Personally, I suggest starting out with Arduino hardware development system. The circuit is $30 and it helps teach hardware and software, how to make circuits.
Raspberry Pi is an ARM computer for $35, intended for education and hobby use. Add an HDMI screen (any TV or monitor these days), mouse and keyboard and it's a reasonably capable network computer.
Do you do any work with either of these platforms?
I've heard both breathless stories about the greatness of the Strawberry Pi and reviews which indicate that it cannot run video smoothly. both viewpoints are likely accurate.
I've also heard about x86 systems starting at $50.
Do you see any trend towards ultra-cheap ultra-simple stripped-down hardware for general hobbyist use? Are we entering a new age of computer experimentation by amateurs? Will these platforms lead to anything in the future?
If Apple gets it their way, you will first have to pay Apple a cut before you can run your custom code (how much does it cost today before you can run your own custom app on your iPhone or iPad?), or it may become plain impossible to program your computer at all. How often do you run custom code on your other appliances? Exactly. If computers become locked down appliances you won't be able to or expected to run custom code on them either.
How many people expect to compile and run stuff on their iPad? None, but it's a perfectly capable machine, more powerful than PCs of the 90s.
How many people expect to compile and run stuff on their personal PC? An insignificant percentage.
As for the rest (having to pay Apple before you can run your custom code), that's a red herring. The number of people who run custom code is insignificant - and they can all afford the $99 fee to become an Apple developer and have their code added to the iTunes store. There are hundreds of thousands of free apps on the iTunes store - where Apple collects nothing but the $99 developer fee.
So, basically, you're using a combination of red herring and slippery slope arguments to justify your inane position.
All these big companies, they write off everything: Yeah, let's see if Windows 8 pulls through for them. Sad thing is, they have x86 vendors so locked down that they can pretty much guarantee revenue from 300 million+ machines and a pretty significant percentage of them in Office sales too. It wouldn't even matter the quality of the OS, there's no viable alternative for non-Apple x86 hardware manufacturers.
Yeah, good point. Just like there is no viable alternate for Apple iOS hardware owners than to have Apple OS. Bummer!! Like one with a file system!!
Microsoft, the less, the better. Why use the obnoxious Microsoft products when there are great alternatives out there? The day Microsoft goes out of business, humanity will make a giant leap ahead!
Normally when you write something off, you do this over a certain period. If they had written it off in 5 years this would have meant they had to write off 310mln each quarter. As the net profit this quarter was 6.7billion, with a 5 year write-off this would have been 6.4 billion profit this quarter (Which is up from 5.9billion same quarter last year).
That's not entirely true. Writing something off over time isn't necessarily the 'normal' thing. It depends on the situation.
There are two common scenarios where you write something off:
1. Normal depreciation/amortization. In this case, you write something off over the normal, anticipated life of the item. If a piece of equipment has an estimated life of 5 years, you would typically write it off over 5 years. In some cases, you can write it off in a shorter period, but the point is that you're spreading the cost out over the life of the device.
2. Writeoff for impaired assets. At any given time, you are supposed to have items on the books at their fair market value. If the value of something drops significantly, you should reduce its book value by writing off the excess.
So if you're dealing with normal capital equipment and depreciation, it would be spread out over time. If you're talking about an asset where the value drops significantly (or, more precisely, your assessment of the value drops), then you would typically write it off all at once. That's what happened in this case.
The write-off is a complete non-issue. There are two relevant questions:
1. Why did Microsoft buy a $6 B company and then write off 98% of its value 5 years later? There certainly are legitimate reasons why that happened, but if they're smart, they'll be re-evaluating their due diligence efforts.
2. What happened this quarter that caused them to write off 98% of the value? That's not an arbitrary decision - something must have changed to make them think that the business is worthless.
Not any more. Apple now takes the first spot. No one is doing more to kill the idea of general computing. If Apple get their way kids will grow up without even having an expectation of running custom code on their locked down appliance.
huh? what appliance are you talking about? anyone can run custom code on their Apple devices _today_.
