Many of you may remember the early days of the internet when hoardes of AOL users flooded into our world. It was ghastly to have swarms of new and frequently ignorant internet n00bs lacking manners flooding newsgroups with the same mindless questions and there was a brief push-back against AOL users. But the internet grew up and we all adapted, perhaps reluctantly in some cases.
I'm sensing the same transition stress in OSS now. Hoardes of new Windows users jumping on to OSS like they just discovered the Promised Land. Many businesses trying OSS solutions without bothering to actually hire someone who knows what they're doing, throwing their MCSE's to the chat room wolves and sometimes it does get testy. They'll come barging in with a problem and expect the rest of the world to drop what they're doing and help, then disappear. Not helping others in turn, not contributing to the group discussions. Just showing up when they need a question answered but not feeling like they owe any other contribution. They want free support besides free software on their terms.
So, yeah, sometimes the long time users do come off a little snobby but it's not always without cause. I can see the other side of this equation. If you're having a problem and are willing to pay for support you might find solutions happen faster.
I remember the last Phillips CDROM drive, what a junker. Figures they would come up with something like this. Can't make competitive hardware so let's come up with a system that annoys the hell out of people.
Because MSFT is losing market share, maybe not massively relative to their size, but their growth rate has to be near zero or sliding into negative territory. To increase quarterly numbers that leaves them few options. MSFT can squeeze employees for pennies (most companies biggest expense), they can squeeze customers and recover revenue from non-purchases, which they call piracy but in reality might not all be pirated products.
Every one of those tactics has a downside. The effect on employee morale is pretty well known by now and I hear the effect on MSFT customers from my business clients every day. So this type of integrity checking doesn't surprise me at all.
The downside is not all of those "pirates" are actually illegal. There are bound to be a few orphans who don't have their original disks or through some other innocent circumstance can't prove they're the rightful owner. They'll get abused for a few more dollars and go away mad. Most will take it and move on, quite a few will carry the grudge and look for an alternative.
With all of the government-sponsored selling out of The People that has been going on in the past, say, 6 or so years, one has to wonder when or even if it is going to stop.
The Republicans may suspect many are going to get their walking papers this fall so they're shoveling out the industry favors as fast as the lobbyists can crank it out the legislation. Paper the landscape with industry favorable legislation to keep the money flowing as long as possible.
It's just wretched. And even more pathetic that so many here continue to support them.
My most sincere hope is that McCain can carry the Republican ticket, and we can wrest the Republican party back from the lunatic fringe.
What makes you think he's any better? McCain voted for every one of Bush's failed policies, stood shoulder to shoulder with him in 2004 and has his share of lobbyists on his staff payroll doing his part for the K Street Project. Oh, he stood up against Bush on torture. Woohooo, that was a pretty safe departure. He didn't stand up and slam the administration's response to hurricane Katrina, didn't start yapping about campaign finance reform until the Repubs got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And didn't take a stand on the war in Iraq until the political wind started to shift. He voted for the Credit Card Company give back labeled bankruptcy reform, the Drug Company Medicare Benefit Plan and all of the spending in the 8 TRILLION dollar deficit. That's $90,000 for every family in America.
I say he's just as corrupt as the rest of them and you're one of the people who supported them.
That big lobbying office Bellsouth employs in DC finally paid off. Republicans are truly the best party money can buy. Since they might be sensing they're in trouble this fall, it's possible they'll be shoveling out the no bid contracts and business favors hand over fist this summer before they get the big boot. Doll out as many favors as possible to keep the money rolling in.
And just what is my incentive to download a movie I can't burn to DVD and play on my home theater system? It costs them next to zero to distribute movies this way and the consumers nothing in return.
Just why do they think this is going to work? Only in Korporate Amerika do people imagine that you can get something for nothing.
Dell Business service is OK for large corporations.
Not in my experience. It's better than service for home users but not by much.
Dell's award winning service *cough*bullshit*cough* is what got me into building my own PC's. I think the only reason Dell got an A is that service from other vendors like cellular providers, phone, cable companies, Best Buy and car dealerships has gotten so hideously, horribly bad that Dell seems good by comparison.
Government watchdogs, however, say earmarks ostensibly related to technology are clearly on the rise.
