As per many other postings here on/., we're hoping to make oNumber.net a user controlled central repository. You create your entry, you manage it, you control who gets to see what and you can delete your listing anytime. There are built in features such as the SPACECARD and Resume generator that make it useful on it's own. People access your SPACECARD using the unique oNumber that identifies your entry.
oNumber.net directory allows you to create, maintain and delete your entry, so while everyone else is talking, we are walking. It's not free, but we don't spam, we don't sell your data (after all, it is YOURS) and we are by charging, answerable to you. The directory is designed to be a service to you.
We charge for entries in the directory, and as a result DO NOT and WILL NOT sell member information. Our business model is adding cool features, and charging a fixed joining fee, with no small print - although we do plan to raise the price as more features are added, those who are already members will never be charged again, and all members get to control how much if any of their information is released, and who to. The problem with these other firms is that they were not formed by visionaries, but by MBAs, who may know their stuff when it comes to creating a spreadsheet, but understand little when it comes to respect for the consumer. I believe the middleman's demise is iminent! Here's to the consumer being back in control - well, those who want control that is.
This is very sad. I recall discussing with a colleague at Stanford University how Sony, while excellent at consumer electronics, may go to far with their robot technologies by allowing people to choose robots over animals, simply because a robot is 'cleaner' or initially, less expensive to maintain. Despite being a fan of technology and like most/. readers amazed at Sony's dancing robots (Search BBC website for video), I shudder at the thought of a sterile world where genuine life is sidelined for metal and plastic. I would prefer a dog's wet nose anyday to the artificial equivalent.
I was meaning that the server will deliver only what the client required. My error for not being specific. I do know from the EE Times article that most Chinese (not Japanese) digital camera manufacturers are building JPEG 2000 capability into their cameras from scratch. Expect them to be major players soon! Be very nice to shoot images of ultra high resolution and do all kinds of real time scaling in the camera if you shoot a picture that is too high a resolution and need to free up memory. Oodles of potential for innovation!
Artwalker.com to use JPEG 2000
on
JPEG2000 Coming Soon
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
About time! JPEG 2000 was mentioned in Electronic Engineering Times many years ago. The next revision of Artwalker.com (where you explore the world though landscape paintings) will be completely displayed using JP2 because it has one vital characteristic: Images can be scaled in real time (via the server). For example, instead of displaying a thumbnail of say 50x60 pixels, and having the user click the thumbnail to view the full size image (say, 640x480), a JP2 image can be made to display as a percentage of the total size of the display window (or browser width) in a similar fashion to a vector graphic, such as that generated by Flash. This will be excellent for mobile devices with differing screen resolutions and make for some very cool ZOOM tools on browsers and in Photoshop etc. We have been waiting for this since 1996, when we launched Artwalker! Soon it will be time to get going on converting all our high resolution images to JP2. A lot of work!
My point was really that the Hop On would be only for emergencies, and not to replace a regular mobile. The single button is it's greatest asset to those in an emergency situation where even dialing 911 may be a problem. That said, I had forgotten about the fact phones can dial 911 even when disconnected. (We can dial 999 here in the UK too, I used mine once to do that.)
Either way, the Hop On will fail unless they target it towards a vertical market. Old ladies for calling for help etc. The youth of today want features (text messaging is HUGE in Europe), so lack of keypad is major flaw for non-emergency use.
One Number, FOREVERything...
oNumber.net
As some other posters have pointed out, here in the UK you can get a pay-as-you-go phone for about $40, and you have the advantage your numbers are stored in the phone! With this Hop On thing, you have to keep a list of numbers somewhere. And does it receive calls?
HOWEVER...
Where it has excellent potential is for emergencies. Even if you own a regular phone, with the CALL button rigged to call 911 (or 999 here in the UK):
a) Ladies, in your handbag or purse in case of attack. Just press the PANIC button.
b) In the car glove box in case you crash or witness an accident but your regular phone is unavailable, missing, lost, disconnected etc.
c) In the home (in case fire or burglers cut off the land line)
d) Very young kids who would not be able to dial a regular number. Press the MOM / DAD button to call for help.
A built in GPS chip would be useful to provide location details in case caller did not know where he or she was or was injured. Until then, triangulation would have to do.
Are you listening Hop On? This is called a VERTICAL MARKET application, and it's probably HUGE. I would buy one for my car glove box and stamp EMERGENCY on the front in big red letters.
