Or Rick Merrill's "In Search of Stupidity". Microsoft's success is due to their own good execution and their rivals' utter stupidity. There is a great section on Novell and their idiocy in that book.
Factoid: Although a bit late for the party discussed in this suit, Eric Schmidt of Google fame was CEO of Novell from 1997 to 2001.
Actually, the vast majority of people world wide don't even have access to a computer. For those who do, the vast majority probably don't even need a dual core cpu, for most of what is done.
The vast majority probably don't need more than dial-up connectivity, though it sure is much more pleasant when you have broadband.
Dual core is the same way. It's much more pleasant to work on a dual core machine than a single core, because most people multitask (listen to music, watch video, browse sites with many tabs, plus OS and antivirus and dropbox sync and blah blah in the background.
Your point has more validity above dual core. Certainly engineers, graphic designers, and gamers have a better chance of needing 4/6/8/12 cores than the typical "I surf, read email, and watch YouTube" user.
I just don't understand why Groupon doesn't set expectations properly with their merchants. When these bad things happen, all 3 (Groupon, Merchant, Customers) lose. Groupon loses follow-on business from the Merchant.
...and I think that's the disconnect. I don't think Groupon is a "built to last" kind of company. They are a "built to IPO" kind of company. Eventually they will run out of merchants who'll try their service, but by then Groupon will long since be out of business.
it's a much better architecture than x86 for transaction processing.
...false. You cite ERP as an example but that is exactly what Itanium is not special at. For business apps and database apps, Itanium is not really any more exciting than Sparc or POWER (and is not as good as POWER). For that matter, it's not any more exciting than x86.
Itanium has lots of 64-bit registers, so if you're doing engineering, science, chess computers, etc. and write Itanium assembler (or have a good compiler), Itanium rocks. But for business apps like ERP, CRM, general databases, etc., Itanium is nothing special. It's not bad or awful - indeed, it's a good fast chip. But so is SPARC, POWER, x86-64, etc.
If you were a medium sized company that spent $10 million on a custom ERP, why would you spend another $10 million every few years to do it all over again? Then you get to train everyone and work through the kinks and bugs again... Most companies just want to use what works.
If your company's ERP is so custom that it only runs on Itanium, you're doing something very wrong. Most people's ERP is built is on some platform that runs considerably higher up the stack.
What is wrong with a software publisher saying they will stop supporting a hardware platform in a future release? Redhat and Microsoft also dropped support for Itanium.
The OS creator, given their deep knowledge of the system internals and ability to bake AV directly into the OS, or
A third-party, who can stand back and look at things from a distance and say "you missed this whole over here," plus the competitive benefits (tot he consumer) of multiple people trying to be the best AV?
Linux, for example, permits viruses to be written. So does OS X. The reason why viruses do not proliferate on those systems is because they're not a particularly interesting attack target
LOL you must be new to this "internet" thing or channeling 1995.
No, he's completely right. Windows is still 90%+ of the desktop usage and so is the most interesting target for that reason alone.
The fact that it's also historically been an easier target is gravy.
Forty years ago, a major software system for operating unmanned space satellites for the U.S. Air Force was written in a language called JOVIAL J4. The JOVIAL J4 compiler was itself written in JOVIAL J4.
Meh...I don't think it's elitism. Anyone could have picked up 4.4-lite and run with it. It's more the legal problems and the fact that Linux is more SysV than BSD, and the world was moving in a SysV direction in the 90s.
This is what I hate about Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Google Music, and every other digital music vendor - limited selection. I can get show X or album Y on service 1, but not on service 2.
I want every CD, every DVD, and every TV show available to me digitally. That's what we all want. It's not like they aren't already sitting in some digital format somewhere.
I've long thought that digital media should be like the Internet, with individual Music Service Providers competing based on their interface, features, etc., and not on their catalog. In other words, all content available through everyone and that's not why you choose one over the other.
iTunes, Google Music, Netflix, etc. are simply recreations of the record company distribution monopoly. At least with record companies, there was one LP, 8-track, cassette, and CD standard. Today you can own a piece of media and not be able to play it on all your devices.
Is it truly cheaper to get liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen on the moon vs. on the Earth?
