It was christmas eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me: won’t see another one
And then they sang a song
The rare old mountain dew
I turned my face away and dreamed about you
Flat Fact: Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was an English singer-songwriter.
MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. During this era, she often sang on recordings produced by her husband Steve Lillywhite, notably those of The Smiths and the song “Fairytale of New York” by Pogues.
MacColl was killed in a controversial boating incident in Mexico.
Still Love You Kirsty, You left a legacy…..
Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I´ve got a feeling
This year´s for me and you
So happy christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
Where all our dreams come true.
They got cars big as bars
They got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It´s no place for the old
When you first took my hand on a cold christmas eve
You promised me broadway was waiting for me
You were handsome you were pretty
Queen of new york city when the band finished playing they yelled out for more
Sinatra was swinging all the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night.
And the boys from the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out for christmas day.
You´re a bum you´re a punk
You´re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy christmas your arse I pray god it´s our last.
And the boys of the NYPD choir’s still singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out
For christmas day.
I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can´t make it out alone
I´ve built my dreams around you
And the boys of the NYPD choir’s still singing Galway Bay
And the bells are ringing out
For christmas day.
To byl předvečer vánoční babe s opilá nádrž starý muž řekl mi: neuvidí jiný a pak jim zpívali píseň the vzácné staré horské Rosa I zapnuta můj obličej pryč a snili o vás máte o některou ze štěstí Came v 18 na jedno I´ve dostal pocit tohoto year´s pro mě a budete tak Šťastné a veselé vánoční miluji baby vidím lepší čas, kde všechny naše sny přicházejí PRAVDA. Jejich dostal automobilů velký jako pruhy, kterým získali řek zlata, ale větru přechází právo prostřednictvím vám It´s místo u starého při první následovala mé ruky na studené předvečer vánoční, vám slíbil mi broadway bylo čekání pro mě jste byly hezký jste byli krásná královna nový york města po dokončení kapela hraje jim yelled další Sinatra byl Kyvné všechny drunks, které jim byly zpěvu jsme zalité na rohu pak tančila přes noc. A chlapci z sbor NYPD byly zpívající Galway Bay A zvony byly vyzváněcí vánoční den. You´re zadek you´re punk You´re staré šlapky na nevyžádané ležení zde téměř mrtvé odkapávací v tomto lůžko je scumbag jste maggot je levný bídné faggot Happy vánoční váš zadek I naše poslední modlit boha it´s. A kluci NYPD sbor zpívající stále Galway Bay A zvony byly vyzvánění pro vánoční den. Mohl jsem byl někdo dobře tak, aby mohl každý, kdo vám trvalo mé sny ze mě když jste uložili je se mnou babe umístíte prvních nalezených jim s vlastní Can´t dělají mimo samotné I´ve postaven mé sny kolem vás a kluci z sbor NYPD’s stále zpívající Galway Bay A zvony jsou vyzvánění pro vánoční den.
christmas イブ ベーブ、老人が私に言った酔っぱらって戦車であった: もうひとつ見当たりません And 彼らは歌を珍しい古い山は私の顔を離れたまわってきたものにエイティーン I´ve でこの私と、そんな楽しい christmas は year´s 私たちの夢が実現 Where ほうが時間を確認できます赤ん坊大好きな感じだが、幸運なもので、「夢露歌った。 それら川の金をもらったバーとして大きな車をもらったが、風が右に行くところ、私 broadway 私には、待っていたを約束の冷たい christmas 前夜に手を最初にかかった場合、古いはハンサムないたは、It´s NEW YORK バンド彼らについて・ シナトラ We Then を通じて夜をまって、角にキスを歌っていた酔っ払いをすべてゆらぎいた yelled の再生が完了すると都市の美しい女王をしました。 少年 NYPD 聖歌隊席からゴールウェイ湾を歌っていたし、鐘が christmas 日は鳴りいた。 You´re、浮浪者 you´re、パンク、古い男の子がほとんど死んで、点滴でそのベッド、scumbag で、maggot、安い悪いファゴット Happy christmas 私は最後神 it´s を祈り、arse 係り迷惑メールで You´re。 少年たちの NYPD 聖歌隊席のまだゴールウェイ湾を鐘が christmas 日は鳴りされたとした And 歌います。 私が Well 人がそうはまず、私が私と私を置いてベーブつづけたが見つかった場合、私の夢からかかったすべてのユーザーが自分の Can´t で、私の夢、回避を構築するだけで I´ve をするし、少年の NYPD 聖歌隊席のまだ歌ってゴールウェイ湾を鐘が christmas 日の鳴っているとしたとします。
