Exactly. I have worked with Sage's products in the past, and my dad is a support consultant for their products. Their user base is so insanely huge that it would take forever for *that segment alone* to migrate away from Windows.
The biggest hurdle I had personally was finding away to get away from Quicken and TurboTax or find some way of using them in Linux.
I would like to know how the authors of these "OMG WINDOWS IS DYING NOW!!!!!!ELVENTY" explain away the dependence the accounting/finance segment has on Windows-only software.
I can see this happening rather quickly at home. It hasn't been hard to convince my family members to get away from Windows. While my wife is probably more computer savvy than most, she hasn't had any problems switching from Windows to Linux, and actually likes it more. It's been more difficult for others I've gotten to switch, but in general the result has been positive.
The corporate world is a completely different story, though. Many large, medium, and small companies have committed vast resources to development in.Net. And while a good chunk of that can be run on Mono in a non-Windows environment, it's not entirely the same, and transitioning to something else, from a OS or software perspective, is going to take even more time and money in an economy where money isn't readily available.
Additionally, while you can probably count on your IT staff to have a reasonably easy transition to something other than Windows, your non-tech employee base is almost certainly going to have a great deal of difficulty. Add in the fact that lots of small and mid-size businesses use "friendly" accounting software that runs solely on Windows, and I think Microsoft has a much larger buffer for error than most people think.
Will it happen? God I hope so... but I'm not optimistic it will happen even in the next 5-10 years.
Shouldn't they have at least *attempted* to disguise it? I'm guessing that picture is going to show up on the local 6pm news. Anyone with a gun or large blunt object could put that thing out of commission somewhat easily... not like it'd be hard to pick it out against the skyline on a typical day.
My follow-up question then is... are there other examples in case law where the defendant has been awarded these fees outright? I was of the impression that you always had to counter-sue for legal fees if you wanted them.
Any/. lawyers care to explain why the defendants would be unable to collect for legal fees on these lawsuits? I'm not terribly versed in how this legal stuff works, but I was of the understanding that in any case, if I am wrongfully taken to court, I am allowed to counter-sue for legal fees. I thought that was part of the balance that kept people from suing just for fun with no repercussion.
What is the difference with these lawsuits the RIAA is bringing?
I think Win2k is actually better than XP - it doesn't have activation, but it does everything an operating system should do. And it's more stable and secure than the ancient Win98/ME, as well as being a lot easier to use than WinNT (no plug-n-play or USB mass storage support!). While all these may be true (and I tend to agree) the problem is that W2K will soon be on Microsoft's list of unsupported operating systems. All those benefits are slightly less meaningful when the OS no longer receives security updates and other patches in just over 2 years.
... if you haven't started your plans for moving away from Windows, now would be a good time.
I think Microsoft is starting to realize the gig is up. In Vista, the whole "we'll just produce a mound of crap, and people will have to buy it" model is starting to dwindle. Unfortunately, it looks like the new model is "we'll only force half the amount of crap we used to, and you can pay for the rest when it's released."
I honestly like using Windows 2000 and Windows XP. I don't like it as much as my Ubuntu installation, but it isn't terrible... at least, not after SP2. I simply just can't tolerate Vista, though. I was somewhat hopeful for Windows 7, but news like this (albeit far from 100% sure to happen) puts a big dimmer on it.
... Microsoft doesn't need to corner the "we've already got a brazillion servers and we need virtualization technology now!" group. I think Microsoft can still very successfully leverage this against small Microsoft-only shops. Small business with 50 employees and 8 servers? Cut your IT admin staff down to two or maybe even one! Pay us $x,xxx once and stop paying those lackey's $xx,xxx per year plus benefits!
In my experience, most small business *don't* have more than Microsoft products, and if they do, it's just the occasional Linux server. And putting that on SUSE, with promises of bells and whistles from the mighty Microsoft, shouldn't be too hard of a sale.
Theoretically, though... once you have it playing on your PC in any form like that, couldn't you capture the video output to some other device and have an unencrypted form of the video that way?
I know that the problem of properly implementing electronic voting machines is not a simple one by any means, but this is just plain ridiculous.
See... that's just the thing. I don't think it would be terribly difficult. I've been writing software for about 6-7 years now, and I don't think that there should be a huge issue coming up with standardized, secure voting machines that leave some form of detailed logging or trail of votes.
I think the main roadblock to it isn't technology or money or lack of decent workers, the real problem is outlined here. Politicians have a knack, whether intentionally or not, for getting into this kind of thing and just royally messing it up. Me, personally? Seeing as to how this kind of thing keeps happening, I would assume it is intentional. In that case, I doubt it will be fixed (in the "not broken anymore" sense) any time soon.
