Agreed.
I've recommended Google Apps to countless users. Some of them even eventually upgraded to paying. Most now use Chrome and all the other Google ecosystem stuff.

Now that you have to pay up front I will no longer recommend Google Apps. Because it's so expensive comparatively speaking it's not an easy sell.
You have 10 email accounts and now have to pay $250+ / year.

Should be a bundle plan ... 10 users for $50 / year. I'd consider continuing to recommend that.

As a web designer I have always recommended customers use Google Apps for their Email instead of the web host, CPanel or whatever.

Lots of benefits.
- Apps interface way better than whatever most typical hosts offer.
- If the host goes offline your email still works.
- Great mobile support.
- List goes on.

However most small businesses spend maybe $10-$15 / month on web hosting (Dreamhost, GoDaddy, most Cpanel hosts etc..).
And they might have 5-10 email accounts which you can always setup free at the host.

So $50/year per email account on Google Apps is suddenly WAY OUT OF THE BALLPARK. A small busness with 10 email accounts would be paying Google $500 / year for Email .. and only $120 / year for Web Hosting which always includes Email (albeit not as good).

It should be ~ $50 / year for a Google Apps account that supports 10 users ... that is market bearable for a small business who's pricing expectations are set by the shared hosting company.

Well ... it's a bit of a stretch ... but quoted from Scientific American and BBC news ...

In the current issue of the South African Journal of Science, Francis Thackeray of the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria and his colleagues document the presence of cocaine and myristic acid (a plant-derived hallucinogen) in clay-pipe fragments retrieved from the beloved bard's Stratford-Upon-Avon home. Their analysis also hints at the presence of marijuana residues.

Though the pipe cannot be definitively linked to Shakespeare himself, it is certain that it dates to the 17th century. This fact came as a surprise to the scientists; previously, the earliest known record of cocaine in Europe dated to only 200 years ago.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=shakespeare-on-drugs

Most concussed people know something wrong. Some choose to ignore it.

Most "sober non-drug using people" would agree that some of the best literary, artistic and musical material ever produced was created "under the influence" (see top selling music sales figures, read alice in wonderland etc.). Popular culture has always been "inspired" in some way shape or form by the influence of mind altering substances. Caffeine is a good example.

As you mention - it probably is a bad idea and I'm sure many injured their brains, livers and lives in the process. No argument there.

That's not the point though. The point is whether or not the drug helped their creative process in such a way that they wouldn't have been able to do without. And whether it could give Programmers a brain boost in a similar fashion.

With respect to his drug use, Steve Jobs explained that he used LSD from 1972 through 1974.

"Throughout that period of time I used the LSD approximately ten to fifteen times," Jobs said. "I would ingest the LSD on a sugar cube or in a hard form of gelatin. I would usually take the LSD when I was by myself. I have no words to explain the effect the LSD had on me, although, I can say it was a positive life changing experience for me and I am glad I went through that experience.”

But LSD wasn't the only drug that Jobs had an affinity for way back when - it was the 70's after all.

Specifically, Jobs was also no stranger to smoking both marijuana and hashish, explaining that he used to smoke it with friends and even used to eat pot brownies. During the course of his DoD interview, Jobs said that the last time he got high was in 1977. Explaining the impetus behind his marijuana usage, Jobs said that it helped him relax and made him more creative.

Source

Same experience here. 2-3 days of mild withdrawal symptoms whenever I temporarily quit caffeine! Of course I never really quit because I end up drinking it again at some point.

Why would you use a hosted Office solution in a business environment when you give up ownership of the content you create using such systems because the content is saved onto the cloud?

Lets say I use a hosted office solution to write a book. It saves by book onto the cloud. Who owns it?

Studies are being done. They seem to indicate that cannabis does have a positive influence on the subject's creative performance.

Creative programming and creative problem solving.

Musicians and artists for example do benefit from recreational marijuana use. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine as saying that marijuana helped him write Pet Sounds. Shakespeare, Carl Sagan, Paul McCartney .. the list goes on and on .. have all said that the use of cannabis had a profound positive experience on their creative process.

So it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that cannabis could also provide a mental "boost" to a programmers mindset as well. In terms of problem solving or inspiring creativity.

Dear Apple,

I am a huge fan that has been left underwhelmed recently. Here's what you need to do to turn things around:

1. You need to offer more selection of "new" iPhones. I want to be able to choose from different new models, new colours, and new price points. You let me do this with iPods ... even iPads now ... so why is there only ever "one" new iPhone???

2. iOS6. When I got my iPhone 5 I upgraded from iOS3. And to my surprise not much has changed. Many things got worse somehow - feeling clunky with lots of bloat. Siri is useless, Maps took a wrong turn, the Interface hasn't changed at all and the Settings Menu is really unorganized compared to OSX System Prefs for instance.

3. The screen size. You should have made it proportionally larger. So do that next time. Otherwise most Apps run smaller, Videos look smaller, Photos look smaller. Everything actually looks smaller on the bigger screen.
(to everyone saying then it wouldn't fit in your hand - take a look at the iPad Mini photos which is massive compared to the iPhone and still fits in one hand).

4. Laptop pricing. I used to be able to get a 13" MacBook for about $1000.

Now the only laptop under $1000 is 11" (way too small for everyday business use) and everything else is overpriced. I don't mind paying more for Apple products because I do believe the experience is better - however your laptop pricing is ridiculous these days. I am in teh market for a new laptop and I don't understand why they are so much more expensive now?

5. OSX ... I love it. But it's starting to feel like you are losing focus on that too. Launchpad is umm... blah. F12 widgets whatever that is I never use (what's with all these hidden secondary desktops??). The App Store on OSX feels half-baked. Moving the Software Update into the App store makes things harder to use. Overall a bit of a fail the past few releases.

6. iPad Mini, should have been retina. iPod is retina, iPhone is retina, new iPad is retina, MacBooks are moving to Retina ... wtf?

Anyhow get more iPhone selection, fix the laptop pricing, and refocus your OS's ... and things will be good again.

Thanks!

No it won't CRUSH in Q4 which is why we keep hearing about how Foxxcon is having trouble making the iPhone5 and they are having trouble meeting demand ... so Apple will say that they didn't meet sales expectations because they couldn't get enough into the supply chain at the right time.

Do terminally ill witches get to die with dignity too now or do they still get hanged?

2001 to 2011 (Jobs era)

- Apple products cost more but you always had bragging rights ...

2012 (Cook era)

- Apple products cost even more but you no longer have bragging rights ...
- Mac line is pricing itself out of existence ... why can’t I get a 13” Mac laptop for under $1000 anymore?
- iPad Mini no Retina? ... even iPod Touch has Retina?
- iOS 6 underwhelming ... starting to feel dated ...
- iPhone 5 why didn’t you make the larger screen proportionally larger?
- OSX App Store and Software Update interface is awful ... Launchpad looks even worse ...

This unphysical non-Euclidean post brought to you by Hewlett Packard.

That's even scarier then. Why should the police be allowed to cruise around a neighbourhood and peer into people's homes without a warrant? Whatever happened to privacy?