Space is exactly what makes iPod initially successful. Remember "1000 Songs in You Pocket" marketing line when the first generation iPod was introduced a few years back? Storage for a music player at that physical size was ground breaking at the time.
Now, granted, 60 GB may be overkill for most user who does not have gazillion songs and don't really care if AAC is not as hi-fi as Lossless compression. But it gives the iPod more flexibility, which is also what makes it successful. Have more songs? Want lossless encoding? No problem. Not to mention that it can acts as a hard drive, of which higher capacity always helps.
iPod is first and foremost a music player, yes. But these flexibilities adds more usefulness to it. Now that it will store photos and output to television, you can bring it along with your trip to store photos from your digital camera and instead of bringing a laptop or dozens of expensive memory cards.
People who perform unnatural acts do not lose any rights when they perform such acts, unless that act also happens to be criminal; they still have the exact same rights as before. Nothing is taken away.
That is the same as saying a black and white couple does not lose any right when intermarriage is prohibited. Nothing is taken away because it is nothing there in the first place.
What is at issue is whether the relationship is recognised as a legal institution by the powers that be. And why should it? What would be achieved for society as a whole? Apart from temporarily appeasing a small minority who hide behind the fear of upsetting political correctness.
What about achiving equality? You can ask the same question regarding interracial marriage. After all, blacks are minorities, right?
Because marriage is recognition from society to two people that are loving, committed and willing to spend the rest of their life together. Marriage is not just about sex.
Turn the question around, why should a heterosexual be given more right than people who perform other criminal activities? The heterosexual I am talking about can be a serial killer, a sex offender or even a cross-generation incest. They can get married, too. Why? What makes unnatural worse than criminal?
If history is any indicator, the portable music player market could forget having a user interface even remotely similar to Apple's in any shape, form or fashion.
Yes and they should. And the market should come up with a user interface that is better, more intuitive than iPod's. And original. The keyword is be innovative. When it came out, the iPod UI doesn't look like anything on the market at that time. And I think Apple deserve credit for that. Now every player wants to look and feel like iPod.
Is it a Slashdot mindset that it is always bad if you can't copy anything at will? Why can't other player maker come up with better UI? Why can't we come up with something better and original? Why does every Linux Desktop UI has to look like Windows or Aqua?
You know, the reason I will not buy a Dell DJ is because its lack of originality. It's a blatant rip-off of the iPod.
So Dell is like a Chinese copycat. Wait for someone to come up with a really good product, then imitates it and sell it for less. Dell can because it never has to put money in research and development.
Maybe good from business point of view. But it's not worth admiring.
I can see no reason why they won't continue down that road.
I think the right question is what is the reason they would continue that road.
The DRM is in iTunes because of the recording industry, not Apple. Steve Jobs said that piracy is a behavioral problem, not technological one. Apple always put its user first. Unless they absolutely have to do it, I see no reason why they want to continue down that DRM road.
Instead of using product activation to enforce home users to have every distinct copies for its OS, Apple offers a home license for multiple computers in one household. It's a matter of treating your customer with dignity, not like a criminal. The same as iTunes, Apple fights piracy with reasonable, legitimate offerrings, that entices you to change your behavior, instead of using technology to force you to change your behavior. It's a more civilized approach, imho.
I am always wondering why Jobs does not make Pixar's Renderman available. I believe all Pixar's animations (Finding Nemo, etc.) are made using Renderman. That would make it even better than Maya, no?
I can think of several reasons why the iPod mini is priced so high. If it is priced at $100-$200, how many of you will get the mini instead of the big iPod? Now the smallest big iPod at $300 suddenly sounds like a better deal. The mini is priced not to cannibalize the sale of its bigger brothers.
If the mini iPod is cheap, everybody will want one. Now. And Apple will not be able to meet demand, not for the initial run of production anyway. There will be the problem of several weeks (or months) wait, same old again. As silly as it sound, I think higher price helps control demand not to outpace supply.
