a fine example of why this could just be a PR event more than anything of much value to more than a small portion of the user base.
or maybe they are finding out that more and more Windows computers are infected with key loggers and this is the first step in moving everyone to a dynamic login option.
I'd rather see those public systems shut down as opposed to just providing patches for each service used on them. Send a bootable liveCD to each user found to have lost their access by using a keylogger infected computer. Hiding the security issues is like a dog chasing their tail.
but wouldn't you think when everyone is using an open login system and they are not securing that it just seems silly to be addressing the cases when people use someone elses computer?
maybe what's needed is a way for a virtual machine to grab the keyboard driver before anyone else and allow booting clean and secure media without worrying about key loggers. Besides, are these school computers not running re-imaged after every user? This is 2010 is it not?
just saying that they haven't even started with the basics. IMO
I think the wider audience are not those without computers and who use public computers but those with mobile devices. anyways, this seems like PR more than anything.
if they cared one bit then they would default to using SSL/https for login but they do not. The next time you login, look for that tiny 'lock' icon to show it's a secure connection. You won't find it. Now, login with SSL/https like this, https://www.facebook.com and you'll see that little lock icon.
yes, they still suck at even the most basic of security tasks.
with the typical AP having only a 300m range in open air and traveling at 55+ MPH, they would be in and out of the AP quite quickly. But, if they were sitting in traffic then that would be another story. I've been quite disappointed with how many of the Android apps rely on 100% data connectivity instead of intermittent connectivity. Even the facebook app just dumps a notification and does not continue with the post or upload unless the user interacts with the notification. I found no setting in the maps/navigation app to cache the route but must rely on me manually scrolling through the entire route to cache it and then hit the road. Believe it or not, there are still dead xG spots out there and wifi-only is currently not an option.
Maybe this study will wake up the apps developers to intermittent connectivity and make the device much easier to use.
yes, they still control the desktop but not as tightly as they did before the iPod was released. The iPod got people using iTunes and liking Apple products and soon they were opting for an Apple computer when the time came for a new one. I've seen lots of "Windows" folks getting Mac's because they were sick of the virus's and other wackiness of Windows and they felt Apple made a better, easier product.
They've had Windows CE based devices on the market for something like 15 years yet Apple's iPhone blew it away and quickly Android beat it into irrelevance. As the iPod / iTunes products opened peoples eyes to Apple and the Mac, what do you think Android and all the talk of Android powered TVs, Tablets, Netbooks, MIDs, GPS's, etc will do?
They "do or die" thing is an over statement but when the customers start to get choice at the brick and mortar stores, the fast slide down is upon them. Their brand is already drastically weaker and their stock price has been doing down while the others going up. And when large economies like Brazil( 5th in the world? ) is doing just fine using GNU LInux and open source software Microsoft has to spend billions annually to fend of more of that. I think they're slated to spend over $500 million just on marketing Windows Phone 7.
It's really not all roses in Redmond and with these little phones getting so much press hyping, Steve Ballmer's neck is sticking out in front of his investors and the board of directors. They have to see a success which relates to profits and limits the growth of the others. Something they've failed to do over and over without the advantage of leveraging the Windows desktop market position. IMO
you left out that you were also not a child in a 3rd world country. FYI, most paper books don't last very long at all in most of the world, just a couple of years if you're lucky. I think he's leaning toward the fact that for the cost of a couple of dozen paper text books, a tablet which can hold those and more could be given to the children and last longer. He'll have to prove the longevity IMO.
you sir/mame can continue using paper books since this isn't about you.
no other company has 'touched' me so much as they have over the past 25 years so yes, they and their tactics always get my attention.
And as far as everyone else goes, these kinds of things have been going on for years but it is Microsoft who continues to do the most damage to competition. The others tend to figure out how to work thing out without initially destroying each other. Microsoft's business methods and practices are always based on protectionism as opposed to competition and their market position makes them the largest threat in the ring. They've lost 10s of billions on the Windows CE based productline yet it still exists. As with Internet Explorer they effectively pay vendors to ship their products until the competition has lost enough income they are easy pickings. That makes them the elephant in the room.
