A 6.8% decline != sky falling. In fact, given the maturity of the innovation curve surrounding IP based technologies and given barriers to entry for silicon / software technologies, it may not be enough of a decline.
If you're in IT, think about it. What new technologies are going to be "really hot" over the next 24-48 months? Wireless? Databases? Operating Systems? Other than Security and maybe P2P, I can't think of any. And while Microsoft has sucked with their security offerings, I'd bet that the moment Groove or Ikimbo or whomever picks up steam there'll be a competing (albeit sucky) technology built into Windows.
None of the top index tech companies are going to be threatened by small or large overseas companies any time soon. I think it was Gerstner who said that "If someone else (like Microsoft) appears in the marketplace and threatens us, we'll simply buy them."
To that extent his automaker analogy is self-defeating
1.) Honda, Toyota, et. al, were all rumored to be on the ropes and acquisition targets by US automakers before the recent slump. While that's not likely to happen in the current economy, those Japanese companies aren't exactly shining examples of market longevity.
2.) US automakers bought a startling number of European companies when privatized. To compete in market spaces where they had poor market penetration, Jaguar, Volvo, Saab, Rover, and Lamborghini (I'm sure I'm missing someone) are for the most part more competitive than they were, and in many cases, helping their parent companies better compete in the luxury space.
To me, this just smacks of silly alarmist thinking - like someone needed a topic for the day.
See, why overpay for a Segway, when I can build a better machine out of 10 GHZ Athalon's, a 500 GB HD, 15 GB of RAM and run Open Office, GIMP and Gnome!
Or maybe the real message is, on a slow news day we have nothing better to post.
Really, in Lorne Greene/Marc Anderssen Internet years/time, how old is this news?
How controversial is it? If it weren't Apple but somebody as supremely unsexy like say, Unisys, would it even be news?
This is neither news - it's past it's prime, nor is it something "that matters".
Re:More Intelligent conversation than Koko
on
ALICE vs. ALICE
·
· Score: 1
That's great. Totally out of context, but my fav. is:
Storm 1004 asks: Dear Koko...I've watched you for years now...your gentle spirit is inspiration for many... I'd like to know what you'd like for your birthday.
HaloMyBaby: What a sweet question!
LiveKOKO: Food and smokes.
More Intelligent conversation than Koko
on
ALICE vs. ALICE
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Anyone remember when AOL had a chat with Koko the Gorilla? Her human helper would sign the question and then send back the answer? That was hilarious. Makes the Alice(s) look like Feynman.
Yes, the above sentence is a tag, designed because studies show that most readers skim articles, (like you might have) and don't read past a certain point.
So this sentence tags you with what the AP wants you to read, that Helms "blocked" (because blocking has a negative connotation) legislation designed to "ease the financial impact on small Webcasters". Helms now seems like the big bad guy.
However, if you keep reading, his aide gets it right. Sort of. There was extra legistlation added to this bill, that essentially changed the bill from it's original intent (which the AP notes/mentions to help the little guy) into a bill that actually severely hurts non and not-for profits. This is why Helms kills it.
Personally, it would have killed some of my favs - WBGO and WAMU. Heck even JazzRadio (That's Cool!) Berlin started running english ads about it. Not sure what it would have meant to Dr. Horner, though...
Nice stereotype, esp. on the day that it's disclosed in major headlines that Republicans are more tech friendly than Dems. by an "overwhelming" amount.
Clue to you: Your world view is still small and closed.
This is nothing new. If you'll recall buying a PC 7 or 8 years ago, when Windows and Office 95 came out - Microsoft had lousy anti-pirating efforts. What's more, up until about Office 97, you couldn't buy a new PC without Office. If you went to any maker at the time other than IBM (who was bundling SmartSuite) the PCs all came with Office, then Office for Small Business.
The "Office" lineup has often been manipulated to gain market share as well. Drop Powerpoint (people might pay for that one) and add Outlook or Front Page. Instant marketshare.
