When you're hellbent on becoming the #1 OS in the world, making the #1 MP3 player, or the fact that your company's market value went down a billion dollars in the past 24 hours
I think that in the case of Gates and Jobs, they're not personally hell bent on those particular things. They're both very driven people, but you can be pretty sure Jobs isn't aiming to make OS the biggest in the world, or even have iPod be #1. Sure he'd like that, but it's not what he aims for - he aims for making a better experience, a better OS, a better MP3 player. If it turns out that those things become #1 in sales, then great, but that's not his end goal. Likewise, in hearing Gates talk, aside from his philanthropy, he seems to want to find the next big thing, create the sci-fi future where we have ubiquitous computing, etc. He's not out trying to crush Apple or anyone else.
While you list valid issues with laptops vs. desktop, a lot of consumers just don't care that much. Computers have become a commodity good, and people toss them aside as such. It doesn't matter if it dies in 2 years, because by then people want the latest and greatest anyways, and when you can get one that does everything you need for well under a grand, a lot of people won't hesitate to get a new one, whether or not it's the most economical and efficient thing to do.
I think standardisation of laptop parts isn't that likely to happen any time soon, mostly due to hesitance on the part of the manufacturers. They use those non-standard parts to squeeze the most they can into tiny spaces, and differentiate themselves from their competitors, since they can't do so on features very much. Why pay more for Lenovo's build quality if it's the exact same parts as HP's, or why pay more for Sony's design if the cases are available elsewhere? (examples obviously)
Except that these boards aren't going to be put in crappy Dells, they're enthusiast boards, going into high-end custom built boxes. The ability to do RAID-5 on the board would probably be very well recieved, and would be one of those things that would put the nForce chipset above others (which is rather hard to do given that the memory controller is now onboard the CPU with the 64 bit Athlons).
At the risk of repeating what everyone has already said, the beauty of the iPod is in it's design and interface. I've used an Archos, and it has some nifty features, but it feels clunkier, and while the interface isn't bad, it really can't stand up to the iPod's interface.
When you combine the scroll wheel with a simple, onscreen GUI, you get a combination that's so simple yet effective that I can do anything I need to quickly and efficiently, while my grandmother can still figure out the basics in 10 minutes.
It doesn't have to be public to be searchable. They could pull the same stuff they have with Gmail, where your conversation history (which most IM programs already keep) is searchable by you.
This is also where they could integrate their context based text ads. It would be a little much to have them in live IM chats (as well as add significant clutter to the interface), but having them in the search/history page wouldn't be a big deal.
The one requirement would be that you would have to store the history on their servers, but that seems like a fair tradeoff to me. You want to search (and keep a history independant of the workstation you're on) your messages? Then you have to have Google store it and show you the ads. Don't like it for whatever reason? Turn it off. Seems like a sweet deal to me.
Actually, even Canadian companies don't have to do this. Many do (mostly ones who are large enough that they serve a significant portion of the country, so they will more than likely have some french customers.
However, there is no obligation for companies (other than regulated ones like Air Canada, Via Rail, etc.) that aren't based in Quebec to do anything special.
Here's a reason why Region 1 people are affected: release of TV series on DVD. This is a personal hot button, as I'm a great fan of the West Wing, but only came in during season 4. Because there are no stations showing reruns (is it even syndicated yet?) in Canada, I can't see what I've missed. The first two or three seasons are out on DVD in the UK, but there are as of yet no plans to release them in Region 1 AFAIK. It seems that this is a problem for a lot of shows.
That thing was the bomb. I got it for xmas one year, and set it up on a big table with casters (so I could wheel it out to the middle of my room to play with it) in my room. That thing kicked so much ass, and you could do some cool crashes with it too:D
Parabolic (shaped) skiis are a great example of technology in sports. It's not uber-high-tech, but it's made a world of difference. Ski lengths have plummetted, along with turning radii, and it's far easier for beginners to progress from snowplow to parallel and carved turns.
However, unlike other prominent lawsuits in the tech world, IBM actually has more than just a money-tree with which to pay lawyers. They actually have the law on their side (assuming that all the indications are correct and SCO's claim is BS, which I would rate at atleast 95% chance).
You too eh? I know have a horrible pathalogical fear of large fans thanks to those bastards at Valve. And I know I won't be able to stop myself from buying HL2. I'm locked into a terrible, terrible pattern...
"Let's goLet's go burn down the observatory so this will never happen again." - Moe, after the comet that was going to destroy Springfeild burns up in the atmosphere
While on the surface your idea sounds alright, it's really not a good one. A company with 100 employees but no leader will fail. You need to have a good CEO and management for a company to achieve anything. It's like waging a war (perhaps not the best analogy given world events, but nevermind). You have all sorts of low level officers to make tactical decisions, but you still need generals planning the whole thing in order to have a cohesive strategy. Sure, a few tech people can get the work done, but they probably can't oversee the entire company and set up a solid business plan.
