25 Million and 10 years? That's like employing 15 scientists and engineers at a good wage (plus room for admin overhead), all working 40 hour weeks for an entire decade.
For this low-tech device? Something doesn't add up.
I for one do not welcome our advertising overlords
on
Don't Click on the Blue E
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
This is probably not a book for the average Slashdot reader.
Sooo.. what's this doing on the front page then? Ahhhh... I see:
You can purchase Don't Click on the Blue e from bn.com [htp://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=2181&so urceid=39391960&isbn=0596009399]
I dunno about the rest of you, but I don't go spending $20 buying 250-page, semi-technical books to toss at friends and family. I simply install Firefox and spend 5-minutes explaining why they should use it. Anyone "in the know" doesn't need this book and the people who should read it don't wander into that section of the bookstore. So again... what's the point?
Running my own small VAR/intergrator shop, Sun has really piqued my interest recently. Right now, I'm kinda in limbo as far as aligning myself with a server vendor.
I can't stand dealing with HP on a number of levels, one being how they've handled the Proliant brand of servers. Dell couldn't possiblity have a decent channel partner program since their whole business model is focused on direct sales. IBM is an option, but it's apparent that they're trying to get out of the hardware business and further into the more lucrative services biz. The (obvious) alliance between IBM Global Services and IBM's hardware divisions would make me feel like I'm sleeping with the devil. The big selloff to Lenovo was the real wakeup call for me. And rounding out the bunch: Toshiba seems to only be half interested in playing in the space, and their lackluster offerings reflect that.
Sun interests me because they have brand recognition and seem to be increasingly investing in the market. Until rather recently, I didn't even know that they sold wintel boxes. However, news such as the release of this notebook further shows their intent on being a contendor. My biggest concern is that Sun gear tends to overly pricey, but if they're addressing that I might just start buying from them. Does anyone have experience with partnering with Sun on the hardware end of things? What kind of reputation do they have? Or can anyone suggest another server vendor that I could investigate? I realize there are a thousand white box vendors out there, but I'm more interested in a mature partner program: coop marketing opportunities, top-notch support resources, etc.
If a CEO embraced a plan to cull 12% of the company's existing customer base in one fell swoop, the board would having him packing his office into boxes the next day. Bah... consider the source: Home Theater Magazine. This article is just brash, elitest techogeek strutting: "Well, who doesn't have a digital capable TV nowadays anyhow? Luddites!".
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is growing in popularity as the defacto "best practices" for IT services. It's not for the faint of heart (nor cheap), but it's extremely comprehensive.
And to blantantly plug the message board in my sig... this is a topic that we discuss there frequently as well. "What's the difference between a 'computer guy' and an 'IT consultant'?" was one of the threads that comes to mind. I know that one of the more frustrating aspects of my job is having to clean up other techs' messes. And worse: having to charge the customer for my time to do that when they already paid the last guy a pretty penny. With PCs now in the magical $300 range, the divide between the two types of techs seems to be growing. I don't know whether this is helping my business or hurting it yet though.
I know for a fact that one of the national big box stores mentioned doesn't have *any* of the thousands of on-site techs in their employment. They subcontract out everything to ComputerRepair.com, which is an interesting business idea in itself. I wrote a tech's perspective review of ComputerRepair.com here.
You can't sue a company for just being very successful. What sense would that make? There are plenty of other auction sites around the net. Just because they have a small fraction of the market isn't because of any nefarious behavior on ebay's part.
For those admins who tend to a small MS shop and don't have the need for an expensive patch management solution, WSUS was released last week to replace the lame SUS (Software Update Services). I had to disable SUS due to some GPO issues, so I'm looking forward to checking out WSUS. And with this round of patches, it seems like the ideal time to test.
You know, the harddisc industry (in fact any industry with x000 employees ) HAS people that are WAY smarter than you. So whenever you encouter something that doesnt make sense to you, maybe YOU are wrong.
If everyone thought this way, true "out-side-the-box" innovation would never happen. It starts with a single person saying "Hmm... I wonder what would happen if we did it this way instead". Granted, the EE's employed by HDD companies are more likely to get that stroke inspiration, but it's not impossible that an outsider could inject a fresh perspective.
Re:It's a BS experiment.
on
Trust in a Bottle
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Wow... I guess you've never been in the position of having to sell a product or service. It's a very core principle of professional salesmanship: if the prospect doesn't trust you, he will never open his wallet. 90% of the sales process is working to build rapport and trust with that person. People don't decide to buy or not to buy based on reading the stacks of whitepapers and literature thrown at them. They don't call your previous customers to ask how your track record looks. It all boils down to how they personally feel about the guy trying to influence them, aka "trust".
