So when Windows 7 comes out and you can either buy the $300 netbook with Linux that runs faster, or the $350 netbook with Windows 7 that runs slower, the choice for any informed customer is obvious.
Like hell it is.
The $350 Win 7 netbook at Walmart will have twice the RAM, twice the storage, and the faster/more sophisticated ATOM CPU and graphics. The Win 7 netbook will be in stores or home delivered for 97 cents. The Linux netbook will be available online only until production of the Win 7 netbook ramps up to meet demand.
The 64 Bit Win 7 Premium media desktop will be mid-line at Walmart with Dual or Quad Core CPU, 4 GB RAM and NVIDIA DX10/11 graphics. Performance and specs will be good enough "in the real world" to make the geek's obsession with benchmarks look ludicrous.
Customers will leave the store with a multifunction HP printer, a pocket Windows HD camcorder, an a HDMI cable for their Vizio, and maybe the Orange Box from the bargain bin.
Very low cost computers, designed with the particular attributes of low budget education in mind, are something that hasn't seen much market focus, and are thus a logical target for a special development program.
Typing a simple one line apt command is a whole lot easier and faster than waiting for a GUI to load, then searching through the GUI for the option you need.
There used to be little, red schoolhouses all over the place and their modern descendants, charter schools, are also all over the place. Neither one needed/needs a school district with its inevitable central administration bureaucracy
There were little red school house districts, of course - call them "townships," if you like or cities.
The geek is never strong on history.
New York state began funding public schools in 1795.
It's been said that the only thing that businessmen should do is to take a leaf out of Carnegie's book and donate libraries. Not a bad place to start, especially if you are big enough to realise that you will profoundly disagree with some of those books, and that is actually a good thing.
The foundation gave your town a building - but not until you provided to lay out 10% of its cost each year for acquisitions, staff and maintenance.
The lesson does not only apply to businessmen.
It applies to the geek who bundles his "one size fits all" philosophy with a laptop computer designed for the third-world classroom.
Not that local control doesn't also come with a price.
Carnegie didn't confront racial segregation directly, but he did fund separate "Colored Carnegie" libraries.
Median annual earnings of correctional officers and jailers were $35,760 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $28,320 and $46,500. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $23,600, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $58,580. Median annual earnings in the public sector were $47,750 in the Federal Government, $36,140 in State government, and $34,820 in local government. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the starting salary for Federal correctional officers was $28,862 a year in 2007.Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-2009: Correctional Officers
"They're hiring 18-year-olds two months out of high school. "We've got officers who are 70 years old, senior citizens. That's a security risk." Physical fitness standards have been lowered, with overweight, out-of-shape correctional officers in the system. Many Texans support keeping prisons as inhospitable as possible because they're supposed to be about punishment, but those same poor conditions (think double shifts with no air conditioning in the Texas summer heat) combine with low pay to make it nearly impossible to staff current prisons in their existing, mostly rural locations.Texas prison guard salary ranks 47th among states [Apr 7, 2008]
Trinity Services Group is the second food services company to tell the Department of Corrections it can't afford to keep feeding prisoners. The company said it's losing $100,000 a month on its contract to feed inmates in the north-central part of the state and at three prisons in South Florida. The company, which was paid $21-million last fiscal year, said it's losing money because food and fuel costs are rising at the rate of 9 percent, far in excess of the 2 percent inflation cushion allowed in its state contract. Trinity is paid 88 cents for every meal served.Oldsmar company opts out of prison food service [Sept 19, 2008]
We're loaded with dark fiber at the moment (laid during the DotCom bubble) that, if it were actually lit up, would give us more than enough capacity to be competitive on the world scene. But it's kept dark because certain large corporations make more money by inducing artificial scarcity
Dark fiber that runs along the I-90 corridor isn't fiber to the premises:
Verizon's problem is economics. It costs the company $4,000 to hook up each customer to FIOS, which now offers speeds as fast as 50 Mbps. [Comcast] spends less than $50 to give one of its customers the equivelent upgrade. The Dark Lord of Broadband, Wired, Feb 09.
What does it mean to be "competitive?"
The free-as-in-beer P2P download of "The Dark Knight" or "Wall-E" doesn't help finance future productions, investment in new employment, facilities or technical innovations.
That has to come from other sources.
The geek may think he is productive working at home. But I'm betting that if his boss was watching the meter and paying the bill 250 GB would need a bit of explaining.
To make the argument I think you have to show where and how investment in the Internet generates a significant return.
you just need to know how to efficiently represent the signal in a way that humans can't notice the difference from the original source.
I am not convinced you can achieve that goal without being aware of the subtle differences in the way color and texture, light and dark, are rendered in different media.
Why does B/W projection from nitrate stock look different than projection from safety stock? Kodak Color different from 3-strip Technicolor?
hijacked by Microsoft's department of evil, I really think they need to give up.
OLPC was the product of the western media lab and the geek mind-set.
OLPC's market was the third world education minister - who was expected to sign the purchase order for 100,000 units --- but otherwise keep his big mouth shut.
