Re:You /. people really like the word "monopoly"
on
Broadband Obstacles
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· Score: 0
You people REALLY don't understand the free market....
1. Company scrambles for market share, prices are below competitors.
2. Company becomes a monopoly, prices match competition.
3. Company becomes uncontested monopoly, prices shoot up.
4. Profit margins become so attractive, MANY large companies jump in to compete.
5. Monopoly loses position, scrambles to hold on to eroding market share as younger, more hungry companies tear it up.
It's Schumpeter's Law of Creative Destruction. Monopolies arise, and if they abuse their position, they get taken down. Unless there is a HUGE Natural barrier to entry, there will be HUNDREDS of competitors jumping in once price gouging occurs.
It's a natural cycle, and if you use the GOVERNMENT to try and FORCE the skipping of steps, then you will destabalize the whole process.
Some companies become monopolies by being in the right place at the right time with the right product. Other monopolies happen because it would be too painful for their NOT to be a monopoly (ie competing power lines in your neighborhood, making 5 power cables strung to each house...).
/. readers think that SUCCESS = BAD.
Trust me, the goal of ANY company is to become a monopoly!! Welcome to the free market kids, you must be this tall to ride...
If Microsoft, for example, is SOOO unfair, why is that that they can sell MILLIONS of copies of Windows while Linux is FREE?!? Is Microsoft PREVENTING people from installing it? Nope, Operating systems are a NECESSARY MONOPOLY. An overly-fragmented OS market would KILL software development and we'll be back in the 80's where software retailers had 10 different sections, one for Amiga, one for Apple, IBM, Tandy, Commodore, Etc. Same with Television broadcast standards. How expensive would it be if every TV station in the USA had to broadcast in NTSC, PAL, and 5 other standards? There would be none left! Some times standards are necessary, which sometimes means that monopolies will arise from those needs.
Wanna see what happens when the Government protects the little guy? Go visit Russia 10 years ago. Inefficient businesses existing when they should have crumbled decades ago suddenly struggling to compete in a world that passed them up.
If the government has a problem with a Monopoly, don't attack the monopoly, ATTACK THE MARKET CONDITIONS THAT ALLOWED THE MONOPOLY. Microsoft became a monopoly because USERS needed ONE UNIFIED STANDARD so they didn't have 10 competing platforms to choose from, making software prohibitively expensive and adoption confusing to new users. If the government wanted to prevent Microsoft from becoming a monopoly, they could have formed a commission to develop and interoperable standard that ALL OS's must conform to, and all software must run on. That means that software written to this standard can run on Windows, Linux, OS/2, etc, and whichever platform is the most stable, fastest, etc will get the people's business. That way the Software devs are on an even playing field.
Breaking up Microsoft WILL NOT PREVENT THEM FROM BECOMING A MONOPOLY. They will STILL BE a monopoly, just in smaller pieces.
THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT YOUR MOMMY!!!!
on
Broadband Obstacles
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· Score: 1, Interesting
I agree, get the GOVERNMENT out of BUSINESS. Let the "Invisible Hand" do the work.
The Government should NOT sponsor telcos to roll out new services, damn straight, and they shouldn'
t break up MICROSOFT either.
The government should maintain our armed forces, our interstate highways, conduct foreign policy and a few other things. Keep the governement OUT of business.
Any time in history where the government has interfered to artificially BOLSTER or BREAK UP a company, it's been ugly. AT&T doesn't even count because the Government was propping them up, then decided to break them up, then they re-consolidated and ended up stronger, but if the Government hadn't propped them up in the first place we'd have had $.05 long distance 15 years ago.
The problem with Government sticking their noses in private industry is that once they do, they cannot stop. Once they choose to support and industry, it becomes reliant on the Government to keep it afloat. If the government chooses to step in and break up a monopoly, it will have to police that sector forever, since it was MARKET CONDITIONS that allowed the monopoly to happen in the first place, and a forced breakup doesn't change that. It's like preventing Iceburgs by breaking them up with an icepick. As long as the weather/water conditions are there, there will be another iceburg forming to replace the one you broke up.
Get the Government OUT OF the public sector, period. Every $1 spent in the private sector returns $10 in a year to the economy, but every $1 spend in the government returns $.70. Taxes are a BAD investment. ANY company (the Government is simply a company, afterall) that has an UNLIMITED source of revenue (the Taxpayer) has NO incentive to become more efficient. The goverment is good, but the government doesn't need to be in everything we do. The government is NOT your MOMMY.