Public libraries are just that: public. ISP's are privately owned businesses. There ought to be a bit of difference.
"Rumored" return? I don't know about that.
on
PHRACK Final
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
PHRACK FINAL (#63) scheduled for JULY 2005 (...rumors of a PHRACK RESURRECTION in 2007
can be neither confirmed nor denied...)
Placing the "rumor" at the top of your website kinda officially acknowledges it, don't ya think? It's not like there's a massive drone of speculation buzzing about the 'net.::rolls eyes::
Most banks have waived the liability amount entirely nowadays. And it's doubtful that anyone will be "hunting" someone for only $3k. I recall that it takes a loss of at least $10k to get the involvement of federal authorities.
It's called media placement. The website in question derives it's revenue via ad sales. Therefore it's in their best interest to get as many eyeballs to their site as possible. So they decide to ride the latest Star Wars hype wave and create this bogus story. Some people think it's cute and email or IM it to friends. In other cases, online "news" websites link to it.
Notice the "Photo courtesy Lucasfilm Ltd."? This is nothing more than a coordinated piece of PR. Now, the real question is: Is Slashdot getting a small piece of the pie by graciously helping perpetuate it? Considering the glut of obvious bought-and-paid-for submissions lately, it wouldn't suprise me in the least.
This is getting a bit ridiculous. I've been reading slashdot for at least five years now. WTF is up with all these bought-and-paid-for media placements that have shown up recently? My respect for Slashdot is rapidly dwindeling and I want an offical answer.
This is the number one reason why I refuse to subscribe.
What's more, looks like the submitter created a/. account just to submit this story.::rolls eyes::
The Slashdot helped cement the term "astroturfing" in the public vernacular back in the late 90's--the irony is so sharp it almost hurts. Just another example of how media placement has become the new norm on the 'net, since that whole advertising experiment didn't quite work out as expected.
I wish people would stop recommending that "people write their congress rep" eveything an innane law pops up. These people don't care, hell I bet most don't even read their own mail. With these web based forms and email, I'm sure peoples' opinions are a dime a dozen and most are immediatly filed promptly into/dev/null.
What you should do is write your local newspapers. Editors are always looking for well-written commentary. Anything that stirs up the shit a little bit is a bonus (and that isn't hard to do when writing about politics). Write something insightful and get it in front of thousands of readers. That is the only way you'll get the attention of these bought-and-paid-for congress critters. Turn the heat up a bit and they'll be less likely to try to slip something like this under the radar again.
You inference is kinda insulting to your everyday computer user. You don't need to be a computer guru to understand basic economics. Whether it's brake pads, kitchen knives or RAM, there's always reason why some brands are more expensive than others. The onus is on the buyer to educate themselves before making a purchase. There's only so much hand holding a company ought to do.
Slashdot Mirror
Since the painfully brief article buries the most relevant piece of this story 5 pages into a linked slideshow: An image of the chart in question.
::curmudgeony voice:: Dunno... certainly looks prettier, but at quick glance I can gather a lot more information from an "old school" chart.
25 Million and 10 years? That's like employing 15 scientists and engineers at a good wage (plus room for admin overhead), all working 40 hour weeks for an entire decade.
For this low-tech device? Something doesn't add up.
Running my own small VAR/intergrator shop, Sun has really piqued my interest recently. Right now, I'm kinda in limbo as far as aligning myself with a server vendor.
I can't stand dealing with HP on a number of levels, one being how they've handled the Proliant brand of servers. Dell couldn't possiblity have a decent channel partner program since their whole business model is focused on direct sales. IBM is an option, but it's apparent that they're trying to get out of the hardware business and further into the more lucrative services biz. The (obvious) alliance between IBM Global Services and IBM's hardware divisions would make me feel like I'm sleeping with the devil. The big selloff to Lenovo was the real wakeup call for me. And rounding out the bunch: Toshiba seems to only be half interested in playing in the space, and their lackluster offerings reflect that.
Sun interests me because they have brand recognition and seem to be increasingly investing in the market. Until rather recently, I didn't even know that they sold wintel boxes. However, news such as the release of this notebook further shows their intent on being a contendor. My biggest concern is that Sun gear tends to overly pricey, but if they're addressing that I might just start buying from them. Does anyone have experience with partnering with Sun on the hardware end of things? What kind of reputation do they have? Or can anyone suggest another server vendor that I could investigate? I realize there are a thousand white box vendors out there, but I'm more interested in a mature partner program: coop marketing opportunities, top-notch support resources, etc.
Only 12? Funny perspective you seem to have..
If a CEO embraced a plan to cull 12% of the company's existing customer base in one fell swoop, the board would having him packing his office into boxes the next day. Bah... consider the source: Home Theater Magazine. This article is just brash, elitest techogeek strutting: "Well, who doesn't have a digital capable TV nowadays anyhow? Luddites!".