I like to be inspired. Humanity is so wonderful. The title of this song is Forever Young. Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story called Breakfast of Champions. He loves America but he laughs at it’s Arrogance. The book expresses RVR because, he, the author, goes into the book and meets the characters. [Virtiual Reality's original medium was the book] He is God. The hero Kilgore Trout doesn’t believe him so with a few strokes of his pen The Author wisks the hero around the world. The hero gasps and falls to his knees. The Author says “Do you want something?” The Hero says “Make me young” The last page is a hand drawn picture of Kurt Vonnegut, a single tear rolls down his cheek. I think we have a Universal Truth here. Humanity’s deep rooted desire to leave a legacy, to have a raison d’etre. So much of the universe we inhabit appears chaotic. I tie it in with “The Day The Earth Stood Still” where Human Beings are to be wiped off the Earth because their Arrogance is destroying it. But they are saved because they are special. I am reminded of the Aliens in “Artificial Intelligence” [AI] The Aliens tell the robot child that Human Beings are Unique in the universe. They also say Nothing Ever Dies. Your Engram remains as part of the web of the universe for all time. But the aliens become The Blue Fairy to grant the robotic child, an avatar, Humanity’s greatest accomplishment and to give Humanity’s Greatest Gift: Unconditional Love. But warn him that once brought back the engram of his mother will disappear from the space-time continuum. The Love is that of A Mother for her Child, Like that of The Creator For His Creation. The Sacrifice Is Ultimate. Jesus did it. And At The End of Days , We Sleep
Wow. I think I can die now. I just peaked. Fancy a pint?
“The Board looked closely at your application, but felt that it was within a sector that is excluded from consideration”
Just Telling It Like It Is I needed 3,391 euros to operate in the first year.I would employ two people from the live register immediately…. In The Second year I forcasted 100k profit ? I think. Sorry a bit upset. And its part of:
“The Board looked closely at your application, but felt that it was within a sector that is excluded from consideration”
i. e. The Internet …Ready?
The Plan: Weddings, Photography, The Internet. What if, on the day of a couples wedding, I could put up their pictures on the internet? Who would take them? Well, anyone with a camera phone, they just SMS them to me, I upload them to my computer and then upload them to the internet. Yeah! So what to call it? Has to be easy to remember…..how about “Weddings On The Internet” So I invested 10 euros and got http://WeddingsOnTheInternet.com
The secondary ones may have expired by now, I got a 30 day free trial and The County Enterprise Board turned me down. I need 36 euros and don’t have it because Irish People Hate Disabled People (see previous post)
Sorry I may be boring you but the saga is reported on my blog a copy is here :
Weddings On The Internet
I started a new venture on Wednesday., putting Wedding Albums on the web. Our local hotel is having a formal wedding fair so I thought I would have a stand. Hmmm. I registered weddingsontheinternet.com on Thursday morning , it seemed like a good name. I designed a web page.
Page !
I thought I better make it official so I registered “Weddings On The Internet ” as a business name with CORE (Dublin Castle) . I suppose I should explain who we are….[I forgot...saw a ladies telephone number in the printer on Tuesday and jotted it down, she does flowers. Gave her a bell, explained what I was at said she would meet me Thursday......]
Page 2
And what about images……so I hunted on line in my favourite professional picture site…
Page 3
Tought I would take a break and try out some new image software. I took a picture I liked and “doctored” it with a wedding couple. Hmmm it looked good…..
Page 4
I popped out and checked that my printing company could give me some time tomorrow. I said I would need about 30 minutes uninterrupted. I phoned the printing head office, explained what I was doing. Lady said the boss would phone me back. Had some lunch and lthought about a new shop I want to open selling second hand computers. Had a chat with the owners friend (I do their web site). Hmmmm….
Back home…now the next page……
Page 5
ok. Its a bit dry and why do it? What’s the reason for all this…….
Page 6
Yep! Good Reason! Ok so how much is all this going to cost? Hmmmm…
People spend a minimum of 4k, more often 6k. on their weddings (for ONE day!) So, I am giving them The Internet and their grandchildren and everybody in the world who has an Internet connection.. Now how much is The Internet worth? Philip smiles….
Page 7
add THE WOW FACTOR…..
Page 8
~Done …So last page “So long and thanks for all the fish” lol
[Sorry got the Time Line messed up a bit ~ downloading Windows 7 in the background...Anyway met Bridget and she will provide two bouquets, two floor standing trees, two button holes....]
