Google, and Microsoft may seem like the bigger players here. But I don't think Google's business model has a chance of winning. Quite simply it's too cheap and with thier primary income coming from advertising and search. How are they going to make money by practically giving you the applications. You'd have to have a link to search of some sort. This becomes counterintuitive to users who don't want to be advertised to while they are typing up thier business plans etc.
Microsoft today would need to change thier strategy to creating a simple easy to use web-interface for use with business critical applications. Google has beaten them to the punch with this as anything Microsoft requires browsing through no less than 5-10 links to get what you are looking for. Google does it in under 5 links.
I think companies that provide top down solutions for businesses are going to have the largest success in the market. Imagine if you had a web app EIS tool that you could purchase in under 5 clicks that basically lets you within less than 5 clicks find any information you were looking for in your business field because it kept all your data on a secure server. Allowing all your execs to access with thier biometric/password fields.
I agree with the sentiment of your post. Any flak this guy gets should be Praise. Having prisoner ID's on the website is of no use to anyone who doesn't want to cause mischief. If they did want to cause mischief, I'm sure the prisoner ID's are easy enough to get through proper channels. The edits mentioned above could hardly be called propganda in any sort of means.
This story is practically like the stormwatch weeks we get on California news when it starts to sprinkle. Pretty much uselesss....
So, I gather that you are saying is that with the NSA, it's a possibility that the NSA has the ability to brute force just about anything they want. But that it is another card they don't want to show for a simple case such as this since it's not something severe.
Since any widely used encryption would generally, be only useful for economic issues in this day in age anyways. With more and more of the world depends on stability and economics of the whole world. "Finance, it's what turns the world." So, when dealing with trillions of dollars in value those methods are actually more valuable than the military secrets the developed encryption systems were initially supposed to protect.
I'm just anagolising it...
Pure speculation maybe, but historically speaking about our military and intelligence black ops projects. They've always been about 10-15 years ahead of the commercial sector when it comes to tech.
So, it wouldn't surprise me to see it already in use....
I dunno, when I was moving around Video Files. I noticed about double the speed with my Firewire 400 than I got with my USB 2.0 hookup. On the same hard drive too.
Even in testing the Firewire still transfers faster than USB.
O... the government can break it. It's just that the DOJ doesn't have access to the computers required to do so. Nor does it want to spend the money on buying a multi-billion dollar computer if it doesn't need to. I think this would be a good business for some. Leasing out time on a built supercomputer for breaking passwords. Probably takes 20-30 minutes to boot up and sync. But it'll fly when it does.
Commenting on chryslers estimate of 6700 dollars per vehicle to get to 35mpg is full of crap. I took an escort from 27mpg to 40mpg for less than half that. Oh yea it's hp rating when from 112whp to 150whp at the same time. The only flip side of this was when I decided to spend a day at the track. I went from getting an average of 18mpg during the day to an average of 8mpg day.
It was reliable for about 110k. Then everything drivetrain started to fall apart.
I think, that the discovery will find several illegal tatics being used by the RIAA. Should cause quite a ruckus. After the dust settles, all will be good again.:-D
Wouldn't it be cheaper to simply use something akin to a steam catapult design that they currently use on aircraft carriers.
If you wanted to use it in a piston environment. You'd need to compress it and heat it so that when you realeased it you'd get a controllable force. Then you'd need the multiple parallel series equivalent of several small flame throwers to keep the steam expanding in order to shoot the shuttle or whatever out of the long tube.
Probably costs nothing less than about 300-700 million dollars. Also, the tube would require the ability to withstand rocket burn as it's pushing the device up. Which bumps it over a billion. however, so long as you use clean freshwater in the system you should be able to get quite a bit of use out of it.
