I used to be a phone tech, so I understand you can vent about a stupid customer here and there. But just the kind of customers that aren't willing to learn or follow instructions.
I'd rather help an 80 year old grandmother, who's never even used a calculator, but who is willing to follow all of my instructions; than an arrogant "I know everything" network admin.
But you're always going to have techs that complain. People who use computers everday can do so and still not care exactly how they work.
I want to know how many slashdotters use their cars everyday to drive to work, but also know EXACTLY how an internal combustion engine works. Or if they could rebuild an engine if asked. Or if they even know what kind of suspension is in their car, or the brands on their tires without looking.
The point is, because you don't know what an ip address is, doesn't make you stupid. It means you didn't care to learn. The only thing that makes you stupid is judging people based on limited interaction.
I, for one, am thrilled that our major laws and policies are now determined by trivial wording and semantics.
I happen to be on the side of P2P on this one. If only because I don't like people, legislators, and judges telling developers what their own [developers] intentions were. But it's thrilling to note that all you need is a catchy advertisement and a statement of work to get around other crimes.
It shouldn't be suprising however. The executive branch has been using this for years. An economic power grab for oil? No no no no! The ensuring of the saftey of the homeland!
Eh, remember that Einstien was terrible at math in high school.
Michael Jordan was kicked off his high school basketball team.
Using your logic, both of them should have given up and found something new to excel at.
While you do have a point, there are obviously very valid exceptions to the point that render it useless.
Also, when kids fail or really stink at a content area, we need to let them know that they suck! Instead many people want us to give them empty praise, over inflating their ego.
I agree, empty praise is worthless and will negatively effect the long term development. But instead of letting them know that they suck encouraging them to give up, we should instead find out WHY they suck and solve it. Finding success something that you lack inate talent for is far more gratifying than something that comes natural.
Our old can-do attitude rocks. But I think you're right, we do need to give kids a better "it is what it is" out look on their failures and sucesses. But just because you fail at first, doesn't mean you have a propensity for sucking and should never try again.
A failure (or sucking as you put it) is what spawns learning in the first place. Or would you really have us believe that everyone at NASA has inate talent for building rockets and got it right the first time? Of course not.
The only true failure, is the one you walked away and didn't learn from.
Using your cynical (yet realistic) logic, robots will replace "undocumented workers" as soon as possible.
You only have to buy a robot once. You don't pay income, or income tax. The robot always shows up. Provided it has matience costs lower than health care costs (not that you pay health care costs for illegal aliens), it will be cheaper in the long run.
Which brings it to the next economic problem. As robots become moer dynamic instead specialized welders for exmaple, and are able to replace more and more labor jobs; we lose a hole bottom tier of income and purchasing power in our economy. We'll likely make up for it with other jobs, but then again, the American cynic in me says that's unlikely.
Robots, Soma, and Illegal Aliens.... it's a brave new world.
This is not a privacy issue, this is a freedom issue. But losing a freedom a day, keeps the terrorists away, right?
Why such an out cry about privacy? Oh my goodness! Another human will view a body part that is prevelant on 3 billion other animals on this planet! Holy crap! Why are we so obsessed with privacy when it comes to your body. You should be more concerned with privacy in the home, or with your actions than your body. I got news for you. Your body isn't private. Half the population has pretty much the same goods you've got, and the other half isn't some huge mystery.
We're animals, your body is natural. Who seriously cares if someone see's your nipple, or an outline of your wang. I don't.
I for one am against this not because I'm afraid some pervert is going to check out my package. Hey, if you get off on that kind of thing, more power to you for landing your dream job. No, I'm against this because it's just more fluff to create the illusion of security. I'm against it because it violates my personal freedoms and ability to travel without presenting documents, or a nipple.
But it doesn't matter that I'm against it. It doesn't matter that your against it. It doesn't matter how many people are against it, because we don't vote on individual issues.
I wonder if I'd get "in trouble" if I used xray reflective masking tape to draw a giant middle finger on my chest when I fly.
I avoided going to the dentist for about 3 years because I didn't feel I needed to. My teeth were straight, white and my gums looked healthy. I flossed 3-5 times a week, brushed twice a day, and used listerine all the time.
I started developing headaches and went to go see a doctor. After trying a few things and nothing helping, he suggested that based on the region of my head pain, I should see a dentist to make sure I wasn't afflicted with grinding, or other teeth issues.
Lo and behold I had an itty bitty bacteria infection on one of my back teeth and gums. It never hurt. It never stank. The dentist remarked for not having been to the dentist in a while, my mouth was remarkably clean of plaque and tartar.
After recieving treatment I noticed an unsuspected side effect. I had more energy. I slept better. It was quite noticable too. My next visit back to the dentist, I inquired and his explanation was quite logical. Your mouth is obviously a breeding ground for bacteria both good and bad. What's in your mouth is basically in your whole body. If you have bacteria in your mouth, your immune system has to work just that much harder to keep you healthy.
An odd anecdote but I'd thought I'd share none the less. It might seem like a no brainer to keep your mouth clean, but even those who follow all the "rules" can experience bacteria spots that affect your overall health and energy levels.
Information wants to be free, so true. How does this apply to games and creative entertainment. Classifying those as free information... and you call me the dipshit? Where is my bottle of trollbegone.
Face it, without compensation, these people that create music, games, and entertainment couldn't do it. Not that they wouldn't, they just couldn't. These things are a full time job, and a full time job is neccesary for our society. So in conclusion, since you aren't talented enough to do it yourself, be prepared to pay for it.
Informing a handicapped person of their lack of legs is completely different, because odds are they can't do anything about it. A better analogy would be if you were in school and you kept getting wrong answers. Should the teacher correct you, or just ignore what you've said?