Re:You all are a SAD parody of yourselves...
on
The Ultimate S.U.V.
·
· Score: 0
Oh, and back to this story:
The author was UPSET about it using NT because a "Linux port for the communication drivers wasn't avalable".
EVEN THOUGH LINUX DOESN"T WORK IN THIS APPLICATION, THE AUTHOR STILL THINKS LINUX IS THE BEST OS FOR THE JOB!! Ok, that's rediculous! Here's a situation where the software ONLY works on NT, yet the author STILL says LINUX is a better system for this application.
LINUX was a good OS, before it became a religion.
You all are a SAD parody of yourselves...
on
The Ultimate S.U.V.
·
· Score: 0
The NT comment in this story is the last straw. As a LINUX user, I'm embarrassed to be part of the LINUX community anymore. You all are WORSE than that SNL parody of the "Computer Guy". You are worse because you are serious.
You all have stopped thinking, and the world is laughing. I told a non-Linux user to check out/. to see more of the community, and he emailed me back "This place is full of people that would get beat up at a Geek convention". How pathetic.
You don't think for yourselves. You attack ANYTHING MS without even thinking about it. LINUX isn't the answer to EVERY question! It's like you all try to shoehorn LINUX into being the be-all end-all! I have a LINUX server farm and it's a GOOD Server O/S. I also have WIN2K servers and they are a GOOD too. BOTH have had the same reliability.
Any IT person who doesn't use the RIGHT tool for each job is in IDIOT. ANYONE who thinks that LINUX is the right tool for EVERY job is an IDIOT.
When you all suggested that LINUX should be used as the DESKTOP OS for HOME USERS, I laughed my ass off!!! Let's see, not very user-friendly and cannot run 90% of the software on the store shelves, YUP sounds like a GREAT OS for my KIDS!!
I'm embarassed to use LINUX anymore, you all are simply giving it a bad name. Just like Bin Laden twisted Islam and tainted its image, you all are doing Linux a grave disservice through your fanaticism.
Do me a favor, go down to your local Best Buy and hang out by the computers. Ask every soccer mom that is browsing what her favorite Linux build is and see what she says.
We're not talking college campuses here, we're talking HOME PC USERS. Moreover, wer're talking low-income home-PC users. If they are getting a FREE PC, why not give them an OS that they will actually RUN INTO in the business world?
It's like putting "Wordstar" instead of "MS Word" on your resume...
If people were SUGGESTING a choice, that would be different. LINUX users are trying to say that the PCs should be LINUX installs, not Windows. If they install Windows, since LINUX is free they could just wipe and reload. If they pre-install LINUX, if they wanted Windows they would have to go buy it. Besides, what % would actually CHOOSE Linux? My guess is.001%.
That's what makes this so silly. A statistically insignificant number of users would CHOOSE LINUX, yet Linux users want to make LINUX the standard load.
Simple: Because/. cannot see good in ANYTHING that MS might be involved in.
NY TIMES HEADLINE:
"Microsoft Cures Cancer!!!!"
SLASHDOT HEADLINE:
"Microsoft Prevents Smaller Labs From Being First To Discover Cancer Cure!!"
These sheep need to start thinking for themselves. I have a whole TOOLBOX of tools. When a screwdriver is the best tool for the job, I use it. When a hammer is the best tool, I use it. Slashdot users are still trying to drive nails with their screwdrivers.
LINUX isn't the answer to everything. Using LINUX to drop the initial cost of a PC by 10%-15% only to increase the cost of MAINTAINING that PC by 200% is simply illogical!
It's nice to see that many readers have commented that this is NOT a situation where LINUX is the best choice, but many of you still rabidly claim that it is, even when it's so astoundingly obvious that LINUX would be a support nightmare. Not to mention the fact that these are HOME PCs and wouldn't be able to run 95% of the software on the shelves.
Claiming LINUX is a good O/S for corporate servers is one thing I agree with. Claiming LINUX is a good O/S for corporate desktops is debatable. Claiming LINUX is a good o/s for a HOME PC for an UNEXPERIENCED USER is simply silly!!!
