From the first sips of hot home-made tea I took in my life my mother taught me to be careful and check the temperature least I burn my tongue or mouth.
Did your mother serve tea in tightly sealed insulated foam cups? To guests at temperatures that could send them to burn ward?
Here in Hong Kong we are inundated with a series of inane "public service announcements" that beggar belief. One classic warned people against throwing waste out the window of apartment buildings...
Throwing wastes out the window has been a fact of urban life for thousands of years.
It persisted in the american city until well within living memory. Not everyone had running water much less a toilet. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happening even now in the poorest neighborhoods.
While you're in the business of pandering to morons, why don't you figure out how to make gasoline that doesn't burn, knives that don't cut, etc? Or maybe, just maybe, we should assume that the average person isn't a complete dumbass, eh?
Ever wonder why old man Rockefeller sold his product as "Standard Oil?" Ever wonder why after the break-up of the trust, his operating companies prospered and the small independents died?
To the customer, "Standard Oil" meant that, for the first time, you could light a lamp or a stove or fire up a two-stroke engine without fear: a formulation that was consistent, predictable and safe under ordinary handling.
The labels are pretty ridiculous but they are for the parents not the kids.
Not so ridiculous as you might think:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received reports of numerous suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside latch type freezers, clothes dryers, combination washer/dryer units, picnic coolers, iceboxes in campers, and old-style latch type refrigerators. Most of the victims were 4 to 7 years old. In all cases, the doors could not be easily pushed open from the inside. In some of the incidents associated with clothes dryers, the appliance was accidentally turned on while the child was inside.
Frequently, the children were playing "hide-and-seek" and the appliance or chest provided a deceptively good place to hide. When the door slammed shut, the tight fitting gasket on most of the appliances cut off air to the child. This, along with the insulated construction of the appliance, also prevented the child's screams from being heard. But abandoned appliances are not the only items involved with accidents like these. Entrapment deaths have been reported in products in use or stored in the kitchen, laundry room, basement, or garage. Deaths also have occurred in iceboxes located in campers parked outside the home.Preventing Large Appliance Entrapment Deaths to Children
You'd better be careful and speak for yourself. I've 'installed' nearly every version of Windows, MacOS 6-9, AIX, Solaris, A/UX, HP-UIX, BeOS, OS/2, Irix, and probably a handful of others that I don't recall. And all since the Dubya was (s)elected.
and this makes you representative of the consumer PC market?
When I use a system, I expect the source code to be fully accessible to me. I want to be able to inspect the quality of that system for myself, and fix it myself if the need arises.
Microsoft's customers would rather pay for competent technical support.
Programming is not their competence, the internals of an OS is something they have no desire to muck with, ever.
He has no loyalty to windows. If there was another choice with a compelling difference (like lower price, killer feature, or understandable security improvement) he would choose it. Microsoft knows this and has spent the last 25 years making sure he doesn't have a choice !
Even the most rabid Mac fan-boy knows in his heart that this is demonstrably false. x86. Boot Camp. iTunes for Windows. Windows users are loyal to their OS.
OEM Linux disappears from Walmart.com for the plain and simple reason that no one wants to buy it. Not in the numbers which make sense in big box retail.
And "teh" is mocking the very user we are talking about here: your average Dell consumer
And that, young Dragon, is why you fail.
It's unlikely your typical Dell consumer, even your typical Dell business user, uses anything that doesn't exist in (and probably originated in) the F/OSS world
Is there anything in FOSS as immeadiately useful in the home as Print Shop? Is it FOSS that made Instant Messaging essential to a generation of users or was it AOL?
I could get into my truck and drive to Best Buy right now, and buy an 'Install on New PC' copy of Windows XP (also known as the Retail Box version) right now.
The more likely scenario is that have been out of the market for years.
You move your old PC to the kid's bedroom, order the XPS gaming rig from Dell, fold it into the direct seller's OEM system bundle with MS Office 2007, Oblivion. a multifunction printer and that big wide screen LCD monitor you have been lusting after.
You haven't installed an OS since George H. W. Bush was president.
the same model, same processor, same memory, bigger HD, DVD-ROM instead of CD-ROM, with windows xp sp2. can you guess the price? $699. please explain that to me.