However, the parents point was more a long the lines of: "If it sucks, we're going to tell you, so maybe you'll do something about it".
Whether he looks like a complete ass, or if he accomplished anything is up to debate. For instance, I bet the netscape development team is taking a long hard look at their next release now.
While I did make a mistake in not reading correctly that the parent did NOT own an xbox, my points are still completely valid for bashing the parent.
He still asserts that not being able to steal games is a deal breaker for the xbox360.
So my apologies for making a minor mistake, which apparently validates the claim that stealing games is cool.
And seriously, how many non-graphic artists do you know that own a legit version of Photoshop? People just do duplicate software. It's not a lost sale becuase that person would never buy the product for $500+ anyway. But get it for free from a friend, no problem.
Are you kidding me? You're defending stealing games, because people steal productivity software?
*Psshh* *Click*
Come in kettle *Pssh*
Come in kettle
*Psssh* *Click*
*Pssh*
Kettle here! *Pssh*
*Psssh*
Pot speaking, you are in fact... black, Over.
*psssh*
Defending illegal and morally wrong practices by precendent is about the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Yup, humans have been murdering eachother for thousand years of recorded history. Guess that's ok too, right?
The fact that Adobe didn't lose a sale because the person in question never would have purchased it, doesn't fly.
And what about loaner copies? How is loaning a legit copy the same as duplicating it? When you loaned the person the book, did you give them the book or did you head down to kinkos and photocopy it for them?
These are the way things are, you are right. Everyone does know this. Fragile grasp of economic realities? Please. You should instead weep for an economy fragile enough to allow people to expect all these things for free. Your grasp of the economy seems to be narrowed to: "If bob jumped off a cliff, so would I".
I still buy music that is published by members of the RIAA. I do this because I still like the music. I do however have a much higher propensity to purchase independant label music, especially when I know the artist is self publishing. A couple good exampls of this are Ani Difranco or Caroline Spine (new stuff). But they are just two examples of a huge independant market that is gaining ground.
I don't resort to stealing music, just because I think the RIAA is probably one of the most egrigious companies on the planet. Far worse than Microsoft or SCO if you ask me. But thems are the breaks. It's a free country, and part of that freedom is extended to the RIAA. They are free to produce their consumables and charge whatever they want for them. A stupid business model can't be illegal. We cry about freedom, but it's well within our freedom rights to be stupid and practice crappy business. I'm not saying all the things the RIAA does are legal, afterall, they have a history of deceptive practices, which are illegal. They just have yet to be caught, or caught enough to matter. Furthermore I would go on the record to say that I disagree, morally (don't confuse this with morally in terms of religion), with what the RIAA does. Namely profiting so severely on the works of others. Not to mention burying the artform by moving music with pepsi commercials.
But all that said, it is also within our freedom and rights as consumers to let the RIAA fall flat on it's face when its model finally backfires. And if it never does backfire, then only we are to blame for buying into their crap. But again, those are the breaks. If you want it, and someone else has it, they get to decide what you pay for it.
In conclusion, all I'm saying is that it is what it is. I would love to see the day, when music, movies, and games are produced AND published by the same entity. As bad as Steam's implementation was, I love the way valve is trying to get out from under the boot of Vivendi. When that day comes, I will support it heavily and be willing to pay more, if neccesary, for the same content. The beauty of it all, is that when the day comes, odds are, we won't have to pay more since publisher price gouging won't be a factor. But I'd estimate I'm in a minority because most people these days aren't even willing to pay period, let alone pay more.
Next time you clowns are willing to go to work for free, just for the good of it, let me know. It's the same thing as expecting free entertainment. The only free entertainment is the kind you create yourself. So I suggest you (not addressing anyone specific) get a better imagination, learn to live without it, or learn to part with your hard (hahaha) earned cash.
The fact that your basing your purchasing decision on how much you can rip off and exploit the hard works of the game developers speaks volumes about what kind of person you are.
Love or hate Microsoft you are basically saying, "you know Microsoft made a good enough console for all these developers to create games. Games which I spend MY time playing and enjoying. But since I hate Microsoft, I will pass the consequences of my hate onto the game developers by depriving them of their profits. But they better not quit making games just becuase they aren't getting any money, those pussies!"
You have to pay. I hope Xbox2 falls flat on its face, but Microsoft has learned in the home entertainment game, just like they did in the PC game.
OMGWTFBBQ, you have to pay??? Say it isn't so?!!!
Since when did you deserve free entertainment? Frankly, you make me sick. It'd be another case entirely if the xbox or the games weren't worth playing. But clearly they are, since you devote a large portion of your time "renting five games" and ripping them all. But now, faced with the thought of actually having to trade your work for other peoples work (in the time honored tradition of bartering through currency), you "hope that the xbox2 falls flat on its face"?
Seriously, pick one side or the other. Either don't play and support the xbox because you don't like it, microsoft, or the developers. But the minute you depend on it for YOUR entertainment, you need to pony up, it's as simple as that.
And I'm no xbox zealot, I'm not defending the xbox, but rather attacking your attitude. For the record, I enjoyed my PS2 far more than my xbox. The only two games I own for the xbox are Ninja Gaiden and NHL 2K5. Both of which have made the purchase of the console worth it for me.
Grow up. When it comes to personal entertainment, there are no "rights". You are not entitled to it, you make the decision on what to purchase, and no one else.
I find it hard to believe that the buzzword itself breathed life back into Javascript like the title implies.
I think maybe the slick apps like google maps is finally showing what good code CAN do, instead of the bloated bug ridden javascripting of yesterday.
Or maybe I'm just not transcending expectations by thinking outside of the box, and therefore my toolset isn't capable of brigding the information gap causing a chasm with my ability to think forwardly.
