There's always room for multiple providers. However, I have become convinced that the general public hates competing standards or formats, and will seek out the standard that they think will become, well, standard.
VCRs are a good example, as are PC operating systems. People are afraid that the format they choose are is going to go the way of BetaMax, so they are more apt to pick the popular one -- I'm even starting to see this in things like Satellite Dish networks and (I think) PVRs.
Actually, Ford's MACH sound system isn't so bad -- it even plays MP3's in the newer configuration. My real problem is that my ride's a convertible, so at highway speeds I need speakers that can handle a lot of power in order to get quality sound and I need a highly customizable head unit -- putting the top down necessitates a complete retuning of the power pushed to each speaker.
Hey, for a lot of us, radio and live radio shows are the only thing that make driving long distances bearable. I mean, I have hundreds of CDs of music I like (and paid for), but listening to new stuff and stuff at random is the only way to go on long rides.
If I have to drive long distances on a regular basis, I'd definately do satellite radio. Try driving from LA to San Francisco sometime and listening to the Central Coast's crappy religious channels and you'll see what I mean.
This is like VHS vs. Betamax -- there's probably only room for one company in the market. Like the aforementioned VCR competition, this also probably won't be won on technical merits.
Consider the following: Which does more advertising? Who has more unit production? Basically, which has greater (cringe) mindshare? Of course, if you're willing to deal with a failing company and face buying a new head unit in a couple of years, be my guest.
Also, don't forget the rest of your sound system. Decide what you need and buy accordingly -- you almost certainly need a decent pair of componant speakers for the front and probably new, high-quality speakers in the back, not to mentioned the amps to drive them. You should also seriously consider a sub if you listen to hard rock, heavy metal or rap (among others). I have a pair of 10" subs in my trunk (largest that will easily fit in a tiny Mustang trunk) that are set up to be easily removed -- unplug the power and signal and pull 'em out if you need space for luggage or cargo.
Anyhow, don't just upgrade the head unit and go with your crappy stock sound system.
Hm, this definately counts as a strike against Sun, but after four long months of unemployment I'd work for the Prince of Darkness (Larry Ellison) if he was willing to pay well.
For those of you who didn't read the shorter site: A grid of massive, roughly hewn 25' black cubes with about 5 feet of separtation between them.
You could get in, but it'd be a distinctly uncomfortable place to be. It'd be unbelievably hot a lot of the year, it'd be tought to do anything useful in the area, etc. It says "stay out" without trying too hard and inciting curiosity.
Of course, I also think "Most gross danger" in the top hundred most popular languages and Welch would be a good addition. Hell, it might even serve as a rosetta stone some day...
If you've seen the Red Dwarf episode "Quarantine", recall the 'Most Gross Danger' sign which featured an illustration of a man stick-figure grabbing his throat while his guts exploded from his abdomen.
Maybe a little off-topic, but since you mentioned Bond:
I live in San Jose, and I've been laid off about three months. The other day I was watching View to a Kill, and I found myself genuinely hoping that Christopher Walken's character would succeed in blowing up the Silicon Valley.
So, who wants to lay odds on how long it'll be before this guy makes the Daily Show?
In any event, the idea isn't so great. Making the unfortunate people without social lives pay for space exploration would only be fair if they introduced a ton of other user fees -- for example, introducing more toll roads for drivers or taxing people who buy copies of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" for the cost of educating the children which result.
And for those of you who say NASA's money should go to social programs, I ask you this: Where would America's poor be without Tang? Huh? Smart guy?
Re:Best Buy = Best Fraud
on
Worst Buy
·
· Score: 2
Let me get this straight:
1. He purchased a product at a store. 2. The product did not work as advertised.
And what you're saying is that he's out of luck simply because some other people might break the law?
That's bullshit. For starters, you just can't make your own rules based on the assumption that everyone's a crook -- in this case, refusing to refund money paid for a defective product. And I don't care what you say, if it doesn't work on a normal PC, it's defective in that case.
Besides this, your typical/. geek arrogence is sickening. You shouldn't have to be overly fluent with computers just to buy a fucking video game. Consumers of computer programs deserve the same protections as any other consumers -- for instance, if you bought a new car that didn't run correctly, you're protected by lemon laws (they have to fix it in a certain amount of time or give you your money back). The same thing applys for all other areas of defective products. Why should software be so different?
