I had a customer tell me not too long ago that someone called him and tried to sell him insurance for his domain name to protect it from being registered by someone else right before and/or after it expires. The customer told the spammer to go scratch.
I highly doubt it but I have to ask.. is this a legit practice?
I work in IT at a Fortune 5 company (woohoo). The coffee cabana's here have been littered with guerilla marketing by people paid to seed interest in this technology for several months now. The spam they leave lying around trying to make it look like people are reading about it on their breaks are almost laughable. It is like those people who are paid to hang out in bars with a new mobile phone or wear designer clothes to "advertise" in stealth mode. The ads for XM are misleading and the local interest is fake. BTW, I don't care how they try to skirt around it: the service is NOT commercial free.
standard option
XM and the like have been heavy to push factory installs of these units in demographically selected automobile models. There are groups at the Big Three automakers that are designing marketing plans around these technologies. I imagine it will be along the lines of "first 6 months free!" then you get $10/month'ed to death like every other subscription service that you don't need. The lazy will keep paying it and think they're getting value.
transmission control
I think it is interesting how it is billed as satellite radio when in fact the majority of subscribers will be receiving signal not from the satellites but from the repeater towers they had to erect in the major cities to deal with the signal loss caused by tall buildings. San Francisco, Los Angles, New York, Boston, Chicago... they and more only run on the repeaters. Subscribers of satellite TV can tell you what happens to the signal on a stormy day or even a cloudy day. Ask this to your satellite radio provider: does it come with local channels?
epilogue
I've discussed this technology with my family and friends and advised them to avoid it like the plague. I did the same thing when those DivX players came out. It is bad news people. Stay away. Stay far away. Invest your money in public radio.
It's just kind of interesting. Microsoft's advertising tactics have never been as unethical as what Apple has been doing with the switch campaign, and yet who bears the brunt of the attacks here?
World Wide Web Consortium still meeting over IBM resolutions
Posted: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 0:18 AEST
The five permanent members of the World Wide Web Consortium are meeting overnight in an attempt to agree on a resolution on IBM. W3C diplomats say there are signs HP and Sun are now moving towards a compromise, after weeks of wrangling over the XML issue.
HP wants clear instructions given to Microsoft that it return to the World Wide Web Consortium before taking legal action, while the Microsoft wants more leeway for itself and its allies. Meanwhile, the HP CEO, Carly Fiorina, has given another strong warning against the use of force against IBM.
Speaking at the opening of a summit of XML using companies in the Silicon Valley, Mrs Fiorina said legal force must only be used as a last resort. She called for all conflicts to be resolved in ways respecting international law, as this was the only guarantee against what she described as "adventurist" policies.
Microsoft Damage Control wraps up two days of debate on Wes Rataushk and Assoc Associates
Microsoft Damage Control in session
17 October - Microsoft Damage Control today wrapped up two days of open debate on PR firm Wes Rataushk and Assoc Associates, with over 40 departments - including all 15 board members - participating in the discussions, which began yesterday and included widespread calls for Valerie G. Mallinson's compliance as well as numerous pleas to avoid a violent confrontation.
Addressing Microsoft today on behalf of the Trustworthy Computing, Mokhtar Lamani hailed Wes Rataushk and Associates's decision to re-admit Microsoft ad inspectors, calling this a "first step" towards a settlement of the issue leading to a lifting of the sanctions.
He recalled that numerous speakers had stressed during Microsoft's meeting that there should be no double standards in term of non-compliance with Microsoft resolutions. "The history of Microsoft testifies to the fact that some of its PR firms have shown defiance of its resolutions - MSNBC is a clear example," he said. "However, Microsoft, including the Microsoft Damage Control did not resort to the use of force against these firms." Citing academic research, he said that firms other than Wes Rataushk and Associates were currently violating more than 90 Microsoft Damage Control resolutions, including 31 dealing with MSNBC.
Office XP to Corel WordPerfect: Mission Accomplished, Convert Thrilled
October 9, 2002
Yes, it's true. I like Corel WordPerfect to change my whole computing world around. Here's the bottom line: WordPerfect gives me more choices and flexibility, and better compatibility with the rest of the technology world.
WordPerfect relieved my fears about switching. I can read my files, import e-mail addresses from my Palm* to the CorelCENTRAL messaging and collaboration client, and keep my Web favorites. All the Office XP hardware--including my printer, broadband cable, Zip drive, and Palm handheld--works perfectly with my Corel-based PC.
To my surprise, the process of switching was as easy as the marketing hype had promised. I was up and running in less than one day, Girl Scout's honor. First, let me tell you more about why I converted.
