I'm sure a myriad of complot theories are being concocted as we speak. Based on the world population, the probability of Chinese hacking anyone are roughly 1 in 6. Considering that, China scores much higher than almost any other country.
Are phones locked even without a contract? If not, then buy one of those and get over with. Where I live in Europe you get a better contract if you have your own device. And even some carriers sell you an "sponsored" but unlocked phone as you will have to sit the contract term out anyway.
I must conclude that I live in the most boring place on earth. In a radius of 5km from my house, not a single dot changed since 1938. (And no, transitions from monochrome to colour don't really count.)
Social media will essentially feed short messages with a punch line. A carefully built up story will expand on themes and provide nuances and background.
What's the bleeding point in comparing the two? It's so friggin obvious that both styles will differ. The effort put into the "research" should have better been put towards creating "world peace". Even "cleaning the appartement" is more sensible than this.
As of this writing (January 2013) the United Kingdom still uses MILES to measure distance, MILES PER HOUR to measure speed, STONES and POUNDS and OUNCES to measure weight, and FLUID OUNCES to measure volume.
That's only half the story. From Wikipedia: "The metric system is in official use within the United Kingdom for most applications; however, use of Imperial units is still widespread amongst the public."
Although use of Imperial units is still widespread, slowly and steadily the usage changes. The transition period for a units system is unlikely to be short because of traditions and habits. Ordering 1/2 litre of beer instead of a pint will never occur, I take.
The British have invented Imperial units. They "suffered" from the drawbacks of this very advantage. Yet they apparently saw sense and were prepared -albeit reluctantly- to convert to metric. I take my hat off to them.
I can only watch 2D and when in a 3D movie I must ware the friggin' specs. If 3D would cause me headaches then I would not hesitate to blacken one lens. It would actually make sense to produce 2D specs that would only let one channel through.
Don't loose hundreds of hours in code reviews. Just stick to the style guides and avoid discussions. Your code will look better and will become readable to others. You make friends. And you practice basic politeness.
I code since late 70s and believe me, your algorithms most likely aren't really that hot. Write-only programs suck.
Firstly: Never, ever depend one one client for all your income. Ever! I speak from experience. No matter how good relationships are, there will come a time when relations cool down.
Secondly: Never,ever trust a big company will continue to want you. Either your part of their strategy in which case your services will be in sourced, or you're not part of their strategy and you will be very replaceable.
I'm reading Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy". Apparently it's the manager's bible.
Porter advocates that competition to be the best is not a viable path to follow. Instead value must be created, the value chain must be enforced and the influences concerning 1) threats of competition, 2) threats of substitution, 3) bargaining power of customers and 4) bargaining power of suppliers must be managed well. Porter mentions patents and IP as factors but, of course, takes no political position.
So, the most important issue here is that it's actually good that coffee producers actively consider competitive strategy. It should result in a more balanced coffee market whereby 1) we value and pay more for it and 2) the value chain of producing countries is enforced.
It remains to be seen whether the distribution of this newly created wealth will be undertaken fairly.
You've come very close to hitting the mark. Porter writes about the real world of business, where few businesses are in a pure competitive market, but more likely an oligopoly. The key point for this discussion is the four-way dynamic you mention -- the bargaining power between poor farmers and middlemen has traditionally been very lopsided in favour of the middlemen. If the origin of the coffee becomes marketable, the balance becomes more equal and the farmers become less poor. This has worked elsewhere. Registering a trademark isn't enough on itself, though, you need resources to knock down scumbags who try to sell lower-quality coffee with your trademark on it or customers will not return.
Although I haven't finished the book yet, I gave the ideas I read so far a great deal of thought. The more I understand business, the more I realise that oligopolies are built on existing or created boundaries. And creating boundaries is considered a strength in terms of business.
However, the five forces operating on business do not only influence oligopolies. Businesses finding themselves competing -or struggling- to be the best are affected by the rules and are most likely rather the object than the observer in the game. I can actually imagine the five forces existing in realms other than business. Say evolution or a bit more mundane partner selection.
I'm don't know a lot about the coffee business but:
Small coffee farmers struggling to survive could unite and form a cooperation to develop s competitive strategy using Porter's ideas.
Analysing the market and finding a strategy to compete against the existing corporations surely isn't easy but using Porter you can go about it in a rather structured way.
Once and if a strategy is found and implemented to achieve a defensible position, I'd expect the existing corporations to fight a very dirty war in order to maintain their own positions.
