Google embraces the things that geeks love to have in a company. This is something that Microsoft just doesn't get and will not in the near future, IMHO. The only ground that MS has to compete on is that of the "average" soccer mom computer user that doesn't know about Google.
I don't know how many times I've given out my gmail address to geeks the gotten the response "Oh, cool. Gmail!" But, to the average person, it just means nothing.
Not sure about this one...MS will probably get plenty of sales from the same crowds that buy windows, office, etc. That same crowd is probably the majority of those who don't update their virus files, anyway. So theoretically, M$ will still be profitable at this venture even if they don't keep up to date with the virus info.
On the other hand, there's lots of people out there that use anti-virus programs...most of which (somewhat clueless consumers) just buy the cheaper of McAfee or Norton at the time. Will M$ provide their version at cheaper prices? What's to draw the said customers away from their McAfee or Norton that they already know and trust?
I was shocked to find the very same ads mentioned in the article on this site a while back. I've always thought of/. as a very pro-linux community...let alone the OSDN, who, I'm assuming serves the ads.
As a student graduating (June) from a CS similar degree, I take this opportunity to warn/help inform others about such fields.
If you truly love programming and want to code for a living, do NOT attend such Universities as DeVry, many State Universities, or other small "tech" schools. This may sound like common sense to some, and outright madness to others, but trust me on this one. I personally am about to graduate from DeVry, and, although it's surprising reputation, they in no way prepare a student to enter the world of programming. The majority (I'd say 70%) of the skills I've obtained have been acquired by means of self-teaching and learning from friends.
More and more, I've been seeing that "programming" degrees focus much more on the management side of things, instead of the developer role. Perhaps this is because of the apparent problem of off shoring IT jobs? The main problem is not that the Universities have changed to this approach, it lies in the fact that the said schools teach in such a manner, WITHOUT advertising so. It brings about a sense of deceit and trickery...but perhaps that's what they were going for?:-)
From the article: "...$50 million in voting stock in ICOS (ICOS: Research, Estimates), a drug maker"
A drug maker? Not to bring the tin-foil hat approach to things, but seriously...what is Bill Gates interested in a drug making/researching company for? I'm a bit confused...is this related to Micro$oft? It would seem so from the mention of antitrust law, etc.
Is Micro$oft suddenly changing their business strategy to that of pharmaceuticals?!
I'm sure many parents will love this though. Now they can just sit their kids in front of the tube and not worry their little heads over whether their kids are seeing inappropriate material.
You know, I thought this whole device was a great idea until I read this. IMHO, I think one of America's biggest problems right now is horrible parenting.
Too many parents kill for opportunities to simply sit their kids down and forget about them for convience. This tool is only going to continue making that problem worse!
Why make sure that the kids are watching clean material when we can rely on the good ol' folks at Clear Play to do it for us?! In all actuality, parents should instead be sitting down with the kids to watch a program, or even play a game for heaven's sake!
Don't ignore the kids, they need the parents' attention!
I have been able to get to the Googlunaplex since April Fool's Day with no problem! Google has a history of keeping their April Fool's jokes up for the enjoyment of everyone!:-)
It's not that I cannot afford a land line...I can't yet afford broadband. I live in a very urban area and very rarely travel to rural areas, so cell phone coverage isn't a concern for me. I dropped my land line recently simply because it made no sense for me to have 2 cell phone lines as well as a land line, especially when most of my friends/family called me on the cells.
I've recently dropped my phone line at home therefore dropping my home Internet access as well. Our household has 2 cell phones, I get plenty of Internet at work/college, and I can't quite afford broadband. I wonder how many others are in similar situations?
Wouldn't the open source of these viruses be an advantage to the Antivirus folks? (Symantec, Norton, etc.) I mean, if they know the basics of the virus, wouldn't it be easier to defend against them? (I don't have much experience in the realm of viruses...just curious!)
This has already been done. I read an article once stating that VW would release a car with a system that would record engine/exhaust noise and output the negative waves of that noise through a speaker mounted underneath the vehicle...although now it seems they've chosen an easier, cheaper approach!!:-)
Are you kidding? Apple has never had to deal with companies stealing their ideas!! There are plenty of smart minds out there (specifically from the Redmond area) that do not require thievery for personal gain!
From article: "Naturally, the pPod's interface is also just like the iPod's...It does not support WMA, nor songs downloaded from Apple's popular iTunes Music Store, which are encoded as copy-protected AAC files." How is this any different from any other lame software MP3 player? It seems that the pPOD's main selling point is it's similarity to the iPOD, only cheaper, yet it lacks the similarity of the iPOD's best selling point...legal downloading of audio files from Apple's i-Tunes!!
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Google embraces the things that geeks love to have in a company. This is something that Microsoft just doesn't get and will not in the near future, IMHO. The only ground that MS has to compete on is that of the "average" soccer mom computer user that doesn't know about Google.
