I remember reading about Steve Jobs complaining about the RIAA and the prices they want to charge (while he tried to keep it at $0.99 per song, regardless of song) and the RIAA complaining back that iTunes was too powerful and whatnot and was steamrolling them.
Now Microsoft was fairly nice to the RIAA and even paid them a royalty per MP3 player and now the Zune's most vaunted feature, their crippled wireless, can't even be utilized correctly. If the Zune had any steam amoung any geek circles (not that I think it did), this will surely kill it because it had few other advantages. It seems the RIAA and its member companies have royally screwed Microsoft.
I guess this shows how business truly gets conducted and how the RIAA should be dealt with when it is whining.
Like the fabled "Year of the Linux" desktop (YotLD), the "right" time is never going to come. Opportunities don't always land in one's lap, they have to be created.
When I say that the YotLD is never going to happen, I don't mean Linux or OS won't ever dominate, just that there will never be a dramatic turnaround in any single year. The best strategy is to chisel away. And to keep chiseling.
Even if only 1% of the people switch over and stay switched, that means a significant higher user base, which usually translates into speedier development in the Open Source world. Perhaps the next year, market share ratcheted up another percentage point or two, and the trend will keep going.
I believe OO.org is fully ready for 99% of the people - though I do acknowledge it has faults. For instance, the last version I checked (6 months back, Neo Office J, OS X port), while I could fit a line to a curve in the spreadsheet document, I could not actually get it to give me a formula to the line - this is a pretty big problem (for people that need the feature) that many people at various message boards could not fix, but it should be trivial to fix (it boggles my mind why it didn't have this feature). But the best we can do is point it out to the developers and hope it is fixed the next time (or fix it yourself but that is too much for most people).
Also, the reason it is good right now to promote switching is that Microsoft is clamping down with licenses in the US. Especially many business could benefit from cost savings this year if they switch.
Absolutely, but I want automatic updates as it cuts down on work (me checking which doesn't always happen). However, it nags me every five minutes when I happen to say no, often because I don't feel like restarting the company as it often forces me too. Ubuntu has a good update model where you can check it and it reminds, but it won't nag you to death.
I used to have to run all this stuff because my computer was shared with multiple people and they would install all kinds of crap - netzero for one, use internet explorer instead of firefox, etcetera. Even multiple profiles did not work as much software had to install as administrator (and as I don't own all the machines, I can't dictate who gets administrator password and who doesn't).
Since I put my family, who essentially only need a webbrowser with some plug-ins and a word processor on a mix of Ubuntu and OS X, I have far less headaches.
My brother and cousin still run XP, but they deal (however incompetently) with their own headaches because I refuse to fix Windows anymore (and their computers are slow for their age - due to either pre-installed bloatware, spyware infestations, or other reasons).
Also, my registry in XP screwed up often as I swapped hardware in and out, especially my Hitouch Imaging Printer. I'm not complaining about Win98.
If you said other complaints like blue screens of death are so overstated, I would definitely agree, I haven't had one in years, but the registry on updated XP machines aren't bulletproof yet - in my experience it is weakest when lots of (even legitimate) software gets installed and removed, as well as hardware.
Microsoft was at the right place at the right time originally, that is why its OS is so dominant these days. Upgrades are usually taken because they are the path of least resistance.
Saying it is better because of its marketshare is just a logical fallacy based on popularity. It is like debating religion and saying one is right or wrong based on its "marketshare."
For me, simply, Microsoft is the inferior OS to BSD, Linux Distros, and Mac OS X simply because it is a security nightmare in so many ways - and I have to spend my time working, not running antispyware, anti-adware, or fixing other things about the OS (registry). I also find Microsoft asks me to push the "OK" button too often for crap, or nags me about updates (every 5 minutes after I initially say "no") when I just want the OS to shut up and stay out of the way. That is my metric, some people have different metrics (games, certain apps) and that makes Microsoft suitable to them.