These are apparently expensive to make here and may exist already frozen on the moon. OK, but you have to design/build/destroy/redesign/rebuild rockets and robots, hire gobs of people, send them to space, get everything insured, run the operation, send the stuff back, burn up a lot of fuel and consumables, and then once it gets here, keep it cold (which I'm guessing takes lots of energy).
So even using back-of-envelope math, does that pencil out? I'm assuming some of it is paid for by taxing people.
Also, the dollar has taken a beating since 2000. I wouldn't say that 2000 dollars were worth twice 2010 dollars, but at least 1.5 of them...
The dollar has "taken a beating" vs. other currencies, but the rate of inflation over the last 10 years has been exceptionally low. Dollars buy less euros than they did in 2000, but you seem to be implying that this affects inflation...
99% of all phone apps have very little to do with the actual phone and instead they're just quick reference URLs to some external site that does most of the work.
No.
You're claiming that out of 500,000-odd iPhone apps, only 5,000 are anything more than just "quick reference URLs to some external site that does most of the work"?
There are more than 5,000 games in the iOS app store.
There are probably 10,000 calculators, flashlight apps, and fart sound effect apps.
Sure, some apps are as you describe, and many apps talk to the net, but 99% are not just "quick reference URLs".
Slashdot Mirror
BTW, the book is available as a free PDF on the site the parent linked to. Thanks!
Or Rick Merrill's "In Search of Stupidity". Microsoft's success is due to their own good execution and their rivals' utter stupidity. There is a great section on Novell and their idiocy in that book.
Factoid: Although a bit late for the party discussed in this suit, Eric Schmidt of Google fame was CEO of Novell from 1997 to 2001.
Actually, the vast majority of people world wide don't even have access to a computer. For those who do, the vast majority probably don't even need a dual core cpu, for most of what is done.
The vast majority probably don't need more than dial-up connectivity, though it sure is much more pleasant when you have broadband.
Dual core is the same way. It's much more pleasant to work on a dual core machine than a single core, because most people multitask (listen to music, watch video, browse sites with many tabs, plus OS and antivirus and dropbox sync and blah blah in the background.
Your point has more validity above dual core. Certainly engineers, graphic designers, and gamers have a better chance of needing 4/6/8/12 cores than the typical "I surf, read email, and watch YouTube" user.
I just don't understand why Groupon doesn't set expectations properly with their merchants. When these bad things happen, all 3 (Groupon, Merchant, Customers) lose. Groupon loses follow-on business from the Merchant.
...and I think that's the disconnect. I don't think Groupon is a "built to last" kind of company. They are a "built to IPO" kind of company. Eventually they will run out of merchants who'll try their service, but by then Groupon will long since be out of business.
Mr Pink, is that you?
Just so you're fully informed:
Biology-specific General
In short, the advice from grad students is, "if there is anything else in life that you would be happy doing, do that instead of getting a PhD."
Itanium is far from crappy,
True, but...
it's a much better architecture than x86 for transaction processing.
...false. You cite ERP as an example but that is exactly what Itanium is not special at. For business apps and database apps, Itanium is not really any more exciting than Sparc or POWER (and is not as good as POWER). For that matter, it's not any more exciting than x86.
Itanium has lots of 64-bit registers, so if you're doing engineering, science, chess computers, etc. and write Itanium assembler (or have a good compiler), Itanium rocks. But for business apps like ERP, CRM, general databases, etc., Itanium is nothing special. It's not bad or awful - indeed, it's a good fast chip. But so is SPARC, POWER, x86-64, etc.
If you were a medium sized company that spent $10 million on a custom ERP, why would you spend another $10 million every few years to do it all over again? Then you get to train everyone and work through the kinks and bugs again... Most companies just want to use what works.
If your company's ERP is so custom that it only runs on Itanium, you're doing something very wrong. Most people's ERP is built is on some platform that runs considerably higher up the stack.
What is wrong with a software publisher saying they will stop supporting a hardware platform in a future release? Redhat and Microsoft also dropped support for Itanium.
Not true. Google's business model is collecting users and selling some advertising
Google collects users? Do they encase them in lucite?
The difference is that you can encrypt your internet connections, encrypting phone calls however is against the law.
