You're really comparing Fossils and Ferrets there:
The Model 'T' was revolutionary in that it made available a new technology that people already wanted available in quantity, and at a price most could afford.
Cell phones, like automobiles, were adopted first by the wealthy, then as prices dropped and supplies increased (a connection there???), they became ubiquitous.
As WiMax enters the market, most of the country is a vastly different landscape. The need for broadband is already being met by other means in most places. Near where I live, there is a market for WiMax (being served by Clearwire), because there are no wired alternatives. It is a large market geographically, but not so much in population. That's the kind of market Clearwire has been working in, becasuse it offers them the best chance of success. No real competition means they are selling on the availability of access, not the features of WiMax.
When WiMax becomes the issue, which it will when they expand further into markets already more widely served, the pitch will have to be more specific. So far, I haven't seen WiMax roaming happen, but that would be the benefit that offers something over the local telco or cable company.
21.3 Million in 7 years? Maybe. Is that significant in a world with so many alternatives? Maybe so.
Your first qualification takes you out of the race: The cost of components, motors, controllers, (and especially batteries) are much more than the cost of a gas-sipping clunker. As much as people want to save gas/the world, the economic reality for most is that the total cost of electric is much more than conventional alternatives.
That said, I love my Prius. I can justify it with a long daily commute, as I get a more comfortable drive in it than a similarly thrifty gas-powered car. Overall, I could have saved money with gas, and the environmental difference is negligible. As a/.'er the coolness factor is what really matters anyway.
Since when is your name 'confidential information'? Public. The fact that you have asked for government assistance? Public.
I guess it would also bother you if law enforcement looked through the phone book for people they're trying to catch up with, too.
Let's see, we don't want to look only among people of a particular race or cultural group. That would be profiling. Mustn't use facial recognition software (too invasive)! Can't focus on a particular religious group (The O.B.Laden Temple of Burn, Baby, Burn); that's Protected. Of course we can't pay attention to the flags they burn, or the threats and comments they make: that's Free Speech! And now you don't want to check their NAMES?
I know most people making these arguments mean well. The problem is, the people benefitting most from them do not mean well.
Human Rights are equal for all; you're human, you deserve them. Civil Rights are conferred by society, and subject to revocation. Anybody who threatens the former, deserves little of the latter.
Oh Puh-lease!
EVERYONE knows the REAL number is 11.32019 per IP address.
This is just silliness! There is no magic number that works everywhere; fuggidaboudit.
If it matters that much to KNOW the real number of unique visitors, ask each one for a scan of their right thumbprint, and then create a database.
I thought so.
To toss out an interesting story because the person who found it first is annoying is, well, lame.
I want to know about the interesting story. I want to hear about string theory and the latest game console, about quantum physics and why penguins don't live in Australia. I like the variety that you get when you're seeing what interests so many people. I don't care that one person or another has so much time on their hands that they find more of them first than others of us do. The fact that the story is accepted means someone else thought it was were worthy of sharing, even if only one person submitted it. So share.
If we then get dimwits posting off-topic comments about the poster or the great conspiracy, well, we're going to get those anyway. They should be modded down accordingly, just like any other off-topic waste of electrons...
What is the best way for new IS managers to convince their superiors of the need for widespread change?
Well, you've been there six years. When do you expect the 'new guy' to arrive?
Your pattern is already established. They are getting exactly what they expect (and presumably want) from you. If you want to change the course, you're going to have to change boats. The time to be a 'new broom that sweeps clean' is when you are new, with the mandate and presumed competence that come from a new responsibility.
I have to agree: for you at least, this is an opportunity that isn't. That said, you have little to lose by pressing for reforms. Just get your letters of recommendation up front.
I am sick up and fed with the whole "advertise a bogus price" thing anyway. For my money, show me the price it takes to walk out the door with it. In fact, I would LOVE to circulate petitions for a referendum that would make it illegal to advertise anything else.
There are words for advertisers who promise rebates that never arrive, but my Kids read/.
With regard to Ebonics; at the height of that idiocy, we proposed federal funding for our local Bovonics outreach. You see, Timmy, here in Dairy country, all the kids measure time by the number of Milkings. Everyone loves to go to the Moooovies. Every workplace has a Bossie.