Yes, money IS an issue, and the cost of hardware PLUS software is around 30% of the cost of a PC. Service, support and productivity is the rest. Take a LINUX pc and cut that 30% in half, then take the remaining 70% and DOUBLE it. I cannot wait to see how a government supports a rollout of LINUX on the DESKTOP. Heck, most companies with an established helpdesk cannot afford the volume increase it would cause.
As a Linux user, I do NOT think that LINUX is the best OS for EVERYONE. Will LINUX run 99% of the software on store shelves? NOPE, Windows does. Does LINUX have the support that Windows does? Nope. Does Linux have the help files and "Dummies" manuals windows does? Nope. For 9(% of a population, Windows is a MUCH better choice.
Why not give everyone a VAX terminal!! It's cheaper, and since we don't care about compatibility or ease of use, then this is perfect!!
You're insane. Sure, ship LINUX to a MILLION+ people! Who supports it? Who answers their call when they cannot run 95% of the off the shelf software on the market?
Why not ship it with PC-DOS? It's cheap, it's easy, and it has about the same compatibility as LINUX.
By the way, I run a LINUX server farm and have Redhat on one of my PCs at home. Just because I run Linux doesn't mean I'm so STUPID to believe that it is the best choice for EVERYONE.
Since only about 10% of the cost of owning a PC is tied up with the Software, why are you all so worried about saving them the 10% AND DOUBLING the other 90%? (service, support, etc).
You just don't get it. The cost of the software makes up about 10% of the cost of owning a PC, the rest is in service, support, productivity and hardware. You might save them 10% by going to LINUX, but for the average user, what do you think that will do to support costs? Who will handle the MILLIONS of calls about compatibility problems, or core recompile failures, etc?? Remember, you're not distributing LINUX to a Million engineers, you're distributing it to a Million people who have NEVER used a computer before.
Then they go to their local software store and cannot find the software they want in a LINUX version.
Come on people, it's like you only have a hammer so every problem looks like a nail.
Distribute LINUX to MILLIONS of people, great! Now, who is going to support it? Who do they call when their compile fails? Who do they call when they cannot run 90% of the software on the store shelves?
Why not just suggest putting a NINTENDO in everyone's home, at least they'll get some use out of that.
The cost of the software adds up to about 10% of the total cost of owning a computer. Support, productivity, hardware, service, etc. make up the rest. LINUX will eliminate 10% of the cost, then double the other 90%.
Why move to San Fran? We've had this in Cincinnati for MONTHS. Our cable company calls it "On Demand" and you can order a movie anytime and the cable remote has VCR-like controls to FF/RW, pause, stop, etc. which you can do for 24 - 48 hours (depending on the movie) which is the term of the rental.
Why does SF get press for being the "FIRST!!" when poor Cincinnati has had this for months?
I can hit a button on my remote to access "On Demand" programming that I can start, stop, rewind, pause, etc whenever I want, as much as I want for 24-48 hours. We've had it here for months, so why does SF get all the hype?
Teching kids "Concepts" is fine, but if you go to an employer and say "I know the concept of preparing taxes, but I've never actually done it" do you think they'll be hired?
These are INNER-CITY KIDS. They would benefit the MOST from practical training. Leave the esoteric "Theory of window opening" to the IT majors.
What burns me is that the tactics MS uses are the SAME tactics MOST companies use. The ONLY difference is that they have done it better, and for that they are punished.
Personally I think Microsoft should dissolve and re-form in India, where they have a GREAT populace of VERY SKILLED IT people. That way the US loses all of their tax money and jobs and Microsoft gets a source of skilled, cheap labor.
Even better: MS should fold. Go out of business. Close up shop.
That way, THOUSANDS of software companies can fold with them. In the market that follows it would be LINUX, BEOS, OSX and maybe a few others fighting it out. The small developers would be screwed because they would have to support all 4 to be successful since any one of them would mean excluding 25% of the marketplace. Then comes the hardware... Like spending $500 for a GeForce3? Get ready to! Quadrupling the driver development staff to handle the range of OSs and versions would burden the peripheral manufacturers, who pass the costs on to the consumers. Games? What games? Electronic Arts and a few others will survive, but forget any company smaller than $50Mil in sales per year, they won't be able to author 4 versions of everything and hope to break even.
I remember learining to program in Modula4 on a VAX in school. How useful was that? Not even a little.
Some kid graduates and doesn't know how to minimize a window, or alt+tab between apps, or use Explorer, etc. is pretty much useless.
