Canada's chronic failure to modernize its copyright regime has made it a global hub for bootleg movies, pirated software and tiny microchips that allow video-game users to bypass copyright protections' I know where I'm going for vacation. Thanks for the tip IIAA.
You guys are living in very scary times right now: illegal wiretaps, perpetual warfare, a criminal executive branch passing no-bid military contracts to stakeholders in the very same government... And it's a well observed phenomenon that journalism is under fire in the US. Yes, these are all scary things and they all cross the line. Failing to show up for a court ordered subpoena doesn't.
It's not about supporting or opposing "the man", it's about a balance with freedom on one side and law and order on the other. Just because so many of us oppose the infringements you mentioned does not mean we want anarchy. Some laws are good. Namely those that protect our freedoms. Some are bad, those that protect profits come quickly to mind. Apparently you have similar feelings as you pointed out "illegal" wiretaps as opposed to legal ones.
Don't make this an all or nothing your either with us or against us situation. That would make you much worse than "the man". Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness requires some compromises.
It would seem that Microsoft's campaign against the poor, Russian school teacher backfired miserably. Allow me to make a slight alteration, please.
It would seem that the RIAA's campaign against the poor, American grandmother backfired miserably. or
It would seem that Apple's campaign against the poor, blogger backfired miserably.
or
It would seem that MPAA's campaign against the poor, (fill in the blank) backfired miserably. What are we teaching in our MBA programs these days? Really, I'm serious? When did treating your customers, fans, educators, innocent by-standers like the enemy somehow become mainstream thought among U.S. executives?
In a way I'm hopeful that Microsoft's pricing will become ever more monopolistic, forcing people to think about alternatives. I think you're being overly optimistic. I've yet to find anything that will force people to think. If there is some magic ingredient, it is the thing that money and computers are farthest from.
It was. This very same story (well, one painfully similar) was written years ago. I remember a friend sending it to me and saying he opted out of the "service".
I swear I've heard this "companies migrating to dumb terminals" prediction about 100 times since the early 90's. And, in all that time, I've yet to personally see a company actually doing it. I'm beginning to think some dumb terminal or server company periodically plants these articles or something. Considering that this article cites data from a Gartner study, you may be more right than you know.
To me, this has been a "Duh" topic for a long time. The hold back is not the cost, it's the application availability. Sure, you can do Windows/Citrix but I'm not convinced you're saving anything. You still have to pay for Windows server licenses, client licenses, citric licenses and a few more windows taxes I'm certain. The defining moment, however, comes when you try to save the big buck going Sun to NCD or Sunray or linux, basically Unix where IMHO this really works as advertised and someone needs a windows only app. I'm not even talking about MS Office. I'm talking about some of the more obscure things like browser plug-ins that are windows (or win/mac at best) only. I'm talking about major vendors like Lexis/Nexis who deliver their content over the web but only support I.E. for the management of the apps. It's S.S.D.D. The network computer model works and can cost less but the Windows monopoly closes it off every time.
I've said it before and will say it again. Computers are tools. None are bad (ok, some may be) but they all have a place and Windows doesn't merit 95% of those places. Until we fix that issue and the problems that it causes, much innovation and potential for improvement will ignored.
Knowing what we know about CIOs -- that is, that most are smart, hardworking, supremely aware of how the business works Boy, we certainly have a high opinion of ourselves, don't we?
Here's what I know about CIOs (present employer excluded, which is unique):
1. They are religious fanatics when it comes to platforms. If it's MS or IBM, great! Anything else, don't waste my time. Want proof, look at market share. The old saying "nobody gets fired for buying IBM wasn't created by CEOs.
2. Every day you can see the the IT department empty out at about 4pm. They get to work later and leave earlier than most.
3. They often have no clue what the business does or wants but are absolutely certain that they can find the right technological solution regardless.
Of course I could be wrong about all of this. Perhaps none of it is true. Still, that perception alone would answer the question posed.
I wasn't aware that "our side" was the Democrats. Did I miss the memo? Obviously you missed the memo, the writing on the wall, the posts, the flamewars and just about everything else seen on slashdot.