If this worked as an enticement to literacy, I would be in favor (anything for literacy, right?).
It won't. It's lunacy to think it would. Companies that spend a nickel on such a thing should be sold short in every market, yesterday.
There is NO demand for this, so it will die quickly, only to become a footnote in the Wikipedia of the Absurd.
At least he didn't create another TLA, (technically, not possible: there were only 26^3 possibilities in English, and we've used them all).
Still, the thoughtless creation of Meaningless Pseudo-Buzzwords (MPB) does run rampant among the illiterati.
In response to this plague of drivel (POD), the international community has decided to adopt new procedures. (um. that's us)
Effective immediately, all MPB's are to be reviewed for acceptance by DIVOT (Departmente Internacional for Verification Of Truth). Just as the creation of TLA's is regulated by the ACT, DIVOT's management of MPB's will help improve global communications.
And stop with the new TLA's, already. We here at the ACT (Acronym Creation Team)don't appreciate this kind of interference by MIA's (Mis-Informed Amateurs).
The efficiency claims of the Prius have been debated much here and elsewhere. Let me give you some first-hand Real Data(tm).
I bought an '05 Prius last April, after considering a cheaper Scion XA with decent mileage. The cost of the Scion over a 5 year life at 26k miles per year (with fuel) was lower by about $1500. Problem was, the car was too freakin' small! It also didn't _feel_ like something I wanted to drive 130,000 miles in.
Instead, I got the Prius, figuring I might get 40mpg, since the advertising says 50+. Yes, I paid more to get the bluetooth and all the electronic goodies.
I drive the car 500 miles a week, sometimes more. Nearly all of that (95%) is California freeway. Not Southern California rush hour, but Central California 60mph all the way. My mileage ranges from 51 to 56mpg, depending on the brand I buy.
Yes, the brand makes a difference, I have learned, as does the speed you drive (Big Time!). It even makes a difference how often you try to stay 5 lengths back of a big truck, if you want to get technical. Without getting carried away, and simply maintaining a steady 60mph, I can get 55 miles on a gallon.
This in a mid-size car that really does carry 5 adults and rides well. Disposable, recyclable, all that other nonsense aside, I just really enjoy getting insanely good mileage. Good for the planet? Yeah, okay.
1) develop unique products
2) patent them
3) profit!
What was so bad about that?
now we have
1) patent oxygen
2) use patent to protect OSS movement
3) profit!
Even better!
Unfortunately for the GMonopoly GFans, GVoice.com is already registered to somebody in Korea.
Somebody is parking on GVideo.com,
ditto for GMovies.com,
but good news:
GWhiz.com is actually in use by someone who doesn't seem to be prospecting.
Okay, first note: this is a preliminary injunction, NOT a court decision. The issue has not been decided, but BOTH parties agreed that an injunction was appropriate pending a decision by the court.
At some point in the future, there will be a court decision on whether the owner of the hardware was allowed to have someone else work on it without putting them in violation of DMCA.
In the meantime, disclosure of the codes would have caused irreparable harm to the IP of Storage Tek, rendering such a decision meaningless.
Does this mean Storage Tek will win eventually? I hope not. But it doesn't mean that (as one poster said) "Activist judges are using the DMCA to stifle American competitiveness"! Get serious.
It's the LAWYERS, not the judges...
"cooking oil is more expensive at the grocery store than gasoline (I guess it depends on where you live)"
Too True! Several stories last year about creative folks in the UK who got busted buying cooking oil by the cartload at the local ASDA store (the Wal*Mart name there. The smell of fish & chip exhauset was another tip-off to authorities when one fellow used filtered oil from his local Chippie. Happened in Surrey and Wales, I believe.
So what was the problem? Nobody paid the fuel taxes!
At $5+ per gallon in the UK, you save where you can!
I can't beleive no one has posted this yet: The quoted article said:
"Of particular interest are several large "dark" areas of uniformly low reflectivity. One possible interpretation is that they represent huge surface reservoirs of liquid hydrocarbons."
It's Oil!
I hereby claim this moon in the name of Texaco.
If we can build a highway to get there, we'll be able to fill up and come back!
I can't believe it took this long for somebody to post the obvious!
If 40% of the dial-up customers last year wanted faster connections, it figures some of them might have actually upgraded themselves out of the qualified pool of respondents...
