This might sound odd, but I try, whenever possible, to have a personal relationship with people I do business with.
Even when I order Mac upgrades online, I tend to buy from OWC because I know the owner and his crew. I see them every time I go to MacWorld, I consider them to be friends, and they've always taken care of me personally, while offering low prices.
I live really close to a Home Depot, and I sometimes shop there. But I go out of my way to shop at Baller Hardware because I went to highschool with the owner. Not only that, but his hardware selection, especially for more unusual screws, nuts, and bolts, is a lot better than Home Depot. Also, his store is better organized. The extra 15 minutes it takes to drive to his store is often saved in how quickly I can find things, with or without help. Some of his prices are actually better than home depot, and when they're not and I'm buying large quantities, he'll check and see if he can match the price.
I don't hate Starbucks, but it won't be my first choice if there is a local coffee bar. I'm not a coffee snob; I just want to get high. If I was a snob, I'd drink only Peet's. =) If there's nothing else, I'll drink Starbuck's and I don't do it begrudgingly or holding my nose. I'll drink 7/11 or AM/PM coffee in a pinch.
I'm not even arguing that this is good to do because it helps the local economy. It's just the way I like to do business when I can. I guess it makes me feel more human.
I think Walmart is probably the one vendor that Microsoft can't push around. However, I'm certain you're right. The vast majority of buyers will opt for Windows. Only those who are curious or on the thinnest of budgets would probably go with a Linux distro, if it was offered.
Was there any backlash from customers when Walmart offered Lindows/Linspire?
Somehow, I don't think that the people who can't tell the difference between a hard disk and RAM are the ones that are going to be buying their own parts. If they do, they're most likely going to learn the hard way. At that point, there's basically two roads. One, they'll NEVER try to put together their own computer ( and probably discourage all future generations from doing so, since they couldn't) OR two, they'll figure out what they did wrong and try again. If they take the second path enough times, they'll become a geek.
Instead of being dismissive of this Walmart thing, I'm interested in how they're going to do it. (Not that I like or shop at Walmart. I pretty much despise them.)
Anyone from the Bay Area remember Domino Computers? I forget exactly what their model was, but it was a build-your-own-computer. They provided the parts, the tools, the facilities and the advice. I think they offered classes/seminars, but I don't remember if those were free, or if you paid a fee.
Home Depot and Lowes sell diy materials, tools, and instruction books. They also offer free seminars on a variety of diy topics. Don't see why Walmart couldn't follow this example.
Another thing Walmart could do is use color coded packaging. This Red CPUs and Red RAM work with Red MBs. Green CPUs and Green RAM work with the Green MB. Oh, look the packaging on this PSU is Red and Blue. It works with the Red MB and the Blue MB, but not the Green. And look, this HD is in a purple package. It only works with the Purple MB and other Purple parts. So, the uneducated user need never know that his computer's HD is SATA; he only knows it's part of the Purple group. He doesn't need to know that his MB has an AGP slot, only that Yellow video cards work with Yello MBs.
I could also see Walmart being able to tailor you linux install based on what parts you buy. They scan all your parts, and their Distro distro system picks the right ISO for you and spits out a CD.
It was a rough estimate I got from looking at my "purchased music" list in iTunes.
Let me give you a better estimate:
502 items in purchased music
127 of those are actually TV shows/video clips, so
375 actual songs from iTMS.
Back to guessing: Maybe 20 of those songs are free download promotions.
I've received in the neighborhood of $100 in iTunes gift cards. Just to put it into perspective. So I've spent $255 of cold hard cash, another $100 redeeming gift cards. $355. Still a lot of money! The first song I purchased on October 23rd, 2003. So, I've spent around $12/month (355/12, rounding up). That doesn't sound as bad.
As to how it happened, just a little at a time. I mostly listen to music on my computer or my iPod. I've got a cheap one piece stereo unit in the living room and a boombox in the garage worshop, but I rarely play either.
To put this into more perspective, I've probably spent between $1500 and $2000 going to shows in the past year. Again, this is a very rough estimate (based on what I claimed for my taxes), and included not only tickets, but drinks, food, band merchandise, etc. The shows range from seeing the White Stripes at the Greek Amphitheater, X at House of Blues, etc, to seeing unknown bands at my favorite local dive (Mr. T's Bowl, a former bowling alley turned into a club).
This might also be why "lossy" codecs don't bother me too much. My hearing has been damaged from years and years of listening to loud music. When I realized that damage had occurred I began to take precautions, such as wearing foam earplugs to shows and when riding my motorcycle for long periods (wind noise at 60 mph can damage your hearing after a half hour), and not blasting my music at home. And I don't blast my iPod either.