"But I learned how to keep bowling scores in Modula4!!"
"Nice. Kid, go work in a bowling alley, I need to hire someone with skills I can use."
Hate MS all you want. Most people who hate MS also hate Tiger Woods and anyone else who is successful. Hate is the byproduct of fear and insecurity, and if you are not a successful person in life, you will quickly learn to hate those who are successful to help your self esteem. Personally I don't give a rats ass about MS or Linux. I use both in my server farm, I use whatever is best for the job. I don't care if Adolf Hitler made the OS, if it fits my needs most completely, I'll use it.
SCHOOLS are for teaching kids to use the tools that are most prevalent in the business world. Teaching kids on APPLES then sending them out into the PC WORLD didn't help them much, so now you see schools abandoning their Apples en-masse and moving to MS/PC.
Why on EARTH would we want to teach kids on open source? Why not teach them to play Tony Hawk on the Playstation, it has the same relevance in the real business world.
The idea behind school is to arm the kids with USEFUL knowledge, and unless LINUX can take a greater marketshare than they have now, teaching kids on LINUX is simply a waste of their time.
BTW I have a farm of LINUX webservers behind me, and several appservers as well, so I'm not against LINUX, I'm against teaching kids LINUX instead of Windows since MOST companies that use LINUX use it on their servers, not desktops, which is where these kids will find themselves.
Yeah, let's give them LINUX running on APPLE so when the graduate they will not know how to function in the REAL WORLD where 90% of the companies use PCS running WINDOWS.
What the F*&K do you think schools are FOR? They are NOT for trying to dethrone Microsoft, they are for teaching kids to use the technologies that are MOST PREVALENT in the real world. Apple users feel like fish out of water when they get into the real world, Linux/Apple users would have no appreciable skills in the software and hardware that most of the companies.
You knee-jerk anti-MS people crack me up. Think before you post please.
I think we should teach the kids on LINUX, so when they graduate and get out into the real world they can be completely lost since no companies use Linux.
It's NOT a school's job to try and steer technology, it's their job to teach the most pervasive technology to kids.
Slashdot Mirror
You people REALLY don't understand the free market....
1. Company scrambles for market share, prices are below competitors.
2. Company becomes a monopoly, prices match competition.
3. Company becomes uncontested monopoly, prices shoot up.
4. Profit margins become so attractive, MANY large companies jump in to compete.
5. Monopoly loses position, scrambles to hold on to eroding market share as younger, more hungry companies tear it up.
It's Schumpeter's Law of Creative Destruction. Monopolies arise, and if they abuse their position, they get taken down. Unless there is a HUGE Natural barrier to entry, there will be HUNDREDS of competitors jumping in once price gouging occurs.
It's a natural cycle, and if you use the GOVERNMENT to try and FORCE the skipping of steps, then you will destabalize the whole process.
Some companies become monopolies by being in the right place at the right time with the right product. Other monopolies happen because it would be too painful for their NOT to be a monopoly (ie competing power lines in your neighborhood, making 5 power cables strung to each house...).
/. readers think that SUCCESS = BAD.
Trust me, the goal of ANY company is to become a monopoly!! Welcome to the free market kids, you must be this tall to ride...
If Microsoft, for example, is SOOO unfair, why is that that they can sell MILLIONS of copies of Windows while Linux is FREE?!? Is Microsoft PREVENTING people from installing it? Nope, Operating systems are a NECESSARY MONOPOLY. An overly-fragmented OS market would KILL software development and we'll be back in the 80's where software retailers had 10 different sections, one for Amiga, one for Apple, IBM, Tandy, Commodore, Etc. Same with Television broadcast standards. How expensive would it be if every TV station in the USA had to broadcast in NTSC, PAL, and 5 other standards? There would be none left! Some times standards are necessary, which sometimes means that monopolies will arise from those needs.
Wanna see what happens when the Government protects the little guy? Go visit Russia 10 years ago. Inefficient businesses existing when they should have crumbled decades ago suddenly struggling to compete in a world that passed them up.
If the government has a problem with a Monopoly, don't attack the monopoly, ATTACK THE MARKET CONDITIONS THAT ALLOWED THE MONOPOLY. Microsoft became a monopoly because USERS needed ONE UNIFIED STANDARD so they didn't have 10 competing platforms to choose from, making software prohibitively expensive and adoption confusing to new users. If the government wanted to prevent Microsoft from becoming a monopoly, they could have formed a commission to develop and interoperable standard that ALL OS's must conform to, and all software must run on. That means that software written to this standard can run on Windows, Linux, OS/2, etc, and whichever platform is the most stable, fastest, etc will get the people's business. That way the Software devs are on an even playing field.
