It's not BS. There are plenty of people using un-surveyable means of downloading entire albums, say, via IRC/Bit Torrent, anonymous FTP sites, straight IRC DCC's, etc. Personally, I don't like the way that Apple does business, so if I were to buy music online, it'd be through Yahoo.
Duh! You just summarized why they hit up students for free code: They're cheap! $4500 to a college kid going to a state school that his parents paid for is a *mint*. That's heavy drugs for a semester, or tuition if they have to pay their own way. That's the whole point. That's why companies fire experienced workers and hire young students: they're cheap and naive. $4500 wouldn't get me to even comment an open source program, never mind develop one.
It's very simple. Students are simply cheap labor. Google is spending a tiny bit of cash with the hopes that they'll get some very, very cheap code. Most grown-ups (ie: non-students) simply can't afford to develop open source software unless they are independently wealthy.
That's great for you, but you're not in the majority. The browser wars will ocne again be determined by populartiy, which is determined by prettiness, features, etc. Most people don't really care about security, and only developers (and other related uber-geeks) care about standards compliance.
start with an OSS retail package (there are many, many of them out there)
My point exactly. I've looked at all of them. They all suck compared to traditional, proprietary packages. Not a single one has the feature list I'm looking for. And who's going to make these changes to a lackluster OSS solution? Me? No, I have a business to run. Do I pay a developer $50-$100/hour? Why would I when I can spend a lot less, and get exactly what I need? You still haven't provided a real reason to back up what you're saying. WHY should I spend so much more when I can go down to Staples and buy what I need and have it running in 30 minutes? Are you under the false assumption that every company out there is swimming in cash?
it shouldn't be more expensive (even though, in the past, it has been). and the point of this article is that, in fact, software is getting easier, or else there wouldn't be so much open source software supplanting 'old-school solutions' in the first place...
OK, I run a retail store. Are you suggesting that, instead of buying a working POS solution for about $800/workstation, that I should make my own? You can't really be serious...
if your business is selling pigs, and you need software to control the sale of those pigs, it is far better for you to have your own, purpose-built, customized software for the selling of pigs, than it is to 'copy someone elses model'.
Why?
it shouldn't be more expensive (even though, in the past, it has been). and the point of this article is that, in fact, software is getting easier, or else there wouldn't be so much open source software supplanting 'old-school solutions' in the first place...
Fine. Who do I contact to write a point of sale system that handles inventory, purchase orders, vouchers, printing tags (multiple formats), printing receipts (multiple formats), supports all major POS software, has integrated credit card processing, tracks customer purchases, and seamlessly transfers data to/from Quickbooks for $2400 (we have 3 workstations)?
Why spend thousands of dollars on proprietary software when you can get an open source project for free that you can modify to your heart's content?
This small company has been waiting for a working open source accounting package for a loooong time. I mean, there's not even a Quickbooks alternative, and you can buy that in Wal-Mart. Open source for businesses still has a long way to go.
Do it Yourself. This is the keystone for future business success.
You don't run a business, do you? Any business person can tell you that this is 100% wrong. You should only design your own software if 1. Your needs can't be filled by off-the-shelf stuff 2. There's some kind of value or competitive advantage to doing it yourself 3. You can afford it.
Unless you're a software company, software is just a tool like any others. You may as well have said that the only way to success in any business is to build your own trucks instead of simply bying them.
Great articles. No sales numbers. No real explination given. Just lots of guesses and assumptions my some guy. I'm impressed. About all I've learned is that Siebel's licensing revenue is down. That, and it's written by a guy whose job is to sell software to big companies. Wow.
Personally, I've sworn off all wireless products until they quite simply quit sucking. In my mind, any lack of functionality of my mouse or a keyboard feels like a throwback to 1970, and is completely unacceptable. I'm constantly looking for a better keyboard/mouse that can keep up with me. Any input device that drops ANY data is again, 100% unacceptable. I personally stick with the old IBM, wicked heavy, clicky-click keyboards, and optical (wired) mice.
The last thing I need is one more thing that can break, and I guess that's what it comes down to. These technologies are still entirely too new, and too buggy. I want *MORE* reliability, not less. PC's are problem-prone enough without having to worry if the lowest-tech, simplest piece of my system (the keyboard) is working properly.