If you fall for that one, you deserve to get caught.
Seriously, though: this is why we have courts. The only job of the police is to catch people who do bad things (most car theives, BTW, don't just steal one car). It's the job of the courts to both dispense justice and protect people from having their rights violated. This is why evidence obtained illegally can be thrown out, regardless of how damning it is.
Watch Law & Order some time; they explain this pretty well in the first five seconds of each show.
Christ, after a few hours of playing GTA3, I'm really up shit creek. Multiple felony carjackings, killing police officers, conspiricy to commit everything from prostitution to arson to murder, firearms violations, assualt with a deadly weapon, illegal use of cheat codes...
Time to start high-tailing it for Mexico. No doubt I'll make it; I'll just run to the street and pull the first guy driving a decent car I see out of his ride and set off down the 101.
Then again, in the game, the police just let you out after a few hours if they catch you. Maybe virtual crimes should carry only virtual penalties...
Re:they spend money on this?
on
Quark Stars
·
· Score: 1
why do i suddenly want to take a bat to congress...
Not to mention your first through sixth grade teachers.
Way back when I interned at Cray, I had an idea to build an aquarium case filled with Florinert, complete with some fake goldfish and one of those little bubbling pirate's chests at the bottom.
The problem is that Florinert is pretty expensive; one of the techs estimated $200 a gallon.
I'll bet mineral oil would work dandy, though, assuming you could keep and condensation out of the tank...
Back in college, I had a case I made out of a case of Leinie's (Leinenkugal's, regional beer out of Chippewa Falls, WI).
It was great -- everything fit in nicely and it was easy to move around. I was constantly a bit worried that it'd catch fire, but it didn't. The thing lived for about a month until I put together enough money to order my current case (a bit-ass SuperMicro with a mess of drive bays and fans).
Oh, and I got to drink the beer, too. That was the best part.
I think it's fair to say that's a pretty asinine attitude. Look, at some really basic level, parents have two big responsibilities:
1. Keep the kid alive, reasonably safe from harm and generally undamaged.
2. Prepare the kid to be an adult.
Your "my way or the highway" attitude might facilitate #1, but you're neglecting a really big part of #2 -- forgetting to teach your kid self-reliance is just as serious as, say, forgetting to send them to school. Either way, you're producing an 18 year-old who isn't realistically prepared for the Real World (tm).
Of course, the problem is that #1 is purely instinct, but #2 takes a certain level of rational intelligence. I encourage you to exercise that.
Bards Tale remake? Alright! Mangar is one dead muther. Again.
I can't believe how many hours I spent sitting in front of my 8088 playing that damned game. To this day, I could navigate the Catacombs with my freakin' eyes closed. I shudder to think how much of the useful storage in my brain is consumed with Bards Tale, and how many more useful things I could have been doing while I was obsessing about intoducing Mangar to DEST (amazing how that little bitch never could make a saving throw).
Spending six months to a year or more in isloation, especially in a very small room no bigger than, and maybe smaller that a college dorm room, with only the food and entertainment you brought with you, can be very stressful.
While I'm sure that it *can* be stressful, it's not as if this level of exploration is without historical prescident. Throughout history, exploration ships have spent months at sea with small crews.
Early caravels had crews of 6-8 people. Columbus' flag ship had a crew of 20. These aren't exactly the hundreds of friends you seem to want to bring along with you.
Plus, our modern-day explorers would be incredibly plugged-in compared with sailors on those old wooden ships. Sure, the scientists in Antarctica had email, but what makes you think the crew of a Mars expedition wouldn't?
Well, yeah. That has something to do with it, and not really in the xenophobic way you're implying.
Let's establish a little background. Historically, people came to America as immigrants. They'd save up enough money to make the trip or make a deal with some individual or company to get here (or they'd get captured and put on a slave ship, but this particular atrocity isn't really relevant to the conversation we're having).
Once here, they'd find work and raise a family. Sure, many sent money back to family overseas, but their family -- their spouse, kids, etc -- were here. This has a modern parallel with many modern immigrants from Latin America; in some parts of Mexico, for instance, the number one source of general income is money from relatives in the US.
