Apple did not request turn-by-turn in their original licensing agreement. When they realized they wanted to add it to their iOS app, they went back to Google and Google offered to add turn-by-turn but required additional branding in the app as part of the deal.
Apple refused.
Agree or disagree with whether or not it was a good decision, but it was APPLE's decision to refuse the terms. Google did not refuse to allow turn by turn - Apple just didn't get that it was important when they did original negotiations.
Posted from iPad, in case you thought I was a hater.
Of course, we call it a 'parish' but there's no need to split hairs.
I'm incredibly proud of my community and local government. They saw an opportunity decades ago when fiber was cheap and ran a lot of it wherever they had rights of way for electrical...turns out it was a brilliant strategy as we have just become self-sufficient - that's right, there's enough customers purchasing Internet, TV, Voice through the new fiber to be self-sustaining at this point. I've got the 50 / 50 mbps plan at home, and it's unbeleivably fast.
Even better, whenever you connect directly to someone else on the local fiber ring, you get m,ax 100 / 100 mbps speeds. Which is nice since my office uses it as well as my home....X sessions and rdp back and forth from office to house are about as fast as I can ask for...
Of course, we just rolled out 1 GBPS for all homes and businesses in the parish, which gives everyone even more bandwidth. It's one of the reasons my wife and I moved back to Lafayette from Austin.
I really beleive these kinds of investments are what are going to differentiate communities who want to attract the best and brightest to build and grow the businesses of the future.
Our available consumer plans can be seen here - http://lusfiber.com/index.php/internet/pricing-guide
Hah, that's the first thing I thought of also! You're correct, he did indeed. And, if you're interested, you may be able to purchase the one used in the movie: http://www.imsai.net/Movies/WarGames.htm
"The whole "software is math" argument is old and debunked. Anything which requires creativity and careful analysis, and the investment therein, is a potentially valuable addition to human knowledge. In exchange for investing in such a thing, there should be the potential to protect your investment from copycats without resorting to keeping it a secret."
seems to support using Copyrights instead of Patents. Knowledge shouldn't be patented, right? Perhaps copyrighted (if published), but not patented.
I'm not sure that "software is math" is really debunked anyways, but honestly, I never found that argument that compelling in the first place. I've always like "software is speech" - it is a literal series of 1's and 0's representing language, right? Just because both humans and machines can interpret that language doesn't make it any less a language. And NO language is patentable - expressions created within that language are COPYRIGHTABLE, but ought not be patented. It seems to me that we can still encourage creativity and innovation without allowing people who truly don't grok what software even is (voodoo magix?!?!?) to completely mis-classify what software actually is.
I know not everyone will agree with me, but for those of us that actually spend all day / night writing in programming languages, how do you view this interpretation?
I know I may get blasted by the MS haters that lurk here, but I have to say the MS / Razer Habu I picked up at the local Fry's on sale (1/2 price!) has served me well. It's "technically" a gaming mouse (or that's how they market it, anyway), but I've found it works really well at high resolutions on my dual displays in both Windows XP & Ubuntu. I had to do a little bit of configuration in Ubuntu to map all of my keys, but it has 6 programmable keys, great resolution (1600 DPI) and the programmable keys are in positions (IMHO) that really are useful to me whether I'm fraggin zombies in Left 4 Dead or banging out code in Eclipse / VS.
The one thing that DID bum me out was that the firmware update utility only runs on Windows (or at least it did when I bought it a year or so ago), but I mean, this is a MS product, so I kind of figured that. Once I updated the FW, though, Ubuntu detected it fine, so I'm not complaining too loudly.
It's a wired mouse (I'd hate to think how heavy it would be with enough batteries to get that high of a laser DPI), but it does have a really nice long cord and is pretty ergonomic. YMMV, but that's my 2 cents.
I (for once) RTFA, and from what I gathered, they've developed this module and updated launcher to provide an effective round trip mechanism for Moon expeditions, where they will practice the operations that will be required when a full scale Mars mission is executed (sometime around between 2020-2030). I think the important point is that NASA is realizing that the shuttle is not an effective mission system for the next generation of Moon missions, which are a pre-req for any future Mars missions.
