but it was the first one that did not SUCK. I had a Diamond RIO and it's UI and operation utterly sucked. most everything after that continued to suck in durability and usability until the ipod came out.
I'm always astonished how Apple users feel the need to rewrite history...especially considering the irony. Apple lifted the UI wholesale from Creative. It got know as the 'ZEN' patent, Apple got Creative to go away with $100Million Dollars and the chance to make third party accessories.
It pains me. To see that the mini-disk atrocity, is still being manufactured to date. The Zune, will always be the best media player out there!!
Its kind of odd seeing you odd off-topic post. I do partially sympathise, as I personally found the Salsa Clip the greatest MP3 player of its type, before I got a smartphone.
Here is the thing though the Zune was not very good. It got a free pass by the media, but essentially it was a poor iPod clone [built on Apples model] , late to party, after Microsoft had thrown its *preferred partners* under the bus when Microsoft wanted a bigger (read Apple profits) piece of the pie, with a more mature offering designed in secret away from its partners. Notice the familiar game plan...and similar [lack of] success rates with Windows phone and Windows Surface.
Android took away Apples market in iPhones now selling 5x as many smartphones as Apple, it did so by not copying Apple, and did the same with iPad.
No the point is then *nobody* did it then and Sonys behaviour looked over reaching and abusive; it paid the price. Today any Application on an Apple smartphone does *worse* [including Apples own] and it get a free pass. Quite the reverse is true its not "everybody else does it too" its more "Apple does it not Sony"
Sony got kicked over this 8 years ago, and they deserved to, but today it looks very stupid when every Application on your smartphone not only looks at your music...but looks at everything about you. In fact increasingly we are *forced* to give away your rights...you installed Windows 8 recently.
Don't worry, Sony will just create another "god damn fucking piece of shit oh god i hate you sony please die in a ditch" proprietary format.
This describes Apple and Microsoft, Sony by comparison follows standards...Compare and ebook readers; phones; consoles to the competition and you will find standard connectors; standard components; standard formats.
Is it any wonder their stock and their corporate goodwill are both in the shitter?
I suspect any Goodwill is more down to the growth of competing technology form Apple/Microsoft/Samsung as for their shares currently at a third in just months...ironically the same that Apple has fallen in *six*
I find it incredible that anyone still feeds this monopoly when viable alternatives have existed for years; It doesn't exist on Android set to overtake windows this year; Is stupidly expensive for a piece of software with no new compelling features for years; Written documents rarely done in Word...more likely email.
Ballmer is probably right Google Docs is likely to win on the new dominant platforms, personally though I find it insane that Microsoft would intentionally hurt its Monopoly in Office Suites.
I doubt judging by your comments you have been near a school. The reality is a computer has no unique characteristics in a school environment, and the fact that Microsoft Office to you is essential really says it all. I'm sorry I wouldn't touch an old XP laptop over a chromebook in a school environment [especially for the reasons you state] for reasons of battery life and maintenance alone, The fact that these devices are ideal for children from a cost/size perspective shows either your extreme ignorance or subterfuge.
There is probably a really good reason for that. You have to remember that Android is going to overtake windows as the primary OS this year...by the time these children leave school, it could be a very different world, and right now, having seen Microsoft beg for youtube and googe maps its a new world order.
They had been offering them to schools for 75% off at the end of last year, and there seems to be no minimum number of Chromebooks for them to count a school amongst their number, so any school that bought one as a bonus for the gym teacher could potentially be among the 2,000.
Best of luck to Google, but I can't help but think if Apple or Dell or HP had offered a 75% discount they would have found a lot more than 1,000 buyers in three months.
It is not only mentioned its linked to a whole article about it "See also – Google and DonorsChoose.org offer schools Samsung Series 5 Chromebooks for $99 each". I a little confused why you think a high maintenance computers with high maintenance OS would win out in a school environment, and these computers are not just cheap they are $99. The only surprise is the offer was on the atom models, where I think the ARM ones would have been a better fit. Interestingly HP are offering a new Chromebook it says it in the article.
Because every initial adoption rate with technology is of course a linear rate that never falls of...
but its not unrealistic for it to have linear growth till saturation. Remember we are only talking a million devices every three months. In reality if Chromebooks are a success which considering the lack of viable alternatives [cost and maintenance] is likely I would expect better than linear growth.
Except Novell. Er.. and Sun. And SGI... Google is struggling to keep control over Android and put the cork back in the bottle. I would say that open source is fine if you don't want to commercialize the product in a heavy way.
