There are lots of indie film sites on the web these days... form hypnotic.com to ifilm and such.
Support them.
In addition, maybe sending an email to your favorite bands to put some mp3s up on their site could generate some interest. If a band sees that their stuff is eagerly downloaded form their site, maybe they'll start thinking about alternative means of producing and publishing their work.
do what we did in college. take an SUV and a blanket. drive across the border. Load up on spindles of CDR's and such, put the blanket overtop of em, drive back.
We did the same thing 'cept in reverse in getting Molson XXX across from Montreal.
"How dare they punish this child by removing his god-given RIGHT to a 24/7, dual T3 access point? What did (s)he actually do? (S)He used the technologies at his/her disposal to UNTETHER him/herself from the school mandated position of sitting idle at his/her desk while (s)he could be FREELY EXPRESSING him/herself as (s)he roamed around his/her dorm room, HIS/HER HOME. This school should be CHASTISED for the detrimental effect their actions have taken on this student's ability to FREELY EXPRESS him or herself. SHAME ON YOU."
hell, I double-dog dare you. cancel it. see if you can. $5 says you can't.
and that's where they got ya. not only has ebay won the online auction space, but they also now have a unified system with half.com
but even if you thought you could cancel it and walk away, you're wrong. you're addicted. so am I... which is why I won't even pretend.
so stop your bitching. instead, mess with em. buy stupid shit that you would never buy. Hell, the other day I saw a drunken korean chick for sale. She went for $10,000,000... but I don't really think she was worth it.
but sabotage the system. there's tons of cheap stuff that'll do it for next to nothing. atleast that way you don't have to remember a new username and password.
While it's great to point at sites like disinfo and such as great sources of non-mainstream AOL/MSN media, are these sites able to cover the cost of their existence for their owners? I think that is the bigger challenge to the 'net than competing between mainstream and fringe media.
Adcritic was great... but then it couldn't pay for the bandwidth and services it was offering because nobody wanted to help pay for it.
Will these sites and sites like these soon fold because, with added popularity or a decrease in popularity, the owners aren't able to afford to keep them live?
Where is the business plan that can turn fringe media into an effective business model? Last time I checked, the only business model that was able to effectively *sell* content online was the pr0n industry.
I think it's a completely absurd to compare how much users in one country pay for broadband as opposed to another. Lets look at what some of the major costs are involved in providing broadband access in the US:
1. Pipelines of fiber across the country so that users throughout the majority of the country can have access
2. The cost of piggy-backing off of someone else's infrastructure for the last mile (DSL service providers having to make deals with local phone companies)
3. TAXES! It's a utility, it gets taxed.
4. All of the routers and switching stations for all those thousands of miles of fiber.
Now, lets compare the country of Sweden to the US. It's smaller requiring less mileage and switching/routing infrastructure, it's got different taxes (i'm guessing), and I'm sure there are other factors at work that would affect their cost comparred to the US.
Now, this isn't even taking into account the fact that maybe Sweden doesn't even have a national landline phone network to piggy-back off of.
And what about supply and demand? Do those two things have NOTHING to do with the cost that a company can charge? If the above stated price is what users in that country are willing to pay for broadband, then Telia can either raise the price and see what % of their user base leaves, or they can try to optimize or increase profits some other way.
I also looked at speakeasy, however, I couldn't justify the cost with the transfer speeds. If you're looking for fast service WITH an IP addy, Earthlink offers that service I believe for $70/month, and I went towards Qwest's BizDSL (768/768 with 5 IP's for $140/month)
so now all of the pr0n sites will know exactly what TYPE of pr0n to feature on the front page whenever I *happen* to stop by...
well, atleast maybe I'll get more targeted advertising... ya know, nothing against transvestites, but the pr0n of them in an advertisement just does NOT make me want to subscribe!
so does this represent a violation of the honor code was happening and just not detected, or that the class had the avg number of cheaters, but that they were actually caught?
of course, I'm assuming the technology employed wasn't buggy and was taking into consideration environmental factors...
"To cure the illness, we must convince people not to send or post Word documents."
Why? Linux users choose to be different than the majority of computer users. Also, Word/Office happens to be the most popular office package currently in existence.
If you want to convert users to free/open source solutions, instead of complaining about how it's not open-source (which doesn't mean anything to the typical user), build a better mouse trap.
You'll never convince users of switching or changing the way they do things without a massive re-education. The best way is to make it so your users (the open source ones) don't suffer and the users that are on the fence about switching are able to do so seamlessly.
This goes back to the old problem that Apple faced... and the reason why Office is the best selling piece of Macintosh software. Apple realized that without MS's Office package, they would lose the majority of their userbase because it IS the leading office package... this is the reason why the deal between MS and Apple (the agreement plus the investment) was instrumental in bringing Apple back to life.
