That's what happens when you make so much music, then basically give it away to consumers over FM radio (or on TV) for 30 years... The entire broadcast business is based on this model:
Consumer: Mooches for free. Changes channels to avoid commercials. Customer (advertiser): Pays broadcaster for commercials that consumers change channels to avoid. Broadcaster: Pays for playing movies or music. Labels & Studios: Churn out more crap that is simmilar to the crap that sold the most commercials for the broadcasters.
Exception: Theaters and live performances - customer pays outrageous price for tickets...
The problem with the internet is that it's the ultimate commercial skip.
All I'm saying is it doesn't matter how much your software costs or what "features" it boasts, it only matters if it does its job and uses your hardware to process the data.
Actually, features in software matter quite a bit. I'd hate to buy a billing system that didn't have the feature that lets it, say, print - if you wanted print invoices. Free software is fine. So is proprietary if it gets the job done. The situation I am lamenting is where companies use a "whatever works" attitude and end up with a morass of incompatible, non-integrated systems that don't work without egotistical, petty dictators making them work. And it happens all the time. Hodge-podge solutions are very expensive.
If something's fairly priced, nobody's going to take the time to copy
Amen to that. 99.9% of the problem with the movie and the music business is that their stuff just isn't worth what they charge. They've overproduced (there's more music and movies at the average wal-mart than I could listen to or watch in a lifetime), overhyped and finally overpriced their product. Result? People would rather go out of their way to copy than to buy JUST TO SPITE THEM!
How about ink jet cartridges? Ever wonder why a store like Staples has to put them behind the counter? Because their customers will take them because they aren't worth paying for (I personally refill, the penalty for refilling is an occasional ink-stain)!
I'm sick of the fscking razor blade business model. I'm tired of 80% marketing expense product cost. Now I will go wander back out in the desert from whence I came...
I've already patented the application of the public relations process in Luxemborg under their somewhat unique patent laws to the novel idea of resisting intellectual property laws. Because of WIPO and several international agreements, Robin and the rest of IP Justice will have to pay royalties to engage in any of the following:
* Releasing a press release or bulletin. * Announcing and holding a press conference that is seen by more that the person speaking. * Hosting seminars and workshops for * Posting a internet website that uses the HTTP (our patent was applied for in 1978) protocol.
Anyone who attempts to use these clearly new and novel ideas will need to fill out our "Anti IP Law Business Process Licensing Request" and submit it. The application fee of $10,171.17 is non-refundable, and we reserve the right to decline any application for any reason. Because we thought of it first! (sticks out toungue and raspberries the world)
IP laws are unjust to begin with. It's prima facia impossible to own and idea. $G
There's a pretty big difference between getting hit by the ballistic debris or dead body of a missile, and getting hit by the fully functional thermonuclear warhead blast!
I agree 100% with the idea... Unfortunately most artillery shells on up to MIRV warheads are fairly well shielded from em countermeasures. In many cases, you have a complete, sealed metal enclosure around the electronics, foil shielding, or circuits that are designed to deal with the pulse. On the big stuff, nukes are hardened against em pulse/radiation (microwaves fall in both categories - radiation doesn't mean stuff that will turn you green and muscular) type of attacks to ensure second strike survival. The idea of using microwaves to fry the fuse/detonator has been around since the 50s and was actually deployed by the Army back then. I wish defending against these types of weapons was so easy... unfortunately humans are too creative when it comes to killing mass quantities of other humans.
Stem Cell research and the race to human cloning are, objectively, two leaves on the same branch. Both should be refined and mastered to the point where the dream of human immortality is no longer a dream. This should be all about pushing genetics and microbiology to their absolute limits, not trying to make a Bob mark II or Fluffy 3.0 . Cloning a human just for the hell of it though, or trying to bring back to life a dead child or loved one or pet out of hopes for a "replacement" is irresponsible both scientifically, and morally.
I wonder if it's necessary to research using human tissue at the stage we are at. I would be much more comfortable if we built a database of knowledge - much like the cloned cat - where we learn without creating or destroying human life.