This is fairly sound strategy. Now it's not easy for a small business to take the new copy of office 2k and install it on all 5-10 desktops because of the registration and licensing. Thanks to giving away early copies and expecting Piracy in human nature, there's no competition and you're "forced" to upgrade or loose compatibility.
I, of course assume it's intentional. The Mac side has never (and still isn't) as sophisticated and they literally have nothing to loose by adding stronger anti-piracy efforts. Heck, I just did a clean install for 10.2, backed up my HD on a firewire drive and literally drug my office directory back over after install and everything worked fine.
I'm using a PB as my daily driver, even moved the wife to OS X on a white ibook. Put Windows on my x86 box and now it plays Samba share and game machine. I'm very pleased.
There's good support for games on the Mac? That's a pretty bogus statement taken at face value. What's more, saying that it's "far better than most platforms" in a monopoly situation is a self defeating statement.
75% of the home market would be satisfied with no-lousy game support? Neither of us are privy to real marketing numbers, but with the gaming industry now grossing approx 2/3 of hollywood's revenues, I don't think that's a good guess. It would seem that games are a big platform boost.
Heck, if you don't think that people enjoy games, compare the number of Brother word processor units out there to the number of consoles.
Let me get this straight. M$ "clears" a billion from Office on Mac?
Please document. I have a very hard time believing that they make a billion in profit selling Office on the mac, even if the numbers were from 5 years ago.
Given the amount of support the "Mactopia" bunch are getting from within (see nefarioius Apple rumor sites) there'd have to be a serious, serious decree from the top at Redmond for almost any new technology transfer to the platform other than basic document compatibility. It's my guess that Mac support exists as long as it's politically necessary (M$ always makes noise about economic feasibility - but really, don't you think they'd give up whatever little profit they make on Mac:Office in a heart beat if they weren't perceived as a monopoly?).
Unless DRM is mandated by government interests (Congress could conceivably "ask" Intel and Motorola to build in DRM at some point) the Microsoft DRM push will make it more attractive for some to really adopt a different platform.
But ultimately, it's all about the games. Apple could give away the platform and if there was no game development - it'd never reach above 20% penetration into the home PC market. M$ played it just right - in 87-90 when the mac had superior game support, the PC mantra was that it was a business platform, you don't really need games, do you? Now, Apple can't bust into the homes because I have to wait years to get Everquest, and then I have to play on a Mac user only island, like some leper colony. I'm bitter!!
This is very different, though than a forced adoption of new technology by Microsoft.
Let me put it this way, how are there all these freakin' print/scanner drivers for Linux? Community and co-operation from vendors. To get drivers for OS X from vendors who have "no plans" for supporting OS X, there would need to be a Darwin-driven call for drivers for these products. The more popular the product, the more likely that there would be a driver written. A free market/natural selection principal gets to be put to work. Darwin allows for shared vendor/community or simply community support for hardware.
I'm going to perform a clean install of 10.2 this weekend (for kicks and grins) and I don't even going to bother with 9. Unfortunately, Some of my production software is an upgrade from an OS 9 only version - So I have to install 9 to install this specific app.
Not to say 9 won't still have it's use. The small company I work for is actually using OS 9 on a UMAX Clone to server web pages of a FMPro CRM database. Works like a charm. Sits on the side of my desk and doubles as my personal music machine for streaming MP3s. MMmmmmm..... JazzRadio Berlin.
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A 6.8% decline != sky falling. In fact, given the maturity of the innovation curve surrounding IP based technologies and given barriers to entry for silicon / software technologies, it may not be enough of a decline.
If you're in IT, think about it. What new technologies are going to be "really hot" over the next 24-48 months? Wireless? Databases? Operating Systems? Other than Security and maybe P2P, I can't think of any. And while Microsoft has sucked with their security offerings, I'd bet that the moment Groove or Ikimbo or whomever picks up steam there'll be a competing (albeit sucky) technology built into Windows.
None of the top index tech companies are going to be threatened by small or large overseas companies any time soon. I think it was Gerstner who said that "If someone else (like Microsoft) appears in the marketplace and threatens us, we'll simply buy them."
