Yes the man's marketing talent was not infallible. You forgot to mention the Mac Cube. But very often he got it very right indeed, and like all intelligent people he was capable of changing his mind and evolve a product.
I find it petty to try and find the man's marketing mistakes, considering how much he got right.
Yes, you already pay for a local library but the books I want to read are often not in the catalog, or when they are popular they are difficult to get.
If you would read for more than $10 books per month and you are not the type who prefers to keep books, then it is sensible.
about:
>> still, I don't like the idea of having my books disappear if I don't pay a continuing subscription.
Well it is like a normal library, when you give the books back, you don't have them anymore. If you want to keep books, just buy them in whatever appearance state that you prefer..
Thanks for your comment.
Yes it is true, transcoding could be an acceptable workaround. I guess that I am overly lazy as I try to transcode as little as possible - in fact I only did it 2 or 3 times in the last few years.
Don't get me wrong, I find these technical improvements interesting: same quality as h.264 at half the bitrate, that is impressive.
However, I also think about the flip of the coin when (if?) this format gets popular: currently I have several devices with hardware support to decode h.264. Think iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, a Western Digital Streamer, a Raspberry Pi. With this new codec they'll need to decode in software, which esp. for the portable idevices (and I assume current Android devices as well) will have a terrible impact on the battery consumption.
Here on/. It seems that it is important that everyone knows how to code.
I don't agree, there are any quite different skills that can complement coding skills.
The ipad may not be a perfect learning device, but that is not necessarily because of programming limitations.
I studied university level engineering, in my country that comes with a pretty heavy admissions exam. Back then, we were with a group of 5 secondary school students preparing for the exams.
Considering the real studies afterwards, I am pretty sure that 95% of the people who dit not pass the admissions exam (be it by talent or commitment) would never pass the first year of the studies. In a way the admissions exam saved them a year of time, and saved the country a lot of money (I come from a country where education is heavily subsidised).
- Citation please about Apple's batteries being bad? That would mean statistically worse than other brands?
- RAM fixed, ok I see your point, on the other hand I think it is the price to pay when building something as slender as a Macbook Air.
- insecure and buggy OS: Is it worse than Windows? There are not so many stories about OSX being hacked into. Not saying that it isn't perfect but it seems to work pretty well.
Why paying the premium?
Yes, I like many of their products (scorn on me here on/.). Very concisely: I am happy how in general it all works substantially well and simply. I even like the painless app store. Of course I will now be dismissed as a poser and a hipster, but really I don't care. I never speak bad about Windows or Linux fans either, each to his own.
Well, depending on the country you are in, you may find that mutton may mean goat meat.
From Wikipedia: "and in some parts of Asia, particularly Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India, the word “mutton” is often used colloquially to describe both goat and sheep meat, despite technically only referring to sheep meat."
In fact I currently reside in a part of Asia where both words apply.
My mistake was based on my current environment to think that goat was the normal indicator, not older sheep.
In any case you should work on your internet manners.
Over the years, my love for Wikipedia has grown and grown. This is really one of the most beautiful examples of international collaboration over the internet, sharing universal knowledge with the whole planet. Thank you, Jimmy.
I can see this coming. I remember this Microsoft tech demo of a 3D model of the Notre dame church in Paris generated from thousands of tourist pictures.
The study has a point if you need many shower rings and other pieces that do not have to look very refined. For most households however it would be working at a loss.
However they are great devices for creative people and all kinds of tinkerers. I would love to design printable parts for a simple medium format camera for for example.
Indeed, this is a movie with sizeable international success, it is still (or not yet) playing in several countries and we've not yet seen the subsequent revenue for blu-ray / DVD; VOD services etc.
It looks indeed like it will be able to turn profitable. Not enormously profitable but not a big flop either.
For a movie without previous franchise and without big stars it does seem to do well enough.
Anyway, I had hoped for more success for it as well, as that might have given the director the boost to finally be able to do his long time pet project - an adaptation of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness !
If I remember well, it is these two facts:
- (a smaller one) that the source code is not available through the app store. In my opinion, having the source available on the homepage of the app is good enough.
- (the big one): the app store, by the way it works, uses DRM for all apps, even the free ones. 2 persons who want to use VLC on their i device need to download it separately from the app store. You can't simply copy the app from idevice A to idevice B.
Does this really matter? It seems that the developer had a problem with it. So Apple took it off the site. However I think it is an overreaction from the developer, in practice the app is easily available for everyone with an idevice.
Personally, I am a satisfied user of the app store concept. It works well, smooth updates, no hassle. I think it is more a loss for the VLC team to miss out on the millions of users. So I used other video players - which, I would not be surprised to learn, may well have "borrowed" some decoding routines from the VLC project source...
I do hope one improvement: as much as possible decoding through the hardware decoder of the i device, NOT through the processor as it originally did before being pulled. That would make a huge battery life difference.
It may be a technically good codec (I have no strong opinion on that either way).
But I see issues with the many devices (tablets, bluray players with usb input, set top boxes, phones...) available whose graphical processors are totally geared towards implementations of mp4 and h264.
For example, I understand that an iphone would do battery-efficient hardware decoding of such files. I assume that dfor this new codec the processor will need to do all the work, with likely a much bigger impact on the battery.
Not exactly a comment on the original story, just saying that Whatsapp is also tremendously popular here in South-East Asia. I use it very often, It is a popular and easy solution to set up group discussions, transfer pictures etc.
I had already read in newspapers that telcos here are not so happy about its popularity but luckily there is little that they can do about it.
Yes, I understand that, mathematically there is "nothing lost with additional transactions". But, I think that we both agree there are some sales lost, some people would have bought the work if they couldn't get their hands on them for free. Probably a minority of sharers, but still.
By the way some of your arguments did sound parotted as well, but at least I didn't mind too much...
I will go back to my 2 friends now. One cannot say that their work is priced out ridiculously high, a song on itunes etc costs peanuts, and her paperback or kindle books are well within reach of everyone. You cannot say that the way these works are priced is a bad service for the public or for general culture. We could have another discussion that such works are priced out of reach in poor countries (I fully agree), forming a barrier there. But that is not this discussion.
The way I see it: my musician producer friend always has his finger on the pulse so to speak, and he makes a kind of commercial music that is popular amongst clubbing teenagers (and it gives me a headache). He is quite respected with doing work for in essence all the major labels. Yet, for no other reason than the sharing, his income is significantly lower these days. It is not as if he lost his touch or that the labels have dropped him. Regarding my writer friend, she is a practical woman, I expect she'll prefer bread on the table now rather than possible fame in the long run. She in fact will not go obscure soon, her books get consistently good reviews.
I can well imagine that teenagers on their weekly allotment, will say: I just grab that music and that YA novel for free so I have more money for things of which I cannot get a copy of for free, like buying new fashion things. That is what happens. I don't think it is the right thing to do.
Anyway, thanks for this interesting discussion even it seems to heighten your blood pressure in moments:-)
These companies cannot easily or quickly go way beyond their current expertise, like for example investigating human genome related innovations, but that does not mean that they cannot be transformative again.
Apple as an example has released a lot of transformative products in a short time frame: iPod, iphone, ipad, macbook air have all been hugely influential. It is perhaps too high an expactations to expect them to keep up the current pace. However I think that the smartwatch, once it get released, can be another transformative step towards a world of in essence invisible, wearable computing. Google glass falls also in this category.
I can also imagine that these companies will continue to buy up small companies with really good new ideas. Didn't Apple and Google each buy home automation companies? That is another area where I expect transformative products.
(sorry first replied in the wrong place)
I know that some musicians don't mind, and some do mind. I also think that when you create something, it is your right to ask money for it or not.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes the man's marketing talent was not infallible. You forgot to mention the Mac Cube. But very often he got it very right indeed, and like all intelligent people he was capable of changing his mind and evolve a product. I find it petty to try and find the man's marketing mistakes, considering how much he got right.