To me, this actually sounds like a sober assessment - and one that is long overdue.
This may not be the end of the world, right? If your create your links as javascript function calls, then there are no standard link click actions on a global level that you have to cancel - just the javascript function call, which you can always catch, and modify the original destination if needed.
Not certain this will work for your particular application, of course, and there may be other drawbacks to using function calls instead of normal href links (Google and other search engines may not crawl your pages properly is one I think of off hand) but it's an option.
I'm also not defending Safari here:) I'm just noting that if your goal is supporting all browsers, that will inevitably limit your design options in some way. Maybe there's another algorithmic track you can pursue that will satisfy your cross browser compatibility requirement?
It's not exploitation - it's a quid pro quo. I award all employees a yearly bonus for exceeding expectations. All employees are also awarded yearly performance package improvements if they meet the mutually agreed expecatations. The expectation is that you improve and I improve the pay. If I don't fulfill my end of the bargain, I've failed in my part. If you don't you've failed yours. This is fair to me - does it seem that unreasonable to you?
It's also specified up front - you're free to not take the offer. I demand of myself to continually keep improving. I expect the same of my team.
I concur. I own my own business and happily reward our employees when they exceed the expectations that they and their managers set out each year, as I think all employers should.
At the same time, improvement is EXPECTED. I will not pay anyone the same wage to continue doing the same task at the same rate for any reason year after year. To maintain their pay, employees should be expected to demonstrate improved performance, or employers will (and should) seek out employees that will. This should be a fair level, of course, and it should be equally applied to all employees, but the notion of entitlement that some people display (oh I have this job, so I should never be expected to do more than what I did on the first day) is patently ridiculous and saddening.
Think about it - do a businesses' customers expect more for their dollar every year? Do shareholders expect growth year after year? Of course!
STASIS = DEATH
If you're a capitalist in this system, failing to constantly improve guarantees your doom. If you're a worker in this system, don't fool yourself - there is no job security - always be improving or be replaced by those who will.
First of all, if you REALLY have an HP Mainframe, you are paying a LOT in maintenance costs. I've never seen the actual costs for Himalaya support plans (only IBM 360's) but there is NO WAY that the costs are less than what Dell charges for even Premium Platinum Server Support per machine. I'm thinking the HP stuff would run probably a grand or two per month (and that's not that unreasonable since the mainframes start at the $250K mark - 10% of the value per year is normal for support).
Dell's would be at max around a grand or two per year, which makes sense given their systems start at around the 2K - 3K range, though can obviously get up to the $10K - $20K range.
If you had difficulty getting a hard drive (3 Days???) you didn't purchase the premium support plan, which will have a guarantee to have replacement parts ONSITE in 4 hours. Dell maintains distribution centers all over the world stocked with spare parts for these customers.
If you have "Critical" systems, you spend the extra money on premium support, PERIOD. That's true if you buy from HP, IBM, Dell, or whoever. ABSOLUTELY NO VENDOR makes the 4-hour guarantee (which IMO is essential for anyone running "Critical" systems) without charging you extra.
I'm a Dell employee, but these are not necessarily the opinions of my employer...you know the drill.
I'm not so sure about this. At the very minimum, a company can certainly claim as part of your employment contract to have rights over any data / intellectual property you create using company-owned equipment. I'm reminded of this fact each time I log into my company-provided laptop.
Of course, this doesn't mean they're claiming ownership of any software you install on the laptop (unless maybe if you wrote it yourself using said laptop). However, any firm wishing to avoid litigation for illegal or inappropriate software will probably also warn you that it is against company policy to install any software on your system that is not licensed to the firm. This means keep YOUR software on YOUR computer, because they don't want to be liable if you screwed up the licensing for it. Makes sense to me.
At any rate, it also seems fair for your employer to say any data that is created through your USE of THEIR property is theirs. If you don't want the data to become theirs, use your OWN damn system.
Although at first I kind of cringed when I started to RTFA, this became pretty clear that this guy is a schmuck who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If you're going to quit your job and steal clients, and you don't have enough sense NOT to use your employer's property to violate your non-compete, then you're going to find out what it's like to be on the business end of a lawsuit.
