Except that the US doesn't have terrible gas prices;) Try working out how much we're paying per gallon in the UK and comparing it!
Of course, the US has states as large as the whole UK. The UK is simply not going to burn as much fuel maintaining infrastructure as the US is.
It reminds me of a fluff piece I saw on the local news a while back. The angle was comparing the price of gas to the price of various other commonly used liquids. For example, they noted how much more shampoo cost per gallon. Of course, that overlooked the fact that we don't use shampoo by the gallon.
Volume affects a market. What your paying per gallon may not have the same effect if you're not using as much of it (and no - its not all about the SUVs).
Didn't the release of Windows, especially Windows 95, induce a huge increase of demand in IBM compatibles?
That at least is my impression, and it's kind of supported by a lazy google search. So, CPM-86 doesn't have all that much to do with the growth of the industry and the abundance of cheap hardware it caused.
There's a few things to consider here. We're talking about the history of the "IBM PC" platform, or rather, the history of commodity computers. And we're also looking at the much larger trends in computing in general. These are intertwined. You can't look at that linked chart without this understanding.
Commodity hardware is what provides "the growth of the industry and the abundance of cheap hardware." This doesn't begin with Win95. It begins well before Windows.... it begins with DOS. Or rather, DOS plays a key part. However, as the parent suggests, it could have easily been CP/M-86 instead. As a side note... CP/M-86 eventually becomes DR-DOS and there's a lot more interesting history in that.
So what about the linked chart? Keep in mind that there's overall trends at play. The microcomputer starts as a hobbiest toy. The Apple II and VisiCalc brings the microcomputer to business. IBM follows with the "IBM PC." That's the beginning of the chart. At that point, some folks (like me) have already realized "home computers" but most folks really don't see a reason. And while VisiCalc was the killer app that put microcomputers on the business map, it isn't until the mid-80s that Lotus 1-2-3 provided the killer app for the IBM PC. By this point, IBM had lost control of the platform and the industry is awash in "clones" due to the pioneering steps of Compaq and evidence in outfits like Dell and Gateway 2000.
Still, the market really is business. The platform is not really a gamer's rig (which starts changing in the late 80s). And it's expensive (both issues that make the Commodore 64 popular at home). Home buyers who buy a IBM clone are, most likely, buying it to take their work home with them. There's little that drives the consumer market for any home computer at all. What consumers needed was the killer app.
The chart makes it look like Win95 is that killer app. But that's ignoring a rather large event - public awareness of the Internet. Email. The web. Those are killer consumer apps. That's what drives home computer sales. It helps that this is when we're seeing a price war and a push towards the âoesub-$1000 PCâ as Intel, AMD, and Cyrix slug it out in the market. And, of course, we have even more adoption of personal computers in the work place.
So again - Microsoft is definitely a part of the story. But there's plenty of others who should be credited for these events as well (if not more than Microsoft).
Do you think that CPM-86 was not going to run on cloned IBM compatible computers?
Thanks for reminding me! I've almost forgotten about CP/M... and I used to use it on an Osborne.
I've always given Microsoft credit for providing one of the building blocks to commodity hardware. But I forgot that the root of Microsoft's success (repackaging QDOS) only existed because CP/M was so late to arrive for the 8086 (as CP/M-86). This highlights the fact that the business model that provided Compaq with a primary component (a compatible OS) was hardly unique to Microsoft (although Microsoft had long been in such a business before DOS - it provided BASIC for many microcomputer platforms of the day). So while Microsoft is a part of the story, it isn't really due to Microsoft's insight or unique position.
Gates helped provide one of the keys to commodity microcomputer platforms. That key was DOS. And while Microsoft didn't code it, they did make the deal that allowed them to license it to more than one hardware manufacturer. This helped give other players such as Compaq the compatibility target they needed once they were able to reverse engineer IBM's BIOS and develop their own machines. And thus the IBM clone and the beginnings of commodity hardware.
The point here is that Bill Gates WAS an important figure. He did some key things - and should get credit. But there's a limit to how much credit is due.
Today I can put together something that is for all purposes a super computer compared to that, for about $600. The reason for that is and always has been Microsoft Windows. You're talking commodity hardware. Microsoft is one of the key parts. But we've also got outfits like Compaq to thank.
