I think most people prefer the accuracy of dealing with a well designed machine rather than try and translate your food order to Spanglish. "Welcome to Yack in the box"?!?!
How many here would wait in line for an ATM transaction rather than go to a live teller at your local bank?
It's very likely google knows how much it really costs to get videos and music streamed to consumers and has made a streaming rights offer that lets them stay in business rather than launch and then crash ALA MP3.com.
I use the google music streaming service at $8 a month, but would easily pay $16 if it encompassed all artists (glaring holes like Led Zepplin and the Beatles leave it incomplete) yet I discover new stuff all the time using the "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature.
If you don't have the URL but you have the name of the site and what the page is about " an article on CNN about blah blah" , how would you find it? SEARCH! And perhaps you'd encounter a useful advertisement for blah blah on your way to CNN.
It realy goes back to the strategy of vendor lock in, Microsoft just can't pull it off like they used to because open source is so readily available and more viable than it's ever been.
The Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt propogated by Microsoft spans generations, and also can't make as strong a case as it used to because people know that there are alrternatives available.
Not so much about having a monooly on the desktop or bundling a browser, so much as it was about trying to leverage that to alter standards and control the source such that other browsers can't render what was made for IE 6, other office suites can't quite display a.DOC file like Office can. It was about making it so that things couldn't interact or be compatable.
Nothing has changed, MS just can't sell their FUD like they used to, and there's enough good open source alternatives that trying to extend something to control it just makes users loose interest. What's really sad is they still try to use this strategy even though it will no longer work, and this is why windows phone can gain no traction.
Best thing to do is use opensource, and let MS continue their downward decline into insignificance.
"Rockstar produces no products and practices no patents. Instead, Rockstar employs a staff of engineers in Ontario, Canada, who examine other companies’ successful products to find anything that Rockstar might use to demand and extract licenses to its patents under threat of litigation." this statement sums up nicely how patent trolls are a stain on our modern patent laws and actually hinder innovations rather than promote innovation as patents are supposed to do.
If you don't make a product using your patent, you really shouldn't have the right to tell others not to. To have an idea is one thing, but to actually bring it to market is something else entirely. To have an idea that could enhance the lives of everyone but do nothing but sit on it is counterproductive to the advancement of society as a whole. One good idea pompts many more good ideas, if all these patent trolls had actually been producing products instead we'd be much further ahead in terms of product innovations. Just in user interface design alone, there's stupid patents like "pinch zoom" for touch screens, How many other concepts never hit the market because of royalty fees or patent lawsuits?
It boils down to the basic idea that information wants to be free, anything else is an un-natural restriction on the life force of the universe!
I think the reason many websites haven't updated is that they're too invested in a platform to just scrap the design and start over. So much goes into first getting a system for a site setup, to start over or create a second system is no small ordeal.
Seperation of content and layout is good design but seldom exists in the real world.
One site that is a pet peeve of mine for this is androidheadlines.com. Click a news article link from facebok or G+ to go to a news site about mobile platform and you're presented with a desktop site that you need to zoom to read. I don't know where they'd put all the as though if they did re-format for mobile which leads me to the other reason - lack of advertising revenue on mobile sites... sure you can have ads, just not great big tower and banner ads. Then when Mobile sites try those full screen ads that pop up when you go from page to page or first hit a site they loose audience.
And Mobile is still NEW, no-one wants to build out a site and then find out that flash no longer exisits on mobile, things need to be around for some time before big companies will want to spend the money to support all the bells and whistles.
on a related note, where I work we're finally taking the mobile plunge, and sunbuggy.com wil soon look like sunbuggy.org (the.com in beta) . We're doing this because we're seeing the same mobile traffic increase and many of our customers find us on mobile devices now.
