...and provide personal (on-site if necessary) service with lots of reassuring face-to-face meetings.
Build up relationships with customers who appreciate that you are reliable and have the ability to understand their needs first time around.
If your clients are the type that don't value that relationship and will send work OS just to save a couple of bucks, then maybe you don't want them on your books?
Then again, if you don't provide a reliable service, then why shouldn't the jobs go the eager masses abroad?
I'm a web developer. I'm already competing with template-style businesses, cheap developers abroad, clients' cousins who can do it cheap, and the like. Yet my (2-person) business in Australia is growing each year, has many long-term clients, and shows no sign of falling over due to losing clients to cheaper workers in India.
One thing we do with our key clients is to arrange review meetings (at least yearly) at which we run through the achievements of the last x months and lay down our plans and thinking for their sites in the months to come. I think they appreciate that we're there as their partner doing a lot of the thinking and strategy for them. We try to make sure that the money they're spending is providing them with an asset that gives them some return (whether it's PR or direct sales related). I can't imagine that many of them would even think of taking the work away from us and sending it overseas where they would be starting a working relationship from scratch, and have less a chance of personal service from people who really understands their business first-hand.
I definitely agree. There's hardly a great campaign of public education out there. For me, the "always-on" side of broadband is a great advantage, but not many people outside the IT realm would be aware of that. I have a wireless router (cheap) hooked up to my ADSL so that I can open up my laptop anywhere in the house or nearby and be reading news, researching, working, emailing, etc. 60% might not want broadband, but how many of those would be aware that these things are even possible?
I find that far more liberating and useful than being tethered to a desk in a corner near the phone jack, and having to tie up the phone line while I'm online.
I don't know what call costs are in the US, but in Australia, you're generally paying 20c a call to dial-up. If you dial up 2-3 times a day (norm in my house pre-broadband), you've got your $25/month dial-up account + $18/month in calls. Suddenly your slow-poke connection that controls the phone line too is $43/month and not looking so fantastic against the $59/month ADSL connection with 12GB of data allowance.
I'm more than aware that families are being hit with costs like never before (monthly bills for gas, water, electricity, mobile phones (my household has at least 4), internet access, pay TV, and so on, but I'd choose broadband over pay TV, and definitely over dial-up. Imagine never hearing a modem handshake again. Bliss!
Are we looking at Microsoft/Yahoo/Others putting a lot of effort into making sure these criticisms make the news?
I'm no Linux fan-boy (I use and appreciate Microsoft software), but I wouldn't put efforts such as those past any company who had a financial interest in the development or lack of it. And because of that, I'd be inclined to give Google a bit more benefit of the doubt here.
You can buy a cheaper, second-hand car easily (even if you have to get a short-term loan to do so). Or you can use public transport and avoid the multitude of costs that arise from car ownership, until you're in a position to buy outright.
It's far less convenient (and appreciably, in some cases impossible; i.e., working in rural areas) and far less cool, but when you come out the other end financially on top who cares?
Borrowing to buy a new car is, for much of the population (books would suggest 90%), financial suicide. No one I know who has a car loan has a house, or deposit ready to buy a house, or a feeling of security with their financial position.
Everyone I know who DOESN'T have a car loan has one or all of those above things (and a car that they own outright too).
And the two groups are not divided by level of earnings or wealth of parents either.
Given that our HR manager drives a fifteen year old toyota, and our GM drives a Porche 911, I can imagine where the money goes.
It's a bit offtopic, but a flashy car is not always a sign of a high salary, but more commonly a sign of someone borrowing money to buy a depreciating asset and live outside their means. i.e., a sign of poor financial sense.
With money, people generally fall into two camps. One of the characteristics of people who aren't smart investors are that they borrow to buy depreciating assets rather than assets such as shares, property, etc.
That said, what should the MPAA do? Are people questioning their time/quality-versioning of the product (cinema release, DVD sale, video rental process)? Or do we all just want everything for free?
And, when will popcorn become too expensive and turn people away? In Australia, a movie ticket is AUD$10-13, and the smallest box of popcorn is AUD$5.90 (USD$4.40).
My decision to avoid Real came after I noticed that any computer running Real Player was unstable, and all of my machines without it were staying up and happy week after week.
About once, in the last few years, I've really wanted to watch something in the Real format, so I installed the application for about 10 minutes and then got it out of there as quickly as I could.
I'm sure they're trying to get back on track now, but I really don't have much need for their stuff, so best of luck to them.
SpyBot routinely blocks MediaPlex gear (tracking cookies, I assume?) when I'm reading Slashdot.
