1. I always thought that Java and current plugins should/would solve the problem of extending your browsers functionality?
2. Why would I want another folder/plugin/whatever crap on my system with new bugs and security 'features' if the current standards hardly work properly?
3. Why should the average (windows) user care about a new standard anyway, since his system is already messed up with RealPlayer, QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave, Google bar, Yahoo bar or whatever bar/plugin?
4. Why even more plugins anyway - why not make better browser!
I had a look at the free demo a long time ago - I always love it when our local experts provide us with hands own experience. Opera is a very good, consistent, stable and fast product. Cross platform and available for Cell phones. IMHO Opera still handles tabbed browsing and many other interface issues better then anything MOZ.
Wake up little one - the browser wars are over! And the winner is very obvious... even if MS put IE6 on ice for one or two years there will be NO takeover from anyone... no matter how many times mozilla/firbird/betawahtever changes it name and no matter how comfy and cool Opera gets... (and I love both browsers).
Let's face it: ActiveX ain't that bad and you can do nice stuff with it - but all those Standardmakers (Opera, Sun, etc) never tried to support it - which is a shame. All sides play this boring 'not invented here game' and bre their own stuff...
My sarcastical point was rather based on corporate speak. If the book uses that kind of speach pattern it just brainwashes you into business confirmity - and that's not exactly out of the box thinking - or is it?
In my 16 years of freelancing have a lot of c-speak - which sometimes carries some weight, BUT it never impressed anyone in the long run and it never finished any projects on time.
And all these nice business books and seminars etc. - they are also no substitute for hard work (on your projects and yourself) plus social networking.
Well - we see the collaps of another unsolid business idea of another 'free' service - plus the blunder of another blogging provider (remember the whole SixApart - Movabletype 3 anger last month?)
1. If it runs in IE6 - it usually runs everywhere - so businesses hardly loose any O/FF users. I never said anything about excluding other browsers - I just won't code extra for new browsers or so called standards.
2. There is NO browser that has not it's own little problems. There is no such thing as a perfect plattform. If Linux, Opera or FF truely get more popular then there will be more exploits.
3. For years we hears stories about IE loosing market share? Must the same true story that Apple finally died or will be bought by XYZ.
As a developer I don't ***** care who is inventing which standard anymore.
The promise that HTML was going to be a simple and independent language/tool is long broken.
With every new standard and browser development gets harder, testing and debugging longer.
For years now every bigshot has been talking about standards - but true implementation is far off.
HTML has mutated over the years - not properly developed.
If Opera & Mozilla try to force new stuff on developers - they will only get ignored even quicker. Web development is mostly based on IE6 - and nothing else.
Although I love and use Opera (and a bit Firefox here and there) - IE6 development brings in the money. And as a small fry I can't afford NOT to follow the money.
PS: I also paid my version of MT2 - like so many have. I guess for many people it's not an issue to pay something - but the whole bad management, communication and no new features for a hefty price tag. Many MT users are not willing to support an expensive maintenance release. They don't want everything for free - but a good release, good features and a reliable company behind it.
Many alpha bloggers have been waiting for MT3 a long time - SixApart has been dragging it's feet, since they were very busy developing their big purely commercial version TypePad.
TypePad has many features many MT users have been waiting for a long time - especially since many MT users paid some money to use their tool. Some of that money kept SixApart alife and financed the developement of TypePad.
MT3 hardly offers ANY new features - none of those we can see in TypePad, like list management, gallery etc.
MT was for many people the only real alternative to Blogger, but MT2.x or even MT3.x now lags behind in terms of features and most of all performance.
There has been a long time announcement for a MT3 Pro version - which never surfaced.
MT3 is still based on static pages, so if you change your layout (CSS or templates) you have to rebuild all pages - which can take down many shared servers. There have been reports that some ISPs won't allow MT installs on their severs, because those rebuilds eat all cpu power. MT is also very slow when it comes to comments.
Many long time MT bloggers with hundreds or thousands of postings and comments are sick and tired about the rebuild issue. Many of the other weblog systems are dynamic since they are based on PHP.
