Just like XP flopped when people were complaining for ages that thousands of applications wouldn't work on it, very few DOS programs wouldn't work and it seemingly didn't offer enough benefits to counter-act this?
One thing that always bothers me with surveys like this is the "have you considered moving to linux/apple" type questions. That's an extremely vague question that can get a 'yes' that can have any meaning for "I've heard a few people talk about linux, I should see what it is" to "we have drawn up a feasibilty report and are waiting for a decision from upper management".
How do these 'brilliant ideas' keep grabbing headlines? Each of these cars would need to give a full inspection on a daily basis because you wouldn't have a clue what the drivers have done when driving (if they hit something, if something unexpectedly fails etc). Last thing a city wants is to be flooded with lawsuits due to faulty cars. Then there's the stacking, most people aren't great at parking, how are they supposed to be expected to not damage the cars when 'stacking' them? If one time in 50 you reverse too hard or aren't lined up right that'll still result in huge repair bills every day. Then there's the fact that the cars won't end up where they're needed. People will want them at stations yet they'll be scattered across the city from the people taking one way trips. I believe in france they do a system like this with bikes and have to load up lorries to deliver bikes to popular places before the morning rush our.
It's another of these "my aren't those MIT people so smart and inventive" stories. I found that 'building made out of water' story amusing. Did they not think that being surrounded by 4 large waterfalls would make for a rather noisy envoironment? Did they not think that every time there's a slight breeze, everyone close to the building will get soaked?
You've got energy wasted filling the capacitor in the first place then you've the fact that capacitors leak so it'll have to be topped up whilst the monitor is on.
I'm constantly annoyed with my xbox because the clock is on a capacitor rather than a battery. If I've it turned off at the wall for a couple of days, the capacitor runs out and the next time I turn it on I have to set the clock. What happens if the capacitor runs out on one of these monitors in standby? Would it require a complete power off and on to activate it again? sounds like it'd need a monitor to check there's power in the capacitor and if not, it'd give some power to it, not only does this mean power has to be supplied to this monitor but the charging of the capacitor in standby mode would waste even more power.
30,000-90,0000. Seems a reasonable figure until you consider that they get 17.1million visitors a year. That means at best Linux has a ~0.5% share.
Given large budget cuts, how are they supposed to justify a large cost to serve 0.5% of people whom they're not required by law or mandate to provide for?
1: I don't have the cite but the creators have said that Linux programs require extensive porting to get them to run on the OLPC, not just compiling it for a specific distro.
2: That was my point! Why go to so much effort to make the OLPC a coding machine at the expense of compatibility when kids won't use it for coding.
3: A vast amount aren't but significant numbers of apps out there can be useful for school kids. It's better to have more options for additional functionality than fewer.
But none of those things called for a version of linux that is incompatible with most common builds. They're all things that could've been done by applications or drivers.
Assuming MS spend a few million on cutting down windows to make it comfortable on a system with limited, finite resources and then sell the XO version roughly at cost for distribution say, $10. They could end up with hundreds of thousands of people who don't really know MS getting to grips with their OS.
Considering the millions TV advertising costs and it's only reaching people already familiar with their brand for 10-20seconds, this is pretty good value for MS.
Personally I'm not a fan of the OLPC's approach of using a version of linux that lacks compatibility with most other versions. It seems the key benefit is that most programs are essentially scripted (in Python iirc). I can't see the vast majority of school kids getting to grip with the language, especially if they've had limited access to PCs so far in their lives, I would've thought compatibility with the vast library of Linux programs would be more important.
This seems extremely odd. A cow powered dynamo must be capable of a few hundred watts, the olpc only needs 5-10watts to charge at fast rate.
A $10-15 solar panel that's rated for ~10W would be cheaper, easier and require less maintenance.
Doesn't this only refer to the server connectivity side of things which was what the EU ruling dealt with? What they're saying is that the protocols they've been forced to licence by the EU will be licenced to OSS projects for free. I'm reading lots of messages here that seem to indicate people think this will give permission to use ALL patents relating to Windows.
It doesn't specifically affect EU or UK companies but technically they could be sued if they have a presence in the US. There are precedents for suing companies based in other countries because they serve US customers. Would be more hassle than it's worth though when they'd have easier US targets
care to share some figures for that? More and more phones over here are coming out with windows mobile and Linux is one of the least used OS' for phones at the moment.
