It's a piss poor cycle of events and there will never be serious reform as long as people keep seeing politics on this same level.
People are morons. It's pretty fucking obvious. That's why you should run for office, so at least you get a say and are not mixed in with the morons come election day.
It only contains 100W of energy, or about.13 horsepower. Not a small amount but there would be more than enough friction to stop any parts from killing/maiming you.
Attacking Iran is quite possibly the worst mistake the U.S. could make.
You assume that our representatives have US in mind. See, while it would be bad for the American People, it would not be bad for say.. the director of an oil company.
The problem with recommendations is that it can only determine what to recommend based on what you've rented, what you've marked you like and what other people who rented the same stuff liked also.
They are leaving out a whole aspect of psychology. The problem is that they have a 2 day lead time to get the content to you. So, it's not just a matter of them asking what your mood is and then providing you with the movie. Instead, they have to predict how you will be feeling 2 days from now and send you the movies.
They should start a voluntary rating program, wherein you sign up and they send you random movies, which you watch and rate (like a critic). Based on your responses to stuff you NEVER would have seen, they have a whole new set of data.
Then there's other stuff, like location. Where in the US are you? Maybe New Yorkers are more likely to like an art movie while a movie about the South is more liked there. What about the time of year? Obviously during holidays you have an easy selection. But certain movies rent more in the Spring and Summer, etc. If you say you're a college student then it knows that you want college flicks in the fall.
Weather? The system looks at the weather forcast for regions (doesn't have to be complex, just a statement like "Region A" is going to be rainy next week") and then queue up more videos with rain in them (or sun, if they are a person who rents the opposite of the weather).
See, you have to play off the cues that make people actually want to watch a movie, not about what they already watched. That's the totally WRONG way. If you just got done watching Ep1-6 of star wars, why the hell would you want another space movie?! After 12 hours of space movie, you're probably looking for a good comedy. In this case, the past has no bearing on the future.
This system CAN work for a place like Amazon. It works well for non-fiction. Say I have a land project and I order some developer books, it can reasonably assume I'll want the more advanced reference eventually.
Would you watch it again? It should ask you about movies you've returned if you're likely to watch it again in the next month, quarter, year, etc. Then it can determine if you want to watch something like it in the near future.
I agree with the TV show thing, keeping episodes in order is a good idea.
Anyway, it's going to need to go out and get other information besides just what people watch. Picking a movie has so much more to it.
Yeah, but due to "flaws" in the voting system, both parties will make sure even if a 3rd party gets a lot of votes, a lot of them will get thrown out and no one will suspect it because no one expects it anyway. What we need is people to get out and get elected in their neighborhoods and start at home. Then work to get your constituency mobilized to carry you up to a state position, and then up up up. In 10 years we might see a change. It just needs to be ORGANIZED, but covert enough that no one can kill it in the starting gate (like the green party was, or the libertarians..)
Remember Ross Perot? He was famous for his 30 minute TV spots after the local news. A similar setup but with someone who actually is charismatic could really mobilize people. He was a billionaire, of course.
What the parent means is that they COULD pay someone else to look at the network. Obviously they don't want people running around with knowledge of their security, but I wouldn't call it EXTORTION. For instance, say someone has really brown grass and you are a gardener. You go up to the house and say, I know why your grass is brown. When they ask, "Really? Why?" you reply, "I'll tell you how to fix it for $500." They decline then have you arrested for not telling them what the problem is? That's not extortion, that's crazy!
Anyway, of course, when there's a bank and money involved and computers which few people know a lot about (therefore it's SCARY), it becomes a story. The bank probably only made a complaint because they were worried about their customers, and in this case, as it should always be, justice worked and the guy got off. He didn't do anything wrong so why shouldn't he?
That's a good way to remember. Anytime you have a problem with the government, remember that it's a government of lawyers for lawyers. I thought it was supposed to be for the PEOPLE.
I always thought a nice high-end wood cabinet would look nice. Something you could slide a metal case into, it would protect the computer and look real classy.