Novell had its business model removed as Windows absorbed Networking [much like they are doing with stream now], and after getting involved with Linux took a bribe from Microsoft which like all dealing with Microsoft ended badly. Sun and SGI just fell to Better Value Microsoft PC's, and bad management [overspending].
Oddly Googles Android is a success story; set to overtake Windows this year. In reality only Linux is truly open source with its slightly amended GPL2 License, the rest is Apache which is why Google do not [and in some cases haven't] released the code for versions of its software. The reality is most of its value comes from its [cross platform] closed applications and web services...which aren't open source.
And the facts are that they're retaining their 70% profit share of the industry, and their userbase growth is still accelerating. Samsung are not eating into Apple's potential market, they're hoovering up the standard phone market as it transitions to an all-smartphone industry. Apple have never, ever expressed an interest in that section of the market, making their *relative* decline in it irrelevant. So their corporate strategy is in fact still serving them very well - and given they're the second biggest company in the world I'd say it's objectively one of the best corporate strategies there is.
There is no such thing as *profit share* there are only profits, and nobody will ever suggest that Apple *right now* are not making money hand over fist, although that [dubious] 70% figure for *hardware profits* does not include *future profits* or profits from *advertising* *content* [ignoring intangibles], ironically its why Apple have lost 35% of their market cap losing the crown of *largest* company in the world.
[Part of] My point is that Apple are none existent in certain markets China/Brazil, markets Apple have said are their *primary focus* for obvious reasons, Android is going to get Apps from those markets while Apple get none...falling behind even more.
Apple is selling more phones that it ever has...but is experiencing slower growth that the market is growing, with its potential customers reaching saturation, with customers opting for its cheaper [lower margin] models.
I agree Apple re-badging foxconn phones at a massive mark-up has been wonderful, but its looking a weak strategy in a maturing market with competitors with arguably better hardware software and value, and the stock market agrees.
https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23916413#.UQte-5G3PGg *Worldwide* Q4 post earning release from a real market analyst. However you spin it Apples share of the pie is shrinking. In Larger markets than the US like China Apple have no market share...and don't have a competitive product in that market. You should reread my post, its pretty good.
General feelings from the Apple side is that this is unfortunate but would rather Apple stop wasting time on it. General opinion from the Samsung/Android side is, **** Apple, waste as much money as possible.
This had *nothing* to do with feelings. Apple is unable to maintain its massive mark-ups of rebadged foxconn phones through innovation; its massive market share gone; the days of the iPhone killer long behind us; its marketing machine pushing it as the *one* phone turning on Apple. When Jobs went thermonuclear on Android he should have been spending money on diverse product lines; Company acquisitions....hell competed on price, but instead he deicide to *litigate* over a few interface patents on devices covered by thousands of patents, often shared at little or no cost between traditional phone manufactures.
This court case was a massive win for Apple, but without product bans...toothless. I suspect even with them there are simply too many compelling Android phones; from a diverse collection of manufactures. All with an Mountain!? of there own patents [Hell even Google has them now]...Apple is terrified of them forming a cartel.
The bottom line is this is nothing to do with feelings this is everything about poor corporate strategy.
If I'm not mistaken Apple will have to pay California income tax on the money they get from Samsung. With a corporate tax of nearly 9% that'd be close to $90M added to the coffers. If one was into conspiracy theories this would be an interesting avenue to pursue.
I don't think you have any idea how much money the state gets in Tax. State spending was $127 billion in 2011
If you buy phones off ebay and craigslist that somebody got for $99 on contract, then defaulted on the contract and sold it, you're basically buying stolen goods. So good luck with that.
Not even close. Clearly you have never lived hand to mouth, where debt is only an illness; downsizing; unexpected emergency...or simply living. I feel pity for your lack of empathy.
Your credit rating is going to take a massive hit which affect all aspects of Life; You have to move to alternative and more expensive solutions (PAYG). Here is the exciting part...you now cannot use your number, but you still have to pay for it. The debt is *sold* to thugs who are *guarded* by the police, who take items of equal selling value from your property.
Ironically in context of this discussion that $99 might have have helped keep the wolves from the door.
Now the teachers in elementary and high schools' expertise is in education, not computer science. This is a massively different field for most people.
Sorry your talking from an uninformed perspective, most teachers take an *extended* degree, which covers a teaching practice, and a specialist subject. An alternative route into teaching is the teach first which are meant to be *on the job* training for *people exemplary in their field. I'm sorry these are the highest paid *worldwide*, and they are teaching children.
