I bought a copy shortly after slashdot posted an article about it. It was a great software package. It was lite and quick, a hell of a lot quicker than OpenOffice and StarOffice, and the interface was just... clean.
My favorite part was the ability to export to PDF so easily.
My only complaint was the Spreadsheet program wasn't as robust as some of the other packages out there, but it still worked.
I hope everything works out for them. Personally, I think this was one of the best office packages around.
Verizon DSL needs a very LITE client to connect. Case-In-Point: A Linksys DSL router can connect to Verizon DSL without the need of any client software. All you need to do is type in the username, password, click 1 or 2 check-boxes, and you can be connected 24/7.
First, let me say that software still makes a lot of money. In a recent article (which I believe was mentioned in slashdot about 2 weeks ago), a majority of Microsoft's money comes from Windows and Office (more than most people expected).
As for the morally obligated part of your post, where is this coming from. Someone the other day said the same thing. How is releasing the code a moral necessity? Do chip manufacterers release the design, description, and all relevant info to make the chip? Do restaurants and companies release their recipes? No, because otherwise they have no way of making money.
Example:
A friend of mine is almost done writing his own application (which has been getting good reviews). He took an idea that's been done a few times, but put a LOT of new ideas, concepts, and enhancements... making his product like 20x better than what's currently in the market. It's gotten great reviews by the target market.
Using your moral obligation theory, he would have to release the source code. First, someone could possibly recompile the code. Second, any competitors (potential or current) could see these new features and HOW he implemented them. All of a sudden, This produyct he put 1.5 years and Thousands of dollars into isn't selling... BECAUSE some 2-bit-hacks use his algorithms (and perhaps code) to make the same product in like a month.
True Story
Someone a few years ago (a pioneer in this area) released a bare-bones version of the app/utility for Flight Sim and RELEASED the source code under the GPL. GUESS WHAT... within a month someone released something that was almost EXACTLY the same, was the same file size, performed the same speed, etc. He is STILL selling this product today based on what the original guy did (even though the first guy released the code under GPL or something, it wasn't worth persuing since he didn't have enough money). Sure, the seller denies it, but it's pretty damn obvious.
You people are either not in the software development business, or are lacking some common sense. This isn't meant as a condensending remark, just an observation about your practical knowledge in supply+demand.
Your missing 1 important thing... Between OEM versoins of software AS WELL AS BULK pricing, Windows XP falls way short of $300 for 200 copies. We just migrated to Windows XP at my job, and we're talking about THOUSANDS of PC's. I happen to know for a fact it did NOT cost $300 per OS and whatever retail price it is for Office XP.
Sure, this falls FAR from free, but the learning curve is much steeper with Linux. Say wat you will about Windows, but Windows XP is as stable as you can get.
I like linux. I think it's great for my webserver and my MySQL server. But for as an OS and general computing package, Windows is more polished and crisp.
While I love the show, what I like from that episode was their solution. Just before it enters earth's atmosphere... we'll send the thing through hyperspace for like 0.5 seconds, and it will seeminly pass through the earth without making physical contact with the earth.
While I have NO idea about the physical possibility about it, what I found so funny was...
NOBODY NOTICED A MOON-SIZED ASTEROID JUST ABOVE THE ATMOSPHERE COMING RIGHT AT 'EM.
I mean, COME ON. You mean to tell me that nobody decided to look UP at that particular time of day and see a huge ROCK in the sky?
And then, how was the AirForce supposed to explain it dissapearing, and showing up on the OTHER SIDE (still nobody noticing).
Yeh, uhhh, ummm, Sigfried and Roy got a little carried away with one of their tricks. And, uhh, mmm.. HEY, LOOK OVER THERE. [runs away]
Whlie I sort of agree to an extent, an asteroid the size of NJ hitting California is far worse than that same mass/volume hitting the entire east coast (since the NJ size asteroid would take out ALL of America). Unfortunately, you're thinking on too small of a scale.
