Apparently unlike everyone else replying to this, I did buy my mom a Mac.
Her requirements were problems: Microsoft Money, had an HP printer/fax/copier that didn't have OS X drivers, as well as some other misc. software
However, running Win2K at the time on a PC, she was having the constant security updates, virus problems, and of course spyware (Gator was rampant on her machine).
I just explained that not everything she had on the PC would work on the Mac, and she might have to rebuy some of her software or convert to a different package. In return for helping buy her the computer, she agreed to do that.
HP released an official driver a few months after her G4 arrived, and in the mean time, I let her borrow my old DeskJet.
That was 3 years ago, and she's never been happier with her Mac. She's had one problem with a faulty modem (a simple return to an Apple store had it fixed in an hour), otherwise it's been problem free, and I've had more free time to work on other things than my mom's computer problems.
You could copy and paste that story with my mother-in-law as well...
Anal correction to the correction... from MacOSRumors.com:
However, the denial only specified that no deal was ready to be announced -- the language was clearly intentionally vague on the point of whether or not such a deal was being negotiated. This implies that the deal is further off than rumormongers have suggested, but is very likely still on the way....
With the hefty premium Apple pays to the Music Industry (TM) it's a wonder they make enough to cover their bandwith/maintenance costs. I'm surprised Apple couldn't negotiate a better deal with the RIAA. Then again, when has the RIAA been eager to embrace more effective (read "online") distribution medium to begin with?
I just hope Apple will hang on to the store as a service to the people, so long as it can cover it's own costs. Up to this point it seems to be the most liberal in terms of DRM/user rights.
It could be quite possible they really know what they're doing and will renegotiate the terms once they prove to be nearly invaluable (sales-wise) to the RIAA? They (apple, not the RIAA) just inked that deal with Pepsi, and now the billion-dollar giveaway with McDonald's... they're positioning themselves nicely.
Jobs may exaggerate relentlessly, but he's not completely dumb. This could be the hook that leads to the worm for Apple. Sell songs for the RIAA cheap, and then once the money really starts flowing, demand higher royalties.
At least that's what I would do if I was running the iTunes show.
A point well taken, but some notes to follow up on...
Company A has every right to sell products that they create. However, I as an individual also have a right to give away things that I create; in other words, free software.
If my project becomes greater in quailty and value than Company A's Widgetmanager(TM); so much so that it doesn't seem worth they money, compared to my free Widgetmanager, who's at fault? Me? Absolutely not.
Jobs at companies will be secured, as long as companies realize that they're revenue model is not guaranteed. Too often companies treat the customer as a given (read: RIAA) than a customer.
If Company A's product offered enough features and additional customer service in the form of support, I would have no reservations about spending money to buy it over a free alternative.
The problem is when Company A uses it's market power and monetary strength as a club, instead of arm for improving its products.
Its obvious that Microsoft make decisions for no other reason than to make more money. The subscription chat services make more money than unsubscribed.
Companies exist to make money. They don't do it for the fun of it all.
As much as I despise Microsoft because of their business practices, I can't really blame them for attempting to make money off one of their products. That's the problem with companies, they're always out for a buck.
As long as there's free alternatives, let them go ahead and charge what they want. The informed will begin to use free software more frequently because of it; and the uninformed might just discover it for the first time.
I think you've never worked with a true professional. Certainly not someone who does commercial-grade work for a living.
Well, I have actually. The guy is such a wire nerd he took pictures of our new building's wiring for a photo album! But he does it as side work.
However it was the couple guys who did it for a living--not on the side--that spooked the hell out of me.
They're the one's who told me never to tape wire nuts if you end up not twisting them right, since inspectors will look at that. Also shortcuts with running stuff where inspectors don't look, like under ceiling tile, etc.
I wouldn't say I do eletrical work for a hobby (I own a few houses), but from my experience, people who do it "on the side" (not once in a blue moon, but people who would be poor if they hired an electrician each time) generally do a *better* job than "professionals".
My take on it is that the pros know how to get things by the inspector, while the average do-it-yourselfer is paranoid: dotting all the 'i's and crossing the 't's so to speak.
Case-in-point: Our datacenter was hit by that massive black out, and was hooked up to one of those tractor-trailer generators. The cables where held together with grapefruit-size balls of electrical tape.
Getting there - The effectiveness of wearing pedestrian helmet while walking from home to school in elementary school children
See, I knew it!!!:-)
Re:It's a healthy reminder, though...
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It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt, though, and I've read about a number of cases of people injuring themselves or others by trying to do that kind of stuff. The mature thing to do is to preemptively avoid spreading that kind of content so that it doesn't fall into the hands of idiots.
Though I fully understand this argument for children surfing the web...
I generally think the "dumbing" down of civilization--you know, things like coffee cups that say "contents hot"--will eventually result in laws requiring babies being surgicaly modified with helmets pre-attached and sheathed with bubble-wrap.
