I don't hate Microsoft for being on top. I hate them for being on top, while pushing an inferior product than the market would produce in their absence, on all of us.
You have no way of knowing this. In fact, I'd disagree completely. If not for MS, somebody else would be making cheap, consumer-grade software that worked "well enough" for most people. While none of these things are perfect, or the best on the market, I buy software, cars, major appliances, clothes, and many other things that are "good enough" without being the best on the market. I do this because they're... welll... "good enough".
However, I detest Microsoft for virtually eliminating the consumer's ability to buy better.
The consumer has done this. This is like blaming Wal-Mart for being Wal-Mart. They wouldn't exist if the overwhelming of all consumers didn't want them to. People are aware of alternatives, but they continue to actively choose MS products, by and large. MS hasn't virtually eliminated the consumer's ability to buy anything. Heck, people are giving away free software. There are plenty of alternatives out there, but people choose MS.
No, Ethernet isn't going anywhere, especially for "mom-and-pop" businesses. Why? If you have a small retail store with two cash registers, and your wireless connection acts up, you have -zero- income until it's fixed. That's pretty mission critical.
On the other hand, if you're IBM, and some of your wireless goes flaky, IBM isn't going to shut down. A lot of people will be inconvenienced, but very few parts of a giant corporation are mission critical. If anything, I'd expect to see wireless at big businesses, where there's a ton of redundancy already (again, IBM is a prime example).
Small businesses' computer systems are much more critical, so I can't imagine any successful small business using wireless anytime in the near future. I know that mine isn't!
Well, if you have to buy new hardware, then you're quickly eating away at any potential cost savings that *nix may provide most users. When I buy PC's for my business, I don't even look at the hardware inside. It always works (I use Windows XP), so I can get away with buying $50 PC's from the thrift shop. I know the reasons are complicated, but the fact is that buying special name-brand hardware takes both time and money.
In all seriousness... who cares? We'll all be buying multi-format drives anyway. The only people this effects are the early adopters. Case in point: I don't care if I use CD-R or CD+R or DVD-R or DVD+R disks. Remember that big controversy, everybody? Where is that controversy today? Exactly. Yawn.
Too bad it's done by Amazon. It's an absolutely fantastic idea, and a really new technology application (getting the public to scan pictures). Unfortunately, I don't have, and won't have an Amazon ID due to their continued promotion of dog fighting
If Slashdot had even a shred of interest in maintaining and kind of credibility, they'd note that the "article" that they're linking to is at linux.com. Both are owned by Sourceforge, Inc. (Formerly VA Linux, then OSDN, now Sourceforge). This is nothing but a cheap way to earn more pageviews.
Your friend is an idiot, and he has deliberately harassed people during an online event. Thats what it means. It doesnt matter whether it is allowed by that game's rules or not - it is an uncivil act. If you need an analogy, there are still countries/cultures in the world that allows you go eye for en eye -> you can legally kill someone who accidentally dropped a brick on one of your close relative's head killing him/her.
And I agree. I hope that the friend who did this, one day hopes to have an imaginary wedding ceremony, and has it ruined by somebody else. This kind of a person would probably get a kick out of getting hacked to pieces at his own pretend wedding. I know I would.
You're missing half of the equation. Not only are your fanatical customers even more fanatical now, but you've also got those customers buying more crap, and needing more accessories, etc. $100 in an Apple store won't buy you much. Apple is going to make even MORE profit on every one of those people who gets a $100 credit. Guaranteed.
It's a smart thing for Apple to do. Their customers have more money than they have sense. It's a win-win for Apple.
TV makes people dumb in lots of different ways. This really isn't surprising. What is really interesting how relatively recently TV used to be a ubiquitous thing that a large majority of people consumed, and today there are large percentages of intelligent people simply dumping TV altogether. In another 10 years, TV (broadcast, cable, etc.) viewers will probably be even more disproportionately uneducated compared to the rest of the population.