I don't know how many times I've given out my gmail address to geeks the gotten the response "Oh, cool. Gmail!" But, to the average person, it just means nothing.
Not sure about this one...MS will probably get plenty of sales from the same crowds that buy windows, office, etc. That same crowd is probably the majority of those who don't update their virus files, anyway. So theoretically, M$ will still be profitable at this venture even if they don't keep up to date with the virus info.
On the other hand, there's lots of people out there that use anti-virus programs...most of which (somewhat clueless consumers) just buy the cheaper of McAfee or Norton at the time. Will M$ provide their version at cheaper prices? What's to draw the said customers away from their McAfee or Norton that they already know and trust?
I was shocked to find the very same ads mentioned in the article on this site a while back. I've always thought of
As a student graduating (June) from a CS similar degree, I take this opportunity to warn/help inform others about such fields.
:-)
If you truly love programming and want to code for a living, do NOT attend such Universities as DeVry, many State Universities, or other small "tech" schools. This may sound like common sense to some, and outright madness to others, but trust me on this one. I personally am about to graduate from DeVry, and, although it's surprising reputation, they in no way prepare a student to enter the world of programming. The majority (I'd say 70%) of the skills I've obtained have been acquired by means of self-teaching and learning from friends.
More and more, I've been seeing that "programming" degrees focus much more on the management side of things, instead of the developer role. Perhaps this is because of the apparent problem of off shoring IT jobs? The main problem is not that the Universities have changed to this approach, it lies in the fact that the said schools teach in such a manner, WITHOUT advertising so. It brings about a sense of deceit and trickery...but perhaps that's what they were going for?
Actually, it appears every 4 years.
From the article: "...$50 million in voting stock in ICOS (ICOS: Research, Estimates), a drug maker"
A drug maker? Not to bring the tin-foil hat approach to things, but seriously...what is Bill Gates interested in a drug making/researching company for? I'm a bit confused...is this related to Micro$oft? It would seem so from the mention of antitrust law, etc.
Is Micro$oft suddenly changing their business strategy to that of pharmaceuticals?!
I'm sure many parents will love this though. Now they can just sit their kids in front of the tube and not worry their little heads over whether their kids are seeing inappropriate material.
You know, I thought this whole device was a great idea until I read this. IMHO, I think one of America's biggest problems right now is horrible parenting.
Too many parents kill for opportunities to simply sit their kids down and forget about them for convience. This tool is only going to continue making that problem worse!
Why make sure that the kids are watching clean material when we can rely on the good ol' folks at Clear Play to do it for us?! In all actuality, parents should instead be sitting down with the kids to watch a program, or even play a game for heaven's sake!
Don't ignore the kids, they need the parents' attention!
Please let me know where you got concept work for Prime 2!! I didn't even know it was out there!! :-)
I have been able to get to the Googlunaplex since April Fool's Day with no problem! Google has a history of keeping their April Fool's jokes up for the enjoyment of everyone! :-)
I always used to look in the mirror and say "...because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dogonnit, people like me!"
Did the system have a problem reading the hanging chads? I demand a recount!!!
It's not that I cannot afford a land line...I can't yet afford broadband. I live in a very urban area and very rarely travel to rural areas, so cell phone coverage isn't a concern for me. I dropped my land line recently simply because it made no sense for me to have 2 cell phone lines as well as a land line, especially when most of my friends/family called me on the cells.
I've recently dropped my phone line at home therefore dropping my home Internet access as well. Our household has 2 cell phones, I get plenty of Internet at work/college, and I can't quite afford broadband. I wonder how many others are in similar situations?
I'm in no way educated about such a topic, but is this some sort of less expensive approach to satellite-type communication?
Wouldn't the open source of these viruses be an advantage to the Antivirus folks? (Symantec, Norton, etc.) I mean, if they know the basics of the virus, wouldn't it be easier to defend against them? (I don't have much experience in the realm of viruses...just curious!)
I wonder if this could be applied to cars...
This has already been done. I read an article once stating that VW would release a car with a system that would record engine/exhaust noise and output the negative waves of that noise through a speaker mounted underneath the vehicle...although now it seems they've chosen an easier, cheaper approach!!
I really hope this phone doesn't run on Windows Mobile!!! God only knows how crappy the automatic wireless network detection would be on there!!
select * from suspect_list where home_page = 'slashdot.org';
430,000 records found.
From article: "Naturally, the pPod's interface is also just like the iPod's...It does not support WMA, nor songs downloaded from Apple's popular iTunes Music Store, which are encoded as copy-protected AAC files."
How is this any different from any other lame software MP3 player? It seems that the pPOD's main selling point is it's similarity to the iPOD, only cheaper, yet it lacks the similarity of the iPOD's best selling point...legal downloading of audio files from Apple's i-Tunes!!