Vista is flying off the shelves, consumers are happy, and Windows 7 is completely and totally unnecessary.
Apple's market share is also in decline due to the widespread satisfaction of Vista users.
On a more serious note - it seems that Microsoft misjudged the market post XP. The world went small and light (netbooks, handhelds, web based computing/apps) and they went the other way with their desktop OS.
I would like to see Microsoft's offering be really competitive - fast, easy to use, and above all, reliable. Competition is a good thing, and for the first time in a while Microsoft is feeling a bit of it. The entire computing world is still theirs to lose. They are making improvements though - they are offering decent web based services, and every version of Windows Mobile really has been better than the previous version.
I don't just beat up on Microsoft. As much as I love Mac OS, their server products.....well, they suck. Leopard server was almost unusable for almost 6 months until they got the bugs worked out of it.
I also wish the Linux guys put more effort into usability, and appearance. That would make this thing a real three horse race. I do cut Linux a bit of slack for two reasons - it's free, and I don't contribute to any projects - so I have very little room to criticize.
But if I'm paying for a system or software, I want it to work the way I expect it to work - or better.
I've administered networks for over a decade, I've been a self-employed consultant, I've managed networks for large financial institutions, medical institutions, and schools. I currently am an IT director for a private school. I have a BS in Computer Science, and I've developed software in multiple languages in many environments for many purposes.
It's enough to say that I've been doing this a while and have run/used/lived-with a large number of Microsoft's products (enterprise and consumer) in the last decade.
That said, can you give me a compelling reason to use Vista? It seems that the market has answered that question with a resounding NO.
By the way - managing a network connection means lots of things (disabling/enabling/changing addressing schemes-WINS-DNS-gateways...etc) - stuff that needs to be done when servicing multiple networks for a living.
Vista works just fine (finally) - it's just not easy or enjoyable to use. It's like a car that smokes, leaks fluids, and shifts poorly - it still gets you to work, but it sucks to drive.
I've been on a mission to convert my friends and family members to Mac OS in the last year or so. Of the people I've converted from Vista (Mother in law, Father in law, sister, two cousins, and a handful of friends) - none have wanted to go back to Vista even after I offered to install it on their new Macs. Why do you suppose that is?
I have a Mac Pro with Dual Quad-Core Xeons, 4GB of ram and 10k discs for each operating system.
Mac OS Leopard and Windows XP Pro seem equally "snappy". Vista is definitely slower than both. Menus take longer to appear (especially context menus). Windows take longer to populate with files. Applications take longer to start up.
The machine is still perfectly usable in all operating systems. The slowness in Vista does not prevent me from using the operating system, but the cost should come with some benefit. Vista has no appreciable benefits over XP to justify the performance hit.
At my company, we decided to skip Vista altogether. No performance benefits, no additional useful functionality, and finally, having to throw out functional printers and scanners due to a lack of Vista support meant that Vista added no value to our systems - and cost a bunch of money.
No one pays something for nothing. And that is Microsoft's problem with Vista.
Yes Vista was "slow" when it came out, and still feels a bit sluggish even with a dual quad-core machine with 10k rpm disks and 4GB of ram - but that isn't my gripe.
My concerns are with the bone-headed DESIGN decisions Microsoft made with Vista.
Managing a network connection in Vista is unnecessarily complicated. Why do I need to go into that damn network and sharing center to get to my network cards or to choose a wireless network? Why the hell do I need a diagram of my computer, my house, and the globe to explain how my computer is connected to my network and the internet? I connected the damn thing - there is no need to draw me a picture of how it all works.
Does renaming "add/remove programs" to "programs and features" really make me that much more productive? It takes me an extra second or two EVERY time I go between XP and Vista and the change added NO value.
Transparent menus - WHY? I want to look at the text in the menu, not at what is behind the menu. God forbid you have something behind the menu that is the same color as the text.
I could go on and on about how slow network file transfers were when Vista shipped, or how many drivers and programs made Vista crash, or just flat-out didn't work, but I won't. Those are bugs, and in time, they are fixed and the problems go away.
Bad design decisions, unfortunately, are not as easy to fix as a bug. The first step in fixing a bad design decision is to admit that the designer made a mistake. Microsoft is too arrogant to ever admit they made a mistake, so the bad design decisions live on.
Until Microsoft takes usability seriously, I suspect Windows 7 will still irritate me and many other users. I will try it when it comes out, and try to keep an open mind, but disappointment seems to be the Microsoft way these days.
