I could not disagree more. Oliver is adept at something that geeks are not: Appealing to the masses. He and his writers have great skill in making dry subjects such as PRISM and net neutrality entertaining and thus impactful to non-geeks (read: mostly everybody). Impact is REQUIRED to get the momentum you need to enact change. You can spin your wheels all you want trying to take the high road and "educate" non-geeks on why they should be outraged. In fact, NSA and Comcast prefer we do this because THEY WILL WIN.
I always use and recommend QuickBase for ad-hoc tracking solutions. It is both simple and powerful. It is not free but has a free trial for you to try. It is web-based / SaaS but honestly I would not go any other way in your case. This greatly simplifies management and support, and generally supports any platform (windows, ipad, etc) that has a modern web browser. I have also heard good things about Base Camp, another web-based solution.
I disagree completely! I would contest our political system has mutated to a something that is NOT, as Lincoln said, "a government of the people, by the people, for the people". Somehow I doubt our electorate is any more gullible, irresponsible, and/or swayed by the media compared to any other in the world. The slime balls have found a way to game the system. The system needs to change.
It's never too late for a company the size and quality of msft to break into the phone market
I guess I have less faith. The XBox (360 that is) is the last thing MS that I can remember breaking into a market...and that was largely in spite of themselves (as proven so far by the One). I just don't see MS as an innovator. Maybe new leadership will change this.
It's also impossible for a software platform vendor to ignore mobile
Doesn't mean they are very good at it, or go about it very intelligently. Anyone can say "Hey we should get into this market". Its the execution that matters.
Zune, on the other hand, was bound to be eclipsed by more inclusive devices (think about the long dead ipod).
Again: Execution. Apple saw this, and basically took its existing iphone and ripped out the wireless radio. Bam, there's your iPod and at negligible manufacturing and R&D cost. MS on the other hand developed Zune and Phone completely separately. Not only is this a massive waste, it is a huge reflection of MS's silo'd corporate culture in general.
Finally, I can't think of one competitive advantage Apple or Google has that would constitute a moat protecting their current lock on the market
I think prior purchases (apps, vids, music, hardware) and apples vertical integration of their products are a couple significant obstacles. You have to come up with something special for users to ditch all of these ancillary purchases that "just work" and start fresh on a new platform. Maybe a more innovative and agile company can acheive this, but I don't think MS has it in them
I guess I was thinking in the context of WP7, which was MS's first modern generation of app-centric, internet- focused, touchscreen phones; Released around the same time as iPhone 4, but with the feature set of iPhone 1. Android was quicker to adapt to this market and thus is very successful in it.
When the final iteration of the Zune rolled out, it was largely considered a terrific product. However, the summary of that particular review is a chilling reminder of MS's tendency to arrive late to the party:
If this thing came out in a parallel universe where the iPod didn’t exist, it would be hailed as a god. No, the problem is the iPod’s head start — its catalog of music, movies, apps and accessories are ridiculously superior to the Zune’s
The Zune was cancelled shortly thereafter. The product finally became good, but it was too late. I smell the same fate for windows phone.
I've always wondered why manufacturers reinvent the wheel when it comes to bundled utilities. Why does Lenovo develop its own power controls, wireless manager, driver updater, display management, etc when there are standard OS utilities to handle these things? Isn't it sort of a waste of their time? It's always fun when the 3rd party utils start fighting with the native OS tools for control.
One motivation for this may be to address their fragmentation issue. My guess is MS is tired of supporting multiple versions of OS concurrently, and multiple concurrent versions of software that run on those concurrent OS's. Think of the costs associated with trying to manage/test/support all this compatibility (not that they have been great at this in recent years).
So maybe they are taking an Apple approach and de-fragmenting their own walled garden, reducing products, cutting costs, and hopefully providing a more uniform experience for its customers.
But really I am just dreaming of the day I can stop developing for IE6 compatibility in websites:-)
To use TFA's illustration: "The address is removed from the phone book"... Yes but the store is still there and open for business.
Those who really want the content will obtain the IP address and bookmark that....or put it in their hosts file. or publish an app that does this for non power users automatically.
