The obama personality cult meme is just Rovian politics spinning our first really popular guy since Clinton (Sorry Howard Dean) into something negative.
So I'm hallucinating all those reverent posts am I? The people who say things like "a great change is coming unto american" (I kid you not - I mean who uses words like "unto"). The Independent newspaper in the UK gave away a fucking commemorative poster and everywhere I looked I saw adoring headlines and legions of comments talking about how it was time for change and time for hope. I can point you at dozens of news stories and forums littered with them like confetti if I care to take the time. And you call that a "meme" and imply that its non-existant?
As to it being negative. Well, that's another issue, but as a general rule I find it a bad thing when people believe something without being able to support that belief. Here we are on a more interesting discussion, but I've talked to people who were ardent supporters of Obama who, when I expressed a genuine interest in what about his policies they admired, floundered and turned out not to know anything much at all about them. But they were firmly convinced that he represented Change and Hope. You talk about the "Obama Personality Cult Meme". I assure you that over $600million dollars correctly spent can buy you a very real personality cult.
Well it's nice that amongst the devout Obamaphiles posting near biblical language of hope and redemption online, there are some intelligent Obama supporters. The Independent here in the UK published a letter recently by a person condemning another writer for being critical of some elements of his campaign - the objection being not that he was wrong, but that people needed hope right now and it was wrong to undermine that hope with facts. I am not joking or exaggerating.
Personally, I've come to believe that hope and cynicism work very well together. It's when you just have one that you run into trouble.
Heh! Well I did add the oh so important ";)" after I suggested job opportunities. But you never know. I've been going into D a little more while we've been chatting and I'm really looking forward to using it in anger. It only needs a few more people like us out there and the occasional commercial project in it might appear. Mind you, only where the management is either short-sighted enough to not consider recruitment problems when a developer proposes using it, or else supremely confident in the calibre of people that they hire and their ability to learn. Oddly enough, it's the likelihood of it rivalling Python that I find more unlikely. I've gone from a complete snob on the subject of that language ("Whitespace as part of the language - it's a language for idiots!") to finding it an absolute joy to work in. I suppose they do share a certain natural ecological space in that they are both languages that get used for new projects (there isn't the wealth of ongoing projects that you get in other languages) and that D, like Python, would tend to get used when Engineers are allowed too much input into strategic decisions (semi-tongue in cheek, but not entirely). In short, they share an appeal as being fun and their own thing as well; and Python's suitability space largely exists within D's suitability space on the Venn Diagram. So I guess I do see where you're coming from, but I just can't bring myself to see Python having any significant rivalry with D. Maybe I'm wrong. It'll be a while before it happens if I am, though.:)
As to JAVA,:D I can program in it. I know JAVA passably. But it feels like programming in mittens to me. Maybe it's just a hold-over impression from when JAVA really was the slow kid, but I don't know... I just feel so far removed from the metal with JAVA. I'm not really entitled to say that since I got myself trapped in a PHP development role for the last year (don't ask how!), but it just feels so... weighty. Like steering a barge. A language I'd be happy to choose if I were doing the high-level design and had a roomful of developers to turn all my formal UML diagrams into code. But for a project of my own, on an individual scale... well if I told you my first ever programming job was writing device drivers, you'll probably guess where I'm coming from.
I appear to be ranting by the way. Fun though it is to compare notes, you're not obliged to humour me.;)
That's all interesting stuff to me. I've only played around with it, but I have a project coming up in a couple of months that will be quite computationally intensive and whilst my first thought is C++, it's a project starting from scratch so I think it's an opportunity to try D. I wont need a great deal in the way of libraries so that's not a concern.
Anyway, thanks for your comments. Now if D just takes off commercially one day, I'll be ahead of the curve.;):D
If it went to court, any customer in the UK would be able to get away with terminating their contract on these grounds. I would recommend a formal notification of terminating the contract, the clear reasons why and the promise that this would be resolved via legal action if they chose to pursue you. I would also promise legal action if they in anyway impeded my freedom to move to another ISP.