Yes, I understand some people are allergic to them, or some really bright bulbs can't figure out how to use them, but for the overwhelming majority of us - is it really that difficult to wrap Mr. Johnston before going in?
Why must we always seek a really complicated solution to a simple problem?
We don't "cherry-pick" geniuses- the originating school district sends them to us. If the kid is a genius, then the kid is not being placed at our school. We get the kids after they have already had problems in traditional schools.
We teach kids with learning differences. We must meet the needs specified in the IEP, and perform to the sending district's satisfaction, or the child is placed somewhere else.
We need the absolute best staff we can get to help most of these kids that come from poor school districts, or from un-supportive homes. We don't succeed with them all, but we do succeed with most.
Our school teaches kids with learning differences. They are placed with us after failing in a traditional school.
Our entire model depends on our ability to teach these kids how to learn with the different brains they have.
If our kids do not perform to the sending district's requirements, or meet the needs specified in the IEP, the child is removed from our school.
We have a HUGE reason to succeed with these kids, if we don't, we go out of business.
By the way, 1/4 of our kids come from the city of Trenton, NJ. These kids come from bad areas and un-supportive homes. We don't succeed with all of them, but we do succeed with most.
The union most likely negotiated your contract, the amount of in-service days you worked, the pay scale you participated in, and the benefits packaged that was offered to you (retirement, pension, healthcare, life insurance...etc).
They also, most likely, negotiated the school calendar that you worked as well.
Obviously, this varies from state to state, but teachers unions have FAR reaching influence - more so than most people realize.
I work in a private school as an IT director, and we don't have either of those things. If you are a stellar teacher, are rewarded with more compensation, and better kit for your classroom.
If you are a, "do-just-enough-to-get-by", type of teacher, you don't get more/better stuff for your classroom (motivated teachers will make better use of the materials), and if you are bad enough, your contract won't be renewed next year.
I've been with this school about 8 years, and I can see the steady improvement in the staff. The strong ones stay, the weak ones go elsewhere.
We are a private school - typically districts send us students, and we have some private pay students. We need to have the best staff possible, or else districts and parents will send their kids somewhere else. Competition does make us better.
So far, I have not noticed any ill effects of this, but it doesn't appear to be something you can opt-out of. So, even though you have a 100 mbps pipe, you may not be pulling content directly from the originating web site.
Something to keep in mind when deciding to become a Cablevision customer.
I work for a school, and we use their B2B site quite a bit. We buy tons of printers, hard drives, monitors, TVs, VCR/DVD players, open license software...etc. from them.
Yes, they are cheap, yes they sell refurbed and B-stock stuff - but it is all clearly labeled. Devoting 5 minutes to reading a product description for a large purchase isn't asking too much.
As far as their customer service goes, we have a dedicated sales rep, so I can't comment on personal purchases, but we've been very happy with our rep. Out of 100 or so orders, we've had maybe two screw-ups. Our rep promptly fixed the problem in both cases.
So, here's one happy customer....whatever that's worth.
I have two xserves that I bought with the smallest drives possible. I then ripped out the 80GB drives and installed 500GB drives.
The servers have been in production for over two years without one single disk related problem.
I do the same thing with my Dell servers. The drives are cheap enough that if I have a failure, I have a stack of replacements on hand. Then I pursue a warranty replacement with the drive manufacturer.
I don't mind paying a premium for well designed hardware, but I hate paying a premium for commodity parts.
(I don't do this with my EMC SANs - they will only work with "approved" drives).
Having worked with Universal Remote, RTI, and Crestron products, I know what a "high-end" remote should do. These guys make very flexible remotes, but they cost a ton of money.
Logitech's Harmony series remotes come VERY close, for a fraction of the cost. Programming is not very difficult, and I've yet to find a AV component that can not be controlled by these remotes.
If you need to control lighting, HVAC, and other home automation stuff, RTI and Crestron are your best bet (bring your checkbook). But if you only need to control a modest Home Theater system, take a look at the Harmony remotes.
As far as smartphones go - who is going to leave their smartphone home so the babysitter, or kids can watch TV?
One of my best guys was an ex-GM line worker - no college experience there. Granted, he was there when I arrived - I didn't hire him, but I did promote him.
I graduated in 2001 (spent 3 years in EE and 4 years in CS), so I don't think i'm really that far removed from the "realities of college". What about summer work? There are many months during the summer that can be put to productive use and then put on a resume.