Teaching and maintenance is more labour intensive and expensive
I'm sorry, your wishy washy excuses may work in some circles, but for everyone else in the computing industry [every industry] constant retraining, and reactions to current trends is essential. I cannot remember the last time in my life I wasn't in some form of retaining or other.
As for popularity being a factor. I'm sorry, cutting your nose of to spite your children is a disgrace. As I say everywhere corporations need to pay tax, scapegoating a few corporations, especially when worse offenders like Microsoft and Apple is morally questionable.
Apple and Microsoft do not get a free pass, and have four times the money off-shore, simply because Google has irrelevant informal corporate motto does not justify your bile.
*All* Corporations should pay tax, and that includes Google, your post is a reflection on yourself not Google.
And in one swoop all other manufacturers of hobby board was put out of buissness. "Free" can really hurt the economy and "ecosystem" quite a lot if it is done wrong...
...or start a trend, devices like the raspberry pi, are nothing new, but right now, because [not in spite of] the success of the raspberry pi there is a whole host of new boards out there, and in reality like every other market companies have to compete on there own merits, personally the raspberry pi does not interest me. It does not have enough memory or processing power or sata, and I am far from being the only one.
How is plugging a bunch of peripherals into an antiquated ARM board "about computer science"? If that's computer science then your average sweatshop peon must be Alan Turing.
"The idea behind a tiny and cheap computer for kids came in 2006, when Eben Upton and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, including Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft, became concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science in each academic year. From a situation in the 1990s where most of the kids applying were coming to interview as experienced hobbyist programmers, the landscape in the 2000s was very different; a typical applicant might only have done a little web design.
Something had changed the way kids were interacting with computers. A number of problems were identified: the colonisation of the ICT curriculum with lessons on using Word and Excel, or writing webpages; the end of the dot-com boom; and the rise of the home PC and games console to replace the Amigas, BBC Micros, Spectrum ZX and Commodore 64 machines that people of an earlier generation learned to program on."
Slashdot Mirror
but it was the first one that did not SUCK. I had a Diamond RIO and it's UI and operation utterly sucked. most everything after that continued to suck in durability and usability until the ipod came out.
I'm always astonished how Apple users feel the need to rewrite history...especially considering the irony. Apple lifted the UI wholesale from Creative. It got know as the 'ZEN' patent, Apple got Creative to go away with $100Million Dollars and the chance to make third party accessories.
http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2006/05/6838-2/
It pains me. To see that the mini-disk atrocity, is still being manufactured to date. The Zune, will always be the best media player out there!!
Its kind of odd seeing you odd off-topic post. I do partially sympathise, as I personally found the Salsa Clip the greatest MP3 player of its type, before I got a smartphone.
Here is the thing though the Zune was not very good. It got a free pass by the media, but essentially it was a poor iPod clone [built on Apples model] , late to party, after Microsoft had thrown its *preferred partners* under the bus when Microsoft wanted a bigger (read Apple profits) piece of the pie, with a more mature offering designed in secret away from its partners. Notice the familiar game plan...and similar [lack of] success rates with Windows phone and Windows Surface.
Android took away Apples market in iPhones now selling 5x as many smartphones as Apple, it did so by not copying Apple, and did the same with iPad.
"Everyone else does it too" is not a good excuse.
No the point is then *nobody* did it then and Sonys behaviour looked over reaching and abusive; it paid the price. Today any Application on an Apple smartphone does *worse* [including Apples own] and it get a free pass. Quite the reverse is true its not "everybody else does it too" its more "Apple does it not Sony"
sony root kit
sony root kit
Sony got kicked over this 8 years ago, and they deserved to, but today it looks very stupid when every Application on your smartphone not only looks at your music...but looks at everything about you. In fact increasingly we are *forced* to give away your rights...you installed Windows 8 recently.
Don't worry, Sony will just create another "god damn fucking piece of shit oh god i hate you sony please die in a ditch" proprietary format.
This describes Apple and Microsoft, Sony by comparison follows standards...Compare and ebook readers; phones; consoles to the competition and you will find standard connectors; standard components; standard formats.
Is it any wonder their stock and their corporate goodwill are both in the shitter?
I suspect any Goodwill is more down to the growth of competing technology form Apple/Microsoft/Samsung as for their shares currently at a third in just months...ironically the same that Apple has fallen in *six*
I find it incredible that anyone still feeds this monopoly when viable alternatives have existed for years; It doesn't exist on Android set to overtake windows this year; Is stupidly expensive for a piece of software with no new compelling features for years; Written documents rarely done in Word...more likely email.
