Users often promise more interest than they are willing to back up with their pocketbooks.
When WordPerfect premiered on the Amiga, Amiga owners responded by buying many more copies than the folks at WordPerfect had anticipated. They then polled Amiga owners to find out what else they wanted, and those polled responded enthusiastically that they wanted (another WordPerfect product that I can't remember). Well, that product was subsequently released and tanked financially. They sold zilch, lost confidence in the Amiga market, and consequently released no more Amiga products. They even stopped updating WordPerfect itself. Not only that, but many other big software companies pointed to this failure as a prime example of why they weren't going into the Amiga market at all.
So if you tell Dell you want to buy Linux computers from them, make sure you DO buy Linux computers from them when they're introduced. If these fail in the marketplace, you can make book on the fact that not only will Dell drop the whole idea of selling Linux computers, but every other major player will, too.
I predicted very early in the development of the Web that editors would be essential to its success. Here's why:
(1) The Wikipedia approach to gathering collaborative information is inherently flawed, as this article points out. The temptation to post erroneous or slanderous material is just too strong for some. Review by a subject-matter qualified editor is the only workable solution.
(2) Google's approach to indexing information on the Web is also flawed. By relying only on popularity and other questionable statistics, a search on Google is just as likely to bring up articles that are wildly off-base as it is to display those that are relevant. Regular review and reclassification by human editors would improve the results by an order of magnitude.
(3) People can't write. 90% of the Web sites out there could use some serious help with writing. Spelling and grammar are atrocious. Organization is nil. News services have employed editors for this reason for many years.
(4) It's too easy to automate the generation and submission of ad-related or disruptive pseudo-information on the Web. While spam filters can help, and they're getting better all the time, only a real human editor can reliably discern the difference between real and fake input.
For example, if you were researching the origins and history of desktop publishing, there is only one source anywhere that will tell you that.info magazine was the first mass-market magazine produced using desktop publishing methods and software. That tidbit is nowhere else. As the former editor of said magazine, I would like to see that bit of information preserved and distributed. But without Wikipedia, where are you going to find it?
(And yes, I'm the one who added that to the Wikipedia article, along with a link to a scan of the 'Personal Publishing' magazine article that first acknowledged the fact.)
About five years ago I actually got a relocation package that was BETTER than offered. I accepted a promotion with the company I had been with for two years, but in a different city. They offered full moving expenses, days off and travel expenses to look for a place to live, etc.
Turns out that my wife and I decided to split at that time. Since she got the majority of the household goods (which was totally okay with me), the company agreed to move her to a town that was actually 100 miles further away than my destination, AND reimbursed me for a self-move rental truck for my stuff.
While the split (and subsequent divorce) were tough, my company's compassionate attitude made an unpleasant experience much less stressful.
It has often been said on Slashdot and other techie forums that disagreements about OS's are mostly a religious battle. I think this is mostly true.
Which is why I prefer Linux. If it's good enough for God, it's good enough for me.
The Amiga Could Run THREE OS's at Once!
on
AmigaOS 4
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I was the managing editor of.info magazine, which covered the Amiga exclusively until 1992; just before it died, we did.
My (admittedly high-end, for its day) Amiga 3000UX could run Windows 3.1, Unix, and AmigaOS SIMULTANEOUSLY on three pull-down screens. People would freak out when they saw me pull down and flip between three different screens running three different operating systems. And it wasn't just some cheap parlor trick - all three were running various applications in real-time.
Oh, and you could even run a Mac emulator on the Amiga screen at the same time.
This was in 1990. Can your machine do anything even remotely like that today? AmigaOS had a very different way of looking at how computers should work. There is still a lot that OS programmers can learn from the Amiga.
Samantha Carter single-handedly develops a super-weapon that destroys both the Ori and the Wraith and is unanimously declared Queen of the Universe. Wearing an outfit creatively fashioned from a thin lace hanky, she chooses only the fattest and pimpliest of slobbering SciFi fanboys to slake her insatiable lust.
I wish you doom-saying liberals would stop saying that the ice is melting. Quit relying on your own senses and recognize that it's all about perception. Choose to perceive that the ice isn't melting and the problem will go away.
And we were welcomed as liberators in Iraq, too. Really, we were.
For $1800, you get a 3D carbide-tipped carving machine that will work in word or plastic. It can handle work pieces up to 14.5 inches wide, 5 inches high, and up to six feet or so in length. Its working depth is one inch.