Period.
Although I'll admit that using the secure-delete stuff shows that he was at least thinking of the repercussions of his actions and strategizing a bit, I'm guessing he should of thought of it sooner, and used his own computer system to plan his contract violations. He'd still probably get sued, though.
I've been a fan of Alamo Drafthouse for years, and I'd like to echo your sentiment. For those of you who haven't had a chance to experience the Alamo Drafthouse in Central Texas, it's more or less a combination of the dining / drinking / movie experience. Basically, you take a movie theatre, add a kitchen & bar, then remove every row in the theatre & add a table. You place your orders by writing them down on paper, and a waiter comes by, takes your order, and brings your food / drinks without disturbing your movie experience.
Of course, you can get there early to place your orders ahead of the movie showing (I enjoy that, and it's the only way to do it if you have more than just 2 people). I've attended hacker contests, movies, and even TV broadcasts, and have always enjoyed the experience.
Ultimately, I beleive that the movie experience will have to be redefined to remain relevant and competitive in the future. Alamo's done a GREAT job of doing that, IMHO.
They've also demonstrated that you don't have to show the latest Hollywood movies to pack a theatre. I've seen several "classics" while enjoying dinner and drinks at the theatre, and I'd be willing to wager that this probably plays into the long tail phenomenon.
The Alamo Drafthouse is localized to the Central Texas area, though they are rapidly multiplying. Are there any other chains or specialized movie houses that server dinner and/or drinks elsewhere in the States? List them, cause I'm a recent convert and would like to visit them while travelling.
Since the funny remark was already posted, I figured I'd post the obligatory wiki link to the summary of Robert Heinlein's novel. Certainly one of my favorites! Interestingly enough (and it's referenced in the Wiki summary) the dialect of the colony is heavily Russian-influenced. Heinlein as prognosticator? Wouldn't be the first time...
This appears to be true in some cases, but I would argue if this is happening at your place of employment, there are probably more fundamental problems threatening the long term health / ability to secceed of your firm.
I work for Dell. In my group, we are required to attend 40 hours of technical training / professional development every year. In fact, it's a line item on my yearly performance review - I am encouraged to take more if I can work it into my schedule. We're allcoated a budget and allowed to choose the classes we wish to attend and although I have never tested it, my understanding that we are penalized if we don't complete this minimum level of training.
Although I'm a fairly new team member, my understanding that this has been policy for some time.
I have worked for firms that were not nearly as progressive in their treatment of their employees. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that those firms inevitably found it impossible to attract and keep the best and brightest staff.
The bottom line is this : If you don't committ to investing in your empoyees, they'll do it for themselves. Then leave. Of course, they still may even if you focus on providing training, but they certainly (on average) will tend to appreciate the investment. I know I do.
***** STANDARD DISCLAIMER *****
These opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, blah blah blah
That's coming to a close soon, and they've apparantly decided not to pick up the last 9 episodes of the third season, which is shame. All is not hopelessly lost, though, so if you're a fan, visit SaveOurBluths and show your support.
Well, that's not entirely true. As another poster suggested, Dell's primary source of PROFIT is from enterprise purchases (higher margins on better products and all) though selling on the low end allows for the volume Dell needs to keep its supplier prices in check.
In addition, as the SEC filings suggest, the rate of GROWTH for consumer PC's hasn't exactly excited anyone, inside or outside the company. This is reflected in the product shift to Consumer Electronics and Printers sales.
One thing to keep in mind is that Dell is probably MOST reponsive to the demands / needs of its enterprise customer base, at lease in the short to medium term. Especially since they drive a large share of profit growth, and these customers are probably the ones MOST sensitive to avoiding the MS tax. A few dollars per unit add up when you purchase THOUSANDS at a time, right?
*** DISCLAIMER ***
I'm an employee of Dell, though these opinions are my own, and this does not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opionions of my employer, blah, blah, blah
I had similar thoughts upon seeing the film this weekend, and didn't recall the level of Christian imagery being there when I read the books as a child. But it's there, and there is a great writeup on it at Slate.com at http://www.slate.com/id/2131908/
The author of the above piece even gives some pretty good analysis on why we don't seem to remember the religious over/undertones from our childhood readings.
