Car manufacturers can be held liable if an accident is caused by a defect. If someone else runs into you, they are not liable. If someone breaks into your car, they are not liable. If there is a defect in the door locking mechanism, the manufacturer does nothing and your car gets broken into, then the manufacturer is liable. If the manufacturer offers recall or free repair to the locking mechanism and you opt not to follow up, hmm..?
Unlike cars, any given computer software is absolutely identical. So one defect will affect pretty much everyone the same way. We will need to be really careful in figuring out how far to hold the software company liable because of this.
For the majority of Internet users (the 80+% using IE), those "innovations" you speak of are invisible and inconsequential. They don't use them, they don't care about them and worst of all, they don't know about them and have no way of finding out about them.
These are people whose daily Internet use consists of Hotmail, Amazon and CNN. They are not on the fence, waiting for the next batch of innovation from Firefox to switch
You encounter very common "change your password every N months and it cannot be the same as the last X passwords."
I wonder how long before we figure out that this very requirement frequently leads to sequencing of the password, which completely defeats the purpose of changing it every so often.
I do like your idea, though, for places where I don't have to change the password every so often.
I know you were basically ranting about cities without good public transportation systems... Just to let you know, Seattle has an excellent bus system. One of the problems, however, is that there are many bodies of water in Seattle. For example, there are only two bridges across Lake Washington. The 520 bridge, which connects downtown to Redmond-area (i.e., MS HQ) routinely jams because it's only two lanes on each side.
I had a 3g iPod, but it bothered me how the back got scratched so easily. Yes, I bought a cover, but I didn't really like the fact I was covering up a product I paid a good deal of money for to compensate for its fragility.
So I was quite ecstatic when the mini came out. It had a very nice case - the anodized aluminum case which scratches less easily and even when scratched, they are less noticeable.
I think nano is very cool - from the form factor sense. But I wish Apple had stayed away from the chrome back cover. If they can get the nano form factor with mini-like aluminum casing, I'd be all over it. For now, I think I'll stick with my mini.
I realize this post isn't about the screen scratching, but I think it's to be "expected" given the screen is completely level with the rest of the device. Yes, it should be "expected" but I don't think it should be "tolerated" either...
guess what? a lot of people can't be bothered. they are the majority of users and most importantly, they are the majority of paying users.
yes, a lot of users could use some lessons in using the search engine. but, no, it's not the right attitude for the SEs to sit on a high chair and demand users get smarter when users are the ones paying their bills.
Not sure if it's 100% relevant, the example I remember from school is: Take a powerful spotlight and place an object in front of it. Now go, really, really far away and watch the shadow cast by the object on the wall. Further you go, more "magnified" its movement will be, i.e., since the spotlight will be bigger further away, waving an object across the face of the spotlight will move the shadow on the wall across greater distance. If the spotlight is powerful enough, you can extend the wall as far as you want and the shadow will move as fast as you want, even faster than the speed of light.
Note that no information is being transmitted faster than the speed of light in such a case. Shadow may traverse across the spotlight faster than the speed of light, but the actual information that creates the shadow is still transmitted at the epeed of light from the spotlight to the wall.
E=mc^2 is the most famous part of the theory of special relativity, but I can tell you what's the most amazing part, IMO.
Einstein noticed that there's a discrepancy between Newton's laws and Maxwell's laws of electricity and magnetism (E&M). To patch this, most physicists assumed special treatments for E&M like ether. Einstein went backwards and decided Newton must be wrong.
The most amazing conclusion he reached was that the speed of light is a constant in any reference frame. ANY reference frame. Even if you were moving at 1,000 million miles per hour, the light will still travel at the same speed to you as if you weren't moving.
To me, to have the audacity and creativitiy to challenge Newton and come up with absolutely mind boggling conclusion like the constantcy of the speed light are the most amazing thing about the special relativity.
>No one was even close to the ease of use that Windows offered. Sure, Mac OS was a lot prettier but then it cost the moon and the stars along with both your arms and legs.
You do realize MS doesn't go around suing everyone in MSN Search who "defects" and goes to Google, even though pretty much everyone at MSN Search signs non-compete.
The person in question was a high exec. It's one thing if you know a tiny bit about MSN Search technology, it's quite another if you know higher-up strategies and trade secrets.
Please. That's not RIAA's reasoning and you know it. They believe (partially rightfully, perhaps) that people are "getting away" with spending less on music while still obtaining the same amount of music as before because of P2P...
Do you really think, given the size and organizational complexity of MS, MS can just "copy" Google and come out with similar products?
I don't think the turnaround time is that fast at MS. I think given the tools and technology available, both MS and Google came up with similar ideas for an app - Google just beat them to the punch.
Yes, that is one cool aspect of Google, but I don't think copying is what MS is doing.
...and the blind doesn't follow the thread completely before making some snide comment. Read the grandparent - it was saying Google stock price was "insane."
So I offered a hypothetical situation - if Google splits 10:1, bringing down the price to $30 (but, like you said and I am aware, P/E remains the same), the parent probably would have said Google stock is not insane because "it's only $30 a share" or something along that line.
The whole point of my post was to say how price of a share of stock is not the way to judge if the stock is overvalued or not.