I don't know if it's a product of my time in this life which has given me the perspective of age (I'm 41 ) , or if society as a whole is actually getting dull. It would appear in situations such as the government shutdown that grown men are incapable of making rational decisions either for: lack of moral incentives (the desire to do the right thing succumbs to political advisors demanding that they take some drama based action to appeal to the emoitional minds of voters) or lack of awareness (they are so oblivious to their surroundings that they cannot percieve any other way to act, logic has broken )
I see this in my everyday life where people are rather oblivious to their surroundings, and while I'm no mental superhero, I don't understand why it's so hard to comprehend what your eyes can truly see. Are we as a society- Emotionally stunted? Chemically Muted (Monsanto?)? or perhaps the progressing of radio frequency communication has somehow scrambled our senses in a subtle and progressive manner? Does Carbon based fuel in the air or Radiation make us dumb? That the greatest leaders we can find and send to washington can't figure out how to balance the books and keep the lights on is ridiculous, so much so that I fear darker times are still to come from this madness.
There were PDAs, There were PDA enabled phones, then there were Smartphones. I don't see where IPhone "Created the market". Didn't everyone see it coming? What about the IPaq? the Palm Pilot? We've had Linux on smartphones sine 2003- the A780.
it was just about smaller, more powerful, better battery life, better touch screens, such that we could have the smartphones we have today, but to jump in and say the IPhone started a smart phone revolution is ridiculous.
We have very safe cars but they're also very heavy as a result. Granted gains can be made with expensive and exotic materials, but how about CHEAP and LIGHT cars that could be had for just a few grand, and get 80-100MPG? before you think no-one would want to drive something without airbags and side impact beams and crush zones, what about motorbikes? I really think it would be a big hit with consumers who don't wish to be exposed to the elements or have to balance a motorcycle, but would opt for BASIC transportation with a 500cc motor, 3 or 4 wheels, and enclosed cab. Current safety standards for 4 wheeled vehicles make basic and light car not an option.
that there are 50 states and 50 different tax laws, and that's just domestic commerce is a huge problem. The benifits of internet commerce will ensure that online retailers don't go away, but ultimately there will emmerge a new system of state taxes that erases barriers between interstate comerce. The power of the internet is not going to be ignored, rather the world will eventually adapt to several billion people becoming virtual next door neighbors.
Ubuntu has a guest account that gives limited priveleges and doesn't require a password. It never ceases to amaze me all the BS people put up with to keep using windows, perhaps you shold dual boot and leave Ubuntu as the default so if a guest boots up a PC they get a Ubuntu Guest account unless they know the magic keystroke combo to switch to windows.
Guests shouldn't need to install software anyhow, that's something you'd do on your own machine, not someone else's.
The standard in air travel. Most people have flown Red Hat Air at one point or other. Some people like it and some people hate it and move on to one of the other airlines. Passengers are all treated the same; they get stuck in their seats and told not to ask questions -- everything will be taken care of for them. They should just sit back, relax, and not touch of the fancy controls under any circumstances, lest they send the plane into a tailspin. Red Hat Airlines is fabulously rich.
Mandrake Airlines:
Mandrake bought a truckload of planes from Red Hat, put new engines in them, re-painted them, and now run their own airline. Considered by many to be the most friendly airline for first-time flyers.
Corel Airlines:
A new player on the scene, Corel Air thinks it can be the airline of choice for a new generation of first-time pleasure flyers, and maybe even lure in some business travelers too. Their planes are big, brightly painted, and like Red Hat's they protect the innocent, clueless passengers from the dangerous buttons, switches and blinkenlights of the cockpit.
SuSe Airlines:
An airline out of Europe that tries to be everything for everyone and succeeds -- to a degree. Recently paid a huge sum of money to use a comic strip in its promotional material. (And after they finally named the lizard...)
Caldera OpenAirlines:
These guys go out of their way to make things comfortable for the business user. They've got a pretty terminal, pretty planes, really good in-flight movies, etc. But I had a bad experience with these guys once. They lost my luggage. Quite a mess, really. Ah well, such is life. I never flew with them again.
SlackAIR:
>From a distance, their planes look just like everyone elses. But up close you can tell that they haven't been painted and little bits of wire stick out here and there. But onboard, the seats are comfortable enough and there are plenty of stewardesses available to help you readjust your seat if you manage to break it. There is no in-flight movie but if you get bored you are always welcome up in the cockpit. The pilots will be glad to let you try and fly the plane and are happy to let you push whatever buttons you want, even if you don't know what you're doing. Generally, novice flyers avoid SlackAIR as they've heard horror stories about newbies pressing the wrong button and causing the plane to explode.
