I doubt they are doing too much about it. A large spike in consumer demand due to high holiday season sales can be expected but not entirely predicted. After a few appologies to the angry consumers, the demand will return to its usual flow (perhaps a bit higher due to new users) so scaling will probably be kept to keep up with the new user base increase. Although, I think this will help them better predict consumer demand spikes on their network better in the upcoming holidays.
Don't get me wrong. I love my iPod and I am an avid Apple user. However, it doesn't make sense to massively scale a network or server farm for unusual seasonal spikes. Then the rest of the year you have idle network and server equipment.
In the end, Apple made a pretty penny! Which I am glad to see since I am an enthusiast of their products.
Most open source business models that I have seen to date focus on support contracts and maintenance contracts for profit. That is if a user of you open source product needs support or wants a specific enhancement that is not part of the current project then a support and maintenance contract is negotiated in order to place effort on those enhancement requests. There are benefits to going open source such as lowering the cost of development since an open community of developers can place effort into the project. However, there are side effects that you need to look out for. Such as there is no guarantee that the open community of developers will work on enhancements requested by paying customers. These enhancements require that a paid development staff focus on those profit based enhancements to ensure delivery. In addition, project management of an open source project can be difficult since most poject managers are not typically trained to handle the management of open source projects.
I suppose the point I am trying to make is that like any business model, your revenue streams needs to be identified and allocated appropriately to ensure the success of your business. Open source is always an option but the ramifications of making your source code public should be considered carefully to ensure that it supports your current business model and/or can help refine or mature your business model into a more profitable one.
A lot of times, especially in academics, you just have to work with what you have. The truth is that its a money thing. Whoever it was that was responsible for the purchase of the lab equipment also had to figure out the total cost of the support contracts and all the other cost analysis that has to do with the procurement of laboratory equipment. This holds true even in the corporate world. Even if we, the researchers, students, lab technicians, developers, would prefer a different solution or prefer to work on different platforms with different tools, it really doesn't matter since it's technically not our lab and our equipment. Now if it is your lab, then the game is entirely different.
See, on the one hand, people are always saying, "oh, man things are so screwed up." I'm not just talking about the last few years or even the last few centuries. You go back to biblical times and before and there were still people saying how bad it all was. It's a constant throughout the ages.
Human beings are negative by nature. The constant approach to looking at life is like looking at a glass that is half empty is an inate human characteristic. I can not assume that this has always been the case, however, there are few times that I find people who try look at problems or life as a glass that is half full.
Perhaps, sometimes it would be beneficial to look at that glass for what it is. Not half full, and not half empty, just a container and the contained.
yeah i used to think the same about my he-man action figures and my transformer robots, but it turns out that they have to be in mint condition or in the original packaging to be worth anything.
anyone know where to get a mint condition Apple IIe?
haha... i thought perhaps it was an attachment in one of their emails... i have been reading their email for a long time now and i can't find it... i have concluded that it doesn't exist. but i do know that we (men) know one thing about women: We know we know nothing about them.
I made the move to MAC when OSX first came out. I guess I finally had a reason to purchase a computer that didn't come with bundled MS operating system and was based on UNIX. I try to avoid support MS as much as I can.:) The only thing that bugs is that I have to run Windows at home so that my kids and wife can use the home PC with ease. (Linux has come far, but its still not a really intuitive home desktop for the computer illiterate.) I only wish there would be a PC based distro of OSX. I would be happy to dish out the money for the licensing.
I have an entire book case filled with my college text books (only those that corresponded to my major) and a few shelves of o'reilly books. i love my o'reilley books.
my o'reilly books have been my introduction to vast amounts of technology and are my day to day reference. easily, i can buy one o'reilly book per month (which i usually do) and stay 5 steps ahead of my co-workers, 10 steps ahead of other fellow students, and 1 step ahead of my college professors.
Since the original question is asked by a MAC OS X user, I am not sure if it really should deserve an answer. However, since I am a MAC OS X user, I suppose that I feel somewhat obligated to share my experience.
Frankly, I love my MAC OS X. The comparison on the CPU cycles is not a fair comparision due to major architectural diffirences between x86 and PPC. I migrated over from a Linux x86 based system. There are some performance diffirences from x86 Linux based GUIs such as Gnome, KDE, WindowMaker, and my favorite Enlightenment when compared to the Quartz GUI on MAC OS X. Most of the differences are simply based that the MAC OS X GUI was designed to create a simple interface for non-technical savvy users. This is one of the very reasons MACs are popular amongst most other non-UNIX users.
