It would be surprising if a large organization like Lockheed were an early-adopting corporate user of OpenOffice. After all, even assuming that OpenOffice and MS Office are functionally equivalent in every way, someone has to make the decision to make the switch. And MS Office has a pedigree in the corporate world that OpenOffice doesn't, so a decision to switch to OpenOffice would be a lot riskier for the decisionmakers than a decision to maintain the status quo.
Whenever a glitch happens in OpenOffice, the person who decided to switch may get blamed; if the same glitch happened in MS Office, the user would be more likely to blame MS than the decisionmaker. So, for reasons of job security, etc., the decisionmakers are likely to take the safer route of inaction.
Very cool! Seems like this might be used to help spot Photoshop modifications -- for example, in a group picture, just compare the reflections in each person's eyes.
Yeah, the spyware problem is so bad that I refuse to connect to any Real stream because I'd have to use RealPlayer. If Real weren't so underhanded about the spyware stuff, I'd be a lot more sympathetic toward their argument. As it is, Apple good, Real bad, even if Real happens to be right.
Good point, but I'll go one step further and argue that textbooks really aren't one of the most promising applications of ebooks, at least in the short- to mid-term. This is because to read an ebook you need an ebook reader, and it will be a significant expense that most likely costs even more than your textbooks do now. Ebooks will get adopted gradually in classrooms, just like laptops were, until eventually they get widespread enough that it makes sense for textbook companies to release titles in compatible eformats.
My best guess as to the most successful initial applications of ebooks? Technical books ("Learn C++ in Only 5 Minutes a Day!"), business titles ("The 927 Habits of Successful Anal-Retentive Micromanagers") and mass market paperbacks ("Chicken Soup for the Metrosexual").
These would all take advantage of the people who are likely to be on the front end of the adoption curve -- techies, rich business junkies, and then everyone else. The cash-poor students, I'm afraid, can't buy a decent ebook reader for a few more years....
"Our [Microsoft IE] users should have confidence that as long as they're running the latest browser with all the latest security fixes, they will have the most powerful and secure browsing experience," Hachamovitch said.
Umm, yeah, we should (in a perfect world) be able to have confidence that the biggest software company on the planet puts out the best product. But Microsoft is too big and juicy a target to inspire confidence.
We also should be able to trust our elected leaders to be able to spend our tax funds wisely, but I'm not holding my breath on that either.
We need to look to countries like S. Korea for inspiration, stop trying to milk money out of customers by capping uploads and such, and just modernize our damn nation.
Actually, South Korea seems to have done it by offering cash subsidies to telecoms. From the article:
Most of the country's consumers were already served by the dominant carrier Korea Telecom, but the government encouraged competitors with a low-interest loan program for companies that built their own broadband facilities. The program offered $77 million in two years alone, with a particular focus on rural areas.
That's $77 million for the whole country? You couldn't wire Peoria for broadband on that budget. Achieving comparable investment levels in the US would require Sagan-esque levels: billions and billions....
Nobody is going to get really hot for eBooks until the display technology supports full color, even if they don't need color for what they'll publish and read.
This seems false. High contrast, high resolution, ease of use, affordability -- these are the sorts of attributes of books that are important. I hardly ever read a book that's printed in color. Not that I mind color, but it's just not all that important. A good layout artist can do wonders in black & white. This is just as true with an ebook as a traditional one.
While Google on the other hand is still running their company like they are actually interested in innovating and are forcing a number of fairly sizable companies to innovate to keep up which is always good for the consumer.
The problem is that public companies have to disclose a lot more information than private companies do. The SEC wants investors to have as clear a picture as possible into the operations (including "analysis of known trends, demands, commitments, events and uncertainties") of public companies. On the other hand, private companies (like the pre-IPO Google) have a lot more leeway in being able to keep major initiatives secret from their competitors until they're ready to be rolled out.
My prediction is that Google's much-touted culture of innovation goes into a tailspin after the IPO.
Yes, AT&T might be in a spiral. Today's news reports that AT&T debt has been downgraded to junk status, suggesting that analysts are worried the company will go out of business. Bad news for any remaining AT&T customers at that point!
Slashdot Mirror
Well, it actually went live and was reported elsewhere on Friday the 30th.
