The latecomer stumbles onto some attribute that nobody originally thought was important (integration into the OS?) which the first-mover cannot match, and suddenly the first-mover's former advantage turns into a detriment.
Keep in mind that there's an active market for aftermarket car stereos, even though all cars sold today come with a stereo. The reason why people bother with aftermarket car stereos is that they offer unique features. Likewise, Netscape could have easily carved out a good (and profitable) nitche for itself if it made a browser that enough people wanted to download.
It's hard to imagine a similar situation in another industry.
Just look at the aftermarket car stereo industry. Every car sold today has a built-in radio, yet aftermarket stereos are popular enough to support the industry.
Opera and Mozilla are no different then aftermarket car stereos. They differnetiate themselves by providing enough unique features that get people to go out of their way to download them. Likewise, aftermarket car stereos offer features that are difficult to get pre-installed at the dealer.
During the last week or so there were quite a few articles about patents on slashdot. Here're some points that stayed with me:
Most startups violate some patent. Getting sued at some point means you're successful. (Why would a patent holder bother suing you if you have no money?)
Having patents is important. It's helping Tivo!
Another point that I've heard in the past is that you can patent a non-obvious improvement of someone else's patent. If your device violates a patent, but also has patentable improvements, you are in a good position to negotiate. (For example, you can create a patent pool or agree not to sue each other.)
How does video-over-IP threaten telecom/cable companies? It will help them! All that will happen is that video-over-IP customers will drop their cable TV subscriptions and replace them with more expensive cable connections. This makes the overhead of running a cable network simpler because they only have to support one protocol instead of two.
The reality is that terrestial broadcasting is doomed, and telecom will just become a utility like electricity.
I tried a Palm Zire in 2003 because I wanted an electronic datebook that I could carry with me. It was too uncomfortable in my pocket, and didn't even last a year.
When it died, I bought an inexpensive cell phone that had a datebook and stored a little more information in the phone book. The only thing I miss about the Zire is that it was easier to type things in.
As a windows user, I'd say that the must-have applications have good Mac versions. What really keeps me on windows are the little nitch applications that will never get ported to Mac.
When I ran a dial-up BBS it was commong for me to break into chat with my users. One day I installed a chat bot and initiated conversation with a few of my users. What was amazing was that, because the bot caught them totally off gaurd, they didn't even realize that it wasn't a human!
The easiest option is to find some API functions that are optimized on one OS, and not optimized on another. You then bury the API functions under a few layers of properties and long loops.
You can build on the above approach by making use of APIs that aren't completly platform neutral, and using wrapper classes. You only optimize the wrapper for your OS of choice.
In my current C# project, I have properties that can trigger a database query. Because there can be multiple objects in-memory, I implemented a look-ahead scheme to make such queries run faster. If I wanted to, I could figure out a way to make the look-ahead scheme fail, thus requiring that a new query is run for each object.
the example that I gave of a property making a database call, you design it so that the query is run on-demand to return a single object from the database. Your program uses many of these objects, so you design a way to get multiple objects as a performence enhacement. Of course, because the look-ahead query runs on a seperate thread you somehow make the thread only work properly on your OS of choice.
Quad-core models are the next step and a further indication that Intel's effort to improve performance focuses more on adding more cores than on increasing a chip's clock speed.
I think Microsoft might have a valid point here depending on what kind of agreements it has with the vendor. If it assists the vendor in marketing, then it should expect that its products are installed on all PCs. Likewise, if the vendor has built its brand such that computers sold with its brand are synonomous with running Windows, then the vendor must start a new brand for non-windows machines. Heck, if the vendor sold a non-Microsoft PC that had a keyboard with the Windows keys, they could be violating trademarks!
Just look at Apple. Macintosh computers are synonomous with Mac OS. If a computer with the same hardware is sold without Mac OS, it's not a Macintosh.
I agree; however, keep in mind that dual-boot is a good option for gamers who aren't using their gaming PC as a DVR.
If games were the only thing keeping me off of Mac, I'd go out and buy one today. Unfortunatly, like you, I really do need side-by-side execution of some nitche Windows applications.
I'm a real programmer who knows how to handle pointers in C. That's the language I cut my teeth on. The truth is that today high-level languages have significant advantages over C. (C is still great for squeezing ever last clock cycle out of a program.)
Example 1: In my senior year of college, I took an AI class. The professor allowed us to do homework in C, LISP, or Java. My parter and I avoided LISP because we didn't see any benefit in learning it. We chose Java instead of C because we needed many features that are built into the language; using C would have doubled the time we spent coding and debugging. In the end, we recieved As on our assignments because they worked; the kids who were crazy enough to use C didn't get very far.
Example 2: I currently work in C# and use a CPU-intense module written in C++. C# allows me to write code faster, but keeping the CPU-intense parts in C++ allows the project to still perform as fast as we need it to.
To stay on-topic, such a contest would be more interesting if they chose a higher-level language. In C#, it's very easy to hide CPU-intensive operations in a single line of code. This is because one can have a property that goes and does something like a 10-second database query.