There are still people out there that believe they can't switch to a macintosh because their office documents won't be readable by a mac. I still inform people that "yes, there is an MS Office package for the mac and yes, it will be able to read your word files." Another great piece of mac software back in the day was the one that converted PC formats to mac formats... sorry, but the name escapes me.
Apple realized from a business standpoint what it needed to do to move users over to their side and they did it in a non-political fashion by creating solutions that made transitions seamless. Linux software companies and development houses need to do the same thing instead of griping about how "you need to get your friends to stop sending you.doc files" and how "office is a propriety application and is evil"
if adcritic needed akamai's service but couldn't afford it, maybe it was adcritic's business model, and not akamai's that was to blame.
looking at their company's revenue numbers, it seems that they've been posting incremental gains in their revenue... they're still not profitable, but damn near close and getting better.
think about it. if adcritic wants to be able to serve up thousands of video clips to millions of people, they need to create a business model that can support the overhead of their company. the leading cost to their company WOULD be their bandwidth. If they can't figure out a way to justify the price, then they can't be a sustainable business model. Should they require a company to be charitable so that they can make money? i don't think so. and why should you recommend that any akamai stockholder think twice? yea, their stock hasn't performed well lately, but they've got great clientele that aren't going away.
apparently unlike many posters here, I found this post to state the obvious and a great beginning to a discussion on "opinions, articles, looks, and evidence about the drawbacks of using open source software in business". Obviously the Ravens tried to move to open source. Looks like they encountered some problems. ISN'T ANYONE CURIOUS WHAT KIND OF PROBLEMS THEY ENCOUNTERED?
If the coach blamed a switch to WinXP for screwing up his defensive plans, you'd all laugh and say how horrible MS is. The Ravens are a young, successful organization that tried to use Linux to save some money. Something didn't work. Case study of Linux failing in the marketplace. Learn it, live it. Find out why.
I don't really understand the problem... it's only un-binhexing the files... it's not executing them. So I take a file and stuff it or binhex it... and when they download it it automatically decodes it. Fine. Then the application is sitting on the desktop (or wherever it's been downloaded to). It hasn't been executed, only decoded. The user still needs to click on it to execute it.
This isn't a BIG SECURITY HOLE. Hell, I still wouldn't consider it a security hole, nor would I change the setting to non auto decode. To execute it I would still have to doubleclick on the icon.
I don't know about you, but my 4 yrs at college cost me approximately $120,000. So... what did I pay for?
Currently, I'm a web application developer. But I was once a professional designer. And I was also an information architect. And I was also a mobile developer.
I majored in Religious Studies and Fine Arts (I have a BA in both). So you could say that I didn't make the most of my $120k investment. But I believe I made the most of it.
I took courses that challenged me, made me think, and made me conceptualize new and unexplored ideas. That's what I feel a liberal arts degree is about (and why I went to hamilton college).
If I had arrived at college thinking I would do one thing (be a programmer), it would have been a poor choice. But, what about life after being a programmer? And what about what happens when a programmer is no longer needed?
A trade school teaches you a trade.
A college or university teaches you to think for yourself.
You should be at the one that helps you get where you want to be and believe you're going to be.
but one thing that open source people haven't learned that MS and Apple and such have learned are to answer the following questions:
1. is it faster?
2. does it do more/kewler stuff?
3. will it crash less frequently?
4. will it boot faster?
5. will i still have to spend hours trying to install new programs and hardware?
6. does it come with new/more/kewl goodies like MS Office (or equivalent), a dictionary and thesaurus, 100 free hours of internet access, etc.?
only when an open source OS states these things in their press release will the general public listen.
don't forget the BBC! While other people were trying to get CNN to load and the coverage on the tv stations was still iffy, my entire office was watching a BBC streaming video (via Real Player) that was incredible.
CNN you couldn't get a page view, but the BBC you could watch a live video stream.
THAT is incredible. My only question for the BBC... how did you guys manage to find brits to interview in the area? Everyone they managed to interview while live in NYC had a british accent... or was it dubbed over?
Slashdot Mirror
actually, 2 of my favorite artists own their own labels.
http://www.bedrock.org.uk/ (dj/producer john digweed)
http://www.perfecto-fc.com/ (dj/producer paul oakenfold)
unfortunately, neither of them actively use the web to push their music... however the P2P servers are chock full of em.
maybe i'll take my own advice and email them.
There are lots of indie film sites on the web these days... form hypnotic.com to ifilm and such.
Support them.
In addition, maybe sending an email to your favorite bands to put some mp3s up on their site could generate some interest. If a band sees that their stuff is eagerly downloaded form their site, maybe they'll start thinking about alternative means of producing and publishing their work.
do what we did in college. take an SUV and a blanket. drive across the border. Load up on spindles of CDR's and such, put the blanket overtop of em, drive back.