And I don't think Slashdot is worth a subscription. Maybe if the editors valued their own site enough to read through submissions and make sure they were free of basic errors and duplicate posts, then people might consider it a professional service and worth paying for!
That's a pretty rough comparison, but I like it anyway.:)
Offtopic: I wish Slashdot wouldn't run ads (such as the Dell one I'm seeing nearly every page load) that interferes with my typing of comments. I'm mid comment when it steals focus from the textarea. Not nice!
The problem is not only with Windows and Linux. The solution is not only to run Pro-Linux events.
It's for the US to stop making the elections so dominated by money (who the hell donates money to politicians!? Christ!), and for the people to stop electing parties that let big business get their way almost every single time.
In Australia, we don't have an ideal system, but there certainly isn't an issue of massive donations to political parties, and huge companies being able to virtually buy decisions.
Can the US be set straight?
If not, good bye environment, good bye average families, and Windows for everyone!:(
Am I the only one who thinks that Mozilla should just pick one of those names (Firebird, Firefox, etc), and stick with it to develop some name recognition?
I can't imagine many people actually need to download IE. I know I haven't done it for a long time. It's usually already on the computer or comes on an ISP CD, and you can easily upgrade it from there.
I'm not sure that it's much to get excited about, unfortunately (I use IE, but think Mozilla is pretty decent).
Ah, Nokia, masters of convoluted button arrangements and rearrangements. Go and have a look at a page of product shots and find two phones with buttons that look remotely similar. Each model, they change shape and layout to make it even more difficult to dial a fucking number. Nice work, kids.
1. I just wanted to install a game (about 18 spyware programs found)
2. I thought the email was from the IT department (bagle ZIP encrypted virus)
3. Internet Explorer prompted me to install something, I said yes (spyware, again..)
4. I don't know (spyware, viruses, you name it..)
5. Someone else used the computer..
Come on, if they were running Linux and installed a game with spyware, or ran a dodgy attachment they thought came from a trusted source, or someone else had used their computer -- you'd still have issues. Linux isn't going to stop a machine potentially picking up some spyware and the like because people were installing dodgy gear, running attachments, etc.
You're probably also looking to miniaturise the cost of that recently reported snail -- $9m+ doesn't quite have it at the home-user (or even, dare I say it, prosumer) level!
Apparently it's an issue with Microsoft's Xbox too. I've read a bit on forums about people trying to avoid Xbox's released with Thompson DVD drives, and preferring new models with Samsung drives instead.
Still, I would think that high prices at launch generally keeps most people away. I bought both my PS1 and Xbox once the prices had dropped a bit. And I got my iPod in HK, where prices are a bit more reasonable than in Australia.
And in other news, Loconut1389 is also amazed and happy with the way his vegetable patch is growing, street crime has been reduced in his neighborhood, and rare animals are successfully breeding at the local zoo.
Bending is to Slashdot as Swinging is to the rest of the population?
And the two groups both have very different interpretations (and uses for!) "toys".
I love Slashdot. Without it, I might not be producing bizarre music from electronic childrens' toys, making my computer look like it's actually made from wood, and learning why running for geeks is at all different to running for anyone else!:)
Oh, and it only works with the "500 or so" films on the Clearplay list.
Whichever Hollywood consortium is suing these guys, they're idiots. "Effectively pirating" their work. Christ. If people buy this product, it's because they want sex and violence OUT of the movies they watch. i.e., they don't want what you're giving them. How about developing DVDs yourselves that have kid-friendly versions of popular movies instead of just suing anyone who beats you to the idea?
You might remember someone (once upon a time) thinking that wood veneer looked great on cars -- round about the time of National Lampoon.
Your computer case will look "pretty nice" for all of about 5 days before some animal brought in for Dogs in the Office Day will mistake it for a tree and electrocute itself pissing on your computer.;)
I'm a big fan of Halo on XBox. Try the new Unreal demo on PC if you haven't already. It's got all that kinda commentary and stats (your successes and failures with certain weapons).
I really didn't like the early Unreal games at all (preferred the Quake series), but UT2004 (even the demo alone!) is pretty good.
Slashdot Mirror
...and provide personal (on-site if necessary) service with lots of reassuring face-to-face meetings.
Build up relationships with customers who appreciate that you are reliable and have the ability to understand their needs first time around.
If your clients are the type that don't value that relationship and will send work OS just to save a couple of bucks, then maybe you don't want them on your books?
Then again, if you don't provide a reliable service, then why shouldn't the jobs go the eager masses abroad?
