you've gotta credit Google with that... one of the problems i run into when thinking of how to develop an application is how do i obtain enough data to test and develop the application on?
Google releases a beta product, and gets people to provide them with their test data. wonderful. i wish i had that kind of weight to throw around.
this is downright insightful! i never thought about it that way. given that, i'll have to buy an iPod just to help Apple hold onto their bargaining power. i myself prefer to buy CDs, nothing like having a "proper" physical backup. but all the same, if the price of itunes downloads goes up... what's to stop the price of CDs from going up too. ouch.
not to mention i think it's absolutely ridiculous to raise prices on a digital download... it costs the record companies nothing to offer downloads, it's Apple that has to put up the infrastructure costs of running the store and serving up the downloads, and if they say $0.99 is enough for them to run the store without going in the red, then $0.99 is a reasonable price. shame on the music companies for trying to screw the customers!
wasn't one of the arguments that Oracle used in their trial for the merger with Peoplesoft was because of competition... how Microsoft had plans or intentions on entering the market, and was thus a threat? and how it was revealed that they had, at one point, plans to buy SAP, which did not pan out?
how ironic if Microsoft were to do just that, entering the market, thus giving validity to Oracle's conjectures.
please excuse me if there are inaccuracies in my statements, i'm working from memory, and my memory may not be serving me well.
this is in response to the low-birth rates in Japan. years down the line, Japan will indeed have a shortage of labor IN JAPAN. moving operations to overseas isn't a solution to all problems. if that were so, we'd be 100% outsourced to India right now for all our IT needs.
it amuses me how people are quick to point out their stability issues when working with windows, but never quick to defend it.
Windows 2000 has been pretty rock solid for me, and i've been using it since it was released. still using it (don't really care for XP). i have clients running it on servers too without problems.
i just think that people don't want to admit that Windows has very much improved over the years.
now i wouldn't doubt that OS X is more stable in the least, but you also have to admit that it doesn't exactly have to support as many 3rd-party hardware and software configurations. there's something to be gained by being in full control of the computer stack like Apple has.
i've also used linux since pre 1.0 days and run it on my home server; let it be known so i don't get blasted by the fanatics. i'm just trying to be objective about it.
what happens when someone wants to steal a box of pizza? and i'm sure some people are going to want only a slice, opening up to reveal your laptop instead... there goes your cover.
if you're a professional, and you sell your prints, the customer is not going to be happy when their purchased copy starts fading over the years and has to ask for another copy to be made.
Yahoo isn't just a portal/search engine company. their intent is to become an internet media distribution company (Launch and its recent integration with Messenger comes to mind). Semel's background and talent was in Media Distribution, so buying up musicmatch and adding music distribution to their stable of products is an obvious move.
Musicmatch may not be a big player on the lines of iTunes, but they certainly have an established brand name that Yahoo could take advantage of. and their jukebox player is quite popular, so if they can figure out how to lure more users into the integrated store, that's only a click away in the jukebox player, it could be a success.
my ideal PDA is not your traditional PDA... it would be nothing more than my cell phone.
i don't want a built-in camera i don't want a color screen that saps power i don't want a thumb keyboard or graffiti pad to make it unnecessarily large.. say no to Treos.
what i want is my simple, black and white cell phone, with excellent reception. it must have a calendar where i can schedule items and have alarms. it should have a todo list. it should store all my contacts. and the todo list, calendar, and contacts should be synchable to my computer. oh yeah, and do email too would be nice.
now let me tell you something, my Sanyo 6200 can do all these things except for the synching of the calendar and todo list. it can synch my contacts to outlook using Future Dial's software, but not the calendar and todo list. it's also limited to only 100 events in the calendar, that limit should be raised for busy people (it's fine for my needs).
folks, you always carry your cell phone with you. it's small, and it's useful. the PDA... it's bulges out of your pocket like "you're happy to see me" and it has gotten to the point where people are trying to do more with them than they were originally intended for... they're becoming smaller laptops basically and that's not necessarily a good thing. can't we agree that things should do one thing and do it well?
the original Palm Pilots were so successful vs the Pocket PCs because it was simple and functional. now we've got PDAs with cameras and multimedia, on a dinky little screen... do you need all these extras for contacts, todo lists, calenders, and email? a PDA is a personal data assistant no? it just needs to "manage" your "data"... it is a PIM made into a hardware device called a PDA. PIMs don't call for much! and those basic PIM functions can easily be added to cell phones, which they already have... they just need to be refined a bit to be perfect.
i just got back from my morning workout at the gym, and while running on the elliptical machine i noticed it measured watts, in addition to the standard calories/hr. it said about 137. that's plenty to power a light-bulb.
