I agree. Imagine a cable local loop where the service was free? It'd be a lovely 28.8k modem attached to the Ethernet NIC since the loop would be so clogged. I'd be willing to pay to upgrade to a limited local loop where there'd be no more, than, say, 50 users. DSL is more interesting since the topology is different. The bottle neck would be moved to the providers network. Imagine a free DSL service?
I think we're missing something here in how the computer market will develop. Up until farily recently, we were in the "pyramid stage"--the newbie user (bottom of pyramid) learns an OS over time until they become an expert (top of pyramid). However, I think we're entering the beginning of an inverted pyramid model. Mainstream users want instand-on, blissfully simple to use, and the limited set of apps they run. There are already initiatives to make this happen to Wintel machines. As high bandwidth connections become prevalent, the mainstreamers will prefer to use more of a network computer-type box. It'll be plenty powerful to run their apps and have high speed Net access to allow them to run other apps on remote server or, if they're daring, download software. So, if newbies start in the model of the inverted pyramids, they'll tend toward the bottom of the lower pyramid if they go for the NC-type machine because it's easy, fast enough, and versatile enough for their needs or they'll tend toward the upper pyramid where they'll use a traditional computer for which they can upgrade hardware, they'll have a couple OSes installed, etc.
I thought Bill was leaving NOTHING to his kids. In that case, if I were his kid, I'd be disgruntled. However, $10 million in the bank is plenty of money to never have to work again. Even if I were a greedy kid, a couple hundred million in the bank is an effing lot of money.
My initial reaction was "how effing stupid must Universal be for suing over links.". The ability to link is central to the Web. However, I thought of one important distinction under which I could see a law suit for linking. If the site containing the links runs a for-profit site where the pages on the other end of the link are content for the for-profit site, this does seem to be a copyright violation. To me, this case is no different than when any other kind of media is reused/resold for profit.
If you have a movie Web site where people paid for movie info such that a user would pay to follow the link to Universal's site, this seems to be a clear violation (to me, it's like making copies of a video and selling them). However, if you have a car dealership web site and you have a link from your site to a a movie that uses one of the cars you're selling, I don't think this is a violation. The Web site itself is not a source of income for the car dealer even though the car dealership is a for-profit business. The primary interest in following the link is not related to the core business of the content on the other end of the link (i.e. you're not following the link for a movie-related reason, rather, for a car-related reason). However, if the link were to a movie showing how to take care of that kind of car, it may be a violation.
Flash cards certainly help as far as savings games go, but flash cards are usually small. So, their utility in saving games varies according to how large the saved game files are (or, until very large flash cards become cheap).
The demos in magazines are nice, but that is limited. You need softwhere for a computer to take a demo you downloaded from the Net and write it in the correct format to a DVD. That makes it more general (I don't want to have to subscribe to a magazine just to get the demos).
I think the most important complaint, after the lack of games I'd want to play, is the lack of online gaming. And a modem is just not good enough. I want high speed acces and I don't want voice calls to be prevented from getting through. The 10BaseT port is cheap and standard. Whether you have DSL or cable modem doesn't matter. Hook it up to your computer network, and you can play games that way.
I've never liked consoles (well, since I got a 386 and ditched the Intellivsion and C64). The reason had always been that I thought the games were boring. The games all seemed the same and lacked depth. Computing game, to me, had always been far superior.
After reading a little about the next generation consoles, it is pretty clear they have the power to run any game I'd want to play. But, in order for me to even think about using a console as my primary gaming machine, I'd need it to have a couple other capabilities:
1) Internet access for online gaming via an Ethernet port. A 10baseT port should be provided and I should be able to use the console with my cable modem. You should also be able to play a game over a network with a mix of consoles and computers.
2) Since I am assuming that the games available for my theoretical kick-ass console are the same games that would be available for a traditional computer, I need to be able to save my game in the same way as a computer game. No fucking level codes are going to cut it when you realize it's 3AM and you must stop playing Alpha Centauri to have a prayer of getting up the next day for work.
The only other missing piece are the games. Convince the game makers that the kick-ass console can play the same games as a traditional computer, and game makers will come. The potential for profits is too high not to attract game makers, Unlike a computer, you know that everyone who buys a console is looking to play games.
I would like to see some comments as to why Delphi should be ported to Linux. Is the thinking that Delphi makes devloping apps easier/faster. Therefore, more/better apps for Linux will result from a Linux Delphi?
Since Be knows they're going to be pigeon-holed as to what role their OS fulfills, they decided to be the ones to assign themselves a niche. Now, they're going to raise capital (IPO) because they know they need to get applications for their OS. They target their perceived niche first, giving those involved in such media applications an overwhelming reason to use BeOS. Once they've conquered that market, they have a beachhead from which they can go after a broader segment.
Looking into the future, "media" isn't a bad segment to be in. Although "media" sounds like a small segment, it's really a great marketing ploy that is much more general than it sounds. How many times do you read about multimedia, graphis, or other related buzzword? While the applications they target first (video production apps or high-end graphic modeling) are niche markets, they translate well into the broader segments.
Here's the system I want. A large (52"?) plasma or LCD HDTV display. The display would be attached (but removable, if you wanted to wall-mount it) to a base. Thev base contains a RePlay/TiVo-type recorder and a DCD-RAM/RW drive. You feel you need to make a more permanent copy of your favorite ER? No problem. Select the show from the PVR device's menu and send it to the DVD drive. Just plug in your speakers of choice to enjoy the Dolby Digital, sit back, and enjoy.
Maybe Nielson will need to modify its rating system to consider programs that are watched when air versus shows that are recorded for watching later?