BTW, though the new CompuCarve is getting all the press this week, it's really just a Sears branded version of the CarveWright, which has been out for over a year: http://www.carvewright.com/
Make sure that every page on your personal web site is tagged with a Creative Commons license. The day will come when the only links that the copyright collectives will allow you to have will be links to sites with Creative Commons licensed or public domain content. And the burden of proof will be up to you. Clearly labeling every single linked page as CC will be our only protection against their armies of bloodthirsty lawyers.
"The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" offera a look at some of the fascinating ways in which our wetware controller can go wrong. Or read any other book by Oliver Sachs. He knows his stuff, and he's a very entertaining writer.
On Statistics:
"How to Lie With Statistics" is a venerable book that is still in print 60 years after it was written. It's slim, funny, and clearly communicates the many ways in which deceptive entities (like corporations, media, and government) lie to you using statistics. HTLWS will sharpen your skepticism to a dagger point. This book should be required reading for everyone.
You should also try searching for interesting keywords at Librarything.com. Gazillions of geeks have their libraries online there, and you'll see what they're reading and recommending. (My own library is half-cataloged there so far.)
There are plenty of security tricks for ensuring a voter's identity online. Then you could vote anytime, anywhere. As for those who don't have access to computers at home, at work, or at the public library (is this anyone at all?), they could go vote at the polling place on election day using a public Internet terminal set up for just that purpose. The volunteers who man the polling station wouldn't have to be responsible for confirming IDs, gathering ballots, or trying to maintain proprietary voting machines.
You could even print out the 'confirmation screen' and keep it as a receipt.
Slashdot Mirror
Users often promise more interest than they are willing to back up with their pocketbooks.
When WordPerfect premiered on the Amiga, Amiga owners responded by buying many more copies than the folks at WordPerfect had anticipated. They then polled Amiga owners to find out what else they wanted, and those polled responded enthusiastically that they wanted (another WordPerfect product that I can't remember). Well, that product was subsequently released and tanked financially. They sold zilch, lost confidence in the Amiga market, and consequently released no more Amiga products. They even stopped updating WordPerfect itself. Not only that, but many other big software companies pointed to this failure as a prime example of why they weren't going into the Amiga market at all.
So if you tell Dell you want to buy Linux computers from them, make sure you DO buy Linux computers from them when they're introduced. If these fail in the marketplace, you can make book on the fact that not only will Dell drop the whole idea of selling Linux computers, but every other major player will, too.
...and, of course, I want one.
I predicted very early in the development of the Web that editors would be essential to its success. Here's why:
(1) The Wikipedia approach to gathering collaborative information is inherently flawed, as this article points out. The temptation to post erroneous or slanderous material is just too strong for some. Review by a subject-matter qualified editor is the only workable solution.
(2) Google's approach to indexing information on the Web is also flawed. By relying only on popularity and other questionable statistics, a search on Google is just as likely to bring up articles that are wildly off-base as it is to display those that are relevant. Regular review and reclassification by human editors would improve the results by an order of magnitude.
(3) People can't write. 90% of the Web sites out there could use some serious help with writing. Spelling and grammar are atrocious. Organization is nil. News services have employed editors for this reason for many years.
(4) It's too easy to automate the generation and submission of ad-related or disruptive pseudo-information on the Web. While spam filters can help, and they're getting better all the time, only a real human editor can reliably discern the difference between real and fake input.
Disclaimer: Yes, I am an Editor. And proud of it.
What if Wikipedia is the primary source?
.info magazine was the first mass-market magazine produced using desktop publishing methods and software. That tidbit is nowhere else. As the former editor of said magazine, I would like to see that bit of information preserved and distributed. But without Wikipedia, where are you going to find it?
For example, if you were researching the origins and history of desktop publishing, there is only one source anywhere that will tell you that
(And yes, I'm the one who added that to the Wikipedia article, along with a link to a scan of the 'Personal Publishing' magazine article that first acknowledged the fact.)
Hollywood got this right in 1964: http://imdb.com/title/tt0058530/
Not only is there water, you can heat the rocks to get oxygen, and there are edible psychedelic plants. Oh, and aliens with flying saucers.
Ah, Mars. Is there anything it DOESN'T have?
About five years ago I actually got a relocation package that was BETTER than offered.
I accepted a promotion with the company I had been with for two years, but in a different city. They offered full moving expenses, days off and travel expenses to look for a place to live, etc.
Turns out that my wife and I decided to split at that time. Since she got the majority of the household goods (which was totally okay with me), the company agreed to move her to a town that was actually 100 miles further away than my destination, AND reimbursed me for a self-move rental truck for my stuff.