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is growing in popularity as the defacto "best practices" for IT services. It's not for the faint of heart (nor cheap), but it's extremely comprehensive.
And to blantantly plug the message board in my sig... this is a topic that we discuss there frequently as well. "What's the difference between a 'computer guy' and an 'IT consultant'?" was one of the threads that comes to mind. I know that one of the more frustrating aspects of my job is having to clean up other techs' messes. And worse: having to charge the customer for my time to do that when they already paid the last guy a pretty penny. With PCs now in the magical $300 range, the divide between the two types of techs seems to be growing. I don't know whether this is helping my business or hurting it yet though.
You're a self-proclaimed "libertarian" and you don't know whether to support the expansion of eminent domain powers or not?
Please surrender your membership card at the door. Thank you.
I know for a fact that one of the national big box stores mentioned doesn't have *any* of the thousands of on-site techs in their employment. They subcontract out everything to ComputerRepair.com, which is an interesting business idea in itself. I wrote a tech's perspective review of ComputerRepair.com here.
You can't sue a company for just being very successful. What sense would that make? There are plenty of other auction sites around the net. Just because they have a small fraction of the market isn't because of any nefarious behavior on ebay's part.
For those admins who tend to a small MS shop and don't have the need for an expensive patch management solution, WSUS was released last week to replace the lame SUS (Software Update Services). I had to disable SUS due to some GPO issues, so I'm looking forward to checking out WSUS. And with this round of patches, it seems like the ideal time to test.
Wow... I guess you've never been in the position of having to sell a product or service. It's a very core principle of professional salesmanship: if the prospect doesn't trust you, he will never open his wallet. 90% of the sales process is working to build rapport and trust with that person. People don't decide to buy or not to buy based on reading the stacks of whitepapers and literature thrown at them. They don't call your previous customers to ask how your track record looks. It all boils down to how they personally feel about the guy trying to influence them, aka "trust".
Public libraries are just that: public. ISP's are privately owned businesses. There ought to be a bit of difference.
Most banks have waived the liability amount entirely nowadays. And it's doubtful that anyone will be "hunting" someone for only $3k. I recall that it takes a loss of at least $10k to get the involvement of federal authorities.
It's called media placement. The website in question derives it's revenue via ad sales. Therefore it's in their best interest to get as many eyeballs to their site as possible. So they decide to ride the latest Star Wars hype wave and create this bogus story. Some people think it's cute and email or IM it to friends. In other cases, online "news" websites link to it.
Notice the "Photo courtesy Lucasfilm Ltd."? This is nothing more than a coordinated piece of PR. Now, the real question is: Is Slashdot getting a small piece of the pie by graciously helping perpetuate it? Considering the glut of obvious bought-and-paid-for submissions lately, it wouldn't suprise me in the least.
I tend to agree with their research: I haven't had the urge today to buy a Star Wars PC, an iMac, or a gimmicky liquid metal CPU cooler.
This is getting a bit ridiculous. I've been reading slashdot for at least five years now. WTF is up with all these bought-and-paid-for media placements that have shown up recently? My respect for Slashdot is rapidly dwindeling and I want an offical answer.
This is the number one reason why I refuse to subscribe.
Stuff like this, along with the increasing number of paid-for, astroturfing articles, is the reason I don't have a little asterisk next to my name.
What's more, looks like the submitter created a /. account just to submit this story. ::rolls eyes::
The Slashdot helped cement the term "astroturfing" in the public vernacular back in the late 90's--the irony is so sharp it almost hurts. Just another example of how media placement has become the new norm on the 'net, since that whole advertising experiment didn't quite work out as expected.
I do.
Learned from their mistakes? Betamax, DAT, ATRAC3... It doesn't look like they'll ever learn.
I wish people would stop recommending that "people write their congress rep" eveything an innane law pops up. These people don't care, hell I bet most don't even read their own mail. With these web based forms and email, I'm sure peoples' opinions are a dime a dozen and most are immediatly filed promptly into /dev/null.
What you should do is write your local newspapers. Editors are always looking for well-written commentary. Anything that stirs up the shit a little bit is a bonus (and that isn't hard to do when writing about politics). Write something insightful and get it in front of thousands of readers. That is the only way you'll get the attention of these bought-and-paid-for congress critters. Turn the heat up a bit and they'll be less likely to try to slip something like this under the radar again.
You inference is kinda insulting to your everyday computer user. You don't need to be a computer guru to understand basic economics. Whether it's brake pads, kitchen knives or RAM, there's always reason why some brands are more expensive than others. The onus is on the buyer to educate themselves before making a purchase. There's only so much hand holding a company ought to do.