Here is an e-mail we sent to David Pogue in response to his column:
Dear David,
We are developing some of what you propose, and others have considered or developed others. I detail in turn:
Microwave Plus+
We contacted SHARP in the early 1990s about such a device as we were interested in developing the technology. They claimed that one of their competitors, (Panasonic I think) had tried it and it was a market failure.
Punch-It Up Alarm Clock
I have an advertisement from a very very old issue of either Omni or Scientific American for a very advanced twin alarm clock radio from GEC, with a numeric keypad.
Blind Date
I had this idea years ago, and it will be introduced into our popular oNumber Directory at http://www.onumber.net that allows you to setup a secure profile. We plan to use wireless technologies and mobile devices.
Tivocorder
We are developing such a device, with a lot more than 20 minutes capacity that will probably be marketed at something like Black Box, Back Box or similar. Ideal for meetings, proving someone said something during a conversation etc.
MP-Teethbrush
Cannot help you there. But you can always try banging a spoon on your teeth to make music?
Intercom-Puter
Coming from us as part of something rather special we're working on.
Flumapper.com
The BBC website has a number of hidden 'weather' maps that do display a lot of information, air pressure etc. Not sure if they cover allergies.
Snapflat Screen
We considered developing something called the 'sidescreen' and even bought the domain name, but put it on hold. Our idea was a small 10" screen to snap onto laptop screens to provide an expanded desktop. Our Sidescreen would be very thin, drawing it's power from the 'hosts' video or USB port.
I-Podule
Now it is here that you have hit the nail on the head. We are developing a) A small head mounted camera (tubecam) that can be plugged into a hard drive device, such as iPod. b) A hard drive based high resolution digital still/camcorder known as 'Memento'. However, Memento will only be bought to market if Apple or Sony don't beat us first.
I think Apple named the iPod as they did because it is not just a music player. They have plans to expand it and allow 3rd parties to use it for other purposes. Already you can use it to store your contacts.
Currently, it's limited to displaying a sophisticated online personal profile, the SPACECARD, where you can at the very least include all your contact info and resume. However, we hope to introduce basic server side apps once security issues are dealt with. There is a certain peace of mind associated with knowing where your sensitive data is stored (such as on your computer hard drive!), and once the world goes completely network centric, some may feel uncomfortable not quite knowing where there data is, and how to be sure that when they 'erase' a 'file' it really does vanish from the ether! On the other hand, with so much data out there, trying to locate ('hack / steal'?) specific information may require more effort than simply stealing an actual computer - and getting the whole lot at once from the hard drive!
I think Fairtunes suffered from a lack of marketing and thought through execution. We'll try and make something work with Ponyup.net, but think it through a lot first. There needs to be a system to ensure that those music execs who spend a fortune promoting an artist or band get their fair share. (Without promotion, some bands, no matter how good, would find it hard to gain media coverage in a world with so many disparate communications channels.) Therefore, the music industry cannot be ignored altogether.
If music was not so expensive (CDs are a total rip off, no pun intended), then like over priced software, people would not 'steal' it. And with all manner of distribution media available, why not allow music be distrubuted free (via any medium) using a shareware system and let people pay what they think each track or 'album' is worth? The public are not generally that stupid and will support artists they respect. We (O'WONDER) are thinking of developing such a service (placeholder at http://www.ponyup.net) and http://www.fairtunes.com (now Musiclink) have already launched a site with a similar model.
It's a radical challenge to capitalism, but no one (not even God) has ever defined how we're supposed to run our economy, so is change now due? Thoughts?
Then MarsHydro could become a reality...?
on
Lots of Ice On Mars
·
· Score: 2, Funny
A few years ago after NASA first concluded there may be water on Mars (from the patterns in the hillsides), I put this up, with toungue half in cheek: http://www.marshydro.com. I wonder how much people would pay to drink the stuff? If people will pay $100,000 (on eBay) for a Segway, what will they pay for bottled Mars water bought back from missions?
This is great to hear, as we (O'WONDER) have been planning a wireless device to appeal to children (and adults too!) and it will hopefully be ready way before 2005 and you could test it.
