But in the meantime, Firefox will continue to get better and MS won't catch up with new features in further versions of Firefox until IE8 which, based on the current release cycle, shouldn't be out for quite a long time. Until then, nerds will continue to convert their relatives and friends, who will in turn convert even more average people. In the end, Microsoft will be screwed.
The bottom line is that the open source development model works too well. New features that users will love can be implemented in an open source project much too fast for Microsoft to ever catch up.
The good thing is that as good as added tons of new stuff over years the front page has not been jammed full of adds and paid links.
Well when they've got an ad network as large as they do, they make enough money that they don't have to worry about cluttering their own pages with too many ads. Besides, Google's simple interface is probably the main appeal for the majority of their users.
But, based on assumptions about those who probably attended DigitalLife, that's still only marketing to nerds. Which brings to mind another interesting question: How can Google market their services to the average consumer? I suppose they could advertise for them on their homepage, but they probably wouldn't want to clutter that up since its simplicity is probably one of the reasons that Google became so popular with average computer users.
Google is providing all of these services, but only nerds know about them. When is Google going to start marketing for the average computer user in an effort to make all of their services as popular as their search engine? Are they waiting until they can offer a full portal with everything you could possibly want in your own Google homepage?
The thing that sucks is that there is no update button in Firefox 1.0. Well, there is, but it only updates the Extensions when I run it. That could lead the average user to believe that they have already updated their browser. Will this be fixed in Firefox 1.1? Or should I file it?
It looks like they are aware of these problems and are working on them.
But it's still misleading to say "only 200 lines of Python" when really all of the module imports add up to thousands of lines. This isn't a downside of course, but such a description makes the program sound simpler than it is.
Wikipedia has a danger of being (or at least becoming) extremely biased, not necessarily for ideological reasons, but through simply through public ignorance.
The problem with this argument is that ignorance breeds indifference. The majority of ignorant people will approach the Wikipedia's open-content system with an attitude of indifference. It is because of this that the majority of article edits are made by those who are informed about the topic at hand, resulting in a net positive change in quality.
What I don't understand is what the graphics card manufacturers think they have to gain by keeping their drivers closed source. The support of the F/OSS community could do nothing but improve their drivers, which could benefit not only their customers using Linux, but also their customers using other OSes.
So, if M$ patents everything it can get its hands on, what innovations would it stop?
This, IMHO, is the reason that M$'s lack of innovation is a good thing. Although I'm sure they have their fair share of patents that might not be justified, imagine if M$ somehow obtained a patent for IE... We would all be slaves to their browser! Imagine the humiliation!
No, the way M$ will secure its market share will be by one-upping Firefox with a certain "delicious delicacies" text! The Mozilla people will have to add it back in to keep up with the competition!
My school district has been trying to apply this (or some study like it) to the standardized tests that all students in the state of Texas have to take. Advanced math students (meaning those enrolled in classes 5 semesters ahead of the norm) have been given more practice for this test (which means less class time for actually learning) than those enrolled in regular math classes. Guess what? Everybody in the advanced classes knock the top out of this test, and when the regular students take an occasional practice test, the majority of them fail. You'd think that the school board would realize this and lay up on the advanced students so that we could actually get something out of our math classes, but apparently they aren't that intelligent.
Choice of applications might not have converted you, but the average computer user doesn't know or care about activation processes and security holes. What they need to convert is assurance that they have an equal or better choice of apps for Linux that can serve as alternatives for those that they've become used to on Windows. As I find out every time I try to convert a non-nerd to Linux, they don't care about security or stability. All they care about are apps.
It might not be so much that the missions would be alike, but that the moon missions could prepare for the Mars mission by setting up a refueling station or some other aid.
Please, it is common knowledge amongst conservatives that humanity's ability to affect climate change on a global scale is a fairy tale. A fairy tale put forth by the liberal media to hurt American industry, leaving us ripe for communist invasion. Clearly we would have no chance of changing Mars's atmosphere either. Liberal wackos.
No, you've got it all wrong! The communists aren't the huge enemy anymore! It's the terrorists we've got to worry about now! Wait, I mean the terrorists have always been the enemy. Or was it that we've always been at war with Eurasia?
They don't know of anything else, and Windows came with the computer.
It's more that they don't know that anything else has better security. The majority does know that they have at least one alternative in the Mac, but most of them think that spyware, viruses, and worms are an inevitabilities that will attack any computer. It's a combination of ignorance and indifference that keeps them on Windows.
Actually, the server appears to be holding up very well. When I first clicked on it, I was just waiting for a "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" message to come up... Perhaps Cox will just bill the hell out of this guy...
You can't really call HP Microsoft's biggest ally... Sure, the majority of their software comes standard with MS Software but they are one of the few companies to offer desktops and notebooks preloaded with Linux... And they also have HP-UX (even if I can't say many positive things about it), so it's not like they're completely devoted to Microsoft.
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But in the meantime, Firefox will continue to get better and MS won't catch up with new features in further versions of Firefox until IE8 which, based on the current release cycle, shouldn't be out for quite a long time. Until then, nerds will continue to convert their relatives and friends, who will in turn convert even more average people. In the end, Microsoft will be screwed.
The bottom line is that the open source development model works too well. New features that users will love can be implemented in an open source project much too fast for Microsoft to ever catch up.