It's fairly well known by most businesses that they don't have permission to play radio stations to hundreds of staff/public by default. This is why most UK supermarkets either have their own radio station they pump out to every store or they play a special CD of music licence to be publically played.
It may seem a stupid law but you've got to look at it this way: radios pay licence fees based on estimated listening. If a small local station get aired at a concert of 20,000 people without their knowledge when their typical listener base is a couple thousand at a time, the BMI would come up to them and demand 10 times the licence fee which wouldn't be covered by the advertising which assumed only a couple of thousand. This would mean the that broadcast cost them a fortune.
It's an extreme example but that's the reason Radio broadcasts are meant for individual listeners, not to be piped over a PA system.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Battery_Charging
Not entirely clear but it says it has LiFePO4 as well as NiMH but there's no real info on the LiFePO4. Are they two seperate options or is the LiFePO4 treated as a buffer for a main NiMH cells?
Assuming you put it in black and white mode and spend a long time looking at completely static pages for minutes at a time
* The XO's battery is good for 2000 charges and costs $10
It's an NiMH battery. What's the big deal? They're heavy and slow to charge.
* The XO has a 200 DPI daylight visible screen(!!!)
In Black and white mode. In colour mode the screen's about the same quality as those of cheap portable DVD players (which the tech is based on)
* Spill-proof keyboard
Ever tried typing on one of those roll up keyboards? That's what typing on a membrane keyboard is like.
I may be "afraid" like the article says but to me the OLPC is just too far from a regular PC to be useful. The version of Linux it uses isn't even compatible with other versions without rewriting. If you want to teach tech skills to kids you're far better off trying to emulate a 'real world' pc experience.
And also, saying you can get a far better laptop for $400 isn't missing the point. We may be supposedly rich in the west but we're not so rich that a $200 forced donation hurts. All the aesthetic features that make it great for kids are all well and good but the main reason people in the west want it are because it's cheap.
But then your novice user still has to go through pages of different patches to find the one he wants, even if he was able to do it, it can't compare to the Clippy example I gave where the program 'learns' that a user may want or not want to use a feature.
I also don't believe OSS listens to their users more than proprietary software either. Key programs, most notably GIMP and Open Office have been slow to implement things users were crying out for, in the case of OO, Mail merge was a vital component for businesses yet took far too long and when it was implemented it was buggy. In the case of GIMP you've the horrible user interface, there's a project on to fix it but in truth, a strong UI should've been designed in parallel with the functionality.
On of the oft repeated mantra for OSS is "if you don't like it, code something better" but unfortunately, the vast majority of users and businesses can't do this and the mantra changes to "if you don't like it, buy something better" which doesn't help OSS propogation.
"the flexibility of open source would have allowed us to free ourselves from Clippy, the world's most despised paperclip, by changing a single line of code."
This is also a prime example of where OSS fails too. How many basic users would be able to even compile a version with the altered code, let alone alter the codes themselves? Heck even finding a specific "no clippy" version among a variety of differently configured distributions could prove too taxing. Microsoft's approach to clippy is that if you hide it 3 times in general usage it'll present a user with an option to turn it off and it'll never appear again (provided you've a well configured server). An "if you don't like it, change it" approach simply isn't as effective as good interface usability testing when you're dealing with a userbase comprised of vastly different skill levels.
"It's not just the American media that is desperate to publish misleading or downright false information in attempts to prevent the erosion of existing barriers to innovation"
But the iPhone doesn't innovate. It's actually an extremely limited handset that uses outdated connection formats at a time when people want 3G, picture messaging, video messaging and downloadable content. The nokia N95 does much more than the iphone and is several hundreds of pounds cheaper.
"Apple takes 40% of O2's revenues!!!"
The iPhone contracts give you a lot less for the same money than the rest of O2's contracts. The iPhone costs £269 in a market where phones worth £500 are completely subsidised by £35 a month contracts. This money is going somewhere and given the fact O2 would want to price the iphone favourably against rivals like the Prada and N95, it's almost certain it isn't going to O2.
from those articles:
"Actually that's not a good example at all, because Apple doesn't have a market monopoly in mobiles. Apple has also never been convicted of monopolistic behaviors in the UK, the EU, or the US because it doesn't have a monopoly and doesn't act to stop competition the way Microsoft has."
