2008 Presidential Candidate USB drives. Simply pull down the candidates' trousers (or pull up her dress), and stick your computer into your favorite Republican's/Democrat's/Independent's butt...
...and if no one's thought of it yet, send the checks directly to me.
"From everything that people have seen, yes(*). So far keyboards and mice work just fine."
Well, if that's true, I hope some developers (including Microsoft) make some non-FPS games available. I, for one, would like to see how Flight Simulator would look on an XBox 360.
"I just renewed my living-room home-entertainment system for almost 5000 euros. The two finalists were a all Sony set vs. Panasonic + Harman Kardon + Infinity. Guess which finalist got my money after reading up on the Sony DRM scheme..."
Sony is going to lose a Hell of a lot more than your 500 euros. I bet this affects many peoples' technology decisions for some time to come. In addition, US lawyers are on the scent, smelling money.
"What has Microsoft given us? It has given us Windows, sure, it was buggy earlier and a lot of things didn't work like they were supposed to (plug and play springs to mind) but it was a pioneering effort."
I think I finally get it. Microsoft really are pioneers! Pioneers offed the Native Americans, Microsoft offed all the companies that helped Windows dominate in the 80s and 90s (Stac Electronics, Wordperfect Corp, Lotus Development, Netscape, numerous utility makers, etc.).
...and cars weren't a threat to buggy whip manufacturers, either.
Everyone I've ever shown Firefox to, even the most novice of computer users, falls in love with it after using it a few times. My favorite feature is controlling the zoom with Cntrl + or -.
I'm sure the next version of IE will have most of the features that Steve Vamos thinks are not important. Last I read, Firefox has 6 percent of the market, and rising. Every month Microsoft delays the next IE release, they can kiss more market share goodbye.
There used to be a Gateway store about a half hour from me (it was across the street from the Apple Store). I took my daughter down there to look at laptops. We went to the Gateway store second, and couldn't believe how inferior, in every way, the Gateway experience was to the Apple experience.
Apple Store: Brightly lit, well laid out, lots of computers with unique designs, laptops, etc. on display, you could walk out with one, lots of software, knowlegable sales people.
Gateway Store: Not brightly lit with an unfinished ceiling, giving it the look of a warehouse store; butt ugly desktops, nondescript laptops, couldn't walk out with one, no software, sales people from the 80s computer stores (you know the ones, you have to beg them to help you).
Bringing this back to Sony, they're the only large Windows PC manufacturer whose industrial designs rival Apple's, IMO. Put them in upscale malls and give the shopper a good experience, and they'll do well...
...contain spyware, in my experience. Somewhere between AOL IM, kid's web sites, "cheat code" web sites, software review web sites, etc., spyware winds up on my clients' computers. Even many business computers I see have spyware, because small business owners or their employees are not educated about it.
This is a majorly bad problem, as I have to regularly check my clients' computers and delete or disable the damn stuff. This is one area that needs government or private intervention, because it is really mucking up (slowing down computers, redirecting browsers) the end-user experience. I can't believe Microsoft is not more concerned about this, because spyware ultimately will drive users to Macs or Linux.
"As if when I think "Apple," I think "Beatles." At least with Lindows, they purposely chose that name in competition with Windows."
A lot of people over 40 still do. Jobs and Wozniak were not stupid to name their computer company Apple back in the late 70s. It made their company instantly recognizable in a sea of computer startups. Apple Computer rode in on the coattails of the most famous rock and roll band in history. I can understand why the Beatles would be upset.
You've got the Windows/Lindows analogy wrong, also. A better analogy would be how Microsoft Corp would react if someone started an online music service called Micro Soft Music Corporation...
So, according to Michael Bergman, when the elderly lady residents at the senior citizen center get together in a communal room to watch Jeanette McDonald in "Rose Marie", they're committing copyright violation? I say, "Arrest them all! And make sure they publicize it on TV so that other seniors don't get any smart ideas!"
As one geezer told me, "Let 'em put me away for life! How long do they think that'll be?"
...and you don't want to spend it on yourself, why not pick a local charity, such as The Salvation Army or a community center, and offer to wire together a low buck computer lab for them, so that disadvantaged people can learn a new skill (anything from language to bookkeeping)? It would be technology related, which seems to be your desire, and the charity probably has most of the computers lying around (maybe old pentiums, but they're good enough for training). You can spend most of the 7K for a server(?) connected to a projection system.
