Years ago Microsoft said they would be the #1 search engine and set up Microsoft Network using their best and brightest tech staff and the cutting edge of Microsoft technology innovation, they released many new features bought up some services and integrated them and the best they have achieved is #3 and they seem to be stuck there.
Before MS buys something more successful than they are - I think they should do some serious introspection as to why exactly they were not able to achieve such a lofty goal on their own given how much more value they are (in their words) to the customer. If they just buy #2 there's probably a good chance they will sink back to #3 again as they integrate their #3 ideas on a business operating at #2.
I would think if they really wanted to be #2 they should pay Yahoo to 'buy MSN' and let Yahoo figure out what is wrong with their #3 problem and overlay the staff, technology and features that could make MSN #2.
I am one to think Gates' statement about it being a long road may just be eluding to that. I am sure he is seeing that Windows as it stands is becoming a pretty big boat anchor for the company. By bolstering Virtulization (which includes opening up the prospects of Vista home to VM) MS may be setting up an escape route to get past the laughing stock in security it has been this past decade.
I figure Windows 7 (or whatever number or name it is) will be closer to Unix or at least as secure as such a system. With the VM technology, they can do what Apple did with OS X, have Windows run as a virtual compatibility module until there is enough market buy-in to bury Windows and it's flawed legacy.
The question would be if Microsoft did such things will they go for employing standards (posix, etc) or will they go for standards plus something more, which got them into this mess in the first place.
It's a big project but that doesnt mean you have to do it all at once.
I would think there are three information stores you will want to have
1. confidential - this iss all the stuff that you want in a safe, passwords, access numbers accounts, etc. This should be a high priority to gather all that stuff just in case someone with exclusive access to something get hit by a bus.
2. general - If there are regs and manuals, etc for something they should be somewhere where people can find them (you don't need to put a procedure to change the staples of the copier in your procedure manual but you darn better know where the copier manual is).
3. Specific - this is the stuff specific to the company or position, like what to do when there's a utility problem, how to create new promotional material (who to talk to, what are the design guidelines), etc. This is great for a Wiki, also if there are levels of need-to-know use a wiki with access groups (Dokuwiki is one) plan your structure, just don't throw everything into one section (part of the access group thing, also for organization)
Start your Wiki with: a) stuff that generates the most emails, memos, or general confusion (agendas/minutes, conference room schedules) b) procedures that get people in trouble if they do it wrong in any way (procurement procedure) c) information that changes frequently that staff should have immediate access to (staff directory)
build from there. Having those starting points will get people to at least access the wiki early on, may not get them to add to it right away, but as they get used to the concept they will see how useful it is.
> If the true goal of a computer program for a school is to ready its students for the workplace, then is linux really the best method of doing so?
It's not the worst - where kids can't do much of ANYTHING on computers (i.e. only run office and some ed games) because the educators are so afraid the computers will break.
> Isn't the school in some way doing its students a dis-service my training them on a computing method that they will very likely never use again?
Many of us long-time geeks learned on Apple ][s, Commodore PETs, VIC-20s (Some guy named Linus got his start on a VIC-20 once), Commodore 64s, and TRS-80s, did it seem to hurt their career? I think those systems, being so open to exploration, probably did a lot more for us kids back then - than them not being (non-existent) Windows machines.
> As much as i DESPISE some of microsoft's products (i admin a damn win2k3 server...do i really need to explain WHY i hate microsoft?)
Well at least explain why you think schools should LIKE Microsoft, and your next generations should also like Microsoft.
> i understand that in order to function in a modern workplace, the ability to navigate microsoft windows is almost as essential as any other office skill.
I'm sorry, what is this Microsoft Windows curriculum? Is it like spelling, grammar, math, computer skills, TCP/IP? Microsoft is a company, they sell software that does common things. Just like there are many math books and many books on English there are many software makers that sell/distribute common things like office suites and web browsers as well as servers and other fine things in the world.
Hmm maybe they changed it for intel, back when you went to OSX on the PPC, USB drive boot/install was an impossibility (I had to swap preloaded drives on older macs with only USB when the CD was gone)
Apple disabled the booting of system CDs from USB CD drive a long time ago (required either a direct connect drive or fire wire) I figure the special CD drive changes the situation for the MacBook air.
Businesses can cause they have the right media to install the older versions without jumping through much activation hassle. But home/small business users are the ones that really won't have a choice if they buy a new Vista PC, they can choose to use vista, or unsuccessfully try to transfer their OEM version of XP from their other computer, or go with another OS.
