The reason that Microsoft losing share to these other OS's is because unlike the #1 fastest growing company(Apple) they don't manufacture hardware.
Hm. So that's why Apple's marketshare has dropped by something like a factor of 10 in the last 20 years? Also, Apple's growth has nothing to do with Macs, and everything to do with iPods.
I own a powerbook, but it doesn't blind me, despite the glare from its beautiful silver finish.
Such a contract is illegal in Canada. Our telcos are very highly regulated, and that would step well outside of the bounds. The only way a telco can get a cust to sign an extended service contract is when it is tied to the deferred payment of a physical device.
Wow! That's quite nice. But when you sign up...there's no forms? No fine print? I mean, that's a great law and all, but I can't believe the ISP's don't make you sign *something*. Basically, I can't believe you exported ALL your lawyers to us.
I suspect it's probably legal. But on the other hand, I suspect it would also be legal for the ISP's customers to ask for their money back, since they are paying for access to the internet and not getting it.
I would further suspect - nay, guarantee - that the fine print they signed waived any right to a guarantee of specific content, and also any right to terminate the contract for such reason.
The question isn't whether it's reasonable, it's whether it's *legal.* The first question is whether there's any restrictions in CA on what ISP's can censor. If not, the question is whether there's any provision in labor law regarding obstruction of communication - as rare as a case like this would be, I'd imagine not.
Otherwise, I imagine this is dirty, a bad idea, but legal.
Does it matter if it's two different markets? I can see why it doesn't matter when we're talking about two small unrelated markets. But with huge markets, unrelated as they may be, it can hurt one of the brand names. Think "Windows Ikea" for example. What's the legal status on this kind of a brand conflict?
The more generic the term, the narrower the granted trademark. "Windows" is pretty generic. And if the "Vista Windows" - who makes actual windows, out of which you can see a vista - has to give up their trademark, I think it's time for a revolt.
I can't help but feel this isn't the solution people need. Rather, more cities should take the stand Philadelphia has by attempting to provide WiFi for the entire city http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20040901-4149.html
That completely misses the point. Currently city-wide WiFi *doesn't* exist in many places, so the point is what you do in the meantime? Also note the use for a traveller - in a hotel, placing a local call to an AOL number (those free discs are good for something) is probably free, while the place might not have WiFi.
"In its complaint, Google argues California laws should apply because its headquarters -- and most of its nearly 4,200 workers -- are in the state. What's more, Google said Lee already is registered to vote in California, pays taxes in the state and plans to buy a Silicon Valley home."
On the other hand you can't see consensual sex in a video game ? Urrr.
Yes you can. I, as an old man, have the same right to go buy it now as I did before. Seriously, the big deal is that now you have to be 18 to buy it and not 17? Wow, that's terrible!
On the other hand, in Europe, many kinds of speech that aren't "correct" are banned. Now who has a free speech problem?
Even more impressive is how many other internet based companies manage to cut their prices in half again.
I haven't seen a computer and monitor for $175 from anyone not selling them hot. Also, if you're talking about pricewatch, try to actually buy the systems advertised, that's a big bait-and-switch scam. Dell is the cheapest of anyone you'll have actually heard of and the average person will trust, and that's what counts. I bought a PC online before because I can fix it myself. Guess what? It's a good thing I can, because they company went belly-up.
If you want cheaper than Dell, you'll have to be prepared to deal with that kind of crap.
Repeatedly threatening to switch to AMD and Linux probably gets them good deals from Intel and Microsoft too. That is a good strategy.
What? Strategy? And I thought they were being genuinely torn between two good choices of chip and operating system. Also, don't forget, "Apple" just replaced "Linux" in the above example as of last month, straight from the mouth of Michael Dell. Some things never change.
For the most part, your arguments are circular - you claim it's easy to get cheap prices given their volumes, and easy to get volume given the prices they get. You have to grant them the ability to have gotten the chicken or the egg, because it's not easy to do.
Also, if it were that easy, you don't think all their competitors would do it?
The industry has been heading in that direction for the past 20 years or so. Dell's only achievement is finding a decent balance between price and quality.
Yeah. Thanks in large part to....Dell! They're one of a handfull of companies who have continually found ways to push margins. And when most companies start to get soft, they found ways to continually pound their competitors. That's the thing - as cheap as computers are now, they're still finding ways to make them cheaper.
