the "infrastructure" you talk about is electricity? It's pretty much every where. As for those expensive charging terminals, it looks more like some in the industry are wanting to put in expensive charging stations to gain some control of the auto charging market. And sure, they also want these to charge huge batteries and make sure the market requires big expensive batteries instead of something like sub 100 mile range vehicles with 110V 20A or 30A stations everywhere and then rental car facilities for those periodic long trips.
There are companies which let you just swipe your membership ID card and take off in one of their electric cars. The cars have GPS so you just drop it off and anyone else can pick it up from there. Why not enable a rental system of standard ICE based cars(hybrids would be better) for the same purpose? The fuel usage could be metered and billed but if you put fuel in it then you get credit back on your account.
The problem seems to be people don't want to do anything different than how the industry has designed the current system. As the guy selling Ford hybrids showed me this weekend, people want what they know and educating them on options is not what sales people care to do. But they were willing to spend millions on ads pushing SUVs as safer to push more profitable SUV sales for about a decade. hmmmm
except when Microsoft marketing tricks feeds lots of money back to the vendor for putting a Microsoft Windows sticker on the box and web pages. You know, like they did to erase Linux from the netbook segment with a limited version of Windows XP. Microsoft needs these markets badly and will/is spending billions on getting into them.
the OP was more likely talking about the low end of the scale as you noticed.
If all portable devices got the battery life of say an e-ink Kindle there wouldn't be a ARM domination at the low end. But as we've seen, you scale up the screen to full color and slightly larger along with more software to run apps then you start seeing how putting large enough batteries on the things has an effect on their "portability" capabilities.
We all know Microsoft has been in the tablet market for well over a decade, almost two, and they've failed constantly because the resulting products were huge, heavy and battery life was not so great. Here we see Microsoft trying it yet again and this time they are tuning the hardware to the OS to try and get something even close to the current ARM platforms while providing x86 compatibility. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with this time.
As for ARM, how crippled will the OS and its capabilities be to get a comparable usability as existing options( iOS or Android )? There's still alot of secrecy in this area as recently noted by Microsoft's secret SDK. They want you to think it's about extra features for a marketing surprise but come on, when was the last time Microsoft surprised anyone with new useful capabilities? Most likely it's to limit how immature the platform is and possibly how limited it has to be to operate in the realm of existing battery life expectations. We'll know pretty soon though.
That science stuff is all hogwash and just made up. Nobody ever went to the moon nor landed on it and global warming is a natural cycle and has nothing to do with gods creatures creating it. And Cowboy Neal never existed.
it almost seems like with all the Linux being used in the server rooms of most businesses and startups are using like crazy Microsoft had to make a move to block the white box market. I don't think they started in time as way too many companies will look for vendors to provide Linux compatible white boxes and the market is big enough to sustain back room threats.
Microsoft is moving into the hardware business and this could very well be the first instance of them trying to secure a starting place for that. There is the issue already with the boot loaders and the next step is hardware advertised as being "Windows Only". It gives Intel, Microsoft, and the OEM a way of saying your on your own if you want to try and use this but there could be legal issues if you try( DCMA maybe ).
Besides the patent attacks by Microsoft they are now taking another step in locking out anything but their software on hardware and this sure sounds like they have Intel going along with them.
Not if they looked at the patent he was granted. Or else they too didn't understand he was patenting something obvious just like Apple did. They blew it by letting this one through.
the Nexus 7 16G model is only $199 so it'd be cheaper than the beagle bone plus the LCD7 Cape. If you're into hacking on Android but I think there's a Ubuntu kit for it. If you want more then USB, wifi or bluetooth I/O then you'd have to open it up and hack onto the board.
that would be quite a surprise to have Microsoft agree to that since they will probably hold for themselves(Win8RT) everything they can which leverages existing Microsoft customers. Giving B&N that option weakens their potential uniqueness, for lack of a better word, on the Windows 8 devices.
I don't see it happening until Windows 8 on tablets is a dead horse.
not sure about that but it won't be the smack in the face to OEM partners as the MS hardware is. And remember, Jobs is not here any more to make the new products look and feel like turning on a TV. point taken though and I somewhat agree because Microsoft just doesn't have the history of producing amazing products.
I thought the boot lockout was only for the ARM products. Are you saying that the x86 hardware shipping with Windows 8 will have the boot lockout too? That will suck for everyone but Microsoft.
