My use of the phrase "they are convicted monopolists" was meant as a phrase saying "they have been established as a company that is a monopoly in a court of law".
There is nothing wrong with a company having a Monopoly, there is however a certain set of rules that companies which have been established to be a monopoly must abide by.
I wasn't trying to imply anything wrong with them being a monopoly, but rather with the fact that since they are an established monopoly, they have to play by certain rules, which they may be flaunting (or being viewed as flaunting).
Also, if they were trying to hurt Apple for the benefit of their Desktop OS, for which they are convicted monopolists, that might be a bit troubling to the DoJ (assuming it grows a pair), as well as their EU equivalent agencies.
Wow, thank you thank you. I can't believe I'm up here. To be even nominated in this category along with such greats as HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli was honor enough. I need to thank so many people. First the programmers, without you none of this could have happened. My project managers brozow, dhustace, and tarus, you've been so great. How can I forget sourceforge for hosting out project?...
.. Line noise starts to increase...
... No, wait, this has to be said! Wow, we've worked so hard on this for so long, to finally be recognized is so wonderful. I can't forget my parents, thanks mom and dad. And Richard Stallman, without you, none of this open-source stuff would have taken off thanks.
... Line noise increases in frequency...
... It's been so hard, but I think you really like me, you really do like...
Interesting. The second translation is a relatively accurate translation (I referenced the on-line linear translation at http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0107.htm to compare the original hebrew (and their translation), to the second one you referenced.
You're right about the idea that the flood is described as "And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered." (Genesis 7:19)
I will add however that the previous poster is also right that the word used in the original hebrew to describe what is covered is Eretz, which is usually translated as "Land" (for instance "Eretz Yisroel" i.e. "the Land of Israel). The verse COULD be interpreted as referring to the land, literally the ground/earth, I could see the extension to translating that as "the Earth" (capital "E"), however the idea of it being tied to a relatively localized event does not seem in contradiction to the original text.
Well it looks like we know what happens in the event we...
[last lines] George Taylor: Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it. [screaming] George Taylor: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!
Any early adopter to any platform of anything has got to realize that there will be later, greater versions that come out, for even less money. You buy the console now, because you want it now. Not because they promise to stop innovating for your specified amount of time.
Yes... but traditionally console early adopters have had to deal with possible bugs in the hardware (early 360s bricking for instance), not early obsolescence of the hardware (which has traditionally lasted about 5 years... ~7-10 if you look at the PS line).
A good plan, though, would take into account reasonable contingencies, I think
From Murphy's Rules of Combat: No Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy
MS releasing early is certainly something they might have predicted. I mean, why WOULDN'T a console maker abandon their early adopters at the earliest opportunity, and stop making a console just at the point they actually might start making money on it? I think without MS's deep pockets the XBox would have had a longer longevity (or perhaps without MS's fixation on letting the user base act as their Beta testers... "here's the XBox.v0.1", "found bugs? Okay, we've fixed those, and now have the XBox.v3.60 out for you to purchase. It'll fix those nasty bugs, and everyone knows that by version 3 of any MS product, we've worked out all the kinks!"
As far as predicting Nintendo's controller? I think the whole reason they have garnered so much attention is that it was something very unexpected by a lot of people. By its very definition, something unexpected is difficult to predict, let alone plan for.
I know, the 50 year old men with disposable income are obviously not going to matter in a new expensive format when every 18 year old you know who works at McDonalds loves the PS3.
The fact is that anyone who is not a gamer will not consider the PS3 as a movie player
Possibly, but remember that at this point at least, HD video is still very much in the "early adopter" phase (at best its "early-ish adopters"). The people spending the money are usually doing a fair bit of comparison shopping, checking on-line reviews and what-not. People are not usually just walking in to Best Buy and getting what they want, and when you ask a BB employee for help, are they likely to point you to a stand-alone player, or a PS3 + Blu-Ray remote? (especially if they have them sitting around, and price matters?)
Also, have you seen the PS3? It looks as much like a piece of stylized AV equipment as it does a game system.
Gears is the first game I've ever had absolutely no doubt that the reviews were outright paid for. It is funny to think how bad the reviews for Gears would have been like if H3 had shipped at the same time and Microsoft just let the game get reviewed on its own merits - or lack of.
Of course, if H3 had shipped at the same time, MS would have felt they had something to counter the PS3 launch.
Or perhaps MS knew that GoW was missing features, but felt the need to rush it out, instead of rushing out H3, since a buggy/embarrassing H3 is something they can't afford to let happen, while a buggy/embarrassing GoW they obviously can.
On 9/11 I was unable to get through to check on them due to the phone circuits being jammed.
Actually it wasn't just that circuits were jammed. Verizon also had one of their main switching facilities across the street from the WTC. At the very least, the Antenna boom from one of the towers skewered the building (causing damage on the way), and then the collapse of the towers caused more damage (open environmental conditions, cables, etc.
Living in manhattan I could only get local (in city) service from my land-line (Verizon). In contrast, I could only get long distance (out of city) service from my cell phone (T-Mobile). Cable modem kept chugging just fine (TWC).