The H1-B worker is a different matter, however. They, by definition, aren't here on any sort of permanent basis. Rather, they're here to provide what is supposed to be stop-gap expertise in technology.
This places H1 workers at a great advantage over both myself and the more traditional immigrants (let's call them naturalized citizens). While both I and naturalized citizens have our families and dependants here in America (where the cost of living is incredibly high compared to most of Asia), the H1 worker has their dependants in countries like India or Pakistan. This allows them to work for significantly less money -- H1's make, on average, 10-15% less than their citizen counterparts. Moreover, the initial costs related to an H1 mean that they represent a certain investment to a company, meaning that they're actually less likely to be caught up in layoffs than their citizen (again, "native" and naturalized) counterparts.
So, it's not a fair setup. It allows tech companies to hire cut-rate labor from overseas even while, say, the unemployment rate in the Valley hovers around 8%.
I resent the fact that any discussion of H1-B workers breaks down immediately into accusations of racism or xenophobia. It's not the people causing the problem, it's the system, a system which was bought and paid for by greedy companies looking to screw their potential workforce by diluting the labor pool. This is bad for me and, frankly, not so hot for the H1's, either -- they're getting paid less to do the same work, aren't they?
The fix is to eliminate these preferential visas and to instead fasttrack immigration for skilled tech workers. Let workers come to America and compete on a level playing field, and let these poor multi-billion dollar companies pay their workers what the market will bear.
So, you're suggesting that wars occur because there are standing armies and/or people with weapons?
Huh, and here I thought it had something to do with politics and economics, but I guess that the armies of well-motivated, equipped and trained individuals are just sort of spontaneous happenings.
HINT: If you are into post-modern identity chrisis (AC), then I'd suggest you keep your mouth shut and keep yourself invisible and thoughtless.
Well, here you go: I'm not anonymous. However, given your history of flame-bait comments, I suggest that you should consider an elective case of post-modern identity crisis in your future postings.
I worked for an ex-SEAL who'd give you a run for your money, but you've got me beat.
Re:You're out of touch with the reality of SV hous
on
Silicon Valley Rebirth?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
3. The reality of the situation is that there is no more room to build, and everyone commutes from the East Bay from as far away as Stockton, enduring horrible commutes. And while you're trying to save a few bucks on your $85k per year salary, you're paying $2000/month in rent. How can you save enough money to make a down payment? You can't. That's why my friend with a wife and two children was living with his parents for the last five years - he can't afford any property.
What the hell kind of apartment did you live in?!? I have a nice two-bedroom with onsight laundry and a pool in Campbell, and I only back $1275.
I agree that the housing market is still a bit nuts, but that actually locks a lot of the old-school geeks in here (you know, there was business here before 1997).
Slashdot Mirror
There's always room for multiple providers. However, I have become convinced that the general public hates competing standards or formats, and will seek out the standard that they think will become, well, standard.
VCRs are a good example, as are PC operating systems. People are afraid that the format they choose are is going to go the way of BetaMax, so they are more apt to pick the popular one -- I'm even starting to see this in things like Satellite Dish networks and (I think) PVRs.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Actually, Ford's MACH sound system isn't so bad -- it even plays MP3's in the newer configuration. My real problem is that my ride's a convertible, so at highway speeds I need speakers that can handle a lot of power in order to get quality sound and I need a highly customizable head unit -- putting the top down necessitates a complete retuning of the power pushed to each speaker.
Hey, for a lot of us, radio and live radio shows are the only thing that make driving long distances bearable. I mean, I have hundreds of CDs of music I like (and paid for), but listening to new stuff and stuff at random is the only way to go on long rides.
If I have to drive long distances on a regular basis, I'd definately do satellite radio. Try driving from LA to San Francisco sometime and listening to the Central Coast's crappy religious channels and you'll see what I mean.
This is like VHS vs. Betamax -- there's probably only room for one company in the market. Like the aforementioned VCR competition, this also probably won't be won on technical merits.
Consider the following: Which does more advertising? Who has more unit production? Basically, which has greater (cringe) mindshare? Of course, if you're willing to deal with a failing company and face buying a new head unit in a couple of years, be my guest.
