In terms of entertainment, I'd say that we've actually become more diverse, not less. If you look at the largest tv audiences in the UK, they were often for things in the past.
In 1981 I could watch 3 TV channels, about 5 radio stations and maybe play a version of Pong as well as all sorts of outdoor activities. Now, I can watch about 100 TV channels, dozens of radio, a myriad of video games, watch a DVD.
Incidentally, I can also enjoy my outdoor activities more because I have far more information about things because of the internet, because my car is more reliable than cars in 1981 and because I have a mobile phone that helps me if I get stuck.
The problem is the government and the laws (not really the lawyers, they are just doing their job).
It's also about the fact that societies like the USA and UK are getting infested with the attitude that they are not responsible, and an accident is someone else's fault.
What I'm referring to is western economies, not the western economic model. Perhaps I should have said countries in Europe and the USA.
Maybe that's a bad way of putting it, but what I see in the west is countries full of fat and stagnation. Everyone expects the government to sort out their ass and look after their job, whilst wanting cheap goods from elsewhere. Ambulance-chasing lawyers are big business. America is how many billions of dollars in debt?
And what happens about all your Mac customers? And before anyone says "who cares about Mac users?" my guess is that Mac users are good spenders online.
Any site that tries to force me onto some proprietary system will get the same thing that sites that don't run Firefox get - boycotted.
What's the drill for New York and Miami when this happens?
My guess is, absolutely none.
So, if this mega-tsunami happens sometime after midnight eastern time, the evacuation is going to be something like "wake the neighbours".
I'm not sure even I have the solution to this. Should you create an alarm system for something that just may never happen or take hundreds of years possibly? On the other hand, if you don't, you've got millions of deaths going to occur.
You know what? Steve is right. It's a blind alley for Microsoft to go down (like pen and speech).
I know people who've tried setting up PVR on their PCs to record to the HDD and wired up to their TV, and they don't do it for long. They'd rather get a Tivo or a Sky+ box that does the job and pay the extra and have it next to the PC and ready to go.
Because I know a lot of people with multiregion players here in the UK. I think everyone I know with a DVD player has chosen to go multiregion. That's not just geeks but normal people from 18-70. Because the discs can often be cheaper, released earlier and sometimes are only released in region 1.
That's a great post and speaks volumes about many attitudes to patents and "IP".
Companies have, for years and years sought out a guaranteed money maker, that they can do a little work and just watch the money roll in.
All stagnant fat cat money makers die eventually (this may also include western economies in general). If you don't continue to innovate and improve, someone else will win. Doesn't matter if you've got a patent, someone will find a way around it.
You mean the patent on the three-way belt that was granted to Volvo? Which Volvo then declared that they would not claim royalties on, thus allowing other manufacturers to use.
The patent was granted in 1959. I first remember being in a car with a 3-way belt in the early 1970s.
Take James Dyson. He created the dual-cyclone cleaner, and someone tried to rip him off. So, he went to court and won and his company is IIRC the market leader in the UK.
OK, maybe it gives you a few rebels in a party, but it's better to have a larger number of parties, even if it means control is at the centre.
Tony Blair can give as many jobs as he likes to his university chums, but they'll still only have 39% of the seats at the next election, which means creating alliances with other parties. Instead, he's going to get a sizable majority.
Those rebels do nothing anyway. They've barely made a difference to the direction of the Labour government.
Personally, I've been doing c# and.net and I'm looking at doing something else as well, either something OSS like PHP, or some Java. I don't want to be left stranded if Linux takes over (and it looks more and more like it will).
I'm thinking Java is the best option for all the places it can be deployed and scale of uses.
All you need is to win by 1 vote in more seats than your opponents. You could in theory win an election with a very small percentage of the vote. Labour are likely to get a healthy parliamentary majority with less than 40% of the vote.
Parties like UKIP are a concern for the tories. In effect, the tories could lose a seat because their vote gets split two ways. So, even though the majority don't want a party, they get in.
It's why first-past-the-post is a terrible system, and for all it's faults, PR is better.
I believe that the next election will spark a massive public debate about this, because the number of fringe parties (eg UKIP, Greens, socialists, BNP) will start making a difference.
If people really want to make a difference, help to fund a fringe candidate who works in the same sphere as your opponent and help to split the vote.