I like your list, but I would ditch the Newton, and add in the Timex-Sinclair 1000.
The TS 1000 broke the first barrier to true home computing; affordability. Timex sold boat loads of these computers to people who would later become hooked on Commodores, Apples, and IBMs.
I'd rather not see handhelds on this list, because it's only a Top Ten list. But if I had to put one on, it would be the Palm Pilot Professional. This is the one that really got the masses excited about PDAs. To this day, Palm handhelds are still called Palm Pilots, and that's because of this model...
P.S. I'd also put the C-64 and Amiga higher, but that's only because I used them both for years.
Medium sized businesses (100 or so employees) that don't utilize the services of CPAs get what they deserve, and you can buy their assets for 10 cents on a dollar when they go belly up.
First off, Quickbooks is a terrible program for most specialized industries (construction, for one). That, and its idiot half-brother, Turbo Tax, illustrate GIGO better than any computer book I've ever read.
Speaking of idiots, thank your Congress for mucking up the tax laws on an annual basis, which pretty much guarantees me and all the other CPAs full, permanent employment.
Thirdly, who's minding the store? An owner, partner, or President who worries about keeping books isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing, which is securing new business. That criminally stupid, in my view. Also, without someone reviewing the internal accounting controls on a regular basis, employees will tend to look like Iraqis right after the liberation of Baghdad, when everyone was liberating home electronics from the captivity of the electronics store.
I could go on, but I will leave with two thoughts:
1)a good CPA costs their company NOTHING (they'll save more than their cost), and
2) A good businessperson will hire a good CPA at $100 to $200 an hour, and go about earning $600 an hour or more securing new business.
A CPA friend of mine uses an accounting program called BPI. I think he acquired it some time in the mid 80s. It's obviously not Y2K compatible, but did that stop him? NOOOOOOO....
He simply emters checks with the calendar year 1999, regardless of what the real year is. He is still using it in 2003, almost 20 years later.
That was my thought last year when I bought a Microtel PC with Lindows preinstalled. I thought I would play with it for a couple of days, then wipe it and put on an old version of Win98 I wasn't currently using.
The first time I loaded it, it immediately detected my network settings, and I was on the internet in under 2 minutes. That impressed the hell out of me. Win98 would have needed a network driver and some tweaks to finally get it going.
I also liked the idea of using Click-N-Run; installing programs under linux can be painful, but Click-N-Run really does install with one click.
To sum up, I became a Lindows Insider, and I don't regret the decision. I came home tonight to find my technophobic wife surfing the web on Netscape, and realized that, as long as its easy to use, who cares whose name is on the OS?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, if that's true, I hope some developers (including Microsoft) make some non-FPS games available. I, for one, would like to see how Flight Simulator would look on an XBox 360.
...when you need to run MS Word really, really fast.
Buy this set, and you'll have more programming available than Spike TV...
Sony is going to lose a Hell of a lot more than your 500 euros. I bet this affects many peoples' technology decisions for some time to come. In addition, US lawyers are on the scent, smelling money.
I think I finally get it. Microsoft really are pioneers! Pioneers offed the Native Americans, Microsoft offed all the companies that helped Windows dominate in the 80s and 90s (Stac Electronics, Wordperfect Corp, Lotus Development, Netscape, numerous utility makers, etc.).
Everyone I've ever shown Firefox to, even the most novice of computer users, falls in love with it after using it a few times. My favorite feature is controlling the zoom with Cntrl + or -.
I'm sure the next version of IE will have most of the features that Steve Vamos thinks are not important. Last I read, Firefox has 6 percent of the market, and rising. Every month Microsoft delays the next IE release, they can kiss more market share goodbye.
Apple Store: Brightly lit, well laid out, lots of computers with unique designs, laptops, etc. on display, you could walk out with one, lots of software, knowlegable sales people.
Gateway Store: Not brightly lit with an unfinished ceiling, giving it the look of a warehouse store; butt ugly desktops, nondescript laptops, couldn't walk out with one, no software, sales people from the 80s computer stores (you know the ones, you have to beg them to help you).