Just look at the Navy's NMCI project. What a boondoggle. 8 billion dollars for a computer system where many users have to resort to using their own equipment to get anything done.
Of course the contract award to EDS didn't have anything to do with EDS being in Bush's home state. We all know how honest government contract awards are under our glorious Republican leadership, dedicated to bringing accountability into government affairs and responsibility into government spending.
Most industry watchers concede that it will be hard for Microsoft to easily displace the enterprise security businesses of leading vendors such as Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro
Mainly because many businesses will start asking the uncomfortable question about why they have to pay for an insecure software product then pay more for security software. I realize many companies are doing it now, but when the checks are going to different companies one can pretend you're buying network security. When both checks go to the same company it becomes glaringly apparent that you're paying for something many companies think should be included in the price.
I realize it must seem strange but I really think this will do more to highlight MSFT's insecurity than boost revenue. Because it's sort of like rubbing a customer's nose in the fact that the product they're buying is basically not secure. I'm guessing MSFT will end up bundling the package at a price not far above where they are now, especially for big buyers. The little people will, of course, get the corporate shaft but most of them are used to it by now anyway. After the XP Activation Follies paying for security updates won't seem like much of a big deal.
Screw the theater, I want my movies straight to DVD.
I have a projector, a giganitc garage (complete with a bar and disco) and a very large screen. We can set up the lawn chairs and sound system in the garage and have movie night that blows away any theater. Fuller experience my butt. The only thing fuller about the theater experience is it has more people coming in late and walking over you, commercials and previews, self-important people who feel like they have to check their text messages every five seconds, expensive crappy concessions, parking lots, ticket lines, and snobby theater staff.
I'm with you, straight to DVD. If the theaters can figure out how to make going out more entertaining, then I'll think about making the drive. Otherwise they can f'ing die.
Sheesh. You guys make such a big deal out of crooked voting machines because you mistakenly think your vote means anything in the first place. The Supreme Kangaroo Court decides who's president, not you whiney sods. The Republican party has God on their side and God decides who rulz.
Now take your government approved pharma and get back in line.
Quinn blames the 'sandal and ponytail set' for sluggish adoption of Linux by businesses and governments.
I thought it was the companies thinking they could replace their technical management with bean counters responsible for the slow uptake. Managers that think if IT gets on their nerves enough they can simply outsource them to India. Or the fact that many company IT departments are staffed with MCSE's who see every IT problem as a nail for the MSFT hammer.
And here all this time it was sandals and ponytails. Missed it by that much!
This is classic FUD. Raising the doubt not outlining a business strategy. IBM has at least as many patents and between IBM, HP, Novell and RedHat together more than MSFT. And it's a randomizing strategy. MSFT could unsheath the patent sword and that could be the last straw that finally gets our Congresscritters off their collective butts to do something about the abusive lawsuits spawned by a broken patent system. Even if it succeeds on a limited scale, the rest of the world would push on with their Linux adoption leaving the US behind.
The problem with launching nukes is they crap up everything and you never really know how far the radiation is going to spread. I could see many unintended bad consequences for MSFT in that course of action with very limited upside. MSFT has a lot of customers running both operating systems. I'm not sure it's going to improve their image to launch patent suits against them. It's corporate insanity. Of course, so was SCO's misguided strategy and it didn't stop them. Still, a patent shill launching a suit is one thing. They don't have any market to protect. A company like MSFT doing it, it's a sign of weakness that stinks of desperation.
More and more MSFT reminds me of the prom queen who graduated with so much promise and eventually ends up being a cheap hooker. Like getting in bed with SCO. What a PR disaster that was. Almost as bad as Ballmer going to Asia and threatening them with litigation in his keynote address. ROFL! Nice one, Steve. He's got a good head on his shoulders, too bad he can't get it out of his ass.
For the duration of the war on terror, which will be, essentially, forever. Then we don't have to worry about those silly liberals whining about secret courts, holding people in secret prisons without charges or access to a lawyer and we can wiretap everyone without a warrant.
There were compelling reasons for secrecy even back in the day the Constituion was originally drafted, yet the framers thought it more important for the government not to operate in secret.