Despite beating Wall Street expectations for the second calendar quarter of 2012, Microsoft on Thursday reported its first-ever quarterly loss since the software giant went public in 1986.
Microsoft's fiscal fourth-quarter contraction was in large part thanks to a huge multi-billion dollar write-down for its online services division compounded by deferred revenue related to the company's Windows 8 platform, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Redmond, Wash., company posted a $492 million loss for the June quarter, or six cents per share. The poor performance is contrasted to the year ago period when Microsoft recorded a profit of $5.87 billion, or 69 cents per share.
Earnings were hit hard by a $6.19 billion write-down related to the company's acquisition of online ad agency aQuantive Inc. which was purchased for $6.3 billion in 2007. Compounding the situation was $540 million of deferred revenue earmarked for Windows 8 upgrade promotions. Microsoft is looking to keep Windows 7 sales going through October by offering buyers of select versions discounted upgrades to Windows 8 until the end of January 2013.
Not counting the write-down of its online services division and the deferred revenue connected to the Windows 8 promotion, Microsoft's earnings were actually in the black at 73 cents a share.
Microsoft took a hefty $540 million hit in deferred revenue for Windows 8 promotions.
Overall revenue was up four percent at $18.06 billion for the quarter despite a 60 percent increase in operating costs. The most recent estimates from a poll conducted by Thomson Reuters pegged earnings at $18.13 billion or 62 cents a share.
Breaking down earnings by division, Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live posted a 13 percent decrease in revenue and an 18 percent drop in profits, once again owing to the deferred revenue.
Helping buoy earnings was Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, which saw a significant boost in sales with 20 percent jump year-over-year while online services revenue rose 8.1 percent. Server products, including enterprise network and private cloud computing systems, posted revenue gains of 13% on boosted profit of 24 percent.
Rounding out the revenue winners was the business division which includes Microsoft Office products with a 7.1 percent jump in sales leading to a 9 percent increase in profits.
Microsoft is banking on its "PC+" strategy, described as an ecosystem of devices running a one-size-fits-all operating system in Windows 8, to carry the company as competition heats up in the mobile space. Earlier in July, Microsoft claimed that Apple's "post-PC" era view of devices was wrong, claiming that the iPhone maker's notion to keep mobile and desktop operating systems separate was outdated. Instead, COO Kevin Turner said the future is a convergence of mobile, laptop and desktop devices under one OS, alluding to the presumed capabilities of Windows 8.
Microsoft is looking to kick-off the "PC+" era with its Surface tablet. | Source: Microsoft
For its part Apple still believes in making devices targeted to specific tasks. During the company's most recent quarterly earnings conference call in April, CEO Tim Cook said, "anything can be forced to converge, but the problem is that the products are about tradeoffs. You begin to make tradeoffs to the point where what you have left at the end of the day doesn't please anyone." He went on to quip, " "you can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but you know, those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user."
As part of the PC+ initiative, Microsoft introduced its first self-branded tablet called Surface, with the ARM-based version of the device expected to be released alongside Windows 8 which was recently announced to hit shelves on October 26. Although PC+ calls for a completely defragmented ecosystem it seems Microsoft will be breaking that rule out of the gate with Surface for Windows RT, a tablet running a stripped-down version of Windows 8. A more full-featured Intel-based version dubbed Surface for Windows 8 Pro will be released later this year.
While the Redmond firm once had somewhat of a presence in smartphone market during the nascent pre-iPhone stage, Apple's iOS and Google's Android have made the sector a two horse race. Windows 8, along with Windows RT and Windows Phone, represents an opportunity to gain some lost ground in the lucrative portables arena though it remains to be seen whether the new OS will be enough gain substantial marketshare.
As of this writing Microsoft shares were up $0.65 or 2.14 percent in after market trading.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
Don't worry. Many more are to follow.
There 'IS' a God!
YAY!!!!!!!! Payback, finally, for my three years of bull**** under Windoze 95-98. I'd like to see this trend continue, and accelerate!
Bill Gates should shut down Microsoft and give the money to charity.
Not even the shareholders… They don't deserve it, I guess.