As for it being knee-jerk well if it were a demolition derby, when a competitor shows up in a armored tank, who but the blind isn't going to point that out?
it is imperative that everyone know they are using Microsoft Windows because if they don't, they'll start thinking that they don't really need Windows and without Windows Microsoft is a goner. Something like 90% of their revenue comes from software directly tied to the Microsoft Windows desktop operating system.
Apple has shown that Windows is not needed on a phone to be successful and then Google did the same with Android. As these companies move to the more personal computer like platforms of the tablet and netbooks, it takes not leap whatsoever to start thinking they may not need Windows on the desktop. For many, not all, that is true.
What is the threat is the _idea_ that there is life without Windows. Once people finally get the idea that computing can be done without Microsoft Windows, then Microsoft quickly starts losing that huge guaranteed revenue stream they've been relying on for the past 15-20 years. I hear the robot saying it now, "Danger! Danger Will Robinson!"
I feel that someway, somehow Microsoft will try to tie Windows 7 based tablets to some other Microsoft product so they can jumpstart the potential install base. I suppose they could try making the desktop the DVR storage device and the table the viewing device or tie it to the XBox. They have never been successful on merit alone and always had to rely on leveraging their existing dominance on the desktop to succeed. That's a tough play in the smartphone segment and the tablet and netbook segments. Windows is bloated so it'll take stripping it down and then they lose the tie to the product they must keep important to remain significant.
it was the lace tying which was taught and important at that stage. Later on, someone showed me how cloth was made and it took no time to figure out that a shoelace was made of cloth. At a summer camp there was gimp( a plastic covered thread ) which we were taught how to braid different ways and it became clear that ropes, cables, etc were braided and different braids give different strengths or characteristics.
Those are basic skills which help to explain more complex things even though I don't know exactly how the machines create the ropes or cables. What I got from the article is that we are skipping all the basic understanding of what goes on behind the buttons, levers, knobs. And I'm talking basics, not knowing how a transistor works, how a chip is made, etc.
I was in a Dr office recently and the label printer was spitting out label after label after label and the 5 people behind the desk were clueless. They unplugged the printer and plugged it back in and it continued spitting out labels. They were stupefied. I said to turn the printer off and then go into the printer spooler and cancel the print job. Only one had a clue as to what I said. She said something like, "the printer icon were I can see the print files?". I said yes, it should be under the control panel or whatever Microsoft is calling that these days. Voila, she canceled the job and turned the printer back on and was able to print labels again. Printing and print spoolers are a basic part of using a computer and they do _no_ need to know minute details of how it works, just the basics of its function and purpose. If I were not there, they probably would have had to pay someone hundreds of dollars to so this one little thing and many of their customers would have had to deal with delays.
We should be getting smarter as a society but it appears we are getting dumber. IMO
the article was about a century ago people understood how their power systems worked at the basic level. No, they did not know the exact forces or how much friction there was or how water might be used to reduce friction. They knew about how stuff moved and they generally understood it and used it. Today, people do not understand the basic concepts and they just move levers and push buttons and things happen.
It reminds me of an old scifi book I read years ago. It was about scientists and their families being sent away from Earth in a space craft. For a couple of generations there were people who understood and maintained the ship but by the 3rd or 4th generation, they had no clue and the ship was falling apart just as they arrived. I think there was one old guy who kept himself alive longer by moving up to the zero g point of the craft so his heart could hold out so he could keep them all alive long enough to reach a habitable planet.
We're moving forward but fewer and fewer know what is going on around them. I constantly hear people saying things like, that's nice you built that or fixed that but I don't have the time so I just hire people. Well, the fact really is that they don't know how to do it. They know their one little specialty and hire someone else to do simple things like fixing a faucet or a garbage disposer. very sad and not good. IMO
I bet that if you asked a dozen people in their 30s what makes an electric motor work, you'd be lucky to get one who was even close to understanding the basics of how it works. The automobile is the same, people are not taught any of the basics of this thing they drive around in and control. And I constantly hear brakes squealing, belts squealing, and sometimes even u-joints screaming and clunking. The drivers are clueless as to what is going to happen as they keep driving the vehicles to the point of part failure.
