Big picture stimulus meets small minds

Yes, Microsoft gets a Bridge from our tax dollars. and yes, it sucks. But not as much as letting the country go tits-up. Municipalities were given guidelines to SPEND this money put forth. And they were asked to spend it post haste to counter-act the rash of recent layoffs.

Yes, MS gets a bridge, but 400 people get food on there table, mortgage payments, and little jimmy gets new sneakers. Its NOT a permanent solution. Its is a short term band aid to create a bridge (no pun intended) to cross the economic downturn.

Everybody will get a little piece of this pie. And the "Bridge to nowhere" was a project receiving exponential funds during an economic UP turn. (Slightly different situation) So people really need to step back and put everything in play before getting all crazy. This project is actually perfect. It can start tomorrow if they wanted to, its benefits the general public and a long standing employer, improves traffic flow (also commerce related).

Just watch out for in two years when they need to upgrade the bridge to a prettier less functional version, thats all.

Gives new meaning...

To the term "Rude Awakening"

RIP SpiderBat.

@Billy no mates

"take note everyone, US protectionism is on its way.

but then a nation that large doesn't really have an option, does it ?"

Do you think before you type, or do you have stupid non-subject matter one-liner turrets?

Bill Gates - a REAL "protectionist"

@Gavin

Thats what I'm thinking... WTF is lunch?!

Not just the economy

All is well and good to blame this on the economy. but with Virtual Systems taking over the data center, We had to see the decline in "units being sold" sometime. I think this has as much as a factor as the economy. Again, its a shift in strategy. Why buy a new server when you can setup a VM on existing resources? And with all this "cloud" talk, is it really that surprising? No.

@Sarah Bee

The idea you would even consider letting any of us babysit your offspring even before this article makes me severely doubt your entire thought process. Thats just... Weird. And Frightening. No maternal instinct in this one.

To Many Pictures?

You Apple freaks need your hand held through an operating system, Reg just thought a story with pictures was more your IT level.

Thats right, I said it.

@Gary

Gary's right. Boeing and Airbus are the last of the giants. But industry is treading towards Smaller/Faster/More Efficient jets, Such as Bombardiers or Gulf Streams. So its really a no-brainer for Boeing. If Bombardier WANTED to bid, they might have a chance, but with no proven jumbo, its unlikely. They DO have until 2017 to figure it out though, And I think it would be fun watch another contender get into this game. There is just no money in jumbos right now, or probably ever again. (Unless its transport).

Why not?

Hey, if they can get an organization to cough up the decommissioning costs, why not do it? Makes accounting sense to me. Though don't want the highest bidder, its still fair game, they DO want to make sure they cover their losses. For people who work with programming numbers you all sure suck at balance sheet methodology. Why should we as tax payers pay for something when a willing org. will pick up the tab and give it a decent parking spot?

My 3 choices would be:

1. Smithsonian = Discovery

2. Chicago Museum of Science and Industry = Atlantis

3. Houston, TX = Endeavour

Runners up = San Fransisco, CA, Seattle WA. Denver, CO. But I think my top 3 are the best sites. Spreading them out should be a key factor, although my top 3 are shuning the weat coast.

Delivery in Chicago would be trickey, but I would probably land it in Gary, IN and then float it up on a barge VIA lake michigan.

All this is in vain anyway, as they will most certainly be extended by the new CAC. The gap between shuttle and Orion has grown to large, IMO, if something were to happen up @ ISS, we need a vehcile to get there and back. (No offense to Russia)

Good story

Good solid story here. I like it!

Free Advertising...

Someone should tell this guy free advertising is a good thing. I hope he can prove his city existed before the 1960's when "Batman" became a WB trademark. I'm not sure if the actual comic was before that or after that.

Now now now

Lets not get our regulation britches in a wedgie. The Marines had as much fun as the Gamers, I'm sure, and I'm also sure the Marine recruiter was on site at gamestop signing up "winning" souls. This was an across the board victory for everyone. Everyone had fun. Gamespot/Activision got PR, and so did the Marines, They did it on "remembrance" day because I'm sure school was out, more people were available, and it was World War II themed. So what better way to remember than to take shots against those who ultimately lost. (These would presumably be the gamers, in this case, as I highly doubt the Marines would sign up for Nazi garb online)

Both sides needs to calm down. Its just a friggin Game!

We cannot continue...

Without mentioning how stupid Mr. Yang is. He is just the lastest example in how worthless the corporate America CEO has become. They sit there, have no idea what they are doing, and collect millions. What he has basically is "$33 dollars a share? No way! We want $14 instead" Congrats on failing math, Mr. Yang. You've cost people jobs, People Money, your own respect, all while lining your pocket. If your not whats wrong with corporate America please, point me to the even bigger, loser section. At least at Enron they tried to cover up their stupidity. You put it on the front page.

/coat.

V

..for vendetta Anyone? "We know whats best for you, so you must comply, or else we shoot you"

I don't even know, Doesn't the populous get to vote on this sort of thing in Kangaroo land?Or is it left entirely up to the suits?