The other huge mistake I see in college students is that they pay WAY to much for college. I've seen a bunch of people pass up perfectly fine in-state schools to go to out of state schools that are really no better and cost 3x what the in-state school cost.
There's ivy league, and there is everything else. There is no reason to pay ridiculous tuition and board for almost no difference in education quality.
While I am not hiring developers, I do find the same problems with junior network admin applicants. Many of the new-hires do not want to be bothered with end users - they want to be locked in a data center plugging away at servers.
I tell all my new hires - your first year or so will be nothing but working with end users - that's how you get an appreciation for the needs of the people who actually make this company money. I'm not letting a junior network admin near a production SAN, router, or firewall without some front-line experience first.
The young guys and gals I interview have very little work experience during college. During my college years, I volunteered my network services to non-profits and churches - these contacts eventually got me paid consulting gigs, and then full-time work. Work experience during college is more valuable than anything else - it shows you know your stuff, you are motivated, that you can work with people - and it makes you aware of the realities of the workplace.
Much like a backup generator installation that uses an automatic transfer switch, you'll also need an automatic disconnect switch to remove point of use generated power from the utility lines coming into your house if the power fails.
The last thing you want to do is electrocute a utility worker when they are servicing your power lines.
I was not apologizing for Apple - I was faulting them for their lack of understanding Japanese culture and what the Japanese value in usability and functionality. They may need to design different phones for different markets if they wish to succeed in those markets.
Japan's culture of usability is "different" from ours to say the least.
Having worked in the electronics industry, I can tell you that Japanese users place high value on features and technical complexity. Mastering a technically complex device is viewed as an accomplishment.
Look at some of the electronics designed for the Japanese market - rows and rows of tiny buttons, incomprehensible menus, difficult to read displays; then look at electronics designed for the US market - touch screens, big legible fonts and buttons, simple - easy to navigate menus.
(Most of) western society places a high value on ease of use over functionality. Apple does very well in those markets. Japanese culture is very detail oriented and places value on technical complexity and function.
It's a culture thing, and Apple needs to understand that if they want to succeed in the Japanese market.
I've managed networks for regulated industries like Finance, Banking, and Medical industries. All of these industries have laws regarding access controls and information security.
SarbOx, GLBA, and HIPAA, all REQUIRE access controls on data and systems. As network admin, I can't know the CEO's password, and he can't know my password. This is essential for creating an audit trail and only allowing access to systems and data based on individual authority.
Laws that make it a crime to withhold passwords (or access) are in direct conflict with the above mentioned laws. If you leave your job and give your "admin" password to the CEO, you could be violating the above laws since you just gave the CEO a way to rob the company, and cover his/her tracks.
It's insanity to think that you could be committing a crime by doing your job.
I'm not defending president Obama here, but do you really think Senator McCain would side with the public instead of the entertainment industry?
If he can help fix the economy (and the middle class) and end the war in Iraq then, for me, president Obama's administration is the lesser of two evils.
Both of my radios were sirius connect radios hard wired to pioneer head units.
One of my cars has quite a bit of audio gear in it - Hertz components, Audison 6 channel amp, JL audio stealthbox...etc. I can reasonably say that my audio system will expose flaws in satellite audio that other systems may not.
The bandwidth and sound quality seemed to vary from station to station. Talk stations had very little in the way of high-frequencies, and rock stations seemed to have a lack of highs as well. The electronic/dance channels seemed to have better highs.
A Sirius rep confirmed they do monkey with bandwidth on channels from time to time. If I am paying for radio, I want a premium experience - no commercials and good sound quality. I'm not asking for CD quality, but the highs shouldn't sound like a bad MP3.
IBM was hardly a proponent of an "open architecture". As others have said here, their loss in court to Compaq forcibly opened the architecture.
Remember Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)? It was a proprietary bus developed for the PS/2. IBM was the KING of vendor lock-in, at least before Microsoft perfected the process.
Slashdot Mirror
Vista is flying off the shelves, consumers are happy, and Windows 7 is completely and totally unnecessary.
Apple's market share is also in decline due to the widespread satisfaction of Vista users.
On a more serious note - it seems that Microsoft misjudged the market post XP. The world went small and light (netbooks, handhelds, web based computing/apps) and they went the other way with their desktop OS.
I would like to see Microsoft's offering be really competitive - fast, easy to use, and above all, reliable. Competition is a good thing, and for the first time in a while Microsoft is feeling a bit of it. The entire computing world is still theirs to lose. They are making improvements though - they are offering decent web based services, and every version of Windows Mobile really has been better than the previous version.