Here's a great thought for a slashdot poll. Would you ever vote for a republican? That might be telling about the political environment here.
it's default format is even less compatible with anything else. That's the reason, right there! It doesn't matter what 2007 CAN do. All that matters is that the DEFAULT is set to something that will cause some minor effort on another user's part and that will be all the excuse anyone needs to upgrade. Have we already forgotten the insurmountable (proven in court) advantage IE has as the default browser?
You guys get so busy trying to prove why a problem doesn't have to exist that you forget that a problem doesn't need to exist in order to require a solution. If it makes it any easier to understand, try remembering that MS is NOT the worlds greatest software company. They are the world's greatest MARKETING company.
....Sensationalistic and (largely) inaccurate (and misleading) titles for suckers.
Nothing to see here folks. You're not forced into Fairplay. Rip your CDs, buy your AllofMP3s, whatever. I experience total freedom with my ipod. The only thing I can't play on it are DRM'ed songs from other companies (sounds like they are the ones handcuffing me). I expect the iphone to be the same.
Mod -1 to slashdot for even posting this crap. Let's get some real news back on slash.
Well, if a job is created elsewhere that could have been created in the US, isn't that a job lost?" The key word in that question is "could". At 1-10% of the wages americans earn, that job couldn't have been created. If a business has $1million to spend on a project and that project would cost $10million in the States vs $1million in Asia, then no, no jobs have been because the choice was expand by off-shoring or not expanding.
In this example, no U.S. jobs were lost because no U.S. jobs would or could have been created to meet the need of the business.
Another point to consider is that we are now in a truly global market. U.S. companies cannot continue to be the grossly inefficient dinosaurs they have been over the past decades (and we are inefficient). So one point you could make is that off-shoring actually saves jobs since it is a way to help keep companies more efficient enabling their very survival and saving the jobs of all who remain employed.
Now, all of that said, do I believe that either of these two cases are realistic? Yes. Do I believe that off-shoring never costs U.S. jobs? No.
I'll just go ahead and put on my flame-suit now. Ready, aim, fire!
In my experience, 5 years is too far away to make for a worthwhile prediction. If it is that far away, we are just guessing. Far too much can happen in that time (economic downturn, anyone?)
Further, my last employer was a Windows shop. The infrastructure was designed around proprietary MS security and authentication. They don't want linux. They don't care what it runs or what it can do. If you don't have an MCSE, you aren't qualified to work there (>1600 IT employees for a company of ~9000). We made several server purchases from Dell that would have been better served by Sun (per application specs). That never happened and never will. Why having linux as an option will make a difference I have no idea.
The worst thing is that this is the norm in my experience. I use a Mac and have been called a zealot (though I use Win2k and Solaris as well) but those who use nothing other than Windows are just plain IT people. The true zealots are the Windows only users and they exist and are in control of the IT departments.
Surveys that ask if you would be willing to use something have little validity. Nearly everyone is willing to try something on a survey but in real life, the story is very different.
A former President is dead and all we can comment on is the rightness or wrongness of a decision made to seek justice or move on. The comments from both sides appear pretty hot too even after all of these years. It's scary just how polarized we have become. It really seems as if you are firmly entrenched one way or the other.
It doesn't give me a whole lot of hope for the near future. Every time we see something on slashdot it is hotly debated with no middle ground and no compromise. With that attitude, I find it unlikely that we will elect officials who are willing to walk the middle ground or compromise and that, to me, is scary.
President Ford, I was too young to know what was really happening during your term so I won't judge (I am also not a judge). You took the highest position in the world and I respect you for that accomplishment as I do every President regardless of party or policy. I remember feeling encouragement from you in the boy scout commercials and I thank you for that.
Sony Says Nobody Will Ever Use All the Power of a PS3
Wow! The PS3 must be incredibly difficult to program for.
I wonder why they built it if it cannot be fully realized.
I have been waiting for this for a long time. This is one case where the sheer insanity of having 12 different chargers makes some sense for a legislated standard.
If it is sheer insanity and it is self inflicted.