There a various well-established techniques for that, including selection bias and tricky question wording.
Yes, which is why I enjoy pollsters calling me so much. Assuming my four kids aren't screaming in the background (which makes life miserable for the pollster anyway) I like to break down the question and make sure I get exactly what they are getting at before answering. It drives most of them nuts. =)
... or is the assertion "Americans don't care about domestic spying" only very loosely tied to "Americans think the Government is very secretive?"
Don't get me wrong, I think the federal government is *very* secretive, and I greatly dislike domestic spying... but the two are not mutually inclusive. It's far from "Poll B proves Assertion A is a blatantly false."
I think the same was said of flat-panel computer monitors. Now that's pretty much all you can find.
Well... yes... but it took a while for flat panels to catch on. This is my point now, as well. I think it will *eventually* be widely accepted... just not in the near future.
What niche of the computer world will these disks fill at their current price point?
First, you'd have to know who would want to buy them. Enthusiasts? I suppose... but I think most enthusiasts want the best bang/buck ratio for storage space, and why buy one of these when you can get a good ol' magnetic drive with a capacity of 1TB? People who require "rugged" notebooks? Solid state is definitely a plus here, but the main organizations I know that use them are mostly government (public safety, et al) and I don't see them affording it. What about servers? Obviously 160GB is overkill for a router-type box, and the smaller 4-8GB solid state drives would be a much better fit. Perhaps the price point would be right for a server that only serves web pages or simple file storage? Again, I think here that most people have some form of large magnetic storage (perhaps via SAN) and a web server would just pull from that.
This kind of thing is really slick... I just don't see it being accepted in the near future.
Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't being dishonest, I only knew that Java was not included on Verizon Q phones but was on Q phones from other networks. I'm not a Java developer, so it isn't a big deal to me. I only came across this when I attempted to load Opera Mini. Sorry for the misrepresentation.
I was thinking this exact same thing. The Motorola Q has some really great features, and it turns out a lot of them are masked or outright disabled (Java support) if you use Verizon as your carrier versus a different carrier. If anything, Apple is being more generous than the likes of some cell phone companies.
Look, I know the iPhone is all "snazzy" and "cool" and "trendy," but I think it's been known for a while that Apple would do this, yes?
If you're looking for a platform with more open SDK access, just don't write for the iPhone. Go for a mobile device with a Linux-based OS, or even Windows Mobile. That gives you a lot more flexibility in terms of writing your own software (I write C# on a Moto Q, myself) and you usually end up paying less, too.
Apple has a choice as to whether or not they open up their hardware just as you had the choice of buying the phone in the first place.
I've actually worked (albeit very briefly) on Indiana's part of this system, iDex. At my previous job, I worked on a police department records management system, and we had to write code to "plug in" to this National database. The odd thing about this is that we had to write our software to work in 4 different states (IL, IN, NY, SC) and each state (of course) does their data collection differently. So I'm not sure the database will be entirely useful, as some states will contribute one thing to one data field and some states will contribute something entirely different.
However, the scary part is, even if you call in to *report* a crime, your name goes into the system. I know this because our software kept track of every individual (criminal or otherwise) that was entered into it, and, to my knowledge, all data from the system was passed on to the iDex application.
Ebay has had a major drop in its stock value over the past few months. I believe that, since the actual number of auctions/bidders has dropped, this was an attempt to get more money from those people still doing decent business... Power Sellers.
Seeing as to how stock is back on the rise, it appears to have worked from that standpoint. At least for the time being...
... if it were opt-in and not opt-out. I would like to think that the majority of Internet users who don't use Slashdot have no idea about what actually happens when you type in www.dlibert.com, for example.
Send an e-mail to your subscribers and let them enable the feature if they so desire, but don't force it on your userbase.
Filter/ban all pornographic sites to "Save the Children"
Put all dastardly political plans/agendas on "porn site"
Profit!!
All kidding aside, this sounds like an incredibly stupid idea. I have four young kids, and I already have a nice filter installed. It's called me not letting them use the PC without my being within eyesight of the PC.
"...but charge a premium for a variety of premium extras, from vanity items to additional content or abilities..."
I play the web-based MMORPG Kingdom of Loathing, and this has worked well for them for at least the past three years. They do a decent job of balancing it such that purchasing these extra items does give you a sense of being 1337, but doesn't necessarily give you a huge advantage over other players.
Plus, you can (in most cases) sell the premium items purchased with your hard-earned cash for in-game currency.