Breaking up Microsoft WILL NOT PREVENT THEM FROM BECOMING A MONOPOLY. They will STILL BE a monopoly, just in smaller pieces.
I agree, get the GOVERNMENT out of BUSINESS. Let the "Invisible Hand" do the work.
The Government should NOT sponsor telcos to roll out new services, damn straight, and they shouldn'
t break up MICROSOFT either.
The government should maintain our armed forces, our interstate highways, conduct foreign policy and a few other things. Keep the governement OUT of business.
Any time in history where the government has interfered to artificially BOLSTER or BREAK UP a company, it's been ugly. AT&T doesn't even count because the Government was propping them up, then decided to break them up, then they re-consolidated and ended up stronger, but if the Government hadn't propped them up in the first place we'd have had $.05 long distance 15 years ago.
The problem with Government sticking their noses in private industry is that once they do, they cannot stop. Once they choose to support and industry, it becomes reliant on the Government to keep it afloat. If the government chooses to step in and break up a monopoly, it will have to police that sector forever, since it was MARKET CONDITIONS that allowed the monopoly to happen in the first place, and a forced breakup doesn't change that. It's like preventing Iceburgs by breaking them up with an icepick. As long as the weather/water conditions are there, there will be another iceburg forming to replace the one you broke up.
Get the Government OUT OF the public sector, period. Every $1 spent in the private sector returns $10 in a year to the economy, but every $1 spend in the government returns $.70. Taxes are a BAD investment. ANY company (the Government is simply a company, afterall) that has an UNLIMITED source of revenue (the Taxpayer) has NO incentive to become more efficient. The goverment is good, but the government doesn't need to be in everything we do. The government is NOT your MOMMY.
Oh, and back to this story:
The author was UPSET about it using NT because a "Linux port for the communication drivers wasn't avalable".
EVEN THOUGH LINUX DOESN"T WORK IN THIS APPLICATION, THE AUTHOR STILL THINKS LINUX IS THE BEST OS FOR THE JOB!! Ok, that's rediculous! Here's a situation where the software ONLY works on NT, yet the author STILL says LINUX is a better system for this application.
LINUX was a good OS, before it became a religion.
The NT comment in this story is the last straw. As a LINUX user, I'm embarrassed to be part of the LINUX community anymore. You all are WORSE than that SNL parody of the "Computer Guy". You are worse because you are serious.
/. to see more of the community, and he emailed me back "This place is full of people that would get beat up at a Geek convention". How pathetic.
You all have stopped thinking, and the world is laughing. I told a non-Linux user to check out
You don't think for yourselves. You attack ANYTHING MS without even thinking about it. LINUX isn't the answer to EVERY question! It's like you all try to shoehorn LINUX into being the be-all end-all! I have a LINUX server farm and it's a GOOD Server O/S. I also have WIN2K servers and they are a GOOD too. BOTH have had the same reliability.
Any IT person who doesn't use the RIGHT tool for each job is in IDIOT. ANYONE who thinks that LINUX is the right tool for EVERY job is an IDIOT.
When you all suggested that LINUX should be used as the DESKTOP OS for HOME USERS, I laughed my ass off!!! Let's see, not very user-friendly and cannot run 90% of the software on the store shelves, YUP sounds like a GREAT OS for my KIDS!!
I'm embarassed to use LINUX anymore, you all are simply giving it a bad name. Just like Bin Laden twisted Islam and tainted its image, you all are doing Linux a grave disservice through your fanaticism.
It's still silly.
Do me a favor, go down to your local Best Buy and hang out by the computers. Ask every soccer mom that is browsing what her favorite Linux build is and see what she says.
We're not talking college campuses here, we're talking HOME PC USERS. Moreover, wer're talking low-income home-PC users. If they are getting a FREE PC, why not give them an OS that they will actually RUN INTO in the business world?
It's like putting "Wordstar" instead of "MS Word" on your resume...