Speaking for the U.S. (I know a lot of other countries are represented on slashdot with different laws and fundamental principles) this is a market issue. We don't have to buy cell phones. We don't have to buy phones with proprietary adapters. We do because it isn't that big of a deal. Yes, it's wasteful. Americans always have been. Yes it's annoying. Americans don't (or didn't) expect legislation to prevent annoying corporate habits.
We have too many laws in this country as it is. We also have too many real problems as it is. I'm all for government mandates around information like a warning label that says this is a proprietary cable and only works with your Treo 650. Mandating convenience for the american public is NOT the american way. It never was.
You'd be pretty pissed if you could only use a GM-approved fill neck for your car.
No, I would laugh and buy someone else's car. I was very interested in the VW Turbo Diesel but knowing I couldn't get diesel fuel at every gas station made me look elsewhere. I didn't call for a government mandate requiring all cars to use the same fuel or for gas stations to sell all types of fuel.
What the hell does the second amendment have to do with my rights ONLINE? I'm still allowed to shoot people in games over the internet, regardless of what the handgun rights are here in DC.
I can still buy guns online and I suppose that will go away soon now. So, this does affect my rights online.
As I feared, now that the republicans have done as much damage to the first amendment as they can, the democrats will pick up where they left off on the second.
Is it a little too conspiracy theory nutty of me to propose that they are really all in this together to just take power away from the people. That the democrats and republicans are pretty much the same when it comes to disdain for the constitution and the men who created it?
O.K., it's late, this irritates me and I'm not in the mood to start quoting sources but saying it makes me feel better.
The article is slashdotted so don't bash me for NOT RTFA, please.
That said, is it just me or does anyone else think the best way to push a new technology is to make an old tried and true one seem dangerous and unreliable.
Kind of like making freon out to be the environmental bad guy just as the patent runs out and something new comes online to replace it.
O.K. I'm paranoid but someone must have done this to make me this way.
This is really sad and on slashdot, no less (though I am coming to expect it these days). This is research. This is an idea. It's in the early phases and it is doing what many research ideas do for starters, working in a controlled environment. I see all of the criticisms about why it won't work and why it could be used for bad things but this is how we learn. Our first airplanes sucked too but they were the foundations upon which we built what we have today.
Some of you criticize the way it will be used but I see precious little about how it can be used. You fear that it will be misused and not without reason, I suppose but look at the potential positives. What if this kind of research ultimately proves that exposure to violence at an early age? What if we show that video games don't cause violence in children or that red food coloring really does have a harmful effect on behavior (loss of control being harmful)?
The knowledge is worthwhile, this is a start, where we build our knowledge base. Even if it fails in the long run we learn from the research and our failures. Sure, it can be misused. So can a gun, a knife, a pen or mod points (I it found particularly amusing seeing people who disagreed with the popular "free-speech mentality getting modded down, a form of censorship, just because their views were unpopular).
When did the quest for knowledge become subject to political correctness on Slashdot?
I can understand any school position on restricting speech in the classroom. I think we can all figure out why.
Conversely, I don't believe the school has any business what we do in our personal lives outside of school.
The grey area appears to be the school functions outside of the school. When I first read the comment on slashdot, I actually agreed with the school's POV. If a school holds an assembly offsite for students, school rules should apply IMHO. Then I RTFA. He was standing on a sidewalk. Public sidewalks are kind of hard to sell as anything other than "public". To me it seems like it should break down as:
1. He was a student who was part of a school event and subject to school rules.
2. He was a student NOT part of a school event and NOT subject to school rules.
If 1, then 10 days suspension.
If 2, then free speech.
Of course the school could say: If 2, then free speech but also skipping class and appropriately punished for that.
Well, there's my free speech on the subject. I'm sure there are more facts in this than we have seen so far.
Things like this are market driven. When the market determines that it values reliability and is willing to pay for it (or not pay for the unreliable "gadget"), the industry will build it.
Right now, reliability is not typically foremost on people's minds. Some don't care, some don't believe it's possible but the end effect is the same. I've worked in marketing and sales for a few years now and I can tell you that price is king. It's the walmart mentality and the people have spoken.