We just don't know enough yet about cloning or stem cells, and I do believe the mad rush science is putting towards using human research subjects, or for that matter human tissue is premature. There is a great body of knowledge we need to gain over the lifespan of cloned organisms before we can dare assume that it's a good thing to do long term. We need to learn about:
* Cancer incidence * Disease incidence long term * Environmental factors * Tissue differences between clone and clonee * Long term effects of stem cell use * Effects of genetic changes resulting from viral/environmental vectors. * Growth
There's way too much that is unknown to go apply this stuff to people. All I see is a land rush and money grab by entrepinologists who are looking for quick patents and fast royalties. The good news: intellectual property laws will slow the pace of research to a snails pace and the real scientists out there will be quietly learning about how it all really works. I'll benefit from all this in my lifetime, but not in the next 25-30 years.
Even if you fry the electronics at 300M out, that doesn't guarantee the missile will miss... A balistic weapon traveling at 4,600 MPH can't change direction much in 300M... for that matter, a cruise missle traveling at 560MPH can't turn much either. BTW - the millitary has had microwave weapons for some time... Since the '50s - I can't remember the name of the weapon system, but they used to have a device that used microwaves to explode artillery in the air. The shrapnel generated was a problem, but it was better than taking a direct hit...
But I have yet to find anything that is more fault tolerant than a cluster of PCs designed the right way the first time.
You haven't been around long, have you? (just kidding) AS/400s aren't true mainframes anyway - they are midrange systems. It's kind of interesting that you locked into the hardware side of things. In IT, the real expense is the cost of the system meaning the applications that are being run on the hardware. The hardware is just real estate. You can have well done PC systems. You can have poor mainframe systems. The AS/400 example cited was perfect - it was an example of a company that had simplified the number of applications required to run the business to a handfull, and could therefore run them on a couple of AS/400s (I'm sure with a small IT staff). I think the IT world is too trained to look at TCO without including their own salaries - hence the pervasiveness of microsoft based junkware applications. Sure those PCs are cheap - but what's it cost to keep them running? What's it cost to upgrade? How often do you upgrade? What about rolling out software... and so on. And then you factor in that with PCs you generally have a hodge-podge of 18-27 different non-integrated business applications, I think most PC based enterprises have paddled up shit creek further and faster than just about anyone. The longer I'm in the business (I sell enterprise software that is mostly PC based) the more I see that businesses should pay attention to the software they run first, and look at hardware and platform as real estate.
I only know about processing data, dealing with nets and the separation of the logical services from the physical infrastructure that provides them. And that PCs are really cheap.:)
If you want to shrink everything, think about AS/400. They're really good workhorses.
What kills me is the number of companies that don't realize how much less it costs and how nimble you can be to go this route. Of course, it's not cool, sexy nor require a big 5 consultant.
Since you brought up the TCO model, let's follow this through. The logic is that MS is increasing TCO annually while providing little improved capabilities. This is 100% correct but isn't where the real TCO problem is. Microsoft's hitting us with 4%-5% per year in increase. The real problem is that in most enterprises you have over 22 business systems drawing resources and contributing to the sprial (they even sometimes require you implement more MS stuff):
* Desktop OSes * Server OSes * Messaging (mail servers) * Databases * Office Suites * Web Servers * Enterprise Network Management (Tivoli/Unicenter) * Accounting (sometimes ERP usurps this) * Order Entry * Billing (it's amazing how few comapnies use their accounting systems for cutting invoices) * eCommerce * Content Management * Inventory Management * Manufacturing (MRP) * Sales Force Automation (sometimes CRM) * Helpdesk * Customer Service Automation (sometimes CRM) * Internet Browsers * Groupware (outlook, groupwise or notes) * Misc. Productivity Apps (project management, CAD, graphic design, etc)
It seems to me that the proliferation of business systems is really a core problem in ever-spiraling TCO. What really gets me is the ammount of patchwork integration out there. I think the root cause of the TCO spiral is that most managers missed the lecture about "Be very careful spending today's money to get ROI on past purchases!" It never ceases to amaze me how well protected lousy, non-integrated, buggy legacy systems are by the IT departments that foist them on the rest of the company.