I'm struggling to identify which is worse: The day when we report that a buzzword has made progress, or the day a buzzword actually creates progress.
You may do all of the things you wrote without it being illegal. The only time it starts becoming illegal is when you start making copies of those tapes and supplying them to people or rebroadcasting them without the permission of the copyright owners and the original broadcasting channel.
So if your neighbor gave you a tape, you are ok. If your neighbor sells you a tape, you're not. If neighbor records a tape, and you make a copy of it, then I think that's where the grey areas start.
I think this is actually a good thing. Even without extra legislation, in my opinion, we're too far gone. Therefore you can file this under the "as you tighten your grip, the more that will fall through your fingers" section.
If passed, the broadcast flag will likely slow down piracy just as much as Compact Discs that won't work in CD-ROMs. While solution, ahem work-around, might not be as simple as a magic marker, rest assured that people will continue to make up their own free use policies so long as the laws aren't enforced.
If anything, a broadcast flag will give the MPAA a false sense of security and create a rift between hardware manfactures and these self imposed unofficial regulatory bodies. By that I mean, it is very likely that by putting a broadcast flag into new hardware, sales will decline as people will hang on to thier own unregulated hardware. New media formats will never gain a market niche, and it'll be like laser disc vs vcr all over again. Hardware companies will eventually cry foul and either release more friendly devices that comply with the law, but are very easy to get around, or they will do some brib... I mean... drafting legisla... I mean suggesting legislation of their own.
Hardware sales fall, media sales fall, publishing companies go under, TV stagnates and America will finally realize that the entertainment industry really is a parasite on our economy. Slowly people will stop being able to afford the newest pop culture diva's CD, and they will be upset at first. But they will find out they don't even miss it. The media industry will die and be replaced by a new rennesaince period. It's happened before, it'll happen again.
Either way, everytime these imperialistic corperations get these types of laws passed, I look at it as one step closer to massive fall out. After all, the only way they can enforce most of these laws would be if we lived in a police state.
Cell Phone Music players will fill a niche market for sure, but the standalone music player will always have a market. A smaller one of course but it will still exist.
There will always be a group of consumers, like me, who don't mind carrying extra devices around, so long as each device does it's function and does it well. Jack of all trade devices tend to do many functions but none of them well.
It's very doubtfull that in the near future a cell phone would contain a portable digital audio converter and internal amplification, not to mention suffcient storage room to store decent quality bit rates. But then again, a piece of shit DAC and a 10 mA volume amp is enough for the main consumer crowd. Which is actually kind of disapointing, but not suprising.
I'm what you'd call an audio geek. You can label me as an audiophile and it wouldn't bother me, but I'm more of a music lover than an audiophile. I carry around a 4g 40 gig ipod (soon to be replaced by an iaudio x5 probably), a headphone amp, and Shure E5cs. I'm a muggers dream, only since I don't have the white earbuds, they wouldn't notice me and leave me and my 1000 worth of gear alone. Me and the others like me (and there are lots, see www.head-fi.org for our sick kind) will never succumb to all in one portable devices until they do everything just as good as a standalone.
And as for some direct commentary about the article. I think Bill Gates is rather short sighted to note that the device will be a cell phone anyway. Likely the cell phone will be yet another device absorbed into personal organizers and not the other way around.
The way I would predict it: We'll have one device with a number of accessories. It's not hard to imagine a hard drive based PDA, PSP or insert portable gaming platform here, Music / Media player, cell phone and camera. More or less it would be a small tabelt like brick with a touch screen and detatchable unfoldable keyboard, earpiece for your cell phone, stylus, ect. You get the idea.
But it'll have a shitty DAC and so I'll still need a standalone portable music device with a decent DAC. Or if I got my way, one with an optical out so I can use my own external dac and amplifier.
This strategy is no different than offering a free search. When you search, google knows what you're looking for and gives you advertisements based on that. Now they are adding the where.
Google is going to become the premier marketing company in the future. They are really good at providing a service that people want or need, but at the same time, that service also helps them collect data on you. Is this a good or bad thing? I can't really tell yet. However, I just had a flash back to Minority Report where people are getting customer advertisements based on who they are.
Let's look at what google can know about you, if you use all of their services (present and future):
Google Search: What kind of things you search on a regular basis. Your interests and hobbies.
Gmail: What kind of content you get in your email.
Google Cache Proxy: Where you surf the web and how often.
Google Maps: Where do you want to go?
Google Dodgeball: Where do you and your friends actually go?
Think about it. I could easily forsee LCD screens on streets, in bars, at your restuarant table which display custom google ads. As soon as you pass by them, your bluetooth enabled phone broadcasts your cell phone number to the receiver which transmits to the Google Person Database. This database spiders out and looks up your most recent searches, your friends searches, other people who search like you, accesses your e-mail indexes, looks up what locations you visit on a regular basis, and gives you a custom advertisement which has the best probability to sell to the thousands of other people who have a similar demographic to you.
I'm starting to think of Google as marketing powerhouse with really smart technology, rather a technology powerhouse with really slick marketing.
I'm struggling to find the answer: What can't Google figure out or make damned good assumptions about you, based on your Google use?
Advertising is a great way of getting your name out, but only a good product or service will actually carry through. So in that frame of thinking, I highly recommend that companies:
Yes but when faced with a myriad of choices where you 1. don't know who offers the better product/service. 2. Research material doesn't exist. 3. Have no prior information to go on 4. The service is mundane enough that the quality doesn't have a lot of variability; then the consumer will always choose convience. Hell, most consumers will choose convience over those qualities in the first place.
Which is why you have companies called Tripple A. Because of the yellow pages.