Also, don't forget the rest of your sound system. Decide what you need and buy accordingly -- you almost certainly need a decent pair of componant speakers for the front and probably new, high-quality speakers in the back, not to mentioned the amps to drive them. You should also seriously consider a sub if you listen to hard rock, heavy metal or rap (among others). I have a pair of 10" subs in my trunk (largest that will easily fit in a tiny Mustang trunk) that are set up to be easily removed -- unplug the power and signal and pull 'em out if you need space for luggage or cargo.
Anyhow, don't just upgrade the head unit and go with your crappy stock sound system.
Hm, this definately counts as a strike against Sun, but after four long months of unemployment I'd work for the Prince of Darkness (Larry Ellison) if he was willing to pay well.
Screw you, you gay-ass bitch. =)
This should be possible -- after all, if you want to knowingly go walking around on a nuke waste dump, be my guest.
I like the "massive stone grid" approach.
For those of you who didn't read the shorter site: A grid of massive, roughly hewn 25' black cubes with about 5 feet of separtation between them.
You could get in, but it'd be a distinctly uncomfortable place to be. It'd be unbelievably hot a lot of the year, it'd be tought to do anything useful in the area, etc. It says "stay out" without trying too hard and inciting curiosity.
Of course, I also think "Most gross danger" in the top hundred most popular languages and Welch would be a good addition. Hell, it might even serve as a rosetta stone some day...
If you've seen the Red Dwarf episode "Quarantine", recall the 'Most Gross Danger' sign which featured an illustration of a man stick-figure grabbing his throat while his guts exploded from his abdomen.
I think that'd probably do.
I live in San Jose, and I've been laid off about three months. The other day I was watching View to a Kill, and I found myself genuinely hoping that Christopher Walken's character would succeed in blowing up the Silicon Valley.
Christ, I need to find a job.
In any event, the idea isn't so great. Making the unfortunate people without social lives pay for space exploration would only be fair if they introduced a ton of other user fees -- for example, introducing more toll roads for drivers or taxing people who buy copies of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" for the cost of educating the children which result.
And for those of you who say NASA's money should go to social programs, I ask you this: Where would America's poor be without Tang? Huh? Smart guy?
Let me get this straight:
/. geek arrogence is sickening. You shouldn't have to be overly fluent with computers just to buy a fucking video game. Consumers of computer programs deserve the same protections as any other consumers -- for instance, if you bought a new car that didn't run correctly, you're protected by lemon laws (they have to fix it in a certain amount of time or give you your money back). The same thing applys for all other areas of defective products. Why should software be so different?
1. He purchased a product at a store.
2. The product did not work as advertised.
And what you're saying is that he's out of luck simply because some other people might break the law?
That's bullshit. For starters, you just can't make your own rules based on the assumption that everyone's a crook -- in this case, refusing to refund money paid for a defective product. And I don't care what you say, if it doesn't work on a normal PC, it's defective in that case.
Besides this, your typical
At that point, it might just be easier to hire a midget to hide in the back seat with a shotgun.
Seriously, though: this is why we have courts. The only job of the police is to catch people who do bad things (most car theives, BTW, don't just steal one car). It's the job of the courts to both dispense justice and protect people from having their rights violated. This is why evidence obtained illegally can be thrown out, regardless of how damning it is.
Watch Law & Order some time; they explain this pretty well in the first five seconds of each show.
Time to start high-tailing it for Mexico. No doubt I'll make it; I'll just run to the street and pull the first guy driving a decent car I see out of his ride and set off down the 101.
Then again, in the game, the police just let you out after a few hours if they catch you. Maybe virtual crimes should carry only virtual penalties...
Not to mention your first through sixth grade teachers.
Way back when I interned at Cray, I had an idea to build an aquarium case filled with Florinert, complete with some fake goldfish and one of those little bubbling pirate's chests at the bottom.
The problem is that Florinert is pretty expensive; one of the techs estimated $200 a gallon.
I'll bet mineral oil would work dandy, though, assuming you could keep and condensation out of the tank...