Also, you don't even have to butter up the other 51%. They only have to be fractionally in preference to you than the rest. Personally, I can't really stand any of the parties. Show me a libertarian party, and I'll vote for them.
The question of bias is all about the relative distance to your position.
For example, I know people who refer to Tony Blair as a right-winger. They themselves would probably gladly declare themselves as left-wing. Personally I see him as left-of-centre (although the terms left- and right- wing are unhelpful).
Some people see Fox as balanced because it is at approximately the same position as them. Also, people often are drawn to something that suits them more, so will block out some of the minor biases because they see major biases elsewhere.
It's success is that it's a "lifestyle" product. It doesn't look like a geek gadget. It's one of the few bits of electronics loved by women.
I think that Apple have basically employed some top-of-the-range designers. It's about thinking of something as a whole and not just adding things because you can.
I don't know why people buy the new VW Beetle, but I'll bet it's a lot of women.
I imagine early on that they might have been willing to sit down with SCO. No-one likes litigation. It's expensive and potentially damaging.
The trouble is that this has now gone so far and become so public in the computer world that I think that IBM really want that judgement that says "not guilty". What's that worth to IBM? Probably more than SCO could offer them in financial settlement.
Unless SCO does have something on IBM, SCO are dead in the water. They won't have enough money to settle, and if they lose, the share price will collapse to near 0, and IBMs counterlitigation will wipe them out.
Your point about video is what might be called "product experience".
It doesn't matter if what you sell to someone is honestly sold, and even if it's what they want, if the "experience" using it is poor, your product, and therefore your company are damaged.
I even think that there's something negative about what might be called "shiny but useless" features. Often, something like "graphic equalisers" on hi-fi sound like they will be great, and you play with them for like 2 days, and never touch them again. But there it is, still on the hi-fi and not a loved part of the product.
It's not even a question of value. It's much more about a whole ton of "soft" stuff going on around the iPod, some of which is quantifiable, and some isn't. There's a whole lot of stuff around what might be termed "lifestyle" and often tech companies are bad at making things that excel in that area (they work on product feature ticklists instead).
Why do people buy cars like Minis or Smarts? They don't do it because they are functionally better, it's because they are things that they really desire. And if someone tried to make a sorta-copy of one of these, they wouldn't gain much. People would recognise them as just a sorta-copy.
Someone out there INNOVATE! Don't just go chasing the iPod. Make something completely different. If you have to make something to sell to people as a lifestyle device for carrying their music around, do it differently.
Slashdot Mirror
In 1981 I could watch 3 TV channels, about 5 radio stations and maybe play a version of Pong as well as all sorts of outdoor activities. Now, I can watch about 100 TV channels, dozens of radio, a myriad of video games, watch a DVD.
Incidentally, I can also enjoy my outdoor activities more because I have far more information about things because of the internet, because my car is more reliable than cars in 1981 and because I have a mobile phone that helps me if I get stuck.
The world gets better.
It's also about the fact that societies like the USA and UK are getting infested with the attitude that they are not responsible, and an accident is someone else's fault.
Maybe that's a bad way of putting it, but what I see in the west is countries full of fat and stagnation. Everyone expects the government to sort out their ass and look after their job, whilst wanting cheap goods from elsewhere. Ambulance-chasing lawyers are big business. America is how many billions of dollars in debt?
Any site that tries to force me onto some proprietary system will get the same thing that sites that don't run Firefox get - boycotted.
My guess is, absolutely none.
So, if this mega-tsunami happens sometime after midnight eastern time, the evacuation is going to be something like "wake the neighbours".
I'm not sure even I have the solution to this. Should you create an alarm system for something that just may never happen or take hundreds of years possibly? On the other hand, if you don't, you've got millions of deaths going to occur.
Best thing is probably to blow the thing up.
I know people who've tried setting up PVR on their PCs to record to the HDD and wired up to their TV, and they don't do it for long. They'd rather get a Tivo or a Sky+ box that does the job and pay the extra and have it next to the PC and ready to go.
Because I know a lot of people with multiregion players here in the UK. I think everyone I know with a DVD player has chosen to go multiregion. That's not just geeks but normal people from 18-70. Because the discs can often be cheaper, released earlier and sometimes are only released in region 1.