The base of the exercise remains in studying Porter and working hard to achieve.
... and to resist the temptation to abandon roots and move elsewhere more profitable once you demonstrated your prowess.
The good thing is that coffee business is starting to undergo a change. And do so structured. Although we might wind up paying more for coffee, our global system as a whole will improve. My hunch is coffee producers must forward integrate and establish defensible representations in countries abroad. Brand and quality differentiations will emerge as a natural consequence.
I'm reading Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy". Apparently it's the manager's bible.
Porter advocates that competition to be the best is not a viable path to follow. Instead value must be created, the value chain must be enforced and the influences concerning 1) threats of competition, 2) threats of substitution, 3) bargaining power of customers and 4) bargaining power of suppliers must be managed well. Porter mentions patents and IP as factors but, of course, takes no political position.
So, the most important issue here is that it's actually good that coffee producers actively consider competitive strategy. It should result in a more balanced coffee market whereby 1) we value and pay more for it and 2) the value chain of producing countries is enforced.
It remains to be seen whether the distribution of this newly created wealth will be undertaken fairly.
Whether IP is good or bad is besides the point. It's merely a factor in developing and managing a business strategy. IP is available to any body or organisation in equal quantities.
I also realise I'm on/. and that IP is discussed vigorously here. My stance on IP is one with a good deal of skepticism. IP is derived form an intellect which always belongs to a person. I reject the concept of collective intellect whereby a business believes it nourishes and/or owns it.
When the germans innovated warfare, not everybody ended up benefitting.
In a very cruel way everybody actually benefited. Hitler's well documented lunacy is the macabre fruit of the 2nd WW. Atrocities must happen before we collectively acknowledge their possibility. As individuals we may seem highly intelligent. Collectively we're barbarians. Yesterday's game theory article illustrated this very clearly.
Collective learning will make the difference. Luckily we're improving on that every day. Slowly but gradually.
Slashdot Mirror
So has XPS 13 / Project Sputnik merely been a way for Mike to "convince" MS to part with significant amounts of money?
I'm sure a myriad of complot theories are being concocted as we speak. Based on the world population, the probability of Chinese hacking anyone are roughly 1 in 6. Considering that, China scores much higher than almost any other country.
Hopefully 3D printing of penis enlargers will diminish SPAM.
Are phones locked even without a contract? If not, then buy one of those and get over with. Where I live in Europe you get a better contract if you have your own device. And even some carriers sell you an "sponsored" but unlocked phone as you will have to sit the contract term out anyway.
'[it] was commissioned by Microsoft to HP Consulting for internal purposes only.'
Which of course is why they publicly claimed the 43.7M Euro figure.
The question is why they blew the horn, the bugel and the trumpet over it, if they rally wanted it for internal purposes only.
I must conclude that I live in the most boring place on earth. In a radius of 5km from my house, not a single dot changed since 1938. (And no, transitions from monochrome to colour don't really count.)
Social media will essentially feed short messages with a punch line. A carefully built up story will expand on themes and provide nuances and background.
What's the bleeding point in comparing the two? It's so friggin obvious that both styles will differ. The effort put into the "research" should have better been put towards creating "world peace". Even "cleaning the appartement" is more sensible than this.
But can we? Drink it?
Like the MsShotgun?
But does it run Windows?
Nah. Windows needs at least three buttons.
Don't ask don't tell?
As of this writing (January 2013) the United Kingdom still uses MILES to measure distance, MILES PER HOUR to measure speed, STONES and POUNDS and OUNCES to measure weight, and FLUID OUNCES to measure volume.
That's only half the story. From Wikipedia: "The metric system is in official use within the United Kingdom for most applications; however, use of Imperial units is still widespread amongst the public."
Although use of Imperial units is still widespread, slowly and steadily the usage changes. The transition period for a units system is unlikely to be short because of traditions and habits. Ordering 1/2 litre of beer instead of a pint will never occur, I take.
The British have invented Imperial units. They "suffered" from the drawbacks of this very advantage. Yet they apparently saw sense and were prepared -albeit reluctantly- to convert to metric. I take my hat off to them.
I can only watch 2D and when in a 3D movie I must ware the friggin' specs. If 3D would cause me headaches then I would not hesitate to blacken one lens. It would actually make sense to produce 2D specs that would only let one channel through.
I always go along and pay. Yes, I'm as yellow as they come. I completely shiver just thinking about it.
Now where are my porn links...
We know we're really screwed when the maintainer of cat gives up.