More Hardware Options, for Less Dough
I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing. There's a much greater choice of portable computers and features, for less money, on the Corel platform. My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and WordPerfect Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook. My recommendation is to go straight to WordPerfect Professional; the extra features for mobile users are worth it. See Which Edition is Right for You? for more information.
More Software Flexibility
Office XP (previously called Office 2000) pales in comparison to Corel WordPerfect. There's no equivalent for the versatility of Corel WordPerfect, QuattroPro, and CorelPresentations. Toolbars and menus customize themselves to the way I work. I wouldn't know how to function without the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. I adore the WordPerfect Clipboard, which copies multiple elements from one file and pastes them into another.
Corel Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape Navigator ever did, and I am a surfing addict. Searches are faster; the History feature makes it easier to find that site from last week; and I can name and organize my Favorites any way I want.
By Rick Micciuti Staff Writer, CNET News.com October 14, 2002, 4:00 a.m. PT
For years, Andy Tanenbaum and other top executives at Minix railed against the economic philosophy of open-source software with Orwellian fervor, denouncing its communal licensing as a "cancer" that stifled technological innovation.
Today, Minix claims to "love" the open-source concept, by which software code is made public to encourage improvement and development by outside programmers. Tanenbaum himself says Minix will gladly disclose its crown jewels--the coveted code behind the Minix operating system--to select customers.
"We can be open source. We love the concept of shared source," said Bill Veghte, vice president of the Minix Server Group. "That's a super-important shift for us in terms of code access."
Did Minix suddenly find open-source religion? Hardly. It was dragged there kicking and screaming by its customers, who are increasingly drawn to open-source software like Linux, whose inner workings of code can be seen by anyone and modified.
While small in scope, Minix's adoption of some key open-source tenets is monumental in meaning. It is an acknowledgement that the company sees the technology as its most serious competitor in years and is taking steps to make sure its Minix franchise can survive the attack.
The open-source movement also represents a larger threat to Minix that transcends any particular technology or company: The high-tech industry has undergone a psychological shift that encourages challenges to Minix, which for many years had been technologically possible but practically unthinkable.
For a combination of reasons ranging from the troubled economy to mistakes in Minix business strategies, many large companies are wondering, for the first time in maybe a decade, why they pay so much for its products and how they can get by with less.
"This is going to force Minix to look at how they structure their software architecturally, and how they package and market their products, and I think that's good," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Minix.
Minix has itself to blame at least in part for strengthening the hand of its rivals. A controversial new software licensing policy, which raises prices for some customers and asks them to pay in advance for future releases, has angered many Minix customers and driven them to seek cheaper alternatives such as Linux.
While no one expects the open-source trend to affect Minix's profits immediately--the company is still ringing up record sales and has roughly $40 billion in cash--it is clear that the technology's popularity has forced the company to respond.
"Minix hasn't yet been hurt by Linux in any absolute sense, but open source gives customers alternatives," said Jonathan Eunice, an analyst with market researcher Illuminata. "It means Minix has to devote some of its resources to thinking about how to combat it. It makes Linux and open source a strategic problem, not a 2002 revenue-loss problem."
Minix customers say the software giant has already made significant changes, such as sharing source code with large customers and launching a "trustworthy computing" initiative to button-up troublesome security holes in its software.
"We're learning, if you will, from the Linux world," Minix Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told CNET News.com.
The company's next server version of Minix will ask clients to join online newsgroups for support and advice, following the community-based traditions of the open-source philosophy.
"With open source, I can make systems work where closed-source software just won't," said Phillip Windley, chief information officer of the state of Utah and a longtime Minix customer. "I can't always afford to wait for a software vendor to come around to my way of thinking."
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
Irregardless of eBay's fraud issues, I take exception at the sincerity of this article.
Let's see.. an article on MSNBC.com (read Microsoft) about fraud horrors on eBay with no comparative analysis on how eBay stands up to the other major online houses with regards to fraud.
The "Advertising" gadget on the article's page has a link to MSN's (read Microsoft) auction partner uBid.
Sounds like FUD with a splash of advertising to me.
Gee, if life was all about money (spending it, making it) and I read this article, I would be rather depressed.
Personal enrichment and the best years of your life have little to do with things you can buy. I don't expect the writers and editors over at Fortune to understand this.
I read the article (imagine that around here) and it seems to me that the author (MSNBC payroll) of the article is the one that makes claims that there is a relationship between Lindows and AOL.
... not paying attention to the world around them makes them appear to be stupid. Mobiles phones are the enabler. The real cause is their parents.
Think about it. Fat parents have fat kids.
I just saw my first Microsoft ad (visual studio.net) on slashdot attached to this article. They may have been here for a while but this is the first one I saw. Wow, how things have changed.
I've been targeted right out of the market.
on
MPAA vs. Television
·
· Score: 2, Redundant
(I'm not the original author of this brilliant rant...)
