I think people like being "connected" and what is more "connected" than being in a conversation with others? Those Windows Phone ads are worthless because they are saying use our phone and you'll be connected less. wrong! I've also heard that they are bringing back the Kin and its message is being always connected. Covering the bases maybe.
It's funny that for THAT company to have a problem selling "it's easier" but even then, would that even be enough to get customers. I doubt it.
only because it also says that cat owners are smarter than dog owners.;-) Besides, there's never been a vi vs emacs debate, it's always been vi is better.
What surprises me is that a company found to have illegally used its monopoly in operating systems is even allowed to be involved with a deal like because operating systems are involved. And the EU had lots of issues with MS middleware and this includes lots of middleware too.
To top it off, this deal involves a company with current antitrust legal efforts on going. I guess this is a form of settlement but without any open market considerations, this seems more like the bully won again.
We will once again see Microsoft's true colors regarding open source and they will not be friendly. If you've not seen recently, Microsoft had to pull revenue from losing divisions to prop up their Windows divisions so they look like there was growth. What that means is they have peaked and the wounded lion is going to come out pissing on everything. IMO
you know this was probably thrown in there somewhere. Now what could Novell have in "assets" which Microsoft would want so bad as to put a consortium together? Is Gnome getting handed over to Microsoft along with any remaining GroupWise customers maybe.
and because they want to know how it works and make sure the US system is connected so when they send a worm down the line, it takes everyone out of the loop. Putin still scares me and seems like he's too much like a James Bond villain than anyone out to do his people any good.
Windows Phone 7 encryption is all about DRM and so there's little in the Kinect to protect. Plus, they need every bit of processing they can get on the Xbox so encrypting the sensor stream would have required CPU power to decrypt and again, what's there to protect? My guess is that it was just easier to just the data as it was delivered and to even try to do as much as possible on the Kinect before shipping data over the USB bus.
Microsoft probably realized that if they try to block this it will make them look more like idiots instead of business people looking to make money of anything they can. If they locked it down it would cost them CPU cycles on the console, they'd sell fewer Kinects. and they'd look like the protectionists they really are.
They did the right thing by leaving it alone and continuing to sell it as a separate device. I am surprised they are not requiring it be sold with a bundled game at a higher price though.
that's funny because it was the ever changing API's which keep forcing the competition( Windows software developers ) behind Microsoft's own software. Keeping them behind limited their income and market share.
The fact that Microsoft controls those API's and uses them as a tool to maintain their position or grow it means the developers are constantly chasing these changing API's. If that's a benefit to the user I'm really missing something.
exactly and by it being open at the base OS level it means that what Microsoft did to keep Windows dominant can not happen on Android. Microsoft keep changing the API's so that their software applications always supported the updated OS first and they used private/hidden API's to give their software advantages over the competition. And it also helps that right now, Google makes their money from everyone putting ads on their free apps and from mobile search use while Microsoft made money on the OS and their apps. Woz has it wrong if he things Microsoft got where it is by being on open hardware because they did so much to limit what the competition could do once IBM gave them the dominant market position. IMO.
I would not write off Microsoft's Windows Phone OS yet. They have billions they can, will, and are spending on marketing and that will likely include special deals like 'ship ours and not theirs and we'll make you this deal' type of arrangements.
but you did nothing to change how and why you "saved a bundle". Do you really think people are going to stop washing their cloths or cooking at 6pm because it's cheaper to do it at 10pm? I heard the bull shit said by the utilities that people will be able to instantly see their power usage and so they will conserve and therefore putting the cost of the meters onto the customers bills is justified.
The real reason for this is the utilities can get rid of the expensive street/alley walkers who have to manually read meters so there's a big savings for them there. Next is they can get rid of those who go around turning power off and on. Another big savings in personnel for the utilities. And yet another advantage for the utilities is they can no spread blackouts across the entire customer base instead of having large complete blocks/regions of their customer base blacked out to lighten loads. What you'll not hear about is how the low hanging fruit will get automatically shut off during power outages and those paying top dollar for their power will stay on. You will probably also not see affluent neighborhoods or homes getting included in the blackouts.
All and all, I really don't see much of a win for existing home users and all the benefits are on the side of the utility companies. And they aren't even paying for these things because the Public Utility Watchdogs got suckered into believing their misdirections.
