Went to the local Apple store, and at the Genius Bar there was a man dejectedly putting a brand-new 15" TiBook back into his briefcase. The websites he visits are all optimized for Windows and the software he uses daily (he's a financial planner) comes in Windows-only (and yes, he tried Virtual PC, to no avail). He's selling his TiBook and going back to Windows. The lack of software I can almost understand, but companies that refuse to make their websites accessible and usable to anything other than WIndows IE are demonstrating either major ignorance on customer service, a blatant disregard for standards, or both.
It's good to hear I'm not the only one with this problem. I just returned from my local Apple store with my third battery in a year due to the same symptoms. The first one went blooey after 4 months or so, and this last one about the same. I wonder if it's bad batteries, or something else?
As I've often said before, plenty of people think that radio and music in general truly suck in these days and times (how many people do you know that haven't bought a "new artist" cd in the last five years, perferring to spend $11.98 on "Skynard's Greatest Hits" or what ever?)
The demands that the labels place on their artists to re-create the success of a smash debut have a lot to do with this. Rather than build a legacy of quality, the labels rush the artist to reproduce whatever the artist did in their first album and then slam it out on the streets to while the artist is "hot". How many acts that danced to this tune have had a followup album worth the plastic it's pressed on? Not everyone has drunk the Koolaid. Bands like Pearl Jam, Phish and P.E., and performers like Prince, have the balls and knowledge to flip off the suits and build long, profitable careers. It seems these days that such things happen despite of, and not because of, the management of the major record labels.
I'm old enough to remember the Apollo 11 moon landing, and every Apollo mission since. I remember the novelty of Apollo-Soyuz, of Russians and Americas working together in space. I remember the excitement of the first Enterprise tests, the first launch of Columbia, and the horror of Challenger.
I've always admired astronauts. I've absorbed all I can on the subject, it's fired my imagination, and the imagination of many, many others, for years. It's a dream we all have, to soar beyond towards the stars.
And again, we see the cost of such a dream. Are their deaths any more tragic than those of the hundreds of people around the world who will die today? Of course not. But these seven died in the midst of fulfilling a dream many of us share. They died attempting to push the limits of human knowledge and experience. And as such, we grieve for them all the more.
Endless Apple myths:
Ripped off Xerox
Can't use multi button mouse
Uses non-standard hardware
Is a monopoly
Put SoundJam out of business
Owned by Microsoft, a major shareholder
Costs too much
OS X is slow
Lawsuits for no reason
Rips off Linux
any more?
You forgot "Is going out of business next quarter" and "Will be bought out by Sun/Disney/AOL/etc....."
If you read the article you would see that MS is experimenting with the market and the concept mostly, to see who would pay for it and how much people are prepared to pay. They don't care if the whole thing is a flop.
In the comsumer market, yes, I am saying this. What's cool to a geek (or a recovering geek, such as myself:) ) is not necessarily cool to Joe Six-Pack, and Microsoft seems incapable of grasping this. As was stated in a number of locations recently, the fact that Microsoft is a monopoly is a given now. But just because they are a monopoly does not garuntee them security, income or future success. AT&T was a monopoly in phone service that found that met with limited success in it's other ventures while it was a monpoly.
When you have to invent to survive, the products you bring to market will be quite different from those that are brought to the market by a large, successful compnay that would just like to bump Q3 revenues up a notch or the like.
Hunger is the mother of innovation. And Microsoft just ain't hungry right now.
I can just see people buying these, trying to use it outside their home time zone, and being greeted with a message stating that the EULA on the watch only allows it to be used in one time zone.
Seriously, this seems another indication that when it comes to consumer products, Microsoft has no clue what people want. The X-Box is still #3 and losing them money, and Bob was an unmitigated disaster. Do they really think that Joe Six-Pack wants and needs something like this?
I would be concerned, however, about people going in and randomly filling out a ballot just to keep their govt. services. It has led to some... interesting candidates getting elected, such as "El Loco" Bucaram. But as it stands now, the U.S. has elected a ex-pro wrestler as a governor, a convicted crack felon as a mayor, and in the 80's, Arizona had a governor, Ev Mecham, that made the worst of the current political crop seem tame in comparison. Given these examples, produced by the status quo, I'd be willing to give it a shot.:)
The more I think about it, the more I like the system that Ecuador uses. Voting is mandatory. You want the government services available to citizens? Vote, otherwise you get what's available to legal aliens. While I'd love it if everyone understood thieir civic duties as well as they do their civil rights, which would make this idea unneccesary, the fact is, people don't vote often enough, as a rule. And I know there will be those screaming about secrecy of the vote, etc.Note: I didn't say keep track of who you voted for, I said keep track of WHETHER you voted or not. Should be easy enough to do, given the near-universality of SSN's and the like.
is all the liberal/anarchists knees jerking in response to this stimuli.
