You really think it is that hard to program? There are many features in the bios that less than 1% of the population uses.
Enterprise customers are going to provide enough demand to support that feature. There are also a significant portion of the population who will want to run Linux or another version of Windows to justify the costs. It would be stupid if manufacturers don't support it.
There is no need for shady deals. Avira is a for profit company and doesn't like people stealing their software just like game developers. Of course they aren't going to aid people pirating software.
Academic scholarships only pay for a small percentage of the students. The overwhelming majority will be based on the ability of pay which will lower the quality of education.
You can fix the problem by having government fund more academic scholarships, but I doubt Ron Paul will be in favor of such a solution.
Eliminating student loans means only people coming from families with money go to college, instead of people going based on merit. It would make the quality of college education even worst.
Having a one button below the display is fine by itself, but copying the colors, shape and icons in the process makes it a blatant copy. Other Android phones have 4 buttons on the bottom because it is what the OS requires. Samsung decided to put one button because it is what the iPhone has.
Anyone who is familiar with the devices can tell the difference, but the casual consumer can get confused and buy the Samsung thinking it is the same as an iPhone.
This is more of a trademark issue, but it looks like Apple thinks patents have a stronger legal stance in the court. I don't believe that patents should cover the look and feel of the device and are being abused here, but it isn't like Samsung is completely innocent.
It is going to infringe on patents no matter what you will do.
I think Samsung is trying to avoid the strongest patents that Apple has in its arsenal. Most patent claims can easily be defended in court if you have the resources to hire the right attorneys. Apple has a few killer patents that it is trying to attack Samsung for, so it will be best strategy is to find a way to work around them.
Bitcoin has a fixed money supply that only grows by mining.
Many of the problems with Bitcoin also occured with the gold standard. When the rate of mining does not meet the money supply, it will cause deflation and result in lower economic activity. The lower economic activity lowers the usefulness of the currency compared to the dollar.
Gold has some advantages of having a history behind it and being valued by many people, so it still retains its value. Bitcoin has no history and only select few value it, so as its usefulness declines, it value will go down over time.
It does not perfectly follow the Gold standard model, but economic models exists to predict why the Bitcoin experiment would fail.
There isn't a serious competitor to Skype because everyone uses Skype. Services like Skype gain more value the more people use it. You can develop a competing software that is better than every way, but if your friends aren't using it, then it serves no use.
Microsoft is buying Skype for its network of users. They can integrate Skype into Window's Live and increase the amount of people who will use its own Live services.
Not everyone's main priority on a phone is using it with one hand. I know many people who always use two hands for using their 3.5 inch iPhone and others who are able to handle a 4.3 inch phone one handed no problem.
People use smart phones to browse the web, read the news, edit documents or watch a movie. A bigger screen offers a huge advantage for majority of the tasks out there.
Their main purpose is eye candy. Consumers want a phone that has a smooth and organic, something that the Android has been lacking.
There is a balance that Google has to do with its UI, to make it feel smooth and polished, being intuitive to the users, and not infringing on Apple's patents.
I really don't see huge drawbacks with the UI compared to previous Android versions. The scrolling is horizontal like the home screen with similar content, so it is pretty intuitive for the users. It is also much smoother than scrolling down a clunky list and then suddenly having it stop awkwardly. It might not be iOS perfect, but it is much better than before.
iOS animation cues are under patent and Google can't copy it. Android's new animation are not perfect, but they provide a smooth and polished way of transitioning between screens compared to older versions and doesn't interfere with Apple's patents.
How has Nokia using its own open source software worked out in the past? You can theoretically build a superior OS using Linux that is better than Android in every way but it will fail because it lacks developer support and a large app ecosystem.
The smart phone market has changed in recent years and consumers now expect apps and lots of them. Phone companies are going to have to embrace Android, take a risk with Windows Phone or become irrelevant.
Android is open source too and you don't have to follow Google's guidelines. Amazon has forked Android for its new Kindle, while still being able to take advantage of Android's app library.
The only thing keeping Nokia from getting into Android is with its deal with Microsoft. Microsoft has strict requirements for its phones which will lock out Nokia from the low end market. Nokia is probably thinking of a way to fill this niche on its own and not alienate open source community. They are really stuck between a rock and a hard place and whatever solution they choose is destined to fail against the Android phones.
Some people see a walled garden as a benefit because it offers better quality control and a more streamlined user experience.
I really don't see the rational of paying more for the same content, unless you are talking about pirated content.