The price itself has nothing to do with "insanity." Would your viewpoint change if Google were to split 10 to 1, bringing down the price to around $30?
P/E ratio and other metric used to relate the stock price to financial performance may seem "insane." But the price itself doesn't matter.
Being in academia does not mean one is on a tenure track to professorship. One could simply be a researcher (usually not permanent) or a postdoc and still be "in academia." But those are very temporary positions.
In the long run, most PhDs end up in industry because the number of professorships available is very limited.
>It's like buying a Microsoft program, and leaving the open box, with the jewel case and installation media on the sidewalk in front of your house then bitching when someone walks by and installs it.
Well, there's another aspect to this. This guy was around for hours - the article does not mention exactly how long, but definitely longer than a few hours. And he pretty much had no reason to be there except to mooch off the wireless internet.
I am not sure about calling the police but if some random person was hanging out in front of my house for hours for no apparent reason, I'd be a bit peeved and freaked out.
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That and, let's be honest/realistic here, many of the students really were infringing on the copyight.
Unlike cars, any given computer software is absolutely identical. So one defect will affect pretty much everyone the same way. We will need to be really careful in figuring out how far to hold the software company liable because of this.
These are people whose daily Internet use consists of Hotmail, Amazon and CNN. They are not on the fence, waiting for the next batch of innovation from Firefox to switch
I wonder how long before we figure out that this very requirement frequently leads to sequencing of the password, which completely defeats the purpose of changing it every so often.
I do like your idea, though, for places where I don't have to change the password every so often.
I know you were basically ranting about cities without good public transportation systems... Just to let you know, Seattle has an excellent bus system. One of the problems, however, is that there are many bodies of water in Seattle. For example, there are only two bridges across Lake Washington. The 520 bridge, which connects downtown to Redmond-area (i.e., MS HQ) routinely jams because it's only two lanes on each side.
So I was quite ecstatic when the mini came out. It had a very nice case - the anodized aluminum case which scratches less easily and even when scratched, they are less noticeable.
I think nano is very cool - from the form factor sense. But I wish Apple had stayed away from the chrome back cover. If they can get the nano form factor with mini-like aluminum casing, I'd be all over it. For now, I think I'll stick with my mini.
I realize this post isn't about the screen scratching, but I think it's to be "expected" given the screen is completely level with the rest of the device. Yes, it should be "expected" but I don't think it should be "tolerated" either...
...but how about for work? Are we going to work on our cell phones?
Is PDF "open"? Except for the fact Adobe distributes PDF Reader for free, how is it different from .doc format?
yes, a lot of users could use some lessons in using the search engine. but, no, it's not the right attitude for the SEs to sit on a high chair and demand users get smarter when users are the ones paying their bills.
Note that no information is being transmitted faster than the speed of light in such a case. Shadow may traverse across the spotlight faster than the speed of light, but the actual information that creates the shadow is still transmitted at the epeed of light from the spotlight to the wall.
Yeah, sorry, I got carried away. :P I meant to type 1,000 miles an hour or something.
Einstein noticed that there's a discrepancy between Newton's laws and Maxwell's laws of electricity and magnetism (E&M). To patch this, most physicists assumed special treatments for E&M like ether. Einstein went backwards and decided Newton must be wrong.
The most amazing conclusion he reached was that the speed of light is a constant in any reference frame. ANY reference frame. Even if you were moving at 1,000 million miles per hour, the light will still travel at the same speed to you as if you weren't moving.
To me, to have the audacity and creativitiy to challenge Newton and come up with absolutely mind boggling conclusion like the constantcy of the speed light are the most amazing thing about the special relativity.
what does price have to do with usability?
...don't you mean "erected" officials? :P
The person in question was a high exec. It's one thing if you know a tiny bit about MSN Search technology, it's quite another if you know higher-up strategies and trade secrets.
Please. That's not RIAA's reasoning and you know it. They believe (partially rightfully, perhaps) that people are "getting away" with spending less on music while still obtaining the same amount of music as before because of P2P...
Are they going to pass on any of the ads revenue to the consumers?
I don't think the turnaround time is that fast at MS. I think given the tools and technology available, both MS and Google came up with similar ideas for an app - Google just beat them to the punch.
Yes, that is one cool aspect of Google, but I don't think copying is what MS is doing.
...and it will change absolutely nothing.
Right, that's why the revenue went up.
...add a bit more for adware/anti-virus software, or you will be "needing to" buy another (if you threw out a computer every time it got infected)?
So I offered a hypothetical situation - if Google splits 10:1, bringing down the price to $30 (but, like you said and I am aware, P/E remains the same), the parent probably would have said Google stock is not insane because "it's only $30 a share" or something along that line.
The whole point of my post was to say how price of a share of stock is not the way to judge if the stock is overvalued or not.
P/E ratio and other metric used to relate the stock price to financial performance may seem "insane." But the price itself doesn't matter.
In the long run, most PhDs end up in industry because the number of professorships available is very limited.
Well, there's another aspect to this. This guy was around for hours - the article does not mention exactly how long, but definitely longer than a few hours. And he pretty much had no reason to be there except to mooch off the wireless internet.
I am not sure about calling the police but if some random person was hanging out in front of my house for hours for no apparent reason, I'd be a bit peeved and freaked out.