Stop outsourcing and hire a decent architect, some skilled engineers, and some testers would be a good start, but for all the wrong reasons we know that will never happen. Noone wants the hired help getting comfy pensions any more, better to give all the public money to people who will give decent kickbacks as discussed above.
You are right. When I worked for a government agency in the USA, we would hire "consultants" to develop new systems, very often even paying to train their employees in the technologies to be used, while our employees would be relegated to maintenance work. Then, when the project was done, our employees had to take over the new system, very often without adequate training.
I would always propose that we should hire consultants to do the maintenance work and pay to train our employees on the new technologies and develop the new system, but the gov't bureaucrats never saw it that way. I figure it was because we could do it cheaper in house, but they wouldn't get their perks from the consultants.
From reading the article, these are large contracts for large systems. While the UK might want to favor open source (which I doubt, but that is a different post), the companies bidding on the projects are pitching existing systems that are then modified. Raytheon, one of the bidders mentioned several times in the article probably doesn't have an open source alternative. Likewise for the other bidders.
So, even if the UK were wanting to encourage open source, if the major players don't offer any alternatives to their proprietary or custom offerings, what is the procurement office supposed to do?
1) What happens the first time somebody is in the shower and reaches out to hit the next page? 2) Most bathrooms have the mirror on the same wall that the toilet is because most people don't like to look at them self while sitting there. 3) Lots of germs if one is going to the bathroom and reaching over to a touchscreen, unless the wash their hands first, in which case item one comes into play. 4) In most households and public restrooms the goal is to get people out of the bathroom quickly so others can use it. 5) Hopefully, such a device won't include a webcam!
Seems to me the summary has the horse before the cart. Epidemics influence religion, not the other way around. During the plaque of the Middle Ages, European towns were decimated. Monasteries, being isolated from the town fared much better. Therefore, religious practices changed to reflect those of the monks. Yes, it is true much of it happened because people thought that God had spared the monasteries, however, without the plague none of it would have occurred. The plague or epidemic was the catalyst for the change in religious thought, not the other way around.
And, for the many posts referring to religion blaming natural disasters on God, are we talking 20th century or centuries ago? I'm pretty sure that blaming unknown forces on some superstitious being or practice was quite common in all cultures. Breaking a mirror causing seven years of bad luck has nothing to do with a deity.
If Oracle is proposing that the APIs are copyright protected, then what about their use of the C APIs that they publish with their Oracle database? Would that not be an infringement of AT&T's copyrights? Likewise, Oracle software uses and provides hooks for various Windows APIs. Does that mean Oracle owes royalties to Microsoft?
Oops, the government giving incentives to manufacture overseas was the point of a different post not the one you are responding to. But it is true that the cost of regulation and taxes has a bigger impact on off shoring than does the cost of cheap labor elsewhere.
So, moving manufacturing to the US should not add major costs to the product.
Yes, so long as you ignore the extra cost of:
1. Regulations. 2. Taxes. 3. Buildings and land. 4. Transporting components from where they are manufactured in China to where they'll be assembled in America.
All of those things rapidly make US manufacturing expensive even with automated factories. Even within America companies seem to be leaving expensive, high-regulation, high-tax states like California in favor of cheaper and less regulated states like Texas.
If you are building a new plant then whether in China or the US, it is a moot point. Same with purchasing robots. Whether shipping completed iPads or the components, shipping costs would seem to be the same. Actually, shipping components would be somewhat more economical as they would be shipped sans packaging. Taxes and regulations are a problem, but then that is my point, the US government gives huge incentives to manufacture overseas.
The last time I was at an electronics plant in China, most of the operation was automated with robotics. There was some "final assembly" work being done by real people and of course shipping and receiving was staffed with people. So, moving manufacturing to the US should not add major costs to the product. Yes, those wages will be hire, but then that difference is spread over 80 units per hour, so the incremental cost is lower.
No, it's easy to blame cheap off shore labor for the problem. In reality it is plain old on-shore greed that wants to take the $2/machine incremental labor cost but claims it will increase the selling price by $60.
