"Consider the economics of the iTunes store. Apple charges 99 cents per song that is downloaded by a consumer. Of that 99 cents, Apple pays the record label about 65 cents for licensing rights to the song, estimates Charlie Wolf, an analyst at brokerage firm Needham & Co. Other analysts come up with similar figures. In addition, Apple incurs costs such as credit-card fees, which typically amount to 25 cents a transaction (which can include several songs), plus 2% to 3% of the amount charged. The result: On average, Apple earns less than a dime for each song it sells from the store."
CNET
"Apple said it doesn't have any illusions that it can make great profits from selling songs over the Internet: Instead, Apple is counting on the store as a key part of an overall music business for the company that can produce substantial profits--mainly through sales of its iPod digital music player. 'The iPod makes money. The iTunes Music Store doesn't,' Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller told CNET News.com...Schiller said the music store is close to profitability but is still losing money. Apple doesn't see the business as having much long-term profit potential either."
I agree with other posters - how does this make life easier on a 2d display? It's just another novelty. I think what would be truely cool and revolutionary would be the ability to open and work with application windows in midair OUTSIDE OF THE LCD/CRT - letting the size of a room be the only limitation. Imagine being able to examine source in a window as big as your desk... and being able to drag and drop windows as you would with everyday things
1st - I'd like to say that I was born in the Phillipines, so discount racism for my remarks...
2nd based on my experience of the corporate culture in specific parts of asia (excluding japan), through working there myself and through talking with friends and family - I've found that corporate culture and the countries's laws simply don't put much worth into the value of someone else's privacy - especially if that someone is not important, ie rich.
If you currently use a major webmail provider - chances are that you currently don't have it anyway. I don't know about Yahoo, but Microsoft outsourced MSN's support to companies in the Phillipines - of which one of my friends used to work at. He told me that there was really no framework to ensure that the support team couldn't arbitrarily look into someone's email account which they did when they were bored or when they had a request from family and friends (ie "please check my girlfriend's account - I want to know if she's cheating on me" - etc...). The bottomline is that the only thing protecting your privacy if you use a mainstream email account - is the sheer number of other people who have accounts...
I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case with other email providers - especially ones that outsourced support to other countries.
Aestethics
-PHBs are going to look at both documents.
The one from MS is nicely colored and designed in terms of layout. The Open Source document is almost plain text in black and white - very boring.
From my experience as a former Electronic Arts employee, this is very true. Of all the major console manufacturers (including Sony and Microsoft), Nintendo is the hardest to work with. This would not be surprising if they had their old monopoly or even commanded Sony's marketshare. However things have changed for them, and now they have to compete with 2 other large and powerful companies - so this is really strange.
For example, Both Sony and Microsoft treat EA very well in regard to quality assurance reviews of new releases (major bugs, decency policies, etc...), their policies and reviews are quite consistent and they pretty much kiss our asses knowing EA is a gorilla publisher... with Nintendo - it's a pain. Their policies randomly change left and right at different times and are quite vague. It seems like we have to fight to get our games released for their system concerning issues not even mentioned in their policies.
Personally thinking about this issue and others, I think Nintendo's biggest enemy is itself.
Well if we're not including pirating (of which beyond burning a cdr - if even - avg joe doesn't know how to do) - the majority of free games suck compared to the console games joe sixpack is used to (Madden, GTA, Gran Turismo, etc... - no, they're not as into balder's gate, or civilization).
You're also still overlooking the high initial monetary investment - not to mention the high cost of time with pirating for an individual (the time it takes to make contacts to get access to nice servers - not including the time it takes to learn to do this - shit with the time ppl waste they might as well buy the game - so they have time left over for a real social life outside the internet).
I think only the slashdot crowd is patient enough to mess around that much with a computer...
(for the record I prefer the PC)
1. Ease of use
a) With consoles all you do is plug it into the tv and power outlet, pop in the game, and you get entertainment.
b) With the PC, you have to plug a bunch of peripherals, login to the OS, install drivers, install the game, install patches, and if this was a perfect world (assuming you also bought the perfect pricey hardware) - you get entertainment. More so than not- you get frustration, even for people intimately familiar with the machine.
oh yeah joe sixpack doesn't mod games let alone know how to installed fan made mods
2. Price
a)A decent PC that plays the latest PC games decently will run around $1000 - $1800 (depending on what is considered decent) (a PC used for just word processing will run about $200).
b)A decent console that plays the latest decent console games will run from $99 - $179.
One more thing while some PCs can now plug into TVs, they still don't consistently look good on Tv's like consoles do....
Based on what the market is saying, consoles are already beating the crap out of the pc for games for the reasons I mentioned above...