In all fairness, you could do this with the previous pager switching... It is just prittier under Compiz/Metisse. Features like Compiz's Scale (similar implementation like MacOSX's Expose) are flashy, but also really useful. Its changed how I use my desktop. Even features like true transparency has had a subtle effect.
And further more who the hell would both opt-out and complain that he/she wasn't receiving email? You've got to wonder. But I suspect the industry harbors some very special mind-sets.
In the mid-90s our area got a new phone area code. About the same time, I moved in to a new house and set up two new lines (one for dedicated modem) with two new phone numbers in the new area code. I was even rather happy with the symmetry of my new voice line's number.
Everything went along fine for a month. And then the phone calls began. Lots of calls from people wanting to see properties. I got curious as to where people were getting my number and asked one of the hapless house-hunters about it. It seems my phone number was on a sign.
I dialed my number, replacing my area code for the old area code to my city. Bingo. Real estate office. I noted the obvious mistake to them... and then was informed that I had their phone number. It seems that they were going to get the new area code number directed to their old number as well but the phone company apparently didn't play along. But that didn't stop them from printing up signs.... and demanding I release said phone number.
I was miffed. So I began screening my calls with an answering machine that informed callers that if they were interested in real estate property, they had the wrong number and to use the old area code instead. And then it happened. I found The Message on my machine.
Some real estate agent from one of the big agencies announced that she KNEW I was selling a property. What's more, I was REQUIRED to call her back at a given phone number. She would be expecting it.
I've kept the recording. I never called. Instead, I switched the phone lines around. Callers got treated to a never-ending busy signal as my modem maintained a 24/7 connection to my ISP.
3) Germany did not have two (three if you count the Kurds) major ethnic groups that never really liked each other and only tolerated each other because they could agree on a mutual dislike of Saddam. Tragically this was at least partly because all of the other ethnic groups in Germany had been decimated by concentration camps, but it all the same it did make make post war integration easier. Excellent post. One niggling detail, though, is exactly who hated who. My understanding is that Saddam was the Sunni's man. He may have been a bastard, but he generally looked out for his clan and the regime was largely a source of success and wealth for the Sunni.
Microsoft succeeded for the most part, on the rest of the industry's inability to understand this basic truth of business. Nobody in Redmond back in the day sweated bullets as to whether or not you LOVED the product. We sweated bullets on whether or not you BOUGHT the product. And here we have truth. The whole previous rant about code monkeys burning themselves out to ship product is a red herring. Microsoft's success didn't rest with its product. It was entirely based on Microsoft's execution of business strategy.
Yeah - it made a great geek hardcore diatribe. But it loses something when you realize the sacrifices of personal responsibility on the altar of development cycle were a waste. Those efforts came in a distant third to the marketing and contracts done by others in Microsoft.
Think of it this way. In 2000, the Democrats lost some of their votes to Mr. Third Party (also known as tweedle-doo). And guess who got elected as a result of that? Yup. Got nothing to do with the Deomocrats. It was all about that third-party spoiler. They're entirely to blame.
There is a ton of evidence out there, however, that states that viewing such images and videos, virtual or not, can push someone over the edge. There are claims, true. But how accurate are they?
I've been involved in deviant hobbies much of my life. Child pornography isn't one of those - so I can't really comment with any insider authority. But I've always heard of the damage I was suffering while playing D&D, video games (violent or otherwise), paintball, etc. Yet here I am.. a productive adult member of society. And so are most of the folks I knew through those activities. So what about the people who aren't?
To be sure... I could note examples of people who were involved in the same activities who had issues. I knew one kid who would stop going to school for a couple weeks at a time while trying to crack a puzzle in one of the online fantasy game we played (multi-line BBS days). I was surprised to find out one of the paintball teams we played against at tournaments every year was a group of neo-nazis. But these folks were far from the norm. They were hardly representative of the activities and my experiences. But you wouldn't know that from reading the material presented by those who had axes to grind with said activities.
And so I always have this question in mind. When we look at other deviant behavior... how much of what we read about it is accurate?