Wow! I'm laughing, but I'm not sure I should. I do occasionally meet people a bit like that. Usually they are also convinced that any foreign person can understand English if they repeat themselves loudly and slowly as if to an idiot.
Off-topic (and the thread's a couple of days old now, so I don't suppose it will detract from people's reading experience), I occasionally click the link on someone's profile if its shown to see who I'm chatting with. I notice that one of the first things Google spews up when fed your email address is a discussion about D. I came across that language a while ago and I think it's great from what I've seen (I'm an old C++ lover) but I've never found it actually being used in anger, anywhere which is a shame. Do you use this language, at all?
At which point I think a great many people will want to say what the GGP said that it isn't really thinking because it's a machine, more out out discomfort for the idea than actual analysis of it.
This is what I'm saying - not that you're wrong, but that you've misread what the GP means. The word "swim" has several assumptions and connotations that, once we created submarines, turned out to separate the word from the effect of moving through water which was broader than we thought. Formerly, they were synonymous. The GP, to me, is saying that consciousness will be similar in that it will achieve the effects of consciousness without being quite what we mean by conscious. That doesn't mean that, like your example, someone might not create a machine that simulates it in the same way that your dolphin-machine swims, but there will be something else - a submarine of cognition - that exposes the limiitations of the term.
The interviewer asked about "soul" and it was the interviewee who began by stating that soul = consciousness. We can question whether he is right to do so (and are if you read the comments). Furthermore, define consciousness.
I think the GP's point, and it's well made, is that a submarine does something akin to swimming in effect, but using the word swim doesn't quite fit. We might make a machine that has a similar "effect" of consciousness, but using the word as we've grown accustomed to use it, may never quite fit.
I have always preferred a Japanese version (because of the translation of the "answer" in that language):
"Does a Cow Have a Buddha Nature?"
"Mu!"
:D
I've met people who didn't believe that other people who didn't speak their language had souls. I didn't bother to get clarity on what they meant by soul.
Presumably you were already running, by that point?
Furthermore, you can't consider a group comprised of people in the top 10% (however you determine that they are) to necessarily perform X amount better than a group that comprises people in the bottom 10%. Supposes your top 10% group contains two genius prima donnas who grow to hate each other? Suppose your bottom set contains a group of jobsworths who don't show much initiative and consequently follow the design plans of the power-hungry one and consequently follow a cohesive and well-delegated plan? How complex is the task? If it's simple code-assembling, an office full of plodders might have little significant disadvantage compared to the creative geniuses. Or if it's highly complex, they might botch the whole job. You can't easily prove the effectiveness of different methodologies and I don't think it's possible at all without significant resource.
But supporting the argument that comparing methodologies can be difficult is not me personally arguing for the effectiveness of "Agile" which I view as some common sense, some ideas that would be bad if applied in the wrong circumstance and a lot of vague principles that should be read to stimulate insights and then forgotten about.
Applying this line of logic to homicidal dictators, Stalin was a monster while Hitler was OK.
Then I would meekly suggest not applying it to homicidal dictators.:) But you know, if you read the sentence afterwards, you'll see I did characterise my own point as an "emotive" argument. And it's true that you are less outraged when someone you have a history of antagonism with harms you than when someone who claims to be your friend turns on you. Especially with lies and slanders. Also, Microsoft do at least produce products of worth. I can buy both XP licenses (or I used to be able to) for the machines I want XP on and use GNU/Linux for those I don't. What do I get from Novell? Pollution and little else. I hear that their developers contribute to Linux, but its a poisoned contribution if we're not careful. So while I don't dispute that your point is right, I maintain that mine is supportable. And it was far from the crux of my argument.
Anyway, as your namesake might have put it: What a way to run a business!
Give me more unending trials!
Half your code wont compile,
but you make a pile!
Novell!
To hell with market competition -
Have a lawsuit and you're sure to make a mint!