We did the same thing 'cept in reverse in getting Molson XXX across from Montreal.
macosx.forked.net
"How dare they punish this child by removing his god-given RIGHT to a 24/7, dual T3 access point? What did (s)he actually do? (S)He used the technologies at his/her disposal to UNTETHER him/herself from the school mandated position of sitting idle at his/her desk while (s)he could be FREELY EXPRESSING him/herself as (s)he roamed around his/her dorm room, HIS/HER HOME. This school should be CHASTISED for the detrimental effect their actions have taken on this student's ability to FREELY EXPRESS him or herself. SHAME ON YOU."
come on, I dare you.
hell, I double-dog dare you. cancel it. see if you can. $5 says you can't.
and that's where they got ya. not only has ebay won the online auction space, but they also now have a unified system with half.com
but even if you thought you could cancel it and walk away, you're wrong. you're addicted. so am I... which is why I won't even pretend.
so stop your bitching. instead, mess with em. buy stupid shit that you would never buy. Hell, the other day I saw a drunken korean chick for sale. She went for $10,000,000... but I don't really think she was worth it.
but sabotage the system. there's tons of cheap stuff that'll do it for next to nothing. atleast that way you don't have to remember a new username and password.
While it's great to point at sites like disinfo and such as great sources of non-mainstream AOL/MSN media, are these sites able to cover the cost of their existence for their owners? I think that is the bigger challenge to the 'net than competing between mainstream and fringe media.
Adcritic was great... but then it couldn't pay for the bandwidth and services it was offering because nobody wanted to help pay for it.
Will these sites and sites like these soon fold because, with added popularity or a decrease in popularity, the owners aren't able to afford to keep them live?
Where is the business plan that can turn fringe media into an effective business model? Last time I checked, the only business model that was able to effectively *sell* content online was the pr0n industry.
I think it's a completely absurd to compare how much users in one country pay for broadband as opposed to another. Lets look at what some of the major costs are involved in providing broadband access in the US:
1. Pipelines of fiber across the country so that users throughout the majority of the country can have access
2. The cost of piggy-backing off of someone else's infrastructure for the last mile (DSL service providers having to make deals with local phone companies)
3. TAXES! It's a utility, it gets taxed.
4. All of the routers and switching stations for all those thousands of miles of fiber.
Now, lets compare the country of Sweden to the US. It's smaller requiring less mileage and switching/routing infrastructure, it's got different taxes (i'm guessing), and I'm sure there are other factors at work that would affect their cost comparred to the US.
Now, this isn't even taking into account the fact that maybe Sweden doesn't even have a national landline phone network to piggy-back off of.
And what about supply and demand? Do those two things have NOTHING to do with the cost that a company can charge? If the above stated price is what users in that country are willing to pay for broadband, then Telia can either raise the price and see what % of their user base leaves, or they can try to optimize or increase profits some other way.
What an absurd statement.
Thought someone might find it useful if I attached the URL.
I'm paying $150/month for 768k/768k
I also was given the opportunity to buy blocks for IP addresses at 5 IP's for $50 (one-time fee)
I can also upgrade my service to 1.5mbit/1.5mbit for an extra $50/month (total of $200/month)
These is a slight discount if you engage in a 1yr or 2 yr contract with them also.
so you send em a slightly chunked gif file. to be used as a logo/print letterhead and be nice and tidy, it would need to be an eps or high res. jpg.
easy enough just not to give em that until you win.
I also looked at speakeasy, however, I couldn't justify the cost with the transfer speeds. If you're looking for fast service WITH an IP addy, Earthlink offers that service I believe for $70/month, and I went towards Qwest's BizDSL (768/768 with 5 IP's for $140/month)
www.overstock.com - Overstock.com... lots of good stuff for cheap with a flat rate on shipping of $3.95 no matter how much you put in the box
flamingoworld.com - Great place to find coupons and such
so now all of the pr0n sites will know exactly what TYPE of pr0n to feature on the front page whenever I *happen* to stop by...
well, atleast maybe I'll get more targeted advertising... ya know, nothing against transvestites, but the pr0n of them in an advertisement just does NOT make me want to subscribe!
so does this represent a violation of the honor code was happening and just not detected, or that the class had the avg number of cheaters, but that they were actually caught?
of course, I'm assuming the technology employed wasn't buggy and was taking into consideration environmental factors...
"To cure the illness, we must convince people not to send or post Word documents."
.doc files" and how "office is a propriety application and is evil"
Why? Linux users choose to be different than the majority of computer users. Also, Word/Office happens to be the most popular office package currently in existence.
If you want to convert users to free/open source solutions, instead of complaining about how it's not open-source (which doesn't mean anything to the typical user), build a better mouse trap.