And please... trying to bully people with "I'm an experienced developer" in the technology world isn't a very smart thing to do. Off-topic... but it reminds me of my helldesk days. The calls I dreaded the most started with "I'm a MCSE..." I always wondered if they were throwing alphabet tittles out to beat me in to submission early or whether they really WERE a MCSE and didn't realize how embarrassing it is to call up for instructions on how to dial in to an ISP.
you can say "religion is a personal issue" all you want, but they can just say "i don't believe that" and then what can you do about it? outlaw evangelism? Who said anything about outlawing religion? If someone wants to throw their personal lives in to the public arena, they should have to fortitude to deal with what would otherwise be personal criticism. One does not get to make religion a political issue and then portray oneself as a religious martyr when encountering criticism of one's politics. As an extension of that, other Christians should not be suckered in to the "religious prosecution" ploy either.
I looked at TFA. It wasn't written by Governor Perry, Rev White or Rick Scarborough.
Speaking of Scarborough, what did he have to say about Rick Perry's attempt to mandate those vaccinations I mentioned earlier: Two points.
First - go back and re-read what you quoted from me. The author of the article may not have been these individuals. But these individuals are the ones that made religion political issues. They are the ones to blame when political criticism, in turn, touches on religion.
Secondly - just because Governor Perry doesn't fall in step perfectly with the evangelical political machine doesn't mean he's taken religion off the political table. Fine. Perry is not fundamentalist lap dog. But he has already brought religion in to his politics. And in doing so, he has invited criticism on his religious beliefs.
Sorry, but like it or not, once you enter politics your religion, like the rest of your private life, falls under public scrutiny.
The only way for Perry to get around it would be to flat out deny being a Christian, which is kinda forbidden by the religion itself (and not very good for getting elected). OK. Fair enough. People in the public eye have a hard time keeping private lives. But let's not pretend this is about Perry being hounded by the press while he's at church.
Perry has signed bills on evangelical church property, ratifying laws that evangelical conservative religious groups have been desperately campaigning for. Which is no surprise. Perry has openly supported and courted these religious political groups.
The issue here is not that the press has intruded on the Governor's private life and hounded him for being a good Christian. The issue is that Perry has intentionally mixed politics and religion. He has placed conservative Christian values on the political pulpit. He has made religion a political issue. Any political issue is open to scrutiny.
If you believe such scrutiny is religious persecution, you should take a moment to consider the source of the issue. It is not the press. It is individuals such as Governor Perry, Rev. Lawrence White, and Rick Scarborough and the political entities they lead and support.
I've never noticed if my doctor is or is not religious, nor my daughter's crossing guard. I don't know if her teacher is at school either. A key question here is why don't you know about the religious beliefs of these people? And why do you know about the religious beliefs of the Governor?
Religion is a personal issue. Once you start to make anything private a part of your public life, you invite scrutiny.
Could be worse I guess, they could have secured Uwe Boll to direct it... Either this is EXACTLY the kind of material Uwe has been looking for... or he'll take it, produced one of cinema's all-time classics, and drive home the fact that all his other movies were intentionally done just to piss people off (the existance of this movie will send ripples throughout religious and philisophical circles who use it as a proof of the inverse relationship / duality of the natural order of things).
Actually Hussein was vehemently opposed to terrorist organizations and everything that they stood for. He was on friendly terms with the US for a very long time before we decided we didn't like how he was using the guns we gave him. One quibble - most of those guns came from the Soviet Union and France. I had always thought Saddam had come out of the Cold War pretty well off with support from both factions.
My bad, It should have read Hitler never came and bombed us directly like Osama Wait, wait. Now you've introduced a new character? Just how many players are in this little theatre production of yours?:)
While I agree that Hussein was a tyrant that was best deposed (the exact details being full of devils), I'm also inclined to keep it straight with who did exactly what and not confusing any of the players. Osama had nothing to do with all this.
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That explains why the Europeans are paying so much more for gas/petro... silly fools are buying it by the liter!
Gone are the care-free days when you could buy a hogshead of rock oil and count yourself as having had a bargain.
Except that the US doesn't have terrible gas prices ;) Try working out how much we're paying per gallon in the UK and comparing it!
