I mean, if you take a lot of parts out of something, and reduce its weight a lot, shouldn't it cost less?
By that same logic, laptops should be half the price of desktops. After all, they weigh less and they have less parts, right?
In reality, though, lighter parts cost *more* because they're made out of things that are more expensive. Take the car's frame or body - iron is cheap, aluminum is not so cheap, and composites are downright expensive.
MS business desktop is more than just the OS
on
Red Hat Desktop Edition
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
The hidden cost of MS's business desktops has always been the tools. You can't simply buy licenses for XP and call it a day: you need administration tools (SMS), antivirus tools, firewall tools for your mobile users, service pack distribution tools, etc. None of these are bundled with the cost of XP (crummy firewall notwithstanding), and the desktop costs get expensive quickly.
I'll bet RedHat is going to sell this as an alternative to the frustrating patchwork of programs required to administer a network of 50-250 PC's, because that's always been a MS weakness. MS has decent tools like SMS, but they require so much knowledge & work that they don't really pay off until you've got a bare minimum of 100 PC's.
Not that desktop Linux rollouts won't have a learning curve, of course.
Remember the scene in "2001: A Space Odyssey" where Dr. Floyd is talking to his daughter on, IIRC an "AT&T Picturephone?" It's 2002 now, why don't we have them yet?
Astronauts have them and do videoconferencing during shuttle missions all the time. Just because YOU don't doesn't mean that the astronauts don't.
If these devices were in widespread use, and if the phone companies would shoot a picture down the wire along with the caller ID information, I'd be all over it. I'd pay $20 a month for it, no problem.
The problem with caller ID in my mind has always been that it's not specific enough. Sure, I can tell that someone is calling from my office, or from my girlfriend's office, but who is it? If it's a number I don't recognize, or a business name, then immediately I can see if I want to bother picking it up.
I'd even pick up for telemarketers if the chick was hot enough. Wait, I bet people would start using stock photos of hot pr0n chicks just to get me to pick up. Scratch that.
Of course, the phone companies will never get that into play - they can't even get caller ID to work across providers, so adding a photo is out of the question, I'm sure.
Do you know those little USB drivers which look like a pen? Well, they are better than floppies, and you can use them in your "legacy free, super secure" Compaqs, I think.....
Not if you're running NT4 on said Compaqs, and I know of one company who still refuses to migrate because of a few similar problems. Think plug & play USB wireless nics, for starters.
Go find a doctor that doesnt use MS products somewhere in the office - and get back to me.
You'd be surprised - most of 'em I've seen use Unix-based patient scheduling & billing software. This is one of those areas where Unix had a huge head start because of the multi-user capabilities.
As long as you're being anal-retentive, you should be aware that unencrypted instant-messaging protocols are frowned upon, because medical staff can circumvent all your hard work and simply send patient data back & forth over the IM.
Having said that, if either of these two represents your biggest problems, then you're probably safe for a while. I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish by asking Slashdot - maybe you should try checking with your MS rep first to at least get the company line. MS is wild about HIPAA - they produce a lot of BizTalk stuff for hospital EDI needs.
They'll be able to pocket a bit o' cash before they've driven MP3s into extinction. Most likely replaced by Microsoft Windows media format. Bill is not gonna cough up 100 million license fees on a regular basis. Windows will stop supporting MP3s as soon as possible.
No, there's a $60k development license if you'd rather pay a flat fee. Obviously, the big guys will take that route.
I obviously didn't read the article, but I would think the fees were not retroactive...
Of course not, but if these guys showed up at my doorstop with the patent in hand, they wouldn't need a gun in the other hand. I'm generally agreeable about stuff like this, and I bet most of us would be. It's not like they're laying claim to something they don't have. They had a patent, nobody disagrees that it's a legit patent, and we all knowingly used it. Big deal.
Now if BT showed up with their "hyperlink" patent in hand and tried that stunt, they would indeed need a gun in the other hand. Or at least a switchblade.