First of all, evolution comes about when we are forced to adapt, albiet slowly, to a change in our environment. It is pretty likely that if we were all to smoke, over a few thousand years, while many would die, mankind would eventually develop a resistance to cigarette smoke - perhaps through a mutation in the lungs that filtered out the damaging impurities. And/or, our bodies may learn to simply absorb and 'wash away' such impurities in the same way we do with excessive vitamin C. Just as giraffes developed long necks because they were forced to eat from tall trees (that is the reason), and other lifeforms have also adapted - to survive - so shall we, even if we cannot always predict what will happen to cause such changes. Evolution of the human spieces will only end when we wipe our selves out. I stand by this comment and am shocked to read that someone believes otherwise. Such arrogance will be our undoing. We haven't even started! Hear's to Version 1.0, the metaphysical. Through the wall we go. One day...
...yes but if more people write great apps for MaxOS, then more people will buy Macs. And the new cool iMac is a great gaming platform. Something few comment on is that it's built in wireless networking (airport) mean you could play multi-player games via 802.11. (Assuming it is supported in the games of course.)
It is these 'vertical market' applications that can transform a platform.
I am. OS X doesn't help either with all the colours and fuzzy text. I await Internet 2, which is being trialled at verious Universities, including Stanford (US) and Warwick (UK). HDTV resolution streaming in REAL TIME. The connection is 1000 times faster than todays fastest -- apparently. Alas, the owners of content would balk at the potential of VideoNapster type services from being used to distribute just about anything instantly.
We need http://www.PonyUp.net. Get your content from anywhere, pay for it if you like it.
In 1994, I wrote a short 'white paper' making it clear that it would be vital for the government to fund the deployment of broadband as the private sector could NEVER achieve it. I have been proven correct. 8 years later, the ratio of connection speed increase - vs - speed of our computers themselves is way off the mark. The government of Germany and the US both invested heavily in the construction of a national highway system and it has done wonders for their economies, well, so would such an investment in universal broadband. We're currently in a mess, with net surfers all connected at different speeds, using various entry points (PC, Mac, Linux, Interactive TV etc etc) making the creation of quality high bandwidth content a nightmare as the 'market' is too small.
I shall have to dig out my white paper if I still have it. In those days, I was using Mosaic on a 28.8 dialup connection. Today, I'm using version 5.0 browsers on a 500Kbaud cable modem. However, that is still FAR too slow and a waste of my 500 Mhz Apple G4 Powerbook processing power. I want real-time full screen DVD quality video on demand anywhere anytime. And I'll pay for it. No more jerky 1/8" screen streams please.
Kenja,
I certainly don't condone piracy. We lost a good 75% of our sales to piracy in the 1980s. I will confess, we didn't care that much simply because the complexity of the software meant a user guide was essential, and we figured the people who did copy it for their own use were too poor, and the extra users did no harm to the reputation of the product, and ironically, they sometimes ended up buying the (lower cost) utilities we produced, such as extra fonts, clipart etc. (Give away the razor etc!)
I do agree that buying a complex application for a basic job is overkill, but it is actually hard to find affordable applications that offer the quality of Adobe's products. That said, this will all change. I am not sure if plugging one's own products on Slashdot is kosher, but we will be adding some nifty 'applications' powered by oNumber.net in the future. IE, online shared ('chalkboard') drawing for kids etc. All that could evolve into fully fledged online image editing. (We have been planning this since the early 1980s, way before Microsoft's recent.NET initiative.) I ramble on. Time for Zzzzz. It's late. The real software revolution has yet to happen. The future's looking good...
Look, for 15 years US software houses have been charging nearly ten times as much money as they should for their applications. Our original AMX Pagemaker desktop publishing software launched in 1985 for the BBC Microcomputer sold for £40 (about $65), which was just within the budget of most people who needed it. Today your typical application or application suite is $300-$500. And then, you have to constanly pay to upgrade. And I'm a Mac user, so I now have to 'upgrade' all my apps from OS 9 to OS X which will cost thousands. What makes all this far more serious is the complete niavity of American business culture to the reality that the rest of the world (and I include the UK in this) have MUCH less money. To a Brit, spending £50 ($80 approximately) is equiv to a middle class American spending about £250 ($350). For those who do not believe me, if you're a Brit, go live in the US for a few years. If you're an American, come live here.
So, in Asia, where the standard of living outside of wealthy communities is even lower than the rest of the Western world, the situation is even worse! Price it right, and people will PAY for it. People want their original user guide, colour CD insert etc.
We did it! We created http://www.onumber.net at just £14.95 (about $23) a pop for 5 years, feature upgrades included. It's on the net, so why should we screw people for more? A little more global understanding and increase use of ASP business model, and mass software piracy will be a thing of the past.