Debian Airlines:
They have a single type of airplane; a huge sucker weighing 2400 tons and carrying just about everything you can imagine. They've got kitchen sinks, massage parlors, a paintball arena, and 294 types of cheese for sale in the onboard, 24-hour supermarket. You can see from the terminal they have a huge team of technicians working on their fleet, poking and prodding. Debian Air is the only choice for some: everything onboard is built 100% by union workers -- no shoddy, possibly dangerous, imports here.
What you have are people who are apathetic about the quality of their work and who are in-fighting among each other. You already have formed an "Us and Them" (you mentioned that "2 or 3 of us" know what to do) situation which projects negative energy at the them side (works both ways) and further feeds the lack of a cohesive and collaborative space.
Here's how you fix it, find something beautiful about the people you work with and compliment them on it. Look for the positive in people and let them know what you appreciate about them, love the people around you. Give this positive energy to everyone around you and watch how the situation changes, watch how people feel compelled to connect rather than divide. Resist the covert struggles for energy and maintain your positive focus, eventually you will be surrounded with positive people who will all work well together and good ideas will materialize as if delivered by a higher power.
when shopping for a PC over the last 10 years it seems that if there's a Nvida card then you know you're going to be OK installing Linux. Other cards not so much. I'm not a gamer so I don't hang on the bleeding edge and obsess over frame rates but when I work with 3D Nvdia seems to get the job done, even if it's closed source at least it's there.
From a developers point of view there are likely glitches inherent in working with closed software that need to be worked around to keep things stable, only speculating but I imagine this is what may be frustrating Linus.
REALLY.... you're paid to be there to work, not conduct personal business! Perhaps if you were relieved of your employment you could dedicate yourself full time to your own endeavours from a connection that you procure with your own money that you can fully trust!!
Try hard to really imagine that it was YOUR money that paid for the office, lights, computers, Internet, and your salary, not to mention things like workmans comp insurance should you decide to do something stupid and hurt yourself while working etc... would you want people conducting personal business on YOUR dime?
Are you a prisoner, stuck there 24 hours a day? if so, then you may have a valid point, if not, wait until you get home!
Quit whining and devote that energy to being productive and perhaps if you have a positive work ethic good things will come your way!
so much easier to support than winblows. the only issue you ever run into is training, and kids will figure stuff out on their own. I replaced various versions of Windows at my company 5 years ago and that's the last time I had to dick around with spyware and virus scans and reloading OS's, Ubuntu just works and users don't break it. go back to redmond where you work and stay there.
I'm going to assume that you're going to get a bunch of these things, I'd contact several different manufacturers and solicit bids for laptops running Linux. Hopefully you'll be getting enough volume to be taken seriously and helped by people who sell computers. If it's for the Kids to use I'd look real hard at "Netbooks" because kids don't mind the smaller size and you'll find that you can get what you need at a much lower price point. Call Dell, Call IBM, Call them all and tell them you want Linux Laptops for a whole school what can they do for you.
It's so hard for me to believe that so many people still use Windows. As a Ubuntu Desktop user and administrator of a small business network, I've been patiently waiting since 1999 for enough people to just ditch windows all together so that we could all move on to better times. Everyone I know who has tried Linux in the past few years hasn't gone back to Windows, and were all amazed that the computer 'Just Worked'. People are so used to struggling with Windows issues that they don't expect using a computer to be easy and it really doesn't have to be that way.
So perhaps this is a bit off topic, but every time an article comes out touting some new enhancement of the Microsoft Windows Operating system, I just feel compelled to say "Who fucking cares?" and "Why does anyone even bother with this Operating System designed with the main purpose being to lock up your computer spending dollar into Microsoft?" Don't we all know better already?
Please people, get over MS Windows already, let it die.
Slashdot Mirror
His food will be cheaper than Sally's food!
Welcome our new robotic food overlords!
I think most people prefer the accuracy of dealing with a well designed machine rather than try and translate your food order to Spanglish. "Welcome to Yack in the box"?!?!
How many here would wait in line for an ATM transaction rather than go to a live teller at your local bank?
No need to go anywhere!
It's very likely google knows how much it really costs to get videos and music streamed to consumers and has made a streaming rights offer that lets them stay in business rather than launch and then crash ALA MP3.com.