Let's say you have a big friggin asteroid, and you break it up. The fragments and and probably will be the size CARS. Now, imagine a few hundred, perhaps even thousand" cars falling from the sky over a populated area.
In a case like this, not only do you have to worry about people on the street getting hit, but buildings as well. And, unlike your pebble dinging your car, these things will be able to do A LOT of damage.
I'd hate to say it, but watch the first 5 or 10 minutes of Armeggedon. Those fragmets were SUPPOSEDLY the size of bowling balls and volvos. Yet, traveling at such speeds, they could easily take out skyscrapers and the lot. Now, depending on how far this would happen from the earth, the damage could be confined to say, 1 state, or it could spread across an entire continent. In that case, 1 or more countries would be completely screwed since they would no longer have any infrastructure, many would be died or seriously injured, and possibly radioactive (depending on the composition of the thing).
I'm thinking about "switching", it has nothing to do with that high girl on tv... reallly.
Anyway, one of the reasons I want to switch is I HAVE an AMD system. While it runs great, it runs HOT. I'm literally glad it's close to winter so I can run my PC 24/7 and use it as a space-heater. I mean, you need the propeller from a C-5 Galaxy to cool the CPU. My room starts to get warm and stuffy after like an hour of use.
Seriously though, one of the things I like about Macs (besides being stable and all-around awesome) is that they tend to run pretty cool. Heck, up until recently, they didn't even NEED fans. Now, besides CPU and motherboard death, you need to worry about melting the neat plastic casing of the shiny-looking Macs.
I started using Opera 6.05 a few weeks ago, and am quite please with the speed and features. Sure, in like the thousands of web-pages I've surfed, there were like 2 that I couldn't browse, but that's no problem.
If you are looking into Opera, I suggest waiting until version 7 comes out (should be soon). The beta for version 7 looks awesome, but its still pretty buggy. It also comes with an email client that's supposedly pretty good too.
My company is some huge conglomerate, and it is literally mandated that EVERYONE get a Windows PC. Sure, there's literally 1% that convinced their research managers that a MAC would be great for a particular device, but in most cases: our client PCs need to run windows. This is done to keep things "uniform". Anyway, from what I can tell this is the "norm everywhere.
Anyway, I have to develop software for these machines. And, as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I need to take my work home. As much as I think Mac's are cool (and linux for that matter), it just isn't practical.
Anyway, I dont have any problems with Windows. XP runs great, and all of the zealots out there that say different probably stopped using Windows with 98SE (which was buggy as hell as well as its ancestors). XP is ROCK SOLID, as was 2000.
Gas stations work differently. A gas station owner buys X amount of gas to be delivered in the future based on speculations. HOWEVER, if he does not have room in the tank for the new gas when the tanker gets there, he get's fined and loses whatever left-over-gas there was.
Therefore, if it's like a couple of days (or week) before the delivery and sales have been lower than expected, he's gotta get rid of it somehow. So he lowers the price so he doesn't get screwed when the tanker gets there. Better to take a small hit-per-gallon then a massive whopper of a loss.
I was blessed/cursed with a lack of smell. One day a PC started smoking in my room and I had no idea until the smoke alarm went off on the other side of the house (the one on my side was being replaced).
Now if only they could add instrumentation to this thing to smell old-clothes, shoes that walked in dog sh!t, etc I will no longer be handicapped.
I know I will get a lot of heat for this, but I think getting windows for free would be good for the consumer (though might screw Linux over big-time).
First, let me say I am an avid fan of Linux. I only use it for light desktop work, but I see that it is great for servers and such.
Now, let me also say that Windows is a good OS. While many people (most of which on this site) flame Windows XP... I think it's a great OS. The only thing that sucks is the draconian Activation scheme they used with it. Other than that, it's been even more stable than my Win2K box.
Now, while this would be great for the average consumner, I'm afraid Linux would take a big hit. I mean, sure... Linux would be more powerful and not have all the GUI fluff of windows for server stuff. But a lot of people will look at the situation and say "Well, Linux was cool 'cause it was free, but now I can get Windows for free too. Who needs linux?"