Well, I guess NullSoft has decieded to pay the bill themselves.
Remember, AOL bought NullSoft. Methinks NullSoft will be able to burn through some cash - after all, AOL/TW has bigger things to worry about at the time being, eh?
Absolutely brilliant. Wait until it gets mass market acceptance, then start charging fees. Now that I've got a portable MP3 player, an MP3-compatible DVD player, and all 300+ CD's in my collection digitized in MP3 format, now bring out the fees. You win, guys, here's my $3.00 for the car, the DVD deck, and WinAmp on my laptop and desktop. Sure beats re-recording everything in Ogg, which wasn't mainstream enough when I first started ripping my CD's a couple of years back.
What? You don't agree? Well, my time's worth the $3. If they charged $10 per decoder, I'd still probably pay it - and in fact, that's the only mistake I think they're making, not charging enough. Because while I'd gladly pay $3 today, they should realize that going forward, I won't rip a single song in MP3 format. They'll make short-term revenues by screwing guys like me, but they're digging a hole in the long run.
I discovered that there are a LOT of Starbuck's around Portland that have the T-Mobile service ready to go.
Every one of 'em in Dallas and Houston has had them for around a year. I've been a subscriber for quite a while, and it's a phenomenal service, but I wish it had better coverage in more airports.
I'm thinking about going to CDPD with Sprint, but am pretty discouraged after my GPRS experience.
I got one of Sprint's AirCard's about a year ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage in TX and CA. The speed was horrible, of course, only around 14.4 max. Plus it wasn't always-on, either.
It's $40/mo for unlimited use, but it's only 19.2. If you're a bandwidth freak, it makes more sense to go with Verizon's 144kbps Express Network - unlimited plans are $100/mo, and they have PCMCIA cards as well as phones.
I hate to be classist, but I can hardly stand it when those with resources (1) don't recognize their own wealth and (2) don't realize that not everyone has it.
Go back and reread the sentence in full. He specifically said that "any community, low-income or not, that had such volunteers available..." He does acknowledge that it's a wealth that not everyone has available, and in fact, he makes a huge point of it during the interview answers. Several of them specifically point out that he knows his case is unusual because he has so much free technical and legal expertise.
Mobile phones are an extremely competitive market: if you bring out an overpriced phone (relative to the other phones on the market), it just plain doesn't matter how cool it is - you won't sell enough volume to make a profit. Makers like Nokia can afford to make uber-cool super-phones, because they enhance the company image and make you want to buy a cheaper Nokia phone. Apple doesn't have that kind of market model, so how are they going to succeed on their own?
There really is someone who likes you. In fact, here's the original personal ad involved:
"Mass email marketer ISO young, wealthy singles with low self-esteem and money to burn. Low IQ is a plus, gullibility even better. Turn-ons: making telephone calls at dinnertime, taking long walks on the beach with your money."
Similar to this [massworks.com] product, a PDA attached to a desktop machine (and a charger) could and should extend the usefulness of both. Maybe a game controller like that linked product, maybe a desktop clock, maybe weather updates, stock tickers, an mp3 playlist interface, etc etc.
There's plenty of apps like that out there. If you'd like an MP3 remote control for Windows there's Jukebox, or for Linux try GiantDisc. There's several others, but those are the best two - I've been doing a lot of research lately, since I'm building a in-car computer that uses my Kyocera 6035 combo Palm & phone as its remote control & main display.
Handspring and Palm cradles are designed so that you push the PDA in downwards then backwards to 'lock' in place. Not locking the PDA in place leaves you with non-secure connectors
I've got an M105 and a Kyocera 6035 combo Palm & phone, neither of which function like that. They just drop straight into the cradle, and you can lift them out with two fingers. Seems like it's the same as the bay design.