Dell sells Windows notebooks configured and priced for mass market sales and support. Notebooks which fly out of Austin in numbers which make the bean counters very, very happy.
Didn't Henry Ford make only black Model-T Fords until people started to ask for different colours?
Until DuPont invented a quick-drying, spray-on, paint, color was for the custom body trade. Expensive and tedious handcraft work. Ford's customers weren't asking for color, they were asking for cheap.
You want the niche product? You go to the niche dealer and pay the niche price.
No, they don't want Windows, they want a computer because they want to surf teh intarwebs
This is the Geek fantasy. The Geek affliction. Like spelling "the" teh.
Doesn't make it true.
Microsoft has thirty years experience in the home market.
MSDOS and Windows have been there for over twenty-five years.
Microsoft understands this market segment exceptionally well and the home buyer has never found a compelling reason to switch in mass to the alternative-OS-of-the-day.
He may be a sophisticated craftsman or hobbyist in his own domain, a photographer, perhaps, but his interest in computer hardware and software is purely pragmatic. He is unlikely to be a programmer and even less likely to share the values and obsessions of the Geek. Middle-class and centrist, he is vaguely contemptuous of the upscale urban lifestyle marketed as the Mac.
He plays games. He plays music and videos. He has made his peace with DRM. That much is a given. But his software library has a far greater reach and depth than the Geek stereotypes of e-mail and the browser.
Chances are, that if he has tried an Open CD, a Live CD distro, or thumbed through the Linspire download catalog, he found nothing much new and nothing much of interest beyond "the usual suspects." He will, at least, be blessedly unaware of Sourceforge.
His Windows OS runs on hardware that was mid-line at the time of its introduction. He sees Vista as the perfect opportunity to simultaneously upgrade hardware and OS at OEM prices.
Sure. Dell makes its billions in the consumer direct sales market by selling the PC with Windows. The Geek is a dead weight in that market segment. End of story.
Scenario 3: A lot of people request a Windows refund.
Results 1 and 2 are the same! So why not request it?
"A lot of people" doesn't have the same meaning to Dell as it does to a Geek. You were the 179,000th poster with a Slashdot ID. How long does it take Dell to sell 179,000 Windows laptops?
In plain english that means they set a price above a competitive market rate. That destroys the surplus value to consumers, and raises the price of hardware Windows runs on.
The commodity PC running Windows is dirt cheap. That is why Walmart walked away from OEM Linux.
Sounds like he's up 52 bucks compared to you at the end of a few hours. Now who's the dumbass with the stupid hobby?
The guy who could have made more more money flipping burgers for minimum wage at McD's?
What he has is a token refund check and five minutes fame from a post to Slashdot. Dell meanwhile will go on its merry way selling millions of laptops with the default OEM Windows install
Also, do not expect companies to start selling OS free computers anytime soon. They make a good profit off charging for the OS (built into price)
Of course they do.
Because the OEM system install has been the standard in the consumer market for over twenty-five years.
You can't sell an OS free PC in the home market any more than can sell an OS free game console in the home market. Buyers see them both as plug and play appliances.
Heathkit is dead. System builders are rare.
The desktop replacement and the media PC are driving the remnants of the DIY hobby towards extinction.
I thought dell built the computer exactly how YOU wanted it? Why not order it with No windows to begin with?
Go right ahead. But don't expect to find that option on the Home PC page. In the consumer market Dell means Windows. No one there is shopping for the bare bones PC or OEM Linux.
on top of this the Blu-Ray/HD-DVD titles are $30 where the Total-HD titles are $35. After all of that they notice that Best Buy is having a sale on DVDs where 2 of their favourite movies are on the 2 for $15 rack
I'll assume from the spelling that you are Canadian.
Amazon's prices on A-list HD titles average around $20 US. You won't see the likes of Disney/Pixar on Best Buy's budget racks and that is where the real sales and profits in home video are being made.
when was the last time you purchased a monitor that couldn't display games or video at HD resolutions? when was the last time you saw a laptop advertised with a 4:3 screen?