Oh, it'll be a passenger jet soon enough. You just have to pass through the retina scan, hand scan, voice scan, background check. That's before they do the strip search at the airport. Then, when you are on the plane they use something equivalent to the strap downs that you see at a theme park roller coaster ride to hold you in your seat. Bathroom: a stewardess with a bowl will be happy to help you. Your laptop must be connected to the airplane dock where they can monitor all keystrokes. If at any time they feel you enter the wrong sequence of keystrokes the seat has a built-in high voltage stun gun that puts you out till the end of the flight. Say bad about anyone in the Bush family(Stun) Say bad about the US lovermint(Stun) Talk about the constitution(Stun). oh the number of scenarios they will be happy to stun you with.
Ya truth, the only gripe I got with new OSX is that it's slightly harder to organize my desktop in comparison to xp where I have Top line category and sub-menu's for everything to make my life easier. Vista, is a little harder to do because it's always wanting to use the search function. Sometimes I have 6 different programs that basically do the same thing but in different ways and different rates of speed. So I don't always know the exact program I want until I pull up my photo edit folder. Same thing with Videos. Final-cut does everything I want it to do though. Kind of a bonus for Mac.
I have a copy of Vista-ultimate and several XP machines around the house. When I get the budget I'm going to incorporate a Mac into the mix. I got a friend who for years was a PC user till he got hired on at Apple. Every chance I get I use his apple over my PC. I had one 10 years ago that I loved. But business apps demanded XP. Thus, I moved. However, with latest versions of Mac able to run windows XP software. It's getting me to lean more that way rather than custom building another PC to spec.
"Bull. If that were true, MS would have gone away a long time ago."
They are, very very slowly going away. Mac has achieved 10 percent of the PC market as of this quarter(see NPD). They had a better launch of their latest OS than MSFT did.
"No, why would I? I hate using Macs."
I'm sorry to hear that. They are often times more stable and have a higher level of user friendliness than the typical Vista machine. Also, bear in mind I worked for MSFT for 5 years out in the field selling this stuff. My recent switch to promoting MAC isn't without merit. No, I'm not working for them either.
"Yes, because the market is so small. The question will be, how many will by ANOTHER mac?"
More buy another Mac than buy another PC, At the moment at least. There are plenty of reasons to buy a Mac, even for a PC user. The hardware is equivalent to server level hardware on a PC. Which typically costs more than the average MAC when buying a PC. It also has better driver support than the typical branded PC. Because no server level HDWR maker is going to release crappy drivers.
"No thanks. Given how the iPhone has bombed, I don't think Apple is infallable."
Bombed?? Have you looked at the numbers?? It's pretty much sold more than any other Pocket PC device has to date. More and more Corporate email providers are rushing to support it because their own sales staff demands it... due to it just being simply easier to use and not to mention faster to. I have a HTC-6800 and my buddy an Iphone. Yet, I enjoy surfing the web more on his Iphone than I do my HTC.
"More people are likely downgrading to XP than buying a Mac."
I told them about this issue within 3 months of them releasing Vista. They need to make an option for consumers because a majority of business users are pretty much flat out refusing to use Vista and many of them are buying XP to overwrite it.
As more and more people make the switch to Mac, especially at the university levels where Mac has always made a solid support for students. Another issue that I've repeatedly passed up the chain of feedback.
"Bull. If that were true, MS would have gone away a long time ago."
They are, very very slowly going away. Mac has achieved 10 percent of the PC market as of this quarter(see NPD). They had a better launch of their latest OS than MSFT did.
"No, why would I? I hate using Macs."
I'm sorry to hear that. They are often times more stable and have a higher level of user friendliness than the typical Vista machine. Also, bear in mind I worked for MSFT for 5 years out in the field selling this stuff. My recent switch to promoting MAC isn't without merit. No, I'm not working for them either.
"Yes, because the market is so small. The question will be, how many will by ANOTHER mac?"
More buy another Mac than buy another PC, At the moment at least. There are plenty of reasons to buy a Mac, even for a PC user. The hardware is equivalent to server level hardware on a PC. Which typically costs more than the average MAC when buying a PC. It also has better driver support than the typical branded PC. Because no server level HDWR maker is going to release crappy drivers.
"No thanks. Given how the iPhone has bombed, I don't think Apple is infallable."
