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Microsoft Band

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Re: Microsoft Band

#341

Post by cwyers »

jacquesm wrote: post #323
pdpi wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The main criterium is: use what you know how to use. So if you're comfortable using the MS stack then go for it, otherwise, probably better to avoid it. So, would it be fair to say "So if you're comfortable using the Linux stack then go for it, otherwise, probably better to avoid it", or was that your parting jab against MS?

No, since Linux & FreeBSD are license free they have intrinsic advantages over Microsoft.

Yes, it is possible (and common) to run Linux or one of the BSDs for free. But at large scale, a lot of people opt to pay one of Red Hat/Oracle/SuSE/Canonical/etc. for their free Linux ANYWAY. Buying Windows also means buying support. How much of this cost advantage goes away if you're paying Red Hat et al support fees?

Re: Microsoft Band

#342

Post by ingenieros »

jacquesm wrote: post #276
gadders wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stack Overflow seem to be doing OK: http://highscalability.com/blog/2014/7/21/stackoverflow-upda... I think there is a case for an open stack, but I think unless you pick a real dog of a platform good people can make it work well. It comes down to a "can I get good people for stack X?" as much as "Does stack X work or cost too much?"

Just like in the case of Trello if you already have the experience you can probably save money if you use what you already know how to use. In almost all other cases open source stacks are cheaper. Stackoverflow and Trello are always held up as the shining examples of how the Microsoft stack is able to hold its own. That's great, I even know people that insist on running their web servers on Apple hardware. Whatever…

Even Apple was running iCloud off AWS and Azure before they ramped up their own data centers. I don't think you can get any more competitive than Apple in the tech world.

Re: Microsoft Band

#343

Post by gecko »

jacquesm wrote: post #276
gadders wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stack Overflow seem to be doing OK: http://highscalability.com/blog/2014/7/21/stackoverflow-upda... I think there is a case for an open stack, but I think unless you pick a real dog of a platform good people can make it work well. It comes down to a "can I get good people for stack X?" as much as "Does stack X work or cost too much?"

Just like in the case of Trello if you already have the experience you can probably save money if you use what you already know how to use. In almost all other cases open source stacks are cheaper. Stackoverflow and Trello are always held up as the shining examples of how the Microsoft stack is able to hold its own. That's great, I even know people that insist on running their web servers on Apple hardware. Whatever…

Trello is based on Node and Mongo on Ubuntu; there's no Windows in it. Kiln and FogBugz are based on C# and SQL Server on Windows and Java and Python Debian. Stack is based on C# and SQL Server on Windows and Redis and infrastructure on CentOS. This isn't about saving money or not; its about using the right tool for the right job, factoring in cost of tooling and cost of development. I think you're oversimplifying in your analysis

Re: Microsoft Band

#344

Post by chiph »

dingaling wrote: post #126
bhauer wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using wireless charging for nearly two years on my Lumia 920. And for the past year, my wife's Lumia Icon has been doing the same. I picked up a couple more charging plates when she switched to Windows Phone. Now that I've used wireless charging, I'll never go back. Connecting wires to charge is so 2012. I want my Surface Pro to charge wirelessly. And my Tesla Model S (well, that is, if I had one).

One benefit of old-school wired charging is that I can still use the device in a normal orientation whilst it is charging, so long as the cable is long enough. Do you find that wireless charging prevents that? I assume the fevice has to lie flat on the plate somewhere near a power outlet.

The charger I have props the phone up at an angle. You can interact with it in a limited sense, but of course if you pick it up you'll take it out of range of the charger. So good for things like swiping to see how many messages you have and so forth, but not for making calls, playing games, etc. But if you do, you just set it back down on the charger when you're done -- no need to fool with a cord, or stay within cord-length.

Re: Microsoft Band

#345

Post by UK-AL »

jacquesm wrote: post #220
rjbwork wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Person scaling with Azure here. It's pretty awesome and easy. But dear god, the XML! They've started making more and more stuff code-configurable though, so that's good.

> Person scaling with Azure here. It's pretty awesome and easy. And it's pretty expensive. Now, if your competitor is on an open stack and on real computers they will eventually run rings around you because they get more control and lower costs. The initial boost you're experiencing will turn into a straightjacket with a hefty pricetag over the longer term.