Ballmer is probably right Google Docs is likely to win on the new dominant platforms, personally though I find it insane that Microsoft would intentionally hurt its Monopoly in Office Suites.
As an educator I feel
I doubt judging by your comments you have been near a school. The reality is a computer has no unique characteristics in a school environment, and the fact that Microsoft Office to you is essential really says it all. I'm sorry I wouldn't touch an old XP laptop over a chromebook in a school environment [especially for the reasons you state] for reasons of battery life and maintenance alone, The fact that these devices are ideal for children from a cost/size perspective shows either your extreme ignorance or subterfuge.
I remember I felt dumber and left behind
There is probably a really good reason for that. You have to remember that Android is going to overtake windows as the primary OS this year...by the time these children leave school, it could be a very different world, and right now, having seen Microsoft beg for youtube and googe maps its a new world order.
They had been offering them to schools for 75% off at the end of last year, and there seems to be no minimum number of Chromebooks for them to count a school amongst their number, so any school that bought one as a bonus for the gym teacher could potentially be among the 2,000.
Best of luck to Google, but I can't help but think if Apple or Dell or HP had offered a 75% discount they would have found a lot more than 1,000 buyers in three months.
It is not only mentioned its linked to a whole article about it "See also – Google and DonorsChoose.org offer schools Samsung Series 5 Chromebooks for $99 each". I a little confused why you think a high maintenance computers with high maintenance OS would win out in a school environment, and these computers are not just cheap they are $99. The only surprise is the offer was on the atom models, where I think the ARM ones would have been a better fit. Interestingly HP are offering a new Chromebook it says it in the article.
Because every initial adoption rate with technology is of course a linear rate that never falls of...
but its not unrealistic for it to have linear growth till saturation. Remember we are only talking a million devices every three months. In reality if Chromebooks are a success which considering the lack of viable alternatives [cost and maintenance] is likely I would expect better than linear growth.
No.
Yes
Except Novell. Er.. and Sun. And SGI... Google is struggling to keep control over Android and put the cork back in the bottle. I would say that open source is fine if you don't want to commercialize the product in a heavy way.
Novell had its business model removed as Windows absorbed Networking [much like they are doing with stream now], and after getting involved with Linux took a bribe from Microsoft which like all dealing with Microsoft ended badly. Sun and SGI just fell to Better Value Microsoft PC's, and bad management [overspending].
Oddly Googles Android is a success story; set to overtake Windows this year. In reality only Linux is truly open source with its slightly amended GPL2 License, the rest is Apache which is why Google do not [and in some cases haven't] released the code for versions of its software. The reality is most of its value comes from its [cross platform] closed applications and web services...which aren't open source.
And the facts are that they're retaining their 70% profit share of the industry, and their userbase growth is still accelerating. Samsung are not eating into Apple's potential market, they're hoovering up the standard phone market as it transitions to an all-smartphone industry. Apple have never, ever expressed an interest in that section of the market, making their *relative* decline in it irrelevant. So their corporate strategy is in fact still serving them very well - and given they're the second biggest company in the world I'd say it's objectively one of the best corporate strategies there is.
There is no such thing as *profit share* there are only profits, and nobody will ever suggest that Apple *right now* are not making money hand over fist, although that [dubious] 70% figure for *hardware profits* does not include *future profits* or profits from *advertising* *content* [ignoring intangibles], ironically its why Apple have lost 35% of their market cap losing the crown of *largest* company in the world.
[Part of] My point is that Apple are none existent in certain markets China/Brazil, markets Apple have said are their *primary focus* for obvious reasons, Android is going to get Apps from those markets while Apple get none...falling behind even more.
Apple is selling more phones that it ever has...but is experiencing slower growth that the market is growing, with its potential customers reaching saturation, with customers opting for its cheaper [lower margin] models.
I agree Apple re-badging foxconn phones at a massive mark-up has been wonderful, but its looking a weak strategy in a maturing market with competitors with arguably better hardware software and value, and the stock market agrees.
[cough]iPhone snags its highest U.S. market share ever[/cough]
https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23916413#.UQte-5G3PGg *Worldwide* Q4 post earning release from a real market analyst. However you spin it Apples share of the pie is shrinking. In Larger markets than the US like China Apple have no market share...and don't have a competitive product in that market. You should reread my post, its pretty good.
General feelings from the Apple side is that this is unfortunate but would rather Apple stop wasting time on it. General opinion from the Samsung/Android side is, **** Apple, waste as much money as possible.
