I agree that they overpaid but I think you are missing something big: they didn’t buy LI to improve Windows Phone, they bought it to integrate with Outlook and give their Enterprise SAAS products like Dynamics an edge in the war with Salesforce. I work at a financial firm and LI is essential to the long sales process for our applications.
This does not make them middle class. They are choosing to live in the expensive area and thus paying heavily for it. They could move 20 miles outside of the city, commute longer, keep the same high paying job and live in a mansion. The fact that they have a choice is what makes them not in the middle class. They see value in paying the extra cost to live in the expensive area and thus they choose to pay the premium.
People in the true middle class would not have the luxury of choice. They have no option to live in the wealthy area because they are not wealthy.
When I think of upper class, I think of well-dressed gents and ladies who cruise around the world finding the next humble village that needs their charity.
Driving an hour each way to some kind of desk job to finance a McMansion in the exurbs, eh... maybe it's me but there's just no way I can line that up with any definition of "upper class".
This article nails it. I remember when Quora first came out, I thought that it was a great idea, like a stack overflow for the masses. Fast forward to now though and I find myself avoiding it at all costs. Quora seems willing to try any and everything to fix itself except for solving its most glaring and obvious problem, its closed ecosystem. On mobile it is ridiculous when you do a search in browser and click a Quora link it forces you to install the app to see the answer. If you do make the mistake of installing the app you are then inundated with useless notifications about things you don't care about. I know that there is good information hidden in there, but its a terrible strategy to make people jump through hoops to access it. Meanwhile Stack Overflow became Stack Exchange with sub-sites for more and more topics thus transforming itself into what Quora could have/should have been in the first place. Its open nature has driven its growth to a top 200 Alexa rank while Quora seems destined to continue its semi-annual pivoting.
While this looks good aesthetically, this is a prime example of needlessly using JavaScript for the hell of it. This is like an anti best practice. It loads 4 extra resources (Angular, Angular Cookie, Angular UI Bootstrap and the custom bootstrap.js) for no legitimate reason. And the CSS is inexplicably written using selectors like the following: "#page-wrapper:not(.active)". Why not target "#page-wrapper" and then "#page-wrapper.active" instead?
Your CSS quibble is a matter of taste, you have a legitimate complaint about the JS so I wouldn't muddy it with a taste based comment about CSS verbosity.
This plugin seems to solve a problem and target a market that doesn't exist. It is also dangerous since it relies on WordPress itself being reachable in the event of catastrophe.
WordPress users that aren't developers don't use VMs or update their site's code frequently. Typically they either use simple hosts like Dreamhost/Media Temple or managed hosts like Pressable/WP Engine that already integrate forms of easy backup. If they don't there are a [plethora of backup plugins](http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/free-wordpress-backup-plugin...) and [services](http://vaultpress.com/) that not only cover code but also the DB. And since these novice users rarely change their site's code, they have no reason to use version control in the first place.
At the other end of the spectrum, WordPress developers don't need this either. Git is pre-installed on most VMs and integrated into almost all the major cloud providers and staging sites take 10 minutes to set up. And most importantly they are abstracted from WordPress itself making them way more secure. For example, what if the admin becomes unreachable after a hack? Doesn't this defeat the entire purpose of Versionpress since you won't be able to access the plugin page to revert back? Combining backup and version control together in the WordPress admin is a recipe for disaster.
Lastly, whats the point of raising $30K since this is a premium plugin that's almost done anyway? If the picture isn't a rendering, then it seems like the plugin is already well under development. Isn't this more like a presale?
I am also skeptical of this plugin but I think almost all of your points are moot.
There is big market for a solution that lets users backup and restore the filesystem and a database on a more granular level. Not being able to easily and conveniently revert changes that are made easily is one of the biggest pain points in managing a WordPress site. If you update WordPress and find that a critical plugin doesn't work, there is no convenient way to undo the update. Of course, ideally, these kinds of things are tested on a staging server first, but the truth is only a minority of sites utilize a staging server in this manner.
A lot of pain around websites is dealing with changes to the filesytem and database. To have a simple way of tracking changes and reverting changes is a boon. Both normal end-users and developers will jump for joy with a unified tool for this.
