One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) officials on Tuesday outlined an ambitious program to bring a tablet PC to market within two years at a price of less than $100. This would be combined with efforts to upgrade and bring down the cost of the current XO laptop which has become the effort’s signature product.

An upgrade to the current model is due at a $200 price point next month. This will be followed by a touchscreen version of the XO laptop in 2011 at a price point of around $150, and finally the tablet which would make its way to market the following year.The tablet would be made of flexible plastic and would be a drastic departure from the current design of the laptop, officials say.

OLPC has struggled recently as the company was forced to lay off 50 percent of its workforce earlier this year. This likely had a lot to do with the worsening economy, which hit the tech sector fairly hard. But the initiative is trudging on, determined to complete its mission of providing technology to children in the developing world. Admirable, but of course a bit costly.

I for one am super curious as to how these folks are going to pull this off. I know you can’t tell much from pictures, but that looks like an awfully advanced device. How are you going to be able to build something like that for $100? I understand that advancements in technology these days are moving faster and faster, but we don’t even have products like this available to the general public right now, much less underprivileged kids around the world.

Hopefully this isn’t going to end up as vaporware, but right now it sure looks like it.

Wired, as is its wont, has released a list of the year’s biggest vaporware. It’s good reading as always. But the one tech-related product I’ve spent the most time sitting around and waiting for isn’t on the list, possibly because its vaporous nature isn’t the developer’s fault. It is, of course, Google Voice for the iPhone…

Once again, it’s been proven that the Crunpad has become total vaporware. Arrington just announced it on TechCrunch. Unfortunately, like many in the field and like many commentators on the post, I don’t believe that he is telling the whole story. He paints Fusion Garage as the enemy. My guess is that Fusion Garage will release a Crunchpad-like device in another market and it will filter into the US at some point.

Como resumen para el linuxero que lee esto; NADA!, todo lo que promocionan como lo más “top” de las tecnologías de Sistemas Operativos y todas sus características llevan años en el mundo Unix-Like (Linux, BSD, macOSX, etc) y de hecho ni siquiera aporta “nada nuevo” al fatídico Windows Vista.

Requerimientos:

Windows 7 devora más recursos que el último juego que monté en Windows; Need For Speed Underground; en estos momentos Windows 7 pide como “mínimo” para funcionar:

1 Ghz 32-bit o 64-bit
1 Gb de RAM mínimo
16 Gb de Espacio en Disco
Tarjeta de video con aceleración y mínimo 128 MB de DDRAM

Con esas especificaciones podías el año pasado jugar Need For Speed en un Windows XP; pero ahora estas son las especificiones SOLO para el Sistema Operativo.

Para poder jugar Call of Duty en Windows 7 o Modern Warfare, necesitaré entonces como mínimo 768 MB de video para contrarrestar el alto consumo de video para *eyecandy* de Windows 7.

Luego de ver un video demostrativo de las características de Windows 7 que lo diferencias de otros *Windows* y de otros Sistemas, paso a hacer un review comparativo.

Its A-LIVE?:
* Windows Live Writer: Una aplicación (medio wordpad con esteroides) que te permite “blogear” en cualquier cuenta de blog online (registrada por Microsoft, no cualquiera realmente) usando un editor de texto común; además de existir cantidades “ingentes” de extensiones para Firefox para hacer la misma cosa, considero que no aporta nada nuevo de lo que ya existe en materia de aplicaciones para blogging.
* Windows Live Online Gallery: Permite editar imágenes y subirlas a “Online Albums”; además de hacer algo que Google Picasa ha ofrecido hace muchisimos años ya de forma libre (y para colmo, hecho en la propia tecnología .NET de Microsoft), no ofrece nada que una persona con Picnik (http://www.picnik.com/) podría hacer rápidamente.
* Windows Live Mail: Hotmail ahora tiene un front-end para Windows 7; great!, cuando miles de personas abandonan en estampida Hotmail para unirse a Gmail y sus aplicativos (GTalk, Google Wave) es interesante que Microsoft abandone el Outlook Express y se haga un aplicativo “aparte” solo para Hotmail.
Nota Interesante: Sabían que *Google Contacts* Sincroniza tus contactos con *casí* cualquier cosa, incluyendo un Celular corriendo Android?, ya no necesito andar exportando listas de contactos ni complicadas aplicaciones ActiveSync; inicio con mi cuenta igoogle y mis contactos se sincronizarán entre mi correo, mi igoogle y mi teléfono celular.
*ESO* si es interesante.