BTW, if you started using an EV instead of gasoline and charged it at night when you where home, you'd hardly see much of an increase in your bill. Now, switch to TOU metering where you pay more during the day and maybe slightly less at night, and I would venture to bet you will end up paying more overall doing the exact same thing you're doing now. The Utilities are in this to make money, not reduce the amount of money you pay them. And besides, they could easily have created a wifi based charging watt meter just for your EV charger feed and adjust your bill for that if the EV was going to be such a huge energy draw issue. They should be paying for 100% of the TOU meters, not the customers. IMO
they have probably been doing this for years so I don't think it shows anything about the CEO's mental condition. If I recall correctly, one time they cut their R&D by 50%(something around $3billion) and amazingly almost every division turned in either a small profit or far less than the typical $250 million in losses they usually show. The following year they were all back to their usual hundreds of millions in losses.
I just don't think this is new for them, just easier to notice.
Why do you think the energy companies are all quickly getting Time of Use( ToU ) meters installed on everyones home? Very soon there will be a way for them to start increasing the price of electricity used to charge electric vehicles. They will come up with some cockamamie reason way and those running the regional public energy committees will fall for it. Just as they fell for the hydrogen economy crap the Bush Administration pedaled.
So you're saying the Kin was/is for those who want always on connectivity and spend lots of time in/on social networking apps and texting? They you must mean it's for those people Microsoft is currently making fun of in their Windows Phone 7 ads.
Will they start doing ads dis-ing those who get on and off their phones quickly in the Kin v2 ads?
Sorry but I didn't say Google left China. I was talking about Ad Sales and moving their search domains, servers, whatever to Hong Kong. If you thought I said Google completely left China then I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.
Or are you saying you know for sure those employees are Ad Sales related or just that Google has employees in China?
Were they all sleeping when Google moved over to Hong Kong for handling Chinese searches? It might be a bit of a problem for Google should they continue to sell ads in China running in this configuration and therefore they don't need those Chinese ad sales people.
It does seem strange to go on a hunger strike because you lost your job. It does solve the problem of finding ways to feed yourself though but even then, it can only be a short term solution.
first off, thanks for making me a parent by posting a reply, albeit AC. Secondly, one issue mentioned in a comment does NOT exclude all others. Thanks for playing.
sorry, it's a noop IMO. someone setup an account for him in April and then someone handed him a Windows Phone 7 device with that account configured. wow, Ballmer is jumping around on stage in Kiev tapping out he loves Kiev every time his feet hit the stage floor. yawn.
if he really had a close knit group he wanted to stay in comms with as Twitter does, you'd think that he could have had one of his interns gen up something special for just them instead of using a 3rd party tool while using it incognito.
it makes my head spin trying to figure out why he would do something like this but then again, I stopped trying to figure Ballmer out. He'snot really in touch with what's going on out in the field so it's best to disregard him as a PR man for one product, Windows. IMO
it does look promising but it has me wondering if it's real since they have what Adafruit required in functionality but want an extra $7k($3k+$7k=$10k) to release the code and documentation. The original designer of the Kinect device technology( PrimeSense ) provides an SDK and DDK to work with it's reference design. What's to say what we're seeing in this video is not the PrimeSense SDK and driver and not a hack of the Microsoft Kinect USB data streams?
It could be real but it has my antenna up wondering how real it is. If PrimeSense didn't create the design and Microsoft did, then I'd be less prone to question this but we all know that the Kinect is a PrimeSense product with Microsoft's tweaking. It would be great if Microsoft did not encrypt or munge the USB data and it is to the original PrimeSense ref spec since PrimeSense is probably more inclined to want to sell chips and license the design as opposed to wanting to limit sales and tie sales to only one other device.
So show us that the supposed demo of Kinect's output is really from custom made software and not something either pulled from Microsoft or PrimeSense. Show us you're not just using their code to get $10K to do the real work of creating something which can be open sourced.
a study was also done which showed that over 90% of those who used a laptop on their lap were more technically savvy and generally considered a threat to all governments now that most of them use computers for everything. The conclusion of the study also found that by slowing down reproduction of these laptop on lap types, the population of these types would start shrinking and eventually most would be concentrated in India and more easily contained. Various computer companies which will remain on named( Microsoft and Intel ) were encouraged to increase power usage and heat production of the laptop devices when it was learned that this reduced reproductive capabilities of the user.
A sub category of the study also showed there was a relationship between reproductivity and mega-elongation of the scrotum. More studies will be carried out to determine the percentage of the geek community with this medical condition and how to address this low handing fruit problem.
Slashdot Mirror
I think people like being "connected" and what is more "connected" than being in a conversation with others? Those Windows Phone ads are worthless because they are saying use our phone and you'll be connected less. wrong! I've also heard that they are bringing back the Kin and its message is being always connected. Covering the bases maybe.
It's funny that for THAT company to have a problem selling "it's easier" but even then, would that even be enough to get customers. I doubt it.
LoB
a Warp drive would be better but nuclear marine propulsion would be a good start.
LoB
yes, but it might have to be forked.