I have found the leap in the GUI from the prepackaged Linux GUIs on MAC OS X to be a gigantic progress for *NIX based GUIs. It is pretty look at it. It is simple. Maybe a bit slower than other GUIs but it is stable.
If your concern is just performance. Strip Quartz from your PowerBook and try a pure Darwin installation. You will find the pure speed and performance that you are used to seeing in BSD. Otherwise, shut up about performance and bask in the glow of your most advanced *nix based GUI (That is my opinion).
Being a developer myself, I have a huge number of bugs that are reported to my team and I on a daily basis. While security is always a key concern, there is an entire process of validating a bug prior to adding it to an official bug list. An open source project, such as Mozilla, has to rely on the input of who know who for possible bugs, then also has to rely on a large number of volunteer developers to help validate the bug. Sometimes these processes take time.
Take the time to compare Mozilla's submitted bug report and their official bug list versus Microsoft's (that is if you can find a copy of it).
Although technologies and languages change and mature rapidly with the introduction of new APIs, I still find that the best reference is my own bookshelf. Language websites like php.net and the java api page make it helpful to find built in functions to do what you need. However, there is no replacement for having a few good books on algorithm design, security, software life cycle and the like.
In response to diving in to a bit of Java... Java is a full blown language that can be very complex. I would recommend checking a few books (such as O'Rielly Books) on Java Servlets, Java Server Pages, and JDBC.
Copy protection, at least in my eyes, seems to be just another obstacle for pirating media. The fact is that regardless of what copy protection innovations occur a way around it is found. I am an avid movie collector and I normally purchase all sorts of DVD titles without complaining about the full retail price. Similarly, we have seen the statics on CD sales, DVD sales, and the like have not been impacted as much as was expected with the innovations of mp3 compression and larger hard drives. I think this is more of an ethical dilema. The bottom line is if there is an individual who wants to pirate media bad enough they will find a way to break to copy protection. I think that money would be spent better making better media and marketing to ensure successful sales and revenue due to the media that is being published. Just my $0.02.
I admit that I find myself extremely intrigued by the thought being able to reverse the process of extinction with modern technology. However, the more and more that we advance with science and technology the closer that we are to God. At least this is the main ethical and moral arguement that I hear day in and day out. The argument always comes up in discussions of cloning technology, cross breeding, and now the reversal of extincton.
The possibilities that we find with new technology and science are endless. If this project is successful, it is hard to predict where the following research will go. Perhaps, in bringing back older and older mamals. then what next.... Jurrasic Park?
It is very exciting to me. Sometimes a bit scary. But none the less, it will be interesting at the very least.
I doubt they would give you money but they would probably just email you back and state the email is an official document entitiling you to unlimited multiple user licenses under the GPL agreement free of charge.
Well, you bring some good points. I guess I should have calmed down and explained myself a bit better before shooting off my thoughts.
I understand that MS has every right to license their product however they please. I just personally don't agree with their licensing principles. Being a programmer myself, I choose to license my software under the GNU Public License. However, the company that I work for also has the right to license their products however they please.
Because I dislike how MS licenses their products, I personally choose not to purchase or use their products. This is simply my choice.
I thank you for your perspective. I apologize for pushing my emotions on the facts. The fact remains as you stated that they have the right to license their product however they chose; I have a right to chose not to use their product.
Is this a joke? You have got to be kidding me. How many of us have made a copy of a music cassette tape or CD for another family member to listen to?
Multiple computers in the household are perhaps not as common as multiple CD players, but you have got to be nuts to actually complain about people sharing the same software within their own household. First of all when was the last time that you had to buy a seperate washing machine for each member of the family? Even worse when was the last time that you needed to share a different roll of toilet paper per person in the house hold. Computer prices may be dropping on a day to day basis. But software is not cheap and there is no conceivable way that I can think that a family would not share the same peice of software to just simply save money. We are not talking about a mutli-million dollar business that runs hundreds of copies of the operating system. We are talking about run of the mill middle class individuals that may have 2 or 3 computers in the household which are normally used for personal, entertainment, and educational use. Give me a break... at least these families went into a store and bought a copy of this operating system instead of running to their local warez server to download one of the many available copies of this software.
Stuff like this makes me severly mad at the monopolizing idiot company!
