"Except a decent sized screen. Now they might be able to come up with some interesting interfaces with different views on the two displays, but most PDAs have a single screen much larger than the DS."
Those PDAs also cost more than a PDA cartridge for the DS. Frankly, if they could get PalmOS on it, a basic email client, and an instant messenger, I'd buy it just for yucks.
"The problem is that N-Gage is not successful, so what makes them think that Game Boy with PDA and maybe phoning will be successful?"
A.) The DS is already successful. B.) The DS already has the components to make a decent PDA. Add a sprinkle of software and you're done.
C.) Although I'm not terribly impressed with the idea of turning it into a phone (unless they made a new all-in-one-unit), phones are very simple very standard devices so it really wouldn't (shouldn't?) hurt the machine.
" I don't think that a 12 years old kid needs a PDA in his Game Boy, nor do I think that he should have a mobile phone."
I don't think you've got a clear idea of who all bought a DS.
"thats why proprietary software is bad. there is no way for the consumer to benefit from the software."
It's also why ambiguous standards are bad. Anybody else read the little blurb a few years ago about how no browser (Netscape, IE, etc....) passed the standards test completely?
Yeah, actually it does. If buying an expensive Mac would help me get more work done, I'd have one of those instead.
"You think what you are paying is fair, and see no problem with it."
More than that. I'm getting more done because I paid less for Windows than I recieved for it's benefit. I am in a fairly unique situation, though. I wouldn't say many other people would have the same benefit. That really wasn't the point of my original post.
"You are saying there are no alternatives to "a bunch of software" you use, left unnamed. I'm willing to bet there are alternatives to most, if not all of them. But, since you don't have any real reason to change, why should you take the time to look for it ?"
I have taken the time to look for it. Upgrades can be spendy. It isn't there, I've looked. Sorry. (Yes, I'm being intentionally vague here. A.) I think my needs are relatively unique and B.)My biggest source of income comes from a rather efficient app not available on Linux. However, even if it were ported, it wouldn't be an instant switch moment. C.) I wrote my original post to explain cost effectiveness, not to get a ton of suggestions for 'free' alternatives that I've already looked into.)
"Now, I would want to see you saying the same thing if migrating woul save you US$ 1Mil. Get me ? Different realities."
We pretty much agree. The evaluation would definitely be different. Linux may be right in their case. Please understand, though, I wasn't saying they should consider Windows first. I was merely pointing out that a price tag of $0 is not the ultimate in cost-effectiveness. I think we agree on this based on the rest of your post. My only real argument has to do with your assumptions about my particular situation. I was pretty vague, so I'm not blaming you or anything like that.
" The sculpture itself is copyrighted, which means its three dimensional shape and form are owned by the artist. The authors can't realistically claim copyright ownership on a Photograph of it."
Eh.. I dunno. I mean, suppose somebody takes a photo of the statue, sells that photo, and the original sculptor gets no money out of it.
I dunno how I feel about this scenario. I can understand why the word copyright would rear its ugly head. At the same time, though, I don't like the idea of somebody suing over copyright when their newly painted boat was accidently captured in a picture. (i.e. removal of the boat would do no measurable harm to the product.)
I'm not really sure where I stand here. It's too broad.
"as long as you don't need perfect compatibility with MS Office formats."
That's actually the reason we didn't use OO at my previous job. It wasn't so much a problem adopting it internally, but we communicated with outside people as well. (This was two years ago, though. Not sure if it's still true today.)
TCO could actually matter in the case of "I spent too much time trying to make this work with another person."
"I wonder if I can copyright myself, and then charge people to take pictures of me?"
Anybody ever watch the Real Ghostbusters cartoon? Ever notice that the characters didn't look anything like Bill Murray / Dan Akryoyd / Harold Ramis / Ernie Hudson? They couldn't get the rights to the actors' likenesses.
So I'd say the answer's yes, but I'm not sure how ya go about it.
"If the world worked like that, we'd all be running Linux and GPL software."
Cost effective is not just about price tag, it's about productivity. If, over the course of a year, an employee spends $200 more salary time trying to get work done in a GPL app, then it wasn't cost-effective.