Its always good to have redundant connections in case of "issues".:D
I'm fairly certain that HD DVD is an integral part of the standalone HD DVD players that sell for less than the cost of a PS3 and less than half the price of a standalone Blu-ray player...
Yes, but right now, more people will buy a PS3 for gaming than will buy a standalone player for HD media.
Once they already have the PS3, they are much more likely to buy a Blu-Ray disk since they only see the cost of the media as the price, instead of the player also (as opposed to the standalone player).
It is a parents responsibility to control their children's access to certain content and (In my opinion) Gamestop is just acknowledging that fact...
It's imperfect (much like beer) a child can ask an adult to buy their "mature" games for them, but for the most part if a child wants a "mature" game their parent will have to buy it for them; thus a parent will have control on the content their children have access to.
I like the Beer analogy, but there are several laws that make giving beer to minors illegal actions (despite what anyone might do in their own homes).
A better analogy might be to the MPAA ratings that the game ratings were designed to mirror. You're not supposed to let unaccompanied minors into R rated movies. On the other hand, I watched a 5 year old sitting through the latest James Bond movie (Rated PG-13), next to her parents. It was their choice, and they made it. They can't come back and complain to the Movie Theater, or the Studio that the movie they took their daughter to was inappropriate and they didn't know.
Its good to know that stores are going on record as enforcing this sort of policy, it only makes the whole industry look better, and helps remind people that Video Games have grown up, and not all of them are designed with kids in mind anymore (something a lot of people keep forgetting).
Just because you have arbitrarily assigned some value to the OS does not mean that your dollars are actually paying for a separable part of the product that you don't want. See the difference?
I don't diagree with most of your argument (and I have no problem with paying for OS X bundled with the hardware), but keep in mind that the value of OS X has actually been set by Apple, in the form of the price they charge for you to buy an "Upgrade" copy to upgrade hardware running a previous version (or re-install current hardware if you lost the DVD that came with your computer).
That actually is an interesting point BTW. While not onerous in terms of tying the OS to a license key, the DVD that ships with the hardware is tied to a particular set of hardware. If you want to upgrade a different set of hardware to that OS X release, you need to buy the upgrade CD.
He makes the claim that 'security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.'
I can see that MS is copying Apple again... this time they're stealing Steve Jobs's reality warping field and trying to adapt it for Bill Gates.
Actually... the best "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" books I've read recenetly is the Council Wars series by John Ringo.
Any series whose first book ("There Will Be Dragons") starts with a future earth where teleportation, nanotech, true A.I., and personal force fields exist, and ends with the fall of civilization, orcs, and the forshadowing of dark elves is rather neat in my book.:)
What exactly is the advantage of Oracle over SQL Server?
Primarily, I would imagine that the advantage is that you don't have to run your DB on Windows, which has not had such a "rock solid" reputation in the past (compared to the Unix derivatives).
Even better. They could invite him to interview for a position. The interview will take place in space. The cost for him will be picked up as part of the interview process. Likewise the cost for the interviewer. The position could be "Spokesperson for Oracle Space Travel Promotional contest". They could film some test footage, see how he interviews, and see if he's interested.
If it works out, great, they'll have to do some promotions, he goes home. If not, he goes home.
Slashdot Mirror
My use of the phrase "they are convicted monopolists" was meant as a phrase saying "they have been established as a company that is a monopoly in a court of law".
There is nothing wrong with a company having a Monopoly, there is however a certain set of rules that companies which have been established to be a monopoly must abide by.
I wasn't trying to imply anything wrong with them being a monopoly, but rather with the fact that since they are an established monopoly, they have to play by certain rules, which they may be flaunting (or being viewed as flaunting).
Also, if they were trying to hurt Apple for the benefit of their Desktop OS, for which they are convicted monopolists, that might be a bit troubling to the DoJ (assuming it grows a pair), as well as their EU equivalent agencies.
You mean:
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...
...
Wow, thank you thank you. I can't believe I'm up here. To be even nominated in this category along with such greats as HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli was honor enough. I need to thank so many people. First the programmers, without you none of this could have happened. My project managers brozow, dhustace, and tarus, you've been so great. How can I forget sourceforge for hosting out project?
.. Line noise starts to increase
... No, wait, this has to be said! Wow, we've worked so hard on this for so long, to finally be recognized is so wonderful. I can't forget my parents, thanks mom and dad. And Richard Stallman, without you, none of this open-source stuff would have taken off thanks.
... Line noise increases in frequency
... It's been so hard, but I think you really like me, you really do like
... NO CARRIER
Judging by the naming conventions that most companies who embrace Open Source use, I would sooner expect "Open Solaris" than "Free Solaris"
(see: Open Office, Open SuSe, et al.)
Interesting. The second translation is a relatively accurate translation (I referenced the on-line linear translation at http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0107.htm to compare the original hebrew (and their translation), to the second one you referenced.
