The types of software management issues being dealt with by Windows leaders are hard problems, problems that no other company has solved successfully.
Nobody else has solved the problems? How is it that OSX, which contains many of the features that Vista is due to have, shipped years ago? Before the Microsoft fanboys start with "Ah but it's different...", I think Microsoft is guilty of making their own problems... Perhaps some problems shouldn't be solved in software, but should be solved at the level of how your company works.
I never said the UK was a superpower. The question was about policical influence, and the globally the UK has a great political influence relative to its size.
Also, you seem to assume I live in the UK. I don't.
Is Britain really a significant economic, political, or military power anymore?
It may not be an economic or military power any more, but it certainly is a political one. British politicians have an amazing influence over world affairs relative to the size of the country. And when he chooses to Tony Blair can have more influence over the American public than Bush...
Look at this from the point of view of the telcos for a moment. When everyone has a high bandwidth internet connection, everyone will be able to:
1) Make phonecalls 2) Do video conferencing 3) Access video services 4) Access music services 5) Play games with their friends 6) work collaboratively 7) etc. etc.
And what will the service providers be able to charge? $50 a month (or whatever) for the connection.
What's annoying is that these are really important words.
Yes. And notice how the admistration misuses words to political gain by confusing the issues.
Currently there is more or less a civil war happening in Iraq, and yet many people here in the West think of it being caused by "terrorists". And of course we are fighting a "war" and yet the guys at the prison camps are not "Prisoners of war" but "enermy combatants". And what the hell are "insurgents"? All of this has a profound effect on how people think about these issues - they link Iraq with 911 (a real terrorist act) and think that actions in Iraq are part of the "war on terror", rather than a civil war caused by long standing racial groups. The real sad thing is that it is journalists that help the admisitration confuse the issues by blindly using the words they are fed.
However, in reference to your point, I don't think you have observed a new law - both Churhill and Hitler (for instance) knew the importance of using the right words to shape peoples opinions.
I'm not sure why you think this is so funny. An equivalent action might be the Chinese government banning the use of Microsoft products in government offices. Do you really think that is so unlikely? You reap what you sow.
I tried Switching from Windows to Linux a while back. I ended up switch to OSX. OSX is what Linux should be, but unfortuantely never will be because too many OSS developers don't place enough importance on usability.
when 2500+ people die in a terrorist attack, America wants action, and change.
What amazes me is the extent to which Americans can be duped by their government. The 911 attacks were done by a very small (albeit well funded) organisation. The head of that organisation is still at large, and by all accounts the organisation has grown tremendously since 911, helped to a great extent by the actions of the American government. And yet all Bush needs to do is to look serious and say a few patriotic words and most Americans are pacified like babies.
You know one thing that really creeps me out about the USA? The "Pledge of Allegiance" thing that many American school children recite every day. I brought this up in conversation with some American friends recently and they didn't understand why many people in Europe find such things chilling.
The UK for example, does not allow its citizens to own handguns.
I know this is difficult for many people in the USA to understand, but in the UK people do not want to own handguns. The attitude to this is completely the opposite to the USA, here we really do not understand why Americans see carrying guns as so important. And I'm not talking about just a slight majority here, but pretty much everyone is opposed to guns here.
please can you start using the telephone more often? We're having real trouble finding where you are! It would help if you phoned one of your relatives, spoke loudly and clearly into the phone, and if you can say a few of our keywords that would be great.
I can understand how motion sensors can tell the angle of tilt of the controller, but would someone explain to me how the controller knows "how far it is from the TV screen"?
Or does it know how far it is away from the console? I can understand that - perhaps the controller gives out a signal that the console can detect, for instance.
Any parent with small children will know the importance of making copies of their favourite CDs and DVDs etc, as small children find it hard to remember to be careful with stuff and they tend to scratch the hell out of them.
So for parents at least, there are perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to copy DVDs.
Apple's mission is to dilute the technical abilities of their user base and turn it into a pool of Windows users.
Are you sure this is Apple's mission? Personally, I use OSX because it is based on BSD. I know many other recent Mac converts that are the same as me - in other words, it is actually people who understand technology that are moving to the Mac. I'm sure Apple loves that, and I doubt it is their mission to "dilute the technical abilities of their user base".
I understand Vista is to have antivirus protection built in. If that is the case, then of course that is seriously going to affect the virus companies business. Of course I may be wrong.
The antivirus companies are scared. Why? When Vista comes out, potentially their market is going to quickly dry up. So they are trying to convince Mac users that they need their software.
Personally, I don't trust any of the antivirus companies one inch. It's big business, and it is in their interests that there are security threats and viruses around. Talk about conflict of interest...
I remember reading an interview with Bill Gates many years ago when he said he never wanted Microsoft to become IBM, by which he meant he never wanted to become a big slow moving company full of suits. Any body remember the article in question? Would be nice to read again in the light of what Microsoft has become...
Remember when IBM stumbled badly and it took everyone by surprise? I wonder when the crash of Microsoft will be heard. My guess is we've still got about five years to go...
Slashdot Mirror
Your points actually reinforce my argument rather than counter it. Thanks!
He said:
The types of software management issues being dealt with by Windows leaders are hard problems, problems that no other company has solved successfully.
Nobody else has solved the problems? How is it that OSX, which contains many of the features that Vista is due to have, shipped years ago? Before the Microsoft fanboys start with "Ah but it's different...", I think Microsoft is guilty of making their own problems... Perhaps some problems shouldn't be solved in software, but should be solved at the level of how your company works.
I never said the UK was a superpower. The question was about policical influence, and the globally the UK has a great political influence relative to its size.
Also, you seem to assume I live in the UK. I don't.
