The tag line at the end of the article sums it all up very well. I quote: " In other words, total world domination. But in a good way."
This is exactly the atraction to Linux and open source in general. Companies competing to add features while making all the source available back to users to prevent lock in. Users can't loose.
Right now, you can get the same thing from ms, but everything they do is a "trade secret" protected by the never ending patent called DCMA (Digital Copyright Millenium Act). This locks in users to the ms way, like it or not.
This will be the second big shift in the computer industry in recent years. IBM lost share in the 80s and ms will loose share 2000 and beyond and the timing of Linux and open source couldn't have been better. ___
Think about it, have you ever considered how much redundant driving the average person does? Have you ever thought about the drive that takes you to work and back? Have you made the drive to work so many times that the car can practicly drive itself? So let it.
This is the kind of driving that I want to let to my car. It's on the 2000th drive home when you get lazy looking at the same thing day after day and your mind drifts just a little bit. Yes the driver still needs control, yes the driver is still the driver, but automation is perfect for those little erands around town.
I would like nothing better than to jump in my car in the morning and punch in "gas station - work" and make a few phone calls in safety while my car does everything else. ___
Re:You've never actually read law texts, have you? Many of them are incredibly broad, leaving everything to the judge.
It's funny you brought that up, because that is exactly the comparison I was making in my mind. Language added or subtracted as the bill moves through legislation (kinda like a pre-draft of a standards spec) is so mangled by the time it's done, it might as well just say:
RFC 119234580235 Do the right thing. Thank you. ___
I couldn't agree more! Look at it this way, the TCP/IP spec is "a way to interoperate". That's why it's called: Transmision Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) instead of Transmision Control Law/Internet Law (TCL/IL). You can provide as many tools as you want to help people make sure they are compliant, but in the end, it has to be in there own interest to comply, and not be forced upon them. ___
I was recently in a Mozilla chat room with some other developers when they were discussing a standards specification. What I found amazing was how much the engineers really sweat the small stuff to make sure mozilla is really as compliant as it can be. I'm reminded of a quote from one of the developers regarding a standards doc he was reading. He said: "This spec just screams extend me!".
Sometimes the language of the spec is so general that it can be interpreted many different ways, or is so vague that there can be incompatible implementations of the same portion of the spec. Often, this is the result of "group writing" and a series of compromises. When working through a spec, it's in everyones best interest to avoid putting any language of this kind into the spec. ___
When attempting to move a group of people toward useing a standard, I'm reminded of a quote from Tim Berners Lee. "There's nothing like authorship to get buy-in." That is to say, if the users you are attempting to move to the new standard had a first hand interest, then they have helped create the standard. If they took responsibility to help form the standard, they have a roll in it's implimentation and proliforation.
While the standard is being developed, release a revision around the office and solicit responses. Some decisions in the standard may be very obvious, but if you've recieved a response from 10 people "demanding" this obvious implimentation, they'll feel that they've "fought hard" to help shape the standard, and will help others to use it. (remember, your goal is achieve buy-in first, then rely on network effects to spread the word).
If I'm handed a 30 page document with instructions that read "Do It", I might be a little put off. But if my opinion is saught throughout the development of that same document, I not only will impliment it's use, but will be proud to help other people use it too.
This leads to the "chapter and verse" quotes that help to keep a standard in place. "Clearly, if you take a look at 'Foo Co. RFC chapter 3 page 4' you'll notice it calls for . . ". these are the kinds of network effects that help to educate people, and help to move your company in the direction you need. ___
Mandrake 7.1 ReleasedPosted by CmdrTaco on 05:55 PM -- Monday June 05 2000 from the no-relation-to-mandrake@mandrake.net dept. Frodo writes: "It seems that Mandrake 7.1 has started to appear on various mirror sites. No news on Mandrakes homepage so far."
Where's the link?
If I'm walking down the street and tell you that you can get a great philly cheese steak in town, am I to blame when the local delli gets overwhelmed with requests? ___
Thank you for clarifying your interpretation of ROI, but how can you track a return if you hadn't made a initial financial investment? If the initial investment to atain the licence to use the software (and deploy it accross as many desktops as you please) is zero, how can you track a return?
This leaves us with TCO and it's roll in attaining productivity numbers. While It's true that the out of box cost of open source software is zero, all users will need help in training. I would put forth that at least half the training of a user base is on your particular business data and general computer training. That is to say, you've already payed for (while using the closed source solution), most of the training for the user base. As anyone who's worked a help desk will tell you, many users startout with a computer IQ of a warmed piece of spam and work their way up to being experts at performing their task in the business.
