It's just a special introductory offer for every system that subscribes before April 6. If you get your system logged in before that date, it's 9.95/month until September 1.
Regular price is $19.95/month. Much like paying for another dial-up service. A casual user might find this service useful enough to be willing to pay for it. They may be trying to get business customers to use it, but I have a feeling that most business customers have a *nix guru that takes care of their systems already.
LinuxToday has a link to a C|Net article which says the same thing (verbatim).
The discussion in the LinuxToday forum has probably everything that'll be said here.
One item that stuck out was that MS would not be charging for client licenses. As Tim Wasson pointed out, client licenses are a good revenue source, and MS probably cut a deal with Maxtor so that MS could say "Hey, even with Linux/BSD available, major companies are still choosing our software."
Looks like MS has realized (on some level) that they can't get away with their current pricing scheme.
Personally, I think benchmarks will. It might be something similar to those run by ZDNet. However, I'd probably separate them out.
I'd have a `How fast does it compile kernel 2.x.0` test, how fast does it render `scene x`, and a few others. Enought to touch on what people would consider important. Office applications would done using the same sort of set-up ZDNet uses (unless somebody can think of a better one).
You'd have to use the same compiler/rendering/whatever program across all the platforms if possible. Otherwise, the ratings would be really unfair.
With this set-up, you could get a processor that would be great for what you're doing. The processor that works great for compiling may not be the best choice for office applications.
It looks like Debian already has the updated version available.
More information available on the debian package at http://www.debian.org/security/2001/dsa-026/
Not likely, unless you went to a 'pay-to-play/post' system. Reading could still be free.
There'd always be the idiot with nothing but time and money on his/her hands. They'd pay the $ just to troll for the heck of it. I don't think you'll get rid of that social class/species/??? anytime soon.
From what I can tell, they are more like a touchscreen than a reprogammable keyboard.
Voice recognition would be great for being able to view multiple video feeds. You could say "Goto camera 2" or "front view of BlackJack table 13". Or viewing different servers at a facility from one monitor (such as a rendering farm or the server farm at an ISP).
Then there's the office-oriented commands. "Call Jones." "What's my schedule for next friday? (with the answer being read aloud)" "When's the next meeting with our prime contractor?"
If we can get a/dev/voice-stream (or whatever) that can easily be read by a scripting language, there'd be a flood of scripts for voice-activated commands. That's what I'd want.
My vote is for Counter-Strike. Once you've purchased HalfLife (a great solo FPS), Counter-Strike is free.
For me, it's all de_dust, all the time. Except for occasional visits to cs_office.. or cs_italy. cs_militia isn't too bad, if I have some _friggin'_back-up_ for the long run to the house. And the fun of 'sniper`s alley' in de_railroad rocked. God, I miss that level.
I hear that. In fact, I'll bet more people can complete the phrase "Do not pass Go. Do not collect..." than can complete "Up, Up, Down, Down..."
To say that 'these people are special because they play computer games' doesn't make much sense to me.
I think it's a fair deal if the radio stations also have to pay for playing it over the internet. They might want to change the ads they run, as the internet crowd will probably want to buy more technological items than the average joe.
In some ways, ad agencies will like it. I would think that once you're listening a internet radio station (especially the RealAudio kind), you're less likely to waste the amount of time switching between stations. Can you say captive audience? Sure you can.
Yes, some of you might use ever so handy bookmarks to switch between broadcasts, but I just set my player to my favorite station and minimize the program.
Don't get me wrong, I like MP3s, but I don't feel that I need them in a PDA.
So long as I can get a speaker to play some midi files (for alarms), I'm a happy camper.
If I'm going to be using my PDA, I'm most likely looking up data for work, what my schedule is, or (if it's got net access) looking up data at some website. The last thing I'll be doing is listening to music on it. That's why I have a CD player.
Space is very nice for manufacturing certain applications. Taking refined metals and creating almost perfectly spherical bearings, or extremely delicate strands that couldn't be made on Earth.
However, traditional machining would not be easy. One of the items we take for granted when designing machining setups is gravity. We know the coolant fluid will sink to the bottom, as will the metal shavings. Up in orbit, if you don't create artificial gravity, you will have major problems with the residuals left over from manufacturing.
The moon would make a nice place to set up operations (since we wouldn't have to create gravity). Still, you'll have to boost them out of the gravity well.