Ford had the same issue with the Pinto in the 70s. It would have cost $2 per car to fix the problem. They looked at it as an increase in selling price of $100 which would make it non-competitive with the Vega. They could have fixed the cars for the cost and saved millions in lawsuits, but chose to maximize their profits. What Apple and most other electronics manufacturers are doing is no different. It's just that their products don't explode if hit from the rear.
The goal of business is to maximize profits. Unfortunately the way that is translated into our economy results in high unemployment.
"In NASCAR, you can finish a race in the Top 3 by leading the whole way or by having spectacular crashes take out those ahead of you
Of course in NASCAR, unless you are there at the start of the race, you aren't even in the race, regardless of how fast your car is, regardless of how skilled your driver is and regardless of how many people crash.
If Google lost and Android was no more, then I would look at WebOS. The Palm Pre was underpowered, but the OS was not that bad. I liked it more than Android in many ways. Unfortunately, like beta-max, it lost out.
Can't we just all tune into Fox and MSNBC to hear this discussion? I am sure, regardless of what side of the political spectrum one may be on that one of those two networks will hash it out to everyone's liking, ad nauseum.
What.NET really did was it allowed IT shops/departments to have all of the advantages/disadvantages of Java but still remain a 100% Microsoft shop. Yes.NET improved upon some Java things, but ultimately, it wasn't enough of an improvement to kill Java. It didn't kill Java, but it did kill Visual Basic.
As for the notion that.NET was supposed to replace C++ for Windows development, that was naive. As long as major applications were written in C++ and needed to be maintained in C++, C++ is going to still be what Windows developers will use. Just like COBOL was supposed to be dead a long time ago, and yet COBOL programmers are still in demand for large mainframe systems.
... teachers will still be able to have a Facebook Page for interacting with students on a slightly more personal level, as long it’s still work-related. It’s the actual friending, messaging, and whatever other direct connection you can make on a social network that will not be allowed.
Maybe, I'm dense, but I don't see why this is a bad thing. Doctors aren't supposed to have a relationship with patients. Lawyers aren't supposed to have a relationship with clients. Detectives aren't supposed to have a relationship with a suspect, etc. Teachers already had these restrictions in Missouri and most other places. The only difference is that it now extends to online relationships.
You know, this would be really really useful here in Vietnam where the extraordinary growth rate coupled with communist era bureaucracies/corruption has left power supplies lagging far behind demand. I would dearly love a generator I could use to power my abode when the power goes out (typically in the hottest part of the day which in Vietnam is pretty hot!). This is probably true of a lot of developing countries.
Also in my previous career in the film industry having a powerful generator that is not only mobile but transports itself (and cargo and crew!) would be a godsend for shots not on the studio lot.
But could most people in developing countries afford a Leaf? And, if they could, where would the extra power come from to keep recharging them? If the electrical infrastructure is not up to the task before adding a bunch of electric cars, how will it support them. This isn't something that applies to just 3rd world countries. California is concerned that their electrical grid cannot support wide spread adoption of all electric vehicles, too.
Whether in a Nissan Leaf or a a dedicated storage pack, a battery can only provide power upto the power that was put into it (actually a lot less as it is not 100% efficient). Therefore, to charge your Leaf takes power from the grid. Using the Leaf to power your house just replaces the lost power from the grid (plus it means you won't be able to drive anywhere because the battery is depleted).
A much better solution, if you are in areas prone to power loss, is to have a backup generator. If you aren't in such areas, then a little portable generator to power your refrigerator, if you are really concerned about it, would be a lot cheaper. Of course, you would have to balance the cost of replacing the spoiled food against the cost of the generator. For most people, it would be cheaper to replace the food if long lasting power outages are a rarity.
Yes, I think you're in a minority. Look at the dominance of MP3s/AACs over anything else. Netflix streaming is the equivalent in the video world. In both cases you get 90% of the quality (arguable, I know) but it's many many times more convenient and often cheaper.