It's currently being investigated by the EU for blatent price fixing, ripping off some member states like the UK.
"Users are not locked into iTunes Music Store purchases; recall that the wags like to point out that a tiny minority of the music on iPods is purchased from iTunes and the vast majority comes from ripped CDs. Purchased tracks from iTunes can also be effortlessly burned to CD for use other other players, following the most liberal and open fair use rights in the industry. Thompson simply lied."
Ripping from CDs is illegal under UK law (you're only allowed to have one workable copy of media), even if it isn't enforced much. The only legal way to play the majority of popular music on the ipod is by itunes. He then goes on to mention RockBox which is also illegal.
I have the nagging feeling that Apple will try to clone what they did in the US in the UK ignoring the differences in the market.
The UK is big on all the things the iphone can't do or does in a restrictive manner. People want to download ringtones, wallpaper and games. Picture and video messaging is something people expect from expensive phones as well, the UK is big on messaging in general. As far as I know the iphone doesn't support this kind of messaging and doesn't even notify if you've received one you can't view.
Other major point is the price plan. People simply won't pay £399 and have a £30+ 18 month contract. You could get a prada phone AND an N95 for that price.
video content on the BBC site is covered by the TV Licence. The licence fee is required for receiving any kind television broadcasting by UK Channels, even if it's over the internet.
the surveillance is the part everyone will mention but in the book it's a means to an end which is unquestioned loyalty and brainwashing through the use of a continual war.
Another example (possibly from the same problem). A girl was walking down a dodgy road alone, a CCTV operator noticed she was incredibly high risk to be attacked, trained cameras on her as she walked through a crime hotspot, noticed a guy clearly following her, called the police and talked them through what was happening. The guy then forced the girl into a nearby bush out of sight of the cameras but got spooked by the police sirens and ran off before he could do anything.
I'm of the mind that you've little right to privacy in a public place.
I also find it amusing that people always bring up 1984 in regards to CCTV when the main point of 1984 wasn't the surveillance but the use of propaganda and a false war to keep citizens in tow.
except it was in the hardest 5 man instance, required a tough battle and required huge amounts of gold and some rare craft only items. Also when the burning crusade was released, it became almost impossible to complete because you couldn't get the groups or people willing to farm the item
Again with the focus on End game and a 10 level rise.
Not only will it now take months for the average gamer to reach endgame, they'll have to deal with the broken level 70 content as well as the broken level 60 content. I'm sure lots of people who started from scratch will remember the 'fun' of spending 500g leveling craft from 290-300 so you can then craft BC stuff, have class quests which require trying to find people willing to spend 4 hours in an instance with obsolete goods.
With people leveling 60-70 post 2nd expansion they'll probably have all the fun of rep grinding as well as the empty instances they need to complete.
Blizzard focus on endgame and ignore everything else. WoW is crying out for an anti-DPS class that can take out rogues and mages and have a strong focus on debuffs (spell breakers perhaps) but the devs are too lazy to balance level 1-70 content for a new class. Instead they're going the easy route and making endgame only classes
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An attitude like that is likely to make following them around very fruitful
One thing that always bothers me with surveys like this is the "have you considered moving to linux/apple" type questions. That's an extremely vague question that can get a 'yes' that can have any meaning for "I've heard a few people talk about linux, I should see what it is" to "we have drawn up a feasibilty report and are waiting for a decision from upper management".
It's another of these "my aren't those MIT people so smart and inventive" stories. I found that 'building made out of water' story amusing. Did they not think that being surrounded by 4 large waterfalls would make for a rather noisy envoironment? Did they not think that every time there's a slight breeze, everyone close to the building will get soaked?
I'm constantly annoyed with my xbox because the clock is on a capacitor rather than a battery. If I've it turned off at the wall for a couple of days, the capacitor runs out and the next time I turn it on I have to set the clock. What happens if the capacitor runs out on one of these monitors in standby? Would it require a complete power off and on to activate it again? sounds like it'd need a monitor to check there's power in the capacitor and if not, it'd give some power to it, not only does this mean power has to be supplied to this monitor but the charging of the capacitor in standby mode would waste even more power.
Given large budget cuts, how are they supposed to justify a large cost to serve 0.5% of people whom they're not required by law or mandate to provide for?
