All my friends from the countries these are being shipped to are laughing their heads off. What people want there is cash. Offer someone US$100 for a computer, the family takes the cash every time. Imagine if the XO commands US$300 or more. "Sorry little Johnny, but US$300 is more than Daddy makes in a year."
OLPC is absolutely kidding themselves that a black market won't revolve once "millions" of these computers start being shipped. It is negligent on their part not to offer these to the First world.
It's almost not worth reply to, but if any one has dealt with Apple extensively, they'll know this already. It's a big corporate Microsoft hidden behind some slick marketing.
There will always be a problem with electronic voting as long as it remains a for-profit venture. If politicians wanted a truly trustworthy system of counting votes, it could happen - open-source software, standardized hardware, paper trail, auditible etc. But accurate voting - something at the heart of a true Democracy - will never exist in this nation. Why, because Capitalism is more important than Democracy.
I've typically skipped every other version of Fedora and only installed the "even" numbers. The point is, it's not practical to reinstall a desktop os every six months. Not even if your a geek with nothing to do. everyone bags on Microsoft for keeping XP around so long, but I for one am in no hurry to upgrade or reinstall an os "for fun". It's a lot of work, and the cost/benefit is rarely ever worth it. this is something Linux distros in general should think about. there will never be mainstream acceptance if the product life is measured in months not years.
At somepoint I remember reading that the display was the most expensive component in the Squeezebox. When the squeeze2 came out, one could upgrade the display on the squeeze1 for around $80. In my case, I use a Nokia 770 as the remote, so I just need "the connection". At any rate, $250-300 isn't a price point where I'm going to have a "many" Squeezes in my home.
c
Will Logitech keep slimserver software open-source? free? under gpl? Who knows . . . A wired-only, no-display device; in other words, one that costs about $100 bucks or less. The display is the most expensive part of the Squeezebox.
I think most people's concern is that when you take a entreprenurial venture like slim and try to translate it to the corporate mold (in order to justify the US$20 million paid!!!), the passion quickly gets swept away into product, marketing, supply channel and all the other. I got into slim when it first came out, and because it had a linux version of the software. my "music box" is exclusively linux and I sure don't want to change that. Corporate shows little regard for open source - just try to find an mp3 player that supports OGG Vorbis. DOn't get me wrong, there's a lot of good that Logitech can do for slim. Obviously a less expensive wired-only no-display version of the Squeezebox would be a great start. Then of course, having slim handle video in addition to audio is obviously why the money was spent...
logitech is the kmart of peripherals but they do make a decent enough speaker dock for the ipod... the only upswing for linux users is that slimserver is open source, do i see a fork? will logitech release less expensive wired-only squeezebox?
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four groups: Group 4 can use neither.
plus Apple care of $119, plus AMP agreement of $79.
ask anyone with thirdworld roots - where the XO is intending to go - and they'll tell you that the families will take the money every time.
All my friends from the countries these are being shipped to are laughing their heads off. What people want there is cash. Offer someone US$100 for a computer, the family takes the cash every time. Imagine if the XO commands US$300 or more. "Sorry little Johnny, but US$300 is more than Daddy makes in a year." OLPC is absolutely kidding themselves that a black market won't revolve once "millions" of these computers start being shipped. It is negligent on their part not to offer these to the First world.
It's almost not worth reply to, but if any one has dealt with Apple extensively, they'll know this already. It's a big corporate Microsoft hidden behind some slick marketing.
Just buy a CD, copy it and give the CD-R away. 100% Digital, 100% perfect,
There will always be a problem with electronic voting as long as it remains a for-profit venture. If politicians wanted a truly trustworthy system of counting votes, it could happen - open-source software, standardized hardware, paper trail, auditible etc. But accurate voting - something at the heart of a true Democracy - will never exist in this nation. Why, because Capitalism is more important than Democracy.
I've typically skipped every other version of Fedora and only installed the "even" numbers. The point is, it's not practical to reinstall a desktop os every six months. Not even if your a geek with nothing to do. everyone bags on Microsoft for keeping XP around so long, but I for one am in no hurry to upgrade or reinstall an os "for fun". It's a lot of work, and the cost/benefit is rarely ever worth it.
this is something Linux distros in general should think about. there will never be mainstream acceptance if the product life is measured in months not years.
At somepoint I remember reading that the display was the most expensive component in the Squeezebox. When the squeeze2 came out, one could upgrade the display on the squeeze1 for around $80. In my case, I use a Nokia 770 as the remote, so I just need "the connection". At any rate, $250-300 isn't a price point where I'm going to have a "many" Squeezes in my home. c
Will Logitech keep slimserver software open-source? free? under gpl? Who knows . . . A wired-only, no-display device; in other words, one that costs about $100 bucks or less. The display is the most expensive part of the Squeezebox.
I think most people's concern is that when you take a entreprenurial venture like slim and try to translate it to the corporate mold (in order to justify the US$20 million paid!!!), the passion quickly gets swept away into product, marketing, supply channel and all the other.
I got into slim when it first came out, and because it had a linux version of the software. my "music box" is exclusively linux and I sure don't want to change that. Corporate shows little regard for open source - just try to find an mp3 player that supports OGG Vorbis.
DOn't get me wrong, there's a lot of good that Logitech can do for slim. Obviously a less expensive wired-only no-display version of the Squeezebox would be a great start. Then of course, having slim handle video in addition to audio is obviously why the money was spent...
We hope for the best, but brace for the worst!
logitech is the kmart of peripherals but they do make a decent enough speaker dock for the ipod... the only upswing for linux users is that slimserver is open source, do i see a fork? will logitech release less expensive wired-only squeezebox?
it's sad news really. nice people @ slim...