I think the post-process is a good thing - dialog. The better thing would be for Microsoft to have gone to Mozilla to find out how plugins should work and not produce a hackish way of installing plugins that are a terrible user and security experience.
It gives Microsoft a black eye when they do stuff like this - to me it perpetuates their arrogant image.
There's also Cassandra, the Java based distributed database that they've made open-source - first on google code, and now as an apache project(in incubation).
Where is Microsoft's media player for the mac? Piece of outdated junk.
Outside of Office for the Mac and some other minor things, MS is 100% invested in the MS stack - it doesn't make business sense for them to develop for other platforms - it's a broken system when it comes to open standards.
If they spend enough money coming out with version 1.0 for other platforms... and if they spend enough money buying downloads of it so people will use it during the Olympics... then maybe it will take off. Then when it's a "standard," what's the incentive for investing in a linux or mac version at all? Heck look at IE after version 6.
I'm not saying that it doesn't have technical advantages over flash and that it isn't nice to have readable content for search engines, I'm just saying - look at where MS's money goes. It doesn't make any sense for them to be more open than they absolutely have to be - that's Microsoft's business.
So be aware as a customer and don't buy memory from Apple. It's not rocket science. If you get screwed over by buying Apple's memory upgrades, then it's your own darn fault.
That said, I have no idea why there is sooooo much markup on their memory. It *is* a pain to get a machine and *then* buy other ram to put in it to avoid getting worked on the price.
I know the media paints Steve Jobs as a large factor in Apple's success, but I have heard Jobs in his keynotes publicly recognize the hard work of the engineers more than once. So I wonder if your impression is more based on the media's being caught up in the fad and fashion of outer Apple.
As someone who grew up in Las Vegas, I can say that I'm probably in the "pie in the sky" camp. I heard all these cool stories back in the 80s about a super train to LA.
It would be nice, and Las Vegas has grown a lot since then, but I'm not even sure how far $45 million dollars would go for a maglev train that has to go that distance. It might pay for one of the stations or something.
So this could be the year for linux on the laptop or the UMPC? Kind of like Google doesn't bother creating a desktop OS. They would rather make an OS for the mobile market. Forget the current Microsoft controlled desktop, go to where there are greener pastures and open fields.
Actually, does society have any rights at all when it comes to governing religion or peering in as you say? I don't think it does unless there is evidence that laws are being abused. I thought in the U.S. constitution that we were freed to worship however we chose to.
I mention persecution because even today there are erroneous news stories printed about the church, thus the linked articles. Often persecution comes about because of misunderstandings.
Why does society have a vested interest in manuals for church leaders? Is there some danger to the citizens of the country that necessitates seeing that the church policy on fundraisers for scout camp?
I would just add as a member of the LDS Church that the church is often misunderstood. Take the stories about the completely separate FLDS Church in this thread. Take issues of polygamy or any other confusion. At its core, it is an organization that tries to help its members follow the example of Jesus Christ, hence the name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I would just say that given the history of being persecuted for their beliefs, it's natural to want to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding. They were forcibly kicked out of Missouri, Illinois, and other places. That's the reason they went west - to escape those who had murdered their first leader with a mob and burned their homes.
For better background information, here is a site that is for the news media that talks about statistics, core beliefs, and history. Here is a website that talks more about the basic beliefs.
So please just take in a bigger picture when deciding that they are just trying to censor or gag anyone. They just want respect for privacy like just about any slashdotter wants.
It seems like they are trying for some corporate outreach street cred. Why don't they just allow people on MS staff to commit like every other company that contributes to OSS? It seems like they are trying something sneaky or they just don't get OSS or both.
I think it's a bit convenient that they are against browsers that don't support EV Certs since those cost extra from companies like PayPal. So, it is in their financial interest to have all browsers support EV Certs.
Check back one year from now and then see how both are doing. I suspect that the features that Bluray will get with version 2.0, the addition of games, a strong Christmas season as it has matured and as people want a future proof Blueray player will change things considerably. I don't know if the PS3 will be the leader in monthly sales a year from now, but the picture seems a lot brighter looking forward.
Beyond this, compare what can happen in 50 GB versus what can happen in 9 GB. True, the Wii has changed a lot of perceptions, but with the abilities of the hardware coupled with lots and lots and lots of space, the PS3 has the most potential.
I know this might be a little against the slashdot grain, but I think this speaks to the idea that there is a God who is the master scientist and who inspires men and women with the secrets of His creations as a Father teaching His children. There is a speech given by a leader in my church that talks about the subject of the scientific method and how it compares and contrasts with divine revelation. The leader was a nuclear physicist for many years who helped pioneer the technologies behind nuclear submarines.