Stop looking at "cost cutting" by reduction, and start looking at "using existing resources to provide relavent products"
While I mostly agree that cost cutting and six sigma type programs can kill a business... often a business can not grow into new mediums WITHOUT cost cutting and reduction. Markets change, using existing resources to provide relavent products can lead to stagnatin.
Start hiring employees who know what they're doing and listen to them
I hope your in the business consulting field! This stuff is gold!
Stop wasting your money on search engine optimizations.
Why? I would agree that it shouldn't be your priority. However, if you are an internet based business, face it, google is probably your primary portal. Ensuring you have relevant results is paramount. I wouldn't advice hiring a consultant for this, but ensuring your search results are valid is definitely worth spending time/money on.
Be good to the customer, and the cutomer will be good to you. If you don't know why people are upset or unhappy, grab a couple off the street and ask.
Naw, I'd recommend you search google instead on why your company sucks.
Making sure your search results are relevant on google is a lot like moderating in slashdot. The good stuff is supposed to filter to the top.
If people stopped using windows, they'd also stop playing games. If you stop playing games, "simple economics 101" would mean that developers would stop making them period.
Sorry, in this instance, the egg needs to come before the chicken. We need linux ports of popular games before gamers can make the switch completely.
Until the droves are playing Counterstrike, Half Life 2, World of Warcraft, Everquest #, on linux, linux will not be considered a gamers OS.
And don't even get me started on the driver support for Linux. Gaming hardware companies need to give Linux more attention before game developers start developing for linux.
ID software, perhaps you've heard of them, understands this principle and releases both binaries with their games. They don't do this just for the cool factor. ID understands what's up.
Perhaps one of the most damaging moves for games being developed for Linux was the release of the xbox. This has locked a lot of developers looking to get in on the console cash cow to developing with Microsoft's DirectX. If you're slated to release something on the xbox and PC at the same time, no game developer is going to make a seperate open GL port when they are already using directX.
There has been a peripheral out for some time that does just that. There are currently a few different companies that produce them. You might have heard of them, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
You'll never be rid of the CPU anyway, if you had a card run the entire game, it would need some kind of CPU to do basic math for the GPU and aspects of the game that didn't use the graphics processer. Such as physics. In the future, I would predict that graphics cards will lose the graphics focus and become entire multimedia cards. Like a console on a card. One card will have 3 or 4 processing units for sound, graphics, phsyics, and other forms of math.
It would also be nice if these multimedia cards contained the same hardware as the current console market. So you could either buy a console for your TV, or buy a multimedia card for your computer. Either one will play the same games. This would help developers out as well, as they could spend more time on the game, and less time on porting it to 5 different platforms.
While you make interesting points, I don't think that the heavy manufactures (Dell, HP, ect) have much to do with this.
The fact is, and as you pointed out, these companies just assemble the computers. They don't do their own R&D. They rely on technology component companies R&D and they just create the sum of the parts, the computer.
While this is commodization, it's not as bad as you make it out to be. See the forrest for the trees. Each component that goes into the computer has gone through R&D by the company that made it. The processor, the video card, the motherbaords, everything.
You can also argue that the hardware market doesn't even need any innovation right now. The software market is far behind taking advantage of the newest architechtures.
When the market decides it's time for hardware innovation it won't be stifled by large commoditized companies. If anything, the opposite will occur. Once intel/ati/ect decide to innovate the markets, it's Dell's job to provide that hardware as fast as possible to consumers. And the more consumer market there is for a particular hardware architecture, the more software adoption you'll see. The more software adoption you'll see, the more hardware innovation will be required to support the ever increasing demands of software. And so goes the circle. Case in point, it may seem slow, but look at how fast 64 bit is actually being adopted compared to previous major architecture changes. It is because of market saturation.
Either way, I tend to disagree with your assessment. You're looking at Dell as a PC maker. They are really just a supplier with a really solid business model and sucessful marketing techniques. Just because the company badge on the PC didn't do the R&D, doesn't mean it wasn't done.
Basically, in conclusion, I'd say that "commodity market spam companies" (my term) are actually a GOOD thing to keep the markets from stagnating.
I think we have to ask ourselves a simple question:
What's worse, the fact that PR companies exist? Or that people are so uninformed, they fall for them?
I think the fact that PR works speaks VOLUMES about why it exists in the first place. People would rather believe in a slightly less real reality that they prefer, than believe in the one they don't. That, and the fact that most people are too lazy and uninformed to do any double checking about spin.
Not that anyone needs any proof or reminder about how effective PR is.... but look at the recent election. Something like 40-50% of the people who voted for Bush still thought Iraq had something to do with 911.
I believe this sort of disinformation is criminal and should be abolished from our society. But since it [PR practices] really isn't against the law, and won't be abolished, it is considered unethical AT best.
So who's fault really is it? If America suddenly developed a decent bullshit detector... what would happen to PR companies? What would happen to politics? What would happen to us? We'd probably evolve as a society, that's what.
Well, if people stopped buying foreign products (including not buying Dells and such that are manufactured over seas and branded as American products) and therefore only bought American products we would have a huge boost in the economy with more revenue bein generated and more money available for education and everything else.
This is a flat out untrue statement.
Dell does manufacture computers overseas yes, but currently ALL computers sold by Dell in the US are manufactured in the US.
Foriegn factories are for foriegn markets. Tech support, is completely different. As you already know.
Now the actual PARTS used for these computers are built overseas, but find a computer part that isn't.
What happened? The governor still signed it. And you know what? He'll get reelected in spite of the fact that he gave away some control of our municipalities to corporations.
Conservatives are right when they say money is speech. It's the only speech politicians every listen to.
Be that as it may, I don't plan to roll over and die just because Cooperate America is taking countrol of my country.
