Re:Summary: Creative says "Waaaaaaaah"
on
Apple Sues Creative
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
When (if) they go to court, then yes, disclosure would be an issue. During a closed door negotiation that does not involve the courts, disclosure is at the discretion of the parties involved.
During their "discussions" yesterday, Creative may (or may not) have attempted to hamstring Apple. Being on the receiving end of an ultimatum is never pleasant, and I, too, would likely have refrained from giving my antagonist any ground.
One song from Barenaked Ladies' "Gordon" CD ("If I had $1000000") - $.99 One song from 4 Non Blondes ("What's up?") CD - $.99 Three songs from Queen's "The Game" CD ("Another One Bites The Dust", "Don't Try Suicide" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") - $2.97 One song from Blackeyed Peas "Elephunk CD" ("Shutup")- $.99
That takes us to about $6 bucks (give or take, not including taxes). To get those 6 songs in another fashion, you'd need to purchase 4 CD's. Assuming you could find them for $12 each, that brings you to $48. Sure you get a bunch of songs that you don't want, but at a $42 surcharge? Somehow that just doesn't add up...
(Albums chosen for illustration purposes only, I don't know if ITMS actually offers any of these titles)
Maybe he meant the park located just outside of Xerox PARC? I come up with some of my best ideas while sitting under a beautiful tree. Why, just the other day, after an apple fell on my head, I filed a patent on how the earth sucks.
I'll be rich soon, and I can only hope that nobody will fully understand the gravity of the situation;)
(pun firmly embedded in cheek on this fine Tuesday)
From where I sit (which I freely admit is on the sidelines), it appears that JAXA (Japan's space agency) is investing in a technology that NASA (the American's space agency) has knowledge in.
JAXA has some engine technology, but no successful tests.
Japanese companies believe that there is a market for supersonic aircraft, but don't have quite enough technological experience with this type of flight technology. It needs a partner to produce an effective and safe product.
NASA has some engine technology, but there are no corporations in the US that believe there is an adequate market to acheive a profit.
From the article, JAXA and a handful of Japanese companies would PARTNER with NASA and Boeing. Japan would develop / build the engine, while Boeing would build the airframe. Seems like a partnership, not a competition. Sure, JAXA and Japanese companies will gain some knowledge about scramjet (a technology that they are already investing in) that they don't currently have. Rather than spending money that has already been spent, they can help NASA to recoup some of the money that they've spent (aka: your tax dollars), and both parties end up winning.
As near as I can tell (again, from tfa), everyone wins. Both governments, companies in both countries, and the travelling public.
Are you suggesting that if an American company is unwilling to develop the technology, the rest of the world can't either? Interesting how you have a problem with a foreign nation competing in a market that the US *DOES NOT WISH* to compete in.
If you are unwilling or unable to play in the global sandbox, fine. You are welcome to take your ball and go home. It's a good thing that NASA doesn't take your stance. Otherwise, there'd be a large number of pieces missing from your space shuttles. Like the Ballard power systems (ok, so it's an American company now, but it used to be Canadian) for example.
Sharing technology is not new. When it's done at a price that is amenable to both parties, everyone wins. Maybe you have a chip on your shoulder, but being angry at Japan is not the solution. You should be angry at other American companies for not wanting to spend development dollars to create American jobs building American made products.
Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.
I'm not sure why anyone would be so upset if it was stolen. I mean, after all, you just place one call to the authorities, and they can find your rfid chip (in a matter of seconds) and the thug in posession of it. I'm sure that the police would be happy to return it after the trial.
Just a second... you could falsely claim that you were someone else, and that "your" ID had been stolen, and have that someone else dragged off to the police station... Not so sure I like the thought that I could be on the reciving end of that kind of prank...
More people have been killed "In the name of [insert deity here]" than by any other means. Now, I'm not saying that I was sitting there counting the graves - just relaying information freely available in the world. Or, at least in those locations where it's not illegal to know things...
Pint of fact: Support for holy wars has not been, shall we say, hard to find. It is quite easy to garner support by telling a person that all of the wrongs of the world are someone else's fault. It is much harder to stand against the tide, because sympathizers are as bad the enemy during times of war.