OH. OH. OH. OH. WHAT. OH. WHAT. THE ONE EMOTICON THAT WE HAD WORKING IS BROKEN NOW? WHAT? HUH? IS THAT IT?
So… So I can type "" and have it show up properly, but not in the new editor, where I have to… Ugh, I'm not… I don't even care. I don't care. 10.8's emoji all the way. I'm done.
Agreed. They'll blame it on accounting this-and-that, but the bleeding has officially started. Windows 8 will be the floodgate.
Amazon will follow in a couple of years.
Huh? This is very short sighted. Microsoft has long been known to make significant investments that will not necessarily pay off in the immediate - look to XBox as an example. They were selling this at a loss for how many years with the idea that they would get a foothold in the area and become more relavant. WP7 was a real piece of crap, and their lack of upgrade support for WP8 is going to hurt them, but if they stick to their guns and continue to try and push the envelope, they will gain market eventually in both phones and tablets. There's a definite market for windows based tablets that support all the Microsoft centric enterprise software that is essentially free up for grabs. The Metro UI is very nice as well - although I have a very hard time agreeing with the one size fits all mentality their seem to be sticking to. For at least the next two years, I'll be very much enjoying my iOS devices.
As for Amazon, are you just referring to specific products? If this is the case, then yes, they may need to drop some products.
Amazon is largely a service company at this point though, and in this regard, they are top in the world in what they do. Amazon AWS alone is single handedly rewriting the rules of software and infrastructure for startups all the way up to enterprise. They are very well ingrained into many fortune 50 companies already including companies you would never expect them to be in (very very large Microsoft shops - one example: a travel company started by Microsoft many years ago).
Most people have a hard time believing that Amazon is currently the worlds leading technology outlet simply because of AWS. They truly have no competition in this area as Azure really isn't up to snuff yet, and what other cloud service hosts are there that don't actually use AWS in the backend?
There's more to business than just products and this is largely what Apple is currently - a product company. This is slowly changing with the introduction of iCloud, but now Apple needs to stick by it. Not give up in a few years the same way they did mac.com and mobile me.
Huh? This is very short sighted. Are you just referring to specific products? If this is the case, then yes, they may need to drop some products.
Amazon is largely a service company at this point though, and in this regard, they are top in the world in what they do. Amazon AWS alone is single handedly rewriting the rules of software and infrastructure for startups all the way up to enterprise. They are very well ingrained into many fortune 50 companies already including companies you would never expect them to be in (very very large Microsoft shops - one example: a travel company started by Microsoft many years ago).
Most people have a hard time believing that Amazon is currently the worlds leading technology outlet simply because of AWS. They truly have no competition in this area as Azure really isn't up to snuff yet, and what other cloud service hosts are there that don't actually use AWS in the backend?
There's more to business than just products and this is largely what Apple is currently - a product company. This is slowly changing with the introduction of iCloud, but now Apple needs to stick by it. Not give up in a few years the same way they did mac.com and mobile me.
Amazon's future is probably going to be backed by their cloud stuff. Their diversification will save them, or in any case provide a decent platform to do whatever else they want to do.
As for Microsoft though, there's nothing on the horizon. Sharepoint, maybe. That's it. Game over. I agree with anantk... Windows 8 will be the final confirmation of the decrepitude into which Microsoft has now sunk, with no way out.
Bill Gates should shut down Microsoft and give the money to charity.
hmnnn.. at least it is nice to see the super rich trying to improve the lot of the less fortunate. Think what you will of Gates, he decided that had earned enough money to no longer obsess about the size of his bank balance. Its a shame that certain un-named people didn't subscribe to the same philopsy. Without philanthropists the (current) world would be a bleaker place.
If you need to hate Gates because he is responsible for a competing product then so be it. At least give him credit where it is due, or just be like many of the other members here that hold Appl shares and bitch whenever someone highlights exploitation in the supply chain
Do you do any work with either of these platforms?
I've heard both breathless stories about the greatness of the Strawberry Pi and reviews which indicate that it cannot run video smoothly. both viewpoints are likely accurate.