One of the main points for MT2.x have been it's active plugin developer scene - which was mostly born out of the lack of features. Many people hoped that MT3 would include many of these plugins as regular features... especially since TypePad has all those goodies!
SixApart has a bad reputation in terms of licenses and communication. They behave a bit like Apple: we are sooo cool therefore you have to pay more. This may work if you have a product like the iPod, which is really outstanding - but MT3 is not really far ahead of the competition.
Many MT users will switch, because they are disappointed, because they are sick and tired of waiting for better features and constantly putting up with bad communcation.
The pricing schemes is confusing and not very useful for neither private nor business users. A good CMS/blog is worth some money, but not several hundred dollars/euro.
Another point certainly are those many more dynamic weblog systems based on PHP - they are easier to hack for most people and less bitchy about server performance. They should have released a home (around $30) and a business version (around $75) - PLUS different kind of support contracts - like so many other companies do. Let's say a MT3 Gold service contract will cost you $500 a year, but you will hava a three hour response time etc.
MT/SixApart once hat the lead and they had the buzz. The negative wave has been building up for at least six months now. I am sure SixApart won't disppear over night, but it will take them a long time or a very bold business move to get rid of that bad vibe and earn the trust of their users again.
Meanwhile I personally will go for WordPress some day (my weblog).
Sony Software has always sucked - especially SonicStage. It came with my MiniDisc-Player and it is #*+/&%$"$%!!!! And Sony customer service is even worse...
Just another single vendor DRM format - just what the world needed. So far Apple has beaten Sony on it's own field of expertise: cool consumer electronics.
All those former industry leaders in the analog arena (Sony, Kodak,...) seem to fail completely to cling to their lead positions in the digital age.
Try this for Trillian:
Trillian -> users -> default -> yahoo.ini
Change auto connect to:
auto connect=0
You won't have yahoo, but the rest will be working now.
I forgot: Mr. Strauss also made big push to get most of the space industry to Bavaria as well. Only Hamburg at that time was smart enough to grab at least some part of the Airbus construction.
The economic history of Bavaria: Well, how about this. In the early seventies the most beloved Mr. Strauss lured many high tech companies to Bavaria, as well he expanded the local defense industry like Krauss-Mafai, BMW, Dornier and others - while the rest of Germany was still into producing mostly industrial stuff like cars, fridges, steel and coal.
So, is that really a result of WWII or local politics?
Especially the Ruhr area - the so called industrial heart of Germany - it took decades to realize and let go of steel and coal industry, that's while we still pay the Kohlepfennig till today. Restructuring happened to late and without determination.
Remember also that Siemens plays an important role in Bavaria for electronics, chips plants and know how.
As a secondary element/thought: most IT publications like Chip, DOS International, etc. started in Munich/Wurzburg. Most big IT distributor also sit close to Munich.
So I would say it wasn't sheer historical luck that transformed bavaria into a modern state, but some good political and business decisions.
For contrast: Hamburg did something similar regarding to media and internet, so they subsidised and helped startups and media agencies a lot - with some success. Was that luck as well?
Every other state or big city had the same chance - but did they take it? Nope.
Now to lifestyle or so called personal freedom:
Bavaria has the same laws as the rest of Germany. So there is no difference.
And let's speak of personal freedom: in Munich you can do nude bathing in the close vicinity (about 500 meters) of the Bavarian Parliment as well as Staatskanzlei (where Mr. Stoiber resides). So much about conservatives and personal freedom (yes, I know Munich has a socialist Mayor, but it's still Bavaria).
Nobody is forced to wear Lederhosen all the time, nobody is required to be conservative.
Just because a state is ruled by a conservative party it doesn't mean young people or everybody else has less personal freedom.
Back to education: ALL german states are responsible for the mess we have - and we had it for decades now. No government so far was brave enough to push any real reforms, instead it was just talk, talk and more talk...
orangeguru - I have a Lederhosen, but I can yodel properly
What our friend Elektroschock fails to mention is, that Bavaria is the most successful state in Germany, with low unemployment, low state debt and good education - especially compared to northern states.
