On a side note:
Sun also has its own word processing and office suite, called Star Office, which it has begun selling, instead of it giving away, in a sign of maturity for the Microsoft Office rival.
Explain to me how selling a piece of software is "maturity". Idiots
It is maturity because Sun is realizing to make a buck they actually have to start making and selling software, as opposed to suing Microsoft.
... that no matter how early you arrive you cannot take Scott McNealy's office. Bleh, the big wigs that push these things through to "save costs" and encourage the grunts to get in earlier should have to play by the same rules!:-)
Why Sun is losing to Microsoft
on
StarOffice 6.0
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· Score: 2
They have the collective business sense of a two year old. Price alone does not account for marketshare, not nearly as much as quality. Both of these are drawfed by marketing. Other factors, such as product support and integration with existing systems are high on a company's wish list. Most medium to large companies will not even consider the price; and a smaller company would have to weigh if the savings in cost was worth learning a new system and having to move all their old stuff to the new system.
Finally, while giving away an unlimited number of copies to China may seem like a good idea, because the Chinese students may prefer this software when they are older, just remember how easy it is to get illegally pirated software in China. Who would pony up $75 when they could buy it on the streets for $5? This is like giving candy to child shoplifters in the hopes that when they get older they'll stop shoplifting and buy your candy.
I agree with you there, if a newbie WANTS to install Linux, then yes, this saves him money. But if he's saying, "I'll use Linux just because it will save me money," then, unless he gets an image off the Web, he's really not saving anything at all. That was the point I was trying to make...
Linux users who are not going to use Windows face a Windows tax when buying a computer from a distribtor like Gateway, granted. However, what incentive would a new user have NOT to pay the Windows "tax"? You may say that the user wishes to save however many dollars extra is costs to have Windows preinstalled, but realize that that money's going to go straight to buying RedHat (or whatever).
Yes,yes, I know these are downloadable for free, but what *newbie* is going to download the image files and burn them to a CD? Unless the newbie wants to try out Linux, I'd wager that the costs for either option are roughly the same. (RedHat 7.2 costing $59.95 - I don't know what the tax is on a Windows OEM version, but I'd bet it's comparable.)
I guess I just don't see how this cheaper model (stripped of the "Windows tax") really saves newbies much money, if any at all...
in Jefferson City, MO. There's one part where there is this room for various clerical type employees, and they all have their backs to the hallway, and there's a long glass wall, so you can see them all. There must have been about 8 of them, all lined up at their computers, each and every one of them playing solitaire.
Your tax dollars (if you live in Missouri) hard at work.
I guess I don't understand why the vast majority of the posts I am reading here are long the lines of: "Cool, using technology to nab the bad guys!"
However, I would wager if this were a story about red light cameras catching those who ran red lights, or underpass speed detectors catching speeders and mailing them a ticket, you'd be decrying it as an invasion of privacy or whatnot.
I guess I fail to see the difference, other than in the former case you're not the bad guy and in the latter you might be.
Oracle says to California, Oracle says: "Oracle employs x thousand Californians and pays $y tax to California each year. What the fuck are you gonna do for us?"
Here I am, taking a break from studying for my Programming Languages final, so I meander on over to/. and see: LAMBDA CALCULUS and COMBINATORS, the same stuff I've been studying for the last few hours. Sigh.
I'd wager the ol'/. crew is getting pretty bored of/., they've been doing it for how long now, five, six years? I run a decent sized Web site and have for three coming up on four years. The intensity with which I ran it in the early days was amazing, and, over time, have had bouts of time where I just considered giving it up (and I might have had it not been my source of income). But over time the interest picks back up, it sways over the months - sometimes it's a bore, sometimes I can't get enough of it.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least if the/. crew is going through one of the douldrum periods here, tired of the crap, of the non-profitability... bleh, would rather do something else, perhaps. The interest will come back, but it does seem a triffle lacking right now. SO goes it.