Microsoft didn't allow the downgrades from Vista without cost and many consumers didn't want to pay the extra price to get an old OS. I doubt it'll work unless the downgrade is free and already on the system.
it is so far looking like an attempted suicide and all because someone thinks all their products must run the same UI. And it's a phone UI tuned to work on tablets forced down to all users of their desktop devices. As we've seen the iPod->Touch->iPhone-iPad migration while Apple has left the MacOS as a different product at the UI level. We've seen Android on phones to TVs, infotainment systems and tablets without any push to desktop systems. But along comes Microsoft with a migration from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone and it's Metro UI( yes it's easier to define it as Metro because they have for 2 years on the phone ) based on Windows CE and a port of Windows 7 to ARM with the Metro UI on it for phones and tablets while at the same time forcing desktop users to endure the Metro UI also. that is just nuts. But I can see that with the failiure of Windows Phone 7 to gain any market share and even the loss of their market share held with Windows Mobile, Windows 8 not only would have not apps but be the same as Windows Phone 7 but different only under the hood. Developers developers developers as Monkey Boy once danced is once again their bet. Because they are forcing desktop developers to make Metro apps for teh desktop and by default they can be listed as developers for tablets and phones. Not to unlike how they killed off PenOS by Go Inc by marketing how many developers they have on the platform(Pen for Windows) when it was mostly smoke and mirrors.
They are attempting suicide but they still know that for OEMs to dump Windows, the OEM would have to create either new partnerships with something new to the desktop in the scale of Windows shipments or create their own software org to tune something like a GNU/Linux version to be desktop ready. Much like how Corel once did that with Corel Linux.
I do think they will be pushing many many many of their customers to the Mac. Their OEMs will shrink as sales of new systems fall and Microsoft will spend billions subsidizing their own hardware products in attempts to gain a market share in the double digits. It'll be suicide by one thousand cuts and a slow death unless they give the desktop back a familiar UI and quick like. IMO.
nothing like Nokia. Microsoft paid B&N to sign an NDA, not disclose the patents and to put the B&N app on the Microsoft Surface and Windows 8 devices. $600 million for that was a god deal for B&N. Now if B&N stopped their Android tablets and ebook readers and only did Microsoft OS based devices then it would be closer to the Nokia failure.
sure, it was so new and exciting that in less than 2 years this new OS is getting replaced with Windows 8. The hardware limitations so minimal that nobody cared because it was all about the OS UI yet Nokia is... correction, was known for making good hardware. And yes, it is a shrinking market share just like the install base for the different versions of desktop Windows is lumped into one at times. If they can't get Windows Mobile customers to move to the new phone, how in the world will they get people who have not drunk the koolaid?
Face it, Windows CE based devices were limited because of the limitations of the design. Otherwise a company like Nokia would not be forced to dump an OS they've only just got and has only been on the market for 1.5 years. It does not matter if the limits were worked with and the UI ran fine on it. I can take a 16 bit embedded proc and get and OS and UI running just fine on it too but it also limits what can be done on it. And there are lots of things getting done on these phones these days when the OS allows it. So Nokia was limited by these limitations and they were forced to push customers toward a new version of the phone OS just when they finally got a "flagship" phone model shipped. ouch.
I was surprised to see an HP commercial for Windows 7 hardware during the Olympics when Windows 8 is just months away and the marketing dollars, in the millions is about to dump on the public.
they sure do not look or act like they used to. More and more they seem to be acting so very much like a large corporation we all have known to dislike for their business practices.
so they have increased the number of licenses in the past 1.5 years? if you have data that would be a nice thing to post. I do find it hard to believe Microsoft would allow this so by all means I'd love to see this has slipped their grasp.
Microsoft has worked very hard to shut down many cross platform development environments since they remove API control away from themselves and Windows. That is fact. Microsoft is directly tied to/with Nokia. another fact and Nokia quickly jettison'ed the income generating portion of their Qt business after the deal.. another fact.
Yes it could go BSD if it was completely dropped. But if it was a benefit to Windows for it to die off and not go to a BSD license then they just need to pay the company now managing it and 'ask' them to let it stagnate but make it look like it's getting attention.
Slashdot Mirror
the "infrastructure" you talk about is electricity? It's pretty much every where. As for those expensive charging terminals, it looks more like some in the industry are wanting to put in expensive charging stations to gain some control of the auto charging market. And sure, they also want these to charge huge batteries and make sure the market requires big expensive batteries instead of something like sub 100 mile range vehicles with 110V 20A or 30A stations everywhere and then rental car facilities for those periodic long trips.