This might actually be the biggest step MS could take to squash Linux in the home.
Back in the mid-late 90's, there was a series called SeaQuest DSV, which later became SeaQuest 2032 (which was utter crap compared to DSV). Anyway, there was an episode where they had a system exactly like this. This thing spanned entire oceans and and considered quite efficient. The only problem was smoe bad-guys killed the "breaking system" so the capsule/train would crash into the station at a few hundred miles per hour.
Since then, I always thought that this transportation idea would be really cool to reproduce. I mean sure... it would be hard to do, but imagine something trans-continental or even trans-oceanic. In a large-scale, it would be probably only a little slower than the concord but heller-efficient and quiet ('cause of the vacuum).
Of course, I would say that for right now it's beyond our current technology to do stuff like this (at least across the ocean). Personally, for now, I think we should work on making our CURRENT transporation systems and roads more efficient, clean, and more "attractive".
While I'm not going to say that psychics exist, I don't think the concept is impossible. True, Miss Cleo and the psychics on the board-walk are usually full of it, doesn't mean the the possibility of picking up on someone's emotions or thoughts is truly inconceivable.
Hell, we all emit brain waves (all be-it too weak to pick up from too far away), we all have detectable auras (it's been proven that meditation can alter these fields to a degree), and a lot more.
True, today psychics may sound far-fetched... but in the future with evolution, slight mutation from pollutants, etc... who's to say that it won't be possible eventually.
Sorry, forgot my login...
What distiguishes Fantasy from Science Fiction is that Sci-Fi tries to explain how things happen throughh science. That doesn't mean the author has be correct or know "How to create a wormhole", he/she must merely be able to justify it with scientific theory. On the contrary, simply saying a magic wand turned Bill into a jellyfish in a poof of smoke is fantasy.
Slashdot Mirror
I bought a copy shortly after slashdot posted an article about it. It was a great software package. It was lite and quick, a hell of a lot quicker than OpenOffice and StarOffice, and the interface was just... clean.
My favorite part was the ability to export to PDF so easily.
My only complaint was the Spreadsheet program wasn't as robust as some of the other packages out there, but it still worked.
I hope everything works out for them. Personally, I think this was one of the best office packages around.
Verizon DSL needs a very LITE client to connect. Case-In-Point: A Linksys DSL router can connect to Verizon DSL without the need of any client software. All you need to do is type in the username, password, click 1 or 2 check-boxes, and you can be connected 24/7.
As for the morally obligated part of your post, where is this coming from. Someone the other day said the same thing. How is releasing the code a moral necessity? Do chip manufacterers release the design, description, and all relevant info to make the chip? Do restaurants and companies release their recipes? No, because otherwise they have no way of making money.
Example:
A friend of mine is almost done writing his own application (which has been getting good reviews). He took an idea that's been done a few times, but put a LOT of new ideas, concepts, and enhancements... making his product like 20x better than what's currently in the market. It's gotten great reviews by the target market.
Using your moral obligation theory, he would have to release the source code. First, someone could possibly recompile the code. Second, any competitors (potential or current) could see these new features and HOW he implemented them. All of a sudden, This produyct he put 1.5 years and Thousands of dollars into isn't selling... BECAUSE some 2-bit-hacks use his algorithms (and perhaps code) to make the same product in like a month.
True Story
Someone a few years ago (a pioneer in this area) released a bare-bones version of the app/utility for Flight Sim and RELEASED the source code under the GPL. GUESS WHAT... within a month someone released something that was almost EXACTLY the same, was the same file size, performed the same speed, etc. He is STILL selling this product today based on what the original guy did (even though the first guy released the code under GPL or something, it wasn't worth persuing since he didn't have enough money). Sure, the seller denies it, but it's pretty damn obvious.
You people are either not in the software development business, or are lacking some common sense. This isn't meant as a condensending remark, just an observation about your practical knowledge in supply+demand.
