Market rumours (started by the much more numerous LCD makers) are trying to kill this technology. Plasma's have a faster response time, and more colour recreation and are 30 percent cheaper to buy. Those alone will keep it aroun for a while
Really? That does sound persuasive; however, I've been looking for a new TV and from what I've seen plasmas seem to be more expensive than LCD TVs. I'm looking in the 32"-37" range and most of the LCDs seem cheaper. Of course, the plasmas may tend to have better quality (I can't really tell - at least not in the store). Any that you would recommend in that range?
Looks like the same recall to me. Since the article linked in the story mentions that this product originally shipped in July and the article you linked was dated July 29th it seems fairly unlikely that there were two.
Though by no means an expert, it is my understanding that this is marketed to small businesses - you know, the first S in SBS. Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't imagine that most 'small' businesses would have the IT budget to invest in 3-5 dedicated servers and, if they did, they might not be 'small' businesses anymore and are probably not in the target market.
Perhaps you're speaking of businesses that do need multiple servers to fill their needs and can afford it. In cases like that I wouldn't be frustrated with SBS (by the way, I feel silly using that acronym), but rather with the poor IT decisions that those companies are making.
A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
I know what you're paraphrasing and it does apply, but I have to ask, so what? Of course an equation like this is going to be used and research is going to be done. If a single catastrophic failure occurs, do you recall all 10,000,000 of your product? How about after 10? 100? There will always be freak occurences where horrendous events happen in unexpected ways - you have to figure out whether it's just that or part of a larger trend.
Speaking of which, I'm curious about how many incidents of battery fires have actually been reported. I'm aware of the famous one obviously, but how many others have been reported? Is this actually a case where dozens/hundreds of batteries are bursting into flame, or merely a case of one hugely publiscized incident? I wouldn't be surprised if Dell was issuing the recall to save face after the huge publicity of that one fire, even if the incidences dont merit it.
Considering the new Intel chips coming out now (Core 2 Duo) seem to be destorying AMD performance wise, this would seem to be a price based decision on Dell's part. They are (for the most part) a discount hardware vendor so the recent, aggressive price cuts from AMD must have been too appealing for them to ignore.
Also, ever since they introduced AMD on some of their servers it's seemed only a matter of time before that relatioship transfered to their desktop offerings. I would imagine, though, that their notebook lines will continue to use Intel as Intel continues to have the (perceived?) lead in that market.
I don't necessarily disagree with you BUT that doesn't mean I feel good for paying more for less. I may want less (features, etc), but why should I have to pay more for that?
Microsoft are the absolute worst offenders when it comes to featureitis. They will add a hundred 'features' that no one in their right mind will use, and make it possible to do practically anything they want on the Zune, except play music easily.
True, but radio tuner? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think iPods still dont have that? That seems like a nobrainer and something all portable audio devies should have. Also, Microsoft may be notorious for featureitis, but Apple seems to be accessory mad. It's nice to pay more for an iPod and then have to shill out more for an accessory that does something that a competing player can do for less.
I thought I very good interview overall. Very little fanboi-ism (liked the links to Ubunto though - nice touch:) and some interesting perspective. Found the answer to the following particularly good:
It seems to me that 'Linux should be Linux'. Rather, we're seeing articles about one linux distro killing another. We never see "Windows Professional is killing Windows Home".
Though he didn't mention it, another point would be that you dont hear Windows Pro vs Windows Home often because they both come from the same company: if Home gets sold instead of Pro Microsoft still wins.
Now, the same _could_ be said of the different flavors of Linux, but, aside from the issues of pride that he mentioned, some Linux vendors are trying to make money (surprise). Therefore, a company adopting RHEL for example is not really a win for Ubuntu - they are still seperate organizations, no matter how intertwined the upstream is.
Ironically, this is because Windows and OSX are plots to take over the world; whereas Linux is just an operating system.
I'd really have to disagree with you here. Windows and OSX are commercial products and the companies pushing either one are trying to make more money, but it is the Linux 'movement' that seems bent on world domination. With the crazy debate of free vs Free (i.e. "as in beer" vs "as in speech" - come on, get over yourself), with articles on Slashdot everytime a school district or goverment agency switches. If it was just an OS than nobody would care about these things.