Yeah, but not everyone wants to huddle infront of their 19-21" monitor to watch movies. It's all well and good if you just want to kill an hour or two by yourself, but some of us like to watch movies from our couch with friends in front of our big TV or Plasma screen and home theatre system.
Re:How long will it take for hard drives to catch
on
8.6 GB Internet?
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· Score: 1
I don't know about you, but I like the idea of being able to add a movie to my collection by paying a small fee (say $10) and downloading an.iso (well, the DVD equivalent of one) and burning it to disc with an elapsed time of under 10 minutes. Of course, the question remains as to whether the MPAA will wake up and realise that they can use the internet to make profit rather than vainly trying to thwart file traders.
Although you're correct in that the US has incredible satellite imagery capabilities, the problem is that the satellites are orbiting the earth, and thus they can't have a satellite everywhere they need it, at all the time. I would speculate that they're using the commercial imagery satellites to make up for gaps in their coverage.
This is a pretty obvious one, but I think Linux has surpassed everyone's expectations, esp. those who knew about it in it's earlier stages. I'm sure Linus never expected it to become so huge, as well as a posterboy for the OSS movement.
Although this is probably a good thing (even though you're killing yourself, you're doing it without addiction), I think there may be an overlooked aspect here. Considering how uninformed the typical consumer is, I fear this could result in a rise in the number of smokers. When Joe Sixpack is browsing through his local 7 Eleven and sees a pack of cigs with "Nicotine Free" on the box, what if he thinks "Hey, I can smoke without harming myself" and takes up smoking. I think this is not an inconceivable situation. I would hope that these things come with additional warnings stating that while they do not contain addictive nicotine, they are still cancer causing.
Keep in mind that not everyone has access to what I think is the key attraction for a HTPC - Tivo. I live in Canada, and there are no PVRs available - except for Bell ExpressVu, which offers one as part of one of its digital satellite recievers, but not standalone for those of us that don't want their service. The only option available to me is an HTPC. The problem is that there are no good TV Tuners available for a reasonable price (Hauppagge makes one that looks great, but it's $250 US). So I'm desperately looking for a good solution.
Slashdot Mirror
When you're hellbent on becoming the #1 OS in the world, making the #1 MP3 player, or the fact that your company's market value went down a billion dollars in the past 24 hours I think that in the case of Gates and Jobs, they're not personally hell bent on those particular things. They're both very driven people, but you can be pretty sure Jobs isn't aiming to make OS the biggest in the world, or even have iPod be #1. Sure he'd like that, but it's not what he aims for - he aims for making a better experience, a better OS, a better MP3 player. If it turns out that those things become #1 in sales, then great, but that's not his end goal. Likewise, in hearing Gates talk, aside from his philanthropy, he seems to want to find the next big thing, create the sci-fi future where we have ubiquitous computing, etc. He's not out trying to crush Apple or anyone else.
While you list valid issues with laptops vs. desktop, a lot of consumers just don't care that much. Computers have become a commodity good, and people toss them aside as such. It doesn't matter if it dies in 2 years, because by then people want the latest and greatest anyways, and when you can get one that does everything you need for well under a grand, a lot of people won't hesitate to get a new one, whether or not it's the most economical and efficient thing to do.
I think standardisation of laptop parts isn't that likely to happen any time soon, mostly due to hesitance on the part of the manufacturers. They use those non-standard parts to squeeze the most they can into tiny spaces, and differentiate themselves from their competitors, since they can't do so on features very much. Why pay more for Lenovo's build quality if it's the exact same parts as HP's, or why pay more for Sony's design if the cases are available elsewhere? (examples obviously)
After my old ergo died (a fairly generic one I picked up cheaply, but was great and lasted for years), I started searching for a replacement (I didn't want an MS keyboard, mostly because of the dumb function key crap they have now), and found this: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process ?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=100&pcount=&Product_Id=12 3503
It could just be that Apple designed the battery meter on it...
Except that these boards aren't going to be put in crappy Dells, they're enthusiast boards, going into high-end custom built boxes. The ability to do RAID-5 on the board would probably be very well recieved, and would be one of those things that would put the nForce chipset above others (which is rather hard to do given that the memory controller is now onboard the CPU with the 64 bit Athlons).
At the risk of repeating what everyone has already said, the beauty of the iPod is in it's design and interface. I've used an Archos, and it has some nifty features, but it feels clunkier, and while the interface isn't bad, it really can't stand up to the iPod's interface.
When you combine the scroll wheel with a simple, onscreen GUI, you get a combination that's so simple yet effective that I can do anything I need to quickly and efficiently, while my grandmother can still figure out the basics in 10 minutes.
Currently I have my trusty version 2, but it's getting on in years (optical sensor gets freaked out more, buttons sometimes don't click).
I might go for one of these.
It doesn't have to be public to be searchable. They could pull the same stuff they have with Gmail, where your conversation history (which most IM programs already keep) is searchable by you.