You can't gloss over the crusades, or Spanish inquisition with a banal comment like "sin exists in this world". Someone stood up and said "[deity] says [offending group of people] are evil - eradicate or change them", and the masses followed blindly, slaying the "guilty" in their path. You cannot excuse such atrocities with an enigmatic wave of your hand and simple "meh - sin exists".
Technically speaking: Profit comes after "breakeven". It is the amount that is left over after costs have been covered. In theory, profits are achieved by reducing costs or increasing revenues.
For the zealots in the audience, I must point out that seeking profit is not a bad thing. Profits are often used to fund alternative product development. They are used to improve the quality of life of the business owner(s).
None of this helps the original poster to locate funding for his/her project...
Get local information first! Your banking institution and your regional government representative are good starts. An employment or immigration office will also have this kind of information close at hand. It will not be as simple as asking for the "grants pamphlet", but these are people that provide this sort of counsel on a daily basis.
Be prepared! There are a number of things that you will need to resolve before you leave the house with your hat out.
1. Am I willing to sell the rights (or a portion thereof) to my product in exchange for this funding?
2. Can I successfully explain this product to someone that is not familiar with this type of product?
3. Do I have a solid business plan? You will be expected to account for the effort & money that you've invested to date. You will need to clearly explain how you will use grant / seed / investment money.
4. You will need to show that you have a clear understanding of your market, your competitors, and how your product can generate revenue in that market.
5. You will need to have a plan for sustainability that extends beyond the period that you expect to develop in.
6. And a bunch of other things that I don't have enough to type right now...
Be patient! It may take a couple of years to convince people to give you money. If you are not successful within the first few months, analyze your business plan, revise and re-submit
Be open-minded! A good product can still fail to garner enough support to get startup money. Perhaps a grant for open source isn't the answer after all - maybe you need to look at selling the product outright.
Proviso: I don't follow my advice, so it won't hurt my feelings if you don't either.
Maintaining a defeatist attitude is the single biggest deterrent to career advancement.
In order for anyone to find happiness in the workplace, you need to do some soul searching, as well as discovering some things about the real world: - What type of work makes you happy? - What type of industry needs someone that can do that type of work? - What do I do now that I can apply to that industry / job? - Are there any intermediary steps that I need to take before I can get there? - Do I need to move to a larger centre (or smaller centre) to get those opportunities?
Very seldom to people stumble into their dream job. You have a job now, and that's a good thing. Look at what you can take from this job and apply to your next job.
When you are job hunting, you should look for jobs that: - are willing to provide training related to what you wish to do* * This does not mean that they will train you for 100% of the job, but would be interested in teaching you as much as 30% of what they would expect you to do. - have a broader scope - allowing you to learn more about how what you do affects other arms of the company - have more responsibility - providing you with some management skills (project or people) - will provide you with experience related to where you are going.
Be prepared to relocate for the right opportunity. Understand that the right opportunity is less about money than it is about experience.
Remember that you always have a choice in your career direction. Choosing to do nothing is still a choice.
Maintaining a defeatist attitude is the single biggest deterrent to career advancement.
In order for anyone to find happiness in the workplace, you need to do some soul searching, as well as discovering some things about the real world:
- What type of work makes you happy?
- What type of industry needs someone that can do that type of work?
- What do I do now that I can apply to that industry / job?
- Are there any intermediary steps that I need to take before I can get there?
- Do I need to move to a larger centre (or smaller centre) to get those opportunities?
Very seldom to people stumble into their dream job. You have a job now, and that's a good thing. Look at what you can take from this job and apply to your next job.
When you are job hunting, you should look for jobs that:
- are willing to provide training related to what you wish to do*
* This does not mean that they will train you for 100% of the job, but would be interested in teaching you as much as 30% of what they would expect you to do.
- have a broader scope - allowing you to learn more about how what you do affects other arms of the company
- have more responsibility - providing you with some management skills (project or people)
- will provide you with experience related to where you are going.
Be prepared to relocate for the right opportunity. Understand that the right opportunity is less about money than it is about experience.