I'd love to work with a company that wanted to shrink the number of systems from 22 to a more manageable number.
This is unsurprising. It's extremely difficult to lobby municipal and county government. Here's why:
* Have to have money to contribute to local party.
* You have to play both sides, Republican and Democrat.
* Grass roots support is good.
Politicians exist to get reelected (not all, but most). If you don't have the cash or the grass roots support, you are going to get the result the Segway people got: shut out of the market. The politicians know that eventually Segway will have to grease the wheels. It's easier and cheaper to hit the Federal Government because you only have to deal with one set of politicians.
Thanks for the clarification. A higher-level protocol like Display Postscript/PDF would improve performance for applications that draw. Makes me wish I would have fiddled a little more with remote displays back when I was using NeXT boxes.
NeXT had a great idea with display postscript... I still have yet to see anything really come close when it came to desktop publishing. I'd think for a more modern system though that 3d would be more the way to go...
Sheesh... Get over the semantics a little bit. X has always had some speed issues when running graphically intense apps over the network (and most all modern, skinned apps are somewhat intense). For most applications that require a high end cpu, the Xterminal is a point of delay - that's why most workstations have mondo graphics accelerators on board. On the flip side, I like the results with X much better than Citrix because it's easy to run multiple apps from multiple X clients (or application servers) on one Xserver (Xterminal).
I think X's big problem is the ridiculous, fixation with getting what machine is the client and the server technicall correct. It's really fun to try to explain to an executive that the super-lightweight $500 box on his desk is an X-Server and that the box he laid out $50,000 for is an X-client. They talk like Scooby-Doo when you explain it to them:
me: This is actually the server. Exec: Arrrrruuu? me: it connects to the client in the server rack in the noc. Exec: hhhhhhmmmmmm? me: the application in this window is actually running on a client in texas. Exec: So where's the server again?
Re:So where's the SVG authoring apps?
on
SVG On the Rise
·
· Score: 1
You can throw Corel Draw 11 and CorelRave in there, too.
As time goes on, the web is becoming less of a hypertext document repository and more of an interactive page definition language document repository. SWF, SVF and all just make more so that way. One of the original ideas I like about the web is that I could control the look and feel of the pages I browse.
I think the music industry is becoming irrelevent. They have massively overproduced and they are about to pay the supply/demand price for it. There's more music available at the local mall store than I have time to listen to in my lifetime - and thats just what's in stock on CD and cassette.
I'd much rather see a live performance than pay for a recording anyway. I'd also like to actually be able to know the performer instead of being one of a zillion nameless fans. That's why as I grow older, I like trendy less, and whatever I can see in person at a local bar or small venue much better.
Music sharing and so on isn't the enemy -- for centuries, sharing is the way music perpetuated -- from one performer to the next to the next... I find it ironic that the music industry blames the fuel for creativity for it's decline...
This battle needs to be fought in congress, not in the courts. 7-2 isn't going to change to 4-5 any time soon. Let's start a PAC and start changing some votes already...
One of the most exciting prospects for open source computing is the fact that OSes can be ported to new archetectures relatively quickly. As Microsoft's dominence starts to slide (and there is only anecdotal evidence this is happening) it will become easier for non x86 compatible uPs to make it in the marketplace. The lack of competitive silicone to x86 has been one of the factors slowing the pace of innovation in the last three or four years.
It never ceases to amaze me how easily technology organizations shoot themselves in the foot. Let's punish the developer community making our standards-based hardware more valuable!
That also begs a question - does trademark allow you to prevent use of a word totally or just for marketing purposes. I seem to remember from school that suing someone claiming their product was "a PCI card" that wasn't licensed to do so is one thing, but saying "this card works in PCI bus systems" is quite another... and not actionalble.