Most who are more than comfortable with Windows will just switch to vista and grumble for a few months.
The only problem with this idea of a Cell Phone Sommeiler is that where wine is a somewhat static entity Cell phone technology market. I could not see some cell sommeiler say, "ahh, yes, now I see your predicament, what you really need is a verizon plan with an Erikson '97 phone with those you get the features, the battery life and range as well as hit your cost point."
Problem is in cell phones (especially in japan) the technology is changing very fast and it's hard to pin down what would work and what would not from year to year, and if you could you (the sommeiler) would be spending quite a bit of cash to keep up with all the technology and only have it go to no use if for some reason you can't find phone X or plan Y. In the US its even more of a mess as most phones are directly tied to specific networks and plans.
A restaurant employee who orders and maintains the wines sold in the restaurant and usually has extensive knowledge about wine and food pairings."
Why don't they use something that is related, in English, or at least a bit more understandable, do the Japanese speak French? Probably some English lit major justifying his/her degree/salary. These are probably the same people who make up all that management speak, like instead of chart or table they use 'matrix'
Any of these would have been much more understandable: specialist, expert, buff, genius, nerd, advocate, certified authority, professional.
Dragon had a Mac product once before - Dragon Power Secretary. It was tied to specific apps. Didn't get much updating or new versions after the initial release and died an agonizing death.
As an addition even if you code shines how does your process look, do you really know how your company uses or plans to use its data?
Senior programmers not only know their code they have the experience of applying that code in their field. They've certainly fried their share of monkeys and have learned from it, know how to avoid it, and if it happens again how to keep employed afterwards. They have learned communication skills and what makes a boss happy (maybe some nice commas in the thousand number results, or what to show and what not to.) They also have learned the system and like Chief Engineer Scott, can usually tell something is going wrong long before most notice.
Your logins screens may be the best user interface everyone has seen; but when the billing system is loosing money somewhere in the satellite stores coupon validation redemption routines it does not solve the real issues at hand.
Exactly. I do Database work and except for the right App for the right job most of those questions would not apply to the skill set I would be offering.
I always thought they'd get stuck because the black hole would suck in the tape before they even got half way around it. Then it dawned on me that they probably used stiff measuring tape.
The Apple Adjustable Keyboard if you stick the the main keyboard it may be good for RSI but they put an awful lot of buttons on the satellite keypad. We bought one or two at work the staff didn't really like them.
The 64 being place on the list I believe is undeserved - at the time really had one of the best keyboards for the price range. The Atari 400 was flat the Atari 800 was not that great, Apple had no keypad, a system reset button in an easy to bump spot and was expensive too, I read a lot of the TRS-80 having keybounce problems.
The Original PET keyboard was really a bad decision to use the existing calculator keyboards Commodore was able to produce in-house. The later PET keyboard was far better, though compared to the 64 it was not that good (the key plane was flat and the travel of the keys were short and hard, 64 had a concave key plane and key travel was comfortably longer).
Anyone who had two or three computers back in the 80s and 90s should remember the occasional miss-types as your fingers intuitively go for a key location that is on one of the other keyboards.
Lastly the new Apple keyboards are pretty good actually, they started with the design in the Mac Book, and I really like the spacing between the keys compared to laptop keys.
From what I had read floor booth rental can be from 5 to 6 figures (not including the actual hardware of your display, any tech support and staffing. Depending on how cheap your Co is, how well they expect revenue to be, or if they just don't have much to show off, it may be a pretty tough sell.
We all have heard that the dynamic range of CDs and MP3s pale in comparison to high fidelity tape or phonographic recording. If the recording industry invested some of the money it dumps the the bottomless pit of DRM and lobbying to make something that can reproduce that range (I'm sure the digital technology is more up to speed now then it was when the CD spec was made) they could re-invent audio into some new high-def format and then start doing a repackage of decent sounding audio, equipment, portable players, etc.
Then they can re-package for the new format, and some sort of master editions.
Then they can bargain basement the current crap, and have a new market, maybe even pull in some real talent. Thgen again RIAA is more for just making money regularly whithout much more extra effort on their part, so that idea probably would never fly.
If the music industry is going to put a ton of crap on the shelves and only a few albums I really want then I will only be buying those few (since I like 80s music that is mainly oldies compilations).
Nowadays I am more often buying mp3s from amazon as I can get the odd track that has either no longer on the shelf or is only available with a bunch of other tracks I already have/don't want.
