Kirk: Computer, get me coordinates to Alpha Centari!
Computer: Did you mean: coordinates to alpha centauri
Kirk: Yes, yes, okay.
Computer: Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri B is much brighter than Alpha Centauri C but still alot weaker than A.... The coordinates for these stars are:... www.eso.org/outreach/eduoff/edu-prog/catchastar/CA S2002/cas-projects/nether_alphacen_1/astrofacts.ht ml - 15k - Cached - Similar pages
Kirk: What? Quick! Oh, OH KAY! for Pete's sake!
Spock: Captain, you get better results if you say, 'I'm feeling lucky'
Office Borg - Will assimilate all copies of non-Microsoft productivity software
Office Clipinator - A random collection of cute, animated icons which will attempt to provide the same clerical output as
your average gum-chewing office assistant.
Office Extravaganza - Every piece of eye-candy imaginable - scrolling menus, transparent windows, aqua-theme derivatives
Office SUV - Sucks up all available computer resources with no discernable increase in useable output.
Office Enron - Provides plausible deniability by randomly losing sensitive documents, transferring incriminating information to unsuspecting coworker's hard drives and routinely wiping inbox.
Media/Communications/Entertainment Honcho: "All of this unimpeded access to communications technology by average Schmoes was really starting to get out of hand. Don't these morons understand that we create the news and entertainment and they just rent it from us? Sheesh."
"To keep costs down and make it more durable, the laptop will eschew a hard drive in favor of 1GB of flash memory, on which the operating system, other software and all local data must be stored.
"The laptop is also likely to sport a low-power 500-MHz processor, 128MB of DRAM, a wireless broadband chip, a two-mode display that will alternate between a color mode suitable for watching DVDs and a black-and-white reflective one that will boost resolution three times and be viewable under sunlight. Finally, the laptop will be powered by a battery and a wind-up electrical generator -- an effort to overcome the primitive infrastructure of the developing nations in which the laptops are expected to be used."
Seriously, I'd like to get one for $200US or so and let them donate the excess to the cause.
"a tandem push with a shift to thin-client computing"
I had forgotten about that dynamic. But I think the service and retail industries are already using Point of Sale machines which by nature don't include word processing, spreadsheet, image manipulation, etc software.
And I don't believe in the imminence of convergence in the home, either. Although it's inevitable, I think the various entities (video from camera, audio from CDs, movies from DVD, TV from HD/cable/satellite) are still too different as to discourage the "one to run them all" machine.
In other words, someone buys a WebTV appliance, and then finds out they can't play a DVD on it, or view pictures of the grandkids, or record a tv show. The adaptability of your basic ATX bus-based PC is still its biggest feature, USB notwithstanding.
In the long run, you're absolutely right. In the short term, and the timeframe Google must be concerned with, the PC is every bit the battleground it was 10 years ago when Netscape got dunked.
The biggest cost of a Windows PC is rapidly becoming the Operating System itself. Google can undercut Microsoft by "adopting" a distro and selling a branded PC. This would go a long way towards slowing the MS advance.
Microsoft, Google's biggest natural enemy, is fueled by the unnaturally high price of its products.
Google needs to fight Microsoft on the OS front for two reasons:
To pinch MS' income stream
To keep MS from using its desktop to steer customers away from Google's business
Google has the marketing arm to push the product, the credibility to attract buyers and the cash reserve to handle problems.
The way I see it, this absolutely has to be done; to ignore Microsoft's desktop dominance is foolish and to assume they won't use it to unseat Google is suicidal.
The impact of having a Google-branded linux distro could be huge.
Excellent insight. I'd like to add that the current tech business climate is pretty much shark-like. Not so much in a predatory fashion, but from a survival point of view: businesses must keep swimming forward or die.
So what if a Google/Linux distro doesn't work out? Google is in a life-and-death struggle with Microsoft, the meanest company to ever come down the pike in the tech world. And, there's a million tinier sharks circling, waiting to disembowel the loser. In that kind of environment, Google absolutely has to try and gain any type of advantage possible over Microsoft.
We're at kind of a stand-off right now, as MS tries to regroup from antitrust actions worldwide. It too, must push forward on numerous fronts (XBox, MSN, Mobile devices), or risk being buried by the relentless advance of technology.
Wow. Digg really has you guys shook up. That's great. That's what competition's all about. This is the exact kind of action Microsoft, the recording industry and the Baby Bells would be forced to make if there were really competition in their worlds.
...at least up until recently, has been that hiring managers seem to think that if you're 30+ you're not "hip to the jive".
But that seems to be changing now that more hiring managers are 40+
It also seems that there's a career-path mindset to the effect, "First you program, then you manage programmers", and if you're not on that track, there's something wrong with you.
I think (I hope) that more people are beginning to realize that programming is something you can do pretty much for life; sort of like other trades/crafts, as long as you're willing to stay current.
Slashdot Mirror
heh heh. He said "nekkid". heh heh.
MjM
Software Engineers Ranked Best Job in America
Well, duh!
MjM
MjM
Shouldn't that be "penalised" not "penalized"...
Actually, that should be "penisized", beat with a wet noodle.