By the way, Netflix streaming looks fine to me on my 52" LCD, and I only have 3mbps DSL. I haven't watched a ton of stuff in it, but honestly when I watched "Exit Through The Gift Shop" for example I don't recall ever noticing any issues with picture quality. I can't comment on the sound quality however because I'm just using the TV's built-in speakers.
Not quite. The majority of people cannot tell the difference in sound between an mp3 and the original CD. Especially when listened to through ear buds or small speakers. However, the majority of people can notice the difference between HD and non-HD video. Whether they care about it is a different matter, but it is noticeable.
FireWire isn't wireless, hence it's not superior to Bluetooth. It's not inferior either, because they have nothing to do with each other and do not occupy the same space - so no comparison is possible.
The market didn't pick Bluetooth instead of FireWire. That's like saying the military picked F16 Fighter Jets instead of Toyota Camrys, despite the Toyota Camry being far superior to an F16 Fighter Jet.
I know, I said bluetooth, I meant usb. The post should have been about firewire and usb. Unfortunately, just because there is a preview button does not mean one actually previews before hitting post.
When the Jobs Reality Distortion Field is turned off, usually Apple is found to be selling overpriced, underspec'd hardware. But the one time they get it right, we jump on them?
Bluetooth supports cryptography. NFC does not. Bluetooth has a higher bitrate. Bluetooth has longer range. The power consumption is similar... in fact, the only thing NFC seems to do better is that it takes less time to setup because (ta-da!) it has no security built into it.
So tell me guys, given how much data is sitting on your iphone, android, blackberry, blueberry, and walla-walla-ding-dong phones, do you really want a transciever built into it that has no security capability at all... and one of its main functions is point-of-sale integration?
Sorry guys, but this time at least, Apple did good.
I don't know, firewire was pretty much superior in every way to bluetooth, but the market went bluetooth anyway. BT4 may be superior to NFC, but from a consumer perspective it will come down to price and convenience. People on slashdot might worry about the things you mention, but the majority of phone buyers don't.
Maybe he should have googled it before trying to trademark it. A google of "bitcoin" returns 8.7M hits. Seems like it is in pretty wide use. Maybe he can do like Band-Aids (Band-Aid brand bandages) and use "Bitcoin brand absurdity."
Actually, the 250K is a payment. The actual article states that it is to be used to pay for consulting services,etc. Sounds like if Microsoft is making funds available, that it isn't a discount, but a payment.
If you're going to put it that way, then I'll point out that Microsoft is only paying them to help convert them from Lotus to Office, they aren't paying them to actually use Office. They're paying to get them off of Lotus, which I'm pretty sure qualifies as a charitable contribution.
True, but Nebraska had already decided to drop Notes and would have had to pay to convert their data regardless of whether they went Microsoft or Google. Microsoft is only paying them as a perk for buying Microsoft.
The title says that "Scientists Play World's Oldest Commercial Recording." But actually, that's not true. From the summary: 123-year-old recording—etched into a warped metal cylinder and brought back to life after decades of silence by a three-dimensional (3D) optical scanning technique
Playing an optical scan of the worlds oldest commercial recording is not the same as playing the recording itself, any more than viewing a scan of the Mona Lisa is the same as viewing the real Mona Lisa, no matter how faithfully reproduced.
Now, if they had resurrected a recorder/player device that actually "played" the cylinder, that would be different.
I don't know. I think, by your logic, CD players don't actually play CD's. It might not play the cylinder the same way the original player did. But it's some kind of music player.
CD players do play CDs. However, a CD is not the original recording, at least not usually, but a copy of the multi track digital recording that has been mixed down. Even still, if I took an original CD and ripped it to mp3 files, they would be a facsimile of the the CD, but listening to them is not the same as listing to the original recording. It is similar, though. Effectively, they took a tin platter and converted it to a digital representation much like ripping a CD to mp3s.
Think of a movie restorations. If at all possible, they try to restore the original copies of films and only use copies of the originals if they must. The reason being is that the copy is not quite the same as the original. It may be good enough for the average person, but from a technical perspective it is different. Same with a digital copy of the original recording.