You know why money is the only speech? Because regular speech by regular citizens gets in the way of Must See TV.
Your attitude is EXACTLY why money rules all. Because WE let it. Instead of making excuses on slashdot, why don't you go try and do something about it. Better to try and fail, than sit there and fail.
I'd call people with your attitude a pussy, but that would make lazy cats look bad.
And what surprises you about this. A large corporation is lobbying both politically and publicly in favor of a position that supports its own interest and is contrary to the general public's interest. This is surprising? This is news?
Suprising? No. News? Yes.
As a resident of Texas, I actually wasn't aware fo this until I opened up Slashdot today. First, shame on me.
While your general tone of apathy is not suprising, it's also not helping the situation. In fact, Slashdot's "whining" is doing far more than you're overated post. When voting rolls around, I'll be sure to do a bit of simple research to find out which politicians are supporting this type of iniative, and assuming their opponents aren't asshats, vote for their opposition.
I've also forwarded this article to no less than 9 coworkers (geeks), who I'm sure will spread the word. We're all registered voters. So saying zero, no wait ZERO! effect on the issue is just plain wrong. It might only have.00001 effect on the issue, but it's going to have an effect. Votes will be swayed by this.
Lose the apathy, captain whiney, it is what's wrong with this place (and country) in the first place.
On a side note, imagine that. I learned something from Slashdot today. And as a bonus, I learned something before noon.
Slashdot Mirror
I used to be a phone tech, so I understand you can vent about a stupid customer here and there. But just the kind of customers that aren't willing to learn or follow instructions.
I'd rather help an 80 year old grandmother, who's never even used a calculator, but who is willing to follow all of my instructions; than an arrogant "I know everything" network admin.
But you're always going to have techs that complain. People who use computers everday can do so and still not care exactly how they work.
I want to know how many slashdotters use their cars everyday to drive to work, but also know EXACTLY how an internal combustion engine works. Or if they could rebuild an engine if asked. Or if they even know what kind of suspension is in their car, or the brands on their tires without looking.
The point is, because you don't know what an ip address is, doesn't make you stupid. It means you didn't care to learn. The only thing that makes you stupid is judging people based on limited interaction.
I happen to be on the side of P2P on this one. If only because I don't like people, legislators, and judges telling developers what their own [developers] intentions were. But it's thrilling to note that all you need is a catchy advertisement and a statement of work to get around other crimes.
It shouldn't be suprising however. The executive branch has been using this for years. An economic power grab for oil? No no no no! The ensuring of the saftey of the homeland!
See, it's all about the wording!
Michael Jordan was kicked off his high school basketball team.
Using your logic, both of them should have given up and found something new to excel at.
While you do have a point, there are obviously very valid exceptions to the point that render it useless.
Also, when kids fail or really stink at a content area, we need to let them know that they suck! Instead many people want us to give them empty praise, over inflating their ego.
I agree, empty praise is worthless and will negatively effect the long term development. But instead of letting them know that they suck encouraging them to give up, we should instead find out WHY they suck and solve it. Finding success something that you lack inate talent for is far more gratifying than something that comes natural.
Our old can-do attitude rocks. But I think you're right, we do need to give kids a better "it is what it is" out look on their failures and sucesses. But just because you fail at first, doesn't mean you have a propensity for sucking and should never try again.
A failure (or sucking as you put it) is what spawns learning in the first place. Or would you really have us believe that everyone at NASA has inate talent for building rockets and got it right the first time? Of course not.
The only true failure, is the one you walked away and didn't learn from.
You only have to buy a robot once. You don't pay income, or income tax. The robot always shows up. Provided it has matience costs lower than health care costs (not that you pay health care costs for illegal aliens), it will be cheaper in the long run.
Which brings it to the next economic problem. As robots become moer dynamic instead specialized welders for exmaple, and are able to replace more and more labor jobs; we lose a hole bottom tier of income and purchasing power in our economy. We'll likely make up for it with other jobs, but then again, the American cynic in me says that's unlikely.
Robots, Soma, and Illegal Aliens.... it's a brave new world.
Why such an out cry about privacy? Oh my goodness! Another human will view a body part that is prevelant on 3 billion other animals on this planet! Holy crap! Why are we so obsessed with privacy when it comes to your body. You should be more concerned with privacy in the home, or with your actions than your body. I got news for you. Your body isn't private. Half the population has pretty much the same goods you've got, and the other half isn't some huge mystery.
We're animals, your body is natural. Who seriously cares if someone see's your nipple, or an outline of your wang. I don't.
I for one am against this not because I'm afraid some pervert is going to check out my package. Hey, if you get off on that kind of thing, more power to you for landing your dream job. No, I'm against this because it's just more fluff to create the illusion of security. I'm against it because it violates my personal freedoms and ability to travel without presenting documents, or a nipple.
But it doesn't matter that I'm against it. It doesn't matter that your against it. It doesn't matter how many people are against it, because we don't vote on individual issues.
I wonder if I'd get "in trouble" if I used xray reflective masking tape to draw a giant middle finger on my chest when I fly.
I avoided going to the dentist for about 3 years because I didn't feel I needed to. My teeth were straight, white and my gums looked healthy. I flossed 3-5 times a week, brushed twice a day, and used listerine all the time.
I started developing headaches and went to go see a doctor. After trying a few things and nothing helping, he suggested that based on the region of my head pain, I should see a dentist to make sure I wasn't afflicted with grinding, or other teeth issues.
Lo and behold I had an itty bitty bacteria infection on one of my back teeth and gums. It never hurt. It never stank. The dentist remarked for not having been to the dentist in a while, my mouth was remarkably clean of plaque and tartar.
