The current interweb, good though it is, is a difficult marketplace. It wasn't created for online business to utilise properly.
Web 2.0, being a new start (sort of), means that business will be better able to utilise it. This is an important thing.
You could say 'corporations are bad', and well, they are. Corporations are not the only fruit though, I bet that more than a few slashdot readers would like a web that they could better utilise to make money.
The thing is, as I see it, adobe were happy for Openoffice and apple to use their formats, it provides them with greater userbase who use pdf's, and that's good for business. Neither of these two groups are likely to alter the format.
Linux has plenty of pdf tools, and adobe have no issue with this. They control the format themselves, and none of the pdf work happening for linux is in anyway threatening, it's just useful to adobe, as it gets their format widely used, keeping it in the public eye.
Microsoft need pdf more than adobe need microsoft is what it boils down to.
Microsoft want a product to rival or replace the pdf. If they have pdf as a save option, but also their own format, then users get to choose. If pdf is better then the mircosoft format, then people will use that, but what happens when microsoft start bigging up their own format?
Well they 'played fair', and included the pdf option, and yes customers used it, but it becomes 'no longer recommended', and msword issue a harmless (but consistant) warning that some features of your Word originated document may not translate well to pdf, and users stop saving to pdf...
If vista can view the microsoft format without additional tools, then users will take the shortest/easiest path, and eventually ignore pdf as a save option, killing adobe pdf as a tool used by business. I imagine that's the plan anyway, and I think this is what adobe are thinking.
Alas microsoft have consistantly failed to get the interoperability argument. They see the solution as 'well, everyone should use our stuff then'. That isn't the answer.
This is all academic to me though, I dumped M$office last year for Openoffice, and have no plan to buy office 12 or Vista.
I've been using ODF for spreadsheets and a novel for some time now. The novel has over 400 pages, and I haven't noticed any difference since I switched from the word doc format to ODF, well, other then really liking ODF as a format to work with.
Well, except that I no longer have to worry about only being able to edit my document safely in one editor, on one platform, that's a pretty big issue for me, huge even.
There's no way I'll ever use a microsoft editor again, just because I know they'll never willingly support other formats for the good of the consumer. Ok they *may* add support for ODF, but they wouldn't have if Mass' hadn't pushed them into a corner. That attitude is worrying, it speaks volumes about their trustworthyness. I wouldn't put it past them to somehow add an extension which meant my previously cross platform document 'accidentally' wasn't quite so cross platform/editor any more.
If AOL are starting in on voip, then someone's going to start thinking about the potential of cold calling revenue. the only person I know still using aol is cancelling soon because they are bombarded with non blockable adverts within the aol client whenever the log in.
I can see it now, coding late into the night, or playing games, and getting constantly interrupted by people trying to sell me insurance/double glazing/marital aids, whatever.
If anyone starts it, it'll be aol, and as soon as someone does, everyone will.
I imagine there will be an attempt to get voip users to accept that cold calling on voip is benificial to them, in much the same way that 'trusted computing' is useful (yeah, right).
That says global warming may well stave off the next ice age, and this wiill be no bad thing for our species.
Now I suspect that this would be better acheived deliberately and with planning, rather than through polution.
Whichever way it happens though, given that I live in england, a country which was covered to a depth of several kilometers in ice during the last ice age, I can't say I mind too much, however it happens.
Since the source of linux is freely available, microsoft have the opportunity to easily add compatibility for their software into the kernel. I say easily, but rather I mean, they have the money and the research staff to acheive it.
Will we be seeing a microsoft Linux distribution in the next few years? Or perhaps a full linux layer available for windows as an option.
Since the source of linux is freely available, microsoft have the opportunity to easily add compatibility for their software into the kernel. I say easily, but rather I mean, they have the money and the research staff to acheive it.
WIll we be seeing a microsoft Linux distribution in the next few years? Or perhaps a full linux layer available for windows as an option.
The principle challenge here is effective navigation of difficult terrain. The Mars rovers are extremely slow, manually driven, (albeit by extreme time delay), and it takes a *lot* of skilled people to keep one going.
If autonomous vehicle technology is significantly improved, then the effect on the the mars exploration program would be vast. And actually the desert scenario is pretty close to the problems found on mars:
Sandstorms
rocks
sand
more sand
holes
Imagine Mars being explored with ten (or more) completelly autonomous and robust vehicles scooting around looking for interesting features. That would rock.