Just look at how "computers" are taught in most schools. They teach the students what to click on instead of teaching the concepts of those things. This is also why I get so much opposition to teaching word processing using something other and Microsoft Word. They think it must look like MS Word or they don't feel the students are learning anything of value. Most all of the teachers are lacking in the understanding to teach anything but a step by step process and then checking off "Teaching The Word".
and most have a memory of only a week or so and when you top it off with all the marketing Microsoft throws out about how many are using the new Windows X operating system, and they believe it, they think it is how the marketing states it. The fact that the press keeps trotting out this drivel also shows how worthless they are in regards to knowing what is going on and what they are paid to say is going on.
just as you yourself said, people buy new computers when the old one does not work for them any more. so the original comment of saying they'll get Windows 7 when they get a new computer stands.
I wonder if pay them 2x the licensing fee for putting the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 sticker on the box and on their web pages? Microsoft has a great way of enticing companies to include their software when the market would generally not want it. It really helps when they make sure those selling the software are guaranteed profits for a few years. I could see them easily dumping.5 billion dollars into the marketing of Windows Phone 7 and doing so for two or three years to start.
So, does it really matter that they are charging a licensing fee when they are doing all these other packaged deals behind the scenes? It's like saying that I bought this car for $500 because that's what the tires cost. IMO
that sounds too logical. Microsoft has not made any profits off stuff which they could not directly leverage their Windows desktop monopoly. So, odds are very high to destruction of anything they purchase which can not be forced onto peoples desktop.
One exception though was SoftImage. They were strictly a UNIX based software product so when Microsoft purchased them and forced them to produce a Windows version the engineers refused to let the UNIX version get 2nd fiddle status. Customers who used UNIX loved it and eventually Microsoft got enough workstation business to sell SoftImage and their UNIX versions are still top notch. sorry, long story.
Microsoft usually buys companies to end the potential competition and in some cases tries to make Windows version of them and they fail. A recent example is Danger. As for Second Life, I can see them trying to spin it into a form of 3D social media thing where they can tie it to Microsoft controlled API's with something like Sliverlight. Otherwise, I don't see another reason for it and the patent troll stuff will only make them look worst than they already do. Their brand is already quite tired and tarnished. IMO
but if you read James Gosling's recent comments of how Oracle is run, then you'd have a good idea that it is unlikely to release OpenOffice.org. They are seriously focused on making profits and run by a pyramid shaped management hierarchy which is _very_ narrow at the top. I'm pretty sure Larry knows the value of the Star Office and OpenOffice. They have already changed the name of Star Office to Oracle Open Office so that should be another clue about how they value the Open Office brand.
LibreOffice is _not_ a name they should keep but it does have to both sound right and feel right. If anything, they should have started with Free Office and talked with the guy who parked the web site. It is a shame it's come to this and it will initially hurt the progress of the Open Office brand. IMO
and to think that all this time I thought the Jedi were using heat to cut body parts off. Now we might find out they were freezing them and the limbs were fracturing and dropping off. Who'd a thunk?
don't fret, Microsoft says lots of stuff and 90% of it is not true and just marketing attempts to push their goods. Physical media is not going away just because Microsoft says so and Steve Jobs wants to push everyone to iTunes. RedBox and others seem to be doing just fine renting discs and I still see many friends still building their DVD/disc libraries.
So many would like to remove that loss of control over the media when it's physical but it's not consumers nor in the best interest of consumers. IMO
and did I just read that Google wanted to boost JavaScript performance so they could show ads faster? Those evil people! I'm going back to Internet Explorer and BING were things are slower and never evil.
Slashdot Mirror
a fine example of why this could just be a PR event more than anything of much value to more than a small portion of the user base.
or maybe they are finding out that more and more Windows computers are infected with key loggers and
this is the first step in moving everyone to a dynamic login option.