Aero 7:
* Sparkles, Shadows, Drop Shadows & Shines: Tanto en íconos como en barras de herramientas; Creo que Glitz+openGL ha ofrecido esto para Gnome o KDE desde hace más de 4 años
* Mini-Windows preview in Taskbar: Ha sido un plugin para Cairo y para Compiz desde finales del 2007
* Easy Re-arrange of Icons: Hemos podido re-ordenar los íconos y arrastrado nuevos íconos hacia cualquier barra de tareas desde que tengo uso de razón en Linux
Media Center:
* Image effects & Slideshows: No solamente ha existido en sistemas Unix-Like como BSD, Linux y MacOSX efectos de slideshows para ver las imágenes; sino que incluso Firefox agrega una extensión llamada “CoolIris” que permite ver como slideshows imágenes de Flickr y otras páginas con efectos 3D “¡y en tu propio Navegador!”; fácil, rápido y no necesita un “Sistema Operativo completo especial ” aparte (Windows 7 Premium o Media Center Edition).
Desktop:
* Quickly “Show Desktop” Option: ?, eso existía desde Windows 98 (pero ahora lo volvieron una “opción” y no un ícono) y ha sido parte del escritorio gnome desde siempre.
* “Show Desktop” effect: En Compiz puedes definir que efecto (atenuación, giro, ocultamiento de ventanas, fly-away, etc) realizarán las ventanas abiertas para ocultarse y mostrar el escritorio.
De hecho y como nota jocosa; Windows aún sigue sin soportar múltiples escritorios, algo que ha existido en casí todos los gestores de ventanas sobre X-Windows desde tiempos inmemoriales.
* Auto-change Desktop background: Cada cierto tiempo Windows cambiará tu Background tomandolo de una carpeta de imágenes; qué novedoso!, eso ha existido como Desklet, como aplicativo para Gnome y KDE o como Plugin de Compiz y nadie planteó hacer una revolución ante semejante “novedad”.
Windows Menú:
* Sigue siendo el mismo menú de Windows Vista y obviamente el mismo de KDE (que lo implementó antes que Vista >.<)
Aspecto:
* Temas!: O sea que ya no necesitas comprar (o crakear) una licencia de TG-Soft Windows Blinds!; ahora viene con temas listos! (novedad?, eso ya no lo tenía Windows XP?); no solamente existen páginas para temática de escritorio en Linux (gnome-look.org y kde-look.org) sino que además Gnome soporta íconos en SVG (vectores) que pueden ser redimensionados como queramos y no se ven limitados al formato bitmap ico y al máximo de 64×64 píxeles que arrastra desde Windows 98.
Ventanas:
* Posibilidad de Snap-in y “Snap-to Grid”: Fue la primera opción que agregaron Beryl, Compiz y Cairo a sus efectos de ventana por allá por los inicios de XGL en 2006
* Maximize in Drag to Border and Restore: cuando arrastras una ventana al borde, se pega ahí y se maximiza automáticamente, se restaura si se despega; característica básica de toda ventana XGL y de cualquier gestor de composición de ventanas en Linux que se respete (Compiz, Fusion, Beryl, Cairo, etc)
Widgets:
* Desktop Widgets ready: Permiten pegar relojes y otras “mini-aplicaciones” al escritorio. nada novedoso pues no solamente existen Widgets en Linux; sino que puedes escoger cual usar, Screenlets, gnome-desklets, si estás en KDE usarás los widgets de super-karamba o los de KDE4.