Pirate, because the obvious, Yargg!

And the all nay sayers...

Are where? Just once I would like to have a conspiracy theorist step forward and say "Ok, Its true" Rather than perpetuate stupidity more than they already have.

RIP to a pioneer of sorts in his own rights (And presumably, his now dismal stock portfolio)

Out come the Linux and Mac Fanboys!

Oh no! Microsoft has a new operating system! Its barely in Beta and it SUCKS! I'm shocked!

MS knows what its doing with the pre-release. To say its anything other than PR and Marketing is ignorance. On top of that, YES, they do get more bug reports, which in turn *should* make a better product. (I won't give them credit for this)

On another note, I takes huge corporate balls to basically say your last product sucked, so your working on the new one ASAP to solve the problem. They have done this before with ME and 2000. Its not a new problem at MS.

Who'd of thought that Piracy was the next best thing to happen to M$?

Genius

This is a genius design, and props should be given.

Since you bring up the Borg...

The Star Trek Voyager was a sexy Space craft. Just because its OK to build a box doesn't mean we have too. Do you really want to get to another species in a box? Thats like trying to look cool in a minivan.

Wrong

Sounds like they are playing both sides of the fence to me, and IMO, that means they are not on my side. They released a set of standards and took a stand against DRM, then they go up to DRM and give it a big hug? Thanks but no thanks. This just takes away any respect you might have gotten than if you had just stood on the sideline and started incorporating DRM into your games without saying anything. Stardock, you fail.

@AC

So Mars is total 70's Hippie whore! Groovy.

As per the little rovers, Both still roam about. One is just dragging a Limb. I do hope when we eventually get there they find one, save it, and museum it. Those things rocked! (Tiny, and Really unsophisticated, but still, anything that lives beyond a NASA Time of Death, is worthy, IMO)

PS - This MSL thing is about the Size of an American Ford Explorer, so Its pretty substantial kit. From what I read, They basically took the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, blew them up, ditched the solar, and packed on more gear. (Obviously with the new power cells)

Gartner IT Synoposium

WHY can't an IT expo actually involve IT anymore? Why do we care what M$ wants to do with Yahoo @ an IT Expo? Its an IT expo, I wanna know whats going on with IT, not share prices. Seems to be a common trend to make IT Expos a grandstanding business platform for one company and the next to blurt share prices everywhere and start school yard tussles. I know IT Expos are marketing tools all the same, but I hate this share price crap all the time. I don't care on how well your company is doing, how are you going to make MY IT job easier?

@James O'Brien

... Sounds like John McCain taking a Campaign contribution call.

Hat, Coat, door.

I'm sorry

Here I am thinking I own something I buy. Huh.

Ignorance is Bliss

While I agree that SDD and HDD will share a market space, I don't think ignoring one and focusing on the other is a good idea. Especially in WD case. with the history of SanDisk, They should be leading the SDD rollout to consumer and enterprise products. Small Business would like to have SDD just as much as enterprise, and if the pricepoint is right they would for sure take it over HDD anyday.

@ Dave Bell

That was SO awesome. Thats my home town. Thank you RATM. Those cops were so I'll prepared. They were lucky it was St. Paul though, if it were in Chicago, somebody would be dead. Cops need these weapons, because if they don't have these weapons, they use guns instead, and I will take a MM ray over a 9MM bullet, any day of the week.

- Anyone else suddenly get hungry for M&Ms?

Wait....

...Why are there 1600 Elephants and a Mini on the bottom of the ocean?

My Guess -

The Mini = A James Bond stunt gone totally awry

The Elephants = We took all their land up here, so they migrated, and grew gills?

Further more, I doubt 1600 Elephants humping a mini is appropriate journalistic comparison.

Coat, hat, and pirates. Because Well, mateys

@Chris Miller

My friend is an IFE Engineer @ Boeing, and rightfully so, you should be aware, the IFE and Flight systems are two completely, and never connected networks. Albeit he couldn't be specific, but the networks are both housed is different shielded portions of the plane. Not even a management wire connects the two.

As for Airbus, I have no idea chaps.

Hubble 404 Error

"404, Hubble cannot be accessed, please try your request later"

The good news is, Now we can outsource the repairs to China!

Chrome Fan

I like Chrome a lot. It simply works. As for the Usage data, I guess I honestly don't care. I might look into Iron, but Chrome makes me smile. now just leave it alone and dont add any damn "improvements"

@Lord Nikon

Deactivated, IE sent home to go back to 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year. Lots of those troops are well beyond their committed date.

Common people, 3 months left, We can hold it together. (Denial as an American works best at this point)

Poor business model anyway

Make the game free, Charge for online use. True, you can play single player for free, But most will want online play. After the recent report of the profit margins on WoW, The game could be 100% Free, and then charge a monthly for it . Best Gaming Business model ever. (This is of course, if the game doesn't suck, but I think that pretty much goes no matter what business model you use.)