So please spare us the rhetorics about bavarian conservatism and catholicism.
Bavaria feature also a high percentage of IT industry: Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, Suse, Ingram Micro etc. have all their german HQs in Bavaria.
And Bavarians are as corrupt as anyone else.
If you have a problem with people loving their Laptops and Lederhosen, like Scotts like their Kilts and Whiskeys, then you should reeducate yourself with cross cultural understanding.
Bavaria is simple a state/tribe with a high cultural identity plus some some business sense. Plus most foreigners identify Oktoberfest, Lederhosen, the Alps, Jodeln, Beer (Law of purity) and Humpa music with Germany, although these are local bavarian traits.
orangeguru - neither a big fan of Bavaria nor King Stoiber
1. Real income of white and blue collar workers have been on the decline for several decades, cost of living has been rising.
2. Capitalism is basically killing it's own customers, since people earn less, they can consume less (otherwise they simply make more debts and creating dangerous bubbles).
3. Most manufacturing is done by machines these days, only service and administration jobs are the main areas for humans. So most people work in jobs were they can be easily replaced.
4. Job fluctuation has become extreme - compatred to the old "job for life" hardly anyone stays longer then five years in one company. This also dimishes the social fabric in companies, the ties between workers and management are loser, people stick less together.
5. Globalisation also means not only the exchange of riches (by creating jobs in these developing countries9, but also sharing poverty (in those "rich countries").
6. Protectionism (like US-steel tarifs) just speed up the shift of jobs, since they raise the benefits of outsourcing even higher and create a "false" market that could collapse anytime without more government intervention.
7. Business is more and more concentrated, so less companies produce all the goods/services. Obviously less companies need less employees.
8. The financial market has developed in a way that it investors make more money, thru short term money business instead of investing long term in companies. This of course doesn't create many jobs...
9. Since most companies these days are on the stock market, their share values have become more important then the actual core business. Instead on focusing on markets and products, CEO's are forced in a three months rhythm to create value for stockholders - so money gets sucked out of companies and long term projects are hardly tackled.
10. Not to mention the overall inbalance between job payments of CEO's etc. - and that they are hardly held responsible for job and value destruction.
11. Education in most industrial societies is wrecked or seriously cut down, so western countries become "dumber", while developing countries catch up....
Thanks for your kind and competent answer. Yawn.
First of all we don't deploy on IIS but on Apache. I was talking pure Office/Backoffice here.
Anyone interested in sharing some useful knowledge apart from the usual uninformed flaming?!
I am part if IT-Support/Admin for an international company (in eleven countries).
So far I haven't seen a convincing set of Linux tools to migrate the MS-Chain of Command (Exchange, Office and Explorer).
So far there is no Linux package out there that is equal to Office+Exchange combo - or is there?!
Another problem is, that many custom (web) applications rely on IE (they won't work with any other browser).
Plus we are a travel company that relies on many specialized tools that are simply not avail under Linux.
If you have a company that hardly relies on special apps - and just needs office and net apps - Linux is ready to go.
Germany / Munich here (although I have worked in the UK and US as well)
Technology and organisation are not the real problem - it's usually middle management and their fear of lossing control.
I have been freelancing for many companies, who were all "capable" of supporting teleworking. But the decision was mostly based on how paranoid the middle management guys were. And if they felt "secure" and "empowered" to let go of their cubicle slaves.
The Death of early Movers ...
on
Salon Asks for Help
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Salon is dying, Wired sold out to big media, Suck died. Most of the early purely net based publishers are out of business. The lesson: pure online journalism or publications don't work - yet.
And it's a failure of readers as well: they hardly support good sites with subscriptions, since there still is and always will be loads of "free" content around from big media.
The best way to make money in media is to sell cds, dvds, tv shows, books and magazines.
Well financed web based publishing is as real as the paperless office... hardly at all.
Slashdot Mirror
1. I always thought that Java and current plugins should/would solve the problem of extending your browsers functionality?
2. Why would I want another folder/plugin/whatever crap on my system with new bugs and security 'features' if the current standards hardly work properly?