Remember that you always have a choice in your career direction. Choosing to do nothing is still a choice.
It is depressing that such a large percentage of software development has been off-shored. Sadly, it seemed to be the next logical step in the ever-evolving business model (after out-sourcing).
Functionality, practicality, flexibility, value and sustainability, are all key factors for any business decision. Until -all- of these can be realized here (in my case, Canada), off-shoring will continue to be a viable option for companies trying to remain competitive in their various industries.
Our jobs will always be in jeopardy (to some degree) for various financial reasons. If the market stops buying the products that our companies produce, our companies may close, and we will be out of work. This can occur for a plethora of reasons, ranging from competitors with better products, to competitors with better prices.
It is our responsibility to ensure that we provide the highest level of service (uptime/quality code/exemplary service) that we can. This is always the case - not just when jobs are scarce and the fear of off-shoring hangs over our heads, but should be the case all of the time.
They say that the key to success is to find a niche and fill it. Sometimes it's as simple as applying ourselves to the tasks at hand and saving (or earning) real money for the companies that we work for.
For the record, years of experience in "IT" do not adequately illustrate how desirable your skill set may be to a prospective employer.
I can point to three people that I work closely with. Each has "10 years of experience in IT". One has been doing desktop support exclusively on the Windows environment, one is a UNIX systems administrator, and one is a Windows systems administrator. Each is very good at what they do. As the months pass, one or another of them is offered a new position with a different company, doing interesting work within their area of expertise. This has been consistent for the past three years.
I can point to 11 others who do similar jobs, but haven't received a reasonable job offer in three years. The differences don't appear to be what they do, or even how well they do their jobs, as much as how flexible they have proven themselves to be.
As expected, those "IT Professionals" with the widest skill sets seem to be the ones that are most in demand. Failing that, those that have experience in multiple industries appear to be the next most desirable.
Be proactive in defining your career direction, and flexible in the industries that you practice in. You will find that you are more likely to be considered for those available "IT positions". If your work history proves that you are flexible and adaptable, a prospective employer may be interested in training you in new technologies that interest you.
This rant is a bit off-topic, but "years of experience" is a pet peeve of mine. It is not meant as a slant on the parent of this post. Although, I'd be interested to know what "big IT companies" would benefit from suggesting that IT jobs are more in demand now than before. It seems to me that it would cause a rate jump during a market shortage, rather than continuing with the age old fear mongering techniques of suggesting that you can be replaced before you make it to the curb.
You bring up some interesting points while wandering through your post, but I disagree with your comments on the switch to x86. When Apple first switched architectures (from the 680x0 to the Power PC family), that was a strong indication that they weren't planning on tethering the OS to a specific platform. You could point to their earlier switch from nubus to pci, or (relatively) recent switch from SCSI to ATAPI, the inclusion of USB as well as FireWire, etc. as other examples of their flexibility.
In the intel world, they have switched buses (ISA, MCA (an IBM thing), EISA, VESA, PCI, etc. Disks have gone from MFM to SCSI & IDE to ATAPI. Adaptation is imperitive for a computer company to survive. In general, the Intel platform has been more flexible, and has seen the greatest variation in technologies come and go.
The most promising point (from my perspective) about Apple switching to the x86 hardware platform, is that the Macintosh operating system is now approaching the point where it can compete on even ground with Microsoft's Windows operating system. Eventually, we can hope that people will have a *real* choice between OS's that run on similar hardware. We will be able to make our selections based on suitability to function, rather than suitability to hardware platform. Mix and match as it were.
This, coupled with an open document standard (hopefully something will be standardized here...) will finally make the OS irrelevant to the content produced. Sure, everyone will require an OS of some sort. Sure, everyone will have a favourite. Sure, they won't always work seemlessly, but it's a step in the right direction. Finally...
You need to remember that when the Plus was first released, Steve pronounced SCSI as "sexy" in his marketing blurbs, rather than conforming to the industry norm of "scuzzy". In order for him to sell it as the Macintosh Sex, the letters would need to be SCS.:)
Sadly, a high percentage of failures is considered to be a reflection on the teachers abilities to communicate ideas and concepts, rather than on the student body's ability to understand them.