Don't loose hundreds of hours in code reviews. Just stick to the style guides and avoid discussions. Your code will look better and will become readable to others. You make friends. And you practice basic politeness.
I code since late 70s and believe me, your algorithms most likely aren't really that hot. Write-only programs suck.
Does that mean the HRS Hotels app can be deleted more easily?
Naah, they obviously would have dealt with preventing that more thoroughly as marketing depts. with deep pockets were involved.
Firstly: Never, ever depend one one client for all your income. Ever! I speak from experience. No matter how good relationships are, there will come a time when relations cool down. ,ever trust a big company will continue to want you. Either your part of their strategy in which case your services will be in sourced, or you're not part of their strategy and you will be very replaceable.
Secondly: Never
"Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops." - Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
Hits the nail on many levels from my POV.
Gee! I wonder whether it can be ported to other inferior languages. We must produce more geniuses. Our civilisation is about to be annihilated!
I'm reading Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy". Apparently it's the manager's bible. Porter advocates that competition to be the best is not a viable path to follow. Instead value must be created, the value chain must be enforced and the influences concerning 1) threats of competition, 2) threats of substitution, 3) bargaining power of customers and 4) bargaining power of suppliers must be managed well. Porter mentions patents and IP as factors but, of course, takes no political position. So, the most important issue here is that it's actually good that coffee producers actively consider competitive strategy. It should result in a more balanced coffee market whereby 1) we value and pay more for it and 2) the value chain of producing countries is enforced. It remains to be seen whether the distribution of this newly created wealth will be undertaken fairly.
You've come very close to hitting the mark. Porter writes about the real world of business, where few businesses are in a pure competitive market, but more likely an oligopoly. The key point for this discussion is the four-way dynamic you mention -- the bargaining power between poor farmers and middlemen has traditionally been very lopsided in favour of the middlemen. If the origin of the coffee becomes marketable, the balance becomes more equal and the farmers become less poor. This has worked elsewhere. Registering a trademark isn't enough on itself, though, you need resources to knock down scumbags who try to sell lower-quality coffee with your trademark on it or customers will not return.
Although I haven't finished the book yet, I gave the ideas I read so far a great deal of thought. The more I understand business, the more I realise that oligopolies are built on existing or created boundaries. And creating boundaries is considered a strength in terms of business.
However, the five forces operating on business do not only influence oligopolies. Businesses finding themselves competing -or struggling- to be the best are affected by the rules and are most likely rather the object than the observer in the game. I can actually imagine the five forces existing in realms other than business. Say evolution or a bit more mundane partner selection.
I'm don't know a lot about the coffee business but:
The good thing is that coffee business is starting to undergo a change. And do so structured. Although we might wind up paying more for coffee, our global system as a whole will improve. My hunch is coffee producers must forward integrate and establish defensible representations in countries abroad. Brand and quality differentiations will emerge as a natural consequence.
I'm reading Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy". Apparently it's the manager's bible.
/. and that IP is discussed vigorously here. My stance on IP is one with a good deal of skepticism. IP is derived form an intellect which always belongs to a person. I reject the concept of collective intellect whereby a business believes it nourishes and/or owns it.
Porter advocates that competition to be the best is not a viable path to follow. Instead value must be created, the value chain must be enforced and the influences concerning 1) threats of competition, 2) threats of substitution, 3) bargaining power of customers and 4) bargaining power of suppliers must be managed well. Porter mentions patents and IP as factors but, of course, takes no political position.
So, the most important issue here is that it's actually good that coffee producers actively consider competitive strategy. It should result in a more balanced coffee market whereby 1) we value and pay more for it and 2) the value chain of producing countries is enforced.
It remains to be seen whether the distribution of this newly created wealth will be undertaken fairly.
Whether IP is good or bad is besides the point. It's merely a factor in developing and managing a business strategy. IP is available to any body or organisation in equal quantities.
I also realise I'm on
USD 6? How much is that in CHF? Forget even Renminbi. I'm too ignorant to convert anything into my own currency and I demand to be disneyfied!
... still thinking of one not blatantly obvious thing to say ....
When the germans innovated warfare, not everybody ended up benefitting.
In a very cruel way everybody actually benefited. Hitler's well documented lunacy is the macabre fruit of the 2nd WW. Atrocities must happen before we collectively acknowledge their possibility. As individuals we may seem highly intelligent. Collectively we're barbarians. Yesterday's game theory article illustrated this very clearly.
Collective learning will make the difference. Luckily we're improving on that every day. Slowly but gradually.