I thought it was an interesting mix of faith and science in a world where the two, for some reason, have become separated.
What happens with iPhone/iPod Touch resolutions versus iPod Classic/Nano? What happens if the form factor changes to accommodate different resolutions? What about my AppleTV that's hooked up to my high-def tv? What about audio options?
I would love something like this, but to me it is short-sighted. It's the same problem that they have with DVDs already - you can't play them in new ways without bypassing their copy-protection software. So this is somewhat more flexible but made for a discrete couple of devices using current technology. So when the next wave of devices or ways to consume the exact same content come along, they'll be limited by these either protected high resolution master copy or the low resolution "more portable" version.
So I guess what they're saying is - we want to sell you this content many times over your lifetime, which to me is still somewhat dishonest. It's the digital equivalent of making dvds and cds that can scratch easily, so your kids will ruin them, and then you'll have to buy them again.
I don't know if one would consider myself an Apple fanboy. I just like Mac OS X because it has some common Unix underpinnings with a decent terminal window and well thought-out defaults. I don't want to have to configure everything to make it usable and useful for what I do and how I like things. I think some people like the default linux setups just fine or like the configurability or prefer the price/openness factors, but Mac OS X seems to work for me for now. That may change in the future. There are some user interface choices that seem backwards to me, but hey, I like the system in general.
I guess what I'm also trying to say is that the world isn't full of simple stereotypes as slashdot comments seem to suggest.
So if Joel and Mike could work together just fine for all those years, why can't their fans get along too?
I'm sorry. I don't hate Mike, but it's like Steve Whitmire doing Kermit's voice instead of Jim Henson. He does a great job, but it's just not the same to me. Similarly, I watched mst3k with Joel originally, so to me, he was the show. I never really gave Mike a chance, but then again, I got older and moved on.
At least this tells the marketers that enough is enough. When the ad - be it bop some star, win an ipod, or even a video - completely detracts from the content of the website, then I have a problem with it. I wouldn't mind non-motion ads that don't distract. However just about every single site that I have viewed without some kind of ad blocker is very obnoxious. I don't know who is at fault but if the websites who live off of this content want advertising dollars, they might consider changing their style of ads. Google leads the way with non-obtrusive ads and I don't mind their text based ads.
In any case I don't mind "freeloading" if they don't mind putting 500 moving/distracting messages in front of me. I don't think I'm immoral for doing so - this is just the latest way to communicate back to sites and advertisers that they've gone too far. They can take this however they wish - including giving people a guilt trip, but the reality is that people obviously are starting to avoid their ads in whatever way, so change your model/ads or go out of business.
I host through jatol and though I can't reach their homepage, I can get to my site on the web as well as through ftp. I can also access my webstats and online tools for the site. Sheesh, don't scare me like that slashdot! I do appreciate the heads up though. I backed up my site just in case. Crazy stuff. I hope the guy is okay.
Given the track record (no pun intended) of the record companies in these areas, such as root kits and other things to indicate that they do not trust their customers and will sue them, putting such information in the songs themselves is still shady in my opinion.
To contrast the context, if my nephew said he wanted to write my name with a crayon on a picture he drew, I would think it was cute. In a contrasting scenario, if the RIAA wants to put my name in all of my legally purchased tracks from iTunes, what happens if I make a CD of fun songs for my nephew's birthday. Then he lends the CD to his friend. Then that friend rips a song and puts it on a P2P network. Then that song is downloaded by an RIAA person, who makes me an example in court.
I realize that I probably shouldn't assemble CDs of fun songs for my nephew's birthday and it's out of the realm of fair use technically, even though I live with his family right now. I think music needs to generally need to be more shareable somehow. I also think that this is name/email thing a just a backfiring bad idea on the whole still and that these tracks are still not DRM-free.
For my 2 cents I think Dell initially is being conservative because this is an initial cost and a risk for them. They've had to do the research, set up the relationship, check on the drivers and such, set up the online store, etc. Then they set up the support options, however much that costs and however much that is their responsibility. That should stretch out over a period of time but it is a cost. In any case, it all might be a factor in this initial price that is worth thinking about since they're not at all sure that this is the wave of the future, but something that is worth trying. In fact, we've noticed that it is just a little less expensive than Windows, which I don't think is by accident - I'm not sure they're passing savings on to the consumer as much as the business team thinking - "What is the customer in this scenario expecting of the price?" and pricing it that way. I really think it's that way for now. For all of the above reasons, at least initially, as well as the crapware and deals with Microsoft, in all reality, it's probably more expensive, but they're trying to feel out the market, but who knows. I'm all for linux making gains, but I'm just trying to think about this stuff realistically at this point in the game.
