Sure, you can replace a PS or HD for less than the annual savings, but what if something bigger than that goes out?
What's more expensive in modern computer than hard drives? I regularly get my PC's from thrift stores and throw hard drives in them. In my experience, the hard drives are the most expensive parts. Everything else is negligible.
Computer hardware is just about free. My home server was either a giveaway from a friend or a $10 box from a thrift store.Don't remember. Brand new 3 TB drives are only $160 right now.
Anybody paying any serious money for computer equipment in this day and age is just throwing away money. I run my house and my medium sized business all on thrift store or refurbished computers. I've never paid more than $50 for a desktop, $300 for a blade server (a nice Dell one with redundant power, redundant Ethernet, hardware RAID, and all of that good stuff), or $400 for a laptop (currently, running an i5 with a 17" screen and a TB HD). Buying new computer hardware is a much worse investment than buying even a new car.
With that being said, to people who buy new computer equipment: THANK YOU!
I understand that. I'm saying that from personal experience, being in The Database solely from owning a house doesn't have very much of a real world effect. I don't have credit cards, or work with banks or buy stuff online, so I can't tell what the trigger is that inundates most people with marketing garbage. With just a house, there's surprisingly little, even though, yes, of course one is in The Database.
Not true. The only contact I have with The Database is the house that I own, and it really doesn't do too much. Very occasionally, I'll get a piece of snail mail because of my house ownership, but that's really it. If you do no credit cards, no banks (credit unions), no online services, etc. then just owning a house doesn't really put you in The Database as much as one would think, considering it's public record.
from a large corporation standpoint, you can now get additional social data about your users from the facebook api (I know, this isn't necessarily an advantage for the end user and is best viewed as double edged).
For an individual, there's only one edge: a sharp one. Who in their right mind would want every company/web site to know all of the intimate details of what they're doing on every other web site? Isn't it obvious to people that by signing in with a Facebook ID to web sites, that not only does Facebook track everything done, but then sells that information to everybody else? That's how those extremely complete personal profiles are created about individuals in corporate databases that are then swapped and sold indefinitely. What benefit could this possibly have for individuals?
Is there a particular reason the submitter needs a brand, new laptop? The used PC market is massive. You can easily get a refurbished Intel i5 with Windows 7 for under $400.
With that being said, all of you people who buy new PC's all of the time: please keep doing so! Your purchases allow me to always have access to a strong, steady supply of very, very cheap computers. I don't remember paying more than $200 for a desktop, or $500 for a high end laptop in the last ten years, thanks to your generosity!
access: verb (used with object):
To make contact with or gain access to; be able to reach, approach, enter, etc.: ie: Bank customers can access their checking accounts instantly through the new electronic system.
Linux on the desktop fizzled not because I'd have to buy another version of Quickbooks in addition to the one that I already have. It failed because there's no Quickbooks to buy at all. There's a huge dearth of "apps" for desktop Linux. We're talking about some people having to re-purchase "apps" for their phones. Different scenario.
People do it every so often with all Apple hardware. People do it occasionally with Windows software. Platform specific applications aren't necessarily going to stop people from migrating to a different platform. Heck, I've got a Windows 8 Phone with almost no "apps" installed. Certainly, none that I've paid for. I'd consider switching if I needed a new phone. All of my important data is on my Exchange Server and my file server. It would take about one minute to re-sync my new phone.
Sure, old people will be upset. But so will the people who live waaay, waaay out, off the grid. It won't make any difference to the average suburban/urbanite. The great thing about the USPS was that it enabled anybody to live *anywhere* in the US, and still have a connection to the outside world. Soon, if you don't live within reach of a cable company's lines, it'll be very difficult to live a modern life.
But then again, most Americans are so short sighted, they won't consider this to be a problem.
Doesn't do anything on my phone. The "loading" bar just sits there loading, and no articles ever come up. Perhaps this was announced a bit prematurely...?
But what's a tablet, besides a giant cell phone that doesn't make calls,is much too large to fit in a pocket, and with terrible battery life, or a tiny, unwieldy, badly crippled laptop?
So what you're saying is the nature of the funding determines the quality of a venture? Not the product, not the experience of the people running it, the funding source.
Yes, that is what I'm saying. There are millions of businesses that have been successfully started without begging for money. I started mine with a credit card, and some personal loans. If you aren't willing to put your own personal assets on the line, and nobody else is willing to put their assets on the line, then yes, it's probably either a bad idea, or the people starting it are incompetent.
It's not a hand-out when you're getting something in return
That's normally called "selling" a product or service. Begging for money before there is a product or service and promising to deliver (maybe) is called a hand-out.
Unlike you educated business types.