Slashdot Mirror
I agree. Imagine a cable local loop where the service was free? It'd be a lovely 28.8k modem attached to the Ethernet NIC since the loop would be so clogged. I'd be willing to pay to upgrade to a limited local loop where there'd be no more, than, say, 50 users. DSL is more interesting since the topology is different. The bottle neck would be moved to the providers network. Imagine a free DSL service?
I think we're missing something here in how the computer market will develop. Up until farily recently, we were in the "pyramid stage"--the newbie user (bottom of pyramid) learns an OS over time until they become an expert (top of pyramid).
However, I think we're entering the beginning of an inverted pyramid model. Mainstream users want instand-on, blissfully simple to use, and the limited set of apps they run. There are already initiatives to make this happen to Wintel machines. As high bandwidth connections become prevalent, the mainstreamers will prefer to use more of a network computer-type box. It'll be plenty powerful to run their apps and have high speed Net access to allow them to run other apps on remote server or, if they're daring, download software. So, if newbies start in the model of the inverted pyramids, they'll tend toward the bottom of the lower pyramid if they go for the NC-type machine because it's easy, fast enough, and versatile enough for their needs or they'll tend toward the upper pyramid where they'll use a traditional computer for which they can upgrade hardware, they'll have a couple OSes installed, etc.
I thought Bill was leaving NOTHING to his kids. In that case, if I were his kid, I'd be disgruntled. However, $10 million in the bank is plenty of money to never have to work again. Even if I were a greedy kid, a couple hundred million in the bank is an effing lot of money.
My initial reaction was "how effing stupid must Universal be for suing over links.". The ability to link is central to the Web. However, I thought of one important distinction under which I could see a law suit for linking. If the site containing the links runs a for-profit site where the pages on the other end of the link are content for the for-profit site, this does seem to be a copyright violation. To me, this case is no different than when any other kind of media is reused/resold for profit.
If you have a movie Web site where people paid for movie info such that a user would pay to follow the link to Universal's site, this seems to be a clear violation (to me, it's like making copies of a video and selling them). However, if you have a car dealership web site and you have a link from your site to a a movie that uses one of the cars you're selling, I don't think this is a violation. The Web site itself is not a source of income for the car dealer even though the car dealership is a for-profit business. The primary interest in following the link is not related to the core business of the content on the other end of the link (i.e. you're not following the link for a movie-related reason, rather, for a car-related reason). However, if the link were to a movie showing how to take care of that kind of car, it may be a violation.
Flash cards certainly help as far as savings games go, but flash cards are usually small. So, their utility in saving games varies according to how large the saved game files are (or, until very large flash cards become cheap).
The demos in magazines are nice, but that is limited. You need softwhere for a computer to take a demo you downloaded from the Net and write it in the correct format to a DVD. That makes it more general (I don't want to have to subscribe to a magazine just to get the demos).
I think the most important complaint, after the lack of games I'd want to play, is the lack of online gaming. And a modem is just not good enough. I want high speed acces and I don't want voice calls to be prevented from getting through. The 10BaseT port is cheap and standard. Whether you have DSL or cable modem doesn't matter. Hook it up to your computer network, and you can play games that way.
I've never liked consoles (well, since I got a 386 and ditched the Intellivsion and C64). The reason had always been that I thought the games were boring. The games all seemed the same and lacked depth. Computing game, to me, had always been far superior.
After reading a little about the next generation consoles, it is pretty clear they have the power to run any game I'd want to play. But, in order for me to even think about using a console as my primary gaming machine, I'd need it to have a couple other capabilities:
1) Internet access for online gaming via an Ethernet port. A 10baseT port should be provided and I should be able to use the console with my cable modem. You should also be able to play a game over a network with a mix of consoles and computers.
2) Since I am assuming that the games available for my theoretical kick-ass console are the same games that would be available for a traditional computer, I need to be able to save my game in the same way as a computer game. No fucking level codes are going to cut it when you realize it's 3AM and you must stop playing Alpha Centauri to have a prayer of getting up the next day for work.
The only other missing piece are the games. Convince the game makers that the kick-ass console can play the same games as a traditional computer, and game makers will come. The potential for profits is too high not to attract game makers, Unlike a computer, you know that everyone who buys a console is looking to play games.
I would like to see some comments as to why Delphi should be ported to Linux. Is the thinking that Delphi makes devloping apps easier/faster. Therefore, more/better apps for Linux will result from a Linux Delphi?
Since Be knows they're going to be pigeon-holed as to what role their OS fulfills, they decided to be the ones to assign themselves a niche. Now, they're going to raise capital (IPO) because they know they need to get applications for their OS. They target their perceived niche first, giving those involved in such media applications an overwhelming reason to use BeOS. Once they've conquered that market, they have a beachhead from which they can go after a broader segment.
Looking into the future, "media" isn't a bad segment to be in. Although "media" sounds like a small segment, it's really a great marketing ploy that is much more general than it sounds. How many times do you read about multimedia, graphis, or other related buzzword? While the applications they target first (video production apps or high-end graphic modeling) are niche markets, they translate well into the broader segments.
I hope Be succeeds. It looks like a nice OS.
Here's the system I want. A large (52"?) plasma or LCD HDTV display. The display would be attached (but removable, if you wanted to wall-mount it) to a base. Thev base contains a RePlay/TiVo-type recorder and a DCD-RAM/RW drive. You feel you need to make a more permanent copy of your favorite ER? No problem. Select the show from the PVR device's menu and send it to the DVD drive. Just plug in your speakers of choice to enjoy the Dolby Digital, sit back, and enjoy.
Maybe Nielson will need to modify its rating system to consider programs that are watched when air versus shows that are recorded for watching later?
The artcle said that publication is a required element in a defamation lawsuit. I can't imagine bits passing through a pipe constituting publication.