Goddammit. That's got my interest up. Where the fuck can you learn Old Occitan these days? I found "An Introduction to Old Occitan" on amazon, but the reviews seem mixed.
I know you were just joking here, but keep in mind that the same question arose when the US automakers began shipping US jobs wholesale to Mexico. The automakers stated that the savings to the company would be substantial. Unfortunately, just because it costs less to make does not in any way put the company in any sort of obligation to lower prices. Nike's that cost $200 at the Foot Locker generally only cost $5 at the most in materials, labor, warehousing etc using cheap labor in SE Asia. Where's the savings going? Into the company's coffers.:: sigh::
A rash of incarcerations will deter many people from distributing copyright-enforced works. I would hope that the remainder of the "intelligent" filesharers will begin to seriously look at alternative software that's not inhibited by messy licensing and what not. For the OSS world, this could be a blessing in disguise. Drive me right into "our" arms, eh?
I don't think a single musician or filmmaker would feel comfortable if someone did hard-time downloading an MP3, especially if it were a college-aged kid (a very influential market). Metallica excluded, of course. I know that my music will be distributed on the internet through KazAa and sharing to be actively encourage, I can only hope bands with actual talent will do the same.
What's the saying, the tighter you squeeze...?
I say let them bust some kids. I'll feel sorry for the kids, but the long term implications may be even more beneficial. (Frankly, I don't.. gimme a second I don't file share anymore..:) )
(Why the heck anyone needs a 2 GHz CPU in a laptop is a mystery to me. )
Portable Maya Machine. I currently carry my desktop to my night job so I can have the ponies for doing 3D work that my Sony Vaio 505FX just can't handle (in fact, maya doesn't even run on it). I'd like to grab a laptop because it would greatly simplify the breakdown/portability issues that carrying a mid-tower case and monitor around pose. The Alienware top-end machine would be a godsend (and yes, I plug it in at work.. I realize that the battery life sucks, but hopefully I'd only have to rely upon the battery as a built-in UPS for saving/shutting down if the power goes out).
THen again, you are posing a rhetorical question to a forum that thinks putting linux on a toaster is cool, so I'm sure there are other unusual circumstances here. Now, if you were to repose it as "why would joe average" need a 2 Ghz laptop, I'd say "no reason at all". This is why I would prefer to buy a nice iBook for everyday tasks. Great battery life, quick enough to do email and webbrowsing...
I mean, I'm 1st generation native born Asian-American. My mother is Korean, my father is Native American, but that's besides the point. The point is that every other half/whole korean kid I know with a Korean mother is in fear of our lives about our grades in school. If I came home with anything below a B, I would get beaten within an inch of my life. My mom cared about my grades, it reflected upon her. Through the threat of beatings, I then cared about my grades. Granted, I got straight A's until the 10th grade, but the idea is still there: Get beat, get good grades..
Um, no wait that's not it...
When parents give a shit about their kids and what they learn in school, then the kids tend to do better, especially if the parents take an active role in their education. You don't necessarily have to beat them up (Hey, I fucking turned out great, and I'll beat the shit out of anyone that says otherwise), but knowing how to provide incentives and make education, well, worth learning, makes a ton of difference.
1. When was the last time I felt I had to call MS for support? I've *never* had to call MS for technical support except to get an activation key for Office XP (which did annoy the shit out of me, but hey, that's why OpenOffice sits on my machine now). With Linux, I'm *constantly* needing support. The first and only time I tried RedHat's "free 30 day support" was around 6.0 and the answer I got was "We don't support that." (The question, mind you, was a "How the heck do I compile SMP support into my kernel? I've got two CPU's and the install only picked up one..." I was a complete newbie and have since learned how to do it myself, but when you've got no Linux-using friends to help you out, where do you go? What do you? Call RedHat support? How many times have I had to recompile Windows2k for SMP support? USB support? Printer support? I hope you get the idea here)
2):: shrug:: I dunno, just about every Windows app I've ever installed didn't require much on the way of setup. Linux, on the other hand.. Ever try to get XCDRoast up and running on a system where you just added a CDRW? Here's the windows version: Install drive, install nero. Done. Here's linux: What's that module name? ide-scsi? What? compile..?? huh? It's a pain in the royal ass. I was in for a mild shock when I found out I had to recompile my kernel just so I could friggin' print (parallel port stuff).
3. emacs vs. vi was a poor choice. However, in the console application world, the differences between similar applications is resounding, which is why I turn to the GUI apps, where the consistency isn't much better (drag and drop, copy/paste, etc). Yes, it improves every year and maybe (just maybe) in 2005 it'll be completely transparent to me, the end user, just like Windows was in 1995.