So. 25 perspex folders, 1 hole punch, 25 cardboard folders (give-a-way cause people collect loads of brochures and drop them and lose them….so,30 x 9 print outs of the above pages, 9 A3 glossy photos like this:
Spent €121 on printing. [BTW downloaded Office 2007 Pro , it's gorgeous but WOW OUTLOOK WOW I'll do a movie....]
[sooo busy...Windows 7 stuff great operating system. made a quick video......
See The Tullamore Tribune got press coverage......for Weddings and registered InternetWeddings.eu .eu will be the next big thing...sorry haven't edited it yet.
Oh well off to Dublin gfor Windows 7 bash ! Great Stuff!!!!
btw got a new widget...don't even know if it works....
Soorrryyy so busy......BUT LOOK AT THIS PLEASE!
" Camera phones offer snapshot of our time, by Victor Keegan
If the dighital revolution had produced nothing except the camera phone, it would still have had a transformative effect on most people's lives. It is not only in the throes of destroying whole industries - such as film processing and standard canmeras - but it has also changed these devices from being aa passive recorder of life into an active, constant participant. You can take photos or videos and send them directly to web sites..." (We provide the web site, we provide the gallery, we provide the platfor...we get the image, it is up on the Internet 30 minutes nlater ...LIVE!)."..more than 60% of the world's population already has a mobile and MORE THAN HALF HAVE A CAMERA PHONE1...This year 90% of all phones shipped will have cameras....now...a camera phone has become an extension of a person."
The Guardian 15th October 2009
Well ...Think I got my first booking...Sat Night in DeBrúns generated some leads. Oh Friday...Repaired my computer a blank system...oohh Thursday...sorry guys...Windows 7 tech do....wait for the Windows 7 blog on Thursday....Ok heres a videooo...uhhh...
Sorry Thats the wrong one...thats for visually impaired peeps...Its this one
Ok theres a taste.......Got the sound a bit...oh well only took me 3 trys.....Windows 7 sorta needs widescreen... At the Tech thing got a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. BTW nah I've forgotten...never mind So, where was I? Oh yea applied to a TV3 Entrepreneur Start-Your-Own-Business competition. My Application got accepted so it may work. Don't stand a chance but nothing ventured.......Then think I made a new friend, I hope so anyway, Paul R, said he might give me a hand. Sent me a nice email...
Applied for a grant with the Enterprise board, took me 15 minutes, well spent I think....Approached three friends to give me a hand...ones accepted so we have the best cybercafé in town as a resource and 12 PCs with a fast Internet connection.....
cool
Oh and got the Local Job club on board. There are about 3000 people unemployed in Tullamore...well 3001 think I lost my job today...Well he hadn't paid me for 3 days... I'd been working for him for 3 weeks. Here is the Job application if anyone needs a job....
Design and print master copies of all flyers and posters
Distribution of flyers in all local shops and premises and to work place industrial estates
3 hours Saturday on-site 9.30 pm to 12.30 am (night) taking professional photos of hen parties, clients and anyone who wants one. (aver 35)
Format photos with professional image editing software, edit and crop as appropriate
Format for web
Manipulate images and process into 3d web gallery software
Up load to web
Create link to gallery from main site
Process images into A4 format (pdf file)
Print two copies and deliver to premises for collection ( printing at employees cost)
Include phone number for clients to have extra copies plus A3 Glossy if required (price at cost of printing)
3 meetings per week re design
Liaise with staff over web content and design
Analyses feedback from staff and clients
Review, test, experiment, hard copy, review
Create regular backups of all work on two external storage facilities with encryption
In the event of death or severe injury, alternative access to all the above must be provided
Must have Professional photography experience of at least 15 years
Should be familiar with html, CSS, Flash, xml, object embedding, design strategies and common operating system extensions
Video editing and familiarisation of YouTube uploading
Preferred Windows 7 compliant. Should have own broadband Internet connection (not supplied)
Candidates will provide their own computer system and maintain it (No assistance given)
Professional membership of all major on-line user groups required
Christmas bonus of €100 may be paid subject to performance, not usually paid in the first year
No holiday entitlement, no sick pay, no pension. Should be available via mobile anytime.
Job may be terminated with 1 hours notice.
The successful candidate will not engage in any work for an establishment conducting a similar business
And will be an active participant in training courses (at candidates own cost0
The successful candidate will have : 10 megapixel camera with zoom , on camera editing, flash , spare memory card and battery back-up (not supplied)
The candidate will be expected to maintain a clean and tidy appearance and of pleasant demeanour with an engaging out-going personality.