Since companies are wasting R&D cash on features we don't want, this will create an opportunity for someone who DOES MAKE what we want. Over time the cost of support of this feature will also direct R&D investment away from core features, leaving the door open for competitors to develop better solutions. I say let them waste money on irrelevent features. Besides, I have yet to see something that can't be cracked yet (safes, OSes, encryption, diamond-tough materials, etc...).
I actually liked having a little suspense and watching the ACTUAL local returns rather than some "projected" guestimate that was in at 2:00PM. People actually voted up to the end here. If VNS died completely I'd be fine with it.
ISPs - Don't log anything that isn't 100% necessary, and then set it up so it autodeletes to protect your customers. Remember that your customers are your most valuable business asset, and third parties asking you to close and account are creating a retention problem. Can you afford a 1%-3% increase in attrition?
Record/Movie Biz - Stop the witch-hunt before public opinion turns on you. Copyright is an abridgement of free press and speech... What the people gave you, we have the power to take away... Find ways to lower costs and make getting new music easy... and for God's sake MARKET DECENT MUSIC and MOVIES. Most of the crap you've foisted on us is suitable only for MST3K or the soundtrack of a movie on MST3K... Come out with something NEW already (when the biggest movies of the year are based on an old novel and a comic book or are sequels, you aren't exactly pumping out the new ideas...)
Slashdot Mirror
That's what happens when you make so much music, then basically give it away to consumers over FM radio (or on TV) for 30 years... The entire broadcast business is based on this model:
Consumer: Mooches for free. Changes channels to avoid commercials.
Customer (advertiser): Pays broadcaster for commercials that consumers change channels to avoid.
Broadcaster: Pays for playing movies or music.
Labels & Studios: Churn out more crap that is simmilar to the crap that sold the most commercials for the broadcasters.
Exception: Theaters and live performances - customer pays outrageous price for tickets...
The problem with the internet is that it's the ultimate commercial skip.
Actually, features in software matter quite a bit. I'd hate to buy a billing system that didn't have the feature that lets it, say, print - if you wanted print invoices. Free software is fine. So is proprietary if it gets the job done. The situation I am lamenting is where companies use a "whatever works" attitude and end up with a morass of incompatible, non-integrated systems that don't work without egotistical, petty dictators making them work. And it happens all the time. Hodge-podge solutions are very expensive.
Amen to that. 99.9% of the problem with the movie and the music business is that their stuff just isn't worth what they charge. They've overproduced (there's more music and movies at the average wal-mart than I could listen to or watch in a lifetime), overhyped and finally overpriced their product. Result? People would rather go out of their way to copy than to buy JUST TO SPITE THEM!
How about ink jet cartridges? Ever wonder why a store like Staples has to put them behind the counter? Because their customers will take them because they aren't worth paying for (I personally refill, the penalty for refilling is an occasional ink-stain)!
I'm sick of the fscking razor blade business model. I'm tired of 80% marketing expense product cost. Now I will go wander back out in the desert from whence I came...
$G
I've already patented the application of the public relations process in Luxemborg under their somewhat unique patent laws to the novel idea of resisting intellectual property laws. Because of WIPO and several international agreements, Robin and the rest of IP Justice will have to pay royalties to engage in any of the following:
* Releasing a press release or bulletin.
* Announcing and holding a press conference that is seen by more that the person speaking.
* Hosting seminars and workshops for
* Posting a internet website that uses the HTTP (our patent was applied for in 1978) protocol.
Anyone who attempts to use these clearly new and novel ideas will need to fill out our "Anti IP Law Business Process Licensing Request" and submit it. The application fee of $10,171.17 is non-refundable, and we reserve the right to decline any application for any reason. Because we thought of it first! (sticks out toungue and raspberries the world)
IP laws are unjust to begin with. It's prima facia impossible to own and idea.
$G
Actually, Arial and Times New Roman are crap. Courier is meant to be crap.