Just in case anyone reading this isn't aware, hearing loss can be cumulative and irreversible. You might not notice until it's too late. I'm not preaching, just sharing my experience on that one.
That's not quite how the market works. I'm sure you've heard of supply-and-demand. A good part of the reason why Gates' shares are worth 40 Billion is because they're in demand. If you dump all that stock all at once, you're unleashing a huge supply, and the price goes down. Way down.
That's not to say that there wouldn't be chaos if Gates actually did something like this. But there wouldn't need to be 40 Billion liquid required to absorb it.
Much like its flagship software, MS the corporation is bloated and slow. But hidden under those layers of fat is a thin and sleek company. The truth is, there are a lot of very talented and creative people at MS that do some pretty cool stuff, and that could be doing world changing stuff if they weren't weighted down with corporate obesity.
My assumption is that MS is going to have to lose in the market for a while if it's going to lose the corporate fat. The question is, will MS be able to hold onto these employees as it endures its swing downward? With the right leadership, MS can weather this and be reborn. That leadership is definitely not Balmer, and I don't think it's Gates, either. Gates needs to find the right visionary (Ozzie), annoint him, then step back. If MS is going to have long term relevance, it is going to have to take major risks. One of those risks is putting leadership into place that is totally different from anything MS has seen so far.
If you mean to say that sometimes a person is so vile that they completely cancel out any physical attractiveness, and Ann Coulter is that type of person, then I heartily agree. Ann Coulter is one of the ugliest people on the planet.
Any interesting points he might make get lost in his bombastic troll-mudgeon generalizations. His "insights" are obvious and commonplace, and he misses the significance of what is really interesting. His head is firmly up his ass, and if he is ever to get a clear view of the modern computing world, he will need to get a windectomy*.
*That's when a doctor puts in a clear plastic panel in your stomach, so you can see the way forward whilst your head is jammed up you ass.
Third, taking animal byproducts and packaging it as petfood is highly questionable. I think packaging animal byproducts as hotdogs is a much better business plan.
I think you need to actually use the product and test it yourself if you're going to make pronouncements about whether the sound quality is acceptable or not. And maybe do a blind test, if you're intellectually honest. And I don't mean just burning a CD from mp3s and reripping. Not a fair comparison, since songs from iTunes Music Store are encoded into AAC from studio masters.
Furthermore, how can it be considered "circumvention" if it is explicitly allowed? If it was disallowed, and, further, there was a mechanism in place to prevent re-ripping, then you might have a point. Oh, but I forgot. You've never actually used iTunes or the iTunes Music Store.
If you're going to be an anti-DRM purist, fine. Just don't twist reality to fit your ideology.
I'm guessing he lives on Earth prime, where one can burn their iTMS purchased music onto a CD and re-rip into whatever format they'd like.
There's another reason why the music cartel couldn't stand up to Apple on pricing. To do so, they would have needed to be united, but to unite would have opened them up to charges of price-fixing, something for which they are currently under investigation. They might risk their enormous profits for the chance of even more enormous profits and more control, but they were also risking at the least prolonged legal headaches, at worst major legal penalties.
The cartel is going to die, but it's going to die very slowly. In the meantime, it will use whatever it can to prolong it's miserable life. Forcing Apple's hand would have shortened that life.
It's a very tenuous lock-in, and it's not terribly hard to work around. If you buy songs on iTMS, you are locked in to buying an iPod if you want to play those songs on an digital music player. Yes, you can burn the DRMed songs onto a CD and re-rip them as mp3. That's the work around.
However, because I've already invested over $400 in music from iTMS, I'm not even going to consider buying a player other than an iPod unless there is a compelling feature on a non-iPod player.
Think of it as "soft" lock-in. If I really want to get out from under Apple, I can and I will. I can burn and re-rip, or, more likely, I can DL non-DRM encumbered copies of the same songs from a file sharing network.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, at least now I know how my girlfriend got a sore throat.
Did you also see the section of fuck-ups? Yeeesh.
but having an RFID would be the end of privacy
Nah, that's what metal foil clothing is for. Just wear a long sleeve tin foil shirt and roll up the sleeve when you want to use your RFID.
Personally, I think this guy is just trying to be weird for the sake of being weird, or maybe he's got some plan to become famous for 15 seconds.
Overheard at the coffee bar, circa 2008:
"Dude, you got tagged? That is soooo emo!"
I'm surprised no one has come to market with a Bluetooth tooth. I know I'd get one, just for the grin factor.
This might sound odd, but I try, whenever possible, to have a personal relationship with people I do business with.
Even when I order Mac upgrades online, I tend to buy from OWC because I know the owner and his crew. I see them every time I go to MacWorld, I consider them to be friends, and they've always taken care of me personally, while offering low prices.