It takes an extra low IQ to give money to people in exchange for a non-legally binding promise of goods or services. I'll invest in a startup, but only in exchange for interest or equity. Throwing money at strangers in exchange for nothing is not investing, and it's certainly not smart.
You enjoy seeing other people fail because they didn't sell their soul to a banker to finance a new idea. Gotcha.
Aaah, You have never started a business. If you ever had, then you'd know that banks don't give loans for startups. But, to be clear, I enjoy seeing these people fail because they generally give little to no consideration towards actually creating a viable business. I admire a person who starts a plumbing business. Or a gas station. Or a cleaning service. Or a restaurant. Or a manufacturing business. Those are all very, very difficult to do. To come up with some idea for some gadget,, beg strangers for money, and ignore the nuts and bolts of actually starting a company is easy.
Surprise, surprise. It was funded, at least in part, by Kickstarter. Kickstarter businesses, by definition, are almost always going to be the worst of the worst simply because of the nature of funding. The company founders couldn't borrow the money, they couldn't get anybody to invest, so they ultimately end up on Kickstarter, begging for handouts from the clueless general public. Of course, some Kickstarter projects are run by intelligent, capable people who use Kickstarter because some kind of principles that they may have, but the vast majority of the projects are there because the owners didn't have any other options.
Personally, I see it as a real karmic kick in the ass to the people starting these "projects" every time one falls over. Inevitably, they're people who think they've got the next idea for the next big Apple accessory, but they pooh-pooh the mundane details of engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution, all of which they look down their noses at (an attitude often espoused by Slashthink, too). As an actual business owner, that provides actual services for people, and deals with actual, physical products, I have to smile every time I see one of these holier-than-thou fools fall flat on their proverbial faces because they can't figure out the nuts and bolts of running a business.
Running a business is hard. It's very hard. Coming up with an idea for some new gee gaw is about 1% of the effort required to do something like this project. The other 99% is the fun, yet very difficult business-y stuff that these kinds of people try to ignore.
I have no interest in doing research to convince anybody that they should have some self respect. I run such a company, so I'm 100% positive they exist. If you choose to prostitute yourself out to an unscrupulous company for something as banal as a job, that's your problem. Either you get it, or you don't, and you clearly don't.
10 jobs? You dolt, it's company specific, not job specific. Nobody should work for a COMPANY that requires this kind of garbage. There are plenty of companies that don't treat their employees like cattle. If you're not intelligent enough to find one, then that's really your problem, not mine.
As an employer, I have to say that anybody stupid enough to work for a company that asks for credit information deserves what they get. The same goes for drug testing. If you're willing to sell your credit history and your personal health information for a job, then you're part of the problem.
How is this unexpected? Unlike Apple phones and Microsoft phones, Android are a mishmash of some open source stuff, and some carrier specific stuff. This is part of the reason that I, at least, went with a MS Phone, instead of an Android phone. It reminds me of Linux: the core of it may all be the same, but by the time you slap all kinds of custom stuff on top of it, every single version is essentially different from every other version, and compatibility goes down the drain. So of course the carriers are going to be very delayed in updating everything: they have to juggle multiple versions of "Android" phones, and each update has to be tested and customized for each version. There IS a downside to the wide amount of customization that Android allows. Apple and MS phones, on the other hand, are true walled gardens, so they're much easier to update.
Oh wow. You DO use your phone like a small computer. I run a medium sized business with mine, but I have a large collection of both desktops and laptops always near me, so I use those for everything else. I use almost all of the built-in features in the phone, and that really covers my needs (added the free MS PDF reader and a flashlight, and that's all I need).
In your particular case, I think that those apps will be coming soon for the Windows Phone. MS just cut off the Windows Phone 7 platform just recently (6 months ago), so lots of app developers obviously didn't bother doing anything else for it for a while. I think that now it's pretty obvious that MS is committed to Windows Phone 8, and maintaining compatibility from here on out for at least a good bit, so I think the app developers will continue to jump on board onto Windows Phone 8 in the near future. While I don't have the need for technical apps that you do on my phone, personally, I'm pretty confident that a similarly robust "app" environment for Windows Phone 8 is probably right around the corner, since MS has invested so much money into the new Windows Phones, and because quite honestly, I'm seeing people start to get really interested in the Windows Phone. Every time I pull mine out, I get lots of "ooohs" and "aaahs" from people who've seen the marketing, but have never seen one in action. They're pretty slick.
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Sure, you can replace a PS or HD for less than the annual savings, but what if something bigger than that goes out?
What's more expensive in modern computer than hard drives? I regularly get my PC's from thrift stores and throw hard drives in them. In my experience, the hard drives are the most expensive parts. Everything else is negligible.