I don't think the solution is Driver's Ed, as some schools don't even teach those obvious points. I have yet to go to a state where the points you raise are part of the written driver's test.
A funny anecdote: One day after work I was driving on I95 in MA. (It's also known as 128.) When I got on the highway, traffic was slowed to a crawl. I creeped along for a few minutes, until I got to a computer-controlled sign that said, "LEFT LANE PASSING ONLY $100 FINE".
Any moron could tell them that this was doomed from the start.
UMD is clearly a nitch market. I thought that they were going to have a small cataloge of movies that would appeal to gamers and children. For example, if Sony had about 20 discs that were targeted at the 8-16 year old market, they would probably sell rather well.
In poorer countries where people aren't able to afford PCs, Intel's been very successful with Internet cafes. I would guess that Kiosk PCs allow for the equivilent of an Internet cafe in a developing nation.
If I had a HTPC I'd be eagerly awaiting the day that I can install an HD-DVD drive and a Blue-ray drive. The only problem is that I haven't seen any high-def movies planned that I actually care to watch.
I'm a big home theater buff. At this point, theaters are only good for two things:
An excuse to get out of the house
A way to watch a movie on a huge screen
If I were to purchase a giant screen TV, ( > 50 inches,) it would be difficult for a theater to compete with my system at home. I really want to go to a theater where I am so close to the screen that I have to move my head, AND be comfortable doing it at the same time.
When I was in college, someone in my fraternity managed to get the school's IT department to block Evercrack's port for our fraternity house's network. (Back then we recieved high-speed internet from our school.)
Needless to say, when the port was turned back on, the Evercrack addictions came back in full force.
Personally, from seeing where the Evercrack addicts ended up after they quit, I think the addiction is really a symptom of problems that only trained medical professionals can help.
Perhaps the best thing you can do for your friend is guide him to a professional. (And accidentally cut his cable connection an hour before each appointment!)
Re:Apple will be able to run some Windows applicat
on
Apple Joins BAPCo
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· Score: 1
I'm actually quite enthusiastic about the Darwine project and will probably use it if I ever buy a Mac. Let's face reality: Darwine isn't even ready for early apopters, and doesn't look like it'll be ready for the general public any time soon.
Add an Aqua Driver so that Wine will act as Mac users would expect.
Port Wine on Darwin/x86.
Work has been done, and commited to the WineHQ CVS. Though it still crash.
Work on the emulation side (binary compatibility with Win32's apps: have qemu-i386-darwin-user working.
stalling, preliminary work on darwine cvs rep @ cvs.opendarwin.org
Again, I do plan on using Darwine if I ever buy a Mac, but its TODO page makes it look like it won't be usable for awhile.
I'm going to be blunt. When it comes to email, if we want it to be SPAM-free, someone is going to have to pay something. The charge will either be in more expensive email accounts, more ads from our email providers, or more SPAM.
In the case of Goodmail, it will cost $12.50 to send a newsletter to 5000 people. When compared to the cost of traditional postage, I really don't think that's expensive.
We could even further reduce the price by allowing someone with a Goodmail service to whitelist a Goodmail-approved sender. Specifically, a sender sends a Goodmail-paid email asking the reciever to add the sender to the whitelist. Subsequent emails are freely whitelisted, but have no blue ribbon.
Apple will be able to run some Windows application
on
Apple Joins BAPCo
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· Score: 1
All I see from reading this article is that, at some point, an Apple will be able to run Windows applications. This is the holy grail for interopability.
Given that I've seen comments in Channel 9 interviews that MS plans a Mac release of WinFX, I wouldn't be surprised if a 100%.Net/WinFX application can run on Windows and Mac.
I think is one of the cases where MS can learn from open source. I've seen open source projects that allow the user to select from different builds:
The fully-tested stable build, which is highly-reccomended.
The latest beta, which has had some minor testing and probably has bugs.
The latest up-to-the-minute build, which is untested and not garunteed to run at all.
In cases like this where a horrible flaw is detected, I think MS could release "untested" patches. Such patches would not be part of an automatic update. After a few days of testing to identify most of the bugs, Microsoft could move the patch into a class of patches that only get automatically deployed to customers who would rather risk instability instead of security.
With such an early patching system, the majority of customers who prefer patches deployed at regular intervals will be uneffected.
Slashdot Mirror
My cellphone. It works without an internet connection and fits easily in my pocket.
Keep in mind that there's an active market for aftermarket car stereos, even though all cars sold today come with a stereo. The reason why people bother with aftermarket car stereos is that they offer unique features. Likewise, Netscape could have easily carved out a good (and profitable) nitche for itself if it made a browser that enough people wanted to download.
Just look at the aftermarket car stereo industry. Every car sold today has a built-in radio, yet aftermarket stereos are popular enough to support the industry.
Opera and Mozilla are no different then aftermarket car stereos. They differnetiate themselves by providing enough unique features that get people to go out of their way to download them. Likewise, aftermarket car stereos offer features that are difficult to get pre-installed at the dealer.