This is also where they could integrate their context based text ads. It would be a little much to have them in live IM chats (as well as add significant clutter to the interface), but having them in the search/history page wouldn't be a big deal.
The one requirement would be that you would have to store the history on their servers, but that seems like a fair tradeoff to me. You want to search (and keep a history independant of the workstation you're on) your messages? Then you have to have Google store it and show you the ads. Don't like it for whatever reason? Turn it off. Seems like a sweet deal to me.
I think I speak for all of slashdot when I say, you poor bastard.
Actually, even Canadian companies don't have to do this. Many do (mostly ones who are large enough that they serve a significant portion of the country, so they will more than likely have some french customers.
However, there is no obligation for companies (other than regulated ones like Air Canada, Via Rail, etc.) that aren't based in Quebec to do anything special.
It's interesting to note that on the last page of the search warrant, they note Team Fortress 2. Sounds like it isn't dead after all...
"Aim missile away from face"
(from the one where Bart spots a comet headed towards springfield)
Here's a reason why Region 1 people are affected: release of TV series on DVD. This is a personal hot button, as I'm a great fan of the West Wing, but only came in during season 4. Because there are no stations showing reruns (is it even syndicated yet?) in Canada, I can't see what I've missed. The first two or three seasons are out on DVD in the UK, but there are as of yet no plans to release them in Region 1 AFAIK. It seems that this is a problem for a lot of shows.
That thing was the bomb. I got it for xmas one year, and set it up on a big table with casters (so I could wheel it out to the middle of my room to play with it) in my room. That thing kicked so much ass, and you could do some cool crashes with it too :D
Parabolic (shaped) skiis are a great example of technology in sports. It's not uber-high-tech, but it's made a world of difference. Ski lengths have plummetted, along with turning radii, and it's far easier for beginners to progress from snowplow to parallel and carved turns.
However, unlike other prominent lawsuits in the tech world, IBM actually has more than just a money-tree with which to pay lawyers. They actually have the law on their side (assuming that all the indications are correct and SCO's claim is BS, which I would rate at atleast 95% chance).
You too eh? I know have a horrible pathalogical fear of large fans thanks to those bastards at Valve. And I know I won't be able to stop myself from buying HL2. I'm locked into a terrible, terrible pattern...
"Let's goLet's go burn down the observatory so this will never happen again."
- Moe, after the comet that was going to destroy Springfeild burns up in the atmosphere
While on the surface your idea sounds alright, it's really not a good one. A company with 100 employees but no leader will fail. You need to have a good CEO and management for a company to achieve anything. It's like waging a war (perhaps not the best analogy given world events, but nevermind). You have all sorts of low level officers to make tactical decisions, but you still need generals planning the whole thing in order to have a cohesive strategy.
Sure, a few tech people can get the work done, but they probably can't oversee the entire company and set up a solid business plan.
Yeah, but not everyone wants to huddle infront of their 19-21" monitor to watch movies. It's all well and good if you just want to kill an hour or two by yourself, but some of us like to watch movies from our couch with friends in front of our big TV or Plasma screen and home theatre system.
I don't know about you, but I like the idea of being able to add a movie to my collection by paying a small fee (say $10) and downloading an .iso (well, the DVD equivalent of one) and burning it to disc with an elapsed time of under 10 minutes.
Of course, the question remains as to whether the MPAA will wake up and realise that they can use the internet to make profit rather than vainly trying to thwart file traders.
Although you're correct in that the US has incredible satellite imagery capabilities, the problem is that the satellites are orbiting the earth, and thus they can't have a satellite everywhere they need it, at all the time. I would speculate that they're using the commercial imagery satellites to make up for gaps in their coverage.
This is a pretty obvious one, but I think Linux has surpassed everyone's expectations, esp. those who knew about it in it's earlier stages. I'm sure Linus never expected it to become so huge, as well as a posterboy for the OSS movement.
Although this is probably a good thing (even though you're killing yourself, you're doing it without addiction), I think there may be an overlooked aspect here.
Considering how uninformed the typical consumer is, I fear this could result in a rise in the number of smokers. When Joe Sixpack is browsing through his local 7 Eleven and sees a pack of cigs with "Nicotine Free" on the box, what if he thinks "Hey, I can smoke without harming myself" and takes up smoking. I think this is not an inconceivable situation. I would hope that these things come with additional warnings stating that while they do not contain addictive nicotine, they are still cancer causing.
Keep in mind that not everyone has access to what I think is the key attraction for a HTPC - Tivo. I live in Canada, and there are no PVRs available - except for Bell ExpressVu, which offers one as part of one of its digital satellite recievers, but not standalone for those of us that don't want their service. The only option available to me is an HTPC. The problem is that there are no good TV Tuners available for a reasonable price (Hauppagge makes one that looks great, but it's $250 US). So I'm desperately looking for a good solution.