Of course, the US has states as large as the whole UK. The UK is simply not going to burn as much fuel maintaining infrastructure as the US is.
It reminds me of a fluff piece I saw on the local news a while back. The angle was comparing the price of gas to the price of various other commonly used liquids. For example, they noted how much more shampoo cost per gallon. Of course, that overlooked the fact that we don't use shampoo by the gallon.
Volume affects a market. What your paying per gallon may not have the same effect if you're not using as much of it (and no - its not all about the SUVs).
Didn't the release of Windows, especially Windows 95, induce a huge increase of demand in IBM compatibles?
That at least is my impression, and it's kind of supported by a lazy google search. So, CPM-86 doesn't have all that much to do with the growth of the industry and the abundance of cheap hardware it caused.
There's a few things to consider here. We're talking about the history of the "IBM PC" platform, or rather, the history of commodity computers. And we're also looking at the much larger trends in computing in general. These are intertwined. You can't look at that linked chart without this understanding.
Commodity hardware is what provides "the growth of the industry and the abundance of cheap hardware." This doesn't begin with Win95. It begins well before Windows.... it begins with DOS. Or rather, DOS plays a key part. However, as the parent suggests, it could have easily been CP/M-86 instead. As a side note... CP/M-86 eventually becomes DR-DOS and there's a lot more interesting history in that.
So what about the linked chart? Keep in mind that there's overall trends at play. The microcomputer starts as a hobbiest toy. The Apple II and VisiCalc brings the microcomputer to business. IBM follows with the "IBM PC." That's the beginning of the chart. At that point, some folks (like me) have already realized "home computers" but most folks really don't see a reason. And while VisiCalc was the killer app that put microcomputers on the business map, it isn't until the mid-80s that Lotus 1-2-3 provided the killer app for the IBM PC. By this point, IBM had lost control of the platform and the industry is awash in "clones" due to the pioneering steps of Compaq and evidence in outfits like Dell and Gateway 2000.
Still, the market really is business. The platform is not really a gamer's rig (which starts changing in the late 80s). And it's expensive (both issues that make the Commodore 64 popular at home). Home buyers who buy a IBM clone are, most likely, buying it to take their work home with them. There's little that drives the consumer market for any home computer at all. What consumers needed was the killer app.
The chart makes it look like Win95 is that killer app. But that's ignoring a rather large event - public awareness of the Internet. Email. The web. Those are killer consumer apps. That's what drives home computer sales. It helps that this is when we're seeing a price war and a push towards the âoesub-$1000 PCâ as Intel, AMD, and Cyrix slug it out in the market. And, of course, we have even more adoption of personal computers in the work place.
So again - Microsoft is definitely a part of the story. But there's plenty of others who should be credited for these events as well (if not more than Microsoft).
Do you think that CPM-86 was not going to run on cloned IBM compatible computers?
Thanks for reminding me! I've almost forgotten about CP/M... and I used to use it on an Osborne.
I've always given Microsoft credit for providing one of the building blocks to commodity hardware. But I forgot that the root of Microsoft's success (repackaging QDOS) only existed because CP/M was so late to arrive for the 8086 (as CP/M-86). This highlights the fact that the business model that provided Compaq with a primary component (a compatible OS) was hardly unique to Microsoft (although Microsoft had long been in such a business before DOS - it provided BASIC for many microcomputer platforms of the day). So while Microsoft is a part of the story, it isn't really due to Microsoft's insight or unique position.
Gates helped provide one of the keys to commodity microcomputer platforms. That key was DOS. And while Microsoft didn't code it, they did make the deal that allowed them to license it to more than one hardware manufacturer. This helped give other players such as Compaq the compatibility target they needed once they were able to reverse engineer IBM's BIOS and develop their own machines. And thus the IBM clone and the beginnings of commodity hardware.
The point here is that Bill Gates WAS an important figure. He did some key things - and should get credit. But there's a limit to how much credit is due.
Wait. Where does "profit" fit in to all this?
In the mid-90s our area got a new phone area code. About the same time, I moved in to a new house and set up two new lines (one for dedicated modem) with two new phone numbers in the new area code. I was even rather happy with the symmetry of my new voice line's number.