I love AJAX. Seriously, I think it's great stuff, and it's fun to program. But why do some projects have this overwhelming desire to tout AJAX as the "ZOMG IT MAKE OUR PRODUCT ELEVENTY BILLION TIMES BETTER!!" tag with items like this?
What are the other improvements coming about with Mathematica? What about bugfixes? Wouldn't those be more important than "Oooooh, look, the page is more responsive now!"
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. I have worked with Sage's products in the past, and my dad is a support consultant for their products. Their user base is so insanely huge that it would take forever for *that segment alone* to migrate away from Windows.
The biggest hurdle I had personally was finding away to get away from Quicken and TurboTax or find some way of using them in Linux.
I would like to know how the authors of these "OMG WINDOWS IS DYING NOW!!!!!!ELVENTY" explain away the dependence the accounting/finance segment has on Windows-only software.
I can see this happening rather quickly at home. It hasn't been hard to convince my family members to get away from Windows. While my wife is probably more computer savvy than most, she hasn't had any problems switching from Windows to Linux, and actually likes it more. It's been more difficult for others I've gotten to switch, but in general the result has been positive.
The corporate world is a completely different story, though. Many large, medium, and small companies have committed vast resources to development in .Net. And while a good chunk of that can be run on Mono in a non-Windows environment, it's not entirely the same, and transitioning to something else, from a OS or software perspective, is going to take even more time and money in an economy where money isn't readily available.
Additionally, while you can probably count on your IT staff to have a reasonably easy transition to something other than Windows, your non-tech employee base is almost certainly going to have a great deal of difficulty. Add in the fact that lots of small and mid-size businesses use "friendly" accounting software that runs solely on Windows, and I think Microsoft has a much larger buffer for error than most people think.
Will it happen? God I hope so... but I'm not optimistic it will happen even in the next 5-10 years.
Shouldn't they have at least *attempted* to disguise it? I'm guessing that picture is going to show up on the local 6pm news. Anyone with a gun or large blunt object could put that thing out of commission somewhat easily... not like it'd be hard to pick it out against the skyline on a typical day.
Okay, that makes sense.
My follow-up question then is... are there other examples in case law where the defendant has been awarded these fees outright? I was of the impression that you always had to counter-sue for legal fees if you wanted them.
Any /. lawyers care to explain why the defendants would be unable to collect for legal fees on these lawsuits? I'm not terribly versed in how this legal stuff works, but I was of the understanding that in any case, if I am wrongfully taken to court, I am allowed to counter-sue for legal fees. I thought that was part of the balance that kept people from suing just for fun with no repercussion.
What is the difference with these lawsuits the RIAA is bringing?
... if you haven't started your plans for moving away from Windows, now would be a good time.
I think Microsoft is starting to realize the gig is up. In Vista, the whole "we'll just produce a mound of crap, and people will have to buy it" model is starting to dwindle. Unfortunately, it looks like the new model is "we'll only force half the amount of crap we used to, and you can pay for the rest when it's released."
I honestly like using Windows 2000 and Windows XP. I don't like it as much as my Ubuntu installation, but it isn't terrible... at least, not after SP2. I simply just can't tolerate Vista, though. I was somewhat hopeful for Windows 7, but news like this (albeit far from 100% sure to happen) puts a big dimmer on it.
... Microsoft doesn't need to corner the "we've already got a brazillion servers and we need virtualization technology now!" group. I think Microsoft can still very successfully leverage this against small Microsoft-only shops. Small business with 50 employees and 8 servers? Cut your IT admin staff down to two or maybe even one! Pay us $x,xxx once and stop paying those lackey's $xx,xxx per year plus benefits!
In my experience, most small business *don't* have more than Microsoft products, and if they do, it's just the occasional Linux server. And putting that on SUSE, with promises of bells and whistles from the mighty Microsoft, shouldn't be too hard of a sale.
Theoretically, though... once you have it playing on your PC in any form like that, couldn't you capture the video output to some other device and have an unencrypted form of the video that way?
See... that's just the thing. I don't think it would be terribly difficult. I've been writing software for about 6-7 years now, and I don't think that there should be a huge issue coming up with standardized, secure voting machines that leave some form of detailed logging or trail of votes.
I think the main roadblock to it isn't technology or money or lack of decent workers, the real problem is outlined here. Politicians have a knack, whether intentionally or not, for getting into this kind of thing and just royally messing it up. Me, personally? Seeing as to how this kind of thing keeps happening, I would assume it is intentional. In that case, I doubt it will be fixed (in the "not broken anymore" sense) any time soon.
