This is also another example of industry-leading companies supporting antiquated delivery methods. We won't be renting / buying movies on a disk much longer, as in-demand and other on-line systems for watching movies from our TV set become main stream. Oh, and they'll be in HD.
By the time the HD DVD format "war" is over, we'll all be downloading movies at home.
On the other hand, we can't get any HD content now, so I'm probably wildly optimistic.
I respectfully disagree with your post in its entirety, but want to focus on the notion of our capabilites being so "stretched so thin it can't do ANYTHING else without a draft.
There will never again be a draft.
Today's warfare isn't like it was when the draft was in place. We don't need "bodies" just to hold space (or a gun). It is so expensive to adequately train and equip today's soldiers that we cannot, and do not want to, afford to train soldiers who don't want to be there.
We are not occupying Iraq. We don't even fly the American flags our bases. We are liberating Iraq - and it's not some sort of lame cliche, but rather an important distinction: if we were an occupying force there, we would have more of our full-time troops there, driving tanks and Bradleys. Instead, we mobilized our reserve troops overwhelmingly, who are driving humvees and jeeps. Barely any Navy...barely any Airforce...this isn't war. Iran could be war, Syria could be war, hell, Korea could be war.
I don't like to say it, but I kinda feel like we are half-assing it in Iraq for politics-sake. Because we don't want to mobilize full-time troops, we hired contractors and are slow to add more troops if necessary. In the end, I hope for the best in Iraq (we all do). Still, Iraq is not a fitting example of military might, rather an illustration of our ill-preparedness for this kind of post-Cold War war.
Gates is right. Here's why MSFT will win: they are already winning. Like BASF. they don't make the hardware, they make the hardware you use better.
MSFT is going to transcend the debate about form factor (is it an iPOD that makes calls, is it a phone that plays music, is it a camera that tells me when my next appointment is???). Instead, manufacturers will use whatever mobility software MSFT builds because it is going to work great with what MSFT has already built. My contacts in Outlook are the same on my phone. The pictures on my camera are already in my MyPictures folder, the music I play in MediaPlayer is the same on my mp3 player. MSFT is going to win because as hardware concerns (including Apple, Nokia, Sony, etc) are going to fight over "best" form factor and MSFT will be on the sidelines, watching them bleed as they fight the wrong war. MSFT will control the information that makes all those tools worthwhile in the first place. If any of those manufacturers want to get a leg up, they'll beg MSFT for WindowsMobile on their devices.
Even if the MSFT offering is marginal compared to what "could be."
Just a thought:
The MS Windows Mobile OS should come bundled with a background app that sends token keys, like the RSA keychain I am holding.
It'll drive sales of phones using their OS, and be an easy way to distribute quality authentication hardware.
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This is also another example of industry-leading companies supporting antiquated delivery methods. We won't be renting / buying movies on a disk much longer, as in-demand and other on-line systems for watching movies from our TV set become main stream. Oh, and they'll be in HD. By the time the HD DVD format "war" is over, we'll all be downloading movies at home. On the other hand, we can't get any HD content now, so I'm probably wildly optimistic.
We need a third party.
I respectfully disagree with your post in its entirety, but want to focus on the notion of our capabilites being so "stretched so thin it can't do ANYTHING else without a draft. There will never again be a draft. Today's warfare isn't like it was when the draft was in place. We don't need "bodies" just to hold space (or a gun). It is so expensive to adequately train and equip today's soldiers that we cannot, and do not want to, afford to train soldiers who don't want to be there. We are not occupying Iraq. We don't even fly the American flags our bases. We are liberating Iraq - and it's not some sort of lame cliche, but rather an important distinction: if we were an occupying force there, we would have more of our full-time troops there, driving tanks and Bradleys. Instead, we mobilized our reserve troops overwhelmingly, who are driving humvees and jeeps. Barely any Navy...barely any Airforce...this isn't war. Iran could be war, Syria could be war, hell, Korea could be war. I don't like to say it, but I kinda feel like we are half-assing it in Iraq for politics-sake. Because we don't want to mobilize full-time troops, we hired contractors and are slow to add more troops if necessary. In the end, I hope for the best in Iraq (we all do). Still, Iraq is not a fitting example of military might, rather an illustration of our ill-preparedness for this kind of post-Cold War war.
Gates is right. Here's why MSFT will win: they are already winning. Like BASF. they don't make the hardware, they make the hardware you use better.
MSFT is going to transcend the debate about form factor (is it an iPOD that makes calls, is it a phone that plays music, is it a camera that tells me when my next appointment is???). Instead, manufacturers will use whatever mobility software MSFT builds because it is going to work great with what MSFT has already built. My contacts in Outlook are the same on my phone. The pictures on my camera are already in my MyPictures folder, the music I play in MediaPlayer is the same on my mp3 player. MSFT is going to win because as hardware concerns (including Apple, Nokia, Sony, etc) are going to fight over "best" form factor and MSFT will be on the sidelines, watching them bleed as they fight the wrong war. MSFT will control the information that makes all those tools worthwhile in the first place. If any of those manufacturers want to get a leg up, they'll beg MSFT for WindowsMobile on their devices.
Even if the MSFT offering is marginal compared to what "could be."
Just a thought: The MS Windows Mobile OS should come bundled with a background app that sends token keys, like the RSA keychain I am holding. It'll drive sales of phones using their OS, and be an easy way to distribute quality authentication hardware.