We at http://www.oNumber.net are working on just such a system. Incidentally, ICQ has a form of authehtication system, but judging by the number of 'spam' ICE messages I get, it doesn't always work.
Ideally, authenticated e-mail should be standard. When we (O'WONDER) introduce such a system to oNumber.net, we'll announce it here so you guys can comment. Our motives are good. History will be the judge of course.
Because it is run by people (myself included) who care a lot about such issues. If it's 'lame', tell me why, and we'll fix whatever is lame about it. (We don't care for flashiness over substance.)
Call my mobile in London, England if you want to discuss. +44 (0) 7976 750 730 or e-mail me at wk@owonder.com.
Signup at http://www.oNumber.net, and exchange oNumbers with friends. Avoid putting e-mail address on business cards etc and use oNumeber instead. By using the guest list system, only authorized people get to see your actual contact info. It's not free, but it's free of advertising and O'WONDER (who own oNumber) will not sell or release your info to anyone. Slashdot reader feedback encouraged.
oNumber Directory won't sell personal info
on
Making It Personal
·
· Score: 0, Troll
One of the reasons we created the oNumber Universal Directory was our disgust at the infringement of privacy and personal 'space' caused by spammers, whether it be e-mail, or printed junk mail. What can sometimes happen is that a company will sell their' database when they run out of cash. Effectively, the database is treated as an asset.
By charging a joining fee for oNumber, we don't need to resort to such tactics. In the future we do plan to introduce some nifty 'permission marketing' features that give our members the ability to receive information about things that interest them (such as info on accessories for their car), but it will all be done in such a way that the 3rd party will not know to what address (e-mail, chat ID etc) their message is being delivered, and most importantly, our members will be able to switch their 'inbox' on or off at will. Our 'prime directive' is giving back control of personal information to the rightful owner, you! Slashdot reader comments welcome. Good or bad. http://www.onumber.net
I will tell you what the big deal is: I use a 500Mhz 384Meg RAM G4 Mac + 500mb cable modem with Quicktime, Real and Windows Media installed, and I have visited many sites that use one or more of these, and without any doubt, Windows Media image quality is appalling! Even on sites 'sponsored' by Microsoft. Go try the NHL.com videos or a popular news site. And, the player doesn't always work, despite repeated downloads. I have seen it on PCs too, and it's not much better on them. Quicktime & Real are far suprior technologies, and when it comes to this kind of thing, technology DOES count. MS will have 'paid' to have their 'technology' embedded in DVD players. This is terrible news, for now.
Fear not folks, an alternative to Microsoft is on the horizon. Run silent, run deep...
Slashdot Mirror
As per many other postings here on /., we're hoping to make oNumber.net a user controlled central repository. You create your entry, you manage it, you control who gets to see what and you can delete your listing anytime. There are built in features such as the SPACECARD and Resume generator that make it useful on it's own. People access your SPACECARD using the unique oNumber that identifies your entry.
oNumber.net directory allows you to create, maintain and delete your entry, so while everyone else is talking, we are walking. It's not free, but we don't spam, we don't sell your data (after all, it is YOURS) and we are by charging, answerable to you. The directory is designed to be a service to you.
We charge for entries in the directory, and as a result DO NOT and WILL NOT sell member information. Our business model is adding cool features, and charging a fixed joining fee, with no small print - although we do plan to raise the price as more features are added, those who are already members will never be charged again, and all members get to control how much if any of their information is released, and who to. The problem with these other firms is that they were not formed by visionaries, but by MBAs, who may know their stuff when it comes to creating a spreadsheet, but understand little when it comes to respect for the consumer. I believe the middleman's demise is iminent! Here's to the consumer being back in control - well, those who want control that is.
This is very sad. I recall discussing with a colleague at Stanford University how Sony, while excellent at consumer electronics, may go to far with their robot technologies by allowing people to choose robots over animals, simply because a robot is 'cleaner' or initially, less expensive to maintain. Despite being a fan of technology and like most /. readers amazed at Sony's dancing robots (Search BBC website for video), I shudder at the thought of a sterile world where genuine life is sidelined for metal and plastic. I would prefer a dog's wet nose anyday to the artificial equivalent.