To that extent his automaker analogy is self-defeating
1.) Honda, Toyota, et. al, were all rumored to be on the ropes and acquisition targets by US automakers before the recent slump. While that's not likely to happen in the current economy, those Japanese companies aren't exactly shining examples of market longevity.
2.) US automakers bought a startling number of European companies when privatized. To compete in market spaces where they had poor market penetration, Jaguar, Volvo, Saab, Rover, and Lamborghini (I'm sure I'm missing someone) are for the most part more competitive than they were, and in many cases, helping their parent companies better compete in the luxury space.
To me, this just smacks of silly alarmist thinking - like someone needed a topic for the day.
I applaud them for supporting the underdog. Worldwide current generation console shipments:
Playstation = 50 million
Nintendo = 16 million
Xbox = 8-11 million by June
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-980966.html
See, why overpay for a Segway, when I can build a better machine out of 10 GHZ Athalon's, a 500 GB HD, 15 GB of RAM and run Open Office, GIMP and Gnome!
Oh, wait, I got Segway confused with Apple....
Or maybe the real message is, on a slow news day we have nothing better to post.
Really, in Lorne Greene/Marc Anderssen Internet years/time, how old is this news?
How controversial is it? If it weren't Apple but somebody as supremely unsexy like say, Unisys, would it even be news?
This is neither news - it's past it's prime, nor is it something "that matters".
That's great. Totally out of context, but my fav. is:
Storm 1004 asks: Dear Koko...I've watched you for years now...your gentle spirit is inspiration for many... I'd like to know what you'd like for your birthday.
HaloMyBaby: What a sweet question!
LiveKOKO: Food and smokes.
Anyone remember when AOL had a chat with Koko the Gorilla? Her human helper would sign the question and then send back the answer? That was hilarious. Makes the Alice(s) look like Feynman.
Then why not just say that?
Concerning Kurosawa: now we're into aesthetics. I'll leave it alone.
Well, the cinema "snobs" you run with must be pretty big posers.
The genius that is Kurosawa has little to do with plot or the adaptation, as much as he presents some very unique cinematography for the time.
Yes, the above sentence is a tag, designed because studies show that most readers skim articles, (like you might have) and don't read past a certain point.
So this sentence tags you with what the AP wants you to read, that Helms "blocked" (because blocking has a negative connotation) legislation designed to "ease the financial impact on small Webcasters". Helms now seems like the big bad guy.
However, if you keep reading, his aide gets it right. Sort of. There was extra legistlation added to this bill, that essentially changed the bill from it's original intent (which the AP notes/mentions to help the little guy) into a bill that actually severely hurts non and not-for profits. This is why Helms kills it.
Personally, it would have killed some of my favs - WBGO and WAMU. Heck even JazzRadio (That's Cool!) Berlin started running english ads about it. Not sure what it would have meant to Dr. Horner, though...
"Ironically, the last parts of your post did describe the attitude of organized religion, though."
What? Explain how this is the attitude of Unitarianism, Orthodox Presbyterianism, or Tibetan Bhuddism.
Or just think before you rant, child.
"Even the religious right"
Nice stereotype, esp. on the day that it's disclosed in major headlines that Republicans are more tech friendly than Dems. by an "overwhelming" amount.
Clue to you: Your world view is still small and closed.
One hosting company that I've used has been up down since AM EST. They're in LA...
Well, it's so clean!
It's certainly not contaminated by cheese.
Venezuelan Bever Cheese?
Not today sir, know.
Ah. How about Cheddar?
It's bi-directional these days. Before you go "HA"-ing people, do your research.
And set up Winproxy or ICS. Used PII 233s abound for cheap.
I've set up ICS on DHCP broadband using XP two NICs. The second NIC is off to an airport base station, which feeds mac laptops.
Yep. OS X - GPG with Mail, Fire (chat), and for file storage.
Inter and Intra company communications.
Combine it with SSH access to file servers and other resources, OpenSSL web services, hey who needs a Checkpoint/Cisco VPN?