For consumers, I don't think Dell is really advertising well what they're getting yet - I went through the whole "Customize your computer" thing to get a Ubuntu laptop. Apart from first day online store oddness, I thought it was interesting that there wasn't the advertisement of free consumer software on there, such as free complete office suite comparable to Microsoft Office. Maybe I missed it with the laptop's several power addons or something. It does seem to have a remarkable amount of options/addons. I've become a Mac guy recently so maybe I'm just used to a lack of options now so I don't know:P. In any case, I think that maybe Dell is kind of just putting it out there and seeing what sticks for now because it's not going out of its way to sell the software - it's just there. If I were a new Ubuntu customer I would think that all of the free software as well as the whole reliability and security, as well as no tiered basic/ultimate/premium madness a la mac/pc commercials would be great.
My favorite instance of McDonalds taking aggressive action is when 60 minutes, a US news program, did a report on McDonalds going through the UK shutting down restaurants using the McDonalds name. The best part was near the end. They showed a beautiful scene of rolling green hills in the country side and then a very nice 5-star restaurant on a hill with a man in the foreground in a kilt. Apparently that restaurant was also called McDonalds. The man addressed the camera and said something like this in his Scottish accent, "My name is John McDonald, head of the clan McDonald. If anyone is going to be changing their name, it's going to be them!"
The maker of the product is responsible for the patent violation.
While this is true in the direct sense, the customers of RIM were the ones who were ultimately forced to pay if it came to that - they were the ones who would not have been able to use the service anymore. In this MS versus open source case, potentially, the customers of either side will suffer as a result of this legal wrangling and posturing. Maybe not, maybe it will be a good thing to get this whole fear, uncertainty, and doubt cleared up actually.
No offense, but in general the customer is always affected by these things to a greater or lesser extent. This was especially true in the case of RIM because it is a service provider, the customer was held hostage to the will of the courts, which was ironic considering that the legal system used RIM's services heavily. They couldn't rule based on that but that's what effect it had.
Slashdot Mirror
Eric Evans, who coined the term NoSQL and is a committer on the Cassandra project, responded in a blog post:
http://blog.sym-link.com/2010/03/28/haters_gonna_hate.html
I think the post-process is a good thing - dialog. The better thing would be for Microsoft to have gone to Mozilla to find out how plugins should work and not produce a hackish way of installing plugins that are a terrible user and security experience.
It gives Microsoft a black eye when they do stuff like this - to me it perpetuates their arrogant image.
There's also Cassandra, the Java based distributed database that they've made open-source - first on google code, and now as an apache project(in incubation).
History man, history.
Where is IE for the mac? It's gone.
Where is Microsoft's media player for the mac? Piece of outdated junk.
Outside of Office for the Mac and some other minor things, MS is 100% invested in the MS stack - it doesn't make business sense for them to develop for other platforms - it's a broken system when it comes to open standards.
If they spend enough money coming out with version 1.0 for other platforms... and if they spend enough money buying downloads of it so people will use it during the Olympics... then maybe it will take off. Then when it's a "standard," what's the incentive for investing in a linux or mac version at all? Heck look at IE after version 6.
I'm not saying that it doesn't have technical advantages over flash and that it isn't nice to have readable content for search engines, I'm just saying - look at where MS's money goes. It doesn't make any sense for them to be more open than they absolutely have to be - that's Microsoft's business.
So be aware as a customer and don't buy memory from Apple. It's not rocket science. If you get screwed over by buying Apple's memory upgrades, then it's your own darn fault.
That said, I have no idea why there is sooooo much markup on their memory. It *is* a pain to get a machine and *then* buy other ram to put in it to avoid getting worked on the price.
I know the media paints Steve Jobs as a large factor in Apple's success, but I have heard Jobs in his keynotes publicly recognize the hard work of the engineers more than once. So I wonder if your impression is more based on the media's being caught up in the fad and fashion of outer Apple.
As someone who grew up in Las Vegas, I can say that I'm probably in the "pie in the sky" camp. I heard all these cool stories back in the 80s about a super train to LA.
It would be nice, and Las Vegas has grown a lot since then, but I'm not even sure how far $45 million dollars would go for a maglev train that has to go that distance. It might pay for one of the stations or something.
So this could be the year for linux on the laptop or the UMPC? Kind of like Google doesn't bother creating a desktop OS. They would rather make an OS for the mobile market. Forget the current Microsoft controlled desktop, go to where there are greener pastures and open fields.
