Comment Re:What a Troll! (Score 1) 395
No, but they do move to save on labor costs (including worker safety), environmental regulations, and consumer product regulations. Or maybe you're right, it's all about the taxes.
Comment Re:Stability (Score 3, Insightful) 891
Just look at Office 2007. Word looks and behaves nothing like Outlook or OneNote. In Windows, the big players tend to have fairly good interfaces, but as soon as you move away from the over-$100 realm of Windows software, you're in amateur land and the interfaces quickly devolve into a case study in worst practices. I find that I much prefer using ported Gnome software in Windows than many native solutions. Yes, Photoshop is a fantastic program, but I'd take GIMP over ArcSoft abominations any day of the week. At least I don't have to pay for GIMP.
This article should really be titled "Why Users Drop Cheaper Programs for More Expensive Ones". At least the open source solutions generally resist the urge to insert ads into their software and use a bunch of proprietary widgets.
Comment Re:In another news... (Score 4, Funny) 859
The parent post answers an important question: what sort of analogy do you make when the story is about cars?
Comment Re:Buh? (Score 1) 386
In Vista you can tag Microsoft Office documents, but that is all. The files I use most, PDFs, are not taggable. Nor are text files, or open office files, or anything else for that matter. You can search, but the interface isn't great.
Comment Re:Hulu sucks...period (Score 1) 375
Visiting multiple websites isn't that difficult. That is why we have bookmarks. They allow us to easily and quickly go to a page that we have visited previously. I know for instance that Battlestar Galactica is on Hulu but Lost is on abc.com. So, when I want to watch Lost I go to abc.com and when I want to watch BSG I go to hulu. This isn't a problem. If this becomes too burdensome for consumers then the media companies will simply fail as people will stop visiting them. Right now I get ALL of my television from hulu, with the exceptions of Lost (abc.com) and some PBS stuff (digital converter box). I get more than enough TV right now. If a new show comes around that wants my attention, it would do well to distribute itself through one of the channels I already frequent.
I agree that it is a bit stupid for a media company to wall itself off, especially in the near future when more and more people drop cable/satellite for Internet based television. Right now abc probably has no problem getting people to watch Lost on their website. This is not really a burden to consumers though. Besides, Hulu is actually reducing fragmentation. I mean, we could have a situation where you have to go to Nbc.com to see the Office and then over to scifi.com to watch BSG. Instead, I can watch both of those on Hulu. That seems like a win to me. Also, unlike with iTunes and cable, I don't have to pay to watch TV. The ads on hulu are the exact right length so that I don't mind watching them.
I agree that it is a bit stupid for a media company to wall itself off, especially in the near future when more and more people drop cable/satellite for Internet based television. Right now abc probably has no problem getting people to watch Lost on their website. This is not really a burden to consumers though. Besides, Hulu is actually reducing fragmentation. I mean, we could have a situation where you have to go to Nbc.com to see the Office and then over to scifi.com to watch BSG. Instead, I can watch both of those on Hulu. That seems like a win to me. Also, unlike with iTunes and cable, I don't have to pay to watch TV. The ads on hulu are the exact right length so that I don't mind watching them.
Comment Re:I used to be just like you. (Score 5, Funny) 361
...I haven't touched Pocket IE in a very long time.
Neither has Microsoft.
Submission + - Time's Top 50 Web Sites for 2007 (time.com)
stoolpigeon writes: "Time magazine has chosen and posted what they consider to be the top 50 web sites of 2007. Sites that they say show, "...exceptional style and smarts, sites that offer new and improved ways to access and share content, generate our own and otherwise enrich the online (and off-line) experience.""
Submission + - NYT Article About One of the Original Phreaks 1
tmalone writes: The New York Times is running an end of year piece about the most interesting people who have died this year. One of their picks is Joybubbles, also known as Josef Engressia, or "Whistler". He was born blind and discovered at the age of 7 that he could whistle 2600 hertz into a phone to make free long distance calls. He was one of the original phone phreaks, got arrested for phone fraud, and was even employed by the phone company. The article deals more with his personal life (he was abused at a home for the blind) than with his technical exploits, but is a very interesting story.
Submission + - Top 10 independent games of 2007 (gametunnel.com)
cliffski writes: "2007 marks the sixth year of the Game Tunnel Independent Game of the Year awards. It's been a long journey to get here and each year it seems Indie games are just a little better known by the gaming public at large, which we view as tremendously good news.
The games themselves also seem to get a bit better each year, mixing unique visions with innovation to create experiences that speak to the heart of gamers.
Each of the games is a winner in its own right, an undiscovered gem just waiting to be found. So dim the lights and warm up your modem, as Game Tunnel presents: The Top 10 Independent Games of 2007."