Having massive Zero-G kegger with zero-G orgy... Priceless.
Your missing 1 important thing... Between OEM versoins of software AS WELL AS BULK pricing, Windows XP falls way short of $300 for 200 copies. We just migrated to Windows XP at my job, and we're talking about THOUSANDS of PC's. I happen to know for a fact it did NOT cost $300 per OS and whatever retail price it is for Office XP.
Sure, this falls FAR from free, but the learning curve is much steeper with Linux. Say wat you will about Windows, but Windows XP is as stable as you can get.
I like linux. I think it's great for my webserver and my MySQL server. But for as an OS and general computing package, Windows is more polished and crisp.
While I love the show, what I like from that episode was their solution. Just before it enters earth's atmosphere... we'll send the thing through hyperspace for like 0.5 seconds, and it will seeminly pass through the earth without making physical contact with the earth.
While I have NO idea about the physical possibility about it, what I found so funny was...
NOBODY NOTICED A MOON-SIZED ASTEROID JUST ABOVE THE ATMOSPHERE COMING RIGHT AT 'EM.
I mean, COME ON. You mean to tell me that nobody decided to look UP at that particular time of day and see a huge ROCK in the sky?
And then, how was the AirForce supposed to explain it dissapearing, and showing up on the OTHER SIDE (still nobody noticing).
Yeh, uhhh, ummm, Sigfried and Roy got a little carried away with one of their tricks. And, uhh, mmm.. HEY, LOOK OVER THERE. [runs away]Whlie I sort of agree to an extent, an asteroid the size of NJ hitting California is far worse than that same mass/volume hitting the entire east coast (since the NJ size asteroid would take out ALL of America). Unfortunately, you're thinking on too small of a scale.
Let's say you have a big friggin asteroid, and you break it up. The fragments and and probably will be the size CARS. Now, imagine a few hundred, perhaps even thousand" cars falling from the sky over a populated area.
In a case like this, not only do you have to worry about people on the street getting hit, but buildings as well. And, unlike your pebble dinging your car, these things will be able to do A LOT of damage.
I'd hate to say it, but watch the first 5 or 10 minutes of Armeggedon. Those fragmets were SUPPOSEDLY the size of bowling balls and volvos. Yet, traveling at such speeds, they could easily take out skyscrapers and the lot. Now, depending on how far this would happen from the earth, the damage could be confined to say, 1 state, or it could spread across an entire continent. In that case, 1 or more countries would be completely screwed since they would no longer have any infrastructure, many would be died or seriously injured, and possibly radioactive (depending on the composition of the thing).
Duh... To play tic-tac-toe of course. Yet the damn thing keeps wanting to play chess instead.
Give my regards to Iris
I'm thinking about "switching", it has nothing to do with that high girl on tv... reallly. Anyway, one of the reasons I want to switch is I HAVE an AMD system. While it runs great, it runs HOT. I'm literally glad it's close to winter so I can run my PC 24/7 and use it as a space-heater. I mean, you need the propeller from a C-5 Galaxy to cool the CPU. My room starts to get warm and stuffy after like an hour of use. Seriously though, one of the things I like about Macs (besides being stable and all-around awesome) is that they tend to run pretty cool. Heck, up until recently, they didn't even NEED fans. Now, besides CPU and motherboard death, you need to worry about melting the neat plastic casing of the shiny-looking Macs.
Yet another reason to switch to Opera.
I started using Opera 6.05 a few weeks ago, and am quite please with the speed and features. Sure, in like the thousands of web-pages I've surfed, there were like 2 that I couldn't browse, but that's no problem.
If you are looking into Opera, I suggest waiting until version 7 comes out (should be soon). The beta for version 7 looks awesome, but its still pretty buggy. It also comes with an email client that's supposedly pretty good too.
My company is some huge conglomerate, and it is literally mandated that EVERYONE get a Windows PC. Sure, there's literally 1% that convinced their research managers that a MAC would be great for a particular device, but in most cases: our client PCs need to run windows. This is done to keep things "uniform". Anyway, from what I can tell this is the "norm everywhere.
