one that is a totally time waster is due to several factors -

1. The skill of the one holding (chairing) the meeting

2. The way the information being conveyed

Let's face it --- The purpose of having meeting is to convey messages and to encourage exchange of views of the participants - either top-down, bottom-up, horizontal, or all of the above

The skill of the one who chair the meeting is crucial - but unfortunately I have been to too many meetings whereby those who supposed to be leading the meeting don't even know why they are there to begin with

I have been in all kinds of meeting - from the ridiculous to the marvelous

Back in China where I was from, back when the cultural revolution was still raging, 'meeting' was a mean used by the 'elite' to spread their propaganda, and to 'enhance' the effect of those meeting, the elite will incorporate episodes of 'showing example' whereby they would parade those who have been accused of 'counter-revolutionary' and publicly punish them (sometimes ended with summary execution) in front of everyone

While that was taking place, the participants, no matter if they were horrified with what happened in front of them, were all enthusiastically applauding the 'elites' with their 'righteous acts'
 
.....
 
But I have been in excellent meetings as well, meetings that have been led by people who know what they are doing, and do it very well

People's attention span is short. A meeting can only be successfuly if it doesn't end up cramming the brains of the participants with all kinds of garbage

Information must be pre-sieved before any meeting has taken place so that the info that were being disseminated during the meeting can easily be digested and understood and absorbed

Powerpoint is only a tool - it is far from perfect

But for people who knows what they are doing, even an imperfect tool such as Powerpoint (and all the open-sourced variants) can aid in information dissemination

That is why a call for banning meeting and/or Powerpoint altogether is mindless to the very fucking core

I'm not sure that logic plays through. Frankly, for Microsoft, the real problem is that damned few people really even consider Microsoft mobile products at all. They're a niche player, competing with BlackBerry for who will end up pushed right out of the market.

Imagine you're Microsoft, you're faced with the possibility that you will never, even if you heavily subsidized a mobile Windows product line, be able to make any significant headway into the iOS-Android hegemony. What would you do? If it was me, I'd quietly admit that I'm never going to be able to dominate mobile platforms the way I do desktops and portable computers, and I'd leverage what I had by opening up my software to more platforms.

This isn't even a revolutionary idea for Microsoft. They once owned their own *nix platform; Xenix. Windows NT itself was designed a hardware abstraction layer so it could be ported to multiple hardware platforms. But somewhere along the line Microsoft and the x86 computer manufacturers welded themselves together. I can't say it was a bad decision, as it made Microsoft and Intel absolute shitloads of money for a quarter century, but at the same time it seems to have frozen Microsoft in place. It became a one-trick pony, only able to envision itself in a world of Backoffice apps and OEM licensing. Now it's got to be nimble again, and as it has already effectively ceded a large portion of the computing products out there to Apple and Google, it's got to make the best it can with what it has.

No, this seems to be evolving into "Embrace... or die."

The world is a very different place for Redmond, and if they want to hang on to any piece of the consumer market, they need to get their software on to all the major platforms.

First of all, I'm not British, so I only meant this as an outside observation. I'm Canadian, so certainly well versed in the realities of Westminster politics.

Second of all, as much as Cameron may be far from ideal, I don't think he's any kind of Palpatine. As much as anything, he's been delivered the fruits of the Labour meltdown in Scotland which began in 2010 and now appears to be permanent.

I do think that the specter of a Labour government reliant on the SNP disturbed a good many English, and I think there are reasonable grounds to argue that, for England, the idea of a Devo-maxed Scotland still able to push English MPs around on matters of largely English concern demonstrates fundamental inequities. And before we all forget, it is Labour, as much as anyone, who created this dilemma by dealing with the Scottish question, and going out of its way not to deal with English question.

At any rate, British voters had their chance to pick a new electoral system that would have made the ability of any party to form government with less than even a 40% share of the popular vote far less likely. They rejected that. Coupled with what looks to be a permanent break with Labour in Scotland, and the phenomena of UKIP actually stealing more Labour votes than Conservative votes in the North, the Tories probably have a good chance of repeating the 2015 election again, providing they don't go completely off the rails. And that will moderate them as much as anything. Their first majority in 23 years is not something they're going to be keen to throw away on a pack of Thatcheresque exploits.

The alternative being a weak Labour government with its balls firmly in the Nats hands.

If there was ever an election that was a choice of the lesser evil, the 2015 UK general election was it.

Shanghai Bill, I have read a lot of the comments you post on /. and I gotta say that they are very balanced and informative

Okay, regarding this 'blame the parent' piece from Google there is nothing to understand --- What Google is trying to do, and in fact, what TPTB has been trying to do to all of us is to impart a sense of 'powerlessness' so that we, collectively, will have to ask them (aka TPTB) for help, to solve our powerlessness

It's just another brick on the wall, so to speak --- the entire thing is structured, piece by piece, to make us feel useless, make us feel that we essentially can't accomplish anything on our own

You see, first, they blame the "male-dominated society" for 'discouraging' the girls from participating in the tech

Then they set up programs exclusively for girls to 'learn the tech', as if to show us --- the male portion of the society, that they are taking power away from us

And to further gaining ground, they are accusing the parents for failing their girls

It's all part of the psy-ops that they are running against the citizens --- designed specifically to enhance their dominance over us, the people

Shanghai Bill, you have spent quite a lot of years outside of USA, your time away from the US enables you to see things from another perspective

And I, originally from China, came to America as a young refugee, also comes equipped with the ability to analyse the American phenomenon, with both the view of an outsider as well as that of an insider

What I am seeing in America, since my arrival in the early 1970's, is the increasing power of TPTB, and their overbearing dominance over the populace

Right now, as we speak, TPTB's plan is in their final stage --- their aim being turning the American society, a society supposed to be based on freedom and liberty, in to a society in which TPTB will become an essential part, a part in which the society can't exist without

That is why they are doing what they are doing

Unfortunately most of the Americans can't see what's going on

I hope you can see what I am seeing, Shanghai Bill

Not to rain on your parade, son

Through their latest action the Europeans have proved to the world that they would rather kiss Uncle Sam's behind, no matter how smelly it is, than to stand up to that big. bad. fucking. bully.

The United States is itself already pretty much fucked up, but in this caset, Europe, thanks to the "European Parliament", has become even more fucked up than the US

"Shall I felate you with my misshapen blackened teeth, luvvey?"

"Please do, dearest, and I shall think of England while you do it!"

You guys always look down on countries in Asia / Africa such as India or Kenya

You guys always think that countries such as India can never catch up

I have news for you...
 
While it is true India does have its hands full with the myriad problems that it is facing, India has bean growing leaps and bounds in terms of improving its own infrastructures and in its talent pool for the past few decades, and THIS TREND IS RAPIDLY ACCELERATING IN SCALE

I know, because I do have businesses in India, and I go to India several times every year

To India and to all Indians - as you guys have seen for yourself the snobbery the "Western People" are towards India, isn't it time India stands up and show the world - especially those Western snobs - what you can

Show 'em, India!!

You seriously think that an entire civilization was built on sexual slavery, and the emancipation of it women will bring it down?

Boy this place sure does attract the dark underbelly.

Well, now women have full civil liberties, and that is that.

Civilization will survive husbands not being able to rape their wives. And yes I support a spouse's right to leave a marriage. Women are not chattel, which was the underlying argument for spousal assault.

Why indeed. I have no issue with multiple spouses, though I wouldn't want to be part of such a group.

But one step at a time.