The Tournament of Roses
Windows 8 stranded in the North Pole
Asymco noted the slow adoption of Windows 8 weeks ago. This nugget points out two key factors: the poor distribution strategy for Windows 8 tablets and the difficulty of entering the tablet market so late.
The clearest evidence of Windows 8’s disappointing introduction comes from the research firm NPD, which estimates that sales of Windows machines have actually dropped from a year ago.
According to NPD, stores in the United States sold 13 percent fewer Windows devices from late October, when Windows 8 made its debut, through the first week in December, than in the same period last year.
Those figures do not include sales in Microsoft’s own stores, which were the only place to buy a Surface tablet during that period, but because the stores are scarce, analysts believe it is unlikely they made a big difference.
“I think everybody would have hoped for a better start,” said Stephen Baker, an analyst at NPD. “The thing is, this market is not the same market that Windows 7 or Vista or even XP launched into.”
New York Times: No sales pop for a new version of Windows 8
UQAQUA: UQAQUA MANIFESTO v 1.1 →
Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to UQAQUANS, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking UQAQUANS only to overthrow the government via violent revolution and anarchy, eliminate the money system, institute complete…
UQAQUA has a manifesto.
“Robin is incredibly good at stepping out of the present and looking to the future in what for most people is a bit of a fantastical way.”
What a mensch.
Robin Sloan featured in The New York Times.
A classic New Yorker magazine cover, re-booted thanks to Apple Maps.
(via Mad Magazine)
I’m done with helmets
Recent experience suggests that if a city wants bike-sharing to really take off, it may have to allow and accept helmet-free riding. A two-year-old bike-sharing program in Melbourne, Australia — where helmet use in mandatory — has only about 150 rides a day, despite the fact that Melbourne is flat, with broad roads and a temperate climate. On the other hand, helmet-lax Dublin — cold, cobbled and hilly — has more than 5,000 daily rides in its young bike-sharing scheme.
Via NYT
