In this "third world" country where I live, our ATMs offer users the following abilities:
Withdraw money (from any linked account)
Pay bills
Transfer cash
Deposit Cash
Pay Speeding fines
Buy Cellphone Airtime (from any of our Cellular Service Providers)
Get bank statements
Draw cheques (American: checks)
Open new accounts
Request replacement cards/chequebooks (American: checkbooks)
However, there are more things killing off the *weaker* individuals too: smoking (and drugs,alcohol,etc), car crashes, HIV/AIDS, and let's not forget Modern Weapons like SCUD missiles, Nuclear warheads, GW Bush, etc.
Here in Cape Town, South Africa we've been experiencing some rather terrible power outages - due to the complete shutdown of one of our Generators and partial shutdown of the other generator at the one and only Nuclear plant at Koeberg Power Station. The cause of the shutdown was due to a variety of reasons, and honestly, everyone seems to have their own spin on what the reasons may be. If anything goes just slightly wrong at a Nuclear power plant, then it needs to be shut down - for obvious safety reasons.
Now the repairs to the main generator cannot be completed until we get some very big spare parts from France - something that may take the better part of a year. So, another disdavantage of Nuclear power is: as it is such a highly specialised arena, if something goes wrong, power will be interrupted.
So? Countless other prior-art cases exist with hundreds of Microsoft patents. It doesn't appear to make much difference at the USPTO. Besides, any litigation will play into Microsofts hands directly - they employ an army of lawyers who must earn their living somehow, and they have enough cash to defend many of their lucrative patents, albeit slight modifications to existing ideas.
so, which part of the united states of the world... sorry... America are you from?
Understandably, we *do* ride elephants to our tribal jobs of hunter-gathering while painting rocks with pictures of antelope, kudu and coke cans... Did I say coke cans? Yeah, we've got MacDonalsds and banks and people who speak *real* English - oh yeah - we have that little interconnected network called the Internet. Oh, and the nearest you'll get to an Elephant in Africa? A zoo or an Elephant Park.
I really do not agree.
In the (United)States, forking out $1400 to buy and then every year $800 for the upgrades doesn't sound that much of a deal. But, consider this, In South Africa for example, buying Photoshop will set you back around R8500.00 Excl. TAX. Not to mention that these are per machine. In SA, you can by a mid - high range computer work station for around R7000 - R10000, including TAX. Then there is still the upgrades to consider. Add to that softwares such as Macromedia Flash, Freehand, Dreamweaver, etc, and you're looking at an initial outlay of around R20k per machine (excluding the machines R10k). Not to mention the annual upgrades (around R12k per machine per annum).
The rival photo/imaging software that more than half of the SA design companies use is JASC's Paintshop Pro - which comes in at around R1200 out the box - Quite a big price difference.
Most SA based graphic designers prefer working in Photoshop (it is - afterall - a superior product), but hey, when that huge costs come in to play, it eats away at your profit margins - quickly. Most non-US based designers (and developers) share this sentiment.
I am appalled at this writing. I live in South Africa, a country considered to have one of the best democracies in the world. We enjoy perhaps greater freedoms than many western countries.
AIDS is not just an African problem, and it saddens me to see that there still exists this perception that AIDS is fundamentally an African problem. The AIDS epidemic is a global threat, and drug companies are doing R&D to combat this disease. The next scheduled crew on the International Space Station is tasked with various biological and medical experiments, including one focusing on research for a vaccination against the virus that causes Aids.
Your comment "Africa is also a heavily divided continent, with the spread of Islam coming in through the north" is rather naive. Most African countries have a large ethno- and religious diversity. In South Afrca, we have various Christian religious groups, as well very large concentrations of Islamic, Moslem and even Jewish Faiths. In fact, one of the successes of South Africa's very highly regarded Constitution is that it does not include factions from specific religions. South Africans (as many other African countries citizens) enjoy freedom both of expression and religion.
It's about time that people from non-African countries stop taking what they see on *old* National Geographic Africa specials as African fact. There are many many Africans who are technologically more qualified than many American PHd's.
It really is all about branding. MS don't want to bundle any third party application with their OS. They want the user to experience the Microsoft brand, and they will only consider putting in other applications as long as they can label/brand it a Microsoft product. One of the laws of Marketing: never dilute your brand with someone else's.
What it basically always comes down to is generating enough excitement and instilling this excitement for people (users, geeks, and just complete 'newbies') to actually change their ways.
People don't buy cars because it gets you from A to B. People buy cars because it offers so much more - comfort, air-conditioning, airbags, ABS, traction-control, etc.
True connoisseurs (and people with money) buy cars because they were built with passion - Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc, are all built with passion.