He's an idiot, as is everyone else who shops there. Go ahead, mod me down, but it's true. If you're willing to hand some goon your receipt to prove you haven't stolen anything when leaving the store, and you still shop there, then you are an idiot, and you are part of the problem. I don't give a shit about "low, low prices" or "convenience". Everybody reading this who shops there is a moron, because you value money (and the crap your money can buy you) over your own self respect (which you cannot purchase, but you can gladly throw away in a Big Box store like this).
There are a lot of dumb people out there, and statistically speaking, you're probably one of them.
Let me be the first to welcome Linux to 1995, when Windows 95 was first introduced with a "safe mode" for graphics problems. Let's hope that in another 12 years, Linux will have caught up to Windows XP.
That's simple. Power outages: a data center has redundancy and generators. Any small business can't afford that. I don't know anything about Windows Genuine Advantage, or what that has to do with "software as a service". And as far as data goes, ISP's aren't going to snoop into their customer's data. That would result in a massive lawsuit, even from a small business. That would be the equivalent of not trusting a hospital because they might give your health data over to your insurance company. I can't imagine that happening on any kind of large scale because the liability for the ISP would be huge.
Even more so, I amazed that consumers largely don't care.
Well, you are saying that your prices have not dropped, yet you still use it. Congratulations on being one of those consumers who while maybe care, still continue to pay for a service you're not happy with. That's the way to stick it to the "greedy corporations!". Keep paying them for a service you're not happy with. I'm sure that they take extra time to read your angry letters to them... right after they get finished cashing your check every month.
You say that "most people don't need wi-fi to survive". Actually, I'd say that nobody needs wi-fi to survive. In fact, wi-fi is really useless for anything important. There's simply no reason that our government should get into the business of becoming ISP's.
This whole "press release" was laughable both in idea, and in specifics (the lack thereof). The FSF is saber rattling over absolutely nothing, and they look ridiculous as a result. I can't imagine that anybody at Microsoft (or any other company) takes the FSF seriously.
I'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. Small retail stores can't afford dedicated IT guys. That's not how businesses work. An IT contract with somebody like Red Hat doesn't handle power outages. It doesn't handle back-ups. It doesn't handle hardware failures.
Software as a service is incredibly useful to smaller enterprises (like mine) that don't have the manpower, money and/or expertise to maintain our own servers. Mission-critical software isn't as simple as 1. install on computer 2. use software. There's uptime to worry about, backups, security, etc. For smaller businesses, it most certainly makes sense to farm this out to experts and take advantage of specialization of labor in terms of cost cost and skill.
At this point in time, software is as complicated and as important to some businesses as say, vehicles are. Only the very largest of companies have their own in-house garage and mechanics to take care of their own vehicles.
That Microsoft has no shame in deploying such an obvious, self-serving tactic of essentially buying their way into being elected as an international standard. It may be 'legal' but it's unethical and definitely not right.
Hang on for a second here. You're assuming that this "international standard" is worth the paper it's written on. It's clearly not if all it takes is $2500 to "vote".
If this "vote" was truly important to MS from a strategic standpoint, then it was MS's moral obligation to it's owners to buy it's way into this organization and sway the decision making.
Your assumptions that A. This is an important decision and B. This is a respected organization C. That MS should not actively promote their own products are all either wrong, or completely unsubstantiated, as far as I can tell.
If you don't like this particular move, you can also buy a vote. You can buy as many votes as you'd like to influence MS's decision making process. As I type this, each vote only costs $28.36. Good luck with your "voting"!
OEMs such as System76, Emperor Linux and Linux Certified are not interested in going this route, as they left the choice of using restricted codecs up to the end user.
These guys sell machines that don't play MP3's out of the box? Maybe that's why I've never heard of them. Welcome to 1992!
Slashdot Mirror
I don't hate Microsoft for being on top. I hate them for being on top, while pushing an inferior product than the market would produce in their absence, on all of us.
You have no way of knowing this. In fact, I'd disagree completely. If not for MS, somebody else would be making cheap, consumer-grade software that worked "well enough" for most people. While none of these things are perfect, or the best on the market, I buy software, cars, major appliances, clothes, and many other things that are "good enough" without being the best on the market. I do this because they're... welll... "good enough".