I was meaning that the server will deliver only what the client required. My error for not being specific. I do know from the EE Times article that most Chinese (not Japanese) digital camera manufacturers are building JPEG 2000 capability into their cameras from scratch. Expect them to be major players soon! Be very nice to shoot images of ultra high resolution and do all kinds of real time scaling in the camera if you shoot a picture that is too high a resolution and need to free up memory. Oodles of potential for innovation!
About time! JPEG 2000 was mentioned in Electronic Engineering Times many years ago. The next revision of Artwalker.com (where you explore the world though landscape paintings) will be completely displayed using JP2 because it has one vital characteristic: Images can be scaled in real time (via the server). For example, instead of displaying a thumbnail of say 50x60 pixels, and having the user click the thumbnail to view the full size image (say, 640x480), a JP2 image can be made to display as a percentage of the total size of the display window (or browser width) in a similar fashion to a vector graphic, such as that generated by Flash. This will be excellent for mobile devices with differing screen resolutions and make for some very cool ZOOM tools on browsers and in Photoshop etc. We have been waiting for this since 1996, when we launched Artwalker! Soon it will be time to get going on converting all our high resolution images to JP2. A lot of work!
Either way, the Hop On will fail unless they target it towards a vertical market. Old ladies for calling for help etc. The youth of today want features (text messaging is HUGE in Europe), so lack of keypad is major flaw for non-emergency use. One Number, FOREVERything... oNumber.net
HOWEVER...
Where it has excellent potential is for emergencies. Even if you own a regular phone, with the CALL button rigged to call 911 (or 999 here in the UK):
a) Ladies, in your handbag or purse in case of attack. Just press the PANIC button.
b) In the car glove box in case you crash or witness an accident but your regular phone is unavailable, missing, lost, disconnected etc.
c) In the home (in case fire or burglers cut off the land line)
d) Very young kids who would not be able to dial a regular number. Press the MOM / DAD button to call for help.
A built in GPS chip would be useful to provide location details in case caller did not know where he or she was or was injured. Until then, triangulation would have to do.
Are you listening Hop On? This is called a VERTICAL MARKET application, and it's probably HUGE. I would buy one for my car glove box and stamp EMERGENCY on the front in big red letters.
Your thoughts fellow Slashdotters?
Dear David, We are developing some of what you propose, and others have considered or developed others. I detail in turn: Microwave Plus+ We contacted SHARP in the early 1990s about such a device as we were interested in developing the technology. They claimed that one of their competitors, (Panasonic I think) had tried it and it was a market failure. Punch-It Up Alarm Clock I have an advertisement from a very very old issue of either Omni or Scientific American for a very advanced twin alarm clock radio from GEC, with a numeric keypad. Blind Date I had this idea years ago, and it will be introduced into our popular oNumber Directory at http://www.onumber.net that allows you to setup a secure profile. We plan to use wireless technologies and mobile devices. Tivocorder We are developing such a device, with a lot more than 20 minutes capacity that will probably be marketed at something like Black Box, Back Box or similar. Ideal for meetings, proving someone said something during a conversation etc. MP-Teethbrush Cannot help you there. But you can always try banging a spoon on your teeth to make music? Intercom-Puter Coming from us as part of something rather special we're working on. Flumapper.com The BBC website has a number of hidden 'weather' maps that do display a lot of information, air pressure etc. Not sure if they cover allergies. Snapflat Screen We considered developing something called the 'sidescreen' and even bought the domain name, but put it on hold. Our idea was a small 10" screen to snap onto laptop screens to provide an expanded desktop. Our Sidescreen would be very thin, drawing it's power from the 'hosts' video or USB port. I-Podule Now it is here that you have hit the nail on the head. We are developing a) A small head mounted camera (tubecam) that can be plugged into a hard drive device, such as iPod. b) A hard drive based high resolution digital still/camcorder known as 'Memento'. However, Memento will only be bought to market if Apple or Sony don't beat us first. I think Apple named the iPod as they did because it is not just a music player. They have plans to expand it and allow 3rd parties to use it for other purposes. Already you can use it to store your contacts.
Currently, it's limited to displaying a sophisticated online personal profile, the SPACECARD, where you can at the very least include all your contact info and resume. However, we hope to introduce basic server side apps once security issues are dealt with. There is a certain peace of mind associated with knowing where your sensitive data is stored (such as on your computer hard drive!), and once the world goes completely network centric, some may feel uncomfortable not quite knowing where there data is, and how to be sure that when they 'erase' a 'file' it really does vanish from the ether! On the other hand, with so much data out there, trying to locate ('hack / steal'?) specific information may require more effort than simply stealing an actual computer - and getting the whole lot at once from the hard drive!
