Yes, there is such a court case and yes it's an attempt by the state of Iowa to suck at the MS teat as so many others have done in recent years. On the other hand, it didn't save Sun and it didn't save AOL. Someday Iowa will have to solve its own financial problems.
"They showed their style by immediately taking advantage of this opportunity to attempt to reshape the internet to their own advantage - appropriating the commons."
If that was their intent - they failed. And their defeat was inevitable. He who controls the browser, controls the browser - nothing more. It may affect the implementation of a site, but that's not very important beyond developers.
To control the Internet is to control content. Thus MS and others giving in to China on search is far more destructive than controlling the browser.
You are assuming that people have their important computers attached to the Internet. Or do you think they cruise computer swap meets looking for cheap porno CDs that are infected?
Well, I do know the background of some of them. If you can present some evidence that they performed real-time assembly language programming that was time-accurate to a single CPU cycle, I will stand corrected.
"People are still curing about non-standards compliant IE6."
Obviously these aren't the people who are still using it. If you don't want to support IE6 on your site, don't. If your boss says you have to, well, that's why they call it work.
The difference is that with a local app, your data is on your own machine. So in the cloud you can add the question "how easy is it for others to get my data out of this thing?"
A lot of this depends on the environment you work in. In some companies you'd get fired if you took the time to do a real design, even if it saves time and money in the long run.
Of course in start-ups you sometimes don't have a long run if you can't get the product out before the money runs out.
Another factor is how fast and furious new technologies appear. For example, who has enough experience in Android to mentor less experienced developers?
While the old guys are resistant to new ways of doing things, the new guys sometimes reinvent things that the "fossils" tried and abandoned years ago because they didn't work.
I guess some lessons have to be learned the hard way.
Well, I like some of those guys but as someone who has been closer to the bare medal than they have (I'm a former Atari 2600 programmer), I'd say that the habits of old pros say little about the quality of today's tools.
We used 6502 cross-compilers on a PDPxx and VAX, not because we thought the command-line was better but because that was the best we had at the time.
BTW, I'm not trying to say that I'm better or smarter than those other guys, I just have written very low-level, real-time code.
I understand the slippery slope of these issues, but at the same time it's silly to pretend there aren't differences of degree even if as a practical matter we have to treat them the same in law.
"Really, it's futile in the long term to try and ban "harassment comments" or whatever you want to call it, unless you want to really compromise free speech and become worse than China."
Sure, because making infantile comments about other people is just as important as being able to speak freely about your government's policies.
The issue wasn't what the average price of a laptop was but rather what was the lowest price at that time. OLPC wasn't even enjoying economies of scale as good as commercial laptop makers had. What magic did they use that nobody else had thought of to cut costs?
Yes, I have a cheap pay-as-you go phone as well, but it's still tied to a single vendor who will recoup the cost or cancel my account for not buying minutes often enough.
"Who said the netbook cost $150? I would guess that the bulk purchases and low requirements could allow them to cut that down to sub $40 within four or five years."
Why do you think there's some special economies of scale that only Google understands? Laptop makers have lots of volume and have already "cooked in" economies of scale.
Try this experiment. Itemize all the hardware required for a netbook and try to figure out a price for each item that adds up to $40. Don't forget the cost of the case and its tooling. Then what about labor and shipping?
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, there is such a court case and yes it's an attempt by the state of Iowa to suck at the MS teat as so many others have done in recent years. On the other hand, it didn't save Sun and it didn't save AOL. Someday Iowa will have to solve its own financial problems.
"They showed their style by immediately taking advantage of this opportunity to attempt to reshape the internet to their own advantage - appropriating the commons."
If that was their intent - they failed. And their defeat was inevitable. He who controls the browser, controls the browser - nothing more. It may affect the implementation of a site, but that's not very important beyond developers.
To control the Internet is to control content. Thus MS and others giving in to China on search is far more destructive than controlling the browser.
You are assuming that people have their important computers attached to the Internet. Or do you think they cruise computer swap meets looking for cheap porno CDs that are infected?
Yes, and the Bush administration had documents to support the Iraq war as well, they just excluded the ones that didn't support their case.
Clearly Groklaw isn't a straight news site, it has an agenda. That's OK, but let's not pretend it's objective.
I'm not talking about improved implementations but rather ideas that are fundamentally flawed.
Besides, I can break any speech recognition engine with my raspy voice. My handwriting isn't anything to brag about either.
Well, I do know the background of some of them. If you can present some evidence that they performed real-time assembly language programming that was time-accurate to a single CPU cycle, I will stand corrected.
"People are still curing about non-standards compliant IE6."
Obviously these aren't the people who are still using it. If you don't want to support IE6 on your site, don't. If your boss says you have to, well, that's why they call it work.
The difference is that with a local app, your data is on your own machine. So in the cloud you can add the question "how easy is it for others to get my data out of this thing?"
If you've been following Groklaw over the last few years, you probably have a bias against MS already.
Yes, exactly, but it wouldn't allow NASA to pretend that the capsule was a "space plane".
A lot of this depends on the environment you work in. In some companies you'd get fired if you took the time to do a real design, even if it saves time and money in the long run.
Of course in start-ups you sometimes don't have a long run if you can't get the product out before the money runs out.
Another factor is how fast and furious new technologies appear. For example, who has enough experience in Android to mentor less experienced developers?
Well, I think you go a bit too far.
While the old guys are resistant to new ways of doing things, the new guys sometimes reinvent things that the "fossils" tried and abandoned years ago because they didn't work.
I guess some lessons have to be learned the hard way.
Thank you for your subtle correction.
Well, I like some of those guys but as someone who has been closer to the bare medal than they have (I'm a former Atari 2600 programmer), I'd say that the habits of old pros say little about the quality of today's tools.
We used 6502 cross-compilers on a PDPxx and VAX, not because we thought the command-line was better but because that was the best we had at the time.
BTW, I'm not trying to say that I'm better or smarter than those other guys, I just have written very low-level, real-time code.
I understand the slippery slope of these issues, but at the same time it's silly to pretend there aren't differences of degree even if as a practical matter we have to treat them the same in law.
"Davee is teh gaye!!11!!"
It's OK. Dave and his friends don't speak jive .. ah I mean leet.
Nice to meet you Mr. pussy. I've never seen that part of the body type before. How do you do it?
"Really, it's futile in the long term to try and ban "harassment comments" or whatever you want to call it, unless you want to really compromise free speech and become worse than China."
Sure, because making infantile comments about other people is just as important as being able to speak freely about your government's policies.
The issue wasn't what the average price of a laptop was but rather what was the lowest price at that time. OLPC wasn't even enjoying economies of scale as good as commercial laptop makers had. What magic did they use that nobody else had thought of to cut costs?
Yes, I have a cheap pay-as-you go phone as well, but it's still tied to a single vendor who will recoup the cost or cancel my account for not buying minutes often enough.
I'm not talking about 2 year commitments or selling the razor blades and giving away the razor - I'm talking about actual cost of parts and shipping.
Sounds like $480 for a netbook with free 3G for two years.
Bill Shatner?
No, more like there will never be a $.02 calculator, $.02 digital watch, $.02 hand-held laser, or a $.02 digital camera.
"Who said the netbook cost $150? I would guess that the bulk purchases and low requirements could allow them to cut that down to sub $40 within four or five years."
Why do you think there's some special economies of scale that only Google understands? Laptop makers have lots of volume and have already "cooked in" economies of scale.
Try this experiment. Itemize all the hardware required for a netbook and try to figure out a price for each item that adds up to $40. Don't forget the cost of the case and its tooling. Then what about labor and shipping?
I think you'll find that it won't add up.