No, I don't like it. I drive Japanese cars, I read consumer reports, I buy based on reliability and service but I do not a market make for many of these types of things. Sure, there is a market for reliable cars because a lot of us feel that way. There is a market for reliable appliances for the same reasons. Not so for tech gadgets. Really, how long do you want your phone? Something better will be out in a month so do you really want a brick that lasts 10 years? If you answer yes and I know some will whether you mean it or not, you probably don't account for enough people to make a market.
Here's an example of where the market turned the industry around.
Do you remember when most hard drives had 5-year warranties?
Do you remember when they pretty much all dropped to 1-3 years?
Do you remember replacing tons of hard drive?
Have you noticed that 5-year warranties are becoming more common again?
Drive quality sucks. It has for a long time. Manufacturer pushed the envelope and reliability dropped but our desire for reliability didn't. When they reduced the length of the warranty, the hand full of 5-year drives became very popular.
Market Drives these decisions. Think about that when you get pissed at the RIAA and MPAA. If the market really wanted them to go away/stop/play nice, they would. We just need to make sure the market expresses itself. To some degree that has already happened. Remember that the RIAA didn't want downloads? Remember that the RIAA wanted to charge more than $.99/song? Remember when Apple made about 200% profit on each computer and was completely proprietary? The market didn't allow it.
In short, you can't make something people don't want and you can't charge more than people are willing to pay for very long and what it costs to make has absolutely no bearing on the price.
"For the average office worker who uses their PC for general productivity apps, such as communications and garden-variety computing, Smith recommended the Core 2 Duo from 'a price point and performance perspective.'"
I admit it. I'm not as hard core as a lot of Slashdot. I'm not a hacker, a programmer, and I barely use linux (mostly for tivo modding..o.k. I'm a little bit of a hacker, but just a little). Still, when I see the new chips like these that are much faster for digital content creation and not for the "Average office user", I find myself scratching my head. Sure the cubicles running MS Office and IE don't need this power, but the "Average" home user may very well.
Think about it. What is the average home user doing? I think it has a lot to do with digital audio and video. We are making home movies, converting our DVD collection to mp4s and mixing our own music. Most of this can be done with iLife if you are a Mac user (for example) but the hundreds of gigs of video I have of my family requires far to much of my time to "Rip, Mix and Burn".
Am I so different? It seems to me that the high-end workstation and the "average" home pc user really want and need the same thing from a productivity standpoint. For those of us that want to move into the digital home lifestyle, processing power is still a limiting factor. I for one find myself setting up my computer to encode video overnight far too often.
Does anyone else see the top of the line high-end processor as a very useable tool for the real average computer user or am I expecting too much from the average user? Really, even my dad wants to make digital videos of the family from time to time but doesn't have the hours it takes to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
It's not about supporting or opposing "the man", it's about a balance with freedom on one side and law and order on the other. Just because so many of us oppose the infringements you mentioned does not mean we want anarchy. Some laws are good. Namely those that protect our freedoms. Some are bad, those that protect profits come quickly to mind. Apparently you have similar feelings as you pointed out "illegal" wiretaps as opposed to legal ones.
Don't make this an all or nothing your either with us or against us situation. That would make you much worse than "the man". Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness requires some compromises.
It would seem that the RIAA's campaign against the poor, American grandmother backfired miserably. or
It would seem that Apple's campaign against the poor, blogger backfired miserably. or
It would seem that MPAA's campaign against the poor, (fill in the blank) backfired miserably. What are we teaching in our MBA programs these days? Really, I'm serious? When did treating your customers, fans, educators, innocent by-standers like the enemy somehow become mainstream thought among U.S. executives?
It was. This very same story (well, one painfully similar) was written years ago. I remember a friend sending it to me and saying he opted out of the "service".
This from the same state that wanted to ban dihydrogen monoxide. (http://shallowthgts.blogspot.com/2006/09/dihydrog en-monoxide.html)
O.K. fine, one community in the state but still....