Como nota adicional; para hacer estos efectos Windows 7 requiere “al menos” hardware de aceleración de video “no muy barato” y con soporte a las últimas especificaciones de DirectX; mientras que las aceleraciones de Compiz y Cairo ni siquiera necesitan aceleración por hardware y cualquier tarjeta con soporte AIGLX (GLX asistido; casi toda tarjeta lo tiene) puede renderizar los efectos de escritorio.

Y como una nota jocosa; Windows Movie Maker sigue en beta! (sí!, desde Windows Millenium!, incréible una beta de más de 9 años de existencia!) y es que Picnik (una aplicación web para editar imágenes) es 1000 veces más potente y versatil que Windows Movie Maker.

Conclusiones

Este fue un review de las cosas de *aspecto* alrededor de Windows 7; no aporta nada estética o user-friendly revolucionario y no es ni más versatil que Windows XP ni que un Ubuntu con todos los efectos y juguetes (Compiz, Desklets, Glitz y XGL, etc).

Como final, también vale la pena aclarar como Windows 7 aplasta premisas principales que manejó el Team Core de Windows Vista desde la época de Longhorn en 2002:

• WinFS: Microsoft le *prometió* al mundo un sistema de archivos con journalist para Windows Vista; pero ni siquiera mejoraron NTFS; con Windows 7 ocurre el mismo accidente y solamente se *parchea* contra algunos bugs a NTFS; se mantienen limitantes tan bizarras como 32 mil carácteres en un path o 2TB para una partición máxima en 32 bits
• Sistema X-Windows con múltiples escritorios; incluso el creador de Linux Gentoo se fue a trabajar para Microsoft en estas tecnologías y en el uso intensivo de XML; ninguna de estas dos cosas ha sido implementada.
• Avalon: El revolucionario sistema de gráficos quedó en simples “Shines & Sparkles” de Aero y la tan mentada  “re-escritura” de la Master Foundation Class (MFC) para controles se quedó en el fondo de la pila del Vaporware de Microsoft.

El Vaporware de Microsoft ha sido tan intenso; que de ser una “nueva y revolucionaria versión”  de Windows (Codename:Blackcomb) Windows 7 pasó a ser una “simple revisión menor y adelgazamiento con Splenda” de Windows Vista.

Ya se inició el vaporware de Windows 8; que incluso dicen que será de 128 bits (tendrían que re-escribir toda su fundación y re-hacer toda su plataforma .NET, algo que obviamente suena a vaporware, nuevamente).

Creo que los premios Vaporware de Wired News debería darle mención honorífica de por vida a Microsoft por su capacidad de hacer ficción en vez de Software todos los años.

Bueno, como una nota para que se rían un rato; lo único *nuevo* que aporta Windows 7 para sus usuarios es una membresía para Casa Club TV; acá un video cortesía de nuestros amigos de Microsoft que les enseña a la gente como hacer “fiestas de instalación” algo “novedosisimo” para ellos pero que se viene haciendo en latinoamérica con los FLISOL (Festivales Latinoamericanos de Instalación de Software Libre) desde 2005; si ven el video, se darán cuenta que parece más un programa de Casa Club TV o Utilisima que un video para promocionar la instalación de un Sistema Operativo.

Debo aclarar que lo único que aprendí con el video es a poner globitos en los FLISOL y serviré pasapalos!

After a slight delay, the Fancy Plans Guide to Rock and Roll has returned (slightly) with a handful of bands hot off the request line, which is located in your comment threads and ignored for long periods of time right here on this blog.

They say “All good things come to those who wait.” I really wish “they” would stop saying that. Enjoy.

Calexico spy an under-tipping diner.

Calexico
As Americans channeling Mexicans and distributed by Germans, Calexico are the “domestic” auto of indie rock. While probably (perhaps even fiercely) American, Calexico are the sum of their foreign-made “domestic” parts, often raising the ire of Lou Dobbs, who normally shows no interest in recorded music, domestic or otherwise.