now given that there were many others on ellipticals and stationary bikes, i'm sure they could gather up some reasonable about of energy. they'd just need to store in in a battery until it's needed.
an ideal gym would have plenty of windows or skylights to avoid using lights during daytime hours, and store up all the human-produced energy throughout the day for use at night when the lights are needed.
i don't think IBM would want to thwart people running Solaris on IBM hardware. IBM's software divisions make software for Solaris already. i don't think IBM makes money off the OS. they only need an OS like AIX to be able to provide a one-stop total solutions package. if people chose to run Solaris on IBM hardware that's fine, so long as IBM makes money on the hardware and software stacks.
i don't really think there's money to be made in Operating Systems unless you're planning to be like Microsoft, lock people in and charge exorbitant prices. with Unix platforms, most enterprise applications are Java-based, so lock-in is less of an issue at the OS level; lock in is more likely to occur at the Application Server level. money is made on middleware, not the OS.
vendors tend to think that if a customer uses their OS and their hardware, they'll use their middleware, but that's not the case here. at the application server level, IBM's WebSphere is doing better than Sun's SunONE, so what does IBM care about AIX vs Solaris? WebSphere runs on Solaris.
in every car i've driven... hmm... i think i've gone through half a dozen of them at least, mostly Nissans and Toyotas... but in every instance i'm able to meet or exceed EPA at least 90% of the time. often times i am able to get freeway ratings when the majority of the driving is still done in the city!
whenever i read an article about how some reviewer is unable to meet the EPA, i've always thought that it's because they drive with a lead foot. cars, especially those with smaller engines, get more mileage when you accelerate less and maintain a constant speed (freeway driving characteristics). i'm a very laid back driver, i never drive above 3000rpms for instance. i also try to maintain the constant speed and that's my secret to get top mileage. but i'm sure there are plenty of people that are constantly accelerating, or driving like they're late for something. that kills mileage.
granted hybrid vehicles don't drive exactly like gasoline powered cars, so the driving characteristics have changed yet again. you need to make it run on the electric powered engine more than the gas to get top mileage. the prius does have a monitor showing which components are active, so if the reviewer paid some fair attention to this, he could probably meet the EPA.
it's just like how Honda Insight owners try to hit the 100mpg mark. they drive like it's a game and are able to score big. they listen to what their cars tell them, and drive accordingly. it's all possible. but if people refuse to learn to drive the car the way it's meant to be driven, they'll never get the results the car is truly capable of.
now if people refuse to learn how a particular car behaves, the only other way to meet EPA is if car designers designed a car not for maximum possibilities, but rather design around the average driver that doesn't care and refuses to learn something new.
even if you have full reception (full bars) your call can still be dropped for whatever reason. people seem to take the two as being linked, but it's not necessarily the case, at least from my experiences (Cingular, AT&T, Sprint).
if you're using Oracle, it should be very easy to migrate Oracle to another platform, e.g. linux.
it's much easier to change platforms than change databases i'd think. in most cases, to an application, the database IS the platform, more so than the operating system on which the database runs.
i'd bet that the majority, if not close to all modders, do it for the sake of pirating games, and not backups.
something the game industry might consider is to provide replacements for the cost of shipping. if a person damages their disc or cartridge, all they need to do is ship it back, possibly with a copy of the original receipt, and a replacement will be sent to them. this nulls the backup excuse.
in practice though, companies can't keep extras on hand in inventory, so they might limit this replacement policy to 1-3 years, kind of like a warranty. i'm sure in 1-3 years most people will have completed, tired of the game, or gotten their money's worth. and those that prized the game, i.e. would die without it, would take extra special care with it. if the "warranty" period is still an issue, the game companies can factor it into the price by lowering it to account for the limited warranty.
you know, i was almost ready to agree with the previous poster that the linux penguin mascot was an obstacle to linux being taken seriously. working in a stiff corporate environment myself, i can understand the poster's point.
but your post, reminded me of the Munich's linux migration project; how they would give out stuff penguins and stuff to encourage users to migrate.
oh, i found the article:
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5157571.html
it's true that the people up top would probably be more receptive to something serious, but in the end, it's the people who implement and use it that will need to be won over. and perhaps something cute like a penguin would be more appealing to the end users.
for all the people asking why it is that NASA isn't making changes until an incident has happened, i.e. why not change things proactively...
there's a saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
this phrase is especially insightful for situations where change can be disastrous. there is risk associated with every change, i.e. something can go wrong or the change may have unforeseen problems.