Bombed?? Have you looked at the numbers?? It's pretty much sold more than any other Pocket PC device has to date. More and more Corporate email providers are rushing to support it because their own sales staff demands it... due to it just being simply easier to use and not to mention faster to. I have a HTC-6800 and my buddy an Iphone. Yet, I enjoy surfing the web more on his Iphone than I do my HTC.
"More people are likely downgrading to XP than buying a Mac."
I told them about this issue within 3 months of them releasing Vista. They need to make an option for consumers because a majority of business users are pretty much flat out refusing to use Vista and many of them are buying XP to overwrite it.
As more and more people make the switch to Mac, especially at the university levels where Mac has always made a solid support for students. Another issue that I've repeatedly passed up the chain of feedback.
Dude, share the drugs... Even when I worked for Microsoft selling Vista I didn't push that hard. Yea, I would've sold about double the product off the bat. However,
My reasons why...
-I would've pissed off customers and lost thier trust.
-I would have pissed of stores
-I wouldn't have sold as much Office.
-I wouldn't have sold as much Windows XP
-Would have decreased overall Microsoft Sales
Even the sales I did make came back to the store screaming about Vista breaking this or that. Do you know what it's like dealing with hysterical customers? Do you?
For every great feature Visa brings, it ads 3 other counter-intuitive ones.
I am sorry to tell you this. But you are rather bit in the minority. The new office is quite good. However, have you tried it on an Apple? There is a reason that 50 percent of Mac buyers are first time Mac owners. Plus, Mac sales have increased double digits for the last 12 quarters. Go long on apple stocks if you wish to increase your fortunes.
They aren't paid commissions. They just pay them well so they can keep them there selling. It's a pretty simple idea. You keep selling and we'll keep you hired on. They do give them goals to hit. If you don't hit them, you're gonna be looking for another job soon or be transfered/demoted. They also take thier top salespeople out to lunches big vendor training shows, etc. Their goal is to keep people there for long periods of time.
Making a ton of money isn't a big deal. I actually like the higher paid salespeople better than the low paying ones. They know their shit a lot better.
"Pretty much true for any large electronics/computer store."
False, It really depends on which one you go to... Microcenter isn't bad. Fry's in Chicago is great. Best Buy, in comparison to most Fry's is quite good. They do things to keep thier sales staff around for a long time. Actually one guy I knew from Good Guys went to the Best Buy and is making over 100k there as a sales person. Though, he alone is responsible for around 2 million a year in high end a/v sales. So they are definatly getting thier money's worth out of him.
"Speaking of incompetent morons... The large commissions made them slimes. Glad to see them go."
Salespeople are often driven by results, and direct ones at that. The best sales people think long-term because they know if they sell thier customer the wrong thing and that customer returns it they lose that commission. Commission systems work. Salespeople make money and the drive sells product.
Also, they went... and what replaced them? Total idiots who can barely tell the difference between an LCD and a CRT. A true salesperson knows the detail ins/outs of all the products they sell. Including things they don't sell. The incompents that replaced them are little more than stock recievers for the customers.
"Online stores have better selection, price, and often service. No wonder places like CompUSA fail."
However, online stores don't have the product for you today. They generally don't easily explain the differences between products. They don't know offhand the return rates for each specific product. They don't accept returns readily. All things you could get from talking to a good salesperson in the store.
The first thing that built them up as a company. Good salespeople who were paid good commissions. It was typical for people to make 40-50k a year in sales. Even those in software did well.
Then, management(VP's, RM's, DM's) somehow went crazy. Sales were going down a little. So, they started to go crazy on people anytime something was amiss. Maybe perhaps pressure will increase sales, In reality more training and more unity would have.
Then they bought out good Guy's. They took away the commissions, and fired 95 percent of the sales staff who all ended up in better jobs. This left the incompetants on the floor who really had no motivation to sell other than pressure. They never trained them properly either. Even worse, they all now made about 6-9 bucks an hour. For these people the job was just a fling. Nothing they cared about beyond the next check for booze. Even the ones who did care weren't promoted to a place that they could do anything.