There are companies which let you just swipe your membership ID card and take off in one of their electric cars. The cars have GPS so you just drop it off and anyone else can pick it up from there. Why not enable a rental system of standard ICE based cars(hybrids would be better) for the same purpose? The fuel usage could be metered and billed but if you put fuel in it then you get credit back on your account.
The problem seems to be people don't want to do anything different than how the industry has designed the current system. As the guy selling Ford hybrids showed me this weekend, people want what they know and educating them on options is not what sales people care to do. But they were willing to spend millions on ads pushing SUVs as safer to push more profitable SUV sales for about a decade. hmmmm
LoB
and a "standard" pack which is sufficient for larger and small cars of different power needs. Not very likely IMO.
LoB
The Gates Foundation checklist:
We support open source software in education. CHECK
LoB
because the Tegra 3 isn't fast enough to do what? Run a desktop OS? Sorry, it might not have the power to run Windows.... see what's going on here?
LoB
except when Microsoft marketing tricks feeds lots of money back to the vendor for putting a Microsoft Windows sticker on the box and web pages. You know, like they did to erase Linux from the netbook segment with a limited version of Windows XP. Microsoft needs these markets badly and will/is spending billions on getting into them.
LoB
I think 'too little, too late' would have been more appropriate. lol
Oh, and lighten up Frances since it is probably true.
LoB
the OP was more likely talking about the low end of the scale as you noticed.
If all portable devices got the battery life of say an e-ink Kindle there wouldn't be a ARM domination at the low end. But as we've seen, you scale up the screen to full color and slightly larger along with more software to run apps then you start seeing how putting large enough batteries on the things has an effect on their "portability" capabilities.
We all know Microsoft has been in the tablet market for well over a decade, almost two, and they've failed constantly because the resulting products were huge, heavy and battery life was not so great. Here we see Microsoft trying it yet again and this time they are tuning the hardware to the OS to try and get something even close to the current ARM platforms while providing x86 compatibility. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with this time.
As for ARM, how crippled will the OS and its capabilities be to get a comparable usability as existing options( iOS or Android )? There's still alot of secrecy in this area as recently noted by Microsoft's secret SDK. They want you to think it's about extra features for a marketing surprise but come on, when was the last time Microsoft surprised anyone with new useful capabilities? Most likely it's to limit how immature the platform is and possibly how limited it has to be to operate in the realm of existing battery life expectations. We'll know pretty soon though.
LoB
That science stuff is all hogwash and just made up. Nobody ever went to the moon nor landed on it and global warming is a natural cycle and has nothing to do with gods creatures creating it. And Cowboy Neal never existed.
LoB
it almost seems like with all the Linux being used in the server rooms of most businesses and startups are using like crazy Microsoft had to make a move to block the white box market. I don't think they started in time as way too many companies will look for vendors to provide Linux compatible white boxes and the market is big enough to sustain back room threats.
LoB
Microsoft is moving into the hardware business and this could very well be the first instance of them trying to secure a starting place for that. There is the issue already with the boot loaders and the next step is hardware advertised as being "Windows Only". It gives Intel, Microsoft, and the OEM a way of saying your on your own if you want to try and use this but there could be legal issues if you try( DCMA maybe ).
Besides the patent attacks by Microsoft they are now taking another step in locking out anything but their software on hardware and this sure sounds like they have Intel going along with them.
LoB
take the new job since the fun is all but over at your current company anyways. Besides, what guarantee is there in this post-PC era? None.
And Steve, 40? Really? lol
PS, good luck at your new job.
LoB
Not if they looked at the patent he was granted. Or else they too didn't understand he was patenting something obvious just like Apple did. They blew it by letting this one through.
What a mess.
LoB
the Nexus 7 16G model is only $199 so it'd be cheaper than the beagle bone plus the LCD7 Cape. If you're into hacking on Android but I think there's a Ubuntu kit for it. If you want more then USB, wifi or bluetooth I/O then you'd have to open it up and hack onto the board.
hey, it comes in a nice package too.
LoB
that would be quite a surprise to have Microsoft agree to that since they will probably hold for themselves(Win8RT) everything they can which leverages existing Microsoft customers. Giving B&N that option weakens their potential uniqueness, for lack of a better word, on the Windows 8 devices.
I don't see it happening until Windows 8 on tablets is a dead horse.
LoB
not sure about that but it won't be the smack in the face to OEM partners as the MS hardware is. And remember, Jobs is not here any more to make the new products look and feel like turning on a TV. point taken though and I somewhat agree because Microsoft just doesn't have the history of producing amazing products.