Computer hardware is just about free. My home server was either a giveaway from a friend or a $10 box from a thrift store.Don't remember. Brand new 3 TB drives are only $160 right now.
Anybody paying any serious money for computer equipment in this day and age is just throwing away money. I run my house and my medium sized business all on thrift store or refurbished computers. I've never paid more than $50 for a desktop, $300 for a blade server (a nice Dell one with redundant power, redundant Ethernet, hardware RAID, and all of that good stuff), or $400 for a laptop (currently, running an i5 with a 17" screen and a TB HD). Buying new computer hardware is a much worse investment than buying even a new car.
With that being said, to people who buy new computer equipment: THANK YOU!
I understand that. I'm saying that from personal experience, being in The Database solely from owning a house doesn't have very much of a real world effect. I don't have credit cards, or work with banks or buy stuff online, so I can't tell what the trigger is that inundates most people with marketing garbage. With just a house, there's surprisingly little, even though, yes, of course one is in The Database.
Not true. The only contact I have with The Database is the house that I own, and it really doesn't do too much. Very occasionally, I'll get a piece of snail mail because of my house ownership, but that's really it. If you do no credit cards, no banks (credit unions), no online services, etc. then just owning a house doesn't really put you in The Database as much as one would think, considering it's public record.
What a fucking mess. I'm glad I still read actual books.
Hey kid, I've got a bridge to sell ya'....
from a large corporation standpoint, you can now get additional social data about your users from the facebook api (I know, this isn't necessarily an advantage for the end user and is best viewed as double edged).
For an individual, there's only one edge: a sharp one. Who in their right mind would want every company/web site to know all of the intimate details of what they're doing on every other web site? Isn't it obvious to people that by signing in with a Facebook ID to web sites, that not only does Facebook track everything done, but then sells that information to everybody else? That's how those extremely complete personal profiles are created about individuals in corporate databases that are then swapped and sold indefinitely. What benefit could this possibly have for individuals?
Is there a particular reason the submitter needs a brand, new laptop? The used PC market is massive. You can easily get a refurbished Intel i5 with Windows 7 for under $400.
With that being said, all of you people who buy new PC's all of the time: please keep doing so! Your purchases allow me to always have access to a strong, steady supply of very, very cheap computers. I don't remember paying more than $200 for a desktop, or $500 for a high end laptop in the last ten years, thanks to your generosity!
seamless:
Perfectly consistent: a seamless plot in the novel.
Exchange: The most widely used email/scheduling/office management server software on the planet: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/default.aspx
access: verb (used with object):
To make contact with or gain access to; be able to reach, approach, enter, etc.: ie: Bank customers can access their checking accounts instantly through the new electronic system.
Linux on the desktop fizzled not because I'd have to buy another version of Quickbooks in addition to the one that I already have. It failed because there's no Quickbooks to buy at all. There's a huge dearth of "apps" for desktop Linux. We're talking about some people having to re-purchase "apps" for their phones. Different scenario.
People do it every so often with all Apple hardware. People do it occasionally with Windows software. Platform specific applications aren't necessarily going to stop people from migrating to a different platform. Heck, I've got a Windows 8 Phone with almost no "apps" installed. Certainly, none that I've paid for. I'd consider switching if I needed a new phone. All of my important data is on my Exchange Server and my file server. It would take about one minute to re-sync my new phone.
It's a non-starter without seamless Exchange access. That's the #1 function of my phone. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Sure, old people will be upset. But so will the people who live waaay, waaay out, off the grid. It won't make any difference to the average suburban/urbanite. The great thing about the USPS was that it enabled anybody to live *anywhere* in the US, and still have a connection to the outside world. Soon, if you don't live within reach of a cable company's lines, it'll be very difficult to live a modern life.
But then again, most Americans are so short sighted, they won't consider this to be a problem.
Doesn't do anything on my phone. The "loading" bar just sits there loading, and no articles ever come up. Perhaps this was announced a bit prematurely...?
But what's a tablet, besides a giant cell phone that doesn't make calls,is much too large to fit in a pocket, and with terrible battery life, or a tiny, unwieldy, badly crippled laptop?
So what you're saying is the nature of the funding determines the quality of a venture? Not the product, not the experience of the people running it, the funding source.
Yes, that is what I'm saying. There are millions of businesses that have been successfully started without begging for money. I started mine with a credit card, and some personal loans. If you aren't willing to put your own personal assets on the line, and nobody else is willing to put their assets on the line, then yes, it's probably either a bad idea, or the people starting it are incompetent.
It's not a hand-out when you're getting something in return
That's normally called "selling" a product or service. Begging for money before there is a product or service and promising to deliver (maybe) is called a hand-out.
Unlike you educated business types.