$G
$G
We just don't know enough yet about cloning or stem cells, and I do believe the mad rush science is putting towards using human research subjects, or for that matter human tissue is premature. There is a great body of knowledge we need to gain over the lifespan of cloned organisms before we can dare assume that it's a good thing to do long term. We need to learn about:
* Cancer incidence
* Disease incidence long term
* Environmental factors
* Tissue differences between clone and clonee
* Long term effects of stem cell use
* Effects of genetic changes resulting from viral/environmental vectors.
* Growth
There's way too much that is unknown to go apply this stuff to people. All I see is a land rush and money grab by entrepinologists who are looking for quick patents and fast royalties. The good news: intellectual property laws will slow the pace of research to a snails pace and the real scientists out there will be quietly learning about how it all really works. I'll benefit from all this in my lifetime, but not in the next 25-30 years.
$G
Even if you fry the electronics at 300M out, that doesn't guarantee the missile will miss... A balistic weapon traveling at 4,600 MPH can't change direction much in 300M... for that matter, a cruise missle traveling at 560MPH can't turn much either. BTW - the millitary has had microwave weapons for some time... Since the '50s - I can't remember the name of the weapon system, but they used to have a device that used microwaves to explode artillery in the air. The shrapnel generated was a problem, but it was better than taking a direct hit...
$G
What kills me is the number of companies that don't realize how much less it costs and how nimble you can be to go this route. Of course, it's not cool, sexy nor require a big 5 consultant.
$G
Since you brought up the TCO model, let's follow this through. The logic is that MS is increasing TCO annually while providing little improved capabilities. This is 100% correct but isn't where the real TCO problem is. Microsoft's hitting us with 4%-5% per year in increase. The real problem is that in most enterprises you have over 22 business systems drawing resources and contributing to the sprial (they even sometimes require you implement more MS stuff):
* Desktop OSes
* Server OSes
* Messaging (mail servers)
* Databases
* Office Suites
* Web Servers
* Enterprise Network Management (Tivoli/Unicenter)
* Accounting (sometimes ERP usurps this)
* Order Entry
* Billing (it's amazing how few comapnies use their accounting systems for cutting invoices)
* eCommerce
* Content Management
* Inventory Management
* Manufacturing (MRP)
* Sales Force Automation (sometimes CRM)
* Helpdesk
* Customer Service Automation (sometimes CRM)
* Internet Browsers
* Groupware (outlook, groupwise or notes)
* Misc. Productivity Apps (project management, CAD, graphic design, etc)
It seems to me that the proliferation of business systems is really a core problem in ever-spiraling TCO. What really gets me is the ammount of patchwork integration out there. I think the root cause of the TCO spiral is that most managers missed the lecture about "Be very careful spending today's money to get ROI on past purchases!" It never ceases to amaze me how well protected lousy, non-integrated, buggy legacy systems are by the IT departments that foist them on the rest of the company.
I'd love to work with a company that wanted to shrink the number of systems from 22 to a more manageable number.
$G
This is unsurprising. It's extremely difficult to lobby municipal and county government. Here's why:
* Have to have money to contribute to local party.
* You have to play both sides, Republican and Democrat.
* Grass roots support is good.
Politicians exist to get reelected (not all, but most). If you don't have the cash or the grass roots support, you are going to get the result the Segway people got: shut out of the market. The politicians know that eventually Segway will have to grease the wheels. It's easier and cheaper to hit the Federal Government because you only have to deal with one set of politicians.
NeXT had a great idea with display postscript... I still have yet to see anything really come close when it came to desktop publishing. I'd think for a more modern system though that 3d would be more the way to go...
Sheesh... Get over the semantics a little bit. X has always had some speed issues when running graphically intense apps over the network (and most all modern, skinned apps are somewhat intense). For most applications that require a high end cpu, the Xterminal is a point of delay - that's why most workstations have mondo graphics accelerators on board. On the flip side, I like the results with X much better than Citrix because it's easy to run multiple apps from multiple X clients (or application servers) on one Xserver (Xterminal).