I use the google music streaming service at $8 a month, but would easily pay $16 if it encompassed all artists (glaring holes like Led Zepplin and the Beatles leave it incomplete) yet I discover new stuff all the time using the "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature.
If you don't have the URL but you have the name of the site and what the page is about " an article on CNN about blah blah" , how would you find it? SEARCH! And perhaps you'd encounter a useful advertisement for blah blah on your way to CNN.
Nice move. No more links, only Google.
It realy goes back to the strategy of vendor lock in, Microsoft just can't pull it off like they used to because open source is so readily available and more viable than it's ever been.
The Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt propogated by Microsoft spans generations, and also can't make as strong a case as it used to because people know that there are alrternatives available.
Not so much about having a monooly on the desktop or bundling a browser, so much as it was about trying to leverage that to alter standards and control the source such that other browsers can't render what was made for IE 6, other office suites can't quite display a .DOC file like Office can. It was about making it so that things couldn't interact or be compatable.
Nothing has changed, MS just can't sell their FUD like they used to, and there's enough good open source alternatives that trying to extend something to control it just makes users loose interest. What's really sad is they still try to use this strategy even though it will no longer work, and this is why windows phone can gain no traction.
Best thing to do is use opensource, and let MS continue their downward decline into insignificance.
I see about 19% on a US based tourism related site.
"Rockstar produces no products and practices no patents. Instead, Rockstar employs a staff of engineers in Ontario, Canada, who examine other companies’ successful products to find anything that Rockstar might use to demand and extract licenses to its patents under threat of litigation." this statement sums up nicely how patent trolls are a stain on our modern patent laws and actually hinder innovations rather than promote innovation as patents are supposed to do.
If you don't make a product using your patent, you really shouldn't have the right to tell others not to. To have an idea is one thing, but to actually bring it to market is something else entirely. To have an idea that could enhance the lives of everyone but do nothing but sit on it is counterproductive to the advancement of society as a whole. One good idea pompts many more good ideas, if all these patent trolls had actually been producing products instead we'd be much further ahead in terms of product innovations. Just in user interface design alone, there's stupid patents like "pinch zoom" for touch screens, How many other concepts never hit the market because of royalty fees or patent lawsuits?
It boils down to the basic idea that information wants to be free, anything else is an un-natural restriction on the life force of the universe!
I think the reason many websites haven't updated is that they're too invested in a platform to just scrap the design and start over. So much goes into first getting a system for a site setup, to start over or create a second system is no small ordeal.
Seperation of content and layout is good design but seldom exists in the real world.
One site that is a pet peeve of mine for this is androidheadlines.com. Click a news article link from facebok or G+ to go to a news site about mobile platform and you're presented with a desktop site that you need to zoom to read. I don't know where they'd put all the as though if they did re-format for mobile which leads me to the other reason - lack of advertising revenue on mobile sites... sure you can have ads, just not great big tower and banner ads. Then when Mobile sites try those full screen ads that pop up when you go from page to page or first hit a site they loose audience.
And Mobile is still NEW, no-one wants to build out a site and then find out that flash no longer exisits on mobile, things need to be around for some time before big companies will want to spend the money to support all the bells and whistles.
on a related note, where I work we're finally taking the mobile plunge, and sunbuggy.com wil soon look like sunbuggy.org (the .com in beta) . We're doing this because we're seeing the same mobile traffic increase and many of our customers find us on mobile devices now.
Once open source software is pervasive, where else are NSA back doors going to hide? The Hardware.
I don't know if it's a product of my time in this life which has given me the perspective of age (I'm 41 ) , or if society as a whole is actually getting dull. It would appear in situations such as the government shutdown that grown men are incapable of making rational decisions either for:
lack of moral incentives (the desire to do the right thing succumbs to political advisors demanding that they take some drama based action to appeal to the emoitional minds of voters)
or lack of awareness (they are so oblivious to their surroundings that they cannot percieve any other way to act, logic has broken )
I see this in my everyday life where people are rather oblivious to their surroundings, and while I'm no mental superhero, I don't understand why it's so hard to comprehend what your eyes can truly see. Are we as a society- Emotionally stunted? Chemically Muted (Monsanto?)? or perhaps the progressing of radio frequency communication has somehow scrambled our senses in a subtle and progressive manner? Does Carbon based fuel in the air or Radiation make us dumb? That the greatest leaders we can find and send to washington can't figure out how to balance the books and keep the lights on is ridiculous, so much so that I fear darker times are still to come from this madness.
