Luck always has some thing to do with it, or at leaste timing..
But Google has what I call last mover advantage. The had all the lessons from Yahoo, InfoSeek, Lycos, Ask!, etc.
Microsoft DOS was really a first mover type of thing.. but MS-Word was last mover, as is ZUNE, and the XBox... but an advantage is only that, never a promise of success.
We all know technology can be distruptive and working on the bleeding edge only makes it more so.. a pile of cash can let you make mistakes and recover, but in the end, every company is at risk of losing people, marketshare, coolness, etc.
I think we just have to acknowldge at that price its more of a middle class thing..
I reject the notion that the $$ are better spent fighting other things. Laptops, cell phone, etc. are good..
I think cell phones are better adopted because they provide more immediate value, there is a market and support system for them, they give you status, (i've seen people in the US carrying them without a network; e.g., they bought the phone but not the service.. just as a status item. I've heard this happens even more outside the US.)
I have a long held belief that $100 is way to expensive.. for the mass people on this water ball of a planet.. How much of that $100 goes towards royality payments for patent and rights holders? How much does it cost to repair the thing? Did they get any software upgrades since buying it?
My idea target of $25 is still expensive... but that would reach more people...
We need to acknowledge with the present state of technology at least 3 billion of our fellow humans are net Exiles..
Pricing: A PC must be equal or less in cost of 1 to 2 weeks of annual family income for a family to afford it..
Countries like China, India and other could do much, by establishing standards for royality free system (e.g., Linux, open hardware much like the Dragon chip but it could be any chip w/ a low cost and open specs).
China, India and others: A) Set the Spec B) Agree to buy X number per year for some #'s of years
This would create a market for machines with these specs and the annual purchase would drive economies of Scale.. and with that many units out there, it build up and at the same time lower the cost of SUPPORT, Repair, etc.
It's not enough to have open source software, you need open spec hardware.
Random Speculation: What happens to chip fabs built with older 100 nano meter+ systems (just a guess), but when Intell or AMD has used up the value of a FAB, it should be shipped off to India and used to crank out lots of cheap, royality free chips...
But they were at launch, all tied into their Memory Stick products...
To expensive for my tastes. I can think of 3-4 products I didn't buy from Sony because I didn't want to be locked into the Memory Stick. I think it's the thinking behind the marketing of the Memory Stick that has lead to their decline.
Granted it's hard as a World Leader; if you build new products in a open standard everyone is going to rush in and build to the same standard and you'll create a huge market with lowering margins.
Clearly it's better to milk the Betamax and Memory Sticks markets as your cash cows;)
Against EULAs #1 in some locations agreements that must be accepted 100% as is, have been thrown out.
For EULAs #2 Unlike this code of conduct there is a real Quid Pro Quo; you can't install the software unless you click, so it's not mindless in the meta sense.
Against Eula #3 Once you begin the installation process your clicking on all kinds of things and at that point clicking on the EULA agreement is rather mindless.
it might at first seem a bit strange to put the fate of some software ahead of the fate of a women, but this is a technical forum. People who might be planning to use the next Rev or use the current Rev. of the software might need to rethink that, and maybe some other group will pick up the pieces.
At least for me it seems perfectly natural to discuss the technical aspects of an issue in this forum, even when the human life/death aspect of the story is more univeral and appropriate as a topic for any other random 'chat board.'
They didn't do away with the late fee, they just figured out it's better for you and them (mostly them) to get a regular monthly fee out of you. There is a finate # of discs you can rent (if youw watched them as fast as you can).
In many ways its better for them if you get three disc from them and never send them back. They buy 3 new ones and you keep paying and paying for them...
I would agree. I would imagine that the software contest is likely wise trying to create a popular program but not a killer app (Elvis is a Killer App, if you will...)
* Killer Apps (never many of these... and over time they lose their "killing" edge spreadsheets, email, etc.) * Industry Specific Apps (software for your type of job) * General Productivity (word processing, calendar, etc.)
It seems to me that while it's possible that such a contest will produce a new Killer App, it's not likely.. But then what were the odds that American Idol would really produce someone on the Idol level (Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc.).
If it can make a Killer App "on demand" it would be an amazing way to design software..
It should be able to create an Industry specific App but those have limited appeal.
It's easy to create General Productivity Apps but all the good ones have been done and if it doesn't become a Killer, it's usually something of a dude.
What American Idol has done is A) make someone(s) very famous and B) vets them enough that they are worthy of some fame. Thus C) giving the winners a real career as singers/entertainers.
Does anyone have any hard data on how successful the Am Idol stars are (are they selling lots of albums or whatever they sell these days)?