People buy ideas: What they perceive to be safer, more luxurious, bells and whistles - more bang for their buck. One of the key aspects of marketing is not knowing what your customers want - but selling them the idea that they have the power to make it do what they want - AND MORE. People watch infomercials and are not sold on the actual product at first, but at the AND THAT'S NOT ALL bit that usually gets repeated a hundred times. This is something that Microsoft does brilliantly, they don't sell an Office Suite - they sell the most convenient, easy to use word processor, spreadsheet, etc. AND THAT'S NOT ALL...
The key to Linux success on the desktop is taking it up a notch - getting people (users, geeks, etc...) exited about the idea. To say people won't change what they are used to is not completely accurate - people will change, when they are made excited to... Example: When Windows XP was scheduled for release, Microsoft went on a massive marketing campaign blowing every possible horn about XP (how much better it is, how much more secure it is, the fact that is based on the 'stable' NT build, the faster it is, the more user friendly it is, the more 'multimedia' able it is - and most importantly: How cosmetically pleasing it is). To a Linux user, this is obvious hogwash - but to a windows 98 user, this was the next best thing. The advent of digital cameras built into mobile phones has meant that there has been a surge in digital photography. Microsoft excites users at the prospect of EASILY working with these images, effectively sharing them, printing them, etc. I attended a Microsoft sponsored expo in South Africa back in 2000. What was really interesting was to see the MS South Africa CEO walk up and talk EXCITEDLY about Microsoft being able to do everything you want - in as few steps as possible. Want to take pictures off your digital camera? Simply plug the camera into your USB device and windows will take care of the rest. Want to view video clips, play music CDs, watch DVDs? Simply plug it in and windows will take care of the rest.
The masses are now unfortunately well educated in the day to day uses of Windows. Cloning the Windows desktop is not the solution, people don't want to drive a VW in a Mercedes chassis. Building more desktops is also not the solution. Choices are there. Developers need to figure out how to make the desktop able to do things automatically - without invoking user input. I think it is important that developers do not hype the complexities and massive abilities of Linux based desktops - but rather, like Microsoft - hype the simplicities thereof. The key to a Linux-based desktop success lies in getting people excited about how simple, easy, userfriendly and efficient it is.
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In this "third world" country where I live, our ATMs offer users the following abilities: Withdraw money (from any linked account) Pay bills Transfer cash Deposit Cash Pay Speeding fines Buy Cellphone Airtime (from any of our Cellular Service Providers) Get bank statements Draw cheques (American: checks) Open new accounts Request replacement cards/chequebooks (American: checkbooks)
However, there are more things killing off the *weaker* individuals too: smoking (and drugs,alcohol,etc), car crashes, HIV/AIDS, and let's not forget Modern Weapons like SCUD missiles, Nuclear warheads, GW Bush, etc.
Here in Cape Town, South Africa we've been experiencing some rather terrible power outages - due to the complete shutdown of one of our Generators and partial shutdown of the other generator at the one and only Nuclear plant at Koeberg Power Station. The cause of the shutdown was due to a variety of reasons, and honestly, everyone seems to have their own spin on what the reasons may be. If anything goes just slightly wrong at a Nuclear power plant, then it needs to be shut down - for obvious safety reasons.
Now the repairs to the main generator cannot be completed until we get some very big spare parts from France - something that may take the better part of a year. So, another disdavantage of Nuclear power is: as it is such a highly specialised arena, if something goes wrong, power will be interrupted.
So? Countless other prior-art cases exist with hundreds of Microsoft patents. It doesn't appear to make much difference at the USPTO. Besides, any litigation will play into Microsofts hands directly - they employ an army of lawyers who must earn their living somehow, and they have enough cash to defend many of their lucrative patents, albeit slight modifications to existing ideas.
There is a phone like this on the market already: The Zyxel P-2000W_v2 is exactly that.
They're using old photos, fake astronauts and a fake moon to give the viewers a real view of the moon?
so, which part of the united states of the world... sorry... America are you from? Understandably, we *do* ride elephants to our tribal jobs of hunter-gathering while painting rocks with pictures of antelope, kudu and coke cans... Did I say coke cans? Yeah, we've got MacDonalsds and banks and people who speak *real* English - oh yeah - we have that little interconnected network called the Internet. Oh, and the nearest you'll get to an Elephant in Africa? A zoo or an Elephant Park.