Reminds me of the book, "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.
It suggested that a combination of socialism and monopolistic activites were bringing about the end of the world, and that the best minds of the world should just stand back and let it happen. Then, when there's nothing left, they can go back in and start over.
I don't subscribe to her philosophy, but it looks like the Patent Lawyers are attempting to enforce her theories at all costs...
- This is just an observation, and should, in no way, be viewed as an explaination (I hope that disclaimers haven't yet been patented...) -
Luxury! We used to hang children on the clothesline by their feet - moving them back and forth like a giant abacus. Loud devices - always complaining about which sector they were in. You couldn't put two 'bits' together, or they'd byte each other. As soon as they were released from the line (for a nibble, etc.)- well, I need not tell you about the results of a head crash from that height.
Booting them up was fun...
(no children were injured in the creation of this e-mail message)
While I wouldn't argue whether or not a parachute was a vehicle or not - there's just too much that's available to interpretation - a parachute is NOT a propellant.
It's purpose is to aid with deceleration (retard your fall), not acceleration.
I remember learning about computers and "programming" on a Timex Sinclair 1000 - a whopping 1K RAM. That would have been in '82. I have to say that BASIC programming on that thing was a breeze. All of the commands were written onto the membrane, so you could always find what you needed. Two weeks into my Jr. High School class, we wrote the final and played on the Apple in the library for the rest of the year.
Those were the days... xyzzy...
A few years later my brother found an old zx81 in a garage sale and bought it for me. By then we'd gone through a TRS80, a couple of Commodores, and were just getting into the x86 world. While a cool novelty (with the 1K RAM expansion), it fell by the wayside. Today I regret misplacing it, but it would just end up being another thing to blow the dust off of once a year...
Slashdot Mirror
Twice as many jobs with half as much Jobs!
When (if) they go to court, then yes, disclosure would be an issue. During a closed door negotiation that does not involve the courts, disclosure is at the discretion of the parties involved.
During their "discussions" yesterday, Creative may (or may not) have attempted to hamstring Apple. Being on the receiving end of an ultimatum is never pleasant, and I, too, would likely have refrained from giving my antagonist any ground.
But that's just me.
Here's a nickel kid. Get yourself a better computer.
(with appologies to Scott Adams)
Let's see here...
One song from Barenaked Ladies' "Gordon" CD ("If I had $1000000") - $.99
One song from 4 Non Blondes ("What's up?") CD - $.99
Three songs from Queen's "The Game" CD ("Another One Bites The Dust", "Don't Try Suicide" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") - $2.97
One song from Blackeyed Peas "Elephunk CD" ("Shutup")- $.99
That takes us to about $6 bucks (give or take, not including taxes). To get those 6 songs in another fashion, you'd need to purchase 4 CD's. Assuming you could find them for $12 each, that brings you to $48. Sure you get a bunch of songs that you don't want, but at a $42 surcharge? Somehow that just doesn't add up...
(Albums chosen for illustration purposes only, I don't know if ITMS actually offers any of these titles)
Maybe he meant the park located just outside of Xerox PARC? I come up with some of my best ideas while sitting under a beautiful tree. Why, just the other day, after an apple fell on my head, I filed a patent on how the earth sucks.
;)
I'll be rich soon, and I can only hope that nobody will fully understand the gravity of the situation
(pun firmly embedded in cheek on this fine Tuesday)
From where I sit (which I freely admit is on the sidelines), it appears that JAXA (Japan's space agency) is investing in a technology that NASA (the American's space agency) has knowledge in. JAXA has some engine technology, but no successful tests. Japanese companies believe that there is a market for supersonic aircraft, but don't have quite enough technological experience with this type of flight technology. It needs a partner to produce an effective and safe product. NASA has some engine technology, but there are no corporations in the US that believe there is an adequate market to acheive a profit. From the article, JAXA and a handful of Japanese companies would PARTNER with NASA and Boeing. Japan would develop / build the engine, while Boeing would build the airframe. Seems like a partnership, not a competition. Sure, JAXA and Japanese companies will gain some knowledge about scramjet (a technology that they are already investing in) that they don't currently have. Rather than spending money that has already been spent, they can help NASA to recoup some of the money that they've spent (aka: your tax dollars), and both parties end up winning. As near as I can tell (again, from tfa), everyone wins. Both governments, companies in both countries, and the travelling public.