Now if we just find half of the remaining matter every day, it will only take like . . . oh wait. Dang.
Actually, does society have any rights at all when it comes to governing religion or peering in as you say? I don't think it does unless there is evidence that laws are being abused. I thought in the U.S. constitution that we were freed to worship however we chose to.
I mention persecution because even today there are erroneous news stories printed about the church, thus the linked articles. Often persecution comes about because of misunderstandings.
Why does society have a vested interest in manuals for church leaders? Is there some danger to the citizens of the country that necessitates seeing that the church policy on fundraisers for scout camp?
I would just add as a member of the LDS Church that the church is often misunderstood. Take the stories about the completely separate FLDS Church in this thread. Take issues of polygamy or any other confusion. At its core, it is an organization that tries to help its members follow the example of Jesus Christ, hence the name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I would just say that given the history of being persecuted for their beliefs, it's natural to want to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding. They were forcibly kicked out of Missouri, Illinois, and other places. That's the reason they went west - to escape those who had murdered their first leader with a mob and burned their homes.
For better background information, here is a site that is for the news media that talks about statistics, core beliefs, and history. Here is a website that talks more about the basic beliefs.
So please just take in a bigger picture when deciding that they are just trying to censor or gag anyone. They just want respect for privacy like just about any slashdotter wants.
It seems like they are trying for some corporate outreach street cred. Why don't they just allow people on MS staff to commit like every other company that contributes to OSS? It seems like they are trying something sneaky or they just don't get OSS or both.
I think it's a bit convenient that they are against browsers that don't support EV Certs since those cost extra from companies like PayPal. So, it is in their financial interest to have all browsers support EV Certs.
Check back one year from now and then see how both are doing. I suspect that the features that Bluray will get with version 2.0, the addition of games, a strong Christmas season as it has matured and as people want a future proof Blueray player will change things considerably. I don't know if the PS3 will be the leader in monthly sales a year from now, but the picture seems a lot brighter looking forward.
Beyond this, compare what can happen in 50 GB versus what can happen in 9 GB. True, the Wii has changed a lot of perceptions, but with the abilities of the hardware coupled with lots and lots and lots of space, the PS3 has the most potential.
I know this might be a little against the slashdot grain, but I think this speaks to the idea that there is a God who is the master scientist and who inspires men and women with the secrets of His creations as a Father teaching His children. There is a speech given by a leader in my church that talks about the subject of the scientific method and how it compares and contrasts with divine revelation. The leader was a nuclear physicist for many years who helped pioneer the technologies behind nuclear submarines.
I thought it was an interesting mix of faith and science in a world where the two, for some reason, have become separated.
What happens with iPhone/iPod Touch resolutions versus iPod Classic/Nano? What happens if the form factor changes to accommodate different resolutions? What about my AppleTV that's hooked up to my high-def tv? What about audio options?
I would love something like this, but to me it is short-sighted. It's the same problem that they have with DVDs already - you can't play them in new ways without bypassing their copy-protection software. So this is somewhat more flexible but made for a discrete couple of devices using current technology. So when the next wave of devices or ways to consume the exact same content come along, they'll be limited by these either protected high resolution master copy or the low resolution "more portable" version.
So I guess what they're saying is - we want to sell you this content many times over your lifetime, which to me is still somewhat dishonest. It's the digital equivalent of making dvds and cds that can scratch easily, so your kids will ruin them, and then you'll have to buy them again.
I don't know if one would consider myself an Apple fanboy. I just like Mac OS X because it has some common Unix underpinnings with a decent terminal window and well thought-out defaults. I don't want to have to configure everything to make it usable and useful for what I do and how I like things. I think some people like the default linux setups just fine or like the configurability or prefer the price/openness factors, but Mac OS X seems to work for me for now. That may change in the future. There are some user interface choices that seem backwards to me, but hey, I like the system in general.
I guess what I'm also trying to say is that the world isn't full of simple stereotypes as slashdot comments seem to suggest.
So if Joel and Mike could work together just fine for all those years, why can't their fans get along too?
I'm sorry. I don't hate Mike, but it's like Steve Whitmire doing Kermit's voice instead of Jim Henson. He does a great job, but it's just not the same to me. Similarly, I watched mst3k with Joel originally, so to me, he was the show. I never really gave Mike a chance, but then again, I got older and moved on.
At least this tells the marketers that enough is enough. When the ad - be it bop some star, win an ipod, or even a video - completely detracts from the content of the website, then I have a problem with it. I wouldn't mind non-motion ads that don't distract. However just about every single site that I have viewed without some kind of ad blocker is very obnoxious. I don't know who is at fault but if the websites who live off of this content want advertising dollars, they might consider changing their style of ads. Google leads the way with non-obtrusive ads and I don't mind their text based ads.