I'm a web developer. I'm already competing with template-style businesses, cheap developers abroad, clients' cousins who can do it cheap, and the like. Yet my (2-person) business in Australia is growing each year, has many long-term clients, and shows no sign of falling over due to losing clients to cheaper workers in India.
One thing we do with our key clients is to arrange review meetings (at least yearly) at which we run through the achievements of the last x months and lay down our plans and thinking for their sites in the months to come. I think they appreciate that we're there as their partner doing a lot of the thinking and strategy for them. We try to make sure that the money they're spending is providing them with an asset that gives them some return (whether it's PR or direct sales related). I can't imagine that many of them would even think of taking the work away from us and sending it overseas where they would be starting a working relationship from scratch, and have less a chance of personal service from people who really understands their business first-hand.
I definitely agree. There's hardly a great campaign of public education out there. For me, the "always-on" side of broadband is a great advantage, but not many people outside the IT realm would be aware of that. I have a wireless router (cheap) hooked up to my ADSL so that I can open up my laptop anywhere in the house or nearby and be reading news, researching, working, emailing, etc. 60% might not want broadband, but how many of those would be aware that these things are even possible?
I find that far more liberating and useful than being tethered to a desk in a corner near the phone jack, and having to tie up the phone line while I'm online.
I don't know what call costs are in the US, but in Australia, you're generally paying 20c a call to dial-up. If you dial up 2-3 times a day (norm in my house pre-broadband), you've got your $25/month dial-up account + $18/month in calls. Suddenly your slow-poke connection that controls the phone line too is $43/month and not looking so fantastic against the $59/month ADSL connection with 12GB of data allowance.
I'm more than aware that families are being hit with costs like never before (monthly bills for gas, water, electricity, mobile phones (my household has at least 4), internet access, pay TV, and so on, but I'd choose broadband over pay TV, and definitely over dial-up. Imagine never hearing a modem handshake again. Bliss!
Exactly. Does this mean that the number one group of Office applications doesn't have to work with the number two operating system?
Bill, show Steve how arrogance works...
There's a lot of negative Gmail press out there.
Too much negative press even.
Are we looking at Microsoft/Yahoo/Others putting a lot of effort into making sure these criticisms make the news?
I'm no Linux fan-boy (I use and appreciate Microsoft software), but I wouldn't put efforts such as those past any company who had a financial interest in the development or lack of it. And because of that, I'd be inclined to give Google a bit more benefit of the doubt here.
You can buy a cheaper, second-hand car easily (even if you have to get a short-term loan to do so). Or you can use public transport and avoid the multitude of costs that arise from car ownership, until you're in a position to buy outright.
It's far less convenient (and appreciably, in some cases impossible; i.e., working in rural areas) and far less cool, but when you come out the other end financially on top who cares?
Borrowing to buy a new car is, for much of the population (books would suggest 90%), financial suicide. No one I know who has a car loan has a house, or deposit ready to buy a house, or a feeling of security with their financial position.
Everyone I know who DOESN'T have a car loan has one or all of those above things (and a car that they own outright too).
And the two groups are not divided by level of earnings or wealth of parents either.
Given that our HR manager drives a fifteen year old toyota, and our GM drives a Porche 911, I can imagine where the money goes.
It's a bit offtopic, but a flashy car is not always a sign of a high salary, but more commonly a sign of someone borrowing money to buy a depreciating asset and live outside their means. i.e., a sign of poor financial sense.
With money, people generally fall into two camps. One of the characteristics of people who aren't smart investors are that they borrow to buy depreciating assets rather than assets such as shares, property, etc.
That said, what should the MPAA do? Are people questioning their time/quality-versioning of the product (cinema release, DVD sale, video rental process)? Or do we all just want everything for free?
And, when will popcorn become too expensive and turn people away? In Australia, a movie ticket is AUD$10-13, and the smallest box of popcorn is AUD$5.90 (USD$4.40).
My decision to avoid Real came after I noticed that any computer running Real Player was unstable, and all of my machines without it were staying up and happy week after week.
About once, in the last few years, I've really wanted to watch something in the Real format, so I installed the application for about 10 minutes and then got it out of there as quickly as I could.
I'm sure they're trying to get back on track now, but I really don't have much need for their stuff, so best of luck to them.
SpyBot routinely blocks MediaPlex gear (tracking cookies, I assume?) when I'm reading Slashdot.
And I don't think Slashdot is worth a subscription. Maybe if the editors valued their own site enough to read through submissions and make sure they were free of basic errors and duplicate posts, then people might consider it a professional service and worth paying for!