The US (US!=America) were the "first" to enact low-emiision laws (which were fighted tooth and nail by the car cartels) simply because they were the first to be choked with exhaust fumes, especially California which, thanks to Los-Angeles, was the leader in the choking "revolution".
Definitely not - ever been to big cities in Mexico or El Salvador? The soot in the air comes off on your clothes just from walking through the town. California is a far cry from the environmental disasters in Central America. Still no air regulations down there.
Americans have no taste for recycling or reuse--everything has to be new (just look at the booming sales of new garish SUVs).
Don't mistake the American love of large things for a lack of recycling or reuse. I've done a lot of traveling, and never seen a country that covets old cars as much as the southern states do. We can't buy old garish SUV's simply because there haven't been any big ones: the few that have long shelf lives (the original Jeep Grand Cherokee wagons, Range Rovers, and Toyota Land Cruisers) are eagerly gobbled up and even seen as status symbols.
This whole disposable cell phone thing is just symptomatic of an American culture that will overuse whatever resources it can get its hands on...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't America the first to come out with stringent emissions standards for cars? Take California, who's heading for a zero-emissions standard by the end of the decade - there's no country taking such a firm stance on emissions.
What? The bug fixes cost HOW MUCH? How many times do I have to buy this damned OS?
The undertone of this keynote was, "We need more of your money." Other shows have been all about bringing more users into the fold, but this show was clearly about getting more money from the existing user base.
The funniest part was the absolute dead silence after the dotMac introduction, when users were informed that they were going to have to shell out $100 a year for stuff they've always gotten for free.
If your first software runs were very expensive, and some (all?) of it were public money, you should expect someone to be around to photograph the BSOD's.
Really? Like Carnivore, perhaps? I can't remember the last time I saw a government software project go up in flames for all of us to see. When it fails, it's vigorously swept under the carpet.
If people were around shooting photos the first time one of my programs were run, the carnage would make this look like child's play. Why would you want to publicize your first tests of anything?!?
Slashdot Mirror
I mean, if you take a lot of parts out of something, and reduce its weight a lot, shouldn't it cost less?
By that same logic, laptops should be half the price of desktops. After all, they weigh less and they have less parts, right?
In reality, though, lighter parts cost *more* because they're made out of things that are more expensive. Take the car's frame or body - iron is cheap, aluminum is not so cheap, and composites are downright expensive.
The hidden cost of MS's business desktops has always been the tools. You can't simply buy licenses for XP and call it a day: you need administration tools (SMS), antivirus tools, firewall tools for your mobile users, service pack distribution tools, etc. None of these are bundled with the cost of XP (crummy firewall notwithstanding), and the desktop costs get expensive quickly.
I'll bet RedHat is going to sell this as an alternative to the frustrating patchwork of programs required to administer a network of 50-250 PC's, because that's always been a MS weakness. MS has decent tools like SMS, but they require so much knowledge & work that they don't really pay off until you've got a bare minimum of 100 PC's.
Not that desktop Linux rollouts won't have a learning curve, of course.
Remember the scene in "2001: A Space Odyssey" where Dr. Floyd is talking to his daughter on, IIRC an "AT&T Picturephone?" It's 2002 now, why don't we have them yet?
Astronauts have them and do videoconferencing during shuttle missions all the time. Just because YOU don't doesn't mean that the astronauts don't.
If these devices were in widespread use, and if the phone companies would shoot a picture down the wire along with the caller ID information, I'd be all over it. I'd pay $20 a month for it, no problem.
The problem with caller ID in my mind has always been that it's not specific enough. Sure, I can tell that someone is calling from my office, or from my girlfriend's office, but who is it? If it's a number I don't recognize, or a business name, then immediately I can see if I want to bother picking it up.
I'd even pick up for telemarketers if the chick was hot enough. Wait, I bet people would start using stock photos of hot pr0n chicks just to get me to pick up. Scratch that.
Of course, the phone companies will never get that into play - they can't even get caller ID to work across providers, so adding a photo is out of the question, I'm sure.