Disclaimer: For the last 20 years, I have been a legal resident that cannot vote in the U.S., and on every political placement test I've taken, be they from the right or the left, I have landed smack dab in the middle.(end disclaimer)
That no one ever mentions the idea of "Liberal Science" I find somewhat amusing (and quite frankly, a little biased). Do we all think that products like RU-486 sprung from the ground unaided? The findings of science have ALWAYS been slanted to advance someone's politics, be they environmentalists, cultural conservatives, radical feminists or bomb-throwing moderates such as myself.
Besides, this is a gun we're talking about. There's a nonzero chance that the gun itself is going to fail when you pull the trigger. Does anybody spend a lot of time worrying about that?
The gunsmith at my shop of choice sure does, for which I pay him handsomely.
The same people who walk over to Blockbuster and rent a DVD, rather than waiting for it to download from one of those new pay per click sites. Or those who go to theaters rather than rent DVD's. Going to the video store or a movie is an event, and something to look forward to. They offer unique advantages over home-based experiences like TV and rented flicks. That's why despite the appearence of more and more home-based entertainment, the market for movies is still strong.
That being said, this interests me not. But if I were into online gaming at all, I would go.
"Gee, Uncle -insert name of relation I haven't seen in 5 years-, that sounds real bad. You may have a serious problem. I can't say I've ever had the same problem with the Macs I use, why didn't you get one instead?" --Sullen silence.-- "Sorry you're having troubles, well, have a merry Christmas!"
Seriously, despite my best advice, my technophobe parents bought a Windows laptop over an iBook, because "they needed MicroSoft Office" (sigh). It's needed warranty support twice now in a year, and I'm trying to be the kind son and not laugh out loud each time they tell me about a problem with it.
One of the more interesting things about the X-Prize is how the teams that are making progress are doing in on old technology. The Canadian Arrow uses and updated V-2 design and Starchaser.co.uk is using sounding rockets as their starting point. It's 1960's and earlier technology, updated with 21 century electronics and materials.
I guess I'm the only one that remembers that for months after the intro of the iMac, the only USB periphials you could buy were all Bondi Blue, which led to many slightly funny scenes of a bland beige WinTel box hooked up to a bright blue printer....:)
The above post is 100% right. While USB was available for PC's first, very little was made for them. It took the iMac with it's adherence to USB and (gasp!) no floppy to really jump-start the market.
Slashdot Mirror
Went to the local Apple store, and at the Genius Bar there was a man dejectedly putting a brand-new 15" TiBook back into his briefcase. The websites he visits are all optimized for Windows and the software he uses daily (he's a financial planner) comes in Windows-only (and yes, he tried Virtual PC, to no avail). He's selling his TiBook and going back to Windows. The lack of software I can almost understand, but companies that refuse to make their websites accessible and usable to anything other than WIndows IE are demonstrating either major ignorance on customer service, a blatant disregard for standards, or both.
It's good to hear I'm not the only one with this problem. I just returned from my local Apple store with my third battery in a year due to the same symptoms. The first one went blooey after 4 months or so, and this last one about the same. I wonder if it's bad batteries, or something else?
Thanks, you just brightened up a dreary night.
The demands that the labels place on their artists to re-create the success of a smash debut have a lot to do with this. Rather than build a legacy of quality, the labels rush the artist to reproduce whatever the artist did in their first album and then slam it out on the streets to while the artist is "hot". How many acts that danced to this tune have had a followup album worth the plastic it's pressed on?
Not everyone has drunk the Koolaid. Bands like Pearl Jam, Phish and P.E., and performers like Prince, have the balls and knowledge to flip off the suits and build long, profitable careers. It seems these days that such things happen despite of, and not because of, the management of the major record labels.
Well, without any firm figures, I wanted my estimate to be low. Is there a source for this, just curious?
Yes, let's do just that.
I'm old enough to remember the Apollo 11 moon landing, and every Apollo mission since. I remember the novelty of Apollo-Soyuz, of Russians and Americas working together in space. I remember the excitement of the first Enterprise tests, the first launch of Columbia, and the horror of Challenger.
I've always admired astronauts. I've absorbed all I can on the subject, it's fired my imagination, and the imagination of many, many others, for years. It's a dream we all have, to soar beyond towards the stars.
And again, we see the cost of such a dream. Are their deaths any more tragic than those of the hundreds of people around the world who will die today? Of course not. But these seven died in the midst of fulfilling a dream many of us share. They died attempting to push the limits of human knowledge and experience. And as such, we grieve for them all the more.
Ripped off Xerox
Can't use multi button mouse
Uses non-standard hardware
Is a monopoly
Put SoundJam out of business
Owned by Microsoft, a major shareholder
Costs too much
OS X is slow
Lawsuits for no reason
Rips off Linux
any more?