While the split (and subsequent divorce) were tough, my company's compassionate attitude made an unpleasant experience much less stressful.
It has often been said on Slashdot and other techie forums that disagreements about OS's are mostly a religious battle. I think this is mostly true.
Which is why I prefer Linux. If it's good enough for God, it's good enough for me.
I was the managing editor of .info magazine, which covered the Amiga exclusively until 1992; just before it died, we did.
My (admittedly high-end, for its day) Amiga 3000UX could run Windows 3.1, Unix, and AmigaOS SIMULTANEOUSLY on three pull-down screens. People would freak out when they saw me pull down and flip between three different screens running three different operating systems. And it wasn't just some cheap parlor trick - all three were running various applications in real-time.
Oh, and you could even run a Mac emulator on the Amiga screen at the same time.
This was in 1990. Can your machine do anything even remotely like that today? AmigaOS had a very different way of looking at how computers should work. There is still a lot that OS programmers can learn from the Amiga.
The only site on the net that links to mine and gives me a couple of drops of sweet, sweet Google love, and they're going to shut me off. :(
So, in England there's none of that annoying 'Probable Cause' and 'Warrants' rubbish?
It's nice to see rights being stomped on in another country for a change.
Every office keeps a coffeepot this hot all day long and no one complains about cost or heat dispersal.
Of course, you could just run it on a very hot cup of tea*.
*'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' reference.
As someone with a cold, zits, and arthritis, all I can say is that this medicine will be a real time saver for me!
I don't believe age is a factor in most companies' hiring practices.
Now you !@#$% kids get off my lawn!
Can I get one installed on my Chevy Malibu to protect it from aggressive SUVs?
Frankly, that would be a better use of the money.
Samantha Carter single-handedly develops a super-weapon that destroys both the Ori and the Wraith and is unanimously declared Queen of the Universe. Wearing an outfit creatively fashioned from a thin lace hanky, she chooses only the fattest and pimpliest of slobbering SciFi fanboys to slake her insatiable lust.
I wish you doom-saying liberals would stop saying that the ice is melting. Quit relying on your own senses and recognize that it's all about perception. Choose to perceive that the ice isn't melting and the problem will go away.
And we were welcomed as liberators in Iraq, too. Really, we were.
You could just buy the Craftsman CompuCarve: http://tinyurl.com/ykqkkt
For $1800, you get a 3D carbide-tipped carving machine that will work in word or plastic.
It can handle work pieces up to 14.5 inches wide, 5 inches high, and up to six feet or so in length. Its working depth is one inch.
BTW, though the new CompuCarve is getting all the press this week, it's really just a Sears branded version of the CarveWright, which has been out for over a year: http://www.carvewright.com/
Make sure that every page on your personal web site is tagged with a Creative Commons license. The day will come when the only links that the copyright collectives will allow you to have will be links to sites with Creative Commons licensed or public domain content. And the burden of proof will be up to you. Clearly labeling every single linked page as CC will be our only protection against their armies of bloodthirsty lawyers.
Just enough time to kiss your ass goodbye. :)
If they change U.S. currency to different size bills for different denominations, that will break dozens of popular bill-transformation magic tricks.
Hasn't anyone given any thought to how this would affect the livelihood of the hundreds of professional and semi-professional magicians in the U.S.?
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!"
On Brains:
"The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" offera a look at some of the fascinating ways in which our wetware controller can go wrong. Or read any other book by Oliver Sachs. He knows his stuff, and he's a very entertaining writer.
On Statistics:
"How to Lie With Statistics" is a venerable book that is still in print 60 years after it was written. It's slim, funny, and clearly communicates the many ways in which deceptive entities (like corporations, media, and government) lie to you using statistics. HTLWS will sharpen your skepticism to a dagger point. This book should be required reading for everyone.
You should also try searching for interesting keywords at Librarything.com. Gazillions of geeks have their libraries online there, and you'll see what they're reading and recommending. (My own library is half-cataloged there so far.)
What a stupid product.
I want one.
Heinlein was the ultimate Libertarian military jock.
Robinson's a frickin' hippie.
I just don't see how that works...
Why aren't we all voting on the Internet by now?
There are plenty of security tricks for ensuring a voter's identity online. Then you could vote anytime, anywhere. As for those who don't have access to computers at home, at work, or at the public library (is this anyone at all?), they could go vote at the polling place on election day using a public Internet terminal set up for just that purpose. The volunteers who man the polling station wouldn't have to be responsible for confirming IDs, gathering ballots, or trying to maintain proprietary voting machines.
You could even print out the 'confirmation screen' and keep it as a receipt.