They got lucky. Part of the reason they are successful is because they never innovate and spend as little as possible on engineering and R&D.
I'm guessing you're not in the business world, because crippling every single one of your competitors in an amazingly competitive industry doesn't happen through luck.
Basically, I'm pretty sure you just have a set idea of what innovation is, and that happens to coincide with pushing the technical envelope. However, the guy who invents it doesn't get it into homes. That would be the guy who figures out to make it cheaper. Dell has been that guy for the last 20 years. If it were up to IBM, PCs would still cost over $1000, which is what the bottom of the line PC cost 13 years ago when I got my first.
Dell doesn't do anything creative. They buy cheap parts and build cheap computers with them on a large scale. They have thinner margins than some competitors, but they make it up in volume and crappy support.
Like hell. Cheap parts - at the prices they get them - don't grow on trees. They almost singlehandedly turned the mass-market computer industry into something approaching Walmart. They figured out how to change the industry. If it's that easy, give it a shot.
It's not like their prices are particularly low or anything
A computer and monitor from a known supplier (ie, not some dipshit in his garage) for $350 isn't cheap?
Nothing particularly creative, it's a very straightforward and unimaginative approach that is mainly successful due to the general lack of innovation in the computer industry.
If it were that easy, they wouldn't have increased their marketshare ridiculously over the last 5+ years, crippling Compaq, Gateway, and HP in the process (yeah, I know 2 of those losers merged).
Anyone else experience this sensation? I wonder what kind of spec I need to run WoW Server (were that actually possible)...
Yeah, wonder about the machine it takes to do that. Then imagine a Beowulf cluster of them!....*ducks*
I, like you, typically invest my time into single-player (non-net-connected) games. WoW was the first MMORPG that I spent any time at all in. And I think it is an amazing achievement, made less amazing by the throngs of idiots playing it. Which is a shame really. I feel a little bad for Blizzard when I read the endless crabbing on the fora (but only a *little* bad... they are making millions per month).
Seriously, crap like that is why I don't do MMPORGs. I'm closer to 30 than 20, I like a little fun playing games a few nights after work, and I don't have the time for either 1) a mindless quest game, or 2) retarded prepubescent politics in a game. I like Warcraft and Blizzard so WoW is probably the closest I'd ever get to liking a MMORPG, but still, no thanks.
Basically, I'll take AI over teenagers any day. I dealt with that idiotic shit in high school, I don't need to pay for the privelege again.
Sigh...Dell does what it does pretty well, but they are definitely not a company known for much imagination or innovation.
You know, it may not be technological innovation, but I guarantee figuring out how to sell computers for what they do, at the margins they do, takes some imagination.
In the same sense, tax attorneys are some damned creative people.
It's just like how your address is an invitation for people to mail you, or come to your front door. You can keep people away, but it's up to you to take steps to do so
Yeah, like a "No trespassing" sign, which is legally enforcable. Or a "Do not call" list. With trespassing, I don't have to send a copy to each person who could possibly end up on my door.
The default assumption is that communication is desired.
And I revoke that default by stating my wish not to be communicated with a "Don't Call Me" request on the list.
I think this goes to show that multiplayer games are where the industry is now. I do not think publishers can be successful unless they release games like WOW that millions can play together at the same time
Yeah, it's killing Rockstar. And are you aware of how many MMPORGs crash and burn, and how much more they cost to make compared to a regular game?
There's a large gaming market of people like me - people who want to game ~5-10 hrs/week, which isn't enough time to become expert at a game, and who want to have fun without treating a game like a job. I have a job - that's what I'm escaping with the game. I also don't want to subscribe to a damned game.
Put that together and single player games have a lot of life left in them.
Agreed all the way. Most people seem to have the thought in their heads 'If I make myself a slave to my job, I'll get promoted faster and get more payraises.'. I'd kindly like to throw the BS flag on that one; all it does is encourage your employer to walk all over you and wring you for everything you're worth.
First off, I definitely agree with your sentiment and subscribe to it! I do think the utility of working some extra hours is selective, though. If you show that you're a team player and willing to help out when the proverbial caca hits the fan - possibly by working some extra hours - that's good. Working more hours than you're expected to, all the time, probably makes you look like a stooge.