Bringing this back to Sony, they're the only large Windows PC manufacturer whose industrial designs rival Apple's, IMO. Put them in upscale malls and give the shopper a good experience, and they'll do well...
http://www.stadiumpal.com/stadiumpal_what.htm
This is a majorly bad problem, as I have to regularly check my clients' computers and delete or disable the damn stuff. This is one area that needs government or private intervention, because it is really mucking up (slowing down computers, redirecting browsers) the end-user experience. I can't believe Microsoft is not more concerned about this, because spyware ultimately will drive users to Macs or Linux.
Good thing, Paul could sure use the money...
A lot of people over 40 still do. Jobs and Wozniak were not stupid to name their computer company Apple back in the late 70s. It made their company instantly recognizable in a sea of computer startups. Apple Computer rode in on the coattails of the most famous rock and roll band in history. I can understand why the Beatles would be upset.
You've got the Windows/Lindows analogy wrong, also. A better analogy would be how Microsoft Corp would react if someone started an online music service called Micro Soft Music Corporation...
Did anyone catch this amazing tidbit on the Scribus site regarding their 1.2 Upgrade?
"Over 800 bug reports and user feature requests have been squashed."
Maybe it wasn't such an important upgrade after all...
So, according to Michael Bergman, when the elderly lady residents at the senior citizen center get together in a communal room to watch Jeanette McDonald in "Rose Marie", they're committing copyright violation? I say, "Arrest them all! And make sure they publicize it on TV so that other seniors don't get any smart ideas!"
As one geezer told me, "Let 'em put me away for life! How long do they think that'll be?"
...and you don't want to spend it on yourself, why not pick a local charity, such as The Salvation Army or a community center, and offer to wire together a low buck computer lab for them, so that disadvantaged people can learn a new skill (anything from language to bookkeeping)? It would be technology related, which seems to be your desire, and the charity probably has most of the computers lying around (maybe old pentiums, but they're good enough for training). You can spend most of the 7K for a server(?) connected to a projection system.
Anyway, it's just a thought...
I like your list, but I would ditch the Newton, and add in the Timex-Sinclair 1000.
The TS 1000 broke the first barrier to true home computing; affordability. Timex sold boat loads of these computers to people who would later become hooked on Commodores, Apples, and IBMs.
I'd rather not see handhelds on this list, because it's only a Top Ten list. But if I had to put one on, it would be the Palm Pilot Professional. This is the one that really got the masses excited about PDAs. To this day, Palm handhelds are still called Palm Pilots, and that's because of this model...
P.S. I'd also put the C-64 and Amiga higher, but that's only because I used them both for years.
Medium sized businesses (100 or so employees) that don't utilize the services of CPAs get what they deserve, and you can buy their assets for 10 cents on a dollar when they go belly up.
First off, Quickbooks is a terrible program for most specialized industries (construction, for one). That, and its idiot half-brother, Turbo Tax, illustrate GIGO better than any computer book I've ever read.
Speaking of idiots, thank your Congress for mucking up the tax laws on an annual basis, which pretty much guarantees me and all the other CPAs full, permanent employment.
Thirdly, who's minding the store? An owner, partner, or President who worries about keeping books isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing, which is securing new business. That criminally stupid, in my view. Also, without someone reviewing the internal accounting controls on a regular basis, employees will tend to look like Iraqis right after the liberation of Baghdad, when everyone was liberating home electronics from the captivity of the electronics store.
I could go on, but I will leave with two thoughts:
1)a good CPA costs their company NOTHING (they'll save more than their cost), and
2) A good businessperson will hire a good CPA at $100 to $200 an hour, and go about earning $600 an hour or more securing new business.
A CPA friend of mine uses an accounting program called BPI. I think he acquired it some time in the mid 80s. It's obviously not Y2K compatible, but did that stop him? NOOOOOOO.... He simply emters checks with the calendar year 1999, regardless of what the real year is. He is still using it in 2003, almost 20 years later.
That was my thought last year when I bought a Microtel PC with Lindows preinstalled. I thought I would play with it for a couple of days, then wipe it and put on an old version of Win98 I wasn't currently using.
The first time I loaded it, it immediately detected my network settings, and I was on the internet in under 2 minutes. That impressed the hell out of me. Win98 would have needed a network driver and some tweaks to finally get it going.
I also liked the idea of using Click-N-Run; installing programs under linux can be painful, but Click-N-Run really does install with one click.
To sum up, I became a Lindows Insider, and I don't regret the decision. I came home tonight to find my technophobic wife surfing the web on Netscape, and realized that, as long as its easy to use, who cares whose name is on the OS?