LoB
I thought the boot lockout was only for the ARM products. Are you saying that the x86 hardware shipping with Windows 8 will have the boot lockout too? That will suck for everyone but Microsoft.
LoB
Microsoft didn't allow the downgrades from Vista without cost and many consumers didn't want to pay the extra price to get an old OS. I doubt it'll work unless the downgrade is free and already on the system.
LoB
it is so far looking like an attempted suicide and all because someone thinks all their products must run the same UI. And it's a phone UI tuned to work on tablets forced down to all users of their desktop devices. As we've seen the iPod->Touch->iPhone-iPad migration while Apple has left the MacOS as a different product at the UI level. We've seen Android on phones to TVs, infotainment systems and tablets without any push to desktop systems. But along comes Microsoft with a migration from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone and it's Metro UI( yes it's easier to define it as Metro because they have for 2 years on the phone ) based on Windows CE and a port of Windows 7 to ARM with the Metro UI on it for phones and tablets while at the same time forcing desktop users to endure the Metro UI also. that is just nuts. But I can see that with the failiure of Windows Phone 7 to gain any market share and even the loss of their market share held with Windows Mobile, Windows 8 not only would have not apps but be the same as Windows Phone 7 but different only under the hood. Developers developers developers as Monkey Boy once danced is once again their bet. Because they are forcing desktop developers to make Metro apps for teh desktop and by default they can be listed as developers for tablets and phones. Not to unlike how they killed off PenOS by Go Inc by marketing how many developers they have on the platform(Pen for Windows) when it was mostly smoke and mirrors.
They are attempting suicide but they still know that for OEMs to dump Windows, the OEM would have to create either new partnerships with something new to the desktop in the scale of Windows shipments or create their own software org to tune something like a GNU/Linux version to be desktop ready. Much like how Corel once did that with Corel Linux.
I do think they will be pushing many many many of their customers to the Mac. Their OEMs will shrink as sales of new systems fall and Microsoft will spend billions subsidizing their own hardware products in attempts to gain a market share in the double digits. It'll be suicide by one thousand cuts and a slow death unless they give the desktop back a familiar UI and quick like. IMO.
LoB
nothing like Nokia. Microsoft paid B&N to sign an NDA, not disclose the patents and to put the B&N app on the Microsoft Surface and Windows 8 devices. $600 million for that was a god deal for B&N. Now if B&N stopped their Android tablets and ebook readers and only did Microsoft OS based devices then it would be closer to the Nokia failure.
LoB
sure, it was so new and exciting that in less than 2 years this new OS is getting replaced with Windows 8. The hardware limitations so minimal that nobody cared because it was all about the OS UI yet Nokia is... correction, was known for making good hardware. And yes, it is a shrinking market share just like the install base for the different versions of desktop Windows is lumped into one at times. If they can't get Windows Mobile customers to move to the new phone, how in the world will they get people who have not drunk the koolaid?
Face it, Windows CE based devices were limited because of the limitations of the design. Otherwise a company like Nokia would not be forced to dump an OS they've only just got and has only been on the market for 1.5 years. It does not matter if the limits were worked with and the UI ran fine on it. I can take a 16 bit embedded proc and get and OS and UI running just fine on it too but it also limits what can be done on it. And there are lots of things getting done on these phones these days when the OS allows it. So Nokia was limited by these limitations and they were forced to push customers toward a new version of the phone OS just when they finally got a "flagship" phone model shipped. ouch.
I was surprised to see an HP commercial for Windows 7 hardware during the Olympics when Windows 8 is just months away and the marketing dollars, in the millions is about to dump on the public.
LoB
they sure do not look or act like they used to. More and more they seem to be acting so very much like a large corporation we all have known to dislike for their business practices.
LoB
thanks, that was indeed the intended word.
LoB
so they have increased the number of licenses in the past 1.5 years? if you have data that would be a nice thing to post. I do find it hard to believe Microsoft would allow this so by all means I'd love to see this has slipped their grasp.
LoB
that is correct, in a comma but not dead and therefore no poison pill execution.
LoB
Microsoft has worked very hard to shut down many cross platform development environments since they remove API control away from themselves and Windows. That is fact. Microsoft is directly tied to/with Nokia. another fact and Nokia quickly jettison'ed the income generating portion of their Qt business after the deal.. another fact.
Yes it could go BSD if it was completely dropped. But if it was a benefit to Windows for it to die off and not go to a BSD license then they just need to pay the company now managing it and 'ask' them to let it stagnate but make it look like it's getting attention.
LoB