Both formats' relative failure up until this point has nothing to do with the "format war".
It has everything to do with the fact that HD technology is still new.
RCA introduced color television in 1954.
It took ten years to become mass-market. It took five years for digital TV to become mass market.
SACD sells. DVD-A sells. Vinyl sells. In their niche markets. HDTV is not a niche market. "Ill-received?" Give me a break.
But do you think DVD players were available at Walmart for $30 in their first six months of release?
This is probably a good time for OSS advocates in the corporate enviroment to bring the alternative up
In the corporate world, Office is one piece of a puzzle that includes Exchange, third party apps that integrate with Office, and so on, and on. You might begin by asking how rights management fits into the corporate way of doing things.
Slashdot Mirror
Did your mother serve tea in tightly sealed insulated foam cups? To guests at temperatures that could send them to burn ward?
Throwing wastes out the window has been a fact of urban life for thousands of years.
It persisted in the american city until well within living memory. Not everyone had running water much less a toilet. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happening even now in the poorest neighborhoods.
Ever wonder why old man Rockefeller sold his product as "Standard Oil?" Ever wonder why after the break-up of the trust, his operating companies prospered and the small independents died?
To the customer, "Standard Oil" meant that, for the first time, you could light a lamp or a stove or fire up a two-stroke engine without fear: a formulation that was consistent, predictable and safe under ordinary handling.
if you were being honest with yourself, you bought a bike that at a distance would impress any girl who saw you riding it on the street.
otherwise, as W.C. Fields would have said, there is a sucker born every minute.
Not so ridiculous as you might think:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received reports of numerous suffocation deaths involving children who crawled inside latch type freezers, clothes dryers, combination washer/dryer units, picnic coolers, iceboxes in campers, and old-style latch type refrigerators. Most of the victims were 4 to 7 years old. In all cases, the doors could not be easily pushed open from the inside. In some of the incidents associated with clothes dryers, the appliance was accidentally turned on while the child was inside.
Frequently, the children were playing "hide-and-seek" and the appliance or chest provided a deceptively good place to hide. When the door slammed shut, the tight fitting gasket on most of the appliances cut off air to the child. This, along with the insulated construction of the appliance, also prevented the child's screams from being heard. But abandoned appliances are not the only items involved with accidents like these. Entrapment deaths have been reported in products in use or stored in the kitchen, laundry room, basement, or garage. Deaths also have occurred in iceboxes located in campers parked outside the home. Preventing Large Appliance Entrapment Deaths to Children
and this makes you representative of the consumer PC market?
Microsoft's customers would rather pay for competent technical support.
Programming is not their competence, the internals of an OS is something they have no desire to muck with, ever.
Even the most rabid Mac fan-boy knows in his heart that this is demonstrably false. x86. Boot Camp. iTunes for Windows. Windows users are loyal to their OS.
OEM Linux disappears from Walmart.com for the plain and simple reason that no one wants to buy it. Not in the numbers which make sense in big box retail.
And "teh" is mocking the very user we are talking about here: your average Dell consumer
And that, young Dragon, is why you fail.
It's unlikely your typical Dell consumer, even your typical Dell business user, uses anything that doesn't exist in (and probably originated in) the F/OSS world
Is there anything in FOSS as immeadiately useful in the home as Print Shop? Is it FOSS that made Instant Messaging essential to a generation of users or was it AOL?
The more likely scenario is that have been out of the market for years.
You move your old PC to the kid's bedroom, order the XPS gaming rig from Dell, fold it into the direct seller's OEM system bundle with MS Office 2007, Oblivion. a multifunction printer and that big wide screen LCD monitor you have been lusting after.
You haven't installed an OS since George H. W. Bush was president.
Dell sells Windows notebooks configured and priced for mass market sales and support. Notebooks which fly out of Austin in numbers which make the bean counters very, very happy.
Until DuPont invented a quick-drying, spray-on, paint, color was for the custom body trade. Expensive and tedious handcraft work. Ford's customers weren't asking for color, they were asking for cheap.
You want the niche product? You go to the niche dealer and pay the niche price.