I think Fairtunes suffered from a lack of marketing and thought through execution. We'll try and make something work with Ponyup.net, but think it through a lot first. There needs to be a system to ensure that those music execs who spend a fortune promoting an artist or band get their fair share. (Without promotion, some bands, no matter how good, would find it hard to gain media coverage in a world with so many disparate communications channels.) Therefore, the music industry cannot be ignored altogether.
If music was not so expensive (CDs are a total rip off, no pun intended), then like over priced software, people would not 'steal' it. And with all manner of distribution media available, why not allow music be distrubuted free (via any medium) using a shareware system and let people pay what they think each track or 'album' is worth? The public are not generally that stupid and will support artists they respect. We (O'WONDER) are thinking of developing such a service (placeholder at http://www.ponyup.net) and http://www.fairtunes.com (now Musiclink) have already launched a site with a similar model. It's a radical challenge to capitalism, but no one (not even God) has ever defined how we're supposed to run our economy, so is change now due? Thoughts?
A few years ago after NASA first concluded there may be water on Mars (from the patterns in the hillsides), I put this up, with toungue half in cheek: http://www.marshydro.com. I wonder how much people would pay to drink the stuff? If people will pay $100,000 (on eBay) for a Segway, what will they pay for bottled Mars water bought back from missions?
This is great to hear, as we (O'WONDER) have been planning a wireless device to appeal to children (and adults too!) and it will hopefully be ready way before 2005 and you could test it.
First of all, evolution comes about when we are forced to adapt, albiet slowly, to a change in our environment. It is pretty likely that if we were all to smoke, over a few thousand years, while many would die, mankind would eventually develop a resistance to cigarette smoke - perhaps through a mutation in the lungs that filtered out the damaging impurities. And/or, our bodies may learn to simply absorb and 'wash away' such impurities in the same way we do with excessive vitamin C. Just as giraffes developed long necks because they were forced to eat from tall trees (that is the reason), and other lifeforms have also adapted - to survive - so shall we, even if we cannot always predict what will happen to cause such changes. Evolution of the human spieces will only end when we wipe our selves out. I stand by this comment and am shocked to read that someone believes otherwise. Such arrogance will be our undoing. We haven't even started! Hear's to Version 1.0, the metaphysical. Through the wall we go. One day...
...yes but if more people write great apps for MaxOS, then more people will buy Macs. And the new cool iMac is a great gaming platform. Something few comment on is that it's built in wireless networking (airport) mean you could play multi-player games via 802.11. (Assuming it is supported in the games of course.) It is these 'vertical market' applications that can transform a platform.
I am. OS X doesn't help either with all the colours and fuzzy text. I await Internet 2, which is being trialled at verious Universities, including Stanford (US) and Warwick (UK). HDTV resolution streaming in REAL TIME. The connection is 1000 times faster than todays fastest -- apparently. Alas, the owners of content would balk at the potential of VideoNapster type services from being used to distribute just about anything instantly. We need http://www.PonyUp.net. Get your content from anywhere, pay for it if you like it.
In 1994, I wrote a short 'white paper' making it clear that it would be vital for the government to fund the deployment of broadband as the private sector could NEVER achieve it. I have been proven correct. 8 years later, the ratio of connection speed increase - vs - speed of our computers themselves is way off the mark. The government of Germany and the US both invested heavily in the construction of a national highway system and it has done wonders for their economies, well, so would such an investment in universal broadband. We're currently in a mess, with net surfers all connected at different speeds, using various entry points (PC, Mac, Linux, Interactive TV etc etc) making the creation of quality high bandwidth content a nightmare as the 'market' is too small. I shall have to dig out my white paper if I still have it. In those days, I was using Mosaic on a 28.8 dialup connection. Today, I'm using version 5.0 browsers on a 500Kbaud cable modem. However, that is still FAR too slow and a waste of my 500 Mhz Apple G4 Powerbook processing power. I want real-time full screen DVD quality video on demand anywhere anytime. And I'll pay for it. No more jerky 1/8" screen streams please.