Other than that, I think the real problem isn't the case but all the fucking cords. I have dual monitors so I have 4 cables just for the monitors under my desk, one for mouse and keyboard, ethernet, 2 for printer, plus an extra one for my portable devices. I know it's been tried before to make one fat connector to the monitor (apple..) but cords suck!.
Ok, plus fitting it into places. They should make a modular case that can transform between a desktop, tower and a cube so you can fit it into anywhere. Also, no screws, dammit! I like the Dell cases for PC stuff, they are pretty slick. MACs are almost antiseptic inside. For a server, a nice LCD on the front would be cool, for temp, fans, activity, etc.
A lot of people have their shit on the floor, so maybe carpet? would be a good covering. Ceramic tile looks nice too, for a kitchen box.
I think this is a stupid contest. What's wrong with the box? If I need compact, I get a rackmount. Otherwise, just make sure it proportioned, flat on top and maybe have wheels on the bottom, with brakes.
Another good movie is Strange Days, in which the main character is a dealer of illegal 'squid' recordings - recordings made directly from the cerebral cortex of the participant, which allow the viewer to see, feel and experience everything the participant experiences as if they were there.
Nice film, creepy at times, but quite relevant to this discussion.
Ok, you take a computer, and attach to it 2 cameras and some sort of robot hand. Then the software is designed to help the computer "copy" a photo, using this process.
1. Look at camera 1 (where the photo is) 2. Look at camera 2 (where the camera is) 3. Using one "stroke" of one color, randomly chosen, make image 2 look more like image 1 than before. 4. Goto 1.
Then you could have some sort of threshold where it stops or just let it go until it runs out of paint.
Obviously black and white would be easiest, then get into color, mixing color, etc.
Of course, the whole time, it "remembers" what type of stroke/brush/etc makes the best change and so over time it uses those strokes more often at the correct time.
There are over 6500 Walmart stores with an average size of 120000 square feet. Every 500 sqaure feet they have a 4-tube fluorescent light fixture, drawing 4x40 or 160 watts. Multiplying out, the total square footage is ~6500*120000=780,000,000 square feet. Divide by 500 square feet to get the total number of fixtures, 1,560,000, and multiply that by 160 watts to get the total watts, 249,600,000. Probably 75% of those Walmart stores are 24 hour, while the rest are 12 hour: (.75*24)+(.25*12) = 21 average hours
Total Watts x Avg hours x 365 days per year = Wh per year 249,600,000W x 21h x 365d = 1,913,184,000,000 Wh per year
Wh/1000 (kWh) x the going rate (approximately 6.8 cents nationwide)
1,913,184,000 x.068 = $130,096,512 per year in electricity.
If they took out one tube per fixture, they would save $32,524,128 per year.
*This doesn't include the parking lots, which have a similar consumption.
So, what's the point? There are other, easier ways to save a lot of power. I'm glad Google wants to change the computer world, but what about replacing 10% of the incandescent bulbs with fluorescents and save 50W x 10,000,000,000? Or just TURN OFF your computer when you aren't using it! Retooling the entire industry would cost MORE than it would save in power. That's not to say I don't agree that we need to start making a lot of little changes and this is as good a place as any. But the benefits are very far in the future, when we run out of oil. Not now.
Thank Goodness someone pointed this out. It was never a White House initiative, and many members of Congress had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to make it happen. For the interested, here is a link to Senator Obama's semi-regular podcast, where he outlines the bill and what he and Coburn set out to do with it.
Meanwhile, in the White House, the president and a few staffers are having lunch:
W: I can't believe we still haven't killed that guy. Staffers:....? Chief of Staff: Killed who, W? W: Obama bin Laden. He's killed Americans, and now he wants us to google the budget, I can't believe we haven't been able to git him. Chief of Staff: SENATOR Obama and OSAMA bin Laden are not the same person. W: Huh? (eats)
Of course, they could use larger versions of the capacitors at the fueling station to store a "charge" of 52 kWhs. 52kWhs * 3.6 MJoules = 187.2 MJ. The vehicle gets pulled into a stall, the driver gets out, large copper or gold rods drop from the ceiling into sockets which are directly connected to the capacitor. You have a bank of capacitors which switch on in succession, ramping up current (this minimizes switching problems, since 2700A is not fun to switch) with some type of diode in the middle to prevent back flow. In 5 minutes, the car is charged. Meanwhile the capacitors are recharging from mains current. Green light comes on, next car comes in. To make it work, you'd need something a little beefier than a 220 home circuit, possibly a 12.5kV line which is pretty common in commercial areas. You could probably do at least one car at a time, more if you could increase the charging capacitor capacity (which would be fully charged overnight or during off-peak times).