I've also heard about x86 systems starting at $50.
Do you see any trend towards ultra-cheap ultra-simple stripped-down hardware for general hobbyist use? Are we entering a new age of computer experimentation by amateurs? Will these platforms lead to anything in the future?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I've played with an Arduino, it is a very fun platform for hobbyist use, and there is a pretty big (and growing) following. If you ever have a chance to get to a Makerfaire you can see pretty decent sized swarms of people using Arduinos or other stripped-down hardware for various hobbies. The tools for interfacing sensors and servos are a lot easier to use than they were even a few years ago, so I think we are entering a New Age - not sure if it will be a Golden Age, but certainly a lot of new possibilities.
hmnnn.. at least it is nice to see the super rich trying to improve the lot of the less fortunate. Think what you will of Gates, he decided that had earned enough money to no longer obsess about the size of his bank balance. Its a shame that certain un-named people didn't subscribe to the same philopsy. Without philanthropists the (current) world would be a bleaker place.
If you need to hate Gates because he is responsible for a competing product then so be it. At least give him credit where it is due, or just be like many of the other members here that hold Appl shares and bitch whenever someone highlights exploitation in the supply chain
Well that's why I have said repeatedly that Bill's greatest focus and greatest contribution would be to focus purely on his charitable activities. Since 2005 I do not see anything worthwhile that he has done in terms of leading Microsoft. I do not hate him as a person, but I think since 2005 he has made minimal contribution to humanity as Chairman or what not of Microsoft.
Charity work ~ yes that's good. But he might also be deluded to some degree, for example his musings and involvement with nuclear energy.
So charity or not, let's not think of Bill as any kind of superhuman. He is simply now a man that has done big things in his life, but Microsoft and technology is simply no longer anything he seems ~now~ to be able to contribute to, anymore.
And the above point is important, because the above has happened as far back as 2007 (see at All Things D vs Steve Jobs)... but most people do not realise the "senility" of Bill Gates in the tech & innovation space. I understand it is hard to accept, but for at least 5 years now this "senility" is clear as day to those that look past the shroud of infamy.
hmnnn.. at least it is nice to see the super rich trying to improve the lot of the less fortunate. Think what you will of Gates, he decided that had earned enough money to no longer obsess about the size of his bank balance. Its a shame that certain un-named people didn't subscribe to the same philopsy. Without philanthropists the (current) world would be a bleaker place.
Steve Jobs went on to continue making great products that are a joy to use.
The result of Billy's decision to no longer "obsess about the size of his bank balance": Microsoft was left to stagnate under Ballmer, and is today the laughingstock of the industry.
Thanks, Bill.
Philanthropy doesn't give us iPads, iPhones, iOS, and Retina Macs.
Yeah, I'm really friggin sure that MS fans/Windows sufferers were more than understanding that they had to wait over three years for a subpar mobile platform, among other things which MS half-assed since Gates' absence, and which MS fans and hapless users who had no choice had to stomach. Not to mention the Rise of Apple, which has pushed many a Windows user/fan over to the Apple ecosystem.
"Hey, no problem. That's ok. At least Bill's doing charity work." LOL
(But hey, these things would have probably happened under Gates anyway. He wasn't exactly what you'd call visionary.)
The Microsoft solution was a nightmare to administer and costly to maintain but without a viable alternative what are you supposed to do.
That used to be true. Microsoft's current enterprise options via Office 360 and the Action Starter Pack (horribly named) are actually quite attractive for small and mid-sized businesses. It's hands-off, but customizable to license software and upgrade cheaply on or off the cloud. It's not a new strategy, they just finally made it competitive a few years back when they were genuinely worried about the rise of Mac servers.
This is what I love and loathe about Apple: They strive to implement the ideal solution. In this case, the perfect was the enemy of the good. They were on track to implement a perfect solution, but held back releasing what would have been a sub-standard product at the time. The funny part is, most of their clients (my company included) were prepared to make the jump and would have accepted a work-in-progress. We're currently with MS for exchange, office, terminal server, etc. not just because it's the only viable option, but because just the threat of Apple competition forced them to price competitively and clean up their work.