Are you suggesting that if an American company is unwilling to develop the technology, the rest of the world can't either? Interesting how you have a problem with a foreign nation competing in a market that the US *DOES NOT WISH* to compete in.
If you are unwilling or unable to play in the global sandbox, fine. You are welcome to take your ball and go home. It's a good thing that NASA doesn't take your stance. Otherwise, there'd be a large number of pieces missing from your space shuttles. Like the Ballard power systems (ok, so it's an American company now, but it used to be Canadian) for example.
Sharing technology is not new. When it's done at a price that is amenable to both parties, everyone wins. Maybe you have a chip on your shoulder, but being angry at Japan is not the solution. You should be angry at other American companies for not wanting to spend development dollars to create American jobs building American made products.
Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.
I'm not sure why anyone would be so upset if it was stolen. I mean, after all, you just place one call to the authorities, and they can find your rfid chip (in a matter of seconds) and the thug in posession of it. I'm sure that the police would be happy to return it after the trial.
Just a second... you could falsely claim that you were someone else, and that "your" ID had been stolen, and have that someone else dragged off to the police station... Not so sure I like the thought that I could be on the reciving end of that kind of prank...
More people have been killed "In the name of [insert deity here]" than by any other means. Now, I'm not saying that I was sitting there counting the graves - just relaying information freely available in the world. Or, at least in those locations where it's not illegal to know things...
Pint of fact:
Support for holy wars has not been, shall we say, hard to find. It is quite easy to garner support by telling a person that all of the wrongs of the world are someone else's fault. It is much harder to stand against the tide, because sympathizers are as bad the enemy during times of war.
You can't gloss over the crusades, or Spanish inquisition with a banal comment like "sin exists in this world". Someone stood up and said "[deity] says [offending group of people] are evil - eradicate or change them", and the masses followed blindly, slaying the "guilty" in their path. You cannot excuse such atrocities with an enigmatic wave of your hand and simple "meh - sin exists".
Or can you?
Technically speaking:
Profit comes after "breakeven". It is the amount that is left over after costs have been covered. In theory, profits are achieved by reducing costs or increasing revenues.
For the zealots in the audience, I must point out that seeking profit is not a bad thing. Profits are often used to fund alternative product development. They are used to improve the quality of life of the business owner(s).
None of this helps the original poster to locate funding for his/her project...
Get local information first!
Your banking institution and your regional government representative are good starts. An employment or immigration office will also have this kind of information close at hand. It will not be as simple as asking for the "grants pamphlet", but these are people that provide this sort of counsel on a daily basis.
Be prepared!
There are a number of things that you will need to resolve before you leave the house with your hat out.
1. Am I willing to sell the rights (or a portion thereof) to my product in exchange for this funding?
2. Can I successfully explain this product to someone that is not familiar with this type of product?
3. Do I have a solid business plan? You will be expected to account for the effort & money that you've invested to date. You will need to clearly explain how you will use grant / seed / investment money.
4. You will need to show that you have a clear understanding of your market, your competitors, and how your product can generate revenue in that market.
5. You will need to have a plan for sustainability that extends beyond the period that you expect to develop in.
6. And a bunch of other things that I don't have enough to type right now...
Be patient!
It may take a couple of years to convince people to give you money. If you are not successful within the first few months, analyze your business plan, revise and re-submit
Be open-minded!
A good product can still fail to garner enough support to get startup money. Perhaps a grant for open source isn't the answer after all - maybe you need to look at selling the product outright.
Proviso: I don't follow my advice, so it won't hurt my feelings if you don't either.
- Avron
d'oh - this time in Plain 'ol text...
Maintaining a defeatist attitude is the single biggest deterrent to career advancement.
In order for anyone to find happiness in the workplace, you need to do some soul searching, as well as discovering some things about the real world:
- What type of work makes you happy?
- What type of industry needs someone that can do that type of work?