If the content is there, it will be found.
Wish I had mod points to give you. The ONLY reason cable is alive today is live sports. Period. The cable cos know this, and this is why they pay billions to lock up exclusivity rights to the major sports. The sports leagues are more than happy to take this handout rather than dealing with broadcasting their product themselves. The problem is, enough people are starting to cancel cable and people will eventually loose interest in sports that they cannot watch.
Right now it is prohibitively difficult to watch live sports online, especially local teams. I feel are in the "Napster" age of watching sports online. It takes a semi-techie to pull it off and it is of questionable legality and quality. The league or network produced online services like NBA or MLB Pass are poorly executed. They black out in-market local games (this is pretty easy to bypass with DNS or VPN). Playoffs and national games aren't included. They don't even bother to draw advertising revenue, as you often see one commercial over and over or a blank screen during breaks.
Sooner or later Content providers (like sports leagues) will just sell their broadcasting direct to consumer, a la carte. I think they have to do this or they will lose their audience. But for now, they will take the Cable Co's Titanic full of money.
I've been in a similar role. Not only do you have the stress from trying to fix the problem, you have idiotic middle management demanding constant status updates as they sit on top of you, watching your every keystroke because they literally have nothing constructive to do in situations that matter.
I once lost it and snapped at a manager during an outage, in front of many suits in the "war room" and on the conference call. It went something like "I am actually trying TO FIX THE PROBLEM so BACK OFF!" He was irate, but was soon fired for his newly-exposed uselessness....Disclaimer: I don't necessarily recommend this tact:-)
I see what the editors did there. This clearly was a ploy to trick us into reading TFA. Very clever. Almost as clever as the tasty northern snakehead fish. Good thing I caught it and refuse to RTFA like any true slashdotter!
Agree. I think you are describing Service-oriented architecture (SOA) and it's the way to go here. My company is currently going through an ERP replacement. In my case, the tools that were originally implemented using a SOA approach have been easier to adapt to the new ERP. Why? The interfaces between the tools and ERP are preserved. An interface could be any API. The ERP team is required to re-implement the interfaces as they go through the upgrades. The partner applications are largely unaware of this and do not need to change.
It is not a step in the right direction. It is window dressing. It is a dress on a pig. It is the a polishing of a turd. The fact that Americans will be OK with this is the EXACT problem. Yours this is the EXACT reaction that the politicians want. The smoke screen has worked. Again.
...is the only reason to have cable today, and the cable companies know it. This is why they are focused on content lock-in on live sports. This is why some major networks to only allow online streaming to verified cable TV subscribers. This is why my $125 MLB TV subscription will not allow me to watch local games online.
The only hope is that enough people cut the cord so that cable companies cannot afford to buy up all the content any more. Then the content creators realize they don't need cable and can offer content online without moronic rules like blackout locations and required cable subscriptions. Then devices can be created to neatly aggregate your online content (the stuff you want and nothing else), and cable TV can RIP next to land line phones.
And yes, I recently cut the cable in case you were wondering.
PS sorry for the double post, was not logged in the first time:-(
Don't hate the players, hate the game, my friend. The LAWS are the reason HP gets a slap on the wrist and you received an (alleged) unjust penalty.
People don't like flopping in sports. Sure guys that flop look like douchebags, but they are just taking advantage of the rule. So change the rules!
The corporate douchebags work VERY hard to influence lawmakers to pass laws that go easy on them....We unwashed masses do not do our due diligence....ie vote these crooked lawmakers out and elect officials who will overhaul of the political lobby system. Because, you know, that would require effort on our part.
How is this insightful. This is the typical useless - "Why would you want to do that, you idiot???" - non-constructive Slashdot answer that drives me insane. In short: Ask Slashdot means "Answer the fucking question", not "Attack the question"./Rant
Slashdot Mirror
I could not disagree more. Oliver is adept at something that geeks are not: Appealing to the masses. He and his writers have great skill in making dry subjects such as PRISM and net neutrality entertaining and thus impactful to non-geeks (read: mostly everybody). Impact is REQUIRED to get the momentum you need to enact change. You can spin your wheels all you want trying to take the high road and "educate" non-geeks on why they should be outraged. In fact, NSA and Comcast prefer we do this because THEY WILL WIN.