LoB
only because it also says that cat owners are smarter than dog owners. ;-) Besides, there's never been a vi vs emacs debate, it's always been vi is better.
LoB
What surprises me is that a company found to have illegally used its monopoly in operating systems is even allowed to be involved with a deal like because operating systems are involved. And the EU had lots of issues with MS middleware and this includes lots of middleware too.
To top it off, this deal involves a company with current antitrust legal efforts on going. I guess this is a form of settlement but without any open market considerations, this seems more like the bully won again.
We will once again see Microsoft's true colors regarding open source and they will not be friendly. If you've not seen recently, Microsoft had to pull revenue from losing divisions to prop up their Windows divisions so they look like there was growth. What that means is they have peaked and the wounded lion is going to come out pissing on everything. IMO
LoB
you know this was probably thrown in there somewhere. Now what could Novell have in "assets" which Microsoft would want so bad as to put a consortium together? Is Gnome getting handed over to Microsoft along with any remaining GroupWise customers maybe.
LoB
and because they want to know how it works and make sure the US system is connected so when they send a worm down the line, it takes everyone out of the loop. Putin still scares me and seems like he's too much like a James Bond villain than anyone out to do his people any good.
LoB
Windows Phone 7 encryption is all about DRM and so there's little in the Kinect to protect. Plus, they need every bit of processing they can get on the Xbox so encrypting the sensor stream would have required CPU power to decrypt and again, what's there to protect? My guess is that it was just easier to just the data as it was delivered and to even try to do as much as possible on the Kinect before shipping data over the USB bus.
Microsoft probably realized that if they try to block this it will make them look more like idiots instead of business people looking to make money of anything they can. If they locked it down it would cost them CPU cycles on the console, they'd sell fewer Kinects. and they'd look like the protectionists they really are.
They did the right thing by leaving it alone and continuing to sell it as a separate device. I am surprised they are not requiring it be sold with a bundled game at a higher price though.
LoB
that's funny because it was the ever changing API's which keep forcing the competition( Windows software developers ) behind Microsoft's own software. Keeping them behind limited their income and market share.
The fact that Microsoft controls those API's and uses them as a tool to maintain their position or grow it means the developers are constantly chasing these changing API's. If that's a benefit to the user I'm really missing something.
LoB
exactly and by it being open at the base OS level it means that what Microsoft did to keep Windows dominant can not happen on Android. Microsoft keep changing the API's so that their software applications always supported the updated OS first and they used private/hidden API's to give their software advantages over the competition. And it also helps that right now, Google makes their money from everyone putting ads on their free apps and from mobile search use while Microsoft made money on the OS and their apps. Woz has it wrong if he things Microsoft got where it is by being on open hardware because they did so much to limit what the competition could do once IBM gave them the dominant market position. IMO.
I would not write off Microsoft's Windows Phone OS yet. They have billions they can, will, and are spending on marketing and that will likely include special deals like 'ship ours and not theirs and we'll make you this deal' type of arrangements.
LoB
but you did nothing to change how and why you "saved a bundle". Do you really think people are going to stop washing their cloths or cooking at 6pm because it's cheaper to do it at 10pm? I heard the bull shit said by the utilities that people will be able to instantly see their power usage and so they will conserve and therefore putting the cost of the meters onto the customers bills is justified.
The real reason for this is the utilities can get rid of the expensive street/alley walkers who have to manually read meters so there's a big savings for them there. Next is they can get rid of those who go around turning power off and on. Another big savings in personnel for the utilities. And yet another advantage for the utilities is they can no spread blackouts across the entire customer base instead of having large complete blocks/regions of their customer base blacked out to lighten loads. What you'll not hear about is how the low hanging fruit will get automatically shut off during power outages and those paying top dollar for their power will stay on. You will probably also not see affluent neighborhoods or homes getting included in the blackouts.
All and all, I really don't see much of a win for existing home users and all the benefits are on the side of the utility companies. And they aren't even paying for these things because the Public Utility Watchdogs got suckered into believing their misdirections.
BTW, if you started using an EV instead of gasoline and charged it at night when you where home, you'd hardly see much of an increase in your bill. Now, switch to TOU metering where you pay more during the day and maybe slightly less at night, and I would venture to bet you will end up paying more overall doing the exact same thing you're doing now. The Utilities are in this to make money, not reduce the amount of money you pay them. And besides, they could easily have created a wifi based charging watt meter just for your EV charger feed and adjust your bill for that if the EV was going to be such a huge energy draw issue. They should be paying for 100% of the TOU meters, not the customers. IMO
LoB
they have probably been doing this for years so I don't think it shows anything about the CEO's mental condition. If I recall correctly, one time they cut their R&D by 50%(something around $3billion) and amazingly almost every division turned in either a small profit or far less than the typical $250 million in losses they usually show. The following year they were all back to their usual hundreds of millions in losses.