I think it makes sense.
Yes, you already pay for a local library but the books I want to read are often not in the catalog, or when they are popular they are difficult to get. If you would read for more than $10 books per month and you are not the type who prefers to keep books, then it is sensible.
about:
>> still, I don't like the idea of having my books disappear if I don't pay a continuing subscription.
Well it is like a normal library, when you give the books back, you don't have them anymore. If you want to keep books, just buy them in whatever appearance state that you prefer..
Thanks, that is interesting, I didn't know that.
Thanks for your comment. Yes it is true, transcoding could be an acceptable workaround. I guess that I am overly lazy as I try to transcode as little as possible - in fact I only did it 2 or 3 times in the last few years.
Don't get me wrong, I find these technical improvements interesting: same quality as h.264 at half the bitrate, that is impressive. However, I also think about the flip of the coin when (if?) this format gets popular: currently I have several devices with hardware support to decode h.264. Think iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, a Western Digital Streamer, a Raspberry Pi. With this new codec they'll need to decode in software, which esp. for the portable idevices (and I assume current Android devices as well) will have a terrible impact on the battery consumption.
In several Western European countries, public schools can be quite decent.
Here on /. It seems that it is important that everyone knows how to code.
I don't agree, there are any quite different skills that can complement coding skills.
The ipad may not be a perfect learning device, but that is not necessarily because of programming limitations.
Look, it can simply be interesting from a tech point of view, without resorting to hate or fanboyism.
I studied university level engineering, in my country that comes with a pretty heavy admissions exam. Back then, we were with a group of 5 secondary school students preparing for the exams.
Considering the real studies afterwards, I am pretty sure that 95% of the people who dit not pass the admissions exam (be it by talent or commitment) would never pass the first year of the studies. In a way the admissions exam saved them a year of time, and saved the country a lot of money (I come from a country where education is heavily subsidised).
You seem to be a very pleasant person.
- Citation please about Apple's batteries being bad? That would mean statistically worse than other brands? - RAM fixed, ok I see your point, on the other hand I think it is the price to pay when building something as slender as a Macbook Air. - insecure and buggy OS: Is it worse than Windows? There are not so many stories about OSX being hacked into. Not saying that it isn't perfect but it seems to work pretty well. Why paying the premium? Yes, I like many of their products (scorn on me here on /.). Very concisely: I am happy how in general it all works substantially well and simply. I even like the painless app store. Of course I will now be dismissed as a poser and a hipster, but really I don't care. I never speak bad about Windows or Linux fans either, each to his own.
Well, depending on the country you are in, you may find that mutton may mean goat meat. From Wikipedia: "and in some parts of Asia, particularly Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India, the word “mutton” is often used colloquially to describe both goat and sheep meat, despite technically only referring to sheep meat." In fact I currently reside in a part of Asia where both words apply. My mistake was based on my current environment to think that goat was the normal indicator, not older sheep. In any case you should work on your internet manners.
"mutton" is a word usually reserved for goat, but sometimes also for lamb meat. It is confusing indeed.
Over the years, my love for Wikipedia has grown and grown. This is really one of the most beautiful examples of international collaboration over the internet, sharing universal knowledge with the whole planet. Thank you, Jimmy.
I can see this coming. I remember this Microsoft tech demo of a 3D model of the Notre dame church in Paris generated from thousands of tourist pictures.
The study has a point if you need many shower rings and other pieces that do not have to look very refined. For most households however it would be working at a loss. However they are great devices for creative people and all kinds of tinkerers. I would love to design printable parts for a simple medium format camera for for example.
Amusing: in discussion about torrents, slashdot users rarely care about licenses. But when it comes to open source variants...
Indeed, this is a movie with sizeable international success, it is still (or not yet) playing in several countries and we've not yet seen the subsequent revenue for blu-ray / DVD; VOD services etc. It looks indeed like it will be able to turn profitable. Not enormously profitable but not a big flop either. For a movie without previous franchise and without big stars it does seem to do well enough. Anyway, I had hoped for more success for it as well, as that might have given the director the boost to finally be able to do his long time pet project - an adaptation of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness !
If I remember well, it is these two facts: - (a smaller one) that the source code is not available through the app store. In my opinion, having the source available on the homepage of the app is good enough. - (the big one): the app store, by the way it works, uses DRM for all apps, even the free ones. 2 persons who want to use VLC on their i device need to download it separately from the app store. You can't simply copy the app from idevice A to idevice B. Does this really matter? It seems that the developer had a problem with it. So Apple took it off the site. However I think it is an overreaction from the developer, in practice the app is easily available for everyone with an idevice. Personally, I am a satisfied user of the app store concept. It works well, smooth updates, no hassle. I think it is more a loss for the VLC team to miss out on the millions of users. So I used other video players - which, I would not be surprised to learn, may well have "borrowed" some decoding routines from the VLC project source... I do hope one improvement: as much as possible decoding through the hardware decoder of the i device, NOT through the processor as it originally did before being pulled. That would make a huge battery life difference.
It may be a technically good codec (I have no strong opinion on that either way). But I see issues with the many devices (tablets, bluray players with usb input, set top boxes, phones...) available whose graphical processors are totally geared towards implementations of mp4 and h264. For example, I understand that an iphone would do battery-efficient hardware decoding of such files. I assume that dfor this new codec the processor will need to do all the work, with likely a much bigger impact on the battery.
Not exactly a comment on the original story, just saying that Whatsapp is also tremendously popular here in South-East Asia. I use it very often, It is a popular and easy solution to set up group discussions, transfer pictures etc. I had already read in newspapers that telcos here are not so happy about its popularity but luckily there is little that they can do about it.
It is also typical for this site to be very aggressive towards those that think differently.
Yes, I understand that, mathematically there is "nothing lost with additional transactions". But, I think that we both agree there are some sales lost, some people would have bought the work if they couldn't get their hands on them for free. Probably a minority of sharers, but still. By the way some of your arguments did sound parotted as well, but at least I didn't mind too much... I will go back to my 2 friends now. One cannot say that their work is priced out ridiculously high, a song on itunes etc costs peanuts, and her paperback or kindle books are well within reach of everyone. You cannot say that the way these works are priced is a bad service for the public or for general culture. We could have another discussion that such works are priced out of reach in poor countries (I fully agree), forming a barrier there. But that is not this discussion. The way I see it: my musician producer friend always has his finger on the pulse so to speak, and he makes a kind of commercial music that is popular amongst clubbing teenagers (and it gives me a headache). He is quite respected with doing work for in essence all the major labels. Yet, for no other reason than the sharing, his income is significantly lower these days. It is not as if he lost his touch or that the labels have dropped him. Regarding my writer friend, she is a practical woman, I expect she'll prefer bread on the table now rather than possible fame in the long run. She in fact will not go obscure soon, her books get consistently good reviews. I can well imagine that teenagers on their weekly allotment, will say: I just grab that music and that YA novel for free so I have more money for things of which I cannot get a copy of for free, like buying new fashion things. That is what happens. I don't think it is the right thing to do. Anyway, thanks for this interesting discussion even it seems to heighten your blood pressure in moments :-)
These companies cannot easily or quickly go way beyond their current expertise, like for example investigating human genome related innovations, but that does not mean that they cannot be transformative again. Apple as an example has released a lot of transformative products in a short time frame: iPod, iphone, ipad, macbook air have all been hugely influential. It is perhaps too high an expactations to expect them to keep up the current pace. However I think that the smartwatch, once it get released, can be another transformative step towards a world of in essence invisible, wearable computing. Google glass falls also in this category. I can also imagine that these companies will continue to buy up small companies with really good new ideas. Didn't Apple and Google each buy home automation companies? That is another area where I expect transformative products.
(sorry first replied in the wrong place) I know that some musicians don't mind, and some do mind. I also think that when you create something, it is your right to ask money for it or not.