And I think, for Apple, people who will get the mini iPod now are those who want to keep up the 'cool' and do not have to think twice shelling out $250. That's the reason the colors are only available for the mini, and not the big iPods. This will help branding exclusivity to the iPod mini, only for those who want to stay fashionable and can effortlessly afford the price.
Wait until April, when the iPod mini is available worldwide and the production ramps up, Apple may drop the price or up the capacity.
Steve Jobs also said that mini iPod is going after the high-end flash-based player, not the HD based player. Considering those flash-based players are priced around $200 for a lot less capacity, iPod mini is very competitive. It's Apple engineering at its best. Who else can engineer a HD-based product to compete for a flash-based market?
The practices are NOT similar. Apple does not force you to use iTunes. But if you CHOOSE to use iTunes, Apple warns you BEFORE you install that MM will no longer function properly. If you are not happy with this, you don't have to use iTunes.
On the other hand, Microsoft integrates IE into Windows and make sure you CANNOT remove it. It's not your choice not to install IE with Windows. So if IE breaks Netscape or something, you have NO choice to not to use IE.
Are traditional business obsolete in the digital arena?
No it is not. Since software does not wear out, IMHO a logical progress in software business is you should move to the next paradigm once you have perfected the current one.
Look at the way we process a document - a word processor. We have come from a text-only WordStar to a GUI based Microsoft Word. These are all tools used to create a document for print. And I think it is somehow 'perfected' long ago. Now that we have the Internet with which we can do a lot of things. Why don't we move documents into the Internet? The next paradigm should be something that make use of the network.
Instead of trying to catch up with MS Office with OpenOffice, maybe we should try to create a new productivity suite that is totally different. Create new things. Convince people that this is a better way. Why is it important to have spreadsheet and presentation tool? what about a good outliner, diagram drawer, and content management with versioning? For me, I can care less about a spreadsheet.
The problem for Microsoft that, as much as they want to get into a new market (xbox, etc.), they can't create something that may even remotely compete with their products. They are too scared to lose their marketshare. They can only 'upgrade' the old product and only enter a new market only when someone has pioneered it.
Is it just me but the interface looks very polished? Maybe using SGV for rendering is an answer to Apple's Quartz engine. I think it's time to put bitmap graphics system behind...
No. You don't necessarily have to provide any proof that you qualify. But Apple reserves the rights to audit. From their website:
Apple routinely audits the purchases of customers at the Apple Store for Education to insure that only eligible purchases have ordered and that all purchase conditions have been observed. Should an audit disclose after delivery (or should Apple otherwise discover) that you were not an eligible purchaser at the time you placed your order or that you have not observed all of the conditions applicable to your purchase, you authorize Apple:
* If you placed your order by credit card, to charge to your credit card the difference between the amount you paid for the delivered goods and the price that Apple charged the general public for the same goods at the Apple Store, in effect on the date that you placed your order; and
* If you paid by a means other than credit card, to (a) invoice you for the difference between the amount that you paid for the delivered goods and the price that Apple charged the general public for the same goods at the Apple Store, payable in fifteen days from the date of the invoice, and (b), should you fail to pay the invoice when due, institute legal action against you in a court of competent jurisdiction, with the prevailing party entitled to attorneys' fees.
* Should Apple not offer to the general public the specific products that you purchased at the Apple Store for education, your credit card will be charged or you will be invoiced the difference between the amount you paid for the delivered goods and the price that Apple charged the general public for the closest equivalent goods at the Apple Store, in effect on the date that you placed your order.
Slashdot Mirror
" it looks like Longhorn's graphics capabilities really are set to stand out from the Linux (and even OS X) crowd"
Can you be more specific? It's hard to believe that Longhorn will surpass OS X in terms of graphics capability.
Paul Thurrott? Is that you?
Evolution is banned from textbook.
Space is exactly what makes iPod initially successful. Remember "1000 Songs in You Pocket" marketing line when the first generation iPod was introduced a few years back? Storage for a music player at that physical size was ground breaking at the time.