MjM
Something they don't mention in that article:
"Linspire's chief technical officer, Tom Welch, agreed that his company would definitely consider DRM."
http://news.com.com/DRM%20key%20to%20Linuxs%20cons umer%20success/2100-7344_3-6058790.html?tag=techdi rt
MjM
It's spelled "/."
Sheesh
So now someone can displace Microsoft Office 12 / 2006 / Vista using Microsoft Ajax.
I like it.
MjM
Well I'm a total idiot.
Ai!
MjM
Microsoft is never going to outdo Google if they can't help tampering with the results.
Top 5 results for "Linux" on Google:
Top 5 results for "Linux" on search.microsoft:
Top 5 results for "Open Office" on Google:
Top 5 results for "Open Office" on search.microsoft:
Now here's the kicker - top 5 results for linux on search.yahoo.com
Fargin' piece of Microsoft!
MjM
I thought governments just tortured people who acted like this, nowadays.
Oh, maybe that's just the US.
MjM
Media/Communications/Entertainment Honcho: "All of this unimpeded access to communications technology by average Schmoes was really starting to get out of hand. Don't these morons understand that we create the news and entertainment and they just rent it from us? Sheesh."
MjM
Someone mentioned it.
I think it's time for us to create tiny, RFID-like devices which can locate and propagate TCP/IP wireless transmissions using solar power.
Then, people interested in creating and using an unfettered 'net could start sprinkling millions of these things everywhere
Revolucion!
MjM
"To keep costs down and make it more durable, the laptop will eschew a hard drive in favor of 1GB of flash memory, on which the operating system, other software and all local data must be stored.
"The laptop is also likely to sport a low-power 500-MHz processor, 128MB of DRAM, a wireless broadband chip, a two-mode display that will alternate between a color mode suitable for watching DVDs and a black-and-white reflective one that will boost resolution three times and be viewable under sunlight. Finally, the laptop will be powered by a battery and a wind-up electrical generator -- an effort to overcome the primitive infrastructure of the developing nations in which the laptops are expected to be used."
Seriously, I'd like to get one for $200US or so and let them donate the excess to the cause.
MjM
"Any service based office with 25-50 pcs could afford an app server and thin clients instead of PCs."
Oops! You are absolutely right. I forgot that everyone out there with a PC on his desk isn't a programmer like me.
So, where were we? Do you think that Google's PC will herald the beginning of the long-prophesied retail/service return to thin-clients?
MjM
"a tandem push with a shift to thin-client computing"
I had forgotten about that dynamic. But I think the service and retail industries are already using Point of Sale machines which by nature don't include word processing, spreadsheet, image manipulation, etc software.
And I don't believe in the imminence of convergence in the home, either. Although it's inevitable, I think the various entities (video from camera, audio from CDs, movies from DVD, TV from HD/cable/satellite) are still too different as to discourage the "one to run them all" machine.
In other words, someone buys a WebTV appliance, and then finds out they can't play a DVD on it, or view pictures of the grandkids, or record a tv show. The adaptability of your basic ATX bus-based PC is still its biggest feature, USB notwithstanding.
In the long run, you're absolutely right. In the short term, and the timeframe Google must be concerned with, the PC is every bit the battleground it was 10 years ago when Netscape got dunked.
MjM
The biggest cost of a Windows PC is rapidly becoming the Operating System itself. Google can undercut Microsoft by "adopting" a distro and selling a branded PC. This would go a long way towards slowing the MS advance.
Microsoft, Google's biggest natural enemy, is fueled by the unnaturally high price of its products.
Google needs to fight Microsoft on the OS front for two reasons:
Google has the marketing arm to push the product, the credibility to attract buyers and the cash reserve to handle problems.
The way I see it, this absolutely has to be done; to ignore Microsoft's desktop dominance is foolish and to assume they won't use it to unseat Google is suicidal.
MjM
The impact of having a Google-branded linux distro could be huge.
Excellent insight. I'd like to add that the current tech business climate is pretty much shark-like. Not so much in a predatory fashion, but from a survival point of view: businesses must keep swimming forward or die.
So what if a Google/Linux distro doesn't work out? Google is in a life-and-death struggle with Microsoft, the meanest company to ever come down the pike in the tech world. And, there's a million tinier sharks circling, waiting to disembowel the loser. In that kind of environment, Google absolutely has to try and gain any type of advantage possible over Microsoft.
We're at kind of a stand-off right now, as MS tries to regroup from antitrust actions worldwide. It too, must push forward on numerous fronts (XBox, MSN, Mobile devices), or risk being buried by the relentless advance of technology.
MjM
When you're a giant corproration with a ton of lawyers, lobbyists and a congressperson or two, laws are for other people!
Sheesh!
MjM
yuk yuk yuk :)
MjM
Wow. Digg really has you guys shook up. That's great. That's what competition's all about. This is the exact kind of action Microsoft, the recording industry and the Baby Bells would be forced to make if there were really competition in their worlds.
kudos!
MjM
Gimp Activism
MjM
Robot House!!!
MjM
But that seems to be changing now that more hiring managers are 40+
It also seems that there's a career-path mindset to the effect, "First you program, then you manage programmers", and if you're not on that track, there's something wrong with you.
I think (I hope) that more people are beginning to realize that programming is something you can do pretty much for life; sort of like other trades/crafts, as long as you're willing to stay current.
MjM