Put it this way - if you work extra hours just to show you're working extra hours, you'll always be a grunt. Things like "availability" from an email/phone standpoint, except for special situations, definitely fall in that category. However, if you put in extra hours - noticed or not - to make sure you do a great job, you'll probably get promoted.
And having different work schedules depending on season is somehow inconcievable
Yes. It is. Unless you own your own business, please tell me how it goes when you try to switch your company over to a work schedule based on the almanac.
I mean, change the 9to5 for 8to4? WHAT? NEVER! Lets have all clocks in the country changed instead, duh!
It's easier to change one beauracracy - even an enormous one - than an infinity of smaller ones. I mean, if Congress' goal is maximizing the overlap between waking hours and sunlight, what the hell are they supposed to do, legislate the time each business opens? Yes, it's easier to change the clocks.
Society didn't have to pay the officer to show up while he could be saving the world from criminals.
That's...sarcastic, right? Because assuming the guy's story is legit, this is the same cop that issued him a citation for failing to yield to an effectively invisible car.
Anything that gets *that* asshole off the street is a good thing, in my book.
Actually,it will affect securities and futures traders, because the market will open an hour earlier and close an hour earlier than before, for an extra two months a year. International traders will have to make adjustments that they weren't prepared for, and software will have to be modified that wasn't scheduled for (or budgeted for) change.
I imagine they can deal with it. Personally I think this Nov thing is generally stupid, but I don't see software breakage as a particularly compelling reason to not pursue policy in the US's best interest (assuming it were).
If the US had to consider every possible ramification of every single policy change, we'd never get anything done. At the end of the day, it is our country - and we have to do what's right for us.
However, this doesn't apply to everyone so it will probably end up saving some energy. But the point is it only works if you take sunlight out of the time people are asleep, which applies less an less in winter months, so there's dimminishing returns as it is pushed further. I wonder if the energy savings is worth the coordination headaches it'll cause.
Oh, yeah, pushing it to Nov is freaking stupid. I was mainly calling the guy on his pedantry of brilliantly pointing out that DST doesn't, technically, save time.
I think they should start DST in April and end it in March.
What difference does my battery-operated clock make for a diurnal person? Wouldn't they continue to wake and sleep at the same time?
No. They wouldn't. They would get up an hour earlier to go to that job they presumably have. See, if I was on standard time, and it switched to daylight, and I got up at the same time, I'd get to work late. Gifted.
By the way, today was the first that I heard about this move. Did Congress just wake up and go, "let's jerk around the rest of the world and prove we're the biggest bully around?" Shouldn't something like this be discussed and synchronized with trading partners or something?
Um, no. US isn't setting policy for the rest of the world. What we do is our business.
... right... changing the DST will provide you with *more* daylight... it will somehow slow down the earth while the sun is shining, and accelerate it at night...
What's the point of all this? No matter how you mess around with the DST, you won't get a single minute of daylight that you didn't have before.
Wow, it's pedant day on slashdot! The point, Captain Obvious, is to provide the most daylight during waking hours for the average diurnal person.
If you let the Intel switch affect your purchase of an Apple product, at least now, you're being stupid.
Depends where you are in your purchase cycle. Assuming intel powerbooks come out in 1.5 years, and I've had my laptop for 3 years, I can do one of two things: get a new one now, a little early, or wait a year and a half, pushing it a little, but getting a monster laptop when the intels come out, one that I'll be able to dual- or treble-boot.
If you need a laptop right now, then yeah, going without one is stupid. But the closer apple gets to releasing intel machines, the more their PPC sales will go down.
Slashdot Mirror
Hm. So that's why Apple's marketshare has dropped by something like a factor of 10 in the last 20 years? Also, Apple's growth has nothing to do with Macs, and everything to do with iPods.
I own a powerbook, but it doesn't blind me, despite the glare from its beautiful silver finish.
Wow! That's quite nice. But when you sign up...there's no forms? No fine print? I mean, that's a great law and all, but I can't believe the ISP's don't make you sign *something*. Basically, I can't believe you exported ALL your lawyers to us.