The difference then is (imho) that Windows/OSX are products and Linux is a _religion_. This is a real shame since I enjoy Linux the OS, but the almost cultish atmosphere can be quite offputting. I don't want to don a jumpsuit and collect lima beans that look like Linus Torvalds.
The one thing missing for Microsoft, is panache. There's nothing hip or cool aboug having some music device from a giant corporation. Without that certain cachet of having something from a company which makes very stylish computers and operating systems and got U2 on board.
That's one of the problems I sometimes have with Apple - the focus often seems to be more on the panache than on delivering the goods. Sure iPods are good mp3 players, but the last time I poked around at the offerings out there it seemed to me that many competitors were offering more features for less money. Call me old fashioned, but I don't need an mp3 player as a status symbol - I need it to play mp3's well. If the Zune does that the same/better than the iPod for less money than I see it as a completely viable option.
Also, on the topic of cool, doesn't the one who tries the hardest to be cool usually fail the most? That's kinda the impression I get with people showing off iPods nowadays.
Because any company that exclusively relies on one business is ultimately doomed.
That's essentially it. They also have so much money that they have to spend it somewhere. Investors do not look kindly on companies with huge cash reserves - the consesus seems to be that companies should be *doing* something with that warchest rather than sitting on it.
If I was an investor, I'd be pretty pleased with this (well, actually I'd be more pleased if they paid some dividends or got their stock price up, but hey... this aint bad).
Troll? How is that a troll! I even just updated it to include stuff about the Techblog response! Alright, who modded that.
Well, I don't know about the argument, but I'd certainly mod the blog post about that. I love how arguments can just magically be dismissed nowadays by being 'FUD' (most overused acronym on Slashdot now?). "Hey, I don't agree with this guy - he's just trying to spread FUD!"
So lets count that as two major releases since 2001. Isn't that about on par with Apple's MacOS X?
That's really the gist of his argument. Apple is claiming 6 'major' releases since 2001, and Thurrott is pointing out that by the same standard Microsoft has released many 'major' releases as well. I like how your quote omitted "By that measure" at the very beginning - it certainly changes things in favor of your point of view.
You're right. It's a great idea. In fact, the innovative way they've implemented it makes it even better. Oh, whats that? Windows' interface to the same "feature" sucks? Thats right. Frankly the version in Windows 2003 Server is absolute crap.
Umm, so your rebuttal is that the interface on the Microsoft feature allegedly sucks? His point is that Microsoft did something similar in the past - you're not addressing that at all.
Thats right, a feature thats coming sooner, is being copied from software that will have it later.
Yeah, I guess you didn't read the part where he said "...Apple was inspired by Vista features like Spotlight (er, sorry, Windows Search).... But that's not a slam, really. Give Apple some credit for getting to market first--by a long shot--and doing a fantastic job of implementing features that Microsoft, frankly, may never get right." Windows search was announced long before Spotlight was implemented. Whether Apple necessarily borrowed the idea or not isn't as much the issue as the fact that Microsoft didn't borrow it from Apple - which is the point he's trying to make.
Its an optional service that has no place being mentioned with such prejudice on a page that's supposed to talk about Leopard.
When it involves a new feature for Dashboard it sure does.
Overall Mr. Thurrott you did a very good job of presenting innaccurate information in such a manner as to cause Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the minds of Windows users and any others who may want to "switch." I commend you.
Overall you did a good job of selectively quoting material in such a manner as to cause Fear, Unvertainty and Doubt in the minds of...well, nobody with a grade 10 education.
It's not so much that Thurrott is claiming that Microsoft invented all of these features, it's merely a rebuttal against all of the Vista bashing that Apple indulged in. Thurrott is not claiming that Microsoft invented the 64bit OS (contrary to what TechBlog seems to think) - he's just saying they beat Apple to it.
Also, for those that seem to think this is all pro-Microsoft hogwash, the following came up within the first few paragraphs:
As Serlet effectively demonstrated, Windows Calendar is almost identical looking to iCal, right down to the candy-colored appointment blobs. That's just embarrassing.