4. Your comment regarding "best buy" and the Confocal Microscopy stuff is really pretentious. You're right, not everyone has one or even needs one. But installing software for any of that hardware tends to be of the "insert driver CD now" under Windows, you have direct vendor support for the drivers under Windows, etc. I have a Wacom Intuous2 6x9 art tablet, hardly a "rare" item, and getting it to "work" under Linux was a nightmare and I felt like I absolutely wasted about 15 hours of my life. I got it working, but the driver support is no where NEAR what I consider usable and the benefits of using a so-called "free" operating system certainly don't out-weigh the ability to actually use the hardware I own without having to dick around with it. I don't even want to know if my Pinnacle StudioDV card has drivers under Linux.
I have to agree with the original poster. I've spent hundreds of hours dicking with Linux, config files, compiling programs, etc etc etc to get a desktop that does about 85% of what my Windows desktop does, which I might add is rock-stable and does *everything* I need it to do with a minimum of fuss.
I no longer use Linux at home as a desktop OS (if I need a server, you bet I'd use it) and NO ONE is forcing you to run MS, so get that out of your little twiggy head. It's called marketing and like everything else, YOU ultimately decide.
Just like the music industry is in the middle of crumbling, the pay-for software industry is also about to start the long downward slide into irrelevance
And when it finally happens, don't bitch that you can't find a programming job in the US for more than $10/hour and the jobs that are there are so few and far between that you'll be flipping burgers at Burger King so you can continue to live in your parent's basement. I could work for free all-day-long, too, but I like being able to eat.
I find it amazing that people complain about the lack of jobs and then turn around and do work that they should be charging for and give it away for gratis.
God I really hate these "People want" posts. You don't speak for the people, nor does anyone else here. You make these blanket assumptions of what *you* want and extrapolate them onto the rest of the population. Guess what?
People want whatever the hell you put in front of them. Whether that be Linux, Windows, Free Music, $16.99 Britney Spears CDs, gas-chugging SUV's, cutesy iMacs, etc etc, people are just a giant flock of sheep being led around by their masters of consumption. How do we know this? *Somebody* is buying those $16.99 Mass-Produced Boy Band CD's. *Somebody* is running WINDOWS at home that came with their computer and aren't running around screaming for someone to "free them from Microsoft". *Somebody* is footing the bill for the RIAA to still make billions, and guess what? Those *somebody's* are people and they obviously don't really give a damn what you think they want.
Next time, be more honest. Say what *you* want and quit talking for everyone else.
I don't want to "choose" which songs to listen to, I feel perfectly fine hitting the "skip" button or compiling a playlist that avoids those songs I tend not to like. But then again, you know what? I've heard a ton of songs that on first listening I thought sucked really bad, but after 8 or 9 unintentional listens, I found structure, balance, even beauty and end up LIKING the songs. Don't sell yourself short because "you can't dance to it." Obviously *someone* liked that song enough to put it on a CD for distribution (and yes, in many cases, you wonder who that person was so you can shoot them).
I was reading through a Java Developer's Journal that had a slight discussion about all these "brilliant" java programmers out of work due to the recession. They made an offhand remark about "Well, now that they have all this spare time, let's see what they come up with if they're really all that brilliant". I don't think I've seen much..
Really, folks, this is really the break some people need. Remember when IBM laid off those thousands of engineers in the 80s? Those engineers couldn't find work, but had lots of ideas, and went and started their own small tech firms which fueled the Silicon Valley upswing. (No, not the.bomb people, but the real, honest to goodness engineers).
Instead of blogging about not having a job, why not write something? Why not create something that you've always wanted to do but never had the time to do it (and now you're unemployed and you still don't have time?)? Don't just "learn" a new technology, CREATE the new technology. A recession/depression is simply an opportunity for many people and the seeds for success are being sown now.
Just to reiterate some of your points, I don't even see Apple and Linux as competitors, but as siblings in the larger scheme of things. People that buy Apple's use their computers for different things that most people who run Linux. Sure, there will always be the oddballs who try to shoe-horn Linux (or windows) into every nook and cranny without ever thinking that there may be a BETTER solution around. Maybe it's due to cost-analysis, but chances are it's some "zealot" determined to make headway into the market by forcing his OS of choice onto some hapless corporation.
For example, take the article that all this is spawned from. What happens if Mr. Linux decides to leave the company? Will the company know to email Mandrake if they have problems? Will they be able to find another competent Linux audio-geared admin? What will they do when something goes wrong and he's not there to fix it? Face it, people, there's not a whole lot of competent Linux admins around who would be intimate with the Linux environment. They might be lucky to find someone, maybe. (just a note: this isn't necessarily a bad thing, you have to start somewhere. If one person can do it, well, another can surely learn it, too).
Another issue I have with the article is, just exactly what does the author's studio produce? I thought Broadcast 2000 went away and was a video product? The article was too vague on specifics for me to take too seriously. What applications DOES he run (he listed a few) and how does he manage his workflow with them? I'm not knocking the idea, it's just that when I read about how Linux has replaced "windows" in the workplace, I want to know what it replaced, what shortcomings were overcome by finding a different tool, etc. What kind of audio hardware was being used? SBLive's are a vastly different beast than the "pro" cards.
Who are you going to organize it with? People who already don't buy SCO (and no one is buying SCO it seems..)?