It may be illegal where you are, but it's not illegal everywhere.
For example, it's perfectly legal to encrypt your phone calls in the U.S.
After all, how did people access https sites over dial-up for all those years...
Which is more secure:
Linux, for example, permits viruses to be written. So does OS X. The reason why viruses do not proliferate on those systems is because they're not a particularly interesting attack target
LOL you must be new to this "internet" thing or channeling 1995.
No, he's completely right. Windows is still 90%+ of the desktop usage and so is the most interesting target for that reason alone.
The fact that it's also historically been an easier target is gravy.
10 Write Browser in Java
20 Write Javascript engine in Browser
30 GOTO 10
Forty years ago, a major software system for operating unmanned space satellites for the U.S. Air Force was written in a language called JOVIAL J4. The JOVIAL J4 compiler was itself written in JOVIAL J4.
Hardly unusual. GCC is written in C.
This is not quite the same thing.
Javascript != Java. "Javascript" is just a naming rip-off. So what's the big deal?
It's like writing a C compiler in Bourne shell. The point is less about the name than about the complexity and absurdity.
Atom is only for toy netbooks.
I guess I'll just power off my Atom-powered toy and stop reading Slashdot. If only I was using a real, manly laptop like gnasher719, sigh...
Meh...I don't think it's elitism. Anyone could have picked up 4.4-lite and run with it. It's more the legal problems and the fact that Linux is more SysV than BSD, and the world was moving in a SysV direction in the 90s.
This is what I hate about Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Google Music, and every other digital music vendor - limited selection. I can get show X or album Y on service 1, but not on service 2.
I want every CD, every DVD, and every TV show available to me digitally. That's what we all want. It's not like they aren't already sitting in some digital format somewhere.
I've long thought that digital media should be like the Internet, with individual Music Service Providers competing based on their interface, features, etc., and not on their catalog. In other words, all content available through everyone and that's not why you choose one over the other.
iTunes, Google Music, Netflix, etc. are simply recreations of the record company distribution monopoly. At least with record companies, there was one LP, 8-track, cassette, and CD standard. Today you can own a piece of media and not be able to play it on all your devices.
Is it truly cheaper to get liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen on the moon vs. on the Earth?
These are apparently expensive to make here and may exist already frozen on the moon. OK, but you have to design/build/destroy/redesign/rebuild rockets and robots, hire gobs of people, send them to space, get everything insured, run the operation, send the stuff back, burn up a lot of fuel and consumables, and then once it gets here, keep it cold (which I'm guessing takes lots of energy).
So even using back-of-envelope math, does that pencil out? I'm assuming some of it is paid for by taxing people.
Project will probably be canceled because some astro-enviromentalist detected a spor on a moon rock that can live in a vacuum.
"Does it have to be completely lifeless?"
"Don't tell me you found something!"
"We picked up a minor energy reading in one dynoscanner...it could be a pre-animate particle caught in a matrix.
Will this improve the battery life on my cell phone, laptop, and tablet?
I don't think this is quite true: with MS, these dissatisfied shareholders do not (IIRC) maintain a majority controlling interest: Bill and Steve do.
Bill and Steve together own about 850 million shares out of 8.4 billion, or slightly more than 10%.
Also, the dollar has taken a beating since 2000. I wouldn't say that 2000 dollars were worth twice 2010 dollars, but at least 1.5 of them...
The dollar has "taken a beating" vs. other currencies, but the rate of inflation over the last 10 years has been exceptionally low. Dollars buy less euros than they did in 2000, but you seem to be implying that this affects inflation...
If your bank is paying 0.5% on a savings account, then you need to find a new bank.
Eh? That's actually about average. Do you have a bank that pays substantially more?
99% of all phone apps have very little to do with the actual phone and instead they're just quick reference URLs to some external site that does most of the work.
No.
You're claiming that out of 500,000-odd iPhone apps, only 5,000 are anything more than just "quick reference URLs to some external site that does most of the work"?
There are more than 5,000 games in the iOS app store.
There are probably 10,000 calculators, flashlight apps, and fart sound effect apps.
Sure, some apps are as you describe, and many apps talk to the net, but 99% are not just "quick reference URLs".