You'll never convince users of switching or changing the way they do things without a massive re-education. The best way is to make it so your users (the open source ones) don't suffer and the users that are on the fence about switching are able to do so seamlessly.
This goes back to the old problem that Apple faced... and the reason why Office is the best selling piece of Macintosh software. Apple realized that without MS's Office package, they would lose the majority of their userbase because it IS the leading office package... this is the reason why the deal between MS and Apple (the agreement plus the investment) was instrumental in bringing Apple back to life.
There are still people out there that believe they can't switch to a macintosh because their office documents won't be readable by a mac. I still inform people that "yes, there is an MS Office package for the mac and yes, it will be able to read your word files." Another great piece of mac software back in the day was the one that converted PC formats to mac formats... sorry, but the name escapes me.
Apple realized from a business standpoint what it needed to do to move users over to their side and they did it in a non-political fashion by creating solutions that made transitions seamless. Linux software companies and development houses need to do the same thing instead of griping about how "you need to get your friends to stop sending you
do you know this or are you guessing?
if adcritic needed akamai's service but couldn't afford it, maybe it was adcritic's business model, and not akamai's that was to blame.
looking at their company's revenue numbers, it seems that they've been posting incremental gains in their revenue... they're still not profitable, but damn near close and getting better.
think about it. if adcritic wants to be able to serve up thousands of video clips to millions of people, they need to create a business model that can support the overhead of their company. the leading cost to their company WOULD be their bandwidth. If they can't figure out a way to justify the price, then they can't be a sustainable business model. Should they require a company to be charitable so that they can make money? i don't think so. and why should you recommend that any akamai stockholder think twice? yea, their stock hasn't performed well lately, but they've got great clientele that aren't going away.
Fine.
Holy See (Vatican City)
apparently unlike many posters here, I found this post to state the obvious and a great beginning to a discussion on "opinions, articles, looks, and evidence about the drawbacks of using open source software in business". Obviously the Ravens tried to move to open source. Looks like they encountered some problems. ISN'T ANYONE CURIOUS WHAT KIND OF PROBLEMS THEY ENCOUNTERED?
If the coach blamed a switch to WinXP for screwing up his defensive plans, you'd all laugh and say how horrible MS is. The Ravens are a young, successful organization that tried to use Linux to save some money. Something didn't work. Case study of Linux failing in the marketplace. Learn it, live it. Find out why.
I don't really understand the problem... it's only un-binhexing the files... it's not executing them. So I take a file and stuff it or binhex it... and when they download it it automatically decodes it. Fine. Then the application is sitting on the desktop (or wherever it's been downloaded to). It hasn't been executed, only decoded. The user still needs to click on it to execute it.
This isn't a BIG SECURITY HOLE. Hell, I still wouldn't consider it a security hole, nor would I change the setting to non auto decode. To execute it I would still have to doubleclick on the icon.
I don't know about you, but my 4 yrs at college cost me approximately $120,000. So... what did I pay for?
Currently, I'm a web application developer. But I was once a professional designer. And I was also an information architect. And I was also a mobile developer.
I majored in Religious Studies and Fine Arts (I have a BA in both). So you could say that I didn't make the most of my $120k investment. But I believe I made the most of it.
I took courses that challenged me, made me think, and made me conceptualize new and unexplored ideas. That's what I feel a liberal arts degree is about (and why I went to hamilton college).
If I had arrived at college thinking I would do one thing (be a programmer), it would have been a poor choice. But, what about life after being a programmer? And what about what happens when a programmer is no longer needed?
A trade school teaches you a trade.
A college or university teaches you to think for yourself.
You should be at the one that helps you get where you want to be and believe you're going to be.
man, way to rip into me. i use freebsd, and have 4.3 stable installed on 2 of my servers.
i enjoy it. i was just giving some food for thought. no need to go personal.
but one thing that open source people haven't learned that MS and Apple and such have learned are to answer the following questions:
1. is it faster?
2. does it do more/kewler stuff?
3. will it crash less frequently?
4. will it boot faster?
5. will i still have to spend hours trying to install new programs and hardware?
6. does it come with new/more/kewl goodies like MS Office (or equivalent), a dictionary and thesaurus, 100 free hours of internet access, etc.?
only when an open source OS states these things in their press release will the general public listen.
i'm glad i atleast brought someone a smile. i don't think anyone's in for a little bit of humor these days.
don't forget the BBC! While other people were trying to get CNN to load and the coverage on the tv stations was still iffy, my entire office was watching a BBC streaming video (via Real Player) that was incredible.
CNN you couldn't get a page view, but the BBC you could watch a live video stream.
THAT is incredible. My only question for the BBC... how did you guys manage to find brits to interview in the area? Everyone they managed to interview while live in NYC had a british accent... or was it dubbed over?