Actually, it's a lot more expensive than you might first think. A good bit of adult sites now use streaming video, which not only eat up bandwidth like you wouldn't believe, but also costs a LOT to license to use. Also, most adult sites have to pay constantly for new content (whether it be pictures, stories, etc.).
Now, you mention that an e-zine needs marketing and PR people. Why? Marketing for a standard content site can be as easy as going to places like Lycos' Affiliate Program and signing up. Boom. Ad space is sold. Why complicate the matter and hire 6 figured executives to do the same thing? And why does a site need PR? If the content is useful, people will find it though links from related sites, search engines, etc. A web site that needs PR needs PR because the niche that they're trying to fill may not be there. I seriously doubt that magazines that cater to specific content areas have PR people.
No, I really think that the business models of adult sites and e-zines are almost exactly the same, with the only difference is that one is paying for writers, and the other is paying for pre-prepared content. There are very large adult web site companies such as IDG which are making money hand over fist. I don't think that their business model is that different, from say, Salon's.. Other than content, it's exactly the same. The difference is mindset. Most people in the adult industry are the kind of people who want to run a business as best as they can, and who start in their basements witha single PC and a dialup account. More 'traditional' companies, on the other hand, are started by manager types, and start out with bank loans, offices, etc. They're expensive from the get-go because the management doesn't know any other way to do it.
The advertising model is NOT failing. What is failing is these top-heavy companies with huge staffs and outrageous expenses. Again, look at the porn industry. There is HUGE evidence there or advertising for revenue working just fine. That's because most people who run adult web sites run them aggressively, and keep costs low. You don't need hundreds of people to run a content web site, period. You don't need scads of marketing and other random management people. You don't need huge, glamorous offices in the most expensive real estate market in the world. You don't need TV ads.
Many excellent adult sites are bringing in VERY large amounts of purely advertising revenue. If non-adult websites would simply follow this business model (it usually takes them a few years to catch up), then we wouldn't see as many failures. Advertising works fine. There's plenty of room in the world of non-adult websites for ad-drive, content sites, if they are run with an eye on the bottom line.
They're not talking about computers in general, they're talking about PC's. Home PC's. Terminals in airports have been working well for years. They do what they're supposed to do, and although they're tough to use (ever wonder why a terminal agent has to type in a book jsut tp print your damn ticket?), they work well. Today's PC's are not only tough to use, but they don't do too much well at all.
A PHD won't help you. All it will do will be to put off your job search. I know plenty of people (myself included) who don't have any kind of computer-related degree who have plenty of work. It's just a matter of 1.Skills and 2.Experience. Schooling very rarely plays a part in the employment picture.
I think that eBay may have the volume, but their auction system is a nightmare. You have to log in many, many times, jsut within EBay's own site. On top of that, the price listings on their list pages are often severely delayed. It's very difficult to find what you're looking for. All in all, the interface at EBay is VERY difficult to use. You shouldn't have to LEARN how to use an auction. At Yahoo, it's simple to use, and it works, gangbusters. And, my auction notices come straight through to my Yahoo Messenger.
This company could amke the best car in the world, but I'm willing to bet that if it IS that good, and it IS that revolutionary, the big automakers will squash it. Remember the Tucker...?
As fast as it may accelerate, it still has a big problem. It's probably as ugly as the Pontiac Aztec, and gets blown around on the highway by Ford Expeditions. I'd be willing to be that just the exhaust from my '68 GTO would make this thing fall apart. Call me nuts, but there's nothing quite as satisfying as changing my oil, replacing spark plugs, etc. It'll be a sad day when gas-powered cars are no more. Very sad.
Well, that would be a good idea, but I kind of doubt that the models would go for it. People may be willing to code for free, but most women aren't going to take off their clothes for free.
I've actually approached RMS about this, but he didn't rellay understand the concept of 'women', and was really confused as to why these 'women' would take their clothes off for money.
That isn't true. Mayn people (myself included) like to have everything integrated. I can pop up my Yahoo Messgener, and message people, check my local weather, news, sports, stocks, and auctions all in one place. And, I have only ONE unified login for the entire area. I use Yahoo's services often because not only is there one login, but there's a single look/feel, and they also integrate my user information very well. I will NEVER have to enter my mailing address on any Yahoo page, EVER, because they already have it. No, the word 'bloat' doesn't apply to portals. Yahoo has the best in the business. Their problem is that they're still not operating like a traditional company: aggressively cutting costs, working to make their operations more profitable. Yahoo is still in the spend, spend, and spend some more mode. Until they grow up, they're going to be lackluster in the financialsm regardless of the eyeballs that they get.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. Comapnies CAN make money from portals. I've seen it done in other industries (namely, the porn industry), and more specific areas. The problem with Yahoo is simply bloat. They pay outrageuos salaries and for some reason, are physically located in one of the most expensive areas of the world. They need to trim half of their management and move to a smaller cheaper, tech center, such as RTP, NC, or Northern VA.
