Letters to the Editor
Mike J Y Wood
Published Letters: 103 Editor's Choice: 12
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@Electro Robot
[Read the article: Microsoft vs. Yahoo: First duel, then merge?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No doubt MS's foray into the web has been a failure. However, why do you assume they're going to Redmonize the Yahoo brand. Assuming they're not total idiots why wouldn't they Yahooize MS's web presence? Just because they're evil doesn't mean they wont learn from a mistake.
Also, getting a customer locked into a vendor is exactly what Google has done. Google had a great breakthrough with search engine technology 10 years ago but now all the search engines use pretty much the same algorithms to search. Yet google retains the market share? Why, because people are used to Google, they trust it. And hence Google has them locked in. Why do you think Google then gave away a Gig of memory on email (which everyone else then promptly did)? Because email is the best way to lock in a customer online. These customers may not be locked into a client application, but they are essentially locked into an online application.
Mike
PS On a side note I find it particularly annoying when people refer to Microsoft as Redmond. Redmond was and is a city on it's own apart from MS. Not to mentioned that MS, along with Yahoo, Google, and most businesses are scattered across the world. However, what really annoys me is the geographical snobbishness that we often read from ... the Bay Area. I mean, you don't hear other parts of the world that do technology refer to Old Man Silicon Valley or other such nonsense.
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@Electro Robot again
[Read the article: Microsoft vs. Yahoo: First duel, then merge?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I guess I'm disagreeing with you on what locks someone in. I don't want to sound condescending but I think your definition is kind of out dated and too strict. Any software where you get used to using it so much that you would never leave, even if there's a better one out there, has you locked in. Take the QWERTY keyboard for example. We're all locked into it, even though we all know there are better ones out there. Now, I'm not saying there are better search engines, or email services, out there than Google but people wont use them. We're locked into google. Just like businesses get locked into using MS Excel.
Mike
MS was first HQ'd in NM? Really? I did not know that. Mind providing a link?
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What a sophmoric reduction
[Read the article: Thank you, Rush Limbaugh!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To foster intelligent discussion on Salon please don't write opinions that force letter writers to be on one extreme or another.
This article feels like a bait and switch. You start writing about writers disagreeing with your view on "Black or woman president" and then you switch it by saying we should write articles defending calling Clinton a "fucking whore." That's just not fair and you should know that.
Furthermore, if you disagree with the writers then disagree with them in the letters section. Don't just pick out some eggregious examples and treat an entire debate view like a strawman. If you want an intelligent discussion then argue with the intelligent people and please don't lump us all together.
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Sounds great but I've heard it before
[Read the article: Avoiding "a thermonuclear climax"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This sounds great but haven't we heard both candidates make statements of civility towards each other and then a day or two later one of their proxy send out a negative attack. I mean, I really hope Garin is sincere, and for that matter so are the Obama people, but history is teaching me to doubt it.
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@lonewolfy
[Read the article: Google App Engine lets non-Googlers tap into Googly cloud]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't think anything in Google's plan explicitely gives them the ability to own a product running on their servers. It could, concerivable, make them the first to notice a good product, since they could track usage independently of all their users. From a datamining perspective they could get amazing insite into startups if startups really use the system. I work in the Business Intelligence field and that kind of data makes me drool.
The catch of course is this probably costs a lot of money to maintain so they better hope it gets widely used.
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He could be correct
[Read the article: Clinton pollster urges senator to go relentlessly negative]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Pretty much any time Clinton launches a negative campaign ad, or any negative comment, about Obama we here about it here on Salon. (Unfortunately we normally here about it in terms of how it's "true") This, however, does not mean that the majority of her ads, or what she says in general, have been negative.
She, or any politician, can always go MORE negative, and that's what I'm assuming Schoen is argueing for. I don't have any statistics on what percentage of her TV adds are attack ads (does anyone?) but I'd guess it's probably a small percentage.
BTW I am in no way argueing for Clinton to go more negative, I'm just saying it could be done.
Mike
PS. Thanks in general for your awesome work Mr. Benen. You're a great addition to Salon.
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@Freddie
[Read the article: Fake Springsteen praises Windows in heroically awful corporate video]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's my favorite Farhad Apple-loving quote. It's concerning the Iphone's SDK slipped release date.
http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/02/28/apple_sdk/
"But still, it's fun when things slip at Apple. Mistakes build character, and shows they're human, too."
Yeah, I know. It's awesome. I guess in the evil anti-universe the Farhad-with-a-goatee makes apologies for M$oft and shows lame Apple and Google internal videos.
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super-uber-meta-debate
[Read the article: Debating the debate, complaining about complaining]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Awesome. This letter section is having a debate about a debate about a debate about a debate.
A little recape.
1) Our debate -- the letters section
2) Clinton debating Obama's frustration
3) Obama debating the quality of the debate
4) The actual debate that was held.
Please, oh please, oh please ... I hope someone will disagree with me on this. Then it would be a debate about a debate 5 times deep!
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@melthough
[Read the article: Debating the debate, complaining about complaining]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Melthough,
you're a typical Obinton suppoter that confuses trolling with complaining about debates of argueable substance in a forum of ... wait, what the heck am I talking about.
Mike
PS. "I'll take de-bait". LOL! Awesome.
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Independents and Former Republicans
[Read the article: Demographic breakdowns]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's great to see the data that we already know and have seen before. ;p
Couldn't the people doing the polling also ask: Are you a former independent or Republican?