3. Why should the average (windows) user care about a new standard anyway, since his system is already messed up with RealPlayer, QuickTime, Flash, Shockwave, Google bar, Yahoo bar or whatever bar/plugin?
4. Why even more plugins anyway - why not make better browser!
I had a look at the free demo a long time ago - I always love it when our local experts provide us with hands own experience.
Opera is a very good, consistent, stable and fast product. Cross platform and available for Cell phones. IMHO Opera still handles tabbed browsing and many other interface issues better then anything MOZ.
Wake up little one - the browser wars are over! And the winner is very obvious ... even if MS put IE6 on ice for one or two years there will be NO takeover from anyone ... no matter how many times mozilla/firbird/betawahtever changes it name and no matter how comfy and cool Opera gets ... (and I love both browsers).
Let's face it: ActiveX ain't that bad and you can do nice stuff with it - but all those Standardmakers (Opera, Sun, etc) never tried to support it - which is a shame. All sides play this boring 'not invented here game' and bre their own stuff ...
Really?!
My sarcastical point was rather based on corporate speak. If the book uses that kind of speach pattern it just brainwashes you into business confirmity - and that's not exactly out of the box thinking - or is it?
In my 16 years of freelancing have a lot of c-speak - which sometimes carries some weight, BUT it never impressed anyone in the long run and it never finished any projects on time.
And all these nice business books and seminars etc. - they are also no substitute for hard work (on your projects and yourself) plus social networking.
highly effective business-value generators, working with the rest of the company to solve common goals
Be a good drone - that will solve all your problems with the rest of the money herd.
Well - we see the collaps of another unsolid business idea of another 'free' service - plus the blunder of another blogging provider (remember the whole SixApart - Movabletype 3 anger last month?)
1. If it runs in IE6 - it usually runs everywhere - so businesses hardly loose any O/FF users. I never said anything about excluding other browsers - I just won't code extra for new browsers or so called standards.
2. There is NO browser that has not it's own little problems. There is no such thing as a perfect plattform. If Linux, Opera or FF truely get more popular then there will be more exploits.
3. For years we hears stories about IE loosing market share? Must the same true story that Apple finally died or will be bought by XYZ.
As a developer I don't ***** care who is inventing which standard anymore.
The promise that HTML was going to be a simple and independent language/tool is long broken.
With every new standard and browser development gets harder, testing and debugging longer.
For years now every bigshot has been talking about standards - but true implementation is far off.
HTML has mutated over the years - not properly developed.
If Opera & Mozilla try to force new stuff on developers - they will only get ignored even quicker. Web development is mostly based on IE6 - and nothing else.
Although I love and use Opera (and a bit Firefox here and there) - IE6 development brings in the money. And as a small fry I can't afford NOT to follow the money.
PS: I also paid my version of MT2 - like so many have. I guess for many people it's not an issue to pay something - but the whole bad management, communication and no new features for a hefty price tag. Many MT users are not willing to support an expensive maintenance release. They don't want everything for free - but a good release, good features and a reliable company behind it.
Many alpha bloggers have been waiting for MT3 a long time - SixApart has been dragging it's feet, since they were very busy developing their big purely commercial version TypePad.
... especially since TypePad has all those goodies!
TypePad has many features many MT users have been waiting for a long time - especially since many MT users paid some money to use their tool. Some of that money kept SixApart alife and financed the developement of TypePad.
MT3 hardly offers ANY new features - none of those we can see in TypePad, like list management, gallery etc.
MT was for many people the only real alternative to Blogger, but MT2.x or even MT3.x now lags behind in terms of features and most of all performance.
There has been a long time announcement for a MT3 Pro version - which never surfaced.
MT3 is still based on static pages, so if you change your layout (CSS or templates) you have to rebuild all pages - which can take down many shared servers. There have been reports that some ISPs won't allow MT installs on their severs, because those rebuilds eat all cpu power. MT is also very slow when it comes to comments.
Many long time MT bloggers with hundreds or thousands of postings and comments are sick and tired about the rebuild issue. Many of the other weblog systems are dynamic since they are based on PHP.