- What do I do now that I can apply to that industry / job?
- Are there any intermediary steps that I need to take before I can get there?
- Do I need to move to a larger centre (or smaller centre) to get those opportunities?
Very seldom to people stumble into their dream job. You have a job now, and that's a good thing. Look at what you can take from this job and apply to your next job.
When you are job hunting, you should look for jobs that:
- are willing to provide training related to what you wish to do*
* This does not mean that they will train you for 100% of the job, but would be interested in teaching you as much as 30% of what they would expect you to do.
- have a broader scope - allowing you to learn more about how what you do affects other arms of the company
- have more responsibility - providing you with some management skills (project or people)
- will provide you with experience related to where you are going.
Be prepared to relocate for the right opportunity. Understand that the right opportunity is less about money than it is about experience.
Remember that you always have a choice in your career direction. Choosing to do nothing is still a choice.
Maintaining a defeatist attitude is the single biggest deterrent to career advancement. In order for anyone to find happiness in the workplace, you need to do some soul searching, as well as discovering some things about the real world: - What type of work makes you happy? - What type of industry needs someone that can do that type of work? - What do I do now that I can apply to that industry / job? - Are there any intermediary steps that I need to take before I can get there? - Do I need to move to a larger centre (or smaller centre) to get those opportunities? Very seldom to people stumble into their dream job. You have a job now, and that's a good thing. Look at what you can take from this job and apply to your next job. When you are job hunting, you should look for jobs that: - are willing to provide training related to what you wish to do* * This does not mean that they will train you for 100% of the job, but would be interested in teaching you as much as 30% of what they would expect you to do. - have a broader scope - allowing you to learn more about how what you do affects other arms of the company - have more responsibility - providing you with some management skills (project or people) - will provide you with experience related to where you are going. Be prepared to relocate for the right opportunity. Understand that the right opportunity is less about money than it is about experience. Remember that you always have a choice in your career direction. Choosing to do nothing is still a choice.
It is depressing that such a large percentage of software development has been off-shored. Sadly, it seemed to be the next logical step in the ever-evolving business model (after out-sourcing).
Functionality, practicality, flexibility, value and sustainability, are all key factors for any business decision. Until -all- of these can be realized here (in my case, Canada), off-shoring will continue to be a viable option for companies trying to remain competitive in their various industries.
Our jobs will always be in jeopardy (to some degree) for various financial reasons. If the market stops buying the products that our companies produce, our companies may close, and we will be out of work. This can occur for a plethora of reasons, ranging from competitors with better products, to competitors with better prices.
It is our responsibility to ensure that we provide the highest level of service (uptime/quality code/exemplary service) that we can. This is always the case - not just when jobs are scarce and the fear of off-shoring hangs over our heads, but should be the case all of the time.
They say that the key to success is to find a niche and fill it. Sometimes it's as simple as applying ourselves to the tasks at hand and saving (or earning) real money for the companies that we work for.
For the record, years of experience in "IT" do not adequately illustrate how desirable your skill set may be to a prospective employer.
I can point to three people that I work closely with. Each has "10 years of experience in IT". One has been doing desktop support exclusively on the Windows environment, one is a UNIX systems administrator, and one is a Windows systems administrator. Each is very good at what they do. As the months pass, one or another of them is offered a new position with a different company, doing interesting work within their area of expertise. This has been consistent for the past three years.
I can point to 11 others who do similar jobs, but haven't received a reasonable job offer in three years. The differences don't appear to be what they do, or even how well they do their jobs, as much as how flexible they have proven themselves to be.
As expected, those "IT Professionals" with the widest skill sets seem to be the ones that are most in demand. Failing that, those that have experience in multiple industries appear to be the next most desirable.
Be proactive in defining your career direction, and flexible in the industries that you practice in. You will find that you are more likely to be considered for those available "IT positions". If your work history proves that you are flexible and adaptable, a prospective employer may be interested in training you in new technologies that interest you.