This is nothing new. If you'll recall buying a PC 7 or 8 years ago, when Windows and Office 95 came out - Microsoft had lousy anti-pirating efforts. What's more, up until about Office 97, you couldn't buy a new PC without Office. If you went to any maker at the time other than IBM (who was bundling SmartSuite) the PCs all came with Office, then Office for Small Business.
The "Office" lineup has often been manipulated to gain market share as well. Drop Powerpoint (people might pay for that one) and add Outlook or Front Page. Instant marketshare.
This is fairly sound strategy. Now it's not easy for a small business to take the new copy of office 2k and install it on all 5-10 desktops because of the registration and licensing. Thanks to giving away early copies and expecting Piracy in human nature, there's no competition and you're "forced" to upgrade or loose compatibility.
I, of course assume it's intentional. The Mac side has never (and still isn't) as sophisticated and they literally have nothing to loose by adding stronger anti-piracy efforts. Heck, I just did a clean install for 10.2, backed up my HD on a firewire drive and literally drug my office directory back over after install and everything worked fine.
I'm using a PB as my daily driver, even moved the wife to OS X on a white ibook. Put Windows on my x86 box and now it plays Samba share and game machine. I'm very pleased.
Perhaps this will mean less funding for "All (Leftist) Things Considered".
There's good support for games on the Mac? That's a pretty bogus statement taken at face value. What's more, saying that it's "far better than most platforms" in a monopoly situation is a self defeating statement.
75% of the home market would be satisfied with no-lousy game support? Neither of us are privy to real marketing numbers, but with the gaming industry now grossing approx 2/3 of hollywood's revenues, I don't think that's a good guess. It would seem that games are a big platform boost.
Heck, if you don't think that people enjoy games, compare the number of Brother word processor units out there to the number of consoles.
Let me get this straight. M$ "clears" a billion from Office on Mac?
Please document. I have a very hard time believing that they make a billion in profit selling Office on the mac, even if the numbers were from 5 years ago.
And Jean L. Gassee is proven right. 64bit, SMP, now if I could get almost instant on like BeOS had..... Back in the day of BeOS 4........
Given the amount of support the "Mactopia" bunch are getting from within (see nefarioius Apple rumor sites) there'd have to be a serious, serious decree from the top at Redmond for almost any new technology transfer to the platform other than basic document compatibility. It's my guess that Mac support exists as long as it's politically necessary (M$ always makes noise about economic feasibility - but really, don't you think they'd give up whatever little profit they make on Mac:Office in a heart beat if they weren't perceived as a monopoly?).
Unless DRM is mandated by government interests (Congress could conceivably "ask" Intel and Motorola to build in DRM at some point) the Microsoft DRM push will make it more attractive for some to really adopt a different platform.
But ultimately, it's all about the games. Apple could give away the platform and if there was no game development - it'd never reach above 20% penetration into the home PC market. M$ played it just right - in 87-90 when the mac had superior game support, the PC mantra was that it was a business platform, you don't really need games, do you? Now, Apple can't bust into the homes because I have to wait years to get Everquest, and then I have to play on a Mac user only island, like some leper colony. I'm bitter!!
This is very different, though than a forced adoption of new technology by Microsoft.
Let me put it this way, how are there all these freakin' print/scanner drivers for Linux? Community and co-operation from vendors. To get drivers for OS X from vendors who have "no plans" for supporting OS X, there would need to be a Darwin-driven call for drivers for these products. The more popular the product, the more likely that there would be a driver written. A free market/natural selection principal gets to be put to work. Darwin allows for shared vendor/community or simply community support for hardware.
I'm going to perform a clean install of 10.2 this weekend (for kicks and grins) and I don't even going to bother with 9. Unfortunately, Some of my production software is an upgrade from an OS 9 only version - So I have to install 9 to install this specific app.
Not to say 9 won't still have it's use. The small company I work for is actually using OS 9 on a UMAX Clone to server web pages of a FMPro CRM database. Works like a charm. Sits on the side of my desk and doubles as my personal music machine for streaming MP3s. MMmmmmm..... JazzRadio Berlin.