For example: I am running Windows 2000 instead of Linux. I am not having stability or security issues. I reboot my computer once every two weeks. So if I switched to Linux, I wouldn't save my self much in terms of security, and I might save a reboot every two weeks. In the mean time, I'd have to learn how to use Linux (I've tried, no fun) *and* I'd have a bunch of software gone that there aren't alternatives to. It would not be cost-effective for me to switch to Linux though it's free. Get me?
"Oh, wait. You were too busy bashing the U.S. to let a simple thing like hitting news.google.com (where it was a top story in it's category for most of the day) get in your way."
Heh. Not sure it was intentional or not, but ya made a point about how there's more news in the world than most are able to keep track of. If the American media SUDDENLY was on top of Sudan, we'd then be criticized for not paying attention to a problem in South America.
It's been rather fashionable latey for the USA to be bashed by countries that really shouldn't be throwing stones.
"By the way, I would like to see that footage. Is it available on the Internet?"
Not that I know of. Sadly, all I remember was that I was watching PBS. Not even sure what show it was.
BTW, I really appreciate you answering my other question about Cephus. Sorry to hear she's gone. If ya ever get another one, might I recommand the name ba-gaaaaaawk?
Hmm I'm not sure how to ask this question, but I'll give it a shot:
Did Cephus show any signs of being able to identify you personally? Did she ever react to you in a special way (i.e. letting you hold her)?
I think the real reason I'm asking is that you seem to hold Cephus in really high regard. I was wondering if that was because she was simply interesting, or if it's because there was a bit of a bond there?
" She had opened the top of her tank, navigated across the table to the goldfish tank, helped herself to every last goldfish in the goldfish tank and then crawled back home, closing the top of her tank!"
Heh!
When I was a kid I saw video of a dude that put a crab into a mason jar, screwed the lid, and put it in the tank with an octopus. The thing worked on it for a bit, then wrapped it's tentacles around the lid, did a surprising spinny trick, and feasted on crab. I got in trouble with my mom for shouting "Damn!"
Believe it or not, a lot of us are running Windows 2k/XP without these problems. Yes, I'm not using IE. Yes, I'm not using Outlook Express. Yes, I'm behind a firewall. I'm not claiming to be 100% secure, but buying a Mac or switching to Linux would do little to improve my computing experience. Never mind the stuff I wouldn't be able to do because I use software that isn't 100% supported.
"Too many negative mods make Jack unable to post. So the key here is to write something that seems insightful and interesting, but leave enough hooks in to catch the fish."
Yeah, I see what you're saying. Too bad 'insightful and interesting' usually means "Oh yeah, we really don't need it. We could all be perfectly happy as farmers!" It really makes me want to run around revoking people's nerd licenses.
Well, I really can't generalize, so I'll just speak for my self.
" Do you think the traditional music album is dying out because of advances in technology?"
No. The traditional music album died the day I bought an album with only one song I liked on it. Advances in technology renewed my interest in music by making it more cost effective to me, but they're not responsible for my lack of interest in albums.
"What is the big deal with flying into space? Space tourism is about as interesting as sitting in your cubicle with added nausea to keep you on your toes."
Has anybody ever noticed that the karma system has sucked the imagination out of some people?
"Yeah, good thing we raided big bad Iraq, while sweet lil' N. Korea was doing all of this."
In all fairness, USA has allies working on a diplomatic solution to N Korea. This is exactly what you all wanted them to do with Iraq. You should be happy we haven't attacked N K.
Slashdot Mirror
"Except a decent sized screen. Now they might be able to come up with some interesting interfaces with different views on the two displays, but most PDAs have a single screen much larger than the DS."
Those PDAs also cost more than a PDA cartridge for the DS. Frankly, if they could get PalmOS on it, a basic email client, and an instant messenger, I'd buy it just for yucks.
"The problem is that N-Gage is not successful, so what makes them think that Game Boy with PDA and maybe phoning will be successful?"
A.) The DS is already successful.
B.) The DS already has the components to make a decent PDA. Add a sprinkle of software and you're done.