One of the main points for MT2.x have been it's active plugin developer scene - which was mostly born out of the lack of features. Many people hoped that MT3 would include many of these plugins as regular features
SixApart has a bad reputation in terms of licenses and communication. They behave a bit like Apple: we are sooo cool therefore you have to pay more. This may work if you have a product like the iPod, which is really outstanding - but MT3 is not really far ahead of the competition.
Many MT users will switch, because they are disappointed, because they are sick and tired of waiting for better features and constantly putting up with bad communcation.
The pricing schemes is confusing and not very useful for neither private nor business users. A good CMS/blog is worth some money, but not several hundred dollars/euro.
Another point certainly are those many more dynamic weblog systems based on PHP - they are easier to hack for most people and less bitchy about server performance. They should have released a home (around $30) and a business version (around $75) - PLUS different kind of support contracts - like so many other companies do. Let's say a MT3 Gold service contract will cost you $500 a year, but you will hava a three hour response time etc.
MT/SixApart once hat the lead and they had the buzz. The negative wave has been building up for at least six months now. I am sure SixApart won't disppear over night, but it will take them a long time or a very bold business move to get rid of that bad vibe and earn the trust of their users again.
Meanwhile I personally will go for WordPress some day (my weblog).
Sony Software has always sucked - especially SonicStage. It came with my MiniDisc-Player and it is #*+/&%$"$%!!!! And Sony customer service is even worse ...
...) seem to fail completely to cling to their lead positions in the digital age.
Just another single vendor DRM format - just what the world needed. So far Apple has beaten Sony on it's own field of expertise: cool consumer electronics.
All those former industry leaders in the analog arena (Sony, Kodak,
Sigh. Did I say it's an backdoor my little troll?
Try this for Trillian: Trillian -> users -> default -> yahoo.ini Change auto connect to: auto connect=0 You won't have yahoo, but the rest will be working now.
I would call this beating the enemy with his own weapons.
I forgot: Mr. Strauss also made big push to get most of the space industry to Bavaria as well. Only Hamburg at that time was smart enough to grab at least some part of the Airbus construction.
Sorry for the laste addition.
The economic history of Bavaria: Well, how about this. In the early seventies the most beloved Mr. Strauss lured many high tech companies to Bavaria, as well he expanded the local defense industry like Krauss-Mafai, BMW, Dornier and others - while the rest of Germany was still into producing mostly industrial stuff like cars, fridges, steel and coal.
...
So, is that really a result of WWII or local politics?
Especially the Ruhr area - the so called industrial heart of Germany - it took decades to realize and let go of steel and coal industry, that's while we still pay the Kohlepfennig till today. Restructuring happened to late and without determination.
Remember also that Siemens plays an important role in Bavaria for electronics, chips plants and know how.
As a secondary element/thought: most IT publications like Chip, DOS International, etc. started in Munich/Wurzburg. Most big IT distributor also sit close to Munich.
So I would say it wasn't sheer historical luck that transformed bavaria into a modern state, but some good political and business decisions.
For contrast: Hamburg did something similar regarding to media and internet, so they subsidised and helped startups and media agencies a lot - with some success. Was that luck as well?
Every other state or big city had the same chance - but did they take it? Nope.
Now to lifestyle or so called personal freedom:
Bavaria has the same laws as the rest of Germany. So there is no difference.
And let's speak of personal freedom: in Munich you can do nude bathing in the close vicinity (about 500 meters) of the Bavarian Parliment as well as Staatskanzlei (where Mr. Stoiber resides). So much about conservatives and personal freedom (yes, I know Munich has a socialist Mayor, but it's still Bavaria).
Nobody is forced to wear Lederhosen all the time, nobody is required to be conservative.
Just because a state is ruled by a conservative party it doesn't mean young people or everybody else has less personal freedom.
Back to education: ALL german states are responsible for the mess we have - and we had it for decades now. No government so far was brave enough to push any real reforms, instead it was just talk, talk and more talk
orangeguru - I have a Lederhosen, but I can yodel properly
What our friend Elektroschock fails to mention is, that Bavaria is the most successful state in Germany, with low unemployment, low state debt and good education - especially compared to northern states.