The best the boycott can do is raise up a stink that the public, who doesn't understand or probably care what UNIX is (but they know what Britney Spears and Disney are, which is why those kind of boycotts are actually more successful. The problem there is that no one can get past the "Boycot the MP--OOO! New DVD! SHINY!" stage..). It's useless to talk about boycotting a sinking ship. It's like the passengers on the Titanic saying as it's going down "Why, I don't like what the Cap'n says, so by golly I just won't abide by it! I'm gonna sit here and drink myself silly...."
I am most concerned with your recent litigation against IBM regarding what you consider patent and tradesecret infringements in the UNIX operating system. I feel that this move shall be detrimental to the UNIX cause and ultimately hurt SCO and thusly UNIX, and allow Redmond to inch further along whilst UNIX development slows to a crawl in the courts of America.
I am a longtime user of Linux, a free UNIX-like operating system that you also feel infringes upon your patents. I have never bought SCO because I feel that nothing can beat the price-performance of Linux. Thus, I am not, nor ever will be a customer, just like most of my colleagues are content to complain about Microsoft when they themselves do not use Microsoft products.
You should, however, pay special attention to us, because we're somewhat educated, we congregate on online bulletin boards, and we'll be particularly nasty to you when we continue to not recommend your product for rollout in the Enterprise, even though most of us couldn't administrate a so-called "easy to admin" IIS box, yet are quick to criticize every IIS admin who fails to apply a patch.
We will organize boycotts of your product amongst people that don't buy your products, we will sign online petitions that your spam-filter will promptly delete, we will refuse to bathe until you drop your litigious business methods and return to going out of business.
In short, we think you smell like the rear end of a llama.
- Slashdot User
PS If you don't take us seriously, we'll give up dating, too! And we'll sit around playing video games and watching DVD's produced by the MPAA, whom we're also Boycotting!
At the very least, MS gives everyone a HUGE target to work at. There are tons of obstacles, but eventually someone will figure it out. Apple may not be that company, but without MS to try and wrench marketshare from, we'd still be stuck with OS7 or something.
What makes XP Pro "worth" $299? The customers who continue to pay it. And your calculations are "incorrect" in that if MS runs 85% margins on $299, you do the math. Obviously the content on the "cd's and box" are worth more than the material they're printed on.
You seem to have fallen for the "trap" that people's labor should be free. If you want to do your own damn head-gasket or write your operating system, in our system, you are free to do so. In the end, though, I find that paying a qualified mechanic his "exorbitant" prices is actually a fair deal because even though I *can* do the work, I don't want to, just like I find paying $300 for an operating system sure beats the hell out of trying to write my own.
I am one of those people "delighted" to use Windows. I've used Linux (anything but delight), MacOSX (which I'm also delighted to use), AmigaOS (showing its age), BeOS (shoulda been a contender), etc. I'm delighted that 99.9% of the time when I buy a new piece of hardware, I just plug it in, insert a CD, and voila! it works. I'm delighted that when I want to run an application for Windows that doesn't have a Linux version (Lightwave) that I don't have to dick around in Wine for 3 hours trying to get it to just barely work. I'm delighted that even though I spent $249 on Windows 2000, I've never had the amount of headaches, heartaches, etc that I've had under Linux which cost me nothing but a lot of time I could have spent doing something else, like having a life.
I don't dislike Linux. I don't hate Linux. I just don't find Linux to be the tool I prefer to reach for when I need to do something. I'm delighted that MS Windows has provided a stable operating system that runs the apps I want to run, has created developer tools that I find to be absolutely superb (even lowly Visual Basic) compared to the old "tried and tested" vi/emacs + gcc + gdb combo, and, for me, represents and excellent bargain.
I can't really describe it, but I'll try. With Windows, I don't really need a manual to do something. I find it really intuitive to figure out things. Like, the pervasive right-clicking. It's like a good video game in that I can go through options, menus, etc, and generally just "figure out" what's going on. I learned probably 90% of what I know about Windows in just this manner (and I'll also be the first to tell you I in no way think this makes me qualified to be an admin).
Linux is.. confusing. Millions of little config files, I have no idea what's going on when starting tabula rasa. init.d? what's that? runlevel? huh? config.what? Why do I have to edit that file? Why do I have to edit this file, that file, and another file, and add a symbolic link (all by hand) just to get something to work? huh? What's a manpage? Sure, I eventually got to the point where I have a general understanding of what's going on, I now know just enough to know to LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE if it's working. It took well over a week's nights after work getting my Linux machine mostly acceptable, and that was with a "mentor" helping me when he could.
Linux is hard for the user just to get something done that isn't done for them out of the box. If it's not on the install initially (preconfigured machines), god help you when your cousin Ray wants your help installing his brand new Scanner.
Big, inflexible company? Where do you get that? How many other companies can "miss the boat" on the whole internet thing, turn around and retool in the amount of time MS did? Sure, they had to acquire Mosaic to get a jumpstart (gotta have that cash around for something), but they went from zero-to-hero in an amazingingly short amount of time. Just how long did it take Mozilla to go from nothing to usable?