Do you know those little USB drivers which look like a pen? Well, they are better than floppies, and you can use them in your "legacy free, super secure" Compaqs, I think.....
Not if you're running NT4 on said Compaqs, and I know of one company who still refuses to migrate because of a few similar problems. Think plug & play USB wireless nics, for starters.
Go find a doctor that doesnt use MS products somewhere in the office - and get back to me.
You'd be surprised - most of 'em I've seen use Unix-based patient scheduling & billing software. This is one of those areas where Unix had a huge head start because of the multi-user capabilities.
As long as you're being anal-retentive, you should be aware that unencrypted instant-messaging protocols are frowned upon, because medical staff can circumvent all your hard work and simply send patient data back & forth over the IM.
Having said that, if either of these two represents your biggest problems, then you're probably safe for a while. I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish by asking Slashdot - maybe you should try checking with your MS rep first to at least get the company line. MS is wild about HIPAA - they produce a lot of BizTalk stuff for hospital EDI needs.
They'll be able to pocket a bit o' cash before they've driven MP3s into extinction. Most likely replaced by Microsoft Windows media format. Bill is not gonna cough up 100 million license fees on a regular basis. Windows will stop supporting MP3s as soon as possible.
No, there's a $60k development license if you'd rather pay a flat fee. Obviously, the big guys will take that route.
I obviously didn't read the article, but I would think the fees were not retroactive...
Of course not, but if these guys showed up at my doorstop with the patent in hand, they wouldn't need a gun in the other hand. I'm generally agreeable about stuff like this, and I bet most of us would be. It's not like they're laying claim to something they don't have. They had a patent, nobody disagrees that it's a legit patent, and we all knowingly used it. Big deal.
Now if BT showed up with their "hyperlink" patent in hand and tried that stunt, they would indeed need a gun in the other hand. Or at least a switchblade.
Well, I guess NullSoft has decieded to pay the bill themselves.
Remember, AOL bought NullSoft. Methinks NullSoft will be able to burn through some cash - after all, AOL/TW has bigger things to worry about at the time being, eh?
Absolutely brilliant. Wait until it gets mass market acceptance, then start charging fees. Now that I've got a portable MP3 player, an MP3-compatible DVD player, and all 300+ CD's in my collection digitized in MP3 format, now bring out the fees. You win, guys, here's my $3.00 for the car, the DVD deck, and WinAmp on my laptop and desktop. Sure beats re-recording everything in Ogg, which wasn't mainstream enough when I first started ripping my CD's a couple of years back.
What? You don't agree? Well, my time's worth the $3. If they charged $10 per decoder, I'd still probably pay it - and in fact, that's the only mistake I think they're making, not charging enough. Because while I'd gladly pay $3 today, they should realize that going forward, I won't rip a single song in MP3 format. They'll make short-term revenues by screwing guys like me, but they're digging a hole in the long run.
Doesn't going Wi-Fi make more sense?
Not in America - the coverage areas aren't nearly wide enough. Fatport is in Canada, for what it's worth.
I discovered that there are a LOT of Starbuck's around Portland that have the T-Mobile service ready to go.
Every one of 'em in Dallas and Houston has had them for around a year. I've been a subscriber for quite a while, and it's a phenomenal service, but I wish it had better coverage in more airports.
I'm thinking about going to CDPD with Sprint, but am pretty discouraged after my GPRS experience.
I got one of Sprint's AirCard's about a year ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the coverage in TX and CA. The speed was horrible, of course, only around 14.4 max. Plus it wasn't always-on, either.
It's $40/mo for unlimited use, but it's only 19.2. If you're a bandwidth freak, it makes more sense to go with Verizon's 144kbps Express Network - unlimited plans are $100/mo, and they have PCMCIA cards as well as phones.