Following a twisted path through Giant Sand and Friends of Dean Martinez (neé Martin), Calexico gathered up its mariachi leanings and headed for the welcoming climes of Germany, where they recorded their debut album. Due to a translation error and general German good-natured obtuseness, they were listed as “Spoke.”

Having had enough of this foreign bullshit (except for the mariachi stuff), Calexico returned home and re-issued their debut under the correct name. They continued to build their reputation as an “unavoidable” live band by annoying diners throughout Arizona with their flashmob mariachi-ing, often in support of other confrontational groups like Pavement and Lambchop (the latter of which often broke building capacity codes as soon as they entered the restaurant).

They further cemented their pristine indie rep (and swelled their tip jars) by performing with such alt.rock luminaries as Lisa Germano(!), Naim Amor(?) and Nancy Sinatra(!)(indie?).

Having conquered the all-important “street cafe” scene, Calexico went on to conquer NPR’s tastemakers with their multi-cultural blend of interstitial music, which meshed well with the give-and-take of various left-wing pundits. While definitely critical successes in the US, their popularity grows exponentially overseas, which would seem to indicate it is time for Calexico to haul their big-brimmed and sequined asses across the drink and return to the glory of being “big in Germany,” which has worked for so many “fringe” artists over the years.

3rd Place - Donnie Darko Lookalike Contest

Bright Eyes
The brainchild of indie wünderkind Conor Oberst (whose parents mysteriously shorted him an “n”), Bright Eyes burst out of the Omaha scene much the way that anyone bursts out of Omaha: by stumbling badly right out of the gates.

Critics responded to his debut album (the redundantly titled A Collection of Songs Written, Recorded and then Burned onto Round “Compact Discs” and Perhaps Recorded to the Occasional Cassette to be Listened to By Listeners with Stereos and Walkmans and Whatnot, Maybe in Their Car, But This is 1998 So Possibly a Cassette: 1995-1997) with everything from abuse (allmusic.com: “…unintelligible babblings of a child”) to confusion (Omaha Star: “Supposedly music, but I’ll take the remaining members of Journey at the State Fair any day of the week, even without their original singer…”).

Two years down the road Bright Eyes release Fever and Mirrors which is heralded by Pitchfork as “an instant classic, which nobody but us have ever heard of.” Metacritic hails them as “Pending. Still waiting on 5 reviews.” Their “improved” sound is chalked up to a more mature sound due to the addition of instruments such as flute, accordion, clavichord, sousaphone and Ouija board.

Pretension now safely on board and loaded with multi-instrumentalists, Bright Eyes break into the mainstream as a much-heralded “new” artist, despite being in existence for nearly seven years (sort of like adopting a “starter” child). With this celebrated status (and sudden change in tense two paragraphs ago), Oberst and co. begin to reap the perkiest fruit of their labor. Called upon to provide support for a Springsteen tour, Bright Eyes were afforded the opportunity to play to a much larger indifferent crowd when not carrying luggage for the “Boss.”

Soldiering on, periodically releasing an EP or actual album every six weeks or so, Bright Eyes continued to refine their twin powers: bedroom electronica (as displayed on Digital Stems and Seeds on an Electric Ladyland Dust Jacket) and their slightly creepier bedroom acoustical work, which features Oberst sitting on the edge of your bed for hours at a time, alternating between chugging PBR, strumming softly on his guitar and quietly watching you sleep.

Hull's mobsters ranged from "pasty" to "nerdy."

Housemartins
Straight outta Hull, the Housemartins were an English pop group with an infectious sound and a cheery outlook that combined Christianity with Karl Marx, thus ensuring complete rejection by both of their target audiences.

