Linked List: October 26, 2009

Monday, 26 October 2009

A Graphic History of Newspaper Circulation Over the Last Two Decades ★

Breathtaking declines this year, and the trend is gruesome.

Transcript From Mark McGwire’s First Session as Cardinals Hitting Coach ★

“See, what you want to be doing is hitting dingers.”

In One Man’s Garage, Pan Am Still Makes the Going Great ★

Candace Jackson reports for the WSJ on Anthony Toth, a Pan Am aficionado who has recreated the first-class cabin from a Pan Am 747 in his garage. Awesome.

Mark McGwire Rejoins St. Louis Cardinals as Team Doctor ★

[Insert your own comeback joke regarding Alex Rodriguez here.]

Microsoft, Google, and the Bear ★

Following up on his aforelinked story in the NYT today, Saul Hansell makes the case that Google’s rival for Android is not the iPhone, but specifically Windows Mobile:

“If you asked me to go to a venture capitalist and pitch the Android business model, I don’t think I could,” said Robert J. Bach, the president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, at a meeting with reporters earlier this month. […]

“If you get Android, you get an operating system that is a version of Linux and a few tools,” Mr. Bach said. “That’s fine. But what are you going to do as your music experience? What will you do for your photos experience?”

So when everyone thinks about great mobile music and photo experiences, they think of Windows Mobile? This is another one of those quotes from a Microsoft executive where it’s scary to consider that maybe Bach actually believes what he’s saying.

Microsoft’s angle is that because Android is freely available to handset makers, that Google has no business model for Android. But they do: search advertising. (Another case where I wonder whether Microsoft says this because they think people are stupid and will believe whatever Microsoft says, or, worse, if their executives actually believe this.) What Google wants are lots of mobile search queries. The one angle Hansell misses, which further makes the point that Android is not targeted against the iPhone, is that the iPhone generates a ton of mobile search queries for Google. Apple may see Android as a competitor, but Google loves the iPhone.

NYT Story on Major Cellphone Makers Switching From Windows Mobile to Android ★

Saul Hansell, reporting for the NYT:

Cellphone makers that have used Windows Mobile to run their top-of-the- line smartphones — including Samsung, LG, Kyocera, Sony Ericsson — are now also making Android devices. Twelve Android handsets have been announced this year, with dozens more expected next year. Motorola has dropped Windows Mobile from its line entirely in a switch to Android. HTC, a major cellphone maker, expects half its phones sold this year to run Android. Dell is using Android for its entry into the cellphone market.

This is actually sugarcoating it for Microsoft. HTC isn’t merely “a major cellphone maker” — HTC is the single biggest maker of Windows Mobile phones. Just eight months ago, Microsoft revealed that despite having 50 handset “partners”, HTC was responsible for over 80 percent of Windows Mobile phone sales.

Indeed, a J. D. Power & Associates survey found that Windows Mobile had the lowest satisfaction rating among customers of any smartphone operating system. The iPhone has by far the most satisfying software, the study found. Android is a distant second, followed closely by BlackBerry’s operating system. Windows Mobile scored below average on every attribute, said Kirk Parsons, director of the study, especially in ease of operation, speed and stability.

I love that “especially”. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Retrevo Survey Results Indicate That PC Users Hope Apple Tablet Has Low Price ★

I’m sure Apple’s executives will take these survey results very seriously, given that they come from the same company that, just a few weeks ago, predicted doom and gloom for Apple’s back-to-school laptop sales because the kids all want “netbooks”.

I hear next week’s Retrevo survey will show that people in hell want ice water.

Public Citizen: ‘In Google We Trust? Think Again’ ★

Joe Newman of Public Citizen:

How much of your personal information is Google willing to turn over to a third party without a fight? We’ve asked a California federal court to unseal a report that would give customers of the world’s largest Internet company an answer to that question. […] A Gmail user who did nothing wrong had his or her account shut down because of the bank’s monumental screw up. And Google, a company that basically prints its own cash, didn’t lift a finger to protect the rights of one of its users.

Harry McCracken Surveys the Field of E-Readers ★

So many options, but I just can’t see how this product category has long-term legs.

What Startups Are Really Like ★

Paul Graham:

Unconsciously, everyone expects a startup to be like a job, and that explains most of the surprises. It explains why people are surprised how carefully you have to choose cofounders and how hard you have to work to maintain your relationship. You don’t have to do that with coworkers. It explains why the ups and downs are surprisingly extreme. In a job there is much more damping. But it also explains why the good times are surprisingly good: most people can’t imagine such freedom. As you go down the list, almost all the surprises are surprising in how much a startup differs from a job.

Larry Dignan on Verizon’s Quarterly Results ★

Decent numbers overall, but:

However, AT&T added customers at a faster pace in the third quarter on the strength of the iPhone. Verizon is hoping to change that equation via a partnership with Google. John Killian, CFO of Verizon, characterized the company’s wireless performance as strong and said there “are plenty of revenue growth opportunities” ahead. It’s clear Verizon is betting big on Android.

I don’t think it’s possible to overstate how important the iPhone is to AT&T.

Tim O’Reilly on the Whitehouse.gov Switch to Drupal ★

More than just a win for Drupal, it’s a win for open source software in general.

Heck of a Job, Schwartzy ★

Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, back in June 2007:

“In fact this week you’ll see that Apple is announcing at their Worldwide Developer Conference that ZFS has become the file system in Mac OS X.”

Symbian Executive Lee Williams Rips Into Google’s Android ★

Symbian executive Lee Williams, in a video interview with Om Malik:

“I don’t view Apple as evil, just greedy. Google… come on! When you have to say in your motto that we’re not evil, right away the first question in my mind is, ‘Why do you have to tell me that?’”

Not your typical corporate-speak, to say the least. Worth watching.

Screenshots of System 7.0 ★

Coudal linked to these the other day, “apropos of nothing”. It really was a beautiful system. Elegant and minimal.

Yankees Win 40th American League Pennant, Head to World Series Against Phillies ★

William C. Rhoden:

Beginning Wednesday, the Yankees will try to win their first championship since 2000 when they take on the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies.

At a number of levels, this will be a fascinating confrontation. You get the sense that Philadelphia — the fans, not the team — has been looking forward to taking on a glamour franchise that routinely fields the best team that money can buy. New Yorkers and Philadelphians regularly commute to, and hang out, in each other’s backyard.

It’s an epic matchup. The last NL team to win back-to-back championships was the 75-76 Cincinnati Reds. So either the Phillies become back-to-back champs by beating the Yankees, the most storied franchise in the sport and the team with the best record this season, or, the Yankees return to form and win their first championship in nine years, doing so against the returning champs.