There were PDAs, There were PDA enabled phones, then there were Smartphones. I don't see where IPhone "Created the market". Didn't everyone see it coming? What about the IPaq? the Palm Pilot? We've had Linux on smartphones sine 2003- the A780.
it was just about smaller, more powerful, better battery life, better touch screens, such that we could have the smartphones we have today, but to jump in and say the IPhone started a smart phone revolution is ridiculous.
not yet available and not cheap:
Frequently Asked Questions
When can I get a Persu V3?
Production vehicles are targeted for a 2014 model release.
How much will the Persu V3 cost?
MSRP is targeted at $25,000.
We have very safe cars but they're also very heavy as a result. Granted gains can be made with expensive and exotic materials, but how about CHEAP and LIGHT cars that could be had for just a few grand, and get 80-100MPG? before you think no-one would want to drive something without airbags and side impact beams and crush zones, what about motorbikes? I really think it would be a big hit with consumers who don't wish to be exposed to the elements or have to balance a motorcycle, but would opt for BASIC transportation with a 500cc motor, 3 or 4 wheels, and enclosed cab. Current safety standards for 4 wheeled vehicles make basic and light car not an option.
that there are 50 states and 50 different tax laws, and that's just domestic commerce is a huge problem. The benifits of internet commerce will ensure that online retailers don't go away, but ultimately there will emmerge a new system of state taxes that erases barriers between interstate comerce. The power of the internet is not going to be ignored, rather the world will eventually adapt to several billion people becoming virtual next door neighbors.
Ubuntu has a guest account that gives limited priveleges and doesn't require a password. It never ceases to amaze me all the BS people put up with to keep using windows, perhaps you shold dual boot and leave Ubuntu as the default so if a guest boots up a PC they get a Ubuntu Guest account unless they know the magic keystroke combo to switch to windows.
Guests shouldn't need to install software anyhow, that's something you'd do on your own machine, not someone else's.
This is somewhat dated, but just for fun:
If Linux Distributions Were Airlines
Red Hat Airlines:
The standard in air travel. Most people have flown Red Hat Air at one point
or other. Some people like it and some people hate it and move on to one of
the other airlines. Passengers are all treated the same; they get stuck in
their seats and told not to ask questions -- everything will be taken care
of for them. They should just sit back, relax, and not touch of the fancy
controls under any circumstances, lest they send the plane into a tailspin.
Red Hat Airlines is fabulously rich.
Mandrake Airlines:
Mandrake bought a truckload of planes from Red Hat, put new engines in them,
re-painted them, and now run their own airline. Considered by many to be the
most friendly airline for first-time flyers.
Corel Airlines:
A new player on the scene, Corel Air thinks it can be the airline of choice
for a new generation of first-time pleasure flyers, and maybe even lure in
some business travelers too. Their planes are big, brightly painted, and
like Red Hat's they protect the innocent, clueless passengers from the
dangerous buttons, switches and blinkenlights of the cockpit.
SuSe Airlines:
An airline out of Europe that tries to be everything for everyone and
succeeds -- to a degree. Recently paid a huge sum of money to use a comic
strip in its promotional material. (And after they finally named the
lizard...)
Caldera OpenAirlines:
These guys go out of their way to make things comfortable for the business
user. They've got a pretty terminal, pretty planes, really good in-flight
movies, etc. But I had a bad experience with these guys once. They lost my
luggage. Quite a mess, really. Ah well, such is life. I never flew with them
again.
SlackAIR:
>From a distance, their planes look just like everyone elses. But up close
you can tell that they haven't been painted and little bits of wire stick
out here and there. But onboard, the seats are comfortable enough and there
are plenty of stewardesses available to help you readjust your seat if you
manage to break it. There is no in-flight movie but if you get bored you are
always welcome up in the cockpit. The pilots will be glad to let you try and
fly the plane and are happy to let you push whatever buttons you want, even
if you don't know what you're doing. Generally, novice flyers avoid SlackAIR
as they've heard horror stories about newbies pressing the wrong button and
causing the plane to explode.