Did you also remove any trace of Sun from your department? Sun also has a patent cross-licensing deal with Microsoft.
Come to think of it, did you remove all trace of Microsoft?
In reverse order, I did not remove any Microsoft products from our department. Firstly, I have no right to as I am only responsible for backend stuff, not clients. Secondly, I rather like XP which is what we use. Thirdly, I feel less strongly about Microsoft. Whilst they may fund efforts that are intended to damage GNU/Linux, the enemy is not usually as hated as much as the traitor that turns on you. That emotive argument aside, your criticism is flawed. Might as well criticise someone for saving a £5 on bus fare by cycling on Monday because they didn't cycle on Tuesday. It's the exact same principle of you demanding to know if I also removed other company's products.
On the subject of whether I removed any Sun servers, again, I did not. We do have a couple, but they're not my responsibility. If they had been, I would have been tempted to replace them with Debian servers but that's just because I'm very comfortable maintaining Debian servers. Our SUNs are Solaris boxes. They are running some Free Software, but I see SUN as a very different case to Novell for a number of reasons. Firstly, they are not a threat to Linux in the way that Novell are. Novell are actively working to undermine Linux through projects like Mono which tries to establish non-Free standards in the Open Source movement. They are also participating in what is effectively a smear campaign against Linux by signing a deal they know to be baseless so that they can falsely market safety to their customers - a smear campaign because it attempts to spread fear amongst Linux users that those without Novell's bit of paper are using something illegally and are in danger. I know of no such actions on the part of Sun. Even if I did, the Sun servers are of more use to us than a couple of SuSE servers which can be easily replaced with a different distribution.
I hope that answers your questions and implied criticisms.
When the Many Worlds Interpretation hit public consciousness, a number of belief patterns sprang up suggesting that not only did we exist in multiple worlds, but that we could or did choose which worlds we existed in. It was the basis of Richard Bach's book "Illusions" for example.
I prefer my own Weak Myopic Principle: We think the Universe is perfectly suited to life, because we're unable to imagine forms of life that would develop in other conditions.:)
I removed any trace of Novell from our department when they signed their patent-pact with Microsoft - a clear preparation of an attack on Free Software. I do get asked by people, because of my position and background, for advice on which distribution to go for. I always caution against Novell products and, because I owe it to clients and friends, I explain why I am against the company rather than just leave it as uninformed prejudice.
As to Novell people hanging around on Slashdot, I'm quite sure they do. But astroturfing is a flawed tactic. There is no better online forum than Slashdot to get bad or biased arguments shot down, so all the astroturfers ultimately achieve is preparing the wider community with solid counter-arguments against their marketing. Consider it vaccination against a virus - a chance for the IT community's immune system to see the coming FUD. Truth will out - yes, even on Slashdot.
I recently bought an Acer Aspire One [johnlewis.com]. I get around by bike, and I found that my Laptop, a 13" MacBook + Brenthaven sleeve, was taking up most of the space in my pannier. A netbook, with no padded case, leaves a lot more room.
I think you're right about the UK price, but Linux netbooks are GBP 200-220 and I'm sure that competition, catalysed by AMD's entry [theinquirer.net], will drive the prices down over the next 12 months.
Ah, you are right. I wondered why those Eee PCs were more expensive than I remembered - I was looking at the Windows version. But we're still in the right sort of area for my point to stand. I don't disagree with you: travelling by bike is a clear case where the netbook's form factor and weight become more significant. But I'm not talking in absolutes, I'm saying what I think will be the general trend.
Regards,
H.
I'm actually inclined to agree with AMD's stance on this. Incidentally, I think this is the original article that all these other news sources are paraphrasing and it has more information.