Also interesting to discover that Lewis was a contemporary of Tolkien, and that perhaps this relationship with Tolkien kindled the Christian influences in his writing.
Thanks for the clarification. I haven't had any experience with the roll out, only end use. We use it internally for inter-office communications, so I'm not even certain that there are any additional licensing costs.
PLEASE NOTE - Not a Microsoft Fanboy or anything, but one thing that is nice is the integration in Office 2003 components. Within Word Docs, Outlook Email, PowerPoint, Project, and SharePoint portal servers anytime I see a User Name, I see a MSN icon showing me if that user is online and letting me contact them immediately.
This really helps especially for those one-off type of short questions.
Mine says the same. Doesn't mean the companies didn't lie for years prior to putting those labels on. And once you're addicted, no amount of labels will cure that addiction.
Your second point makes sense, but nothing I've so far read invalidates the fact that Big Tobacco lied in public on multiple occassions regarding the health effects of tobacco use. It's been different since I've been alive the last 29 or so years, but wasn't always this way.
The lawsuits for the most part are attempting to recitfy decades of deception that I acknowledge, even though I currently smoke. Of course, I didn't participate in the Class Action, but that doesn't mean it's completely without merit.
To provide access to those in geographically isolated areas where NO telecom provider will ever offer access. Think a shack in the woods or a camp in the Bayou (for an example more appropriate to my former home, New Orleans).
For the indigent who live in an urban area but still unable to afford basic telecommunications services, those "access taxes" help not one bit.
Slashdot Mirror
You may want to try out Google's Chrome browser for iOS - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chrome/id535886823?mt=8
Maps work great, just like blogger, analytics, etc...I'm posting this from Chrome on my iPad
This is incorrect and refuted in TFA.
Apple did not request turn-by-turn in their original licensing agreement. When they realized they wanted to add it to their iOS app, they went back to Google and Google offered to add turn-by-turn but required additional branding in the app as part of the deal.
Apple refused.
Agree or disagree with whether or not it was a good decision, but it was APPLE's decision to refuse the terms. Google did not refuse to allow turn by turn - Apple just didn't get that it was important when they did original negotiations.
Posted from iPad, in case you thought I was a hater.
Of course, we call it a 'parish' but there's no need to split hairs. I'm incredibly proud of my community and local government. They saw an opportunity decades ago when fiber was cheap and ran a lot of it wherever they had rights of way for electrical...turns out it was a brilliant strategy as we have just become self-sufficient - that's right, there's enough customers purchasing Internet, TV, Voice through the new fiber to be self-sustaining at this point. I've got the 50 / 50 mbps plan at home, and it's unbeleivably fast. Even better, whenever you connect directly to someone else on the local fiber ring, you get m,ax 100 / 100 mbps speeds. Which is nice since my office uses it as well as my home....X sessions and rdp back and forth from office to house are about as fast as I can ask for... Of course, we just rolled out 1 GBPS for all homes and businesses in the parish, which gives everyone even more bandwidth. It's one of the reasons my wife and I moved back to Lafayette from Austin. I really beleive these kinds of investments are what are going to differentiate communities who want to attract the best and brightest to build and grow the businesses of the future. Our available consumer plans can be seen here - http://lusfiber.com/index.php/internet/pricing-guide
No they don't.
Hah, that's the first thing I thought of also! You're correct, he did indeed. And, if you're interested, you may be able to purchase the one used in the movie: http://www.imsai.net/Movies/WarGames.htm
This argument:
"The whole "software is math" argument is old and debunked. Anything which requires creativity and careful analysis, and the investment therein, is a potentially valuable addition to human knowledge. In exchange for investing in such a thing, there should be the potential to protect your investment from copycats without resorting to keeping it a secret."
seems to support using Copyrights instead of Patents. Knowledge shouldn't be patented, right? Perhaps copyrighted (if published), but not patented.