I've been targeted right out of the market.
I've had it. I can't take any more advertising. Television, radio, magazines, billboards, even the Internet for Christ's sake. Everywhere. Why do they keep targeting me? I never did anything to them. I don't even buy anything! They're wasting their time! Fast food makes me feel like shit, soft drinks make me dizzy, candy is disgusting, chips make my stomach hurt, I don't smoke, and any band that has ever been advertised anywhere sucks unequivocally. I eat tortillas and vegetables, I drink tap water. I ride my $40 bike for entertainment. I buy a new pair of Dickies at the army navy store every year and I get all my other clothes at Costco in 3-packs. My car works fine, I use my Internet connection for long distance, I've had the same boots for three years and re-sole them when they wear out. As far as booze goes, well, as long as it's wet...
So why do they keep attacking me? Why are they filling every square inch of every available space in my life? Above urinals, on concert tickets, underneath the ice at hockey games, on blimps, in video games, as props in movies, plugs in rap songs, on shitty Web Sites (No, I will not visit your motherfucking sponsor. If you're not in it for the love, and you can't figure out any better way to pay for your site than by slapping some ugly, corrupted banner across the top of your pathetic work, then fucking close up shop, kill yourself, and leave the Web to non-polluters). They'd advertise on the backs of my eyelids if they could get away with it, and I can't hack it anymore. They win. I lose. They succeeded. I failed. Like Brian Wilson, I just wasn't built for these times. I fold. Here are all my cards. Keep the pot, keep my ante, keep the goddamn jacket on the back of my chair for all I care, I can get another at Costco. I'll be out in the parking lot getting drunk and yelling at cute girls because I can no longer stand the taste of tentacles. Marketing has poisoned everything worthwhile under the sun, so I'm giving it all up. Everything.
But the way I figure it, there's no real loss. I've seen all of the episodes of the Simpsons 200 times each. Most of the good writing was done 100 years ago. I haven't listened to FM radio in years. I could play all my records beginning to end alphabetically and I'd be 76 years old when I got to the Zeni Geva. Online culture is a fucking yawn, only good for buying stuffed goats on Ebay and getting cracked copies of $1000 software. Movies always end up at the 99 cent video store across the street eventually, and you can fast forward through those commercials. My girlie's cute and the corner bar has Pabst on tap. What else matters?
True, by shutting myself off to everything, I'm probably limiting my future potential as a 'community building' or 'bleeding edge' cog in someone's nightmarish vision of Internet profitability, but fuck, a simple read through my writing should've cured that anyway (Note to potential employers: The bidding starts at $120,000 a year with full dental).
So I'm out. No more.
I just feel bad for those of you I'm leaving behind. You'll be wearing your Slave Labor Nikes, sweating under a Third World Vest, listening to Everqueer or Fratboy Slim, your hair styled stupidly with gasoline and aborted pig placentas, trying to choke down a Double Meat Fuck Splattered Cow Testicles On The Slaughterhouse Floor Pus Coagulated Lactacious Secretion Yellow Dye #2 Deluxe. Man, will you be looking dumb. It makes me want to cry. You poor, oversugared demographic you. You're filling your apartments, your bodies, and your minds with useless junk. You stagger under your own weight, throwing money in random directions until you collapse and die, buried by a bunch of people who you failed to create meaningful human bonds with, who forget about you on the way home from the funeral.
Maybe I'm just oversensitive, but I actually feel those fingers reaching out at me - cute little girl fingers, feeling at my face like a bind man, pulling at the loose threads all over my brain, trying to find a sensitive one, one that tweaks me. Desires to be successful, attractive to the opposite sex, spiritually satiated, or conversely, the fears of disease, dismemberment, of being outcast, of repressed homosexual desires. Herd mentality as dictated by herd mentality. A gas mask of soiled wool, worn in a steaming shower of chlorinated pond water. A lumbering culture created by profit motive, existing as window dressing to disguise the brutal cynicism of the architects, the brassy checks and balances of accountants bleating commands to the flunky tastemakers on the production line. The subversion of anything subverting. The conversion of something dangerous into something profitable. The gutting of the lion and the championing of the taxidermist. And the puffy vests, my god, the puffy vests....
I give it one more shot.