Yea, it's a blanket statement and of course: it's all done because of legal liability. But come on, how are these people gonna learn if they don't get a few scars?
Learning through mistakes is still how it works, right?
For those of you who aren't familiar with business practices, HP is following the Gillette business model in their printer division.
This was thought up by Mr. Gillette himself (you know, the razor guy). He would sell razors at a loss, and then sell the refills at much inflated prices to make up the difference. Even today, a pack of 8 or so refills for a Gillette razor equals the price of just buying a new one.
HP is trying to pull this off in the computer world, and I don't know if it's such a wise thing to pinch your customers until they bleed dollars. Look at recent history:
1. HP inkjet carts used to be freely refillable, until HP modified the design to keep this from happenning.
2. HP printers generally stopped accepting third-party cartridge replacements.
3. Now the HP-only cartridges have a expiration date.
Now, since the first two steps haven't gotten the average printer user keeping up with ink cartridge consumption to keep the stock-holders happy; I guess just make the things stop working after a while! Perfect business plan, guys.
I really would love to see large companies use the good-ol sense of customer service to make a buck than bend-the-customer-over-because-we-can.
I know I'm not buying anymore HP stuff from now on.
That is a good example of a law that puts the burden of responsibility on the person who's actually being the dipstick instead of the reverse.
I mean, you wouldn't leave the front door of your house open with arrows pointing to it and then feel violated when you have people walking around your living room. Why should wireless neworks be any different?
How the hell am I cheap? CDs are too expensive, at $15-20 a CD, why the fuck do I want to pay the same price, only with less quality in digital form?
Come on man, its economics 101, people buy based on value.
Which is why this will probably work.
You state that CD's are roughly $15-20 per CD. On average a CD contains somewhere between 10-15 songs, out of which a good number most people probably only like a few of them.
So, instead of paying more $$ for a CD which primarily contains songs you won't like in pefect digital form, instead sound quality when you can have the ones you DO like, in nearly imperceptible degredation for slightly less money.
Thats too expensive. Sorry but I'm already priced out of that market. No song is worth $1
What? The typical "new" cd that gets released on the market is about $15-18.00 and probably contains anywhere from 10-15 songs. That works out to about $1.00 a song when you average it out.
I mean, common... you spend $1.00 and have the song for good. In some places, you can't even buy a bottle of soda for that cheap anymore.
No, no, no. Not in the home. It [PC price] hasn't come down in the last several years at all. Remember when sub-$1,000 PCs were all the rage. The percentage of sub-$1,000 or $500 PCs is not significantly different today than it was several years ago. There is more capability every year for the price, but the same could be said for Microsoft Office 2003.
Well Steve, considering that Windows/Office can generally make up about 50% of the PC's price...you're right. They haven't budged at at all.
Slashdot Mirror
Apparently unlike everyone else replying to this, I did buy my mom a Mac.
Her requirements were problems: Microsoft Money, had an HP printer/fax/copier that didn't have OS X drivers, as well as some other misc. software
However, running Win2K at the time on a PC, she was having the constant security updates, virus problems, and of course spyware (Gator was rampant on her machine).
I just explained that not everything she had on the PC would work on the Mac, and she might have to rebuy some of her software or convert to a different package. In return for helping buy her the computer, she agreed to do that.
HP released an official driver a few months after her G4 arrived, and in the mean time, I let her borrow my old DeskJet.
That was 3 years ago, and she's never been happier with her Mac. She's had one problem with a faulty modem (a simple return to an Apple store had it fixed in an hour), otherwise it's been problem free, and I've had more free time to work on other things than my mom's computer problems.
You could copy and paste that story with my mother-in-law as well...
Does this qualify as a pusher or shover robot?
Interpret how you may!
Damnit Jim!
Really?? That means this is incorrect then.
Wanna start a business?
Company A has every right to sell products that they create. However, I as an individual also have a right to give away things that I create; in other words, free software.
If my project becomes greater in quailty and value than Company A's Widgetmanager(TM); so much so that it doesn't seem worth they money, compared to my free Widgetmanager, who's at fault? Me? Absolutely not.
Jobs at companies will be secured, as long as companies realize that they're revenue model is not guaranteed. Too often companies treat the customer as a given (read: RIAA) than a customer.
If Company A's product offered enough features and additional customer service in the form of support, I would have no reservations about spending money to buy it over a free alternative.
The problem is when Company A uses it's market power and monetary strength as a club, instead of arm for improving its products.
Helloooo... IBM, are you listening??? Wait, wasn't HP the supposed Fourtune 500 company that bought a SCO license?
Companies exist to make money. They don't do it for the fun of it all.
As much as I despise Microsoft because of their business practices, I can't really blame them for attempting to make money off one of their products. That's the problem with companies, they're always out for a buck.