Familiarity with current media content required
No expenses
Salary is :
Salary €60 (sixty Euros) per week paid in arrears, tax, national insurance to be arranged by the employee.
Any offers? You get a free Company T Shirt tooo....ok gooa go...
Who said
" I shouldn't have put the two forward slashes in. It would have saved a fortune in printing"
So not only did I have an IDEA I would employ people too. Maybe I will have to put up "Irish People Hate Employment"?
Maybe......
As with all new businesses there were setbacks (You could skip this bit and read Irish People Hate Disabled People but you have probably al ready read it) Any way The Story continues...Don't you just love Blogs?
5. Planned Evening sessions. Nite Club on Saturdays for 16 year olds called WTF? REM: Invite BeardyMan; Monday Nite is Movie Nite Called "That'll Do Pig" opening with "Babe" Theme song Leonard Cohen " Chelsea Hotel...You got away, didn't you, Babe... " . Show "Cool Hand Luke" on Good Friday.
Friday Nite is the Casino Called "Phil's Café Americain" Casablanca playing in the background, roulette wheel for charity "Ravens Kiss"Over 30's only.
The Place looks Gorgeous. Installed LCD screen in the window mirroring the main inside! WOW! Applied to the local peoples bank for €2k.
Ordered a server for 16PatrickStreet.com, 8 gigs of RAM! On Interbnet backbone with 1,800 gigs of bandwidth
6....... > Oh dear. Got beaten up (alledgedly) by the owner's son (alledgedly) and a Thuggee...Got thrown out into the street. Called The Cops but Locks changed. Electricity turned off. All is Dark. Oh dear
Sorry, You must be getting bored.....
Sorry btw ...Got Turned Down by the People's Bank
Set up my Dunne Stores LapTop, plugged into The Internet Thingy
not happy with the cops so complained sort of... Beefed everything up a tad by adding a criminal lawyer and my doctor into the mix.... Popped out for lunch and had a very nice salad with fetta cheese, loads of olives, tikka chicken and Bruschetta on the side The chef makes his own salad dressing. I mean, forget Ceaser..... btw my #irishthursday twitter is so funny...ha ha ha Thought i better be creative to re-charge the old batteries so made this:
They have cut off my Internet because I have not paid the bill
Why did I not pay the bill? Well as a disabled person I get a household allowance, but they stopped it. I have been disabled for 5 years
Why did they stop my allowance? Because I moved, I was told to move by my landlord. I moved from No 11 to No 47. I told Social Services two months ago. They have accepted I have moved and are paying me housing benefit
They stopped my household benefit, i.e. because I moved and this is a different section they stop it automatically. Perhaps the process of moving cures disabilities? I have to re-apply. Earlier this year I had the same problem. It took them 5 months to sort it out after I complained to the minister of social welfare.
I am using an old temporary Internet connection that has no credit but the company will take an hour to register the fact that I am using it
I thought I better mention it in case I do not get connected again for some time
Times are a bit hard because I took in a homeless single mum and her 10 year old son who were evictted illegally by their landlord who forged thier rent book. I have documented prood of this which I will publish on http//scribd.com/pjfbncyl J’accuse. She gets no benefit either
My mobile phone is about to be cut off too. I had to get a new one because I was physically beaten up by two irish men. I tried to call the Gardai for help but they smashed my phone during the assault. I tried to get legal representation but was refused as it is a criminal matter. The Gardai came and took statements. I have heard nothing from them. the account of the events, written two hours after it happened is here
At sixteen minutes past five on 23rd November 1963, a British television institution was born. Doctor Who would go on to become the longest-running science-fiction programme in the world, eventually spawning twenty six seasons of adventures from 1963 to 1989. In total, eight actors have played the part of Gallifrey’s most famous Time Lord. From the very first – William Hartnell in 1963 – to the very last – Paul McGann, in the 1996 TV Movie – the Doctor has wandered through time and space in his trusty time machine, an old type-40 TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space). Although appearing to be nothing more than a battered blue police box, it is in fact vastly bigger on the inside than on the outside, and always departs with its familiar wheezing, groaning sound.
Your Question for the day is : “Where did hedgehogs [heyghoge] live before there were hedges?”
Flat Fact : Hedgehogs have changed little over the last 15 million years.
Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Rise up this mornin’,
Smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, (“This is my message to you-ou-ou:”)
Singin’: “Don’t worry ’bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
Singin’: “Don’t worry (don’t worry) ’bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Rise up this mornin’,
Smiled with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, “This is my message to you-ou-ou:”
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. Don’t worry!”