I don't just beat up on Microsoft. As much as I love Mac OS, their server products.....well, they suck. Leopard server was almost unusable for almost 6 months until they got the bugs worked out of it.
I also wish the Linux guys put more effort into usability, and appearance. That would make this thing a real three horse race. I do cut Linux a bit of slack for two reasons - it's free, and I don't contribute to any projects - so I have very little room to criticize.
But if I'm paying for a system or software, I want it to work the way I expect it to work - or better.
-ted
I've administered networks for over a decade, I've been a self-employed consultant, I've managed networks for large financial institutions, medical institutions, and schools. I currently am an IT director for a private school. I have a BS in Computer Science, and I've developed software in multiple languages in many environments for many purposes.
It's enough to say that I've been doing this a while and have run/used/lived-with a large number of Microsoft's products (enterprise and consumer) in the last decade.
That said, can you give me a compelling reason to use Vista? It seems that the market has answered that question with a resounding NO.
By the way - managing a network connection means lots of things (disabling/enabling/changing addressing schemes-WINS-DNS-gateways...etc) - stuff that needs to be done when servicing multiple networks for a living.
Vista works just fine (finally) - it's just not easy or enjoyable to use. It's like a car that smokes, leaks fluids, and shifts poorly - it still gets you to work, but it sucks to drive.
I've been on a mission to convert my friends and family members to Mac OS in the last year or so. Of the people I've converted from Vista (Mother in law, Father in law, sister, two cousins, and a handful of friends) - none have wanted to go back to Vista even after I offered to install it on their new Macs. Why do you suppose that is?
-ted
Is largely anecdotal, but here is my experience:
I have a Mac Pro with Dual Quad-Core Xeons, 4GB of ram and 10k discs for each operating system.
Mac OS Leopard and Windows XP Pro seem equally "snappy". Vista is definitely slower than both. Menus take longer to appear (especially context menus). Windows take longer to populate with files. Applications take longer to start up.
The machine is still perfectly usable in all operating systems. The slowness in Vista does not prevent me from using the operating system, but the cost should come with some benefit. Vista has no appreciable benefits over XP to justify the performance hit.
At my company, we decided to skip Vista altogether. No performance benefits, no additional useful functionality, and finally, having to throw out functional printers and scanners due to a lack of Vista support meant that Vista added no value to our systems - and cost a bunch of money.
No one pays something for nothing. And that is Microsoft's problem with Vista.
-ted
Yes Vista was "slow" when it came out, and still feels a bit sluggish even with a dual quad-core machine with 10k rpm disks and 4GB of ram - but that isn't my gripe.
My concerns are with the bone-headed DESIGN decisions Microsoft made with Vista.
Managing a network connection in Vista is unnecessarily complicated. Why do I need to go into that damn network and sharing center to get to my network cards or to choose a wireless network? Why the hell do I need a diagram of my computer, my house, and the globe to explain how my computer is connected to my network and the internet? I connected the damn thing - there is no need to draw me a picture of how it all works.
Does renaming "add/remove programs" to "programs and features" really make me that much more productive? It takes me an extra second or two EVERY time I go between XP and Vista and the change added NO value.
Transparent menus - WHY? I want to look at the text in the menu, not at what is behind the menu. God forbid you have something behind the menu that is the same color as the text.
I could go on and on about how slow network file transfers were when Vista shipped, or how many drivers and programs made Vista crash, or just flat-out didn't work, but I won't. Those are bugs, and in time, they are fixed and the problems go away.
Bad design decisions, unfortunately, are not as easy to fix as a bug. The first step in fixing a bad design decision is to admit that the designer made a mistake. Microsoft is too arrogant to ever admit they made a mistake, so the bad design decisions live on.
Until Microsoft takes usability seriously, I suspect Windows 7 will still irritate me and many other users. I will try it when it comes out, and try to keep an open mind, but disappointment seems to be the Microsoft way these days.
-ted
Yes, I understand some people are allergic to them, or some really bright bulbs can't figure out how to use them, but for the overwhelming majority of us - is it really that difficult to wrap Mr. Johnston before going in?
Why must we always seek a really complicated solution to a simple problem?
-ted
We don't "cherry-pick" geniuses- the originating school district sends them to us. If the kid is a genius, then the kid is not being placed at our school. We get the kids after they have already had problems in traditional schools.
We teach kids with learning differences. We must meet the needs specified in the IEP, and perform to the sending district's satisfaction, or the child is placed somewhere else.