You forgot "Is going out of business next quarter" and
"Will be bought out by Sun/Disney/AOL/etc....."
And he did it without killing off the Jedi Council, something even Palpatine couldn't do!
In the comsumer market, yes, I am saying this. What's cool to a geek (or a recovering geek, such as myself :) ) is not necessarily cool to Joe Six-Pack, and Microsoft seems incapable of grasping this.
When you have to invent to survive, the products you bring to market will be quite different from those that are brought to the market by a large, successful compnay that would just like to bump Q3 revenues up a notch or the like.As was stated in a number of locations recently, the fact that Microsoft is a monopoly is a given now. But just because they are a monopoly does not garuntee them security, income or future success. AT&T was a monopoly in phone service that found that met with limited success in it's other ventures while it was a monpoly.
Hunger is the mother of innovation. And Microsoft just ain't hungry right now.
Built-in DTM, Digital Time Management.
I can just see people buying these, trying to use it outside their home time zone, and being greeted with a message stating that the EULA on the watch only allows it to be used in one time zone.
Seriously, this seems another indication that when it comes to consumer products, Microsoft has no clue what people want. The X-Box is still #3 and losing them money, and Bob was an unmitigated disaster. Do they really think that Joe Six-Pack wants and needs something like this?
Yeah, but he did one hell of an fp a long time ago. :)
802.11g is out, and MacWorld SF is in a week....
Given Apple's early adoption of 802.11b, are all us Mac users in for a nice surprise at the the SteveNote regarding wireless?
I would be concerned, however, about people going in and randomly filling out a ballot just to keep their govt. services. :)
It has led to some... interesting candidates getting elected, such as "El Loco" Bucaram.
But as it stands now, the U.S. has elected a ex-pro wrestler as a governor, a convicted crack felon as a mayor, and in the 80's, Arizona had a governor, Ev Mecham, that made the worst of the current political crop seem tame in comparison. Given these examples, produced by the status quo, I'd be willing to give it a shot.
The more I think about it, the more I like the system that Ecuador uses.
Voting is mandatory. You want the government services available to citizens? Vote, otherwise you get what's available to legal aliens. While I'd love it if everyone understood thieir civic duties as well as they do their civil rights, which would make this idea unneccesary, the fact is, people don't vote often enough, as a rule.
And I know there will be those screaming about secrecy of the vote, etc.Note: I didn't say keep track of who you voted for, I said keep track of WHETHER you voted or not. Should be easy enough to do, given the near-universality of SSN's and the like.
Disclaimer: For the last 20 years, I have been a legal resident that cannot vote in the U.S., and on every political placement test I've taken, be they from the right or the left, I have landed smack dab in the middle.(end disclaimer)
That no one ever mentions the idea of "Liberal Science" I find somewhat amusing (and quite frankly, a little biased). Do we all think that products like RU-486 sprung from the ground unaided? The findings of science have ALWAYS been slanted to advance someone's politics, be they environmentalists, cultural conservatives, radical feminists or bomb-throwing moderates such as myself.What does semper fi mean? Short for Semper Fidelis, (Always Faithful), the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps.
The gunsmith at my shop of choice sure does, for which I pay him handsomely.
Or those who go to theaters rather than rent DVD's. Going to the video store or a movie is an event, and something to look forward to. They offer unique advantages over home-based experiences like TV and rented flicks. That's why despite the appearence of more and more home-based entertainment, the market for movies is still strong.
That being said, this interests me not. But if I were into online gaming at all, I would go.
Why should they be any different than the rest of us?
This is good news for my grant application to deploy a sand-making machine in Algeria.
--Sullen silence.--
"Sorry you're having troubles, well, have a merry Christmas!"
Seriously, despite my best advice, my technophobe parents bought a Windows laptop over an iBook, because "they needed MicroSoft Office" (sigh). It's needed warranty support twice now in a year, and I'm trying to be the kind son and not laugh out loud each time they tell me about a problem with it.
One of the more interesting things about the X-Prize is how the teams that are making progress are doing in on old technology. The Canadian Arrow uses and updated V-2 design and Starchaser.co.uk is using sounding rockets as their starting point. It's 1960's and earlier technology, updated with 21 century electronics and materials.
What, would a pun about some Apple PDA thingie have been better? :)
Yes, it was. And all of a sudden I feel the need to go play Epyx Summer Games.
I guess I'm the only one that remembers that for months after the intro of the iMac, the only USB periphials you could buy were all Bondi Blue, which led to many slightly funny scenes of a bland beige WinTel box hooked up to a bright blue printer.... :)
The above post is 100% right. While USB was available for PC's first, very little was made for them. It took the iMac with it's adherence to USB and (gasp!) no floppy to really jump-start the market.