We didn't have the mis-named Patriot Act before 9-11 and the FBI and CIA had ample warning about the 9-11 hijackers. We KNEW about some of them going to flight school and didn't act on it. We had ample intelligence before 9-11 and law enforcement had enough power to pick them up if anyone had bothered to act on the FBI field report about potential terrorists in flight school. So why is it the government needs all these additional secret powers and wire tip authority now?
The real compelling reason for Republicans to want secrecy is because they've all but thrown accountability out the window. When there's no accountability, then you damn sure don't want transparency.
And do not give me any of that bullshit about the Democrats not being any better. All this is happening with a Republican House, Senate and White House and it's been that way since 2000 and you've had Congress since 1994. It's time to admit that if this country is in a bucket of shit it's because of the REPUBLICANS! Not the Democrats, not the liberals...the problem is YOU.
For 20 years I've been hearing about the future of computing and when the future gets to be the present it doesn't really look anything like the future that was previously described. So to me that whole line of speculation is just a waste of time.
The truth is you don't know which technologies will take or why. Sometimes you think X should be popular but it doesn't catch on for 10 years after you found it. Or something you blow off as insignificant comes out of nowhere to dominate a market.
Although I have noticed one small arena that tends to be a good predictor of the wider market. If p0rn distributors pick it up, then you can almost bet it's going to be the next insanely great thing. I remember taking a training class for a streaming video server in Atlanta a few years ago. Half my classmates were from p0rn distributors. Which definitely made break time more interesting.
Back in my day, the ancient days of IT...three or four years in the dark past, it was big news when a company switched to Linux. These days it's a headline when a company switches to MSFT.
I remember not long ago there was a lot of gloom and doom about IT jobs. Many companies, and I experienced this first hand at more than one customer site, had the attitude that you could be replaced by someone in India for 1/3 of the cost and the replacement would labor long hours out of gratitude for the few pennies they were getting. Project managers not liking the price tag, no problem, we'll outsource it. Some of the local staff had to suffer the indignity of training their replacements.
But it's a different story today. I bill a lot of hours fixing "Bangladore Spaghetti" code, in one case costing more than a clean build would have cost. Even when the work was acceptable, and that was the minority, the language barrier was a constant complaint. While that was going on college students were bailing out of IT programs when the economy was in an expansion mode.
It's a different story out there today. The bonuses are back, the perks are back. It's not quite as insane as the late 90's but not bad. And the best part to me is that there's a bonus for people who can work in either Linux or Windows environments.
And to all you project managers who thought you were SO smart outsourcing those expensive projects and the companies that thought they could replace their IT director with a bean counter...NEENER, NEENER, NEENER! LOOOOO-HOO-HOOOOOSSSSERRRRRRS!!!!! (/., raising the level of dialogue in IT)
Realistically, mission-critical developers aren't going to trust code written by the public, certified or not. There's no responsibility to the developers if something goes wrong with that code.
Let's think about this for a second. Would you rather ride in a plane that has the autopilot running on Windows or Linux?
Somehow the fact that MSFT has the money to pay off my weeping family does not inspire me to trust them more. It's not who writes the code, it's who certifies the code if something goes wrong.
The iPod was a great idea. It was packaged well, marketed intelligently and coupled to a service people wanted. And it has survived every iPod killer to come along so far.
If MSFT would focus on building quality software that lasted for years, instead of trying to push people into product activation forced upgrades they wouldn't need to try and intrude into the home entertainment market.
MSFT reminds me of a manure spreader. Desperately flinging shit in the air every direction trying to find something that sticks. Instead of producing quality software, supporting it, and making their upgrade path intelligent and predictable. But nooooo. They have to try and kill Google and Apple's iPod instead of forging their own success stories. Pathetic.
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I'm sensing the same transition stress in OSS now. Hoardes of new Windows users jumping on to OSS like they just discovered the Promised Land. Many businesses trying OSS solutions without bothering to actually hire someone who knows what they're doing, throwing their MCSE's to the chat room wolves and sometimes it does get testy. They'll come barging in with a problem and expect the rest of the world to drop what they're doing and help, then disappear. Not helping others in turn, not contributing to the group discussions. Just showing up when they need a question answered but not feeling like they owe any other contribution. They want free support besides free software on their terms.