Then, they started to model what good guys had been doing in creating high end selling rooms with pretty fixtures(expensive). However, there were no high end sales people to sell them. So what happened? Duh....
The pay consistently sucked. Good employees where like finding needles in a haystack. Even then, they never respected them if they were good. The management was always overworked. What did they expect? It's like the entire chain suddenly lost vision with the real world.
From being on the inside, talking to multiple Microsoft people including execs. I don't think this is a full out company wide goal of supporting HD-DVD. They're smart, but they don't predict long-term goals that well. I think their downloadable video's were aided in an accidental benefit of no clear direction in the format wars. They have been pushing HD-DVD since the beginning. With Big Screen installs in Circuit City/Best Buy stores using HD-DVD player attachments to play movies, games, etc.
I'm a geek an all. But, I've never heard of erratum.
But dictionary.com is your friend.
Design errors and mistakes in a CPU's hardwired microcode may also be referred to as an erratum. One well publicised example is Intel's "flag" erratum in early Pentium Pro processors. This made the conversion of floating point numbers to integers unreliable due to an exception not being signaled under certain conditions.
Mosaic people told them about this issue over 6 months before Vista released. The issue stems from consumer confusion. But they just simply said, "make sure that the retailers know what that sticker means". In this case, they sent out reps, brochures, pamphelets, web training, and made sure that we really got across the message of what vista capable meant. However, there was a sticker that came out a little later with black on it instead of gray. That was "premium ready".
The Message was throughly delivered in what Vista capable meant. Microsoft probably spent over a million dollars delivering that message across to the consumer and retailers. With the turnover rate of retail though. That message might be muddied by now.
I could easily see this an the wii still selling out. But, it would likely give a big boost to the Xbox 360 sales and nearly destroy PS3 during holiday.
Xbox 360
Core - 225
Premium - 300
Elite - 375
You also forgot to mention the primary benefit of this kite. No rounding up or down.
I also agree with previous sentiments. When the wind reaches 40 thats when the fun starts. So long as you have a big and beefy enough boat.
Slashdot Mirror
Google, and Microsoft may seem like the bigger players here. But I don't think Google's business model has a chance of winning. Quite simply it's too cheap and with thier primary income coming from advertising and search. How are they going to make money by practically giving you the applications. You'd have to have a link to search of some sort. This becomes counterintuitive to users who don't want to be advertised to while they are typing up thier business plans etc. Microsoft today would need to change thier strategy to creating a simple easy to use web-interface for use with business critical applications. Google has beaten them to the punch with this as anything Microsoft requires browsing through no less than 5-10 links to get what you are looking for. Google does it in under 5 links. I think companies that provide top down solutions for businesses are going to have the largest success in the market. Imagine if you had a web app EIS tool that you could purchase in under 5 clicks that basically lets you within less than 5 clicks find any information you were looking for in your business field because it kept all your data on a secure server. Allowing all your execs to access with thier biometric/password fields.
I agree with the sentiment of your post. Any flak this guy gets should be Praise. Having prisoner ID's on the website is of no use to anyone who doesn't want to cause mischief. If they did want to cause mischief, I'm sure the prisoner ID's are easy enough to get through proper channels. The edits mentioned above could hardly be called propganda in any sort of means. This story is practically like the stormwatch weeks we get on California news when it starts to sprinkle. Pretty much uselesss....
So, I gather that you are saying is that with the NSA, it's a possibility that the NSA has the ability to brute force just about anything they want. But that it is another card they don't want to show for a simple case such as this since it's not something severe. Since any widely used encryption would generally, be only useful for economic issues in this day in age anyways. With more and more of the world depends on stability and economics of the whole world. "Finance, it's what turns the world." So, when dealing with trillions of dollars in value those methods are actually more valuable than the military secrets the developed encryption systems were initially supposed to protect. I'm just anagolising it...
Pure speculation maybe, but historically speaking about our military and intelligence black ops projects. They've always been about 10-15 years ahead of the commercial sector when it comes to tech. So, it wouldn't surprise me to see it already in use....