"Manufacturing does not imply "cheap consumables." You can also make high end sewing machines. Robotics. Advanced materials... Sigh. Have you never heard of comparative advantage? The total output of the Indian economy is limited by all sorts of infrastructural issues which make it impossible for them to manufacture everything themselves cheaply."
Unfortunatly, China makes a lot of manufactured goods that US companies sell - take for instance almost every computer component... The question is - does India need a US middleman and China is right next door?
Most of this article's arguments use economics as its basis. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't economics still more of an art than a real science?
Isn't it just a bunch of "theories" that can't be repeatably validated in real life?
First of all I'm Chinese American so don't mistake this as a racist rant... anyways being that the US's physical goods are being made in China and the US's abstract products are now being made in India - who profits in the US? I only see high ranking execs (CEO's, etc...) and people who own a ton of stock - making any money. What happens to the middle class? Will the US keep having a middle class?
Just for the record, the department of labor was predicting a job gain of 17 million for 2003. In reality there was a loss of tens of thousands of jobs. The 22 million prediction sounds like re-election propaganda...
Outsourcing middle class jobs is indeed a great opportunity... to the minority rich who are either high ranking execs or large shareholders. (I'm not one of them)
Besides, in the long run, is it really smart to transer all your knowledge to a potential competitor and not retain it?
"IDEA's look and feel is more like a grey/white metal look and feel. I don't mind it, it's slightly better than the look of Eclipse, anyway.:-)"
In your first post - you make it sound like Eclipse looks like crap - I just found that funny considering IDEA and Eclipse look almost identical to a non-discerning programmer...
I'm just surprised you were so harsh on Eclipse considering you like IDEA a lot (i would understand if you liked Netbeans). Eclipse to me is basically an open source copy of IDEA. Hell, they even look alike. - if you want the grey look and feel for eclipse - just customize your windows theme.
" unfortunately I haven't managed to wean the current employer off Visual Studio.NET yet."
I hate to say this but I think the java community actually has to play catch up to.NET's features and funationality. Even though Eclipse is my favorite because it's cross platform and open, I think.NET is the best IDE out there. Development on it is just really nice compared to anything else out there because everything is integrated and almost automatic....
" most people want cell phones that do one thing - make calls"
-if that was true, people wouldn't buy phones with cameras, PIMs, and God knows what. The market has decided what they want (tons of crap) and the manufacturers are giving it to them. If they didn't make money off of these models, we wouldn't see anymore of them.
When I think about it - I'm also surprised that you'd bitch about Eclipse's UI when it looks like Eclipse borrows the UI from IDEA... hell IDEA has "nasty ass Windows 2000 look" you're complaining about. Am I wrong - because they do look (but not respond) very similar. Then again you're probably are using an older version of IDEA if it runs well on your machine.
On a side note, you could probably afford a new computer if you didn't drop it on buying IDEA... just a thought
"As opposed to SWT's nasty ass Windows 2000 look."
The windows look like it or not is still 10 times better than metal.
"This is complete bullshit. IntelliJ IDEA runs fine on a PII-333 laptop with 256Mb of RAM, whereas Eclipse runs like complete shit on the same box."
This probably depends on the jsdk you're running and the versions IDEA and Eclipse you were running. It's also very likely that you and I have different views on performance since some people would counter that Netbeans performs well on 333mhz machines... You're obviously using an old version of IDEA... because on my 500mhz 256mb ram machine - the current version of IDEA is not as fast as eclipse and it seems IDEA's min requirements are:
Minimum: CPU - PII 500 (Mac: 733 MHz G4); RAM - 192 Mb (Mac: 256 Mb); HDD 200 Mb
I'm just saying in my view - IDEA, Netbeans, and JEdit are too slow for me
Are you kidding me? I guess you consider '$' as a good representation of a monster? Or have you remembered the fact that back then box covers were ussually more appealing than the graphics in the game?
First, I dont' think it's realistic to cripple a UI's features for crosscompatibility. Second, looks do count or most people wouldn't switch from Swing's nasty ass metal look.
"IDEA uses Swing and it's fast enough. JEdit using Swing and it is fast enough."
The people who use IDEA typically have the money to counteract Swing's slow ass performance (this is a good assumption of someone that drops a couple grand for an IDE). On the other hand, most people like me, do not have the money for a nice rig that costs $3000.
And no, JEdit is not fast enough. That's like saying Netbeans is fast enough. Neither can handle Eclipse's cool coding features on a crappy computer, and neither responds to me faster than I can think (using a crappy under $1000 computer).