I'd rather see those public systems shut down as opposed to just providing patches for each service used on them. Send a bootable liveCD to each user found to have lost their access by using a keylogger infected computer. Hiding the security issues is like a dog chasing their tail.
LoB
LoB
but wouldn't you think when everyone is using an open login system and they are not securing that it just seems silly to be addressing the cases when people use someone elses computer?
maybe what's needed is a way for a virtual machine to grab the keyboard driver before anyone else and allow booting clean and secure media without worrying about key loggers. Besides, are these school computers not running re-imaged after every user? This is 2010 is it not?
LoB
just saying that they haven't even started with the basics. IMO
I think the wider audience are not those without computers and who use public computers but those with mobile devices. anyways, this seems like PR more than anything.
LoB
if they cared one bit then they would default to using SSL/https for login but they do not. The next time you login, look for that tiny 'lock' icon to show it's a secure connection. You won't find it. Now, login with SSL/https like this, https://www.facebook.com and you'll see that little lock icon.
yes, they still suck at even the most basic of security tasks.
LoB
with the typical AP having only a 300m range in open air and traveling at 55+ MPH, they would be in and out of the AP quite quickly. But, if they were sitting in traffic then that would be another story. I've been quite disappointed with how many of the Android apps rely on 100% data connectivity instead of intermittent connectivity. Even the facebook app just dumps a notification and does not continue with the post or upload unless the user interacts with the notification. I found no setting in the maps/navigation app to cache the route but must rely on me manually scrolling through the entire route to cache it and then hit the road. Believe it or not, there are still dead xG spots out there and wifi-only is currently not an option.
Maybe this study will wake up the apps developers to intermittent connectivity and make the device much easier to use.
LoB
yes, they still control the desktop but not as tightly as they did before the iPod was released. The iPod got people using iTunes and liking Apple products and soon they were opting for an Apple computer when the time came for a new one. I've seen lots of "Windows" folks getting Mac's because they were sick of the virus's and other wackiness of Windows and they felt Apple made a better, easier product.
They've had Windows CE based devices on the market for something like 15 years yet Apple's iPhone blew it away and quickly Android beat it into irrelevance. As the iPod / iTunes products opened peoples eyes to Apple and the Mac, what do you think Android and all the talk of Android powered TVs, Tablets, Netbooks, MIDs, GPS's, etc will do?
They "do or die" thing is an over statement but when the customers start to get choice at the brick and mortar stores, the fast slide down is upon them. Their brand is already drastically weaker and their stock price has been doing down while the others going up. And when large economies like Brazil( 5th in the world? ) is doing just fine using GNU LInux and open source software Microsoft has to spend billions annually to fend of more of that. I think they're slated to spend over $500 million just on marketing Windows Phone 7.
It's really not all roses in Redmond and with these little phones getting so much press hyping, Steve Ballmer's neck is sticking out in front of his investors and the board of directors. They have to see a success which relates to profits and limits the growth of the others. Something they've failed to do over and over without the advantage of leveraging the Windows desktop market position. IMO
LoB
we see mostly Apple computers at the airport these days so that explains it. ;-)
LoB
you left out that you were also not a child in a 3rd world country. FYI, most paper books don't last very long at all in most of the world, just a couple of years if you're lucky. I think he's leaning toward the fact that for the cost of a couple of dozen paper text books, a tablet which can hold those and more could be given to the children and last longer. He'll have to prove the longevity IMO.
you sir/mame can continue using paper books since this isn't about you.
LoB
no other company has 'touched' me so much as they have over the past 25 years so yes, they and their tactics always get my attention.
And as far as everyone else goes, these kinds of things have been going on for years but it is Microsoft who continues to do the most damage to competition. The others tend to figure out how to work thing out without initially destroying each other. Microsoft's business methods and practices are always based on protectionism as opposed to competition and their market position makes them the largest threat in the ring. They've lost 10s of billions on the Windows CE based productline yet it still exists. As with Internet Explorer they effectively pay vendors to ship their products until the competition has lost enough income they are easy pickings. That makes them the elephant in the room.