Formed by Paul Heaton and Stan Cullimore who originally performed as a busking duo, (Ed. – Oh. My. God.) the two friends went on to add a few more members in an effort to attract an audience that preferred its musical ambushes came from the hi-fi rather than Tube platforms or duck ponds. Their most notable addition was superstar DJ Fatboy Slim, who agreed to put down the records and cocaine and play some unobtrusive bass under his given name, Beats Int’l Mighy Dub Katz Pizzaman Freakpower Quentin Cook the BPA Norman Cook.

Having ensured their place in history with the addition of their most famous member (added bonus: free remixes for life!), the Housemartins released their biggest (and only) single to date: Happy Hour. The single shot to the top of the charts, aided by a popular claymation promo video featuring the British counterpart to the California Raisins: the Hull Prunes, who spent the entirety of the video doing very British things like “trainspotting” and “bitching about the dole.”

Their next single, Caravan of Love, enjoyed exactly one week at the number 1 spot before being shoved rudely aside by Jackie Wilson’s Reet Petite, which shows exactly what is both very right and very wrong with British musical tastes.

The single’s a cappella styling drew the ire of their biggest fans, prompting shouts of “Judas” during their completely unplugged gig at the Newport Folk Festival. Heaton was in turn prompted to stop the show and say, “Oh, so you’ve heard of him? Let me just take a moment of your time to give you the good news about Jesus H. Marx, who will free us from the twin oppressions of capitalism and rational thought. I would also like to address our growing trade deficit.”

The band split in 1988 but the members have remained friendly, often joining each other’s bowling/busking teams and dropping by while on holiday.

Axl often announced band firings through cleverly trimmed photos.

Guns N Roses
Formed by the common-law marriage of W. Axl Rose (born W. Oral Sex) and Tracii Guns (born Tracy Gunns), Guns N Roses tore apart the hard rock scene with their hard-charging riffs and dangerous behavior, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the Rolling Stones still had their original guitarists and hips.

Perhaps one of the most important bands of ever (and your can drop “perhaps” if you throw “self” in front of “important”), GNR hit the fucking ground running with their debut full-length Appetite for Destruction. While the album itself was a hard-rock revelation, the album cover itself was much more memorable.

The original controversial cover, which featured the band members hanging around a stream in some sharp suits was met with complaints from record store owners, who refused to stock the “weak-ass nature bullshit” in the appropriate “Hard Rock” section.

After a hasty redesign, GNR presented Plan B, an album cover featuring them holding various doll parts whilst standing around in a butcher’s shoppe. Again resistance from record shop (or shoppe) owners was high, leading to threats of “brown bagging” the album due to its general “WTF-ness.” Various iterations were tried and rejected (naked prepubescent girl playing with a model, Slash surrounded by naked electric chicks, a naked 15-year-old hanging out at the park, someone smelling a glove, a robot rapist) before settling on the cover we all ended up with: a heavily stylized depiction of the band as a tattoo template.

As Appetite for Destruction took off, GNR toured tirelessly, inciting riots, destroying hotel rooms and, very occasionally, playing an entire set without storming off. As the band headed back into the studio for their followup, Axl decided GNR needed a new look. He issued a kilt to himself, a top hat to Slash and whiskey bottles and pink slips to the rest of the band. (Thus began the revolving door of GNR musicians, each of which Rose would herald as the band’s savior, until finally refining the group down to its only essential member: W. Axl Rose.)

In 1991, GNR released Use Your Illusion I and II, which was described as “bloated” (as double albums often are) and “mercenary” (as double albums packaged and sold as two distinct single albums often are). Both albums were chart toppers and featured several outstanding tracks, none of which I can think of off the top of my head other than November Rain, which clocked in a 8 hours and 56 seconds, often being the only video MTV had time to play between The Real World, Real World retrospectives and The Grind.

A rare shot from Rose's ill-fated foray into "faith healing."

After the release of the now-prerequisite covers album The Spaghetti Incident?, which featured a rundown of their purported influences, none of which they sounded like, W. Axl Rose headed back into the studio with the remaining band member(s) for the next 15 years.