I hit that little "on" button, and immediately this little red dot appears on my forehead. I feel the barrel rising on the other side of the glass as some powersuited executive attempts to get me in his sights. His scope is the best money can buy, but my nausea and skittishness mark me as difficult prey. I make a sprawling leap over a pile of books, spilling a glass of wine and sending my cats scattering. The TV takes a shot at me. It misses, but after the smoke clears, there's a shimmering can of Pepsi on the coffee table, seductively held by a well manicured (but severed) hand. Then the Taco Bell dog is outside, scratching at my window, singing "That's Amore", the secret code that alerts Col. Sanders and Ronald McDonald to get their tumor inducing grease guns at the ready. "We have a resistor! Alert Cap'n Crunch and Mrs. Butterworth. Tell Hogan to pull that Subaru around!" And then, as the entire posse of 1-800-COLLECT goons attempt to joke their way through the front door, a helmeted uberyouth does a backflip on rollerblades against the window, almost crushing the Taco dog, thankfully getting tangled in the iron jungle of security bars designed for such a moment. The severed Pepsi hand launches itself across the room onto the stereo, turns it to HOTROCK 99.5 FM and starts dancing suggestively on the turntable. Warm, gooey songs ooze from the speakers, blurring the lines between commercial and product, product and art. The walls are running with honey, blood, and Gatorade. Limp Bizkit tries to sign me up for the Rap Metal MasterCard, but is outvolumed by a chorus of creepy NY Gap models, dead eyed and Children of the Damned style, singing nostalgic 80s songs with cool detachment, trying to sell me vests. Close inspection reveals UPC codes on the backs of their beautiful necks and a legion of bulimic girls behind them, mascara mixing with puke on ten thousand toilet bowls. Budweiser frogs are crawling out of the toilet bowls. A one-eyed, mutilated Asian girl holds a pair of new Levi's against the window with a thin, purple arm and starts screeching "It's a Small World After All" at the top of her lungs. Magic, The Old Navy dog, is sniffing butts with the Taco Bell dog, who had since bit the Asian girl on the leg and now yelling something about Gordidas. A waifish beauty suddenly appears on my bed, vying for my attention, trying to talk me into a new car, her hand slowly unbuttoning her blouse, batting her doe-ishly brown eyes, "C'mon Mark. It's only a test drive. No one ever has to know."
Realizing my one escape, I yank my battered wallet out of my back pocket and pull out a twenty dollar bill. The entire scene freezes. All eyes are transfixed to the damp, smelly piece of paper. Andrew Jackson snickers and you can almost smell the cannibalized Indian on his breath. A miraculous cross breeze flows through my apartment, and I let the money go. It catches an upward draft, a hot air thermal, and is gone out the window.
And then, something even stranger happens. The spokespeople, animals, models, body parts, and corporate whores all disappear in a anti-climactic 'puff' of yellow smoke, leaving a slight smell of perfumed intestine twisting through the air. My twenty freezes in mid flight about thirty feet above the ground. A helicopter drops out of the sky, and lowers a rope down to the cash. A man in a business suit slides down the rope, commando style, and captures the money in his mouth, gives a contemptuous snort, mumbling something like "sucker" under his breath. And then the helicopter is gone, vanishing somewhere behind the radio towers spiking the top of Queen Anne Hill. Everything is quiet again.
I didn't just turn that TV off. I unplugged the motherfucker.
Star Southfield was nice when it opened, but I can't stand it now. Try the new theater complex in Birmingham, or the older Birmingham Theater. You'll get better service and enjoy the movie more than you will at Star Southfield.
I've been to the old one in Birrrrrmingham and it sucked. The theaters are small, they only have 10 decent seats and the rest are at the margins or with a railing in front of your face. No thanks.
I haven't been to the new theater, the Palladium is it? I suppose I could get my mad bling on and shell out $50 for a night at the movies there. I'd rather just use the automated ticket machines at the Star Southfield and get awesome seats for the price of a senior citizen or child. One nice thing about lazy employees is that they don't care and subsequently don't check the tickets for the type.
Commander Taco, I could suggest contacting someone at Star Theaters. I'm sure you could get into some advanced screening with press credentials. Here's the URL:
I guess I don't understand why the established companies that are under threat by a new way of doing business don't offer those services themselves instead of trying to fight them.
Take the RIAA companies for example. If they made their own "Napster" that didn't suck (and didn't cost an arm and a leg for very little content), they would be in like Flynn. The same goes for MasterCard, Visa and the like. If they created their own "PayPal" that didn't suck, they would be ahead of the game because they're already established.
Frankly, I'd rather use MasterCard's "PayPal" rather than PayPal because we all know that PayPal is kinda shady.
As of 6:30 PM EST on Tuesday 4/2/02, the site now alternates failures: Blank screens, 403's, directory listing not allowed. I guess if I wanted "the way out" I wouldn't have much luck there, would I?
Slashdot Mirror
I had a customer tell me not too long ago that someone called him and tried to sell him insurance for his domain name to protect it from being registered by someone else right before and/or after it expires. The customer told the spammer to go scratch.
I highly doubt it but I have to ask.. is this a legit practice?