DRM aside, EA just used poor business sense on this one.

As for the DRM, We've seen time and time again how well it doesn't work, And if it does, how long it takes to hack around it. This is something the industry cannot but still does run blind to. DRM isn't going away, but niether are we. And the ball is in the publishers court as to what to do about that.

Yarg!

If ye matey don't like thar El Reg, you need but mutiny the ship, and start ye own Swanky Tech ship. For if ye don't, you need not but walk yonder plank!

AAAARGH!

(Ever notice how your throat hurts after talking like a pirate? and Yes, I just read that to myself. Outloud. in a cubicle. People are staring. So much Fun!)

towards the light..

Funny, I thought McCain would be closer to god then she would be.

Hat, Coat, And JESUS SANDALS!

@Matt

..With you on SUN. They are getting desperate, but could still bicker like a Yahoo! if you propose an offer. I think Sun would be naive to not look at a buyout situation. However, I thought the same about Yahoo!, and well, the fact the didn't take it doesn't make me wrong as much as it makes them stupid. They better hope this Apple Mobile platform thing they are panning out works...

As for Egenera, I'm not as rehearsed on there tech. However, had being in IT sales, I can tell you when you call someone up on a blade server sale and pitch it as a "Mini Mainframe" your immediate response will be "But how does it compare to HP or IBM blades" Because Techies will look at it for what it basically is, and its basically a blade. Thats probably why they focus on selling it that way, because thats how the customer will perceive it. Since they have already introduced "Blade" into the sales language, thats going to be tough term to get away from.

Marketing makes you or breaks you, NOT your sales guys. Good companies don't need sales guys, if they have the perfect product. (Thats just one guys opinion as a former, Horrible, sales guy)

Im with the "Scary Stuff" crowd

Its kind of gives them right to everything you put up. And says nothing about until you delete it (The adage "One its one the web, its forever on the web" comes to mind).

Aside from that - Build your own freaking website! Of all the crap out there to help you do it, there is no need to be worried of such paragraphs, because if you post it on your website, this whole story means squat. I'm a hardware guy, not a coder. And I have my own site. No, its not gorgeous, or fun. Its boring. like me. (And I even used front page, ohs noes!). I use wordpress as a blog, and that is the extent of it, mostly.

RIP, Because this only means anything to teenie boppers who don't care anyway.

@Roger

Quite simply put, Windows Media Player, is an MS product. Thats what "makes it bad".

Quite honestly, I think people get too worked up about these things. People are hacking into credit card companies, but "heaven forbid if our music applications don't work as we fix THAT problem"

I own an Ipod. Generation 2, 15GB. And personally, I'm getting irritated at the Itunes bloat as well. Yes, it works. It has to because 90% of Ipod users are quite simply put - retarded. They are teenie bobbers who don't know what a USB port is, or much less an MP3 itself. I'm not anti Mac. I'm an IT guy, I can't be Anti anything because that would just be ignorance. I run XP pro at home, because thats what I'm faced most with.

I do however enjoy seeing the turn against Apple as their market share grows. Its just not cool, to be cool anymore. I think Steve should go talk to Bill to help him through the feedback from the very people who took him too the top turning against him. Deja-vu.

The fundamental problem...

...with outsourcing, is that now they are outsourcing their own designs. Basically, they will have no more control. Its basically" Lets outsource our business model"

Dell will go the way of IBM most likely, and focus on Services. Its all they will have left.

..Missing the point?

I think for marketing purposes they bill it as complete automation, however the reality would simply be there would still be men on site, either following behind the "printer" or working ahead of it or both covering all the bases. This is not an infomercial for some "set it and forget it" commercial device. And while building codes will play a big roll in its development, the fact Caterpillar is on board proves there is some economic viability. Setting this thing up would not be terribly difficult. The track would come on some railroad like prefabbed Track and just need to be level and straight, Something easily achievable. The Moon base and other uses are completely irrelevant to this stage of design anyway. We should encourage such engineering, not knock it down.

Stabby Stabby

... Just for kicks, I really want to see this movie. Do you remember Pirates of Silicon Valley? Hackers? Great IT films. DO we love MS and Hackers? No. We Hate facebook and its issues. However, given the right circumstance, This could be a great cult classic. As long as the focus on the how it happened, Not the What it has become. (Just like PoSV and Hackers)

I'm with you guys that it sounds like a bad idea, But it does have potential with the right angle.

Stabby Stabby because I'm gonna catch a knife or 2 for this one.

@Simon B

Do you really think the "iShuttle" would have fared much better? "Photoshopping the ISS since 1999"

I for one hate the Idea of mothballing these things. I know the economics are hideous, But I think they should be put in a hanger and readied for future "Just in Case" scenarios. These things ARE space accomplishments for the past 30 years. I'm a fan of adding the Orion to the list of launch vehicles, not taking away from the list. Why leave ourselves with only one option?