Although Rose appeared sporadically to announce that the album was “just around the corner” and “fucking awesome,” the LP was not released until November of 2008. Problems began when it became apparent that there were few musicians willing to work with Rose, whom the press had affectionately dubbed “an egotistical maniac.” Holing up in L.A.’s Up My Own Ass studios, Rose issued the honorable threat that he would not release any more music until there was “democracy in China.”

After a decade or so of dicking around, Chinese officials (in conjunction with the independent bottlers of Dr. Pepper) began to call his bluff, beginning with a series of trade embargoes targeted at various takeout joints and dry cleaners in the Hollywood area. As the lack of pepper steak and freshly pressed shirts began to erode Rose’s willpower, China stepped up the pressure, stating that while W. Axl Rose had a “proven track record in the music industry,” they had the “willpower of over a billion oppressed people, most of whom have been forbidden to listen to your music,” adding “not to mention a fuckload of tanks.”

To save face (and the independent bottlers of Dr. Pepper), Rose released the poorly titled Chinese Democracy to rave reviews such as “That’s hard rock, alright…” (Spin, Nov. 2008), “Sounds like Rose’s trademark vocal stylings…” (Bill’s Record Blawg, Dec. 2008) and “We’ve had this album for years…” (thepiratebay.org).

Rose announced through personal assistant Sebastian Bach that Chinese Democracy was the first in a planned trilogy, with the follow ups due to be released in 2023 (“weather permitting”) and 2038 (“…at which point I will likely be dead”).

The Pirate Bay (piratebay.org) invites you to “beat the rush” and check out these two fine albums today.

-CLT

A Microsoft vai lançar o Windows 7 já no próximo dia 22, mas então o que aconteceu ao Longhorn de 2003. Este parecia muito mais avançado que o Vista ou o próprio Windows 7?

Este que aparentava ser o melhor Windows de todos os tempos simplesmente sumiu do mapa?

Estou chocado!!! deixo aqui o vídeo para os mais distraídos saberem o que perderam, afinal não era mais que apenas vaporware?

Nem ao fim de 9 anos conseguiram reproduzir o conceito que desenharam!

In a move first capitalized by The Wizard, viewers got a glimpse of the oft-delayed and just as oft-sued, upcoming MMO Stargate Worlds. In the premier of Stargate Universe, character Eli Wallace is a gamer who finds his way into the Icarus program. After spending months attempting to complete an “unbeatable puzzle,” he gains the attention of Stargate Command. Of course, the game he is playing is none other than Stargate Worlds.

This is the first update on Stargate Worlds’ website since May, and it is unclear at this time whether this is a sign that the game is still going, or if what we saw was just a simple cameo from one section of the IP to another.

It’s only a little but we will have much more to show very soon as we mentioned earlier.

Certainly more to come. I don’t normally report on pure MMO news, but I make an exception for Stargate Worlds. You could make quite a nerdy soap opera based off of the development of Stargate Worlds. Will Stargate Worlds ever be released? Are the claims of the ponzi scheme true? Will Cheyenne’s employees ever be paid? Will Gary Whiting be thrown under the bus? Tune in next time folks! Same vaporware time, same vaporware place!

Microsoft hat seine Meinung geändert. Die Netbook-Befreiungsnachricht kommt direkt aus Redmond, Washington, USA. Daher wird es eben nicht mehr nur die lausige Starter Edition in Kleinstklappis geben (mit maximal 3 Programmen gleichzeitig, und anderen fiesen Einschränkungen), sondern auch alle anderen. Ach, und die Starter selbst soll jetzt doch mehr als 3 Anwendungen task-switchen können.

Na, sowas! Ist es etwa doch keine gute Idee mehr, seine eigenen Produkte künstlich schlechter zu machen, damit die Konsumenten zu einer teureren “Vollversion” greifen? Rätselhaftes Redmond. Da soll einer mal durchblicken. Am Ende ist es wieder nur Vaporware?