Come hell or high water ---
OLPC would implement a constructivist philosophy of education.
It would run Linux, the Sugar GUI, open-source apps and only open source apps.
The Windows alternative was the Classmate.
Installed with more or less full versions of core MS Office apps, a media player and a browser, a laptop that would look and perform much like any other, but with more help and localization for beginners.
In other words, a serviceable machine shaped purely by market forces and in no way limited to the primary grades.
What about a newspaper? Are we assuming they are illiterate as well? There's always the radio. They still broadcast news on that believe it or not.
East of Rochester and north of the Pennsylvania line there is one newspaper that is worth a damn - and a subscription is expensive.
I'd not be surprised to see an end to daily home delivery.
The story is pretty much the same for radio. The sad state of local TV news has given Time-Warner an opening to start a 24-hour local news channel, something associated with much larger and much richer markets.
"You say you want to hire foreigners?" Bill Gates: "Yes." Congress: "Too bad. We won't help you import non-americans; find a different solution to your labor shortage."
Microsoft is building a $300 million dollar research campus in Beijing, with employment for 5,000.
The multinational always has the option of simply pulling up stakes and relocating everything abroad.
Slashdot Mirror
Like hell it is.
The $350 Win 7 netbook at Walmart will have twice the RAM, twice the storage, and the faster/more sophisticated ATOM CPU and graphics. The Win 7 netbook will be in stores or home delivered for 97 cents. The Linux netbook will be available online only until production of the Win 7 netbook ramps up to meet demand.
The 64 Bit Win 7 Premium media desktop will be mid-line at Walmart with Dual or Quad Core CPU, 4 GB RAM and NVIDIA DX10/11 graphics. Performance and specs will be good enough "in the real world" to make the geek's obsession with benchmarks look ludicrous.
Customers will leave the store with a multifunction HP printer, a pocket Windows HD camcorder, an a HDMI cable for their Vizio, and maybe the Orange Box from the bargain bin.
Linux ended the year with 0.85% of the desktop.
Linux has flat-lined in the Net Applications webstats. Been deprecated to "Other" in its charts.
There is absolutely nothing happening here and it is about time the geek started to ask "Why?"
Why?
Linux had its fifteen minutes of fame in the netbook sector.
The geek still rants about the hardware requirements for Vista, while quite capable 64 bit Vista systems are mid-line at WalMart.
Dual or Quad Core CPU. 4 GB RAM or better. Humongous HDD and NVIDIA DX10 video included.
I remember the Linux Simputer ---
which emerged from the same process as the OLPC and whose failures have much the same roots.
There is much to be said for "the ruthless efficiency of the market." Not least its deafness to ideology.
Easier for the geek. Perhaps. But not for others.
Rule No. 1: You may be good. But there is always someone better.
Rule No. 2: The geek too young too have seen rock bottom: a time when there are no openings anywhere, for anyone. But it happens.
The promoter has always known that stars are the best guarantee of a return at the box office.
P T Barnum and Jenny Lind split the return of her first US tour in the 1850s - when the best seats went for $150 in gold.
Your bank account is information.
Intangible.
Nothing more a pattern of ones and zeroes, an entry in a data base.
But when a hacker cleans you out, you expect to see restitution and a prosecution for the theft.
The P2P rip doesn't generate the $150 million dollars needed to produce "Monsters vs. Aliens" or the $40 million needed for the low budget "Serenity."
If the geek wants to see more films that appeal to him he has to find a realistic solution to the problem of how to pay for them.
Otherwise production simply ends or shifts to more profitable markets. "High School Musical" and a "Hotel for Dogs."
There were little red school house districts, of course - call them "townships," if you like or cities.
The geek is never strong on history.
New York state began funding public schools in 1795.
By the mid 1850s you have an easily recognizable system of state supervision. New York State Education Department
The red brick school was small because almost no one continued with school beyond the primary grades - assuming you made it that far.
The red brick school was pure college prep or vocational education. You were in the metal shop or taking courses in Latin.
The scholar and the mechanic strictly segregated.
My father was among the last to graduate from one of these schools - a senior class of twenty-five.
The foundation gave your town a building -
but not until you provided to lay out 10% of its cost each year for acquisitions, staff and maintenance.
The lesson does not only apply to businessmen.
It applies to the geek who bundles his "one size fits all" philosophy with a laptop computer designed for the third-world classroom.
Not that local control doesn't also come with a price.
Carnegie didn't confront racial segregation directly, but he did fund separate "Colored Carnegie" libraries.