(BTW, saying that an OS has certain exclusive apps does not make that OS inherently superior as 3rd party apps, by definition, aren't inherent to the OS. It is a reality we all have to live with, but I think it is disingenuine to say that the OS is innately superior because of this, rather than simply acknowledging that it might be more suitable because of said apps.)
In addition to what the first reply to your post said, even if a person lives in a high sales tax state, they can order the item over the internet and not pay any tax, just shipping.
Of course, this all can change in the future (but I hope not).
However, I and probably many other never agreed that putting these limits on the freedom of speech was correct - whether or not courts uphold, and whether or not it is done in the realworld or the internet.
I certainly don't agree with it - just like I don't agree that protesters have to register at City Hall or whereever in many places beforehand, or the infamous "Free Speech" zones. I don't like lobbyists, but I don't think registration is necessary unless they donate to politicians. Let the media/internet/investigators decide their vested interests.
It's only being bought to people's attention because the government is intruding on the internet - not because we think it's all right in the real word but fundamentally different on the internet. It's not a good standalone argument to say "it's was all right all this time in the real world, why not the internet?" if:
a) the audience did not realize the situation in the realworld due to ignorance (being outside their sphere of knowledge) b) assuming the audience agreed with how it is done in the realworld.
I imagine telecommuting 2 or 3 days out of the week out of 5 won't hurt promotion chances in certain companies - plus you'll have the best of both worlds.
I think the original saying was "I couldn't care less" because I heard it earlier. It must have just been recently that people tend to say "could care less", but they probably aren't thinking about it because it doesn't make strict logical sense to some of us on this side of the pond as well.
But those spellings have nothing with our collective American intelligence:) We're just to lazy to write the long versions - we love to simplify, shorten and if possible, acronym things.
However, modern British English isn't the "English" as I see it - it is simply a dialect just like American, Australian, etcetera. It's different from British English 225 years ago during the American Revolution, or farther back with Shakespeare's English, and what about Chaucer's English and earlier? Everything evolved. I'd imagine a lot of British English has been influenced by American culture in the meantime.
Russia should just cut off their oil/natural_gas supply to Europe again - in a day, it would get the WTO to shut up, in a week, it would get Europe and hence the WTO to change their tune completely. Especially in the middle of winter.
Why should Russia do this? Because every nation building up has stolen and ignored "IP" and thereby profited from it as their own industry grew - China is doing this and America has done this in the late 1700/early 1800s.
Better yet, with that kind of money you can start PACs (Political Action Committees) all over the place and buy off, oops, I mean influence politicians until the laws are all in your favor or at least more neutral.
Also, with that kind of money, I'm sure you can buy an small island in a nice warm place and have the country who currently owns that small island recognize it as a sovereign country (a nice fat contribution to "ME fun" of the President/leader would secure that deal and take out the sting of losing a worthless chunk of land).
The problem with Sealand is that England can take it over anytime, it's sovereignty is recognized by no one country except by the owners. Buying it is a scam. You get nothing. And if worse comes to worse (in terms of laws), Piratebay will have to host servers in their country, who says England and the neighboring countries won't just cut the connection?
This idea is beyond stupid. Stick with the Pirate Party - the name is great with this generation. Get buzz on college campuses, go on the Daily Show and Colbert Report (am waiting to see if the parent companies would permit this, as well as Jon himself), and profit!
I love Apple Notebooks and products because of their elegance but DRM has the advantage of locking you in. Apple's songs can be transferred to CD and other players once that iPod gets old but that is not so easy for Joe Average, better to get another iPod.
Apple put in DRM to reassure the music companies, but now it is working to their advantage. The music companies are probably regretting mandating DRM now because Apple is such a strong force in music because of this, that they can strongarm the RIAA into deals now, not the other way around.
This wouldn't have been easily possible with truly open music - then anybody with an iPod could have bought digital files anywhere they like, instead, they semi-have to go to Apple. (Yes, I realize the iPod can play many formats and ripped disks - but perception and ease of use among the average user is king here.)
You obviously haven't used gestures before - yes it's better than using one finger.
Just like scrolling on a Powerbook using two fingers anywhere on the trackpad is better than using one finger just on the right edge as some other models do it. One becomes natural, the other is forced.