If Amazon is able to get a large market power with the Kindle, it can actually lower the prices individuals pay for content. Amazon would have more leverage in negotiating with content providers and have an incentive to have prices low to compete with Apple.
I have the original Droid which can be painfully slow when multitasking. Putting a custom ROM that was optimized for my phone however has improved the performance to an acceptable level, so it can be done if you forgo the bloatware.
We are talking about low end phones too. The phones aren't going to appeal to geeks or power users at all. They are more like netbooks, slow, but can do most basic task of a full powered PC.
>If someone wants a smooth experience, they will buy a mid to high range smart phone.
Java is not the best for low end phones, but the Dalvik JIT is fast enough and no company can compete without spending lots of money and years in development. Even if you do that, they can't compete with Android's app ecosystem. I don't see what advantages that Nokia think it can bring over a $150 Android.
Low end phones are not expected to be 100% smooth. They are marketed towards developing countries where people are used to surfing the Internet on a 10 year old computers with 128 MB of RAM. The experience just has to be on par with original Android HTC G1 and it will sell.
If a phone manufacturer wants to make a low end smart phone, Android is the way to go. It comes with a huge app ecosystem, more polished and cheaper to implement than any new Linux solution. I don't see how anything Nokia produces can compete with a $150 Android phone.
Nokia is probably only considering Linux after they realized that WP7 does not scale down to low end smart phones. They are covering up poor strategic decisions.
It is a consumer device that has a feature to make the browser a faster experience. I think we can live if the small chance that Amazon's cloud services can temporarily go down. There is concerns for security, but I don't think it is any worst than relying on Gmail for private email or Amazon to store your credit card information.
Amazon also is a reputable company that has lots of experience in cloud computing. They are going to be more reliable than most people can set up on their own. It is more likely that my ISP will go down, my power going off, forgetting to charge tablet's battery or the motherboard dying on my home built server.
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You really think it is that hard to program? There are many features in the bios that less than 1% of the population uses.
Enterprise customers are going to provide enough demand to support that feature. There are also a significant portion of the population who will want to run Linux or another version of Windows to justify the costs. It would be stupid if manufacturers don't support it.
There is no need for shady deals. Avira is a for profit company and doesn't like people stealing their software just like game developers. Of course they aren't going to aid people pirating software.
Oops... I meant "instead of those who come from families with money"/p?
Academic scholarships only pay for a small percentage of the students. The overwhelming majority will be based on the ability of pay which will lower the quality of education.
You can fix the problem by having government fund more academic scholarships, but I doubt Ron Paul will be in favor of such a solution.
Every kid doesn't have to go to college. You can base college selection off of merit.
So you expect people to flip burgers for the rest of their lives?
The job market sucks, but having a college degree gives you a big advantage over those who don't. It isn't totally useless.
It is beneficial to society to have the best and the brightest go to college instead of those who come from families with no money.
Eliminating student loans means only people coming from families with money go to college, instead of people going based on merit. It would make the quality of college education even worst.
Having a one button below the display is fine by itself, but copying the colors, shape and icons in the process makes it a blatant copy. Other Android phones have 4 buttons on the bottom because it is what the OS requires. Samsung decided to put one button because it is what the iPhone has.
Anyone who is familiar with the devices can tell the difference, but the casual consumer can get confused and buy the Samsung thinking it is the same as an iPhone.
This is more of a trademark issue, but it looks like Apple thinks patents have a stronger legal stance in the court. I don't believe that patents should cover the look and feel of the device and are being abused here, but it isn't like Samsung is completely innocent.
It is going to infringe on patents no matter what you will do.
I think Samsung is trying to avoid the strongest patents that Apple has in its arsenal. Most patent claims can easily be defended in court if you have the resources to hire the right attorneys. Apple has a few killer patents that it is trying to attack Samsung for, so it will be best strategy is to find a way to work around them.
To be fair, Samsung's designs more blatantly copy off of Apple than any other Android manufacturer. They set themselves up to be attacked.
Bitcoin has a fixed money supply that only grows by mining.
Many of the problems with Bitcoin also occured with the gold standard. When the rate of mining does not meet the money supply, it will cause deflation and result in lower economic activity. The lower economic activity lowers the usefulness of the currency compared to the dollar.
Gold has some advantages of having a history behind it and being valued by many people, so it still retains its value. Bitcoin has no history and only select few value it, so as its usefulness declines, it value will go down over time.
It does not perfectly follow the Gold standard model, but economic models exists to predict why the Bitcoin experiment would fail.
The economic model is the gold standard.