Initially when I was reading this article, I thought "Oh no! Another battle for Linux!" But the truth is Windows users have had access to Linux on their windows boxes ever since the first windows telnet client and a linux/unix shell. Sure this project will allow users to use more linux applications. However, there is a time and a place for every operating system. Bottom line is Windows users may now be able to use more linux applications but they will still only have the stability and reliability of Windows.
So is this really something the Linux community should worry about? I don't know for sure, but it will do one of two things. Convert users from Linux to Windows (due to windows exposure) or it will convert Windows users to Linux. Maybe it won't do anything at all.
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I doubt they are doing too much about it. A large spike in consumer demand due to high holiday season sales can be expected but not entirely predicted. After a few appologies to the angry consumers, the demand will return to its usual flow (perhaps a bit higher due to new users) so scaling will probably be kept to keep up with the new user base increase. Although, I think this will help them better predict consumer demand spikes on their network better in the upcoming holidays.
Don't get me wrong. I love my iPod and I am an avid Apple user. However, it doesn't make sense to massively scale a network or server farm for unusual seasonal spikes. Then the rest of the year you have idle network and server equipment.
In the end, Apple made a pretty penny! Which I am glad to see since I am an enthusiast of their products.
Most open source business models that I have seen to date focus on support contracts and maintenance contracts for profit. That is if a user of you open source product needs support or wants a specific enhancement that is not part of the current project then a support and maintenance contract is negotiated in order to place effort on those enhancement requests. There are benefits to going open source such as lowering the cost of development since an open community of developers can place effort into the project. However, there are side effects that you need to look out for. Such as there is no guarantee that the open community of developers will work on enhancements requested by paying customers. These enhancements require that a paid development staff focus on those profit based enhancements to ensure delivery. In addition, project management of an open source project can be difficult since most poject managers are not typically trained to handle the management of open source projects. I suppose the point I am trying to make is that like any business model, your revenue streams needs to be identified and allocated appropriately to ensure the success of your business. Open source is always an option but the ramifications of making your source code public should be considered carefully to ensure that it supports your current business model and/or can help refine or mature your business model into a more profitable one.
A lot of times, especially in academics, you just have to work with what you have. The truth is that its a money thing. Whoever it was that was responsible for the purchase of the lab equipment also had to figure out the total cost of the support contracts and all the other cost analysis that has to do with the procurement of laboratory equipment. This holds true even in the corporate world. Even if we, the researchers, students, lab technicians, developers, would prefer a different solution or prefer to work on different platforms with different tools, it really doesn't matter since it's technically not our lab and our equipment. Now if it is your lab, then the game is entirely different.
Human beings are negative by nature. The constant approach to looking at life is like looking at a glass that is half empty is an inate human characteristic. I can not assume that this has always been the case, however, there are few times that I find people who try look at problems or life as a glass that is half full.
Perhaps, sometimes it would be beneficial to look at that glass for what it is. Not half full, and not half empty, just a container and the contained.
yeah i used to think the same about my he-man action figures and my transformer robots, but it turns out that they have to be in mint condition or in the original packaging to be worth anything.
anyone know where to get a mint condition Apple IIe?
haha... i thought perhaps it was an attachment in one of their emails... i have been reading their email for a long time now and i can't find it... i have concluded that it doesn't exist. but i do know that we (men) know one thing about women: We know we know nothing about them.
Knowledge is power!
I made the move to MAC when OSX first came out. I guess I finally had a reason to purchase a computer that didn't come with bundled MS operating system and was based on UNIX. I try to avoid support MS as much as I can. :) The only thing that bugs is that I have to run Windows at home so that my kids and wife can use the home PC with ease. (Linux has come far, but its still not a really intuitive home desktop for the computer illiterate.) I only wish there would be a PC based distro of OSX. I would be happy to dish out the money for the licensing.
I have an entire book case filled with my college text books (only those that corresponded to my major) and a few shelves of o'reilly books. i love my o'reilley books.
my o'reilly books have been my introduction to vast amounts of technology and are my day to day reference. easily, i can buy one o'reilly book per month (which i usually do) and stay 5 steps ahead of my co-workers, 10 steps ahead of other fellow students, and 1 step ahead of my college professors.
here is to another 25 years of o'reilly!
Since the original question is asked by a MAC OS X user, I am not sure if it really should deserve an answer. However, since I am a MAC OS X user, I suppose that I feel somewhat obligated to share my experience.