Slashdot Mirror
The current interweb, good though it is, is a difficult marketplace. It wasn't created for online business to utilise properly.
Web 2.0, being a new start (sort of), means that business will be better able to utilise it. This is an important thing.
You could say 'corporations are bad', and well, they are. Corporations are not the only fruit though, I bet that more than a few slashdot readers would like a web that they could better utilise to make money.
The thing is, as I see it, adobe were happy for Openoffice and apple to use their formats, it provides them with greater userbase who use pdf's, and that's good for business. Neither of these two groups are likely to alter the format. Linux has plenty of pdf tools, and adobe have no issue with this. They control the format themselves, and none of the pdf work happening for linux is in anyway threatening, it's just useful to adobe, as it gets their format widely used, keeping it in the public eye. Microsoft need pdf more than adobe need microsoft is what it boils down to. Microsoft want a product to rival or replace the pdf. If they have pdf as a save option, but also their own format, then users get to choose. If pdf is better then the mircosoft format, then people will use that, but what happens when microsoft start bigging up their own format? Well they 'played fair', and included the pdf option, and yes customers used it, but it becomes 'no longer recommended', and msword issue a harmless (but consistant) warning that some features of your Word originated document may not translate well to pdf, and users stop saving to pdf... If vista can view the microsoft format without additional tools, then users will take the shortest/easiest path, and eventually ignore pdf as a save option, killing adobe pdf as a tool used by business. I imagine that's the plan anyway, and I think this is what adobe are thinking. Alas microsoft have consistantly failed to get the interoperability argument. They see the solution as 'well, everyone should use our stuff then'. That isn't the answer. This is all academic to me though, I dumped M$office last year for Openoffice, and have no plan to buy office 12 or Vista.
I've been using ODF for spreadsheets and a novel for some time now. The novel has over 400 pages, and I haven't noticed any difference since I switched from the word doc format to ODF, well, other then really liking ODF as a format to work with.
Well, except that I no longer have to worry about only being able to edit my document safely in one editor, on one platform, that's a pretty big issue for me, huge even.
There's no way I'll ever use a microsoft editor again, just because I know they'll never willingly support other formats for the good of the consumer. Ok they *may* add support for ODF, but they wouldn't have if Mass' hadn't pushed them into a corner. That attitude is worrying, it speaks volumes about their trustworthyness. I wouldn't put it past them to somehow add an extension which meant my previously cross platform document 'accidentally' wasn't quite so cross platform/editor any more.
If AOL are starting in on voip, then someone's going to start thinking about the potential of cold calling revenue. the only person I know still using aol is cancelling soon because they are bombarded with non blockable adverts within the aol client whenever the log in. I can see it now, coding late into the night, or playing games, and getting constantly interrupted by people trying to sell me insurance/double glazing/marital aids, whatever. If anyone starts it, it'll be aol, and as soon as someone does, everyone will. I imagine there will be an attempt to get voip users to accept that cold calling on voip is benificial to them, in much the same way that 'trusted computing' is useful (yeah, right).
That says global warming may well stave off the next ice age, and this wiill be no bad thing for our species. Now I suspect that this would be better acheived deliberately and with planning, rather than through polution. Whichever way it happens though, given that I live in england, a country which was covered to a depth of several kilometers in ice during the last ice age, I can't say I mind too much, however it happens.
Since the source of linux is freely available, microsoft have the opportunity to easily add compatibility for their software into the kernel. I say easily, but rather I mean, they have the money and the research staff to acheive it.
Will we be seeing a microsoft Linux distribution in the next few years? Or perhaps a full linux layer available for windows as an option.
Since the source of linux is freely available, microsoft have the opportunity to easily add compatibility for their software into the kernel. I say easily, but rather I mean, they have the money and the research staff to acheive it.
WIll we be seeing a microsoft Linux distribution in the next few years? Or perhaps a full linux layer available for windows as an option.
The principle challenge here is effective navigation of difficult terrain. The Mars rovers are extremely slow, manually driven, (albeit by extreme time delay), and it takes a *lot* of skilled people to keep one going. If autonomous vehicle technology is significantly improved, then the effect on the the mars exploration program would be vast. And actually the desert scenario is pretty close to the problems found on mars: Sandstorms rocks sand more sand holes Imagine Mars being explored with ten (or more) completelly autonomous and robust vehicles scooting around looking for interesting features. That would rock.