It has all the PDA features i need (Contacts, Calender, Tasks, Notepad/Sketchpad).... it has all the online features i need (IMAP/POP3 mail with support for attachments of Word, excel, PDF, zip, mail synch with outlook, SMS, MMS).. It is a FANTASTIC Ogg Vorbis player... Plays some great games.... has a cheapy, but usefull camera.... good handwritting recognition.. oh.. and its a pretty decent phoen too!;)
and with the UK's obsession of subsidizing phones.. i got it cheap too, and it made a GREAT replacement to my T68/Palm combo.. and more features to boot
Well said.. ok, you can be a littel easy on the language.. but agreed...
remember, Craig David, when he started was NOT manufactured.. the guy has talent, and can litterally come out with lyrics when placed on the spot.. i know because i have seen the guy peform in a london club before he became famous.
However, now he is famous, he is considered "manufactured"
Its not just that, here if UK, there is a LOT of independants (both labels, and bands), and thats where the real innovation is.
It doesnt matter whether its Rock, R&B, House, Trance or anythign, in the UK, most music starts as a grassroots movements..
In the UK, there is still the potential for a talentend band or individual to be able to release a record bypassing the big four.. whether this may change or not in the future, i dont know, but we shall see..
Also radio stations do give a lot of airtime to independents... (statiosn are not controlled by the big four, as much as they are in Stateside)
Another thing is the popularity of Pubs and live singing in Pubs.
Actually in 1996, the "cream of the crop" of IE was IE 1.0/2.0! (yes i know IE 3 was realsed towards the end of 1996, but it wasnt until late 1997 it was adopted widely).. and IE 1/2 was SO bad it coudlnt even suck, and was laughed at by ANY seasoned web surfer! (Even Mosaic had more features at the time)
Yeah, sorry for the equally pricky start to the reply...
I guess things have changed since i last came to USA (which was end of last year)
But yeah, you did highlight one point that isnt a problem in Europe, and the rest of the world, and thats compatibility.
Since we have only one Digital Cellphone standard (GSM), that is compatible across the world (expect to some extents, USA & Canada, and not compatible at all in Japan), a phone is usually avaiable on ALL operators.
I know in Slashdot we argue against monopoly standards, but i think in the case of GSM, it has actually worked, due to the standard behing developed by not one company, but by a committee consisting of members of the Industry and government. Sure sometimes the wheels of a comittee does turn slow, but in this case it has seemed to have worked, and worked well.
the important thing is we should learn from this well, and apply it to other things (ie, W3C, a Standard OS loader, a Standard API, etc)
yes, but in terms of CODECs, do you *need* to go for a proprietry MS standard, when open standards exist? Using a open standard is FAR more security from the "what if that company goes under", than any security MS can give, because MS is still a company, and it CAN go down under.
I think what the parent is trying to point out is, Word, AbiWord, OOo all have capable word processing capabilty, and in its core function, performs well (lets not get into file formats yet).
What Word does is try to justify its extra cost, by introducing specialist compositing features, that take word beyond its core functionality of a word processor, into realms of other software.
The problem appears that these "extra features" appear to be quirky, and unreliable in nature, and as such are often not used anyway, even when the user is aware of the existance.
Therefore, what are you spending the extra money on, if the features promised by the extra cash doesnt work?
Putting UNIX in the public domain is not possible.... and for the same reason LINUX cannot be put into the public domain.... COPYRIGHTS.
Whether or not Novel owns the entire copyrights, or not,m there are postions of the code which IS copyrighted to other companies (CA, Sun, HP, IBM, etc). Putting UNIX into public domain would require permission from EVERY copyright holder/distributer.
I believe, both Novell, and (ironically) Caldera DID try this in the past, but could not for the above reason. (and was why only Ancient UNIX was released into the public domain)
When driving, having a wire dangling down the side is *proven* to subconsiously get in the way.. its not like it really gets into the way, but because you feel the wire dangling, you dont turn your head as much as you would if it was not there.
I certainly feel more uncomfortable and restricted wearing a wired headset, as oppossed to a wirefree headset.
Haha, reminds me of the time i tried synching my phone with outlook via blutooth, except i couldnt actually PHYSICALLY locate my phone!.. its synched well though;) took me two futher mintuies to find it in my coat pocket hanging on the hanger!
ALthough your post is full of the very hate you acuse us europeans of possessing, lets disect your arguements.
Yes, the RANGE of available phones in US and EUrope are the same now, however, the adoption rates are vastly different, due to the market maturity.
Take for example the T610 that you mention. WHen i was in USA, i pulled out my T610 and people looked, and the "wow" factor was certainly there. here in UK, its like noone takes notice, because they are more common.