As long as there's free alternatives, let them go ahead and charge what they want. The informed will begin to use free software more frequently because of it; and the uninformed might just discover it for the first time.
I think you've never worked with a true professional. Certainly not someone who does commercial-grade work for a living.
Well, I have actually. The guy is such a wire nerd he took pictures of our new building's wiring for a photo album! But he does it as side work.
However it was the couple guys who did it for a living--not on the side--that spooked the hell out of me.
They're the one's who told me never to tape wire nuts if you end up not twisting them right, since inspectors will look at that. Also shortcuts with running stuff where inspectors don't look, like under ceiling tile, etc.
Remember, it's not the volts that get ya, it's the amps!
I've been shocked by 10,000 volts. It sucked, but it wasn't fatal!
I wouldn't say I do eletrical work for a hobby (I own a few houses), but from my experience, people who do it "on the side" (not once in a blue moon, but people who would be poor if they hired an electrician each time) generally do a *better* job than "professionals".
My take on it is that the pros know how to get things by the inspector, while the average do-it-yourselfer is paranoid: dotting all the 'i's and crossing the 't's so to speak.
Case-in-point: Our datacenter was hit by that massive black out, and was hooked up to one of those tractor-trailer generators. The cables where held together with grapefruit-size balls of electrical tape.
Getting there - The effectiveness of wearing pedestrian helmet while walking from home to school in elementary school children
:-)
See, I knew it!!!
It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt, though, and I've read about a number of cases of people injuring themselves or others by trying to do that kind of stuff. The mature thing to do is to preemptively avoid spreading that kind of content so that it doesn't fall into the hands of idiots.
Though I fully understand this argument for children surfing the web...
I generally think the "dumbing" down of civilization--you know, things like coffee cups that say "contents hot"--will eventually result in laws requiring babies being surgicaly modified with helmets pre-attached and sheathed with bubble-wrap.
Yea, it's a blanket statement and of course: it's all done because of legal liability. But come on, how are these people gonna learn if they don't get a few scars?
Learning through mistakes is still how it works, right?
Well, maybe for Mr. Gates... but I'd love to get rich quick!
Right, but the original poster's beef is that "no song is worth a dollar".
I agree with you, if I'm going to get every song on the CD, i'll just go out and but the CD.
But the ability to just download it while at home and ship it off to my iPod in a few minutes makes the $1 pricetag a great deal.
Then why do you keep reading them? ;)
For those of you who aren't familiar with business practices, HP is following the Gillette business model in their printer division.
This was thought up by Mr. Gillette himself (you know, the razor guy). He would sell razors at a loss, and then sell the refills at much inflated prices to make up the difference. Even today, a pack of 8 or so refills for a Gillette razor equals the price of just buying a new one.
HP is trying to pull this off in the computer world, and I don't know if it's such a wise thing to pinch your customers until they bleed dollars. Look at recent history:
1. HP inkjet carts used to be freely refillable, until HP modified the design to keep this from happenning.
2. HP printers generally stopped accepting third-party cartridge replacements.
3. Now the HP-only cartridges have a expiration date.
Now, since the first two steps haven't gotten the average printer user keeping up with ink cartridge consumption to keep the stock-holders happy; I guess just make the things stop working after a while! Perfect business plan, guys.
I really would love to see large companies use the good-ol sense of customer service to make a buck than bend-the-customer-over-because-we-can.
I know I'm not buying anymore HP stuff from now on.
Wow, is that ever a refreshing story.
That is a good example of a law that puts the burden of responsibility on the person who's actually being the dipstick instead of the reverse.
I mean, you wouldn't leave the front door of your house open with arrows pointing to it and then feel violated when you have people walking around your living room. Why should wireless neworks be any different?
Which is why this will probably work.
You state that CD's are roughly $15-20 per CD. On average a CD contains somewhere between 10-15 songs, out of which a good number most people probably only like a few of them.
So, instead of paying more $$ for a CD which primarily contains songs you won't like in pefect digital form, instead sound quality when you can have the ones you DO like, in nearly imperceptible degredation for slightly less money.
Hmm....
What? The typical "new" cd that gets released on the market is about $15-18.00 and probably contains anywhere from 10-15 songs. That works out to about $1.00 a song when you average it out.
I mean, common... you spend $1.00 and have the song for good. In some places, you can't even buy a bottle of soda for that cheap anymore.
Well Steve, considering that Windows/Office can generally make up about 50% of the PC's price...you're right. They haven't budged at at all.
Pretty amazing what a monopoly can let you do eh?
Isn't 1.5Mbps faster than 350KB/sec? :)
I really don't understand why the ferocity of their defense of the "Firebird" name.
One is a database.
Another is a browser.
It's also a car.
Unless, like I read in another post... it's all about publicity to just get the "Firebird" name out there.
Ah well.