You're never going to "break even" on a device like this--it doesn't appreciate in value and it doesn't offer any savings over what you might have spent on books, since eBooks are currently the same price as paper books.
To add insult to injury, once you've bought in to Amazon's DRM'd eBooks, you'll have to go on buying a new Kindle each time one reaches the end of its useful life just to maintain access to content that you've already paid for.
If the parent wants one and is willing to accept the compromise of the current high price and DRM'd content against having it now, he should go for it.
I don't mind iTunes (though I've only bought maybe 30 or 40 songs) since I can burn the songs to CD and I have them for as long as Apples is around or my CD doesn't degrade, whichever is longer. And I've bought some TV episodes for my daughter to watch on my iPhone--same deal: it's not a huge loss to me if I can't see Backyardigans for some reason:-)
But my affinity for books is such that I just cannot accept losing access to ones that I've paid for based on the service going under. It might not be rational, but I just don't have the same feeling about music.
I'll buy eBooks from Baen based on the fact that I can download text/HTML versions that I can keep even if their bookstore goes under. But I'm not buying DRM eBook content and I'm not subsidizing Amazon's DRM efforts by buying their reader.
Not only that, but you could just install Linux and virtualization software and have three Windows VMs open at once for a total of 9 running apps.
This is typical of MS though--something not completely thought out that's going to have unintended consequences and where they'll change their policy after the outrage turns into a tidal wave of discontent... kinda like Congress.
thinking that the monitor cable from a CRT can go to an LCD
My monitors (LCD and CRT) both have a standard, interchangeable power cable (three-prong, no power brick) and SVGA video cable. I could switch out either one (or both) between monitors no problem. Are yours different?
I think the point is that they should catch this error as early as possible (i.e. before the download starts) rather than after you've gone to the trouble of downloading and trying to install it.
I think it would be more accurate to say that "people, outside their area of expertise, are generally clueless"
I consider myself somewhat of a Renaissance Man--I program, write, fiddle with electronics, skeet shoot, draw, wrench on my motorcycle, play a musical instrument or two, do carpentry and so forth. I find it moderately amusing to hear geeks who wouldn't know their way around an engine compartment tell auto mechanics that they're clueless--or nerds who can't carry a tune in a bucket tell musicians the same.
It's important to keep in mind (perhaps especially here on/.) that the average person isn't a computer expert. They use the computer the same way they use a car, or a stereo, or a blender--they don't necessarily understand (or care about) the differences between models, they just want something that works.
Yes--the most important (and most dangerous) feature of Windows: can it install random crap I download from the Internets? That's all Joe Sixpack cares about... can I get some cool "free smiley toolbar"
Unfortunately, the kinds of important numbers you're looking for are way too subjective to make a good measure of an OS. Things like user familiarity with OS and applications (does the user already know and love Office/OpenOffice) etc are going to significantly affect the outcome.
But I agree that "my OS installed two minutes faster with three less mouse clicks" is a ridiculous measure of "performance"
The one thing that kept me on MS (at home) was a significant investment in 3rd party software. When you've got $1000 worth of applications that are Windows-only, making the switch to a different OS is costly--either in terms of buying replacements or in terms of time spent to learn to use free alternatives. So I was unhappily using Windows not because of Microsoft, but because I'd invested in Windows software and didn't want to "lose" that investment.
Eventually, I overcame my inertia. Three factors came into play: 1) some of that software was getting long in the tooth 2) virtualization meant that things that I really wanted to keep, I could and 3) it was time to buy new hardware.
I believe that this is probably the case for a lot of folks. And your point (why not Macs, or free) is an excellent one--though whether this is really the death-knell of Microsoft remains to be seen.
You may be right as far as installers, but I disagree that "users" of a program are the best at improving it, because you missed the point that users who are qualified to fix something in the code are not very likely to be similar to average users.
What the average user really _doesn't_ want is a program UI designed by a developer. You may think it's all cool and nerdy to apt-get blah blah blah, but Granny Sixpack wants her clicky GUI.
GIMP is a perfect example of why programmers should remember that they are _not_ the target audience when they produce an app for general use.