Microsoft is amazingly nimble for a company of its size. It also has the resources to burn when they decide to do so (they could literally not sell another license of windows for several years if they absolutely had to). How many other companies could go without selling their primary products for years without going away?
The thing to remember about an 800 pound gorilla is that once the gorilla focuses on one thing, that thing becomes obliterated.
See the other post and the topic at hand. We're discussing distribution via CD/CDR, not downloadables. If we were discussing simple "downloading" for money, then I'd be in complete agreement, but let's please stay on topic somewhat here.:P
Not really. With your idea, someone is still having to process your order (and it makes it more difficult because now you're having to scan through catalogues to ensure you get the *right* version of a song (i.e. The Smith's "What Difference Does it Make" or Face to Face's cover of the same). Unless, of course, you're talking about downloadable music, which isn't what we're really discussing. Someone will still have to be there to verify your custom CD, then package it, then ship it out.
Yes yes, you can automate some of that process (but imagine the COST of building the infrastructure and maintainance.. they'll still charge you a premium and everyone will bitch that the CD only costs.50 and they're getting charged $20, with no liner notes, etc, so no one will buy it and the industry will just throw up their hands and give up and try to pass more laws) somewhat, but in the end, someone has to physically get that CD to you and that costs money.
When you're dealing with onsey-twoseys, it's not a big deal, especially with these new high speed 52x replicators (of which I have one). But, imagine: Hire a bunch of people, at $11/hour (and then add benefits, insurance, etc etc). They have to process requests, and even at optimum efficiency probably only produce anywhere from 10-20 discs/hour (gotta verify contents, etc). Then pack those discs up and get them mailed out. That starts to become pricey and then they're charging $20/disc to make it "worth their time" (believe it or not, not everyone gives away their time or goods). A second scenario is the whole kiosk idea, where you go to someplace like Tower and burn-on-demand. What kind of storage would a device need?? Could you imagine one store with every CD in existance on-hand to burn for your convenience. (Yeah, you could compress with MP3, but frankly, if I'm going to buy a CD I don't want a compressed format). And then the monthly or weekly "update" data for the hundreds of CD's released every week. Then you'd have to "secure" the data (don't need anyone walking off with the raw images.. it's one thing (copyright infringement) to distribute the CD images you ripped, but now imagine ripping the "authorized" image (really no difference, except in concept).
I think it actually needs to be done like Kinko's. YOu put in your request, the "print service" fills it (by requesting/downloading the appropriate image in a secure fashion from a central server somewhere, then presses/burns the CD), and then you pick it up a day or two later.
I'm not saying the idea is stupid or far-fetched, it just needs tweaking and some more thought put into it than "what's wrong with just burning a CDR of old stuff?".
And finally, my band will not be distributing music via website, but will instead create a "permanent" kazaa user and share that way. That way our bandwidth isn't killed (as if anyone would download it anyway), but it also helps ensure that our "official" stuff is out there to be had.
Maybe I'll report back if this ever does happen and let everyone know how it goes..
I think that by making WinXP SP1 a requirement shows that they DO get it. By "it" I mean making large wads of cash, hand over fist. Unlike Open Source, MS exists to make profits. To make profits (and they're not making more profits by your (or my for that matter, I'm still on Win2K) 3 year old purchase of Win2K), they must provide a reason for you to upgrade (stability, bug fixes, etc). The only business model that makes any real money in the real world is by following a subscription model. Yes, it's tiring. Yes, it can become expensive (just imagine if you had to *pay* for each revision of the Linux kernel, I'd bet you'd see more "I don't see what's wrong with the 2.2.x series of kernels!" arguments going on (more than usual, anyway)). However, MS makes money and makes lots of it. That's more than you or I can say. Something they're doing works, and it's not *all* from "anti-competitive" practices.
Secondly, this could very well be an initial release. Nothing says that they *won't* backport to Win2k or even Win98.
Thirdly, if it takes off, I give it less than 6 months before a) someone hacks the client and takes all the messy DRM stuff out or b) someone clones it ala Trillian and gives it away on the net for free.
I don't think that not releasing this to Win2K is EOLing Win2K. Most "tech-savvy" 14 year olds can't afford a computer on their own, they're probably running a new Dell, with WinXP on their desktop, etc. They may have simply made a marketing decision. Truth is, this isn't even out yet, so we're just speculating at this point.
Wait for a few months and then let's bitch about it, m'kay?
I'd beg to differ. The penalty for not abiding by the mafia is bodily harm. The penalty for not using microsoft is.. Linux? Or WordPerfect. Or AbiWord....
Slashdot Mirror
Goddammit. That's got my interest up. Where the fuck can you learn Old Occitan these days? I found "An Introduction to Old Occitan" on amazon, but the reviews seem mixed.
Where?
WHERE?
Grrr..