As far as costs, of course the cost of electricity is going to go up for everyone. However, with transmission lines, you build them (once) and then the power keeps coming. So after the initial investment, you are going to save money over gas. Gas has to be brought in by truck, which costs money in labor and fuel and truck insurance, etc. Then you have pump maintenance, etc which is no longer necessary. On the other end you have a regional distributor who takes a cut, a refiner who takes a cut, a global distributer who takes a cut of the crude oil, and then a producer who takes a cut. Not to mention the people doing the transporting between each of these middle-men.
With electric, you are going to cut out a lot of middle men. The utility, if fossil powered, will buy in large bulk quanities that will be delivered to one location, probably by ship. So, just by moving energy by transmission line we are cutting back on the total energy use required by the country. It's all a big chain reaction.
I hope they can make this thing work.
The Human Computer Interface
on
GUIs Get a Makeover
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Ideally the computer should just know what you want to do and do it for you. The problem is telling the computer what to do. I'm surprised that voice-recognition hasn't progressed further. The Apple OSX voice stuff is pretty cool but not responsive enough to be useable. And all it does is integrate into the window manager. Why would I want to ask the computer to open a window if I just want to ask a question? For instance, say I want to know what time it is. I can't just ask the computer, "Computer, what time is it?" Instead, I have to say, "Computer, open clock" and then read the time. Maybe some feedback would make it better. Communication requires feedback. Maybe the computer could respond, like the XO of a ship responds to the captain: "Make turns for 30 knots" XO: "30 knots, aye"
I think a big problem is the mouse. The mouse is so great for so much, yet it falls short. I know they have mice that have practically a whole keyboard on them. I'd like to see that idea extended beyond the window manager also.
One thing that has really excited me recently is the Optimus dynamic keyboard over at artlebedev.com. Thinking more about adapting the interface around the user and the software is important. A lot of that will be workflow analysis, such as "User A always saves before printing, so if they save, make the print icon easier to find and click." will be necessary.
A lot of what needs to be done the computer can do for us. The hidden options in MS Word are a good example of this. Although it was a support nightmare when it first came out, it really helps speed up the work when you are doing common repetitive tasks. This could be expanded to allow different hidden options depending on what you're working on. For instance, if you're writing a letter, addresses and envelope stuff should magically appear, but it should not show up if you're writing a scientific paper.
One thing that the MS monoculture has brought us is a somewhat standard UI experience for most users. That would be impossible with 100 competing OS's. The web does not offer that opportunity except maybe through some toolkits like Swing (which sucks), or Ruby on rails with the prototype.js. The monoculture has stifled innovation, however, so I hope in the future there will be more people thinking about design when they make their interface and MS being open enough with this Aero stuff to allow designers freedom to make something new. I seriously doubt that will happen, however.
All of you people need to check out the BBS Documentary. They sell a DVD of it (actually 3 DVD's). It's around $40 and it's really quite good, they have interviews with a lot of Sysops, some programmers, the creator of Fidonet, Ansi artists, etc. It takes you back, and it's a good way to put the wife to sleep;)
"Perception is reality, and if your customers don't experience quality in your product throughout, they may conclude there is lack of quality everywhere. A visual bug seen by all your customers might do more damage to your program's reputation than a rarely occurring crashing bug."