However, I detest Microsoft for virtually eliminating the consumer's ability to buy better.
The consumer has done this. This is like blaming Wal-Mart for being Wal-Mart. They wouldn't exist if the overwhelming of all consumers didn't want them to. People are aware of alternatives, but they continue to actively choose MS products, by and large. MS hasn't virtually eliminated the consumer's ability to buy anything. Heck, people are giving away free software. There are plenty of alternatives out there, but people choose MS.
No, Ethernet isn't going anywhere, especially for "mom-and-pop" businesses. Why? If you have a small retail store with two cash registers, and your wireless connection acts up, you have -zero- income until it's fixed. That's pretty mission critical. On the other hand, if you're IBM, and some of your wireless goes flaky, IBM isn't going to shut down. A lot of people will be inconvenienced, but very few parts of a giant corporation are mission critical. If anything, I'd expect to see wireless at big businesses, where there's a ton of redundancy already (again, IBM is a prime example). Small businesses' computer systems are much more critical, so I can't imagine any successful small business using wireless anytime in the near future. I know that mine isn't!
I'm sure we can trust Linux.com for a good, balanced review.
That's especially true when you remember that Slashdot.org and Linux.com are the same company.
Well, if you have to buy new hardware, then you're quickly eating away at any potential cost savings that *nix may provide most users. When I buy PC's for my business, I don't even look at the hardware inside. It always works (I use Windows XP), so I can get away with buying $50 PC's from the thrift shop. I know the reasons are complicated, but the fact is that buying special name-brand hardware takes both time and money.
In all seriousness... who cares? We'll all be buying multi-format drives anyway. The only people this effects are the early adopters. Case in point: I don't care if I use CD-R or CD+R or DVD-R or DVD+R disks. Remember that big controversy, everybody? Where is that controversy today? Exactly. Yawn.
That's what I thought. Honestly, who still watches TV?
I can't believe it. An interesting post. Two great links to two interesting subjects. Wow. Weird.
Too bad it's done by Amazon. It's an absolutely fantastic idea, and a really new technology application (getting the public to scan pictures). Unfortunately, I don't have, and won't have an Amazon ID due to their continued promotion of dog fighting
Fuck you, Amazon.
If Slashdot had even a shred of interest in maintaining and kind of credibility, they'd note that the "article" that they're linking to is at linux.com. Both are owned by Sourceforge, Inc. (Formerly VA Linux, then OSDN, now Sourceforge). This is nothing but a cheap way to earn more pageviews.
Your friend is an idiot, and he has deliberately harassed people during an online event. Thats what it means. It doesnt matter whether it is allowed by that game's rules or not - it is an uncivil act. If you need an analogy, there are still countries/cultures in the world that allows you go eye for en eye -> you can legally kill someone who accidentally dropped a brick on one of your close relative's head killing him/her.
And I agree. I hope that the friend who did this, one day hopes to have an imaginary wedding ceremony, and has it ruined by somebody else. This kind of a person would probably get a kick out of getting hacked to pieces at his own pretend wedding. I know I would.
You're missing half of the equation. Not only are your fanatical customers even more fanatical now, but you've also got those customers buying more crap, and needing more accessories, etc. $100 in an Apple store won't buy you much. Apple is going to make even MORE profit on every one of those people who gets a $100 credit. Guaranteed.
It's a smart thing for Apple to do. Their customers have more money than they have sense. It's a win-win for Apple.
You attempted to get a non-existent file. Do you have a point, or are you part of a "million monkeys on a million typewriters" experiment?
TV makes people dumb in lots of different ways. This really isn't surprising. What is really interesting how relatively recently TV used to be a ubiquitous thing that a large majority of people consumed, and today there are large percentages of intelligent people simply dumping TV altogether. In another 10 years, TV (broadcast, cable, etc.) viewers will probably be even more disproportionately uneducated compared to the rest of the population.
