Not really. When I wrote this post, 3.5 was not an available UPGRADE for 3.0. You end up with both 3.0 and 3.5 on your system, and still do.
I have no issue with the name.
The issue with many Linux bigots is that they think the rest of the world is somehow stupid and not as smart as they are, as evidenced by some of the other comments on this trail. They seem to believe that the things that the rest of the world wants (which they see as unimportant) are in fact worthless (like the comment about docking stations).
Ok, that's legitimate. But it sounds like your complaint is really with network manager, not Ubuntu's VPN support. And hey, at least you have a place to report bugs :)
There you can configure other POP3 enabled mail systems and retrieve mail as well as send email as if it were from that system.
In that way google (and the gmail repository) becomes your single mail interface. I have five email addresses (the limit for free gmail) configured this way including work email, home email, other domains etc.,
SQL has survived because it is reasonably portable, is descriptive and has a rich ecosystem. NoSQL is a response to a problem but it is one that will not get mainstream adoption because it is non-standard.
It is a great stepping stone; what comes out of it is hopefully a standards based scalable data storage and retrieval system.
I doubt that very much. There is a point of diminishing returns, I agree. If the charge were $1, less people would leave than if the charge was $100. But, the value of facebook or other social networking sites is in the social aspect.
For pay services have competed favourably with free services. Ringtones are one example where people opined that paid services would fail because free options would emerge. And yet, people still pay and download ringtones.
The catch to making people pay the $1 or $5 is to make it easy. If you require them to pull up a credit card or some such, you will lose people. If there was a simple way to pay such that the money came out of some account (PayPal or some such) then you'll get the $1 in a heartbeat.
The only way that I know of - also known as the freemium concept - to convert a large userbase of free users to a paying userbase is to provide a lot of new features under a premium banner that you only get access to when you pay.
Over time the weight of the new features starts to be larger than the 'simple' free version. The free version is the hook that you use to get people to use the service and to stave off encroachment by competitors.
If a free competitor should arrive on the scene that offers part of your premium features for free then you can choose to selectively offer those features to all your users (not just your paid users) but here you have to be careful not to erode your paying userbase because it is possible that people are paying for just that one feature and they'll possibly cancel their subscription.
This is not as trivial as it sounds.
For the record, I manage a website that has an active userbase of about 100K people a small percentage of those are paying users.
Facebook and Twitter (and their like) have yet to turn a profit or even come up with a plan to make one. Meanwhile, Blizzard's World of Warcraft continues to rack up millions a month from loyal and paying users. If you want to make money on the internet you need to take a good long look at what Blizzard is doing.
There are more ways to skin a cat. By your account the owners of icq never made money either. Until they were bought out that is...
Not every strategy is based on making money operating a service, some people aim for the big exit and are well willing to operate under a loss as long as they hold on to the service. It's a risky strategy, if your timing is off then you usually fail big time. But if the timing is right and you can find a partner that perceives an upside to having access to your users you just might score the jackpot.
I was a member of Mensa till I found that it was totally useless. Your mileage may vary so it is worthwhile understanding what you want to get out of it. Here are some things that I have found:
* a benefit to put it on your resume: NO
* a place to meet like minded people: MAYBE but you may have better luck at your local pub/bar/gym/grocery store
* a group that sends out an interesting newsletter: MAYBE but it depends on your local chapter
* a valuable recognition similar to "Won Nobel Prize", "Went to the Moon", "Climbed Mt. Everest": NO
* an indication of "superior intellect": NO, Mensa is the 98 percentile group, in theory the membership could be 2% of over 5 billion. Not really superior. If you want that, try for TNS (Triple Nine Society)
* a good way to get a credit card: NO, the people at Mensa International and the people you have to talk to when you get this card are not members of Mensa :(
I have no issue with the name.
The issue with many Linux bigots is that they think the rest of the world is somehow stupid and not as smart as they are, as evidenced by some of the other comments on this trail. They seem to believe that the things that the rest of the world wants (which they see as unimportant) are in fact worthless (like the comment about docking stations).