I just don't think this is new for them, just easier to notice.
LoB
Why do you think the energy companies are all quickly getting Time of Use( ToU ) meters installed on everyones home? Very soon there will be a way for them to start increasing the price of electricity used to charge electric vehicles. They will come up with some cockamamie reason way and those running the regional public energy committees will fall for it. Just as they fell for the hydrogen economy crap the Bush Administration pedaled.
LoB
GE also sells wind turbines and probably sells the so called Smart Grid components too.
So while I think this is all a marketing plan/investment it also has general value to promote greatly reducing our use of hydrocarbon based fuels.
LoB
So you're saying the Kin was/is for those who want always on connectivity and spend lots of time in/on social networking apps and texting? They you must mean it's for those people Microsoft is currently making fun of in their Windows Phone 7 ads.
Will they start doing ads dis-ing those who get on and off their phones quickly in the Kin v2 ads?
I can't wait to Tivo through those ads also.
LoB
Sorry but I didn't say Google left China. I was talking about Ad Sales and moving their search domains, servers, whatever to Hong Kong. If you thought I said Google completely left China then I'm sorry for the misunderstanding.
Or are you saying you know for sure those employees are Ad Sales related or just that Google has employees in China?
LoB
Were they all sleeping when Google moved over to Hong Kong for handling Chinese searches? It might be a bit of a problem for Google should they continue to sell ads in China running in this configuration and therefore they don't need those Chinese ad sales people.
It does seem strange to go on a hunger strike because you lost your job. It does solve the problem of finding ways to feed yourself though but even then, it can only be a short term solution.
LoB
first off, thanks for making me a parent by posting a reply, albeit AC. Secondly, one issue mentioned in a comment does NOT exclude all others. Thanks for playing.
LoB
hunger strikes don't cost anything so anyone can do them.
LoB
sorry, it's a noop IMO. someone setup an account for him in April and then someone handed him a Windows Phone 7 device with that account configured. wow, Ballmer is jumping around on stage in Kiev tapping out he loves Kiev every time his feet hit the stage floor. yawn.
LoB
and you thought Ballmer was _not_ clueless?
if he really had a close knit group he wanted to stay in comms with as Twitter does, you'd think that he could have had one of his interns gen up something special for just them instead of using a 3rd party tool while using it incognito.
it makes my head spin trying to figure out why he would do something like this but then again, I stopped trying to figure Ballmer out. He'snot really in touch with what's going on out in the field so it's best to disregard him as a PR man for one product, Windows. IMO
LoB
it does look promising but it has me wondering if it's real since they have what Adafruit required in functionality but want an extra $7k($3k+$7k=$10k) to release the code and documentation. The original designer of the Kinect device technology( PrimeSense ) provides an SDK and DDK to work with it's reference design. What's to say what we're seeing in this video is not the PrimeSense SDK and driver and not a hack of the Microsoft Kinect USB data streams?
It could be real but it has my antenna up wondering how real it is. If PrimeSense didn't create the design and Microsoft did, then I'd be less prone to question this but we all know that the Kinect is a PrimeSense product with Microsoft's tweaking. It would be great if Microsoft did not encrypt or munge the USB data and it is to the original PrimeSense ref spec since PrimeSense is probably more inclined to want to sell chips and license the design as opposed to wanting to limit sales and tie sales to only one other device.
So show us that the supposed demo of Kinect's output is really from custom made software and not something either pulled from Microsoft or PrimeSense. Show us you're not just using their code to get $10K to do the real work of creating something which can be open sourced.
LoB
a study was also done which showed that over 90% of those who used a laptop on their lap were more technically savvy and generally considered a threat to all governments now that most of them use computers for everything. The conclusion of the study also found that by slowing down reproduction of these laptop on lap types, the population of these types would start shrinking and eventually most would be concentrated in India and more easily contained. Various computer companies which will remain on named( Microsoft and Intel ) were encouraged to increase power usage and heat production of the laptop devices when it was learned that this reduced reproductive capabilities of the user.
A sub category of the study also showed there was a relationship between reproductivity and mega-elongation of the scrotum. More studies will be carried out to determine the percentage of the geek community with this medical condition and how to address this low handing fruit problem.
LoB
it will probably pay for a package from Microsoft which will contain a document describing Microsoft's Secure Computing Initiative and a white flag.
LoB
this quote said it all:
"while DOS systems dominated the market for IBM and IBM-compatible PCs."
willingness to use that knife got Windows going eventually.
LoB