or we could just put the clocks back and shift our business hours to match our environment. DST really doesn't matter anyway when most manufacturing is 2 and 3 shifts. It mattered in the 1940's when most large factories were lit primarily by outside light and heated by machines. Keeping work to daylight hours helped energy bills. But in today's factories, they are mostly windowless and air conditioned. There's nothing really gained by playing with the clock.
I think that was the original point. First American business culture is heavily centered around "on time" by working to a clock, far more than the rest of the world. Instead of vary working hours to go home earlier in the summer and work later in winter to adapt themselves to the environment, they decided to have EVERYBODY move their clocks instead. This also worked when factories and offices needed to be cooled as it let them shut down a little sooner. It also let businessmen get an extra round of golf in due to the extra daylight. Now that everybody has air conditioning at home.. and TVs, computers, etc. The energy balance is probably way off.
Originally Microsoft started out selling music store servers and DRM to Walmart, Yahoo, etc. rather than sell music themselves. Then they went thru a few changes in DRM schemes selling multiple types to multiple people. Then Plays for (not) Sure, then because they promised not to compete in the "one music file" market they created a new type ZUNE that works on Live. Only in the last iteration have they actually mattered compared to Apple. Ironically Live ties music to Zune and Xbox 360 even tighter than Apple ties to iPod and Apple TV.
They have had a "product store" tied to windows since at least ME.. and it was a pale attempt to sell you regular software stuff in a retail box and mail it, a few things might be downloadable now. All I remember is that it never had anything interesting and never updated... ever. Microsoft would have made a killing with online buying of small apps integrated into their website that automatically installed into windows in the "preferred" method, but they constantly try to hijack ISV sales so nobody would touch such a store for Windows because they'd block you out.. a la Defender, ForeFront..etc. A store might work for CE devices, but those are so varied and Microsoft allows carriers to lock out various features so the apps wouldn't be "WinMo" apps they'd have to be "AT&T WinMo" and "Verison WinMo" and "TMobile..." Apple's 5 year deal bought them the kind of control over their devices to make the system really shine. Microsoft would be violating anti-trust to even ask for such a thing.
Exactly, the retail price is propped up. Partly because when you buy retail you actually get support, but mostly because the high price props up Microsoft's real customers, the OEMS. Why pay $200 for an OS when you can get a "deal" on a $500 desktop with that $200 OS "free"?
The second effect since Linux is on the scene, is that the high price of Windows (but PC users get it for "free") make Linux look like a bad, cheap product when it's free or even $50. Why would you want to use a $50 OS when Dell includes a $200 OS for FREE with it's computers!!!! Because new PC owners get such a good deal, anybody not going along with Microsoft's plan is stupid and clearly can't see good value.
The FCC did just fine. TV stations were required to be digital 2-3 years ago. It was the media companies allowed to push HDMI and the Broadcast flag at -2 years to flipping the switch that caused the problem. Because the FCC almost mandated every digital TV made for the first 6 years of the conversion process obsolete! Congress approved the time table almost 10 years ago, and the original deadline was moved out 2-3 years.
The FCC could have pushed up the deadline for electronics though. They made the Digital only TV sales set to January/February of '07 neatly allowing an entire Christmas shopping season of cheap non-digital sets to be sold... somebody was asleep at the switch on that one and it should have been July 6 months sooner. They also dropped the ball on the tuner boxes disallowing any digital outputs to protect sales of expensive HD sets. That meant that no converter boxes on the market prior to early '08 met the requirements of the law and now we're way behind on adoption.
If not RMS then Lessing... he cleans up nice... he's a non-lawyer allowed to argue to the SC, that's something very special. He's involved with Creative Commons, trying to find a middle ground.
Microsoft got he DOJ to bite on the anti-trust front... of course if MS tries to by Yahoo, Google has an even better argument to not allow MS to have them... Oops. Reminds me of the Oracle-Peoplesoft takeover. Their board tried everything to prop the company up but investors left um swinging until Oracle was the only choice.
But it seems the real game was just to keep Yahoo from going to Google. Microsoft doesn't have to buy them now, just wait out for them to sink after all the stockholders are scared off. Then customers or business units can be picked off the carcass later.
the real problem is that companies don't plan for what to do with you NEXT. Your value is in setting up something to work... then what? The reward for IT staff doing good work is more complicated, meaningful work! Most management doesn't think nearly far enough ahead to move as fast as IT people move.
OK, I think you're on the right track. The question is what does the company think IT should be doing? Do they even have a plan or just want to beat somebody up over costs?
I think IT is one of those Maytag repairman type positions. The idea is to work yourself out of a job doing easy stuff by increasing reliability, automation, documentation, training, etc. The real trouble with IT is that managers are not really taught to develop it or think about new tools to develop and then nurse them along. IT is part building maintenance, digging in dirt, and part forward looking business strategy, planning the company future. I think that puts off many managers that like neat boxes where employees are "less than" or "more than" other employees and IT people straddle all sorts of business lines.