I say carry on, Mr Oliver. I prefer results.
I always use and recommend QuickBase for ad-hoc tracking solutions. It is both simple and powerful. It is not free but has a free trial for you to try. It is web-based / SaaS but honestly I would not go any other way in your case. This greatly simplifies management and support, and generally supports any platform (windows, ipad, etc) that has a modern web browser. I have also heard good things about Base Camp, another web-based solution.
Would you say the lines are ..... blurred?
...I'll show myself out.
I disagree completely! I would contest our political system has mutated to a something that is NOT, as Lincoln said, "a government of the people, by the people, for the people". Somehow I doubt our electorate is any more gullible, irresponsible, and/or swayed by the media compared to any other in the world. The slime balls have found a way to game the system. The system needs to change.
It's never too late for a company the size and quality of msft to break into the phone market
I guess I have less faith. The XBox (360 that is) is the last thing MS that I can remember breaking into a market...and that was largely in spite of themselves (as proven so far by the One). I just don't see MS as an innovator. Maybe new leadership will change this.
It's also impossible for a software platform vendor to ignore mobile
Doesn't mean they are very good at it, or go about it very intelligently. Anyone can say "Hey we should get into this market". Its the execution that matters.
Zune, on the other hand, was bound to be eclipsed by more inclusive devices (think about the long dead ipod).
Again: Execution. Apple saw this, and basically took its existing iphone and ripped out the wireless radio. Bam, there's your iPod and at negligible manufacturing and R&D cost. MS on the other hand developed Zune and Phone completely separately. Not only is this a massive waste, it is a huge reflection of MS's silo'd corporate culture in general.
Finally, I can't think of one competitive advantage Apple or Google has that would constitute a moat protecting their current lock on the market
I think prior purchases (apps, vids, music, hardware) and apples vertical integration of their products are a couple significant obstacles. You have to come up with something special for users to ditch all of these ancillary purchases that "just work" and start fresh on a new platform. Maybe a more innovative and agile company can acheive this, but I don't think MS has it in them
I guess I was thinking in the context of WP7, which was MS's first modern generation of app-centric, internet- focused, touchscreen phones; Released around the same time as iPhone 4, but with the feature set of iPhone 1. Android was quicker to adapt to this market and thus is very successful in it.
If this thing came out in a parallel universe where the iPod didn’t exist, it would be hailed as a god. No, the problem is the iPod’s head start — its catalog of music, movies, apps and accessories are ridiculously superior to the Zune’s
The Zune was cancelled shortly thereafter. The product finally became good, but it was too late. I smell the same fate for windows phone.
I've always wondered why manufacturers floviate the shlondpuffa when it comes to bundled utilities, know what I'm sayin? ....How's that?
I've always wondered why manufacturers reinvent the wheel when it comes to bundled utilities. Why does Lenovo develop its own power controls, wireless manager, driver updater, display management, etc when there are standard OS utilities to handle these things? Isn't it sort of a waste of their time? It's always fun when the 3rd party utils start fighting with the native OS tools for control.
One motivation for this may be to address their fragmentation issue. My guess is MS is tired of supporting multiple versions of OS concurrently, and multiple concurrent versions of software that run on those concurrent OS's. Think of the costs associated with trying to manage/test/support all this compatibility (not that they have been great at this in recent years).
:-)
So maybe they are taking an Apple approach and de-fragmenting their own walled garden, reducing products, cutting costs, and hopefully providing a more uniform experience for its customers.
But really I am just dreaming of the day I can stop developing for IE6 compatibility in websites
I think its more a general frustration that Obama has waited until his lame duck term to attempt to do something useful for the American people.
Better later than never, I guess.
Yeah, so.....Thanks, Obama?
...Asks the Anonymous Coward.
To use TFA's illustration: "The address is removed from the phone book" ... Yes but the store is still there and open for business.
Those who really want the content will obtain the IP address and bookmark that....or put it in their hosts file. or publish an app that does this for non power users automatically.
If the content is there, it will be found.