There's no bind. You take the 900M in stock or whatever, you sell it, you pay your taxes on the full amount, and you stick it in a 5% savings account and go buy an island somewhere. WhyTF would you not take $900M?! Power? Money IS power. How many users does he have now? 9 Million. He could start an ad campaign with a different, easy to make product (say a video on demand service), take 300million and basically pay 1 million college students $300 a piece to use the service, provided they bring in at least 5 new accounts in the next year. Then you charge $5 a month or $60 for a yearly subscription and you pocket all your money back in the first year. He thinks he's being smart by holding out for the best offer, but he's going to get screwed and lose it all. 12 months from now, when Facebook is dead and he's broke, we're going to see a headline of his suicide. If he doesn't take the deal, that is.
Try being in a band. It has nothing to do with the quality of the music or the songs. It's about getting people to listen. Likewise, social networking sites are sort of like the Amway of websites, because they make the users advertise (bring in new people) for them, in order to make the site more useful to the users. It's brilliant, but shaky. So, yes, ANYONE can start a social networking site, and some of them might be better, but you need people people people to make money money money.
What we need is mass media to be on our side, but until there is more of a profit incentive in that, I don't see it happening in the immediate (or distant for that matter) future.
That's why I listen to NPR and give regularly to my local station.
Also, obligatory to this story are the standard links, so people who are lazy don't have to type them in (note, you can open the link in a new window and not interrupt your slashdotting). If you got paid today, why not send $10 to:
Remember that as long as you only care about yourself and your recreation, the rest of the world is going to walk over you. You are here to do a job, so..do it.
Both sides exploit the weaknesses in the system and use their influence to rig it so they win/keep seats. The only loser in an election is the American People.. Because this provides them the means to lock out any viable 3rd party canditate. Why? Because no one expects them to get any votes. Even if a 3rd party canditate got a shitload of votes, they could just drop them out of the system and no one would ask any questions (least of all the media).
Slashdot Mirror
It's a piss poor cycle of events and there will never be serious reform as long as people keep seeing politics on this same level.
People are morons. It's pretty fucking obvious. That's why you should run for office, so at least you get a say and are not mixed in with the morons come election day.
It only contains 100W of energy, or about .13 horsepower. Not a small amount but there would be more than enough friction to stop any parts from killing/maiming you.
Attacking Iran is quite possibly the worst mistake the U.S. could make.
You assume that our representatives have US in mind. See, while it would be bad for the American People, it would not be bad for say.. the director of an oil company.
The problem with recommendations is that it can only determine what to recommend based on what you've rented, what you've marked you like and what other people who rented the same stuff liked also.
They are leaving out a whole aspect of psychology. The problem is that they have a 2 day lead time to get the content to you. So, it's not just a matter of them asking what your mood is and then providing you with the movie. Instead, they have to predict how you will be feeling 2 days from now and send you the movies.
They should start a voluntary rating program, wherein you sign up and they send you random movies, which you watch and rate (like a critic). Based on your responses to stuff you NEVER would have seen, they have a whole new set of data.
Then there's other stuff, like location. Where in the US are you? Maybe New Yorkers are more likely to like an art movie while a movie about the South is more liked there. What about the time of year? Obviously during holidays you have an easy selection. But certain movies rent more in the Spring and Summer, etc. If you say you're a college student then it knows that you want college flicks in the fall.
Weather? The system looks at the weather forcast for regions (doesn't have to be complex, just a statement like "Region A" is going to be rainy next week") and then queue up more videos with rain in them (or sun, if they are a person who rents the opposite of the weather).
See, you have to play off the cues that make people actually want to watch a movie, not about what they already watched. That's the totally WRONG way. If you just got done watching Ep1-6 of star wars, why the hell would you want another space movie?! After 12 hours of space movie, you're probably looking for a good comedy. In this case, the past has no bearing on the future.
This system CAN work for a place like Amazon. It works well for non-fiction. Say I have a land project and I order some developer books, it can reasonably assume I'll want the more advanced reference eventually.
Would you watch it again? It should ask you about movies you've returned if you're likely to watch it again in the next month, quarter, year, etc. Then it can determine if you want to watch something like it in the near future.
I agree with the TV show thing, keeping episodes in order is a good idea.
Anyway, it's going to need to go out and get other information besides just what people watch. Picking a movie has so much more to it.