I work in IT at a Fortune 5 company (woohoo). The coffee cabana's here have been littered with guerilla marketing by people paid to seed interest in this technology for several months now. The spam they leave lying around trying to make it look like people are reading about it on their breaks are almost laughable. It is like those people who are paid to hang out in bars with a new mobile phone or wear designer clothes to "advertise" in stealth mode. The ads for XM are misleading and the local interest is fake. BTW, I don't care how they try to skirt around it: the service is NOT commercial free.
standard optionXM and the like have been heavy to push factory installs of these units in demographically selected automobile models. There are groups at the Big Three automakers that are designing marketing plans around these technologies. I imagine it will be along the lines of "first 6 months free!" then you get $10/month'ed to death like every other subscription service that you don't need. The lazy will keep paying it and think they're getting value.
transmission controlI think it is interesting how it is billed as satellite radio when in fact the majority of subscribers will be receiving signal not from the satellites but from the repeater towers they had to erect in the major cities to deal with the signal loss caused by tall buildings. San Francisco, Los Angles, New York, Boston, Chicago... they and more only run on the repeaters. Subscribers of satellite TV can tell you what happens to the signal on a stormy day or even a cloudy day. Ask this to your satellite radio provider: does it come with local channels?
epilogueI've discussed this technology with my family and friends and advised them to avoid it like the plague. I did the same thing when those DivX players came out. It is bad news people. Stay away. Stay far away. Invest your money in public radio.
It's just kind of interesting. Microsoft's advertising tactics have never been as unethical as what Apple has been doing with the switch campaign, and yet who bears the brunt of the attacks here?
Ellen Feiss isn't a clip art stock image.
World Wide Web Consortium still meeting over IBM resolutions
Posted: Sat, 19 Oct 2002 0:18 AEST
The five permanent members of the World Wide Web Consortium are meeting overnight in an attempt to agree on a resolution on IBM. W3C diplomats say there are signs HP and Sun are now moving towards a compromise, after weeks of wrangling over the XML issue.
HP wants clear instructions given to Microsoft that it return to the World Wide Web Consortium before taking legal action, while the Microsoft wants more leeway for itself and its allies. Meanwhile, the HP CEO, Carly Fiorina, has given another strong warning against the use of force against IBM.
Speaking at the opening of a summit of XML using companies in the Silicon Valley, Mrs Fiorina said legal force must only be used as a last resort. She called for all conflicts to be resolved in ways respecting international law, as this was the only guarantee against what she described as "adventurist" policies.
Microsoft Damage Control wraps up two days of debate on Wes Rataushk and Assoc Associates
Microsoft Damage Control in session 17 October - Microsoft Damage Control today wrapped up two days of open debate on PR firm Wes Rataushk and Assoc Associates, with over 40 departments - including all 15 board members - participating in the discussions, which began yesterday and included widespread calls for Valerie G. Mallinson's compliance as well as numerous pleas to avoid a violent confrontation.
Addressing Microsoft today on behalf of the Trustworthy Computing, Mokhtar Lamani hailed Wes Rataushk and Associates's decision to re-admit Microsoft ad inspectors, calling this a "first step" towards a settlement of the issue leading to a lifting of the sanctions.
He recalled that numerous speakers had stressed during Microsoft's meeting that there should be no double standards in term of non-compliance with Microsoft resolutions. "The history of Microsoft testifies to the fact that some of its PR firms have shown defiance of its resolutions - MSNBC is a clear example," he said. "However, Microsoft, including the Microsoft Damage Control did not resort to the use of force against these firms." Citing academic research, he said that firms other than Wes Rataushk and Associates were currently violating more than 90 Microsoft Damage Control resolutions, including 31 dealing with MSNBC.
Office XP to Corel WordPerfect: Mission Accomplished, Convert Thrilled
October 9, 2002
Yes, it's true. I like Corel WordPerfect to change my whole computing world around. Here's the bottom line: WordPerfect gives me more choices and flexibility, and better compatibility with the rest of the technology world.
WordPerfect relieved my fears about switching. I can read my files, import e-mail addresses from my Palm* to the CorelCENTRAL messaging and collaboration client, and keep my Web favorites. All the Office XP hardware--including my printer, broadband cable, Zip drive, and Palm handheld--works perfectly with my Corel-based PC.
To my surprise, the process of switching was as easy as the marketing hype had promised. I was up and running in less than one day, Girl Scout's honor. First, let me tell you more about why I converted.
More Hardware Options, for Less Dough
I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing. There's a much greater choice of portable computers and features, for less money, on the Corel platform. My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and WordPerfect Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook. My recommendation is to go straight to WordPerfect Professional; the extra features for mobile users are worth it. See Which Edition is Right for You? for more information.