I dunno, when I was moving around Video Files. I noticed about double the speed with my Firewire 400 than I got with my USB 2.0 hookup. On the same hard drive too. Even in testing the Firewire still transfers faster than USB.
O... the government can break it. It's just that the DOJ doesn't have access to the computers required to do so. Nor does it want to spend the money on buying a multi-billion dollar computer if it doesn't need to. I think this would be a good business for some. Leasing out time on a built supercomputer for breaking passwords. Probably takes 20-30 minutes to boot up and sync. But it'll fly when it does.
Commenting on chryslers estimate of 6700 dollars per vehicle to get to 35mpg is full of crap. I took an escort from 27mpg to 40mpg for less than half that. Oh yea it's hp rating when from 112whp to 150whp at the same time. The only flip side of this was when I decided to spend a day at the track. I went from getting an average of 18mpg during the day to an average of 8mpg day. It was reliable for about 110k. Then everything drivetrain started to fall apart.
I think, that the discovery will find several illegal tatics being used by the RIAA. Should cause quite a ruckus. After the dust settles, all will be good again. :-D
Wouldn't it be cheaper to simply use something akin to a steam catapult design that they currently use on aircraft carriers. If you wanted to use it in a piston environment. You'd need to compress it and heat it so that when you realeased it you'd get a controllable force. Then you'd need the multiple parallel series equivalent of several small flame throwers to keep the steam expanding in order to shoot the shuttle or whatever out of the long tube. Probably costs nothing less than about 300-700 million dollars. Also, the tube would require the ability to withstand rocket burn as it's pushing the device up. Which bumps it over a billion. however, so long as you use clean freshwater in the system you should be able to get quite a bit of use out of it.
Oh, it'll be a passenger jet soon enough. You just have to pass through the retina scan, hand scan, voice scan, background check. That's before they do the strip search at the airport. Then, when you are on the plane they use something equivalent to the strap downs that you see at a theme park roller coaster ride to hold you in your seat. Bathroom: a stewardess with a bowl will be happy to help you. Your laptop must be connected to the airplane dock where they can monitor all keystrokes. If at any time they feel you enter the wrong sequence of keystrokes the seat has a built-in high voltage stun gun that puts you out till the end of the flight. Say bad about anyone in the Bush family(Stun) Say bad about the US lovermint(Stun) Talk about the constitution(Stun). oh the number of scenarios they will be happy to stun you with.
Ya truth, the only gripe I got with new OSX is that it's slightly harder to organize my desktop in comparison to xp where I have Top line category and sub-menu's for everything to make my life easier. Vista, is a little harder to do because it's always wanting to use the search function. Sometimes I have 6 different programs that basically do the same thing but in different ways and different rates of speed. So I don't always know the exact program I want until I pull up my photo edit folder. Same thing with Videos. Final-cut does everything I want it to do though. Kind of a bonus for Mac. I have a copy of Vista-ultimate and several XP machines around the house. When I get the budget I'm going to incorporate a Mac into the mix. I got a friend who for years was a PC user till he got hired on at Apple. Every chance I get I use his apple over my PC. I had one 10 years ago that I loved. But business apps demanded XP. Thus, I moved. However, with latest versions of Mac able to run windows XP software. It's getting me to lean more that way rather than custom building another PC to spec.
"Bull. If that were true, MS would have gone away a long time ago."
They are, very very slowly going away. Mac has achieved 10 percent of the PC market as of this quarter(see NPD). They had a better launch of their latest OS than MSFT did.
"No, why would I? I hate using Macs."
I'm sorry to hear that. They are often times more stable and have a higher level of user friendliness than the typical Vista machine. Also, bear in mind I worked for MSFT for 5 years out in the field selling this stuff. My recent switch to promoting MAC isn't without merit. No, I'm not working for them either.
"Yes, because the market is so small. The question will be, how many will by ANOTHER mac?"
More buy another Mac than buy another PC, At the moment at least. There are plenty of reasons to buy a Mac, even for a PC user. The hardware is equivalent to server level hardware on a PC. Which typically costs more than the average MAC when buying a PC. It also has better driver support than the typical branded PC. Because no server level HDWR maker is going to release crappy drivers.