Yes, which is why I enjoy pollsters calling me so much. Assuming my four kids aren't screaming in the background (which makes life miserable for the pollster anyway) I like to break down the question and make sure I get exactly what they are getting at before answering. It drives most of them nuts. =)
... or is the assertion "Americans don't care about domestic spying" only very loosely tied to "Americans think the Government is very secretive?"
Don't get me wrong, I think the federal government is *very* secretive, and I greatly dislike domestic spying... but the two are not mutually inclusive. It's far from "Poll B proves Assertion A is a blatantly false."
Well... yes... but it took a while for flat panels to catch on. This is my point now, as well. I think it will *eventually* be widely accepted... just not in the near future.
What niche of the computer world will these disks fill at their current price point?
First, you'd have to know who would want to buy them. Enthusiasts? I suppose... but I think most enthusiasts want the best bang/buck ratio for storage space, and why buy one of these when you can get a good ol' magnetic drive with a capacity of 1TB? People who require "rugged" notebooks? Solid state is definitely a plus here, but the main organizations I know that use them are mostly government (public safety, et al) and I don't see them affording it. What about servers? Obviously 160GB is overkill for a router-type box, and the smaller 4-8GB solid state drives would be a much better fit. Perhaps the price point would be right for a server that only serves web pages or simple file storage? Again, I think here that most people have some form of large magnetic storage (perhaps via SAN) and a web server would just pull from that.
This kind of thing is really slick... I just don't see it being accepted in the near future.
Not having "A/S/L?" does add some credibility to the statement... though not much... :)
Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't being dishonest, I only knew that Java was not included on Verizon Q phones but was on Q phones from other networks. I'm not a Java developer, so it isn't a big deal to me. I only came across this when I attempted to load Opera Mini. Sorry for the misrepresentation.
I believe this is where the phrase "pick your poison" comes into play. :)
I was thinking this exact same thing. The Motorola Q has some really great features, and it turns out a lot of them are masked or outright disabled (Java support) if you use Verizon as your carrier versus a different carrier. If anything, Apple is being more generous than the likes of some cell phone companies.
Look, I know the iPhone is all "snazzy" and "cool" and "trendy," but I think it's been known for a while that Apple would do this, yes?
If you're looking for a platform with more open SDK access, just don't write for the iPhone. Go for a mobile device with a Linux-based OS, or even Windows Mobile. That gives you a lot more flexibility in terms of writing your own software (I write C# on a Moto Q, myself) and you usually end up paying less, too.
Apple has a choice as to whether or not they open up their hardware just as you had the choice of buying the phone in the first place.
I've actually worked (albeit very briefly) on Indiana's part of this system, iDex. At my previous job, I worked on a police department records management system, and we had to write code to "plug in" to this National database. The odd thing about this is that we had to write our software to work in 4 different states (IL, IN, NY, SC) and each state (of course) does their data collection differently. So I'm not sure the database will be entirely useful, as some states will contribute one thing to one data field and some states will contribute something entirely different.
However, the scary part is, even if you call in to *report* a crime, your name goes into the system. I know this because our software kept track of every individual (criminal or otherwise) that was entered into it, and, to my knowledge, all data from the system was passed on to the iDex application.
Google stock info
Ebay has had a major drop in its stock value over the past few months. I believe that, since the actual number of auctions/bidders has dropped, this was an attempt to get more money from those people still doing decent business... Power Sellers.
Seeing as to how stock is back on the rise, it appears to have worked from that standpoint. At least for the time being...
... if it were opt-in and not opt-out. I would like to think that the majority of Internet users who don't use Slashdot have no idea about what actually happens when you type in www.dlibert.com, for example.
Send an e-mail to your subscribers and let them enable the feature if they so desire, but don't force it on your userbase.
All kidding aside, this sounds like an incredibly stupid idea. I have four young kids, and I already have a nice filter installed. It's called me not letting them use the PC without my being within eyesight of the PC.
I play the web-based MMORPG Kingdom of Loathing, and this has worked well for them for at least the past three years. They do a decent job of balancing it such that purchasing these extra items does give you a sense of being 1337, but doesn't necessarily give you a huge advantage over other players.
Plus, you can (in most cases) sell the premium items purchased with your hard-earned cash for in-game currency.
I love AJAX. Seriously, I think it's great stuff, and it's fun to program. But why do some projects have this overwhelming desire to tout AJAX as the "ZOMG IT MAKE OUR PRODUCT ELEVENTY BILLION TIMES BETTER!!" tag with items like this?
What are the other improvements coming about with Mathematica? What about bugfixes? Wouldn't those be more important than "Oooooh, look, the page is more responsive now!"