Would I buy more stuff off the shelves? If what I like were available. Borders and FYE have been the best of getting album sales from me lately.
I'll support you too, I'm starting to use FOSS apps on Mac, mainly because the commercial alternatives, which nice, are obscenely expensive (adobe creative suite - $1000+) While they run OK on the Macs I'll say on my Linux machines those programs run much smoother. Also while Mac has a lot of *nix connectivity it still has an internal struggle with HFS, AFP etc. Which I think accounts for many of my hassles to get the Macs to communicate fast or play nice on the Samba server.
Mac Office is OK; if you've used the Mac version for a few years you know MS has put Office:Mac on the slow track for development (and even planned to remove features due to lack of interest in recoding for native universal in the next version).
Then on the FOSS front logically, most apps are Liunx first, then Windows a close second with the Mac/Aqua camps lagging behind usually with some issues they are still trying to resolve. (Thank goodness there is NeoOffice which has done something excellent for OOo as we wait for OOo to actually get something working for the Aqua port (which I think is a waste of effort because NeoOffice is certainly the lead developers on that).
Since we are a Mac outfit at work I wholeheartedly prefer them to Windows (Life has been so great these 20 years without viruses, and other windows probs), but with Apple's turn towards non-computer consumer products, storage heavy home/multimedia and seemingly lack of business support, I am looking at Liunx/FOSS for the next 'get things done without all the cruft' platform.
Unlike most stores which has to lock their computers, due to the OS being so susceptible, most places that have Macs are open to explore, they probably are on a limited account but it's not the guided tour with safety-rails demos that you see on Windows PCs at most places.
Many I see are playing DVDs or maybe iTunes music. Once in a while Ive seen them with some FPS game. When I have seen Windows Desktops its either running 'just' the desktop, or one that has crashed to the desktop. Most of the times though I just see that fancy Aquarium screen saver.
When you are home you can handle such a problem, something sounds weird or there is a funny smell, why is there smoke? etc. Automated systems do the switch flipping but can't ensure the system is working right, I like the concept but I have heard of the reality.
Slashdot Mirror
Years ago Microsoft said they would be the #1 search engine and set up Microsoft Network using their best and brightest tech staff and the cutting edge of Microsoft technology innovation, they released many new features bought up some services and integrated them and the best they have achieved is #3 and they seem to be stuck there.
Before MS buys something more successful than they are - I think they should do some serious introspection as to why exactly they were not able to achieve such a lofty goal on their own given how much more value they are (in their words) to the customer. If they just buy #2 there's probably a good chance they will sink back to #3 again as they integrate their #3 ideas on a business operating at #2.
I would think if they really wanted to be #2 they should pay Yahoo to 'buy MSN' and let Yahoo figure out what is wrong with their #3 problem and overlay the staff, technology and features that could make MSN #2.
I am one to think Gates' statement about it being a long road may just be eluding to that. I am sure he is seeing that Windows as it stands is becoming a pretty big boat anchor for the company. By bolstering Virtulization (which includes opening up the prospects of Vista home to VM) MS may be setting up an escape route to get past the laughing stock in security it has been this past decade.
I figure Windows 7 (or whatever number or name it is) will be closer to Unix or at least as secure as such a system. With the VM technology, they can do what Apple did with OS X, have Windows run as a virtual compatibility module until there is enough market buy-in to bury Windows and it's flawed legacy.
The question would be if Microsoft did such things will they go for employing standards (posix, etc) or will they go for standards plus something more, which got them into this mess in the first place.
It's a big project but that doesnt mean you have to do it all at once.
I would think there are three information stores you will want to have
1. confidential - this iss all the stuff that you want in a safe, passwords, access numbers accounts, etc. This should be a high priority to gather all that stuff just in case someone with exclusive access to something get hit by a bus.
2. general - If there are regs and manuals, etc for something they should be somewhere where people can find them (you don't need to put a procedure to change the staples of the copier in your procedure manual but you darn better know where the copier manual is).
3. Specific - this is the stuff specific to the company or position, like what to do when there's a utility problem, how to create new promotional material (who to talk to, what are the design guidelines), etc. This is great for a Wiki, also if there are levels of need-to-know use a wiki with access groups (Dokuwiki is one) plan your structure, just don't throw everything into one section (part of the access group thing, also for organization)
Start your Wiki with:
a) stuff that generates the most emails, memos, or general confusion (agendas/minutes, conference room schedules)
b) procedures that get people in trouble if they do it wrong in any way (procurement procedure)
c) information that changes frequently that staff should have immediate access to (staff directory)
build from there. Having those starting points will get people to at least access the wiki early on, may not get them to add to it right away, but as they get used to the concept they will see how useful it is.