If people were SUGGESTING a choice, that would be different. LINUX users are trying to say that the PCs should be LINUX installs, not Windows. If they install Windows, since LINUX is free they could just wipe and reload. If they pre-install LINUX, if they wanted Windows they would have to go buy it. Besides, what % would actually CHOOSE Linux? My guess is .001%.
That's what makes this so silly. A statistically insignificant number of users would CHOOSE LINUX, yet Linux users want to make LINUX the standard load.
Now, how silly is that?
Simple: Because /. cannot see good in ANYTHING that MS might be involved in.
NY TIMES HEADLINE:
"Microsoft Cures Cancer!!!!"
SLASHDOT HEADLINE:
"Microsoft Prevents Smaller Labs From Being First To Discover Cancer Cure!!"
These sheep need to start thinking for themselves. I have a whole TOOLBOX of tools. When a screwdriver is the best tool for the job, I use it. When a hammer is the best tool, I use it. Slashdot users are still trying to drive nails with their screwdrivers.
LINUX isn't the answer to everything. Using LINUX to drop the initial cost of a PC by 10%-15% only to increase the cost of MAINTAINING that PC by 200% is simply illogical!
It's nice to see that many readers have commented that this is NOT a situation where LINUX is the best choice, but many of you still rabidly claim that it is, even when it's so astoundingly obvious that LINUX would be a support nightmare. Not to mention the fact that these are HOME PCs and wouldn't be able to run 95% of the software on the shelves.
Claiming LINUX is a good O/S for corporate servers is one thing I agree with. Claiming LINUX is a good O/S for corporate desktops is debatable. Claiming LINUX is a good o/s for a HOME PC for an UNEXPERIENCED USER is simply silly!!!
Yes, money IS an issue, and the cost of hardware PLUS software is around 30% of the cost of a PC. Service, support and productivity is the rest. Take a LINUX pc and cut that 30% in half, then take the remaining 70% and DOUBLE it. I cannot wait to see how a government supports a rollout of LINUX on the DESKTOP. Heck, most companies with an established helpdesk cannot afford the volume increase it would cause.
Pass the crack!!
As a Linux user, I do NOT think that LINUX is the best OS for EVERYONE. Will LINUX run 99% of the software on store shelves? NOPE, Windows does. Does LINUX have the support that Windows does? Nope. Does Linux have the help files and "Dummies" manuals windows does? Nope. For 9(% of a population, Windows is a MUCH better choice.
Why not give everyone a VAX terminal!! It's cheaper, and since we don't care about compatibility or ease of use, then this is perfect!!
You're insane. Sure, ship LINUX to a MILLION+ people! Who supports it? Who answers their call when they cannot run 95% of the off the shelf software on the market?
Why not ship it with PC-DOS? It's cheap, it's easy, and it has about the same compatibility as LINUX.
By the way, I run a LINUX server farm and have Redhat on one of my PCs at home. Just because I run Linux doesn't mean I'm so STUPID to believe that it is the best choice for EVERYONE.
Since only about 10% of the cost of owning a PC is tied up with the Software, why are you all so worried about saving them the 10% AND DOUBLING the other 90%? (service, support, etc).
Get real.
You just don't get it. The cost of the software makes up about 10% of the cost of owning a PC, the rest is in service, support, productivity and hardware. You might save them 10% by going to LINUX, but for the average user, what do you think that will do to support costs? Who will handle the MILLIONS of calls about compatibility problems, or core recompile failures, etc?? Remember, you're not distributing LINUX to a Million engineers, you're distributing it to a Million people who have NEVER used a computer before.
Then they go to their local software store and cannot find the software they want in a LINUX version.
Thanks government for the big paperweight!!!
Come on people, it's like you only have a hammer so every problem looks like a nail.
Distribute LINUX to MILLIONS of people, great! Now, who is going to support it? Who do they call when their compile fails? Who do they call when they cannot run 90% of the software on the store shelves?
Why not just suggest putting a NINTENDO in everyone's home, at least they'll get some use out of that.
The cost of the software adds up to about 10% of the total cost of owning a computer. Support, productivity, hardware, service, etc. make up the rest. LINUX will eliminate 10% of the cost, then double the other 90%.
Why move to San Fran? We've had this in Cincinnati for MONTHS. Our cable company calls it "On Demand" and you can order a movie anytime and the cable remote has VCR-like controls to FF/RW, pause, stop, etc. which you can do for 24 - 48 hours (depending on the movie) which is the term of the rental.