Exactly. It's in place. Everybody who has had data stolen should sue their banks. A bank that I just got a mortgage through sold my information, even though I explicity told them not to. Hence, I'm suing them. It's very simple, actually.
I would say Firefox. 3/4 of our machines were FUBAR'ed with the lastest Firefox update. I'm not the only one. IE at least still works. Firefox is DOA (was DOA until I had to remove it from all of our machines). Check the Firefox message boards. The latest release doesn't even *launch* successfully on many machines. I'd much rather have security problems than a browser which doesn't launch, and instead sits and chews up resources behind the scene.
I would, but version 1.0.4 is so full of bugs, that it doesn't even launch on most of our business machines. In fact, I had to take several hours yesterday to remove Firefox from all of our machines, and re-enable IE. We'll try Firefox again in about 6 months, after they've got it working again. But this was a major blow to their credibility (at least in my eyes as a business owner). They released a product, quite simply, without testing it. Check out the Firefox message boards. They're *filled* with big nasty bugs. But as far as security goes, it's *great* now! There's no Internet access whatsoever, making it 100% secure!
The *first* thing these teams need to do is fix bugs! I've never seen a bug-free installation of any flavor of Linux (assuming the installation works at all), and most of those bugs are GUI related. Usability should be right up there, but after bug fixes. Personally, I think that the KDE and Gnome teams should work on 1. Fixing bugs 2. Usability and THEN 3. New features. Usability isn't particulaly useful if the basics still don't work properly.
Well, Apple has a long history of charging for every minor OS release, and the Apple zealots just keep opening their wallets. I wouldn't worry about Apple. They could come out with an iPod that's identical in functionality, but is called "iPod2", and you'd have people waiting in lines outside of their stores. Apple has got their customers hooked in a way that other companies only dream about.
I actually use my keyboard as much as possible to get around Windows, so I was surprised when I learned about Win+D from your post! Thanks for the info! It doesn't help with all keyboards of course (I have several of those old IBM clicky-clicky keyboards), but it's great for the newer ones!
Ok, so if people don't want it, why do people spend billions of dollars a year buying it? I've bought plenty of MS software (and our business is about to spend a lot on some more specialized software from them), and I've never done it under duress. It's been voluntary every time. Never once has somebody held a gun to my head, forcing me to buy a MS product.
Duh. Of course. Do I really need to provide a list? Can't anybody here on/. think for half a second and come up with one or two OSS projects sponsored by corporations where the code and goals are "harmonized" as the questioner puts it?
Yeah, I'd like to hear about one or two projects like that. I'm not aware of any.
Oh, please. It's a computer, not a nuclear bomb. Are you also suggesting that automobile owners (an auto is actually something dangerous... a computer isn't dangerous) also not be allowed to drive unless they understand the innermost workings of their car engine? PC's by and large, help people get work done. They work.
What's your problem, exactly? Do you just have some kind of intellectual bug up your ass because you feel in some grand scheme of thing that people should know what's going on? Well, I agree. In a perfect world, where people don't have to work for a living, or eat, or clothe themselves, sure, we'd have all kinds of intellectualism and academia. Absolutely. But unfortuantely, Ivory Tower idealism doesn't work in the real world.
Lest I remind everyone that if it werent for Gates and Baller , and ultimately all the developers at MS , that we wouldnt have malware, adware, and a large bevy of the numbers of viruses that exist.
Yeah, you also wouldn't have easy to use PC's, either, so there'd be nothing to hack, so yes, I think you're exactly right.
They are losing their sustainable competative advantage and losing their market domination cannot be too far off.
Thanks for your detailed financial and business analysis. I'll pass this on to Mr. Buffett. I'm sure he'll be interested in such a fantastic business analysis from someone as knowledgeable and as experiences as "Claire-plus-plus".
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It's not BS. There are plenty of people using un-surveyable means of downloading entire albums, say, via IRC/Bit Torrent, anonymous FTP sites, straight IRC DCC's, etc. Personally, I don't like the way that Apple does business, so if I were to buy music online, it'd be through Yahoo.