So, yeah, sometimes the long time users do come off a little snobby but it's not always without cause. I can see the other side of this equation. If you're having a problem and are willing to pay for support you might find solutions happen faster.
Brilliant!
Every one of those tactics has a downside. The effect on employee morale is pretty well known by now and I hear the effect on MSFT customers from my business clients every day. So this type of integrity checking doesn't surprise me at all.
The downside is not all of those "pirates" are actually illegal. There are bound to be a few orphans who don't have their original disks or through some other innocent circumstance can't prove they're the rightful owner. They'll get abused for a few more dollars and go away mad. Most will take it and move on, quite a few will carry the grudge and look for an alternative.
You can have my duct tape when you cut and scrape it off my cold, dead hands.
The Republicans may suspect many are going to get their walking papers this fall so they're shoveling out the industry favors as fast as the lobbyists can crank it out the legislation. Paper the landscape with industry favorable legislation to keep the money flowing as long as possible.
It's just wretched. And even more pathetic that so many here continue to support them.
What makes you think he's any better? McCain voted for every one of Bush's failed policies, stood shoulder to shoulder with him in 2004 and has his share of lobbyists on his staff payroll doing his part for the K Street Project. Oh, he stood up against Bush on torture. Woohooo, that was a pretty safe departure. He didn't stand up and slam the administration's response to hurricane Katrina, didn't start yapping about campaign finance reform until the Repubs got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And didn't take a stand on the war in Iraq until the political wind started to shift. He voted for the Credit Card Company give back labeled bankruptcy reform, the Drug Company Medicare Benefit Plan and all of the spending in the 8 TRILLION dollar deficit. That's $90,000 for every family in America.
I say he's just as corrupt as the rest of them and you're one of the people who supported them.
And some of you support these dirtbags.
What's different is they're not suing their competition for patent infringement or their listeners for downloading content.
That makes them smarter than Netflix and RIAA. Admittedly a pretty low standard to meet on the later.
Park the car, Hal.
I'm sorry, Dave, but I can't do that.
Just why do they think this is going to work? Only in Korporate Amerika do people imagine that you can get something for nothing.
I think that pretty well reflects MSFT's corporate character. Petty, greedy, and paranoid.
Not in my experience. It's better than service for home users but not by much.
Dell's award winning service *cough*bullshit*cough* is what got me into building my own PC's. I think the only reason Dell got an A is that service from other vendors like cellular providers, phone, cable companies, Best Buy and car dealerships has gotten so hideously, horribly bad that Dell seems good by comparison.
Just look at the Navy's NMCI project. What a boondoggle. 8 billion dollars for a computer system where many users have to resort to using their own equipment to get anything done.
Of course the contract award to EDS didn't have anything to do with EDS being in Bush's home state. We all know how honest government contract awards are under our glorious Republican leadership, dedicated to bringing accountability into government affairs and responsibility into government spending.
Mainly because many businesses will start asking the uncomfortable question about why they have to pay for an insecure software product then pay more for security software. I realize many companies are doing it now, but when the checks are going to different companies one can pretend you're buying network security. When both checks go to the same company it becomes glaringly apparent that you're paying for something many companies think should be included in the price.
I realize it must seem strange but I really think this will do more to highlight MSFT's insecurity than boost revenue. Because it's sort of like rubbing a customer's nose in the fact that the product they're buying is basically not secure. I'm guessing MSFT will end up bundling the package at a price not far above where they are now, especially for big buyers. The little people will, of course, get the corporate shaft but most of them are used to it by now anyway. After the XP Activation Follies paying for security updates won't seem like much of a big deal.
Not seeing a win here.
I have a projector, a giganitc garage (complete with a bar and disco) and a very large screen. We can set up the lawn chairs and sound system in the garage and have movie night that blows away any theater. Fuller experience my butt. The only thing fuller about the theater experience is it has more people coming in late and walking over you, commercials and previews, self-important people who feel like they have to check their text messages every five seconds, expensive crappy concessions, parking lots, ticket lines, and snobby theater staff.
I'm with you, straight to DVD. If the theaters can figure out how to make going out more entertaining, then I'll think about making the drive. Otherwise they can f'ing die.
Now take your government approved pharma and get back in line.