More Software Flexibility
Office XP (previously called Office 2000) pales in comparison to Corel WordPerfect. There's no equivalent for the versatility of Corel WordPerfect, QuattroPro, and CorelPresentations. Toolbars and menus customize themselves to the way I work. I wouldn't know how to function without the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. I adore the WordPerfect Clipboard, which copies multiple elements from one file and pastes them into another.
Corel Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape Navigator ever did, and I am a surfing addict. Searches are faster; the History feature makes it easier to find that site from last week; and I can name and organize my Favorites any way I want.
Open source: Rebels at the gate
By Rick Micciuti
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 14, 2002, 4:00 a.m. PT
For years, Andy Tanenbaum and other top executives at Minix railed against the economic philosophy of open-source software with Orwellian fervor, denouncing its communal licensing as a "cancer" that stifled technological innovation.
Today, Minix claims to "love" the open-source concept, by which software code is made public to encourage improvement and development by outside programmers. Tanenbaum himself says Minix will gladly disclose its crown jewels--the coveted code behind the Minix operating system--to select customers.
"We can be open source. We love the concept of shared source," said Bill Veghte, vice president of the Minix Server Group. "That's a super-important shift for us in terms of code access."
Did Minix suddenly find open-source religion? Hardly. It was dragged there kicking and screaming by its customers, who are increasingly drawn to open-source software like Linux, whose inner workings of code can be seen by anyone and modified.
While small in scope, Minix's adoption of some key open-source tenets is monumental in meaning. It is an acknowledgement that the company sees the technology as its most serious competitor in years and is taking steps to make sure its Minix franchise can survive the attack.
The open-source movement also represents a larger threat to Minix that transcends any particular technology or company: The high-tech industry has undergone a psychological shift that encourages challenges to Minix, which for many years had been technologically possible but practically unthinkable.
For a combination of reasons ranging from the troubled economy to mistakes in Minix business strategies, many large companies are wondering, for the first time in maybe a decade, why they pay so much for its products and how they can get by with less.
"This is going to force Minix to look at how they structure their software architecturally, and how they package and market their products, and I think that's good," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Minix.
Minix has itself to blame at least in part for strengthening the hand of its rivals. A controversial new software licensing policy, which raises prices for some customers and asks them to pay in advance for future releases, has angered many Minix customers and driven them to seek cheaper alternatives such as Linux.
While no one expects the open-source trend to affect Minix's profits immediately--the company is still ringing up record sales and has roughly $40 billion in cash--it is clear that the technology's popularity has forced the company to respond.
"Minix hasn't yet been hurt by Linux in any absolute sense, but open source gives customers alternatives," said Jonathan Eunice, an analyst with market researcher Illuminata. "It means Minix has to devote some of its resources to thinking about how to combat it. It makes Linux and open source a strategic problem, not a 2002 revenue-loss problem."
Minix customers say the software giant has already made significant changes, such as sharing source code with large customers and launching a "trustworthy computing" initiative to button-up troublesome security holes in its software.
"We're learning, if you will, from the Linux world," Minix Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told CNET News.com.
The company's next server version of Minix will ask clients to join online newsgroups for support and advice, following the community-based traditions of the open-source philosophy.
"With open source, I can make systems work where closed-source software just won't," said Phillip Windley, chief information officer of the state of Utah and a longtime Minix customer. "I can't always afford to wait for a software vendor to come around to my way of thinking."
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
Thank you grammar nazi.
Irregardless of eBay's fraud issues, I take exception at the sincerity of this article.
Let's see.. an article on MSNBC.com (read Microsoft) about fraud horrors on eBay with no comparative analysis on how eBay stands up to the other major online houses with regards to fraud.
The "Advertising" gadget on the article's page has a link to MSN's (read Microsoft) auction partner uBid.
Sounds like FUD with a splash of advertising to me.
Gee, if life was all about money (spending it, making it) and I read this article, I would be rather depressed.
Personal enrichment and the best years of your life have little to do with things you can buy. I don't expect the writers and editors over at Fortune to understand this.
I read the article (imagine that around here) and it seems to me that the author (MSNBC payroll) of the article is the one that makes claims that there is a relationship between Lindows and AOL.
... not paying attention to the world around them makes them appear to be stupid. Mobiles phones are the enabler. The real cause is their parents. Think about it. Fat parents have fat kids.
Best post in this discussion. You nailed it.
So, they want to read my personal email but they don't want to read my ideas on how fix some corporate IT problems?
Perhaps I should put my suggestions in personal emails sent through Yahoo!, that way they might get some attention.
That's one of the funniest things I've read in a while. Good show ol' chap! Pip pip, cheerio!
I just saw my first Microsoft ad (visual studio.net) on slashdot attached to this article. They may have been here for a while but this is the first one I saw. Wow, how things have changed.
Here's a random anti-TV site. Google for more. http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/.
