"EC2 is a rentable compute utility, it doesn't provide for automatic failure or redundancy."
Nobody wants to admit that "cloud" became a great way to market (and mark up) traditional web hosting services that we've had since the early 90s.
It still boggles my mind that Microsoft's Azure, which overall I'm a fan of, makes me pick an instance size (and corresponding price) for my app; the original premise of the cloud was to take these kinds decisions out of the mix. What happens when my micro-instance pegs out? It won't automatically bump up to the next higher level or spin up a new instance for me. This isn't "cloud" this is marketing.
I'd guess it's because it's a completely different architecture, eInk is such a niche use that the engineering resources needed to provide an SDK probably outweighs the development community that would make use of it. The Nook Color on the other hand has a huge development base and the SDK heavy lifting has been done already via the underlying Android platform.
I've got an original Nook that I like, the eInk is great for readability, I was initially hesitant as to what to think about the Nook Color since it loses the readability advantage over traditional tablets. So now that B&N is opening up the Nook Color with an SDK I'm a little more excited about it. But what I'm really curious about is, does B&N make a profit off the hardware sales or is it a loss leader for ebook sales (is it the razor or the blade)? If B&N makes money on the hardware it will have a nice new revenue stream as ebooks gradually supplant traditional print books, but if they take a loss on each unit hoping to recoup via ebook sales the platform may not have a long lifespan if they discontinue it due to everybody rooting the thing for a cheap Honeycomb tablet with no more vendor lock in.
Why does he need to use Outlook? He uses Yahoo mail. He managed to install iTunes. The printer installed without a hitch via the HP software. Windows updates install themselves these days unless you disable it.
My mom is paranoid about viruses and installed Symantec, but the paranoia also ensures that they don't click on weird crap coming thru email. Sidenote: my mom upgraded the laptop herself from Vista to Win7 without bugging me, praise jeebus!
PCs aren't mystical, I don't know if the expertise of maintaining them is some kind of totem that geeks cling to but hearing about problems with them is the exception instead of the rule these days.
I'm sorry but tablets being for "normal people" sounds out of touch. My dad is a 58 year old fire fighter, he couldn't have been any less of a "computer person" yet he emails, manages his iTunes/iPod, and can stalk me on Facebook with ease (too much ease in fact when it comes to FB). And to top it off, he has done all this on a.... Windows PC, I type that without a shred of irony but many will read it as such.
Face it, ATMs mostly run a custom UI on top of a Windows kernel, Police cruisers all have laptops attached to the dash, the US Postal Service will be out of business sooner rather than later because email and by extension the PC has been for "normal people" since the turn of the century. Anybody who hasn't interfaced in someway or another with a PC (regardless of OS) at some semi-regular interval over the last 10 years probably won't discover a need to now just because of the increased portability of the tablet form factor.
What is the risk for somebody with 14 billion in the bank to call out other when he/she feels they've been wrong (regardless of whether it's perception or reality). Allen could have called Gates they antichrist and he'd still have people lined up around the block to take his VC money or sit in the owner's box of Trailblazers game with him. 14 billion is definitely "FU" money.
"I'm talking about more intangible assets like skills, reputation, relationships, attention & fame."
When you separate reputation from attention & fame is there any real value there, at least in the context of startups? I get reputation as it relates to something like stackoverflow, but the attention & fame may not be as great an asset as the author seems to think. When I think of fame & attention without reputation I think of Lindsay Lohan and the cast of Jersey Shore. He could be talking about attention & fame like that that color.com received with their $41 million in funding but that is an extreme outlier and a lot of the community views it more as infamy.
Good point on focusing on revenue, focusing on revenue is how I finally stopped worrying about whether my startup would succeed or not based on something as arbitrary as whether I used .NET or not as the platform (the consensus on HN is decidedly anti-.NET). Platforms and business designations are just distractions from running your business.
Nobody wants to admit that "cloud" became a great way to market (and mark up) traditional web hosting services that we've had since the early 90s.
It still boggles my mind that Microsoft's Azure, which overall I'm a fan of, makes me pick an instance size (and corresponding price) for my app; the original premise of the cloud was to take these kinds decisions out of the mix. What happens when my micro-instance pegs out? It won't automatically bump up to the next higher level or spin up a new instance for me. This isn't "cloud" this is marketing.