C.) Although I'm not terribly impressed with the idea of turning it into a phone (unless they made a new all-in-one-unit), phones are very simple very standard devices so it really wouldn't (shouldn't?) hurt the machine.
" I don't think that a 12 years old kid needs a PDA in his Game Boy, nor do I think that he should have a mobile phone."
I don't think you've got a clear idea of who all bought a DS.
"Let's PRAISE Microsoft instead."
I'm so glad Microsoft brought Opera to my attention! Go Microsoft!!
What's funny is that this is the same company that released a 'Bork' version of their browser.
"thats why proprietary software is bad. there is no way for the consumer to benefit from the software."
It's also why ambiguous standards are bad. Anybody else read the little blurb a few years ago about how no browser (Netscape, IE, etc....) passed the standards test completely?
"If your case, it has nothing to do with cost."
Yeah, actually it does. If buying an expensive Mac would help me get more work done, I'd have one of those instead.
"You think what you are paying is fair, and see no problem with it."
More than that. I'm getting more done because I paid less for Windows than I recieved for it's benefit. I am in a fairly unique situation, though. I wouldn't say many other people would have the same benefit. That really wasn't the point of my original post.
"You are saying there are no alternatives to "a bunch of software" you use, left unnamed. I'm willing to bet there are alternatives to most, if not all of them. But, since you don't have any real reason to change, why should you take the time to look for it ?"
I have taken the time to look for it. Upgrades can be spendy. It isn't there, I've looked. Sorry. (Yes, I'm being intentionally vague here. A.) I think my needs are relatively unique and B.)My biggest source of income comes from a rather efficient app not available on Linux. However, even if it were ported, it wouldn't be an instant switch moment. C.) I wrote my original post to explain cost effectiveness, not to get a ton of suggestions for 'free' alternatives that I've already looked into.)
"Now, I would want to see you saying the same thing if migrating woul save you US$ 1Mil. Get me ? Different realities."
We pretty much agree. The evaluation would definitely be different. Linux may be right in their case. Please understand, though, I wasn't saying they should consider Windows first. I was merely pointing out that a price tag of $0 is not the ultimate in cost-effectiveness. I think we agree on this based on the rest of your post. My only real argument has to do with your assumptions about my particular situation. I was pretty vague, so I'm not blaming you or anything like that.
" The sculpture itself is copyrighted, which means its three dimensional shape and form are owned by the artist. The authors can't realistically claim copyright ownership on a Photograph of it."
Eh.. I dunno. I mean, suppose somebody takes a photo of the statue, sells that photo, and the original sculptor gets no money out of it.
I dunno how I feel about this scenario. I can understand why the word copyright would rear its ugly head. At the same time, though, I don't like the idea of somebody suing over copyright when their newly painted boat was accidently captured in a picture. (i.e. removal of the boat would do no measurable harm to the product.)
I'm not really sure where I stand here. It's too broad.
"as long as you don't need perfect compatibility with MS Office formats."
That's actually the reason we didn't use OO at my previous job. It wasn't so much a problem adopting it internally, but we communicated with outside people as well. (This was two years ago, though. Not sure if it's still true today.)
TCO could actually matter in the case of "I spent too much time trying to make this work with another person."
"I wonder if I can copyright myself, and then charge people to take pictures of me?"
Anybody ever watch the Real Ghostbusters cartoon? Ever notice that the characters didn't look anything like Bill Murray / Dan Akryoyd / Harold Ramis / Ernie Hudson? They couldn't get the rights to the actors' likenesses.
So I'd say the answer's yes, but I'm not sure how ya go about it.
"If the world worked like that, we'd all be running Linux and GPL software."
Cost effective is not just about price tag, it's about productivity. If, over the course of a year, an employee spends $200 more salary time trying to get work done in a GPL app, then it wasn't cost-effective.
For example: I am running Windows 2000 instead of Linux. I am not having stability or security issues. I reboot my computer once every two weeks. So if I switched to Linux, I wouldn't save my self much in terms of security, and I might save a reboot every two weeks. In the mean time, I'd have to learn how to use Linux (I've tried, no fun) *and* I'd have a bunch of software gone that there aren't alternatives to. It would not be cost-effective for me to switch to Linux though it's free. Get me?