Also, multitouch gives more possible gestures, the old track pads severely limited the options.
Me too. But DVD-Rs were also supposed to be multi-layer and yet the only ones available are the single layer, so why will the HD-DVD market be different in that only commercial presses will be the only ones to make use of multiple layers for more storage?
Indeed, my at home archival solution of 4.3 GB DVD-Rs is becoming painful just for my data. If I figure $25 dollars for a case of 50 DVD-Rs, I can archive about (4.3*200) 860GB for $100 which isn't including time spent burning and the hassle labeling/bringing individual DVDs back into the tray. Since Pricewatch has 500GB harddrives listed at around $150 and external firewire for a little more than that - it's obvious harddrives will soon overtake regular DVDs for the economically minded and already have for the ones who prize convenience.
I hope a better, cheaper solution will come along.
Off topic - but does HD-DVD have a scratchproof layer like Blu-Ray licensed from TDK? (Based on my TDK scratchproof discs, this stuff works great and would influence my decision. I lost more than a few CDs/DVDs due to scratches).
do touchscreen like Apple does it. Apple has bought fingerworks in 2005, which has patented multitouch - and made keyboards out of them. Jobs demonstrated multitouch in the demo when he shrunk and expanded a picture with the "pinch" - this is obviously multitouch and the old touchsensor tech can't do this. Check out fingerworks on google.
Have you ever heard of Fingerworks? I'm using a virtual keyboard to touchtype this right now - this is what Apple's multitouch is based on since they bought the company in 2005. This tech is not your simple touchscreen/trackpad stuff. Check it out on google.
Slashdot Mirror
http://despair.com/individuality.html
I remember reading about Steve Jobs complaining about the RIAA and the prices they want to charge (while he tried to keep it at $0.99 per song, regardless of song) and the RIAA complaining back that iTunes was too powerful and whatnot and was steamrolling them.
Now Microsoft was fairly nice to the RIAA and even paid them a royalty per MP3 player and now the Zune's most vaunted feature, their crippled wireless, can't even be utilized correctly. If the Zune had any steam amoung any geek circles (not that I think it did), this will surely kill it because it had few other advantages. It seems the RIAA and its member companies have royally screwed Microsoft.
I guess this shows how business truly gets conducted and how the RIAA should be dealt with when it is whining.
A present to Microsoft:
http://allaboutfrogs.org/stories/scorpion.html
Like the fabled "Year of the Linux" desktop (YotLD), the "right" time is never going to come. Opportunities don't always land in one's lap, they have to be created.
When I say that the YotLD is never going to happen, I don't mean Linux or OS won't ever dominate, just that there will never be a dramatic turnaround in any single year. The best strategy is to chisel away. And to keep chiseling.
Even if only 1% of the people switch over and stay switched, that means a significant higher user base, which usually translates into speedier development in the Open Source world. Perhaps the next year, market share ratcheted up another percentage point or two, and the trend will keep going.
I believe OO.org is fully ready for 99% of the people - though I do acknowledge it has faults. For instance, the last version I checked (6 months back, Neo Office J, OS X port), while I could fit a line to a curve in the spreadsheet document, I could not actually get it to give me a formula to the line - this is a pretty big problem (for people that need the feature) that many people at various message boards could not fix, but it should be trivial to fix (it boggles my mind why it didn't have this feature). But the best we can do is point it out to the developers and hope it is fixed the next time (or fix it yourself but that is too much for most people).
Also, the reason it is good right now to promote switching is that Microsoft is clamping down with licenses in the US. Especially many business could benefit from cost savings this year if they switch.
Absolutely, but I want automatic updates as it cuts down on work (me checking which doesn't always happen). However, it nags me every five minutes when I happen to say no, often because I don't feel like restarting the company as it often forces me too. Ubuntu has a good update model where you can check it and it reminds, but it won't nag you to death.
I used to have to run all this stuff because my computer was shared with multiple people and they would install all kinds of crap - netzero for one, use internet explorer instead of firefox, etcetera. Even multiple profiles did not work as much software had to install as administrator (and as I don't own all the machines, I can't dictate who gets administrator password and who doesn't).