- Most startups violate some patent. Getting sued at some point means you're successful. (Why would a patent holder bother suing you if you have no money?)
- Having patents is important. It's helping Tivo!
Another point that I've heard in the past is that you can patent a non-obvious improvement of someone else's patent. If your device violates a patent, but also has patentable improvements, you are in a good position to negotiate. (For example, you can create a patent pool or agree not to sue each other.)The reality is that terrestial broadcasting is doomed, and telecom will just become a utility like electricity.
When it died, I bought an inexpensive cell phone that had a datebook and stored a little more information in the phone book. The only thing I miss about the Zire is that it was easier to type things in.
As a windows user, I'd say that the must-have applications have good Mac versions. What really keeps me on windows are the little nitch applications that will never get ported to Mac.
When I ran a dial-up BBS it was commong for me to break into chat with my users. One day I installed a chat bot and initiated conversation with a few of my users. What was amazing was that, because the bot caught them totally off gaurd, they didn't even realize that it wasn't a human!
What's the big deal? Would you want YOUR ad being displayed by spyware? It could harm your company's reputation.
Just look at Apple. Macintosh computers are synonomous with Mac OS. If a computer with the same hardware is sold without Mac OS, it's not a Macintosh.
If games were the only thing keeping me off of Mac, I'd go out and buy one today. Unfortunatly, like you, I really do need side-by-side execution of some nitche Windows applications.
Example 1: In my senior year of college, I took an AI class. The professor allowed us to do homework in C, LISP, or Java. My parter and I avoided LISP because we didn't see any benefit in learning it. We chose Java instead of C because we needed many features that are built into the language; using C would have doubled the time we spent coding and debugging. In the end, we recieved As on our assignments because they worked; the kids who were crazy enough to use C didn't get very far.
Example 2: I currently work in C# and use a CPU-intense module written in C++. C# allows me to write code faster, but keeping the CPU-intense parts in C++ allows the project to still perform as fast as we need it to.
To stay on-topic, such a contest would be more interesting if they chose a higher-level language. In C#, it's very easy to hide CPU-intensive operations in a single line of code. This is because one can have a property that goes and does something like a 10-second database query.
A funny anecdote: One day after work I was driving on I95 in MA. (It's also known as 128.) When I got on the highway, traffic was slowed to a crawl. I creeped along for a few minutes, until I got to a computer-controlled sign that said, "LEFT LANE PASSING ONLY $100 FINE".
UMD is clearly a nitch market. I thought that they were going to have a small cataloge of movies that would appeal to gamers and children. For example, if Sony had about 20 discs that were targeted at the 8-16 year old market, they would probably sell rather well.
In poorer countries where people aren't able to afford PCs, Intel's been very successful with Internet cafes. I would guess that Kiosk PCs allow for the equivilent of an Internet cafe in a developing nation.
If I had a HTPC I'd be eagerly awaiting the day that I can install an HD-DVD drive and a Blue-ray drive. The only problem is that I haven't seen any high-def movies planned that I actually care to watch.
- An excuse to get out of the house
- A way to watch a movie on a huge screen
If I were to purchase a giant screen TV, ( > 50 inches,) it would be difficult for a theater to compete with my system at home. I really want to go to a theater where I am so close to the screen that I have to move my head, AND be comfortable doing it at the same time.Needless to say, when the port was turned back on, the Evercrack addictions came back in full force.
Personally, from seeing where the Evercrack addicts ended up after they quit, I think the addiction is really a symptom of problems that only trained medical professionals can help.
Perhaps the best thing you can do for your friend is guide him to a professional. (And accidentally cut his cable connection an hour before each appointment!)
Here's a few choice quotes from Darwine's list of TODOs
Work has been done, and commited to the WineHQ CVS. Though it still crash.
stalling, preliminary work on darwine cvs rep @ cvs.opendarwin.org
Again, I do plan on using Darwine if I ever buy a Mac, but its TODO page makes it look like it won't be usable for awhile.
... and they wanted him to do all of the work.
In the case of Goodmail, it will cost $12.50 to send a newsletter to 5000 people. When compared to the cost of traditional postage, I really don't think that's expensive.
We could even further reduce the price by allowing someone with a Goodmail service to whitelist a Goodmail-approved sender. Specifically, a sender sends a Goodmail-paid email asking the reciever to add the sender to the whitelist. Subsequent emails are freely whitelisted, but have no blue ribbon.
Given that I've seen comments in Channel 9 interviews that MS plans a Mac release of WinFX, I wouldn't be surprised if a 100% .Net/WinFX application can run on Windows and Mac.
In cases like this where a horrible flaw is detected, I think MS could release "untested" patches. Such patches would not be part of an automatic update. After a few days of testing to identify most of the bugs, Microsoft could move the patch into a class of patches that only get automatically deployed to customers who would rather risk instability instead of security.
With such an early patching system, the majority of customers who prefer patches deployed at regular intervals will be uneffected.