Kenja, I certainly don't condone piracy. We lost a good 75% of our sales to piracy in the 1980s. I will confess, we didn't care that much simply because the complexity of the software meant a user guide was essential, and we figured the people who did copy it for their own use were too poor, and the extra users did no harm to the reputation of the product, and ironically, they sometimes ended up buying the (lower cost) utilities we produced, such as extra fonts, clipart etc. (Give away the razor etc!) I do agree that buying a complex application for a basic job is overkill, but it is actually hard to find affordable applications that offer the quality of Adobe's products. That said, this will all change. I am not sure if plugging one's own products on Slashdot is kosher, but we will be adding some nifty 'applications' powered by oNumber.net in the future. IE, online shared ('chalkboard') drawing for kids etc. All that could evolve into fully fledged online image editing. (We have been planning this since the early 1980s, way before Microsoft's recent .NET initiative.) I ramble on. Time for Zzzzz. It's late. The real software revolution has yet to happen. The future's looking good...
Look, for 15 years US software houses have been charging nearly ten times as much money as they should for their applications. Our original AMX Pagemaker desktop publishing software launched in 1985 for the BBC Microcomputer sold for £40 (about $65), which was just within the budget of most people who needed it. Today your typical application or application suite is $300-$500. And then, you have to constanly pay to upgrade. And I'm a Mac user, so I now have to 'upgrade' all my apps from OS 9 to OS X which will cost thousands. What makes all this far more serious is the complete niavity of American business culture to the reality that the rest of the world (and I include the UK in this) have MUCH less money. To a Brit, spending £50 ($80 approximately) is equiv to a middle class American spending about £250 ($350). For those who do not believe me, if you're a Brit, go live in the US for a few years. If you're an American, come live here. So, in Asia, where the standard of living outside of wealthy communities is even lower than the rest of the Western world, the situation is even worse! Price it right, and people will PAY for it. People want their original user guide, colour CD insert etc. We did it! We created http://www.onumber.net at just £14.95 (about $23) a pop for 5 years, feature upgrades included. It's on the net, so why should we screw people for more? A little more global understanding and increase use of ASP business model, and mass software piracy will be a thing of the past.
We at http://www.oNumber.net are working on just such a system. Incidentally, ICQ has a form of authehtication system, but judging by the number of 'spam' ICE messages I get, it doesn't always work. Ideally, authenticated e-mail should be standard. When we (O'WONDER) introduce such a system to oNumber.net, we'll announce it here so you guys can comment. Our motives are good. History will be the judge of course.
Because it is run by people (myself included) who care a lot about such issues. If it's 'lame', tell me why, and we'll fix whatever is lame about it. (We don't care for flashiness over substance.) Call my mobile in London, England if you want to discuss. +44 (0) 7976 750 730 or e-mail me at wk@owonder.com.
Signup at http://www.oNumber.net, and exchange oNumbers with friends. Avoid putting e-mail address on business cards etc and use oNumeber instead. By using the guest list system, only authorized people get to see your actual contact info. It's not free, but it's free of advertising and O'WONDER (who own oNumber) will not sell or release your info to anyone. Slashdot reader feedback encouraged.
One of the reasons we created the oNumber Universal Directory was our disgust at the infringement of privacy and personal 'space' caused by spammers, whether it be e-mail, or printed junk mail. What can sometimes happen is that a company will sell their' database when they run out of cash. Effectively, the database is treated as an asset. By charging a joining fee for oNumber, we don't need to resort to such tactics. In the future we do plan to introduce some nifty 'permission marketing' features that give our members the ability to receive information about things that interest them (such as info on accessories for their car), but it will all be done in such a way that the 3rd party will not know to what address (e-mail, chat ID etc) their message is being delivered, and most importantly, our members will be able to switch their 'inbox' on or off at will. Our 'prime directive' is giving back control of personal information to the rightful owner, you! Slashdot reader comments welcome. Good or bad. http://www.onumber.net
I will tell you what the big deal is: I use a 500Mhz 384Meg RAM G4 Mac + 500mb cable modem with Quicktime, Real and Windows Media installed, and I have visited many sites that use one or more of these, and without any doubt, Windows Media image quality is appalling! Even on sites 'sponsored' by Microsoft. Go try the NHL.com videos or a popular news site. And, the player doesn't always work, despite repeated downloads. I have seen it on PCs too, and it's not much better on them. Quicktime & Real are far suprior technologies, and when it comes to this kind of thing, technology DOES count. MS will have 'paid' to have their 'technology' embedded in DVD players. This is terrible news, for now. Fear not folks, an alternative to Microsoft is on the horizon. Run silent, run deep...