given that the space shuttle for the most part has been relatively reliable, i don't think anyone at NASA is prepared to stick their neck out and say we should introduce a lot of changes.
not only that, changes cost $$$. and somehow, i don't think NASA has much of that to spare as it is.
this is not my opinion, i'm merely trying to see things from NASA's perspective.
my own opinion is that more work should be dedicated to developing a more appropriate modern shuttle. the person who posted and said that NASA should design a lighter shuttle that takes advantage of the fact that we have a space station, and that the current shuttle's weight takes up too much of the precious thrust payload has the right idea.
also, if they could build a modular space station, why can't they build a module space shuttle? and if the space station can be an international effort, why can't a space shuttle? humans in space should be a global effort, not the effort of any one country; cooperating and sharing our development efforts and resources would certainly accelerate our progress. (this is a bit idealistic, as i can understand that tensions between countries would make such cooperation difficult).
what i've learned telecommuting for as long as i have is that you need the human interaction. no matter what you may do to make it easier, it will never substitute for human interaction.
if you must, then yes, dividing your home and designating a particular space as a work area does help. i setup fold-up screens to divide my room in half for this purpose. it makes you feel like you're at work when you're in this space, and once you step out of it, you can forget about work and live your personal life. without this distinction, you'll feel worn out, constantly feeling as if you're at work.
however, if you spend a lot of time on the computer after hours, and you only have a desktop that you also use for work, it will defeat the purpose of dividing the room because you are no longer designating it was strictly a work place, i.e. you'll be in that space also playing on the computer, and you'll feel like you're always at work. if this is the case, consider getting a laptop so you can move it between spaces.
even with the separation of spaces, staying at home all day WILL wear you out. aside from the human interaction, being stuck in one place for too long will feel like a prison! you wouldn't believe how good i feel when i have to take my car into the shop, the few hours i get out of the house to do that is so incredibly refreshing! so do try to get out during your breaks, perhaps take a walk or have lunch outside.
now going back, human interaction... you need it. you really do. without it, you really are living in a box. if you don't have a companion or friends to hang out with during the week days, consider finding some activities that will give you the interaction you need, e.g. night classes, a local sport team, etc...
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there's a crack in the fuel tank... and it's the astronauts that gotta ride in this thing...
you've gotta credit Google with that... one of the problems i run into when thinking of how to develop an application is how do i obtain enough data to test and develop the application on? Google releases a beta product, and gets people to provide them with their test data. wonderful. i wish i had that kind of weight to throw around.
" ... how many iPod-touting Slashdotters are thinking of switching?"
you would've made it a poll...
this is downright insightful! i never thought about it that way. given that, i'll have to buy an iPod just to help Apple hold onto their bargaining power. i myself prefer to buy CDs, nothing like having a "proper" physical backup. but all the same, if the price of itunes downloads goes up... what's to stop the price of CDs from going up too. ouch.
not to mention i think it's absolutely ridiculous to raise prices on a digital download... it costs the record companies nothing to offer downloads, it's Apple that has to put up the infrastructure costs of running the store and serving up the downloads, and if they say $0.99 is enough for them to run the store without going in the red, then $0.99 is a reasonable price. shame on the music companies for trying to screw the customers!
when did Schwartz become CEO of Sun? did McNealy get ousted without me knowing?
considering it plugs directly into your USB port, it's certainly inserted like one...
wasn't one of the arguments that Oracle used in their trial for the merger with Peoplesoft was because of competition... how Microsoft had plans or intentions on entering the market, and was thus a threat? and how it was revealed that they had, at one point, plans to buy SAP, which did not pan out? how ironic if Microsoft were to do just that, entering the market, thus giving validity to Oracle's conjectures. please excuse me if there are inaccuracies in my statements, i'm working from memory, and my memory may not be serving me well.
this is in response to the low-birth rates in Japan. years down the line, Japan will indeed have a shortage of labor IN JAPAN. moving operations to overseas isn't a solution to all problems. if that were so, we'd be 100% outsourced to India right now for all our IT needs.
it amuses me how people are quick to point out their stability issues when working with windows, but never quick to defend it. Windows 2000 has been pretty rock solid for me, and i've been using it since it was released. still using it (don't really care for XP). i have clients running it on servers too without problems. i just think that people don't want to admit that Windows has very much improved over the years. now i wouldn't doubt that OS X is more stable in the least, but you also have to admit that it doesn't exactly have to support as many 3rd-party hardware and software configurations. there's something to be gained by being in full control of the computer stack like Apple has. i've also used linux since pre 1.0 days and run it on my home server; let it be known so i don't get blasted by the fanatics. i'm just trying to be objective about it.
what happens when someone wants to steal a box of pizza? and i'm sure some people are going to want only a slice, opening up to reveal your laptop instead... there goes your cover.
if you're a professional, and you sell your prints, the customer is not going to be happy when their purchased copy starts fading over the years and has to ask for another copy to be made.