/* Where are the savings going? ;-) */
:: sigh ::
I know you were just joking here, but keep in mind that the same question arose when the US automakers began shipping US jobs wholesale to Mexico. The automakers stated that the savings to the company would be substantial. Unfortunately, just because it costs less to make does not in any way put the company in any sort of obligation to lower prices. Nike's that cost $200 at the Foot Locker generally only cost $5 at the most in materials, labor, warehousing etc using cheap labor in SE Asia. Where's the savings going? Into the company's coffers.
A rash of incarcerations will deter many people from distributing copyright-enforced works. I would hope that the remainder of the "intelligent" filesharers will begin to seriously look at alternative software that's not inhibited by messy licensing and what not. For the OSS world, this could be a blessing in disguise. Drive me right into "our" arms, eh?
:) )
I don't think a single musician or filmmaker would feel comfortable if someone did hard-time downloading an MP3, especially if it were a college-aged kid (a very influential market). Metallica excluded, of course. I know that my music will be distributed on the internet through KazAa and sharing to be actively encourage, I can only hope bands with actual talent will do the same.
What's the saying, the tighter you squeeze...?
I say let them bust some kids. I'll feel sorry for the kids, but the long term implications may be even more beneficial. (Frankly, I don't.. gimme a second I don't file share anymore..
(Why the heck anyone needs a 2 GHz CPU in a laptop is a mystery to me. )
Portable Maya Machine. I currently carry my desktop to my night job so I can have the ponies for doing 3D work that my Sony Vaio 505FX just can't handle (in fact, maya doesn't even run on it). I'd like to grab a laptop because it would greatly simplify the breakdown/portability issues that carrying a mid-tower case and monitor around pose. The Alienware top-end machine would be a godsend (and yes, I plug it in at work.. I realize that the battery life sucks, but hopefully I'd only have to rely upon the battery as a built-in UPS for saving/shutting down if the power goes out).
THen again, you are posing a rhetorical question to a forum that thinks putting linux on a toaster is cool, so I'm sure there are other unusual circumstances here. Now, if you were to repose it as "why would joe average" need a 2 Ghz laptop, I'd say "no reason at all". This is why I would prefer to buy a nice iBook for everyday tasks. Great battery life, quick enough to do email and webbrowsing...
Umm.. no?
I mean, I'm 1st generation native born Asian-American. My mother is Korean, my father is Native American, but that's besides the point. The point is that every other half/whole korean kid I know with a Korean mother is in fear of our lives about our grades in school. If I came home with anything below a B, I would get beaten within an inch of my life. My mom cared about my grades, it reflected upon her. Through the threat of beatings, I then cared about my grades. Granted, I got straight A's until the 10th grade, but the idea is still there: Get beat, get good grades..
Um, no wait that's not it...
When parents give a shit about their kids and what they learn in school, then the kids tend to do better, especially if the parents take an active role in their education. You don't necessarily have to beat them up (Hey, I fucking turned out great, and I'll beat the shit out of anyone that says otherwise), but knowing how to provide incentives and make education, well, worth learning, makes a ton of difference.
LOL :: sigh ::
I was listening to that album this morning on the way to work..
1. When was the last time I felt I had to call MS for support? I've *never* had to call MS for technical support except to get an activation key for Office XP (which did annoy the shit out of me, but hey, that's why OpenOffice sits on my machine now). With Linux, I'm *constantly* needing support. The first and only time I tried RedHat's "free 30 day support" was around 6.0 and the answer I got was "We don't support that." (The question, mind you, was a "How the heck do I compile SMP support into my kernel? I've got two CPU's and the install only picked up one..." I was a complete newbie and have since learned how to do it myself, but when you've got no Linux-using friends to help you out, where do you go? What do you? Call RedHat support? How many times have I had to recompile Windows2k for SMP support? USB support? Printer support? I hope you get the idea here)
:: shrug :: I dunno, just about every Windows app I've ever installed didn't require much on the way of setup. Linux, on the other hand.. Ever try to get XCDRoast up and running on a system where you just added a CDRW? Here's the windows version: Install drive, install nero. Done. Here's linux: What's that module name? ide-scsi? What? compile..?? huh? It's a pain in the royal ass. I was in for a mild shock when I found out I had to recompile my kernel just so I could friggin' print (parallel port stuff).
2)
3. emacs vs. vi was a poor choice. However, in the console application world, the differences between similar applications is resounding, which is why I turn to the GUI apps, where the consistency isn't much better (drag and drop, copy/paste, etc). Yes, it improves every year and maybe (just maybe) in 2005 it'll be completely transparent to me, the end user, just like Windows was in 1995.
4. Your comment regarding "best buy" and the Confocal Microscopy stuff is really pretentious. You're right, not everyone has one or even needs one. But installing software for any of that hardware tends to be of the "insert driver CD now" under Windows, you have direct vendor support for the drivers under Windows, etc. I have a Wacom Intuous2 6x9 art tablet, hardly a "rare" item, and getting it to "work" under Linux was a nightmare and I felt like I absolutely wasted about 15 hours of my life. I got it working, but the driver support is no where NEAR what I consider usable and the benefits of using a so-called "free" operating system certainly don't out-weigh the ability to actually use the hardware I own without having to dick around with it. I don't even want to know if my Pinnacle StudioDV card has drivers under Linux.
