Google decides what to do, tries to do it very well and if possible, tries to make money of it...Yahoo on the other hand, would gladly sacrifice excellence in their service, for money.
It's not that Yahoo is greedy and Google isn't, or even that Yahoo is greedier than Google. It's that Google is long term greedy whereas Yahoo is short term greedy. (Note that I'm using greedy in the non-pejorative sense here.)
Google wisely recognizes that it's sometimes better to build a quality product over time and then cash in than it is to trade quality, reputation, and higher future profits for a quick buck. Short term greed is a common affliction of public companies, like Yahoo, who have shareholders and analysts breathing down their necks every quarter for immediate results. Privately held Google has the luxury of taking their time... although I wonder if this will change after the IPO.
The US had not declared war against the USSR, yet commited acts of sabotage and assassination against Russian targets. Doesn't that make the CIA and the US regiem terrorists?
Way to "think outside the box" and see the Cold War for what it really was: unilateral aggression by the USA and CIA against the poor, defenseless USSR and KGB! Seriously, it's one thing when you're talking about the USA bullying some third world country, but comparing that to the Cold War is apples and oranges (and a cheap attempt to score some anti-American karma points). And if you want to know which of these two formerly-equally-matched superpowers was the real terrorist regime, put it this way: there wasn't exactly a flood of Americans expatriating to Moscow to flee CIA gulags.
I didn't know WordPerfect ever went anywhere. I know a lot of Windows users who swear by it. Apparently it has a better equation editor then MS Office.
That's probably a small niche, since people who are serious about their equations mostly use (La)TeX. Interestingly, the one thing that MS Word has never been able to do as well as WP 5.1, in my opinion, is outlines.
As the Register article suggests, preventing piracy with DRM would be one of the concerns if Netflix were to launch an online video-on-demand service. But let's think about this for a minute. People can already rent the physical DVDs and rip them to a digital format. Is making the files available for direct download any more dangerous?
In fact, it's less dangerous, if anything. If you rip a generic DVD and share it on Kazaa, etc., it's completely untraceable back to you -- anyone could have ripped that DVD. However, an online video-on-demand service could embed some sort of unique watermark in the file to identify the customer, so that they could be held responsible for any illegal copying (as with the recent Oscar screener fiasco).
In their fear of online piracy, the MPAA/RIAA/etc. have forgotten that
Real-world piracy is just as much of a problem, probably more so.
Customers are willing to pay for the increased convenience and instant gratification (see iTunes Music Store), which more than offsets the increased risk.
Most customers don't want to be criminals, so giving them a legal option (see again iTMS) is both a good idea and profitable.
I think that the next patent that ought to be pursued in court is the symbolic representation of language as phonetically derived characters. 'Twas recently discovered to be the proerty of a company forming just next week, to assume such rights.
You forgot to include the phrases "a system for implementing" and "on a computer."
a system for implementing the symbolic representation of language as phonetically derived characters on a computer
See, much better! Now watch the royalties roll in. BTW, I own the patent on this method, so you should just endorse those royalty checks over to me....
Yikes, I didn't realize everyone would get all prickly on me. Of course this is major news... I've been a Linux user for over 5 years, so I know that. I was just making fun of the trolls who complain about every product announcement on Slashdot, no matter how major. Geez, no one can take a joke anymore.:)
He's still Netscape's co-founder. I mean, you wouldn't call Michelangelo the former sculptor of David just because he's not still chiseling away. He didn't go back in time and un-found it or anything.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Google decides what to do, tries to do it very well and if possible, tries to make money of it ...Yahoo on the other hand, would gladly sacrifice excellence in their service, for money.
... although I wonder if this will change after the IPO.
It's not that Yahoo is greedy and Google isn't, or even that Yahoo is greedier than Google. It's that Google is long term greedy whereas Yahoo is short term greedy. (Note that I'm using greedy in the non-pejorative sense here.)
Google wisely recognizes that it's sometimes better to build a quality product over time and then cash in than it is to trade quality, reputation, and higher future profits for a quick buck. Short term greed is a common affliction of public companies, like Yahoo, who have shareholders and analysts breathing down their necks every quarter for immediate results. Privately held Google has the luxury of taking their time
Cheers,
IT
The US had not declared war against the USSR, yet commited acts of sabotage and assassination against Russian targets. Doesn't that make the CIA and the US regiem terrorists?
Way to "think outside the box" and see the Cold War for what it really was: unilateral aggression by the USA and CIA against the poor, defenseless USSR and KGB! Seriously, it's one thing when you're talking about the USA bullying some third world country, but comparing that to the Cold War is apples and oranges (and a cheap attempt to score some anti-American karma points). And if you want to know which of these two formerly-equally-matched superpowers was the real terrorist regime, put it this way: there wasn't exactly a flood of Americans expatriating to Moscow to flee CIA gulags.