After recieving treatment I noticed an unsuspected side effect. I had more energy. I slept better. It was quite noticable too. My next visit back to the dentist, I inquired and his explanation was quite logical. Your mouth is obviously a breeding ground for bacteria both good and bad. What's in your mouth is basically in your whole body. If you have bacteria in your mouth, your immune system has to work just that much harder to keep you healthy.
An odd anecdote but I'd thought I'd share none the less. It might seem like a no brainer to keep your mouth clean, but even those who follow all the "rules" can experience bacteria spots that affect your overall health and energy levels.
Face it, without compensation, these people that create music, games, and entertainment couldn't do it. Not that they wouldn't, they just couldn't. These things are a full time job, and a full time job is neccesary for our society. So in conclusion, since you aren't talented enough to do it yourself, be prepared to pay for it.
However, the parents point was more a long the lines of: "If it sucks, we're going to tell you, so maybe you'll do something about it".
Whether he looks like a complete ass, or if he accomplished anything is up to debate. For instance, I bet the netscape development team is taking a long hard look at their next release now.
He still asserts that not being able to steal games is a deal breaker for the xbox360.
So my apologies for making a minor mistake, which apparently validates the claim that stealing games is cool.
And seriously, how many non-graphic artists do you know that own a legit version of Photoshop? People just do duplicate software. It's not a lost sale becuase that person would never buy the product for $500+ anyway. But get it for free from a friend, no problem.
Are you kidding me? You're defending stealing games, because people steal productivity software?
*Psshh* *Click*
Come in kettle *Pssh*
Come in kettle
*Psssh* *Click*
*Pssh*
Kettle here! *Pssh*
*Psssh*
Pot speaking, you are in fact... black, Over.
*psssh*
Defending illegal and morally wrong practices by precendent is about the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Yup, humans have been murdering eachother for thousand years of recorded history. Guess that's ok too, right?
The fact that Adobe didn't lose a sale because the person in question never would have purchased it, doesn't fly.
And what about loaner copies? How is loaning a legit copy the same as duplicating it? When you loaned the person the book, did you give them the book or did you head down to kinkos and photocopy it for them?
These are the way things are, you are right. Everyone does know this. Fragile grasp of economic realities? Please. You should instead weep for an economy fragile enough to allow people to expect all these things for free. Your grasp of the economy seems to be narrowed to: "If bob jumped off a cliff, so would I".
I still buy music that is published by members of the RIAA. I do this because I still like the music. I do however have a much higher propensity to purchase independant label music, especially when I know the artist is self publishing. A couple good exampls of this are Ani Difranco or Caroline Spine (new stuff). But they are just two examples of a huge independant market that is gaining ground.
I don't resort to stealing music, just because I think the RIAA is probably one of the most egrigious companies on the planet. Far worse than Microsoft or SCO if you ask me. But thems are the breaks. It's a free country, and part of that freedom is extended to the RIAA. They are free to produce their consumables and charge whatever they want for them. A stupid business model can't be illegal. We cry about freedom, but it's well within our freedom rights to be stupid and practice crappy business. I'm not saying all the things the RIAA does are legal, afterall, they have a history of deceptive practices, which are illegal. They just have yet to be caught, or caught enough to matter. Furthermore I would go on the record to say that I disagree, morally (don't confuse this with morally in terms of religion), with what the RIAA does. Namely profiting so severely on the works of others. Not to mention burying the artform by moving music with pepsi commercials.
But all that said, it is also within our freedom and rights as consumers to let the RIAA fall flat on it's face when its model finally backfires. And if it never does backfire, then only we are to blame for buying into their crap. But again, those are the breaks. If you want it, and someone else has it, they get to decide what you pay for it.
In conclusion, all I'm saying is that it is what it is. I would love to see the day, when music, movies, and games are produced AND published by the same entity. As bad as Steam's implementation was, I love the way valve is trying to get out from under the boot of Vivendi. When that day comes, I will support it heavily and be willing to pay more, if neccesary, for the same content. The beauty of it all, is that when the day comes, odds are, we won't have to pay more since publisher price gouging won't be a factor. But I'd estimate I'm in a minority because most people these days aren't even willing to pay period, let alone pay more.
Next time you clowns are willing to go to work for free, just for the good of it, let me know. It's the same thing as expecting free entertainment. The only free entertainment is the kind you create yourself. So I suggest you (not addressing anyone specific) get a better imagination, learn to live without it, or learn to part with your hard (hahaha) earned cash.
Love or hate Microsoft you are basically saying, "you know Microsoft made a good enough console for all these developers to create games. Games which I spend MY time playing and enjoying. But since I hate Microsoft, I will pass the consequences of my hate onto the game developers by depriving them of their profits. But they better not quit making games just becuase they aren't getting any money, those pussies!"
You have to pay. I hope Xbox2 falls flat on its face, but Microsoft has learned in the home entertainment game, just like they did in the PC game.
OMGWTFBBQ, you have to pay??? Say it isn't so?!!!
Since when did you deserve free entertainment? Frankly, you make me sick. It'd be another case entirely if the xbox or the games weren't worth playing. But clearly they are, since you devote a large portion of your time "renting five games" and ripping them all. But now, faced with the thought of actually having to trade your work for other peoples work (in the time honored tradition of bartering through currency), you "hope that the xbox2 falls flat on its face"?
Seriously, pick one side or the other. Either don't play and support the xbox because you don't like it, microsoft, or the developers. But the minute you depend on it for YOUR entertainment, you need to pony up, it's as simple as that.
And I'm no xbox zealot, I'm not defending the xbox, but rather attacking your attitude. For the record, I enjoyed my PS2 far more than my xbox. The only two games I own for the xbox are Ninja Gaiden and NHL 2K5. Both of which have made the purchase of the console worth it for me.