I wonder:
Median annual earnings of correctional officers and jailers were $35,760 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $28,320 and $46,500. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $23,600, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $58,580. Median annual earnings in the public sector were $47,750 in the Federal Government, $36,140 in State government, and $34,820 in local government. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the starting salary for Federal correctional officers was $28,862 a year in 2007. Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-2009: Correctional Officers
"They're hiring 18-year-olds two months out of high school. "We've got officers who are 70 years old, senior citizens. That's a security risk." Physical fitness standards have been lowered, with overweight, out-of-shape correctional officers in the system. Many Texans support keeping prisons as inhospitable as possible because they're supposed to be about punishment, but those same poor conditions (think double shifts with no air conditioning in the Texas summer heat) combine with low pay to make it nearly impossible to staff current prisons in their existing, mostly rural locations. Texas prison guard salary ranks 47th among states [Apr 7, 2008]
Trinity Services Group is the second food services company to tell the Department of Corrections it can't afford to keep feeding prisoners. The company said it's losing $100,000 a month on its contract to feed inmates in the north-central part of the state and at three prisons in South Florida. The company, which was paid $21-million last fiscal year, said it's losing money because food and fuel costs are rising at the rate of 9 percent, far in excess of the 2 percent inflation cushion allowed in its state contract. Trinity is paid 88 cents for every meal served. Oldsmar company opts out of prison food service [Sept 19, 2008]
The Wired article claims that AT&T and Verizon combined can provide fiber to about 20% "of the country." and will max out at around 40%.
It cost around $40 billion to get where they are now.
At year's end, Vista, had 21% of the desktop, the MacIntel 7% and Linux 0.85%. Operating System Market Share.
In Top Operating System Share Trends, Linux is now lumped in with "Others."
The stained glass Window and the Borg icon could be trashed as well.
Dark fiber that runs along the I-90 corridor isn't fiber to the premises:
Verizon's problem is economics. It costs the company $4,000 to hook up each customer to FIOS, which now offers speeds as fast as 50 Mbps. [Comcast] spends less than $50 to give one of its customers the equivelent upgrade.
The Dark Lord of Broadband, Wired, Feb 09.
What does it mean to be "competitive?"
The free-as-in-beer P2P download of "The Dark Knight" or "Wall-E" doesn't help finance future productions, investment in new employment, facilities or technical innovations.
That has to come from other sources.
The geek may think he is productive working at home. But I'm betting that if his boss was watching the meter and paying the bill 250 GB would need a bit of explaining.
To make the argument I think you have to show where and how investment in the Internet generates a significant return.
I am not convinced you can achieve that goal without being aware of the subtle differences in the way color and texture, light and dark, are rendered in different media.
Why does B/W projection from nitrate stock look different than projection from safety stock? Kodak Color different from 3-strip Technicolor?
and if the majority of your customers are stressed enough to consider scaling back to dial-up at $10/mo what then?
OLPC was the product of the western media lab and the geek mind-set.
OLPC's market was the third world education minister - who was expected to sign the purchase order for 100,000 units --- but otherwise keep his big mouth shut.
Come hell or high water ---
OLPC would implement a constructivist philosophy of education.
It would run Linux, the Sugar GUI, open-source apps and only open source apps.
The Windows alternative was the Classmate.
Installed with more or less full versions of core MS Office apps, a media player and a browser, a laptop that would look and perform much like any other, but with more help and localization for beginners.
In other words, a serviceable machine shaped purely by market forces and in no way limited to the primary grades.
East of Rochester and north of the Pennsylvania line there is one newspaper that is worth a damn - and a subscription is expensive.
I'd not be surprised to see an end to daily home delivery.
The story is pretty much the same for radio. The sad state of local TV news has given Time-Warner an opening to start a 24-hour local news channel, something associated with much larger and much richer markets.
Because they don't have the $60?
I know of an apartment building - assisted living for the disabled.
It shares a lot with a rural clinic for CP.
There are no other public facilities within five to ten miles. No shops. Schools. Libraries. Theaters. Restaurants. Parks. Churches.
No trails. No bike paths. No trees. No gardens.
TV opens up a window to a larger world - and - even here - it can be your own world. a rare moment of privacy and choice.
You are not watching pro wrestling or the Superbowl because that is what is playing in the common room and you have nowhere else to go.
It strikes me that government has "bailed out" a lot of folks when technological change becomes urgent.
Hydro power for Appalachia and the Pacific Northwest in the Thirties, the geek tapping into subsidies for the transition to wind and solar power.
how much benefit do you get from aerodynamic design in the urban utility vehicle or the surburban commuter car?
You need a deep understanding of how the mind perceives sight and sound before you can usefully begin work on compression.
Some sense of the history and aesthetics of film, video, and audio production - and reproduction.
This is what broadcasters like the BBC bring to the table.
The major studios.
The record labels.
You need experts in many disciplines.
You need controlled experiments with different audiences in different environments.
The coder won't be accomplishing much of anything on his own - and paying his salary is likely to be the least of your problems.
The start-up in hardware and consumables doesn't more than ambition - he needs divine intervention.
The competition is Cannon - Dell - HP - Lexmark.
The competition is guaranteed shelf space in every WalMart.
Every drugstore or mini-mart in a town big enough to rate a single traffic light.
Microsoft is building a $300 million dollar research campus in Beijing, with employment for 5,000.
The multinational always has the option of simply pulling up stakes and relocating everything abroad.