Yeah, but since they'll pay 2x per year, it's still essentially a "upfront discount." It's not like the University is getting money for using Office 365.
It was going to cost money to convert from Notes to whichever platform they chose. Microsoft said they will pay that cost if they choose Office 365. So, yes, they are getting money for using Office 365.
Now, if they had resurrected a recorder/player device that actually "played" the cylinder, that would be different.
The articles doesn't say but they may even have an original player. It doesn't really matter:
1) The cylinder is warped so it may not be possible to play it on the original device without some dubious restoration.
2) Even if it wasn't warped, actually playing the recording with an original or reconstructed device would almost certainly cause further damage to the recording. That may not be a big deal for some old 45 where there may still be thousands of surviving copies but Edison's cylinder is a one of a kind historical artifact.
The cylinder likely sat around for many decades unplayed, not because it couldn't be done but because the artifact was too precious to subject to that kind of treatment. With the optical scan, we get the best of both world: We get to hear every note and scratch and we get to preserve the cylinder for future generations as it came to our own.
The conservatory in Kansas City has numerous original wax recordings that the students can use and listen too. Not quite as old as this but only short a few years. And, yes, they "play" them on the original machines. Btw, optical scan does not let you hear every note and scratch, at least not the original notes and scratches, it is a digital representation of an analog signal, or put differently, it is a copy.
It's exactly like playing the recording, don't be stupid. It's NOT playing the cylinder; which is different.
Why would anyone go through the pointless effort of rebuilding a player? It's not like it's technically new, challenging, or interesting.
It is playing a copy of the recording, not the recording -- just like an mp3 is a copy of a recording and not the original. If it isn't the original, it isn't the oldest commercial recording, just a facsimile of it. Like I said in my original post, still interesting use of modern technology, but not quite what the title says.
Slashdot Mirror
Stop outsourcing and hire a decent architect, some skilled engineers, and some testers would be a good start, but for all the wrong reasons we know that will never happen. Noone wants the hired help getting comfy pensions any more, better to give all the public money to people who will give decent kickbacks as discussed above.
You are right. When I worked for a government agency in the USA, we would hire "consultants" to develop new systems, very often even paying to train their employees in the technologies to be used, while our employees would be relegated to maintenance work. Then, when the project was done, our employees had to take over the new system, very often without adequate training.
I would always propose that we should hire consultants to do the maintenance work and pay to train our employees on the new technologies and develop the new system, but the gov't bureaucrats never saw it that way. I figure it was because we could do it cheaper in house, but they wouldn't get their perks from the consultants.
From reading the article, these are large contracts for large systems. While the UK might want to favor open source (which I doubt, but that is a different post), the companies bidding on the projects are pitching existing systems that are then modified. Raytheon, one of the bidders mentioned several times in the article probably doesn't have an open source alternative. Likewise for the other bidders.
So, even if the UK were wanting to encourage open source, if the major players don't offer any alternatives to their proprietary or custom offerings, what is the procurement office supposed to do?
1) What happens the first time somebody is in the shower and reaches out to hit the next page?
2) Most bathrooms have the mirror on the same wall that the toilet is because most people don't like to look at them self while sitting there.
3) Lots of germs if one is going to the bathroom and reaching over to a touchscreen, unless the wash their hands first, in which case item one comes into play.
4) In most households and public restrooms the goal is to get people out of the bathroom quickly so others can use it.
5) Hopefully, such a device won't include a webcam!
Seems to me the summary has the horse before the cart. Epidemics influence religion, not the other way around. During the plaque of the Middle Ages, European towns were decimated. Monasteries, being isolated from the town fared much better. Therefore, religious practices changed to reflect those of the monks. Yes, it is true much of it happened because people thought that God had spared the monasteries, however, without the plague none of it would have occurred. The plague or epidemic was the catalyst for the change in religious thought, not the other way around.