I'm in favor of space-based manufacturing, but we're going to have to look at everything we do carefully to avoid any unpleasant side-effects.
It's probably more public perception than a devious under-handed plot by Microsoft.
I've been reading MSNBC off and on and they seem to be pretty neutral when it comes to reporting technology news. Microsoft may be helping with the software, but I don't think they control the editors.
Fix a messed up PalmOS unit? Easy. Paperclip the sucker. Press down the power key to do a hard reboot (IIRC).
Then, refresh the unit from the desktop. You'll lose everything since you performed the last backup. You do sync on a daily basis, yes?
Part of the attraction of the PalmOS is that it is very easy to use. I have yet to see any unit that couldn't be rebooted. Unless it was run over by a truck or something.
Actually, I think it just needs to be easy to code for. The OS does not need to be open source.
Take the PalmOS. While not open source, the programmers I've talked to have said that it is much easier to code for the Palm platform than it is for the WinCE/PPC platform. Palm also makes it easy to become a developer for their platform, IIRC.
Open source may be important, but ease of development (of new software) is more important for platforms.
DirectX? Since when does that have anything to do with making a good palm-sized PDA? The PalmOS doesn't have DirectX and the last time I checked, they had a comfortable lead in the PDA market.
O.K. I had to respond to this one because it touched on one of my favorite books, "Fahrenheit 451", which is up on my bookshelf next to "Armor", "Starship Troopers", "Computer World", and a few other choice books I always have in my apartment.
Getting back to point, "Fahrenheit 451" was not about burning books, so much as control of the press and information distribution. Reading was not a crime (as the movie may have suggested), reading certain books were. E-books allows us to create our own books and distribute them. I can create a book and upload it to memoware.com (for the Palm OS). I can also beam it to whoever wants it.
E-books, if they catch on, could mean more independant books being published/distributed. There may not be any money made by the artists, but they may be more concerned with getting their point of view out into the world than with making money from it.
Hackernews.com has a great quote on their page:
Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one. - A.J. Liebling
I figure they'll use the same plan as Microsoft with their X-box, whatever that plan happens to be.
The X-box seems to be using off-the-shelf components (IIRC, which I may not), which lowers the construction and R&D price. As stated in another post, you don't have to open source the development kits. Some may scream bloody murder at that, but in my mind, it's no different from selling some other piece of software to run on linux. The profit may come from using an online network (much like the game NeverRest) or by selling other online services (email, what-have-you). Since it wouldn't take too much (I would think) to add on a web-browser, it could become something like WebTV.
Now there's a scary notion.
Apple is continually eliminating obstacles that stand between it and its critics. And while some poeple still feel that one company making both the OS and the hardware is bad, Apple has proved that it understands it customers and its market. It is also one of the only major computing companies companies to take previous proprietary software (Darwin, QuickTime Streaing, OpenPlay, NetSprocket) and move it to an open source license that is approved of by the OSI. And note that it can afford to do this because it derives most of its revenue from hardware.
End quote
Isn't it still impossible to view QuickTime 4 in Linux, or has that changed?
It is pretty good, I've got it on my TRGpro. It takes a while to get used to the new character placement, but the ability to capitalize a character by sliding it (sort of like a click-n-drag) makes entering names a lot faster. My typing is still as good as it's been (one concern people have had is that the Fitaly layout will interfere with typing). The collapsable keyboard ($99) is worth it if you have to take notes at a meeting. Fitaly is fast, but I still find it faster to type than to tap. I should note that the collapsable keyboard is the smallest of all the PalmOS keyboards when folded up.
Actually, if enough people in China decide to have only male children, this will swing the balance of power towards those with female children. After all, what good is a male child if he has no children of his own? I'm not sure how this would work out. It could be that the grandson would have both the mother's and father's maiden name, or a larger dowry. They might decide to have mail-order brides, which brings into question who would want to immigrate to China and would the other Chinese accept them into their society. Or it could just dramatically reduce the Chinese population.
Polish Grandfather Clause: If your grandfather had children, you may have children too.
It's just a special introductory offer for every system that subscribes before April 6. If you get your system logged in before that date, it's 9.95/month until September 1.
Regular price is $19.95/month. Much like paying for another dial-up service. A casual user might find this service useful enough to be willing to pay for it. They may be trying to get business customers to use it, but I have a feeling that most business customers have a *nix guru that takes care of their systems already.