This had *nothing* to do with feelings. Apple is unable to maintain its massive mark-ups of rebadged foxconn phones through innovation; its massive market share gone; the days of the iPhone killer long behind us; its marketing machine pushing it as the *one* phone turning on Apple. When Jobs went thermonuclear on Android he should have been spending money on diverse product lines; Company acquisitions....hell competed on price, but instead he deicide to *litigate* over a few interface patents on devices covered by thousands of patents, often shared at little or no cost between traditional phone manufactures.
This court case was a massive win for Apple, but without product bans...toothless. I suspect even with them there are simply too many compelling Android phones; from a diverse collection of manufactures. All with an Mountain!? of there own patents [Hell even Google has them now]...Apple is terrified of them forming a cartel.
The bottom line is this is nothing to do with feelings this is everything about poor corporate strategy.
If I'm not mistaken Apple will have to pay California income tax on the money they get from Samsung. With a corporate tax of nearly 9% that'd be close to $90M added to the coffers. If one was into conspiracy theories this would be an interesting avenue to pursue.
I don't think you have any idea how much money the state gets in Tax. State spending was $127 billion in 2011
If you buy phones off ebay and craigslist that somebody got for $99 on contract, then defaulted on the contract and sold it, you're basically buying stolen goods. So good luck with that.
Not even close. Clearly you have never lived hand to mouth, where debt is only an illness; downsizing; unexpected emergency...or simply living. I feel pity for your lack of empathy.
Your credit rating is going to take a massive hit which affect all aspects of Life; You have to move to alternative and more expensive solutions (PAYG). Here is the exciting part...you now cannot use your number, but you still have to pay for it. The debt is *sold* to thugs who are *guarded* by the police, who take items of equal selling value from your property.
Ironically in context of this discussion that $99 might have have helped keep the wolves from the door.
Now the teachers in elementary and high schools' expertise is in education, not computer science. This is a massively different field for most people.
Sorry your talking from an uninformed perspective, most teachers take an *extended* degree, which covers a teaching practice, and a specialist subject. An alternative route into teaching is the teach first which are meant to be *on the job* training for *people exemplary in their field. I'm sorry these are the highest paid *worldwide*, and they are teaching children.
Teaching and maintenance is more labour intensive and expensive
I'm sorry, your wishy washy excuses may work in some circles, but for everyone else in the computing industry [every industry] constant retraining, and reactions to current trends is essential. I cannot remember the last time in my life I wasn't in some form of retaining or other.
As for popularity being a factor. I'm sorry, cutting your nose of to spite your children is a disgrace. As I say everywhere corporations need to pay tax, scapegoating a few corporations, especially when worse offenders like Microsoft and Apple is morally questionable.
Apple and Microsoft do not get a free pass, and have four times the money off-shore, simply because Google has irrelevant informal corporate motto does not justify your bile.
*All* Corporations should pay tax, and that includes Google, your post is a reflection on yourself not Google.
And in one swoop all other manufacturers of hobby board was put out of buissness. "Free" can really hurt the economy and "ecosystem" quite a lot if it is done wrong...
...or start a trend, devices like the raspberry pi, are nothing new, but right now, because [not in spite of] the success of the raspberry pi there is a whole host of new boards out there, and in reality like every other market companies have to compete on there own merits, personally the raspberry pi does not interest me. It does not have enough memory or processing power or sata, and I am far from being the only one.
How is plugging a bunch of peripherals into an antiquated ARM board "about computer science"? If that's computer science then your average sweatshop peon must be Alan Turing.
From the About us on the raspberry pi website. http://www.raspberrypi.org/about
"The idea behind a tiny and cheap computer for kids came in 2006, when Eben Upton and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, including Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft, became concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science in each academic year. From a situation in the 1990s where most of the kids applying were coming to interview as experienced hobbyist programmers, the landscape in the 2000s was very different; a typical applicant might only have done a little web design.
Something had changed the way kids were interacting with computers. A number of problems were identified: the colonisation of the ICT curriculum with lessons on using Word and Excel, or writing webpages; the end of the dot-com boom; and the rise of the home PC and games console to replace the Amigas, BBC Micros, Spectrum ZX and Commodore 64 machines that people of an earlier generation learned to program on."
I quick two second search on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_3?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=raspberry+pi&sprefix=ras%2Caps%2C366 shows they have them in stock.
maybe if Google woud pay their f***ing taxes as they should, the schools could afford the Pi's for themselves....
They would be better catching up with Apple or Microsoft for Tax avoidence as they have more money squirreled offshore http://www.businessinsider.com/tax-loophole-congress-google-apple-microsoft-2012-12 four times as much as Google.
I suspect your being a little disingenuous. :)