My point was that it's much easier to find heterogeneous local sources of support for either Windows or even Mac than it is for Linux, at least on the desktop side of things.
From what I can tell, you're just reinforcing my point while also underscoring that MSFT has created a certain standard for knowledge (what ever you think of the cert, it's something people without tech knowledge can look for...).
"I don't permit Microsoft products in any of my operations"
That is just as stupid as being an all MSFT shop. Not choosing the best tool for the job for religious reasons is doing a disfavor to the people who are obliged to use the tools....
Never mind the fact that you are making your users dependent on your support as the vast majority of tech/infrastructure support is Windows oriented.
Well, I have a Mac with iWork, NeoOffice (a Mac-specific fork of OO) and MS Office.
MS Office pretty much blows the others out of the water. Keynote is very good, but most people still generate PPTs, so it's only ever worth using for preso's I'm never going to share.
Besides, if you are a large corp., the cost of re-training people to use something else far outweighs any cost of the software. Never mind the fact that there are some things for which there are no open source alternatives (try running SolidWorks or MasterCam on Linux or Mac).
Besides, quite a few open source apps are amazingly crappy, even worse than what MSFT offers for free...
Too true. Even if the specific MSFT requirement is removed from the RFP, the favored vendor will still win.
Mind you, it might not be all that bad in this case as retraining thousands of workers to use Google Apps instead of what they have been using for years might be a bit of a cost. Nevermind all that data on Google servers rather than gov't. desktops.
Since I can't edit my post, I should make it clear that I was talking about typical early stage angel terms.
They are all in a similar range, YC does $12k for 6%, others are doing $250k for 30% (which is, ironically, better than YC's terms), and it's all very expensive money for entrepreneurs.
Honestly, it would be MUCH cheaper just to max out credit cards and sell all your stuff.
Let's see - $250,000k for 30% of your company? That's what someone I know was recently offered...
It's a great deal for Phil, not so much for you, the entrepreneur. Sure, he's published a lot, and I'll give him credit for open sourcing some legal docs, but it doesn't mean he's god's gift to entrepreneurs.
In fact, I would say that off the 70+ startups I've advised, pretty much none of the founders got good deals. Why? Because venture money of any kind is pretty much always a bad deal for entrepreneurs.
As an aside, I don't think that YC has been the primary driver of changes in startup investing, they were just the first to capitalize on wider industry changes.
This has been going on for years, and not just with angels. Everyone always compares notes on companies and asks about what they are interested or working on. I don't know how many times I've been in VC meetings where one or more of these topics are discussed.
It's not usually this structured (and I have my doubts as to whether is was actually this structured), but most investors always seem to come back to the same themes of backstabbing successful firms, lowering valuations and keeping outsiders away from good deals.
As for Y Combinator, their deals always seem to be pretty crappy for entrepreneurs, but no crappier than everyone elses. They do seem to have better PR, however.
... in 1086, William the Conqueror used the Doomsday book to gather data about all assets in England and, in the process, made sure that assets were transferred from Anglo-Saxons to Normans. The data gathering methods were open hearings, which had the side-effect of making sure that everyone knew which Anglo-Saxons were challenging Norman rule.
Fast forward 1000 years, and it seems a similar open process is being used to disenfranchise people with less power.
AutoDesk is very aggressive with takedowns. I've been a victim of it myself. This is despite the fact that I never even undid the shrinkwrap or accepted the license.
The only sensible thing to do (and which is what I did) is to just give the software away for free.
... I was a volunteer at Acadia National Park in the early 1990's and on a state wide team as well. My specialty was high-angle rescue (e.g. cliffs and mountains), sometimes from helicopters.
Technology has been putting inexperienced people in harms way for some time and the worst offender is probably not digital devices but clothing and modern materials. Stuff like GoreTex, synthetic fleece and other materials have allowed people to venture into situations that would have taken real courage 30-40 years ago when all you had was wool and waxed cotton. And the price of such tech has been coming down for years.
The worst rescue I was on resulted in me spending the night with no tent on Mt. Katahdin one cold November when two idiots decided that a credit card was all you needed to climb it (they bought $thousand in gear + a book). No high tech gadgets were needed for them to get stuck.