So please spare us the rhetorics about bavarian conservatism and catholicism.
Bavaria feature also a high percentage of IT industry: Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, Suse, Ingram Micro etc. have all their german HQs in Bavaria.
And Bavarians are as corrupt as anyone else.
If you have a problem with people loving their Laptops and Lederhosen, like Scotts like their Kilts and Whiskeys, then you should reeducate yourself with cross cultural understanding.
Bavaria is simple a state/tribe with a high cultural identity plus some some business sense. Plus most foreigners identify Oktoberfest, Lederhosen, the Alps, Jodeln, Beer (Law of purity) and Humpa music with Germany, although these are local bavarian traits.
orangeguru - neither a big fan of Bavaria nor King Stoiber
1. Real income of white and blue collar workers have been on the decline for several decades, cost of living has been rising. 2. Capitalism is basically killing it's own customers, since people earn less, they can consume less (otherwise they simply make more debts and creating dangerous bubbles). 3. Most manufacturing is done by machines these days, only service and administration jobs are the main areas for humans. So most people work in jobs were they can be easily replaced. 4. Job fluctuation has become extreme - compatred to the old "job for life" hardly anyone stays longer then five years in one company. This also dimishes the social fabric in companies, the ties between workers and management are loser, people stick less together. 5. Globalisation also means not only the exchange of riches (by creating jobs in these developing countries9, but also sharing poverty (in those "rich countries"). 6. Protectionism (like US-steel tarifs) just speed up the shift of jobs, since they raise the benefits of outsourcing even higher and create a "false" market that could collapse anytime without more government intervention. 7. Business is more and more concentrated, so less companies produce all the goods/services. Obviously less companies need less employees. 8. The financial market has developed in a way that it investors make more money, thru short term money business instead of investing long term in companies. This of course doesn't create many jobs ...
9. Since most companies these days are on the stock market, their share values have become more important then the actual core business. Instead on focusing on markets and products, CEO's are forced in a three months rhythm to create value for stockholders - so money gets sucked out of companies and long term projects are hardly tackled.
10. Not to mention the overall inbalance between job payments of CEO's etc. - and that they are hardly held responsible for job and value destruction.
11. Education in most industrial societies is wrecked or seriously cut down, so western countries become "dumber", while developing countries catch up. ...
Thanks for your kind and competent answer. Yawn. First of all we don't deploy on IIS but on Apache. I was talking pure Office/Backoffice here. Anyone interested in sharing some useful knowledge apart from the usual uninformed flaming?!
I am part if IT-Support/Admin for an international company (in eleven countries). So far I haven't seen a convincing set of Linux tools to migrate the MS-Chain of Command (Exchange, Office and Explorer). So far there is no Linux package out there that is equal to Office+Exchange combo - or is there?! Another problem is, that many custom (web) applications rely on IE (they won't work with any other browser). Plus we are a travel company that relies on many specialized tools that are simply not avail under Linux. If you have a company that hardly relies on special apps - and just needs office and net apps - Linux is ready to go.
Germany / Munich here (although I have worked in the UK and US as well)
Technology and organisation are not the real problem - it's usually middle management and their fear of lossing control.
I have been freelancing for many companies, who were all "capable" of supporting teleworking. But the decision was mostly based on how paranoid the middle management guys were. And if they felt "secure" and "empowered" to let go of their cubicle slaves.
Salon is dying, Wired sold out to big media, Suck died. Most of the early purely net based publishers are out of business. The lesson: pure online journalism or publications don't work - yet. And it's a failure of readers as well: they hardly support good sites with subscriptions, since there still is and always will be loads of "free" content around from big media. The best way to make money in media is to sell cds, dvds, tv shows, books and magazines. Well financed web based publishing is as real as the paperless office ... hardly at all.
Excellent! Why didn't the review mention the weblog?! ...
Bugger.
orangeguru
If the book is as shallow as the review I am not gonna buy it.
This review was just a string of the usual cyberspeak when it comes to wifi and online communities. Where is the beef?!
orangeguru