> If the true goal of a computer program for a school is to ready its students for the workplace, then is linux really the best method of doing so?
It's not the worst - where kids can't do much of ANYTHING on computers (i.e. only run office and some ed games) because the educators are so afraid the computers will break.
> Isn't the school in some way doing its students a dis-service my training them on a computing method that they will very likely never use again?
Many of us long-time geeks learned on Apple ][s, Commodore PETs, VIC-20s (Some guy named Linus got his start on a VIC-20 once), Commodore 64s, and TRS-80s, did it seem to hurt their career? I think those systems, being so open to exploration, probably did a lot more for us kids back then - than them not being (non-existent) Windows machines.
> As much as i DESPISE some of microsoft's products (i admin a damn win2k3 server...do i really need to explain WHY i hate microsoft?)
Well at least explain why you think schools should LIKE Microsoft, and your next generations should also like Microsoft.
> i understand that in order to function in a modern workplace, the ability to navigate microsoft windows is almost as essential as any other office skill.
I'm sorry, what is this Microsoft Windows curriculum? Is it like spelling, grammar, math, computer skills, TCP/IP? Microsoft is a company, they sell software that does common things. Just like there are many math books and many books on English there are many software makers that sell/distribute common things like office suites and web browsers as well as servers and other fine things in the world.
Hmm maybe they changed it for intel, back when you went to OSX on the PPC, USB drive boot/install was an impossibility (I had to swap preloaded drives on older macs with only USB when the CD was gone)
Apple disabled the booting of system CDs from USB CD drive a long time ago (required either a direct connect drive or fire wire) I figure the special CD drive changes the situation for the MacBook air.
Businesses can cause they have the right media to install the older versions without jumping through much activation hassle. But home/small business users are the ones that really won't have a choice if they buy a new Vista PC, they can choose to use vista, or unsuccessfully try to transfer their OEM version of XP from their other computer, or go with another OS.
Most who are more than comfortable with Windows will just switch to vista and grumble for a few months.
The only problem with this idea of a Cell Phone Sommeiler is that where wine is a somewhat static entity Cell phone technology market. I could not see some cell sommeiler say, "ahh, yes, now I see your predicament, what you really need is a verizon plan with an Erikson '97 phone with those you get the features, the battery life and range as well as hit your cost point."
Problem is in cell phones (especially in japan) the technology is changing very fast and it's hard to pin down what would work and what would not from year to year, and if you could you (the sommeiler) would be spending quite a bit of cash to keep up with all the technology and only have it go to no use if for some reason you can't find phone X or plan Y. In the US its even more of a mess as most phones are directly tied to specific networks and plans.
...for some Asian in the buff showing people...
I was thinking about the Seinfeld episode where one of the characters wanted to be a 'buff' after talking with a Civil War buff.
I had to look it up:
"sommelier
A restaurant employee who orders and maintains the wines sold in the restaurant and usually has extensive knowledge about wine and food pairings."
Why don't they use something that is related, in English, or at least a bit more understandable, do the Japanese speak French? Probably some English lit major justifying his/her degree/salary. These are probably the same people who make up all that management speak, like instead of chart or table they use 'matrix'
Any of these would have been much more understandable: specialist, expert, buff, genius, nerd, advocate, certified authority, professional.
Dragon had a Mac product once before - Dragon Power Secretary. It was tied to specific apps. Didn't get much updating or new versions after the initial release and died an agonizing death.
Actually this is pretty on-topic, it reminds all of us: in tech support, programming, design and administration what users can be truly capable of.
My co-worker has a sledge hammer at home for just such a purpose.
As an addition even if you code shines how does your process look, do you really know how your company uses or plans to use its data?
Senior programmers not only know their code they have the experience of applying that code in their field. They've certainly fried their share of monkeys and have learned from it, know how to avoid it, and if it happens again how to keep employed afterwards. They have learned communication skills and what makes a boss happy (maybe some nice commas in the thousand number results, or what to show and what not to.) They also have learned the system and like Chief Engineer Scott, can usually tell something is going wrong long before most notice.
Your logins screens may be the best user interface everyone has seen; but when the billing system is loosing money somewhere in the satellite stores coupon validation redemption routines it does not solve the real issues at hand.
Exactly. I do Database work and except for the right App for the right job most of those questions would not apply to the skill set I would be offering.