It was great -- everything fit in nicely and it was easy to move around. I was constantly a bit worried that it'd catch fire, but it didn't. The thing lived for about a month until I put together enough money to order my current case (a bit-ass SuperMicro with a mess of drive bays and fans).
Oh, and I got to drink the beer, too. That was the best part.
1. Keep the kid alive, reasonably safe from harm and generally undamaged.
2. Prepare the kid to be an adult.
Your "my way or the highway" attitude might facilitate #1, but you're neglecting a really big part of #2 -- forgetting to teach your kid self-reliance is just as serious as, say, forgetting to send them to school. Either way, you're producing an 18 year-old who isn't realistically prepared for the Real World (tm).
Of course, the problem is that #1 is purely instinct, but #2 takes a certain level of rational intelligence. I encourage you to exercise that.
I can't believe how many hours I spent sitting in front of my 8088 playing that damned game. To this day, I could navigate the Catacombs with my freakin' eyes closed. I shudder to think how much of the useful storage in my brain is consumed with Bards Tale, and how many more useful things I could have been doing while I was obsessing about intoducing Mangar to DEST (amazing how that little bitch never could make a saving throw).
While I'm sure that it *can* be stressful, it's not as if this level of exploration is without historical prescident. Throughout history, exploration ships have spent months at sea with small crews.
Early caravels had crews of 6-8 people. Columbus' flag ship had a crew of 20. These aren't exactly the hundreds of friends you seem to want to bring along with you.
Plus, our modern-day explorers would be incredibly plugged-in compared with sailors on those old wooden ships. Sure, the scientists in Antarctica had email, but what makes you think the crew of a Mars expedition wouldn't?
Well, yeah. That has something to do with it, and not really in the xenophobic way you're implying.
Let's establish a little background. Historically, people came to America as immigrants. They'd save up enough money to make the trip or make a deal with some individual or company to get here (or they'd get captured and put on a slave ship, but this particular atrocity isn't really relevant to the conversation we're having). Once here, they'd find work and raise a family. Sure, many sent money back to family overseas, but their family -- their spouse, kids, etc -- were here. This has a modern parallel with many modern immigrants from Latin America; in some parts of Mexico, for instance, the number one source of general income is money from relatives in the US.
The H1-B worker is a different matter, however. They, by definition, aren't here on any sort of permanent basis. Rather, they're here to provide what is supposed to be stop-gap expertise in technology.
This places H1 workers at a great advantage over both myself and the more traditional immigrants (let's call them naturalized citizens). While both I and naturalized citizens have our families and dependants here in America (where the cost of living is incredibly high compared to most of Asia), the H1 worker has their dependants in countries like India or Pakistan. This allows them to work for significantly less money -- H1's make, on average, 10-15% less than their citizen counterparts. Moreover, the initial costs related to an H1 mean that they represent a certain investment to a company, meaning that they're actually less likely to be caught up in layoffs than their citizen (again, "native" and naturalized) counterparts.
So, it's not a fair setup. It allows tech companies to hire cut-rate labor from overseas even while, say, the unemployment rate in the Valley hovers around 8%.
I resent the fact that any discussion of H1-B workers breaks down immediately into accusations of racism or xenophobia. It's not the people causing the problem, it's the system, a system which was bought and paid for by greedy companies looking to screw their potential workforce by diluting the labor pool. This is bad for me and, frankly, not so hot for the H1's, either -- they're getting paid less to do the same work, aren't they?
The fix is to eliminate these preferential visas and to instead fasttrack immigration for skilled tech workers. Let workers come to America and compete on a level playing field, and let these poor multi-billion dollar companies pay their workers what the market will bear.
HINT: If you are into post-modern identity chrisis (AC), then I'd suggest you keep your mouth shut and keep yourself invisible and thoughtless.
Well, here you go: I'm not anonymous. However, given your history of flame-bait comments, I suggest that you should consider an elective case of post-modern identity crisis in your future postings.
I worked for an ex-SEAL who'd give you a run for your money, but you've got me beat.
What the hell kind of apartment did you live in?!? I have a nice two-bedroom with onsight laundry and a pool in Campbell, and I only back $1275.
I agree that the housing market is still a bit nuts, but that actually locks a lot of the old-school geeks in here (you know, there was business here before 1997).