I goofed. the correct link for the forum is here.
LinuxToday has a link to a C|Net article which says the same thing (verbatim).
The discussion in the LinuxToday forum has probably everything that'll be said here.
One item that stuck out was that MS would not be charging for client licenses. As Tim Wasson pointed out, client licenses are a good revenue source, and MS probably cut a deal with Maxtor so that MS could say "Hey, even with Linux/BSD available, major companies are still choosing our software."
Looks like MS has realized (on some level) that they can't get away with their current pricing scheme.
Well, the moderators seem to agree with you.
What, then, will replace the megahertz rating? Flops?
Personally, I think benchmarks will. It might be something similar to those run by ZDNet. However, I'd probably separate them out.
I'd have a `How fast does it compile kernel 2.x.0` test, how fast does it render `scene x`, and a few others. Enought to touch on what people would consider important. Office applications would done using the same sort of set-up ZDNet uses (unless somebody can think of a better one).
You'd have to use the same compiler/rendering/whatever program across all the platforms if possible. Otherwise, the ratings would be really unfair.
With this set-up, you could get a processor that would be great for what you're doing. The processor that works great for compiling may not be the best choice for office applications.
It looks like Debian already has the updated version available.
More information available on the debian package at http://www.debian.org/security/2001/dsa-026/
A GPL'd EverQuest. Well, my guess is atleast the graphics and interface will be better.
"Your in our world now." - Verant
Not likely, unless you went to a 'pay-to-play/post' system. Reading could still be free.
There'd always be the idiot with nothing but time and money on his/her hands. They'd pay the $ just to troll for the heck of it. I don't think you'll get rid of that social class/species/??? anytime soon.
From what I can tell, they are more like a touchscreen than a reprogammable keyboard. /dev/voice-stream (or whatever) that can easily be read by a scripting language, there'd be a flood of scripts for voice-activated commands. That's what I'd want.
Voice recognition would be great for being able to view multiple video feeds. You could say "Goto camera 2" or "front view of BlackJack table 13". Or viewing different servers at a facility from one monitor (such as a rendering farm or the server farm at an ISP).
Then there's the office-oriented commands. "Call Jones." "What's my schedule for next friday? (with the answer being read aloud)" "When's the next meeting with our prime contractor?"
If we can get a
My vote is for Counter-Strike. Once you've purchased HalfLife (a great solo FPS), Counter-Strike is free.
For me, it's all de_dust, all the time. Except for occasional visits to cs_office.. or cs_italy. cs_militia isn't too bad, if I have some _friggin'_back-up_ for the long run to the house. And the fun of 'sniper`s alley' in de_railroad rocked. God, I miss that level.
I hear that. In fact, I'll bet more people can complete the phrase "Do not pass Go. Do not collect ..." than can complete "Up, Up, Down, Down..."
To say that 'these people are special because they play computer games' doesn't make much sense to me.
I think it's a fair deal if the radio stations also have to pay for playing it over the internet. They might want to change the ads they run, as the internet crowd will probably want to buy more technological items than the average joe.
In some ways, ad agencies will like it. I would think that once you're listening a internet radio station (especially the RealAudio kind), you're less likely to waste the amount of time switching between stations. Can you say captive audience? Sure you can.
Yes, some of you might use ever so handy bookmarks to switch between broadcasts, but I just set my player to my favorite station and minimize the program.
Oh, great. I can see films in the future now.
"Hold on, let me get something to write down your number. It's 127 000 000 001. O.K."
Don't get me wrong, I like MP3s, but I don't feel that I need them in a PDA.
So long as I can get a speaker to play some midi files (for alarms), I'm a happy camper.
If I'm going to be using my PDA, I'm most likely looking up data for work, what my schedule is, or (if it's got net access) looking up data at some website. The last thing I'll be doing is listening to music on it. That's why I have a CD player.
Space is very nice for manufacturing certain applications. Taking refined metals and creating almost perfectly spherical bearings, or extremely delicate strands that couldn't be made on Earth.
However, traditional machining would not be easy. One of the items we take for granted when designing machining setups is gravity. We know the coolant fluid will sink to the bottom, as will the metal shavings. Up in orbit, if you don't create artificial gravity, you will have major problems with the residuals left over from manufacturing.