We need the absolute best staff we can get to help most of these kids that come from poor school districts, or from un-supportive homes. We don't succeed with them all, but we do succeed with most.
-ted
Our school teaches kids with learning differences. They are placed with us after failing in a traditional school.
Our entire model depends on our ability to teach these kids how to learn with the different brains they have.
If our kids do not perform to the sending district's requirements, or meet the needs specified in the IEP, the child is removed from our school.
We have a HUGE reason to succeed with these kids, if we don't, we go out of business.
By the way, 1/4 of our kids come from the city of Trenton, NJ. These kids come from bad areas and un-supportive homes. We don't succeed with all of them, but we do succeed with most.
-ted
The union most likely negotiated your contract, the amount of in-service days you worked, the pay scale you participated in, and the benefits packaged that was offered to you (retirement, pension, healthcare, life insurance...etc).
They also, most likely, negotiated the school calendar that you worked as well.
Obviously, this varies from state to state, but teachers unions have FAR reaching influence - more so than most people realize.
-ted
Tenure and Unions
I work in a private school as an IT director, and we don't have either of those things. If you are a stellar teacher, are rewarded with more compensation, and better kit for your classroom.
If you are a, "do-just-enough-to-get-by", type of teacher, you don't get more/better stuff for your classroom (motivated teachers will make better use of the materials), and if you are bad enough, your contract won't be renewed next year.
I've been with this school about 8 years, and I can see the steady improvement in the staff. The strong ones stay, the weak ones go elsewhere.
We are a private school - typically districts send us students, and we have some private pay students. We need to have the best staff possible, or else districts and parents will send their kids somewhere else. Competition does make us better.
That's the way public schools need to be.
-ted
Cablevision also appears to have installed an ISP caching system they market as "expresslink":
http://www.optimum.com/online/expresslink.jsp
So far, I have not noticed any ill effects of this, but it doesn't appear to be something you can opt-out of. So, even though you have a 100 mbps pipe, you may not be pulling content directly from the originating web site.
Something to keep in mind when deciding to become a Cablevision customer.
-ted
I work for a school, and we use their B2B site quite a bit. We buy tons of printers, hard drives, monitors, TVs, VCR/DVD players, open license software...etc. from them.
Yes, they are cheap, yes they sell refurbed and B-stock stuff - but it is all clearly labeled. Devoting 5 minutes to reading a product description for a large purchase isn't asking too much.
As far as their customer service goes, we have a dedicated sales rep, so I can't comment on personal purchases, but we've been very happy with our rep. Out of 100 or so orders, we've had maybe two screw-ups. Our rep promptly fixed the problem in both cases.
So, here's one happy customer....whatever that's worth.
-ted
I remember hacking away in the labs until 3:00 A.M. trying to get my CS projects done on those SUN "pizza boxes". I loved those things.
I recently returned to my Alma-mater and found that many of the SUN labs have been converted to PCs running Linux.
-ted
This isn't new. I've been giving Microsoft products hand gestures for years.
-ted
I have two xserves that I bought with the smallest drives possible. I then ripped out the 80GB drives and installed 500GB drives.
The servers have been in production for over two years without one single disk related problem.
I do the same thing with my Dell servers. The drives are cheap enough that if I have a failure, I have a stack of replacements on hand. Then I pursue a warranty replacement with the drive manufacturer.
I don't mind paying a premium for well designed hardware, but I hate paying a premium for commodity parts.
(I don't do this with my EMC SANs - they will only work with "approved" drives).
-ted
Having worked with Universal Remote, RTI, and Crestron products, I know what a "high-end" remote should do. These guys make very flexible remotes, but they cost a ton of money.
Logitech's Harmony series remotes come VERY close, for a fraction of the cost. Programming is not very difficult, and I've yet to find a AV component that can not be controlled by these remotes.
If you need to control lighting, HVAC, and other home automation stuff, RTI and Crestron are your best bet (bring your checkbook). But if you only need to control a modest Home Theater system, take a look at the Harmony remotes.
As far as smartphones go - who is going to leave their smartphone home so the babysitter, or kids can watch TV?
-ted
We've got an entire company of these things, and no one seems to complain about exchange support.
I personally have one as well, and I have yet to have a problem with it.
-ted
One of my best guys was an ex-GM line worker - no college experience there. Granted, he was there when I arrived - I didn't hire him, but I did promote him.
I graduated in 2001 (spent 3 years in EE and 4 years in CS), so I don't think i'm really that far removed from the "realities of college". What about summer work? There are many months during the summer that can be put to productive use and then put on a resume.