You can't compare this with many of the existing backup solutions either. You get far more detail (which helps with debugging) and far more incremental control when you have something git-like managing it all.
I'm pretty sure the solution would not be dependent on being accessible from a site's WP backend. But then, I don't know the specifics yet.
I don't see the problem raising money through crowdfunding for this either, from their point of view. It's a sound business strategy that validates a market and provides some investment.
My hesitation is this, we have no idea if they even have the skills to pull something like this off. Because it's not going to be easy. The WP environment can really vary from one site to the next (different server setups/different plugins/themes etc) and you have to make it work on them all. That's just a huge undertaking. I think you'd need a pretty big team with a ton of experience and a lot more than 30k to get close to pulling it off.
Thanks, that answers many points very well. VersionPress seems to interest many people so hopefully we'll get chance to properly build it.
You also seem to be very realistic about how large this undertaking is - you're right and we know how big of a thing we're trying to build. That's why we're realistic about our goals for v1 and don't promise more than we can deliver. To support all the complex 3rd party plugins and various hosting environments is something that will come over time. But we have to start somewhere and we believe that we are approaching the problem from the right angle. Thanks!
If they don't meet the goal, then maybe you're right that there's no market for it. If they do, then you're likely wrong. Why not just wait and see rather than declare it a failure?
It's not "dangerous" in a catastrophe because it doesn't take away any options that already exist.
And presumably they're raising money because it costs them money to live and work on a project.
My thoughts exactly. I feel the same way about the numerous GUI clients that are supposed to save you ever using git on the command line. Non-developers don't understand/want git, and developers, even ones that don't use the command line often, will find that the basics git commands are really simple.
I know everyone likes to bash MS around here but is there any actual proof of Bitlocker's insecurity that is more recent than 2008? If you look at wikipedia it seems like the only known real vulnerability requires someone with physical access to boot via USB into another OS within a few minutes of turning the computer off. When is this a real risk for anyone? I am not a security expert but unless you are doing things shady enough to get raided by the FBI, it seems like Bitlocker is pretty secure. The same problem occurs in other encryption programs on Linux and OSX. Also, it may not be open source like what we want, but MS lets its partners and enterprise customers audit the code subject to an NDA.
It's really not that hard to imagine scenarios where this might happen. Simply leaving your notebook unattended after a shutdown might leave you compromised.
Besides, government agencies in other countries might have a slightly different view on what constitutes "shady behaviour" (think regime critics).
Don't forget that M$ gives you the great 'service' to store your BL-key in your M$-account (on their servers) as soon as a) your machine is not connected to a domain and b) you're [...] enough (most are!) to log on with an M$-account to Win8.x.
Thats Lenovo's fault not Microsoft's, drivers haven't been a problem in ages. I have both a Macbook Retina and desktop gaming PC. I hand built the PC and all of the drivers automatically downloaded and installed. The only thing I ever did after that was update AMD Catalyst for my 280x's, but that was my choice; it worked fine before I updated. You probably updated to 8.1 before Lenovo updated its drivers or bought an old touchpad that was actually meant for Windows 7 and is no longer supported by them. Touchpad's are also a niche product use case, 99% of users use mice, laptop track-pads or touchscreens. Thus touchpads will never be a priority for driver development teams.
As for the learning curve, have you ever seen a lifetime Windows user try someone else's Mac? Hot Corners drive them absolutely crazy, or they will accidentally pinch to zoom or they will scroll by mistake and not realize whats happening. There is always a learning curve, even in the most user friendly operating systems like iOS. And what actual computer do you have? The problem is people use a $400 Dell and then compare it to a $2000 Retina or $1200 Air. The Surface Pro 3 is a premium Apple like device, and what do you know, early reviews from places like The Verge say its the best possible Windows 8 experience. My Mac and my PC cost about the same, and I love each of them for different reasons. Each OS has its own pros and cons.
As for metro, what are you doing that causes Metro to show up? On my desktop, I have almost never seen it since 8.1 came out. Once you enable boot to desktop and pin your most widely used programs to the taskbar, the only time it ever shows up is when you are looking for a rarely used program. Even then it is actually pretty good when you think of it as nothing more than an advanced start menu replacement. And in the next update MS is making an option to do just that: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2138443/rejoice-the-start-men.... The real problem is Windows doesn't automatically detect what hardware is connected and change the settings to ones like these automatically.