I have to agree with the original poster. I've spent hundreds of hours dicking with Linux, config files, compiling programs, etc etc etc to get a desktop that does about 85% of what my Windows desktop does, which I might add is rock-stable and does *everything* I need it to do with a minimum of fuss.
I no longer use Linux at home as a desktop OS (if I need a server, you bet I'd use it) and NO ONE is forcing you to run MS, so get that out of your little twiggy head. It's called marketing and like everything else, YOU ultimately decide.
Just like the music industry is in the middle of crumbling, the pay-for software industry is also about to start the long downward slide into irrelevance
And when it finally happens, don't bitch that you can't find a programming job in the US for more than $10/hour and the jobs that are there are so few and far between that you'll be flipping burgers at Burger King so you can continue to live in your parent's basement. I could work for free all-day-long, too, but I like being able to eat.
I find it amazing that people complain about the lack of jobs and then turn around and do work that they should be charging for and give it away for gratis.
God I really hate these "People want" posts. You don't speak for the people, nor does anyone else here. You make these blanket assumptions of what *you* want and extrapolate them onto the rest of the population. Guess what?
People want whatever the hell you put in front of them. Whether that be Linux, Windows, Free Music, $16.99 Britney Spears CDs, gas-chugging SUV's, cutesy iMacs, etc etc, people are just a giant flock of sheep being led around by their masters of consumption. How do we know this? *Somebody* is buying those $16.99 Mass-Produced Boy Band CD's. *Somebody* is running WINDOWS at home that came with their computer and aren't running around screaming for someone to "free them from Microsoft". *Somebody* is footing the bill for the RIAA to still make billions, and guess what? Those *somebody's* are people and they obviously don't really give a damn what you think they want.
Next time, be more honest. Say what *you* want and quit talking for everyone else.
I don't want to "choose" which songs to listen to, I feel perfectly fine hitting the "skip" button or compiling a playlist that avoids those songs I tend not to like. But then again, you know what? I've heard a ton of songs that on first listening I thought sucked really bad, but after 8 or 9 unintentional listens, I found structure, balance, even beauty and end up LIKING the songs. Don't sell yourself short because "you can't dance to it." Obviously *someone* liked that song enough to put it on a CD for distribution (and yes, in many cases, you wonder who that person was so you can shoot them).
I was reading through a Java Developer's Journal that had a slight discussion about all these "brilliant" java programmers out of work due to the recession. They made an offhand remark about "Well, now that they have all this spare time, let's see what they come up with if they're really all that brilliant". I don't think I've seen much..
.bomb people, but the real, honest to goodness engineers).
Really, folks, this is really the break some people need. Remember when IBM laid off those thousands of engineers in the 80s? Those engineers couldn't find work, but had lots of ideas, and went and started their own small tech firms which fueled the Silicon Valley upswing. (No, not the
Instead of blogging about not having a job, why not write something? Why not create something that you've always wanted to do but never had the time to do it (and now you're unemployed and you still don't have time?)? Don't just "learn" a new technology, CREATE the new technology. A recession/depression is simply an opportunity for many people and the seeds for success are being sown now.
That was very well put. :)
Just to reiterate some of your points, I don't even see Apple and Linux as competitors, but as siblings in the larger scheme of things. People that buy Apple's use their computers for different things that most people who run Linux. Sure, there will always be the oddballs who try to shoe-horn Linux (or windows) into every nook and cranny without ever thinking that there may be a BETTER solution around. Maybe it's due to cost-analysis, but chances are it's some "zealot" determined to make headway into the market by forcing his OS of choice onto some hapless corporation.
For example, take the article that all this is spawned from. What happens if Mr. Linux decides to leave the company? Will the company know to email Mandrake if they have problems? Will they be able to find another competent Linux audio-geared admin? What will they do when something goes wrong and he's not there to fix it? Face it, people, there's not a whole lot of competent Linux admins around who would be intimate with the Linux environment. They might be lucky to find someone, maybe. (just a note: this isn't necessarily a bad thing, you have to start somewhere. If one person can do it, well, another can surely learn it, too).
Another issue I have with the article is, just exactly what does the author's studio produce? I thought Broadcast 2000 went away and was a video product? The article was too vague on specifics for me to take too seriously. What applications DOES he run (he listed a few) and how does he manage his workflow with them? I'm not knocking the idea, it's just that when I read about how Linux has replaced "windows" in the workplace, I want to know what it replaced, what shortcomings were overcome by finding a different tool, etc. What kind of audio hardware was being used? SBLive's are a vastly different beast than the "pro" cards.
Boy, this outta work great.
Who are you going to organize it with? People who already don't buy SCO (and no one is buying SCO it seems..)?