Anyway, I have to develop software for these machines. And, as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I need to take my work home. As much as I think Mac's are cool (and linux for that matter), it just isn't practical.
Anyway, I dont have any problems with Windows. XP runs great, and all of the zealots out there that say different probably stopped using Windows with 98SE (which was buggy as hell as well as its ancestors). XP is ROCK SOLID, as was 2000.
There's another reason for gas stations...
Gas stations work differently. A gas station owner buys X amount of gas to be delivered in the future based on speculations. HOWEVER, if he does not have room in the tank for the new gas when the tanker gets there, he get's fined and loses whatever left-over-gas there was.
Therefore, if it's like a couple of days (or week) before the delivery and sales have been lower than expected, he's gotta get rid of it somehow. So he lowers the price so he doesn't get screwed when the tanker gets there. Better to take a small hit-per-gallon then a massive whopper of a loss.
Hell, this thing can do 1 thing I can't... SMELL.
I was blessed/cursed with a lack of smell. One day a PC started smoking in my room and I had no idea until the smoke alarm went off on the other side of the house (the one on my side was being replaced).
Now if only they could add instrumentation to this thing to smell old-clothes, shoes that walked in dog sh!t, etc I will no longer be handicapped.
Fine by me. My ring is special, and protexts me from yellow. It just doesn't have that fancy auto-protext feature that Hal's does.
I know I will get a lot of heat for this, but I think getting windows for free would be good for the consumer (though might screw Linux over big-time).
First, let me say I am an avid fan of Linux. I only use it for light desktop work, but I see that it is great for servers and such.
Now, let me also say that Windows is a good OS. While many people (most of which on this site) flame Windows XP... I think it's a great OS. The only thing that sucks is the draconian Activation scheme they used with it. Other than that, it's been even more stable than my Win2K box.
Now, while this would be great for the average consumner, I'm afraid Linux would take a big hit. I mean, sure... Linux would be more powerful and not have all the GUI fluff of windows for server stuff. But a lot of people will look at the situation and say "Well, Linux was cool 'cause it was free, but now I can get Windows for free too. Who needs linux?"
This might actually be the biggest step MS could take to squash Linux in the home.
Back in the mid-late 90's, there was a series called SeaQuest DSV , which later became SeaQuest 2032 (which was utter crap compared to DSV). Anyway, there was an episode where they had a system exactly like this. This thing spanned entire oceans and and considered quite efficient. The only problem was smoe bad-guys killed the "breaking system" so the capsule/train would crash into the station at a few hundred miles per hour.
Since then, I always thought that this transportation idea would be really cool to reproduce. I mean sure... it would be hard to do, but imagine something trans-continental or even trans-oceanic. In a large-scale, it would be probably only a little slower than the concord but heller-efficient and quiet ('cause of the vacuum).
Of course, I would say that for right now it's beyond our current technology to do stuff like this (at least across the ocean). Personally, for now, I think we should work on making our CURRENT transporation systems and roads more efficient, clean, and more "attractive".
While I'm not going to say that psychics exist, I don't think the concept is impossible. True, Miss Cleo and the psychics on the board-walk are usually full of it, doesn't mean the the possibility of picking up on someone's emotions or thoughts is truly inconceivable. Hell, we all emit brain waves (all be-it too weak to pick up from too far away), we all have detectable auras (it's been proven that meditation can alter these fields to a degree), and a lot more. True, today psychics may sound far-fetched... but in the future with evolution, slight mutation from pollutants, etc... who's to say that it won't be possible eventually. Sorry, forgot my login... What distiguishes Fantasy from Science Fiction is that Sci-Fi tries to explain how things happen throughh science. That doesn't mean the author has be correct or know "How to create a wormhole", he/she must merely be able to justify it with scientific theory. On the contrary, simply saying a magic wand turned Bill into a jellyfish in a poof of smoke is fantasy.