"At the time, Netbeans/Forte was very mature and would have been a good choice for IBM to build their own platform off of"
This is not true. You obviously haven't used Netbeans or Eclipse, since there is a huge difference between both. Netbeans is built on top of Swing. Theoretically, Swing is a really nice GUI library that is very flexible. In the real world, Swing made Netbeans too slow to be usable, not to mention the metal UI made it look ugly too. SWT, the GUI library Eclipse uses, doesn't have all the bells and whistles Swing has - but it doesn't have Swing's horrible overhead and nasty look either. IBM made the right choice and the community agrees. Besides after next week, Ecipse will be an independent body from IBM. So it's Sun's fault if it doesn't want to join.
Sun is also smoking a lot of crack if it thinks the community would rather use a piece of crap like netbeans instead of eclipse.
Back then the biggest problem was graphics. it was really hard for some people to imagine that they were fighting some big ugly monster with ten heads when all they would see on the screen as representative of the monster was an ascii symbol.
I think fancy packaging made up for this deficiency. Today it's no longer a problem. Besides I'd rather have a good game with extra money spent toward better QA or other things that are actually in the game as opposed to collectible junk.
Slashdot Mirror
I would rather have this instead
http://www.moller.com/.
WSJ
"Consider the economics of the iTunes store. Apple charges 99 cents per song that is downloaded by a consumer. Of that 99 cents, Apple pays the record label about 65 cents for licensing rights to the song, estimates Charlie Wolf, an analyst at brokerage firm Needham & Co. Other analysts come up with similar figures. In addition, Apple incurs costs such as credit-card fees, which typically amount to 25 cents a transaction (which can include several songs), plus 2% to 3% of the amount charged. The result: On average, Apple earns less than a dime for each song it sells from the store."
CNET
"Apple said it doesn't have any illusions that it can make great profits from selling songs over the Internet: Instead, Apple is counting on the store as a key part of an overall music business for the company that can produce substantial profits--mainly through sales of its iPod digital music player. 'The iPod makes money. The iTunes Music Store doesn't,' Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller told CNET News.com...Schiller said the music store is close to profitability but is still losing money. Apple doesn't see the business as having much long-term profit potential either."
Considering Apple doesn't make really make money on iTunes, and the real profit is in selling iPods - does this really make sense?
I agree with other posters - how does this make life easier on a 2d display? It's just another novelty. I think what would be truely cool and revolutionary would be the ability to open and work with application windows in midair OUTSIDE OF THE LCD/CRT - letting the size of a room be the only limitation. Imagine being able to examine source in a window as big as your desk... and being able to drag and drop windows as you would with everyday things
2nd based on my experience of the corporate culture in specific parts of asia (excluding japan), through working there myself and through talking with friends and family - I've found that corporate culture and the countries's laws simply don't put much worth into the value of someone else's privacy - especially if that someone is not important, ie rich.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case with other email providers - especially ones that outsourced support to other countries.
I hope this isn't another dumb April 1st joke... =)
Guess which one be read?
For example, Both Sony and Microsoft treat EA very well in regard to quality assurance reviews of new releases (major bugs, decency policies, etc...), their policies and reviews are quite consistent and they pretty much kiss our asses knowing EA is a gorilla publisher... with Nintendo - it's a pain. Their policies randomly change left and right at different times and are quite vague. It seems like we have to fight to get our games released for their system concerning issues not even mentioned in their policies.
Personally thinking about this issue and others, I think Nintendo's biggest enemy is itself.
You're also still overlooking the high initial monetary investment - not to mention the high cost of time with pirating for an individual (the time it takes to make contacts to get access to nice servers - not including the time it takes to learn to do this - shit with the time ppl waste they might as well buy the game - so they have time left over for a real social life outside the internet).
I think only the slashdot crowd is patient enough to mess around that much with a computer...
1. Ease of use
a) With consoles all you do is plug it into the tv and power outlet, pop in the game, and you get entertainment.
b) With the PC, you have to plug a bunch of peripherals, login to the OS, install drivers, install the game, install patches, and if this was a perfect world (assuming you also bought the perfect pricey hardware) - you get entertainment. More so than not- you get frustration, even for people intimately familiar with the machine.
oh yeah joe sixpack doesn't mod games let alone know how to installed fan made mods
2. Price
a)A decent PC that plays the latest PC games decently will run around $1000 - $1800 (depending on what is considered decent) (a PC used for just word processing will run about $200).
b)A decent console that plays the latest decent console games will run from $99 - $179.
One more thing while some PCs can now plug into TVs, they still don't consistently look good on Tv's like consoles do....
Based on what the market is saying, consoles are already beating the crap out of the pc for games for the reasons I mentioned above...
I think it takes big balls to admit that you were wrong and what you made sucks, especially when you add that you will fix what sucks...