Duh! You just summarized why they hit up students for free code: They're cheap! $4500 to a college kid going to a state school that his parents paid for is a *mint*. That's heavy drugs for a semester, or tuition if they have to pay their own way. That's the whole point. That's why companies fire experienced workers and hire young students: they're cheap and naive. $4500 wouldn't get me to even comment an open source program, never mind develop one.
It's very simple. Students are simply cheap labor. Google is spending a tiny bit of cash with the hopes that they'll get some very, very cheap code. Most grown-ups (ie: non-students) simply can't afford to develop open source software unless they are independently wealthy.
That's great for you, but you're not in the majority. The browser wars will ocne again be determined by populartiy, which is determined by prettiness, features, etc. Most people don't really care about security, and only developers (and other related uber-geeks) care about standards compliance.
sql-ledger?
Nope. It doesn't do payroll.
start with an OSS retail package (there are many, many of them out there)
My point exactly. I've looked at all of them. They all suck compared to traditional, proprietary packages. Not a single one has the feature list I'm looking for. And who's going to make these changes to a lackluster OSS solution? Me? No, I have a business to run. Do I pay a developer $50-$100/hour? Why would I when I can spend a lot less, and get exactly what I need? You still haven't provided a real reason to back up what you're saying. WHY should I spend so much more when I can go down to Staples and buy what I need and have it running in 30 minutes? Are you under the false assumption that every company out there is swimming in cash?
it shouldn't be more expensive (even though, in the past, it has been). and the point of this article is that, in fact, software is getting easier, or else there wouldn't be so much open source software supplanting 'old-school solutions' in the first place ...
...
OK, I run a retail store. Are you suggesting that, instead of buying a working POS solution for about $800/workstation, that I should make my own? You can't really be serious...
if your business is selling pigs, and you need software to control the sale of those pigs, it is far better for you to have your own, purpose-built, customized software for the selling of pigs, than it is to 'copy someone elses model'.
Why?
it shouldn't be more expensive (even though, in the past, it has been). and the point of this article is that, in fact, software is getting easier, or else there wouldn't be so much open source software supplanting 'old-school solutions' in the first place
Fine. Who do I contact to write a point of sale system that handles inventory, purchase orders, vouchers, printing tags (multiple formats), printing receipts (multiple formats), supports all major POS software, has integrated credit card processing, tracks customer purchases, and seamlessly transfers data to/from Quickbooks for $2400 (we have 3 workstations)?
Why spend thousands of dollars on proprietary software when you can get an open source project for free that you can modify to your heart's content?
This small company has been waiting for a working open source accounting package for a loooong time. I mean, there's not even a Quickbooks alternative, and you can buy that in Wal-Mart. Open source for businesses still has a long way to go.
Do it Yourself. This is the keystone for future business success.
You don't run a business, do you? Any business person can tell you that this is 100% wrong. You should only design your own software if 1. Your needs can't be filled by off-the-shelf stuff 2. There's some kind of value or competitive advantage to doing it yourself 3. You can afford it.
Unless you're a software company, software is just a tool like any others. You may as well have said that the only way to success in any business is to build your own trucks instead of simply bying them.
Great articles. No sales numbers. No real explination given. Just lots of guesses and assumptions my some guy. I'm impressed. About all I've learned is that Siebel's licensing revenue is down. That, and it's written by a guy whose job is to sell software to big companies. Wow.
Personally, I've sworn off all wireless products until they quite simply quit sucking. In my mind, any lack of functionality of my mouse or a keyboard feels like a throwback to 1970, and is completely unacceptable. I'm constantly looking for a better keyboard/mouse that can keep up with me. Any input device that drops ANY data is again, 100% unacceptable. I personally stick with the old IBM, wicked heavy, clicky-click keyboards, and optical (wired) mice.
The last thing I need is one more thing that can break, and I guess that's what it comes down to. These technologies are still entirely too new, and too buggy. I want *MORE* reliability, not less. PC's are problem-prone enough without having to worry if the lowest-tech, simplest piece of my system (the keyboard) is working properly.