I live really close to a Home Depot, and I sometimes shop there. But I go out of my way to shop at Baller Hardware because I went to highschool with the owner. Not only that, but his hardware selection, especially for more unusual screws, nuts, and bolts, is a lot better than Home Depot. Also, his store is better organized. The extra 15 minutes it takes to drive to his store is often saved in how quickly I can find things, with or without help. Some of his prices are actually better than home depot, and when they're not and I'm buying large quantities, he'll check and see if he can match the price.
I don't hate Starbucks, but it won't be my first choice if there is a local coffee bar. I'm not a coffee snob; I just want to get high. If I was a snob, I'd drink only Peet's. =) If there's nothing else, I'll drink Starbuck's and I don't do it begrudgingly or holding my nose. I'll drink 7/11 or AM/PM coffee in a pinch.
I'm not even arguing that this is good to do because it helps the local economy. It's just the way I like to do business when I can. I guess it makes me feel more human.
I think Walmart is probably the one vendor that Microsoft can't push around. However, I'm certain you're right. The vast majority of buyers will opt for Windows. Only those who are curious or on the thinnest of budgets would probably go with a Linux distro, if it was offered.
Was there any backlash from customers when Walmart offered Lindows/Linspire?
Wait until you start seeing things like this on system requirements for games:
Requires an ORANGE computer or warmer, with at least two yellow RAM thingies. =)
Something like this could work, if it was kept really simple. I'm surprised no one has yet posted, "I'm color blind, you insensitive clod!!"
Gee, all I did was put the LAMB memory in the LION motherboard and POW.... it all went blewie.
You can only mix LAMB and LION components if you are using JesOS X.
(After typing that, I googled it for the heck of it and found that link!)
There are no plans for bluetooth at this time.
Well, that's disappointing. Let me know if you ever decide to do a bluetooth tooth. I'd be on that in a heartbeat.
Somehow, I don't think that the people who can't tell the difference between a hard disk and RAM are the ones that are going to be buying their own parts. If they do, they're most likely going to learn the hard way. At that point, there's basically two roads. One, they'll NEVER try to put together their own computer ( and probably discourage all future generations from doing so, since they couldn't) OR two, they'll figure out what they did wrong and try again. If they take the second path enough times, they'll become a geek.
Instead of being dismissive of this Walmart thing, I'm interested in how they're going to do it. (Not that I like or shop at Walmart. I pretty much despise them.)
Anyone from the Bay Area remember Domino Computers? I forget exactly what their model was, but it was a build-your-own-computer. They provided the parts, the tools, the facilities and the advice. I think they offered classes/seminars, but I don't remember if those were free, or if you paid a fee.
Home Depot and Lowes sell diy materials, tools, and instruction books. They also offer free seminars on a variety of diy topics. Don't see why Walmart couldn't follow this example.
Another thing Walmart could do is use color coded packaging. This Red CPUs and Red RAM work with Red MBs. Green CPUs and Green RAM work with the Green MB. Oh, look the packaging on this PSU is Red and Blue. It works with the Red MB and the Blue MB, but not the Green. And look, this HD is in a purple package. It only works with the Purple MB and other Purple parts. So, the uneducated user need never know that his computer's HD is SATA; he only knows it's part of the Purple group. He doesn't need to know that his MB has an AGP slot, only that Yellow video cards work with Yello MBs.
I could also see Walmart being able to tailor you linux install based on what parts you buy. They scan all your parts, and their Distro distro system picks the right ISO for you and spits out a CD.
What's this about pad computing? Are the sharks smelling blood in the water?
(Seriously, though, what's the difference between Pad Computing and Tablet Computing?)
It was a rough estimate I got from looking at my "purchased music" list in iTunes.
Let me give you a better estimate:
502 items in purchased music
127 of those are actually TV shows/video clips, so
375 actual songs from iTMS.
Back to guessing: Maybe 20 of those songs are free download promotions.
I've received in the neighborhood of $100 in iTunes gift cards. Just to put it into perspective. So I've spent $255 of cold hard cash, another $100 redeeming gift cards. $355. Still a lot of money! The first song I purchased on October 23rd, 2003. So, I've spent around $12/month (355/12, rounding up). That doesn't sound as bad.
As to how it happened, just a little at a time. I mostly listen to music on my computer or my iPod. I've got a cheap one piece stereo unit in the living room and a boombox in the garage worshop, but I rarely play either.
To put this into more perspective, I've probably spent between $1500 and $2000 going to shows in the past year. Again, this is a very rough estimate (based on what I claimed for my taxes), and included not only tickets, but drinks, food, band merchandise, etc. The shows range from seeing the White Stripes at the Greek Amphitheater, X at House of Blues, etc, to seeing unknown bands at my favorite local dive (Mr. T's Bowl, a former bowling alley turned into a club).