I hate to be classist, but I can hardly stand it when those with resources (1) don't recognize their own wealth and (2) don't realize that not everyone has it.
Go back and reread the sentence in full. He specifically said that "any community, low-income or not, that had such volunteers available..." He does acknowledge that it's a wealth that not everyone has available, and in fact, he makes a huge point of it during the interview answers. Several of them specifically point out that he knows his case is unusual because he has so much free technical and legal expertise.
Mobile phones are an extremely competitive market: if you bring out an overpriced phone (relative to the other phones on the market), it just plain doesn't matter how cool it is - you won't sell enough volume to make a profit. Makers like Nokia can afford to make uber-cool super-phones, because they enhance the company image and make you want to buy a cheaper Nokia phone. Apple doesn't have that kind of market model, so how are they going to succeed on their own?
There really is someone who likes you. In fact, here's the original personal ad involved:
"Mass email marketer ISO young, wealthy singles with low self-esteem and money to burn. Low IQ is a plus, gullibility even better. Turn-ons: making telephone calls at dinnertime, taking long walks on the beach with your money."
Similar to this [massworks.com] product, a PDA attached to a desktop machine (and a charger) could and should extend the usefulness of both. Maybe a game controller like that linked product, maybe a desktop clock, maybe weather updates, stock tickers, an mp3 playlist interface, etc etc.
There's plenty of apps like that out there. If you'd like an MP3 remote control for Windows there's Jukebox, or for Linux try GiantDisc. There's several others, but those are the best two - I've been doing a lot of research lately, since I'm building a in-car computer that uses my Kyocera 6035 combo Palm & phone as its remote control & main display.
Handspring and Palm cradles are designed so that you push the PDA in downwards then backwards to 'lock' in place. Not locking the PDA in place leaves you with non-secure connectors
I've got an M105 and a Kyocera 6035 combo Palm & phone, neither of which function like that. They just drop straight into the cradle, and you can lift them out with two fingers. Seems like it's the same as the bay design.
The US (US!=America) were the "first" to enact low-emiision laws (which were fighted tooth and nail by the car cartels) simply because they were the first to be choked with exhaust fumes, especially California which, thanks to Los-Angeles, was the leader in the choking "revolution".
Definitely not - ever been to big cities in Mexico or El Salvador? The soot in the air comes off on your clothes just from walking through the town. California is a far cry from the environmental disasters in Central America. Still no air regulations down there.
Americans have no taste for recycling or reuse--everything has to be new (just look at the booming sales of new garish SUVs).
Don't mistake the American love of large things for a lack of recycling or reuse. I've done a lot of traveling, and never seen a country that covets old cars as much as the southern states do. We can't buy old garish SUV's simply because there haven't been any big ones: the few that have long shelf lives (the original Jeep Grand Cherokee wagons, Range Rovers, and Toyota Land Cruisers) are eagerly gobbled up and even seen as status symbols.
This whole disposable cell phone thing is just symptomatic of an American culture that will overuse whatever resources it can get its hands on...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't America the first to come out with stringent emissions standards for cars? Take California, who's heading for a zero-emissions standard by the end of the decade - there's no country taking such a firm stance on emissions.
What? The bug fixes cost HOW MUCH? How many times do I have to buy this damned OS?
The undertone of this keynote was, "We need more of your money." Other shows have been all about bringing more users into the fold, but this show was clearly about getting more money from the existing user base.
The funniest part was the absolute dead silence after the dotMac introduction, when users were informed that they were going to have to shell out $100 a year for stuff they've always gotten for free.
If your first software runs were very expensive, and some (all?) of it were public money, you should expect someone to be around to photograph the BSOD's.
Really? Like Carnivore, perhaps? I can't remember the last time I saw a government software project go up in flames for all of us to see. When it fails, it's vigorously swept under the carpet.
If people were around shooting photos the first time one of my programs were run, the carnage would make this look like child's play. Why would you want to publicize your first tests of anything?!?