The quality of postings over there [at kuro5hin.org] are just horrible. For example, see the current front-page story about female curcumcision. Technology and culture from the trenches my ass
I don't think they're all crap. I agree that there are not many stories that focus on technology (i.e., news for nerds), and, yes, many are on political agendas that I disagree with, but I still think there good stories there, better comments, and far fewer trolls than here on/.
Also, as I said, I still do come to/. b/c I can't get the news for nerds over at k5, unfortuneately.
As opposed to/., which has had the same repetitive crap for much longer
And at least at k5 you get to vote on what repetitive crap you wish to see, as opposed to here, where you are subjected to the crap choosings of Rob et al.:-)
I think you should reward the people that have high karma by droping the rates, say someone with above a 30 gets $1 off the $5 rate, 40+ gets $2 and if you are maxed out at 50 you should have it for $3 off. That way you can reward the people that really use your site and are not just trolls
This makes the term "Karma whoring" a lot more precise, no?
You should check out kuro5hin.org. It is a site where the users post the stories to a queue, and the community votes them to be shown on the site or not. Also, since the overall traffic is lower, the quality of postings/discussions is much higher than at/.
I still like reading/., though, b/c it's more news for nerds while k5, while it has it's technology and nerd news, also has a lot of political and social discussions. Oh yeah, and k5 also has subscriptions before/. did, but "subscribing" does nothing for you, really, since even if you don't subscribe you don't see any ads. (Although when k5 showed OSDN ads in the past, subscribing hid these banners...)
If you want control of your company, don't take VC money. It's too bad it turned out so unfortunately for them, too bad they couldn't be content being a small company without VC funding.
As for the bribe scandal don't forget that it was americans doing the bribing in the first place
But the IOC folks took it. It's funny - the Olympics are clearly about money (corporate sponsors) and its OK to have McDonalds emblems posted all over the place, but it's not ok to have political emblems? What if the US gov wanted to pay to support an event, then could a flag be positioned as such? My point is, if you're going to sell out in one way, is it right/fair to not sell out in other ways?
Perhaps you would be happy for the Stars and Stripes to be plastered all over this year's Winter Games, but would you be so happy if China was to push its political agenda just as vigorously when they host the Summer Games in 2008?
It takes so many bribes to get the Olympics hosted in a particular city/nation, that, yes, the nation should be able to make a political statement if they like - the host country has already paid for it. Now, if the IOC wasn't corrupt, and based their location decisions on something other than where they received "gifts" from, then your claim would cary more weight.
Falacy. Isn't Linux 'competion' for Microsoft? How como advocating Linux is good for MS?
If you were to say, "Use Linux instead of Windows," then yes, it is bad for MS. But most people say, "Use Linux!" And the end result is that people stop using Microsoft's competition. Is Linux competition for Microsoft? Not if the majority of folks who move to it were already using Microsoft's competitors.
For example, assume that 20% of computers run Sun SOlaris and 80% use Windows. Ok. Now, if you say, "We'll take 50% of the 20% that run sun and move them to Linux," and "5% of those that use windows and move them to Linux," now 10% use Sun, 76% use MS and 14% use Linux. Who needs to "sell" their product to stay around? Not Linux, just MS and Sun. So Sun looses more and more market share and goes out of business, so where do those 10% that use Sun go? Maybe half to Linux, half to MS (the half to MS want the support/big company behind their OS and are willing to pay for it); now we have 81% MS, 19% Linux. In the end, Linux advocacy gave MS an increase of market share by 1%. Now how is that hurting MS?
One would think Microsoft is in some serious trouble with all of the large corporations you hear out there switching to Linux solutions. But ask yourself this: What systems do you think these companies were already running? More often than not, I'd wager they were using UNIX, and the reason they switch to Linux is to reduce costs.
Switching to Linux, when all of your sysadmins know Windows, is going to cost in retraining. If your shop runs UNIX, the sysadmins will be ready to roll with Linux.