(I'm not the original author of this brilliant rant...)
I've been targeted right out of the market.
I've had it. I can't take any more advertising. Television, radio, magazines, billboards, even the Internet for Christ's sake. Everywhere. Why do they keep targeting me? I never did anything to them. I don't even buy anything! They're wasting their time! Fast food makes me feel like shit, soft drinks make me dizzy, candy is disgusting, chips make my stomach hurt, I don't smoke, and any band that has ever been advertised anywhere sucks unequivocally. I eat tortillas and vegetables, I drink tap water. I ride my $40 bike for entertainment. I buy a new pair of Dickies at the army navy store every year and I get all my other clothes at Costco in 3-packs. My car works fine, I use my Internet connection for long distance, I've had the same boots for three years and re-sole them when they wear out. As far as booze goes, well, as long as it's wet...
So why do they keep attacking me? Why are they filling every square inch of every available space in my life? Above urinals, on concert tickets, underneath the ice at hockey games, on blimps, in video games, as props in movies, plugs in rap songs, on shitty Web Sites (No, I will not visit your motherfucking sponsor. If you're not in it for the love, and you can't figure out any better way to pay for your site than by slapping some ugly, corrupted banner across the top of your pathetic work, then fucking close up shop, kill yourself, and leave the Web to non-polluters). They'd advertise on the backs of my eyelids if they could get away with it, and I can't hack it anymore. They win. I lose. They succeeded. I failed. Like Brian Wilson, I just wasn't built for these times. I fold. Here are all my cards. Keep the pot, keep my ante, keep the goddamn jacket on the back of my chair for all I care, I can get another at Costco. I'll be out in the parking lot getting drunk and yelling at cute girls because I can no longer stand the taste of tentacles. Marketing has poisoned everything worthwhile under the sun, so I'm giving it all up. Everything.
But the way I figure it, there's no real loss. I've seen all of the episodes of the Simpsons 200 times each. Most of the good writing was done 100 years ago. I haven't listened to FM radio in years. I could play all my records beginning to end alphabetically and I'd be 76 years old when I got to the Zeni Geva. Online culture is a fucking yawn, only good for buying stuffed goats on Ebay and getting cracked copies of $1000 software. Movies always end up at the 99 cent video store across the street eventually, and you can fast forward through those commercials. My girlie's cute and the corner bar has Pabst on tap. What else matters?
True, by shutting myself off to everything, I'm probably limiting my future potential as a 'community building' or 'bleeding edge' cog in someone's nightmarish vision of Internet profitability, but fuck, a simple read through my writing should've cured that anyway (Note to potential employers: The bidding starts at $120,000 a year with full dental).
So I'm out. No more.
I just feel bad for those of you I'm leaving behind. You'll be wearing your Slave Labor Nikes, sweating under a Third World Vest, listening to Everqueer or Fratboy Slim, your hair styled stupidly with gasoline and aborted pig placentas, trying to choke down a Double Meat Fuck Splattered Cow Testicles On The Slaughterhouse Floor Pus Coagulated Lactacious Secretion Yellow Dye #2 Deluxe. Man, will you be looking dumb. It makes me want to cry. You poor, oversugared demographic you. You're filling your apartments, your bodies, and your minds with useless junk. You stagger under your own weight, throwing money in random directions until you collapse and die, buried by a bunch of people who you failed to create meaningful human bonds with, who forget about you on the way home from the funeral.
Maybe I'm just oversensitive, but I actually feel those fingers reaching out at me - cute little girl fingers, feeling at my face like a bind man, pulling at the loose threads all over my brain, trying to find a sensitive one, one that tweaks me. Desires to be successful, attractive to the opposite sex, spiritually satiated, or conversely, the fears of disease, dismemberment, of being outcast, of repressed homosexual desires. Herd mentality as dictated by herd mentality. A gas mask of soiled wool, worn in a steaming shower of chlorinated pond water. A lumbering culture created by profit motive, existing as window dressing to disguise the brutal cynicism of the architects, the brassy checks and balances of accountants bleating commands to the flunky tastemakers on the production line. The subversion of anything subverting. The conversion of something dangerous into something profitable. The gutting of the lion and the championing of the taxidermist. And the puffy vests, my god, the puffy vests....
I give it one more shot.