I would say that people having cell phones is both a blessing and a curse when you are rescuing people. In my day ;-) they were very rare, so just finding someone could take days by which time they were in serious trouble or dead. Now, with triangulation, it's a lot easier, with the downside people call for help more.
On balance, I'd rather they call for help more than haul out a dead body, even if it is unnecessary sometimes. Besides, if tech gives people better access to wilderness areas, then maybe they'll be more interested in protecting and preserving them, which is a good thing, IMHO.
But if you are looking to blame tech for more people in trouble, it's GoreTex, Thinsulate and Vibram that's to blame, not electronics....
"Sonic.net does not actively monitor customer use of the Internet, customer email or other customer communications in the course of its regular operations. Sonic.net is also strongly opposed to the use of third-party information-harvesting strategies and technologies such as unlawful wiretapping."
Sonic has been a great ISP, highly recommended, esp. given their relatively low price.
"Speakeasy will not sell, rent, or lease Customer's personally identifiable information to others. Except as may be required by subpoena, search warrant, or other legal process or in the case of imminent physical harm to a customer or others, Speakeasy will only share the personal data the Customer provided with business partners who are acting on Speakeasy's behalf to complete the activities Customer requested. In that event, Speakeasy's business partners will be governed by Speakeasy's privacy policy with respect to the use of this data. Should a company not governed by Speakeasy's privacy policy require Customer's personal information, Customer's permission will be initially obtained, unless seeking Customer's permission is inconsistent with legal guidelines or legal requirements. The use of any shared data will be governed by the company's respective privacy policy. "
The top photograph sold for $3 million and it had three prints at least. These are rare original glass plates, which are probably even more valuable.
So, $200 million for 65 prints of a hugely more famous photographer? Very, very possible, esp. if they are sold over a long period of time and exhibited to generate interest. I believe a print could be made as long as it was not sold.
Actually, for a while the highest speed limit was in Montana and was defined as "reasonable and prudent" - basically there was no speed limit.
Of course, congress critters go PO'd and forced Montana to adopt a 75mph speed limit in 2000. However - the fines for exceeding the limit are extremely low and only enforced above 90mph. Also, Utah has recently voted to increase speeds on interstates above 75mph. There's a good summary table of laws here: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html
All in all, it's not unusual to see people driving 85+mph in Western states. Accelerating to that speed safely in traffic requires quite a lot of power, a side effect of which is higher top speeds (yes, depending on gearing, etc, but it is a side effect).
Finally, almost all mainstream production cars are limited by manufacturers to 155mph, even if a car's power and gearing would allow for a higher theoretical top speed. There are a few sports cars which are not, but they are the exception.
The fact is most people will drive a the speed at which they are comfortable. Speed limits rarely reflect this speed, particularly since technology evolves faster than speed limits.
"The patent lets Weinstein move forward with commercial development of his supermagnets that, when chilled to super-low temperatures, can produce a field with the strength of 2 tesla, billions of times stronger than the magnet on your refrigerator. "
Basically, this guy has patented superconducting magnets. No wonder it took 20 years to award, probably took that long to find something slightly original that could be patented...
It's been known for quite some time that supercooling magnets increases magnetism by 20-100%, depending on the material. There are a few companies, like Magnifye (http://fluxpump.co.uk/default.aspx) that make very high power (e.g. 17 Tesla) magnets out of exotic supercooled materials...
On the post: Microsoft's Anti-Piracy Efforts: Millions Spent Driving People To Open Source Software
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
My point was that it's much easier to find heterogeneous local sources of support for either Windows or even Mac than it is for Linux, at least on the desktop side of things.
From what I can tell, you're just reinforcing my point while also underscoring that MSFT has created a certain standard for knowledge (what ever you think of the cert, it's something people without tech knowledge can look for...).
????
On the post: Microsoft's Anti-Piracy Efforts: Millions Spent Driving People To Open Source Software
Re: Re: Re:
Sure, you could write a wxPython app that might work across different platforms if you are very careful, but most apps are not written this way.
The fallback would be a Java, but most large desktop apps are written in native code for good reasons.
Chris.