To me, this has been a "Duh" topic for a long time. The hold back is not the cost, it's the application availability. Sure, you can do Windows/Citrix but I'm not convinced you're saving anything. You still have to pay for Windows server licenses, client licenses, citric licenses and a few more windows taxes I'm certain. The defining moment, however, comes when you try to save the big buck going Sun to NCD or Sunray or linux, basically Unix where IMHO this really works as advertised and someone needs a windows only app. I'm not even talking about MS Office. I'm talking about some of the more obscure things like browser plug-ins that are windows (or win/mac at best) only. I'm talking about major vendors like Lexis/Nexis who deliver their content over the web but only support I.E. for the management of the apps. It's S.S.D.D. The network computer model works and can cost less but the Windows monopoly closes it off every time.
I've said it before and will say it again. Computers are tools. None are bad (ok, some may be) but they all have a place and Windows doesn't merit 95% of those places. Until we fix that issue and the problems that it causes, much innovation and potential for improvement will ignored.
Here's what I know about CIOs (present employer excluded, which is unique):
1. They are religious fanatics when it comes to platforms. If it's MS or IBM, great! Anything else, don't waste my time. Want proof, look at market share. The old saying "nobody gets fired for buying IBM wasn't created by CEOs.
2. Every day you can see the the IT department empty out at about 4pm. They get to work later and leave earlier than most.
3. They often have no clue what the business does or wants but are absolutely certain that they can find the right technological solution regardless.
Of course I could be wrong about all of this. Perhaps none of it is true. Still, that perception alone would answer the question posed.
Also a little known fact that birds flying south cause cold weather.
Here's a great thought for a slashdot poll. Would you ever vote for a republican? That might be telling about the political environment here.
You guys get so busy trying to prove why a problem doesn't have to exist that you forget that a problem doesn't need to exist in order to require a solution. If it makes it any easier to understand, try remembering that MS is NOT the worlds greatest software company. They are the world's greatest MARKETING company.
....Sensationalistic and (largely) inaccurate (and misleading) titles for suckers.
Nothing to see here folks. You're not forced into Fairplay. Rip your CDs, buy your AllofMP3s, whatever. I experience total freedom with my ipod. The only thing I can't play on it are DRM'ed songs from other companies (sounds like they are the ones handcuffing me). I expect the iphone to be the same.
Mod -1 to slashdot for even posting this crap. Let's get some real news back on slash.
The sooner you realize that in a free society, the citizens are responsible for everything, the sooner things might start getting better.
In this example, no U.S. jobs were lost because no U.S. jobs would or could have been created to meet the need of the business.
Another point to consider is that we are now in a truly global market. U.S. companies cannot continue to be the grossly inefficient dinosaurs they have been over the past decades (and we are inefficient). So one point you could make is that off-shoring actually saves jobs since it is a way to help keep companies more efficient enabling their very survival and saving the jobs of all who remain employed.
Now, all of that said, do I believe that either of these two cases are realistic? Yes. Do I believe that off-shoring never costs U.S. jobs? No.
I'll just go ahead and put on my flame-suit now. Ready, aim, fire!
In my experience, 5 years is too far away to make for a worthwhile prediction. If it is that far away, we are just guessing. Far too much can happen in that time (economic downturn, anyone?)
Further, my last employer was a Windows shop. The infrastructure was designed around proprietary MS security and authentication. They don't want linux. They don't care what it runs or what it can do. If you don't have an MCSE, you aren't qualified to work there (>1600 IT employees for a company of ~9000). We made several server purchases from Dell that would have been better served by Sun (per application specs). That never happened and never will. Why having linux as an option will make a difference I have no idea.
The worst thing is that this is the norm in my experience. I use a Mac and have been called a zealot (though I use Win2k and Solaris as well) but those who use nothing other than Windows are just plain IT people. The true zealots are the Windows only users and they exist and are in control of the IT departments.
Surveys that ask if you would be willing to use something have little validity. Nearly everyone is willing to try something on a survey but in real life, the story is very different.
