From working at a computer repair business/ISP, I've noticed most novice or inexperienced users are totally unaware of other IM service other than AIM. AOL could start charging for basic AIM service, and there's a good chance they could keep the less experienced portion of their user base. If the users are unaware of an alternative, are unable to install/configure one themselves (trivial for/.ers, but software installation scares off many users), or simple do not want to/fear using new software, many would stick with AIM. Doing this on the logic that for them there is no other way to message on another. The lucky ones with geek friends/family could straighten them out, but the "unwashed masses" would be stuck with paying to message.
Don't mean to troll here, but no one is going to start using GNU/Linux if Microsoft magically makes it impossible to pirate Windows. I've worked PC repair for a long time. Most customers get Windows pre-installed, are totally un-aware of any other operating systems, and when those other OSes are mentioned they become confused becuase "Windows is the computer". I don't mean to insult "Joe Sixpack", but from my experience the average user has no clue beyond "click this for intarweb". In fact most of the time, they're entirely unaware that there's a problem with their PC even when it's slowed to a crawl with spyware of viruses, let alone that it can be repaired.
Re:How long is the iPod thing going to last?
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60GB iPod Coming?
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· Score: 1
Ignoring the whole "ipod image" thing. To me the ipod's biggest selling points were the size/mass, how sleek it is and how easy it is to place/remove from ones pocket, and the user interface. I've owned other similar hard drive based gadgets, some with video out and additional features the ipod lacks. But I still prefer the ipod for general ease of use/carrying. Once another manufacturer can deliver that at a more competetive price, then they'll be in a position to talk about additional features (video?, recording?, more advanced PDA functions?) and maybe then even become the "new ipod".
The U.S. is sorta switching to GSM, but we also have a bunch of competing incompatible mobile standards which work to slow coverage expansion. Oh, and it may just be me, but it seems there's little hope of picking a single standard in the future... the market is pretty indecisive.
Mandrake 10 Official for AMD 64 was released on May 4th. Looks like it'll cost you about $129.00 (U.S.) unless your a club memeber then you get a discount or a pony or something.
Mandrake 10 Official plays just fine with a Windows partition. I've been using it for a while no with no issues booting to Windows. Also it was my understanding that it wasn't the 2.6 kernel that caused the issue but something to do with Fedora Core 2's installer.
I've seen a very similar system used for incoming freshmen at the University of West Virginia. All new MAC addresses are sent to a registration page requesting student numbers and what have you. After then you're good for a year of high speed edumacational intarwebing.
I played with one of the pre-release versions of this and it'd mount the key (commonly called a USB thumb or pen drive), and seemed to offer a option durring boot to read configuration from the key. So I don't see why the download final version wouldn't do it.
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This all sounds like the free toy in your cereal advertising method. Attend Duke, free iPod in every box.
From working at a computer repair business/ISP, I've noticed most novice or inexperienced users are totally unaware of other IM service other than AIM. AOL could start charging for basic AIM service, and there's a good chance they could keep the less experienced portion of their user base. If the users are unaware of an alternative, are unable to install/configure one themselves (trivial for /.ers, but software installation scares off many users), or simple do not want to/fear using new software, many would stick with AIM. Doing this on the logic that for them there is no other way to message on another. The lucky ones with geek friends/family could straighten them out, but the "unwashed masses" would be stuck with paying to message.
Don't mean to troll here, but no one is going to start using GNU/Linux if Microsoft magically makes it impossible to pirate Windows. I've worked PC repair for a long time. Most customers get Windows pre-installed, are totally un-aware of any other operating systems, and when those other OSes are mentioned they become confused becuase "Windows is the computer". I don't mean to insult "Joe Sixpack", but from my experience the average user has no clue beyond "click this for intarweb". In fact most of the time, they're entirely unaware that there's a problem with their PC even when it's slowed to a crawl with spyware of viruses, let alone that it can be repaired.
Ignoring the whole "ipod image" thing. To me the ipod's biggest selling points were the size/mass, how sleek it is and how easy it is to place/remove from ones pocket, and the user interface. I've owned other similar hard drive based gadgets, some with video out and additional features the ipod lacks. But I still prefer the ipod for general ease of use/carrying. Once another manufacturer can deliver that at a more competetive price, then they'll be in a position to talk about additional features (video?, recording?, more advanced PDA functions?) and maybe then even become the "new ipod".
The U.S. is sorta switching to GSM, but we also have a bunch of competing incompatible mobile standards which work to slow coverage expansion. Oh, and it may just be me, but it seems there's little hope of picking a single standard in the future... the market is pretty indecisive.
Mandrake 10 Official for AMD 64 was released on May 4th. Looks like it'll cost you about $129.00 (U.S.) unless your a club memeber then you get a discount or a pony or something.
Mandrake 10 Official plays just fine with a Windows partition. I've been using it for a while no with no issues booting to Windows. Also it was my understanding that it wasn't the 2.6 kernel that caused the issue but something to do with Fedora Core 2's installer.
Forget the tinfoil hats, now I need a new wallet.
I've seen a very similar system used for incoming freshmen at the University of West Virginia. All new MAC addresses are sent to a registration page requesting student numbers and what have you. After then you're good for a year of high speed edumacational intarwebing.
I played with one of the pre-release versions of this and it'd mount the key (commonly called a USB thumb or pen drive), and seemed to offer a option durring boot to read configuration from the key. So I don't see why the download final version wouldn't do it.