Or maybe throwing yourself out the window if you buy a stupid piece of crap movie like Tokyo "Drift"
Yeah, but due to "flaws" in the voting system, both parties will make sure even if a 3rd party gets a lot of votes, a lot of them will get thrown out and no one will suspect it because no one expects it anyway. What we need is people to get out and get elected in their neighborhoods and start at home. Then work to get your constituency mobilized to carry you up to a state position, and then up up up. In 10 years we might see a change. It just needs to be ORGANIZED, but covert enough that no one can kill it in the starting gate (like the green party was, or the libertarians..)
Remember Ross Perot? He was famous for his 30 minute TV spots after the local news. A similar setup but with someone who actually is charismatic could really mobilize people. He was a billionaire, of course.
Amercian Civil Liberties Union
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Donate $10 if you haven't this month. There are people looking out for us, they need MONEY.
What the parent means is that they COULD pay someone else to look at the network. Obviously they don't want people running around with knowledge of their security, but I wouldn't call it EXTORTION. For instance, say someone has really brown grass and you are a gardener. You go up to the house and say, I know why your grass is brown. When they ask, "Really? Why?" you reply, "I'll tell you how to fix it for $500." They decline then have you arrested for not telling them what the problem is? That's not extortion, that's crazy!
Anyway, of course, when there's a bank and money involved and computers which few people know a lot about (therefore it's SCARY), it becomes a story. The bank probably only made a complaint because they were worried about their customers, and in this case, as it should always be, justice worked and the guy got off. He didn't do anything wrong so why shouldn't he?
That's a good way to remember. Anytime you have a problem with the government, remember that it's a government of lawyers for lawyers. I thought it was supposed to be for the PEOPLE.
I always thought a nice high-end wood cabinet would look nice. Something you could slide a metal case into, it would protect the computer and look real classy.
Other than that, I think the real problem isn't the case but all the fucking cords. I have dual monitors so I have 4 cables just for the monitors under my desk, one for mouse and keyboard, ethernet, 2 for printer, plus an extra one for my portable devices. I know it's been tried before to make one fat connector to the monitor (apple..) but cords suck!.
Ok, plus fitting it into places. They should make a modular case that can transform between a desktop, tower and a cube so you can fit it into anywhere. Also, no screws, dammit! I like the Dell cases for PC stuff, they are pretty slick. MACs are almost antiseptic inside. For a server, a nice LCD on the front would be cool, for temp, fans, activity, etc.
A lot of people have their shit on the floor, so maybe carpet? would be a good covering. Ceramic tile looks nice too, for a kitchen box.
I think this is a stupid contest. What's wrong with the box? If I need compact, I get a rackmount. Otherwise, just make sure it proportioned, flat on top and maybe have wheels on the bottom, with brakes.
Another good movie is Strange Days, in which the main character is a dealer of illegal 'squid' recordings - recordings made directly from the cerebral cortex of the participant, which allow the viewer to see, feel and experience everything the participant experiences as if they were there.
Nice film, creepy at times, but quite relevant to this discussion.
Dyslexics of the World, Untie!
You mean: Scixelsyd of the World Untie!
Hmm, computer art. That gives me an idea.
Ok, you take a computer, and attach to it 2 cameras and some sort of robot hand. Then the software is designed to help the computer "copy" a photo, using this process.
1. Look at camera 1 (where the photo is)
2. Look at camera 2 (where the camera is)
3. Using one "stroke" of one color, randomly chosen, make image 2 look more like image 1 than before.
4. Goto 1.
Then you could have some sort of threshold where it stops or just let it go until it runs out of paint.
Obviously black and white would be easiest, then get into color, mixing color, etc.
Of course, the whole time, it "remembers" what type of stroke/brush/etc makes the best change and so over time it uses those strokes more often at the correct time.