Apple does not do low margins. The enterprise market will have to come to Apple.
And take what Apple is willing to give them.
That's the beauty of Apple's game plan. They have stopped making things just for enterprise to a great deal. The companies find a way to make the consumer products work or they go to another company. Apple really doesn't care. At least not enough to make something just for those groups if it isn't of benefit to the larger marketplace
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
Personally, I suggest starting out with Arduino hardware development system. The circuit is $30 and it helps teach hardware and software, how to make circuits.
Raspberry Pi is an ARM computer for $35, intended for education and hobby use. Add an HDMI screen (any TV or monitor these days), mouse and keyboard and it's a reasonably capable network computer.
Do you do any work with either of these platforms?
I've heard both breathless stories about the greatness of the Strawberry Pi and reviews which indicate that it cannot run video smoothly. both viewpoints are likely accurate.
I've also heard about x86 systems starting at $50.
Do you see any trend towards ultra-cheap ultra-simple stripped-down hardware for general hobbyist use? Are we entering a new age of computer experimentation by amateurs? Will these platforms lead to anything in the future?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Only the ignorant ones. I guess that's why you take that position.
How many people expect to compile and run stuff on their personal PC? An insignificant percentage.
As for the rest (having to pay Apple before you can run your custom code), that's a red herring. The number of people who run custom code is insignificant - and they can all afford the $99 fee to become an Apple developer and have their code added to the iTunes store. There are hundreds of thousands of free apps on the iTunes store - where Apple collects nothing but the $99 developer fee.
So, basically, you're using a combination of red herring and slippery slope arguments to justify your inane position.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
All these big companies, they write off everything:
Yeah, let's see if Windows 8 pulls through for them. Sad thing is, they have x86 vendors so locked down that they can pretty much guarantee revenue from 300 million+ machines and a pretty significant percentage of them in Office sales too. It wouldn't even matter the quality of the OS, there's no viable alternative for non-Apple x86 hardware manufacturers.
Yeah, good point. Just like there is no viable alternate for Apple iOS hardware owners than to have Apple OS. Bummer!! Like one with a file system!!
Microsoft, the less, the better. Why use the obnoxious Microsoft products when there are great alternatives out there? The day Microsoft goes out of business, humanity will make a giant leap ahead!
That's not entirely true. Writing something off over time isn't necessarily the 'normal' thing. It depends on the situation.
There are two common scenarios where you write something off:
1. Normal depreciation/amortization. In this case, you write something off over the normal, anticipated life of the item. If a piece of equipment has an estimated life of 5 years, you would typically write it off over 5 years. In some cases, you can write it off in a shorter period, but the point is that you're spreading the cost out over the life of the device.
2. Writeoff for impaired assets. At any given time, you are supposed to have items on the books at their fair market value. If the value of something drops significantly, you should reduce its book value by writing off the excess.
So if you're dealing with normal capital equipment and depreciation, it would be spread out over time. If you're talking about an asset where the value drops significantly (or, more precisely, your assessment of the value drops), then you would typically write it off all at once. That's what happened in this case.
The write-off is a complete non-issue. There are two relevant questions:
1. Why did Microsoft buy a $6 B company and then write off 98% of its value 5 years later? There certainly are legitimate reasons why that happened, but if they're smart, they'll be re-evaluating their due diligence efforts.
2. What happened this quarter that caused them to write off 98% of the value? That's not an arbitrary decision - something must have changed to make them think that the business is worthless.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mario
Not any more. Apple now takes the first spot. No one is doing more to kill the idea of general computing. If Apple get their way kids will grow up without even having an expectation of running custom code on their locked down appliance.
huh? what appliance are you talking about? anyone can run custom code on their Apple devices _today_.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Despite beating Wall Street expectations for the second calendar quarter of 2012, Microsoft on Thursday reported its first-ever quarterly loss since the software giant went public in 1986.
