... a company that prides itself on its ability to serve content to users in a well-crafted, platform-independent way...
That's really only true if you're talking about their search engine. Take a look at their actual applications and you will see that they are, indeed, platform-dependent.
When is somebody going to decide they don't want Linux on the XYZ 123 (at which point Glider probably won't be ready to run on that system, but I can hope, pray and dream, can't I?) so that someone with a development team and an idea for a revolution that would finally move the OS world past Unix can come in and say "our system works great on the XYZ 123, won't you try it on your database box?"
You realize you're welcome to do that at any time. It's not as if the Treo folk came in and said "Make Linux run on this."
Give me choice. I, for one, use neither KDE nor Gnome.
Looks to me like you have choice, based on what you just said.
Good grief, what's with all the knee-jerking? It's all open source. That means the options are not going to go away. They may shift in their priorities, but they're definitely not going away.
I use my yahoo a lot too. Really, you can configure it pretty much any way you want, even add stories/sites from websites that aren't specifically known to yahoo's news gathering.
About the only complaint I have is their advertising. Adblock goes a long way, but frankly, it's really annoying when they split their dating service ads into cells of a sub-frame.
Well, you could crack a dictionary and find out the actual meaning of the word. And while you're at it, take a look at the etymology. Often, it explains why such a word is used.
Interesting. But it has nowhere near the following of Skype. Nor do people really relate it to anything in the past, such as, say, Alphaworld. Remember that? It was kind of cool technology that didn't really go anhywhere.
Free? I can't seem to find the GPL source anywhere.
Different kind of free. You do know there's more than one kind of free, don't you?
Anyway, Oracle XE is actually pretty nice, particularly if you want to throw together a quick web-based app. I wish I could put something together with PostgreSQL/PHP (or whatever) as quickly as I could with Oracle's web forms designer.
The browser will become more of an OS. Google is already using it like such.
Not really. Take a look at the requirements of some of their apps, such as Picasa and Earth. They rely on IE to properly run. Until they become browser-agnostic, I doubt it will happen.
it can be hard for the person on the other side to hear you over the din
Actually, if you have a somewhat recent phone, most have background noice cancelling built in. It shouldn't be an issue any longer. I can be in an extremely noisy area, and if I'm not talking on my end, I usually get "Are you still there?"
Phones these days do an amazing job at blocking out extraneous noise.
Now the best transportation system in America will also be wireless.
Best is really a subjective term. I recently moved from SF to Chicago, after having lived in SF for close to 20 years. First, in those 20 years I'd seen all sorts of changes done to BART, some for the better, some for the worse.
It's nice that BART finally goes to SFO, after such a long battle with San Mateo.
But that's really the only tangible improvement I've seen from them in a LONG time.
On the other hand, I'm now experiencing the "El" in Chicago. They run 24/7. And to a greater land area. To both airports. Directly.
Now, I don't work the evening shift, but I can completely get by without a car here. I couldn't do that in SF. Ever.
if they still get mention on the "people who downloaded $foo also listened to..." lists, there is still a healthy chance of survival despite lack of exposure.
I think in the long run, this is how it will be. I think marketing will shift from the actual artists to download communities, where the word will be spread amongst its members about which artist is good/worth the money. But that's not how it's done now.
It only takes having a teenager in the house to realize that marketing is King. They buy what they see on TV. And their opinions are formed by what they see on TV, no matter how much they tell you they know everything (and, again, if you have a teenager in the house, you'll constantly hear how little you know and how much they know:-))
The point is you're less likely to hear it if it's in a lower price bracket. Lower price brackets won't get the same amount of exposure as higher priced songs get. That means you will probably not hear it on the radio, MTV, whatever.
Is it conspiracy theory? Yeah, probably. But most definitely believable.
Slashdot Mirror
It was something they purchased.
That's really only true if you're talking about their search engine. Take a look at their actual applications and you will see that they are, indeed, platform-dependent.
Actually, google local already runs on a fair number of phones.
You realize you're welcome to do that at any time. It's not as if the Treo folk came in and said "Make Linux run on this."
Looks to me like you have choice, based on what you just said.
Good grief, what's with all the knee-jerking? It's all open source. That means the options are not going to go away. They may shift in their priorities, but they're definitely not going away.
Does Linus mandate what desktop(s) the various commercial distros use?
Nice knee-jerk, though.
That said, I'm older and no longer crave the spotlight. When I was in my 20s? You bet I wanted to be in the spotlight.
About the only complaint I have is their advertising. Adblock goes a long way, but frankly, it's really annoying when they split their dating service ads into cells of a sub-frame.
Well, you could crack a dictionary and find out the actual meaning of the word. And while you're at it, take a look at the etymology. Often, it explains why such a word is used.
Interesting. But it has nowhere near the following of Skype. Nor do people really relate it to anything in the past, such as, say, Alphaworld. Remember that? It was kind of cool technology that didn't really go anhywhere.
You realize that Redcoats were British, not American, don't you?
Not bittorrent, per se, but maybe you missed the few really good torrent search sites that were shut down this last year.
Different kind of free. You do know there's more than one kind of free, don't you?
Anyway, Oracle XE is actually pretty nice, particularly if you want to throw together a quick web-based app. I wish I could put something together with PostgreSQL/PHP (or whatever) as quickly as I could with Oracle's web forms designer.
Alternatively, not every company needs (or wants) every feature pushed on them.
In my experience, it's much easier to get rid of unwanted/unneeded components from Linux than it is from Windows.
and then enjoy a nice cup of coffee.
Not really. Take a look at the requirements of some of their apps, such as Picasa and Earth. They rely on IE to properly run. Until they become browser-agnostic, I doubt it will happen.
Actually, if you have a somewhat recent phone, most have background noice cancelling built in. It shouldn't be an issue any longer. I can be in an extremely noisy area, and if I'm not talking on my end, I usually get "Are you still there?"
Phones these days do an amazing job at blocking out extraneous noise.
Best is really a subjective term. I recently moved from SF to Chicago, after having lived in SF for close to 20 years. First, in those 20 years I'd seen all sorts of changes done to BART, some for the better, some for the worse.
It's nice that BART finally goes to SFO, after such a long battle with San Mateo.
But that's really the only tangible improvement I've seen from them in a LONG time.
On the other hand, I'm now experiencing the "El" in Chicago. They run 24/7. And to a greater land area. To both airports. Directly.
Now, I don't work the evening shift, but I can completely get by without a car here. I couldn't do that in SF. Ever.
I think in the long run, this is how it will be. I think marketing will shift from the actual artists to download communities, where the word will be spread amongst its members about which artist is good/worth the money. But that's not how it's done now.
It only takes having a teenager in the house to realize that marketing is King. They buy what they see on TV. And their opinions are formed by what they see on TV, no matter how much they tell you they know everything (and, again, if you have a teenager in the house, you'll constantly hear how little you know and how much they know :-))
While he's broken away from Warner Bros, he ended up losing a lot. He doesn't control anything of the many songs he wrote while signed with WB.
And that's the reason you don't see major artists break away.
The point is you're less likely to hear it if it's in a lower price bracket. Lower price brackets won't get the same amount of exposure as higher priced songs get. That means you will probably not hear it on the radio, MTV, whatever.
Is it conspiracy theory? Yeah, probably. But most definitely believable.
about seeing an American flag behind a British TV story.
I'm guessing someone should beat you with a humor stick.
Or drag you in from the 'burbs so you can see what many cities are like these days.
I don't really see it that way. Unless searches are highly visible on the desktop and the resulting ads switch to match.
The reason Google's ads are successful is because they are contextual with searches. They're not just blindly placed on Google's page.