You realize what they're really asking... they want OEMS to spend $250K+ of their OWN MONEY so that EACH device they've ever sold works nicely with Windows 7 and MICROSOFT looks good.
All the Linux detractors really think about that...
Now think where linux would be if hardware manufacturers spent 1/10 that much contributing drivers to Linux for each device they sold versus the zero they contribute now.
my opinion from anecdotal evidence with my kids is that even bejeweled will cause violence if they spend too much time at it. It's the heightened awareness and ultra-focus on twitching the buttons that causes the problems. Because any game is so much cooler than real life, it's hard to get them out to play or read. While video games burn time and get kids hyped up, they don't create the calorie burn down and "happy" hormones that running and playing for a while do.. so they are mentally tired but physically racing to do something.
you miss that those who started out early paid $40 for the game, $40 for the expansion and $15 for all the months in between... And probably $50 for the next one, even though we've had an account the whole time.
I always likened it to the beanie baby craze. They will always have some value slightly more than retail like $7 buck each to the right person, but selling them for $50 or $100 is "opportunity cost", Microsoft jacked the price of Yahoo up because they want it for the value of removing competition in the long term.. they were basically offering the $30/share to close it and keep the Microsoft shares from being watered down by competition. Microsoft will take their $180B cap and add $17B to it.. and in another year it will be all gone, absorbed into bureaucracy and all the products killed.
since when does the DOJ care about privacy and competition? I guess they don't have enough on Google to blackmail their execs into a secret "backroom" like they did for Quest and the other telcos (you'll note they've allowed ATT/Version former monopoly to buy whatever they want for a decade).
I'd agree, again for privacy and competition, why does Microsoft need to buy another web search engine. They have their own and they have Windows.. that's not good to have 85%+ of the computers running 1 OS going to 1 search engine...
yes, Viacom is parent of CBS and MTV. The FCC has been trying to regulate Cable for a while and MTV has been the prime target, they cave on censoring to keep the FCC from actually having grounds to get permission.
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or we could just put the clocks back and shift our business hours to match our environment. DST really doesn't matter anyway when most manufacturing is 2 and 3 shifts. It mattered in the 1940's when most large factories were lit primarily by outside light and heated by machines. Keeping work to daylight hours helped energy bills. But in today's factories, they are mostly windowless and air conditioned. There's nothing really gained by playing with the clock.
I think that was the original point. First American business culture is heavily centered around "on time" by working to a clock, far more than the rest of the world. Instead of vary working hours to go home earlier in the summer and work later in winter to adapt themselves to the environment, they decided to have EVERYBODY move their clocks instead. This also worked when factories and offices needed to be cooled as it let them shut down a little sooner. It also let businessmen get an extra round of golf in due to the extra daylight. Now that everybody has air conditioning at home.. and TVs, computers, etc. The energy balance is probably way off.
your point would be...
Originally Microsoft started out selling music store servers and DRM to Walmart, Yahoo, etc. rather than sell music themselves. Then they went thru a few changes in DRM schemes selling multiple types to multiple people. Then Plays for (not) Sure, then because they promised not to compete in the "one music file" market they created a new type ZUNE that works on Live. Only in the last iteration have they actually mattered compared to Apple. Ironically Live ties music to Zune and Xbox 360 even tighter than Apple ties to iPod and Apple TV.
They have had a "product store" tied to windows since at least ME.. and it was a pale attempt to sell you regular software stuff in a retail box and mail it, a few things might be downloadable now. All I remember is that it never had anything interesting and never updated... ever. Microsoft would have made a killing with online buying of small apps integrated into their website that automatically installed into windows in the "preferred" method, but they constantly try to hijack ISV sales so nobody would touch such a store for Windows because they'd block you out.. a la Defender, ForeFront..etc. A store might work for CE devices, but those are so varied and Microsoft allows carriers to lock out various features so the apps wouldn't be "WinMo" apps they'd have to be "AT&T WinMo" and "Verison WinMo" and "TMobile..." Apple's 5 year deal bought them the kind of control over their devices to make the system really shine. Microsoft would be violating anti-trust to even ask for such a thing.
Bush II has added 5 Trillion to the national debt, doubling it in 6 years. Somebody has to pay for just the interest... you can't lower taxes forever.
Exactly, the retail price is propped up. Partly because when you buy retail you actually get support, but mostly because the high price props up Microsoft's real customers, the OEMS. Why pay $200 for an OS when you can get a "deal" on a $500 desktop with that $200 OS "free"?
The second effect since Linux is on the scene, is that the high price of Windows (but PC users get it for "free") make Linux look like a bad, cheap product when it's free or even $50. Why would you want to use a $50 OS when Dell includes a $200 OS for FREE with it's computers!!!! Because new PC owners get such a good deal, anybody not going along with Microsoft's plan is stupid and clearly can't see good value.