And, for the many posts referring to religion blaming natural disasters on God, are we talking 20th century or centuries ago? I'm pretty sure that blaming unknown forces on some superstitious being or practice was quite common in all cultures. Breaking a mirror causing seven years of bad luck has nothing to do with a deity.
If Oracle is proposing that the APIs are copyright protected, then what about their use of the C APIs that they publish with their Oracle database? Would that not be an infringement of AT&T's copyrights? Likewise, Oracle software uses and provides hooks for various Windows APIs. Does that mean Oracle owes royalties to Microsoft?
Should be required reading for all MBA candidates.
Oops, the government giving incentives to manufacture overseas was the point of a different post not the one you are responding to. But it is true that the cost of regulation and taxes has a bigger impact on off shoring than does the cost of cheap labor elsewhere.
So, moving manufacturing to the US should not add major costs to the product.
Yes, so long as you ignore the extra cost of:
1. Regulations.
2. Taxes.
3. Buildings and land.
4. Transporting components from where they are manufactured in China to where they'll be assembled in America.
All of those things rapidly make US manufacturing expensive even with automated factories. Even within America companies seem to be leaving expensive, high-regulation, high-tax states like California in favor of cheaper and less regulated states like Texas.
If you are building a new plant then whether in China or the US, it is a moot point. Same with purchasing robots. Whether shipping completed iPads or the components, shipping costs would seem to be the same. Actually, shipping components would be somewhat more economical as they would be shipped sans packaging. Taxes and regulations are a problem, but then that is my point, the US government gives huge incentives to manufacture overseas.
The last time I was at an electronics plant in China, most of the operation was automated with robotics. There was some "final assembly" work being done by real people and of course shipping and receiving was staffed with people. So, moving manufacturing to the US should not add major costs to the product. Yes, those wages will be hire, but then that difference is spread over 80 units per hour, so the incremental cost is lower.
No, it's easy to blame cheap off shore labor for the problem. In reality it is plain old on-shore greed that wants to take the $2/machine incremental labor cost but claims it will increase the selling price by $60.
Ford had the same issue with the Pinto in the 70s. It would have cost $2 per car to fix the problem. They looked at it as an increase in selling price of $100 which would make it non-competitive with the Vega. They could have fixed the cars for the cost and saved millions in lawsuits, but chose to maximize their profits. What Apple and most other electronics manufacturers are doing is no different. It's just that their products don't explode if hit from the rear.
The goal of business is to maximize profits. Unfortunately the way that is translated into our economy results in high unemployment.
"In NASCAR, you can finish a race in the Top 3 by leading the whole way or by having spectacular crashes take out those ahead of you
Of course in NASCAR, unless you are there at the start of the race, you aren't even in the race, regardless of how fast your car is, regardless of how skilled your driver is and regardless of how many people crash.
If Google lost and Android was no more, then I would look at WebOS. The Palm Pre was underpowered, but the OS was not that bad. I liked it more than Android in many ways. Unfortunately, like beta-max, it lost out.
Can't we just all tune into Fox and MSNBC to hear this discussion? I am sure, regardless of what side of the political spectrum one may be on that one of those two networks will hash it out to everyone's liking, ad nauseum.
What .NET really did was it allowed IT shops/departments to have all of the advantages/disadvantages of Java but still remain a 100% Microsoft shop. Yes .NET improved upon some Java things, but ultimately, it wasn't enough of an improvement to kill Java. It didn't kill Java, but it did kill Visual Basic.
As for the notion that .NET was supposed to replace C++ for Windows development, that was naive. As long as major applications were written in C++ and needed to be maintained in C++, C++ is going to still be what Windows developers will use. Just like COBOL was supposed to be dead a long time ago, and yet COBOL programmers are still in demand for large mainframe systems.
From the actual article:
... teachers will still be able to have a Facebook Page for interacting with students on a slightly more personal level, as long it’s still work-related. It’s the actual friending, messaging, and whatever other direct connection you can make on a social network that will not be allowed.