This website went live in late November, 2003. As of today, this website has had over 42,000 unique visitors from over 58 different countries!
They're going to have to significantly update those figures...
The good thing is that as good as added tons of new stuff over years the front page has not been jammed full of adds and paid links.
Well when they've got an ad network as large as they do, they make enough money that they don't have to worry about cluttering their own pages with too many ads. Besides, Google's simple interface is probably the main appeal for the majority of their users.
But, based on assumptions about those who probably attended DigitalLife, that's still only marketing to nerds. Which brings to mind another interesting question: How can Google market their services to the average consumer? I suppose they could advertise for them on their homepage, but they probably wouldn't want to clutter that up since its simplicity is probably one of the reasons that Google became so popular with average computer users.
Google is providing all of these services, but only nerds know about them. When is Google going to start marketing for the average computer user in an effort to make all of their services as popular as their search engine? Are they waiting until they can offer a full portal with everything you could possibly want in your own Google homepage?
The thing that sucks is that there is no update button in Firefox 1.0. Well, there is, but it only updates the Extensions when I run it. That could lead the average user to believe that they have already updated their browser. Will this be fixed in Firefox 1.1? Or should I file it?
It looks like they are aware of these problems and are working on them.
But it's still misleading to say "only 200 lines of Python" when really all of the module imports add up to thousands of lines. This isn't a downside of course, but such a description makes the program sound simpler than it is.
I was interested in this same question, so I brought up a handy Python interactive prompt and typed:
(2 ** 25964951) - 1
Let's just say it's been over five minutes and it's still calculating.
Wikipedia has a danger of being (or at least becoming) extremely biased, not necessarily for ideological reasons, but through simply through public ignorance.
The problem with this argument is that ignorance breeds indifference. The majority of ignorant people will approach the Wikipedia's open-content system with an attitude of indifference. It is because of this that the majority of article edits are made by those who are informed about the topic at hand, resulting in a net positive change in quality.
I'm still running 1.0 and it doesn't throw a popup. Is this bug platform-dependent or what?
What I don't understand is what the graphics card manufacturers think they have to gain by keeping their drivers closed source. The support of the F/OSS community could do nothing but improve their drivers, which could benefit not only their customers using Linux, but also their customers using other OSes.
So, if M$ patents everything it can get its hands on, what innovations would it stop?
This, IMHO, is the reason that M$'s lack of innovation is a good thing. Although I'm sure they have their fair share of patents that might not be justified, imagine if M$ somehow obtained a patent for IE... We would all be slaves to their browser! Imagine the humiliation!
Who wants to bet we'll see 'tabs' in IE7
No, the way M$ will secure its market share will be by one-upping Firefox with a certain "delicious delicacies" text! The Mozilla people will have to add it back in to keep up with the competition!
There's only one problem: the kid would be counted absent for every class.
My school district has been trying to apply this (or some study like it) to the standardized tests that all students in the state of Texas have to take. Advanced math students (meaning those enrolled in classes 5 semesters ahead of the norm) have been given more practice for this test (which means less class time for actually learning) than those enrolled in regular math classes. Guess what? Everybody in the advanced classes knock the top out of this test, and when the regular students take an occasional practice test, the majority of them fail. You'd think that the school board would realize this and lay up on the advanced students so that we could actually get something out of our math classes, but apparently they aren't that intelligent.
Choice of applications might not have converted you, but the average computer user doesn't know or care about activation processes and security holes. What they need to convert is assurance that they have an equal or better choice of apps for Linux that can serve as alternatives for those that they've become used to on Windows. As I find out every time I try to convert a non-nerd to Linux, they don't care about security or stability. All they care about are apps.
It might not be so much that the missions would be alike, but that the moon missions could prepare for the Mars mission by setting up a refueling station or some other aid.
Please, it is common knowledge amongst conservatives that humanity's ability to affect climate change on a global scale is a fairy tale. A fairy tale put forth by the liberal media to hurt American industry, leaving us ripe for communist invasion. Clearly we would have no chance of changing Mars's atmosphere either. Liberal wackos.
No, you've got it all wrong! The communists aren't the huge enemy anymore! It's the terrorists we've got to worry about now! Wait, I mean the terrorists have always been the enemy. Or was it that we've always been at war with Eurasia?
So to make Windows secure, users must get behind a Linux-based router? Am I the only one that sees irony here?
They don't know of anything else, and Windows came with the computer.
It's more that they don't know that anything else has better security. The majority does know that they have at least one alternative in the Mac, but most of them think that spyware, viruses, and worms are an inevitabilities that will attack any computer. It's a combination of ignorance and indifference that keeps them on Windows.
RMS would be proud!
The first time you run it, you'll notice that Firefox has disappeared from your system! (added to the list of malicious software by Peter Torr!)
Actually, the server appears to be holding up very well. When I first clicked on it, I was just waiting for a "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" message to come up... Perhaps Cox will just bill the hell out of this guy...
You can't really call HP Microsoft's biggest ally... Sure, the majority of their software comes standard with MS Software but they are one of the few companies to offer desktops and notebooks preloaded with Linux... And they also have HP-UX (even if I can't say many positive things about it), so it's not like they're completely devoted to Microsoft.
I wasn't aware that there was a license-plate-changer in Goldfinger, but there's also one in one of the Pierce Brosnan movies.