Then maybe
I would further suspect - nay, guarantee - that the fine print they signed waived any right to a guarantee of specific content, and also any right to terminate the contract for such reason.
Otherwise, I imagine this is dirty, a bad idea, but legal.
The more generic the term, the narrower the granted trademark. "Windows" is pretty generic. And if the "Vista Windows" - who makes actual windows, out of which you can see a vista - has to give up their trademark, I think it's time for a revolt.
That's the store's right, to carry whatever material they deem appropriate.
That completely misses the point. Currently city-wide WiFi *doesn't* exist in many places, so the point is what you do in the meantime? Also note the use for a traveller - in a hotel, placing a local call to an AOL number (those free discs are good for something) is probably free, while the place might not have WiFi.
"In its complaint, Google argues California laws should apply because its headquarters -- and most of its nearly 4,200 workers -- are in the state. What's more, Google said Lee already is registered to vote in California, pays taxes in the state and plans to buy a Silicon Valley home."
Yes you can. I, as an old man, have the same right to go buy it now as I did before. Seriously, the big deal is that now you have to be 18 to buy it and not 17? Wow, that's terrible!
On the other hand, in Europe, many kinds of speech that aren't "correct" are banned. Now who has a free speech problem?
The defendant. Two completely different markets, no bad faith, yada yada. MS will probably want to buy it, see what it's worth to them.
I haven't seen a computer and monitor for $175 from anyone not selling them hot. Also, if you're talking about pricewatch, try to actually buy the systems advertised, that's a big bait-and-switch scam. Dell is the cheapest of anyone you'll have actually heard of and the average person will trust, and that's what counts. I bought a PC online before because I can fix it myself. Guess what? It's a good thing I can, because they company went belly-up.
If you want cheaper than Dell, you'll have to be prepared to deal with that kind of crap.
Repeatedly threatening to switch to AMD and Linux probably gets them good deals from Intel and Microsoft too. That is a good strategy.
What? Strategy? And I thought they were being genuinely torn between two good choices of chip and operating system. Also, don't forget, "Apple" just replaced "Linux" in the above example as of last month, straight from the mouth of Michael Dell. Some things never change.
Also, if it were that easy, you don't think all their competitors would do it?
The industry has been heading in that direction for the past 20 years or so. Dell's only achievement is finding a decent balance between price and quality.
Yeah. Thanks in large part to....Dell! They're one of a handfull of companies who have continually found ways to push margins. And when most companies start to get soft, they found ways to continually pound their competitors. That's the thing - as cheap as computers are now, they're still finding ways to make them cheaper.
They got lucky. Part of the reason they are successful is because they never innovate and spend as little as possible on engineering and R&D.
I'm guessing you're not in the business world, because crippling every single one of your competitors in an amazingly competitive industry doesn't happen through luck.
Basically, I'm pretty sure you just have a set idea of what innovation is, and that happens to coincide with pushing the technical envelope. However, the guy who invents it doesn't get it into homes. That would be the guy who figures out to make it cheaper. Dell has been that guy for the last 20 years. If it were up to IBM, PCs would still cost over $1000, which is what the bottom of the line PC cost 13 years ago when I got my first.
Like hell. Cheap parts - at the prices they get them - don't grow on trees. They almost singlehandedly turned the mass-market computer industry into something approaching Walmart. They figured out how to change the industry. If it's that easy, give it a shot.
It's not like their prices are particularly low or anything
A computer and monitor from a known supplier (ie, not some dipshit in his garage) for $350 isn't cheap?
Nothing particularly creative, it's a very straightforward and unimaginative approach that is mainly successful due to the general lack of innovation in the computer industry.
If it were that easy, they wouldn't have increased their marketshare ridiculously over the last 5+ years, crippling Compaq, Gateway, and HP in the process (yeah, I know 2 of those losers merged).
Yeah, wonder about the machine it takes to do that. Then imagine a Beowulf cluster of them!....*ducks*
I, like you, typically invest my time into single-player (non-net-connected) games. WoW was the first MMORPG that I spent any time at all in. And I think it is an amazing achievement, made less amazing by the throngs of idiots playing it. Which is a shame really. I feel a little bad for Blizzard when I read the endless crabbing on the fora (but only a *little* bad... they are making millions per month).