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing” – I won’t worry!
“‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right” – I won’t worry!
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing, oh no!
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!
Like Matt’s been waiting, hiding in the shadows. Poor Matt, he should really try and get out more. Matt is a friend of mine and I’ve been trying to get him off his computer and actually GO somewhere. I sent him an email : “Hey Matt! Get off your fat arse and do something ! Go on a trip somewhere. I bet your local bus could take you at least out of the neighborhood for a couple of hours.” I hadn’t heard from him for 14 months. Then he sent me this video.
I hear that everyone has a digital camera these days. With the ability to make “moving pictures”? I wonder how they will use them? I once took a picture of a friend taking a picture of me. We put them on a computer looking at each other. Pretty clever a?
Lets Slow Things Down a little. A bit of Time Out / Chill Out
I have a few Good Friends in Real Life (rl) . I have Loads of Friends on line. You might come across this site some time. This is for you and lets face it, it’s how we get by
Ok Be Happy….One Last Video …..Sorry
Ok Ok Ok Too E V I S C E R A L sooreee. I’ll leave you with Iz, The real one I only discovered yesterday. I knew the animated one ages ago. Here they are together.
Another Blog its called “Here Be Dragons” and it was inspired by the new EA Game called Dragon Age Of Course Dragon Age on wordpress had gone so Dude Starship registered THEdragonage.wordpress.com (Don’t worry, I am not schizophrenic. Dude Starship is actually an Artificial Intelligence program I am working on but please don’t tell “him” that, lol)
So, any way, Its about dragons of course. But from the trailer it looks like Dragons are the bad guys. Hmmm. I suppose that in myth and legend Dragons often were the bad guys. Anyway, our Dude is a bit risqué . His opening tongue-in-cheek synopsis of the site is as follows :
“I have always been a fan of Yorkshire Terriers (Yorkies). They are energetic and playful. They taste so yummy with falafel beans.”
Perhaps you better watch the video…..
The site is EXTREMELY RUDE and IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN. Bad language abounds but you will find the “porn” very funny.
I requested that the site be reviewed by Wordpress. They did so and removed the “Offensive” items.
The producers motto is “For those who love porn but hate the sex” So, but as I said if you do not like explicit language DO NOT VISIT THE SITE!
I love graphics as you may have guessed. It is the artist in me (in us all). So I manipulated this :
Picture taken by a USAF pilot over Taipei on 11th November 2009
I’ll do more but that took about 3 hours and it could be better.
btw this is Kim:
Kim Karddashian
and among the many disturbing tidbits, there was mention of EA spending 66-75% of a game’s budget just on advertising. First off, no wonder so many EA titles are trash, secondly, I wonder how many copies Dragon Age is going to have to sell to even break even. Millions, apparently.
Is that really necessary, such expensive advertising? Surely there must be cheaper ways…Take TV ads for example – what do they add? I have never bought a game because of a TV ad. It’s mostly reviews, magazine ads, promotional videos from the website and, if available, a playable demo. Those are the things that sell games, besides word-of-mouth.
that don’t include Dragon Age. RPG’s have always been off in a corner kind of by themselves. They’re not really hardcore games and don’t appeal to most twitch gamers. They’re not casual games by any stretch and don’t appeal to most casual gamers.
Well, yes Dragon Age can be considered a niche game, definitely more of a hardcore gamer’s game than EA Sports Franchise Sequel 20xx, but it made me wonder if the same marketing/financing strategy hasn’t been applied to Dragon Age also? They have been doing various advertising campaigns for months. This is the new *** after all. It’s sort of a moot point now, but I just found it annoying that so much has changed (for the worse, in my opinion) in gaming in the past 10-15 years.
sad about gaming in general. I begin to feel like the people who made up the core of gamers 10 or 15 years ago are going to be left behind, with no one caring about them as the developers all chase the money of the “casuals.” Also…”The hardcore are the ones who spend 20 hours or more a week on games and who are fans of professional game players who compete for prizes and money.” WTH? I’d consider myself hardcore, but the idea of being a fan of “professional game players” is ludicrous to me (the whole idea of “professional game players” is ludicrous too, as far as I’m concerned.) That said, I doubt that sort of ad blitz will happen with Dragon Age. I know I haven’t seen a single ad on a non-gaming site/TV station (actually haven’t seen any “ads” on TV, but there have been features on G4 and the like.)