The other huge mistake I see in college students is that they pay WAY to much for college. I've seen a bunch of people pass up perfectly fine in-state schools to go to out of state schools that are really no better and cost 3x what the in-state school cost.
There's ivy league, and there is everything else. There is no reason to pay ridiculous tuition and board for almost no difference in education quality.
-ted
While I am not hiring developers, I do find the same problems with junior network admin applicants. Many of the new-hires do not want to be bothered with end users - they want to be locked in a data center plugging away at servers.
I tell all my new hires - your first year or so will be nothing but working with end users - that's how you get an appreciation for the needs of the people who actually make this company money. I'm not letting a junior network admin near a production SAN, router, or firewall without some front-line experience first.
The young guys and gals I interview have very little work experience during college. During my college years, I volunteered my network services to non-profits and churches - these contacts eventually got me paid consulting gigs, and then full-time work. Work experience during college is more valuable than anything else - it shows you know your stuff, you are motivated, that you can work with people - and it makes you aware of the realities of the workplace.
I feel old after writing this post....
-ted
Much like a backup generator installation that uses an automatic transfer switch, you'll also need an automatic disconnect switch to remove point of use generated power from the utility lines coming into your house if the power fails.
The last thing you want to do is electrocute a utility worker when they are servicing your power lines.
-ted
Check out the dash of the Nissan GT-R:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cars/nissans-gt+r-data+dense-dashboard-explained-324672.php
Compare the GT-R dash with the dash of the Corvette ZR-1:
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/chevrolet/0802_2009_chevrolet_corvette_zr1/photo_03.html
Or this radio made and sold in Japan (its a bit older, but it illustrates the point):
http://japan-auto-sound.com/images/206-0606_IMG.jpg
I was not apologizing for Apple - I was faulting them for their lack of understanding Japanese culture and what the Japanese value in usability and functionality. They may need to design different phones for different markets if they wish to succeed in those markets.
-ted
Japan's culture of usability is "different" from ours to say the least.
Having worked in the electronics industry, I can tell you that Japanese users place high value on features and technical complexity. Mastering a technically complex device is viewed as an accomplishment.
Look at some of the electronics designed for the Japanese market - rows and rows of tiny buttons, incomprehensible menus, difficult to read displays; then look at electronics designed for the US market - touch screens, big legible fonts and buttons, simple - easy to navigate menus.
(Most of) western society places a high value on ease of use over functionality. Apple does very well in those markets. Japanese culture is very detail oriented and places value on technical complexity and function.
It's a culture thing, and Apple needs to understand that if they want to succeed in the Japanese market.
-ted
I've managed networks for regulated industries like Finance, Banking, and Medical industries. All of these industries have laws regarding access controls and information security.
SarbOx, GLBA, and HIPAA, all REQUIRE access controls on data and systems. As network admin, I can't know the CEO's password, and he can't know my password. This is essential for creating an audit trail and only allowing access to systems and data based on individual authority.
Laws that make it a crime to withhold passwords (or access) are in direct conflict with the above mentioned laws. If you leave your job and give your "admin" password to the CEO, you could be violating the above laws since you just gave the CEO a way to rob the company, and cover his/her tracks.
It's insanity to think that you could be committing a crime by doing your job.
-ted
I'm not defending president Obama here, but do you really think Senator McCain would side with the public instead of the entertainment industry?
If he can help fix the economy (and the middle class) and end the war in Iraq then, for me, president Obama's administration is the lesser of two evils.
-ted
Both of my radios were sirius connect radios hard wired to pioneer head units.
One of my cars has quite a bit of audio gear in it - Hertz components, Audison 6 channel amp, JL audio stealthbox...etc. I can reasonably say that my audio system will expose flaws in satellite audio that other systems may not.
The bandwidth and sound quality seemed to vary from station to station. Talk stations had very little in the way of high-frequencies, and rock stations seemed to have a lack of highs as well. The electronic/dance channels seemed to have better highs.
A Sirius rep confirmed they do monkey with bandwidth on channels from time to time. If I am paying for radio, I want a premium experience - no commercials and good sound quality. I'm not asking for CD quality, but the highs shouldn't sound like a bad MP3.
-ted
IBM was hardly a proponent of an "open architecture". As others have said here, their loss in court to Compaq forcibly opened the architecture.
Remember Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)? It was a proprietary bus developed for the PS/2. IBM was the KING of vendor lock-in, at least before Microsoft perfected the process.
-ted