"No thanks. Given how the iPhone has bombed, I don't think Apple is infallable."
Bombed?? Have you looked at the numbers?? It's pretty much sold more than any other Pocket PC device has to date. More and more Corporate email providers are rushing to support it because their own sales staff demands it... due to it just being simply easier to use and not to mention faster to. I have a HTC-6800 and my buddy an Iphone. Yet, I enjoy surfing the web more on his Iphone than I do my HTC.
"More people are likely downgrading to XP than buying a Mac."
I told them about this issue within 3 months of them releasing Vista. They need to make an option for consumers because a majority of business users are pretty much flat out refusing to use Vista and many of them are buying XP to overwrite it.
As more and more people make the switch to Mac, especially at the university levels where Mac has always made a solid support for students. Another issue that I've repeatedly passed up the chain of feedback.
Repeat post for formating in plain old text.
"Bull. If that were true, MS would have gone away a long time ago." They are, very very slowly going away. Mac has achieved 10 percent of the PC market as of this quarter(see NPD). They had a better launch of their latest OS than MSFT did. "No, why would I? I hate using Macs." I'm sorry to hear that. They are often times more stable and have a higher level of user friendliness than the typical Vista machine. Also, bear in mind I worked for MSFT for 5 years out in the field selling this stuff. My recent switch to promoting MAC isn't without merit. No, I'm not working for them either. "Yes, because the market is so small. The question will be, how many will by ANOTHER mac?" More buy another Mac than buy another PC, At the moment at least. There are plenty of reasons to buy a Mac, even for a PC user. The hardware is equivalent to server level hardware on a PC. Which typically costs more than the average MAC when buying a PC. It also has better driver support than the typical branded PC. Because no server level HDWR maker is going to release crappy drivers. "No thanks. Given how the iPhone has bombed, I don't think Apple is infallable." Bombed?? Have you looked at the numbers?? It's pretty much sold more than any other Pocket PC device has to date. More and more Corporate email providers are rushing to support it because their own sales staff demands it... due to it just being simply easier to use and not to mention faster to. I have a HTC-6800 and my buddy an Iphone. Yet, I enjoy surfing the web more on his Iphone than I do my HTC. "More people are likely downgrading to XP than buying a Mac." I told them about this issue within 3 months of them releasing Vista. They need to make an option for consumers because a majority of business users are pretty much flat out refusing to use Vista and many of them are buying XP to overwrite it. As more and more people make the switch to Mac, especially at the university levels where Mac has always made a solid support for students. Another issue that I've repeatedly passed up the chain of feedback.
Point taken, Sorry to say, you are in the minority on UC Campuses where they teach the up and coming business users.
Dude, share the drugs... Even when I worked for Microsoft selling Vista I didn't push that hard. Yea, I would've sold about double the product off the bat. However, My reasons why... -I would've pissed off customers and lost thier trust. -I would have pissed of stores -I wouldn't have sold as much Office. -I wouldn't have sold as much Windows XP -Would have decreased overall Microsoft Sales Even the sales I did make came back to the store screaming about Vista breaking this or that. Do you know what it's like dealing with hysterical customers? Do you? For every great feature Visa brings, it ads 3 other counter-intuitive ones.
I am sorry to tell you this. But you are rather bit in the minority. The new office is quite good. However, have you tried it on an Apple? There is a reason that 50 percent of Mac buyers are first time Mac owners. Plus, Mac sales have increased double digits for the last 12 quarters. Go long on apple stocks if you wish to increase your fortunes.
They aren't paid commissions. They just pay them well so they can keep them there selling. It's a pretty simple idea. You keep selling and we'll keep you hired on. They do give them goals to hit. If you don't hit them, you're gonna be looking for another job soon or be transfered/demoted. They also take thier top salespeople out to lunches big vendor training shows, etc. Their goal is to keep people there for long periods of time. Making a ton of money isn't a big deal. I actually like the higher paid salespeople better than the low paying ones. They know their shit a lot better.
"Pretty much true for any large electronics/computer store."