It would be surprising if a large organization like Lockheed were an early-adopting corporate user of OpenOffice. After all, even assuming that OpenOffice and MS Office are functionally equivalent in every way, someone has to make the decision to make the switch. And MS Office has a pedigree in the corporate world that OpenOffice doesn't, so a decision to switch to OpenOffice would be a lot riskier for the decisionmakers than a decision to maintain the status quo.
Whenever a glitch happens in OpenOffice, the person who decided to switch may get blamed; if the same glitch happened in MS Office, the user would be more likely to blame MS than the decisionmaker. So, for reasons of job security, etc., the decisionmakers are likely to take the safer route of inaction.
This book sounds totally unrealistic: "Even the President of the United States appears unfocused and uneducated."
This would never happen in real life, you know.
Very cool! Seems like this might be used to help spot Photoshop modifications -- for example, in a group picture, just compare the reflections in each person's eyes.
Yeah, the spyware problem is so bad that I refuse to connect to any Real stream because I'd have to use RealPlayer. If Real weren't so underhanded about the spyware stuff, I'd be a lot more sympathetic toward their argument. As it is, Apple good, Real bad, even if Real happens to be right.
Yeah, and I still can't seem to find the Missing Manual for my stapler, either. Anyone have one?
Good point, but I'll go one step further and argue that textbooks really aren't one of the most promising applications of ebooks, at least in the short- to mid-term. This is because to read an ebook you need an ebook reader, and it will be a significant expense that most likely costs even more than your textbooks do now. Ebooks will get adopted gradually in classrooms, just like laptops were, until eventually they get widespread enough that it makes sense for textbook companies to release titles in compatible eformats.
My best guess as to the most successful initial applications of ebooks? Technical books ("Learn C++ in Only 5 Minutes a Day!"), business titles ("The 927 Habits of Successful Anal-Retentive Micromanagers") and mass market paperbacks ("Chicken Soup for the Metrosexual").
These would all take advantage of the people who are likely to be on the front end of the adoption curve -- techies, rich business junkies, and then everyone else. The cash-poor students, I'm afraid, can't buy a decent ebook reader for a few more years....
"Our [Microsoft IE] users should have confidence that as long as they're running the latest browser with all the latest security fixes, they will have the most powerful and secure browsing experience," Hachamovitch said.
Umm, yeah, we should (in a perfect world) be able to have confidence that the biggest software company on the planet puts out the best product. But Microsoft is too big and juicy a target to inspire confidence.
We also should be able to trust our elected leaders to be able to spend our tax funds wisely, but I'm not holding my breath on that either.
We need to look to countries like S. Korea for inspiration, stop trying to milk money out of customers by capping uploads and such, and just modernize our damn nation.
Actually, South Korea seems to have done it by offering cash subsidies to telecoms. From the article:
Most of the country's consumers were already served by the dominant carrier Korea Telecom, but the government encouraged competitors with a low-interest loan program for companies that built their own broadband facilities. The program offered $77 million in two years alone, with a particular focus on rural areas.
That's $77 million for the whole country? You couldn't wire Peoria for broadband on that budget. Achieving comparable investment levels in the US would require Sagan-esque levels: billions and billions....
According to the article:
Nobody is going to get really hot for eBooks until the display technology supports full color, even if they don't need color for what they'll publish and read.
This seems false. High contrast, high resolution, ease of use, affordability -- these are the sorts of attributes of books that are important. I hardly ever read a book that's printed in color. Not that I mind color, but it's just not all that important. A good layout artist can do wonders in black & white. This is just as true with an ebook as a traditional one.
he is trying to help the military understand how serious a security risk unmonitored peer-to-peer file sharing can be
He's right -- P2P networks are used to distribute weapons of mass destruction.
While Google on the other hand is still running their company like they are actually interested in innovating and are forcing a number of fairly sizable companies to innovate to keep up which is always good for the consumer.
The problem is that public companies have to disclose a lot more information than private companies do. The SEC wants investors to have as clear a picture as possible into the operations (including "analysis of known trends, demands, commitments, events and uncertainties") of public companies. On the other hand, private companies (like the pre-IPO Google) have a lot more leeway in being able to keep major initiatives secret from their competitors until they're ready to be rolled out.
My prediction is that Google's much-touted culture of innovation goes into a tailspin after the IPO.
Yes, AT&T might be in a spiral. Today's news reports that AT&T debt has been downgraded to junk status, suggesting that analysts are worried the company will go out of business. Bad news for any remaining AT&T customers at that point!