Why does SF get press for being the "FIRST!!" when poor Cincinnati has had this for months?
I can hit a button on my remote to access "On Demand" programming that I can start, stop, rewind, pause, etc whenever I want, as much as I want for 24-48 hours. We've had it here for months, so why does SF get all the hype?
This is the most rational post I've ever seen on Slashdot.
Teching kids "Concepts" is fine, but if you go to an employer and say "I know the concept of preparing taxes, but I've never actually done it" do you think they'll be hired?
These are INNER-CITY KIDS. They would benefit the MOST from practical training. Leave the esoteric "Theory of window opening" to the IT majors.
What burns me is that the tactics MS uses are the SAME tactics MOST companies use. The ONLY difference is that they have done it better, and for that they are punished.
Personally I think Microsoft should dissolve and re-form in India, where they have a GREAT populace of VERY SKILLED IT people. That way the US loses all of their tax money and jobs and Microsoft gets a source of skilled, cheap labor.
Even better: MS should fold. Go out of business. Close up shop.
That way, THOUSANDS of software companies can fold with them. In the market that follows it would be LINUX, BEOS, OSX and maybe a few others fighting it out. The small developers would be screwed because they would have to support all 4 to be successful since any one of them would mean excluding 25% of the marketplace. Then comes the hardware... Like spending $500 for a GeForce3? Get ready to! Quadrupling the driver development staff to handle the range of OSs and versions would burden the peripheral manufacturers, who pass the costs on to the consumers. Games? What games? Electronic Arts and a few others will survive, but forget any company smaller than $50Mil in sales per year, they won't be able to author 4 versions of everything and hope to break even.
Was it the fact that you were dropped on your head as a child that made you a trolling moron?
I remember learining to program in Modula4 on a VAX in school. How useful was that? Not even a little.
Some kid graduates and doesn't know how to minimize a window, or alt+tab between apps, or use Explorer, etc. is pretty much useless.
"But I learned how to keep bowling scores in Modula4!!"
"Nice. Kid, go work in a bowling alley, I need to hire someone with skills I can use."
Hate MS all you want. Most people who hate MS also hate Tiger Woods and anyone else who is successful. Hate is the byproduct of fear and insecurity, and if you are not a successful person in life, you will quickly learn to hate those who are successful to help your self esteem. Personally I don't give a rats ass about MS or Linux. I use both in my server farm, I use whatever is best for the job. I don't care if Adolf Hitler made the OS, if it fits my needs most completely, I'll use it.
THIS post gets an "INSIGHTFUL" rating?? Sheesh!!
SCHOOLS are for teaching kids to use the tools that are most prevalent in the business world. Teaching kids on APPLES then sending them out into the PC WORLD didn't help them much, so now you see schools abandoning their Apples en-masse and moving to MS/PC.
Why on EARTH would we want to teach kids on open source? Why not teach them to play Tony Hawk on the Playstation, it has the same relevance in the real business world.
The idea behind school is to arm the kids with USEFUL knowledge, and unless LINUX can take a greater marketshare than they have now, teaching kids on LINUX is simply a waste of their time.
BTW I have a farm of LINUX webservers behind me, and several appservers as well, so I'm not against LINUX, I'm against teaching kids LINUX instead of Windows since MOST companies that use LINUX use it on their servers, not desktops, which is where these kids will find themselves.
You morons.
Yeah, let's give them LINUX running on APPLE so when the graduate they will not know how to function in the REAL WORLD where 90% of the companies use PCS running WINDOWS.
What the F*&K do you think schools are FOR? They are NOT for trying to dethrone Microsoft, they are for teaching kids to use the technologies that are MOST PREVALENT in the real world. Apple users feel like fish out of water when they get into the real world, Linux/Apple users would have no appreciable skills in the software and hardware that most of the companies.
You knee-jerk anti-MS people crack me up. Think before you post please.
They should have won this case.
I think we should teach the kids on LINUX, so when they graduate and get out into the real world they can be completely lost since no companies use Linux.
It's NOT a school's job to try and steer technology, it's their job to teach the most pervasive technology to kids.
Let's teach kids to type on DVORAK keyboards!
Same deal.
GREAT IDEA!!
Like all those kids who learned on APPLE then got out into the real world and found no Apples at any companies...
Let's teach our kids to use the stuff that's on 3% of the systems and ignore the other 97%...
Glad you aren't in charge of Jack.