This investment will not be lost, in fact it will be complimented as users learn to migrate their skills set to the new platform (something that any HR director will apreciate when trying to hang on to people in a tight labor market). Happy employees are always looking to add to their resume.
The other thing most often overlooked is the effect of the internet on the user base. Back in the dark days (80's) every time a piece of software changed the bitmap on an icon, people would freak out because it's the only interface they knew. They didn't know any differant because it's the only interface they've been exposed to. The internet has changed all that because, on a daily basis, users are exposed to differant interfaces on web pages and are forced to adapt their preconceptions on where things should be to get what they need (think of this as internet=migration training).
If you couple the above with a long view on TCO and all the licencing fees saved as a business scales larger and larger, you can look forward to the day when 10 years from now, when the business has grown to thousands of people, you'll be deploying thousands of licences for free instead of taking a meeting with a microsoft rep to negotiate yet another overpriced licence. ___
This is ms PR drivel. Intelectial lazieness is the only reason ms droids don't switch. Now go to the blackboard and write "I'm to lazy to switch" 1000 times. Thank you. ___
Taking the trigger locks off so the kids can play.
on
Natural Capitalism
·
· Score: 1
Re:Fuck the environment! Those goddamed animals are so tasty anyway! Let me just jump in my 4-wheel drive never-taken-out-of-suburbia, 10 mpg SUV and run over a fucking spotted owl.
Actualy, it's the spotted owl that's tasty.;)
I really shouldn't take the time to respond to this but, I've already (as most liberals think conservatives do) cleaned my gun, prayed to my shrine of Charlton Heston, and taken the trigger locks off the pistols so the kids can play.;)
I've heard this kind of response again and again regarding the environment and our roll in it. Taking a shot at anyone who stands against baseless restrictions on their liberties as someone being "anti-dolphin", "anti-white seal", or "anti-clean air" is just wrong. There may be a fundemental differance in our viewpoints to a solution, but our goals are the same. ___
re:Why would a company spend so much money retraining people to use a new OS or office productivity software suite when most people have some experience with Micro$oft products? If a company goes with Micro$soft, they instantly increase their ROI and user satisfaction.
The reason is the software budget could have a ROI=0. Imagine, if you will, completly eliminating every single dollar a company spends on software and spending 1/2 of that dollar amount on retraining. In the end, you'll have a network that employs open tools, has data stored in well documented formats, and a network more in tune with the rest of the internet. All this, while spending less money on software.
I know that many micros~1 drones may have trouble wrapping their heads around this one thinking "there must be a catch!" and they're right. There is a catch.
The catch is, you won't get to look at the wonderful windows logo while waiting for your 'pooter to reboot after a crash. ___
I would propose that once a monopoly in an area such as software/operating systems had been established (such as in the current Microsoft case) the company in question should be forced to open it's specifications to file formats, protocols and other proprietary systems that limit interoperability.
Say it again! The problem I've always had is why is the market not demanding that software companies at least look at a standards spec? ___
Re:... in particular, the ability to migrate an ACT2000 database into an Outlook contact list..
I have some expierence doing this very thing and I have a low tech way to handle this. Exporting the contact list out of ACT2000 in.CSV (Comma Seperated Variable) format will allow you to import this CVS file back into your newly installed StarOffice spreadsheet program.
Once you have the exported CVS data in a spreadsheet, you can delete the useless and or blank fields and resave it as a.CSV file. Now, in your new contact manager, (taking a moment to map the relavant fields) you can import this data back in and you have all your data in-tact.
I've implemented a special in-house email address so that our users can attach their proprietary list to an email so that the help desk can perform this conversion for them.
Moving forward, we changed our policy to allow people to use whatever contact software they wish, but in order to store this information on the company network, it must be in CVS format. Given this open file format we, as a company, can move forward with software decisions without having to be tied to a proprietary file format.
Given the success of this decision, we're currently looking at other well documented (read:open), data formats that we can ask our network users to use as a compliment to their proprietary file format of choice. This is a good balance between the users demands for useability, and a networks demand to be as open to change as possible. ___
Under moores law (more acuratly described as "moores trend of chip fabrication research") would place the useful cycle at 18 months. 18 months from the release date, you will be able to get processing power that is twice as powerfull at the same price.
I would agree with your assesment that the product cycle for PS1 is considerably longer, but I would put forth that this is caused more by market conditions (momentum, and lockin) than to technical considerations. ___
3DO (and Apple) are shining examples of "open vapor". Apple. These PR moves are done so that investors can "imagine the posibilities" allowing to company to attract more public investment) without actually having to invest in those posibilities.