I always thought they'd get stuck because the black hole would suck in the tape before they even got half way around it. Then it dawned on me that they probably used stiff measuring tape.
:-)
Those Turku University guys are pretty smart.
Sounds like a really lousy job, everyone else's data all the time.
The Apple Adjustable Keyboard if you stick the the main keyboard it may be good for RSI but they put an awful lot of buttons on the satellite keypad. We bought one or two at work the staff didn't really like them.
The 64 being place on the list I believe is undeserved - at the time really had one of the best keyboards for the price range. The Atari 400 was flat the Atari 800 was not that great, Apple had no keypad, a system reset button in an easy to bump spot and was expensive too, I read a lot of the TRS-80 having keybounce problems.
The Original PET keyboard was really a bad decision to use the existing calculator keyboards Commodore was able to produce in-house. The later PET keyboard was far better, though compared to the 64 it was not that good (the key plane was flat and the travel of the keys were short and hard, 64 had a concave key plane and key travel was comfortably longer).
Anyone who had two or three computers back in the 80s and 90s should remember the occasional miss-types as your fingers intuitively go for a key location that is on one of the other keyboards.
Lastly the new Apple keyboards are pretty good actually, they started with the design in the Mac Book, and I really like the spacing between the keys compared to laptop keys.
From what I had read floor booth rental can be from 5 to 6 figures (not including the actual hardware of your display, any tech support and staffing. Depending on how cheap your Co is, how well they expect revenue to be, or if they just don't have much to show off, it may be a pretty tough sell.
We all have heard that the dynamic range of CDs and MP3s pale in comparison to high fidelity tape or phonographic recording. If the recording industry invested some of the money it dumps the the bottomless pit of DRM and lobbying to make something that can reproduce that range (I'm sure the digital technology is more up to speed now then it was when the CD spec was made) they could re-invent audio into some new high-def format and then start doing a repackage of decent sounding audio, equipment, portable players, etc.
Then they can re-package for the new format, and some sort of master editions.
Then they can bargain basement the current crap, and have a new market, maybe even pull in some real talent. Thgen again RIAA is more for just making money regularly whithout much more extra effort on their part, so that idea probably would never fly.
If the music industry is going to put a ton of crap on the shelves and only a few albums I really want then I will only be buying those few (since I like 80s music that is mainly oldies compilations).
Nowadays I am more often buying mp3s from amazon as I can get the odd track that has either no longer on the shelf or is only available with a bunch of other tracks I already have/don't want.
Would I buy more stuff off the shelves? If what I like were available. Borders and FYE have been the best of getting album sales from me lately.
I'll support you too, I'm starting to use FOSS apps on Mac, mainly because the commercial alternatives, which nice, are obscenely expensive (adobe creative suite - $1000+) While they run OK on the Macs I'll say on my Linux machines those programs run much smoother. Also while Mac has a lot of *nix connectivity it still has an internal struggle with HFS, AFP etc. Which I think accounts for many of my hassles to get the Macs to communicate fast or play nice on the Samba server.
Mac Office is OK; if you've used the Mac version for a few years you know MS has put Office:Mac on the slow track for development (and even planned to remove features due to lack of interest in recoding for native universal in the next version).
Then on the FOSS front logically, most apps are Liunx first, then Windows a close second with the Mac/Aqua camps lagging behind usually with some issues they are still trying to resolve. (Thank goodness there is NeoOffice which has done something excellent for OOo as we wait for OOo to actually get something working for the Aqua port (which I think is a waste of effort because NeoOffice is certainly the lead developers on that).
Since we are a Mac outfit at work I wholeheartedly prefer them to Windows (Life has been so great these 20 years without viruses, and other windows probs), but with Apple's turn towards non-computer consumer products, storage heavy home/multimedia and seemingly lack of business support, I am looking at Liunx/FOSS for the next 'get things done without all the cruft' platform.
Unlike most stores which has to lock their computers, due to the OS being so susceptible, most places that have Macs are open to explore, they probably are on a limited account but it's not the guided tour with safety-rails demos that you see on Windows PCs at most places.
Many I see are playing DVDs or maybe iTunes music. Once in a while Ive seen them with some FPS game. When I have seen Windows Desktops its either running 'just' the desktop, or one that has crashed to the desktop. Most of the times though I just see that fancy Aquarium screen saver.
When you are home you can handle such a problem, something sounds weird or there is a funny smell, why is there smoke? etc. Automated systems do the switch flipping but can't ensure the system is working right, I like the concept but I have heard of the reality.