[fe]

[via ohgizmo]

]]> http://darkmattermatters.com/2009/09/16/does-transparency-really-have-to-start-on-day-1/ Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:57:55 +0000 cdgrams http://darkmattermatters.com/2009/09/16/does-transparency-really-have-to-start-on-day-1/

Open source folks often talk about transparency as a key part of the open source way. And if you ask most good open source folks when a project should start being open, they’ll say it should be open from the very beginning.

But what does that really mean?

Let’s look at the example of one of the most famous and successful open source projects (and one that is close to my heart), Linux.

Back in January, I wrote a post that broke down the first message Linus Torvalds ever sent out to the world about Linux into some of the key concepts that would become central to the open source way. Linus created a blueprint for the open source culture in the tone of his first email, long before the term “open source” was even coined.

Here again are the first few lines of his initial Linux post from August 25, 1991:

“Hello everybody out there using minix. I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.  This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready.  I’d like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).”

Do you see what I see? Linux had been brewing since April and Linus sent this message out in August. So he actually didn’t open the project up to the world until he was five months into it. Why? Was Linus showing a disregard for transparency? Was he not releasing early and often?

My guess is that he didn’t want to send anything out until he had some basic ideas nailed and kinda knew what he was doing.

If Linus had sent his first message out in April, at the very beginning, it probably would have read something like this:

Hello everyone out there. I’m doing a coding project. I haven’t written any code yet, and I’m not sure exactly what it will do. Anyone in?

Without have a clear vision and goal, it probably would have be difficult to attract people who wanted to help.

So my question is, when should transparency start?

If you are too open too early, you may be accused of hyping vaporware. You may also set yourself up for heavy-handed critique at a point when your project is still too fragile to take it.

Yet if you open up too late, you risk cutting off potential lines of innovation and alienating potential contributors.

So when should transparency start? Honestly, I don’t know… I still struggle with this every day.

I’d love to hear what you think.

Vapor is steam, fog, or a cloud that we can see but we cannot touch. Vaporware is a term that is used by software programmers that describes a software a company promises to release but doesn’t really release it.

Sometimes, vaporware software is released but usually in a later release date than promised.

Thanks to:
Borman, Jami. Computer dictionary for kids…and their parents. Hauppauge, NY: Barrons, 1995.

If an unexpected offer came to you in an Email from someone you don’t know;  it’s a scam.

If the offer defies the laws of physics;  it’s a scam.

If the offer requires heretofore unheard of chemical properties and processes;  It’s a scam.

CareerBuilder via CNN can tell you all about Job Scams…

KeyWords

Losing Weight

Cyber Rainbows and Digital Dreams

A constellation of idiots in a galaxy of fools

Microsoft’s 1991 “Press Computer Dictionary” defined “Vaporware” as follows (taken from Bayus et al.):

“vaporware n.  (1) a product that the vendor keeps promising is about to arrive ‘really soon now’, but it goes so long past its shipment date that no one believes it will ever really ship […] (2) slang for announced software that may never materialize […]; (3) a term used sarcastically for promised software that misses the announced release date, usually by a considerable length of time”

Into management language “vaporware” could probably best be translated as “strategic product pre-announcement”. Especially in technological network markets, corporations with strong market power pre-announce upcoming products and promise a wide range of features so that customers refrain from adopting or even switching to an already existing alternative solution. The rationale behind those strategies is relatively simple and it transcends network markets, reaching into the realm of standardization with network effects in general: “the standard that is expected to become the standard will become the standard”, as Shapiro and Varian put it in their seminal book “Information Rules” (1999, p. 13).

For decades, Microsoft was the uncrowned king of vaporware. (Actually, already in 1985 Bill Gates received the “Golden Vaporware Award” by Infoworld’s editor Stewart Alsop.) The long pre-announced introduction of Windows 95 is legendary and has just recently been topped by Microsoft starting to announce new features of Windows 7 immediately after the release of its unloved Windows Vista.