Since I put my family, who essentially only need a webbrowser with some plug-ins and a word processor on a mix of Ubuntu and OS X, I have far less headaches.
My brother and cousin still run XP, but they deal (however incompetently) with their own headaches because I refuse to fix Windows anymore (and their computers are slow for their age - due to either pre-installed bloatware, spyware infestations, or other reasons).
Also, my registry in XP screwed up often as I swapped hardware in and out, especially my Hitouch Imaging Printer. I'm not complaining about Win98.
If you said other complaints like blue screens of death are so overstated, I would definitely agree, I haven't had one in years, but the registry on updated XP machines aren't bulletproof yet - in my experience it is weakest when lots of (even legitimate) software gets installed and removed, as well as hardware.
Microsoft was at the right place at the right time originally, that is why its OS is so dominant these days. Upgrades are usually taken because they are the path of least resistance.
Saying it is better because of its marketshare is just a logical fallacy based on popularity. It is like debating religion and saying one is right or wrong based on its "marketshare."
For me, simply, Microsoft is the inferior OS to BSD, Linux Distros, and Mac OS X simply because it is a security nightmare in so many ways - and I have to spend my time working, not running antispyware, anti-adware, or fixing other things about the OS (registry). I also find Microsoft asks me to push the "OK" button too often for crap, or nags me about updates (every 5 minutes after I initially say "no") when I just want the OS to shut up and stay out of the way. That is my metric, some people have different metrics (games, certain apps) and that makes Microsoft suitable to them.
(BTW, saying that an OS has certain exclusive apps does not make that OS inherently superior as 3rd party apps, by definition, aren't inherent to the OS. It is a reality we all have to live with, but I think it is disingenuine to say that the OS is innately superior because of this, rather than simply acknowledging that it might be more suitable because of said apps.)
If you were my neighbor, I'd let you:) I might even let you have any excess electricity after my needs are met>:)
that's a plus for Apple, right?
In addition to what the first reply to your post said, even if a person lives in a high sales tax state, they can order the item over the internet and not pay any tax, just shipping.
Of course, this all can change in the future (but I hope not).
However, I and probably many other never agreed that putting these limits on the freedom of speech was correct - whether or not courts uphold, and whether or not it is done in the realworld or the internet.
I certainly don't agree with it - just like I don't agree that protesters have to register at City Hall or whereever in many places beforehand, or the infamous "Free Speech" zones. I don't like lobbyists, but I don't think registration is necessary unless they donate to politicians. Let the media/internet/investigators decide their vested interests.
It's only being bought to people's attention because the government is intruding on the internet - not because we think it's all right in the real word but fundamentally different on the internet. It's not a good standalone argument to say "it's was all right all this time in the real world, why not the internet?" if:
a) the audience did not realize the situation in the realworld due to ignorance (being outside their sphere of knowledge)
b) assuming the audience agreed with how it is done in the realworld.
I imagine telecommuting 2 or 3 days out of the week out of 5 won't hurt promotion chances in certain companies - plus you'll have the best of both worlds.
I think the original saying was "I couldn't care less" because I heard it earlier. It must have just been recently that people tend to say "could care less", but they probably aren't thinking about it because it doesn't make strict logical sense to some of us on this side of the pond as well.
But those spellings have nothing with our collective American intelligence:) We're just to lazy to write the long versions - we love to simplify, shorten and if possible, acronym things.
However, modern British English isn't the "English" as I see it - it is simply a dialect just like American, Australian, etcetera. It's different from British English 225 years ago during the American Revolution, or farther back with Shakespeare's English, and what about Chaucer's English and earlier? Everything evolved. I'd imagine a lot of British English has been influenced by American culture in the meantime.
Austrian German?
That sucks. I also hate it when things are formatted in British English, because American English is so much easier.
Is this a sign of desperation? (Not bashing Sun here, just heard that the company is going through a tough time.)
Canadians certainly must feel that the WTO is coming through the backdoor.