You are undoubtedly right that now netbooks are available people who were previously stuck at full laptop level but only need a netbook will migrate. And we're seeing that. But not all the people who buy a netbook will find it suits them in the end. I was very tempted to get one, nearly did, but eventually decided that nice though the Eee PC looked, it ultimately wasn't quite powerful enough for my needs. The supposed advantages of netbooks / mininotebook are excellent portability, battery life and cheapness. But they're not actually that cheap - they're priced too high. Oh, they're cheaper than modern laptops, but UK£300 for an Asus Eee PC (about $US450, probably cheaper outside the UK), is still a significant purchase for most. Significant enough that spending an extra £150 / £200 for something obviously more powerful (and with more screen real estate), is less of a factor. For most people, the decision is more likely to be based on the portability (battery life is getting pretty good for full laptops these days and places to plug them in more commonplace, so less of a concern). Netbooks are more portable, but they're still not exactly mobile phones. And at the same time, laptops are getting lighter. A student who walks around with a netbook all day long might benefit from this, but a travelling salesman in his car, or a holidaying Slashdotter on the train... I think a lot of people prefer the power and the screen size of a laptop.
Netbooks seem to have done well because they are a new market segment and people who naturally fall to that segment are shifting from laptops or getting in for the first time now. Or because they're new and they're trendy. But what AMD are reporting is that actually sales compared to laptops are fairly small and there is also an uncommonly high level of returns on netbooks which suggests people realising they don't suit their needs either. We're also seeing a failure of the principle of the netbooks by their manufacturers as they implicitly concede that there is a demand for more power by releasing increasingly expensive and more powerful netbooks - a sign that they are trying to overlap more with the bottom end of the laptop market.
So netbooks - certainly have their market, but AMD might well be right to focus on real laptops where they may well take a strong lead over Intel. AMD have had their ups and downs, but most of those downs have been due to either not having as much money to throw around as the giant Intel, or sheer luck (Intel's Israeli lab unexpectedly turning up an unforecasted power boosting design). In terms of strategy, AMD have usually been pretty strong turning out, if not always the most powerful chips, usually the best price to performance ratios.
My problem was different - it was a less serious cock up on the domain side of things - but the consequences were similar: Unwanted billing of a credit card and, when I cancelled that, repeated attempts, referral to debt collection agencies who threatened me with various consequences if I didn't pay 1&1's incorrect charges. I bounced between two departments, neither of which had the power to change things by themselves and no apparent desire to. It dragged on for a long time and wasted a lot of my time. I despise the company wholely.
1&1? They should worry more about where they site their customer service! I was with them for a while and when they screwed up my billing it took a long, long time to untangle the mess. Mainly because the different departments were all sited in different places and none had the authority to do what needed to be done to sort it out. 1&1 - hateful, money-grubbing company. Thank you, rant over. I will now pay the karma hit with pleasure.:)
Slashdot Mirror
So I'm hallucinating all those reverent posts am I? The people who say things like "a great change is coming unto american" (I kid you not - I mean who uses words like "unto"). The Independent newspaper in the UK gave away a fucking commemorative poster and everywhere I looked I saw adoring headlines and legions of comments talking about how it was time for change and time for hope. I can point you at dozens of news stories and forums littered with them like confetti if I care to take the time. And you call that a "meme" and imply that its non-existant?
As to it being negative. Well, that's another issue, but as a general rule I find it a bad thing when people believe something without being able to support that belief. Here we are on a more interesting discussion, but I've talked to people who were ardent supporters of Obama who, when I expressed a genuine interest in what about his policies they admired, floundered and turned out not to know anything much at all about them. But they were firmly convinced that he represented Change and Hope. You talk about the "Obama Personality Cult Meme". I assure you that over $600million dollars correctly spent can buy you a very real personality cult.
Well it's nice that amongst the devout Obamaphiles posting near biblical language of hope and redemption online, there are some intelligent Obama supporters. The Independent here in the UK published a letter recently by a person condemning another writer for being critical of some elements of his campaign - the objection being not that he was wrong, but that people needed hope right now and it was wrong to undermine that hope with facts. I am not joking or exaggerating.
Personally, I've come to believe that hope and cynicism work very well together. It's when you just have one that you run into trouble.