Frankly, I love my MAC OS X. The comparison on the CPU cycles is not a fair comparision due to major architectural diffirences between x86 and PPC. I migrated over from a Linux x86 based system. There are some performance diffirences from x86 Linux based GUIs such as Gnome, KDE, WindowMaker, and my favorite Enlightenment when compared to the Quartz GUI on MAC OS X. Most of the differences are simply based that the MAC OS X GUI was designed to create a simple interface for non-technical savvy users. This is one of the very reasons MACs are popular amongst most other non-UNIX users.
I have found the leap in the GUI from the prepackaged Linux GUIs on MAC OS X to be a gigantic progress for *NIX based GUIs. It is pretty look at it. It is simple. Maybe a bit slower than other GUIs but it is stable.
If your concern is just performance. Strip Quartz from your PowerBook and try a pure Darwin installation. You will find the pure speed and performance that you are used to seeing in BSD. Otherwise, shut up about performance and bask in the glow of your most advanced *nix based GUI (That is my opinion).
Being a developer myself, I have a huge number of bugs that are reported to my team and I on a daily basis. While security is always a key concern, there is an entire process of validating a bug prior to adding it to an official bug list. An open source project, such as Mozilla, has to rely on the input of who know who for possible bugs, then also has to rely on a large number of volunteer developers to help validate the bug. Sometimes these processes take time.
Take the time to compare Mozilla's submitted bug report and their official bug list versus Microsoft's (that is if you can find a copy of it).
In response to diving in to a bit of Java... Java is a full blown language that can be very complex. I would recommend checking a few books (such as O'Rielly Books) on Java Servlets, Java Server Pages, and JDBC.
Good luck.
Copy protection, at least in my eyes, seems to be just another obstacle for pirating media. The fact is that regardless of what copy protection innovations occur a way around it is found. I am an avid movie collector and I normally purchase all sorts of DVD titles without complaining about the full retail price. Similarly, we have seen the statics on CD sales, DVD sales, and the like have not been impacted as much as was expected with the innovations of mp3 compression and larger hard drives. I think this is more of an ethical dilema. The bottom line is if there is an individual who wants to pirate media bad enough they will find a way to break to copy protection. I think that money would be spent better making better media and marketing to ensure successful sales and revenue due to the media that is being published. Just my $0.02.
The possibilities that we find with new technology and science are endless. If this project is successful, it is hard to predict where the following research will go. Perhaps, in bringing back older and older mamals. then what next.... Jurrasic Park?
It is very exciting to me. Sometimes a bit scary. But none the less, it will be interesting at the very least.
I doubt they would give you money but they would probably just email you back and state the email is an official document entitiling you to unlimited multiple user licenses under the GPL agreement free of charge.
I understand that MS has every right to license their product however they please. I just personally don't agree with their licensing principles. Being a programmer myself, I choose to license my software under the GNU Public License. However, the company that I work for also has the right to license their products however they please.
Because I dislike how MS licenses their products, I personally choose not to purchase or use their products. This is simply my choice.
I thank you for your perspective. I apologize for pushing my emotions on the facts. The fact remains as you stated that they have the right to license their product however they chose; I have a right to chose not to use their product.
Multiple computers in the household are perhaps not as common as multiple CD players, but you have got to be nuts to actually complain about people sharing the same software within their own household. First of all when was the last time that you had to buy a seperate washing machine for each member of the family? Even worse when was the last time that you needed to share a different roll of toilet paper per person in the house hold. Computer prices may be dropping on a day to day basis. But software is not cheap and there is no conceivable way that I can think that a family would not share the same peice of software to just simply save money. We are not talking about a mutli-million dollar business that runs hundreds of copies of the operating system. We are talking about run of the mill middle class individuals that may have 2 or 3 computers in the household which are normally used for personal, entertainment, and educational use. Give me a break... at least these families went into a store and bought a copy of this operating system instead of running to their local warez server to download one of the many available copies of this software.
Stuff like this makes me severly mad at the monopolizing idiot company!
Initially when I was reading this article, I thought "Oh no! Another battle for Linux!" But the truth is Windows users have had access to Linux on their windows boxes ever since the first windows telnet client and a linux/unix shell. Sure this project will allow users to use more linux applications. However, there is a time and a place for every operating system. Bottom line is Windows users may now be able to use more linux applications but they will still only have the stability and reliability of Windows. So is this really something the Linux community should worry about? I don't know for sure, but it will do one of two things. Convert users from Linux to Windows (due to windows exposure) or it will convert Windows users to Linux. Maybe it won't do anything at all.