Microsoft's fiscal fourth-quarter contraction was in large part thanks to a huge multi-billion dollar write-down for its online services division compounded by deferred revenue related to the company's Windows 8 platform, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Redmond, Wash., company posted a $492 million loss for the June quarter, or six cents per share. The poor performance is contrasted to the year ago period when Microsoft recorded a profit of $5.87 billion, or 69 cents per share.
Earnings were hit hard by a $6.19 billion write-down related to the company's acquisition of online ad agency aQuantive Inc. which was purchased for $6.3 billion in 2007. Compounding the situation was $540 million of deferred revenue earmarked for Windows 8 upgrade promotions. Microsoft is looking to keep Windows 7 sales going through October by offering buyers of select versions discounted upgrades to Windows 8 until the end of January 2013.
Not counting the write-down of its online services division and the deferred revenue connected to the Windows 8 promotion, Microsoft's earnings were actually in the black at 73 cents a share.
Microsoft took a hefty $540 million hit in deferred revenue for Windows 8 promotions.
Source: Microsoft
Overall revenue was up four percent at $18.06 billion for the quarter despite a 60 percent increase in operating costs. The most recent estimates from a poll conducted by Thomson Reuters pegged earnings at $18.13 billion or 62 cents a share.
Breaking down earnings by division, Microsoft's Windows and Windows Live posted a 13 percent decrease in revenue and an 18 percent drop in profits, once again owing to the deferred revenue.
Helping buoy earnings was Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, which saw a significant boost in sales with 20 percent jump year-over-year while online services revenue rose 8.1 percent. Server products, including enterprise network and private cloud computing systems, posted revenue gains of 13% on boosted profit of 24 percent.
Rounding out the revenue winners was the business division which includes Microsoft Office products with a 7.1 percent jump in sales leading to a 9 percent increase in profits.
Microsoft is banking on its "PC+" strategy, described as an ecosystem of devices running a one-size-fits-all operating system in Windows 8, to carry the company as competition heats up in the mobile space. Earlier in July, Microsoft claimed that Apple's "post-PC" era view of devices was wrong, claiming that the iPhone maker's notion to keep mobile and desktop operating systems separate was outdated. Instead, COO Kevin Turner said the future is a convergence of mobile, laptop and desktop devices under one OS, alluding to the presumed capabilities of Windows 8.
Microsoft is looking to kick-off the "PC+" era with its Surface tablet. | Source: Microsoft
For its part Apple still believes in making devices targeted to specific tasks. During the company's most recent quarterly earnings conference call in April, CEO Tim Cook said, "anything can be forced to converge, but the problem is that the products are about tradeoffs. You begin to make tradeoffs to the point where what you have left at the end of the day doesn't please anyone." He went on to quip, " "you can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but you know, those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user."
As part of the PC+ initiative, Microsoft introduced its first self-branded tablet called Surface, with the ARM-based version of the device expected to be released alongside Windows 8 which was recently announced to hit shelves on October 26. Although PC+ calls for a completely defragmented ecosystem it seems Microsoft will be breaking that rule out of the gate with Surface for Windows RT, a tablet running a stripped-down version of Windows 8. A more full-featured Intel-based version dubbed Surface for Windows 8 Pro will be released later this year.
While the Redmond firm once had somewhat of a presence in smartphone market during the nascent pre-iPhone stage, Apple's iOS and Google's Android have made the sector a two horse race. Windows 8, along with Windows RT and Windows Phone, represents an opportunity to gain some lost ground in the lucrative portables arena though it remains to be seen whether the new OS will be enough gain substantial marketshare.
As of this writing Microsoft shares were up $0.65 or 2.14 percent in after market trading.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
Don't worry. Many more are to follow.
There 'IS' a God!
YAY!!!!!!!! Payback, finally, for my three years of bull**** under Windoze 95-98. I'd like to see this trend continue, and accelerate!
Sincerely,
Cameron
PS "I'd like all my money back, Bill!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by sr2012
Bill Gates should shut down Microsoft and give the money to charity.
Not even the shareholders… They don't deserve it, I guess.