There are over 6500 Walmart stores with an average size of 120000 square feet. Every 500 sqaure feet they have a 4-tube fluorescent light fixture, drawing 4x40 or 160 watts. Multiplying out, the total square footage is ~6500*120000=780,000,000 square feet. Divide by 500 square feet to get the total number of fixtures, 1,560,000, and multiply that by 160 watts to get the total watts, 249,600,000. Probably 75% of those Walmart stores are 24 hour, while the rest are 12 hour: (.75*24)+(.25*12) = 21 average hours
.068 = $130,096,512 per year in electricity.
Total Watts x Avg hours x 365 days per year = Wh per year
249,600,000W x 21h x 365d = 1,913,184,000,000 Wh per year
Wh/1000 (kWh) x the going rate (approximately 6.8 cents nationwide)
1,913,184,000 x
If they took out one tube per fixture, they would save $32,524,128 per year.
*This doesn't include the parking lots, which have a similar consumption.
So, what's the point? There are other, easier ways to save a lot of power. I'm glad Google wants to change the computer world, but what about replacing 10% of the incandescent bulbs with fluorescents and save 50W x 10,000,000,000? Or just TURN OFF your computer when you aren't using it! Retooling the entire industry would cost MORE than it would save in power. That's not to say I don't agree that we need to start making a lot of little changes and this is as good a place as any. But the benefits are very far in the future, when we run out of oil. Not now.
That's why Dick Cheney is so weird.
Unfortunately, if you scroll down to the bottom of the bill they added:
* Except Defense, HHS, Transportation, Education, Energy, Social Security, Treasury and Commerce.
Thank Goodness someone pointed this out. It was never a White House initiative, and many members of Congress had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to make it happen. For the interested, here is a link to Senator Obama's semi-regular podcast, where he outlines the bill and what he and Coburn set out to do with it.
....?
Meanwhile, in the White House, the president and a few staffers are having lunch:
W: I can't believe we still haven't killed that guy.
Staffers:
Chief of Staff: Killed who, W?
W: Obama bin Laden. He's killed Americans, and now he wants us to google the budget, I can't believe we haven't been able to git him.
Chief of Staff: SENATOR Obama and OSAMA bin Laden are not the same person.
W: Huh? (eats)
Of course, they could use larger versions of the capacitors at the fueling station to store a "charge" of 52 kWhs. 52kWhs * 3.6 MJoules = 187.2 MJ. The vehicle gets pulled into a stall, the driver gets out, large copper or gold rods drop from the ceiling into sockets which are directly connected to the capacitor. You have a bank of capacitors which switch on in succession, ramping up current (this minimizes switching problems, since 2700A is not fun to switch) with some type of diode in the middle to prevent back flow. In 5 minutes, the car is charged. Meanwhile the capacitors are recharging from mains current. Green light comes on, next car comes in. To make it work, you'd need something a little beefier than a 220 home circuit, possibly a 12.5kV line which is pretty common in commercial areas. You could probably do at least one car at a time, more if you could increase the charging capacitor capacity (which would be fully charged overnight or during off-peak times).
As far as costs, of course the cost of electricity is going to go up for everyone. However, with transmission lines, you build them (once) and then the power keeps coming. So after the initial investment, you are going to save money over gas. Gas has to be brought in by truck, which costs money in labor and fuel and truck insurance, etc. Then you have pump maintenance, etc which is no longer necessary. On the other end you have a regional distributor who takes a cut, a refiner who takes a cut, a global distributer who takes a cut of the crude oil, and then a producer who takes a cut. Not to mention the people doing the transporting between each of these middle-men.
With electric, you are going to cut out a lot of middle men. The utility, if fossil powered, will buy in large bulk quanities that will be delivered to one location, probably by ship. So, just by moving energy by transmission line we are cutting back on the total energy use required by the country. It's all a big chain reaction.
I hope they can make this thing work.