"Now stop trying to spread FUD."
So, if a single security problem turns up in Linux, can I cry FUD when it's claimed that Linux is more secure?
"Oh, wait. You were too busy bashing the U.S. to let a simple thing like hitting news.google.com (where it was a top story in it's category for most of the day) get in your way."
Heh. Not sure it was intentional or not, but ya made a point about how there's more news in the world than most are able to keep track of. If the American media SUDDENLY was on top of Sudan, we'd then be criticized for not paying attention to a problem in South America.
It's been rather fashionable latey for the USA to be bashed by countries that really shouldn't be throwing stones.
"By the way, I would like to see that footage. Is it available on the Internet?"
Not that I know of. Sadly, all I remember was that I was watching PBS. Not even sure what show it was.
BTW, I really appreciate you answering my other question about Cephus. Sorry to hear she's gone.
If ya ever get another one, might I recommand the name ba-gaaaaaawk?
"Here's a video of an octopus attacking a crab"
Wow.. that was a LOT like watching Oz...
Hmm I'm not sure how to ask this question, but I'll give it a shot:
Did Cephus show any signs of being able to identify you personally? Did she ever react to you in a special way (i.e. letting you hold her)?
I think the real reason I'm asking is that you seem to hold Cephus in really high regard. I was wondering if that was because she was simply interesting, or if it's because there was a bit of a bond there?
" She had opened the top of her tank, navigated across the table to the goldfish tank, helped herself to every last goldfish in the goldfish tank and then crawled back home, closing the top of her tank!"
Heh!
When I was a kid I saw video of a dude that put a crab into a mason jar, screwed the lid, and put it in the tank with an octopus. The thing worked on it for a bit, then wrapped it's tentacles around the lid, did a surprising spinny trick, and feasted on crab. I got in trouble with my mom for shouting "Damn!"
"Sheesh, /. might as well make a Cell image & category, they post so many articles about it!"
You're right! This space could have been used to pick on Bill Gates, flip the bird at SCO, or give Mozilla a reach-around!
"Sorry, but there it is."
Believe it or not, a lot of us are running Windows 2k/XP without these problems. Yes, I'm not using IE. Yes, I'm not using Outlook Express. Yes, I'm behind a firewall. I'm not claiming to be 100% secure, but buying a Mac or switching to Linux would do little to improve my computing experience. Never mind the stuff I wouldn't be able to do because I use software that isn't 100% supported.
"Google Ruled a Trademark Infringer"
Huh. I missed that story. Guess I'm not as elite of Slashdot user as you.
"Too many negative mods make Jack unable to post. So the key here is to write something that seems insightful and interesting, but leave enough hooks in to catch the fish."
Yeah, I see what you're saying. Too bad 'insightful and interesting' usually means "Oh yeah, we really don't need it. We could all be perfectly happy as farmers!" It really makes me want to run around revoking people's nerd licenses.
Well, I really can't generalize, so I'll just speak for my self.
" Do you think the traditional music album is dying out because of advances in technology?"
No. The traditional music album died the day I bought an album with only one song I liked on it. Advances in technology renewed my interest in music by making it more cost effective to me, but they're not responsible for my lack of interest in albums.
"What is the big deal with flying into space? Space tourism is about as interesting as sitting in your cubicle with added nausea to keep you on your toes."
Has anybody ever noticed that the karma system has sucked the imagination out of some people?
"Yeah, good thing we raided big bad Iraq, while sweet lil' N. Korea was doing all of this."
In all fairness, USA has allies working on a diplomatic solution to N Korea. This is exactly what you all wanted them to do with Iraq. You should be happy we haven't attacked N K.
"Is any self-respecting geek going to go to a place that can't talk about hardware correctly?"
Depends on if you've ever sat in on a Marketing meeting before.
"And how is this different from a regular CS degree?"
Well, for starters, they don't teach you to spell with numbers.
(Why do I have the feeling I'm going to have to explain this joke?)