The FCC did just fine. TV stations were required to be digital 2-3 years ago. It was the media companies allowed to push HDMI and the Broadcast flag at -2 years to flipping the switch that caused the problem. Because the FCC almost mandated every digital TV made for the first 6 years of the conversion process obsolete! Congress approved the time table almost 10 years ago, and the original deadline was moved out 2-3 years.
The FCC could have pushed up the deadline for electronics though. They made the Digital only TV sales set to January/February of '07 neatly allowing an entire Christmas shopping season of cheap non-digital sets to be sold... somebody was asleep at the switch on that one and it should have been July 6 months sooner. They also dropped the ball on the tuner boxes disallowing any digital outputs to protect sales of expensive HD sets. That meant that no converter boxes on the market prior to early '08 met the requirements of the law and now we're way behind on adoption.
If not RMS then Lessing... he cleans up nice... he's a non-lawyer allowed to argue to the SC, that's something very special. He's involved with Creative Commons, trying to find a middle ground.
Microsoft got he DOJ to bite on the anti-trust front... of course if MS tries to by Yahoo, Google has an even better argument to not allow MS to have them... Oops. Reminds me of the Oracle-Peoplesoft takeover. Their board tried everything to prop the company up but investors left um swinging until Oracle was the only choice.
But it seems the real game was just to keep Yahoo from going to Google. Microsoft doesn't have to buy them now, just wait out for them to sink after all the stockholders are scared off. Then customers or business units can be picked off the carcass later.
it's like not changing the oil in your car to save money.. sure it works for a while and when things act up you might be OK.... you might not be.
the real problem is that companies don't plan for what to do with you NEXT. Your value is in setting up something to work... then what? The reward for IT staff doing good work is more complicated, meaningful work! Most management doesn't think nearly far enough ahead to move as fast as IT people move.
OK, I think you're on the right track. The question is what does the company think IT should be doing? Do they even have a plan or just want to beat somebody up over costs?
I think IT is one of those Maytag repairman type positions. The idea is to work yourself out of a job doing easy stuff by increasing reliability, automation, documentation, training, etc. The real trouble with IT is that managers are not really taught to develop it or think about new tools to develop and then nurse them along. IT is part building maintenance, digging in dirt, and part forward looking business strategy, planning the company future. I think that puts off many managers that like neat boxes where employees are "less than" or "more than" other employees and IT people straddle all sorts of business lines.
but she was perfect in HHGTG
You realize what they're really asking... they want OEMS to spend $250K+ of their OWN MONEY so that EACH device they've ever sold works nicely with Windows 7 and MICROSOFT looks good.
All the Linux detractors really think about that...
Now think where linux would be if hardware manufacturers spent 1/10 that much contributing drivers to Linux for each device they sold versus the zero they contribute now.
my opinion from anecdotal evidence with my kids is that even bejeweled will cause violence if they spend too much time at it. It's the heightened awareness and ultra-focus on twitching the buttons that causes the problems. Because any game is so much cooler than real life, it's hard to get them out to play or read. While video games burn time and get kids hyped up, they don't create the calorie burn down and "happy" hormones that running and playing for a while do.. so they are mentally tired but physically racing to do something.
Wonder what the "bubble boy" did when he grew up? Perhaps the FBI has him surrounded in a protective bubble!!
how about twist-tied and rubber banded inside a plastic & cardboard package filled with red army ants.
you miss that those who started out early paid $40 for the game, $40 for the expansion and $15 for all the months in between... And probably $50 for the next one, even though we've had an account the whole time.
And "Apple" is a fruit... Macintosh a type of Apple fruit... Won't sue... yeah right.
8. ....
9. BG Profit$
I always likened it to the beanie baby craze. They will always have some value slightly more than retail like $7 buck each to the right person, but selling them for $50 or $100 is "opportunity cost", Microsoft jacked the price of Yahoo up because they want it for the value of removing competition in the long term.. they were basically offering the $30/share to close it and keep the Microsoft shares from being watered down by competition. Microsoft will take their $180B cap and add $17B to it.. and in another year it will be all gone, absorbed into bureaucracy and all the products killed.
since when does the DOJ care about privacy and competition? I guess they don't have enough on Google to blackmail their execs into a secret "backroom" like they did for Quest and the other telcos (you'll note they've allowed ATT/Version former monopoly to buy whatever they want for a decade).
I'd agree, again for privacy and competition, why does Microsoft need to buy another web search engine. They have their own and they have Windows.. that's not good to have 85%+ of the computers running 1 OS going to 1 search engine...
They made a TV show about a space toilet seat... any girls named Georgia better watch out!
since when is something too small for the military to blow up?
Also, aren't their anti-missile systems supposed to shoot at something going 1800 miles per hour? Should be a piece of cake.
the Ammonia should be burnt off pretty well by the time it gets here.
yes, Viacom is parent of CBS and MTV. The FCC has been trying to regulate Cable for a while and MTV has been the prime target, they cave on censoring to keep the FCC from actually having grounds to get permission.