In europe, people tend to go for the upper range phones, due to many reasons whcih do not yet apply in North America.
- In Europe, coverage is pretty much licked. Operators compete now on services, and when a fancy new phone with new featurs (MMS, Video Messaging, 3rd G) come available, you can bet that the operators have the services up and running to support these features. In general, in europe you dont have to buy the hardware, then wait months before the operators catch up and provide the backend services.
- Despite the fact that cellphone operators royally shaft us in the backside with their Tarrifs (especially in the UK), they counter it with very geneorus subsidies. The T610 was essentially free on contract when it came out. even now, many high end phoens are free/low price.
Soo, yes comparing ranges is pointless., but for a decent analogy, look at BMW, they have the same range in Europe, India, and the USA, yet its adoption in hte three different coutnries varies (Europe has high penetration, USA is somewhat less, and india, only the rich can afford)
Zigbee is a lower bandwidth, lower power consumption system to bluetooth. i dont see it as a "replacement" for bluetooth, but a complimentary tech, for things such as remote controls, etc.
Those predicting the death of bluetooth seem to usually be those of North American origin. In Europe, and ASia, where phoens are usually subsidised to hell, most "decent" phones being sold have bluetooth functionality. In terms of SonyEriccson, the SonyEricsson T610 is a phone which sold by the buckets, and is still being sold today, despite beign deprecated in favour of the T630, and the more advanced K700i. Other manufacturers are also incorporating the technology.
The reason behind popularity of Bluetooth is many fold:
- In Europe, Bluetooth headsets have REALLY taken off, especially thanks to the heavily enforeced bans on using handsets whilst driving.
- Bluetooth data communications are again increaingly popular (our GPRS systems are much more reliable, and its perfectly possible to conduct an internet session on a laptop, whilst screamign along in a 100mph train.. i know, coz i do that every evening). The phone stays in your pocket, and no messy wires to deal with
- for simple things just as transfering Ringtones, and gaming. People with SOnyEricsson phones easily swap rings and photos with others using BT technology. As well as wireless synch (try using Floats Mobiel Agent with a SonyEricsson phone via Bluetooth to simply blow your mind!)
These are just normal day to day applications of bluetooth. Tech people such as myself, use it even more.
IN my home, despite having a wires and Wireless networks, we also haev 2 USB BT dongles for the computers, a HP Bluetooth Printer, 3 Bluetooth Mobiles and a Headset. I use the headset for both the phone, AND as a wireless headset for VoIP applications on the computer.
In my experience, the technology has matured so well, it simply works. The only issues i have is on the PC side, where bluetooth stacks on the com0puter are either underfeatured, or clunky (dont get me started about MS's implementation in SP2). In all other bluetooth devices, the technology simply "works"
So to go with the parent post, i think the technology has matured enough to the point its possible to simply just make money out of it, there is very little extra that can be done. Why fix it if it aint broke?)
Seriously, its soo great that we have an "Underdog" performing so well! I used to be an all intel person, until the AMD Thunderbird came out, since then, i cannot be convinced to buy a Intel, even if my life depends on it..
You have an extremely good analogy, but the forgot another conclusion from that analogy.
see the thing is, you HAVE now made your apartment secure as anything, but the would be robbers have the perception that from past experience that you are insecure, and are emboldened to attack you.
Whereas had you looked at providing the basic security at the start, even if it was not to the absolute level it is now, you would be less likely to be a focus of their attention.
Therefore, more dangerous to Microsoft is the perception of lax security, than any real lack of security.
well.. actually BT are going switching from POTS type operation to IP signals right up to your house. they reckon its goign to cost them £3 billion to implement over 3 to 5 years, but afterwards whey will save over a £1billion a year...
explains why are very actually VERY keen on pushing VoIP..
Slashdot Mirror
I love my SonyEricsson P800.
;)
It has all the PDA features i need (Contacts, Calender, Tasks, Notepad/Sketchpad).... it has all the online features i need (IMAP/POP3 mail with support for attachments of Word, excel, PDF, zip, mail synch with outlook, SMS, MMS).. It is a FANTASTIC Ogg Vorbis player... Plays some great games.... has a cheapy, but usefull camera.... good handwritting recognition.. oh.. and its a pretty decent phoen too!
and with the UK's obsession of subsidizing phones.. i got it cheap too, and it made a GREAT replacement to my T68/Palm combo.. and more features to boot
Well said.. ok, you can be a littel easy on the language.. but agreed...
remember, Craig David, when he started was NOT manufactured.. the guy has talent, and can litterally come out with lyrics when placed on the spot.. i know because i have seen the guy peform in a london club before he became famous.