A former President is dead and all we can comment on is the rightness or wrongness of a decision made to seek justice or move on. The comments from both sides appear pretty hot too even after all of these years. It's scary just how polarized we have become. It really seems as if you are firmly entrenched one way or the other.
It doesn't give me a whole lot of hope for the near future. Every time we see something on slashdot it is hotly debated with no middle ground and no compromise. With that attitude, I find it unlikely that we will elect officials who are willing to walk the middle ground or compromise and that, to me, is scary.
President Ford, I was too young to know what was really happening during your term so I won't judge (I am also not a judge). You took the highest position in the world and I respect you for that accomplishment as I do every President regardless of party or policy. I remember feeling encouragement from you in the boy scout commercials and I thank you for that.
Rest in Peace.
Our own State Constitution protects the rights of pigs.o nstitution&Submenu=3&Tab=statutes&CFID=24774056&CF TOKEN=19855079#A10S21
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?Mode=C
I doubt it will take very much longer for robots to reach that level of intelligence.
P.S. I'm not going to tell you if that means pigs or most voters in Florida. Figure that one out for yourself.
Wow! The PS3 must be incredibly difficult to program for.
I wonder why they built it if it cannot be fully realized.
If it is sheer insanity and it is self inflicted.
Speaking for the U.S. (I know a lot of other countries are represented on slashdot with different laws and fundamental principles) this is a market issue. We don't have to buy cell phones. We don't have to buy phones with proprietary adapters. We do because it isn't that big of a deal. Yes, it's wasteful. Americans always have been. Yes it's annoying. Americans don't (or didn't) expect legislation to prevent annoying corporate habits.
We have too many laws in this country as it is. We also have too many real problems as it is. I'm all for government mandates around information like a warning label that says this is a proprietary cable and only works with your Treo 650. Mandating convenience for the american public is NOT the american way. It never was.
You'd be pretty pissed if you could only use a GM-approved fill neck for your car.
No, I would laugh and buy someone else's car. I was very interested in the VW Turbo Diesel but knowing I couldn't get diesel fuel at every gas station made me look elsewhere. I didn't call for a government mandate requiring all cars to use the same fuel or for gas stations to sell all types of fuel.
Why is your phone any different?
Why should my cell phone be any different indeed.
What the hell does the second amendment have to do with my rights ONLINE? I'm still allowed to shoot people in games over the internet, regardless of what the handgun rights are here in DC.
I can still buy guns online and I suppose that will go away soon now. So, this does affect my rights online.
As I feared, now that the republicans have done as much damage to the first amendment as they can, the democrats will pick up where they left off on the second.
Is it a little too conspiracy theory nutty of me to propose that they are really all in this together to just take power away from the people. That the democrats and republicans are pretty much the same when it comes to disdain for the constitution and the men who created it?
O.K., it's late, this irritates me and I'm not in the mood to start quoting sources but saying it makes me feel better.
The article is slashdotted so don't bash me for NOT RTFA, please.
That said, is it just me or does anyone else think the best way to push a new technology is to make an old tried and true one seem dangerous and unreliable.
Kind of like making freon out to be the environmental bad guy just as the patent runs out and something new comes online to replace it.
O.K. I'm paranoid but someone must have done this to make me this way.
This is really sad and on slashdot, no less (though I am coming to expect it these days). This is research. This is an idea. It's in the early phases and it is doing what many research ideas do for starters, working in a controlled environment. I see all of the criticisms about why it won't work and why it could be used for bad things but this is how we learn. Our first airplanes sucked too but they were the foundations upon which we built what we have today.
Some of you criticize the way it will be used but I see precious little about how it can be used. You fear that it will be misused and not without reason, I suppose but look at the potential positives. What if this kind of research ultimately proves that exposure to violence at an early age? What if we show that video games don't cause violence in children or that red food coloring really does have a harmful effect on behavior (loss of control being harmful)?
The knowledge is worthwhile, this is a start, where we build our knowledge base. Even if it fails in the long run we learn from the research and our failures. Sure, it can be misused. So can a gun, a knife, a pen or mod points (I it found particularly amusing seeing people who disagreed with the popular "free-speech mentality getting modded down, a form of censorship, just because their views were unpopular).