The best the boycott can do is raise up a stink that the public, who doesn't understand or probably care what UNIX is (but they know what Britney Spears and Disney are, which is why those kind of boycotts are actually more successful. The problem there is that no one can get past the "Boycot the MP--OOO! New DVD! SHINY!" stage..). It's useless to talk about boycotting a sinking ship. It's like the passengers on the Titanic saying as it's going down "Why, I don't like what the Cap'n says, so by golly I just won't abide by it! I'm gonna sit here and drink myself silly...."
To Whom It May Concern:
I am most concerned with your recent litigation against IBM regarding what you consider patent and tradesecret infringements in the UNIX operating system. I feel that this move shall be detrimental to the UNIX cause and ultimately hurt SCO and thusly UNIX, and allow Redmond to inch further along whilst UNIX development slows to a crawl in the courts of America.
I am a longtime user of Linux, a free UNIX-like operating system that you also feel infringes upon your patents. I have never bought SCO because I feel that nothing can beat the price-performance of Linux. Thus, I am not, nor ever will be a customer, just like most of my colleagues are content to complain about Microsoft when they themselves do not use Microsoft products.
You should, however, pay special attention to us, because we're somewhat educated, we congregate on online bulletin boards, and we'll be particularly nasty to you when we continue to not recommend your product for rollout in the Enterprise, even though most of us couldn't administrate a so-called "easy to admin" IIS box, yet are quick to criticize every IIS admin who fails to apply a patch.
We will organize boycotts of your product amongst people that don't buy your products, we will sign online petitions that your spam-filter will promptly delete, we will refuse to bathe until you drop your litigious business methods and return to going out of business.
In short, we think you smell like the rear end of a llama.
- Slashdot User
PS If you don't take us seriously, we'll give up dating, too! And we'll sit around playing video games and watching DVD's produced by the MPAA, whom we're also Boycotting!
Hrm, I dunno.... :: looks at OS X ::
At the very least, MS gives everyone a HUGE target to work at. There are tons of obstacles, but eventually someone will figure it out. Apple may not be that company, but without MS to try and wrench marketshare from, we'd still be stuck with OS7 or something.
What makes XP Pro "worth" $299? The customers who continue to pay it. And your calculations are "incorrect" in that if MS runs 85% margins on $299, you do the math. Obviously the content on the "cd's and box" are worth more than the material they're printed on.
You seem to have fallen for the "trap" that people's labor should be free. If you want to do your own damn head-gasket or write your operating system, in our system, you are free to do so. In the end, though, I find that paying a qualified mechanic his "exorbitant" prices is actually a fair deal because even though I *can* do the work, I don't want to, just like I find paying $300 for an operating system sure beats the hell out of trying to write my own.
I am one of those people "delighted" to use Windows. I've used Linux (anything but delight), MacOSX (which I'm also delighted to use), AmigaOS (showing its age), BeOS (shoulda been a contender), etc. I'm delighted that 99.9% of the time when I buy a new piece of hardware, I just plug it in, insert a CD, and voila! it works. I'm delighted that when I want to run an application for Windows that doesn't have a Linux version (Lightwave) that I don't have to dick around in Wine for 3 hours trying to get it to just barely work. I'm delighted that even though I spent $249 on Windows 2000, I've never had the amount of headaches, heartaches, etc that I've had under Linux which cost me nothing but a lot of time I could have spent doing something else, like having a life.
I don't dislike Linux. I don't hate Linux. I just don't find Linux to be the tool I prefer to reach for when I need to do something. I'm delighted that MS Windows has provided a stable operating system that runs the apps I want to run, has created developer tools that I find to be absolutely superb (even lowly Visual Basic) compared to the old "tried and tested" vi/emacs + gcc + gdb combo, and, for me, represents and excellent bargain.
Actually, it's more than just "support".
I can't really describe it, but I'll try. With Windows, I don't really need a manual to do something. I find it really intuitive to figure out things. Like, the pervasive right-clicking. It's like a good video game in that I can go through options, menus, etc, and generally just "figure out" what's going on. I learned probably 90% of what I know about Windows in just this manner (and I'll also be the first to tell you I in no way think this makes me qualified to be an admin).
Linux is.. confusing. Millions of little config files, I have no idea what's going on when starting tabula rasa. init.d? what's that? runlevel? huh? config.what? Why do I have to edit that file? Why do I have to edit this file, that file, and another file, and add a symbolic link (all by hand) just to get something to work? huh? What's a manpage? Sure, I eventually got to the point where I have a general understanding of what's going on, I now know just enough to know to LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE if it's working. It took well over a week's nights after work getting my Linux machine mostly acceptable, and that was with a "mentor" helping me when he could.
Linux is hard for the user just to get something done that isn't done for them out of the box. If it's not on the install initially (preconfigured machines), god help you when your cousin Ray wants your help installing his brand new Scanner.
Big, inflexible company? Where do you get that?
How many other companies can "miss the boat" on the whole internet thing, turn around and retool in the amount of time MS did? Sure, they had to acquire Mosaic to get a jumpstart (gotta have that cash around for something), but they went from zero-to-hero in an amazingingly short amount of time. Just how long did it take Mozilla to go from nothing to usable?