I can't speak for Lenovo, but here's my experience with an Asus laptop.
When I use my right index finger to move the cursor around, if my palm nudges the palm rest, it usually activates some kind of gesture that switches to Metro.
If I use my right index finger to move the cursor around and my left index finger or thumb to click, then that activates some gesture that switches to metro.
If I'm typing and my palms touch the mousepad, that activates some gesture that switches to metro.
If you've never seen it once on your desktop, I would guess that it's because you don't have a touchpad that lets Windows interpret random touches as a "go to metro now!" command.
I won't say it works for everyone but on my Lenovo y510p, I can change the settings for the ELAN pointing device to disable my trackpad when there is an external mouse attached. If I have to use the computer for more than a few minutes, I make sure I plug in my mouse. (It isn't made to be an ultraportable / on top of a lap laptop notebook computer as the air intake is at the bottom.)
The surface would, of course, need to work well without a mouse. Perhaps the pen could be used as a pointing device in desktop mode as well?
I found the jump to macbook from a Windows laptop to be quite easy and friendly. That sorry of thing never bothers me.
>As for metro, what are you doing that causes Metro to show up?
There are various gestures (in my case, quite literally always made by mistake) a person can make on the trackpad that cause random metro behavior. Swiping from the side or top and so on, very easy to do with a large trackpad by mistake.
Your comments about lenovo are off base in this instance. The problem with the trackpad is that it's working as Microsoft intended.
> Type "swiping" on the start screen. The first option listed is "Choose to allow swiping from touchpad edges"
Doesn't bring anything up at all on my Lenovo with 8.1. The option doesn't seem to be in PC settings either. Tried searching on "touchpad" as well. Let's see...
Your mentioning that this now exists did inspire me to dig a little more... the setting I needed was buried in the Lenovo-specific "thinkpad" tab under mouse properties: "enable gestures" on the OLD control panel.
Searching on "swiping" instead in the manner you described wouldn't actually help anyone. This setting lives in old-control-panel land and the metro screen's search only searches new-control-panel land, apparently. It's hard to know who to blame for such a thing: lenovo for using the old-school panel for its custom trackpad settings and messing with the default behavior, or MSFT for splitting settings across two completely different paradigms.
Thanks!
edit: just to be clear, I double checked Settings -> Change PC Settings -> PC and Devices -> Mouse and Touchpad settings and there is absolutely not a "Choose to allow swiping from touchpad edges" option there.
Those settings exist as I described on my Surface Pro 2 and my Dell Inspiron. The former uses a factory install of 8.1, the latter using a raw install from disc. I would say that the issue lies with your Lenovo's setup.
However the search should definitely include old style control panel options as well as the new. Again, it does for both my Surface and my Dell (it's a lot slower on the Dell since it doesn't have a SSD, but instantaneous on the Surface).
The search charm (which typing on Start is a shortcut to) does search settings from throughout the system, including Control Panel in the desktop, but I'm not sure if third-party extensions are included in the search.
I had the Sidekick/Hiptop 2 back in high school because my mom had T-Mobile through her work. To this day I have not been stopped by more people asking about a device (not even the original iPhone I saved up for as a freshman in college). T-mobile was spotty at best in the DC area so nobody else I knew had it, everywhere I would go people would say things like "It has a browser!?!" or "I thought only Treos and Blackberries had email!?!". It was a sad day when my mom changed companies and we switched to AT&T(aka Cingular). I salute you Danger, I wish there were more small innovative hardware companies like you these days.
I'd never heard of it so I didn't dig too deep but it seems like a VOD site, not a streaming platform. On the homepage there are zero live channels and nothing mentioned about live broadcasting, only VODs. Had you suggested something like MLG.tv or Azubu, actual Twitch competitors, I don't think you would have been down voted.
For years he's been trying desperately to buy an NBA team and bring it back to Seattle to revive the stolen Sonics. So far each time he has tried, (the Sacremento Kings, Minnesota T-wolves, among others) a local billionaire or the hometown has stepped in to deflect his offers.
