Kroc, Thom and David devote a show to the discussion of monopolies. What defines a monopoly, what has it to do with morals, and what positive and negative effects monopolies have on the market. Microsoft and Google are mentioned throughout as we try to place the current position Google finds itself in in context with the massive change in the technology world since Microsoft was king of the hill.
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The intro / intermission and outro music is a Commodore 64 remix “Turrican 2 – The Final Fight†by Daree Rock.
[podcast 32]We genuinely hope that you enjoy the show, and that we’ve managed to bring up original points in our discussion. Do follow up what you picked up on in your comments!
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Hello guys,
are you planning to release transcribed (text) version of your podcasts?
Thanks
Norberto
No, they’re not planning on it. I looked into doing some auto transcribing with speech recognition software. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem feasible (surprise,surprise). I looked at the available Open source products, the problem seems to be in the speech libraries for them ( not the right term, can’t remember the right one). The available ones don’t have a large enough dictionary to cover most normal speech. You could rig them up to understand specific commands, but full speech is a bit out of reach for right now. I was going to do a write up about the experience, but don’t have time due to work issues.
Technologically unfeasible to do it automatically. Unfeasible to have a human being do it, because it’s so much work.
Unless a bunch of people put money in a jar to pay for someone to do it, I doubt it will happen.
I won’t be happy until you offer the podcast in every format know to man. I’d like a WordPerfect file of the transcription so I can follow along as I listen to the ATRAC file (and, if possible, please snail me the punch card of the source code just in case the file is corrupt.)
comments like this adds nothing but white noise to legitimate discussions. You, Adam S, is one of the people with authority on this forum and we expect you to have comments that add value to the forum.
What value did your comment add to discourse we are having on patent ridden/patent free access to online media?
Cry me a river. If you don’t like my comment, vote it down.
Some people out there can appreciate sarcasm/humor.
*raises hand* absolutely. And maybe one on a floppy formatted for a brother word processor, snail mailed with a self addressed and stamped envelope so I can make corrections to the editor’s erroneous opinions, in a format I’m familiar with. The floppy drive is read only at this point, and the ink ribbon is out. So include a new ink ribbon in the envelope, so I can print out the corrections and mail them back.
http://fury.com/google-circa-1960.php
Ooh, what a shame. Are you going to cry now?
Please, kind sirs, I would prefer mine being EBDIC on paper tape. Could it please you to also replace the names Microsoft and Linux with Hozers and McFlurry respectively? Most happy thanks to you!
I think of the OSNews podcast like a political debate.
You can watch a political debate online or on TV or you can read an article in the newspaper or online. In the second case, you’ll get a summary. The first is more in-depth.
The podcast is also in-depth and it’s also a discussion. The articles are not so much.
I know I’ve probably compared Microsoft to a lot of things as I know many people have.
But it was definitely the first time I heared something compare Microsoft to the Rwanda genocide.
…there had better be SOMETHING about the secret corporate wars between Hershey and Nestle.
You’re going to be disappointed, but at least you’ll be disappointed in the first ten minutes.
You guys talk about the lack of wireless Internet access everywhere being a hurdle to the Web becoming the mainstream computing platform. But don’t forget about offline Web apps. Apps that don’t require Internet access like Google Docs could still run on a web-based computer without Internet access so long as the user visited it earlier.
And technologies like Native Client will allow applications too complex for a traditional website to still run in a web browser. I imagine these applications will be cache-able and usable offline as well.
Under EU Competition law, reading Wikipedia, a very large market share raises a presumption that a firm is dominant, which may be rebuttable. The lowest yet market share of a firm considered “dominant” in the EU was 39.7%.
The problem with usurping Google is that software patents are getting more difficult to attain, they take time to be granted and while that maybe waiting in the wings, Google can copy functionality and crush a new comer before they become established.
It can be done, but big players in dominant positions can only be shifted if the new dog blitzes in with something startling to capture the imagination of the public. What’s the chance of that?
