And at some point, I step out of a shower and find that the last year had all been a dream. That SCO hadn't sued IBM and instead Darl McBride had become a monk and devoted the rest of his life to helping the sick and needy.
The trouble is, what new features can they add, except maybe DRM (which most users don't want, anyway).
What has been the takeup of XP upgrades?
I run Win 2K, and Win XP has some nice toys, but I don't see a need to upgrade (some of the toys like the firewall and CD burner, I already have software for Win 2K).
It's not so much to do with the 90s as exuberant decade, it's that the 90s was the decade of people getting PCs at home (and maybe small businesses too).
It's that PCs have reached a mature point. I remember some windows apps around 1991-1992, and where they'd progressed to by 1997-8. Throughout that time, the PCs were often too slow for what people needed - the software was waiting for the PC. Now, the software is mostly waiting on the user. A lot of people I know are running on 4 year old hardware and don't see any need to change (this also means no OEM sale).
For general business apps like Office, Accounts, Web Browsing, Operating Systems, history ended about 2000.
For some users, it ended earlier. I know people running Office 97 on Win 98. For them, getting Smart Tags, Grammar checking or XML export from office just doesn't warrant the upgrade cost.
One thing that is legal IIRC, is to declare revenue that you haven't received (so, if someone signs a 3 year contract with 12 monthly payments, you can put all 36 months down in accounts at the end of the 1st quarter even though you haven't got all the money yet).
They're going to struggle to get people to pay for upgrades off either Win 2K or Win XP.
I run Win 2K, and can't see anything in Win XP that makes me want to upgrade. Any new features (like built in folder compression or media playing) I already have a solution for.
People buy MS shares because they go up. If they start going down, what are the chances that shareholders will start to call for some of the cash reserves to be released?
Sure, you'd then have to pay Microsoft a fee, but that would probably be quite small, considering other patent fees.
AFAIK, Patent offices don't allow people to say "patent x will cost $100,000,000 per copy".
Microsoft wouldn't go for it because it would allow greater competitor interoperability. Folks would start writing 100% compatible Open Office converters, and huge numbers of us would switch.
I'm not trying to be mean, but I find that normal business users don't know how to do much of the fancy stuff in Excel or any of their other programs. The most common usage of Excel I've found is glorified forms. Oh, I'm not saying that its not used for what it really can be used for, but in those cases the person doing the Excel work is usually an Analyst who is working for the person who is actually consuming the reports.
I've seen nothing used since Excel 5.0. Most Excel work I've seen is databases and tables - like lists of project tasks or snapshots of account lists.
I think the whole problem with office is that there really is nothing much that can be added for people to say "yeah! must upgrade". I remember seeing the feature list between Access 2000 and Access 2002, and the only useful feature to me was that you had a printer object in the VBA object model.
It's not just a USA/India thing. I live in the UK, and I've thought about moving to either France or a cheaper part of the UK.
The reason: I can sell my reasonable size house and buy a large house in a less developed area with cheaper beer or wine.
I have a laptop, GPRS phone with card, and I use Wi-Fi, and know where the cafes are. In the past, I've done projects for clients where we met less than once a month. The cost of a flight from France (or Belfast) to London is less than 100 a time.
The cost of housing is as different here as it is in the USA. You can spend a million pounds on a flat in Knightsbridge, or a country estate in Lincolnshire.
I have no emotional bond to my PCs. When they die, I chuck 'em out.
Unlike my Palm III. The little thing is just great, does the job it's meant to do, and never lets me down. It's simple, uncluttered, and I think, a wonderful design.
I still miss my first Nokia cellphone. It was real simple, did everything I wanted, never let me down. My current phone has all sorts of gizmos, and I hate it.
I'd agree about using Google exclusively, but for me, I just use other online sources or paid for books. My local library is terrible, so it's beaten hands down by google, everything2, wikipedia, and others.
What library did you use? For those of us in provincial towns, getting anything from a library is difficult - although there's normally plenty of books on Amiga programming, CDs by Westworld and The Henry Root Letters.
LOTR DVD is released, simultaneously worldwide. Person in god-forsaken 3rd-world country has easy access to the legal, region-free DVD at local prices...
And conversely, people in 1st-world countries get DVDs at 3rd world prices, which they import.
That's what regions are there for, to ensure that pricing differentials could be maintained, as well as release dates.
Here in the UK, anyone with half a brain has a multi-region player. There are so many films which are US-only or released first in the US, that it's silly not to.
I read something about the various planned editions of Kill Bill.
There's no excuse any more. When DVD first came out, and you had flippers etc and studios just wanted to get films out, it was fine that later on when the storage level increased, that more extras got added.
In some ways, it's a case of buy what you are happy with. I don't as a rule buy discs without extras, because I know what's coming later. I skipped the 2-disc editions of LOTR because the 4-disc was coming. Likewise, I'll rent Kill Bill and wait a while before I get the full edition.
The best thing is to keep an eye in the right places - websites, newsgroups about what's coming.
I disagree. I've optimised code, and in the process had to add a load more code (often caching information in memory etc.).
The one performance area that more code hampers is the performance of programmers picking it up. If you have something going to a table in memory to get some information rather than the database, you have to understand then where the table in memory is getting it's information from.
Wasn't the reason that SCO announced the termination of this to do with other infringements? Surely, without those other infringements, they can't terminate it?
I won't be at all surprised to see this case thrown out with prejudice (is that the right term). SCO will probably collapse, or IBM et al will just take them apart.