OH. OH. OH. OH. WHAT. OH. WHAT. THE ONE EMOTICON THAT WE HAD WORKING IS BROKEN NOW? WHAT? HUH? IS THAT IT?
So… So I can type "
????
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Agreed. They'll blame it on accounting this-and-that, but the bleeding has officially started. Windows 8 will be the floodgate.
Amazon will follow in a couple of years.
Huh? This is very short sighted. Microsoft has long been known to make significant investments that will not necessarily pay off in the immediate - look to XBox as an example. They were selling this at a loss for how many years with the idea that they would get a foothold in the area and become more relavant. WP7 was a real piece of crap, and their lack of upgrade support for WP8 is going to hurt them, but if they stick to their guns and continue to try and push the envelope, they will gain market eventually in both phones and tablets. There's a definite market for windows based tablets that support all the Microsoft centric enterprise software that is essentially free up for grabs. The Metro UI is very nice as well - although I have a very hard time agreeing with the one size fits all mentality their seem to be sticking to. For at least the next two years, I'll be very much enjoying my iOS devices.
As for Amazon, are you just referring to specific products? If this is the case, then yes, they may need to drop some products.
Amazon is largely a service company at this point though, and in this regard, they are top in the world in what they do. Amazon AWS alone is single handedly rewriting the rules of software and infrastructure for startups all the way up to enterprise. They are very well ingrained into many fortune 50 companies already including companies you would never expect them to be in (very very large Microsoft shops - one example: a travel company started by Microsoft many years ago).
Most people have a hard time believing that Amazon is currently the worlds leading technology outlet simply because of AWS. They truly have no competition in this area as Azure really isn't up to snuff yet, and what other cloud service hosts are there that don't actually use AWS in the backend?
There's more to business than just products and this is largely what Apple is currently - a product company. This is slowly changing with the introduction of iCloud, but now Apple needs to stick by it. Not give up in a few years the same way they did mac.com and mobile me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Market_Player
Apple has a couple hundred million on it's books when that deal happened; Microsoft did not bail out Apple.
Such comments remind me of the remark from Churchill- "The French cannot forgive us because they owe us so much".
Amazon's future is probably going to be backed by their cloud stuff. Their diversification will save them, or in any case provide a decent platform to do whatever else they want to do.
As for Microsoft though, there's nothing on the horizon. Sharepoint, maybe. That's it. Game over. I agree with anantk... Windows 8 will be the final confirmation of the decrepitude into which Microsoft has now sunk, with no way out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sr2012
Bill Gates should shut down Microsoft and give the money to charity.
hmnnn.. at least it is nice to see the super rich trying to improve the lot of the less fortunate. Think what you will of Gates, he decided that had earned enough money to no longer obsess about the size of his bank balance. Its a shame that certain un-named people didn't subscribe to the same philopsy. Without philanthropists the (current) world would be a bleaker place.
If you need to hate Gates because he is responsible for a competing product then so be it. At least give him credit where it is due, or just be like many of the other members here that hold Appl shares and bitch whenever someone highlights exploitation in the supply chain
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh Jarse
I love Mitchell and Webb. The snooker commentary is classic.
"And that's a bad miss" and Webb spoons sugar into his lager.
Although M&W were happy to take the cheque (check) they also made a point of proving that they are not anyones's bitches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZvNMFl7Hec
Quote:
Originally Posted by JerrySwitched26
Do you do any work with either of these platforms?
I've heard both breathless stories about the greatness of the Strawberry Pi and reviews which indicate that it cannot run video smoothly. both viewpoints are likely accurate.
I've also heard about x86 systems starting at $50.
Do you see any trend towards ultra-cheap ultra-simple stripped-down hardware for general hobbyist use? Are we entering a new age of computer experimentation by amateurs? Will these platforms lead to anything in the future?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I've played with an Arduino, it is a very fun platform for hobbyist use, and there is a pretty big (and growing) following. If you ever have a chance to get to a Makerfaire you can see pretty decent sized swarms of people using Arduinos or other stripped-down hardware for various hobbies. The tools for interfacing sensors and servos are a lot easier to use than they were even a few years ago, so I think we are entering a New Age - not sure if it will be a Golden Age, but certainly a lot of new possibilities.