If someone can invent a search engine that doesn’t make searching for drivers an impossibility and gets rid of those spam sites that just steal search terms and fill the page with junk, then I’d switch!
Google’s results are not as good as they used to be, and if someone (even if it were Bing) could come up with a solution to the auto-generated pages cluttering the Internet, then I’m sure they’d see some success.
Is it just me, or did anyone else feel, at times, within this ‘discussion’ of monopoly, the faint echo of the old stereotype of the overbearing American who feels so right and entitled to dominate with their point of view, that there results a kind of embarrassing, silent periphery embodying the ‘polite’ valuing, ‘listening to others’ valuing, ‘diversity of opinion’ valuing, willing to share and cooperate with ‘other’ players/participants? That isn’t to say Google isn’t smart, or doesn’t have good ideas right, but…
Does Google mis-use its power?
I think this is the main topic for discussion.
Google makes practically ALL of its money from web advertising and had no business doing Chrome or ChromeOS and especially Chromium. I think they’re just grandstanding for attention and trying to pit themselves up against a Goliath like MS as though they were David, solely for PR. “They just want to improve the web experience”. Give me a break, they just want to puff up their shoulders next to Microsoft.
We had OSes…. We had web browsers…. and what Google did with IE was juvenile. I wouldn’t like an app I wrote hacked to pop up as someone else’s product. While slamming MS is amusing, I find the level of disrespect disgusting. It’s all $hits and giggles until it happens to you.
Let’s say you, or the company you work at, make a business from CRM software(as a general example). What F’ing business does Google have invading that market and undercutting you to oblivion with free software. That’s what they’re doing in other markets, how do you know they won’t expand into others for no reason whatsoever than because they can due to having more money than they know what to do with. Yeah, the consumer will win, but only the largest software company could compete with them and they’ll bankrupt all the smaller ones and the consumer will have less choice. They are like Walmart, and what they would be doing would be tantamount to bullying. It would be tantamount to what MS did to OEMs. Don’t think it wont happen.
Why don’t Google just stick to what they’re good at and leave the software industry alone to make a buck. It’s their delusions of grandier(justified or not) and delusions of altruism, their schizophrenia and unpredictable nature that scares me most. They’re a big dirty business that I am sure thinks nothing of stomping on smaller ones.
But by far the most disturbing and far reaching thing, which I am surprised was not mentioned in the podcast, is the lack of concern shown by Google’s CEO over privacy…. and what they did with Buzz drives the point home. I would cancel my G-mail account immediately, if I had one, if that happened to me. Privacy is a slippery slope….and they’ve crossed the line and are not apologetic.
Does Google mis-use its power?
It is only a matter of time… and to some extent they already have and you’re just rationalising, probably because you hate MS more. Do no evil….yeah right. They’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing…. and soon enough they’ll be coming for you.
You think I’m being paranoid? You just wait….
OK, I’ll bite.
The underlying reason was because MS’s browser sets ALL serious web development back. I hope it doesn’t happen to me, because I hope I would never build something that benefits only me and hinders everyone else and then have to be slapped in the face for it.
New google privacy conspiracy? Naah. They made changes to the buzz thing to make it easier to understand privacy settings after the fiasco. I think Google was the only one who lost any profit or reputation during the initial release of buzz. Apologize for what?
You want privacy? Stay off the internet.
Google is trying to destabilize all of its primary competitors — Microsoft, Apple, etc — in order to grab market share. They can afford to give away their software for free. Most of it is crap. Permanently in Beta. Google will reach its breaking point when it has to actually support all of its customers with enterprise level agreements.
OSNews Team,
Thank you for showing support for open formats by providing the podcast in Ogg Vorbis format, offering a direct link to the file, and showcasing the power of the new HTML5 audio tag. AFAIK this is the first time OSNews has used the audio tag so I send my congrats! 😀