Seen in this light, the recent reactions of Microsoft officials to Google’s pre-announcement of “Chrome OS” (see “Microsoft vs. Google: New Fronts in a Paradigmatic Battle“) do not lack unintentional humor. Microsoft’s Senior Vice President, Bill Veghte, bemoaned in an interview that “so far Google’s Chrome OS is nothing more than a blog post.” Even more revealing is yesterday’s remark of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, as reported by CNET:

“Gates said it was hard to really say much about Chrome OS, since Google has said so little about how it will actually work. ‘The more vague they are, the more interesting it is,’ he said.”

Both critiques resemble accusations Microsoft regularly had to deal with in the past. But maybe Microsoft is right and Google will be its successor to the throne of vaporware. We will see.

(leonhard)

Passados 2 dias do anúncio oficial do Google Chrome OS, a Microsoft aciona os “canai$ competente$” e convoca a mídia em seu socorro:

Em breve: Microsoft na nuvem – ItWeb

Faz parte do jogo afinal é preciso manter-se como um tema recorrente nas rodas de conversas. Dá para compreender.

Thoughts on Opera Unite una recomendada lectura, para entender la supuesta revolución (con sabor a vaporware) presentada por Opera esta semana. Algunos puntos a resaltar:

• Queda claro que los navegadores buscarán tener más interacciones, pero yo sigo prefiriendo que estas vengan en extensiones que en un navegador monolítico.
• Me da gracia que Opera Unite hable de descentralización de La Nube, cuando al usar Unite terminas usando la infraestructura de Opera y su feo navegador.
• Si bien Unite es mucho más sencillo que instalar Apache/PHP/Mysql y pelear con DynDNS, es decir un producto listo para las masas, la mayoría de la gente no sabe y no le interesa lo que significa “hospedar sus contenidos” por si mismos.

Salvo por los ya fans de Opera, no apostaría que muchos se cambien de navegador solo por ser parte de la revolución.

I recently gave a try to the new microsoft® search engine: bing. And the first thing I did was to configure it the way I like: no results filtering, and the original language (english, in this case).

Take a look at the result:

A translation error in the main search page of bing

Entrada do  blogue “o Vigia”

Esta entrada aqui no blog servirá para de alguma forma explicar ou documentar através de links a forma como a empresa de Bill Gates, Microsoft, subverteu as leis do mercado e criou um monopólio, colocando assim em causa a liberdade de escolha dos consumidores bem como a inovação e desenvolvimento da área de Tecnologias de Informação, uma vez que usou todos os truques sujos e mais alguns para destruir ou adquirir os seus concorrentes directos.

…

Tenho lido e comentado diversos artigos no site português relativo às novas tecnologias, o Tek da Sapo, e uma das coisas que mais me espanta é o enorme desconhecimento por parte das pessoas e até dos jornalistas que lá escrevem, das manobras e truques baixos que a Microsoft sempre usou desde o seu inicio para aprisionar os seus consumidores/clientes bem como destruir os seus concorrentes.

Link para a página do blogue

Neste mesmo blogue uma secção sempre em actualização sobre a MS

Bill Veghte aconselha que os utilizadores do Windows XP não devem actualizar para o Windows Vista.

O Vista é o ultimo S.O. e a actual coqueluche da empresa que o fabricou, a Microsoft. Afinal de contas isto é o que o autor do artigo tem vindo a dizer,  que o Vista é lixo.

It’s official. Bill Veghte, Microsoft’s senior VP for Windows business, told an audience of the Microsoft faithful at TechEd that Windows users should not switch to Vista. Veghte said, “If you’re just starting your testing of Vista, with the [Windows 7] Release Candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the [Windows 7] Release Candidate, and use that going forward.”
In short, Microsoft is finally telling you what I’ve been telling you all along: Vista is junk.
Microsoft has actually been doing this for over a year now. First.

in April 2008, Ballmer described Vista as a “work-in-progress.” Then, he said users should skip Vista in favor of Windows 7 in October

http://blogs.computerworld.com/ballmer_says_skip_vista.

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