Now, granted, 60 GB may be overkill for most user who does not have gazillion songs and don't really care if AAC is not as hi-fi as Lossless compression. But it gives the iPod more flexibility, which is also what makes it successful. Have more songs? Want lossless encoding? No problem. Not to mention that it can acts as a hard drive, of which higher capacity always helps.
iPod is first and foremost a music player, yes. But these flexibilities adds more usefulness to it. Now that it will store photos and output to television, you can bring it along with your trip to store photos from your digital camera and instead of bringing a laptop or dozens of expensive memory cards.
People who perform unnatural acts do not lose any rights when they perform such acts, unless that act also happens to be criminal; they still have the exact same rights as before. Nothing is taken away.
That is the same as saying a black and white couple does not lose any right when intermarriage is prohibited. Nothing is taken away because it is nothing there in the first place.
What is at issue is whether the relationship is recognised as a legal institution by the powers that be. And why should it? What would be achieved for society as a whole? Apart from temporarily appeasing a small minority who hide behind the fear of upsetting political correctness.
What about achiving equality? You can ask the same question regarding interracial marriage. After all, blacks are minorities, right?
Because marriage is recognition from society to two people that are loving, committed and willing to spend the rest of their life together. Marriage is not just about sex.
Turn the question around, why should a heterosexual be given more right than people who perform other criminal activities? The heterosexual I am talking about can be a serial killer, a sex offender or even a cross-generation incest. They can get married, too. Why? What makes unnatural worse than criminal?
Far more interesting is the Vaio Pocket music player. It got a nifty "G-Sense" interface that I think can rival iPod's.
t 2. htmlo cket-i nterface-movie-and-atrac-weirdness-016088.php
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/VGF-AP1/fea
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/sony-vaio-p
Your post strangely reminds me of a resumé I have read...
No. It can't be. Windows is not UNIX. Mac OS X is. So why Linux on a Mac? It must be for different reason.
If history is any indicator, the portable music player market could forget having a user interface even remotely similar to Apple's in any shape, form or fashion.
Yes and they should. And the market should come up with a user interface that is better, more intuitive than iPod's. And original. The keyword is be innovative. When it came out, the iPod UI doesn't look like anything on the market at that time. And I think Apple deserve credit for that. Now every player wants to look and feel like iPod.
Is it a Slashdot mindset that it is always bad if you can't copy anything at will? Why can't other player maker come up with better UI? Why can't we come up with something better and original? Why does every Linux Desktop UI has to look like Windows or Aqua?
Didn't two > makes it faster than one?!?!!?!
Wait. You do know that whitehouse.org has nothing to do with whitehouse.gov, right?
You know, the reason I will not buy a Dell DJ is because its lack of originality. It's a blatant rip-off of the iPod.
So Dell is like a Chinese copycat. Wait for someone to come up with a really good product, then imitates it and sell it for less. Dell can because it never has to put money in research and development.
Maybe good from business point of view. But it's not worth admiring.
I can see no reason why they won't continue down that road.
I think the right question is what is the reason they would continue that road.
The DRM is in iTunes because of the recording industry, not Apple. Steve Jobs said that piracy is a behavioral problem, not technological one. Apple always put its user first. Unless they absolutely have to do it, I see no reason why they want to continue down that DRM road.
Instead of using product activation to enforce home users to have every distinct copies for its OS, Apple offers a home license for multiple computers in one household. It's a matter of treating your customer with dignity, not like a criminal. The same as iTunes, Apple fights piracy with reasonable, legitimate offerrings, that entices you to change your behavior, instead of using technology to force you to change your behavior. It's a more civilized approach, imho.
Just my two cents.
I am always wondering why Jobs does not make Pixar's Renderman available. I believe all Pixar's animations (Finding Nemo, etc.) are made using Renderman. That would make it even better than Maya, no?
I can think of several reasons why the iPod mini is priced so high. If it is priced at $100-$200, how many of you will get the mini instead of the big iPod? Now the smallest big iPod at $300 suddenly sounds like a better deal. The mini is priced not to cannibalize the sale of its bigger brothers.