Ideally the computer should just know what you want to do and do it for you. The problem is telling the computer what to do. I'm surprised that voice-recognition hasn't progressed further. The Apple OSX voice stuff is pretty cool but not responsive enough to be useable. And all it does is integrate into the window manager. Why would I want to ask the computer to open a window if I just want to ask a question? For instance, say I want to know what time it is. I can't just ask the computer, "Computer, what time is it?" Instead, I have to say, "Computer, open clock" and then read the time. Maybe some feedback would make it better. Communication requires feedback. Maybe the computer could respond, like the XO of a ship responds to the captain: "Make turns for 30 knots" XO: "30 knots, aye"
I think a big problem is the mouse. The mouse is so great for so much, yet it falls short. I know they have mice that have practically a whole keyboard on them. I'd like to see that idea extended beyond the window manager also.
One thing that has really excited me recently is the Optimus dynamic keyboard over at artlebedev.com. Thinking more about adapting the interface around the user and the software is important. A lot of that will be workflow analysis, such as "User A always saves before printing, so if they save, make the print icon easier to find and click." will be necessary.
A lot of what needs to be done the computer can do for us. The hidden options in MS Word are a good example of this. Although it was a support nightmare when it first came out, it really helps speed up the work when you are doing common repetitive tasks. This could be expanded to allow different hidden options depending on what you're working on. For instance, if you're writing a letter, addresses and envelope stuff should magically appear, but it should not show up if you're writing a scientific paper.
One thing that the MS monoculture has brought us is a somewhat standard UI experience for most users. That would be impossible with 100 competing OS's. The web does not offer that opportunity except maybe through some toolkits like Swing (which sucks), or Ruby on rails with the prototype.js. The monoculture has stifled innovation, however, so I hope in the future there will be more people thinking about design when they make their interface and MS being open enough with this Aero stuff to allow designers freedom to make something new. I seriously doubt that will happen, however.
All of you people need to check out the BBS Documentary. They sell a DVD of it (actually 3 DVD's). It's around $40 and it's really quite good, they have interviews with a lot of Sysops, some programmers, the creator of Fidonet, Ansi artists, etc. It takes you back, and it's a good way to put the wife to sleep ;)
Actually, THIS is the best bit (last sentence):
"Perception is reality, and if your customers don't experience quality in your product throughout, they may conclude there is lack of quality everywhere. A visual bug seen by all your customers might do more damage to your program's reputation than a rarely occurring crashing bug."
There's no bind. You take the 900M in stock or whatever, you sell it, you pay your taxes on the full amount, and you stick it in a 5% savings account and go buy an island somewhere. WhyTF would you not take $900M?! Power? Money IS power. How many users does he have now? 9 Million. He could start an ad campaign with a different, easy to make product (say a video on demand service), take 300million and basically pay 1 million college students $300 a piece to use the service, provided they bring in at least 5 new accounts in the next year. Then you charge $5 a month or $60 for a yearly subscription and you pocket all your money back in the first year. He thinks he's being smart by holding out for the best offer, but he's going to get screwed and lose it all. 12 months from now, when Facebook is dead and he's broke, we're going to see a headline of his suicide. If he doesn't take the deal, that is.
Try being in a band. It has nothing to do with the quality of the music or the songs. It's about getting people to listen. Likewise, social networking sites are sort of like the Amway of websites, because they make the users advertise (bring in new people) for them, in order to make the site more useful to the users. It's brilliant, but shaky. So, yes, ANYONE can start a social networking site, and some of them might be better, but you need people people people to make money money money.
What we need is mass media to be on our side, but until there is more of a profit incentive in that, I don't see it happening in the immediate (or distant for that matter) future.
That's why I listen to NPR and give regularly to my local station.
Also, obligatory to this story are the standard links, so people who are lazy don't have to type them in (note, you can open the link in a new window and not interrupt your slashdotting). If you got paid today, why not send $10 to:
Electronic Frontier Foundation
American Civil Liberties Union
Idealist.org - Other non-profits
Remember that as long as you only care about yourself and your recreation, the rest of the world is going to walk over you. You are here to do a job, so..do it.
Both sides exploit the weaknesses in the system and use their influence to rig it so they win/keep seats. The only loser in an election is the American People.. Because this provides them the means to lock out any viable 3rd party canditate. Why? Because no one expects them to get any votes. Even if a 3rd party canditate got a shitload of votes, they could just drop them out of the system and no one would ask any questions (least of all the media).
Interesting.