The biggest problem for a startup is getting out there, and getting transaction and revenue. Not penny pinching over what servers your going to use. You want to use as much pre-made stuff to give you the biggest head start as possible.

When you take off, you can raise money to pay people to move you over anyway.

Re: Microsoft Band

#346

Post by blumkvist »

orbifold wrote: post #337
blumkvist wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>because the government thought they had to keep taps on far left student organisations. That's a perfectly sensible thing to do. I would do the same thing. Any enlightened person would do it.

I agree but there are different ways of going about it. In the particular case I know of, a police officer infiltrated all left leaning student organisations in order to get access to the more radical ones. By infiltrated I mean that he went to their meetings, was invited to parties and reported all their personal information. In any case, I just wanted to defuse the argument that the government is probably not that…

I'm not a proponent of this unsupervised mass data collection. I wanted to point out that your example is an especially counter-productive one.

Re: Microsoft Band

#347

Post by meta »

darklajid wrote: post #215

- Click on 'Buy' - See 'you need a store to find out the right size' (reasonable) - Click on 'Find store' - Notice 'Only available in the US' - Close tab. Fail.

I was wondering if anyone had information about this.

It looks like it ties to Microsoft HealthVault. That is not available in Canada. It appears (from the outside) that MS sold the "rights" to HealthVault to Telus, whom did absolute nothing with it. Does anyone know, is that the right read of the situation? Can MS ever offer HealthVault to Canada or will we have to hope that Telus will?

Also, to the people below. As far as I can see, even a service to forward the hardware from the US to Canada, this probably will not work. If you register your live account in Canada (which you probably would, so you can put a CC on it) then you will not be able to active HealthVault on your live account - it will send you to a Telus page.

Re: Microsoft Band

#349

Post by jader201 »

bluthru wrote: post #146
jader201 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I belong to a certain group of people that I'm guessing many smartwatch makers are targeting. That is, I've not worn a watch for years, mostly because a) I've never needed time to be any more convenient than checking my phone, and b) watches tend to be more about style than function, and I care almost zero about the former and almost everything about the latter. Now that the "watch" is becoming functional, it really…

>So if gadget = functionality I don't mean this. I mean that Microsoft's band looks decent... for a gadget. Apple's watch looks decent for a watch.

Good point, but in some cases, function comes at the cost of style, and vice versa. For example, the larger screen, the more functional it is, but the more hideous it is too (as a watch). The MS Band's screen may be less stylish, but could potentially be more functional than the Apple Watch.

(Side note: I'm not an MS fanboy or Apple basher -- I have owned and loved iPhones since 3GS. I actually think MS has done a terrible job w/ gadgets, and that this is the first one I'm honestly interested in.)

Re: Microsoft Band

#350

Post by jacquesm »

wfjackson wrote: post #338
jacquesm wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Person scaling with Azure here. It's pretty awesome and easy. And it's pretty expensive. Now, if your competitor is on an open stack and on real computers they will eventually run rings around you because they get more control and lower costs. The initial boost you're experiencing will turn into a straightjacket with a hefty pricetag over the longer term.

>Now, if your competitor is on an open stack and on real computers they will eventually run rings around you because they get more control and lower costs. The initial boost you're experiencing will turn into a straightjacket with a hefty pricetag over the longer term. From another post by you: >Because I have fairly extensive insight into a very large number of companies and can see their license bills as well as th…

Are you actually asking me to disclose customer information and taking my (obvious) refusal to do so as calling BS? Interesting. Look, I have no skin in the game, if you're happy forking over tons of money for stuff you don't strictly speaking need then more power to you.

All I note is that MS thinks YC is important enough to designate a person to sway them to the MS stack and SAAS products, this is a tried and true strategy (get them while they're young) and it will likely cost you dearly in the long term if you aren't able to oversee the long term disadvantages of such a move. If you have a long history of using microsoft products and switching to open operating systems and stack components would mean lost time due to re-training then by all means stick to what you know.

It's funny how in one subthread here people are arguing that hosting and bandwidth are the major expenses for any start-up and now it's hosting and costs are 2%. In the end every situation is different and every situation has a different cost analysis for the workload envisioned. Seeing the guts of many companies has shown me that if you're doing something that requires large numbers of expensive licenses or metered bandwidth / cycles / storage then you're probably going to regret that choice at a later point.

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