You throw your trash on the ground and not in the can in order to provide employment for those guys they hire to pick it up. Or to allow the justice system to work correctly, so all those weekend community service "volunteers" have something to do.
They eventually get to the point where they can build a LHC and their planet is consumed by the black holes. It's happened to every civilization that ever made it this far.:-)
The bigger question is why aren't they (these supposedly advanced, narrow-casting aliens) interested enough in contact with "primitives" (us) to send communication to us in a medium we use/understand.
A more accurate analogy (I think) would be why wouldn't a modern person be able to read a letter sent 100 years ago? It doesn't have to be someone from the early 1900's decoding cell phone signals--the more advanced civilization should be the ones looking "back" to contact the less advanced. Unless, of course, they aren't interested...
But assuming a similar progression of technology (which it seems you are) if they were interested in communicating with more "backwards" civilizations (like ours) then wouldn't they keep broadcasting and listening on the broadcast medium.
I don't think that this (TFA) really has anything to do with resolving the paradox.
I think the point is more that if I lay out a page with tables ("Oh the humanity!") then I'm done. If I try and lay out a page with CSS, I have to lay it all out so it works, then create three different versions so that it renders in all the broken versions of IE, plus Safari and whatever else I want to support.
I'm sure that if you're getting paid by the hour, all that time spent doing browser-version tweaks is great. But for a lot of folks who don't want to bother with laying a page out three or four times, tables are fine.
As an aside, I'm not sure I get your point about maintainability. If I change the page layout, of course I'll have to create a new table structure. But I'm not clear on why this is inherently more difficult that creating a new CSS layout, and then doing all the browser-specific tweaks.
Most of the "interesting" part of fiction is internal to the characters.
Johnny Rico's transition from a high-school student to a starship trooper, and his reflections on the society that produced him is riveting. A lot of those reflections are philosophical, and are worked out in his thinking. Whether the State in the story is a fascist one or not, Johnny has to deal with questions that aren't even touched on in the (terrible) movie.
The same is true for the Bourne books. Here's a man who has no idea who he is, but he knows that he has skills and training that make him deadly. As he reacts to the manhunt for him, he also discovers that he isn't someone who casually takes human life. All his tortured thoughts about the possibility that he is something (an assassin) that he can't live with being, his internal conflict about what he should do, never made it to the screen.
It's hard to do thoughtful introspection on film. Because movies are unable to (easily) deal with the internals, and most of what you get is the surface, they're going to have trouble rising to the level of great books.
On the other hand, action movies are a lot of fun to watch (boom!) but I doubt the stories that they tell would make good reading. The only exception that I can think of is the (cheesy) Remo Williams/Destroyer film and books:-)
This isn't intended as a "get off my lawn" post, but you never made it to RS back in the day, I take it?
Radio Shack used to be a geeky-kids paradise, with electronic components, LEDs (back before they were everywhere), and all kinds of cool stuff. When I was in middle school, Radio Shack was the only place in town where you could go and actually see (and fiddle with--the sales guys were really cool) a computer. A lovely TRS-80 Model II. Heck, my dad bought me my first computer from R.S, as they were the only game in town if you wanted to buy one.
They had ham radio gear, science kits, all kids of "niche" electronics (I saw my first radar detector at the 'shack) and the guys who worked there knew what they were talking about, generally.
Here in the Valley, my wife an I say that you can tell the state of the tech economy by the quality of wait-staff in restaurants... It's sort of like a trickle-down employee quality metric: as intelligent tech workers get laid off they replace less intelligent folks in other jobs, which eventually percolates down to waiters and waitresses in Dennys and such.
When the economy is really bad, you get excellent service in restaurants. When it's boom time, you get a ten-minute wait time for a seat in an empty Denny's while four sub-seventy-IQ employees stand around ignoring customers.
Slashdot Mirror
So I guess we know which file system (ReiserFS) it will use, then
"Break even" on a Kindle?
You're never going to "break even" on a device like this--it doesn't appreciate in value and it doesn't offer any savings over what you might have spent on books, since eBooks are currently the same price as paper books.
To add insult to injury, once you've bought in to Amazon's DRM'd eBooks, you'll have to go on buying a new Kindle each time one reaches the end of its useful life just to maintain access to content that you've already paid for.