False, It really depends on which one you go to... Microcenter isn't bad. Fry's in Chicago is great. Best Buy, in comparison to most Fry's is quite good. They do things to keep thier sales staff around for a long time. Actually one guy I knew from Good Guys went to the Best Buy and is making over 100k there as a sales person. Though, he alone is responsible for around 2 million a year in high end a/v sales. So they are definatly getting thier money's worth out of him.
"Speaking of incompetent morons... The large commissions made them slimes. Glad to see them go."
Salespeople are often driven by results, and direct ones at that. The best sales people think long-term because they know if they sell thier customer the wrong thing and that customer returns it they lose that commission. Commission systems work. Salespeople make money and the drive sells product.
Also, they went... and what replaced them? Total idiots who can barely tell the difference between an LCD and a CRT. A true salesperson knows the detail ins/outs of all the products they sell. Including things they don't sell. The incompents that replaced them are little more than stock recievers for the customers.
"Online stores have better selection, price, and often service. No wonder places like CompUSA fail."
However, online stores don't have the product for you today. They generally don't easily explain the differences between products. They don't know offhand the return rates for each specific product. They don't accept returns readily. All things you could get from talking to a good salesperson in the store.
Pray for Fry's... Or Micro Center to move into its place....
The first thing that built them up as a company. Good salespeople who were paid good commissions. It was typical for people to make 40-50k a year in sales. Even those in software did well.
Then, management(VP's, RM's, DM's) somehow went crazy. Sales were going down a little. So, they started to go crazy on people anytime something was amiss. Maybe perhaps pressure will increase sales, In reality more training and more unity would have.
Then they bought out good Guy's. They took away the commissions, and fired 95 percent of the sales staff who all ended up in better jobs. This left the incompetants on the floor who really had no motivation to sell other than pressure. They never trained them properly either. Even worse, they all now made about 6-9 bucks an hour. For these people the job was just a fling. Nothing they cared about beyond the next check for booze. Even the ones who did care weren't promoted to a place that they could do anything.
Then, they started to model what good guys had been doing in creating high end selling rooms with pretty fixtures(expensive). However, there were no high end sales people to sell them. So what happened? Duh....
The pay consistently sucked. Good employees where like finding needles in a haystack. Even then, they never respected them if they were good. The management was always overworked. What did they expect? It's like the entire chain suddenly lost vision with the real world.
From being on the inside, talking to multiple Microsoft people including execs. I don't think this is a full out company wide goal of supporting HD-DVD. They're smart, but they don't predict long-term goals that well. I think their downloadable video's were aided in an accidental benefit of no clear direction in the format wars. They have been pushing HD-DVD since the beginning. With Big Screen installs in Circuit City/Best Buy stores using HD-DVD player attachments to play movies, games, etc.
I'm a geek an all. But, I've never heard of erratum.
But dictionary.com is your friend.
Design errors and mistakes in a CPU's hardwired microcode may also be referred to as an erratum. One well publicised example is Intel's "flag" erratum in early Pentium Pro processors. This made the conversion of floating point numbers to integers unreliable due to an exception not being signaled under certain conditions.
Mosaic people told them about this issue over 6 months before Vista released. The issue stems from consumer confusion. But they just simply said, "make sure that the retailers know what that sticker means". In this case, they sent out reps, brochures, pamphelets, web training, and made sure that we really got across the message of what vista capable meant. However, there was a sticker that came out a little later with black on it instead of gray. That was "premium ready".
The Message was throughly delivered in what Vista capable meant. Microsoft probably spent over a million dollars delivering that message across to the consumer and retailers. With the turnover rate of retail though. That message might be muddied by now.
I could easily see this an the wii still selling out. But, it would likely give a big boost to the Xbox 360 sales and nearly destroy PS3 during holiday. Xbox 360 Core - 225 Premium - 300 Elite - 375
You also forgot to mention the primary benefit of this kite. No rounding up or down. I also agree with previous sentiments. When the wind reaches 40 thats when the fun starts. So long as you have a big and beefy enough boat.