The software contest should do something similar A) get the word out on some new Apps and B) once its' down to a few of them, should put some legs on the sales effort. Also C) should make it easy to have a large "Beta" release.
But are we talking about something like a small utility application to compress digital pictures or a major level application like Microsoft Office...
In other words what is the gestation process? Is this a 3 month project or a 2 year project? and how long will the audience wait for "the paint to dry." At the end of Am Idol the "Idol" is ready for prime time (literally). Software that hits the shelf is likewise (modulo a few bugs) also ready to go. Will the "public" lose attention given the very long time it typically takes to build/test a major application?
Re:Unfounded Criticism
on
iPods at War
·
· Score: 1
Let's not forget that by monitoring cell sites it's possible to detect Stealth Aircraft; at least there are "claims" that you can.
Re:Unfounded Criticism
on
iPods at War
·
· Score: 1
#1 the article talks about "all war" as much as "this war.."
#2 During the "active part" of the Iraq War, many Russian sites had detailed reports claiming SigInt, and other intellgence about the battle. I think we can assume that Russia, China and others are watching..
#3 Yes, much of the battle is low tech, but that doesn't mean that some of them are not using technology as high tech as it can get. In fact I think they have prove that they will use every bit of technology that they can muster.
Re:Unfounded Criticism
on
iPods at War
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
My only concern would be what type of Signal Intelligence an opponent would be able to get from Electro Magnetic "leaks."
* Get an idea of the size of a group/troop by the # of iPod detected * Reading what people are typing, etc. into their laptops..
Without any judgement on the merits of either side of this case...
If this was really a stolen property then the people who bought it don't have a lot of rights to it (it was stolen). On the other hand, they have a really good lawsuit against the company that sold them the stolen property.
Something changed the environment and the DINO's left the scene..
We changed the ocean, beyond the ability to adapt, of large animals with often long cycles between generations...
Small life with rapid breeding cycles can adapt much faster, etc... so it's not surprising that they are thriving in a eco system increasingly devoid of some the larger predators..
But I see it as more of the ebb and flow of evolution then it working "forward" and in "reverse." That's a rather false dichotomy. Evolution just works.. those unfit, large or small or mid sized for that matter fall away by the "roadside." Those that can adapt and survive do...
There are those days when you put the cloths into the washer and you don't go back for a day or two, or you doing in the AM and then you rush out to work and don't try until the evening...
BUT when you in a rush and you want to do the full wash/dry cycle and you don't want to sit in front of the machines in basement or "laundry center" of your abode.. getting a page (SMS TXT) to your cell phone that the wash cycle is done would be handy.. I wouldn't pay a lot extra for it but if I had it I would use it.. and I would look for/seek that feature in machines I was buying..
Now if you have a modern dryer that can detect moister and it's nearing the end of the dry cycle getting a Txt that tells you that the cloths aren't done (yet) and giving you the option to remotely add on more time to the dry cycle would be neat, but I'd probally put the dryer on auto mode and let it decide on it's own to add more time (in which case I would LOVE a txt saying (your 40 mins. of drying is now taking 55 mins)..
I'd also love a txt reminding me that the cloths have been done for 3 hours and I might want to take them out before I get yelled at...
Please don't confuse Suspension which has been tested for many years at "high temps" e.g., cold but frozen with the COMBINATION of Suspension + Freezing which of course if it could work would work for a long time period.
The problem is really cold makes water into crystals which destroy cells and makes the corpsical very brittle.. Esp. true if they are using liquid nitrog. which is very very cold..
Given the looming and present issue of outsourcing jobs, i'm not sure why someone would go into this field.
Of course not every job can get out sourced but well 0% of plumbing jobs will get out sourced.
Then there is the issue with all engineering related fields that firms are very eager to hire recent grads but senior people in their 40's 50's and older are often both too expensive and not as current with recent technology; meaning they can find that after working for 20 years they don't have a job.
Slashdot Mirror
Any "trade secret" could be opened sourced.. from a business rule to some secret formula...
Not only what's in Coca cola?
But, How to make it. (how much of x and y, and how to make a batch)
How to build the machines that make it. (how to build a bottling line, etc.)
The business logic for how to market and sell it.
If they hedge their raw products through purchases on the open market, the math behind how they buy and sell the options, etc.
I could go on and on..
Luck always has some thing to do with it, or at leaste timing..
But Google has what I call last mover advantage. The had all the lessons from Yahoo, InfoSeek, Lycos, Ask!, etc.