The moon would make a nice place to set up operations (since we wouldn't have to create gravity). Still, you'll have to boost them out of the gravity well.
I'm in favor of space-based manufacturing, but we're going to have to look at everything we do carefully to avoid any unpleasant side-effects.
It's probably more public perception than a devious under-handed plot by Microsoft.
I've been reading MSNBC off and on and they seem to be pretty neutral when it comes to reporting technology news. Microsoft may be helping with the software, but I don't think they control the editors.
Fix a messed up PalmOS unit? Easy. Paperclip the sucker. Press down the power key to do a hard reboot (IIRC).
Then, refresh the unit from the desktop. You'll lose everything since you performed the last backup. You do sync on a daily basis, yes?
Part of the attraction of the PalmOS is that it is very easy to use. I have yet to see any unit that couldn't be rebooted. Unless it was run over by a truck or something.
Actually, I think it just needs to be easy to code for. The OS does not need to be open source.
Take the PalmOS. While not open source, the programmers I've talked to have said that it is much easier to code for the Palm platform than it is for the WinCE/PPC platform. Palm also makes it easy to become a developer for their platform, IIRC.
Open source may be important, but ease of development (of new software) is more important for platforms.
DirectX? Since when does that have anything to do with making a good palm-sized PDA? The PalmOS doesn't have DirectX and the last time I checked, they had a comfortable lead in the PDA market.
Probably becuase health.com is already taken. And .com doesn't make too much sense for a information providing non-profit (?) organization.
O.K. I had to respond to this one because it touched on one of my favorite books, "Fahrenheit 451", which is up on my bookshelf next to "Armor", "Starship Troopers", "Computer World", and a few other choice books I always have in my apartment.
Getting back to point, "Fahrenheit 451" was not about burning books, so much as control of the press and information distribution. Reading was not a crime (as the movie may have suggested), reading certain books were. E-books allows us to create our own books and distribute them. I can create a book and upload it to memoware.com (for the Palm OS). I can also beam it to whoever wants it.
E-books, if they catch on, could mean more independant books being published/distributed. There may not be any money made by the artists, but they may be more concerned with getting their point of view out into the world than with making money from it.
Hackernews.com has a great quote on their page:
Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one. - A.J. Liebling
I figure they'll use the same plan as Microsoft with their X-box, whatever that plan happens to be.
The X-box seems to be using off-the-shelf components (IIRC, which I may not), which lowers the construction and R&D price. As stated in another post, you don't have to open source the development kits. Some may scream bloody murder at that, but in my mind, it's no different from selling some other piece of software to run on linux. The profit may come from using an online network (much like the game NeverRest) or by selling other online services (email, what-have-you). Since it wouldn't take too much (I would think) to add on a web-browser, it could become something like WebTV.
Now there's a scary notion.
Quoth the parent:
Apple is continually eliminating obstacles that stand between it and its critics. And while some poeple still feel that one company making both the OS and the hardware is bad, Apple has proved that it understands it customers and its market. It is also one of the only major computing companies companies to take previous proprietary software (Darwin, QuickTime Streaing, OpenPlay, NetSprocket) and move it to an open source license that is approved of by the OSI. And note that it can afford to do this because it derives most of its revenue from hardware.
End quote
Isn't it still impossible to view QuickTime 4 in Linux, or has that changed?
It is pretty good, I've got it on my TRGpro.
It takes a while to get used to the new character placement, but the ability to capitalize a character by sliding it (sort of like a click-n-drag) makes entering names a lot faster. My typing is still as good as it's been (one concern people have had is that the Fitaly layout will interfere with typing).
The collapsable keyboard ($99) is worth it if you have to take notes at a meeting. Fitaly is fast, but I still find it faster to type than to tap. I should note that the collapsable keyboard is the smallest of all the PalmOS keyboards when folded up.
Actually, if enough people in China decide to have only male children, this will swing the balance of power towards those with female children. After all, what good is a male child if he has no children of his own?
I'm not sure how this would work out. It could be that the grandson would have both the mother's and father's maiden name, or a larger dowry. They might decide to have mail-order brides, which brings into question who would want to immigrate to China and would the other Chinese accept them into their society.
Or it could just dramatically reduce the Chinese population.
Polish Grandfather Clause: If your grandfather had children, you may have children too.