Ha! Nice. That's a great hilarious comeback.
Heh! Well I did add the oh so important ";)" after I suggested job opportunities. But you never know. I've been going into D a little more while we've been chatting and I'm really looking forward to using it in anger. It only needs a few more people like us out there and the occasional commercial project in it might appear. Mind you, only where the management is either short-sighted enough to not consider recruitment problems when a developer proposes using it, or else supremely confident in the calibre of people that they hire and their ability to learn. Oddly enough, it's the likelihood of it rivalling Python that I find more unlikely. I've gone from a complete snob on the subject of that language ("Whitespace as part of the language - it's a language for idiots!") to finding it an absolute joy to work in. I suppose they do share a certain natural ecological space in that they are both languages that get used for new projects (there isn't the wealth of ongoing projects that you get in other languages) and that D, like Python, would tend to get used when Engineers are allowed too much input into strategic decisions (semi-tongue in cheek, but not entirely). In short, they share an appeal as being fun and their own thing as well; and Python's suitability space largely exists within D's suitability space on the Venn Diagram. So I guess I do see where you're coming from, but I just can't bring myself to see Python having any significant rivalry with D. Maybe I'm wrong. It'll be a while before it happens if I am, though.
As to JAVA,
I appear to be ranting by the way. Fun though it is to compare notes, you're not obliged to humour me.
Regards,
H.
That's all interesting stuff to me. I've only played around with it, but I have a project coming up in a couple of months that will be quite computationally intensive and whilst my first thought is C++, it's a project starting from scratch so I think it's an opportunity to try D. I wont need a great deal in the way of libraries so that's not a concern.
Anyway, thanks for your comments. Now if D just takes off commercially one day, I'll be ahead of the curve.
Regards,
H.
If it went to court, any customer in the UK would be able to get away with terminating their contract on these grounds. I would recommend a formal notification of terminating the contract, the clear reasons why and the promise that this would be resolved via legal action if they chose to pursue you. I would also promise legal action if they in anyway impeded my freedom to move to another ISP.
Wow! I'm laughing, but I'm not sure I should. I do occasionally meet people a bit like that. Usually they are also convinced that any foreign person can understand English if they repeat themselves loudly and slowly as if to an idiot.
Off-topic (and the thread's a couple of days old now, so I don't suppose it will detract from people's reading experience), I occasionally click the link on someone's profile if its shown to see who I'm chatting with. I notice that one of the first things Google spews up when fed your email address is a discussion about D. I came across that language a while ago and I think it's great from what I've seen (I'm an old C++ lover) but I've never found it actually being used in anger, anywhere which is a shame. Do you use this language, at all?
Regards,
H.
This is what I'm saying - not that you're wrong, but that you've misread what the GP means. The word "swim" has several assumptions and connotations that, once we created submarines, turned out to separate the word from the effect of moving through water which was broader than we thought. Formerly, they were synonymous. The GP, to me, is saying that consciousness will be similar in that it will achieve the effects of consciousness without being quite what we mean by conscious. That doesn't mean that, like your example, someone might not create a machine that simulates it in the same way that your dolphin-machine swims, but there will be something else - a submarine of cognition - that exposes the limiitations of the term.
The interviewer asked about "soul" and it was the interviewee who began by stating that soul = consciousness. We can question whether he is right to do so (and are if you read the comments). Furthermore, define consciousness.
I think the GP's point, and it's well made, is that a submarine does something akin to swimming in effect, but using the word swim doesn't quite fit. We might make a machine that has a similar "effect" of consciousness, but using the word as we've grown accustomed to use it, may never quite fit.
I have always preferred a Japanese version (because of the translation of the "answer" in that language):
"Does a Cow Have a Buddha Nature?"
"Mu!"
Presumably you were already running, by that point?
Thus proving what I always suspected - the Universe is coded in C.
See subject.