He said that Vista's IE 7 stole the friendly RSS view from Safari, Apple's Web browser. And sure enough, he's got a point. I said so in my own reviews of IE 7 betas. It's a great feature, and Apple did it first.
Advice: Find a small or medium sized privately owned company. Learn to do a lot... SQL, networking, admin, support, word, excel (show some pivot table magic), etc. Forget working for anyone or anything with stock-holders. You'll enjoy the work, probably like the owner/boss and add a few years to your life.
I agree with that completely. The addendum I would add that there is no reason that you need to really 'start' at 30. Unless you are somehow able to pay for your degree outright, you'll likely be working while going to school. Try and get jobs in some sort of IT position while you're doing it. Education is importantn, but employers always like relevant job experience. If you worked in the industry while getting your degree you'll be that much more attractive when you get out.
I can think of a number of places where Black and White might be considered the most obscene game ever. Heck, the game lets you pretend to be god - what's shooting someone in the head compared to that?
...and hundreds die in the resulting crash. When interviewed later the conductor said that he wishes he was told where the hole was so he could've stopped the train in time.
....but I would rather pay $200 or whatever for Windows (or nothing for *nix) than get a copy of it for free but be forced to watch adds. In fact, I really don't think anyone would want to do that - paying a bit up front (relatively) definitely seems to be the lesser evil over being annoyed with ads all the time.
I suspect that this point of view is not in the minority either. I remember when the ad-powered ISP model was all the rage - even though it was free dial up, it sure didn't last that long.
The study found 77 percent of women surveyed would prefer a new plasma television to a diamond solitaire necklace...
looks like you wouldn't be far off. However, you might want to do a study of your own since you might be one of the unfortunate few to be stuck with that leftover 23%;)
I'm at work and currently have 12 FF tabs loaded across two windows (one for work, one for...well, slashdot). With that number of tabs open Firefox is currently using 136 MB of ram (started it within the past few hours). After reading some of the delightful comments on this story, I decided to load the exact same pages in IE 7 beta 2 (haven't gotten around to installing beta 3 yet). After loading all of the exact same pages into IE7 it was using (boggle) 60 MB of ram...and strangely enough, 1 minute later, it was down to 40 MB. Please keep in mind that this isn't even the latest build.
All that being said, I'm still sticking with Firefox for now, but that may change depending on how IE7 final looks.
Look, not to get too preachy, but that's the problem with FreeBSD and projects with other, equally open licenses, like MIT, etc. As I said in my not-so-tongue-in-cheek blog to the audienceless ether years ago...
Oh my, what a relevant and insightful reference - and one that clearly supports your point of view. I'd just like to refer to a famous reply that I made to this comment, in which I said it was too late.
And this is why I love the American two party system - you're either with us or against us; one of the good guys or one of the bad guys. It makes sense though - because everything in life is clearly black or white.
You have to keep buying your GM car every year or two in order to update it, how else is GM going to stay the biggest car company in the world?
It's hardly insightful to point out the winning strategy of any successfull company (maybe GM was a bad example here?) - that is selling new products to existing customers.
When your fingerprints have been compromised (not very hard to do) you can't change them. For this reason, I don't think biometrics is a viable solution. A long passphrase is much better, in my opinion.
Sure it is - but only so far as it enhances existing security. Using it to replace existing technologies might be a mistake, but using it to supplement them surely isn't.
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Really? That does sound persuasive; however, I've been looking for a new TV and from what I've seen plasmas seem to be more expensive than LCD TVs. I'm looking in the 32"-37" range and most of the LCDs seem cheaper. Of course, the plasmas may tend to have better quality (I can't really tell - at least not in the store). Any that you would recommend in that range?
Yeah, I guess the software used in airplane avionics isn't too important. Hopefully Boeing doesn't use SBS ;)
Looks like the same recall to me. Since the article linked in the story mentions that this product originally shipped in July and the article you linked was dated July 29th it seems fairly unlikely that there were two.
Though by no means an expert, it is my understanding that this is marketed to small businesses - you know, the first S in SBS. Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't imagine that most 'small' businesses would have the IT budget to invest in 3-5 dedicated servers and, if they did, they might not be 'small' businesses anymore and are probably not in the target market.
