What your analysis misses is that Gmail actually addressed a pressing need in the free email marketplace: space. On top of offering an order of magnitude more storage than its competitors, GMail also brought distinct improvements to the email paradigm (tagging, search, spam filtering). That allowed it to attract users from Hotmail/Yahoo and even private web hosts.

If I knew what the pressing need of the social networking marketplace was, I wouldn't post it on Slashdot. Facebook was weak in terms of privacy and controlling the spread of your information, but G+'s circles weren't a killer app. And everything else on G+ is just a Facebook clone.

I wouldn't count G+ out just yet. It's Google after all. Those millions of inactive users could quickly become active if G+ somehow jumps ahead of the curve.

no

I think the issue is: why, other than novelty, would you buy a tablet at all?

no one (not even Apple) has come up with an answer to this question yet.

And yet, it totally is.

Your metaphorical example attests to an understanding of the world that is primarily based on first-person shooters.

Not every problem can be solved by killing someone or blowing something up. In fact, very few problems can be effectively solved that way.

Put the controller down, once in a while, and read a newspaper.

First: there's no convenient place to unload. convenient for the delivery guys that is. do you think if there was a loading zone two blocks over those Coca-Cola delivery guys would park there?

And second: a "scam" implies one party tricking the another into making a foolish decision. in this case, the signs are clearly posted. the delivery companies choose to violate the law and pay the fine. I'm sure they also appreciate that side of the road being clear because they know they can always park there without having to search for a spot... say on the other side of the road.

lol! four replies all stating the obvious and not addressing my point at all.

I recognize that for those delivery guys there's no convenient place to park. the nice open space across the street is available for parking precisely because it's illegal to park there. the reason it's illegal to park there is to keep the roads clear to allow traffic to move freely through the city. when a truck stops to deliver in a no-standing zone they are deliberately inconveniencing hundreds (or thousands) of other vehicles.

they absolutely should get tickets. the delivery companies know it and they don't really care. it's part of the cost of doing business.

Clearly, the only solution is to be your own isp, and only connect to websites you personally control.
Using a web browser you wrote yourself
on an OS you wrote yourself
on a computer you made yourself
assembled from parts you crafted by hand
from scratch.

Or you could accept that with access to the internet comes a loss of privacy.

In which case why would you trust a private company as your ISP more than a local public utility?

wow, really, a scam? that's not a scam, obey parking laws and you don't get a ticket. that's the city saying that letting traffic through on a street has a value and the delivery trucks that impede that traffic have to pay for it. the delivery guys know they're illegally parked. they know they're going to get ticketed. But the company they work for believes that it is more cost-efficient to pay that fine than park the truck legally.

No actual information in the linked article. No way of verifying what they're saying is true or useful.

But don't worry. I am sure Symantec will happily sell you something that will "protect" you from this flood of MBR viruses.

moderation fail

seriously? ok, that is stupid.

No. Come December it will just be Firefox. No number. You want to know what "version" you're running, go to the About dialog.

Stifle criticism? Mozilla releases a beta version of their immensely popular web browser. I read the story on one of the most influential tech-blogs on the internet and instead of a discussion of the features of this new release there are a dozen uninformed posts about how changing the version number from 6 to 7 is a travesty!

It breaks my pluginses, my precious!

Shouldn't there be some statute of limitations on how long people are allowed to grouse about the Firefox version number thing?

Firefox is free, customizable, and is pretty awesome as a web browser. Did I mention that it's free?

There's also a post complaining about memory usage. It's always nice to spice things up with the last super-popular Firefox complaint.

Sigh.

the key word there is not "cop", it's "asshole". the beating in the video is a clear case of police brutality. this suit is just a case of a stupid jerk being a stupid jerk. And in all likelihood it will not turn out well for him.