I can say that I have heard more positive things about Vista during launch than I heard about XP during its launch. The architecture change is bigger and better than in 2K->XP. In this regard MS should not be worried...
That's because it's a different situation. XP didn't sell well at first because it was obvious that it was W2K with a different Start menu and color scheme, for $150. Vista's not selling well because of its instability, lack of hardware driver support, confusing array of versions, high price and appetite for hardware (any machine that could run 2000 could run XP at about the same speed, and with a faster boot time. Not so with Vista.)
True, and consider people like me: the only Radiohead song I've heard is "Creep", which had a lot of airplay back when I listened to radio, and it's kinda 'meh' for me. But I can't pass up free, so I'll download it tonight and listen to it, and if I like it, I'll buy it. That counts as a "downloaded but didn't pay", with possibly a "downloaded and paid" later.
Their best bet would be to have three options on the site: download for free, download and pay now, and pay-without-downloading-because-I-already-downloaded. Would have made the stats more meaningful.
Not only that, but it's entirely possible that people who have Red Hat systems (and Red Hat support) but are looking for a quick answer might do searches on CentOS sites.
Good point. I find that I often find answers to my CentOS and Red Hat questions in Fedora or CentOS forums. More people hacking (and playing around) on the same/similar code case helps everyone, especially Red Hat.
CentOS has made sales in my company for Red Hat. I use CentOS for my lab and test systems, and Red Hat for my production systems that might need support.
Let's say that you had a business of selling daisies. You are making a nice living working with flowers.
And let's say that you own every bit of arable land in the state, so that a competitor would have to buy up high rises and demolish them to get enough arable land to grow their own daisies.
Idiot. This is nothing like growing daisies. The ILEC owns the only line into my building. A line which, by the way, should have been at least upgraded to fiber with the $200 billion "infrastructure upgrade" windfall we paid for. That gives them a natural monopoly, and the only way to bring in competition (besides having the government take over the infrastructure) is to force the ILEC to open up their lines to CLECs.
I remember the good old days when everyone used Winamp. Nowadays WMP seems to be the most common. Not because it's won out against winamp by being better, but because it's bundled with Windows XP, and Microsoft will try to force it on you through windows update.
I stopped using WinAmp because it went from a compact, quick, solid media player to an unstable piece of nagware, phone-homeware and bloatware. If I want that, I'll just stick to WMP.
I use CentOS and RHEL, depending on how critical the machine is. I used Fedora for a couple of years, but its lifetime is too short for me. For instance, FC5 came out in March '06, and has already been EOL'd. On the other hand, CentOS 2.1, which was released in 2004, will continue to receive security bug patches through 2009.
Yeah, but they have their problems, too. Like a Dell Poweredge we retired recently. The BIOS reports that the main system fan isn't working (though it obviously is), and you can't get past the "Press F1 to continue" unless you're there at the console. It NEVER times out. Even the latest BIOS release still has this bug.
Sucks that you can't reboot the thing remotely--it sits at that screen until you drive down there and hit "F1"
Oh, I'm so sorry. In that case, I'll get a Compaq Presario Core Duo 1.46GHz with 1GB of RAM, 120GB hard drive and DVDRW for $470, and get a brand new machine, with only slightly more idle power usage, built-in UPS and built-in screen.
Let's face it, the FitPC is a pretty limited machine for the price.
Exactly. I picked up a Dell laptop with a broken screen for a song to replace a desktop that's on 24x7. Dropped in a 60GB drive, turned on noatime, and consumption is only 13W with the lid closed (12W once the drive spins down.) And that's at 1.2GHz; I can turn it down for even more savings if necessary.
I don't know what their contract says with AT&T, but that might very well be on there. Something to the tune of 'only tested and approved applications'.
Any why would that be any of AT&T's interest? One word: Skype.
My wife went through security with a couple of PINpads (you know, those things you use to enter in your PIN at the grocery store.) They didn't want to let her through until she powered one up and verified it wasn't a bomb. Problem is, these only work if you plug them into a credit card terminal--with a 4-pin RJ cable. They finally let her through after 10 minutes of questioning. And this was back in the mid-90's.
No, but it saves money on reception equipment. Our local Charter cable (San Bernardino mountains to Victorville) receives the local channels over a bent-up set of rabbit ears, and then digitizes them for its 'digital cable' service. At least, that's what I've surmised from the snow and static in the signal for those stations.
True, but in absolute terms, a car requires a certain amount of power to get down the road, and that's a factor of aerodynamics, rolling resistance, and, to a much lesser degree, engine/motor efficiency. I'm referring to the actual output power of the engine/motor when I say 12-15hp. In that case, at 15hp (11kW), the ICE is probably consuming 33kW worth of gasoline (33% efficient), whereas the electric motor is consuming 12kW of electricity (85% efficient including battery losses), but the amount of actual output power needed to push the car is the same either way.
(Interesting factoid, since you drive a VW air-cooled: one of the most efficient EV conversion platforms is the Karmann Ghia. It has a very light aerodynamic body, and the drum brakes have less drag than discs. See here for one that gets 60 miles on a charge without turning the car into a "lead sled", and has very good acceleration using cheap lead-acid batteries.