However, now he is famous, he is considered "manufactured"
THIS is what the Marority of people are downloading.. sorry.. this is a UK DOWNLOAD chat of POPULAR songs..
Not a list of songs that EpsCylonB likes.....
Its like cars, mercedes BMW Jag ferrari may be better cars, but you will never see them in the top 10 sales!
Its not just that, here if UK, there is a LOT of independants (both labels, and bands), and thats where the real innovation is.
It doesnt matter whether its Rock, R&B, House, Trance or anythign, in the UK, most music starts as a grassroots movements..
In the UK, there is still the potential for a talentend band or individual to be able to release a record bypassing the big four.. whether this may change or not in the future, i dont know, but we shall see..
Also radio stations do give a lot of airtime to independents... (statiosn are not controlled by the big four, as much as they are in Stateside)
Another thing is the popularity of Pubs and live singing in Pubs.
Actually in 1996, the "cream of the crop" of IE was IE 1.0/2.0! (yes i know IE 3 was realsed towards the end of 1996, but it wasnt until late 1997 it was adopted widely).. and IE 1/2 was SO bad it coudlnt even suck, and was laughed at by ANY seasoned web surfer! (Even Mosaic had more features at the time)
Yeah, sorry for the equally pricky start to the reply...
I guess things have changed since i last came to USA (which was end of last year)
But yeah, you did highlight one point that isnt a problem in Europe, and the rest of the world, and thats compatibility.
Since we have only one Digital Cellphone standard (GSM), that is compatible across the world (expect to some extents, USA & Canada, and not compatible at all in Japan), a phone is usually avaiable on ALL operators.
I know in Slashdot we argue against monopoly standards, but i think in the case of GSM, it has actually worked, due to the standard behing developed by not one company, but by a committee consisting of members of the Industry and government. Sure sometimes the wheels of a comittee does turn slow, but in this case it has seemed to have worked, and worked well.
the important thing is we should learn from this well, and apply it to other things (ie, W3C, a Standard OS loader, a Standard API, etc)
yes, but in terms of CODECs, do you *need* to go for a proprietry MS standard, when open standards exist? Using a open standard is FAR more security from the "what if that company goes under", than any security MS can give, because MS is still a company, and it CAN go down under.
I think what the parent is trying to point out is, Word, AbiWord, OOo all have capable word processing capabilty, and in its core function, performs well (lets not get into file formats yet).
What Word does is try to justify its extra cost, by introducing specialist compositing features, that take word beyond its core functionality of a word processor, into realms of other software.
The problem appears that these "extra features" appear to be quirky, and unreliable in nature, and as such are often not used anyway, even when the user is aware of the existance.
Therefore, what are you spending the extra money on, if the features promised by the extra cash doesnt work?
Putting UNIX in the public domain is not possible.... and for the same reason LINUX cannot be put into the public domain.... COPYRIGHTS.
Whether or not Novel owns the entire copyrights, or not,m there are postions of the code which IS copyrighted to other companies (CA, Sun, HP, IBM, etc). Putting UNIX into public domain would require permission from EVERY copyright holder/distributer.
I believe, both Novell, and (ironically) Caldera DID try this in the past, but could not for the above reason. (and was why only Ancient UNIX was released into the public domain)
[SCO]: We have literally DOZENS of MIT experts deep mining code, and finding copied code, however, we cannot reveal it until the trial.
[IBM]: Now children, THIS is what you call expert evidence.
[SCO]: Ohhhh
SCO DOESNT have any IP that is worth while... otherwise they woudl have a case by now! ;)
The whole SCO IP thing is a Brookland Bridge sale...
When driving, having a wire dangling down the side is *proven* to subconsiously get in the way.. its not like it really gets into the way, but because you feel the wire dangling, you dont turn your head as much as you would if it was not there.
I certainly feel more uncomfortable and restricted wearing a wired headset, as oppossed to a wirefree headset.
You WILL be able to use your existing car handsfree with a different model of Cellphone!
My friend uses a SonyEricsson BT headset with his Nokia phone, and a Motorola Car BT Handsfree kit...
Haha, reminds me of the time i tried synching my phone with outlook via blutooth, except i couldnt actually PHYSICALLY locate my phone!.. its synched well though ;) took me two futher mintuies to find it in my coat pocket hanging on the hanger!
ALthough your post is full of the very hate you acuse us europeans of possessing, lets disect your arguements.
Yes, the RANGE of available phones in US and EUrope are the same now, however, the adoption rates are vastly different, due to the market maturity.