Debian Airlines:
They have a single type of airplane; a huge sucker weighing 2400 tons and
carrying just about everything you can imagine. They've got kitchen sinks,
massage parlors, a paintball arena, and 294 types of cheese for sale in the
onboard, 24-hour supermarket. You can see from the terminal they have a huge
team of technicians working on their fleet, poking and prodding. Debian Air
is the only choice for some: everything onboard is built 100% by union
workers -- no shoddy, possibly dangerous, imports here.
What you have are people who are apathetic about the quality of their work and who are in-fighting among each other. You already have formed an "Us and Them" (you mentioned that "2 or 3 of us" know what to do) situation which projects negative energy at the them side (works both ways) and further feeds the lack of a cohesive and collaborative space.
Here's how you fix it, find something beautiful about the people you work with and compliment them on it. Look for the positive in people and let them know what you appreciate about them, love the people around you. Give this positive energy to everyone around you and watch how the situation changes, watch how people feel compelled to connect rather than divide. Resist the covert struggles for energy and maintain your positive focus, eventually you will be surrounded with positive people who will all work well together and good ideas will materialize as if delivered by a higher power.
in essence, only love can kill the demon.
solid stainless steel, nice ink action, refills available in several sizes.
when shopping for a PC over the last 10 years it seems that if there's a Nvida card then you know you're going to be OK installing Linux. Other cards not so much. I'm not a gamer so I don't hang on the bleeding edge and obsess over frame rates but when I work with 3D Nvdia seems to get the job done, even if it's closed source at least it's there.
From a developers point of view there are likely glitches inherent in working with closed software that need to be worked around to keep things stable, only speculating but I imagine this is what may be frustrating Linus.
REALLY.... you're paid to be there to work, not conduct personal business! Perhaps if you were relieved of your employment you could dedicate yourself full time to your own endeavours from a connection that you procure with your own money that you can fully trust!!
Try hard to really imagine that it was YOUR money that paid for the office, lights, computers, Internet, and your salary, not to mention things like workmans comp insurance should you decide to do something stupid and hurt yourself while working etc... would you want people conducting personal business on YOUR dime?
Are you a prisoner, stuck there 24 hours a day? if so, then you may have a valid point, if not, wait until you get home!
Quit whining and devote that energy to being productive and perhaps if you have a positive work ethic good things will come your way!
so much easier to support than winblows. the only issue you ever run into is training, and kids will figure stuff out on their own. I replaced various versions of Windows at my company 5 years ago and that's the last time I had to dick around with spyware and virus scans and reloading OS's, Ubuntu just works and users don't break it. go back to redmond where you work and stay there.
I'm going to assume that you're going to get a bunch of these things, I'd contact several different manufacturers and solicit bids for laptops running Linux. Hopefully you'll be getting enough volume to be taken seriously and helped by people who sell computers. If it's for the Kids to use I'd look real hard at "Netbooks" because kids don't mind the smaller size and you'll find that you can get what you need at a much lower price point. Call Dell, Call IBM, Call them all and tell them you want Linux Laptops for a whole school what can they do for you.
the problem with GM crops is that they're owned by corporations looking to monopolise on the worlds food supplies. Monsanto is somehow taking over without much public resistance http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Monsanto-Roundup-Glyphosate.htm
It's so hard for me to believe that so many people still use Windows. As a Ubuntu Desktop user and administrator of a small business network, I've been patiently waiting since 1999 for enough people to just ditch windows all together so that we could all move on to better times. Everyone I know who has tried Linux in the past few years hasn't gone back to Windows, and were all amazed that the computer 'Just Worked'. People are so used to struggling with Windows issues that they don't expect using a computer to be easy and it really doesn't have to be that way.
So perhaps this is a bit off topic, but every time an article comes out touting some new enhancement of the Microsoft Windows Operating system, I just feel compelled to say "Who fucking cares?" and "Why does anyone even bother with this Operating System designed with the main purpose being to lock up your computer spending dollar into Microsoft?" Don't we all know better already?
Please people, get over MS Windows already, let it die.