This might also be why "lossy" codecs don't bother me too much. My hearing has been damaged from years and years of listening to loud music. When I realized that damage had occurred I began to take precautions, such as wearing foam earplugs to shows and when riding my motorcycle for long periods (wind noise at 60 mph can damage your hearing after a half hour), and not blasting my music at home. And I don't blast my iPod either.
Just in case anyone reading this isn't aware, hearing loss can be cumulative and irreversible. You might not notice until it's too late. I'm not preaching, just sharing my experience on that one.
That's not quite how the market works. I'm sure you've heard of supply-and-demand. A good part of the reason why Gates' shares are worth 40 Billion is because they're in demand. If you dump all that stock all at once, you're unleashing a huge supply, and the price goes down. Way down.
That's not to say that there wouldn't be chaos if Gates actually did something like this. But there wouldn't need to be 40 Billion liquid required to absorb it.
Dvorak is far from the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact he's not even IN the shed. He's leaning against the outside of it rusting in the rain.
so much depends
upon
John
Dvorak
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Just remember, when you use slashdot to throw the dice, they have to be d20s. =)
I went to a psychic to contact my old modem, but she kept dropping the carrier.
Much like its flagship software, MS the corporation is bloated and slow. But hidden under those layers of fat is a thin and sleek company. The truth is, there are a lot of very talented and creative people at MS that do some pretty cool stuff, and that could be doing world changing stuff if they weren't weighted down with corporate obesity.
My assumption is that MS is going to have to lose in the market for a while if it's going to lose the corporate fat. The question is, will MS be able to hold onto these employees as it endures its swing downward? With the right leadership, MS can weather this and be reborn. That leadership is definitely not Balmer, and I don't think it's Gates, either. Gates needs to find the right visionary (Ozzie), annoint him, then step back. If MS is going to have long term relevance, it is going to have to take major risks. One of those risks is putting leadership into place that is totally different from anything MS has seen so far.
If we keep going with this, we'll be accused of milking a dead cow.
If you mean to say that sometimes a person is so vile that they completely cancel out any physical attractiveness, and Ann Coulter is that type of person, then I heartily agree. Ann Coulter is one of the ugliest people on the planet.
Any interesting points he might make get lost in his bombastic troll-mudgeon generalizations. His "insights" are obvious and commonplace, and he misses the significance of what is really interesting. His head is firmly up his ass, and if he is ever to get a clear view of the modern computing world, he will need to get a windectomy*.
*That's when a doctor puts in a clear plastic panel in your stomach, so you can see the way forward whilst your head is jammed up you ass.
Third, taking animal byproducts and packaging it as petfood is highly questionable. I think packaging animal byproducts as hotdogs is a much better business plan.
Not if you have your Manatee Network Certification.
I think you need to actually use the product and test it yourself if you're going to make pronouncements about whether the sound quality is acceptable or not. And maybe do a blind test, if you're intellectually honest. And I don't mean just burning a CD from mp3s and reripping. Not a fair comparison, since songs from iTunes Music Store are encoded into AAC from studio masters.
Furthermore, how can it be considered "circumvention" if it is explicitly allowed? If it was disallowed, and, further, there was a mechanism in place to prevent re-ripping, then you might have a point. Oh, but I forgot. You've never actually used iTunes or the iTunes Music Store.
If you're going to be an anti-DRM purist, fine. Just don't twist reality to fit your ideology.
I'm guessing he lives on Earth prime, where one can burn their iTMS purchased music onto a CD and re-rip into whatever format they'd like.
There's another reason why the music cartel couldn't stand up to Apple on pricing. To do so, they would have needed to be united, but to unite would have opened them up to charges of price-fixing, something for which they are currently under investigation. They might risk their enormous profits for the chance of even more enormous profits and more control, but they were also risking at the least prolonged legal headaches, at worst major legal penalties.
The cartel is going to die, but it's going to die very slowly. In the meantime, it will use whatever it can to prolong it's miserable life. Forcing Apple's hand would have shortened that life.
It's a very tenuous lock-in, and it's not terribly hard to work around. If you buy songs on iTMS, you are locked in to buying an iPod if you want to play those songs on an digital music player. Yes, you can burn the DRMed songs onto a CD and re-rip them as mp3. That's the work around.
However, because I've already invested over $400 in music from iTMS, I'm not even going to consider buying a player other than an iPod unless there is a compelling feature on a non-iPod player.
Think of it as "soft" lock-in. If I really want to get out from under Apple, I can and I will. I can burn and re-rip, or, more likely, I can DL non-DRM encumbered copies of the same songs from a file sharing network.