In any case I don't mind "freeloading" if they don't mind putting 500 moving/distracting messages in front of me. I don't think I'm immoral for doing so - this is just the latest way to communicate back to sites and advertisers that they've gone too far. They can take this however they wish - including giving people a guilt trip, but the reality is that people obviously are starting to avoid their ads in whatever way, so change your model/ads or go out of business.
I host through jatol and though I can't reach their homepage, I can get to my site on the web as well as through ftp. I can also access my webstats and online tools for the site. Sheesh, don't scare me like that slashdot! I do appreciate the heads up though. I backed up my site just in case. Crazy stuff. I hope the guy is okay.
Given the track record (no pun intended) of the record companies in these areas, such as root kits and other things to indicate that they do not trust their customers and will sue them, putting such information in the songs themselves is still shady in my opinion.
To contrast the context, if my nephew said he wanted to write my name with a crayon on a picture he drew, I would think it was cute. In a contrasting scenario, if the RIAA wants to put my name in all of my legally purchased tracks from iTunes, what happens if I make a CD of fun songs for my nephew's birthday. Then he lends the CD to his friend. Then that friend rips a song and puts it on a P2P network. Then that song is downloaded by an RIAA person, who makes me an example in court.
I realize that I probably shouldn't assemble CDs of fun songs for my nephew's birthday and it's out of the realm of fair use technically, even though I live with his family right now. I think music needs to generally need to be more shareable somehow. I also think that this is name/email thing a just a backfiring bad idea on the whole still and that these tracks are still not DRM-free.
For my 2 cents I think Dell initially is being conservative because this is an initial cost and a risk for them. They've had to do the research, set up the relationship, check on the drivers and such, set up the online store, etc. Then they set up the support options, however much that costs and however much that is their responsibility. That should stretch out over a period of time but it is a cost. In any case, it all might be a factor in this initial price that is worth thinking about since they're not at all sure that this is the wave of the future, but something that is worth trying. In fact, we've noticed that it is just a little less expensive than Windows, which I don't think is by accident - I'm not sure they're passing savings on to the consumer as much as the business team thinking - "What is the customer in this scenario expecting of the price?" and pricing it that way. I really think it's that way for now. For all of the above reasons, at least initially, as well as the crapware and deals with Microsoft, in all reality, it's probably more expensive, but they're trying to feel out the market, but who knows. I'm all for linux making gains, but I'm just trying to think about this stuff realistically at this point in the game.
:P. In any case, I think that maybe Dell is kind of just putting it out there and seeing what sticks for now because it's not going out of its way to sell the software - it's just there. If I were a new Ubuntu customer I would think that all of the free software as well as the whole reliability and security, as well as no tiered basic/ultimate/premium madness a la mac/pc commercials would be great.
For consumers, I don't think Dell is really advertising well what they're getting yet - I went through the whole "Customize your computer" thing to get a Ubuntu laptop. Apart from first day online store oddness, I thought it was interesting that there wasn't the advertisement of free consumer software on there, such as free complete office suite comparable to Microsoft Office. Maybe I missed it with the laptop's several power addons or something. It does seem to have a remarkable amount of options/addons. I've become a Mac guy recently so maybe I'm just used to a lack of options now so I don't know
</my2cents>
My favorite instance of McDonalds taking aggressive action is when 60 minutes, a US news program, did a report on McDonalds going through the UK shutting down restaurants using the McDonalds name. The best part was near the end. They showed a beautiful scene of rolling green hills in the country side and then a very nice 5-star restaurant on a hill with a man in the foreground in a kilt. Apparently that restaurant was also called McDonalds. The man addressed the camera and said something like this in his Scottish accent, "My name is John McDonald, head of the clan McDonald. If anyone is going to be changing their name, it's going to be them!"
The maker of the product is responsible for the patent violation.
While this is true in the direct sense, the customers of RIM were the ones who were ultimately forced to pay if it came to that - they were the ones who would not have been able to use the service anymore. In this MS versus open source case, potentially, the customers of either side will suffer as a result of this legal wrangling and posturing. Maybe not, maybe it will be a good thing to get this whole fear, uncertainty, and doubt cleared up actually.
No offense, but in general the customer is always affected by these things to a greater or lesser extent. This was especially true in the case of RIM because it is a service provider, the customer was held hostage to the will of the courts, which was ironic considering that the legal system used RIM's services heavily. They couldn't rule based on that but that's what effect it had.