It takes an extra low IQ to give money to people in exchange for a non-legally binding promise of goods or services. I'll invest in a startup, but only in exchange for interest or equity. Throwing money at strangers in exchange for nothing is not investing, and it's certainly not smart.
You enjoy seeing other people fail because they didn't sell their soul to a banker to finance a new idea. Gotcha.
Aaah, You have never started a business. If you ever had, then you'd know that banks don't give loans for startups. But, to be clear, I enjoy seeing these people fail because they generally give little to no consideration towards actually creating a viable business. I admire a person who starts a plumbing business. Or a gas station. Or a cleaning service. Or a restaurant. Or a manufacturing business. Those are all very, very difficult to do. To come up with some idea for some gadget,, beg strangers for money, and ignore the nuts and bolts of actually starting a company is easy.
Surprise, surprise. It was funded, at least in part, by Kickstarter. Kickstarter businesses, by definition, are almost always going to be the worst of the worst simply because of the nature of funding. The company founders couldn't borrow the money, they couldn't get anybody to invest, so they ultimately end up on Kickstarter, begging for handouts from the clueless general public. Of course, some Kickstarter projects are run by intelligent, capable people who use Kickstarter because some kind of principles that they may have, but the vast majority of the projects are there because the owners didn't have any other options.
Personally, I see it as a real karmic kick in the ass to the people starting these "projects" every time one falls over. Inevitably, they're people who think they've got the next idea for the next big Apple accessory, but they pooh-pooh the mundane details of engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution, all of which they look down their noses at (an attitude often espoused by Slashthink, too). As an actual business owner, that provides actual services for people, and deals with actual, physical products, I have to smile every time I see one of these holier-than-thou fools fall flat on their proverbial faces because they can't figure out the nuts and bolts of running a business.
Running a business is hard. It's very hard. Coming up with an idea for some new gee gaw is about 1% of the effort required to do something like this project. The other 99% is the fun, yet very difficult business-y stuff that these kinds of people try to ignore.
I have no interest in doing research to convince anybody that they should have some self respect. I run such a company, so I'm 100% positive they exist. If you choose to prostitute yourself out to an unscrupulous company for something as banal as a job, that's your problem. Either you get it, or you don't, and you clearly don't.
10 jobs? You dolt, it's company specific, not job specific. Nobody should work for a COMPANY that requires this kind of garbage. There are plenty of companies that don't treat their employees like cattle. If you're not intelligent enough to find one, then that's really your problem, not mine.
If a potential employer or anybody else asked what I made in a previous position, my response would be, "None of your fucking business".
Salary information does pertain rather directly to ability to pay off debt.
So what? What does that have to do with employment? Since when is it any employer's business as to how much employees are in debt?
No law is needed. Apply for a job that doesn't ask for/share all of this information. Very simple.
As an employer, I have to say that anybody stupid enough to work for a company that asks for credit information deserves what they get. The same goes for drug testing. If you're willing to sell your credit history and your personal health information for a job, then you're part of the problem.
How is this unexpected? Unlike Apple phones and Microsoft phones, Android are a mishmash of some open source stuff, and some carrier specific stuff. This is part of the reason that I, at least, went with a MS Phone, instead of an Android phone. It reminds me of Linux: the core of it may all be the same, but by the time you slap all kinds of custom stuff on top of it, every single version is essentially different from every other version, and compatibility goes down the drain. So of course the carriers are going to be very delayed in updating everything: they have to juggle multiple versions of "Android" phones, and each update has to be tested and customized for each version. There IS a downside to the wide amount of customization that Android allows. Apple and MS phones, on the other hand, are true walled gardens, so they're much easier to update.
Oh wow. You DO use your phone like a small computer. I run a medium sized business with mine, but I have a large collection of both desktops and laptops always near me, so I use those for everything else. I use almost all of the built-in features in the phone, and that really covers my needs (added the free MS PDF reader and a flashlight, and that's all I need).
In your particular case, I think that those apps will be coming soon for the Windows Phone. MS just cut off the Windows Phone 7 platform just recently (6 months ago), so lots of app developers obviously didn't bother doing anything else for it for a while. I think that now it's pretty obvious that MS is committed to Windows Phone 8, and maintaining compatibility from here on out for at least a good bit, so I think the app developers will continue to jump on board onto Windows Phone 8 in the near future. While I don't have the need for technical apps that you do on my phone, personally, I'm pretty confident that a similarly robust "app" environment for Windows Phone 8 is probably right around the corner, since MS has invested so much money into the new Windows Phones, and because quite honestly, I'm seeing people start to get really interested in the Windows Phone. Every time I pull mine out, I get lots of "ooohs" and "aaahs" from people who've seen the marketing, but have never seen one in action. They're pretty slick.