2: That was my point! Why go to so much effort to make the OLPC a coding machine at the expense of compatibility when kids won't use it for coding.
3: A vast amount aren't but significant numbers of apps out there can be useful for school kids. It's better to have more options for additional functionality than fewer.
But none of those things called for a version of linux that is incompatible with most common builds. They're all things that could've been done by applications or drivers.
Considering the millions TV advertising costs and it's only reaching people already familiar with their brand for 10-20seconds, this is pretty good value for MS.
Personally I'm not a fan of the OLPC's approach of using a version of linux that lacks compatibility with most other versions. It seems the key benefit is that most programs are essentially scripted (in Python iirc). I can't see the vast majority of school kids getting to grip with the language, especially if they've had limited access to PCs so far in their lives, I would've thought compatibility with the vast library of Linux programs would be more important.
This seems extremely odd. A cow powered dynamo must be capable of a few hundred watts, the olpc only needs 5-10watts to charge at fast rate. A $10-15 solar panel that's rated for ~10W would be cheaper, easier and require less maintenance.
Doesn't this only refer to the server connectivity side of things which was what the EU ruling dealt with? What they're saying is that the protocols they've been forced to licence by the EU will be licenced to OSS projects for free. I'm reading lots of messages here that seem to indicate people think this will give permission to use ALL patents relating to Windows.
It doesn't specifically affect EU or UK companies but technically they could be sued if they have a presence in the US. There are precedents for suing companies based in other countries because they serve US customers. Would be more hassle than it's worth though when they'd have easier US targets
Surely the most common media server would be the xbox360 which uses/interfaces with windows?
care to share some figures for that? More and more phones over here are coming out with windows mobile and Linux is one of the least used OS' for phones at the moment.
It's fairly well known by most businesses that they don't have permission to play radio stations to hundreds of staff/public by default. This is why most UK supermarkets either have their own radio station they pump out to every store or they play a special CD of music licence to be publically played. It may seem a stupid law but you've got to look at it this way: radios pay licence fees based on estimated listening. If a small local station get aired at a concert of 20,000 people without their knowledge when their typical listener base is a couple thousand at a time, the BMI would come up to them and demand 10 times the licence fee which wouldn't be covered by the advertising which assumed only a couple of thousand. This would mean the that broadcast cost them a fortune. It's an extreme example but that's the reason Radio broadcasts are meant for individual listeners, not to be piped over a PA system.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Battery_Charging Not entirely clear but it says it has LiFePO4 as well as NiMH but there's no real info on the LiFePO4. Are they two seperate options or is the LiFePO4 treated as a buffer for a main NiMH cells?
"* 6-24 hours(!!!) of run-time"
Assuming you put it in black and white mode and spend a long time looking at completely static pages for minutes at a time
* The XO's battery is good for 2000 charges and costs $10
It's an NiMH battery. What's the big deal? They're heavy and slow to charge.
* The XO has a 200 DPI daylight visible screen(!!!)
In Black and white mode. In colour mode the screen's about the same quality as those of cheap portable DVD players (which the tech is based on)
* Spill-proof keyboard
Ever tried typing on one of those roll up keyboards? That's what typing on a membrane keyboard is like.
I may be "afraid" like the article says but to me the OLPC is just too far from a regular PC to be useful. The version of Linux it uses isn't even compatible with other versions without rewriting. If you want to teach tech skills to kids you're far better off trying to emulate a 'real world' pc experience.
And also, saying you can get a far better laptop for $400 isn't missing the point. We may be supposedly rich in the west but we're not so rich that a $200 forced donation hurts. All the aesthetic features that make it great for kids are all well and good but the main reason people in the west want it are because it's cheap.
I also don't believe OSS listens to their users more than proprietary software either. Key programs, most notably GIMP and Open Office have been slow to implement things users were crying out for, in the case of OO, Mail merge was a vital component for businesses yet took far too long and when it was implemented it was buggy. In the case of GIMP you've the horrible user interface, there's a project on to fix it but in truth, a strong UI should've been designed in parallel with the functionality.
On of the oft repeated mantra for OSS is "if you don't like it, code something better" but unfortunately, the vast majority of users and businesses can't do this and the mantra changes to "if you don't like it, buy something better" which doesn't help OSS propogation.