Unfortunatly, China makes a lot of manufactured goods that US companies sell - take for instance almost every computer component... The question is - does India need a US middleman and China is right next door?
Most of this article's arguments use economics as its basis. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't economics still more of an art than a real science? Isn't it just a bunch of "theories" that can't be repeatably validated in real life?
First of all I'm Chinese American so don't mistake this as a racist rant... anyways being that the US's physical goods are being made in China and the US's abstract products are now being made in India - who profits in the US? I only see high ranking execs (CEO's, etc...) and people who own a ton of stock - making any money. What happens to the middle class? Will the US keep having a middle class?
Just for the record, the department of labor was predicting a job gain of 17 million for 2003. In reality there was a loss of tens of thousands of jobs. The 22 million prediction sounds like re-election propaganda...
Besides, in the long run, is it really smart to transer all your knowledge to a potential competitor and not retain it?
In your first post - you make it sound like Eclipse looks like crap - I just found that funny considering IDEA and Eclipse look almost identical to a non-discerning programmer...
I'm just surprised you were so harsh on Eclipse considering you like IDEA a lot (i would understand if you liked Netbeans). Eclipse to me is basically an open source copy of IDEA. Hell, they even look alike. - if you want the grey look and feel for eclipse - just customize your windows theme.
" unfortunately I haven't managed to wean the current employer off Visual Studio.NET yet."
I hate to say this but I think the java community actually has to play catch up to .NET's features and funationality. Even though Eclipse is my favorite because it's cross platform and open, I think .NET is the best IDE out there. Development on it is just really nice compared to anything else out there because everything is integrated and almost automatic....
-if that was true, people wouldn't buy phones with cameras, PIMs, and God knows what. The market has decided what they want (tons of crap) and the manufacturers are giving it to them. If they didn't make money off of these models, we wouldn't see anymore of them.
On a side note, you could probably afford a new computer if you didn't drop it on buying IDEA... just a thought
The windows look like it or not is still 10 times better than metal.
"This is complete bullshit. IntelliJ IDEA runs fine on a PII-333 laptop with 256Mb of RAM, whereas Eclipse runs like complete shit on the same box."
This probably depends on the jsdk you're running and the versions IDEA and Eclipse you were running. It's also very likely that you and I have different views on performance since some people would counter that Netbeans performs well on 333mhz machines... You're obviously using an old version of IDEA... because on my 500mhz 256mb ram machine - the current version of IDEA is not as fast as eclipse and it seems IDEA's min requirements are:
Minimum: CPU - PII 500 (Mac: 733 MHz G4); RAM - 192 Mb (Mac: 256 Mb); HDD 200 Mb
I'm just saying in my view - IDEA, Netbeans, and JEdit are too slow for me
Are you kidding me? I guess you consider '$' as a good representation of a monster? Or have you remembered the fact that back then box covers were ussually more appealing than the graphics in the game?
First, I dont' think it's realistic to cripple a UI's features for crosscompatibility. Second, looks do count or most people wouldn't switch from Swing's nasty ass metal look.
"IDEA uses Swing and it's fast enough. JEdit using Swing and it is fast enough."
The people who use IDEA typically have the money to counteract Swing's slow ass performance (this is a good assumption of someone that drops a couple grand for an IDE). On the other hand, most people like me, do not have the money for a nice rig that costs $3000.
And no, JEdit is not fast enough. That's like saying Netbeans is fast enough. Neither can handle Eclipse's cool coding features on a crappy computer, and neither responds to me faster than I can think (using a crappy under $1000 computer).
"It's not crossplatform in a workable way."
It is, that's why Eclipse is super popular.
This is not true. You obviously haven't used Netbeans or Eclipse, since there is a huge difference between both. Netbeans is built on top of Swing. Theoretically, Swing is a really nice GUI library that is very flexible. In the real world, Swing made Netbeans too slow to be usable, not to mention the metal UI made it look ugly too. SWT, the GUI library Eclipse uses, doesn't have all the bells and whistles Swing has - but it doesn't have Swing's horrible overhead and nasty look either. IBM made the right choice and the community agrees. Besides after next week, Ecipse will be an independent body from IBM. So it's Sun's fault if it doesn't want to join.
Sun is also smoking a lot of crack if it thinks the community would rather use a piece of crap like netbeans instead of eclipse.
Back then the biggest problem was graphics. it was really hard for some people to imagine that they were fighting some big ugly monster with ten heads when all they would see on the screen as representative of the monster was an ascii symbol. I think fancy packaging made up for this deficiency. Today it's no longer a problem. Besides I'd rather have a good game with extra money spent toward better QA or other things that are actually in the game as opposed to collectible junk.