You're right about the idea that the flood is described as "And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered." (Genesis 7:19)
I will add however that the previous poster is also right that the word used in the original hebrew to describe what is covered is Eretz, which is usually translated as "Land" (for instance "Eretz Yisroel" i.e. "the Land of Israel). The verse COULD be interpreted as referring to the land, literally the ground/earth, I could see the extension to translating that as "the Earth" (capital "E"), however the idea of it being tied to a relatively localized event does not seem in contradiction to the original text.
You're absolutely right. The Wii doesn't become obsolete until games come out that require a feature it doesn't have.
Kinda like how the XBox360 Core (sans hard-drive) isn't obsolete until most games that come out require a Hard-Drive.
Yes
From Murphy's Rules of Combat: No Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy
MS releasing early is certainly something they might have predicted. I mean, why WOULDN'T a console maker abandon their early adopters at the earliest opportunity, and stop making a console just at the point they actually might start making money on it? I think without MS's deep pockets the XBox would have had a longer longevity (or perhaps without MS's fixation on letting the user base act as their Beta testers
As far as predicting Nintendo's controller? I think the whole reason they have garnered so much attention is that it was something very unexpected by a lot of people. By its very definition, something unexpected is difficult to predict, let alone plan for.
Possibly, but remember that at this point at least, HD video is still very much in the "early adopter" phase (at best its "early-ish adopters"). The people spending the money are usually doing a fair bit of comparison shopping, checking on-line reviews and what-not. People are not usually just walking in to Best Buy and getting what they want, and when you ask a BB employee for help, are they likely to point you to a stand-alone player, or a PS3 + Blu-Ray remote? (especially if they have them sitting around, and price matters?)
Also, have you seen the PS3? It looks as much like a piece of stylized AV equipment as it does a game system.
Nah. Its cheaper for MS to pay for really good reviews than to actually compete (see Vista vs. OSX
Of course, if H3 had shipped at the same time, MS would have felt they had something to counter the PS3 launch.
Or perhaps MS knew that GoW was missing features, but felt the need to rush it out, instead of rushing out H3, since a buggy/embarrassing H3 is something they can't afford to let happen, while a buggy/embarrassing GoW they obviously can.
Actually it wasn't just that circuits were jammed. Verizon also had one of their main switching facilities across the street from the WTC. At the very least, the Antenna boom from one of the towers skewered the building (causing damage on the way), and then the collapse of the towers caused more damage (open environmental conditions, cables, etc.
Living in manhattan I could only get local (in city) service from my land-line (Verizon).
In contrast, I could only get long distance (out of city) service from my cell phone (T-Mobile).
Cable modem kept chugging just fine (TWC).
Its always good to have redundant connections in case of "issues".
Yes, but right now, more people will buy a PS3 for gaming than will buy a standalone player for HD media.
Once they already have the PS3, they are much more likely to buy a Blu-Ray disk since they only see the cost of the media as the price, instead of the player also (as opposed to the standalone player).
All PS3s that were part of the initial "launch" (what was it, 200-600K depending on who you believe?), included a bundled in copy of Talladega Nights.
Considering those PS3s sold in November, and no other PS3 included a Blu-Ray movie, I don't think it affects the December or January numbers much.
I like the Beer analogy, but there are several laws that make giving beer to minors illegal actions (despite what anyone might do in their own homes).
A better analogy might be to the MPAA ratings that the game ratings were designed to mirror.
You're not supposed to let unaccompanied minors into R rated movies. On the other hand, I watched a 5 year old sitting through the latest James Bond movie (Rated PG-13), next to her parents. It was their choice, and they made it. They can't come back and complain to the Movie Theater, or the Studio that the movie they took their daughter to was inappropriate and they didn't know.
Its good to know that stores are going on record as enforcing this sort of policy, it only makes the whole industry look better, and helps remind people that Video Games have grown up, and not all of them are designed with kids in mind anymore (something a lot of people keep forgetting).
I don't diagree with most of your argument (and I have no problem with paying for OS X bundled with the hardware), but keep in mind that the value of OS X has actually been set by Apple, in the form of the price they charge for you to buy an "Upgrade" copy to upgrade hardware running a previous version (or re-install current hardware if you lost the DVD that came with your computer).
That actually is an interesting point BTW. While not onerous in terms of tying the OS to a license key, the DVD that ships with the hardware is tied to a particular set of hardware. If you want to upgrade a different set of hardware to that OS X release, you need to buy the upgrade CD.
Really? What a coincidence I was just reading it on my PS3 and it saved me rushing out and buying a PC! :)
Actually ... the best "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" books I've read recenetly is the Council Wars series by John Ringo.
:)
Any series whose first book ("There Will Be Dragons") starts with a future earth where teleportation, nanotech, true A.I., and personal force fields exist, and ends with the fall of civilization, orcs, and the forshadowing of dark elves is rather neat in my book.
Ah ... that should be the first thing the voice instruction should patch :)
Even better. They could invite him to interview for a position. The interview will take place in space. The cost for him will be picked up as part of the interview process. Likewise the cost for the interviewer. The position could be "Spokesperson for Oracle Space Travel Promotional contest". They could film some test footage, see how he interviews, and see if he's interested.
If it works out, great, they'll have to do some promotions, he goes home. If not, he goes home.