Is Britain really a significant economic, political, or military power anymore?
It may not be an economic or military power any more, but it certainly is a political one. British politicians have an amazing influence over world affairs relative to the size of the country. And when he chooses to Tony Blair can have more influence over the American public than Bush...
I'm not bashing the USA, but I do think that Americans get a very distorted view of the world because:
a) The USA is very big. If you take into consideration population size then things can look quite different.
b) For some reason, Americans tend to compare themselves with developing countries rather than other first world countries.
Look at this from the point of view of the telcos for a moment. When everyone has a high bandwidth internet connection, everyone will be able to:
1) Make phonecalls
2) Do video conferencing
3) Access video services
4) Access music services
5) Play games with their friends
6) work collaboratively
7) etc. etc.
And what will the service providers be able to charge? $50 a month (or whatever) for the connection.
What's annoying is that these are really important words.
Yes. And notice how the admistration misuses words to political gain by confusing the issues.
Currently there is more or less a civil war happening in Iraq, and yet many people here in the West think of it being caused by "terrorists". And of course we are fighting a "war" and yet the guys at the prison camps are not "Prisoners of war" but "enermy combatants". And what the hell are "insurgents"? All of this has a profound effect on how people think about these issues - they link Iraq with 911 (a real terrorist act) and think that actions in Iraq are part of the "war on terror", rather than a civil war caused by long standing racial groups. The real sad thing is that it is journalists that help the admisitration confuse the issues by blindly using the words they are fed.
However, in reference to your point, I don't think you have observed a new law - both Churhill and Hitler (for instance) knew the importance of using the right words to shape peoples opinions.
Today, Wired published the full evidence of the AT&T/NSA domestic surveillance program. It is fascinating reading:
m l
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70944-0.ht
I'm not sure why you think this is so funny. An equivalent action might be the Chinese government banning the use of Microsoft products in government offices. Do you really think that is so unlikely? You reap what you sow.
I tried Switching from Windows to Linux a while back. I ended up switch to OSX. OSX is what Linux should be, but unfortuantely never will be because too many OSS developers don't place enough importance on usability.
when 2500+ people die in a terrorist attack, America wants action, and change.
What amazes me is the extent to which Americans can be duped by their government. The 911 attacks were done by a very small (albeit well funded) organisation. The head of that organisation is still at large, and by all accounts the organisation has grown tremendously since 911, helped to a great extent by the actions of the American government. And yet all Bush needs to do is to look serious and say a few patriotic words and most Americans are pacified like babies.
None of those people are taking the pledge because they want to, it's because they have to.
Yes. I wonder what else they would do because "they have to"... Creepy isn't it?
Actually, it wouldn't be creepy if it was something like "I pledge allegiance to liberty and justice for all". That would be great!
You know one thing that really creeps me out about the USA? The "Pledge of Allegiance" thing that many American school children recite every day. I brought this up in conversation with some American friends recently and they didn't understand why many people in Europe find such things chilling.
The UK for example, does not allow its citizens to own handguns.
I know this is difficult for many people in the USA to understand, but in the UK people do not want to own handguns. The attitude to this is completely the opposite to the USA, here we really do not understand why Americans see carrying guns as so important. And I'm not talking about just a slight majority here, but pretty much everyone is opposed to guns here.
Dear Osama,
please can you start using the telephone more often? We're having real trouble finding where you are! It would help if you phoned one of your relatives, spoke loudly and clearly into the phone, and if you can say a few of our keywords that would be great.
Thanks!
The NSA
I can understand how motion sensors can tell the angle of tilt of the controller, but would someone explain to me how the controller knows "how far it is from the TV screen"?
Or does it know how far it is away from the console? I can understand that - perhaps the controller gives out a signal that the console can detect, for instance.
Any parent with small children will know the importance of making copies of their favourite CDs and DVDs etc, as small children find it hard to remember to be careful with stuff and they tend to scratch the hell out of them.
So for parents at least, there are perfectly legitimate reasons for wanting to copy DVDs.
Apple's mission is to dilute the technical abilities of their user base and turn it into a pool of Windows users.
Are you sure this is Apple's mission? Personally, I use OSX because it is based on BSD. I know many other recent Mac converts that are the same as me - in other words, it is actually people who understand technology that are moving to the Mac. I'm sure Apple loves that, and I doubt it is their mission to "dilute the technical abilities of their user base".
I understand Vista is to have antivirus protection built in. If that is the case, then of course that is seriously going to affect the virus companies business. Of course I may be wrong.
I don't necessarily love the anti-virus companies myself, I'm just not sure I understand your logic.
I'm not sure I follow yours. Do you really believe it is relevent to compare firemen, hospitals and policemen to antivirus companies?
I didn't say Vista would be virus proof. But it does have a lot of security features built in.
The antivirus companies are scared. Why? When Vista comes out, potentially their market is going to quickly dry up. So they are trying to convince Mac users that they need their software.
Personally, I don't trust any of the antivirus companies one inch. It's big business, and it is in their interests that there are security threats and viruses around. Talk about conflict of interest...
I remember reading an interview with Bill Gates many years ago when he said he never wanted Microsoft to become IBM, by which he meant he never wanted to become a big slow moving company full of suits. Any body remember the article in question? Would be nice to read again in the light of what Microsoft has become...
Remember when IBM stumbled badly and it took everyone by surprise? I wonder when the crash of Microsoft will be heard. My guess is we've still got about five years to go...
It is not the number of heads you hire that makes the difference, it's the creativity of each individual that counts.
It's not even that. Ideas are easy for creative people. It's implementing creative ideas that is hard.
It bet there are already lots of good ideas within Microsoft, trapped under the fat arses of the middle management.