…Well,I have fun.
…Oh and if you like games, sorry it is a bit rude but it will make you smile, especially if you are old.
TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion will introduce a tablet computer in November to compete with Apple Inc's iPad, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the company's plans. […]
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Two security experts said on Friday they released a tool for attacking smartphones that use Google Inc's Android operating system to persuade manufacturers to fix a bug that lets hackers read a victim's email and text messages. […]
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Research In Motion is not known for its dramatic flair. Like the BlackBerry itself, with its renowned email security, the Canadian smartphone maker seems to put function before form. […]
(Reuters) - Social networking website Facebook Inc may postpone its initial public offering until 2012, Bloomberg said, citing three people familiar with the matter. […]
HELSINKI (Reuters) - An increasingly heated battle in the global smartphone market is set to weigh on handset vendors' profit margins for the rest of the year, analysts said on Friday. […]
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc said its earlier report that Internet search services in China were being fully blocked could have been the result of a technical glitch that overstated the problem. […]
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co plans to introduce tablet computers this quarter based on Google's Android operating system, joining a growing list of firms seeking to challenge Apple's popular iPad. […]
BANGALORE (Reuters) - Navigation technology company TeleNav Inc warned that a contract renegotiation with its largest customer could lead to a fall in revenue, sending its shares down 16 percent in extended trade. […]
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp set out its ambitions to dominate the consumer electronics market on Thursday with Windows-powered tablet computers and smartphones designed to beat back advances by Apple Inc and Google Inc. […]
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A court in Russia's far east has ordered an Internet provider to block five sites which it said disseminated extreme views, prompting U.S. Internet giant Google to say on Thursday the move restricted access to information. […]
About twenty years ago Jobs and Wozniak, the founders of Apple, came up with the very strange idea of selling information processing machines for use in the home. The business took off, and its founders made a lot of money and received the credit they deserved for being daring visionaries. But around the same time, Bill Gates and Paul Allen came up with an idea even stranger and more fantastical: selling computer operating systems. This was much weirder than the idea of Jobs and Wozniak. A computer at least had some sort of physical reality to it. It came in a box, you could open it up and plug it in and watch lights blink. An operating system had no tangible incarnation at all. It arrived on a disk, of course, but the disk was, in effect, nothing more than the box that the OS came in. The product itself was a very long string of ones and zeroes that, when properly installed and coddled, gave you the ability to manipulate other very long strings of ones and zeroes. Even those few who actually understood what a computer operating system was were apt to think of it as a fantastically arcane engineering prodigy, like a breeder reactor or a U-2 spy plane, and not something that could ever be (in the parlance of high-tech) "productized."
Yet now the company that Gates and Allen founded is selling operating systems like Gillette sells razor blades. New releases of operating systems are launched as if they were Hollywood blockbusters, with celebrity endorsements, talk show appearances, and world tours. The market for them is vast enough that people worry about whether it has been monopolized by one company. Even the least technically-minded people in our society now have at least a hazy idea of what operating systems do; what is more, they have strong opinions about their relative merits. It is commonly understood, even by technically unsophisticated computer users, that if you have a piece of software that works on your Macintosh, and you move it over onto a Windows machine, it will not run. That this would, in fact, be a laughable and idiotic mistake, like nailing horseshoes to the tires of a Buick.
A person who went into a coma before Microsoft was founded, and woke up now, could pick up this morning's New York Times and understand everything in it--almost:
* Item: the richest man in the world made his fortune from-what? Railways? Shipping? Oil? No, operating systems.
* Item: the Department of Justice is tackling Microsoft's supposed OS monopoly with legal tools that were invented to restrain the power of Nineteenth-Century robber barons.
* Item: a woman friend of mine recently told me that she'd broken off a (hitherto) stimulating exchange of e-mail with a young man. At first he had seemed like such an intelligent and interesting guy, she said, but then "he started going all PC-versus-Mac on me."
What the hell is going on here? And does the operating system business have a future, or only a past? Here is my view, which is entirely subjective; but since I have spent a fair amount of time not only using, but programming, Macintoshes, Windows machines, Linux boxes and the BeOS, perhaps it is not so ill-informed as to be completely worthless. This is a subjective essay, more review than research paper, and so it might seem unfair or biased compared to the technical reviews you can find in PC magazines. But ever since the Mac came out, our operating systems have been based on metaphors, and anything with metaphors in it is fair game as far as I'm concerned. ....Continued here
Oh dear. Got beaten up (alledgedly) by the owner's son (alledgedly) and a 
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