Well that's why I have said repeatedly that Bill's greatest focus and greatest contribution would be to focus purely on his charitable activities. Since 2005 I do not see anything worthwhile that he has done in terms of leading Microsoft. I do not hate him as a person, but I think since 2005 he has made minimal contribution to humanity as Chairman or what not of Microsoft.
Charity work ~ yes that's good. But he might also be deluded to some degree, for example his musings and involvement with nuclear energy.
So charity or not, let's not think of Bill as any kind of superhuman. He is simply now a man that has done big things in his life, but Microsoft and technology is simply no longer anything he seems ~now~ to be able to contribute to, anymore.
And the above point is important, because the above has happened as far back as 2007 (see at All Things D vs Steve Jobs)... but most people do not realise the "senility" of Bill Gates in the tech & innovation space. I understand it is hard to accept, but for at least 5 years now this "senility" is clear as day to those that look past the shroud of infamy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hungover
hmnnn.. at least it is nice to see the super rich trying to improve the lot of the less fortunate. Think what you will of Gates, he decided that had earned enough money to no longer obsess about the size of his bank balance. Its a shame that certain un-named people didn't subscribe to the same philopsy. Without philanthropists the (current) world would be a bleaker place.
Steve Jobs went on to continue making great products that are a joy to use.
The result of Billy's decision to no longer "obsess about the size of his bank balance": Microsoft was left to stagnate under Ballmer, and is today the laughingstock of the industry.
Thanks, Bill.
Philanthropy doesn't give us iPads, iPhones, iOS, and Retina Macs.
Yeah, I'm really friggin sure that MS fans/Windows sufferers were more than understanding that they had to wait over three years for a subpar mobile platform, among other things which MS half-assed since Gates' absence, and which MS fans and hapless users who had no choice had to stomach. Not to mention the Rise of Apple, which has pushed many a Windows user/fan over to the Apple ecosystem.
"Hey, no problem. That's ok. At least Bill's doing charity work." LOL
(But hey, these things would have probably happened under Gates anyway. He wasn't exactly what you'd call visionary.)
What "Philanthropy" did for Microsoft:
http://macdailynews.com/2012/03/14/apple-now-worth-more-than-double-microsofts-market-value/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/05/12/oops-5-ceos-that-should-have-already-been-fired-cisco-ge-walmart-sears-microsoft/3/
And all of a sudden, Microsoft reaches the point where they feel they have to make *this* sad statement:
http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/151197/steve-ballmer-says-microsoft-plans-to-compete-with-apple-in-every-market
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaun, UK
The Microsoft solution was a nightmare to administer and costly to maintain but without a viable alternative what are you supposed to do.
That used to be true. Microsoft's current enterprise options via Office 360 and the Action Starter Pack (horribly named) are actually quite attractive for small and mid-sized businesses. It's hands-off, but customizable to license software and upgrade cheaply on or off the cloud. It's not a new strategy, they just finally made it competitive a few years back when they were genuinely worried about the rise of Mac servers.
This is what I love and loathe about Apple: They strive to implement the ideal solution. In this case, the perfect was the enemy of the good. They were on track to implement a perfect solution, but held back releasing what would have been a sub-standard product at the time. The funny part is, most of their clients (my company included) were prepared to make the jump and would have accepted a work-in-progress. We're currently with MS for exchange, office, terminal server, etc. not just because it's the only viable option, but because just the threat of Apple competition forced them to price competitively and clean up their work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Apple does not do low margins. The enterprise market will have to come to Apple.
And take what Apple is willing to give them.
That's the beauty of Apple's game plan. They have stopped making things just for enterprise to a great deal. The companies find a way to make the consumer products work or they go to another company. Apple really doesn't care. At least not enough to make something just for those groups if it isn't of benefit to the larger marketplace
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash_beezy
After a announcement of halting Mac office sales,
They never said they were halting Office for Mac. They just said they have no information about a 2013 release at this time