I really do not agree. In the (United)States, forking out $1400 to buy and then every year $800 for the upgrades doesn't sound that much of a deal. But, consider this, In South Africa for example, buying Photoshop will set you back around R8500.00 Excl. TAX. Not to mention that these are per machine. In SA, you can by a mid - high range computer work station for around R7000 - R10000, including TAX. Then there is still the upgrades to consider. Add to that softwares such as Macromedia Flash, Freehand, Dreamweaver, etc, and you're looking at an initial outlay of around R20k per machine (excluding the machines R10k). Not to mention the annual upgrades (around R12k per machine per annum).
The rival photo/imaging software that more than half of the SA design companies use is JASC's Paintshop Pro - which comes in at around R1200 out the box - Quite a big price difference.
Most SA based graphic designers prefer working in Photoshop (it is - afterall - a superior product), but hey, when that huge costs come in to play, it eats away at your profit margins - quickly. Most non-US based designers (and developers) share this sentiment.
Hopefully this merger lowers TCO.
I am appalled at this writing. I live in South Africa, a country considered to have one of the best democracies in the world. We enjoy perhaps greater freedoms than many western countries. AIDS is not just an African problem, and it saddens me to see that there still exists this perception that AIDS is fundamentally an African problem. The AIDS epidemic is a global threat, and drug companies are doing R&D to combat this disease. The next scheduled crew on the International Space Station is tasked with various biological and medical experiments, including one focusing on research for a vaccination against the virus that causes Aids.
Your comment "Africa is also a heavily divided continent, with the spread of Islam coming in through the north" is rather naive. Most African countries have a large ethno- and religious diversity. In South Afrca, we have various Christian religious groups, as well very large concentrations of Islamic, Moslem and even Jewish Faiths. In fact, one of the successes of South Africa's very highly regarded Constitution is that it does not include factions from specific religions. South Africans (as many other African countries citizens) enjoy freedom both of expression and religion.
It's about time that people from non-African countries stop taking what they see on *old* National Geographic Africa specials as African fact. There are many many Africans who are technologically more qualified than many American PHd's.
It really is all about branding. MS don't want to bundle any third party application with their OS. They want the user to experience the Microsoft brand, and they will only consider putting in other applications as long as they can label/brand it a Microsoft product. One of the laws of Marketing: never dilute your brand with someone else's.
What it basically always comes down to is generating enough excitement and instilling this excitement for people (users, geeks, and just complete 'newbies') to actually change their ways.
People don't buy cars because it gets you from A to B. People buy cars because it offers so much more - comfort, air-conditioning, airbags, ABS, traction-control, etc.
True connoisseurs (and people with money) buy cars because they were built with passion - Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc, are all built with passion.
People buy ideas: What they perceive to be safer, more luxurious, bells and whistles - more bang for their buck. One of the key aspects of marketing is not knowing what your customers want - but selling them the idea that they have the power to make it do what they want - AND MORE. People watch infomercials and are not sold on the actual product at first, but at the AND THAT'S NOT ALL bit that usually gets repeated a hundred times. This is something that Microsoft does brilliantly, they don't sell an Office Suite - they sell the most convenient, easy to use word processor, spreadsheet, etc. AND THAT'S NOT ALL...
The key to Linux success on the desktop is taking it up a notch - getting people (users, geeks, etc...) exited about the idea. To say people won't change what they are used to is not completely accurate - people will change, when they are made excited to... Example: When Windows XP was scheduled for release, Microsoft went on a massive marketing campaign blowing every possible horn about XP (how much better it is, how much more secure it is, the fact that is based on the 'stable' NT build, the faster it is, the more user friendly it is, the more 'multimedia' able it is - and most importantly: How cosmetically pleasing it is). To a Linux user, this is obvious hogwash - but to a windows 98 user, this was the next best thing. The advent of digital cameras built into mobile phones has meant that there has been a surge in digital photography. Microsoft excites users at the prospect of EASILY working with these images, effectively sharing them, printing them, etc. I attended a Microsoft sponsored expo in South Africa back in 2000. What was really interesting was to see the MS South Africa CEO walk up and talk EXCITEDLY about Microsoft being able to do everything you want - in as few steps as possible. Want to take pictures off your digital camera? Simply plug the camera into your USB device and windows will take care of the rest. Want to view video clips, play music CDs, watch DVDs? Simply plug it in and windows will take care of the rest.
The masses are now unfortunately well educated in the day to day uses of Windows. Cloning the Windows desktop is not the solution, people don't want to drive a VW in a Mercedes chassis. Building more desktops is also not the solution. Choices are there. Developers need to figure out how to make the desktop able to do things automatically - without invoking user input. I think it is important that developers do not hype the complexities and massive abilities of Linux based desktops - but rather, like Microsoft - hype the simplicities thereof. The key to a Linux-based desktop success lies in getting people excited about how simple, easy, userfriendly and efficient it is.