This is the Geek fantasy. The Geek affliction. Like spelling "the" teh.
Doesn't make it true.
Microsoft has thirty years experience in the home market.
MSDOS and Windows have been there for over twenty-five years.
Microsoft understands this market segment exceptionally well and the home buyer has never found a compelling reason to switch in mass to the alternative-OS-of-the-day.
He may be a sophisticated craftsman or hobbyist in his own domain, a photographer, perhaps, but his interest in computer hardware and software is purely pragmatic. He is unlikely to be a programmer and even less likely to share the values and obsessions of the Geek. Middle-class and centrist, he is vaguely contemptuous of the upscale urban lifestyle marketed as the Mac.
He plays games. He plays music and videos. He has made his peace with DRM. That much is a given. But his software library has a far greater reach and depth than the Geek stereotypes of e-mail and the browser.
Chances are, that if he has tried an Open CD, a Live CD distro, or thumbed through the Linspire download catalog, he found nothing much new and nothing much of interest beyond "the usual suspects." He will, at least, be blessedly unaware of Sourceforge.
His Windows OS runs on hardware that was mid-line at the time of its introduction. He sees Vista as the perfect opportunity to simultaneously upgrade hardware and OS at OEM prices.
Sure. Dell makes its billions in the consumer direct sales market by selling the PC with Windows. The Geek is a dead weight in that market segment. End of story.
Because people buy less of it. Much less. Welcome to the world of mass production and sales.
Results 1 and 2 are the same! So why not request it?
"A lot of people" doesn't have the same meaning to Dell as it does to a Geek. You were the 179,000th poster with a Slashdot ID. How long does it take Dell to sell 179,000 Windows laptops?
The commodity PC running Windows is dirt cheap. That is why Walmart walked away from OEM Linux.
The guy who could have made more more money flipping burgers for minimum wage at McD's?
What he has is a token refund check and five minutes fame from a post to Slashdot. Dell meanwhile will go on its merry way selling millions of laptops with the default OEM Windows install
Of course they do.
Because the OEM system install has been the standard in the consumer market for over twenty-five years.
You can't sell an OS free PC in the home market any more than can sell an OS free game console in the home market. Buyers see them both as plug and play appliances.
Heathkit is dead. System builders are rare.
The desktop replacement and the media PC are driving the remnants of the DIY hobby towards extinction.
Go right ahead. But don't expect to find that option on the Home PC page. In the consumer market Dell means Windows. No one there is shopping for the bare bones PC or OEM Linux.
The Bottom Line for the Geek 101.
The OEM Windows install is the gold standard in the domestic PC market.
There are enormous economies of scale at work in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of the OEM Windows PC.
Even Walmart couldn't undercut OEM Windows on price or deliver an alternative product in OEM Linux that people actually wanted to buy.
The rational decision for Dell is to ignore the Geek's hectoring and get on with business.
I'll assume from the spelling that you are Canadian.
Amazon's prices on A-list HD titles average around $20 US. You won't see the likes of Disney/Pixar on Best Buy's budget racks and that is where the real sales and profits in home video are being made.
when was the last time you purchased a monitor that couldn't display games or video at HD resolutions? when was the last time you saw a laptop advertised with a 4:3 screen?
It has everything to do with the fact that HD technology is still new.
RCA introduced color television in 1954.
It took ten years to become mass-market. It took five years for digital TV to become mass market.
SACD sells. DVD-A sells. Vinyl sells. In their niche markets. HDTV is not a niche market. "Ill-received?" Give me a break. But do you think DVD players were available at Walmart for $30 in their first six months of release?
In the corporate world, Office is one piece of a puzzle that includes Exchange, third party apps that integrate with Office, and so on, and on. You might begin by asking how rights management fits into the corporate way of doing things.
the courts don't look at alternate scenarios.
they make a decision based on the facts of the case before them.
in the American context, freedom of speech begins in open political debate free of arbitrary government interference.
libel and slander is not protected speech. crime is not free speech.
[though a crime may be remembered as an act of morally responsible civil disobedience.]
the rapist does have a constitutionally protected right to broadcast a video of his crime through YouTube.