Microsoft DOS was really a first mover type of thing.. but MS-Word was last mover, as is ZUNE, and the XBox... but an advantage is only that, never a promise of success.
We all know technology can be distruptive and working on the bleeding edge only makes it more so.. a pile of cash can let you make mistakes and recover, but in the end, every company is at risk of losing people, marketshare, coolness, etc.
How many times has MS been guilty of patent infringing?
Great point. Worth noting that was how Telephones were first concepted. That small towns would have one or two..
I think we just have to acknowldge at that price its more of a middle class thing..
I reject the notion that the $$ are better spent fighting other things. Laptops, cell phone, etc. are good..
I think cell phones are better adopted because they provide more immediate value, there is a market and support system for them, they give you status, (i've seen people in the US carrying them without a network; e.g., they bought the phone but not the service.. just as a status item. I've heard this happens even more outside the US.)
I have a long held belief that $100 is way to expensive.. for the mass people on this water ball of a planet.. How much of that $100 goes towards royality payments for patent and rights holders? How much does it cost to repair the thing? Did they get any software upgrades since buying it?
My idea target of $25 is still expensive... but that would reach more people...
We need to acknowledge with the present state of technology at least 3 billion of our fellow humans are net Exiles..
Pricing:
A PC must be equal or less in cost of 1 to 2 weeks of annual family income for a family to afford it..
Countries like China, India and other could do much, by establishing standards for royality free system (e.g., Linux, open hardware much like the Dragon chip but it could be any chip w/ a low cost and open specs).
China, India and others:
A) Set the Spec
B) Agree to buy X number per year for some #'s of years
This would create a market for machines with these specs and the annual purchase would drive economies of Scale.. and with that many units out there, it build up and at the same time lower the cost of SUPPORT, Repair, etc.
It's not enough to have open source software, you need open spec hardware.
Random Speculation:
What happens to chip fabs built with older 100 nano meter+ systems (just a guess), but when Intell or AMD has used up the value of a FAB, it should be shipped off to India and used to crank out lots of cheap, royality free chips...
They had or have a digital walkman..
;)
But they were at launch, all tied into their Memory Stick products...
To expensive for my tastes. I can think of 3-4 products I didn't buy from Sony because I didn't want to be locked into the Memory Stick. I think it's the thinking behind the marketing of the Memory Stick that has lead to their decline.
Granted it's hard as a World Leader; if you build new products in a open standard everyone is going to rush in and build to the same standard and you'll create a huge market with lowering margins.
Clearly it's better to milk the Betamax and Memory Sticks markets as your cash cows
Against EULAs
#1 in some locations agreements that must be accepted 100% as is, have been thrown out.
For EULAs
#2 Unlike this code of conduct there is a real Quid Pro Quo; you can't install the software unless you click, so it's not mindless in the meta sense.
Against Eula
#3 Once you begin the installation process your clicking on all kinds of things and at that point clicking on the EULA agreement is rather mindless.
The article states that Apple Enginners and Microsoft Markets.
The authors understanding of what marketing is, is wrong. I think it would have been more correct to say that Microsoft Sells.
The classical defination of marketing is to find out what a customer needs and then produce that for them.
it might at first seem a bit strange to put the fate of some software ahead of the fate of a women, but this is a technical forum. People who might be planning to use the next Rev or use the current Rev. of the software might need to rethink that, and maybe some other group will pick up the pieces.
At least for me it seems perfectly natural to discuss the technical aspects of an issue in this forum, even when the human life/death aspect of the story is more univeral and appropriate as a topic for any other random 'chat board.'
They didn't do away with the late fee, they just figured out it's better for you and them (mostly them) to get a regular monthly fee out of you. There is a finate # of discs you can rent (if youw watched them as fast as you can).
In many ways its better for them if you get three disc from them and never send them back. They buy 3 new ones and you keep paying and paying for them...
I would agree. I would imagine that the software contest is likely wise trying to create a popular program but not a killer app (Elvis is a Killer App, if you will...)
There are;
* Killer Apps (never many of these... and over time they lose their "killing" edge spreadsheets, email, etc.)
* Industry Specific Apps (software for your type of job)
* General Productivity (word processing, calendar, etc.)
It seems to me that while it's possible that such a contest will produce a new Killer App, it's not likely.. But then what were the odds that American Idol would really produce someone on the Idol level (Elvis, Johnny Cash, etc.).
If it can make a Killer App "on demand" it would be an amazing way to design software..
It should be able to create an Industry specific App but those have limited appeal.
It's easy to create General Productivity Apps but all the good ones have been done and if it doesn't become a Killer, it's usually something of a dude.