Maybe, I'm dense, but I don't see why this is a bad thing. Doctors aren't supposed to have a relationship with patients. Lawyers aren't supposed to have a relationship with clients. Detectives aren't supposed to have a relationship with a suspect, etc. Teachers already had these restrictions in Missouri and most other places. The only difference is that it now extends to online relationships.
You know, this would be really really useful here in Vietnam where the extraordinary growth rate coupled with communist era bureaucracies/corruption has left power supplies lagging far behind demand. I would dearly love a generator I could use to power my abode when the power goes out (typically in the hottest part of the day which in Vietnam is pretty hot!). This is probably true of a lot of developing countries.
Also in my previous career in the film industry having a powerful generator that is not only mobile but transports itself (and cargo and crew!) would be a godsend for shots not on the studio lot.
But could most people in developing countries afford a Leaf? And, if they could, where would the extra power come from to keep recharging them? If the electrical infrastructure is not up to the task before adding a bunch of electric cars, how will it support them. This isn't something that applies to just 3rd world countries. California is concerned that their electrical grid cannot support wide spread adoption of all electric vehicles, too.
Whether in a Nissan Leaf or a a dedicated storage pack, a battery can only provide power upto the power that was put into it (actually a lot less as it is not 100% efficient). Therefore, to charge your Leaf takes power from the grid. Using the Leaf to power your house just replaces the lost power from the grid (plus it means you won't be able to drive anywhere because the battery is depleted).
A much better solution, if you are in areas prone to power loss, is to have a backup generator. If you aren't in such areas, then a little portable generator to power your refrigerator, if you are really concerned about it, would be a lot cheaper. Of course, you would have to balance the cost of replacing the spoiled food against the cost of the generator. For most people, it would be cheaper to replace the food if long lasting power outages are a rarity.
Yes, I think you're in a minority. Look at the dominance of MP3s/AACs over anything else. Netflix streaming is the equivalent in the video world. In both cases you get 90% of the quality (arguable, I know) but it's many many times more convenient and often cheaper.
By the way, Netflix streaming looks fine to me on my 52" LCD, and I only have 3mbps DSL. I haven't watched a ton of stuff in it, but honestly when I watched "Exit Through The Gift Shop" for example I don't recall ever noticing any issues with picture quality. I can't comment on the sound quality however because I'm just using the TV's built-in speakers.
Not quite. The majority of people cannot tell the difference in sound between an mp3 and the original CD. Especially when listened to through ear buds or small speakers. However, the majority of people can notice the difference between HD and non-HD video. Whether they care about it is a different matter, but it is noticeable.
FireWire isn't wireless, hence it's not superior to Bluetooth. It's not inferior either, because they have nothing to do with each other and do not occupy the same space - so no comparison is possible.
The market didn't pick Bluetooth instead of FireWire. That's like saying the military picked F16 Fighter Jets instead of Toyota Camrys, despite the Toyota Camry being far superior to an F16 Fighter Jet.
I know, I said bluetooth, I meant usb. The post should have been about firewire and usb. Unfortunately, just because there is a preview button does not mean one actually previews before hitting post.
FireWire and Bluetooth address two completely different use cases. I don't think anyone's clamouring for a Bluetooth hard drive.
Never said they were. The point was that not every superior technology adopted by Apple has been an industry success.
When the Jobs Reality Distortion Field is turned off, usually Apple is found to be selling overpriced, underspec'd hardware. But the one time they get it right, we jump on them?
Bluetooth supports cryptography. NFC does not. ... in fact, the only thing NFC seems to do better is that it takes less time to setup because (ta-da!) it has no security built into it.
Bluetooth has a higher bitrate.
Bluetooth has longer range.
The power consumption is similar
So tell me guys, given how much data is sitting on your iphone, android, blackberry, blueberry, and walla-walla-ding-dong phones, do you really want a transciever built into it that has no security capability at all... and one of its main functions is point-of-sale integration?
Sorry guys, but this time at least, Apple did good.
I don't know, firewire was pretty much superior in every way to bluetooth, but the market went bluetooth anyway. BT4 may be superior to NFC, but from a consumer perspective it will come down to price and convenience. People on slashdot might worry about the things you mention, but the majority of phone buyers don't.