Yahoo isn't just a portal/search engine company. their intent is to become an internet media distribution company (Launch and its recent integration with Messenger comes to mind). Semel's background and talent was in Media Distribution, so buying up musicmatch and adding music distribution to their stable of products is an obvious move.
Musicmatch may not be a big player on the lines of iTunes, but they certainly have an established brand name that Yahoo could take advantage of. and their jukebox player is quite popular, so if they can figure out how to lure more users into the integrated store, that's only a click away in the jukebox player, it could be a success.
my ideal PDA is not your traditional PDA... it would be nothing more than my cell phone.
i don't want a built-in camera
i don't want a color screen that saps power
i don't want a thumb keyboard or graffiti pad to make it unnecessarily large.. say no to Treos.
what i want is my simple, black and white cell phone, with excellent reception. it must have a calendar where i can schedule items and have alarms. it should have a todo list. it should store all my contacts. and the todo list, calendar, and contacts should be synchable to my computer. oh yeah, and do email too would be nice.
now let me tell you something, my Sanyo 6200 can do all these things except for the synching of the calendar and todo list. it can synch my contacts to outlook using Future Dial's software, but not the calendar and todo list. it's also limited to only 100 events in the calendar, that limit should be raised for busy people (it's fine for my needs).
folks, you always carry your cell phone with you. it's small, and it's useful. the PDA... it's bulges out of your pocket like "you're happy to see me" and it has gotten to the point where people are trying to do more with them than they were originally intended for... they're becoming smaller laptops basically and that's not necessarily a good thing. can't we agree that things should do one thing and do it well?
the original Palm Pilots were so successful vs the Pocket PCs because it was simple and functional. now we've got PDAs with cameras and multimedia, on a dinky little screen... do you need all these extras for contacts, todo lists, calenders, and email? a PDA is a personal data assistant no? it just needs to "manage" your "data"... it is a PIM made into a hardware device called a PDA. PIMs don't call for much! and those basic PIM functions can easily be added to cell phones, which they already have... they just need to be refined a bit to be perfect.
i just got back from my morning workout at the gym, and while running on the elliptical machine i noticed it measured watts, in addition to the standard calories/hr. it said about 137. that's plenty to power a light-bulb. now given that there were many others on ellipticals and stationary bikes, i'm sure they could gather up some reasonable about of energy. they'd just need to store in in a battery until it's needed. an ideal gym would have plenty of windows or skylights to avoid using lights during daytime hours, and store up all the human-produced energy throughout the day for use at night when the lights are needed.
i don't think IBM would want to thwart people running Solaris on IBM hardware. IBM's software divisions make software for Solaris already. i don't think IBM makes money off the OS. they only need an OS like AIX to be able to provide a one-stop total solutions package. if people chose to run Solaris on IBM hardware that's fine, so long as IBM makes money on the hardware and software stacks.
i don't really think there's money to be made in Operating Systems unless you're planning to be like Microsoft, lock people in and charge exorbitant prices. with Unix platforms, most enterprise applications are Java-based, so lock-in is less of an issue at the OS level; lock in is more likely to occur at the Application Server level. money is made on middleware, not the OS.
vendors tend to think that if a customer uses their OS and their hardware, they'll use their middleware, but that's not the case here. at the application server level, IBM's WebSphere is doing better than Sun's SunONE, so what does IBM care about AIX vs Solaris? WebSphere runs on Solaris.
in every car i've driven... hmm... i think i've gone through half a dozen of them at least, mostly Nissans and Toyotas... but in every instance i'm able to meet or exceed EPA at least 90% of the time. often times i am able to get freeway ratings when the majority of the driving is still done in the city!
whenever i read an article about how some reviewer is unable to meet the EPA, i've always thought that it's because they drive with a lead foot. cars, especially those with smaller engines, get more mileage when you accelerate less and maintain a constant speed (freeway driving characteristics). i'm a very laid back driver, i never drive above 3000rpms for instance. i also try to maintain the constant speed and that's my secret to get top mileage. but i'm sure there are plenty of people that are constantly accelerating, or driving like they're late for something. that kills mileage.
granted hybrid vehicles don't drive exactly like gasoline powered cars, so the driving characteristics have changed yet again. you need to make it run on the electric powered engine more than the gas to get top mileage. the prius does have a monitor showing which components are active, so if the reviewer paid some fair attention to this, he could probably meet the EPA.