What American Idol has done is A) make someone(s) very famous and B) vets them enough that they are worthy of some fame. Thus C) giving the winners a real career as singers/entertainers.
Does anyone have any hard data on how successful the Am Idol stars are (are they selling lots of albums or whatever they sell these days)?
The software contest should do something similar A) get the word out on some new Apps and B) once its' down to a few of them, should put some legs on the sales effort. Also C) should make it easy to have a large "Beta" release.
But are we talking about something like a small utility application to compress digital pictures or a major level application like Microsoft Office...
In other words what is the gestation process? Is this a 3 month project or a 2 year project? and how long will the audience wait for "the paint to dry." At the end of Am Idol the "Idol" is ready for prime time (literally). Software that hits the shelf is likewise (modulo a few bugs) also ready to go. Will the "public" lose attention given the very long time it typically takes to build/test a major application?
Let's not forget that by monitoring cell sites it's possible to detect Stealth Aircraft; at least there are "claims" that you can.
/ 06/077220
Link 1 -- http://209.157.64.201/
Link 2 -- http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/
Along with other things..
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05
#1 the article talks about "all war" as much as "this war.."
#2 During the "active part" of the Iraq War, many Russian sites had detailed reports claiming SigInt, and other intellgence about the battle. I think we can assume that Russia, China and others are watching..
#3 Yes, much of the battle is low tech, but that doesn't mean that some of them are not using technology as high tech as it can get. In fact I think they have prove that they will use every bit of technology that they can muster.
My only concern would be what type of Signal Intelligence an opponent would be able to get from Electro Magnetic "leaks."
* Get an idea of the size of a group/troop by the # of iPod detected
* Reading what people are typing, etc. into their laptops..
Without any judgement on the merits of either side of this case...
If this was really a stolen property then the people who bought it don't have a lot of rights to it (it was stolen). On the other hand, they have a really good lawsuit against the company that sold them the stolen property.
Something changed the environment and the DINO's left the scene..
We changed the ocean, beyond the ability to adapt, of large animals with often long cycles between generations...
Small life with rapid breeding cycles can adapt much faster, etc... so it's not surprising that they
are thriving in a eco system increasingly devoid of some the larger predators..
But I see it as more of the ebb and flow of evolution then it working "forward" and in "reverse." That's
a rather false dichotomy. Evolution just works.. those unfit, large or small or mid sized for that matter fall away by the "roadside." Those that can adapt and survive do...
There are those days when you put the cloths into the washer and you don't go back for a day or two, or you doing in the AM and then you rush out to work and don't try until the evening...
BUT when you in a rush and you want to do the full wash/dry cycle and you don't want to sit in front of the machines in basement or "laundry center" of your abode.. getting a page (SMS TXT) to your cell phone that the wash cycle is done would be handy.. I wouldn't pay a lot extra for it but if I had it I would use it.. and I would look for/seek that feature in machines I was buying..
Now if you have a modern dryer that can detect moister and it's nearing the end of the dry cycle getting a Txt that tells you that the cloths aren't done (yet) and giving you the option to remotely add on more time to the dry cycle would be neat, but I'd probally put the dryer on auto mode and let it decide on it's own to add more time (in which case I would LOVE a txt saying (your 40 mins. of drying is now taking 55 mins)..
I'd also love a txt reminding me that the cloths have been done for 3 hours and I might want to take them out before I get yelled at...
Please don't confuse Suspension which has been tested for many years at "high temps" e.g., cold but frozen with the COMBINATION of Suspension + Freezing which of course if it could work would work for a long time period.
The problem is really cold makes water into crystals which destroy cells and makes the corpsical very brittle.. Esp. true if they are using liquid nitrog. which is very very cold..
It has nothing to do with 1st ad.
If it was illegal, which is prob is, then they are in the clear, completely, just look at the Pentagon Papers case...
But if it was legal then it's treason..
IF (big if) it wasn't illegal, then the NY Times needs a slap from the courts that is big enough to put them out of business.
until some program didn't work and they turned off all of their protection.. :(
Sure there are pumbling and electrical jobs done by non licensed people. Not all of those not licensed are illegally migrating..
There are many legal trades people who are licenses who are not members of unions.
Given the looming and present issue of outsourcing jobs, i'm not sure why someone would go into this field.
Of course not every job can get out sourced but well 0% of plumbing jobs will get out sourced.
Then there is the issue with all engineering related fields that firms are very eager to hire recent grads but senior people in their 40's 50's and older are often both too expensive and not as current with recent technology; meaning they can find that after working for 20 years they don't have a job.