The reason most often cited for slumping television ratings is the ever-increasing availability of alternatives, from satellite and cable channels to DVD rentals to the Internet. People just havbe more choices when it come to how to spend an evening.
The same is true of music. We have satellite delivered content on a couple of hundred channels now, (CD quality, no commercials, and recordable: different from buying a CD how?)
I agree with the other posting most, though. Give me quality content and I'll buy it if I like it. Give me restrictive technologies and outrageous pricing, and I can find other things to do.
The idea is the thing, right? It's all about the content after all..
No, it isn't. It's also about communication, and to the extent that better presentation helps communicate more clearly, CSS should be used. The best ideas that are never heard matter not.
Don't let the presentation get in the way of the content? Exactly. But don't let the lack of presentation take away from it either.
While the 'market share' hackers and geeks account for is small, the 'innovation share' is huge. The hackers are the ones who push technologies into new areas, who ask the ever important "what if" questions about the use of a new tool, or substance, or discovery.
We are all descendants of the alpha hacker. The guy who decided to taste the meat that had been in the fire.
Somebody has to figure out the best way to use this stuff, and too few companies pay engineers to play.
That caught my attention, with the recent proposal to lower the voting age in California. I'm just a bit nervous about our legislators finding out there is a 16 year-old running for President, even if it is online.
I hope that the thousands of regular TSO players who are old enough to vote come out of this simulated fun-fest long enough to help decide issues in the real world. Then again, looking at some recent election results, I guess virtual reality already has too much influence.
I echo everything in that reply, and add this. Planning, yes. Also a really devoted and scrupulously honest Attorney. (no it's not an oxymoron).
No matter what employees you need to have, g/f's and family change the dynamic. I have at times employed my mother, my daughter, my brother-in-law, and a couple of others whose relationship was not so easy to define. The problems you foresee are real. The ones you don't expect are deadly.
The best person for the job is the one you must have. Carrying relationship baggage around can be more than many businesses can handle, no matter how good the relationship might be. The always assumed reason for decisions can be hard on your dealings with other employees. Customers may be reluctant to criticize the work of someone 'in the family'. Most of all, you may be easier (or harder) on someone because of the relationship.
The most important reason not to have family in the workplace is this. Home should be a refuge from the world, at least the work-world. Keep your work life separate from your family life, and you will find it easier to lave the problems of the day behind when it's time to go home. Bring family into the workplace, and the work day never ends.
I know, we're all fanatics about our work, it's what we love to do, etc. etc. etc. Bull. If you don't provide yourself with a life outside of work, what are you working for?
Slashdot Mirror
You're really comparing Fossils and Ferrets there: The Model 'T' was revolutionary in that it made available a new technology that people already wanted available in quantity, and at a price most could afford.
Cell phones, like automobiles, were adopted first by the wealthy, then as prices dropped and supplies increased (a connection there???), they became ubiquitous.
As WiMax enters the market, most of the country is a vastly different landscape. The need for broadband is already being met by other means in most places. Near where I live, there is a market for WiMax (being served by Clearwire), because there are no wired alternatives. It is a large market geographically, but not so much in population. That's the kind of market Clearwire has been working in, becasuse it offers them the best chance of success. No real competition means they are selling on the availability of access, not the features of WiMax.
When WiMax becomes the issue, which it will when they expand further into markets already more widely served, the pitch will have to be more specific. So far, I haven't seen WiMax roaming happen, but that would be the benefit that offers something over the local telco or cable company.
21.3 Million in 7 years? Maybe. Is that significant in a world with so many alternatives? Maybe so.
Your first qualification takes you out of the race: The cost of components, motors, controllers, (and especially batteries) are much more than the cost of a gas-sipping clunker. As much as people want to save gas/the world, the economic reality for most is that the total cost of electric is much more than conventional alternatives.
/.'er the coolness factor is what really matters anyway.
That said, I love my Prius. I can justify it with a long daily commute, as I get a more comfortable drive in it than a similarly thrifty gas-powered car. Overall, I could have saved money with gas, and the environmental difference is negligible. As a
Since when is your name 'confidential information'? Public. The fact that you have asked for government assistance? Public.
I guess it would also bother you if law enforcement looked through the phone book for people they're trying to catch up with, too.