Perhaps you're speaking of businesses that do need multiple servers to fill their needs and can afford it. In cases like that I wouldn't be frustrated with SBS (by the way, I feel silly using that acronym), but rather with the poor IT decisions that those companies are making.
Yeah, as he already said, it basically said that in the part you left out:
I know what you're paraphrasing and it does apply, but I have to ask, so what? Of course an equation like this is going to be used and research is going to be done. If a single catastrophic failure occurs, do you recall all 10,000,000 of your product? How about after 10? 100? There will always be freak occurences where horrendous events happen in unexpected ways - you have to figure out whether it's just that or part of a larger trend.
Speaking of which, I'm curious about how many incidents of battery fires have actually been reported. I'm aware of the famous one obviously, but how many others have been reported? Is this actually a case where dozens/hundreds of batteries are bursting into flame, or merely a case of one hugely publiscized incident? I wouldn't be surprised if Dell was issuing the recall to save face after the huge publicity of that one fire, even if the incidences dont merit it.
Considering the new Intel chips coming out now (Core 2 Duo) seem to be destorying AMD performance wise, this would seem to be a price based decision on Dell's part. They are (for the most part) a discount hardware vendor so the recent, aggressive price cuts from AMD must have been too appealing for them to ignore.
Also, ever since they introduced AMD on some of their servers it's seemed only a matter of time before that relatioship transfered to their desktop offerings. I would imagine, though, that their notebook lines will continue to use Intel as Intel continues to have the (perceived?) lead in that market.
I don't necessarily disagree with you BUT that doesn't mean I feel good for paying more for less. I may want less (features, etc), but why should I have to pay more for that?
True, but radio tuner? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think iPods still dont have that? That seems like a nobrainer and something all portable audio devies should have. Also, Microsoft may be notorious for featureitis, but Apple seems to be accessory mad. It's nice to pay more for an iPod and then have to shill out more for an accessory that does something that a competing player can do for less.
I thought I very good interview overall. Very little fanboi-ism (liked the links to Ubunto though - nice touch :) and some interesting perspective. Found the answer to the following particularly good:
Though he didn't mention it, another point would be that you dont hear Windows Pro vs Windows Home often because they both come from the same company: if Home gets sold instead of Pro Microsoft still wins.
Now, the same _could_ be said of the different flavors of Linux, but, aside from the issues of pride that he mentioned, some Linux vendors are trying to make money (surprise). Therefore, a company adopting RHEL for example is not really a win for Ubuntu - they are still seperate organizations, no matter how intertwined the upstream is.
I'd really have to disagree with you here. Windows and OSX are commercial products and the companies pushing either one are trying to make more money, but it is the Linux 'movement' that seems bent on world domination. With the crazy debate of free vs Free (i.e. "as in beer" vs "as in speech" - come on, get over yourself), with articles on Slashdot everytime a school district or goverment agency switches. If it was just an OS than nobody would care about these things.
The difference then is (imho) that Windows/OSX are products and Linux is a _religion_. This is a real shame since I enjoy Linux the OS, but the almost cultish atmosphere can be quite offputting. I don't want to don a jumpsuit and collect lima beans that look like Linus Torvalds.
That's one of the problems I sometimes have with Apple - the focus often seems to be more on the panache than on delivering the goods. Sure iPods are good mp3 players, but the last time I poked around at the offerings out there it seemed to me that many competitors were offering more features for less money. Call me old fashioned, but I don't need an mp3 player as a status symbol - I need it to play mp3's well. If the Zune does that the same/better than the iPod for less money than I see it as a completely viable option.
Also, on the topic of cool, doesn't the one who tries the hardest to be cool usually fail the most? That's kinda the impression I get with people showing off iPods nowadays.
That's essentially it. They also have so much money that they have to spend it somewhere. Investors do not look kindly on companies with huge cash reserves - the consesus seems to be that companies should be *doing* something with that warchest rather than sitting on it.
FYI, MSFT does pay dividends.