The key words in this anouncement are: The chips will be sold on the merchant market beginning next year. Begining? Q2? Q3? This puts the public release date about a year away. Applying moores law to this PR move, the chip will (comparitivly) be more than 50% through it's usefull cycle.
I see this as purley a defensive move to help maintain share as other game console makers catch up with PS2. ___
Slashdot Mirror
With thanks to the other /.er who posted this link, I direct your attention to more Linux advertising done right.
___
" In other words, total world domination.
But in a good way."
This is exactly the atraction to Linux and open source in general. Companies competing to add features while making all the source available back to users to prevent lock in. Users can't loose.
Right now, you can get the same thing from ms, but everything they do is a "trade secret" protected by the never ending patent called DCMA (Digital Copyright Millenium Act). This locks in users to the ms way, like it or not.
This will be the second big shift in the computer industry in recent years. IBM lost share in the 80s and ms will loose share 2000 and beyond and the timing of Linux and open source couldn't have been better.
___
Where is the treadmill that runs to fast and swallows George Jetson ?
___
This is the kind of driving that I want to let to my car. It's on the 2000th drive home when you get lazy looking at the same thing day after day and your mind drifts just a little bit. Yes the driver still needs control, yes the driver is still the driver, but automation is perfect for those little erands around town.
I would like nothing better than to jump in my car in the morning and punch in "gas station - work" and make a few phone calls in safety while my car does everything else.
___
It's funny you brought that up, because that is exactly the comparison I was making in my mind. Language added or subtracted as the bill moves through legislation (kinda like a pre-draft of a standards spec) is so mangled by the time it's done, it might as well just say:
RFC 119234580235
Do the right thing.
Thank you.
___
I couldn't agree more!
Look at it this way, the TCP/IP spec is "a way to interoperate". That's why it's called: Transmision Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) instead of Transmision Control Law/Internet Law (TCL/IL). You can provide as many tools as you want to help people make sure they are compliant, but in the end, it has to be in there own interest to comply, and not be forced upon them.
___
Sometimes the language of the spec is so general that it can be interpreted many different ways, or is so vague that there can be incompatible implementations of the same portion of the spec. Often, this is the result of "group writing" and a series of compromises. When working through a spec, it's in everyones best interest to avoid putting any language of this kind into the spec.
___
While the standard is being developed, release a revision around the office and solicit responses. Some decisions in the standard may be very obvious, but if you've recieved a response from 10 people "demanding" this obvious implimentation, they'll feel that they've "fought hard" to help shape the standard, and will help others to use it. (remember, your goal is achieve buy-in first, then rely on network effects to spread the word).
If I'm handed a 30 page document with instructions that read "Do It", I might be a little put off. But if my opinion is saught throughout the development of that same document, I not only will impliment it's use, but will be proud to help other people use it too.
This leads to the "chapter and verse" quotes that help to keep a standard in place. "Clearly, if you take a look at 'Foo Co. RFC chapter 3 page 4' you'll notice it calls for . . ". these are the kinds of network effects that help to educate people, and help to move your company in the direction you need.
___
from the no-relation-to-mandrake@mandrake.net dept.
Frodo writes: "It seems that Mandrake 7.1 has started to appear on various mirror sites. No news on Mandrakes homepage so far."
Where's the link?
If I'm walking down the street and tell you that you can get a great philly cheese steak in town, am I to blame when the local delli gets overwhelmed with requests?
___
Did you retrain most of your office staff to make the change to access? Yes. Did it cost you an arm and leg? No. Did your business survive? Yes.
Where was ms advising you about TCO when it was stealing the word processor market away from word perfect?
Did you retrain most of your secretarys to make the change to word? Yes. Did it cost you an arm and leg? No. Did your business survive? Yes.
Where was ms advising you about the TCO when stealing the browser market away from Netscape?
Did you retrain most of your web site staff to make the change to ie? Yes. Did it cost you an arm and leg? No. Did your buisness survive? Yes.
Dispite what microsoft has to say about trying to scare you away from change, it's been done before, and you can (and should) do it again.
___
I hear they're coming out with a Chaty Kathy Lee sweatshop barbie"
___
Where was ms advising you of the total cost of ownership when it was stealing the Data Base market from Borland?
Where was ms advising you about TCO when it was stealing the word processor market away from word perfect?
Where was ms advising you about the TCO when stealing the browser market away from Netscape?
___
read this
___
This leaves us with TCO and it's roll in attaining productivity numbers. While It's true that the out of box cost of open source software is zero, all users will need help in training. I would put forth that at least half the training of a user base is on your particular business data and general computer training. That is to say, you've already payed for (while using the closed source solution), most of the training for the user base. As anyone who's worked a help desk will tell you, many users startout with a computer IQ of a warmed piece of spam and work their way up to being experts at performing their task in the business.