Let's see, we don't want to look only among people of a particular race or cultural group. That would be profiling. Mustn't use facial recognition software (too invasive)! Can't focus on a particular religious group (The O.B.Laden Temple of Burn, Baby, Burn); that's Protected. Of course we can't pay attention to the flags they burn, or the threats and comments they make: that's Free Speech! And now you don't want to check their NAMES?
I know most people making these arguments mean well. The problem is, the people benefitting most from them do not mean well.
Human Rights are equal for all; you're human, you deserve them. Civil Rights are conferred by society, and subject to revocation. Anybody who threatens the former, deserves little of the latter.
Gee, I thought his name was Junior...
Oh Puh-lease! EVERYONE knows the REAL number is 11.32019 per IP address. This is just silliness! There is no magic number that works everywhere; fuggidaboudit. If it matters that much to KNOW the real number of unique visitors, ask each one for a scan of their right thumbprint, and then create a database. I thought so.
I just had a thought. Do I owe anything?
I want to know about the interesting story. I want to hear about string theory and the latest game console, about quantum physics and why penguins don't live in Australia. I like the variety that you get when you're seeing what interests so many people. I don't care that one person or another has so much time on their hands that they find more of them first than others of us do. The fact that the story is accepted means someone else thought it was were worthy of sharing, even if only one person submitted it. So share.
If we then get dimwits posting off-topic comments about the poster or the great conspiracy, well, we're going to get those anyway. They should be modded down accordingly, just like any other off-topic waste of electrons...
Stay the course, Commander!
Well, you've been there six years. When do you expect the 'new guy' to arrive?
Your pattern is already established. They are getting exactly what they expect (and presumably want) from you. If you want to change the course, you're going to have to change boats. The time to be a 'new broom that sweeps clean' is when you are new, with the mandate and presumed competence that come from a new responsibility.
I have to agree: for you at least, this is an opportunity that isn't. That said, you have little to lose by pressing for reforms. Just get your letters of recommendation up front.
I am sick up and fed with the whole "advertise a bogus price" thing anyway. For my money, show me the price it takes to walk out the door with it. In fact, I would LOVE to circulate petitions for a referendum that would make it illegal to advertise anything else.
There are words for advertisers who promise rebates that never arrive, but my Kids read /.
Accessible to the masses, and all that.
With regard to Ebonics; at the height of that idiocy, we proposed federal funding for our local Bovonics outreach. You see, Timmy, here in Dairy country, all the kids measure time by the number of Milkings. Everyone loves to go to the Moooovies. Every workplace has a Bossie.
If this worked as an enticement to literacy, I would be in favor (anything for literacy, right?).
It won't. It's lunacy to think it would. Companies that spend a nickel on such a thing should be sold short in every market, yesterday.
There is NO demand for this, so it will die quickly, only to become a footnote in the Wikipedia of the Absurd.
Still, the thoughtless creation of Meaningless Pseudo-Buzzwords (MPB) does run rampant among the illiterati.
In response to this plague of drivel (POD), the international community has decided to adopt new procedures. (um. that's us)
Effective immediately, all MPB's are to be reviewed for acceptance by DIVOT (Departmente Internacional for Verification Of Truth). Just as the creation of TLA's is regulated by the ACT, DIVOT's management of MPB's will help improve global communications.
And stop with the new TLA's, already. We here at the ACT (Acronym Creation Team)don't appreciate this kind of interference by MIA's (Mis-Informed Amateurs).
The efficiency claims of the Prius have been debated much here and elsewhere. Let me give you some first-hand Real Data(tm). I bought an '05 Prius last April, after considering a cheaper Scion XA with decent mileage. The cost of the Scion over a 5 year life at 26k miles per year (with fuel) was lower by about $1500. Problem was, the car was too freakin' small! It also didn't _feel_ like something I wanted to drive 130,000 miles in. Instead, I got the Prius, figuring I might get 40mpg, since the advertising says 50+. Yes, I paid more to get the bluetooth and all the electronic goodies. I drive the car 500 miles a week, sometimes more. Nearly all of that (95%) is California freeway. Not Southern California rush hour, but Central California 60mph all the way. My mileage ranges from 51 to 56mpg, depending on the brand I buy. Yes, the brand makes a difference, I have learned, as does the speed you drive (Big Time!). It even makes a difference how often you try to stay 5 lengths back of a big truck, if you want to get technical. Without getting carried away, and simply maintaining a steady 60mph, I can get 55 miles on a gallon. This in a mid-size car that really does carry 5 adults and rides well. Disposable, recyclable, all that other nonsense aside, I just really enjoy getting insanely good mileage. Good for the planet? Yeah, okay.