Grow up. When it comes to personal entertainment, there are no "rights". You are not entitled to it, you make the decision on what to purchase, and no one else.
I think maybe the slick apps like google maps is finally showing what good code CAN do, instead of the bloated bug ridden javascripting of yesterday.
Or maybe I'm just not transcending expectations by thinking outside of the box, and therefore my toolset isn't capable of brigding the information gap causing a chasm with my ability to think forwardly.
I'm struggling to identify which is worse: The day when we report that a buzzword has made progress, or the day a buzzword actually creates progress.
You may do all of the things you wrote without it being illegal. The only time it starts becoming illegal is when you start making copies of those tapes and supplying them to people or rebroadcasting them without the permission of the copyright owners and the original broadcasting channel.
So if your neighbor gave you a tape, you are ok. If your neighbor sells you a tape, you're not. If neighbor records a tape, and you make a copy of it, then I think that's where the grey areas start.
If passed, the broadcast flag will likely slow down piracy just as much as Compact Discs that won't work in CD-ROMs. While solution, ahem work-around, might not be as simple as a magic marker, rest assured that people will continue to make up their own free use policies so long as the laws aren't enforced.
If anything, a broadcast flag will give the MPAA a false sense of security and create a rift between hardware manfactures and these self imposed unofficial regulatory bodies. By that I mean, it is very likely that by putting a broadcast flag into new hardware, sales will decline as people will hang on to thier own unregulated hardware. New media formats will never gain a market niche, and it'll be like laser disc vs vcr all over again. Hardware companies will eventually cry foul and either release more friendly devices that comply with the law, but are very easy to get around, or they will do some brib... I mean... drafting legisla... I mean suggesting legislation of their own.
Hardware sales fall, media sales fall, publishing companies go under, TV stagnates and America will finally realize that the entertainment industry really is a parasite on our economy. Slowly people will stop being able to afford the newest pop culture diva's CD, and they will be upset at first. But they will find out they don't even miss it. The media industry will die and be replaced by a new rennesaince period. It's happened before, it'll happen again.
Either way, everytime these imperialistic corperations get these types of laws passed, I look at it as one step closer to massive fall out. After all, the only way they can enforce most of these laws would be if we lived in a police state.
Oh shit.
There will always be a group of consumers, like me, who don't mind carrying extra devices around, so long as each device does it's function and does it well. Jack of all trade devices tend to do many functions but none of them well.
It's very doubtfull that in the near future a cell phone would contain a portable digital audio converter and internal amplification, not to mention suffcient storage room to store decent quality bit rates. But then again, a piece of shit DAC and a 10 mA volume amp is enough for the main consumer crowd. Which is actually kind of disapointing, but not suprising.
I'm what you'd call an audio geek. You can label me as an audiophile and it wouldn't bother me, but I'm more of a music lover than an audiophile. I carry around a 4g 40 gig ipod (soon to be replaced by an iaudio x5 probably), a headphone amp, and Shure E5cs. I'm a muggers dream, only since I don't have the white earbuds, they wouldn't notice me and leave me and my 1000 worth of gear alone. Me and the others like me (and there are lots, see www.head-fi.org for our sick kind) will never succumb to all in one portable devices until they do everything just as good as a standalone.
And as for some direct commentary about the article. I think Bill Gates is rather short sighted to note that the device will be a cell phone anyway. Likely the cell phone will be yet another device absorbed into personal organizers and not the other way around.
The way I would predict it: We'll have one device with a number of accessories. It's not hard to imagine a hard drive based PDA, PSP or insert portable gaming platform here, Music / Media player, cell phone and camera. More or less it would be a small tabelt like brick with a touch screen and detatchable unfoldable keyboard, earpiece for your cell phone, stylus, ect. You get the idea.
But it'll have a shitty DAC and so I'll still need a standalone portable music device with a decent DAC. Or if I got my way, one with an optical out so I can use my own external dac and amplifier.
Google is going to become the premier marketing company in the future. They are really good at providing a service that people want or need, but at the same time, that service also helps them collect data on you. Is this a good or bad thing? I can't really tell yet. However, I just had a flash back to Minority Report where people are getting customer advertisements based on who they are.
Let's look at what google can know about you, if you use all of their services (present and future):
Think about it. I could easily forsee LCD screens on streets, in bars, at your restuarant table which display custom google ads. As soon as you pass by them, your bluetooth enabled phone broadcasts your cell phone number to the receiver which transmits to the Google Person Database. This database spiders out and looks up your most recent searches, your friends searches, other people who search like you, accesses your e-mail indexes, looks up what locations you visit on a regular basis, and gives you a custom advertisement which has the best probability to sell to the thousands of other people who have a similar demographic to you.
I'm starting to think of Google as marketing powerhouse with really smart technology, rather a technology powerhouse with really slick marketing.
I'm struggling to find the answer: What can't Google figure out or make damned good assumptions about you, based on your Google use?
Yes but when faced with a myriad of choices where you 1. don't know who offers the better product/service. 2. Research material doesn't exist. 3. Have no prior information to go on 4. The service is mundane enough that the quality doesn't have a lot of variability; then the consumer will always choose convience. Hell, most consumers will choose convience over those qualities in the first place.
Which is why you have companies called Tripple A. Because of the yellow pages.
Stop looking at "cost cutting" by reduction, and start looking at "using existing resources to provide relavent products" While I mostly agree that cost cutting and six sigma type programs can kill a business... often a business can not grow into new mediums WITHOUT cost cutting and reduction. Markets change, using existing resources to provide relavent products can lead to stagnatin.
Start hiring employees who know what they're doing and listen to them
I hope your in the business consulting field! This stuff is gold!
Stop wasting your money on search engine optimizations.