On the post: Microsoft's Anti-Piracy Efforts: Millions Spent Driving People To Open Source Software
Re:
MSFT Mkt cap 231.08B # Shares 8.56B
Total Current Assets $59.6B
RHT Mkt cap 8.26B # Shares 190.58M
Total Current Assets $1.2B
No, sorry. MSFT could buy 6 RHT's in cash. Please try again.
On the post: Microsoft's Anti-Piracy Efforts: Millions Spent Driving People To Open Source Software
Re: Re: Re:
That is just as stupid as being an all MSFT shop. Not choosing the best tool for the job for religious reasons is doing a disfavor to the people who are obliged to use the tools....
Never mind the fact that you are making your users dependent on your support as the vast majority of tech/infrastructure support is Windows oriented.
Chris.
On the post: Microsoft's Anti-Piracy Efforts: Millions Spent Driving People To Open Source Software
Re: Same old debate
MS Office pretty much blows the others out of the water. Keynote is very good, but most people still generate PPTs, so it's only ever worth using for preso's I'm never going to share.
Besides, if you are a large corp., the cost of re-training people to use something else far outweighs any cost of the software. Never mind the fact that there are some things for which there are no open source alternatives (try running SolidWorks or MasterCam on Linux or Mac).
Besides, quite a few open source apps are amazingly crappy, even worse than what MSFT offers for free...
Chris.
On the post: Google Sues The US Government For Only Considering Microsoft Solutions
Re: Us Government deals
Mind you, it might not be all that bad in this case as retraining thousands of workers to use Google Apps instead of what they have been using for years might be a bit of a cost. Nevermind all that data on Google servers rather than gov't. desktops.
Chris.
On the post: Leaked Report Admits That Hadopi First Strike Accusations Won't Be Reviewed For Accuracy
Re:
And that will do wonders for the cultural industries of France, I'm sure.
On the post: Are Silicon Valley Angel Investors Colluding Over Deals?
Re: Re: Re: Well, duh
They are all in a similar range, YC does $12k for 6%, others are doing $250k for 30% (which is, ironically, better than YC's terms), and it's all very expensive money for entrepreneurs.
Honestly, it would be MUCH cheaper just to max out credit cards and sell all your stuff.
Chris.
On the post: Are Silicon Valley Angel Investors Colluding Over Deals?
Re: Re: Well, duh
It's a great deal for Phil, not so much for you, the entrepreneur. Sure, he's published a lot, and I'll give him credit for open sourcing some legal docs, but it doesn't mean he's god's gift to entrepreneurs.
In fact, I would say that off the 70+ startups I've advised, pretty much none of the founders got good deals. Why? Because venture money of any kind is pretty much always a bad deal for entrepreneurs.
As an aside, I don't think that YC has been the primary driver of changes in startup investing, they were just the first to capitalize on wider industry changes.
On the post: Are Silicon Valley Angel Investors Colluding Over Deals?
Well, duh
It's not usually this structured (and I have my doubts as to whether is was actually this structured), but most investors always seem to come back to the same themes of backstabbing successful firms, lowering valuations and keeping outsiders away from good deals.
As for Y Combinator, their deals always seem to be pretty crappy for entrepreneurs, but no crappier than everyone elses. They do seem to have better PR, however.
On the post: Does Open Data Help The Rich Exploit The Poor?
There is precedence for this...
Fast forward 1000 years, and it seems a similar open process is being used to disenfranchise people with less power.
Chris.
On the post: Appeals Court Destroys First Sale; You Don't Own Your Software Anymore
I'm not surprised...
The only sensible thing to do (and which is what I did) is to just give the software away for free.
Chris.
On the post: Why Does The NY Times Rely So Often On Single Anecdote Trend Pieces Not Supported By The Data?
I've actually been on a search and rescue team...
Technology has been putting inexperienced people in harms way for some time and the worst offender is probably not digital devices but clothing and modern materials. Stuff like GoreTex, synthetic fleece and other materials have allowed people to venture into situations that would have taken real courage 30-40 years ago when all you had was wool and waxed cotton. And the price of such tech has been coming down for years.
The worst rescue I was on resulted in me spending the night with no tent on Mt. Katahdin one cold November when two idiots decided that a credit card was all you needed to climb it (they bought $thousand in gear + a book). No high tech gadgets were needed for them to get stuck.