1) develop unique products 2) patent them 3) profit! What was so bad about that? now we have 1) patent oxygen 2) use patent to protect OSS movement 3) profit! Even better!
Unfortunately for the GMonopoly GFans, GVoice.com is already registered to somebody in Korea. Somebody is parking on GVideo.com, ditto for GMovies.com, but good news: GWhiz.com is actually in use by someone who doesn't seem to be prospecting.
WE knew that. It was all that standing water that caused the green men to die out. Something about mosquitos and West Nile virus...
Okay, first note: this is a preliminary injunction, NOT a court decision. The issue has not been decided, but BOTH parties agreed that an injunction was appropriate pending a decision by the court. At some point in the future, there will be a court decision on whether the owner of the hardware was allowed to have someone else work on it without putting them in violation of DMCA. In the meantime, disclosure of the codes would have caused irreparable harm to the IP of Storage Tek, rendering such a decision meaningless. Does this mean Storage Tek will win eventually? I hope not. But it doesn't mean that (as one poster said) "Activist judges are using the DMCA to stifle American competitiveness"! Get serious. It's the LAWYERS, not the judges...
So what was the problem? Nobody paid the fuel taxes!
At $5+ per gallon in the UK, you save where you can!
I hereby claim this moon in the name of Texaco.
If we can build a highway to get there, we'll be able to fill up and come back!
If 40% of the dial-up customers last year wanted faster connections, it figures some of them might have actually upgraded themselves out of the qualified pool of respondents...
The reason most often cited for slumping television ratings is the ever-increasing availability of alternatives, from satellite and cable channels to DVD rentals to the Internet. People just havbe more choices when it come to how to spend an evening.
The same is true of music. We have satellite delivered content on a couple of hundred channels now, (CD quality, no commercials, and recordable: different from buying a CD how?)
I agree with the other posting most, though. Give me quality content and I'll buy it if I like it. Give me restrictive technologies and outrageous pricing, and I can find other things to do.
No, it isn't. It's also about communication, and to the extent that better presentation helps communicate more clearly, CSS should be used. The best ideas that are never heard matter not.
Don't let the presentation get in the way of the content? Exactly. But don't let the lack of presentation take away from it either.
A very insightful article, at least as far as describing the problem. Now, who's up for a solution?
No, I don't have one either, and whoever does will have a hell of a time breaking the status Quo...
While the 'market share' hackers and geeks account for is small, the 'innovation share' is huge. The hackers are the ones who push technologies into new areas, who ask the ever important "what if" questions about the use of a new tool, or substance, or discovery.
We are all descendants of the alpha hacker. The guy who decided to taste the meat that had been in the fire.
Somebody has to figure out the best way to use this stuff, and too few companies pay engineers to play.
I hope that the thousands of regular TSO players who are old enough to vote come out of this simulated fun-fest long enough to help decide issues in the real world. Then again, looking at some recent election results, I guess virtual reality already has too much influence.
No matter what employees you need to have, g/f's and family change the dynamic.
I have at times employed my mother, my daughter, my brother-in-law, and a couple of others whose relationship was not so easy to define. The problems you foresee are real. The ones you don't expect are deadly.
The best person for the job is the one you must have. Carrying relationship baggage around can be more than many businesses can handle, no matter how good the relationship might be.
The always assumed reason for decisions can be hard on your dealings with other employees. Customers may be reluctant to criticize the work of someone 'in the family'. Most of all, you may be easier (or harder) on someone because of the relationship.
The most important reason not to have family in the workplace is this. Home should be a refuge from the world, at least the work-world. Keep your work life separate from your family life, and you will find it easier to lave the problems of the day behind when it's time to go home. Bring family into the workplace, and the work day never ends.
I know, we're all fanatics about our work, it's what we love to do, etc. etc. etc.
Bull. If you don't provide yourself with a life outside of work, what are you working for?