Why? I would agree that it shouldn't be your priority. However, if you are an internet based business, face it, google is probably your primary portal. Ensuring you have relevant results is paramount. I wouldn't advice hiring a consultant for this, but ensuring your search results are valid is definitely worth spending time/money on.
Be good to the customer, and the cutomer will be good to you. If you don't know why people are upset or unhappy, grab a couple off the street and ask.
Naw, I'd recommend you search google instead on why your company sucks.
Making sure your search results are relevant on google is a lot like moderating in slashdot. The good stuff is supposed to filter to the top.
Sorry, in this instance, the egg needs to come before the chicken. We need linux ports of popular games before gamers can make the switch completely.
Until the droves are playing Counterstrike, Half Life 2, World of Warcraft, Everquest #, on linux, linux will not be considered a gamers OS.
And don't even get me started on the driver support for Linux. Gaming hardware companies need to give Linux more attention before game developers start developing for linux.
ID software, perhaps you've heard of them, understands this principle and releases both binaries with their games. They don't do this just for the cool factor. ID understands what's up.
Perhaps one of the most damaging moves for games being developed for Linux was the release of the xbox. This has locked a lot of developers looking to get in on the console cash cow to developing with Microsoft's DirectX. If you're slated to release something on the xbox and PC at the same time, no game developer is going to make a seperate open GL port when they are already using directX.
You'll never be rid of the CPU anyway, if you had a card run the entire game, it would need some kind of CPU to do basic math for the GPU and aspects of the game that didn't use the graphics processer. Such as physics. In the future, I would predict that graphics cards will lose the graphics focus and become entire multimedia cards. Like a console on a card. One card will have 3 or 4 processing units for sound, graphics, phsyics, and other forms of math.
It would also be nice if these multimedia cards contained the same hardware as the current console market. So you could either buy a console for your TV, or buy a multimedia card for your computer. Either one will play the same games. This would help developers out as well, as they could spend more time on the game, and less time on porting it to 5 different platforms.
The fact is, and as you pointed out, these companies just assemble the computers. They don't do their own R&D. They rely on technology component companies R&D and they just create the sum of the parts, the computer.
While this is commodization, it's not as bad as you make it out to be. See the forrest for the trees. Each component that goes into the computer has gone through R&D by the company that made it. The processor, the video card, the motherbaords, everything.
You can also argue that the hardware market doesn't even need any innovation right now. The software market is far behind taking advantage of the newest architechtures.
When the market decides it's time for hardware innovation it won't be stifled by large commoditized companies. If anything, the opposite will occur. Once intel/ati/ect decide to innovate the markets, it's Dell's job to provide that hardware as fast as possible to consumers. And the more consumer market there is for a particular hardware architecture, the more software adoption you'll see. The more software adoption you'll see, the more hardware innovation will be required to support the ever increasing demands of software. And so goes the circle. Case in point, it may seem slow, but look at how fast 64 bit is actually being adopted compared to previous major architecture changes. It is because of market saturation.
Either way, I tend to disagree with your assessment. You're looking at Dell as a PC maker. They are really just a supplier with a really solid business model and sucessful marketing techniques. Just because the company badge on the PC didn't do the R&D, doesn't mean it wasn't done.
Basically, in conclusion, I'd say that "commodity market spam companies" (my term) are actually a GOOD thing to keep the markets from stagnating.
What's worse, the fact that PR companies exist? Or that people are so uninformed, they fall for them?
I think the fact that PR works speaks VOLUMES about why it exists in the first place. People would rather believe in a slightly less real reality that they prefer, than believe in the one they don't. That, and the fact that most people are too lazy and uninformed to do any double checking about spin.
Not that anyone needs any proof or reminder about how effective PR is.... but look at the recent election. Something like 40-50% of the people who voted for Bush still thought Iraq had something to do with 911.
I believe this sort of disinformation is criminal and should be abolished from our society. But since it [PR practices] really isn't against the law, and won't be abolished, it is considered unethical AT best.
So who's fault really is it? If America suddenly developed a decent bullshit detector... what would happen to PR companies? What would happen to politics? What would happen to us? We'd probably evolve as a society, that's what.
This is a flat out untrue statement.
Dell does manufacture computers overseas yes, but currently ALL computers sold by Dell in the US are manufactured in the US.
Foriegn factories are for foriegn markets. Tech support, is completely different. As you already know.
Now the actual PARTS used for these computers are built overseas, but find a computer part that isn't.
I still submit that George Bush is not actually from Texas, but was hewn from the bones of still born babies from the depths of hell.
You know why money is the only speech? Because regular speech by regular citizens gets in the way of Must See TV.
Your attitude is EXACTLY why money rules all. Because WE let it. Instead of making excuses on slashdot, why don't you go try and do something about it. Better to try and fail, than sit there and fail.
I'd call people with your attitude a pussy, but that would make lazy cats look bad.
Suprising? No. News? Yes.
As a resident of Texas, I actually wasn't aware fo this until I opened up Slashdot today. First, shame on me.
While your general tone of apathy is not suprising, it's also not helping the situation. In fact, Slashdot's "whining" is doing far more than you're overated post. When voting rolls around, I'll be sure to do a bit of simple research to find out which politicians are supporting this type of iniative, and assuming their opponents aren't asshats, vote for their opposition.
I've also forwarded this article to no less than 9 coworkers (geeks), who I'm sure will spread the word. We're all registered voters. So saying zero, no wait ZERO! effect on the issue is just plain wrong. It might only have .00001 effect on the issue, but it's going to have an effect. Votes will be swayed by this.
Lose the apathy, captain whiney, it is what's wrong with this place (and country) in the first place.
On a side note, imagine that. I learned something from Slashdot today. And as a bonus, I learned something before noon.