Seriously, crap like that is why I don't do MMPORGs. I'm closer to 30 than 20, I like a little fun playing games a few nights after work, and I don't have the time for either 1) a mindless quest game, or 2) retarded prepubescent politics in a game. I like Warcraft and Blizzard so WoW is probably the closest I'd ever get to liking a MMORPG, but still, no thanks.
Basically, I'll take AI over teenagers any day. I dealt with that idiotic shit in high school, I don't need to pay for the privelege again.
You know, it may not be technological innovation, but I guarantee figuring out how to sell computers for what they do, at the margins they do, takes some imagination.
In the same sense, tax attorneys are some damned creative people.
It's just like how your address is an invitation for people to mail you, or come to your front door. You can keep people away, but it's up to you to take steps to do so
Yeah, like a "No trespassing" sign, which is legally enforcable. Or a "Do not call" list. With trespassing, I don't have to send a copy to each person who could possibly end up on my door.
The default assumption is that communication is desired.
And I revoke that default by stating my wish not to be communicated with a "Don't Call Me" request on the list.
Yeah, it's killing Rockstar. And are you aware of how many MMPORGs crash and burn, and how much more they cost to make compared to a regular game?
There's a large gaming market of people like me - people who want to game ~5-10 hrs/week, which isn't enough time to become expert at a game, and who want to have fun without treating a game like a job. I have a job - that's what I'm escaping with the game. I also don't want to subscribe to a damned game.
Put that together and single player games have a lot of life left in them.
First off, I definitely agree with your sentiment and subscribe to it! I do think the utility of working some extra hours is selective, though. If you show that you're a team player and willing to help out when the proverbial caca hits the fan - possibly by working some extra hours - that's good. Working more hours than you're expected to, all the time, probably makes you look like a stooge.
Put it this way - if you work extra hours just to show you're working extra hours, you'll always be a grunt. Things like "availability" from an email/phone standpoint, except for special situations, definitely fall in that category. However, if you put in extra hours - noticed or not - to make sure you do a great job, you'll probably get promoted.
Yes. It is. Unless you own your own business, please tell me how it goes when you try to switch your company over to a work schedule based on the almanac.
I mean, change the 9to5 for 8to4? WHAT? NEVER! Lets have all clocks in the country changed instead, duh!
It's easier to change one beauracracy - even an enormous one - than an infinity of smaller ones. I mean, if Congress' goal is maximizing the overlap between waking hours and sunlight, what the hell are they supposed to do, legislate the time each business opens? Yes, it's easier to change the clocks.
That's...sarcastic, right? Because assuming the guy's story is legit, this is the same cop that issued him a citation for failing to yield to an effectively invisible car.
Anything that gets *that* asshole off the street is a good thing, in my book.
I imagine they can deal with it. Personally I think this Nov thing is generally stupid, but I don't see software breakage as a particularly compelling reason to not pursue policy in the US's best interest (assuming it were).
If the US had to consider every possible ramification of every single policy change, we'd never get anything done. At the end of the day, it is our country - and we have to do what's right for us.
Oh, yeah, pushing it to Nov is freaking stupid. I was mainly calling the guy on his pedantry of brilliantly pointing out that DST doesn't, technically, save time.
I think they should start DST in April and end it in March.
No. They wouldn't. They would get up an hour earlier to go to that job they presumably have. See, if I was on standard time, and it switched to daylight, and I got up at the same time, I'd get to work late. Gifted.
By the way, today was the first that I heard about this move. Did Congress just wake up and go, "let's jerk around the rest of the world and prove we're the biggest bully around?" Shouldn't something like this be discussed and synchronized with trading partners or something?
Um, no. US isn't setting policy for the rest of the world. What we do is our business.
Wow, it's pedant day on slashdot! The point, Captain Obvious, is to provide the most daylight during waking hours for the average diurnal person.
Depends where you are in your purchase cycle. Assuming intel powerbooks come out in 1.5 years, and I've had my laptop for 3 years, I can do one of two things: get a new one now, a little early, or wait a year and a half, pushing it a little, but getting a monster laptop when the intels come out, one that I'll be able to dual- or treble-boot.
If you need a laptop right now, then yeah, going without one is stupid. But the closer apple gets to releasing intel machines, the more their PPC sales will go down.