Maybe he should have googled it before trying to trademark it. A google of "bitcoin" returns 8.7M hits. Seems like it is in pretty wide use. Maybe he can do like Band-Aids (Band-Aid brand bandages) and use "Bitcoin brand absurdity."
Actually, the 250K is a payment. The actual article states that it is to be used to pay for consulting services,etc. Sounds like if Microsoft is making funds available, that it isn't a discount, but a payment.
If you're going to put it that way, then I'll point out that Microsoft is only paying them to help convert them from Lotus to Office, they aren't paying them to actually use Office. They're paying to get them off of Lotus, which I'm pretty sure qualifies as a charitable contribution.
True, but Nebraska had already decided to drop Notes and would have had to pay to convert their data regardless of whether they went Microsoft or Google. Microsoft is only paying them as a perk for buying Microsoft.
The title says that "Scientists Play World's Oldest Commercial Recording." But actually, that's not true. From the summary: 123-year-old recording—etched into a warped metal cylinder and brought back to life after decades of silence by a three-dimensional (3D) optical scanning technique
Playing an optical scan of the worlds oldest commercial recording is not the same as playing the recording itself, any more than viewing a scan of the Mona Lisa is the same as viewing the real Mona Lisa, no matter how faithfully reproduced.
Now, if they had resurrected a recorder/player device that actually "played" the cylinder, that would be different.
I don't know. I think, by your logic, CD players don't actually play CD's. It might not play the cylinder the same way the original player did. But it's some kind of music player.
CD players do play CDs. However, a CD is not the original recording, at least not usually, but a copy of the multi track digital recording that has been mixed down. Even still, if I took an original CD and ripped it to mp3 files, they would be a facsimile of the the CD, but listening to them is not the same as listing to the original recording. It is similar, though. Effectively, they took a tin platter and converted it to a digital representation much like ripping a CD to mp3s.
Think of a movie restorations. If at all possible, they try to restore the original copies of films and only use copies of the originals if they must. The reason being is that the copy is not quite the same as the original. It may be good enough for the average person, but from a technical perspective it is different. Same with a digital copy of the original recording.
Yeah, but since they'll pay 2x per year, it's still essentially a "upfront discount." It's not like the University is getting money for using Office 365.
It was going to cost money to convert from Notes to whichever platform they chose. Microsoft said they will pay that cost if they choose Office 365. So, yes, they are getting money for using Office 365.
Now, if they had resurrected a recorder/player device that actually "played" the cylinder, that would be different.
The articles doesn't say but they may even have an original player. It doesn't really matter:
1) The cylinder is warped so it may not be possible to play it on the original device without some dubious restoration.
2) Even if it wasn't warped, actually playing the recording with an original or reconstructed device would almost certainly cause further damage to the recording. That may not be a big deal for some old 45 where there may still be thousands of surviving copies but Edison's cylinder is a one of a kind historical artifact.
The cylinder likely sat around for many decades unplayed, not because it couldn't be done but because the artifact was too precious to subject to that kind of treatment. With the optical scan, we get the best of both world: We get to hear every note and scratch and we get to preserve the cylinder for future generations as it came to our own.
The conservatory in Kansas City has numerous original wax recordings that the students can use and listen too. Not quite as old as this but only short a few years. And, yes, they "play" them on the original machines. Btw, optical scan does not let you hear every note and scratch, at least not the original notes and scratches, it is a digital representation of an analog signal, or put differently, it is a copy.
It's exactly like playing the recording, don't be stupid. It's NOT playing the cylinder; which is different.
Why would anyone go through the pointless effort of rebuilding a player? It's not like it's technically new, challenging, or interesting.
It is playing a copy of the recording, not the recording -- just like an mp3 is a copy of a recording and not the original. If it isn't the original, it isn't the oldest commercial recording, just a facsimile of it. Like I said in my original post, still interesting use of modern technology, but not quite what the title says.