Furthermore, you can't consider a group comprised of people in the top 10% (however you determine that they are) to necessarily perform X amount better than a group that comprises people in the bottom 10%. Supposes your top 10% group contains two genius prima donnas who grow to hate each other? Suppose your bottom set contains a group of jobsworths who don't show much initiative and consequently follow the design plans of the power-hungry one and consequently follow a cohesive and well-delegated plan? How complex is the task? If it's simple code-assembling, an office full of plodders might have little significant disadvantage compared to the creative geniuses. Or if it's highly complex, they might botch the whole job. You can't easily prove the effectiveness of different methodologies and I don't think it's possible at all without significant resource.
But supporting the argument that comparing methodologies can be difficult is not me personally arguing for the effectiveness of "Agile" which I view as some common sense, some ideas that would be bad if applied in the wrong circumstance and a lot of vague principles that should be read to stimulate insights and then forgotten about.
Then I would meekly suggest not applying it to homicidal dictators. :) But you know, if you read the sentence afterwards, you'll see I did characterise my own point as an "emotive" argument. And it's true that you are less outraged when someone you have a history of antagonism with harms you than when someone who claims to be your friend turns on you. Especially with lies and slanders. Also, Microsoft do at least produce products of worth. I can buy both XP licenses (or I used to be able to) for the machines I want XP on and use GNU/Linux for those I don't. What do I get from Novell? Pollution and little else. I hear that their developers contribute to Linux, but its a poisoned contribution if we're not careful. So while I don't dispute that your point is right, I maintain that mine is supportable. And it was far from the crux of my argument.
Anyway, as your namesake might have put it:
What a way to run a business!
Give me more unending trials!
Half your code wont compile,
but you make a pile!
Novell!
To hell with market competition -
Have a lawsuit and you're sure to make a mint!
Regards,
H.
In reverse order, I did not remove any Microsoft products from our department. Firstly, I have no right to as I am only responsible for backend stuff, not clients. Secondly, I rather like XP which is what we use. Thirdly, I feel less strongly about Microsoft. Whilst they may fund efforts that are intended to damage GNU/Linux, the enemy is not usually as hated as much as the traitor that turns on you. That emotive argument aside, your criticism is flawed. Might as well criticise someone for saving a £5 on bus fare by cycling on Monday because they didn't cycle on Tuesday. It's the exact same principle of you demanding to know if I also removed other company's products.
On the subject of whether I removed any Sun servers, again, I did not. We do have a couple, but they're not my responsibility. If they had been, I would have been tempted to replace them with Debian servers but that's just because I'm very comfortable maintaining Debian servers. Our SUNs are Solaris boxes. They are running some Free Software, but I see SUN as a very different case to Novell for a number of reasons. Firstly, they are not a threat to Linux in the way that Novell are. Novell are actively working to undermine Linux through projects like Mono which tries to establish non-Free standards in the Open Source movement. They are also participating in what is effectively a smear campaign against Linux by signing a deal they know to be baseless so that they can falsely market safety to their customers - a smear campaign because it attempts to spread fear amongst Linux users that those without Novell's bit of paper are using something illegally and are in danger. I know of no such actions on the part of Sun. Even if I did, the Sun servers are of more use to us than a couple of SuSE servers which can be easily replaced with a different distribution.
I hope that answers your questions and implied criticisms.
When the Many Worlds Interpretation hit public consciousness, a number of belief patterns sprang up suggesting that not only did we exist in multiple worlds, but that we could or did choose which worlds we existed in. It was the basis of Richard Bach's book "Illusions" for example.
I like to go with Option C: I AM H.P.Lovecraft. Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Ftahgn!
I'm not of course. But it's the option I like to go with.
I prefer my own Weak Myopic Principle: We think the Universe is perfectly suited to life, because we're unable to imagine forms of life that would develop in other conditions.
I removed any trace of Novell from our department when they signed their patent-pact with Microsoft - a clear preparation of an attack on Free Software. I do get asked by people, because of my position and background, for advice on which distribution to go for. I always caution against Novell products and, because I owe it to clients and friends, I explain why I am against the company rather than just leave it as uninformed prejudice.