I would say that people having cell phones is both a blessing and a curse when you are rescuing people. In my day ;-) they were very rare, so just finding someone could take days by which time they were in serious trouble or dead. Now, with triangulation, it's a lot easier, with the downside people call for help more.
On balance, I'd rather they call for help more than haul out a dead body, even if it is unnecessary sometimes. Besides, if tech gives people better access to wilderness areas, then maybe they'll be more interested in protecting and preserving them, which is a good thing, IMHO.
But if you are looking to blame tech for more people in trouble, it's GoreTex, Thinsulate and Vibram that's to blame, not electronics....
Chris.
On the post: Which ISPs Hand Private Surfing Info Over To Secretive Private Group Who Monitors It For The Feds?
Re: Not sonic.net
http://www.rsync.net/philosophy.html
The "Warrant Canary" is an interesting way of dealing with 'secret' wiretaps.
http://www.rsync.net/resources/notices/canary.txt
On the post: Which ISPs Hand Private Surfing Info Over To Secretive Private Group Who Monitors It For The Feds?
Not sonic.net
"Sonic.net does not actively monitor customer use of the Internet, customer email or other customer communications in the course of its regular operations. Sonic.net is also strongly opposed to the use of third-party information-harvesting strategies and technologies such as unlawful wiretapping."
Sonic has been a great ISP, highly recommended, esp. given their relatively low price.
My old ISP, Speakeasy, is slightly more ambiguous (from http://www.speakeasy.net/tos/msa.php#2)
"Speakeasy will not sell, rent, or lease Customer's personally identifiable information to others. Except as may be required by subpoena, search warrant, or other legal process or in the case of imminent physical harm to a customer or others, Speakeasy will only share the personal data the Customer provided with business partners who are acting on Speakeasy's behalf to complete the activities Customer requested. In that event, Speakeasy's business partners will be governed by Speakeasy's privacy policy with respect to the use of this data. Should a company not governed by Speakeasy's privacy policy require Customer's personal information, Customer's permission will be initially obtained, unless seeking Customer's permission is inconsistent with legal guidelines or legal requirements. The use of any shared data will be governed by the company's respective privacy policy. "
On the post: Can Man Who Found Long Lost Ansel Adams Glass Negatives Sell Prints?
$3 million for an unpublished, unique Ansel Adams?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_photographs
The top photograph sold for $3 million and it had three prints at least. These are rare original glass plates, which are probably even more valuable.
So, $200 million for 65 prints of a hugely more famous photographer? Very, very possible, esp. if they are sold over a long period of time and exhibited to generate interest. I believe a print could be made as long as it was not sold.
Chris.
On the post: Arizona Finally Dumps Speed Cameras
Re:
Of course, congress critters go PO'd and forced Montana to adopt a 75mph speed limit in 2000. However - the fines for exceeding the limit are extremely low and only enforced above 90mph. Also, Utah has recently voted to increase speeds on interstates above 75mph. There's a good summary table of laws here: http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html
All in all, it's not unusual to see people driving 85+mph in Western states. Accelerating to that speed safely in traffic requires quite a lot of power, a side effect of which is higher top speeds (yes, depending on gearing, etc, but it is a side effect).
Finally, almost all mainstream production cars are limited by manufacturers to 155mph, even if a car's power and gearing would allow for a higher theoretical top speed. There are a few sports cars which are not, but they are the exception.
The fact is most people will drive a the speed at which they are comfortable. Speed limits rarely reflect this speed, particularly since technology evolves faster than speed limits.
Chris.
On the post: Inventor Claims He Got Patent 20 Years After Filing... But Details Missing
Re: Okay the geek in me comes out
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/10/magnifye-powerful-17-tesla.html
On the post: Inventor Claims He Got Patent 20 Years After Filing... But Details Missing
Nothing to see, just move along....
Basically, this guy has patented superconducting magnets. No wonder it took 20 years to award, probably took that long to find something slightly original that could be patented...
It's been known for quite some time that supercooling magnets increases magnetism by 20-100%, depending on the material. There are a few companies, like Magnifye (http://fluxpump.co.uk/default.aspx) that make very high power (e.g. 17 Tesla) magnets out of exotic supercooled materials...
On the post: Lindsay Lohan Sues E*Trade For $100 Million; Says Baby Was Based On Her
Funny enough....
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