He's an idiot, as is everyone else who shops there. Go ahead, mod me down, but it's true. If you're willing to hand some goon your receipt to prove you haven't stolen anything when leaving the store, and you still shop there, then you are an idiot, and you are part of the problem. I don't give a shit about "low, low prices" or "convenience". Everybody reading this who shops there is a moron, because you value money (and the crap your money can buy you) over your own self respect (which you cannot purchase, but you can gladly throw away in a Big Box store like this).
There are a lot of dumb people out there, and statistically speaking, you're probably one of them.
Let me be the first to welcome Linux to 1995, when Windows 95 was first introduced with a "safe mode" for graphics problems. Let's hope that in another 12 years, Linux will have caught up to Windows XP.
That's simple. Power outages: a data center has redundancy and generators. Any small business can't afford that. I don't know anything about Windows Genuine Advantage, or what that has to do with "software as a service". And as far as data goes, ISP's aren't going to snoop into their customer's data. That would result in a massive lawsuit, even from a small business. That would be the equivalent of not trusting a hospital because they might give your health data over to your insurance company. I can't imagine that happening on any kind of large scale because the liability for the ISP would be huge.
Even more so, I amazed that consumers largely don't care.
Well, you are saying that your prices have not dropped, yet you still use it. Congratulations on being one of those consumers who while maybe care, still continue to pay for a service you're not happy with. That's the way to stick it to the "greedy corporations!". Keep paying them for a service you're not happy with. I'm sure that they take extra time to read your angry letters to them... right after they get finished cashing your check every month.
You say that "most people don't need wi-fi to survive". Actually, I'd say that nobody needs wi-fi to survive. In fact, wi-fi is really useless for anything important. There's simply no reason that our government should get into the business of becoming ISP's.
This whole "press release" was laughable both in idea, and in specifics (the lack thereof). The FSF is saber rattling over absolutely nothing, and they look ridiculous as a result. I can't imagine that anybody at Microsoft (or any other company) takes the FSF seriously.
I'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. Small retail stores can't afford dedicated IT guys. That's not how businesses work. An IT contract with somebody like Red Hat doesn't handle power outages. It doesn't handle back-ups. It doesn't handle hardware failures.
Software as a service is incredibly useful to smaller enterprises (like mine) that don't have the manpower, money and/or expertise to maintain our own servers. Mission-critical software isn't as simple as 1. install on computer 2. use software. There's uptime to worry about, backups, security, etc. For smaller businesses, it most certainly makes sense to farm this out to experts and take advantage of specialization of labor in terms of cost cost and skill.
At this point in time, software is as complicated and as important to some businesses as say, vehicles are. Only the very largest of companies have their own in-house garage and mechanics to take care of their own vehicles.
That's a heck of an argument. I also see broadband as a luxury. It's not in any way necessary for modern life. It's about as necessary as cable TV.
We really need to get on our horses and make country wide broadband and wifi (to a lesser extend wifi) an imperitive.
Why?
That Microsoft has no shame in deploying such an obvious, self-serving tactic of essentially buying their way into being elected as an international standard. It may be 'legal' but it's unethical and definitely not right.
Hang on for a second here. You're assuming that this "international standard" is worth the paper it's written on. It's clearly not if all it takes is $2500 to "vote".
If this "vote" was truly important to MS from a strategic standpoint, then it was MS's moral obligation to it's owners to buy it's way into this organization and sway the decision making.
Your assumptions that A. This is an important decision and B. This is a respected organization C. That MS should not actively promote their own products are all either wrong, or completely unsubstantiated, as far as I can tell.
If you don't like this particular move, you can also buy a vote. You can buy as many votes as you'd like to influence MS's decision making process. As I type this, each vote only costs $28.36. Good luck with your "voting"!
OEMs such as System76, Emperor Linux and Linux Certified are not interested in going this route, as they left the choice of using restricted codecs up to the end user.
These guys sell machines that don't play MP3's out of the box? Maybe that's why I've never heard of them. Welcome to 1992!