As to Novell people hanging around on Slashdot, I'm quite sure they do. But astroturfing is a flawed tactic. There is no better online forum than Slashdot to get bad or biased arguments shot down, so all the astroturfers ultimately achieve is preparing the wider community with solid counter-arguments against their marketing. Consider it vaccination against a virus - a chance for the IT community's immune system to see the coming FUD. Truth will out - yes, even on Slashdot.
And that personal property (mobile phones) was forcibly taken so that what actually happened could not be recorded.
Ah, you are right. I wondered why those Eee PCs were more expensive than I remembered - I was looking at the Windows version. But we're still in the right sort of area for my point to stand. I don't disagree with you: travelling by bike is a clear case where the netbook's form factor and weight become more significant. But I'm not talking in absolutes, I'm saying what I think will be the general trend.
Regards,
H.
I'm actually inclined to agree with AMD's stance on this. Incidentally, I think this is the original article that all these other news sources are paraphrasing and it has more information.
You are undoubtedly right that now netbooks are available people who were previously stuck at full laptop level but only need a netbook will migrate. And we're seeing that. But not all the people who buy a netbook will find it suits them in the end. I was very tempted to get one, nearly did, but eventually decided that nice though the Eee PC looked, it ultimately wasn't quite powerful enough for my needs. The supposed advantages of netbooks / mininotebook are excellent portability, battery life and cheapness. But they're not actually that cheap - they're priced too high. Oh, they're cheaper than modern laptops, but UK£300 for an Asus Eee PC (about $US450, probably cheaper outside the UK), is still a significant purchase for most. Significant enough that spending an extra £150 / £200 for something obviously more powerful (and with more screen real estate), is less of a factor. For most people, the decision is more likely to be based on the portability (battery life is getting pretty good for full laptops these days and places to plug them in more commonplace, so less of a concern). Netbooks are more portable, but they're still not exactly mobile phones. And at the same time, laptops are getting lighter. A student who walks around with a netbook all day long might benefit from this, but a travelling salesman in his car, or a holidaying Slashdotter on the train... I think a lot of people prefer the power and the screen size of a laptop.
Netbooks seem to have done well because they are a new market segment and people who naturally fall to that segment are shifting from laptops or getting in for the first time now. Or because they're new and they're trendy. But what AMD are reporting is that actually sales compared to laptops are fairly small and there is also an uncommonly high level of returns on netbooks which suggests people realising they don't suit their needs either. We're also seeing a failure of the principle of the netbooks by their manufacturers as they implicitly concede that there is a demand for more power by releasing increasingly expensive and more powerful netbooks - a sign that they are trying to overlap more with the bottom end of the laptop market.
So netbooks - certainly have their market, but AMD might well be right to focus on real laptops where they may well take a strong lead over Intel. AMD have had their ups and downs, but most of those downs have been due to either not having as much money to throw around as the giant Intel, or sheer luck (Intel's Israeli lab unexpectedly turning up an unforecasted power boosting design). In terms of strategy, AMD have usually been pretty strong turning out, if not always the most powerful chips, usually the best price to performance ratios.
My problem was different - it was a less serious cock up on the domain side of things - but the consequences were similar: Unwanted billing of a credit card and, when I cancelled that, repeated attempts, referral to debt collection agencies who threatened me with various consequences if I didn't pay 1&1's incorrect charges. I bounced between two departments, neither of which had the power to change things by themselves and no apparent desire to. It dragged on for a long time and wasted a lot of my time. I despise the company wholely.
1&1? They should worry more about where they site their customer service! I was with them for a while and when they screwed up my billing it took a long, long time to untangle the mess. Mainly because the different departments were all sited in different places and none had the authority to do what needed to be done to sort it out. 1&1 - hateful, money-grubbing company. Thank you, rant over. I will now pay the karma hit with pleasure.