Microsoft is amazingly nimble for a company of its size. It also has the resources to burn when they decide to do so (they could literally not sell another license of windows for several years if they absolutely had to). How many other companies could go without selling their primary products for years without going away?
The thing to remember about an 800 pound gorilla is that once the gorilla focuses on one thing, that thing becomes obliterated.
See the other post and the topic at hand. We're discussing distribution via CD/CDR, not downloadables. If we were discussing simple "downloading" for money, then I'd be in complete agreement, but let's please stay on topic somewhat here. :P
Not really. With your idea, someone is still having to process your order (and it makes it more difficult because now you're having to scan through catalogues to ensure you get the *right* version of a song (i.e. The Smith's "What Difference Does it Make" or Face to Face's cover of the same). Unless, of course, you're talking about downloadable music, which isn't what we're really discussing. Someone will still have to be there to verify your custom CD, then package it, then ship it out.
.50 and they're getting charged $20, with no liner notes, etc, so no one will buy it and the industry will just throw up their hands and give up and try to pass more laws) somewhat, but in the end, someone has to physically get that CD to you and that costs money.
Yes yes, you can automate some of that process (but imagine the COST of building the infrastructure and maintainance.. they'll still charge you a premium and everyone will bitch that the CD only costs
Labor intensive.
When you're dealing with onsey-twoseys, it's not a big deal, especially with these new high speed 52x replicators (of which I have one). But, imagine:
Hire a bunch of people, at $11/hour (and then add benefits, insurance, etc etc).
They have to process requests, and even at optimum efficiency probably only produce anywhere from 10-20 discs/hour (gotta verify contents, etc). Then pack those discs up and get them mailed out. That starts to become pricey and then they're charging $20/disc to make it "worth their time" (believe it or not, not everyone gives away their time or goods).
A second scenario is the whole kiosk idea, where you go to someplace like Tower and burn-on-demand. What kind of storage would a device need?? Could you imagine one store with every CD in existance on-hand to burn for your convenience. (Yeah, you could compress with MP3, but frankly, if I'm going to buy a CD I don't want a compressed format). And then the monthly or weekly "update" data for the hundreds of CD's released every week. Then you'd have to "secure" the data (don't need anyone walking off with the raw images.. it's one thing (copyright infringement) to distribute the CD images you ripped, but now imagine ripping the "authorized" image (really no difference, except in concept).
I think it actually needs to be done like Kinko's. YOu put in your request, the "print service" fills it (by requesting/downloading the appropriate image in a secure fashion from a central server somewhere, then presses/burns the CD), and then you pick it up a day or two later.
I'm not saying the idea is stupid or far-fetched, it just needs tweaking and some more thought put into it than "what's wrong with just burning a CDR of old stuff?".
And finally, my band will not be distributing music via website, but will instead create a "permanent" kazaa user and share that way. That way our bandwidth isn't killed (as if anyone would download it anyway), but it also helps ensure that our "official" stuff is out there to be had.
Maybe I'll report back if this ever does happen and let everyone know how it goes..
I think that by making WinXP SP1 a requirement shows that they DO get it. By "it" I mean making large wads of cash, hand over fist. Unlike Open Source, MS exists to make profits. To make profits (and they're not making more profits by your (or my for that matter, I'm still on Win2K) 3 year old purchase of Win2K), they must provide a reason for you to upgrade (stability, bug fixes, etc). The only business model that makes any real money in the real world is by following a subscription model. Yes, it's tiring. Yes, it can become expensive (just imagine if you had to *pay* for each revision of the Linux kernel, I'd bet you'd see more "I don't see what's wrong with the 2.2.x series of kernels!" arguments going on (more than usual, anyway)). However, MS makes money and makes lots of it. That's more than you or I can say. Something they're doing works, and it's not *all* from "anti-competitive" practices.
Secondly, this could very well be an initial release. Nothing says that they *won't* backport to Win2k or even Win98.
Thirdly, if it takes off, I give it less than 6 months before a) someone hacks the client and takes all the messy DRM stuff out or b) someone clones it ala Trillian and gives it away on the net for free.
I don't think that not releasing this to Win2K is EOLing Win2K. Most "tech-savvy" 14 year olds can't afford a computer on their own, they're probably running a new Dell, with WinXP on their desktop, etc. They may have simply made a marketing decision. Truth is, this isn't even out yet, so we're just speculating at this point.
Wait for a few months and then let's bitch about it, m'kay?
Just curious, but, what would /. think of Microsoft if they were to dump $20billion of their warchest into this?
We already love/hate sony, love/hate movies (MPAA indirectly), are there enough days?
Hell, I'd argue with that, as well. I don't see anything about "communism" that I could reasonably consider "utopian".
I'd beg to differ. The penalty for not abiding by the mafia is bodily harm. The penalty for not using microsoft is.. Linux? Or WordPerfect. Or AbiWord....