I'm not sure that "software is math" is really debunked anyways, but honestly, I never found that argument that compelling in the first place. I've always like "software is speech" - it is a literal series of 1's and 0's representing language, right? Just because both humans and machines can interpret that language doesn't make it any less a language. And NO language is patentable - expressions created within that language are COPYRIGHTABLE, but ought not be patented. It seems to me that we can still encourage creativity and innovation without allowing people who truly don't grok what software even is (voodoo magix?!?!?) to completely mis-classify what software actually is.
I know not everyone will agree with me, but for those of us that actually spend all day / night writing in programming languages, how do you view this interpretation?
I know I may get blasted by the MS haters that lurk here, but I have to say the MS / Razer Habu I picked up at the local Fry's on sale (1/2 price!) has served me well. It's "technically" a gaming mouse (or that's how they market it, anyway), but I've found it works really well at high resolutions on my dual displays in both Windows XP & Ubuntu. I had to do a little bit of configuration in Ubuntu to map all of my keys, but it has 6 programmable keys, great resolution (1600 DPI) and the programmable keys are in positions (IMHO) that really are useful to me whether I'm fraggin zombies in Left 4 Dead or banging out code in Eclipse / VS.
The one thing that DID bum me out was that the firmware update utility only runs on Windows (or at least it did when I bought it a year or so ago), but I mean, this is a MS product, so I kind of figured that. Once I updated the FW, though, Ubuntu detected it fine, so I'm not complaining too loudly.
It's a wired mouse (I'd hate to think how heavy it would be with enough batteries to get that high of a laser DPI), but it does have a really nice long cord and is pretty ergonomic. YMMV, but that's my 2 cents.
I (for once) RTFA, and from what I gathered, they've developed this module and updated launcher to provide an effective round trip mechanism for Moon expeditions, where they will practice the operations that will be required when a full scale Mars mission is executed (sometime around between 2020-2030). I think the important point is that NASA is realizing that the shuttle is not an effective mission system for the next generation of Moon missions, which are a pre-req for any future Mars missions.
To me, this actually sounds like a sober assessment - and one that is long overdue.
This may not be the end of the world, right? If your create your links as javascript function calls, then there are no standard link click actions on a global level that you have to cancel - just the javascript function call, which you can always catch, and modify the original destination if needed.
Not certain this will work for your particular application, of course, and there may be other drawbacks to using function calls instead of normal href links (Google and other search engines may not crawl your pages properly is one I think of off hand) but it's an option.
I'm also not defending Safari here :) I'm just noting that if your goal is supporting all browsers, that will inevitably limit your design options in some way. Maybe there's another algorithmic track you can pursue that will satisfy your cross browser compatibility requirement?
It's not exploitation - it's a quid pro quo. I award all employees a yearly bonus for exceeding expectations. All employees are also awarded yearly performance package improvements if they meet the mutually agreed expecatations. The expectation is that you improve and I improve the pay. If I don't fulfill my end of the bargain, I've failed in my part. If you don't you've failed yours. This is fair to me - does it seem that unreasonable to you?
It's also specified up front - you're free to not take the offer. I demand of myself to continually keep improving. I expect the same of my team.
I concur. I own my own business and happily reward our employees when they exceed the expectations that they and their managers set out each year, as I think all employers should.
At the same time, improvement is EXPECTED. I will not pay anyone the same wage to continue doing the same task at the same rate for any reason year after year. To maintain their pay, employees should be expected to demonstrate improved performance, or employers will (and should) seek out employees that will. This should be a fair level, of course, and it should be equally applied to all employees, but the notion of entitlement that some people display (oh I have this job, so I should never be expected to do more than what I did on the first day) is patently ridiculous and saddening.
Think about it - do a businesses' customers expect more for their dollar every year? Do shareholders expect growth year after year? Of course!
STASIS = DEATH
If you're a capitalist in this system, failing to constantly improve guarantees your doom. If you're a worker in this system, don't fool yourself - there is no job security - always be improving or be replaced by those who will.
This is highly unlikely.