That's a pretty rough comparison, but I like it anyway. :)
Offtopic: I wish Slashdot wouldn't run ads (such as the Dell one I'm seeing nearly every page load) that interferes with my typing of comments. I'm mid comment when it steals focus from the textarea. Not nice!
The problem is not only with Windows and Linux. The solution is not only to run Pro-Linux events.
:(
It's for the US to stop making the elections so dominated by money (who the hell donates money to politicians!? Christ!), and for the people to stop electing parties that let big business get their way almost every single time.
In Australia, we don't have an ideal system, but there certainly isn't an issue of massive donations to political parties, and huge companies being able to virtually buy decisions.
Can the US be set straight?
If not, good bye environment, good bye average families, and Windows for everyone!
Am I the only one who thinks that Mozilla should just pick one of those names (Firebird, Firefox, etc), and stick with it to develop some name recognition?
I can't imagine many people actually need to download IE. I know I haven't done it for a long time. It's usually already on the computer or comes on an ISP CD, and you can easily upgrade it from there.
I'm not sure that it's much to get excited about, unfortunately (I use IE, but think Mozilla is pretty decent).
Yes, I know. Nice succinct post too.
Last time I was in China (been twice for a total of 3-4 months), I got 400 DVDs for about US$0.70 each. Nice, low production costs!
Ah, Nokia, masters of convoluted button arrangements and rearrangements. Go and have a look at a page of product shots and find two phones with buttons that look remotely similar. Each model, they change shape and layout to make it even more difficult to dial a fucking number. Nice work, kids.
How the fuck did we get to the point where music needs to be "secure content"?
What happened to kids having jam sessions in their parents' garages?
What happened to aboriginies hitting sticks against each other?
Or bands playing gigs in pubs?
Yes, these are careers and corporations, but just think about then and now. Music for the love of it then, music for the money in it now.
RIAA/MPAA & friends need to step back and take a look at what they're doing and requesting from hardware, software, and people.
Should be 10 x 8 x 8cm, not 1 x 0.8 x 0.8 which would be almost pea-sized. Not sure how someone screwed that up!
Come on, if they were running Linux and installed a game with spyware, or ran a dodgy attachment they thought came from a trusted source, or someone else had used their computer -- you'd still have issues. Linux isn't going to stop a machine potentially picking up some spyware and the like because people were installing dodgy gear, running attachments, etc.
You're probably also looking to miniaturise the cost of that recently reported snail -- $9m+ doesn't quite have it at the home-user (or even, dare I say it, prosumer) level!
Apparently it's an issue with Microsoft's Xbox too. I've read a bit on forums about people trying to avoid Xbox's released with Thompson DVD drives, and preferring new models with Samsung drives instead.
Still, I would think that high prices at launch generally keeps most people away. I bought both my PS1 and Xbox once the prices had dropped a bit. And I got my iPod in HK, where prices are a bit more reasonable than in Australia.
And in other news, Loconut1389 is also amazed and happy with the way his vegetable patch is growing, street crime has been reduced in his neighborhood, and rare animals are successfully breeding at the local zoo.
Slashdot: News for Nerds. Fluff that flatters.
Bending is to Slashdot as Swinging is to the rest of the population?
:)
And the two groups both have very different interpretations (and uses for!) "toys".
I love Slashdot. Without it, I might not be producing bizarre music from electronic childrens' toys, making my computer look like it's actually made from wood, and learning why running for geeks is at all different to running for anyone else!
Good luck to them!
Oh, and it only works with the "500 or so" films on the Clearplay list.
Whichever Hollywood consortium is suing these guys, they're idiots. "Effectively pirating" their work. Christ. If people buy this product, it's because they want sex and violence OUT of the movies they watch. i.e., they don't want what you're giving them. How about developing DVDs yourselves that have kid-friendly versions of popular movies instead of just suing anyone who beats you to the idea?
You might remember someone (once upon a time) thinking that wood veneer looked great on cars -- round about the time of National Lampoon.
;)
Your computer case will look "pretty nice" for all of about 5 days before some animal brought in for Dogs in the Office Day will mistake it for a tree and electrocute itself pissing on your computer.
I agree. That, and the marketshare would be like 1% of the 5% that buy Mac.
;)
So, to all 12 people out there interested in Yellow Dog Linux, tell us why.
Just kidding!
I'm a big fan of Halo on XBox. Try the new Unreal demo on PC if you haven't already. It's got all that kinda commentary and stats (your successes and failures with certain weapons).
I really didn't like the early Unreal games at all (preferred the Quake series), but UT2004 (even the demo alone!) is pretty good.