As for it being knee-jerk well if it were a demolition derby, when a competitor shows up in a armored tank, who but the blind isn't going to point that out?
LoB
I saw that comment in TFA and thought, 'how great that is for Microsoft'.
LoB
it is imperative that everyone know they are using Microsoft Windows because if they don't, they'll start thinking that they don't really need Windows and without Windows Microsoft is a goner. Something like 90% of their revenue comes from software directly tied to the Microsoft Windows desktop operating system.
Apple has shown that Windows is not needed on a phone to be successful and then Google did the same with Android. As these companies move to the more personal computer like platforms of the tablet and netbooks, it takes not leap whatsoever to start thinking they may not need Windows on the desktop. For many, not all, that is true.
What is the threat is the _idea_ that there is life without Windows. Once people finally get the idea that computing can be done without Microsoft Windows, then Microsoft quickly starts losing that huge guaranteed revenue stream they've been relying on for the past 15-20 years. I hear the robot saying it now, "Danger! Danger Will Robinson!"
I feel that someway, somehow Microsoft will try to tie Windows 7 based tablets to some other Microsoft product so they can jumpstart the potential install base. I suppose they could try making the desktop the DVR storage device and the table the viewing device or tie it to the XBox. They have never been successful on merit alone and always had to rely on leveraging their existing dominance on the desktop to succeed. That's a tough play in the smartphone segment and the tablet and netbook segments. Windows is bloated so it'll take stripping it down and then they lose the tie to the product they must keep important to remain significant.
LoB
it was the lace tying which was taught and important at that stage. Later on, someone showed me how cloth was made and it took no time to figure out that a shoelace was made of cloth. At a summer camp there was gimp( a plastic covered thread ) which we were taught how to braid different ways and it became clear that ropes, cables, etc were braided and different braids give different strengths or characteristics.
Those are basic skills which help to explain more complex things even though I don't know exactly how the machines create the ropes or cables. What I got from the article is that we are skipping all the basic understanding of what goes on behind the buttons, levers, knobs. And I'm talking basics, not knowing how a transistor works, how a chip is made, etc.
I was in a Dr office recently and the label printer was spitting out label after label after label and the 5 people behind the desk were clueless. They unplugged the printer and plugged it back in and it continued spitting out labels. They were stupefied. I said to turn the printer off and then go into the printer spooler and cancel the print job. Only one had a clue as to what I said. She said something like, "the printer icon were I can see the print files?". I said yes, it should be under the control panel or whatever Microsoft is calling that these days. Voila, she canceled the job and turned the printer back on and was able to print labels again. Printing and print spoolers are a basic part of using a computer and they do _no_ need to know minute details of how it works, just the basics of its function and purpose. If I were not there, they probably would have had to pay someone hundreds of dollars to so this one little thing and many of their customers would have had to deal with delays.
We should be getting smarter as a society but it appears we are getting dumber. IMO
LoB
you are in the minority then and of course, I'm also not talking about _just_ knowing how to do plumbing.
LoB
the article was about a century ago people understood how their power systems worked at the basic level. No, they did not know the exact forces or how much friction there was or how water might be used to reduce friction. They knew about how stuff moved and they generally understood it and used it. Today, people do not understand the basic concepts and they just move levers and push buttons and things happen.
It reminds me of an old scifi book I read years ago. It was about scientists and their families being sent away from Earth in a space craft. For a couple of generations there were people who understood and maintained the ship but by the 3rd or 4th generation, they had no clue and the ship was falling apart just as they arrived. I think there was one old guy who kept himself alive longer by moving up to the zero g point of the craft so his heart could hold out so he could keep them all alive long enough to reach a habitable planet.
We're moving forward but fewer and fewer know what is going on around them. I constantly hear people saying things like, that's nice you built that or fixed that but I don't have the time so I just hire people. Well, the fact really is that they don't know how to do it. They know their one little specialty and hire someone else to do simple things like fixing a faucet or a garbage disposer. very sad and not good. IMO
LoB
I bet that if you asked a dozen people in their 30s what makes an electric motor work, you'd be lucky to get one who was even close to understanding the basics of how it works. The automobile is the same, people are not taught any of the basics of this thing they drive around in and control. And I constantly hear brakes squealing, belts squealing, and sometimes even u-joints screaming and clunking. The drivers are clueless as to what is going to happen as they keep driving the vehicles to the point of part failure.