Companies have, for years and years sought out a guaranteed money maker, that they can do a little work and just watch the money roll in.
All stagnant fat cat money makers die eventually (this may also include western economies in general). If you don't continue to innovate and improve, someone else will win. Doesn't matter if you've got a patent, someone will find a way around it.
The patent was granted in 1959. I first remember being in a car with a 3-way belt in the early 1970s.
Take James Dyson. He created the dual-cyclone cleaner, and someone tried to rip him off. So, he went to court and won and his company is IIRC the market leader in the UK.
It's the method they use to send their monthly newsletters to their customers.
Also, direct email is acceptable under certain circumstances.
The greens and LDs may be more liberal in terms of personal freedom, but aren't very keen on economic freedom.
OK, maybe it gives you a few rebels in a party, but it's better to have a larger number of parties, even if it means control is at the centre.
Tony Blair can give as many jobs as he likes to his university chums, but they'll still only have 39% of the seats at the next election, which means creating alliances with other parties. Instead, he's going to get a sizable majority.
Those rebels do nothing anyway. They've barely made a difference to the direction of the Labour government.
I'm thinking Java is the best option for all the places it can be deployed and scale of uses.
Any thoughts anyone?
To be honest, my days on Windows are numbered. I'm lining up getting a Linux box in the new year now.
All you need is to win by 1 vote in more seats than your opponents. You could in theory win an election with a very small percentage of the vote. Labour are likely to get a healthy parliamentary majority with less than 40% of the vote.
Parties like UKIP are a concern for the tories. In effect, the tories could lose a seat because their vote gets split two ways. So, even though the majority don't want a party, they get in.
It's why first-past-the-post is a terrible system, and for all it's faults, PR is better.
I believe that the next election will spark a massive public debate about this, because the number of fringe parties (eg UKIP, Greens, socialists, BNP) will start making a difference.
If people really want to make a difference, help to fund a fringe candidate who works in the same sphere as your opponent and help to split the vote.
Also, you don't even have to butter up the other 51%. They only have to be fractionally in preference to you than the rest. Personally, I can't really stand any of the parties. Show me a libertarian party, and I'll vote for them.
That is, that in an area like religion or politics, people may wish to print different biased views on it, but that you can only really have one.
In many areas, particularly where people don't have pointless flame wars (like someone updating histories of bands, it works fantastically.
For example, I know people who refer to Tony Blair as a right-winger. They themselves would probably gladly declare themselves as left-wing. Personally I see him as left-of-centre (although the terms left- and right- wing are unhelpful).
Some people see Fox as balanced because it is at approximately the same position as them. Also, people often are drawn to something that suits them more, so will block out some of the minor biases because they see major biases elsewhere.
Are the citadel protocols the same as any other open source groupware servers? And what protocols are you using?
What about the WEBDAV protocol which Exchange supports? Basically read and write to/from Exchange via XML.
Does this case even have the merits to go to trial? Have SCO produced absolutely anything that gives their case strength?
I think that Apple have basically employed some top-of-the-range designers. It's about thinking of something as a whole and not just adding things because you can.
I don't know why people buy the new VW Beetle, but I'll bet it's a lot of women.
The trouble is that this has now gone so far and become so public in the computer world that I think that IBM really want that judgement that says "not guilty". What's that worth to IBM? Probably more than SCO could offer them in financial settlement.
Unless SCO does have something on IBM, SCO are dead in the water. They won't have enough money to settle, and if they lose, the share price will collapse to near 0, and IBMs counterlitigation will wipe them out.
It doesn't matter if what you sell to someone is honestly sold, and even if it's what they want, if the "experience" using it is poor, your product, and therefore your company are damaged.
I even think that there's something negative about what might be called "shiny but useless" features. Often, something like "graphic equalisers" on hi-fi sound like they will be great, and you play with them for like 2 days, and never touch them again. But there it is, still on the hi-fi and not a loved part of the product.
Why do people buy cars like Minis or Smarts? They don't do it because they are functionally better, it's because they are things that they really desire. And if someone tried to make a sorta-copy of one of these, they wouldn't gain much. People would recognise them as just a sorta-copy.
Someone out there INNOVATE! Don't just go chasing the iPod. Make something completely different. If you have to make something to sell to people as a lifestyle device for carrying their music around, do it differently.