You are wrong, it offers one important feature that other phones don't: integration.
Don't underestimate its importance.
Russia should just cut off their oil/natural_gas supply to Europe again - in a day, it would get the WTO to shut up, in a week, it would get Europe and hence the WTO to change their tune completely. Especially in the middle of winter.
Why should Russia do this? Because every nation building up has stolen and ignored "IP" and thereby profited from it as their own industry grew - China is doing this and America has done this in the late 1700/early 1800s.
Better yet, with that kind of money you can start PACs (Political Action Committees) all over the place and buy off, oops, I mean influence politicians until the laws are all in your favor or at least more neutral.
Also, with that kind of money, I'm sure you can buy an small island in a nice warm place and have the country who currently owns that small island recognize it as a sovereign country (a nice fat contribution to "ME fun" of the President/leader would secure that deal and take out the sting of losing a worthless chunk of land).
The problem with Sealand is that England can take it over anytime, it's sovereignty is recognized by no one country except by the owners. Buying it is a scam. You get nothing. And if worse comes to worse (in terms of laws), Piratebay will have to host servers in their country, who says England and the neighboring countries won't just cut the connection?
This idea is beyond stupid. Stick with the Pirate Party - the name is great with this generation. Get buzz on college campuses, go on the Daily Show and Colbert Report (am waiting to see if the parent companies would permit this, as well as Jon himself), and profit!
I love Apple Notebooks and products because of their elegance but DRM has the advantage of locking you in. Apple's songs can be transferred to CD and other players once that iPod gets old but that is not so easy for Joe Average, better to get another iPod.
Apple put in DRM to reassure the music companies, but now it is working to their advantage. The music companies are probably regretting mandating DRM now because Apple is such a strong force in music because of this, that they can strongarm the RIAA into deals now, not the other way around.
This wouldn't have been easily possible with truly open music - then anybody with an iPod could have bought digital files anywhere they like, instead, they semi-have to go to Apple. (Yes, I realize the iPod can play many formats and ripped disks - but perception and ease of use among the average user is king here.)
You obviously haven't used gestures before - yes it's better than using one finger.
Just like scrolling on a Powerbook using two fingers anywhere on the trackpad is better than using one finger just on the right edge as some other models do it. One becomes natural, the other is forced.
Also, multitouch gives more possible gestures, the old track pads severely limited the options.
Me too. But DVD-Rs were also supposed to be multi-layer and yet the only ones available are the single layer, so why will the HD-DVD market be different in that only commercial presses will be the only ones to make use of multiple layers for more storage?
Indeed, my at home archival solution of 4.3 GB DVD-Rs is becoming painful just for my data. If I figure $25 dollars for a case of 50 DVD-Rs, I can archive about (4.3*200) 860GB for $100 which isn't including time spent burning and the hassle labeling/bringing individual DVDs back into the tray. Since Pricewatch has 500GB harddrives listed at around $150 and external firewire for a little more than that - it's obvious harddrives will soon overtake regular DVDs for the economically minded and already have for the ones who prize convenience.
I hope a better, cheaper solution will come along.
So it's like a regular DVD?
(I like TDK's layer because it's also fingerprint resistant and I can buff grease/prints off without causing scratches with a regular shirt)
Anyway, I'm still hoping for HVD coming to the market....
Off topic - but does HD-DVD have a scratchproof layer like Blu-Ray licensed from TDK? (Based on my TDK scratchproof discs, this stuff works great and would influence my decision. I lost more than a few CDs/DVDs due to scratches).
do touchscreen like Apple does it. Apple has bought fingerworks in 2005, which has patented multitouch - and made keyboards out of them. Jobs demonstrated multitouch in the demo when he shrunk and expanded a picture with the "pinch" - this is obviously multitouch and the old touchsensor tech can't do this. Check out fingerworks on google.
Have you ever heard of Fingerworks? I'm using a virtual keyboard to touchtype this right now - this is what Apple's multitouch is based on since they bought the company in 2005. This tech is not your simple touchscreen/trackpad stuff. Check it out on google.