I think the application list you have is largely complete.
I'd also add accounts package, whether SAGE or whoever. A lot of small businesses have those.
The other thing is, bespoke/specialised software that is for your business.
What you are saying is true, though. I've been telling people about OpenOffice and Mozilla, and got a few converts. In part, they've converted due to awareness.
Slashdot Mirror
And at some point, I step out of a shower and find that the last year had all been a dream. That SCO hadn't sued IBM and instead Darl McBride had become a monk and devoted the rest of his life to helping the sick and needy.
What has been the takeup of XP upgrades?
I run Win 2K, and Win XP has some nice toys, but I don't see a need to upgrade (some of the toys like the firewall and CD burner, I already have software for Win 2K).
It's that PCs have reached a mature point. I remember some windows apps around 1991-1992, and where they'd progressed to by 1997-8. Throughout that time, the PCs were often too slow for what people needed - the software was waiting for the PC. Now, the software is mostly waiting on the user. A lot of people I know are running on 4 year old hardware and don't see any need to change (this also means no OEM sale).
For general business apps like Office, Accounts, Web Browsing, Operating Systems, history ended about 2000.
For some users, it ended earlier. I know people running Office 97 on Win 98. For them, getting Smart Tags, Grammar checking or XML export from office just doesn't warrant the upgrade cost.
If the share price doesn't go up, I could well imagine shareholders trying to get some of that money.
One thing that is legal IIRC, is to declare revenue that you haven't received (so, if someone signs a 3 year contract with 12 monthly payments, you can put all 36 months down in accounts at the end of the 1st quarter even though you haven't got all the money yet).
I run Win 2K, and can't see anything in Win XP that makes me want to upgrade. Any new features (like built in folder compression or media playing) I already have a solution for.
Chances are, it will be my last Windows OS.
People buy MS shares because they go up. If they start going down, what are the chances that shareholders will start to call for some of the cash reserves to be released?
Get a logo that people can take seriously for starters.
Sure, you'd then have to pay Microsoft a fee, but that would probably be quite small, considering other patent fees.
AFAIK, Patent offices don't allow people to say "patent x will cost $100,000,000 per copy".
Microsoft wouldn't go for it because it would allow greater competitor interoperability. Folks would start writing 100% compatible Open Office converters, and huge numbers of us would switch.
I've seen nothing used since Excel 5.0. Most Excel work I've seen is databases and tables - like lists of project tasks or snapshots of account lists.
I think the whole problem with office is that there really is nothing much that can be added for people to say "yeah! must upgrade". I remember seeing the feature list between Access 2000 and Access 2002, and the only useful feature to me was that you had a printer object in the VBA object model.
The reason: I can sell my reasonable size house and buy a large house in a less developed area with cheaper beer or wine.
I have a laptop, GPRS phone with card, and I use Wi-Fi, and know where the cafes are. In the past, I've done projects for clients where we met less than once a month. The cost of a flight from France (or Belfast) to London is less than 100 a time.
The cost of housing is as different here as it is in the USA. You can spend a million pounds on a flat in Knightsbridge, or a country estate in Lincolnshire.
Breakfast is really vital when you work from home, because it helps relax you for the day so you are not distracted.
Unlike my Palm III. The little thing is just great, does the job it's meant to do, and never lets me down. It's simple, uncluttered, and I think, a wonderful design.
I still miss my first Nokia cellphone. It was real simple, did everything I wanted, never let me down. My current phone has all sorts of gizmos, and I hate it.
I'd agree about using Google exclusively, but for me, I just use other online sources or paid for books. My local library is terrible, so it's beaten hands down by google, everything2, wikipedia, and others.
I can imagine a time in the future when areas like Scottish Isles will become even more popular because cellphones don't work.
These guys have websites, do tours, charity events, probably get Hello! magazine to photograph their houses. It wouldn't take much to call around.
If they were talking about some old bluesman who'd disappeared or was going senile in a retirement home, fair enough, but this is silly.
Try looking here
And conversely, people in 1st-world countries get DVDs at 3rd world prices, which they import.
That's what regions are there for, to ensure that pricing differentials could be maintained, as well as release dates.
Here in the UK, anyone with half a brain has a multi-region player. There are so many films which are US-only or released first in the US, that it's silly not to.
There's no excuse any more. When DVD first came out, and you had flippers etc and studios just wanted to get films out, it was fine that later on when the storage level increased, that more extras got added.
In some ways, it's a case of buy what you are happy with. I don't as a rule buy discs without extras, because I know what's coming later. I skipped the 2-disc editions of LOTR because the 4-disc was coming. Likewise, I'll rent Kill Bill and wait a while before I get the full edition.
The best thing is to keep an eye in the right places - websites, newsgroups about what's coming.
The one performance area that more code hampers is the performance of programmers picking it up. If you have something going to a table in memory to get some information rather than the database, you have to understand then where the table in memory is getting it's information from.
Wasn't the reason that SCO announced the termination of this to do with other infringements? Surely, without those other infringements, they can't terminate it?
I won't be at all surprised to see this case thrown out with prejudice (is that the right term). SCO will probably collapse, or IBM et al will just take them apart.
I'd also add accounts package, whether SAGE or whoever. A lot of small businesses have those. The other thing is, bespoke/specialised software that is for your business.
What you are saying is true, though. I've been telling people about OpenOffice and Mozilla, and got a few converts. In part, they've converted due to awareness.
I think spammers try random name combinations and check for bounces.
Very rare nowadays.