Cheers,
IT
I didn't know WordPerfect ever went anywhere. I know a lot of Windows users who swear by it. Apparently it has a better equation editor then MS Office.
That's probably a small niche, since people who are serious about their equations mostly use (La)TeX. Interestingly, the one thing that MS Word has never been able to do as well as WP 5.1, in my opinion, is outlines.
Cheers,
IT
So many to choose, since it was an entire episode, but this one seems appropriate:
Sounds like the doomsday whistle! Ain't been blown for nigh onto three years.
Cheers,
IT
If Bluetooth is dead, then how come my Bluetooth keyboard is working perfeSIGNAL LOST
They honestly beleive that visual studio .Net is the best IDE ever
Out of interest, would you name some better IDEs..?
I use emacs/gcc/gdb on my Powerbook, but for a more "friendly" IDE, how about Apple's XCode?
Cheers,
IT
Or the Pinto. If you drop it on the wrong side, it may explode.
Actually, that brand of computer already exists, although you don't necessarily have to drop it to get that "special" functionality.
Cheers,
IT
What "privacy"? The information is posted on the WORLD WIDE Web...
Perhaps a more accurate title would have been "Online Search Engines Remove Delusion Of Privacy."
Cheers,
IT
Sources inside Strongbadia suggest that they considered changing the name to Firebert ... but apparently, it's just not a good commando name.
Cheers,
IT
Man, I'd really like to order some classic books with fake porn star names substituted for the main characters.
....
"Stately, plump Rock Hardwell came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed...."
Imagine the possibilities
Cheers,
IT
It's a good thing that Kazaa is only used for trading public-domain indie music and Linux ISOs. Geez, I don't see what everyone's so worried about.
Cheers,
IT
There's you're answer to "who's using it"... Debian!
That newfangled 2.0 kernel? Maybe for those bleeding-edge folks using unstable, but I think Woody still uses a hamster wheel attached to an abacus.
Cheers,
IT
>I'm basically a master of the Rubix cube
It's Rubic's Cube. Rubic was the name of the man who invented it.
Dear Lord, it's Rubik's cube. If you're going to correct someone, at least make sure that you're correct yourself! Yeesh.
Cheers,
IT
For a $100 textbook, students sometimes pay $5 per page they read during the semester.
I tried calculating how much I paid last semester per actual page read, but I got a divide-by-zero error.
Cheers,
IT
In the original, Han shoots first!
Cheers,
IT
As the Register article suggests, preventing piracy with DRM would be one of the concerns if Netflix were to launch an online video-on-demand service. But let's think about this for a minute. People can already rent the physical DVDs and rip them to a digital format. Is making the files available for direct download any more dangerous?
In fact, it's less dangerous, if anything. If you rip a generic DVD and share it on Kazaa, etc., it's completely untraceable back to you -- anyone could have ripped that DVD. However, an online video-on-demand service could embed some sort of unique watermark in the file to identify the customer, so that they could be held responsible for any illegal copying (as with the recent Oscar screener fiasco).
In their fear of online piracy, the MPAA/RIAA/etc. have forgotten that
Cheers,
IT
If your potential date discovers you sell penis enlargement items on the internet for a living, will that help or hurt your chances?
Better than finding out that you buy penis enlargement items on the internet...
Cheers,
IT
For a minute, I was honestly wondering why on earth Ars would interview Rob Lowe.
Cheers,
IT
There are already plenty of games out there that help you get exercise. Basketball, baseball, soccer ... no expensive electronics required, either!
Cheers,
IT
I think that the next patent that ought to be pursued in court is the symbolic representation of language as phonetically derived characters. 'Twas recently discovered to be the proerty of a company forming just next week, to assume such rights.
You forgot to include the phrases "a system for implementing" and "on a computer."
a system for implementing the symbolic representation of language as phonetically derived characters on a computer
See, much better! Now watch the royalties roll in. BTW, I own the patent on this method, so you should just endorse those royalty checks over to me....
Cheers,
IT
1. I'd like to see a bewolf cluster of these.
2. How long until it runs linux?
3.
Dude, you forgot "4. Profit!"
Cheers,
IT
Yikes, I didn't realize everyone would get all prickly on me. Of course this is major news ... I've been a Linux user for over 5 years, so I know that. I was just making fun of the trolls who complain about every product announcement on Slashdot, no matter how major. Geez, no one can take a joke anymore. :)
Cheers,
IT
Why is an insignificant little dot-release suddenly front page "news" around here? C'mon, guys, this isn't Freshmeat.
Cheers,
IT
He's still Netscape's co-founder. I mean, you wouldn't call Michelangelo the former sculptor of David just because he's not still chiseling away. He didn't go back in time and un-found it or anything. :)
Cheers,
IT
Apu: Could it be used for dating?
Frink: Well, theoretically, yes, BUT the computer matches would be SO PERFECT as to eliminate the thrill of romantic conquest.
Glaven!
IT