Everything went along fine for a month. And then the phone calls began. Lots of calls from people wanting to see properties. I got curious as to where people were getting my number and asked one of the hapless house-hunters about it. It seems my phone number was on a sign.
I dialed my number, replacing my area code for the old area code to my city. Bingo. Real estate office. I noted the obvious mistake to them... and then was informed that I had their phone number. It seems that they were going to get the new area code number directed to their old number as well but the phone company apparently didn't play along. But that didn't stop them from printing up signs.... and demanding I release said phone number.
I was miffed. So I began screening my calls with an answering machine that informed callers that if they were interested in real estate property, they had the wrong number and to use the old area code instead. And then it happened. I found The Message on my machine.
Some real estate agent from one of the big agencies announced that she KNEW I was selling a property. What's more, I was REQUIRED to call her back at a given phone number. She would be expecting it.
I've kept the recording. I never called. Instead, I switched the phone lines around. Callers got treated to a never-ending busy signal as my modem maintained a 24/7 connection to my ISP.
Yeah - it made a great geek hardcore diatribe. But it loses something when you realize the sacrifices of personal responsibility on the altar of development cycle were a waste. Those efforts came in a distant third to the marketing and contracts done by others in Microsoft.
Great! An entirely new market for them to begin ignoring!
How much of that is taxes? And how much fuel does the Netherlands economy consume?
I've been involved in deviant hobbies much of my life. Child pornography isn't one of those - so I can't really comment with any insider authority. But I've always heard of the damage I was suffering while playing D&D, video games (violent or otherwise), paintball, etc. Yet here I am.. a productive adult member of society. And so are most of the folks I knew through those activities. So what about the people who aren't?
To be sure... I could note examples of people who were involved in the same activities who had issues. I knew one kid who would stop going to school for a couple weeks at a time while trying to crack a puzzle in one of the online fantasy game we played (multi-line BBS days). I was surprised to find out one of the paintball teams we played against at tournaments every year was a group of neo-nazis. But these folks were far from the norm. They were hardly representative of the activities and my experiences. But you wouldn't know that from reading the material presented by those who had axes to grind with said activities.
And so I always have this question in mind. When we look at other deviant behavior... how much of what we read about it is accurate?
Speaking of Scarborough, what did he have to say about Rick Perry's attempt to mandate those vaccinations I mentioned earlier: Two points.
First - go back and re-read what you quoted from me. The author of the article may not have been these individuals. But these individuals are the ones that made religion political issues. They are the ones to blame when political criticism, in turn, touches on religion.
Secondly - just because Governor Perry doesn't fall in step perfectly with the evangelical political machine doesn't mean he's taken religion off the political table. Fine. Perry is not fundamentalist lap dog. But he has already brought religion in to his politics. And in doing so, he has invited criticism on his religious beliefs.
Such criticism is not religious persecution.
The only way for Perry to get around it would be to flat out deny being a Christian, which is kinda forbidden by the religion itself (and not very good for getting elected). OK. Fair enough. People in the public eye have a hard time keeping private lives. But let's not pretend this is about Perry being hounded by the press while he's at church.
Perry has signed bills on evangelical church property, ratifying laws that evangelical conservative religious groups have been desperately campaigning for. Which is no surprise. Perry has openly supported and courted these religious political groups.
The issue here is not that the press has intruded on the Governor's private life and hounded him for being a good Christian. The issue is that Perry has intentionally mixed politics and religion. He has placed conservative Christian values on the political pulpit. He has made religion a political issue. Any political issue is open to scrutiny.
If you believe such scrutiny is religious persecution, you should take a moment to consider the source of the issue. It is not the press. It is individuals such as Governor Perry, Rev. Lawrence White, and Rick Scarborough and the political entities they lead and support.
Religion is a personal issue. Once you start to make anything private a part of your public life, you invite scrutiny.
I'm just hopeful that for the RIAA, the party's over.
Frog Frog Evolution?
While I agree that Hussein was a tyrant that was best deposed (the exact details being full of devils), I'm also inclined to keep it straight with who did exactly what and not confusing any of the players. Osama had nothing to do with all this.