I think X's big problem is the ridiculous, fixation with getting what machine is the client and the server technicall correct. It's really fun to try to explain to an executive that the super-lightweight $500 box on his desk is an X-Server and that the box he laid out $50,000 for is an X-client. They talk like Scooby-Doo when you explain it to them:
me: This is actually the server.
Exec: Arrrrruuu?
me: it connects to the client in the server rack in the noc.
Exec: hhhhhhmmmmmm?
me: the application in this window is actually running on a client in texas.
Exec: So where's the server again?
You can throw Corel Draw 11 and CorelRave in there, too.
As time goes on, the web is becoming less of a hypertext document repository and more of an interactive page definition language document repository. SWF, SVF and all just make more so that way. One of the original ideas I like about the web is that I could control the look and feel of the pages I browse.
This will be broken, too. Ultimately, you have to create an audio signal or an accurate binary (in the case of CDROM)
Copy protection is lame and a waste of time.
$G
I think the music industry is becoming irrelevent. They have massively overproduced and they are about to pay the supply/demand price for it. There's more music available at the local mall store than I have time to listen to in my lifetime - and thats just what's in stock on CD and cassette.
I'd much rather see a live performance than pay for a recording anyway. I'd also like to actually be able to know the performer instead of being one of a zillion nameless fans. That's why as I grow older, I like trendy less, and whatever I can see in person at a local bar or small venue much better.
Music sharing and so on isn't the enemy -- for centuries, sharing is the way music perpetuated -- from one performer to the next to the next... I find it ironic that the music industry blames the fuel for creativity for it's decline...
This battle needs to be fought in congress, not in the courts. 7-2 isn't going to change to 4-5 any time soon. Let's start a PAC and start changing some votes already...
$G
One of the most exciting prospects for open source computing is the fact that OSes can be ported to new archetectures relatively quickly. As Microsoft's dominence starts to slide (and there is only anecdotal evidence this is happening) it will become easier for non x86 compatible uPs to make it in the marketplace. The lack of competitive silicone to x86 has been one of the factors slowing the pace of innovation in the last three or four years.
It never ceases to amaze me how easily technology organizations shoot themselves in the foot. Let's punish the developer community making our standards-based hardware more valuable!
That also begs a question - does trademark allow you to prevent use of a word totally or just for marketing purposes. I seem to remember from school that suing someone claiming their product was "a PCI card" that wasn't licensed to do so is one thing, but saying "this card works in PCI bus systems" is quite another... and not actionalble.
Since companies are wasting R&D cash on features we don't want, this will create an opportunity for someone who DOES MAKE what we want. Over time the cost of support of this feature will also direct R&D investment away from core features, leaving the door open for competitors to develop better solutions. I say let them waste money on irrelevent features. Besides, I have yet to see something that can't be cracked yet (safes, OSes, encryption, diamond-tough materials, etc...).
$G
If RIAA wants to own my machine, they better pay for it.
$G
I thought that Gnutella and all were for sharing and distributing files of any kind... Not for copyright infringement.
I actually liked having a little suspense and watching the ACTUAL local returns rather than some "projected" guestimate that was in at 2:00PM. People actually voted up to the end here. If VNS died completely I'd be fine with it.
ISPs - Don't log anything that isn't 100% necessary, and then set it up so it autodeletes to protect your customers. Remember that your customers are your most valuable business asset, and third parties asking you to close and account are creating a retention problem. Can you afford a 1%-3% increase in attrition?
Record/Movie Biz - Stop the witch-hunt before public opinion turns on you. Copyright is an abridgement of free press and speech... What the people gave you, we have the power to take away... Find ways to lower costs and make getting new music easy... and for God's sake MARKET DECENT MUSIC and MOVIES. Most of the crap you've foisted on us is suitable only for MST3K or the soundtrack of a movie on MST3K... Come out with something NEW already (when the biggest movies of the year are based on an old novel and a comic book or are sequels, you aren't exactly pumping out the new ideas...)