No, in my day, kids actually used what are commonly called muscles. You see, muscles are part of the physical body, underneath the countless fat layers. By using them, primitive people thought that they could derive some benefit from this. This benefit, often called exercise was believed to extend life and lessening the reliance on synth-foods and vita-capsules. What silly, primitive people we were. Little did we know that there was no need to burn calories, potentially losing some of these fatty layers, or, God forbid, doing what was called 'sweating'. We could have just sat in these battery-powered vehicles as children, instead of potentially harming ourselves with this 'exercise'.
Microsoft already has Terminal Server for W2K that works well with low bandwidth connections. It doesn't draw the screen, pixel by pixel like VNC does. Instead, it uses the BMPs and the APIs already on your desktop to very quickly let you work on the other machine. Terminal Server works fine across a 28.8 connection. XWindows needs something to compete.
? Offering a product that panders to the base carnal desires of potential consumers, which some people are willing to pay for without any real expectation as to what they are getting?
I don't know if you consider 'carnal desires' a good or bad thing, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you don't consider sex inherently 'dirty' or 'icky' or 'bad'. As far as real expectations, says who? Most pay sites explain explicitly what they offer, and the vast majority deliver, because it's cheaper to keep a customer, then it is to find a new one.
Sneaky billing tactics, confident that a large enough percentage will pay rather than fess up to actual human beings about their unwholesome webrowsing habits to fight them?
Those 'sneaky' billing tactics, as you call them, are no different than your common 'book of the month club'. And, since you obviously don't follow the news too closely, there were a few unscrupulous companies, and those were closed down years ago. Right now, credit card restrictions on adult businesses are tighter than on almost any other business.
? Exploiting young ladies with the promise of "quick easy money" that in no way approaches the level of income that the resulting works will generate?
While I would never be so insulting as to call women 'ladies', I would say that most of them are paid very, very well. There are many porn sites who are run by the models themselves, and the ones that aren't are generally paid much more than the average woman in the US.
Safely protected by the inability of free alternatives to find low-cost domestic hosts whose terms of service do not preclude such content?
Again, it's amazing how little you actually know. There are vast server farms in the US that do nothing but host adult content. On top of that, the majority of co-location services in the US do not care one way or another what content you serve, as long as it's not illegal. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that many ISPs are supported solely by their adult web site customers.
It's ignorant drivel like this that gives the adult industry a bad name. I noticed that you didn't say what your line of work is....
The reason that a company can get away with this stuff, even for a little while, is because there's no community of webmasters/website owners. In the world or pornsites, if somebody does something shady, everybody knows abot it right away, and that person is usually blacklisted and forced out of business.
This is GREAT news! It's great that the mainstream media is finally giving privacy issues the coverage that they need. Maybe with more average Joe Americans knowing about these problems, the government will do something to stop them (and to curb themselves).
This isn't meant as flamebait, but I'm honestly interested in WHY anybody would want this? Buy this, and you get a smallish, clunky TV, and a tiny, underpowered, immobile computer. Why would I want to use this, when I can watch my 36" TV with a satellite from my couch, with my P800 laptop computer on my lap with a DSL connection? What benefits does this provide outside that most geeks don't already have?
Even if you didn't have Visual Studio installed, the Javascript errors are still there. The only difference is that IE will put the errors in a little icon in the lower left hand corner of the browser. Decent sites (porn included) shouldn't have any Javascript errors.
Actually, I have some co-located boxes. I've been adminstering them using VNC for years. Now, finally W2K has Terminal Server, which is faster and easier.
It is an early adopter. The only reason that it doesn't lead is because people in the mainstream don't know enough to follow us. The porn industry has been years ahead since the day the day the first version of Mosaic came out.
Still, With NT + IE 5.x, anyone could do to Windows Update, and it would detect any software patches you needed and would apply them for you if you wanted. It is VERY easy to do. Of course, there are plenty of other administrative things that any decent sysadmin needs to do also(lock down ports, remove unnecessary services, etc.).
That's a good question. Microsoft has even gone so far with Windows 2000 as to include Windows Update RIGHT ON THE START MENU! Heck, you can even download a little daemon that tells you ever time there's a security patch. Click on it, and it installs. Voila! Stupid admins.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, it's a lot more expensive than you might first think. A good bit of adult sites now use streaming video, which not only eat up bandwidth like you wouldn't believe, but also costs a LOT to license to use. Also, most adult sites have to pay constantly for new content (whether it be pictures, stories, etc.).