This rant is a bit off-topic, but "years of experience" is a pet peeve of mine. It is not meant as a slant on the parent of this post. Although, I'd be interested to know what "big IT companies" would benefit from suggesting that IT jobs are more in demand now than before. It seems to me that it would cause a rate jump during a market shortage, rather than continuing with the age old fear mongering techniques of suggesting that you can be replaced before you make it to the curb.
And yet STILL managed to spell Pasadena incorrectly :)
You bring up some interesting points while wandering through your post, but I disagree with your comments on the switch to x86. When Apple first switched architectures (from the 680x0 to the Power PC family), that was a strong indication that they weren't planning on tethering the OS to a specific platform. You could point to their earlier switch from nubus to pci, or (relatively) recent switch from SCSI to ATAPI, the inclusion of USB as well as FireWire, etc. as other examples of their flexibility.
In the intel world, they have switched buses (ISA, MCA (an IBM thing), EISA, VESA, PCI, etc. Disks have gone from MFM to SCSI & IDE to ATAPI. Adaptation is imperitive for a computer company to survive. In general, the Intel platform has been more flexible, and has seen the greatest variation in technologies come and go.
The most promising point (from my perspective) about Apple switching to the x86 hardware platform, is that the Macintosh operating system is now approaching the point where it can compete on even ground with Microsoft's Windows operating system. Eventually, we can hope that people will have a *real* choice between OS's that run on similar hardware. We will be able to make our selections based on suitability to function, rather than suitability to hardware platform. Mix and match as it were.
This, coupled with an open document standard (hopefully something will be standardized here...) will finally make the OS irrelevant to the content produced. Sure, everyone will require an OS of some sort. Sure, everyone will have a favourite. Sure, they won't always work seemlessly, but it's a step in the right direction. Finally...
- Avron
You need to remember that when the Plus was first released, Steve pronounced SCSI as "sexy" in his marketing blurbs, rather than conforming to the industry norm of "scuzzy". In order for him to sell it as the Macintosh Sex, the letters would need to be SCS. :)
- Avron
Sadly, a high percentage of failures is considered to be a reflection on the teachers abilities to communicate ideas and concepts, rather than on the student body's ability to understand them.
Reminds me of the book, "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.
It suggested that a combination of socialism and monopolistic activites were bringing about the end of the world, and that the best minds of the world should just stand back and let it happen. Then, when there's nothing left, they can go back in and start over.
I don't subscribe to her philosophy, but it looks like the Patent Lawyers are attempting to enforce her theories at all costs...
- This is just an observation, and should, in no way, be viewed as an explaination (I hope that disclaimers haven't yet been patented...) -
Luxury! We used to hang children on the clothesline by their feet - moving them back and forth like a giant abacus. Loud devices - always complaining about which sector they were in. You couldn't put two 'bits' together, or they'd byte each other. As soon as they were released from the line (for a nibble, etc.)- well, I need not tell you about the results of a head crash from that height.
Booting them up was fun...
(no children were injured in the creation of this e-mail message)
While I wouldn't argue whether or not a parachute was a vehicle or not - there's just too much that's available to interpretation - a parachute is NOT a propellant.
It's purpose is to aid with deceleration (retard your fall), not acceleration.
Actually the song was "I will play for gumbo" - I was trying to be funny, but apparently failed miserably. I blame the gumbo.
I'll also take this opportunity to apologize for the grievous error of spelling Mr. Buffett's last name incorrectly.
I'm reminded of a Jimmy Buffet song: "I Will Code For Gumbo" - or something similar ;)
Great. Now I'm older than "old people"...
Reprobates!
- Avron
I remember learning about computers and "programming" on a Timex Sinclair 1000 - a whopping 1K RAM. That would have been in '82. I have to say that BASIC programming on that thing was a breeze. All of the commands were written onto the membrane, so you could always find what you needed. Two weeks into my Jr. High School class, we wrote the final and played on the Apple in the library for the rest of the year.
Those were the days... xyzzy...
A few years later my brother found an old zx81 in a garage sale and bought it for me. By then we'd gone through a TRS80, a couple of Commodores, and were just getting into the x86 world. While a cool novelty (with the 1K RAM expansion), it fell by the wayside. Today I regret misplacing it, but it would just end up being another thing to blow the dust off of once a year...
- Avron