Just look at how "computers" are taught in most schools. They teach the students what to click on instead of teaching the concepts of those things. This is also why I get so much opposition to teaching word processing using something other and Microsoft Word. They think it must look like MS Word or they don't feel the students are learning anything of value. Most all of the teachers are lacking in the understanding to teach anything but a step by step process and then checking off "Teaching The Word".
yes, it is very sad.
LoB
and most have a memory of only a week or so and when you top it off with all the marketing Microsoft throws out about how many are using the new Windows X operating system, and they believe it, they think it is how the marketing states it. The fact that the press keeps trotting out this drivel also shows how worthless they are in regards to knowing what is going on and what they are paid to say is going on.
LoB
just as you yourself said, people buy new computers when the old one does not work for them any more. so the original comment of saying they'll get Windows 7 when they get a new computer stands.
LoB
I wonder if pay them 2x the licensing fee for putting the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 sticker on the box and on their web pages? Microsoft has a great way of enticing companies to include their software when the market would generally not want it. It really helps when they make sure those selling the software are guaranteed profits for a few years. I could see them easily dumping .5 billion dollars into the marketing of Windows Phone 7 and doing so for two or three years to start.
So, does it really matter that they are charging a licensing fee when they are doing all these other packaged deals behind the scenes? It's like saying that I bought this car for $500 because that's what the tires cost. IMO
LoB
do more research, the answer is there. I stand by my original post.
LoB
that sounds too logical. Microsoft has not made any profits off stuff which they could not directly leverage their Windows desktop monopoly. So, odds are very high to destruction of anything they purchase which can not be forced onto peoples desktop.
One exception though was SoftImage. They were strictly a UNIX based software product so when Microsoft purchased them and forced them to produce a Windows version the engineers refused to let the UNIX version get 2nd fiddle status. Customers who used UNIX loved it and eventually Microsoft got enough workstation business to sell SoftImage and their UNIX versions are still top notch. sorry, long story.
LoB
Microsoft usually buys companies to end the potential competition and in some cases tries to make Windows version of them and they fail. A recent example is Danger. As for Second Life, I can see them trying to spin it into a form of 3D social media thing where they can tie it to Microsoft controlled API's with something like Sliverlight. Otherwise, I don't see another reason for it and the patent troll stuff will only make them look worst than they already do. Their brand is already quite tired and tarnished. IMO
LoB
but if you read James Gosling's recent comments of how Oracle is run, then you'd have a good idea that it is unlikely to release OpenOffice.org. They are seriously focused on making profits and run by a pyramid shaped management hierarchy which is _very_ narrow at the top. I'm pretty sure Larry knows the value of the Star Office and OpenOffice. They have already changed the name of Star Office to Oracle Open Office so that should be another clue about how they value the Open Office brand.
LibreOffice is _not_ a name they should keep but it does have to both sound right and feel right. If anything, they should have started with Free Office and talked with the guy who parked the web site. It is a shame it's come to this and it will initially hurt the progress of the Open Office brand. IMO
LoB
and to think that all this time I thought the Jedi were using heat to cut body parts off. Now we might find out they were freezing them and the limbs were fracturing and dropping off. Who'd a thunk?
LoB
don't fret, Microsoft says lots of stuff and 90% of it is not true and just marketing attempts to push their goods. Physical media is not going away just because Microsoft says so and Steve Jobs wants to push everyone to iTunes. RedBox and others seem to be doing just fine renting discs and I still see many friends still building their DVD/disc libraries.
So many would like to remove that loss of control over the media when it's physical but it's not consumers nor in the best interest of consumers. IMO
LoB
and did I just read that Google wanted to boost JavaScript performance so they could show ads faster? Those evil people! I'm going back to Internet Explorer and BING were things are slower and never evil.
LoB