"the flexibility of open source would have allowed us to free ourselves from Clippy, the world's most despised paperclip, by changing a single line of code."
This is also a prime example of where OSS fails too. How many basic users would be able to even compile a version with the altered code, let alone alter the codes themselves? Heck even finding a specific "no clippy" version among a variety of differently configured distributions could prove too taxing. Microsoft's approach to clippy is that if you hide it 3 times in general usage it'll present a user with an option to turn it off and it'll never appear again (provided you've a well configured server). An "if you don't like it, change it" approach simply isn't as effective as good interface usability testing when you're dealing with a userbase comprised of vastly different skill levels.
"It's not just the American media that is desperate to publish misleading or downright false information in attempts to prevent the erosion of existing barriers to innovation"
But the iPhone doesn't innovate. It's actually an extremely limited handset that uses outdated connection formats at a time when people want 3G, picture messaging, video messaging and downloadable content. The nokia N95 does much more than the iphone and is several hundreds of pounds cheaper.
"Apple takes 40% of O2's revenues!!!"
The iPhone contracts give you a lot less for the same money than the rest of O2's contracts. The iPhone costs £269 in a market where phones worth £500 are completely subsidised by £35 a month contracts. This money is going somewhere and given the fact O2 would want to price the iphone favourably against rivals like the Prada and N95, it's almost certain it isn't going to O2.
from those articles:
"Actually that's not a good example at all, because Apple doesn't have a market monopoly in mobiles. Apple has also never been convicted of monopolistic behaviors in the UK, the EU, or the US because it doesn't have a monopoly and doesn't act to stop competition the way Microsoft has."
It's currently being investigated by the EU for blatent price fixing, ripping off some member states like the UK.
"Users are not locked into iTunes Music Store purchases; recall that the wags like to point out that a tiny minority of the music on iPods is purchased from iTunes and the vast majority comes from ripped CDs. Purchased tracks from iTunes can also be effortlessly burned to CD for use other other players, following the most liberal and open fair use rights in the industry. Thompson simply lied."
Ripping from CDs is illegal under UK law (you're only allowed to have one workable copy of media), even if it isn't enforced much. The only legal way to play the majority of popular music on the ipod is by itunes. He then goes on to mention RockBox which is also illegal.
I have the nagging feeling that Apple will try to clone what they did in the US in the UK ignoring the differences in the market. The UK is big on all the things the iphone can't do or does in a restrictive manner. People want to download ringtones, wallpaper and games. Picture and video messaging is something people expect from expensive phones as well, the UK is big on messaging in general. As far as I know the iphone doesn't support this kind of messaging and doesn't even notify if you've received one you can't view. Other major point is the price plan. People simply won't pay £399 and have a £30+ 18 month contract. You could get a prada phone AND an N95 for that price.
video content on the BBC site is covered by the TV Licence. The licence fee is required for receiving any kind television broadcasting by UK Channels, even if it's over the internet.
the surveillance is the part everyone will mention but in the book it's a means to an end which is unquestioned loyalty and brainwashing through the use of a continual war.
I'm of the mind that you've little right to privacy in a public place.
I also find it amusing that people always bring up 1984 in regards to CCTV when the main point of 1984 wasn't the surveillance but the use of propaganda and a false war to keep citizens in tow.
except it was in the hardest 5 man instance, required a tough battle and required huge amounts of gold and some rare craft only items. Also when the burning crusade was released, it became almost impossible to complete because you couldn't get the groups or people willing to farm the item
Again with the focus on End game and a 10 level rise. Not only will it now take months for the average gamer to reach endgame, they'll have to deal with the broken level 70 content as well as the broken level 60 content. I'm sure lots of people who started from scratch will remember the 'fun' of spending 500g leveling craft from 290-300 so you can then craft BC stuff, have class quests which require trying to find people willing to spend 4 hours in an instance with obsolete goods. With people leveling 60-70 post 2nd expansion they'll probably have all the fun of rep grinding as well as the empty instances they need to complete. Blizzard focus on endgame and ignore everything else. WoW is crying out for an anti-DPS class that can take out rogues and mages and have a strong focus on debuffs (spell breakers perhaps) but the devs are too lazy to balance level 1-70 content for a new class. Instead they're going the easy route and making endgame only classes