First of all, if you REALLY have an HP Mainframe, you are paying a LOT in maintenance costs. I've never seen the actual costs for Himalaya support plans (only IBM 360's) but there is NO WAY that the costs are less than what Dell charges for even Premium Platinum Server Support per machine. I'm thinking the HP stuff would run probably a grand or two per month (and that's not that unreasonable since the mainframes start at the $250K mark - 10% of the value per year is normal for support).
Dell's would be at max around a grand or two per year, which makes sense given their systems start at around the 2K - 3K range, though can obviously get up to the $10K - $20K range.
If you had difficulty getting a hard drive (3 Days???) you didn't purchase the premium support plan, which will have a guarantee to have replacement parts ONSITE in 4 hours. Dell maintains distribution centers all over the world stocked with spare parts for these customers.
If you have "Critical" systems, you spend the extra money on premium support, PERIOD. That's true if you buy from HP, IBM, Dell, or whoever. ABSOLUTELY NO VENDOR makes the 4-hour guarantee (which IMO is essential for anyone running "Critical" systems) without charging you extra.
I'm a Dell employee, but these are not necessarily the opinions of my employer...you know the drill.
I'm not so sure about this. At the very minimum, a company can certainly claim as part of your employment contract to have rights over any data / intellectual property you create using company-owned equipment. I'm reminded of this fact each time I log into my company-provided laptop.
Of course, this doesn't mean they're claiming ownership of any software you install on the laptop (unless maybe if you wrote it yourself using said laptop). However, any firm wishing to avoid litigation for illegal or inappropriate software will probably also warn you that it is against company policy to install any software on your system that is not licensed to the firm. This means keep YOUR software on YOUR computer, because they don't want to be liable if you screwed up the licensing for it. Makes sense to me.
At any rate, it also seems fair for your employer to say any data that is created through your USE of THEIR property is theirs. If you don't want the data to become theirs, use your OWN damn system.
Although at first I kind of cringed when I started to RTFA, this became pretty clear that this guy is a schmuck who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If you're going to quit your job and steal clients, and you don't have enough sense NOT to use your employer's property to violate your non-compete, then you're going to find out what it's like to be on the business end of a lawsuit.
Period.
Although I'll admit that using the secure-delete stuff shows that he was at least thinking of the repercussions of his actions and strategizing a bit, I'm guessing he should of thought of it sooner, and used his own computer system to plan his contract violations. He'd still probably get sued, though.
I've been a fan of Alamo Drafthouse for years, and I'd like to echo your sentiment. For those of you who haven't had a chance to experience the Alamo Drafthouse in Central Texas, it's more or less a combination of the dining / drinking / movie experience. Basically, you take a movie theatre, add a kitchen & bar, then remove every row in the theatre & add a table. You place your orders by writing them down on paper, and a waiter comes by, takes your order, and brings your food / drinks without disturbing your movie experience.
Of course, you can get there early to place your orders ahead of the movie showing (I enjoy that, and it's the only way to do it if you have more than just 2 people). I've attended hacker contests, movies, and even TV broadcasts, and have always enjoyed the experience.
Ultimately, I beleive that the movie experience will have to be redefined to remain relevant and competitive in the future. Alamo's done a GREAT job of doing that, IMHO.
They've also demonstrated that you don't have to show the latest Hollywood movies to pack a theatre. I've seen several "classics" while enjoying dinner and drinks at the theatre, and I'd be willing to wager that this probably plays into the long tail phenomenon.
The Alamo Drafthouse is localized to the Central Texas area, though they are rapidly multiplying. Are there any other chains or specialized movie houses that server dinner and/or drinks elsewhere in the States? List them, cause I'm a recent convert and would like to visit them while travelling.
Since the funny remark was already posted, I figured I'd post the obligatory wiki link to the summary of Robert Heinlein's novel. Certainly one of my favorites! Interestingly enough (and it's referenced in the Wiki summary) the dialect of the colony is heavily Russian-influenced. Heinlein as prognosticator? Wouldn't be the first time...
This appears to be true in some cases, but I would argue if this is happening at your place of employment, there are probably more fundamental problems threatening the long term health / ability to secceed of your firm.