it's just like how Honda Insight owners try to hit the 100mpg mark. they drive like it's a game and are able to score big. they listen to what their cars tell them, and drive accordingly. it's all possible. but if people refuse to learn to drive the car the way it's meant to be driven, they'll never get the results the car is truly capable of.
now if people refuse to learn how a particular car behaves, the only other way to meet EPA is if car designers designed a car not for maximum possibilities, but rather design around the average driver that doesn't care and refuses to learn something new.
even if you have full reception (full bars) your call can still be dropped for whatever reason. people seem to take the two as being linked, but it's not necessarily the case, at least from my experiences (Cingular, AT&T, Sprint).
can't we just Google for it?
if you're using Oracle, it should be very easy to migrate Oracle to another platform, e.g. linux.
it's much easier to change platforms than change databases i'd think. in most cases, to an application, the database IS the platform, more so than the operating system on which the database runs.
i'd bet that the majority, if not close to all modders, do it for the sake of pirating games, and not backups.
something the game industry might consider is to provide replacements for the cost of shipping. if a person damages their disc or cartridge, all they need to do is ship it back, possibly with a copy of the original receipt, and a replacement will be sent to them. this nulls the backup excuse.
in practice though, companies can't keep extras on hand in inventory, so they might limit this replacement policy to 1-3 years, kind of like a warranty. i'm sure in 1-3 years most people will have completed, tired of the game, or gotten their money's worth. and those that prized the game, i.e. would die without it, would take extra special care with it. if the "warranty" period is still an issue, the game companies can factor it into the price by lowering it to account for the limited warranty.
you know, i was almost ready to agree with the previous poster that the linux penguin mascot was an obstacle to linux being taken seriously. working in a stiff corporate environment myself, i can understand the poster's point.
but your post, reminded me of the Munich's linux migration project; how they would give out stuff penguins and stuff to encourage users to migrate.
oh, i found the article:
http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5157571.html
it's true that the people up top would probably be more receptive to something serious, but in the end, it's the people who implement and use it that will need to be won over. and perhaps something cute like a penguin would be more appealing to the end users.
for all the people asking why it is that NASA isn't making changes until an incident has happened, i.e. why not change things proactively...
there's a saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
this phrase is especially insightful for situations where change can be disastrous. there is risk associated with every change, i.e. something can go wrong or the change may have unforeseen problems.
given that the space shuttle for the most part has been relatively reliable, i don't think anyone at NASA is prepared to stick their neck out and say we should introduce a lot of changes.
not only that, changes cost $$$. and somehow, i don't think NASA has much of that to spare as it is.
this is not my opinion, i'm merely trying to see things from NASA's perspective.
my own opinion is that more work should be dedicated to developing a more appropriate modern shuttle. the person who posted and said that NASA should design a lighter shuttle that takes advantage of the fact that we have a space station, and that the current shuttle's weight takes up too much of the precious thrust payload has the right idea.
also, if they could build a modular space station, why can't they build a module space shuttle? and if the space station can be an international effort, why can't a space shuttle? humans in space should be a global effort, not the effort of any one country; cooperating and sharing our development efforts and resources would certainly accelerate our progress. (this is a bit idealistic, as i can understand that tensions between countries would make such cooperation difficult).
what i've learned telecommuting for as long as i have is that you need the human interaction. no matter what you may do to make it easier, it will never substitute for human interaction.
if you must, then yes, dividing your home and designating a particular space as a work area does help. i setup fold-up screens to divide my room in half for this purpose. it makes you feel like you're at work when you're in this space, and once you step out of it, you can forget about work and live your personal life. without this distinction, you'll feel worn out, constantly feeling as if you're at work.
however, if you spend a lot of time on the computer after hours, and you only have a desktop that you also use for work, it will defeat the purpose of dividing the room because you are no longer designating it was strictly a work place, i.e. you'll be in that space also playing on the computer, and you'll feel like you're always at work. if this is the case, consider getting a laptop so you can move it between spaces.
even with the separation of spaces, staying at home all day WILL wear you out. aside from the human interaction, being stuck in one place for too long will feel like a prison! you wouldn't believe how good i feel when i have to take my car into the shop, the few hours i get out of the house to do that is so incredibly refreshing! so do try to get out during your breaks, perhaps take a walk or have lunch outside.
now going back, human interaction... you need it. you really do. without it, you really are living in a box. if you don't have a companion or friends to hang out with during the week days, consider finding some activities that will give you the interaction you need, e.g. night classes, a local sport team, etc...