So, you see, those who tout Linux and decry Microsoft are really taking an ironic stance. They are helping MS (by hurting their competition) when they advocate Linux.
AOL doesn't need to get newbies to "install linux"--just start sending out CDs with a detection routine that autoruns when you pop the CD in, to be sure the computer's got enough HD space and memory
Oh yes, that's going to make them popular. Choose to run AOL and you can't use your other software until you quit AOL.
On an asside, have you ever tried using AIM on Linux? It blows.
grant that chess does give me a feeling of being in a war of wits, and I enjoy seeing my opponent squirm when they fall into one of my traps
I take it, then, that you don't play chess via the Internet? Kind of hard to see your opponent squirm when you can watch only their moves, not their pained facial ticks, hesitant gestures toward the board, frustrated expressions, etc. I've found playing on the Net can be fun for quick games, but it doesn't compete to playing face-to-face. There's an element of action there in a very sitting-quietly sort of way.
Slashdot Mirror
Sun also has its own word processing and office suite, called Star Office, which it has begun selling, instead of it giving away, in a sign of maturity for the Microsoft Office rival.
Explain to me how selling a piece of software is "maturity". Idiots
It is maturity because Sun is realizing to make a buck they actually have to start making and selling software, as opposed to suing Microsoft.
... that no matter how early you arrive you cannot take Scott McNealy's office. Bleh, the big wigs that push these things through to "save costs" and encourage the grunts to get in earlier should have to play by the same rules! :-)
They have the collective business sense of a two year old. Price alone does not account for marketshare, not nearly as much as quality. Both of these are drawfed by marketing. Other factors, such as product support and integration with existing systems are high on a company's wish list. Most medium to large companies will not even consider the price; and a smaller company would have to weigh if the savings in cost was worth learning a new system and having to move all their old stuff to the new system.
Finally, while giving away an unlimited number of copies to China may seem like a good idea, because the Chinese students may prefer this software when they are older, just remember how easy it is to get illegally pirated software in China. Who would pony up $75 when they could buy it on the streets for $5? This is like giving candy to child shoplifters in the hopes that when they get older they'll stop shoplifting and buy your candy.
I agree with you there, if a newbie WANTS to install Linux, then yes, this saves him money. But if he's saying, "I'll use Linux just because it will save me money," then, unless he gets an image off the Web, he's really not saving anything at all. That was the point I was trying to make...
Linux users who are not going to use Windows face a Windows tax when buying a computer from a distribtor like Gateway, granted. However, what incentive would a new user have NOT to pay the Windows "tax"? You may say that the user wishes to save however many dollars extra is costs to have Windows preinstalled, but realize that that money's going to go straight to buying RedHat (or whatever).
Yes,yes, I know these are downloadable for free, but what *newbie* is going to download the image files and burn them to a CD? Unless the newbie wants to try out Linux, I'd wager that the costs for either option are roughly the same. (RedHat 7.2 costing $59.95 - I don't know what the tax is on a Windows OEM version, but I'd bet it's comparable.)
I guess I just don't see how this cheaper model (stripped of the "Windows tax") really saves newbies much money, if any at all...
Your tax dollars (if you live in Missouri) hard at work.
I guess I don't understand why the vast majority of the posts I am reading here are long the lines of: "Cool, using technology to nab the bad guys!"
However, I would wager if this were a story about red light cameras catching those who ran red lights, or underpass speed detectors catching speeders and mailing them a ticket, you'd be decrying it as an invasion of privacy or whatnot.
I guess I fail to see the difference, other than in the former case you're not the bad guy and in the latter you might be.
Oracle says to California, Oracle says: "Oracle employs x thousand Californians and pays $y tax to California each year. What the fuck are you gonna do for us?"
And then California gives them $95 million.
Nope, CSE 230
SKK this.