I work for Dell. In my group, we are required to attend 40 hours of technical training / professional development every year. In fact, it's a line item on my yearly performance review - I am encouraged to take more if I can work it into my schedule. We're allcoated a budget and allowed to choose the classes we wish to attend and although I have never tested it, my understanding that we are penalized if we don't complete this minimum level of training.
Although I'm a fairly new team member, my understanding that this has been policy for some time.
I have worked for firms that were not nearly as progressive in their treatment of their employees. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that those firms inevitably found it impossible to attract and keep the best and brightest staff.
The bottom line is this : If you don't committ to investing in your empoyees, they'll do it for themselves. Then leave. Of course, they still may even if you focus on providing training, but they certainly (on average) will tend to appreciate the investment. I know I do.
***** STANDARD DISCLAIMER *****
These opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, blah blah blah
***** STANDARD DISCLAIMER *****
But you'd be buying a Gateway....
'Nuff Said, or am I missing something here?
And I'm not a Mac zealot, as I'm typing this on my Dell Latitude D810 from my Austin office (hmm.....), but seriously, who buys Gateways anymore?
They appear to be working towards doing the right thing since they've picked it up for a 3rd Season.
That's coming to a close soon, and they've apparantly decided not to pick up the last 9 episodes of the third season, which is shame. All is not hopelessly lost, though, so if you're a fan, visit SaveOurBluths and show your support.
Well, that's not entirely true. As another poster suggested, Dell's primary source of PROFIT is from enterprise purchases (higher margins on better products and all) though selling on the low end allows for the volume Dell needs to keep its supplier prices in check.
In addition, as the SEC filings suggest, the rate of GROWTH for consumer PC's hasn't exactly excited anyone, inside or outside the company. This is reflected in the product shift to Consumer Electronics and Printers sales.
One thing to keep in mind is that Dell is probably MOST reponsive to the demands / needs of its enterprise customer base, at lease in the short to medium term. Especially since they drive a large share of profit growth, and these customers are probably the ones MOST sensitive to avoiding the MS tax. A few dollars per unit add up when you purchase THOUSANDS at a time, right?
*** DISCLAIMER ***
I'm an employee of Dell, though these opinions are my own, and this does not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opionions of my employer, blah, blah, blah
*** DISCLAIMER ***
I've yet to see an article linked to here on slashdot that didn't do this. I thought this was SOP?
I had similar thoughts upon seeing the film this weekend, and didn't recall the level of Christian imagery being there when I read the books as a child. But it's there, and there is a great writeup on it at Slate.com at http://www.slate.com/id/2131908/
The author of the above piece even gives some pretty good analysis on why we don't seem to remember the religious over/undertones from our childhood readings.
Also interesting to discover that Lewis was a contemporary of Tolkien, and that perhaps this relationship with Tolkien kindled the Christian influences in his writing.
Thanks for the clarification. I haven't had any experience with the roll out, only end use. We use it internally for inter-office communications, so I'm not even certain that there are any additional licensing costs.
PLEASE NOTE - Not a Microsoft Fanboy or anything, but one thing that is nice is the integration in Office 2003 components. Within Word Docs, Outlook Email, PowerPoint, Project, and SharePoint portal servers anytime I see a User Name, I see a MSN icon showing me if that user is online and letting me contact them immediately.
This really helps especially for those one-off type of short questions.
That's pretty beneficial, and as far as I know that's the reason we use it at Dell, at least for internal IM needs.
Mine says the same. Doesn't mean the companies didn't lie for years prior to putting those labels on. And once you're addicted, no amount of labels will cure that addiction.
Your second point makes sense, but nothing I've so far read invalidates the fact that Big Tobacco lied in public on multiple occassions regarding the health effects of tobacco use. It's been different since I've been alive the last 29 or so years, but wasn't always this way.
The lawsuits for the most part are attempting to recitfy decades of deception that I acknowledge, even though I currently smoke. Of course, I didn't participate in the Class Action, but that doesn't mean it's completely without merit.
To provide access to those in geographically isolated areas where NO telecom provider will ever offer access. Think a shack in the woods or a camp in the Bayou (for an example more appropriate to my former home, New Orleans).
For the indigent who live in an urban area but still unable to afford basic telecommunications services, those "access taxes" help not one bit.