Well, I don't know about the argument, but I'd certainly mod the blog post about that. I love how arguments can just magically be dismissed nowadays by being 'FUD' (most overused acronym on Slashdot now?). "Hey, I don't agree with this guy - he's just trying to spread FUD!"
That's really the gist of his argument. Apple is claiming 6 'major' releases since 2001, and Thurrott is pointing out that by the same standard Microsoft has released many 'major' releases as well. I like how your quote omitted "By that measure" at the very beginning - it certainly changes things in favor of your point of view.
Umm, so your rebuttal is that the interface on the Microsoft feature allegedly sucks? His point is that Microsoft did something similar in the past - you're not addressing that at all.
Yeah, I guess you didn't read the part where he said "...Apple was inspired by Vista features like Spotlight (er, sorry, Windows Search).... But that's not a slam, really. Give Apple some credit for getting to market first--by a long shot--and doing a fantastic job of implementing features that Microsoft, frankly, may never get right." Windows search was announced long before Spotlight was implemented. Whether Apple necessarily borrowed the idea or not isn't as much the issue as the fact that Microsoft didn't borrow it from Apple - which is the point he's trying to make.
When it involves a new feature for Dashboard it sure does.
Overall you did a good job of selectively quoting material in such a manner as to cause Fear, Unvertainty and Doubt in the minds of...well, nobody with a grade 10 education.
It's not so much that Thurrott is claiming that Microsoft invented all of these features, it's merely a rebuttal against all of the Vista bashing that Apple indulged in. Thurrott is not claiming that Microsoft invented the 64bit OS (contrary to what TechBlog seems to think) - he's just saying they beat Apple to it.
Also, for those that seem to think this is all pro-Microsoft hogwash, the following came up within the first few paragraphs:
I agree with that completely. The addendum I would add that there is no reason that you need to really 'start' at 30. Unless you are somehow able to pay for your degree outright, you'll likely be working while going to school. Try and get jobs in some sort of IT position while you're doing it. Education is importantn, but employers always like relevant job experience. If you worked in the industry while getting your degree you'll be that much more attractive when you get out.
I can think of a number of places where Black and White might be considered the most obscene game ever. Heck, the game lets you pretend to be god - what's shooting someone in the head compared to that?
...and hundreds die in the resulting crash. When interviewed later the conductor said that he wishes he was told where the hole was so he could've stopped the train in time.
....but I would rather pay $200 or whatever for Windows (or nothing for *nix) than get a copy of it for free but be forced to watch adds. In fact, I really don't think anyone would want to do that - paying a bit up front (relatively) definitely seems to be the lesser evil over being annoyed with ads all the time.
I suspect that this point of view is not in the minority either. I remember when the ad-powered ISP model was all the rage - even though it was free dial up, it sure didn't last that long.
Well, according to the article:
looks like you wouldn't be far off. However, you might want to do a study of your own since you might be one of the unfortunate few to be stuck with that leftover 23% ;)
As do I - so I'll provide some more.
I'm at work and currently have 12 FF tabs loaded across two windows (one for work, one for...well, slashdot). With that number of tabs open Firefox is currently using 136 MB of ram (started it within the past few hours). After reading some of the delightful comments on this story, I decided to load the exact same pages in IE 7 beta 2 (haven't gotten around to installing beta 3 yet). After loading all of the exact same pages into IE7 it was using (boggle) 60 MB of ram...and strangely enough, 1 minute later, it was down to 40 MB. Please keep in mind that this isn't even the latest build.
All that being said, I'm still sticking with Firefox for now, but that may change depending on how IE7 final looks.
Oh my, what a relevant and insightful reference - and one that clearly supports your point of view. I'd just like to refer to a famous reply that I made to this comment, in which I said it was too late.
And this is why I love the American two party system - you're either with us or against us; one of the good guys or one of the bad guys. It makes sense though - because everything in life is clearly black or white.
Umm, lets try a substitution here.
It's hardly insightful to point out the winning strategy of any successfull company (maybe GM was a bad example here?) - that is selling new products to existing customers.
Sure it is - but only so far as it enhances existing security. Using it to replace existing technologies might be a mistake, but using it to supplement them surely isn't.