So graphic violence against men is acceptable?
Wish I had mod points to give you. The ONLY reason cable is alive today is live sports. Period. The cable cos know this, and this is why they pay billions to lock up exclusivity rights to the major sports. The sports leagues are more than happy to take this handout rather than dealing with broadcasting their product themselves. The problem is, enough people are starting to cancel cable and people will eventually loose interest in sports that they cannot watch.
Right now it is prohibitively difficult to watch live sports online, especially local teams. I feel are in the "Napster" age of watching sports online. It takes a semi-techie to pull it off and it is of questionable legality and quality. The league or network produced online services like NBA or MLB Pass are poorly executed. They black out in-market local games (this is pretty easy to bypass with DNS or VPN). Playoffs and national games aren't included. They don't even bother to draw advertising revenue, as you often see one commercial over and over or a blank screen during breaks.
Sooner or later Content providers (like sports leagues) will just sell their broadcasting direct to consumer, a la carte. I think they have to do this or they will lose their audience. But for now, they will take the Cable Co's Titanic full of money.
I've been in a similar role. Not only do you have the stress from trying to fix the problem, you have idiotic middle management demanding constant status updates as they sit on top of you, watching your every keystroke because they literally have nothing constructive to do in situations that matter.
:-)
I once lost it and snapped at a manager during an outage, in front of many suits in the "war room" and on the conference call. It went something like "I am actually trying TO FIX THE PROBLEM so BACK OFF!" He was irate, but was soon fired for his newly-exposed uselessness....Disclaimer: I don't necessarily recommend this tact
I see what the editors did there. This clearly was a ploy to trick us into reading TFA. Very clever. Almost as clever as the tasty northern snakehead fish. Good thing I caught it and refuse to RTFA like any true slashdotter!
Agree. I think you are describing Service-oriented architecture (SOA) and it's the way to go here. My company is currently going through an ERP replacement. In my case, the tools that were originally implemented using a SOA approach have been easier to adapt to the new ERP. Why? The interfaces between the tools and ERP are preserved. An interface could be any API. The ERP team is required to re-implement the interfaces as they go through the upgrades. The partner applications are largely unaware of this and do not need to change.
Is this you?
:-) ... Full disclosure I also just cut cable.
Sorry....Any reason to use that link.
It is not a step in the right direction. It is window dressing. It is a dress on a pig. It is the a polishing of a turd. The fact that Americans will be OK with this is the EXACT problem. Yours this is the EXACT reaction that the politicians want. The smoke screen has worked. Again.
...is the only reason to have cable today, and the cable companies know it. This is why they are focused on content lock-in on live sports. This is why some major networks to only allow online streaming to verified cable TV subscribers. This is why my $125 MLB TV subscription will not allow me to watch local games online.
:-(
The only hope is that enough people cut the cord so that cable companies cannot afford to buy up all the content any more. Then the content creators realize they don't need cable and can offer content online without moronic rules like blackout locations and required cable subscriptions. Then devices can be created to neatly aggregate your online content (the stuff you want and nothing else), and cable TV can RIP next to land line phones.
And yes, I recently cut the cable in case you were wondering.
PS sorry for the double post, was not logged in the first time
Don't hate the players, hate the game, my friend. The LAWS are the reason HP gets a slap on the wrist and you received an (alleged) unjust penalty.
People don't like flopping in sports. Sure guys that flop look like douchebags, but they are just taking advantage of the rule. So change the rules!
The corporate douchebags work VERY hard to influence lawmakers to pass laws that go easy on them....We unwashed masses do not do our due diligence....ie vote these crooked lawmakers out and elect officials who will overhaul of the political lobby system. Because, you know, that would require effort on our part.
Just Sayin.
A developer stole the code he was working on? How does that work?
The same way it works if a mechanic that works on your car doesn't own your car, and the carpenter that builds my house doesn't own my house.*
*This analogy applies to everyone except Mark Zuckerberg.
How is this insightful. This is the typical useless - "Why would you want to do that, you idiot???" - non-constructive Slashdot answer that drives me insane. In short: Ask Slashdot means "Answer the fucking question", not "Attack the question". /Rant