If the mini iPod is cheap, everybody will want one. Now. And Apple will not be able to meet demand, not for the initial run of production anyway. There will be the problem of several weeks (or months) wait, same old again. As silly as it sound, I think higher price helps control demand not to outpace supply.
And I think, for Apple, people who will get the mini iPod now are those who want to keep up the 'cool' and do not have to think twice shelling out $250. That's the reason the colors are only available for the mini, and not the big iPods. This will help branding exclusivity to the iPod mini, only for those who want to stay fashionable and can effortlessly afford the price.
Wait until April, when the iPod mini is available worldwide and the production ramps up, Apple may drop the price or up the capacity.
Steve Jobs also said that mini iPod is going after the high-end flash-based player, not the HD based player. Considering those flash-based players are priced around $200 for a lot less capacity, iPod mini is very competitive. It's Apple engineering at its best. Who else can engineer a HD-based product to compete for a flash-based market?
And I thought Mac was easier to use...
The practices are NOT similar. Apple does not force you to use iTunes. But if you CHOOSE to use iTunes, Apple warns you BEFORE you install that MM will no longer function properly. If you are not happy with this, you don't have to use iTunes.
On the other hand, Microsoft integrates IE into Windows and make sure you CANNOT remove it. It's not your choice not to install IE with Windows. So if IE breaks Netscape or something, you have NO choice to not to use IE.
Clearer now?
A new law.
Are traditional business obsolete in the digital arena?
No it is not. Since software does not wear out, IMHO a logical progress in software business is you should move to the next paradigm once you have perfected the current one.
Look at the way we process a document - a word processor. We have come from a text-only WordStar to a GUI based Microsoft Word. These are all tools used to create a document for print. And I think it is somehow 'perfected' long ago. Now that we have the Internet with which we can do a lot of things. Why don't we move documents into the Internet? The next paradigm should be something that make use of the network.
Instead of trying to catch up with MS Office with OpenOffice, maybe we should try to create a new productivity suite that is totally different. Create new things. Convince people that this is a better way. Why is it important to have spreadsheet and presentation tool? what about a good outliner, diagram drawer, and content management with versioning? For me, I can care less about a spreadsheet.
The problem for Microsoft that, as much as they want to get into a new market (xbox, etc.), they can't create something that may even remotely compete with their products. They are too scared to lose their marketshare. They can only 'upgrade' the old product and only enter a new market only when someone has pioneered it.
Be afraid. Be VERY afraid...
Is it just me but the interface looks very polished? Maybe using SGV for rendering is an answer to Apple's Quartz engine. I think it's time to put bitmap graphics system behind...
No. You don't necessarily have to provide any proof that you qualify. But Apple reserves the rights to audit. From their website :
Apple routinely audits the purchases of customers at the Apple Store for Education to insure that only eligible purchases have ordered and that all purchase conditions have been observed. Should an audit disclose after delivery (or should Apple otherwise discover) that you were not an eligible purchaser at the time you placed your order or that you have not observed all of the conditions applicable to your purchase, you authorize Apple:
* If you placed your order by credit card, to charge to your credit card the difference between the amount you paid for the delivered goods and the price that Apple charged the general public for the same goods at the Apple Store, in effect on the date that you placed your order; and
* If you paid by a means other than credit card, to (a) invoice you for the difference between the amount that you paid for the delivered goods and the price that Apple charged the general public for the same goods at the Apple Store, payable in fifteen days from the date of the invoice, and (b), should you fail to pay the invoice when due, institute legal action against you in a court of competent jurisdiction, with the prevailing party entitled to attorneys' fees.
* Should Apple not offer to the general public the specific products that you purchased at the Apple Store for education, your credit card will be charged or you will be invoiced the difference between the amount you paid for the delivered goods and the price that Apple charged the general public for the closest equivalent goods at the Apple Store, in effect on the date that you placed your order.
See here.
Um. I think you need more than five fingers for that?
> If you're downloading massive amounts of data, you will be found. Period.
So you can't download any ISO of a Linux distribution, too?