Wouldn't surprise me in the least if the
My algorithms professor from last quarter, Russell Impagliazzo, worked on the paper. Hoo bah.
I don't think they're all crap. I agree that there are not many stories that focus on technology (i.e., news for nerds), and, yes, many are on political agendas that I disagree with, but I still think there good stories there, better comments, and far fewer trolls than here on
Also, as I said, I still do come to /. b/c I can't get the news for nerds over at k5, unfortuneately.
And at least at k5 you get to vote on what repetitive crap you wish to see, as opposed to here, where you are subjected to the crap choosings of Rob et al. :-)
This makes the term "Karma whoring" a lot more precise, no?
I still like reading /., though, b/c it's more news for nerds while k5, while it has it's technology and nerd news, also has a lot of political and social discussions. Oh yeah, and k5 also has subscriptions before /. did, but "subscribing" does nothing for you, really, since even if you don't subscribe you don't see any ads. (Although when k5 showed OSDN ads in the past, subscribing hid these banners...)
If you want control of your company, don't take VC money. It's too bad it turned out so unfortunately for them, too bad they couldn't be content being a small company without VC funding.
But the IOC folks took it. It's funny - the Olympics are clearly about money (corporate sponsors) and its OK to have McDonalds emblems posted all over the place, but it's not ok to have political emblems? What if the US gov wanted to pay to support an event, then could a flag be positioned as such? My point is, if you're going to sell out in one way, is it right/fair to not sell out in other ways?
It takes so many bribes to get the Olympics hosted in a particular city/nation, that, yes, the nation should be able to make a political statement if they like - the host country has already paid for it. Now, if the IOC wasn't corrupt, and based their location decisions on something other than where they received "gifts" from, then your claim would cary more weight.
They take bribes, they refuse to let the host nation dictate what their opening ceremony should contain.
If you were to say, "Use Linux instead of Windows," then yes, it is bad for MS. But most people say, "Use Linux!" And the end result is that people stop using Microsoft's competition. Is Linux competition for Microsoft? Not if the majority of folks who move to it were already using Microsoft's competitors.
For example, assume that 20% of computers run Sun SOlaris and 80% use Windows. Ok. Now, if you say, "We'll take 50% of the 20% that run sun and move them to Linux," and "5% of those that use windows and move them to Linux," now 10% use Sun, 76% use MS and 14% use Linux. Who needs to "sell" their product to stay around? Not Linux, just MS and Sun. So Sun looses more and more market share and goes out of business, so where do those 10% that use Sun go? Maybe half to Linux, half to MS (the half to MS want the support/big company behind their OS and are willing to pay for it); now we have 81% MS, 19% Linux. In the end, Linux advocacy gave MS an increase of market share by 1%. Now how is that hurting MS?
One would think Microsoft is in some serious trouble with all of the large corporations you hear out there switching to Linux solutions. But ask yourself this: What systems do you think these companies were already running? More often than not, I'd wager they were using UNIX, and the reason they switch to Linux is to reduce costs.
Switching to Linux, when all of your sysadmins know Windows, is going to cost in retraining. If your shop runs UNIX, the sysadmins will be ready to roll with Linux.
So, you see, those who tout Linux and decry Microsoft are really taking an ironic stance. They are helping MS (by hurting their competition) when they advocate Linux.
Oh yes, that's going to make them popular. Choose to run AOL and you can't use your other software until you quit AOL.
On an asside, have you ever tried using AIM on Linux? It blows.
I take it, then, that you don't play chess via the Internet? Kind of hard to see your opponent squirm when you can watch only their moves, not their pained facial ticks, hesitant gestures toward the board, frustrated expressions, etc. I've found playing on the Net can be fun for quick games, but it doesn't compete to playing face-to-face. There's an element of action there in a very sitting-quietly sort of way.
Agreed to a point. If there is no software library for OS whatever then who is going to buy a computer that comes preinstalled with OS whatever?