Exactly. It's in place. Everybody who has had data stolen should sue their banks. A bank that I just got a mortgage through sold my information, even though I explicity told them not to. Hence, I'm suing them. It's very simple, actually.
it is in the very nature of a hacker not to care what ignorant people think.
It's also in the very nature of a hacker to know *everything* and to be a pompous ass that nobody listens to, anyway.
DX9? 2 letters and 1 digit that sums up somewhat 90% of what Windows users use and can't do without. Games.
Actually, we can't do without a functioning OS and critical business applications, which is why Linux is not an option for us.
Do tell, where does the spotlight belong?
I would say Firefox. 3/4 of our machines were FUBAR'ed with the lastest Firefox update. I'm not the only one. IE at least still works. Firefox is DOA (was DOA until I had to remove it from all of our machines). Check the Firefox message boards. The latest release doesn't even *launch* successfully on many machines. I'd much rather have security problems than a browser which doesn't launch, and instead sits and chews up resources behind the scene.
I would, but version 1.0.4 is so full of bugs, that it doesn't even launch on most of our business machines. In fact, I had to take several hours yesterday to remove Firefox from all of our machines, and re-enable IE. We'll try Firefox again in about 6 months, after they've got it working again. But this was a major blow to their credibility (at least in my eyes as a business owner). They released a product, quite simply, without testing it. Check out the Firefox message boards. They're *filled* with big nasty bugs. But as far as security goes, it's *great* now! There's no Internet access whatsoever, making it 100% secure!
The *first* thing these teams need to do is fix bugs! I've never seen a bug-free installation of any flavor of Linux (assuming the installation works at all), and most of those bugs are GUI related. Usability should be right up there, but after bug fixes. Personally, I think that the KDE and Gnome teams should work on 1. Fixing bugs 2. Usability and THEN 3. New features. Usability isn't particulaly useful if the basics still don't work properly.
Well, Apple has a long history of charging for every minor OS release, and the Apple zealots just keep opening their wallets. I wouldn't worry about Apple. They could come out with an iPod that's identical in functionality, but is called "iPod2", and you'd have people waiting in lines outside of their stores. Apple has got their customers hooked in a way that other companies only dream about.
I actually use my keyboard as much as possible to get around Windows, so I was surprised when I learned about Win+D from your post! Thanks for the info! It doesn't help with all keyboards of course (I have several of those old IBM clicky-clicky keyboards), but it's great for the newer ones!
Ok, so if people don't want it, why do people spend billions of dollars a year buying it? I've bought plenty of MS software (and our business is about to spend a lot on some more specialized software from them), and I've never done it under duress. It's been voluntary every time. Never once has somebody held a gun to my head, forcing me to buy a MS product.
Duh. Of course. Do I really need to provide a list? Can't anybody here on /. think for half a second and come up with one or two OSS projects sponsored by corporations where the code and goals are "harmonized" as the questioner puts it?
Yeah, I'd like to hear about one or two projects like that. I'm not aware of any.
and most of those Oh So Very Big They Can't Fail companies are no longer with us.
Like which ones?
Oh, please. It's a computer, not a nuclear bomb. Are you also suggesting that automobile owners (an auto is actually something dangerous... a computer isn't dangerous) also not be allowed to drive unless they understand the innermost workings of their car engine? PC's by and large, help people get work done. They work.
What's your problem, exactly? Do you just have some kind of intellectual bug up your ass because you feel in some grand scheme of thing that people should know what's going on? Well, I agree. In a perfect world, where people don't have to work for a living, or eat, or clothe themselves, sure, we'd have all kinds of intellectualism and academia. Absolutely. But unfortuantely, Ivory Tower idealism doesn't work in the real world.
Lest I remind everyone that if it werent for Gates and Baller , and ultimately all the developers at MS , that we wouldnt have malware, adware, and a large bevy of the numbers of viruses that exist.
Yeah, you also wouldn't have easy to use PC's, either, so there'd be nothing to hack, so yes, I think you're exactly right.
They are losing their sustainable competative advantage and losing their market domination cannot be too far off.
Thanks for your detailed financial and business analysis. I'll pass this on to Mr. Buffett. I'm sure he'll be interested in such a fantastic business analysis from someone as knowledgeable and as experiences as "Claire-plus-plus".