From owner-freebsd-chat Sat May 18 18:28:14 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from excalibur.skynet.be (excalibur.skynet.be [195.238.3.90]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 46B8037B406 for ; Sat, 18 May 2002 18:28:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [10.9.8.215] (ip-27.shub-internet.org [194.78.144.27] (may be forged)) by excalibur.skynet.be (8.11.6/8.11.6/Skynet-OUT-2.19) with ESMTP id g4J1RsH28839; Sun, 19 May 2002 03:27:54 +0200 (MET DST) (envelope-from ) Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: bs663385@pop.skynet.be Message-Id: In-Reply-To: <3CE6F73C.2A8F4EA2@mindspring.com> References: <20020516004909.A9808@daemon.tisys.org> <20020516151801.A47974@energyhq.homeip.net> <20020516172853.A7750@daemon.tisys.org> <3CE40759.7C584101@mindspring.com> <20020516220616.A51305@energyhq.homeip.net> <3CE43D08.1FDBF0A3@mindspring.com> <20020517163624.GB9697@hades.hell.gr> <3CE58F73.1A7F50AF@mindspring.com> <15589.63655.94078.482179@guru.mired.org> <3CE61284.80ADD241@mindspring.com> <15590.58578.811389.223502@guru.mired.org> <3CE6E8ED.84E431F@mindspring.com> <3CE6F73C.2A8F4EA2@mindspring.com> X-Grok: +++ath X-WebTV-Stationery: Standard; BGColor=black; TextColor=black Reply-By: Wed, 1 Jan 1984 12:34:56 +0100 X-Message-Flag: Your copy of Outlook will expire in 3 days. Please contact Microsoft about purchasing a new license. Remember: software piracy is a felony! Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 03:27:20 +0200 To: Terry Lambert , Brad Knowles From: Brad Knowles Subject: Re: The road ahead? Cc: Mike Meyer , Giorgos Keramidas , Miguel Mendez , freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org At 5:52 PM -0700 2002/05/18, Terry Lambert wrote: > First, all of my DVD, VCR and other consumer electronics equipment > have power buttons. DVDs and VCRs -- yes. However, I've known cable boxes that didn't. > Yes, it does. It assumes that you haven't intentionally flipped > the breaker to keep the plug from working. 8-). When you're talking about SOHO use, then you have to assume that the service provider may very well have done just these sorts of things that would keep your box from working. > In general, we expect these things to have been set up by a third > party, since we assume that you don't have an on-site geek. Then they'd have to be set up by the service provider, at which point you've lost the advantage of retail sales. For complex devices like this, if it needs to interact with the outside world in any way during the setup process, you have to either assume that there is an on-site geek or someone that can be called in to provide on-site support, or you have to sell exclusively through service providers who can send a pre-configured box out with the "cable guy" to plug in at the customer's house. -- Brad Knowles, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message