Now, you mention that an e-zine needs marketing and PR people. Why? Marketing for a standard content site can be as easy as going to places like Lycos' Affiliate Program and signing up. Boom. Ad space is sold. Why complicate the matter and hire 6 figured executives to do the same thing? And why does a site need PR? If the content is useful, people will find it though links from related sites, search engines, etc. A web site that needs PR needs PR because the niche that they're trying to fill may not be there. I seriously doubt that magazines that cater to specific content areas have PR people.
No, I really think that the business models of adult sites and e-zines are almost exactly the same, with the only difference is that one is paying for writers, and the other is paying for pre-prepared content. There are very large adult web site companies such as IDG which are making money hand over fist. I don't think that their business model is that different, from say, Salon's.. Other than content, it's exactly the same. The difference is mindset. Most people in the adult industry are the kind of people who want to run a business as best as they can, and who start in their basements witha single PC and a dialup account. More 'traditional' companies, on the other hand, are started by manager types, and start out with bank loans, offices, etc. They're expensive from the get-go because the management doesn't know any other way to do it.
The advertising model is NOT failing. What is failing is these top-heavy companies with huge staffs and outrageous expenses. Again, look at the porn industry. There is HUGE evidence there or advertising for revenue working just fine. That's because most people who run adult web sites run them aggressively, and keep costs low. You don't need hundreds of people to run a content web site, period. You don't need scads of marketing and other random management people. You don't need huge, glamorous offices in the most expensive real estate market in the world. You don't need TV ads.
Many excellent adult sites are bringing in VERY large amounts of purely advertising revenue. If non-adult websites would simply follow this business model (it usually takes them a few years to catch up), then we wouldn't see as many failures. Advertising works fine. There's plenty of room in the world of non-adult websites for ad-drive, content sites, if they are run with an eye on the bottom line.
They're not talking about computers in general, they're talking about PC's. Home PC's. Terminals in airports have been working well for years. They do what they're supposed to do, and although they're tough to use (ever wonder why a terminal agent has to type in a book jsut tp print your damn ticket?), they work well. Today's PC's are not only tough to use, but they don't do too much well at all.
A PHD won't help you. All it will do will be to put off your job search. I know plenty of people (myself included) who don't have any kind of computer-related degree who have plenty of work. It's just a matter of 1.Skills and 2.Experience. Schooling very rarely plays a part in the employment picture.
I think that eBay may have the volume, but their auction system is a nightmare. You have to log in many, many times, jsut within EBay's own site. On top of that, the price listings on their list pages are often severely delayed. It's very difficult to find what you're looking for. All in all, the interface at EBay is VERY difficult to use. You shouldn't have to LEARN how to use an auction. At Yahoo, it's simple to use, and it works, gangbusters. And, my auction notices come straight through to my Yahoo Messenger.
This company could amke the best car in the world, but I'm willing to bet that if it IS that good, and it IS that revolutionary, the big automakers will squash it. Remember the Tucker...?
As fast as it may accelerate, it still has a big problem. It's probably as ugly as the Pontiac Aztec, and gets blown around on the highway by Ford Expeditions. I'd be willing to be that just the exhaust from my '68 GTO would make this thing fall apart. Call me nuts, but there's nothing quite as satisfying as changing my oil, replacing spark plugs, etc. It'll be a sad day when gas-powered cars are no more. Very sad.
Well, that would be a good idea, but I kind of doubt that the models would go for it. People may be willing to code for free, but most women aren't going to take off their clothes for free.
I've actually approached RMS about this, but he didn't rellay understand the concept of 'women', and was really confused as to why these 'women' would take their clothes off for money.
That isn't true. Mayn people (myself included) like to have everything integrated. I can pop up my Yahoo Messgener, and message people, check my local weather, news, sports, stocks, and auctions all in one place. And, I have only ONE unified login for the entire area. I use Yahoo's services often because not only is there one login, but there's a single look/feel, and they also integrate my user information very well. I will NEVER have to enter my mailing address on any Yahoo page, EVER, because they already have it. No, the word 'bloat' doesn't apply to portals. Yahoo has the best in the business. Their problem is that they're still not operating like a traditional company: aggressively cutting costs, working to make their operations more profitable. Yahoo is still in the spend, spend, and spend some more mode. Until they grow up, they're going to be lackluster in the financialsm regardless of the eyeballs that they get.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. Comapnies CAN make money from portals. I've seen it done in other industries (namely, the porn industry), and more specific areas. The problem with Yahoo is simply bloat. They pay outrageuos salaries and for some reason, are physically located in one of the most expensive areas of the world. They need to trim half of their management and move to a smaller cheaper, tech center, such as RTP, NC, or Northern VA.