When did the quest for knowledge become subject to political correctness on Slashdot?
I can understand any school position on restricting speech in the classroom. I think we can all figure out why.
Conversely, I don't believe the school has any business what we do in our personal lives outside of school.
The grey area appears to be the school functions outside of the school. When I first read the comment on slashdot, I actually agreed with the school's POV. If a school holds an assembly offsite for students, school rules should apply IMHO. Then I RTFA. He was standing on a sidewalk. Public sidewalks are kind of hard to sell as anything other than "public". To me it seems like it should break down as:
1. He was a student who was part of a school event and subject to school rules.
2. He was a student NOT part of a school event and NOT subject to school rules.
If 1, then 10 days suspension.
If 2, then free speech.
Of course the school could say: If 2, then free speech but also skipping class and appropriately punished for that.
Well, there's my free speech on the subject. I'm sure there are more facts in this than we have seen so far.
Things like this are market driven. When the market determines that it values reliability and is willing to pay for it (or not pay for the unreliable "gadget"), the industry will build it.
Right now, reliability is not typically foremost on people's minds. Some don't care, some don't believe it's possible but the end effect is the same. I've worked in marketing and sales for a few years now and I can tell you that price is king. It's the walmart mentality and the people have spoken.
No, I don't like it. I drive Japanese cars, I read consumer reports, I buy based on reliability and service but I do not a market make for many of these types of things. Sure, there is a market for reliable cars because a lot of us feel that way. There is a market for reliable appliances for the same reasons. Not so for tech gadgets. Really, how long do you want your phone? Something better will be out in a month so do you really want a brick that lasts 10 years? If you answer yes and I know some will whether you mean it or not, you probably don't account for enough people to make a market.
Here's an example of where the market turned the industry around.
Do you remember when most hard drives had 5-year warranties?
Do you remember when they pretty much all dropped to 1-3 years?
Do you remember replacing tons of hard drive?
Have you noticed that 5-year warranties are becoming more common again?
Drive quality sucks. It has for a long time. Manufacturer pushed the envelope and reliability dropped but our desire for reliability didn't. When they reduced the length of the warranty, the hand full of 5-year drives became very popular.
Market Drives these decisions. Think about that when you get pissed at the RIAA and MPAA. If the market really wanted them to go away/stop/play nice, they would. We just need to make sure the market expresses itself. To some degree that has already happened. Remember that the RIAA didn't want downloads? Remember that the RIAA wanted to charge more than $.99/song? Remember when Apple made about 200% profit on each computer and was completely proprietary? The market didn't allow it.
In short, you can't make something people don't want and you can't charge more than people are willing to pay for very long and what it costs to make has absolutely no bearing on the price.
"For the average office worker who uses their PC for general productivity apps, such as communications and garden-variety computing, Smith recommended the Core 2 Duo from 'a price point and performance perspective.'"
I admit it. I'm not as hard core as a lot of Slashdot. I'm not a hacker, a programmer, and I barely use linux (mostly for tivo modding..o.k. I'm a little bit of a hacker, but just a little). Still, when I see the new chips like these that are much faster for digital content creation and not for the "Average office user", I find myself scratching my head. Sure the cubicles running MS Office and IE don't need this power, but the "Average" home user may very well.
Think about it. What is the average home user doing? I think it has a lot to do with digital audio and video. We are making home movies, converting our DVD collection to mp4s and mixing our own music. Most of this can be done with iLife if you are a Mac user (for example) but the hundreds of gigs of video I have of my family requires far to much of my time to "Rip, Mix and Burn".
Am I so different? It seems to me that the high-end workstation and the "average" home pc user really want and need the same thing from a productivity standpoint. For those of us that want to move into the digital home lifestyle, processing power is still a limiting factor. I for one find myself setting up my computer to encode video overnight far too often.
Does anyone else see the top of the line high-end processor as a very useable tool for the real average computer user or am I expecting too much from the average user? Really, even my dad wants to make digital videos of the family from time to time but doesn't have the hours it takes to do it.