I hit that little "on" button, and immediately this little red dot appears on my forehead. I feel the barrel rising on the other side of the glass as some powersuited executive attempts to get me in his sights. His scope is the best money can buy, but my nausea and skittishness mark me as difficult prey. I make a sprawling leap over a pile of books, spilling a glass of wine and sending my cats scattering. The TV takes a shot at me. It misses, but after the smoke clears, there's a shimmering can of Pepsi on the coffee table, seductively held by a well manicured (but severed) hand. Then the Taco Bell dog is outside, scratching at my window, singing "That's Amore", the secret code that alerts Col. Sanders and Ronald McDonald to get their tumor inducing grease guns at the ready. "We have a resistor! Alert Cap'n Crunch and Mrs. Butterworth. Tell Hogan to pull that Subaru around!" And then, as the entire posse of 1-800-COLLECT goons attempt to joke their way through the front door, a helmeted uberyouth does a backflip on rollerblades against the window, almost crushing the Taco dog, thankfully getting tangled in the iron jungle of security bars designed for such a moment. The severed Pepsi hand launches itself across the room onto the stereo, turns it to HOTROCK 99.5 FM and starts dancing suggestively on the turntable. Warm, gooey songs ooze from the speakers, blurring the lines between commercial and product, product and art. The walls are running with honey, blood, and Gatorade. Limp Bizkit tries to sign me up for the Rap Metal MasterCard, but is outvolumed by a chorus of creepy NY Gap models, dead eyed and Children of the Damned style, singing nostalgic 80s songs with cool detachment, trying to sell me vests. Close inspection reveals UPC codes on the backs of their beautiful necks and a legion of bulimic girls behind them, mascara mixing with puke on ten thousand toilet bowls. Budweiser frogs are crawling out of the toilet bowls. A one-eyed, mutilated Asian girl holds a pair of new Levi's against the window with a thin, purple arm and starts screeching "It's a Small World After All" at the top of her lungs. Magic, The Old Navy dog, is sniffing butts with the Taco Bell dog, who had since bit the Asian girl on the leg and now yelling something about Gordidas. A waifish beauty suddenly appears on my bed, vying for my attention, trying to talk me into a new car, her hand slowly unbuttoning her blouse, batting her doe-ishly brown eyes, "C'mon Mark. It's only a test drive. No one ever has to know."
Realizing my one escape, I yank my battered wallet out of my back pocket and pull out a twenty dollar bill. The entire scene freezes. All eyes are transfixed to the damp, smelly piece of paper. Andrew Jackson snickers and you can almost smell the cannibalized Indian on his breath. A miraculous cross breeze flows through my apartment, and I let the money go. It catches an upward draft, a hot air thermal, and is gone out the window.
And then, something even stranger happens. The spokespeople, animals, models, body parts, and corporate whores all disappear in a anti-climactic 'puff' of yellow smoke, leaving a slight smell of perfumed intestine twisting through the air. My twenty freezes in mid flight about thirty feet above the ground. A helicopter drops out of the sky, and lowers a rope down to the cash. A man in a business suit slides down the rope, commando style, and captures the money in his mouth, gives a contemptuous snort, mumbling something like "sucker" under his breath. And then the helicopter is gone, vanishing somewhere behind the radio towers spiking the top of Queen Anne Hill. Everything is quiet again.
I didn't just turn that TV off. I unplugged the motherfucker.
What on earth makes you think the mobile phone companies are not going do the same thing?
I just got back from London, where you see most peeps running around with a brick next to their ear...
Big is the new small.
(Mad props if you get the reference.)
That's why god invented the hands-free headset for mobile phones.
Star Southfield was nice when it opened, but I can't stand it now. Try the new theater complex in Birmingham, or the older Birmingham Theater. You'll get better service and enjoy the movie more than you will at Star Southfield.
I've been to the old one in Birrrrrmingham and it sucked. The theaters are small, they only have 10 decent seats and the rest are at the margins or with a railing in front of your face. No thanks.
I haven't been to the new theater, the Palladium is it? I suppose I could get my mad bling on and shell out $50 for a night at the movies there. I'd rather just use the automated ticket machines at the Star Southfield and get awesome seats for the price of a senior citizen or child. One nice thing about lazy employees is that they don't care and subsequently don't check the tickets for the type.
Commander Taco, I could suggest contacting someone at Star Theaters. I'm sure you could get into some advanced screening with press credentials. Here's the URL:
http://startheatres.moviefone.com/
I'd shoot for the Star Southfield -- stadium seating and THX r0x0rs.
I guess I don't understand why the established companies that are under threat by a new way of doing business don't offer those services themselves instead of trying to fight them.
Take the RIAA companies for example. If they made their own "Napster" that didn't suck (and didn't cost an arm and a leg for very little content), they would be in like Flynn. The same goes for MasterCard, Visa and the like. If they created their own "PayPal" that didn't suck, they would be ahead of the game because they're already established.Frankly, I'd rather use MasterCard's "PayPal" rather than PayPal because we all know that PayPal is kinda shady.
As of 6:30 PM EST on Tuesday 4/2/02, the site now alternates failures: Blank screens, 403's, directory listing not allowed. I guess if I wanted "the way out" I wouldn't have much luck there, would I?