If the parent wants one and is willing to accept the compromise of the current high price and DRM'd content against having it now, he should go for it.
It's not for me, though.
DRM is 100% the deal killer (for ebooks) for me.
I don't mind iTunes (though I've only bought maybe 30 or 40 songs) since I can burn the songs to CD and I have them for as long as Apples is around or my CD doesn't degrade, whichever is longer. And I've bought some TV episodes for my daughter to watch on my iPhone--same deal: it's not a huge loss to me if I can't see Backyardigans for some reason :-)
But my affinity for books is such that I just cannot accept losing access to ones that I've paid for based on the service going under. It might not be rational, but I just don't have the same feeling about music.
I'll buy eBooks from Baen based on the fact that I can download text/HTML versions that I can keep even if their bookstore goes under. But I'm not buying DRM eBook content and I'm not subsidizing Amazon's DRM efforts by buying their reader.
Not only that, but you could just install Linux and virtualization software and have three Windows VMs open at once for a total of 9 running apps.
This is typical of MS though--something not completely thought out that's going to have unintended consequences and where they'll change their policy after the outrage turns into a tidal wave of discontent... kinda like Congress.
Hold on... What does this mean:
My monitors (LCD and CRT) both have a standard, interchangeable power cable (three-prong, no power brick) and SVGA video cable. I could switch out either one (or both) between monitors no problem. Are yours different?
Not trolling--I'm honestly curious
I think the point is that they should catch this error as early as possible (i.e. before the download starts) rather than after you've gone to the trouble of downloading and trying to install it.
I think it would be more accurate to say that "people, outside their area of expertise, are generally clueless"
I consider myself somewhat of a Renaissance Man--I program, write, fiddle with electronics, skeet shoot, draw, wrench on my motorcycle, play a musical instrument or two, do carpentry and so forth. I find it moderately amusing to hear geeks who wouldn't know their way around an engine compartment tell auto mechanics that they're clueless--or nerds who can't carry a tune in a bucket tell musicians the same.
It's important to keep in mind (perhaps especially here on /.) that the average person isn't a computer expert. They use the computer the same way they use a car, or a stereo, or a blender--they don't necessarily understand (or care about) the differences between models, they just want something that works.
Yes--the most important (and most dangerous) feature of Windows: can it install random crap I download from the Internets? That's all Joe Sixpack cares about... can I get some cool "free smiley toolbar"
Unfortunately, the kinds of important numbers you're looking for are way too subjective to make a good measure of an OS. Things like user familiarity with OS and applications (does the user already know and love Office/OpenOffice) etc are going to significantly affect the outcome.
But I agree that "my OS installed two minutes faster with three less mouse clicks" is a ridiculous measure of "performance"
I think they meant "lame man's terms"--as in geeky, lame, slashdot-reading... um. Maybe not.
Agree--
The one thing that kept me on MS (at home) was a significant investment in 3rd party software. When you've got $1000 worth of applications that are Windows-only, making the switch to a different OS is costly--either in terms of buying replacements or in terms of time spent to learn to use free alternatives. So I was unhappily using Windows not because of Microsoft, but because I'd invested in Windows software and didn't want to "lose" that investment.
Eventually, I overcame my inertia. Three factors came into play: 1) some of that software was getting long in the tooth 2) virtualization meant that things that I really wanted to keep, I could and 3) it was time to buy new hardware.
I believe that this is probably the case for a lot of folks. And your point (why not Macs, or free) is an excellent one--though whether this is really the death-knell of Microsoft remains to be seen.
You may be right as far as installers, but I disagree that "users" of a program are the best at improving it, because you missed the point that users who are qualified to fix something in the code are not very likely to be similar to average users.
What the average user really _doesn't_ want is a program UI designed by a developer. You may think it's all cool and nerdy to apt-get blah blah blah, but Granny Sixpack wants her clicky GUI.
GIMP is a perfect example of why programmers should remember that they are _not_ the target audience when they produce an app for general use.
Colonel Mustard, is that you?
No, no, no...
You throw your trash on the ground and not in the can in order to provide employment for those guys they hire to pick it up. Or to allow the justice system to work correctly, so all those weekend community service "volunteers" have something to do.