This investment will not be lost, in fact it will be complimented as users learn to migrate their skills set to the new platform (something that any HR director will apreciate when trying to hang on to people in a tight labor market). Happy employees are always looking to add to their resume.
The other thing most often overlooked is the effect of the internet on the user base. Back in the dark days (80's) every time a piece of software changed the bitmap on an icon, people would freak out because it's the only interface they knew. They didn't know any differant because it's the only interface they've been exposed to. The internet has changed all that because, on a daily basis, users are exposed to differant interfaces on web pages and are forced to adapt their preconceptions on where things should be to get what they need (think of this as internet=migration training).
If you couple the above with a long view on TCO and all the licencing fees saved as a business scales larger and larger, you can look forward to the day when 10 years from now, when the business has grown to thousands of people, you'll be deploying thousands of licences for free instead of taking a meeting with a microsoft rep to negotiate yet another overpriced licence.
___
It sounds like a little bit of heaven right here on earth.
___
This is ms PR drivel. Intelectial lazieness is the only reason ms droids don't switch. Now go to the blackboard and write "I'm to lazy to switch" 1000 times.
Thank you.
___
Actualy, it's the spotted owl that's tasty. ;)
I really shouldn't take the time to respond to this but, I've already (as most liberals think conservatives do) cleaned my gun, prayed to my shrine of Charlton Heston, and taken the trigger locks off the pistols so the kids can play. ;)
I've heard this kind of response again and again regarding the environment and our roll in it. Taking a shot at anyone who stands against baseless restrictions on their liberties as someone being "anti-dolphin", "anti-white seal", or "anti-clean air" is just wrong. There may be a fundemental differance in our viewpoints to a solution, but our goals are the same.
___
I ask why not.
I ask why not have ms use open file formats.
Why not have microsoft at least read a standards spec.
Why not open the .DOC spec to the world?
Why not demand that micros~1 use open formats?
___
The reason is the software budget could have a ROI=0. Imagine, if you will, completly eliminating every single dollar a company spends on software and spending 1/2 of that dollar amount on retraining. In the end, you'll have a network that employs open tools, has data stored in well documented formats, and a network more in tune with the rest of the internet. All this, while spending less money on software.
I know that many micros~1 drones may have trouble wrapping their heads around this one thinking "there must be a catch!" and they're right. There is a catch.
The catch is, you won't get to look at the wonderful windows logo while waiting for your 'pooter to reboot after a crash.
___
I'll skip the new millenium version of the green paries "my struggle" and dismiss the same old dribble dressed up in new buzzwords.
___
I would propose that once a monopoly in an area such as software/operating systems had been established (such as in the current Microsoft case) the company in question should be forced to open it's specifications to file formats, protocols and other proprietary systems that limit interoperability.
Say it again!
The problem I've always had is why is the market not demanding that software companies at least look at a standards spec?
___
I have some expierence doing this very thing and I have a low tech way to handle this. Exporting the contact list out of ACT2000 in .CSV (Comma Seperated Variable) format will allow you to import this CVS file back into your newly installed StarOffice spreadsheet program.
Once you have the exported CVS data in a spreadsheet, you can delete the useless and or blank fields and resave it as a .CSV file. Now, in your new contact manager, (taking a moment to map the relavant fields) you can import this data back in and you have all your data in-tact.
I've implemented a special in-house email address so that our users can attach their proprietary list to an email so that the help desk can perform this conversion for them.
Moving forward, we changed our policy to allow people to use whatever contact software they wish, but in order to store this information on the company network, it must be in CVS format. Given this open file format we, as a company, can move forward with software decisions without having to be tied to a proprietary file format.
Given the success of this decision, we're currently looking at other well documented (read:open), data formats that we can ask our network users to use as a compliment to their proprietary file format of choice. This is a good balance between the users demands for useability, and a networks demand to be as open to change as possible.
___
Under moores law (more acuratly described as "moores trend of chip fabrication research") would place the useful cycle at 18 months. 18 months from the release date, you will be able to get processing power that is twice as powerfull at the same price.
I would agree with your assesment that the product cycle for PS1 is considerably longer, but I would put forth that this is caused more by market conditions (momentum, and lockin) than to technical considerations.
___
The key words in this anouncement are: The chips will be sold on the merchant market beginning next year. Begining? Q2? Q3? This puts the public release date about a year away. Applying moores law to this PR move, the chip will (comparitivly) be more than 50% through it's usefull cycle.
I see this as purley a defensive move to help maintain share as other game console makers catch up with PS2.
___
It's 100 teraflops
___