No, in my day, kids actually used what are commonly called muscles. You see, muscles are part of the physical body, underneath the countless fat layers. By using them, primitive people thought that they could derive some benefit from this. This benefit, often called exercise was believed to extend life and lessening the reliance on synth-foods and vita-capsules. What silly, primitive people we were. Little did we know that there was no need to burn calories, potentially losing some of these fatty layers, or, God forbid, doing what was called 'sweating'. We could have just sat in these battery-powered vehicles as children, instead of potentially harming ourselves with this 'exercise'.
Well, if what I wrote is such BS, why don't you enlighten us, oh great one?
Look who's calling the kettle black...
Microsoft already has Terminal Server for W2K that works well with low bandwidth connections. It doesn't draw the screen, pixel by pixel like VNC does. Instead, it uses the BMPs and the APIs already on your desktop to very quickly let you work on the other machine. Terminal Server works fine across a 28.8 connection. XWindows needs something to compete.
? Offering a product that panders to the base carnal desires of potential consumers, which some people are willing to pay for without any real expectation as to what they are getting?
I don't know if you consider 'carnal desires' a good or bad thing, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you don't consider sex inherently 'dirty' or 'icky' or 'bad'. As far as real expectations, says who? Most pay sites explain explicitly what they offer, and the vast majority deliver, because it's cheaper to keep a customer, then it is to find a new one.
Sneaky billing tactics, confident that a large enough percentage will pay rather than fess up to actual human beings about their unwholesome webrowsing habits to fight them?
Those 'sneaky' billing tactics, as you call them, are no different than your common 'book of the month club'. And, since you obviously don't follow the news too closely, there were a few unscrupulous companies, and those were closed down years ago. Right now, credit card restrictions on adult businesses are tighter than on almost any other business.
? Exploiting young ladies with the promise of "quick easy money" that in no way approaches the level of income that the resulting works will generate?
While I would never be so insulting as to call women 'ladies', I would say that most of them are paid very, very well. There are many porn sites who are run by the models themselves, and the ones that aren't are generally paid much more than the average woman in the US.
Safely protected by the inability of free alternatives to find low-cost domestic hosts whose terms of service do not preclude such content?
Again, it's amazing how little you actually know. There are vast server farms in the US that do nothing but host adult content. On top of that, the majority of co-location services in the US do not care one way or another what content you serve, as long as it's not illegal. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that many ISPs are supported solely by their adult web site customers.
It's ignorant drivel like this that gives the adult industry a bad name. I noticed that you didn't say what your line of work is....
I KNOW that Andover can afford a copy of Oracle. Why not upgrade so they don't have performance problems any more?
The reason that a company can get away with this stuff, even for a little while, is because there's no community of webmasters/website owners. In the world or pornsites, if somebody does something shady, everybody knows abot it right away, and that person is usually blacklisted and forced out of business.
This is GREAT news! It's great that the mainstream media is finally giving privacy issues the coverage that they need. Maybe with more average Joe Americans knowing about these problems, the government will do something to stop them (and to curb themselves).
They can take my PC (not PC/TV, not PC/TV/telephone, not PC/TV/telephone/breadmaker) away from me when they pry it out of my cold, dead, hands.
This isn't meant as flamebait, but I'm honestly interested in WHY anybody would want this? Buy this, and you get a smallish, clunky TV, and a tiny, underpowered, immobile computer. Why would I want to use this, when I can watch my 36" TV with a satellite from my couch, with my P800 laptop computer on my lap with a DSL connection? What benefits does this provide outside that most geeks don't already have?
Even if you didn't have Visual Studio installed, the Javascript errors are still there. The only difference is that IE will put the errors in a little icon in the lower left hand corner of the browser. Decent sites (porn included) shouldn't have any Javascript errors.
Actually, I have some co-located boxes. I've been adminstering them using VNC for years. Now, finally W2K has Terminal Server, which is faster and easier.
It is an early adopter. The only reason that it doesn't lead is because people in the mainstream don't know enough to follow us. The porn industry has been years ahead since the day the day the first version of Mosaic came out.
Still, With NT + IE 5.x, anyone could do to Windows Update, and it would detect any software patches you needed and would apply them for you if you wanted. It is VERY easy to do. Of course, there are plenty of other administrative things that any decent sysadmin needs to do also(lock down ports, remove unnecessary services, etc.).
That's a good question. Microsoft has even gone so far with Windows 2000 as to include Windows Update RIGHT ON THE START MENU! Heck, you can even download a little daemon that tells you ever time there's a security patch. Click on it, and it installs. Voila! Stupid admins.