Take for example the T610 that you mention. WHen i was in USA, i pulled out my T610 and people looked, and the "wow" factor was certainly there. here in UK, its like noone takes notice, because they are more common.
In europe, people tend to go for the upper range phones, due to many reasons whcih do not yet apply in North America.
- In Europe, coverage is pretty much licked. Operators compete now on services, and when a fancy new phone with new featurs (MMS, Video Messaging, 3rd G) come available, you can bet that the operators have the services up and running to support these features. In general, in europe you dont have to buy the hardware, then wait months before the operators catch up and provide the backend services.
- Despite the fact that cellphone operators royally shaft us in the backside with their Tarrifs (especially in the UK), they counter it with very geneorus subsidies. The T610 was essentially free on contract when it came out. even now, many high end phoens are free/low price.
Soo, yes comparing ranges is pointless., but for a decent analogy, look at BMW, they have the same range in Europe, India, and the USA, yet its adoption in hte three different coutnries varies (Europe has high penetration, USA is somewhat less, and india, only the rich can afford)
Zigbee is a lower bandwidth, lower power consumption system to bluetooth. i dont see it as a "replacement" for bluetooth, but a complimentary tech, for things such as remote controls, etc.
Those predicting the death of bluetooth seem to usually be those of North American origin. In Europe, and ASia, where phoens are usually subsidised to hell, most "decent" phones being sold have bluetooth functionality. In terms of SonyEriccson, the SonyEricsson T610 is a phone which sold by the buckets, and is still being sold today, despite beign deprecated in favour of the T630, and the more advanced K700i. Other manufacturers are also incorporating the technology.
The reason behind popularity of Bluetooth is many fold:
- In Europe, Bluetooth headsets have REALLY taken off, especially thanks to the heavily enforeced bans on using handsets whilst driving.
- Bluetooth data communications are again increaingly popular (our GPRS systems are much more reliable, and its perfectly possible to conduct an internet session on a laptop, whilst screamign along in a 100mph train.. i know, coz i do that every evening). The phone stays in your pocket, and no messy wires to deal with
- for simple things just as transfering Ringtones, and gaming. People with SOnyEricsson phones easily swap rings and photos with others using BT technology. As well as wireless synch (try using Floats Mobiel Agent with a SonyEricsson phone via Bluetooth to simply blow your mind!)
These are just normal day to day applications of bluetooth. Tech people such as myself, use it even more.
IN my home, despite having a wires and Wireless networks, we also haev 2 USB BT dongles for the computers, a HP Bluetooth Printer, 3 Bluetooth Mobiles and a Headset. I use the headset for both the phone, AND as a wireless headset for VoIP applications on the computer.
In my experience, the technology has matured so well, it simply works. The only issues i have is on the PC side, where bluetooth stacks on the com0puter are either underfeatured, or clunky (dont get me started about MS's implementation in SP2). In all other bluetooth devices, the technology simply "works"
So to go with the parent post, i think the technology has matured enough to the point its possible to simply just make money out of it, there is very little extra that can be done. Why fix it if it aint broke?)
ROFL!
Seriously, its soo great that we have an "Underdog" performing so well! I used to be an all intel person, until the AMD Thunderbird came out, since then, i cannot be convinced to buy a Intel, even if my life depends on it..
You have an extremely good analogy, but the forgot another conclusion from that analogy.
see the thing is, you HAVE now made your apartment secure as anything, but the would be robbers have the perception that from past experience that you are insecure, and are emboldened to attack you.
Whereas had you looked at providing the basic security at the start, even if it was not to the absolute level it is now, you would be less likely to be a focus of their attention.
Therefore, more dangerous to Microsoft is the perception of lax security, than any real lack of security.
well.. actually BT are going switching from POTS type operation to IP signals right up to your house. they reckon its goign to cost them £3 billion to implement over 3 to 5 years, but afterwards whey will save over a £1billion a year...
explains why are very actually VERY keen on pushing VoIP..
Erm, sony was in the + consortium.. remember the +RW consortium is founded by..... Philips&Sony!
Sony were the first to create dual spec writers, but they were originally + only...
In JAVA 1.5, autoboxing is (finally) inplemented.... even erasing that little problem
Most of slashdot & Groklaw gets blocked by our lame CS-Mimesweeper algorithm as "porn detected".....
I woudl seriously LOVE to find out what makes it work?
I know you were being funny, but.... maybe something like that makes more sense?
If it can be convicing......
a 16ft wave will wreck london.....
london has a LOT of underground tunnels, etc.. that sort of thing will be devastating..
And yes.. i know we have the thames barrier.., but that is only good if the rise is known in advance..