Flashdot?
Wait, there was supposed to be function here? I just come for the flames.
Mod parent's Little Prince reference as funny.
Yep.
They eventually get to the point where they can build a LHC and their planet is consumed by the black holes. It's happened to every civilization that ever made it this far. :-)
The bigger question is why aren't they (these supposedly advanced, narrow-casting aliens) interested enough in contact with "primitives" (us) to send communication to us in a medium we use/understand.
A more accurate analogy (I think) would be why wouldn't a modern person be able to read a letter sent 100 years ago? It doesn't have to be someone from the early 1900's decoding cell phone signals--the more advanced civilization should be the ones looking "back" to contact the less advanced. Unless, of course, they aren't interested...
But assuming a similar progression of technology (which it seems you are) if they were interested in communicating with more "backwards" civilizations (like ours) then wouldn't they keep broadcasting and listening on the broadcast medium.
I don't think that this (TFA) really has anything to do with resolving the paradox.
Sane?
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I think the point is more that if I lay out a page with tables ("Oh the humanity!") then I'm done. If I try and lay out a page with CSS, I have to lay it all out so it works, then create three different versions so that it renders in all the broken versions of IE, plus Safari and whatever else I want to support.
I'm sure that if you're getting paid by the hour, all that time spent doing browser-version tweaks is great. But for a lot of folks who don't want to bother with laying a page out three or four times, tables are fine.
As an aside, I'm not sure I get your point about maintainability. If I change the page layout, of course I'll have to create a new table structure. But I'm not clear on why this is inherently more difficult that creating a new CSS layout, and then doing all the browser-specific tweaks.
Most of the "interesting" part of fiction is internal to the characters.
Johnny Rico's transition from a high-school student to a starship trooper, and his reflections on the society that produced him is riveting. A lot of those reflections are philosophical, and are worked out in his thinking. Whether the State in the story is a fascist one or not, Johnny has to deal with questions that aren't even touched on in the (terrible) movie.
The same is true for the Bourne books. Here's a man who has no idea who he is, but he knows that he has skills and training that make him deadly. As he reacts to the manhunt for him, he also discovers that he isn't someone who casually takes human life. All his tortured thoughts about the possibility that he is something (an assassin) that he can't live with being, his internal conflict about what he should do, never made it to the screen.
It's hard to do thoughtful introspection on film. Because movies are unable to (easily) deal with the internals, and most of what you get is the surface, they're going to have trouble rising to the level of great books.
On the other hand, action movies are a lot of fun to watch (boom!) but I doubt the stories that they tell would make good reading. The only exception that I can think of is the (cheesy) Remo Williams/Destroyer film and books :-)
Reminds me of my favorite children's book (that didn't make it): The Magical World Inside the Abandoned Refrigerator.
Of course I also liked:
Eggs, Toilet Paper, and Your School
Microwaves and Hamsters: An I Can Do It! Book
Daddy Drinks Because You Cry
Curious George and the Electric Fence
This isn't intended as a "get off my lawn" post, but you never made it to RS back in the day, I take it?
Radio Shack used to be a geeky-kids paradise, with electronic components, LEDs (back before they were everywhere), and all kinds of cool stuff. When I was in middle school, Radio Shack was the only place in town where you could go and actually see (and fiddle with--the sales guys were really cool) a computer. A lovely TRS-80 Model II. Heck, my dad bought me my first computer from R.S, as they were the only game in town if you wanted to buy one.
They had ham radio gear, science kits, all kids of "niche" electronics (I saw my first radar detector at the 'shack) and the guys who worked there knew what they were talking about, generally.
Those were the days!
Here in the Valley, my wife an I say that you can tell the state of the tech economy by the quality of wait-staff in restaurants... It's sort of like a trickle-down employee quality metric: as intelligent tech workers get laid off they replace less intelligent folks in other jobs, which eventually percolates down to waiters and waitresses in Dennys and such.
When the economy is really bad, you get excellent service in restaurants. When it's boom time, you get a ten-minute wait time for a seat in an empty Denny's while four sub-seventy-IQ employees stand around ignoring customers.