There isn't a serious competitor to Skype because everyone uses Skype. Services like Skype gain more value the more people use it. You can develop a competing software that is better than every way, but if your friends aren't using it, then it serves no use.
Microsoft is buying Skype for its network of users. They can integrate Skype into Window's Live and increase the amount of people who will use its own Live services.
Not everyone's main priority on a phone is using it with one hand. I know many people who always use two hands for using their 3.5 inch iPhone and others who are able to handle a 4.3 inch phone one handed no problem.
People use smart phones to browse the web, read the news, edit documents or watch a movie. A bigger screen offers a huge advantage for majority of the tasks out there.
Their main purpose is eye candy. Consumers want a phone that has a smooth and organic, something that the Android has been lacking.
There is a balance that Google has to do with its UI, to make it feel smooth and polished, being intuitive to the users, and not infringing on Apple's patents.
I really don't see huge drawbacks with the UI compared to previous Android versions. The scrolling is horizontal like the home screen with similar content, so it is pretty intuitive for the users. It is also much smoother than scrolling down a clunky list and then suddenly having it stop awkwardly. It might not be iOS perfect, but it is much better than before.
iOS animation cues are under patent and Google can't copy it. Android's new animation are not perfect, but they provide a smooth and polished way of transitioning between screens compared to older versions and doesn't interfere with Apple's patents.
Fair enough. There are some disadvantages of Android and some reasons why Nokia would like its independent OS.
I just see that Samsung selling the Galaxy Mini for $150 in developing countries as a sign of where smart phones are heading in the future.
How has Nokia using its own open source software worked out in the past? You can theoretically build a superior OS using Linux that is better than Android in every way but it will fail because it lacks developer support and a large app ecosystem.
The smart phone market has changed in recent years and consumers now expect apps and lots of them. Phone companies are going to have to embrace Android, take a risk with Windows Phone or become irrelevant.
Android is open source too and you don't have to follow Google's guidelines. Amazon has forked Android for its new Kindle, while still being able to take advantage of Android's app library.
The only thing keeping Nokia from getting into Android is with its deal with Microsoft. Microsoft has strict requirements for its phones which will lock out Nokia from the low end market. Nokia is probably thinking of a way to fill this niche on its own and not alienate open source community. They are really stuck between a rock and a hard place and whatever solution they choose is destined to fail against the Android phones.
Some people see a walled garden as a benefit because it offers better quality control and a more streamlined user experience.
I really don't see the rational of paying more for the same content, unless you are talking about pirated content.
If Amazon is able to get a large market power with the Kindle, it can actually lower the prices individuals pay for content. Amazon would have more leverage in negotiating with content providers and have an incentive to have prices low to compete with Apple.
I have the original Droid which can be painfully slow when multitasking. Putting a custom ROM that was optimized for my phone however has improved the performance to an acceptable level, so it can be done if you forgo the bloatware.
We are talking about low end phones too. The phones aren't going to appeal to geeks or power users at all. They are more like netbooks, slow, but can do most basic task of a full powered PC.
>If someone wants a smooth experience, they will buy a mid to high range smart phone.
Java is not the best for low end phones, but the Dalvik JIT is fast enough and no company can compete without spending lots of money and years in development. Even if you do that, they can't compete with Android's app ecosystem. I don't see what advantages that Nokia think it can bring over a $150 Android.
Low end phones are not expected to be 100% smooth. They are marketed towards developing countries where people are used to surfing the Internet on a 10 year old computers with 128 MB of RAM. The experience just has to be on par with original Android HTC G1 and it will sell.
If a phone manufacturer wants to make a low end smart phone, Android is the way to go. It comes with a huge app ecosystem, more polished and cheaper to implement than any new Linux solution. I don't see how anything Nokia produces can compete with a $150 Android phone.
Nokia is probably only considering Linux after they realized that WP7 does not scale down to low end smart phones. They are covering up poor strategic decisions.
It is a consumer device that has a feature to make the browser a faster experience. I think we can live if the small chance that Amazon's cloud services can temporarily go down. There is concerns for security, but I don't think it is any worst than relying on Gmail for private email or Amazon to store your credit card information.
Amazon also is a reputable company that has lots of experience in cloud computing. They are going to be more reliable than most people can set up on their own. It is more likely that my ISP will go down, my power going off, forgetting to charge tablet's battery or the motherboard dying on my home built server.
Is it really that hard to disable Secure Boot? I don't know specifics, but I bet the expense is well worth a 5% increase in sales.