I thought it was the companies thinking they could replace their technical management with bean counters responsible for the slow uptake. Managers that think if IT gets on their nerves enough they can simply outsource them to India. Or the fact that many company IT departments are staffed with MCSE's who see every IT problem as a nail for the MSFT hammer.
And here all this time it was sandals and ponytails. Missed it by that much!
The problem with launching nukes is they crap up everything and you never really know how far the radiation is going to spread. I could see many unintended bad consequences for MSFT in that course of action with very limited upside. MSFT has a lot of customers running both operating systems. I'm not sure it's going to improve their image to launch patent suits against them. It's corporate insanity. Of course, so was SCO's misguided strategy and it didn't stop them. Still, a patent shill launching a suit is one thing. They don't have any market to protect. A company like MSFT doing it, it's a sign of weakness that stinks of desperation.
More and more MSFT reminds me of the prom queen who graduated with so much promise and eventually ends up being a cheap hooker. Like getting in bed with SCO. What a PR disaster that was. Almost as bad as Ballmer going to Asia and threatening them with litigation in his keynote address. ROFL! Nice one, Steve. He's got a good head on his shoulders, too bad he can't get it out of his ass.
MSFT is a classic example of what you get when the problem is dictating the solution.
There were compelling reasons for secrecy even back in the day the Constituion was originally drafted, yet the framers thought it more important for the government not to operate in secret.
We didn't have the mis-named Patriot Act before 9-11 and the FBI and CIA had ample warning about the 9-11 hijackers. We KNEW about some of them going to flight school and didn't act on it. We had ample intelligence before 9-11 and law enforcement had enough power to pick them up if anyone had bothered to act on the FBI field report about potential terrorists in flight school. So why is it the government needs all these additional secret powers and wire tip authority now?
The real compelling reason for Republicans to want secrecy is because they've all but thrown accountability out the window. When there's no accountability, then you damn sure don't want transparency.
And do not give me any of that bullshit about the Democrats not being any better. All this is happening with a Republican House, Senate and White House and it's been that way since 2000 and you've had Congress since 1994. It's time to admit that if this country is in a bucket of shit it's because of the REPUBLICANS! Not the Democrats, not the liberals...the problem is YOU.
The truth is you don't know which technologies will take or why. Sometimes you think X should be popular but it doesn't catch on for 10 years after you found it. Or something you blow off as insignificant comes out of nowhere to dominate a market.
Although I have noticed one small arena that tends to be a good predictor of the wider market. If p0rn distributors pick it up, then you can almost bet it's going to be the next insanely great thing. I remember taking a training class for a streaming video server in Atlanta a few years ago. Half my classmates were from p0rn distributors. Which definitely made break time more interesting.
Back in my day, the ancient days of IT...three or four years in the dark past, it was big news when a company switched to Linux. These days it's a headline when a company switches to MSFT.
But it's a different story today. I bill a lot of hours fixing "Bangladore Spaghetti" code, in one case costing more than a clean build would have cost. Even when the work was acceptable, and that was the minority, the language barrier was a constant complaint. While that was going on college students were bailing out of IT programs when the economy was in an expansion mode.
It's a different story out there today. The bonuses are back, the perks are back. It's not quite as insane as the late 90's but not bad. And the best part to me is that there's a bonus for people who can work in either Linux or Windows environments.
And to all you project managers who thought you were SO smart outsourcing those expensive projects and the companies that thought they could replace their IT director with a bean counter...NEENER, NEENER, NEENER! LOOOOO-HOO-HOOOOOSSSSERRRRRRS!!!!! (/., raising the level of dialogue in IT)
Let's think about this for a second. Would you rather ride in a plane that has the autopilot running on Windows or Linux?
Somehow the fact that MSFT has the money to pay off my weeping family does not inspire me to trust them more. It's not who writes the code, it's who certifies the code if something goes wrong.
If MSFT would focus on building quality software that lasted for years, instead of trying to push people into product activation forced upgrades they wouldn't need to try and intrude into the home entertainment market.
MSFT reminds me of a manure spreader. Desperately flinging shit in the air every direction trying to find something that sticks. Instead of producing quality software, supporting it, and making their upgrade path intelligent and predictable. But nooooo. They have to try and kill Google and Apple's iPod instead of forging their own success stories. Pathetic.