That's specifically why he mentioned those batteries. These are LiFePo4 batteries, which are a different formula from Li-Ion batteries currently in use. Other EV enthusiasts have experimented on the bench with other Li-Ion types and have had various fun experiences when batteries were crushed or overcharged.
What's interesting about LiFePo4 is that they seem a lot more resilient and have a much longer cycle life. In fact, preliminary testing has shown that if they live up to their specs, despite the much higher initial cost, they may replace Lead Acid batteries as the cheapest batteries available yet, in cost-per-mile-over-lifetime terms.
You need 15-20HP to maintain freeway speeds (actually, closer to 12-15 hp in an aerodynamic car.) The 100HP is for acceleration and uphill climbs. Anybody who has driven a 36HP Beetle knows what a low-horsepower driving experience is like.
Broderbund has done this both with Print Shop and American Greetings CreataCard. My wife has a Creatacard installation CD that is worthless, because they've shut down the activation server, and there's no other way to activate the software. In fact, Broderbund's tech support site says that reinstallation from the disc is not possible.
Activation sucks--Broderbund ripped off a paying customer.
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That's because it's a different situation. XP didn't sell well at first because it was obvious that it was W2K with a different Start menu and color scheme, for $150. Vista's not selling well because of its instability, lack of hardware driver support, confusing array of versions, high price and appetite for hardware (any machine that could run 2000 could run XP at about the same speed, and with a faster boot time. Not so with Vista.)
Their best bet would be to have three options on the site: download for free, download and pay now, and pay-without-downloading-because-I-already-downloaded. Would have made the stats more meaningful.
Good point. I find that I often find answers to my CentOS and Red Hat questions in Fedora or CentOS forums. More people hacking (and playing around) on the same/similar code case helps everyone, especially Red Hat.
CentOS has made sales in my company for Red Hat. I use CentOS for my lab and test systems, and Red Hat for my production systems that might need support.
I think my dad paid around $800 for his Atari 810 5 1/4" floppy drive. Single sided, single density, 88K per side, 19,200 bps transfer rate.
And let's say that you own every bit of arable land in the state, so that a competitor would have to buy up high rises and demolish them to get enough arable land to grow their own daisies.
Idiot. This is nothing like growing daisies. The ILEC owns the only line into my building. A line which, by the way, should have been at least upgraded to fiber with the $200 billion "infrastructure upgrade" windfall we paid for. That gives them a natural monopoly, and the only way to bring in competition (besides having the government take over the infrastructure) is to force the ILEC to open up their lines to CLECs.
I stopped using WinAmp because it went from a compact, quick, solid media player to an unstable piece of nagware, phone-homeware and bloatware. If I want that, I'll just stick to WMP.
I use CentOS and RHEL, depending on how critical the machine is. I used Fedora for a couple of years, but its lifetime is too short for me. For instance, FC5 came out in March '06, and has already been EOL'd. On the other hand, CentOS 2.1, which was released in 2004, will continue to receive security bug patches through 2009.
Sucks that you can't reboot the thing remotely--it sits at that screen until you drive down there and hit "F1"
Let's face it, the FitPC is a pretty limited machine for the price.
Exactly. I picked up a Dell laptop with a broken screen for a song to replace a desktop that's on 24x7. Dropped in a 60GB drive, turned on noatime, and consumption is only 13W with the lid closed (12W once the drive spins down.) And that's at 1.2GHz; I can turn it down for even more savings if necessary.
Any why would that be any of AT&T's interest? One word: Skype.
I'm wondering what he's paying for a T1. We're getting them for well under $400 a month. I'd split one of those four ways at most.
My wife went through security with a couple of PINpads (you know, those things you use to enter in your PIN at the grocery store.) They didn't want to let her through until she powered one up and verified it wasn't a bomb. Problem is, these only work if you plug them into a credit card terminal--with a 4-pin RJ cable. They finally let her through after 10 minutes of questioning. And this was back in the mid-90's.
No, but it saves money on reception equipment. Our local Charter cable (San Bernardino mountains to Victorville) receives the local channels over a bent-up set of rabbit ears, and then digitizes them for its 'digital cable' service. At least, that's what I've surmised from the snow and static in the signal for those stations.
(Interesting factoid, since you drive a VW air-cooled: one of the most efficient EV conversion platforms is the Karmann Ghia. It has a very light aerodynamic body, and the drum brakes have less drag than discs. See here for one that gets 60 miles on a charge without turning the car into a "lead sled", and has very good acceleration using cheap lead-acid batteries.
That's because he was telling people, "don't worry, I'm okay; I just want to be checked out before I get up."
What's interesting about LiFePo4 is that they seem a lot more resilient and have a much longer cycle life. In fact, preliminary testing has shown that if they live up to their specs, despite the much higher initial cost, they may replace Lead Acid batteries as the cheapest batteries available yet, in cost-per-mile-over-lifetime terms.
How about an 11 second Datsun, then?
Uh, he does. All the time.
You need 15-20HP to maintain freeway speeds (actually, closer to 12-15 hp in an aerodynamic car.) The 100HP is for acceleration and uphill climbs. Anybody who has driven a 36HP Beetle knows what a low-horsepower driving experience is like.
Folks, remember this next time you try to get out of jury duty.
Activation sucks--Broderbund ripped off a paying customer.
And so are all Blackberries and Windows Mobile smartphones. Funny how there wasn't a big stink raised until the iPhone came out.