linux startups and got bitter when the stock dipped below a dollar...and they got layed off...) --> will return to the garages and basements...God bless them.
6, VA decides that the only way to pay the
7. The end of world peace.